LXX

LXX Scholar Interview: Dr. Rob Hiebert

Not too long ago I posted an interview with Dr. Karen Jobes of Wheaton College in honor of International Septuagint Day. Obviously since Karen is such a wonderful person, the post was received very well. With the idea of hearing from active scholars in the field of Septuagint in mind, then, I thought I would carry on with other interviews.

One of the first people I thought of was Dr. Rob Hiebert. He is one of the fellows of The John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies, which operates under the auspices of Trinity Western University just outside Vancouver, B.C. I’ve written about it a bit in this post, and some details about its history are in the interview below. Rob and his colleagues at TWU are also conducting a seminar in Septuagint exegesis this coming May that would be well worth the time (I attended one of these seminars in 2013).

The questions below are the same that I posed to Karen, more or less. If you have any particular questions you’d like to see asked of others in the future (or suggestions for particular scholars you’d like to hear from), then leave me a comment below. These are supposed to be helpful to newcomers!

And now, to hear from Dr. Hiebert.

The Interview

1) Can you describe how you first became interested in LXX studies, and your training in the discipline?

My interest in LXX studies began during my undergrad studies at the University of Toronto. At that time, the U of T had the only PhD program in this field, and it was headed up by John Wevers and Albert Pietersma who were leading specialists in that discipline. I began to see that LXX studies afforded the possibility of becoming equipped to do work that involved both the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament and the New Testament, and that was appealing to me.

2) How have you participated in the discipline over the course of your teaching and writing career?

Teaching in this discipline began for me when I was still a grad student at U of T, as I had the opportunity to teach undergrad courses in which we read both Greek New Testament and LXX texts. Later, when I joined the faculty at what is now called Tyndale University College in Toronto, I taught some Greek New Testament and LXX courses. Finally, after coming to Trinity Western University (TWU), where I now teach, I came to realize that the presence of four LXX specialists (Larry Perkins, Peter Flint, Dirk Büchner, and myself) represented a wealth of expertise that should be exploited. So we founded the Septuagint Institute, which we renamed the John William Wevers Institute for Septuagint Studies after Prof. Wevers’ family made a generous donation in his memory.

The Wevers Institute took the initiative to advocate for the establishment of a specialization in LXX studies in a number of our graduate degree programs at TWU, and so now our Master of Theology and Master of Theological Studies programs do have such a specialization. In addition, the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies program has seen a number of students write theses in the area of LXX studies. The Wevers Institute has sponsored a number of international conferences and serves as a hub for a number of research initiatives.

The Wevers Institute fellows have been awarded research and conference grants, have produced numerous publications, and continue to be active in a variety of research and publication projects. These include collaboration with an international team of scholars to produce A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Oxford University Press, 2007) also known as NETS, and the forthcoming Society of Biblical Literature Commentary on the Septuagint series also know as SBLCS, for which I serve as co-editor. The four of us were responsible for translating the first four books of the Pentateuch for NETS and have been assigned the task of writing the SBLCS commentary volumes for those same books.

My publications include The “Syrohexaplaric” Psalter (Scholars Press, 1989); The Old Greek Psalter: Studies in Honour of Albert Pietersma (Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), which I co-edited; and “Translation Is Required”: The Septuagint in Retrospect and Prospect (Society of Biblical Literature, 2010), which I edited; as well as numerous book chapters, articles, and reviews. I am also currently preparing the critical edition of Greek IV Maccabees for the Göttingen Septuaginta series.

I should add that in the past few years TWU has established a collaborative agreement with the Green Scholars Initiative that affords TWU scholars and students the opportunity to work with papyri and manuscripts that are part of the Green collection of antiquities.

3) How have you integrated LXX studies into your work as a seminary professor?

I teach a number of graduate level LXX courses, and I have hired a number of grad students as research assistants to work with me on my research projects. Funding for these hires has come from the research grants that I have been awarded as well as from a budget line at the seminary that allows for such opportunities. One of my research assistants, who has now graduated, collaborated with me to present papers at conferences in various parts of North America and Europe and to publish articles and book chapters. His thesis project grew out of his work with me on my IV Maccabees project. My current research assistant has similar opportunities and is doing the same type of work.

