Yeshua in Context >> Aims of Yeshua , Background to Gospels , Identity of Yeshua , Spectacular Commentary , Teaching of Yeshua >> The Teacher, A Parallel in Chronicles

The Teacher, A Parallel in Chronicles

October 5th, 2010 | Add a Comment

Adela Yarbro Collins ( Mark: A Commentary . Fortress, 2007) discusses in her introduction some of the aspects of Yeshua's identity. One of the identifying roles of Yeshua is teacher. In this comment, she uncovers a little known parallel from the Hebrew Bible, of teachers sent out to travel as itinerants through the land teaching the people:

An interesting but isolated parallel to the a activity of Jesus may be found in 2 Chr 17:7-9 LXX:
And in the third year of his [Jehoshaphat's] reign he sent his leading men and the sons of prominent people . . . to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them the Levites . . . and with them (was) the book of the Law of the Lord, and they passed through the cities of Judah and taught the people.

Here, according to the Chronicler, the old ideal, according to which the people are to be instructed in the Law by the priests and Levites, is fulfilled at the initiative of the king. Jesus' activity reflects a new ideal: the instruction of all the people about the good news of God, the eschatological plan about to be fulfilled.