Matthew 1:7-8

Matthew 1:7-8 VAsa,f( VAsa,f {B}

It is clear that the name “Asaph” is the earliest form of text preserved in the manuscripts, for the agreement of Alexandrian (a B) and other witnesses (¦¹ ¦¹³ 700 1071) with Eastern versions (cop arm eth geo) and representatives of the Western text (Old Latin mss. and D in Luke [D is lacking for this part of Matthew]) makes a strong combination. Furthermore, the tendency of scribes, observing that the name of the psalmist Asaph (cf. the titles of Psalms 50:1 and Psalms 73:1 to Psalms 83:1) was confused with that of Asa the king of Judah ( 1 Kings 15:9 ff.), would have been to correct the error, thus accounting for the prevalence of VAsa, in the later Ecclesiastical text and its inclusion in the Textus Receptus. ¹

Although most scholars are impressed by the overwhelming weight of textual evidence supporting VAsa,f, Lagrange demurs and in his commentary prints VAsa, as the text of Matthew. He declares (p. 5) that “literary criticism is not able to admit that the author, who could not have drawn up this list without consulting the Old Testament, would have taken the name of a psalmist in place of a king of Judah. It is necessary, therefore, to suppose that VAsa,f is a very ancient [scribal] error.” Since, however, the evangelist may have derived material for the genealogy, not from the Old Testament directly, but from subsequent genealogical lists, in which the erroneous spelling occurred, the Committee saw no reason to adopt what appears to be a scribal emendation in the text of Matthew.

¹ In the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 3:10 most Greek manuscripts read VAsa,, though ms. 60 reads VAsa,b. In Antiq. VIII.xi:3—xii:6 Josephus uses :Asanoj, though in the Latin translation Asaph appears.