Jesus against the Laws of the Pharisees: The Legal Woe Sayings and Second Temple Intersectarian Discourse

Full title
Jesus against the Laws of the Pharisees: The Legal Woe Sayings and Second Temple Intersectarian Discourse
Updated By
Research notes

OT/not checked/20/01/2021 YKC/reader checked/27/12/2021

Reference type
Author(s)
Furstenberg, Yair
Year
2020
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Journal of Biblical Literature
Volume
139
Issue / Series Volume
4
Abbreviated Series Name
JBL
Pages
769-788
Work type
Label
01/02/2021
Abstract

This article offers a new approach for reconstructing the original form and meaning of Jesus's legal woe sayings in Matt 23:16-26 (and the parallel in Luke 11:3944) as part of a broader Jewish intersectarian discourse. A close analysis of this unit alongside an early rabbinic source embedded in Mishnah tractate Yadayim 4:5-8 reveals that Jesus's condemnation of the Pharisees was not unique. His arguments concerning oaths, tithes, and ritual purity belong to a pre-Matthean stratum, and they match a familiar rhetorical pattern condemning the Pharisees' lenient and compromising approach. According to this pre-Matthean tradition, Jesus drew his argument and depiction of the Pharisees from the current intersectarian debate concerning the essential principles of torah observance. Jesus is portrayed as exploiting current anti-Pharisaic accusations, familiar also from Qumran literature and directed originally against the Pharisees' distorted conceptions of purity and holiness, as he attempts to uncover their moral faults.