Texts in Conversation
Matthew 11 presents John the Baptist as the expected return of Elijah, traditionally connected with the beginning of the Kingdom of God. This correlates with the description of Elijah in Sirach 48, which describes him restoring Israel.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 48:10
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens. He brought down fire three times. 4 How you were glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Whose glory is like yours? 5 You raised up a dead man from death, from Hades, by the word of the Most High. 6 You brought down kings to destruction, and honorable men from their sickbeds. 7 You heard rebuke in Sinai, and judgments of vengeance in Horeb. 8 You anointed kings for retribution, and prophets to succeed after you. 9 You were taken up in a tempest of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses. 10 You were recorded for reproofs in their seasons, to pacify anger, before it broke out into wrath, to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 11:11
New Testament
11 “I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is! 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come. 15 The one who has ears had better listen!
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... There are some intriguing features about Matthew’s use of Sirach: Most of these parallels are unique to Matthew among the gospels. Included here are the structuring of the beatitudes (5:3–12), the makarism concerning those who mourn (5:4), the antithesis against adultery (5:27–28), the warning against prayers that use empty phrases (6:7), warnings against laying up treasure on earth (6:19–24), advice about judging good from bad fruit (7:16), the allusions to Elijah (11:14) and (17:11), Jesus’ teaching concerning the heavy yoke (11:28–30), the parable of the treasure hidden in the field (13:44), the warning that the son of man will repay grievances (16:27), and the separation of the sheep and goats (25:34–40). In other words, these texts and themes are singular to the Matthean mindset and thus are not typical of the remaining evangelists. (2) The vast majority of these usages are related to the topic of wisdom and instruction, a theme naturally derived from Sirach that clearly adds to Matthew’s standing as a gospel focused on teachings and contemplative sayings. But these lessons are not simply sapiential in orientation. In many cases they are associated with eschatological concerns, as with those parallels that appear (6:14), (6:20), (11:14), (16:27), #18 (17:11), and (25:34–40). Thus, regardless of whether Jesus of Nazareth was actually concerned for a futuristic eschatology, Matthew finds within the materials of Sirach a working source by which to portray his teachings as such ..."
Clayton N. Jefford, “The Wisdom of Sirach and the Glue of the Matthew–Didache Tradition,” in Intertextuality in the Second Century, ed. D. Jeffrey Bingham and Clayton N. Jefford, BAC 11 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 8–23.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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