Das Spiel mit dem Petrus-Namen - Matt. xvi. 18

The Concept of Disciple in Matthew's Gospel, as Reflected in the Use of the Term "mathetes"

S BarYonah, Peter, Cephas: what, if anything,might St Peter’s names have meant to Palestinian Jews in late antiquity? On a casual approach, the pickings appear very slim indeed.1 A second look, however, suggests there may still be some interesting mileage in tracing the significance of those names during the late Second Temple and early rabbinic periods. The Talmud, to be sure, does not hold out much hope to anyone looking for knowledge of Simon Peter. While it is widely agreed to hint at Jesus and Jewish Christianity on a number of occasions, there is really only one passage that explicitly discusses the immediate disciples of Jesus.2 This is the famous censored baraita in b. Sanhedrin 43a, missing from standard early printed editions but widely accepted as part of the definitive text: ‘Our Rabbis taught: Yeshu had five disciples, Mattai, Nakai, Nezer, Buni and Todah.’ The text continues by offering an extended midrashic word play on why all five deserve to be executed . . . .3 We cannot be certain that this tradition of five disciples is of Tannaitic origin, or indeed whether this number derives from a desire either to legitimate or to undermine Jesus. It appears to be stylised in keeping with a similar traditional number of five disciples for both Yoh. anan ben Zakkai and

Additional excerpts

https://www.jjs-online.net/archives/fulltext/2523

Das Spiel mit dem Petrus-Namen - Matt. xvi. 18

Citations

The Concept of Disciple in Matthew's Gospel, as Reflected in the Use of the Term "mathetes"

Simon Peter's Names in Jewish Sources

Peter as Jesus' mouth: Matthew 16:13-20 in the light of Exodus 4:10-17 and other models

References

Um Die Muttersprache Jesu Forschungen Seit Gustaf Dalman

Matthäus 16,17—19.