Texts in Conversation
In Exodus 25, God commands a sanctuary to be built so that he may live closely with the people. The Greek Septuagint uses a theologically motivated translation to say God “appears” in the sanctuary, changing the image of permanence to transcendence.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Exodus 25:8
Hebrew Bible
6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and other gems to be set in the ephod and in the breastpiece. 8 Let them make for me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them. 9 According to all that I am showing you—the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—you must make it exactly so. 10 “They are to make an ark of acacia wood—its length is to be 45 inches, its width 27 inches, and its height 27 inches.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Exodus 25:8
Septuagint
5 and rams' skins dyed red, and blue skins, and incorruptible wood, 6 7 and sardius stones, and stones for the carved work for the shoulder-piece, and the full-length robe. 8 And you shall make me a sanctuary, and I will appear among you. 9 And you shall make for me according to all things which I show you in the mountain; even the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its furniture: so you will make it. 10 And you shall make the ark of testimony of incorruptible wood; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half, and the height of a cubit and a half.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the Septuagint of Exodus, the idea of God’s dwelling in Exodus 25:7 is replaced by the notion of God’s appearance and in Exodus 29:45 by the motive of human invocation of God. The connection of “dwelling” with the glory of God is replaced in Exodus 24:16 by the motif of descending and in Exodus 40:35 by the motif of overshadowing. Critical examination of these changes suggests they are the conscious work of the translator. Due to this emphasis of God’s transcendence, any definition of physicality or containment of God is avoided ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 144.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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