No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
A Note on the Variant Form of the Shema in the Writings of Justin Martyr
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2011
Extract
In three places in the extant works of Justin Martyr, Justin quotes the Shema (Deut 6:4–5) in a variant form found in no known Jewish witness to this common Jewish liturgical prayer. In place of the familiar tripartite formula “with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,” Justin preserves the bipartite formula “with all your heart and with all your strength” (⋯ξ ὃλης τ⋯ς καρíας σου καì ⋯ξ ὃλης τ⋯ς ἰσχύος σου). William L. Petersen, in several publications, has suggested that Justin may preserve “the oldest recoverable version of the Shema, a version which deviates from that found in either the present Hebrew Bible (MT or LXX) or the New Testament.” Since Justin's variant form of the Shema occurs in three places in his own works as well as a few other early Christian sources, the bipartite formula cannot simply be a mistake but must preserve an authentic alternate tradition. But is it the “earliest recoverable version” as Petersen suggests? This assertion is problematic on two counts.
- Type
- Notes and Observations
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2000
References
1 This form is found in the following three places in Justin's works: Dial. 93.2, 93.3; Apol. 16.6. This last one is not strictly a full quotation of the Shema, but a conflation of Deut 6:13 with Deut 6:5.
2 Petersen, William L., Tatian's Dialessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship (VC Suppl. 25; Leiden: Brill, 1994) 424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also , idem., “Textual Evidence of Tatian's Dependence upon Justin's AΠΟΜΝΗΜΟΝΕΥΜΑΤΑ,” NTS 36 (1990) 524–25Google Scholar ; “What Text Can New Testament Textual Criticism Ultimately Reach?” New Testament Textual Criticism, Exegesis and Early Church History: A Discussion of Methods (Aland, B. & Delobel, J., eds.; Kampen: Pharos, 1994) 145Google Scholar.
3 Justin's reading is supported by one Old Latin text (k) of Mark 12:30, which reads de toto corde tuo et de totis viribus tuis. Clement of Alexandria (Quis dives salvetur 27) has a bipartite formula, but with the order “soul/strength” rather than Justin's “heart/strength.” Other witnesses preserve a tripartite formula with “strength” as the second rather than the third term, which Petersen sees as indirect support for Justin's reading. A few such witnesses are the Curetonian Syriac of Luke 10:27 (see Kiraz, George Anton, Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels [4 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1996])Google Scholar ; the Palestinian Syriac Lectionary of Luke 10:27 (see Lewis, A. S. & Gibson, M. D., The Palestinian Syriac Lectionary of the Gospels [London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1899])Google Scholar ; the Syriac writer Aphrahat (Demonstrations 2.1, 2.7); and the Syriac Liber Graduum 22.21, 30.26. For these last two see Graffin, A. R., ed., Patrologia Syriaca (3 vols.; Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1894-1926).Google Scholar Because of the apparent agreement between these early Syriac sources and the Old Latin text of Mark, Petersen argues that Tatian's Diatessaron contained the same variant as Justin, and in fact Tatian probably derived the reading from Justin. The tripartite formula with “strength” in second place also occurs in some Western patristic sources. References can be found in , Petersen, Tatian's Diatessaron, 424, n.147Google Scholar.
4 Of course, the original Hebrew autograph of Deuteronomy would preserve the oldest form of the Shema. But given the multiplicity of Hebrew text types, this original Hebrew text is probably not recoverable, leaving the LXX as our earliest potential witness.
5 For the manuscript tradition of Justin's works, see Barnard, L. W., Justin Martyr: His Life and Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967) 14Google Scholar.
6 , Petersen, “What Text …?” 145.Google Scholar
7 Petersen appears to be citing a private communication, so the accuracy of the statement, unfortunately, cannot be verified.
8 Benoit, Pierre, Milik, J. T., and Vaux, R. de, Les grottes de Murabba'at (Discoveries in the Judean Desert 2; Oxford: Clarendon, 1961) 85.Google Scholar
9 Milik, J. T., Qumran Grotte 4 (Discoveries in the Judean Desert 6; Oxford: Clarendon, 1977) 55.Google Scholar
10 The Qumran Temple Scroll (11 QTemple) does contain a bipartite form in a reference to the Shema, but it is not clear that this is meant to be a full quotation. At 54:12–13 we read: 
“loving the LORD God of your (pl.) fathers with all your (pl.) heart and with all your (pl.) soul.” Even if we take this as a quotation of the Shema, its bipartite form “heart/soul” does not support Justin's “heart/strength.” For this passage, see
Yadin, Yigael, ed., The Temple Scroll, vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1977) pl. 69.Google Scholar
11 It is unfortunate that the Nash Papyrus, a Hebrew text containing the Decalogue and the Shema, breaks off after Deut 6:4 and does not preserve verse 5. This Papyrus is widely acknowledged to date to the Maccabean era, making it the oldest known witness to at least the first part of the Shema. On the Nash Papyrus see, Albright, W. F., “A Biblical Fragment from the Maccabaean Age: The Nash Papyrus,” JBL 56 (1937) 145–76Google Scholar.