I. The Septuagint
A. The "origin is involved in much obscurity. (From Easton's Bible Dictionary)
It derives its name from the popular notion that seventy-two translators were employed on it by the
direction of Ptolemy Philadelphus,[1] king of Egypt, (280 BC)? and that it was accomplished in seventy-two
days, for the use of the Jews residing in that country. There is no historical warrant for this notion. (From
Easton's Bible Dictionary)
1. The "Septuagint" was translated during the "silent years"(270-50 BC?)400 years?
a. Silent meaning: No prophetic voice from God since Malachi (NOTE: Acts.1:16; 3:18-24, Matt.24:15,
1Peter.1:10-12) God was not inspiring anyone to write down any scripture. (2Tim.3:16-17, 2Peter,1:21)
God had already inspired His Word (the Mosaic Hebrew Text) that would carry Israel until John the
Baptist (Matt.11:13) with the WARNING do not add or diminish from it. (Deut., Prov.30:5, 1Peter.1:20-21
Rev.22:)
However (during this time of these silent years) the Jews "of the dispersion in Egypt"[2] (under the
reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus)[1] placed a high estimate[0] upon theAprocyphal Books and included
them in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, but they were rejected
from the Hebrew canon[3] by the Jews of Palestine"[o]
(1) These Books of the Apocrypha were written during these silent years
(a) I & 11 Esdras
(b) Tobit
(c) Judith
(d) Additions to Esther (in the canon of scripture)
(e) The wisdom of Solomon
(f) Ecclesiasticus
(g) Baruch
(h) The Epistle of Jeremiah
(i) The Song of the Three Holy Children
(j) The History of Susanna
(k) Bel and the Dragon
(L) The Prayer of Manasses
(m) I & II Maccabees
(2) During the "silent years" The Septuagint(280 BC?) was translated from Hebrew to Greek and
included the books of the Apocrypha) Note: Deut.12:32, Prov.30:5
(a) Oral Torah(600-200 BC?)
(b) Talmud
(c) Mishnah
(d) Mishrash
(e) Gemara
(4) Also during this "uninspired time"
(a) The Pharisees begin
(b) The Sadducees begin
(c) The Synagogues begin
(d) The Sadhedrim begin
(5) Daniel prophecied about this uninspired WAITING PERIOD. (NO PROPHETIC VOICE for 434 years
for Messiah to come. (Dan.9:26, John.1:44-45; 4:24)
(a) There would be a kingdom of brass (Greece lead by Alexandria the Great / Antiochus
Epiphanies) which did bear rule over the all the earth (Dan.2:1-39;8:1-12-13; 11:1-31)
(b) While the House of Judah (The Jews / the children of the flesh of Abraham / Daniel's people
WAITED for the Messiah (Dan.9:25-26).
(c) The Jews daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of God's Sanctuary was cast down
by Antiochus Epiphanies (vile person) who comes against with indignation against their holy
covenant was cast down
(6) Then these "silent years" (waiting for Messiah) which would be broken by John the baptist.
(Isa.40:3, Matt.3:1-4)
B. Who were these 72 translators?
"According to Legend there were six translator's selected from 6 each of the 12 tribes of Israel, who
worked in separate cells, translating the whole, and in the end all their versions were identical."
(Encyclopedia Britannica) ["identical" sounds positive?]
1. However, only the tribe of Levi could copy the Word of God (Deut.17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11; 24-25,
2Chron.15:3; 24:15, Neb.8:2, Mal.2:7, 1Peter.2:5-9, 2Tim.2:15; 4:2, Rev.6; 5:10)
2. The conditions of the time[0]
a. They were in a spiritual dark time / no prophetic voice / God was silent / Malachi was the last
Prophet to speak to God's people.
b. The Jews wanted their Bible in Greek
c. It was the work of a number of translators who differed greatly both in their knowledge of Hebrew
and of Greek; and that from the earliest times it has borne the name of "The Septuagint", i.e., The
Seventy. (From Easton's Bible Dictionary)
Note: It is ONLY A TRANSLATION of the Hebrew text (It does not over ride the authority
of the Hebrew Text (i.e. our Old Testament in our Bibles)
d. The "Septuagint" was translated in Alexandria; that it was begun about 280 B.C., and finished about
200 or 150 B.C.; This was during that uninspired era between the Old and New Testaments.
e. From the earliest times it has borne the name of "The Septuagint", i.e., The Seventy.
(From Easton's Bible Dictionary)
f. Peter declared that the scriptures were written "not by the will of man" (i.e. not by the will of the Jews
"of the dispersion in Egypt"[2] (under the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus)[1], but by "holy men of God...
as they were moved (inspired) by the Holy Ghost." (2Peter.1:20-21)
C. Did Jesus and the apostles quote from the Septuagint?
Common sense would tell you. Why would He? Why would He ignore the very Word (Logos, the Hebrew
text) that He inspired and quote the Septuagint as the authority? (2Tim.3:16) When Jesus said "search the
scriptures, was He meaning the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew text) or the Mosaic text? (The
Word that He inspired!) The Septuagint is ONLY a translation of the God-breathed / inspired Hebrew Old
Testament text. Our modern Bibles today are translations of the Greek New Testament that is the inspired,
God-breathed Words. (Read: King James Defended by E. F. Hills Page.000)
The translations do not correct or alter the inspired Greek or Hebrew, they only place them into the
English of our time. You never change(Deut.12:32, Prov.30:5, Rev.22:18) what the New Testament and
Old Testament writers wrote under the infallible inspiration of God. (2Tim.3:16-17, 2Peter.1:20-21)
These are "God-breathed Words!"
D. What then was the Bible of the 1st.Century Church?
There were the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, and the Septuagint. There was no New Testament
was being written yet to "canonized"
.
The Language was Greek / The language of Jesus and his disciples is believed to be Aramaic.[1][2] This is the
common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from that of
Jerusalem.[3] This is generally agreed upon by historians. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee,
where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities.[4] It is also likely that Jesus knew
enough Koine Greek to converse with those not native to Judea, and it is reasonable to assume that Jesus
was well versed in Hebrew for religious purposes.[5][6][7]
E. NOTE: The Pattern that the Spirit of God gave for copying God’s Word
This pattern has never changed and will never be denied by those who are lead by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost. (Rom.15:4, 1Cor.10:11, 2Tim.2:13, Matt.5:17-19) Simply because the Holy Spirit inspired the
patterns in the first place!
1. The pattern was given to the tribe of Levi (First the natural 1Cor.15:45-46)
Moses wrote this law, "and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the
covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the
end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all
Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this
law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy
stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God,
and observe to do all the words of this law:" (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3; 34:15,
Neh.8:1-12, Mal.2:7, Rom.15:4, 1Cor.10:1-11, Heb.9:1-;10:1-25)
2. The pattern continues into the New Testament (THEN the spiritual1Cor.15:45-46)
Today the Church (the born again believer, Water Baptized, Holy Spirit Baptized) is the "holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ...a royal priesthood, an holy nation."
(1 Peter 2:5-9, Rev.1:6; 5:10)
a. Christ our High Priest (The Word made flesh John.1:1-14)
Wherefore, "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." (Heb.2:17; 3:1; 4:14-17; 5:1-5; 6:20; 7:1-28; 8:1-5; 9:1-; 10:1-25)
b. We (The Church) are the Priesthood(Responsible for the Word of God (Deut.31:9-12)
But "ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye
should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (1Peter.2:5-9, Exod.19:1-6)) with the same responsibilities (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3;
34:15, Mal.2:7) with the Word of God.
c. No strangers (unbeliever's)
The stranger (the unbeliever / unsaved - Eph.2:1-22) that cometh nigh shall be put to death."
