Jesus the Bridegroom: The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels

by Phillip J. Long

Overview

Did Jesus claim to be the "bridegroom"? If so, what did he mean by this claim? When Jesus says that the wedding guests should not fast "while the bridegroom is with them" (Mark 2:19), he is claiming to be a bridegroom by intentionally alluding to a rich tradition from the Hebrew Bible. By eating and drinking with "tax collectors and other sinners," Jesus was inviting people to join him in celebrating the eschatological banquet. While there is no single text in the Hebrew Bible or the literature of the Second Temple Period which states the "messiah is like a bridegroom," the elements for such a claim are present in several texts in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea. By claiming that his ministry was an ongoing wedding celebration he signaled the end of the Exile and the restoration of Israel to her position as the Lord's beloved wife. This book argues that Jesus combined the tradition of an eschatological banquet with a marriage metaphor in order to describe the end of the Exile as a wedding banquet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630870331
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	11/06/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	298
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Phillip J. Long (PhD, Andrews University) is Professor of Biblical Studies and chair of the Biblical Studies division at Grace Bible College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Phillip J. Long is Professor of Biblical Studies at Grace Christian University. He is the author of Jesus the Bridegroom (Pickwick, 2012) and he has contributed several articles and book reviews for theological journals. He currently serves as editor of the Journal of Grace Theology. He has served as an interim pastor in Michigan and California and currently serves as the pastor of teaching at Rush Creek Bible Church.

Review of Jesus the Bridegroom in the Review of Biblical Literature

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This is a careful defense for the view that Jesus himself drew up this agenda for his mission, no matter how the New Testament crafted his actual words. . . . The book serves as a good resource for the Gospel passages dealing with these three themes."
—Mark Whitters, Senior Lecturer of Jewish Studies, Eastern Michigan University

"Long does both Old and New Testament scholarship a great service with the publication of his work on the interpretation and application of the eschatological banquet. . . . In my archaeological work at Qumran, I have seen the importance of the banquet motif to the eschatology of Second Temple Judaism, and this new study demonstrates how this carried over in Jewish-Christianity, and combined with the wedding metaphor, gave the understanding and expectation of Jesus as the Bridegroom. What a wonderful work!"
—Randall Price, Distinguished Research Professor, Liberty University

"Phillip Long's Jesus the Bridegroom is a fine contribution to the burgeoning field of intertextual studies. . . . Long's work is characterized throughout by judicious analysis and application of both primary and secondary sources. I warmly commend this book to anyone interested in Jesus of Nazareth and his program for the renewal of Israel."
—Joe Hellerman, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, California

Editorial Reviews

"This is a careful defense for the view that Jesus himself drew up this agenda for his mission, no matter how the New Testament crafted his actual words. . . . The book serves as a good resource for the Gospel passages dealing with these three themes."
—Mark Whitters, Senior Lecturer of Jewish Studies, Eastern Michigan University

"Long does both Old and New Testament scholarship a great service with the publication of his work on the interpretation and application of the eschatological banquet. . . . In my archaeological work at Qumran, I have seen the importance of the banquet motif to the eschatology of Second Temple Judaism, and this new study demonstrates how this carried over in Jewish-Christianity, and combined with the wedding metaphor, gave the understanding and expectation of Jesus as the Bridegroom. What a wonderful work!"
—Randall Price, Distinguished Research Professor, Liberty University

"Phillip Long's Jesus the Bridegroom is a fine contribution to the burgeoning field of intertextual studies. . . . Long's work is characterized throughout by judicious analysis and application of both primary and secondary sources. I warmly commend this book to anyone interested in Jesus of Nazareth and his program for the renewal of Israel."
—Joe Hellerman, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, California

From the Publisher