JESUS AS JOSHUA, MOSES EN DAWIDIESE MESSIAS IN MATTEUS

  • Andries van Aarde Departement Nuwe Testamentiese Wetenskap Universiteit van Pretoria

Abstract

The article argues that Matthew’s story is about God who sent Jesus as a Joshua figure from Egypt as Moses’ successor to save Israel. As Davidic Messiah and second Moses, Jesus (Joshua) healed all of Israel. Healing in this context is to be released from “political” stress. Matthew’s story is about a choice of leadership. This choice concretized in either the people’s acknowledgement of 0Ihsou=v (“Joshua”) as the savior of all of Israel from their sins or rather in killing him and letting their future children share the responsibility for his blood (Mt 27:25). This message is communicated in the context of opposing scribes who defamed Jesus as someone who annulled the Torah. The aim of the paper is to reflect on Mt 1:21c as the vocational opening verse of Matthew’s story, on a “relational contextual” interpretation of the concept “salvation, and the relatedness of “salvation” to “healing”.
Published
2013-06-12
Section
Articles