One Lord, One People: the Unity of the Church in Acts in Its Literary Setting : The Unity of the Church in Acts in Its Literary Setting [1 ed.] 9780567573827, 9780567062758

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LIBRARY OF NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES

359 formerly the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series

Editor Mark Goodacre

Editorial Board John M. G. Barclay, Craig Blomberg, Kathleen E. Corley, R. Alan Culpepper, James D. G. Dunn, Craig A. Evans, Stephen Fowl, Robert Fowler, Simon J. Gathercole, Michael Labahn, John S. Kloppenborg, Robert Wall, Steve Walton, Robert L. Webb, Catrin H. Williams

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ONE LORD, ONE PEOPLE: THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH IN ACTS IN ITS LITERARY SETTING

ALAN J. THOMPSON

Copyright # Alan J. Thompson, 2008 Published by T&T Clark A Continuum imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Alan J. Thompson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-10: HB: 0567045595 ISBN-13: HB: 9780567045591 Typeset by Data Standards Limited, Frome, Somerseset, UK. Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk

CONTENTS Preface Abbreviations

vii ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Survey of literature 2. Research problem 3. The proposed audience of Luke–Acts 4. Historical plausibility 5. Methodology 6. Projected significance of this study

1 3 10 10 14 17 18

CHAPTER 2 UNITY AND THE ‘RULE OF LAW’ 1. Unity and the ideal ruler a. Graeco-Roman ideals: kingship and concord b. Old Testament kingship ideals: one king over one people i. Chronicles ii. Eschatological hopes c. Jewish Second-Temple hopes d. Summary: unity and kingship 2. Unity and the ideal rule a. Graeco-Roman literature: constitution and concord b. Law and unity in Plato and Aristotle c. Old Testament literature: unity and the true people of God i. Deuteronomy ii. Ezra–Nehemiah iii. Isaiah d. Josephus: the unity of the nation as a whole e. Summary: unity and law f. Conclusion

19 19 19 30 30 33 35 38 38 39 41 46 46 48 50 51 54 55

CHAPTER 3 UNITY AND THE ‘RULE OF THE LORD’ 1. Unity and the reign of the true king a. The Roman setting of Luke–Acts b. Kingship and community (Acts 2) c. Maintaining unity (Acts 4.32–5.16)

57 58 60 63 70

vi

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting d. Bridging the great divide (Acts 16.6-10) 2. Unity, law and constitution a. Unity, Sinai and the Spirit (Acts 2) i. Pentecost and Sinai ii. Unity and Sinai iii. Pentecost, Sinai and unity b. Oneness of heart and the law (Acts 4.32-35) c. Unity, neglected widows and the law (Acts 6.1-6) d. Unity and new developments (Acts 8, 10–11, and 15) 3. Conclusion

CHAPTER 4 UNITY AND DISUNITY: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SURVIVAL AND DESTRUCTION 1. Graeco-Roman literature: conquerors, conquest and concord a. Unity saves the day (Herodotus) b. Strife and struggle (Thucydides) c. Concord and victory (Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus) d. Political discussions: the effects of unity/disunity among citizens i. Contrasting effects on the constitution (Plato and Aristotle) ii. The politics of concord (Cicero) iii. Privilege and preservation (Plutarch) iv. A tale of two cities (Dio Chrysostom) 2. Old Testament literature: unity and conquest a. Joshua b. Eschatological expectations 3. Josephus: discord and devastation a. Discord: the cause of disaster (Jewish War) b. The cause of disaster has been seen before (Antiquities) c. Attempts to prevent internal strife (Life of Josephus) 4. Conclusion CHAPTER 5 CONCORD AND THE CONQUEST OF THE WORD 1. Conquest, the progress of the word and Acts 2. Unity and conquest in the midst of opposition (Acts 1.1–6.7) 3. Herod: a conquered ruler (Acts 12) 4. Iconium: a city divided (Acts 14) 5. Thessalonica and Berea: a harmonious community in the midst of turmoil (Acts 17) 6. Corinth: conquest and the law (Acts 18) 7. Ephesus: conquest in the midst of disorder (Acts 19) 8. Ephesus continued: the true E * kklhsiva in Ephesus (Acts 20)

74 79 83 83 85 88 89 93 96 103

105 105 106 108 110 113 114 115 116 117 121 121 123 125 126 128 132 133 135 135 138 141 143 146 149 151 157

Contents

vii

9. Final evidence for conquest: Jerusalem, the Jewish leadership, and disunity (Acts 21–28) 159 a. Jerusalem: a city divided 160 b. The Sanhedrin: a leadership divided 162 c. Rome: final judgement, division and departure 165 10. Conclusion 169 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 1. Summary 2. Implications

171 171 173

Bibliography Index of Authors Index of Ancient Texts

175 203 207

PREFACE This book is a substantially reduced version of a doctoral dissertation submitted to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. I would especially like to thank my supervisor, Dr David Pao, for his guidance on this project. At various stages of this work I have received some assistance for which I am very grateful. Among others, Jeremy and Jan Peckham, Michael Thate, Bethany Carr, Scott Tester and the staff at the Rolfing Memorial Library at TEDS were of tremendous help at crucial times. I continue to be thankful for my Mother and Father who first taught me God’s word. Without the support and encouragement of my wife, Alayne, and our girls, Deborah and Rebekah, this project could not have been accomplished. It is to them that this book is lovingly dedicated. It is my hope that this book may bring honour to Christ and encourage his people. Alan J. Thompson Sydney Missionary and Bible College January 2008

ABBREVIATIONS

Versions of the Bible LXX MT NASB NIV RSV

Septuagint Masoretic Text New American Standard Bible New International Version Revised Standard Version

Ancient sources 2 Bar. 1 En. 4 Ezra Jub. Pss. Sol. Sib. Or.

Pseudepigrapha 2 (Syriac) Baruch [= Apocalypse of Baruch] 1 (Ethiopic) Enoch 4 Ezra [= 2 Esd. 3–14] Jubilees Psalms of Solomon Sibylline Oracles

Eth. nic. Pol.

Greek and Latin works Aristotle Nichomachean Ethics Politics

Agr. Att Cat. De or. Leg. Off. Phil. Pis.

Cicero De Lege agraria Epistulae ad Atticum In Catalinam De oratore De legibus De officiis Orationes philippicae In Pisonem

x

Or Or Or Or

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

38 39 40 41

Dio Chrysostom To the Nicomedians on Concord with the Nicaeans To the Nicaeans On Concord with Apameia To the Apameians on Concord Horace

Ep. Epod.

Epistles Epodes

Metam.

Metamorphoses

Pol. Resp.

Statesman Republic

Nat.

Pliny the Elder Natural History

Alex. fort. Lyc. Ti. Gracch.

Plutarch De Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute Lycurgus Tiberius et Caius Gracchus

Clem. Ep.

Seneca De clementia Epistulae morales

Geogr.

Geography

Hist.

Historiae

Aen. Ecl. Georg.

Aeneid Eclogues Georgics

Ovid

Plato

Strabo

Tacitus

Virgil

Rabbinic writings Tg. Ps.-J Exod Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Exodus Tg. Neof. Exod Targum Neofiti Exodus

Abbreviations Pirqe R. El.

Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer

Apion Ant. Life War

Josephus Against Apion Antiquities of the Jews Life of Josephus The Jewish War

Dec. Leg. Gai. Spec. Leg.

Philo De decalogo Legatio ad Gaium De specialibus legibus

1QS

Dead Sea Scrolls Community Rule/Manual of Discipline

xi

Abbreviations of commonly used periodicals, reference works and serials AB AG AJP ANF ANRW

AsSeign AnSoc ASTI AUSS BARev BECNT BETL Bib Bijdr BJRL BTB BZ BZNW CBQ

Anchor Bible Analecta Gregoriana American Journal of Philology Ante-Nicene Fathers Hildegard Temporini and Wolfgang Haase (eds), Aufstieg und Niedergang der ro¨mischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1972–) Assemble´es du Seigneur Ancient Society Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute Andrews University Seminary Series Biblical Archaeology Review Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium Biblica Bijdragen: Tijdschrift voor filosofie en theologie Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester Biblical Theology Bulletin Biblische Zeitschrift Beihefte zur ZNW Catholic Biblical Quarterly

xii

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

CEJL ClQ CQ EKKNT ETL ETR EvQ EvT ExpTim FOTL GRBS HCOT HistThSupp HTR HTS IBS ICC Int JBL JETS JPTSup JQR JRS JSJ JSJSS JSNT JSNTSup JSOTSup JSPSup JSS JTS KEK LCBI LCL LCM LD NCB NCLS

Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature Classical Quarterly Church Quarterly Evangelisch-Katholischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses Etudes the´ologiques et religieuses Evangelical Quarterly Evangelische Theologie Expository Times The Forms of the Old Testament Literature Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies Historical Commentary on the Old Testament History and Theory Supplement Harvard Theological Review Harvard Theological Studies Irish Biblical Studies International Critical Commentary Interpretation Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Journal of Pentecostal Theology, supplement series Jewish Quarterly Review Journal of Roman Studies Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism Journal for the Study of the New Testament Journal for the Study of the New Testament, supplement series Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, supplement series Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, supplement series Journal of Semitic Studies Journal of Theological Studies Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar u¨ber das Neue Testament Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation Loeb Classical Library Loeb Classical Monographs Lectio divina New Century Bible Nottingham Classical Literature Studies

Abbreviations NIBC NICOT NICNT NIDOTTE

NIGTC NovT NovTSup NRTh NTD NTS OBT O¨TK OTM OTS Phil PTMS RB RevExp RivB RTR SBL SBLAB SBLDS SBLMS SBLSymS SEA˚ SecCent SJT SNTSMS SNTU SP SUNT TDOT TNTC TSAJ TU TynBul TZ USQR VT WBC

xiii

New International Biblical Commentary New International Commentary on the Old Testament New International Commentary on the New Testament Willem A. VanGemeren (ed.), New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 5 vols (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1997) The New International Greek Testament Commentary Novum Testamentum Novum Testamentum, Supplements La nouvelle revue the´ologique Das Neue Testament Deutsch New Testament Studies Overtures to Biblical Theology O¨kumenischer Taschenbuch-Kommentar Old Testament Message Oudtestamentische Studie¨n Philologus Pittsburgh Theological Monograph Series Revue biblique Review and Expositor Rivista biblica Reformed Theological Review Society of Biblical Literature SBL Academia Biblica SBL Dissertation Series SBL Monograph Series SBL Symposium Series Svensk exegetisk a˚rsbok Second Century Scottish Journal of Theology Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series Studien zum Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt Sacra pagina Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (eds), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament Tyndale New Testament Commentary Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum Texte und Untersuchungen Tyndale Bulletin Theologische Zeitschrift Union Seminary Quarterly Review Vetus Testamentum Word Bible Commentary

xiv WUNT YCS ZAW ZNW ZPE

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Yale Classical Studies Zeitschrift fu¨r die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift fu¨r die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der a¨lteren Kirche Zeitschrift fu¨r Papyrologie und Epigraphik

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Although the subject of the unity of the church in Acts has received widespread attention, the discussion has largely been dominated by a focus on selected issues related to the historical reliability of the portrait of a unified church. Specifically, discussion has largely revolved around Luke’s account of events such as the Jerusalem Council, the historical reliability of the portrait of Paul in Acts, Paul’s relationship with Peter and the Jerusalem church, and the portrait of Jews, the law and Gentile Christianity. The dominance of these issues has, however, meant that other themes have been neglected which, if examined, may lead to an enhanced understanding of Luke’s purposes in highlighting the theme of the unity of the church. Specifically, these studies have not related the theme of unity to the wider narrative emphases on division in Acts or to the wider Graeco-Roman and Jewish literary contexts. A preliminary overview of some of the material in the narrative of Acts will indicate that the themes of unity and discord are indeed prominent throughout the narrative of Acts. A survey of the literature on this discussion will then reveal areas that remain to be examined and lead to a statement of the research problem to be addressed in this study. The chapter will then briefly discuss the proposed audience and historical plausibility assumed in this study, before outlining the approach that will be taken. With regard to the unity of the church, Acts draws attention to the ‘togetherness’ of the early Christian community (frequently using terminology such as o&moqumadovn, pa'" and e*piV toV a*utov): praying together (Acts 1.14; 2.42; 4.24), being together (1.15; 2.1, 44, 47; 5.12), holding everything in common (2.44), being of one heart and mind in agreement (4.32; 15.25), and sharing possessions (2.45; 4.32, 34).1 Furthermore, disputes are resolved. The Ananias and Sapphira incident (5.1-11) is surrounded by summary passages that highlight the unity of the people of God and the continuing spread of the gospel (4.32-37; 5.12-16). Similarly, the complaint of the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews (6.1-7) is 1 Jacques Dupont, ‘L’Union entre les premiers chre´tiens dans les Actes des Apoˆtres’, NRTh 91 (1969), 897–915, draws attention to, among other things, Luke’s use of koinwniva, koinov", a@panta koinav and miva yuchv. Scripture references throughout this section are all to Acts.

