Ebook: The Greek Chronicles: The Relation of the Septuagint I and II Chronicles to the Massoretic Text, Part 1: The Translator's Craft

Those who have studied the LXX have generally suffered some of the tortures of Tantalus: the delight of significant discoveries seems always to be within reach, but, like the fruit which hung over Tantalus' head, the discoveries always recede before the outstretched hand. The processes of textual criticism are difficult enough in classical works, but when all the problems connected with the traditions of the Bible are added, it is impossible to establish with absolute certainty the original text, for, as G. Zuntz observed, "the true reading may be preserved by the consensus of all witnesses, or in one late inconspicuous manuscript or in none, and practically all the intermediate possibilities do actually occur." Again, when one deals with the relation of the LXX to the MT, additional difficulties arise, for the MT was surely not the text the LXX translators used, and one must attempt to discover the relations of two Vorlagen, for both of which the evidence and traditions are obscure.

For all these various difficulties, Allen, in these two volumes, has made an important contribution to our knowledge of the LXX. His study is a careful comparison between the best texts of the LXX and the MT of Chronicles. If one accepts, as Allen does, the premise that the LXX translators were using a Hebrew text which was basically the MT, then the author's explanations for the Greek variations are valid and useful.

The first half of Allen's work is devoted to the techniques of translation - how the order of the words is nearly the same in the Hebrew and the Greek; how various repeated words are omitted. The idea that there may be some theological bias on the part of the translator, Allen, with Orlinsky, wisely rejects. One cannot say that Allen has made any bold or startling discoveries in his book. What he has done is to apply to Chronicles many of the tests and practices which others found useful for different books of the LXX. He has done his work conscientiously and seems not to have ignored any major recent work which was available to him.