Now when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, [John the baptist] said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (Matt. 3:7/Lk. 3:7)
When Jesus began his ministry, his cousin John had already started preaching about a coming judgment, saying that it would be brought about by the one coming after him (Matt. 3:7-12/Lk. 3:7-17). The theme of judgment continued to resonate throughout Jesus’ teachings, as recorded in the synoptic gospels, well after John’s death. But what exactly is the “day of judgment” that Jesus spoke of (Matt. 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36)? Does it, as many Christians assume, refer to what happens when people die and go either to ‘hell’ or ‘heaven’? Does it refer to a historical event? Is it something that will happen when Jesus returns to earth? In this series of posts, we’ll look at Jesus’ ministry in its historical context to see what he and his listeners, as second-Temple Jews, would have understood by this.
The hope of Israel
What did second-Temple Jews in Jesus’ day expect to happen? Their hope could be summed up in a single phrase: “the kingdom of God.” From the earliest period of Israel’s history, the Jewish prophets looked forward to a future when Jerusalem would become the foremost city, a light to the many nations who would come there to follow God (Isa. 2:2-4; Joel 3:16-21; Mic. 4:1-4; Zeph. 3:12-20; cf. Hab. 2:14).
When the Israelites were exiled from their land, they maintained this expectation (Isa. 42:1-4; 49:5-6; 60:8-16; 62:1-7; 65:18-25; 66:10-23; Jer. 3:14-18; Ezek. 17:22-24; Zech. 8:11-23; 14:8-21), and added to it a new one. God’s covenant with David wouldn’t be forsaken; he would set as king over Israel a descendant of David to rule forever (Ps. 89:19-51; Isa. 42:6; 49:8; 55:3-5; Jer. 23:5-6; 30:8-9; 33:14-16; Ezek. 21:25-27; 34:20-31; 37:24-28; Amos 9:11-15; cf. Hos. 3:4-5). This would, in other words, be a restoration of “the kingdom of YHWH in the hands of the descendants of David” (2 Chron. 13:4-8; cf. Exod. 19:5; Ps. 114:2; 1 Chron. 17:7-14; 28:5; 29:23).
This expectation, in the passages cited above, is usually associated with the coming of the gentiles to worship God. It’s also frequently couched in ‘kingdom of God’ language. “In that day,” says Zechariah, “YHWH will become king over the whole earth” (14:9). YHWH is his people’s king, therefore he will reign and save them (Isa. 33:22; 43:14-15; 44:2-6; 52:7; Ezek. 20:33-44; Obad. 21; Mic. 2:12-13; Zeph. 3:14-15).
But even after Israel returned from exile, the problem remained — many of God’s people continued to be rebellious, the gentiles failed to recognize YHWH’s supremacy, and Israel was ruled by pagans rather than her Davidic king! For these reasons, most Israelites continued to see the exile as ongoing and the ‘kingdom of God’ as still future. [1] Daniel demonstrates this re-framing of the issue: Israel would be ruled by a succession of pagan empires before she would be vindicated in her God’s kingdom (Dan. 2:37-45; 7:17-27), and her exile would be extended from seventy years to seventy times seven! (9:24-27) God’s people would also go through a period of severe tribulation before vindication (11:29-12:4).
Later Jewish writings take various positions on the issue of ‘God’s kingdom.’ The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach took the position that God’s kingdom had come, exemplified in the wise reign of his high priest Simon ben Onias (50:1-24). This was quickly disproven when the succession of high priests was ended by Antiochus IV’s oppression of the Jews in 167-4 BC. 1 Maccabees claimed that it came with the rise of the Hasmonean dynasty of priest-kings (14:4-14), which was also disproven when Rome conquered them in 63 BC and the Herodians took their place.
The view that God’s kingdom had already come was mostly confined to the priestly elite which later became the Sadducees; the common people of Israel knew the situation was much worse than it may have seemed to their rulers. The Essenes, whose writings are preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls, undertook a serious critique of Jerusalem’s present rulers which presented them as Israel’s true enemy. They looked forward to the future establishment of God’s kingdom and the restoration of the Davidic monarchy (e.g., 4Q174 1.10-19). They, with other second-Temple Jews, thought that the current priestly-Temple system was utterly corrupt and would be overthrown (CD 5.6-7; 7.9-21; 19.33-20.13; 1 Enoch 89:65-77).
Among those Jews who believed in a future kingdom (the Pharisees, Essenes, and ‘people of the land’ or commoners), the biblical hope of salvation for the gentiles was replaced by the expectation that God would utterly destroy the gentiles (e.g., Ps. Sol. 17:21-32; 1QSb 5.23-293; Wis. 3:7-8; 5:17-6:5; 4 Ezra 13:3-11, 25-38). This was unfortunate, but understandable in light of their persecution by several pagan empires. According to Josephus, it was this expectation that led them to revolt against Rome in AD 66 (Wars 6.5.4).
