Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age Old Testament Library

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J E W I S H W I S D O M

I N T H E H E L L E N I S T I C A G E



T HE OL D T E S T A ME N T L I B R A R Y

Editorial Advisory Board

J A M E S L . M A Y S

C A R O L A . N E W S O M

D A V I D L . P E T E R S E N



John J. Collins

JEWISH W ISDOM

IN THE

HELLENISTIC AGE

Westminster John Knox Press

Louisville, Kentucky



© 1997 John J. Collins

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Scripture quotations from the N ew R evis ed Standard Ver sion of the Bib le are copyright

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of

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of Christ in the U.S .A . and are used by permission.

Book design by Jennifer

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Published by Westm inster John Kn ox Press

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printed on acid-free paper that meets the A me rican N ational Standards In

sti tute Z39.48 standard.®

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THE UNITED STATES OF AM ERICA

97

98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Li b ra ry of Con gress Cataloging-in-Publication Da ta

Collins, John Joseph, date.

Jewish wisdom

in

the Hellenistic age

/

John J. Co llins.

—

1st ed.

p.

cm. —

(The O ld Testam ent l ibrary)

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISB N 0 -664 -22109-2

1.

Bible. O.T. Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus—Criticism,

interpretation, e tc. 2. Bible. O.T. Apocrypha. Wisdom of

Solomon—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

3.

Pseudo-Phocyl ides—

Criticism and interpretation.

4.

W isdom— Bibl ica l teaching .

5. Hel lenism I. Title. II. Series.

B S1765 .2 .C65

1997

2 2 9 ' . 3 0 6 - d c 2 1 9 7 - 2 0 1 0 2



In memory o f my fa ther , John Col l ins

1 9 1 2 - 1 9 9 6

4Q416 2 . i i i . 16





CONTENTS

Acknowl edgmen t s i x

Abbrevia t ions x

Ch apte r 1 . W here I s W isdo m to Be Fo und ? 1

P A R T O N E .

H E B R E W W I S D O M 21

Ch apter 2 . Be n Sira in His H el lenis t ic Co ntext 23

Cha pte r 3 . W isdo m and the La w 42

Ch apte r 4 . Ben Si ra ' s Eth ics 62

Ch apter 5 . Th e Pro blem of Ev i l and the Just ice of G od 80

Ch apter 6 . Th e His tory and D est iny of Israel 97

Ch apte r 7 . W isdo m in the D ead Sea Scro l ls 112

P A R T T W O .

W I S D O M I N T H E H E L L E N IS T IC D I A S P O R A

133

C hap ter 8 . Th e D iaspo ra Set t ing 135

C hap ter 9 . Jew ish Ethics in He l lenis t ic D ress :

Th e Sentences of Pseud o-Pho cyl ides 158

Ch apte r 10 . W isdo m and Imm or ta l ity 178



V I I I

Contents

Chap ter 11 . W isdo m and the Co sm os 196

Chap t e r 12 . Ep i l ogue : F rom Hebrew W i sdom

to Gree k Phi losophy 222

Bibl iography 233

Index of Passa ges 257

Index of Au thors 271



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to exp ress m y grat i tude to Daniel J . H arr ington , S.J ., for graciously p ro

v id ing me w i th a copy of h is m anuscr ip t on "W isdo m in the D ead S ea Scro l l s"

pr ior to publ icat ion; to Torle i f Elgvin for giving me access to several unpub

l ished ar tic les on 4QS apien t ia l W ork A ; and to Frede r ick Bren k, S.J ., G rego ry

Ster l ing, and Gideon Bohak for bibl iographic informat ion on the s ta tus of the

Jewish communi t i es in Egypt . Shannon Burkes read the manuscr ip t and made

several helpful observat ions . Brenda Shaver prepared the bibl iography and

helped wi th the indexes .



ABBREVIATIONS

A B

Anchor B i b l e

ABD

D .

N . F r eedm an , ed .,

Anchor Bible Dictionary

(1992)

A n B i b

Analecta bibl ica

ANET

J . B. Pr i tchard, ed. ,

Ancient N ear Eastern Texts

ANRW

H. Tem por i n i and W. Haa se , eds . , Aufstieg un d Niedergang der

romischen Welt ( 1 9 7 2 - )

APOT R. H. Char les , ed. , Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old

Testament

AR W Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft

BA R Biblical Archaeologist Reader

BE TL Bi b l i o theca ephem er i dum t heo log i ca rum l ovan i ensi um

BIB

Biblica

Bi bS

Bibl i sche Studien (F: Fre iburg ; N: N euki rchen)

BN

Biblische Notizen

BTB

Biblical Theology Bulletin

BZ

Biblische Zeitschrift

BZ A W Be i hef te zu r ZAW

B Z N W

Beihef te zur ZNW

CBQ

Catholic Biblical Qu arterly

C B Q M S Cathol ic Bib l i ca l Qu ar te r ly M ono graph Ser ies

CIJ Corpus Inscr ip t ionum Juda icarum

CPJ

Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum

C R I N T

Co m pen dia re rum iuda icarum acf nov um tes tamen tum

DBSup

Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplem ent

DJD

Discoveries in the Judaean Desert

EncJu d Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971)

ETL

Ephem erides theologicae lovanienses

ExpTim Expository Times

FOTL

Th e Form s of the Old Tes tam ent Li te ra ture

Fs.

Festschrif t

H A T

Handbuch zum Al t en Tes t amen t

HR

History of Religions



Abbreviations

xi

HTR

Harvard Theological Review

HUCA

Hebrew Union College Annual

Int

Interpretation

JAAR Journal of the Am erican Academ y of Religion

JANESCU

Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia Uni

versity

JBL

Journal of Biblical Literature

JJS

Journal of Jewish Studies

JQR

Jewish Quarterly Review

JRE

Journal of Religious Ethics

J S H R Z

Judische Schr i f ten aus hel lenis t i sch-romischer Zei t

JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and

Roman Periods

J S O T S u p

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Ser ies

JTS

Journal of Theological Studies

L C L

Loeb Class ical Library

L D

Lect io divina

NovT

Novum Testamentum

NRT

La nouvelle revue thtologique

NTS New Testament Studies

O B O

Orbis biblicus et orientalis

O T L

Old Tes tament Libra ry

OTP

J . H . C har les wo rth, ed. , The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

OTS

Oudtestamentische Studien

PEQ

Palestine Exploration Qua rterly

PWRE

P a u l y - W i s s o w a , Real-Encyclopadie der classischen

Alter-

tumswissenschaft

RAC Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum

RB

Revue biblique

RevQ

Revue de Qumran

RHR

Revue de Vhistoire des religions

RSR

Recherches de science religieuse

RTL

Revue de theologie et de philosophic

S B L

Society of Bibl ical Li terature

S B L D S

SBL Disser ta t ion Ser ies

S B L M S SBL Monograph Se r i e s

S B L S B S

SBL Sources for Bibl ical Study

S B L S P

SB L Semi na r Pape r s

SCS

Septuagin t and Cognate S tudies

SVF

H. von Arn i m, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta ( 1 9 0 3 - )



xii

Abbreviations

TDNT

G. Ki t te l and G. Fr iedr ich, eds . ,

Theological Dictionary of the

New Testament

TLZ

Theologische Literaturzeitung

VT Vetus Testamentum

V T S u p

Ve t us Tes t amen t um , Supp l emen t s

W B C

World Bib l ica l Commentary

W M A N T

Wissenschaf t li che M onog raphien zum Al ten und Ne uen T es ta

ment

W U N T

Wissenschaf t l i che Untersuchungen zum Neuen Tes tament

ZAW

Zeitschrift fur die alttestamen tliche W issenschaft

ZNW

Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche W issenschaft

ZTK Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche



Chapter 1.

W h e r e Is W i s d o m t o B e F o u n d ?

The category of wisdom l i tera ture is ident i f ied in modern scholarship pr imar

i ly wi th the book s of Pro verb s , Q ohe leth, and Job in the H ebr ew B ible , and the

apocryphal or deuterocanonical books of Ben Sira (Eccles ias t icus) and the

Wisdom of Solomon. The reason for the des igna t ion "wisdom l i t e ra ture" i s

s imp le eno ugh : m ore than hal f the occu rrence s in the H ebre w B ible of the wo rd

hokmdh, wisdom, a re found in Proverbs , Qohele th , and Job ,

1

whi le the Greek

equiva len t ,

sophia,

is found m ore than a hu ndre d t ime s in Be n Sira and the

W i s d o m o f S o l o m o n .

2

Other wisdom l i tera ture f rom the ancient Near East i s

ident i f ied by analogy wi th these books. Like most t radi t ional scholar ly cate

gor ies , however , "wisdom" is not ident i f ied by a systemat ic l i terary analysis ,

but i s an impress ionis t ic , intui t ive grouping of books that seem to have some

thing in common. Those who have a t tempted to def ine jus t what they have in

common have found the task surpr is ingly di f f icul t .

3

Wisdom l i tera ture has cer

tain typical l i terary forms, such as the proverb and instruction, but i t is i tself a

macro-genre that embraces several l i terary forms. In the Hebrew Bible , wis

dom is character ized by a par t icular view of the world or theological perspec

t ive . Th at perspe ct ive , how eve r , chan ges ov er t ime, and there is a vast di ffer

ence be tween Qohele th ' s v iew of the wor ld and tha t o f the Wisdom of

S o l o m o n .

4

Wisdom, in shor t , i s a t radi t ion, held together by cer ta in family

resemblances ra ther than by a constant essence. In this book we are concerned

with a segment of that t radi t ion, Jewish wisdom in the Hel lenis t ic age, as

1. The w ord occurs in som e form 31 8 t imes in the Hebrew Bible , and 183 of these occurrences

are in the three wisdom books. See R. E. Murphy, "Wisdom in the OT,"

AB D

6 (1992) 920 .

2. Th e root soph- in its various forms (noun , adjective, and verb) occurs alm ost a hundred tim es

in Ben Sira alone. See A. A. DiLel la , "The Meaning of Wisdom in Ben Sira," in L. G. Perdue,

B. B. Scott , and W. J . Wiseman, eds . , In Search of Wisdom (Lou isvi l le , Ky.: W estminster John

Knox, 1993) 133.

3.

R. N. Whybray, "Sl ippery Words. IV. Wisdom," ExpTim 89 (1978) 35 9- 62 ; J . L. Crenshaw,

"The Wis do m Literature," in D . A. K night and G. M. Tucker, eds . , The Hebrew Bible and Its Mod

ern Interpreters

(Phi ladelphia: Fortress , 1985) 36 9- 40 7.

4 .

H. H. Schmid , Wesen und Geschichte der W eisheit (B Z AW 101; Berl in: de Gruyter , 1966)

was one of the first to draw attention to the diachronic aspects of wisdom literature in all its an

cient Near Eastern manifestations.



2

Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age

represented pr imar i ly by Ben S i ra and the W isdo m of Solom on. In order to un

ders tand the se wri t ings , how eve r , it i s nece ssary to have som e grasp of the lon g

tradi t ion to which they were hei rs and on which they bui l t .

W i s d o m i n P r o v e r b s

A nyo ne w ho reads the boo k of Proverbs in the contex t o f the Hebre w Bib le

cannot fa i l to be s t ruck by the contras t wi th the Torah and the Prophets . From

a l i terary point of view, Proverbs is nei ther narrat ive nor law nor prophecy.

Neither is i t l i turgical poetry such as we find in Psalms. The greater part of the

bo ok (ch apters 10 to 30) i s a col lect ion of sentences that are som et im es s t rung

toge ther by ca tchw ords or a com m on th em e, bu t on the wh ole defy cont inuous

reading. These sentences are e i ther s imple declarat ive s ta tements , asser t ing

tha t som eth ing i s the case , o r com m and s or prohib i t ions , wh ich a re som et imes ,

but no t a lways , accompanied by explana tory s ta tements .

5

In Proverbs 1-9 and

again in chapter 31 we f ind longer , more developed ins t ruct ions , which s t i l l

contain a m ixture of imp erat ives and declarat ive asser t ions . Th e di rect , seco nd-

person form of address i s character is t ic of this mater ia l . Unl ike the prophets ,

the sage does not address the nat ion as a whole but the individual person, typ

ical ly "m y son ." T he address i s author i ta t ive , but it has nei ther the force of law

nor the veh em enc e of the prop het ic oracle . Th e author i ty to w hich i t lays c la im

is that of the accumulated wisdom of parents and t radi t ion.

6

The typical sapi

ent ia l a t t i tude is ar t iculated nicely by Bi ldad the Shuhi te in the book of Job:

"Inqui re now of bygone genera t ions , and cons ider what the i r ances tors have

found; for w e are bu t of yesterday , and we kno w n othing , for our days on ea r th

are bu t a sha dow " ( Job 8 :8-1 0) .

The subject mat ter of Proverbs a lso s tands in sharp contras t to most of the

bibl ica l t radi t ion . T he peo ple of Israe l and i t s his tory an d dest iny are not ev en

ment ioned. The focus here is on the l i fe of the individual and the family.

Nothing is sa id of a revelat ion in his tory or of mighty acts of del iverance

f rom Egypt . Nei ther i s there any ment ion of Moses or the covenanta l l aw.

The sage does no t c la im d iv ine insp i ra t ion in the manner of a prophe t , nor

does he repor t v i s ionary exper iences . The subjec t mat te r i s d rawn f rom

everyday l i fe , and should in pr inc ip le be access ib le to anyone . One might

speak of a reve la t ion of wis do m in Prove rbs , chapte r 8 , w here w isdo m i s sa id

to ca l l ou t "on the he ight s , bes ide the way, a t the c ross roads ." This reve la

t ion , however , does no t requi re ex t raord inary exper iences such as v i s ions ,

5. R. E. Murphy, Wisdom Literature: Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Canticles, Ecclesiastes and E sther

(FOT L 1 3; Grand Rapids: Eerdm ans, 1981 ) 4 -6 . G. von Rad,

Wisdom in Israel

(Nashv i l l e : Abing

don, 19 72) 24 -5 0, g iv es a more com plete inventory of "the forms in wh ich wisd om is expressed."

6. J. L. Crensh aw , "W isdo m and Authority: Sap iential Rhetoric and Its Warrants," in

J.

A. Emer-

ton, ed., Congress Volume: V ienna, 1980 (VT Sup 32; Le iden: Br i ll , 1981) 1 0 -2 9 .



Where Is W isdom to Be Found? 3

but ra ther the a t t en t ive observa t ion of everyday exper ience and , above a l l ,

deference to t radi t ion.

Th ere has bee n a long-s tand ing deb a te as to wh ether the w isdo m t rad i tion

preserved in Proverbs w as or ig ina l ly secula r in charac te r . Som e schola rs ha ve

drawn a sharp d i s t inc t ion be tween "o ld wisdom," which i s " th i s -wor ld ly and

has no commitment to e th ica l va lues" and another s t rand tha t was " t rans

formed throu gh i t s subject ion to dis t inct ively Israel i te re l igiou s and ethical in

s i gh t s . "

7

There i s an und eniab le cont ras t be tw een the hardh eaded prag m at i sm

of some say ings (e .g . , 22 :26-27: "Do not be one of those who g ive p ledges ,

who become sure ty for debt s . I f you have noth ing wi th which to pay , why

should your bed be t aken f rom under you?") and the doc t r ina i re p ie t i sm of

others (e .g . , 10 :3: "T he Lo rd doe s not le t the righteo us go hun gry , but h e

thwarts the craving of the wicked") . Whether this contras t can be t ransla ted

into a di f ferent ia t ion of s tages , however , remains disputed. In the book as we

have i t " the rules of wisdom cover a l l areas of l i fe f rom a perspect ive that i s

u l ti ma t e ly r e l i g i ou s . "

8

I t i s doubtful whether any l i tera ture f rom the ancient

Near East can real ly be descr ibed as secular . But even i f the pragmat ic "old

wisdom" also res ts on re l igious supposi t ions , i t i s reasonable to suppose that

the doc tr inai re a t t i tude of a saying l ike Prov . 10:3 repres ents a dis t inct red ac-

t ional s tage in the dev elo pm en t of the col lect ion. W e shal l cer ta inly f ind that

the l a te r wisdom t rad i t ion was increas ingly in f luenced by covenanta l Yah-

wism. I t i s not unl ikely that such inf luence can al ready be detected wi thin the

book of Proverbs .

On the whole , however , what i s mos t s t r ik ing about the book of Proverbs

is i t s dis t inct iveness in the context of bibl ical Yahwism. There is , to be sure ,

coherence wi th the res t of the bibl ical t radi t ion in s ignif icant respects .

9

W i s

dom theology is creat ion theology, and is therefore based on a fundamental

presuppos i t ion of I s rae l i t e re l ig ion .

1 0

There is an under lying s imilar i ty be

tween proverb ia l w isdo m and cove nanta l Y ah w ism insofar as bo th pos i t a sys

tem of re t r ibu t ion . Proverb ia l wisdom pos i t s a cha in of ac t and consequence ,

7 . W. McKane ,

Prophets and Wise Men

(London: SCM , 1965) 15. Cf . H. Gressmann, "Die

neugefundene Lehre des Amenemope und die vorexi l ische Spruchdichtung Israels ," ZAW 41

(1924) 289-91; J . F ichtner , Die altorientalische Weisheit in ihrer israelitischjudischen Auspra-

gung

(BZAW 62; Berl in: de Gruyter , 1933) 13-59. The most e laborate defense of this dist inct ion

is found in the commentary of W. McKane, Proverbs: A New Approach (Phi ladelphia: W estm in

ster, 1970 ). McK an e argues that several terms that hav e a posit ive se nse in "old w isd om " are eva l

uated negatively in the more overt ly re l ig ious proverbs (pp. 1 7- 18 ) .

8 . Murphy, "Wisdom in the OT," 922. See further idem, The Tree of Life: An Exploration of

Biblical Wisdom Literature

(Ne w York: Doubleday , 1990) .

9 . J. J . Co l l ins , "Proverbial Wi sdo m and the Yah wist V is ion," Semeia 17 (19 80) 1 -17 .

10. R. E. Murphy, "Wisdom and Creation," J BL 104 (1985) 3 -11; L. G. Perdue , Wisdom and

Creation: The Theology of Wisdom Literature

(Nash vi l le: Ab ingdon , 1994) .



4


which i s se t in mot ion by the c rea tor .

1 1

God is the guarantor of this system,

but his role i s l ike that of a midwife . No miraculous interference is needed.

"Whoever sows in jus t i ce wi l l r eap ca lami ty" (Prov . 22 :8) jus t as sure ly as

w hoe ver sow s the seed wi ll r eap the gra in . Co vena nta l Yah w ism a l so assum es

tha t ac t ions have the i r con seq uen ces , bu t it a l lows m ore sco pe for appea l s to

d iv ine mercy , and i t s concern i s wi th the conduc t of the people as a whole

ra ther than wi th the ind iv idua l . Proverb ia l wisdom a l so a l lows for the unpre

d ic tab i l i ty of d iv ine f reedom

1 2

(Prov . 16 :1 : "T he p lans of the m ind be long to

mor ta l s , bu t the answer of the tongue i s f rom the Lord") . Proverbs , however ,

has only a negl igible place for prayer and sacr i f ice (e .g . , 3 :9; 12:2) . The book

is permeated by " the fear of the Lord ," which i s the beginning of wisdom

(1:7) . This a t t i tude bespeaks a cau t ious , conserva t ive a t t i tude , which reveres

t radi t ion and is wary of human arrogance, but i t does not require the specif ic

bel iefs and pract ices that character ize the re l igion of Israel in the Torah and

the books of the Prophe t s .

The Set t ing of Proverbs

In view of the dis t inct ive character of proverbial wisdom, the quest ion

ar ises how such a t radi t ion arose and took root in ancient Israel . Some schol

ars argu e that it s or igin s are to be found in folk w isd om and that i t w as t ran s

mi t t ed in the contex t o f home educa t ion wi th in the fami ly .

1 3

The popula r use

of proverbs is of ten i l lus t ra ted in bibl ical narrat ives (e .g . , Judg. 8:2, 21 or

E z e k . 1 8 : 2 ) .

1 4

I t i s cer ta inly plausible that some of the proverbs in the col lec

t ion or ig ina ted as popula r say ings . Many of the proverbs a re concerned wi th

issues of family im po rtan ce, such as f inding a go od wife (12 :4; 14 :1 ; 18:2 2;

19:13, 14; 21:9, 19) , or the discipl ine of chi ldren and s laves (19:18; 20:20;

2 2 : 6 , 1 5 ) .

1 5

The typical wisdom inst ruct ion in Proverbs 1-9 is cas t as the ad

vice of a fa ther to his son. I t seems reasonable then to assume that some of

U . K . Koch , "Gibt es e in Vergel tungsdogma im Alten Testament?"

ZTK

52 (1955 ) 1 ^ 2 (Eng

lish translation: "Is There a Doctrin e of Retribution in the Old Te stamen t?" in J. L. Cre nshaw , ed .,

Theodicy in the Old T estament

(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983) 57 -8 7.

12.

Von Rad ,

Wisdom in Israel,

96 -1 10 ("The Limits of Wisdom") .

13.

E. Gerstenberger,

We sen und Herkunft des sogennanten 'apodiktischen Rechts' im A lten

Testament

(W M AN T 20 ; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag , 1965); C. R. Fontaine ,

Tradi

tional Sayings in the Old Testament: A Contextual Study

(Sheffield: Alm ond , 1982 ); idem, "The

Sag e in Family and Tribe," in J. G. Ga m m ie and L. G. Perdue, eds.,

The Sage in Israel and the An

cient Near East

(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 155-64; C. Westermann,

Roots of W is

do m

(Louisvil le , Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1995).

14.

Fontaine,

Traditional Sayings,

7 6 - 8 6 .

15.

C. R. Fontaine, "Wisdom in Proverbs," in L. G. Perdue, B. B. Scott, and W. J. Wiseman,

eds. , In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Mem ory of John G. Gammie

(Louisvil le , Ky.: Westminster

John Knox , 1993) 10 2-3 .



Wh ere Is W isdom to Be Found?

5

this mater ia l e i ther or iginated in a family set t ing or was modeled on home in

s t ruct ion, and that the book of Proverbs served as a resource for educat ion

within the household. I t i s di f f icul t to bel ieve, however , that the book as a

whole was compiled e i ther as a record of or as a resource for home ins t ruc

t ion. Th e col lect ion of ins t ruct ions and prov erbs that mak e up the book is m ost

p laus ib ly ascr ibed to a school se t t ing .

1 6

The book of Proverbs i s a t t r ibu ted to King Solomon. No one would a rgue

that the book as we now have i t comes f rom the t ime of Solomon, but many

scholars have held that the wisdom tradi t ion had i t s or igin in the t ime of

Solomon. The es tabl ishment of the monarchy created a need for scr ibes and

hen ce for schools a t tached to the cour t w her e scr ibes could be t ra ined. Th e w is

dom l i tera ture would then have developed in these scr ibal schools . This hy

pothesis der ived support f rom the aff ini t ies between Israel i te and Egypt ian

wisd om l i t e ra ture . Th e publ ica t ion of "T he Teaching of A m en em op e" in 1923

led to the discovery of c lose paral le ls between this work and Prov. 22:17-

23 :11 , and to the conclusion that the Hebrew text was modeled on the Egypt

i a n .

1 7

The re ign of Solomon was the most plausible occasion for extensive

Egypt ian inf luence on Hebrew wisdom, a l though that inf luence might wel l

cont inue once the t radi t ion had been es tabl ished.

The Teaching of Amenemope s tands in a long t rad i t ion of Egypt ian in

s t ruc t iona l li t e ra ture , s t re tch ing bac k to the Ins t ruc t ion of P tah-h otep , w hich

som e schola rs da te as ea r ly as the midd le of the th i rd m i l l e nn iu m .

1 8

Ot he r ex

amples of the genre a re a t t r ibu ted to Mer ikare (a pharaoh f rom the twenty-

second century

B . C . E . ) ;

1 9

A m ene m he t ( a pha r aoh abou t 2000

B . C . E . ) ;

Duauf

(a t reat ise on the super ior i ty of the scr ibe, preserved in copies f rom the nine

t een t h dynas t y , 1320-1200

B . C . E . ,

bu t poss ib ly da t ing f rom the M iddle K ing

d o m , 2 1 5 0 - 1 7 5 0 B . C . E . ) ; and An i (a paren ta l ins t ruc t ion from the New K ing

d o m , 1 5 8 0 - 1 0 8 5

B . C . E . ) .

T he da t e o f t he Teach i ng o f A m ene m ope i s wi de l y

16.

H. J . Hermisson, Studien zur Israelitischen Spruchw eisheit ( W M AN T 2 8 ; Ne u k ir c h en -

Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1968) 93 rightly argues that a popular origin cannot be assumed in

all cases, although the literate wisdom of the editors of Proverbs builds on the heritage of popular

wisdom.

17.

E. A. W al l i s Bud ge , Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British M useum with De

scriptions, Sum maries of Conten ts, Etc. (2d Series; London : Harrison & Son s, 19 23); P. Humbert ,

Recherch es sur les sources egyptiennes de la litterature sapientiale d'Israel

(Mem oires de l 'Uni -

versite de Neuchatel 7; Neuchatel: Secretariat de l 'Universite , 1929); G. E. Bryce, A Legacy of

Wisdom: The Egyptian Contribution to the Wisdom of Israel (Lewisburg , Pa.: Buc knel l , 197 9) .

18.

For the texts, see ANET 412-24. A helpful analysis can be found in McKane, Proverbs,

5 1 - 1 5 0 . M. L i c h t h e i m,

Ancient Egyptian Literature,

vol. 1 (Ber keley: Univ . of California Press ,

1973) 7, favors a later date for the Instruction of Ptah-hotep, toward the end of the third millen

nium.

19. S everal o f these Instructions are thought to be pseu don ym ous , and so later in date than their

supposed authors.



6


disputed , bu t a da te in the th i r t een th or twel f th cen tury seems l ike ly .

2 0

La te r

examples of the Ins t ruc t ion genre , f rom the Hel len i s t i c per iod , a re found in

t he Teach i ng o f Onchsheshonqy and Papyrus I n s i nge r .

2 1

These ins t ruc t ions

were wr i t t en for the t ra in ing of sc r ibes and s ta tesmen. Al though these docu

ments are typical ly cas t as the ins t ruct ions of fa thers to thei r sons , they were

copied in wr i t ing and lea rned by ro te in Egypt ian schools for more than two

mil lennia . The exis tence of s imi lar schools in Israel i s of ten posi ted by anal

o g y .

2 2

In Egypt schools exis ted pr imari ly to t ra in cour t iers and scr ibes for gov

ernmenta l se rv ice , bu t the Egypt ian ins t ruc t ions ex tend to mat te r s of human

psychology and proper behavior . The k ingdoms of I s rae l and Judah a l so had

need of scr ibes , and the eventual product ion of the corpus of bibl ical l i tera

ture show s tha t there was dem and for sc r ibes for re l ig ious purposes . The q ues

t ion is , how did these scr ibes receive thei r t ra ining? N. Whybray has sought

to debunk the exis tence of a scr ibal c lass and hence a lso of scr ibal schools .

2 3

He then has to subst i tute the idea of an inte l lectual t radi t ion among upper-

class landowners , but i t i s di f f icul t to imagine how such a t radi t ion could be

sus ta ined wi thout the ins t itu t iona l und erp inning of a school t rad i t io n .

2 4

F . W.

Golka argues that the scr ibal profess ion was heredi tary, so that scr ibal in

s t ruct ion cou ld be carr ied on adequ ately in a family s et t in g .

2 5

E ve n in the s tory

of Ahikar , a popular Near Eastern ta le that i s found in Aramaic in the f i f th-

century Jewish archive f rom Elephant ine in the south of Egypt , we f ind that

Ah i ka r in s t ruc t s h i s nephew Nad i n a t h o m e .

2 6

N on eth ele ss, i t is difficult to be-

20 . Br y c e , A Legacy of Wisdom, 56 ; R. J. W illiam s, "The Sag e in Egy ptian Literature," in J. G.

Gam mie and L. G. Perdue, eds . , The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East (W inona Lake, Ind.:

Eisenbrauns, 1990) 23.

2 1 . W il l iams, "The Sa ge in Egyptian Literature," 23; M . Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Lit

erature in the International Context: A Study of Dem otic Instructions

(O B O 52 ; Fribourg: Fribourg

University , 1983) .

22 .

S ee recently N ili Shupak, "The 'Sitz im Le be n' of the B oo k of. Proverbs in the Light of a

Comparison of Bibl ical and Egyptian Wisdom Literature," RB 9 4 ( 1 9 8 7 ) 9 8 - 1 1 9 ; i d e m, Where

Can Wisdom B e Found? The Sage's Language in the Bible and in Ancient Egyptian Literature

(OBO 130; Fribourg: Fribourg University, 1993). Shupak argues from the use of similar termi

no log y for "instruction" in the Egyp tian and Israelite w isd om literature, but there are also signifi

cant differences in the way the terms are used (e.g. , Egyptian instructions are usually written,

whereas the Hebrew mfisdr refers to oral instruction).

2 3 .

N. Whybray ,

The Intellectual Tradition in the Old Testam ent

(Berlin: de Gruyter, 1974 )

3 3 - 4 3 .

24 . E. W. Heaton,

The School Tradition of the Old Testament

(Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press ,

199 4) 4, derides the notion o f an "intellectual tradition" as "a residual conce pt" like the grin of the

Cheshire cat.

25 . F . W. Golka , "The I srae li te Wisd om Schoo l or T h e E mperor 's Ne w Clo thes , '" in idem, The

Leopard's Spots (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993) 11.

26 .

For the text see J. M. Lindenberger, The Aramaic Proverbs of Ahiqar (Baltim ore: Johns

Hopkins, 1983) .



W here Is W isdom to Be Found?

7

l ieve that something as important for the s ta te as the t ra ining of scr ibes was

lef t ent i re ly to family t radi t ion in any Near Eastern kingdom in the f i rs t mi l

l enn i um B . C . E . There i s room for deba te as to when the k ingdoms of Judah

and Israel evolved to the point that they would need a scr ibal bureaucracy. I t

has been a rgued , on a rchaeologica l g rounds , tha t th i s po in t was reached no

ear l ie r than the e igh th ce n t ur y .

2 7

B ut it seem s safe to say that there wo uld ha ve

been need of scr ibal t ra ining in Jerusalem by the t ime of Hezekiah, a t the end

of the e ighth century.

There has been a l ively debate about the exis tence and dis t r ibut ion of

schools in ancient Israel . The evidence for the preexi l ic per iod is very f rag

mentary . The c lass ic s tudy of A. Klos te rmann poin ted to th ree t ex t s .

2 8

Isaiah

28:9-13 has been read as a ref lect ion of ear ly ins t ruct ion ("Whom wil l he

t each knowl edge , t o whom wi l l he exp l a i n t he message? Those who a r e

we aned f rom the breas t? For i t i s p recep t upon precep t , p recept upo n precept ,

l ine up on l ine , l ine up on l ine , here a li t t le , there a l i t tle") . Th is text , h ow ev er ,

is complicated by the reference to weaning. I t would seem that "i t i s the par

ents . . . who are us ing baby-ta lk for the ins t ruct ion of chi ldren of this age

g r o u p . "

2 9

In Isa . 50:4 the prophet says that "the Lord God has given me a

t ra ined tongue [ l i tera l ly , a tongue of those who are taught

l

e

son limmudim],

tha t I may know how to sus ta in the weary wi th a word ." The objec t ion tha t

the reference here is to prophet ic discipleship does not dispose of the evi

d e n c e .

3 0

The poin t o f the verse i s to draw an ana logy be tween prophe t ic d i s

c ipleship and the t ra ining of pupi ls , and i t suggests that a t leas t in the exi l ic

context the prophet was famil iar wi th some kind of school ing. The thi rd text ,

P rov . 2 2 : 1 7 - 2 1 , was regarded by Klos te rmann as a t eacher ' s f a rewel l d i s

course to h i s pup i l . I t wa s subsequ ent ly sh ow n to be depen dent on the Eg ypt

ian Inst ruct ion of Amenemope. F. W. Golka argued that i t therefore los t i t s

ev ident ia ry va lue for anc ien t I s rae l .

3 1

One might argue to the contrary, that

the ev ident ia ry va lue i s increased . The copying of an Egypt ian wisdom book

in Jerusalem is surely more l ikely to have taken place in a school se t t ing than

in the con text of fam ily-base d ins t ruct ion . In shor t , w hi le the textual evid en ce

is meager , i t cannot be dismissed ent i re ly . Isa iah 50 dates f rom the exi l ic pe

r iod. The date of Proverbs 22 is unknown, but i t need be no ear l ier than the

t ime of Hezekiah (cf . Prov. 25:1) .

27.

D . W . Jamieson-Drake , Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah (Sheff ie ld: Almond, 1991)

1 3 8 - 3 9 .

28 .

A. Klostermann, "Schulwesen im alten Israel ," Theologische Studien Th. Zahn (Leipzig:

De icher t , 1908) 193-232 .

2 9 . Go lka, "The Israeli te W isdo m S choo l or 'The Emperor's Ne w C loth es , '" in idem , The Leop

ard's Spots (Edinburgh: Clark, 1993) 6.

3 0 . The objection is raised by Golka, ibid., 8.

31 . Ibid. , 5-6 .



8


Th e archaeolog ical eviden ce for edu cat ional pract ice has been col lected pr i

m a r il y b y A . L e m a i r e .

3 2

I t cons is ts of os t raka from the e ighth and se venth cen

turies

B . C . E . ,

inscr ibed wi th le t ters that are best explained as abcedar ies , or

schoolboy exercises in drawing the a lphabet . The most notable os t raka are

from Lachish. Others are found at Kadesh-Barnea, Kunt i la t -Ajrud, Arad, and

a number of o ther s i t es .

3 3

So m e of the evide nce adm its of di f ferent exp lana

t ions .

Large le t ters and poor drawings may be due to poor eyesight ra ther than

to beginning s tudents , and even a beginning s tudent does not necessar i ly pre

suppose the exis tence of a school . The consis tency of Israel i te paleography,

however , suggests that wri t ing was taught systemat ical ly in accordance wi th

recognized s tandards , and this again favors the exis tence of schools (whether

the ost raka are thou ght to der ive f rom such sch ools or not) .

After Jos iah 's reform, and especial ly af ter the Ba by lonian ex i le , scr ibes of

t en beca m e assoc ia ted wi th the book of the La w , wh ich acqui red increas ing im

por tance in Second Temple Juda i sm. Second Chronic les 17 :7-9 c la ims tha t

K ing Jeho shap hat sent officials "to teach in the c i t ies of Jud ah Th ey taugh t

in Judah, having the book of the law of the Lord wi th them; they went around

through al l the c i t ies of Judah and taught among the people ." The his tor ical

value of this passage is questionable. I t is more l ikely to reflect a practice of

the Secon d Te m ple per iod than the tim e of Jeho shap hat , but it m ay only reflect

the ideals of the Chronicler . The Chronicler further tel ls us that "some of the

Levi tes were sc r ibes ." W e a l so read of "Levi tes w ho taught the pe op le" in N eh.

8:9. In the view of the Chronicler , a t leas t , the Levi tes were responsible for

teaching the peop le the Torah . Al ready the b less ing of M oses in De ute rono m y

33 says of the chi ldren of Moses: "They teach Jacob your ordinances and Is

rael your law" (v. 10) . Pr ies ts and Levi tes appear repeatedly as author i ta t ive

teachers in Second Temple l i tera ture , notably in the Dead Sea Scrol ls (1QS

5 : 2; CD 14 : 6 b -8 ; 1 3 : 2 ^ ; l Q S b 3 : 22 - 27 ) . I n t he Second Tem pl e pe r iod , li te r

acy was required for this funct ion, and whi le not a l l Levi tes were scr ibes we

can probably infer the exis tence of schools associated wi th the Temple. The

copying of sacred l i tera ture and the product ion of learned psalms also suggest

that the realm s of the tem ple cul t and the sages were of ten inte rre la te d.

3 4

There

is minimal reference to the cul t , however , in the c lass ic wisdom books of

3 2 .

A. Lemaire ,

Les ecoles et la formation de la Bible dans V ancien Israel

(Gott ingen: Va n-

denhoeck & Ruprecht , 1981); idem, "The Sage in School and Temple ," in J . G. Gammie and L.

G. Perdue, eds., The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East (W inona Lak e, Ind.: Eisenbrauns,

1 9 9 0 ) 1 6 5 - 8 1 .

3 3 . Lemaire , Les ecoles, 7 -3 3 ; J. L. Crenshaw, "Education in An cient Israel," JBL 104 (1985)

605-6 . Jamieson-Drake , Scribes and Schools, 14 7- 48 , argues that the s i tes where writ ing w as

found w ere related to, or depen dent on , Jerusalem in various w ay s and that the training of scr ibes

would have been done in Jerusalem, but the latter inference seems to be gratuitous.

3 4 . L. G. Perdue, Wisdom and Cult (SB LD S 30; Missou la , Mont . : Scho lars, 1977) 360 -6 1 .



Where Is W isdom to Be Found?

9

Proverbs , Job, and Qoheleth. I t would seem that some scr ibal schools f lour

ished independent ly of the cul t down to the Hel lenis t ic per iod.

One sect ion of the book of Proverbs is int roduced as "other proverbs of

Solom on tha t the men of Hezek iah cop ied" (25 :1) . The re is no apparen t reason

why "the men of Hezekiah" should be int roduced here unless they actual ly had

some role in col lect ing the mater ia l . The reference s t rengthens the associat ion

of Proverbs wi th the royal cour t . The "men of Hezekiah" are not sa id to com

pose these Proverbs . They may have co l lec ted popula r say ings and shaped

them for thei r pu rpo ses . Th e re ign of H eze kiah m arks a re la t ively la te point in

the his tory of the monarchy (af ter the fa l l of the nor thern kingdom). The

ref

erence shows, however , that proverbial wisdom was a t that t ime the object of

roya l pa t ronage .

Th e boo k of Pro verb s as w e have i t i s not a m anu al of ins t ruct ion for you ng

diplom ats a t the royal cour t . Re lat ively few of i ts sayings address con cerns p e

cu l ia r to the co ur t .

3 5

I t is primarily a book of rel igious and ethical instruction,

which presents wisdom as a re l igious disposi t ion. I t s purpose is s ta ted in the

opening verses :

For learning about wisdom and instruction,

for understanding and word s of insight,

for gaining instruction in wise dealing,

righteousness, justice, and equity;

to teach shrewdness to the simple,

kno wled ge and prudence to the young.

(Prov.

1:2-4)

This i s inte l lectual t ra ining wi th a moral purpose. The wise person acquires

ski ll in und ers tan ding p rove rbs and riddles (1: 5- 6) , but a lso ackno wle dge s that

"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (1:7) . Even the adapta

t ion of the t eaching of A m ene m ope in Prov . 22 :17 -2 3:1 1 , wh ich represent s an

older s tage of the wisdom tradi t ion, has a moral purpose: "to show you what i s

r ight and t rue, so that you may give a t rue answer to those who sent you"

(22:21) , a l though in that case i t may be argued that the pr imary concern is "to

prepare messengers to represent wea l thy c l i en t s e f fec t ive ly ."

3 6

In Prov erbs 1,

ho w eve r , the re l igious a nd m oral purp ose is pr im ary, and i t i s this pass age that

character izes the book as a whole . The neglect of specif ical ly Israel i te t radi

t ions is a l l the more remarkable in view of this expl ic i t ly re l igious character .

We must infer that the wisdom schools of the ear ly Second Temple per iod had

their own t radi t ions , and only s lowly came to adopt the Jewish Scr iptures as

par t of thei r curr iculum.

3 5 .

J . L. Crenshaw, "The S age in Proverbs," in Gam mie and Perdue, eds . ,

The Sage,

210.

36. Ibid., 207. C renshaw notes that the imag es of the older passage derive primarily from human

anatomy (ears, heart, belly, lips), whereas those of Proverbs 1 consist of intellectual abstractions.



10


The Worldv iew of Proverbs

The wisdom tradit ion embodied in the book of Proverbs has i ts own dist inc

t ive worldview. In the words of James Crenshaw, "that way of looking at things

begins w ith hum ans as the fundamental point of orientation. I t asks wh at is good

for m en and w om en and i t believes that all essential answers can be learned in ex

perienc e, pregn ant with signs about reali ty itself."

37

It has a strongly this-worldly

character and views claims of supernatural revelation with skepticism: "W ho has

gone up to heaven and come down?" asks Agur , son of Jakeh, in Prov. 30:4.

Prove rbs is devo id of eschatological expe ctation, envisaging neither cosm ic trans

formation nor reward or punishm ent after de ath .

3 8

T he teaching embo died in the

book is essentially conservative. It is an ethic of caution, which lacks the fire and

passion of the Hebrew prophets. The status quo is simply given; there is no

thought of overthrowing i t . Proverbs is also profoundly patriarchal .

3 9

All issues

are seen from the male point of view. The prosti tute, or "loose woman," symbol

izes all the dan ger that lurks in wa it for the innoc ent yo uth. It w ou ld no t be fair to

label the authors of Proverbs m isogynist . T he figures of the seductress in Prov erbs

7 and the foolish woman in 9:13-18 are balanced by the portrayal of Wisdom as

a female in chapter 8 and in 9 :1 -6 .

4 0

I t is true, how ever, that every thing is view ed

from the male point of view. Even the "capable wife" of Proverbs 31 is praised

chiefly for the help she gives her husband and the honor he receives on her ac

count. Nonetheless, the ethic of Proverbs also has i ts posit ive aspects. I t is

grounded in creation, and views human beings simply as creatures of one God,

without regard to ethnic origin or cultic affiliation. The pragmatic tone of many

of the Proverbs provides a refreshing realism that measures actions by their ef

fects rather than by the intentions of their agents. This sapiential worldview is

shared, with some modifications, by Job and Qoheleth. We shall f ind, however,

that i t und ergoe s profound transformations in the Hellenistic ag e.

Wisdom Personi f i ed

From a theological point of view, the outs tanding contr ibut ion of the book

of Proverbs is that i t inaugurated a l ine of speculat ion about Wisdom, person

ified as a female. The classic passage is in Proverbs 8. God created (or ac-

37. J . L. Crenshaw ,

Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction

(Atlanta: John K no x, 1981 ) 18.

38 .

B. Vawter, "Intimations of Immortality and the Old Testament," JBL 9 1 ( 1 9 7 2 ) 1 5 8 - 7 1 ( =

i d e m, The Path of Wisdom [Wilm ington: Glazier , 1986] 14 0-6 0) .

3 9 . See Carol A. Newsom, "Women and the Discourse of Patriarchal Wisdom: A Study of

Proverbs 1-9 ," in Peggy L. Day, ed. , Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel (Minneapol is:

Fortress , 1989) 142-60.

4 0 . Cf . C. Cam p, "W oman W isdo m as Root Metaphor: A T heolog ical Considerat ion," in K. G.

Hog lund et a l . , eds . , The Listening Heart: Essays in Wisdom and the Psalms in Honor of Roland

E.

Murphy, O. Carm.

(JSOTSup 58; Sheff ie ld : Almon d, 1987) 45 - 76 .




11

quired) W isd om as the begin ning of his w ay, the f irst of his work s of old (8:22 ) .

W hether W isdo m herse lf i s par t o f G od ' s c rea t ion i s open to ques t ion . The H e

brew verb qdndh, w hich is usual ly t ransla ted "cre ated " in this pass age , usual ly

m e a n s " to a c q u i r e . "

4 1

The fo l lowing verses speak of Wisdom's be ing brought

forth, so she is not supposed to be eternal . She is not explici t ly said to have

been brou ght for th by G od , but the text doe s not suggest any other source f rom

which she might have or iginated. In any case , Wisdom is c lear ly pr ior to the

res t of creat ion. She accompanied God in the work of creat ion, and presum

ably informed that work. Now she cr ies out to people a t the crossroad and the

ci ty gate and promises that whoever fol lows her way wi l l a t ta in t rue l i fe . The

source of th i s imagery , and i t s meaning , have been deba ted ex tens ive ly .

4 2

There is probably some inf luence f rom the Egypt ian concept of Maat , which

embodies t ru th , jus t i ce , and wor ld order .

4 3

Maat i s the daughter of the creator

god Re and escor ts h im through the h ea v en s .

4 4

In the biblical context , this wis

dom is most of ten unders tood as an a t t r ibute of Yahweh (cf . Prov. 3:19: "The

Lord by wi sdom founded t he ea r t h " ) .

4 5

V on Rad pro tes ts tha t w isdom "has n o

divine s ta tus , nor i s i t a hypostas ized a t t r ibute of Yahweh; i t i s ra ther some

thing created by Yahweh and ass igned to i t s proper funct ion. Al though clear ly

differentiated from the whole of creation, i t is an enti ty which belongs in the

wo rld, eve n if i t is the f irst of the w ork s of creation , the crea ture a bo ve al l crea

t u r e s . "

4 6

He goes on to speak of the self-revelation of creation. In fact , the pe

culiari ty of wisdom is that i t is both an at tr ibute of God and an aspect of cre

at ion. I t i s the mo de of G o d 's p resen ce in the world, but i t i s a lso som ething in

which hum an be ings can par t ic ipa te .

The great wisdom poem in Proverbs 8 may be divided into three sect ions .

Verses 1-21 present the cal l of wisdom. Wisdom professes to be bet ter than

gold and s i lver , and to be the pow er by w hich king s re ign. This cal l can be u n

ders tood on a fa i r ly s imple level as the proclamat ion of the wisdom

teacher,

recrui t ing s tudents a t the c i ty gate . I t i s an adver t isement for wisdom, con

cluding with the benefi ts i t has to offer: r iches and honor, and righteousness

that is better than si lver and gold.

4 1 . B. V awter, "Proverbs 8:22: W isdo m and Creation," JB L 99 (1980) 205-16 . The LXX trans

lates

ektise

"created."

4 2 . B. Lang ,

Frau Weisheit

(Dusseldorf: Patmos, 1975) 147-76.

4 3 . V o n Ra d ,

Wisdom in Israel,

153; C. Kayatz ,

Studien zu Proverbien 1-9

(Neukirchen-Vluyn:

Neukirchener Ver lag , 1966) 76 -119 . B. Lang , Wisdom and the Book of Proverbs: An Israelite

Goddess Redefined (N ew York: Pi lgrim, 1986) 11 5- 20 , argues that W isdo m is an actual godd ess ,

patroness of education.

4 4 . See G. E nglund, "Gods as a Frame of Reference: O n Thinking and Concep ts of Thought in

Ancient Egypt ," in idem, ed. ,

The Religion of the Ancient E gyptians: Cogn itive Structures and

Popular Expressions (S tockholm: Alm qvis t & W ikse l l , 1989) 23 .

4 5 .

R. N. Whybray,

Wisdom in Proverbs

(London: SC M , 1965) 78 .

4 6 .

Vo n Ra d , Wisdom in Israel, 1 5 3 - 5 4 .



12


Verse s

2 2 - 3 1 ,

however , c la im for wisdom a s ta tus that goes far beyond the

exper ience of the wisdom teacher . I t exis ted before ear th , and i t was God's ac

com plice in the work of creat ion. T he l ink wi th creat ion is a lso expl ic i t in 3 :19,

and is fundamental to the worldview of Proverbs . Since the world was created

with wisdom, i t i s amenable to unders tanding. There is an order in creat ion,

wai t ing to be discovered. This order i s impl ic i t in the proverbial mater ia l of

P rove rbs 1 0 - 3 1 . I t underl ies the quest for analogies and the predictabil i ty of

consequences . The theology of Proverbs is creat ion-based, and in that sense i t

may be t e rmed a precedent for na tura l theo logy .

4 7

The sel f - revelat ion of cre

at ion, however , i s in no way opposed to divine revelat ion. I t i s the same wis

do m of Go d that i s being rev ealed in e ither case . M oreo ver , a l l the wisd om l it

erature acknowledges the l imi ts of human unders tanding, and these l imi ts are

em phas ized in Job and Q ohele th . But whi le Proverbs ackno w ledges l im i t s , i ts

approach to wisdom is posi t ive and opt imis t ic .

The final section, vv. 32-36, reverts to the direct address of the f irst section.

Again, the benef i ts of wisdom are emphasized, summarized here as "l i fe ," by

which is meant not l ife after death but the fullness of l ife in the present. The

same promise is found in Prov. 3:16-18, where wisdom is cal led a t ree of l i fe .

The po em co uples th is p rom ise wi th a th rea t : "H e wh o misses me in jures h im

self;

a l l who hate me love death" (v. 36) . This warning is re inforced in the

chapters that surround this poem. Both Proverbs 7 and chapter 9 warn against

the a t t ract ion of the "s t range" or loose woman. While a pract ical warning

against adultery is no doubt intended, this f igure is also clearly an anti type to

Lady Wisdom in chapte r 8 . The cont ras t be tween wisdom and fo l ly i s sharp

ened by represent ing both as female f igures in chapter 9 . Hence the somewhat

hyperbol ic conclusion to the descr ipt ion of the seductress in Proverbs 7: "Her

house is the way to Sheol , going down to the chambers of death." Here again,

the issue is not physical death, but the loss of true fulfi l lment in l ife.

