Matthew, Volume 2 (International Critical Commentary Series | ICC)

by Dale C. Allison Jr.; W. D. Davies

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 1991

Overview

Picking up where their first volume of Matthew left off, W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr. cover chapters 8-18 of the first gospel.

For over one hundred years, the International Critical Commentary series has held a special place among works on the Bible. It has sought to bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis—linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary and theological—with a level of comprehension and quality of scholarship unmatched by any other series.

No attempt has been made to secure a uniform theological or critical approach to the biblical text: contributors have been invited for their scholarly distinction, not for their adherence to any one school of thought.

Editors at the Time of Publication: John Adney Emerton, Charles E. B. Cranfield, Graham Norman Stanton

Original Series Editors: Samuel Rolles Driver, Alfred Plummer, Charles Augustus Briggs

The depth of analysis found in the International Critical Commentary (ICC) Series has yet to be surpassed in any commentary collection. One of the best features of this series is the extensive amount of background information given in each volume's introduction, where all of the analysis is provided before the actual commentary begins. Each volume packs more information into the introduction than you will often find in the body of most commentaries! Also consider that with the electronic versions of each volume, you will never need to leaf through the hundreds of pages in each volume searching for the passage you are studying.

Contents

Top Highlights

“As it stands in Matthew the story of the feeding of the five thousand is above all about the compassionate Jesus and his supernatural ability to meet the lack of those in physical need.” (Page 480)

“The normal state of humanity is ignorance of God’s eschatological secrets. Human beings as human beings do not know the truth about the kingdom of heaven. If therefore some have come to know that truth, it can only be because of God’s gracious dealings with them.” (Page 389)

“Regardless of how one understand’s Mark’s troublesome ἵνα,⁷⁶ Matthew’s ὅτι makes the parables a response to unbelief: they are uttered because people see and do not see, because they hear and do not hear. This puts the emphasis unambiguously on human responsibility. More particularly, it makes the parables a consequence of the unbelief that has withstood Jesus’ gracious teaching and salvific ministry (see Mt 8–12). For Matthew, Jesus did not speak in parables to outsiders until hostility raised its ugly head.” (Page 392)

“It seems best to take our clue from Mark’s text: ‘Who is able to forgive sins but God alone?’ (cf. Isa 43:25; Dan. 9:9). In Mark and, we may think, in Matthew, Jesus has taken to himself a divine prerogative. He has made himself out to be more than an intermediary. He has acted not as a channel of forgiveness but as its source (cf. Jn 10:33).” (Page 91)

“One should reckon with possible influence from Isa 19:2, which is alluded to in 24:7 = Mk 13:8: ‘they will fight, every man against his brother and every man against his neighbour, city against city, kingdom against kingdom’.” (Page 186)

Praise for the Print Edition

A magnificent commentary on Mathew that students, pastors and scholars will want to add to their libraries. It offers the best exegetical, hermeneutical, critical, textual, literary and historical commentary, based on the Greek text that is yet available. Because of the quality of its scholarship and the many references and quotes about it in many other commentaries and theological texts, I fully recommend this commentary.

—Online Reviewer

The most thorough commentary on the Greek text of Matthew...

—Jon Weatherly

Product Details

• Title: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Volume 2
• Author: W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2004
• Pages: 807

About the Authors

W. D. Davies: Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Emeritus Professor of Christian Origins, Duke University.

Dale C. Allison: Research Scholar, Saint Paul School of Theology.