Quotations: From the Old Testament in the New, which are very numerous, are not
made according to any uniform method. When the New Testament was
written, the Old was not divided, as it now is, into chapters and
verses, and hence such peculiarities as these: When Luke
(Luke 20:37)
refers to
(Exodus 3:6) he quotes from "Moses at the bush", i.e., the
section containing the record of Moses at the bush. The Song of Solomon also Mark
(Mark 2:26) refers to
(1 Samuel 21:1-6) in the words, "in the days of
Abiathar;" and Paul
(Romans 11:2) refers to
(1 Kings 17:1) ff in the
words, "in Elias", i.e., in the portion of the history regarding
Elias. In general, the New Testament writers quote from the Septuagint
(q.v.) version of the Old Testament, as it was then in common use
among the Jews. But it is noticeable that these quotations are not
made in any uniform manner. Sometimes, e.g., the quotation does not
agree literally either with the LXX. or the Hebrew text. This occurs
in about one hundred instances. Sometimes the LXX. is literally quoted
(in about ninety instances), and sometimes it is corrected or altered
in the quotations (in over eighty instances). Quotations are sometimes
made also directly from the Hebrew text
(Matthew 4:15,16; John 19:37)
(1 Corinthians 15:54) Besides the quotations made directly, there are found
numberless allusions, more or less distinct, showing that the minds of
the New Testament writers were filled with the expressions and ideas
as well as historical facts recorded in the Old. There are in all two
hundred and eighty-three direct quotations from the Old Testament in
the New, but not one clear and certain case of quotation from the
Apocrypha (q.v.). Besides quotations in the New from the Old
Testament, there are in Paul's writings three quotations from certain
Greek poets,
(Acts 17:28; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Ti 1:12) These quotations are
memorials of his early classical education.
