is constant neglect of the context is a point that
should be borne in mind.
[Greek: Eta symbol] _Inversion._ Sometimes the sense of the original is so
far departed from that a seemingly opposite sense is substituted
for it. Thus in Matt. ii. 6 [Greek: oudamos elachistae =
oligostos] of Mic. v. 2, in Rom. xi. 26 [Greek: ek Sion = heneken
Sion] LXX= '_to_ Sion' Heb. of Is. lix. 20, in Eph. iv. 8
[Greek: hedoken domata = helabes domata] of Ps. lxvii. 19.
[Greek: Theta symbol] _Different Form of Sentence._ The grammatical
form of the sentence is altered in Matt. xxvi. 31 (from aorist to future),
in Luke viii. 10 (from oratio recta to oratio obliqua), and in 1 Pet.
iii. 10-12 (from the second person to the third). This is a kind
of variation that we should naturally look for.
[Greek: Iota symbol] _Mistaken Ascriptions or Nomenclature._ The
following passages are wrongly assigned:--Mal. iii. 1 to Isaiah
according to the correct reading of Mark i. 2, and Zech. xi. 13
to Jeremiah in Matt. xxvii. 9, 10; Abiathar is apparently put for
Abimelech in Mark ii. 26; in Acts vii. 16 there seems to be a
confusion between the purchase of Machpelah near Hebron by Abraham
and Jacob's purchase of land from Hamor the father of Shechem.
These are obviously lapses of memory.
[Greek: Kappa symbol] _Quotations of Doubtful Origin_. There are a
certain number of quotations, introduced as such, which can be assigned
directly to no Old Testament original; Matt. ii. 23 ([Greek: Nazoraios
klaethaesetai]), 1 Tim. v. 18 ('the labourer is worthy of his hire'),
John vii. 38 ('out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'),
42 (Christ should be born of Bethlehem where David was), Eph. v. 14
('Awake thou that sleepest'). [Endnote 25:1]
It will be seen that, in spite of the reservations that we felt
compelled to make at the outset, the greater number of the
deviations noticed above can only be explained on a theory of free
quotation, and remembering the extent to which the Jews relied
upon memory and the mechanical difficulties of exact reference and
verification, this is just what before the fact we should have
expected.
* * * * *
The Old Testament quotations in the canonical books afford us a
certain parallel to the object of our enquiry, but one still
nearer will of course be presented by the Old Testament quotations
in those books the New Testament quotations in which we are to
investigate. I have thou
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