Are there imperial texts in the class? Intertextual eagles and Matthean eschatology as "Lights Out" time for imperial Rome (Matthew 24:27-31)

Journal of Biblical Literature

Volumn 122, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 467-487

  Carter, Warren ^a  

^a Saint Paul School of Theology   (United States)

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EID: 61249686501     PISSN: 00219231     EISSN: 19343876     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3268387     Document Type: Article

References (191)

1. Do the chapters (i) prophesy Jerusalem's fall fulfilled in 70 C.E., (ii) prophesy the eschatological future, or (iii) depict the post-Easter messianic woes culminating in the parousia? (W. Carter, Matthew and the Margins: A Sociopolitical and Religious Reading [Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000], 466-68, the latter position])
2. The title borrows from S. Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980)
3. W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew (ICC; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1997), 3:355-56. Seven further possibilities are (i) the eschatological tribulation ends as vultures devour the flesh of the wicked dead; (ii) as vultures come to a rotting corpse, so the Son of Man comes to a rotten world to execute judgment; (iii) the saints will rise as eagles to be gathered to the Son of Man; (iv) general resurrection is depicted; (v) the corpse is Israel, spiritually dead and judged by angels and/or the Son of Man (eagles); (vi) the corpse is Jerusalem, destroyed in 70 C.E. by Rome (eagles); and (vii) the eagles are angels
4. citing C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom (London: Fontana, 1961), 67
5. H. O. Guenther, "When 'Eagles' Draw Together," Foundation and Facets Forum 5 (1989): 140-50, esp. 141-43
6. "The Parousia of the Son of Man (24:29-31)"
7. D. Sim, Apocalyptic Eschatology in the Gospel of Matthew (SNTSMS 88; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 103-8. Sim does not develop his insights or sustain it by attending to the imperial images that permeate the verses or by integrating it with a reading of 24:27-31
8. R. Mowery, "Son of God in Roman Imperial Titles and Matthew," Bib 83 (2002): 100-110
9. W. Carter, Matthew and Empire: Initial Explorations (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2001)
10. idem, Matthew and the Margins
11. L. J. Kreitzer engages some of these issues (Striking New Images: Roman Imperial Coinage and the New Testament World [JSNTSup 134; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996], 30-68)
12. see also Sim, Apocalyptic Eschatology, 103-8
13. My argument differs greatly from those claiming links to Jerusalem's fall in 70 and victorious Roman eagles; so R. Tasker, The Gospel According to St. Matthew (TNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1961), 225-30
14. Dodd, Parables, 67 n. 9
15. S. Brown, "The Matthean Apocalypse," JSNT 4 (1979): 2-27, esp. 12
16. J. Draper, "The Development of 'the Sign of the Son of Man' in the Jesus Tradition," NTS 39 (1993): 1-21, esp. 16-17
17. Recall Julia Kristeva's description of intertextuality: "in the space of a given text, several utterances taken from other texts, intersect and neutralize one another." She makes this observation as she suggests understanding texts by locating "different textual arrangements . . . within the general text (culture) of which they are a part and which is in turn, part of them." To study "the text as intertextuality" is to consider it "within (the text of) society and history" (J. Kristeva, "The Bounded Text," in Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art [ed. L. S. Roudiez; New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), 36-63, esp. 36-37
18. The Vulgate uses aquilae, "eagles," in 24:28
19. See C. T. Lewis and C. Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1955), 148, aquila ("eagle"); 2,016, vultur ("vulture")
20. See, e.g., the discussion in Fauna and Flora of the Bible (2d ed.; New York: United Bible Societies, 1980), 82-84
