MATTHEW 13:52

Jesus has just finished telling a whole series of short “Kingdom parables” to the disciples, and then he asks them in this verse:

    “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law [scribe] who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.” (Matthew 13:52, NIV)

I am afraid that if I had been there at the time, I would have said, “I understood all the parables, but what in the world are you talking about now?” So let us see what people wiser than myself have to say regarding Jesus' words. And in doing this, I was comforted to read that others had a little trouble with this verse as well, calling it “enigmatic” (Beale and Gladd) and “a puzzling little epigram” (France)

The first issue to deal with is the identity of the “scribe” about whom Jesus is talking. We need to know what that word meant in the Judaism of Christ's time:

    Haarbeck: “The scribe was not simply the copyist of the scriptures in post-exilic Judaism; he was the authorized teacher and theologian who interpreted the law.”

    Tilden: “an expert in the Mosaic law”

Hendricksen explains some of the limitations of the Jewish scribes' teachings:

“...the trouble...was that he was forever repeating the opinions, fancies, and vagaries of the ancient rabbis. He specialized in that which was 'old,' and was unable to stir man's soul and to meet his deepest needs. Others there are who are constantly interested in whatever is 'new' (Acts 17:21). It has to be the latest. The true scribe is thoroughly acquainted with the old, and builds on it.”

With that background we can now get back to the identity of the “scribe.” There appear to be at least three options:

    1. A surprisingly large number of commentators take this to be a hidden reference to the evangelist Matthew himself. Thus, according to them, it functions as a reflection of the Evangelist's background (Overman), “the evangelist's self-portrait” (Nixon), a “potentially autobiographical reference” (Blomberg), a reflection of “the evangelist's practice of finding new meaning in the old tradition” (Evans), “an element of Matthew's Jewishness” (Haarbeck), and “a discreet signature of the Gospel-writer” (Hill).

Adding to the possibility that Evangelist is referring to himself here is the possible pun between his name (Mattaios) and the words “who has been trained” (matheteutheis). Was Matthew in fact trained in this manner?

Blomberg: “Because of his profession, Levi [i.e. Matthew] most likely featured among the minority of the populace that was literate...His elementary school education and subsequent synagogue attendance...would have steeped him in the contents and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.”

R.E. Brown: “He was a scribe well versed in the Law and the Prophets and the subtleties of translating them.”

France gives two more options for Jesus' definition of “scribe”:

    2. It refers to Jesus' chosen disciples as a new “alternative” scribal school, trained by his own instruction.

    3. It is used in the secular sense of a “writer” who is “sufficiently educated to undertake writing and reading commissions for others and to compile records.”

Explanation #3 would fit in well with a self-description of Matthew role within the circle of Apostles, as Blomberg points out, but France feels that #2 makes more sense.

In that regard, Haarbeck says, "Here the scribe is seen as a steward who knows both the old, the message of the Old Testament scriptures, and also their fulfilment in the radically new, the message and person of Jesus...At any rate, the disciple in Matthew does what the scribe should be doing, i.e. expound the scriptures as they are fulfilled by Jesus.”

Tilden states that “a disciple of Jesus is able to preserve past insights and enlarge them.” In doing so, he or she will be following in the footsteps of Jesus himself. In that regard, the words of Beale and Gladd form a fitting conclusion to this short discussion:

    “Whatever the precise identification of all the details may be, the main thrust is that Jesus' teaching concerning the kingdom involves both 'new' and 'old' insights. In other words, his teaching stands in both continuity and discontinuity with the Old Testament.”