4 8

The use of female imagery, in texts where the impl ied readers are c lear ly

m ale , faci l ita tes ano ther aspec t of the presentat ion of w isdo m . I t i s t inged wi th

erot ic ism, some of i t ref lected f rom the negat ive erot ic ism associated wi th the

adul teress . Wisdom loves those who love her (8:17) and lays out her feas t for

those who seek her (9 :1-6) . This manner of present ing wisdom, and the pre

occupat ion of Proverbs 1-9 wi th sexual imagery, can be seen as mot ivat ional

rhetor ic , but there is m ore to i t than that . The pursu i t of wis do m is depicted as

being as a l l -consuming as the pursui t of love. I t should engage the s tudent ' s

ent i re being. This ideal of inte l lectual love is only hinted a t in Proverbs . We

will f ind i t further developed in the later tradit ion.

4 7 .

J. J. Collins, "The Biblical Precedent for Natural Theology," JAAR 45/1 Supplement B

(1977) 35-67; J . Barr,

Biblical Faith and Natural Theology

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1993) 90 -9 2 .

48. See further G. von Rad, "Life and Death in the OT,"

TDNT2

( 1 9 6 4 ) 8 4 3 - 4 9 .




13

Side by s ide wi th this a t t ract ive presentat ion of Lady Wisdom, however ,

there is a pers is tent rem inde r that "fear of the Lord is the beg inning of w isd om "

(1 :7 ; 9:10) . This disposi t ion entai ls turning f rom evi l (Prov. 3:7) and seeking

wisdom (2:1-5) . More specif ical ly , we are told in Prov. 8:13: "The fear of the

Lord is hat red of evi l . Pr ide and arrogance and the way of evi l and perver ted

speech I hate ." I t i s a humble and respectful a t t i tude, which is doci le before

teachers and tradit ion, and is not unduly self-rel iant or innovative. I t is ul t i

m ately the wi l l ingn ess to accept the kind of ins t ruct ion that i s offered throug h

out the book of Proverbs .

Before we turn to Ben Sira and the wisdom teaching of the Hel lenis t ic age,

there are two developments in the tradit ion to be noted. The first is the r ise of

skept ica l wisdom in Job and Qohele th , and the second i s the rapprochement

between wisdom inst ruct ion and the temple cul t wi th i t s re la ted scr iptures .

Job and Qohe le th

The date of Job is qui te uncer ta in. The book may wel l be older than the f i

na l r edac t ion o f P r o ve rbs .

4 9

I t represen ts a react ion, how eve r , against the m ore

dogm at ic doc t r ine of re t ribu t ion found in one s t ra tum of Pro ve rb s .

5 0

Th i s doc

t r ine is ar ticulated in the book by the f r iends of Job: "T hink n ow , who that w as

inno cent ever per is hed ? or w here w ere the upr ight cut o f f (Job 4:7) . Bu t the

reader knows, f rom the prologue of the book, that Job is innocent . At the end

of the boo k, the f riends are told that "y ou hav e not spoken of me w hat i s r ight ,

as m y serva nt Job h as " (42:7 ) , a l thoug h Job has angr i ly declared that G od " de

s t roys both the blameless and the wicked" and "mocks a t the calamity of the

innocent" (9 :22-23) . But ne i ther i s Job ' s anger v indica ted . When God ad

dresses him from the whir lwind, i t i s to make the point that Job 's gr ievances

are of l i t t le account in comparison wi th a l l the works of creat ion. Job 's hum

bled resp ons e, "S ee , I am of sm al l accou nt" (40:4 ) , i s precisely r ight . Th e G od

of Jo b is the creato r of al l , ju st as surely as the Go d of Pr ov erb s. Bu t the lesso n

of Job is that no one has the r ight to call the creator to account.

The contras t between Job and Proverbs can be seen clear ly by contras t ing

the great wisd om p oe m in Job 28 wi th i ts coun terpar t in Prov erbs 8. W hile W is

dom in Proverbs can be encountered in the c i ty gate , in Job i t i s hidden, and

only God knows the way. For Proverbs , the fear of the Lord is the beginning

4 9 . On the difficulty of establishing a date, see N. C. Habel, The Book of Job (Philadelphia:

Westminster, 1985) 40-42. Habel grants only that the book is no earlier than the sixth century

B.C.E., on linguistic grounds.

5 0 . For recent scholarship on Job see L. G. Perdue, Wisdom in Revolt: Metaphorical Theology

in the Book of Job (JSOT Sup 112; Sheff ie ld: Sheff ield A cadem ic Press , 1991) , and L. G. Perdue

and W. C. Gilpin, eds . , The Voice from the Whirlwind: Interpreting the Book of Job (Nashvi l le:

Abingdon , 1992) .



14


of wisdom, the predisposi t ion necessary for gaining unders tanding. In Job "the

fear of the Lord is wisdom" ( i ta l ics added) for humankind. Life i s myster ious ,

and pas t human unders tanding . The appropr ia te human response i s to res ign

onesel f to the wi l l of God, as Job eventual ly does a t the end of the book.

The book of Job is remote from Proverbs in style and l i terary form. I t stands

as a reaction to certain aspects of tradit ional wisdom rather than as an example

of school wisdom

itself.

Qoheleth is also dist inctive in form, insofar as i t con

s is ts pr imari ly of personal observat ions and ref lect ions ra ther than compendia

of tradit ional teaching, as in Proverbs. But we are told in the epilogue to the

book that "besides being wise , Qoheleth a lso taught the people knowledge,

we ighing and s tudy ing and arranging man y prov erb s" (Qo h. 12:9) . Fro m this i t

would seem that the author was a teacher and a pract i t ioner of school wisdom,

even i f his bo ok ha s a person al ra ther than a t radi tional ch ara cte r .

5 1

Qoheleth also rejects the facile dogma of retr ibution that prevails in the f i

na l ed i t ion of P ro ve rb s .

5 2

Fo r him , the one verif iable en d of hu m an l ife is dea th.

H e is caus t ic on the subject of an af ter li fe , w hich w as probab ly gain ing grou nd

in apocalypt ic c i rc les by the t ime Qoheleth wrote in the Hel lenis t ic per iod:

5 3

"F or the fate of hum an s and the fa te of anim als i s the sam e; as one die s , so dies

the other . They al l have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over

the animals, for al l is vanity. All go to one place; al l are from the dust , and al l

tu rn to dus t aga in . W ho k no w s wh ether the hum an sp ir it goes upw ard and the

sp i r i t o f an imals goes downward to the ear th?" (Qoh. 3 :19-21) . Qohele th

shares wi th Ben Sira a preoccupat ion wi th death that i s not found in the older

wisdom l i tera ture , and must ref lect in some way the new ci rcumstances of the

He l l en i s t i c age .

5 4

Qoheleth resembles Job insofar as both books submit the

wisd om of trad i tion to the jud gm ent of persona l exper ience . Job , how ever ,

doe s not se t out to invest igate w isdo m . His cr i t ique of t radi t ion is forced up on

him by sudden calamity. Qoheleth, in contras t , sys temat ical ly makes t r ia l of

w isd om and ma dn ess and folly (2:12 ) . Ev en thoug h it i s not c lear that Q ohele th

had read Greek phi losophy or been inf luenced by any specif ic phi losopher ,

Michae l Fox has as tu te ly remarked tha t "he does , however , incorpora te the

51 . W e m ust reckon , how eve r, with the poss ibility that the author of the epil ogu e is presenting

Qoh eleth in his ow n l ikeness . O n the epi logist as a mem ber of the c lass of the sages see R. E. Mur

phy, "The Sage in Eccles iastes and Eccles iastes the Sage," in Ga mm ie and Perdue, eds . , The Sage,

264.

5 2 . See the comments of R. E. Murphy,

Ecclesiastes

(W BC 23; Dal las : W ord , 1992) lxv i . Mur

phy, however, underestimates the sense of crisis in Qoheleth and the sharpness of its break with

tradition. He views the crisis as merely an instance of "the mysterious ways of the Lord."

53 .

On the setting of Qoheleth in the Hellenistic age see J. L. Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes (Philadel

ph ia : W estmins ter, 1987) 49 -5 0 .

5 4 . J . L. Crenshaw, "The Shad ow of Dea th in Qoh eleth," in John G. Ga m mie , ed. , Israelite Wis

dom:

Theological and Literary Essays in Honor of Samuel T errien

(Missoula , Mont.: Scholars ,

1 9 7 8 ) 2 0 5 - 1 6 .




15

fundamenta l t ene t o f Greek phi losophy—the au tonomy of ind iv idua l reason ,

which is to say, the bel ief that individuals can and should proceed wi th thei r

own observat ions and reasoning powers on a quest for knowledge and that this

may lead to d i scovery of t ru ths prev ious ly unknown."

5 5

The Greek spir i t of inquiry a lso lef t some mark on Ben Sira , but on the

whole we shall f ind that the later sage is much closer in spiri t to Proverbs than

he is to Qoh eleth. Th e turn to skept ic ism in Job and Q oheleth h as re la tively l i t

t le im pac t on the subsequ ent w isdo m tradi t ion. Ins tead w e shal l f ind a renew ed

confidence in divine re t r ibut ion, even though Ben Sira i s hard-pressed to de

fend and explain i t and the Wisdom of Solomon breaks radical ly wi th both

Proverbs and Ben Sira by basing i t s hope on a bel ief in immortal i ty .

T h e R a p p r o c h e m e n t

with the Torah

W hile the wisd om tradi t ion maintain s i ts dis t inct ident i ty , and refra ins f rom

overt appe al to the t radi tions of Israel , do w n to the t ime of Qo heleth, w e should

not think that the sages were isola ted f rom the res t of Jewish society. Prover

bial wisdom was not the exclusive proper ty of the schools , and so we should

expect to f ind some paral le ls between Proverbs and other bibl ical books. One

important locus of such paral le ls i s the book of Deuteronomy, as has been

shown above a ll by M osh e We i n fe l d .

5 6

The fact that the laws of Deuteronomy

draw on popular wisdom at some points i s not surpr is ing. What i s more note

worthy is the fact that the book as a whole is presented, by a redactor ,

5 7

as a

kind of wisdom: "I now teach you s ta tutes and ordinances for you to observe

in the land that you are about to enter and occu py. Y ou m ust obse rve them di l i

gent ly , for this wi l l show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples , who,

when they hear al l these statutes, wil l say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise

and d i s ce rn i ng peop l e ' " (Deu t . 4 : 5 - 6 ) . The wi sdom o f Deu t e r onomy i s i n

evitably different from that of Proverbs, since i t is addressed to the nation and

has the force of law, and since i t appeals to a part icular divine revelation. But

the sapient ia l terminology is s ignif icant : "The commandments are seen as

the intensi f icat ion and consummation of something found among al l peoples ,

5 5 .

M . V. F ox, "W isdom in Qoheleth," in Perdue et a l ., eds . ,

In Search of Wisdom,

123. See also

his earlier discussion in Qoheleth and His Contradictions (JSOT Sup 71 ; Sheff ie ld: Sheff ie ld Ac a

demic Press , 1989) 79-120. The case for more extensive dependence on Greek phi losophy has

been argued by R. Braun, Kohelet und die friihhellenistische Popularp hilosophie ( BZ AW 1 3 0 ;

Berlin: de Gruyter, 1973).

56 .

M. Weinfe ld , Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic School (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press,

1972) ;

Deuteronomy

(AB 5; N ew York: Doubleday , 1991) 62 -6 5 .

57. O n the place of D euteronom y 4 in the redact ion of the book, see J. D. Lev enso n, "W ho In

serted the Book of the Torah?" HTR 6 8 ( 1 9 7 5 ) 2 0 3 - 3 3 .



16


W i s d o m . "

5 8

To ant ic ipate la ter categor ies , the revealed law is the supreme ex

press ion of the natural law. The same equat ion of the Torah wi th wisdom is

found in Ezra , where King Artaxerxes refers interchangeably to "the law of

your Go d, which i s in your ha nd " (7 :14) or " the wisd om of your G od w hich i s

in you r hand " (7 :25) .

Th e const rual of the To rah as wis do m is a lso in evid ence in the Psal ter , m ost

expl ic it ly in Psa lm s 1 ,19 , and 1 1 9 .

5 9

Psa l m

1

draw s a famil iar contras t b etw een

the r ighteous and the wicked, but adds that the r ighteous man f inds his del ight

in the To rah of the Lord , on which h e medi ta tes day and n ig ht .

6 0

The reference

to the Torah may be an inser t ion here , but i f so i t was probably added by the

edi tor of the Psa l t e r .

6 1

A s the open ing psa lm in the col lect ion, Psalm 1 sets the

tone for what follows, and suggests that the Psalter should be read in the l ight

of the Torah as a source of wi sd o m .

6 2

P salm 119 also has an im pact on the col

lect ion as a whole , because of i t s sheer length. Here again, language usual ly

associated wi th wisdom is appl ied to the Law (e .g . , v . 66: "Teach me good

j udgmen t and knowl edge , f o r i n your commandmen t s have I t r u s t ed" ) .

6 3

In

Psa lm 19B the decrees of the Lo rd m ake the s imple wise and enl ighten the eyes

(Ps .

19 :7-8) .

At leas t some of these psalms appear to be didact ic poems, which inculcate

a k ind of wisdo m d er ived f rom the La w of the Lord , o r the T o ra h .

6 4

Mor eove r ,

Leo Perdu e has shown tha t severa l w isdom p sa lm s , inc luding Psa lms 1 and

19B ,

are bui l t around proverbial sayings , which suggests that the psalmists

com bined the wisd om der ived f rom the Torah w i th the m ore t rad i t iona l p rov er -

5 8 .

J . D. Levenson, "The Theologies of Commandment in Bibl ical Israel ," H TR 73 (1980) 26 .

5 9 . On these psalms see J. L. Mays, "The Place of the Torah-Psalms in the Psalter," JB L 106

( 1 9 8 7 ) 3 - 1 2 .

6 0 . Cf. Ps. 112:1: "Happy are those who fear the Lord, who greatly delight in his command

ments ."

6 1 . Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, 270-71. This verse has no paral le l in the second strophe and is

syntact ical ly awkw ard. Perdue comm ents: "This insert ion was m ade probably by a pious scribe of

Torah s imilar to the picture w e have drawn o f Sirach who w ishes to em phasize that the one w ho

is truly righteous will f ind guidance for his l ife in the meditation on Torah."

6 2 . Cf . G. H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter ( S BL DS 7 6 ; Ch i c o ,

Calif.:

Scholars ,

198 5) 143: "The place m ent of Ps 1 as an introduction to the who le Psalter . . . offers the reader a

pair of 'hermeneutical spectacles ' through which to v iew the contents ." See also A. R. Ceresko,

"The Sage in the Psalms," in Gam mie and Perdue, eds . ,

The Sage,

2 2 0 - 2 1 .

6 3 .

See further J. P. M. van der Ploeg, "Le Psaume 119 et la sagesse," in M. Gilbert, ed., La

Sagesse de VAncien Testament (BE TL 51; Louva in: Leuven Univ . Press , 1979) 82 -8 7 .

6 4 . See R. E. Murphy, "A Considerat ion of the Class if icat ion, 'Wisdom Psalms, '" Congress

Volume, Bonn 1962

(VT Sup 9; Leiden: Bri l l , 1963) 15 6- 67 ; Perdue,

Wisdom and Cult,

2 6 1 - 3 4 3 .

The w isdo m psalms const i tute a broader category than the Torah psalms. M urphy l is ts Pss . 1 , 32 ,

3 4 , 37,49, 112, 128. See also J . Luyten, "Psalm 73 and Wisdom," in Gilbert , ed. , La Sagesse de

VAncien Testament, 5 9 - 8 1 .



W here Is W isdom to Be Found? 17

bia l ins t ruc t ion .

6 5

We do not know the set t ings for which these poems were

com posed . Som e scho l a rs argue t hat "wi sdo m psa l ms . . . we re no t composed

and used str ict ly in a private or educational set t ing that was foreign to the cult"

but "in real i ty were l i turgical pieces f rom the very beginning."

6 6

In this view,

these psa lm s had the i r Sitz im Leben in the synagogue, where they would s t i l l

have served in par t a didact ic purpose. Others dis t inguish between poems

"us ed to teach l i tera ture and ideology to yo ung sch oo lboy s" (e .g . , Psa lm 1) and

others intended for use in the cul t (e .g . , Pss . 19; 119) .

6 7

I t has been suggested

tha t they der ive f rom schools assoc ia ted wi th the Temple ,

6 8

but while this is

not implausible , the very exis tence of these schools i s hypothet ical , and we do

not know how such schools would re la te to those of Qoheleth or Ben Sira . The

Torah f igures prominent ly in the wisdom inst ruct ion of Ben Sira . Presumably,

di f ferent wisdom teachers in the Hel lenis t ic per iod could focus on di f ferent

mater ia l and have thei r own dis t inct ive emphases . We learn f rom the Torah

psalms of the Psal ter that Ben Sira was not a lone in regarding the Torah as

source of wisdom. I f such a sapient ia l const rual of the Torah was widespread,

i t was inevitable that this body of l i terature would also be integrated into the

curr iculum of a t leas t some t radi t ional wisdom schools .

The Emergence o f

"Can onica l" Scr ipture

T he grow ing im portanc e of the To rah for w isdo m inst ruct ion is re la ted to the

em ergen ce in the Hel lenis t ic per iod of an author i ta t ive corpus of Heb rew scr ip

tures ,

which would much la ter be formal ized as a canon. The format ion of the

Hebrew canon was a lengthy process , which can be t raced back to the promul

gation of "the bo ok of the la w " in the reform of Josiah (621

B . C . E . ) .

6 9

Ezra is of

ten credited with giving the Torah, or Pentateuch, i ts f inal shape. The books of

6 5 . Perdue, Wisdom and Cult, 2 6 9 -9 9 . For the "central proverbs" cf. Ps. 1:6 ("the Lord wa tches

over the way of the righteous") and Ps. 19:10 ("More to be desired are they [the ordinances] than

gold, eve n m uch f ine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycom b").

66. E. Gerstenberger, Psalms (F O IL 14; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988 ) 1 .20. Cf. S . M o-

wincke l , "Psa lms and Wisdom ," in Wisdom in Israel and the Ancient N ear E ast (Fs . H. H. Row

ley ; VT Sup 3 ; Le iden: Br i l l, 1955) 2 0 5 ^ 4 , and H. Ludin Jansen ,

Die spdtjudische Psalmendich-

tung: Ihr Entstehun gskreis und ihr 'Sitz im Leben' (Os lo : Dyb wad , 1937).

67. Perdue, Cult and Wisdom, 268 . W . So i l , Psalm 119: Matrix, Form , and Setting ( C B Q M S

2 3 ;

Washington: Cathol ic Bibl ical Ass ociat ion , 19 91) 11 5- 25 , argues that "Psalm 119 displays no

signs of didactic intent," although its author was evidently a learned man. Murphy does not in

c lude e i ther Ps . 1 19 or Ps . 19 in the category "w isdom psalm s."

68. Perdue, Cult and Wisdom.

6 9 . S . Z. Le iman, The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture: The Talmudic and Midrashic Evi

dence (Ham den, Conn.: Arch on, 1976) 32 .



18


Ezra and Nehemiah , however , make no ment ion of the Day of Atonement , a l

though Nehemiah 8 descr ibes the l i turgical observances of the seventh month,

especial ly the Feast of Booths . The omiss ion indicates that the Pentateuch had

not yet reached i ts f inal form, al though Ezra presupposes other priest ly laws,

and mu s t have had som eth ing c lose to the Torah as we know i t .

7 0

Th e prophe t ic

corpus took shape so m ew here in the Pers ian or early Hel lenis t ic per iod.

The first clear witness to a canon, in the sense of an accepted corpus of au

thori tat ive scripture, is found in the pro logu e to Be n Sira. T he prolo gue w as w rit

ten by Sira ch 's grandso n, wh o had migrated to Egy pt in 132 B . C . E . , in the thirty-

eighth year of Eue rgetes n . Th e prologue w as wri tten som et ime la ter, poss ibly

after the dea th of that king in 117

B

. c

. E .

7 1

I t beg ins with the following stateme nt:

"M any grea t t eachings have been g iven to us th rough the La w and the Prophe t s

and the others that fol lowed them , and for these we sh ould praise Israel for in

s tr uc ti on and w i s d o m . . . . So m y g randfa the r J e sus , wh o had devo t ed h i mse l f

especial ly to the reading of the Law and Prophets and the other books of our

ance stors , and had acquired con siderab le prof ic iency in them , w as himself a lso

led to wri te something per ta ining to ins t ruct ion and wisdom."

I t has been w idely a ssum ed that this s ta teme nt imp l ies a t r ipar ti te can on, b ut

in fact i t is not at al l clear that "the other books of our ancestors" consti tute a

canonical category. They are s imply "other t radi t ional wri t ings ." The category

is open-ended and, according to the grandson, Si rach himself fe l t f ree to con

tribute to i t . I t is also unce rtain w hic h w rit ings w ere classified as pro ph etic . Si

rach knew al l the prophets of the Hebrew Bible , and refers to the Twelve as

such. In his review of Israel i te his tory in the "Praise of the Fath ers ," how eve r ,

i t i s not apparent that he makes any dis t inct ion between the prophet ic books

and Nehemiah . In the New Tes tament per iod , David was of ten regarded as a

pro phe t and the Psalm s as prop hecy (e .g . , Ac ts 2:30) . D anie l , too, i s of ten iden

t i f ied as a prophet in ant iqui ty .

7 2

In shor t w e cann ot te l l jus t ho w m uc h m ater

i a l was ca tegor ized under " the Prophe t s" in Ben Si ra ' s t ime .

7 3

There is in Si

rach wh at we m ight ca ll a "can on co nsc io usne ss" wi th respec t to the Torah , b u t

there i s no sense of a c losed canon be yon d the book s of M ose s . Th e sam e can

be said of Philo in the f irst century C . E .

7 4

There is ample evidence for the authori ty of certain scriptures in the f irst

70 .

J.

B lenkinsopp,

Ezra-Nehemiah. A Commentary (OTL ; Philadelphia: W estminster, 1988)

1 5 7 , 2 9 1 .

7 1 . R.

Smend,

Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach erkldrt

(Berlin:

Re i m er , 1906) 3 ^ ; P. W. Skehan

an d

A. A. DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira (AB 39; N ew York: Doub leday, 1987) 134.

72 .

K.

Koch ,

"Is Danie l Also A mo ng the

Prophets?" In t

39 ( 1985) 117 -30 .

73 . J.

Barton,

Oracles of God: P erceptions of Ancient P rophecy in Israel after the Exile (Ox

ford: O xford Univ . Press, 1986) 48 .

7 4 .

Leiman,

The Canonization

of Hebrew

Scripture, 31 .




19

century B . C . E . , in the Dead Sea Scro l l s .

7 5

The mos t expl ic i t comment on the

author i ta t ive wri t ings of the day is found in the so-cal led Halakic Let ter ,

4Q M M T . This docu m ent i s addressed to a re l ig ious l eader of Is rae l , m os t p rob

ably a High Pr ies t , and i t se ts out the reasons why the community had sepa

rated i tself from the majori ty of the people. I t appeals to the leader to consider

the validity of the sectarian interpretat ion of scripture: "We have [writ ten] to

you so that you may s tudy (careful ly) the book of Moses and the books of the

Pro phe ts and [ the wri t ings of] D avid [and the even ts of] ages pa st ."

7 6

The s ta te

ment refers to the famil iar categor ies of the Law and the Prophets . David was

widely regarded as a prophet , but he is s ingled out as the author of a special

ca tegory (Psa lms) . These were the sc r ip tures tha t were presumed to be com

mon t o a l l J ews .

7 7

Th e evidence of the Dead Sea Scrol ls overw helm ingly supports the view that

the To rah preserved by the M asoretes w as a l ready know n and recognized as au

thor i ta tive a t Q um ran, and that the proto-Maso ret ic form of the text wa s do m i

n a n t .

7 8

Nonetheless , we must recognize that even though the Torah and the

Prophets were accepted as author i ta t ive by the second century B . C . E . , the au

thori tat ive text had not yet been definit ively established and there was some

variat ion as to what consti tuted the authori tat ive scripture. Consequently i t is

reasonable to ask whether the Torah in the Hel lenis t ic per iod was necessar i ly

the same as the text we no w ha ve. Phi l ip Da vies has argued that "B en S ira does

not know the five book s that now const i tute the Pentateuch in thei r now cano n

ical form. He is more knowledgeable of Adam and Enoch than the modern

reader of Ge nesis wo uld be; he may w el l be ignorant of Ge nesis 2- 3 and seem s

not to have heard of ei ther Ezra or of Joseph's exploits in Egypt. I t is as clear

that Be n Sira does not regard this li tera ture as wh at migh t now b e term ed ' scr ip

ture. ' He does not ci te proof texts from the l i terature, nor does he exegete pas

sages f rom i t ."

