Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT Highland.Net>]

At 10:49 AM 1/19/99 +0200, you wrote:
>Thank you Jim West for your letter 0n 11:12 18/01/99 +0000.
>>As the 4 maccabean texts were not composed in Hebrew, they found no place in
>>the Hebrew canon. 
>>Jim
>>
>
> Do you have a source for this assumption?
>

I presumed it was common knowledge- like the fact that Ben Sira WAS composed
in Hebrew.  First, the language of the maccabean materials is NOT
translation Greek, reflecting an earlier Hebrew Vorlage.  Second, there is
not a shred of evidence supporting the idea that these texts were written in
Hebrew.  And third, there is not, to my knowledge, a SINGLE copy of these
texts in Hebrew predating the oldest Greek materials.

Best,

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West, ThD
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest AT highland.net
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest