Scribal Change
"Sometimes scribes altered their text to ensure that a favorite doctrine was duly emphasized. We find this, for example, in the account of Jesus's genealogy in Matthew's Gospel, which starts with the father of the Jews, Abraham, and traces Jesus' line from father to son all the way down to 'Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ' As it stands, the genealogy already treats Jesus as an exceptional case in that he is not said to be the 'son' of Joseph. for some scribes, however, that was not enough, and so they changed the text to read 'Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, to whom being betrothed the virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Christ.' Now Joseph is not even called Mary's husband, but only her betrothed, and she is clearly stated to be a virgin--an important point for many early scribes!"
Misquoting Jesus pg 96-97
Created over 1 year ago
