In very similar cases the error may be thus traced to the similarity of some of the Hebrew letters, 1 and "1, tl and r, 1 and 1, etc. ; in some it is difficult to see any connection between the original and the version — e. g. Deut. xxxii, 8, bx'n'I!^ "^33, "the sons of Israel," Sept. dyyEXuiv Qeov, Aquila and Symmachus, v'lwv 'Icpa/'/X.
Isa. xxi, 11, 12. Septuagint.
Watchman, what of the night? ., x . • sr
Watchman, what of the night ? ^oXaaaere e7r«Xf eir ;
The watchman said, ^ ■. ■ .^ ■
The moi-ning cometh, and also f"^,'"'<"^ ■^"'^P"' '^^'
the night: t,,v voKra.
If ye will inquire, inquire ye. eitv Cnm K'ner
Return, come. Kai wap' enni olKei.
(6.) Besides the above deviations and many like them, which are probably due to accidental causes — the change of a letter, or doubtful writing in the Hebrew — there are some passages which seem to exhibit a studied varia- tion in the Sept. from the Hebrew, e. g. Gen. ii, 2, on the seventh (^3'"ia'>rn) day God e7ided his work; Sept. avvETtXECTEv (') Otog ev ti) t'li-ifpa tij ektij to. tpyn av- Tor. The addition in Exo(l. xii, 40, kui ev Ty yy Xo- %>aav, appears to be of this kind, inserted to solve a dif- ficulty.
Frequently the strong expressions of the Hebrew are softened down; where human parts are ascribed to God for hand the Sept. substitutes yjoji'er; for mouth, word, etc. Exod. iv, 16, " Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (DlilSNS), Sept. av Sk avT<p iay to. irpog tov (risov (see Exod. iv, 15). These and many more savor of design rather than of accident or error.
The version is, therefore, not minutel}' accurate in details ; and it may be laid down as a principle, never to build any argument on -words or phrases of the Sept. without comparing them with the flebreio. The Greek may be right; but verj' often its variations are wrong.
3. We shall now be prepared to weigh the tradition of the fathers, that the version was made by inspiration {kut iTTiTrvoiav tov Qiov, Ircnreus; " Divino Spiritu
SEPTUAGINT
545
SEPTUAGINT
interpretati," Augustine). Even Jerome himself seems to tliink that the Sept. may have sometimes added words to the original "ob .Spiritus Sancti auctoritatem. licet in Hebrffiis voliiminibus non legatur" {Piv/dt. in Para- lip, tom. i, col. 1419).
Let us try to form some conception of what is meant by the inspiration of translators. It cannot mean what Jerome here seems to allow, that the translators were divinely moved to add to the original, for this would be the iiispiration of j)rophets, as he himself says in another passage (^Prolog, in Genesin), " Aliud est enim vertere, aliud esse interpretem." Everj'^ such addi- tion would be, in fact, a new revelation. Nor can it be, as some have thought, that the deviations of the Sept. from the original were divinely directed, whether in order to adapt the Scriptures to the mind of the heathen or for other purposes. This would be, p?-o tanto, a new revelation, and it is difficult to conceive of such a revelation ; for, be it observed, the discrepancy between the Hebrew and (ireek Scriptures would tend to separate the Jews of Palestine from those of Alexan- dria, and of other places whore the Greek Scriptures were used; there would be two different copies of the same books dispersed throughout the world, each claim- ing divine authority; the appeal to Moses and the prophets would lose much of its force; the standard of divine truth would be rendered doubtful ; the trumpet would give an uncertain sound. No ! If there be such a thing as an inspiration of translators, it must be an effect of the Holy Spirit on their minds, enabling them to do their ivork of translation more perfectly than by their own abilities and acquirements; to overcome the difficulties arising from defective knowledge, from im- perfect MSS., from similarity of letters, from human in- firmity and weariness; and so to produce a copy of the Scriptures, setting forth the Word of God and the his- tory of his people, in its original truth and purity. This is the kind of inspiration claimed for the translators by Philo (17/. Mosis, lib. ii) : "We look upon the persons who made this version not merely as translators, but as persons chosen and set apart by divine appointment, to whom it was given to comprehend and express the sense and meaning of Moses in the fullest and clearest man- ner."
The reader will be able to judge from the foregoing examples whether the Sept. version satisfies this test. If it does, it will be found not only substantially faith- ful, but minutely accurate in details; it will enable us to correct the Hebrew in every place where an error has crept in ; it will give evidence of that faculty of intuition in its highest form which enables our great critics to divine from the faulty text the true reading; it will be, in short, a republication of the original text, purified from the errors of human hands and eyes, Stamped with fresh authority from heaven. This is a question to be decided by facts, by the phenomena of the version itself. We will simply declare our own con- viction that, instead of such a divine republication of the original, we find a marked distinction between the original and the Sept. — a distinction which is well ex- pressed in the words of Jerome (Prolo//. in Genesin f. " Ibi Spiritus ventura prjedicit ; hie eruditio et verborum copia ea quaj intelligit transfert." It will be remem- bered that this agrees with the ancient narrative of the version, known by the name of Aristeas, which repre- sents the interpreters as meeting in one house, forming one council, conferring together, and agreeing on the sense (see Hody, lib. ii, c. vi).