Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew is the oldest extant Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew. It was included in the 14th-century work Eben Boḥan (The Touchstone) by the Spanish Jewish Rabbi Shem-Tov ben Isaac ben Shaprut. George Howard[1] has argued that Shem Tov's Matthew comes from a much earlier Hebrew text that was later translated into Greek and other languages. A characteristic feature of this Hebrew gospel is the appearance in 20 places of השם ("the Name"), in the abbreviated form ה״, where the Gospel of Matthew has Κύριος ("the Lord").

Shem Tov's book first page

Origin

Shem-Tob ben Isaac Ibn Shaprut was the author of an anti-Christian religious treatise, The Touchstone, completed in 1380 and revised in 1385 and 1400. Often referred to as "The Logic of Shem Tob", it argues against the belief that Jesus is God. It also argues against attributing the role of Messiah to Jesus.

For this reason Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, which is included in this work, is considered the oldest surviving text of a New Testament book in Hebrew.

In 1987, Prof. George E. Howard said (pp. vii, 234) that the translation of the Gospel of Matthew in Shem Tob's work long predates the 14th century and may better represent the original text.

His view was rejected by W.L. Petersen and Petri Luomanen.[2]

"Ha-Shem"

Shem Tob's text[3] contains Ha-Shem 19 times in the abbreviated form ה״ where the Gospel of Matthew has either κύριος or θεός (1:22,24; 2:13,19; 3:3; 4:4,7,10; 5:33; 15:8; 21:9,12,42; 22:31,32,37,44; 27:9; 28:2) and once (28:9) in full (השם) where the Gospel of Matthew has no corresponding term (28:9), employing it not only in Matthew's Old Testament quotations, but also in his narrative, either when introducing such quotations (1:22, 22:31) or when speaking of the "angel of the Lord" (1:24, 2:13, 2:19, 28:2) or the "house of the Lord", i.e., the Temple (21:12).

As Howard, referring to Ha-Shem as "the Divine Name", wrote:

The Divine Name occurs in the following situations:

1. In quotations from the Hebrew Bible where the MT contains the Tetragrammaton.
2. In introductions to quotations. For example: 1:22 "All this was to complete what was written by the prophet according to the Lord”; 22:31 "Have you not read concerning the resurrection of the dead that the Lord spoke to you".
3. In such phrases as "angel of the Lord" or "house of the Lord": 2:13 "As they were going, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph"; 2:19 "It came to pass when King Herod died the angel of the Lord in a dream to Joseph in Egypt"; 21:12 "Then Jesus entered the house of the Lord"; 28:2 "Then the earth was shaken because the angel of the Lord descended from heaven to the tomb, overturned the stone, and stood still."[4]

Shem Tob's version has Ha-Shem even in 22:32 (not an exact Old Testament quotation), where the corresponding Old Testament phrase has Elohim, not YHWH; and it does not have it everywhere Matthew has Θεός, as in 15:8, where Matthew has that word several times.

Recent editions and translations

The first translation of Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew into English was George E. Howard's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, published in 1987. A Polish translation by Eliezer Wolski (Eliyazar Ben Miqra), a Jewish theologian and Chassidic sympathizer, appeared in 2017. He presented the Hebrew text in stylized font imitating first-century Hebrew script. Grzegorz Kaszyński made another translation into Polish and published it along with Howard's English translation and other translations into European languages.

The following table shows how these translations represented the phrase "ha-Shem".

