Wim J.C. Weren, «The Use of Isaiah 5,1-7 in the Parable of the Tenants (Mark 12,1-12; Matthew 21,33-46)», Vol. 79 (1998) 1-26

This article attempts to prove the following theses. The parable of the tenants in Mark 12,1-12 has been constructed on the basis of the vineyard song in Isa 5,1-7. There are connections with the Hebrew text as well as with the LXX version. The later exegesis of Isa 5,1-7 as it is found in the Targum and in 4Q500 has also left traces in the parable. The connections with Isaiah were already present in the original form and they are enlarged in the subsequent phases of the tradition. Matthew has taken almost all references from Mark but he additionaly made links to Isa 5,1-7 which he did not derive from Mark.

       In the past few decades our scientific knowledge of Isaiah's song of the vineyard (Isa 5,1-7) has expanded in two ways. Firstly, the literary and rhetorical aspects of the Hebrew text have been closely studied. The result was almost general consensus as regards the literary genre of this text: Isa 5,1-7 is an example of a juridical parable ¹. Secondly, the publication of 4Q500 has filled up a gap in our knowledge of the interpretation history of Isa 5,1-7. For information on this subject we previously had to rely on the corresponding text in the Septuagint (LXX), the Targum Jonathan and a number of rabbinic texts. On the basis of this material it was not possible to determine with full certainty how Isa 5,1-7 was interpreted in first century Palestine. The publication of 4Q500 changed this. In all probability the first fragment of this papyrus manuscript contains an exegesis of Isaiah's song of the vineyard ².

       In this article I will investigate whether the new insights concerning Isa 5,1-7 and the later interpretation of this text shed new light on the use of Isa 5,1-7 in the parable of the tenants (Mark 12,1-12; Matt 21,33-46). My contribution is structured as follows. I will begin with a discussion of the literary and rhetorical aspects of the Hebrew text of Isa 5,1-7. Subsequently, I will map the traces which the Hebrew text and its rendition in the LXX, the Targum and 4Q500 have left in Mark's version of the parable of the tenants. After that I will try to find out whether Matthew's version contains points of contact with Isa 5,1-7 which cannot have been derived from Mark. If there are such points, we may presume that the colourful gamut of interpretations that sprang from the Hebrew text of Isa 5,1-7 not only influenced the genesis of Mark 12,1-12 but also