As I was reading the first few chapters of Matthew this morning, I came across several statements, like the ones below, that were originally recorded in other earlier books.
But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for Him.’ ”
It might be helpful to know that the Bible is a collection of 66 different books, spanning a period of about 2000 years, written by 40 different authors (shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, prophets, a military commander, a cupbearer, a priest, a physician, a tent maker), and in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek).
Despite all these differences, there is an incredible amount of unity within this collection of books. When I come across statements like the ones quoted above, I'm reminded of the self-authenticating nature of this collection of books - where one author states something about a character or situation, that fulfills a statement by another author recorded hundreds of years earlier.
When this happens, I've started to make a habit of going back to the original text quoted and reading the original verse(s) in context. In many cases, reading the entire chapter - or even sometimes the entire book. There's a lot of gold to be found when you do this.
