2001 - Dale C. Allison - Job in the Testament of Abraham

8/13/2019 2001 - Dale C. Allison - Job in the Testament of Abraham

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JOB IN THE TESTAMENTOFABRAHAM

Dale C.Allison, Jr

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh

PA 15206, USA

Abstract

Scholarship has not perceived the heavy dependence ofthe Testament ofAbraham upon the Tanakh. Much of the story, especially the first half,borrows phrases from Genesis 12-25, which it replays in creative ways. Butthe Testament is also greatly indebted to other portions of Scripture.Particularly important is the material borrowed from Job, which in factcreates aJob typology. Takentogether, the parallels betweenAbraham andJob put the Testament in an exegetical tradition, for Jewish sources fre-quently compare the two figures.

[JSP 12.2 (20M)iSSMW.)I-S2U7

The Scriptures in the Testament ofAbrahamE.P. Sanders has asserted that almost nothing of the Old Testamentappears in the Testament ofAbraham except the obvious references to

Abraham in Genesis, and James Charlesworth has cited his commentwith approval: As E. P. Sanders states, virtually nothing from the OldTestament is found in the Testament of Abraham, otherthan the obviousand relatively insignificant references which can be traced backto Gene-

sis?These

statements, however,need to be corrected.

It istrue that the

Testament of Abraham (hereafter Testament) quotes from Genesis rarely

1. E.P. Sanders, Testament of Abraham, inOTP, I, pp. 871-902 (879). He cites,from the long recension, 1.5; 3.6; 4.1.1; 6.4; 8.5-7; 11.12; 13.8.

2. James H. Charlesworth, In the Crucible: The Pseudepigrapha as Biblical Inter-pretation, in James H. Charlesworth and CraigA. Evans (ed.), The Pseudepigraphaand Early Biblical Interpretation (JSPSup, 14; Sheffield: SheffieldAcademic Press,1993), pp. 20-43 (35).@ The Continuum Publishing Group Ltd 2002, The Tower Building, 11York Road, London SEI 7NX and370 LexingtonAvenue, New York NY 10017, USA.

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and explicitly refers to episodes therein only occasionally. But explicitreference and quotation hardly exhaust the ways in which texts may inter-

act ; and careful examination of the Testament reveals that it constantlyalludes to and rewrites sections of the Tanakhh.

Table 1. The Parallelism of the Testament of Abraham 2-3and Genesis, Especially 18.1-8 (LXX)

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Consider, for example, chs. 2 and 3,whereAbraham entertains Michaelthe archangel,who has come down fromheaven to earth. The story clearly

replays the patriarchs past, especially Genesis 18, where he entertainsthree angels. Indeed, one could hardly ask for more extensive or obviousparallelism (see Table 1, opposite). This sort of dense, extended inter-textuality is hardly confined to chs. 2-3. Vast portions ofthe Testamentrewrite lines and episodes from Abrahams story as told in Genesis 12-25.But Genesis is not the only scriptural subtext. Consider, for instance,Abrahams prayer in ch. 9:

I beg you, Commander-in-chief of the upper powers, since you did notdeem it altogetherunworthy to come daily to me, sinner and yourunworthysupplicant, I plead with you again now, Commander-in-chief, to serve meyet once before the Most High, and to speak to him as follows: Thus saysAbraham, &dquo;Lord, lord, every task andword which I have asked of you, youhave done, and you have given to me according to my heart and havefulfilled all my will.And now Lord, I do not resist your might, for I knowthat I will not be immortal but mortal. Since then at your command all

thingssubmit and shudder and tremble before your power, I too am afraid.

One more request I nonetheless request of you.And now, Master Lord, hearmy prayer. While I am yet in this body I wish to see all the inhabited earthand all the things made, which you established through one word, Master;

and after I have seen these things, then I shall not grieve when I depart from(this) life

This, like Jon. 2.2-9 and so many other Jewish prayers,4 is built largelyout of scriptural phrases, as one can see at a glance:

1. Lord, lord--KUpts xupte: this address appears often in LXXprayers: Deut. 3.24; 9.26; Judg.A 6.22,28; 3 Bas. 8.53;1 Chron.17.24; Est. 4.17b ; 2 Macc. 1.24; 3 Macc. 2.2 ; Pss. 68.7; 108.21;129.3; 139.8; 140.8;Amos 7.2, 5; Jer. 28.62; Ezek. 21.5.

