Texts in Conversation
In Matthew, Jesus uses imagery of weeping and gnashing teeth to describe the fate of the unrighteous, following traditions that developed in Jewish literature. Isaiah describes the destruction of hostile armies, but texts like Judith expanded this into final judgment filled with fire, worms, and pain.
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Judith 16:17
Deuterocanon
16 For every sacrifice as a fragrant offering is a small thing, and the fat of all whole burnt offerings to you is a very little thing; but whoever fears the Lord is great forever. 17 Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment; he will send fire and worms into their flesh; they shall weep in pain forever. 18 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they worshiped God. As soon as the people were purified, they offered their burnt offerings, their freewill offerings, and their gifts. 19 Judith also dedicated to God all the possessions of Holofernes, which the people had given her; and the canopy that she had taken for herself from his bedchamber she gave as a votive offering.
Date: 150-100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Matthew 24:51
New Testament
47 I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, 50 then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, 51 and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... “The day of judgment” and its abbreviated stand-ins, “the judgment” and “that day,” envisage the eschatological assize: Matthew 10:15; Luke 10:12 (Q); Matthew 11:22, 24; 12:36; Luke 10:14 (Q); so too the Johannine sayings concerning “the last day”: John 6:39–40, 44, 54; 11:24. In Second Temple Judaism, “the day of judgment,” which does not occur in the Hebrew Bible or the LXX, had become a synonym for “the day of the Lord,” understood as the eschatological trial that will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. (See, for example, 1 Enoch 10:12; 100:4; Jubilees 4:19; Judith 16:17; Testament of Levi 1:1; 4 Ezra 12:34) ... [Compare] Zoroastrian pictures of hell (e.g., Yasna 31:20), there are references to “the outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13; 25:30; Greek Apocalypse of Ezra 4:37; Testament of Jacob 5:9) and to “the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51b; compare Sibylline Oracles 2:305–6; 8:104–5, 231, 350) ..."
Allison, Dale C.
Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History
(pp. 34-35) Baker Academic, 2013
* 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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