אַשְׁרֵי הָעֲנָוִים שְׁהֶם יִרְשׁוּ אָרֶץ׃
Translation: Happy are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The pointing of the Hebrew is mine, so errors are possible (any corrections will be welcomed).
The above is Mt. 5:5 according to ms. A of Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew.The other eight mss. examined by Professor Howard do not have this verse at all.
It is also missing from Luke. This is not surprising, since, according to my Layered Matthew Hypothesis, Luke borrowed from an older layer of Matthew than that which was the original source of the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew.
It may be of interest that the order of verses four and five is reversed in the Latin tradition, right up through the Vulgate. One Old Syriac witness (the newer one by a century, Syr-c) also has the verse, and in the Latin order, as does Tatian's Diatessaron (ca. 172 CE). Within the Greek tradition, it is mss. of the older, "Western" (Syro-Latin) tradition that have the Latin order. It now appears, though, that the verse was absent from the (still older) Hebrew tradition, since eight of nine mss. do not have it. The one ms. (A) that does have it, is known to have gone through a lot of revision to bring it more into line with the canonical Latin and Greek texts.
Does this saying sound like the same guy who drove the money-changers from the Temple with a whip? It is not Rabbi Yeshua's voice. Neither does it, in my opinion, speak to a personal virtue, as the two preceding ones did, at least in the Hebrew tradition.
I have never liked this saying, which might even be construed as a cynical reference to the grave. I consider this saying to be a late addition to the Greek tradition, and not authentic.
Humility and patience are both virtues; meekness is not.
Text © 2020 by Donald Jacobson Traxler.
The above is Mt. 5:5 according to ms. A of Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew.The other eight mss. examined by Professor Howard do not have this verse at all.
It is also missing from Luke. This is not surprising, since, according to my Layered Matthew Hypothesis, Luke borrowed from an older layer of Matthew than that which was the original source of the Shem-Tob Hebrew Matthew.
It may be of interest that the order of verses four and five is reversed in the Latin tradition, right up through the Vulgate. One Old Syriac witness (the newer one by a century, Syr-c) also has the verse, and in the Latin order, as does Tatian's Diatessaron (ca. 172 CE). Within the Greek tradition, it is mss. of the older, "Western" (Syro-Latin) tradition that have the Latin order. It now appears, though, that the verse was absent from the (still older) Hebrew tradition, since eight of nine mss. do not have it. The one ms. (A) that does have it, is known to have gone through a lot of revision to bring it more into line with the canonical Latin and Greek texts.
Does this saying sound like the same guy who drove the money-changers from the Temple with a whip? It is not Rabbi Yeshua's voice. Neither does it, in my opinion, speak to a personal virtue, as the two preceding ones did, at least in the Hebrew tradition.
I have never liked this saying, which might even be construed as a cynical reference to the grave. I consider this saying to be a late addition to the Greek tradition, and not authentic.
Humility and patience are both virtues; meekness is not.
Text © 2020 by Donald Jacobson Traxler.
