Tychsen ( Tentamen de Variis Codd. Heb. V. T. MSS. Gener.) thought that the Sept. was made from the He- brew transcribed into Hebrew-Greek characters. It is almost unnecessary to refer to such a notion. It never obtained general currency, having been examined and refuted by Dathe, Michaelis, and Hassencamp.
2. Evidence as to the Verbal Condition of the Original. — Here we naturally inquire as to two obvious points :
(1.) Was the version made from Hebrew MSS. with the vowel-points now used? A few examples will in- dicate the answer.
A. Proper Names.
Hebrew.
Sept^lagint.
Exod.vi, 17, 133b, Libni.
Aofievei.
vi, 19, "'brfO, Machli.
MooXe<.
xiii, 20, crX, Etham.
'OSrwfji.
Deut. iii, 10, nz^O, Salchah.
"EXxS.
iv, 43, n^a, Bezer.
BoCTOp.
xxxiv, 1, nspS, Pisgah.
<t>a<Tfa..
B. Other Words. Hebrew. Septuagint.
Gen. i, 9, dip's, pZace. (riyya7W7i; (H'lp'O).
XV, 11, OnX 3^!'^, Ki' amtKt'i^iaiv aiToXi
and he drove them away. (DFlX 3^J_^1).
ExOd. Xii, 17, niSi^n-PN, T'rjv i,T0\>,^'T>u.T^y,
iinleavened bread. (Hl^iSilTX). Numb, xvi, 5, ~ip^,inthe i-iziaKniiTai
morning. ("ip3).
Deut. XV, 18, njqTS, doMfcfc. fTrfreioi- (nit'TS).
Isa. ix, S, "13'^, a word. ^dvaTov CSI?)-
Examples of these two kinds are innumerable. Plainly the Greek translators had not Hebrew MSS. pointed as at present. In many cases (e. g. Exod. ii, 25; Nahum iii, 8) the Sept, has possibly preserved the true pro- nunciation and sense where the Masoretic pointing has gone wrong.
(2.) Were the Hebrew words divided from one an- other, and were the final letters V, S), ", D, ^, in use when the Sept. was made? — Take a few out of many examples:
Hebrexo. Septuagint.
(1) Deut. XXvi, 5, ^2N laTX, J.vpia,< u-rri/SaXev
a perishing Sgrian. (T3N'' D^S).
(2) 2 Kings ii, 14, X!in-;iX, U<t><pw
he also [itjoinsthetwo
• "* *"*"• words in one],
(3) 2 Kings xxii, 20, '23, ovx oilxwc
thn-efore. ("r'Xb).
(4) 1 Chron. Xvii, 10, T]b ^5X1, Kai av^i^am ae
and r told thee. C^^T!?^!^)-
(5) Hos. vi, 5, nix t^"'::q':jt:i kq; W. Kp^^a f^ov
and thy jndnments The Sept. reads: [are as] the light ^^jjD ■^•JSd'it [{\\)\X]goeth forth. t . t : •
(6) Zech. xi, 7, "|i<Sn ■^.'^3?. '(2^, cl? tJjv Xa^a.rTii-
even-^ion, O poor [it joins the first 0/ the hock. two words].
Here we find three cases (2, 4, fi) where the Sept, reads as one word what makes two in the present Hebrew text ; one case (3) where one Hebrew word is made into two by the Sept. ; two cases (1,5) where the Sept. trans-
SEPTUAGINT
543
SEPTUAGINT
fers a letter from the end of one word to the beginning of the next. By inspection of the Hebrew in these cases it will be easily seen that the Hebrew MSS. must have been written without intervals between the words, and that the present final forms were not then in use. In three of the above examples (4, 5, 6), the Sept. has perhaps preserved the true division and sense.
In the study of these miiuite particulars, which en- able us to examine closely the work of the translators, great help is afforded by Cappelli Critica Sacra, and by the Vorstxdieii of Frankel, who has most diligently anatomized the text of the Sept. His projected work on the whole of the version has not been completed, but he has published a part of it in his treatise Uvber den Einjluss der paldslinischen Exegese avf die alexan- drinische Hermeneutik, in which he reviews minutely the Sept. version of the Pentateuch.
III. Ecclesiastical A uthoriti/ and Injhievce. — The Sept. does not apjjear to have obtained general authority among the Jews so long as Hebrew was understood at Alexandria. It is remarkable that Aristobulus quotes the original, even where it departs from the text of the Sept. The version was indeed spread abroad in Egypt, Northern Africa, and Asia Minor. It seems to have been so highly esteemed by the Jews as to be publicly read in some of their synagogues. From the 146th No- vella of Justinian, it would seem that some Jews wished the public interpreter, who read the lessons out of the law and the prophets in Hebrew, to give his explana- tions of them in Greek, while others desired to have them in Chaldee. The reader, therefore, employed this translation as explanatory' of the sections recited in the original, yet, although they highl}' esteemed the Greek, they did not regard it as ecpial to the Hebrew. Even the Talmudists make honorable mention of its origin. It is true that the Talmud also speaks of it as an abom- ination to the Jews in Palestine; but this refers to the 2d century and the time following, not to the period im- mediately after the appearance of Christ. When con- troversies arose between Christians and Jews, and the former appealed with irresistible force of argument to this version, the latter denied that it agreed with the Hebrew original. Thus by degrees it became odious to the Jews — as much execrated as it had before been commended. They had recourse to the translation of Aquila, who is supposed to have undertaken a new work from the Hebrew, with the express object of sup- planting the Sept. and favoring the sentiments of his brethren.
Among the Christians the ancient text, called Konn), was current before the time of Origen. We find it quot- ed by the early Christian fathers — in Greek by Clem- ens Komanus, Justin Martyr, Irenajus; in Latin versions by Tertullian and Cyprian. We find it questioned as inaccurate by the Jews (Just. Martyr, ApoL), and pro- voking them to obtain a better version (hence the ver- sions of Aquila, etc.). We find it quoted by Josephus and Philo; and thus we are brought to the time of the apostles and evangelists, whose writings are full of cita- tions and references, and imbued with the phraseology of the Sept. From all this we are justified in the fol- lowing conclusions on this head :