Re: Wever's Note's on Greek text of Genesis

From: clayton stirling bartholomew (c.s.bartholomew@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Tue Dec 28 1999 - 16:37:04 EST


Clay Bartholomew wrote:

< Can anyone tell me in 25 words or more what is valuable about Wevers'
Note's on Greek text of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus? Are these titles
likely to be useful to someone who uses the LXX a lot? >>

Steven Craig Miller wrote:
>>>
Wevers' notes are written "for students who were not particularly versed
in Septuagint studies, but who were serious in wanting to use it as a
resource for studying the Hebrew text" ("Genesis," ix). Thus the issues
discussed in Wevers' notes are usually concerning (the philology of) the
Greek text in relationship to the Hebrew text. It is written for the
advanced student. It is assumed that one knows how to read Hebrew and
Greek. Wevers' notes are not designed to teach an intermediate student
how to better read Greek, although an intermediate student might find
Wever's notes of some value if he or she was attempting to read through
one of these LXX books. But the central stress of these notes is placed
on understanding how the LXX translators translated the Hebrew text. For
an intermediate student wanting a better grasp of Greek, these notes
might be seen to be of little value.
>>>

Well the first three of Wevers' LXX Notes have arrived (Gen, Ex, Lev.)
and I have spent some time looking them over.

My first impression is that Steven's remark:

>For
>an intermediate student wanting a better grasp of Greek, these notes
>might be seen to be of little value.

is misleading. I think that these books would be very useful to an
"intermediate student" because Wevers explains a lot of things about
Hellenistic Greek which would fall into the beginning-intermediate
category.

This is not intended to be a quibble. It is just intended as a
recommendation of these books for those who have studied Greek for
several years and who know enough Hebrew that they don't get a cardiac
arrest when it isn't transliterated for them.

Wevers goes to great lengths to accommodate the student in a manner
which would probably seem tedious to the professional LXX scholar (a
rare breed indeed). Since I am a student, I appreciate this approach. I
like things to be explained even when they might seem to be obvious.

Anyway, I would suggest that anyone who wants to use the LXX in the
Pentateuch should use Inter Lib. Loan to get a hold on one of Wevers'
books and check it out before purchasing it. It looks to me like an
extremely valuable resource.

Clay

--
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062

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