Jesus’ body is placed in a tomb and a “great stone” rolled in front of it. Can He move the stone? That is to say: Is He truly a greater Jacob, who set up a stone where angels descended (Genesis 28:18), who rolled away a large stone to open a well for Rachel the shepherdess (Genesis 29:10)? That is to say: Is He truly able to tear down temples, leaving not one stone on another? Is He greater than... Read more
Heaven and earth are key themes in Matthew’s gospel (see Jonathan Pennington’s Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew ). The two words are used in combination eight times in the gospel, and those uses fall out into a nearly chiastic pattern: A. Heaven and earth pass away, 5:18 B. Will done on earth as in heaven, 6:10 C. Praise Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 11:25 D. Keys of kingdom of heaven (heaven/earth/heaven/earth/heaven), 16:19 (more…) Read more
Matthew is up to something with his use of two different words for “tomb” in the narratives of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. The two words are mnemeion and taphos , and the 9 uses in the closing chapters of Matthew are deliberately patterned: mnemeion , 4x: 27:52, 53, 60 [2x] taphos , 4x: 27:61, 64, 66; 28:1 mnemeion , 1x: 28:8 That is: First four uses of mnemeion , then four of taphos , then a final use of mnemeion... Read more
Matthew 28 is arguably constructed with two intertwine chiasms. The first covers verses 1-8, and the second goes from verse 9 through the end of the chapter. The first follows this pattern: A. Women arrive at grave, v 1 B. Angel descends from heaven, vv 2-3 C. Guards become like dead, v 4 B’. Angel speaks to women, vv 5-7 A’. Women leave the tomb, v 8 The length of the angel’s speech (vv 5-7) and the fact that the... Read more
Looking back, one cannot help but be struck by the seemingly symbiotic relationship existing between the state, military power, and the private economy’s efficiency in the age of absolutism. Behind every successful dynasty stood an array of opulent banking families. Access to such bourgeois resources proved crucial to the princes’ state-building and centralizing policies. Princes also needed direct access to agricultural resources, which could be mobilized only when agricultural productivity grew and an effective administrative and military power existed to... Read more
Erich Fromm describes the condition of late modern humanity: “well fed, well clad, satisfied sexually, yet without self, without any except the most superficial contact with his fellow men, guided by slogans which Huxley formulated so succinctly, such as: ‘When the individual feels, the community reels’; or, ‘Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today’; or as the crowning statement: ‘Everybody is happy nowadays.’ Man’s happiness consists in ‘having fun.’ Having fun lies in the satisfaction of... Read more
Erich Fromm describes the condition of late modern humanity: “well fed, well clad, satisfied sexually, yet without self, without any except the most superficial contact with his fellow men, guided by slogans which Huxley formulated so succinctly, such as: ‘When the individual feels, the community reels’; or, ‘Never put off till tomorrow the fun you can have today’; or as the crowning statement: ‘Everybody is happy nowadays.’ Man’s happiness consists in ‘having fun.’ Having fun lies in the satisfaction of... Read more
Karl Polanyi ( The Great Transformation ) notes, “There was nothing natural about laissez-faire ; free markets could never have come into being merely by allowing things to take their course. Just as the cotton manufactures – the leading free trade industry – were created by the help of protective tariffs, export bounties, and indirect wage subsidies, laissez-faire itself was enforced by the state. The thirties and forties [of the 19th century] saw not only an outburst of legislation repealing... Read more
INTRODUCTION Two Marys, Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary,” the mother of Jesus, have stayed with Jesus through His death and burial. They are back after the Sabbath, and become the first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. THE TEXT “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven,... Read more
The craftsmen who throw down the “horns” that have scattered Judah (Zechariah 1:18-21) are like the craftsmen that built the tabernacle and temple. They are destroying horns (of an altar), and so gaining the victory over the Gentiles. Zechariah gives a neat little verbal twist to this in verse 21, using the verb yadah in the sense of “throw down.” That word is more typically translated as “praise,” “confess,” or “give thanks.” It can mean shoot or throw down, but... Read more
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