The Septuagint as an Interpretive tool of the New Testament:
A Study of Matthew 5:3-8
It is common knowledge that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek. So it is easy for the well-intentioned, well-motivated, would-be Bible scholar to study the Testaments in their respective original languages and to regard the Greek Old Testament, being a translation, as an inferior source for knowing what the Bible ‘really’ says.
In their study of the New Testament, they may notice the first occurrence of e)kklhsi/a (Matthew 16:18) and wonder how Jesus' audience may have understood the word. There was no 'Church' yet. A look at the LXX would have shown that this was a common word used to translate hfd") and so in this context would not have the same meaning Paul might have had in mind. This same scholar might read in Hebrews 1:6 Kaiì proskunhsa/twsan au)t%½ pa/ntej aÃggeloi qeou= and wonder just where this is being quoted from. It resembles Psalm 97:7 ;{y×iholE)-lfK Ol÷-UwAxaT:$ih except for the last word. At this point the astute scholar may begin to ask questions about the LXX as to whether it is worthy of his time to study it in depth.
The purpose of this paper is to see if the LXX can supply some new insights on a very common New Tesament passage so as might encourage that scholar to, in the words attributed to Ferdinand Hitzig, a nineteenth centruy Hebraist, “sell all you have, and buy a Septuagint.”[1] The passage selected (Matthew 5:3-8) has been chosen because at least one of those insights differs from the standard interpretation.
Matthew 5:3 Maka/rioi oi¸ ptwxoiì t%½ pneu/mati, oÀti au)tw½n e)stin h( basilei¿a tw½n ou)ranw½n.
Maka/rioj regularly translates re$e), so the LXX gives no help here, although this word can show the inadequacies of those English translations of “blessed.”
Ptwxo/j makes an interesting study and one where one wants to proceed cautiously, because there is a strong movement today to see the Church more actively involved in social issues; so one’s conclusions (either way) can easily be determined more by one’s politics than by one's exegesis.
In this passage ptwxo/j is qualified by t%½ pneu/mati, which would immediately suggest a moral, rather than an economic, sense. In a similar passage, Luke 6:20, ptwxo/j stands alone in a verse which would seem to mean the same as this verse in Matthew.
The question is: is there any reason to understand ptwxo/j in any other sense than just ‘poor’? The answer is yes, and it is based on the LXX. There are three passages in Matthew and Luke where ptwxo/j occurs where is apparent that it is a reference to Isaiah 61:1.
Matthew 11:5, in describing Jesus’ ministry, says that ptwxoiì eu)aggeli¿zontai, as does Luke 7:22. Luke 4:18 quotes Isaiah 61:1,2 reading in part: Pneu=ma kuri¿ou e)p' e)me/, ou eiàneken eÃxrise/n me: eu)aggeli¿sasqai ptwxoiÍj . . . . The Hebrew reads: {yèiwænA( rØ">ab:l yðito) hífwhºy ûxa$fm }a(äay yÕflf( hÙiwhºy yÛfnodA) axUÖr So ptwxo/j is used to translate wfnf( in this verse. Usually the LXX translates wfnf( by praË'v, thus recognizing the word’s moral rather than economic significance.
But can we be sure that the word does not carry that economic sense there? Several things suggest that the reference is to one’s moral qualities. One is the parallel phrase in Isaiah:
bê"l-y"r:B:$én:l $ØobAxal üyénóaxfl:$. This would strongly point to the moral sense. Secondly, if an economic sense were to be understood, either here in Isaiah or in the gospel passges, it seems that ptwxo/j is too strong of a word. Both Hauck[2] and Trench[3] show ample primary source material to show that ptwxo/j signifies not merely poverty but destitution, a beggar. Is there any reason why God would single out the mendicants more than the poor who eke out a meager existence? Would anyone venture down to a rescue mission and say, from the words of Jesus, “Happy are you, for yours (emphasis Jesus’) is the kingdom of heaven?” They may be closer to the kingdom than some upper-middle class suburbanites; but I think in this context that would be more than what was intended.
Now it is true that the meaning in Matthew 5:3 of oi¸ ptwxoiì t%½ pneu/mati may not be in question much, but the meaning of ptwxo/j in the other verses cited might be. And it is through the LXX that the connection is made for a moral sense for the word.[4]
Matthew 5:4 maka/rioi oi¸ penqou=ntej, oÀti au)toiì paraklhqh/sontai.
