PREPARING THE WAY

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----------------------------------------------------------------------PREPARING THE WAY--MIDRASH IN THE BIBLE Robert A. Bascom ----------------------------------------------------------------------I. Exod 23:20 A. Text Behold I send a messenger (LXX --my messenger) before you, to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared (LXX--for you). B. Analysis 1. The angel The term messenger (malak) can be used of people (Isa 42:19, 44:26, Hag 1:3 et al.), heavenly beings (Gen 19, 1 Kgs 19:5) or even, in ii the phrase "messenger of God/the Lord," as a substitute for using the divine name itself (Gen 21:17, Zech 3:1). There are two major trajectories concerning messengers from the heavenly realm in the OT. One is the simple messenger or emissary role, where a given iii message is delivered (1 Kgs 19:5) or a duty performed (Gen 19, 1 Kgs 22:21--ruach here). But the messenger of the Lord has a special role as the one who goes before the Lord and/or his people to prepare the way or bring the people to a place prepared. This second tradition is what is of primary interest in this paper. Though the terms messenger/the messenger of the Lord (1 Kgs 19:2-7), and messenger/the messenger of God (Gen 21:17), are sometimes used interchangeably, their functions are clearly separate. The close identification of Yahweh and his angel (versus just another heavenly messenger) can be seen for example in the context of our text (Exod 23:21 ". . . my name is in him" cf. Gen 21:17, Zech 3:1 et al.). Brevard Childs notes that sometimes (e.g. Exod 33:2) the angel of the Lord is a substitute for Yahweh's presence, while elsewhere (e.g. iv in Exod 23:20, 32:34, Mal 3:1) it is the embodiment of the divine presence. While this phrase can function in several ways, from indicating a simple heavenly messenger to standing for Yahweh himself, in the tradition in question the figure has a complex function. On the one hand he functions as an agent to fully represent the physical presence of Yahweh (cf. the pillar of fire/cloud Exod 13:21-22, 14:19), and on the other, he equally represents God's moral distance (i.e. his holiness). A key phrase in this connection is in Exod 23:21 "he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him," as it represents the tension involved in a figure so closely identified with Yahweh who also has close contact with unholy humankind (cf. Exod 22:31, Lev 11:44-45). Gerhard von Rad sees a shift in the function of the angel from Exod 32 to 33 (cf. especially 33:2-3). After Israel's apostasy in worshipping the "golden calf," Jahweh had to define his relationship to her anew . . . with v the mediating institutions . . . [of] the angel of Jahweh, the Tent, and the Panim. In this way God protected Israel from his "annihilating presence." A similar view is to be found in the Midrash Rabbah on Exodus, where God states that Had you [Israel] merited it, I Myself would have become your messenger, just as I was in the wilderness, as it says "And the Lord went before them by day (Exod 13:21)," but now that you have not merited this, I am entrusting you into vi the hands of a messenger, hence, "Behold I send an Angel." While Exod 33:2-3 explicitly supports the above position, it is also true (as we noted earlier) that already inherent in the idea of the angel (or of the earlier pillar of fire/cloud or of the other "mediating institutions") is both the physical presence and the moral distance to Yahweh. An example of the shift von Rad speaks of is from Exod 13:22, where the pillar "did not depart from before the people" to Exod 33:9 (cf. 40:36-38), where the pillar "would descend" to the door of the tent when Moses entered there. 2. The way, the place The remaining ideas of the way and prepared place in Exod 23:20 are to be understood in a fairly straightforward manner in this context (as we shall see, later reworkings radically reinterpret these concepts). The "way" is through the wilderness (cf. Exod 13:21), the i

path which Israel must travel to reach the promised land. The "place" then is the land itself, which God has prepared for his people. Compare in this regard Exod 23:28-29, where the implication is that Israel is to inherit an already cultivated land, and that she is not to let the land be devastated or allow it to become a wasteland during her occupation.

II. Isa 40:3 A. Text vii

MT: A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

LXX: A voice cries in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, Make straight the pathways of our God." B. Analysis 1. The heavenly council Exegetes have not been certain who is speaking in Isa 40:3, 6, and 9 (or even always who is addressed). It is in fact this very multivalency which makes this passage in particular such fertile ground for later reinterpretation. Nevertheless, in its own context, the viii primary setting in the MT seems to be the heavenly council. The LXX, on the other hand, addresses the priests by name, and the Targum addresses the prophets. This attempt to lessen the ambiguity of the MT of course affects the "voices" of vv. 3, 6, and (implied in) 9. They naturally either become priests or prophets. Later tradition did not always agree here with the LXX or the Targum, however, as we shall see. 2. The new Exodus The command to "prepare the way of the Lord," then, may well have been addressed to the exiles from Judah in Babylon. This fact is not made explicit in the text, but seems likely enough when one considers both the general flow of Second Isaiah's message as well as an important parallel to Isa 40:1-11. This parallel is Isa 35. The concepts in this chapter which parallel Isa 40:1-11 are everywhere apparent. Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 35 in particular use the (military) language of salvation which is here unequivocally addressed to the prisoners of the Exile ("Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees"). The highway (35:8) in the wilderness (35:1, 6) is explicitly the ix road the exiles will travel on their way home (35:9-10). This strongly suggests a similar situation for Isa 40:3. In other words the command to prepare the way of the Lord in Isa 40:3-5 may function as an exhortation for the exiles to leave the pagan comfort of Babylon and return to their devastated homeland. The way of the Lord was also the way home. "There seems to be no x room for a distinction between the road of Yahweh and road of Israel, for Yahweh travels with his people, as he did in the Exodus." The importance of the "voice" of Yahweh's messenger in Exod 23:21-22 and in Isa 40:3-6 as well as the "way," and the idea of preparation (pinah, cun) are clues to the fact that the Exodus tradition represented by Exod 23:20-22 forms much of the background for Isa 40:3-5. That Isa 40:1-11 announces a new exodus has been widely recognized (cf. von Rad, McKenzie, Westermann, above). Sahlin xii goes so far as to say that Isa 40-55 as a whole is dependent upon an Exodus schema as its basic compositional principle. While this would have to be substantiated in greater detail, it is true that whenever future deliverance is promised in the OT, the Creation and Exodus traditions are reused (a new creation, a new exodus), just as they are when future punishment is postulated (a breaking forth of chaos, a return into bondage). In sum, the beauty and subtlety of the melding of two different traditions is nowhere more evident than in Isa 40:3. Exodus traditions about guarding the way for Israel (Exod 23:20) are transformed into preparing the way for God, who is heralded as coming forth in all his kingly splendor. The rhetorical fact that a speech of Yahweh (instruction) addressed to Moses becomes a proclamation of a heavenly herald addressing the universe in general (and the exiles in particular) is most important for this melding and resignifying process. When the setting and actors are changed in this way, the content of the Exodus event is brought together with the context of the return from xiii the Exile. xi

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Finally, there is another meaning in the OT for the term "way." It is the metaphorical description of moral behavior. While it is unlikely that there is much of this idea directly to be found in Isa 40:3, the term had this metaphorical potentiality, which was fully exploited in later references to this tradition at Qumran and in the NT.

III. Mal 3:1 A. Text Behold I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me, And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--look!--he is coming, Says the Lord of hosts. B. Analysis 1. The Messenger The identity of the messenger of Mal 3:1 has long been disputed. Here we have another example of the kind of ambiguity which gives rise to later midrash (cf. Mal 3:23, Mark 1:2 et al.). In terms of the passage (Mal 2:17-3:5) itself, three possibilities can be seriously put xiv forward. First, the "messenger" could be God himself. There are two major problems with this view, however. The first is that Yahweh is speaking, and identifies himself in the first person at the end of verse 1 and at the beginning of verse 5. Meanwhile the messenger and his actions are described in the third person. The second is that the "Lord" of 1b is structurally parallel to the "messenger of covenant," both of whom seem to be specifications of the messenger in 1a. The problem of one of God's emissaries coming to his (own or God's) Temple is solved if one considers the role of the messenger as that of purifying the priests, and that the term used is many times used to xv specify the middle court of the Temple as opposed to the holy of holies (e.g. 1 Kgs 6:5 et al.). Quite a few scholars have entertained the idea that "my messenger" of Mal 3:1 was the prophet for which the book of Malachi was named (Mal 1:1). Von Rad draws back from making an absolute determination: "There is debate about whether the prophet thought of a xvi heavenly or an earthly messenger--did he perhaps think of himself as this messenger?" D. G. Clark on the other hand seems more sure that if it is not Malachi himself, we at least have a prophet and not God or an angel in Mal 3:1. In support of this, he cites the later assignation of Elijah to that role (Mal 3:23), showing that it was natural to think of a human mediator here. He also refers to Targum Nebi'im on Isa 40 where "prophets" is inserted at every indeterminate place where "voice" or simply direct discourse stand in the MT. The point Clark makes here is that Mal 3:1 is dependent in part on Isa 40:3, and agrees with the Targum tradition that the messengers par xvii excellence are the prophets. This much is clear: The messenger of Mal 3:1-4 is a figure who will take the title already given to the priests in Mal 2:7. This is a strong rebuke directed against the wicked priesthood of Mal 2:8-9. This messenger will bring about a reform of the priesthood from the outside. Koch, however, states that "the prophets are never expressly referred to as messengers of God. A messenger who genuinely comes from xviii God must be a divine being, such as the 'angel of the Lord'." It may be argued against Koch that in such passages as Jer 23:18, 22--where Jeremiah asks rhetorically if any of the other prophets has been privy to the heavenly council (implying that Jeremiah has), Zech 3:7--where Joshua the high priest is apparently given access to this same council, and Isa 40:1-11--where the prophet is probably understood to be over-hearing the proceedings of the council, the prophet (or priest) as divinely appointed messenger gets his authority from his commissioning in the council meeting in the same way as any other divinely appointed messenger does (cf. 1 Kgs 22:19-22). This does not mean that any prophet considered himself the messenger of the Lord in the strict sense. As a matter of fact, they all seem to have avoided the term. It has been suggested that this avoidance may have been due to the attachment of the idea of a xix bringer of good news to the title "messenger." Yet while it is true that God's messengers usually brought good news (Gen 18--birth of Isaac, Exod 23--safety/victory on the journey, Isa 40--comfort), Exod 23:20-21 already shows both the negative side ("he will guard you . . . bring you . . .") as well as the positive side ("he will not pardon . . .") of the Lord's emissary. As we have seen, it is in this latter role that the messenger of Mal 3:1-4 appears. While arguments for a human mediator (prophet) cannot be entirely dismissed, it seems most likely in light of both the context (the parallel terms in Mal 3:1 would be an awkward reference to a human mediator) and the flow of the tradition (the use of the terminology for divine emissaries and its general avoidance with reference to the prophets) that an esxx chatological angel is to be thought of in Mal 3:1-4. This reference to a divine messenger in Mal 3:1 becomes more likely when one xxi considers the shift from an exodus from Egypt/Babylon to an exodus to the Temple. 3

2. The tradition and the trajectory Here are the beginnings of the hermeneutical shift from a literal to a figurative understanding of the way of the Exodus. Clark sees five stages in this tradition in the OT. 1) Exod 23: Exodus from Egypt; 2) Isa 40: Exodus from Babylon; 3) Isa 57 and 62: The return of the Lord to the rebuilt Temple; 4) Mal 3:1-5: The return of the Lord in judgment (with a focus on the Temple; 5) Mal 3:23: The eschatological xxii return of the Lord in salvation and judgment (with Elijah as his forerunner). We shall see several outcomes of this flow in the NT and Qumran, using different combinations of the above stages. Already in Isa 40 the preparation of the Lord's way may have had a moral component--that of deciding to leave decadent Babylon for desolate Jerusalem. In Mal 3:1, however, the preparation of the way of the Lord is explicitly moral: the reformation of the Jerusalem priesthood and their sacrifices will precede Yahweh's coming to judge the unrighteous. This last observation contains another key shift in the tradition being used. The original Exodus and the exodus from Babylon were essentially promises of salvation, even if there were strings attached (obedience to the "voice," leaving Babylon). But Mal 3:1-5 is a pronouncement of judgment, and this against God's people herself, and not against her enemies. The mention of the "day" of the angel's coming is the beginning of the eschatological realization of this tradition so important for later usage. Not fully developed here, a crack is nevertheless opened through which the full force of the apocalyptic "day of the Lord" will later pass. The malleability of the tradition at this point is such that many new possibilities begin to present themselves which never existed before: 1) A figurative way, 2) A messenger who carries out the first stage of judgment, working as a forerunner to God himself, rather than Israel (this last already in Isa 40:3), 3) A preparation of the people (through purification of the priests), 4) An "exodus" to the Temple rather than from Egypt or Babylon.

IV. Mal 3:23 (4:5) A. Text Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord. B. Analysis 1. Literary Context The most obvious comparison which can be made with the appendix/conclusion to Malachi is with the appendix/conclusion to the the Pentateuch in Deut 34:10-12. (This conclusion itself looks back to Deut 18:15-16, and functions to renew the promise made there). Similar language ("send," "terrible," "great") is used to describe Moses and his deeds and Elijah and his "day." This linguistic connection becomes stronger when Deut 18:15-16 is considered as well. In this text the mediating voice (cf. Isa 40:3, Exod 23:20) and the great fire (cf. Exod 13:21, Mal 3:2, 19) of God are mentioned as well. Other, more primary references are present in Mal 3:22 (Moses, Horeb; cf. Deut 18:16) which seem to function together to give a complete picture. Deut 18:15-16 promises another prophet like Moses at Horeb who stood between Israel and the voice and fire of God (already themselves mediations). Deut 34:10-12 functions to renew this promise of an unknown prophet like Moses, sent by God to do great and terrible things in the name of the Lord. Mal 3:22 brings Moses and xxiii Horeb to mind again, and Mal 3:23 names the unknown prophet who will be like Moses. He will be Elijah redivivus. 2. Elijah Why Elijah? He was like Moses in some very important ways. He met God at Horeb, going forty days and nights without food (1 Kgs 19:8-18, cf. Exod 34:28), where he saw fire and heard the voice of the Lord (v. 12). He worked miracles (1 Kgs 17-18, 2 Kgs 1-2 = "great xxiv and terrible deeds?"), two of which involved fire (1 Kgs 18:38, 2 Kgs 1:9-12). He did not die (2 Kgs 2:11) and so made a likely candidate xxv for an eschatological return. Both typologically and in terms of recurring biographical motifs, Elijah represented a figure quite adaptable to the figure of the "prophet like Moses" of Deut 18 and 34. Elijah the fiery prophet is a restorer in Man 3:24, however. As a matter of fact it is in part Elijah's radically different function from that of the messenger of Mal 3:1 that shows the secondary character of the appendix. There is, then, some tension between the motifs which draw Elijah into place at the end of Mal and the role that he is given there. As we have previously seen, the saving/judging roles of the messenger of the Lord are distinct, but complementary. The pillar of fire (Exod 14:20) was an obscuring cloud of darkness on the 4

Egyptians, but a comfort ("it lit up the night") for the Israelites. This is like the day "burning like an oven" against "all evildoers" which will be a "sun of righteousness . . . with healing in its wings" for those "who fear my name" (Mal 3:19-20). Therefore the (later) identification of the refiner of Mal 3:3 with the fiery prophet of restoration of Mal 3:23 (who is also there the prophet promised in Deut 18 and 34), remains consistent with the judging/saving duality which was already present in the tradition of God's mediation. 3. The hermeneutical shifts At this juncture, there are many streams of tradition flowing in (and out) of Mal 3:23-24. These become rather confusing and as they are combined and recombined it becomes difficult to keep track of each one. The central courses and their changes in direction are nevertheless recognizable and deserve our attention. First of all, the designation of Elijah (a human mediator) as the messenger of the Lord is a major adaptation of the tradition, bringing with it as it does the different tradition concerning the coming of a prophet like Moses from Deut 18 and 34. We can see here how as the traditions flow together they interact to make each one more specific. An originally unnamed angel of the Lord in Exod 23, Isa 40, and Mal 3, becomes Elijah, complete with biographical profile (1 Kgs 17--2 Kgs 2). In the same way an unnamed "prophet like Moses" in Deut xxvi 18 and 34 joins company with Elijah and the messenger. Secondly, this composite figure is given a new role (that of reconciler). This role is itself reminiscent of that required of the members of the heavenly council in Isa 40:1 ("comfort ye my people"). Here is a return to an earlier point in the tradition to pick out and emphasize that which had been submerged in the closer context of that same tradition in Mal 3:1-4 (where "in whom you delight" may be an ironic xxvii reference to the positive side of the messenger tradition). Finally, historical moments of deliverance and/or judgment prepared by the messenger are all drawn up into the idea of the "great and xxviii terrible day of the Lord." This fuller realization of the direction begun in Mal 1:2 is just as important for later uses of the tradition as the shift from angel to Elijah. The whole eschatological/apocalyptic tradition can now be brought to bear on any further mention of Elijah, the prophet like Moses, or the angel of the Lord. B. W. Anderson sees something larger at work in all of this: According to ancient mythological thought, a correspondence existed between terrestrial and temporal things . . . (cf. Exod 25:9, 40). In Israel's tradition, however, a radical change took place: this typology was shifted from a vertical celestial-earthly plane to a horizontal historical one. Here the correspondence is between two temporal termini: the first things and the last things . . . a consistent purpose runs through history from first to last, undergirding xxix the present with meaning. Anderson is both right and wrong in this assessment. Israel's primary categories were temporal, but the spatial dimension was never cast xxx aside. Also, the typologies (vertical or temporal) never functioned in a strictly one-to-one correspondence ("two . . . termini"). Key events (and images) were instead continuously being reused, producing a snowball effect. Each historical crisis, for example, could be depicted as another Endzeit and in this way gather up all of the previous Urzeit-Endzeit momentum for the new situation. The many different traditions which were tapped in this way simply added to the avalanche. Old authoritative traditions never die, they just are reinterpreted.

V. Mark 1:2-3 A. Text Behold I send my messenger before you, who will prepare your way, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight." B. Analysis 1. Literary Context 5

The form of the quote itself is interesting. One of the means used by midrashic interpretation to resignify older traditions is to xxxi combine quotations from different passages. Mal 3:1 is first quoted, but using the second person singular of Exod 23:20, and reading xxxii the MT verb of Mal 3:1 (pinah=kataskeuasei) rather than that of the LXX (epiblepsetai). Then follows a straightforward quote of LXX Isa xxxiii 40:3. The one change from "of our God" to "his" suits the change in referent from God to Jesus. It is important for the equation of the "voice" with John the Baptist (cf. below) for the Isa 40:3 to be taken from the LXX syntactic-poetic division "the voice of one crying in the xxxiv wilderness, 'Prepare'," rather than the MT syntactic-poetic division ("a voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare'"). This composite form (MT Mal 3:1 + LXX Exod 23:20) + LXX Isa 40:3 is found only in Mark. Matt 11:10 and Luke 7:27 use the Mal-Exod xxxv conflation, but separate from the Isa 40:3 quotation, which is correctly attributed to Isa in Matt 3:3 and Luke 3:4. What scholars have tried to explain is the technically incorrect attribution (only in Mark) of Mal 3:1 + Exod 23:20 to Isaiah, as well as the mixed nature of the xxxvi quote. To explain the ascription of the material in Mark 1:2 to Isaiah, some have said faulty memory is to blame. Others have seen xxxvii the uniqueness of the citation as evidence of redaction. These explanations are not necessary if contemporary Jewish exegesis is taken into account. In the synagogue, the Torah was read all the way through (each Seder--15-20 verses approx.), but readings from the prophets (each Haftarah--10 verses approx.) were shortened to make reading the larger corpus feasible and to delete much of the latter's negative material. By this method, and through the linguistic affinity of the texts, the Seder Exod 23:20-33 came to be read along with its corresponding Haftarah Mal 3:1-8 + 23-24. In this way the negative introduction in Mal 2:17, plus the worst of the judgments in Mal 3:9-19 are avoided. Mal 3:1-8 can be understood positively (purification = restoration for Israel) in light of 3:23-24, and the passage (only 10 verses long) can be read aloud easily. Even this was not enough, as verse 24 has a curse in it. Therefore the readers were instructed xxxviii to read verse 23 again at the very end. This explains how Malachi's original message of eschatological judgment could be turned so thoroughly into one of messianic hope. With the synagogue readings, the midrashic connection between Exod 23:20 and Mal 3:1 is further strengthened, and these texts are brought into closer proximity. This goes far in making the Markan quote comprehensible, since the quote itself combines Exod 23:20 and Mal 3:1. It is not possible to discuss here the antiquity of the lectionary readings, but it would seem that all the elements of Mark 1:2 + 4-8 were already present in the combination of Exod 23:20 + Mal 3:1-8 + 23-24, including the understanding of the messenger of Mal 3:1 as Elijah. In other words, Mark probably had heard something very close (minus John the Baptist or Jesus, of course) to the flow of the opening verses of his Gospel from the direction of the synagogue. Also, the description of John the Baptist in Mark 1:6 (=Matt 3:4), brings xxxix to mind the description of Elijah in 2 Kgs 1:8, in which context Elijah is recognized by his clothing. But neither Mark 1:3 = LXX Isa 40:3 nor the basis of the composite quote are explained by all of this. Meanwhile the fact that Isa 40:3 xl was especially important for the NT evangelists is shown by the fact that it is the only formula quote occurring in all four Gospels. Clark has seen that "It is certainly significant, as Bulmerincq has noted, that the piel of pnh with derek occurs only in four places: Isa 40:3, xli 57:14, 62:10; Mal 3:1." Fitzmyer notes concerning this fact: Possibly a collection of texts existed that dealt with "preparing the way," and in the course of time it was thought xlii that all the passages were from Isaiah. It is not necessary to posit ignorance on the part of the NT writers, however. The following explanation appears to be the most economical while still taking into account all of the data: As shown above, the Exod 23:20 and Mal 3:1-23 texts were conflated based on a tradition of reading them together which is represented in the synagogue lections. The composite quote of this conflation with Isa 40:3 is based on a group of texts (Isa 40:3, 57:14, 62:10; and Mal 3:1) united by a linguistic affinity occurring in the Hebrew form of the texts. Finally, the result was quoted from the LXX (with the significant exception of the linking word in Mal 3:1 which still depended on the MT, and the change from "of our God" to "his") in Mark, following common NT practice in formal quotes. The quote probably already came with the ascription to Isaiah (cf. Matt 3:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23), and it may have simply been part of the nature of testimonies to be assimilated to the dominant figure represented therein. Chapter 40 of Isaiah certainly would have filled this dominant role for the NT xliii writers. Terrien has described well the phenomena of Mark 1:1-8: "Any pious member of the Jewish community who knew the Hebrew Scriptures in the first century A.D. would have at once caught the cluster of thematic associations which these biblical xliv reminiscences summoned to mind." 2. Preparation as repentance The conflate, composite quote in Mark 1:2-3 gives John the Baptist=Elijah=the messenger two roles. The first is simply to be the forerunner of the kurios, Jesus. But as the "voice" of Mark 1:3 = Isa 40:3, he is to command his audience to "prepare the way of the Lord." In what does this preparation consist? In Isa 40 it is very likely to leave the comfort of Babylon to return home. Later (having 6

returned home) in Third Isaiah (57:13-14, 62:9-10) it is implicitly to rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem. In Mal 3:1-4 (having rebuilt Temple and city) it is to reform the sacrificial system. In Mal 3:23-24 it is apparently a moral or personal reconciliation ("restore the xlv heart . . ."). In Mark 1:3 it is repentance and reverential messianic expectation (cf. 1:4, 7-8). This last usage has its background in the one before it in Mal 3:23-24, as well as one of the subsequent trajectories of interpretation of apokatastesei=heshib within first century Judaism. For some, "this restoration came to be conceived of as a mass repentance on the part xlvi of all Israel." Sirach 48:10 uses epistrepsai in the phrase "turn the heart . . ." which can be understood as repentance, and is consistent xlvii with Sirach's eschatological Elijah. This Elijah will initiate a new exodus which will bring back the Diaspora to the land of Israel. For Qumran as well as for Tannaitic Period Judaism in general, the "opening of the way" was the diligent study (midrash) of the Torah. Furthermore, this study was to take place in the wilderness, the place where the Torah was originally given to Moses by God. The Targumim support this interpretation. But Qumran and the NT have this in common: it is obedience to the Torah which prepares the xlviii way, not either simply the appearance of John the Baptist as Elijah (Luke 3:10-14), or merely the study of Torah (1QS 9:19).

3. Messianic Figures in the NT There were probably several different ideas about Elijah/the Messiah/the day of the Lord and their relation to one another which were current in NT times. It was the NT's preoccupation with who Jesus was that determined its interpretations of Elijah. For example, when Jesus acts like Elijah the bringer of the Kingdom and the man of fire in the NT (his baptism of fire, his cleansing of the Temple) he is identified as the latter. When Jesus represents the Kingdom itself, then John the Baptist must be Elijah the precursor who first restores all things (Mark 9:12-13). Finally, when Elijah is cast as a messianic figure himself, John the Baptist must deny that he is the same (John 1:21). Jesus' messiahship, on the other hand, is ambiguous enough for the Gospel writers that they are reluctant to make an explicit identification of him with a known OT messianic figure (e.g. David, Moses, Aaron, Elijah). Jesus is instead the suffering Son of Man, the mysterious Messiah, who is nonetheless pictured as fulfilling in his actions several of the roles of the various eschatological personages. There were "various strands of popular expectation" (Mark 6:15, 8:28) concerning eschatological/messianic persons which were not consistent with each other, but which might be assimilated to each other (cf. the highly complex functions of "Elijah" in the NT). John the Baptist can paint Jesus "from Malachi's palette" (Matt 3:12=Luke 3:17), and Jesus can also paint John the Baptist "from Malachi's palette" xlix (Matt 11:10=Luke 7:27). J. A. T. Robinson believes that Jesus changed his opinion of himself as Elijah to himself as Christ. While this may have actually happened, in terms of the total NT picture of Jesus, Elijah and John the Baptist, "Elijah" versus "Christ" is our modern distinction. The imagery of the NT is consistent in terms of the functions of John the Baptist (Elijah-restorer) and Jesus (Elijah-refiner). The problem presented to the reader trying to understand the various OT figures in their relation to NT persons is that literary figures (in this case from the OT) are never person-specific. That is, they can be represented by various individuals. These figures are what they do. Their function is the important thing about them, and anyone fulfilling their role can be identified in that instance with them. Obviously, the NT evangelists were free to use whatever backdrop was necessary to illustrate the character of the contemporary figure (Jesus, John the li Baptist, etc.) they were concerned with at the time. l

VI. John 14:2b, 4, 16 A. Text I go to prepare a place for you . . . And you know the way where I am going. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, to be with you until the end of the age. B. Analysis 1. A Midrashic Matrix John 14:1-4 reminds the reader midrashically of Deut 1:29-33; the latter apparently provides the linguistic matrix for John's pericope. Beyond that, the linguistic connections to the Exod 23:20-Isa 40:3-Mal 3:1 tradition are also strong and are more central thematically. "I go to prepare (hetoimasai) a place for you . . . you know the way" looks like an amalgam of the OT texts we have been 7

examining, with a return to the earlier idea of Exod 23:20 that a place was to be prepared (MT--cun, LXX--hetoimatzo, cf. Isa 40:3 where lii MT piel pnh also is LXX hetoimatzo). But John seems to be aware of more OT text-connections than simply the messenger-complex and its related texts. These other texts-connections must be brought to light before the new points John was trying to score with old traditions can be understood. 2. A Place Prepared By far the closest linguistic and thematic connection in John 14:1-4 is that it shares with the LXX of Exod 23:20 ". . . he will bring you to a land which I have prepared for you." But there is still considerable distance between the texts if Jesus is talking about going to heaven and the Lord is talking about going to Canaan. liii The "place" Jesus will prepare for his disciples is in his father's "house" in heaven. Both terms were commonly used in NT times to refer to the Temple (cf. oikia--John 2:16-17) or a religious shrine (topos--John 4:20; a particularly common usage among the Samaritans). In the OT as well, the fact that maqom was used to indicate a holy place is especially well illustrated by Exod 20:24: "in every place where liv I cause my name to be remembered . . ." (cf. Deut 26:2, Gen 28:11, 16-19 where the "place"="house of God"). These observations bring us to one of the most important midrashic relationships represented within John 14:1-4, one which allows John to carry the Exodus tradition over into the idea of going to heaven. We have already seen how John 14:2 returns to the idea in Exod 23:20 of a prepared place. In Exod 23:20 this place is Canaan, and the Lord's angel will safely guide the Israelites there. By the Tannaitic period, however, a tradition had grown up that this maqom was the Temple in Jerusalem. What is more, this tradition included at its center that the Jerusalem sanctuary corresponded exactly to the heavenly archetype. Of course the idea of the heavenly blueprint for lv the tabernacle in Exod 25:9, 40 was not new. But the Midrashim go much further. At various points they describe the Temple at lvi Jerusalem as the gate of heaven (cf. Gen 28:17) and the navel (also the center or highest part) of the earth. Thus Rashi on Exod 23:20: The midrash concerning 'unto the place which I have prepared'--already my place is opposite (neged) it. And this is lvii one of the readings which say that the sanctuary above is opposite (macon) the one below. Obviously, according to this tradition the place which God had prepared for the Israelites was the Temple at Jerusalem, and by extension, the corresponding temple in heaven. The earlier tradition represented in the haggadic literature thus sets the stage for Jesus' words in lviii John 14:2: "In my father's house there are many mansions . . . I go to prepare a place for you." 3. "You know the way . . . I am the way" At the end stage of any tradition it is natural for layers of meaning to pile up on one another. This is especially true of key words or phrases in the tradition. When Jesus tells his disciples he is point to "prepare a place" for them, there are overtones of the exodus(es), early Christian worship, eschatology, and a heavenly temple. Yet the statement itself in the present context is simply meant to reassure those who are worried (Peter, Phillip) about his departure. This richness of meaning is also present in Jesus' statements about the "way." It is not necessary to review the occurrences of "way" in the texts we have examined above. It is central to all of them. It begins as the literal way of the first Exodus, is used to describe subsequent release, picks up moral overtones, is metaphorized and eschatologized. This semantic pathway leads directly to Jesus' description of himself as the way. In making this statement, several new elements are added to the already meaning-laden term. The first is that this is the way to heaven (John 14:2-3). But this is only the surface meaning and plays upon the gullibility of the disciples to introduce the deeper levels of lix meaning. Jesus as the way represents the way of the righteous (Ps 1:6), the way of peace (Isa 59:8; Rom 3:17) the straight way (Prov 11:5; Acts 13:10), the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), the way of truth (2 Pet 2:21), the way of God (Acts 18:25-26). This way is reciprocally "known" by God when it is righteous human behavior (Ps 1:6) and by obedient humans when it is God's norms (John 14:4; Acts 2:28, 2 lx Pet 2:21). The latter is of course not known by those rejecting it (Isa 59:8; Rom 3:17; Heb 3:10). This makes more explicit the moral overtones of the "way" and unites that whole moral reading of the term with the Exodus trajectory. It is no coincidence that early Christianity chose this name as its self-description (Acts 9:2, 19:9, 23, 22:4, 24:14, 22). The use of "way" in John 14:1-6 carries the shift from geographical passage to spiritual journey that is implied in John's spiritualization of the Exodus' prepared "place" from Canaan to a heavenly temple a step further. Using "you know the way . . ." (presumably to heaven but also moral here) as a stepping stone, Jesus introduces "I am the way," and suddenly the journey to heaven is the way of life of the believer.

