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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Relative ages of LXX, DSS and proto-MT texts

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: phil-eng AT ighmail.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Relative ages of LXX, DSS and proto-MT texts
  • Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:29:57 -0800

On 04/03/2004 13:16, Philip Engmann wrote:

The DSS have long been trumpeted as being the oldest known biblical
Hebrew manuscripts; manuscripts which outdate the MT by about 1000
years. However DSS dating does not seem to be compared much to LXX
dating? Some authors even cite the DSS as independent witnesses where
LXX and MT[1] texts differ, as though the witness of the DSS would
finally settle the discrepancies between LXX and MT.
It would appear that the LXX could be older than DSS. Using the criteria
that the oldest text is usually more authentic, DSS fails as an
independent witness authenticating either MT or LXX.


1. The Septuagint has its origin in Alexandria, Egypt and was
translated between 300-200 BC.[2]
2. The seventy-two (altered in a few later versions to seventy or
seventy-five) translators arrived in Egypt to the Ptolemy's gracious
hospitality, and translated the Torah (or Pentateuch: the first five
books of the Hebrew Scriptures) in seventy-two days. Although opinions
as to when this occurred differ, scholars find 282 BC an attractive
date.[3]
3. The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) are discovered manuscripts from
Qumran, which date from around 168 BC to about 68 AD.[4]
4. So LXX is older than the DSS by about 100 years.


You are comparing two different things, the date of production of LXX against the date of the oldest surviving MSS of the Hebrew text. To make a fair comparison, you need to compare date of production of both or date of oldest MSS of both.

Date of production: As an original text must always be older than its translation, the Hebrew text must be older than the LXX - unless you try to argue that the Hebrew is a translation from the Greek.

Date of oldest MSS: Large parts of the Hebrew Bible are preserved in the DSS. Only a few scraps of the LXX are preserved; the earliest MSS of substantial parts of the LXX are 4th-5th centuries CE if I remember rightly.

So the Hebrew text clearly wins on both comparisons of age, for what it's worth.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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