The NT frequently refers to people and events of the OT, but time and again these references include details and assumptions that do not occur in the original OT narratives. But these same elements are found, time and again, in extrabiblical Jewish tradition. Taken together, we see that the NT writers drew on popular tradition and haggadah on the OT texts and thus preserved traces of these ancient expansions of biblical stories in their own writings. The following are some of the more interesting examples from the literature:
ADAM AND EVE
In Genesis, Adam and Eve both knew the command against eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge (cf. 2:16-17; 3:2-3), both ate from the fruit, both hid from Yahweh in the garden, both are equally cursed by God, and both are banished from the garden. 1 Timothy 2:13-14, however, plcaes the blame squarely on Eve and exonerates Adam: "For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor." The original text however did not say that Adam was not deceived and was not a transgressor. This develops the idea in extrabiblical tradition that blamed Eve entirely for the Fall: "From a woman was sin's beginning, and thanks to her we all must die" (Sirach 25:24). "I created for him a wife so that death might come to him by her... [The devil] entered paradise and corrupted Eve. But he did not contact Adam" (2 Enoch 30:17; 31:6). "Adam said to Eve, 'Why have you brought destruction among us and brought upon us great wrath, which is death gaining rule over all our race? Oh evil woman! Why have you wrought destruction among us?' " (Apocalypse of Moses 14:2; 21:6)
CAIN AND ABEL
In Genesis 4:1, the man "knew" his wife Eve and she gave birth to Cain. Some ancient interpreters believed that the verb "know" only meant that Adam got to know his wife and that someone else was Cain's father. According to Pirqei de R. Eliezer, "The serpent came into her and she became pregnant with Cain, as it says, 'And the man knew his wife Eve.' What did he know? That she was already pregnant from someone else" (21). We also read: "And Adam knew about his wife Eve that she had conceived by Sammael the wicked angel of the Lord, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain." (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Gen. 4:1). This interpretation was also suggested by the fact that Eve said that she "acquired a man from the Lord"....where she refers to the baby as a "man" (as angels are called in Genesis 18:2; 32:24) and the "Lord" being understood as "an angel of the Lord". We find an echo of the tradition in 1 John:
"By this it may be seen who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil; whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you heard from the beginning (e.g. the Hebrew name for Genesis is "beginning"), that we should love one another and not be like Cain who was of the Evil One and murdered his brother." (1 John 3:10-12)
In Genesis, Abel is neither good not bad -- the only thing we know is that God showed favor for his sacrifice. There could have various reasons for this. As Philo (Sacrifices of Cain and Abel 14:51), Josephus (Antiquities 1:53-54), and Ambrose of Milan (Cain and Abel 1.3.10) point out, the work of shepherding is more noble than that of farming, since it involves taking care of living animals. There was another idea that Abel's sacrifice was favored by default because Cain offered only leftovers and not the first fruits (cf. Genesis Rabba 22:5; Midrash Tanhuma 9). Similarly, we can note in Genesis that Cain only turned to evil after becoming jealous; there is no hint before his murder that his deeds were evil. But in the NT, Cain is regarded as evil before his murder and Abel as explicitly "righteous":
"And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." (1 John 3:12)
"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval for his righteousness, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts." (Hebrews 11:4)
This builds on statements by Jewish interpreters: "Even though the righteous man [Abel] was younger in time than the wicked one" (Philo, Questions in Genesis 1:59), "He was destroyed in the Flood on account of his righteous brother Abel" (Testament of Benjamin 7:4), "Abel, the younger one, made a practice of virtue ... Cain however was altogether wicked" (Josephus, Antiquities 1:53).
