Hilary of Poitiers, Judeo-christianity, and the Origins of the LXX: A Translation of Tractatus Super Psalmos 2.2-3 with Introduction and Commentary

Abstract

Hilary of Poitiers, in his Tractatus super Psalmos, provides a unique view of the origins of the LXX. The essential point of his argument in favor of the superiority of the Greek version is that the seventy translators were the heirs of a secret oral tradition that went back to Moses. Hilary describes that tradition with the words quaedam ex occultis legis secretiora mysteria, a phrase most likely to be rendered, certain more secret mysteries of the law, from hidden sources. He derives proof of the existence of this oral tradition from Matthew 23:2-3, where Jesus acknowledges the legitimacy of the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, who sit on the seat of Moses. Knowledge of the extra-biblical tradition allowed the Seventy to produce a translation that was more accurate than any other, because by reference to it they were able to interpret possible ambiguities in the original. The claim of Hilary takes on special significance when compared to the view attributed to Rabbi Yehudah b. Shalom, a Palestinian amora of the fifth generation, that is, a rough contemporary, about the Jewish oral tradition. In the view of Rabbi Yehudah, God gave an oral tradition to Israel because he foresaw that there would come a time when the Gentiles would appropriate the written biblical inheritance. They would translate the Torah into Greek and claim to be Israel themselves. But God would acknowledge as