Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Niels Peter Lemche <npl AT teol.ku.dk>]

Two different, however related issues: 1) the date of the LXX as compared to
the BH, and 2) the original version of the books of the Bible (OT).

ad 2) no doubt that the Hebrew version -- or some Hebrew version -- predates
the LXX, although it is not totally correct to say that the LXX paraphrases
the BH. It translates the Hebrew books, sometimes includes different
material and changes--maybe because of a different Vorlage, but it is not a
paraphrasis of the kind found e.g. in the Targumim.

ad 1) The collection of books in the LXX could predate the collection of the
BH--as a collection. If we accept the LXX traditrion of Josephus/Aristeas
(which I may not personally do), the LXX was translated and put together as
a collection in the 3rd century BCE. However, was there a HB already then?
Isn't it so that discussion has been going on for quite a while, claiming
the HB to be a collection of the 1st-2nd centuries C.E.--again as a
collection of preexisting books? If so, i.e. if we accept both theses, the
LXX as a collection will predate the BH as a collection. However, from a
scholarly point of view, I see several objections to this statement,
objections that has to do with the LXX legend.

NPL


> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra:  Walter Mattfeld [SMTP:mattfeld AT mail.pjsnet.com]
> Sendt:        12. november 2001 06:50
> Til:  Biblical Hebrew
> Emne: Septuagint or Hebrew Original Bible ?
> 
> Dear Clay,
> 
> I have the book, Did Moses Speak Attic ? It DOES NOT address the claim
> that
> the Greek written Septuagint was the first bible and that the Hebrew is a
> later version of a Greek original.
> 
> From some cursory investigations into the Septuagint on my own, I note
> that
> many professional scholars who have studied the Septuagint have noted that
> it does differ from the Hebrew text. But careful investigations and
> comparisons suggest that the Septuagint is a "paraphrasing" of a Hebrew
> original and not vice-a-versa.
> 
> Grabbe's book, Did Moses Speak Attic ? is addressing a different issue,
> the
> proposals of Professors Lemche and Thompson that the Primary History
> (Genesis-2 Kings) came to be put together in Hasmonean times, which was
> then
> under the influence of a Hellenistic world.  Grabbe presents views both
> pro
> and con by various scholars investigating this proposal.
> 
> All the best, Walter
> 
> Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld
> Walldorf by Heidelberg
> Baden-Wurttemburg, Germany
> www.bibleorigins.net
> 
>