4) How has the field changed since you’ve been involved?

I think the emergence of LXX translation and commentary projects in various languages during the past number of years has opened up many opportunities for study and research. Many younger scholars have also entered into the field of LXX studies in recent years, which bodes well for the future of the discipline.

5) What issues do you focus on in your graduate courses in LXX studies?

I teach courses in “Exploring Septuagint Origins and Texts” and “The Septuagint in Early Jewish and Christian Traditions” as well as various special topics courses that relate to our work on our SBLCS volumes, sometimes in tandem with my Wevers Institute fellows. My colleagues also teach LXX courses. So we focus both on an introduction to the field of LXX studies and on specific textual, translation, and hermeneutical issues. We distinguish carefully between the meaning of the text-as-produced and the text-as-received.

6) For the benefit of graduate students who are potentially interested in LXX studies in doctoral work, what in your opinion are under-worked areas and topics in need of further research?

The production of commentaries on the text-as-produced is one area that will provide probably decades of work for those involved in the SBLCS series. But there will also be many opportunities for those interested in the reception history of the LXX.

8) What current projects in Septuagint are you working on?

1. The critical edition of Greek IV Maccabees for the Göttingen Septuaginta series.

2. A commentary on Genesis for the SBLCS series.

3. Serving as joint-editor-in-chief of the SBLCS series.

4. A project in collaboration with the Green Scholars Initiative focused on Papyrus Bodmer XXIV, a very important LXX Psalms manuscript that dates to about the fourth century.

9) What is the future of Septuagint studies?

It is a bright one, with much more work to be done. More academic institutions do, however, need to appreciate the significance of this discipline and to foster its development.

I’m grateful for Rob’s willingness to interact with my questions. Stay tuned for interviews with other LXX scholars in the future!

A Brief Note on Epigraphy and Rare Forms

I have mentioned in the past that my research concerns Koine Greek documentary evidence. Among other things (e.g., ostraca, graffiti, mummy cartonnage), this includes primarily papyri and inscriptions from the Ptolemaic period of Egypt. Not infrequently I search papyri.info (see posts here and here) or epigraphy.packhum.org to see what there is to see in terms of a particular word’s usage.

SEG 15:678

Today I was searching for occurrences of the word λάπτω, which occurs in the LXX only in Judges 7. There, in both A and B texts of Rahlfs’s Septuaginta the word occurs in vv. 5 (2x), 6, and 7. It is thus a rare word, at least in terms of its Septuagintal use.

In the process of searching out the various morphological permutations of the word, I found one inscription that looked promising: SEG 15:678 (here). Here is a transcription and the beginnings of my translation:

[—]ντων, λαμβάνειν δὲ τὰ δέρματα κ[αὶ] τὰ ἄλλα γέρεα· ἢν ἓν θ[ύη]ται, λά[ψε]-[ται γλῶσ]σαν, ὀσφὺν δασέαν, ὤρην· ἢν δὲ πλέω θύηται λάψεται ἀπ’ ἐκάστου ὀσφὺ[ν]

[δασ]έ̣αν καὶ γλῶσσαν καὶ κωλῆν μίαν ἀπὸ πάντων· καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν τῶν

[ἐν]τεμενίων ὅσων ἱερᾶται ὁ ἱέρεως, λάψεται τὰ γέρεα τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ κωλῆν ἀντὶ

[τῆ]ς ὤρης ἢμ μὴ βασιλεὺς λαμβάνηι· ἢν δὲ εὐστὸν θύηι ἡ πόλις λάψεται γλῶσ-

σαν, ὀσφὺν δασέαν, ὤρην· ἢν ξένος ἱεροποιῆι τῶι Ἀπόλλωνι, προϊερᾶσθαι τῶ[ν]

ἀστῶν ὃν ἂν θέληι ὁ ξένος, διδόναι δὲ τῶι ἱερεῖ τὰ γέρεα ἅπερ ἡ πόλις διδοῖ π[άν]-

[τα] χωρὶ[ς] δέρματος· ἢν δὲ τοῖς Ἀπολλωνίοις θύηι̣ ξέ̣ν̣ο̣ς̣ π̣[ροϊερᾶσθαι —]

