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Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852661
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186
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Book Description
In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint, as well as several other books of Jewish and Samaritan scriptures, including the Book of Enoch, Book of Job, Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Dodeka. The Dodeka was not part of the collection of texts the Jews fleeing Egypt carried with them from the Jewish Temple in Elephantine, and is therefore believed to have been translated into Greek later, circa 180 BC. It would eventually be added to the Septuagint as the Book of Dodeka circa 140 BC, and then much later be divided into its twelve constituent books by the early Christians in the 3rd-century AD, subsequently called the twelve minor prophets. The books comprising the Dodeka all date from between 900 and 500 BC, and represent the works of twelve ancient prophets, which in the original Greek translation, represented several different gods. These were not Jewish prophets, but Israelite prophets, mostly living the age before King Josiah banned the old gods, in approximately 625 BC. Most of the books in the Dodeka were written before King Josiah's reforms. The books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah are set during the 8th-century BC, when the kingdom of Samaria fought a series of wars against its more powerful northern neighbor Assyria, ultimately being conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BC. The books of Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah follow, although their exact settings are not clear. The books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah follow, set in the 7th-century BC, as the Kingdom of Judea struggled for its survival between the powers of the time, Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and Babylon to the east, ultimately falling to the Neo-Babylonian Empire circa 586 BC. There is a gap in the prophets during the era when Babylon ruled Judea, and they continue with the books of Haggai, and the first half of Zachariah, set in the late-6th-century, after the Persians have conquered the Babylonian Empire. Combining the various Elohim that are appear to have been the text the Greeks translated, including Shaddai (Shaddayin), On (Aven), Dagon, Tirath (Tirosh), Yitzhar, Reshef (Blight), Mot, Hades (Sheol), and Abaddon (Destruction), Ba'al Hadad, Ba'al Hammon, Qetesh Asherah, Sydyk, and Shemesh, it strongly suggests that the text was heavily edited in the Hasmonean era when Yahweh Sabaoth replaced Lord El. Unfortunately, the existing Dead Sea Scrolls shed little light on the situation as they date to the era the edits would have taken place, but are in the script that should only show the edited version. Nevertheless, they are so damaged almost none of the questions about the differences between the Dodeka and Masoretic Texts could be resolved, even if they were in the Canaanite script.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852661
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 186
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Book Description
In the mid-3rd century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint, as well as several other books of Jewish and Samaritan scriptures, including the Book of Enoch, Book of Job, Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Dodeka. The Dodeka was not part of the collection of texts the Jews fleeing Egypt carried with them from the Jewish Temple in Elephantine, and is therefore believed to have been translated into Greek later, circa 180 BC. It would eventually be added to the Septuagint as the Book of Dodeka circa 140 BC, and then much later be divided into its twelve constituent books by the early Christians in the 3rd-century AD, subsequently called the twelve minor prophets. The books comprising the Dodeka all date from between 900 and 500 BC, and represent the works of twelve ancient prophets, which in the original Greek translation, represented several different gods. These were not Jewish prophets, but Israelite prophets, mostly living the age before King Josiah banned the old gods, in approximately 625 BC. Most of the books in the Dodeka were written before King Josiah's reforms. The books of Hosea, Amos, and Micah are set during the 8th-century BC, when the kingdom of Samaria fought a series of wars against its more powerful northern neighbor Assyria, ultimately being conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire circa 722 BC. The books of Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah follow, although their exact settings are not clear. The books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah follow, set in the 7th-century BC, as the Kingdom of Judea struggled for its survival between the powers of the time, Assyria to the north, Egypt to the south, and Babylon to the east, ultimately falling to the Neo-Babylonian Empire circa 586 BC. There is a gap in the prophets during the era when Babylon ruled Judea, and they continue with the books of Haggai, and the first half of Zachariah, set in the late-6th-century, after the Persians have conquered the Babylonian Empire. Combining the various Elohim that are appear to have been the text the Greeks translated, including Shaddai (Shaddayin), On (Aven), Dagon, Tirath (Tirosh), Yitzhar, Reshef (Blight), Mot, Hades (Sheol), and Abaddon (Destruction), Ba'al Hadad, Ba'al Hammon, Qetesh Asherah, Sydyk, and Shemesh, it strongly suggests that the text was heavily edited in the Hasmonean era when Yahweh Sabaoth replaced Lord El. Unfortunately, the existing Dead Sea Scrolls shed little light on the situation as they date to the era the edits would have taken place, but are in the script that should only show the edited version. Nevertheless, they are so damaged almost none of the questions about the differences between the Dodeka and Masoretic Texts could be resolved, even if they were in the Canaanite script.