ENOCH
In Genesis 5:12-24, Enoch's death was not registered according to the same formula that occurs throughout the chapter; instead the text says that "Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God had taken him". This cryptic phrase could mean that God took his life: "And Enoch walked in the fear of the Lord, and he was not, for the Lord had killed him" (Targum Onkelos, Gen. 5:24). But Hebrews goes further than the text in Genesis and states that Enoch did not die: "By faith was Enoch taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him" (Hebrews 11:5). This reproduces the tradition of Philo (Change of Names, 38): "He was transferred, that is he changed his abode and journeyed as an emigrant from the mortal life to the immortal." Jubilees 10:17 likewise described Enoch as immortal "so that he should report all deeds of each generation on the day of judgment." Jude 14-15 however presents a tradition about Enoch wholly unlike that in the OT:
"It was of these also that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying, 'Behold the Lord came with his myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.' " (Jude 14-15)
First of all, Enoch was not the seventh generation from Adam -- according to Genesis, he was the sixth. But Jude is dependent on 1 Enoch 60:8 which designates Enoch as "the seventh from Adam." Enoch is also designated as a prophet and the prophecy he gives is actually a combination of two separate statements from 1 Enoch: "Behold, he will arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything that they have done, that which the sinners and the wicked ones committed against him" (1 Enoch 1:9), "You have transgressed and spoken slanderously grave and harsh words with your impure mouths against his greatness" (1 Enoch 5:4). This is perhaps the clearest example of apocryphal tradition in the NT.
NOAH
2 Peter 2:5 calls Noah "a preacher of righteousness". Of course, the Genesis narrative mentions nothing of a preaching work by Noah. The natural interpretation was that Noah would have tried to pass on his divine warning to his contemporaries, perhaps trying to get them to repent and thus be saved. Josephus (Jewish Antiquities 1:73) thus says that "Noah, displeased with the deeds of his [contemporaries] and finding their intentions to be odious, sought to persuade them to adopt a better way of thinking and to change their ways". According to rabbinical literature: "The righteous Noah used to warn them and say to them, 'Repent, for if you do not, God will bring a flood upon you.' " (b. Sanhedrin 108a).
SODOM AND GOMORRAH
According to Jude, Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for sexual sins having "indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh" (Jude 7), but absolutely nothing is actually stated in the Genesis account about the Sodomites having committed fornication or sexual sins. It only says that the men of Sodom were "evil and very sinful" and that their sin was "very grave" (Genesis 13:13; 18:20). The idea that the sins were of a sexual nature was inspired by the story about "the men of Sodom, both young and old, every one of them" coming to surround Lot's house, demanding to "know" them (i.e. have sexual relations), as it says in Genesis 19:4-5. But no act was actually carried out, and no other sexual sin is mentioned. Ezekiel 16:49-50, in fact, claims that the sins Sodom and Gomorrah were judged for included "pride, surfeit of good, prosperous ease and not aiding the poor and needy". These are the sins mentioned in Sirach 16:8, Josephus (Antiquities 1:194-195), m. Abot 5:10, Pirqei de R. Eliezer 25, and Matthew 10:14-15. But Jude draws on a separate tradition, inspired by Genesis 19:4-5, which claims that the inhabitants of the cities actually indulged in fornication: "You shall commit fornication with the fornication of Sodom, and shall perish, all save a few, and shall renew wanton deeds with women" (Testament of Benjamin 9:1). "You make married women impure, you lie with whores and adulteresses, you marry heathen women, and your sexual relations will be like Sodom and Gomorrah" (Testament of Levi 14:6). Jubilees 16:5-6, 20:5 also mentions that the "punishment of Sodom" executed those with "sexual impurity, uncleanness, and corruption among themselves, they died in sexual impurity." 2 Peter 2:6-8 also characterizes the sin of Sodom as sexual but greatly expands on Lot's reaction to the fornication:
"He rescued the righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked, for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds."
There is nothing in Genesis about Lot's reaction towards the "wickedness" of Sodom -- indeed there's even a hint that Lot was wicked himself. First, we read in Genesis 13:11-13 that Lot "moved his tent up to Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were evil and very sinful against God". Given a choice of where to live in Canaan, Lot had moved right into Sodom -- a questionable choice at best. Then the "three men" are sent to destroy the cities (cf. 19:13), and Abraham pleads with Yahweh to save the cities if only ten righteous people can be found therein. When the angels arrived at the cities, Lot showed them his gracious hospitality and this is what "won [God's] favor" (v. 19) and "Yahweh felt pity for him" (v. 16). So if Lot did not show his kindness, he might have perished (as did his sons-in-law in his household, 19:14-15, 31). Thus Philo (Questions and Answers in Genesis 4:54) concluded: "Lot was saved not for his own sake so much as for the sake of the wise man, Abraham, who had offered prayers for him," and Origen (Homilies on Genesis 5:3) remarked: "If he was able to escape Sodom, as Scripture indicates, he owed this more to Abraham's merits than his own". Yet 2 Peter characterizes Lot as a righteous man who was disturbed by the sin that he witnessed in the cities. This assertion was anticipated by Wisdom 10:6-8 which claimed that Lot was "a righteous man" and the Alphabet of Ben Sira, 268 which referred to Lot as "a wholly righteous man".
