5 - Matthew's Temple and Jesus' Death: Hermeneutical Keys to the Rending of the Veil

Summary

Introduction

As I have argued throughout, all of the analyses of Old Testament, Second Temple and rabbinic portrayals of the veil must be subjected to the Matthean text to evaluate adequately their role in a contextual interpretation of the rending of Matthew's temple veil. This, in part, is the subject of the present chapter, where I will undertake a composition-critical approach to what I have identified as two hermeneutical keys to interpreting Matthew's rending of the veil: Matthew's portrayal of the temple and his portrayal of the death of Jesus. Here I will employ a sort of hermeneutical algebra. There are three elements to this equation carefully linked by the evangelist: the tearing of the veil, the temple and the death of Jesus. I will examine Matthew's portrayal of the temple and the death of Jesus throughout the gospel (for which we have some evidence) and use these items to interpret the rending of the veil (for which we have but a single piece of evidence).

‘Composition criticism’ can be variously understood. Stanton says that it ‘considers the overall structure of each gospel, the structure of individual sections and subsections and the order in which the evangelists have placed the traditions at their disposal’. It has a ‘strong insistence that the gospels must be viewed as whole units whose various parts are interrelated’. However, this has very strong affinities with redaction criticism as it is traditionally employed.