Dating the Canonical old testament texts
Dating the Canonical old testament texts
What are the oldest Canonical Hebrew text fragments in existence, and do any of them definitively pre-date the Septuagint?
Re: Dating the Canonical old testament texts
The dates of the Septuagint translations are not known, but it may be plausible to guess that none are earlier than the reign of Ptolomy Philadelphus (reigned 283-246 BCE). The Philo/Josephus/Letter of Aristeas legend is perhaps taken too seriously.
The earliest Hebrew texts are the Dead Sea Scrolls. The earliest possible date of the papyri IIRC was circa 400 BCE for one of the Isaiah texts, but it could also be a couple hundred years later. None of the DSS Pentateuchal texts are carbon dated to 400 BCE.
This of course, does not at all mean that the texts themselves were not written in 400 BCE or earlier.
The earliest Hebrew texts are the Dead Sea Scrolls. The earliest possible date of the papyri IIRC was circa 400 BCE for one of the Isaiah texts, but it could also be a couple hundred years later. None of the DSS Pentateuchal texts are carbon dated to 400 BCE.
This of course, does not at all mean that the texts themselves were not written in 400 BCE or earlier.
“The only sensible response to fragmented, slowly but randomly accruing evidence is radical open-mindedness. A single, simple explanation for a historical event is generally a failure of imagination, not a triumph of induction.” William H.C. Propp