Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

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Ben C. Smith
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Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

I have been looking over a passage in Justin Martyr, and thought I would at least lay out what I have so far for convenience:

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 71.1-73.6
(Greek)
Justin Martyr, Dialogue 71.1-73.6
(English)
71.1 Ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τοῖς διδασκάλοις ὑμῶν πείθομαι, μὴ συντεθειμένοις καλῶς ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν παρὰ Πτολεμαίῳ τῷ Αἰγυπτίων γενομένῳ βασιλεῖ ἑβδομήκοντα πρεσβυτέρων, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ ἐξηγεῖσθαι πειρῶνται. 2 καὶ ὅτι πολλὰς γραφὰς τέλεον περιεῖλον ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξηγήσεων τῶν γεγενημένων ὑπὸ τῶν παρὰ Πτολεμαίῳ γεγενημένων πρεσβυτέρων, ἐξ ὧν διαρρήδην οὗτος αὐτὸς ὁ σταυρωθεὶς ὅτι θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ σταυρούμενος καὶ ἀποθνήσκων κεκηρυγμένος ἀποδείκνυται, εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς βούλομαι· ἅς, ἐπειδὴ ἀρνεῖσθαι πάντας τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους ὑμῶν ἐπίσταμαι, ταῖς τοιαύταις ζητήσεσιν οὐ προςβάλλω, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν ὁμολογουμένων ἔτι παρ' ὑμῖν τὰς ζητήσεις ποιεῖν ἔρχομαι. 3 καὶ γὰρ ὅσας ὑμῖν ἀνήνεγκα ταύτας γνωρίζετε, πλὴν ὅτι περὶ τῆς λέξεως, τῆς Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται, ἀντείπατε, λέγοντες εἰρῆσθαι· Ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται. καὶ ὑπεσχόμην ἀπόδειξιν ποιήσασθαι οὐκ εἰς Ἑζεκίαν, ὡς ἐδιδάχθητε, τὴν προφητείαν εἰρῆσθαι ἀλλ' εἰς τοῦτον τὸν ἐμὸν Χριστόν· καὶ δὴ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν ποιήσομαι. 4 Καὶ ὁ Τρύφων εἶπε· Πρῶτον ἀξιοῦμεν εἰπεῖν σε ἡμῖν καί τινας ὧν λέγεις τέλεον παραγεγράφθαι γραφῶν.71.1 "But I am far from putting reliance in your teachers, who refuse to admit that the interpretation made by the seventy elders who were with Ptolemy of the Egyptians is a correct one; and they attempt to frame another. 2 And I wish you to observe, that they have altogether taken away many Scriptures from the translations effected by those seventy elders who were with Ptolemy, and by which this very man who was crucified is proved to have been set forth expressly as God, and man, and as being crucified, and as dying; but since I am aware that this is denied by all of your nation, I do not address myself to these points, but I proceed to carry on my discussions by means of those passages which are still admitted by you. 3 For you assent to those which I have brought before your attention, except that you contradict the statement, 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive,' and say it ought to be read, 'Behold, the young woman shall conceive.' And I promised to prove that the prophecy referred, not, as you were taught, to Hezekiah, but to this Christ of mine: and now I shall go to the proof." 4 Here Trypho remarked, "We ask you first of all to tell us some of the Scriptures which you allege have been completely cancelled."
72.1 Κἀγὼ εἶπον· Ὡς ὑμῖν φίλον, πράξω. ἀπὸ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἐξηγήσεων, ὧν ἐξηγήσατο Ἔσδρας εἰς τὸν νόμον τὸν περὶ τοῦ πάσχα, τὴν ἐξήγησιν ταύτην ἀφείλοντο· [A] Καὶ εἶπεν Ἔσδρας τῷ λαῷ· Τοῦτο τὸ πάσχα ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν καὶ ἡ καταφυγὴ ἡμῶν. καὶ ἐὰν διανοηθῆτε καὶ ἀναβῇ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν, ὅτι μέλλομεν αὐτὸν ταπεινοῦν ἐν σημείῳ, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐλπίσωμεν ἐπ' αὐτόν, οὐ μὴ ἐρημωθῇ ὁ τόπος οὗτος εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, λέγει ὁ θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων· ἂν δὲ μὴ πιστεύσητε αὐτῷ μηδὲ εἰσακούσητε τοῦ κηρύγματος αὐτοῦ, ἔσεσθε ἐπίχαρμα τοῖς ἔθνεσι. 2 καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν διὰ Ἰερεμίου λεχθέντων ταῦτα περιέκοψαν· [B] Ἐγὼ ὡς ἀρνίον φερόμενον τοῦ θύεσθαι. ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἐλογίζοντο λογισμόν, λέγοντες· Δεῦτε, ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκτρίψωμεν αὐτὸν ἐκ γῆς ζώντων, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ μνησθῇ οὐκέτι. 