Preface Septuagint Version
INTRODUCTION.
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE
SEPTUAGINT VERSION
The earliest version of the Old Testament Scriptures which is extant, or of which
we possess any certain knowledge, is the translation executed at Alexandria in
the third century before the Christian era: this version has been so habitually
known by the name of the SEPTUAGINT, that the attempt of some learned men
in modern times to introduce the designation of the Alexandrian version (as more
correct) has been far from successful.
The history of the origin of this translation was embellished with various fables at
so early a period, that it has been a work of patient critical research in later times
to bring into plain light the facts which may be regarded as well authenticated.
We need not wonder that but little is known with accuracy on this subject; for,
with regard to the ancient versions of the Scriptures in general, we possess no
information whatever as to the time or place of their execution, or by whom they
were made: we simply find such versions in use at particular times, and thus we
gather the fact that they must have been previously executed. If, then, our
knowledge of the origin of the Septuagint be meagre, it is at least more extensive
than that which we possess of other translations.
After the conquests of Alexander had brought Egypt under Macedonian rule, the
newly-founded city of Alexandria became especially a place where the Greek
language, although by no means in its purest form, was the medium of written
and spoken communication amongst the varied population there brought
together. This Alexandrian dialect is the idiom in which the Septuagint version
was made.
Amongst other inhabitants of Alexandria the number of Jews was considerable:
many appear to have settled there even from the first founding of the city, and it
became the residence of many more during the reign of the first Ptolemy. Hence
the existence of the sacred books of the Jews would easily become known to the
Greek population.
The earliest writer who gives an account of the Septuagint version is Aristobulus,
a Jew who lived at the commencement of the second century B.C. He says that
the version of the Law into Greek was completed under the reign of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, and that Demetrius Phalereus had been employed about it. Now,
Demetrius died about the beginning of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and
hence it has been reasonably inferred that Aristobulus is a witness that the work
of translation had been commenced under Ptolemy Soter.
Different opinions have been formed as to what is intended by Aristobulus when
he speaks of the Law: some consider that he refers merely to the Pentateuch,
while others extend the signification to the Old Testament Scriptures in general:
the former opinion appears to be favoured by the strict meaning of the terms
used; the latter by the mode in which the Jews often applied the name of Law to
the whole of their sacred writings.
The fact may, however, be regarded as certain, that prior to the year 285 B.C.
the Septuagint version had been commenced, and that in the reign of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, either the books in general or at least an important part of them
had been completed.
The embellishments and fictitious additions which this account soon received
might be scarcely worthy of notice in this place, were it not that they are
intimately connected with the authority which this version was once supposed to
possess, and with the name by which it is commonly known.
A writer, who calls himself Aristeas, says that when Ptolemy Philadelphus was
engaged in the formation of the Alexandrian Library, he was advised by
Demetrius Phalereus to procure a translation of the sacred books of the Jews.
The king accordingly, as a preliminary, purchased the freedom of more than one
hundred thousand Jewish captives, and he then sent a deputation, of which
Aristeas himself was one, to Eleazar the high-priest to request a copy of the
Jewish Law and seventy-two interpreters, six out of each tribe. To this the priest
is represented to have agreed; and after the arrival of the translators and their
magnificent reception by the king, they are said to have been conducted to an
island by Demetrius, who wrote down the renderings on which they agreed by
mutual conference; and thus the work is stated to have been completed in
seventy-two days. The translators are then said to have received from the king
most abundant rewards; and the Jews are stated to have asked permissions to
take copies of the version.
Other additions were subsequently made to this story: some said that each
translator was shut into a separate cell, and that all by divine inspiration made
their versions word for word alike; others said that there were two in each cell,
accompanied by an amanuensis; but at all events miracle and direct inspiration
were supposed to be connected with the translation: hence we cannot wonder
that the authority attached to this version in the minds of those who believed
these stories was almost unbounded.
The basis of truth which appears to be under this story seems to be, that it was
an Egyptian king who caused the translation to be made, and that it was from the
Royal Library at Alexandria that the Hellenistic Jews received the copies which
they used.
In examining the version itself, it bears manifest proof that it was not executed by
Jews of Palestine, but by those of Egypt: -- there are words and expressions
which plainly denote its Alexandrian origin: this alone would be a sufficient
demonstration that the narrative of Aristeas is a mere fiction. It may also be
doubted whether in the year 285 B.C. there were Jews in Palestine who had
sufficient intercourse with the Greeks to have executed a translation into that
language; for it must be borne in mind how recently they had become the
subjects of Greek monarchs, and how differently they were situated from the
Alexandrians as to the influx of Greek settlers.
Some in rejecting the fabulous embellishments have also discarded all
connected with them: they have then sought to devise new hypotheses as to the
origin of the version. Some have thus supposed that the translation was made by
Alexandrian Jews for their own use, in order to meet a neccesity which they felt
to have a version of the Scriptures in the tongue which had become vernacular to
them.