2

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

resolved and surrounded by statements that highlight the continuing spread of the word (6.1, 7; note that in 6.5 Luke points out that the proposal pleased the whole group, pantoV" tou' plhvqou"). Likewise, the Cornelius incident and subsequent criticism from the circumcised believers in Jerusalem (10.1–11.18) is resolved (a*kouvsante" deV tau'ta h&suvcasan kaiV e*dovxasan toVn qeovn, 11.18), as is the disagreement recorded in ch. 15 (Luke notes in 15.22 the unity after the council of the apostles and elders and also ‘the whole church’, suVn o@lh/ th/' e*kklhsiva/). In 15.15 James is also reported as drawing attention to the ‘harmony’ (sumfwnevw) between the report of Peter (and that of Barnabas and Paul) concerning God’s inclusion of the Gentiles and ‘the words of the prophets’. The agreement between the apostolic message and ‘all the law and the prophets’ continues to be a recurring theme throughout the narrative (24.14; 25.8; 26.22; cf. also Acts 10.43) culminating in the remarkable agreement between Paul, Isaiah and the Holy Spirit at the conclusion of the narrative (28.25).2 These examples indicate that for Luke the unity of the Christian community is important. In addition to the theme of unity, however, the theme of discord and strife is also prominent throughout Acts. The multitude in the city of Iconium is said to have been ‘divided’ (e*scivsqh deV toV plh'qo" th'" povlew", 14.4). The great ‘disturbance’ (tavraco") that arose in Ephesus concerning ‘the Way’ (19.23) led the city clerk to warn that the city was in danger of being accused of ‘rioting’ (stavsi", 19.40). A ‘dissension’ (stavsi") between the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Sanhedrin was such that the assembly was ‘divided’ (e*scivsqh toV plh'qo", 23.7). Luke reinforces the point by adding in 23.10 that this ‘dissension’ was ‘great’ (pollh'" deV ginomevnh" stavsew"). Tertullus blamed the ‘dissension’ (stavsi") among all the Jews throughout the world on the work of Paul (24.5). Disagreement among the Jews is a theme that runs throughout the narrative of Acts (cf. 2.12-13; 4.1-4; 5.16-17; 13.44-50; 14.1-2; 17.4-5, 12-13; 19.8-9) and is left unresolved at the conclusion of Acts. The conclusion of Acts combines the themes of unity and disunity as Luke highlights the ‘disharmony’ of

2 Cf. Franc¸ois Bovon, ‘ ‘‘How Well the Holy Spirit Spoke through the Prophet Isaiah to your Ancestors!’’ (Acts 28.25)’, in New Testament Traditions and Apocryphal Narratives (PTMS, 36; Allison Park, PA: Pickwick, 1995), pp. 43–50; Daniel Marguerat, The First Christian Historian: Writing the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ (SNTSMS, 121; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), pp. 149, 224; David W. Pao, ‘Disagreement among the Jews in Acts 28’, in Early Christian Voices in Texts, Traditions, and Symbols; Essays in Honor of Franc¸ois Bovon (ed. David H. Warren, Ann G. Brock, and David W. Pao; Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 109–18.

Introduction

3

the Jews (a*suvmfwno", 28.25) in the same cotext3 as the agreement between Paul, Isaiah and the Holy Spirit.4 Thus, the themes of unity and disunity are important for Luke. However, a survey of studies that have treated the subject of the unity of the church in Acts indicates that not only has a comparison of these narrative emphases been neglected, an examination of these Lukan themes in the context of their literary setting has also been overlooked.

1. Survey of literature Much of the debate surrounding the subject of the unity of the church in Acts has been preoccupied with the historicity of Acts. Although not every detail of Baur’s thesis has been followed, the view that (a) early Christianity was characterized by diversity rather than unity, and (b) the portrayal of a unified church in Acts is historically unreliable, has virtually dominated discussions surrounding the unity of the church in Acts since Baur.5 Thus, whereas Baur viewed Acts as a late and conciliatory attempt to portray harmony between Pauline and Petrine Christianity, Ernst Ka¨semann, for instance, argued that Acts represents ‘early catholicism’.6 According to Ka¨semann, Acts, as a late-second-century document, portrays an institutionalized church that reflects a greater concern for 3 See below under ‘methodology’ (p. 17) for an explanation of the use of the terms ‘cotext’ and ‘context’ in this study. 4 Cf. Bovon, ‘The Holy Spirit Spoke’, pp. 43–50; Marguerat, Historian, pp. 223–24; Pao, ‘Disagreement’, pp. 117–18. 5 Cf. Ferdinand Christian Baur, Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ: His Life and Work, His Epistles and Teachings: A Contribution to a Critical History of Primitive Christianity (ed. E. Zeller; trans. A. Menzies, 2 vols; 2nd edn, 1873–75; repr., Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003); Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (ed. Robert Kraft and Gerhard Krodel; trans. Robert Kraft; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1971). Although, strictly speaking, Bauer was concerned with the second century, his thesis was that diversity came first. Cf. the evaluation of Bauer in Robert L. Wilken, ‘Diversity and Unity in Early Christianity’, SecCent 1 (1981), 101–10. James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: An Inquiry into the Character of Earliest Christianity (2nd edn; Philadelphia, PA: Trinity Press International, 1990); Paul Achtemeier, The Quest for Unity in the New Testament Church: A Study in Paul and Acts (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1987); Charles K. Barrett, The Acts of the Apostles (2 vols; ICC Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994, 1998). Conservative responses may be found in W. Ward Gasque, A History of the Interpretation of the Acts of the Apostles (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1989); F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary (3rd edn; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990); and Ben Witherington, III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998). Cf. also Joseph B. Tyson, ‘The Legacy of F. C. Baur and Recent Studies of Acts’, Forum 4 (2001), 125–44. 6 Ernst Ka¨semann, New Testament Questions of Today (trans. W. J. Montague and W. F. Bunge; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1969), pp. 236–51, 252–59.

4

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

organization and unity than primitive Christianity would have displayed.7 Thus, those sceptical of the historical reliability of Acts have tended to focus on selected issues (i.e. the Jerusalem Council, the portrait of Paul, the role of the apostles) in an attempt to discover Luke’s theological interests. Although responses from those who hold a high view of the historical reliability of Acts have not denied the fact that Luke may be both a reliable historian and a theologian,8 the focus of their arguments related to the issue of the unity of the church in Acts has also largely revolved around the historical reliability of selected issues (i.e. the historicity of the Jerusalem Council, the portrait of Paul, the role of the apostles, etc.) without probing further into the wider Lukan literary and theological emphasis on unity itself.9 Thus, much of the debate continues to revolve around the historical reliability or unreliability of selected issues in the book of Acts to the neglect of the wider narrative emphases on both unity and division in Acts as well as the wider Graeco-Roman and Jewish literary contexts.10

7 Ernst Ka¨semann, Essays on New Testament Themes (London: SCM Press, 1964), p. 148. Thus, whereas Baur focused primarily on the parallels between Peter and Paul, Ka¨semann focused on the ‘institutional’ aspect of the church. It should be noted that Ka¨semann’s view of ‘early catholicism’ has been severely criticized in Acts studies. Cf. Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles (trans. Bernard Noble and Gerald Shinn; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1971), pp. 49, 93–4; Christoph Zettner, Amt, Gemeinde und kirchliche Einheit in der Apostelgeschichte des Lukas (Europa¨ische Hochschulschriften 23.423; Frankfurt a.M: Peter Lang, 1991), pp. 1–11; Barrett, Acts 2.xciii–xcvii; idem, Luke the Historian in Recent Study (London: Epworth, 1961), pp. 70–76; Ulrich Luz, ‘Erwa¨gungen zur Entstehung des ‘‘Fru¨hkatholizismus’’ ’, ZNW 65 (1974), 88–111; Ferdinand Hahn, ‘Das Problem des Fru¨hkatholizismus’, EvT 38 (1978), 340–57, who draw attention to the fact that, among other things, the emphasis in Acts is on the word rather than the institutionalized church. 8 Cf. I. Howard Marshall, Luke: Historian and Theologian (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988). 9 Note the lack of explicit discussion on the theme of unity (only four references listed in the index) in Witness to the Gospel: The Theology of Acts (ed. I. Howard Marshall and David Peterson; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998). Steve Walton, ‘‘ O & moqumadovn in Acts: Colocation, Common Action or ‘‘Of One Heart and Mind’’?’ in The New Testament in its First Century Setting: Essays on Context and Background in Honour of B. W. Winter on his 65th Birthday (ed. P. J. Williams, A. D. Clarke, P. M. Head, and D. Instone-Brewer; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), pp. 89–105, is primarily a word study of this important term for the theme of unity but does not probe the wider narrative theme of unity in Acts. 10 Ulrich Wilckens, ‘Interpreting Luke–Acts in a Period of Existentialist Theology’, in Studies in Luke–Acts (ed. Leander E. Keck and J. Louis Martyn; Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1966), p. 61, notes that those who argued that the theme of the unity of the church in Acts is merely an example of Luke’s creative ‘Tu¨bingen style’ Jew–Gentile reconciliation ‘failed to grant priority to the task of deducing from the literary design of the book itself the intentions of its author’.

Introduction

5

Some studies have wrestled with the issue of Luke’s emphasis on the unity of the church without explicitly addressing the issues of historicity and historical reliability or unreliability. In contrast to those who have argued that Luke essentially portrays an idealized picture of the early church’s community life as free from conflicts,11 Roloff has argued that although Luke wanted to portray a united community he was unable to do so. Thus, Luke highlighted instead conflict resolutions.12 Wenk also argued that Luke did not hide conflicts in the church’s community life. The unity of the church, according to Wenk, was part of Luke’s wider emphasis on the ‘this-worldly dimension of salvation’. As such, it is the Spirit who is the source of the church’s community life.13 However, ‘Luke’s concern was . . . also to provide a model for resolving conflicts and preserving church unity in times of transitions and other contentions’.14 Others argue that despite Luke’s attempts to resolve conflicts within the narrative, in Acts ‘the church remains riddled with divisions and tensions’.15 Nevertheless, Acts is still portrayed as a ‘consensus document’, albeit one that reveals significant underlying conflicts. Thus, in contrast to those who have argued for or against the reliability of Acts due to its picture of the unity of the church, these studies have drawn attention to the existence of conflicts in the church in Acts. However, to say that Luke has emphasized conflict resolution is to admit that unity is in fact one of his major concerns. Furthermore, these studies have not related these issues to the wider narrative emphases on division or to the wider Graeco-Roman and Jewish literary contexts. Many have indeed related the description of a ‘community of goods’ in the summary passages to Hellenistic and Jewish ideals. Suggested parallels

11 Jacob Kremer, ‘Konflikte und Konfliktlo¨sung in der Urkirche und fru¨hen Christenheit’, Wort und Antwort 34 (1993), 12–18, cited in Matthias Wenk, CommunityForming Power: The Socio-Ethical Role of the Spirit in Luke–Acts (JPTSS, 19; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), pp. 280–1. 12 Ju¨rgen Roloff, ‘Konflikte und Konfliktlo¨sungen nach der Apostelgeschichte’, in Der treue Gottes trauen: Beitra¨ge zum Werk des Lukas (ed. C. Bussmann and W. Radl; Freiburg: Herder, 1991), pp. 111–25. Cf. also idem, Die Kirche im Neuen Testament (Go¨ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993). 13 Marguerat, Historian, pp. 121–4, also draws attention to the ethical work of the Spirit in producing unity in the early church. 14 Wenk, Community, p. 283. 15 Andrianjatovo Rakotoharintsifa, ‘Luke and the Internal Divisions in the Early Church’, in Luke’s Literary Achievement: Collected Essays (ed. Christopher M. Tuckett; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), pp. 165–77 (176); cf. also Oscar Cullmann, ‘Dissensions within the Early Church’, USQR 22 (1967), 83–92; Tyson, ‘Baur’, pp. 140, 142.

