“The Number of the Sons of God” Deut. 32:8 in 4Q37
Channel: Galen Currah
Date: 24/08/2020

“The Number of the Sons of God”
Deuteronomy 32:8 in Dead Sea Scroll 4Q37
How a scrap of skin resolves a Bible chronology mistake
An opinion of Dr Galen Currah, August 2020
Music by Natrix
wordwatchers.currah.us

Introduction

In the biblical Book of Genesis, the prophet Moses summarized the history of the Near-Eastern nations.

⦁ Genesis chapter 10 lists 70 clans that descended from Noah and his sons. 32

⦁ Genesis chapter 11 recounts how that God scattered the clans which became 70 nations. 9

⦁ Genesis chapter 12 reveals how, about a hundred years later, God promised to bless all the nations through Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites. 1-4

Silly anachronism

In the biblical Book of Deuteronomy, the prophet Moses summarized in a poem how that God had apportioned land to 70 non-Israelite nations.

Standard Bible translations read:

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:8 ESV (2016)

Textual variants

For two millennia, scholars have been aware that the ancient Greek translations of Deuteronomy 32:8 read a little differently.

Whereas the oldest Massoretic Hebrew manuscripts read, “the sons of Israel,” all Greek manuscripts read either, “sons of God”  or “angels of God”.

𝔊848 106ᶜ  ⲨⲒⲰⲚ ⲐⲈⲞⲨ
𝔊most MSS  ⲀⲄⲄⲈⲖⲰⲚ ⲐⲈⲞⲨ

Fanciful commentary

Prior to the 20th century, Bible commentators, following either the Hebrew “sons of Israel,” or the Greek “angels of God,” invented various interpretations.

"Sons of Israel" (Examples.)

"Angels of god" (Examples.)

September 1952

Qumran cave 4 fragment 4QDeutj containing four words from Deuteronomy 32:7-8 “consider … allotted … sons … [and] God”.

Thus, the Greek must have been translated from the earlier form of Deuteronomy 32:8. (Citations.)

So, has the scripture been changed?

Yes and no.

Yes, scribes sometimes though rarely altered a text for reasons that they believed to be good ones. In this case, they desired to defend monotheism, even though doing so introduced an anachronism.

No, for the earlier wording of the text has been preserved, both in translations and in older copies of the original text. In this case, the earlier form was always available in Greek and has been recovered in Hebrew at Qumran.

Conclusion

Modern Bible translations that include ancient, variant, manuscript readings do so in an attempt to recover the Word of God more accurately, not to change the Word of God.