04-18-2013, 01:25 AM
Shlama ScorpioSniper,
i can answer some others:
this reference is found in the Talmud's minor tractate Soferim, 1.6,7 which basically states what languages it is forbidden to translate it in, and even what scripts were forbidden:
It is not permissible in old Hebrew, in Aramaic, in Medean or in Greek. No language or script shall be read from unless it is written in Assyrian. It occurred once that five elders wrote the Greek Bible for King Ptolemy, and that day was as hard for Israel as the day on which the calf was formed. For it is impossible for the Torah to be translated exactly.
so it wasn't that Greek was detested, but that the value of the pure text of the Law was seen and desired to be protected from loss in translation or misunderstanding. as one who reads Hebrew and Aramaic, i can tell you that while the general sense of the Word is translatable, there is ALWAYS something lost. that is why you will read on here from anyone who knows Hebrew or Aramaic that you will be best-off if you learn the original languages of the Word and let the Spirit speak to you without the biased lens of a translator. i translate Hebrew and Aramaic myself, and so i know that even trying not to be biased, there is always some degree that is going to rub off; in like manner, the rabbins likely wished to keep people away from misapplying the Word and also from diminishing the content. any reading of the LXX compared to the Hebrew will see the diminishing, and the same goes for the Greek NT vs. the Peshitta.
i've been a part of the Hebrew-Roots movement for many years, and while this is something i've always heard, i've never seen a documented source for it. if there is one, someone else will have to help you here. otherwise, i'd label it suspect.
i think it would have been quite certain for this to have been the case due to the situational details.
i know that targum Onqelos was considered inspired, so i would think it highly popular, especially so since it was in Aramaic, and Jewish people could understand it easier than Greek.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
i can answer some others:
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:2. Where does the Talmud speak of a time of mourning when the Septuagint was completed? Where is more proof that it wasn't used much in Israel? Andrew Gabriel Roth quotes a Peshitta primacist scholar speaking of the time of mourning in his appendix in the "Survey of Peshitta Primacist Scholarship".
this reference is found in the Talmud's minor tractate Soferim, 1.6,7 which basically states what languages it is forbidden to translate it in, and even what scripts were forbidden:
It is not permissible in old Hebrew, in Aramaic, in Medean or in Greek. No language or script shall be read from unless it is written in Assyrian. It occurred once that five elders wrote the Greek Bible for King Ptolemy, and that day was as hard for Israel as the day on which the calf was formed. For it is impossible for the Torah to be translated exactly.
so it wasn't that Greek was detested, but that the value of the pure text of the Law was seen and desired to be protected from loss in translation or misunderstanding. as one who reads Hebrew and Aramaic, i can tell you that while the general sense of the Word is translatable, there is ALWAYS something lost. that is why you will read on here from anyone who knows Hebrew or Aramaic that you will be best-off if you learn the original languages of the Word and let the Spirit speak to you without the biased lens of a translator. i translate Hebrew and Aramaic myself, and so i know that even trying not to be biased, there is always some degree that is going to rub off; in like manner, the rabbins likely wished to keep people away from misapplying the Word and also from diminishing the content. any reading of the LXX compared to the Hebrew will see the diminishing, and the same goes for the Greek NT vs. the Peshitta.
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:3. Is there any citation for the supposedly rabbinical quote that says, "It is better to feed your children the meat of swine than to teach them Greek,"? Lamsa and Bauscher have both used this quote in their introductions.
i've been a part of the Hebrew-Roots movement for many years, and while this is something i've always heard, i've never seen a documented source for it. if there is one, someone else will have to help you here. otherwise, i'd label it suspect.
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:5. Could the Galileans have had a great knowledge of Greek than the Judeans? Ancient Nazareth was very close to Greek speaking villages, I believe.
i think it would have been quite certain for this to have been the case due to the situational details.
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:10. Were the Targums more popular than the Septuagint among the Israeli Jews?
i know that targum Onqelos was considered inspired, so i would think it highly popular, especially so since it was in Aramaic, and Jewish people could understand it easier than Greek.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy