and the wicked, becomes inevitable (vv.''
').
Elsewhere the twofold classification is made to turn on characteristics of a more specific kind, such as confession or denial of Christ in times of peril (10^2'-), faithful or unfaithful exercise of steward- ship (24*5- ^^), diligence and fidelity in the use of entrusted gifts, or failure to improve them due to unbelief and indolence (252o- 22. 24f.)_ Profession without practice {V^'^^), selfish ambition (W-^), an unforgiving disposition (v.^'*'-), mark men out for exclusion from the perfected Kingdom ; while childlike humility (v.^), lowly acts of service (Lk 22'^''-^''), preparedness for all kinds of sacrifice up to that of life itself (Mt 16=5; ^7 1927-29), are sure passports to participation in its benefits. See, further, artt. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, UNIVER- SALISM.
SEPTUAGINT
SEPTUAGINT
603
Literature.— E. L. Hull, Serm. 2nd ser. 191 ; H. Bushnell, yew Life, 306; B. F. Westcott, Peterborough Serin. 3 ; T. G. Selby, Unheeding God, 24 ; G. Body, Life of Love, 27.
W. S. Montgomery. SEPTUAGINT.— The Version 'according to the Seventy.' 1. This name for the Greek translation of the OT has its origin in the legend that Ptolemy II. Philadelphus was advised by his librarian Demetrius Phalereus to procure from Jerusalem copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, and men learned in the Hebrew and Greek languages to translate them. Ptolemy accordingly sent am- bassadors to Eleazar the higli priest, Avho sent back to Alexandria seventy-two elders, six from each tribe, with magnificent copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. They were treated with the highest lionour ; they were assigned a quiet and conveni- ent building on the island of Pliaros, removed from tlie distractions of the city ; and there, in seventy- two days, they translated tlie Hebrew Bible into Greek, for the enrichment of Ptolemy's library ; and the translation was received with delight by king and people.
This legend is related in a pseudonymous letter purporting to be writtenby Aristeas (an Alexandrian, and one of Ptolemy's anibassadors~HQ. Jerusalem) to his brotlier Philocrates. The text, edited by St. J. Thackeray, is printed at the end of Swete's Introduction to the OT in Greek, and a translation by Mr. Thackeray appeared in the JQR, April 1903. Other forms of the tradition are given by the Alexandrian writers Aristobulus and Philo, and by Josephus. And the early Fathers of the Christian Church from the 2nd century onwards received the story without suspicion, and amplified it. What amount of truth underlies the legend it is difficult to decide ; but the following facts are probable : (1) that the translation was begun at Alexandria ; (2) that it was not undertaken officially, by order of the king (though he probably encouraged it), but re- sulted from the needs of the Alexandrian Jews, who knew no Hebrew and probably little or no Aramaic ; (3) it may be true that Hebrew rolls were brought from Jerusalem ; (4) the trans- lation was, as might be expected, cordially received by Hellen- istic Jews, who would be glad to have a Greek account of the origins of the Hebrew people.
The Alexandrian version embraced only the Pentateuch ; and the letter of Aristeas professes no more. Josephus and Jerome recognized this, but Christian writers, generally, failed to notice the limitation. It could not, indeed, have em- braced more in the reign of Ptolemy II. , for the Torah alone was complete by that time, secure in its position as a collection of sacred books and ready for translation (Ryle, Canon of the OT, p. 113). But other books would be translated from time to time when they reached Egypt with Palestinian recognition of their canonicity. And before the Christian era Alexandria probably pos- sessed the whole of the Hebrew Bible in a Greek translation, with the possible exception of Ec- clesiastes.
2. Tlie importance of the LXX version to the student of Hebrew literature and philology can scarcely be overestimated (see Swete, Introduction, Pt. iii. c. 4). And it is hardly less essential to the student of early Christian writings. Patristic writers for the most part accepted it not merely as the best version of the Hebrew OT, but as no less inspired than the original. Even Augustine could say : ' Spiritus qui in proplietis erat quando ilia dixerunt, idem ipse erat in LXX viris quando illainterpretati sunt' [dc Civ. Dei, xviii. 43). Being entirely dependent on it, and unable to appeal to or form comparisons with any other version, ' they adopted without suspicion and with tenacity its least defensible renderings, and pressed them into the service of controversy, dogma, and devotion.' ' It was argued that the errors of the Greek text were due to accidents of transmission, or that they were not actual errors, but Divine adaptations of the original to the use of the future Church' (Swete, Pt. iii. c. 5).
But the present article is concerned with that which is the chiefest importance of the LXX — its
relation to (a) the beginnings and the growth of Christianity, {b) the expression of Christian doc- trines and ideas.
(«) The LXX teas an important factor in pre- paring the way fur the reception of the Christian religion. In our Lord's time the Jews were scat- tered throughout the known world. And though they preserved their religious connexion with Jeru- salem by payments of money and by frequent attendance at the three annual festivals (see art. Dispersion), yet one and all had lost the know- ledge of the classical Hebrew of the Scriptures, with the exception of the learned — the priests and Rabbis— of whom the original language of the OT was almost the exclusive property. It may be realized, therefore, what a blessing was conferred upon the Jewish race by Alexandria when she gave them their own Scriptui-es in the universal language of the day. They were provided with a valuable controversial weapon, whereby tliey could prove to their lieathen neighbours the real im- portance and the hoary antiquity of the Hebrew nation. An army of apologists was raised up, of whom Josephus and Philo are, for us, the chief, because so much of their work is extant ; but they must have been well-nigh equalled in weight and influence by such -writers as the historians Alex- ander Cornelius (' Polyhistor'), Demetrius, Eupo- lemus, Artapanus, and Aristeas, the poets Philo, Theodotus, and Ezekiel, the philosopher Aristo- bulus, and Cleodemus or Malchas, small fragments of whose writings are preserved in Clem. Alex. Stromateis, i. 22, 141, 153 If., and Euseb. Fra^p. Evang. viii. 10, ix. 6, 17-34, 37, 39, xiii. 12.