The Halakhah of Jesus of Nazareth according to the Gospel of Matthew »

Phillip Sigal (1927–1985) was director of the University of Pittsburgh Jewish University Center; secretary of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis; and rabbi of congregations in New Jersey and Michigan. He taught at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, University of Michigan, and Duquesne University and authored numerous books including The Emergence of Contemporary Judaism (three volumes, Pickwick Press) and Judaism: The Evolution of a Faith (Eerdmans).

Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org)

Introduction   Lillian Sigal     ix
Brought Forth, Newly Adorned   Saul (Simcha) Prombaum     xiii
Foreword   Eugene J. Fisher     xvii
Preface     xxi
Abbreviations     xxiii
Introduction     1
Thesis     1
Aspects of Earlier Scholarship     12
How Some Scholars See Matthew's Perspective on Jesus     12
Understanding "the Law"     15
The Love Command Factor     21
The Meaning of Matthew 5:17-20     24
Recapitulation and Projection     27
Recapitulation     27
Projection     28
Premises     28
Sources     28
Methodology     29
The Chapter Sequence     29
Stages in the Formation of Rabbinic Halakhah     33
Preexilic Origins     33
Preexilic Diversity and Postexilic Retrenchment to the Hasmonean Era     36
587 B.C.E. to the Nehemiah Reformation     36
From Ezra-Nehemiah to the Known Proto Rabbis     38
The Great Assembly     40
The Second Century B.C.E.     43
From Earliest Proto-Rabbis to the Era of Jesus     47
The Early "Fathers"     47
A Historical Resume     55
Summary     59
Proto-Rabbinic Halakhic Activity     61
Factors in Reinterpretation and Innovation of Halakhah     61
Proto-Rabbinic Authority     61
On Dating Rabbinic Texts     66
A Profile of Proto-Rabbinic Halakhic Premises     69
Religio-Humanitarian Concerns in Halakhah     69
The Historical Factor     76
Hermeneutics and Exegesis     78
The Tendency toward Leniency     87
The Principle of Lifnim Meshurat Hadin     93
Summary     97
The Matthean Jesus and the Halakhah of Divorce     105
General Overview     105
Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 and the Meaning of Porneia     117
Matthew 5:17-19 and the Divorce Pericopae     125
Divorce in Postpentateuchal Sources     127
Elephantine     127
Ezra and Nehemiah     128
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha     130
Philo     131
Qumran     135
Summary     140
The Matthean Jesus and the Sabbath Halakhah     145
General Overview     145
Plucking, Picking and/or Rubbing Grain on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8)     155
Healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:9-13)     165
Pentateuchal and Extrapentateuchal Sabbath Halakhah     172
The Pentateuch     172
The Prophets     173
The Writings     173
The Book of Jubilees     174
Philo     177
Qumran: The Zadokite Fragment     180
Summary     185
Summary and Conclusions     187
Summary     187
Conclusions     191
Epilogue: Twenty Years after Sigal: Jesus as Proto-Rabbinic Teacher of Halakhah   Thomas Kazen     195
Jesus within Judaism     195
Who Is Matthew's Jesus?     198
Who Were the Proto-Rabbis?     200
Jesus as Halakhic Teacher     202
The Dialogue Continues     206
Bibliography     207
Bibliography     213
Index of Ancient Sources     227
Hebrew Bible/Old Testament     227
Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books     231
Pseudepigrapha     231
Dead Sea Scrolls     232
New Testament     233
Philo     235
Josephus      236
Mishnah     237
Tosefta     239
Babylonian Talmud     240
Jerusalem/Palestinian Talmud     243
Targums     244
Other Rabbinic Literature     245
Other     246
Index of Authors     247
Index of Proper and Place Names     251
Index of Greek and Hebrew Words     255
Index of Subjects     259