7 9

We shal l have occasion in the fol lowing chapters to examine

7 5 .

J. J. Collins, "Before the Canon: Scriptures in Second Temple Judaism," in J. L. Mays, D.

L.

Petersen, and K. H. Richards, eds., Old Testam ent Interpretation (Nash vi l le: Ab ingdon , 1995)

2 2 5 - 4 1 .

7 6 .

E. Qimron and J. Strugnell , Qumran Cave 4. V. MiqsatMaas'e HaTorah (DJD 10; Oxford:

Clarendon, 1994) 59.

77. Suggestions that a reference to Chronicles, and so to the rest of the Writings, should be re

stored here seem improbable (contra E. E. Ellis, The Old Testamen t in Early Christianity [ W U N T

5 4 ;

Tubingen: Mohr, 1991]) 10. Chronicles is barely attested at Qumran, and there is no evidence

that it enjo yed any sp ecial authority.

78. The dominance of the proto-Masoret ic text is defended by L. Schiffman,

Reclaiming the

Dead Sea Scrolls (N ew York: The Jewish Publicat ion Soc ie ty , 1994) 1 61- 80 . In my v iew ,

Schiff

man exaggerates the conformity of the Scrolls to later Jewish tradition, but he is right that the

proto-Masoretic text is by far the most widely attested.

7 9 . P. R. Davies , "Scenes from the Early History of Judaism," in D. V. Edelman, ed. , The Tri

umph ofElohim: From Yahwisms to Judaisms

(Kam pen: Kok, 199 5) 170. Cf . his

In Search of

An

cient Israel (JSOT Sup 148; Sheff ie ld: Sheff ie ld Academ ic Press , 1992) 14 0- 41 .



20


Ben Sira ' s re la t ionship to what we know as the canonical Torah. He cer ta inly

kne w t radi tions that hav e not been incorporated in the Heb rew Bib le , and his a l

lus ions to the Pentateuchal mater ia l are somet imes surpr is ing. Nonetheless ,

Davies ' s conclusions seem more radical than the evidence permits . He argues

that the "book of the covenant of the Most High" in Sirach 24 is Deuteronomy

rather than the Pentateuch, but there are t ransparent a l lus ions to Ge nesis and Ex

odus in S ir . 2 4 : 3 ^ ("I cam e forth from the mouth of the M os t High and cov

ered the earth l ike a mist . I dwelt in the highest heaven and my throne was in a

p i l l a r o f c loud ."

8 0

Ignorance of Genesis 2-3 is diff icult to maintain in view of

such pas sag es as Sir. 1 5:14; 17 :7; and 25 :24 . I t is easier to sup po se that B en Sira

knew the text that has come down to us, but interpreted i t freely, than to posit a

variant text that is not at tested, even among the diverse texts found at Qumran.

In the following chapters w e shal l assum e that Be n Sira kn ew the To rah essen

t ial ly in the form pre served by the Maso retes . Th e controversy, how ever , should

alert us to the fact that even when wisdom is closely identif ied with the Torah

it is never simply a l i teral ist reproduction of a canonical text .

Nonetheless , the emergence of an author i ta t ive scr ipture as a recognized

source of wisdom in Jewish educat ion is perhaps the most obvious factor that

differentiates the wisdom of Ben Sira and later sapiential writers from that of

thei r bibl ical predece ssors . I t w as not the only factor, how eve r . W e now turn

to consider the more general inf luence of the Z eitgeist of the H el lenis t ic age.

80. On the allusions in Sirach 24 see G. T. Sheppard,

Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct

(BZ AW 151 ; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980)

1 9 - 7 1 .



PART O NE .

HE B R E W WISD OM





Chapter 2 .

B e n S ira in H is H el len is t ic Co ntext

The book of Ben Si ra i s except iona l among the anc ien t Jewish wisdom wr i t

ings in disclosing the name of the actual author , Jeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira .

1

Th e approx imate da te of com pos i t ion i s a l so d i sc losed by the gra nds on ' s pref

ace to the Gree k t ransla t ion. The gran dso n, w e are told, ar r ived in Eg ypt in the

thi r ty-eighth yea r of K ing Eue rgete s . Th e reference can only be to Ptole m y V II

Eu erge tes I I (Ph ysc on ) , and the date of arr ival i s 132

B . C . E .

The t ransla t ion was

com plete d so m e years la ter , prob ably af ter the death of Eu erge tes in 117 B . C . E .

I f we assume that the grandson was an adul t when he moved to Egypt , and that

the gra nd fathe r ' s p r im e was abo ut hal f a century ear l ier , w e may infer that Be n

Sira ' s book was compiled somewhere in the f i rs t quar ter of the second century

B . C . E . Since i t c la ims to present accumulated wisdom, i t can scarcely be the

work of a young man. Consequent ly , a date toward the end of that per iod is

l ikely. Th e glow ing praise of the High Pr ies t Sim on in chap ter 50 suggests that

he was a contemporary of Ben Sira , a l though the eulogy was probably wri t ten

af ter his death. Simon II was High Pr ies t f rom 219 to 196

B . C . E .

The book

shows no awareness of the upheava l s of the t ime of Ant iochus IV Epiphanes

(175-164) . (The only possible ref lect ion of these events i s found in the prayer

in chapter 36 , but this i s so a l ien to the thoug ht w orld of B en Sira that i t mu st

be regarded as a secondary addi t ion, possibly f rom the Maccabean per iod) .

Be n Sira wa s evident ly a scr ibe , and he provide s a eulogis t ic acco unt of his

way of life in Sir.

3 9 : 1 - 1 1 .

In his view, the ideal scr ibe is a man of pie ty, de

voted to the s tudy of the Law and to prayer , but a lso concerned wi th the wis

dom of a l l the ancients . He also appears before rulers and t ravels in foreign

lands .

The book conc ludes wi th a quas i -au tobiographica l poem (51:13-30) , in

which the author refers to t ravels in his youth and invi tes the uneducated "to

lodge in my house of ins t ruct ion." The f i rs t par t (vv. 13-20) of this poem is

1. The author of the book is identified in MS B from the Cairo Geniza as "Simon son of Jeshua

son of E leazar son of

Sira"

(51:30; cf. 50:27). No other source identifies the author as Simon. The

name is probably introduced by mistake, because of the praise of the High Priest Simon in chap.

5 0 . The author's grandson, who translated the book into Greek, refers to his i l lustrious ancestor as

"my grandfather Jesus." See P. W. Skehan and A. A. DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira ( AB 3 9 ;

N e w Yo rk : Do u b l e d a y , 1 9 8 7 ) 3 ^ .



24

Hebrew Wisdom

found ind epen den t ly in the Psa lm s Scrol l f rom Q um ran C av e 11 , and i ts au

thent ic i ty as a composi t ion of Ben Sira i s disputed.

2

Regardless of the authen

t ici ty of this passage, however, i t is l ikely that the author of this book was a

teacher and that the boo k preserv es a sam ple of one kind of ins t ruct ion offered

to the youth of Jerusalem in the per iod before the Maccabean revol t .

Ben Sira wrote in an era of transit ion, not only for Judaism but for the en

t i re Near East . The conquests of Alexander the Great had changed the face of

the region. Greek replaced Aramaic as the l ingua f ranca of t rade and com

merce, and the landscape was dot ted wi th new ci t ies wi th Greek names and

Greek ins t i tut ions . In Pales t ine a lone there were some thi r ty Greek towns,

mainly on the coast , around the Sea of Tiber ias , and in Transjordan.

3

The i m

pact of these set t lements , and of Hel lenis t ic cul ture in general , on Jerusalem

and Judea is great ly disputed. There were no Greek set t lements in Judea itself.

Even in places where there were Greek colonies , the degree of Hel lenizat ion

was of ten qui te superf ic ia l . The colonis ts were not drawn from the Greek in

tel l igentsia, but from the lower strata of society, and they came not to spread

Gre ek cu l ture but to ma ke a l iving. Th ese set t lers w ere inf luenced by the loca l

cul ture jus t as much as they inf luenced i t . Nonetheless , even i f Hel lenis t ic in

f luence did not pro du ce a genuinely G reek cul ture in the N ear East , it d id m od

i fy the t radi t ional local cul tures in var ious ways.

4

The impact of Hel lenis t ic cul ture may be considered under two headings .

First , there is the cultural influence on the ethos of a country mediated by so

cia l and mater ia l cha ng es . Se con d, there is the formal cul ture , ref lected in ed

ucation and l i terature.

Social and Materia l Changes

Throughout the th i rd cen tury

B . C . E . ,

Pales t ine was under the rule of the

Ptolem ies . W he n i t passe d into Seleucid control a t the beg innin g of the se cond

century, Ant iochus I I I i ssued a proclamat ion conf i rming the r ight of the Jews

to l ive according to thei r ancest ra l law s (Joseph us, Ant. 12 .14 2 ,150 ) . I n so do

ing he was merely cont inuing the arrangement that had been in place under the

Pto lemies , and under the Pers ians before them. I t would be a mis take , how

ever , to think that Jud ea wa s imm un e to cul tural cha nge throu gho ut this per iod.

2.

J. A. Sanders, The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11 (llQPs

a

) (DJD4; Oxford: Clarendon,

1965) 79 -85 . See , however , Skehan and DiLe l la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 5 7 6 - 8 0 , wh o d e f e n d

its autobiographical character.

3. V. Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (Ne w York: Atheneum , 1970) 90 -1 16 ;

E . Schiirer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (rev. and ed. G. Ve rm es,

F. Mil lar , and M . Black; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1979) 2 . 85 -1 83 .

4 .

S ee in general M . Heng el , Judaism and Hellenism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 197 4) 1.1 -1 75 ; A.

Kuhrt and S. Sherwin-W hite , Hellenism in the East (Berkeley: Univ. of Cal i fornia , 1987) .



Ben Sira in His Hellenistic Context

25

Th e mo st fundam ental chan ges ushered in by the Hel lenis t ic era were in the

d o m a i n of c o m m e r c e .

5

Several factors contributed to increased productivity and

prosper i ty . On e was the general use of coined mo ney , in place of the more cum

bersome bar ter in kind. Another was improved technology. Ben Sira bears wi t

ness to the new foot-powered pot ter ' s wheel , which replaced the t radi t ional

hand-turned instrument (Sir . 38:29), and also to the variety of arts and crafts

pract iced in Jerusalem in his time . Th e ma in novel ty of the Hel lenis t ic age , how

ever, lay in the increase of trade. The Ptolemaic empire was a t ightly organized

moneymaking machine . By a concept ion tha t was qu i te un-Greek , the whole

king dom w as regarded as the person al es ta te of the king, and this a l lowed a high

degree of centra l ized supervis ion and di rect ion of com m ercial act ivity . Th e pr i

m ary sou rce of we al th was agr icul ture , especial ly the produ ct ion of wheat . T he

Ptolemaic adminis t ra t ion sought to maximize this asset not merely by exploi t

ing the land but by improving methods of cul t ivat ion. By farming out the land

and other sources of wealth, i t al lowed scope for entrepreneurs to make their

ow n for tunes . In Pales t ine and Sy r ia , w here the popu lat ion wa s not as uniform

or as submissive as i t was in Egypt , much power remained in the hands of the

local aristocracy. The Ptolemies drained off much of the wealth by taxation, but

at least the intermediary classes experienced a significant r ise in their standard

of l iving under Greek rule. The increase in foreign trade in the third century

B . C . E . is a t tes ted by many s tamped jars f rom Rhodes and other par ts of the

A egea n f rom this per iod that are found through out Pales t ine .

Our main source of informat ion about commercial l i fe in Pales t ine in the

Pto lema ic e ra com es f rom the Ze no papyr i , supplemented by an impor tan t pa

py rus f rom V i enn a .

6

Z en o was a subordinate of the f inance m inis ter (dioiketes)

Apol lonius under P to lemy I I Phi lade lphus . Zeno ' s major charge was the man

agement of a large es ta te that Apol lonius had received f rom the king in the

Faiyum, near Phi ladelphia , but before he was given this charge he under took

several miss ion s for A pol lo nius . In the cou rse of such a m iss ion, he spent m ore

than a year in Palest ine, from late 260 to early 258 B . C . E . The co r r e spondence

preserved in his archive, which was discovered in 1915, throws considerable

l ight on society in Pales t ine and Transjordan at the t ime. There is no ment ion

of a governor . Tcher ikover suggests that Pales t ine was under the di rect super

vision of the dioiketes in Alexan dr ia . The re were , how ever , a l a rge num ber of

off ic ia ls , a t var ious levels , charged wi th supervis ion of the local economy.

Apol lonius a lso had an es ta te , by royal grant , a t Bet Anat in Gal i lee .

One of the more in te res t ing aspec t s of Zeno ' s cor respondence concerns

the prominence of local , nat ive chief ta ins . We read of a c leruchy, a colony of

5 . Henge l , Judaism and Hellenism, 1 .6-5 7; E. J . Bickerm an, The Jews in the Greek Age ( Ca m

bridge, Mass . : Harvard Univ. Press , 1988) 69-80.

6 . Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 60.



26

Hebrew Wisdom

so ld ie r s , in Trans jordan , un der the com m and of one Tobiah , whos e fami ly h i s

tory can be t raced f rom the t ime of Nehemiah down to the Maccabean revol t .

Va r ious people refe r to them se lves as To bia h ' s peop le , and the reg ion i s know n

as Tobiah 's land. At this t ime, the Ptolemies s t i l l refused to ass ign high posts

in Eg ypt to the nat ives , bu t in Syr ia and Pales t ine they bo w ed to necess i ty and

wo rked through the loca l leaders . Th e papyr i ment ion severa l o ther prom inent

and powerful people who were not holders of off ic ia l posi t ions , including one

Jeddous, who drove off Zeno's off ic ia ls by force .

7

Tobiah was presumably a

Y ahw ist ( in view of his na m e) , but he eviden t ly did w hate ver w as necessary in

the service of the Egypt ians . His use of the epis tolary formula "many thanks

to the god s" (CPJ 4) has a roused m uch co m m ent , bu t m ay not be very s ign if i

cant . T he le t ters w ere wri t ten by secretar ies , and in any case both Heb rew and

Aramaic use p lura l nouns for God ('eldhim , eldhiri).

Trade be tween Syr ia and Egypt was domina ted by the roya l o f f i c ia l s .

Major impor t s , such as whea t and o l ive o i l , were care fu l ly superv i sed and

heavi ly t axed . There were fewer res t r i c t ions on t rade in s l aves . No s laves

were expor ted f rom Egypt , bu t they were f requent ly impor ted f rom Syr ia

and Pa les t ine . S lave t rade was not , o f course , an innova t ion of the Hel

l en i s t i c e ra . The Samar ia papyr i f rom Wadi Dal iyeh , which da te f rom the

ha l f -cen tury before the coming of Alexander , inc lude severa l cont rac t s for

the sa le of s l aves .

8

The i n t e rna t i ona l t r ade , howeve r , s eems t o have g r own

in the Hel len i s t i c per iod . The prophe t Joe l compla ins tha t Tyre , S idon , and

Phi l i s t i a "have so ld the people of Judah and Je rusa lem to the Greeks , r e

m ov i ng t hem f a r f r om t he i r ow n bo r d e r " ( Joe l 3 : 6 ) . Such t r ade may hav e be

gun before the coming of Alexander , bu t i t f lour i shed under P to lemaic ru le .

W e a l so f ind s lav es sen t as pre sen t s , inc lud ing four yo un g s laves sen t by T o

b i ah t o Apo l l on i us {CPJ 4-5) . S lave t ra f f i c inc luded the t rade of paidiskai,

or young s e rv i ng ma i ds , some t i mes used a s p ros t i t u t e s . The demand fo r

s laves was such tha t P to lemy Phi lade lphus had to i s sue a decree (preserved

in the Vienna papyrus) to prohib i t a t t empts to ens lave f ree men and women

in Syr ia .

The s lave- t rade highl ights the essent ia l ambigui ty of commercial prosper

i ty . The success of some was bui l t on the misery of others . In the words of

Tcher ikover , the Ptolemaic empire "offered a broad f ie ld for the act ivi t ies of

unscrup ulous peo ple from E gypt , and a l so perhaps of peop le local ly born , w ho

took no thought of moral i ty or of another law."

9

7. Ibid., 65.

8. F. M. Cross, "Papyri of the Fourth Century B.C. from Daliyeh," in D. N. Freedman and J. C.

Greenfie ld , ed s . ,

New D irections in Biblical Archaeo logy

(Ne w York: Doubleday , 1969) 41 -6 2 .

9 . Tcherikover,

Hellenistic Civilization,

69.




27

The Tohiads

A para de exa m ple of such peo ple is prov ided by the story of the To biad fam

i ly preserved in Josephus

(Ant.

1 2 . 1 5 4 - 2 3 4 ) .

1 0

The story takes i ts point of de

par ture f rom an incident in the high pr ies thoo d of O nias (mo st prob ably O nias

II, about 240 B . C . E . ) . Onias a l legedly refused to pay the customary t r ibute of

twe nty ta lents of s i lver to the Ptole m aic king, wh o respond ed by threatening to

divide Jerusalem into c leruchies and set t le i t wi th his soldiers . Joseph, son of

To biah (of the Ze no corresp ond enc e) and nephe w of the H igh Pr ies t , cam e for

ward and saved the day by enter ta ining the envoy lavishly. He then borrowed

money f rom fr iends in Samaria , went to Egypt , and won over the Ptolemy. He

outbid a l l others for the r ight to farm the taxes for Coele-Syr ia , Phoenicia ,

Judea, and Samaria , by offer ing double what his r ivals offered. He proceeded

to ra ise the taxes by force . When he met wi th res is tance a t Ashkelon, he had

twenty of the leading ci t izens put to death and conf iscated thei r proper ty. He

subdued Scythopol is by s imilar means. He secured his posi t ion by sending

presents to everyone who was powerful a t cour t .

The episode of the taxes is sufficient to render paradoxical the statement of

Josephus that Joseph had a reputation for uprightness

(Ant.

12.161). The story

goes on to cast further doubt on his character. Allegedly, while on a visi t to

Alexandria with his brother and niece, he fel l in love with a dancing girl . His

brother, alarm ed lest Jose ph sin by sleep ing with a foreigner, substi tuted his ow n

daughter . Eventual ly Joseph marr ied his niece and begot a son Hyrcanus. This

son, in turn, wo n the favor of the Pto lem y by lavish and outrage ous be havio r, but

he was forced to withdraw to Transjordan because of tensions with his brothers.

The ta le of the Tobiads is a colorful narrat ive , which has the character of

legend rather than cri t ical history. Even if the detai ls of the story are not rel i

able, i t gives a vivid picture of the kind of society that f lourished in Ptolemaic

Pales t ine . Josephus professes admirat ion for Joseph, son of Tobiah, "who had

been an exce l len t and h igh-minded man and had brought the Jewish people

from po ver ty a nd a sta te of w eak ness to mo re splendid opp ortuni t ies of l ife dur

ing the twenty- two years when he cont ro l l ed the t axes" (Ant. 12.224) . The

splendid oppor tuni t ies en joyed by som e, how ever , were boug ht a t the exp ense

of others . They were enjoyed pr imari ly by the weal thy famil ies of the Jewish

ar is tocracy. I t w as in these famil ies that H el lenism m ade i t s ini t ia l impa ct .

Not a l l the Jewish upper c lass were as ruthless as the Tobiads . Qoheleth

paints the fol lowing picture of a le isured gent leman of Jerusalem:

10. Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 12 6- 36 . Further pertinent extracts from Tche rikov er's

book can be found in M. E. Stone and D. Satran, eds., Emerging Judaism: Studies on the Fourth

and Third Centuries

B C E

(Minneapol is: Fortress , 1989) 77-99. See also Hengel , Judaism and

Hellenism, 1 . 2 6 7 - 7 2 .



28

Hebrew Wisdom

I built for m yse lf hou ses, I planted for my self vineyards. I mad e for m yse lf gardens

and parks and I planted there fruit trees of every variety. I made for my self po ols

of w ater from w hic h to irrigate a forest sprouting w ith trees. I boug ht m ale and fe

male slaves, and their children be cam e m y slaves. I also had much cattle, oxen , and

sheep, m ore than all wh o preceded m e in Jerusalem. I collected for my self both sil

ver and gold , as w ell as the treasure of king s and of p rovincial rulers; I had for m y

self male and female singers, also the delights of men—a mistress, many mis

tresses. I increased greatly, more than all wh o preceded m e in J eru salem .

11

Qoheleth ' s hypothet ical career i s character is t ic of the era in several re

spects : the use of technolo gy ( i r r igat ion) , the exploi ta t ion of s lav es , and the un

abash ed pursui t of pleasu re . W e are not told ho w Q ohele th acquired his w eal th .

There is no admiss ion of violent methods such as those employed by the To

b iads .

Of course , Qoheleth ' s account cannot be taken at face value as auto

biography, s ince the author assumes a royal persona in Qoh. 1:12, thereby ci r

cumvent ing the need to explain his weal th . While the pic ture he paints i s

ideal ized, however , i t i s an ideal izat ion based on the exper ience of the Hel

lenist ic age.

How relevant i s the int r igue and luxury of the Tobiads to the book of Ben

Si ra? Qui te re levant . The c leares t window tha t Ben Si ra opens on contempo

rary events is found in his praise, in Sir .

5 0 : 1 - 2 1 ,

of the High Pr ies t Simon II ,

"the leader of his kindre d, glory of his pe op le ." Simo n wa s the High Pr ies t w ho

welcomed Ant iochus I I I into Jerusalem and pres ided over the t ransfer of

Jerusalem from Ptolemaic to Seleucid control . In appreciat ion of the welcome

he was given, Ant iochus promised to help res tore the c i ty , which had been

damaged by the war , and to provide provis ions for the sacr i f ices (Ant.

12.139-40) . Ben Sira begins by prais ing the High Pr ies t for his bui lding ac

com plish m ents : "In his li fe he repaired the ho use , and in his t ime he fort if ied

the temple ." He goes on to extol the splendor of his performance on the a l tar .

Th e wh ole pass age has a H el lenis t ic r ing to it , bec ause of i ts em ph asis on sp ec

tacle as the way to win glory.

Ben Sira emphasizes the cul t ic role of Simon, but gives l i t t le indicat ion of

his poli t ics or his culture. Yet this man was the son of Onias II and first cousin

of Joseph the Tobiad. His son, Onias I I I , who is a lso credi ted wi th great pie ty

by 2 Maccabees , sought refuge in a pagan temple when his l i fe was in danger

(2 Mace . 4 :33) . The same Onias a l lowed Hyrcanus the Tobiad to use the

Jerusa lem T em ple as a sa fe -depos i t bank (2 M ace . 3 :11). S im on ' s young er son ,

Jason, was the pr ime mover in the Hel lenis t ic reform in Jerusalem in the t ime

11. Qoh. 2:4-9 , trans. J . Crenshaw, Ecclesiastes (Phi ladelphia: W estminster , 1987) 69. S . A p-

plebaum, "Jewish Urban Communit ies and Greek Inf luences ," in Judaea in Hellenistic and R o

man Times (Leiden: Bri ll , 198 9) 3 1 -3 2 , reads the disputed phrase sidah wesidot, "a mistre ss, m any

mistresses ," as male and female paramours, fo l low ing the Greek, "a ma le wine-pourer and fem ale

win e-pou rers." He argues that Greek readers, at least, w ou ld see a reference to hom osex uality here.



Ben Sira in His Hellenistic Con text 29

of Ant iochus IV Epiphanes . The household of S imon can hard ly have been a

bast ion of t radi t ional valu es . Yet Sim on did uph old the r ight of the Jew s to l ive

in accordance wi th ancest ra l law, even i f this necessar i ly imposed some l imi ts

on t rade wi th Gent i les . (For example, a decree of Ant iochus recorded in

Ant.

12.146 prohibi ts the int roduct ion of "animals forbidden to the Jews" into

Jerusa lem.)

Ben Sira as Social Critic

Tcher ikover and Henge l have depic ted Ben Si ra as the champion of t rad i

t ional Judaism against the new Hel lenis t ic e thos . Tcher ikover notes the sage 's

del ight in t ravel (34:12; 51:13) , and f inds here a "widening of the inte l lectual

hor izon" representat ive of the new generat ion. Nonetheless , he ins is ts that

"Ben Si ra re turned to Je rusa lem the or thodox Jew he had been before" and

"foug ht against the spi r i t of Greek civi l izat ion a l l his l i f e . "

1 2

In par t , th is jud g

m ent concerns B en S i ra ' s a t t itude towa rd Greek phi losophy , to which w e w i ll

re turn la ter . Fo r the presen t , let us consid er his social teaching and see w heth er

i t has what Henge l has ca l l ed an "apologe t ic -polemica l" charac te r .