8

But there is more to this way of life than morality. C. K. Barrett has seen an echo of John 14:2-3 in Mark 10:40 ("prepared") and the contexts (John 13:36-38; Mark 10:38-39) show that the way of Jesus was not only the way to heaven but was the way of suffering and lxi death. This connection of the Exodus way with death is not unique to John. Luke calls Jesus' death an "exodus" (9:31), and the author lxii of 2 Pet uses the same term for his own death (1:15). Both usages are obvious references to the OT Exodus traditions. 4. "Comfort ye . . . he will give you another comforter" Though John 14:2-3 go back to the Exod 23:20 idea of a prepared place, verse 4 does mention the way. Even with the radical metaphorizing the term undergoes, Isa 40:3 is still recognizable beneath the surface. If Jesus prepares a place, he also goes before the disciples in the way of his Passion, and thus "prepares" it for them as well. Beyond this a look at verse 16 of John 14 with the promise of "another Paraclete" gives the strong impression of having Isa 40:1 in mind. Isa 40:1 gives the plural command to the members of the heavenly council to "comfort my people" (LXX--parakleite tou laou mou). John 14:16, then, presents two members of the heavenly lxiii council who are "comforters," Jesus (cf. Luke 2:25-32 and 1 John 2:1) and the coming Holy Spirit. Actually the Comfort/Comforter of Israel is a little more nuanced than a simple equation with Jesus and/or the Holy Spirit leads one to believe. For instance, in 1QH 11:32 and 21:3 God is the Comforter. In John 14:16 Jesus will pray to the father to send another comforter. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are therefore representatives of the true Paraclete of Israel--God himself. But even this is too simplistic. The idea of the Paraclete is closely tied up in John 14:26 with the Holy Spirit (cf. v. 17 "Spirit of Truth"). This "Spirit" in later Christian orthodoxy came to be seen as one of the members of the trinity. In Tannaitic Judaism ". . . nehemah became a general term for the messianic redemption" (cf. Str-Bil. 2:125; Luke 2:25, 38; 2 Bar lxiv 44:7). This is the trajectory in John 14:16. In spite of the general use of parakaleo to indicate forensic activity (advocacy), the context of John 14 brings the connotation of comfort/redemption to the fore. ". . . the spirit given by Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of lxv 'comfort' which Judaism believed God was to bestow" (cf. Luke 2:25 versus 1 Pet 2:1). Before closing the chapter on the apparent connection of John 14:16 and Isa 40:1, two objections to this must be met. The above connection was in part confirmed by the use of "way" in John 14:4, 6, and the implication by extension that this way was "prepared" by Jesus (vv. 2-3). The first objection to this is as follows: How could John use Isa 40:1 in John 14:16 (parakaleo), Isa 40:3 in John 14:4, 6 (hodos), and yet return to Exod 23:20 (topos) for one of the key terms of his midrash? One might just as easily ask how Mark could use LXX Mal 3:1 (but with the verb dependent on the MT), changing the pronouns (from "me"=God to "you"=Jesus) to those of Exod 23:20, but then go on and ignore the place prepared in Exod 23:20 in favor of the way prepared in Isa 40:3 and Mal 3:1. The best explanation seems to be that the individual elements of this amalgam of texts (Exod 23:20, Isa 40:1-3, Mal 3:1, 23) concerning a messenger/herald/redeemer, who will prepare a way/place/people were used interchangeably to suit the purposes of the Gospel writer in producing a thematic midrash. This is lxvi not so strange if these OT texts were already understood as belonging to one another through their linguistic affinity. The second objection is more sophisticated. M. E. Boismard has noted that the stage of eschatology in John 14:1-4 is heaven-oriented and contrasts sharply with the realized eschatology in the later part of chapter 14 (including the Paraclete). Boismard postulates levels of lxvii redaction at this point. If, however, the midrashic connections above are correct, this kind of use of the OT traditions might well place the use of all possible relevant texts above a consistent eschatological perspective. This is not to say that there was no progression in the early Church's eschatological vision, for there undoubtedly was. Here, however, we have two stages in that vision presented together and linked by OT references which were themselves closely related to one another prior to their use here. Older stages in any tradition do not easily die out, but are incorporated in each successive stage. In John 14:1-3 and 14:16 eschatologies which might otherwise collide are fused by Jesus' statements in verses 4-6 "you know the way . . . I am the way..."

9

Notes i.

Septuagint

ii.

Zech 3:1, uses "angel of the Lord" almost as Memra and other devices are used in the Targumim for avoiding direct reference to God in a possibly impious way. Zech 3:1 uses it to avoid implying that Joshua the high priest could actually stand before God himself (cf. Gen 16:7-14, 22:11, 15-16; Judg 2:1, Ps 34:7). iii.

There is another undeveloped tradition of the angel of the Lord as the one who carries out punishment by death (2 Sam 24:16; Isa 37:36; cf. Acts 12:23). iv.

Childs, Exodus, p. 586. One may well ask whether hypostasis might be a better word than embodiment. Childs (pp. 486-87), lists Exod 14:19, 32:34, 33:2, Num 20:16, Zech 12:3 (and passim) for other repetitive, static occurrences of the angel tradition of Exod 23:20. He also lists Isa 63:9; Mal 3:1; as secondary references to this tradition, and Gen 21:17; Judg 6:11-14; as earlier attestations of "the angel of God" signifying God himself. v.

G. von Rad, Old Testament Theology. vols. 1-2, (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 1:288. Freedman and Simon, eds., Midrash Rabbah. vols. 1-10, (London: Soncino, 1939), p. 407. Massoretic Text

vi.

vii.

viii.

J. Muilenburg, "Isaiah 40-66." in The Interpreter's Bible, (Nashville: Abingdon, 1956), p. 426; F. M., Jr. Cross, "The Council of Yahweh in Second Isaiah," (JNES 12 (1953):274-77), pp. 274-77; J. L. McKenzie, Second Isaiah. The Anchor Bible, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1968), p. 17. ix.

Westermann, Isaiah 40-66, p. 38, M. D. Goulder, The Evangelists' Calendar, (London: SPCK, 1978), p. 163. McKenzie, Second Isaiah, p. 18. Another "mediating institution," cf. "daughter of the voice" in the Tannaitic Period. H. Sahlin, Zur Typologie des Johannesevangeliums, (Uppsala: Lundequistska Bokhandeln, 1950), pp. 74-78.

x.

xi.

xii.

xiii.

Muilenburg, "Isaiah 40-66" p. 427; cf. W. Harrelson, "Non-Royal Motifs in the Royal Eschatology" in Israel's Prophetic Heritage for further examples of this type of mixed imagery. Isaiah 40:10-11 is an example near at hand in its bringing together of Holy Warrior and Good Shepherd images. This kind of broad, thematic (and sometimes structural) taking up and passing on of a tradition in a new form and with a new meaning exists alongside the more well-known word-tally midrash type. Words and phrases are not fixed in this kind of adaptation, but the basic story line is presented with new actors and a new context. The word-tally type pays much closer attention to key words or phrases themselves, while ironically taking much more radical departures from the sense and direction of the texts being used (cf. Mal 3:23/Deut 34:10-12 in discussion below). xiv.

Ibid., p. 400. Brown, Lexicon, p. 228.

xv.

10

xvi.

Rad, Theology, 2:289. D. G. Clark, "Elijah as Eschatological High Priest," (PH.D. dissertation, Notre Dame, 1975), pp. 63-64.

xvii.

xviii.

Koch, Growth, pp. 216-17. Koch admits uncertainty in this statement at only one point--Mal 3:1 (!), yet he does not mention less ambiguous exceptions (e.g. Hag 1:13, 1 Chr 36:15-16). xix.

J. Foster, "Go and Make Ready," (ET 63 (1952)), pp. 104-106. Eissfeldt, Introduction, p. 442; It is Mal 3:23 which takes the additional step to eschatological Elijah.

xx.

xxi.

