ANCIENT VERSIONS

ANCIENT VERSIONS
Originally there was but one version of the Scriptures; but a schism of a remarkable nature which broke out between the Jews and the Samaritans, was the cause of producing another version; and of this, and those which followed, we are now about to speak. The Second Book of Kings furnishes us with the history of this schism, which, it will be recollected, was caused by the setting up of certain golden calves to be worshipped at Dan and Bethel, by Jeroboam. Omri hence built Samaria, and made it the capital of his kingdom, and thus was the separation between Judah and Israel rendered complete. Samaria was, at first, only the name of a city, but afterward it became that of a province. It contained the tribe of Ephraim, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, which was on this side Jordan; so that it was to the north of Judea, and between the Great sea, Galilee, and Jordan; and there was, therefore, no going from Galilee to Jerusalem without passing through this province. The capital of the district, subsequent to the captivity, was Shechem, afterward called Neapolis, or Naplous, which was situated between the mountains Gerizim and Ebal.
SAMARITANS
In the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, Samaria was taken by Shalmanezer, and the ten tribes were carried into captivity. Some years after, Esarhaddon sent the Cutheans to supply the place of the Jews, and to inhabit Samaria; and these people, who knew not the true God, but continued their idolatrous practices, and burnt their children in the fire to Moloch, were punished for their idolatry with lions, which made great havoc among them. For this reason, at their request, Esarhaddon sent some of those priests who had been carried into captivity, to instruct them, and teach them the worship of the true God. They did not embrace it with purity, however, but mixed the remains of paganism with their religion; for which reason, in the writings of the Jewish rabbis, they are denominated, in scorn, “The proselytes of the lions;” because it was through fear of them that they mixed the worship of the Creator with that of their idols. Nevertheless, when Manasses, the son of Jaddus, the high-priest of the Jews, had built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans then retained their old superstitions no longer, but always contended that their temple was more holy than that of Jerusalem; inferring from the ark's having been a long time at Shiloh, near Ephraim, that the worship of God had rather begun in their country than in Jerusalem. According to Josephus, they claimed kindred with the Jews in their prosperity, but renounced all connection with them when they were under persecution. From John's gospel we learn, that when the Messiah was on the earth, the Samaritans, who received no part of the Old Testament except the Pentateuch, had lost all tradition of the revolt and subsequent captivity of the ten tribes; they considered themselves descended from the stock of Israel, claimed Jacob for their father, and contended that the “holy mountain” was in the portion assigned to them by Joshua.
There was no particular enmity between the two nations until the time of Ezra. Incensed by the opposition they gave to the building of the temple, from the time their assistance was refused, he is said to have solemnly excommunicated them; and hence arose that enmity, which was carried to such a height that “the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans;” and, from Ezra's time, Samaria became a refuge for the malcontent Jews. Ptolemy Lagos carried numbers, both of the Samaritans and of Jews, into Egypt, where a fierce contest took place between them respecting the sanctity of their temples, each party insisting that theirs stood on the holy mount. The point was discussed publicly in presence of the king, and the Samaritan advocates, failing in their proof, were put to death. In the year 109 before Christ, John Hyrcanus destroyed the city and temple of the Samaritans, and, though afterward, viz., in the year 25 before Christ, King Herod built them a city and temple, they still continued to worship on Mount Gerizim. In the twelfth century, Benjamin of Tudela found some remains of these people in that country, where they are still to be found. During the revolt of the Jews, the Samaritans continued in their subjection to the Romans; and since that period they have always remained subject to different powers who have been in possession of that and the neighboring countries.
It is supposed that the present Hebrew character was first adopted from the Chaldeans by Ezra, at the time when, after the return of the Jews from Babylon, he collected the Scriptures, and formed the entire canon. As the people were familiarized with the Chaldee he used that character in transcribing the Old Testament. What is now called the Samaritan, was the character used by Moses and the prophets; and Ezra relinquished it to the Samaritans, it is said, in order to render the separation between them and the Jews more complete. Since that time, the Jews have used the character we call the Hebrew, and the Samaritans have retained the others.
