Sunday, January 16, 2022

M.J.J. Menken on the use of Jeremiah 38:15 (LXX: 31:15) in Matthew 2:18

  

There are some differences between the versions that may have been available in Matthew’s time, but hardly one of these seems to affect the possibility of messianic interpretation. There is perhaps one exception: the Hebrew ברמה is rendered in Matthew and LXX B by εν Ραμα, “in Ramah”, while LXX A reads εν τη υψηλη, “in the heigh”, and Aquila has (according to ms. 86) εν υψηλη (the same interpretation is found in Tg. And Vg.). The Greek has translation emphasizes that God hears the lament: “A voice was heard in the height”, that is, in heaven (cf. Heb 1,3). However, Matthew very probably found a text with a geographical name; otherwise it is incomprehensible why he used the verse from Jeremiah at all, and even slightly adapted the preceding narrative to it. (M.J.J. Menken “Messianic Interpretation of Greek Old Testament Passages in Matthew’s Fulfilment Quotations,” in M.A. Knibb, ed., The Septuagint and Messianism [Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 195; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2006], 468)