Gordon,
Sender: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
Precedence: bulk
I know little about the history of the Septuagint, except that the
earliest MSS date from the 4th/5th centuries AD, as the OT of Christian
Bibles: the famous Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus MSS. Thus, the
order of books in these witnesses likely reflect the rearrangement of the OT
texts by the Christian community.
I recall once learning that Daniel was thought to have been included
among the prophets in the Christian canon of the OT because of the
references to the Son of Man. I have to add, though, that I don't trust my
memory much these days. Could the books of Samuel and Kings have been
classed with the Prophets in the Jewish canon because they contain the
stories of Samuel, Elijah, Elisha and numerous other prophets?
Bob Schneider
----- Original Message -----
From: "gordon brown" <gbrown@euclid.colorado.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 3:02 PM
Subject: RE: Daniel
> I have a question for those of you who know more about this subject than I
> do.
>
> What valid conclusions can we draw from the way that books were grouped in
> ancient versions of the Old Testament?
>
> In the Jewish Tanak the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings,
> popularly designated historical books today, were grouped among the
> Prophets. Daniel was among the Writings and was followed by Ezra-Nehemiah
> and Chronicles, also popularly designated historical books today. Since
> Daniel has parts that look like history and other parts that look like
> prophecy, could it be the historical part that caused it to be included
> among the Writings along with Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles?
>
> The Septuagint, on the other hand, has the Old Testament books in the same
> order as in our Bibles today, i. e. among the Prophets. This would make it
> appear that the opinion that Daniel belongs among the Prophets is very old
> and was probably widely held.
>
> Gordon Brown
> Department of Mathematics
> University of Colorado
> Boulder, CO 80309-0395
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 11 2002 - 00:52:48 EDT