Septuagint: 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms

Book excerpt: The four books of the Kingdoms are believed to have been translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The four books of the Kingdoms would later become two books in the Masoretic Texts, the books of Samuel and Kings. Subsequent Latin and English translations of the Masoretic Texts labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Samuel, and 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kings. The Septuagint's 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms is the book called 1ˢᵗ Samuel in most Catholic and Protestant Bibles, and 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms in Orthodox and Coptic Bibles. This version differs slightly from the later Masoretic book of Samuel, although all three are generally similar. Unlike the Masoretic version, Saul does not repeatedly meet David for the first time, meaning that either the Greeks simplified the Aramaic texts they translated, or the Masoretic version is based on a different version of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms. While a Greek simplification of the text is the simplest explanation for the less-confusing narrative, it cannot explain why the Masoretic version has Saul meeting David for the first time in three unique stories, or, why the Greek translation has transliterated Hebrew words that are no longer in the Masoretic version. The origin of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms, along with the other five books of Kingdoms and Paralipomena, is a matter of great debate among scholars. The Bava Basra tractate of the Talmud, reports that the first 25 chapters of Masoretic Samuel, and therefore the first 25 chapters of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms, was written by the prophet Samuel, and the rest of Masoretic Samuel, which would be chapter 26 through 31 of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms and the entire book of 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms was written by the prophets Gad and Nathan. Samuel, Gad, and Nathan are all mentioned in 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms, however, most biblical scholars have rejected the idea that they had anything to do with the authorship of these books for the past few hundred years. Almost all scholars in every era have agreed with the idea that the six books were based on the older, now lost, books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Samaria and Judea mentioned in the later books of Kingdoms. These six later books are generally accepted as having been written in the Babylonian or Persian era and then redacted in the Greek era or Hasmonean dynasty, however, the origin of the earlier works is a matter of debate. The language of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms is archaic, and early sections dealing with Eli and Samuel read like a continuation of Judges, implying the original book of Judges continued until Saul seized power in 1037 BC.