Septuagint: Haggai
Septuagint: Haggai

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-08-17

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1989852564

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The Book of Haggai is set in the year 421 BC, year 2 of King Darius II of the Persian Empire. Most scholars accept that Haggai was written shortly after 421 BC, however, it appears to have been written about Haggai, and not by him. Very little is known about him, as the era he lived in as part of the so-called missing years of Rabbinical history. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still hedonistic, worshiping the Almighty God (El Shaddai), but still recognizing the existence of the Canaanite gods including Shamayim, who Josiah had banned a century earlier, and Eretz, the earth-goddess. Based on the contents of Haggai's writing, his prophecy took place in 421 BC, when Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem. This places Haggai's life at the end of the 'missing years' of Rabbinical history, which skips 164 years between 587 and 422 BC. In 351 BC, Ezra the Scribe and the Governor of Judea Nehemiah, formally ejected the Samaritan priesthood from the temple in Jerusalem, and rebuilt it. Ezra and Nehemiah, operating under the authority of the Persian King Artaxerxes III, threw the Samaritans out of Jerusalem, and declared they were not Israelites, then set about rebuilding the temple again. The books of Ezra record that a king named Darius authorized the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and the city's walls, and as this Darius lived after a king named Artaxerxes, who had stopped the rebuilding, it can only be Darius II, Artaxerxes I's son. Darius I was Artaxerxes I's grandfather, and Darius III was the final king of the Persian Empire, who had effectively lost control of Anatolia, Canaan, and Egypt before his second year when the reconstruction was authorized. Therefore, Darius III could not have authorized the rebuilding of the temple, as Alexander the Great was already in control of Judea but his second year. Moreover, the temple was recorded as being finished in the month of Adar in year 6 of this Darius, by which time Darius III was dead, and Alexander had been the king over the western half of the Persian Empire for four years. Darius II's interest in the temple in Jerusalem had also been proven by the so-called Passover Letter, an ancient Aramaic letter discovered in Elephantine, Egypt, and dating to 418 BC, year 5 of Darius II. This letter was sent by High Priest Zerubbabel's son, Hananiah, to the Israelite temple in Elephantine, and explained that King Darius had ordered all Judahites to follow the Passover. The Passover Letter then explained what was required of the Judahites in Elephantine, as the Israelite priesthood in Elephantine apparently had never heard of Passover. A later letter from 407 BC, year 17 of King Darius II, has also survived among the Elephantine papyri, and mentions the High Priest Johanan of the temple in Jerusalem, who was also mentioned in the books of Ezra, supporting the essentially factual history recorded with the books.

Septuagint: Judges and Ruth
Septuagint: Judges and Ruth

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-12-27

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 199828848X

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The Book of Judges is very old, and the Song of Deborah may be the oldest surviving piece of Israelite literature. It uses some of the most archaic forms of Hebrew, and was likely composed in Canaanite before Hebrew became a defined dialect as this issue of dialect was part of the division between the Israelites during the battle between the Gileadites, east of the Jordan, and the Ephraimites from west of the Jordan. There is evidence that the book was either assembled or redacted in the Kingdom of Samaria. The region of the book also generally corresponds with the territory of the northern kingdom, both the region that had once been under Egyptian authority west of the Jordan, and the region east of the Jordan which had generally been independent of Egypt. The synchronizations between the Book of Judges and the records of Egypt are far too many to be overlooked or ignored. As almost all denominations of Christians and Jews agree that King Saul established his kingdom in 1037 BC, and the Septuagint's version of Judges includes 460 years of the land being ruled by Judges, or foreign kings, followed by an era of chaos when there was no king, the latest possible date the Exodus could have taken place was the 1500s BC, which supports the idea that the 10 plagues of Egypt were descriptions of the fallout and effects of the Minoan eruption which Egyptologists date to 1550 BC. According to Judges, 42 years later the Israelites invaded Samaria, (northern modern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank) under the leadership of Joshua, which would have been 1508 BC. The plan was already laid out in the Book of Joshua to occupy the entire land of Canaan, yet just three years later, when Joshua was 85 years old, the Israelites stopped their campaign, after having only occupied the cities in Samaria, this would have been in 1505 BC. The reason they stopped their invasion is not given, however, Egyptian records do explain it, as in the same year, 1505 BC, Pharaoh Thutmose I marched his army through Canaan to reconquer it for the Egyptian Empire. It had previously been under the control of the Hyksos Dynasty whose empire collapsed in the aftermath of the Minoan eruption. In 1550 BC, the Hyksos capital fell to the rival southern dynasty of Pharaoh Ahmose I, and the Hyksos retreated to their fortress of Sharuhen, near modern Gaza in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. This suggests the Hyksos maintained control over Canaan until Sharuhen fell to Ahmose I in 1540 BC. Ahmose I led an invasion of southern Canaan a few years later in an attempt to root out any remaining Hyksos. Egyptologists are not sure when this campaign was, placing it sometime between 1537 and 1527 BC. This campaign is not believed to have reached farther north than Byblos, in modern Lebanon, and did not result in any long-term political control over Canaan. Ahmose I's main goal seems to have been to destroy any remaining Hyksos in the region to ensure they did not try to recapture Egypt.

