the king with swift and pithy answers, adding a reference to God in each
response, and earning the admiration not only of Ptolemy and his cour-
tiers but of all the Greek philosophers in attendance, who acknowledged
their inferiority to the sagacity of the guests. Ptolemy applauds and com-
mends every answer by a Jew, no matter how commonplace and banal. The
king hardly emerges as discerning or discriminating. TheLetter of Aristeas,
to be sure, portrays Ptolemy as a wise, gentle, and generous ruler, a man of
deep cultivation and learning. But the author carries his portrait some-
what beyond the sober and the plausible. He makes Ptolemy deferential to
a fault. The king bows no fewer than seven times to the Hebrew scrolls
upon their arrival in Alexandria, even bursts into tears at the sight of them,
and then proclaims that the date of their arrival would henceforth be cele-
brated as an annual festival. The author extends this form of caricature to
the Greek philosophers as well, turning them into awestruck witnesses of
the superiority of Jewish learning. In short, theLetter of Aristeas,that
quintessential text of harmony and collaboration between Jew and Gentile
in a Diaspora setting, simultaneously underscores the distinctive character
— and the precedence — of Jewish values.
The very idea of rendering the Hebrew Bible into Greek has profound
significance for the Diaspora. The historicity of the tale in theLetter of
Aristeasis a secondary issue. Ptolemy II may or may not have had a hand in
its creation. His reputation for learning made him a logical figure to whom
a later writer could ascribe such an initiative. The need of Jews abroad to
comprehend the holy books and laws of their tradition in the language
that was now their own played a greater role. And, more fundamentally,
the work of translation represents a signal instance of Jewish pride and
self-esteem. It signified that the Jews had a legitimate claim on a place in
the prevailing culture of the Mediterranean. Their Scriptures did not be-
long to an isolated and marginal group. They contained the record and
principles of a people whose roots went back to distant antiquity but who
maintained their prestige and authority in a contemporary society — and
in a contemporary language. That may be the clearest sign that the Jews
perceived themselves as an integral part of the Hellenistic cultural world.Maintaining Jewish Identity
Jewish comfort and familiarity with the Hellenistic world in no way en-
tailed abandonment or compromise of their distinctive identity. Terms like106erich s. gruenEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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