Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” (2 Sam. 5:7–8, emphasis added)
David therefore excluded the lame and the blind from his house, while Jesus welcomes the lame and the blind.48 Jesus also calls the scribes and Pharisees blind (15:14; 23:16–19) and excludes them from the temple people. As Hays says, “the textual echoes [to 2 Sam. 5:7–8] both establish the link and, at the same time, hint at Jesus’s peaceful reshaping of Israel’s messianic hope.”49 Jesus is the greater Davidic healer of whom Ezekiel prophesied. While David showed himself fit to deliver God’s people by demonstrating his power over Goliath, Jesus shows himself fit to deliver God’s people by demonstrating his power over sickness, the demonic realm, and ceremonial impurity. David shunned those with needs; Jesus welcomes them. The wise king creates order out of chaos, peace in the midst of combat. Now it is time to examine some of the specific Davidic healing texts to further the argument that Jesus acts as the ideal and wise king while in exile.
Blind Men and a Canaanite Woman See
The first text that pairs the healing ministry of Jesus with the title “Son of David” comes near the conclusion of Matthew’s first block of Jesus’s deeds (9:27–31). Two blind men follow Jesus and cry out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David” (9:27, emphasis added). Jesus asks them if they believe he is able to heal them, and they say that they do (9:28). Therefore Jesus touches their eyes and says, “According to your faith be it done to you” (9:30). Then he warns them not to tell anyone about this, but they go “and spread his fame through all that district” (9:31). As noted in the previous section, Matthew frames both the Sermon on the Mount and the healing chapters 8–9 under the banner of the kingdom. Jesus is acting as the king, enacting justice for those whom he meets on his travel ministry.
Most commentators see the miracles in Matt. 8–9 as occurring in three groups of three. In the third group, Jesus heals a ruler’s daughter and a woman with a blood discharge (viewed as one story), two blind men, and a demon-possessed man. All of them are social outcasts. The ruler is in some position of power, colluding with the enemy; the woman with the discharge of blood is unclean; the blind men are deemed of little use to society; and the demon-possessed man is a sinner and shunned. Jesus has mercy on all of them. Yet in this block of miracles, only the two blind men explicitly recognize Jesus’s royal Davidic status.
Two blind men in 20:29–34 also acknowledge Jesus’s kingship. Jesus goes out of Jericho, and two blind men cry out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” (emphasis added). The crowds rebuke them, but the men keep calling out to Jesus. Jesus takes pity on them and opens their eyes. In both stories Matthew has the blind men acclaiming Jesus’s Davidic status. Despite their condition, they recognize and identify Jesus with this specific reference. By placing this phrase on the mouths of blind men, Matthew indicates it takes a certain kind of sight to see who Jesus is; not like the sight of the chief priest and scribes. It is not physical sight but spiritual sight.50 They can see past the miracles and recognize that since Jesus is portraying the new David, he is fit to be their king. As David defeated the forces of darkness for Israel, so too Jesus now defeats the powers of darkness that also indwell the people of Israel.
“Outsiders” also recognize Jesus’s authority, as in 15:21–28, when a Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and cries out, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon” (Matt. 15:22, emphasis added). Jesus initially turns a cold shoulder to her, saying that he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (15:24). But she keeps pleading, and Jesus recognizes her great faith and heals her daughter (15:28). Like the blind men, she has insight into the nature of Jesus. Matthew communicates that while in exile in Galilee, this “son of David” is revealing himself to those who normally would be considered “outside” the kingdom.
These texts are scattered throughout Jesus’s exile, and therefore taken together they confirm that the Davidic king redefines the kingdom during his deportation. The kingdom of Israel is for the meek, the blind, the rejected. But Jesus also tells each one he heals that they are not to spread his fame around the region because if they do, people will misconstrue what type of messiah figure he is. The blind men can see, but his fame should not be extolled because Israel would misunderstand Jesus’s mission. Blind men and the Canaanite woman are given special intuition that Jesus is a messiah figure in the form of David. If the Jewish leaders hear that this is a Davidic figure, they will become jealous and have certain expectations for this new leader. The time for the inglorious enthronement of Jesus is not yet. That will have to wait until he comes to Jerusalem.51
The Children Cry “Hosanna”
In Matt. 21:14–15 the blind and the lame come to Jesus in the temple, and he heals them. While the chief priests and scribes are jealous, the children in the temple cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (emphasis added). “Hosanna” occurs in Ps. 118:25 and is translated as “help” or “save.” The term is also used as a shout of praise in Jeremiah 31:7, and although most might conclude that the children are using it in this latter sense, a case could be made that they are observing his action in the temple and requesting Jesus to save/help them from their current oppressors.52 In fact, Ps. 118 serves as a liturgy for the Feast of Tabernacles, and verse 26 says, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.” This image is particularly suited for the Davidic king leading in procession to Yahweh’s house. Thus the children may be employing it as a shout of praise and as a request. These two uses of language do not have to be at odds.
