Sárospataki Füzetek 18. (2014)
2014 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Jacob J. T. Doedens: The Return of YHWH and the End of the Exile
Jacob J.T. Doedens It appears that Johns aim was to reunify the different beliefs and ways of acting of his people. An indication for the view of the enduring exile is given in Matt 1:17. In the genealogy of Jesus, which exists of tree parts, the third part is dominated, not by a name but by a situation: from Abraham to David, from David to the deportation to Babylon, and from the deportation to the Messiah. The exile is not described as having ended, and, anyhow, there was no ending to its consequences.104 Luke 1:17 (cf. 1:76) describes John the Baptist as the one who will go before the Lord, preparing his way. This means that the New Testament, here, describes the fulfilment of the prophetic prophecies about the return of Yhwh. When Matt 1:21 announces that Jesus will be the one who will “save his people from its sins”, this, obviously, does not refer to someone who urges people to live a life more morally consistent, but to the fact that God forgives the sins which led to the exile, by rescuing Israel from its ever present enemies (Lk 1:51-55. 68-79). Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue of Nazareth implies that with his appearance the promise worded in Isa 61:1-2 regarding the return from exile and the restoration of Israel has been fulfilled (Luke 4:18-20). Jesus applies to himself also the prophecy of Isa 53:12, identifying himself with the ‘Suffering Servant of Yhwh’ (Luke 22:37). While in Isa 53 this prophecy may mainly draw a picture of Israel in exile, in Luke 22 Jesus is said to take upon himself the destiny of Israel. When remembering the uncertainty around the rebuilt temple, it is also interesting to look at John 1:14, where it is said that “the Word dwelled among us”, which evokes the image of God’s Shekinah returning to his temple in Jesus.105 Perhaps the cleansing of the temple’ has to be read from this perspective also: God’s house has to be a “house of prayer for all the nations” (Mark 11:17). The repeated requests made to Jesus of a “sign from heaven” (Matt 12:38-39; 16:1-4; Mark 8:11-13; Luke 11:29) possibly may have to be explained as the expectation that the beginning of the eschaton was connected to certain heavenly signs.106 Against the grain of almost all contemporary expectations about the restoration of Israel107 goes Mark 13: the restoration will come via the destruction of the loyal to me hereafter", ei péXXoi (xeravo^aeiv xai maris égői yevrja-saBai. See Fölkér Siegert et at, eds. Flavius Josephus, aus meinem Leben (Vita): Kritische Ausgabe, Übersetzung und Kommentar (2nd edition,-Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 60. This gives a clear illustration of the meaning of the verb geravositE in Matt 3:2; it refers to giving up the former behaviour and to show a new loyalty. 104 Cf. Jakob van Bruggen, Matteüs: Het evangeiie voor Israel (CNT 3; Kämpen: Kok, 1990), 27-28. See also Evans, "Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels," 291-292. 105 Cf. N. T. Wright, "Jesus' Self-Understanding," in The Incarnation: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Incarnation of the Son of God (ed. S. T. Davis, D. Kendall, and G. O'Collins; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 57. 106 So Evans, "Aspects of Exile and Restoration in the Proclamation of Jesus and the Gospels,"283. 107 See also Acts 1:6, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" 46 Sárospataki Füzetek 17. évfolyam I 2014 j 1
