Nov.6] SOCIETYOF BIBLICAL ARCH/EOLOGY. [1894-the man bornin it. In his anxiety to do what he considered to be
a divine commandment,he almost wentbeyondthe Law ; and (2)
thatthe rabbismusthavehad a very strongreasonto wink at his zeal,
anddeallenientlywithhis transgression. Thereasonthereofis not
givenin the Talmud ; it is said onlythathe was a munificent supporter
of the rabbis. Thiswouldnot have weighedverymuchwiththem;
we are therefore boundto look in another directionfor this leniency.
If Theodotion wasa proselyte, thiswouldexplainadmirablywhy
he was allowed to go out scot free. He did not know thatit was not
permittedto offer the passah-lamb outsideJerusalem. It was an
errorof judgment committed fromthe purest of motives, hencehis
immunity. If besides we take intoconsiderationthat by the new
translationof the Bible he may haverendereda signal serviceto the
community,we easily understandwhyhe has been treatedwithsuch
regard.* He is not to be confounded with Theodoresthe doctor
whois a contemporary of R. Akiba ; t this seemsto have been a
man fromAlexandria. I make this remark because Levy in his
Talmudicdictionarybringsboth underthe same nameTodos,and
translatesthis latter as Theodoros, whichis not correct.
Thereis one more referenceto Todos in the old Hebrew litera
ture whichleadsus straight to the question fromwhichwe started
in our investigation,viz.,the relation between thisTodosand the
additionsto the canonical bookof Daniel.
In the name of Todos we find in the late Midrash to the PsalmsJ
a peculiar Aggadicinterpretation of the martyrdom of the Three
Children. " According to Todos the three childrencomparedthem
selveswith the frogs which,according to the word of Scripture,
enteredalsothe furnaces of the Egyptians at the bidding of God,
(Exod.vii, 28), but they werenot hurt, as God protectedthem: the
more reason for them to hope, who hadalsothe merits of their
forefathersto assist them, and hadmoreoverthe duty to sanctify
the Name of God, andto suffer martyrdomfor His sake."
Thisline of argument harmonisesverywellwiththe character of
Theodotion as we have triedto sketch it ; he was a zealous and
devout proselyte. That he should have just chosen the three
* Cf. also Jer. Betza,II, § 7, f. 6i<: ; Toseftah Betza,II, § 15, p. 204,
ed. Zuckermandel.
t Tr. Berachoth,fol. 28*, and ToseftahOholoth, IV, § 2, p. 600, ed.
Zuckermandel.
J Ps. xxviii, v. 2, p. 229, ed. Buber.
286