Synoptica VI - Hebrew Matthew and the Formation of Canonical Matthew

I would like to briefly mention that canonical Mt. 5:47 is not present in Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew. My NA25 (the only edition of Nestlé-Aland that is currently available to me) informs me that the verse is also not present in k, which is the oldest manuscript of the Old Latin text type, or in Syr-s, which is the oldest manuscript of the Old Syriac text type. The Old Latin and the Old Syriac are the oldest NT text types that we have, and these two mss are the oldest of the old. In the fourteenth century, when Shem-Tob's book Even Bohan was written, one would have been hard pressed to find any copy of k, and Syr-s was unknown. I don't know why the verse is present in canonical Matthew (my Matthew III), but its absence in Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew and in other ancient texts seems highly significant.

I would like to move now to Mt. 10:5-6. Here is the translation in the RSV:

"These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, 'Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

Here is George Howard's translation of the same verse in Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew:

"These twelve Jesus sent; he commanded them saying: To the lands of the Gentiles do not go and into the cities of the Samaritans do not enter. Go to the sheep who have strayed from the house of Israel."

These two are close enough to be considered the same. Yet the silence from Luke and Mark, whose Gospels were written for the Gentiles, is deafening.

There is a further echo of these verses in Mt. 15:24, the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman:

"He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel'." (RSV)

"Jesus answered them: 'They did not send me except to the lost sheep from the house of Israel'." (Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew)

The presence of this verse in Hebrew Matthew shows that it is original, and not a later insertion. Again, there is silence from Mark, and Luke does not parallel the story at all.

These words of Rabbi Yeshua, older than canonical Matthew, were ignored by Paul and by many others, on what basis I do not know.

(to be continued)

© 2019 by Donald C. Traxler.