"Did the LXX 'Correct' a MT Misunderstanding?"

  

Did the LXX “Correct” a MT Misunderstanding?

 

Dr. Heiser points out another flaw in the MT that the LXX explains. In a blog for Logos Bible Software, Heiser provides a fascinating example of how the LXX provides a “fix” for the MT “mix-up” in a passage found at Deuteronomy 33:1-2.

 

Says Heiser, “I thought it might be helpful to provide a practical example where the Septuagint explains what seems to be a New Testament theological blunder. I’m betting most of us are interested in that sort of thing!”

 

Heiser first provides a literal rendering of the Hebrew from the Masoretic Text . . . along with an English translation of the Septuagint . . . This comparison is presented in the table adjacent:

 

Masoretic Text	Septuagint
1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.	1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.
2 He said: Yahweh came from Sinai, and He shone upon them from Seir. He appeared in radiance from Mount Paran, and approached from Ribeboth-Kodesh, from his right lightning flashed at them.	2 He said: the LORD came from Sinai, and He shone to us from Seir; He made haste from Mount Paran with ten thousands of Kadesh, his angels with him.
3 Indeed, he loved the people all his holy ones at your hand. And they followed at your feet; he bears your words,	3 And He had pity on his people, and all the holy ones were under your hands; and they were under you; and he received his words.
4 the Law which Moses commanded us, an inheritance for the assembly at Jacob.	4 the law which Moses charged us, an inheritance to the assemblies of Jacob.

 

Dr. Heiser points out that whereas the “holy ones” in the MT appear to be talking about the Israelite people, the LXX seems to speak of them as God’s angels. Verse three in the MT appears to be reinforcing “the people” with “all His holy ones at His hand” (they are the same, i.e., “the people are His holy ones at His hand”).

 

However, the LXX comes across differently. Here there are people upon which the LOR had pity, and then, separately, there are the angels—His holy ones—both of which were with God (i.e., “he had pity on his people who were under (His) hands; and all the holy ones were under (Him).” In Verse 4 of the MT, there is only the assembly of Jacob (singular) while in verse 4 of the LXX, there are “assemblies” (plural). This seems to follow logically since, in the LXX’s verse 2, there are ten thousand of Kadesh (God’s angels) with the LORD. In this verse, Kodesh and Kadesh appear to be causing confusion. But who was confused? The Masoretes inscribing the MT? Or the Alexandrian scholars when translating the LXX? Which one’s right? The Hebrew MT provides a place name. The Septuagint includes something of an annotation when expressing the origin of the giving of the Law of God (aka the correct meaning). Then, Heiser refers us to three passages in the New Testament that convey that the Mosaic Law was given by angels (aggeloi in the Greek). We are led to ask, “Did the New Testament misread the Hebrew MT? Or was it simply using the Greek? Were Stephen, Paul, and the writer to the Hebrews wrong then they conveyed to their audiences the law of Moses was delivered by angels?”

 

·       Read the following three passages while noting that these are supplied by the King James Version whose New Testament conflicts with its Old Testament, (i.e., the NT Greek Textus Receptus conflicting with Acts 7:52-53—Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murders: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.

·       Hebrews 2:1-2a—Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast . . .

·       Galatians 3:19—Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (S. Douglas Woodward, Rebooting the Bible, Part 1: Exposing the Second Century Conspiracy to Corrupt the Scripture and Alter Biblical Chronology [rev ed.; Oklahoma City: Faith Happens, 2020], 275-76; the article by Heiser, “Why Use the Septuagint?” is no longer available online, even on Archive.org)