Texts in Conversation
The Psalms of Solomon describes exiles returning to Jerusalem from east and west. In Matthew 8, Jesus uses similar language for people joining the patriarchs at a banquet, extending an image of returning exiles to the nations.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalms of Solomon 11:2
Pseudepigrapha, Wisdom and Poetry
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion to summon (the) saints. Let Jerusalem hear the voice of the one who brings good news; For God has had pity on Israel by attending to them. 2 Stand on the height, Jerusalem, and look at your children, From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord; 3 From the North they come in the gladness of their God, From the faraway islands God has gathered them. 4 He has lowered high mountains into a plain for them; The hills fled at their entrance. 5 The woods gave them shelter as they passed by; God caused every sweet-smelling tree to grow for them, 6 so that Israel might pass by when their God visits them in glory.
Date: 65–30 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 8:11
New Testament
10 When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! 11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... These words introduce a Psalm of thanksgiving. Whether, as many have supposed, vv2-3 are a secondary interpolation the Psalm as it stands refers to Jewish pilgrims or immigrants coming to Palestine: those who gather from the four points of the compass are God's scattered people. Gentiles are not in the picture at all. What follows? Whoever catches the scriptural allusion in Luke 13.28-29 and knows Psalm 107.3 in its OT context will immediately see in the mind's eye an image of Jewish exiles returning to their land. One must ask: Does not Luke 13.28-29 allude to Psalm 107.3 because someone wanted to turn thoughts towards the ingathering of the Jewish dispersion? (3) We must next raise the possibility that Matthew's wording, not Luke's, preserves Q. How should one interpret 'from the east and from the west'? The two directions commonly occur in Jewish texts in connection with the return of Jews to their land ... on the other hand - and this must be emphatically stressed - 'east and west' is not, as far as I have been able to determine, even once associated with the eschatological incursion of the Gentiles ..."
Dale C. Allison, Who Will Come from East and West? Observations on Matt 8.11-12 & Luke 13.28-29 (IBS, 1989), 158–170.
* 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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