3 καὶ ἐπειδὴ αὕτη ἡ περικοπή, ἡ ἐκ τῶν λόγων τοῦ Ἰερεμίου, ἔτι ἐστὶν ἐγγεγραμμένη ἔν τισιν ἀντιγράφοις τῶν ἐν συναγωγαῖς Ἰουδαίων (πρὸ γὰρ ὀλίγου χρόνου ταῦτα ἐξέκοψαν), ἐπειδὰν καὶ ἐκ τούτων τῶν λόγων ἀποδεικνύηται ὅτι ἐβουλεύσαντο Ἰουδαῖοι περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀναιρεῖν αὐτὸν σταυρώσαντες βουλευσάμενοι, καὶ αὐτὸς μηνύεται, ὡς καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἠσαίου προεφητεύθη, ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἀγόμενος, καὶ ἐνθάδε ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον δηλοῦται· ὧν ἀπορούμενοι ἐπὶ τὸ βλασφημεῖν χωροῦσι. 4 καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἰερεμίου ὁμοίως ταῦτα περιέκοψαν· [C] Ἐμνήσθη δὲ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἀπὸ Ἰσραὴλ τῶν νεκρῶν αὐτοῦ, τῶν κεκοιμημένων εἰς γῆν χώματος, καὶ κατέβη πρὸς αὐτοὺς εὐαγγελίσασθαι αὐτοῖς τὸ σωτήριον αὐτοῦ.72.1 And I said, "I shall do as you please. From the statements, then, which Ezra made in reference to the law of the Passover, they have taken away the following: [A] 'And Ezra said to the people, "This Passover is our savior and our refuge. And if you have understood, and your heart has taken it in, that we shall humble Him on a standard, and thereafter hope in Him, then this place shall not be forsaken for ever, says the God of hosts. But if you will not believe Him, and will not listen to His declaration, you shall be a laughing-stock to the nations."' 2 And from the sayings of Jeremiah they have cut out the following: [B] 'I was like a lamb that is brought to the slaughter; they devised a device against me, saying, "Come, let us lay on wood on His bread, and let us blot Him out from the land of the living; and His name shall no more be remembered."' 3 And since this passage from the sayings of Jeremiah is still written in some copies [of the Scriptures] in the synagogues of the Jews (for it is only a short time since they were cut out), and since from these words it is demonstrated that the Jews deliberated about the Christ Himself, to crucify and put Him to death, He Himself is both declared to be led as a sheep to the slaughter, as was predicted by Isaiah, and is here represented as a harmless lamb; but being in a difficulty about them, they give themselves over to blasphemy. 4 And again, from the sayings of the same Jeremiah these have been cut out: [C] 'The Lord God remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and He descended to preach to them His own salvation.'"
73.1 Καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐνενηκοστοῦ πέμπτου ψαλμοῦ τῶν διὰ Δαυεὶδ λεχθέντων λόγων λέξεις βραχείας ἀφείλοντο ταύτας· [D] ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου. εἰρημένου γὰρ τοῦ λόγου· Εἴπατε τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, ἀφῆκαν· Εἴπατε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν. 2 ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἔθνεσι περὶ οὐδενὸς ὡς θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου ἐλέχθη ποτὲ ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ γένους ὑμῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅτι ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀλλ' ἢ περὶ τούτου μόνου τοῦ σταυρωθέντος, ὃν καὶ σεσῶσθαι ἀναστάντα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ψαλμῷ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον λέγει, μηνύον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὅμοιος τοῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν θεοῖς· ἐκεῖνα γὰρ εἴδωλά ἐστι δαιμονίων. 3 ἀλλ' ὅπως τὸ λεγόμενον νοήσητε, τὸν πάντα ψαλμὸν ἀπαγγελῶ ὑμῖν. ἔστι δὲ οὗτος· Ἄισατε τῷ κυρίῳ ᾆσμα καινόν, ᾄσατε τῷ κυρίῳ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ. ᾄσατε τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ εὐλογήσατε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ· εὐαγγελίζεσθε ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας τὸ σωτήριον αὐτοῦ. ἀναγγείλατε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς λαοῖς τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ· ὅτι μέγας κύριος καὶ αἰνετὸς σφόδρα, φοβερός ἐστιν ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς θεούς· ὅτι πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμόνια, ὁ δὲ κύριος τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐποίησεν. ἐξομολόγησις καὶ ὡραιότης ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ἁγιωσύνη καὶ μεγαλοπρέπεια ἐν τῷ ἁγιάσματι αὐτοῦ. ἐνέγκατε τῷ κυρίῳ, αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἐνέγκατε τῷ κυρίῳ δόξαν καὶ τιμήν, ἐνέγκατε τῷ κυρίῳ δόξαν ἐν ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. 