Old Testament 320

THE SEPTUAGINT
Richard A. Taylor

Study Questions from Jobes and Silva’s

Invitation to the Septuagint

The following questions are intended to provide a guide for the reading of the following textbook: Karen H. Jobes
and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015). The numbers in parentheses
indicate the page where the information is found in this book. In order to assist in locating the relevant information,
in formulating the following questions I have retained to a large degree the wording of the text itself. As you study
this book, give careful thought to these matters and try to retain as much of the factual material as possible.

Introduction: Why Study the Septuagint?

1. (1) In what way is the Septuagint a milestone in human culture?
2. (2) About how many copies of the Septuagint have survived, and how does this figure
compare with other works from antiquity?
3. (3) Why are we unsure of whether the Greek exactly represents its Hebrew Vorlage?
4. (4) How does the Septuagint reflect the theological, social, and political interests of
the translator?
5. (5) In what ways does the Septuagint enlighten study of the Greek New Testament?
6. (7) What was the Bible used by the early church fathers and councils?
7. (8) Why are most Christians in the Western church today completely unfamiliar with
the Septuagint?
8. (9) Give some thought to Hitzig’s comment on the Septuagint.
1. The Origin of the Septuagint and Other Greek Versions
1. (14) In what sense is there really no such thing as the Septuagint?
2. (14) In what ways is the term Septuagint used?
3. (15) Distinguish between a scroll and a codex.
4. (16) How is the term Old Greek (OG) used?
5. (17) Comment on the origin of the English term Septuagint.
6. (18) Comment on manuscript attestation for the Letter of Aristeas.
7. (18) Comment on the date and purpose of the Letter of Aristeas.
8. (22) Contrast the views of Paul Kahle and Paul de Lagarde on Septuagint origins.
9. (23) Comment on the significance of seventy rather than seventy-two translators.
10. (25) Identify several reasons why Jews abandoned the Septuagint to the church.
11. (26) What is meant by “isomorphic character” with regard to Aquila’s translation?
12. (27) How does Psalm 22:12b illustrate Aquila’s policy of translation?
13. (28) Summarize some features of Theodotion’s Greek version.
14. (28) Comment on certain renderings once thought to be distinctive to Theodotion.
15. (29) Summarize some features of Symmachus’s Greek version.
16. (29) What do scholars mean by the term Kaige?
17. (30) In addition to the Three, what are some other early Greek translations?
18. (32) What is the classic source for information on Septuagint studies?

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2. The Transmission of the Septuagint

1. (36) What is the difference between a recension and a new translation?
2. (39) What did Jerome mean by the trifaria varietas of the Septuagint text?
3. (40) Identify the six columns of Origen’s Hexapla.
4. (40) What was the purpose of Origen’s second column?
5. (41) How did Orlinsky explain the rationale for the order of the columns?
6. (42) Actual specimens of the Three are preserved in what sources?
7. (43) What is the most important issue surrounding Origen’s textual work?
8. (44) In what way was the basic assumption of Origen’s work wrong?
9. (45) What was the function of the obelus, asterisk, and metobelus in the fifth column?
10. (45) Why are Origen’s signs sometimes referred to as the Aristarchian symbols?
11. (45) Why do some scholars view the Hexapla as “a monument to misguided industry”?
12. (47) The Lucianic recension is especially evident in what books? Where is it absent?
13. (48) What do scholars mean when they speak of a Proto-Lucianic text?
14. (48) The textual history of the Greek version can be divided into what five stages?
15. (51) Comment on Chester Beatty Papyrus IV (Rahlfs 961), Papyrus Fouad 266, and
Papyrus Rylands 458 (Rahlfs 957).
16. (52) Identify the best known biblical uncials.
17. (56) Comment on the significance of the tenth-century Chigi manuscript (88).
18. (56) What ancient versions were translated from the Greek text rather than the Hebrew?
19. (60) What is the Syro-Hexapla? What is the Peshitta? What is the Coptic?
3. The Septuagint in Modern Times
1. (65) What were the earliest printed editions of the Greek Old Testament?
2. (66) Why is the old edition of the Septuagint by Holmes and Parsons still useful?
3. (68) Why is the Larger Cambridge edition still useful?
4. (69) Comment on the work of Paul de Lagarde and Alfred Rahlfs.
5. (71) Describe the NETS project.
6. (71) What other translations of the Septuagint into modern languages are underway?
7. (75) What two details are important in the enumeration of the psalms in the Greek text?
8. (80) Comment on Justin Martyr’s text of Psalm 96:10 and his accusation of the Jews.
9. (80) Virtually all surviving Greek manuscripts of the Bible were produced by whom?
10. (80) Why did early Christians prefer the codex over the scroll?
4. The Septuagint as a Translation
1. (87) Comment on the interlinear model for making inferences about a translation’s
origin and purpose.
2. (89) How does the approach used by NETS differ from that of La Bible d’Alexandrie?
3. (90) Summarize several levels of interpretation that are involved in translation.
4. (94) Comment on the relationship between translation method and textual variation.
5. (95) What is perhaps the weightiest problem in Septuagint scholarship?
6. (95) What factors may have caused differences between the Greek version and the MT?
7. (97) Distinguish between the Greek words thysiastērion and bōmos.
8. (98) What is meant by the German word Tendenz?
9. (98) Comment on several motivations for introducing interpretive bias to a translation.
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10. (99) Comment on the expression “the theology of the Septuagint.”

