Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote:neilgodfrey wrote:On Isaiah 22:16 being an ironic reference to the Temple, Karel Hanhart (The Open Tomb) writes, p. 178:
In Isaiah, the prophet confronts this unworthy official in his own room. We are hard put, however, to determine not only his office but also the exact location of this room. Is it the palace, as the "key to the house of David" (v. 22) might suggest, or is the site of his own grave vault? Or is it the Temple, as suggested in the Septuagint and, incidentally, also in the Vulgate and the Targum? Consequently, it is difficult to determine his crime. With two biting questions, Isaiah shows his contempt: literally "What have you here? Whom have you here?" The word "here" is emphatic, used three times in verse 16. The prophet continues, "That you have cut out a tomb here for yourself, cutting a tomb on the height, and carving a habitation for yourself in the rock." It should be noted that miskan ("habitation"), occurs in Isaiah only here and in 32:18. It is often used for the "tent of meeting" or "tabernacle" in the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Thus, an association with the Temple as God's habitation on the height of Zion is probable in this passage. . . . .
Thanks Neil. I always forget that it's a good idea to look at the Septuagint regarding all OT quotes in the NT. There, the reference to the temple is indeed quite clear:
15 This is what the Lord Sabaoth says: Go into the priestly chamber, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him:
16 Why are you here? What do you have here, that you have cut out a tomb here for yourself and made for yourself a tomb on the height and inscribed a tent for yourself in a rock?
The priestly chamber is a tomb, and it seems to be in the temple or the temple itself. "Tabernacle" instead of "tent" might stress this, although it's not necessary I guess. This is combined with a complaint about a lack of reverence for God, which fits the situation in gMark.
The LXX-word for "priestly chamber" is παστοφόριο (pastophorion) -
German Wikipedia. The pastophorion was in ancient Egyptian temples the living room of the pastophori, the priests who bore divine images. At the same time it was a storage room for different ritual objects.
The LXX-word for "tomb" is μνημεῖον (mnēmeion).
It was - first: any memorial, remembrance, record of a person or thing - second - a memorial of a dead person; a monument.
The LXX-word for "tent" is σκηνή (skēnē - "Engl. scene"). It could mean tent, booth, stage ... The σκηνή of the temple (σκηνὰς ἐς ἱεράς) could mean tabernacle.
I understand the story also in the LXX so, that Somna is in a room of the temple and he makes there a monument for himself, a shrine in the rock wall of that room. I think that "mnēmeion" is here not a "metaphor" for "skēnē" or "pastophorion". I would say, that "skēnē" and "mnēmeion" are words with similar meaning in LXX Isaiah 22:16 - memorial, monument, shrine.
Mark's use of "monument" for the tomb of Jesus was no doubt ironical (like much else in Mark's gospel) -- possibly inspired by its use in LXX Isa 22.
Continuing from where I left off above:
Thus, an association with the Temple as God's habitation on the height of Zion is probable in this passage. Then the prophet announces Shebna's doom. He will be defrocked and exiled. God will "whirl [him] round* and round and throw [him] like a ball into a wide land" for having brought shame on his master's house (v. 17f).
* = the verb "whirl around" also in Lev. 16:4 where it refers to winding turban around Aaron's head.
In the second part of this section (vv. 20-25), the prophet announces that Eliakim will be appointed in Shebna's stead. He will receive the tokens of his high office: a robe and a sash or girdle. Above all, God will give him the authority of the house of David: "He shall open, and no one shall shut." Some questions concerning the Masoretic text must remain unanswered. But for our purposes it is important that the passage was understood somewhat differently by the authors of the Septuagint. In his research van der Kooij notes that here the prophet meets Somnas/Shebna in a room of the Temple (pastophorion) and his office is that of treasurer (tamias)*. Highly interesting, furthermore, is that in LXX 22:18 a robe (stole) and a crown (stephanos) will be taken from Somnas. In verse 21 the same words are used, although the Hebrew original does not give any occasion or reason for using them. The Hebrew snph in 22:18 may also refer to the headdress of a high priest.**
* = For pastophorion see LXX Jer 42(35):4; LXX 1 Chr 9:26; 23:28; Josephus, War, 4:582; Also Jerome, Comm. Jes. CCL.73.305. See further van der Kooij's excurus on a "library" (scriptorium) in the "treasury" room annex to the "court of the priests", where official scrolls were kept and scribal activity took place. . . . . .
