Comments on: The Matthean Infancy Narrative http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/ Truth Will Prevail Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:57:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Clark http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-305004 Clark Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:08:10 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-305004 I have to admit I've never heard that Mormon folktale. But it's better than claiming it was the three Nephites. I have to admit I’ve never heard that Mormon folktale. But it’s better than claiming it was the three Nephites.

]]> By: J. Madson http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304985 J. Madson Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:41:50 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304985 Picking up on the Mosaic connection, some scholars have suggested that the use of 5 scriptural citations and 5 prophetic statements in the birth chapters are meant to allude to the torah. Likewise, the entire gospel of Matthew can be broken into 5 main sections. Matthew seems to be making a conscious comparison between Jesus and Moses. The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the new law on the new mountain in contrast to the law on mt sinai. In each incidence, Jesus intensifies the original law rather than liberalizing and diluting it. It is more a filling full of the intent God had for Israel. Picking up on the Mosaic connection, some scholars have suggested that the use of 5 scriptural citations and 5 prophetic statements in the birth chapters are meant to allude to the torah. Likewise, the entire gospel of Matthew can be broken into 5 main sections.

Matthew seems to be making a conscious comparison between Jesus and Moses. The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the new law on the new mountain in contrast to the law on mt sinai. In each incidence, Jesus intensifies the original law rather than liberalizing and diluting it. It is more a filling full of the intent God had for Israel.

]]> By: Rob Perkins http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304984 Rob Perkins Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:09:39 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304984 #3 Larrin, I think there is possibility that Matthew was making as many Mosaic connections as he could, to shore up the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was the one who would free captive Israel. The historical evidence for Jesus' time in Egypt is spotty today, but the scholars I've read have suggested that Egypt, close as it is to Jerusalem, was often a place of resort or refuge for Israel. Eric probably knows piles more about this kind of thing than I do, but by 1 C.E. there were provable colonies of Jews, long part of the Diaspora, in Egypt. That makes it plausible that Jesus could have gone there with his parents. Happy to be wrong about that, though. #3 Larrin, I think there is possibility that Matthew was making as many Mosaic connections as he could, to shore up the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was the one who would free captive Israel.

The historical evidence for Jesus’ time in Egypt is spotty today, but the scholars I’ve read have suggested that Egypt, close as it is to Jerusalem, was often a place of resort or refuge for Israel. Eric probably knows piles more about this kind of thing than I do, but by 1 C.E. there were provable colonies of Jews, long part of the Diaspora, in Egypt. That makes it plausible that Jesus could have gone there with his parents. Happy to be wrong about that, though.

]]> By: Marc Bohn http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304977 Marc Bohn Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:48:28 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304977 Interesting food for thought. Thanks Eric. Interesting food for thought. Thanks Eric.

]]> By: Struwelpeter http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304976 Struwelpeter Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:46:13 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304976 I guess you don't buy the popular Mormon theory that the three magi were the brothers Lehi and Nephi, and their trusty sidekick Samuel the Lamanite? I guess you don’t buy the popular Mormon theory that the three magi were the brothers Lehi and Nephi, and their trusty sidekick Samuel the Lamanite?

]]> By: Larrin http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304975 Larrin Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:04:10 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304975 Do you believe that the time in Egypt is historically accurate? Do you believe that the time in Egypt is historically accurate?

]]> By: Rob Perkins http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304970 Rob Perkins Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:32:55 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304970 Eric, those notes alone are plentygood. Have you considered, perhaps, releasing your course content under the OpenCourseWare initiative, perhaps through BYU Independent Study? (A personal aside; those courses can be super-dry. Interesting lecture video, the way MIT did it, would enhance the Independent Study curriculum so much that I might not think each of the lessons was kind of a chore...) Would the "adoption" attitude taken by Joseph for Jesus the son of Mary take the form the Romans would have recognized as a legal adoption? Or is my cart before the horse here, where a man centuries later like Justinian would have based adoption law in the <em>Corpus Iurus Civilis</em> on an interpretation of the Nativity in Matthew? The other thing that strikes me from re-reading Matthew this week is the number of times that Joseph responded to a revelatory dream, akin in my experience to Lehi. Joseph was a <em>visionary man.</em> Heh. Eric, those notes alone are plentygood. Have you considered, perhaps, releasing your course content under the OpenCourseWare initiative, perhaps through BYU Independent Study?

(A personal aside; those courses can be super-dry. Interesting lecture video, the way MIT did it, would enhance the Independent Study curriculum so much that I might not think each of the lessons was kind of a chore…)

Would the “adoption” attitude taken by Joseph for Jesus the son of Mary take the form the Romans would have recognized as a legal adoption? Or is my cart before the horse here, where a man centuries later like Justinian would have based adoption law in the Corpus Iurus Civilis on an interpretation of the Nativity in Matthew?

The other thing that strikes me from re-reading Matthew this week is the number of times that Joseph responded to a revelatory dream, akin in my experience to Lehi. Joseph was a visionary man. Heh.

]]> By: J. Madson http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304968 J. Madson Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:27:54 +0000 http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/12/the-matthean-infancy-narrative/#comment-304968 Thanks. Good stuff. Thanks. Good stuff.

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