“It is written” – Quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament (5)
Jeremiah 31:15 is quoted in Matthew 2:17-18 using the introductory formula “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah …” The background to the quotation is the “massacre of the innocents” – Herod’s murder of children born around the time of Jesus’ birth in an attempt to eliminate a claimant to the title of “King of Israel”. Matthew presumably quotes Jeremiah 31:15 because the context of Jeremiah 31 is the grief experienced by Jewish mothers who watched their sons go off into battle or exile. [1]
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Geore Reber, Christ of Paul (1876) chapter V writes: 'So far we have said nothing of the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, because it was cast to one side, for the reason that it was a standing argument against the Alexandrian ideas of the Logos—and was regarded as of no authority in the church until it had been improved by important additions made. Along with these citations, numerous other Hebrew Scriptural references that have found fulfillment in Jesus can be found within the rabbinic writings. Indeed, the argument that the Christian exegesis of the Hebrew Scriptures is erroneous and without foundation does not stand up in the light of Jewish history and ancient Messianic thought. The Gospel of the Hebrews (Greek: τὸ καθ' Ἑβραίους εὐαγγέλιον), or Gospel according to the Hebrews, was a syncretic Jewish–Christian gospel. The text of the gospel is lost with only fragments of it surviving as brief quotations by the early Church Fathers and in apocryphal writings. The fragments contain traditions of Jesus' pre-existence, incarnation, baptism,. Yahushawere being rejected by Rabbinic Judaism and had begun the path towards a Gentile religion. The most compelling is the argument that Matthew and his community were composed of Hebrew believers-in- Yahusha,which was competing with the traditional Jewish Synagogues. 1 in the hebrew gospel of matthew of du tillet and in the hebrew gospel of matthew of munster is written “amon” instead of “achim”. 2 in the manuscript syrus sinaiticus of the old syriac version, is written “joseph begat jesus”. 3 isaiah 40.3 4 it is written so in luke 3.21.
If we compare the Hebrew and Greek texts of Jeremiah 31 with Matthew’s quotation we see that Matthew is closer to the Hebrew than to the Septuagint in a few ways and follows the order of words in the Hebrew more closely than the Septuagint. For example, Matthew’s ὀδυρμὸς πολὺς “much grieving” (or “loud lamentation” in the ESV) is possibly a smoother rendition of the Hebrew construct בְּכִי תַמְרוּרִים “bitter weeping” than the Septuagint θρήνου καὶ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ ὀδυρμοῦ “of lamentation, and of weeping, and wailing”. The Septuagint omits Jeremiah’s first use of the phrase “for her children”, which Matthew retains, although he omits the second use of the term which is present in the Septuagint (it is not unusual for the Septuagint to omit repetitive phrases, or to reorder them, but the fact that Matthew’s order is different to the Septuagint suggests that he was using a similar translation technique but not copying directly from the Septuagint). I would argue that Matthew was making his own independent translation from the Hebrew of Jeremiah rather than quoting from a Greek (‘Septuagint’) translation. Richard Longnecker has pointed out that in the Gospel of Matthew the evangelist’s own quotations of the Old Testament usually follow the Hebrew reading, whereas the citations by Jesus “are strongly Septuagintal”.[2] This raises the interesting question of why Matthew would make his own translation from the Hebrew at times while using the Septuagint Greek translation when quoting the words of Jesus, especially since it is hardly likely that Jesus himself taught in Greek.
Hebrew Gospel Of Matthew Pdf
The most likely explanation in my view is that Matthew was using several sources when writing his gospel. We can be confident that one of his sources was the Gospel of Mark as Matthew quotes verbatim almost all of Mark’s gospel (approximately 90% of Mark is in Matthew). Luke also used Mark extensively. There is also a considerable number of sayings of Jesus which are in Matthew and Luke, but not in Mark. This has led many scholars to accept the theory that Matthew and Luke used at least two sources to write their gospels: Mark, and another gospel, or, more likely, a collection of sayings. This hypothetical second source is usually called ‘Q’ (from the German Quelle, meaning “source”) and many scholars believe that Q was written in Greek. Jesus’ quotations from the Old Testament in Q appear to be from the Septuagint. If this theory is correct then it would explain why Matthew’s quotations of Jesus’ sayings follow the Septuagint (he was simply copying directly from his Q source) while his own quotations from the Hebrew Bible were his own translation. This argument presupposes that Matthew wrote his gospel in Greek, which is the view of many New Testament scholars, although there are some who believe that Matthew wrote originally in Hebrew or Aramaic and his gospel was later translated into Greek. Either way, there is strong evidence that Matthew used at least two sources for his quotations from the Old Testament: when Jesus was quoting the Bible the quotations came to Matthew via a Greek source which drew on the Septuagint, and when Matthew was quoting Scripture directly he drew on his own knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. Our text from Jeremiah 31 is in the second category and is quoted from the Hebrew Bible rather than the Septuagint.
