Synoptica XXXVII - The Sources of the Proto-Narrative

 

In the world of Lukan Priority, a hypothetical document called the Proto-Narrative (PN) is required. Although we don't have a copy of it, we should be able to say quite a lot about it. It was, for example, probably written in Hebrew. We know this because of Hebraisms in Luke. We should also be able to say something about its sources, in terms of quotations from and references to the Hebrew Bible. If we are successful in doing this, we may also be able to reconstruct it, as has been done for Q, the Sayings source.

The first step in this process will be to weed out as much Q material as possible, leaving principally the narrative elements of the Gospel story. It is often said that all three Synoptics basically follow "the Markan order" (in other words, the PN order), so an easy way to do this "weeding out" is to use the Gospel of Mark for our source-analysis. As it turns out, there are about 100 quotations of or references to verses of the Hebrew Bible in Mark. Here they are, in order of appearance, gleaned from my well-worn copy of the Nestle-Aland NOVUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE, twenty-fifth editon (NA25). This list may not be complete, but I'm sure that I got most of them.

Ex 28,20 

Is 40,3

2 Rg 1,8

Zch 13,4

Lv 13,49

Is 43,25

Ps 103,3

Ex 15,26

Dn 4,9.18.

Ez17,23; 31,6

Ps 104,12

1 Rg 17,18

Lv 18,16

Sir 25,21

Nu 27,17

Ez 34,5; 8,1-9

Dt 28,5

Nu 15,38

Is 29,13 (LXX)

Ex 20,12

Dt 5.16

Ex 21,17

1Rg 17,8-24

1Rg 3,8

Is 35,5.6.

Dt 28,5

Ez 12,2

Ps 49,8

Is 53,3

Is 66,24

Jdt 16,21

Gn 1,27; 2,24

Ex 20,12

Dt 5,16-20

Gn 18,14

Job 42,2

Zch 8,6 (LXX)

Ps118,25

Is 56,7

Jr 7,11

Is 5,1

Ps 118,22

Dt 25,5

Gn 38,8

(Is 4,1)

Ex 3,2.6.

Dt 6,4 (Shema)

Lv 19,18

Dt 4,35

1Sm 15,22

2Sm 23,2

Ps 110,1

Dn 2,28

Is 19,2

2Chr 15,6

Mch 7,6

Dn 12,11; 9,27

Dn 12,4

Ez 7,16

Dn 12,1

Joel 2,2

Dt 13,2

Is 13,10

Is 34,4

Dn 7,13

Zch 2,10

Dt 30,4

Dt 15,11

Ps 41,10

Ex 24,8

Jr 31,31

Zch 9,11

Is 53,11

Ps113s; 115-118

Zch 13,7

Ps 42,6.12.

Ps 48,5

Jon 4,9

Ps 51,14

Ps 9,6

2Sm 24,14

Am 2,16

Is 58,7

Ps 110,1

Dn 7,13

Lv 24,16

Is 53,7

Ps 69,22

Ps 22,19

Ps 22,8

Ps 109,25

Ps 14,58

Am 8,9

Jr 15,9

Ps 22,2

Ps 69,22

Ex 34,25

Dt 21,22

Ps 110,1

These citations are the sources of the Proto-Narrative. Is it important? I think it is, very. To give just one example, let's look at the three references to Psalm 22, all of which occur within the context of the Passion Narrative.

Ps 22,19 "They divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots."

Ps 22,8  "All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads, , , "

Ps 22,2  "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Many people have questioned that last quotation. It sounds like despair. Some will say that Jesus said that to "fulfill" the words of David, written about the Palmist himself almost a thousand years earlier. David was a king, a military man, not known as a prophet. Anyone who wishes to believe that David's words in his poem have anything to do with Jesus on the cross is free to do so.

What about the dividing of garments and casting lots for them? Even if Jesus intentionally quoted Psalm 22 in his last agony (which to me seems extremely doubtful), the Roman soldiers would have known nothing about it. It is not that the soldiers were inadvertently "fulfilling" the words of a thousand-year-old Hebrew poem; it is that the entire Proto-Narrative was written to "backfill" the words of Hebrew Scripture. The Gospel narrative is, in other words, fiction, very creatively composed.

Note: The list of references to the Hebrew Bible gleaned from my copy of NA25 is not complete; it does not include Ps 22,17 (in the Hebrew verse-numbering), which is quite important, so much so that I devoted to it the following blog posts:

The Secrets of Psalm 22 - Part I, published on August 3, 2022

The Secrets of Psalm 22 - Part II, published on August 4, 2022

In those blog entries I showed, in great detail, that "they have pierced my hands and my feet" should actually be "they have bound my hands and my feet."

When I fill in the words of all those Biblical citations, it will be an eye-opener. I guarantee it.

So where does this leave us? I have more hope for the Sayings material, which is, in any case, the part that is more meaningful to me, personally. The Sermon on the Mount, whether it was given on a mountain or on a plain, is a wonderful legacy for our world.

Copyright © 2023 by Donald C. Traxler.