Matthew 22.13a and 1 Enoch 10.4a: a Case of Literary Dependence?

Abstract

The study of early Christian authors citing or referring to Jewish pseudepigraphical works is one aspect of NT research which has been comparatively neglected. There is, however, good reason to accept that Mt 22.13a is an explicit allusion to 1 En. 10.4a and that the Evangelist himself is responsible for it. A redactional-critical analysis of this Matthaean verse and the Greek text of 1 En.10.4a as preserved in the Panopolitanus Codex suggests strongly that the former is dependent upon the latter. Such an understanding of the origin and background of this Matthaean text sheds new light on the meaning of the parable of the man without the wedding garment in Mt 22.11-13