Recovering Jewish-Christian Sects and Gospels (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae)

jewish-christian gospels recovered 

with harlots and flute-girls” (τ.ν μ"ν κατα1αγ!ντα τ2ν 3παρ#ιν τ
δεσπ!τυ μ τα πρν4ν κα, υλητρδων) closely resembles Luke :
where the prodigal son “spent his fortune with harlots” (κατα1αγν
συ τ.ν *ν μετ& πρν4ν). Nevertheless, Klijn closes the discussion
by noting that the phrase may also be commonplace.^91 This assumption
would seem to be confirmed by the fact that the prostitutes and flute-
girls appear together in P.Oxy , exemplifying extravagant, impure
life.^92 However, it may have escaped Klijn’s notice that there is another
phrase in Eusebius’ summary that also agrees with the Parable of the
Prodigal Son. Both the prodigal son and the “wicked” servant “lived in
extravagance” (Luke ::4ν στως;Theoph.στως ηκ!τς).
Becauseστωςis ahapax legomenonin the NT, the agreement is hardly
coincidental. Given that many of the Jewish-Christian gospel fragments
combine phrases from different synoptic gospels, it seems clear that
Eusebius also had found a later edition of Matthew’s Parable of Talents
where the part of one of the servants was rewritten, borrowing phrases
from Luke’s Prodigal Son. Notably, Eusebius’ own interpretation only
plays with phrases to be found in Matthew’s passages (see above), which
makes it unlikely that the connections to Luke derived from Eusebius.
The introduction of the quotation indicates that Eusebius did not have
the entire gospel to hand but was relying on a fragment and had only
second hand information about its origin. At first glance, the reliability
of the information about the Semitic origin of the quotation may seem
dubious because there are word for word connections to the Greek
Gospel of Luke. However,στωςis used as a Greek loanword in a Syriac
translation of Luke : (Syh). This suggests that the original language
of the fragment that Eusebius paraphrased was Syriac, not Hebrew. This
observation is in line with the hypothesis, to be developed in more detail
in Chapter , that the GreekGospel of the Hebrews,whichwasusing
synoptic gospels, was later on translated into Syriac.

The Parable of the Talents in Ancient Mediterranean Culture
The version of the parable in theGospel of the Hebrewsis interesting
because its punishment of the servants is different. Scholars who have
approached the Eusebian version from the viewpoint of Matthew’s and

(^91) Klijn , , n. . Klijn also notes that in Syriac gospel tradition, the same word
is used to translate both*ν(Luke :,) andτα 5π%ρ6ντα(Luke :, :, Matt
:, :).
(^92) I owe this reference to Dr. Thomas Kazen.