Penqe/w is a common word in the LXX; twice, however, it is used with papakale/w, as in this verse. One reference, Sirach 48:24, refers to the other reference, Isaiah 61:2 Sirach 48:24 speaking of Isaiah the prophet, reads: pneu/mati mega/l% eiåden ta\ eÃsxata kaiì pareka/lesen tou\j penqou=ntaj e)n Siwn. The Isaiah passage, continuing the descripton of the Anointed One, says that He is coming parakale/sai pa/ntaj tou\j penqou=ntaj.
This verse in Matthew would go well in Luke’s gospel, because Luke quotes part of Isaiah 61:1,2. Since Jesus declares in Luke 4:21 that “today” this scipture is fulfilled, it would give his readers the ‘when’ that the mourners would be comforted. Matthew omits that incident, but the connection with the passage in Isaiah at least identifies that comforting with the coming of the messiah, which is not spelled out in that gospel.
At the same time, the person might notice that papakale/w occurs frequently in the latter part of Isaiah in contexts that refer to the Messiah. Also to be noted is that papakale/w is used to translate different Hebrew words and even once where Hatch-Redpath don’t regard it as translating anything at all (Isaiah 41:27).[5]
Possibly even more significant for understanding the Bible is when one looks at all those passages in Isaiah where God speaks of comforting and then considers that Jesus said that the mourners they are the ones who will be comforted (au)toiì paraklhqh/sontai). Logically, the text doesn’t exclude any others from being comforted, but it makes sense that in the absence of any further explanation in the immediate context of just what this “mourning’ is all about, and since it has been shown that Jesus probably had Isaiah in mind when He spoke of this, one might be able to look at the ‘comforting’ passages in Isaiah and find some new insights in regard to this mourning.
For example, parakale/w occurs four times in the first eleven verses of Isaiah 40. God is speaking of comforting Israel . This is the same passage that all four gospels use in describing John the Baptist’s ministry. The three synoptics speak of that ministry as a call to repentance in preparation for the revealing of the Kingdom. Mourning would then be understood as the mourning of repentance.
Isaiah 49:10-13[6] uses parakale/w twice where the Hebrew and, consequently, the English do not. This passage now becomes a cross-reference to Matthew 5:4 as a passage that describes some on how these mourners are to be comforted.
Matthew 5:5 maka/rioi oi¸ praeiÍj, oÀti au)toiì klhronomh/sousin th\n gh=n.
The LXX of Psalm 37:11 reads : oi¸ de\ praeiÍj klhronomh/sousin gh=n. The Hebrew reads . jerÕf)-U$:ry×iy {yÛiwænA(áw. The similarity between the verse in the Greek Psalter and the Beatitude is enough to say that the passage was what Jesus had in mind when He spoke it.[7] Without the LXX, the connection between the verses may not be identified. English translations or the Hebrew original may suggest the possibility but with much less certainty. With this identification of the source for this information as to their “inheritance,” the entire psalm elaborates on the whole theme of prau=thj. The Beatitude by itself leaves one to look at a Greek lexicon to know what the prau=j is like. The psalm not only shows how the prau=j is to respond in various situations but also gives statements, like the Beatitude, as to what to expect in life as a result of being prau=j/. One can say that Psalm 37 is a commentary on Matthew 5:5.
All this will lead to some conclusions in regard to the meaning of this verse that are hidden to the person without access to the LXX. In this case, the reference to the psalm is not as crucial as the access to the Greek Old Testament.
As commonly translated, the verse reads, “Blessed (or, happy) are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” As commonly interpreted, this is thought to refer to a future Messianic kingdom where the ‘meek’ will ‘finally come out on top.’ The fact is that the expression “to inherit the earth” is very common in the Old Testament, but not in those words. Both in Hebrew and in Greek the words for “earth” and “land” are the same, gh+= in Greek and jere) in Hebrew. And the common idea of ‘inherit’ is ‘to possess.’ So one may be surprised to know that the expression Jesus used about inheriting the earth is found over fifty times in the Old Testament as possessing the land and never in the sense of an end-of-the-world scenario. One passage (Isaiah 61:7)[8] does speak of possessing the land (‘Earth’ doesn’t fit the context.) in a Messianic setting, but we have already shown that Jesus considered that time to be present then.
Originally the expression 'possess the land' referred to God’s promise to the Israelites about entering the winning and enjoying the land of Canaan
So, instead of being a promise for some far-off, distant, future, eschatological, Messianic kingdom, it is a promise for life now. Meekness, or rather prau=thj,[9] is the way to succeed in life now.[10]
Lastly, we might note that both Psalm 37:11 and Isaiah 61:1 speak of the {yiwfnA(, So this suggest two things. One: the ptwxo/j and the prau=j are the same people. True, the fact that these two Old Testament verses speak of the same people is not something discovered from the LXX; and true, the idea that Jesus was not talking about eight different kinds of people but rather one, the godly, under different aspects is also discernible without knowledge of the LXX; but it is the LXX that bridged the New Testament to the Old that makes this last insight the more obvious, which lead to the second suggestion.
