Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§ 12.2 The Kingdom of God
c. A Larger Story?
That a larger picture is in view in each of the range of usages just indicated is already
implicit (in some cases explicit) in the passages cited. The understanding of
Yahweh as king over all is obviously an expression of Israel's monotheistic faith
and creation theology: to say that God is one is to recognize that he is the sole ruler
of all creation. To say that God is 'our/my King' is an affirmation of God's election
of Israel to be his people chosen from out of all the peoples on the earth. It will be
recalled that monotheism and election are two of Israel's most fundamental convictions
(§9.5). But the third aspect, that God's royal rale will be manifested to all, is a
summary of a much more diffuse and diverse expectation. And since the future
tense of God's kingdom is one of the most contested features of the Jesus tradition,
it is well to say a little more about this expectation as part of the context within
which Jesus' teaching would have been heard. Here too I make no attempt to provide
a comprehensive survey or to offer new insights; my concern is simply to indicate
the various clearly attested and most relevant motifs which suggest the sort of
expectations that were cherished and may have been evoked by Jesus' kingdom
talk among Jews living in the land of Israel in the first century CE. 56
1. Based on Deut. 30.1-10, there was a widespread belief that after a period of
dispersion among the nations, the outcasts/scattered of Israel would be
gathered again and brought back to the promised land, the unity of the
twelve tribes reestablished, and the relation of Israel as God's people, and
Yahweh as Israel's God, restored. 57 Wright summarises it as the hope of return
from exile. 5S
2. Bound up with this was the hope for a renewed and abundant prosperity
(Deut. 30.5, 9), 59 the removal of disabilities and defects, 60 and/or in effect
56. I will focus on pre-70 Palestinian literature for the most part. Cf. Sanders, Judaism
289-303 for a similar survey.
57. Isa. 49.5-6, 22-26; 56.8; 60.4, 9; 66.20; Jer. 3.18; 31.10; Ezek. 34.12-16; 36.24-28;
37.21-23; 39.27; Zeph. 3.20; Zech. 8.7-8; Tob. 13.5; 14.5-6; Sir. 36.11-15; 48.10; Bar. 4.37;
5.5; 2 Mace. 1.27, 29; 1 En. 90.33; Jub. 1.15-18; Pss. Sol. 11.1-9; 17.31, 44; 11Q19 [Temple]
59.9-13; Shemoneh 'Esreh 10. The theme of sin-exile-return is particularly prominent in T. 12
Patr. (T. Levi 14-16; T. Jud. 23; T. Iss. 6; T. Zeb. 9.5-9; T. Dan 5.4-9; T. Naph. 4; T. Ash. 7;
T. Ben. 9.1-2); see H. W. Hollander and M. de Jonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
(Leiden: Brill, 1985) 39-40, 53-56.
58. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God 268-71, 299-301; also Jesus, Index,
'Return from exile'. See also J. M. Scott, ed., Exile: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian
Conceptions (Brill: Leiden, 1997).
59. Isa. 32.14-20; 35.1-2; 44.3; Ezek. 34.25-29; 36.29-30, 33-36; Joel 2.18-26; 3.18;
Amos 9.13-14; 1 En. 10.19; Sib. Or. 3.744-54; most exuberant in 2 Bar. 29.5-8.
60. Isa. 29.18; 35.5-6; 42.7, 18. Qumran saw the holiness of the community as depen-
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