6

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

have included Greek utopian ideals,16 Jewish ideals17 and Hellenistic friendship themes.18 Sterling has examined these summary passages within the context of descriptions of religious-philosophical groups and argued for an apologetic purpose for these summaries.19 The historical plausibility of these summary passages has been convincingly demonstrated by those who have drawn attention to Essene practice.20 Nevertheless, as Capper suggests, it is important to ‘go beyond the question of historical reference to ask what precisely Luke intended to convey to his readers through the inclusion of his account of earliest Christian community of property’.21 Capper himself examined the summaries in light of the literary parallels to Hellenistic friendship ideals for Luke’s practical ethical concerns. Although useful for the aims of this study, these studies need to be re-examined in light of the parallel themes of discord and unity that may be found both in the wider narrative of Acts and in the literature of the Graeco-Roman world. Jervell has discussed the theme of the ‘divided people of God’ with reference to the Jews in Acts and has thus drawn attention to a wider narrative theme of division in Acts.22 Although it is beyond the scope of the present discussion to summarize the literature concerning the Jews in Acts, Jervell’s thesis that the division of the Jews in Acts is part of Luke’s positive portrayal of them may need to be questioned when seen in the light of his wider narrative emphases on unity and discord within GraecoRoman and Jewish literary contexts.23 16 Eckhard Plu¨macher, Lukas als hellenistischer Schriftsteller: Studien zur Apostelgeschichte (SUNT, 9; Go¨ttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972), pp. 16–18; David L. Mealand, ‘Community of Goods and Utopian Allusions in Acts II–IV’, JTS 28 (1977), 96–9. 17 Dupont, ‘L’Union’, p. 903; Luke T. Johnson, The Literary Function of Possessions in Luke–Acts (SBLDS, 39; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977), p. 200, with reference to the use of Deut. 15.4 LXX in Acts 4.34. 18 Alan C. Mitchell, ‘The Social Function of Friendship in Acts 2.44-47 and 4.32-37’, JBL 111 (1992), 255–72. 19 Gregory E. Sterling, ‘ ‘‘Athletes of Virtue’’: An Analysis of the Summaries in Acts (2.41-47; 4.32-35; 5.12-16)’, JBL 113 (1994), 679–96. 20 Brian Capper, ‘The Palestinian Cultural Context of Earliest Christian Community of Goods’, in The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting (ed. Richard Bauckham, Vol. 4 of The Book of Acts in its First Century Setting, ed. Bruce W. Winter; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), pp. 323–56; idem, ‘Reciprocity and the Ethic of Acts’, in Witness to the Gospel, pp. 499–518; S. Scott Bartchy, ‘Community of Goods in Acts: Idealization or Social Reality?’, in The Future of Christianity: Essays in Honor of Helmut Koester (ed. B. A. Pearson; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1991), pp. 309–18. 21 Capper, ‘Reciprocity’, p. 501. 22 Cf. the chapter entitled ‘The Divided People of God: The Restoration of Israel and Salvation for the Gentiles’, in Jacob Jervell, Luke and the People of God: A New Look at Luke–Acts (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 1972), pp. 41–74. 23 See the discussion in Chapter 5. Cf. also Pao, ‘Disagreement’, p. 110.

Introduction

7

Although David Ravens touched on the wider emphasis on unity in Acts, his discussion of unity was largely concerned with Luke’s theological interest in the restoration of Israel.24 Ravens argued that the restoration of Israel included a restoration to the united ideal modelled in Israel’s history before its division into two kingdoms. Restoration, therefore, included overcoming the division between the descendants of the northern and southern kingdoms – Samaritans and Jews.25 Although his work is helpful in noting how some of the themes of unity in Acts would resonate with a Christian readership of Greek-speaking Jews,26 his observations on the restoration of Israel’s northern and southern kingdoms need to be incorporated into an examination of Luke’s wider narrative emphases on unity and discord in the context of Graeco-Roman and Jewish literary contexts. Some studies have examined the issue of the unity of the church within Graeco-Roman and Jewish contexts without explicit reference to the book of Acts. Stig Hanson addressed the issue of the unity of the church in Colossians and Ephesians.27 Within the Greek philosophical world, Hanson noted an interest in cosmic unity but argued that, for Ephesians, a closer background may be found in the anticipation of Old Testament and Jewish intertestamental writings for a restoration of the harmony of the original creation. Hanson’s work is still quoted with approval in discussions of the theme of unity.28 However (aside from the fact that Hanson did not apply his study of unity in Greek and Jewish contexts to the narrative of Acts), he focused almost exclusively on philosophical discussions of cosmic unity and multiplicity. Although Hanson noted the emphasis on cosmological and sociological unity in Stoic thought, he did not address the discussions of sociological harmony found outside it. Mark Appold’s study on oneness in John’s gospel included a lengthy excursus which examined the ‘Religio-historical Profile of the Oneness Motif’ and concluded that the Johannine language of oneness finds its closest parallels in ‘the broad phenomenon of Gnosis’.29 Although Appold found it unlikely that the evangelist borrowed from ‘a fixed Gnostic system’, he argued that varying Gnostic traditions ‘contributed as 24 David Ravens, Luke and the Restoration of Israel (JSNTSup, 119; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996). 25 Ibid., pp. 20, 105, 250. 26 As argued in ibid., pp. 12, 251. 27 Stig Hanson, The Unity of the Church in the New Testament: Colossians and Ephesians (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells, 1946). 28 Cf. Max Turner, ‘Mission and Meaning in Terms of ‘‘Unity’’ in Ephesians’, in Mission and Meaning: Essays Presented to Peter Cotterell (ed. A. Billington, T. Lane, and M. Turner; Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1995), pp. 140–42; Wenk, Community, p. 279. 29 Mark L. Appold, The Oneness Motif in the Fourth Gospel (WUNT, 2.1; Tu¨bingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1976), pp. 163–93.

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The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

catalyzers in the formation of the character of the structures and language’ that John used to convey his message.30 Appold’s excursus, however, although broader in scope than Hanson’s, is too limited (for the purposes of this study) in that it concentrated entirely on the theme of ‘oneness’, limited the Greek discussion to the terminology of toV e@n, and only discussed the relationship between God and others in Judaism. Bakke’s work on ‘Concord and Peace’ in 1 Clement examined the terminology of both unity and disunity in the context of Graeco-Roman usage.31 Particularly useful is Bakke’s examination of the political context of the terminology of o&movnoia, ei*rhvnh and stavsi". Bakke argued that 1 Clement must be classified as ‘deliberative rhetoric on concord’.32 In order to demonstrate this, he showed that 1 Clement uses the terminology of a series of topoi commonly used to urge audiences and readers ‘to cease from sedition and establish concord in a political body’.33 For the purposes of this study, Bakke’s work highlights the benefit of studying the themes of both unity and discord (i.e. o&movnoia and stavsi"), including historical works in the range of works to be examined, and recognizing the long history of the terminology of stavsi" and harmony in Greek political thought.34 Nevertheless, Bakke’s study is primarily concerned with the themes and terminology specifically related to 1 Clement (the term o&movnoia is not found in Acts and some of the terminology found in Acts is not dealt with in Bakke’s study). Furthermore, Bakke paid little attention to Hellenistic Jewish authors such as Josephus.35 Many studies have addressed the themes of unity and discord in Greek and Roman settings in general. The following studies provide a way into the discussions of these themes. These include studies on (1) the origin of the concept of concord,36 (2) Greek philosophical discussions concerning ‘the one and the many’,37 (3) the relationship of this theme to Greek

30 Ibid., p. 190. 31 Odd Magne Bakke, ‘Concord and Peace’: A Rhetorical Analysis of the First Letter of Clement with an Emphasis on the Language of Unity and Sedition (WUNT, 2.143; Tu¨bingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001). 32 Ibid., p. 63. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid., p. 80. 35 The relevance of Josephus will be seen in Chapters 2 and 4. 36 Cf. Jacqueline de Romilly, ‘Vocabulaire et propagande ou les premiers emplois de mot o&movnoia’, in Me´langes de linguistique et de philologie grecques offerts a` Pierre Chantraine (ed. P. Chantraine, F. Bader; Paris: Klinksieck, 1972), pp. 199–209; Athanasios Moulakis, Homonoia, Eintracht und die Entwicklung eines politischen Bewusstseins (Munich: P. List, 1977). 37 Cf. Michael C. Stokes, One and Many in Presocratic Philosophy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971); Colin E. Gunton, The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).

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cosmology and to Greek political thought,38 (4) the complexity of Greek thought on the subject of the unity of humanity from Homer to Cicero,39 (5) Roman concern for unity throughout the empire under the Roman emperors,40 (6) the Roman context for peace,41 (7) conflict in the ancient world,42 and (8) the issues of violence and civil strife in both Greek and Roman contexts.43 In keeping with the evidence of the above studies, Pao correctly observed that ‘discussion of unity and discord is not limited to the Lukan corpus’.44 Although primarily aimed at explaining the disagreement of the Jews in Acts 28, Pao’s essay demonstrated the possibility of examining the themes of unity and disunity in Acts in the context of the discussions of these themes in ancient literature. Nevertheless, there remains a need to examine these themes in light of the emphasis on unity and discord throughout the narrative of the book of Acts. Thus, the following observations may be drawn from the preceding survey of literature. 1.

2.

Discussions concerning the unity of the church in Acts have focused primarily on: (a) the historical reliability of selected issues, or (b) the historical unreliability of Luke’s synthesizing efforts. Furthermore, these discussions have largely neglected to (c) locate an emphasis on unity in Acts within the wider narrative references to discord and disunity in Acts and (d) locate the Lukan themes of unity and disunity within the context of ancient discussions of unity and disunity. Although there have been some studies of unity and discord in Graeco-Roman and Jewish contexts, these studies have either neglected the theme of discord (e.g. Hanson, Appold), neglected

38 Charles H. Kahn, Anaximander and the Origins of Greek Cosmology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960); Arlene Saxonhouse, Fear of Diversity: The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greek Thought (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992), cited in Pao, ‘Disagreement’, p. 114. 39 Harold C. Baldry, The Unity of Mankind in Greek Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965). 40 Donald E. Wilsey, Roman World Philosophy: The Unity of Empire, Religion, and Law in the Conception of a System of the World (Lancaster, PA: Lancaster Press, 1930). 41 Klaus Wengst, Pax Romana and the Peace of Jesus Christ (trans. John Bowden; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1987). 42 Moses I. Finley, Politics in the Ancient World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 97–121. 43 Andrew W. Lintott, Violence in Republican Rome (2nd edn; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); cf. also idem, Violence, Civil Strife and Revolution in the Classical City (750–330 BC) (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982); cf. also Ramsay MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order: Treason, Unrest, and Alienation in the Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966), esp. Ch. 5, ‘Urban Unrest’, pp. 163–91, 336–50. 44 Pao, ‘Disagreement’, p. 114.

10

3.

The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting significant discussions of these themes in other contexts (e.g. Josephus), or have not related the themes of unity and discord to the book of Acts. Therefore, as demonstrated in a preliminary way in Pao’s essay, there is still a need for a detailed study of the theme of the unity of the church in Acts that relates this theme to (a) the wider narrative references to discord and disunity in Acts and (b) Graeco-Roman and Jewish discussions of unity and disunity.

2. Research problem As the previous survey of literature indicates, there remains a need to integrate the theme of the unity of the church in Acts within the literary cotext of narrative emphases on discord and strife in Acts and the ancient historical context of discussions on the themes of unity and discord. Thus the focus of this research is on the unity of the church in Acts in its literary setting. The question that this study aims to answer is whether themes of unity and disunity in ancient literature are reflected in the narrative emphasis on the unity of the church in Acts and how these themes may be taken up or transformed in the narrative of Acts. The answer to this question may then enable a better understanding of Luke’s purposes in highlighting the theme of the unity of the church in Acts. It may be tentatively suggested that Luke’s use of these themes serves to highlight the sociological outworking of the proclamation of the one gospel and the significance of this status in relation to competing claims of authority.

