The Book of Baruch in the Manuscripts of the Latin Bible: Disappearance and Reinstatement, Part 3

This post continues the series on Bogaert's article on Baruch (see part 1 and part 2). Here we will just look at the final major section of the paper. I won't summarize as much of this section because, frankly, I don't find it as interesting. You'll find summary below for the parts I thought were interesting.

IV. Les bibles latines à partir de 800

A. La réintégration: quatre types de textes

1. Théodulfe: type Θ

Theodulf's Bibles have the order Jer-Bar-EpJer-Lam. Baruch is without prologue. 

2. Le Cavensis: type C

This single manuscript attests the text of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah--after the 16 prophets--preceded by the prologue Liber iste (see the second post on this) and a title attributing the work to Baruch. 

3. En Espagne, le texte recomposé: type L

Some Spanish manuscripts attest a different text: Baruch begins with Incipit (liber) Baruch, then an unusual order for the book (1:1–4; 3:9–5:9; 1:5–3:8). These manuscripts have the order Jer-Baruch-Lam-EpJer, though some do switch the last two books.

4. En France, le type G 

This type of text has an incipit and explicit attributing the book to Baruch. It begins its text at Jer 52:12 (on which see the first posting in this series). There are 3 types of these witnesses, and Bogaert lists quite a number of them. Both this type of text, and L above, want the book that Baruch writes and reads to be Baruch itself, rather than looking back to Jeremiah as that book (with the LXX; on this idea, see the first post in this series). 

5. Les quatre formes conservées du texte de Baruch 

B. La diffusion du type Θ

The Theodoulfian text finally prevailed. 

1. Première diffusion du type de Théodulfe (Θ)
2. Copies ultérieures de bibles de Théodulfe
3. Baruch de deuxième main ou à diverses places
4. En Angleterre et en Catalogne
5. En Italie: a. Le Mont-Cassin; b. Les bibles 'atlantiques' 
6. L'Ysagoge in theologiam
7. Rareté des commentaires de Baruch

C. Baruch dans les bibles à partir due XIIIe siècle (aperçu)

1. Les Biblia Parisiensia

The Paris Bibles standardize the order Jer-Lam-Bar-EpJer. Bogaert notes that it is in these Bibles that the EpJer tends to become a part of Baruch rather than its own Bible, though this practice preceded the Paris Bibles by a few decades (325n166). 

2. Baruch cité de façon éclectique
3. Contaminations
4. Hésitations théoriques
5. Bibles imprimées

a. Les bibles de Gutenberg

Here Lamentations is its own book (of four chapters, and the fifth chapter is now the Prayer of Jeremiah, almost a book unto itself; some earlier mss had done the same, such as the Paris Bibles), Baruch is its own book, and the EpJer is treated like the last chapter of Baruch. 

b. La bible de Louvain de 1547

Here the Prayer of Jeremiah is more clearly a part of Lamentations, and Baruch is labeled a prophet.

c. La Bible Sixto-(Clémentine) de 1593 

Lamentations numbers 4 chapters, then the Prayer of Jeremiah, and then the prophecy of Baruch, from which the EpJer is hardly distinguished. 

Conclusion 

Bogaert concludes with a table illustrating the transmission of the text, and several points summarizing the important results of his research. This conclusion is followed by these useful appendices. 

Appendix I: Citations patristiques attribuées à Jérémie
Appendix II: Les bibles sans Baruch
Appendix III: Les mss utilisés par Sabatier
Appendix IV: Liste de bibles dans lesquelles Baruch est ajouté de deuxième main ou copié à une place anormale
Appendix V: Baruch (type Θ) avant ou après Lamentations dans les bibles antérieures à 1100 (sans les bibles italiennes)
Appendix VI: Ba/EpJr (Θ) avant ou après Lm dans les bibles atlantiques italiennes
Appendix VII: Échantillons du ms. Madrid, BN 12906
Appendix VIII: Ba 4,20-30 dans le ms. Escurial b.II.17 (notes de D. De Bruyne)

The Book of Baruch in the Manuscripts of the Latin Bible: Disappearance and Reinstatement, Part 2

This post continues the summary of Bogaert's article on Baruch that I began in the previous post. The current post covers only the third section of the article, on Latin Bibles before the year 800. A final post will survey the rest of the article.