Septuagint: Tobit (Sinaiticus Version)
Septuagint: Tobit (Sinaiticus Version)

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2021-02-26

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 1990289029

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The Book of Tobit appears to be from an older sect of Judaism, likely the one led by the 'false priest' Tobiah, who was expelled from the temple by Ezra when his genealogy could not be proven in 2ⁿᵈ Ezra. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra was the version of Ezra used by the Pharisee sect which emerged under the Hasmonean Dynasty, while Tobit, along with Enoch, Jubilees, and Job appears to have primarily been used by the Essenes sects. The Book of Tobit is generally viewed as fiction by most scholars for a variety of reasons. One major reason it is viewed as fiction is the presence of Tobit's cousin Ahikar, in both versions of the book, who is the protagonist of the Words of Ahikar, a book set in the same era, which is also considered fiction. It is quite clear from the text of Tobit, that it is the same Ahikar, and not just someone with the same name, as Ahikar's betrayal by his nephew is mentioned, which is part of the early section of Ahikar. Nevertheless, both books, Tobit and Ahikar survive in various forms, meaning that they were edited multiple times before the versions that survive to the present were transcribed. The surviving copies of the Septuagint include two versions of the Book of Tobit, the more common form, found in the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and most other surviving copies of the Septuagint, and the less common version found in the Codex Sinaiticus. The differences between the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus versions of Tobit are too extensive to treat the books as the same book, however, their story is essentially the same. The two books must have had a common source, however, the Sinaiticus's version is over 20% longer than the Vaticanus's version, and appears to be an older version of Tobit. One of the reasons that the Book of Tobit is interpreted as fiction, is the existence of historical errors and anachronisms found in the Vaticanus version, which includes the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the Persian king Ahasuerus jointly destroying Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh was sacked by Babylonian King Nabopolassar in 612 BC, along with Median and Persian allies, led by the Median King Cyaxares, who then integrated the city into his Median Empire. Nabopolassar's son Nebuchadnezzar, who assumed the throne in 605 BC, finally conquered the remnants of the Assyrian forces in Syria at the Battle of Carchemish that same year, however, he did not attack or destroy Nineveh. Meanwhile, the name Ahasuerus was the Aramaic name of Xerxes, the Persian king who ruled between 486 and 465 BC.

Haggai and Zechariah Research
Haggai and Zechariah Research

Author: Mark Boda

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-05-21

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 9004397434

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A review of the past century of research on the biblical books of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, with detailed analysis of the past two decades of key scholarly research and a classified bibliography of over 1200 studies. The bibliography is helpfully arranged according to topic, under more than 100 rubrics. There is a full listing of available resources for study. Altogether an extremely useful tool for all students and scholars of the Old Testament.

Septuagint: 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms
Septuagint: 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published: 2019-12-12

Total Pages: 117

ISBN-13: 1989604544

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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 also 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 as 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. Judah continued to be an ally of Assyria as the Assyrians conquered Aram, Samaria, and Sidon which had also allied with them. Fortunately, as Samaria finally fell to the Assyrians after a three-year campaign, the king of Assyria died, sparking a civil war between rival heirs. This civil war provided Judah with almost twenty years to build up defenses, and King Hezekiah built extensively across his kingdom. Archaeological evidence of Hezekiah's construction projects is common in the region around Jerusalem, and the southern region of the Palestinian West Bank, including the Broad Wall in Jerusalem, and the Siloam Tunnel, which connected Jerusalem with a water source outside the walls of the city. Ancient records of anti-siege artillery on the walls of Jerusalem also exist, likely ballistas or catapults, so, it is clear the Judahites knew they would be next. While the Assyrians did lay siege to Jerusalem according to 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms, they were not able to conquer the city. The Assyrian Annals record the campaign against Judah and record the cities they captured, which did not include Jerusalem, and so historians accept the general account of what happened found in 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms.

