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CLUE
AOEJ.T8 lit AMERICA
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
M firm AVKNCK, Nrw YORK
-l
CLUE
A GUIDE THROUGH GREEK TO
HEBREW SCRIPTURE
BY
JEDWIN A. ABBOTT
' A.iro8ei]-eus 5' otiffi)* avdyitr) <r\ryKa.Ta.fia.lveiv eh r4$
frifrfiffeu, ' If there is such a thing as demonstration
people must condescend to investigate.' Clem. Alex.
Miscellanies, vii. 15.
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1900
TO
^ TROMMIUS AND BRUDER
AND THE WHOLE OF THE UNKNOWN ARMY
OF PATIENT PLODDERS
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
BY ONE OF THEM
PREFACE
THIS book, called Clue for brief reference, is the
First Part of a series (to be entitled Diatessarica)
dealing with the" interpretation of the Gospels.
Part I. which is of a more popular character than
the rest, and requires from the reader no knowledge
of Greek or Hebrew aims at demonstrating that
portions of the Synoptic Gospels are translated, or
modified by translation, from Hebrew documents.
Part II., which will be published almost simul-
taneously with Part I., aims at demonstrating that
Mark contains a tradition from which Matthew and
Luke borrowed, and discusses the corrections of Mark
adopted jointly by Matthew and Luke.
Part III. will contain the whole of the text of
Mark, with such parts of the other Gospels as are
parallel to Mark. The text will be divided into small
passages, each accompanied by its commentary. This,
being for the most part the common tradition of the
first three Gospels, may conveniently be called the
Triple Tradition.
Part IV. not yet in writing will contain what
may conveniently be called the Double Tradition, i.e.
vii
CLUE
passages not found in Mark but only in Matthew and
Luke.
Part V. will contain John.
Part VI. will contain the Gospel of the Resurrection
as given by the Mark-Appendix, Matthew, Luke, and
John.
Part VII. not yet in writing will contain Single
Traditions, i.e. portions peculiar to Matthew, and to
Luke, including the account of Christ's birth.
Before Part VIII. can be described, a little ex-
planation is needed. It is maintained by the author
that parts of the first three Gospels are derived from a
Hebrew original (which has also influenced the fourth).
Now in the Greek Old Testament we find a multitude
of errors arising from the inability of the translators
to distinguish Hebrew letters, and to understand
Hebrew words and idioms. In the Synoptic Gospels
of the Greek New Testament, then, we may expect
(on our hypothesis) to find the same errors, fewer, of
course, but still the same in kind. For example, a
constant source of error in the Greek Old Testament
is the similarity between the Hebrew letters d and
r (~i and i), so that (to take one instance) " Edom "
(DTM) and "Aram" (DIN) are repeatedly confused by
the translators, who give us "Idumaea" for "Syria,"
or vice versa.
The object of Part VIII. is to tabulate, in their
Greek alphabetical order, errors of this kind found
in the Greek Old Testament, with the view of detecting
similar errors if any such exist in the Greek New
Testament. For example, the error above mentioned
Vlll
PREFACE
would be tabulated not under the Hebrew names of
" Edom " and " Aram," but under their Greek equiva-
lents " Idumaea" and "Syria." Then, if we should
find in one of the Synoptic Gospels an unexpected
mention of " Idumaea," our tabulated lists would
suggest to us that instead of trying to find historical
reasons (where none appear to exist) for a statement
about Idumaea the right course is to look first in
the parallel Gospels for some mention of Syria. If
" Syria" is there, we shall conclude that the discrepancy
arises from translating a Hebrew original. Then will
begin the task in some cases a far more difficult
task of deciding which of the two readings is correct.
For the construction of such a Key, some materials
are available from the invaluable Concordance to the
Septuagint compiled by Trommius to whom, in com-
pany with Bruder, the compiler of the New Testament
Concordance, this work is dedicated. But Trommius
has left a great many explicable errors unexplained.
Moreover, it did not lie within the province of Trom-
mius to set side by side parallel Hebrew books or
parallel versions of the same Hebrew book, and to
classify the variations in Greek resulting sometimes
from the variations of two Hebrew sources, sometimes
from the divergent interpretations of one Hebrew text
by two translators. All this then remains to be done.
As regards parallel versions, the author has tabu-
lated the divergences in the two versions of Daniel,
in Ezra compared with the First Book of Esdras, and
in large portions of the Books of Samuel and Kings
compared with Chronicles (or, in some cases, with
0,2. ix
CLUE
the Psalms and Isaiah). But it has not been found
possible as yet to tabulate all the verbal errors scattered
through the pages of the Septuagint, nor can the
author hope ever to achieve this task. It is the busi-
ness of a University, not of a single student, and one
of the objects of this Preface is to suggest, to the
Universities of Europe and America that such a
work would be well worthy of them. To be complete,
it should not be confined to mere words, but should
contain Greek errors classified under other heads,
such as, Person, Mood, Voice, Insertion, Omission,
Interrogative, Negative, Subject, Metaphor reduced
to Prose, Speech converts^ to Narrative, etc.
The author's approximation to this object, if pub-
lished in his lifetime, will follow the seven Parts above
mentioned. It is daily growing and, as he believes,
daily becoming more useful. If published, it would
be a more complete and less popular form of Clue,
and might be entitled Filum Labyrinthi.
Obligations must be acknowledged to many friends
for the revision of the proofs of this work ; and, in
particular, to the Rev. C. Taylor, D.D., Master of
St. John's College, Cambridge, the Rev. W. H.
Bennett, M. A., Professor of Old Testament Languages
and Literature at Hackney and New Colleges, London,
and Mr. W. S. Aldis, M.A., formerly Principal of the
Durham College of Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, for
corrections and suggestions on points of Hebrew.
WELLSIDE
HAMPSTEAD
9/9/1900
CONTENTS
REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS .... Page xv
INTRODUCTION xvii
BOOK I
THE SEPTUAGINT
CHAPTER I
SPECIMENS OF ERROR IN THE SEPTUAGINT
I. On the evidence needed to prove translation. 2. On the evidence obtain-
able to prove translation from Hebrew into Greek. 3. Specimens of Greek
error arising from confusion of similar Hebrew letters. 4. Specimens of
Greek error arising from confusion of similar Hebrew words. 5. The place
of Christ's baptism : Bethabara ? Betharaba ? or Bethany ? 6. On the
evidence required to prove translation from Hebrew in the Synoptic
Gospels ....... Page 3
CHAPTER II
THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
I. Conflations, their nature and origin. 2. Conflations, mostly caused In
obscurity. 3. Rules for returning through a conflation to the Original
4. Conflation mostly the sign of an early translation 19
xi
CLUE
CHAPTER III
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
* (see p. xix. n.) I. Specimens of name conflation. * 2. " Darius." 3. Luke's
misunderstanding about Herod Antipas. 4. " The son of Timaeus, Bar-
timaeus" ; the development of different accounts about the person, or persons,
denoted in the story of " Bartimaeus "... Page 2?
CHAPTER IV
CONFLATIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS, DATES, ETC.
I. Technical terms. 2. Conflations of dates. 3. The hour of the
Crucifixion ........ 46
CHAPTER V
OTHER TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
* 1. Variations of grammatical form. * 2. Longer conflations. 3. Hebrew
conflations. 4. Prejudice a cause of error. 5. The "four sons" of
Araunah ........ 53
CHAPTER VI
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
I. The First Book of Esdras. 2. The Septuagint Version of Daniel (parts of
this are marked *). 3. Conflations arising from Aramaic . .67
BOOK II
THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
CHAPTER I
SPECIMENS OF CONFLATION
I. (Mark i. 28) "The surrounding country of Galilee/' 2. (Marki. 32, lit.)
" It having become late, when the sun had set." 3. (Mark iv. 5, 6, lit.)
xii
CONTENTS
"It (i.e. the seed) arose . . . there arose the sun." 4. (Mark iv. 40)
"Why are ye fearful? Have ye not yet faith?" 5. (Luke viii. 25, lit.)
"Fearing they wondered." Conflated? 6. (Luke ix. 37) "On the next
day . . . from the mountain " .... Page 79
CHAPTER II
CONFLATIONS IN THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
i. Conflative tendency apparent in Mark. 2. (Mark v. 10) " the country" ;
(Luke viii. 31) "the abyss" ...... 89
CHAPTER III
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
I. (Mark iii. 8) " Idumaea" ; (Matthew iv. 24) "Syria." 2. The prophecy
of Amos concerning " Edom." 3. (Matthew T. 48; xix. 21) "perfect"
(i) (Mark x. 21, and Luke xviii. 22) "lacking" or "wanting." (ii.) (Luke
vi. 36) "compassionate." 4. (Mark vi. 33; Matthew xiv. 13) "on foot,"
an error. 5. (Mark vi. 32 ; Matthew xiv. 13) "in the (or, a) boat to a
desert place " ; (Luke ix. 10) " to a city called Bethsaida." 6. Was " boat "
in the original ? 7. The " earthquake " recorded by Matthew (xxvii. 54)
alone. 8. Peter "sitting" or "standing" during the three denials? 9.
Peter (Mark xiv. 54) " warming himself" at the light [? of a fire]. 10.
(Markiv. 21) "come" ; (Matthew v. 15) "light"; (Luke viii. 16) "kindle."
ii. Matthew's use of "Companion !" 12. (Mark i. 13) "wild beasts" ;
(Matthew iv. 2; Luke iv. 2) "he hungered." 13. The healing of the
"paralytic" : (Mark ii. 3) "by four" ; (Matthew ix. 2, Luke v. 18) "on
a bed." 14. The healing of the paralytic : origin of Mark's details. 15.
(Mark ii. 23) "making a way"; (Luke vi. i) "rubbing with their
hands" ........ 97
CHAPTER IV
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
i. (Mark xiv. 30) "Before the cock crow twice thrice . . . ." 2. (Mark
xiv. i, Matthew xxvi. 2) " After two days" : (Luke xxii. i) " drawing nigh."
3. (Matthew x. 29) "two for a farthing"; (Luke xii. 6) "five for two
farthings." 4. (Mark viii. 31) "after three days" ; (Matthew xvi. 21, and
Luke ix. 22) " on the third day." 5. (Matthew xviii. 22) "seventy times
seven"; (Luke xvii. 4) "seven times turn." 6. On the error that led
xiii
CLUE
Luke to suppose that there were "other seventy [two] disciples." 7.
Errors arising from the Hebrew "and." 8. Indicative confused with
non - indicative forms. 9. (Mark iv. 36) "they receive him";
(Matthew viii. 23, Luke viii. 22) " he went." 10. Mark (iv. 36) alone
mentions "other boats." n. (Matthew x. 28) "destroying"; (Luke
xii. 5) "casting." 12. (Matthew x. 29) "fall to the ground without";
(Luke xii. 6) "forgotten in the sight of." 13. (Matthew v. 47) "salute";
(Luke vi. 33) "do good to." 14. (Luke v. 20) "Man, thy sins are
forgiven thee." 15. (Mark vi. 8) "nothing . . . except a staff";
(Matthew x. 10) "nor a staff" ; (Luke ix. 3) "neither a staff." 16.
(Mark ix. 41) lit. "in the Name because ye are Christ's." 17. Hebraic
alternatives. 18. Conclusion .... Page 128
XIV
REFERENCES
(i.) Black Arabic numbers, e.g. (27), refer to subsections in
this volume, or (if exceeding 272) to subsections in Part
II. ; (27a) means a footnote on subsection 27.
(ii.) The books -of Scripture are referred to by the ordinary
abbreviations, except where specified below. But when
it is said that Samuel, Isaiah, Matthew, or any other
writer, wrote this or that, it is to be understood as
meaning the writer, whoever he may be, of the words in
question, and not as meaning that the actual writer was
Samuel, Isaiah, or Matthew.
(iii.) In the notes, the MSS. known severally as the Alexan-
drian, the Sinaitic, the Vatican, and the Codex Bezae, are
called by their usual abbreviations A, N, B, and D. The
Syriac version of the Gospels discovered by Mrs. Gibson
on Mount Sinai is called in the text the " Syro-Sinaitic " or
" Sinaitic Syrian," and in the notes is referred to as SS.
(iv.) The text of the Greek Old Testament adopted is that of
Professor Swete 1 ; of the New, that of Westcott and Hort.
ABBREVIATIONS
A and N. See (iii.) above.
B. See (iii.) above.
Chr. = Chronicles.
D. See (iii.) above.
Ency. = Black's Encyclopedia Biblica.
Esdras, the First Book of, is frequently called, in the text, Esdras.
1 This differs greatly from that of most earlier editions, which are usually based
on Codex A. (33).
XV
CLUE
Hor. Heb. = Horae Hebraicae, by John Lightfoot, 1658-74, ed.
Gandell, Oxf. 1859.
K.= Kings.
leg. = (as in Tromm.) " legerunt," i.e. the LXX "read" so-and-so
instead of the present Hebrew text.
Oxf. Cone. = The Oxford Concordance to the Septuagint.
S. = Samuel.
Schottg. = Schottgen's Horae Hebraicae, 1733.
Sir. = the work of the son of Sirach, commonly called Ecclesi-
asticus (see 200).
SS. See (iii.) above.
Tisch. = Tischendorf 's New Testament.
Tromm. = Trommius' Concordance to the Septuagint.
Wetst. = Wetstein's Commentary on the New Testament, 1751.
W. H. = Westcott and Hort's New Testament.
(a) A bracketed Arabic number, following the sign =, and
intervening between a Hebrew and a Greek word, indicates the
number of instances in which that Hebrew word is represented by
that Greek word in the LXX e.g. ns* 1 = (7) avdirrcLv.
(b) * For the meaning of the asterisk prefixed to the headings
of some sections, see p. xix n.
(c) In cases where the verses of the Hebrew, the Greek, and the
Revised Version are numbered differently, the numbering of the
Revised Version is for the most part given alone.
xvi
INTRODUCTION
/
THE primary objoct of this work is to indicate means for
constructing a clue by which scholars may systematically
find their way through any Greek translation from Hebrew
back to the Hebrew original.
The secondary object is to demonstrate that parts of the
Synoptic Gospels are based upon a common original Hebrew
document, not Aramaic, but Hebrew in the strict sense,
biblical Hebrew. 1
Another object is to give specimens of the manner in
which one may employ the clue so as to return from the
Gospels to their original Hebrew.
Some years ago, the notion that a Jewish Christian
1 See Encyclopedia Biblica, vol. i. col. 283 : "By the time of Christ Aramaic
had long been the current popular speech of the Jews in Palestine, and the use,
spoken and written, of Hebrew (in a greatly modified form) was confined to
scholars. Christ and the apostles spoke Aramaic, and the original preaching of
Christianity, the Eua-yyAioi', was in the same language. And this, too, not in the
dialect current in Jerusalem, which roughly coincided with the literary language of
the period, but in that of Galilee." Professor Noldeke, the writer of the above,
adds, "it is impossible for us to know the Galilean dialect of that period with
accuracy. The attempts made in our days to reduce the words of Jesus from Greek
to their original language have therefore failed."
By "the original preaching" Professor Noldeke presumably means the oral
Gospel preached during and after Christ's lifetime in Palestine.
It is quite possible that in the written Hebrew Gospel, Aramaic words were
included (as in Ecclesiastes), and even Aramaic passages (as in Ezra and Daniel).
xvii
CLUE
would write a Gospel in Hebrew, a dead language, might
have been dismissed by many as absurd. But the recent
discovery of the lost Hebrew of portions of Ecclesiasticus *
reveals a Jew, long after Hebrew had ceased to be spoken,
writing with fair success in " biblical Hebrew," just as the
chroniclers of the life of St. Francis might write the Saint's
words (as well as his deeds) in Latin, though St. Francis
spoke in Italian. This in itself apart from the opinion
of so learned and laborious a scholar as Professor Resch
ought to convince people that there is no antecedent im-
probability in the hypothesis that the earliest written Gospel
was composed in biblical Hebrew.
From this original Hebrew to ascend still further to the
Galilaean Aramaic actually uttered by our Lord, is a different
object possibly attainable, and certainly not under-rated
by the author, but not contemplated in this treatise. On
the hypothesis of a Hebrew Gospel, the differences between
Aramaic and Hebrew will not be likely to affect that large
portion of the Gospels in which the evangelists, speaking in
their own person, describe Christ's birth, death, resurrection,
and miracles.
The earliest Christian ecclesiastical historian, Papias,
tells us that " Matthew composed the Logia in the Hebrew
language, and each one interpreted them as he could." 2 This
external evidence dissipates a good deal of the alleged im-
probability of a Hebrew original. However, neither external
evidence nor antecedent probabilities will find much space
in the following pages. For it is there maintained that the
internal evidence derivable from a Greek document can as
absolutely and scientifically demonstrate translation from
biblical Hebrew documents, 3 as fossils in a rock can demon-
1 See below 20a.
2 Quoted by Eusebius in his History of the Church, iii. 39, 30.
* "Documents," not "document." The Hebrew Logia would be "inter-
preted " differently by Hebrew editors as well as by Greek translators. Some
xviii
INTRODUCTION
strata the action of water. The details of the demonstration
will be often necessarily technical, but its fundamental
principles can be made clear to the simplest intelligence.
And even of the details a large number can be mastered
without knowledge of any ancient language. 1 For the scholar,
the statements made in the text will be demonstrated by
quotations from the Hebrew Bible and from the Greek
translations of it. These the " unlearned " reader will be
unable to understand. Similarly, in a Court of Justice, a
juror may be unable to understand the words of a foreign
witness. He depends on the interpreter. But he is not
thereby excluded from giving a verdict, and his verdict is
generally right.
This is as it should be. It seems intolerable that, on
points vitally affecting the religion and spiritual development
of the multitudes, the ultimate judgment should rest with a
few linguistic or theological specialists. The truth is and
to show that it is true is another object of this work that
what is called "the higher criticism" is simply scientific
investigation and classification submitted to the judgment
of common sense.
parts of Ecclesiasticus are rewritten in the margin by the Hebrew editor. Oral
teaching would also produce variations. Hence the original Hebrew "document"
would soon become "documents," perhaps intermixed with Aramaic words (see
126).
1 For the purposes of reference and demonstration it has been necessary, in
some sections, to accumulate instances of Septuagint error more numerous and more
difficult than would be needed for mere illustration. Such sections are indicated
by an asterisk, and the general reader is recommended to pass over them at first,
returning to them when they are referred to in the later pages that deal with the
Synoptic Gospels.
XIX
BOOK I
THE SEPTUAGINT
CHAPTER I
SPECIMENS OF ERROR IN THE SEPTUAGINT
/
| I. On the evidence needed to prove translation
[1] SUPPOSE we are reading two English histories of
the French Revolution and find them so closely agreeing as
to suggest that the two were borrowed from a common
source. Comparing two corresponding sentences, we find,
let us say, in one, " I assure you I am your friend in this
affair," but in the other " I assure you I follow your friend
in this affair." Ought we not at once to suspect if we
know anything of French that this difference arises from
translating into English the ambiguous French " suis " ?
Again, a page or two afterwards, we find in one of the
histories (let us suppose) " he was in good health" but in the
parallel portion of the other "he was carrying his goods"
Surely this should suggest that " il portait ses biens " has
been mistaken for the more familiar " il se portait bien " ;
and the result will be to strengthen our impression that
parts of the two histories consist of translations made from
one and the same French document. If, a little later, we
met with two such parallels as " he found for himself in the
town a young artist," and, " there happened to be in the town
a young artist," our strong impression would be exchanged
for an absolute conviction that these three errors were to be
explained by one cause, translation from French. The
original was, in the last case, " il se trouvait"
3
[2] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
[2] Now take a case where there are no parallel
documents and where the history is in a dead language.
Suppose a Byzantine historian to be describing in Greek
the invasion of Italy by the Goths. We know nothing of
Greek ; but, reading his work in a faithful English translation,
we are perplexed by finding that the historian mentions
" oaks " where we should have expected " flint-stones " or
" flinty rocks " ; and on the next page he has " the waters
of all Italy " where " the waters of a river of Italy " would
be much more to the point, and where "all Italy" is
absurd. Turning to the annotations we are informed that
"ilices" is the Latin for "oaks," and "silices" for "flint-
stones " ; and again that " omnis Italiae " is the Latin for
" of all Italy," and " amnis Italiae " for " a river of Italy."
We know nothing of Latin, and nothing of Greek ; but if
our annotator brought forward two or three more of such
errors, and assured us that none of them could be explained
as Greek misprints, should we feel any hesitation in accept-
ing his statement though based entirely on internal evidence
that these errors arose from mistranslated Latin? "What
do you know about Greek or Latin ? " some one might say
to us. " Nothing," we should reply, " but we know some-
thing about the laws of evidence, and we have some claim
to common sense."
2. On the evidence obtainable to prove translation from
Hebrew into Greek
From the preceding instances it appears that if we
desired to ascertain whether an English document was
translated from a French one, it would be well to make
a list of such English words as were found by experience
to be associated with errors in translating from the latter
language, e.g. " follow " and " am," " find " and " happen to
be," " carry " and " be in [good] health," etc. We should
4
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [4]
then be on our guard whenever we met such words in an
English passage that seemed to contain a misstatement, and
might be able, by means of our tabulated list or key, to
restore the original French and rectify the error.
In the case of French, it would be a matter of great
difficulty to compose a Key that would be of any practical
service. The language is too well known, and modern
criticism is too exacting, to allow English translations of
French works to be published with many errors, or, if
published, to remain in circulation. But in the case of
Hebrew, things are widely different
[3] The Greek Version of the Old Testament, called the
Version of the Seventy, or the Septuagint from the supposed
number of the translators teems with mistranslations arising
from confusions between similar Hebrew letters, from the
ambiguity of Hebrew forms, and from a general obscurity
in Hebrew syntax owing to its inadequate supply of moods
and conjunctions. Hence, it is easy to find materials for a
Greek-Hebrew Key such as has been suggested above. The
difficulty here consists, not in the paucity, but in the vastness
of the materials, and in the labour of collecting and classify-
ing them.
Although the Key itself could be used by none but
students acquainted with Greek and Hebrew, the use of the
Key can be made apparent to readers knowing nothing but
English and this by a single example, with only a few
words of preface.
[4] Hebrew manuscripts in the first century were
written without vowels. In the sixth or seventh century
substitutes for vowels (called vowel-points) began to be
introduced, 1 but when the first Hebrew Gospel was written,
these substitutes did not exist. Under these circum-
stances, ambiguity and error could hardly be avoided even
if the consonants were clearly distinguishable, as we may
1 Dr. Ginsburg's Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, p. 451.
5
[5] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
easily realise if we try to imagine the consequences if in
English we were left to infer from the context the meaning
of bt, frm, wnt t or mstl
[5] But, further, many of the Hebrew consonants are
hardly distinguishable, e.g. h and ch (n and n), and d and r
(~T and i). We ought not to be surprised at the multitude
of errors arising from the latter of these similarities. Not
only do we find the Hebrew Ramah, Madon, etc., represented
by the Greek Daman, Marron, etc., but in parallel Hebrew
books, and even in different passages of the same Hebrew
book, the same person is called Hadadezer and Hadarezer. 2
1 [4a] For the consideration of the instances of confusion of Hebrew letters to
be hereafter given, the following extracts from Dr. Ginsburg's Introduction to the
Hebrew Bible may be found useful by readers acquainted with Hebrew :
(i.) Concerning quiescent letters. " It is now established beyond a doubt that
the letters 'inn, commonly called quiescent or feeble letters, have been gradually
introduced into the Hebrew text. It is, moreover, perfectly certain that the
presence or absence of these letters in our text in many instances is entirely due
to the idiosyncrasy of the Scribes " (p. 136).
(ii.) Concerning y. "Very frequently it was not expressed in the primitive
forms. This orthography is still exhibited in the name ^>3 Bel= Sju Baal which
has survived in three instances (Is. xlvi. i, Jer. 1. 2, li. 44) apart from compound
proper names, and in the particle of entreaty a = 'j?a I pray, 0!" (p. 142).
(iii.) Concerning K and y. " That the K and y, like the 3 and 3, the i and ',
etc., must have been similar in form in olden times is evident from " a ' ' caution "
which Dr. Ginsburg quotes as "given in the Talmud to the Scribes," and he adds
instances of their interchangeableness (pp. 143-4).
(iv.) Concerning words written "plene," i^. with quiescent letters, or "defec-
tive" (i.e. without them). "When the scribe was in doubt whether a word is
to be written plene or defective, he naturally wrote it plene, since he thereby
committed no mistake even if the word in question ought properly to have been
written defective" (p. 157).
[4] Some of these confusions may have arisen from the Samaritan characters
of the old version of the Bible. But as late as the first century (Hor. Heb. vol. i.
p. 170), Galilaeans confused (i) K, y, and n, (2) 3 and 3. The Jerusalem Talmud
says, "The mystical doctors distinguished not between Cheth and He" and the
Babylonian says, "The schools of Eleazar ben Jacob pronounced Aleph A in,
and Ain Aleph."
2 2 S. viiL 3-12 (Hebr.) " Hadadezer" ; (LXX) " Hadraarar"; but 2 S. x. 16,
19, etc., and elsewhere in Scripture and Josephus, " Hadarezer."
6
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [6]
[6] It happens that this last variation causes no serious
historical difficulty. But now take the similarity between
the Hebrew name for Syria, i.e. Aram, and the Hebrew
for Idumaea, i.e. Edom. 1 The former and the latter are
represented severally by ctrm (DIN) and of dm (D*TN). No
knowledge of Hebrew, nothing but common sense, is needed
to convince us that, unless the context made the meaning
ibsolutely certain, errors would arise from this similarity.
Hence we cannot be surprised that where the second book
ft
of Samuel speaks of " Syria and Moab," Chronicles has
c Edom and Moab," and the Septuagint " Idumaea " in both
cases. 2 In another passage, where the Revised Version gives
" Syrians " in the text and " Edomites " in the margin, the
Stptuagint prefers the latter, and in another, where the
Hebrew has certainly " Syria," the Greek gives " Edom." 3
A^ain, the title of the sixtieth Psalm represents David
as striving with " Aram," i.e. with the Syrians, and then
adcs that Joab returned and " smote of Edom . . . twelve
thousand." Here the Septuagint, while translating what
refe-s to Syria, omits what refers to Edom, perhaps taking it
as in erroneous repetition of the statement about Syria.
It follows from these facts that if, in two parallel Greek
documents bearing on Jewish history, we find Idumaea in
one and Syria in another, this must be taken as evidence
poin;ing to translation from Hebrew. One such instance
would, of course, not suffice to prove translation. But it
ought to prepare us to study the text with a view to ascer-
tain whether other deviations may be similarly explained.
1 lor the convenience of readers ignorant of Hebrew, K will sometimes be
translLerated as a', and y as of'. It must be remembered that Hebrew words are
read fiom right to left.
2 28. viii. 11-12 (also 13), I Chr. xviii. II.
8 2 K. xvi. 6, I K. xi. 25.
[7] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
3. Specimens of Greek error arising from confusion of
similar Hebrew letters
Without some knowledge of Hebrew and Greek it would
be impossible to use to any good purpose the Key above
described. But a few specimens of its results may be
helpful. For besides indicating the astonishing extent to
which the Septuagint is permeated with error, they will alsc
show how natural the mistakes were, and how probable it is
that other translators might err in the same way.
[7] Here are some instances arising from confusion*
of the following six Hebrew roots : (i.) " feed," " pasture .'
" shepherd " ; (ii.) " know," cause to know," " teach," " knov-
ledge," " wise," etc. ; (iii.) " evil " ; (iv.) " appoint a meetiig
with," " meet," " appointment " ; (v.) " break " ; (vi.) " cry ouc."
A glance at the footnote will convince readers, with or wi/h-
out knowledge of Hebrew, that such confusions are vfry
natural. 1
Is. xliv. 20: "He feedeth on ashes." LXX "Know thou :hat
ashes. ..."
Prov. xv. 14 : "The mouth of fools feedeth on folly." LXX 'The
mouth of the unlearned will know evil things."
Prov. x. 2 1 : " The lips of the righteous feed many." LXX ' The
lips of the righteous understand lofty things."
Is. xliv. 28 : "He that saith of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd" LXX
" He that saith to Cyrus to be wise."
Jer. iii. 15 : " They shall feed you with knowledge and underszand-
ing." LXX "They shall shepherd you, j/////<?r^"g r with understating."
Jer. vi. 1 8 : "Hear, ye nations, and know^ O congregation, what
is among them." LXX "The nations heard and those shepherding
their flocks."
Hos. xiii. 5 : " I did know thee in the wilderness." LXI " I
did shepherd thee in the wilderness."
Ezek. xix. 7 : "And he knew." LXX "And he/<r</0." 2
1 The Hebrew is (i.) njn, (ii.) jrr, (iii.) jn, (iv.) -\y, (v. ) yjn, (vi.) jm
- Ezek. xix. 7, *cai tvtutro r<? 6p6.<rei avrov.
8
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [7]
Prov. xiii. 19: "To depart from evil" LXX "Far from know-
ledge."
Prov. xix. 23: "He shall not be visited with evil." LXX "Where
knowledge does not visit."
2 S. xix. 7 (Hebr. 8) : " And that will be worse (lit. evil} unto thee
than all."' LXX "And know for thyself, and evil for thee this, more
than all." x
Prov. xix. 27 : "Words of knowledge." LXX "Evil speeches."
Is. xxviii. 9: "Whom will he teach knowledge." LXX "To
whom did we announce evil things ? "
Eccles. vii. 22 : "For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth."
LXX " For very often it will do thee evil, and on many occasions
will thy heart do mischief" z
Dan. xii. 4 : "Knowledge." LXX (but not (32) Theod.) " Un-
righteousness"
Mic. iv. 9 : " Wherefore dost thou cry out aloud (lit. a cry) ? "
LXX " Wherefore didst thou know evil things ? "
Ex. xxix. 42-43 : " I will meet (lit. appoint} with you ... I will
meet with the children of Israel." LXX " I will be known to thee
... I will appoint to the children of Israel." [Here the LXX, as
is often the case with scribes, makes a mistake at first, which, when
the circumstances recur soon afterwards, it does not repeat.]
Ex. xxx. 36 (and com p. Num. xvii. 4) : "I will meet with you."
LXX " I will be known to thee."
Am. iii. 3 : " Except they have agreed (marg. made an appoint-
ment}." LXX " Except they have made themselves known"
Hos. xii. i (Hebr. 2) : " Ephraim feedeth on wind." LXX
" Ephraim [is] an evil spirit."
Is. Ivi. 1 1 : " And these are shepherds." LXX " And they are
evil."
Jer. xv. 12: "Can one break iron?" LXX "Shall iron be
known ? "
Jer. ii. 16 : "They have broken (marg. fed on)." LXX "They
knew thee."
Prov. xi. 15 : "(He) shall be sore broken" lit. "breaking shall
be broken" LXX " A wicked man doeth evil."
1 The LXX has combined (20) the wrong meaning ("know") with the right
one (" evil ").
* The LXX has again (20) combined two meanings.
9
[8] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
Prov. xxv. 19: "A broken tooth." LXX "The way of the
wicked."
[8] Errors arising from neglect of Hebrew grammatical
distinctions e.g. that between causative and non-causative
forms of the verb do not, strictly speaking, come within
the scope of this section. But as the word " know " has
been under consideration, and as it may be necessary here-
after to consider possible confusions in the New Testament
between " know " and " cause to know," i.e. " say," " teach,"
etc., it will be well to add one or two instances of such
confusion here :
Is. xix. 12 : "And let them know." LXX "And let them say."
Is. xlviii. 6: "And thou didst not know them." LXX "And
thou didst not say."
Ex. vi. 3 : " But [by] my name I was not known." LXX " But
my name I did not show."
4. Specimens of Greek error arising from confusion of
similar Hebrew words
It would be possible to repeat the process of the last
section with regard to other letters and other groups of
words. But want of space prevents us from mentioning
more than a few that are most frequently confused.
[9] (i.) The word (a) " sit " is identical, in some of its
forms, with () " turn," " return," " do again," and hence
"again." In Num. xi. 4, Deut. i. 45, Josh. v. 2, Judg. xix.
7, 2 S. xix. 37, Job vi. 29, Zech. ix. 12, the Revised
Version has " turn," " return," " again," " the second time " ;
but the LXX has in every case " sit" Also the word " sit "
is regularly used for " abide," " remain," " sojourn." 1
This may be important, in view of passages where
1 "Sit (ar 1 )," "Return (air)": but "he will return " (ar' or air') may be
identical with "sit." " Sitting " is nar, which may be confused with " rest " and
"sabbath."
10
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [12]
Jesus is described as " sitting," or " returning," or doing a
thing " again," by one, but not all of the Synoptists ; or
where the Synoptists describe Peter as " sitting " during his
denial of our Lord, while John describes him as " standing."
An interesting instance of variation in Hebrew, bearing
on these forms, may be found in two parallel Hebrew passages, 1
one saying " Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt," but the other " Jero-
boam returned from Egypt"
[10] (ii.) The w v ords "friend," or "companion," and
" evil," are identical and repeatedly confused. This will
come before us in connection with passages where Matthew
represents a king, or lord, as calling a wicked servant
" companion." 2
[11] (iii.) The words "there," "name," "put," "wonder,"
" hear," " report," " fame," " announce [the Gospel] " are very
similar, and are often confused. This has a bearing on
passages where one evangelist mentions " wondering" or
" dismay? and another " hearing " ; and where one says that
Jesus " came announcing [the Gospel]," and another that " the
report of Jesus came " into a certain district. 3
[12] (iv.) The words "cross," "across," "ford," "ferry-
boat," "evening," "Arabah" (often called "wilderness," or
" lowland," or " plain ") are very liable to confusion, and
some of them are frequently confused not only by the
Septuagint but in the Hebrew. Thus, where the Hebrew
text gives " Lodge not at the fords" the Hebrew margin
gives " in the plains " ; and the Septuagint, adopting the
latter, treats it as a proper name "Araboth." 4 This may
have a bearing on several synoptic passages where one
1 [9a] I K. xii. 2, 2 Ch. x. 2, ai in both cases. " From (-D) " and " in (-3) "
are frequently (108 a) confused. In Kings, Codex Alexandrinus mistranslates, or
conforms to Chronicles. 2 The Hebrew is jn (see 188).
8 "There"=Dr, "name" = or, "put" = Dies "hear"=yDr, " wonder "= DDT.
4 2 S. xvii. 16. In ? S. xix. 18 (Heb. 19), "there went over a ferry boat
(marg. convoy)," the LXX (confusing </with r) renders the word by two meanings
(a) "service," (b) "crossing," and combines them.
I I
[13] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
evangelist, unsupported by the rest, mentions a " boat," or
describes Jesus as " passing along."
5 . The place of Christ's baptism : Bethabara ? Betharaba ?
or Bethany ?
[13] In view of the perplexed question as to the place
of Christ's baptism, importance attaches to the following
mentions of the Jordan: "the plains of (Heb. Araboth)
Moab which are by the Jordan at Jericho," " the plains of
(Heb. Araboth) Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho east-
ward," x while the Septuagint in both cases appears to treat
"Araboth of Moab" as a place, and certainly does so in the
former passage, " Araboth of Moab which is by Jordan at
Jericho." Mark apparently mentions the baptism as occur-
ring in Jordan, 2 and Matthew describes Jesus as coming
towards Jordan to be baptized ; but Luke omits all mention
of the Jordan in this connection, having however previously
said, "John came into all the surrounding country of the
Jordan." John defines " the place where John was baptiz-
ing " as " Bethany beyond Jordan." But there are various
readings " Bethabara," and " Betharaba." Bethany may
mean " the place of a ship," Bethabara " the place of a ford
or ferryboat," Betharaba " a place in the Arabah." The latter
name is given in Joshua several times tc a city in the
" wilderness " of Judah ; but the Hebrew itself once
erroneously drops " Beth," and calls it simply " the Arabah,"
i.e. "the wilderness," and the Greek, on another occasion,
substitutes " Bethabara " (as some suppose, correctly). 3
[14] Origen, visiting the Jordan early in the third
1 Num. xxxi. 12, Josh. xiii. 32.
2 Mk. i. 9 ^pairriffOt] eis rbv I., lit. "he was baptized (in)to Jordan," may
mean "he came to Jordan and was baptized," or " was baptized by Jordan," i.e.,
on the banks of, or near, the river. Mk. i. 5 has fpairrtfovTo tv r< 'lopSdpjj.
8 Ency. Bib., " Beth-Arabah. " In Josh. xv. 61, LXX (but not A) has
"Tharabaam."
12
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [15]
century, found no trace of any " Bethany " in the neighbour-
hood of Jordan, but adds, " They say that Bethabara is
indicated, on the banks of the Jordan, and that John is said
to have baptized there." This testimony is not lightly to be
disputed. Yet Origen himself tells us that " Bethany " was
supported by " almost all the copies," and by Heracleon.
