The Old Testament - A Hellenistic Book?

[StephenGoranson]

If I may juxtapose two texts:

1) In this thread, discussing Gmirkin, Wed May 03, 2023 8:51 pm, neilgodfrey wrote, in part:

"But the question of whether the OT is a Hellenistic work is decided on other grounds. The relative roles of the Samaritans and Judeans, of the library at Alexandria or some other centres, whether pre-Hasmonean or post Hasmonean .... these questions are essentially fine-tuning the thesis. The core argument rests on:...." [then 4 items are detailed, none of them involving Alexandria]

I, SG, take this as a view by NG that Alexandria is not central to the Gmirkin proposal, but rather a matter of "fine-tuning."

2) RE Gmirkin in his 2022 Timaeus book, for example (there are other examples available), on page 23 wrote:

"....An important side consequence of this research is to demonstrate the basic robustness of the model argued in Gmirkin 2006, 2017 in which the Pentateuch was created by a multiplicity of authors present in
Alexandria ca. 270 BCE....."

In this case--and many others--the Alexandria Library component of the proposal is in RE Gmirkin's view central and essential.

[Secret Alias]

The idea that the Samari-Jews "borrowed" from the Greeks is Celsus-like argument. Celsus implies, against the Jews, that there was a "true word" from the beginning and it belonged to a host of people and the Jews stole from them (even though I am not sure this is as explicit in what remains from Origen's citations). Never once does Celsus in the midst of this "Jew-stealing" argument say the Jews stole from Plato and the Greeks. The Christians yes. The Jews no. The reality is that while Egyptian civilization was undoubtedly older than "the Jews" or the Hebrews even within Celsus's system there is an opening for Jewish influence on the Egyptians as he seems to use Manetho to identify the Jews were the Shepherds who were associated with Set, the Hyksos. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Th ... frontcover It is a Nazi-like worldview to imagine that all the ancient peoples were "separated" from one another with one group being "masters" and the other "slaves" with no intermingling between cultures. It's just a silly proposition.