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In Deuteronomy 33, Moses is called the man of God. The Letter of Aristeas extends the title to the Jews as a whole, saying Egyptian priests call them men of God because they worship the true God rather than living for food and drink.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 33:1
Hebrew Bible
1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. 2 He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them. 3 Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your hand8. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words. 4 Moses delivered to us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. 5 The Lord was king over Jeshurun, when the leaders of the people assembled, the tribes of Israel together.
Letter of Aristeas 1:140
Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
creation. Hence the leading Egyptian priests having looked carefully into many matters, and being familiar with (our) affairs, call us " men of God ". This is a title which does not belong to the rest of mankind but only to those who worship the true God. The rest are men not of God but of food and drink and clothing. For their whole disposition leads them to find solace in these things. Among our people such things are reckoned of no account. but throughout their whole life their main consideration is the sovereignty of God. Therefore, so that we should not be corrupted by any abomination, or our lives be perverted by evil associations, he hedged us in on all sides by
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Notes and References
“... According to Ps.-Aristeas through the mouth of the high priest, these Egyptian priests have applied the epithet “men of God” (ἀνθρώπους θεοῦ) to the Jews, a title that is given to Moses in the singular in Deut 33:1 and to Elijah in 3 Reigns 17:18. In the LXX/OG, however, the phrase is never used in the plural, and the noun is arthrous, τοῦ θεοῦ. Despite these slight differences, I find it hard to think that Ps.-Aristeas is not alluding to Deuteronomy at the least, since Moses, the “man of God” and the Jewish lawgiver, has given the laws so that Jews would know how to revere God properly. Thus, the singular applied to Moses is extended to the Jews as a people. ...”
Wright, Benjamin G., III
The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’
(pp. 267-268) De Gruyter, 2015
* 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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