in the Gospels, the reason given for granting her request; but in
the Homily the woman's conversion to Judaism,(1) that is to say
Judeo-Christianity, is prominently advanced as the cause of her
successful pleading. It is certain from the whole character of this
passage, the variation of the language, and the reply of Jesus which is
not in our Gospels at all, that the narrative cannot rightly be assigned
to them, but the more reasonable inference is that it was derived from
another source.(2)
The last of De Wette's(3) passages is from Hom. iii. 57: "Hear, O
Israel; the Lord thy(4) God is one Lord." This is a quotation from
Deuteronomy vi. 4, which is likewise quoted in the second Gospel, xii.
29, in reply to the question, "Which is the first Commandment of all?
Jesus answered: The first is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one
Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God," &c. &c. In the Homily,
however, the quotation is made in a totally different connection, for
there is no question of commandments at all, but a clear statement of
the circumstances under which the passage was used, which excludes the
idea that this quotation was derived from Mark xii. 29. The context in
the Homily is as follows: "But to those who were beguiled to imagine
many gods as the Scriptures say, he said: Hear, O Israel," &c, &c.(5)
There is no hint of the assertion of many gods in the Gospels; but, on
the contrary, the question is put by one of the scribes in Mark to whom
Jesus says: "Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God."6 The quotation,
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therefore, beyond doubt, cannot be legitimately appropriated by the
second Synoptic, but may with much greater probability be assigned to a
different Gospel.
We may here refer to the passage, the only one pointed out by him in
connection with the Synoptics, the discovery of which Canon Westcott
affirms, "has removed the doubts which had long been raised about those
(allusions) to St. Mark."(1) The discovery referred to is that of the
Codex Ottobonianus by Dressel, which contains the concluding part of the
Homilies, and which was first published by him in 1853. Canon Westcott
says: "Though St Mark has few peculiar phrases, one of these is repeated
verbally in the concluding part of the 19th Homily."(2) The passage is
as follows: Hom. xix. 20: "Wherefore also he explained to his disciples
privately the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens." This is compared
with Mark iv. 34.... "and privately to his own disciples, he explained
all things."
[------]
We have only a few words to add to complete the whole of Dr. Westcott's
remarks upon the subject. He adds after the quotation: "This is the only
place where [------] occurs in the Gospels."(4) We may, however, point
out that it occurs also in Acts xix. 39 and 2 Peter i. 20. It is upon
the coincidence of this word that
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