Author: Rolf Rendtorff
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451417661
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 324
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Book Description
The Old Testament is a collection of writings which came into being over a period of more than a thousand years in the history of the people of Israel and which reflect the life of the people in this period. Therefore, there is a reciprocal relationship between the writings or "books" of the Old Testament and the life of Israel in its history. The understanding of the texts presupposes insights into the historical context and the development of the life of Israelite society, while at the same time the texts themselves are the most important, indeed for the most part the only, source for it. This "Introduction" attempts to take account of this reciprocal relationship. The first part deals with the history of Israel. However, its approach differs from most accounts of this history. It takes the Old Testament texts themselves as a starting point and first of all outlines the picture of historical developments and associations which the texts present. An attempt is then made, on this basis, to reconstruct historical developments by introducing material from outside the Bible. This method of working leads to close connections between the second and third parts, because it has to take account of the nature and original purpose of the texts and their function within the biblical books as they are now. The second part attempts to present the texts collected in the Old Testament as expressions of the life of Israel. The third part discusses the books of the Old Testament in their present form.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989852742
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 30
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Book Description
Ahmose pen-Ebana was a major figure in the battles that forged Egypt’s empire during the New Kingdom era, in the late 1500 BC. According to his autobiography, he fought in the Battle of Avaris (circa 1550 BC), when the Theban Dynasty overthrew the Hyksos Dynasty, and then he fought at the Battle of Sharuhen a few years later, in which the last of the Hyksos Dynasty was destroyed. After these battles, the Thebans had gained political control over both Northern Egypt and Canaan, although the level of control exercised in Canaan is unclear. Then he reports fighting in a series of battles in Nubia as the Thebans conquered and enslaved northern Sudan. A canal had been dug through the shallow third cataract during the Middle Kingdom, which the Egyptians re-dug as soon as they took control of the region again during the campaigns of Ahmose I, who campaigned in Nubia between approximately 1540 and 1525 BC. The third cataract appears to also be the farthest south the Egyptians built a fortress during Ahmose pen-Ebana’s lifetime, the fortress at Tombos, which was more likely there to keep the canal clear for trade than to protect Egyptians from the Nubian tribes. Ahmose pen-Ebana then reports campaigns that were likely along the Yellow Nile in Darfur (modern Wadi Howar), and east past the fourth cataract of the Nile, before the Pharaoh Thutmose I declared victory in the south and marched his army as far north as it could go, invading the Mitanni Empire in Syria. His march through Canaan to the Euphrates was described as peaceful, and apparently, the Canaanite princes recognized his authority over the land. This march is believed to have happened in 1503 BC, and was his second peaceful march through Canaan, the first in 1505 BC, shortly after his coronation. Ahmose pen-Ebana does not report being part of that campaign, nor the earlier campaign of Ahmose I into Canaan after conquering Sharuhen, which strongly suggests that he did not take part in these campaigns. His long service in the Egyptian military includes service under three Pharaohs: Ahmose I (circa 1549 to 1524 BC), Amenhotep I (circa 1525 to 1504 BC), and Thutmose I (circa 1506 to 1493 BC), and included many of the most important battles that laid the foundation of the New Kingdom, allowing Egyptologists to understand the order of these battles, as well as the Egyptian view of the battles and their enemies. Ahmose pen-Ebana’s autobiography has survived to the present because it was cut into his tomb walls in El Kab, his hometown. About half of the text carved into the wall was destroyed when Egyptologists broke into the tomb in the 1800s, however, most of his biography seems to have survived. There is some damage to the wall the autobiography was carved on, resulting in short lacunas, however, Egyptologists believe their reconstructions of the missing texts are accurate, given how short the gaps are. In this translation, the Egyptologists’ reconstructions are treated as accurate, and their reconstructions are translated with the rest of the text. This may result in minor translation errors compared to the original text, however, it is better than reading sentences with missing words, especially when the words seem fairly obvious.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989604617
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269
