The Manuscripts of the Old Testament – Other Important Sources

In recent weeks we have been looking at a variety of important texts for the Hebrew canon. Today we will conclude by looking at a variety of other important sources that help us determine the original text of the Old Testament.

One unusual and important source is known as the Aramaic targums. During the exile, Aramaic took over from Hebrew as the dominant language for many Jews. This led to the creation of targums – loose translations of the Old Testament text into Aramaic. However, unlike the Septuagint, these were very loose translations, and they also often included commentary. However, they can be helpful for scholars to understand the Hebrew text that was available to the creators of these targums.

Another important source is the Syriac Peshitta. Syriac is a language closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic, and it was used in many early churches and continues to be used in some churches even today. Scholars believe that the Old Testament was translated into Syriac around the 2nd Century AD. This means that the Peshitta is not as old as the Septuagint, but it does give another important glimpse into the text available to the translators, and it can also let us see how they understood certain Hebrew words and phrases.

Finally, we have many quotes from early church fathers. Once again these are not direct texts of the Scripture, but they do let us see the Hebrew text that these early church fathers were using. Often, it appears they were using a version of the Septuagint, but at times they also use the Hebrew test. In either case, it gives another window into the Old Testament text available to them.

As you can see, this means there is a great wealth of texts available for our Old Testament. In fact, other than the New Testament, no other ancient documents have such a variety of resources from such an ancient date. This is a great gift God has given to us!

Next week we will briefly look at how scholars combine these resources to try and determine the original text of the Old Testament.

In Christ,

Bret