The Septuagint: A Critical Analysis - Christian Mission Connection

The Status of the LXX Chapter 2
Thus, the Septuagint that we actually "see" and "use" is, the vast majority of the time, Origen's 5th
column. This is most bewildering! We ask ourselves: "How then do we really know that Origen's 5th
c o l u m n w a s p r o d u c e d f r o m a p r e - existing B.C. Greek version. How do we know that it was not his
own translation of the Hebrew in column one, and made while referring to Aquila, Symmachus, and
Theodotion in the other columns for assistance – along with the aid of a New Testament at his
hand?" Such is not nearly as far fetched as the exaggerations, deceptions, and myths which we have
e n c o u n t e r e d i n o u r r e s e a r c h .
WAS THERE ACTUALLY A PRE-CHRISTIAN ERA SEPTUAGINT?
Paul Kahle, a notable O.T. scholar (1875- 1964), did extensive research and work relative to the
S e p tuagint. He concluded that there was never one original old Greek version and that consequently
the manuscripts of the Septuagint (so called) cannot be traced back to one archetype. He took the
position that there were earlier renderings of the Pentateuch b e f o r e t h e r e v i s i o n m a d e i n t h e t i m e o f
Ptolemy II and that this revision became the standard Greek Torah. 1
The theory, proposed and developed largely by Kahle, is that the LXX had its origin in numerous
oral, and subsequently written, translations for use in the services after the reading of the Hebrew
original. Later an official standardized version of the Law was made, but it did not entirely replace
t h e o l d e r v e r s i o n s w h i l e t h e r e never was a standard Jewish translation for the rest of the books, but
only a variety of versions. 2
Summarizing Kahle's position, Dr. John H.P. Reumann states: 3
" P r o f e s s o r P a u l K a h l e . . . ( 1 8 7 5 -1 964), ... argued that there never was any LXX, at least until Christian
times, and that our Letter of Aristeas is propaganda for a revision of the Greek Bible which was made
in Alexandria."
Reumann continues: 4
"... The letter of Aristeas was an attempt to give this revision authority by cloaking it with antiquity. ...
when Christians (who increasingly after the year A.D. 50 were Greeks who knew little or no Hebrew)
employed the Old Testament, they inevitably borrowed from these varied Jewish Greek translations –
t h e P e n t a t e u c h a s i t h a d b e e n r e v i s e d a t A l e x a n d r i a , t h e b o o k o f D a n i e l a s i t h a d b e e n t r a n s l a t e d a t
E p h e s u s , a n d s o f o r t h – until they put together an Old Testament in Greek ... which they called the
'Septuagint' after the title from the Aristeas legend. ... the LXX is a Christian compilation, and The
Letter of Aristeas i s a f i ct i o n d e s i g n e d t o f u r t h e r t h e u s e o f a r e v i s i o n i n A l e x a n d r i a a b o u t 1 3 0 B . C . "
S o m e g o m u c h f a r t h e r , c o n s i d e r i n g t h e e n t i r e s t o r y o f t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a G r e e k O l d T e s t a m e n t
circulating in or around Palestine prior to the time of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion a n d O r i g e n
(150- 250 A.D.) to be nothing more than a fable. They doubt that a Greek copy of the Old Testament
existed at or before the time of Christ and His apostles. 5
1 U n g e r , The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, op. cit ., p. 1343.
2 Gooding, The New Bible Dictionary, op. cit . , ( T e x t s -Versions), p. 1259.
3 J o h n H . P . R e u m a n n , The Romance of Bible Scripts & Scholars, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers, Inc.,
1965), p. 16.
4 Ibid.
5 P e t e r S . Ruckman, The Christian's Handbook of Biblical Scholarship, ( P e nsacola, FL: Pensacola Bible Press ,1988), pp. 76-
93; Ruckman, The Christian's Handbook of Manuscript Evidence, op. cit ., pp. 40-54.
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