Did you ever hear the old "MTA song" about the guy who can't get off the
Boston subway? "He rides forever 'neath the streets of Boston: he's the man
who never returned!"
Others will advise you (hopefully) on the computer question, but regarding
Mk 1:2, let me say that I don't think this is a question of inerrancy; Mark
conflates two OT passages here: 1:2 is from Malachi 3:1 while the passage
attached to it in 1:3 without interruption is from Isaiah 40:3. Mark
intends to identify John the Baptist with Elijah and the key word actually
appears in the line-ending EN THi ERHMWi in Isaiah 40:3, which he picks up
in 1:4 BAPTIZWN EN THi ERHMWi. In my opinion, Mark is not actually
mis-stating the source of his citation, although it would appear that
Matthew later alters the phrasing to make this clearer; what Mark is doing
is conflating two passages, using as an introduction the Malachi 3:1
segment to speak of a "messenger" to appear before the Lord (Jesus), but
the KEY part of his citation is in 1:3, where he makes that link between
the phrase EN THi ERHMWi in OT Scripture--in Isaiah 40:3 and the historical
appearance of John the Baptist EN THi ERHMWi in 1:4.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/