Tuesday 20th January
Read Matthew 4:12-17
“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali – 14 to fulfil what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles –
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (NIVUK)
Are you amongst those who get a little twitchy when the apostles misquote the scriptures? If the words of scripture are God’s word, unchanging and perfect, what does it mean when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament incorrectly? Translators get twitchy too, so you are not alone.
The seventh, and last, of the fulfillment quotes falls at the end of the birth narrative. It is also the longest (and richest). Like Jesus telling His disciples to go and pick up a donkey so He can enter Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah, Matthew makes it clear that Jesus moved to Capernaum in order to fulfill Isaiah. Can you see the differences in the quote though?
“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2) (NIVUK)
One is obvious, another was ‘smoothed’ over by translators. ‘Walking/living’ and ‘shone/risen (dawned)’. Our options are to accept that Matthew makes mistakes or to ask why the changes were made. If we accept error then we have to rethink our understanding of the infallibility of the scriptures. If we think they are deliberate we have to rethink our understanding of the purpose of scripture. I err towards the latter and tomorrow we can explore the wonder of scripture!