III. Les bibles latines avant 800

A. 'Baruch' dans le vetus latina 

No VL manuscript is sufficiently preserved to know for sure whether Baruch was included as a part of Jeremiah. But the Liber de divinis scripturis cites passages from Jer-Bar-Lam all under the heading Hieremia propheta. But Bogaert considers the best evidence for understanding the book of Jeremiah in the VL to be the way Baruch was reintegrated in different forms after its long absence. The forms are the following: C (= Cavensis, in a single Spanish ms); Θ (= Theodulfe); L (= Spanish tradition); G (= French tradition, text of Sabatier). He discusses some of these. 

1. Le témoignage du type G 

G begins Baruch at Jer 52:12. Bogaert thinks the scribe wanted to include Baruch, but was not sure where it began, because his VL exemplar did not indicate the end of Jer and the start of Baruch, so he made an error in dividing the books. At the head of Jer 52:12, he says Incipit liber Baruch. 

2. L'explicit Hieremias dans les bibles de Théodulfe

In the most ancient manuscript of Theodulfe's text (Θ-s), the text of Baruch is continuous with Jeremiah, and after Baruch 5:9 there is the note: Explicit hieremiae prophetae. No explicit in any manuscript names Baruch until some Bibles of the thirteenth century. There is another explicit in Theodulf's Bibles after Lamentations. The one (after Baruch) he got from the VL tradition, the other (after Lamentations) he got from Jerome. This is evidence that in the VL tradition Baruch was not distinguished from Jeremiah. 

3. Les rubriques dans Θ 

The Theodulfian text of Baruch has some rubricated titles in the text, thus: 

1:1, De oratione et sacrificio pro vita Nebuchodonosor
3:9, De doctrina ecclesiastica initiat
3:36, Hic de Christo dicit Deus
4:12, Vox ecclesiae in persequutione de paenitentibus et martyribus
5:1, De gloria ecclesiae et de resurrectione sanctorum

B. Diffusion de la version de Jr par Jérôme; disparition de Ba et de l'EpJr

1. Le regroupement des traductions de Jérôme 

The most ancient witnesses to the grouping of Jerome's translations are a palimpsest from León (VL 67) and the Amiatinus (mentioned earlier). Neither of these contains Baruch. There are several manuscripts--though fragmentary--that date before 800 and contain Jerome's Jeremiah. Bogaert lists 11. 

2. Le colophon d'Esther et le premier 'pandecte' 

This colophon appears in two manuscripts: ms. Paris, BNF, lat. 11553 (VL 7, 9th cent.); and ms. Paris, BNF, lat. 6 (VL 62, 11th cent.). The colophon reads: 

Here ends the Old Testament, all the 24 canonical scriptures, which the presbyter Jerome translated from the hebraica veritas and turned into Latin speech. With the greatest zeal and care, wandering through various codices, I have searched out editions, and I have collected and, by writing, poured into one corpus and I have made a pandect. But there are other scriptures that are not canonical but are called ecclesiastical, that is, the book of Judith, Tobit, two books of Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon and the book of Jesus son of Sirach, and the book of the Shepherd. 

That last bit is borrowed from Rufinus, who lists the same ecclesiastical books (though Rufinus also has the Two Ways and/or the Judgement of Peter), and uses the same terminology. But Rufinus had assumed the presence of Baruch within Jeremiah, while this colophon comes in a manuscript containing Jerome's version of Jeremiah, without Baruch. The colophon dates to maybe the fifth century. 

3. Cassiodore 

Cassiodorus includes in his Institutes three canon lists, those of Jerome, Augustine, and the LXX. None of them mention Baruch outright. 

4. Isidore 

There's not enough evidence to say, but Bogaert is confident that Isidore's Bible did not include Baruch. 

5. Un prologue pseudo-isidorien 

No Baruch. 

C. Absence et réintégration: les prologues

Thus, one Jeremiah containing Jer-Bar-Lam-EpJr has been banished by another Jeremiah containing only Jer-Lam. 