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Book Description
The two books of Ezra were translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint before 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled the ongoing wars in Judea and settled in Egypt. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra became in the Masoretic Texts' version of Ezra, and by the year 100 AD the Apocalypse of Ezra was also in circulation as 3ʳᵈ Ezra. The original 2ⁿᵈ Ezra was later divided into two books in Latin translations, making a total of four books of Ezra, although one was later renamed Nehemiah. The two books of Ezra found in the Septuagint, are variously divided into two or three books, depending on the religious denomination. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra is equivalent to the Masoretic Ezra, which is used by Jews, however, there is no Hebrew version of 1ˢᵗ Ezra. Christian Orthodox, Coptic, and Tewahedo Bibles continue to use translations of the Septuagint, and therefore the books continue to be 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra. Catholic Bibles call 1ˢᵗ Ezra 3ʳᵈ Esdras, and have 2ⁿᵈ Ezra divided into the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Most Protestant Bibles do not include 1ˢᵗ Ezra, and have 2ⁿᵈ Ezra divided into the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The book called 4ᵗʰ Ezra in Catholic Bibles was never in the Septuagint and is about a different Ezra who lived earlier during the Babylonian Captivity. The Septuagint's 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra are thematically similar, telling generally the same story, however from two different points of view. They tell the story of the fall of Jerusalem, first to the Egyptians, and then the Babylonians, followed by Babylon's fall to the Persians, and the Judahites to Judah to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. 1ˢᵗ Ezra was written from a non-spiritual viewpoint, common among the Sadducees, and repeatedly makes it clear that the author, Ezra, and various kings, viewed the Lord as the Judahite version of other gods, including the Egyptian creator and Sun-god Atum, and the Zoroastrian 'god of truth' and 'King of the Sky' Ahura Mazda. These views are inconsistent with the view of the Pharisees, which developed under the rule of the Hasmonean dynasty after Judea broke free from the rule of the Greeks, and the Lord became a separate god from all others. Both the Greek translations of 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, and the Hebrew translation of Ezra, contain relics of an Aramaic source-text, unfortunately, the Aramaic Book of Ezra-Nehemiah is lost. The difference in the surviving Aramaic words within the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra, and Hebrew Ezra-Nehemiah (Greek 2ⁿᵈ Ezra), it appears that the two versions of Ezra already existed in the Aramaic versions. The differences between 2ⁿᵈ Ezra and Masoretic Ezra-Nehemiah are minimal and could be accounted for as scribal notes, and the redaction of Simon the Zealot, who added the name Yahweh extensively to the ancient texts when he translated them into Hebrew. 1ˢᵗ Ezra, the less spiritual of the two versions of the Septuagint's Ezra, clearly dates to the end of the Persian era, as it treats the Judahite Lord of the Temple in Jerusalem as another version of Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God. Several Zoroastrian titles of Ahura Mazda are applied to the Judahite Lord, including King of Truth, and King of the Sky. Letters from the Persian Kings Cyrus II, Artaxerxes I, and Darius II, as included in the book, all of which were closely associated with Zoroastrianism, yet, referred to the Judahite Lord using titles generally associated with Ahura Mazda. In the Greek 1ˢᵗ Ezra and 2ⁿᵈ Ezra, as well as Masoretic Ezra, the temple is described as being a Zoroastrian fire-temple, containing an eternal fire, which 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees even referred to as being burning naphtha in the time of Nehemiah, like the other fire-temples across the Persian Empire.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989852750
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 22
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Book Description
Ahmose pen-Nekhbet was a major figure during the early years of the New Kingdom, who, like his contemporary Ahmose pen-Ebana, appears to have been from the city of El Kab, where his tomb was found. His autobiography is much shorter than pen-Ebana’s autobiography, however, is also far more damaged. This translation follows the general reconstruction that most Egyptologists agree on, however, sections of the original text may have been lost entirely before it was rediscovered in the late 1800s. Like pen-Ebana, he served a series of kings, starting with Ahmose I, and continuing through Amenhotep I, Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, and finally Thutmose III, meaning he served for decades longer than Ahmose pen-Ebana. This difference in length of service is likely due to his higher position within Egyptian society, already reportedly the herald of the king at a battle in Djahy, which may have been the Battle of