1 3

The difficulty here l ies in dist inguishing between the tradit ional veri t ies of

wisdom l i tera ture and remarks that are targeted against specif ic contemporary

abuses . Si rach has a lengthy ref lect ion on re la t ions between r ich and poor in

chap ter 13. W he n he says that "a rich person wi l l exploi t you i f you can be of

use to him, but i f you are in need he wi l l abandon you" (13:4) , he is echoing

an age-old observat ion. Compare the comments on the inequi ty of r ich and

poor in Prov. 14:20; Qoh. 9:16; and Sayings of Ahikar 55. The danger of in

discreet indulg ence a t the table of a r ich m an is noted pers is tent ly in E gyp t ian

w i s d o m l i t e r a t u r e

1 4

and in Proverbs (23 :1-3) . S i rach , however , descr ibes the

antagonism between r ich and poor more sharply than is customary in t radi

t ional wisdom l i tera ture:

What does a wolf have in common with a lamb?

No more has a sinner with the devout.

What peac e is there between a hyena and a dog?

And what peace between the rich and the poor?

Wild asses in the wilderness are the prey of l ions;

like wis e the poor are feedin g grounds for the rich.

(13 :17 -19 )

We are reminded of the j ibe of the cour t jes ter when Hyrcanus, son of Joseph

the Tobiad, was a t dinner wi th King Ptolemy: "My lord, do you see the bones

12.

Tcherikover,


1 4 3 ^ 4 .

13.

Henge l ,

Judaism and Hellenism,

1.138.

14.

Instruction of Ani,

ANET

412; Instruction of Amen-em-opet 23,

ANET 424.



30

Hebrew Wisdom

lying before Hyrcanus? From this you may guess that his fa ther has s t r ipped

al l Syr ia in the same way as Hyrcanus has lef t these bones bare of meat" (Ant.

12.212) .

Bu t whi le Sirach obse rves this s ta te of affai rs , his tone rem ains de tached . A

similar si tuation is reflected in the Epist le of Enoch (7 Enoch 94 - 105) , wh i ch

may have been wr i t t en about the same t ime .

1 5

But the tone of Enoch is very

different:

W oe to you w ho acquire silver and gold , but not in righteo usne ss, and say, w e

have become very rich and have possessions and have acquired everything that

w e desired Like water your life will flow away , for your riches will not stay

with you, but will quickly go up from you; for you acquired everything in iniq

uity, and you will be given over to a great curse.

(1

Enoch

97:8-10)

Sirach stops well short of cursing the rich, even if he disapproves of their ac

t ions. The difference in ton e reflects the different social loca tions of the au thors

of the two works . Ben Sira made his l iving by ins t ruct ing the wel l - to-do. The

Epis t le of Enoch is the work of social outs iders .

1 6

Sirach 's a t t i tude to the weal thy is perhaps best summed up in chapter 31.

After noting that "one who loves gold will not be just if ied" and that "i t is a

s tum bling bloc k to those w ho are avid for i t ," Si rach cont inues : "Blesse d is the

r ich person who is found blameless , and who does not go af ter gold. Who is

h e , tha t we m ay pra i se h im ? . . . W ho has had the pow er to t ransgress and d id

not t ransgress an d to do evi l and did not do i t?" (Sir . 3 1 : 8- 10 ) . S uch a person

is hard to f ind, but Sirach has not given up on the ideal . In another passage,

which is di rect ly appl icable to the Hel lenis t ic context , the sage opines:

A merchant can hardly keep from wrongdoing,

nor is a tradesman innocent of sin.

Many have committed sin for gain,

and those who seek to get rich will avert their eyes.

A s a stake is driven firmly into a fissure betw een stone s,

so sin is wedged in between sell ing and buying.

If a person is not steadfast in the fear of the Lord,

his house will be quickly overthrown.

(26 :29 -27 :3 )

15. G. W. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (Philadelphia:

Fortress, 1981) 150.

16. See the comments of R. A. Argal l , 1 Enoch and Sirach: A Comparative Literary and Con

ceptual Analysis of the Themes of Revelation, Creation and Judgment (Atlanta: Scho lars, 1995)

252-54. Argall also notes that Sirach's theology does not allow him to threaten the rich with eter

nal damnation.




31

Even though s in i s endemic to commerce , S i rach does no t repudia te a l l com

mercial activity. I t is not incompatible with the fear of the Lord, al though the

r ight combinat ion is rare . Moreover , we may have here an echo of the profes

sional snobbery of the scribe, such as we find in the discussion of the trades in

chap t e r s 38 -39 .

M ent io n of the "fear of the Lor d" br ing s us to the hear t of Si rac h 's cr i t ique

of the e thos of his day . The posi t ive im pl icat ions of this not ion wi l l con cern us

later . For the present, i t is safe to say that such people as the Tobiads, or the

Hel lenis t ic reformers of the next generat ion, were not character ized by "fear

of the Lo rd." O n this level , there wa s a real gulf betwe en the t radi t ional m ores

of the Sem it ic peo ples and the new etho s int roduc ed by the G reek s . B ickerm an

observes as tute ly:

When an oriental subject appeared before an oriental despot, even if he were in

the kin g's favor, he becam e like Ne hem iah, "very afraid." . . . The situation was

very different in Ptolemaic Egypt. Here another Joseph, a man from Jerusalem,

comes to Alexandria and happens to meet the king's chariot in the street; a

courtier mentions his name to King Ptolemy, who greets the newcomer and seats

him in his carriage beside his que en. Joseph tells a few jok es and is invited to the

royal table."

1 7

Ben Si ra w as deeply imb ued w i th a t rad i t iona l "e th ic of cau t io n . "

1 8

Insofar as

Hel lenism is associated wi th the brash entrepreneur ia l e thos of the Tobiads ,

Ben Sira was indeed opposed to i t . But this did not mean that he was opposed

to Hel lenis t ic cul ture , or even Hel lenis t ic commerce, i f i t could be combined

with the tradit ional , reverential fear of the Lord.

Any discussion of Si rach 's a t t i tude to Hel lenis t ic mores must bear in mind

the social locat ion of the sage.

1 9

Unl ike Qohele th ' s idea l i zed , roya l persona ,

the typical scr ibe was not indep ende nt ly w eal thy. Ye t his w ay of li fe required

a degree of leisure that was not available to craftsmen and art isans, as Sirach

makes very c lear in 38:24: "The wisdom of the scr ibe depends on the oppor

tuni ty of le isure; only the one who has l i t t le business can become wise ." The

scr ibe belonged to the re ta iner c lass , which served the needs of the governing

class and included such profess ions as soldier , educator , and bureaucrat .

2 0

The

glory of the scribe is to serve among the great and appear before rulers (39:4).

To p lease the great is a m ark of good sense , and those w ho please the great are

even said to atone for injustice (20:28). Sirach also warns against seeking high

office and against being part ial to the powerful (7:6), but his reflection on the

17. Bickerman, The Jews in the Greek Age, 80.

18. J. T. Sanders, "Ben Sira's Ethics of Caution," HUCA 5 0 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 7 3 - 1 0 6 .

19. R. G ordis , "The Social B ackground of W isdom Literature," HUCA 1 8 ( 1 9 4 3 / 4 4 ) 7 7 - 1 1 8 .

2 0 .

A. J. Saldarini,

Pharisees, Scribes and Sadduce es in Palestinian Society

(Wilmington:

Gl a z i e r , 1 9 8 8 ) 3 1 3 .



32

Hebrew Wisdom

var ious profess ions in chapte rs 38-39 makes c lear where h i s own ambi t ions

l ie. Craf t smen a re d i sparaged because

they are not sought out for the council of the people,

nor do they attain eminence in the public assembly.

Th ey d o not sit in the ju dg e's seat,

nor do they understand the decisions of the courts;

they cannot expound discipl ine or judgmen t,

and they are not found a mo ng the rulers.

(38 :32 -33 )

The person who aspires to serve the great , as Ben Sira does , i s not wel l posi

t ioned for the role of social cri t ic. I t is to his credit that he speaks out against

the abuse of w eal th , but he is no radical polem icis t .

Banquets and

the Hellenistic Ethos

Indicat ive of Ben Sira ' s embedment in Hel lenis t ic social mores is the in

c lus ion of a t r ea ti se on behavior a t banq ue t s in 31 :1 2- 3 2: 13 .

2 1

Beh avior a t ban

quets i s a them e of Egyp t ian l i tera ture from an ear ly t im e, and is t reated in the

Inst ruct ion of Ptah-hotep, the Ins t ruct ion of Kagemni , and the Ins t ruct ion of

A m e n e m o p e .

2 2

The la t ter work was probably the source for Prov.

2 3 : 1 - 3 .

S i-

rach 's ins t ruct ion fol lows the same pat tern (cf . a lso Sir . 13:8-13) . The advice

is di rected tow ard so m eon e w ho is inexp er ienced in such ma t ters , and is l ikely

to be exci ted by the abundance of food. Si rach counsels moderat ion, and this

is in accordance both wi th age-old Near Eastern wisdom and wi th Hel lenis t ic

p h i l o s o p h y .

2 3

S i rach goes beyond P roverbs in recom m end ing vo mi t ing as a re

l ief from d is t ress cause d by overea t ing (31 :21) . Th is advice does not im ply the

Roman custom of us ing an emet ic so that one could then eat more, but i s s im

ply pract ical advice to re l ieve dis t ress . The need for such advice , however , i s

not ref lected in the older w isdo m l i tera ture .

Dinn er par t i es w ere muc h m ore com m on in the Hel len i s t ic wor ld than they

had been in the ancient Near East (cf . the pass ing reference to banquets in 2

Mace. 2:27, which assumes famil iar i ty wi th the pract ice) . They were a lso a

source of pres t ige for the hosts . In the Hel lenis t ic banq uet , the ma in course w as

fol lowed by wine dr inking and enter ta inment , but this was a lso the custom in

the ancient Near East . (Compare Esth. 5:6 and Dan. 5:1-2, which are set in the

2 1 . O. Wischmeyer , Die Kultur des Buches Jesus Sirach (Berl in: de Gruyter , 1995) 10 6- 9.

2 2 . J. T. Sanders, Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom (Chico ,

Calif.:

Scholars , 1983) 67.

2 3 .

C ompare the Sa yings of Pseu do-P hocy l ides 69: "Eat and drink in moderation." For Greek

parallels see P. W. V an der Horst, The Sayings of Pseudo-Phocylides (Leiden: Bri l l , 1978) 16 0- 61 .




33

Pers ian and Ba bylo nian per io ds , but , a t leas t in the case of Daniel 5 , date f rom

the Hel len i s t i c e ra . )

2 4

W ine dr ink ing w as a problem long before the Hel len i s

t ic per iod. Isa iah taunts those who are "heroes in dr inking wine and val iant in

mixing dr ink" ( I sa . 5 :22) , and Amos compla ins of the dr ink ing of the women

of Samar ia (Amos 4 :1) . Proverbs pa in t s an amus ing p ic ture of drunkenness

(2 3:2 9- 35 ) , bu t i s invar iably neg at ive on the subject (cf. a lso 20 :1 ; 31 :4 -5 ) .

Sirach is more posi t ive , and proclaims wine to be "l i fe" to humans. (Cf . Ps .

104 :15 ; 1 T i m . 5:23.) He is no less caut ionary than Proverbs on the danger of

exc ess , bu t he recogn izes the inadvisabi l i ty of reproa ching a pers on w ho is ine

br ia ted. The dangers of intoxicat ion a t a banquet take on extreme forms in 1

Mace . 16 :15-16 (where S imon Maccabee and h i s sons a re murdered in a

drunken s ta te ) and Judi th 13 :2-8 (where the hero ine beheads the drunken

Holofernes ) .

In Sir . 32:1-13, Si rach addresses in turn the conduct appropr ia te to the ban

quet master , the e lder guests , and the younger guests . The posi t ion of banquet

master or symposiarch ref lects the Hel lenis t ic context of this discussion. This

person had the responsibi l i ty of arranging seat ing and ensur ing good service .

Since this was an honorary posi t ion, there was danger of se l f - importance

(32:1) .

Sirach acknowledges that older guests have the r ight to speak, but he

urges modera t ion . He d i scourages speech making by the younger gues t s . His

preference is that people s imply enjoy the music . In contras t , in Plato ' s

Sym

posium (176 E) the flute gi r l i s dism issed so that the com pan y can con centrate

on phi losophical discussion. The Greek text of Si r . 9 :14-16 (but not the He

brew) seems to imply that the r ighteous should discuss the Torah on such oc

casions , but chapter 31 envisages a social s i tuat ion where a l l the company is

not necessari ly r igh teous . The w el l -educa ted person should a l so know how to

behave in an urbane manner in such a set t ing. Si rach, character is t ical ly , con

cludes the sect ion wi th an exhorta t ion to pie ty, but i t was a lso customary at

G reek ba nq uets to pou r a l ibat ion an d s ing a chan t to the gods (cf. P la to ' s Sym

posium

176).

Sirach 's evident famil iar i ty wi th, and acceptance of , Hel lenis t ic banquets

show s that he wa s no zealou s oppo nen t of H el lenis t ic cul ture as such. T he c on

fl ict that runs through his ethical reflection is not between Greek and Jew but

between arrogance and temeri ty on the one hand and humil i ty and caut ion on

the other . The fact that Hel lenis t ic cul ture seemed to promote arrogance and

tem eri ty w as not a reaso n to re ject a l l aspects of it out of han d. A sw eeping re

ject ion of Hel lenism, or of the Hel lenized mores of the upper c lass , was

scarcely a possibi l i ty for someone in Ben Sira ' s social locat ion.

2 4 . On the Greek banquet see D. E. Smith and H. Taussig , Many Tables: The Eucharist in the

New Testament and Liturgy T oday (Phi ladelphia: Trinity , 1990) 21-35.



34

Hebrew Wisdom

Honor and Shame

Another fea ture of Ben Si ra ' s e thos tha t may have been inf luenced by the

Hel lenis t ic context i s the great importance that he a t taches to honor and

sham e, w hich hav e long been identi fi ed as core conc erns of He l len ic so c ie ty .

2 5

Such concerns a re no t absent f rom the Hebrew Bib le ; th ink , for example , o f

the ac t ion of Dinah ' s b ro thers aga ins t Shechem in Genes i s 34 or of the com

plaint of Job in Job 3 1 . Y et there is a m ark ed incre ase in the f requen cy of term s

re la t ing to honor and shame in Ben Si ra in compar i son wi th ear l i e r Hebrew

l i t e r a t u r e .

2 6

Honor and shame were p ivota l va lues in Greek soc ie ty . Homer ' s ep ics a re

dominated by the warr ior ' s search for honor . In the Hel lenis t ic world people

gained honor by thei r benefact ions to thei r c i t ies . Honor and shame were very

m uch at s take in sexual re la t ions . A m an w as sham ed by the loss of chast i ty on

the par t o f a woman under h i s cont ro l . The pursu i t o f honor was somet imes

cr i t ic ized by Hel lenis t ic phi losophers , especial ly Epicureans and Cynics , but

such cr i t ic ism had l i t t le impact on popular cul ture .

2 7

The subjec t o f honor and shame comes up severa l t imes in Ben Si ra

( 3 : 1 - 6 ; 4 : 2 0 - 3 1 ; 10 : 19 -25 ; 20 : 21 -23 ) . The re i s an ex t ended d i s cus s i on i n

41:14-42:8 . This sec t ion i s g iven a t i t l e , " Ins t ruc t ion about Shame," in the

Hebrew MS B. In genera l , S i rach seeks to re ta in the ca tegor ies of honor and

sham e, bu t he a l so seeks to modi fy them . Th e ca ta log of th ings of w hich one

should be ashamed g ives cons iderab le prominence to sexua l o f fenses , even

when they only involve gaz ing (9 :1-9) . Al l forms of l awbreaking a re d i sap

prov ed , bu t sham e a l so ex tend s to bad m ann ers a t t ab le and lack of grac ious-

ness (41:19) . The Torah heads the l i s t of things of which one should not be

ash am ed. In this resp ect , Si rach t r ies to adapt the categor ie s of H el lenis t ic c ul

ture to the values of Hebrew t radi t ion. Inevi tably, he a lso modif ies the t radi

t ion in do ing th i s . M oreo ver , as w e sha l l see wh en w e cons ider S i ra ch ' s v iew s

on family e thics , he re ta ins a convent ional code of pat r iarchal control that i s

qu i te in accordance wi th Hel len i s t i c va lues of honor and shame. Here aga in ,

2 5 . E. R. Dodds , The Greeks and the Irrational (Berkeley: Un iv. of Cal i fornia Press , 1951 )

2 8 - 6 3 .

26 .

C . Mue nch ow , "Dust and Dirt in Job 42:6 ," JB L 108 (1989) 603, counts 277 occurrences of

roots mean ing sham e in the Hebrew Bib le . C. Cam p, "Understanding a Patriarchy: W om en in S ec

ond Century Jerusalem through the Eye s of Be n Sira," in A. J . Lev ine, ed. ,

"Women like This,":

New Perspectives on Jewish W omen in the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta: Scholars, 1991) 5, finds

52 occurrences of Greek equivalents of words for shame in Ben Sira alone, a significantly higher

concentration.

27. For a con cise o verv iew and bibl iography of the study of honor and shame in the H el lenist ic

world, see H. Moxnes, "Honor and Shame,"

BTB

23 (1993) 167-76. See further D. G. Gilmore,

ed. , Honor and Shame and the Unity of the Mediterranean (Washington , D.C . : Am er ican An

thropological Associat ion, 1987) .




35

the re is no ques t ion of a s imp le choice be tw een H el len i sm an d trad i t iona l Jew

ish values . There were features of the Hel lenis t ic e thos of which Sirach did

not approve, especial ly in the area of sexual moral i ty , but other features were

so m uc h par t o f h i s cu l tura l contex t tha t he w ould nev er have perce ived them

as foreign.

Educat ion and L i t erature

H. I . Marrou has character ized Hel lenis t ic cul ture as "a c ivi l izat ion of

paideia."

2

*

Th e Gree ks bu i l t schools wh erever they went . Th ere w as a l so a

m easure of h igher educa t ion a t t ached to the gym nas ium , and som e p laces had

inst i tutes of resea rch and high er learning , such as the M ou seion of A lexan dria .

In Jerusalem, however , the f i rs t gymnasium was bui l t af ter 175 B.C.E., mos t

probably af ter Si rach 's t ime, and the impact of Hel lenis t ic educat ion in the

Ptolemaic per iod is uncer ta in.

Schools in

Second Temple Judaism

W e have regret tably l it t le informat ion abou t Jew ish educat ion before the

Maccabean revol t . Universa l school ing was not in t roduced unt i l Hasmonean

t imes . Th ere a re two legends on the subje c t .

2 9

Th e Je rusa lem Talm ud says tha t

Simeon ben Shetach, who was pres ident of the sanhedr in dur ing the re ign of

Al exande r J annaeus (103-76 B.C.E.), ordained that chi ldren go to school (j.

Kethuboth 8.32c) . T he Ba bylo nian Talm ud has a m ore detai led t radi t ion:

Verily the nam e of that man is to be blessed, Joshua ben G am ala, for but for him

the Torah wou ld have been forgotten from Israel. For at first if a child had a fa

ther, his father taught him, and if he had no father he did not learn at all They

then made an ordinance that teachers of children should be appointed in

Jeru sale m .. . . Even so, however, if a child had a father, the father wou ld take

him up to Jerusalem and have him taught there; and if not, he would not go up

to learn there. They, therefore, ordained that teachers should be appointed in each

prefecture, and that boys should en ter school at the age of sixteen or seven teen.

They did so; and if the teacher punished them, they used to rebel and leave the

school. At length Joshua ben G amala cam e and ordained that teachers of young

children should be appointed in each district and each town and that children

should enter school at the age of six or seven.

(b.BabaBathralU)

28.

H. I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity (London: Sheed & Ward, 1956) 95 .

29.

S. Safrai, "Education and the Study of

the

Torah," in S. Safrai and M. Stern, eds., The Jew

ish People in the First Century (CRINT 1/2; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1976) 947 -48.



36

Hebrew Wisdom

Joshua ben Gamala funct ioned as High Pr ies t dur ing the las t years of the

T e m p l e ( 6 3 - 6 5 C . E . ) .

3 0

I t would seem that the Jewish educat ional system de

veloped gradual ly , and that universal educat ion became the norm only a t the

very end of the Second Temple per iod. Riesner has noted that s ixteen or sev

enteen is surprisingly late as an age for start ing school in the period before

Joshua ben Gamala . This was approximately the age of the ephebes in the

Greek gymnasium. Riesner speculates that the f i rs t Torah-centered schools in

Je rusa lem m ay have been deve loped in r eact ion t o J a so n ' s gy m na s i u m .

3 1

They

could a lso have been developed as a counterpar t to that phase of Greek educa

t ion in the t ime of Alexander Jannaeus or la ter . I t seems clear , however , that

there wa s no sys tem of publ ic educa t ion in Je rusa lem in Ben Si ra ' s t im e .

3 2

Ben Sira's School

Most scholars ci te Sir . 51:23 as the earl iest clear reference to a school in a

Jew ish text : "D raw near to m e, you w ho are uned ucated, and lodge in m y hou se

of instruction [bet midrdsi]"

33

Th is statem ent is found in the acrostic po em that

conclu des the book. Th e sam e poe m is found, in par t , in the Psalm s Scrol l f rom

Qu m ran C ave 11 , wh ere it i s p laced be tween Psa lm 138 and the " Ap os t rophe

to Zion." (Only vv. 11-17 and the las t two words of the poem are preserved at

Qumran.) Most scholars read this poem as autobiographical , but Ben Sira ' s au

thorship has been qu est ioned in view of the inclusion of the po em in the P salm s

S c r o l l .

3 4

Moreover , the reference to the house of ins t ruct ion could be taken as

metaphor ica l—cf . Prov . 9 :1 , wh ere W isdom bu i lds her h o us e .

3 5

Even the

m etaph or of a hou se of ins t ruct ion, howe ver , assum es that the phe nom eno n w as

famil iar to the reader . Even i f the poem was not Si rach 's own composi t ion, i t

m ust be taken to reflect the reali t ies of the t ime . Th e He bre w text from the C airo

Geniza (MS B) a lso includes ment ion of a

yeshivah

in v. 29 . Th e G reek has a

reference to God's mercy at this point , however , and s ince the Hebrew text i s

medieval i t is open to suspicion of late modification. There can be l i t t le doubt,

in any case, that the inst i tut ion of the bet midrash was known in Jerusalem in

3 0 .

On the problems of the identification, see R. Riesner,

Jesus als Lehrer

(Tubingen: Mohr,

1 9 8 1 ) 2 0 1 - 5 .

3 1 .

Ibid., 206.

3 2 .

On the rabbinic school system, see H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger,

Introduction to the

Tal

mud and Midrash

(Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1 991 ) 9-1 6; Safrai, "Edu cation and the Study of the

Torah ," 945-70 .

3 3 . See, e.g. , J. L. Crenshaw, "Education in Ancient Israel,"

JB L

104 (1985) 60 1; E. W . Heaton ,

The School Tradition of the Old Testament (Oxford: Oxford Un iv. Press , 1994) 1 -23 .

3 4 .

See note 2 above. For an account of the debate see H. Stadelmann,

Ben Sira als Schrift-

gelehrter (Tubingen: Mohr , 1980) 30 -3 3 .

3 5 .

Wi s c h me y e r ,

Die Kultur des Buches Jesus Sirachs,

17 5- 76 , insists that the reference is

metaphorical.




37

Sirach 's t ime, and that i t forms the set t ing of the sage 's own teaching. The in

structional charac ter of Sirach is sho w n espec ially in his use of the p arad igm atic

instructional form of address: "Listen to the reproof of your father, O children"

(3:1) and the intermittent address to "my son," especially in the early chapters

(Sir . 2 :1 ; 3:17 ; 4 :1 ; 6:2 3, etc.) . By th e t ime of Sirach , this form of addres s is

stereotypical , but i t s ignals that Sirach stands in the tradit ion of Proverbs, and

m ore broadly in the long l ine of Near Eastern, pr imari ly Egyp t ian, ins t ruct ional

treatises that stretches back to the third millenium.