[a]ll, and to take both the skins and the other perquisites. If one is to be burnt up, he will take the tongue, the hairy loin, [another piece]; and the rest are to be burned, from each a hairy loin and a tongue and one thigh from all. And the priest will administrate over the many other gods in the temeniōn, [and] will receive

Morphology Hallucinations

If you haven’t already checked, λάπτω means “to lap up [with the tongue.” It occurs in the Gideon narrative when he pares down his men by checking who drinks from a brook with his hand, and who laps the water up like a dog (7:5). It’s a surprisingly well established word in classical Greek (e.g. Homer Il. 16.161; Aristophanes Nub. 811; Aristotle Hist. an. 595^a7). And I was tempted on the basis of the use of γλῶσσα in the inscription to think that I had found the one instance of it’s use in the Koine inscriptional data. The content was just bizzarre enough to sway me into thinking that “lapping with tongues” was plausible in the context.

But alas, as I translated I realized that what I thought was λάπτω in third singular future middle indicative was in fact λαμβάνω (3rd sg fut ind mid). The forms are identical.

Maybe next time, λάπτω.

Lexicography for the Church

In the bleak midwinter of England, it’s easy to start questioning everything. Roughly halfway through my first year of doctoral research at Cambridge, there have been times already that I have wondered “why am I doing this?” From what I gather at tea time with my fellow researchers at Tyndale House, this is not an uncommon experience.

At least at this point in my work, for the most part I do Greek lexicography. Yes, I am an “Old Testament guy” by disposition, but the Septuagint is in many ways a textual and historical “bridge” between the testaments, with lots of challenges all to itself. These challenges unavoidably influence the Hebrew and Greek Bible, and how we understand them. That is what makes Septuagint studies so important (and incredibly underworked, especially among conservative Biblical Scholars, but that is a post for another day).

Justifying (& Explaining) My Work

One of the most significant ways that Septuagint studies are important for understanding the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament is lexicography. Recently I was reading an article by the eminent lexicographer John A. L. Lee. In it, he makes a series of observations that I think neatly encapsulate why work like mine is, in fact, relevant not just to the academy, but also to the Church.

Lee points out that, as long as the New Testament and other ancient Greek texts are read, there will be a need for lexicons. For that reason (along with others), Lee rightly notes that the discipline of Greek lexicography is certainly far from over:

Not only will lexicography be in demand, but it will continue to carry a weighty responsibility. This is because of the special character of lexicons. Lexicons are regarded by their users as authoritative, and they put their trust in them. Lexicons are reference books presenting a compressed, seemingly final statement of fact, with an almost legal weight. The mere fact that something is printed in a book gives it authority, as far as most people are concerned. And understandably: if one does not know the meaning of a word, one is predisposed to trust the only means of rescue from ignorance.*

Lexicography & Scripture

To put it succinctly, if we wish to understand Scripture accurately, then we must understand Greek accurately. (This includes the Greek of the Septuagint since, among other things, it is a textual witness to the Hebrew Old Testament.) Greek lexicography is therefore directly connected to the practice of the Church.

But it is important to note a key phrase in Lee’s quote: “seemingly final.” Lee goes on to say that lexicographical work in Greek – especially the vocabulary of the LXX – is far from over not just in terms of demand, but in terms of accuracy. There is a huge amount of sources not yet incorporated into our understanding of Koine Greek. Undertaking exhaustive and integrative analysis of this body of language is therefore essential to interpreting Scripture rightly.

While the modifications to our current state of Greek lexical knowledge may prove to be minimal, surely there is no improvement too small to abandon the formidable lexicographical task before us, whether it be a better grasp upon a NT Greek word or phrase, or upon the sense of a text in the Greek Old Testament quoted in the NT, or upon an ancient Jewish translator’s understanding of his source text that sheds light on the Hebrew bible. Greek – even Septuagint – lexicography is foundational to the task of Biblical scholarship, and therefore of great value in the life of the Church as well.

And so, we press on.

____________

*Lee, John A. L. “The Present State of Lexicography of Ancient Greek.” Pages 66-74 (here 66) in Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker. Edited by Bernard A. Taylor, et al. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2004.