21. D'A. W. Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds (London: Oxford University Press, 1936), 2-16 (αcombining comma aboveετό ς), 82-87 (γύψ)
22. J. Pollard, Birds in Greek Life and Myth (London: Thames & Hudson, 1977)
23. I am not arguing that there is never confusion, only that it is not as pervasive as some argue (see Thompson, Glossary, 5-6)
24. E.g., J. Gnilka, Das Matthäusevangelium (HTKNT; Freiburg: Herder, 1992), 2:326
25. The LXX distinguishes αcombining comma aboveετο ́ς ("eagle") in 39:27a from γύψ ("vulture") in 39:27b, as does the Qumran Targum. J. Reider translates "eagle" and "vulture" (LXX) ("Etymological Studies in Biblical Hebrew," VT 4 [1954]: 276-94, esp. 294)
26. M. Pope translates "eagle" and "pelican," observing that the "sipping" or "sucking" of blood described in v. 30 is not appropriate for the design of an eagle's beak (Job: Introduction, Translation, and Notes [AB 15; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973], 314-15)
27. W. D. Reyburn observes that "although most modern translations have eagle, the context of verses 28-30 describes the vulture better than the eagle" since "the vulture like the raven usually eats the flesh of animals that are already dead" (A Handbook on the Book of Job [New York: United Bible Societies, 1992], 734-35)
28. A widely attested observation; see Homer, Iliad 4.235
29. Euripides, Rhesus 515
30. Daughters of Troy 599
31. Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.28.7
32. LXX: Exod 19:4
33. Lev 11:13
34. Deut 14:12
35. Ps 102:5
36. Prov 23:5
37. Job 9:26
38. Dan 4:34
39. Hos 8:1
40. Mic 1:16
41. Obad 1:4
42. Hab 1:8
43. Isa 40:31
44. Jer 4:13
45. 30:10, 16 (NRSV 49:16, 22)
46. Ezek 1:10
47. Lam 4:19
48. Judges 14:8
49. Jdt 8:19
50. 2 Macc 9:7
51. Ps 109:6
52. Prov 16:18
53. Job 15:23
54. Wis 4:19
55. Sir 31:6
56. Pss. Sol. 3:10
57. Isa 8:14
58. Bar 4:33
59. Luke 17:37
60. Rev 4:7
61. Matt 14:12
62. Mark 6:29
63. Rev 11:8, 9 [2x]
64. A.-M. Denis, Concordance grecque des pseudépigraphes d'Ancien Testament (Louvain-la-Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, 1987), 110, 681
65. In the LXX συνάγω frequently denotes "gathering" or "assembling" various people (Num 10:7)
66. It can denote gathering or storing up food supplies (Gen 6:21
67. Ruth 2:2, 7
68. Prov 27:25
69. M. E. Stone, Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 348-49
70. Deut 32:11
71. Jer 48:40
72. Ezek 17:3, 7
73. BAGD, 19
74. also Cornutus, Nat. deorum 9.3
75. symbolizing Roman power (P. Richardson, Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans [Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996], 15-18)
76. (Fourth Ezra, 350)
77. See also Prov 24:22e
78. My point concerns only πτω̂μα in Matt 24:28
79. Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:29-31, 32-58
80. For the intermingling of political and religious spheres, see Carter, Matthew and Empire, 9-53
81. Stone, Fourth Ezra, 363-66
82. For example: Herod's eagle on the Jerusalem temple (Josephus, J.W. 1.650-51, 653
83. The center of the ceiling of the arch dedicated to the deified Titus depicted an eagle bearing Titus aloft (K. Scott, The Imperial Cult under the Flavians [Stuttgart/Berlin: Kohlhammer, 1936], 63-64)
84. For actions by eagles in relation to significant figures and before battles as omens expressing Jupiter's guiding of events to prosper Rome, see Suetonius, Augustus 94.7
85. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 15.136-37
86. Seneca identifies eagles (aquilae) and ravens as having "the privilege to give auspices of important events" (Nat. Quest. 2.32.5)
87. For writers emphasizing that Jupiter willed the Roman empire into existence and dominance, see Carter, Matthew and the Margins, 39-40
88. citing Aeschylus; Cornutus, Nat. deorum 9.3
89. According to P. Zanker, coins link Augustus with Jupiter's eagle and a corona civica (an oak wreath from Jupiter's sacred tree), and a cameo depicts an eagle, a victory palm, and the corona civica (The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus [Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1988], 93)
