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THE

INSPIRATION-TRANSMISSION-TRANSLATION

OF THE

WORD OF GOD

 

THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION (2)

Lesson #12

Victor M. Eskew

 

I.                   THE NAME

 

II.                THE ORIGIN OF THE SEPTUAGINT

 

III.             FACTS ABOUT THE SEPTUAGINT

 

IV.             THE BOOKS OF THE SEPTUAGINT

 

V.                THE BENEFITS OF THE SEPTUAGINT

 

A.    The LXX made the Old Testament available to the Jews who spoke the Greek language in Alexandria.

 

B.      The LXX made the Old Testament available to the entire Greek speaking world.

 

C.     The LXX helps us to pronounce some of the words of the Old Testament.

1.      The Hebrew language does not have vowels.   The Greek language does.

2.      When the Jewish scholars translated from Hebrew into Greek the vowels were placed in the Greek words which were not in the Hebrew words.

 

D.    The Septuagint paved the way for the New Testament’s theological terms.

1.      Many words that would be used in the New Testament were used by pagans, but they were used in a different manner.

2.      When the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into the Greek, these words were elevated and used in a new status (law, righteousness, propitiation).

3.      When the New Testament came many of these words were understood in the way the writer of the New Testament wanted them to be understood because they were used in the LXX.

 

E.      The Greek Old Testament shows that Messianic prophecy was written well before the time of its fulfillment.

 

F.      The LXX has been consulted by other translations.

1.      Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgia, and Coptic

2.      Both the New Jerusalem Bible and the New International Version consulted with the Septuagint as they were being translated.

 

VI.             THE NEW TESTAMENT QUOTES FROM THE SEPTUAGINT VERSION(?)

 

A.    There are many who believe that the New Testament quotes from the Septuagint many times.  “Of the places where the New Testament quotes the old, the great majority is from the Septuagint Version.  Protestant authors Archer and Chirichigno list 340 places where the New Testament cites the Septuagint but only 33 places where it cites from the Masoretic Text rather than the Septuagint” (https://www.catholic.com/qa/in-which passages-does-jesus-quote-the-septuagint-and-where-does-the-new-testament-allude-to-the).

 

B.      Others do not believe that the New Testament refers to the Septuagint at all. 

The claim that Jesus and the New Testament writers always used the Septuagint to quote from the Old Testament is without biblical evidence. It has been said that in the New Testament there are about 263 direct quotations from the Old. However, many of these Old Testament quotations in the New are significantly different from the Septuagint. If Jesus and the Apostles relied on the Septuagint for all their Old Testament quotations, such a difference would not have resulted.

There was no need for Jesus and the New Testament writers to rely on the Septuagint to quote the Old Testament. Jesus Himself was the Author of the Holy Scriptures. He could quote Hebrew Scriptures and translate them infallibly into Greek. As far as the Apostles were concerned, the Holy Spirit was their Chief Aide who supervised their writing of the Scriptures. There is nothing against them citing the Old Testament and translating the words into Greek themselves. Let us be mindful that both Testaments were inspired of the Holy Spirit; and that the Spirit was their infallible Author”

(http://www.febc.edu.sg/v15/article/def_Jesus_and_septuagint).

 

CONCLUSION

 

A.    The Septuagint version did and still does exist.

 

B.      The controversy as to whether Jesus and the other New Testament writer did or did not quote from the LXX will always exist.

 

C.     The Septuagint included the Apocrypha.  These are books that are not included in our Bible.  These books will be the topic of our next lesson.