Endnote 9 – Mission To Alexandria

On this, see, most recently, J.A.L. Lee, A Lexical Study of the Septuagint Version of the Pentateuch (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983). None of this evidence allows for an exact dating of the Septuagint. A date as early as the reign of Ptolemy II does remain possible, however. On the other hand, the environment Lee established is also decidedly Egyptian—and this goes against the numerous statements in the Letter of Aristeas that elders from Jerusalem were responsible for the preparation of the translation itself. Perhaps the crucial point for the author of the letter was that the Hebrew text used by the translators (whatever their origin) had Eleazar’s wholehearted approval.