(Num 1:51-52) No stranger to translate, copy God's Word (Deut. 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8; 31:9-11,
2Chron.15:3; 34:15, Mal.2:7) NO OTHER TRIBE THAN LEVI! The charge was to the "Priests the sons of
Levi" (Deut.31:9) to handle God's Word. Peter says that The Church is the fulfillment of the Priesthood
(1Peter.2:5-9) with the SAME charge. This responsibility is "not by the will of man (not by any other
tribe than Levi (The Priests) but by "holy men of God... as they were moved (inspired) by the Holy
Ghost." (2Peter.1:20-21, 2Tim.3:16-17)
d. God's patterns cannot be violated (because they are patterns of the Heavenly Heb.9:1-28)
(1) The covering of "coats of skin" (not fig leaf aprons" (Gen.3:1-24)
(2) Cains offering was rejected (It was out of order (Gen.4:1-4, 1John.3:, Jude.1:11-13)
(3) The Tabernacle (Everything had it's place BEFORE God's Glory filled the Most Holy (Exod.40:1-38)
(4) Aaron's two sons were consumed by fire because they violated God's pattern (Lev.10:1-2)
(5) If Priests did not wash at the Laver "that they die not" (Exod.30:17-21)
(6) Moses struck the rock - rejected (Num.20:7-13, 1Cor.10:1-)
(7) Man picking up sticks on the Sabbath - death (Num.15:32-36)
(8) Uzzah stuck down for touching the Ark / not of the family of Korah (1Chron.13:9-14, )
(9) Genealogy(Neh.7:63-65)
II. What then was the Bible of the 1st.Century Church?
There were the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, and there was the Septuagint (a translation of the
Hebrew into Greek.) However, there was no New Testament because it had not been written yet. Today
we have these letters (Manuscripts Mss), Jews had the "Torah"(The Penetateuch) and their added Oral Torah
(600-200 BC?) Talmud, Mishnah, Mishrash, Gemara.
A. The New Testament began as letters (epistles) to the Churches
There were only manuscripts (hand written letters written by Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
to the Churches. Many of them were not written until 55 - 70 A.D? Revelation was the last one. (90 A.D?)
God was in the process of establishing His New Testament canon[0] There was no committee, no editorial
board, no gathering of all the Theologians, or Scholars that would decide what would be the New Testament.
It would be the Providence (divine guidance guiding human destiny) and Sovereignty (supreme, unlimited
absolute independent) power of God through the "Priesthood" of the believer. (Deut 31:9-12; 17:18; 24:8;
31:9-11, 2Chron.15:3; 34:15, Mal.2:7)
1. Faithful and trustworthy scribes
Many trustworthy copies of the original New Testament Manuscripts were produced by faithful scribes. (Hand written because there was no printing press until1450 A.D.)
2. By true believers
These copies / manuscripts (made by these faithful and trustworthy scribes) were read and recopied
by the true believers down through the centuries. This is where the manuscripts came from. The
Priesthood, the people who have been given charge of God's Word. Note: "The untrustworthy...
(copies)...were not so generally read or so frequently recopied...and consigned to oblivion."
3. This was the providence of God! (Jer.1:12)
Today the same will eventually happen with all the modern translations that have given preeminence
to the corrupt Greek Text of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. (Review: PHASE 1) God will Sovereignly and
Providentially preserve His Word and Sinaiticus and Vaticanus will fall by the way side.
B. They had the traditional Hebrew text (Moses)
This was the infallible Word of God which Jesus confirmed when He "came unto His own" (John.1:11,
Gal.3:16, Rom.15:8) The New Testament had not been written yet.
