Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

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Ben C. Smith
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Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Say what you will about S. C. Carlson, but he is pretty darned good at solving individual, longstanding problems in the New Testament texts. He posted two articles (a part 1 and a part 2) recently to his Academia.edu page, and I think he has figured out what is going on in Matthew with the triumphal entry:

Stephen C. Carlson, “‘The Jenny and the Colt’ in Matthew’s Messianic Entry, Part 1: Matthew 21:5 as a Reading of Zechariah 9:9 in Light of Mark 11:1-10,” in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, volume 81, number 1 (January 2019), pages 62-84 (link).

Stephen C. Carlson, “‘The Jenny and the Colt’ in Matthew’s Messianic Entry, Part 2: Matthew 21:7 as a Reading of Mark 11:7 in Light of Zechariah 9:9,” in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, volume 81, number 2 (April 2019), pages 235-251 (link).

The notion that Matthew took literally the Hebrew parallelism of Zechariah 9.9 and thus came up with two donkeys has never truly satisfied, partly because both donkeys implied on such a reading should be male, whereas Matthew has a female, a jenny, and partly because, whatever one may think of Matthew as an author or editor, such a move seems out of place, even for him.

Carlson notices, however, that there is a jenny in Zechariah 9.9: the mother of the colt; it is just that Zechariah himself does not visualize this jenny as part of the scene; that Matthew does visualize her as part of the scene is not nearly as awkward as reimagining two male donkeys as a mother and a child (though it may be just as unnecessary). Carlson offers three tables to help understand both (A & B) the two principal theories on tap thus far and (C) his own offering (I have copied and pasted three separate tables from the article):

S. C. Carlson, The Jenny & the Colt.png
S. C. Carlson, The Jenny & the Colt.png (57.82 KiB) Viewed 5113 times

Stephen C. Carlson, “‘The Jenny and the Colt’ in Matthew’s Messianic Entry, Part 1: Matthew 21:5 as a Reading of Zechariah 9:9 in Light of Mark 11:1-10,” in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, volume 81, number 1 (January 2019), page 82: Although the term is plural in the MT (with a generalizing sense, since a foal can only have one mother), the term is singular in Gen 49:11 and in the targums. This identification of the jenny in the characterizing term allows for the other donkey references in Zech 9:9 — חמור/ὄνος and עיר/πῶλος — to be read in parallelism as a single mount of the Messiah. Although the Greek terms do not line up with terminology of the donkeys in the story, this proposed equation has the benefit of corresponding neatly to the gender of the Hebrew nouns: male חמור = עיר = the colt, while the feminine term in the Hebrew text אתנות is rendered by the sexually nonspecific ὑποζύγιον so as not to identify the first ὄνον in the quotation with a female. Furthermore, the term ὑποζύγιον (lit., “under yoke”) explains the curious detail that, in Matt 21:2, it is the jenny not the colt that is tethered (ὄνον δεδεμένην).

That the idea winds up explaining the tethering is one of those nice touches one looks for in an hypothesis one thinks might be both viable and persuasive.

As for the ancient question of whether Jesus rode both mounts (whether in alternation or at the same time), Carlson produces this possible parallel from Homer:

Homer, Iliad 10.503-514: 503-514 But he tarried and pondered what most reckless deed he might do, whether to take the chariot, where lay the war-gear richly dight, and draw it out by the pole, or lift it on high and so bear it forth, or whether he should rather take the lives of yet more Thracians. The while he was pondering this in heart, even then Athene drew nigh and spake to goodly Diomedes: “Bethink thee now of returning, son of great-souled Tydeus, to the hollow ships, lest thou go thither in full flight, and haply some other god rouse up the Trojans.” So spake she, and he knew the voice of the goddess as she spoke and swiftly mounted the horses [καρπαλίμως δ᾽ ἵππων ἐπεβήσετο]; and Odysseus smote them with his bow, and they sped toward the swift ships of the Achaeans.

Stephen C. Carlson, “‘The Jenny and the Colt’ in Matthew’s Messianic Entry, Part 2: Matthew 21:7 as a Reading of Mark 11:7 in Light of Zechariah 9:9,” in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, volume 81, number 2 (April 2019), page 249: 249 Thus, synecdoche is an appropriate figure of speech when mounting one of a team of horses conceptualized as a unit, and Matthew’s usage is consistent with this.

At any rate, the articles are a good read, whether you agree or disagree in the end. And I personally think his ideas, both of them, make more sense of the text than the alternatives which have gone before. YMMV.

