Ephesians 4.8, Psalm 68.18, and gifts for men.

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Ben C. Smith
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Ephesians 4.8, Psalm 68.18, and gifts for men.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

I have recently posted a thread requesting Christian quotations of nonextant (or invented?) scriptures on this forum, and one of those quotations (the one which sparked the idea for that thread, in fact) was this one from (pseudo-)Paul:

Ephesians 4.8: 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men [ἔδωκεν δόματα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις].”

Psalm 68.18 (OG 67.19): 18 You have ascended on high, you have led captive your captives; you have received gifts among men [Masoretic: לָקַ֣חְתָּ מַ֭תָּנוֹת בָּאָדָ֑ם, OG: ἔλαβες δόματα ἐν ἀνθρώπω; Vulgate: accepisti dona in hominibus], even among the rebellious also, that Yah Elohim may dwell there.

The origin of the quotation as a whole is no mystery; it is obviously Psalm 68.18 (OG 67.19). The issue is who gave gifts to whom; (pseudo-)Paul seems to disagree both with the Hebrew and with the Greek. Yet there is an Aramaic text which seems to agree with (pseudo-)Paul, at least on that one point:

Targum, Psalm 68.19: 19 You ascended to the firmament, O prophet Moses; you captured captives, you taught the words of Torah, you gave gifts to the sons of men [הבתא להון יתהון לבני־נשׁא], and even the stubborn who are converted turn in repentance, and the glorious presence of Yahweh Elohim abides upon them.

This parallel is similar to the one about which I posted some time ago involving Romans 10.6-7.

The Targum attributes the ascent to Moses, an attribution probably owing itself to the fact that the "you" who is ascending cannot logically be God, who is mentioned in third person in this verse, not in second, and also to the previous verse:

Psalm 68.17 (OG 67.18): The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness.

But (pseudo-)Paul himself (unsurprisingly) attributes it to Christ. The interpretation could obviously be twisted to fit as needed.

Despite the putative late dates of most of the Targumim, we know that Targumim were being produced very early, especially since we possess a Targum of Job from the Qumran cache; and often it seems like Christian authors are tapping into traditions which are now extant only in later Jewish literature (including the Targumim, the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Tosefta, and the various examples of Midrash). So it seems possible that Christian authors might have access, not only to the Hebrew scriptures themselves, but also to the Aramaic translations of them; and it seems possible that Ephesians 4.8 draws upon such a tradition, although this particular example can hardly stand alone as a main argument for the phenomenon.

Ben.
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Re: Ephesians 4.8, Psalm 68.18, and gifts for men.

Post by Ben C. Smith »

An interesting parallel:

Testament of Dan 5.10-11: 10 And there shall arise unto you from the tribe of [Judah and of] Levi the salvation of the Lord; and he shall make war against Beliar and execute an everlasting vengeance on our enemies; 11 and the captivity shall he take from Beliar and turn disobedient hearts unto the Lord, and give to them that call upon him eternal peace.

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