Synoptica XVI - More on the "Unexpected Support" for the Layered Matthew Hypothesis

In Synoptica XII (published in this blog on July 22 2019), I discussed the presence of what we would consider to be Lukan material (similar to Luke 3:10-15) in Shem Tob's Hebrew Matthew, at Mt. 3:10. Today, as I prepared to insert vowel points into Chapter 3 of Hebrew Matthew, I realized that there was more to say about this situation than I said in Synoptica XII. We need to look closely at what is present in Luke (parts of which reflect an early version of Matthew, which I call Matthew IIa), and what is present (or absent) in Hebrew Matthew (my Matthew IIb) and in canonical, Greek Matthew (my Matthew III).

Here is George Howard's translation of Mt. 3:10 in Shem Tob's Hebrew Matthew:

(Already the axe has reached the root of the tree; the one which does not produce good fruit will be cut down and burned in the fire. [This part is identical to Luke 3:9, except that Luke adds the word "kai" after "de," and has survived both in canonical Matthew and canonical Luke. It comes at the end of a passage where Matthew and Luke are essentially verbatim identical, which they could not have gotten from Mark. Either Luke got this material from Matthew, or vice versa.] The crowds asked him: if so what shall we do? John answered them: He who has two shirts let him give one to him who has none. So the people came to be baptized.) [This part reads as follows in Luke 3:10-11, NASB translation: And the multitudes were questioning him, saying, "Then what shall we do?" And he would answer and say to them, "Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise." It has not survived in canonical Matthew.] Many asked him: What shall we do? And he answered them: Be anxious for (no) man and do not chastise them, and be pleased with your lot. And all the people were thinking and reckoning in their circumcised heart: John is Jesus. [This part has also not survived in canonical Matthew, but is parallel to canonical Luke, as follows (Luke 3:12-15): And some tax-gatherers also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to." And some soldiers were questioning him, saying, "What shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he might be the Christ . . .

What Hebrew Matthew reveals to us here is quite amazing, and to an extent it is similar to what we saw in the Beatitudes: Both the Baptist and Jesus (Rabbi Yeshua) were preaching a social-justice message that was more practical and more radical than the version that survived in canonical Matthew.

I say let's go back to the earlier versions. After all, Rabbi Yeshua died to get his practical and radical message out, and it is one that could, potentially, save us all. Unfortunately, his message was already being suppressed and socioeconomically bowdlerized in the early centuries of the Church.

Text © 2019 by Donald C. Traxler.