The chief priests and scribes are indignant at the children and their employment of language. Clearly, the children’s speech is evocative. The juxtaposition between the two groups is evident. “Hosanna,” the term the children address to Jesus, annoys the Jewish leaders. The Jewish nation rejects Jesus as their king, and the children have the eyes to see Jesus as David’s heir. Jesus replies to the chief priests and scribes by affirming what the children have attributed to him. He quotes from Ps. 8:2, saying, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” Readers should be thinking back to the Sermon, where Jesus proclaims, “Blessed are the meek” (Matt. 5:5). Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise to God, who created the universe. Despite their lack of knowledge, even infants praise God; therefore how much more should those who understand the things of God? Jesus picks up this text and uses it in the same way. Even the children can see that Jesus is the son of David; how much more should the chief priests and scribes be praising Jesus as the messiah? As God’s acts in creation elicit praise, so should the acts of Jesus in healing people in the temple. As God is the creator of all, Jesus is the royal son of David who through healing re-creates all things. The blind and the lame are made well, and only the children recognize that this is David’s heir. During his deportation, the king redefines the kingdom.
As David returned from battle with the Philistines and was met with tambourines, songs of joy, and musical instruments (1 Sam. 18:6), so too Jesus enters his city with the songs of praise on the lips of the people. Yet Saul was jealous that the people were praising David: “Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, ‘They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?’ And Saul eyed David from that day on” (1 Sam. 18:8–9). The chief priests and the scribes respond in a similar way to what the children shout. “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant” (Matt. 21:15).
In the flow of Matthew’s narrative, what comes to the surface here is the heightened
opposition to the son of David. While in chapter 2 Jerusalem is only troubled at the birth of this king, now in chapter 21 the chief priests and the scribes are indignant. This is similar to the life of David. After David defeated Goliath, opposition grew toward David in 1 Sam. 18–20. The chief priests and the scribes know their Scriptures and think that the children should not be applying messianic language to this man from Nazareth. But Jesus knows the Scriptures better, and so does Matthew. Matthew flips this scenario on its head and has Jesus quoting another psalm, where the children ascribe praise to their messianic redeemer. The scribes think they know the Scriptures and the nature of the one who is coming. Through his narrative Matthew teaches them that they “know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). He is the scribe, teaching them to mine their Scriptures and see that Jesus fulfills all their hopes.
Summary of the Davidic Healer
Though David is not formally known as a healer in his life, there were prophetic hopes expressed by both Isaiah and Ezekiel that a Davidic king would come and heal the nation. This is exactly what this new son of David does while exiled to Galilee. Matthew indicates this by having key people cry out to the “Son of David.” They see the relationship between this Jesus and David, even if it is muddy to the current regime. Generally, kingship is evaluated based on the prosperity of its citizens. Evil kings are condemned because their people suffer, and good kings are celebrated because they lead the people into wholeness and security in their land. As David demonstrates compassion to Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 9:6–7), so too Jesus shows kindness to all his covenant people. Now his covenant people are redefined as those who have a new heart. Like Mephibosheth, they will always eat at the king’s table. But unlike David, Jesus will also welcome all the lame and blind to his new city (2 Sam. 5:7–8). He is like David but also better than David. Matthew is persuaded that Jesus is both like and unlike David, and he reveals this not in the mouths of the religious leaders but in those who would most naturally be outside the kingdom. This is because Matthew exposes what the Davidic king is to do and what sort of kingdom this is to be. His actions do not contradict what kings are to perform, but Jesus performs these actions for those whom the religious leaders are neglecting.
Matthew brings the new out of the old. If the religious leaders go back to the prophets and learn not only where this figure is to be born but also what he is to accomplish, then they will see that the Davidic Son will lead the nation not merely in military victory but in personal and communal healing. Jesus expands the kingdom for those outside of Israel. He turns their world upside down, but this does not contradict what the Scriptures say. Rather, it fulfills what the prophets whisper. The righteous branch who is full of wisdom and knowledge rises up; the question for Israel is whether they will recognize this branch or reject it out of fear and jealousy. Matthew uses his scribal techniques on the other side of Jesus’s resurrection to show his readers that they need to look harder at their OT texts and also take a hard look at their own hearts. The kingdom is not for those in power but for the humble, the meek, the thirsty.
The Ideal and Wise King
My argument has been that Jesus embodies the law during his exile as the wise king, thus uniting and saving the nation. He fulfills the law not only by being the one to whom the law points but by living it. He internalizes the law, giving the people a true picture of a Torah follower. Jesus therefore comes not only as a teacher but as one who exemplifies his own instruction. Both Hellenistic and OT discourses presented ideal kings as those who epitomized the law. This internalizing of the law would make both the king and the nation wise (Deut. 4:6). The true and wise king lived the Torah (Deut. 17:19; Ps. 1:2).
