The meaning of ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου

[jgibson000]

I am exploring the idea that the βασιλεία that Jesus refers to at Matt. 6:10//Lk. 11:2 and which is the subject of the petitionary verb “come”, is not the apocalyptic manifestation of God’s royal rule (as most commentators on these verses assume), but the one that, according to Exodus 19:5-6, God at Sinai called those whom he delivered from bondage and had previously addressed as his “son” (cf. Exod. 4:22) to become – and this by obeying his commandments, namely, his βασιλεία of priests, who in obeying him would then be the people through whom God’s name would be hallowed.

If this is so, then it would seem more than reasonable to conclude that the petition ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου that he gave his disciples to pray to God was intended by Jesus to be taken by them, whom he had explicitly commissioned to be God’s priestly people, as a plea for God to “make it so that your chosen instrument for bringing to Israel and to the world knowledge of you and your ways of being holy and for insuring that your name is hallowed and not disgraced comes to be in us – by aiding us to do your will, especially when we have reason to think that doing its opposite is the better course to take.

I’d be curious to know not only what you think of this proposal, but what stands for and against it.

Jeffrey Gibson

[Barry Hofstetter]

Jeffrey, did you have a questions about the Greek of the text? Our focus here is on the language specifically, not theology or hermeneutics.

[jgibson000]

Yes. Can what I propose be the meaning of ἐλθάτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, especially given that the verb "come" is not associated with "kingdom of God" in the OT or in Second Temple Jewish literature.

Jeffrey