Building on Kristin De Troyer’s 2010.00 argument that Wisdom of Solomon mediates Matthew’s use of Isaiah in Matt. 27:38-43, this paper examines Matthew’s similar intertextual technique in Matt. 16:18. Scholars have debated whether πύλαι ᾅδου in Matt.16 refers to the ungodly powers of the underworld (Davies and Allison 2004, 2.630-633) or death itself (Luz 2001, 363). The relation of Second Temple sapiential developments of this concept and Matthew’s usage has often been mentioned but received insufficient explanation. Employing Lanier’s criteria for evaluating intertextuality – specifically verbatim correspondence, availability of antecedent material, and explicit signaling (2024, 12-18)- this study argues that Matthew alludes to Wisdom 16:13 and other sapiential literature to transform the “gates of Hades” from a boundary of death to a conquerable threshold.
In the Hebrew Bible, πύλαι ᾅδου (or its Hebrew equivalent, שערי שאול) appears in Job 38:17 and Isaiah 38:10; it represents a threshold of death that can only be avoided or opened by divine power. Isaiah records Hezekiah’s prayer amid sickness. This prayer frames the πύλαι ᾅδου as the boundary between life and death that Hezekiah hopes to avoid.
In Second Temple sapiential literature this concept is either developed further; Wisdom of Solomon 16:13 explicitly connects God’s power over the gates of Hades with resurrection, stating σὺ γὰρ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ἐξουσίαν ἔχεις καὶ κατάγεις εἰς πύλας ᾅδου καὶ ἀνάγεις, (For you have authority over life and death and you lead down to the gates of hades and lead up again). This transforms the gates from a boundary to a threshold that people can cross over. Matthew uses this framework in 16:18 as a promise from Jesus to his disciples on their confession of his messiahship. This usage further advances Matthew’s agreement with early Christian kerygma, especially that Jesus’ ministry concerns the “liberation from, or conquest of, death” (Gathercole 2022, 159). Those who agree with Peter’s identification of Jesus will participate in his conquest over death. Further, Jesus’s declaration of victory over the gates of Hades fits nicely into the immediate context of Matthew 16.00 and the following prediction of Jesus’s defeat of death through his resurrection and the promise that some standing there will not taste death (Matt 16:21-28).