JACOB
According to Genesis 28:11-17, Jacob dreamt that "there was a ladder set upon the earth whose top reached to heaven, and the angels of God were going up and down upon it." The narrative presents the event as a visionary dream, not an actual event. But later Jewish interpreters believed that the dreamt event actually took place and the angels came down from heaven to see Jacob: "And he dreamt and the angels who had accompanied him from his father's house went up to announce to the angels on high, 'Come and see the righteous man whose likeness is set upon the divine throne, and one whom you have wanted to see' Then the holy angels of God went up and down to gaze upon him" (Targum Neophyti, Fr. Gen. 28:12). Although the text said that the ladder was set "upon the earth," these interpreters reinterpreted the latter phrase as saying that "the angels of God were going up and down upon him". This wording anticipates the statement in John:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:51)
MOSES
Acts 7:21-22 says: "Pharaoh's daughter adopted him [Moses] and brought him up as her own son, and Moses was educated in all the wisdom of Eygpt, and he was powerful in his words and actions". The statement about Moses being "powerful in words" contrasts with Moses' statement in Exodus 4:10 where he says: "I am not a man of words, but I am heavy of speech and heavy of tongue". But more interesting is the fact that Exodus is completely silent on Moses' education, much less that he was inducted into all the wisdom of Eygpt. Philo (Life of Moses 1:23) however presented such a legend on Moses' instruction: "Arithmetic, geometry, the lore of meter, rhythm, and harmony, and the whole subject of music were imparted to him by learned Egyptians. These further instructed him in the philosophy conveyed in symbols." Ezekiel the Tragedian (Exagoge 36-38) also mentioned Moses' "princely rearing and instruction" and Ephraem (Commentary on Exodus 2:4) also made reference to Moses' "years of education".
According to 2 Timothy 3:8, "Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses," yet no such names occur in the OT and earlier tradition referred to these individuals as Pharaoh's magicians who resisted Moses and Aaron during the ten plagues. The Damascus Document 5:17-19, for instance, mentions that "in days gone by, Moses and Aaron arose by the hand of the Prince of Lights but Belial (i.e. Satan) in his cunning raised up Jannes and his brother when Israel was saved for the first time". The Testament of Solomon 25:2-4 relates the account of a demon who tells Solomon that he "was present at the time when Moses appeared before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, hardening his heart. I am the one whom Jannes and Jambres, those who opposed Moses in Egypt, called to their aid. I am the adversary of Moses in performing signs and wonders." The Book of Jannes and Jambres (fr.) also states: "In the presence of the king, he [Jannes] opposed Moses and his brother Aaron by doing everything they had done".
When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found that there was no water to drink and the people fell to complaining. Moses struck a rock with his staff and people drank from the gushing water. This story however is told as a doublet with two different versions in two different locales. In Exodus 17:1-7, the water miracle took place at Rephidim which Moses dubbed "Massah and Meribah". However some time later, Moses produced the exact same miracle at Kadesh and Moses dubbed these waters "the waters of Meribah" (Numbers 20:7-13). These two water stories likely reflect two independent versions and later interpreters tried to harmonize the stories. One possibility is that whenever Moses produced water from a rock, he called the water "Meribah" because he gave in to the people's demand for water. But this more obvious possibility was ignored in favor of a more extravagent tradition: that the goshing rock had traveled with the Israelites from Rephidim to Kadesh, and that it went on to accompany them during all their subsequent wanderings as their traveling water supply:
"Now he led his people out into the wilderness; for forty years he rained down for them bread from heaven, and brought quail to them from the sea and brought forth a well of water to follow them....And it [the water] followed them in the wilderness forty years and went up into the mountains with them and went down into the plains." (Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7, 11:15)
"And so the well that was with Israel in the desert was like a rock the size of a large container, gushing upwards as if from a narrow-neck flask, going up with them to the mountains and going down with them to the valleys." (Tosefta, Sukkah 3:11)
This interpretation however flatly contradicts the context in Numbers, which explcitly says that "there was no water for the community" (Numbers 20:2). Nevertheless, the same tradition was used and spiritualized by Apostle Paul:
"I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the same cloud, and all passed through the sea, and ... all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them" (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)
The Law given to Moses provided for a Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) during which, if one sincerely repents one's misdeeds, "all your sins" would be atoned for (Leviticus 16:16, 21-22, 30, 34). Since the text plainly says "all your sins," Philo (Special Laws 2:196) and many other interpreters taught the atonement would be for "sins both intentional and unintentional". Others doubted that the atonement could be a blank check and refer only to certain kinds of sins, like those committed by mistake, and not for others: "It says that he will forgive all their transgressions and pardom all their sins. But what does this 'all' mean? It is written and ordained that he will have mercy on all who repent of all their errors once a year" (Jubilees 5:17). "He atones for sins of ignorance by fasting and humbling his soul" (Psalms of Solomon 3:7-8). It was this interpretation (which limits the original extent of the atonement in the Law of Moses) that is adopted in Hebrews:
"But into the second [inner area] only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people" (Hebrews 9:7).
