Jesus goes on to add:
“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in
heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in
heaven. Again, I tell you the truth, if two of you on earth agree about
whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two
or three are assembled in My name, I am there among them” (Matthew
18:18-20). It is following these assertions by Jesus that Peter, who is
clearly presented by Matthew as making the connection between what Jesus has
said about treating a brother as a Gentile or tax collector, binding and
releasing and agreeing together, and the need for there to be an ongoing
willingness to forgive as a marker of those that are part of Jesus’ messianic
movement, asks Jesus his famous question about the quantity of forgiveness that
need be on offer, suggesting that surely seven charitable acts of forgiveness
ought to be enough. Of course, based on what the audience of Matthew
knows about Jesus’ demeanor and His dealings with all and sundry, there would
be little astonishment to hear Jesus insist that forgiveness is to be extended
“Not seven times… but seventy-seven times!” (18:22b)
Now, some
translations render Jesus phrase as “seventy times seven.” Either way, it
would have been well understood that Jesus has indicated that there is to be no
end to forgiveness among brethren. However, there are some historical
considerations to be made here, which may serve to underscore an actual usage
of “seventy-seven” (putting aside the importance of any use of 490 in the mind
of a member of the nation of Israel in the first century). Bear in mind
that this Gospel, perhaps more than all the rest, reaches back into Israel’s
Scriptures in order to shed greater light on Jesus’ status and His ministry,
especially as the author goes to great lengths to show Jesus forth as the new
Moses.
Along with that, it
has been well-established that Jesus’ words and deeds only make sense in the
light of the history of Israel, as presented in its Scriptures.
Furthermore, Jesus’ presumptive audience would have been well-versed in
Israel’s history, and based on the construction of this Gospel, the same should
be presumed for Matthew’s audience. Finally, when Jesus quotes Scripture
to His hearers, or when the author quotes Scripture for his hearers in order to
reinforce something that Jesus has said or to shape their thinking along
certain lines, those quotations are not an isolated choosing of a statement
that fits a certain need, but that single quote is designed to call an entire
narrative to the minds of the hearers.
Why make these
points? It is because of the uses of “seventy-seven” that are to be found
in Scripture. If one surmises and presumes (altogether reasonably) that
Jesus is careful with His use of words, that Matthew is careful with the
construction of his narrative and with those words of Jesus that he includes in
that narrative, and a general familiarity on the part of the two audience’s
(Jesus’ and Matthew’s) with the Scriptures that tell the story of Israel (from
which they derived their sense of identity), then it is worthwhile to review
those uses.
The first use is
found in the foundational story of Scripture, which is Genesis. A verse
in the fourth chapter reads “You wives of Lamech, hear my words! I have
killed a man for wounding me, a young man for hurting me. If Cain is to
be avenged seven times as much, then Lamech seventy-seven times!”
(4:23b-24) Surely, this use of “seventy-seven” in connection with a wrong
done and vengeance (without getting into the nature or direction of that
vengeance, or the motivation for his words) would have some bearing on Jesus’
use of “seventy-seven” when speaking about wrongs done and
forgiveness---dissuading any desire for vengeance.
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