Moses in the Septuagint

This study examines the special s tatus o f Moses in the LXX. We attempt to examine whether the translators of the various books in which he appears portray him in a different way from the Moses of the Hebrew Bible. Only if the Greek Moses was different from the Hebrew Moses would we have some information about Moses in the LXX. When examining various postbiblical compositions in which Moses is mentioned, the expectations of finding relevant material in the LXX are high, as many traditions not found in the MT of the Torah found their way into these sources. However, in spite of these great expectations, the source of Philo, Ezekiel the Tragedian, and Josephus, namely the LXX translation itself, has little interest in exegetical traditions regarding Moses. The results of my investigation are thus rather negative, but this by itself is a remarkable phenomenon. The Greek books of the Torah reflect unmistakable contextual, theological, and legal exegesis, while on the other hand the figure of Moses was not the focus of their interest. This is the case also for the other biblical figures so far as I have been able to see; thus, this paper is a study in method. W e d o f ind a few exegetical details i n t he stories a bout Moses, but these are the exception rather than the rule. These details are analyzed in this paper together with a few remarks on the characterization of Moses.