Abolishers of the law in early Judaism and Matthew 5, 17-20

Three times within Matt 5, 17-20 passage Matthew uses the verb signaling its importance. Consequently, I will focus on two historical events around which these words cluster; the Antiochan persecution and the destruction of the Temple, Since Jewish literature characterizes the Hellenizers of the Maccabean period as law abolishcrs, labeling a group as such implicated it in endangering the nation. As Josephus' Jewish War demonstrates, after the …