The remark of Delitzsch on the translation of the LXX., affixed to the Book of Psalms (Delitzsch on the Psalms, Clark’s Library, Edinburgh) may be introduced here:——‘This translation, as being the oldest key to the understanding of the language of the Old Testament writings, as being the oldest mirror of the Old Testament text, and as an important check upon the interpretation of Scripture handed down in the Talmud and Midrash, and in that portion of the national literature not originating in Egypt, is invaluable.’ For this remark applies to the rendering of Ecclesiastes in an equal, if not greater degree, and may be offered as an excuse, if one be needed, for the comparatively large space assigned to the discussion of the Septuagint renderings.
A peculiarity which meets us in this book is the occurrence of the preposition σὺν followed by an accusative, and in one case a genitive, and which seldom if ever occurs in other books. This apparently trifling circumstance, which is usually treated as a barbarism, will give the clue which will lead to some curious and interesting facts connected with the methods of translation adopted by the LXX.
If we examine carefully and in detail the wording of the LXX. we can hardly fail to be struck with the excessive care that is taken to render in the exact order of the Hebrew——a remark which may be extended to other portions of this version, the Book of Job being, however, a striking exception, (and when there is any considerable departure, in almost every instance hitherto examined a serious variation of text in the different recensions of the LXX. will be found to occur.) In Ecclesiastes this order is so strict that, with hardly an exception, it would be possible to print the Greek text as it stands as an interlinear translation. This most interesting point deserves further investigation than appears as yet to have been given to it. My own impression from this circumstance, is that the version of the LXX. was made with the idea that those who used it had the Hebrew before them, and this hypothesis, for in truth it is nothing more, will I think group together more facts than any other suppositions which have been adopted to explain these strange renderings met with in the LXX.,——as, for example, variation of original text, wilful corruption on the part of the translators, Hagadic influence (of which more presently), and the like. The LXX. have executed their work so well, that notwithstanding this restriction which they thus laid upon themselves, we have a very good translation, which for many centuries was used as the sole representative of the ancient Scriptures, and on which the whole fabric of ancient theology was erected.
This interlinear character, as we may call it, of the version of the LXX., will explain why they render the same Hebrew word by such very different Greek equivalents. In an interlinear translation there is no special value in uniform rendering; rather the reverse. It is better even to study variety than uniformity, although we believe that the LXX. do neither the one nor the other, but simply endeavour to give the best possible rendering of the passage before them. For example, the word חפץ is rendered in chapter iii. 1, 17, v. 8 (7), viii. 6, by πρᾶγμα, and in the other three cases in which it occurs, viz., chapter v. 4 (3), xii. 1, 10, by θέλημα. Now the real meaning of this word, as we have shown, is an agreeable providential occurrence, or, since all providential occurrences imply the Divine will on their side, any such whatever. The LXX. use the one rendering or the other as best suits the context. This book containing so large a number of technical words, the meaning of which is to be sought by a careful comparison of all the passages in which they occur, the renderings of the LXX. become of special interest. The meaning compounded of the meanings of the LXX.’s renderings, to use a mathematical simile, will give us often the precise shade of signification of the Hebrew of which we are in search, and this will then approve itself as correct by its suitableness in every instance.
The same observation applies to the grammar of the Greek as representing that of the Hebrew. There is no attempt whatever to render Hebrew grammatical forms with any uniformity. Hebrew perfects are rendered by Greek presents, aorists, or perfects; Hebrew presents by aorists or perfects. Participles are rendered sometimes by participles, at others by principal verbs. The same Hebrew prepositions are sometimes rendered by different Greek prepositions, and sometimes simply by case-endings. The relative is rendered by the relative, by the pronoun, and by ὅτι. The Hebrew conjugations are not represented on any settled principle; Piels are sometimes indeed apparently marked by a preposition compounded with the verb, sometimes not noticed at all. In certain cases in which the root is doubtful, as for example in ain vaw, and ain ain verbs, the LXX. do not always follow the Masoretic pointing and derivation. On the whole, however, the deviations of the LXX., from both pointing and accentuation, are more apparent than real, and may be explained, for the most part, on the principle that the translators felt themselves obliged to follow the order of the words in the original.
