Jewish hermeneutics as a means of apologetics in the Gospel of Matthew 2:23

Annotation

The purpose of the article is to analyze the hermeneutical aspect of apologetics in the Gospel of Matthew 2:23. The article uses the methodology of comparative Jewish hermeneutics, philological and historical-cultural analysis. The results of the study show that Matthew pursues an apologetic goal in his Christmas story because some details of Christmas do not have a clear biblical basis. Jewish hermeneutics solves the problem of the lack of direct biblical prophecies. Peshat makes it possible to establish the connection between Christmas and Old Testament fragments outside of their context. However, even peshat was insufficient to prove the origin of the Messiah from Nazareth, because there is not a single mention of Nazareth in the Old Testament. Gezera shava makes it possible to establish a phonological connection between Nazareth and the Old Testament fragments. The deliberate vagueness of the quotation makes it possible to declare that a multitude of prophets predicted the Nazarene origin of Jesus. Peshat and gezera shava include not only hermeneutic tools, but also a rhetorical function of persuasion. In conclusion, Matthew uses Jewish hermeneutics as a means of apologetics.

Keywords

Matthew 2:23, peshat, gezera shava, midrash, apostolic hermeneutics, Jewish hermeneutics, historical-grammatical method, exegesis, divination, apologetics, messianic prophecies.

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