3. The proposed audience of Luke–Acts The suggestion that Luke’s use of the themes of unity and disunity may relate to his ecclesiological concerns to provide a sense of definition and identity to the church raises the issue of who the intended readership of Luke–Acts may be and the legitimacy of examining both Graeco-Roman and Jewish discussions of unity. Was Luke’s work written for a Gentile Christian community, a Jewish Christian community, or a non-Christian audience? The attempt to locate a particular ‘Lukan community’ is fraught with difficulty and has now been largely abandoned.45 The lack of any reference to a particular community coupled with the general nature

45 Cf. Johnson, ‘On Finding the Lukan Community: A Cautious Cautionary Essay’, in Society for Biblical Literature 1979 Seminar Papers (Missoula, MN: Scholars Press, 1979), Vol. 1, pp. 87–100; Dale C. Allison, ‘Was there a ‘‘Lukan Community’’?’ IBS 10 (1988), 62– 70; Halvor Moxnes, ‘The Social Context of Luke’s Community’, Int 48 (1994), 379–89;

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of the prologue of Luke’s gospel makes any such historical reconstruction for a particular locality tentative at best.46 Thus, clues must be examined in the narrative itself for descriptions of who the readers implied by the narrative may be.47 The name of the addressee, Theophilus, mentioned in both prologues, does not provide any further decisive evidence. A common Greek name, it was used by both Jews and Greeks.48 The suggestion that Acts is intended solely for a readership outside the church (i.e. as a defence of Christianity to Roman readers), however, is the most unlikely option. In addition to the problem Roman officials would have had in understanding the relevance of much of the book49 and the difficulty many would have had in noticing the many allusions to the LXX,50 Luke’s repeated use of the pronoun in his preface to the gospel indicates an identification with the readership of his work. As Marguerat notes, ‘the narrative which follows (the gospel and Acts) takes place within a readership composed of a common faith in the saving events (the ‘events . . . fulfilled among us’) and a common adherence to a tradition (‘handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses’)’.51 Thus a Christian readership is most likely implied by the narrative. Other clues in the narrative, however, have been the basis for conflicting claims for the readership of Acts. Many have focused on whether or not this Christian readership is primarily Gentile or Jewish? Those in favour of a Gentile-Christian readership point to (1) the emphasis on the Gentile mission, (2) the absence of primarily Jewish preoccupations (such as Mt. 5.21-48, if Luke used ‘Q’), (3) the use of the LXX and the absence of

Stephen C. Barton, ‘Can we Identify the Gospel Audiences?’, in The Gospels for all Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences (ed. Richard Bauckham; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), pp. 173–94. 46 Allison, ‘Lukan Community’, p. 66, cited in Barton, ‘Gospel Audiences’, p. 187. 47 William S. Kurz, Reading Luke–Acts: Dynamics of Biblical Narrative (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), p. 13. 48 Witherington, Acts, p. 63. Cf. Richard H. Anderson, ‘Theophilus: A Proposal’, EQ 69 (1997), 195–215. 49 As Richard J. Cassidy, Society and Politics in the Acts of the Apostles (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1987), pp. 148–55, argues contra the ‘political apologetic’ view of Haenchen, Acts, p. 105; Hans Conzelmann, Acts of the Apostles (trans. J. Limburg, A. Thomas Kraabel and Donald H. Juel; Hermeneia; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1987), pp. xlvii–xlviii; Hans Conzelmann, The Theology of St Luke (trans. G. Buswell; New York: Harper & Row, 1960), pp. 138–44; Henry J. Cadbury, The Making of Luke–Acts (New York: Macmillan, 1927), pp. 308–13; Paul W. Walaskay, ‘And so we Came to Rome’: The Political Perspective of St Luke (SNTSMS, 49; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), esp. pp. 37, 50, 65–67. 50 Ravens, Restoration, p. 13, draws attention to ‘Luke’s allusive use of the LXX’. 51 Marguerat, Historian, pp. 23–24. Cf. also Kurz, Reading Luke–Acts, p. 14.

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The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

Hebrew and Aramaic terms, and (4) Luke’s Graeco-Roman preface.52 Those in favour of a Jewish-Christian readership, however, respond by pointing out (1) that the emphasis on Gentile mission needs to be understood in the context of Israel’s restoration and doesn’t necessarily entail a complete rejection of the Jews, (2) Luke’s many references to primarily Jewish concerns (e.g. Jewish ritual and piety in the infancy narratives, the clean/unclean issue in Acts 10), (3) the fact that a Greekspeaking Jewish readership could explain Luke’s use of the LXX and the absence of Hebrew and Aramaic terms, and (4) that many of the Gentile converts in Acts are God-fearers who had already attached themselves to Judaism (without undergoing circumcision).53 It seems, therefore, that in light of such seemingly conflicting claims for the audience of Luke–Acts it would be wise to follow the course proposed by Marguerat, that ‘the Lucan work implies a diversified readership’.54 While it seems probable that God-fearers are an ‘ideal image of the implied reader’, ‘the amplitude of the Lucan narrative goes far beyond a strategy of persuasion directed only at this fringe of the Synagogue’.55 In fact, it seems likely that the author anticipated ‘that Luke–Acts would enjoy wide circulation’.56 The above suggestion for a diverse readership may also explain why Acts contains material in which both Jewish and Hellenistic themes and language may be found in the same passage.57 For example, the summary passages describe sharing property in language that reflects both Jewish and Hellenistic ideals and practice.58 Acts 17 has attracted the attention of those who find Greek philosophical and religious themes and those who find Jewish themes reflecting the language of the LXX.59 Marguerat observes that the travels and shipwreck of Paul in Acts 27–28 may be read in light of biblical themes (i.e. that describe God as master of the waters 52 Cf. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke (I–IX) (Vol. 1, AB, 28; New York: Doubleday, 1981), pp. 57–9; Kurz, Reading, pp. 13–14. These arguments are summarized in Ravens, Restoration, p. 14. 53 Cf. Philip F. Esler, Community and Gospel in Luke–Acts (SNTSMS, 57; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 24–6, 30–45; Jervell, People, pp. 175–7; Ravens, Restoration, pp. 14–16. 54 Marguerat, Historian, p. 83. 55 Ibid. 56 Allison, ‘Lukan Community’, p. 66, cited in Barton, ‘Gospel Audiences’, p. 187. 57 The following discussion does not guarantee a diverse readership but is supporting evidence in conjunction with the narrative emphases mentioned above. 58 Cf. the discussion in the survey of literature above that points to the use of Deut. 15.4 LXX in Acts 4.34 and the language of Hellenistic ideals (pavnta koinav) in Acts 4.32 (cf. also Acts 2.44). See Ch. 3 for further discussion of these passages. 59 Cf. Martin Dibelius, ‘Paul in Athens’, in Studies in the Acts of the Apostles (ed. H. Greeven, trans. M. Ling; London: SCM Press, 1956), pp. 78–83; idem, ‘Paul on the Areopagus’, in Studies in the Acts of the Apostles, pp. 26–77; Bertil E. Ga¨rtner, The Areopagus Speech and Natural Revelation (Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup, 1955).

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and Creator of the ocean, similarities found in Jonah and Jesus’ calming of the storm) and the ‘classic metaphor’, since the Odyssey, ‘of divine protection of the righteous’ in the hero’s rescue from shipwreck.60 Some have observed similarities between historiographers such as Thucydides and Polybius and prophetic texts such as Jer. 1.1-3 (LXX) in the imperial dating in Lk. 3.1-2.61 The above samples provide support for the suggestion that not merely a Christian readership but a diversified readership of both Jewish and Gentile Christians may be intended. If a diverse Christian readership is intended, however, it is then possible to read Luke’s ecclesiological concern (i.e. to provide a sense of definition and identity to the church) in light of the fact that he intends both Jewish and Gentile Christians to read his work. That is, as Marguerat suggests, ‘the phenomenon of double signification serves . . . [to present] . . . Christianity as both the fulfilment of the promises of the Scriptures and as the answer to the religious quest of the Graeco-Roman world’.62 The diverse readership of Acts, therefore, indicates the plausibility of examining the themes of unity and disunity in Acts in light of Jewish and Graeco-Roman discussions of these themes to determine if these themes may also contribute to Lukan claims for the church. If the unity of the church is to form part of Luke’s claim for the status of the church in the face of competing claims of authority, then it is understandable that Luke would prefer that this claim be recognized by his diverse readership. Before leaving the subject of the audience of Acts, brief mention should be made concerning the temporal context in which the themes of unity and disunity in Acts may be examined. Although it is beyond the scope of the present discussion to enter into all of the discussion concerning the authorship and date of Acts, a situation in which the identity of the early church is being clarified against competing claims of authority will be assumed to best fit authorship by Luke the ‘sometime companion of Paul’63 towards AD 70 for the purposes of this study.64 More specifically, the context in which these themes may be examined in Acts is one in which the identity of the Christian movement was being defined in relation to Israel (which was less of a concern in the second century) and in relation to its new surroundings – the Roman empire.

60 Marguerat, Historian, pp. 72, 96. 61 Cf. Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), p. 167; Darrell L. Bock, Luke 1.1-9.50 (BECNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994), p. 282. 62 Marguerat, Historian, p. 76. 63 This phrase is used by Witherington, Acts, p. 59, among others, to indicate that Luke was not an ‘inseparable’ companion of Paul. 64 See the author’s original dissertation for more detailed argumentation supporting these assumptions.

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The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

4. Historical plausibility If the diversity of readership implied by the narrative of Acts indicates the legitimacy of examining both Graeco-Roman and Jewish discussions of unity, are there any indications that this theme in Acts is not merely a creative use of Graeco-Roman and Jewish discussions of unity that bears little resemblance to the historical reality of the early church? Although this will primarily be a literary study, the question of ‘historical plausibility’ remains a legitimate one.65 Many have argued that Luke’s portrait of the unity of the church in Acts is due to an idealization unrelated to historical reality. This idealization is primarily said to be (1) an attempted cover-up for deep division,66 (2) a nostalgic (and uninformed) look back to the past,67 or (3) a creative (and unrealistic) portrait of a Golden Age beginning.68 The frequent assumption in these claims is that the very presence of Luke’s emphasis on the theme of unity must therefore mean that he is engaging in idealization.69 Although full discussion of this issue can not be entered into here,70 indicators of reliability based on ‘the reader’s experience of other texts’71 may be used examine the claim that Luke’s portrait of the unity of the church is idealization divorced from historical reality. Thus, first, evidence 65 Cf. David W. Pao, Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus (WUNT, 2.130; Tu¨bingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), p. 20, who refers to the discussion concerning ‘historical plausibility’ in Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), pp. 30–31. Hays (and Pao), however, use(s) the term to refer to the likelihood of an intentional use of Scripture. 66 Kremer, ‘Konflikte’, pp. 12–18; Roloff, ‘Konflikte’, pp. 111–25; Rakotoharintsifa, ‘Internal Divisions’, p. 176; Cullmann, ‘Dissensions’, pp. 83–92; Michael Goulder, St Paul versus St Peter: A Tale of Two Missions (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), p. 15; Tyson, ‘Baur’, pp. 125–44, esp. pp. 140, 142. 67 Charles K. Barrett, ‘Acts and Christian Consensus’ in Context: Essays in Honour of Peder Johan Borgen, ed. P. W. Bøckman and R. E. Kristiansen (Trondheim: Tapir, 1987), pp. 19–33; idem, Acts, Vol. 2. pp. xl–xlii, lxiii. 68 Conzelmann, Acts, p. 24; Richard I. Pervo, Profit with Delight: The Literary Genre of the Acts of the Apostles (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1987), pp. 69–70. Although Capper, ‘Reciprocity’, p. 500, states that the community of goods in the early chapters of Acts ‘has a demonstrable historical reference to events of formal property-sharing within a sector of the earliest Jerusalem community’, on p. 508 he argues that, based on the supposed prominence of the theme as an ideal in accounts of Golden Age beginnings, ‘The ancient readers of Acts would anticipate that an account of community of goods might be in some sense withdrawn from everyday reality’ (emphasis added). 69 Cf. Tyson, ‘Baur’, p. 140, with reference to the use of o&moqumadovn. 70 See the full discussion in my article, ‘Unity in Acts: Idealization or Reality?’, JETS (forthcoming). 71 Loveday C. A. Alexander, ‘Fact, Fiction and the Genre of Acts’, NTS 44 (1998), 380– 99 (381). Alexander distinguishes between judgements concerning ‘the intrinsic probability’ (plausibility) of what is related that draw on ‘the reader’s wider experience of the world’ and ‘certain literary phenomena as indicators of reliability’ that draw on ‘the reader’s experience

Introduction

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from the various cotexts of the themes of unity and disunity in ancient literature and, secondly, evidence from the narrative of Acts itself may be examined for ‘indicators of factuality’.72 First, the claim that the Lukan emphasis on the unity of the Christian community must be an unrealistic idealization wrongly assumes that an emphasis on the theme of unity must necessarily be due to idealization and neglects the fact that much discussion of the themes of unity and disunity in ancient literature draws on historical realities. This may be seen in (1) accounts of Golden Age beginnings that were not idealistic,73 (2) the mere observation that the theme of unity is widespread rather than only the concern of accounts of idealistic ‘beginnings’,74 (3) the discussions of unity that clarify the distinction between ideal and actual states and that discuss at length actual states,75 (4) debates over the best constitution that discuss the various merits of these constitutions in terms of the concerns for unity and disunity in historical reality,76 and (5) the claims concerning the fulfilment or non-fulfilment of the ideal of unity that are tied to historical persons and events.77 Although these observations do not guarantee the historicity of any particular recorded incident, they highlight the location of the theme of unity in accounts of historical realities. of other texts’. Cf. also Marguerat, Historian, p. 7, who refers to criteria of ‘the character of reality’ as that which distinguishes history from ‘a purely imaginary reproduction of the past’. 72 Marguerat, Historian, p. 8. 73 Cf. for example, descriptions of a Golden Age of beginnings lacking concord in Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura 5.958-59; 5.1019-26; 5.1145-50 and in Diodorus of Sicily’s Library of History 1.8.1-7. Contra the assumptions of Conzelmann, Acts, p. 24; Pervo, Profit, pp. 69–70. 74 As Chapters 2 and 4 will indicate, the theme of unity is not merely an ideal limited to Utopian dreams of distant lands, a distant past, or a distant future, or merely philosophical ideals. The contrasting effects of unity and disunity were also a common feature of historians’ accounts – Greek, Roman and Jewish. These observations are confirmed by the (later) statements of Dio Chrysostom (Or. 38.10) and Aelius Aristides (Oration 24, To the Rhodians: Concerning Concord) concerning the widespread discussions of unity in accounts of historical realities. 75 Cf. Plato Laws 739d-e and especially Book 2 of Aristotle’s Politics where he discusses his own view of ‘the best constitution’. He begins by distinguishing between ideal and actual states, then he evaluates ideals (Plato, Phaleas, Hippodamus), and follows this with an evaluation of actual states (Sparta, Crete, Carthage: cf. esp. 2.6-8). 76 Cf. Herodotus 3.82 and Aristotle’s discussion of the causes and dangers of civil strife in Book 5 of his Politics (esp. 5.1.9; 5.2.10-11; 5.4-6). 77 Cf. Plutarch’s discussion of Zeno’s ideal and Alexander’s conquests in Alex. fort. 329a-b, 330d-e. The claim that an emphasis on the theme of unity merely reflects Golden Age themes neglects the disillusionment that writers contemporary with Luke were expressing in the Golden Age claims of the Roman emperors – a disillusionment that directly related to the failed realization of these ideals in historical reality. In this regard, Chapter 2 will note the presence of the disillusionment that followed the events of the later years of Nero’s reign and the civil wars that followed his death.

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The Unity of the Church in Acts in its Literary Setting

Secondly, in addition to the widespread recognition that the themes of unity and disunity were tied to historical realities in ancient literature, the narrative of Acts itself indicates that Luke was not idealizing the unity of the church. This may be noted (1) in his reference to the unity of those opposed to the Christian community with similar terminology to that used to describe the Christian community,78 and (2) in his record of disagreements between believers that would spoil a supposed idealization of their unity.79 Thus, in addition to nuancing the nature of true unity as common submission to the one Lord Jesus (as Chapters 3 and 5 will argue) these references to united opposition and disagreements among believers argue against a supposed idealization of the theme of unity in Acts. It should also be acknowledged here, however, that narrative indicators of reliability by themselves are not enough to establish historical reliability. As Alexander observes, ‘Like ourselves, ancient readers had to fall back on something outside the text to assess the veracity of what they read’.80 Thus, as this will primarily be a literary study, it is important to clarify the historical assumptions underlying this study. As noted above, this study assumes that Luke–Acts was written for a Christian audience. According to the preface, Theophilus had already received instruction in the subject matter and would therefore be an ‘insider’ together with the author.81 Thus as, Alexander argues: Within the epistemological space created by Luke’s preface . . . there is no real room for doubt as to the broadly factual status of his narrative. This is ‘committed’ narrative of a type unusual in Greek prose literature . . . Acts is a narrative which both implies and creates the presumption of a shared religious experience.82

78 Cf. Acts 5.1-11 (suvnoida, 5.2; sumfwnevw, 5.9); 7.57 (o&moqumadovn); 18.12 (o&moqumadovn); 19.23-41 (o&moqumadovn, 19.29; miva e*k pavntwn, 19.34). Thus, Luke does not draw attention to unity as merely an ideal irrespective of what constitutes that unity. 79 Cf. Acts 15.36-41; 19.30-31; 21.1-14 (esp. 21.14). Although further explanation of these passages is necessary, it may be noted here that these ‘unresolved disagreements’ among believers in Acts indicate that the Lukan interest in the theme of unity does not lie in idealization. Chapters 3 and 5 will indicate that these disagreements, as with the descriptions of ‘united opposition,’ serve further to clarify the Lukan emphasis on the nature of true unity in Acts as common submission to the lordship of Jesus rather than uniformity in matters of personal opinion. 80 Alexander, ‘Fact, Fiction and the Genre of Acts’, p. 398. 81 Cf. Loveday C. A. Alexander, The Preface to Luke’s Gospel: Literary Convention and Social Context in Luke 1.1-4 and Acts 1.1 (SNTSMS, 78; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 139–42, pp. 191–92, cited by Alexander, ‘Fact, Fiction and the Genre of Acts’, p. 399. 82 Alexander, ‘Fact, Fiction and the Genre of Acts’, p. 399.

Introduction

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5. Methodology Before outlining the methodology that will be employed in this research, several assumptions will be clarified. First, as the previous discussion has indicated, Lukan authorship will be assumed and Luke’s trustworthiness as a historian will also be assumed. Thus, although the results of this study have been related to wider issues such as ‘historical plausibility’ in this chapter, the primary aim of this research will not be to defend or critique the historical reliability of Acts. Second, the focus of this research will be on the narrative of Acts as a whole. That is, the approach taken will be ‘literary’ rather than ‘redactional’ or ‘form-critical’, in that the focus will be on the text of Acts as a ‘literary unit’. Third, although concerned with themes of unity and disunity in ancient literature, this research will not follow a ‘history of religions’ model. That is, this study will not argue that Luke ‘borrowed’ his portrait of the church from the surrounding culture which may then call into question the historical reality recorded in the narrative of Acts.83 Rather, this study will seek better to understand the ‘context’ in which Luke highlights the themes of unity and disunity. Thus, throughout this study the term ‘cotext’ will be used to refer to the text that surrounds a given sentence or passage, and the term ‘context’ will refer to the broader ‘social milieu’.84 The study will proceed as follows. Following this introduction to the problem of the themes of unity and disunity in Acts, Chapters 2 and 4 will examine the various literary cotexts in which unity and disunity are discussed in Graeco-Roman and Jewish discussions. These will be grouped under the broad categories of kingship and law (Chapter 2), and the preservation and destruction of cities (Chapter 4). It will not be assumed that there is ‘one’ Greek, Roman or Jewish view of the significance of unity. Attention will be paid to the various cotexts, timeframes, genres, complexities and contradictions to avoid misusing these texts. Early authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus and Thucydides will be consulted as evidence for developing topoi. Although the terminology found in Acts will be highlighted, these chapters will be more than word studies. Broader themes will be examined to determine the various emphases on unity and disunity. Under these broad topics, discussions of unity and disunity will primarily be grouped together

83 It should also be noted that the primary focus of this study is on Lukan literary and theological emphases in the narrative of Acts. Thus this study does not argue that particular Christian communities (Jerusalem, Ephesus, etc.) consciously modelled themselves on any particular ideal of concord, but rather, these topoi form the context for Luke’s narrative presentation of the believers’ common submission to the Lord Jesus. 84 Cf. Peter Cotterell, ‘Linguistics, Meaning, Semantics, and Discourse Analysis’, in NIDOTTE 1.136, for these terms and definitions.

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according to author in an attempt to discuss passages in their literary cotext. Following each chapter’s discussion of Graeco-Roman and Jewish contexts, a chapter will re-evaluate the evidence of Acts in light of the corresponding themes in ancient literature. It is anticipated that following the placement of the themes of unity and disunity within the ancient literary context, fresh prospects will emerge for re-examining these themes within the narrative of Acts. The focus of these chapters will be on the argument developed in the narrative of Acts itself.85 In keeping with the previously named broad topics, these chapters will follow the broad topics of kingship and law (Chapter 3), and the conquest of the word (Chapter 5). A concluding chapter will summarize the results of the study and discuss the implications of this research.

6. Projected significance of this study This study aims to examine the theme of the unity of the church in Acts with particular attention to neglected aspects of the literary contexts for this topic. I anticipate that it will provide a needed corrective to the dominant agenda that has focused on selected issues of historicity and the historical reliability of Acts. That is, in seeking to examine this emphasis in the wider literary and historical contexts I hope that further clarification may be given to Luke’s literary and theological aims in writing an account for Theophilus so that he would know the certainty of the things he had been taught (Lk. 1.4). In particular, this study will highlight additional aspects of Luke’s ecclesiological concerns to provide a sense of definition, identity and legitimization to the church that have been overlooked in previous discussions of this theme.

85 Thus, drawing attention to how these themes in Acts also differ from the literary context.

CHAPTER 2 UNITY AND THE ‘RULE OF LAW’ This chapter will demonstrate that the theme of unity was frequently associated with the themes of kingship and law in ancient literature. Although prominent in Hellenistic portrayals of kingship, Hellenistic ideals of government, and claims for the achievements of the Roman emperor and empire, these themes are also found in the Old Testament and Jewish Second Temple literature. This chapter will examine the theme of unity under the broad topics of kingship (‘Unity and the ideal ruler’) and law (‘Unity and the ideal rule’). This chapter will be an inductive examination of primarily extended discussions of these themes in ancient literature and will draw attention to cotexts where the theme of unity is present and where terminology relevant to Acts is used. A concluding paragraph will summarize the various cotexts in which these themes occur. The prominence of the combination of these themes in ancient literature provides a plausible context for a re-examination of the Lukan emphasis on the theme of unity in the following chapter.

1. Unity and the ideal ruler The following discussion will argue that ancient praise for a king or ruler frequently highlighted the unity of the people under that ruler’s reign. The discussion of the theme of kingship and ancient ideals for kingship, therefore, will be particularly focused on the conjunction of the themes of kingship and unity. Special attention will be given to the prominence of these themes in claims made for Roman emperors and the Roman empire. These claims in particular provide a tantalizing context for the book of Acts and will be reassessed in Chapter 3. a. Graeco-Roman ideals: kingship and concord The hope that the ideal ruler would bring harmony became a frequent theme in historical accounts of various rulers. Although Herodotus (c. 484 1 BC–430 BC), called the ‘father of historians’, will be discussed further in Chapter 4 under the theme of ‘conquest’, in this context it may be observed that he often highlights the significance of unity for the 1

Cf. Cicero, Leg. 1.5.

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victorious rulers and disunity among the defeated when providing explanations for the rise and fall of great powers in his Histories.2 For instance, according to Herodotus, although ‘the Thracians are the biggest nation in the world, next to the Indians’, their greatest need was for unity (5.3).3 If the Thracians were ‘under one ruler, or united (ei* deV u&p * e&noV" a[rcoito h] fronevoi), they would in my judgement be invincible and the strongest nation on earth; but since there is no way or contrivance to bring this about, they are for this reason weak’ (5.3). Similarly, Herodotus provides a detailed account of the unification of the Medes under the rule of Deioces prior to their conquests (1.96-101).4 In fact, Herodotus summarizes the achievement of Deioces, who reigned for 53 years, as that of uniting the Median nation under his rule (1.101). His grandson, Cyaxares, is described as the one who ‘united under his dominion all Asia that is beyond the river Halys’ (1.103). In Herodotus’ account of the ‘Constitutional Debate’ in 3.80-82 he recounts (in one of his ‘set pieces’)5 a discussion concerning the best form of government which highlights the significance of unity and disunity.6 Herodotus quotes a speech from Darius which criticizes oligarchy because of its tendency to result in faction (‘enmity brings faction and faction bloodshed’, e*x w%n stavsie" e*ggivnontai, e*k deV tw'n stasivwn fovno"). According to Darius, rule under the one best man does not result in such discord (3.82). The relationship between rulership and the ideal of unity is particularly emphasized in accounts of the achievements of Alexander the Great. According to Plutarch, in his Alex. fort. 329a-b, Zeno (335–263 BC, in his Politeia) gave shape to ‘a dream or, as it were, shadowy picture of a well2 Hans van Wees, ‘Herodotus and the Past’, in Brill’s Companion to Herodotus (ed. E. J. Bakker, I. J. F. de Jong and H. van Wees; Leiden: Brill, 2002), pp. 334–5, observes that ‘beyond the simple observation that it took divine support and large numbers of brave fighters to win power, he remarked on the importance of unity among the conquerors’. 3 Translations of Herodotus are from Godley, LCL. 4 Cf. the discussions concerning the reliability of this passage in Heleen SancisiWeerdenburg, ‘Was there Ever a Median Empire?’, in Method and Theory: Proceedings of the London 1985 Achaemenid History Workshop (Achaemenid Workshop, 3; ed. A. Kuhrt and H. Sancisi-Weerdenburg; Leiden: Brill, 1988), pp. 197–212 and idem, ‘The Orality of Herodotus’ Medikos logos’, in Continuity and Change: Proceedings of the Last Achaemenid History Workshop, April 6–8, 1990, Ann Arbor Michigan (Achaemenid History, 8; ed. H. SancisiWeerdenburg, A. Kuhrt and M. Cool Root; Leiden: Brill, 1994), pp. 39–55, cited by Wees, ‘Herodotus’, p. 335. 5 Cf. Kurt A. Raaflaub, ‘Contemporary Perceptions of Democracy in Fifth-Century Athens’, Classica et Mediaevalia 40 (1989), 33–70 (41–46) and idem, ‘Philosophy, Science, Politics: Herodotus and the Intellectual Trends of his Time’, in Brill’s Companion to Herodotus, pp. 161, 173–74, for Herodotus’ use of ‘set pieces’. 6 Thus, this passage could also be placed in the following section of this chapter where unity and ‘law’ are discussed.