Eighteen translations of "Ha-Shem" in Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew

Extant manuscripts

Today, 28 manuscripts containing the Gospel of Matthew of Shem Tob have survived. These manuscripts are dated between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among the most important manuscripts include:

• Ms. British Museum Library Add. No. 26964, London
• Ms. Heb. 28, Rijksuniveriteit Library, Leiden, Netherlands
• Ms. Mich. 119. Bodeleian Library, Oxford
• Ms. Opp. Add. 4 '72. Bodeleian Library, Oxford
• Ms. 2209 (Marx 19), Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York
• Ms. 2234 (Marx 15), Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York
• Ms. 2279 (Marx 18), Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York
• Ms. 2426 (Marx 16), Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York
• Ms Vat.ebr.101, Vatican Library

Translations of the Gospel of Matthew from the work of Shem Tob

There are translations of the Gospel of Matthew from the work of Shem Tob in several European languages. Among them are:

English:

• Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, George E. Howard (1985)
• Messianic Natzratim Study Bible, Bill Carlson (1993)
• The Book of God: Matthew, Tov Rose (2013)
• Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew: Sacred Name Version, Daniel W. Merrick (2015)
• Hebrew Matthew, vol. One (Chapters 1–12), Jason S. Lorent (2017)

Finnish:

• Evankeliumi Matteuksen mukaan – Shem Tob, Tuomas Levänen (2015)[5]

French:

• Livre de Mattityahou d'apres le texte Hébreu Shem Tov, Ruth ...?... (2012)[6]

Spanish:

• Toldot Iehoshua. La Historia de nuestro Rav el Mashiaj Iehoshua Ben Iosef de Natzrat por: Matityah HaLevi, Avdiel Ben Oved (2004)
• [Toldot Jeshua al-pi Matitjah] / Historia de Yeshúa Según Matityah, José Antonio Álvarez Rivera (2009–2010)
• Evangelio Hebreo de Mateo, versión critica de los 116 capítulos, Eliahu Almani, Oraj HaEmet (2010)[7]

Dutch:

• Hebreeuws Mattheüs (online version, pages 1–9), 2014[8]
• Het Mattheüsevangelie (vertaald vanuit het Hebreeuws), 2020[9]

Polish:

• Ewangelia św. Mateusza po hebrajsku, Eliezer Wolski (2017)

In preparation:

• Ewangelia według Mateusza z dzieła Szem-Toba ’Ewen Bōḥan (Kamień Wypróbowany) – wydanie z tekstem hebrajskim, przypisami, Dodatkiem Analitycznym oraz uwypukleniem różnic wobec kanonicznego tekstu, Grzegorz Kaszyński

Portuguese:

• Evangelho segundo Matityah Shem Tov: História de Yeshu Segundo Matityah de Shem Tov Ben Isaac, Maurício Carijo (2012)[10]

Romanian:

• Shem Tov Evanghelia Mathyahu ebraic-română-text online, Obedeya Dorin David Aurel Ben Aharon Cohen (chapters 1–12), 2013[11]

Claim of support received

The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1969), published by the Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower Society, refers to Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (indicated by the siglum J²) in support of its decision to introduce "Jehovah" into the text of the New World Translation of the New Testament.

References

1. Petersen, William L. 1989. Review of G. Howard, The Gospel of Matthew according to a Primitive Hebrew Text, in Journal of Biblical Literature 108: 722-726.
2. Petri Luomanen, Recovering Jewish-Christian Sects and Gospels (BRILL 2011), p. 3
3. Hebrew Gospel of Matthew or Even Bohan: The Gospel of Matthew according to a Primitive Hebrew 2nd edition (Mercer University Press 1987). This gives the full text of Shem Tob's Gospel and Howard's translation, but without Howard's commentary, while Google Books gives only a limited preview of Howard's book.
4. George Howard, Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (Mercer University Press, 2005). p. 22
5. "Evankeliumi Matteuksen mukaan" (in Finnish). apokryfikirjat.com. 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
6. "Livre de Mattityahou d'après le texte Hébreu Shem Tov" (in French). blogspot.com. October 15, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
7. "Mateo Hebreo -שם טוב". Retrieved November 19, 2018.
8. Hebreeuws Mattheüs
10. Evangelho segundo Matityah_Shem Tov
11. Obedeya Dorin David Aurel Ben Aharon Cohen (July 2013). "Shem Tov Evanghelia Mathyahu ebraic-română-text online" (in Romanian). blogspot.com. Retrieved May 5, 2018.