Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 67:3 (Sep 2024)
Article: The Kingdom Breakthrough And Baal-Perazim: Casting Fresh Light On Matthew 11:12
Author: Brandon D. Crowe

JETS 67:3 (September 2024) p. 505

The Kingdom Breakthrough And Baal-Perazim: Casting Fresh Light On Matthew 11:12

Brandon D. Crowe*

* Brandon D. Crowe is professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary. He may be contacted at [email protected]. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the SBL in San Antonio. Thanks to Blake Franze for feedback on this essay.

Abstract: This essay argues that βιάζεται in Matthew 11:12 alludes to the breakthrough of the Davidic kingdom against the Philistines at Baal-Perazim. I argue first for Micah 2:13 as likely background for Matthew 11. I then relate Micah 2 to David’s victory at Baal-Perazim in 2 Samuel 5 and 1 Chronicles 14. Matthew invokes this breakthrough of the Davidic kingdom, in conjunction with the prophetic vision of Micah 2, to highlight the Davidic contours of the kingdom that was arriving through the ministry of Jesus. I conclude that this correlation of texts supports translating βιάζεται as “forcefully advances” in Matthew 11:12.

Key words: kingdom, breakthrough, Matthew, Micah, Christology, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles

ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἡμερῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ ἕως ἄρτι ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν βιάζεται καὶ βιασταὶ ἁρπάζουσιν αὐτήν
Matthew 11:121

I. The Difficulties Of Matthew 11:12

In their watershed commentary, Davies and Allison claim that Matthew 11:12 “is, without a doubt, one of the NT’s great conundrums.”2 Among the first order questions in this passage is the translation of the Greek term βιάζεται: Does the kingdom of heaven forcefully advance, or does it suffer violence? In other words, is βιάζεται middle or passive in voice? Either middle voice or passive voice is possible morphologically. A second question, one related to the voice of the verb, is whether the cognate noun βιασταί (“violen...