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ordered and philosophic commonwealth’ in which there would be a reformed world with no divisions; a future age of concord (Babbitt, LCL).7 In fact, Plutarch states that Zeno’s Politeia ‘may be summed up in this one main principle’: that all the inhabitants of this world of ours should not live differentiated by their respective rules of justice into separate cities and communities, but that we should consider all men to be of one community and one polity, and that we should have a common life (ei%" bivo") and an order common to us all, even as a herd that feeds together and shares the pasturage of a common field.8

Thus, according to Plutarch, the main theme of Zeno’s work may be summed up as a dream for unity in which all humanity is to be considered as one community.9 This description of Zeno’s ideals is placed in a cotext that states that Alexander has brought about the ideal or dream of Zeno for the unity of humanity.10 In contrast to Aristotle’s advice to treat Greeks better than Barbarians (‘to do so would have been to cumber his leadership with numerous battles and banishments and festering seditions [kaiV stavsewn u&pouvlwn]’), Plutarch argues that Alexander, as he believed that he came as a heaven-sent governor to all, and as a mediator for the whole world, those whom he could not persuade to unite with him, he conquered by force of arms, and he brought together into one body (ei*" toV au*tov) all men everywhere . . . clothing and food, marriage, and manner of life, they should regard as common (koinav") to all, being blended into one. (329c-d)

7 As with Plato’s Republic, Zeno’s proposals (in Politeia) are put forward as what ought to be, rather than a description of the current state of affairs. Baldry, Unity, pp. 160–63. 8 Cf. also Moralia 653e; Cicero, Leg. 1.7-11 (21–32); Off. 1.7 (22). 9 The idea of a unified humanity as a single flock feeding together on a common pasture under a common law resembles Plato’s reference to a ‘single human flock’ in the Golden Age (cf. Plato, Pol. 274–5; Laws 680e). 10 It should be noted, however, that there is debate concerning Plutarch’s reliability here. It seems likely that although Plutarch is here correctly representing a later Stoic view of a world state (cf. Michael Lapidge, ‘Stoic Cosmology’, in The Stoics [ed. J. M. Rist; Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978], pp. 161–85, 172–9), he has incorrectly attributed this view to Zeno who focused more on the unity of a particular politeia as in Plato’s Republic or Laws. Thus Plutarch’s claim that Zeno’s ideal was consciously pursued by Alexander is unlikely although it does not negate the reality of his conquests. Andrew Erskine, The Hellenistic Stoa: Political Thought and Action (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990), pp. 27–33, accepts as reliable Plutarch’s representation of Zeno; however, Baldry, Unity, pp. 158–63; Malcolm Schofield, The Stoic Idea of the City (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 104–11; and Richard Stoneman, ‘The Legacy of Alexander in Ancient Philosophy’, in Brill’s Companion to Alexander the Great (ed. Joseph Roisman; Leiden: Brill, 2003), pp. 340–41, argue convincingly against this.

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Thus this portrait of the ideals and dreams of unity focuses on the realization of these ideals in the rule of Alexander as the ‘heaven-sent governor to all’. In contrast to a rule characterized by stavsi", Alexander has brought a rule that is characterized by unity. Indeed, he has united the whole world – although sometimes by force.11 When describing the achievements of Alexander and the ‘largest and most remarkable’ items of his memoranda, Diodorus (in his History, c. 60–30 BC) concludes with the plan ‘to establish cities and to transplant populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia, in order to bring the largest continents to common unity (ei*" koinhVn o&movnoian) and to friendly kinship’ (18.4.4 [Geer, LCL]). Claims that the ideal ruler would bring harmony and unity became especially prominent among claims for the Roman empire.12 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his Roman Antiquities (probably written while he taught in Rome from 30–8 BC), drew attention to the significance of concord – particularly in important speeches. Early in his account, after describing the disagreements between the brothers Remus and Romulus, Dionysius notes the unity of all those who settled in the colony and the fact that they all ‘came to be called by one common name, Latins (o[noma deV koinovn), after Latinus who had been king of this country’ (2.2.2).13 ‘Indeed’, Dionysius notes later (2.11.2), ‘so secure was the Romans’ harmony (h& &Rwmaivwn o&movnoia), which owed its birth to the regulations of Romulus,

11 Cf. also Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander 7.11.9 (Alexander prayed for the blessings of ‘harmony and fellowship [o&movnoian kaiV koinwnivan] in the empire between Macedonians and Persians’ [Robson, LCL]); Strabo, Geogr. 1.2.1 (Alexander has opened up ‘a great part of Asia and all the northern part of Europe’ [Jones, LCL]); 1.4.9 (Alexander unifies those with good qualities); Plutarch, Alex. fort. 330e (Alexander’s purpose was to win ‘for all man concord and peace and community [o&movnoian kaiV ei*rhvnhn kaiV koinwnivan]’ [Babbitt, LCL]); and 330d (Alexander desired to have ‘all upon earth subject to one [e&nov"] law of reason and one [mia'"] form of government and to reveal all men as one [e{na] people’ [Babbitt, LCL]) for further claims concerning the unifying work of Alexander. Contra William W. Tarn, Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind (Proceedings of the British Academy 19; London: Oxford University Press, 1933), pp. 136–7, who incorrectly argues against the connection between kingship and homonoia in Stoic thought. Cf. John Ferguson, Utopias of the Classical World (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1975), p. 114, 117, 120, 126, 138, 172. Cf. also the critique of Tarn by Ernst Badian, ‘Alexander the Great and the Unity of Mankind’, Historia 7 (1958), 425–44. 12 As Harold C. Baldry, Ancient Utopias (Southampton: Camelot Press/University of Southampton, 1956), p. 22, suggests: ‘Amid the great conflicts which divided and ravaged the Mediterranean world in the first century B.C., the masses looked to one leader or another to recreate the legendary peace and plenty of the past.’ Cf. also the reference to Polybius (c. 200–118 BC) Historiae 6.11-18 under the theme of ‘Law’ below with reference to the unity achieved by the Roman constitution. 13 Translations of Dionysius are from Cary, LCL.

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that they never in the course of six hundred and thirty years proceeded to bloodshed and mutual slaughter’.14 This emphasis on the theme of unity in the cotext of praise for the Roman ruler is also found in the Hellenistic Jewish histories of 1 and 2 Maccabees. In 1 Macc. 8.1-16 the author praises the Romans in language reminiscent of Polybius 6.11-18. The good government and strength of the Romans is due to the fact that ‘they trust one man (pisteuvousin eJniV ajnqrwvpw/) each year to rule over them and to control all their land; they all heed the one man (pavnte" ajkouvousin tou' eJnov", 8.16)’. Thus, concord under Roman rule is particularly singled out for praise by the author.15 The view of kings as those who bring law and order to all and thus peace and harmony to all is also found in 2 Macc. 4.5-6.16 In addition to the claims of historians for the unity brought about by the Roman empire, however, many claims for the Roman emperor are made in the context of claims that he has brought about a return of Golden Age harmony.17 According to these writers, the Greeks may have dreamed (and planned) of a Golden Age of harmony, but the Romans 14 After 630 years of harmony Caius Gracchus is charged with ‘destroying the harmony of the government’ (2.11.3). Thus, ‘the origins of internal feuding and the collapse of concordia are dated to the tribunates of Caius Gracchus’. Emilio Gabba, Dionysius and The History of Archaic Rome (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991), p. 211. Cf. also Claude Nicolet, ‘Varron et la politique de Caius Gracchus’, Historia 28 (1979), 276–300. Dionysius, in 2.74, outlines how Numa preserved ‘the harmony of the state’ through laws for boundaries concerning ‘private possessions’. 15 Jonathan A. Goldstein, 1 Maccabees (AB, 41; New York: Doubleday, 1976), p. 357. Goldstein also comments on the historical inaccuracy of this statement. Cf. also John J. Collins, Daniel, First Maccabees, Second Maccabees (OTM, 16; Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1981), p. 206. 16 Goldstein, 2 Maccabees (AB, 41A; New York: Doubleday, 1983), p. 222. Although much later, Aelius Aristides’ Oration 24, To the Rhodians: Concerning Concord (AD 149), written to put an end to conflict (stavsi") in Rhodes, argues for concord because ‘all the earth is united under one emperor with common laws for all’ (ou* koinhV meVn a{pasa gh', basileuV" deV ei%", novmoi deV koinoiV pa'si, 24.31). This Oration will also be mentioned in Chapter 4 (pp. 120– 21 n. 51). English translation of Aristides is from P. Aelius Aristides, The Complete Works: Volume II. Orations XVII–LIII (trans. Charles A. Behr; Leiden: Brill, 1981). The Greek text of Aristides’ Orations cited here is taken from Aelius Aristides, Aelii Aristidis Smyrnaei Quae Supersunt Omnia: Volumen II Orationes XVII–LIII continens (ed. Bruno Keil; Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann [1898], 2000). 17 Cf. Bodo Gatz, Weltalter, goldene Zeit und sinnverwandte Vorstellungen (Spudasmata 16; Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1967), esp. pp. 135–43, for the Roman development of the concept from a Golden race to a Golden Age or time and the claims for the return of the Golden Age in the reigns of 16 different emperors. Cf. also Harold C. Baldry, ‘Who Invented the Golden Age?’ ClQ 2 (1952), 83–92; Wendell Clausen, A Commentary on Virgil, Eclogues (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), pp. 119–20; Karl Galinsky, Augustan Culture: An Interpretive Introduction (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), pp. 90–121; Martin L. West, Hesiod, Works and Days: With Prolegomena and Commentary (ed. M. L. West; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), p. 177; Klaus Kubusch, Aurea saecula,

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achieved it in practice.18 Since Hesiod’s Works and Days (c. 700 BC), a distant Golden Age has been associated with the first ‘race’ (called the ‘golden race’) who lived in harmony under the reign of Cronus (106– 201).19 Hesiod portrays the life of various ‘generations’ (five in total) subsequent to this reign, each described with a metal. The ‘golden race’ was characterized by an abundance of provisions and peace (118–20) in contrast to Hesiod’s own iron race (the fifth ‘generation’) which is particularly characterized by discord in human relationships (174–201). For Hesiod, the city of the just flourishes in a state of peace and provision reminiscent of the golden race and experiences the favour of Zeus (225– 37). The city that practices violence and cruelty, however, will face the punishment of Zeus and will be destroyed (238–47).20 Virgil, writing at the end of a period of civil war and the arrival of the Augustan age of peace anticipates a return to a ‘Golden Age’ in his Eclogues (c. 38–39 BC), Georgics (29 BC), and Aeneid (in the 20s BC).21 In lines 4–17 of the Fourth Eclogue, Virgil writes Now [iam] is come the last age of Cumaean song; the great line of the centuries begins anew. Now the Virgin returns, the reign of Saturn [Saturnia regna] returns; now a generation descends from heaven on high. Only do you, pure Lucina, smile on the birth of the child, under whom the iron brood shall at last cease and a golden race spring up throughout the world! Your own Apollo now is king! And in your consulship, Pollio, yes, yours, shall this glorious age begin . . . [He] shall rule the world to which his father’s prowess brought peace [pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem].22 Mythos und Geschichte. Untersuchung eines Motivs in der antiken Literatur bis Ovid (Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, 1986); and Philip Hardie, The Epic Successors of Virgil: A Study in the Dynamics of a Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 3. 18 Baldry, Utopias, pp. 23–4. Baldry observes that this ideal became so common for Roman writers that ‘there are far more descriptions of the aurea saecula in the Roman poets, with the Italian rustic god Saturnus replacing Kronos, than in all our surviving Greek literature’. 19 Translations of Hesiod are from Evelyn-White, LCL. Cf. West, Hesiod, pp. 172–77; Clausen, Virgil, p. 119; Baldry, ‘Golden Age’, p. 87. Plato, Resp. 546e (cf. also 468a), acknowledges his indebtedness to Hesiod for the idea of a ‘golden race’. In Pol. 271e-72b Plato describes ‘the life of men in the reign of Cronus’ as one of abundance of provisions and a time when there ‘was no war . . . not any strife (stavsi") whatsoever’. The people of that era are referred to as a single human flock (274–75), ‘God himself was their shepherd’ (271e). 20 Cf. also Porphyry (writing much later c. AD 234–305) who preserves an account from the Peripatetic Dicaearchus (who quotes Hesiod) portraying the early Greeks as a golden race enjoying no ‘seditions with each other or dissensions’ (De Abstinentia 4.2). Translation of Porphyry by Gillian Clark, On Abstinence from Killing Animals (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000). 21 Translations of Virgil are from the rev. edn by Goold, LCL. 22 Clausen, Virgil, p. 122, observes that Virgil’s only other use of the verb paco is in Book 6 of the Aeneid with reference to the achievements of Augustus.

