[B-Greek] Problems with Psalm 82:1 in LXX
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Tue Oct 4 13:36:51 EDT 2005
Dear Al,
>Rather than starting with the premise that the one text must be right
>and the other text must be wrong, it might be more productive to think
>in terms of one text being different from the other.
>The item of difference here is, as you note, that whereas the Masoretic
>Text (MT) has EL, the Greek text has QEWN.
>As the Hebrew text stands, it is slightly odd. Since both ELOHIM and EL
>commonly refer to "God" in the Hebrew Bible, the line seems to say:
>"God stood/stands in the gathering/assembly of God."
>Of course, MT becomes less odd if either (1) one reads EL as a
>predication (therefore, "divine gathering") or (2) one makes EL into a
>plural (therefore, "gathering of gods"). Either the Hebrew parent text
>of the Greek or the Greek translator himself opted for (2) "gathering
>of gods" thus contrasting "THE god" (= "God") with "gods" (= "other
>divine beings"). (Personally, I suspect the translator of having
>construed EL as a plural.)
>Needless to say, one might further ask how the slightly odd text of MT
>arose, but that is another question.
HH: One possibility is that the Hebrew author was applying ancient
mythological ideas associated with the name EL to the God of Israel.
Ugaritic literature shows an assembly over which El presided, with
the other gods in attendance. The Israelite author might have assumed
that the other divine beings in the assembly could correspond to the
angelic beings. Of course, here in Psalm 82:1 these concepts would be
applied to the national judges, because bringing a matter before them
was bringing a case before God.
HH: My own guess about the LXX translator is that if he understood
the Hebrew ideas, he was simply putting them into the easiest to
understand Greek wording that would convey some of the mythological
freight. Israel's judges were being compared to a heavenly council.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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