Peshitta

From Bible Encyclopedia

The Syriac Peshitta (i. e. "Simple") (also spelled Peshitto, Peshito, Peschito), whose fidelity as a version, independently of the excellence of its style is particularly serviceable for the interpretation of the New Testament. Nor is its value inferior in the interpretation of the Old Testament. Of all the antient versions, the Syriac Peshitta is the most uniformly faithful and accurate; and as the language so nearly resembles the Hebrew, its value can scarcely be estimated too high.

The chief advantage to be derived from the Syriac version is, in applying it to the purposes of criticism. Its high antiquity, and frequent deviation from the common reading, in passages of importance, must recommend the use of it to every critic, who in general will find himself rewarded for his trouble. The Syrian church regards this version as so exceedingly oid, as to have been made, by command of king Solomon, for the church in Syria. What is certain is, that in the third century it already was the authoritative version of the church.

The Syriac Peshitta is carried back by the Syrians sometimes to the age of Solomon,, sometimes to the time of the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, and sometimes to the days of Thaddeus the Apostle. All that is certain respecting it is, that about the middle of the 4th century it was cited by Ephrem the Syrian (who died 379AD,) as widely circulated and well known to every body: it must, therefore, have been much older than his time, and perhaps belongs to the second century. This conjecture is the more probable, as that century may almost be called the age of versions, and as the Syrian church was then in a very flourishing state, had at Edessa a church built after the model of the temple of Jerusalem, and would hardly have been without a translation of the Old Testament, the reading of which in the churches had been introduced by the Apostles. That it is derived immediately from the Hebrew text, is proved by many readings which can only be explained from the Hebrew: yet it manifests some affinity with the Alexandrine version, partly because the translator or translators have occasionally consulted that version, and partly because the Syrians have subsequently corrected their version very greatly by the Alexandrine. The translation is exceedingly good, yet not equal in every book; the manner of translating is different in the Pentateuch from that in Chronicles: and in Ecclesiastes and Canticles, as well as in the first chapter of Genesis, some Chaldaisms occur: hence the version seems to have been the work of more than one author.

The Peshitta was first printed in the Paris Polyglot, from an imperfect manuscript, the deficiencies of which were supplied, with great want of critical acumen, by translations from the Latin Vulgate by Gabriel Sionita, the editor. This text was copied in the London Polyglot, but with corrections, and additions of what was wanting in the manuscript, from four other manuscripts (MSS). (The Psalms have been printed separately; at Mount Libanus in 1585, folio, and again in 1610; at Paris, from three MSS. by Gabriel Sionita in 1636, in 4to.; and at Leyden from two MSS., by Erpenius, in 1625. The text of Erpenius was reprinted at Leipzig, in 1768, in 8vo., with various readings from the London Polyglot and with critical notes by Dathe. The Pentateuch was published after the text of the London Polyglot, with various readings by G. G. Kirsch, at Leipzig, 1787, in 4to.)

Peshitta is the most important in respect to the establishment or verification of the true Greek text. It precedes in age, by several centuries, any Greek Manuscripts that we now have; it was confessedly made with great skill and ability; the Hebrew colouring of the New Testament rendered it easy, for the most part, to be translated into the Syriac, which is an idiom so kindred; it has been exempt from all the criticisms and tamperingsof the Alexandrine or any other western school of criticism; and from the recensions of Hesychius, Lucian, or Origen (if he made one); it has come down to us from the primitive ages in a channel entirely different from that in which the common Greek text has descended; it appears, from the comparison of Mss. so far as this has gone, to have suffered less than is common from the variations made by scribes; and it is therefore a witness above all exception, as to its general testimony, for the fidelity and accuracy with which the Greek text lias in the main been preserved. No monument of antiquity possesses, therefore, more to excite critical interest, or even exegetical, than this. The student who is familiar with it, cannot well entertain a doubt of the early canonicity of the New Testament books in general, and of the importance which the Christian churches in the primitive ages attached to them.

