Scriptures of the Early Church
The Scriptures of the Early Church
The Church in Israel was living in a nation which had been reconstituted after is exile to Babylon. Around 586 BC they had been exiled and began to return in about 539 BC. A community of Hebrews continued and in Babylon but the language of Judah or Hebrew was becoming less and lee know and the language of Babylon Aramaic was becoming the lingua franca for the Ordinary Jews. In order of them to understand the scriptures they needed translation from Hebrew into Aramaic. The Persian empire of Cyrus, which ruled in Eretz Israel from around 539 BC to 332 BC used Aramaic. So the use of Translators increased and the Targumim were developed. Hence from eretz Yisrael eastward the scripture was in Hebrew and Aramaic.
Greeks.
In 334 BC Alexander the Great defeated the successor to Cyrus, and in 332 BC he took eretz Israel. And the process of the spread of Greek culture Hellenization, from Egypt to India took place after his death in 323 BC. The diadochi or four generals of Alexander took over his kingdom. In Syria the dynasty of the Seleucids took over and in Egypt the Ptolemies ended up in control. Eretz Israel came under the rule of either one of these families. The communi9ties were speaking dialects of Greek. In Egypt the family of Ptolemy saw Lagi Soter take the rule of Egypt in 323 BC. He ruled until 285BC. His son was Philadelphus (285-246 BC). He had a very large library and it is reckoned that he desired to have all the books of the world in his library. He heard of the Jewish scriptures and commissioned a translation under his librarian Demetrius[1]. Thus began the beginning of the Pentatuech or Torah into Greek. The work of translation is believed to have continued over the next two centuries. The Greek Scriptures continued as dominant in the Hellenistic world even when the Romans took over. And the languages in the west of the empire were Greek. In Alexandria, Greek, in Eretz Israel the scriptures were the Masoretic Text (MTT), the Targums in Aramaic and the versions of a Greek text Lxx were in use. In the north, in Syria, the Lxx (Septuagint) or another the Old Greek were in use. Lxx, in the major cities like Antioch but if you went out to the villages Syriac a dialect of Aramaic was in use in the Synagogues and they had the forerunner to a text known as the Peshitta meaning simple in Aramaic. Over in the east in the area of Edessa Nisibus there were Greek speaking people but the text in use was probably a Masoretic tradition Syriac text, probably the Peshitta. So as the Church arose out of the synagogues, the community scripture would become the bible of that Church
The Scriptures of Paul
By the times of the first century BC, there were then scripture in a number of languages available.
The Scripture was divided into the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms. They were read in the synagogue each Shabbat and as we can see from Acts, Paul had the policy of going into the town and finding the synagogue and joining the worship on Shabbat. During this service the Torah would be read and this was followed by the reading of the Haphtorah.[2] Someone would then get up and give a word based on the reading or some other matter. In Eretz Yisrael as the Torah was read each verse (parasha) would be interpreted by the meturgeman (professional translator). In the Prophets the translation would take place after every three verses[3]. In the end the Targumim took set form and were written.
Aramaic: The Targumim. The Targum was not read in the synagogue but private collection were permitted and could be read in private study.
The Targums were not always direct literal translations. Indeed they had the function of
1 Harmonising difficult texts
2 Reconciling Biblical texts to tradition
3 spread traditions
4 providing specificity for the listener
So we can hear the culture and beliefs of the community where they operated. This is also true of the Greek versions of the Bible. They too included aggadic supplements in their version. They also were not only translated word for word but included addition and removals, for example in t book of Esther is longer in the LXX and the book of Job shorter, than the MT.
The First Century Scripture or Targums
Aramaic
1 Targum to Job: There is a tradition that one was circulating in the reign of Gamaliel I the teacher of the Apostle Paul.
2 Targum Onkelos: the official Babylonian Targum was redacted by the third century AD. From Israel and exported to Babylon. A literal translation, sometimes paraphrases are used and poetic portions reduced. They
Israeli Targums of Torah
3 Codex Neofiti I Galilean Targum
4 Targum Jonathan (Pseudo Jonathan in the West), Yerushalayim I (Galilean Jewish Aramaic)
free aggadic handling of the text, no figurative speech, no anthropomorphisms for God. Source of Jewish teachings during Talmudic period.
