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Judaism II. Группа авторов
Читать онлайн.Название Judaism II
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isbn 9783170325852
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The earliest Qumran biblical fragments postdate the authorship of the latest biblical books by several centuries. However, 4QDanc and 4QDane containing portions of the second part of the book, were probably copied between 125 and 100 BCE, not more than sixty years after the completion of the final editing stage of that book. As early as the DSS are, they are relatively late in the development of the Bible books, so that they do not contain testimony to several questions on which scholars would like to receive answers, such as the question whether Isaiah 40–66 was written by an author different from the one who composed Isaiah 1–39. Likewise, the DSS contain no answer to questions relating to the documentary hypothesis relating to the composition of the Pentateuch.
The main interest in the biblical scrolls pertains to their content. The first striking fact is the dichotomy of the evidence from the Judean Desert. There is a basic difference between the scrolls found in Qumran and the ones found in the other sites in the Judean Desert, discussed above. It is a striking fact that all the 25 texts that were found in the Judean Desert at sites other than Qumran display almost complete identity with the medieval texts. Since the medieval manuscripts differ slightly from one another, it would be best stated that several of these Judean Desert scrolls are virtually identical with codex L(eningrad) of MT. This identity can be seen also in an examination of the En-Gedi scroll, agreeing with codex L in all of its details, see § 2.1.1. The consonantal framework of MT changed very little over the course of one thousand years.
However, the Qumran texts are characterized by a broad variety of texts. It appears that scribes freely inserted changes in the text, thus creating slightly different, and sometimes much different, copies. The proto-Masoretic text does not feature in Qumran, as that derived from a different social milieu, that of the proto-rabbinic and later Pharisaic circles. Instead, in Qumran we find (1) Masoretic texts that are a little more removed from the strict Masoretic content. We name them »MT-like« such as 4QJera and 1QIsab. (2) There are a few texts that resemble the text that later became the basis of the Samaritan sect, the Samaritan Pentateuch. These texts are named pre-Samaritan texts and they do not yet contain the sectarian Samaritan readings. (3) Likewise, there are a few texts that resemble the Hebrew text from which the LXX was translated. (4) But most of the texts were free creations of scribes that cannot be grouped into any cluster. I have named them »non-aligned« or »independent.«
The coexistence of the different categories of texts in the Qumran caves is noteworthy. The fact that these different texts were found in the same caves reflects a textual plurality at Qumran, and because several groups of texts could not have been written at Qumran, their textual plurality reflects a situation elsewhere in Israel between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE. While no solid conclusions can be drawn about the approach of the Qumran sectarians to the biblical text, it is safe to say that they paid no special attention to textual differences such as those described here. For one thing, no specific text was preferred in their sectarian writings, and a composition like 4QTestimonia (4Q175) shows this situation eminently. In this composition, each of the biblical sections adduced reflects a different textual pattern: Exod 20:21 (a pre-Samaritan text combining MT Deut 5:28–29 and 18:18–19 as in SP), Num 24:15–17 (undetermined character), and Deut 33:8–11 (very close to the non-aligned scroll 4QDeuth). Likewise, the Scripture quotations in the sectarian writings follow different textual forms.
In view of this plurality, we ought to ask ourselves which copies carried authority, some or all, and for whom? For the Qumran
4 The Septuagint and the Other Greek Translations
4.1 The Septuagint
The Septuagint, also known as the LXX, is a Jewish-Greek translation of Jewish scripture that was prepared in Alexandria and Palestine. The Hebrew sources of the LXX differed from the other textual witnesses (the Masoretic Text [MT] and many of the Qumran texts), and this accounts for its great significance in biblical studies. The LXX is the main ancient witness that occasionally reflects compositional stages of books of the Hebrew Bible that differ from the MT and from other sources. Moreover, the LXX is important as a reflection of early biblical exegesis, Greek-speaking Judaism, and the Greek language. Finally, the LXX is also of major importance for understanding early Christianity since much of the vocabulary and some religious ideas of the New Testament are based on it.
4.1.1 Name and Nature
The name of the LXX reflects the tradition that seventy-two elders translated the Torah into Greek (thus Sof 1.7 and parallels, and the Letter of Aristeas, a late first-millennium BCE Jewish wisdom composition that describes the origin of the LXX). In the first centuries CE this tradition was expanded to include all the translated biblical books, and finally it encompassed all the Jewish scriptures translated into Greek as well as several works originally composed in Greek.
The translation of the Torah may reflect an official translation, as narrated in the Letter of Aristeas and Jewish sources, but it was not created by seventy-two individuals as narrated in these sources. The books of the Torah were probably rendered by five different translators. The subsequent biblical books were similarly translated by different individuals, although some of them translated more than one book.
The collective name Septuagint(a) now denotes both the original translation of biblical Hebrew and Aramaic writings into Greek, and the collection of sacred Greek writings in their present, canonical form. Neither usage is completely accurate, since the collection contains original translations, late revisions (recensions) of those translations, and compositions originally written in Greek. For this reason, scholars usually use the term »Septuagint« for the collection of sacred Greek writings and Old Greek (OG) for the reconstructed original translation. The name is often put in quotation marks (»LXX«) when it is necessary to stress the diverse nature of the books included in the collection.
4.1.2 Scope
The »LXX« contains two types of books:
1. The Greek translation of the canonical Hebrew-Aramaic books. The translation of these books contributes significantly to biblical studies, in particular to the textual transmission and exegesis of the Bible.
2. Books not included in the collection of the Hebrew scripture and subsequently named Apocrypha (the »hidden« books) in Greek and sefarim ḥiṣoniyyim (»the outside books«) in Hebrew. These books, considered deuterocanonical in the Catholic Church, consist of two groups:
a) A Greek translation of books, whose ancient Hebrew or Aramaic source has been lost or preserved only in part (e.g., Sirach and Baruch 1:1–3:8); and
b) A few works originally composed in Greek (e.g., the Wisdom of Solomon).
4.1.3 Sequence of the Books
The books of the Hebrew Bible included in the LXX together with the so-called Apocrypha are arranged in a sequence different from that of the traditional Hebrew canon. Whereas its books are arranged in MT in three sections