Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Septuagint vs Hebrew, effect on Christianity

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: "b-hebrew-lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Septuagint vs Hebrew, effect on Christianity
  • Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:13:04 -0500

Schmuel wrote:


HH: You don't include other sources of LXX quotations such as Philo and Josephus.

Schmuel: Do Philo or Josephus give any support for those actual verses ?
I have never seen even one.

HH: You see, Floyd Jones seems to claim that Philo and Josephus may not even have used the Septuagint:

4. Another name mentioned as having used a B.C. LXX is Philo (c.20 B.C. – c.A.D. 50) of
Alexandria. . . . Some have suggested that Philo is possibly the author of The letter of Aristeas. Even if this were untrue , the possibility exists that Philo's only real knowledge of the Septuagint is the result of his having read Aristeas. The fact is that there are no actual quotes contained in his work that are cited from a Greek translation of the Old Testament.

5. Lastly, the Jewish Historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100?) is often cited as having used the
Septuagint. However no quotes of his having done so are ever offered to certify such a claim. . . . Moreover, no real evidence exists demonstrating that he ever used or even saw a
Septuagint.

HH: However, I just cited an authority yesterday who shows it is common knowledge that we have many quotes of the Septuagint from Philo and Josephus:
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/other/journals/kraftpub/Judaism/Septuagint%20(Old%20Greek)


Extensive quotations and allusions in Greek are also preserved in
Philo (ca. 30 CE), Paul (ca. 50), Josephus (ca. 80), 1 Clement
(ca. 95), and a number of other Christian texts from the early
[[813]] period.

HH: The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica states:
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/The_Septuagint

The Septuagint came into general use with the Grecian Jews even in the synagogue. Philo and Josephus use it, and so do the New Testament writers.

HH: Wikipedia adds:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo

Both Philo and Josephus show a reliance on the Septuagint in their citations of Jewish scripture.

HH: The New Advent Encyclopedia says this about Josephus (note the second sentence)

Josephus's second work, the "Jewish Antiquities" (Ioudaike Archaiologia), contains in twenty books the whole history of the Jews from the Creation to the outbreak of the revolt in A.D. 66. Books I-XI are based on the text of the Septuagint, though at times he also repeats traditional explanations current among the Jews in later times.

HH: It is evident that Floyd Jones is contradicting common knowledge when he suggests that neither Philo or Josephus used the Septuagint.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page