An Even Closer Look At Matt 2:6 And Its Old Testament Sources -- By: A. J. Petrotta

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 33:3 (Sep 1990)
Article: An Even Closer Look At Matt 2:6 And Its Old Testament Sources
Author: A. J. Petrotta


An Even Closer Look At Matt 2:6
And Its Old Testament Sources

A. J. Petrotta*

Biblical interpretation cannot be reduced to universal algorithms. This is fortunate for us since we then have opportunity to look at interesting problems from many different directions. Not too long ago in this Journal I had a look at Matt 2:6 and its OT sources,1 which was itself a second look prompted by the fine article by H. Heater.2

In my earlier article I was looking at Matthew’s citation of Mic 5:1 (English versions 5:2 and throughout this article) and 2 Sam 5:2 against the four principal versions. I asked two questions: (1) What kinds of divergences do we find? (2) How can we account for these? I concluded that the divergences were significant and could not be accounted for by the extant textual witnesses or by appealing to a non-MT Vorlage: “The rather obvious Christologica] emphasis suggests that Matthew himself is theologizing in this passage.”3

In this article I want to underscore the point that Matthew is “theologizing” by looking at his primary OT source, Mic 5:1, and asking a different kind of question from the previous. The question regards the wordplay in Mic 5:1 and how it is handled in Matt 2:6.

In Mic 4:14 J. Carteira finds alliteration between mṣwr and śm.4 More often noticed by commentators is the paronomasia between s̆bṭ and s̆pṭ where only the middle consonants differ (yet both are labials). 5:1 continues the alliterations. Carreira contends that the dominance of mēm and the persistence of ʾālep/ʿayin in 5:3 are part of Micah’s Kunstsprache:

* A. J. Petrotta is assistant professor of Biblical studies at Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas.

wʾth byt-lḥm ʾprth
ṣʿyr lhywt bʾlpy yhwdh
mmk ly yṣʾ lhywt mws̆l byśrʾl
wmwṣʾtyw mqdm mymy ʿwlm<...

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