There would be, however, many difficulties in the way of this hypothesis. We
would hardly suppose that in a space of thirty-five years the Alexandrian Jews
had found such a translation needful or desirable: we must also bear in mind that
we find at this period no trace of any versions having been made by Jews into
the languages of other countries in which they had continued for periods much
longer than that of their settlement at Alexandria.
The most reasonable conclusion is, that the version was executed for the
Egyptian king; and that the Hellenistic Jews afterwards used it as they became
less and less familiar with the language of the original.
If the expression of Aristobulus does not designate the whole of the books of the
Old Testament as translated in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, the question
arises, When were the other books besides the Pentateuch turned into Greek?
To this no definite answer could be given: we may however be certain that
various interpreters were occupied in translating various parts, and in all
probability the interval between the commencement and the conclusion of the
work was not great.
The variety of the translators is proved by the unequal character of the version:
some books show that the translators were by no means competent to the task,
while others, on the contrary, exhibit on the whole a careful translation. The
Pentateuch is considered to be the part the best executed, while the book of
Isaiah appears to be the worst.
In estimating the general character of the version, it must be remembered that
the translators were Jews, full of traditional thoughts of their own as to the
meaning of Scripture; and thus nothing short of a miracle could have prevented
them from infusing into their version the thoughts which were current in their own
minds. They could only translate passages as they themselves understood them.
This is evidently the case when their work is examined.
It would be, however, too much to say that they translated with dishonest
intention; for it cannot be doubted that they wished to express their Scriptures
truly in Greek, and that their deviations from accuracy may be simply attributed to
the incompetency of some of the interpreters, and the tone of mental and spiritual
feeling which was common to them all.
One difficulty which they had to overcome was that of introducing theological
ideas, which till then had only their proper terms in Hebrew, into a language of
Gentiles, which till then had terms for no religious notions except those of
heathens. Hence the necessity of using many words and phrases in new and
appropriated senses.
These remarks are not intended as depreciatory of the Septuagint version: their
object is rather to show what difficulties the translators had to encounter, and
why in some respects they failed; as well as to meet the thought which has
occupied the minds of some, who would extol this version as though it possessed
something resembling co-ordinate authority with the Hebrew text itself.
One of the earliest of those writers who mention the Greek translation of the
Scriptures, speaks also of the version as not fully adequate. The Prologue of
Jesus the son of Sirach (written as many suppose B.C. 130) to his Greek version
of his grandfather's work, states:
ου γαρ ισοδυναμει αυτα εν εαυτοις Εβραιστι λεγομενα και οταν μεταχθ
η εις ετεραν γλωσσαν ου μονον δε ταυτα αλλα και αυτος ο νομος και αι
προφητειαι και τα λοιπα των βιβλιων ου μικραν εχει την διαφοραν εν ε
αυτοις λεγομενα : "For the same things expressed in Hebrew have not an
equal force when translated into another language. Not only so, but even the Law
and the prophecies and the rest of the books differ not a little as to the things
said in them." The writer of this Prologue had come into Egypt from the Holy
Land: he had undertaken the translation of his grandfather's work into Greek, but
in explanation of the difficulty which he had to encounter in this work, he refers to
the defects found even in the version of the Law, the prophets, and the other
books, of which he had previously spoken. Doubtless coming into Egypt he was
more conscious of the defects of the Septuagint version than could have been
the case with Egyptian Jews, who had used the translation commonly and
habitually for a century and a quarter.
At Alexandria the Hellenistic Jews used the version, and gradually attached to it
the greatest possible authority: from Alexandria it spread amongst the Jews of
the dispersion, so that at the time of our Lord's birth it was the common form in
which the Old Testament Scriptures had become diffused.
In examining the Pentateuch of the Septuagint in connection with the Hebrew
text, and with the copies preserved by the Samaritans in their crooked letters, it is
remarkable that in very many passages the reading of the Septuagint accord with
the Samaritan copies where they differ from the Jewish. We cannot here notice
the various theories which have been advanced to account for this accordance of
the Septuagint with the Samaritan copies of the Hebrew; indeed it is not very
satisfactory to enter into the details of the subject, because no theory hitherto
brought forward explains all the facts, or meets all the difficulties. To one point,
however, we will advert, because it has not been sufficiently taken into account, -
- in the places in which the Samaritan and Jewish copies of the Hebrew text
differ, in important and material points, the Septuagint accords much more with
the Jewish than with the Samaritan copies, and in a good many points it
introduces variations unknown to either.