1. The Torah and the traditional (Moses) Hebrew text
The "term Torah is also used to designate the entire Hebrew Bible. Since for some Jews the laws and customs passed down through oral traditions are part and parcel of God's revelation to Moses and
constitute the “oral Torah." The Torah is also understood to include both the Oral Law and the written
Law. Rabbinic commentaries on and interpretations of both Oral and written Law have been viewed by
some as extensions of sacred oral tradition, thus broadening still further the meaning of Torah to
designate the entire body of Jewish laws, customs, and ceremonies. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
2. The oral law is inspired by man
It has been added into the Hebrew text by man. Jesus saidthey have "made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition."(Matt 15:6-7, Col.2:8)
3. The Church world is doing the same thing today
There are many "Oral Laws" in our Church structure today of "philosophy and vain deceit, after the
tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Col 2:8) Note: The inspired
Word of God (the traditional (Masoretic) Hebrew text is designed to bring us to Christ. Man's oral laws,
philosophies and traditions are "not after Christ." (Col.2:7-8, Matt.15:6-7) Don't mix the Oral Torah into
your end-time doctrine.
C. The Septuagint was not the official Bible of the 1st.Century Church
The "Apostles did not quote from the Septuagint invariably and thus encourage the notion that the Greek
translation was equal to the Hebrew Old Testament in authority. Instead, they walked the middle way
between these two extremes. Sometimes they cited the Septuagint verbatim, even when it departed from
the Hebrew in non-essential ways, and sometimes they made their own translation directly from the
Hebrew or used their knowledge of Hebrew to improve the rendering of the Septuagint" [2]
1. Remember the apostles were writing by the "inspiration of God" (2Tim.3:16) which makes their
writing infallible when they "made their own translation directly from the Hebrew." [2]
2. Rememberthe Septuagint is only a translation and is not equal to the Hebrew Old Testament in
authority. The writing of the apostles is the infallible Word of God.
III. Origen, Jerome and the Septuagint
In the 3rd century AD Origen (BC.185–BC.254), Christian scholar(?) and theologian, probably born in
Alexandria, Egypt. His most well-known work was theHexapla, an edition of the Old Testament with six
or moreparallel versions) attempted to clear up translation errors that had crept into the text of the
Septuagint by copyists'. These varied widely from copy to copy. Other scholars also consulted the Hebrew
text in order to make the Septuagint text more accurate. But it was the Septuagint, not the original Hebrew,
that was the main basis for the Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and part of the Arabic
translations of the Old Testament. It has never ceased to be the standard version of the Old Testament in the
Greek church, and from it (the Septuagint) Jerome began his translation of the Vulgate Old Testament.
(Encyclopedia Britannica)
A. Septuagint, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Apocrypha
1. The "Septuagint"
The "text of the Septuagint is contained in a few early, but not necessarily
reliable, manuscripts." (Encyclopedia Britannica)
2. Sinaiticus / Vaticanus
The best known of these are the Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Codex Sinaiticus (S), both dating from
the 4th century AD, and the Codex Alexandrinus (A) from the 5th century. There are also numerous
earlier papyrus fragments and many later manuscripts.The first printed copy of the Septuagint was in
the Complutensian Polyglot (1514–22). (Encyclopedia Britannica)
B. Who was Origen? (202-325 AD.)
1. Origen
He was the "most important theologian and biblical scholar of the early Greek church."
2. Origen and Clement.
These were "two of the most prominent fathers...chief representatives of the School of Alexandria,
the great melting pot of Greek philosophy and Judaism."
3. Origen - a preacher
Because of his reputation, Origen was much in demand as a preacher.
4. Origen was a early (foremost) Christian Theologian
A celebrated Christian writer teacher and Theologian of antiquity.[8] Yet Origen was a "Tare"
amongst the wheat.
5. Origen was a "Platonist"
He believed that Jesus was "subordinate to the father in power and dignity." [9] He taught that Jesus was created, not eternal.[10] Origen believed that if Satan fell by will, even he can repent.
(Encyclopedia Britannica, "Origen")
Note: Origen's denial of the Deity, disqualifies him as the Priests before the Lord because he
would "pollute" the "Holy Word of God." (Neh.7:63-65) Therefore, how could God be inspiring
Origen when he is in violation of His pattern? (2Tim.2:13)
6. Influenced by a semi-Gnostic writing
Origen believed that Hell cannot be an absolute since God cannot abandon any creature.