It is not intended here to discuss which reading is historically
correct, but merely to indicate that the variations point to a
confusion arising from a Hebrew original. 1
6. On the evidence required to prove translation from
Hebrew in the Synoptic Gospels
The reader may be disposed to infer from the preceding
instances of Septuagint mistranslation that it must be a very
short and simple process to detect translation in the Gospels
if it is actually latent there : " only give us three or four
such instances as those of Edom above and we will be
convinced at once."
[15] This is a very natural way of looking at the matter,
but it ignores some important differences between the Greek
of the New Testament and that particular Greek version of
the Old Testament which is commonly called the Septuagint
differences that would explain why errors would be more
speedily corrected, and obliterated for posterity, in the former
than in the latter.
In the first place, large parts of the Greek Old Testament,
partly because of their inferior interest and partly because of
their extent, would be comparatively rarely read by Greek-
speaking Jews or Christians ; and consequently less notice
would be attracted by the mistakes in them.
1 It is possible that "Bethabara" may be historically, and "Bethany"
textually, correct. If the two terms may mean the same thing, John may have
taken advantage of a transitory local appellation, or even of a literary paraphrase,
in order to call attention to a kind of mystical appropriateness hi the name : Christ
began His course at one Bethany and brought it toward its end at another.
13
[15] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
In the second place, the Old Testament does not contain
parallel versions of the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.,
corresponding to the parallel versions of the words of Christ
in our Gospels. 1 In the latter, parallelism, together with
occasional diversity, would lead a Christian editor to correct
the diversity if it arose from mistranslation. In the former
there would be no such cause for correction.
In the third place, the Septuagint had existed for more
than three centuries before controversies began between Jews
and Christians about the meaning of Hebrew Scriptures. Up
to the middle of the first century (A.D.) there was no contro-
versial inducement to correct Greek errors. The Alexandrian
Jew, Philo, regarded the Septuagint as inspired. Probably
many Greek-speaking Jews agreed with him, and certainly
the Palestinian Jews took no steps to correct the Greek
errors. Not till the Alexandrian Apollos began to " mightily
convince " Greek-speaking Jews that Jesus was the Messiah,
by quoting from the Scriptures, and not till Christian
evangelists throughout Asia Minor freely appealed to the
Septuagint, and finally published Gospels quoting from it,
would the Hebrew-reading Jews, who adhered to the Jewish
faith, be roused to protest.
But protests were not followed by action till early
in the second century, when there appeared " a new
translation, slavishly literal in character, made by a Jewish
proselyte of the name of Aquila." 2 But it was too late.
1 In the parallel books of Kings and Chronicles, diversities have been occa-
sionally corrected by the Greek translators. But the inducement to make such
corrections was comparatively slight in such cases often mere statistics, or
names. See 16.
2 Robertson Smith's The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, p. 76. Aquila's
translation is described on p. 391 as "made expressly in the interests of Jewish
exegesis." " Symmachus," the author continues, "and Theodotion followed later,
but still in the second century. . . . Aquila, says Jerome, sought to reproduce the
Hebrew word for word ; Symmachus aimed at a clear expression of the sense ;
while Theodotion rather sought to give a revised edition not very divergent from
the Greek of the Septuagint."
14
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [16]
The Christian Church was by this time committed to the
Septuagint. In the middle of the second century we find
Justin Martyr bitterly attacking the Jews for " corrupting "
the Hebrew Scriptures, simply because the Jews adhered to
tne Hebrew and rejected the erroneous Greek ! l It was not
till the third century that an attempt was made by a
Christian writer, Origen, to show the divergences of the
Septuagint from the Hebrew ; and his work was not so far
appreciated by the Christians as to induce them to preserve
it for posterity.
[16] How different was the case with the New Testa-
ment ! Reading daily, and catechizing in, and .preaching
from, and disputing about, and knowing by heart, their brief
and recently composed Gospels, many early Christian evan-
gelists may well have desired to compare and blend them
into a harmonious whole as Tatian did some time after the
middle of the second century. Others who did not venture
to intermix the Gospel texts in the form of a continuous
harmony would write on the margin of one Gospel the
parallel expression used by another. These marginal notes
might be taken as additions or corrections by some scribe
copying the manuscript a few years afterwards. In that
case, they would either be added to the text, or else they
would supplant the text 2 The general result would be to
obliterate for posterity most of the striking instances of
discrepancy arising from obvious mistranslation.
Again, the text of the Greek New Testament instead
of being allowed to retain its errors of mistranslation (if
errors there are) until three centuries had made them
venerable and secured their perpetuation was plunged
almost from the beginning into a furnace of controversy.
A few specimens of attacks made upon the Christian Gospels
1 Tryph. 72-3.
2 [16a] From the latter cause arises the curious result that sometimes a manu-
script (as, for example, the Codex Bezae) shows a text of Mark conformed to that
of Luke, while the parallel Luke is conformed to Mark !
15
[17] SPECIMENS OF ERROR
are still extant preserved only in the works of those
Christian Apologists who quote in order to refute them.
But we have to bear in mind that controversy must have
been at work from the time when Christianity began to
attract the notice of educated Greeks and Romans : and its
effect on evangelists must have been in the direction of
harmonizing and correction of error except in cases where
the error was too old to be corrected.
No doubt, in the Hebrew books of Kings and Chronicles
flagrant discrepancies have been allowed by the Septuagint
as well as by the Jewish editors to remain uncorrected. But
in the first place, there was little inducement to correct these.
No great questions of religion depended on them. They
were mostly matters for Jews alone, and the Jewish mind
was less alive than the Greek to errors of statistics, and
names, and prosaic facts. No controversies raged about the
dimensions of the Temple or the chronology of the kings of
Israel and Judah. In the next place, it should be noted
that in several instances the Greek translators of Kings
and Chronicles have corrected discrepancies created by the
Jewish writers. Much more was this to be expected in
Greek evangelists translating, or editing translations, from a
variously interpreted Hebrew original.
[17] To these three differences (i.) familiarity arising
from brevity and from frequent repetition, (ii.) the existence
of parallel Gospels, at first perhaps adopted severally in
several Churches and only gradually adopted by all, and
harmonized by some, (iii.) the influence of controversy tend-
ing to the removal of errors and discrepancies must be added
two others : (iv.) that of oral tradition, at first, and in a few
Churches, Aramaic, but afterwards, and in many more, Greek,
(v.) the absence, at first, of one written and supremely
authoritative Gospel.
Summing up, we may say that the earliest Greek trans-
lations of the Logia would be for some time fluid, like the
16
ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT [19]
versions of Daniel, which, as given by the Septuagint and
by Theodotion, are, in some parts, practically different books.
At first, causes (iv.) and (v.) would tend to differentiation,
covering up the Hebrew original with variations and ampli-
fications. Then, causes (i.), (ii.), and (iii.) would tend to
assimilation, sometimes returning to the original Hebrew,
sometimes departing from it, but in either case cancelling
those discrepancies which before made a Hebrew origin
obvious. For example, two early parallel Gospels may have
had " Idumaea " and " Syria " respectively. Later editors may
have removed the discrepancy by substituting " Idumaea " for
" Syria," and in so doing they may have rightly returned to
the original Hebrew. But what is the consequence ? The
proofs of mistranslation from an original Hebrew text will
now have vanished.
[18] Nevertheless a great deal of evidence attesting
translation from Hebrew still remains, not difficult to perceive
when we are prepared for it, and, when perceived, conclusive.
Only we must not expect to find the Gospels agreeing
together quite as closely as Ezra and the first book of
Esdras, or as the Septuagint version of Daniel with
Theodotion. When the same or nearly the same words occur
in parallel passages, we must be prepared to find the context
or construction different, as at the outset of the Gospel,
where Mark says, " there went out to him [the Baptist] all
the Judaean country," Matthew " there went out to him . . .
all Judaea and all the surrounding country of the Jordan,"
Luke " he [the Baptist] came to all the surrounding country
of the Jordan " differences that could easily be explained
by the obscurities of Hebrew syntax and paralleled from
the Septuagint. 1
[19] When translated from Hebrew, speech may easily
become narrative, and narrative speech ; future things past,
and past future ; subject may become object, and object
1 Mk. i. 5, Mt. iii. 5, Lk. iii. 3 (3366).
2 17
[19] ERROR IN SEPTUAGINT
subject ; " for " may be replaced by " though," " and " by
" but," the interrogative by the affirmative, passive by active,
active by passive, and either of these by the causative.
It would take up far too much space to give instances here
of each of these deviations : they will better be reserved for
special passages of the Gospels, to be discussed later, on
which they severally have a bearing. But there is one
source of confusion so important that it must be examined
immediately, because it permeates the Septuagint and may
reasonably be supposed to affect the earliest Gospels still
more extensively. This will be considered in the next
chapter.
18
CHAPTER II
THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
I. Conflations \ their nature and origin
[20] A " CONFLATION " (literally " something* blown or
fused together"), when used as a literary technical term,
ought etymologically to mean a fusion of two renderings
in one. As a fact, the name is frequently given to such a
combination of two or more meanings as does not amount
to fusion. For example, in a passage in the book of the
Son of Sirach, commonly called Ecclesiasticus, where the
Hebrew has " drought," the Greek has " mountains and
deserts." Now the Hebrew " drought " means also " a dry or
desolate place," and might be translated " deserts." But how
are we to explain the addition " mountains and " ? The
answer is given by the remark of the editors, who tell us
that the Hebrew scribe has written " (of the} mountains " above
the line. The Hebrew of " mountain " is very like the first
two letters of "drought," and the scribe seems to have
suggested this as an alternative. The Greek text combines
the two in what is called a conflation}
1 [20<z] Sir. xliii. 21, "drought" (ain), "mountains "=0*1,1. The antiquity of
the lately discovered Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus appears to be demonstrated by
recent discussions, and is assumed throughout this work. "Sir." is an abbrevia-
tion of " Sirachides," i.e. son of Sirach, and is preferred to "Ecclesiasticus,"
because the latter, when abridged, is liable to be confused with abridgments of
"Ecclesiastes." The Hebrew of xxxix. 15 to xlix. n is edited by Cowley and
Neubauer, Oxford, 1897 ; some earlier and later chapters, by Schechter and
Taylor, Cambridge, 1899.
19
[21] THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
[21] Another Hebrew passage in the same book says,
" with all your heart sing aloud," but the Greek says, " we
sang with all our heart and voice " ; in a third, where the
Hebrew has " count," the Greek has " in number and
measure" The Hebrew of "voice" is quite different from
that of " heart," and so is the Hebrew of " number " from
the Hebrew of " measure." But both tliese additions are
found in tJie Hebrew margin. In the former, the scribe was
influenced by literalism, feeling that people do not sing with
their " heart " but with their " voice " ; in the latter, he
perhaps desired to complete the meaning. 1
[22] These instances give us some notion of the pro-
cesses that result in conflation. The owner of the manu-
script jots down in the margin some various reading if the
text is doubtful, or some explanatory term or amplification
if the text is obscure or incomplete, never dreaming, perhaps,
of the danger of its being hereafter added to the text.
Then a scribe or translator, ignorant of the writer's motive,
and regarding the marginal note either as a part of the
text accidentally omitted, or else as an authoritative
addition, transfers it to the text.
[23] The earliest Christian ecclesiastical writer, Papias,
is perhaps apologising for Mark's redundancy when he says
that the Evangelist " committed no fault ... for he made
it his one object neither to omit anything of wJtat he Jiad
heard nor to misstate anything therein" 2 The italicised
words at all events express that sense of responsibility
which, when accompanied by a want of exact and first-hand
knowledge, naturally leads a scrupulous translator or scribe
into the error of conflation. " The text may be right," he
1 Sir. xxxix. 35, xlii. 7.
a Euseb. H.E. iii. 39, 1 5 (quoting Papias), W<TTC oi/Stv fiiJApre Mdp*oi ovrus (via
ypd\f/as ws 6.irefjLvr)/M&vevffev. ei'dj >dp ^otiJffaTo Trpofotac, row (jLTjSfr Siv 1JKOv<re
irapaXiiretv i) \pe6o affdai TI iv awroij. For the meaning of this, see Ency. Bib.,
"Gospels," 65.
2O
THE ERROR OF CONFLATION [25]
says, " but so may the margin be. It will be best to put
down both."
2. Conflations, mostly caused by obscurity
Of the three instances given above from Ecclesiasticus
only one was caused by possible doubt as to the Hebrew
text. The two others were of an explanatory or amplifica-
tory nature.
[24] But this does not represent the facts in most of
the canonical books of the Septuagint. 1 Presumably the
Hebrew text of those was regarded as more authoritative
than the Hebrew of the son of Sirach. At all events in the
canonical books the Septuagint seems seldom to depart
deliberately from the Hebrew, except to correct expressions
that may have appeared erroneous or unseemly, e.g. anthro-
pomorphisms applied to God, as when it alters "it grieved
him [i.e. God] at his heart" into " he considered [it]." 2 In
these rare instances there was seldom any temptation to
conflate. The translators or editors might naturally feel that
they had expressed the substantial meaning of the Hebrew
by a reverent paraphrase. Why should they spoil their work
by adding a literal rendering that would shock Greek readers ?
But where an obscure Hebrew passage had been either loosely
paraphrased or erroneously translated, there an editor of
the translation might naturally step in to add a marginal
correction, and a scribe might subsequently incorporate it in
the text.
[25] In exceptional cases conflation, sometimes on a
large scale, is caused by supplementary tradition, as in the
story of Jeroboam, where the Septuagint gives two consider-
ably divergent accounts of the way in which he became
king. Many more such cases may be expected in the
Synoptic Gospels. Just as, in the case of Jeroboam, one
1 Daniel is an exception. That is freely amplified and interpolated by the
LXX ; Job less freely. 2 Gen. vi. 6, Siepoi^, comp. viii. 21.
21
[26] THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
tradition might prevail in Judah and another in Israel,
so, as regards some of the words and acts of Jesus, the
Galilaean Church might in the earliest times preserve one
account and the Church in Jerusalem another. But it is
shown by experience that, even where supplementary tradition
intervenes, many diverging expressions in two parallel narra-
tives of the Septuagint may be explained by mistranslation
from Hebrew. The following instance is of great interest
because it presents in the Septuagint a Greek story of which
the Hebrew original has been lost a story manifestly corrupt
and inconsistent, but believed by many scholars to represent
the earliest tradition more faithfully than the Hebrew version
that has been preserved :
I Kings xi. 29 foil. (Heb.) i Kings (LXX only) xii. 24 (0) 1
[26] The story of Ahijah The story of Samaia
(before Jeroboam's flight to (after Jeroboam's return from
Egypt). Egypt).
" And he [Jeroboam or " The word of the Lord
Ahijah 2 ] had clad himself in came to Samaia the [? son
a new garment . . . And of] Enlamei, saying, Take to
Ahijah caught the new gar- thyself (a^) a new garment,
ment that was on him[self| (# 2 ) that which has not passed
and rent it [in] twelve pieces into water? and rend it [in]
and he said to Jeroboam, twelve pieces, and tJwu shalt
Take thee ten pieces . . ." give it to Jeroboam and shalt
[Then comes a long discourse say to him, Thus saith the
with frequent mention of Lord, Take to thyself twelve
David.] pieces to clothe thee. And
1 For this passage, see Swete's edition of the LXX, vol. L pp. 708-710. The
verses are xii. 24 (a)-xii. 24 (z).
2 The last person mentioned is Ahijah, so that " he " would most naturally
mean the prophet. It is so understood by LXX, which inserts "Ahijah."
3 IH&TIOV Kaivbv rd O{IK eiffe\t)\v0l>s eh C5p. The letters flj, o-j, denote (prob-
ably) two translations of one early Hebrew original.
22
THE ERROR OF CONFLATION [29]
Jeroboam took [them]. And
Samaia said, Thus saith the
Lord concerning the ten
tribes of Israel." [Hereupon
follows a version of the
people's remonstrance to
Rehoboam, " And the people
said . . ."]
[27] Here the version preserved by the Septuagint alone,
contains many traces of superior antiquity. It retains the
homely expression about a garment that has never yet " gone
to the wash " as we say in English, though it adds the free
rendering " new." 1 It also retains the manifestly erroneous
"twelve" instead of "ten," caused by mechanical repetition
of the preceding " twelve " or by corruption of the Greek. 2
[28] As regards the change of the imperative, " Take a
new garment," to the statement of fact, " and he had clad "
and " caught," we may compare a passage that comes a
little later where a prophet is speaking, and the Septuagint
has, " And he shall sacrifice on thee . . . and he shall burn
men's bones on thee, and he shall give a sign " ; but in
reality the speech of the prophet terminates at " thee," and
the following words should run " and he gave a sign."
Hence it is easy to understand that an original " Take " may
have been interpreted (a^ " and he took " [i.e. " clad himself
with "], (# 2 ) " and he caught," and this the author of the
extant Hebrew version appears to have done (240), and to
have conflated the two meanings.
[29] The Septuagint version omits the long moralising
discourse about the mercies of God to the house of David.
1 Comp. Mk. ii. 21 (Mt. ix. 16), ayvAQov "that has never gone to the
fuller," where Lk. v. 36 has simply "new."
2 [27a] "To thyself twelve," (reairrv 5<i3e*ca. Possibly the original -ru SCKO,
(w being casually repeated) was written -ruuSfica which suggested -ru Sudtica.
" Corruption of the Greek " will henceforth be called, for brevity, " Greek cor-
ruption."
23
[30] THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
But this may be because the tradition preserved in the
Septuagint originated from Ephraim, that in the Hebrew
from Judah.
3. Rules for returning through a conflation to tlte Original
[30] The consideration of the stories of Ahijah and
Samaia leads us to one excellent rule in attempting to decide
between the claims of two clauses in a conflation, viz.,
" Choose the more difficult, or the less commonplace."
The tendency of later versions is to remove whatever is
rough, homely, or unseemly, and to substitute the easy and
edifying. Thus, above, in the story of Samaia, if " new "
and " never yet gone to the water " constitute a conflation,
the latter is more likely to represent the original Hebrew.
So, too, in Mark, 1 the phrase, " that has not been fulled," is
probably older than the corresponding " new " in Luke. On
this point one of the best instances is from Latin, quoted in
Bacon's Advancement of Learning concerning a scribe who
altered the phrase in the Epistle to the Corinthians, " let
down by a basket (sportam) " into " let down by the gate
(portam)." " Sporta " was comparatively unknown, " porta "
well known, and it is a universal tendency in scribes to
substitute the well known for the less known.
[31] Another general rule will appear to be deducible
from the instances to be hereafter given : the correct rendering
in a conflation mostly follows the incorrect one. For this, a
very natural reason may be given. In the majority of
cases of conflation, the text has been wrong and a marginal
reading has set it right. 2 But when a scribe was copying a
1 Mk. ii. 21 quoted above in footnote.
2 In a few cases, a scribe or editor may be peculiarly eccentric and fond of
novelty, introducing erroneous corrections in the margin. But that would be
comparatively rare in the Septuagint, where the Hebrew was of very high
authority, and the written text was not liable to be largely supplemented by oral
traditions. The tendency of the corrector there would generally be to return to
the literal Hebrew where the Greek had deviated from it.
2 4
THE ERROR OF CONFLATION [34]
manuscript and mistook a marginal correction for an addition,
it was very natural that, in transferring it to the text, he
should place it second, not first. The old clause would
seem to have a sort of claim to precedence, and, apart from
sentiment, the new clause, being of the nature of an appendix
or supplement, would naturally come last. 1
4. Conflation mostly the sign of an early translation
[32] The Septuagint translation, which is generally said
to have been made in the third century before Christ, 2 is far
less accurate than such parts as have come down^to us from
the versions of Aquila and Theodotion, composed in the
second century after Christ. In particular, the Septuagint
version of Daniel abounds with conflations that are excluded
by Theodotion. In the Septuagint itself, some books are
far more faithful to the original than others : for example,
the Septuagint version of Ezra is superior, both in general
accuracy and in freedom from conflations, to the parallel
work in the Septuagint, called the First Book of Esdras.
The dates of these two translations are not known from
external evidence. But internal evidence suggests that the
translation of Ezra is the later.
[33] The oldest manuscript of the Septuagint, the
Codex Vaticanus, is often (though not always) less close to
the Hebrew than the later Codex Alexandrinus ; and the
latter rejects many of the conflations incorporated in the
former.
[34] On the other hand, a version of the Septuagint was
1 [310] This applies merely to marginal additions. Interlinear additions
might be regarded as part of the original text and would be inserted in the text
according to their position in its columns. In the Ecclesiasticus conflations above-
quoted (20), the two Hebrew marginal additions came last, but the interlinear
first, in their several Greek conflations.
2 It is not probable, however, that all the books of the Bible were translated
into Greek at the same time.
25
[35] THE ERROR OF CONFLATION
published in the third century, after Origen's death, by
Lucianus of Antioch. He is said to have espoused the cause
of the literal, as distinct from the allegorical, interpretation
of Scripture ; and perhaps he entered on his task with a bias
against Origen's scholastic labours. At all events Lucianus'
work teems with conflations and precludes us from laying it
down as an invariable rule that a conflative version is earlier
than a non-con flative one.
[35] But, as a whole, applying to the Gospels the
analogy of the Septuagint, we should say that, if the former
were translated from, or corrected by, a Hebrew original, the
Hebrew would be at first freely and inaccurately translated
into Greek ; and the earlier translations, among other features
of inaccuracy, would contain more numerous conflations than
the later.
26
CHAPTER III
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
* I . Specimens of name-conflation l
[36] The Septuagint's name-conflations, and* its general
confusion of names, may be of great historical importance
if they can explain why the later Gospels omit many of
the names in Mark, e.g. Bartimaeus, Boanerges, Abiathar,
Dalmanoutha, and Levi. Moreover, name-conflations show
with special clearness what Hebrew letters are most liable to
be confused. When a word with a meaning is confused
with another, the scribe may be biassed by the meaning ;
but when a word with no meaning is confused with another,
there is seldom any cause for the confusion except similarity
of letters.
Here are a few specimens of name-confusion resulting in
name-conflation :
[37] 2 S. xxiv. 6 : " Dan-jaan "; LXX, " Dan-eidan and
Oudan." [Codex A " Jaran and loudan."]
Ezra viii. 10: "Sons of Shelomith " ; LXX gives this
correctly, but Codex A conflates "sons-of (Heb. Baani)"
taking it first as " sons of," and then as part of the father's
name, " (aj sons of (a^) Baam-seleimmouth."
The parallel I Esdr. viii. 36 has "sons of Santas,
Saleimoth" (A, u sons of Bant, Assalimoth ").
1 For the meaning of the asterisk, see p. xix. n. But 36 and 45 will be found
useful to the general reader. The letters a t and a, denote two Greek renderings
of one Hebrew original.
27
[38] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
Dan. viii. 1 6 : " Gabri-el," lit " man of God," is rightly
given as " Gabriel " by Theodotion. But the LXX has (aj
" Gabriel," and ( 2 ) " man to " because the same Hebrew
word means either " God " or " to." l
[38] Ezra iv. 8-9 : " Rehum the chancellor" lit " master
of judgment" (Heb. Ba"l-Ta"iri). This is translated in the
first book of Esdras (i Esdr. ii. 15) " Rathumus and Beel-
tethmus," (ib. ii. 21) "Rathumus (aj who writes the things
that come before him, and (# 2 ) Beeltethmus," (ib. ii. 16)
" Rathumus who (sic) the things that come before him." (In
Ezra it is translated "Raoul Badatamen" and "Raoum Baal.")
Josh. vii. 24 : " Unto the valley (Heb. EmeK) of Achor";
LXX, " Unto the (aj ravine of Achor . . . unto (a^ Emek-
achor."
Ezra vii. 1 3 (Aramaic) : " And (the) Levites " is correctly
rendered. But the parallel I Esdr. viii. I o has " (a^) and the
Levites (# 2 ) and these" the two words being somewhat similar. 2
2 S. xv. 22 : "' . . . and pass over.' And Ittai . . .
passed over " ; LXX, "'.-.. and pass over (a^ with me!
(# 2 ) And Ittai passed over. . . ." The same letters mean
both " with me " and " Ittai." 3
[39] i Chr. ii. 9-10: "... and Ram and Chelubai.
And Ram begat A."; LXX, " and Ram and Chabel (aj and
Aram. (# 2 ) And Arran begat A"
Judg. vi. ii:" The ^^iezrite." " Ab " (or " Abi ") means
1 This induces LXX to rewrite the whole of the clause containing the name.
The first clause (Aj) follows the Hebrew, but the second (A 2 ) reproduces the
Hebrew word for word in a different sentence with a wrong meaning. The
following is a literal translation : " (Aj) (aj And he called and said, (^) Gabri-el
(cj) instruct (di) that [man] [in] (e^ the vision ; (A,) (0%) And having cried out said
( 2 ) the man, To (c 2 ) the ordinance (<j) that (neut.) (e z ) the vision." The meaning
of A 2 seems to be " The man said ' The vision is with a view to that ordin-
ance '" ; it follows the Hebrew literally, though wrongly (perhaps reading pnn " the
ordinance " for pn "instruct ") and was perhaps thought by the conflator an improve-
ment on the original. This is a case where the incorrect clause of a conflation
comes second. 2 ' ' And (the) Levites " = KI^I ; " and these " = n
" With me " = " Ittai " = .
28
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [43]
" father." Hence LXX, " The father of Esdrei." Codex
A conflates " (aj The father of (# 2 ) A&iezri."
Judg. i. 15 : " Caleb gave her." " Ca-" may mean
"according to," and "leb" may mean "heart." Hence LXX,
" (a^) Caleb gave to her (# ) according to her heart?
[40] In Judg. i. 27, "and her towns" is repeated six
times. The R.V. marg. informs us that the literal transla-
tion is " and her daughters" the villages being regarded as
" daughters " of the central town.
The LXX four times conflates " and her suburbs " * with
" and her daughters " (in varying order), and twice has
simply "and her daughters." Codex A has merely "and
her daughters" except in the first of the six instances,
where it adds " and her scattered (hamlets)."
[41] Mic. vi. 16: "the statutes of Omri"; LXX, "the
laws of my people . . . the ordinances of Zambrei" the
two words being similar. 2
[42] 2 S. iii. 12: " sent . . . on his behalf" marg.
" where lie was " : an instance of the conversion of a phrase
into (a) a name, as part of a triple conflate. The Hebrew
means (aj " in the place of a person " (that is, " in his be/ialf"}
and (# 2 ) " in the place where he was" But (# 2 ), in Greek,
might suggest (<z 3 ) " immediately" The LXX first treats it
as (a) a proper name, and then adds the meanings # 2 and a 3 :
" sent (a) to Thailam, (# 2 ) where he was, (# 3 ) immediately" 3
[43] Judg. iv. 17: "Heber the Kenite," LXX "(^)
Chaber, (<2 2 ) a companion of the Kenite" (or, "the Kenite
companion "). The word " Chaber " means " companion."
Codex A omits "companion."
1 TO. ircploiKo. ai/rifr. 2 My people ('Dp)," "Omri
3 The Hebrew (txt.) is innn followed by ion 1 ? ("saying"). Probably the LXX
combined the n, which begins the former, with the "?, which begins the latter.
Instead of GaiXa/x ou T\V, "Thailam where he was," A has QijXapov yrjv, "the
land of Thelamus" an interesting instance of Greek corruption. The Greek
a.M9ev "from the place," like our "on the spot," sometimes means "immedi-
ately."
29
[44] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
[44] I S. xxi. 2 (Hebr. 3) : " to such and such a place,"
LXX " in the place called (aj God's Faith, (a. 2 ) Phellanei
Maemoni." The Hebrew freely rendered " such and such "
is " Pelouni-Elmouni" which has a very distant resemblance
to a combination of " Elohim " (i.e. " God ") and " Emunah "
(i.e. " faith ").*
[45] One of the most remarkable instances of name-
conflation is to be found in the list of David's eleven sons
born in Jerusalem. The LXX converts eleven to twenty-four,
adopting two different versions, represented below by i. and
ii., and placing the whole of ii. after the whole of i., thus :
2 S. v. 14-15
fHebr. (i) Shammua, (2) Shobab, (3) Nathan, (4) Solomon, (5) Ibhar,
-j (i.) LXX (i) Saramous, (2) Sobab, (3) Nathan, (4) Salomon, (5) Ebear,
[(ii.) LXX (i) Samae, (2) Jesseibath, (3) Nathan, (4) Galamaan, (5) Jebaar,
fHebr. (6) Elishua, (7) Nepheg, (8)Japhia,
J(i.)LXX(6) El(e)isous, (7) Naphek, (8)Jephies,
i(ii. ) LXX (6) (a) Theesous, (b) Eliphalat, 2 (7) (a) Naged, (3) Naphek, (8) Janatha,
fHebr. (9) Elishama, (10) Eliada, (ii) Eliphelet,
J (i.) LXX (9) El(e)isama, (10) Epidae, (ii) El(e)iphaath,
[(ii.) LXX (9) Leasamus, (10) Baaleimath, (ii) Eleiphaath,
The second list is (33) omitted by Codex A. It is
worth noting that the more inaccurate of the two Greek
versions comes (contrary to (31) the usual rule) after the
more accurate one. Perhaps the list denoted by ii. was
perceived to be so grossly inaccurate that it was not allowed
precedence, though the scribe of the Codex Vaticanus did not
like to reject it altogether as the Codex Alexandrinus does.
* 2. " Darius " 3
Hitherto, the instances of name -conflation have been
interesting chiefly as exemplifications of scribal error, and
1 I S. xxi. 2 (Hebr. 3) 'JD^K 'bs, 0eoO IM<ms, *e\\ayeJ
2 An anticipation of the eleventh name.
3 For the meaning of the asterisk, see p. xix. n.
30
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [47]
of the mental tendency to substitute the known for the
unknown, and also of the general obscurity of Hebrew
written without vowel - points ; but none have risen to the
level of a great historical error. Such an instance we now
proceed to give.
[46] It relates to the Persian sovereigns who at first
hindered and finally sanctioned that rebuilding of the
Jewish temple which began in the first year of Cyrus king
of Persia. The book of Ezra describes the Jews as coming
up under Cyrus, and erecting the altar, and proceeding a
little way with the building of the temple "in the second
year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem." l
But at this point
Ezra iv. 4-24 (R.V. (txt.)) z : " The people of the land
weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled
them in building, (5) and hired counsellors against them, to
frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia,
even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. (6) And in
the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote
they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and
Jerusalem. (7) And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote
Bishlam, 3 Mithredath . . . unto Artaxerxes. . . . [Here
follows the letter to Artaxerxes, and his reply forbidding
the erection of the temple.] (iv. 24) Then ceased the
work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and it
ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king
of Persia."
[47] This is quite intelligible if Ahasuerus and Arta-
xerxes represent Persian sovereigns (preceding Darius), in
1 Ezra iii. 8. Concerning the txt. of Ezr. iv. 6 f., see Adeney and Bennett's
Biblical Introduction, p. 119, "The text is probably corrupt," i.e. the Hebrew
and the Aramaic.
2 Henceforth the Revised Version will usually be denoted, as here, by R.V.
and the Authorised Version by A.V.
3 But the LXX takes B as meaning "in" (which it does), and shim as
meaning "peace," and tells us that the letter was written "in peace."
31
[48] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
whose reigns the building was in abeyance. We should
then regard verses 6-23 as a long parenthesis (the Hebrew
" and " in verse 6 being equivalent, as it often is, to " for "
or "now") explaining the machinations by which the
permission given by Cyrus was withdrawn and the temple
brought to a stand.
But " Ahasuerus " is generally supposed to mean Xerxes
the son of Darius, and Artaxerxes is supposed to be the
son of Xerxes, and it is manifest that letters to the successors
of Darius seem quite out of place here.
[48] Turning to the parallel statement in the first
book of Esdras (ii. 16) we find no mention of Ahasuerus,
but only of Artaxerxes as receiving this letter and as con-
sequently forbidding the building.
The actual succession of Persian sovereigns was (i.)
Cyrus ; (ii.) his son Cambyses ; (iii.) a pretender, Smerdis
(who reigned but a few months) ; (iv.) Darius the son of
Hystaspis, after whom followed Xerxes and then Artaxerxes. 1
But Cambyses is never mentioned ; and Xerxes (if he is
meant by Ahasuerus), together with Artaxerxes, seem
mentioned out of place. The question arises whether the
original Hebrew terms for any of these kings (" Cyrus,"
"Darius," "Ahasuerus," "Artaxerxes") are liable to be
confused and whether they are actually confused.
[49] As regards actual confusion, we find that (i.) the
Hebrew (or Aramaic) Daniel mentions a " Darius the Mede "
of whom no trace has been found in history. (ii.) This
" Darius the Mede " is described as conquering Babylon,
whereas Cyrus was the real conqueror. 2 (iii.) The Hebrew
Daniel implies, and the Septuagint expressly states, that
" Cyrus received from [him]," i.e. succeeded to, the kingdom
1 The eldest son of Xerxes was called Darius, presumably named thus after
his grandfather Darius. But he was killed before ascending the throne, so that
Artaxerxes succeeded Xerxes. The Greeks commonly named an eldest son after
the grandfather. a Dan. v. 31.
32
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [51]
of Darius. 1 (iv.) In one passage, both the Septuagint and
Theodotion substitute " Cyrus " for the Hebrew " Darius." *
(v.) In the first passage in which the Hebrew mentions
" Darius the Mede," the Septuagint has " Artaxerxes the [?]
of the Medes." 3 (vi.) A subsequent mention speaks of (Dan.
ix. i) "the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (LXX,
Xerxes) of the seed of the Medes," according to which this
non-historical Darius has a father of the same name as the
son (Xerxes) of the historical Darius.
[50] The possibilities of Hebrew corruption in (a)
" Ahasuerus," and () " Artaxerxes " are in themselves con-
siderable, as may be seen from some of the Greek attempts
to transliterate them, e.g. (a) " Astheros," (b) " Asarthatha,"
" Astartha," etc., and from the fact that, in some texts of
Esther, Ahasuerus is called by various forms of the name
Artaxerxes. 4
[51] But, further, both these words closely resemble
another Persian word meaning "governor." It is trans-
literated in our Revised Version " Tirshatha," but the
Septuagint represents it by forms still more like the names
above-mentioned: Athersaa, Athersatha, Asersatha. And
how easily Asersatha might be taken as a proper name
appears from a passage in the first book of Esdras : " And
Naimias and Atharias said unto them that they should
not partake of the holy things " ; where the parallel passage
in Ezra has, " And Athersaa said unto them that they
should not eat of the holy of holies " ; and the Revised
1 Dan. vi. 28 : LXX, KO/xw 6 Ile'/xr^s irapAa/3e rty f)a<riXelcu> avrov: Theod.,
as Hebr., " Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the
Persian."
2 Dan. xi. i: "Darius the Mede"; LXX, "Cyrus the king"; Theod.
"Cyrus."
3 Dan. v. 31, 'APTO<?/>T;J 6 ruv MiJSwv. This would naturally mean "Arta-
xerxes, the [person of that name belonging to] the Medes." But there must be
some error. See, however, 125.
4 Black, Ency. Bib., "Artaxerxes" and "Ahasuerus."
3 33
[52] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
Version, " And the TirshatJia (marg. or, governor) said
unto them." J It is obvious that this word might easily
be taken to mean the governor of Babylon, or confused
with the Hebrew equivalents of Artaxerxes and Xerxes.
[52] Now let us return to the passage in Ezra quoted at
the beginning of this section about (a) plots in the days of
Cyrus, (b) letters (authors unnamed) written "in the reign of
Ahasuerus," and (c] letters from Bishlam and others " in the
days of Artaxerxes." The first step to its elucidation is to
examine the parallel passage in the First Book of Esdras.
Doing this, we find that Esdras takes the passage to pieces
and places two of the pieces at different stages of his
narrative. Beginning with an appearance of logical order,
he mentions (V) the letter from Bishlam 2 and his companions
before its consequence the stopping of the temple-building.
Esdras says that it was written in the time of Artaxerxes.
After giving the letter and the reply, he says that in
consequence of the prohibition of Artaxerxes, building
ceased till the second year of Darius? Then comes a
legendary account of Darius' permission to rebuild and then
an account of the founding of the temple. And now, most
inconsistently and preposterously, he places (a) the plotting
during " all the days of the life of King Cyrus" and repeats
a second time his statement about hindering till the reign of
Darius, only in a corrupt form : " and they were hindered
from building two years till the reign of Darius ! "
[53] Where is (b] the remaining piece (mentioning
Ahasuerus) ? Nowhere. Now, as a rule, Esdras conflates
and amplifies, but does not omit anything that is given by
Ezra. The absence of the name of Ahasuerus in Esdras,
combined with the evidence of its confusion with Artaxerxes
elsewhere, point to the conclusion that Esdras regarded the
1 Ezra ii. 63 = 1 Esdr. v. 40. The LXX of parallel Neh. vii. 65 has
"Asersatha," but AN " Athersatha. "
2 I Esdr. ii. 15 (16). * Ib., 30 (31). * Ib., v. 70 (73).
34
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [55]
former as an erroneous repetition of the latter in a different
shape. If that is the case, the passage quoted at the
beginning of this section (Ezra iv. 4-6) is a Hebrew confla-
tion. In any case we must conclude that great doubt
attaches to all the Hebraic statements about Artaxerxes,
Ahasuerus, and Darius the Mede. 1
[54] It is even possible that the letters that stopped the
building, if any letters were written at all, may have been
written to, and by, Cyrus, or his representative at Babylon.