H. Stadelmann has argued that Si rach, as scr ibe and teacher , must have be

longed to the pr ies t ly c la ss .

3 6

He draws a specif ic analogy wi th Ezra , who was

both pr ies t and scr ibe. But Ezra is notor iously absent f rom Ben Sira ' s "Praise

of the Fath ers ," and how ev er this is to be explaine d i t should caut ion us against

casting Ben Sira in the l ikeness of Ezra. Ben Sira clearly affirms the authori ty

of the pr ies thood wi th respect to teaching the Torah. Moses gave Aaron "au

thor i ty and s ta tutes and judgments to teach Jacob the tes t imonies and to en

l ighten Israel wi th his law " (45:17 ) . Th e praise of Simon the Just in chap ter 50

show s that Si rach wa s c lose to the c i rc les of the High P r ies t and in no way op

pos ed to the pr ies tho od. H e urges his reade rs to revere the pr ies ts and give th em

their port ion (7:29-31) and he supports the offering of sacrif ices

( 3 4 : 2 1 -

35:13) . Nei ther these passages nor any other par t of the book, however , gives

any hint that Ben Sira was himself a pr ies t . His deference toward the pr ies t

hood can be explained by supposing that he depended on the pat ronage of the

High Priest . While his at tention to sacrif ices is without precedent in the bibli

cal wisdom books, he st i l l gives only a small fraction of his space to priest ly

concerns . He ignores the cul t ic and die tary laws of Levi t icus . Moreover , de

spite his explici t identif ication of Wisdom with the Torah in 2 4 : 2 3 , Ben Sira

does no t expound the Law d i rec t ly . He i s a wisdom teacher , who makes ex

tensive us e of the Torah , but he mak es no pretense of author i ta t ive interpreta

t ion of the kind that he reserves to the p r ies thood .

Pr ies ts and Levi tes were not the only teachers in Second Temple Judaism.

T he m ost obvio us preced ents for Si rach are found in the boo ks of Prov erbs and

Qoheleth. The epi logue to the book of Qoheleth c la ims that the sage "taught

the peop le know ledg e ." W e can hard ly imagine Q ohele th as a Levi te t eaching

the Torah. His teaching is except ional in the wisdom tradi t ion in i t s appeal to

personal exper ience. Presumably, he had a pr ivate school and took on pupi ls

w ho so ugh t him out . M an y scho lars a lso posi t a school se t t ing for Prov erbs , or

at least for Proverbs 1-9 and for the whole book as i t was transmitted in the

S e c o n d T e m p l e p e r i o d .

3 7

The rhetorical si tuation of a father addressing his son

36. Stadelmann,

Ben Sira als Schriftgelehrter, 25.

37. B. Lang, "Schule und Unterricht in Israel," in M. Gilbert, ed.,

La Sagesse de VAncien Tes

tament

(Louvain: Leu ven University Press , 1990) 1 92 -9 9.



38

Hebrew Wisdom

i s a convent ion inher i ted f rom the Egypt ian ins t ruct ions , and can be taken as

metaphorical for the re la t ionship of teacher and s tudent . (References to the

mother ' s teaching in 1:8 and 6:20 do not lend themselves so eas i ly to

metaphorical explanat ion, but there is no reason why a school ins t ruct ion

should not affirm the authori ty of both parents.) A school set t ing is clearly im

pl ied in Prov . 5 :1 2- 13 , where the e r ran t youth l am ents : "O h, how I ha ted d i s

c ipl ine , and m y hear t despised reproof I did not l isten to the vo ice of my teac h

ers [moray] or incl ine my ear to m y ins t ructors [melammeday]" Th e deve lope d

poet ic ins t ruct ions of Proverbs 1-9 are more plausibly explained as a product

of school ins t ruct ion than of home-based educat ion.

When we speak of schools in this context , we mean s imply a re la t ionship

between a teacher and some number of s tudents who are not his actual chi l

dren. We know nothing of the c i rcumstances in which teaching took place.

Prov erbs 8 has W isd om cry out a t the crossroads and the c i ty gate , invi t ing peo

p le to come and rece ive ins t ruc t ion .

3 8

The wisdom poem a t the end of Ben

Sira ' s boo k also cal ls out for pup i ls . On several occasion s Sirach s peaks of the

need to pursue w isdom , but in 6 :34 -37 he g ives m ore prac ti ca l advice : "Stand

in the company of the e lders . Who is wise? At tach yoursel f to such a one. Be

ready to l i s ten to every godly discourse , and le t no wise proverbs escape you.

If you see an intel l igent person, r ise early to visi t him; let your foot wear out

his doors tep." What this passage suggests i s a tutor ia l re la t ionship ra ther than

a formal course of s tudy. The wisdom school of Ben Sira may have had the

charac te r o f a group tu tor ia l .

3 9

In this respect , there is a t leas t a l imi ted analogy between the Jewish wis

dom school in the Second Temple per iod and the Greek phi losophical schools

that dev elop ed ab out the sam e t ime. The great or iginators of pr ivate scho ols of

higher learning in c lass ical Gree ce w ere the Soph is ts . In the wo rds of H. I. M ar

rou: "They did not open any schools—in the ins t i tut ional sense of that word.

Their method, not unl ike that of ear ly t imes, might be descr ibed as col lect ive

tutor ing. Th ey gathere d roun d the you ths entrusted to thei r care and und er took

the i r en t ire t ra in ing ."

4 0

T he So phis ts , like W isdo m , had to go out into the high

ways and byways in search of s tudents . By the Hel lenis t ic per iod, Greek phi

losophy had become a more technical discipl ine , and the var ious phi losophi

cal "schools" had developed into vi r tual sects wi th thei r own doctr ines .

Juda i sm in Ben Si ra ' s t ime had noth ing to compare wi th the deve loped phi lo

sophical schoo ls of the Stoics and Ep icurea ns . The analog y exten ds only to the

phenomenon of individual teachers ' going out in search of s tudents and offer

ing to ins t ruct them in the ways of wisdom.

38. Cf . Prov. 1:20-21; Lang, "Schule und Unterricht ," 200-201.

3 9 .

W i s ch me y e r ,

Die Kultur, 111

a lso conclud es that Ben Sira had "a private wisd om school ,"

and was not part of any official system of education.

4 0 . Marrou, A History of Education, 49 .




39

The kind of ins t ruct ion provided by Proverbs and Qoheleth is by no means

secu lar, but neithe r is i t ba sed o n the T ora h or directed to the need s of a priest ly

class. I t represents a different tradit ion in education from the kind of instruc

t ion in the Torah that i s a t t r ibuted to the Levi tes in Chronicles . Proverbs in

cludes a cer ta in amount of pract ical wisdom (e .g . , 22:17-23:11) that s tands in

the t radi t ion of Egypt ian cour t wisdom. Pract ical i ssues recede, however , in

Proverbs 1-9 and in Qoheleth. (They come to the fore again in Ben Sira . ) Qo

heleth repres ents a highly p erson al , exis tent ia l search for w hat i s goo d in l i fe .

Proverbs 1-9 em phas izes m ora l ins t ruc tion and the pursu i t o f W isdom , w hich

is given a personal , feminine form. Here again there is a l imi ted analogy wi th

Greek phi losophy, which was a lso the pursui t of wisdom, in i t s cogni t ive and

mo ra l d imens ions . I t i s no t im poss ib le tha t the Jewish w isdom boo ks have been

inf luenced, i f only indirect ly , by Greek phi losophy. Such inf luence has of ten

been pos i t ed in the case of Qohele th ,

4 1

and has recent ly been suggested in the

case of Proverbs by Michael Fox, who under l ines the novel ty of Proverbs in

equa t i ng wi sdom wi t h v i r t ue .

4 2

The analogy is admit tedly l imi ted. The pursui t

of wisdom, as evidenced in Proverbs 1-9 or in Qoheleth is a phi losophical un

der taking, however modest i t may be in comparison to Plato or Aris tot le . I t i s

an a t tempt to arr ive a t an unders tanding of l i fe wi thout recourse to prophet ic

revelat ion or miraculous divine intervent ion, and s imul taneously to determine

what i s good for humani ty. I t may be that this was a paral le l development to

G reek ph i loso phy , and no t inf luenced b y i t to any s ignif icant de gree , but i t rep

resented a new depar ture over against the t radi t ional scr ibal wisdom of the an

cient Near East .

Greek and Egyptian

Wisdom in Ben Sira

I t do es not , of cou rse , follow that the curr iculum taught by a Jewish teacher

l ike Ben Sira was a t a l l inf luenced by Hel lenis t ic phi losophy. The core of Si

rach ' s teaching is st il l t radi t ional Ne ar Eastern w isdo m m ater ia l . M uc h of i t can

be read as an e laborat ion of the teaching of Proverbs . Si rach had some ac

qua intanc e wi th Gre ek l i tera ture and phi losop hy, but he nev er refers to a G reek

book, or indeed to any nonbibl ical book, by name. The extent of his acquain

tance wi th Greek l i tera ture is disputed. Middendorp has c la imed to ident i fy

approximately a hundred passages in which Sirach is indebted to Greek

4 1 . R. Braun, Kohelet und die fruhhellenistische Popularp hilosophie (BZ AW 130; Ber l in : de

Gruyter, 1973).

4 2 . M . Fo x, "W isdom in Proverbs," a paper read to the International Org anisation for the S tudy

of the Old Testam ent at Cam bridge (July 1995) .



40

Hebrew Wisdom

l i t e r a t u r e ,

4 3

bu t h i s a rguments have not wi ths tood schola r ly c r i t i c i sm.

4 4

In

many cases Middendorp 's argument consis ts of f inding a Greek passage that

expresses a sent iment s imi lar to something that i s a lso a t tes ted in bibl ical t ra

di t ion. I t i s gene ral ly acce pted that Si r. 1 4:18, w hich co m pare s the g enera t ions

of humani ty to the l eaves of a t r ee , echoes Homer ' s Iliad 6 .146-49 ( "Peop l e

come and go as leaves year by year upon the t rees") , but the sent iment was

probably proverbial by the Hel lenis t ic age, and does not require any extensive

acqua in tance w i th H om er . The Greek au thor mo s t f requently echoed by Si rach

is the gnomic poet Theognis , whose subject mat ter of ten paral le ls that of the

Jewish sage. So Sir . 6:10 ("There is a fr iend who is a table-friend, but he is not

to be found in the day of affl ict ion") echoes a doublet from Theognis

11 5-1 6 / 64 3-4 4 : "M any b ecom e comr ades dea r be si de t he bow l , bu t f ew i n a

grave matter ." Or again Sir . 6:15, "A faithful fr iend is beyond price, and his

wor th cannot be weighed ," para l l e l s Theognis 77-78 , "A t rus ty man i s to be

reck one d against go ld and s i lver ." The paral le ls are not res t r ic ted to the th em e

of f r iendship, but touch on var ious aspects of pract ical wisdom. (E.g. , Si r .

10:6a: "Requi te not evi l to thy neighbor for every wrong" echoes Theognis

3 2 5 : "I f a man grow always angry a t a f r iend 's offence . . . ")

4 5

It is not sur

pr is ing that the non-Jewish work wi th which Sirach has most paral le ls i s the

Egy pt ian Ins truc t ion of Phib i s , p reserved in Papyrus Ins ing er .

4 6

These inc lude

the exam ple of the prod uct ive l i tt le be e (Sir . 1 1:3; P. Ins inger 25 :3) , a hu ndr ed

years as the upper l imit of human l ife (Sir . 18:9; P. Insinger 27:21) and cata

logs of v ices and v i r tues of women.

4 7

Most str iking is the fact that both Phibis

and Sirach have sections on fi l ial piety near the beginning of their books and

hymns to God the creator near the end. Si rach 's a t t ract ion to the works of

Theognis and Phibis i s obvious: they too are works of t radi t ional wisdom,

which elaborate on many issues that receive only cursory t reatment in

Proverbs . Ben Sira ' s acquaintance wi th Egypt ian wisdom l i tera ture is fur ther

shown by the s imi la r i ty be tween Si r . 38 :24-39:11 and the Maxims of Duauf,

or the Sat i re on the Trades , even though the Jewish sage adapted his model

f r e e l y .

4 8

Sirach also appears to have a smat ter ing of Greek phi losophy, espe-

4 3 . Th. Middendorp,

Die S tellung Jesu Ben Siras zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus

(Leiden:

Brill , 1973).

4 4 .

J. T. Sanders,

Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom

(Chico ,

Calif.:

Scholars , 1983); H. V.

Kieweler , Ben Sira zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus (Frankfurt am M ain: La ng, 199 2).

4 5 . See further J. T. Sanders, Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 2 9 - 3 8 .

4 6 .

Ibid. , 61-101. On Papyrus Insinger see M. Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature in

the International Context: A Study of Dem otic Instructions (OB O 52; Got t ingen: Vandenhoeck &

Ruprecht , 1983) 107-234 .

4 7 .

Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 71 , 98 .

4 8 .

O. Rickenbacher, Weish eitsperikopen bei Ben Sira (Gott ingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht ,

1973) 1 76- 96 . For the Ma xims o f Duauf see

ANET,

4 3 2 - 3 4 .




41

dai ly S to ic i sm, to which we wi l l r e turn when we cons ider h i s v iews of God

and nature an d the quest ion of theodicy. I t i s unl ikely, how eve r , that Si rach had

ever s tudied wi th a Stoic phi losopher or that he had any real unders tanding of

the system. There was no center of Stoic phi losophy in Judea such as could be

found i n Al exandr i a .

4 9

The ins t ruct ion that Si rach himself impar ted is pre

sumably represented fa i r ly enough by his book.

I t must be said that Hel lenis t ic l i tera ture had made only a very modest im

pre ssio n in Ju de a at the t ime Sirac h wro te. Th ere w as , by this t im e, a f lourish

ing Jewish l i tera ture in Greek in Alexandria . Such authors as Demetr ius the

chronographer , Ezekiel the t ragedian, and the his tor ian Artapanus can al l be

da ted p laus ib ly before the Maccabean revol t .

5 0

I t is significant , however, that

Mart in Hengel , in his review of Hel lenism in Pales t ine before the Maccabean

revol t, cannot po in t to a s ing le Jewish au thor w ho w rote in G re ek .

5 1

The first

such author was Eupolemus, who was act ive about the t ime of the revol t . I t

must have been possible to learn Greek in Jerusalem in Sirach 's t ime. People

needed i t for business and diplomacy. But the contras t between Jerusalem,

w hich w as s t i ll a Sem it ic-speakin g c i ty , and the s i tuation in the Dias pora is re

markable .

Hel lenis t ic educat ion and phi losophy, then, had some impact on Judean in

te l lectuals in Sirach 's day, but that impact was modest . There is no evidence

that Si rach, or anyone else for that mat ter , act ively opposed Greek phi losophy

in this period, or saw it as a threat . There was no need to oppose i t , as i t was

not being promoted. The main innovat ion of Si rach in the t radi t ion of the Jew

i sh wisd om school was in the prom inence h e gave to the Torah of Mo ses . Som e

people argue that Si rach 's ident i f icat ion of the Law with wisdom was intended

to counter the c la ims of Greek phi losophy, but this seems unl ikely. Nowhere

in Sirach do we f ind any expl ic i t polemic against Greek wisdom. The Jewish

Law was the neares t thing to a phi losophical system of which Sirach had any

mastery. His object ive in incorporat ing the Torah into his wisdom teaching

was s imply to integrate the t radi t ions a t his disposal . The object ive was con

s t ruct ive ra ther than apolo get ic . W e shal l cons ider this const ruc t ive enterpr ise

in m ore detai l in the fol low ing chapter .

4 9 . A ccording to Diog ene s Laert ius 7 .185 , Ptolem y Philadelphus, in the middle of the third cen

tury

B.C.E.,

invited Cleanthes to come to Alexandria or to send someone e lse . Cleanthes's pupil ,

Sphaerus, accepted the invitation. D. Winston, "Theodicy in Ben Sira and Stoic Philosophy," in

R. Link-Sal inger, ed. ,

Of Scholars, Savants, and Their Texts

(New York: Lang, 1989) 240.

5 0 . See J. J. Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem : Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Dias

pora (N ew York: Crossroad, 1983) 27 -3 8 , 20 7- 11 .

5 1 . He n g e l , Judaism and Hellenism, 1 . 8 8 - 1 0 2 .



Chapter

3.

W i s d o m a n d t he L a w

Of a l l the pre -Mishna ic wr i t ings tha t were eventua l ly exc luded f rom the He

brew ca no n, the boo k of B en Si ra w as the m os t wid e ly used . Fra gm ents found

a t Q um ran and Ma sad a conf i rm tha t i t w as wide ly kn ow n in an t iqu i ty . (N oth

ing about i t was espec ia l ly congenia l e i ther to the Essenes of Qumran or to

the Zea lo t s . ) A l thou gh i t s use wa s reputed ly bann ed by R. A kiba , i t w as ve n

era ted by many rabbis in the subsequent genera t ions . Verses f rom the book

are of ten c i ted as popular proverbs , and i t i s a lso of ten c i ted by name.

1

N e v

er the less , the Hebrew tex t was eventua l ly los t . In Chr i s t i an c i rc les , the s t a

tus of the book was ambiguous , l ike tha t o f the o ther Apocrypha . On the one

hand i t was wide ly c i t ed , and inc luded in some canonica l l i s t s . On the o ther

hand some au thor i t i es , mos t no tab ly S t . Je rome, l imi ted the canonica l sc r ip

tures to those found in the Hebrew Bib le .

2

Un l i ke t he He br ew t ex t, how eve r ,

the Greek and La t in vers ions of S i rach were t ransmi t t ed cont inuous ly wi th

the other scr iptures .

The Text of Ben Sira

The tex tua l h i s tory of Ben Si ra ' s book i s except iona l ly compl ica ted .

3

W e

know f rom the grandson ' s p ro logue tha t the book was composed in Hebrew,

but i t has not survived intact in the or iginal language. For many centur ies the

Hebrew text was known only f rom rabbinic c i ta t ions . At the end of the nine

teenth century, however , several f ragments were found at Cambridge Univer-

1. S. Schechter, "The Quotations from Ecclesiasticus in Rabbinic Literature," JQ R 3 ( 1 8 9 0 - 9 1 )

6 8 2 - 7 0 6 ; S . Le i ma n ,

The Canonization of Hebrew Scripture: The Talmudic and Midrashic Evi

dence (Hamden , Conn. : Archon , 1976) 92 -1 02 .

2 . G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley, "Sirach," in APOT1 . 2 9 8 - 3 0 3 .

3.

See A. A. DiLe l la , The Hebrew Text of Sirach (The Hague: M outon, 1966); H. P. Ruger, Text

und Textform im Hebrdischen Sirach (B ZA W 112; Berl in: de Gruyter , 1970 ); B. G. Wright , No

Sm all Difference: Sirach's Relationship to Its Hebrew Parent T ext (SCS 26; Atlanta: Scholars ,

1989).



Wisdom and the Law

43

s i ty , in the col lect ion of manuscr ipts recovered f rom the Cairo Geniza.

4

These

fragments represented four dis t inct manuscr ipts—A, B, C, and D. More leaves

of M SS B and C were d i scovered l ate r. Fragm ents of another m anuscr ip t (MS

E) were discovered in the Adler Geniza col lect ion a t the Jewish Theological

Seminary in New York , and ye t another (MS F) a t Cambr idge .

5

Al l these Ge

niza f ragm ents , w hich includ e mo st of chap ters 3 to 16 and f ragments of chap

ters 18 to 36, are of medieval origin. The Dead Sea Scrolls yielded further,

m uch older , f ragm ents , f rom aroun d the turn of the era . T w o fragments f rom

Cave 2 (2Q18) contain only four complete words and some le t ters f rom chap

ter 6,

6

*but the Psalms Scrol l f rom Cave 11 contains Sir . 51:13-20, and the las t

two words of verse 30b .

7

Then twenty-s ix leather f ragments were found at

M a s a d a .

8

These dated to the f irst century

C . E .

and contained por t ions of chap

ters 39 to 44 . In a l l, abou t 68 percent of the bo ok is now e xtant in H ebr ew . F or

a t ime, some scholars expressed doubts about the Hebrew text preserved in the

medieval Geniza f ragments and enter ta ined the possibi l i ty that i t might have

been re t ransla ted f rom Syriac . The Masada f ragments , however , conf i rmed the

ant iqui ty of Geniza MS B and indirect ly enhanced the credibi l i ty of the other

fragments . The present consensus is that the Geniza f ragments fa i thful ly pre

serve a text from antiquity.

Th e Hebrew f ragments bear wi tness to two tex tua l rece ns io ns .

9

The second

recension is dist inguished from the first primarily by addit ions (e.g. , 15:14b,

15c).

These passages can be recognized as secondary because they are not

found in the pr imary manuscr ipts of the Greek t ransla t ion, and in some cases

the var ia t ions between the recensions are ref lected in over lapping Hebrew

fragments . There is a lso a second Greek recension, which expands the text in

a way s imi la r to the second Hebrew recens ion .

1 0

The second Greek recens ion

is also reflected in the Old Latin. One of the dist inctive features of this recen

sion is the belief in eternal l i fe and judgment after death. The textual si tuation

is further complicated by the fact that the Greek text is poorly preserved. The

4.

S. Schechter and C. Taylor, The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Portions of the Book of Ecclesiasticus

from Hebrew Manuscripts in the Cairo Genizah Collection Presented to the University of Cam

bridge by the Editors (Camb ridge: Cam bridge Un iv. Press , 1899) .

5. For the details, see Skehan and DiLella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 5 1 - 5 3 .

6. M. Baillet, J. T. Milik, and R. de Vaux,

Les 'Petites Grottes' de Qumrdn (DJD

3; Oxford:

Clarendon, 1962) 75.

7. J. A. Sanders, The Psalms Scroll of Qum rdn Cave 11 {DJD 4 ; Oxford: Clarendon, 1 965 )

7 9 - 8 5 .

8 . Y. Yadin,

The Ben Sira Scroll from Masada

(Jerusalem: Israel Explora tion Soc iety, 1 965 ).

9 . A. Fuchs,

Textkritische Untersuch ungen zum hebrdischen Ekklesiastikus

(BibS [F] S 12,5;

Freiburg in Breisgau: Herder, 1907).

10.

C. Kearns, "The Expanded Text of Ecclesiasticus: Its Teaching on the Future Life as a Clue

to Its Origin" (Diss. Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome, 1951).



44

Hebrew Wisdom

edi t ion of the Greek text by J . Ziegler contains more emendat ions and correc

t ions than any o ther boo k of the Se ptu ag in t .

1 1

Li terary Form and Structure

Si rach ' s p r imary model was undoubted ly the book of Proverbs . The bas ic

genre of wisdom inst ruct ion includes a blend of observat ional sentences and

commands and prohib i t ions . S i rach 3 :1-16 i s a typ ica l example : "Those who

resp ect their father w il l ha ve lon g l ife. . . . H on or yo ur father by w ord and

dee d." Trad i t ional wisd om form s of speech in Sirach includ e com paris ons (Sir.

20 :31 : "Bet ter are those who hide thei r fol ly than those who hide thei r wis

dom") , bea t i tudes

( 26 : 1 :

"Happy i s the husband of a good wi fe") , numer ica l

sayings (50:25-26: "Two nat ions my soul detes ts and the thi rd is not even a

people") , and hymns in pra i se of wisdom (1 :1-10; 24 :1-34) , But S i rach a l so

incorpo rates l i terary forms that are no t par t of the reper toi re of Pro verb s . In ad

di t ion to the use of autobiographical narrat ives and the cr i t ique of the t rades ,

these inc lude hym ns of pra i se to G od ( 39 :12 -35 ; 42 :15 ^43 :33) and a t l east one

prayer of pet i t ion (22:27-23:6; 36:1-22 is probably a la ter addi t ion) . Si rach

differs from Proverbs in that i ts material is not a collection of individual say

ings , but consis ts of several sh or t treat ises . Som e of these are dev oted to t rad i

t ional pract ical wisdom (e .g . , re la t ions wi th women, behavior a t banquets) .

Others are theological ref lect ions on wisdom and on the problem of theodicy.

Even when the mater ia l i s largely t radi t ional , Si rach of ten concludes his re

f lections by co m m en din g the fear of the Lord or obs erva nce of the La w (e .g . ,

9:15-16; 37:15) . The most s t r iking formal depar ture f rom bibl ical wisdom is

found in the Praise of the Fathers (chapters 44-50) , which uses the his tory of

Israel as a source of ins t ruct ional exa m ples .

O ne of the hal lmark s of the bibl ical wisd om tradi tion, as found in Prove rbs ,

Qoheleth, and Job, is the lack of reference to the dist inctive tradit ions of Israel .

Th e concern is wi th hum ani ty as such, not wi th the special s ta tus of one peo ple .

