There is a certain gubernatorial candidate here in Texas that has released a commercial where he grossly misquotes a Bible verse and uses it to refer to himself as the “Good Shepherd.” Politicians misquoting the Bible is quite common so it is not too shocking, but what do we do when an Apostle misquotes the Bible?
Well that does in fact seem to be the case for two Holy Spirit-inspired Biblical authors named Matthew and Mark. There are two instances when Matthew and Mark quote the Old Testament and then seemingly attribute the quote to the wrong author. Matthew’s “error” can be found in Matthew 27:9-10 while he is showing that Judas fulfills OT prophecy by throwing his betrayal payment back into the Temple. It seems that Matthew is quoting Zechariah 11:12-13, yet he attributes the quotation to Jeremiah. Mark’s instance comes in Mark 1:2-3 where he is validating the ministry of John the Baptist with OT scripture that says a messenger will come before Messiah. Mark gives a shout out to Isaiah for this, though the quote he writes seems to be a combination of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. Mark’s quotation is the only Old Testament reference inserted by himself in the entire book. All the other OT references in Mark are when Jesus is speaking, so maybe we could give Mark a pass for inexperience, but come on Matthew, you should know better.
Remember when looking at OT quotes that many of the NT authors used the Septuagint as their reference. The Septuagint is not the basis for our translation of the Old Testament today (as discussed here), so many of the references do not match up word for word. Even though the Septuagint varies in some ways from our OT, usually it is quite simple to determine which verse the author is referencing. The Matthew error might even be explained by the difference in the order of books in his Bible compared to ours.
At some point Jeremiah was the first book in the section of the Hebrew Bible devoted to the prophets. Since Zechariah was also in the prophets section, some think that Matthew just referenced Jeremiah because it was the defining book of the section. Of course there is not much evidence that the Book of Jeremiah had the number one spot in the prophets section when Matthew was writing and he does not appear to quote closely enough the words of Zechariah. So maybe Matthew really does want us to look at the Book of Jeremiah.
It is possible that Matthew was pointing us to Jeremiah 19:1-13. This passage speaks of Israel’s rejection of God for other gods and Jeremiah breaks the potter’s flask, foreshadowing God’s reaction. It seems to be a very close parallel to what was happening in Matthew’s time. In Jeremiah 18:11 we have a promise from God that he will destroy the nation that rejects him and ironically after Israel rejects Jesus, they are defeated and exiled a few years later in 70 AD.
Matthew’s combining a reference to Jeremiah with some of the verbiage of Zechariah leads many to think that Matthew may have seen the condemnation of Christ as another instance in a long history of Israel rejecting God. The practice of combining quotes and attributing the more notable author may not seem so strange since it is also found in Mark 1:2-3.
Mark’s quote, attributed to Isaiah, does not seem to be just one verse, but a combination of Isaiah 40:3 , Malachi 3:1 and maybe even Exodus 23:20. The idea of the messenger being in the wilderness and making a straight path for the Lord may have been Mark’s more important point which is why he credits Isaiah. Yet he didn’t want to leave out the fact that it was also a fulfillment of what Malachi said. He also could have only said Isaiah because he was a more well-known prophet.
Although bibliographies and footnotes are done a little different today, what we might notice with these two verses is that the events of the Gospels resonated with the whole of the Old Testament not just certain parts. It was a continuation and the pinnacle of God’s plan for mankind.
References:
- Matthew 27:9-10
- Zechariah 11:12-13
- Mark 1:2-3
- Isaiah 40:3
- Malachi 3:1
- Jeremiah 19:1-13
- Exodus 23:20
- Soniclight Commentary on Matthew (PDF)
- Soniclight Commentary on Mark (PDF)
- The New John Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible