Page:Commentaries of Ishodad of Merv, volume 1.djvu/31

Rh to the carrying of a staff by the apostles on their first mission: we will quote the passage at length:

Here Ishoʿdad does not seem to be explaining the Old Syriac. He has before him the same difficulty in the Peshiṭta text as we have in the Greek; viz. that Matt, says the disciple is not to take a staff, and Mark says he is to take nothing except a staff: the same Syriac word in either case for.

The first explanation which he gives is a piece of exegetical subtlety: one is not to take a staff, in the sense of taking one from someone else (Matthew's doctrine); but you may take one from your own house, and in fact it is necessary (Mark's doctrine): similarly for the sandals. To which is added a perversely ingenious remark that Matthew was the proper person to preach against covetousness.

Then comes the remark that perhaps the difficulty has arisen from a misunderstanding of an unpointed Syriac text, which could be read either

It is not quite clear whether the MS. of Ishoʿdad has the correct pointing: should it not be

In this explanation Ishoʿdad really appears to be on the right track: it is one of the commonest confusions in Syriac, to have the two senses