jewish-christian gospels recovered in Matthew is presented as an alternative to Jewish prayer practices and
similar criticisms of Jewish prayers and praying habits also characterize
the Nazarenes’ relation to the rabbis.
It is impossible to know the exact extent or wording of the quotations
but, as the following reconstruction indicates, the phrases that Jerome
quoted from the Nazarene collection clearly belong to contexts that
exemplify the hostility of the Jewish people and the judgment upon
them. The following English reconstruction draws on the wording of
the NRSV.Reconstructedvariantreadingsin the Nazarene collection
areunderlinedanditalicized. Phrases that exemplifythe hostility of
Jews/rabbis towards God’s Son, who was sent to rule them, are written
with bold.
.Comm. Matt. . (ce); Context: Matt :– (see also Matt :,
,)
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,^2 asking, “Where is the child
who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,
and have come to pay him homage.”^3 When King Herod heard this, he was
frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;^4 and calling together all the chief
priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah
was to be born.^5 They told him, “In Bethlehem ofJuda; for so it has been
written by the prophet:^6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are
by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for from you shall come a
ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”^7 Then Herod secretly called
for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star
had appeared.^8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying,“Go and search
diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me wordso
that I may also go and pay him homage.”
.Comm. Matt. . (ce). Context: Matt :–(^29) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!For you build the tombs
of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous,^30 and you say,
“If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken
part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.”^31 Thus you testify
against yourselves thatyou are descendants of those who murdered the
prophets.^32 Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors.^33 You snakes, you
brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?^34 Therefore
I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and
crucify, andsome you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town
to town,^35 so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of
Jojada,whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.^36 Truly
I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.^37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem,