A semantic comparison of the conclusion of LXX Tobit and Semitic 4QTobit

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A semantic comparison of the conclusion of LXX Tobit and Semitic 4QTobit
 
Creator Evans, Annette H.M.
 
Subject Ancient Studies; LXX Apocrypha; Dead Sea Scrolls; Tobit LXXTobit; Semitic4QTobit; 4Q196Tobit; 4Q200Tobit; almsgiving; righteousness; mercy; wisdom literature; Deuteronomy
Description At the beginning of the 20th century, the shorter Greek version of the book of Tobit, GI, which is included in the Catholic Bible, was thought to be the oldest version. It was defined as ‘a lesson on almsgiving and its redeeming powers’. As the discoveries of the Semitic copies of Tobit at Qumran, GI is recognised to be a reworking of the longer version GII, most probably originally written in Aramaic, between 225 and 175 BCE. In all versions of Tobit, the theme of almsgiving is introduced as specifically directed to Jewish kinsmen, but towards the end, is to be directed to all poor, suggesting that it may have been written by a Hellenistic Jew. Although the surface context of the narrative of Tobit is the Jewish tradition of proper observation of mitzvot and sacrifice and eventual reward, the various versions contain varying degrees of ancient Near Eastern wisdom, and an ironic, subversive reflection of hypocritical righteousness. This article questioned why the endings differ markedly in different versions. To try to find answers, a semantic comparison was made between GI and the most complete Aramaic version 4Q196.Contribution: This article considered the implications of source criticism in the reception of the various versions of Tobit. The possibility was examined that the pre-Christian, Aramaic version 4Q196Tobit does not confirm the excessive focus on almsgiving as righteousness apparent in the GI version of LXX Tobit.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor University of the Free State
Date 2021-06-18
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Literary Analysis; Historical Enquiry
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v77i1.6672
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 77, No 1 (2021); 7 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6672/18096 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6672/18097 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6672/18098 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6672/18099
 
Coverage Ancient Near East Second Temple Period; Early Christianity Apocryphal literature
Rights Copyright (c) 2021 Annette H.M. Evans https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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