The Peshitta was first made known to Europe, by Moses of Mardin in Mesopotamia, a Maronite priest, who was sent by Ignatius, patriarch of the Maronite Christians at Antioch, in the year 1552, to Pope Julius III to acknowledge, in the name of the Syrian church, the supremacy of the Roman pontiff; and to have the Syriac New Testament printed in Europe that it might be more generally dispersed through the East. For the purpose of facilitating the latter design, he brought with him two Syriac MSS; which appear not to have been duplicates of the whole Syriac Testament, but two different volumes, the one containing the Gospels; the other the Acts and the Epistles. One of them containing the Gospels, said to have been written at Mosul, on the Tigris, is still preserved in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The emperor Ferdinand I bore the expense of the impression, and Albert Widmanstad, in conjunction with Moses and Postell, edited the work; which was printed at Vienna, 1555,4to. This edition, from which all succeeding editions have been taken, contains the four Gospels, the Acts, all St. Paul's epistles, the first epistle of John, the first of Peter, and the epistle of James. The second and third of John are wanting; the second of Peter, the epistle of Jude, and the Revelation. None of these is acknowledged by any copy of the ancient Syriac version.

For some time no one could be found to undertake a work, which would not only be very expensive, but also require much judgment and care to execute correctly; but at length Albert Widmanstadt, who had formerly projected the same design, prevailed with the emperor Ferdinand I to be at the expense of an undertaking so likely to prove advantageous to the church in general, and to the churches of Asia in particular. The care of the impression was committed to Widmanstadt, and Moses of Marden, who were assisted, particularly in the formation of the matrices for the types, by William Postel. This edition was completed, and neatly printed at Vienna, in 1555, in two volumes 4to. It wants, however, the two last Epistles of St. John, the second Epistle of St. Peter, the Epistle of St. Jude, and the Revelation of St. John, which appear not to have been received into the sacred canon so early as the period when the translation was first made. A thousand copies were printed, of which, the emperor reserved to himself five hundred for sale, sent three hundred to the two Syrian Patriarchs, and made a present to Moses of two hundred copies, together with twenty dollars; these copies Moses disposed of by sale, prior to his return to Syria. This rare and valuable edition is considered as a perfect pattern of the genuine Peshito. The character of it by Michaelis, is too interesting to be omitted. "The Peshito," says he, "is the very best translation of the Greek Testament that I have ever read; that of Luther, though in some respects inferior to his translation of the Old Testament, holding the second rank. Of all the Syriac authors with which I am acquainted, not excepting Ephrem and Bar Hebreeus, its language is the most elegant and pure, not loaded with foreign words, like the Philoxenian version, and other later writings, and discovers the hand of a master in rendering those passages, where the two idioms deviate from each other. It has no marks of the stiffness of a translation, but is written with the ease and fluency of an original; and this excellence of style must be ascribed to its antiquity, and to its being written in a city, (Edessa,) that was the residence of Syrian kings. It is true that the Syriac version, like all human productions, is not destitute of faults, and, what is not to be regarded as a blemish, differs frequently from the modern modes of explanation: but I know of none that is so free from error, and none that I consult with so much confidence, in cases of difficulty and doubt."

This version is supposed to have been made at Edessa, where Abgarus, to whom certain spurious epistles have been ascribed, as passing between him and Jesus Christ, reigned from the eighth year after the birth of our Lord, to the year 45. He is also said to have built there a Christian church, in the form of a temple, with a row of steps leading to the holy place; from whence the custom of erecting churches in the form of temples, was communicated to the Christian countries in Europe. Of the translator of this version, we have no certain knowledge. By the Syrians themselves, it has been asserted, that part of the Old Testament was translated in the time of Solomon, for the use of Hiram, king of Tyre, and the rest under Abgarus, king of Edessa, by Thaddeus, or one of the apostles. But whoever was the translator, there is internal evidence that the Old Testament was translated subsequent to the New, and therefore probably not translated by the same person.