Bible Canon

THE BIBLE CANON : M. M. NINAN
SEPTUAGINTA
Hebrew and Aramaic were the languages of the people at home when the jews lived in
Palestine the promised land. However the foreign conquest broke down the nation and
were scattered all around the world. First Samaria went into exile and then after an elapse
Judah. Following the invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon the nation went into
the the Babylonian Exile in 597 BC and eventually in 586 BC the temple (the first temple
built by Solomon) itself was completely destroyed. A vast mojority of the Jews fled to
Egypt.
A picture from an ancient codex that depicts the 72 translators of the Septuagint receiving
gifts from Ptolemy.
Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria where these Jews came under the Greek
influence which produced the Greek Scriptures as the Septuagint. The traditional story is
that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation for use by the many Alexandrian Jews who were
not fluent in Hebrew but fluent in Koine Greek, which was the lingua franca of Alexandria,
Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean. The name 'Septuagint' derives from the Latin versio
septuaginta interpretum, whith translates as "translation of the seventy interpreters,"
(Greek: ἡ µετάφρασις τῶν ἑβδοµήκοντα, hē metáphrasis tōn hebdomḗkonta). However, it
was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) that the Greek translation of the
Jewish scriptures came to be called by its Latin term Septuaginta. The Roman numeral LXX
(seventy) is commonly used as an abbreviation, as are or G to denote it.
A version of the legend explaining the historical event of the writing of the Septuagint is
found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud which says:
"King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a
separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's
room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher." God put it in the heart of
each one to translate identically as all the others did"
The King of Egypt Ptolemy (Philadelphus II [285–247 BCE]), when he made the Library of
Alexandria wanted to place the Scriptures of Hebrews in it. He asked the High Priest of the
time , Eleazar to provide a set of the Hebrew Scriptures. He sent an ornated book with 72
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