11. (100) Comment on anti-anthropomorphism in the Septuagint.
12. (101) Comment on the use of rock-metaphor in the Septuagint.
13. (103) Comment on the distinction between “christological applications” and “messianic
readings” in the Septuagint.
14. (104) Comment on the significance of “sixth” rather than “seventh” in LXX Genesis 2:2.
15. (107) What is the sociopolitical significance of the additions to Esther?
16. (108) What is significant about the occasional use in the Septuagint of archōn rather than
basileus to render Hebrew melek (“king”)?
5. The Language of the Septuagint
1. (114) How do biblical scholars use the expression Hellenistic Greek?
2. (116n7) Define and illustrate the meaning of the word calque.
3. (118) What is the classic example of a semantic loan in the LXX?
4. (118) Comment on the use of dovxa in the Septuagint.
5. (120) Comment on the use of parataxis in LXX Greek.
6. (121) Identify some peculiarities in the language of the Septuagint.
7. (125) What is meant by the term syntax criticism?
8. (126) What was problematic with Fritsch’s appeal to Deuteronomy 32:10 as evidence of
anti-anthropomorphism?
6. Establishing the Text of the Septuagint
1. (129) Comment on modern attitudes toward the aims of textual criticism.
2. (133) What has been the primary goal of LXX textual criticism for over a century?
3. (134) List some correspondences between textual criticism of the LXX and of the NT.
4. (135) List some differences between textual criticism of the LXX and of the NT.
5. (136) Distinguish between intrinsic probability and transcriptional probability, indicating
some of the considerations that must be taken into account.
6. (137) What is the most fundamental canon of transcriptional probability?
7. (143) What is meant by the term catena?
8. (148) Peruse the sample pages of critical editions of the Septuagint found on pp. 148–55,
giving thought to their distinctive features.
7. Using the Septuagint for the Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible
1. (156) Identify several purposes that the LXX can serve for the work of OT scholarship.
2. (164) What two extremes should be avoided in OT textual criticism?
3. (167) Give some thought to the six principles listed for analyzing Greek textual variants.
4. (173) Comment on the identification of manuscripts boc2e2.
5. (173) What is significant about the Hebrew manuscripts of Samuel found at Qumran?
6. (176) Give some thought to the analysis of 3 Reigns 2:1-5.
7. (180) Whose work is especially recommended as a sober and reliable guide to the text-
critical use of the Septuagint?
8. The Judean Desert Discoveries and Septuagint Studies
1. (184) What distinction does the main LXX tradition make between laov~ and e[qno~?
2. (185) Contrast the views of Wevers and Ulrich on the Vorlage of the original Greek.
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3. (186) What is significant about the Greek Minor Prophets scroll from Naúal îever?
4. (188) Comment on the significance of the Qumran fragments of Jeremiah.
5. (190) What is Tov’s conclusion regarding the book of Jeremiah?
6. (195) What does the new evidence presented by 4QSama show?
7. (195) Summarize the content of the Nahash variant after 1 Samuel 10:27 in 4QSama.
9. The Septuagint and the New Testament
1. (202) Contrast the views of Hatch and Abbott on LXX influence on NT language.
2. (203) Summarize Deissmann’s view on NT Greek.
3. (206) Summarize the influence of the Greek OT on the language of early Christians.
4. (208) In what way can the New Testament serve as a source for LXX textual criticism?
5. (210) In what way can the Septuagint serve as a source for NT textual criticism?
6. (212) Identify several ways in which LXX influence on NT hermeneutics can be seen.
7. (220) Briefly discuss some terms used in the NT that must be understood in relationship
to their Hebrew counterparts as mediated through the LXX.
8. (223) Describe a couple of examples of OT allusions in the book of Philippians.
10. Interpreting the Septuagint
N.B.: This chapter (pp. 228–62) is devoted to an analysis of several Old Testament texts:
Genesis 4:1-8; Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Esther 5:1-2 with Addition D. As you read this section,
give particular attention to the methodological issues that surface in the analysis of these texts.
11. Our Predecessors: Septuagint Scholars of a Previous Generation
1. (265) Summarize the contribution of Tischendorf (1815–1874).
2. (266) Summarize the contribution of Hatch (1835–1889).
3. (268) Summarize the contribution of de Lagarde (1827–1891).
4. (272) Summarize the contribution of Rahlfs (1865–1935).
5. (273) Summarize the contribution of Swete (1835–1917).
6. (275) Summarize the contribution of Brooke (1863–1939) and McLean (1865–1947).
7. (277) Summarize the contribution of Thackeray (1869–1930).
8. (278) Summarize the contribution of Margolis (1866–1932).
9. (281) Summarize the contribution of Montgomery (1867–1949).
10. (282) Summarize the contribution of Ziegler (1902–1988).
11. (283) Summarize the contribution of Soisalon-Soininen (1917–2002).
12. (285) Summarize the contribution of Barthélemy (1921–2002).
13. (286) Summarize the contribution of Wevers (1919–2010).
12. Current Studies in Language and Translation
1. (291) Comment on two different ways of construing the aim of LXX lexicography.
2. (292) How do the approaches of Muraoka and Lust differ regarding LXX lexicography?
3. (296) In what two ways may lexical studies be focused?
4. (296) Comment on the use of kibwtov~ in the LXX to represent the ark of the covenant.
5. (298) What is meant by the expression semantic anachronism?
6. (300) What school has provided significant leadership in the study of LXX syntax?
Name a few scholars from this school who have contributed important studies.
7. (304) How have advances in computer technology facilitated studies of LXX syntax?
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13. Reconstructing the History of the Text