1. Le prologue à Jérémie Haec interpretatio 

This preface was noted by Donatien De Bruyne (see now here). Bogaert presents the text from two manuscripts, one from the tenth century (VL 209) and one from the twelfth century (Brussels ms BR II 2524), though there are other witnesses. Rough translation: 

This translation is by Jerome. If anything in it is found to be moved according to the Hebrew codices. There is another of the Seventy translators used in the churches. Although several things are found to be different from the Hebrew codices, yet both--that is, according to the Septuagint and according tot he Hebrew--are confirmed by apostolic authority. For it is not an error or reprehension of something higher, but by sure counsel the Seventy are understood to have said or composed some things differently. But I warn that no one should want to emend one from the other, because the truth is observed in each kind individually. 

Bogaert notes that the preface is reminiscent of Augustine (City of God 18.42–44; for analysis see here) or Dominique Barthélemy. The preface does not mention Baruch but Bogaert says that we must assume its presence in the VL Jeremiah.

2. Le petit prologue à Baruch Liber iste

Another preface is found in the Cavensis, the later Theodulfian Bibles, and in Paris, BNF, lat. 6. Rough translation: 

Here ends the corpus of books of the 16 prophets, to whose jar we have pressed Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah. That book which is prefixed with the name of Baruch is not contained in the Hebrew canon, but rather in the vulgate (common) edition [= LXX / VL]. Likewise the Epistle of Jeremiah. But they are written here for the information of readers, because they signal many things concern Christ and modern times. 

This preface must precede 800 CE.

3. Le petit prologue aux Lamentations 

The LXX has a brief prologue to Lamentations situating it within the lifetime of Jeremiah: after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the prophet was weeping over the ruins. This prologue made its way into the VL, but not Jerome's translation, until much later when a scribe did insert it. This action signals the break between Jeremiah and Lamentations that Jerome had wanted to establish. The prologue is found in many later manuscripts and became a part of the Paris Bibles. 

The Book of Baruch in the Manuscripts of the Latin Bible: Disappearance and Reinstatement, Part 1

The place of Baruch in ancient Bibles can be a confusing topic. In modern times, Baruch is considered a separate book of 5 or 6 chapters, with the sixth chapter actually being the Epistle of Jeremiah, originally a distinct work. But often in antiquity Baruch was considered a part of the book of Jeremiah, as was Lamentations (sometimes) and the Epistle of Jeremiah. So an ancient Christian might list the books of the Bible, and simply mention Jeremiah, but this title might include Lamentations, Baruch, and the EpJer, or it might not. 

For the Latin tradition, thankfully we have the work of Pierre-Maurice Bogaert. Any article by Bogaert is worth reading. He's one of those scholars who actually deals with evidence, cites that evidence, and thinks carefully about it. In 2005 he published a long article dealing with the Latin evidence for the transmission of Baruch. 

Pierre-Maurice Bogaert, “Le livre de Baruch dans les manuscrits de la Bible latine. Disparition et réintégration,” Revue bénédictine 115 (2005): 286–342. 

This post surveys the first two sections of Bogaert's article. I include below all of his section headings, in French, followed by my comments in English in blue type, almost always simply a summary of Bogaert's argument and evidence. In a future post I plan to conclude summarizing Bogaert's article. 

I. Les Antécédents en grec: Baruch comme deutero-Jérémie

A. Les livres 'jérémiens' dans la Bible hébraïque

In Jewish tradition (as we know it from the Rabbis and the Masoretic codices), although Jeremiah is considered the author of Lamentations, the two books are distinct, in fact located in different divisions of the Tanak. Jerome brings them together, thus against the hebraica veritas. 

B. Les livres 'jérémiens' dans la Septante

LXX mss usually maintain the order Jermeiah-Baruch-Lamentations-EpJer. Examples: Vaticanus (check it here: Baruch starts at image 1127, Lam at image 1133, Ep.Jer. at image 1140); Alexandrinus, Theodoret's commentary (PG 81), and the majority of manuscripts. Exceptions: Sinaiticus, which follows Jeremiah with Lamentations, and then there's a lacuna so that we can't be certain what came next (check it here); 106 has the order Jer-Lam-Bar-EpJer; 538 has Jer-Lam-EpJer-Bar. According to Bogaert, these exceptions point to the desire to group together the books available in Hebrew. All witnesses attest the original independence of EpJer (which now forms Baruch ch. 6). Bogaert also notes some Coptic evidence for the sequence Jer-Bar. 