2. ...you have given to me according to my heart and have ful-filled all my will&horbar;eScoxa~ pot KaTa TIl5 Kapa5 pou KcdTraoav Tiv ~3ou?~riv J..lOU 1T~p)oa5: this is from LXX Ps. 19.5~

5(jpr)OOt KaTa

TTjV Kap5iavoou Kat Traoav

TTjV j~ouX~voou

rr3~rlp~aQa l .

3. My translation, as elsewhere, basedupon the critical edition of Francis Schmidt,Le Testament grec dAbraham: Introduction, dition critique des deux recensionsgrecques, traduction (Tbingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1986).

4. Judith H. Newman, Praying by the Book: The Scripturalization of Prayer inSecond Temple Judaism (SBLEJL, 14;Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999).

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3. Andnow Lord*&horbar;KO~wv KUptE: this formulaoccurs 20times inthe LXX,most often in Kings (3 Bas. 3.7; 8.25, 26; 4Bas.19.19;

etc.).4. ~ .. all things...shudder 1U1d tremble before your power&dquo;&horbar;TTOfv-T


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4 Bas. 2.24 ~~6ov + bears + EK TO 6pB1~o + Km +maul + ~~ cn1Tc2Jv

r.Abr. 10.6 ~6CA1atV + beasts + EK rdu 6pu~o + KCX( +verb devour + a~TOUs

T.Abr. 10.7 ~Tt60v + beasts + EK TOO 6pupoo + Mat+verb devour + CXTOS-

As fbrv. 9, it evokes the splitting of the earth inNumbers 16, which relatesthe dramatic andmemorable punishment that comes uponKoran, Daman,andAbiram and their followers :

LXX Num. 16.30 svot~aoa ~ yil... KCXTcx1TsTal auTou?

LXX Num. 16.32 ~voxT1 ~ yil Kcxl KCXT1TISV CXTOSLXX Dent. 11.6 avo~aoa T} yn...KaTETTtEv aTOSLXX Ps. 105.17 ~vo(X61l ~ Y1 Kal KaTETTtEv

T.Abr. 10.9a xvu ~ Y1 Ken KaTa1Tu aTos

r.Abr. 10.9b Eot~a6p rt Y1 Kal MtTEmEV auTOUsAnd the scriptural subtext for v. 11is manifestly 2 Kgs 1.10-12, whereElijah summons heavenly fire to consume two companies of soldiers:

4 Bas. 1.10 KaTa(3TosTcxl1TP EK TO oupacvov KalKcxTcx4>ysTal + objectKCXT(3ll mip EX TO opavo KalKcxTE4>YEV + object

4 Bas. 1.12 Ktna(3ToETal wp EK TO opavo KalKaTaysv + object

TAbr. 10.11I KaT6-a 1Tp EK TO ovpavov KalKaTcx4>yT)Tal + objectKcxTIl6sv Trup EK Tou oupavou Kal

KaTE4>YEV+

objectSo whenAbraham calls down his three judgments, readers sense ~~~~ VM.In one case he is like Elisha. In another he is like Moses. In yet anotherheis like Elijah.5

5. See further my article, Rejecting Violent Judgment: Luke 9.52-56 and ItsRetatives,JBL 121 (2002), pp. 459-78.

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Despite Sanderss assertion that very little ofthe Tanakh appears in theTestament, the Bible is, if one looks closer, and as these examples

intimate, almost everywhere present, albeit often subtly.6 The subject ofthis article is not, however, the Testaments use ofthe Bible in general butrather its interaction with one book in particular&horbar;namely. Job. Scholars,in missing the Testaments heavy scriptural intertextuality,have also over-looked the importance ofthe oblique references to Job. He is mentionedby name only once (15.15). Yet he and his book have made no smallcontribution to the content and structure ofthe Testament.

Job in the Testament ofAbraham

The Testament, as just indicated, mentionsJob once.At the end of ch. 15,after Michael has become wholly frustrated in the attempt to escortAbra-ham willingly to the next world, the archangel ascends toheavenand saysto God:

I shrink from touching him because he has been your friend from the

beginning, and all that is pleasing before youhehas done.And there is notaperson like to him on the earth, not even Job,the wondrous man.And so Ishrink from touching this one. Command, immortal king, what is to bedone. (15.14-15)

There is, admittedly, a textual variant here. While MSS B and Q haveICAJ(3,A has laKCAJ(3.8 But there can be little doubt that Job is original.While some ancient sources make Abraham and Job contemporaries,9

6. For the intriguing case that the judgment scene in chs. 11-13 depends in partupon Dan. 7, see Phillip B. Munoa, Four Powers in Heaven: The Interpretation ofDaniel 7 in the Testament of Abraham (JSPSup, 28; Sheffield: SheffieldAcademicPress, 1998).

7. &ogr;&uacgr; &aacgr; l&OHacgr; = not even Job. For the meaning see Mathias Delcor, LeTestamentdAbraham: Introduction, Traduction du Texte Grec et Commentaire de laRecension Grecque Longue (SVTP, 2; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1973), pp. 48-49.

8. MSS B G H I and J are all deficient here because they either omit the entire

second half of v. 15 (so G and J) or lack the relevant clause (so H and I, the latterclearly due to homoioteleuton).9. Job was variously dated. Many thought thathemarried Jacobs daughter and so

lived at the end of the patriarchal period (cf. LXX Job 42.17b; LAB 8.8; Targ. Ps.-J. onGen. 36.11; Eusebius, Dem. ev. 1.6; Chrysostom, Exp. in Job Preface [Ursula andDieter Hagedorn [eds.],Johannes Chrysostom Kommentaryzu Hiob [Patristiche Texteund Studien, 35; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1990], p. 1]; Job was sometimes equated withthe Jobab ofGen. 36.33-34, as in T. Job 1.1). Others put him in the time of Moses (e.g.R. Joshua b. Levi b. Lahma in b. B. Bat. 15a; cf. b. Sot. 11a) or even later (see further




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Jacob was, according to the biblical chronology, a scant 15 years old whenAbraham died,~ and the narratives of grandfather and grandson do not

overlap,&dquo;so a comparison ofthem would be strange. More importantly,the language of T.Abr. 15.14-15 is clearly based upon the book of Job:

T.Abr. 15.15 ouK~6Tm av8pcarros l10105 auTOU TTI T15yrl5

LXX Job 1.8A OUKeOTm av6pMTTo? I10105 auTM TMV EmTTJ5 yTJ5

LXX Job 2.3A OK OTIV KaT aUTOV T6V Em T15 y~js,O:V6pCTT05 I10105 aTC~12

The overlap with Job extends further because Michael hesitates to touch(Tou a~ao6at, bis)Abraham. TTTW, with the meaning, contact in orderto harm, is the verb LXX Job uses to describe the afflicting ofits hero, par-ticularly near the books beginning ( 1.11, 12, 19; 2.5; 19.21 ). Obviously15.15 has been composed with Job, not Jacob, in mind.The synkrisis ofAbraham and Job, which we shall see below was con-

ventional, is in the formers favor. He is exalted over Job, however greatthe latter may be. But before asking how this comparison contributes tothe meaning of the book, other parallels between the two figures need tobe exposed.

In ch. 4, in another conversation between Michael and God, the arch-

angel has this to say:

Lord, Lord, may your sovereignty know that I am unable to proclaim the

notice ofdeath to that just man. For I have not seen a person like him on theearth-merciful and hospitable, just, truthful, God-fearing, abstaining from

b. B. Bat. 15a-b). But according to Simeon b. Lakish in Bar Kapparas name in y. Sot.5.6, Job was a contemporary ofAbraham. This opinion also appears in Tanhuma BNumbers, Shelah 27; Gen. R. 57.4;Apost. Const. 8.5.11-12; 8.12.63-64 (these pre-sumably reflect a Jewish Urtext); and Jerome, Quaest. in Gen. on 22.20-22; cf. Cyprian,Ep. 75.3. Does this last tradition presuppose the identification ofJob = Jobab with the

Jobab ofGen. 10.29especially as Uz (cf. Job 1.1) is mentioned in the nearby 10.23?In any case, 4QpaleoJobc, written in archaic paleo-Hebrew script, is evidence thatsomeone at Qumran thought the book to be ofvery great antiquity.