** Lev. 16:4; Zech. 3:3; and Sir 40:4: Gr. kidaris or stephanos; LXX Sir 40:4. From a critical and historical viewpoint the text of Isa 22:15 is highly interesting. Jerome, normally favoring the MT over the LXX, also renders Somnas' office as
praepositum templi ("high priest").
Van der Kooij concludes that the authors of the Septuagint version of Isaiah considered Shebna to be a high priest. He further notes that "treasurer" (tamias) is not the usual translation of the Hebrew sopher. It is often rendered "scribe" (grammateus), but here the authors must have understood the word to refer to the second meaning of the root spr ("to count"), hence "treasurer".*
* = Van der Kooij,
Textzeugen, 57. He is probably the same person as Shebna, 'the scribe' of MT Isa 36:3. He is a high priest because Eliakim receives the accoutrements of the high priest. He entered "the house of the L(l)ord" (oikon tou archonios sou), that is, the Temple because in LXX Isa 33:22 archon stands for God. He is deposed, because he entered the Temple with unclean feet, thus trampling it under foot (katapatema). See Eusebius 9:147, "selge ho Hebraios archiera gegogenai ton Somnan."
Instead of attempting a full exegesis of the Masoretic text, the Targum, or the Septuagint, it is sufficient for us to ask two questions in order to determine whehter a possible parallel was intended by Mark: Was there a reasonable occasion for Mark's community to apply LXX Isa 22 to their own situation? And if so, what seem to be the obvious parallels in the stories of Isaiah and Mark? Of course, Mark may well have used other words of phrases from this chapter, though by themselves these would not necessarily be deemed "certain" parallels. . . .
Thus far we have found at least six reasons for answering the two questions positively. . . .
(1) Both Isaiah and Mark use a combination of the same three words mnemeion, latomeo, and petra. Mathematically, chances that this parallelism is due to mere accident are rather slim. . . . . . *
(2) Moreover, in LXX Isaiah 22 this combination is a hapax legomenon which, during the annual reading of the prophet Isaiah, would have enhanced easy recognition on the part of those knowing the Scriptures by heart.
(3) The immediate context of LXX Isaiah 22 is concerned with an attack on Jerusalem. The graphic description of the fear and anxiety (22:1-14) . . . would have reminded Mark's readers of the startling and shocking tragedy of 70.
(4) Mark carefully prepares his audience . . . to consider the fate of the Temple throughout passion week. . . . . *
(5) Isaiah repeats the word "here" three times and with heavy irony in LXX 22:16, where he refers to the Temple on Zion's rock (petra) in contrast to the habitation of JHWH. In the open tome story this same adverb "here" is used, somewhat incongruously, by the youth in the "monument". . . . * Mark directed his readers to a future locality, "there you will see him" (16:7). . . . . *
(6) This parallelism between LXX Isaiah and Mark would also offer a rationale for Matthew's famous addition (Matt. 16:17-20) to Peter's confession in Mark (8:29-33). . . . . *
There is much more. But this gives an intro. Where I have left . . . . * I am indicating significant details have been omitted from the explanations.
There are other reasons listed two, the last of which looks at the similar literary structures found in Isaiah 22:15-25 and Mark 15:42-18:8.
Central to the thesis of the relevance of this passage, of course, is the fact that it related directly to the imminent destruction of the Temple, an event that was still fresh in the minds of Mark's audience and for which they would be seeking explanations -- at least if we read the gospel as apocalyptic literature and such a context is a characteristic norm of that genre.