First-century Jews, therefore, looked forward to the establishment of the ‘kingdom of God,’ the restoration of God’s people, which would be marked by: (1) the defeat of Israel’s enemies (seen as the gentiles); (2) the purification of the Temple cult (if it was corrupt); (3) the restoration of the Davidic monarchy; and (4) the establishment of Jerusalem as the foremost city in the world.
The focus of Jesus’ ministry
Onto this scene of fervent Jewish expectation bursts Jesus, proclaiming from the very beginning of his ministry, “The time has been fulfilled! God’s kingdom is at hand!” (Mk. 1:15/Matt. 4:17) The message that he preached was said to be “the good news of God’s kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 10:7; 24:14; Mk. 1:15; Lk. 4:43; 8:1; 16:16; cf. Ac. 8:12). God’s kingdom would come soon, even before some of Jesus’ disciples died (Mk. 9:1/Matt. 16:28/Lk. 9:27). Indeed, it was already coming through his work in healing people and defeating demons (Matt. 12:28/Lk. 11:20).
Any second-Temple Jew would have known what this meant, whether or not they agreed: God was about to bring about the promised restoration of his people. To the common people of Israel, it was a message of hope; to the Pharisees, who expected a very different kind of kingdom, a challenge; to the complacent priestly elite, a dangerous threat.
But the kingdom that Jesus preached was different from what most second-Temple Jews, especially the Pharisees, were expecting. They thought that Israel’s true enemy was the gentiles, thus rejecting their role, which went all the way back to Abraham (Gen. 12:3; 22:18), to act as a light to the gentiles — the very reason that Israel was chosen was to restore the whole world to God! Jesus returned to this vocation; he said that “many” gentiles would enter God’s kingdom, and those Jews who rejected this would themselves be thrown out! (Matt. 8:11-12/Lk. 13:23-30) They sought to be first in God’s kingdom, so they would instead become last (Mk. 9:33-35; 10:30/Matt. 19:30; 20:1-16; Lk. 13:23-30).
Jesus himself healed several gentiles during his ministry, even helping a Roman centurion (Matt. 8:5-13/Lk. 7:2-10; Mk. 7:24-30/Matt. 15:21-28; cf. 15:29-31). This would have been strange and threatening to many first-century Jews, especially the hard-line Shammaite Pharisees who taught that gentiles must be resisted at all costs. But Jesus diagnosed the problem differently from them: Israel’s enemy was “the evil one” and his forces, who had already infiltrated Israel and sowed bad seeds, including the Pharisees themselves! (Mk. 3:22-30/Matt. 12:24-45/Lk. 11:15-26; Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; cf. Lk. 13:16) The true enemy, therefore, was Israel’s corrupt leaders, who (rather than the pagans) had become the “fourth beast” to Jesus’ “son of man” (Matt. 21:42-45/Lk. 20:17-19; 26:62-66/Mk. 14:60-64/Lk. 22:66-71; cf. Dan. 2:44-45; 7:7-18, 23-27).
How would this enemy, “the evil one,” be defeated? Not by military revolution, but paradoxically by Jesus’ own death (Mk. 10:38-40, 45/Matt. 20:28; Mk. 12:1-12/Matt. 21:33-45/Lk. 20:9-19). There was a strand in second-Temple Judaism which held that the suffering and death of righteous martyrs could take on Israel’s own eschatological suffering, thereby acting as “a ransom for the sin of our nation” (4 Macc. 17:20-22; cf. 6:27-29; 9:23-24; 18:3-4; 2 Macc. 7:36-38; 1QS 8.1-4). It could be argued that Jesus saw his own death in these terms. [2] Taking on Israel’s suffering and death at the hands of her enemies, he died for her sin, and by extension, the sins of the whole world to which Israel was supposed to be a light (cf. John 11:51-52; 1 John 2:2).
What about the Temple? Whereas the Pharisees tolerated the Temple cult, and the Essenes believed that it needed to be cleansed, Jesus thought it had to be destroyed completely and rebuilt (Mk. 13:1-2/Matt. 24:1-2/Lk. 21:5-6; Mk. 14:58/Matt. 26:61). He symbolically acted out the destruction of the Temple, while quoting a prophecy of Jeremiah about its destruction (Mk. 11:15-18/Matt. 21:12-15/Lk. 19:45-47; cf. Jer. 7:11-14). According to a saying in John’s gospel, the Temple to be rebuilt would be Jesus’ own body (John 2:18-21). Forgiveness of sins was now available outside of the Temple cult, through Jesus himself, which was blasphemy to the priestly elite and Pharisees (Mk. 2:3-12/Matt. 9:2-8/Lk. 5:18-26). For Jesus, loving God and neighbor is far more important than the Temple cult (Mk. 12:28-34).
