The BAS Scholars Series program offers a quarterly, stand-alone presentation by noted scholars of the Bible and archaeology.

On September 28, 2023, join Amy-Jill Levine for her compelling talk on Psalm 8, Jesus, and the Jerusalem Temple.

Presentation

Free Health Care Is a Miracle: Psalm 8, Jesus, and the Jerusalem Temple

To the chief priests and scribes angered over Jesus’s reception by children in the Temple, Jesus cites Psalm 8:2, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” (Matthew 21:16). The Psalm’s reference to infants and its narrative placement—in the Temple, in the presence of disabled people whom Jesus heals—prompts numerous commentators to read Matthew as condemning the Temple that, in their view, is hostile to the disabled and the marginalized (symbolized by the children). Such readings are Christian apologetics that misunderstand Judaism and misquote Jewish sources. This negative preoccupation with the Temple also misses echoes of Matthew’s other references to infants, toddlers, and children, echoes that remind us that not all children testify to divine will.

Speaker

Register

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