MT | LXX (Jer 38:15) | MATTHEW |
כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה קֹול בְּרָמָה נִשְׁמָע נְהִי בְּכִי תַמְרוּרִים רָחֵל מְבַכָּה עַל־בָּנֶיהָ מֵאֲנָה לְהִנָּחֵם עַל־בָּנֶיהָ כִּי אֵינֶֽנּוּ׃ | οὕτως εἶπεν κύριοςφωνὴ ἐν Ραμα ἠκούσθη θρήνου καὶ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ ὀδυρμοῦ Ραχηλ ἀποκλαιομένη οὐκ ἤθελεν παύσασθαι ἐπὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτῆς ὅτι οὐκ εἰσίν | Τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ Ἰερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου, λέγοντος,Φωνὴ ἐν ῥαμᾶ ἠκούσθη, θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὀδυρμὸς πολὺς, Ῥαχὴλ κλαίουσα τὰ τέκνα αὑτῆς καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν παρακληθῆναι, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσίν |
[1] Ramah was 10 kilometres north of Jerusalem on the road captives would have travelled as they were taken into exile. Rachel was said to have been buried in the vicinity of Ramah which was equidistant with Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
[2] Richard N. Longnecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period, 2nd. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), p. 48
Though no copies are extant, there is good historical evidence that Matthew’s Gospel was first written in Hebrew. Around 130 A.D., Church father Papias (a former student of the Apostle John) explained:
So then Matthew wrote the oracles in the Hebrew language, and everyone interpreted them as he was able. (Recorded by Eusebius in Church History, 3:39)
Irenaeus was a student of Polycarp, who was a student of the Apostle John. Around 170 A.D., Irenaeus confirms and elaborates upon Papias’ report:
Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon his breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia. (Against Heresies, 3:1)
Hebrew Gospel Of Matthew Howard
Not only did Irenaeus teach that Matthew’s Gospel was first written in the Hebrew dialect, he also provided the order in which all four of the Gospels were written. Note that the order is in harmony with how the Gospels are arranged in the Canon and not in line with modern liberal theories.
Origen Adamantius was a highly influential theologian who produced many works covering several areas of Christian thought, including textual criticism. Around the middle of the third century, Origen wrote:
Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism and published in the Hebrew language. (Recorded by Eusebius in Church History, 6:25)
Origen affirmed both the canonical order of the Gospels and that Matthew’s was first written in Hebrew. He says that he came to learn this through tradition. In combination with the other material provided it seems that this tradition was one that was consistently taught from the time of the Apostles.
During the early fourth century, preeminent church historian Eusebius of Caesarea wrote:
For Matthew, who had at first preached to the Hebrews, when he was about to go to other peoples, committed his Gospel to writing in his native tongue, and thus compensated those whom he was obliged to leave for the loss of his presence. (Eusebius, Church History, 3:24)
Matthew first made disciples out of his fellow Hebrews. He later fulfilled the Great Commission by serving other races. According to Eusebius, before Matthew left his own people he wrote his Gospel in their native language. This was done out of necessity because an actual witness to the ministry of Jesus would no longer be with them. This makes sense given that Matthew has the greatest Jewish emphasis among the Gospels.
The historical evidence and the tradition of the Church strongly indicate that Matthew’s Gospel was indeed first written in Hebrew. This being the case, the question as to where the Greek version came from arises. The Greek copies of Matthew’s Gospel do not bear the marks of being a translation and were therefore written separately. Matthew was responsible enough to leave the first group of people he witnessed to a copy of his Gospel in their own language. It only follows that he did the same with a subsequent group (or groups) who read Greek.
Some desire to ignore or question the scholarship of the men quoted here out of a fear that a Hebrew copy of Matthew would undermine the reliability of Scripture. This fear is unfounded, for the Greek copy of Matthew was still written by an apostle. And it is the Greek rendition which God chose to preserve through the ages. While the once existence of a Hebrew version of Matthew’s Gospel changes nothing in regards to the Canon, it is nevertheless a fascinating thing to ponder.