7. After his death, Opposition steadily mounted, respectful in the Greek Christian Methodius of
Olympus' criticism of his spiritualizing doctrine of the Resurrection
8. A wealthy Christian named Ambrose, whom Origen converted from the teachings of the heretical
Valentinus and to whom he (Origen) dedicated many of his works, provided him with shorthand
writers.
9. This resulted in a "stream of treatises and commentaries that began to pour from Origen's
pen."[11] and altered manuscripts in accordance with his belief's.
Note: This was easily done because there was no printing press yet. There was no mass produced
Bibles. The copying was up to the honesty of the scribe!
Conclusion: The Septuagint should not be held up as an "equal" to the traditional (Masoretic)
Hebrew Text of the Old Testament. Think on this principle. "And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph 5:11-12) "Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14-15)
History has revealed the "Septuagint" to be placed together with Origen, Sinaiticus, Vaticanus,
Jerome and the Apocrypha, making it to be in fellowship with darkness. These are the corrupt
manuscripts were reject by Erasmus and they are responsible (the foundation) for all the doubtful
footnotes concerning Christ's Deity and His bodily Resurrection in our modern translations today.
(Review: PHASE.1)
Notes ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. (from Easton's Bible Dictionary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
2. The King James Version Defended. Edward F. Hill. ( A Christian View of the Biblical Text." Chapter Four, page.94 )
3. The King James Version Defended. Edward F. Hill. ( A Christian View of the Biblical Text." Chapter Four, page.106
4. A tradition that translators were sent to Alexandria by Eleazar, the chief priest at Jerusalem, at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285– 246 BC), a patron of literature, first appeared in the Letter of Aristeas, an unreliable source. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
5. Strong's OT:2114 - a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery:KJV - (come from) another (man, place), fanner, go away (e-) strange (-r, thing, woman).
6. NT:3581 - apparently a primary word; foreign (literally, alien, or figuratively, novel); by implication a guest or (vice-versa) entertainer: KJV - host, strange (-r).(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
7. 8, 9, 10. Funk & Wagnalla, Vol.19. p,441
11. Encyclopedia Britannica, (Origen) 12. Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.1, pp.434-435 13. Talmud Torah - "After continued persecution more of the oral law was committed to writing. A great many more lessons, lectures and traditions only alluded to in the few hundred pages of Mishnah, became thousands of pages now called the Gemara is Aramaic, having been complied in Babylon. The Mishnah and Gemara together are called the TALMUD The Rabbis in Israel also collected their traditions and compiled them into the Jerusalem Talmud." (Wikipedia - Torah / Talmud Torah)
...
All these are man's replacement for the gap (WAITING PERIOD / SILENT YEARS) for no anointing. Look at the condition of the House of Judah going into these silent years.(2Chron.5:1-14;Neh.13:1-, Mal.1-)
These books "fell to the ground"
unlike the Prophet Samuel's words. (1Sam.3:19) By the test a time they were rejected from the canon ofscripture. Yet the Catholic Church picked them up (so-to-speak) and included in their Bible declaring them to be inspired of God. Ignoring God's Word (Deut.12:32, Prov.30:5, Rev.22:18) Don't add or diminish
Septuagint
Remember this is HISTORY TO US
(Rom.5:10-12)
From these writings comes the Jewish traditions / commandments of Men that JESUS (MESSIAH / God manifest in the flesh Matt.1:18-25, John.1:1-14) said, "make the commandment of God of none effect" (Matt.15:1-9)
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Bibleteachingonline101.net / Phase 1 / The Septuagint
JOHN
Septuagint
(3) Also during this time of NO inspiration
Think about Adam and Eve made "fig leaf aprons" tio cover themselves
A silent time for Abraham and Sarah. Tried to fill in the gap. Saul "forced himself to offer sacrifice
Hosea- God would not smeel their sacrifices because of sin / corruption
LAW
(Mosaic Text)
Law and the Prophets were unto John (the baptist)
(Rom.5:10-14)