Sharuhen. Ahmose pen-Nekhbet’s autobiography does not mention the Battle of Avaris, which had taken place a few years earlier, implying he became the king’s herald after the Hyksos dynasty lost Avaris. Egyptologists debate what exactly pen-Nekhbet meant by Djahy, and some believe King Ahmose I may have marched his army north from Sharuhen through southern Canaan to restore order in the region, however, there is no corroborating evidence of this known, and there is no reason to assume he wasn’t talking about Sharuhen, as Sharuhen was in Djahy, the ancient Egyptian name for southern Canaan. Ahmose pen-Nekhbet then mentioned serving King Amenhotep I in the campaigns in Kush, where he captured slaves, like Ahmose pen-Ebana. Unlike pen-Ebana, however, pen-Nekhbet only mentioned one campaign in Kush, which implies that he did not partake in most of the campaigns in Nubia unless those stories were lost in the damaged sections. Pen-Nekhbet’s story also includes a reference to a campaign against what appear to be the Berber tribes of the Sahara. He referred to a campaign against the Iamu-Kehek, which includes the name Kehek, a Libyan tribe later mentioned during the reign of Ramesses III, circa 1188 BC. The Thebans are recorded to having occupied the five oases of the western desert during their war against the Hyksos, including the Kharga Oasis, Dakhla Oasis, now dry Farafra depression, Bahariya Oasis, and the Fayyum. This reference to the Iamu-Kehek implies the army of Amenhotep I pushed west through the Sahara desert, likely to Siwa Oasis, where an ancient oracle temple of Amen existed by the 10th century BC.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989604161
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 45
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Book Description
The Letter of Jeremiah was included in the Septuagint, generally, after Lamentations, which was likewise traditionally attributed to Jeremiah or Baruch. This letter claims to be the letter that Jeremiah had written for the Judahites that had been taken away as captives when the Babylonians conquered Judah, as described in the Book of Judah, that Baruch took to Babylon. There are several letters included in the Book of Jeremiah that are attributed to Jeremiah, as well as a letter in the Book of Baruch that claims to be Jeremiah’s letter to the Judahites in Babylonia. The authenticity of the Letter of Jeremiah has been debated throughout its existence, for multiple reasons, including the content of the letter itself, which seems to be implying Judahites should not stop worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, to worship the idols of Babylon. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars was banned by King Josiah, the son-in-law of Jeremiah, under what was most likely Jeremiah's spiritual leadership, in order to promote the god Yahweh. This policy was clearly reversed under the reign of King Jehoiakim, and the prophet Jeremiah appears to have spent much of Jehoiakim’s rule in prison. Baruch was sent by the Judahite court to be Jeremiah’s scribe, however, Baruch clearly described his god as being the sun in the Book of Baruch, which he identified as having the sacred name of Amen. In 1st Ezra, the Egyptian King Necho II also identified the Judahite god as being the sun god, meaning the Judahites at the time of Jeremiah and Baruch, were predominantly worshiping the sun like the surrounding kingdoms, nevertheless, Jeremiah urged them to abandon sun-worship, and worship Yahweh. Therefore, the Letter of Jeremiah was almost certainly not written by Jeremiah, although might have been written by Baruch. This is the general Catholic interpretation, and the Letter of Jeremiah is inserted as the final chapter of the Book of Baruch in Catholic Bibles. The history of the Letter and its place in the Christian canon has been debated since the earliest surviving Christian writings on it. Origen of Alexandria, writing in the early-3rd-century AD, considered the Book of Jeremiah, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah to be one bigger Book of Jeremiah. Epiphanius of Salamis, writing in the late-3rd-century, considered the Book of Jeremiah, Book of Baruch, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah to be one bigger Book of Jeremiah. This view was repeated by Athanasius I of Alexandria in the mid-4th-century, and Cyril of Jerusalem in the late-4th-century. The view that the Septuagint’s Book of Jeremiah, Book of Baruch, Lamentations, and the Letter of Jeremiah are one large Book of Jeremiah was then canonized by the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD. The idea that the Letter of Jeremiah should not be part of Biblical canon is traced to Jerome, the translator of the original official Latin translation of the Bible, in the late-4th-century. The Masorites, a Jewish sect of scribes, had been copying a Hebrew translation of the scriptures that included books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, but not Baruch or the Letter. Jerome interpreted this as evidence that the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah originated in Greek, and were not originally Judahite or Samaritan works, like the texts the Masorites were copying. As a result, he relegated the two Greek works to the Apocrypha section of his Bible, where they have generally stayed in Catholic and Protestant bibles ever since. Fragments of the Letter of Jeremiah have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Hebrew, and dated to circa 100 BC, so the letter did not originate in Greek. The Eastern Orthodox Bibles continued to include the Letter of Jeremiah, as did the Ethiopian Tewahedo Bibles, which includes the Letter as part of Paralipomena of Jeremiah, along with 4th Baruch.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989852491
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 177
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Book Description
In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. According to Jewish tradition, the original Torah was lost when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon and was later rewritten by Ezra the Scribe from memory during the Second Temple period. Since the 1800s, the majority of Biblical scholars have interpreted the books of Leviticus and Numbers as a later addition to the original laws of Moses found in Exodus, with Deuteronomy being a later addition during the Babylonian era. Cosmic Genesis is either considered to be part of Moses' original work or a later addition in the Persian era, depending on the scholar. Leviticus and Numbers contain several amendments to Moses' laws in Exodus, as well as establishing the land rights of the various tribes of Israel within historic Canaan, including the assignment of several cities and their environs to the Levitical Priesthood. The most obvious amendment to Moses' laws, is replacing the sacrifice of the firstborn, with the establishment of the Levitical Priesthood. Exodus 13 includes a requirement that the firstborn Israelites must be slaughtered as a sacrifice to Iaw, however, allowed an animal to be substituted. This law would not have been difficult for a group of nomadic shepherds to follow but would have become progressively more difficult as the Israelites became more urbanized in Canaan. This seems to have resulted in an increase of child-sacrifice which the prophet Jeremiah spoke out against during his lifetime, estimated at between 650 BC and 570 BC. The practice was officially banned by King Josiah around 630 BC when the Levites 'found' the 'original' Torah of Moses during the refurbishing of Solomon's Temple. As this could not have been Moses' original Torah, as Moses had nothing to do with the Temple of Solomon, it was likely when Leviticus and Numbers were added to the Torah. This is likely when the 'authorized version' of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers were cobbled together from the conflicting Elohist and Yahwist sources, although some groups may have continued to use the older versions of these books, as the Nazarenes had their own Torah in the 1st-century BC, which appears to have been the old Elohist Torah.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852955
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 124
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Book Description
The Amarna Letters are a collection of clay tablets found in the ruins of El Amarna, Egypt, in the 1880s. The city of El Amarna was built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, during his religious reforms in the 1340s BC, but was then abandoned after he died and Egypt reverted to worshiping the old gods. These letters provide a unique glimpse into a period of Egyptian history, that the Egyptians themselves attempted to erase. After Akhenaten's heir Tutankhamen died, his successor Ay was only able to hold the throne for a few years before Horemheb seized it, and attempted to reunite the Egyptians by erasing all records of Akhenaten's reforms, which included erasing Akhenaten's name from almost every record in Egypt. By this period, El Amarna appears to have already been mostly abandoned, and therefore Egyptologists were able to reconstruct the strange story of Akhenaten's reign, in the middle of the New Kingdom era. The Amarna letters were recovered from the royal archives in El Amarna, where they appear to have been archived after having been translated for the royal court. The letters are inscribed on clay tablets in Cuneiform, the dominant form of writing in Mesopotamia, Canaan, and the neighboring cultures in Anatolia and Cyprus at the time. The shape of the Cuneiform logograms used is Akkadian, the parent form of the later Neo-Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, and Ugaritic forms of Cuneiform, however, the language used in the Letters is not pure Akkadian. The Letters are between various members of the Egyptian royal court, and many different cities and nations across the Middle East, including Babylon, Assyria, Mitanni, and Cyprus, and therefore the language within the Letters is not consistent. Within the letters from Canaanite cities, all of which were subject to Egypt at the time, several transliterated names are also used, which appears to be a direct precursor to the later development of Ugaritic Cuneiform by 1200 BC, which was an abjad similar to the Canaanite script that was developed by 1000 BC, however, used Cuneiform logograms instead of alphabet-like letters. The surviving letters were mostly about trade and diplomacy, however, do include a great deal of information about what was happening in the Middle East at the time. In particular, they demonstrate how limited Egypt's actual control of its Canaanite holdings was, where the governors of cities were constantly requesting military help to defend themselves against each other, the marauding Habirus, and the Hittite-backed Amorites in northern Canaan. The Amarna Letters were written during the mid-1330s BC, during the reigns of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, although it is not always clear when in their respective reigns the letters were written, or even which pharaoh was on the throne at the time.