The startling difference between the MT and LXX is clearly revealed in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11.
When we are programmed as children what to believe, later, as adults, we will have a difficult time accepting anything different. In the case of our Old Testament scriptures, we in the West have been fed the Masoretic Text (MT) since Jerome chose it to use it as the basis for his Latin Vulgate Bible Old Testament. When confronted with the historical facts that the Septuagint (LXX) is a much older translation than the MT (285 BC compared to hundreds of years after Christ), was used and quoted by the New Testament writers, and was translated directly from the paleo-Hebrew before any animosity toward Christ could influence it, it is quite difficult for many to accept it as a more trustworthy version. Sadly for us, the MT has robbed us of several Christological texts and changed the general wording regularly, thus changing the meaning over and over again, either in highy significant ways or small ways. Either is bad. Doing a side by side comparison of the LXX and the MT makes this obvious. I am doing a series of articles to illustrate this as a I work my way through the Old Testament.
Here is an another example. The Septuagint version I am using is the Lexham English Septuagint 2nd Edition, which I like the best. It is available in print or through Logos Bible Software.
| Septuagint | MT | Significance |
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1 This is the book of the generation of humans on the day when God made Adam, he made him according to the image of God. 2 He made them male and female. He blessed them, and he named their name Adam on the day when he made them. 3 Adam lived two hundred and thirty years and fathered a child according to his appearance and according to his image, and he named his name Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were seven hundred years, and he fathered sons and daughters. 5 And all the days of Adam that he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Genesis 5:1–5 (LES2) If we continue to compare these genealogies, we will discover that the MT removed a total of 1300 years from the LXX. |
1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. Genesis 5:1–5 (NKJV) — |
The LXX says that this is book of the genesis (Greek) of men – Greek: anthropos. That is different wording entirely. Hopefully you care about that sort of thing. The LXX uses an active verb – “he made them;” whereas, the MT uses a passive one – “they were created.” Here the MT shaves 100 years off of when he fathered Seth. Barry Setterfield gave reasons for this in one of his articles on the Septuagint. Below is a summary. Therefore, the summary of the answer to your question is this: the basic reason why the Council of Jamnia changed the chrono-genealogies in Genesis 5 and 11 was to bolster Akiba’s traditions about Noah being the Second Adam and Shem being Melchizedek. In order to do this exactly, Akiba had to omit 600 years from Genesis 5 and 700 years from Genesis 11. He had the precedent of the Samaritan Pentateuch to back him up since the Samaritans had changed their text of Genesis 5 in a similar way in order to accommodate a strange tradition that they held, so he felt he could act in a similar way. It should be obvious that the motivation would be to destroy Paul’s claim that Jesus is the Second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:47) and the argument in Hebrews that Melchisadek was a type of Christ. (Hebrews 7:20-22) |
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Conclusion
If you want to know more about why Christians should prefer the Septuagint to the MT, click on this link.The Eastern Orthodox Church had the wisdom to retain the LXX for its Old Testament scriptures. As for me, I now rely on the LXX. It was Paul’s standard for Old Covenant truth and is quoted in the New Testament. That makes it good enough for me.
