The Hebrew Bible expresses the Israelite belief that the Israelites were the people of God uniquely chosen from among all peoples of the earth, and that this status as elected people guaranteed them certain privileges not granted to other peoples. One of these privileges was the right to an inheritance granted by God himself-a birthright that provided a sense of God's protection and an awareness of Israel's relationship to God as a special nation. Details regarding the nature of that inheritance-what it is, who receives it, and how inheritance is obtained-appear in every strata and section of the Hebrew Scriptures, and this trajectory continues across many Second Temple Jewish texts. Yet surprisingly little scholarly attention has been focused on inheritance as a unique and crucial concept for Israelite and Jewish religious life and belief. This paucity of attention to inheritance concepts also extends to Matthew's Gospel, where inheritance terms appear on four occasions. With God's Will and Testament, Daniel Daley argues that these passages play a vital role in Matthew's overall narrative, especially concerning Matthew's depiction of true discipleship and relations between Jew and Gentile. Daley further demonstrates that numerous Jewish traditions antecedent to Matthew's Gospel influenced the writer's theology and linguistic choices, often in ways not previously appreciated by interpreters. As a relational term, inheritance signifies the beneficiary's relationship with God: because God is a father, he gives an inheritance, and because he is an eternal father, the inheritance takes on eschatological connotations to provide a hope for his children into the future. This concept is a thread that binds Matthew and his community to a wider Jewish discourse about what it means to be the people of God. In Matthew's Gospel, this inheritance, this identity as God's elect, belongs to "the ideal disciple," who commits to Jesus and his vision for "greater righteousness."
Daniel Daley is Fellow in the Department of Biblical Studies at Australian Catholic University and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
1. Introduction: Matthew and Jewish Tradition 2. Inheritance in the Hebrew Bible 3. Inheritance in the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha 4. Inheritance in the Second Temple Period: The Qumran Scrolls 5. Inheritance in the Gospel of Matthew 6. Conclusion: Matthew and the Promise of Discipleship
The result is a treatment of the Matthean Beatitudes that is admirably guided by a sensitivity towards the intentions of the evangelist. Despite eschewing a quest for 'newness' for its own sake, this act of close and attentive reading results in fresh understandings of the purpose of these foundational statements as an expression of Matthew's perspective on the radical and transformative nature of discipleship. This is a book that deserves careful and close attention. --Paul Foster "The Expository Times" Daley has succeeded at writing an informative, carefully researched, and well-argued book about inheritance within the Old Testament, Second Temple literature, and the Gospel of Matthew. Researchers interested in the subject will be well-served by Daley's detailed analysis of a host of relevant texts. --Richard M. Blaylock "Reading Religion" This work succeeds in showing that inheritance is a vital theological notion for grasping the richness of Matthew's Gospel. It explains the Gospel's fusion of the sapiential and the apocalyptic, its portrait of God as Father, and the dynamics between Jews and gentiles. Reading it yields immense profit and a fuller picture of the inheritance in store for God's children. --Francis M. Macatangay "Southeastern Theological Review" ...this material tills soil outside specialized Matthean studies and will serve as a valuable resource for research in these fields. This is a most welcome contribution to Matthean scholarship. --Daniel Gurtner "Journal of Gospels and Acts Research"
