THE HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW [Paperback]

George Howard (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mercer University Press (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865549893
• ISBN-13: 978-0865549890
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A scholarly presentation of the earliest complete Hebrew text of Matthew still extant, May 24, 2009

By 

S. English - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW (Paperback)

Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, by George Howard, is the complete Hebrew text of Matthew that "appeared in the body of a fourteenth century Jewish polemical treatise" by a Jewish apologist named Shem-Tob (or Shem-Tov). Howard presents us with the Hebrew text and an English translation on facing pages followed by an analysis of the text.

Several of the early church fathers, including Papias, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Origin, and Jerome state that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew and others later translated it. Greek and Latin speaking Christians, however, did not retain this Hebrew text and, as a result, little is know about it.

Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew is particularly of interest because:
1. It is the earliest complete Hebrew text of the Gospel known.
2. Though preserved in a fourteenth century treatise, the text appears to predate the fourteenth century.
3. It does not appear to be a translation of any known Greek or Latin text.

In his analysis of the text, Howard begins by comparing various verses from Shem-Tob's Matthew to (1) Hebrew excerpts from Matthew that were quoted in earlier writings and to (2) the later Hebrew texts of Matthew published by Sebastian Münster (1537) and Jean du Tillet (1555). He shows both places where the various Hebrew texts agree with each other, but differ from the Greek Matthew, and places where the various Hebrew texts differ from each other. He concludes that Shem-Tob's Hebrew Matthew is not the same as Münster's and du Tillet's (which are very similar to each other) nor is it a translation of the Latin Vulgate or "any known copy of the Greek text." He also states reasons for believing that Münster and du Tillet's represent later revisions to the textual tradition preserved in Shem-Tob.

Howard then presents an analysis of the linguistic and literary features of the text (including the use of puns and connective words which, being specific to Hebrew, don't exist in the Greek version of Matthew), the relationship of the text to other non-Hebrew textual traditions, theological motifs, and other interesting aspects of the text.

Howard's book is a scholarly presentation of this Hebrew Matthew and would be of interest to any serious student of the Hebrew origins of Matthew.

A word of caution is in order, however. While Shem-Tob appears to have used a pre-existing Hebrew text of Matthew, we do not know where he obtained it, what its textual history is, what kind of revisions or alterations may have been made throughout its history, or how accurately it reproduces the original Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. It is, in a sense, an important puzzle piece in a puzzle where most of the pieces have been lost.

59 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Background, November 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hebrew Gospel of Matthew (Hardcover)

Some background may be useful here. Jerome, the translator of the Vulgate around 400 A.D., who is considered the greatest Hebrew scholar of the late Roman Imperial age, wrote the following in his De Viris Illustribus (Of Illustrious Men):

"Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library. at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having the volume described to me bythe Nazarenes of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our Lord the Saviour quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms exist "Out of Egypt have I called my son, " and "for he shall be called a Nazarene."

It is apparently unknown whether this Hebrew Matthew is the original of which Jerome wrote, but the possibility exists that this is the earliest Gospel of all. Considering the close relation of Hebrew to Aramaic, the language would in that case be the closest to Jesus' own.

51 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars George Howard made a very good study of the wrong manuscript, December 27, 2007

By 

Henri ORQUERA (France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: THE HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW (Paperback)

The first book I read about Hebrew Matthew Gospel was this Georges Howard book and I found it very well done and a must. In that time.

Then I learned it also exists 2 more Hebrew Matthew Gospel texts.

The first one has been published by Sebastian Munster in Basel 1537 as a book with the Hebrew text copied and a Latin translation and several reprints of this text during the 16th century.
The original hebrew manuscript is lost, and there is a possibility Munster had to fill some little gaps in his manuscript.

The second text is the DuTillet edition in Paris, Jean Mercier 1555, with a Latin translation too.
Very important, DuTillet kept on the manuscript he found in Rome, and this manuscript is today in Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris (Richelieu building), under Hebrew Mss. # 132, written in medieval hebrew script.


I adquired copies of both texts and discussed them with scholars who studied them better that I did.

The 2 texts come from 2 distinct sources, but are very similar with few differences (except some verses at the beginning and at the end), but with many scribal simplifications in one or another text.
They agree with what old "Church Fathers" quote in the Hebrew text they could read.

A comparation of the Hebrew text vs the Greek version we know, makes obvious the Greek translator made many little translation errors, misunderstanding somme words with several meanings (Syria and Country), and more often confusing Hebrew similar letters (such as HE and HET or YOD and VAV).
It is clear theese Hebrew texts directly come from a Hebrew original, and the Greek we have is a translation.

In comparison, the Shem Tov editions Howard studied are a very very poor copy of the original text, modified by go-between scribes with certainly agendas to twist the text.

So, George Howard made a very good study of the wrong manuscript.