Sorting out “New and Old” (Matt 13:52) as Changing Money: Rabbinic and Synoptic Parables on Scriptural Knowledge

Abstract

A uniquely attested Matthean parable addresses the ideal scribal sage: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matt 13:52 NRSV).1 In this article I trace the embeddedness of this parable to textual and material culture, focusing especially on sayings and parables on the sage as a “treasure” and on the sage as “money changer” in Christian and rabbinic contexts. This case study actually may help us as well in understanding how these parables organically developed from late biblical wisdom sayings and attest to the early Jewish parable as a regional genre or “ecotype.” I will start discussing the notions of ecotype and social field (1) and assess the debate on the cradle of the parable (2). Following this, I will trace the metaphor of the sage as a “treasure/storage house” in Ben Sira (3), its deployment in Matthew and Rabbinic Judaism (4), and discuss a saying on “changing money” in early Christianity (5) and its appearance in rabbinic parables (6). The resulting textual input dimensions of “treasure” and “changing money” (7), combined with material culture (8), shed light on the expression “new and old” in Matthew.