by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
As we saw last week, Caesarea Philippi, Panias/Banias, Bashan and Mt. Hermon individually and together represented demonic forces against the God of Israel. Furthermore, in Second Temple period Jewish thought, 1 Enoch points to the origin of demons connected to these locations: the illicit sexual cohabitation between divine beings (“sons of God” or also “watchers,” as in Daniel 4:13, 17 and 23) and human females narrated in Genesis 6:1-4 produced the Nephilim giants. When a giant was killed, its “watcher spirit” is referred to as a demon [See John C. Collins, “Watcher,” in Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd extensively revised ed. (editors Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst; Grand Rapids, MI; Eerdmans, 1999), 893-895. See also Gerard Mussies, “Giants,” DDD, 343-345. See also Peter W. Coxon, “Nephilim,” DDD, 618-620.].
The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) at Qumran contain not only parts of 1 Enoch (4Q201-202, 4Q204-207, 4Q212 and 1Q19; all in Aramaic) but also manuscript fragments of a “Book of Giants” (4Q203, 4Q530-532, 6Q8, 1Q23 and 2Q26) that also speak of these offspring of unnatural cohabitation. The name of Gilgamesh as one of these giants is found in the “Book of Giants,” apart from the (Ethiopic) 1 Enoch and the 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilgamesh” mentioned earlier. [See Michael O. Wise, Martin G. Abegg Jr., and Edward M. Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, rev. ed. (New York, NY; HarperCollins Publishers, 2005), 280-295.]
Adding to all this, Emperor Augustus Caesar is recorded to have given Caesarea Philippi to Herod the Great, who then built a marble temple to deify Augustus in return (https://www.bibleplaces.com/caesarea-philippi-banias/).
We now have a much fuller context of the passage. His disciples were probably full of dread at the place they were in. This (demonic) place would have caused trepidation for any Jew. They were in the veritable “gates of hell.” One seriously doubts if they would have gone on their own, without their Master with them.
So why then would our Lord go to enemy territory? Perhaps to make the point crystal clear: to reclaim all humankind and all geography from the clutches of evil and bring all back to our Father God. This meant war. And he would prevail. For as mentioned earlier, it was the turning point from the northernmost area of ancient Israel towards the victory of the cross and the resurrection in Jerusalem.
Note that Matthew 16:13-20 has its (shorter) parallels in Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:18-21. Here now is the SBLGNT Greek of Matthew 16:13-20 (https://biblehub.com/sbl/matthew/16.htm) with my literal/formal translation (which will be smoothened out later) in interlinear format:
13Ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὰ μέρη Καισαρείας τῆς Φιλίππου ἠρώτα τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ λέγων· Τίνα λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου;
And Jesus, having come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, was asking his disciples, saying; “Who do men say the Son of Man to be?”
14οἱ δὲ εἶπαν· Οἱ μὲν Ἰωάννην τὸν βαπτιστήν, ἄλλοι δὲ Ἠλίαν, ἕτεροι δὲ Ἰερεμίαν ἢ ἕνα τῶν προφητῶν.
And they said; “Some indeed, John the Baptist, but others, Elijah, but others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15λέγει αὐτοῖς· Ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι;
He says to them; “But who do you say me to be?”
16ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ Σίμων Πέτρος εἶπεν· Σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος.
And answering, Simon Peter said; “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Μακάριος εἶ, Σίμων Βαριωνᾶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέν σοι ἀλλ’ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς·
And answering, Jesus said to him; “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood has not revealed (it) to you, but my Father who (is) in the heavens;
18κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς·
And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and (the) gates of Hades will not withstand it.
19δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.
I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and what if you might bind on the earth will have (already) been bound in the heavens, and what if you might loose on the earth will have (already) been loosed in the heavens.”
20τότε διεστείλατο τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴπωσιν ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ χριστός.
Then he charged the disciples that to no one, they could tell that he is the Christ.
We will continue next week.
God bless us all.