Ben.
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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

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Methinks Ben = Carlson but it has made me like Stephen. So good has come out of it (my guessing-game).
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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

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Secret Alias wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:49 pm Methinks Ben = Carlson but it has made me like Stephen. So good has come out of it (my guessing-game).
Yes, you caught me. I am Stephen Carlson, and this thread is another shameless self promotion.
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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

Post by Giuseppe »

An alternative explanation is an implicit polemic against Thomas (47):

Jesus said, "A person cannot (at the same time) mount two horses or draw two bows

Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

Post by Kunigunde Kreuzerin »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:43 pm Say what you will about S. C. Carlson, but he is pretty darned good at solving individual, longstanding problems in the New Testament texts. He posted two articles (a part 1 and a part 2) recently to his Academia.edu page, and I think he has figured out what is going on in Matthew with the triumphal entry:

Thanks, very interesting. I am amazed at how strongly Matthew reflects the Masoretic text.

However, the reader of Matthew 21:2 may have the expectation that also the ὄνος and the πῶλος of Matthew 21:5 are different animals.

Matthew 21:2
“Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey (ὄνον) tied, and a colt (πῶλον) with her.

Matthew 21:5
... and riding on a donkey (ὄνον), and on a colt (πῶλον), the foal of a beast of burden (ὑποζυγίου)

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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote: Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:45 am
Ben C. Smith wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:43 pm Say what you will about S. C. Carlson, but he is pretty darned good at solving individual, longstanding problems in the New Testament texts. He posted two articles (a part 1 and a part 2) recently to his Academia.edu page, and I think he has figured out what is going on in Matthew with the triumphal entry:

Thanks, very interesting. I am amazed at how strongly Matthew reflects the Masoretic text.

However, the reader of Matthew 21:2 may have the expectation that also the ὄνος and the πῶλος of Matthew 21:5 are different animals.

Matthew 21:2
“Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey (ὄνον) tied, and a colt (πῶλον) with her.

Matthew 21:5
... and riding on a donkey (ὄνον), and on a colt (πῶλον), the foal of a beast of burden (ὑποζυγίου)

True. That is what Carlson meant, I believe, when he wrote that "the Greek terms do not line up with terminology of the donkeys in the story."
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Re: Matthew 21.1-11, the jenny, and the colt.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:49 am
Kunigunde Kreuzerin wrote: Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:45 am
Ben C. Smith wrote: Fri Sep 25, 2020 4:43 pm Say what you will about S. C. Carlson, but he is pretty darned good at solving individual, longstanding problems in the New Testament texts. He posted two articles (a part 1 and a part 2) recently to his Academia.edu page, and I think he has figured out what is going on in Matthew with the triumphal entry:
Thanks, very interesting. I am amazed at how strongly Matthew reflects the Masoretic text.

However, the reader of Matthew 21:2 may have the expectation that also the ὄνος and the πῶλος of Matthew 21:5 are different animals.

Matthew 21:2
“Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey (ὄνον) tied, and a colt (πῶλον) with her.

Matthew 21:5
... and riding on a donkey (ὄνον), and on a colt (πῶλον), the foal of a beast of burden (ὑποζυγίου)

True. That is what Carlson meant, I believe, when he wrote that "the Greek terms do not line up with terminology of the donkeys in the story."
Thought I should add that John C. Hawkins, on pages 154-158 of Horae Synopticae, comments on the use of the OG/LXX across 5 different classes of quotation in Matthew: (I) avowedly editorial additions, often prefaced by "this was to fulfill the scripture," or some such; (II) a single quotation given to the scribes in chapters 1-2 (Matthew 2.6); (III) quotations in the Matthean portion of the Sermon on the Mount; (IV) quotations in the course of the double or triple tradition and also recorded by either Mark or Luke, or by both; and (V) quotations in the course of the double or triple tradition but not recorded by either Mark or Luke.

Classes I, II, and III contain only about 50% of the wording of the OG/LXX; classes IV and V, on the other hand, contain about 85-90% of the wording of the OG/LXX. That is, in the double or triple tradition, regardless of whether or not Mark or Luke give the quotation, Matthew follows the OG/LXX for the most part; in editorial comments or in privately Matthean sections of the gospel, he does not.

Matthew 21.5 falls into class I, as an editorial comment introduced by the clause, "This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet," so it makes sense that it would not necessarily follow the OG/LXX very closely.
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