03-06-2011, 03:03 PM
Matthew 27:9 ? Jeremiah prophecies 30 pieces of silver?
Matthew 27:9-10(NAS) Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel; AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER'S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME."
The problem with this is that this prophecy was not written by Jeremiah, but Zechariah.
Zechariah 11:12-13 (NAS)12I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
This seems like one of the most blatant, obvious errors/contradictions in the bible that I have ever seen. As for the attempts to solve this problem in the Greek texts, the explanation are certainly lacking. There are many Old Testament books that are rolled together and Jeremiah sometimes has Lamentations included with it. Also, 1&2 Kings is usually one book, 1&2 Chronicles is usually one book and Ezra & Nehemiah are counted as one book. Zechariah is lumped together with eleven other smaller books called the Minor Prophets, but there is no evidence that Zechariah was ever rolled into the major prophetical work of Jeremiah.
However, even the most Western-leaning bible scholars will usually admit there is early evidence that the book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. This original text had to be translated by someone into the Greek that is commonly used now for translations into English.
It seems very plausible that this early Greek translator chose to add the prophet?s name in Matthew 27:9, but got the wrong name when doing so.
However, this inconvenient error of mentioning Jeremiah as the prophet of the 30 pieces of silver that exists in the Greek translations does not exist in the original Aramaic. The Peshitta text Matthew 27:9 reads (AENT):
?Then the thing was fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet??
That is, the name of the prophet is not given, which means a name of a wrong prophet (i.e. Jeremiah) is not given as we find in the Greek translations.
Matthew 27:9-10(NAS) Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel; AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER'S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME."
The problem with this is that this prophecy was not written by Jeremiah, but Zechariah.
Zechariah 11:12-13 (NAS)12I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
This seems like one of the most blatant, obvious errors/contradictions in the bible that I have ever seen. As for the attempts to solve this problem in the Greek texts, the explanation are certainly lacking. There are many Old Testament books that are rolled together and Jeremiah sometimes has Lamentations included with it. Also, 1&2 Kings is usually one book, 1&2 Chronicles is usually one book and Ezra & Nehemiah are counted as one book. Zechariah is lumped together with eleven other smaller books called the Minor Prophets, but there is no evidence that Zechariah was ever rolled into the major prophetical work of Jeremiah.
However, even the most Western-leaning bible scholars will usually admit there is early evidence that the book of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew. This original text had to be translated by someone into the Greek that is commonly used now for translations into English.
It seems very plausible that this early Greek translator chose to add the prophet?s name in Matthew 27:9, but got the wrong name when doing so.
However, this inconvenient error of mentioning Jeremiah as the prophet of the 30 pieces of silver that exists in the Greek translations does not exist in the original Aramaic. The Peshitta text Matthew 27:9 reads (AENT):
?Then the thing was fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophet??
That is, the name of the prophet is not given, which means a name of a wrong prophet (i.e. Jeremiah) is not given as we find in the Greek translations.