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  • From: "Hyam Maccoby" <h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Eating with gentiles
  • Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 13:14:54 +0100



I would like to ask if Eric's point about Exodus 12:48 has some merit. If
> the meal was not 'lunch or dinner' but the paschal feast (Christ our
> Passover is sacrificed for us, let us therefore keep the feast) 1
> Corinthians 5:7, then Peter had some cause to be concerned.
>
> How soon was the recognition of this doctrine and would it have any
bearing
> here?
>
I think you are suggesting that of all the days of the year, the day on
which Peter visited Antioch happened to be the day of Passover, and that
therefore the meal was a Passover meal, which Peter would not ordinarily
share with uncircumcised people. I am afraid this suggestion seems to me
rather desperate, not only because there is no indication in the text that
the meal was anything other than an ordinary meal, but because the genuine
Passover meal took place only in Jerusalem, where the paschal sacrifices
took place at the Temple. I should mention that the Passover meals that
have taken place in Jewish homes ever since the destruction of the Temple in
70 CE are only commemorations or simulations since they do not involve any
sacrifice. Such Passover meals do not come under the rule of Exodus 12:48,
since this forbids only sharing the sacrifice with uncircumcised persons.
It is thus perfectly in order nowadays for a Jew to invite a Gentile to
share in a Passover meal. Similarly, even on the unlikely hypothesis that
the meal at Antioch was not an ordinary meal but a simulated Passover meal
involving no actual sacrifice of a lamb (as it would have to be, since
sacrifices were not allowed outside Jerusalem) it could have been shared by
circumcised and uncircumcised without breaking any Jewish law.

Cordially,

Hyam Maccoby










____________________________________________________________________________
_________


Dr.Hyam Maccoby
Research Professor
Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds.LS2
Direct lines: tel. +44 (0)113 268 1972
fax +44 (0)113 268 0041
e-mail: h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk




----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob MacDonald" <bobmacdonald AT shaw.ca>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 3:05 AM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Eating with gentiles


> Hyam wrote that Peter was not breaking any law by eating with gentiles.
>
> Vince added he did not realize that Peter was allowed to eat with
gentiles -
> but that he thought that some sort of law was being broken.
>
> I would like to ask if Eric's point about Exodus 12:48 has some merit. If
> the meal was not 'lunch or dinner' but the paschal feast (Christ our
> Passover is sacrificed for us, let us therefore keep the feast) 1
> Corinthians 5:7, then Peter had some cause to be concerned.
>
> How soon was the recognition of this doctrine and would it have any
bearing
> here?
>
> Thanks
>
> Bob
>
> mailto::BobMacDonald AT shaw.ca
> + + + Victoria, B.C., Canada + + +
>
> Catch the foxes for us,
> the little foxes that make havoc of the vineyards,
> for our vineyards are in flower. (Song 2.15)
> http://bobmacdonald.gx.ca
>
>
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to corpus-paul as: h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk
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