Understanding Biblical Texts: Septuagint vs Rabbinic Interpretations

As between the Septuagint (LXX) and the rabbinic text (MT), there are significant differences in the books that comprise the wisdom literature (i.e., Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). These differences range from changes in diction through distortions and corruptions to outright additions and deletions (one should think of the warning in the Book of Revelation). Out treatment here is not (and is not intended to be) comprehensive — there are centuries of work ahead of the Church; rather, we intend to drive home the point that the only Christian reaction is to abandon and anathematize the ‘Hebrew’ passed to us by the rabbis in favor of the Greek passed to us by Christ, the Apostles, and our faithful forebears — and, most importantly of all, preserved by God, as He promised.

Christ, the Apostles, and the early Church all unanimously held that the Septuagint is, indeed, the very Word of God. In this fifth episode in the (now) nine-episode LXX series, we examine differences between the LXX and the MT in the wisdom books (largely focusing on Proverbs). This is the second of three episodes dealing specifically with the Old Testament differences between the LXX and the MT.

This is, of course, not our closing argument, for we will be making that in the two episodes that deal with the New Testament and how it treats the Old Testament.

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Show Notes

• X thread on differences in Proverbs

See Also

• Full Interview with Will Spencer [This will probably trigger as a download in your browser, and it is ~750MB.]

Further Reading

Parental Warnings

None.

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