The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

406 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
good faith. This would seem to imply that there was, in some circles
at least, little or no distinction in the way people thought of, or the
community used, the Greek Torah and the Greek translations of other
books. In the Christian Church there is no evidence that special
weighting was given the Torah over the Prophets. Jerome notes the
Jewish reserve on the subject in his day: tota schola Judaeorum
quinque tantum libros Moysis a LXX translates asserunt (In Ezech U
v; In Gen xxxi; in Mich ii).
The place and circumstances of origin of the Greek translations of
the other books vary. Esther was surely not the only book to have
been translated into Greek in Palestine, even though it is the only one
to say so specifically in a colophon. The first book of Maccabees is
another candidate, as indeed is the Psalter. Apart from translations
made to serve the needs of pilgrim groups and burgeoning Greek
culture in Palestine, there was also a wealth of Jewish Hellenistic
literature of which only a fraction has survived.
The distinction between the various histories of the translation and
use of different sections of the Old Greek body of literature is perhaps
most important in the case of the Torah, where the text was read in
synagogue. It is clear that not all Greek translations were made in
order to replace the Hebrew text in the liturgy. Some effectively may
have been in order to play a subservient place to the Hebrew text in a
liturgy. Other translations into Greek may have been made for literary
reasons. It is in regard to the Greek translation of the Prophets
that the biggest questions arise here. Did they too replace the Hebrew,
this time in the reading of the Haphtharot? Or did they serve to translate
and explain the Hebrew as the Targum did? Were they read in
Greek in the Synagogue, and their status only questioned when
Christians used them as proof texts? In what context were translations
made of the Kethubhim which were not read in Synagogue at all?
Aquila's translation of Qoheleth implies that he was not primarily
interested in the liturgical use of his work.
Lack of clarity concerning the extent of the translation to which
what we might call 'liturgical' authority was granted may have contributed
to the abandonment of the Greek in some Jewish circles. Just as
there were groups such as the writers of the books of Maccabees who
were willing to defend Jewish tradition using Greek language,
literature and rhetoric, there were perhaps groups who were willing
to accept the Septuagint translation of the Torah in place of the