Saint Justin Martyr and the Jewish distortion of the Bible

 

A very important testimony by Justin Martyr in his dialogue with the Jew Trypho about the good news of Jesus and the Jews' distortion of the Holy Bible. This testimony is extremely important because it contains very, very important facts


- #First_Who_is_Justin_the_Martyr?
- We open the most important reference for studying petrology by its author Tadros Yacoub Al-Malati to introduce this saint


- The book A Comprehensive View of Patrology in the First Six Centuries / p. 26 / entitled The First Apologists / No. 6 / Justin Martyr - Born around 100 AD / Died 165 - 167: -
The most important apologist in the second century and one of the noblest figures in Christian literature
- The first Christian thinker to try to reconcile the demands of faith with reason.
- Eusebius gives us a list of 8 works by St. Justin: two defenses against the Greeks, a Jewish refutation, On the Sovereignty of God (God's supreme authority), the Psalms (perhaps a church hymn book), and his dialogue with Trypho, of which only the two defenses and the dialogue with Trypho the Jew remain


. - He was a prolific writer, writing his defense around 155 AD, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and his colleagues, and the dialogue with Trypho shortly after, in which he defended Christianity against the attack of Judaism through a discussion between Pustyn and a Jew named Trypho.


(Note: I have shortened the definition of him a little, so what we have mentioned in our definition of him, his works, and his position, which determine the reliability of his testimony, is sufficient)


_ For more information on his definition: https://st-takla.org/Saints/Coptic-O...tory_2046.html


#Moving_to_the_next_point_____
_The text of the dialogue is found in a book called Christian Texts in the Early Ages / Saint Justin the Philosopher and Martyr / Defense and Dialogue with Trypho and Other Texts / We find in the index 3 important chapters that we will discuss, God willing - p. 130/131: -
_Chapter 71: - The Jews and the Septuagint
_Chapter 72: - Texts that the Jews deleted from the Books of Ozra and Jeremiah
_Chapter 73: - Other parts that the Jews deleted from the Holy Text


#We_begin_with_Chapter_Seventy-One_____
- Justin says to Trypho: - I certainly do not trust Your teachers, since they do not acknowledge the authenticity of the translation of the Holy Scriptures that was done by the seventy elders in the court of Ptolemy, king of Caesar, and they are trying to make another translation of their own, you should also know that they have deleted many parts from the version that was translated by these elders who were in the court of Ptolemy, those things that clearly indicate that the crucified one is a god and a man and that he will be crucified and die, and since I know that you as Jews deny those parts, I will not argue with you on this subject, but I will complete my discussion using the parts that you acknowledge, and until now you acknowledge the authenticity of the texts that I mentioned except for “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and give birth,” and I am keeping my promise to prove to you that this prophecy did not refer to Hezekiah as you say, but to Christ. Trypho interrupted: - Before this, we want you to mention some texts that you say were completely deleted from the translation of the seventy elders.
(p. 231)
#End_of_Chapter_Seventy_One
#So_we_conclude: -
- Justinus accused Jewish scholars of deleting texts from the translation of the Seventy Elders, which is the Septuagint, one of the sources of the Old Testament. This is a clear and explicit accusation from him against the Jews that they have indeed deleted texts from the Holy Book. In the following two chapters, he will present those texts that do not exist now in any manuscript or in the entire Holy Book, meaning that the Jews deleted them from all copies of the Holy Book. Then someone comes and says to us, “Is it conceivable that the Jews would distort their book!!!” Yes, and your fathers and saints confirm that.
#Continue ____
#Chapter_Seventy_Two_____
When Trypho asked Justin to give him examples of those texts that the Jews had deleted, Justin replied: - I will do as you please, they deleted this part of the paragraphs in which he speaks, excuse me, about the law of the Passover: - "And he said, excuse me to the people, this Passover is our Savior and our refuge, and if you understand and this enters your heart that we will dishonor him on the cross and after that we will put our hope in him, for this place will not be left forever, says the Lord of hosts, but if you do not believe in him and do not listen to his teachings, you will be the mockery of the nations"
- (We read in footnote (1): - #The_origin_of_this_text_is_unknown, although Lactantius cites it in inst.div4.8)
- And from the Book of Jeremiah they deleted: - And I, like a lamb led to the slaughter, thought things against me, saying, Come, let us put wood in his bread And we cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will not be mentioned again.”
- And since this paragraph from the Book of Jeremiah is still found in some copies in the Jewish synagogues, because it was deleted a short time ago, and perhaps these words refer to the conspiracy of the Jews to kill Christ by crucifixion, it was announced that he was led to the slaughter as Isaiah prophesied, and he was represented here as a lamb without blemish, and such words confused them to the point that they resorted to blasphemy, and they also deleted these words from the Book of Jeremiah “The Lord God remembered his dead of the children of Israel who lay in the graves, and came down to them to preach his salvation”
(Margin 113:- This paragraph is not found in the book, although Q. Irenaeus mentioned it in (Advmaereses 3,20) and attributed it to the Prophet Isaiah, but in (Preaching 78) he attributes it to the Prophet Jeremiah, and this paragraph agrees with what the Apostle Peter wrote (he preached good news also to the dead 1 Peter 6:4) and what the Apostle Paul wrote that he first descended to the lower parts of the earth 1 Peter 9:4.)
( Page 232)
#Chapter_ends_____
#If_we_conclude: -
1- Justinus placed a text that he claimed the Jews deleted. This text does not exist now on the face of the earth, and it is the text of Ezra. It is not only Justinus who cited it, but also Lactantius in one of his books, meaning that this text was circulated among the fathers.
2- The text was actually deleted from all copies, meaning that the Jews had the ability to delete entire texts from all copies of the Holy Book. The text does not exist now. This is a response to any arrogant person who says that the Jews would be able to delete a text from all copies. The original copies of the book were widespread, etc. From these failed justifications, I say to him, yes, Saint Justinus is one of the most important defenders of your book, and we presented his biography, confirming that they actually did this and hid this text from the face of the earth.


3- He mentioned other texts that were deleted from some copies and remained in others, which is the text of Jeremiah, and he said very important words about the reason for its remaining without distortion. I quote: - Because it was deleted a short time ago


That is, the reason for the presence of this text in some copies is that this text was deleted a short time ago, so the distortion and deletion did not eliminate its presence completely due to the short period of its deletion, and this is confirmation from him that other texts were deleted over a very long time to the point that these texts disappeared from all copies.


4- He mentioned a third text that was deleted completely to the point that it does not exist in our hands now, which is the text of Jeremiah, which says, “The Lord God remembers his dead...” The margin says that this text does not currently exist in the Bible. This means that the Jews, according to what we conclude from Justin’s citing of this text, deleted this text from all copies of the Bible. In fact, this text was also cited by another father, Saint Irenaeus, in two books, which indicates that this text was also circulated among the fathers


. Before we finish this chapter, I ask: Where are these texts? How were the Jews able to delete them? Is this sufficient evidence that your book has been distorted?
You have two options as a Christian, no third: Either you accuse your fathers who defended your book and who transmitted it to you and whose quotes played a very large role in forming the current text of the book in your hands, that they fabricated texts and accused the Jews who disbelieved in the call of your God and accused his mother of adultery, that they distorted them, and then you doubt your book because those who transmitted it were distorters and falsifiers. Or you acknowledge their words, and then you acknowledge that those texts were indeed deleted from your book,
so choose!


#Chapter_Seventy_Three_____
- The saint completes his explanation of the texts that the Jews deleted, saying: - In Psalm 95, the phrase “on a tree” was deleted, so while the text says, “Say among the nations, the Lord reigns on a tree,” they only left Say among the nations: the Lord reigns.
-(We read in footnote No. 115: The phrase “on a cross” was often cited by the Latin Fathers, such as in the hymn (vexilla regis) written by Fortunatus at the end of the sixth century, and it is also found in all the manuscripts of the Coptic Bohairic translation, but it is not found in the Hebrew text and in the rest of the translations and manuscripts of the Septuagint except in a manuscript dating back to the sixth century (codex vconensis))
(p. 233)


#End_of_quote #We_conclude_here


: - Also, Saint Justin accused the Jews of deleting an important word from the text of Psalm 95, which is “The Lord is King on a cross,” and the footnote confirmed that the phrase “on a cross” was common among the Latin Fathers in the sixth century and is found in the manuscripts of the Coptic Bohairic translation. Despite that, it is not found in the original Hebrew, meaning it is found in a translation that was originally late and came hundreds of centuries after the original Hebrew, which is a translation of It is supposed to be taken from this original text, while the Hebrew original does not exist, and it is not found in the Septuagint except in one manuscript from the sixth century, and the Septuagint is basically a translation from the Hebrew original to the Greek, so how is it found in one of its manuscripts and not in the original, which it is basically a translation from?
And I ask how this phrase and others we mentioned were deleted, and they are the words of God, and your Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”???


#Summary_of_what_was_presented_____
- A frank and clear admission from one of the most important saints who defended Christianity in the first centuries that the Jews deleted texts from the Bible, and he mentioned examples of them that do not exist now. His words are supported by other evidence from other fathers who cited the same texts,
so as I mentioned, you have two solutions as a Christian, and no third
Either you accuse your fathers who defended your book and who transmitted it to you and whose quotes played a very large role in forming the current text of the book in your hands, that they fabricated texts and accused the Jews who disbelieved in the call of your God and accused his mother of adultery, that they distorted them, and then you cast doubt on your book because those who transmitted it were distorters and falsifiers. Or you acknowledge their words, and then you acknowledge that those texts were indeed deleted from your book