|
by
Doug Ward |
Today we often find it amusing when people refer to themselves in the third
person. The technical term for this practice is "illeism." We tend to
think of illeism as either a sign that a person is childlike-similar to Elmo on
Sesame Street or Dobby the elf in the Harry Potter stories-or engaging in
self-promotion, as some celebrities do.
Illeism
has a long history. In particular, it appears frequently in the Bible.1
We see it first in the proud declaration of Lamech in Genesis 4:23-24. On the
other hand, in situations where people are humbling themselves before God or a
person in authority, they may refer to themselves as "your servant"
(e.g., Ge 44:18, 32-33; Nu 11:11; Dt 3:24).
Several
divine statements in the Hebrew Scriptures include illeism (e.g., Ge 9:6,16; Nu
32:11-12; Dt 1:36). In these statements illeism can emphasize the identity and
authority of the speaker as the God of Israel, or give a reminder that the
Temple is his house (Jer 17:26; Hos 8:1).
In
the Gospels Jesus often speaks of himself in the third person as "the Son
of Man," a designation that highlights both his humanity and his divine
status. At times he uses this illeism to talk about his human life and his
upcoming suffering and death (Mt 8:20; 12:40; 17:9,12,22; 20:18,28;
26:2,24,45). In these cases, "Son of Man" connotes the frailty of
mortal humans, as in Psalm 8:4 and the prophecies of Ezekiel.
Elsewhere
he speaks of "the Son of Man" in reference to Daniel's vision
recorded in Daniel 7:13-14. In that vision "one like a son of man"
comes "with the clouds of heaven" to the Ancient of Days and is given
dominion over all nations. Jesus identifies himself as this divine figure when
he states that the Son of Man will come in the clouds with his angels to rule
from a glorious throne (Mt 13:41; 16:27; 19:28; 24:30; 25:31; 26:63-64).
|
The
Question about Fasting |
These Son of Man examples are clearly illeistic. However, the situation is not
so clear-cut for some other sayings of Jesus that are often interpreted as
illeisms.
A
prime example, recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels, is Jesus' answer to a
question about fasting. When asked why his disciples did not fast as often as
the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees, Jesus replied, "Can
the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will
come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast"
(Mt 9:15).
In
reading this passage, we tend to assume that Jesus is referring to himself as
"the bridegroom" and saying that his disciples will fast more
frequently after his ascension, when he is no longer with them physically. In
favor of this assumption is the fact that in his parables, Jesus compares the
kingdom of heaven to a wedding banquet, with himself as the bridegroom (Mt
22:1-2; 25:1). Moreover, John the Baptist had previously presented himself as a
friend of Jesus the bridegroom (Jn 3:29), and the first Christians would see
themselves as the Bride of the Messiah (2 Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32; Rev 19:6-9).
This
wedding banquet and bridegroom imagery is rooted in the teachings of Israel's
prophets, who looked ahead to a future restoration of Israel, when God's
marriage relationship with his people would be renewed and celebrated with
feasting (Isa 25:6-8; 55:1-3; 62:4-5). With the coming of Jesus, the kingdom of
heaven had arrived and the time to celebrate had begun.2
With
regard to Jesus' answer in Matthew 9:15, though, we should look more closely at
first-century fasting practices. Fasting was a familiar practice for all Jews
in that era, including the disciples of Jesus (see Mt 6:16-18). In John the
Baptist's ministry, there was a special emphasis on calling the Jewish people
and their leaders to repentance in anticipation of a coming divine judgment (Mt
3:4-12). The additional fasting of John's disciples may have sprung from a
desire to pray about these issues.
Jesus
shared John's concern for the spiritual state of Jerusalem (Lk 13:34-45;
19:41-44; 23:28-29), but his ministry had a different focus. This difference
between the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of John (Mt 11:17-19) probably
continued after Jesus' ascension, but both groups would have mourned about a
later event-the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD.
It
was this later event that Jesus may have had in mind in Matthew 9:15. The
phrase "the days will come" reminds us of the words of the prophets
(e.g., Isa 39:6; Jer 7:32; Am 8:11). When Jesus used
this phrase, he often looked ahead to the destruction of Jerusalem (Lk
19:41-44; 23:28-29). For the prophet Jeremiah, the time "when the
bridegroom is taken away" was the time when the Babylonians conquered
Judah and leveled the first Temple (Jer 7:34; 16:9;
25:10). Jesus may have used this phrase to refer to the coming destruction of
the Second Temple.3
This
interpretation of Matthew 9:15 finds additional support in an event that
occurred in 63 AD. During the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in
Jerusalem that year, a man named Jesus son of Ananias alluded to Jeremiah's
words in a prophecy against Jerusalem and the Temple. This prophet declared
himself to be "a voice against the bridegroom and the bride"
(Josephus, Jewish War 6:300-309).
Was
Jesus calling himself "the bridegroom" in Matthew 9:15? It is
inviting to think so, since he often used illeism and identified himself
closely with Yahweh, Israel's bridegroom. Before jumping to that conclusion,
however, we should examine Jesus' words more closely in their cultural and
scriptural context. Such study leads to a more accurate understanding of God's
Word.
1See Andrew S. Malone,
"God the Illeist: Third Person Self-Reference and Trinitarian Hints in the
Old Testament," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52
(2009), 499-518.
2Philip J. Long
develops these connections in Jesus the Bridegroom: The Origin of the
Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels, Pickwick
Publications, 2013.
3See
R. Steven Notley, "Luke 5:35: `When the Bridegroom is Taken
Away'-Anticipation of the Destruction of the Second Temple," The
Gospels in First Century Judaea, Brill, 2016, pp. 107-121.
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