However, the Second Temple biblical materials contrast greatly with
rabbinic statements on the subject and with what seems to be the evidence
of Pharisaic influence at Masada and in the Bar Kokhba caves. Rabbinic
texts assume a much greater standardization of the biblical text than what is
in evidence in the Qumran texts and in the secondary use of biblical mate-
rial in the Scrolls. Further, the Septuagint and the use of biblical materials in
the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha often support the looser construction
of biblical texts known to us from Qumran, where a variety of texts and text
types coexisted. While this stands in contrast with rabbinic texts, despite
some textual variants in biblical materials preserved there, we cannot be to-
tally certain that Pharisaic Jews in Second Temple times would have had
“Bibles” as standard as those assumed by the Mishnah and Talmud.
Josephus writes as though this was the case at the end of the first century
c.e., but we cannot be certain about the Pharisees of the earlier period.Biblical Exegesis
Despite the absence of direct literary influence, and all the fundamental
historical changes, a central aspect of continuity between Second Temple
Judaism and rabbinic Judaism may be seen in the area of biblical exegesis.
But even here, the issues are complex.
The translation of the Scriptures represents one area of continuity.
The two translations at issue are the Greek (Septuagint) and the Aramaic
(Targumim). Regarding the Greek, one might gather from the tannaitic
parallel to the account of the seventy-two elders in theLetter of Aristeas
(b. Megilla9b;y. Me g.1:9) that the rabbis saw the translation as a tragic
step in the Hellenization of the Jews and yet approved of the actual transla-
tion, at least of the modifications supposedly made by the elders for po-
lemical reasons. However, scholarly investigation of these variants shows
that the account reflects no actual familiarity with the Septuagint, which,
like the rest of Greek Jewish literature, was apparently lost to the rabbinic
Jewish community. This is the case even though additional Jewish transla-
tions (Theodotion, Aquila, and Symmachus) were created or adapted after
the Septuagint to bring the Greek closer to the Masoretic Text, which be-
came the standard for Jews. The Greek Bible simply became identified with
Christianity, despite the use of the Septuagint by Josephus and/or his assis-
tants. Even so, rabbinic texts attribute special status to the Greek language
and its use in Bible translation — clearly an echo of its former status.427Early Judaism and Rabbinic JudaismEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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