Apparently, today, February 8th, has been deemed International Septuagint Day [not to mention it being my oldest daughter Megan's birthday!] For those of you saying, "The Sept-tu-a-what?" - perhaps a little background might be in order. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible which was believed to created somewhere between the third century BCE [the Pentateuch portions] and late second century/beginning of the first century BCE for the rest of the Hebrew Bible. The term "Septuagint" comes from the Latin Septuaginta, which means "seventy" [thus the shorthand LXX], which refers to the popularized legend that the text was produced by seventy elders.
So in honor of International Septuagint Day, Tyler Williams has offered some resources, as well as some of the top reasons to study the Septuagint. [I especially liked the last reason...]
- The Septuagint preserves a number of Jewish-Greek writings from
the pre-Christian era not contained in the Hebrew Bible (known in
Christian circles as the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonical works)
- As such, study of the LXX can provide a glimpse into the thought and theology of diaspora Jews before the common era.
- For the majority of the books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, the LXX provides us the earliest witness to the biblical text (earlier than
most of Hebrew witnesses found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example)
and is indispensable for textual criticism.
- The LXX provides a unique glimpse into the literary and textual development for
some books of the Old Testament (e.g., Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel), as
well as the sometimes fuzzy border between literary development and
textual transmission.
- Insofar that all translations are interpretations, the LXX provides one of the earliest commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.
- The LXX gives us a glimpse of the shape of the OT canon before the common era (at least for Greek-speaking Judaism in the diaspora, perhaps not for Palestinian Jews).
- The LXX functioned as the Bible of most of the early Greek-speaking Christians
(and continues to function as such for the Greek Orthodox Church).
- In connection with the previous point, the LXX often served as a theological lexicon for the writers of the NT, and as such it provides a fruitful avenue of research into the background of many of the theological terms and concepts in the NT.
- The LXX was the preferred Scriptures for many of the early church fathers and
is essential for understanding early theological discussions.
- It’s a great conversation starter at parties (Attractive Woman/Man: “Read any good books lately?” Budding LXX student: “Why yes, I was just reading the Septuagint today!” Attractive Woman/Man: “The Sept-tu-a-what?” Budding LXX student: “Let me buy your a drink and tell you more…”)
So there you have it. Let me be perhaps the first to wish you and yours and very happy International Septuagint Day.
I know, your day is now complete...
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