We now have definitive evidence that the Hebrew Matthew once held by the ancient Nazarene Jews was directly related to the DuTillet Hebrew manuscript of Hebrew Matthew we have today!
We have always known that the ancient Jewish sect of the Nazarenes used a Hebrew Matthew. For example the fourth century “church father” Epiphanius writes:
They [the Nazarenes] have the Gospel according to Matthew quite complete in Hebrew, for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters.
– Epiphanius (370 C.E.) (Panarion 29:9:4)
And for many decades I have been making the case that the DuTillet Hebrew version of Matthew descends from that original Hebrew version, based primarily upon internal evidence of originality. I have shown several places where DuTillet contains variant readings which appear to have been misread or misunderstood by the Greek translator, as well as many unique parallels with the Old Syriac Aramaic Matthew which was lost from the fourth century until the 19th Century.
In fact the main vulnerability of DuTillet Hebrew Matthew has been its age. The manuscript itself only dates back to the 16th Century.
And while there are some readings that show some agreement with the Gospel according to the Hebrews, we have yet to find a smoking gun that would definitively tie DuTillet Hebrew Matthew to the ancient Nazarenes… until today!
This morning, I was working on my reconstruction of the original Hebrew behind the five fragments of the lost Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah. These are five quotations of a third century Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah which have been preserved only in Latin translation, quoted by Jerome in his Commentary on Isaiah. Jerome is a fourth century Latin church father, who often referenced the Nazarenes in his writings, and who famously created the Latin Vulgate, standard Latin Bible.
I recently published my restorations of the Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah 8:14 and on Isaiah 8:19-22 . This morning, I was working on my restoration of the Nazarene Commentary on Isaiah 9:1-4 and I saw something that “blew me away.”
In this Isaiah Commentary project, I have sought to reconstruct the Hebrew using all tools available to me. One of the most obvious guides, is the Hebrew text of Isaiah itself. Another is Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation of these same passages of Isaiah.
So I came upon a passage in the Commentary to Isaiah 9:1-4 which reads in Latin that when Yeshua came to the Land of Zebulon an the Land of Naphtali that he “scribarum et pharisaeorum est erroribus liberata, et gravissimum traditionum Iudaicarum iugum excussit de cervicibus suis.” or in English that he “He shook off of their shoulders the yoke of the heavy decrees of the Scribes and Pharisees” (I have rendered “traditionum” as “decrees” based on Jerome’s use of that Latin word in the Latin Vulgate in Matthew 15 where the DuTillet Hebrew has גזרתכם “your decrees, judgements, sentences”.)
As I looked to Isaiah 9:1-4 I saw the Hebrew words for “yoke” and “shoulder” but the verb there is החתת “broken” not “shaken off”. And, in fact, in Biblical Hebrew the idiom is always that a yoke is “broken”. But here the Latin verb is excussit “to shake off”. This pointed strongly the Hebrew verb נער
Suddenly I had a flash of insight! I had seen this somewhere else before! I quickly whipped out DuTillet’s Hebrew Matthew, and there it was, Yeshua, a yoke, and the verb נער!
לכו אלי כל היעפים ואשר עליכם משא ואני אשביעכם שאו את עולי עליכם ולמדו ממני כי נער אני ושפל רוח ותמצאו מדגוע לנפשותיכם כי עולי מתוק הוא ומשאי קל
28 Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will satisfy you.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I shake [that burden] off and am downcast of spirit, and you will find rest for your souls (Jer. 6:16; Ps. 23:3).
30 For my yoke is gentle, and my burden easy.
(Matthew 11:28-30 DuTillet)
(In the past I translated as “driven out” based on its use in Zech. 11:16, but in light of this new information, I now see it is better translated “shake off” in implied reference to the yoke that Yeshua offers to replace with his “light” yoke.)
The Greek translator must have misread נער as נעם “to be pleasant”. At any rate, the DuTillet Hebrew version of Matthew is the only extant text of Matthew with this reading.
No doubt the Nazarene Commentator on Isaiah saw Isaiah 9:1-4 and it brought to mind Matthew 3:14-16 & Matthew 11:28-30. And seeing the verb נער in his Hebrew text of Matthew 11:29 commented that Yeshua “shook off of their shoulders the yoke of the heavy decrees of the Scribes and Pharisees”.
This cannot be a coincidence. The Ancient Nazarene Commentator on Isaiah clearly had a Hebrew Matthew before him that agreed with this unique reading found only in the DuTillet Hebrew Matthew. We can now make a definite connection between DuTillet Hebrew Matthew, and the original Hebrew Matthew which was in the hands of the Ancient Nazarene Jews!
I want to thank all of you supporting this work. I literally could not do it without you!
We need your help today! Donations have been down, costs have been up. Bills are due!
This work takes hours of my time. As many of you know, my wife is very ill, and I spend most of my time at home as her caretaker. In doing this work I am in a position to dedicate many hours to this important work that I have been directed to do.
But I also realize that it is not the activity of James Trimm alone who is responsible to do this work, it is all of us together who are charged with the responsibility of accomplishing this work. I very much look on the efforts of this restoration work as a cooperative one with each one of you. We are all joint heirs with Messiah and should always be about our Father’s business. I am honored to be able to be partnered with truth seekers as this restoration of Scripture moves forward in fulfillment of prophecy.
Thank you for your faithfulness in accurately handling the Word of Truth.