56T. TESTIMONY FROM JEROME, EPISTLE 57.8.4-9
“Consider step by step the things set down by the Gospel writers: ‘And
you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, . . . Not least are you among the leaders of Judah’
(Matthew 2:6).
In the Septuagint: ‘you are small among the thousands of Judah.’ . . .
The meaning (of the Gospel writer’s quotation) is contrary to the
Septuagint, which in this passage agrees with the Hebrew. The Gospel writer
said that ‘you are not small among the leaders of Judah,” while in its
cited context ‘you are small and mediocre.’ . . .
Furthermore, what follows, ‘(from you will go forth a leader) who reigns’
is clearly different in the prophet: ‘who shepherds my people Israel.’
I go over these points, not to accuse the Evangelists of falsehood—a habit
of the impious Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian . . . “
Commentary
In Matthew 2:6 (quotation of Micah 5:1), Jerome noticed a discrepancy
between the text of Matthew and the Hebrew and Greek versions of Micah 5:1 (5:2
in English versions). This discrepancy he traces back to Porphyry and others.
In brief, the Septuagint of Micah says that Bethlehem is the smallest (oligostos)
whereas Matthew 2:6 says that Bethlehem is “hardly the least” (oudamōs
elachistē).
So the dispute is whether Bethlehem truly is relatively small (in
Micah) or whether it isn’t (in Matthew). This is exactly the kind of philological
discrepancy that Porphyry would pick up on. He may have argued that Matthew
changed the text to exalt the importance of Bethlehem among Judean cities. (M.
David Lita, A Reconstruction of Against the Christians by Porphyry of Tyre [Melbourne,
Australia: Gnosis, 2025], 89-90)