4 αἴρετε θυσίας καὶ εἰσπορεύεσθε εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς αὐτοῦ. προσκυνήσατε τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν αὐλῇ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ. σαλευθήτω ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ. εἴπατε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν· Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσε. καὶ γὰρ κατώρθωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται· κρινεῖ λαοὺς ἐν εὐθύτητι. εὐφραινέσθωσαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ, σαλευθήσεται ἡ θάλασσα καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. χαρήσεται τὰ πεδία καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀγαλλιάσονται πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ δρυμοῦ ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου, ὅτι ἔρχεται, ὅτι ἔρχεται κρῖναι τὴν γῆν. κρινεῖ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ λαοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ αὐτοῦ. 5 Καὶ ὁ Τρύφων· Εἰ μέν, ὡς ἔφης, εἶπε, παρέγραψάν τι ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν οἱ ἄρχοντες τοῦ λαοῦ, θεὸς δύναται ἐπίστασθαι· ἀπίστῳ δὲ ἔοικε τὸ τοιοῦτον. 6 Ναί, ἔφην, ἀπίστῳ ἔοικε· φοβερώτερον γάρ ἐστι τῆς μοσχοποιΐας, ἣν ἐποίησαν ἐπὶ γῆς μάννα πεπλησμένοι, καὶ τοῦ τὰ τέκνα θύειν τοῖς δαιμονίοις, ἢ τοῦ αὐτοὺς τοὺς προφήτας ἀνῃρηκέναι. ἀλλὰ δή, ἔφην, μοι νομίζεσθε μηδὲ ἀκηκοέναι ἃς εἶπον περικεκοφέναι αὐτοὺς γραφάς. ὑπὲρ αὐταρκείας γὰρ αἱ τοσαῦται προανιστορημέναι εἰσὶν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῶν ζητηθέντων μετὰ τῶν λεχθήσεσθαι μελλόντων παρ' ὑμῖν παραπεφυλαγμένων.73.1 "And from the ninety-fifth / ninety-sixth Psalm they have taken away this short saying of the words of David: [D] 'From the wood.' For when the passage said, 'Tell ye among the nations, the Lord hath reigned from the wood,' they have left, 'Tell ye among the nations, the Lord hath reigned.' 2 Now no one of your people has ever been said to have reigned as God and Lord among the nations, with the exception of Him only who was crucified, of whom also the Holy Spirit affirms in the same Psalm that He was raised again, and freed from [the grave], declaring that there is none like Him among the gods of the nations: for they are idols of demons. 3 But I shall repeat the whole Psalm to you, that you may perceive what has been said. It is thus: 'Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and bless His name; show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: He is to be feared above all the gods. For all the gods of the nations are demons but the Lord made the heavens. Confession and beauty are in His presence; holiness and magnificence are in His sanctuary. Bring to the Lord, O ye countries of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor, bring to the Lord glory in His name. 4 Take sacrifices, and go into His courts; worship the Lord in His holy temple. Let the whole earth be moved before Him tell ye among the nations, the Lord hath reigned. For He hath established the world, which shall not be moved; He shall judge the nations with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad; let the sea and its fullness shake. Let the fields and all therein be joyful. Let all the trees of the wood be glad before the Lord: for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.'" 5 Here Trypho remarked, "Whether [or not] the rulers of the people have erased any portion of the Scriptures, as you affirm, God knows; but it seems incredible." 6 "Assuredly," said I, "it does seem incredible. For it is more horrible than the calf which they made, when satisfied with manna on the earth; or than the sacrifice of children to demons; or than the slaying of the prophets. But," said I, "you appear to me not to have heard the Scriptures which I said they had stolen away. For such as have been quoted are more than enough to prove the points in dispute, besides those which are retained by us, and shall yet be brought forward."

