Introductory Notes

Section XXXIV

Page 41 of 468

¹²³¹⁵ Then went the Pharisees and considered how they might ensnare him in a word,² and deliver him into the power of the judge,²³¹⁶ and into the power of the ruler.²³¹⁷ And they sent unto him their disciples, with the kinsfolk of Herod; and they said unto him, [Arabic, p. 129] Teacher, we know that thou speakest the truth, and teachest the way of God with equity,²³¹⁸ and art not lifted up²³¹⁹ by any man: for thou actest not so as to³ be seen of any man.²³²⁰ Tell us now, What is thy opinion? Is it lawful that we should⁴ pay the tribute to Cæsar, or not? shall we give, or shall we not give?²³²¹ But Jesus knew⁵ their deceit, and said unto them,²³²² Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the⁶ penny of the tribute.²³²³ So they brought unto him a penny. Jesus said unto them, To whom belongeth this image and inscription? They said unto him, To Cæsar. [7, 8]²³²⁴ He said unto them, Give what is Cæsar's to Cæsar, and what is God's to God.²³²⁵ And they could not make him slip in a single word before the people; and they marvelled at his word, and refrained.

⁹²³²⁶ And on that day came the Sadducees, and said unto him,²³²⁷ There is no life for¹⁰ the dead.²³²⁸ And they asked him, and said unto him, Teacher, Moses said unto us, If a man die, not having children, let his brother take his wife, and raise up seed¹¹ for his brother.²³²⁹ Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first took a wife,¹² and died without children;²³³⁰ and the second took his wife, and died without children;¹³²³³¹ and the third also took her; and in like manner the seven of them also, and they [14, 15] died without leaving children.²³³² And last of them all the woman died also.²³³³ At the resurrection, then, which of these seven shall have this woman? for all of them took¹⁶ her.²³³⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Is it not for this that ye have erred,¹⁷ because ye know not the scriptures, nor the power of God?²³³⁵ And the sons of this¹⁸ world take wives, and the women become the men's;²³³⁶²³³⁷ but those that have become worthy of that world, and the resurrection from among the dead, do²³³⁸ not take¹⁹ [Arabic, p. 130] wives, and the women also do²³³⁹ not become the men's.²³⁴⁰ Nor is it possible that they should die; but they²³⁴¹ are like the angels, and are the children of²⁰ God, because they have become the children of the resurrection.²³⁴² For in²³⁴³ the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read in the book of Moses, how from the bush God said unto him, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?²¹²³⁴⁴ And God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all of them are alive with him. And ye have erred greatly.

[22, 23]²³⁴⁵ And when the multitudes heard, they were wondering at his teaching.²³⁴⁶ And²⁴ some of the scribes answered and said unto him, Teacher, thou hast well said.²³⁴⁷ But the rest of the Pharisees, when they saw his silencing the Sadducees on this point, gathered against him to contend with him.

²⁵²³⁴⁸ And one of the scribes, of those that knew the law, when he saw the excellence²⁶ of his answer to them, desired to try him, and said unto him,²³⁴⁹ What shall I do to inherit eternal life? and,²³⁵⁰ Which of the commandments is greater, and has precedence²⁷ in the law?²³⁵¹ Jesus said unto him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O²⁸ Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one:²³⁵² and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy thought, and with all thy [29, 30] strength.²³⁵³ This is the great and preëminent²³⁵⁴ commandment.²³⁵⁵ And the second, which is like it, is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. And another commandment³¹ greater than these two there is not.²³⁵⁶ On these two commandments, then, are hung the³² [Arabic, p. 131] law and the prophets.²³⁵⁷ That scribe said unto him, Excellent! my Master;²³⁵⁸ thou hast said truly that he is one, and there is no other outside of him:³³²³⁵⁹ and that a man should love him with all his heart, and with all his thought, and with all his soul, and with all his strength, and that he should love his neighbour as³⁴ himself, is better than all savours and sacrifices.²³⁶⁰ And Jesus saw him that he had answered wisely; and he answered and said unto him, Thou art not far from the [35, 36] kingdom of God.²³⁶¹ Thou hast spoken rightly: do this, and thou shalt live.²³⁶² And he, as his desire was to justify himself, said unto him, And who is my neighbour?³⁷²³⁶³ Jesus said unto him, A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and the robbers fell upon him, and stripped²³⁶⁴ him, and beat him, his life remaining in him but little,²³⁶⁵³⁸ and went away.²³⁶⁶ And it happened that there came down a certain priest that way;³⁹ and he saw him, and passed by.²³⁶⁷ And likewise a Levite also came and reached⁴⁰ that place, and saw him, and passed by.²³⁶⁸ And a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,⁴¹ came to²³⁶⁹ the place where he was, and saw him, and had compassion on him,²³⁷⁰ and came near, and bound up his strokes,²³⁷¹ and poured on them wine and oil; and he set²³⁷² him on the ass, and brought him to the inn, and expended his care upon him.⁴²²³⁷³ And on the morrow of that day he took out two pence, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said unto him, Care for him; and if thou spendest upon him more,⁴³ when I return, I shall give thee.²³⁷⁴ Who of these three now, thinkest thou, is nearest⁴⁴ to him that fell among the robbers?²³⁷⁵ And he said unto him, He that had compassion⁴⁵ [Arabic, p. 132] on him.²³⁷⁶ Jesus said unto him, Go, and do thou also likewise. And no man dared afterwards to ask him anything.