In Leviticus 19:17-18, Yahweh gives a divine commandment to Moses: "You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart...You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbor as yourself." From an early date, this commandment was exalted as a central principle that epitomizes all the Torah's laws. In Jubilees, the single command to "love your neighbor/brother as yourself" was given by Abraham and Isaac to their respective children -- a command that anticipates the Torah (20:2; 36:3-4, 7-8). In the Testament of Issachar 7:5-6, this command was combined with another on "loving God with all your strength" which was borrowed from Deuteronomy 6:5: "I loved the Lord with all my might; in the same fashion, I also loved every man as my own children". Philo explicitly designates both as the epitome of the Torah:
"Among the vast number of particular truths and principles studied, two, one might almost say, stand out higher than all the rest, that of relating to God through piety and holiness, and that of relating to fellow men through a love of mankind and of righteousness" (Special Laws 2:63).
The same claim is made in rabbinical literature: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself -- R. Akiba said: This is the great general principle in the Torah" (Sifra Qedoshim, 4). The exact same claim is made in the NT:
"One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend all the Law and Prophets" (Matthew 22:35-40)
"The commandments ... are summed up in this one sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " (Romans 13:9)
"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' (Galatians 5:14).
In Jude 9, a legend is related about what happened at the time of Moses' death: "But when the archangel Mochael, contending with the Devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, 'Let the Lord rebuke you' ". Jude alludes to the story in a way that assumes that his reading audience was familiar with it, but no such story exists in the OT! According to Origen (De Princ. 3.2.1.), Clement of Alexandria (Adumbr. in Ep. Judæ), and Didymus (Enarr. in Epist. Judæ), the allusion is to the Assumption of Moses, a pseudepigraphal work that described the incident in detail. Unfortunately, the only copy of this book is missing its ending. Fortunately, versions of the same legend are also related in various rabbinical sources:
"A heavenly voice went forth and said to Moses: 'How long will you continue to torture yourself? For you only have two hours left!' Now Sammael, the chief of the Satans, was waiting in anticipation for the time when Moses would die, so that perhaps he would receive his soul like that of other people; he was waiting like someone expecting great happiness. When Michael, Israel's angel, saw Sammael the wicked angel waiting for Moses' death, he lifted up his voice and wept and Sammael the angel was joyful and laughing. Michael said to him, 'Wicked one! I am weeping and you are laughing?' " (Petirat Moshe, in Beit ha-Midrash 1.125)
"At that time God ordered the angel of death, 'Go and bring Moses' soul to me.' Off he went and stood before Moses and said to him, 'Moses, give me your soul.' He said to him, 'You are not even authorized to stand in the place where I stand, yet you say to me, 'Give me your soul?' And thus he rebuked him and went off shame-faced." (Sifrei Deuteronomy, 305)
There was a similar legend concerning Abraham: "And Death said to Abraham, 'Come, kiss my right hand, and may cheerfulness and life and strength come to you.' For Death deceived Abraham. And he kissed his hand and immediately his soul cleaved to the hand of Death. And immediately Michael the archangel stood beside him with multitudes of angels, and they bore his precious soul in their hands in divinely woven linen. And they tended the body of the righteous Abraham with divine ointments and perfumes until the third day after his death. And they buried him in the promised land at the oak of Mamre, while the angels escorted his precious soul and ascended into heaven" (Testament of Abraham 20:8-12). Note that Abraham's body was buried by angels, and Jude focuses on the Devil disputing Moses' body, not his soul, and the implication is that Michael and the angels would be responsible for Moses' burial. This was in fact stated in Jewish tradition:
"He was buried with no one present, surely by no mortal hands but by immortal powers.' (Philo, Moses 2:291)
"The great prophet Moses went up to Mount Nebo in the sight of six hundred thousand Israelites and all the angels were arrayed to receive him. And he was buried there by God." (Tibat Marqa 269a)
