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There are six references to the diaspora in the LXX, namely, in Deut. 28: 25;
30: 4; Neh. 1: 9; Psa. 146: 2 (147: 2 A.V.); Isa. 49: 6; Jer. 41: 17. The first
reference is a consequence of the curse pronounced from Mount Ebal upon disobedience
to the commandments of the Lord.
"The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one
way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed (thou shalt be
a dispersion, LXX) into all the kingdoms of the earth."
Here, in this first occurrence, we have the root cause of all the dispersions of Israel
that follow, and in the next reference we find the germ of all the promises of their final
restoration; we quote direct from the LXX of Deut. 30: 4:
"If thy dispersion (diaspora) be from one end of heaven to the other, thence will the
Lord thy God gather thee, and thence will the Lord thy God take thee" (Deut. 30: 4).
This passage from Deut. 30: 4 is remembered by Nehemiah in his prayer, as
recorded in Neh. 1: 9:
"But if ye turn unto Me, and keep My commandments, and do them; though there
were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of heaven, yet will I gather them from
thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set My name there"
(Neh. 1: 9).
Here the words "cast out" are diaspora in the 70:
Psa. 146: 2 (LXX)
147: 2 (A.V.) reads:
"The Lord doth built up Jerusalem: He gathereth together the outcasts (the diaspora)
of Israel."
Where the A.V. of Isa. 49: 6 reads:
"It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and
restore the preserved (margin or desolations) of Israel."
"It is a great thing for thee to be called My servant, to establish the tribes of Jacob, and
recover the dispersion (diaspora) of Israel." (Isa. 49: 6 LXX).
Jer. 41: 17 in the LXX is Jer. 34: 17 in the A.V. It would take too long to explain
the reason for this, and it has not bearing upon the present study. So we proceed with our
quotations:
"Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto Me, in proclaiming
liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I will proclaim
a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine, and I
will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth" (Jer. 34: 17 A.V.).
Here once again the LXX reads "I will give you up to dispersion".
We must return to these references to discover their testimony concerning Israel's
defection, but before we do so, we must consider the use of the verb "to scatter",
namely the Greek word diaspeiro. The word occurs three times in the N.T., namely in
Acts 8: 1, 4 and 11: 19, where we read of the "scattering" that followed the