Septuagint: Odes
Septuagint: Odes

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-06-30

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13: 1989852335

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In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. The creation of the Septuagint resulted from this order. It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint. The Book of Odes is not believed to have been added until the 3rd-century AD, and is the only specifically Christian book to be added to the Septuagint. It includes the older Prayer of Manasseh, which was found in some copies of the Septuagint, but not all. The Prayer of Manasseh is believed to have been added in the 2nd-century BC, which is why it is not found in all copies. The current scholarly view is that it was likely written in Greek, and is not the original Prayer of Manasseh mentioned in the Septuagint's 2nd Paraleipomenon. Fragments of a different Prayer of Manasseh have been discovered among the dead sea scrolls, written in Hebrew, which could be the original, however, it is more likely that the original would have been written in Canaanite (Samaritan, Paleo-Hebrew) than Hebrew, and therefore it is still not clear which, if either, is the original Prayer of Manasseh. Most of the other songs and prayers in the Book of Odes are copied from other books found in the Septuagint, although not exactly word for word. These songs and prayers include works attributed to Moses, Hannah the mother of Samuel, King Hezekiah, the prophets Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jonah, Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael. Additionally, the Odes includes specifically Christian prayers copied from either the Gospel of Luke, by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, Simeon, and in some manuscripts Mary the God-Bearer.

Septuagint: 1ˢᵗ Maccabees
Septuagint: 1ˢᵗ Maccabees

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published: 2019-12-12

Total Pages: 85

ISBN-13: 1989604382

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1ˢᵗ Maccabees tells the story of the Maccabean Revolt against the rule of the Seleucid Empire in the 2ⁿᵈ century BC. The content of 1ˢᵗ Maccabees appears to be a Sadducee text, as it gives all credit to the self-declared high priests that led the rebellion against the Greeks, occasionally mentioning the sky-god Shamayim or the earth-goddess Eretz. It also omits the names of the other gods that 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees and 3ʳᵈ Maccabees mention the Judeans worshiping, such as Dionysus, which supports its authorship in the Hasmonean Dynasty, when the other gods were no longer tolerated. Four books of Maccabees were ultimately added to the Septuagint, three in the 1ˢᵗ century BC, and the 4ᵗʰ as an appendix in the 1ˢᵗ century AD. No trace of these books has been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they are generally thought to have been written in Greek. 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees do include several Aramaic loanwords that support an Aramaic source text. The Syriac Bibles also include a 5ᵗʰ Maccabees, which is a translation of book 6 of Josephus’ The Judean War. The Judean War is considered extended canon in the Ethiopic Bibles, however, the Ethiopic Bibles also include three books of Maccabees, which are not based on the Greek books, or Josephus. An Arabic book of Maccabees also exists, which is often mislabeled as 5ᵗʰ Maccabees in English language literature, because it was initially misidentified as being the same book as Syriac 5ᵗʰ Maccabees. The Arabic book is a translation of a Palestinian Aramaic book from circa 525 AD, which itself appears to be based on the Hebrew book of Maccabees, which surfaced much later. The Hebrew version of Maccabees was collected with other Hebrew language manuscripts from various eras in a Yiddish compilation in the 1300s. The Hebrew translation of Maccabees was likely composed in Iberia earlier than 500 AD and was probably based on an Aramaic text, along with an Iberian tale about Hannibal. The Aramaic text that was used is closely related to the text found in the Josippon, which is believed to have been composed in southern Italy in the 900s. The Josippon claims to be a copy of the book of Joseph ben Gurion, one of the leaders of the Judean Revolt of 66 AD. Joseph died in 68 AD, and Josephus, who survived the war, did not report that Joseph was a writer, however, it stands to reason his faction must have had some form of propaganda, likely based on the Maccabean Revolt. These Josippon-related versions of Maccabees are of very little historic value, as they are replete with historical errors. Their original function appears to have been to serve as inspiration rather than to educate.

Septuagint: Wisdom of Solomon
Septuagint: Wisdom of Solomon

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-06-14

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1989852300

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The final version of the Septuagint was published in 132 BC, which included the Wisdom of Solomon, a book of wisdom credited to King Solomon, circa 950 BC. This book was never copied by the Masoretes, and no fragments of it have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicating it was not used much in Judea, if at all. A Syriac version of it is included in the Peshitta, the Syrian Orthodox Bible, which the Syrian Orthodox Church has always claimed was transcribed from the Aramaic text that the Jews translated into Hebrew, however, most modern scholars believe the Peshitta was a Syriac translation of the Septuagint. As a result, Wisdom of Solomon is a text that cannot be proven to have existed earlier than 132 BC, when it appeared in the Septuagint, and some scholars have concluded it was written in Greek at the Library of Alexandria. Wherever it was written, it is a very un-Jewish Israelite text, which contradicts, and occasionally even attacks the Torah. These contradictions are often interpreted as indicators that the writer was not particularly knowledgeable regarding the Torah, suggesting a Hellenized Jew, and therefore, it is generally assumed the book was written shortly before its inclusion in the Septuagint. All of these assumptions are, of course, based on the underlying assumption that Judaism was already standardized before the Greek Era. The books of Maccabees tell a very story. Given the complex religious history of the Second Temple Era, and the fact that none of the Israelites in Elephantine appear to have even heard of Moses in the 5th-century BC, the Wisdom of Solomon does not seem out of place or anachronistic at all, and dismissing it based on contradictions with the Torah seems completely invalid. 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 God (or Yahweh in the Masoretic Text) was credited with doing in the Torah, however, this changes abruptly to crediting the Lord in chapter 11, and Sophia disappears entirely from the rest of the book. Chapter 11 was also the beginning of what scholars call the ‘history’ section of the book, which generally retold the history found in the Torah up until the exodus from Egypt, however, with some differences. One significant difference was the identification of the Lord as the Sun in chapter 16.

Septuagint: Proverbs
Septuagint: Proverbs

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute

Published: 2020-03-24

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 198985205X

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The book of Proverbs 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 Instruction of Amenemope, which was apparently written by Amenemope son of Kanakht sometime during the Ramesside Period between 1300 and 1075 BC. The Instruction of Amenemope, also called the Wisdom of Amenemopet, was an Egyptian New Kingdom era piece of wisdom literature that is generally considered a masterpiece within the genre. The Instruction of Amenemope was rediscovered by Egyptologists in 1888, after being lost for around 2400 years. Subsequently, eight partial copies have been found, ranging in estimated dates ranging between 1069 and 500 BC. The unnamed wife of Solomon who was the daughter of and Egyptian Pharoah, was likely the daughter of the last native Egyptian Pharaoh, Usermaatre Amenemope, who would have most likely carried a copy of the Instruction of Amenemope into Israel with her. The name Amenemope seems to have been quite common in ancient Egypt, and it is unlikely that the pharaoh was named after the scribe who wrote the Instruction, but, no doubt an Egyptian princess would have taken something to give her new barbarian husband, and a book called the Instruction of Amenemope, a name identical to her father's would have been a valuable gift, especially the part about not chasing after women other than his wife. Apparently, Solomon was selective in the parts of the Instruction that he chose to follow.

Septuagint: Ruth
Septuagint: Ruth

Author: Scriptural Research Institute

Publisher: Digital Ink Productions

Published: 2020-08-30

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1989852602

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The book of Ruth appears to be part of a Samaritan story designed to splice the Moabites into the royal genealogy. The Book of Deuteronomy, which was likely written in Samaria, uses Moabite names of locations instead of Judahite names, indicating that a Moabite priesthood was active in Samaria before the kingdom fell to the Assyrians. The Book of Judges refers to King Abimelech as the bastard son of Gideon by a prostitute, which speaks volumes about his memory, however, he was an Ephrathite, as was the Abimelech in the Book of Ruth, indicating that he could not have been viewed that badly a century after his death, when Ruth’s father in law would have been born. Ruth, the step-daughter of Abimelech in the Book of Ruth, ultimately became an ancestor of King David, meaning it is possible that some Israelites were connecting the two Abimelechs in the Second Temple era, claiming that David was a descendant of King Abimelech. The setting of the Ruth is the lands of Judah and Moab in the early-1000s BC, when the Book of Judges claimed there was no king. The last judge under the Pelesets in the books of Judges was Samson's father Manoah, who ruled until 1090 BC when the Peleset Kingdom apparently collapsed. This was just over a decade before the collapse of the Egyptian New Kingdom in 1077 BC, which began the Third Intermediate Period, when Egyptian records became sparse. This collapse of civilization in Canaan and Egypt was mirrored by collapses across the Mediterranean, sparking what the Greeks would later call the Dark Age. This Dark Age is not in doubt, however, is poorly understood due to the sparse records from the era. The story would have taken place around the same era as the Benjaminite genocide in the Book of Judges, which is likely the reason the book of Ruth was placed directly behind the book of Judges in the Septuagint. It is not clear when the Book of Ruth was written, however, it is not generally considered to date back to the era it is set in. Based on the connection between the Book of Ruth and King David, it seems likely that the book was written no earlier than the era of King David, however, the book is generally dated to the time of Ezra the Scribe circa 350 BC. It is generally interpreted as an attempt to bridge the older books of Joshua and Judges with the newer books of the Kingdoms (Masoretic Samuel and Kings), which are generally accepted as having been compiled during the time of Ezra the scribe.