Subject: tc-list Matthew 12:47 and the Diatessaron

From: [email-masked] (William L. Petersen)
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 15:31:04 +0100

>Stephen Carlson asked (apropos of my reply concerning the Diatessaronic
>reading >at Matt 12:47):

>Just a thought.  This being the case, could Ephraem's Diatesseron then be
>considered a witness to the lack of KAI hAI ADELFAI SOU ("and your sisters")
>in Mk3:32?  I think it meets the criteria for a patristic citation explained
>on p. 29* of UBS4.

This is possible.  But then anything is possible.

Recall that the inverse is also possible:  the passsage might be the text
of Matthew, as Tatian knew it.  In view of the uncertainty as to which
gospel the passage belongs, I, at least, would not make too much of it.

In the interval, I have checked four of the most important Diatessaronic
witnesses, whose text I present below:

1) Arabic Harmony (ed. Marmardji, p. 153): Un homme lui dit: "Voici ta mere
et tes freres se tenant dehors, et ils demandent a te parler."

The Arabic agrees with the Matthean text here ("un homme lui dit";  +
"demandent a te parler").

-----------

2) Codex Fuldensis (ed. Sievers, p. 61): Dixit autem ei quidam Ecce mater
tua et fratres tui foris stant quaerentes te.

The intro in Codex Fuldensis is Matthew ("Dixit autem ei quidam");  the
quotation could be either Mark or Matthew ("stant" = Matthew, omit "loqui"
= Mark).
-----------

3) Codex Sangallensis (ed. Masser, p. 203): tho quad imo sum. senu thin
muoter inti thine bruoder statent uze suohhente thih.

The intro is Matthew again, the quotation is again either Matthew or Mark,
for exactly the same reasons as in (2).

-----------

4) Liege Harmony (ed. Plooij, p. 131): Doe seide een mensche van din volke
to te hem. Dyn moeder en dine brudere staen ghinder bute en begheren te
sprekene iegen di.

Liege's intro is Mark ("van din volke");  the quotation, however, is
Matthew, save for the missing "ecce" (+ "te sprekene iegen di").

-----------

5) As already noted, Ephrem's text ("Et in eo iterum quod [dicitur]: Ecce
mater tua et frates tui quaerunt te") has the Matthean intro, and,
apparently, the Marcan quotation.

As can be seen, this is not an easy puzzle to solve:  Both the Matthean and
the Marcan forms of the quotation can be found in both East and West
(Matthew = Arabic & Liege;  Mark = Ephrem & Fuldensis/Sangallensis).
Considerable time is needed to assemble the materials (we would have to
check all the main Diatessaronic witnesses, relevant Patristic witnesses,
and apparatuses, to get a real map of the possibilites, and I simply don't
have time for that), and then examine it (I have had recourse to various
lexica during this little exercise).

My nose, however, tells me (and my nose is often disproven by the evidence)
that (1) the consistently Matthean intro and (2) the persistent presence of
the distinctly Matthean "standing" in all of the texts, when coupled with
(3) the very slight difference between the Matthean and the Marcan texts
here (+ or - "loqui"), suggests that the Diatessaron followed Matthew
here--or, alternatively, knew a text of Mark which contained "standing,"
and omitted "and your sisters."  (The matter of the omission of "sisters"
may, however, been influenced by Tatian's Encratism...)  Another problem is
the distinct possibility of confusion in the eye and minds of scribes
between the very similar v. 46 (in Matt) with v. 47 (and the same in the
other gospels).

The matter is *very* difficult to decide, and I would not even bet a pair
of dirty socks on either side.

--Petersen, Penn State Univ.,
Netherlands Institue of Advanced Studies.