Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms
Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published: 2019-12-13

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1989604536

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In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Israelite scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. This translation later became known as the Septuagint, based on the description of the translation by seventy translators in the Letter of Aristeas. The four books of the Kingdoms are generally believed to have been written during the time of Ezra the scribe, compiled from the now-lost books of the Chronicles of the Kingdoms of Samaria and Judah. The authors of the Kingdoms repeatedly refer to the Chronicles as sources for more detailed information, suggesting the books of the Kingdoms were an abridged version and certainly written from a specific theological perspective missing from the Chronicles. There are loanwords in both the Greek and Hebrew translations of 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms that indicate the book, and presumably, all four of the Kingdoms were once written in Cuneiform, from which they were translated into Aramaic. The Aramaic translation appears to have been done in Babylonia, as it uses Mesopotamian terminology instead of Canaanite. This may indicate that the Kingdoms were originally compiled in Babylonia by Judahite captives, presumably from the Phoenician (Paleo-Hebrew) books of the Chronicles. The four books of the Kingdoms are believed to have been translated into Greek from the Aramaic text and added to the Septuagint around 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The four books of the Kingdoms would later become two books in the Masoretic Texts, the books of Samuel and Kings. Subsequent Latin and English translations of the Masoretic Text labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Samuel, and 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kings. The Septuagint’s 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms, is the book called 1ˢᵗ Kings in most Catholic and Protestant bibles, and 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms in Orthodox and Coptic bibles.

Septuagint: Kingdoms
Septuagint: Kingdoms

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published:

Total Pages: 725

ISBN-13: 1989604552

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The Septuagint’s 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms retells the story of the unification of Israel under the Benjamite King Saul in the aftermath of the collapse of the Egyptian New Kingdom. The events of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms continues the history of the Hebrews told in the book of Judges, as the era of the Judges ended with Samuel, who anointed Saul, the tallest man in the land, to rule over the Israelites. Saul fought a series of wars to establish his kingdom, based in Samaria and Gilead, but alienated his family military leaders, and the general population of the land, and was ultimately killed in battle. The Septuagint’s 2ⁿᵈ and 3ʳᵈ Kingdoms continues the history of Israel, with the lives of King David, and his son King Solomon. David was another warrior king, and expanded the kingdom in every direction, ultimately leaving a kingdom surrounded by allies and subject states to his son Solomon. King Solomon’s reign was considered by many later generations to have been the golden age of Israelite history. Unfortunately, the reign of his son Rehoboam was less popular, and the kingdom split into the kingdoms of Judah in the south, and Samaria, including Gilead in the north. As the archaeological record was yet to prove the existence of the kingdom of Israel, archaeologists consider the original three books of the Kingdoms to possibly be fiction, however, nothing contrary has been found either, and so the history recorded in the first three books of the Kingdoms cannot be disproved either. The Septuagint’s 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms tells the history of the kingdoms of Samaria and Judah from circa 850 BC until the Babylonians conquered Judah circa 600 BC. This era of history is well documented in the historical records of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians, and unlike the earlier books of the Kingdoms, is generally accepted by historians. This era included the rise and fall of the Aramean Empire based in Damascus, the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire farther north, the Assyrian wars against Egypt, and the sack of Thebes, and ultimately the rise of the Babylonian Empire. During this tumultuous time, the kingdoms of Israel, Judah, and Aram, which appears to have been considered an Israelite kingdom by the prophet Ezekiel, struggled for survival and fell one by one to the expanding empires around them. Before the era of 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms, Samara had established an empire, occupying the Aramean kingdoms of Damascus and Hama in modern Syria, which had ended suddenly when an earthquake had leveled Samaria. The earthquake was mentioned in the Book of Amos, and archaeological evidence of it is found throughout modern northern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. It is estimated to have been between 7.8 and 8.2 on the Richter Scale, and aftershocks likely lasted around 6 months. In the aftermath, Damascus rose to form its own Aramean empire, occupying Hama, and northern Samaria, as well Gilead in southern modern Syria, which had been part of Samaria since the division of Israel into Samaria and Judah. However, as Assyria began to expand to the north, Samaria and Aram formed an anti-Assyria alliance, and the Samarian forces were stationed in Aram to help defend the northern border from the Assyrians. Judah was invited to join the alliance, but instead formed an alliance with the Assyrians and invaded and pillaged Samaria and southern Aram.

