Responsibilities of Master and Disciples in the Gospels

David Daube

doi:10.1017/S0028688500003337

Responsibilities of Master and Disciples in the Gospels

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009

David Daube

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David Daube: Affiliation:
(Berkeley, California, U.S.A.)

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The subject of this paper could include an enormous variety of aspects. The one that probably comes to mind first is the mutual responsibility of a master and his disciples to one another. For example, what kind of promise is implied in Jesus's assurance to those he calls that he will make of them fishers of men? Or what degree of obedience or of support do those who accept the call owe him? On this phase of the subject, however, a good deal has been written, though perhaps not much that is truly satisfactory. I shall go into a question which seems to have been totally neglected: namely, what is the responsibility of a master and his disciples in the outside world for one another's conduct? More precisely, how far is Jesus held accountable by the outside world for the conduct of his followers, and how far are the latter held accountable for his conduct?

Type: Articles
Information: New Testament Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , October 1972 , pp. 1 - 15

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688500003337 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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^{page 1 note 1} Matthew iv. 19; Mark i. 17; Luke v. 10.

^{page 2 note 1} Euthyphro 5. 5A f. See my Civil Disobedience in Antiquity (1972), p. 74.Google Scholar

^{page 2 note 2} Diogenes Laertius 2. 13.

^{page 4 note 1} Babylonian Aboda Zara 55a, Sanhedrin 39a. The first question is put to and answered by Gamaliel II, the second is put to him and answered by his daughter. Gamaliel's reply shows psychological sensitivity: a woman of worth will feel insulted precisely if her husband takes as second wife one devoid of admirable qualities. His daughter's repartee is very elegant: God acted like a thief who steals a silver jug, leaving a golden one behind.

^{page 4 note 2} Mark ii. 18ff.

^{page 4 note 3} Matthew ix. 14ff.

^{page 4 note 4} Luke v. 33ff. I follow there the interpretation of Creed, The Gospel according to St Luke (1930), p. 82.Google Scholar

^{page 4 note 5} Matthew xi. 19; Luke vii. 34.

^{page 4 note 6} Mark ii. 23ff.; Matthew xii. 1 ff.; Luke vi. 1 ff.

^{page 5 note 1} As for the cogency or otherwise of such an example in establishing the law, see my New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (1956), pp. 63 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 5 note 2} My father used to quote it when my brother or I exceeded the approved limits of imitaito patris.

^{page 5 note 3} Seneca, , Troades 290;Google Scholar see my Defence of Superior Orders in Roman Law (1956), pp. 15, 20.Google Scholar Cf. I Sam. iii. 13.

^{page 5 note 4} Yalqut ad I Samuel 21. 5, cited by Strack, and Billerbeck, , Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, I (1922), 619.Google Scholar

^{page 7 note 1} See Strack and Billerbeck, op. cit. pp. 618 f.

^{page 7 note 2} See above, p. 5 n. 1.

^{page 7 note 3} See my Defence of Superior Orders in Roman Law (1956), pp. 7 f.Google Scholar(repr. in Law Quarterly Review, vol. 72 (1956), pp. 498 f.).Google Scholar

^{page 8 note 1} II Samuel xxiv. 17; I Chronicles xxi. 17; see my Studies in Biblical Law, 1947 (repr. 1969), p. 162.Google Scholar

^{page 8 note 2} Tacitus, , Annals 3. 16.Google Scholar

^{page 8 note 3} After ‘and gave’ the particle ‘also’ is omitted. The reference ot the illicitness of the meal, which in Mark separates ‘he ate’ from ‘and he gave’, is placed at the end.

^{page 8 note 4} Matthew xv. 1 ff.; Mark vii. 1 ff.

^{page 8 note 5} Luke xi. 37 ff.

^{page 8 note 6} See e.g. Creed, op. cit. p. 165.

^{page 9 note 1} Luke vii. 36, xiv. 1; on the former, see below, p. 13.

^{page 9 note 2} Mark xi. 1 ff.; Matthew xxi. 1 ff.; Luke xix. 28 ff.; John xii. 12 ff.

^{page 9 note 3} Matthew xxi. 15 f.

^{page 9 note 4} Psalms viii. 3.

^{page 10 note 1} See Creed, op. cit. p. 24.

^{page 10 note 2} See Rengstorf, , Das Evangelium nach Lukas, 9th ed. (1962), p. 219.Google Scholar

^{page 10 note 3} See Taylor, , in The Interpreter's Bible, VII (1951), 138.Google Scholar

^{page 10 note 4} Acts vi. 1 f.

^{page 10 note 5} See Munck, , The Acts of the Apostles, rev. by Albright and Mann (1967), p. 56.Google Scholar

^{page 11 note 1} As far as the sheer size of the crowd is concerned, Matthew enlarges it already for the first acclamation: compare Matthew xxi. 8 f. with Mark xi. 8 f.

^{page 11 note 2} Mark ii. 15 ff.; Matthew ix. 10 ff.; Luke v. 29 ff.

^{page 11 note 3} In Matthew xiv. 13, for instance, akouo can signify only ‘to hear of’: Jesus is informed of the Baptist's fate.

^{page 11 note 4} Hosea vi. 6.

^{page 13 note 1} Matthew xi. 19; Luke v. 34.

^{page 13 note 2} Luke vii. 36 ff.

^{page 13 note 3} Luke xv. 1 ff.

^{page 13 note 4} Matthew xvii. 24 ff.

^{page 13 note 5} With my exegesis, contrast e.g. that of Johnson, , ‘The Gospel according to St Matthew’, in the Interpreter's Bible, VII (1951), 465:Google Scholar Matthew wished to remind Christians ‘that they must give free and willing obedience to the state’.

^{page 14 note 1} And for three days before: Mishna Aboda Zara I. 1; Babylonian Aboda Zara 6b.

^{page 14 note 2} Babylonian Aboda Zara 6 b, cited by Strack and Billerbeck, op. cit. p. 885.

^{page 14 note 3} Min in the original. Whatever precise sect may be contemplated, it must be one celebrating a festival which involves what the Rabbi judges to be idolatry.

^{page 14 note 4} Kile'ahar yadh. Strack and Billerbeck's literal, over-literal, translation, wie mit der Rückseite der Hand (in ungewöhnlicher Weise), fails to bring out this meaning. Goldschmidt, , Der babylonische Talmud, VII (1903), 815,Google Scholar may have had it in mind though he is highly obscure: Ich meine en passant. Mishcon, , Abodah, Zarah (The Babylonian Talmud, ed. Epstein, Nezikin VII), 1935, p. 27,Google Scholar gets it wrong: ‘I mean you should do it by sleight of hand.’ He would, that is, have the coin thrown away without the messenger noticing. But if he does not notice, he will report to the sender that everything is fine – and the idol will be glorified.

^{page 15 note 1} See Johnson, op. cit. pp. 465 f.

^{page 15 note 2} See Johnson, op. cit. p. 465.

^{page 15 note 3} Mark xii. 17; Matthew xxii. 21; Luke xx. 25. On the riddling nature of the saying see my He that Cometh (1966), pp. 9, 18.Google Scholar

^{page 15 note 4} Mark ii. 15 ff., Luke v. 28 ff.

^{page 15 note 5} Paper read at the S.N.T.S. meeting at Claremont on 31 August 1972. My thanks are due to Professor Kingsley Barrett for valuable criticism.

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