90. There are numerous examples of eagles on coins minted in the Antiochene (the likely origin of Matthew's Gospel) and/or other Syrian mints, usually with the emperor's bust on the obverse; see A. Burnett, M. Amandry, P. P. Ripollès, Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. 1, From the Death of Caesar to the Death of Vitellius (44 BC-AD 69) (London: British Museum Press, 1992): Nero, nos. 4176, 4180, 4184-86, 4188-89 (all with eagles on thunderbolts), 4177 (eagle between two standards), 4191-92, 4197-98 (eagles)
91. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. 2, From Vespasian to Domitian AD 69-96 (London: British Museum Press, 1999): Vespasian, nos. 1936-39/2 (eagles and thunderbolts), 1945-75 (minus no. 1960)
92. Domitian, nos 1976-81. For coins
93. depicting Zeus with eagle, see nos. 1268-70 (Vespasian on obverse), 1341 (Domitian on obverse)
94. and Zeus with eagle and thunderbolt, nos. 1624 (Vespasian), 206-7 (Domitian)
95. See also Scott, Imperial Cult, 30, 33 (Vespasian)
96. For Roman eagle standards (aquilae), see Appian, Bell. Civ. 4.101, 128
97. Caesar, Bello Gallio 4.25 (2x)
98. Bello civili 3.64, 99
99. Juvenal 8.52
100. Pliny 13.23
101. For example, Artabanus, king of the Parthians, to Gaius Caligula (Suetonius, Gaius Caligula 14.3)
102. For example, an eagle of a rebel governor refuses to be adorned (Suetonius, Claudius 13.2)
103. an eagle of Cassius's army refuses to advance into Parthia (Dio Cassius, 40.18.1-2)
104. For inscriptions dedicated to legionary standards, see J. Helgeland, R. Daly, and J. Burns, Christians and the Military: The Early Experience (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 49-50, including Tertullian's comments
105. (Kreitzer, Striking New Images, 30-68)
106. Augustus celebrated their return on coins; see Zanker, Power of Images, 96, 186, 188, along with its depiction on the breastplate on Augustus's statue from the villa of Prima Porta (discussion and images, pp. 188-92)
107. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. 1, e.g., nos. 8-9, 14-18 (Augustus), 4541, 4544 (Tiberius, Syria), 4547 (Claudius), 1257 (Nero)
108. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. 2, nos. 861 (Titus), 861, 865, 868, 873 (Domitian)
109. Ezra 3:24-36
110. Josephus, J.W. 4.386-88
111. Psalms of Solomon 2:1-15
112. For Pompey, see Pss. Sol. 2:1-6
113. In 66 C.E., Cestius, the Roman governor of Syria, burned Chabulon in Galilee (Josephus, J.W. 2.504-5)
114. villages in Nabatene (J.W. 2.509)
115. and Bezetha in Jerusalem (J.W. 2.530)
116. Davies and Allison, Matthew 3:196-97
117. For βασιλεία as empire, see Dan 2:37-45 (Babylonian, Median, Persian, and Greek [Alexander the Great] empires)
118. 1 Macc 1:16, 41, 51 (Seleucid empire)
119. Josephus, J.W. 5.409 (Roman empire)
120. G. Lenski, Power and Privilege: A Theory of Social Stratification (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), 219 (governing class "rarely . . . more than two per cent"), 245 (retainers "five per cent")
121. πτω̂μα is used of the dead body of John the Baptist, executed by Herod Antipas (par. Mark 6:29)
122. The other three NT occurrences are in Mark 14:12 (Jesus' body)
123. In Josephus, Ant. 7.16
124. Job 31:29
125. so also Philo's fourteen uses, e.g., Ebr. 156
126. Migr. 80
127. Legat. Gaium 308
128. Sim suggests that the corpse could be Satan, destroyed at Jesus' return (Apocalyptic Eschatology, 103). Given the link between Rome and Satan established in 4:8, this is quite possible
129. Joel Marcus, "The Gates of Hades and the Keys of the Kingdom (Matt 16:18-19)," CBQ 50 (1988): 443-55
130. Ernst Käsemann, "On the Subject of Primitive Christian Apocalyptic," in New Testament Questions of Today (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1969), 135
131. also Scott, Imperial Cult
132. J. R. Fears, "The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology," ANRW 2.17.1 (1981): 3-141
133. Exodus 19:16
134. Dan 10:6
135. Matt 28:3
136. Wisdom of Solomon 5:15-6:11, esp. 5:21
137. Zech 9:13-17
138. Philo, Abr. 43 (Noah)
139. Mos. 1.118 (Egypt)
140. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 2.82, 138 (origin with Jupiter)
141. also Seneca, Nat. Quest. 2.41-50 (its interpretation)