A New English Translation of the Septuagint
A New English Translation of the Septuagint

Author: Albert Pietersma

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2007-11-02

Total Pages: 1050

ISBN-13: 019972394X

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The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of Jewish sacred writings) is of great importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The first translation of the books of the Hebrew Bible (plus additions) into the common language of the ancient Mediterranean world made the Jewish scriptures accessible to many outside Judaism. Not only did the Septuagint become Holy Writ to Greek speaking Jews but it was also the Bible of the early Christian communities: the scripture they cited and the textual foundation of the early Christian movement. Translated from Hebrew (and Aramaic) originals in the two centuries before Jesus, the Septuagint provides important information about the history of the text of the Bible. For centuries, scholars have looked to the Septuagint for information about the nature of the text and of how passages and specific words were understood. For students of the Bible, the New Testament in particular, the study of the Septuagint's influence is a vital part of the history of interpretation. But until now, the Septuagint has not been available to English readers in a modern and accurate translation. The New English Translation of the Septuagint fills this gap.

Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Maccabees
Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Maccabees

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2019-12-19

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13: 1989604587

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3ʳᵈ Maccabees happens earlier than 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, set between 217 and 205 BC, and does not include Judas the Hammer (the Maccabee), or his brothers, which implies it is part of a larger collection of Maccabean texts, possibly Jason of Cyrene's now lost five-volume version of Maccabees. If it was part of Jason's version of Maccabees, then it was likely the second or third volume, as it is before Jason and his brothers enter the story, but its abrupt beginning indicates it was not the first volume. Unlike 1ˢᵗ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees does have a supernatural element, as messengers descend from the sky to save the Judahites, although the Judahites were apparently unable to see them. As the story told within 3ʳᵈ Maccabees cannot be historically proven, it is generally considered to be a work of historical fiction, however, this cannot be proven either. Like 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees appear to be an anti-Phrygian work, or at least anti-Sabaoth/Dionysus, suggesting it is another relic of Jason's work, and Jason's work was anti-Sabaoth in nature. In 3ʳᵈ Maccabees, the worship of Sabaoth at the Temple in Jerusalem is mentioned, under his Greek name Dionysus, while Philip the Phrygian in 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees is sent to govern Jerusalem decades later, he does appear to have been in charge of the Temple in Jerusalem. References to the Judean god Sabaoth appear at this point in the Greek language literature, either transliterated directly in the form of Sabaoth or translated into Greek as Dionysus. While there is a similar word in the ancient Israelite scriptures, it as translated as ṣbảwt, meaning 'armies,' when the Hebrew translations were made under the Hasmoneans, which is likely a direct translation of the Aramaic term. This god Sabaoth was considered at the time, to be the same god as the Phrygian god Sabazios, who the Greeks also considered a local variant of Dionysus. The fact that Dionysus was the Greek name of Sabaoth and Sabazios was recorded by the many Classical Era scholars, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, Lydus, Cornelius Labeo, and Plutarch.

