The Septuagint In The History Of Judaism

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Septuagint The Septuagint is important and significant in understanding the history of Judaism. The word that should be highlighted in this statement is history. For something to have historical significance to a religion like Judaism, it must be important in the religion’s past and should relate to human affairs. The Septuagint is important and significant in understanding the history of Judaism because it is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, resulting in the understanding and sharing of deeply internalized language and stories. In addition, it is a socio-religious context of the Jewish Diaspora, as well as a key product of Hellenistic Judaism and Roman Jewish culture.
The Septuagint is the translation of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures
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It is understood as the dispersion of Jewish people out of their homeland and their settlement in other parts of the world. This dispersion happened periodically between 700 BCE to 70 AD (Hooker, “Ancient Jewish History”). The Septuagint’s significance in this event was that it assisted with socio-cultural relationships with Jewish people and others (Hitchcock and Esposito 225). After the Jewish Diaspora, this population started to settle in foreign cities like Alexandria and Rome. They were ready to start a new life after a long history of wandering and exile (Hitchcock and Esposito 225). Indeed, a language barrier made it difficult for Jewish people to express their thoughts and more importantly their beliefs. With a new translation of their religion’s stories, it would be easier for Jewish people to connect with the natives of their new home. The Septuagint remains the socio-cultural connection that allows Jewish people to begin a more peaceful journey of their lives and their faith. At this promising new time, the relationship between Hellenistic Judaism and Roman Jewish culture remained important and the Septuagint was itself influential with future human affairs. Hellenistic Judaism was directly created from the Jewish Diaspora bringing together Jewish religious tradition and Greek culture (“Ancient Jewish History”). The Septuagint, being a translation from Hebrew to Greek made this relationship possible for both sides of Hellenistic Judaism being able to read and share their

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