Internarrativity and ecce homo: A Masterplot Underlying Zechariah 6.9-15 and 1 Samuel 9.1–11.15 and its Function in John 19.1-16

Whereas scholars’ methodological assumptions about NT texts’ evocation of Israel’s scripture vary, the plausibility and significance of multivalent allusions need to be examined. The ecce homo statement in the Pilate trial (Jn 19.5) is an apt case for this examination. This study exercises a literary analysis of both proposed allusions – to Zech. 6.12 and 1 Sam. 9.17 – and shows that they are based on a common deeper structure despite the difference in phraseological conformity and historical and literary settings. This deeper structure, functioning like a masterplot, has a simple story form of God’s kingship that consists of his contention with dishonoring hostility and the subsequent building of his temple/dwelling place. This story form, captured in the Song of Moses (Exod. 15) and undergirding the Zechariah sign-act (6.9-15) and Saul’s kingship establishment story (1 Sam. 9), reveals that even in the trial scene Jesus is paradoxically enthroned and building the eschatological temple.

An Eleventh-Century Eastern Masoretic Codex of the Pentateuch

The Washington Pentateuch consists of an eleventh-century Pentateuch codex, and a small group of 1141 CE replacement folios. The former presents another early witness to the Masoretic Text. The text in the second hand is very close to the Aleppo Codex, but the section division exhibits several variants as compared to the Aleppo codex. The layout of the Song of the Sea and the lines before are like in the Aleppo codex, but not so the lines after the song. The 1141 CE folios are another witness to the Masoretic Text. The text is very close to the Aleppo Codex, but here, too, there are a number of section variants (which later continued in the Ashkenazi codices). The Song of Moses, though differing from the Aleppo codex, follows an alternate standard layout of 70 lines, and 6 lines before and 6 lines after the Song (later found in Sefardi manuscripts).