The Septuagint version having been current for about three centuries before the
time when the books of the New Testament were written, it is not surprising that
the Apostles should have used it more often than not in making citations from the
Old Testament. They used it as an honestly-made version in pretty general use
at the time when they wrote. They did not on every occasion give an authoritative
translation of each passage de novo, but they used what was already familiar to
the ears of converted Hellenists, when it was sufficiently accurate to suit the
matter in hand. In fact, they used it as did their contemporary Jewish writers,
Philo and Josephus, but not, however, with the blind implicitness of the former.
In consequence of the fact that the New Testament writers used on many
occasions the Septuagint version, some have deduced a new argument for its
authority, -- a theory which we might have thought to be sufficiently disproved by
the defects of the version , which evince that it is merely a human work. But the
fact that the New Testament writers used this version on many occasions
supplies a new proof in opposition to the idea of its authority, for in not a few
places they do not follow it, but they supply a version of their own which rightly
represents the Hebrew text, although contradicting the Septuagint.
The use, however, which the writers of the New Testament have made of the
Septuagint version must always invest it with a peculiar interest; we thus see
what honour God may be pleased to put on an honestly-made version, since we
find that inspired writers often used such a version, when it was sufficiently near
the original to suit the purpose for which it was cited, instead of rendering the
Hebrew text de novo on every occasion.
Another important point on which the Septuagint stands in close connection with
the New Testament is the general phraseology of the version, -- a phraseology in
which the traces of Hebrew elements are most marked, but with regard to which
we should mistake greatly if we supposed that it originated with the New
Testament writers. Thus we may see that the study of the Septuagint is almost
needful to any biblical scholars who wishes to estimate adequately the
phraseology and usus loquendi of the New Testament.
Besides the direct citations in the New Testament in which the Septuagint is
manifestly used, there are not a few passages in which it is clear that the train of
expression has been formed on words and phrases of the Septuagint: thus an
intimate acquaintance with this version becomes in a manner necessary on the
part of an expositor who wishes to enter accurately into the scope of many parts
of the New Testament.
Thus, whatever may be our estimate of the defects found in the Septuagint -- its
inadequate renderings, its departures from the sense of the Hebrew, its doctrinal
deficiencies owing to the limited apprehensions of the translators -- there is no
reason whatever for our neglecting the version, or not being fully alive to its real
value and importance.
After the diffusion of Christianity, copies of the Septuagint became widely
dispersed amongst the new communities that were formed; so that before many
years had elapsed this version must have been as much in the hands of Gentiles
as of Jews.
The veneration with which the Jews had treated this version (as is shown in the
case of Philo and Josephus), gave place to a very contrary feeling when they
found how it could be used against them in argument: hence they decried the
version, and sought to deprive it of all authority. As the Gentile Christians were
generally unacquainted with Hebrew, they were unable to meet the Jews on the
ground which they now took; and as the Gentile Christians at this time believed
the most extraordinary legends of the origin of the version, so that they fully
embraced the opinions of its authority and inspiration, they necessarily regarded
the denial on the part of the Jews of its accuracy, as little less than blasphemy,
and as a proof of their blindness.
In the course of the second century, three other complete versions of the Old
Testament into Greek were executed: these are of importance in this place,
because of the manner in which they were afterwards connected with the
Septuagint.
The first of the Greek versions of the Old Testament executed in the second
century was that of AQUILA. He is described as a Jew or Jewish proselyte of
Pontus, and the date commonly attributed to his version is about the year A.D.
126. His translation is said to have been executed for the express purpose of
opposing the authority of the Septuagint: his version was in consequence upheld
by the Jews. His labour was evidently directed in opposing the passages which
the Christians were accustomed to cite from the Septuagint as applicable to the
Lord Jesus. The general characteristic of this version is bold literality of
rendering: such an endeavour is made to render each Hebrew word and particle
into Greek, that all grammar is often set at defiance, and not unfrequently the
sense is altogether sacrificed. From the scrupulosity of Aquila in rendering each
Hebrew word, his work, if we possessed it complete (and not merely in scattered
fragments), would be of great value in textual criticism.
Another Greek translator at a subsequent period in the second century was
SYMMACHUS. He is described as an Ebionite, a kind of semi-Christian. His
version seems to have been executed in good and pure Greek: perhaps he was
the more particular in his attention to this in consequence of the mere barbarism
of Aquila.
A third translator in the same century was THEODOTION, an Ebionite like
Symmachus, to whom he was probably anterior. His version is in many parts
based on the Septuagint. He is less servile in his adherence to the words of the
Hebrew than Aquila, although he is void of the freedom of Symmachus. His
knowledge of Hebrew was certainly but limited, and without the Septuagint it is
hardly probable that he could have undertaken this version.
Thus, before the end of the second century there were, besides the Septuagint,
three versions of the Old Testament in Greek, known to both Jews and
Christians. All this could not fail in making the Old Testament Scriptures better
known and more widely read.
