Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy 17 forbids Israel to worship the sun, moon, and stars. The Greek Septuagint translation adds that these beings were “not assigned” to Israel, implying they are real but belonged to other nations, showing how they functioned as patron deities.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 17:3
Hebrew Bible
2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you in one of your villages that the Lord your God is giving you who sins before the Lord your God and breaks his covenant 3 by serving other gods and worshiping them—the sun, moon, or any other heavenly bodies that I have not permitted you to worship. 4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done in Israel,
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 17:3
Septuagint
2 And if there should be found in any one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who shall do that which is evil before the Lord your God, so as to transgress his covenant, 3 and they should go and serve other gods, and worship them, the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which he did not command, 4 and it be told you, and you shall have inquired diligently, and, look, the thing really took place, this abomination has been done in Israel;
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... the problem here is that every element he highlights is just as easily accounted for in royal terms. The combined ἔρχοµαι + προσκυνέω (2:2, 8, 11) which is said to “denote a cultic action in the Septuagint” is also used to describe the approach and reverence of royal figures (LXX Genesis 37:10; 42:6; compare Judith 10:23) ... a common way of describing a cultic action by the combined use of ἔρχοµαι + προσκυνέω. While my own investigation did confirm some use of these paired terms in the context of cultic activity such as LXX Deuteronomy 17:3; Jeremiah 33:2 ... Similarly, the combined προσϕέρω + δῶρον (2:11) may often be used in the LXX for cultic offerings to God (particularly throughout Leviticus and Numbers), but it is also often used for tribute paid to royalty (LXX Genesis 43:26; Judges 3:17–18; 3 Kingdoms 2:46), most notably in LXX Psalm 71:10 which, as already noted, is widely accepted as a key background text for Matthew 2 ..."
Ray M. Lozano, The Proskynesis of Jesus in the New Testament: A Study on the Significance of Jesus as an Object of προσκυνέω in the New Testament Writings, LNTS 609 (London: T&T Clark, 2020), 77.
* 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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