Sirach, in contrast , pays considerable at tention to Israel and i ts scriptures. The

grandson, in the preface, says that Sirach "devoted himself especially to the

reading of the Law and the Prop hets and the other boo ks of our ance stors ," and

impl ies that he envisaged his own b oo k as com parab le to the ancest ra l wri t ings .

This interest in scriptures cannot be explained simply by the spiri t of the t imes.

Qoheleth may be c lose to Sirach in date , but he makes no ment ion of the Law

and the Prophets . Si rach, however , says that a l l wisdom is "the book of the

11. J. Ziegler, Sapientia Iesu Filii Sirach (Septuaginta 12/2; Gott ingen: Van denhoeck &

Ruprecht, 196 5). It should be n oted that the order of chapters differs in the Hebrew and Greek m an

uscripts. The standard order in modern translations is that of the Hebrew, which is also preserved

in the Syriac and Old Latin. In the Greek, chaps. 33:1 3b- 36 :16 a are found before 30 :25 -33 :13 a.

See DiLe l la , The Hebrew Text of Sirach, 4 9 - 5 5 .



Wisdom and the Law

45

covenant of the Mos t High God, the l aw tha t Moses commanded us" (24 :23) ,

and he descr ibes the sage as "one who devotes himself to the s tudy of the law

of the M os t High . . . and is concerned wi th proph ec ies" (39 :1-2 ) . Despi te S i -

rach 's reverence for the Law, his teaching remains in the form of wisdom in

struction. I t is neither legal proclamation nor legal interpretat ion. He subsumes

the La w u nde r the rubr ic of w isdom , as i ts suprem e exam ple. T he fact rem ains ,

how ever , that the curr iculu m of wisdo m inst ruct ion inher i ted f rom Proverb s ha s

been altered profoundly by the inclusion of the Jewish scriptures.

W isd om inst ru ct ions , such as Pro verb s , are typical ly loosely s tructured. At

tempts to discern a l i terary s t ructure in Ben Sira have met wi th only l imi ted

success . In the jud gm ent of

A .

A. D iLel la "the book m anifes ts no par t icular or

der of subjec t mat te r o r obvious coherence ."

1 2

In contras t , an e laborate s t ruc

ture has been proposed by M. H. Sega l

1 3

a n d W . R o t h .

1 4

These authors dis t in

guish an or iginal bo ok in

1:1-23:27

and chapte r 5 1 . Th is boo k wa s mad e up of

four sect ions: 1:1^:10; 4 : 1 1 - 6 : 1 7 ; 6 : 1 8 - 1 4 : 1 9 ; a n d 1 4 : 2 0 -2 3 : 2 7 p lu s 5 1 : 1 -

30. Eac h sec tion wa s in t roduced by a pro logu e : 1 :1-2 :18; 4 :1 1- 19 ; 6 :1 8-3 7 ,

and 14:20-15:10 . Three addi t iona l sec t ions were subsequent ly added: 24 :1-

32 :13 ; 32 :14-38:23; 38 :24-50:29 . (So Roth ; Sega l d i s t inguishes the Pra i se of

the Fathers as an addi t ional sect ion.) Eac h of these sect ions a lso has a prolog ue:

24 :1- 29 ; 32 :14 -33 :15 ; and 38 :2 4- 39 :11 . Th e key to th is st ruc ture is p rovided

by five pa s sages on wi sdom ( 1 : 1 - 10 ; 4 : 1 1 -1 9 ; 6 : 18 -3 7 ; 14 : 20 - 15 : 10 ; and 24 :

1-34).

These passages seem to mark s t resses in the f i rs t par t of the book, but

they have no discernible effect on the passages that precede or fol low them.

1 5

Th ere are som e indicat ions that the book g rew by a ser ies of addi t ions . Th e per

sonal ref lect ion in 24: 30 -3 4 loo ks l ike the conclusio n of a section, ra ther than

the beginning of the second half of the book. A s imilar autobiographical note

is found in 33:16-18. Fi rs t -person s ta tements a t 39:12 and 42:15 may also

mark new beginnings , and the Praise of the Fathers in chapters 44-49 is for

mal ly d i s tinc t . Th ere is a concent ra t ion of hym nic mater ia l in chapte rs 3 9 ^ 3 .

The se observa t ions rende r p laus ib le the hypothes i s tha t the boo k grew gradu

al ly , but they do not amount to proof.

1 6

Th e s t ructure pro pos ed by Seg al and R oth m ay be modif ied to yie ld the fol

l o w i n g d i v i s i o n :

1 7

12.

Skehan and DiLe l la ,

The Wisdom of Ben Sira,

4 .

13.

M. H. Sega l , Seper ben Sirdhassalem (Jerusalem: Bialik , 195 8).

14. W . Roth , "The Gnom ic-Discurs ive W isdom of Jesus Ben S irach ," Semeia 17 : 35 -7 9 .

15. M. Gilbert, "Wisdom Literature," in M. E. Stone, ed., Jewish Writings of the Second Tem

ple Period (CR INT 2/2; Phi ladelphia: Fortress , 1984) 29 2 -9 3.

16.

J . D . Harvey, "Toward a Degr ee of Order in Ben Sira's Book ," TAW 1 05 (1 9 9 3 ) 5 2 - 6 2 , s u g

gests that the different sections of the book originated as sets of lecture notes.

17.

H arvey, ibid., propose s a similar divisio n, but identifies the fifth, sixth, and seventh u nits as

2 4 : 1 - 3 2 : 1 3 ; 3 2 : 1 4 - 3 8 : 2 3 ; a n d 3 8 : 2 4 - 4 3 : 3 3 .



46 Hebrew Wisdom

Part I : A : 1:1-4:10; B : 4 : 11 - 6 : 17 ; C : 6 : 18 -14 : 19 ; D:

14 : 20 -23 : 27 ; E : 24 : 1 -34 .

P a r t I I :

A : 2 5 : 1 - 3 3 : 1 8 ;

B :

3 3 : 1 9 - 3 9 : 1 1 ; C : 3 9 : 1 2 - 4 3 : 3 3

;D:

4 4 : 1 - 5 0 : 2 9 ; E : 5 1 : 1 - 3 0 .

I t i s c lear enough that the great poem on wisdom in chapter 24 marks the

center of the book. Much, but not a l l , of the discussion of pract ical wisdom is

found in the ear ly chapters . The most extended discussions of God and theod

icy are found la ter in the book. There are , then, some indicat ions of s t ructure ,

but non etheless the boo k has the character of a col lect ion of ins t ruct ions ra th er

than a t ight , coherent , composi t ional uni ty .

Wisdom in S i rach

Ben Sira ' s unders tanding of wisdom is themat ized in the ser ies of wisdom

poem s t ha t punc t ua t e the boo k .

1 8

Th e opening poe m (Sir . 1:1-10) str ikes a note

that i s character is t ic of Si rach: a l l wisdom is f rom the Lord. By impl icat ion,

any w isdo m that repudiates the Lord, the God of Israel, i s not t rue w isdo m , an d

so Sirach s ignals his loyal ty to his ancest ra l t radi t ion. But conversely, what

ever i s t rue wisdom is f rom the Lord, wherever i t i s found. This passage sets

wisdom in the context of creation. I t is reminiscent of Job 28 in i ts insistence

on the unfathomable myster ies : the height of heaven, the breadth of the ear th ,

the abyss , and wisdom (1:3) . More c lear ly than the Hebrew text of Proverbs ,

but in agreement wi th the Greek, Si rach s ta tes that God created wisdom (1:9;

this passage is not extant in Hebrew). More posi t ively than Job, Si rach says

that God "poured her [wisdom] out upon al l his works , upon al l the l iving ac

cording to his gi f t ; he lavished her upon those who love him" (1:10) . Si rach

sets no res t r ic t ion a t the outset on wh ere such pe ople m ay b e found. In pr inci

p le ,

a t leas t , wisdom is poured out over a l l creat ion.

This passage is fol lowed and qual i f ied by another poem, on the fear of the

Lord . This mot i f r ecurs over s ix ty t imes throughout the bo o k .

1 9

Sirach repeats

the dic tum of Proverbs that "to fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom"

(1:14) .

I t i s a lso the ful lness of wisdom (1:16) , the crown of wisdom (1:18) ,

and the root of wisdom (1:20) . While Sirach s tops shor t of an outr ight equa

t ion, i t w ould seem tha t fear of the Lord is a vi r tual syno ny m for w isdom . L ike

wisdom, i t g ives "gladness and joy and long l i fe" (1:12) . I f wisdom is ident i

f ied so closely with fear of the Lord, i t is not only a matter of understanding

18.

A . A. D iLel la , "The M eaning of W isdo m in Ben Sira," in L. Perdue, B. B . Scott , and W . J.

Wiseman, eds . ,

In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Mem ory of John G. Gamm ie

(Louisvi l le: W est

mi ns te r J oh n Kn o x , 1 9 9 3 ) 1 3 3 - 4 8 .

19. J. Haspecker, Gottesfurcht bei Jesus Sirach (Ro m e: Pontifical Bib lical Institute, 196 7)

4 8 - 5 0 .



Wisdom and the Law

47

but a lso a m oral disposi t ion. F ear of the Lord e ntai ls pat ienc e (1:2 3) , discipl ine ,

trust , humili ty (v. 27), and sinceri ty (vv. 28-29). I t is primarily an at t i tude of

reve renc e for G od and respect for receive d t radi t ion, and as such i t i s const i tu

t ive of wisdom.

One manifes ta t ion of the fear of the Lord is the observance of the com

mandments : " I f you des i re wisdom, keep the commandments , and the Lord

wil l lavish her upon y ou. Fo r the fear of the Lord is w isdo m and discipl ine , f i

del i ty and humil i ty are his del ight" (1:26-27) . In view of the eventual ident i

fication of w isdom wi th the Torah of M ose s , the com m and m ents a re presum

ably those found in that book. In fact , Ben Sira often echoes the injunctions of

the Decalogue (e .g . , the command to honor parents in 3:1-6) and the social

l aws of Deute ron om y (com pare S i r . 4 : 1- 6 , on char ity tow ard the poor , wi th the

spir i t of Deut . 15:7-11) . He pays scant a t tent ion to the r i tual commandments

of Le vi t icus . Th eir obs erva nce is arguab ly taken for granted. W e may com pare

the a t ti tude of Ph i lo of Ale xan dria , w ho w as far mo re s t rongly incl ined to spi r -

i tualization than Ben Sira, but st i l l faulted those who neglected the l i teral ob

servance of the laws, and argued that Jews should be "s tewards wi thout re

proach . . . and let go nothing that is part of the customs fixed by divinely

em pow ered m en grea te r than those of our t im e" (De Abr.

f

89 - 93 ) . S i r ach ' s i n

junc t io n to "ke ep the co m m an dm ents " should probably be unders tood in a s im

ilar spiri t , to extend even to matters that were not at the center of his interest .

Compare his posi t ion on t i thes and offer ings in 7:31: "Honor the pr ies t , and

give h im h i s por t ion , as you have been commanded." His pos i t ion on the r i t

ual laws, however , remains uncer ta in. In his discussion of banquets in 31:16

he urges: "Eat what i s se t before you, l ike a man." I t has been suggested that

this imp l ies a dispen sat ion f rom insis tence on die tary laws, for the sake of go od

m anne rs and cons idera t ion for on e ' s ho s t .

2 0

B ut the verse cont inues w i th an ad

m oni t ion against chew ing gree di ly , so the poin t m ay be that one should eat l ike

a hum an b eing ra ther than l ike an anim al , and the nature of the food i t se l f m ay

not be an issue. Sirach never addresses the issue of dietary laws explici t ly. I t

should be noted in any case that the fear of the Lord is never simply identif ied

w i t h k e e p i n g t h e c o m m a n d m e n t s .

2 1

I t is a disposit ion that manifests i tself in

all aspects of a person's l i fe.

The second wisdom poem (4 :11-19) concent ra tes on the rewards of wis

dom (vv. 11-16) , wi th a shor t metaphorical discussion of the process by which

w isd om is acqu ired. As in Pro verb s , to love w isdo m is to love li fe (4:12) . S om e

other s ta tements in this passage are novel in the wisdom tradi t ion.

Firs t , the pursu i t of w isdo m is equ ated w i th cul tic service in 4:14 : those w ho

serve her min is ter to the Ho ly O ne (or to the San ctuary, i f w e read

qodes

ins tead

2 0 . J . G. Gammie, "Wisdom in Sirach," in J . G. Gammie and L. Perdue, eds . , The Sage in Is

rael and the Ancient Near East (W inona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 36 1.

2 1 . Haspecker, Gottesfurcht, 329 .



48 Hebrew W isdom

of qddds). Th is is hard ly the sentim en t of a priest , as i t give s the pu rsuit of the

sage equal value with the sacrif icial cult . There is a similar implication in the

di scuss ion of sacr i f i ces in 35 :1-2 : "The one who keeps the l aw makes many

of fe r ings ; one who heeds the commandments makes an of fe r ing of wel l -

be ing ," a lthoug h Sirach is careful to m ak e clear that the r ighteo us sho uld offer

the l i teral sacrif ices just the same.

Second , those who ob ey w isdom are said to jud ge the na t ions (4 :15) . This

idea is found in an eschatological context in the Wisdom of Solomon, chapter

3. Since Sirach has no place for an eschatological judgment , the context en

visaged here is uncer ta in. The point may be s imply that those t ra ined in wis

do m w il l r i se to posi t ions of author i ty .

The poem concludes with a brief discussion of the process by which wisdom

is acquired, emphasizing the necessi ty of test ing: "She will torment them by her

discipline unti l she trusts them." Wisdom is not simply a matter of acquiring

knowledge. It is a disciplined way of life that requires the formation of character.

The th i rd poem about wisdom (6 :18-37) a l so d i scusses the process of ac

qui r ing wisdom, but does no t speak in wisdom's name. Severa l ana logies and

metaphors are used to convey the need for discipl ine . The s tudent i s l ike a

farmer who plows and sows, but who must be pat ient i f he is to reap. (Com

pare the New Testament parable of the sower in Mark 4 and paral le ls . ) Wis

dom is l ike a stone in the path, and the shortsighted fool casts i t aside. Finally,

wisd om i s com pared to var ious rest ra in ing dev ices— a ne t , yok e , o r bon ds . T he

im age of the yo ke is use d s imilar ly for the teachin g of Jesu s in M at t . 11 :28 -30

and the yoke of the law in

m. Aboth

3:5. Si rach 51:26, a passage found inde

pendent ly a t Qumran, a lso exhorts the disciple to "put your neck under the

yoke of wisdom." Another se t of images descr ibe the del ight of wisdom for

one who perseveres : garments of gold or purple , and a crown. A crown is of

ten a symbol of immortal i ty , but here i t represents the glory of wisdom.

Sirach 6:32-37 gives more s t ra ightforward advice to the pupi l . He should

frequent the company of the e lders and at tach himself to a teacher . He should

also reflect on the Law of the Most High. I t appears then that the student has

tw o sou rces to s tudy, a t leas t ini t ia l ly: the discourse of the e lders and the bo ok

of the Torah. Nei ther i s s imply equated wi th wisdom here . Rather , they have

the character of a propaideut ic . Wisdom is a gi f t of God, over and above what

one can acquire by s tudy. I t i s a disposi t ion of the mind and character , and as

such it can not be equa ted w i th any col lect ion of sayings or law s, a l thoug h these

are indispensable a ids in the quest for wisdom.

The four th wisdom poem (14:20-15:10) a l so descr ibes the ques t for wis

dom in poe t ic im ages . The po em fal ls in to two ha lves : 14 :20-2 7 descr ibes the

s tudent ' s ques t for wisdom; 15:2-10 descr ibes wisdom's rewards . Chapte r

15:1 ,

which associates wisdom with the law, s tands as an edi tor ia l comment

by Ben Sira , repeat ing a recurr ing theme in the book.



Wisdom and the Law

49

Sirach 14:20-27 has the form of a beati tude or makarism ("Happy is the per

son who meditates on wisdom"), a form found about a dozen t imes in Sirach and

almost as f requently in Pr ov erb s .

2 2

Th ere is a notew orthy parallel in 4Q 52 5 from

Qumran, which declares blessed "the man who at ta ins wisdom and walks in the

law of the Most High." There is probably an al lusion in Sir . 14:20 to Psalm 1,

which pronounces blessed those who meditate on the law of the Lord, with the

implication that Sirach equates wisdom with the law. Psalm 154, previously

know n only in Syr iac but now found in He brew at Qu m ran, s imi larly c om m ends

those whose meditat ion is on the law of the Most High. Sirach goes on to com

pare wisdom to a bride and a mother. The pursuit of wisdom has a mildly erotic

conno tation in Prov . 4 :6 -9 , wh ile w isdom is cast as the nourishing m other in Prov.

9:1 -5. Erot ic mot ifs wi l l appear mo re prominent ly in Sir . 51 :13 -28 . Here the im

agery of peering in at the wind ow recalls Can t. 2:9. Th e maternal side of w isdo m

is express ed throu gh th e imag es of tent and tree, both of wh ich give shelter .

T he asso ciat ion of wisd om with the To rah in 15:1 is a favor i te the m e of Ben

Sira and wi l l f ind i t s c lass ic express ion in chapter 24. Here we must note that

i t has l i tt le imp act on the w ay in which w isdo m is descr ibed. Rathe r , the p oe m

cont inues wi th the images of br ide and mother , but shi f ts f rom the agency of

the s tudent /sui tor to that of w isdo m . T he im agery of food and dr ink (15:3) w i l l

a lso be developed in Sirach 24. In the Hebrew Bible , the support of the r ight

eou s is usual ly the Lord (Pss . 18 :19; 22 :5; 25:2 ) . H ere w isdo m acts as the sur

rogate of the Lord. Th is not ion too wi l l be deve loped in chap ter 24. T he crow n

(15:6) is often a symbol of a blessed afterl ife. Sirach's hope, however, is for

an ever las t ing name. This i s

not

a s tandard expectat ion in the wisdom books of

the Hebrew Bible . I t does not appear a t a l l in Job or Qohelet . According to

Prov. 10:4, the memory of the r ighteous is a bless ing but the name of the

wick ed w i ll ro t . Th e mot i f is f ar m ore prom inent in S i ra ch .

2 3

This interes t re

f lects the heightened sense of honor and shame in Sirach 's Hel lenis t ic mi l ieu.

I t appears prominent ly in the Praise of the Fathers in chapters 44-50.

The Pra i ses o f Wisdom

The grea t wisdom hymn in chapte r 24 may be regarded as the cen te rp iece

o f t h e b o o k .

2 4

I t di f fers f rom other wisdom poems in Sirach insofar as vv.

3-22 const i tute a declarat ion by Wisdom in the f i rs t person. As such, i t i s

proper ly compared to the a re ta log ies of the Egypt ian goddess I s i s .

2 5

There is

2 2 . Rickenbacher, Weisheitsperikopen, 83 .

2 3 .

Ib id . , 95 -98 .

2 4 . On the structure of the poem, see M. Gilbert, "L'eloge de la Sagesse (Siracide 24)," RTL 5

( 1 9 7 4 ) 3 2 6 - 4 8 .

2 5 . J . Marbock, Weisheit im Wandel: Untersuchungen zur Weisheitstheologie bei Ben Sira

(Bonn: Hanste in , 1971) 47 -54 .



50

Hebrew Wisdom

an obvious bibl ical precedent in Proverbs 8, which may i tse l f be inf luenced

b y E g y p t i a n p r o t o t y p e s .

2 6

The a rgument tha t S i rach drew d i rec t ly on the a re -

t a log i e s o f I s is ha s been m ade e spec i a ll y by Hans Co nz e l m an n .

2 7

In addi t ion

to the formal s imi la r i ty , there a re a l so themat ic para l l e l s . Both Wisdom and

Is i s a re of pr imeva l or ig in , exerc i se cosmologica l func t ions , and c la im do

minion over the whole ea r th . I s i s c la ims to have es tab l i shed l aw for human

ity. Sirach 2 4 : 2 3 , w hich s tand s outs ide the f irst-person areta lo gy, equate s wis

dom with the Law of the Lord. I t i s qui te l ikely, then, that the concept of

Wisdom s inging her own pra i ses , in bo th S i rach and Proverbs , i s indebted to

the Egypt ian I s i s hymns . S i rach , however , a l so draws heavi ly on b ib l i ca l

phraseology , and so adapts the a re ta logy form for h i s own purpose .

2 8

Si rach 24:1-2 g ives the se t t ing for Wisdom's speech . Verse 2 c lea r ly lo

cates her in the heav enly cou nci l (cf. P s . 82:1) , wi th the imp l icat ion that she is

imagined as a heavenly, angel ic being. I t i s poss ible that "her people" in v . 1

re fe r s to th i s heavenly a ss em bl y ,

2 9

bu t it is m or e l ikely to refer to Israe l , am on g

w ho m W isdo m se t tl es in vv . 8 -1 2 . She speaks , then , on both earth ly and heav

enly levels s imul taneously.

Sirach 24 :3 -7 desc r ibes the or igin and nature of W isdo m . The f irst-person

pronoun (Greek ego) is especially characterist ic of the Isis aretalogies, but is

a lso used repea tedly in Proverb s 8. Ev en tho ugh the He brew text is not ex tant ,

the original Hebrew is clearly reflected in the idiom of

v .

1, l i tera l ly , "W isd om

praises her soul ." The divine or igin of Wisdom is a lso s t ressed in Prov. 8:21

and Sir . 1 :1. The idea that Wisdom proceeds f rom the mouth of God may be

suggested by Prov. 2:6 ("For the Lord gives wisdom; f rom his mouth come

knowledge and unders tanding") . This mot i f lays the foundat ion for the ident i

f ication of Wisdom with the

word

of God, which also proceeds f rom the mouth

(cf. Isa. 4 5 : 2 3 ; 4 8 : 3 ; 25 : 11 ) . Th e Gr eek wor d logos, however , had far- reaching

conn otat ions in Greek , espec ial ly Stoic , phi lo sop hy, w here i t referred to the ra

t ional spi r i t that pervades the universe . The fusion wi th Greek phi losophical

ideas becomes a major i ssue in the Wisdom of Solomon (cf . Wis . 9:2) and in

t he J ewi sh ph i lo sophe r P h i l o .

3 0

The fusion of the Jewish wisdom tradi t ion and

Greek phi losophy on this point i s essent ia l background to the use of the Lo

gos /W ord in John 1 :1 . Th e not ion tha t W isdo m proc eeds f rom the mouth a l so

invi tes associat ion wi th the spi r i t /breath of God (Greek pneuma), wh ich had

26. C. Kayatz , Studien zu Proverbien 1-9 (Neuk irchen-Vluyn : Neukirchener Verlag, 1966)

7 6 - 1 1 9 .

27. H. Conzelmann, "The Mother of Wisdom" in J . M. Robinson, ed. , The Future of Our Reli

gious Past (New York: Harper , 1971) 230-43 .

2 8 .

S ee especial ly G. T. Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct (BZ AW 151; Ber l in :

deGruyter , 1980) 1 9 - 7 1 .

2 9 . So R. Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach (Berl in: Reim er, 1906) 216.

3 0 . B. Mack , Logos und Sophia (Gott ingen: Van denho eck & Ruprecht , 1973) .



Wisdom and the Law

51

s imilar phi lo soph ic conn otat ions in Stoic phi los oph y (cf. the use of pneuma in

W i s .

1:7). Th e assoc iation w ith the spiri t is sug geste d here in the statem ent th at

W isd om cov ered the ear th l ike a mis t , a ph rase that recal ls G en. 1:2, a l tho ugh

the a l lus ion is not precise . The phi losophical impl icat ions that emerge c lear ly

in the later tradit ion are present in Sirach only in embryo, if at al l , al though he

does bet ray a nodding acquaintance wi th Stoic thought in other passages .

Th e s ta tem ent that W isd om l ived "in the he igh ts" i s sugg ested by Prov. 8:2,

but here , unl ike Proverbs , the heights should be unders tood as heavenly. What

is m ost s t r iking about the fol lowing verses i s how langu age used of Go d in the

Hebrew Bible is now appl ied to Wisdom. The pi l lar of c loud of the exodus

(Exod . 1 3 - 2 1 ; 3 3:9 -1 0) i s a lso ident if ied wi th the Lo go s by Ph i lo (Quis Heres,

20 3- 6) , and W isdo m i s g iven a key ro le in the exodu s in W isdo m of Solom on

10. Here , however , i t i s removed f rom the exodus context , and i t i s associated

wi th the pr im ordia l en thronem ent of W isdom . Whi le Prov . 8 :27 says tha t Wis

dom was there when God es tab l i shed the heavens , S i r . 24 :5 has Wisdom c i r

c le the vaul t of heaven

alone,

jus t as God alone s t re tched out the heavens in

Job 9:8. In Job 38:16 God chal lenges Job whether he "has walked in the re

cesses of the deep." Rule over the sea is a divine prerogat ive in the Hebrew

Bible (e .g . , Pss . 65:8; 89:10; 93:3-4) . Wisdom is never said to be divine, but

i t appears to be the ins t rument of God's presence and agency. The quest for a

res t ing p lace has been com pared to the wa nder ing of I srae l in the w i lde rne ss .