Although many Christians believed in the inspiration and authority of the
Septuagint, yet this could not have been universally the case; otherwise the
disuse of the real Septuagint version of the book of Daniel, and the adoption of
that of Theodotion in its stead, could never have taken place. This must have
arisen from an apprehension of the poverty and inaccuracy of the Septuagint in
this book, so that another version similar in its general style was gladly adopted.
We have now to speak of the labours of ORIGEN in connection with the text of
the Septuagint. This learned and enterprising scholar, having acquired a
knowledge of Hebrew, found that in many respects the copies of the Septuagint
differed from the Hebrew text. It seems to be uncertain whether he regarded
such differences as having arisen from mistakes on the part of the copyists, or
from errors of the original translators themselves.
The object which he proposed to himself was not to restore the Septuagint to its
original condition, nor yet to correct mere errors of translation simply as such, but
to cause that the Church should possess a text of the Septuagint in which all
additions to the Hebrew should be marked with an obelus, and in which all that
the Septuagint omitted should be added from one of the other versions marked
with an asterick. He also indicated readings in the Septuagint which were so
incorrect that the passage ought to be changed for the corresponding one in
another version.
With the object of thus amending the Septuagint, he formed his great works, the
Hexapla and Tetrapla; these were (as the names imply) works in which the page
was divided respectively into six columns and into four columns.
The Hexapla contained, 1st, the Hebrew text; 2nd, the Hebrew text expressed in
Greek characters; 3rd, the version of Aquila; 4th, that of Symmachus; 5th, the
Septuagint; 6th, Theodotion. The Tetrapla contained merely the four last
columns.
Besides these four versions of the entire Old Testament, Origen employed three
anonymous Greek versions of particular books; these are commonly called the
fifth, sixth, and seventh versions. Hence in the parts in which two of these
versions are added, the work was designated Octapla, and where all the three
appeared, it was called Enneapla.
References were then made from the column of the Septuagint to other versions,
so as to complete and correct it: for this purpose Theodotion was principally
used. This recension by Origen has generally been called the Hexaplar text. The
Hexapla itself is said never to have been copied: what remains of the versions
which it contained (mere fragments) were edited by Montfaucon in 1714, and in
an abridged edition by Bahrdt in 1769-70.
The Hexaplar text of the Septuagint was copied about half a century after
Origen's death by Pamphilus and Eusebius; it thus obtained a circulation; but the
errors of copyists soon confounded the marks of addition and omission which
Origen placed, and hence the text of the Septuagint became almost hopelessly
mixed up with that of other versions.
The Hexaplar text is best known from a Syriac version which was made from it;
of this many books have been published from a MS. at Milan; other books are
now in the British Museum amongst the rest of the Syriac treasures obtained
from the Nitrian monasteries. This Syro-Hexaplar translation preserves the marks
of the Greek text, and the references to the other translations. It may yet be
made of great use in separating the readings which were introduced by Origen
from those of an older date.
There were two other early attempts to revise the Septuagint besides that of
Origen. In the beginning of the fourth century, Lucian, a presbyter on Antioch,
and Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop, undertook similar labours of the same kind.
These two recensions (which they were in the proper sense of the term) were
much used in the Eastern Churches.
From the fourth century and onward, we know of no definite attempt to revise the
text of the Septuagint, or to correct the discrepancies of various copies. It is
probable, however, that just as the text of the Greek New Testament became in a
great measure fixed into the same form as we find it in the modern copies,
something of the same kind must have been the case with the Septuagint. As to
the Greek New Testament, this seems to have occured about the eleventh
century, when the mass of copies were written within the limits of the patriarchate
of Constantinople. It is probable that certain copies approved at the metropolis,
both politically and religiously, of those who used the Greek tongue, were tacitly
taken as a kind of standard.
We find amongst the members of the Eastern Churches who use the Greek
language, that the Septuagint has been and is still so thoroughly received as
authentic Scripture, that any effort to introduce amongst them versions which
accurately represent the Hebrew (as has been attempted in modern times) has
been wholly fruitless.
Thus the Septuagint demands our attention, were it only from the fact that the
whole circle of religious ideas and thoughts amongst Christians in the East has
always been moulded according to this version. Without an acquaintance with
the Septuagint, numerous allusions in the writings of the Fathers become wholly
unintelligible, and even important doctrinal discussions and difficulties (such even
as some connected with the Arian controversy) become wholly unintelligible.
As the Septuagint was held in such honour in the East, it is no cause for surprise
that this version was the basis of the other translations which were made in early
times into vernacular tongues. There was, however, also another reason; -- the
general ignorance of the original Hebrew amongst the early Christians prevented
their forming their translations from the fountain itself. The especial exception to
this remark is the Syriac version of the Old Testament formed at once from the
Hebrew.