Introductory Notes

Section XXVIII

Page 35 of 468

[1, 2] [Arabic, p. 107]¹⁹³³ And at that time the feast of tabernacles of the Jews drew near.¹⁹³⁴ So the brethren of Jesus said unto him, Remove now hence, and go to Judæa, that³ thy disciples may see the deeds that thou doest.¹⁹³⁵ For no man doeth a thing secretly⁴ and wisheth to be apparent.¹⁹³⁶ If thou doest this, shew thyself to the world. For⁵ up to this time not even the brethren of Jesus believed on him.¹⁹³⁷ Jesus said unto them, My time till now has not arrived; but as for you, your time is alway ready.⁶¹⁹³⁸ It is not possible for the world to hate you; but me it hateth, for I bear witness⁷ against it, that its deeds are evil.¹⁹³⁹ As for you, go ye up unto this feast: but I go⁸ not up now to this feast; for my time has not yet been completed.¹⁹⁴⁰ He said this, and remained behind in Galilee.

⁹¹⁹⁴¹ But when his brethren went up unto the feast, he journeyed from Galilee, and¹⁰ came to the borders of Judæa, to the country beyond Jordan;¹⁹⁴² and there came after¹¹ him great multitudes, and he healed them all there.¹⁹⁴³ And he went out, and proceeded¹² to the feast, not openly, but as one that conceals himself.¹⁹⁴⁴ And the Jews sought him¹³ at the feast, and said, In what place is this man?¹⁹⁴⁵ And there occurred much murmuring there in the great multitude that came to the feast, on his account. For¹⁴ some said, He is good: and others said, Nay, but he leadeth the people astray.¹⁹⁴⁶ But no man spake of him openly for fear of the Jews.

¹⁵ [Arabic, p. 108]¹⁹⁴⁷ But when the days of the feast of tabernacles were half over, Jesus went¹⁶ up to the temple, and taught.¹⁹⁴⁸ And the Jews wondered, and said, How doth¹⁷ this man know writing,¹⁹⁴⁹ seeing he hath not learned?¹⁹⁵⁰ Jesus answered and said, My doctrine¹⁹⁵¹¹⁸ is not mine, but his that sent me.¹⁹⁵² Whoever wisheth to do his will understandeth my doctrine,¹⁹⁵³ whether it be from God, or whether I speak of mine own accord.¹⁹¹⁹⁵⁴ Whosoever speaketh of his own accord seeketh praise for himself; but whosoever seeketh praise for him that sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness in his heart²⁰ there is none.¹⁹⁵⁵ Did not Moses give you the law, and no man of you keepeth the²¹ law?¹⁹⁵⁶ Why seek ye to kill me? The multitude answered and said unto him, Thou²² hast demons:¹⁹⁵⁷ who seeketh to kill thee?¹⁹⁵⁸ Jesus answered and said unto them, I did²³ one deed, and ye all marvel because of this.¹⁹⁵⁹ Moses hath given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but it is from the fathers); and ye on the sabbath²⁴ circumcise a man.¹⁹⁶⁰ And if a man is circumcised on the sabbath day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I healed on the sabbath²⁵ day the whole man?¹⁹⁶¹ Judge not with hypocrisy, but judge righteous judgement.

²⁶¹⁹⁶² And some people from Jerusalem said, Is not this he whom they seek to slay?²⁷¹⁹⁶³ And lo, he discourseth with them openly, and they say nothing unto him. Think²⁸ you that our elders have learned that this is the Messiah indeed?¹⁹⁶⁴ But this man is¹⁹⁶⁵ known whence he is; and the Messiah, when he cometh, no man knoweth whence²⁹ he is.¹⁹⁶⁶ So Jesus lifted up his voice as he taught in the temple, and said, Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and of my own accord am I not come, but he³⁰ [Arabic, p. 109] that sent me is true, he whom ye know not:¹⁹⁶⁷ but I know him; for I am³¹ from him, and he sent me.¹⁹⁶⁸ And they sought to seize him: and no man³² laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.¹⁹⁶⁹ But many of the multitude believed on him; and they said, The Messiah, when he cometh, can it be that he will do more than these signs that this man doeth?