Septuagint's Solomon and the Testament of Solomon
Septuagint's Solomon and the Testament of Solomon

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-07-07

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1989852408

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King Solomon is arguably the most famous of all ancient Israelite kings, with several books in the Septuagint dedicated to him, or about him, or even by him, yet, to date, no archeological evidence for his life has been found. Additionally, the Testament of Solomon has survived from the Second Temple era which displays another side of King Solomon. The lifetime of King Solomon falls during the Third Intermediate Period (dark age) in Egyptian history, and therefore are no records of Solomon within the very limited Egyptian records from the time. Egyptologists believe the Kingdom of Egypt collapsed at the beginning of the time period, and by the time that Solomon would have lived, in the early-9th century BC, the king of Egypt only controlled the northern region, while the rest of Egypt was under the rule of the High Priest of Amen (Amun). The various books associated with Solomon that made it into the Septuagint, include 3rd Kingdoms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon, als of which have been retranslated into modern English. The first book in this collection is 3rd Kingdoms, which tells the life of Solomon, likely from Ezra the Scribe's perspective, 500 years later. The book likely dates to before the reign of King Josiah, circa 700 BC, but is believed to have been redacted by Ezra the Scribe, or someone else in his era. The second book, Proverbs, also called Proverbs of Solomon, is generally attributed to King Solomon, who is explicitly referred to as the author of some of the proverbs. A number proverbs are known to have been copied from older collections of proverbs, most notably the Wisdom of Amenemope, which was apparently written by Amenemope son of Kanakht sometime before Pharaoh Akhenaten, circa 1350 BC. The third book, Ecclesiastes is generally also attributed to King Solomon, however, he is not mentioned anywhere by name. The idea that King Solomon was the author, is found in the introduction to the text. At some point before the Greek translation was made, someone added an introduction and conclusion to the text, in which the author is described as being the 'son of David,' and a 'King in Jerusalem.' The fourth book, Song of Songs, also called the Song of Solomon, is a song about King Solomon theoretically written in his time, circa 950 BC. The book does not list its author, but it was clearly written by a woman in love with Solomon. She is believed to have been referring to herself as a Shulamite in chapter 7, which suggests she was Abishag the Shulamite, King David's youngest concubine. The fifth book, Wisdom of Solomon was added to the Septuagint sometime between 250 and 132 BC, and while it was traditionally attributed to King Solomon, today scholars generally believed to have been composed in Greek, shortly before it was added to the Septuagint. The Wisdom of Solomon itself appears to have been redacted before the Greek translation, as the first half is about the spirit of wisdom, Sophia in Greek, who is credited with actually doing most of what the Lord (Iaw/Yahweh) was credited with doing in the Septuagint and Masoretic Texts, however, this changes abruptly to crediting the Lord in chapter 11, and Sophia disappeared entirely from the rest of the book. The sixth book, Psalms of Solomon, is also called Psalms of Salomon in many of the surviving manuscripts, although it is not clear why. At this time, it is universally agreed that the Psalms of Solomon is a pre-Christian work, as early Christian writers referred to it even though it is clearly not about the life of Jesus as described in the gospels. The seventh book, Testament of Solomon, was widely used by Christian and Gnostic astrologers in the first few centuries of the Christian era.