10. Abrahamwas 100 when Isaac was born (Gen. 21.5).Abraham died at 175 (Gen.25.7). Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born (Gen. 25.26).

11. This also holds for extracanonical materials, with only a few exceptions, suchas b. B. Bat. 16b, which has Jacob comfort Isaac uponAbrahams death.

12. LXX Job 1.8 B S (&ogr;&uacgr; &eacgr; &uacgr;&oacgr; &wcirc; &eacgr;&iacgr; s s) and 2.3 (&ogr;&uacgr; &eacgr; &uacgr;&ogr; &iacgr; ς ς, &thetas;&ogr;ς) are also close.

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every evil deed.And now know. Lord, that I am unable to proclaim thenotice of death ? that just man. (5~6)

Again Michaels words are built upon lines that introduce and charac-terize Job, lines that are repeated in LXX Job 1 and 2. &dquo;That just man&dquo;,nat...a person on the earth, justa trustworthy. God-fearing, and ab-staining from every evil are all from Job 1.1,8, and 2.3-the latter twobeing the very same verses behind 7&dquo;.Abr. 15.15 (see above) :

T.Abr. 4.6 rbv ~~ ~a t avJob 1.1I omono?

r.Abr. 4.6 avSpof KSKOVJob 1.1I 0 ~cv8pra~ro~ KEVOSr.Abr. 4.6 OK SlOOV sm TI5 yT)S avQpMTrof JlotOV

CXTOLXX Job 1.8A ouxEOTtv v6pCuos JlGIOS auTcj Em TIts- rT1SLXX Job 2.3A OUKEOTtV...ETTt Trjs yT}s, ~cv8pwno~ POt05

aUTM

T.Abr. 4.6 a1JlOVCX Kat (})tX6~vovJob &horbar;&horbar;&horbar;

T.Abr. 4.6 r6tvV, EOOS(31Job 1.1I aX~vcs~..6Eooe~yJob 1.8 aXT}(hp6~ soosl31sJob 2.3 rtVs... soosl31sT.Abr. 4.6 aTTE)(o~Evov atro trCXVTOs- TrOB1l1PO upYJlCXTOSJob 1.1I

CxmXllvosawo

UCXVTs- ~ovr~pov npaypaTC~Job 1.8 ans~o~csvas a~ro lTCXVTs lTovrpo rrpay~aa-ro~Job 2.3 lTsXJlsVOS OtTTO UCXVTOS KaOU

The lines from Job must havebeen, incidentally, very well known. Job 1.1Iopens the book, 1.8 and 2.3 repeat its content, and the three verses arequoted elsewhere as summary descriptions of Job. 13

Interestingly enough, b. B. Bat. 15b, just like r.Abr. 4.6, associatesAbraham with Job 1.8 and 2.3 :

13. E.g.1 Clem. 17.3; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 4.17; 7.13; Origen,Fr.

in Lc.

222 (M. Rauer [ed.], DieHomilien zu Lukas in der bersetzung desHieronymus unddie griechischen Reste der Homilien und des Lukas-Kommentars [Griechischenchristlichen Schriftsteller, 35; Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs], p. 323); Cyprian, Mort. 10;Eusebius,Praep. ev. 7.8;Chrysostom,Hom. 1-67 in Gen. 23.12(4) PG 53.202;m. Sot.5.5;ARNA 2; b. B. Bat. 15b; Exod. R. 21.7; Num. R. 22.1.

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Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselvesbefore the Lord, and Satan came also among them.And the Lord said unto

Satan, whence come you?And Satan answered, etc. He addressed me HolyOne, blessed be He, thus: Sovereign of the Universe, I have traversed thewhole world and found none so faithful as your servantAbraham

Furthermore, rabbinic traditionnamesAbrahamandJob as among the fewknown as God-fearers14 whereas T.Abr. 4.6 describesAbraham as 6eo-

ae(3~s by borrowing precisely from Job 1.1, 8; and 2.3. Unless it hassomehow inftuenced b. B. Bat. 15b, itwould seem that, inborrowing fromJob 1-2 in order tocharacterizeAbraham the Testamentpreserves a tradi-tional haggadic move.