Otherwise it must seem very extraordinary that a permission
given by Cyrus in the first year of his Persian^ reign was
abrogated during the rest of his reign without any counter-
mand on his part But if a countermand was issued by
him, or by his representative, it might well happen that
Jewish chroniclers would be unwilling to describe such a
prohibition as coming from Cyrus, whom they regard as the
Lord's instrument for good. 2 They would naturally prefer
a vague term such as "the sovereign," using some Persian
word. This might be subsequently defined, or rendered in
translation, as " Xerxes " or " Artaxerxes."
3. Luke's misunderstanding about Herod Antipas
[55] As compared with the translators of Ezra and
Esdras, evangelists toward the end of the first century would
have the advantage of being much nearer to the events they
related : but they would also have a great disadvantage
the presence of a multitude of (i.) oral traditions, (ii.) written
interpretations of the Hebrew Logia, (iii.) marginal comments
on the latter in Hebrew (or sometimes Aramaic) or Greek.
Hence it is impossible to accept without hesitation any
important statement of fact made even by so painstaking
1 As regards Darius some confusion may have been caused to Jewish writers
by his being called "the son of Hystaspis."
2 SezEncy. Bib., CYRUS, 5.
35
[56] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
a writer as Luke on his sole authority, if it appears that the
other evangelists had no inducement at all to omit the fact,
supposing they knew of it, and if the fact supposing it to
be a fact was of very great interest to all Christians.
[56] These considerations apply to the statement, made
by Luke alone, that Herod Antipas examined our Lord
before the Crucifixion. A prophecy in Isaiah, 1 commonly
regarded as Messianic, predicted that the Sufferer should be
dumb "as a lamb that is led to the slaughter." All the
other Evangelists represent Jesus (after the brief reply " Thou
sayest ") as " answering nothing " to Pilate. Luke alone
refers this to Herod, thus :
Mark xv. 5 Matth. xxvii. 14 Luke xxiiL 9
"But Jesus no " And he answered "But he [Herod]
longer answered any- him to never a word, questioned him with
thing, so that Pilate so that the governor many words, but he
marvelled." marvelled greatly." made no answer to
him."
Two hypotheses are almost equally incredible, (i.) that
the earliest evangelists omitted this knowing it to be true ;
(ii.) that Luke inserted it knowing it to be false. We are
led to consider a third hypothesis, (iii.) that Luke inserted it
under a misunderstanding.
In the context, some words of Pilate are given by Mark
thus, " Will ye that I release for you the king of the Jews ? "
by Matthew, " Whom will ye that / release for you, Barabbas
or Jesus who is called Christ ? " by Luke, " Having therefore
chastised him I will release him." This indicates early
divergence in the context of this tradition about " releasing."
Now Luke never puts into Pilate's mouth the jesting applica-
/tion of " king " to Jesus. John emphasises it, using once
the phrase, "your king." 2
Suppose, then, an original tradition, " Pilate said to the
1 Is. liii. 7.
8 Mk. xv. 9, Mt xxvii. 17, Lk. xxiii. 16 : "for you" = fyu> : Jn. xix. 15.
36
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [57]
Jews that he would release Jesus their king" The Greek
word used by Mark to mean " release " may also mean, and
is used by Mark elsewhere to mean, " send away," and the
Hebrew original might have the same double meaning. 1
Hence some interpreters who perhaps thought it impossible
that a Roman Governor should thus jest about a " king "
might easily render the tradition, either by Hebrew or by
Greek corruption, " Pilate said to the Jews that he would I y
send away Jesus to their king" Now Herod Antipas, though |
only a tetrarch, might be called " king " for courtesy, and
the adopters of this tradition might argue that Herod would
naturally be in Jerusalem for the Passover, and* that Pilate,
when addressing a mingled crowd of Galilaean pilgrims and
Jews, might style him thus, especially if he wished to pay
him a compliment. 2 A marginal explanation might naturally
be added to justify this novel interpretation, stating that
Pilate remitted the accused to the tetrarch of Galilee
because (as Luke states) he ascertained that Jesus was a /
Galilaean, under the jurisdiction of Antipas.
In order to do full justice to this hypothesis, we ought
to compare other passages where Luke, with a perfectly
honest intention, seems to have been led astray by mistrans-
lation. This we are not as yet able to do. For the present,
however, the reader may be fairly asked to keep an open
mind on this story about Antipas, expecting to return to it
again with the advantage of cumulative evidence on similar
points. And perhaps, even now, some may feel that hypo-
thesis (iii.) is at least more probable than (i.) or (ii.)-
[57] No doubt, after Luke's tradition had originated
from a corruption, or misunderstanding, of the text, it would
be favoured and developed from controversial motives,
1 Comp. Mk. viii. 9, drAwer OI/TOUJ, "he sent them away."
2 Herod Antipas is called " king " in Mk. vi. 14 /., Mt. xiv. 9. Luke would
not probably in his own person call Antipas "king," but he might accept a tradi-
tion that Pilate called him "king" when he wanted to (Lk. xxiii. 12) conciliate
the tetrarch.
37
[58] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
because it fulfilled the Psalmist's words that " kings and
rulers " should " take counsel together against the Lord and
his Christ," and also because it shifted some of the blame
from Pilate on to the Jewish prince. This last motive is
apparent in the opening words of Pseudo-Peter : l " But of
the Jews none washed his hands, neither Herod nor a single
one of his judges? Here the phrase "his judges" may
indicate the Hebrew origin of Luke's phrase " Herod and his
men of war" The original may have been " men of conten-
tion" i*. the adversaries, or accusers, of Jesus. The Hebrew
word is rendered in Greek " battle " six times, " adversary "
twice, "trial" six times, and "judgment" twenty -seven. 2
The indication of Hebraic origin shews the antiquity of
Luke's misunderstanding.
[58] Very frequently indeed when Luke deviates from a
passage of Mark in the Triple Tradition, it will be found
that John steps in, throwing light on the deviation. Hence
it is reasonable here to ask whether John has, in any shape,
an account of Pilate's remission of the trial to a Governor
of the Jews. There is none, of any actual remission ; but
John asserts that Pilate bade the chief priests take the
accused and conduct the trial for themselves.
[59] Now in the Bible the title of " princes " or " rulers "
is frequently applied in the Hebrew text to the chiefs of the
priests, causing much perplexity to the Greek translators.
For example, Chronicles speaks of " the chiefs (or princes) of
the priests and the people " where the Septuagint has " the
nobles of Judah, and the priests, and the people of the earth,"
and the parallel Esdras has " and moreover the rulers of the
1 The Gospel according to Peter, I, otfW 'HpxiS^j ovS' els r(av KDITUV avrov.
The words come at the mutilated commencement of the Gospel, so that it is not
clear to whom ai/roO refers.
* Is. xlL u, "adversaries," Heb. men of contention," arrtSucoi, Job xxxi. 35,
/card. In Jer. 1. 34, li. 36, where the meaning is ("legal) cause," LXX has
AvrlSucot. See also Trommius on an. Luke's word, ffrparev/JMTO, does not occur
in Heb. LXX.
38
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [62]
people and of the priests "\ and where Ezra speaks of " the
princes of the priests" the Septuagint has simply " rulers." 1
[60] If therefore some tradition was current in the
Christian Church at Jerusalem that " Pilate gave command
to send Jesus for trial to the Prince of the priests and to the
men of contention," and if this was taken to mean " a Prince
of the Jewish people and his men of war," this would suggest
another way of explaining Luke's story.
The possibility of applying reasoning deducible from
Septuagint name-conflations to passages in the Gospels, may
be confirmed by facts relating to the only cure of blindness
recorded by all the Synoptists, which will be *the subject
of the next section.
4. " The Son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus"*
[61] This name is recorded by Mark alone. "Bar-"
means " son of." Hence " the son of Timaeus " and " Bar-
timaeus " mean the same thing. But Mark puts the two
words together, as though they were two Greek names.
Elsewhere, when he gives the interpretation of an Aramaic
appellation, he says " Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder " ;
and Luke says, " Barnabas, which is, Son of consolation."
But here the usual phrase denoting interpretation is omitted.
Moreover, the order here is strange. We should expect, as
in the two passages just quoted, that the Aramaic would
come first, and the interpretation second, " Bar-timaeus, which i
is, Son of Timaeus."
[62] Suspicion is also thrown on the name by four facts,
(i.) It is rejected by all the later Gospels, (ii.) Matthew
mentions two blind men, which suggests that he had before
1 2 Chr. xxxvi. 14 "chiefs of (nr)" ; LXX, o! tvdooi 'Ioi55o /cal oi le/xts U 6
Xads TT)S 77?$. . . ., I Esdr. i. 47, /caJ oi ^701^0/01 S* TOV XooO <co2 ruv Ifpttav.
Comp. Ezra x. 5 : "the chiefs of the priests ; " LXX simply &PXOVTOLS, but parall.
I Esdr. viii. 92 <f>v\dpxovs TWV iepttav.
2 Mk. x. 46, Mt. xx. 30, Lk. xviii. 35. "Bar-" is late Hebrew and Aramaic
for " son of." It is very rare in O.T. The usual form is " Ben-".
39
[63] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
him some tradition that so far agreed with Mark as to
recognise two names, but did not venture to give them as
authoritative, (iii.) The Sinaitic Syrian and the Arabic
Diatessaron agree with the Peshitta in reading " Timai the
son of Timai." (iv.) Timaeus is an ancient Greek name,
meaning " honourable." But Greek words are rarely, if ever,
found after the Aramaic prefix " Bar-." We find Bar-nabas,
Bar-jona, Bar-sabas, Bar-jesus, Bar-abbas but never such an
apparent hybrid as this. This last fact might indeed be used as
an argument for the genuineness of the name : " If Mark had
invented it, would he have gone out of his way to invent a
hybrid ? " Certainly not, but he may have created an
apparent hybrid, by transliterating a Hebrew gloss so as to
produce an impossible name.
[63] Before going further, we may remark that such an
argument as " the author would not have invented the name "
often falls to the ground in the face of even a very slight
amount of evidence showing that the name may Jiave sprung
from a gloss.
For example, the Acta Sanctorum commemorates the
martyrdom of the soldier who pierced Christ's side with a
" spear." John calls the spear " lonche," and the " soldier "
is appropriately called " Longinus," which happens to be a
Latin name. Everyone can see how easily a Latin marginal
gloss may have originated this, and few students would
hesitate to accept this explanation. Similarly, too, perhaps,
may be explained the very early name " Dysmas," applied to
the penitent malefactor who was on the right hand of the
Cross. The word is a transliteration of the Greek term for
" sunset " or " west," and if the Cross faced the south, the
Latin Church may have welcomed the symbolical suggestion
that the West repented while the East remained impenitent. 1
1 This, if we could similarly explain the name of the impenitent malefactor
" Gistas " (or " Gestas "), might be regarded as almost certain. At present it has
only a fair probability.
40
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [65]
The earliest mention of Dysmas is in the text of the Acta
Pilati, and perhaps the earliest mention of Longinus is in
a MS. of that work, but no one accuses the author, or the
scribe, of " inventing." The names grew.
[64] It remains to shew that names could "grow" in the
same way in the Bible. Above (42), only one such instance
was given. But here are others : *
(a) i Chr. xxv. 4-5, tells us that "God gave to Heman
fourteen sons and three daughters," and prefixes the names
of the sons. But some of them, " at least the last six," are
fashioned out of "a prayer or meditation." Instead of
" Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, etc.," we are to Vead, " Be
gracious to me, Jah, Be gracious to me, thou art my God,"
and so on.
() I Chr. iv. 21. " Jashubi-lehem " has arisen from a
misunderstanding of the text, "And they returned to
Bethlehem."
(c) i Chr. ii. 25/ "Ahijah", is probably "to be struck
out, having arisen from an original misinterpretation of ' his
brother.' "
(d) i Chr. Hi. 17, 18. " Assir," as a proper name, "arose
from a misunderstanding of the adj. assir meaning captive."
(e) i Chr. viii. 1 3/ " Ahio " is " certainly to be rejected,"
being, like (c}, a confusion of " brother."
(/) i Chr. viii. 44. " Bocheru " should be read as "his
first-born " (the unpointed consonants being capable of either
interpretation).
(g) i Chr. xxiv. 26 and 27. " Beno," which occurs twice
as a proper name, means " his son." In the first case,
whereas LXX omits it, A conflates it as " Sons of Beno " ! *
[65] The preceding instances are taken from the Old
1 See Hastings' Diet. Bib. vol. ii. pp. (a) 124, (b) 126, (c) 126, (d) 127, (e) 131,
(/) 131, (g) 125.
2 To these may be added I K. iv. 8. " Ben-hur," EcuAp (A, B- wtoi up, i.e.
"Ben, sonofHor").
41
[65] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
Testament. We shall now adduce one from the New
the insertion by Mark of a name that is omitted by Matthew
and Luke, and that is contrary to historical facts.
rMk. ii. 25-26. " Have ye never read what David did . . .
how he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was
high priest? Turning to the history we find, " Then came
David to Nob to Ahimeleck the priest, and Ahimelech came
to meet him ..." and it is then said that Ahimelech gave
David some of the shew-bread. 1 No one denies that
Ahimelech, not Abiathar, was " the priest " in question, so
that Mark has apparently assigned a mis-statement to Christ. 2
Even those who in spite of Matthew's and Luke's omission
of the name accept unhesitatingly the authenticity of " the
son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus," hesitate about, or reject, the
statement that " Abiathar was high priest " at the time in
question.
The solution of the difficulty is probably to be found in
the similarity, in Hebrew, between (i.) " to the house of the
priest"; and (ii.)J " Abiathar the priest," 3 the former being
the correct rendering of the original. Later interpreters took
" the house," to mean (iii.) " the House of God," as it often
does ; 4 and this, in Matthew and Luke, supplanted (i.).
Mark added (iii.) to his text. Then, since " To the House
of God to the house of the priest," made no sense, it was
natural to adopt a gloss interpreting " to the house of," as
"Abiathar" the particular high priest whose name is
most frequently associated with that of David. 5
1 i S. xxi. 1-6.
2 Few competent judges would accept, as an explanation, so forced a rendering
as "in the presence of Abiathar [afterwards] high priest." Professor Swete says
" the clause is peculiar to Mark and may be an editorial note."
3 "To the house of" = n'aVN (or hy for SK as in I S. ii. Ii quoted below),
' ' Abiathar " = nn'3.
4 If or. Hebr. i. 64-5, says that the Court of the Gentiles was called " the
Mountain of the House" i.e., the Temple.
8 In i S. ii. ii "He went to his (Elkanah's) house (irraSy)" is omitted by
42
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
[66] Returning now to " the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus,"
we are justified by the evidence of name-errors in the Old
Testament (and apparently in Mark's own Gospel), by the
difficulties inherent in the name, and by the deviations of
early versions, in attaching much more weight than before
to the non-insertion of the names in Matthew and Luke, and
to the fact that Matthew mentions two persons instead of
one. But, proceeding by analogy, we shall not be justified
in saying that Mark " invented " the name. The right
question to ask is, " What kind of gloss could have originated
the name ? "
This question appears to be met by the" fact that
" Bartimaeus " is represented as a " beggar," and that, in the
only instances in which the word " beg " occurs in the Bible,
it is implied that begging is a degradation reserved for the
children of sinners : " I have been young and now am old,
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed
begging their bread " : " Let his (i.e., the sinner's) children be
vagabonds and beg" x That " sinners," in such a case, might
be called " the unclean " is indicated by the Horae Hebraicae ;
" It was a received doctrine in the Jewish schools, that
children, according to some wickedness of their parents, were
born lame, or crooked ... by which they kept parents in
awe, lest they should grow remiss and negligent in the per-
formance of such rites which had respect to their being clean,
such as washings, purify ings, etc." 2 Accordingly, in the case
of the man born blind, described by John concerning whom
the disciples ask whether he or his parents had sinned when
we find the Pharisees saying to the afflicted man, " Thou
wast altogether born in sin" it appears that they may have
included parental " undeanness " in their imputation of sin.
LXX, which inserts "before the Lord." Is the latter based on a rendering of
"his house," as " His House," i.e., the House of God? If so, A, which adds
" to their house," has a conflation.
1 Ps. xxxvii. 25, cix. IO. Comp. Sir. xl. 28. " Better it is to die than to beg."
2 Hor. Heir. , on Jn. ix. 2, and comp. ib. on Mk. vii. 4.
43
[67] CONFLATIONS OF NAMES
[67] We have been led, then, step by step, to the con-
clusion that the name " Bartimaeus " is an editorial addition
derived from some marginal gloss, and that it may have
referred to some parental " sin " or " uncleanness." If we
can find no such reference latent in " Bartimaeus," the con-
clusion must remain a mere reasonable conjecture, but if we
can find one, the probability of the conclusion will be greatly
increased.
The reader will perhaps be surprised to hear that the
most natural Hebrew root from which " Timaeus " could
have been obtained by transliteration is the Old Testament
word in regular use to denote " unclean." " Why," he may
ask, " did not commentators suggest this origin ? " The
answer is that probably many of them assumed that
Bartimaeus must be "well known in the times of the Apostles,"
and perhaps were also induced by the Greek meaning of
Timaeus to suppose that it had a favourable meaning. 1
How could a man who was " well known " or " famous " in
the days of the Apostles bear a name that meant " son of
the unclean ? " But those who approach the discussion of
the name with no prejudice in favour of its being a name of
honourable signification, and with minds open to believe
that Mark may have been led astray here by a gloss, as he
appears to have been in the case of Abiathar, will be
prepared by the above-mentioned considerations to accept
as highly probable the conclusion that the name sprang from
an early Jewish gloss stating that this afflicted man had
been called by the Pharisees " son of the unclean."
1 Hor. Hebr. suggests "son of admiration (,iD'n)," "son of profit (DB)," or
"son of one blind " (x'D'n being used for KD'D). Victor, quoted by Prof. Swete
ad loc. } says, dvonatrrl SeS^Xw/cev 6 Map/to; . . . wj ffKftavTJ rbre ovra, a word
that means " famous," " illustrious," more often than " well-known. Prof. Swete
himself says " Ba/mjwuoj ... is clearly a patronymic analogous to ~Bap6o\o(tn.Tos,
=(?) 'KO013." The letters KDO mean nothing but "unclean," "defiled," etc., in
O.T. But Prof. Swete does not draw any inference from the letters. He says,
" Bengel is doubtless right in saying : ' notus Apostolorum tern pore Bartimaeus.' "
44
CONFLATIONS OF NAMES [68]
[68] On this supposition, the omission of the words of
interpretation (" which is "), the silence of Luke, the mention
of " two blind men " in Matthew, and the various reading
" Timai the son of Timai," are all explicable. We cannot
indeed feel sure whether the original gloss was simply
" Timai," or " Timai the son of Timai." But in either case,
(i.) the transference of the gloss into the text explains why
Mark omits the usual words of interpretation ; (ii.) doubt
about the authenticity of the gloss might lead Matthew to
reject the two names while inferring that there were two
persons ; (iii.) conviction that it was non-authentic would
lead Luke to omit it altogether. 1
This conviction, whether it was Luke's or not, may very
well commend itself to careful and dispassionate students of
the New Testament.
1 As an il^tration of the use of "Timai" (apart from vowel points) we may
quote the taactment about the leper, Lev. xiii. 45-46, "He shall cry, Unclean,
Unclean (KDB NDB)," where the LXX has "he shall be called unclean." In con-
clusion it should be noted that Matthew omits mention of "begging." This may
have been caused, not by a desire to suppress the fact, but from a confusion between
"asking" for bread, and "asking" for pity. Luke alone inserts that the man
"inquired who it was." This may be another version of the "asking" (i.e.
"begging").
45
CHAPTER IV
CONFLATIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS, DATES, ETC.
I . Technical terms
TECHNICAL terms, since they approach the nature of
names, are almost equally liable to conflation, of which the
following are instances :
[69] I S. x. 5 : (lit) "Where [there] the garrison 0/the
Philistines is," LXX " Where is there the (a^) erection of the
foreigners, there (# 2 ) Naseib the foreigner." * Here " garrison "
is first translated " erection " and then transliterated. The
twofold translation of one word causes the repetition of the
context. This often happens on a much larger scale.
2 K. ix. 1 3 : " On the top of (grni) the stairs," LXX " On
the garem of the stairs." Codex A, by Greek corruption,
reads " gar ena," i.e. "for one of the steps." The version of
Lucianus conflates thus, " on (aj one (neut.) of the (a^) garem
on (0 3 ) one (fem.) of the steps." 2
[70] Josh. v. i o : " At even, in the plains of (d'rbtfc)
Jericho," LXX " from the evening, (aj from the west of
Jericho, (# 2 ) on the otlier side of Jordan, (a s ) in the plain"
The " Arabah " was the technical name given to the low-
lying country about Jericho and the Dead Sea, the southern
valley of the Jordan. The Hebrew here is " Araboth," the
1 I S. x. 5, " where "=in Heb. the indecl. rel. followed by "there," lit.
' ' which there. " This perplexes the LXX. ' ' Foreigners (d\X6#i>X<x) " is the regular
rendering of " Philistines." " Garrison-of " = -3W.
a Codex A. yap eva. R.V. marg. has "the bare stairs."
4 6
CONFLATIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. [72]
plural of " Arabah." Aquila frequently renders it " the level."
But the root also means " evening " and " west." 1 Again,
d'rb is sometimes confused with d'br meaning " on the other
side of." The LXX is influenced by these possibilities.
It introduces " Jordan " from a vague feeling that this is
implied by the term " Arabah." But again " on the other
side o/" Jordan " is a familiar phrase, and a slight transposition
in the word for " west " converts it into " on the other side."
The result is a triple conflation of two inaccurate translations
with one accurate one, which comes last. 2
[71] A very similar introduction of "Jordan" occurs in
Matthew's and Luke's accounts of John the Baptist. Mark
mentions " the men of Jerusalem and the country of Judaea,"
meaning " the country " as distinct from " the capital city "
of Judaea, or, in other words, the country round about tfie
city. For clearness, " country " was probably changed to
" country-round-about." But this term is habitually con-
nected, in Genesis, with "Jordan." Matthew and Luke adopt
" the-surrounding-country of Jordan." 3
[72] 2 S. xix. 18: "And there -went- across (a'br) the
ferry-boat (a"br t lit. crossing) to bring-across (a"br) the king's
household " ; LXX, " (A x ) and they ministered (d'bd) the
ministration (d'bd} to bring - across the king, ( A 2 ) and
there-went across the going-across to stir up the house of the
king."
The confusion of the Hebrew r and d shewn (5-8)
to be of constant occurrence here causes " go across (d'br) "
1 [70a] Josh. v. 10: LXX, ' 'From the west (/iirb SV<T/J.UV)." Awnal , when = anyo,
is "westward" (as in I Chr. vii. 28); when = n3iy, it is "plain," as in Num.
xxii. i, xxxiii. 48.
2 The LXX may have been further confused by the fact that the word cfrb
occurs in the context in its usual sense of " evening."
3 Mk. i. 5, Mt. iii. 5, Lk. iii. 3. Comp. Jn. xi. 55 : " Out of the country"
i.e. the country round about Jerusalem. IlepLxwpos is connected with "Jordan"
in Gen. xiii. 10, n, and is used absolutely to mean "the circle of the Jordan," in
Gen. xiii. 17, 28.
47
[73] CONFLATIONS
to be confused in A l with " minister (a'bd}? In A 2 , this
error is corrected, though a new one is introduced. 1
[73] This passage may have a bearing on one in Mark
where Jesus is said to have ordered that a boat should be
" in attendance " on Him. The two words " boat " and
" attend " may there, as here, be a conflation. 2 Matthew and
Luke omit all reference to the boat. Elsewhere (171) Mark
and Matthew mention a " boat " but Luke omits it.
[74] Ex. xxi. 6 : " Then his master shall bring him unto
God (Elohim)? (R.V. marg. and A.V., " the judges ") ; LXX,
" (tfj) the judgment-place (# 2 ) of God? conflating the usual
with the unusual meaning of Elohim.
[75] 2 S. xv. 1 8 (lit. Heb.) : "And all his servants passed
on at his hand, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites,
and all the Gittites, six hundred men, who came at his feet
(i.e. after him) from Gath, passed on before the king."
The translators were perplexed partly by the titles of
David's bodyguard, partly by other confusions of which the
explanation would be too lengthy. The result is the follow-
ing triple conflation in the LXX.
The first (a^ confuses " the Gittites " and " six hundred
men," and also " Gath."
The second (# 2 ), which is of the nature of a free non-
Hebraic paraphrase, translates the titles of the warriors, and
gives their number correctly, but omits " the Gittites " and
" Gath."
The third (*z 3 ) is the most correct and complete, but
mistakes " at his feet " for " with their feet," and makes the
men come " to " Gath instead of " from " it 3 The ultimate
combination is as follows, literally translated : " (a-^ And all
1 "Stir up"=hiph. of iiy, which the LXX, in A.J, has erroneously substituted
for -op. Conflated sentences, as distinct from conflated words, will be denoted by
Aj, AZ, instead of a lt a^.
2 Mk. iii. 9, tva. v\oidpiov irpoffKaprepy OVT<?.
8 [ l ^** a ] ^ ee 335^, comparing Luke's statement that John came to " the sur-
rounding country of the Jordan," with Matthew's that men czme/rom it to John.
4 8
OF TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. [78]
his servants at his hand passed by, and all Chettei and all
the Phelethei, 1 and halted at the olive tree in the wilderness
and all the people went by close to him ; (# 2 ) and all those
about him and all the valiant and all the warriors six
hundred men ; (<2 3 ) and there were by him at his hand both
all the Chereththei (sic} and all the Pheleththei and all the
Geththaeans the six hundred men the [men] that came on
their feet to Gath and going before the face of the king."
[76] It will be noted that not one of these conflations
translates " at his feet " (i.e. "following him ") correctly.
Both here and in the context the phrase is translated "on
foot," or " with their feet" - A similar error, resulting in
conflation, almost certainly exists in Matthew as compared
with Mark and Luke:
Mark vi. 33 Matt. xiv. 13 Luke ix. n
" (a 2 ) on foot from " (a^) followed him " (a^ followed him."
all the cities." (a z ) on foot from the
cities."
2. Conflations of dates
There are several passages in the Synoptic Gospels that
contain perplexing mentions of time or date. Hence
importance attaches to the following conflations :
[77] Dan. ix. 26 (lit): "After weeks sixty and two."
So, too, Theodotion. But the Hebrew " week " (like the old
English " se'nnight," i.e. " seven night ") resembles the Hebrew
" seven," and also the Hebrew " seventy." Hence the LXX
has " after (a^) seven and (# 2 ) seventy, and sixty-two."
[78] Ezra iv. 24 : (lit.) " And it \i.e. the building of the
Temple] ceased until the year two (R.V. second} [belonging]
1 Has Xerrei Kal was 6 <l>eXrr0e/.
2 2 S. xv. 16-18: "At his feet (Hebr. vVro and
(twice), and Treff? (once).
4 49
[79] CONFLATIONS
to the reign [i.e. of the reign] of Darius king of Persia. Now
the prophets, Haggai. . . ." This is parallel to
i Esdr. v. 70 (R.V. 73): "And they were kept from
building (a^) two years until the reign of Darius. But (# 2 )
in the second year of the reign of Darius there prophesied
Haggai. . . ." The Aramaic word here translated in Ezra
(R.V.) " second " is rendered " two " by Theodotion in Daniel. 1
From these facts follows a conclusion, to which we shall
have hereafter to refer, that ordinal and cardinal numbers
may be confused in the process of translation from Hebrew.
See 226.
[79] Gen. viii. 5 : " Until the tenth month. In the tenth
[month] on the first of the month " ; LXX, " until the tenth
month ; but (aj in the eleventh month, (a.,) on the first of .
the month." The translator rendered "tenth first" as (aj
" eleventh." 2 The corrector placed (a 9 ) " on the first " in
the margin. The copyist or editor conflated the two.
[80] Ezra iii. 8 (lit) : " Now in the second year to [i.e. of]
their coming into the house of God, in the second month"
LXX, " in the second year of their coming." This is correct
But it is parallel to
I Esdr. v. 54 (56)-55 (57) (lit): (aj " And having come
in tJie second year to the temple of God . . . (# ) on the day
of the new moon of the second month of tJie second year in
their coming [i.e. after they had come] to Judaea and Jerusalem."
Here a^ is an error, and <z is a correct translation made
more logical than the original Hebrew. For the translator
reflects that, as the Temple was not yet in existence, but
only on the point of being built, the Jews could not well be
1 Dan. v. 31 : "two (pmn)," TheocL Wo (LXX paraphrases). In numbering
days of the month and years the forms of the cardinals are regularly used in
Hebrew.
2 Comp. Mt. x. 29, Lk. xii. 6, where the original was possibly ' ' two [or] three
sparrows for a farthing," and Luke may have followed a tradition corrupting the
regular Hebraic idiom "two [or] three" into "five" with other consequent
modifications. See below (225).
50
OF TECHNICAL TERMS, ETC. [83]
said to "come to the house of God." The writer of a l
alters (as often elsewhere) " house of God " to " temple" an
expression more familiar to Greeks ; the writer of a t sub-
stitutes "Judaea and Jerusalem."
3. The hour of the Crucifi vion
These facts may be applied to the well-known apparent '
discrepancy in the Gospels as to the hour of the Crucifixion.
[81] (i.) Mark says, "Now it was the third hour and
they crucified him." (ii.) John, immediately before describ-
ing how Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified, says, " it was
about the sixth hour." (iii.) The synoptists agree that from
the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over
the whole land, (iv.) Mark and Matthew state, and Luke
implies, that Jesus died at the ninth hour. 1
[82] On the hypothesis of translation from the Hebrew,
all these statements can be reconciled, if we regard Mark's
statement about "the third hour" as being a marginal addition
inserted out of place, and "the third hour and" as a mis-
translation of "three hours since" (just as (78), in Esdras, 2
" second year " is confused with " two years ").
[83] Let us suppose that, in the Original, this marginal
clause was intended to come after the description of the
darkness and immediately before the description of Christ's
death, thus : " And as soon as the sixth hour had come there
had come darkness over the whole land [and it lasted] until
the ninth hour it being now three hours since they had
crucified him and at the ninth hour Jesus cried out." 3
1 Mk. xv. 25, ty Si upa rplTt] *ctt ta~ra.6puffav avr6i> : Jn. xix. 14, upa fy wt
?/CTT;. Mk. xv. 34, Kal rrj evdrrj &pq. ^otjffev : Mt. xxvii. 46, vtpl W T^V {vkniv
&pav tp&r]ffev, Lk. om.
2 For convenience, " the first book of Esdras" will be called simply " Esdras."
8 [83<z] " As soon as the sixth hour had come (ycvofUnit) . . . there had come
(tytvero). . . ." The pluperfect in Hebrew is non-existent. But it is a frequent
habit in Hebrew writing to go back to the past with a supplementary clause that
51
[83] CONFLATIONS
u
According to this hypothesis, the clause originally assumed
that Jesus had been crucified about the sixth hour, and
explained " from the sixth to the ninth " by saying that this
was the interval (" three hours >: ) that had elapsed between
the crucifixion and the " loud cry " and death, which are
now to be described. But " since " was confused with
" when," and, as in Esdras, the cardinal number was taken
as an ordinal. Thus the words were converted into a state-
ment about the time when the crucifixion took place, and, in
this shape, the marginal clause, instead of being inserted in
its right place, was transposed to an earlier position where
the crucifixion was described. Indeed such a transposition
may well have happened even if the mistranslated clause
was a part of the text of the original Hebrew Gospel. 1 Thus
we can explain Matthew's and Luke's omission of the phrase
and John's correction of it. 2
implies a pluperfect This, in theory, ought to be expressed by a Greek pluper-
fect ; but, owing to the disuse of this tense, the LXX mostly prefers the aorist
(241a).
1 [83^] Comp. Mk. xii. 12, Mt. xxii. 22, "and they left him, and went away,
(ical d^fWes airrbv dirfj\0ov), placed by Mark before, but by Matthew after, the
dialogue with the Pharisees and Herodians about tribute.
2 [83c] Even without the hypothesis of transposition, the view advocated above
might hold good on the supposition that the original author of Mark intended his
readers to connect Mk. xv. 25 with xv. 33, thus : " (25) And it was now three
hours from the tune of his being crucified. . . . (33) And as soon as the sixth
hour [the hour of the crucifixion] had come, darkness had come over the whole
land, lasting till the ninth hour. (34) And at the ninth hour Jesus called aloud."
The description of the inscription, the malefactors, and the mocking (xv. 26-32)
may have been intended to be taken parenthetically.
52
CHAPTER V
OTHER TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
: I. Variations of grammatical form^
IN the following instances, conflation has arisen from trans-
lating one word as having two grammatical forms, e.g. a verb
as past and future, active and passive, etc.
[84] 2 Chr. xxv. 1 8 (lit.) : " And there passed by a beast
of the field that was in Lebanon and trod down " ; LXX,
" (aj And behold there shall come the beasts of the field in
Lebanon, (a^ and there came the beasts and trod down."
[85] i K. xviii. 43 : " Go -again (lit. (re)turn) seven
times " ; LXX, " (a^ Return seven times, (a^ and turn away
seven times, (# 3 ) and the servant turned away seven times."
The Hebrew " go-again," literally " (re)turn," produces a three-
fold conflation.
[86] The change of tense adds a third variation, illus-
trating once more the important rule that (28) in translating
from Hebrew, commands may be corrupted into statements of
fact and vice versa. See 240.
[87] In Josh. viii. 1 8, the LXX inserts " and the Hers
in wait shall speedily rise up from their place," anticipating
what is subsequently expressed in the past tense, Josh,
viii. 1 9, " and the Hers in wait rose up out of their place."
The former is not in the Hebrew.
[88] Ezek. xii. 12: "He shall not see with his eyes the
1 For the meaning of *, see p. xix. n.
53
[89] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
ground " ; LXX, " (aj lest Jte [or it] should be seen with the
eye, (# 2 ) and he (emph. form) sJtall not see the ground."
[89] Job xxxvii. 20 (lit. Hebr.): "Shall it be recounted";
LXX, " (tfj) Book or (# 2 ) scribe" The passive verb is taken
as (aj " written account," i.e. " book," (# 2 ) " one that writes
an account," i.e. " scribe."
[90] Conflations illustrating the most common kind of
\ confusions of letters e.g. between d and r are of import-
\\ance, and especially those which bear on suspected mis-
\\translations in the Gospel, e.g. Matthew's use of " companion "
1 where we might expect " thou wicked one." 1
Prov. vi. 3 : "Into the hands of thy neighbour" \ LXX,
" (tfj) Into the hands of the wicked (# 2 ) for the sake of thy
friend."
Eccles. vii. 22 : " Oftentimes thine own heart knoweth" ;
LXX, " (tfj) oftentimes it will work evil on thee (# 2 ) and on
many occasions thy heart will do mischief" This is a rather
unusual instance, a conflation of two translations having
similar meanings, and both of them wrong. [" Thy heart,"
"thy soul," etc., often mean "thyself" in Hebrew.] For
other instances, see 7.
[91] Even a familiar name may sometimes cause con-
fusion when used hi an unfamiliar phrase, e.g. "in David,"
which occurs in a dispute between the men of Israel and the
men of Judah. The phrase somewhat resembles the word
" first-born," 2 which seemed an appropriate epithet for the
former to claim. Hence the following conflation in :
2 S. xix. 43 : (lit.) "And also in David I more than
thou," *>., as R.V., " We have also more [right] in David
than ye " ; LXX " (aj And first-born I than thou, (a^ and
certainly in David I am above thee."
[92] The distinction between sh and s is absent alto-
1 "Companion" and "bad" both = jn; "know" (imperat.)= jn. For
Matthew's use of "companion," see below (188).
2 "In David (ina)," " first-born (man)."
54
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [94]
gether when the Hebrew consonant is left unpointed.
Hence the word " elders-of (sbi)" when it occurs in Ezra, is
regularly translated "captivity (shbi)" in Esdras. In the
following instance, Esdras conflates the two meanings. The
reader should also note how the Hellenizing Esdras avoids
the anthropomorphic expression " the eye of God " :
Ezra v. 5 : " The eye of their God was upon tlie elders of
the Jews." i Esdr. vi. 5 : " Favour was found, through the
visitation of God, (aj on the captivity of the Jews, (a^) by the
elders of the Jews." *
[93] A similar confusion, with the dropping of a letter,
explains 2. Chr. xxxv. 15, "the porters," rightly translated
in the parallel I Esdr. i. 15 (R.V. 16), "the porters? but
conflated by the LXX in Chronicles, " (a^) the rulers ( 2 ) and
the porters" 2
Bearing in mind that " gates " (as in " within thy gates ")
often means " cities," we find precisely the same error in
Judg. v. 8, " gates," LXX (a^ " cities (* 2 ) of rulers"
[94] Owing to the similarity between the preposition
" for " and " not," the particle " therefore " (" for-this ") is very
frequently rendered " not thus." 3 In the following parallel
passages, the translator of Kings wedges another error (" not
I ") between two instances of an erroneously translated
" therefore " :
I K. xxii. 19 (2 Chr. xviii. 18): " Therefore hear thou
(Chr. ye) the word of the Lord"; LXX (K.), " (aj Not
thus ; (# 2 ) not I ; hear thou the word of the Lord ; (a^ not
thus" Chronicles is content with a single translation,
but an erroneous one, " Not thus ; hear ye the word of the
Lord."
1 "Elders of ('3)," "captivity (of) (or)." In I Esclr. vi. 5, read
with A. 2 " Porters (onyr)." " Rulers "=DTT.
3 [940] "Not thus'^p* 1 ? (sometimes written as two words), but nS is some-
times written iV. "Therefore " = 13"?. The last three letters of " not thus " are
the same (though not in the same order) as the first three letters of " I ('run)."
55
[95] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
* 2. Longer conflations
[95] The same ignorance or carelessness that leads a
translator to confuse one word in a sentence may naturally
lead him to confuse another. Moreover, a first error often
suggests a second as " necessary for the sense." Hence
some passages exhibit a group of conflations so com-
plicated as to make it rather difficult to associate them
with a Hebrew original even when we have the latter
before us.
2 S. xv. 34 : (lit.) " Thy servant, I, O king, will be.
Servant of thy father as I (lit. and I) hitherto [have been],
so now also (lit. and now) so I (lit. and I) thy servant [will
be]." This means (R.V.) " I will be thy servant, O king.
As I have been thy father's servant in time past, so will I now
be thy servant." But the ambiguity of the Hebrew conjunc-
tions, the omission of verbs, and some confusions of letters,
lead the Septuagint to the following result : " (a-^ Thy
brethren have passed across, and the king behind me has
passed across thy father (nom.\ And now thy servant I
am, O king ; (# 2 ) suffer me to live, servant of thy father I
was then and lately, and now I [am] thy servant"
[96] At first sight it seems hopeless to attempt to
explain this. But proceeding step by step, we could go
some way towards the truth, even though there were no
Hebrew. For we should decide, first, that if this was an
instance of conflation (31) the substance of the original would
probably be found at tlie end. That rule would lead us to
say, in this particular case, " There must have been some-
thing about servants in the original." In the next place,
knowing from repeated experience that " across " (a'br) is
liable to confusions, and that r is confused with d y and
knowing that a'bd means " servant," we perceive that " pass
across," in a lt represents " servant." Further examination
56
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [98]
shews that " brethren" is an error for " I " and " behind me "
for "(I) will be." 1
[97] It sometimes happens that the first member of a
conflation, though paraphrastic or grammatically incorrect,
is substantially right, while the second member, though
more literal, in the attempt to remedy the grammatical
incorrectness, falls into a far worse error. Thus, where the
Gibeonites say that Saul " devised we shall be destroyed,"
the Septuagint first paraphrases this, making "he" the
subject, " devised that he should destroy us " ; and then,
reverting to the Hebrew so far as to make " we " the
subject, gives " that we should destroy him" Besides the
%
grammatical conflation, the two verbs " consume " and
" destroy " are also conflated :
2 S. xxi. 5 : " The man that z (a) consumed us, and that
devised against us [that] we should be [marg. so that we
have been] (b) destroyed"; LXX, "The man (a-^ consum-
mated against us and (# 2 ) persecuted us, [the man] that
devised (b^) to destroy us ($ 2 ) let us exterminate him."
So, too, Josh. i. 8 : " Thou shalt make thy way prosper-
ous " ; LXX, " (tfj) Thou shalt be prospered, and (# 2 ) he shall
prosper thy ways" Here (a^) was substantially correct,
though it omitted " ways," which would be superfluous in
Greek, and against Greek usage. The author of (0 2 ), while
restoring the Hebraic " ways," has changed " thou," which
was correct, into " he."
[98] In the following instance from Esdras, the first
place is given to an attempt at a literal translation with
amplification, and the second to a brief summary. The
original is in Ezra vi. 20 : (lit.) " For there had purified
1 [96 a ] (i.) "Servant (nay)," LXX SitpxeffOcu. (Ms) (leg. nap), (ii.) "I (),"
LXX ol d5e\<f>ol ffov (leg. -prut), (iii.) " I will be (rr.TK)," KarfnTurOtr nov (leg. nnn).
(iv.) "Eaffbv fie f^erai (suffer me to live)," probably arose from taking "let me be
(nvm) " as " let me live (n-nn)."
2 2 S. xxi. 5 : "The man (r'x) that (~IVK)" ', LXX omits "that," perhaps con-
fusing VK with nrx.
57
[99] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
themselves [A.V. " were purified "] the priests and the Levites
as -one, all -of- them pure." In Esdras there is a twofold
conflation, in which a-^ translates the Hebrew conjunction
" for " as " when," which it often means. It also takes " all "
as meaning " the whole people," and to express this it adds
" the children of the captivity." Perhaps " for " was inserted
in the margin as an alternative for " when " ; at all events,
it adds, at the end of a lt "for they were purified." Then
follows a 2 , a condensed translation of the whole, begin-
ning with "for." The total result is (i Esdr. vii. 10-11):
" ( a i) When there were purified the priests and the
Levites together and all the sons of the captivity, for
they were purified ; (a 2 ) for the Levites together all were
purified."
The Septuagint version of Ezra renders briefly and
closely thus, "Because there were purified the priests and
the Levites as one 1 all pure."
[99] In the following conflation, A 2 inserts the important
words " and died " which A l had omitted, or had erroneously
translated. But A 9 falls into error by taking "(in)to" as
" up to." Also, the " wound " or " blow " inflicted on Ahab,
is taken by A 2 as being the "blow," "defeat," or "rout,"
of the whole army. Hence A 2 apparently describes the
blood from the carnage as rising up to the bottom of the
chariot (compare our "knee-deep in blood," and Rev. xiv. 20,
" blood . . . even unto the bridles of the horses "), instead
of flowing down into it :
I K. xxii. 35 : ". . . and died at even, and the blood
ran out of the wound into the bottom (lit. hollow) of the
chariot," LXX "... (Aj) (a^ ?) from morning till evening,
and there was poured forth blood from the (b^) wound
(c^ into the hollow of the chariot. (A 2 ) ( 2 ?) And he died
1 [98a] Ezra vi. 20 : "As one" ?ws e?s, probably a Greek error for tij efc. If
the scribe had meant "to the last man" would he not have written ?ws
" Because," or " for " (a), is rendered in Esdr. first 5re and then Srt.
58
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [102]
at even and there went forth the blood (<y of the rout (<* 2 )
as far as the hollow of the chariot"
3. Hebrew conflations
[100] It would be scarcely reasonable to suppose that
the process of conflation did not influence the Hebrew
Scriptures till they began to be translated into Greek.
Long before the date of the earliest book of the Septuagint,
Hebrew copyists of the Scriptures may well have doubted,
for example, between a d and an r, whether written in
Hebrew or Samaritan characters, and may consequently have
inserted in the margin a various reading that inxlue course
found its way into the text along with the original reading,
as part of a conflation.
[101] Take for example, Ps. xviii. 12 " (a^) his thick
clouds (# 2 ) passed, ( 3 ) hail, and coals of fire." The mere
fact that these three words are similar in form would hardly
lead us to suspect and certainly would not justify us in
believing that the text was conflated. But the Hebrew
word " pass " (a"br) is so liable to confusion, and so often
confused, that its occurrence must always put us on our
guard where there is the least suspicion of error. And we
happen to possess another, and, as it is generally believed,
earlier version of these words in 2 S. xxii. 1 3, " There
were kindled (ba'r) coals of fire." This at once justifies the
suspicion of conflation in the later version, arising from a
confusion of ba'r with a'br and other similar words. 1
[102] In the next instance, a passage in Kings describes
the rescue of the child Joash by his aunt Jehosheba, im-
mediately after the death of his father, king Ahaziah.
The author calls Jehosheba, " daughter of king Joram, and
sister of Ahaziah " :
1 "Were kindled (nya)," "his thick clouds (viy)," "passed (nap)," "hail
(ma)." The word " thick-clouds " occurs in the preceding verse, and the Psalmist
may have thought that it was to be repeated here.
59
[102] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
2 K. xi. 2 : " Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram,
sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole
him away from among the king's sons that were slain, even
him and his nurse [and put them, or, who were] in the
bedchamber, and they hid him from Athaliah, so that he
was not slain."
This is correct. Jehosheba wa$ "daughter of king Joram"
who had preceded his son Ahaziah on the throne. But the
author of the parallel passage in Chronicles, perhaps thinking
the description of Jehosheba superfluously lengthy, shortens it
to " daughter of the king." Now the " king " last mentioned
is Ahaziah. This makes the statement inaccurate. At
the same time, while condensing the statement of fact into
an error, the Chronicler amplifies a harsh and terse con-
struction, " stole him in the bedchamber," softening it into
" stole him . . . and put him in the bedchamber." x This
being erroneous as regards Jehosheba's parentage, a corrector
added a second and correct version, perhaps written from
the priestly point of view, in which he adds that Jehosheba
was the wife of Jehoiada the priest. The result is :
2 Chr. xxii. 1 1 : " ( AJ But 2 Jehoshabeath, the daughter
of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him
away from among the king's sons that were slain, and
put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. (A 9 ) But z
Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of
Jehoiada the priest (for 3 she was the sister of Ahaziah),
hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not."
1 [102a] Also, the plural agency ("and they hid") mentioned in Kings,
disappears in Chronicles. The "nurse," in the latter, does not help to hide the
child, but is herself hidden.
2 The same Hebrew particle (i) which may mean almost any English con-
junction comes at the beginning of all three accounts, 2 K., 2 Chr. (A^,
(Aj). R.V. has " But " in A 1 ; " So " in Aj.
8 "For" (3). So R.V., but perhaps "because," or "since," would better
express the Hebrew. The writer of A a suggests by this conjunction that the
mention of the relationship is not superfluous. It gives the reason for the act
that is on the point of being mentioned.
60
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [104]
[103] Impassioned language is often abrupt and brief,
and leaves much to the imagination. When David was
urged to drink the water his warriors had brought him at
the hazard of their lives, he exclaimed (2 S. xxiii. 17),
(lit.) " Profanation to me, Jehovah, from my doing this !
what ! The blood of men that went with their lives [in
their hands] ! " The Revised Version supplies words to
make full sense, thus : " Shall I drink the blood ? " The
Authorised Version has, " Is not this the blood ? " The
Hebrew has simply an interrogative prefix, prefixed in
the original to " blood," but represented in the translation
given above by " what ! "
Compare the parallel I Chr. xi. 1 9, " Profanation to me
from my God from doing this ! The blood of these men
(Aj) shall I drink with their lives? (A 2 ) For with their
lives they brought it." Here, in the first place, Chronicles
changes " Jehovah " into " from my God " as being more
reverential. Then the writer of A X inserts (as our Revised
Version does) "shall I drink." But having done this, he
is disposed to take " with " along with this insertion in a
new sense, " Shall I swallow their blood together with their
lives ? " But (A 2 ) another view was that " with their lives "
must be taken with " they went." Only, if that was to be
done, the verb of motion, it seemed, must be taken causa-
tively "they caused -to -go," or rather, " caused -to -come."
Hence the corrector (the writer of A 2 ) substituted " with their
lives they caused it to come" i.e. brought it.
4. Prejudice a cause of error
[104] Prejudice or bias is an important cause of the
corruption of history. But a distinction must be drawn
between even the wildest of blunders, when supported by
some apparent shadow of evidence, and a mis-statement
based on no evidence at all.
61
[105] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
Take, as a modern instance, a statement made in a
French newspaper, called "La Croix de la Charente," of 4
March 1900, that in English schools there was an atlas of
which one map was France in ipio, shewing the departments
from the Pas de Calais to the Pyrenees as belonging to
England.
At the first glance, one might have been ready to assume
that no ignorance and no error could account for an assertion
so completely at variance with fact and so incompatible with
English unimaginative ways and commonplace notions about
education ; and one might seem driven to the conclusion that
it was merely a falsehood, fabricated out of nothing but
malignity, and tricked out with details to give it the specious-
ness of reality.
But it was pointed out, in a letter to the Times
(28 April 1900), that Green's "Short History of the
English People " contains a map of France assigning the
above-mentioned provinces to England, but referring to a
remote past, the days of Richard /. Its date is 1 1 90. This
is not very different (in the eyes of a sufficiently prejudiced
scribe) from 1910.
5. The "four sons" of Araunah
[105] The remarks in the last section bear on the next
instance the last for which space can be found here. It is of
special importance because it shews how one initial mistake,
perhaps facilitated or favoured by a love of the marvellous,
may lead to further mistakes, resulting ultimately in a con-
version of a non-miraculous fact into a miracle. And it
will be interesting to note that, as usual, the incorrect and
miraculous version comes first, while the correct narrative
comes last The original is as follows :
2 S. xxiv. 19-20 "And David went up according
to the saying of Gad as the Lord commanded. And
Araunah looked forth and saw the king and his servants
62
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [107]
passing-over toward him: and Araunah went out and bowed
himself before the king with his face to the ground." Now
there has been a previous mention of " an angel of the Lord "
as being by " the threshing floor of Araunah," and the word
" angel " or " messenger " (mldk), is easily confused with
"king" (rtilk\ and is actually confused with it elsewhere. 1
[106] The writer of the first clause of the parallel
passage in Chronicles actually makes this mistake, and writes
" angel " for " king." But, having done this, he is confronted
with the difficulty of the angel's "servants passing-over"
Now, it happens, that these two words " pass-over " (a'br)
and " servant " (a"bd} differ in nothing but the difference
between r and d. The reader will be prepared (5-7) to
believe that they are easily confused together. Moreover,
the letters of the phrase " and his servants passing-over?
resemble those of the phrase, " and his four sons" z
[107] Again, the Greek for "servants" is also the
Greek for " boys," which, in certain contexts, might mean
"sons." 3 If therefore the Hebrew of Chronicles was written
after Samuel had been translated into Greek, and if the
1 [105a] "King (I^D)," "messenger (IN^O)." The Hebrew "messenger" is
rendered by the Greek "king" or "ruler," in Is. xiv. 32, xlii. 19 ; Prov. xiii. 17.
On the confusion of "king" and "messenger," or "angel," see Dr. Ginsburg's
Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, 141 : " In 2 K. vii. 17, we have the
primitive form i^on = ^sn = ^xVan ' the messenger ' without Aleph, as is attested
by the Septuagint and the Syriac. The passage ought accordingly to be trans-
lated 'when the messenger came down to him.' This is corroborated by the
statement in the preceding chapter, viz. vi. 33. Exactly the reverse is the
case in 2 S. xi. i, where the Massorah itself tells us that the redactors of the
text inserted Aleph into this very word, converting (D'D^Q.I) ' kings ' into
(o'DK^en) 'messengers.'"
2 The former = Q'nayviDjmKi, the latter = cnanyaiKi.
3 [107] Comp. Acts iii. 13 TTCUJ, (R.V.) txt. "Servant" (marg. "'Child':
and so in ver. 26 ; iv. 27, 30"). The centurion's servant healed by Jesus is called
in Matt. viii. 8 TTCUJ, (R.V.) "servant" (marg. "boy"), but in Luke vii. 2 SoSXot,
"servant." A similar narrative in Jn. iv. 46f., describes the healing of a
nobleman's "son" (vi6r), called also in the context TroiSiov and ireuj.
63
[108] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
Greek version of Samuel contained this ambiguous word,
the Jewish writer or reviser of Chronicles might be led by a
tradition derived from the Greek translation of Samuel to
suppose that a fuller version of the story contained some
mention of " boys," that is to. say, Araunah's " sons." The
Chronicler's acceptance of this reading would be facilitated
also by the unusual nature of the verb " passing-over " applied
to David's retinue. 1
[108] But when Araunah's "four sons" were thus
introduced into the story, it became needful to adjust the
context to the new insertion. " His four sons toward him "
would make no sense ; it must be " his four sons with him"
This involved no very great change. 2 But it was naturally
asked how the " sons " came to be there, and what part (if
any) they played in this solemn, inaugural act a kind of
anticipation of the building of the Temple where they
might well seem out of place. These questions were
perhaps originally answered in the margin. The " four
sons " played no part at all, except that of suggesting
reverence to future readers. They " hid themselves." And
the reason for their presence was that they were helping
their father in his work, " now Oman was threshing wheat."
Thus the foundations are laid for an entirely new version of
the story.
[109] It only remained to transfer these graphic touches
from the margin to the text, and to modify a few of the
expressions in Samuel that did not seem exact, or did not
quite harmonise with the additions made in Chronicles.
For example, it was not strictly true to say that " tfie Lord
commanded." It was more exact to describe the message
as " the saying of Gad which he spake in the name of the
Lord." Again, in the Bible, when people see an angel, they
1 Our R.V. alters it to "coining on" ; but that does not express the Hebrew
meaning which the R.V. gives in the margin.
2 " Toward him (v^p)," " with him (IDJ?)."
6 4
TYPICAL CONFLATIONS [111]
do not usually " look forth " as from a window and behold
it. More frequently they unexpectedly see an angel behind
them, or by their side. So Araunah " turns back and sees "
it We are now prepared for the new version, or rather for
the first clause of it, introducing the " four sons " :
(Aj) i Chr. xxi. 19-20: "And David went up at the
saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.
And Oman turned back and saw the angel. And his four
sons [that were] with him hid themselves. 1 Now Oman
was threshing wheat."
[110] In the next sentence, the corrector gives the
right tradition without any miraculous adjuncts, ^dropping
the " servants " or "sons " altogether, and filling up the space
by clauses that add definiteness. Instead of " went up,"
he has " came to Oman." Instead of " looked forth," he has
" looked intently and saw David " ; and, after " went out," he
adds, " of the threshing floor." 2 The result is
(A 2 ) i Chr. xxi. 21:" And as David came to Oman,
Oman looked intently and saw David and went out of the
threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to
the ground."
No one of course will deny that the original narrative
in Samuel recognizes an angel as God's agent producing
a pestilence : and, so far, the original may be called
" miraculous." But that is very different from the
miraculousness implied in the story as developed by the
Chronicler.
[Ill] The existence of conflations in Hebrew shows
(what ought indeed to need no showing) that they do not
necessarily prove translation. They prove simply this, the
1 i Chr. xxi. 20 : " hid themselves (n'Kanna)." The LXX, in perplexity,
transliterates this, *ai r4yffa.pa.^ woi>$ ai/roO /xer' avrou pfOaxapelv.
2 [llOa] Such defining additions form a large part of the details of the
edition of Mark used by Matthew and Luke. See 531 " Looked intently" is
the literal meaning of the Hebrew.
5 65
[112] TYPICAL CONFLATIONS
existence of an original that seemed to a copyist or translator
to be obscure, or inadequate, or both. They would there-
fore naturally arise in the copying of a difficult book (like
Job or Thucydides) or of a work become, or becoming,
antiquated (like Chaucer). Chronicles is supposed to have
been written after the exile, at a time when the old Hebrew
(now called Samaritan) characters of the Bible were being
exchanged for the existing square characters, and when the
language of the pre-exilic period had become archaic and
almost foreign. If so, it was of the nature of a semi-
translation.
[112] The one condition needed for the growth of
conflations (in addition to supposed obscurity or inadequacy)
is that the text should not be as yet fixed by general
acceptance. And, of course, as long as a written tradition
is not only recent but also environed by pre-existing oral
traditions, it is in a state of non - authoritativeness that
renders it peculiarly liable to be conflated. The phenomena
of Chronicles support, instead of shaking, the conclusion that
a conflated Gospel, like that of Mark, is probably earlier
than comparatively non -conflated Gospels like those of
Matthew and Luke. This will be shown more clearly in
the next chapter.
66
CHAPTER VI
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
I . The First Book of Esdras
[113] Several parallel passages have been given above
from the Greek translations of Esdras and Ezra, in which it
has been shown that the former contains conflations where
the latter does not. And the mistakes in the former are so
numerous as compared with those in the latter that it is
reasonable to suppose that the latter is the more recent of
the two translations. But there are passages where the
Greek of Esdras is closer to the Hebrew than that of Ezra.
For example, where the Greek of Ezra has " I rent my
garments and quaked-for-fear" Esdras has correctly, though
freely, " I rent my garments and the -holy -raiment" the
Hebrew being "my mantle? 1 The following passages afford
a useful warning that sometimes a loose and inaccurate
version may in some single point lead us back to the
original Hebrew where the closer Hebraic rendering fails to
do so :
[114] Ezra ix. I : (Hebr.) (lit) "There have not been
separated the people of Israel and the priests and the
Levites from the peoples of the lands, [but have done] like-
1 Ezra ix. 3, 5 (I Esdr. viii. 68, 70): ^yo, tira\\6fjir]v. The ^yo was a mantle
worn by women and the upper classes but also by priests. Tromm. suggests that
the LXX read n^y ; but does this ever mean "shake"? More probably the
LXX read iyo which means " totter," and is rendered <raXet/w in 2 S. xxii.
37, and do-^eve?)/ in the parallel Ps. xviii. 36.
67
[115] CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
their -abominations, those -of (lit. to) the Canaanite, the
Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Ammonite, the
Moabite, the Mitzrite (i.e. Egyptian), and the Amorite."
i Esdr. viii. 66 (R.V. 65) : " There have not separated both
the rulers, and the priests, and the Levites, and foreign
nations of the land, their uncleannesses, [those] of Canaan-
aeans and Chettaeans and Pherezaeans, and Jebusaeans, and
Moabites, and Egyptians and Idumaeans" l
The Greek of Ezra is perhaps influenced by a reaction
from the loose inaccuracy of Esdras. It follows the Hebrew
exactly except that it probably alters the particle " like " to
the very similar " in," 2 concluding thus : " to-the (dat.)
Canaanei, the (nom.) Hethei, 3 the Pheresthei, the Jebusei,
the Ammonei, the Moab, the Moserei, and the Amorei."
If this were found in a Gospel where no Hebrew original is
extant, we should be perplexed by " Moserei," till we found
a parallel " Egyptian " in another Gospel. Then we should
infer that both represented a Hebrew original " Mitzree " or
" Mitzrite," the regular name for " Egyptian."
Thus, in the above passage, though teeming with inac-
curacies, Esdras has preserved a clue to the Hebrew obscured
in the Greek Ezra.
[115] In the next, Esdras has probably preserved the
true Hebrew, where it has been corrupted in our present
text, in which it runs thus (2 Chr. xxxv. 21) : "I came not
against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have
1 (i.) "People of Israel " = Wic" Dy. The translator could hardly corrupt this
into anything meaning rulers. More probably he considered that the original was
loose, because "people" included priests and Levites. (ii.) The letter (D),
signifying "from" ("from the peoples"), happening to follow the same letter at
the end of "Levites," is dropped, to the ruin of the sense, (iii.) The letter
signifying " like " (3) is omitted without any excuse, (iv. ) Also IOK (" Amorite ")
is taken as DIK ("Idumaean") (6).
2 [114*z] "Like (2)," and "in (3)," are repeatedly confused; and the latter
might be taken to mean " in the way of," "according to."
* Tc? JLavavfl, 6 'E0ef, 6 ... The change of case probably represents an
attempt to show that the Hebrew " to " occurs only before the first name.
68
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS [117]
war." The literal Hebrew is " the-house-of-my-war." But
although " house " is freely used for " place of," " receptacle
of," it would be difficult to find a use like this. By a slight
corruption, " house-of " might spring from " Euphrates," which
is the reading of i Esdr. i. 25 (R.V. 27): "for on the
Euphrates is my war." 1
[116] In view of a passage in the Synoptic Gospels
where Matthew and Luke agree in describing Jesus as
" passing the night," while Mark only speaks of Him as
"going," it will be useful to note Ezra x. 6 : "(a) And[Ezra]
went into the chamber . . . (b} and lie went thither ; bread
he ate not." This makes no sense. Yet, as the Hebrew
for " he went " is precisely the same in (a) and () it seems
unjustifiable to give different translations (e.g.} " (^) and
[when] he came" But the Greek of the parallel i Esdr. ix. 2
reads "and he -passed -the -night there," a phrase very easily
confused with " and he went." 2
[117] In its general character, Esdras, as compared with
Ezra, is not only a free translation, but also grossly inaccurate
on points of history and chronology. No one would blame
such substitutions as " temple " for " house of God," and
" Coele-Syria " for " beyond Jordan," and " the God that
created heaven " for " the God of heaven." Mere adaptations
like these are quite compatible with regard for historic truth. 3
1 " House-of " = n'3 ; " Euphrates " = ma. "But" and "for" are equally
justifiable as renderings of '3; *?K="to," "against," "near." The Greek of
Esdras makes better sense. The Greek of Chr. has w6\tnoi> iro\tjJL7Jffai, instead
of "but against the house of my war."
In the preceding verse, 2 Chr. xxxv. 20, "against Carchfmish by Euphrates,"
the LXX of Chr. omits " Carchemish," while that of Esdras inserts it. Esdras
is, perhaps, more accurate when parallel to Chronicles than when parallel to
Ezra.
2 [116a] "And he went (i*n)," "and he passed the night (jVi)." See
Mk. xi. 19, 20, " They went forth outside the city. And passing along ... " ;
Mt. xxi. 17, " He went forth outside the city to Bethany and passed the night
there " ; Lk. xxi. 37, " Coming forth he passed the night on the mountain " (450).
1 Some of these substitutions remind us of Luke, who never uses "sea"
6 9
[118] CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
But the author hopelessly confuses the leading facts of the
return from exile by reading history backwards, placing
Artaxerxes before Darius, and Darius before Cyrus. He
also introduces the famous apocryphal discussion as to
" What is greatest ? " giving the leading part in it to
Zerubbabel and making it the immediate cause of the
rebuilding of the Temple.
2. The Septuagint Version of Daniel
[118] Such, then, is the character of one of the two most
conflative books of the Septuagint. The other its rival in
the insertion of apocryphal matter as well as in conflations
is the Septuagint version of the book of Daniel. 1 In com-
paring this with the far more accurate version by Theodotion,
we have the great advantage of knowing that Theodotion
lived in the second century of the Christian era, long after
the date of the Septuagint translation. That he knew and
used the latter is proved by his close conformity with it in
many passages, and indeed in almost all where it accurately
represents the Hebrew. In others, the relation between the
two will be discerned from the following passages :
[119] Dan. ii. 8: "The thing (lit. word) is gone from
me." This may mean (" word " being regularly used for
" matter " or " business " in Hebrew) " The matter [i.e. the
nature of my dream] has vanished from my memory " ; and
Theodotion takes it so. 2 But R.V. margin gives an alterna-
(always "lake") to describe the sea of Gennesaret or Tiberias. Luke also never
uses the phrase ' ' beyond Jordan. "
1 In quoting from this book, which is of a composite character, the word
Hebrew may sometimes be loosely used for Aramaic.
8 [119a] Dan. ii. 8 : Theod. dTre'oTr; air' fyov rb firjua. Following the Hebrew,
he uses "word" where we should say "matter"; so in Kings and Chronicles
" the acts" of a king are regularly called in Hebrew " the words," and rendered
sometimes pi^iara, sometimes irpa.-y pa.ro.. 'AT&mj, i.e. " departed," clearly shows
that the meaning is not "was issued." In that case, i^TJ\6fy would have been
employed.
70
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS [122]
tive. " The word is gone forth from me that ..." i.e. " I
have irrevocably decreed that . . ." In Dan. ii. 5, where
the phrase occurs for the first time, the LXX took it as
Theodotion takes it here ; but in the present passage the
LXX conflates thus : " (A x ) the business is gone from me ;
(A 2 ) as therefore I have ordained so shall it be." 1
[120] Dan. xii. 8 : " What shall be the issue (marg. latter
end} of these things ? " Two interpretations are possible.
The first is literal, referring merely to time " What shall be
the consequence, or final results, of these things ? " So
Theodotion, " What [shall be] the last of these things ? " 2
The second regards the " final outcome " as a conclusion,
symmetrically completing, and hence indirectly * 'explaining,
the mysterious events that had preceded. Adopting this
latter interpretation the LXX tries to express it in two free
paraphrases : " (A t ) What [is] the solution of this word ?
(A 2 ) and to whom [or what] [belong] these dark-sayings ? "
[121] Dan. xi. 31 : "and arms shall stand on his part" ;
the Hebrew noun, in the singular, may mean " arm " (not in
the military sense, but the bodily " arm ") regarded as
symbolizing strength. But it may also mean "seed," "off-
spring." Theodotion takes the word as meaning " offspring " ;
but in this sense, the word is not used in the plural. The
LXX has " arms." This, then, is one of the very few cases
where the LXX is more accurate than Theodotion. Some
MSS. of Theodotion conflate " arms " and " offspring." 4
* [122] Dan. iv. 29 (Aram. 26) " [The king] was walking
in (marg. " upon ") the royal palace of Babylon," lit. " On his
1 Dan. ii. 8 : LXX, (A x ) dirtffTt) air' ^uoO rb irpayfjM. As Aj was the form used
above (Dan. ii. 5), it seems probable that A 2 occurred on second thoughts to a
scribe or editor at this point. At first it may have seemed to deserve a place in
the margin. Then it was placed second in the text.
2 TV TO tffxa.ro. TOVTUV ;
3 Tfj i) Xtffftj TOV \byov TOVTOV, /cat rlvcs at irapa/SoXat aOrat ;
4 Dan. xi. 31: "Arms (o'jni))" LXX, /S/xix^vej, Theod. <rrtp/MTa, AQ (in
Theod.) fipaxioves Kal <rirtp/Mra.
71
[123] CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
palace of the kingdom that [belongs to] Babylon walking he
was." The word here translated " palace " is generally applied
to " the palace of the Eternal," that is, to the Temple. But
here " palace of the kingdom," or " palace of royalty," means
" the royal palace." The LXX takes it in a first paraphrase
(Aj) as meaning " walls." Also the LXX seems to convert
" Babylon " into " the city " and implies " royal " in the
notion of walking " in state." Then it adds (A 2 ) a briefer
translation in which " palace " is rendered " towers." The
result is : " The king (Aj) on the walls of the city in all
his glory was walking about, and (A 2 ) on its towers he was
passing." x
Theodotion has the following literal rendering : " on the
temple of his kingdom in Babylon walking about"
[123] Dan. iv. 31 (Aram. 28): "Yet [was the] word in
the mouth of the king," i.e. " the king had scarcely spoken."
" Word " in Aramaic closely resembles " fulfil " in Hebrew.
" Yet " is easily corrupted into " upon." The LXX renders
" word " first (A a ) correctly, and then (A 2 ) paraphrases the
clause incorrectly, thus : " (A a ) The (<2 X ) word being (<^) still
in the mouth of the king (A 2 ) and ( 2 ) upon the (a^) fulfilment
of his word." Theod. " The word being still in the mouth
of the king." 2
* [124] Dan. vi. 17 (Aram.) : (lit.) " that there might not
1 Dan. iv. 29 "palace (Vavi) " = (Tromm. ) 0dpti (i), /3ew/Xoi' (i), u5j (51),
o&coj (16), 6xfy )W A Ml (*) : (Aram.) o6j (7), ol/cos (5). Here it is rendered by LXX,
(Ai) rft\C}v (Aj) Tnjpywv, Theod. va$. "Walking about " = trepieTrdrei, "passing"
= Sieropevero. Possibly LXX may have read 122 S6%a. for "?aa "Babylon"; but
it is not likely that it should have corrupted so common a name.
2 [123a] "Word" =Kn", "fulfill" =KVo. " Still" = Tip =frt. "Upon" = i>p
= iiri Comp. Mark ix. 6 " he knew not what to answer," with the parallels Matt
xvii. 5, "while he was still speaking," Luke ix, 34, "while he was saying these
things." There the original was probably "still was the word to him in his
mouth." Mark interpreted b, i.e. "to him," as S i.e. "not," a frequent con-
fusion, as in 2 K. viii. 10 (R.V. txt. and marg.), 2 S. xvi. 18 "his" but Heb. txt.
"not," etc. Hence the rendering "he no longer had a word to say." Also he
may have confused -ny "yet " with jn "know." See 422.
72
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS [125]
be changed matter in Daniel," i.e. " that nothing might be
changed concerning Daniel." Theodotion translates liter-
ally, as above. But the Aramaic word " matter " occurs
only here, and R.V. gives the marginal alternative " purpose."
The LXX, very probably not knowing what the word meant
and guessing at the sense, gives a double paraphrase " (A } )
that Daniel might not be delivered from them (i.e. from his
enemies) (A 2 ) or that the king might not draw him up out
of the den." In A 2 , the use of " him " for " Daniel " indicates
that A 2 was written after Aj.
* [125] The following is an instance of conflation (owing
to Aramaic corruption), combined with Hellenistic paraphrase
and a kind of " plunging at the sense."
The literal Aramaic is Dan. v. 30-31 : "In that night
was slain Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, and Darius the
Mede received the kingdom being like-a-son of sixty-two
years." The Septuagint, in the first clause of its conflation,
translates " in that " as " came," and " night " as " consumma-
tion " or " final judgment." l In the second, it translates, as
elsewhere, " slain " by " utterly taken away," 2 " king " as
kingdom (dropping " Belshazzar " and " in that night." 8 )
Then, having inserted a clause to say that " the kingdom
1 "In that" = na, "came" (iirijMe) = xia. "By night " = K^3 (Aramaic),
"consummation" (ffiVyKpt/ta) = jr^a (Is. x. 22).
2 [125a] There are curious facts about the LXX rendering of ^>tjp "slay,"
which suggest that LXX may have been misled by its correspondence to the
Greek dvaipeiv which may mean, in the active, "slay," but, in the middle, "take
away." Theod. uses dvaiptlv (4) = Sop " slay," LXX never. In Dan. ii. 14, where
Theod. has dvaipfTv, LXX has edyeiv "lead forth [? to execution]." In Dan.
v. 19 (Theod.) dvypu, LXX omits the whole context. In A 2 here Theod. has
dvyptOii, "was slain," LXX = e^preu, "hath been taken away" (with a possible
meaning "destroyed"). In Dan. vii. II, "I beheld even till the beast was slain
(Theod. dvgptQi)) and his body destroyed, and he was given to be burned with
fire," the LXX has dirervfiiravlffO-r) ical djrcSXero rb <rwfM atrov (L. and S.)
"cudgelled to death," but more probably "tortured to death " as in 3 Mac.
Hi. 27).
3 Possibly, in Aj, the LXX took "consummation," i.e. making an utter end,
as " utterly " : and considered it implied in the ^ in t!jpra.i "utterly taken away."
73
[126] CONFLATIVE VERSIONS
was given to the Medes and Persians," it substitutes for
" Darius," " Artaxerxes the of the Medes." This ought to
mean " the man of that name belonging to the Medes " ;
but perhaps " Artaxerxes " is used as the Persian title for
king, and the LXX means " the Artaxerxes (i.e. king) of the
Medes." 1 In the next verse the LXX mentions " Darius "
as old and renowned, but drops the number of his years. 2
The result is : " (A t ) And (a^ the final judgment (j came
upon Baltasar the fo) king (A 2 ) and (c^) the kingdom (?# 2 )
was utterly taken away (b z om.) from the Chaldeans, and
was given to the Medes and the Persians, and Artaxerxes,
he of the Medes [or, the Artaxerxes, i.e. king of the Medes],
received the kingdom. And Darius [was] full of days and
renowned in old age."
3. Conflations arising from Aramaic
[126] It was natural that Greek translators, familiar with
Hebrew rather as a written than as a spoken language,
should sometimes take an Aramaic word in its Hebrew
signification. Or they might use a MS. in which the
Aramaic equivalent of difficult Hebrew words was frequently
written in the margin. This might lead to an abundance
of conflations.
[127] For example, take Dan. iv. 19: "Then Daniel,
whose name [was] Belteshazzar, was astonied for a while
(lit. for one glance, A.V. one hour), and his thoughts troubled
him." In a preceding passage the meaning of the word here
translated (A.V.) " hour " appears to correspond to our " at
that instant" 3 but it is there translated in both versions by
1 Dan. v. 31 (LXX), 'Apra&pfrs 6 TUV MiJSwv.
2 [125#] This is because the LXX stumbles at the Aramaic idiom "a son of
sixty-two years" for "sixty-two years old." It takes 133 "like a son" as 133
"renowned" (the frequent error (5-7) of interchanging r and d).
3 [127a] Dan. iii. 6 : " Whoso falleth not down . . . shall the same instant
(but R.V. hour) be cast into the . . . furnace." Comp. Taylor's Jewish
Fathers, iv. 24.
74
CONFLATIVE VERSIONS [127]
the Greek " hour," which often means " season," " appointed
time," etc. In Hebrew, however, the word exists only as a
verb, meaning " look (for help)," " look (in dismay)," etc. It is
also liable to be confused with words meaning "shudder,"
and "to be altered [in countenance]." Theodotion follows
the Aramaic. But the Septuagint appears to have at first
taken it as meaning " perplexity," so that it intensified the
" wonder " and might be rendered " greatly." Then it seems
to have accumulated a number of phrases expressive of
intense wonder, and finally to have given the correct, or, at
all events, the literal rendering, with this result : " But (a-^)
greatly did Daniel wonder, and thoughts made him afraid
(lit. hastened him) ; and (? <z 3 ) having feared, (? 4 ) trembling
having possessed him, and (? # 5 ) his aspect being altered,
having shaken his head, having wondered (# 2 ) one hour."
It is probable that some of these clumsy participial phrases
placed one after the other without connecting particles,
are attempts at rendering "whose name was Belteshazzar."
But facts indicate that two of them (besides (^)) are confla-
tions of " hour." x
1 [127(5] " Hour (nyer) " might be confused with nyp "shudder," and possibly
(though less easily) with KJP " alter."
75
BOOK II
THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS
CHAPTER I
SPECIMENS OF CONFLATION l
THE discussion of all the probable Synoptic conflations
must be reserved for a complete Synoptic commentary. A
few instances, however, will be given here to shew the
application of the rules deduced from the Septuagint.
I . (Mark*} " The surrounding country of Galilee "
Mark i. 28 Luke iv. 37
" And there went forth the " And there proceeded forth
report of him everywhere a loud rumour about him into
into all the (a-^ surrounding every place of the (a-,) sur-
country (a 2 ) of Galilee" rounding country?
[128] " Galilee " means " circuit," and hence "surround-
ing-country." In the Old Testament, "Galilee" and
" region " or " district " are found as alternatives. Macca-
bees speaks of " all Galilee of the Philistines," meaning " all
the region of the Philistines." 2 Mark conflates the two
meanings.
1 The chapter on Septuagint confusions preceded that on Septuagint conflations.
Consistently, therefore, the chapter on Synoptic confusions ought to precede that
on Synoptic conflations. But the appreciation of the error of conflation applying,
as it often does, not to mere pairs of words, but to long statements of fact and
to narratives practically rewritten is of so much more importance, that it has
been thought best to place a few specimens of Synoptic conflation immediately
after those of conflation in the Septuagint.
It is assumed throughout this chapter that Mark contains the Triple Tradition
from which Matthew and Luke borrowed. See below (321).
2 I Mac. v. 15, comp. Joel iii. (iv.) 4 : "All the regions (niW>i) of Philistia,"
79
[129]
SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
But compare :
Mark i. 14
" There came Jesus
into (aj Galilee (b^
preaching the Gospel
of God."
Matt iv. 12, 17
" He retired into
(a^) Galilee. . . . From
that time began Jesus
(^i) to-preach"
Luke iv. 14
"(Aj) Jesus turned
back . . . into (aj
Galilee, and (A,) (b^
a fame went forth in
the whole of ( 2 ) the
surrounding country
about him."
[129] Here we must bear in mind that the Greek word
(in Mark i. 28) translated "report" may mean not only
the report about a person, but also the report brought by
him, as when Isaiah says : " Lord, who hath believed our
report ? " i.e., as usually taken, our message, or preaching)-
Luke appears to have conflated "Galilee" as (a-^ "Galilee,"
(# 2 ) " surrounding country," and to have taken (^) " preach-
ing " as ( 2 ) " fame." Thence arises a new tradition (A 2 ) out
of # and
2. (Mark lit), " It having become late, when the sun had set "
Mark i. 32 (lit.) 2 Matth. viii. 16 (lit.) 2 Luke iv. 40 (lit) 2
"But (aj it having
" But (a 2 ) the sun
setting."
"But (a x ) it having
become late, (0 2 ) become late."
when the sun had
set"
[130] Mark's Greek word "late" occurs only once in
the whole of the Septuagint, and then only in Judith. The
word and the participial form of the phrase are characteristic
irewu FaXtXo/a dXXo^tfXwj'. In Is. ix. I, " Galilee (S'^j) of the nations," R.V. has
marg. "district." Comp. Josh. xxii. II : the region-about ( A. V. " borders-of")
Jordan," FaXadS (A FaXiXwfl) roO 'Io/>8. ; Ezek. xlvii. 8 : " the region towards the
east," TT}V FaXtXafai' TT^V Tp6s dvaroXds.
1 Is. liiL I (LXX) TTJ d.icofi rjftui', quoted thus in Jn. xii. 38, Rom. x. 16.
2 Here, as in several other translated passages in this book, the English is
sacrificed to the object of expressing, or approximating to, the idiom of the
original.
80
SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[131]
of idiomatic Greek. Probably a l represents the first free
translation of the original, conflated with a z , a subsequent
literal translation. Matthew prefers a lt Luke a 2 (only in the
participial form). 1
3 (Mark lit.), " It (i.e. the seed} arose
arose the sun"
. there
Mark iv. 5, 6 (lit.)
" And other fell
on the rocky [land]
where it had not
much earth, and
straightway it arose
because it had no
depth of earth ; and
when there arose the
sun it was burned
up, and because it
had no root it
withered."
Matth. xiii. 5 (lit.)
"But others fell
on the rocky [lands]
where they had not
much earth ; and
straightway they arose
because they had no
depth of earth, and,
the sun rising, they
were burned up, and
because they had no
root they withered."
Luke viii. 6 (lit.)
"And other fell
down on the rock,
and having grown, it
withered, because it
had no moisture."
[131] Here we have to do, not with the words of an
evangelist, but with those of Jesus. And it is highly im-
probable that Luke would have omitted the clause relating
to the sun if he had believed Jesus to have uttered it. We
are driven to conclude either that (i.) Luke's original did not
contain the words, or that, although it contained them, (ii.)
they appeared to Luke to be based on some error.
(i.) The English of Mark, above, follows Mark's Greel
order. But by transposition, the Greek might run in the
order of the following sentence, in which a bracket encloses
the words intervening between the end of the first " arose "
and the end of the second :
1 [130a] Luke wishes to say, not (as Mk.) "when the sun had set," but
" when the sun was setting." But the Greek verb (Svvai) has no imperfect indica-
tive in common use. Luke resorts to the present participle.
6 8l
[132] SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
" It arose [because it had no depth of earth, and it was
burned up when the sun arose], and because it had no root
it withered away." In this shape, the sentence is liable to
the error called "homoioteleuton." 1 Now it is probable
(325#) that our present text of Mark has come to us through
several editions ; and if one of these, containing the Greek in
this order, was employed by Luke (or by some author followed
by Luke), his eye may have passed from " arose " to " arose,"
causing him to omit the intervening words. This is possible,
but on the whole not likely, for the following reasons :
[132] (ii.) Where Mark has "root," Luke has a very
rare word indeed, meaning "moisture," "juice," " sap," etc.
Now this is difficult to explain on the hypothesis that Luke
was merely following a corrupt text of Mark ; for the general
tendency of corruption is to substitute an easy word for a
difficult and a familiar word for a rare one, and not vice
versa. But it is easy to explain on the hypothesis that
Luke thought he was restoring the exact meaning of an
original Hebrew text. 2 Luke's Greek word may mean
" moisture in the earth," but it may mean " internal moisture,"
" sap," " vitality." Now, if the Hebrew word was of a rare
and technical kind, the passage might fall under the head
of conflations from technical terms, described above (69).
A Hebrew word meaning " freshness," " greenness," or
" moisture," causing the earliest translators to doubt whether
it referred to the plant or to the root, might lead them to
1 [13Lz] That is, the error of passing in transcription from the termination of
one passage (e.g., "arose") to the similar termination of a second consecutive
passage (e.g., "arose"), omitting the second termination and all the words that
precede it up to the first termination (e.g., " because it had . . . the sun arose " ).
Homoioteleuton means "similar termination."
2 Lk. via. 13 agrees with Mk. iv. 17 in having "root" when the context
speaks no longer about seeds but about souls. Supposing Luke's "moisture" to
have been the original, Mk. iv. 6 may have been influenced by Mk. iv. 17. The
translator or editor of Mk. iv. 6, casting about for some rendering of an obscure
Hebrew word in the earlier passage, bethought himself that in the corresponding
part of the explanation later on, mention was made of "root."
S2
SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS [133]
paraphrase it as " depth of earth," " much earth," " root,"
etc." l To this must be added that the Greek word " (a) rise,"
though applied in the Septuagint to plants as well as to the
sun, is more frequently applied to the latter ; and indeed
the noun " rising " is regularly used for the " sun-rise " or
"east."
[133] That Mark has gone wrong through conflation
seems, on the whole, more probable than that Luke has
gone wrong through homoioteleuton. This probability will
be greatly strengthened if it is shown hereafter that Mark
is habitually conflative. For the present, as a working
hypothesis, we take this as the Hebrew original : 'VAnd other
fell on the rock and it (a) rose (i.e., grew up), and because it
had no moisture it withered." At a very early period, " rock,"
seeming hyperbolical for what could grow on a rock ?
was changed to " rocky land(s) " ; " (a)rose " was explained
in the margin by the suggestion of " the sun " ; " moisture "
was explained as being " depth of earth," or " much earth,"
or " root." Hence arose various traditions : " (A a ) it grew
up because it had no depth of earth, and withered away;"
" (A 2 ) because it had no root it withered away " ; " (A 3 )
the sun rose and it was burned up." All these Mark con-
flated. Matthew followed him. Luke not only omitted the
additions but also substituted for the ambiguous word
" (a)rose," the word " grew up," and also returned to the
literal though difficult " rock." 2
4. (Mark) " Why are ye fearful? Have ye not yet faith ? "
Mark iv. 40 Matth. viii. 26 Luke viii. 25
(flj) "Why are ye (aj "Why are ye (* 2 ) "Where is
fearful ? (a^ Have ye fearful, () O ye of your faith ? "
not yet faith ? " little faith ? "
1 The rare word 3*, translated by LXX "root " in Job viii. 12, means " fresh-
ness," "greenness." In its Talm. form, 31*, "hollow, "it might possibly be confused
with the hollow, or depth, of the earth, being once rendered Ac T^I -yijs
1 " Rocky " = Mk. r6 ver/xD&s, Mt. T&. rerpuSj} : " (a)rose " = (
83
[134] SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[134] The Greek word here rendered "fearful" occurs
only thrice as the representation of a Hebrew word in the
Septuagint ; but a^ would be a very natural way of express-
ing in vernacular Greek some Hebrew idiom reproaching the
disciples for want of steadfastness. There is therefore an
antecedent probability that Luke omitted a^ as being a
paraphrase of the more literal 2 .
[135] As regards a y the differences point to some
Hebrew particle that might mean " Where ? " implying the
answer " Nowhere." Matthew's compound (" little-faithed ")
is essentially Greek. " Little," thus used as part of a
compound adjective is very rare in the Septuagint : 1
but " little-faithed " is used four times by Matthew and is
once adopted by Luke. 2 It might represent the Hebrew
" dull (lit. heavy) of heart." But here Mark and Luke point
to an original " no-faith " or " where-faith ? "
[136] The latter view is confirmed by the Hebrew use
of " where " to signify negation, as in the name " Ichabod,"
which means literally " where [is] glory," but implies " the
glory is departed from Israel." 3 Compare also the Hebrew,
" man giveth up the ghost and where is he ? " with the Greek,
" but a mortal, having fallen, exists no more." 4 Mark appears
to have taken this particle negatively, with an implied inter-
rogative, " Ye have not yet faith [it seems]," Luke interroga-
tively, while Matthew expressed it by a paraphrase. 5
1 Only in 6\iy6\f/vxos (6), and 6X176/340$ (2).
2 "Little-faithed (<5Xi7<57riarot)," Mt. vi. 30 (Lk. xii. 28), viii. 26, xiv. 31,
xvi. 8.
3 I S. iv. 21 R. V. marg. " there-is-no (<K) glory," LXX <wai-a/3-xa|3w0, appar-
ently taking *R in its meaning " woe," " woe,-son-of-glory."
4 Job xiv. IO, weffuv 8 flporfa O^IK^TI tvrlv.
6 [13&z] The exact words of the original must remain doubtful. Mark's text
is itself not quite certain. W. and H. read otiirw, but Tisch. offrwj ; vws ofa.
(a) <K="where" or "not," (b) 7*=" how," (c) nrt=" where" or "how," (d)
m="thus." We should expect (b) when prefixed to (d) to mean JTWJ oOrwj, but
in Cant. v. 3 it means " how."
8 4
SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[137]
5- (Luke) lit. " Fearing they wondered" Conflated?
Mark iv. 41
"And they feared
a great fear and began
to say to one another,
Who then is this that
even the wind and
the sea obey him ? "
Matth. viii. 27
" But the men
wondered saying,
What kind [of man]
is this that even the
winds and the sea
obey him ? "
Luke viii. 25
"But fearing they
wondered saying to
one another, Who
then is this that even
the winds he com-
mandeth and the
water and they obey
him?"
(i) (Luke) "fearing they wondered"
[137] Are we to regard this as a conflate ? Not exactly.
The original was probably the reduplicated verb and verbal,
or verb and noun, " fearing they feared," or " they feared a
fear." Mark who often elsewhere alone preserves the
Hebrew reduplication 1 preserves the Hebrew here, but
adds "great" for emphasis. The Septuagint frequently
ignores the Hebrew reduplication, and so does Matthew
here. His Greek word for "what-kind-of" shows that he
is not following a Hebraic style. 2 Luke avoids the literal
reduplication, but expresses it by two verbs.
Mk. viL 18 (Mt. xv. 16) ourws (Mt. a.Kfj.r}v) icai iV9 curvverol fffre,
suggests that Mt. read na iy " up to this extent," where Mk. read na.
[13&:] Mk. viii. 17-18 has, instead of the parall. (Mt. xvi. 8) "[why reason ye]
in yourselves, ye of little faith?" a lengthy equivalent " (nor) do ye understand ?
have ye your heart hardened [or, blinded] ? Having eyes see ye not, and having
ears hear ye not ? " It is most improbable that Mt. would have omitted all this if
he had believed that it was rightly assigned to Jesus. But compare Jer. v. 21, " O
foolish people and without understanding (lit. and there is no heart), who have
eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not." It is possible that the
original contained Jeremiah's phrase "and there is no heart," and that an early
evangelist added to Mark Jeremiah's context in order to explain the force of the
prophet's phrase.
1 [137a] For instances of reduplication of cognate noun and verb in Mk. alone,
see Mk. i. 26, iii. 28, v. 42, xv. 34 (comp. xiii. 19, 20). Lk. xxiii. 46 (compared
with Mk. xv. 37) is an exception.
* Mt. viii. 27, "What kind of (jrorordj)" occurs (in the LXX) only in Dan.
(LXX) Su. 54.
85
[138] SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[138] Luke's use of two different verbs does not arise
from mere love of variety. A Hebrew verbal derived from
the Hebrew "fear" regularly means "wonder," and Luke
may have felt that to a Greek ear the meaning of " awe "
was better conveyed by combining " fear " and " wonder,"
than by " fear " alone. l
[139] Matthew's " men " probably arose from his mis-
understanding the Hebrew idiom for "(they spoke) to one
another" which (it will be observed) he omits. It is
"(they spoke) man to neighbour (or, to brother}? Hence
Ezra uses " man " where Esdras uses " each," and a Greek
sentence such as " a man took " may represent a Hebrew
original each man took." 2 The original may have been
" Fearing they feared and said man to neighbour."
Matthew rendered this freely, "the men wondered and
said."
(ii.) (Luke) "he commandeth . . . and"
[140] There is more to be said for the view that this is
a conflation of " obey." For " obey," when interpreted causa-
tively, would mean "cause to obey," that is, "command,"
and this causative is used several times by the septuagint
of issuing a decree or authoritative command. Possibly,
indeed, " command " alone (without " obey ") stood in the
original. If it did, the evangelists might feel that to " com-
mand " did not imply obedience, so that they preferred to
take the causative in a non-causative meaning. In that
case, Luke is here restoring the original meaning, while not
venturing to reject the erroneous interpretation which is
compatible with the correct one. 3
1 Fear (xv) = fafiiiaOau (frequ.). The pass, particip. = OavfuurTfo (6).
2 Comp. Ezra ii. I, "each ('*)," LXX avftp, but parallel I Esdr. v. 8 ?/ca<rroj.
In 2 K. xi. 9 Xa/3fc dv/ip means, " they each took," and the parallel 2 Chr. xxiii.
8 has cKatrros.
3 Lk. viii. 25 " He commandeth (tirirdffffft) " : a full discussion of this passage
would require a comparison of it with Mk. i. 27 (Lk. iv. 36), " even the unclean
spirits he commandeth" where Mk. adds "and they obey him (\nraKotovo-iv avrt?),"
86
SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[142]
6. (Luke) " On ttte next day . . . from the mountain "
Mark ix. 9 Matt. xvii. 9 Luke ix. 36-37
"And when they
were coming down
from the mountain,
Jesus commanded
them saying, ' Tell no
man. .
"And when they
were coming down
from the mountain he
straitly charged them
that they should re-
late to no man. .
"And they were
silent and reported to
no man in those days
. . . But it came to
pass (a) on the next
day when they had
come down (a^ from
the mountain.""
(i.) Speech or fact?
[141] The variation of Matthew from Ma/k suggests
that the original as is sometimes the case (28, 86, 240)
in Hebrew might be interpreted " tell no man," or, " they told
no man." Very possibly in early collections of the sayings
of Jesus, the preface " and Jesus said " might be omitted, and
then Evangelists might easily differ as Mark and Matthew do
in the Institution of the Lord's Supper where Mark has
" and they drank of it all (of them)," but Matthew " drink
of it all [of you]." *
[142] Or the Hebrew original may have been "he
commanded and they were silent," taken by Mark and
Matthew to mean, as it often does, " he commanded that they
should be silent." The synoptic divergences might then be
explained if the original were " And he caused them to be
silent and they reported nothing." Luke took " caused them
to be silent " non-causatively, " they were silent." Mark and
Matthew paraphrased it, " strictly enjoined (silence) on them."
(ii) Luke's addition, " on tJie next day"
Lk., "and they go forth." Perhaps the original of Mk. i. 27 ended at "com-
mandeth," and the rest was added for clearness.
Mt. has no parallel to Mk. i. 27 and to its context. The Hebrew for "spirits"
is also the Hebrew for " winds." Possibly " unclean" was added in Mk. i. 27 to
the original for clearness. If so, Mt. may have identified (i.) " he commandeth the
spirits' 1 '' with (ii.) "he commandeth the winds" and may have dropped the
narrative depending upon (i.) * Mk. xiv. 23, Mt. xxvi. 27.
87
[143] SYNOPTIC CONFLATIONS
[143] A new and important fact introduced by the latest
of the three Evangelists must not be discarded on the mere
ground of its lateness : for Luke manifestly had access to
traditions not found in Mark or Matthew. But an unim-
portant detail like this is not antecedently likely to be
derived from special tradition. Nor does it seem likely that
Luke would insert it, as an inference of his own, for the sake
of defining the time of the descent from the mountain.
[144] If therefore good evidence of the possibility of
conflative origin can be produced, the words " on the next
day " must be regarded with suspicion. Now the Hebrew
for " to-morrow " is very like the Hebrew for " from the
mountain," and the two are actually conflated in the Vision
of Elijah, where the Hebrew is " Go forth and stand on the
mountain" but the Septuagint, " Go forth (a^ on the morrow
and stand . . . (# 2 ) on the mountain" Probably, then, Luke's
detail is due to conflation. 1
1 [144a] i K. xix. II "on the mountain (nna)," atipiov (leg. inn) (o and a are
(158a) often confused). " From the mountain " = nno, "on the morrow "=inD.
It is possible that Lie. ix. 36 (a^ "in those days" and ix. 37 (a%) " on the next
day" may represent two attempts to make sense out of the reading inn. It
means literally "to-morrow," but might be (wrongly) interpreted "on the follow-
ing day (i.e. the day following a past day) (mrm)," or "in the days that immedi-
ately followed."
88
CHAPTER II
CONFLATIONS IN THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
I. Conflative tendency apparent in Mark
[145] When a passage contains several difficulties, all
explained or corrected by marginal alternatives, it is natural
that the editor, if he conflates in one instance, should con-
flate in the others also. He may, of course, accept some
and reject others of the marginal glosses ; but there is an
antecedent probability that errors of this kind will " flock
together." This we have found to be the case (95) in the
Old Testament, and the story of the Gadarene appears to
exemplify this tendency in Mark :
(i.) (Mark v. 5), " (a^) in the tombs and ( 2 ) in the
mountains?
[146] Matthew and Luke mention "the tombs," but
not " the mountains." The Hebrew of the two words is
not similar, but they are confused in Isaiah, " thou art
cast away from thy sepulchre " ; LXX, " thou shalt be cast
on the mountains" * The same verse of Mark contains
(ii.) (Mark v. 5), "(^) crying and (# 9 ) cutting (or, bruising)
himself with stones"
1 [146a] Is. xiv. 19, "from thy sepulchre (-j-Dpo)," (" Ts 6ptriv (? leg. some
form of on or in). It is more easy to see why Mk. v. 2, " there met him from
the tombs" is parallel to Lk. viii. 27, "there met him from the city" : for nnp
( city") is somewhat like map ("graves").
Dr. Taylor suggests, on Is. xiv. 19, Gk. corr., <r&pots for 6pt<ra>. In favour
of this, see Job xxi. 32 " burial-mound (nj) " <ruput>, A <ropw.
89
[147]
THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
[147] Matthew and Luke mention "crying," but not
"cutting," or "bruising." The Hebrew "bruise," "break,"
etc., is one of those words most frequently mistranslated by
the Septuagint. It is almost always confused with " evil " or
" mischief," and the latter is confused with " cry " in Micah,
" Why dost thou cry [with] crying," where the Septuagint
confuses " crying " with " evil." Mark may very well have
conflated (aj " crying," and ( 2 ) " doing himself a mischief,"
(or " bruising himself,") adding " with stones " for the sake
of clearness. 1
(iii.) The next instance occurs in two forms in Mark
corresponding to one in Matthew, and apparently to one
in Luke
Mark v. 3, 4 (lit.)
"Not even with a
chain any longer was
any one able to bind that way."
him, . . . and no one
bad-power to tame
him."
Matt. viii. 28 (lit)
" No one bad-
power 2 to pass by
Luke viii. 27 (lit.)
"For a long time
he had not put on
a garment."
In the attempt to trace these diverging traditions to
one Hebrew original we have to find reasons for the follow-
ing facts : (i.) Matthew nowhere, in this narrative, mentions
" chains," or " garments " ; (ii.) Luke substitutes " garment "
for " chain " here, though he mentions " chains " later on ;
(iii.) Mark nowhere mentions the refusal to wear clothes,
though he says later on that the demoniac was "clothed
and in his right mind " ; (iv.) Matthew alone inserts (in
apparent parallelism to the " chain " or " garment "), " no
man had power to pass that way."
[148] A solution would be afforded by an original to
1 For the mistranslation of pjn " crush," see above, 7. Cp. Mic. iv. 9,
"aloud, i.e. crying (jn)," Ka/rd. "Cry" = jrn, and " crush " = pjn.
8 Mt viii. 28, "had-power," Iffxfciv, so translated in order to identify it with
"had-power" in Mk. v. 4.
9
THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
[149]
this effect, " he would not so much as gird himself with a
girdle," that is, he would wear no clothing. For this would
be, in substance, Luke's tradition. And bearing in mind
the play of words in John, " another shall gird thee,"
referring to the binding of Peter before crucifixion we
see that " gird " might be taken in the sense of " bind." *
Hence Mark may have taken the meaning to be " he could
never be bound with bonds." But the same Hebrew root
means also "strengthen," and hence the phrase might be
translated " was strong enough to bind." Again, by a slight
change, it would mean " go " or " pass," and the latter would
give Matthew's tradition, " No one was strong enough to
pass by" 2
If this is the correct explanation, Luke is nearest to
the original.
Matt. viii. 34
" having seen him
(i.e. Jesus)."
(iv.) Mark v. 15
" They behold the
(flj) demoniac, (? )
seated, (? ) clothed,
(? # 3 ) and in his right
mind, ( 2 ) him that
had had the legion"
Luke viii. 35
"they found [there]
seated the man from
whom the devils had
gone forth, clothed,
and in his right
mind, by the feet
of Jesus."
[149] In itself, this passage of Mark could be accepted
without hesitation. But we have to explain why Matthew
omitted it. And the variation of Luke from Mark slight
though it may seem must not be overlooked. That Luke
should alter Mark's " demoniac " literally "the man-having-
the-devil" (pres. particip.) is intelligible, for he no longer
had the devil. But the slight variation in the order of
1 Jn. xxi. 1 8, explained by Tertullian and commentators generally as meaning
the binding of a prisoner by executioners.
2 [148a] The letter h is frequ. confused with i, so that nm "gird," or "bind"
might be taken as Vix = wopefaffffcu. nun (Mandelk. Concord.) = " vinculum" as
well as "cingulum": and the Lexicon takes it as "chain" in Job xii. 18 (but
not R.V., nor LXX) : vn=:tviffxiJ(iv, KarurxiJtu', and toxi/ftv.
91
[149] THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
the words " seated," etc., is such as often proceeds from
marginal additions inserted in different places of the text.
Also Mark's words ( 2 ) "him that had had the legion,"
superfluously added to (aj " demoniac," suggest that the
original contained simply "he," and that a l and <z 2 were
subsequently added to define the pronoun, or else that a 2
was a correction made by some one who, like Luke, objected
to <z r Lastly, the prevalence of conflations in the context
would make it reasonable to ask whether there is anything
in the nature of the words " seated " " clothed " and " in his
right mind " that points to further conflation.
The Hebrew " sit " is repeatedly confused (9) with
the Hebrew " return," or " restore," which might well have
originated " restored [to his right-mind]." Again, the word
" clothed " is easily confused with " to return," and the last
two words are actually confused in Ecclesiasticus, where
the Hebrew has " to return," but the editors read " clothed,"
while the Septuagint has a third reading. 1 These facts,
together with the considerations above mentioned, lead to
the conclusion that the passage in Mark is corrupted
"clothed" and "in his right mind" being a conflation and
that Matthew omitted it on account of its corruption.
2. (Mark) " the country" (Luke} " the abyss "
Mark v. 10 Matt. om. Luke viii. 31
"And he began "And they began
to beseech him much to beseech him that
that he would not he would not corn-
send them out of the mand them to go
country." away into the abyss"
1 [1490] Sir. xl. 3 : txt. TIB-^, marg. v&, above which is written eai 1 ? : LXX
Tera.ircu>u/j.tvov (? meaning "put to shame," leg. as from na). Luke himself
(iv. 18 "set at liberty them that are bruised") adopts a confusion of a somewhat
similar kind in quoting Is. Ixi. I, "bind-up (can)," which Luke appears to have
understood as meaning "restore to freedom (a'eri)" : so Job v. 18 " bindeth up
(ran)" vtiXiv diroKa.6icrTr](ri>> (prob. leg. 3rn).
92
THE STORY OF THE GADARENE [151]
[150] Mark's difficult phrase is omitted in the Arabic
Diatessaron. The Greek word here rendered " country "
means " the habitable world " in Ecclesiasticus and Isaiah. 1
Job assumes that it is a part of the punishment of the
wicked to be " chased out of the [habitable] world " ; and evil
spirits, when cast out from men, are described as moving
" through waterless places," that is, apart from men, and not
finding rest till they return to a human tenement. 2 But, if
that was the meaning of Mark's original, Mark's rendering
by no means represents it. It might have been rendered
" outside the world," but that would have been still obscure
to a Greek reader. Hence, whereas Mark has " he besought
him much that he would not send them outside the
country," Luke appears to express the original meaning
more clearly though departing from Mark in grammatical
form by saying that " they [i.e. the evil spirits] besought
him that he would not command them to go away into
the abyss."
[151] Two considerations may have a bearing on
Matthew's apparent omission. (L) "From" is often (15Sa)
confused in Hebrew with " in " or " into." (ii.) A negative
may not improbably have been inserted or omitted in a Greek
Gospel translated from Hebrew.
There are scores of such erroneous insertions, or omissions,
of "not" in the Septuagint where there is no apparent
excuse. But in this passage there is a special probability
of the error, because the pronoun in " they besought him " is
one of the most frequent Hebraic causes of an erroneously
1 Sir. xliii. 3 " the habitable land (San)" X<*V> ai/ j I s - xv i- 3 " a ll Y e inhabitants
of - the - world C?an)" tr&vres' ws X^pa KaToiKovfiAvT) (Oxf. Concord, seems wrong
here, taking x^P a as = pn which = a second x^pa). In Is. vii. 19 "desolate
(mm)," x^P a s> (?) Lxx le g- ^n.
2 [1500] Job xviii. 18, Mt. xii. 43 (Lk. xi. 24). "Waterless," used as a
noun, is a common word for "wilderness" in Hebrew; and solitary places are
regarded as habitations for "wild beasts" and "satyrs," apparently terms
suggesting, at least to the Greek translators of Isaiah (xiil 21), evil spirits.
93
[152] THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
inserted Greek negative. 1 Or, on the other hand, the
Hebrew negative might have been dropped by the Greek,
being taken as a pronoun.
[152] But does Matthew omit this difficult tradition?
May not Mark and Luke be conflating while Matthew gives
a single version of what he conceives to be the original ?
It is impossible to answer with confidence because the dis-
crepancies are so many and so complex ; but it is a prob-
able conjecture that some confusion underlies the different
statements, in this narrative, about "beseeching to go"
" beseeching to send (i.e. (possibly) to cause to go}" " beseech-
ing to permit to go into" and " beseeching not to send'' These
might be connected, positively or negatively, with " abyss,"
" country," " borders," and taken as referring to the home
of the evil spirits, or to the habitable world, or to the
"borders" of the citizens of Gerasa who subsequently (155)
" beseech " Jesus to " go away." Again the word " abyss "
in Ecclesiasticus is confused by the Septuagint with the
third personal pronoun, 2 so that " into them " might be con-
fused with " into the abyss" These considerations suggest
that conflation may underlie Mark and Luke in the
following :
Mark v. 10-12 Matth. viii. 31 Luke viii. 31-32
"Not send them " If thou art-to-cast "Not command
out of the country ... us out, send us into them to go away into
Send us into the the herd of swine." the abyss . . . permit
swine, that we may go them to go into them
into them." (i.e. the swine)." 3
[153] It seems probable that very early difficulties
1 Delitzsch gives i 1 ? here in Mk.-Lk. ; V^K in Mt. The former is repeatedly con-
fused with xS (123a) ; the latter might be confused with the hortative negative "?K.
2 Sir. xliii. 23 : . . . planted islands in- (he -deep (omna)," i<f>trev<rev OI/TTJP
'Iri<rovs, a corruption of iv OI/TT; /j}<roi/s. "In them" (and often "into them")
would be ona.
8 Lk. " them (ixeivovt) " ; Mk. " them (
94
THE STORY OF THE GADARENE [154]
would be found by Hebraic as well as by Hellenistic
evangelists in the phrase above quoted about " the country " ;
and, owing to the special difficulty, Hebraic alternatives
might be inserted in the margin, not because they resembled
the letters of the original (" habitable land "), but because
they appeared more fitting or less obscure. This is often
the case in the Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus, and it might well be
so here, where the words of the Lord are not in question.
But, if this were the case, the probability of confusion would
be greatly increased, and especially of confusion by conflation.
[154] The confusion between "going" and "sending,"
or " causing to go," might naturally arise from mistaking a
causative for a non-causative form. But, further, these two
forms are so similar to the Hebrew " command " or " send
word," that even in Hebrew parallels there appears confusion
between them. For example, where Kings tells us that
Jehoiada " commanded the captains," Chronicles has " and
(he) brought out the captains " ; and the Greek of the latter
mistranslates " brought out " first (aj non-causatively, as
" went out," and then (# 2 ) as " commanded," conflating so as
to produce the following result : " and he (a^) went out . . .
and (# 2 ) commanded" This confusion between " send " and
" command " probably explains a remarkable discrepancy in
the Double Traditions, where Matthew makes the centurion
" come," but Luke makes him " send " to Jesus. 1
Hence, when Mark has " that he should not send them,"
i.e. " cause them to go," and the parallel Luke has, " that
he should not command them to go," it is possible that
Luke may not be freely rendering the causative of "go,"
but may be conflating (a^} " go " and (<z 2 ) " command," like
the Septuagint above, And the original may be either
1 Mt. viii. 5, Trpoffri\0ev ; Lk. vii. 3, direVretXev. 2 K. xi. 15, "and he com-
manded (isi)" = 2 Chr. xxiii. 14, " and [he] brought out (jm)," (<*i) f&Xffci' . . .
(a%) tvere[\a.TO. Comp. Judg. iii. 19, "and there went out (pi.) (IKSI)," ^-
air&rr\ei' (but A i)\00) ; Gen. 1. 16, "and they sent-a-message (run)" *al
xapeylvotno.
95
[155] THE STORY OF THE GADARENE
" command," as in Kings, or " cause to go," as in Chronicles,
or perhaps "go."
[155] Our conclusion is that Matthew may have
omitted the clause about " sending from the country," not
because he was ignorant of it, but because he regarded it as
an erroneous version of a tradition that he has himself
preserved in company with Mark and Luke, viz. " they
[the people of Gerasa] besought him to go away from their
borders." *
Although this particular conclusion is but a conjecture,
the investigation of the Mark-parallels as a whole results in
a conclusion that may be described as certain, namely, that
some of the details in Mark, omitted or altered by Matthew
or by Luke, or by both, are the results of conflation, and
must not be accepted as historical. Luke, so far, is less
conflative than Mark. Matthew, where he does not follow
Mark, appears the least conflative of the three.
1 Mk. v. 17. direX0et' (Mt viii. 34, SITUS fiera^y) dir& TUV opLwv avrCiv, Lk. viii.
37 T^S Trepi'x&P ov T&V TepaffTjvtav d.Tre\0fiv air' cn/rtDv.
The final o in the Hebrew "send them" might be repeated as the preposi-
tion "from," thus changing "send to" into "send from."
9 6
CHAPTER III
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
i. (Mark} "Idumaea" (Matthew) "Syria"
WE have seen above that Septuagint errors of confusion are
often due to the similarity of the Hebrew d and r ; and
instances were given of the consequent confusion of " Edom "
with " Aram," i.e. " Syria," of " know " with " shepherd," of
" across " with " servant," etc. Therefore, if we are seeking
to ascertain whether the Synoptic Gospels bear traces of
translation from Hebrew, these words, and the others
mentioned above with them as constantly interchanged in
the Septuagint, ought first to engage our attention in the
Gospels.
[156] We therefore begin with "Idumaea" or "Edom."
Antecedently, this would seem a hopeless word. Every
reader of the New Testament is aware that the old names,
Edom, Moab, and Ammon, rarely, if ever, occur in its pages.
In the first century Edom was called Idumaea ; but the
name is never used by Luke, though he mentions the less
known Trachonitis, Abilene, and Ituraea. No convert is
recorded as coming from it, and it is never mentioned in the
Acts, Epistles, or in any Gospel but one, namely, Mark, and
there only once.
[157] Naturally we turn with interest to the parallels in
Matthew and Luke. But here we have to bear in mind
what was said above (16) about the probability of modifica-
tions of the earliest Gospel by harmonisers, so that important
7 97
[158]
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
discrepancies arising from mistranslation would rarely survive
except where the parallel contexts diverged. If Mark had
written that people " came to Jesus from Galilee, Idumaea
and Judaea " and Matthew and Luke " came to Jesus from
Galilee, Decapolis, and Judaea" it is highly probable that the
rare and quite unexpected " Idumaea " would have been
altered to " Decapolis " in the first century, so that Mark's
original reading would have been utterly lost. But it
happens that Matthew's context varies a good deal from
Mark's. It was shown (18) that Luke represents the Baptist
coming to the country round Jordan where Matthew represents
the people of that country coming to the Baptist. Again, it
was shown (129) that the Hebrew "hearing" may mean a
" report " or " fame " about a person. Hence, where Mark
says "hearing how many [great deeds] he was doing, they
came," and Luke "who came to hear him," we must not be
surprised if Matthew has " there came the report about him "
(lit. "his hearing"). With these preliminaries remembered,
we may be prepared to recognise divergent translation from
Hebrew in the following passages where Mark alone has
retained the old and difficult (a^) " Idumaea," while Matthew
has (#) " Syria."
Mark iii. 8
"... and from
(a^) Idumaea and be-
yond Jordan, ( 3 ) and
about Tyre and Sidon,
a great multitude, (V)
hearing how many
[great deeds] he was
doing, came unto
him."
Matt iv. 24-5 (lit.)
" And there came 1
(ft) his hearing \i.e.
his fame spread] into
the whole of (a 2 ) Syria _
. . . and there fol-
lowed him many
crowds . . . and from
beyond Jordan."
Luke vl 17
"Andagreat crowd
of his disciples, and
a great multitude of
the people, from . . .
and/ww (0 3 ) the sea-
coast of Tyre and
Sidon, who came (b)
to hear him"
[158] Probably Mark himself retains a trace of the read-
ing " Syria." He might not like to say that " people came
1 Mt. iv. 24, "came," lit. "came away,
9 8
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [159]
from Syria and from Galilee and from Judaea, etc.," because
" Syria " included " Galilee and Judaea." But the meaning
of " (northern) Syria " was substantially expressed by (a^)
" about Tyre and Sidon." So Mark may have conflated
<*! and a> 3 . Luke took a s alone. Matthew took a z alone,
and avoided the hyperbolical statement that " people came
hearing (or to hear) from all Syria" by changing it to
" there came a hearing (i.e. a report) into all Syria." ]
A great many points of interest in these parallel
passages must be reserved for another occasion. The
object here is simply to prove translation from Hebrew. In
this and future instances space will not allow of a* full answer
to the question " which evangelist is closest to the original ? "
But thus much may be said with advantage once for all that
the difficult reading is generally the original one ; and the
difficult reading here is " Idumaea."
2. Ttie prophecy of Amos concerning " Edom "
[159] It is probable that a prophecy of Amos, quoted
erroneously in the Acts of the Apostles as predicting the
inclusion of the Gentiles in the Church, was the basis of
Mark's tradition. The original mentioned " Edom " and the
nations "called by the name" of Jehovah. 2 The latter
might be taken as meaning the different parts of Palestine.
These, accordingly, Mark (iii. 7) adds to " Edom." But in the
Acts, " Edom " which in Hebrew is identical with " Adam "
(both being a* dm} is regarded as referring to "man" gener-
1 [158a] For "from" (-D) confused with "in" (-3), see 2 Chr. xxv. 23 (lit.)
"i (-3) the wall . . . from (-D) the gate," diri . . . d?rd . . .=2 K. xiv. 13
"in . . . in" ev . . . ev : 2 Chr. xxv. 27, "conspired against him in Jerusalem
and he fled to Lachish," tirtdtvTo avry Iirl6f<nv ical tyvyev airb 'I. e/j A. ; 2 Chr.
xxiii. 20 "from the house of the Lord," efc olnov K. See 9a and 1440.
2 Amos ix. 12: "That they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the
nations which are called by my name," quoted by James in Acts xv. 17, thus,
"that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon
whom my name is called " correctly from the LXX, which, however, is erroneous.
99 t
[160] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
ally. That shows at how very early a period the mention
of " Edom " was likely to cause variations and to give rise to
confusion with " Aram," i.e. " Syria," and to conflations
such as " the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon."
[160] These considerations may prepare the way for a
second rule, if it is seen to be supported by further experience.
A difficult reading, found in Mark alone, will derive
additional probability from evidence indicating that it may be
based on the language of prophecy}
3. (Matthew) "perfect" (i.) (Mark and Luke) "lacking"
or " wanting" (ii.) (Luke) " compassionate"
[161] This, like the last instance, will be found to
involve a confusion of d and r ; the word chsd means
" compassionate," " saintly," and hence, by a free paraphrase,
" perfect." The word chsr means " lacking " or " wanting."
The second parallel may be conveniently taken first :
Matth. v. 48. Luke vi. 36.
" Be ye therefore perfect as " Become compassionate as
your Father in heaven is your Father in heaven is
perfect? compassionate"
[162] Among the Jews, the name for "a Saint" was "a
merciful [one]," Chasid. Jesus bade His disciples become
" saints," not after the pattern of the Pharisees, but after the
pattern of the Father in heaven, who is beneficent to all.
This Matthew expressed freely by " perfect," Luke more
literally, but not so faithfully to the spirit of the utterance,
by " compassionate."
So far, there is no error, nothing but the difference
1 Mark in his own person perhaps never quotes prophecy. But his language,
like that of any early evangelist, might naturally be based upon prophecy, or
contain allusions to it. In Mk. i. 2 the prophecy may have been originally
intended as an utterance of John the Baptist.
IOO
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [165]
between a broad and a narrow rendering. But the following
contains error :
Mark x. 21. Matth. xix. 21. Luke xviii. 22.
" One thing is " If thou desirest " Yet one thing is
lacking to thee." to be perfect." wanting to thee."
[163] The Hebrew for the Greek "lacking" is thrice
*ion (chsr) in the Septuagint, and this is actually con-
fused with Ton (chsd) in Proverbs, " He knoweth not that
want shall come upon him " ; LXX, " he knoweth not that
the merciful shall have power upon him." *
[164] The original was probably, as in Matthew, "Is it
in thy mind (Heb. soul) to become a saint?" But (i.) "thy
mind (or, soul) " is repeatedly rendered " thee " by the
Septuagint ; (ii.) the word " in " might easily be confused
with " one thing" ; (iii.) " Saint" was confused with "lacking."
The three causes resulted in (Mark) " (ii.) one thing (iii.) is
lacking (i.) to thee." Luke, whom we have found above
objecting to Matthew's word " perfect," followed Mark's
error. 2
4. (Mark and Matthew) " on foot" an error 2
[165] In the following passage, immediately before the
" Feeding of the Five Thousand," it can be shown that there
is antecedent probability that Mark (followed in part by
Matthew) has made a mistake avoided by Luke.
Mark vi. 33. Matth. xiv. 13. Luke ix. ii.
"... ran together ". . .followed him ". . . followed 'him."
there on foot from all on foot from the
the cities and came cities."
before them."
1 Prov. xxviii. 22, the Heb. is ion (LXX leg. ion) : the Oxf. Cone., by error,
gives ion. Another confusion of ion (in a different sense) with ion occurs in Prov.
xiv. 34 " is-a-reproach (ion)," Aao-ffovoCtri.
2 Comp. Gen. xxiii. 8 "If it is in (nx) your mind ..." "One thing"
= nnx which is easily confused with UK, i.e. " with," or " in."
IOI
[166] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
Here Mark says that people ran together " on foot "
from " all the cities " and reached the point aimed at before
those who went with Jesus in the boat, (i.) It is in the
highest degree unlikely that people " on foot " could thus
anticipate twelve able-bodied men in a boat. Anyone who
has experienced the difference of time between passing on
land, or by boat, from one point of, say Derwentwater, or
Ullswater, will recognise this, (ii.) Matthew and Luke both
omit Mark's statement that the multitudes reached the
place first, and both say that the people " followed " Jesus.
[166] The explanation is very simple. Mark has mis-
understood the Hebraic " at his feet," i.e. at the feet of Jesus,
and has taken it to mean " with their feet." The error is
a very natural one and occurs repeatedly (75-76) in the
Septuagint, e.g. " And the king went forth and all his house-
hold after him" LXX " and all his household on their feet" *
In another passage, "the people that follow me" is rendered
by the Septuagint " the people that are my footsoldiers" but
by Aquila literally " the people that is in my feet" 2
Matthew conflates " followed " with " on foot." Luke
gives the correct rendering.
5. (Mark and Matthew) " in the (or, a) boat to a desert
place" (Luke) " to a city called Bethsaida"
Mark vi. 32 Matt xiv. 13 Luke ix. 10
" In the boat to a " In a boat to a " To a city called
desert place." desert place." Bethsaida."
[167] "Bethsaida" means " House of Provision." 3 Luke
1 2 S. xv. 16-18, "at his feet," i.e. "following him," is there twice translated
" with their feet (TO?J Troalv avruv)," and once irefj.
2 I K. xx. 10.
3 " Provision (,ns) " = (n) <?wi<rtTio>wj, used here by Luke (Lk. ix. 12, " Send
away the multitudes that they may go into the villages and fields round about and
find provision"), and nowhere else in N.T.
IO2
CONFUSIONS, OF WORDS [169]
alone connects it here with the Feeding of the Five
Thousand. Later on, where Mark and Matthew have " that
they may buy themselves something to eat, or, food" Luke
alone has " provision." In the historical books of the
Septuagint the Greek " provision " occurs ten times, but in the
whole of the Prophets and Psalms only once, and there in a
passage that may well have seemed to the earliest Christians
appropriate to Christ as the Shepherd of Israel feeding the
flock in the wilderness : " Men did eat the bread of the
mighty (A.V. and LXX angels) ; he sent them provision to
the full." The Psalmist's immediately preceding words,
" He gave them of the corn of heaven," are quoted by John
in connection with the Five Thousand. 1 It may be taken
as certain that when Luke used the name " Bethsaida " and
the word " provision," he had in mind the unique instance
in which the word is used in the Psalms, and regarded the
name as appropriate to the miracle. If so, he would
naturally be prejudiced in favour of any variation of the
text of Mark that allowed him to substitute his tradition in
the place of Mark's.
[168] Now the Greek language is deficient as compared
with Hebrew in words that express different kinds of wilder-
nesses and deserts. In one passage of Jeremiah the single
Greek word used here by Mark and Matthew expresses three
Hebrew words. 2 Here the original for "desert" may have
been the word employed by the Psalmist (Ps. Ixiii. i), "O
God, my God, early will I seek thee in a dry and weary
land where no water is " ; where the Septuagint uses Mark's
word " desert " to represent " dry." But " Place-of-Drought "
(bthtziH) is very like " Place-of-Provision " (bthtzidti).
[169] Next, to explain Luke's "city." We have seen
(12, 13, 73) that Arabah, " wilderness," is easily confused with
a word meaning " ferry-boat." Now Arabah is confused
with "city" in Joshua, "to the plains (lit. Arabotti) of Jericho";
1 Ps. Ixxviii. 24, 25, Jn. vi. 31. 3 Jer. 1. 12.
103
[170] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
LXX "the city of Jericho." 1 If, therefore, the original
described how the Messiah went forth into " an Arabah, a
place-of-drought," there is precedent for supposing that Luke
may have corrupted " Arabah " into " city." We have also
seen above that a striking similarity of letters justifies the
belief that he may have corrupted " place-of-drought " into
" Bethsaida." The two corruptions would convert " Arabah
a place of drought " into " city Bethsaida."
[1 70] Luke's mention of Bethsaida has given geographers
and commentators a great deal of trouble, because the
context seemed to necessitate a city on the west of the
lake. That difficulty might be surmounted more easily
than the following objections : (i.) There seems an absurdity
in the supposition that the disciples, being in, or quite near,
a populous and prosperous city like Bethsaida, should say,
" send the multitudes away to buy provision " ; (ii.) There is
a contradiction, which has never been satisfactorily explained,
between the " desert " of Mark and Matthew, and the " city "
of Luke. If the meaning were " the desert round the city,"
the hungry multitudes would be sent to buy food in the city.
But they are sent to the surrounding " farms and villages ! "
All these difficulties vanish if Luke's " Bethsaida " is a mere
corruption of " desert."
6. Was " boat " in the Original ?
The introduction of a " boat " harmonises very well
antithetically and on paper with the notion that the
multitudes went round " on foot" But, if linguistic and
practical considerations show that " on foot " is a mistake,
the question arises whether " by boat " may not be a mistake
too.
[171] We have seen above in discussing the variations
1 Josh. iv. 13, "plains (many)," "dty" = vy: " a"r-bth-tzdh " = " city Beth-
saida " ; " a"rbh tzih " = ' ' dry desert. "
IO4
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [172]
of Beiha&ara, " the place of a ferry-boat or ford," and
Bethara&a, " a place in the wilderness," that the two words
" boat " and " wilderness " might easily be interchanged.
And here " wilderness " is the more probable for the following
reasons :
Mark frequently mentions a boat where the other
evangelists do not, and sometimes he appears to be wrong.
Also Mark is unquestionably wrong in the context where he
describes the multitude as going " on foot," and this increases
the probability that he is wrong here. John follows Luke
in mentioning no boat. 1 Having regard to the Hebraic
habit of accumulating words such as " wilderness," " dry
place," " solitary place," etc., contrary to the genius of
Greek, it is antecedently probable that the original would
use two synonymous words here, and that the Greek
translators would be disposed to find a new meaning for
one of them.
7. The earthquake recorded by Matthew alone
[172] After saying that "Jesus uttered a great cry and
expired," Mark mentions the rending of the veil of the
temple and then passes to what the centurion said. Luke,
with some variation of order, does the same. Matthew,
between the rending of the veil and the words of the
centurion, inserts a description of an " earthquake " to which
he refers in the following passage, parallel to passages of
Mark and Luke which make no mention of it :
Jn. vi. I, "After these things [i.e. Christ's acts in Jerusalem] Jesus
went away beyond the sea of Galilee, the [sea of] Tiberias." Starting from
Jerusalem Jesus might go through the southern part of Decapolis. Comp. Mark's
description of Christ's journey before the Feeding of the Four Thousand
(Mk. vii. 31). "And again he went out from the borders of Tyre, and came
through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee through the midst of the borders of Decapolis"
where Mt. xv. 29 has "he went along (TO/X!) the sea of Galilee." It would
be quite natural to infer from Jn.'s words that Jesus crossed the lake by boat.
But the inference would be by no means certain.
105
[173]
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
Mark xv. 39
" But the centur-
ion, having seen . . .
that he thus expired,
said . . ."
Matth. xxvii. 54
"But the captain
of the hundred and
those with him . . .
having seen tfie earth-
quake and the things
that were coming to
pass, feared exceed-
ingly, saying . . ."
Luke xxiii. 47
"But the captain
of the hundred,
having seen that
which had come to
pass, glorified God,
saying . . ."
[173] The versions of Mark given by Codex Bezae and
the Syro - Sinaitic, instead of conforming Mark's brief
account to that of Matthew or Luke, rather suggest a con-
fusion of " expire " with " exclaim " and a consequent confla-
tion. But the confused nature of the traditions followed by
the former is indicated by the fact that, in Luke, it makes
the centurion " call out."
Luke (Codex Bezae)
"And the captain of the
hundred, Jiaving called out,
glorified God, saying . . ."
Mark (Codex Bezae)
"... having seen him thus
exclaiming and [that] he ex-
pired"
Mark (Syro-Sinaitic)
"... saw him exclaiming
and expiring?
These variations suggest some confusion arising from a
similarity between the Hebrew of " exclaim," " come to pass,"
and possibly " earthquake " and " fear."
[174] Delitzsch gives, as the modern Hebrew translation
of Luke's " that which had come to pass" the passive participle
of the verb " do." * This, as there is no past participle, might
be translated by Matthew " the things that were coming to
pass." On the other hand, Mark might take it as meaning
1 Niph. of nvy. "Cry out (yip)" (Ps. xviii. 41) is interchanged (parall. 2 S.
xxii. 42) with nyp, which is confused with nw, "do," in Ex. v. 9. Trommius
also suggests that nyr and nry are confused in i K. xx. 40.
106
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [176]
"that which he (i.e. Jesus) did" the verb "do" being used
in Hebrew as in English to avoid the repetition of a verb.
But if a translator took it thus, the necessities of Greek
idiom might induce him to substitute for the general verb
" do " the particular verb of action. For example, in Genesis,
where God is represented in the Hebrew text, as saying " I
will not do it" that is " I will not destroy," referring to a
previous mention of destroying the Greek has " I will not
destroy." l
[175] If that was the case, translators of the present
passage might take different views of the action implied by
" do." Some might refer it as Mark does to the* action last
mentioned, namely, "expiring"; others, to the loud cry that took
place at the moment of death. The latter might substitute
" exclaiming." It so happens that one Hebrew word meaning
" exclaim " resembles the Hebrew " do," so that apart from
the Greek objection to the Hebrew use of " do " corruption
of the Hebrew text might account for the introduction of
the reading " exclaim." Again, the Hebrew " saw that he
[Jesus] exclaimed (or, called out)," might easily be confused
with " saw and he [the centurion] called out," and this would
account for the reading of Codex Bezae in Luke.
[176] But, when the action was transferred to the
centurion instead of Jesus, there would be a tendency to
substitute other verbs, similar to " cry out " but more
appropriate, such as " feared exceedingly," or " was greatly
moved." Such a word is found in the recently recovered
Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus, where the Septuagint has " The
countries wondered-greatly-at thee," but the Hebrew " thou
didst-greatly-move the nations," and the editors add "(lit.) move
as with a tempest " ; and the same word, in Kings, describes
the " sore trouble " of the king of Syria. But this " moving "
is much more often used literally, to mean a " tempest,"
and is then translated by the Greek word "shaking," here
1 Gen. xviii. 29-30.
107
[177] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
used by Matthew to denote an earthquake. 1 Thus, by
Hebrew corruption, " he cried out " might become " there was
a shaking," i.e. an earthquake
Hebrew corruption could not, of course, explain Matthew's
preceding details about the earthquake. But we have seen
(106-9) in the story of Araunah, that a slight Hebrew
corruption may originate an erroneous tradition, which may
be subsequently amplified with a view to clearness and
consistency. 2
[177] It is quite possible that Codex Bezae approximates
to Mark's original tradition, and that, owing to the similarity
between the two words " come to pass " and " cry out," one
of them dropped out in our Mark, which retained only the
former, paraphrasing it as " expired." But these and other
details must be left uncertain. However, all the phenomena
converge to the conclusion that these remarkable Synoptic
variations may be caused by translation from Hebrew, and
that Matthew's " earthquake " may have originated in Hebrew
corruption.
8. Peter "sitting" or "standing" during the three denials?*
The Synoptists, in commencing the story of Peter's
denials, describe him as "sitting," John describes him as
" standing." Why is this ?
[178] The Hebrew "sit" means also "remain" or
" continue." When the Septuagint writes, " He sat three
years and there was no war," the Hebrew is, "They con-
tinued three years without war." 4 The Hebrew Law of the
1 " Tempest " = <re>i6s or <riwo-ew/i(Ss, = mpr (or mpo). The verb IJJD =(Sir.
xlvii. 17) dtreOwL/fJutffav, and (2 K. vi. ll) ftKivf)Ot).
3 [176a] Errors springing from consistency form a large class. The following
is an instance on a small scale, Judg. vi. 16, " the Lord said," LXX ''the angel
of the ZWsaid." Having made this alteration, the LXX is forced subsequently
to alter " / will be with thee " into " the Lord will be with thee."
8 Mk. xiv. 54 ; Mt. xxvi. 58 ; Lk. xxii. 55 ; Jn. xviii. 18.
4 I K. xxii. I.
108
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [179]
Sabbath said, " Abide ye every man in his place," but the
Greek said, " Ye shall sit each one in (lit. to) your houses,"
and Origen's comment is, " no man can sit a whole day." l
Hence, when Mark says, " I was daily in the temple with
you teaching," and the parallel Matthew has " I sat daily,"
we perceive that Matthew is giving the literal meaning
(" sit "), and Mark the real meaning (" be," or " remain.") 2
The same applies to Mark elsewhere, " While Peter
was below in the courtyard," (Matthew) " But Peter sat
without in the courtyard," (Luke) " seated." There are
five passages in the Septuagint, where the Greek " was,"
" is," etc., represents a Hebrew " sit " or " contintfe." 3 It is
reasonable to infer that Mark's " was " represents an original
Hebrew "sit," translated literally by Matthew and Luke.
[179] Although the error of Matthew and Luke was not
a serious one, it may well have seemed to John important
enough to be corrected. It was an error of fact, represent-
ing the officers and servants, who were standing on duty,
as " sitting." It was also unseemly that the Apostle should
be "sitting" while his Lord was standing on His trial.
Hence it is, perhaps, that John, in his correction, instead
of using the word "remain," repeatedly employs the word
"stand." It is Luke that mainly needed correction. Mark
mentions " sitting " only once. But Luke says that " they
sat together . . . and Peter sat in the midst of them," and
that a servant saw him " seated." John says, " the servants
were standing . . . and Peter was with them standing" and,
again, " Now Simon Peter was standing? *
1 Ex. xvi. 29; Orig., De Princip., iv. I (Clark's Transl., vol. i. p. 319).
2 Mk. xiv. 49 ; Mt. xxvi. 55-
* Mk. xiv. 66, Mt. xxvi. 69, Lk. xxii. 56. Gen. xxix. 14 ; Josh. xxiv. 7 ; i S.
vii. 2 ; Jer. xxxviii. 7 ; Ezek. iii. 15.
4 [179a] Lk. xxii. 55, 56 ; Jn. xviii. 18, 25. The difference may throw light
upon descriptions of Jesus as "standing," or "sitting," at "the right hand of
God." Both may, in the original, mean simply "abiding for ever." Verbal
differences like these, springing from one and the same Hebrew original, and
109
[180] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
9. Peter warming himself at tJie light [of a fire]
Mark xiv. 54 Matt. xxvi. 58 Luke xxii. 55, 56
[180] "And he "... sat to see the "but having kindled
was sitting . . . and end." a fire around 1 . . .
warming himself at but seeing him seated
the light [of a fire]." at the light [of the
fire]."
[181] With this must be compared Jn. xviii. 18 :
" The servants . . . were standing [there], having made a
fire of charcoal, for there was a frost, and they warmed
themselves ; and Peter, too, was with them, standing and
warming himself." 2
(i.) (Mark and Luke) " at the light" (Matthew) " to see
the end," 3
[182] The Greek "light" would not refer to "fire,"
unless a writer introduces, as Luke is careful to do, some
previous mention of a fire as being " kindled," " lit," etc.
Mark makes no such mention, and hence it is reasonable to
passing into the traditional language of the Western Churches (so as to appear
even in the Acts and the Epistles) may have given rise to plausible, but baseless,
theological distinctions.
1 [180a] Lk. xxii. 55, "having kindled around (irepid\f/avTes)." But around
what ? L. and S. give no instance of this use of the word except in the Epistles
of Phalaris, Ep. v. p. 28, presumably about the fire kindled round the brazen
bull ! Luke's use of it here has never been explained.
Instead of saying that Peter followed (as Mk.) "inside (<rto)" Into the court-
yard, Luke has M^V> an d again fdffos, "in the midst of them." He seems
to wish to describe Peter as compassed round by tempters. Comp. Actus Petri
cum Simone (ed. Lips. p. 54) where Peter says, as the reason for his denials,
"for there were evil dogs that had compassed me round" (no doubt with allusion
to Ps. xxii. 1 6, " dogs have compassed me.")
2 [181a] For the explanation of the discrepancy between "standing" and
"sitting," see last section. The Arabic Diatessaron gets rid of it by substituting
"rose" for "stand" thus : "And the servants and the soldiers rose and made a
fire in the court . . . and when the fire burned up they sat down round it."
3 " At the light," irpbs TO tf>ws. The Hebr. for <f>w, IIK, according to pointing,
means " flame " or " light." " See " is " mo."
I IO
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [185]
conclude that the author (whether oral or scribal) of Mark's
original Greek meant " light " in the ordinary sense, and most
probably " day-light." The Hebrew " (day)light " is identical
with the Hebrew " flame " : and that would account for an
erroneous inference, adopted by our Mark (325#), that it
was a fire, near which (he adds) Peter was " warming
himself."
[183] "Light" makes excellent sense. The Jewish
Law forbade a criminal trial to take place by night The
Sanhedrin might evade this by pretending that they were
merely collecting evidence before daybreak ; but they would
not venture to begin the formal trial till the sun hacl risen.
This harmonises with what was proved in the previous
section ; that Peter was not " sitting," but " remaining " in
the sense of " waiting" that zs, waiting for the verdict. But
according to Jewish Law this was identical with " waiting
for day-light" And that was the meaning of the original.
[184] But the Hebrew "light" or "flame" also means
" enlighten," " kindle," " spectacle " ; and it is very similar
in some forms to the Hebrew "see," with which it is once
confused in Proverbs, " the light of the eyes," where the
Septuagint has " the seeing eye." J Hence it was easy for
one evangelist to find " at the light [of a fire] " where
another found "to see" and where probably the original
was " toward, or for, the daylight."
[185] This may be regarded as so probable as to
approach certainty. Other details are matters of conjecture.
For example, whence came " the frost " mentioned by John
alone ? Did he supply it as an inferential detail to explain
why the men lit the fire (just as Mark probably supplied
"warming himself" in order to show that he assumed the
" light " to be fire-light) ? This might seem a sufficient
explanation if we did not find that the Septuagint of Job
once substitutes " frost " for " light " ; and a longer form of
1 Prov. xv. 30.
II I
[186] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
" light " might thus mean " from (or, because of) frost." *
Matthew, having taken the erroneous view that the original
meant " to see," might naturally supply " the end " : and this
may be accepted as a temporary hypothesis. 2
10. (Mark) "come," (Matthew) "light? (Luke) "kindle"
Mark iv. 21 Matt. v. 15 Luke viii. 16
" Nor doth the " Nor do [men] " But no one
lamp come ..." light a lamp ..." having kindled a
lamp . . ."
[186] In the causative form "come" and "light" are
slightly similar. 3 Possibly the original was " Doth [one]
cause a lamp to come," and Mark mistook the causative.
Later evangelists accepted a correction right as to the
causative, but wrong as to the word. In any case the
divergence points to translation from Hebrew, and a similar
error occurs in Exodus, " Yet it gave-light by night " where
the Septuagint has " The night passed (lit. came through)." 4
11. Matthew's use of " companion ! "
[187] The Greek word "companion," when used in the
vocative, is constantly applied, in light and playful irony, to
those who have made themselves ridiculous. No instance
1 [185a] Job xxxviii. 24: "the light (TIK)" Trdx vr l- What Hebrew word
the LXX read is very doubtful. Consistently with this error, IIND "light" would
be interpreted "because of frost" and might be conflated with the "kindling
of a fire."
2 [1853] " End" = rH, which in old MSS. would be practically identical with
HXJ : nsj might be confused with ns 1 which = (2)*t(j.wvplfu> "burn," (7) avdirreir
" kindle."
* " Cause-to-come," i.e. bring=N'3n: "kindle," " light," = v<n.
4 [186a] Ex. xiv. 20: "And it gave light (un)"; LXX, <tal StfXecr (? leg.
some form of ma. More probably, perhaps, LXX read nay (the regular render-
ing of 5ie/>xe<r0ot), by interchange of K and y).
112
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [189]
has been alleged from Greek literature to associate it with
stern reproof.^
[188] (i.) But in Matthew a master addresses thus a man
whom he is rebuking for an " evil eye," and a king uses the
word to one whom he is on the point of having " bound
hand and foot and cast out into outer darkness." 2 The
two passages are peculiar to Matthew, so that we have not,
in either of these instances, the advantage of a parallel
Gospel. But (i.) the non-Greek use of " companion " makes
it probable that Matthew is translating some Hebrew word
that does (among other meanings) denote " companion," but
without the playful significance attached to it In Greek.
(ii.) In Hebrew, the letters meaning " companion " are
identical with those meaning " bad " or "evil," and the two
are repeatedly confused. In Proverbs, alone, the confusion
occurs four times, and in one case the Authorised Version
goes wrong. The literal translation plays on the double
meaning of the word thus : " A man of companions [makes
them] to-the-doing-of-evil-to-himself" The Revised Version
has, " He that maketh many friends [doeth it] to his own
destruction " ; but the Authorised, " A man [that hath]
friends mtist show himself friendly? 3
[189] (ii.) Matthew alone says that Jesus, when arrested,
said to Judas, " Companion, (lit.) that for which thou art
present." Masses of theological comment and discourse have
been written on the assumption that Jesus used these words
alluding to a passage where the Psalmist complains of ill
1 [187a] Comp. Plutarch ii. 1580, IO72E ; Lucian, vol. i. p. 39, Nigrin. I,
and Wetst. on Mt. xx. 13, quoting Galen, who uses the word about people previously
described as "foolish."
2 Mt. xx. 13, xxii. 12 ; xxvi. 50 requires special consideration (189).
3 Prov. xviii. 24 (om. by LXX) yynnn 1 ? o*jn &$ Other instances are Prov.
xix. 6, "a friend" ; LXX, "the >z7man" : Ezek. xxii., 12 "of thy neighbour" ;
LXX, "of wickedness" : Ps. xv. 4, "to his own hurt" ; LXX, "to his neighbour"
(R.V. marg. some ancient authorities "to his friend"). Comp. Prov. vi. 3, 24;
Prov. xxiv. 8 ; Hos. iii. I ; Ezek. xxii. 12.
8 113
[190] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
treatment from his own " familiar friend." l If that was the
original Hebrew, Matthew has mistranslated it by using
" companion " (instead of " friend," or some other word that
would not convey the impression of playful reproof).
[190] But in view of the fact that Mark whom
Matthew follows in the context omits these words, we are
forced to hesitate about accepting them. Yet their obscurity,
and the apparent incompleteness of the sentence, make it
almost certain that Matthew is attempting to give a literal
translation of a Hebrew original. Matthew's word "present"
is rare in the Bible. In the New Testament it occurs only
here. In the Old Testament it represents once the Hebrew
" make haste? 2
[191] This reminds us of John's version of Christ's last
words to Judas, "What thou art doing do quickly" The
words resemble a phrase of warning to a self-willed man
used by Epictetus " Do as you are doing, not even a god can
save you." 3 Besides making good sense, it would also
agree with the Johannine version, if we supposed that the
original of the passage under discussion was " The evil thou
art bent on doing to thyself do with speed." The Hebrew
for " do-evil-to-thyself," might be mistaken for " companion,"
very nearly as our Authorised Version has mistaken the
verb in the passage quoted above. In any case, judged by
any reasonable standard derived from Greek literature,
Matthew's " companion " is a mistake. 4
1 Ps. xli. 9.
2 Mt. xxvi. 50, 'Era?/*, ^>' 8 irdpet: Deut. xxxii. 35 "make haste," TrdpcaTiv.
3 Epict. iv. 9, 1 8 (comp. iii. 9, 8).
4 [191a] If this explanation is correct, and if the words in John xiii. 27 are
derived from the same tradition as these in Matthew, we should expect in John,
not "do," but "do evil." Yet how could a tradition survive that represented
Jesus as saying to Judas "do evil" ? It was sure to be misrepresented by contro-
versialists, and therefore almost sure to be altered (not in the spirit but in the
letter) by evangelists. Besides, the disciples are regarded as overhearing Christ's
words and as thinking that the "doing" referred to some kind of ministration,
114
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
[192]
12. (Mark) " wild beasts" (Matthew and Luke) " he
hungered "
In this, and in a few later instances, specimens will be
given of discrepancies arising from the confusion of an
unfamiliar Hebrew word which has been corrupted into a
familiar one. The following passages relate to Christ's
Temptation :
Mark i. 13.
"And he was in
the wilderness forty
days, being tempted
by Satan, and he was
with the wild beasts^
and the angels were
ministering to him."
Matth. iv. 1-2.
"... into the
wilderness to be
tempted by the devil.
And, having fasted
forty days and forty
nights, afterwards he
hungered,"
Luke iv. 1-2.
"... in the
wilderness forty days,
being tempted by the
devil ; and he ate
nothing in those days,
and when they were
completed he hun-
gered"
[192]. The most appropriate Hebrew for "wild beasts"
in a "wilderness" associated with mention of Satan and
suggestive of Christ's words about " the power of the enemy "
is a word rendered by the Septuagint once " wild beasts,"
once "apparitions," and once "demons." 1 The word is very
rare (D^S) and closely resembles one that is very common
(D12). The latter means " fast."
so that, according to that tradition, the "doing" could not have been "evil-
doing."
[1913] Perhaps John found variations in the Hebrew Gospel, such as, for
example, the LXX found in Ex. xxxii. 22 "set on evil (jna)," Spurifia (leg. may
by transposition). But the reader knows by this time (5) that -\ is always liable to
be corrupted to i, and nap="do."
1 Lk. x. 19 " Behold I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy" Comp. Ps. xci. 13 : " Thou
shalt tread upon the lion and adder." [Note that Ps. xci. n-12 is quoted by
Satan in Matthew's (and Luke's) description of the Temptation.] In Acts xxviii.
4, 5, "wild beast (B-rjplov}" means "serpent," and Job Testam. 42, compared
with 41, shews that 6-qplov means Satan. Meaning "beasts of the desert,"
D"x = Is. xiii. 21 Oijpta, Is. xxxiv. 14 Sat/J,6via t Jer. 1. 39 lvSd\/MTa.
[193] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
[193] To complete the case for translation it must be
shewn that " with " (in " with the wild beasts ") could
easily be confused with Matthew's " afterwards " (Luke
" when they were completed "). The two Hebrew words are
somewhat similar, and are actually confused by the Septuagint
in at least one passage ; " with that which the Lord hath
given"; LXX, "after the Lord had delivered." 1
[194] The very early sect called the Paulicians taught
that Jesus did not fast during the forty days, being supported
by communion with the Father. 2 This appears to have
been Mark's view, for he says that " the angels were minister-
ing (imperf.} to him."
[195] The Greek imperfect "were ministering" may
also mean, where the sense requires it, " began to minister."
And Matthew gives quite a different aspect to the matter by
inserting the clause about the angels (only without the
definite article) after mention of " fasting " for forty days
and being " hungered," and after three temptations, one
being to turn stones into bread. In this new context
Matthew's Greek, though identical with Mark's, has a new
meaning, " angels began to minister unto him." Which
view is erroneous is not a question that can be fully
discussed here, though the facts, so far, seem decidedly to
1 [193a] I S. xxx. 23: "With"=nK; " after(wards) " = nnx. Comp. Is.
xliv. 24-5, "with me (TIN)" Zrepos ; the context is doubtful, and possibly the
LXX may have paraphrased " who [is] with me [as a rival] " as meaning, in effect,
" what other [is there like me] ? " And this may apply to I S. xiv. 13 (bis), " after
him," once 6irlffw avrov, but once fi.tr airrov. Error might also arise in Greek
tradition from (245) confusion of pera with gen. and accus., illustrated by
Ex. xxiii. 2 "after a multitude," pera ir\ei6vtav, Gen. xxviii. 4, Num. xviii.
19, " to thee and thy seed wit A thee" /xerd <re.
An original Greek tradition /xera dypiwv may have been corrected (from Hebrew)
into /J.CTO.TO(V) (?) vrjffTevcre (i.e., vijffTevffai), and this into /tera rdde ^Tjoreixre. For
a possible confusion between "after" and "afterwards," comp. 2 Chr. xxxv. 14,
"And afterwards they prepared," LXX "and after they had (fiera rb) prepared
. . . ," but parallel I Esdr. i. 12 " but afterwards (fjiera Se ravrd) they prepared."
2 See Mr. Conybeare's edition of the Paulician " Key of Truth" p. 80.
116
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [196]
favour Mark. But the point now is, that the parallelism
between " wild beasts " and " fasting " is to be explained by
some error in translating from Hebrew.
13. The healing of the paralytic : (Mark} " by four "
(Matthew and Luke) " on a bed"
Mark ii. 3-5. Matth. ix. 2. Luke v. 18-20.
"And [people] "And behold they "And behold men
come bringing unto brought to him a par- bringing on a bed a
him a paralytic car- alytic prostrate on a man that was para-
ried by four [And, bed. And Jesus, see- lysed [ . . . and not
not being able . . .] ing their faith ..." finding . .... ]. And
And Jesus, seeing Jesus, seeing their
their faith, ..." faith."
The brackets in Mark and Luke represent a description,
omitted by Matthew, of the letting down of the paralytic by
his friends through an opening in the roof, an action of
strenuous and trustful effort that gives special force to the
words "seeing their faith." Antecedently it seems im-
probable that Matthew would have omitted this if he had
known it and had believed it to be correct. It is suggested
and maintained in the following remarks that a Hebrew
word meaning " opening in the roof " is latent in the Synop-
tists under the words "four" and "bed," and that the Hebrew
original was "(i.) hoisted in (ii.) at the trap-door-in-the-roof."
[196] (i.) The Hebrew " hoist," " suspend " twice trans-
lated in the Septuagint by the word here used by Mark is
replaced in Chronicles by the much more common word
" stretch." Matthew has probably made the same substitu-
tion, and has taken the word to mean " stretched [helplessly
on a sick bed]," which exactly suited his context " on a bed."
Luke, possibly taking the same view, may have omitted the
word as superfluous. 1
1 " Hoist " = SM, which = (2) afpw. It is interchanged with the much more
common noa "stretch," in 2 S. xxiv. 12, i Chr. xxi. 10. The latter = (2) atpu
(I) |3dXXw(i)<?iri/3dXXw.
117
[197] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
(ii.) " The trap-door in the roof : (a) suggested by Mark's text
In order to understand this point, we must compare the
details given by Mark and Luke, but omitted by Matthew :
Mark ii. 4. (R.V.) Luke v. 19 (R.V.)
[197] "And when they "And not finding by
could not come nigh unto what [way] they might bring
him for the crowd, they un- him in because of the multi-
covered (aTreo-Teyoo-ay) the tude, they went up to the
roof (a-reyriv) where he was ; house-top, and let him down
and, when they had broken through the tiles . . .
it up. 1 . . .
[198] The word here translated "roof" by the Revised
Version (and frequently used thus in classical Greek), though
used elsewhere by Matthew and Luke in the phrase " under
my roof," means, radically, " covering " ; and the Septuagint
uses it thus when it speaks of (literally) " the covering
of my rafters," where the Hebrew has " shadow " and we
might say "the shelter of my roof." So, too, Noah is
said to have (R.V.) " removed the covering of the Ark and
looked." 2
[199] The regular Greek word for " roof," found in the
LXX twenty-seven times and in the New Testament seven
times, is the one employed by Luke here and translated by
the Revised Version " house-top " ; and the fact that Mark
uses a different word here suggests that he may not have
1 [197a] "Broken it up," toptavres, a scarcely justifiable rendering (202).
To express "making a hole in the roof," Thucydides has (iv. 48) 5ie\6vT T^V
tpotfrfv.
2 [198a] Mark's word rendered by R.V. "roof," (rr^yrj, occurs twice as transl.
of Hebr. in LXX: Gen. viii. 13, "the covering" (Aqu. /cdXiwia) ; Gen. xix.
8, " the shadow of my roof," TT\V ffr^yrjv TWV SOKUV fiov. It occurs in New Testa-
ment only here, and in Mt. viii. 8, = Lk. vii. 6. The Septuagint, in using this
word in Gen. viii. 13, "removed the covering of the ark," perhaps means not the
whole of the roof but the covering of the trap-door or -window in the roof, through
which Noah "looked."
118
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [201]
meant (or if he did, that his original authority may not have
meant) " roof," but " trap-door in the roof." It would be
hazardous to dogmatise about the Ark ; but the impression
left by the passage above quoted is that Noah is not to be
understood as unroofing the whole of the Ark when he looked
out. And here we can hardly believe (whether Mark
believed it or not) that the original Gospel described the
paralytic's friends as unroofing the whole house.
[200] The rendering of the Revised Version " they
uncovered the roof," is neither quite accurate nor literal. To
" uncover " a thing is to take a cover from the whole of it
" Uncover the roof," would be appropriate here to signify the
removal of a tarpaulin from the whole of the roof, but not,
except loosely, the removal of the roof from the whole of the
building, and certainly not the removal of a few tiles, nor the
opening of a trap-door. Again, it is not literal, because it
does not express the fact that the Greek repeats the
same word in noun and verb. Fairly literal renderings
would be " they uncovered the cover" " unroofed the roof"
"took off the covering of the cover" ; and the last of these
would approach the meaning of the original, which prob-
ably meant, either "they lifted up the cover of the trap-
door in the roof," or "they lifted up the trap-door that
covered the roof-window." In the former case, we must
suppose a trap-door protected by a shutter to keep out rain
and dust ; in the latter, simply a trap-door covering a hole
used as a door.
[201] We learn from the Horae Hebraicae, in its com-
ment on the present passage in Mark, that a lodger in the
attic of a Jewish house was sometimes not allowed to use
the interior house-stairs, but was compelled to go up the
exterior staircase to the house-top and thence to descend
into his room by the trap-door in the roof. This, no doubt,
was to secure privacy for the family. But where the upper
room was not let, it would seem that in many cases the roof
119
[202] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
trap-door, with its awkward arrangement of a rope-ladder 1
for descent into the attic, would be disused. The door or
the cover, if there was one would then be firmly fastened to
be secure against rain, and possibly against robbers. Thus
it might be wedged into the roof so fast that it would need
considerable effort to force it out.
[202] And this might explain Mark's remarkable word,
most inadequately translated by the Revised Version " broken
up." No instance has been alleged from Greek literature
to shew that the word could have this meaning ; it means
" dig out," and is applied frequently to the " gouging out "
of an eye from the socket. In its strict sense it would most
aptly and graphically express the effort needed to extricate
the trap-door or shutter from the grooves into which it was
wedged.
[203] The hypothesis of a trap-door in the roof disposes
at once of all the objections that have been brought by Strauss
against the truth of Mark's narrative on the supposition that
it commits those who accept it to a belief that the roof was
" broken up," with the necessary consequence of tiles, plaster,
and rubbish falling on the heads of those who were assembled
round Jesus in the room below. The difficulty of such a
supposition may well have induced Matthew to omit all
Mark's details as being the result of a misunderstanding. It
should be added that Luke's expression " through the tiles "
does not commit him to the view that they were " broken up."
" The tiles " often means in Greek, as well as in Latin, " the
[tiled] roof." Perhaps Luke assumed the trap-door, but that
must remain uncertain. 2
1 Wetstein on Mk. ii. 4 quotes Plutarch, Cap. Rom. v. p. 264 D r^v inrlp rb
rtyos ds Tyv oliciav KaOlfi.i)ffu>. But the arrangement may have been different for
Jewish houses.
2 It is quite in Luke's manner to denote "roof" first by "house-top" when
the question is of " mounting " to it, and then by " tiles" when the question is of
descending, as Cicero says, "through the tiles," i.e. through the trap-door in the
tiled roof. See note from Wetstein quoted below [208].
I2O
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [205]
(b} " The trap-door-in-the-roof : " Why not expressly men-
tioned by Mark ?
[204] It is a very obvious question to ask why Mark,
instead of giving us a long and ambiguous account about a
" roof-cover " or " cover," does not definitely mention the
roof-trap-door. The answer is that the Hebrew word that
means " roof-window," being rare and technical, might easily
be misunderstood by him. It occurs nine times in the Bible,
meaning " lattice," " sluice," " window." In the last significa-
tion it denotes a horizontal, not a vertical, window, and is
five times translated by a rare Greek word that implies
" crashing down," retained in the English " cataract." This
is a very natural word to denote a " falling door," i.e. " trap-
door." But the Hebrew is very similar to that of the much
more common word " four." And further, since the same
Hebrew preposition may mean " in," " at," or " by " (whether
implying agency or neighbourhood), it follows that " at tlie
trap-door " could easily be taken as meaning " by four"
[205] This latter rendering Mark has adopted. But it
was not unnatural that some dissatisfaction should be felt
with it, partly because of the existence of other traditional
explanations, partly because the omission of " men " in such
a phrase appears to be unusual in Hebrew. Hence other
marginal glosses would spring up. Now the Hebrew for
" four " is said to be identical with the Aramaic for "stretcher."
Hence later evangelists, while adopting the letters of Mark's
alteration of the Hebrew text from " trap-door " to " four,"
might arrive at an entirely different meaning ; and thus we
find Matthew and Luke, instead of "by four," substituting
" on a bed." J
1 "Roof-window," or "trap-door in the roof," used of "the windows of
heaven," is rendered KarappdicTris, Gen. vii. II, viii. 2, 2 K. vii. 19, Mai. iii. IO;
" roof- window" = rain : " four " = njmx, which is said by Professor Marshall in
the Expositor to mean "stretcher" in Aramaic. (Hebr. pn=Aram. pan, but this
= Koirt) rather than K\iv-rj. )
121
[206] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
1 4. The healing of the paralytic : origin of Mark's details
[206] It is possible that Matthew's omission of Mark's
details is due to the fact that they were not a part of Mark's
Hebrew or even Greek original, but the result of a Hebrew
gloss, or marginal note, added by some early evangelist or
editor attempting to explain a disputed passage. Wishing
to express his view of the tradition about " letting down
through the roof, or, through the tiles," this editor may
have written, "They found not how they should bring him
in because of the multitude, and they caused-to-go-up (i.e.
lifted up) the roof-cover, and let the man down."
[207] When incorporating this note with details added
to make the meaning clear, " Mark " i.e. not Peter's nephew
but the editor, or one of the editors, through whom Mark's
Gospel has come down to us may possibly have forgotten
the difference between the lighter roofs in the West and the
more solid ones used in the East for sleeping and walking
in the cool of the evening. Strabo and other writers un-
questionably use Mark's word (R.V., " uncover ") for " unroof,"
and mention cases of large buildings completely and rapidly
unroofed with ease ; Strabo speaks of a temple unroofed in
a single day. It is therefore possible that " Mark " i.e.
Mark's editor may have believed that the roof was rapidly
and completely unroofed by " digging out (the tiles)," and
that this misunderstanding may explain his use of that par-
ticular verb. But we are not committed to " Mark's " belief.
Our hypothesis is that he is in error, but that his erroneous
tradition helps us to go back to the original truth. 1
Matthew has rejected the whole as a conflation, or late
tradition ; and this it is, but in the main a true one, or at
all events leading to the truth.
[208] Luke took " caused-to-go-up " as " went up to,"
1 On the probability that Mark passed through many editions, see the warning
above, p. xv. , n. ii., and 325 ?.
122
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [209]
___,._ . _ _. _ _ .__ . ,
and the "roof -cover" as the "roof," or "house-top." In
describing the paralytic as let down " through the tiled roof"
which is the regular meaning of " tiles " both in Latin and
Greek Luke may be steering a middle course. He mentions
" tiles," but not " digging out." He does not mention but
he may imply " the trap-door in the roof." 1
[209] The view that Mark's addition results from a
Hebrew gloss harmonises with the conjecture that Luke's
" went up " corresponds to a causative (" caused to go up ")
in the original of Mark. There is also some slight positive
evidence for it in the parallelism between (Mark) " not being
able" and (Luke) " not finding" Compare a passage in Job
where the Hebrew has " they had found no answer," but the
Septuagint " they were not able to answer." 2
If the hypothesis of " letting down through tfie trap-door"
is correct, and if it was altered by Mark to " four " and by
others to " bed," it is an error curiously similar to that above
mentioned (30) wherein a scribe altered " let down by a
basket (sportam) " into " let down by the gate (portam) "
alleged by Bacon as an instance of the tendency to alter the
unknown into the known.
i 5. (Mark) " making a way" (Luke) " rubbing with their
hands "
There follow two instances of the mistranslation of a
Hebrew word that means, as a noun, " way," and, as a verb,
" make one's way," " tread a way (habitually)," " tread [grapes,
olives, or corn]," " trample."
1 A trap-door appears to be implied in Milton, Par. L. iv. 191, describing a
thief, who "in at the window creeps or o'er the tilts." Comp. Cicero, Philipp.
ii. 18 (Wetstein on Mk. ii. 4), contrasting "entrance across the threshold" with
" letting down through the tiles (per tegulas demittere)."
2 Job xxxii. 3, " had found (KSO)," -r)Swf)6^ffav. This is not a mistranslation,
but a free translation such as might be expected in Job and Mark.
I2 3
[210]
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
(i.) Mark iv. 4
" Some fell by the
side of the way, and
there came the birds
and devoured it."
Matth. xiii. 4
"Some (pi.) fell
by the side of the
way, and, havingcome^
the birds devoured
them."
Luke viii. 5
" Some fell by the
side of the way, and
// was trampled down
and the birds of the
heaven devoured it"
[210] The original was, nearly as Luke, "and they
\i.e. people] trampled it down and the birds of the heaven
devoured it." The Hebraic use of the impersonal " they "
escaped Mark's notice, so that he made " the birds " the
subject. Then, since birds do not " trample " the seed, he
was forced to take the verb as meaning "made their way,"
or, more simply, " came," thus : " And there made their way
to it the birds of the heaven and devoured it." *
(ii.) Mark ii. 23
"And it came to
pass, that he on the
sabbath was going
on through the corn-
fields, and his dis-
ciples began to make
a way, plucking the
ears."
Matth. xii. i
" In that season
went Jesus on the
sabbath through the
corn-fields : but his
disciples were hungry
and began to pluck
ears and eat."
Luke vi. i
" But it came to
pass on a sabbath
that he was going
on through corn-
fields and his dis-
ciples were plucking
the ears and eating,
rubbing [them] with
their hands"
[211] Mark's expression " make a way" if it represented
the historical fact, would have to be faced as Euthymius
faced it, admitting that the disciples " tore up the wheat-ears
that they might be able to go on." 5 Matthew and Luke
1 [210] The verb hardly ever means simply " come." Even when it is thus
translated in Num. xxiv. 17, "There shall come forth a star out of Moab,"
dvareXet, there seems to be a notion of making way through obstruction.
2 [211a] Euthym. on Mt. xii. I (quoted by Field, Otium N. on Mk. ii. 23),
dvtffiruv TOI)J oraxtfas Iva. vpo^alveiv x ote *'- Kypke (on Mk. ii. 23) is unable to
allege a single instance in which 6di>v voiu ("I make a road") is used like 6Si>
voiovnai (" I make my "way "). Even the single instance which he takes as passive
is really a middle (Liban. Epist. 718), virlp d8f\<f>ov T^V odbv 'T. t<prj ravryvl
I2 4
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [213]
omit the difficult phrase ; and, by adding that the disciples
" ate " (Matthew adds also " they were hungry "), they meet,
by anticipation, the charge of wanton trespass implied in
the scholarlike interpretation of Majk's words. The difficulty
raised by them in early times may be estimated by the fact
that the Arabic Diatessaron omits them, and the Sinaitic
Syrian alters them into " and his disciples ate the ears."
[212] The explanation lies in Luke's expression,
" rubbing them with their hands." In classifying their
prohibitions of sabbath work, the Jews distinguished be-
tween " primitive " and " derivative " labour. To reap was
" primitive," and was of course forbidden. But to pluck corn
was a kind of reaping, deriving an unlawfulness from its
analogy with reaping, and was consequently forbidden also.
In the same way they forbade " derivative " ploughing and
grinding, and declared that a man who on the sabbath
rubbed wheat-ears on the palms of his hands, and then blew
away the husk, and ate them, was " guilty." l
[213] Now the word " trample," above mentioned, though
usually applied to the treading of olives or grapes, is at least
once applied to the treading of corn, and is translated by the
inrtp <rov fja,\Xov 1) &v (<f>tj ireiroiinj.tvos, "he said he
had made . . . he was convicted of having made. "
[211^] The best MSS read odoiroiew in Mk. This, in the LXX always (5) means
" prepare (or, make) a road." The inferior MSS read odbv iroielv, which, unless
656j> is defined by a pronoun, must mean the same thing. The only passage
quoted from the LXX to the contrary is Judg. xvii. 8, "as he journeyed,"
(Heb.) " in-making (mry 1 ?) his way (im)," rov iroiTJffai TTJV 68t>i> avrov. This proves
that the LXX did not mind saying iroiet 6Sia> atrroO for odbv iroie'irai ; but it does
not prove that the LXX, or any one else, ever used 6Sbv iroieT (without oi/roC) to
mean anything but "he makes a road." This, then, until some instance is
alleged to the contrary, must be taken to be the meaning here.
1 [212a] (Wetst. on Mt. xii. 2) Beza, f. xiii. 2 : " Qui fricat spicas tritici,
sufflat super manum et edit ; si autem sufflavit et in sinum recondidit, reus est.
R. Eleasar dixit : ' Et sic sabbato.' " Presumably the two actions were forbidden
as being ' ' derivative " threshing and winnowing, and therefore a breach of the
sabbath.
125
[214] CONFUSIONS OF WORDS
Septuagint " thresh." l But a translator, not familiar with
the subtleties of sabbatical " derivative " works, might
naturally take the verb in its radical sense, that is to say, as
being the causative of " way." It sometimes means " make
a way for others," or " guide." But here there was no
question of " guiding." He might therefore leave out " for
others," and translate the perplexing word with honest
literalism. This Mark appears to have done, leaving posterity
to deal with the difficulty " make a way"
[214] But "trample" (drk) is not unlike "pound," or
" beat " (dk'k'), which is specially applied to corn, and the
latter is once rendered "trample," possibly being confused
with the former. 2 And, again, the latter appears once
possibly being taken to mean " champ," " crush " in the
teeth to be rendered "eat." 3 Possibly Matthew followed
a tradition substituting the latter for the former, and taking
the meaning to be " champ," or " eat" At all events
Matthew inserts " eat," and does not insert anything else
corresponding to Mark's " made a way," or Luke's " rubbing
them with their hands."
Luke explains the " treading " or " derivative threshing "
in plain words as "rubbing with their hands." Perhaps,
also, he too (like Matthew) adopted pp~r, and interpreted it
as " champ " or " eat," conflating the two interpretations.
[215] Many details in this attempt at restoration of the
original are conjectural. The Hebrew may have had pp~r,
"crush," instead of a form of YTT, "way," and Mark may
have corrupted the former into the latter. And there is a
great deal to be said for this view, as "way" is far more
common than " crush."
[216] Two conclusions, however, are certain, viz. (i.)
that no scholar is at present justified in taking Mark to
1 Jer. li. 33, "like a threshing-floor when it is trodden" a
* Is. xxviii. 28, ppi (Tromm.), Karairarfyret ; Tn=(4) KarairaTeu>.
* Is. xxviii. 27, ppn (Tromm.) ppwOfyrfrat (the LXX is greatly confused).
126
CONFUSIONS OF WORDS [218]
mean anything but what Euthymius took him to mean, and
(ii.) that this meaning is historically impossible.
[217] Two others are highly probable, viz. that (i.)
Luke is right, and (ii.) the difference between Luke and
Mark (and Matthew) may be explained by original obscure
Hebrew and by mistranslation from it This last derives
such increase of probability from the preceding instance in
the Parable of the Sower that it may be regarded as almost
certain.
[218] It is possible that the Original included a word
translated by Luke " with their hands," but meaning literally
" with the palms [of their hands]." This word means,
etymologically, the bend or hollow of the hand, or the foot,
and it is rendered twelve times by the Septuagint " foot-
print," but in all but two of these occasions the Hebrew
" palm " is accompanied by " of the foot." The only instance
in which " footprint " is used for " palm " by itself is in the
description of the " cloud as small as a man's hand" where
the Septuagint has " a man's footprint." l If this word was
a part of the original, Mark mistook "threshing with the
palms [of their hands] " for " trampling with the soles [of
their feet]."
1 I K. xviii. 44, wj tx vo * &v$(>6s.
127
CHAPTER IV
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
I . (Mark) " Before the cock crow twice thrice ..."
[219] Mark, alone among the Synoptists, represents
Jesus as predicting (not only the exact number of denials,
but also) the number of times that the cock would crow
before Peter thrice denied his Master :
Mark xiv. 30
"... thou . . .
before the cock crow
twice, shalt deny me
thrice."
Matth. xxvi. 34
"... before the
cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice."
Luke xxii. 34
". . . the cock
shall not crow . . .
until thou shalt thrice
deny that thou know-
est me."
The omission of " twice " by Matthew and Luke is all
the more remarkable because its presence would seem to
many to enhance the miraculousness of the prediction.
[220] The explanation is as follows : " Twice " may be
expressed in Hebrew by " times two." But the Hebrew
" time " which also means " step," " stroke," " way," " course,"
etc. is one of the few nouns that are occasionally used
in the dual ; and the dual of any noun, when without vowel-
points, is indistinguishable from the plural. This ambiguity
necessarily produces confusion sometimes where " two " is
in question. For example, the Revised Version of Prov.
xxviii. 6 gives in the text " perverse in [his] ways" but in
128
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [221]
the margin, " lit. ' perverse of two ways. ' " l So in Num.
ix. 22, "whether it were two-days, or a month, or a year
(lit days)," the LXX has simply "the days of a month" ; and
even the MSS. that frequently correct the LXX, so as to
make it conform to the Hebrew, drop the " two " here. 2
So in translating the dual of " time " in Eccles. vi. 6, " a
thousand years twice-told (lit. times -two]" the LXX takes
it as the plural of " course," and has " tlie courses of a
thousand years." A still more important passage, and one
exactly applicable to the passage from Mark under con-
sideration, is :
[221] Job xxxiii. 29 (R.V.) : " Lo, all these thmgs doth
God work twice [yea] thrice [A.V. " oftentimes "] with a
man." The Hebrew " twice thrice " appears to mean " re-
peatedly," being used like our " two or three times," only
with a rather ampler meaning. But, whatever be its exact
shade of meaning, it is easy to see that the omission of
"or," "yea," or some similar particle, may sometimes cause
ambiguity. Still further may a translator be perplexed
if " twice," being represented by a Hebrew form that may
mean either " times-two " or " times" comes as it does in
the extract from Job immediately before a word that
regularly does mean " three " 3 but in this particular context
may mean " thrice." How natural for a Greek, in such"*
circumstances, to translate the Hebrew by " times (or, courses,
ways, etc.) three " \ Now this is precisely what the Septua-
1 [220<z] Comp. Prov. xxviii. 18, "he that is perverse in [Ms] ways" (marg.
" walketh perversely in two ways"). In neither instance does the LXX express
the " two." In Dan. viii. 3, 6, 20, describing a "ram with two horns," "two,"
being expressed by the dual, is omitted both by LXX and by Theodotion.
2 [2203] Num. ix. 22, LXX /xi/vis r)fj.{pas (AF ri/jLepas T\ /arjvoj yuepas). The
Hebrew representation of "a year" by "days" naturally perplexed the LXX.
So in I S. i. 5, "one portion of two-persons" ; LXX has simply "one portion."
Judg. v. 30, "a damsel [nay] two-damsels" is quite differently rendered both by
LXX and by A.
3 Sv.
9 129
[222] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
gint has done in Job : " Lo, all these things doth the
Mighty One work three ways with a man."
[222] Now, applying these facts to the passage in Mark
under discussion, we find all the discrepancies explicable by
a Hebrew original of this kind :
" Before the cock crow, 1 twice [or] thrice " [lit. " times-
two [or] three," capable of being rendered " times-three "]
"shalt thou deny me."
(i.) Mark translates this literally. But our present text
so arranges the words as to necessitate the meaning " Before
the cock crow twice, thrice shalt thou deny me."
(ii.) Matthew, like the Septuagint in Job, takes the mean-
ing to be " times-three," and renders it by the Greek " thrice,"
thus : " Before the cock crow, thrice thou shalt deny me."
(iii.) In this new form, the meaning depends on punctua-
tion. It might mean, " Before the cock crow thrice, thou shalt
deny me." Luke, aware of conflicting traditions springing
from Greek and Hebrew ambiguities, throws the prediction
into a new form in which no ambiguity is possible : " The
cock shall not crow till thrice thou shalt deny that thou
knowest me."
2.. (Mark and Matthew} " after two days" (Luke} " drawing
nigh "
[223] The Hebrew of " after two days " has been shewn
(220) to be indistinguishable (without vowel-points) from
1 [2220] That is, "before cock-crow" a term recognised for early morning or
late night. It is interesting to note that Mark alone, the traditional interpreter
of St. Peter, mentions (Mk. xiii. 35) "cock-crow" as one of the critical seasons
when the Master may "come."
If Mark, Peter's nephew, retained the Hebrew idiom " twice [or] thrice "
by writing trplv a\icTopa 0u'7?<7ai 5ij rpls . . . , it was natural that "or," i.e. 1},
should be inserted in the margin by a very early editor. But subsequent editors
would dislike the notion that Jesus should make, as it were, an alternative pre-
diction ("twice, or possibly thrice"). Hence some might transfer the % to a
different place in the text, placing it after irpiv. Codex B has trplv ij here, but
wpiv in Mk. xiv. 72. The text of Mk. xiv. 30 varies greatly.
130
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [224]
that of " after days? But the latter expression is frequently
used in the Bible for " after some days" mostly meaning
" after many days, or several days." Now suppose, in a
context where it was clear that the interval was not one of
many days, a Greek translator mistook " two days " for
"days." Would he not naturally desire to make it clear
that, in this particular instance, " days " meant " few days " ?
This is what Luke appears to have done (by using a
paraphrase " drawing nigh ") in the following passage :
Mark xiv. i Matth. xxvi. 2 Luke xxil i
"Now there was "... after two " There was draw-
the Passover and the days the Passover ing nigh the feast of
[feast of] unleavened cometh." unleavened bread,
bread after two days" called Passover." *
3. (Matthew] "two . . . for a farthing" (Luke} "five . . .
for two farthings "
[224] The Hebrew " two three," for " two or three," is
on one occasion translated by the Septuagint "two and
three," 2 and this, taken literally, might be replaced by an
equivalent " five." But " two " by itself may mean " a few,"
in the Bible, as in the passage where the widow of Zarephath
says, " I am gathering two sticks." Matthew himself
evidently regards " two " as synonymous with " two or
three," when he writes, " If two of you shall agree," and,
a little afterwards, " for where two or three are gathered
together in my name." 3 These facts explain :
1 [2230] Comp. Mk. ii. i, "after days," Si ijfjxpuv, with Lk. v. 17, iv /u TWV
7}/j,epwv. If the Hebrew for "after" is here "from" (-D), used partitively, Luke
may have taken it as meaning "one of." If the original was -mx, "after," it
should be remembered that this is repeatedly confused with iriK, " one."
2 Amos iv. 8.
8 i K. xvii. 12, Mt. xviii. 19, 20. "A couple" is similarly used in many
parts of England.
[225] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
Matth. x. 29 Luke xii. 6
" Are not two sparrows " Are not five sparrows
sold for a farthing ? " sold for tivo farthings ? "
[225] The original was, " Are not two [or] three sparrows
sold for a farthing ? " Some interpreted this as " two and
three " (as in Amos above). Hence arose an insertion of
" five " in the margin. Similarly, we have found the LXX
(79) conflating "the tenth, on \hzfirst" into "the eleventh"
Others, taking it (perhaps correctly) to mean " two or
three " in the sense of " a few," nevertheless thought (as
Matthew above) that the phrase might be conveniently
abbreviated, and that the meaning was expressed by " two."
Hence would arise various marginal annotations and con-
fused traditions about " two " and " five," and, among these,
Luke's tradition, applying " five " to " sparrows " and " two "
to " farthings." But Matthew represents the spirit (though
not the letter) of the original, taking the phrase to mean "a
few," and condensing it, as he does elsewhere, into " two." ]
1 Two other explanations are given of this variation, both of them unsatis-
factory.
(i. ) "A proverb about cheapness might be current in two forms, (a) 'two for
one farthing,' (6) ' five for two ' ; Christ, in His teaching, might sometimes use one,
sometimes the other." This is open to the objection that the proverb is used
here not as a detached saying likely to be often repeated and varied but as a
part of a connected discourse (eight verses) which we have no reason to suppose
to have been repeated, and which Matthew and Luke give in parallelism
verse by verse.
(ii.) " In Luke's time the price of sparrows had risen, and he did not like to
state what was untrue, so gave what he knew to be the market-price." But it
would be both "untrue" and irreverent to represent Christ as saying what He did
not say. Few historians, especially if they professed to know things "accurately,"
would alter, for example, "a penny a day," into "three half-pence a day," because
of a rise in wages since the utterance of the former phrase still less if the
utterance proceeded from one whom they believed to be the Son of God.
132
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [227]
4. (Mark) " after three days" (Matthew and Luke) " on the
third day "
[226] The perplexity of the Septuagint in rendering
passages where " or " is omitted is illustrated by its
rendering of the words of Jonathan to David : " About to-
morrow [or] the third [day]." Here the Greek drops " to-
morrow" although there is no cause for confusion in the
word and gives " when-as the season threefold." ] Much
more easily might a Greek translator drop " two " when it is
represented by the dual of the word " days," as in the
following expression used by Hosea, "after two-days [lit.
days (dual)] in day the third." Here " in " is represented by
a single letter, easily dropped owing to its similarity with
the letter that precedes it. But the dropping of it would
leave the translator with a passage that he might very
pardonably take as " after days day three," and render freely
as " after three days." Moreover, " after " is often confused
with "in," and (78) cardinal and ordinal numbers ("three"
and " third ") are interchangeable. 2 This probably ex-
plains the discrepancy in the predictions about Christ's
resurrection :
Mark viii. 31 Matth. xvi. 21 Luke ix. 2?.
"... and after "... and on the "... and on the
three days rise again." third day be raised third day be raised
up." up."
[227] The departure of Matthew and Luke from Mark
is probably not caused, or at all events not wholly caused,
by a desire to bring the narrative into conformity with the
current account of the interval between Christ's death and
1 I S. xx. 12, " about the time of (njn) to-morrow (inn) [or] the third [day]
(rrB"^B>n)," (is &v 6 Kaipos rpio-fftDj.
2 Hos. vi. 2, "After (-D) two-days (D>D') in (-2) day (DV) the-third ('r'Vr.i)."
The LXX translates it correctly : 3, i.e. " in," has been noted above [158a] as often
confused with D (or D), i.e. "after."
133
[228] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
resurrection. It is highly probable that the original contained
a modified quotation from the passage of Hosea above men-
tioned : " He will cause us to live after two-days in the third
day he will raise us up " substituting " him," or " the Son
of Man," for " us." If the prediction was in this form and
was erroneously rendered by Mark owing to his misunder-
standing of the dual for the plural in the first half of the
prophecy, it was very natural that later evangelists should
avoid the first half as superfluous, and content themselves
with the second.
5. (MattJtew) "seventy times seven" (Luke) "seven times
turn "
Matthew gives these words as part of a reply to Peter's
question, " How often shall I forgive my brother ? " Luke's
parallel occurs, not in a reply, but in the course of a general
exhortation :
Matth. xviii. 22 Luke xvii. 4
" Jesus saith unto him, I " And if seven times in
say not unto thee until seven the day he sin against thee
times, but until seventy times and seven times turn to thee
seven" saying, I repent, thou shalt
forgive him."
[228] The original probably contained an allusion to the
ancient law of revenge mentioned by Lamech, " If Cain shall
be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy-and-seven-fold" x
But Matthew follows the Septuagint, which substitutes 490
for 77. This mistake was sure to be attacked by Jewish
opponents of the Church, and it was natural for Luke to
take advantage of any possibility of so interpreting the
Hebrew Gospel as to give a different rendering of the
original.
1 Gen. iv. 24, "seventy (o'jnr) and seven -fold (njnn)," but LXX
Kis eirrd, i.e. "seventy times seven" an error.
134
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [232]
Supposing the original to have been " (a) but (ft) seventy
(c) and seven-fold," we will now show how Luke's version
may have arisen by corruption and slight modification.
[229] (a) The Hebrew for "but," in this sense, is
frequently " but if." This agrees with Luke's interpretation,
"And if" (the difference between "and" and "but," 1 in
translating from Hebrew, being mostly a matter of taste).
[230] (b} The Hebrew for " seventy " is the Hebrew for
" sever," plus the plural termination (im). " Seven " is
sometimes used adverbially to mean "seven times." Also
the p.ural termination (im) might easily be confused with
ivm t ' day " ; thus " seventy " might become " seven times
in the day." 2
[231] (c) "And seven-fold" is very easily confused with
" he shall turn," which in the Bible is frequently used for
" turn ng (in repentance)." 3
[232] The result of (a), (b\ and (c) would be, " And if
seven times in the day he shall turn." But if an evangelist
conflated the old " seven-fold, or times " with the new " he
shall turn," this would give : " And if seven times in the
day and seven times he shall turn." This then might
become current as an obscure tradition requiring emenda-
tior. of what Jesus said as to the number of times that
a cisciple was to forgive his brother conditionally on
repentance. Suppose Luke desired to insert this in the
discourse that says (xvii. 3), " If thy brother sin, rebuke
1 'But ('3) if (OK)" is given by Delitzsch here as the translation of Mt.
"but(dXXd)."
8 " Day (or)" is often confused with "water (DTD)," " in the day" once with
the pL of "son (p)," "our days" once with "right hand (po*)" *H f them
less easy changes than that supposed above, viz. o' to DV.
3 [231a] "He shall turn" = 3e", "and seven - fold " = njf3m. The difference
is great at the first glance. But (i.) the gutturals are freely handled in Hebrew ;
(ii.) the two last letters might be taken by Luke as parts of "to thee," -p^y ; (iii.)
when an editor finds the first and largest part of an obscure and disputed passage
capable of being easily altered to an edifying result, it is very natural that he
should feel justified in dealing more arbitrarily with the last part.
135
[233] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
him ; and if he repent, forgive him." It would only be
necessary to supply something, in the obscure tradition,
after " if," thus, " And if [if sliould happen, or, he shall sin]
seven times in the day, and seven times he shall turn."
When using the vaguer verb " turn " in place of the pre-
ceding " repent," Luke might naturally amplify " turn " for
clearness, by adding, " saying, I repent." Then it vould
only remain to repeat the precept to forgive. The result
would be, "And if he sin against thee seven times in the
day, and seven times turn to thee, saying, I repent, thou
shalt forgive him." J
6. On the error that led Luke to suppose that there were
" other seventy \two~\ disciples "
[233] It could be shown by a detailed examir.ation
that Luke's Seventy-Mission as we will call it for brevity
contains nothing except variations and conflations of
traditions given by Mark and Matthew in the Tvrelve-
Mission. Without asking the reader to accept this state-
ment till it is proved (which must be reserved for another
treatise), we may just mention that the " sandals " and
"money- belt" mentioned by Mark are omitted in Luke's
Twelve -Mission, but appear in Luke's Seventy -Mission in
the shape of " shoes " and " pouch," This ought to prepare
the reader to give a patient hearing to a demonstration that
" seventy [two] " may be explained as an error of Luke made
in translating Mark's Hebrew original in the following :
Mark vi. 7 (The Twelve) Luke x. I (The Seventy]
" And he (lit) calleth to " But after these things the
him the Twelve and began Lord appointed other seventy
1 [232a] Luke's acceptance of this form of the tradition would be facilitited
by the fact that Jesus certainly implied "repentance" as a condition for the
acceptance of forgiveness by the offender, if not for its pronouncement by the
forgiver. Hor. Hebr. on Mt. xviii. 21 alleges Jewish traditions mentioning :he
" imploring" of the offender, and limiting the forgivenesses to three.
I 3 6
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [235]
to send them (lit.) two two [W. H. add in brackets
. . . ." "two"] and sent them (lit.)
by two [W. H. add in
brackets " two "] . . . ."
[234] The omission of Mark's " two two," in Matthew's
and Luke's Twelve-Mission, suggests that there was some
obscurity in the Hebrew. This might well be. For " twelve "
is in Hebrew " two ten," so that the substance of the Hebrew
original of " He sent twelve, (lit.) two two " might be, " He sent
two ten two two" Now " twice " is rendered " two " by the
Septuagint in the Psalms * (" twice have I heard the^ same "),
and the verb " double " is repeatedly used in the sense of
doing a thing a second time. Again, some forms of " two "
resemble forms of a verb meaning " appoint," and the re-
'ISemblance produces confusion once in Isaiah. 2 It is there-
fore possible that " two . . . two " might be corrupted into
" He appointed ... a second time." Lastly, the dual
of the Hebrew " ten " (which closely resembles the singular)
is so far similar to the Hebrew for " seventy " that the two
are twice confused by the Septuagint. 3
[235] Now "seventy" was recognised by the Jews as
the number of the nations, or languages, of the earth, 4 so
that it might seem highly appropriate for the appointment
of a second group of disciples, perhaps regarded as typical of
a future preaching of the Gospel to "the nations," i.e. the
Gentiles. Thus prejudice and similarity of letters would
combine to corrupt " ten " to " seventy," which would be
placed in the margin. The result of these confusions would
1 [234a] Ps. IxiL 12, 860 raSra (78).
Is. xi. ii, "the second time (mr)," 5e (leg. nie>). Comp. Lk. "appointed"
3 Gen. xi. 24, Ezra viii. 11, " twenty [lit. tens (dual)] (onrj?),"
(leg. D'jnty). In Gen. xi. 17, (see context, Hebr. "four hundred and thirty,"
Gk. "three hundred and seventy") the LXX possibly takes "four (#311*)" as
"seven (jntr)." In I S. ix. 22, "about thirty (c'rVr)," LXX
4 See Wetst. on Acts ii. 3.
137
[236] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
be to produce a new tradition : " A second time he appointed
(or, he repeated to appoint) seventy-two." The retention of
" two " so as to make " seventy-two," instead of the more
appropriate " seventy," is an indication of the stages through
which the text has passed and of the honesty of those scribes
who have not cancelled " two," in spite of its inconvenience.
[236] Finally Luke has conflated this with the statement
that the Apostles were sent (lit.) " by two [two]." The
reader may compare a somewhat similar conflation quoted
above (77) from Daniel where " sixty-two weeks " is converted
by the Septuagint into " seven and seventy and sixty-two."
7. Errors arising from the Hebrew "and"
[237] The same Hebrew letter represents (i.) "and," (ii.)
" even," meaning, " that is to say." Scores of consequent
errors might be quoted from the Septuagint. Most im-
portant are those in which the Authorised differs from the
Revised Version, or the Revised itself leaves the meaning
an open question :
i Chr. xxi. 12: " The sword of the Lord, even (marg.
and} pestilence."
Judg. vii. 24: "The waters as far as Bethbarah, even
(R.V. marg. and also, A.V. and] Jordan."
Mai. iii. i : " The Lord . . . shall come . . . and
(marg. and A.V. even] the messenger of the covenant."
In (R.V.) i K. vii. 45, parallel to 2 Chr. iv. 16, enumerat-
ing Temple-utensils, the former has "and the shovels, and
the basins, even all these vessels " ; the latter " and the
shovels, and the flesh -hooks, and all the vessels thereof"
though the Hebrew conjunction is the same in both.
Ezra vi. 2 1 has " The children of Israel . . . and all
such as had separated." But the " and " is omitted by the
parallel i Esdr. vii. 1 3, presumably being taken by LXX to
mean " even." The R.V. of i Esdr. vii. 1 3 inserts " even."
138
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [240]
Nehem. viii. 7 : " A., J., H., P., and the Levites " is
parallel (with slight name-variations) to I Esdr. ix. 48, " A.,
K., A., Ph., the Levites."
Judg. vi. 25: "Thy father's bullock, even (marg. and}
the second bullock." The Septuagint here has " and," but
the MS that generally conforms the Septuagint to the
Hebrew (Codex A) omits " and."
Zech. ix. 9 : " ... riding upon an ass, even upon a
colt the foal (lit. son) of an ass (lit. she-ass)." So the
Revised Version, but the Authorised and the Septuagint
have " and." l This prepares us for :
%
Mark xi. 2 Matth. xxi. 2 Luke xix. 30
" ... a colt tied " . . . an ass tied "... a colt tied
whereon no man hath and a colt with her." whereon no man hath
yet sat." ever yet sat."
[238] Mark, followed by Luke, takes Zechariah's prophecy
to refer to a single animal, and that not a " she-ass " a
creature of great value (superior to a " beast of burden ")
reserved for kings, nobles, judges, and prophets but a mere
colt. Interpreting " foal of a she-ass " to mean " not yet
separated from its mother," Mark paraphrases it freely as
" not yet used," i.e. whereon " no man hath yet sat."
[239] Matthew follows the Septuagint in taking the
words to mean two animals. But in translating the prophecy
in full, he mistranslates " Raise a shout, O daughter of Zion "
as " Tell ye the daughter of Zion," differing from the Septu-
agint as well as from the Hebrew. He also calls the colt
" the foal of a beast of burden" not " of a she-ass" missing the
difference intended in the prophecy.
8. Indicative confused with non-indicative forms
[240] (i.) Hebrew has no subjunctive. The future, " he
will come," is identical with " he would come." (ii.) When
1 The LXX renders " ass " by inrofvyioi', i.e. " beast of burden," and paraphrases
" son of a she-ass " by vuXov vlov, " young foal."
139
[241] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
the future, " he will come," is preceded by " and," with a
special vowel-point, it assumes the meaning of " and he came"
(iii.) Hence, " The Lord spake unto him that he should come "
is liable to be confused with " The Lord spake unto him and
lie came" Hence arises a general confusion between com-
mand and statement of fact.
2, Chr. xxxv. 3 : " And he said to the Levites . . . Put
the holy ark . . ." is rendered by the Septuagint " And
they put " ; but the parallel I Esdr. i. 3 has " And he spake
unto the Levites . . . by putting"
[241] In the following instance two parallel Hebrew
passages differ.
(i.) 2 K. xx. 7 : " And Isaiah said, Take a cake of
figs. And they took and laid it on the boil and he recovered."
(ii.) Is. xxxviii. 21:" And Isaiah [had] said, 1 Let them
take a cake of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil and
he shall recover."
(i.) LXX of Kings : " And he said, Let them take a
cake of figs [the Codex Alexandrinus adds, " and it was
taken "], and let them lay it on the sore, and he shall
recover." z
(ii.) LXX of Isaiah : " And Isaiah said to Hezekiah,
Take a cake of figs, and pound it and put it in a plaster
and thou shalt be whole."
[242] Compare also (i.) Ezra v. 15: " He said unto
him, Take these vessels," where LXX agrees, but (ii.) the
parallel i Esdr. vi. 1 8 has (LXX) " And orders were given
1 [241<z] There is no pluperfect tense in Hebrew. The same word that means
"said" in 2 K. must be rendered ">4a</said" in Is. xxxviii., because the context
and position of the clause demand it. But the pluperfect meaning \& often required
in an appendix or parenthesis, and the LXX seldom uses the Greek pluperfect to
express it.
a The Hebr. v\p="take" "They took" = -\njb: np occurs in two cases for
" he took" instead of nph.
The Hebr. 'm may mean either "and he recovered''' (as in K.), or "and he
shall recover" (as in Isaiah).
140
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [243]
unto him, and he took all these vessels . . . ," where R.V. has
" that he should carry away."
Josh. ix. 21: "TilTO the princes said unto them, Let
them live. So they became hewers of wood . . ."; LXX,
" They shall live, and they shall be hewers of wood."
Josh. xxii. 8 : " He blessed them and spake unto them
saying, Return with much wealth . . ." ; LXX, " And he
blessed them and they departed with much wealth."
Jer. xxxvii. 17:" And the king asked him secretly in
his house and said" ; LXX, " And the king asked him secretly
to say." x
[243] The last passage may account for the astonishing
fact that Mark's account of the Mission of the Twelve contains
no precept to preach the Gospel, or the Kingdom, whereas such
precepts are mentioned by Matthew and by Luke in the
Mission of the Seventy as well as in that of the Twelve.
For, according to the rule deducible from the preceding
instances, an imperative may be latent in the following :
Mark vi. 11-12
"... Shake off the dust ... for a testimony to them.
And having gone forth they preached . . ."
We have only to suppose that the original was, " And
go forth and preach" and we then have a parallel to
Matthew x. 7, "And as ye go, preach" and Luke ix. 2,
" He sent them to preach . . ."
Compare also :
Mark xiv. 23 Matth. xxvi. 27
" And tliey all drank of it" " Drink ye all of this."
1 [242a] Comp. i K. xix. n : "And he said, Go forth and stand . . . And
behoM, the Lord passed by" ; LXX, "And he said, Go forth . . . Behold the
Lord shall pass by." This is an example, not of the uncertainty of the meaning
of i, but of the uncertainty of the meaning of the Hebr. pres. participle. It shows
how statement of fact may be confused with prediction.
141
[244]
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
9. (Mark} " they receive him" (Matthew and Luke) " he
went "
Mark iv. 36
"And . . . they
receive him ... in
the boat . . ."
Matth. viiL 23
" And, when he
went into a boat .
Luke viii. 22
"And he himself
went into a boat ..."
[Codex D, " went
up," Ss. "went up
and sat in a ship."]
[244] " Receive" Mark, in effect, has the causative
" cause-him- to-come into the boat " ; Matthew and Luke the
non-causative " he came into the boat" This confusion of
causative and non-causative is a constant cause of mis-
translation in the Septuagint. Compare the following
parallel passages in Kings and Chronicles, where the
Hebrew text has the very word probably used by the
original Hebrew Gospel here, namely, " go up " (which also
means " go on board "), employed by Chronicles causatively
and by Kings non-causatively. In Chronicles, the Septuagint
mistranslates :
i K. x. 29
"And a chariot came up
and went out of Egypt " ;
LXX, lit. "there came up
the going out."
2 Chr. i. 17
" And they fetched up (lit
caused to come up} and brought
out of Egypt a chariot" ; LXX,
"they came in" (Codex A,
" they came up ").
The reader will note that in Chronicles the later MS.
(A) conforms to the Hebrew "up," whereas the earlier MSS.
have " in." The difference of the Greek words there is
precisely that between Codex D and most New Testament
MSS. here. 1 Thus we see the phenomena of the Greek
1 2 Chr. i. 17 (see context of Chr. and K.) "And they fetched up
Ivtfituvov, A fotfiaivov. So in Lk. viii. 22 fytvero . . . ical atfrds frtfii) (Codex
i, D dva/jTJvat avr6f).
142
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [246]
Old Testament reproduced in this passage of the Greek New
Testament leading to the conclusion that the latter, like
the former, is a translation.
I o. Mark alone mentions " other boats "
Matthew and Luke omit mention of the boats, as
follows :
Mark iv. 36 Matth. viii. 23. Luke viii. 22.
" . . . And other "... There fol- "... And his
boats were with him." lowed him his dis- disciples."
ciples." ,
(i.) " And other boats"
As Mark has just mentioned " the boat," he may have felt
justified in supplying the noun here after " other," even
though the original was only " and other[s] [were] with him."
[245] Now " other " is the same in Hebrew as " after,"
" behind," " backwards " ; and the word " follow " is expressed
in Hebrew by " be after " or " go after " ; and " disciples," or
" followers," might be expressed by a phrase with the same
word. For instances of confusions based on this similarity
see Prov. xxv. 9, " the secret of another" LXX " backwards " ;
Ps. xvi. 4, " another" LXX " after these things " ; Sir. xlix.
5, "backwards? LXX "to others" Possibly, in the Greek,
" the other " may be intended to mean " the next" in Deut.
xxix. 22, "the generation {that is to come~\ afterwards"
LXX "the other generation"; Gen. xvii. 21, "in the next
year," LXX " tJie other year." Sometimes, too, confusion
may have been caused by the fact that the same Greek
preposition means " with " or " after," according to the case
of the noun. In Exod. xxiii. 2, " thou shalt not follow a
multitude," LXX has " thou shalt not be with a multitude " ;
and in I S. xiv. 13, "after him," LXX has "with him." 1
[246] (ii.) " With him."
1 The word inx ("after" and also "other") is used in all these passages;
/xerd with genit. means "with," with accus. "after" (193<z).
143
[247] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
Again the Hebrew " with-him," is, in one of its forms, 1
identical with " his-people," which may be used for " his
attendants." In a parallel passage of Kings and Chronicles,
" with him " and " the people " are interchanged, and the
Septuagint omits "with him." 5 In Deut xxxii. 43,
apparently, and certainly in Josh. viii. 14, and in some
MSS of Deut. iii. I, "his people" is duplicated by the
addition of " with him." The instances are numerous in
which " people " and " with " are confused in the Septuagint. 3
[247] Thus, taking (i.) " other " as " following," and (ii.)
" with him " as " his disciples," Matthew might deduce
" his disciples followed him," while Luke might consider
" his people that followed him " to be sufficiently represented
by " his disciples."
[248] There is probably a similar confusion between
"disciples" and "follow" in Mt. viii. 21, "But another of
the disciples said to him," which is parallel to Lk. ix. 59,
" But he said unto another, Follow me " (where Matthew pro-
bably conflates). But the discussion of these passages must
be deferred.
li. (Matthew} " destroying" (Luke] " casting "
Matth. x. 28 Luke xii. 5
" But fear rather him who " Fear him who, after
is able to destroy both soul killing, hath authority to cast
and body in hell." into hell."
[249] The context indicates free translation in one at
least of the translators. But the following passages show
that the divergence of " destroy " and " cast," i.e. " cause to
go," may be explained by Hebrew corruption :
1 1DJ?-
8 I K. viii. 62: "And all Israel with him (my)" = 2 Chr. vii. 4, "And all
the people (oy)." The LXX of K. om. " with him " (but A inserts it).
3 Dan. ix. 26, "people" LXX /ierd, Theod. <r6v ; I Chr. xii. 18, " with thee,"
LXX "Ihy people," Ps. xlvii. 9, ex. 3, "people," jterei, etc.
144
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [251]
Lev. xxvi. 41: "I brought them into the land " ; LXX,
" I will destroy them in the land.
Dan. ii. 12: " to destroy," Theod. as Hebr., but LXX
" to lead out." J
Probably the original was " cause to go in(to) hell," and
Matthew, interpreting it as " destroy in hell," added " soul
and body," to signify that the Greek word, which sometimes
means " lose," or " ruin," meant here utter destruction.
12. (Matthew) "fall to the ground without? (Luke}
"forgotten in the sight of"
[250] A word may be correctly translated, but* in two
different senses. For example, the word " fall " may mean
" fall to the ground " (i.) metaphorically, i.e. be forgotten,
despised, or (ii.) literally, i.e. perish. And this appears
partly to explain :
Matth. x. 29 Luke xii. 6 jf
"And one of them [i.e. the "And one of them is
sparrows] shall not fall to the not forgotten in the sight of
ground without your Father." God."
(i.) (Matthew) "fall? (Luke} "forgotten."
[251] (i.) The Hebrew "fall" is used metaphorically
concerning (a) the words of Samuel which God did not
allow to be unfulfilled, (V) days that are to be " void," and
(c) a person of inferior account. 2 But these metaphorical
1 Lev. xxvi. 41, 'nx:wi (from xu), aTroXw ; Dan. ii. 12, main 1 ?, Theod.
djroX^<rcu, LXX ^ayayein (which = x'3n in Ezek. xvii. 12); raxn (hiph.) =
"destroy," x'3n=" cause to go." Luke's word "cast ((^dXXeic) " is used in a
mistranslation of xn in Hag. ii. 16. Matthew's "rather" (not a Hebraic word)
suggests that he is translating freely.
2 i S. iii. 20 ; Num. vi. 12, " the days . . . shall be void (A.V. lost)" AXoyoi ;
Job xiii. 2, " inferior to you," lit. "fallen" do-iurniTepoj.
Mr. W. S. Aldis suggests to me that there may have been a confusion between
(a) mv (" forget ") and (b) Sra (" fall "). In that case (a) would be the original,
because (b) mostly means " stagger," " totter," and could not be applied to birds.
See also Sir. xliv. 10, "come to an end (mz>)," ^7riXai'0d'e(70<u, Sir. xlvii.
22, "he will suffer to fall to the ground (,IX-IK S'fl')," 5ia.<f>0a.pfi (x
10 145
[252] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
senses are comparatively rare. Perhaps no exact parallel
could be quoted to Luke's use of the word, on the hypothesis
that he translated the Hebrew " fall."
(ii.) (Matthew) " without" (Luke) " in the sight of"
[252] In Greek, Matthew's phrase " not without" when
preceding " God," " divine fortune," etc., generally refers to
good fortune, or what is sometimes called " a providential
dispensation." But in Hebrew the phrase has not neces-
sarily this good association, as appears from a Jewish tradi-
tion how a Rabbi and his son, in hiding during the days of
persecution, sat at the door of their cave and watched a
fowler catching birds. To them the fowler signified the
heathen, and the birds the souls or lives of the persecuted.
A Voice from heaven cried " Save thyself, save thyself" (or,
as some say, " Pity, pity "). Then the bird escaped. At
other times the Voice was against the bird and then it was
caught " Even a bird," exclaimed the Rabbi, " witlwut
fieaven is not caught : how much less the soul of man ! "
Matthew's tradition, verbally accurate, but liable to
misinterpretation, might induce Luke to adopt any variation
(springing from a corruption of the original Hebrew) that
might give an unambiguous and edifying meaning.
[253] The original of Matthew's " without " was probably
" away-from the eyes of," i.e. without the knowledge of. But
this form occurs only four times to a hundred occurrences of
" in the eyes of." The latter, which would be the natural
original of Luke's " in the sight of," differs from the former
1 Schottg. on Mt. x. 29. Wetst. gives the story with slight but interesting
differences. The English reader must note that this saying takes the bird's point
of view. The fowler and perhaps a good many modern readers might interpret
it as meaning, " I cannot catch even a single bird without the help of heaven."
But the meaning is, " The death even of a single bird is foreseen and controlled
by God " ; and the inference is that, though it may seem evil, there must be a
good purpose underlying it.
[252a] " Without heaven " may throw light on Mt. " your father " = Lk. "God,"
the original being " heaven," variously paraphrased by Matthew and Luke.
146
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [256]
by nothing but the difference of D and 1 letters readily
confused (l5Sa). It is probable that the rarer form (Mat-
thew's) was the original one, and that the authority followed
by Luke altered it to the more usual form in order to har-
monise with his interpretation of " fall."
1 3. (Matthew) " salute" (Luke) " do good to "
[254] This variation occurs in the Sermon on the
Mount, where Jesus, having inculcated " loving," proceeds to
inculcate the expression of love in beneficent action. Deuter-
onomy forbade Israel to do good to, or " seek the pqace " of,
Ammonites and Moabites, but excepted the Edomite from
this prohibition, " for he is thy brother." Jesus abrogated
this rule, asking what virtue there was in mere " seeking the
peace " of one's " brothers," who " do good to you " or " seek
your peace." That this Deuteronomic precept permeated
Jewish thought in the time of the composition of Ezra is
proved by its quotation in that book. 1
[255] But unfortunately the Hebrew "seek the peace of"
is easily confused in translation with another quite distinct
phrase, " ask [after] the peace of" ; for the Hebrew " seek " is
sometimes rendered by the Greek "ask," and the Hebrew
" ask," though rarely, by the Greek " seek." 2 Now, " seek
the peace of" is, in effect, "do good to." But "ask [after]
the peace of" is simply "salute."
[256] Every one will recognise that these could easily
be confused, and as a fact they are confused by the Septuagint,
which, in the translation of the Deuteronomic precept itself
instead of " seek the peace " gives, " Thou shalt not
accost them in words of friendship and advantage to them."
1 Deut. xxiii. 6, "Thou shalt not seek (m) their peace nor their prosperity
all thy days for ever." Comp. Ezraix. 10 1 2, "We have forsaken thy commandments
which thou hast commanded . , . saying . . . The land ... is an unclean land
. . . neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek (em) their peace or
their prosperity for ever"
"ask (W)" = (2) frreiv (Tromm.).
147
[257] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
And it is significant that whereas in Ezra the Septuagint
translates literally and correctly (" ye shall not seek their
peace "), the parallel in Esdras is, " Ye shall not seek to be at
peace with them." This, though not so serious an error as
the one in Deuteronomy, does not express the Hebrew
meaning " consult the interests of," " do good to."
[257] Matthew, though he reproduces Hebraic traditions
and Hebraic thought perhaps more than any of the Synoptists,
exhibits many instances of mistranslation from Hebrew, as
we have seen in " the ass and the colt," and his use of the
word " companion." We cannot therefore be surprised that
he here falls into the error of the Deuteronomic Septuagint
Matth. v. 47 Luke vi. 33
" And if ye salute your " For if ye do-good-to them
brethren * alone, what do ye that do good to you, what
more [than others] ? " thank have ye ? "
[258] It may be noted that the Arabic Diatessaron
renders Matthew thus : " If ye inquire for the good of your
brethren only." The original was probably a play on words :
" If ye seek the peace of (shim) the men-of your-peace (shim},
what recompense (shim} have ye ? " 2 If so, Matthew has
paraphrased as well as mistranslated, and Luke is substantially
right.
14. " Man, thy sins are forgiven thee "
Mark ii. 5 Matth. be. 2 Luke v. 20
" And Jesus seeing " And Jesus seeing " And seeing their
their faith saith unto their faith said unto faith he said, Man,
the paralytic, Son, the paralytic, Be of thy sins are forgiven
thy sins are for- good cheer, Son, thy thee."
given." sins are forgiven."
1 Codex L has "friends."
2 "Men of your peace " = " well-disposed," "friendly," rendered "friends" in
Jer. xx. IO. It is mistranslated "recompense (ai>Ta.iro8i5ov<riv) " in Ps. vii. 4, and
" having-received-recompense (direcrx^Kwj)" by Q marg. in Is. xliL 19, where LXX
omits it.
148
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [261]
[259] " Man," when used in the Bible vocatively, implies
reproach, 1 and is difficult to reconcile with "Son." Jesus
never calls any man " son " except as the son of the Father
in heaven ; 2 but Luke would hardly have deviated so com-
pletely from Mark without some reason afforded by the text.
[260] Luke omits here " unto the paralytic " ; and the
question arises whether under that phrase there may be
latent some explanation of the discrepancy. The original
may not have repeated the technical term " paralytic " used
at the introduction of the story, but may have called him
" the sick (or, afflicted) man." Now this in Hebrew might
be " son-of affliction" z This would explain how " son " made
its way into the story.
[261] The next step is to ask whether "afflicted" could
be confused with " man." That is answered by a passage
where the Revised Version gives in its text " woeful," but
in its margin an alternative " man," and by three passages
where the Septuagint has " man " for " woeful." Suppose,
then, that the original was " son of affliction," whether in the
vocative, or in the objective after " said unto." Mark may
have loosely conflated it first as " the paralytic " and then as
" son." Luke, reading " son of affliction " as " son of man,"
took it vocatively as a term of reproach (which it is some-
times), and therefore equivalent to the Greek vocative "man." 4
1 Mic. vi. 8, Lk. xii. 14, xxii. 60, Rom. ii. I, ix. 20. In Mic. vi. 8, the prophet
appears to imply rebuke to Balak for even asking, " Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression?" In classical Greek AvOpwrre means "fellow."
3 The Greek is T^KVOV, "child." The pi. is used by Jesus to the disciples in
Mk. x. 24, and the diminutive pi. (reKvla.) in Jn. xiii. 33 in both of which there
is a special tenderness.
3 Comp. Prov. xxxi. 5, " any that is afflicted "; Hebr. "all the-sons-qf affliction
('jy)" do-flews. This differs from the Hebr. for "affliction" supposed below.
But the passage illustrates the Hebrew idiom.
4 [261a] Jer. xvii. 16, "the woeful (enjx) day" (marg. "some ancient versions
read, the judgment day of man"). The word BMJK means "man," more especially
in poetry, e.g .Ps. cxliv. 3, "son of man." The LXX have " man" in Jer. xvii.
9, 1 6, and Is. xvii. \\.
149
[262] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
[262] But if this Hebrew word meaning " afflicted " or
" incurably diseased," but resembling " man " was in the
original, it opens up possibilities of explaining also Matthew's
" be-of-good-cheer," a Greek word hardly ever used by the
Septuagint except to express the Hebrew prohibition " do
not fear." But this would not make very good sense here,
where the context rather demands " Be hopeful, or trustful."
Now the Hebrew " afflict " is confused once with " lift up,"
and " lift up " is used to mean " rejoice." l Hence, " son of
affliction " might be interpreted by Matthew as " Son, rejoice
(or, be of good c/teer)" 2
[263] There is a fair probability that the Synoptical
divergence is due to this particular word in the original. 3
There is a very much stronger probability that it is due to
some mistranslation from Hebrew. And it is certain that
" man " is a mistake of Luke's.
1 5. (Mark} " nothing . . . except a staff" (Matthew) " nor a
staff" (Luke) " neither a staff"
These words occur in Christ's precepts to the Twelve,
when He sent them forth to preach :
Mark vi. 8 Matth. x. 9-10 Luke ix. 3
"... that they " Do not obtain " Take nothing for
should take nothing gold . . . not a wallet the journey, neither a
for [their] journey for [your] journey . . . staff, nor wallet, nor
except a staff alone, no nor a staff." bread . . ."
bread, no wallet ..."
1 Jer. xxx. 12, "incurable (nan)," dW<m?0-a, leg. KPJ, which (Is. xlii. n)=
2 [262a] The possibilities of error are increased by the fact that "forgive"
may be in Hebrew "lift up," "bear," "take away" the same word (<rj) that
is confused with "afflicted (ran)" in Jer. xxx. 12. The juxtaposition of the two
words might easily cause confusion, especially if the Hebrew verb was reduplicated.
s [263a] The exact meaning of TJK is "sick unto death." It occurs nine
times in the Bible, and is only once (2 S. xii. 15, ^pfxlxmjfffv) rendered exactly.
Elsewhere it = KaraKparfTf (l), trriptm (l), ftiaios (3), avt<m)<ra (l), dyflponros (2).
ISO
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [266]
Beside the apparent contradiction as to the " staff," we
have to explain why Matthew omits all mention of bread.
[264] The Didacht, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,
says concerning the true apostle or missionary, "When he
goeth forth let the missionary receive nothing except bread
[to suffice him] until he reach his lodging for the night.
But if he ask for money, he is a false prophet." ] Now a
sufficiency of bread is regarded in Hebrew as bread enough
to support one, and hence is metaphorically called " the
staff of bread " ; 2 and the writer appears to have read Christ's
precept thus, " that they should take nothing for their journey
except the staff of bread" i.e. bread enough to support them
for the day, or, in other words, the " daily bread." This was
almost certainly the original precept, but, if so, we may pro-
nounce with equal certainty that it was intended in a spiritual
sense. The Apostles were to go forth with nothing but the
" daily bread " provided by the Father in heaven. 3
The Didacke, though it has despiritualised, has at all
events preserved, in a modified form, the old tradition,
" nothing except the staff of bread." We have now to trace
its developments in our Gospels.
[265] (i.) Mark, taking "staff" literally, was bound to
detach it from " bread." But " nothing except a staff, bread,
no wallet " would make no sense, and a very obvious way of
making sense was to supply " no " as Mark does : " no bread,
no wallet." 4
[266] (ii.) Another development was to assume that
1 DidacM, xi. 6.
2 Comp. Lev. xxvL 26, Ps. cv. 16, Ezek. iv. 16, v. 16, xiv. 13.
3 [2640] It will be shewn hereafter that all the precepts in Mk. vi. 8-9 had
originally a spiritual meaning. It is probable that Jesus laid down no rules at all
about the literal food or clothing of the Apostles.
* [265a] Mark (or his authority) might feel justified in this by the frequent
omission of the Hebrew negative in expression when it has to be implied from a
previous negative, e.g. (Ps. ix. 18) "The needy shall not alway be forgotten,
[nor] the expectation of the poor shall perish for ever."
[267] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
Christ forbade the Apostles to take anything at all for their
journey. The Hebrew original would not lend itself to this
corruption. But these precepts as we might naturally
suppose, and as we may infer from a reference to one of
them in the First Epistle to Timothy 1 must have been
early appealed to in the Greek Churches, and, as being
handed down through Greek oral tradition, must have been
peculiarly liable to Greek corruption. Moreover, in a Greek-
written Gospel the change of " except " to " not " would
involve merely the dropping of one letter. 2
This course has been adopted by Matthew and Luke.
But why has Matthew omitted " bread," and altered " take "
into " obtain " ?
[267] (iii.) The reason probably is that Matthew, when
editing, and throwing into the second person, the original
tradition expressed in the third person, " that they should
take no staff, bread" confused " bread " with the almost
identical "for tJiemselves" as appears to have been done
once in Nehemiah. 3 This induces him not only to omit
" bread," but also to introduce a verb in the middle voice,
" obtain," meaning " procure for yourselves."
1 I Tim. v. 1 8 ; comp. I Cor. ix. 13.
2 [266<z] "Except," in illiterate Greek = iMH. "Not" = /v\H. The dropping
of i would be facilitated by its coming after oAo (i.t- O^ON) ; oAoi might be
taken as an error for O&ON- (Still more easily might i be dropped after Aipcoci")-
In Lk. x. 4-5 (" Do not carry . . . and salute none by the way. But what-
ever house ye enter) " very slight changes indeed would restore the meaning, " Do
not carry . . . anything on your journey. But salute whatever house ye enter,"
. . . jnjSMa) Kar ^ r ^ v odov. 'A<T5Tfi(7a(for ?;)<r0e 8' eh 1jv &v flfffXOtjTe oki'cw.
Codex D has ei's ty &v 8e . . .
The kind of Greek that might be expected in the earliest Greek Gospels may
be illustrated by Bockh, Gr. Inscr. 4588, t Sapa ice Si, i.e. ef 5' Apa. ral Sec. It
would probably be more similar to the Greek of the Apocalypse than to that of
St. Paul's Epistles.
3 Neh. v. 14, " the bread of (on 1 ?) the governor," (ttav afrruv, where O.VTUV
seems = " belonging to them " = 0-1*?, confused with on 1 ? : /Ufa =" governor," as also
in next verse.
152
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [271]
1 6. " In the Name because ye are Christ s "
Mark ix. 41 Matth. x. 42
" For whoso shall give you " And whosoever shall give
to drink a cup of water in one of these little ones a cup
the Name because ye are of cold [water] in (lit. to) the
Christ's." name of a disciple."
[268] We are here confronted, in Mark, with a
phenomenon unique in the Synoptic Gospels Jesus calling
Himself Christ, and that, too, not in the course of a special
revelation to the disciples, but as (so to speak) a parenthetic
assumption in the midst of discourse about other matters.
Consequently, there is an antecedent probability that
" because ye are Christ's " is an error arising from some
original obscurity.
[269] The Jewish fathers use "the Name" absolutely
for " the Name that is above every other name," that is, " the
Name of God," as in the saying, " Noisome beasts come into
the world for vain swearing and for profanation of the
Name." l
[270] Jesus has previously said, "Whoso shall receive
one such child in (lit. on) my name receiveth me, and whoso
receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." 2 This implies
that whosoever receives a " little one " in the name of the
Father receives the Father Himself. The sense here, then,
seems to require either " in the Name " or " in my name."
Some authorities read in Mark " in my name " ; but, if that
was the original, why was it altered, since it makes excellent
sense ? It seems probable that the Hebrew original was " in
the Name," meaning " in the Name of the Father in heaven,"
and that this caused a difficulty to all the evangelists.
[271] Luke has omitted the whole passage. Matthew
1 Taylor's yf is A Fathers, v. 14, also iv. 7.
* Mk. ix. 37 (and simil. Mt. xviii. 5 and Lk. ix. 48).
153
[272] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
appears to have identified " in the Name " with " to the
name, credit, or account of," i.e. " for the sake of," or " as
being." He inserts a passage about receiving a prophet, or
righteous man, " for the sake of," or " as being," a prophet
or righteous man ; and then he seems to have conformed
the original of Mark to this new context by inserting the
words " of a disciple."
[272] Mark appears to have followed the practice of
very early Christian writers in referring " the Name " to the
Son who, as the Epistle to the Philippians says, has received
" the Name that is above every name." The third Johannine
Epistle says of certain faithful disciples that " for the sake of
the Name they went forth," and similarly the Acts, " rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to surfer dishonour for the
Name'' But in both passages the absence of a pronoun has
caused the scribes difficulty ; and so many manuscripts have
inserted one that the Authorised Version gives on both
occasions " his name." l But Mark, instead of inserting a
pronoun, has inserted a marginal interpretation, " because
ye are Christ's disciples," conflating it with " in the Name."
This explains the otherwise inexplicable fact that in this
single passage of the Synoptic Gospels Jesus appears to use
the word " Christ " about Himself.
17. Hebraic Alternatives
[272 (i)] We will conclude with an instance shewing
that a Synoptic passage may contain manifest signs of error
through mistranslation, but the phenomena may admit of
more than one explanation.
Matth. xiii. 17 Luke x. 24
" Many prophets and " Many prophets and kings
1 [272a] The same interpolating tendency is apparent in many passages of
Clem. Rom., Hennas, and Ignatius, e.g. Ign. Eph. 3, " For though I am a prisoner
in the Name" where see Lightfoot's note.
154
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [272 (i)]
righteous [men] have passion- have desired to see the things
ately-desired to see the things on which ye (emph.) look."
on which ye-look."
Of how many " kings " could Jesus say this ? Is there
anything in Christ's doctrine, or in the special goodness of
the kings of Israel or Judah, that would lead us to suppose
that He would use language so favourable to royalty ?
(a} (?) "Princes."
Professor Resch suggests that the original had "princely"
or "noble," a word translated by the LXX once "jighteous,"
and twice "king". 1 But if that was the original, why did Luke
give it the rare rendering "king" contradicting all history
too when he might have rendered it " noble " ? 2 Moreover
in Matthew elsewhere (" Ye build the sepulchres of the
prophets and garnish the tombs of the righteous"} where
it is impossible to alter " righteous " into " kings," why does
Luke omit the clause containing the word? And again,
when Matthew distinguishes between " receiving a prophet "
and " receiving a righteous man " where once more " king "
would be an impossible substitute why does Luke omit
the whole passage ? " 3
(b) (?) " Messengers of God."
These considerations make it necessary to consider an
1 Parcdleltextt zu Lucas, Leipsic, 1895. Prv. xvii. 7 "a prince," (anj) Suealt?,
Prov. xix. 6 and Numb. xxi. 18 pcuriXtuv : bnj = (i i) &px<av, (3) ei;<re/3ijs, (2) vp66vfj.(K,
etc. : its radical meaning is "generous." Many may be so familiar with the
sonorous words " prophets and kings," and perhaps with Mr. Maurice's book
bearing this title that they may feel as unwilling as the author felt at first to give
up Luke's version. But let any reader dispassionately consider (i) how " many "
of the Kings of Judah and Israel can be called decently "good," not to say
rivals of prophets, (ii) how far from favourable to the general character of royalty
are Christ's remarks about (Mk. x. 42) " those who are reputed to rule over the
nations." Then surely it must seem impossible that He should have bestowed
this eulogium on kings.
* Ei>yo'i}s only occurs once in Heb. LXX, but Lk. has it twice Lk. xix. 12, Acts
xvii. 1 1 : and it would have well expressed the double meaning of the Hebrew
"princely." * Mt. xxiii. 29 (Lk. xi. 47), Mt. x. 41.
155
[272 (i)] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
alternative. Possibly the original, in all these passages of
Matthew, as in a passage of Chronicles, coupled together
"prophets" and "messengers of God." The latter term
was applicable to Noah, Abraham, and many others, whom
the Epistle to the Hebrews describes as having seen and
greeted the promises "from afar'' Jesus Himself says
concerning, the Baptist that he is " greater than a prophet"
because he is the " messenger " predicted by Malachi. l
Matthew who occasionally (162) shows a tendency to
paraphrase may have habitually paraphrased "messengers
of God," as " righteous persons." But it has been shown
above (105) that "messenger" or "angel" (IN^D) is
frequently confused with " king " (-|^>D) and was thus confused
by the Chronicler in the story of Araunah. Luke appears
to have been misled here by this confusion. In other
passages where " king " is an impossible rendering, he omits
the word and its context. 2
The second () of these alternatives appears the more
probable. But the first (a) is preferable to the view that Jesus
coupled "kings" with "prophets," while tacitly excluding
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, and all the rest (David alone
excepted) of the " great cloud of witnesses." s
1 2 Chr. xxxvi. 16, Mt. xi. 9, Mai. iii. I, "messenger": comp. Hag. i. 13, "the
Lord's messenger (i.e. the prophet Haggai) in the Lord's message," AyyeXos
Kvplov tv d^-yAws Kvplov.
2 It is, however, possible that "prophets and righteous," wherever the phrase
occurs, may be a conflation from one original phrase, "messengers of God."
This might be interpreted by some as simply "prophets " the reading of Syr. Cur.
in Lk. x. 24 and in Tertull. adv. Marc. iv. 25 (quoted by Resch, ad. loc.) by others
(Euseb. H.E. x. i. 4) conflated as "righteous and witnesses of God." Since
"messengers" = "angels," this might give rise to the Petrine tradition, which
after saying (i Pet. i. 10) " \\iQprophets sought and searched diligently," adds (i. 12)
"which things the angels desire to look into." And Mt.'s saying about
"receiving a righteous man " may be another form of the tradition about (Heb. xiii.
2) "entertaining angels unawares." If the original was "messengers of God,"
Luke may have conflated the interpretation " prophets " with an alternative
" kings " taken from the margin. 8 Heb. xii. i.
I 5 6
CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM [272 (ii)]
18. Conclusion
[272 (ii)] The preceding pages make no attempt to
answer questions as to the length of time necessary to
produce our present Synoptic Gospels out of a combination
of (i) written Hebrew Logia, (ii) various written interpreta-
tions of them in Aramaic and Greek, (iii) oral tradition in
Aramaic and Hebrew : nor do they aim at analysing the
Gospels into their (supposed) constituent parts, and assigning
to each part its due authority. Interesting and important
though these questions are, they must wait for their answer
till students have agreed on what may seem to the general
reader the comparatively uninteresting question discussed in
this work : " Has, or has not, mistranslation been at work,
producing divergences in the Gospels ? " It would be easy
to show, for example, that five years have sufficed to produce
marvellous differences in apparently honest writers, recording
the life and death of Becket. 1 But such discussions, though
they might apparently lead us swiftly and straight to
fairly probable conclusions, would in the end be found to be
very circuitous, or possibly to take us backward instead of
forward. Internal evidence is a very slow guide, but a much
safer one.
It is believed by the author that an amount of internal
evidence has been brought before the reader to make it
probable in some passages, highly probable in others,
and almost certain in a few, that Synoptic discrepancies
sprang from Hebrew mistranslated into Greek, and that the
total result demonstrates that the Synoptic Gospels are in
parts based on a Hebrew original. Nothing in this demon-
stration has been made to depend upon a theory as to the
priority of this or that Gospel : but the conviction that
Mark contains the Greek tradition from which (when slightly
1 St. Thomas of Canterbury, His Death and Miracles, par. 838, A. and C.
Black, 1898.
157
[272 (ii)] CONFUSIONS OF IDIOM
corrected) Matthew and Luke have borrowed, has been
allowed weight so far as this, that Mark's text has been
printed before the other two, and has been taken, hypotheti-
cally, as the earliest of the three Greek renderings.
Part II. of this series will aim at demonstrating the
truth of this conviction. But it will also incidentally bring
forward a great many more instances of Synoptic discrepancy
explained by mistranslation.
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