Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
2
:
Dropsy
, edema.
3
:
Lawful to cure people on the sabbath
, 13.14n.
5
:
Child
, the variant “donkey” (see translators’ note
d
) connects the example to 13.15.
Will you not
…
pull it out
, another “qal vahomer” argument (13.15n.; contrast CD ms. A 11.13–17; 4Q265, which prohibit lifting an animal from a ditch on the Sabbath).
14.7
–14: Instructions on humility. 8:
See Prov 25.6–7.
11
:
See 13.30; 18.14; Ezek 21.16; Mt 23.12.
12
:
Rich neighbors
, Luke presumes elite readers (see 1.3).
13
:
The poor
, those unlikely to be able to reciprocate.
14
:
You will be repaid
, heavenly reward based on earthly action.
Resurrection of the righteous
, Dan 12.2–3;
m. Sanh
. 10.1;
b. Rosh Ha-Shanah
16b–17a.
14.15
–24: Parable of the great dinner
(Mt 22.1–14).
15
:
Bread in the kingdom of God
, messianic banquet (11.3n.).
18
–20:
Cf. Deut 20.5–8, although the excuses here shame the host.
21
:
Poor
…
lame
, see 14.13.
24
:
My dinner
, 11.3n.
14.25
–35: Costs of discipleship
(Mt 10.37–38).
26
:
See Mt 10.37; Jn 12.25.
Hate
, hyperbolic (see Prov 13.24), but consistent with Luke’s interest in severing familial and economic ties (12.51n.).
27
:
Carry the cross
, risk death (see Mk 8.34).
28
:
Intending to build a tower
, suggesting an elite audience.
33
:
Give up all your possessions
, see 6.30n.
34
–35:
Salt has lost its taste
, Mt 5.13; Mk 9.49–50.
15.1
–2: Sinners and Pharisees. 1:
Tax collectors
, see 3.12n.
Sinners
, those who fracture community welfare.
2
:
Eats with them
, suggesting approval.
15.3
–7: Parable of the lost sheep
(Mt 18.12–14).
4
:
Having a hundred sheep
, indicating a person of some wealth.
Go after the one
, for God as shepherd see Ps 23; 78.52; 80.1; 100.3; for the people as lost sheep, see Jer 50.6; Ezek 34.15–16; Ps 119.176.
Ex. Rab
. 2.2 depicts Moses as the good shepherd who seeks after a lost sheep, and so receives a divine commission to shepherd God’s people, Israel.
7
:
One sinner who repents
, Luke allegorizes the parable, which focuses on the effort of the search and the joy of finding (see 8.9n.; 18.1).
15.8
–10: Parable of the lost coin. 8:
If the shepherd in 15.3–7 is understood as God, so should this woman be. Female images of God are occasionally found in the Tanakh, e.g. Isa 49.15–16.
Silver coins
, drachmas.
9
:
Friends and neighbors
, feminine nouns, indicating female associates.
10
:
One sinner who repents
, 15.7n.
15.11
–32: Parable of the lost.
See “Parable of the Prodigal Son” above.
12
:
Divided his property
, see 12.13n.; Sir 33.19–23.
15
:
Pigs
, see 8.32n.
17
:
Came to himself
, Luke does not mention “repentance” (15.7,10).
18
:
I have sinned
, see Ex 10.16.
20
:
Compassion
, see 10.32n.
23
:
Fatted calf
, see 1 Sam 28.24; Am 6.4.
25
:
He heard music
, unlike the lost sheep and coin, the lost son is not sought.
29
:
Working like a slave
, some Christian interpreters compare the older son to Pharisees, whom they negatively stereotype as serving God joylessly and mechanically; v. 32 disrupts this reading.
30
:
This son of yours
, sibling enmity (see Gen 4.2–8; 25.27–34; 27.1–36; 37.1–4).
31
:
All that is mine is yours
, see v. 12.
32
:
Brother of yours
, the father seeks to reconcile the sons.
16.1
–9: Parable of the dishonest manager. 1:
Rich man
, see 12.16n.
Squandering
, see 15.13.
6
:
Make it fifty
, some commentators, but not the parable, suggest the manager was removing the interest charge (Ex 22.25; Lev 25.36–37; Deut 23.19; Ps 15.5).
8
:
His master
(Gk “kyrios,” “lord,” with no possessive), scholars disagree as to whether this “master” is the rich man, or the “lord” (i.e., here, Jesus; 1.17n.).
Children of light
, Jn 12.36; Eph 5.8; 1 Thess 5.5; 1QM.
9
:
Wealth
, lit., “mammon,” Gk transliteration of a Semitic word for money. The parable defies any fully satisfactory explanation.
16.10
–13: Fiduciary fidelity.
11,13
:
Wealth
, see v. 9n.
13
:
See Mt 6.24.
16.14
–15: Criticism of Pharisees.
See “Pharisees in Luke,” p.
110
.
14
:
Lovers of money
, a conventional Greco-Roman insult. For Luke, love of money is a major sin. See 1 Tim 6.10; Heb 13.5;
1 En
. 92–105.
16.16
–17: Torah’s permanence
(Mt 11.12–13; 5.18; cf. Lk 21.33).
16
:
Law and the prophets
, the first two parts of the Tanakh (“Torah” and “Nevi’im”). See 16.29; 24.27,44; Sir (Prologue, 0.1); 2 Macc 15.9.
Good news
, 1.19n.
17
:
To be dropped
, Torah remains, although for the church it is interpreted through Jesus.
16.18
: Forbidding remarriage after divorce
(Mt 19.9; Mk 10.11–12).
Marries another
, the injunction may be against divorce designed to facilitate remarriage. See 3.19–20n. Jews generally agreed that divorce was permissible (given Deut 24.1–4) but debated the legitimate grounds; Bet Hillel (the School of Hillel) permitted divorce for extremely flimsy reasons; Bet Shammai (the School of Shammai) permitted it only in cases of unchastity (
m. Git
. 9.10). See “Jewish Family Life,” p.
537
. Because Jewish women had marriage contracts (“ketubot”), divorce was financially prohibitive; it was also not desirable (Mal 2.16;
b. Sanh
. 22a: “Even [God] shares tears when anyone divorces his wife”).
16.19
–31: Parable of the rich man and Lazarus. 19:
Rich man
, commonly called “dives” (Latin for “rich man”); see 6.24; 12.16n.
Purple
, expensive dyed cloth (Prov 31.22; Lam 4.5; Dan 5.7,16,29; see also Mk 15.17,20; Jn 19.2, 5; Acts 16.14).
20
:
Lazarus
, the only named character in a parable. There may be some connection between the parable and Jn 11.1–44; 12.1,9.
21
:
Longed to satisfy his hunger
, see 14.13.
22
:
To be with Abraham
, paradise (see 13.28–29); salvation in the Gospel of Luke is not contingent upon Jesus’ sacrificial death. Lazarus’s moral character is ignored.
23
:
Hades
, 10.15n.
24
:
Send Lazarus
, the rich man regards Lazarus as a servant.
25
:
He is comforted
, see 13.30.