The Old Testament Background of Jesus as Begotten of God - The BAS Library
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The Old Testament Background of Jesus as Begotten of God

By H. Neil Richardson

In recent issues of Bible Review, two quite different articles have examined the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke—the only two Gospels that include an account of Jesus’ infancy. The first article—by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis—was a literary study in which the author examined the differing literary techniques used by these two Gospel accounts to highlight their differing viewpoints.a In the second article, John Dominic Crossan identified the dominant narrative strategy of the Gospel accounts, especially of Matthew; according to Crossan, the infancy narratives seek to draw a parallel between Moses as Israel’s liberator and Jesus.b Neither article, […]

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Footnotes

1.

Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, “Different Ways of Looking at the Birth of Jesus,” BR 01:01.

2.

John Dominic Crossan, “From Moses to Jesus: Parallel Themes,” BR 02:02.

3.

Codex Bezae is a Western text type extant in Old Latin and Old Syriac translations and in quotations from such second- and third-century authors as Marcion, Justin, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus and Cyprian. Cf. Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament, Volume 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), pp. 17–18, 25–26.

Endnotes

1.

P. Kyle McCarter, Jr., I Samuel, Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980), p. 178.

2.

Artur Weiser, The Psalms, Old Testament Library (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), p. 109.

3.

McCarter, 2 Samuel, Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), p. 207.

4.

For translations see Andre Dupont-Sommer, The Essene Writings from Qumran (Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1969), pp. 104–109; Theodor H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Scriptures in English Translation with Introduction and Notes (Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday, 3rd ed., 1976), pp. 438–442; Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Hammondsworth: Penguin, 1974), pp. 118–121.

5.

In a pointed text this would read: ’m yoÆliÆd yhwh ’t hammaµsûiÆah.

6.

Cf. remark of Gaster, Dead Sea Scriptures, p. 392. Compare, however, the observation of Dupont-Sommer, The Essene Writings, p. 108, note 1.