C. Baruch supplément à Jérémie sans titre propre (critique interne)

"Just as Baruch, in the place of imprisoned Jeremiah, read before the king Jehoiakim the scroll that he had written by the dictation of Jeremiah, with negative results--the king burned the scroll (Jer 36 = Jer 43 LXX)--so now Baruch reads before the king Jehoiachin in Babylonian exile all or part of the book which precedes--and not the book which follows--, this time with positive results: the people repent. The οὗτοι οἱ λόγοι at the beginning of the book of Baruch naturally point back to what precedes, as Theodoret already affirmed [PG 81.760c]." So, what Bogaert means, is that with Jeremiah ending and the book of Baruch immediately following it, he thinks readers would have taken the very beginning of Baruch as simply the next episode of the book of Jeremiah. He further says that Baruch 1:1–15 looks like the conclusion of a narrative and not its beginning, and he points out that in the LXX sequence of Jeremiah, the salvific oracle to Baruch (Jer 45 = Jer 51:31–35 LXX) appears near the end of Jeremiah (thus right before Baruch). Thackerary and Tov have shown that the Greek vocabulary demonstrates the close relation between the second part of LXX Jeremiah and the Greek of Bar 1:1–3:8. All of this leads Bogaert to believe that Baruch was originally a Greek supplement to Jeremiah without a proper title of its own. That is, in this scenario, Baruch would have been composed in Greek as a supplement to Greek Jeremiah, and there would never have been a Hebrew of Baruch. The idea that Baruch originated in Greek and not Hebrew has gained some popularity in recent scholarship (see Adams, for instance), though the opposite has been the traditional view. 

D. Baruch cité sous le nom de Jérémie chez les Pères grecs les plus anciens 

Greek Fathers from the fourth century and later tend to cite Baruch under the name of Baruch (Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Apostolic Constitutions, the Asceticon of Isaiah, Severus of Antioch, and earlier Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria), whereas earlier Fathers had cited Baruch under the name of Jeremiah (e.g. Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Methodius of Olympus), a practice that is also sometimes found in later Fathers (e.g. Eusebius, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria). Bogaert briefly suggests that Origen is the one who recognized that the supplement in the Greek version was not found in the Hebrew text of Jeremiah, so he separated it and gave it the name Baruch, since he found that name at the beginning of the work. 

E. Quand Baruch devient-il auteur? 

If Origen is the first one to separate Baruch from Jeremiah and to make Baruch its author, then the first datable text that is attributed to Baruch becomes the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, which Bogaert dates to 95 CE. 

II. Les Pères latins et les liturgies latines

A. Le nom de Baruch ne renvoie qu'à des pseudépigraphes 

Among Latin Fathers, the name Baruch does not refer to our book of Baruch but to other pseudepigrapha (examples in Cyprian, Evagrius, Sedulius Scottus). 

B. Ba 1–5 est toujours cité sous le nom de Jérémie 

Whenever Baruch is cited in Latin patristic literature, it is cited under the name of Jeremiah. The first appendix gives the details. The big example is Augustine, who remarks at City of God 18.33 (citing Bar 3:36–38) that some attribute the quotation to Baruch, but it is more likely from Jeremiah. 

C. Jérôme récuse Baruch; Isidore, Grégoire le Grand, Bède 

In the preface to his Vulgate translation of Jeremiah and in the preface to his commentary on Jeremiah, Jerome rejected Baruch as authentic, accepting only Lamentations as a supplement to Jeremiah. Some Vulgate manuscripts contain no title at the end of Jeremiah or beginning of Lamentations. Bogaert lists a few examples (p. 295), one of which is Amiatinus, the images for which are available online here. Lamentations starts at fol. 586r, and you can see that there is no title, not even a break after Jeremiah: the text is continuous within the same column. [You can contrast this practice with that of the Greek Codex Vaticanus, online here. The text of Baruch starts at image 1127, and you'll notice that Jeremiah has a closing title, and Baruch starts on a new column.] The first line of Lamentations in Amiatinus is in red, but this technique does not necessarily signal the start of a new book, since we have red lines sometimes within a book, such as within Jeremiah (e.g., fol. 580v, 584v). Bogaert guesses that this practice of not distinguishing Lamentations from Jeremiah goes back to Jerome, who wanted to preserve the number 22 as the proper number for the OT and therefore needed Lamentations to not be its own book. 