Clark, "Elijah as High Priest," pp. 44-49; W. Wink, John the Baptist in the Gospel Tradition, (Cambridge: CUP, 1968), p. 2. xxii.

Ibid., pp. 52-66; Clark notes that the two Isaiah occurrences of pinah derek (other than Isa 40:3) in Isa 57:14 and 62:10 are a "reworking of Exodus imagery into oracles of salvation where the literal Exodus road now becomes the figurative path for Yahweh's coming . . ." to his Temple! Thus at least the literal to figurative shift as well as the Temple focus took place already here. xxiii.

Ibid., pp. 38-40, 68, 235, 37.

xxiv.

Both in Exod 3:2 and 14:19-20 (cf. 13:21) the angel is connected with fire. In fact, it is his medium of manifestation. There are quite a lot of linguistic connections (e.g. "send," "great," "terrible," "voice," "fire," "Horeb," "Moses") between Mal 3:23; Deut 18:15-16; 34:10-12; and elements in the biographical sketches of Elijah. The texts are not very close in their story lines, however. For example, the great and terrible deeds in Deut or miracles in Kgs become a great and terrible day in Mal. The fire of God's presence in Deut becomes the refining and judging fire of Mal, or the demonstration of Yahweh's power in Kgs. This looks like the beginnings of midrash in the sense that the rabbis would have understood it. xxv.

Clark, "Elijah as High Priest," p. 67; Stuhlmueller ("Malachi," p. 401) states "A later prophet seeks to identify the messenger of Yahweh (3:1), with the return of Elijah. The latter's sudden departure (2 Kgs 2:11) gave rise to stories about his reappearance upon earth (Sir 48:10-12; 1 Enoch 90:31; Mishnah Eduyoth 8:7, etc.)" Though Moses did die in Deut 34:5, there was another very common tradition of his assumption (cf. Mark 9:4 and par; Assumption of Moses). xxvi.

Clark, "Elijah as High Priest," p. 80.

xxvii.

C. H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures, (London: Nisbet, 1952), p. 24 cites Numbers Rabbah 13:7 as an occurrence of the idea that the messenger will come suddenly and positively (Elijah-like). Evidently this is a combination of Mal 3:1 and 3:23. xxviii.

E. Jenni, "Day of the Lord." in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Buttrick, G. A., ed., (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), pp. 784-85. This idea has, of course, a tradition history of its own, and its development parallels in some ways that of the concept of the Lord's angel. Amos (5:18-20) reminds his audience that judgment on the day of the Lord was upon the unrighteous, and not necessarily only upon Israel's enemies (cf. Mal 3:1-4). Though the disaster of 587 is later referred to as this day (Lam 1:21, Ezek 34:12), still later the day is again one of salvation for Israel (Isa 61:2, Mal 3:23-24), and destruction for her enemies, this time in the Eschaton (e.g. Zech 12-14 passim, et al.). 11

xxix.

B. W. Anderson, "Exodus Typology in Second Isaiah." in Israel's Prophetic Heritage. Harrelson, W., eds., (New York: Harper & Bros., 1962), p. 190. xxx.

Anderson, B. W., and

As for the shift, cf. von Rad (II. B. 3. above) who sees the vertical typology as a late phenomenon in Israel's thinking. xxxi.

K. Stendahl, The School of St. Matthew, (Uppsala: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1954), p. 216; Sanders, Torah and Canon, passim. xxxii.

R. Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), p. 62. Presumably the LXX verb of Mal 3:1 (epiblepsetai) departed too much from the basic meaning of "prepare" (piel of pnh), while the LXX's hetoimasate of Isa 40:3 was already a given (cf. below, where in Exod 23:20 and John 14:2 cun=hetoimasai). xxxiii.

M. Black, An Aramaic Approach to the Gospels and Acts, (Oxford: Clarendon, 1957 (2nd ed.)), p. 72.

xxxiv.

R. Schnackenburg, The Gospel According to St. John, (New York: Seabury, 1968), p. 291; J. van de Waard, A Comparative Study of the Old Testament Text in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament, (Leiden: Brill, 1965), pp. 29-51. Qumran 1QIsa has "wilderness" parallel to "desert" (1QS 8:14 omits "a voice cries" also). LXX evidently omits "wilderness," and connects "a voice cries" with "in the desert." Vul and Syr are like LXX while the other ancient Greek version and Palestinian Targums follow the MT division. The NT follows the LXX, but John seemingly compresses the quote, and puts it on the lips of John the Baptist. xxxv.

J. P. Meier, "John the Baptist in Matthew's Gospel," (JBL 99/3 (1980):383-405), p. 394.

xxxvi.

H. M. Shires, Finding the Old Testament in the New, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), p. 17 would have done better at this point to depend on a midrashic maxim he quotes from R. H. Gundry on the same page: ". . . in the NT period the interweaving of scriptural phraseology and one's own words was a conscious literary method." xxxvii.

J. A. T. Robinson, "Elijah, John, and Jesus: An Essay in Detection," (NTS 4 (1957/58):263-81), pp. 270-71; V. Taylor, The Gospel According to St. Mark, (Grand Rapids: Baker (reprint), 1978), p. 153. xxxviii.

C. Perrot, La Lecture de la Bible dans la Synagogue, (Hildesheim: Gerstenberg, 1973), p. 65; J. Mann, The Bible as Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue. vol. 1, (New York: KTAV, 1971), p. 479; U. W. Mauser, Christ in the Wilderness, (Chatham: W. & J. Makay, 1963), p. 81. xxxix.

Stuhlmueller, "Malachi," pp. 400-401; Dodd, According to the Scriptures, pp. 71-72; B. Lindars, New Testament Apologetic: The Doctrinal Significance of the Old Testament Quotations, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), pp. 206-207; Robinson ("Detection," p. 264) notes that the description of John the Baptist's clothes (Mark 1:6/Matt 3:4) could refer to the prophetic mantle in general (cf. Zech 13:4). By NT times, however, prophets and their mantles were not part of general experience, while close attention to detail in the sacred texts was. The allusion stands. xl.

R. T. Fortna, The Gospel of Signs, (Cambridge: University Press, 1970), p. 172. Waard (Comparative Study, p. 83) mentions that Stendahl thinks Isa 40:3 is a prooftext for John the Baptist. E. D. Freed, "Old Testament Quotations in the Gospel of John," (NT Sup 11 (1965):11-61) points out that John uses euthunate instead of hetoimasate to translate penu, unless he is quoting from memory and substituting the verb (yasharu) of the next MT clause, which he does not use. But John knows his texts very well and keeps his terms straight. Later (John 14:1-5), Jesus will 12

prepare (hetoimatzo) a heavenly place (cf. Exod 23:20), but here John the Baptist will make straight (euthuno) an earthly, moral way which Jesus will follow (cf. discussion on Isa 40:3 above and John 14:2 below). xli.

