The Layers of Matthew - V

We have seen evidence suggesting that the Hebrew Matthew contained in Shem-Tob ben-Isaac ben-Shaprut's fourteenth-century polemical work Even Bohan is likely to be based on a very old Hebrew Matthew, older than the canonical Matthew of the Greek textual tradition. This is astounding news, since it had long been assumed that no such text had survived, if indeed it had ever existed.

Much work remains to be done, and I am sure that many, in addition to Professor George Howard, have begun the work already, although I am not yet in contact with any of them. I will focus my own study on the "Sermon on the Mount," contained in canonical Matthew, chapters V-VII. I will look at canonical Matthew, canonical Luke, the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew, and probably also the Gospel of Thomas. So far as possible, I will follow the Deuteronomic principle that two witnesses are required to establish a truth, only departing from this when suggested by internal linguistic evidence or known socio-political factors. I will not be guided by any preconceived theology, or any religious or institutional loyalties.

We can say at the outset that the "Sermon on the Mount" is a creation of Matthew, on the basis of sayings and parables that he had earlier collected. The evidence of this is plain to see in the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew, where introductory phrases such as "At that time Jesus said to his disciples" (e.g. Mt. V:13) are often still present, though by the time of canonical Matthew (Matthew III in my scenario) they had been edited out in order to present a smoother, continuous "sermon." This extraordinary evidence for the antiquity of the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew was dealt with by George Howard on pages 200 and 201 of Hebrew Gospel of Matthew.

Howard found sixteen of these introductory phrases in chapters V-VII of the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew, at these locations:

V:13-16

V:17-19

V:20-24

V:25-26

V:27-30

V:31-42

V:43-VI:1

VI:2-4

VI:5-15

VI:16-18

VI:19-23

VI:24-VII:5

VII:6-12

VII:13-14

VII:15-23

7:24-29

Howard says, on p. 200, "When the sayings in Luke are placed alongside their parallels in the Hebrew text of Matthew 5-7, a pattern emerges. Every time the Hebrew is interrupted by the words "Jesus said to his disciples" or "He said to them," Luke, without exception, jumps to a different place in his Gospel, or has a void." In the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew we actually get a glimpse of Matthew's redaction process.

Luke used a version of Matthew in which these sayings and parables had not yet been collected into "the Sermon on the Mount," and the list of Beatitudes was minimal (possibly what I have labelled as Matthew I). But the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew is based on a version of Matthew in which this material HAD been collected into a continuous sermon, and the telltale introductory formulas are still there. Furthermore, the list of Beatitudes in the text on which the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew was based is only slightly fuller than the list reflected in Luke, but still far from the complete list in canonical Matthew, so possibly fits my label "Matthew II." The text of Matthew used by Luke and the one on which the Shaprut Hebrew Matthew is based were not the same, but both of these forms of Matthew were older than canonical Matthew.

(to be continued)