Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Jerome on Micah 5:2 (Hebrew and LXX: 5:1) and its use in Matthew 2:6

  

There are some who assert that in almost all citations (testimoniis) taken from the Old Testament some sort of error has been made; either the order is changed, or the words and where the meaning itself is different, that the Apostles or the Evangelists have not taken their testimonies after direct consultation with the book itself that they relied on memory which is always subject to error. (Commentary on Micah 2.5.2, c. A.D. 391, The Faith of the Early Fathers, 3 vols. [trans. William A. Jurgens; Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1979], 2:197)

 

Jerome is pointing out that the quotation of Michaes 5:2 (5:1 in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint) as found in Matthew 2:6 differs considerably in its actual wording from what is found in the Hebrew, and neither does it correspond to the Septuagint reading, which also differs from the Hebrew. While verbally the differences are considerable, however, there is really very little difference in their actual meaning; and this in spite of the fact that both the Hebrew and the Septuagint agree that Bethlehem is the least place among the thousands of Juda, while the text in Matthew says that Bethlehem is in no way the least among these thousands. Even in those direct contradictions the meaning is really the same, to wit: Bethlehem is now a place of no importance; but she shall be known everywhere because the great leader of Israel is to come forth from her. (Ibid., 197 n. 2)