We must, however, bear in mind that the present text of the LXX. is of all texts the most time-worn, and often requires correction. Most providentially we do not depend on one recension; we have in existing copies the remains of several, and we may make use of them to restore the original readings. The problem in this case differs essentially from that which meets us in revising the Greek text of the New Testament. Here diplomatic evidence has not the same weight as there. Emendations may be detected, even when better readings of the Hebrew, by want of conformity to the Hebrew order (and the temptation to make such kind of alterations, when the version was used independently, would clearly be very great), or again a comparison of the various readings will enable us to guess with tolerable confidence what the Hebrew originally was. In this way, when the Hebrew text is doubtful, we can ascertain the correct reading by searching for that common origin from which the variants in the LXX. were derived, and we may then turn round on the version with the help of the Hebrew, and show how the changes successively arose. An instance of this will be found at chapter x. 10; how far I have succeeded the reader must judge. We must also bear in mind that what we should now denote by marginal renderings are in the ancient versions inserted in the text. The interlinear character of the version enables us to detect this: we find two Greek words standing in place of a single Hebrew equivalent. The result of all this, as applied in the Book of Ecclesiastes, is to vindicate the accuracy of the received Hebrew text, and, in a less degree, of the pointing and accentuation also. Only in a very few instances is it needful to propose an emendation of the Hebrew text, and that where the ancient versions are apparently unanimous in requiring it.
There remains another point, however. Dr. Ginsburg (and from his extensive acquaintance with Jewish literature no one is better qualified to give an opinion) considers that Hagadic influence must be taken largely into account in explaining difficult passages in Ecclesiastes; amongst other points he notices the rendering of את by σὺν, which has been referred to already. ‘Commentators,’ he says, ‘have been perplexed to account for this barbarism, and violation of grammatical propriety, but a reference to Hagadic exegesis will show that this Hebrew particle was looked up to as having a mystical signification, because the two letters, א and ת, of which it is composed, are the Alpha and Omega of the Hebrew alphabet. Hence the anxiety of the translator to indicate this particle in Greek, when a passage appeared to him to be fraught with special mysteries.’ But, as he remarks, it is only in twenty-nine instances out of seventy-one occurrences of this particle that it is so rendered by the LXX. Moreover, Dr. Ginsburg has not shown that these passages are specially mysterious. They are in fact neither more nor less so than some others in which this particle is not so rendered. An examination of these passages will show, we think convincingly, that what the LXX. wished to do was to point out that את was emphatic and with the meaning of ‘respect to,’ or the like, as will be seen by reference to the Commentary, especially chapters ii. 17, iii. 17, vii. 26, viii. 8, 15.
The Hagadic influence, according to Dr. Ginsburg, is still more evident in the peculiar rendering of chapter ii. 12, as well as chapters ii. 17, iii. 15, iv. 17, v. 1, all which are fully treated in the Commentary, and the renderings of the LXX. explained and elucidated, it is hoped satisfactorily. So far from the true explanation of these renderings being found in the Chaldee paraphrase, as Dr. Ginsburg imagines, that version gives distorted interpretations of passages but partially understood. Again, the gloss of the LXX. at chapter ii. 15 is shared by the Syriac, and is a marginal reading; chapter ii. 17 is a verbatim reading of the Hebrew in every particular; and the gloss at chapter ii. 9 is too evidently foisted in from the margin to make it of much value in any argument. See note there.
Holding as I do the paramount authority of the LXX., I have not scrupled to follow them against the Masoretic interpretation when the sense of a passage seemed to require it, and I deem it a sufficient answer to any objections on this head, that the rendering proposed is supported by the LXX. On the whole, however, these differences are, as remarked above, not very great, and we have rather occasion for surprise, not that there is here and there a divergence, but that on the whole there is so substantial agreement. The pointing which we have in our Hebrew Bibles embodies a most valuable and venerable tradition, but in its present form younger by centuries than that furnished by the rendering of the LXX. While, therefore, we admit its great value, we ought not to make its authority absolute, and this is done to all intents and purposes by those who reject without question the ancient interpretation because it conflicts with the present pointing. No language is too high to characterize our obligations to those Jewish fathers who have guarded so faithfully that special trust committed to them——the oracles of God. But the Synagogue is no more infallible in matters of criticism than is the Church. Neither the Masorets nor the LXX. are inspired, though inspiration has been by their respective partisans vehemently claimed for both. Each party, also, has unduly depreciated the other, and the Hebrew scholars have been for centuries divided into punctists and anti-punctists. But as there is no royal road to learning, so there is no short-cut to certainty; the whole evidence, let it come from whence it may, must be diligently weighed and compared. So far as the version of the LXX. is concerned, this is not done until their errors, or supposed errors, have been at least duly explained and accounted for, even when their renderings are rejected.
OTHER VERSIONS OF ANTIQUITY.