Matthew 5:3 says that au)tw½n e)stin h( basilei¿a tw½n ou)ranw½n, and Matthew 5:5 says that au)toiì klhronomh/sousin th\n gh=n. Both verses emphasize the “they (theirs).” The suggestion is that since Jesus is basically talking about the same people in the same context, emphatically pointing out something that belongs to them, perhaps there is an intimate connection between these predicates as well; namely, that for a godly person to “possess the land” now, in this life, that is when, for them, they are experiencing the kingdom of heaven in their lives.[11]
Matthew 5:6 maka/rioi oi¸ peinw½ntej kaiì diyw½ntej th\n dikaiosu/nhn, oÀti au)toiì xortasqh/sontai.
In this passage, the interaction with the LX is reversed. i.e. the benefit of the LXX is found in what it contributes to the interpretation of the Old Testament rather than the New. While not strictly our purpose at hand (seeing the value of the LXX for New Testament interpretation), since it shows the help of the LXX for any Bible interpretation and concerns our given texts, we will look at it.
Jesus’ emphasis is that the ones in the Messianic age, or, in that time, who have God’s assurance that they will be satisfied are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This can also lend weight to the idea that Jesus’ concern is more for a spiritual, moral agenda rather than for a socio-economic one.
So now by considering Old Testament passages that speak of hungering and thirsting in a Messianic context, we might see them in a different way than we might otherwise. Actually some passages may not readily appear to be Messianic; but insights could still apply in those contexts, only that remains to be considered in another paper.
In the Old Testament, peina/w is used to translate both v"(fy and v"yf(, so peina/w occurs in passages where the English Bible would not have it; so Old Testament passages that might receive new light from Matthew 5:6 are not obvious from the English or the Hebrew texts.
The first passage to note is Isaiah 28:12, where, instead of God giving rest to the weary, the LXX says a)na/pauma t%= peinw=nti. Whether that is physical or spiritual hunger, as Jesus speaks of, we will leave to others to decide.
In Isaiah 40:28-31, each time that the English Bible (and the Hebrew) read ‘weary,” the LXX reads “hunger,” or a form of it.
In Jeremiah 31:12,25, peina/w is used to translate b")fD, a synonym for v"(fy and v"yf(. The context here is definitely Messianic, so one might conclude that Jesus’ Beatitude is offering a divine commentary on that passage.
Matt 5:7 maka/rioi oi¸ e)leh/monej, oÀti au)toiì e)lehqh/sontai.
The passage could be interpreted as it stands, a free-standing proverb similar to “Give, and it shall be given to you. But seeing how much the other Beatitudes seem to have a connection to an Old Testament context, this should be examined first.
When lined up to the Old Testament, this passage both sheds light on it and has light shed upon it.
The Old Testament speaks of God having mercy on Israel at the time of the Messiah; again, the connection wouldn’t be firm in some cases without the LXX. e)lee/w is used to translate 16 different Hebrew words, and so there are Old Testament contexts that would be relevant to this verse that would be missed without the link of that word.
Reading now those contexts in the light of Jesus’ words adds something to the understanding of those verses in that Jesus is qualifying who will be the ones receiving that mercy.
One of those contexts is Isaiah 49:10-14, already mentioned above at 5:4. That passage has five of the key Greek words discussed so far in it. Surely it was in Jesus’ mind during this discourse. That passage describes in picturesque words what God’s mercy will look like.
Isaiah 52:7-10 is another beautiful Messianic passage describing picturesquely God having mercy on His people. Without the LXX one would not think of it as commenting on Matthew 5:7.
And lastly, Jeremiah 30:18 speaks of God restoring Israel and ai)xmalwsian au)tou= e)leh/sw.
So the Beatitude becomes much richer now with the additon of these poetic Old Testament passages as a background.
Matthew 5:8 maka/rioi oi¸ kaqaroiì tv= kardi¿#, oÀti au)toiì to\n qeo\n oÃyontai.
This expression maka/rioi oi¸ kaqaroiì is found in the LXX once: Psalm 24 (LXX 23):4. But that doesn’t appear to shed any new light on this verse.
The Old Testament passage that I would take as the background for this verse is Isaiah 40:2 In this case the LXX may not add anything, but the English translations hide the connection. The Hebrew reads: ü ü{ióalf$U×rºy bÜ"l-la( Uîr:BaD; the Greek: lalh/sate ei¹j th\n kardi¿an Ierousalhm. The English, by omittin the word ‘heart’ is taking away something valuable from the text.