Eventually Jerome's translation overtook the Old Latin Jeremiah, which had included Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah, so that these latter two works virtually disappear in Latin literature for a while. Gregory the Great, Isidore, and Bede never--or hardly ever--cite or mention Baruch. Jerome's omission of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah became a more decisive rejection of these works than, for example, his rejection of the Additions to Daniel and Esther, which he condemned in his prefaces but included in his translations. 

D. Les liturgies latines (type K) utilisent Baruch sous le nom de Jérémie 

The Roman liturgy features Bar 3:9–38 in the Easter Vigil, while other traditions read the same passage on the Saturday before Pentecost. According to Bogaert, "all ancient books cite this reading under the name of Jeremiah," and he then lists 16 examples, up to the fifteenth century. This liturgical use will contribute toward the reintegration of Baruch into Latin Bibles, though it had disappeared from many (due to Jerome's influence), such as the Amiatinus. 

E. Les listes latines de livres canoniques 

Some lists mention only Jeremiah: Melito (in Rufinus' translation of Eusebius), Mommsen catalogue, Rufinus' own list, Augustine, Breviarium hipponense, Innocent I, the Latin version of the Council of Laodicea, the Apostolic Constitutions book 8, Claromontanus, Ordo 14 (see here), and the list of the Bobbio Missal. Also Cassiodorus, Isidore. Hilary of Poitiers has Hieremias cum Lamentatione et Epistula, just like Origen's list in Greek (and Bogaert thinks both Hilary and Origen in this instance must assume Baruch as a part of Jeremiah, since the Epistle is listed). But Rufinus' Latin translation of Origen's list has only Hieremias, just as in Rufinus' own canon list. The Decretum Gelasianum has Hieremias cum Cinoth, in dependence on Jerome. Bogaert suspects that the original text of the decree had merely Hieremias (as in some witnesses) and that this short reference included Bar-Lam-EpJr. The Council of Trent said Ieremias cum Baruch, and the title Ieremias would have included Lam, and since the 13th cent. the EpJr had counted as Baruch ch. 6. 

F. Témoignages épigraphiques

Bogaert surveys four inscriptions (from centuries XI to XIV), each citing Bar 3:36 under the name of Jeremiah. 



That's all for now. Hopefully I will soon be able to finish summarizing Bogaert's article. The last two sections (before his eight appendices) have the following titles: "III. Les bibles latines avant 800" and "IV. Les bibles latines à partir de 800." 

Explicit Quotations of Scripture in Matthew 1-2 (Part 1)

This post is a continuation of yeterday's comments on how Matthew uses Isaiah 7:14. Here, I want to look at the way Matthew relies on other scriptural passages at the beginning of his Gospel as a window into what he might be doing with the 'virgin' and child of Isa. 7. (Of course, for Isaiah, the woman is not a virgin--see previous post.)

Let me note that hardly any thought presented here is original with me. I think I first encountered these ideas in a well-articulated way in Christopher J. H. Wright's book Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament (IVP, 1992; Amazon). I highly recommend this book as a good, reasonable, simple, and theologically thoughtful explanation of all kinds of issues related to the relationship between the Testaments and, indeed, what Jesus thought he was doing. (While you're at Amazon, you might as well pick up another book, as well. Rest assured, I will not make any money off of either of these books.)

I'll begin at the end of Matt. 2 and work my way backwards. The very last verse of Matt. 2 contains the last of four explicit scriptural quotations in the chapter.

and [Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus] came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene." (Matt. 2:23; NASB)

The odd thing about this quotation is that it does not correspond to any statement made in the Hebrew Bible (or LXX, for that matter). I don't have time to delve into the reception history of this verse--no matter how much I'd like to; after all, that's what I do: I'm a history-of-interpretations guy--but I will say it has given interpreters fits for millenia. One ancient (and modern) interpretation relates it to Isa. 11:1 where we read a future descendant of Jesse (David's daddy, and thus we are reading a messianic passage) who will be a 'branch' (Hebrew: netzer). Well, maybe.

