Texts in Conversation
In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches generosity and giving to the poor, describing it as storing treasure in heaven contrasted with temporary wealth on earth. 4 Ezra echoes this Jewish tradition, where good deeds are treasure kept with God for future reward.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 6:20
New Testament
19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and devouring insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and devouring insect do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
4 Ezra 7:77
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
75 I answered, “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, show this also to your servant, whether after death, even now when every one of us gives up his soul, we will be kept in rest until those times come, in which you renew the creation, or whether we will be tormented immediately.” 76 He answered me, “I will show you this also; but don’t join yourself with those who are scorners, nor count yourself with those who are tormented. 77 For you have a treasure of works laid up with the Most High, but it won’t be shown you until the last times. 78 For concerning death the teaching is: When the decisive sentence has gone out from the Most High that a man shall die, as the spirit leaves the body to return again to him who gave it, it adores the glory of the Most High first of all. 79 And if it is one of those who have been scorners and have not kept the way of the Most High, and that have despised his law, and who hate those who fear God, 80 these spirits won’t enter into habitations, but will wander and be in torments immediately, ever grieving and sad, in seven ways.
Date: 70–132 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... elsewhere in 4 Ezra the works are only depicted in the positive way of referring to them as 'treasure' which is piled up in front of God (4 Ezra 7:77) or as a reason for eschatological reward (4 Ezra 8:33) ... The reference to good works as treasure is also very reminiscent of Matthew 6:19-20, 12:35, and 19:21 ..."
Matthias Reinhard Hoffmann, The Destroyer and the Lamb: The Relationship between Angelomorphic and Lamb Christology in the Book of Revelation (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005), 92.
* 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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