So Justin accuses the Jews of expunging certain passages from the scriptures, and Trypho is skeptical. I have underlined each of the four passages and given them letters, A-D.

Passage A is not found in our copies of Ezra (or, for that matter, in our copies of 1 Esdras or Nehemiah or any of the other literature related to the figure of Ezra). But it is quoted by Lactantius:

Lactantius, Divine Institutes 4.18: 18 .... In Ezra it is thus written: "And Ezra said to the people, 'This Passover is our savior and our refuge. Consider and let it come into your heart, that we have to abase Him in a figure; and after these things we will hope in Him, lest this place be deserted for ever, says the Lord God of hosts. If you will not believe Him, nor hear His announcement, you shall be a derision among the nations.'" .... / 18 .... Apud Esdram ita scriptum est: Et dixit Esdras ad populum: Hoc pascha Salvator noster est, et refugium nostrum. cogitate, et ascendat in cor vestrum, quoniam habemus humiliare eum in signo, et post haec sperabimus in eum, ne deseratur hic locus in aeternum tempus, dicit Dominus Deus virtutum. si non credideritis ei, neque exaudieritis annuntiationem eius, eritis derisio in gentibus.

Passage B is found in our copies of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 11.19: 19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; and I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more." / 19 ‎ וַאֲנִ֕י כְּכֶ֥בֶשׂ אַלּ֖וּף יוּבַ֣ל לִטְב֑וֹחַ וְלֹֽא־יָדַ֜עְתִּי כִּֽי־עָלַ֣י׀ חָשְׁב֣וּ מַחֲשָׁב֗וֹת נַשְׁחִ֙יתָה עֵ֤ץ בְּלַחְמוֹ֙ וְנִכְרְתֶ֙נּוּ֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ חַיִּ֔ים וּשְׁמ֖וֹ לֹֽא־יִזָּכֵ֥ר עֽוֹד׃ / 19 ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς ἀρνίον ἄκακον ἀγόμενον τοῦ θύεσθαι, οὐκ ἔγνων ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ἐλογίσαντο λογισμὸν πονηρὸν λέγοντες, δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκτρίψωμεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ γῆς ζώντων καὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ μνησθῇ ἔτι.

This one, to be fair, Justin tells us was cut out by the Jews "only a short time" before, based on the fact that he knew of Jewish copies which contained it, implying the opposite state of affairs for the other three passages.

Passage C is not found in our copies of any prophet, but Irenaeus quotes it under the name of two different ones:

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.20.4: 4 .... And that it was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says: "And the holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who had slept in the land of sepulture; and He came down to preach His salvation to them, that He might save them." .... / 4 .... et commemoratus est Dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum, qui dormierant in terra sepultionis, et descendit ad eos evangelisare salutem quae est ab eo, ut salvaret eos. ....

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.22.1: 1 .... As Jeremiah declares, "The holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who slept in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them to make known to them His salvation, that they might be saved." .... / 1 .... recommemoratus est Dominus sanctus Israel mortuorum suorum, qui praedormierant in terra defossionis, et descendit ad eos uti evangelisaret eis salutere suum, ad salvandum eos.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.31.1: 1 .... But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them." .... / 1 .... commemoratus est Dominus sanctorum mortuorum suorum, eorum qui ante dormierunt in terra sepelitionis, et descendit ad eos, extrahere eos, et salvaret eos.