5 Fragmentary Targum (Yerushalayim II) 850 verses
three quarters history of the Penta one quarter Ex Lev Num Legal portions
Targum to the Prophets
1 Targum Jonathan. Orginated first centuries AD in Israel. Believed to be written by Jonatham ben Uzziel, Hillel’s most famous student , first century BC. A voice came from heaven when he was translating it. “Who has revealed my secrets?Quoted in the Talmud by san 94b meg.3a mk 28b.
Aggad in Is 12:333:22,62:10, Mich 6:4
Syriac (Eastern Aramaic): Peshitta and other versions
A tradition says that this was made for King Abgar of Edessa who sent 5 scholars to Israel to translate the bile into Syriac. We can see this in the commentary of Bar Hebrseus to Psalm 10. Some identify King Abgar with King Izates II of Adiabene who converted to Judaism in the first century CE (Ant 20:69-71)
Greek Versions
1 The Lxx where the name of Yahwah was regularly transliterated into Greek letters, or Aramaic letters or was left in paleo Hebrew.
After Paul.
2 Acquila second century
3 Theodotion (convert to Judaism) Tried to reconcile Septuagint to MT
4 Symmachus (samaritan or Christian)
[1] Testified in the Letter of Aristeas 2nd century BC
[2] These were reading from the prophets, similar in theme to the readings of the Torah. During the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Jews were banned from reading the Torah. So they substituted readings from the prophets instead. These were the Haphtorah reading. Paul will have heard this when he entered the Synagogues. In Luke 4 we see Yeshua carrying out a reading from a Torah scroll.
[3] The rules for reading the Targum are a part of Halakha and are recorded in Meg. 4:4-10; Meg. 23b-25b; Tosef., Meg.4:20-41. Fro Encyclopedia Judaica “Bible”: Translations Aramaic: The Targumimim.
The Church in Israel was living in a nation which had been reconstituted after is exile to Babylon. Around 586 BC they had been exiled and began to return in about 539 BC. A community of Hebrews continued and in Babylon but the language of Judah or Hebrew was becoming less and lee know and the language of Babylon Aramaic was becoming the lingua franca for the Ordinary Jews. In order of them to understand the scriptures they needed translation from Hebrew into Aramaic. The Persian empire of Cyrus, which ruled in Eretz Israel from around 539 BC to 332 BC used Aramaic. So the use of Translators increased and the Targumim were developed. Hence from eretz Yisrael eastward the scripture was in Hebrew and Aramaic.
Greeks.
In 334 BC Alexander the Great defeated the successor to Cyrus, and in 332 BC he took eretz Israel. And the process of the spread of Greek culture Hellenization, from Egypt to India took place after his death in 323 BC. The diadochi or four generals of Alexander took over his kingdom. In Syria the dynasty of the Seleucids took over and in Egypt the Ptolemies ended up in control. Eretz Israel came under the rule of either one of these families. The communi9ties were speaking dialects of Greek. In Egypt the family of Ptolemy saw Lagi Soter take the rule of Egypt in 323 BC. He ruled until 285BC. His son was Philadelphus (285-246 BC). He had a very large library and it is reckoned that he desired to have all the books of the world in his library. He heard of the Jewish scriptures and commissioned a translation under his librarian Demetrius[1]. Thus began the beginning of the Pentatuech or Torah into Greek. The work of translation is believed to have continued over the next two centuries. The Greek Scriptures continued as dominant in the Hellenistic world even when the Romans took over. And the languages in the west of the empire were Greek. In Alexandria, Greek, in Eretz Israel the scriptures were the Masoretic Text (MTT), the Targums in Aramaic and the versions of a Greek text Lxx were in use. In the north, in Syria, the Lxx (Septuagint) or another the Old Greek were in use. Lxx, in the major cities like Antioch but if you went out to the villages Syriac a dialect of Aramaic was in use in the Synagogues and they had the forerunner to a text known as the Peshitta meaning simple in Aramaic. Over in the east in the area of Edessa Nisibus there were Greek speaking people but the text in use was probably a Masoretic tradition Syriac text, probably the Peshitta. So as the Church arose out of the synagogues, the community scripture would become the bible of that Church
The Scriptures of Paul
By the times of the first century BC, there were then scripture in a number of languages available.
The Scripture was divided into the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms. They were read in the synagogue each Shabbat and as we can see from Acts, Paul had the policy of going into the town and finding the synagogue and joining the worship on Shabbat. During this service the Torah would be read and this was followed by the reading of the Haphtorah.[2] Someone would then get up and give a word based on the reading or some other matter. In Eretz Yisrael as the Torah was read each verse (parasha) would be interpreted by the meturgeman (professional translator). In the Prophets the translation would take place after every three verses[3]. In the end the Targumim took set form and were written.
Aramaic: The Targumim. The Targum was not read in the synagogue but private collection were permitted and could be read in private study.
The Targums were not always direct literal translations. Indeed they had the function of
1 Harmonising difficult texts
2 Reconciling Biblical texts to tradition
3 spread traditions
4 providing specificity for the listener
So we can hear the culture and beliefs of the community where they operated. This is also true of the Greek versions of the Bible. They too included aggadic supplements in their version. They also were not only translated word for word but included addition and removals, for example in t book of Esther is longer in the LXX and the book of Job shorter, than the MT.
The First Century Scripture or Targums
Aramaic
1 Targum to Job: There is a tradition that one was circulating in the reign of Gamaliel I the teacher of the Apostle Paul.
2 Targum Onkelos: the official Babylonian Targum was redacted by the third century AD. From Israel and exported to Babylon. A literal translation, sometimes paraphrases are used and poetic portions reduced. They
Israeli Targums of Torah
3 Codex Neofiti I Galilean Targum
4 Targum Jonathan (Pseudo Jonathan in the West), Yerushalayim I (Galilean Jewish Aramaic)
free aggadic handling of the text, no figurative speech, no anthropomorphisms for God. Source of Jewish teachings during Talmudic period.
5 Fragmentary Targum (Yerushalayim II) 850 verses
three quarters history of the Penta one quarter Ex Lev Num Legal portions
Targum to the Prophets
1 Targum Jonathan. Orginated first centuries AD in Israel. Believed to be written by Jonatham ben Uzziel, Hillel’s most famous student , first century BC. A voice came from heaven when he was translating it. “Who has revealed my secrets?Quoted in the Talmud by san 94b meg.3a mk 28b.
Aggad in Is 12:333:22,62:10, Mich 6:4
Syriac (Eastern Aramaic): Peshitta and other versions
A tradition says that this was made for King Abgar of Edessa who sent 5 scholars to Israel to translate the bile into Syriac. We can see this in the commentary of Bar Hebrseus to Psalm 10. Some identify King Abgar with King Izates II of Adiabene who converted to Judaism in the first century CE (Ant 20:69-71)
Greek Versions
1 The Lxx where the name of Yahwah was regularly transliterated into Greek letters, or Aramaic letters or was left in paleo Hebrew.
After Paul.
2 Acquila second century
3 Theodotion (convert to Judaism) Tried to reconcile Septuagint to MT
4 Symmachus (samaritan or Christian)
[1] Testified in the Letter of Aristeas 2nd century BC
[2] These were reading from the prophets, similar in theme to the readings of the Torah. During the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Jews were banned from reading the Torah. So they substituted readings from the prophets instead. These were the Haphtorah reading. Paul will have heard this when he entered the Synagogues. In Luke 4 we see Yeshua carrying out a reading from a Torah scroll.
[3] The rules for reading the Targum are a part of Halakha and are recorded in Meg. 4:4-10; Meg. 23b-25b; Tosef., Meg.4:20-41. Fro Encyclopedia Judaica “Bible”: Translations Aramaic: The Targumimim.
posted by Evangelist Edi Nachman Bsc. PGCE @ 5:58 AM
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