Cosmic Gods Serve Jesus: Sun, Moon, Stars, and Earth in Matthew

Abstract

Scholarship customarily regards the extraordinary activity of the sun, moon, stars, and earth in Matthew as signs of God’s intervention in history. The present analysis destabilizes this interpretation by reading Matthew in light of texts that attribute emotions, will, and agency to the sun, moon, stars, and earth. The prevalence of such texts in the Bible, Hellenistic Judaism, and Greco-Roman literature suggests that the author of Matthew likely understood the sun, moon, stars, and earth to be living beings who are aware of and responsive to God, their creator. I argue that the Gospel of Matthew portrays these heavenly bodies and the earth as animate characters who recognize Jesus amid human ignorance and play pivotal roles in announcing Jesus to the world. Diverse authors of the Hebrew Bible argue that aspects of the cosmos that others held to be gods are creatures fashioned by and devoted to the God of Israel. The author of Matthew builds upon this tradition by demonstrating that the cosmic gods of Greco-Roman culture (the sun, moon, stars, and earth) are loyal to and in service of the God of Israel and God’s Son, Jesus.