Did Jesus succeed in bringing about his paradoxical kingdom of God? According to the early church, he did, and they re-defined God’s kingdom around him. Jesus, the Davidic king, had been enthroned not in Jerusalem but in heaven (Ac. 2:29-36; 5:30-31; 7:55-56; 13:32-33; 15:14-18; 17:7; Eph. 1:20-23; Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1-2; 10:12-13; Rev. 2:26-28; 3:21). Jerusalem had indeed become the foremost city, not the earthly Jerusalem, but the heavenly city (Gal. 4:21-31; Heb. 12:18-24; Rev. 21-22). The Temple was also re-defined around the community of believers in Jesus (Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-6).
Paul also cited many Scriptures to show that the climax of Israel’s story had come through Jesus, most clearly in his second letter to the Corinthians. The covenant of Moses had been replaced by the promised “new covenant,” which was to be given at the end of exile (2 Cor. 3:4-11; cf. Jer. 31:31-40). The “day of salvation” when Israel would be restored from exile was “now” (2 Cor. 6:2; cf. Isa. 49:8-12). Many prophecies about the restoration of Israel after exile are applied to present believers in Jesus (2 Cor. 6:16-18; cf. Lev. 26:11-13; Isa. 43:5-6; 52:4-11; Jer. 32:37-40; Ezek. 20:40-42; 37:24-28).
The sermon on the mount
When we place Jesus’ ministry in its historical context, we see that he believed the eschatological restoration of Israel, “the kingdom of God,” was coming in and through his ministry. Let’s try to interpret a specific passage, the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7), using this framework. [3] Jesus begins his sermon by reiterating that God’s kingdom is present; but it belongs to the poor in spirit and the persecuted (5:3, 10). The restoration of Israel will belong to the meek, merciful, and peacemakers (5:5-9), not those who vengefully seek to fight the gentiles.
The people of Israel were meant to be “the salt of the earth,” “the light of the world,” but if they refuse this vocation, they’ll be cast out and trampled (5:13-14). They must let their light shine, rather than keeping it hidden as they’ve been doing (5:15-16). This isn’t an abandonment of Israel’s promises, of the law and the prophets, but their fulfillment (5:17-20).
The law says not to murder, but they must not even be angry; Israel must reconcile with her accuser lest she be cast into Gehenna, into prison! (5:21-26) Not only must they not commit adultery, but they must not even desire someone’s wife, even their divorced wife, lest they be thrown into Gehenna (5:27-32). They must not take any oaths at all (5:33-37). They must not resist evil; if a Roman soldier forces them to carry his armor for one mile, they should go another mile! (5:38-42) They must love their enemy and pray for their persecutors, as their heavenly father does (5:43-48). This whole section is a re-interpretation of the law, which challenges the then-prevailing view that Israel has to fight her gentile enemies to bring in the kingdom of God.
Unlike “the hypocrites” (the Pharisees and priestly elite, per Matt. 23), they should treat God as their father. They shouldn’t give alms, pray, and fast in public, but should do so in private where only their father, God, can see them (6:1-18). Moreover, they should forgive those who harm them, instead of taking vengeance, lest God not forgive them (6:12, 14-15). They shouldn’t focus on earthly treasures (6:19-24), nor should they worry about physical possessions (6:25-34). Once again, this is an implicit critique of the then-current view of God’s kingdom, which was centered around taking vengeance on the gentiles to gain the earthly treasures of land and wealth.
Jesus continues that those who judge others will themselves be judged (7:1-6). Instead, they need only to ask their father and it will be given to them; why would their heavenly father be less gracious than a human father? (7:7-11) The law and prophets can be summed up in a single commandment: to do to others what you would want them to do to you (7:12). Few will follow this narrow path to life, and many will instead take a broader path to destruction (7:13-14). False prophets who lead Israel astray will be known by the result of their movement (7:15-20). Even some who call Jesus “lord, lord” won’t enter God’s kingdom if they fail to do his will (7:21-23). Those who listen to Jesus’ words will be secure, but if they fail to listen, they will fall greatly (7:24-27).
The entire sermon on the mount fits very well into Jesus’ message of paradoxical kingdom. It can be boiled down into a single statement: Israel has failed her vocation to be the light of the world, and they must learn to desire peace, love their gentile enemies, and treat God as their father if they want to live; every other way leads to destruction. But what exactly is the “destruction” that Jesus believed was about to come upon Israel if she failed to repent? We’ll examine this in the next post.
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[1] For a more detailed analysis of this view, from various perspectives, see Exile: A Conversation With N. T. Wright, ed. James M. Scott (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017).
[2] N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (London: SPCK, 1996), 284-302; for Paul, see Jarvis L. Williams, Maccabean Martyr Traditions in Paul's Theology of Atonement (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010).
[3] N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, 147-149.
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