To inaugurate 2015, Dan Peterson made a post to Sic et Non, entitled "New Testament 19, 20"
The post begins,
Suggesting an inspiration from Aland to guide Dan's own, "ongoing commentary."In Kurt Aland’s Synopsis of the Four Gospels, which I’m using as the structural basis (and the Greek text) for my ongoing commentary...
Next he says,
And offers 3 passages for the reader to follow along: Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13.Let’s move on now to a couple of comments — many, many more could be offered! — on the temptation in the wilderness.
From here, Peterson begins to reflect on the number 40. He writes, in the next 2 paragraphs:
Quite an interesting and fascinating set of facts, woven so artfully into a common thread, Dr. Peterson! Your ongoing commentary suggests a healthy bit of research, and I so appreciate the specific scriptural references.The number forty often seems to be connected with a period of testing in the Bible, time of trial or probation. Moses, for example, lived for forty years in Egypt and then for forty years in the Sinai desert before he was called to lead the Hebrews out of bondage. Then, he up on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies to investigate the land of Canaan for forty days (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).
The prophet Jonah warned Nineveh for forty days that the city would be destroyed if it didn’t repent. The prophet Ezekiel laid on his right side for forty days in order to symbolically represent Judah’s sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went without food or water for forty days at Mount Horeb. And, of course, in today’s readings Jesus was tempted by the devil during forty days and nights of fasting immediately before the commencement of his ministry. And, later, he’ll appear to his disciples and others for forty days after his resurrection from the dead.
And yet, this delving into the number 40, it's not the first time I've heard this before. Being the year 2020, I'm sure we have all seen that email about 20+20=40, making this the year of 40, connecting the pestilence of Covid-19 with Biblical curses and trials.
Well, it got me thinking, so I ran a quick Google search on articles published pre-1/1/2015, using some textual fragments from Dan's 1/1/2015 post, and what do you know? Up pops an equally fascinating article, published in March, 2014, by an anonymous online Christian outreach called BibleStudy.org.
You can read about BibleStudy.org here (though the webmaster doesn't reveal too much about his/her identity):
https://www.biblestudy.org/who-operates ... -site.html
The site features a nifty page entitled "Meaning of Numbers in the Bible"
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... ction.html
And, then if you click on the link for the number 40, you'll arrive at the page turned up by my Google search:
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... le/40.html
Note that there are no ellipses disconnecting any of what follows. This is linear text from from BibleStudy.org's 3/20/2014 post first, then Dan's 1/1/2015 post. Alternating colorization added by me to visually highlight plagiarism (with occasional alterations to insert trademark Petersonesque transitions) of both content AND sequential flow.
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... le/40.html
Published March 20, 2014
Mentioning 146 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses' life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.
Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 - 28), receiving God's laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).
The prophet Jonah powerfully warned ancient Nineveh, for forty days, that its destruction would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Judah's sins (Ezekiel 4:6).
Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus was tempted by the devil not just three times, but many times during the 40 days and nights he fasted just before his ministry began. He also appeared to his disciples and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead.
Strangely, Dan provides no link or citation credit to the good evangelical webmaster over at BibleStudy.org. There is no quotation mark or reference of any kind. The work is simply presented as Dan's own, original, "ongoing commentary."https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... 19-20.html
Published January 1, 2015
The number forty often seems to be connected with a period of testing in the Bible, time of trial or probation. Moses, for example, lived for forty years in Egypt and then for forty years in the Sinai desert before he was called to lead the Hebrews out of bondage. Then, he up [sic] on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies to investigate the land of Canaan for forty days (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).
The prophet Jonah warned Nineveh for forty days that the city would be destroyed if it didn’t repent. The prophet Ezekiel laid on his right side for forty days in order to symbolically represent Judah’s sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went without food or water for forty days at Mount Horeb. And, of course, in today’s readings Jesus was tempted by the devil during forty days and nights of fasting immediately before the commencement of his ministry. And, later, he’ll appear to his disciples and others for forty days after his resurrection from the dead.
Note the scriptural citations are exactly copied -- every one of them -- and left in the same parts of relevant sentences.
I also point to the "Then he up [sic]..." mistake in the Peterson version of the article. I think this offers a strongly supportive piece of evidence for plagiarism. It indicates the text was formed through a copy+paste+modify model, as this is the kind of error not found in Dr. Peterson's freehand writing. I suspect that what happened was the following:
1) "Moses was also on Mount Sinai" (original copy)
2) Edited first to "Moses was up on Mount Sinai"
3) Then edited out "Moses" to "Then, he" replacing the proper noun, in order to further remove echoes from the copied text
4) Resulting in "Then, he up on Mount Sinai" as it was published.
Yikes, Dan! As Ace sings, "How long has this been going on?"