The break between Judaism and Christianity followed…
124 CE to 135 CE
The break between Judaism and Christianity followed the Roman destruction of the Temple.
The adoption of the Septuagint by the Christians, who used it in preference to the Hebrew original, has aroused hostility among the Jews, who cease to use it after the fall of Jerusalem.
Starting approximately in the second century CE, several factors lead most Jews to abandon use of the Septuagint.
The earliest gentile Christians of necessity used the Septuagint, as it was at the time the only Greek version of the Bible, and most, if not all, of these early non-Jewish Christians could not read Hebrew.
The association of the LXX with a rival religion may have rendered it suspect in the eyes of the newer generation of Jews and Jewish scholars.
Instead, Jews used Hebrew/Aramaic Targum manuscripts later compiled by the Masoretes; and authoritative Aramaic translations, such as those of Onkelos and Rabbi Yonathan ben Uziel.
What was perhaps most significant for the Septuagint, as distinct from other Greek versions, was that the Septuagint began to lose Jewish sanction after differences between it and contemporary Hebrew scriptures were discovered.
Even Greek-speaking Jews tended less to the Septuagint, preferring other Jewish versions in Greek, such as that of the exceedingly literal Aquila translation of 130 CE, which seemed to be more concordant with contemporary Hebrew texts.
While Jews have not used the Septuagint in worship or religious study since the second century CE, recent scholarship has brought renewed interest in it in Judaic Studies.
Regions
The Near and Middle East
View →Subregions