Table 2. ?%e ParaMelism of the Testament ofAbraham ]-$ and Job (Lxr)

14. See Tanh. B, Wayyikra1.15, and Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (7vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society ofAmerica, 1947), V, p. 361n. 332.




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names by God (Job was once, according to legend, Jobab).20And bothwere remembered as paragons ofphilanthropy.2 Further, if Job suffered

terribly,Abrahamwas widely remembered as onewho had himself under-gone very difficult trials.22 Not only hadhe been tested by theAkedah, butconvention eventually came to hold that Abraham our father, mayherestin peace, was tested ten times (m. Ab. 5.3).~ Perhaps the number tenitself owes something to a comparison with Job, for in Job 19.3 we read:These ten times you have cast reproach upon me. However that may be,it is not surprising, given the parallels, that the Testament is far from

beingthe

onlytext to linkAbraham and Job.

b. B. Bat. 15a-16b contains a long discussion ofJob and the book thatbears his name. When was Job written? Who wrote it? Did Job believe inthe resurrection? Is his story historical or was he perhaps a fictional char-acter ? Scattered throughout the arguments are several comparisons of JobwithAbraham.

1. In a retelling of Job 1.7-8, Satan says to God, I have traversedthe whole world and found none so faithful as your servant

Abraham, to which God replies, Have you consideredmy ser-vant Job ? For there is none like him on the earth (b. B. Bat.15b).

(1) making him hail from the land of Uz; (2) failing to give him a genealogy; and (3)omitting any reference in Job to Israels history.

19. ForAbraham as king, see LXX Gen. 23.6; Philo,Abr. 261; Virt. 216; Josephus,Ant. 1.159 (quoting Nicolaus ofDamascus); Gen. R. 43.5. For Job as king see LXX Job42.17;Aristeas the ExegeteapudEusebius,Praep. ev. 9.25.3; T. Job 28.7; 29.3-4; 31.1.

20. For this similarity see Olympiodorus ofAlexandria, Job ad 42.17b (ed.Hagedorn, p. 396), and cf. Jacobs, Literary Motifs, pp. 8-9, andAnnette JoshikoReed, Job as Jobab: The Interpretation ofJob in LXX Job 42.17b-e, JBL 120 (2001),pp. 31-55 (51). For the change in Jobs name see T. Job 2.1 (Now I used to be Jobabbefore the Lord named me Job); cf. LXX Job 42.17;Aristeas the Exegete apudEusebius, Praep. ev. 9.25.3.

21. See nn. 16 and 17 (above) and cf. Chrysostom, Exp. in Job ad 1.3 (ed.Hagedorn, pp. 5-6).

22. Cf. Tanh. B Numbers, Shelah 27; Didymus the Blind, Job preface (A. Henrichs[ed.], Didymos der Blinde: Kommentary zu Hiob [Tura-Papyrus]

.

I. Kommentar zu

Hiob Kap. 1-4 [Papyrologische Texte undAbhandlungen, 1; Bonn: Rudolf Habelt,1968], p. 40). LXX Gen. 22.1 uses of the sacrifice of Isaac, andwhile neitherthis verb nor ς appears in LXX Job, they are naturally used of him elsewhere;e.g., Aristeas the Exegete apud Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.25.3; Olympiodorus of

Alexandria, Job Hypothesis; ad 1.7 (ed. Hagedorn, pp. 4, 17).23. See further Jdt. 8.25-27; Ecclus 44.19-21; 1 Macc. 2.51-52; Jub. 17.17-18;

19.2-3, 8;ARN A 34, B 37; etc.

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2. The same exchange appears in 16a, rewriting Job 2.2-3 (seeabove).

3. R- Johanan, we are told, said, Greater praise is accordedto Jobthan toAbraham. For of Abraham it is written, &dquo;Farnow I knowthat you fear God&dquo; (Gen. 22.12), whereas of Job it is written,That man was perfect and upright and one that feared Godandeschewed evil&dquo; (Job 1.1). The idea seem to be thatAbrahamhad to prove his fear ofGod whereas Job had such fear fromthe

beginning (b. B. Bat. 15b)

Documents

2001 - Dale C. Allison - Job in the Testament of Abraham