For example, Mark 1.2-3 reads:
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of,
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
'Prepare the ways of the Lord,
make his paths straight.'"
When we scour the pages of Isaiah we realize that only half the quotation comes from that book. The text in bold comes from Malachi 3.1 (cf. Ex 23.20), while the bottom half is from Isaiah 40.3.
Mark was the first gospel written and was used extensively by Matthew and Luke as they compiled their versions of the Jesus event. In fact 97.2% of Mark is found in Matthew and 88.4% of Mark is found in Luke!
When Matthew and Luke are parallel to Mark they are shorter; it seems they have edited Mark. Take for example what happens when Matthew and Luke handle the passage from above; both of them remove the text from Malachi and present only the Isaiah quote:
Matthew 3.3:
This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,
The voice of one crying out in
the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.'
Luke 3.4:
As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
The voice of one crying out in
the wilderness:
'Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.'
This is just one of many examples that help us understand how the Bible was composed. Next time you are reading through the New Testament and come across a quote from the Hebrew Scriptures, look it up. You'll be amazed at what you find!
2 comments:
Brandon have you heard of the book by Bart Ehrman "Jesus Interrupted"? Its all about the "editing" the bible. He even argues that some NT letters we credit to Paul, etc are actually forgeries. I know that's not where you were taking this, but interesting nonetheless.
Charlie, I would recommend Charlesworth's introduction to his texts on the Pseudepigrapha...it is of course the OT but provides a solid background for understanding how pseudonymity functioned in the ANE.
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