Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

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There are three major biblical manuscripts of the Gospel of Matthew that are written in Hebrew; the Shem Tov Matthew, the DuTillet Matthew, and the Munster Matthew. All of these are late mediaeval texts.

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[edit] A Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

Some scholars have argued that these medieval Hebrew manuscripts may have been descended (without any intervening translation) from ancient Hebrew manuscripts of Matthew, which were used by early Christians in the first or second century, but were nearly extinct by the time of Jerome, late in the fourth century.[1] Other scholars reject this theory, and argue that the medieval Hebrew manuscripts were instead descended (by translation) from medieval Greek or Latin manuscripts, and therefore that it is extremely unlikely that any of the unique readings found in these medieval Hebrew manuscripts could be ancient.[2]

The hypotheses of Hebrew and Aramaic primacy posits that the Gospel of Matthew was original written in Hebrew or Aramaic. Scholars who support these hypotheses often use these 3 mediaeval Hebrew manuscripts in discussion of Aramaic Primacy.[citation needed] However, the vast majority of scholars believe Matthew was original written in Greek.[3]

[edit] Shem Tov Matthew

The Shem Tov Matthew is a mediaeval manuscript containing a version of the Gospel of Matthew, written in the Hebrew language. The version is preserved within a work named Eben Bohen, which was written by a Jewish physician living in Aragon, Spain, named Shem Tov ben Isaac ben Shaprut (Ibn Shaprut), and after whom the manuscript is named. The text of Eben Bohen is preserved in a number of manuscripts, although the manuscript of Matthew that it quotes is lost, if it ever existed independently.

The Shem Tov Matthew is marked by its Jewish thought, and is interspaced with the comments of Shem Tov himself. As a consequence several scholars feel it is difficult to determine which parts are Shem Tov's commentary, and which parts are the actual text of the manuscript he was copying. Many scholars view the text as a mediaeval translation from the Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew, as well as being the likely source of all later Hebrew versions of Matthew prior to the 20th century.

Where one would expect to find the Tetragrammaton in Tanakh quotations, instead one finds a single Hebrew He (ה) except in one place where the word השם (the name) is spelled out.

There are some interesting readings in the Shem Tov. Matthew[4]

Matt 12:37 "According to your words you will be judged, and according to your deeds you will be convicted."

Matt 24:40-41 "40 Then if there shall be two ploughing in a field, one righteous and the other evil, the one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at a mill; one will be taken and the other left. This is because the angels at the end of the world will remove the stumbling blocks from the world and will separate the good from the evil."

Matt 28:9 "As they were going Jesus passed before them saying: 'May the Name deliver you.'"

Matt 28:19-20 "Go and teach them to carry out all the things which I have commanded you forever."

Also, Mark 9:20-28 is placed into the text of Matthew between Matt 17:17 and 17:19. Matt 17:18 is omitted.[5]

[edit] DuTillet Matthew

The DuTillet Matthew is a mediaeval manuscript containing a version of the Gospel of Matthew, written in the Hebrew language. The manuscript is named after its discoverer, Bishop Jean DuTillet of France, who found it on a visit to Rome in the 1550s. Although there are not many details for how he discovered this manuscript, he makes it clear that it came from the Jewish people of Rome.

The text of this version of Matthew is less divergent from the textus receptus, the basis of later traditional versions of Matthew, than is the Shem Tov Matthew, another version in Hebrew. However, the DuTillet Matthew does share some deviations in common with the Shem Tov Matthew.

In the DuTillet version, the Tetragrammaton is replaced with a sign composed of three yodhs or dots enclosed in a semicircle.

[edit] Munster Matthew

The Munster Matthew is a mediaeval manuscript containing a version of the Gospel of Matthew, written in the Hebrew language. The manuscript originates with Sebastian Munster, who received the text from Jews he had converted to Christianity in the 1550s. Apparently, these Jews had been using the text to understand the Christian religion in order to counter it.

Munster felt that the text was defective, and set about reworking it. The original manuscript he received no longer exists; only his printed reworking of it survives, and it closely resembles the DuTillet Matthew. Because the places where Munster changed the text is unknown, this text can be difficult to use for textual criticism.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Howard 1995
  2. ^ Petersen 1998
  3. ^ Brown 1997, p. 210
  4. ^ http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol03/Petersen1998a.html Some Observations on a Recent Edition of and Introduction to Shem-Tob's "Hebrew Matthew"
  5. ^ http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol03/Petersen1998a.html Some Observations on a Recent Edition of and Introduction to Shem-Tob's "Hebrew Matthew"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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