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In contrast to the Ancients who often viewed the Golden Age as a ‘mythical paradise irretrievably lost’, Virgil’s vision of the Golden Age is that it is now being restored.23 Although the identification of the child in the Fourth Eclogue is debated (arguably the child to be born to Antony and Octavia – symbolic of a new Alexander),24 in the first Georgic Virgil expects Octavian to be the king who will bring the Golden Age (1.24-42). Unlike the Golden Age of Hesiod, however, the age restored through Augustus was ‘immune to deterioration’.25 In his Aeneid (19 BC), Virgil writes an epic that adapts and appropriates the Greek epic tradition of Homer’s Iliad and places Rome, and in particular, the rule of Augustus, at the climax of history as the fulfilment of hopes for a restored Golden Age.26 Virgil describes this beginning as a time when First from heavenly Olympus came Saturn . . . He gathered together the unruly race, scattered over mountain heights, and gave them laws . . . Under his reign were the golden ages men tell of [aurea quae perhibent illo sub rege fuere saecula]: in such perfect peace he ruled the nations [sic placida populos in pace regebat]. (8.319-27)

The ‘Golden Age’ under the reign of Saturn was characterized by lawabiding peace and harmony before war and passion for gain arose.27 Virgil argues that it is Augustus (i.e. the Julian house) who has brought about a return of that Golden Age. He particularly highlights the theme of concord under the reign of Augustus in Books 1 and 6 of his Aeneid in preparation for a more extended description of concord in his final three

23 Ibid., p. 121, with reference to the temporal iam in line 4. Cf. also Galinsky, Augustan Culture, p. 92. Cf. also Horace’s Epodes 16.63-66 (30 BC) and Epistles 1.2.6-16. However, whereas in the Aeneid ‘it is the initiative and virtues of the good king Aeneas which will produce concordia’, Horace, in his account of the Iliad, ‘stressed the failure of the kings to do their duty and to create Concord’ (Francis Cairns, ‘Concord in the Aeneid of Virgil’, Klio 67 [1985], 210–11). 24 William W. Tarn, ‘Alexander Helios and the Golden Age’, JRS 22 (1932), 159. Cf. also Clausen, Virgil, pp. 121–2. 25 Clausen, Virgil, p. 125. 26 Marianne Palmer Bonz, The Past as Legacy: Luke–Acts and Ancient Epic (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 19. Cf. also Anthony J. Boyle, ‘The Canonic Text: Virgil’s Aeneid’, in Roman Epic (ed. A. J. Boyle; London: Routledge, 1993), p. 98. 27 Contra Galinsky, Augustan Culture, pp. 93–5, this passage is not arguing that the Golden Age before Jupiter is an undesirable ideal. Galinsky argues that this passage is an inversion of Eclogue 4. (See below for a discussion concerning the claims of Eclogue 4.) Elsewhere, Virgil describes a time before the reign of Jove (i.e. in the Golden Age when Saturn reigned) when humanity enjoyed the earth’s provisions and ‘man made gain for the common good’ (Georgics 1.125-28).

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books.28 Aeneid 1.275-96 provides a prophecy of Jupiter that anticipates the later portrayal of a return of the Golden Age. For these [Romans] I set no bounds in space or time; but have given empire without end [imperium sine fine dedi] . . . [From the line of] the Romans, lords of the world [rerum dominos] . . . shall be born the Trojan Caesar, who shall extend his empire to the ocean [imperium Oceano] . . . Then wars shall cease and savage ages soften . . . The gates of war, grim with iron and close-fitting bars, shall be closed.

This prophecy highlights the Romans as ‘lords of the world’ and the ‘Golden Age’ will be characterized by peace – portrayed here as an absence of war. In Book 6 (6.788-96) Augustus is praised as the one who brings the Golden Age: Here is Caesar and all the seed of Iulus destined to pass under heaven’s spacious sphere. And this in truth is he whom you so often hear promised you, Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will again establish a golden age [aurea condet saecula] in Latium amid fields once ruled by Saturn; he will advance his empire [imperium] beyond the Garamants and Indians to a land which lies beyond our stars.

Characteristic of this reign will be the fact that ‘glorious Rome [shall] extend her empire to earth’s ends [auspiciis illa incluta Roma imperium terris]’ (6.781-83). In contrast to the civil war of Caesar and Pompey which destroyed their eternal concord (6.827-28), sons of the Augustan age must not pursue such ‘wicked war nor vent violent valour on the vitals of your land . . . (and must) cast the sword from your hand’ (6.832-35). At the beginning of Book 10 (10.6-15) Jupiter links the discord among the gods with the discord between Trojans and Italians. In Book 12 (12.189-94, 820-40) concord is finally brought about among the gods so that establishing concord among men only required the removal of the source of discord – Turnus.29 In the Aeneid, therefore, Augustus’ reign was ‘depicted as the end and goal of Fate’s plan, the beginning of the restoration of the primeval Golden Age, a new paradisial era that would continue into the indefinite future, imperium sine fine (Aen. 1.279)’.30 Metamorphoses (AD 8) is described as one of Ovid’s most Augustan 28 Cairns, ‘Concord’, pp. 211–13. Cf. also idem, Virgil’s Augustan Epic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), esp. pp. 85–108. 29 Cf. Cairns, ‘Concord’, pp. 212–14, for a discussion of Virgil’s connection of the themes of concord and kingship. Cf. also idem, Augustan Epic, pp. 87–88; Erwin R. Goodenough, ‘The Political Philosophy of Hellenistic Kingship’, YCS 1 (1928), 55–102. 30 Bonz, Legacy, p. 69. Others argue, however, that Virgil’s Aeneid is actually covert criticism of Octavian. Cf. Frederick Ahl, ‘Form Empowered: Lucan’s Pharsalia’, in Roman Epic, pp. 125–42 (127). Boyle, ‘Virgil’s Aeneid’, p. 84, argues that Books 9–12 present the empire achieving its mission through violence and rage in contrast to Jupiter’s prophecy.

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works.31 Although Augustus is rarely discussed in the work, structurally, he is discussed in the first book and the last book ‘as the end point of an arc that joins the framing books’.32 Book 1 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses states that the people of ‘the first age’ (aurea prima, 1.89) had an abundance of provisions (1.103) and had no need for law, judges or fear of punishment as they all lived secure without need for swords or helmets. ‘There was no need at all of armed men, for nations, secure from war’s alarms, passed the years in gentle ease’ (sine militis usu mollia securae peragebant otia gentes, 1.99-100, Miller LCL). By the time of the final Iron Age, however, the earth was characterized by ‘violence and cursed love of gain’ (et amor sceleratus habendi, 1.127-31) and particularly by a breakdown in harmonious relations. war came . . . and brandished in its bloody hands the clashing arms. Men lived on plunder. Guest was not safe from host, nor father-in-law from son-in-law; even among brothers ’twas rare to find affection. The husband longed for the death of his wife, she of her husband; murderous stepmothers brewed deadly poisons, and sons inquired into their fathers’ years before the time. Piety lay vanquished, and the maiden Astraea, last of the immortals, abandoned the blood-soaked earth. (1.141-50)

Thus, the ‘golden race’ was characterized by justice, physical provisions, peace and the absence of strife, in contrast to the disharmony and ‘cursed love of gain’ that characterizes the iron race.33 In returning to the theme of Julius Caesar’s assassination (1.198-201; 15.746-870), Ovid describes how his son Augustus returns order to earth.34 The last great metamorphosis of history, then, begun by Caesar, is to be completed by his successor (cf. the description of universal Roman dominion in 15.820-31, 877; cf. also 15.858-60, Jupiter on earth). An age

Thus, the ancestor of the Julian family is not presented as ‘the imperial figure of the new Roman world but as a prime embodiment of the values and behaviour of the old heroic world of bloodlust, violence, ‘honour’ and the senseless pursuit of fame’. 31 Peter White, ‘Ovid and the Augustan Milieu’, in Brill’s Companion to Ovid, ed. Barbara Weiden Boyd (Leiden: Brill, 2002), p. 14. For a summary of the debate concerning Ovid’s relationship with Augustus, see S. Georgia Nugent, ‘Tristia 2: Ovid and Augustus’, in Raaflaub et al. (eds), Between Republic and Empire, p. 241. Cf. also Kubusch, Aurea saecula; William S. Anderson, ‘Form Changed: Ovid’s Metamorphoses’, in Boyle (ed.), Roman Epic, pp. 110–18. 32 White, ‘Ovid’, p. 14. 33 Cf. also Ovid, Tristia, 5.3.28; 5.10.12; 5.10.16; Epistulae Ex Ponto, 3.1.1-4, 7-14, 29-30; for further references to Ovid’s contrast between the Golden Age and his own Iron Age in his exilic poems. Cited by Gareth Williams, ‘Ovid’s Exilic Poetry: Worlds Apart’, in Brill’s Companion to Ovid, pp. 345–7. 34 White, ‘Ovid’, p. 15.

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of war and confusion will be transformed into one of peace and stability (15.832-9).35 The hopes that surrounded the reign of Nero may be seen in the poems of Calpurnius Siculus.36 In the first of his eclogues (dated towards the beginning of the reign of Nero)37 Calpurnius claims that with the reign of Nero ‘amid untroubled peace, the Golden Age springs to a second birth’ (1.42, Duff and Duff, LCL). The goddess of Justice (Themis) returns to earth and ‘while he, a very God, shall rule the nations, the unholy WarGoddess shall yield and have her vanquished hands bound behind her back’ (1.46-47). All wars shall be quelled and there will be no more discordia (1.57). ‘Peace in her fullness shall come; knowing not the drawn sword, she shall renew once more the reign of Saturn in Latium’ (1.64). Similar claims for a return of the Golden Age under the reign of Nero are found in Calpurnius’ fourth Eclogue (4.6; bringing eternal peace 4.99, 146), in the second of the Einsiedeln Eclogues (2.22-24)38 and in Seneca.39 Claims of a return of the Golden Age in the Augustan era, however, are qualified by later Roman writers. In fact, Lucan’s description of the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey in Civil War (probably written toward the later years of Nero’s reign)40 ‘transfers to the founder of the Julio-Claudian dynasty – Julius Caesar himself – his bitterness and disillusionment with the dynasty’s last representative, the ruthless and devious emperor Nero’.41 In contrast to Virgil’s description of the victorious Roman race, Lucan states that ‘Of war I sing, war worse than civil, waged over the plains of Emathia and of legality conferred on crime; I tell how an imperial people turned their victorious right hands against their own vitals; how kindred fought against kindred (1.1-3, Duff, LCL). Bonz adds that ‘the dynastic succession of Augustus and all of the JulioClaudians who were heirs to his power becomes a kind of negative salvation history in which the Roman people move ever closer to

35 Edward J. Kenney, ‘Ovid’, in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: II Latin Literature (ed. E. J. Kenney and W. V. Clausen; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 442. See also Erich S. Gruen, ‘The Imperial Policy of Augustus’, in Raaflaub et al. (eds), Between Republic and Empire, pp. 395–416, for the ‘difference between rhetoric and reality’ in the Augustan years. 36 Cf. Gatz, Weltalter, goldene Zeit, p. 136. 37 Francis Goodyear, ‘Minor Poetry’, in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, p. 627. 38 Using language reminiscent of Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue. Cf. Gatz, Weltalter, goldene Zeit, pp. 136–37. 39 Cf. Clem. 2.1.4. Cf. Galinsky, Augustan Culture, p. 100; Gatz, Weltalter, goldene Zeit, 136. In 2.1.3 Seneca states that Nero’s utterance of mercy should be declared to all nations. 40 Hardie, Virgil, pp. 67–8. 41 Bonz, Legacy, pp. 67–8.

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disintegration and ruin’.42 For Lucan, conflict rather than concord ‘binds’ the people together.43 The poem particularly focuses on the internal dissolution of Roman authority. The rise of Vespasian and Flavian rule, after the struggle for power following Nero’s suicide, brought renewed claims for the theme of the aureum saeculum. Due to the failures of the later Julio-Claudian emperors and Nero’s own failure to realize the hopes of a return to the Golden Age, however, the appropriation of this theme, under Flavian propaganda, played down the finality of the Augustan achievements.44 In contrast to Virgil’s portrayal of divine sanction for the Julian house, Staius’ Thebaid appears to destroy this divine sanction.45 The story-line of the Thebaid is ‘the fall of a doomed dynasty – the house of Oedipus – and the destruction and devastation that are inevitably unleashed in its wake’.46 In Thebaid 1.241-3 the destruction will be brought about through ‘new warfare’ with the result that ‘the whole deadly stock’ will be uprooted. Thus, by analogy, ‘the dawn of the fabled Golden Age, which is the hope and the promise of the Aeneid, is transformed retrospectively in the Thebaid into the dawn of an era of venality and corruption’.47 Although the promise held out by the rule of the Flavian house is not portrayed in strictly Golden Age terminology, the hope is for a return to peace and mercy in contrast to the strife that characterized the end of the Julian house. Thus, the ideals of kingship and concord in which the reign of the ideal king brings concord and an absence of strife, are brought together in Roman writers who either praise the rule of the Julio-Claudians as bringing a return of the concord characteristic of the Golden Age or, in the wake of Nero and the civil wars following Nero, criticize the rule of the Julio-Claudians as bringing strife and destruction with renewed (though tempered) hope placed in the Flavian house.

