Matthew 10:16

New Testament

15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town! 16 “I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 And you will be brought before governors and kings because of me, as a witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 Whenever they hand you over for trial, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, for what you should say will be given to you at that time. 20 For it is not you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Pirkei Avot 5:20

Mishnah
Rabbinic

20 Judah ben Tema said: Be strong as a leopard, and swift as an eagle, and fleet as a gazelle, and brave as a lion, to do the will of your Father who is in heaven. He used to say: the arrogant is headed for Gehinnom and the blushing for the garden of Eden. May it be the will, O Lord our God, that your city be rebuilt speedily in our days and set our portion in the studying of your Torah. 21 He used to say: At five years of age the study of Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of years; At eighty the age of “strength”; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as good as dead and gone completely out of the world.

 Notes and References

"... The following corresponding features between Isaiah 11:6–9 LXX and Praem. 87–90 come into view: several of the animals, as wolves, lambs, bears, lions, leopards, snake/asp are mentioned in both texts. Philo lacks the domestic animals, cows and bulls, which are mentioned in Isaiah 11, while he adds elephants and tigers. Likewise the texts focus on the animals grazing together. (That Philo has Isaiah 11 in mind is suggested by the fact that he not only refers to the wolf and the lamb, which was a virtually proverbial image - Matthew 10:16; Luke 10:3; Acts 20:29 - but also to all the other wild animals which appear in Isaiah 11: bears, lions, leopards, poisonous snakes, while adding some more exotic examples) A similar use of this text to depict the abolition of the enmity between men and animals in the last days is also to be found in 2 Apocalypse of Baruch 73:6, Sibylline Oracles 3:788–795, and Targum Isaiah 11:6. In both 2 Apocalypse of Baruch 73:6 and Praem. 85–90 the idea from Genesis 1:28 about man’s sovereignty over the animals is combined with ideas from Isaiah 11:6–9 about peace among the animals. Thus, Philo’s allusion to and combination of Scriptures applied to the ‘eschatological’ topics of cosmic peace can be placed within Jewish exegetical tradition and context. Again, as in Praem. 88–89, Praem. 91a shows that Philo has an expectation of a final realization of this blessing in the future time which he expresses in this way: ‘Thus the age-long and natural and therefore primary war will be brought to an end through the change which makes the wild beasts tame and amenable.’ The way Philo interprets the Old Testament blessings in an ‘eschatological’ perspective can also be located within a Jewish framework. In the post-exilic period the blessing/curse motifs came more and more to be thought of in an eschatological perspective ..."

Bekken, Per Jarle The Word is Near You: A Study of Deuteronomy 30:12-14 in Paul's Letter to the Romans in a Jewish Context (pp. 131-132) Walter de Gruyter, 2007

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