Guess there is where I am one up with you brother-I have a gift for languages.
Try and study Isaiah 53 with the Syntax-using Hebrew and rabbinical sources and see what our Lord Jesus Christ endured, voluntary.
The origin of the Septuagint
Prehistory of the Translation Work
An understanding of the situation in Alexandria, Egypt in the 3rd century BC is foundational to comprehending the origin of the LXX.6
There was a concentration of Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt in the few hundred years before Christ.
In Egypt a knowledge of Greek was not a mere luxury but a necessity of daily life.7 For Barclay, the production of the LXX exemplifies the rapidity of Hellenization of Alexandrian Jews; the Hebrew Scriptures “looked disappointingly ‘barbaic’ from their Hellenizing perspective.”8 The repercussions for Jewish religious life were significant, especially since much of the Jewish population had lost their Hebrew.9 Bickerman reveals the implications regarding Judaism’s liturgical worship style:
It is most likely that in the Alexandrian synagogue a dragoman standing beside the reader translated the lesson into Greek. . . . under the conditions of book making in antiquity, it would be a fantastic waste of money and labor to translate, copy and recopy the whole Pentateuch in order to provide help for an occasional oral translation of isolated passages of the Torah.10
Bickerman has argued that the LXX may have been birthed in Jewish centres of learning in Egypt through such oral translation.11 Translation into Greek was a common phenomenon in Hellenistic Egypt.12 Aristobulus, the first known Jewish philosopher, wrote that “older partial translations had already been read by Pythagoras and Plato”13 thereby giving credence to the idea that the LXX was not the first attempt made at translating the Hebrew into Greek, highlighting the demand for translation work in the diaspora.14 The situation at Alexandria was unique in that it provided the ideal scenario in which to introduce a translation of the Hebrew scriptures, especially of the most liturgically and socially significant portions of the Hebrew scriptures. Still, consensus on any one theory of origin has proven elusive. Herewith, we touch upon two related but distinct questions: what motivated the translation and in what textual form would the translation have originated?
Theories of Origin: Motives
The needs of the diaspora for an understandable translation of their scriptures is just one of the many factors leading to the origin of the LXX. Various theories of origin have sought to pinpoint the main reason for its production. Five of these are worth brief consideration at this point.
The Letter of Aristeas
The first theory is based upon the Letter of Aristeas, otherwise called Pseudo-Aristeas.15 This letter, considered a “primary source”16 for the origin of the LXX, is included among the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and was probably written around 150-100 BC.17 The letter contains a description of the circumstances surrounding the origin of the LXX, along with other irrelevant information. Demetrius, the chief librarian of Ptolemy II (285-247 BC), suggested to the king that he add the Jewish Law to his famous and expansive collection of books.18 The king had assigned Demetrius the task of collecting all the known books in the world, and Demetrius thought that a copy of the Law of the Jews should be included. The king was persuaded, and envoys headed to Palestine. Seventy-two translators were sent by the high priest in Jerusalem to Ptolemy along with Torah scrolls from the Temple. After a fruitful meeting with the king, the translators were escorted off to comfortable quarters on an island. Seventy-two days later the translators emerged with their work, which was completely without error and in total agreement. The Jewish people in the area rejoiced and accepted it as divine scripture, and the translators were sent home bearing gifts.19
The origin of the Septuagint
Shalom
J.