The MAJOR & MINOR Prophets - The 16 Writing Prophets Of The Hebrew Canon

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Secluded on an Island: 70 Elders Produce the LXX 21 The arrival of an Egyptian embassy in Jerusalem caused no small stir. The ambassador bore a letter of unusual request to Eleazar, the Jewish high priest from Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284-247 B. C.), the reigning Egyptian monarch residing at Alexandria. The king, as a precaution to insure a favorable response (it was told), had already purchased the freedom of more than one hundred thousand Jewish captives. The Request . 7KH KLJK SULHVW ZDV VXUSULVHG E\ 3KDURDK· s request: the king asked for seventy-two Jewish elders, six out each tribe, to come and translate the sacred books of the Jews into Greek. The priest finally agreed--undoubtedly remembering that there were more Jews in Alexandria than in Jerusalem, and they all spoke Greek! Seventy-two scribes were dispatched on a holy mission to Alexandria, carrying with them a copy of the law written in letters of gold on rolls of skin. Given a magnificent reception by the royal Egyptian court, the elders were then provided a secluded retreat on the island of Pharos to do their translation undistracted. Alexandria. After Alexander the Great had conquered Egypt, he founded the jewel-city of Alexandria (331 B. C.) ² ´D SODFH ZKHUH WKH *UHHN ODQJXDJH DOWKRXJK E\ QR PHDQV LQ LWV SXUHVW IRUP was the medium of written and spoken communication amongst the varied population there EURXJKW WRJHWKHU µ 22 As Alexandria became influential in the Mediterranean world, the city became home to a major Jewish colony (occupying the whole eastern part of the great port) -- and a center of scholarship with a world-renowned library. D. 0 %ODLNORFN FRPPHQWV ´,W ZDV LQ WKLV VSLULWXDO and mental context WKDW WKH +HOOHQLVWLF -HZ ILUVW EHFDPH D SKHQRPHQRQ RI FXOWXUH µ 23 The Alexandrian Jew spoke Greek, a prerequisite for citizenship and participation in trade, business, and VRFLDO LQWHUFRXUVH %ODLNORFN DGGV ´7KH -HZ RI $OH[DQGULD OLNH DQ\ -HZ RI 7DUVXV was truly the intellectual citizen of two worlds of culture; hence the urge to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into WKHLU RWKHU WRQJXH µ The Library. The cultured Ptolemy favored the idea of adding to his vast and famous library a collection of the translated Jewish laws. So it was, that he invited the translators and they did their job, supplying what has become a monumental (if controversial) translation of the Hebrew 6FULSWXUHV ,W EHFDPH NQRZQ DV WKH ´6HSWXDJLQWµ /DW Septuaginta, meaning seventy, hence the abbreviation in Roman numerals, LXX ) because of the tradition that it was the work of seventy (some say seventy-two) Jewish elders. New Testament Usage. The LXX had been current about three centuries before the time when the New Testament books were written, so it is not surprising that the Apostles used it frequently in making citations from the Old Testament. They used it as an honestly- PDGH YHUVLRQ LQ SUHWW\ JHQHUDO XVH DW WKH WLPH ZKHQ WKH\ ZURWH« $IWHU the diffusion of Christianity, copies of the Septuagint became widely dispersed amongst the new communities that were formed; so that before many years had elapsed this version must have been as much in the hands of Gentiles as of Jews . 24 21 From time to time in our study, reference is made to the LXX, so it seems appropriate to include this section quoted from DXWKRU¶V ERRN Why Apostles Now? pp. 264, 265. 22 The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, from the Introduction, p. i. 23 ( 0 %ODLNORFN ³6HSWXDJLQW ³ 0HUULOO & 7HQQH\ JHQ HG The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975), p. 343. This six-page article is an excellent review. 24 Ibid, p. iv.

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