142. whether a future emperor (Ann. 14.22)
143. or "disaster to come" under Nero (Ann. 15.47)
144. Cal. 51.1)
145. Galba 4.2
146. J. R. Fears, Princeps A Diis Electus: The Divine Election of the Emperor as a Political Concept at Rome (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome 26; Rome: American Academy, 1977), 222-23
147. Josephus, Ant. 18.161)
148. a king (Polybius, Hist. 18.48.4
149. Josephus, Ant. 19.339
150. a future emperor (Josephus, J.W. 5.410 [Titus])
151. a governing and military commander (Josephus, J.W. 2.617
152. Life 90, 273)
153. See A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910), 372-78
154. For a speech of welcome and submission, see D. A. Russell and N. G. Wilson, Menander Rhetor (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), 94-103, sections 378-82, stipulating a joyous tone, praise for the emperor, celebration of the official's virtues and actions, a warm welcome
155. For coins issued by Corinth and Patras to mark the παρ ουσία or adventus of the emperor Nero, see Deissmann, Light, 375-76
156. Vespasian's coins celebrate AETERNITAS (Augusti and Populi Romani) and Roma Perpetua. See M. P. Charlesworth, "Providentia and Aeternitas," HTR 29 (1936): 107-32, esp. 110-11, 115, 122-31
157. R. Mellor, "The Goddess Roma," ANRW II.17.2 (1981): 1018-128
158. L. Taylor, The Divinity of the Roman Emperor (New York: Arno Press, 1975), 2, 5, 25
159. See M. Beard, J. North, S. Price, Religions of Rome, vol. 1, A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 259, 367
160. for wider discussion, see E. R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period (ed. J. Neusner; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 116-73
161. For sun, moon, and stars as divinities, see Cicero, De Re Pub. 6.15.15-17
162. De Nat. Deorum 2.15.39-60
163. Seneca, De Ben. 4.23.4
164. Cornutus, Nat. deorum, 32, 34 (Apollo, sun, and Artemis, moon)
165. There was a temple to the sun and moon in Rome near the Circus Maximus, with August 9 as the day of sacrifice (Tacitus, Ann. 15.74)
166. See H. H. Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic (London: Thames & Hudson, 1981), 171
167. Beard, North, and Price, Religions, 259
168. Varro claims considerable antiquity (Latin Language 5.74 [King Tatius])
169. For coins depicting Augustus's image with Sol (sun), Luna (moon), and stars, see Taylor, Divinity, 91, 117 (also an altar from 12 B.C.E. depicting Sol with Victoria)
170. For Philo's attack on Caligula for assuming divine honors like Apollo, "his head encircled with garlands of sun-rays," see Embassy 95
171. for judgment on those who deify the sun and moon and attribute to them power over human affairs, see Decal. 52-81
172. For Nero, see O. Neverov, "Nero-Helios," in Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire (ed. M. Henig and A. King; Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 8; Oxford: Oxford Committee for Archaeology, 19S6), 189-94, esp. 190, including photographs
173. See also Seneca, Apoc. 4.21, 30
174. Suetonius, Nero 14, 25, 31
175. (the Domus Aurea, "a palace of the sun, the dwelling place of cosmic divinity"), 53
176. Tacitus, Ann. 15.74
177. Lucan, Civil War 1.45-51, 59
178. Dio Cassius 62.6
179. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage, vol. 1, no. 1195
180. Vespasian (Suetonius, Vespasian 18)
181. For coins depicting Titus and Domitian with the goddess Aeternitas "holding heads of the sun and moon . . . it is the eternity of the Roman state and of the Flavian dynasty that is signified," see Charlesworth, "Providentia," 127
182. For Vespasian's statue dedicated to Selene the moon goddess at Antioch because Selene's light helped secure Jerusalem's conquest in 70 C.E., see Malalas, Chron. 260-61
183. See Statius, Silv. 1.1.91-98
184. H. P. L'Orange, Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World (New Rochelle, NY: Caratzas Brothers, 1982), 28-34
185. Enoch 86:1-3
186. Apoc. Elijah 4:11
187. Jude 13
188. Rev 12:4
189. T. F. Glasson prefers "standard" despite the article's title ("The Ensign of the Son of Man," JTS 15 [1964]: 299-300)
190. Philo, Spec. Leg. 2.190-92
191. Tacitus, Ann. 1.68