The Septuagint: What It Is and Why It Matters.

 

In this comprehensive paperback resource that Crossway kindly gave me to review, authors Gregory R. Lanier, PhD, and William A. Ross, PhD, address The Septuagint: What It Is and Why It Matters. Although the title sounds straightforward enough, this Greek translation of scripture follows a meandering path.

Until the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, Hebrew scriptures were well-attended by priestly scribes. Once the Temple was destroyed, however, a central depository no longer existed. Then,

“As the biblical text was copied in disparate areas over the following centuries with much less coordination or oversight by the Jerusalem priesthood, textual variations both large and small inevitably started to enter the picture. Although the reconstruction of the temple around 516 BC reinvigorated priestly scribal activity, some measure of textual diversification of the Hebrew Bible had already begun. The results of this process are visible in the biblical manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in the 1940s but include scrolls dating as early as the third century BC.” In addition, “ancient copies differed from each other to varying degrees.”

Therefore, “…it is an oversimplification to say that the Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in a straightforward way, since the translators were not working with a standardized text (or with the same text we use today).” Also, the name “Septuagint,” which commonly refers to the seventy or so Greek translators, is somewhat of a misnomer. i.e., That likely did take place, but other attempts to bring the Bible into the Greek language also occurred.

Does this mean we should ignore the Greek, as some have done? Not at all! For one thing, the Septuagint can be useful for informative and devotional purposes. And “…because of the dynamics in translation, students of the Greek Old Testament can gain insight into Jewish interpretive principles, theology, and messianism by studying the Greek translations, particularly where they deviate from the known Hebrew.”

In a way then, The Septuagint is like having the four perspectives of the Gospel writers, or, perhaps more aptly, like the many fine translations into English we now have, each of which contributes greatly to our overall understanding of God and His Word.

 

©2022, Mary Sayler, poet-writer, pray-er, and lifelong student of the Bible

 

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Which books go in which Bible?

Christians from all denominations often ask me which Bible is which and why, and I’ve been explaining away – incorrectly! Well, not totally wrongly, but I was under the forgetful impression that any Bible “with Apocrypha” is the same as a “Catholic edition” – not!

With apologies to all, I’ll try to set things straight, confusing though it may be, but important too, so please bear with me.

As I’ve also mentioned over the years (and, yea! – gotten right) – the order of the books in a Bible “with Apocrypha” differ from a “Catholic edition” most noticeably by placement.

Each edition approved for Roman Catholic readers has the “extra books” woven into the “Old Testament” according to category. For example, Tobit and I and II Maccabees go with historical books whereas The Book of Sirach (one of my favorites) wisely goes with Wisdom Books and Baruch goes with the Prophets. However, Bibles labeled “with Apocrypha” typically place the extra books between the Testaments or after Revelation.

That can be confusing if you enjoy interdenominational Bible study groups, as I do, but otherwise, it’s no big deal. Right? Well, at least not until you come to some extra “extra books” with no clue what to do, which is what happened recently to me.

Reading my new copy of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) with Apocrypha, I ran across books I did not recall ever reading in my Catholic Study Bible or Revised English Bible with Apocrypha or The New Jerusalem Bible. Just to be sure, I double-checked the lists and saw that some of the books “with Apocrypha” are not part of the deuterocanonical books of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church does not consider books labeled “apocryphal” as such since “Apocrypha” means hidden, which those books clearly are not. Rather the Roman Church deemed the “extra books” to be “deuterocanonical” or outside the canon established by Jewish scholars who canonized the Hebrew Scriptures sometime after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D.

When Protestants left the Catholic Church, the Jewish Bible went, too, as the “Old Testament.” In the ecumenical environment we now have, however, most Christians want to see all the books inspired by the Holy Spirit. But, surprise! Most new editions of the Bible “with Apocrypha” have books the Catholic Church never included.

Let me quickly add:

The New Testament (NT) is the same for every Christian.

The NT books are the same; the order is the same, and only the footnotes might differ.

Before I leave you hanging in confusion and despair of knowing, here’s a list of deuterocanonical (aka apocryphal books) included in Bibles approved by the Roman Catholic Church:

Tobit
Judith
Additions to the Book of Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus aka the Wisdom of Jesus aka Sirach
Baruch
The Letter of Jeremiah
The Additions to the Book of Daniel – Prayer of Azariah (aka Abednego)
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
1 and 2 Maccabees

In addition to those “extra books” in the “Old Testament” (OT) of a Catholic Bible, the Greek and Slavonic Bibles include all books above plus:

1 Esdras
Prayer of Manasseh
Psalm 151
3 Maccabees

Finally, Slavonic Bibles include:

2 and 3 Esdras
4 Maccabees

To recap: “with Apocrypha” Bibles include all the “extra books” just listed, which, together, equal the length of the entire New Testament. Therefore, having done my extra reading, I think I’ll focus on the NT, OT books of Wisdom, and the Prophets to see what’s coming next!

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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler reserves all rights to correct her mistakes and be corrected, so if I still got it wrong, feel free to tell me – nicely, of course :)