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A final element of the Jewish context to which I have already hinted throughout is the notion of typology, that Jesus is the anti-type to the types of some of Israel’s prominent historical figures, or even to the type of Israel itself. I have explored the typological method of interpretation elsewhere on this Substack, though there will be occasion to return to its use again. For our purposes, what is important to know is that typology is a method of interpretation that sees mimesis operating in two directions in that it understands a person/people, event, or institution through the analogous correspondence to an earlier or later one (depending on what the interpreter is referencing). It depends on a theory of unification that understands the earlier type and the later fulfilling anti-type (the “true/full reality” or purpose to which the type points) in light of each other in order to place them in a singular worldview narrative. We can see multiple examples of this, which are most apparent in Matthew, but they are also present in Luke
He is the new Moses in that he is the one who will bring about the new exodus that solves the problem of the exile, the one concerning whom people of other nations testify (note the similarities between the magi and Balaam as well as the Egyptian wise men who eventually acknowledge that the signs of Moses are truly divine). In the episode of the Slaughter of the Innocents, Jesus is like Moses in that a ruler attempts to kill him when he is an infant (cf. Exod 1:15–2:3). The reference to the text from Jer 31 in Matt 2:18 may also hint toward a new Moses motif as the context of that text tells of a new covenant greater than the one at Sinai.
There may be some sense in which Jesus is a new Joshua as well. After all, Jesus’s name is a Greek rendition of Yeshua or Joshua. His work in liberating the people of God by conquering their enemies seems to fit this paradigm. However, as befits an anti-type, the enemies he fights are not so much political enemies as the more profound, more enduring enemies of sin and death. As the name Yeshua indicates, he comes to bring God’s salvation as his predecessor did (Matt 1:21).
As the hoped-for Messiah, he also fulfills the texts cited previously concerning the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the eschatological role of a figure named David. He is the new David as the Davidic Messiah. The citation of Mic 5 in Matt 2:5–6 as well as the reference to the throne of David that Jesus is to have in Luke 1:32 show this new David motif. However, the kingdom he comes to establish and to rule is not the simple kingdom of Israel; it is the kingdom of God.
Beyond these particular figures, Jesus also serves as the anti-type to two other aspects of Israel’s history. First, he is the anti-type to Israel itself. As the reference to Hos 11 in Matt 2:15 indicates, Jesus is taking on the role that belonged to Israel in the original exodus. This incorporation of Israel’s identity into himself in order to fulfill it also works into the regal and messianic identity of Jesus (since kings represented their peoples and since the Messiah, when the figure is mentioned, is the climax of the story of Israel). Second, as I have noted in analyses of both Matthew and Luke, he is the anti-type to Israel’s tabernacle and temple. Jesus is “God with us” in Matt 1:23, an identity that would resonate with the presence of God being upon these holy places. But now that presence is no longer in a building, it is in a person, in fulfillment of the human vocation to be image-bearers of God.
As all of these points show, Christmas in the context of the NT world has many levels of meaning, many forms of significance. Much of it concerns the many ways in which Christmas is fulfillment, whether of Jewish history, Jewish prophecies, or Jewish types. Many of them are especially eschatological and indicate the climactic character of Christmas and the resonances it has in the story of the kingdom of God. Christmas stands as the beginning of the climax of a long story, a story told in the OT that, by its character, concerns and involves the world as a whole. One properly understands it when one understands this story as well as the other stories it implicitly encounters. And being eschatological and climactic of the story of Israel, it is of course a salvific story, a story of the salvation of God for the ones he calls to be his people and its many aspects. There is more than enough here to keep us occupied in the proclamation of the story of Christmas year in and year out. It is truly good news of great joy for all people that should cause us to join in the angelic chorus of proclaiming glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among people.