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Consequences of Rejecting God’s Shepherd RulerParadise Restored to Mankind—By Theocracy!
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47. (a) How could it be that the apostle Matthew could say Jeremiah and yet really mean Zechariah? (b) How does the Aramaic Version dispose of the difficulty?
47 We notice that, in Matthew 27:9, 10, the apostle Matthew says that it was the saying of the prophet Jeremiah that was fulfilled. If Matthew was referring to that section of the Hebrew Scriptures known as The Prophets and this section in Matthew’s day was headed by the prophecy of Jeremiah, then the name Jeremiah would include all the other prophetic books, including that of Zechariah. In such a case Matthew would really be meaning Zechariah although using the name Jeremiah.b The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts (Peshitta) omits the name and reads: “Then what was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled, namely, I took the thirty pieces of silver, the costly price which was bargained with the children of Israel, and I gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” (George M. Lamsa, 1957) The Syriac New Testament translated into English from the Peshitto Version, by James Murdock (copyrighted 1893), reads the same way, in omitting the prophet’s name.c
48. (a) How does Matthew’s loose translation of Zechariah’s prophecy show the disposal of the thirty shekels? (b) This fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy confirms that he pictured whom here?
48 Since Matthew 27:9, 10 corresponds with Zechariah 11:13 and with nothing in the book of Jeremiah, Matthew’s quotation must have been a loose translation of Zechariah 11:13. The way in which Matthew translated Zechariah 11:13 was evidently meant to show how the fulfillment of Zechariah 11:13 worked out, namely, that “they took,” the priestly representatives of Israel took, the thirty silver pieces from the floor of the temple, and “they [the priests, acting instead of the individual, Judas Iscariot] gave them for the potter’s field.” Zechariah 11:13 does not tell us how the thirty silver shekels that Zechariah threw into the treasury of Jehovah’s temple were particularly disposed of later. Matthew, however, does tell us how the fulfillment of the prophecy did dispose of the money, to fit the altered circumstances. This fulfillment would confirm that the shepherd Zechariah here pictured the betrayed and sold Messianic Shepherd, Jesus, so cheaply priced.
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Consequences of Rejecting God’s Shepherd RulerParadise Restored to Mankind—By Theocracy!
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b The Syriac Version (Philoxenian Harkleian, a seventh-century revision) uses the name Zachariah, instead of Jeremiah.
c In Matthew 27:9, 10 the Sinaitic Manuscript of the fourth century C.E. reads “I” instead of “they.” So do the Syriac Versions, the Philoxenian Harkleian, the Peshitta, and the Sinaitic Codex. This agrees with Zechariah 11:13, which says “I took.”
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