Τι είναι χειρότερο, να αποκαλέσεις τον Θεό με το όνομά του ή να Τον καταραστείς;Μια περίπτωση παρερμηνείας από την Ο' /What is worse, to address God by name or to curse Him?A case of misinterpretation by the LXX

Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τοῦ ἀνοσίου καὶ παλαμναίου τίσιν ἐγράφη διάταγμα καινόν, οὐκ ἄν ποτε προηγουμένης ἀξιωθὲν γραφῆς, ἀλλ’ αἱ ἀπροσδόκητοι νεωτεροποιίαι καινοὺς νόμους εἰς ἀνακοπὴν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐπιζητοῦσιν. Αὐτίκα γοῦν νομοθετεῖται τάδε· ὃς ἂν καταράσηται θεόν, ἁμαρτίας ἔνοχος ἔστω, ὃς δ’ ἂν ὀνομάσῃ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου, θνῃσκέτω. [Lev. 24:15, 16] Εὖ γ’, ὦ πάνσοφε, μόνος ἀμιγοῦς ἠκρατίσω σοφίας. Τοῦ καταρᾶσθαι χεῖρον τὸ ὀνομάζειν ὑπείληφας· οὐ γὰρ ἂν τὸν μὲν βαρύτατον ἀσέβημα εἰργασμένον ἐπεκούφιζες διημαρτηκόσιν ἐπιεικέστερον συντάττων, κατὰ δὲ τοῦ βραχύτερον ἠδικηκέναι δόξαντος τὴν ἀνωτάτω τιμωρίαν, θάνατον, ὥριζες. Ἀλλ’ ὡς ἔοικε „θεοῦ“ τὰ νῦν οὐχὶ τοῦ πρώτου καὶ γεννητοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι μέμνηται· ψευδώνυμοι δ’ εἰσὶ γραφέων καὶ πλαστῶν τέχναις δημιουργούμενοι· ξοάνων γὰρ καὶ ἀγαλμάτων καὶ τοιουτοτρόπων ἀφιδρυμάτων ἡ οἰκουμένη μεστὴ γέγονεν, ὧν τῆς βλασφημίας ἀνέχειν ἀναγκαῖον, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἐθίζηται τῶν Μωυσέως γνωρίμων συνόλως θεοῦ προσρήσεως ἀλογεῖν· ἀξιονικοτάτη γὰρ καὶ ἀξιέραστος ἡ κλῆσις. Εἰ δέ τις οὐ λέγω βλασφημήσειεν εἰς τὸν ἀνθρώπων καὶ θεῶν κύριον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τολμήσειεν ἀκαίρως αὐτοῦ φθέγξασθαι τοὔνομα, θάνατον ὑπομεινάτω τὴν δίκην.


But after the punishment of this impious murderer, a new commandment was enacted, which had never before been thought worthy of being reduced to writing; but unexpected innovations cause new laws to be devised for the repression of their evils. At all events, the following law was immediately introduced: “Whoever curses God shall be guilty of sin, and whoever names the name of the Lord shall die.” [Leviticus 24:15, 16] Well done, O all-wise man! You alone have drunk of the cup of unalloyed wisdom. You have seen that it was worse to name God than even to curse him; for you would never have treated lightly a man who had committed the heaviest of all impieties, and inflicted the heaviest punishment possible on those who committed the slightest faults; but you fixed death, which is the very greatest punishment imaginable, as the penalty for the man who appeared to have committed the heaviest crime. But, as it seems, he is not now speaking of that God who was the first being who had any existence, and the Father of the universe, but of those who are accounted gods in the different cities; and they are falsely called gods, being only made by the arts of painters and sculptors, for the whole inhabited world is full of statues and images, and erections of that kind, of whom it is necessary however to abstain from speaking ill, in order that no one of the disciples of Moses may ever become accustomed at all to treat the appellation of God with disrespect; for that name is always most deserving to obtain the victory, and is especially worthy of love. But if any one were, I will not say to blaspheme against the Lord of gods and men, but were even to dare to utter his name unseasonably, he must endure the punishment of death.


* Φίλων ο Ιουδαίος / Philo Judaeus,
Περί του Βίου Μωυσέως / De vita Mosis 2:203-206.
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