Chapter 4 A mysterious verse: “All the angels of God worship him”

 

Chapter 4

A mysterious verse: “All the angels of God worship him”

 

In the work of repositioning the Christian theology according to the classic reading of the Bible, we must compare manuscripts and evaluating playback variants which sometimes occur in certain places (verses). This is a vital duty to ensure that we are on the path followed by the early classic Christians.

The Epistle to Hebrews chapter 1 contains some elements that need to be discussed carefully:

We refer to a phrase from the Septuagint - a quote in verse 6 (“All the angels of God worship him”) - which in the ancient Hebrew text (the Masoretic text) does not exist at all. There is neither in the Samaritan text (Pentateuch) nor in certain versions (revisions) of the Septuagint.

We will not find this phrase in the Old Testament as translated by many good and well known authors.

How we make our decisions? How do we will interpret the missing text? A learned textual critic wrote that in a cave near the Dead Sea, was found a manuscript in which revealed similarities to the Septuagint, but with polytheistic tendencies: Deuteronomy 32:43 "All the gods shall worship him."

There was no reason for this phrase match either. Didn't know that the fallen angels not worship God? And if there are no gods but one, this expression is astonishing. This manuscript near the Dead Sea also contained other texts added, which were not in the Masoretic text, neither in the Septuagint.

We have only two possibilities for interpretation:

1. The ancient Jewish text was corrected (in the negative sense) and so this phrase was removed from the text. Thus, the text of the Septuagint being the original one, and if someone did make such a change, the question arises, for what reason?

2. In the original Epistle to the Hebrews there was no verse 6, being added later by a copyist. Thus, the Masoretic text being the original one. This also begs the question, for what reason?

Let us consider what does the Septuagint say:

Septuagint, Deuteronomy 32:43 "

"Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people.” Brenton Septuagint Translation

Now, let us consider the Masoretic text:

Deuteronomy 32:43 says much less: "Sing aloud, O ye nations, of His people; For He doth avenge the blood of His servants, And doth render vengeance to His adversaries, And doth make expiation for the land of His people." JPS Tanakh 1917

We notice that the Septuagint text has been enriched and stylized.

A little background about the Septuagint version:

A friend of mine met an Orthodox theologian and they discussed the Greek version of the Septuagint. To his surprise, he said that this version was not so good, so a review of it was needed. Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 - c. 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian. He did Hexapla, a monumental work. For the most part, Hexapla consisted of the text of the Old Testament arranged on 6 parallel columns, as follows: (1) the Hebrew text; (2) the Hebrew text transliterated with Greek characters; (3) the Greek version of Aquila, (4) the Greek version of Symmachus; (5) Septuagint; (6) the Greek version of Theodotion.

Two questions arise:

a) Why did the Septuagint need so many revisions?

And

b) Why wasn't the Septuagint a good [enough] version?

The Talmud says that once in the courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem, three versions of the Hebrew Scriptures have been found. After one of these Hebrew versions the Septuagint was translated. It is possible that this Hebrew version - the text for the Septuagint version, was the version of the ancestors of the Sadducees priests, who modified certain passages to support their doctrine. The other two Hebrew versions could have been of the ancestors of the Pharisees - the ancestor of the so called Masoretic text and the Essenes had the version of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Other problems mentioned: The quotation from Hebrews 1:8,9 does not match the Masoretic text. Indeed, it does partially match that of the Septuagint (verse 6 of Septuagint Ps 44: 6), but which one should we choose?

In the Septuagint text: Psalm 44:6,7 “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness.

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

(for those interested, between LXX [Septuagint] and TM there is a

difference of one chapter):

The Masoretic text: Psalm 45:7,8 JPS Tanakh 1917

Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever;

A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness;

Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee

With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

The Masoretic text speaks for itself in easy-to-understand language. We should not be scared and hurt if, during this time, when knowledge seems to have exploded, reaching the peaks of the indescribable – as the Hope group sings - this is also right with the Bible, science showing impurities that have were added by the scribes to the original text.

It is obvious that those Christians from the first centuries of the Christian era, when they read the Septuagint, faced some problems. But because the epistle to the Hebrews was written to the Christian Jews before the demolition of the temple in Jerusalem (70 AD), the following question arises:

-- In what language it was written to them and what version was quoted

in the epistle to the Hebrews?