Fill ye up (πληρώσατε [second person aorist
indicative active of πληροω, "to fill/fulfill"]) then the measure of
your fathers. (Matt 23:32)
Commenting
on the text of Matt 23:32, David L. Turner wrote:
Establishing
the Text of Matthew 23:32
The textual
authenticity of the imperative πληρώσατε is a matter of some debate. Two
variants are included in the apparatus of NA27, but the UBS4
editors deemed the manuscript support for the imperative reading to be so
strong as to preclude the discussion of the variants in its apparatus. The
aorist imperative πληρώσατε has relatively early and fairly wide support in the
manuscript tradition (e.g., א [fourth century], B2, C [fifth
century], L [eighty century], X [033, tenth century], G [036, tenth century], D
[ninth century], P [041, ninth century]), but two other readings have limited
currency. The aorist indicative επληρωσατε is found in D (Codex Beza, fifth century), H
(ninth century), and relatively few additional manuscripts, as well as in the
patristic source Acacius of Caesarea, who died in 396. The future indicative πληρωσετε is supported by the original
hand of the important uncial B (fourth century), but additional support is
found only in e (a Latin codex from the fifth century), Lectionary 844 (ninth
century), and a Sahidic Coptic manuscript.
Internal evidence also favour s the aorist
imperative reading. This reading best fits a basic principle in textual
criticism—prefer the more difficult reading. If the aorist indicative and future
indicative readings arose intentionally and not accidentally, it is plausible
to explain them as attempts to soften the harshness of the imperative. It is
difficult to make an argument for the opposite direction of the development of
this textual history. Although external evidence alone assures the
high-probability of the aorist imperative reading, the lectio difficilior potior principle makes this even more likely.
Additionally, the harshness of the aorist imperative reading bet fits the
context of prophetic critique in Matthew 23. (David L. Turner, Israel’s Last Prophet: Jesus and the Jewish
Leaders in Matthew 23 [Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015], 333-34)
Arguing that
πληρώσατε is to be interpreted as being an ironic
imperative, Turner notes that there are many instances of imperatives uttered
in a context of intentional verbal irony in both the Hebrew and Greek and that
Such imperatives are ironic because they
command an act that in reality is at variance with if not in outright contradiction
to what is right. (Ibid., 339)
Examples
include the following (Turner provides interpretive notes to all these texts on
pp. 339-49):
Judg 10:14: Go and cry unto the gods which ye
have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
1 Kgs 2:22: And king
Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the
Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder
brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of
Zeruiah.
1 Kgs 18:27: And it
came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a
god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or
peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
1 Kgs 22:15: So he
came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against
Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and
prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
Isa 6:9: And he said,
Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye
indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 8:9-10: Associate
yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye
of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird
yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it
shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with
us.
Isa 29:9: Stay
yourselves, and wonder, cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with
wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Isa 47:12: Stand now
with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou
hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be
thou mayest prevail.
Jer 7:21: Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your
sacrifices, and eat flesh.
Jer 23:28: The
prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let
him speak my word faithfully, What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord.
Jer 44:25: Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both
spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely
perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven,
and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows,
and surely perform your vows.
Ezek 3:27: But when I
speak with thee, I will openly thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord God; He that heareth, let him hear, and he that forbeareth, let
him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
Ezek 20:39: As for
you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his
idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my
holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
Amos 4:4-5: Come to
Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your
sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: And offer a
sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free
offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God.
Nah 3:14-15: Draw
thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread
the morter, make strong the brickkiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the
sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make
thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
Job 38:3-4: Gird up
now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast
understanding. (On Job 38:4, 7 and the Latter-day Saint understanding of pre-existence, see Kevin L. Barney, On Preexistence in the Bible, pp. 11-15)
Job 40:7, 10-13: Gird
up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me .
. . Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory
and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is
proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and
tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together; and bind
their faces in secret.
Job 41:8 (40:32
Hebrew): Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
Eccl 11:9: Rejoice, O
young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth,
and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know
thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
Lam 4:21: Rejoice and
be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also
shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself
naked.
Gal: 5:12: I would that they were even cut
off which trouble you.
1 Cor 4:8: Now ye are full, now ye are rich,
ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we
also might reign with you.
2 Cor 12:11-13: I am become a fool in
glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for
in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly
the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders,
and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches,
except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.
Rev 22:11: He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy
still.
Turner,
under the section “Matthew 23:32 and Matthew’s Emphasis on Biblical
Fulfillment,” that:
Jesus’ ironic imperative “fill up the measure
of your ancestors” should be understood as an aspect of Matthew’s
characteristic motif of biblical fulfillment. Jesus’ words are tantamount to a
command to kill him, but their point is to undermine the certainty of the judgment
and salvation to come. He speaks of his impending crucifixion as the
culmination of Israel’s historical pattern of rejecting its own prophets, but
it is also the means of saving his people (Matt. 26:26-28). Hypothetically the
leaders could repent of their plan to execute Jesus, but then, as Jesus put it
in Gethsemane, “How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen
this way?” (26:54). In Gethsemane Jesus counsels nonresistence to the arrest
party. He could call on his Father for the capacity to summon multitudes of
angels, but he will do the Father’s will in fulfillment of the Scriptures
(26:24, 39, 42, 56).
Matthew’s distinctive understanding of and
emphasis on biblical fulfillment centers in his ten fulfillment formula
quotations that utilize the verb πλρηοω. (Ibid., 350-51)
The ten
verses that Turner refers to are Matt 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17;
13:35; 21:4 and 27:9.
In light of
these (and many other) considerations, the aorist imperative πληρώσατε is the
original reading.