4th of 4 slideshows on connections between Midrash and New Testament texts.

1. Midrash and the
New Testament:
Exploring Connections
WITH RABBI MAURICE HARRIS
Lesson 4

2. Let’s Consider how Midrashic and New Testament
Texts Interpret, Re-work, and Expand on Hosea
Name means: “to save / salvation”
Lived during Assyrian Emprie’s destruction of the Northern Kingdom / 722 BCE
Predicted the downfall of N. Kingdom (Israel) due to rampant idolatry. Warned S.
Kingdom (Judah) that they aren’t doing so great with God either.
Marriage Metaphor / Israel as “unfaithful wife”
Hope & Redemption – God will take the unfaithful wife back; the rejected
people will be taken back

4. Triggers
 Gaps in biblical stories
 Contradictions within the Bible
 Grammatical quirks or oddities in the biblical Hebrew
 Unusual word choices
 Apparent redundancy or repetition in the Bible
 Word plays or literary associations in the biblical Hebrew
 Unusual visual features found in certain Hebrew words in the Torah (enlarged letters, upside-
down letters, etc.)
 Anything that might raise a question to a careful reader of the Bible in Hebrew
 Elements of the Bible that seem to address contemporary issues facing the rabbis

5. Avot d'Rabbi Natan 4:21
Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai was once leaving Jerusalem. Rabbi Joshua was walking
behind him and saw the Temple in ruins.
Rabbi Joshua said, “Woe unto us for the destruction of the Temple, the place of
atonement for the sins of Israel!”
Yohanan replied, “My son, do not worry – we have another form of atonement
like it. What is it? Acts of lovingkindness. As it is written: For I desire acts of
lovingkindness and not sacrifice. [Hosea 6:6]”

6. Huh?!?

7. Matthew 9:9-13

8. Matthew 9:20-22
It is related that a non-Jewish woman came before Rabbi Eliezer and
asked to be converted. He inquired into her past. She replied: “My
youngest son comes from my eldest son.” Eliezer dismissed her, so she
went to Joshua and confessed her past to him. He accepted her for
conversion. His disciples said to him: “R. Eliezer drove her away, yet you
brought her near!” Joshua replied: “As soon as she made up her mind
to accept the Law she ceased to live in her [former] world: as it is
written: None that go unto her return, if they do return [to their former
ways], neither do they attain unto the path of life (Prov. 2:19).”
- From the Midrash collection, Kohellet Rabbah 1:25

9. Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert

10. Charlotte Elisheva Fonrobert