42 Ibid., p. 68. Cf. also Ahl, ‘Lucan’s Pharsalia’, p. 126, who notes that writers such as Lucan in the first century AD ‘rarely act as propagandists for an idealized Rome . . . [or for] . . . state propaganda of a ‘‘golden age’’ ’. 43 Cf. Lucan, Civil War 4.196-205. Jamie Masters, Poetry and Civil War in Lucan’s Bellum Civile (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 72. 44 Cf. the application (to Domitian) of Virgil’s prophecy regarding Augustus in Statius’ Silvae (c. AD 92–95) 4.1.5-8; 4.2.1-2; 4.3.114-17. Cited by Bonz, Legacy, pp. 70–73. Hardie, Virgil, pp. 67–8, notes that ‘Lucan’s epic was written during the later years of Nero’s reign; the surviving Flavian epics were all begun within twenty years of the civil wars that erupted on the death of Nero.’ 45 Bonz, Legacy, p. 77. John Henderson, ‘Form Remade: Statius’ Thebaid’, in Boyle (ed.), Roman Epic, p. 188, suggests Statius undoes Virgil’s Aeneid. 46 Bonz, Legacy, p. 75. 47 Ibid., p. 78.

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b. Old Testament kingship ideals: one king over one people As mentioned above in the context of introducing the discussion on Graeco-Roman ideals for unity and kingship, the following section will highlight the emphases found in these writings on the theme of unity as a characteristic of the rule of God or his ideal king. In light of the various judgements on God’s people that led to their dispersion outside the land and division of the kingdom, ‘part of the promise of a new order is the prophecy of the restoration of the unity of God’s people’.48 The following discussion will include an examination of the books of Chronicles (which highlight the combination of the themes of unity and kingship and were written after the division of Israel) and Old Testament eschatological hopes before turning to Jewish Second Temple hopes.49 i. Chronicles Although the emphasis on unity in the book of Joshua (see Chapter 4) is continued in 1 and 2 Kings, the theme is particularly taken up and emphasized in 1–2 Chronicles. The emphasis on unity in Chronicles has been noted in many studies. The following summary will primarily highlight the chronicler’s emphasis on the theme of unity together with the theme of kingship. In this regard, the chronicler provides a biblical precedent for the combination of these themes in Acts and eliminates the charge that Luke is merely dependent on Hellenistic themes. The Lukan emphasis on the Davidic kingship of the Christ increases the interest in the combination of the themes of unity and kingship in Chronicles. Although the theme of the unity of God’s people in 1 and 2 Chronicles is not restricted to the number of occurrences of the phrase ‘all Israel’, the fact that almost 40 per cent of its use in the entire Hebrew Bible occurs in these books shows the prominence of this idea.50 The phrases, ‘all the elders of Israel’, ‘all the congregations of Israel’, ‘all the tribes of Israel’, ‘all lands of Israel’, ‘all princes of Israel’, ‘every man of Israel’, ‘all your

48 Charles H. H. Scobie, The Ways of Our God: An Approach to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), p. 485. 49 Although the following discussion will indicate that the books of Chronicles also have eschatological hopes, the distinction made here is between historical narrative and the hopes expressed in the prophetic books. Furthermore, the focus in these discussions is primarily on the combination of the themes of unity and kingship rather than a general discussion of all the themes that could relate to the theme of unity. See the section on ‘Law’ in this chapter for a discussion of Ezra–Nehemiah (pp. 48–50). 50 There are 34 occurrences without the particle and 40 references when the particle is included. Cf. Sara Japhet, The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and its Place in Biblical Thought (trans. A. Barber; Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, 1989), pp. 268–78; Marshall D. Johnson, The Purpose of the Biblical Genealogies (2nd edn; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 47. The phrase highlights the people of God as ‘one people’.

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people Israel’, ‘all who were in Israel’ and ‘all the kings of Israel’ are also frequent.51 The chronicler particularly highlights the unanimous participation of ‘all Israel’ in the kingship of David52 and Solomon.53 Thus, following an emphasis throughout chs 11 and 12 on the unity of ‘all Israel’ in the reign of David (cf. 11.1 where ‘all Israel’ assembles to David at Hebron; 11.4 where ‘all Israel’ marches with David against Jerusalem), 1 Chron. 12.38 (MT 12.39) concludes the lists of fighting men in this narrative section by noting that ‘They came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind (MT dj*a# bl@; LXX yuchV miva) to make David king’.54 The concluding verses of ch. 12 highlight the abundance of material provision and joy in Israel. The same emphasis on the unity of ‘all Israel’ is present when the ark is brought to Jerusalem. After David consulted with ‘every leader,’ he said to the whole assembly of Israel (MT la@r`c=y] lh^q= lk)l=; LXX th'/ pavsh/ ejkklhsiva/ Israhl), ‘Let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we neglected it in the days of Saul. All the assembly (MT lh*Q*h^-lk*; LXX pa'sa h& ejkklhsiva) agreed to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people (1 Chron. 13.1-4).55 The emphasis on unity is again found in the accounts of David’s designation of Solomon as the one chosen to build the Temple (1 Chronicles 22, 28–29) and in the events of Solomon’s reign that include building and dedicating the temple (2 Chronicles 1–9). Thus Solomon is charged ‘in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord’ (28.8); ‘all the people’ are said to be ready to assist in the work of building the temple (28.21); ‘the whole assembly’ is urged by David ‘the king’ to assist Solomon in building the temple (29.1); and then ‘the whole assembly’ is urged by David to praise the Lord (29.20). Prior to the death of David at the end of 1 Chronicles a summary highlights the acknowledgment of Solomon as king. Sacrifices are made 51 Johnson, Purpose, pp. 47–8. Cf. Peter B. Dirksen, 1 Chronicles (HCOT; Leuven: Peeters, 2005), p. 16, for a source-critical approach that highlights the chronicler’s interest in the language of ‘all Israel’ in comparison with Samuel and Kings. 52 Hugh G. M. Williamson, Israel in the Books of Chronicles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), pp. 95–6, draws attention to the scholarly consensus on the emphasis on unity in the reign of David. 53 Roddy L. Braun, ‘Solomonic Apologetic in Chronicles’, JBL 92 (1973), 503–16. Cf. also idem, 1 Chronicles (WBC, 14; Waco, TX: Word, 1986), pp. xxxvi–vii; idem, ‘A Reconsideration of the Chronicler’s Attitude Toward the North’, JBL 96 (1977), 59–62. 54 Indicating the unanimous agreement of the people under David’s rule. See also Acts 4.32 for the use of yuchV miva. 55 RSV, italics added. The account continues with more emphasis on the involvement of ‘all Israel’ (three times in 1 Chron. 13.5-8).

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for ‘all Israel’ (29.21) and ‘all Israel’ is said to obey Solomon (29.23). A summary statement highlights the fact that ‘all the officers and mighty men, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their submission to King Solomon’ (1 Chron. 29.24). The scene is one of national unity under the kingship of Solomon.56 The opening verses of 2 Chronicles continue the portrait of national unity under the reign of Solomon: he addresses ‘all Israel’ and goes with ‘the whole assembly’ to God’s Tent of Meeting (2 Chron. 1.2-3).57 Similarly, the unity of Israel in bringing the ark to the temple is emphasized (2 Chron. 5.2-6 refers to ‘all the heads of the tribes’, ‘all the men of Israel’, ‘all the elders of Israel’ and ‘the entire assembly of Israel’), as is the unity of the people at the dedication to the Temple (2 Chron. 7.1-10 refers to ‘all the Israelites’, ‘all the people’ and ‘all Israel’). Thus in many ways the chronicler highlights the unity of the work of David and Solomon and argues for ‘the legitimacy of these two kings, who alone ruled over a united Israel’ at the time of the building of the Jerusalem temple.58 The fact that almost half of the uses of the language of ‘all Israel’ occur after the division of the kingdom and that five uses of the term occur in 2 Chronicles 29–36 (after the fall of the northern kingdom) indicates that the chronicler is still concerned with the unity of God’s people.59 Thus although the term ‘all Israel’ is regularly used for the northern tribes following the division of the kingdom (cf. 2 Chron. 13.4, 5, 15, 18), the name ‘Israel’ may also be used for the south (2 Chron. 24.5-6).60 The chronicler’s concern for ‘all Israel’ may also be seen in the military activity and religious reforms carried out by kings of Judah in the north (Asa, 2 Chron. 15.8-9; Jehoshaphat, 19.4; Hezekiah, 30.5; 31.1;61 Josiah, 34.6-7; 35.17-18) and in the involvement of Israelites from the north in worship at

56 Cf. Braun, ‘Apologetic’, pp. 503–16. 57 Cf. Williamson, 1 and 2 Chronicles (NCB; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1982), pp. 193–4, for contrasts between this passage and 1 Kings 3 and the parallels between this passage and 1 Chronicles 13. 58 Braun, ‘Solomon, the Chosen Temple Builder: The Significance of 1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29 for the Theology of Chronicles’, JBL 95 (1976), 581–90 (590). 59 Thus recent studies note a more positive attitude towards the north in Chronicles (expressing an appeal to the north to return). Cf. Ralph W. Klein, 1 Chronicles (Hermeneia; Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2006), p. 46; Braun, ‘Reconsideration’, pp. 59–62; Williamson, Israel, pp. 97–140; Japhet, Ideology, pp. 291–4, 308–24; Johnson, Purpose, p. 48. 60 Cf. Johnson, Purpose, p. 47. Cf. also the qualifying phrase ‘the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah’ (2 Chron. 10.17 = 1 Kgs 12.17). 61 Williamson, Israel, p. 125, notes emphasis on ‘the restitution of the unity of all Israel’ under Hezekiah.

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Jerusalem (cf. 2 Chron. 11.16; 15.9-15).62 For the chronicler, ‘all the remnant of Israel’ consists of those of the northern tribes who ‘were loyal to the Davidic ruler’.63 Thus the chronicler demonstrates an interest in the unity of the people of God (as one covenant people under one Davidic king) both in its ideal under the reigns of David–Solomon and in the hope that the ideal may become reality again. He particularly highlights the unity of ‘all Israel’ under the reigns of David and Solomon, and in commitment to the worship of Yahweh at the Jerusalem temple. The account subsequent to the division of the kingdom indicates the chronicler’s concern (i.e. as seen in the invitation from Hezekiah, 2 Chron. 30.1, 6, 10), that the northern tribes return to Yahweh so that Israel would be united again under the Davidic king. ii. Eschatological hopes Ezekiel 34 records the result of the shepherds’ leadership of Israel as the scattering of the flock over the whole earth (Ezek. 34.5-6). The Lord, however, will search and look for his people. ‘As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock . . . I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered . . . I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land’ (Ezek. 34.11-13). The ‘togetherness’ of the people under the care of the Lord himself is the source of the people’s abundant provision and blessing (34.15).64 In fact, the Lord states, ‘I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will place over them one shepherd (dj*a# hu#r), my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd’ (Ezek. 34.22-23). Although this language anticipates the description of the unity of the one nation under one shepherd in Ezek. 37.15-28,65 Allen is correct to note that ‘in this context the oneness has its own point, as God’s eventual solution for divisions among his people, in that a single authority would be put in charge, ensuring social unity’.66

62 Braun, ‘Reconsideration’, pp. 59–62. 63 Johnson, Purpose, p. 49. 64 Cf. Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 20–48 (WBC, 29; Dallas: Word, 1990), p. 162. 65 Cf. also Hos. 1.11; Mic. 2.12. 66 Allen, Ezekiel 20–48, p. 163. Cf. also Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 2: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel Chapters 25–48 (trans. James D. Martin; Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1983), p. 218, who notes that ‘the emphatic dja (‘a single’) is to be understood in terms of 37.15-28 . . . [it promises], in contrast to the historical plight of the division of Israel into two separate political entities, the unity under one ruler which God brings to his people’.

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The unity of God’s people under one ruler is especially prominent in Ezek. 37.15-28. Here, building on Ezek. 34.23, the term dj*a# (‘one’) is used 11 times.67 Ezekiel is asked to take two pieces of wood that represent Judah (the South) and Ephraim (the North) and ‘join them together (dj*a#-la# dj*a#) into one stick (dj*a#) so that they will become one (