The passage continues: is 40:3-10 ¸Etoima/sate th\n o(do\n kuri¿ou, eu)qei¿aj poieiÍte ta\j tri¿bouj tou= qeou= h(mw½n: . . . kaiì o)fqh/setai h( do/ca kuri¿ou, kaiì oÃyetai pa=sa sa\rc to\ swth/rion tou= qeou=: . . . ei¹po\n taiÍj po/lesin Iouda ¹Idou\ o( qeo\j u(mw½n. i¹dou\ ku/rioj meta\ i¹sxu/oj eÃrxetai. . . . This passage was already quoted in part in Matthew 3:3. It is declaring the coming of God to the nation of Israel . God tells the prophet to speak to the heart of Jerusalem . He is coming. Jesus tells them that the pure in heart are blessed, because they (au)toiì) are the ones who will see God; Like He told Philip: John 14:9 o( e(wrakwÜj e)me\ e(w¯raken to\n pate/ra: The others don’t see God coming. A teacher, maybe, a prophet, or, as the rulers saw Him, a blasphemer.
[1] Quoted in Danker, Frederick W. Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study. Third ed. Rev. St. Louis : Concordia, 1970, p. 63 Chapter 5 of his book deals with the use of the LXX in Bible study with a portion of that devoted to the New Testament.
[2] TDNT, VI, 886/
[4] The point can be raised that to refer constantly to the LXX to find the ‘real’ meaning of the various passages of the New Testament assumes that the original audience could make the connections, or, at least, as in the case with the parables, those with eyes to see will see and the others won’t understand. It is not the intention of this paper to try to prove that. However, if one were to note all the verbal allusions in the New Testament to the LXX, it would be difficult to account for by coincidence.
[5] Isaiah 41:27 ;}×"Te) rÛ">ab:m {iÙalf$Uryilºw {ÕfNih hØ"Nih }wÙoYic:l }wÛo$)ir Isa 41:27 [I am the] first [that saith] unto Zion , Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem
Isaiah 41:27 I first have declared it to Zion , and I give to Jerusalem
[6] Isaiah 49:10-13 they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. 49.11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be raised up. 49.12 Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene
$emÕf$æw bÙfrf$ {Û"Káy-)olºw U)êfm:céy )Øolºw üUbóf(:réy )Üol
;{×"lAhánºy {éyÙam y"(UÛBam-la(ºw {ê"gAhánºy {ØfmAxar:m-yiK
;}U×murºy yÙatoLis:mU |erÕfDal yÙarfh-lfk yÛiT:ma&ºw
heLÙ")ºw {êfYimU }wØopfCim üheLó")-h¢N×ihºw U)Õobæy qwÙoxfr"m heLâ")-h¢Nih
;{y×inyis jerÛe)"m
{yÙirfh UÛx:cipU** Ux:c:péy* jerêf) yilyØigºw ü{éyóamf$ UÜNfr
s ;{×"xarºy wÙfYénA(áw wêoMa( ühæwhºy {Üaxén-y×iK hÕfNir
[7] Of course, we don’t know what He was thinking, but given the vast number of verbal allusions between the Testaments, it is a safe assumption.
[8] Note again how Isaiah 61 comes to the fore and this is only because of the LXX,
Isaiah 61:7 Instead of your shame you shall have a double portion, instead of dishonor you shall rejoice in your lot; therefore in your land you shall possess a double portion; yours shall be everlasting joy. ouÀtwj e)k deute/raj klhronomh/sousin th\n gh=n, kaiì eu)frosu/nh ai¹w¯nioj u(pe\r kefalh=j au)tw½n.
}Ü"kfl {Õfq:lex UNØoræy hÙfMil:kU hêen:$im ü{ek:T:$fB taxÜaT
;{×ehfl hÛey:hiT {ÙflO( tÛax:mi& U$êfryéy hØen:$im ü{fc:ra):B
[9] In seeking to understand the basic definition of prau=thj, which is beyond the scope of this paper, one should be sure to read both DDNT, VI, 645ff as well as Trench, op. cit., where it is discussed four times, pp. 148ff, 153ff, 391, and 392.
[10] Obviously to leave this statement as it is will raise a lot of questions as to whether meekness really helps one to get ahead, and also the “what about so-and-so?” type of questions, all of which , again, are beyond the scope of this paper. The important thing is that the promise is not for ‘heaven’ but life here and now.
[11] The suggestion is raising basic questions about the nature of the kingdom of heaven which, alas, is also beyond the scope of this paper, questions which I believe are valid to ask but cannot answer at this time. Again, the important thing at this time is that the use of the LXX is opening up new possibilities of interpretations which may be lost otherwise.
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