Monday, April 6, 2020

Elena Butova on James' Use of Midrash and LXX Amos in Acts 15


Commenting on James’ argument during the Council of Jerusalem, Elena Butova wrote:

James started his answer with an imperative of request, ακουσατε μου. This feature reflects a common way to start a speech and could be omitted with no harm to the idea. Luke, however, keeps the wording in order to call the reader to attention, because the following exposition by James provides the answer to all discussion and convinces the council. The way in which James has chosen to arrange his arguments reflects midrashic tradition. This type of Torah explanation allowed James to summarize previous opinions and bring them into accordance with the teaching of Torah. The midrashic explanation was always employed when the inner meaning of Torah was needed. Because the Pharisaic party stated that the will of God, according Torah, demands making Gentile converts into proselytes, the opponents had to disprove those statements, and supplant them by providing stronger Torah-based arguments.

James chose to start with Συμεων εξηγησατο, introducing a summary of Peter’s arguments. This show that James agreed with Peter’s opinion and took it as a starting point for his own explanation. (Elena Butova, The Four Prohibitions of Acts 15 and Their Common Background in Genesis 1-3 [Eugene, Oreg: Wipf and Stock, 2018], 91-92)

Continuing, we have a discussion of the biblical text James relies upon in his arguments:

. . .James quotes Amos 9:11, according to the LXX, to the Jewish audience assembled in Jerusalem. He could rather have used the original Hebrew wording, instead of the reading in the LXX. The difference is significant. The Hebrew reads “and I will build them as in the days of old, that they (the Israelites) may inherit (יירשׁוּ) what remains of Edom (את שׁאריּת אדוֹם) and of the other nations over which my name is named.” The LXX reads יירשׁוּ as ידרשׁוּ (omitting את, and translates it εκζητησωσι, “to seek.” According to Glenny, the Hebrew “they may possess the remnant of Edom,” appears in the LXX as “that the remnant of men may seek me” (Glenny explains the contradiction by the translator’s misreading of the second yod in the word יירשו [“possess”], which lead to the change to dalet and became ידרשו [“seek”]. Glenny, “Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics,” 6, 7). Moreover, LXX reads מוֹדא as מדא, and takes מדא as the subject of the verb instead of the object. Thus, “men” becomes the subject of the sentence instead of “Edom” (Lake and Cadbury, English Translation and Commentary, 176). As a result, the meaning of the whole phrase shifts from “a promise that Israel should possess their lands” to a promise of conversion of the Gentiles (Lake and Cadbury, English Translation and Commentary).

According to Glenny’s observation the LXX translation of Amos 9:11 contradicts the other passages in the Minor Prophets (Hos 9:6; Amos 2:10; Obad 17, 19, 20; Mic 1:15; Hab 1:6; Zech 9:4), where the Hebrew, yāraš, was translated with the Greek κληρονεμεω, “to inherit,” and not “seek.” Glenny accounts for it by the fact that LXX translators could have been influenced by the wording of Zechariah’s prophecy (Glenny, “Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics,” 8). Zech 14:2, 9, 16, similar to Amos 9:12, contain the phrase πατα τα εθνη and καταλειψθωσιν εκ παντων των εθνων. The wording of Zech 8:22 repents in the following manner, και εθνη πολλα εκζητησαι το προσωπον κυριου. Here, the aorist infinitive εκζητησαι means “to exert effort to find out or learn someth., seek out, search for” (BDAD, εκζητεω, 1). The LXX translators most likely adjusted the wording of Amos to the similar text in Zechariah's prophecy (Glenny, “Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics,” 8). If one accepts that the LXX was used by Jews living in the diaspora, and that they had access to the Greek translation of these Hebrew prophecies, it becomes clear that the reading, “that the rest of men may seek the Lord,” appeared preferable. (Ibid., 96-97)

Addressing the question as to why James used the LXX reading for his Jewish audience, Butova favours the proposal that:

. . . James clearly prefers the wording which presumes an inheritance achieved by way of conversion of the Gentiles to the wording which suggests the way of territorial expansion. His view on the restoration of the fallen tent appears in terms of the growth of the Gospel message, and not in terms of land possession. In contract to the military tone of the Exodus narrative, the interpretation of the prophets, declared by James at the council, reveals a peaceful restoration of the kingdom (ανοικοδομησω and ανορθωσω linked to the “booth of David”), where all nations are accepted (οπως αν εκζητιησωσιν . . . τον κυριον . . . παντα τα εθνη). This contrasts the idea expressed by the Exodus narrative, and likely finds its meaning in terms of the final restoration of the whole creation. That is why James prefers the LXX reading to MT, as it helps him to go further back then the Exodus, and reach the time of creation and the foundation of the world in its undivided wholistic condition.

Moreover, the purpose of James’ LXX citation was to link the promised restoration of the kingdom (αοικοδομησω and ανορθωσω) with Jesus’ victory over death. Glenny states that in v. 17 παντα τα τθνη is connected by οπως + the aorist subjunctive εκζητησωσιν to the previously mentioned “booth of David” (Glenny, “Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics,” 5-6). From this point he explains the restoration of the “booth of David” in terms of the resurrection of the Messiah, with the result that Gentiles may now seek the Lord (Glenny, “Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics,” 6 n. 19, 18). Thus, at the council, James shifted the focus of discussion “from a proselyte model to an eschatological one” (Longenecker, Acts, 446). (Ibid., 98-99)