Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

This is not so much an argument for Matthean posteriority, but rather, notes on the significance if Matthew wrote last.

1. as Goodacre notes, this means Matthew knew Luke's Parable of the Good Samaritan and left it out

2. For some reason, Matthew left out the word "strength". At min. 23 of this video, Prof. Zev Garber notes that the Hebrew word, translated "Might/Strength": [Phonetic Spelling: (meh-ode')] translated literally means "veryness" and "veryness is not strength". He goes on to hypothesize that Matthew left out "strength" because: "Why would you argue that the love of God would give us strength when the love of God did not give us strength and we lost battle with the Romans?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70_FZPH1mWA

Mark
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Πρώτη ἐστίν Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν,
Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all
your soul and with all
your mind and with all
your strength.'
καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ἰσχύος σου.
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
δευτέρα αὕτη Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν. μείζων τούτων ἄλλη ἐντολὴ οὐκ ἔστιν.
https://biblehub.com/bsb/mark/12.htm#28

Luke: Introducing the Parable of the Good Samaritan
He [the teacher] answered,
"'Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all
your soul and with all
your strength and with all
your mind';
and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ἰσχύϊ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ διανοίᾳ σου,
καὶ τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν.
https://biblehub.com/bsb/luke/10.htm

Matthew
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all
your soul and with all
your mind.'
ὁ δὲ ἔφη αὐτῷ Ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ διανοίᾳ σου.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
https://biblehub.com/bsb/matthew/22.htm#34

Deuteronomy LXX
Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy mind, and with all
thy soul, and all
thy strength.
Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ· Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν· καὶ ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς δυνάμεώς σου.

Deuteronomy JPS Tanakh 1917
HEAR, O ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all
thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all
thy might.

"Might/Strength": Phonetic Spelling: (meh-ode')
Definition: muchness, force, abundance
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/deuteronomy/6-5.htm

Leviticus LXX
And thy hand shall not avenge thee; and thou shalt not be angry with the children of thy people;
and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; I am the Lord.
καὶ οὐκ ἐκδικᾶταί σου ἡ χείρ, καὶ οὐ μηνιεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ σου,
καὶ ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν· ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος.

Leviticus JPS Tanakh 1917
Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Googling, I found this comment on the meaning of the Hebrew word that means "veryness" but is translated in the LXX as δυνάμεώς and in Mark as ἰσχύς, both of which mean "power" or "strength".

"It seems unclear why the LXX renders "מְאֹדֶךָ " as "δυνάμεώς." Blomberg states that "strength [the LXX rendering of "amad"] actually translates a word that normally means 'greatly' or 'exceedingly.' One might thus render the entire verse, 'Love the Lord your God with total commitment (heart), with your total self (soul), to total excess.' Loving God should be 'over the top" (Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, 80–81). The New Testament writers seem to follow the LXX but with some changes. Mark follows the LXX but uses a different word in place of 'δυνάμεώς.' He uses 'ischus.' Matthew does not have Mark's "with all your strength" but preserves Marks addition of "διανοίᾳ" (mind). Blomberg argues, "Given that 'dianoia was a frequent Greek rendering of the Hebrew for "heart,' the meaning of the original Deuteronomic text is scarcely altered by any of these changes" (Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, 81). It is possible that the Gospel writters read the Hebrew and LXX and sought to maintain the sense of the Hebrew original by expanding the hebrew word with other words (mind, strength). Bascon argues, as quoted in the Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, that the expanded synoptic forms actually better bring out in Greek the meaning of the Hebrew original. This, however, does not answer the question why the LXX renders the hebew the way it does. HALOT suggests that when "מְאֹדֶךָ " is used substantivally it can mean strength (“מְאֹד,” HALOT, 2:538.). It is possibly why the LXX renders it that way."
https://www.biblearc.com/author/Dieudon ... Veryness_/

gryan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 2:11 am Googling, I found this comment on the meaning of the Hebrew word that means "veryness" but is translated in the LXX as δυνάμεώς and in Mark as ἰσχύς, both of which mean "power" or "strength".