"God appeared above him [Moses] with his Memra, and legions of ministering angels were with him. Michael and Gabriel laid out for him a golden couch.... Metatron and Yophiel and Uriel and Yephephiyah, chiefs of wisdom, laid him upon it, and with his Memra he bore him four miles and buried him in the valley just opposite Beth-Peor." (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Deut. 34:6)
BALAAM
According to 2 Peter and Jude, Balaam acted according to greed and transgressed against God: "Forsaking the right way they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing but was rebuked from his own transgression: a dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness" (2 Peter 2:15-16). "Woe to them! For they ... abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error" (Jude 11). But that's not what happened in the original story in Numbers. In 22:1-14, Moabite king Balak tried to convince Balaam, a worshipper of Yahweh, to curse the children of Israel. Balaam asked God what he should do, and Balaam refused Balak's offer on his divine counsel. Not satisfied, Balak tried again and "sent chiefs, more numerous and more renowned than the first" who begged Balaam to please go with them and curse the Israelite people (22:15-17). In reply, Balaam specifically rejected material gain: "Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go against this order of Yahweh my God in anything" (22:18). This is very different from the picture in 2 Peter and Jude. Then God came to Balaam in the middle of the night and said to him, "Have not these men come to summon you? Get up and go with them, but you must do nothing except what I tell you" (22:20). And so Balaam OBEYS Yahweh and saddled his donkey and went out with the Moabite chiefs. All along, Balaam has in fact obeyed God and rejected offers of material gain. And this is when Yahweh changed his mind and sent an angel to block the path and open the mouth of the donkey to speak to Balaam (v. 22-35). Balaam's sin, as the context makes clear, was that he mistakenly cursed his own animal that was (unbeknownst to him) being obediant to God.
This original version of the story must have perplexed readers from a very early date. As early as the Deuteronomist History, interpreters tried to suggest that Balaam actually did intend to curse Israel: "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. Nevertheless Yahweh your God would not hearken to Balaam but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you" (Deuteronomy 23:3-5). "Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose and fought against Israel, and he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you, so I delivered you out of his hand" (Joshua 24:9-10). In the original account in Numbers, on the contrary, Balaam consistently said from the outset that he will only speak what God orders. There is also not yet a hint that Balaam (contrary to Numbers) was motivated by material greed, as claimed by Jude and 2 Peter. It was in extrabiblical Jewish tradition that Balaam became viewed as a thoroughly wicked and greedy individual:
"The envoys then returned to the king without success, but others, selected from more highly reputed courtiers, were at once appointed for the same purpose who brought more money and promised more abundant gifts. Enticed by these present and prospective offers and impressed by the high rank of those who were inviting him, Balaam gave way, again dishonestly alleging a divine command." (Philo, Moses 1:267-268; contrary to this statement, Numbers 22:20 clearly states that God did approach Balaam and command him to go with the envoys)
"Balak fumed and accused him [Balaam] of transgressing the agreement whereby, in exchange for liberal gifts, he had obtained his services." (Josephus, Antiquities, 118)
"Anyone who possesses these three things is of the followers of our father Abraham, but he who possesses three others is of the followers of the wicked Balaam. A good eye, a humble spirit, and a modest appetite -- such belong to the followers of our father Abraham. An evil eye, a haughty spirit, and a large appetite -- these belong to the followers of the wicked Balaam." (m. Abot 5:19)
"And the donkey said to Balaam: 'Where are you going, wicked Balaam? O foollish one! If you are unable to curse me, an unclean beast who will die in the world and will not enter the world to come, how much less are you capable of cursing the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for whose future merit the word was created and whose merit attaches to them?' " (Targum Neophyti, Num. 22:30)
2 Peter and Jude therefore belong to a stream of tradition that altered the intentions, actions, and character of Balaam from that originally stated in Numbers.
More to follow....