Identities and Ideologies: The Greek Translator(s) of the Pentateuch and God’s Arm
(2024) EABS Annual Conference 2024 — Location: Sofia (15.July.2024)
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- Authors
Recalcati, Camilla 
- Abstract
- Bodies and their significances gained interest within Biblical Studies. As an aspect of this “Körpergeschichte” (Wagner 2014), divine embodiment is addressed: God, in the Bible, has a body and His body is often described with humanlike (i.e., anthropomorphic) terms. Fritsch (1943) proposed that LXX-Pentateuch, sporadically, spiritualizes these anthropomorphic conceptions of God. The recent development of a Septuagint-theology re-opened the debate regarding the so-called anti- anthropomorphisms as an element of LXX’s theology. Against this background, we explore one particular anthropomorphism: God’s uplifted arm in the Pentateuch (usually βραχίων ὑψηλός). A difference appears: God’s uplifted arm occurs more often in LXX than in MT: LXX-Ex 6:1; 32:11; LXX- Deut 3:24; 6:21; 7:8; 9:26 refer to God’s arm, not present in MT. In our paper, we address two questions. Firstly, what does the Greek translation of God’s arm tell about the translators’ stance on anthropomorphisms? Can the LXX-plusses be seen as reflecting a particular ideology? Secondly, can the translation of God’s arm in the Pentateuch reveal something about the socio-cultural background of the translators? Recent studies on Egyptian Influences on LXX have argued that some renderings reflect the socio-cultural environment of the Greek translator (Pfeiffer 2016). The image of the “uplifted arm” is attested in Egyptian art from the Old Kingdom on (Straw 2015; Jeon 2022). Now, does the Greek translation of the divine uplifted arm show a vicinity to this Egyptian imagery? If yes, could we say that the translators were influenced by the Egyptian context and that this is reflected in their translational choices? In sum, by addressing God’s uplifted arm in LXX-Pentateuch through the lens of anthropomorphism and Egyptian imagery, we interact with two recent themes of LXX-research. We will show how the translation of the divine arm can tell something about the ideology and identity of the Greek translators.
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De Doncker, E., & Recalcati, C. (2024). Identities and Ideologies: The Greek Translator(s) of the Pentateuch and God’s Arm. EABS Annual Conference 2024, Sofia. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/232481