132 BOOK II. ON THE VERSIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. [§ 39, a. VALUE OF THE VERSIONS. THE old versions of the Bible are equally important for the criticism and the exegesis of the Old Testament. In the work of exegesis, they assist in the preliminary work of exposition, and are excellent helps to explain the Hebrew, which has so long been a dead language, and which now survives in but a few fragments. In regard to criticism, they contain a rich and important treasure; for the Masora is not able to defend the text from all injury, as history teaches us. Some versions have come down to us from a great antiquity and very old manuscripts; they extend back far beyond the age of the Masora and the masoretic manuscripts. Besides, they are, almost without exception, executed in such a literal manner, that very often the original text, which formed their basis, can be deciphered with considerable accuracy; and if the readings they follow are not to be accepted as genuine because the Masorites have not admitted them into their critical text, yet still they deserve a place with the critical apparatus."] § 39, b. CLASSIFICATION AND LITERATURE OF THE VERSIÓNS. [They may be classified in several ways: according to their country, their language; into Oriental or Occidental, public or private versions. But these divisions are sometimes fruitless of results, and sometimes it is not possible to make them on account of our ignorance of the external history of these versions.]" In respect to the exegetical as well as the critical use of the versions, the only convenient division of them is that which depends on their antiquity and their directness or indirectness. But, in regard to the language, this division may be modified so far that the direct versions into any one language may be all classed together." [§ 39, c. THE VARIOUS CLASSES OF THE VERSIONS. I. DIRECT VERSIONS. 1. The Septuagint, or Alexandrian version. 2. The version of Aquila. 3. That of Symmachus. 4. That of Theodotion, in part. 5-7. The three anonymous Greek versions, or the 5, 6, 7 ἔκδοσις. 8. The Greek version in St. Mark's library at Venice. [See Eichhorn, § 159, sqq.] On the versions of the O. T., see R. Simon, Histoire critique du Vieux Test. liv. ii. Le Long, Bibliotheca sac. ed. Masch, pt. ii. vol. i.—iii. Walton, Prolegg. ix., sqq. Carpzov, Crit. sac. V. T. vol. ii. p. 430, sqq. Rosenmüller, Handbuch für der Litt. der biblische Krit. vol. ii. p. 277, sqq. vol. iii. Eichhorn, § 159–338. Jahn, § 33-67. Bertholdt, § 154-190. Hävernik, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 32, sqq. [See Horne, l. c. pt. i. ch. iii. sect. 3.] 9. The Samaritan Pentateuch. 10. The Samaritan version of the Pentateuch. 11. The several Chaldee paraphrases. 12. The Syriac version in the Polyglots. 13. Some books of the Arabic version in the polyglots. 14. The Arabic, which follows the Samaritan Pentateuch. 15. The "Arabs Erpenii" on the five books of Moses. 16. The modern Arabic of Saadias Ben Levi Askenoth. 17. The Hebrew version of the Chaldee passages. 18. Jerome's Latin version from the Hebrew. II. INDIRECT VERSIONS. These are made from the Septuagint, the Syriac Peshito, the Coptic, Jerome's Latin, and the Vulgate. (I.) From the Septuagint. 1. Theodotion's version, in part. 2. The greater part of the Arabic in the Polyglots. 3. An unprinted Arabic version of the Pentateuch in the library of the Medici. 4. The Ethiopic. 5. The Coptic. 6. The Armenian. 7. Several Syriac versions:-(1.) A Syriac Hexapla. (2.) The versio figurata. (3.) Perhaps the Philoxenian. (4.) The version of Mar Abba. (5.) The version of Jacob of Edessa. (6.) That of Thomas of Heraclea. (7.) The Greek in Ephraim Syrus. (8.) That of Simeon from the cloister of St. Licinius. (9.) The versio Karkaphensis. 8. The Itala. 9. The Georgian version. 10. The Anglo-Saxon. (II.) From the Syriac Peshito. 1. The Arabic version of the Psalms, printed in a cloister on Mount Lebanon, 1610. 2. The Arabic version of Job and Chronicles in the Polyglots. 3. An Arabic Psalter in the British Museum. 4. A Pentateuch, by Abulfaradash Abdallah Ben Altayeb. 5. A Syriac Hexapla of Hamath Ben Senan. 6. Chaldee version of Solomon's Proverbs. ACCORDING to a statement in a pretended letter of Aristeas, repeated by Josephus, and extended still far Aristea/Hist. de Legis. div. ex Hebr. Lingua in Græcam Translatione per LXX. Interpretes, Græco-Latina, ex Vers. Matthiæ Garbitii. Ed. emend. juxta Exemplar. Vatic., ex Recens. Eldani de Parchum; Frcf. 1610, 8vo. 20,000 ther by later writers," the version of the Mosaic Law was made by seventy-two Palestine Jews, learned in the Scripture; it was made at the instance of Demetrius Phalereus, under the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, to aid in forming a universal collection of laws.' [The story related by the Pseudo-Aristeas is this: Demetrius Phalereus, the keeper of the Alexandrian library, wished to make a collection of all the books in the world, and mentioned the Jewish works to King Ptolemy, who promised to write to the high priest at Jerusalem for interpreters to translate those books into the Greek tongue. Aristeas happened to be present, and advised the king to set free the large number of Hebrews then held as slaves in his dominions. He did this, and sent a messenger to Eleazar, the high priest at Jerusa Aristea Hist. LXXII. Interpretum. Accessere Veterum Testimonia de eorum Antiq. xii. 2, 2—14. On the slight difference between this and Aristeas, see Rosenmüller, 1. c. p. 362, sqq. Philo, De Vita Mosis, lib. ii. p. 658, sq., says these translators were inspired, so that all agreed in producing the same version-v0ovovτES TOOεφήτευον, οὐκ ἄλλα ἄλλοι, καὶ τὰ δ' αυτὰ πάντες ὀνόματα καὶ ῥήματα, ὥσπερ ὑποβολέως ἑκάστοις ἀοράτως ἐνηχοῦντος. (The story is told in a similar manner by Clement of Alexandria, Strom. i. p. 342, and Irenæus, iii. 25.) See Justin Martyr, Cohort. ad Græcos, ch. xiii. p. 16. But neither he nor Philo refers to Aristeas. Epiphanius, De Pond. et Mens. c. 3, 6, 9—11, differs widely from Aristeas. See Hody, 1. c. p. 8. Rosenmüller, 1. c. p. 370, sqq. On the origin of this legend, see Eichhorn's Essay, in the Repertorium, vol. i. p. 266, sqq. Aristeas, Josephus, (Proëm to Antiq. § 3.) Philo and the Talmudists speak only of a translation of the Law. See Jerome on Ezek. v. Et Aristeas et Josephus, et omnis schola Judæorum quinque tantum libros Moysis a LXX. translatos asserunt. Compare his Quæst. Hebr. in Gen. Proëm. But Justin, Clement, Tertullian, Epiphanius, Hilary of Poictiers, speak of the whole O. T. [This affords an instructive example of the growth of a theological notion by the addition of new absurdities.] |