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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Septuagint vs. Masoretes/75 vs. 70: How Many Hebrews Did Jacob Lead into Egypt?
  • Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:23:12 EST


Rev. Bryant J. Williams III:

1. You wrote: “Regarding the use of the LXX in Acts 7, it makes perfect
sense. Stephen, a Greek-speaking Jew, chosen as deacon by the early church in
Acts 6 to take care of the Hellenistic Jewish widows, would have quoted from
the
LXX which was by
Greek-speaking Jews in the Diaspora. In fact, the book of Hebrews uses all
its
quotes from the LXX. So there are no surprises here.”

I agree. But that does not help us resolve the issue of whether the original
text, on which both the Septuagint and the Masoretic text are based, said 75
or 70.

2. You wrote: “Regarding the 70 verse 75. It is apparent if one looks at
the texts that Joseph and his family (wife and children) are also included to
give the number of 75;
otherwise it is 70 as per MT.”

It’s not that easy.

(a) The Septuagint has (i) five named descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim,
and it also (ii) refers to 9 descendants in total of Joseph. So the
Septuagint
implicitly sees Joseph as having 2 unnamed younger sons: 9 descendants of
Joseph, less Manasseh and Ephraim, less 5 named descendants of Manasseh and
Ephraim = 2 unnamed descendants of Joseph, who presumably are Joseph’s
younger
sons, born after Jacob got to Egypt. Rather than being a weakness, that is a
great strength of the Septuagint, because Genesis 48: 6 would seem to require
that Joseph sires younger sons after Manasseh and Ephraim, since Jacob says
to
Joseph:

“And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall
be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.’” Genesis
48: 6

(b) Few people have followed your suggestion of counting in Joseph’s wife.
Both the name of Joseph’s wife, and the name of her Egyptian priestly father,
do appear in chapter 46 of Genesis, that’s true. But few people would count
them.

Most people view both the total number, whether it be 75 or 70, as not
including anyone other than Jacob and Jacob’s blood descendants. Many people
exclude some of Jacob’s blood descendants, but few analysts have proposed
adding in
anyone who is not a blood descendant of Jacob. For example, all of Joseph’s
older half-brothers were married when the Hebrews came into Egypt, yet their
wives are not counted.

(c) As I see it, one of the keys is to determine now many members of Joseph’
s family to treat as being led to Egypt with Jacob, for purposes of chapter
46
of Genesis, in the face of the fact that no members of Joseph’s family were
literally led by Jacob into Egypt. But the author of the Patriarchal
narratives wants to include all of Jacob’s sons, even those sons who were
already in
Egypt when Jacob led the Hebrews into Egypt. Joseph is a blood son of Jacob,
so
Joseph should be counted, even though Joseph was already in Egypt. Chapter
46 of Genesis deftly foreshadows chapter 48 of Genesis, in my view, in that
Manasseh and Ephraim are adopted by Jacob as being Jacob’s sons in chapter 48
of
Genesis. On that basis, and with chapter 46 of Genesis already figuring in
that future event, in my view Manasseh and Ephraim should be treated for all
purposes of chapter 46 of Genesis as being led into Egypt by Jacob, even
though
Manasseh and Ephraim were born in Egypt. On that view, there are precisely
3,
and only 3, members of Joseph’s family who should be treated, for purposes of
chapter 46 of Genesis, as if they had been led into Egypt by Jacob. Thus all
of Jacob’s sons, including Jacob’s 2 adopted sons and his 3 sons already in
Egypt, are treated as being led into Egypt by Jacob. No other members of
Joseph
’s family should be treated as being led into Egypt by Jacob, in counting to
the key number of 70.

There are 75 names in the text of chapter 46 of Genesis, if we start with the
74 names in the Septuagint, and add “Huppim” which the Septuagint dropped as
a descendant of Benjamin.

Rachel awkwardly has 19 named descendants.

And Joseph does have 2 younger sons, though their names are not given.

That, in a nutshell, is how I see the original text of chapter 46 of Genesis
as originally having read. But I’m getting way ahead of myself. I haven’t
even posted the relevant portions of the Septuagint text of chapter 46 of
Genesis yet, so that everyone can follow along with this discussion.

3. What we want is (i) Leah to be associated with the auspicious number 33,
(ii) Rachel to be associated with the inauspicious number 19, (iii) there
should be 75 total names, (iv) the numbers 66 and 9 should appear, which also
suggests the number 75 (tying into the fact that the Patriarchal narratives
begin
with Abraham leaving Harran for Canaan when Abraham is stated age 75 “years”
), yet (v) the bottom line should nevertheless be the number 70, the
“Egyptian”
number, if you will, so that the numerical symbolism will be perfect in all
ways. (The first number in the Patriarchal narratives, which occurs in the
very first verse of the Patriarchal narratives, is 70. And the last chapter
of
Genesis features the Egyptians mourning Jacob’s death in Egypt for 70 days.
So we need that “Egyptian” number 70 in chapter 46 of Genesis, based on the
thoroughgoing numerical symbolism that is used throughout the Patriarchal
narratives.)

We’re getting there. In my view, the original text embodied all the above
key numerical features: 33; 19; 75; 66 + 9; 70.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois




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