The value of the Samaritan Pentateuch is very great; for, where its text accords with the Hebrew text, it confirms it most decidedly; because, as the Jews and Samaritans were such inveterate enemies, there never could have been any designed corruption effected by them both. It frequently confirms, and sometimes corrects, the reading of the Hebrew in important places; and it overturns all that system of rabbinical trifling, by which mysterious knowledge is said to be communicated through the shape and positions of certain letters, or certain words, which they pretend Moses learned from God, because such things can not be applied to its characters.
As the Samaritans do not understand the Hebrew text, although in the character of their own language, they have found it necessary to translate it for common use. For, as the Jews, after the Babylonish captivity, degenerated in their language from the Hebrew to the Babylonish dialect, so the Samaritans did the same, most probably, by bringing this dialect out of Assyria with them, when they first came to plant in Samaria. Therefore, as the Jews, for the sake of the vulgar among them who understood only the common language, were forced to make Chaldee versions of the Scriptures, which they called Targums, so the Samaritans, for the same reason, were obliged to do the same thing, and to make a version of their Pentateuch into the vulgar Samaritan, which is, most probably, the most ancient translation of the Bible in existence. This Samaritan version is not made, like the Chaldee versions among the Jews, by way of paraphrase, but by an exact rendering of the text word for word, for the most part without any variation. Being perfectly literal, the same Latin translation answers both to it and the Samaritan Pentateuch; and all the three are published in the Paris and London polyglots.
GREEK BIBLE--SEPTUAGINT
There were two causes which chiefly conduced to render the Greek language, at one time, of almost universal use in the world. The first cause was the conquests of Alexander the Great, who was, by nation, a Grecian, king of Macedon, and afterward ruler of the greater part of the then known world. His vast empire, although divided, yet subsisted for a great length of time, as his officers divided it among themselves, and reigned in different countries, so that the Greeks still continued to have dominion in the world, particularly the Seleucidae, in Syria, and the Ptolomies, in Egypt by which means the Greek language became known and in use, both in Judea and Egypt. The other cause of the extent of this language, was the high reputation the Greeks had acquired for learning and wisdom, which it made many people desirous of knowing their language, who were not subject to their dominion.
This then, was the language which was made use of to give the Gentiles the first knowledge of the Messiah. The Greek version of the Old Testament prepared the way for the gospel. The Gentiles read in these books the prophecies which the apostles showed had been accomplished in Jesus Christ: and they found, also, that the obstinate incredulity of the Jews had been foretold in them. They could not suspect the fidelity of the apostles, because this version of the Scriptures had not been made by them; nor could they accuse the Jews of having altered these books, because, as they were, the Jews were condemned in them. Besides, the time at which it was made, gave this translation of the Bible a prodigious deal of weight; because, from its having appeared before the birth of Jesus Christ, neither Pagans nor Jews could say that the ancient prophecies therein contained had been adapted to the circumstances of his life.
Whoever were the authors of this the first translation of the Scriptures into Greek, commonly known by the name of the Seventy, or the Septuagint, and of which the Jewish historians, Philo and Josephus, have spoken much, no one doubts that it was made long before the time of Jesus Christ; and it is of great authority. Several passages of the Old Testament, which are quoted in the New, are taken thence; and, being thus noticed by the writers of the New Testament, from their mode of using it, we may infer that it was in general circulation among the apostolic churches. All the other ancient versions, likewise, which were publicly read in the different churches of the world, the Arabic, the Ethiopic, the Armenian, the Gothic, the Illyrican, and the ancient Latin, which was in use before St Jerome's time, were made from it; and, in short every one of them, except the Syriac, were made from that of the Seventy, and to this day the Greek church, and the churches of the east, have no other. It is this version that the fathers and doctors of the church have explained and commented upon. It was from this version that they drew their decisions in matters of faith, and their precepts of morality. It was by this that they confuted heresies and both general and particular councils explained themselves by it. Thus, whoever the authors of it were, its authority is great; and that upon this account only, if no other, that it was made at a time when the Hebrew was a living language, and, consequently, more easy to be understood than it is now, when it is almost impossible to come at the true understanding of it, otherwise than by the assistance of the ancient versions. For these reasons, we shall turn our attention, somewhat particularly, to the history of this celebrated version.
