The Letter of Aristeas recounts the translation of the Jewish Law into Greek by seventy-two Jewish elders. That number of elders (seventy-two) has been the subject of considerable discussion, and several competing explanations for the origin of the number have been proposed. Some scholars claim the number is derived from Hellenistic (specifically grammatical or arithmological) traditions, whereas others see precedent for the number seventy-two in the details of Exod 24 or Num 11. This paper evaluates several such hypotheses (most of them relatively recent), showing most to be speculative and lacking explanatory power. Rejecting such hypotheses, this paper argues that the number seventy-two emerges from a compromise between two of Pseudo-Aristeas’s interests—a hypothesis rendered all the more plausible by its appearance in Epiphanius. All this justifies an appeal for scholars to exercise both diligence and restraint regarding Jewish and Christian engagement with exodus traditions.

中文翻译：

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七十二位阿里斯提亚长者：对投机的评价

阿里斯提亚斯的信叙述了72位犹太长老将犹太法译成希腊文的过程。老年人的数量（七十二岁）一直是讨论的主题，并且已经提出了一些有关老年人起源的相互竞争的解释。一些学者声称该数字源自希腊化（特别是语法或人类学）传统，而另一些学者则在出埃及记24或数字11的细节中看到了数字72的先例。本文评估了几种这样的假设（其中大多数是相对较新的）。 ，显示出大多数是投机性的，缺乏解释力。拒绝这种假设，本文认为，数字72来自伪阿里斯提亚的两个利益之间的折衷，这一假设因其在Epiphanius中的出现而更加合理。