The Lost Scriptures.

The Letter of Aristeas

“Since I have collected Material for a memorable history of my visit to Eleazar the High priest of the Jews, and because you, Philocrates, as you lose no opportunity of reminding me, have set great store upon receiving an account of the motives and object of my mission, I have attempted to draw up a clear exposition of the matter for you, for I perceive that you possess a natural love of learning, 2 a quality which is the highest possession of man – to be constantly attempting ‘to add to his stock of knowledge and acquirements’ whether through the study of history or by actually participating in the events themselves. It is by this means, by taking up into itself the noblest elements, that the soul is established in purity, and having fixed its aim on piety, the noblest goal of all, it uses this as its infallible guide and so acquires a definite purpose. 3 It was my devotion to the pursuit of religious knowledge that led me to undertake the embassy to the man I have mentioned, who was held in the highest esteem by his own citizens and by others both for his virtue and his majesty and who had in his possession documents of the highest value to the Jews in his own country and in foreign lands for the interpretation of the divine law, for their 4laws are written on leather parchments in Jewish characters. This embassy then I undertook with enthusiasm, having first of all found an opportunity of pleading with the king on behalf of the Jewish captives who had been transported from Judea to Egypt by the king’s father, when he first obtained possession of this city and conquered the land of Egypt. It is worth while that I should tell 5 you this story, too, since I am convinced that you, with your disposition towards holiness and your sympathy with men who are living in accordance with the holy law, will all the more readily listen to the account which I purpose to set forth, since you yourself have lately come to us from the island and are anxious to hear everything that tends to build up the soul. 

6 On a former occasion, too I sent you a record of the facts which I thought worth relating about the Jewish race – the record 7 which I had obtained from the most learned high priests of the most learned land of Egypt. As you are so eager to acquire the knowledge of those things which can benefit the mind, I feel it incumbent upon me to impart to you all the information in my power. I should feel the same duty towards all who possessed the same disposition but I feel it especially towards you since you have aspirations which are so noble, and since you are not only my brother in character no less than in blood but are one with me as well in the pursuit of goodness. 8 For neither the pleasure derived from gold nor any other of the possessions which are prized by shallow minds confers the same benefit as the pursuit of culture and the study which we expend in securing it. But that I may not weary you by a too lengthy introduction, I will proceed at once to the substance of my narrative.

9 Demetrius of Phalerum, the president of the king’s library, received vast sums of money, for the purpose of collecting together, as far as he possibly could, all the books in the world. By means of purchase and transcription, he carried out, to the best of his ability, the purpose of the king. On one occasion when I was present he was asked, How many thousand books are there in the library? 10 and he replied, ‘More than two hundred thousand, O king, and I shall make endeavour in the immediate future to gather together the remainder also, so that the total of five hundred thousand may be reached. I am told that the laws of the Jews are worth transcribing and deserve a place in 11 your library.’ ‘What is to prevent you from doing this?’ replied the king. ‘Everything that is necessary has been placed at your disposal.’ ‘They need to be translated,’ answered Demetrius, ‘for in the country of the Jews they use a peculiar alphabet (just as the Egyptians, too, have a special form of letters) and speak a peculiar dialect. They are supposed to use the Syriac tongue, but this is not the case; their language is quite different.’ And the king when he understood all the facts of the case ordered a letter to be written to the Jewish High Priest that his purpose (which has already been described) might be accomplished.”

The Letter of Aristeas is dedicated to Philocrates, brother of the author of the letter, in this way: “My brother in character no less than in blood, but one with me as well as in the pursuit of goodness.” It begins by telling how King Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.) was advised by his librarian to have the laws of the Jews translated for his library of 200,000 volumes which had no translation of the sacred scriptures of the Jews. During Ptolemy’s reign, the material and literary splendor of the Alexandrian court was at its height since he promoted the Museum and the Library of Alexandria. Ptolemy selects Aristeas to go on an embassy to the high priest Eliezer with the request to send a body of scholars to translate their sacred scriptures into Greek.

The Library in Alexandria was magnificent – and is perhaps most famous for having been destroyed through fires and earthquakes – many parchments and scrolls were lost in the process. Its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of cultural knowledge. Possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria include a fire set by the army of Julius Caesar in 48 BCE and an attack in the 270s CE.

Imagine the knowledge and the information lost in the destruction of this magnificent library. Perhaps copies of those documents sit in museum basements, or are still buried in the realms of Egypt and the Holy Lands. We can only hope that the information lost will one day be recovered through new discoveries – which can only enlighten us in the discovery of lost Jewish thought and theology.

Pastor Dave