Over summer I have been reading Matthew in Greek as part of reading the whole NT in its original language. I have found a number of interesting things. One is the implications of the parable of the tenants in Matt 21:33–46 for the status of the land of Israel. Of course, the land of Israel is an area of massive debate. Some Christians and Jews consider that land the possession of the Jews by divine prerogative based on God’s granting the land to the people of Abraham back in the Pentateuch. Others claim that that this is a false reading of what Jesus was all about, that the land does not figure prominently in the NT and that Jesus is the locus of God’s work; the “land” if there is any, is the world, and that the contemporary Jewish claims to divine prerogative are an anachronism at best. I have found myself pondering this again and again as I watch news items about Palestine/Israel; as I hear speakers from one side or the other; as I read on these issues. I find myself more and more...
The blog of Mark Keown, New Testament lecturer at Laidlaw College, Auckland, New Zealand. It involves comments on theology, life, sport and whatever comes into Mark's random mind.