Matthew's Gadarenes and Josephus

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Charles Wilson
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Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:13 am

Matthew's Gadarenes and Josephus

Post by Charles Wilson »

Josephus, Ant..., 13, 13, 5:

"Moreover, he demolished Amathus, while Theodorus durst not fight with him; but as he had joined battle with Obedas, king of the Arabians, and fell into an ambush in the places that were rugged and difficult to be traveled over, he was thrown down into a deep valley, by the multitude of the camels at Gadurn, a village of Gilead, and hardly escaped with his life."

Matthew 8: 28 - 34 (RSV):

[28] And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
[29] And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"
[30] Now a herd of many swine was feeding at some distance from them.
[31] And the demons begged him, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine."
[32] And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters.
[33] The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, and what had happened to the demoniacs.
[34] And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their neighborhood.

As I was reviewing the Jannaeus material, I noticed the Matthean version on the demoniac(s). "Gadurn" is a village in "Gilead". "Gilead", according to the ever politicized Wiki-P: "Gilead may mean hill of testimony. It is derived from galyêd, which in turn comes from gal (heap, mound, hill) and ‛êd (witness, testimony).[2] There also exists an alternative theory that it means rocky region."

So Josephus gets a gold star for this much, at least. What about "Gadurn"?

This reminds me of another Josephan bit of indirection:

Ant..., 13, 14, 1:

"SO Demetrius came with an army, and took those that invited him, and pitched his camp near the city Shechem..."

What is Shechem near, boys and girls? Can you say "Gerizim"? I knew you could. (13, 9, 1: [Hyrcanus] took Samega, and the neighboring places; and besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the nation of the Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that temple which was at Jerusalem...).

Gerizim is where Demetrius Eucerus committed the Abomination of Desolation.

So here we have Matthew, who has Mark in front of him doncha' know, and what is different about it? Well, of course Matthew doubles the number of demoniacs but what else? He tells us of the country of the Gadarenes. Not, perhaps, the village of G*D*RN but of the people who live there. Mebbe it's the Gadurnians. I dunno. I know that camels are unclean but I am not aware of any document calling them swine.

In short, Matthew is interesting here with a possible footnote to Josephus and Antiquities. More research ahead..

CW
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