Judging the twelve tribes of Israel: Q 22:28, 30 in light of the Psalms of Solomon and the Community Rule

Llewellyn Howes

doi:10.4102/ve.v35i1.1320

Abstract

Attribution License. The current article considers two intertexts of Q 22:28, 30, namely the Psalms of Solomon and the Community Rule found in the first Qumran cave. Each of these documents is examined to understand its view of the restoration of Israel, the messianic age, the apocalyptic end and the final judgement. Additional attention is paid to the way in which these documents draw boundaries around their respective in-groups. By illustrating that these texts foresaw a process of judgement at the apocalyptic end that would entail both the liberation and the condemnation of greater Israel, the current article argues against the popular claim that a wholesale liberation of everyone in Israel was expected during the Second-Temple period. The broader context of this investigation is the attempted refutation of Horsley�s influential claim that, in Q 22:28�30, the verb κρίνω actually means �liberate� and not �judge�.Intradisciplinary and/or�interdisciplinary�implications: By illustrating that these texts foresaw a process of judgement at the apocalyptic end that would entail both the liberation and the condemnation of greater Israel, the current article argues against the popular claim that a wholesale liberation of everyone in Israel was expected during the Second-Temple period.

Highlights

Horsley’s influential1 proposalQ 22:28, 30 (Mt 19:28 and Lk 22:28, 30) reads as follows: ‘You who have followed me will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’.2 In 1987, Horsley (1987:201–208) challenged the traditional reading of this text by suggesting, amongst other things, that the verb κρίνοντες here means ‘liberating’, ‘redeeming’ or ‘effecting justice for’ instead of ‘judging’ or ‘ruling’
The Psalms of Solomon do not qualify as independent evidence that the verb κρίνω was used in Second-Temple Judaism to express the wholesale liberation of greater Israel
Neither does the Community Rule qualify as independent evidence that the words ‘judge’ (‫ )שפט‬or ‘judgement’ (‫ )משפט‬were used in

Summary

Introduction

Horsley’s influential proposalQ 22:28, 30 (Mt 19:28 and Lk 22:28, 30) reads as follows: ‘You who have followed me will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel’ (ὑμεῖς οἱ ἀκολουθήσαντές μοι καθήσεσθε ἐπὶ θρόν[ους] κρίνοντες τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ). In 1987, Horsley (1987:201–208) challenged the traditional reading of this text by suggesting, amongst other things, that the verb κρίνοντες here means ‘liberating’, ‘redeeming’ or ‘effecting justice for’ instead of ‘judging’ or ‘ruling’. In 1987, Horsley (1987:201–208) challenged the traditional reading of this text by suggesting, amongst other things, that the verb κρίνοντες here means ‘liberating’, ‘redeeming’ or ‘effecting justice for’ instead of ‘judging’ or ‘ruling’. The implication of his lexical shift is a profound hermeneutical shift in the reading of this Q logion. According to Horsley (1999:105), this saying ‘has been one of the key proof texts that Q proclaims judgement against all Israel’ (cf Horsley 1989:49, 1995:39). This does not invalidate his proposal, but it does show that he has much at stake in his exegesis of this logion.

Objectives

Conclusion