Lifting the Veil: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 in Light of Jewish Homiletic and Commentary Traditions

Description

What accounts for the seemingly atypical pattern of scriptural exegesis that Paul uses to interpret Exodus 34 in 2 Cor 3:7-18? While previous scholars have approached this question from a variety of angles, in this monograph, Michael Cover grapples particularly with the evidence of contemporaneous Jewish and Greco-Roman commentary traditions. Through comparison with Philo of Alexandria's Allegorical Commentary, the Pseudo-Philonic homilies De Jona and De Sampsone, the Anonymous Theaetetus Commentary, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Seneca's Epistulae morales, and other New Testament texts, Paul's interpretation of Exodus emerges as part of a wider commentary practice that Cover terms "secondary-level exegesis." This study also provides new analysis of the way ancient authors, including Paul, interwove commentary forms and epistolary rhetoric and offers a reconstruction of the context of Paul's conflict with rival apostles in Corinth. At root was the legacy of Moses and of the Pentateuch itself, how the scriptures ought to be read, and how Platonizing theological and anthropological traditions might be interwoven with Paul's messianic gospel. Part One: Paul’s Exegesis of Exodus 34 in Light of the Undisputed Epistles 1. Introduction 1.1 The Enigma of Pauline Exegesis 1.1.1 Pauline Exegesis in the Corinthian Correspondence: The Search for Origins 1.1.1.1 2 Cor 3:7-18 as Literary Insertion: Hans Windisch and His Heirs 1.1.1.2 2 Cor 3:7-18 as Authentic Epistolary Component and Pauline Composition 1.2 Contributions 1.2.1 Rereading Paul in his Corinthian Context 1.2.2 Paul and the Hellenistic Commentary Tradition 1.2.3 Pauline Hermeneutics: The Ways of the Fox 1.3 Overview 2. Patterns of Exegesis in Paul’s “Midraschartige Stiicke” 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 Patterns of Exegesis 2.2 Gal 4:21-5:1 2.2.1 The Exegetical Pattern 2.2.2 The Pericope 2.2.3 Explicit Pauline Controls 2.2.4 Implicit Old Testament Controls 2.2.5 A Narratological Confirmation: Graphe as Sarah, Paul as God 2.3 Rom 4:3-25 2.3.1 The Exegetical Pattern 2.3.2 The Pericope 2.3.3 Explicit Pauline Controls 2.3.4 Implicit Scriptural Controls 2.3.5 Further Epistolary Controls: Rom 3:27-4:2 2.4 1 Cor 10:1-13 2.4.1 The Exegetical Pattern 2.4.2 The Pericope 2.4.3 Explicit Pauline Controls 2.4.4 Implicit Scriptural Controls 2.5 2 Cor 3:7-18 2.5.1 The Exegetical Pattern 2.5.2 The Pericope 2.5.3 Explicit Pauline Controls 2.5.4 Implicit Scriptural Control 2.6 Conclusion 2.6.1 Implicit Scriptural Controls on Pauline Exegesis 2.6.2 Explicit Pauline Controls: Citation Formulae and Exegetical Markers 2.6.3 The Use of Exegetical Traditions in the Pauline Epistles? 2.7 Additional Tables Part Two: Secondary-Level Exegesis in Hellenistic Commentaries, Homilies, and Other Exegetical Writings 3. Sequential Exegesis in Hellenistic Commentaries 3.1 Introduction: Paul and the Commentary Tradition 3.1.1 Pauline Patterns 3.1.2 The Commentary Tradition 3.1.3 Plotting Pauline Exegesis: A Way Forward 3.2 Biblical Exegesis in Philo of Alexandria 3.2.1 Introduction 3.2.2 Philo’s Three Commentaries on the Pentateuch 3.2.3 Stylistic Unevenness in the Allegorical Commentary 3.2.4 The Quaestiones and the Allegorical Commentary 3.2.5 The Exposition of the Law and the Allegorical Commentary 3.2.6 Two Philonic Exegeses of Gen 12:4 3.3 Philo’s Interpretation of Secondary Biblical Lemmata and Paul’s Exegesis of Exodus 3.3.1 Secondary Biblical Lemmata in the Allegorical Commentary 3.3.2 Deus 87-90 and the Exegetical Pattern of 2 Cor 3:7-18 3.3.3 Theoretical Excursus: Exegesis, Text, and Story 3.4 Platonic Exegesis in the Anonymous Theaetetus Commentary 3.4.1 Introduction 3.4.2 Meno 87b7-d as a Secondary Lemma 3.4.3 Meno 98a3-4 as a Secondary Lemma 3.4.4 The Meno and the Theaetetus in Dialogue 3.5 Exegesis in the Sectarian Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls 3.5.1 Introduction 3.5.2 The Pesharim 3.5.3 llQMelchizedek: Explicit Controls 3.5.4 llQMelchizedek: Implicit Prophetic Controls 3.6 Conclusion 3.7 Additional Tables 4. Secondary-Level Exegesis in Homilies, Gospels, Treatises, and Greco-Roman Letters 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Homilies in the New Testament 4.2.1 The Preaching of the Early Church 4.2.2 Hebrews 3-4 as Exegetical Hypodeigma 4.2.2.1 The Sequential Exegetical Pattern 4.2.2.2 The Circular Ending 4.2.2.3 The Complex Scriptural Speaker: David and the Holy Spirit 4.2.3 Homilies in Acts 4.2.4 Acts 2: The Paradigm in Miniature 4.2.4.1 The Sequential Exegetical Pattern 4.2.4.2 The Circular Ending 4.2.4.3 The Complex Scriptural Speaker: David and Christ 4.2.4.4 Toward Identifying a Homiletic Type 4.2.5 The Preaching of jesus 4.2.6 Jesus the Anointed Prophet: Luke 4:16-30 4.2.7 Jesus the Bread of Life: john 6:31-58 4.2.7.1 Explicit johannine Controls 4.2.7.2 Implicit Scriptural Controls 4.3 Ps.-Philo: De Jona and De Sampsone 4.3.1 Introduction 4.3.2 De Jona and the De Jona Fragment 4.3.3 De Sampsone 4.3.4 Conclusion 4.4 Commentary Traditions in the Damascus Document 4.4.1 Conclusion 4.5 Commentary Tradition in Seneca’s Epistulae Morales ad Lucitium 4.5.1 Epistula 58 4.5.1.1 Ep. 58.1-7: Latin Lexicography and Its Philosophical Deficiency 4.5.1.2 Ep. 58.8-24: Plato’s Categories of Existence 4.6 Conclusion 4.7 Additional Table Part Three: Lifting the Veil: The Rhetorical Function and Theological Purpose of Paul’s Exegesis of Exodus 5. Digressive Poetics: 2 Cor 3:7-18 as Exegetical Amplification 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Paul’s Exegesis of Exodus in its Epistolary Frame: Exegetical Excursus in Commentary, Homily, Treatise, and Epistle 5.2.1 Introduction 5.2.2 Secondary Lemmata and Philonic Exegetical Poetics 5.2.3 2 Cor 3:7-18 in Ught of Philo 5.2.4 Exegetical Amplification in the Epistle to the Hebrews 5.2.5 2 Cor 3:7-18 in Ught of Hebrews 5.2.6 Exegetical Amplification in the Damascus Document 5.2.6.1 The Rhetorical Use of the Three Nets Pesher in the Damascus Document 5.2.7 2 Cor 3:7-18 in Ught of the Damascus Document 5.2.8 Seneca’s Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 5.2.9 2 Cor 3:7-18 in Ught of Seneca’s Epistulae Morales 5.3 Conclusion: Literary Unity, Paul’s Opponents, and a New Vision of Moses 5.3.1 Covenant Renewal 5.3.2 Paul’s Opponents 5.3.3 Re-visioning Moses 6. Lifting the Veil: 2 Cor 3:7-18 in Light of the Hellenistic Moses-Tabernacle Tradition 6.1 Introduction: Paul among the Sophists and the Exegetes 6.2 The Faces of Moses in 2 Cor 2:14-4:6 6.2.1 Moses and the Pauline Diakonia in 2 Cor 2:14-4:6 6.3 An Apostle Uke Moses (2 Cor 3:7-11)? 6.4 A People Uke Moses (2 Cor 3:12-18): Mosaic Exemplarity in Paul, Philo, and the Epistle to the Hebrews 6.4.1 Moses as Parrhesiast in Philo {Her. 1-21) and 2 Corinthians 6.4.2 Priestly Parrhisia in the Epistle to the Hebrews and 2 Corinthians 6.4.3 Entering the Tent in Philo and 2 Corinthians 6.4.3.1 Philo, Gig. 53-54 6.4.3.2 Philo, Leg. 2.53-55 6.4.4 Seeing in a Glass, Gloriously: Philo and 2 Corinthians 6.5 A Synthetic Postscript: Gregory of Nyssa Reading Paul and Philo References Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Authors Index of Subjects