Texts in Conversation
In Matthew 7, Jesus describes a narrow way to life and a broad way to destruction. 4 Ezra similarly presents a difficult path to reach what is good, reflecting a Jewish tradition that uses contrasting paths to describe moral choices.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 7:13
New Testament
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets. 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
4 Ezra 7:5
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
3 I said, “Speak on, my Lord.” Then he said to me, “There is a sea set in a wide place, that it might be broad and vast, 4 but its entrance is set in a narrow place so as to be like a river. 5 Whoever desires to go into the sea to look at it, or to rule it, if he didn’t go through the narrow entrance, how could he come into the broad part? 6 Another thing also: There is a city built and set in a plain country, and full of all good things, 7 but its entrance is narrow, and is set in a dangerous place to fall, having fire on the right hand, and deep water on the left. 8 There is only one path between them both, even between the fire and the water, so that only one person can go there at once. 9 If this city is now given to a man for an inheritance, if the heir doesn’t pass the danger before him, how will he receive his inheritance?” 10 I said, “That is so, Lord.” Then he said to me, “Even so also is Israel’s portion. 11 I made the world for their sakes. What is now done was decreed when Adam transgressed my statutes. 12 Then the entrances of this world were made narrow, sorrowful, and toilsome. They are but few and evil, full of perils, and involved in great toils. 13 For the entrances of the greater world are wide and safe, and produce fruit of immortality. 14 So if those who live don’t enter these difficult and vain things, they can never receive those that are reserved for them.
Date: 70–132 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The eschatological orientation of 7:13-14 is manifest (1) from the many similar Jewish texts which are often eschatologically oriented; (2) from the use of 'life' elsewhere in Matthew to refer to the future life of the kingdom; (3) from the word which refers to eternal destruction ... Compare 2 Baruch 85.13: 'There is the sentence of corruption, the way of fire, and the path which bringeth to Gehenna'. The notion that vice is attractive and easy to succumb to is, of course, native to all religion. To sin is natural, to repent unnatural. Compare Diogenes Laertius 4.49 ('The road which leads to Hades is easy to follow') and Tertullian, Against Marcion 2.13 ('The way of evil is broad and well supplied with travelers; would not all men take its easy course if there were nothing to fear?') ... the theme of the two ways has, along with the image of the gate leading to eternal perdition (compare 16:18; 3 Maccabees 5:51; 2 Baruch 59:10; Testament of Abraham A 11:11; b. Eruvin 19a), been brought into secondary association with the original statement about the gate or entrance leading into eternal life (compare 4 Ezra 7:6-8; Sibylline Oracles 2:150; Revelation 22:14; Testament of Abraham A 10:15; Shepherd of Hermas 9.12.5; Apocalypse of Zephaniah 3:9; Testament of Jacob 2:17; Pesikta Rabbati 179b). One cannot, therefore, expect a coherent image to crystallize readily if at all. ..."
William D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Volume 1 (London: T&T Clark International, 1997), 697–698.
* 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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