"It seems unclear why the LXX renders "מְאֹדֶךָ " as "δυνάμεώς." Blomberg states that "strength [the LXX rendering of "amad"] actually translates a word that normally means 'greatly' or 'exceedingly.' One might thus render the entire verse, 'Love the Lord your God with total commitment (heart), with your total self (soul), to total excess.' Loving God should be 'over the top" (Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, 80–81). The New Testament writers seem to follow the LXX but with some changes. Mark follows the LXX but uses a different word in place of 'δυνάμεώς.' He uses 'ischus.' Matthew does not have Mark's "with all your strength" but preserves Marks addition of "διανοίᾳ" (mind). Blomberg argues, "Given that 'dianoia was a frequent Greek rendering of the Hebrew for "heart,' the meaning of the original Deuteronomic text is scarcely altered by any of these changes" (Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, 81). It is possible that the Gospel writters read the Hebrew and LXX and sought to maintain the sense of the Hebrew original by expanding the hebrew word with other words (mind, strength). Bascon argues, as quoted in the Commentary on the NT's use of the OT, that the expanded synoptic forms actually better bring out in Greek the meaning of the Hebrew original. This, however, does not answer the question why the LXX renders the hebew the way it does. HALOT suggests that when "מְאֹדֶךָ " is used substantivally it can mean strength (“מְאֹד,” HALOT, 2:538.). It is possibly why the LXX renders it that way."
https://www.biblearc.com/author/Dieudon ... Veryness_/

NA28. Most surprisingly, the Syriac has ἰσχύς for Matthew 24:37, and family 13, Koridethi Codex or Codex Koridethianus, Syriac and Bohairic (and then some) combine that with δύναμις - and the latter is the Greek loanword that every MSS in the NHL uses, next to the native Coptic, yet preserves this for "the metaphysical meaning".
Mark 12:30 appears to be unaltered but I find the NA notation ambiguous.
Luke 10:27 also is unaltered save for some conjugation of genitive vs dative het the (evidently late) Bohairic drops the very word, so we have verbatim agreement for all three to at least a certain extent

The LXX doesn't render the Hebrew of course, it is meant to support Christianity: I have no idea why they picked this Greek word but it is evident that the quote doesn't come from the Tanakh - and only the first and irrelevant part is in Thomas:

25. IS said: love your(SG) brother in the manner of your Soul, make be Guard him in the manner of the pupil of your eye.

τηρέω  is the Greek behind Guard

Interesting find gryan

mlinssen wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 2:55 am ...in Thomas:

25. IS said: love your(SG) brother in the manner of your Soul, make be Guard him in the manner of the pupil of your eye.

τηρέω  is the Greek behind Guard

mlinssen: Thanks for your comments

Re: τηρέω,

I notice that, in the NT, the Greek behind Guard often refers to guarding the commandments, but it can also refer to guarding a relationship.

https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/tereo

Mk, Lk and Matt all use the word phulassó: to guard, watch, φυλάσσω
https://biblehub.com/greek/5442.htm

But strangely, although Matt and John and Acts and Paul all use τηρέω, Guard, Mk and Lk never do.

This proves once more the absolute falsity and absurdity of Marakan Priorism.

Critical thinkers realize immediately that the shema are a late (best antimarcionite) addition to the gospel story.

Deuteronomy JPS Tanakh 1917
thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all
thy might.

"Might/Strength": Phonetic Spelling: (meh-ode')
Definition: muchness, force, abundance
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/deuteronomy/6-5.htm

Deuteronomy LXX
τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς δυνάμεώς σου.

Mark
τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς διανοίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης
τῆς ἰσχύος σου.
https://biblehub.com/bsb/mark/12.htm#28

Luke: Introducing the Parable of the Good Samaritan
τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ἰσχύϊ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ διανοίᾳ σου,
https://biblehub.com/bsb/luke/10.htm

Matthew
τῇ καρδίᾳ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ ψυχῇ σου καὶ ἐν ὅλῃ
τῇ διανοίᾳ σου.
https://biblehub.com/bsb/matthew/22.htm#34

---------

Looks to me like Matt, writing last, followed Luke's preferred "τῇ" tense against the "τῆς καρδίας" in Mk and LXX and even in Lk.

Regarding Mark's τῆς ἰσχύος σου. and Lk's τῇ ἰσχύϊ (both of which reflect the LXX "τῆς δυνάμεώς σου"), Matt may have erased it because, notwithstanding JPS Tanakh 1917, meh-ode' does not mean "might". It means "muchness".