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Tanna Debei Eliyahu

Midrash

About this book

When Israel offers up the daily sacrifices on the altar and reads this verse, northward [spnh] before the Lord, the Holy One, blessed be he, remembers the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham. I call heaven and earth to witness that whether Gentile or Israelite, man or woman, slave or handmaid reads this verse, northward before the Lord, the Holy One, blessed be he, remembers the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, northward before the Lord.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Galatians 3:28 and Tanna Debei Eliyahu 7

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In Galatians, Paul teaches that being Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female does not define your place in the community. Rabbinic tradition in Tanna Debei Eliyahu uses a similar three-part formula to also describe social equality.

Passages

Galatians 3:28

New Testament
24 Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.
48–55 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Galatians

Tanna Debei Eliyahu 7

Rabbinic · Midrash
When Israel offers up the daily sacrifices on the altar and reads this verse, northward [spnh] before the Lord, the Holy One, blessed be he, remembers the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham. I call heaven and earth to witness that whether Gentile or Israelite, man or woman, slave or handmaid reads this verse, northward before the Lord, the Holy One, blessed be he, remembers the binding of Isaac the son of Abraham, northward before the Lord.
960–985 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Tanna Debei Eliyahu

References

"... One final observation about the origins of this baptismal formula. Several critics have shown that there is a close connection between the formula of Gal. 3:28 and a number of sayings in rabbinic literature. The threefold structure of the formula bears a striking similarity to a prayer attributed to R. Judah bar Ilai in the Tosefta. R. Judah says ... Perhaps closer to the wording of Gal. 3:28 is a commentary on Leviticus 1:11 in the Seder Eliahu ... It seems likely, then, that the version of the Christian baptismal formula in Gal. 3:28 is either a counter-statement to the daily blessing or a borrowing from the formula in the Seder Eliahu or possibly both ..."
John G. Gager, The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes towards Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), 225–229.

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Galatians 3:28 and Tanna Debei Eliyahu 7

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