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bath of Jehu which is affirmed by Yahweh, but only for a time--to the fourth generation

of Jehu’s dynasty.

Hosea’s prophecy signals an advance, releasing the tension between the Sinai

covenant’s policy law of redemption and infinite forgiveness, and technique law which

often includes the death penalty. While Hosea’s personal family life is symbolic of

Israel’s apostasy, Yahweh’s discipline and redemption of Israelbecomes the express

paradigm for the redemption of Gomer. Hosea’s action toward errant Gomer is not to be

the retribution of divorce or death penalty; rather, he is to reestablish their marriage and

by mutual disciplines is to reestablish their relationship. This compares with the model-

motive clause of technique law as individual laws of the Sinai law code are increasingly

theologized (Exod. 19:4-6; 20:2; 22:21; 23:9). The word is, Nachfolge Jahwe—imitation

of Yahweh!

The prophets of the exile envision a time beyond retribution, climaxing in the

Servant Poems which promise Yahweh’s justice and forgiveness to the nations. This God

of the suffering prophet teaches nonviolent resistance through the Wise Teachers in the

apocalyptic book of Daniel (Dan. 11:32-35, c. 163 BC). This God in the New Testament

passion narratives of the Gospel of Matthew (c. 75 AD), establishes the sacrificial

suffering context for the fulfillment of covenant law, the Sermon on the Mount!

ON THE MOUNTAIN WITH JESUS
Fulfilling Covenant Law, Matthew 5—7

Listen to Jesus

On a mountain with his three disciples, a transfigured Jesus speaks with Moses

and Elijah(Matt. 17:1-3). At the end of this appearance, a voice from a cloud says, This

is my Son, the Beloved; ... Listen to him. Having listened to Moses and Elijah, let us now

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listen to Jesus as he speaks from symbolic Sinai in Galilee, about covenant law as

interpreted by the prophets and their Successor (cf. Bauman:384).

The Sermon on the Mount is the first of five major discourses in the book of

Matthew, discourses which are set within the narrative of God’s gracious acts in Jesus for

the salvation of humanity (Luz:44). This may be compared with the relationship between

grace and law in the Sinai text: First, Yahweh delivers Israel from the oppression of state

slavery—pure grace. This deliverance then becomes the paradigm and motive clause for

covenant law, designed to save Israel from oppressive relationships with one another

(Exod. 20:2-17).

Examined only linearly, the book of Matthew turns this order of grace and law

around (cf. Luz:215). Just as the Servant Poems in the book of Isaiah begin with the

servant’s call to establish God’s justicein the nations (42:1-6), so this first discourse in

the book of Matthew sets forth God’s covenant justice. This is a justice for which Jesus

afterward, as in the order of the Servant poems, then gives his life for the sins of many

(Isa. 53:13;cf. Matt. 20:28). Bornto “save his people from their sins,” the oppression

of others (Matt. 1:21), Jesus first sets forth the “higher righteousness” to which his

disciples are called (Matt. 5-7). As first fruits of his passion and resurrection, his

disciples are to be an exemplary community of light set on a hill, and, after Jesus’

ascension, are to then go forth representing the Servant authority of Jesus. They are to

make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ... and teaching them to obey everything

which Jesus has commanded them (Matt. 28:18-20; cf. Luz:121-122).

Read in this way, the Sermon on the Mount, given first, is not a parenthesis in

God’s economy (cf. Bauman:111-127). Rather, it is the climactic goal of the good news

for the nations, the goal, set first, which then Jesus’ healings, passion, death, resurrection

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and gift of the Spirit are meant to achieve. This achievement is not only for the disciple

community, but for the community of the nations.

Viewed historically, the entire story of the earthly Jesus—the Sermon, his passion

and resurrection—happens in the Old Testament age, before Pentecost. Written a

generation after the death of Jesus, The Gospel According to Mark(AD 69?)--used by

Matthew for his own narrative (AD 75?)--sees the earthly ministry of Jesus in retrospect

as The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1). Perhaps here

Mark follows the practice ofNE scribes: when the old king dies, the new king takes

office immediately, though his official enthronement is deferred to the beginning of the

new year. The scribes label this entire period, from taking office to enthronement,In the

beginning of the reign of X [the new king] (cf. Jer. 26:1; 27:1; 28:1).

IfMark follows this practice, he then labels the entire ministry of Jesus, from his

baptism by John to his ascension, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ .... In any

case, Jesus isthe gospel, and this gospel begins with his baptism, in the midst of the Old

Age. The Gospel according to Matthew, using Mark’s narrative, places the division of

old and new between John the Baptist who baptizes with water, and Jesus who baptizes

with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matt. 3:11; cf. Mark 1:8). So the new age, though

future, is present NOW in the old, in the person of Jesus and his disciples as they minister

among the nations by proclamation, precept and example.

The Envelope Structure of the Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount has a “ring” or envelope structure, with the Lord’s

prayer at its center. In this respect, it compares somewhat with the simpler envelope

structures of the Sinai law code and the Elijah experience on Mount Sinah: