Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52934 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Background
Some background may be useful here. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate around 400 A.D., who is considered the greatest Hebrew scholar of the late Roman Imperial age, wrote the following in his De Viris Illustribus (Of Illustrious Men):

"Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library. at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me bythe Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our Lord the Saviour quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms exist "Out of Egypt have I called my son, " and "for he shall be called a Nazarene."

It is apparently unknown whether this Hebrew Matthew is the original of which Jerome wrote, but the possibility exists that this is the earliest Gospel of all. Considering the close relation of Hebrew to Aramaic, the language would in that case be the closest to Jesus' own.

George Howard made a very good study of the wrong manuscript
The first book I read about Hebrew Matthew Gospel was this Georges Howard book and I found it very well done and a must. In that time.

Then I learned it also exists 2 more Hebrew Matthew Gospel texts.

The first one has been published by Sebastian Munster in Basel 1537 as a book with the Hebrew text copied and a Latin translation and several reprints of this text during the 16th century.
The original hebrew manuscript is lost, and there is a possibility Munster had to fill some little gaps in his manuscript.

The second text is the DuTillet edition in Paris, Jean Mercier 1555, with a Latin translation too.
Very important, DuTillet kept on the manuscript he found in Rome, and this manuscript is today in Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris (Richelieu building), under Hebrew Mss. # 132, written in medieval hebrew script.


I adquired copies of both texts and discussed them with scholars who studied them better that I did.

The 2 texts come from 2 distinct sources, but are very similar with few differences (except some verses at the beginning and at the end), but with many scribal simplifications in one or another text.
They agree with what old "Church Fathers" quote in the Hebrew text they could read.

A comparation of the Hebrew text vs the Greek version we know, makes obvious the Greek translator made many little translation errors, misunderstanding somme words with several meanings (Syria and Country), and more often confusing Hebrew similar letters (such as HE and HET or YOD and VAV).
It is clear theese Hebrew texts directly come from a Hebrew original, and the Greek we have is a translation.

In comparison, the Shem Tov editions Howard studied are a very very poor copy of the original text, modified by go-between scribes with certainly agendas to twist the text.

So, George Howard made a very good study of the wrong manuscript.

Jesus' Jewishness shining bright
This beautiful translation of the preservation of a Hebrew version of the Gospel According to St. Matthew is a much needed account of an overlooked document. Arguing persuasively that although the document we have now dates from the medieval period, it is highly probable that it has its roots in an original Hebrew manuscript. With plenty of subtle changes compared to the standard Western version we use in the 21st Century, this illuminating book is a much needed light on Jesus' Pharisaic Jewishness.