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
ISBN: 1989604323
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 117
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Book Description
The oldest surviving physical copy of Esther is found in the Codex Vaticanus, which dates to circa 350 AD. The version of Ether in the Codex Vaticanus is generally accepted as being the original version added to the Septuagint sometime in the 2ⁿᵈ century BC, however, it claims to have not been translated in Alexandria, like the rest of the Septuagint. There are two other early copies of the common version of Esther found in the Codex Vaticanus, the copy in the Codex Sinaiticus from circa 350 AD, Codex Alexandrinus from circa 450 AD. The term ‘king of the gods’ is found in chapter 4 of the Vaticanus version of Esther, however, does not make sense in the theology that developed in later Judaism, in which there was only one God, indicating the early date of the original composition. The title ‘king of the gods’ was used by Esther in the book, who use the title to refer to the god of the Israelite. While Esther was described as being the Queen (or royal consort) in the texts, she was also described as being a devote worshiped of the Israelite god, and ‘King of the gods’ was not a Zoroastrian title of Ahura Mazda either, as Zoroastrianism was also monotheistic, meaning that this title has to be traced back to the Israelite religion.
Author: Scriptural Research Institute
Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
ISBN: 1989852548
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1120
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Book Description
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, his generals ripped apart his empire, and by 305 BC General Ptolemy had gained control of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Egypt, Judea, Cyprus, Cyrene, and coastal regions of modern Turkey, including Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, and Caria. He established the dynasty of the Ptolemies that would rule Egypt for the next three centuries until Cleopatra VII Philopator committed suicide in 30 BC. The Ptolemys built one of the great wonders of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria, which at its height was said to house over 400,000 scrolls. The original collection that was amassed in the first century of the library, was mostly Greek works, and translations of Egyptian works. In the middle of 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the library. To create this translation, a group of rabbis assembled in Alexandria who translated the common Aramaic version of the Torah popularly ascribed to Ezra the Scribe into Greek. This translation later became known as the Septuagint, the Greek term for 70. According to The Letter of Aristeas, this was because there were seventy rabbis who created the translation. An alternate theory is that there were 70 books in the Septuagint at some point, however, a joke preserved in the Book of the Hammer (Hebrew Maccabees) suggests there were originally 50 books in the Septuagint. An alternate theory is because the number 70 represented ‘completeness’ in ancient Canaanite cultures, including the Judahite and Samaritan cultures. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. These five books were traditionally credited to Moses circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Cosmic Genesis begins by recounting a fusion of ancient Akkadian and Middle Egyptian creation mythology before telling the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of the Israelites. Their stories also include smatterings of Old and Middle Egyptian religious iconography, such as Jacob's vision of the ladder up to the sky, which in Egyptian mythology was associated with first Horus the Elder and then Osiris since the Old Kingdom era. Few books have generated as many debates about geographical features as the book of Exodus. It describes a series of wonders that the god of the Israelites performed to free them from their slavery in Egypt, and then their trek across the wilderness to a mountain on which the god descended and gave them the Torah. Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy expand upon the laws and history of the Israelites in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age. This translation attempts to restore and translate the original Septuagint's Torah as it would have appeared circa 250 BC.