Irenaeus, Demonstration 78a: 78a And in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them. ....

The three passages from Against Heresies are available only in the Latin translation; perhaps a scribal error substituted Isaiah for Jeremiah in that first instance.

Passage D is found in only one copy of the Greek scriptures, a Veronese psalter from century VI:

Psalm 96.10 (OG 95.10): 10 Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns [+ from the tree, codex Veronensis]; indeed, the world is firmly established; it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity." / 10 εἴπατε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν [+ ἀπὸ ξύλου, codex Veronensis], καὶ γὰρ κατώρθωσεν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται· κρινεῖ λαοὺς ἐν εὐθύτητι. [Link. Justin Martyr himself quotes this variant again in 1 Apology 41.3.]

Tertullian quotes a variant of this line:

Tertullian, Against the Jews 10.11: 11 Come, now, if you have read in the utterance of the prophet in the Psalms, "God has reigned from the tree," I wait to hear what you understand thereby; for fear you may perhaps think some carpenter king is signified, and not Christ, who has reigned from that time onward when he overcame the death which ensued from His passion of "the tree." Similarly, again, Isaiah says: "For a child is born to us, and to us is given a son." What novelty is that, unless he is speaking of the "Son" of God? And one is born to us the beginning of whose government has been made "on His shoulder." / 11 Age nunc, si legisti penes prophetam in psalmis: «Dominus regnavit a ligno,» expecto quid intellegas, ne forte lignarium aliquem regem significari putetis et non Christum qui exinde a passione ligni superata morte regnavit. proinde et Esaias: «Quoniam puer,» inquit, «natus est vobis et datus est vobis filius,» quid novum, si non de filio dei dicit? et datus est vobis cuius imperium [initium] factum est super humerum ipsius.

And I am assured by the notes to the Justin Martyr passage in Migne (Patrologia Graeca 6, column 646) that rather many of the later Latin fathers quote it, as well, though I have not looked them up. Barnabas may know of it:

Barnabas 8.5: 5 And that the wool was on the tree is because the kingdom of Jesus is on the cross [ἡ βασιλεία Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ξύλου], and because those who hope upon Him shall live for ever.

Or at least he expresses the sentiment which probably induced some Christian editor or scribe to add the line in the first place.

My own sense of things is that passages A, C, and D are all Christian additions to the scriptural text; Justin gives no indication that he knew any of them from the Jewish copies of the relevant books, and they are the three which are lacking in our extant manuscripts (with the single exception of codex Veronensis containing passage D). Passage B, on the other hand, looks like a Jewish subtraction to me. Justin could be mistaken or lying here, but he seems to know enough about the other passages to tell us that the Jewish copies of scripture lack them, so it seems probable that he knows the same about this one, and he expressly tells us that in this case not all of the Jewish copies had expunged it. The score, then, stands by my reckoning at Jews 3, Christians 1. Am I right about that, or is there a better approach to these passages, one which yields a different result?

Ben.
Last edited by Ben C. Smith on Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Secret Alias
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Secret Alias »

You've created a number of these posts. And you should be commended for looking in detail at what appears in the Church Fathers. But pardon my simplicity but ... if we weren't so actively trying to take these matters 'seriously' the obvious answer is that - the Church Fathers probably treated the 'old' testament the way they did the 'new.' What does that mean? Well, they altered the content. My guess is that:

1. the followers of the 'great Church' were illiterate imbeciles and
2. the Church Fathers were for the most part manipulating the text of what was in the scriptures (both old and new) to suit their own purposes

The ultimate fallback would be of course 'I was speaking in the holy spirit.' But my guess is that the Imperial authorities in the late second century designated a few unscrupulous individuals as 'authorized' spokesmen of the Christian community and these men were manipulating scripture - eventually in the case of the New Testament their manipulations of scripture became holy writ.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by DCHindley »

Irenaeus, perhaps, remembers hearing a sermon in a synagogue commenting on Jer 11:19, and managed to twist the meaning from the literal meaning ("my enemies plot to destroy me as one would destroy a tree, at its roots") to some sort of reference to Jesus' death on a wood stake, which requires a pretty active imagination, yes?

Cutting down olive trees to deny its fruits to its owners is still done today in the Gaza Strip, as a means to starve the Palestinian owners who can no longer make a living from them, because they could be perceived as a threat, whether they were or not.

DCH
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Secret Alias wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:57 am You've created a number of these posts. And you should be commended for looking in detail at what appears in the Church Fathers. But pardon my simplicity but ... if we weren't so actively trying to take these matters 'seriously' the obvious answer is that - the Church Fathers probably treated the 'old' testament the way they did the 'new.' What does that mean? Well, they altered the content.
While I have little doubt that the church fathers did to the Jewish texts what they also did to the Christian texts, there is a difference in result, I think. Three of the four passages outlined above do not even appear in the manuscript history of our extant scriptures (with the sole exception of that one psalter). I suspect this is because, while the Christian texts were curated mainly by Christians, the Jewish texts were curated both by Christians and by Jews.

One can see the effect of this double curation most clearly, it seems, in the addition to Psalm 95/96: ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου. Justin Martyr says that the Jews deleted these three words, and then he quotes the entire psalm so that Trypho "may perceive what has been said." But look at the psalm as it is quoted in the text: the phrase ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου is not there! Surely the whole point of quoting the entire psalm was to show what it looked like with those three words "restored," and yet they are not there. What has happened? It seems pretty obvious. In footnote 2 on page 65 of his translation of Justin Martyr's works, Thomas B. Falls observes that Justin, to "prove his point," "must have inserted the words 'from the tree,' but the copyists probably omitted them." Or, rather, the copyists noticed that the entire psalm was being quoted, and they simply used their standard texts for it instead of what Justin himself had written.

In other words, the Christian changes did not have as much of a chance to stick in the Old Testament as they did in the New. The real comparison of Jewish scriptures to Christian scriptures would be in their earliest respective formative stages: I think that the Christians did to their newly developed scriptures what the Jews had done to theirs (several hundred years before) when they were still newly developed. But, once the Jewish scriptures had been locked in for a few centuries, it was harder for the Christians to completely overwhelm the manuscript record with their own additions (or subtractions), as we can see clearly from the above examples.
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by MrMacSon »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:32 am
Passage A is not found in our copies of Ezra (or, for that matter, in our copies of 1 Esdras or Nehemiah or any of the other literature related to the figure of Ezra). But it is quoted by Lactantius ...

Passage B is found in our copies of Jeremiah, Jer 11.19 ...

Passage C is not found in our copies of any prophet, but Irenaeus quotes it under the name of two different ones:


.
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.20.4, ... it was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says ..
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.22.1, As Jeremiah declares, "The holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who slept in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them to make known to them His salvation ...
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.31.1, ... for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them." ... commemoratus
  • Irenaeus, Demonstration 78a, in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them ...
.

The three passages from Against Heresies are available only in the Latin translation; perhaps a scribal error substituted Isaiah for Jeremiah in that first instance.

... Justin gives no indication that he knew any of them [A, C, or D] from the Jewish copies of the relevant books, and they are the three which are lacking in our extant manuscripts (with the single exception of codex Veronensis containing passage D).
.
Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:31 pm Three of the four passages outlined above do not even appear in the manuscript history of our extant scriptures (with the sole exception of that one psalter).

If these passages are not in found in extant Jewish or Christian texts, then perhaps they are of or from an intermediate --inter-testamentary-- pre- or extra- Christian theology(?) (or a non-orthodox one?) (and perhaps that was all or mostly all that Justin Martyr was interacting with(?)) ...

Secret Alias wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:57 am
...' the obvious answer is that the Church Fathers...altered the content ...

2. the [early] Church Fathers were for the most part manipulating the text...to suit their own purposes

... eventually in the case of the New Testament their manipulations of scripture became holy writ.
.
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Secret Alias »

Three of the four passages outlined above do not even appear in the manuscript history of our extant scriptures (with the sole exception of that one psalter).
But let's look at matters a little closer. By all accounts, before Irenaeus there appears to have been massive variance with NEW testament manuscripts especially the gospel. Irenaeus then makes the claim that 'the Church' - I presume the ROMAN Church - has the original autographs of the apostles (or something to that effect cf. AH 3 after the bit about Marcion and Polycarp). A similar claim is made about Ephesus and John. At this point or near this historical statement Ammonius is credited with taking the four most reliable manuscripts of the gospel and stringing them together as one 'critical edition' of the gospel. This seems to echo the statement in Papias about Matthew being the most reliable.

On the other side of the ledger we have evidence to show that the LXX - or what was called 'the LXX' - became the standardized text of the OT. Origen organizes a similar document to Ammonius for the OT. Christians and later Jews were disuaded from using Aquila or other translations. But clearly Isaiah's bit about 'the virgin conceiving' came from a period before the standardization.

The point is that in the pre-Irenaean period lying scoundrels misrepresented both new and old testaments. At a later period the texts were standardized - likely by Julius Africanus - who was another lying piece of shit when it came to forging manuscripts. But really then the lesson is (a) that Christians were scoundrels and (b) all the lying was standardized by the beginning of the third century.
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Secret Alias wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 5:37 am
Three of the four passages outlined above do not even appear in the manuscript history of our extant scriptures (with the sole exception of that one psalter).
But let's look at matters a little closer. By all accounts, before Irenaeus there appears to have been massive variance with NEW testament manuscripts especially the gospel. Irenaeus then makes the claim that 'the Church' - I presume the ROMAN Church - has the original autographs of the apostles (or something to that effect cf. AH 3 after the bit about Marcion and Polycarp).
He says that the Church possesses the truth; I am not sure he says that the Church possesses the autographs.
The point is that in the pre-Irenaean period lying scoundrels misrepresented both new and old testaments.
I completely agree. My point is that this deceit seems to have had a bigger overall effect on the Christian texts, which were curated almost exclusively by Christians and were still in their formative stages, than on the Jewish texts, which already had a long history and were curated by at least two opposing groups, Jews and Christians.
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

MrMacSon wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 2:43 am
Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 7:32 am
Passage A is not found in our copies of Ezra (or, for that matter, in our copies of 1 Esdras or Nehemiah or any of the other literature related to the figure of Ezra). But it is quoted by Lactantius ...

Passage B is found in our copies of Jeremiah, Jer 11.19 ...

Passage C is not found in our copies of any prophet, but Irenaeus quotes it under the name of two different ones:


.
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.20.4, ... it was not a mere man who died for us, Isaiah says ..
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.22.1, As Jeremiah declares, "The holy Lord remembered His dead Israel, who slept in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them to make known to them His salvation ...
  • Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.31.1, ... for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: "And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them." ... commemoratus
  • Irenaeus, Demonstration 78a, in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them ...
.

The three passages from Against Heresies are available only in the Latin translation; perhaps a scribal error substituted Isaiah for Jeremiah in that first instance.

... Justin gives no indication that he knew any of them [A, C, or D] from the Jewish copies of the relevant books, and they are the three which are lacking in our extant manuscripts (with the single exception of codex Veronensis containing passage D).
.
Ben C. Smith wrote: Mon Aug 19, 2019 1:31 pm Three of the four passages outlined above do not even appear in the manuscript history of our extant scriptures (with the sole exception of that one psalter).

If these passages are not in found in extant Jewish or Christian texts, then perhaps they are of or from an intermediate --inter-testamentary-- pre- or extra- Christian theology(?) (or a non-orthodox one?) (and perhaps that was all or mostly all that Justin Martyr was interacting with(?)) ...
I understand the desire to view things in this manner, but honestly: they look very much like Christian attempts to make the Jewish scriptures say what they wanted them to say.
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

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Ben C. Smith wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:36 am ...they look very much like Christian attempts to make the Jewish scriptures say what they wanted them to say.
Sure, but it confirms they were --- at that time, ie. in Justin Martyrs time - working to make the Jewish scriptures say what they wanted them to say.

Especially given Justin Martyr's lack of comprehensive reflection or commentary on the key eventual Christian texts ...
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Re: Justin Martyr, Jewish subtractions from, & Christian additions to scripture.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

MrMacSon wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 1:58 am
Ben C. Smith wrote: Tue Aug 20, 2019 6:36 am ...they look very much like Christian attempts to make the Jewish scriptures say what they wanted them to say.
Sure, but it confirms they were --- at that time, ie. in Justin Martyrs time - working to make the Jewish scriptures say what they wanted them to say.
Yes, they certainly were.
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