⁴⁶²³⁷⁷ And he was teaching every day in the temple. But the chief priests and scribes and the elders of the people sought to destroy him:²³⁷⁸ and they could²³⁷⁹ not find what⁴⁷ they should do with him; and all the people were hanging upon him to hear him.⁴⁸²³⁸⁰ And many of the multitude believed on him, and said, The Messiah, when he⁴⁹ cometh, can it be that he will do more than these signs that this man doeth?²³⁸¹ And the Pharisees heard the multitudes say that of him; and the chief priests sent⁵⁰ officers²³⁸² to seize him.²³⁸³ And Jesus said unto them, I am with you but a short time⁵¹ yet, and I go to him that sent me.²³⁸⁴ And ye shall seek me, and shall not find me:⁵² and where I shall be, ye shall not be able to come.²³⁸⁵ The Jews said within themselves, Whither hath this man determined to go that we shall not be able²³⁸⁶ to find him? can it be that he is determined to go to the regions of the nations,²³⁸⁷ and teach⁵³ the heathen?²³⁸⁸ What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come?

Notes

1
Parechein mikropsuchian, perhaps "causes you ill-feeling." The translation of Serapion's letter with this note is taken from Mr. Armitage Robinson's edition of the gospel.
2315
; b.
2
This translation is based on that which I published in The Gospel and Apocalypse of Peter: Two Lectures, etc. (Camb., 1892). It is now carefully revised in accordance with the photographic facsimile. A corrected Greek text will be found in Dr. Swete's edition (1893).
2316
Vat. ms. omits the power. We should then translate (with Pesh. and Sin.) unto judgement.
2317
.
2318
See note, § 3, 53.
2319
Possibly this is the meaning of the Arabic phrase, which occurs also in Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary (Brit. Mus. text).
3
Par[alem]phthenai is perhaps supported by paralabontes, .
2320
.
4
I know no other instance of stauriskein.
2321
a.
5
cf. , where Syr. Pesch. reads: "They say, These bodies shall not remain on the cross, because the sabbath dawneth."
2322
b; .
6
The text here is corrupt: for epesanto I have provisionally read epesan te.
2323
.
2324
.
2325
.
9
The form of the question in the Greek suggests a negative answer.
2326
.
2327
cf. the Syriac versions.
10
[cf. John passim.]
2328
.
11
[cf. .]
2329
; b.
12
[cf. ; .]
2330
.
13
[cf. .]
2331
.
2332
.
2333
.
16
[cf. .]
2334
a; b.
17
For further explanation of the method followed see 20.
2335
b.
18
See notes to § 7, 47, and § 52, 36, of the present translation.
2336
cf. the Syriac versions.
2337
.
2338
Or, shall.
19
See below, 12, (2).
2339
Or, shall.
2340
.
2341
Borg. ms., all of them instead of but they.
20
See also below, 6, and 20.
2342
a; b.
2343
Or, Moreover, regarding.
21
Bibl. Or., i., 619.
2344
; b.
2345
.
2346
.
24
See below, § 7, 47, note, and § 52, 36, note.
2347
.
25
See below, § 28, 43, note.
2348
a; b.
26
See below, foot-notes, passim.
2349
b.
2350
b.
27
The first leaf bears a more pretentious Latin inscription, quoted by Ciasca, p. vi.
2351
.
28
Can this be a misprint for 95?
2352
a; b [rather, b.].
2353
.
2354
This simply represents first in Syriac.
2355
.
31
See, e.g., below, § 13, 42, note, and § 14, 43, note.
2356
.
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.
2357
.
2358
Vat. ms. has a corruption of Excellent! Rabbi, better preserved by Borg. ms., which, however, adds our translator's ordinary rendering of Rabbi—my Master. This explanation is confirmed by Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary. Ciasca's emended text cannot be right.
33
cf.the foot-notes passim, e.g., § 13, 14, § 14, 24.
2359
.
34
See below, note to Subscription.
2360
a.
2361
b.
2362
.
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.
2363
.
2364
The diacritical point over the third radical must be removed.
2365
cf. Peshitta.
38
The text is given below in full at its proper place.
2366
.
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.
2367
.
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).
2368
.
41
Prof. Harris promises an edition of this commentary.
2369
Ciasca's Arabic text (apparently following Borg. ms.) has till he before came. This is unsupported by any of the three Syriac texts, although they differ from one another. Perhaps till and came should be transposed. The translation would then be as given in the text above; but this rendering may also be obtained according to § 54, 1, note.
2370
.
2371
The Syriac word used means both wounds and strokes.
2372
The Arabic word is a favourite of the translator's, and may therefore be original. One cannot help thinking, however, that it is a clerical error for mounted (cf. Cur. and Sin.).
42
Harris, Fragments, p. 14, where the Syriac text is quoted.
2373
.
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.)
2374
.
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.
2375
.
45
Migne, Patrol. græc., tom. lxxxiii., col. 369, 372.
2376
b.
46
Published at Venice in 1836.
2377
.
2378
.
2379
In Syriac could and found are represented by the same word. The Arabic translator has chosen the wrong one.
47
The two Armenian mss. are dated a.d. 1195.
48
Evangelii Concordantis Expositio, facta a S. Ephraemo (Ven., 1876).
2380
.
49
Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, I. Theil.
2381
.
50
Edited by Ernestus Ranke, Marb. and Lips., 1868.
2382
See note, § 11, 11.
2383
.
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.
2384
.
52
Further references, chiefly repetitions in one form or another of the statements we have quoted, may be found in a convenient form in Harnack, Gesch. d. altchrist. Lit. bis. Euseb., 493-496; cf. also the works mentioned by Hill (op. cit.) p. 378 f.
2385
.
2386
See note above, on § 34, 46.
2387
i.e., Gentiles.
53
cf. the words of Aphraates, senior contemporary of Ephraem: "As it is written in the beginning of the Gospel of our Vivifier: In the beginning was the Word." (Patrol. Syr., pars i., tom. i., 21, lines 17-19).
2388
.

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.