Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Randall,

The publication is Hans-Martin Schenke, 2001. 
"Das Mattäus-Evangelium im mittelägyptischen 
Dialkt des Koptischen (Cocex Schöyen)".Oslo: 
Hermes Publishing.  The use of particular 
conjunctions and other words leads the late 
Schenke to conclude that both a Greek and a 
Hebrew or Aramaic original was used. This 
corroborates the words of Papias and others, 
according to the author. Apart from George 
Howard's work with Hebrew manuscripts from the 
Middle Ages, to the best of my knowledge, this is 
the first example of a scholar who argues in 
favor of a Hebrew original of Matthew on 
LINGUISTIC grounds.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo




>  >[Furuli] On the other hand, there is some
> evidence that Matthew was first written in Hebrew
> (the latest evidence being a Coptic manuscript
> from the Schöyen collection in Oslo). >
>
> Could you forward a description of articles/book discussing the ms and
> its Hebrew connection?
>
> While I think that it is very likely that the Jerusalem church produced
> a Hebrew "Life of Yeshua" (from internal evidence of canonical gospels,
> sociolinguistic expectations of a "2nd Moses"-1st-century, eschatological
> community, and history/Papias [where 'words of ...' is a Hebrew narrative
> title, Tobit 1.1]),
> there is really no question in my mind that canonical Matthew was written
> in Greek. (details would fill a monograph.)
> Of course, he would have had access to material, probably in Greek dress,
>  that went back to Hebrew.
>
> Unfortuantely, meaningful discussion on this list would require high control
> of Second Temple Hebrew(s), literary and mishnaic, + Aramaic, + Greek,
> and from list discussions in the past I would expect any thread to
> become quickly
> cluttered with rabbit trails. But it's a nice topic. I have an article
> on distinguishing
> Aramaic from Hebrew behind Greek texts coming out in a Brill volume next
> year.
>
>
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicalulpan.org
> randallbuth AT gmail.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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