Matthew IIa has its best surviving witness in Luke. Some of the Sayings material (e.g. the Beatitudes) is in a less-developed form than in Matthew IIb and in Canonical Matthew. One must also keep in mind that Luke was written for Paul's Gentile audience, editing as needed to make it more palatable (and in some cases less offensive) to an audience of non-Jews.
Matthew IIb was intermediate between the version used by Luke and that on which canonical (Greek) Matthew is based.
[Although not yet shown in the graphic, there must have been another intermediate stage (Matthew IIc), represented by the oldest manuscripts of the so-called "Western" (Syro-Latin) textual tradition, especially the oldest Old Latin (Afra), best exemplified by Codex Bobiensis ("k"), which is unfortunately incomplete for Matthew, only covering Mt. 1:1 through 15:36. This Latin translation is closer to the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew than any other surviving text (but not the same as it).]
Matthew III is the canonical, Greek Matthew with which we are familiar. There is abundant evidence that it was translated from an original written in Hebrew.
This theory thus requires no hypothetical texts, and no texts without witnesses.
We now return to our examination of the Beatitudes.
In chronological order:
LUKE
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
[Total Beatitudes (including "Rejoice") = 5. Two connected by "now," but other catchwords have been lost in the translation process.]
SHEM-TOB'S HEBREW MATTHEW
Blessed are those who wait [s/b "weep," probable scribal error] for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the innocent of heart, for they shall see GOD.
Blessed are those who PURSUE peace, for they shall be called sons of GOD.
Blessed are those who are PERSECUTED for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they PERSECUTE and revile you and say against you kinds of evil for my sake, but speak falsely.
Rejoice and be glad for your reward is very great in heaven, for thus they PERSECUTED the prophets.
[Total Beatitudes (including "Rejoice") = 6, of which 5 are connected by catchwords.]
[NOTE: The catchword series "pursue-persecute-persecuted-persecute-persecuted" is all one verb, רדפ, in Hebrew. where it means both "pursue" and "persecute." I don't know if this would work in any other language, but the entire catchword series is lost in Luke's Greek.]
CODEX BOBIENSIS ("k")
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.*
Blessed are the meek, who shall inherit the earth,
Blessed are those who are weeping, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see the Lord.
Blessed are the peaceful, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who have suffered PERSECUTION for the cause of justice,
for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.*
Blessed shall you be when you are PERSECUTED and maligned and they say all evil against you in the cause of justice.
Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in heaven, for so their brothers PERSECUTED the prophets who were before you.
[Total: 10 Beatitudes, of which 3 are connected by catchwords.]
CANONICAL (GREEK) MATTHEW
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.*
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see GOD.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of GOD.
Blessed are those who are PERSECUTED for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.*
Blessed are you when men revile you and PERSECUTE you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in the heavens,* for so men PERSECUTED the prophets who were before you.
[Total = 10 Beatitudes (including "Rejoice"), of which 5 (2+3) are connected by catchwords.]
Progression of the totals: Luke = 5, Shem-Tob = 6, "k" =10, Grk. Mt. = 10. From this we can see that the list of Beatitudes grew longer with time.
Where I have marked asterisks, modern translations tend to have "heaven" in the singular, which is more idiomatic in modern European languages. I have translated these instances literally from the Latin and Greek, where they are in the plural. In Hebrew, the word for "heaven/heavens/sky" normally appear in the plural (שמים), and it is likely that these plurals in Latin and Greek are artifacts of the process of translation from Hebrew.
Text and image © 2020 by Donald C. Traxler aka Donald Jacobson Traxler.
No comments:
Post a Comment