³³¹⁹⁷⁰ And a man of that multitude said unto our Lord, Teacher, say to my brother³⁴ that he divide with me the inheritance.¹⁹⁷¹ Jesus said unto him, Man, who is it that³⁵ appointed me over you as a judge and divider?¹⁹⁷² And he said unto his disciples, Take heed within yourselves of all inordinate desire; for it is not in abundance of³⁶ possessions that life shall be.¹⁹⁷³ And he gave them this parable: The ground of a³⁷ rich man brought forth abundant produce:¹⁹⁷⁴ and he pondered within himself, and³⁸ said, What shall I do, since I have no place to store my produce?¹⁹⁷⁵ And he said, I will do this: I will pull down the buildings of my barns, and build them, and make³⁹ them greater; and store there all my wheat and my goods.¹⁹⁷⁶ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid by for many years; take thine ease, eat,⁴⁰ drink, enjoy thyself.¹⁹⁷⁷ God said unto him, O thou of little intelligence, this night shall thy soul be taken from thee; and this that thou hast prepared, whose shall it⁴¹ be?¹⁹⁷⁸ So is he that layeth up treasures for himself, and is not rich in God.

⁴²¹⁹⁷⁹ And while Jesus was going in the way, there came near to him a young man¹⁹⁸⁰ of the rulers,¹⁹⁸¹ and fell on his knees, and asked him, and said, Good Teacher, what is⁴³ it that I must do that I may have eternal life?¹⁹⁸² Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou⁴⁴ me good, while there is none good but the one, even God?¹⁹⁸³¹⁹⁸⁴ Thou knowest the commandments.¹⁹⁸⁵⁴⁵¹⁹⁸⁶ If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments.¹⁹⁸⁷ The young [Arabic, p. 110] man said unto him, Which of the commandments?¹⁹⁸⁸ Jesus said unto him,⁴⁶¹⁹⁸⁹ Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not do injury, Honour thy father⁴⁷ and thy mother: and, Love thy neighbour as thyself.¹⁹⁹⁰ That young man said unto⁴⁸ him, All these have I kept from my youth: what then is it that I lack?¹⁹⁹¹ And Jesus⁴⁹ looked intently at him, and loved him, and said unto him,¹⁹⁹² If thou wouldest be perfect, what thou lackest is one thing:¹⁹⁹³ go away and sell everything that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and take thy⁵⁰ cross, and follow me.¹⁹⁹⁴ And that young man frowned at this word, and went away⁵¹ feeling sad; for he was very rich.¹⁹⁹⁵ And when Jesus saw his sadness, he looked towards his disciples, and said unto them, How hard it is for them that have possessions to enter the kingdom of God!

