RT Article
T1 Possible Misreading in 1 Maccabees 7:34 in Light of Its Biblical Model
JF Journal of Biblical literature
VO 138
IS 4
SP 777
OP 789
A1 Orian, Matan
LA English
PB Scholar's Press
YR 2019
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1693722712
AB First Maccabees 7:34 employs four verbs to describe the offensive speech by Nicanor, the Seleucid general, addressed to the Jewish elders and priests. The third verb indicates that Nicanor defiled his audience. While this has led scholars to associate 1 Maccabees with the Jewish concept of gentile impurity, several factors suggest that, at this point, an error found its way into the Greek translation from the original Hebrew. The present argument comprises three steps. First, I use the biblical Sennacherib story, featured in the background of the Nicanor episode in 1 Maccabees, as a means of reconstructing the relevant original Hebrew verb employed by 1 Maccabees. Second, I suggest a possible misreading of one letter on the part of the Greek translator. Finally, I propose that a similar, earlier verse in 1 Maccabees, 1:24b, may have been conducive to the translator's commission of this mistake, thus offering an insight into his way of thinking.
K1 Critical Thinking
K1 HEBREW literature; Translations
K1 JEWISH priests
K1 Maccabees
K1 Seleucids
DO 10.1353/jbl.2019.0041