1. (309) Peter Katz said, “Never was the LXX more used and less studied!” Explain.
2. (309) Summarize Lagarde’s approach to recovering the original OG text.
3. (310) Summarize Kahle’s approach to the Proto-Septuagint question.
4. (311) Give some thought to Fernández Marcos’ caution concerning the Lagardian theory.
5. (312) What is Pietersma’s hypothesis for explaining whether the verb in the LXX Psalter
is singular or plural?
6. (314) Comment on the text-critical use of the daughter versions of the LXX.
7. (316) Comment on difficulties in reconstructing the Lucianic recension.
8. (320) What is problematic about the term Kaige recension?
9. (324) Why is the designation Theodotion-Daniel somewhat of a misnomer?
14. Theological Development in the Hellenistic Age
1. (327) Identify some interests that have motivated search for interpretative developments
with the Greek versions.
2. (328) List several categories of possible Christian tendencies toward harmonization.
3. (328) In what ways may theological exegesis within the LXX be evidenced?
4. (330) In what way might a translator rewrite a biblical text in order to actualize it for the
contemporary reader?
5. (335) What is meant by the term midrashic exegesis?
6. (338) In what way was Ezekiel 17:22b-23a messianized by later Christian scribes?
7. (343) What factor minimizes usefulness of the LXX as a window into Jewish thought of
its time?
8. (344) Where is the best place in the LXX to look for influence from Hellenistic
philosophy? What is Cook’s conclusion on this matter?
9. (346) What factors complicate the search for the theological perspective of the Three?
10. (347) Identify some proposed rationales for the revisions/translations of the Three.
11. (349) Which of the Three most consistently produced a text that translated the sense of
the Hebrew without representing every lexical element of the Hebrew or using
stereotyped equivalents?
Appendix A: Major Organizations and Research Projects
Familiarize yourself with the various organizations and projects described in this appendix.