ORIGIN OF THE SEPTUAGINT
Alexander the Great, on his building of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, brought a great many Jews thither to help to plant the new city; and Ptolemy Soter, after his death, having fixed the seat of his government there, and set his heart much upon the enlarging and adorning of it, brought thither many more of this nation for the same purpose; where, having granted to them the same privileges with the Macedonians and other Greeks, they soon grew to be a great part of the inhabitants of that city. Their continual intercourse with the other citizens, among whom they were there mingled, having obliged them to learn and constantly use the Greek language, the same happened to them here, as had happened to them before at Babylon; that is, by accustoming themselves to a foreign language, they forgot their own. Hence, from their no longer understanding the Hebrew language, in which the Scriptures had been hitherto first read, nor the Chaldee, in which they were after that interpreted in every synagogue, they got them translated into Greek for their own use, that this version might serve for the same purpose in Alexandria and Egypt, as the Chaldee paraphrases afterward did in Jerusalem and Judea.
After the time of Ezra, the Scriptures were read to the Jews in Hebrew, and interpreted into the Chaldee language; but at Alexandria, after the writing of this version, it was interpreted to them in Greek, which was afterward done also in all other Grecian cities where the Jews became dispersed.
There are several opinions which modern writers have entertained respecting the origin of the Septuagint version, but the commonly received opinion is that entertained by Bishop Walton, the author of the London polyglot and is the same which is given in an historical account of the transaction, as related by a Hellenistic Jew, who flourished in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. The account of the affair, as contained in a book written by the person above mentioned, whose name was Aristeas, is as follows:
King Ptolemy Philadelphus, having, by the advice of Demetrius Phalerius, caused a magnificent library to be erected at Alexandria, and given him the direction of it, this philosopher spoke to him of the sacred books of the Jews, as of a work which would do honor to his library. The prince, therefore, resolved to have a copy of the Jewish law translated into Greek, his own language, and that which was then universally understood. For this purpose he sent ambassadors to Jerusalem, to Eleazar, the high-priest, with magnificent presents for the temple. Their instructions were, to desire him to give the king a copy of the sacred books, and to send him some persons of distinction and learning, who might translate them into Greek. Aristeas, who was a chief officer in the king's guards, and a chief man in the kingdom of Egypt, was of this embassy; and Eleazar, who received him with honor, was, according to Josephus, the son of Onias the First, the brother of Simon the just: who is mentioned in the apocryphal book called Ecclesiasticus, and grandson to Jaddus, who went to meet Alexander the Great, and made him confer favorable terms upon the Jews.
The high-priest consulted with the great council of the nation, called the Sanhedrin, in regard to Ptolemy's request, and afterward chose six men out of each tribe--seventy-two in all--gave them a copy of the law, written in letters of gold, upon skins curiously fastened together, and sent them into Egypt. The king received them favorably, and showed a great deal of respect for the divine books; He then assigned them a residence in the isle of Pharos, about seven furlongs distant from Alexandria, where they completed the version in seventy-two days. Demetrius caused it to be read publicly in the presence of the priests, great men, and all the Jews, who were then very numerous at Alexandria, and it was universally applauded; they cried out, with one voice, that the translation was just and faithful; and, in order to render it not only authentic, but also unalterable, they made imprecations against those who should attempt to make any alteration in it. When it was read to the king, he admired the wisdom of the lawgiver, and commanded the books to be deposited in his library, allowing copies to be taken for the use of the Jews; he then sent back the seventy-two elders, after leaving made them some rich presents. The most magnificent of these presents was the freeing of one hundred and twenty thousand Jewish captives, whose ransom he paid, and gave them liberty to return into Judea. This version soon became common among all the Jews who spoke the Greek language, and was read publicly in their synagogues. It is not accurately ascertained in what year all this took place; Walton thinks the opinion which fixes it in the 7th of Ptolemy, and the 278th before Christ, the most probable.