Bible Review

Cf. W.A.L. Elmslie, The Mishna on Idolatry, ‘Aboda Zara, Texts and Studies, Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature (London/Edinburgh: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1911), pp. 62, 74.

Visitors to Israel may be familiar with the word maskit from the Maskit chain of jewelry and artworks stores founded by Ruth Dayan (now out of business).

See Philip Birnbaum, High Holiday Prayer Book (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1951), pp. 377–378, 815–822.

For a survey of Jewish interpretation, see Gerald J. Blidstein, “Prostration and Mosaics in Talmudic Law,” Bulletin of the Institute of Jewish Studies (London) 2 (1974), pp. 19–39.

This conclusion is made all the more probable by the fact that Jewish theologians created the same sort of story. According to the Babylonian Talmud, God tested Abraham with many trials. In one such trial, Satan and the patriarch trade texts from Scripture, exactly as Satan and Jesus do in the gospels (BT, Sanhedrin 89b, which is quoted in Davies and Allison, Matthew, p. 352).

This passage was first proposed by Raymond Brown.

Holtzmann’s suggestion that it corresponds to Peter’s reaction to the first prediction of the passion (Mark 8:31–33) is based purely on the material correspondence of the phrases “Begone, Satan!” and “Get behind me, Satan!” Apart from the name Satan, the two narratives have nothing in common.

The full references are Mark 13:9–13 = Matthew 24:9–14 = Luke 21:12–19.

The references are assembled in Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, Anchor Bible 28A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), p. 230.

Fitzmyer, Luke I-IX, p. 779.