www.youtube.com/watch?v=wczieIcwRys
Introduction to the
Septuagint
Post-Apostolic Church
INTRO
The Septuagint is the Greek translation of
the Old Testament. Its translation began
with 72 Jewish scholars in Alexandria ,
Egypt
The
translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek language was a very
significant event for the Jews. Clement of Alexandria wrote that it
was the biggest event since the time of Ezra.
For it was the
counsel of God carried out for the benefit of Grecian ears. It was not alien to the inspiration of God,
who gave the prophecy, also to produce the translation, and make it--as it
were--Greek prophecy. Since the
Scriptures having perished in the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, Ezra the Levite,
the priest, in the time of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, having become
inspired in the exercise of prophecy, restored again the whole of the ancient
Scriptures. (Clement of Alexandria
From the time of its translation, through
the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, and through the time of the early
Christians, it was called the Translation of the Seventy. Augustine of Hippo was the first to call it the Septuagint, which is Latin for
"of the Seventy." It is abbreviated with the Roman
numerals "LXX."
This video is an introduction to the
Septuagint. There are other videos in
this series which will go into more detail.
Links to these supplemental videos are on the screen and in the
description. They are:
-History
of the Septuagint
-Notable
Differences Between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint
-Notable
New Testament Quotations that Follow the Septuagint
HISTORY
There are two ancient sources for the
history of the Septuagint.
The
first is the Letter of
Aristeas. This is a primary source,
which means it was written around the same time that the Septuagint was first
being translated. Aristeas was a witness
to--and had a hand in--how the Septuagint came to be. His letter goes into great detail on how this
happened.
The other source is the writings of Jews who
lived in the first century such as Philo of Alexandria and Josephus.
The short version of the Septuagint's
beginning is this: Ptolemy II, the Greek
king of Egypt , wanted to
expand the library at Alexandria Jerusalem Alexandria
For details on how the Septuagint came to be
and about the popular legend behind it, see the full video on the History of
the Septuagint.
MANUSCRIPT FAMILES
If one looked at the ancient Old Testament
manuscripts that we have today, one would notice differences between them. As copies were made of copies, differences arose. (This is true with Old Testament manuscripts
as well as New Testament manuscripts.) If one was to take the Old
Testament manuscripts and combine the ones that are most similar, one would
categorize them into three families. The three families of Old
Testament manuscripts are: the Samaritan, the Septuagint, and the Masoretic.
The Samaritan family of manuscripts is the
oldest. Their manuscript tradition goes
back to the time when the exiles returned from Babylonian captivity, which was
in the 400s BC. Ezra and Nehemiah lived
during this time period. The Samaritans
accepted only the five books of Moses, thus their Old Testament is called the
Samaritan Pentateuch.
The Septuagint family of manuscripts began
with the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek around 250 BC, which
is what this video series is about. This
became THE Old Testament for Greek and Aramaic speaking Jews.
The third family of manuscripts is the
Masoretic Text, which is today's complete Old Testament in the Hebrew language. These were copied and collected centuries
after Jesus Christ. This family of manuscripts
can be traced back to a Jewish group called the Masorites who lived in the 900s
AD and a little before. When translating
the Old Testament for our English Bibles, practically all English translations
use the Masoretic Text. This is surprising, considering that the Masoretic family
is actually more recent than the Samaritan and Septuagint families, by 1300 years
and 1100 years, respectively.
There are noticeable differences between the
Masoretic and the Septuagint. For
example, the Septuagint contains additional Old Testament books as well as
additions to Masoretic books such as Esther and Daniel. These were formerly included in the Old
Testament for centuries. Protestants
were the first to begin calling some of these books Apocrypha. For a list of the major differences between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint,
including the additional books in the Septuagint, see the third video in this
series.
DIFFERENCES IN VIEW OF NT QUOTATIONS
Both the Greek and the Hebrew Old Testaments
existed during the time of Jesus and the apostles. Since we know the Greek Septuagint and the Hebrew Masoretic—as we have them
today—have some differences, are
we able to know which Old Testament Jesus and the apostles used? Did they favor the Hebrew of their day or the
Greek? If there was a set of Scriptures that
Jesus and the apostles used, when you compare today's Greek Septuagint with
today's Masoretic Hebrew, they
certainly favored the Greek, not the Hebrew.
Here is how we know:
The New Testament quotes the Old Testament a
few hundred times. We can compare the
quotations and see if the New Testament writers used the Septuagint or the
Masoretic. 20% of the quotations are the
same in the Septuagint and the Masoretic.
But 80% of the quotations differ between the two texts. So of those quotations that differ, how often
did the New Testament writers follow the Septuagint and how often did they
follow the Masoretic? Of these differences, 90% follow
the Septuagint while only 10% follow the Masoretic! In other words, New Testament quotations from the Old Testament favor the Septuagint
over the Masoretic 9 times out of 10. No
wonder the early Christians used the Septuagint as their Old Testament--because
Jesus and the apostles used it as well. Additionally, it is worth noting
that the Greek Septuagint contains many more prophecies about Jesus being the
Messiah than the Masoretic does.
If time permits and if you viewers are interested,
I might make this video series on the Septuagint an on-going series by sharing specific
New Testament quotations from the Old Testament that differ between the
Septuagint and the Masoretic. For example, one Old Testament passage
that differs is Isaiah 7:14 about the prophecy of how the Messiah will be born. Would he be born of a virgin or of a young
woman? There is a distinction between
these in the two texts. Another example is the many
differences in Psalm 22. The Septuagint
contains more prophecies about Jesus' crucifixion than the Masoretic does. To learn more about these differences and why
the Septuagint was the Old Testament of choice for Jesus, the apostles, and the
early Christians, see the fourth video in this series.
CONCLUSION
I hope this has piqued your interest in the
Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Greek Old Testament has great value. The early Christians recognized it and used
it as their Old Testament, not only because it contains more prophecies proving
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah but also because Jesus and the apostles
used it far more often than the Hebrew Old Testament. To learn more about the Septuagint, please
see the rest of the videos in this series.
If you are new to this channel, I invite you
to watch videos about early Christianity.
Please subscribe to stay tuned for future videos.
Thank
you for watching!
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