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 highly 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.
| Masoretic Text | Septuagint | Significance |
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5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. 6 Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. Ecclesiastes 1:5–6 (NASB95) |
5 And the sun rises and the sun withdraws and draws to its place. Rising there, 6 it goes to the south and circles round to the north. It circles around and around, the wind goes, and the wind returns to its circuits. Ecclesiastes 1:5–6 (LES2) |
This is not Christological, but the LXX does support biblical cosmology and syncs with Psalm 19. On the biblical earth, the sun runs a circuit over the earth, being contained inside the “tent” of the firmament. 2 The heavens set out in detail the glory of God. And the firmament reports the creation of his hands. 3 Day to day spits out speech, and night to night reports knowledge. 4 There are no speeches nor words in which their voices are not heard. 5 Into all the earth their voice went out, and their words into the ends of the inhabited world. 6 In the sun he has placed his tent. And he, as a bridegroom going out from his bridal chamber, will rejoice exceedingly, as a giant to run its course. 7 From the top of the heavens is its going out, and its end is until the top of the heavens. And there is none who will be hidden from its heat. Psalm 18:2–7 (LES2) (Psalm 19:1-6 MT) Verse 6 is better translated as it is in the MT, the sun was placed in the tent of the heavens or firmament, in which it runs its course, or circuit in the MT. The Bible says that the sun moves under the tent of the firmament over the earth, not the earth around the sun. This is later confirmed in Joshua 10:12-13 and in Isaiah 38:8. Ecclesiastes 1:5-6 links the path of the sun to the circular path of the winds, which also circle the biblical earth. The biblical earth has a magnetic north pole. Any direction going north is going toward the pole. Any south direction goes way from the north pole and toward the perimeter of the enclosed earth. The east direction goes right from north and circles the earth. The west direction is just the opposite. The circular path of the sun from most places on the biblical earth appears to go from east to west across the south. After sunset, the sun circles back around, which would be west to earth across the north. This agrees with the passage in Ecclesiastes and with Psalm 19. |
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.