Jerome pointed out (he may not have been the first to do so) that the wording of the citation in Matthew references prophets, plural, in distinction to the other references in these chapters (cf. 1:22; 2:5, 15, 17, all speaking of 'prophet,' singular). Jerome thought that this might indicate that Matthew is not referring to any particular passage from a particular prophet, but that he is consolidating the message of the prophets as a whole, and part of that message is that the coming savior would be called a Nazarene. Apparently, Nazareth was not thought to be that great of a town; not the hometown you want if you're planning on being anything significant in life (cf. John 1:46). And so, the message here would be that the prophets in general indicated that the coming savior would be "from the wrong side of the tracks."

The truth is, we don't know exactly what Matthew is doing in 2:23, but we do know that he's not using scripture in a straightforward, prediction-fulfillment kind of way.

Going backwards in Matt. 2, we next come to vv. 17-18. This is in response to King Herod's slaughtering of the innocents, killing all the male babies in Bethlehem two-years-old and under.

Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more." (Matt. 2:17-18)

This is a quotation from Jer. 31:15. Now, look at the context within Jeremiah. This verse comes in the middle of a block of chapters called "The Book of Consolation" (Jer. 30-33) promising restoration for Israel and Judah (cf. 30:3). Israel and Judah needed to be restored because they had both experienced exile (Israel by the Assyrians; Judah by the Babylonians), and so in these chapters Jeremiah speaks of their experience of exile and the future hope that they both have. This means that the weeping that Rachel is doing in Jer. 31:15 relates to these experiences, specifically, exile. When the Babylonians came into Judah and killed people and took others away from their homeland to live in Babylon, at that time Rachel was weeping for her children. Not only is there no messianic prediction here, but there is no prediction whatsoever in this particular verse. In the context there is a prediction of restoration, but the specific verse quoted by Matthew has nothing to do with the future, only with the past. Rachel is weeping because of the exile already experienced even in Jeremiah's day.

So, what is Matthew doing with this verse? Does he think there's a prediction in it? Does he think it's about the Messiah? Has he completely ignored the context? Interpreters often say as much, but Richard Hays has taught me (through his books, especially this one) to hesitate to attribute to the biblical authors the insensitivity to context that modern untrained readers often exhibit. That is, Hays has taught me to look for a more-nuanced interpretation of scripture in the New Testament, especially when the interpretation looks weird.

I think that Matthew surely must have understood that Jer. 31:15 was not a prediction of a future time, had nothing to do with the Messiah. Furthermore, I think he understood that his use of this verse in reference to events surrounding Jesus would in no way serve as proof for any Jew that Jesus was the Messiah. A Jew could simply respond, "No, that's not what Jeremiah's talking about, not even close." Jer. 31:15 was not intended to be a messianic prediction, and was not received as such. Jews at the time of Matthew did not look for the fulfillment of Jer. 31:15 as one of the signs that the Messiah was coming. I think Matthew knew all of this.

But, I also think that Matthew understood the context of Jer. 31:15 as about restoration, and he saw that restoration could come only after weeping. He understood that this was true in the history of his own people, who had experienced exile first, and then restoration under Zerubbabel and others (see the book of Ezra). But, the restoration had not been all they had hoped for, had not resulted in the reunification of Israel and Judah (as predicted in Jer. 30:3, etc.), had not returned them to an independent kingdom as in David's days. But, Matthew also knows that one has now been born who would accomplish these things, in a manner of speaking. And just as before with the exile first and then restoration, so also here, weeping precedes joy.

That is, similar to what we saw earlier in Matt. 2:23, Matthew uses Jer. 31:15 not as a straightforward prediction-fulfillment. He knows that Jer. 31:15 has its own context unrelated to the Messiah. But he wants to show his readers that events surrounding the birth of this Christ-child re-enact in some ways Israel's own story, that what has happened in the past is now being repeated, that the history of Israel is somehow being summed up in this child. (You are probably hearing echoes of N.T. Wright.)

Again, the length of this post is getting unwieldy, so I'll have to continue next time. But you can already see where I'm going. Rules of thumb: consider the context of the OT passage, and consider how the NT author uses that context to his advantage. Also, in Matt. 1-2, specifically, look at that word "fulfill". The places that it appears is rather odd. And, finally, is Matthew using a text of scripture closer to the Hebrew or to the Greek? These are some of the issues we will explore next time, when we look at Matt. 2:15, and then 2:5-6, and finally get to 1:22-23.