Subject: A Hebrew Version of Matthew? |
Bible Note: Greetings Dave.. This is actually a *repost* of what I have already posted on the "Eloi" or "Eli"? thread on Monday, 07/23/01, at 11:44pm.. You can read all the posts in their entirety there- an attempt to present a case that Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. Also, Fox's Book of Martyrs also states that the book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. Here is part of that posting.. "HISTORIC EVIDENCE The historic evidence that the Book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew is abundant. a.. Papias (150-170 AD) said "Matthew composed in the words of the Hebrew dialect" b.. Irenius (circa 170 AD) said "Matthew also issued a written gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect." c.. Origin (circa 210 AD) "The first gospel is written according to Matthew, the same that was once a tax collector, but afterwards an emissary of Jesus the Messiah, who having published for the Jewish believers, wrote it in Hebrew." d.. Eusebius (circa 315 AD) who wrote the most authoritative compilation of the history of the believers during the first 250-300 years, also added his voice to the fact that Matthew was originally published in Hebrew and cited how it was found in different parts of the world in Hebrew, like India. e.. Gregory Of Nazianzus (A.D. 329) claimed Matthew was originally written in Hebrew f.. Epiphanius (circa 370 AD) spoke of the Nazarene believers as saying "They have the gospel according to Matthew quite complete in Hebrew, for the gospel is still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters." g.. Jerome (circa 382 AD), son of historian Eusebius and a skilled translated in several languages Latin and Greek, also said Matthew was written in Hebrew and translated into Greek later. He said the original Hebrew copy was available in a library in Caesarea in his day. Jerome testified that he got a copy of the Hebrew version from the believers in Syria and used it as his basis for his Latin translation. In Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus, (Book I, verse 13, circa 402 AD) he said he obtained help from a Jew in this translation. h.. Ishodad (circa 850 AD) also acknowledged how the original Hebrew copy of Matthew had been preserved in a library in his days. In 1553, Pope Julius III signed a decree banning the Talmud in Rome, resulting in the confiscation of not only the Talmud, but "anything that looked like the Talmud". Thus many Hebrew copies of Matthew were burned along with the Talmud. Today, only about 3 manuscripts in the original Hebrew still survive. TEXTUAL EVIDENCE Often there's room to tell which is the original language by comparing the Greek vs Hebrew/Aramaic texts and seeing if it doesn't make sense for a word/phrase/etc to be translated from the Greek to the Hebrew or vice versa. There is an abundant of such evidence for Matthew. 1.. The Greek version of Matthew contains mistakes that the Hebrew version does not. a.. The Greek Matthew 1:13 lists Avichud as the father of Elyakim, but this disagrees with the Tanakh which calls him his grandfather. The Hebrew version of Matthew does not contain this error and lists Avichud as the father of Avner and Avner as the father of Elyakim, agreeing with the Tanakh. So did God inspire Matthew to write this in Greek and make a mistake? b.. Greek Matthew chapter 1:17 says there are 14 generations from the Babylonian exile to Messiah, but only lists 13 names in the Greek (due to Avner being omitted). The Hebrew version lists all 14 names. It's as if God put this in as an "error check" for us! c.. In the Greek Matthew 23:35, Zechariah the son of Jehoidai (2 Chron. 24:20-21; b.San. 96; j.Ta'anit 69) mistakenly appears as Zechariah the son of Berechiah (Zech. 1:1). This error was not in the ancient Hebrew copy Jerome had. Jerome writes of Hebrew Matthew: "In the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, for 'Son of Barachias' I find 'of Joiada' written" d.. Another mistake in the Greek version of Matthew is in Matt 27:9 which quotes Zech. 11:12-13 but falsely credits the quote to Jeremiah. The Shem Tob Hebrew correctly attributes the quote to Zechariah, while the Aramaic (Old Syriac and Peshitta) simply attribute the quote to "the prophet." - Nolan |