Information request: the Sahidic version of Luke 16.19.

[Ben C. Smith]

On pages 110-114 of Early Versions of the New Testament, Bruce Metzger summarizes the 14 earliest manuscripts of the Sahidic (Coptic) translation, of which only the following (number 12 on the list) seems to contain the gospel of Luke:

The Seminario de Papirologia de la Facultad Teológica at San Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) has acquired a parchment codex containing the Sahidic version of the Gospels according to Luke and Mark.* The copying of the two gospels appears to have been done by two scribes, working at the same time in the same scriptorium during the first half of the fifth century.

* Hans Quecke, Das Markusevangelium ïdisch. Text der Handschrift PPalau Rib. Inv.-Nr. 182 mit den Varianten der Handschrift M 569 (Barcelona, 1972). The text
of the Gospel of Luke, which precedes that of Mark, has not yet been published.

My question is: other than this apparently recently discovered codex, what is the date of the earliest Sahidic manuscript of the gospel of Luke? More specifically, what is the date of the earliest Sahidic manuscript which contains Luke 16.19? Metzger, page 136:

A notable reading, as far as the extant witnesses are concerned, is represented by the Sahidic at Luke xvi. 19. Here the version reads, 'There was a rich man, with the name Nineue, who clothed himself', etc. This reading perhaps was formerly more widespread than we are able to ascertain today; at any rate, besides a scholium of uncertain date contained in the Greek manuscripts 36 and 37 (εὗρον δὲ τινες καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου ἔν τισιν ἀντιγράφοις τοὔνομα Νινεύης λεγόμενον), the Bodmer Luke-John (ƿ75) of about A.D. 200 reads πλούσιος ὀνόματι Νευης (the spelling is the result of a scribal error arising from the accidental omission of two letters of the exemplar, ΟΝΟΜΑΤ<ΙΝ>ΙΝΕΥΗΣ).

Thanks.

Ben.

[Secret Alias]

It is curious that Νινευή is the LXX name for Nineveh.

[Secret Alias]

Harnack thought the name went back to the original Phinehas which survives in Pascha Computus. https://books.google.com/books?id=B7kAA ... ck&f=false

[Secret Alias]

I think (the text is fragmentary because of Google Books) the Coptic means 'nobody'

https://books.google.com/books?id=mASwC ... an&f=false

The name Finees apparently survives in Priscillian (see footnote). The circle of Priscillian seems to have preserved an archaic form of Christianity. Harnack may have been correct.

[Secret Alias]

Harnack's opinion is, that, since in Numbers 25.7 Phinehas is said to be the son of Eleazar, that an attempt has been made to suggest that the poor man who lay neglected at the rich man's gate was the rich man's own father.

[Secret Alias]

One reason the name Phinehas might have been removed from the text is Phinehas's traditional association with the Zealots from the Jewish War https://books.google.com/books?id=P5OLt ... ts&f=false

[Secret Alias]

And for the handful of people of people who care about my Jesus = ish theory I find this particularly interesting:

And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear (רֹמַח) in his hand. And he went after the man of Israel (אִישׁ-יִשְׂרָאֵל) into the chamber, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel (אִישׁ-יִשְׂרָאֵל), and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died by the plague were twenty and four thousand. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 'Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was very jealous for My sake among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy (בְּקִנְאָתִי). Wherefore say: Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace (בְּרִיתִי, שָׁלוֹם). (Numbers 25:7 - 13)

Curious that the final scene in the crucifixion has a similar complexion:

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. (John 19:34 - 35)

Ephrem is a witness to the term rumach being likely used in the Diatessaron as he identifies Phinehas's spear as puncturing the Lord's side at the crucifixion. https://books.google.com/books?id=fY_-1 ... as&f=false "Phinehas's lance thus occupies a central position as a type of both the Cherub's sword (Ephrem: rumha) which barred the way to Paradise at the one end of the History of Salvation, and the spear of the soldier (Ephrem: rumha), which struck Jesus and so 're-opened Paradise' at its other end."

[andrewcriddle]

See https://archive.org/stream/copticversio ... 4/mode/2up for the sahidic coptic text of Luke 16:19

Andrew Criddle

[Ben C. Smith]

Thanks. From that series I glean the following list of Sahidic manuscript fragments containing Luke 16.19: 9, 15, 59, 91, and 114. But even in the register of gospel fragments in volume 3 no dates are given: https://archive.org/stream/copticversio ... 4/mode/2up.