The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

NORTON Jews, Greeks and the Hexapla of Origen 413
Hexapla were of Jewish origin. Justin Martyr had already made just
that point when he said in tones of injured innocence toAjioxn Xeyew
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Kocpa rhoXeumq) ICQ TCOV AiyuTmoav paaiXei yevojievoi \LT\ elvai
ev iiaiv 6cX,T|0fj (Dial. 68).
The Jewish milieu of Aquila is not in question. That in the
Theodotionic column we are dealing with a Theodotionic group of
texts subsequently associated with a single personage has been demonstrated
by Barthelemy. 24 I cannot agree with the judgment of the
revised Schiirer which (like the original Schiirer) omits Symmachus
from his history of the Jewish people in the age of Jesus Christ,
because he 'was not himself Jewish'. 25 That the text was in use by the
Jews (insofar as it was used at all) before Origen's incorporation into
the Hexapla seems incontrovertible. The Jewish affiliation of
Symmachus is demonstrated by A. Geiger, 26 D. Barthelemy, 27 A. van
der Kooij 28 and A. Salvesen. 29 Be that as it may, it is clear that the
Hexapla proved a happy means of diffusion of the readings of
Symmachus, seen as aacpeatepov by the Church Fathers.
This common history and textual heritage made the debate between
Jews and the nascent Christian movement particularly pointed when it
came to the text they shared. In some cases the debate centred on the
interpretation of the messianic and prophetic texts. There was perhaps
also an issue of credibility, for how could Christian apologists argue
effectively the interpretation of any text held in common with the
Jews if the Jewish correspondent could simply deny that the Christian
was working from a good or 'authentic' text?
This fluidity of a translation in the face of continued and even
increased stability of a text in the 'original' Hebrew language is the
24. D. Barthelemy, Les Devanders d'aquila (VTSup, 10; Leiden; Brill 1963).
25. E. Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ,
ELI (ed. G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986),
p. 493.
26. A. Geiger, 'Symmachus der Ubersetzer der Bibel', Jiidische Zeitschrift fur
Wissenschaft undLeben, 1 (Breslau 1862), pp. 39-64.
27. D. Barthelemy, 'Qui est Symmache?', in Etudes d'histoire du texte de I'A.T
(OBO, 21; Fribourg / Gottingen: Editions Universitaires/ Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1978), pp. 307-21.
28. A. van der Kooij, Die Alien Textzeugen des Jesajabuches (OBO, 35;
Fribourg / Gottingen, 1981), esp. p. 249.
29. Salvesen, Symmachus in the Pentateuch.