55 STRIKING SHEPHERD THE own shepherd” (ton poimena eaytwn 45) : the sheep are now the ù ¥ Ω ˜ enemies of a shepherd who is bent on their benefit. Jesus is called “their own shepherd”, that is, the shepherd of the Jews. The context shows what this means. Jesus performed “so great signs and wonders in Israel” (4,14), he suffered “in order to redeem the promise to the fathers” (5,7), and “while he taught Israel and performed so great wonders and signs, he preached and loved them beyond measure” (5,8). The Jews, on the other hand, are called “the sheep of the flock”, just as they are called ta pro- ù ¥ bata thv nomhv, “the sheep of the pasture”, later in Barn. 16,5 . ˜ ˜ 46 In spite of this positive title, however, they are characterized in the context of our quotation as persecutors of the prophets (5,11), as an assembly of evildoers (5,13; 6,6), as people who plot an evil plan (6,7). Some irony is at work here: the sheep turn against their shepherd. The point is no longer that God strikes Jesus and that in conse- quence the disciples will be dispersed, but that when the Jews strike Jesus, their punishment will be that they perish. Matthew’s (and Mark’s) idea that in what certain Jews and Romans do to Jesus, God himself strikes Jesus, has disappeared. Now “the sheep strike their own shepherd”: this presentation of events serves to enhance Israel’s guilt. The sheep will no longer “be scattered” but they will “ perish ” (apole˜tai) : the negative effect on the sheep that results ß ı from the shepherd being struck becomes much stronger now that the sheep themselves are the ones who strike the shepherd. It seems that the author of Barnabas joins in here with an early Christian tradition according to which the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is a punishment for the Jewish rejection of Jesus (see Mark 12,9 par.; 13,2 par.; Matt 22,7; 23,34-36 par.; 23,37-39 par. ; Luke 14,24; 19,27.41-44; 23,26-32). In any case: he has completely changed the meaning of Matt 26,31 and turned Matthew’s quotation into a vehemently anti-Jewish statement. Martyr ”, Jews and Christians. The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135 (ed. J.D.G. DUNN) (WUNT 66; Tübingen 1992) 315-345, esp. 332. PROSTMEIER, Barnabasbrief, 223, prefers the reading aytwn (ms. H) to ߘ 45 eaytwn (S) ; this hardly affects meaning. The omission of the possessive geni- Ω ˜ tive (G L) is probably due to assimilation to known Greek versions of Zech 13,7. In a sentence that is presented as a quotation from Scripture. It may come 46 from 1 En. 89,56.