The Bible of the Greeks

Like the choosing of the books themselves, the why and wherefore of the LXX is murky.  Although the books are (mostly) the same as the Hebrew canon, they were re-ordered in the LXX, and this order is our modern order.  For instance, Chronicles used to be the last book, but the LXX moved it to after Kings.  Partly this is because the Hebrew books were written on scrolls, while the LXX was written in codex form (basically a bound book: more on this next week), and order doesn’t really matter when the whole is stored loosely in a box, rather than bound together in a book.  In addition, the LXX added a number of books that are not part of the Hebrew canon: 1 Esdras, Judith, Tobit, Esther (with much extra), Wisdom, Eccliasticus, Psalm 151, the Book of Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah (aka chapter 6 of Baruch), Daniel with extras, and 1-4 Maccabees.  These are known as the deuterocanonical books, or the Apocrypha.  Unfortunately there is no record in history explaining why they were added.

Although so much is unknown about the translation of the Septuagint, it was widely used by Jesus’ day, and both Jesus and his disciples often quoted from it.  For instance, when Jesus was asked about what the children were saying in Mt 21:6, he responded by quoting Psalm 8:2, but his quotes are not quite the same as in the Old Testament.  This is because he quoted from the LXX translation, not from the original Hebrew.  Likewise, when Stephen presented his defense before the Jewish Sanhedrin in Acts 7, he quoted heavily from the Old Testament, but from the LXX.  There are many more examples, both in the New Testament and in extra-biblical letters to and from Christians: clearly the early Christians were very comfortable relying on the LXX as the word of God, despite the changes and unknowns in its origin.

In fact, the early Christians used the LXX so heavily that it practically became a Christian book, to the annoyance of the Jews.  For instance, Christians loved to use Isaiah 7:14 (“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son…”) and apply it to Jesus: in Hebrew, it says that an almah shall conceive and bear a son.  An almah is a young woman, not necessarily a virgin.  But the LXX translated it as parthenos, which specifically means virgin.  After the LXX became popular among Christians, the Jews re-translated the verse to use neanis, which means maiden, or young women, not necessarily a virgin.  But the original Jewish translators, before there was any controversy, understood the prophecy to refer to a virgin----which makes much more sense, since it is hardly noteworthy for a sexually active young woman to conceive and bear a son.