Psalms of Solomon 11:2

Pseudepigrapha

1 Sound in Zion the trumpet that summons the holy ones. Announce in Jerusalem the voice of one proclaiming good news: 'God has been merciful to Israel by his watchful care over them.' 2 Stand on a high place, O Jerusalem, and see your children from east to west finally brought together by the Lord. 3 From the north they come with the joy of their God; from far distant islands God brings them together. 4 He flattened high mountains into level ground for them, the hills fled at their coming. 5 The woods shaded them as they passed by; God made every fragrant tree to spring up for them 6 that Israel might pass by in the watchful care of the glory of their God.

Matthew 8:11

New Testament

10 When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! 11 I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” And the servant was healed at that hour.

 Notes and References

"... These words introduce a Psalm of thanksgiving. Whether, as many have supposed, vv2-3 are a secondary interpolation the Psalm as it stands refers to Jewish pilgrims or immigrants coming to Palestine: those who gather from the four points of the compass are God's scattered people. Gentiles are not in the picture at all. What follows? Whoever catches the scriptural allusion in Luke 13.28-29 and knows Psalm 107.3 in its OT context will immediately see in the mind's eye an image of Jewish exiles returning to their land. One must ask: Does not Luke 13.28-29 allude to Psalm 107.3 because someone wanted to turn thoughts towards the ingathering of the Jewish dispersion? (3) We must next raise the possibility that Matthew's wording, not Luke's, preserves Q. How should one interpret 'from the east and from the west'? The two directions commonly occur in Jewish texts in connection with the return of Jews to their land ... on the other hand - and this must be emphatically stressed - 'east and west' is not, as far as I have been able to determine, even once associated with the eschatological incursion of the Gentiles ..."

Allison, Dale C. Who Will Come from East and West? Observations on Matt 8.11-12 & Luke 13.28-29 (pp. 158-170) IBS, 1989

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