
170 AD to 190 AD, Psalm 56: Foundations of Christianity.
This generation is from the 170s and the 180s
First to Usha after the revolt. After other stays, the current generation settles in Beit Chearim. Faced with this exile that begins, Jerusalem fades, and this is probably what David evokes in « The dove dumb in the distance » in the title of the psalm:
(extract of the psalm 56 associated to this generation, verse 1 – title of the psalm – )
- For the conductor, on yonath elem rehokim (the dumb dove in the distance), of David a michtam, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
- A capital event [1], related by Epiphanius of Salamis in his treatise « Against Heresies », would have occurred in Rome in 144. Marcion is summoned by the presbyterium, the assembly of priests of Rome, without it being specified whether the bishop was there. He is asked to explain his interpretation of the parable of Jesus on the old bottles. « And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. (- we have an interpretation of this parable with conclusions on Judaism, of course, opposed to that of Marcion – ). » The exegesis of presbyterium was of the moralistic type. The skins, the bad tree, meant humans, hardened hearts. Marcion, for his part, maintained a historical exegesis, namely that the old skins, the bad tree, were the old scriptures and the Jews. At the end of this confrontation, Marcion is excluded, or else excludes himself, and founds his own Church.
- Marcion [2] is above all the discoverer and publisher of Paul’s epistles. These letters, considered the oldest Christian documents, are ignored before the publication of the Apostle, about 130 and 140 (ten epistles that he associates with the Gospel of Luke to define his own New Testament canon). Marcion is the first dated witness. It is not difficult to think that he went beyond a simple job of « corrector ». […] In truth, no one knows – and there is no way of knowing – how Paul’s texts presented themselves before Marcion accommodated them to his theology. […] Should not one see one’s hand rather than Paul’s in the words so violently hostile to the Jews of the Judean churches in the epistle to the Thessalonians? […]
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- The [3] The [3] Christians of the second century are immediately faced with a dilemma that compels them to make a deal. And this for two reasons: one political, the other theological. Politics because in the Empire, to be religio licita, « legal religion », one had to have ancestors. If he cut himself off from his Jewish roots, Christianity cut himself off from his ancestors, and condemned himself to remain a sect without rights or privileges in the eyes of Rome. Theological because, contrary to what Marcion claimed, the New Testament project could not be to abrogate the Hebrew Bible. They must both take the consequences of their divorce from Judaism and not sacrifice the immense body of biblical references without which the Gospels and their literature would be nothing.
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The Jews, allies of yesterday, become the enemies, those who betrayed Christ.
(extract of the psalm 56 associated to this generation, verse 2 to 3 to 5 to 7 to 9 to 14 )
- Be gracious to me, O God, because men yearn to swallow me; all day long the warrior oppresses me.
- Those who eye me have yearned to swallow me all day long, for many fight against me, O Most High.
- In the aftermath of the Bar Kokheba revolt, the choice of Christians to sacrifice the Jews and seduce the Gentiles will naturally increase the number of Israel’s enemies.
- The day I fear, I will hope to You.
- With God, I will praise His word; in God I trusted, I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?
- The desire to impose Jesus as Christ does not question the Jewish faith. This new God (or assimilated as such) remains a man, a sage. It is not this creation by Christian thinkers that calls into question the entire divinity and power of God, that of the Jewish Bible.
- All day long, my words grieve [me]; all their thoughts about me are for evil.
- They lodge, they hide, they watch my steps, when they hope for my life.
- The advent of Christianity in this generation is to the detriment of the condition of the Jews for centuries to come.
- For iniquity, they expect rescue. Bring down nations with anger, O God.
- You counted my wanderings; place my tears in Your flask. Is it not in Your accounting?
- Unfortunately this redefinition of the message of Jesus will provoke over the centuries many « tears » from the Jewish people.
- Then my enemies will retreat on the day that I call. Thereby I will know that I have a God.
- With God[‘s justice] I will praise a word; with the Lord[‘s kindness] I will praise a word.
- In God I trusted, I will not fear. What can man do to me?
- Upon me, O God, are Your vows; I will pay thanksgiving offerings to You.
- For You saved my soul from death, even my feet from stumbling, to walk before God in the light of life.
- Despite this dark future, David reiterates in the name of the Jewish people, his faithfulness to God, his confidence in the final restoration of the people of Israel.
[1] The early times of the Church (collection of texts) by Marie Françoise Baslez / Text 41: « Marcion and the radical break » by Michel Tardieu (p. Marcion refers to the parable of the seeps at Matthew Chapter 9, verse 17 as well as Mark Chapter 2, verse 22 and Luke Chapter 5, verse 37. For the evil tree he refers to Luke Chapter 6, verse 43. (French: « Les premiers temps de l’Église (recueil de textes) de Marie Françoise Baslez/ Texte 41 : « Marcion et la rupture radicale » de Michel Tardieu (p. 403) ).
[2] Gérard Mordillat and Jérôme Prieur / Jesus against Jesus / Chapter « delivered » (French: « Jésus contre Jésus »/Chapitre « livré » (p 372/373/374) ).
[3] Gérard Mordillat and Jérôme Prieur / Jesus against Jesus / Chapter « delivered » (French: « Jésus contre Jésus »/Chapitre « livré » (p 375/376/378/380) ).