Hillel I. Newman, «A Hippodrome on the Road to Ephrath», Vol. 86 (2005) 213-228
LXX to Gen 48,7 refers to a hippodrome in the vicinity of
Rachel’s Tomb. This cannot be satisfactorily explained as an exegetical creation
of the translator’s imagination and probably refers to a genuine structure. This
is also true of the stadium or hippodrome mentioned in Tg. Onq. to Gen
14,17, as the meeting place of Abram, the king of Sodom, and Melchizedek. Since
1QapGen locates the same meeting in the Valley of Beth Hakerem, which should be
identified as the valley between Ramat Rahel and Bethlehem, it is reasonable to
assume that both versions refer to the same hippodrome. There is no textual
justification for assuming a late interpolation in LXX and no geographical or
archeological justification for explaining these passages as allusions to a
Herodian hippodrome. LXX may attest to a case of profound Hellenistic influence
in Judea already under Ptolemaic rule.
A Hippodrome on the Road to Ephrath 215
pleading is required to explain how the Hebrew source by itself could
yield such an unlikely result.
If we abandon the assumption — doubtful, in the circumstances —
of direct and self-contained translation from the Hebrew, it appears
more likely that the translator is in fact alluding to a popular landmark
in order to clarify for the reader the location of the Tomb of Rachel,
and we must assume the presence of a proper hippodrome somewhere
in the vicinity of the tomb, along the road approaching Bethlehem
from the north (7). Inevitably the next question will be: do we know
anything else of such a structure? As we have already seen, by the
time of Jerome, who knew the area of Bethlehem better than most, the
hippodrome was already a mystery and seems to have left no visible
traces. Nor do any of his predecessors among Christian authors display
firsthand knowledge of such a site, for none — including Eusebius —
tells us anything beyond what was found before them in LXX (8).
Similar reservations hold true for the description in Testament of
Joseph 20,3 of the burial of Bilhah and Zilpah by the hippodrome
(para; to;n iJppovdromon), near Rachel’s tomb (9). Though the
provenance of that text is notoriously obscure, by all accounts it
postdates LXX and is probably influenced by it. Only if Testament of
Joseph were not dependent here on LXX could we use it to draw
conclusions about an existing structure familiar to the author.
Harl has suggested that the reference to the hippodrome in LXX of
Gen 48,7 is an interpolation from the time of Herod or later. Her
argument is not textual, that is to say it is not based on syntactic
analysis revealing the work of a later hand or on indications of such
(7) Thus M. HARL, La Bible d’Alexandrie. La Genèse (Paris 1986) 303.
(8) See for example Eusebius, Das Onomastikon der biblischen Ortsnamen
(GCS 11, I; Leipzig 1904) 82 (and cf. Jerome’s translation on p. 83). Against
assigning independent value to such passages see V. GUÉRIN, Description
géographique, historique et archéologique de la Palestine. Première partie. Judée
(Paris 1868) I, 225-229.
(9) For the text see The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (ed. M. DE
JONGE) (PVTG 1,2; Leiden 1978) 166. In general on the problem of dating see E.
SCHÃœRER, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (new
English version revised and edited by G. VERMES – F. MILLAR – M. GOODMAN)
(Edinburgh 1987) III.2, 767-781; M. DE JONGE, “Defining the Major Issues in the
Study of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchsâ€, Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament as Part of Christian Literature. The Case of the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs and the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (Studia in Veteris
Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 18; Leiden – Boston 2003) 71-83.