This “living of the law” can be seen in his healing and shepherding motifs. As David was known as the shepherd of Israel, so too Jesus holds forth both his staff and a rod. He welcomes, gathers, and draws his sheep to his side, but he also castigates those who will not listen to him. He is the royal shepherd who leads his nation to flourishing rather than attacking them like King Herod (Matt. 2:6); he is the shepherd who teaches and heals, instructing Israel on the law of Christ, and also gives his disciples authority to go out and perform the same tasks (9:36); he is the merciful shepherd, whose mission is first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (northern Israel) but also the one who will welcome gentiles (15:24); he is the shepherd-judge, who separates the sheep from the goats; finally he is the sacrificial and struck shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, even as they all turn their backs on him (26:31).
Jesus is also the Davidic healer whom both Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied would come. The son of David describes his own ministry in the following words: “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matt. 11:5–6). Blind men, a Canaanite woman, and children cry out to this son of David. They have true spiritual sight, while the leaders of Israel stumble over the stumbling stone. Jesus’s healing ministry is also put in the vortex of the suffering servant, for as Jesus heals, Matthew claims it fulfills Isa. 53:4: “He took our illness and bore our diseases.” Jesus’s sacrificial ministry extends beyond the cross, even while culminating on the cross.
This shepherding, healing, and sacrificial ministry of Jesus departs from the labels given to the chief priests and the scribes, who “clothe [them]selves with wool, . . . slaughter the fat ones, but . . . do not feed the sheep” (Ezek. 34:3). They do not strengthen the sick or bind up the injured, but they rule with force and harshness. They even pay to get rid of those who would oppose them. The imagery in Ezek. 34 is similar to Matt. 9:36, where the people are described as “harassed and helpless.” The fact that the people in Matthew are described as “harassed and helpless” implies that this condition has been inflicted upon them by a lack of leadership. Jesus must lead and create a new scribal school. Ezekiel castigates the shepherds for their harshness but also tells of a time when God will gather his people through a Davidic messiah who will embody the law by being their shepherd and healer.
Conclusion
While some deny or at least question that the Gospel writers portray Jesus as the Davidic messiah, I find this conclusion quite unconvincing. David’s life is woven into the garments of Jesus’s life. Matthew does this not just through fulfillment quotations but also through plot, characterization, geographical movement, cities, and even numbers. The previous chapter looked at the journey of the Davidic king, while this chapter examined his actions while in Galilee. David’s life looms large for Matthew. Although the Davidic allusions are diverse, they can all be gathered under the banner of the messianic Davidic king who unites the kingdom, brings the people back from exile, establishes the temple, installs the new covenant, and instructs his people in wisdom. The king is to embody the Torah, heal the nation, rebuild the temple, shepherd the flock, and be enthroned in the city of Jerusalem. “The desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom” (Wis. 6:20).53 Matthew grasps each of these themes and fastens them to the life of Jesus. He tells a shadow story.
But Matthew, as the wise scribe, also subverts these themes in Jesus’s life. Rather than rebuilding the temple, he pronounces its destruction. Rather than affirming the Jewish leader’s interpretation of the law, he clarifies that they are neglecting justice and mercy. Rather than entering the city as a warrior, he arrives humbly. Rather than being enthroned and worshiped, he is mocked and crucified. In one way, these things are old; in another they are new. Brandon Crowe rightly says that fulfillment reverses “the sinful trajectories of Israel’s history by the obedience of the messianic king, which was necessary for the eschatological blessings to accrue to the messianic community.”54 Fulfillment does not mean absolute continuity but also includes reversal. Just as an acorn stands in continuity and discontinuity with an oak tree, so too Jesus is the new and old fulfillment of David. Jesus is the apocalyptic Davidic messiah who is both
the new king and the king of old.
In 2 Sam. 7 David is given a promise that one of his children will sit on the throne forever. Jesus is that heir who will sit on the throne forever. He acts like David in his life, and he dies as a type of David. The journey to his throne runs through the cross because he needs to die for his people. The king is to save his people from their enemies, and their enemies are both the spiritual forces waging war against them and the darkness arising from within their own hearts. The Jewish leaders are a symbol of this rejection for Matthew. Through David’s life we understand Jesus’s life, and through Jesus’s life we see David’s life fulfilled. Matthew is telling his readers to look harder and more closely at Jesus. There is a way to read Jesus’s life and miss many of the echoes reverberating back into Israel’s past. Matthew’s narrative embosses some of these allusions with clarity, but he also is sometimes subtle in his approach. He does this because he shows his cards at the beginning and expects readers to perk up as he moves along.
Matthew’s method reminds me of the scene in the movie The Lion King when Rafiki tracks down Simba.55 Simba tells Rafiki to go away because he doesn’t even know who he is. But Rafiki replies, “I sure do, you’re Mufasa’s boy.” Simba replies, “Well, my father is dead.” But Rafiki says, “No, he is alive!” He takes him on this wild reckless chase through the woods, brings him to a small pond, and instructs Simba to look into the water. Simba slowly does and says, “That’s not my father; that’s just my reflection.” Rafiki says, “Look harder. . . . You see, he lives in you.”
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