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Matthew's Messianic Shepherd-king: In search of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel”


J Willitts

Abstract



The article intends to grasp the meaning of the phrase “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” in the Matthean logia of 10:5b-6 (and 15:24). It shows that in recent Matthean research the phrase has become an abstract salvation-historical category disconnected from narrative and historical particularity. However, generally seen,
scholars have neglected a thorough treatment of the phrase within both Matthew's own presentation of the story of Jesus and a firstcentury Jewish eschatological context. In this article the context of the phrase is investigated at several levels. It argues that it should
be read against the backdrop of the political-national framework of the Messianic Shepherd-King expectation with its attending expectations for territorial restoration.

HTS Theological Studies Vol. 63 (1) 2007: pp. 365-382

Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 2072-8050
print ISSN: 0259-9422