Story of the Bible - pt. 4: How the OT came together

Septuagint

Septuagint (sometimes abbreviated LXX) is the name given to the Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures. The Septuagint has its origin in Alexandria, Egypt and was translated between 300-100 BC. The term “Septuagint” means seventy in Latin, and the text is so named to the credit of these 70 scholars. According to an ancient document called the Letter of Aristeas, it is believed that 70 to 72 Jewish scholars were commissioned during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus to carry out the task of translation. Most scholars consider the Letter of Aristeas steeped in legend rather than historical truth. The motivation behind the Septuagint lays more in the fact that there was a large Jewish population living outside Palestine. The Septuagint was aimed at Hellenistic Jews (Jews who spoke Greek and adopted Greek culture and learning) who were beginning to lose their Hebrew language and heritage. The process of translating the Hebrew to Greek also gave many non-Jews (Gentiles) a glimpse into Judaism. For the first time Gentiles (Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Syrians, etc.) could read God’s Word. Emphasize – Primary goal of the Jewish scholars involved in translating the Septuagint was not establish a definitive Hebrew canon of Scriptures but to preserve Jewish heritage and culture in a non-Jewish world.

Not all Jews accepted the Septuagint. One religious group in particular that was active during Jesus’ life: the Sadducees. They rejected the Prophets and Writings as authoritative Scripture. They regarded the Pentateuch as the only authoritative Scripture.

The Septuagint contains the standard 39 books of the Old Testament canon, as well as certain apocryphal books. The term "Apocrypha" was coined by the fifth-century biblical scholar, Jerome, and generally refers to the set of ancient Jewish writings written during the period between the last book in the Jewish scriptures, Malachi, and the arrival of Jesus Christ. Word “apocrypha” means “hidden away”. Biblical scholars, both Jewish and Christian, questioned their legitimacy as authoritative Scripture. Jerome who translated the Bible into Latin around 410 A.D. (Bible called the Latin Vulgate which became the official version of Bible used by Catholic Church) included a disclaimer before each Apocryphal book that it was not found in the Hebrew Bible and therefore should not be regarded as canonical. In fact, Jerome was reluctant to even do a Latin translation of the Apocrypha because they were not found in the Tanakh. Overtime Jerome’s disclaimers disappeared from future translations of the Latin Vulgate. As a consequence, the Apocrypha began to be accepted as canonical.

Why were the Apocryphal books not found in the Hebrew Bible? They did not meet O.T. benchmarks we talked about previously. The Apocrypha had 1) Historic and geographic inaccuracies – Book of Judith starts by saying it was written while Nebuchadnezzar was king of Assyria. Actually he was a Babylonian king. 2) Lacked commonality with accepted O.T. books. Doctrinal inconsistencies; Apocrypha books read more like morality tales, myths, and legends. Read examples found in NIV Archeological Bible. II Esdras – apocalyptic/end times book consisting of seven visions. Attributed to Ezra the scribe. Actually written as a reaction to destruction of temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. hundreds of years after Ezra’s death. Martin Luther was so confused by the visions in the book that it said he threw it into the Elbe River. Point out similarities between American Apocrypha (George Washington chopping down cherry tree, Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett) and Jewish Apocrypha. However, scholars refused to declare them worthless. The Apocryphal books were included in the Septuagint for historical and religious purposes, but are not recognized by Protestant Christians or Orthodox Jews as canonical (inspired by God). Emphasize again purpose of Septuagint translators was to preserve Jewish heritage and culture not to establish a Hebrew canon. Martin Luther wrote that the Apocrypha are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read" … in other words he regarded the Apocrypha to be morality tales or useful for learning Jewish culture. I Maccabbees – Tells the story of Jewish revolt against foreign rule. The Church of England told its members to read the Apocrypha for example of life and instruction of manners.” Example – the Apocrypha book titled Ecclesiasticus – it reads like a book of etiquette sort of like Emily Post or Roberts Rules of Order. “Speak concisely. Say much in a few words.” “Act like a man who knows more than he says.” “Prepare what you have to say and then you will be listened to.” Therefore, they were “hidden away” in a separate section of the Bible often at the end of the OT. It’s important to point out that the New Testament writers never quoted from the Apocryphal books, and that the Apocrypha was never considered part of the canonical Jewish scripture (the Tanakh). However, the Roman Catholic Church (in 1546 at the Council of Trent and perhaps in reaction to Protestant Bible) and the Orthodox churches include the Apocrypha in their Bible. Most Protestant Bibles (KJV, NASB, NIV) do not include the Apocrypha. Separatist Groups within the Church of England (Puritans, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc., did not consider the Apocrypha to be authoritative. Excluded them from their Bibles.)
The Septuagint was also a source of the Old Testament for early Christians during the first few centuries AD. Many early Christians spoke and read Greek, thus they relied on the Septuagint translation for most of their understanding of the Old Testament. The New Testament writers also relied heavily on the Septuagint, as a majority of Old Testament quotes cited in the New Testament are quoted directly from the Septuagint (others are quoted from the Hebrew texts). Some modern Bible translations also use the Septuagint along side Hebrew manuscripts as their source text. (ex. The New American Standard Bible) – Point out that the NASB, KJV, NIV do not rely solely on one translation of OT – use multiple sources (Tanakh, Septuagint, Latin Vulgate, etc. – show example in Bible - more recently the Dead Sea Scrolls) in order to be as accurate as possible to original language. Unfortunately, we do not have the original Books of Genesis, Joshua, Isaiah.

Starting approximately in the 2nd century (100-200 A.D.), several factors led most Jews to abandon the Septuagint. The Jews began to perceive the Septuagint as Christian Bible. Christians naturally used the Septuagint since it was the only Greek version available to the earliest Christians; and since Christians, as a group, had rapidly become overwhelmingly Gentile and, therefore, unfamiliar with Hebrew. The association of the Septuagint with a rival religion may have rendered it suspect in the eyes of the newer generation of Jews and Jewish scholars. Perhaps more importantly, the Greek language — and therefore the Greek Bible — declined among Jews after most of them fled from the Greek-speaking eastern Roman Empire into non-Greek speaking countries when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Instead, Jews adopted the Hebrew based Tanakh as their Bible.