“From Your Mouth to God’s Ears”: LXX’S Treatment of God’s Ears in the Pentateuch
(2021) SASNES, LXXSA and OTSSA Annual Meeting — Location: University of the Free State, South Africa (Online) (30.August.2021)
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- Abstract
- Against the backdrop of recent research concerning the Septuagint-theology (Ausloos & Lemmelijn, 2020), ideological characteristics of LXX are examined. One of these characteristics concerns LXX’S presumed anti-anthropomorphic tendency, where the Greek would avoid/attenuate bodily language attributed to God (Rösel, 2006). The Greek translator would have been influenced by a tendency to spiritualize anthropomorphic conceptions of God (Fritsch, 1943). Replies have been written, stating there is no anti-anthropomorphic tendency in LXX (Orlinsky, 1944; Wittstruck, 1967). As a result, there is ongoing debate whether the Septuagint intentionally avoids anthropomorphisms. Following Ausloos (2020), who showed that no univocal presentation of LXX’S treatment of anthropomorphisms is possible, I intend to explore the anthropomorphisms considering God’s ears in the Pentateuch. These occur in Numbers 11:1.18; 14:28 (substantive אזן) and in Deuteronomy 1:45 (verb אזן). Strikingly, in LXX-Numbers 14:28, the reference to the ears is rendered, while this is not the case for the other occurrences. Two main questions arise. 1) Are divergences in LXX due to a different Vorlage, reflected in one of the other textual witnesses; due to the translation-technique of the Greek translator; or due to ideological (anti-anthropomorphic) intentions? 2) Why does the Septuagint render once the God’s ears, while the reference to God’s ears is lacking in other LXX-verses? In order to answer these questions, I will apply text-critical methods, and pay attention to translation-technique, thereby hoping to shed a new light on the ongoing debate regarding LXX’S treatment of anthropomorphisms in the Pentateuch.
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De Doncker, E. (2021). “From Your Mouth to God’s Ears”: LXX’S Treatment of God’s Ears in the Pentateuch. SASNES, LXXSA and OTSSA Annual Meeting, University of the Free State, South Africa (Online). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/113980