>(snip) There is some support in the Targum for Paul's misquotation.
The ruler doesn't keep all the spoils but redistributes them to all his
people. ...
SR Driver, /Sermons on the O.T./, 1892, pp 197f, writes "St Paul is not
here following the genuine text of the Psalm, but is in all probability
guided
by an old Jewish interpretation with which he was familiar, and which,
instead of /received gifts among men/, paraphrased /gave gifts to men/.
The Targum on the Psalms renders: 'Thou ascendedst up to the firmament,
O prophet Moses, thou tookest captives captive, thou didst teach the
words of the Law, thou gavest them as gifts to the children of men'.".
JA Robinson, quoting the foregoing in /St Paul's Epistle to the
Ephesians/, reprint, James Clark, London, ND, p 180, adds:
"The Peshito Syriac likewise has: 'Thou didst ascend on high and
lead captivity captive, and didst give gifts to the sons of men'."<
>How does this grab you, Eric?<
Thanks! This is the best explanation I've heard/read so far. But was the
Peshito Syriac (I checked and see that George Lamsa's Holy Bible from
the Peshitta (sic) does indeed follow what Ben has written above)
influenced by or rewritten to accord with Ephesians 4:8 - or is there
proof that it was written first?
--- "Eric S. Weiss" http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm eweiss@gte.net