[B-Greek] Why does GNT Hebrews quote from LXX and not proto-MT?
Bart Torbert
Bart.Torbert at ihsenergy.com
Wed Mar 17 13:49:27 EST 2004
Hello Ron,
I would find it odd if Luke was the author of Hebrews. It is so Torah
centric, it feels more like that it was written by a Jew, who deeply
understood Jewish thought and practices, trying to argue to other Jews
that the New Covenant was quite "kosher." But maybe Luke was transcribing
what Paul or someone else was telling him.
I would appreciate being sent what you came up with.
This does touch on a topic I am interested in. How well can we determine
by looking at who we think wrote the New Testament books, what the subject
matter is, who the initial audience was, and internal grammatical clues as
to which language(s) the original autographs were in. I bring this up
because I have certain dealings with the Messianic Jewish movement. There
is a faction of this that wants to push the idea that Torah observance is
necessary tor salvation. One of the agendas they push is to claim that all
of the New Testament books were originally in Hebrew or Aramaic. This is
part of the effort to style Christianity (a term that truly makes their
blood boil) as Orthodox Judaism, with a few extra bells and whistles. The
"Judaisers" that Paul railed against are still around.
When you consider that the early believers were a mix of Judean Jews, who
spoke Hebrew/Aramaic; Greek speaking Jews; and Gentiles for whom Greek
would have been the commonly understood language between different ethnic
groups, it is my opinion that the original autographs could have been a
mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. But it does not matter what the
original language was, it is the message that is important, not how it was
delivered.
I would appreciate hearing from people who have an opinion or information
related to this matter.
Bart Torbert
bart.torbert at ihsenergy.com
ronpt at comcast.net
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b-greek-bounces at l To
ists.ibiblio.org "Barbara D. Colt "
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03/17/2004 09:54 b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
AM Subject
RE: [B-Greek] Why does GNT Hebrews
quote from LXX and not proto-MT?
Actually, there is no evidence that the author of the letter to the Hebrews
was, in fact, Jewish. There is some evidence to the contrary, and I
personally believe it to be Luke, which would at least partially explain
the anonymous approach. This became more of a possibility when I got Bible
Works and started checking the words or forms that are common only to Luke,
Acts, and Hebrews. I have a list of about three pages if you are
interested, plus some interesting quotes from commentators.
Ron Snider
>
>
> On 17 Mar 2004 at 14:44, Philip Engmann wrote:
>
> > Dear B-Greekers,
> >
> > I guess I have had the erroneous idea that since the Greek New
> > Testament writers (being native Hebrews), specifically the Writer to
> > the Hebrews, quoted from the LXX and not from the proto-MT texts, then
> > the LXX was somehow a more preferred or accurate or authentic text, in
> > the writers view, than the proto-MT texts available to the writer at
> > the time.
> >
> > But this theory fails for several reasons which many of you have
> > kindly pointed out (and I quote in some cases);
> >
> >
> > 3. Ancient translations of the New Testament such as
> > the Syriac, usually quote from their translation of the Old Testament
> > rather than the Hebrew. This suggests that it was simply the custom
> > to use the version the readers were most accustomed to.
> >
> Not unlike our our own custom today. What version are you most
> likely to quote? For nigh on 400 years (until about 50 years ago),
> nearly every quotation of the Bible that one met in reading was from
> the King James (and I have to admit that, if I am quoting from
> memory, that's still the version that will naturally come to mind).
>
> Barbara D. Colt, mailto:babc2 at comcast.net
> St John the Evangelist, San Francisco
> >From envy, hatred, and malice and all uncharitableness
> Good Lord, deliver us.
>
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