Clark, "Elijah as High Priest," p. 46. Stendahl, School, pp. 50-52; Fitzmyer, Semitic Background, pp. 62-63.

xlii.

xliii.

R. E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1979), pp. 283-84; Wink, John the Baptist, p. 2; Dodd (According to the Scriptures, p. 84) makes the case: ". . . when we come to [Isa] chapter 40 . . . we reach again a really important source of testimonies." Here we have, in 40:1-11, a locus classicus of the hope of redemption. The vocabulary of the passage is such as was peculiarly congenial to early Christianity: parakalein, soterion, euangelitzesthai, kurios erxetai. xliv.

Terrien, Presence, p. 413.

xlv.

The Midrash Rabbah on Deut also combined Mal 3:1 + 23 (Freedman, Midrash Rabbah 4:11, p. 101) to make Elijah the messenger of salvation rather than "Malachi" the messenger of judgment. ". . . as it is said 'Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet (Mal 3:23), and he will come and comfort you.'" (6:7, p. 125). xlvi.

Wink, John the Baptist, p. 3; cf. Pirke de R. Eliezer 43 (25a). Clark, "Elijah as High Priest," pp. 72-73.

xlvii.

xlviii.

M. Burrows, The Dead Sea Scrolls, (New York: Viking, 1955), p. 383; W. Meeks, The Prophet King: Moses Traditions and the Johannine Christology. NT Sup 14, (Leiden: Brill, 1967), p. 172; Waard, Comparative Study, p. 53. xlix.

M. Faierstein, "Why do the Scribes say that Elijah must come first?," (JBL 100/1 (1981):75-86), pp. 75-86.

l.

Robinson, "Detection," pp. 270-71.

li.

Contra M. Burrows, "Prophecy and the Prophets at Qumran." in Israel's Prophetic Heritage. Anderson, B. W., and Harrelson, W., eds., (New York: Harper & Bros., 1962), pp. 223-32; Some other miscellaneous examples of this are: (1) An angel of the Lord heralds the birth of Jesus (Matt 1:20; Luke 2:9) as well as John the Baptist (Luke 1:11). (2) Matt (28:2) states that it was an angel of the Lord who rolled the stone away from Jesus' tomb. In Mark 16:4-7 Jesus himself is that angel (he goes before the disciples to Galilee), while the "young man" (v. 5) is part of the general angel-as-message-deliverer tradition of the OT. lii.

R. A. Cole, Exodus, (Downers Grove: I. V. Press, 1973), p. 181 (nearly alone among commentators) correctly sees that "Christ may be alluding to this verse in John 14:2, 3." McNamara, Targum and Testament, pp. 142-43 quotes instead Targum Neofiti in Exod 33:14 "'The glory of my Shekinah will accompany amongst you and will prepare a resting place for you.' This brings to mind Christ's words in John 14:2: 'I go to prepare a place for you.'" liii.

Cf. related "preparations" in Mark 10:40-seat; Matt 25:34-Kingdom; Heb 11:16-a city; Rev 21:2-heavenly Jerusalem; and more distant literary allusions to preparation of place and way in 1 Cor 2:9 and Rev 12:6, 16:12. liv.

E. D. Freed, "Did John write his Gospel partly to win Samaritan Converts?," (NT 12 (1970):241-56), p. 242; D. 13

Daube, "The Earliest Structure of the Gospels," (NTS 5 (1958/59):174-87), pp. 179-83 also has shown that maqom was used in a religious sense to indicate the divine presence. His illustration is its use as a substitute for the name of God in the Passover Haggadah. lv.

Rad, Theology, 2:288, 2:365.

lvi.

V. Aptowitzer, "Bet Hamigdash Al Pi Hahaggada," (Tarbiz II (1930-31):137-53, 257-87), pp. 144-48; Goldin, Song, pp. 45-47. 1 Kgs 8:43 uses macon leshibteka also to refer to God's temple in heaven. Cf. Rev. 7:15, 16:17. lvii.

Rosenbaum, Rashi, p. 126 (also Tanhuma at same verse); Cf. Philo (T. E. Page, et al. eds., Philo Judaeus, (Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1949-54), 3:46-55): "The world . . . is God's house (oikon) . . . a sanctuary (hagiasma) . . . a copy of the original: (mimema, arcetupou) . . . prepared by the hands of God (hetoimasthai)." The parallels are both obvious and striking. lviii.

W. K. L. Clarke, New Testament Problems, (London: SPCK, 1929), pp. 98-99 is at least partly right in seeing the place prepared as a seat at the heavenly banquet (cf. Mark 14:15; Luke 14:9-10; Rev 12:6). lix.

This "straight-man" dullness on the part of the disciples is a common literary device in the Gospels--and a particular favorite of John. lx.

Cf. the "doctrine of the two ways" in Proverbs and the "way of the Lord" as subjective genitive in the OT. C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, (London: SPCK, 1958), p. 381.

lxi.

lxii.

A. Jaubert, "The Calendar of Qumran and the Passion Narrative in John." in John and Qumran. Charlesworth, J. H., ed., (London: Chapman, 1972), p. 68; In fact, Luke has Jesus talking to Moses about his "exodus" which he would "fulfill"--the latter being the key term in Matthew and Luke for Jesus' messianic activity. lxiii.

Guilding, Jewish Worship, p. 89 and Barret, John, p. 386 have seen the philological connection between John 14:16 and Isa 40:1, but nothing more. lxiv.

Leaney, "Paraclete," pp. 42-43.

lxv.

G. Quispel, "Qumran, John, and Jewish Christianity." in John and Qumran. Charlesworth, J. H., ed., (London, Chapman, 1972), p. 147; Leaney, "Paraclete," p. 44. lxvi.

Isa/Mal--pinah derek; Exod/Mal--angelos mou; Exod/Isa--hetoimatzo. For a fine example of this kind of text-weaving cf. 11QMelch in J. A. Sanders, "The OT in 11Q Melchizedek," (JANESCU 5 (1973):373-82). lxvii.

M. E. Boismard, "L' volution du Thme Eschatologique dans les Traditions Johanniques," (RB 68 (1961):507-24), p. 520; W. G. Kmmel, Introduction to the New Testament (Keel, H. C. Trans.), (New York: Abingdon, 1975), pp. 209-10, however, states: "on substantive grounds it is highly improbable that the futuristic passages [in John] are interpolated, because futuristic eschatology is found also in uncontested places (3:5; 10:9, 2:32, 14:3, 17:2-4) and is theologically indispensable."

14