Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Lee Martin McDonald on the use of Amos 9:11 (LXX) in Acts 15

  

15:16–21. Amos. James justifies his comments by an appeal to the LXX of Amos 9:11 as a basis for accepting the Gentiles into the church rather than the Hebrew where it is less clear. The Hebrew text reads:

 

On that day I shall raise up the hut of David that is fallen, and I shall repair its breaches; I shall raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that are called by my name—oracle Yahweh who does this.

 

On the other hand, there is an important change in the LXX. It reads:

 

‘On that day I shall raise up the tent of David that is fallen and rebuild the ruins of it, and the parts thereof that have been broken down I shall set up, and I shall rebuild it as (in) the days of old, that the rest of humanity my seek (it), even all the nations, upon whom my name has been invoked’ says the Lord, who does all these things (trans. by Fitzmyer, 555).

 

The difference in translation is important and the LXX serves James’ purposes better since it shows that God has provided for the Gentiles to become a part of the people of God. Interestingly, the same passage is used in CD 7:16 and 4QFlor 1–2, 1 12–13. The Qumran texts do not use Amos 9:11 to include Gentiles into their community nor to show their plan in God’s salvation. (Lee Martin McDonald, "Acts," in The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary, ed. Craig A. Evans and Craig A. Bubeck [Colorado Springs, Colo.: David C. Cook, 2004), 2:102