Texts in Conversation
Matthew’s description of the crowd placing blood upon themselves echoes a recurring Hebrew Bible idiom, its depiction of guilt perhaps not literal. In 2 Samuel, this phrase is used in David’s judgment of an Amalekite who admitted to killing Saul.
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2 Samuel 1:16
Hebrew Bible
14 David replied to him, “How is it that you were not afraid to reach out your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?” 15 Then David called one of the soldiers and said, “Come here and strike him down!” So he struck him down, and he died. 16 David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head! Your own mouth has testified against you, saying ‘I have put the Lord’s anointed to death.’” 17 Then David chanted this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan. 18 (He gave instructions that the people of Judah should be taught “The Bow.” Indeed, it is written down in the Scroll of the Upright One.)
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Matthew 27:25
New Testament
23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!” 24 When Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” 25 In reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. 27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him.
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Matthew’s “his blood be on us and on our children” stands out as one of the most frequent justifications for a Christian rejection of “the Jews” on religious grounds. However, the traditional interpretation that this passage describes a Jewish acceptance of their own guilt may be misleading by itself. Isaac and Schelkle point out that the phrase “blood be on us” is an allusion to the Jewish scriptures (see 2 Samuel 1:16). In the cases of Leviticus 20:9; Joshua 2:19; 1 Kings 2:32f., the person uttering this phrase takes responsibility for a specific act and accepts death as a punishment. Matthew may thus intend to put a juristic emphasis on the accusation brought forward by the gathered crowd (“we and our children believe this man to be guilty”). In addition to those biblical references, the Gospel of Matthew usually refers to Jesus’ blood as a promise for forgiveness, atonement and salvation (e.g. Matthew 26:28). Possibly, then, Matthew did not intend to describe an intergenerational Jewish acceptance of responsibility for the condemnation of Jesus. Matthew’s intention may have been to supply an explanation for the historical events – the destruction of the temple – and portray it as a divine punishment ..."
Czollek, Maximilian Ruben
The Antisemitism Dispositive: Emergence and Dissemination in Early Christianity
(p. 131) Technical University of Berlin, 2017
* 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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