σῶμα, according to LXX Ps 40:6, whereas the base text, Ps 40:7, has אָזְנַיִם “ears.” Presumably, σῶμα in the LXX is simply a corruption from ὠτία “ears.” (Hermann L. Strack and
Paul Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and
Midrash, ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph
Longarino; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:862)
■ 5b–7
In the citation of Ps 40(39):7–9 dependence on the LXX is quite clear, because
the second clause of vs. 5 differs strikingly from the MT. The Hebrew reads
“ears hast thou dug for me” (אזנים כרית לי).
The LXX rendering, “you fashioned a body for me,” is probably an interpretive
paraphrase for the obscure Hebrew phrase. Hebrews diverges from the LXX in two
particulars. In vs. 6, instead of “you did not seek” Hebrews reads “you were
not pleased” (οὐκ
εὐδόκησας), perhaps under
the influence of other texts from the Psalms. The correction may have been made
for the sake of consistency, since through the Law God did require sacrifices
(9:19–22), if only as a shadow of what was truly pleasing. The conclusion of
the citation is considerably shortened and rearranged from the LXX: “I wished
to do your will, my God” (τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημά σου, ὁ θεός μου, ἐβουλήθην). The major alteration at this point, the omission of the final verb,
effects a closer connection between the speaker’s coming and the expressed
intent to do God’s will, a connection that will be emphasized in the exegesis
of the psalm in vs. 9.
The original psalm falls into two halves. In the first (vss. 1–11),
the psalmist praises Yahweh for his benefactions and affirms his own desire to
do God’s will, embodied in God’s Law (vs. 9). In the second (vss. 12–17), the
psalmist describes his condition of need and prays for divine assistance. It is
only one portion of the first half of the text that interests our author. In
these verses the psalmist contrasts the conventional sacrifices of the temple
cult with his own willing service. The list of conventional sacrifices alludes
to the whole cultic system. “Sacrifice” (θυσίαν), like the Hebrew term it translates (זבח),
is a general designation of any animal sacrifice. “Offering” (προσφορά), which only appears in this chapter of
Hebrews, is also relatively rare in the LXX. In this psalm it translates מנחה, the term for the meal offering.
“Holocaust” (ὁλοκαύτωμα)
is the standard technical designation for the עלה
or burnt offering. The phrase “sacrifice for sin” (περὶ ἁμαρτίας) is the usual technical translation for חטאת.
In contrast with these sacrifices stand the expressions for the
psalmist’s personal response. The vivid image of hollowing out the ears, in the
Hebrew original, suggests the willing obedience that stands ready to hear and
execute God’s command. That attitude is expressed in non-figurative terms in
the final verse cited here.84 Hebrews exploits this contrast of
sacrifice and willing obedience, yet the interpretive translation in the LXX of
“body” for “ears” also serves the purpose of the argument. For Christ’s
conformity to the divine will is clearly an act that involves his body (vs. 10).
In the second and less metaphorical expression of the psalmist’s
willingness to do God’s bidding (vs. 7) there appears a difficult parenthetical
remark. In the Hebrew, the “scroll of the book” (במגלת ספר) probably refers to the law, and in particular to the “law of
the king.” The psalmist, in the person of the king, accepts the responsibility
for complying with the injunctions that were “written for me” (כתוב עלי). The Greek rendering of the first phrase
(ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου) is a simple equivalent of the Hebrew.
Patristic commentators found a special significance in the term κεφαλίς and referred it to specific pericopes of
the Old Testament. It refers primarily to the knob on the rod around which a
scroll is wound, and is used frequently in the LXX simply of the scroll itself.89
Although our author does not provide an explanation of the phrase, he may have
understood it in a special christological sense, where the book is the whole of
the Old Testament’s prophetic work which in many and diverse ways bears
testimony to Christ and his mission (Harold W. Attridge, The
Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews [Hermeneia—a
Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible; Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1989], 274-75)
(a) MT and LXX. (i) The MT of 40:6b has “ears you dug for me,” which apparently
means that the psalmist was given the power to listen attentively. There is
evidence of a LXX tradition (LaG Ga) that also read “ears” (ōtia), but the best LXX MSS (א B A) read “body” (sōma).
The reading “body” could have originated with Hebrews and later have been
transferred to the LXX (Jobes, “Rhetorical”), although MS evidence makes this
unlikely. If “ears” appeared in the earliest LXX version, “body” might have
arisen as a misreading in MSS that did not separate between words, so that ĒTHELESASŌTIA was read as ĒTHELESASŌMA (Bleek). Alternatively, if
“body” was the earliest LXX reading, the translator may have taken the Hebrew
wording as an instance of a part standing for the whole: digging or hollowing
out the ears is part of the total work of forming a human body (F. F. Bruce).
Later, “body” in the LXX would have been changed to “ears” to conform to the MT
in the Greek translations of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and Origen. The MS
evidence favors the latter alternative. In any case Hebrews relies on a LXX
text that read “body” (Schröger, Verfasser, 172–74). (ii) The MT reads “scroll of the book” (megillot sēfer), which is rendered in the LXX and Hebrews as “the
head of the book” (kephalis bibliou).
(b) LXX and Hebrews, (i) Instead of saying that God did not ask for sacrifices, Hebrews
says that God was not “pleased” with them, perhaps echoing Ps 51:16, 19
(Attridge). (ii) Hebrews omits the
LXX’s “I wish,” perhaps to show that Christ did not merely “wish” to do God’s
will, but came “to do” it. Other textual differences (Ellingworth, Epistle, 500–501) are insignificant.
(Craig R. Koester, Hebrews: A New Translation with Introduction and
Commentary [AYB 36; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 432-33)