Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

> From: kenneth greifer Sent: Sunday, October 15, 2006 9:10 PM
> 
> Recently, some of the discussions were about the Septuagint compared to
> the
> Masoretic text and the 70 souls from Jacob. Genesis 46:27 , Exodus 1:5 ,
> and
> Deuteronomy 10:22 all say 70 in the Masoretic text, but the Septuagint
> says
> 75 in the first two, but 70 in Deuteronomy 10:22. Why is it different in
> this quote?
> 

[Steve Miller] thanks for pointing this out. 

There are 2 totals in Gen 46:

In Gen 46:26, both MT & LXX give 66 as the number that came into Egypt with
Jacob, that came out of Jacob's loins.

In v 27 MT gives 70 and LXX 75 for the all the souls of the house of Jacob
that came into Egypt. This number includes those who came to Egypt before
Jacob came. 

The MT does not say who the missing 4 were in the 66 total, but I figure
they are Joseph, Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, because they were already in
Egypt before Jacob came.

The 75 figure in the LXX includes the 70 from the MT plus 5 additional
descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim (46:20 LXX, and ignoring the 1st part of
46:27 LXX, which I think must be an error.)

In Exo 1:5, these are all the souls that came out of Jacob's loins, not just
those who came down to Egypt with Jacob. So the number agrees with Gen
46:27, not 46:26. i.e 70 for MT, 75 for LXX.

In Deut 10:22, the number is how many the Children of Israel started with
before the Lord multiplied them in Egypt. This number would not include the
5 descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, because they are part of the Lord's
multiplying Israel in Egypt. It would include Ephraim and Manasseh
themselves, because they were counted as Jacob's direct children and as 2 of
the 13 tribes. Thus the number, from the LXX, DSS and Acts point of view, is
75 - 5 descendants of Ephraim & Manasseh = 70. Or from both the MT & LXX
point of view = 66 + 4 = 70.

The MT, in general, is far more accurate than the LXX, but I believe that
the 75 number in LXX is the correct one because it matches the NT and the
DSS. 
-Steve Miller
Detroit
www.voiceinwilderness.info