Scholars
have long noted that the form of the text James quotes reflects not the Hebrew
of Amos 9:11-12 but the Greek of the Septuagint. The crucial phrase is in v.
17, where the Hebrew has, “in order that they may possess the remnant of Edom,
and all the nations who are called by my Name”—an imperialistic vision of
Israel’s destiny which would not help at all. In place of “the remnant of Edom”
the Septuagint reads οι καταλοιποι των ανθρωπων (probably reflecting a Hebrew word-play
Edom/Adam), and makes this the subject of the verb instead of its object, so
that “the rest of humanity” and “all the nations who are called by my name”
become the “seekers” (εκζητησωσιν)—though
it is left to James (or Luke) to specify that the object of the verb “seek” is “the
Lord.”
This
is a radical rewriting of the Hebrew which (with minimal verbal
alternation) completely reverses its original authorial meaning, and the hermeneutic flow is aided by a
series of apparently minor additions (in classic pesher fashion) which
guide the reader to draw the correct hermeneutical conclusion. In Richard
Bauckham’s words (Bauckham, “James and the Jerusalem Church,” 453),
It is
a conflated quotation, combining Amos 9:11-12 with allusions to other, related
texts (hence ‘the prophets’ in the introductory formula: 15:15), which assist
its interpretation, and exhibiting a text-form which has been selected and
adapted to suit the interpretation. These features are now familiar to us not
only from the New Testament but also from the Qumran pesharim, and they
must be understood as the product of skilled exegetical work. What appears to
be merely a quotation of a scriptural text turns out to be in fact also an
interpretation of the text.
Whether
this originates with Luke, or with James, or with someone in between, is not
really the point here. I certainly do not believe that Luke has constructed
this out of thin air. It may well reflect an early Christian testimonia-tradition;
though the Amos text cited at verse 11 is actually best paralleled neither in
the Masoretic Hebrew text nor in the Greek Bible, but in a text-type that
occurs in the Dead Sea Scrolls in 4QFlor. and in the textual history of
this passage to make the point. Deeply embedded in the exegetical praxis of
his day, Luke employs the exegetical tools of his own culture (testimonia,
pesher, midrash) to read this passage of Scripture in such a way that it
reinforces the claim that the Gentiles also belong to God’s name and that God
has always intended to bring about their inclusion. Thus “vv. 16-18 interpret
all three speeches, and indeed everything back to and including the conversion
of Cornelius, as consistent with God’s plan. Not only is God capable of making
himself a ‘people’ (λαος, the
word Luke generally reserves for the Chosen People) out of Gentiles, but the
creation of a people is itself part of the divine plan” (Gaventa, Acts,
220). (Loveday Alexander, “’This Is That’: The Authority of Scripture in the
Acts of the Apostles,” in Sang-Won (Aaron) Son, ed., History and Exegesis: New
Testament Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for His 80th
Birthday [New York: T&T Clark, 2006], 55-72, here, pp. 69-70, emphasis
added)
