WHICH BIBLE DID JESUS READ?

 

Jesus never read the New Testament. He had access to what was known as the Hebrew Bible and years later as the Old Testament to Christians. Jesus would also have had access to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

With the growing Jewish diaspora from the exile of the Jews to Babylon and neighboring regions, the Hebrew language lost its place of prominence among the Jews. Many Jews, born outside of their homeland, did not know Hebrew. They knew Aramaic and Greek, the languages of their captors. With time, Greek became more widespread and more acceptable, especially in North Africa, where thousands of Jews lived.

About 250 years before Jesus was born, the Septuagint was birthed among the North African Jews in Alexandria. This was the first translation made of the Hebrew Scriptures. This Greek translation allowed the Scriptures to be spread throughout the Greek-speaking Mediterranean. According to the late Professor Bruce Metzger, “The Septuagint was the Bible of the early Christian church, and when the Bible is quoted in the New Testament, it is almost always from the Septuagint version”.

Historians believe that the compilation of the Septuagint took at least seventy years. As the book expanded, it began to include material written by persons other than Jewish prophets. Many of these collections were designated as Apocryphal literature, or literature with secret or hidden meanings. So for centuries, the Septuagint was known to contain the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha and also other writings not included in either set of books.

When Jesus was born, there were three versions or translations of the Old Testament. There was the original Hebrew Bible, the Greek Septuagint and the Targumim (singular, Targum). The Targumim were paraphrases, translations, free renderings and interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures in Aramaic and other languages. This variety was compatible with the variety of languages spoken during the time of Jesus.

Latin was also spoken, but limited to Roman officials. Roman officials would not have known Hebrew, but were fluent in Greek and less so Aramaic. From Pilate’s conversation with Jesus, it is obvious that Jesus would have known Greek. He would also have known Aramaic. For example, in one of his seven statements from the cross, Jesus said, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”. Here Matthew records two languages. “Eli” is Hebrew for “my God” while “lama sabachthani” is Aramaic for “why have you left me?”

From the Gospel of Luke, we know that Jesus read the scroll in his hometown. This scroll would likely have been written in Hebrew. Interestingly, many historians concur that Galilee contained a comparatively high proportion of literate, educated scholars. Sages from Galilee were educated, and among them, Jesus was exceptional. From my studies, it is very likely that Jesus was tri-lingual. As a rabbi, he would have known Hebrew. As a teacher, he would have communicated to the masses in Aramaic – the language with which they would have been most familiar. And, as a leader among the people, he would have known Greek, as he demonstrated in his trial with the Governor Pilate.

With such a variety of translations, Jesus chose to quote more often from the Hebrew Bible. Following his resurrection, he said to his disciples, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Here Jesus is referencing to the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible – the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. Jesus contended that the Hebrew Bible spoke prophetically about him.

It is important to note that the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew Bible both in the order of the biblical books and in the number of books included. The books are arranged differently. Instead of the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, the Septuagint has the Law and the Historical Books, the Poetical and Sapiential Books and the Prophetic Books.

In addition, the Greek form of the Book of Esther, which in Hebrew contains 167 verses, has six extra sections, an additional 107 verses in the Septuagint. Noticeable adjustments can be seen in the book of Daniel and Job. Some of the books not included in the Hebrew Scriptures are Greek translations of Hebrew originals from the Apocrypha.

What is most interesting, although Jesus had access to the Septuagint, he never quoted the Apocrypha, which was included in the Septuagint. Also, following his Ascension, the Jewish community canonized the Hebrew Bible, and, like Jesus, excluded the Apocryphal books. Those and other reasons influenced the Reformer Martin Luther, to exclude the Apocrypha from his translation of the German Bible. It was in response to Luther’s Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church chose to canonize and include seven books of the Apocrypha into the Bible. This was done at the Council of Trent in the 16^th century.

So, when most Protestant Christians choose to revere canonized texts, excluding the Apocrypha, they are continuing a tradition Jesus practiced.