Jacyntho Lins Brandão, «Aminadab - Aram/Adam - Admin - Arni in Luke 4,33» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 24 (2011) 127-134 page 128

Jacyntho Lins Brandão, «Aminadab - Aram/Adam - Admin - Arni in Luke 4,33», Vol. 24 (2011) 127-134

This paper examines the issue of the variant readings of the names of Aminadab and Aram in the genealogy of Jesus, presenting the hypothesis that the reading Adam-Admin-Arni may illuminate the pretextual stages of Luke, when we consider the manner in which ancient writers worked. Proceeding from the OT, in the hypomnemata of Luke or his source the list from Adam to David was probably written down in columns, with the names one under the other, following the hereditary line, as is the usual form of genealogies. In this list, Aminadam and Arni proceed from Aminadab and Aram, a mistake that is paleographically justifiable, taking cursive script into account. Being a longer name, Aminadam would have been divided into two lines. As Luke’s genealogy is in ascending order, Aminadam would have generated two names, Adam and Amim. Admin proceeds from the latter, through the dittography of triangular letters in an uncial script.

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128 Jacyntho Lins Brandão This fact intrigues philologists, who have nevertheless failed to reach a satisfactory explanation, much less any form of consensus, for two contradictory reasons. On the one hand, the sequence Aminadab-Ram/ Arran/Aram is well attested in other sources. On the other hand, the documents that mention Am[indab]-Admin-Ar[ni] (p4), Adam-Admin- Arni (A), or simply Admin-Arni, omitting the name Aminadab (B), though minorities, carry an authority highly valued since Tischendorf called attention to the importance and textual quality both of Sinaiticus (A) and of Vaticanus (B)2. In the MT and in the LXX, Aminadab is a well established reading. As to his father’s name, there are three possibilities: the form Ram is found in the Hebrew texts of Ruth3 and I Chron4; in the book of Ruth of the LXX, it corresponds to Arran5; however, in I Chron, as well as in the translation of the LXX, Ram and Aram occur as two different charac- ters, both sons of Eseron (variant of Hezron), the latter being the father of Aminadab6. Thus, the three variants already existed in the LXX: Ram, Arran, and Aram. The genealogy of Matthew or his source seems to de- pend on I Chron for its syntactic structure (in descending order, with the occasional addition of epithets to the names), as well as for its adoption of Aram, a form recorded from the time of the most ancient documents (p1 A B) in a passage that, contrary to what occurs in Luke, seems well established since it presents no important variants7. In light of the facts related here, there are diverging options. Some editors prefer the variant of the Textus Receptus (Aminadab-Aram) or a 2 C. Tischendorf, Novum Testamentum graece ad antiquissimos testes denuo recensuit (Lipsiae 1869). Cf. also C. R. Gregory, Prolegomena (Lipsiae 1894). 3 In the MT, the genealogical order goes from the most ancient to the most recent, cf. Ruth 4, 18-20: “This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez generated Hezron, Hezron generated Ram, Ram generated Aminadab (‫)ןרץחו דילוה םר־תא םרו דילוה בדנימע־תא‬, Aminadab generated Nahshon…” K. Elliger et W. Rudolph, Biblia hebraica Stuttgartensia (Stuttgart 1984). 4 I Chron 2, 9-10: “The sons born to Hezron (‫ )ןורצח ינבו‬were: Jerahmeel (‫)לאמחר־תא‬, Ram (‫)םר־תאו‬, and Caleb (‫)יבולכ־תאו‬. Ram generated Amminadab (‫)בדנימע־תא דילוה םרו‬, and Amminadab generated Nahshon, the leader of the people of Judah.” (Elliger-Rudolph) 5 Ruth 4, 18-20: Καὶ αὗται αἱ γενέσεις Φαρες· Φαρες ἐγέννησεν τὸν Εσρων, Εσρων δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Αρραν, καὶ Αρραν ἐγέννησεν τὸν Αμιναδαβ, καὶ Αμιναδαβ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ναασσων... A. Rahlfs, Septuaginta id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX inter- pretes (Stuttgart 1979). 6 I Paralip 2, 9-10: Καὶ υἱοὶ Εσερων, οἳ ἐτέχθησαν αὐτῷ· ὁ Ιραμεηλ καὶ ὁ Ραμ καὶ ὁ Χαλεβ καὶ Αραμ. καὶ Αραμ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Αμιναδαβ, καὶ Αμιναδαβ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ναασσων ἄρχοντα τοῦ οἴκου Ιουδα... (Rahlfs). 7 Matt 1: ᾿Εσρὼμ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν ᾿Αράμ, ᾿Αρὰμ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν ᾿Αμιναδάβ, ᾿Αμιναδὰβ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ναασσών... Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece (Stuttgart 1995).