Notes

1932
On margin of Vat. ms., in another hand: "This is the beginning of the second part of Diatessaron, which means The Four." See p. 467 of Ciasca's Essay, mentioned above (Introduction, 5).
1933
.
1934
.
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
1935
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
1936
.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
1937
.
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
1938
.
7
For autos horas we must read autes horas (cf. Clem., Hom., xx., 16); aute is the equivalent in later Greek literature of ekeine, as in the modern tongue (cf. Lc. x. 7, 21, and xii. 12; || ekeine, Mt., Mc.)
1939
.
8
I have ventured to substitute meta, "together with" (cf. ), for kata, "down upon." Dr. Swete, however, keeps kata, and interprets it as "against," i.e., to guard the sepulchre against.
1940
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
1941
a; b.
10
[cf. John passim.]
1942
.
11
[cf. .]
1943
b.
12
[cf. ; .]
1944
.
13
[cf. .]
1945
.
14
[cf. ; .]
1946
.
15
[cf. .]
1947
.
16
[cf. .]
1948
.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
1949
Or, the scripture.
1950
.
1951
This word ordinarily means knowledge, but is used in this work in the sense of doctrine. The commoner form occurs perhaps only in § 50, 2.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
1952
.
1953
This word ordinarily means knowledge, but is used in this work in the sense of doctrine. The commoner form occurs perhaps only in § 50, 2.
19
See below, 12, (2).
1954
.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
1955
.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
1956
.
22
Mai, Vet. script. nova. collect., iv., 14.
1957
cf. § 14, 12.
1958
.
23
cf. Zahn, Forschungen, i., 294 ff.
1959
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
1960
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
1961
.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
1962
.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
1963
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
1964
.
1965
Or, will be.
29
See below, 13.
1966
.
30
He does not state, in so many words, that the list is absolutely exhaustive.
1967
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
1968
.
32
See the valuable article of Guidi, "Le traduzioni degli Evangelii in arabo e in etiopico" (Atti della R. Accademia dei Lincei; Classe di Scienze Morali, Storiche e filologiche. Serie Quarta, 1888, Parte Prima—Memorie, pp. 5-38). Some of his results are briefly stated in Scrivener, A Plain Introd. to the Crit. of the N.T., 4th ed., ii., 162.
1969
.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
1970
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
1971
.
35
See a glaring case in § 52, 11.
1972
.
36
The references to the readings of the Diatessaron in Ibn-at-Tayyib's own commentary on the gospels (see next note) are remarkably impersonal for one who had made or was to make a translation of it.
1973
.
37
A specially important part of the general question is this, What are the mutual relations of the following: (1) a supposed version of at least Matthew and John made from the Syriac by Ibn-at-Tayyib, mentioned by Ibn-al-Assal in the Preface to his scholarly recension of the gospels (ms. numbered Or. 3382 in Brit. Mus., folio 384b) and used by him in determining his text; (2) the gospel text interwoven with the commentary of Ibn-at-Tayyib on the gospels, a commentary which De Slane says the author wrote in Syriac and then translated into Arabic; (3) our present work. Of mss. testifying to No. 1 we have some dating from the time of Ibn-al-Assal himself; of No. 2 we have, in addition to others, an eleventh-century ms. in Paris, described by De Slane (catalogue No. 85) as being "un volume dépareillé du ms. original de l'ouvrage"; of No. 3 we have of course the Vatican and Borgian mss. What is the mutual relation of these texts; were any two of them identical? The Brit. Mus. ms. of the second has many points of contact with the third, but is dated 1805 a.d. Does the older Paris ms. stand more or less closely related? Did Ibn-at-Tayyib himself really translate any or all of these texts, or did he simply select or edit them? Space does not permit us to point out, far less to discuss, the various possibilities.
1974
.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
1975
.
39
Prof. Gottheil, indeed, announced in 1892 in the Journal of Biblical Literature (vol. xi., pt. i., p. 71) that he had been privately informed of the existence of a complete copy of the Syriac Diatessaron. Unfortunately, however, as he has kindly informed me, he has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the ms. in question, which is not yet accessible, is "nothing more than the commentary of Ishodad" mentioned in the text. A similar rumor lately circulated probably originated simply in the pamphlet of Goussen mentioned in the next note. S. Bäumer, on the other hand, in his article, "Tatians Diatessaron, seine bisher. Lit. u. die Reconstruction des Textes nach einer neuentdeckten Handschrift" (Literarischer Handweiser, 1890, 153-169) which the present writer has not been able to see, perhaps refers simply to the Borgian ms.
1976
.
40
Attention was called to these by Profs. Isaac H. Hall and R. J. H. Gottheil (Journ. of Bibl. Lit., x., 153 ff.; xi., 68 ff.); then by Prof. J. R. Harris (Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 271 ff., and, more fully, Fragments of the Com. of Ephr. Syr. on the Diatess., London, 1895) and by Goussen (Studia Theologica, fasc. i., Lips., 1895).
1977
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
1978
.
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
1979
.
1980
From Matthew.
1981
From Luke.
43
Bib. Or., ii., 159 f. Most of them are repeated again by Bar Hebræus (d. 1286), although some confusion is produced by his interweaving some phrases from Eusebius of Cæsarea. (Bib. Or., i., 57 f., and a longer quotation in English in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 1895, p. 274 f.)
1982
.
44
Lagarde's statement (Nachrichten von der Königl. Gesellsch. der Wiss., etc., zu Göttingen, 1891, No. 4, p. 153) that a ms. had been discovered, appears to have been unfounded. Prof. Rahlfs of Göttingen kindly tells me that he believes this is so.
1983
The scribe who wrote the Vat. ms. wrote first God, the one, and then reversed the order by writing the Coptic letters for B and A over the words. (See above, Introduction, 5.)
1984
a.
1985
Different words.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
1986
b; a.
1987
Different words.
1988
The same word as in a.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
1989
b.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
1990
b; .
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
1991
a.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
1992
b.
1993
From Mark.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
1994
a; b.
51
For other forms of the Diatessaron, of no critical importance, see S. Hemphill, The Diatessaron of Tatian (London, 1888), Appendix D and the refs. there.
1995
a; .

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (1885–96). Public domain. Text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.