The Agent in Ancient Society

From Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of John, "The Motif of Agency," 2 vols. introduction. 

The concept of a commissioned messenger, authorized by his sender, was not restricted to Judaism.251 The earliest Greek literature reports various peoples honoring the immunity of heralds.252 In the Roman period, when Caesar sent (the word apostle and cognates) a governor or representative, that representative was both authorized to act on Caesar’s authority and responsible for carrying out his wishes.253 Philosophers could send disciples to teach in their stead and act as their representatives.254 Letters of recommendation often identified the sender with the one recommended.255

Greeks could likewise associate such sending with cultic or revelatory purposes. Temples could send representatives, for example, the envoys dispatched by the hierophant of Eleusis to seek contributions for the shrine.256 Hermes as messenger of the gods was sometimes “sent from heaven.”257 Epictetus advised that the genuine Cynic was a messenger sent from Zeus to people to show them their depravity;258 possessionless Cynics could happily announce, “Behold, I have been sent by God as an example to you.”259 An appeal to an apostolate in later Gnosticism for NT background is thus unnecessary and implausible.260

An equivalent custom existed in ancient Israelite circles as far back as Proverbs,261 and eventually became formalized under Jewish law. While we cannot determine the date at which some aspects of the custom of agency became law, the custom’s practice in other cultures suggests that the Jewish custom is older than the rabbinic sources which comment on it. Thus, for instance, both Roman and Jewish law recognized the function of proxies, or intermediary marriage-brokers, in betrothals.262 (This sort of custom occurs fairly commonly in societies where parents must negotiate the terms of marriage contracts.)263 While Jewish law did not require agents in betrothals,264 they were clearly common,265 and rules were created regulating their conduct.266 Agents were also used in divorce267 and business.268

Other evidence indicates that the practice was early. The language of agency appears in Qumran halakah.269 Eventually the Nasi sent “envoys” to the Diaspora, a practice attested in the church fathers and Roman law as well as rabbinic literature;270 but earlier texts attest the same practice of the high priest.271

Footnotes

251 Readers of Isa 52:7 LXX, which influenced early Christian usage of “good news,” may have envisioned the image of “herald” (though khr6 ux appears in the LXX only at Gen 41:43; 4 Macc 6:4; Sir 20:15; Dan 3:4). Heralds traveled in pairs (Homer Il. 1.320; even when others joined them, as in Homer Il. 9.168–170, the report might employ the dual: Homer Il. 9.182), as in Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1; Acts 13:2.

252 Cf., e.g., Iliad passim.

253 Cf. Josephus Ant. 18.1, regarding Quirinius; Ant. 18.265, regarding Petronius; for the Latin equivalent, see Pliny Ep. 10.18.190–191.

254 Zeno in Diogenes Laertius 7.1.9.

255 Malherbe, Aspects, 102–3. Moxnes, “Relations,” 260, thus associates Jesus’ sending of the Twelve with patrons delegating authority to clients to act on their behalf.

256 Mylonas, Eleusis, 244. They somewhat resemble some traveling holy men who sought to spread their cults abroad, although the establishment generally viewed these as charlatans (Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 42).

257 Cornutus 16.p. 20, 18–19 (in Van der Horst, “Cornutus,” 169).

258 Epictetus Diatr. 3.22.23.

259 Epictetus Diatr. 4.8.31, my translation. Adinolfi, “L’invio,” differentiates the sending of Jesus from that of Cynic philosophers in that God was present in Jesus.

260 Georgi, Opponents, 34; Malan, “Apostolate,” 57–58; against Schmithals, Apostle, 114–92.

261 E.g., Prov 10:26; 13:17; 22:21; 25:13; 26:6.

262 See Cohen, Law, 295–96 (citing Ulpian Digest 23.1.18); Friedländer, Life, 1:234.

263 See the traditional Chinese custom in Jochim, Religions, 164; the Shona custom in Gelfand, “Disorders,” 158; and the Wolof and Kiga custom in Mbiti, Religions, 179. 264 M. Qidd. 2:1.

265 E.g., b. Qidd. 43a; Exod. Rab. 6:3 (a parable attributed to R. Meir); 6:4. 266 T. Yebam. 4:4.

267 B. Git. 23a; Qidd. 43a.

268 Assumed in the parable in Gen. Rab. 8:3.

269 CD 11.2 forbids the use of a foreigner to accomplish one’s business on the Sabbath (cf. the later Jewish custom of the Sabbath goy); CD 11.18–21 forbids sending an offering to the altar by anyone unclean. “Send” had nontechnical uses as well; God would “send” deliverance by an angel in 1QM 17.6.

270 Safrai, “Relations,” 205, citing, e.g., Epiphanius Haer. 25.11; Eusebius On Isa. 18:1; Theodosian Code 16.8, 14. Cf. Nickle, Collection, 96; on the temple tax, see also Reicke, Era, 288.

271 2 Macc 1:18; Acts 9:2; 22:5; 28:21; cf. 1 Macc 15:17; Let. Aris. 32; Safrai, “Relations,” 204–7. The “apostles” of CIJ 1:438, §611 may simply be “messengers of the congregation” in question (439; see m. Ber. 5:5).