Since every translation, even the
best, is an interpretation, F. F. Bruce has argued that OG-Dan displays
evidence of theological Tendenz. (F. F. Bruce, "The Earliest Old
Testament Interpretation," OTS 17 [1972] 37-52; and idem, "The
Oldest Greek Version of Daniel," OTS 20 [1977] 22-40.) He
examines, for example, the most celebrated verse: OG-Dan 7: 13, which reads, ιδου
επι των νεφελων του ουρανου ως υιος ανθρωπου ηρχετο [967 places ηρχετo after ουρανου]
και ως παλαιος ημερων παρην. This text clearly states that "the one like a
son of man" appears "as the Ancient of Days. " (Bruce, "The
Oldest Greek Version," 25-26.) In agreement with the MT, Th-Dan reads ως
υιος ανθρωπου ερχομενος ην και εως του παλαιου των ημερων εφθασεν, "one
like a son of man was coming, and to the Ancient of Days he reached." But
S. Pace Jeansonne argues against the position of Bruce; she affirms Ziegler's
conjectured reading (Ziegler, Daniel, 170) (following Montgomery)
(Montgomery, Daniel, 304) that ως παλαιος is a deliberate corruption of εως
του παλαιου, a reading reflected also in Tertullian (died ca. 220 CE), Cyprian
(died 258 CE), and the Consultationes, which are based on OG-Dan.34 But
curiously, both she and Bruce fail to mention that 967, which Ziegler did not
have available but which had already been published in 1968, reads the same as
88-Syh. This unique reading found in all three OG-Dan witnesses should not be
dismissed simply on the basis of a conjectured reading in Ziegler's eclectic
edition. (Alexander A. Di Lella, "The Textual History of Septuagint-Daniel
and Theodotion-Daniel," in John J. Collins and Peter W. Flint, eds., The
Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception, 2 vols. [Supplements to Vetus
Testamentum LXXXIII,II; Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament
Literature II, 2; Leiden: Brill, 2001], 2:591; Tendenz is a term used to
denote the actual authorial intent)