Septuagint: History, Volume 1
Septuagint: History, Volume 1

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published: 2023-03-13

Total Pages: 919

ISBN-13: 1998288358

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In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Israelite scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. This translation later became known as the Septuagint, based on the description of the translation by seventy translators in the Letter of Aristeas. The History section of the Septuagint contained the books that told the history of the Israelite and Judahites from Joshua's conquest of Canaan circa 1500 BC, until the establishment of the Hasmonean dynasty in Judea, in 140 BC. Septuagint: History, Volume 1, is composed of modern, non-theological translations of the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and the four books of the Kingdoms, which spanned 1504 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Most of the era is not well documented in the historic records of Canaan, however, some limited correlations are found in the Amarna Letters, which are cuneiform correspondences between the Egyptian government and various officials in Canaan and Mesopotamia. By the final book, 4th Kingdoms, the historic records of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians confirm the general history recorded in the book, although the theological interpretation is unique to the Judahites of the era. The Septuagint's translation differs significantly from the later Masoretic version of the books, as it uses a different dating for the events, such as Joshua's invasion of Canaan just before 1500 BC, as opposed to the 1200s or 1300s BC, depending on interpretations of the Masoretic texts and the Talmud. The Septuagint's dating correlates significantly with the dating of major Egyptian events according to Egyptologists. It is unclear if the Septuagint's dating was altered by the translators in Alexandria to correlate with Egyptian history, however, that seems unlikely as the Greek historians 2200 years ago do not seem to have had any records of the era of Akhenaten, when Aten became the dominant god of Egypt, yet, the prophetess Deborah sang a song to Aten during the same era, in the book of Judges. As the Septuagint was based on the once common Aramaic version of the books, and not the priestly Judahite version, it is likely that the dating in the Septuagint is a more accurate reflection of the histories, as both Judahite version of the books appear to have been edited by astrologers at some point, which is generally acknowledged by historians to have ruined any historical value to the texts. The consensus is that the astrological edits must have happened fairly late, likely in the Hasmonean Dynasty, which also produced the first official 'Hebrew' translation of the older Judahite version of the texts. One of the complaints the Romans had regarding the Judeans of the Hasmonean dynasty is that they were astrology to confuse the weak minded, which supports the concept that they made the astrological edits when they created the 'Hebrew' language translations. This altered timeline continued into the Talmud, and is known as "Rabbinical History," however, it not taken seriously by historians.

Testament of Moses
Testament of Moses

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 30

ISBN-13: 1989604935

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In the early Christian era, many Testaments of the Patriarchs circulated in Jewish and Christian communities. The Testament of Moses, also known as the Ascension of Moses, appears to have only been used by a Jewish sect, although it does not appear to have been a precursor to Rabbinical Judaism. The Jewish Sect appears to have been apocalyptic, and therefore could be seen as a precursor to Christianity. The surviving version of the Testament of Moses is generally dated to the 1st-century AD at the latest, due to the historic persons it mentions, however, there is some debate as to whether it was composed then or was an older text that was expanded in the 1st-century, however, it has never been accepted as work of Moses or Joshua by Christians or Rabbinical Jews. The only known copy to survive to the present is the 6th-century copy in Latin, which is accepted as a translation from a Koine Greek copy, itself a translation from a Semitic language version, however, it is not clear if it was originally written Hebrew, Aramaic, or Samaritan (Paleo-Hebrew). The content of the testament places its origin sometime before the destruction of the Second Temple, however, unlike most Jewish texts from the time, it attacks all the priesthoods that inhabited the Second Temple. This means it could not have been a Pharisee or Sadducee work, however, does not clarify if it was a Samaritan work, or the work of another Jewish sect, such as the Tobian Jews (Τουβιανοὺς Ιουδαίους) mentioned in 2nd Maccabees, who lived in Seleucid controlled regions. The attack on Ezra would be equally valid for Samaritans or the followers of the High Priest Tobiah, who Ezra kicked out of the Temple in Jerusalem in the Septuagint's 1st Ezra. The mention of the 10 tribes of Israel not being lost, but continuing to live in Samaria, suggests a Samaritan origin, however, the apocalyptic message seems to point to it originating in the same sect as the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Testament of Job, as well as the books of Enoch, Tobit, Jubilees, and Job, which were likely the work of the Tobian Jews. However, as the Tobian Jews were described as living in Bashan (southern modern Syria), and this was not part of Judah, but rather part of the Tribe of Manasseh's territory, therefore this testament strongly implies that the Tobian Jews were Samaritans, which would explain why most of their texts were never accepted by Rabbinical Jews.

Testament of Jacob
Testament of Jacob

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-01-01

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1989604773

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The Testament of Jacob, like the Testaments of Abraham and Isaac, is considered to be a Jewish work that was added to by Christians in the Christian era. It is unclear when it comes from, however, it is considered by some scholars to be a work that was complied in Alexandria around the time that the Testament of Abraham and the Septuagint were translated. The author lists himself as Athanasius, however, nothing else seems to be recorded about him. Several prominent Christian scholars in the early Christian era had the name Athanasius, including Athanasius of Alexandria, who was sainted, however, he lived 500 years too late to be the author of this work.