Messiah the Lawgiver: The Torah of the Messiah on Divorce and Remarriage

This paper explores Matthew's presentation of Jesus as the new Moses, and will proceed in four steps. First, we will examine the relationship between law-giving and the offices of prophet and king in the Hebrew Bible as well as the writings of the community at Qumran. Second, we will examine in detail Matthew's Jesus-as-Moses theme. Third, we will offer a paradigmatic example of how one aspect of Torah is reworked by Jesus, namely that of divorce and remarriage, and fourth, we will offer some interpretive guidance for future research that would seek to apply Jesus's teaching on divorce and remarriage in a Western context.