3 1

Ben Sira , however , shows no interes t in the his tor ical process by which Israel

set t led in i ts land. W is d om 's qu est for a res t ing place com pletes the process of

creat ion. There is a sharp contras t here between Ben Sira ' s theology of wis

dom and what we f ind in the apocalypt ic l i tera ture . An enigmat ic passage in

1 Enoch 42 :1-2 dramat ica l ly reverses S i rach ' s account : Wisdom found no

plac e to dw el l and so w i thdrew to heaven . In Sirach, she finds a ho m e in Israel .

S i rach 24:8-12 descr ibes how Wisdom se t t l es in I s rae l . The command to

set t le there may be compared to the command given to Israel to seek out the

des igna ted p lace of w orsh ip in De ute rono m y 1 2 .

3 2

But Sirach imp l ies that W is

do m h ad set t led in Israel before Israel se t t led in i ts land. So W isd om m inis tered

already in the tabernacle , the tent shr ine of the wi lderness (Exod. 25:8-9) .

Verse 9 suggests that the associat ion of wisdom with Israel i s pr imordial . The

m ost apt paral le l to this pass age in Sirach is found in Deut . 3 2: 8 -9 , w hich says

that when God divided the nat ions among the "sons of God" he took Israel as

is his own por t ion. Si rach has God exercise the e lect ion of Israel through Wis

dom. The passage is remarkable for i t s cul t ic emphasis . Wisdom f inds expres

s ion in the cul t of the Jerusalem Temple. This idea is except ional in the wis

do m t radi t ion, but i t p icks u p a them e that was int rodu ced br iefly in Sir . 4 :1 4,

31 . Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct, 39.

32 . Ibid., 42.



52

Hebrew Wisdom

and i t accords wi th Sirach 's high es teem for the pr ies thood (cf . 44:6-26;

50:1-21) . The not ion of Wisdom making i t s dwel l ing in I s rae l i s p icked up ,

and radical ly a l tered, in the New Testament in John 1:14, where the Word be

comes f lesh and dwel ls wi th humankind. In the Chris t ian Gospel , the Word is

incarnated in one person. In the older Jewish wisdom text , wisdom is embod

ied in the boo k of the To rah a nd dw el ls in Israel .

S i rach 24:1 3-1 7 com pares W isdo m to the luxur ian t g row th of var ious t rees

and plants . Such im agery is not found in Prov erbs 8, but i s famil iar f rom other

par t s of the Hebrew Bib le , no tab ly Psa lm 1 , wh ich com pares the r igh teous m an

to a t ree planted b y water . Th e cedar of Leba no n (v. 13) i s the mo st c elebrated

tree in the Bible (Ps . 92:12; Cant . 5:15) . Si rach 24:15 changes the imagery to

perfumes, and again evokes the cul t by ment ioning the incense in the taberna

cle . Verses 19-22 complement the images of fer t i l i ty wi th the not ion of suste

nance by compar ing Wisdom to food and dr ink . In the New Tes tament , John

6:35 r ings a change on the same imagery when Jesus says that whoever eats of

him wil l never hunger and whoever dr inks of him wil l never thi rs t .

S i rach 24:23 in t roduces a shor t commentary on the words of Wisdom,

drawn in par t f rom Deut . 33:4. The word "inher i tance" picks up a mot i f f rom

24 :8 , 12. The fact that the verse has three cola is exceptional in Ben Sira, and

has led to the suggestion that the f irst colon, which refers explici t ly to the book

and which is not paral le led in Deut . 33:4, i s a secondary addi t ion, inf luenced

by Bar .

4 : 1 .

3 3

Sirach was certainly familiar with the Torah in i ts writ ten form

(cf. 38:34), but this is the only passage that identif ies wisdom specifically with

the book. We have seen, however , that wisdom is associated wi th the com

mandments in several passages , so the asser t ion that wisdom

is

the book of th e

law may be regarded as the natural culminat ion of Si rach 's rhetor ic . We shal l

re turn below to consider how this ident i f icat ion should be unders tood.

Si rach proceeds to compare Wisdom/Torah to the four r ivers assoc ia ted

with Ed en in Gen esis 2 , and also to the Ni le and the Jorda n. A gain , the co ntext

is creat ion. The comparison wi th foreign r ivers may be s ignif icant . Wisdom

was always an internat ional phenomenon, and i t s character i s not changed in

that respect by the identif ication with the Jewish law. The reason that the f irst

m an did not kn ow w isdo m ful ly (v . 28) is not bec ause i t w as not yet r ev ea le d.

3 4

Sirach 17:7 c la im s that w hen G od created hum ani ty he f illed them w ith kno w l

edge and unders tanding and gave them knowledge of good and ev i l . Bes ides ,

Sirach 24:28 ins is ts that the las t man is no wiser . No human being can ful ly

comprehend Wisdom. In th i s respec t , S i rach agrees wi th Job 28 , which has a

dec idedly more nega t ive v iew of human wisdom.

The chapter c loses wi th a s tanza in which Sirach compares himself to an

33 .

Rickenbacher, Weisheitsperikopen, 1 2 5 - 2 7 .

3 4 . Pace Skehan and DiL el la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 337.



Wisdom and the Law 53

offshoot of the great r iver of Wisdom. He also compares his teaching to

prophecy, wi thout c la iming to be a prophet . Si rach views prophecy as par t of

the textual lore to be studied by the sage (39:1). I t is not apparent that he rec

ogn ized any ac t ive prop hets in his ow n t ime. Th e specific point of c om pariso n

with prophecy here is that i t remains for future generat ions . Si rach concludes

with a protes ta t ion of a l truism. H e has not labored for himself a lone. The sage

is a teacher, f irst and foremost. There is a similar emphasis on his educational

role in the poem that concludes the book in chapter 51.

S i r a c h 5 1 : 1 3 - 2 8

Before w e turn to the m ean ing of Si rac h 's ident if icat ion of W isd om with the

book of the Torah, there is one fur ther wisdom poem that requires comment .

This i s S i r . 51 :13-28 . We have a l ready touched on some of the problems pre

sented by the po em that con clude s the boo k. Since i t i s found indep ende nt ly in

the Psalms Scrol l f rom Cave 11 at Qumran, i t i s not cer ta in that i t was com

posed by Ben Sira . Nonetheless , i t has several points of contact wi th the res t

of Si rach 's book, for which i t i s in many ways a f i t t ing conclusion. (For ex

ample, the reference to t ravel in v . 13 is paral le led in Sir . 34:9-13; 39:4.) I t

must a t leas t be regarded as representat ive of the kind of wisdom circ les in

which Si rach moved. The poem exi s t s in th ree recens ions , one f rom Qumran

(of which only vv. 11-17 and the las t two words of the poem are preserved) ,

one f rom the Cairo Geniza, and the Greek t ransla t ion.

T he edi tor of the Qum ran text , J. A . Sand ers , has argue d for a highly erot ic

interpreta t ion of the poem. According to Sanders , "Our song te l ls of the expe

r ience of a young man who, a t the s tage in l i fe when he was matur ing f rom

chi ldhood in to m anh ood . . . took Wis dom , wh o had been h i s nurse and con

t inued to be his teacher , as his m is t ress . H e dedicated his norma l ly dev elopin g

passions and desi res to the pleasures of l i fe wi th Wisdom, and he did so un-

s t int i r igly, wi thout pause, wi thout dis t ract ion, and wi thout respi te ." He sug

gests that this was "a commendable manner of subl imat ion in cel ibacy and

undoubtedly highly meaningful in every spi r i tual sense for the cel ibates

a t Q u m r a n . "

3 5

This in te rpre ta t ion has been wide ly c r i t i c ized ,

3 6

but even

Sanders ' cr i t ics recognize that love imagery is int r ins ic to the poem.

3 7

In

v . 14 the Qum ran tex t reads "sh e cam e to m e in her beau ty ." Th e Greek t rans

la t ion e l im inated th e erot ic ove r tone s . Th is i s a lso t rue of v . 19 , w here bo th H e

brew texts ( the Sirach text and the Psalms Scrol l ) have readings that indicate

desi re , but the Greek has "my soul grappled wi th her ." Hebrew v. 19e, "my

3 5 . Sanders , The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11, 84.

36. See Skehan and DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 5 7 4 - 8 0 .

37 .

T. Muraoka , "S ir 51 :13-30: An Erot ic Hymn to Wisdom?" JS J 10 (1979) 166-78; C.

Deu tsch, "The Sirach 51 A crost ic: Confess ion and Exhortat ion," ZAW94 ( 19 8 2) 4 0 0 ^ 0 9 .



54

Hebrew Wisdom

han d open ed her gate ," m ay be an a l lus ion to Ca nt . 5:4, and v. 21 ("my ins ides

were aroused to seek her") recal ls the same verse ("my inmost being yearned

for him") . The erot ic e lement in these verses i s undeniable . There is no reason

to suppose that the poem or iginated in , or was pr imari ly intended for , a cel i

bate com m unity . I t i s s imply a poe t ic way of descr ibing the love and pursui t of

wisdom that absorbed sages l ike Ben Sira as wel l as those of Qumran.

Th e poem ends wi th an adver t i sement for the house of ins t ruc t ion , em pha

s iz ing that ins t ruct ion is f ree , and promising that "through me you wi l l obtain

si lver and gold" (v. 28) . But in order to succeed, one must submit to the yoke

of wisdom, the image al ready found in Sir . 6 :30. This image is used for the

yok e of the law in the Mish nah

(Aboth

3:5) , but Si rach 51 do es not m ent ion the

Torah .

W i s d o m a n d t h e L a w

Like Proverbs , S i rach envisages wisdom as more than a mat te r o f ins t ruc

t ion and pract ical advice . I t i s an ideal that informs one 's whole approach to

life, but i t is also grounded in creation. As such i t can be personified and made

the object of love and desire. Sirach goes farther than Proverbs in at tr ibuting

to wisdom roles that are reserved to God in the Hebrew Bible , thereby accent

ing it s associat ion wi th the divini ty . B ut i t i s a lso som ething that hu m an being s

can acquire , and so i t forms a br idge between humani ty and God. I t should be

clear , ho w eve r , that this und ers tand ing of w isdo m is f irmly ro oted in the tradi

t ion represented by Proverbs , and this t radi t ion provides the pr imary inte l lec

tual context for Si rach 's teaching.

I t i s important to bear this in mind when we consider the ident i f icat ion of

wisdom with the law. Sirach was not the f irst to make such an identif ication. I t

i s adumbrated in Deut . 4:6, where Moses te l ls the Israel i tes that by observing

the s ta tutes di l igent ly they wi l l show thei r w isdo m an d discernm ent to the peo

p les ,

so that they wi l l say: "Surely this i s a wise and discerning people " I t i s

a lso imp l ied in the bo ok of Ez ra , whe re the com m issionin g le t ter of A rtaxerx es

refers interchangeably to "the law of your God, which is in your hand" (7:14)

and to "the wisdom of your God which is in your hand" (7:25) . In these cases ,

however , the law is the pr imary category. At leas t f rom the t ime of Ezra on

ward, there was a t radi t ion of educat ion in the Torah, an act ivi ty associated

with the Levi tes in Chronicles . To speak of the Torah as wisdom in this con

text does not im ply that the ins t ruct ion w as a t a ll re la ted to the boo k of Pro verb s

or the teaching of the sages . When Sirach ident i f ies wisdom and the law, how

ever , he is in effect int roducing the Torah of Moses into the wisdom school ,

and thereby at tempt ing to combine two educat ional t radi t ions .

I t i s of ten assumed that in doing so "Sirach was intent ional ly def ining the

values of the wel l -es tabl ished wisdom tradi t ion in terms of the Mosaic



Wisdom and the Law

55

covenant : that wisdom which is universal ly sought i s in fact t ruly represented

by and par t i cu la r ized in the Torah g iven by God through Moses ."

3 8

This is a

fa ir representat ion of w hat i s m ean t by the ident i fication of w isdo m a nd T orah

in the rabbin ic t rad i t ion .

3 9

I t is also supported by the parallel in the apocryphal

book of Baruch , 3 :9-4 :4 , which i s s t rongly remini scent of Job 28 ( "Who has

found her p lace , and w ho has en te red her s tor eh ou ses ?") .

4 0

B a r u c h ' s h y m n b e

g ins wi th an echo of De ute ronom y: "H ear , O I s rae l, the com m and m ents of l if e ,

give ear , and learn wisdom " and, l ike Sirach, says that "she [wisdom] is the

book of the commandments of God, and the l aw tha t endures forever" (Bar .

4 :1 ) .

The po em e nd s w i th the conf ident asser t ion: "H app y are we, O Israel , for

we know what i s pleas ing to God" (4:4) , leaving no doubt that the ident i f ica

t ion of wisdom and the law is unders tood in an e thnocentr ic , par t icular is t

s e n s e .

4 1

In the case of Si rach, however , i t would be more accurate to say that

the sage w as def ining the Mo saic cove nan t in term s of the wel l -es tabl ished w is

d o m t r a d i t i o n .

4 2

He does not c i te bibl ical laws di rect ly; he draws on other

sources of wisdom bes ides the Torah , and he grounds a l l wisdom, inc luding

the law, in the order of creation.

While the specif ic ment ion of the book in 24:23 may be secondary, the as

soc ia t ion of wisdom wi th the commandments i s pervas ive th roughout the

b o o k .

4 3

The s tudent who des i res wisdom i s to ld to keep the commandments

(1:26) and to medi ta te a t a l l t imes on the commandments (6:37) . We are told

that w ho ev er holds to the law w il l obtain wis do m (1 5:1) . Th e associat ion is not

res t r ic ted to the wisdom poems. In 19:20 we read that "al l wisdom is fear of

the Lord , and in al l w isd om there is fulfi llment of the law " (the pa ssa ge is only

ex t an t i n Greek ) .

4 4

T he verse is am bigu ous in pr inciple . I t cou ld m ean that the

person who acquires wisdom, f rom whatever source, thereby ful f i l l s the law,

or i t cou ld me an tha t the fulfil lment of the law cons ti tutes wis do m , ev en if on e

draws on no other source. Verse 24 makes c lear that Ben Sira intends the la t

ter interpreta t ion. Bet ter a person wi th l i t t le unders tanding who keeps the law

than a learned and clever person who viola tes i t . Ben Sira would probably

contend that a t ruly wise person wi l l keep the law in any case , so there is no

3 8 .

E. P. Sanders,

Paul and Palestinian Judaism

(Philadelphia: Fortress, 197 7) 33 1.

3 9 . See G. F . Moore , Judaism (Ne w York: Schocken , 1971) 1 .26 5-69 .

4 0 . See the commentary by C. A. Moore, Daniel, Esther, an d Jeremiah: The Additions ( AB 4 4 ;

N ew York: Doubleday , 1977) 295 -3 04 .

4 1 . This passage is of uncertain provenance, but is clearly later than Sirach and most probably

of Palestinian origin.

42._Cf. D. Winston, "Theodicy in Ben Sira and Stoic Philosophy," in R. Link-Salinger, ed., Of

Scholars, Savants, and Their Texts: Essays in Hono r of Arthur Hym an (N ew York: Lang, 1989) 240.

4 3 .

E. J. Schnabel,

Law and Wisdom from Ben Sira to Paul

(Tubingen: Mohr, 1985) ,

4 0 - 4 1 ,

l ists over fifty references to law or commandments in the Greek text.

4 4 . On this passage see P. C. Beentjes , " 'Full Wisdom Is Fear of the Lord. ' Ben Sira

19 ,2 0-20 ,31: Context , Compos i t ion and Concept ," Estudios Btblicos 4 7 ( 1 9 8 9 ) 2 7 - ^5 .



56

Hebrew Wisdom

necessary conf l ic t between the two interpreta t ions . But Si rach recognizes that

a person may have many of the a t t r ibutes of wisdom without the fear of the

Lord . Keen bu t d i shones t shrew dness w as a lways a problem in the wisd om t ra

di t ion. Th e advice of Jon ada b to A m no n in 2 Samu el 13, w hich leads to the

rape of Tam ar , i s a case in point . A lready in G en. 3:1 the serpent i s recog nized

as craf ty . The Hel lenis t ic age offered several models of wisdom to the people

of a ci ty l ike Jerusalem. When Sirach says in 19:23 that there is a resourceful

ness that is detestable, i t is diff icult not to think of the tale of the Tobiads in

Josephus , Antiquities 12, or of the enterpr is ing w ays in w hich Jason and

Menelaus secured the High Pr ies thood shor t ly af ter the t ime of Ben Sira . The

reject ion of law and t radi t ion is incompat ible wi th wisdom. The same point i s

made in 33 :2 , where the Hebrew reads "One who ha tes the Torah wi l l no t be

w i s e , "

and the Greek inver ts : "A wise man wil l not hate the law."

But the Torah of Moses cannot be regarded as the only source or manifes

ta t ion of wisdom in the teaching of Si rach. As Marbock has observed, there is

only one passage in the book (32:14-24) in which the law is arguably the pr i

mary sub j ec t .

4 5

In a l l the passages we have considered above, the law is int ro

duced in qual i f icat ion of a passage that i s pr imari ly concerned wi th wisdom.

Ben Sira remains a wisdom teacher , not an exegete or exposi tor of the Torah.

Th e re la t ionsh ip be tween To rah and wisd om in Ben Si ra can be co ns idered

under two aspects , one pract ical , concerning the actual sources of wisdom that

Ben Sira recommends to the s tudent , and the other theological , concerning the

relat ion of the law to creation.

The Sources o f Wisdom

The re la t ion between the Torah and wisdom can be c lar i f ied fur ther by two

passages in which Si rach comments on the sources f rom which wisdom i s

drawn. In S i r . 6 :34-37 he recommends two ways to acqui re wisdom. Fi r s t ,

there is the way of apprent iceship: "Stand in the company of the e lders . Who

is wise? At tach yoursel f to such a one. Be ready to l i s ten to every godly dis

course , and le t no wise proverbs escape you. I f you see an inte l l igent person,

r ise ear ly to vis i t h im; le t your foot wear out his doors tep." The invi ta t ion to

the ho use of ins t ruct ion in chapter 51 is in acco rdan ce w i th this approach . S ec

ond, there is the study of the Torah: "Reflect on the statutes of the Lord, and

med i ta te a t a ll t imes on h is co m m an dm en ts . " Such m edi ta tion i s obvious ly im

portant for Si rach, but it i s not the only way to purs ue w isdo m .

The second passage that discusses the sources of wisdom is the descr ipt ion

of the scr ibe in 38:34-39:5. He devotes himself to the law of the Most High,

4 5 . Marbock, Weisheit im Wandel, 85. See also his "Gesetz und W eisheit: Zu m Verstandnis des

Gese tzes be i Jesus S ira ," 5 Z 2 0 (1 976) 1 -21 .



Wisdom and the Law

57

but he a lso seeks out the wisdom of a l l the ancients . This includes prophecy,

but a lso the sayings of the famous and the subt le t ies of proverbs an d pa rables .

The sage travels in foreign lands, so his wisdom is not restr icted to the lore of

h i s ow n pe ople .

These passages are not necessar i ly a complete or accurate guide to the

sources that Ben Sira himse lf actual ly used. W e saw at the end of Ch apter 2

that his sources probably included the gnomic poetry of the Greek Theognis

and the wisdom teaching of the Egypt ian Phibis . Wisdom, in pr inciple , can be

found a nyw here . I t i s a lso t rue , ho w eve r , that the Hebre w scr iptures were a ma

jor source for Ben Sira. I t has been claimed that he ci tes or al ludes to al l the

book s of the He brew Bib le except Ru th , Ezra , Es ther , and D an ie l .

4 6

This c la im

is m is leadin g, how eve r . M ost of the a l lus ions occur in the Praise of the Fath ers .

Elsewhere there are f requent a l lus ions to Proverbs , Genesis , and Deuteron

om y. But ma ny of the a l leged al lus ions are loose , and may b e coincide ntal . Fo r

example, when Sirach wri tes , "The r ich person speaks and al l are s i lent , his

w isdo m they extol to the c lou ds " (13:23) , an a l lus ion to Job 29 :21 is of ten sug

gested: "Fo r me they l i s tened and w ai ted; they w ere s i lent for m y cou nse l ." Bu t

the saying is a t ruism, and the a l lus ion is accordingly doubtful . Si rach 's de

pendence on the scr iptures , then, i s not as pervasive as i s somet imes a l leged.

H e ignores cer ta in sect ions of the La w , par t icular ly the cul tic and die tary laws

of Levi t icus , and we have seen that there is some quest ion as to whether he

w ould ins is t on the die tary laws in the contex t of a ban que t (31:16 ) . N ot a l l bib

l ical law s are equa l ly useful as i l lus t ra t ions of w isdo m , and there rem ain other

avenues to wisdo m bes ides the La w of Mo ses . Moreover , w hen S i rach c lear ly

draw s on the scr iptures , he does so wi th consid erable f reedom . H e is not m erely

t ransm it t ing wh at he found in the To rah, but draw ing f rom i t to create his new

work of wisdom.

Law and Cr e a t ion

The quest ion of the re la t ion between the Torah and creat ion is posed in Si

rach 24, where wisdom is ident i f ied wi th the law at the end of a poem that i s

largely conce rned wi th creat ion. Th ere are nu m erou s scr iptural a l lus ions in this

hymn, which might be taken to ref lect the progress of Israel ' s his tory.

4 7

The

pil lar of cloud in 24:4 is an al lusion to the exodus, the "holy tent" and Zion in

v. 10 recall the story of David. But al l of this is subsumed into the process of

creat ion. Wisdom is sa id to encompass the vaul t of heaven (v. 5) after her

throne w as in the pi l lar of c loud. M oreo ver , the f inal es tabl ishm ent of w isdo m

46. Skehan and DiLel la ,

The Wisdom of Ben Sira,

41 . See also J. L. Koole , "Die Bibe l des Ben -

Sira," OTS 1 4 ( 1 9 6 5 ) 3 7 4 - 9 6 .

47. Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct, 2 1 - 7 1 .



58

Hebrew Wisdom

in Israel i s not assoc iated he re wi th S inai , but wi th the t ransfer of the tabe rna

cle to Zion (v. 10) . Th e giving of the law to M ose s is not s ingled o ut as a m o

m ent in this pro ces s . Ev en th oug h w isd om even tual ly takes root in Israel , i t f irst

holds sway over every people and nat ion. The ini t ia l revelat ion of wisdom is

in creat ion itself.

48

In this unders tanding, the law revealed to Moses was impl ic i t in creat ion

from th e beg innin g, and so it i s an actual izat ion ( the supre m e actual izat ion) of

the na tura l l aw.

4 9

The class ic express ion of this point of view in ancient Ju

daism is found two centur ies la ter in Phi lo of Alexandria : "that the cosmos is

in harm ony wi th the La w , and the Law wi th the wo r ld , and tha t the m an w ho

observes the law is const i tuted thereby a loyal c i t izen of the cosmos, regulat

ing his do ings by the pu rpo se and w i l l of N atur e , in acco rdan ce w i th w hich the

ent i re cosm os i t se l f i s a l so adm inis te re d ."

5 0

A s imilar unders tanding of the law

is impl ied in Rom. 1:20, a l though Paul evident ly did not regard a l l deta i ls of

the L aw as par t of the law of cre at io n.

5 1

I t i s eas ier to rega rd the Deca log ue and

the social laws of the Pentateuch as embodiments of natural law than to c la im

that the r itual laws of Lev i t icus are universal ly val id . In prac t ice , Si rach ignore s

m ost of the Levi t ical law s, but a t no poin t does he sugge st that any of the T orah

is obsolete . He does not consider problems that might ar ise f rom his ident i f i

cat ion of wisdom and the law, nor does he grapple wi th detai ls of the bibl ical

s t ipulat ions . He is content to aff i rm in pr inciple the general compat ibi l i ty be

tween the wisdom embedded in c rea t ion and proc la imed in Proverbs and the

wisdom of the book of Moses .

The re la t ion of the law to creat ion is a lso an issue in one of the more obvi

ously exeget ical passages in Sirach, 16:24-17:20. The theme of creat ion is

touched on br ief ly in the preceding sect ion (15:11-16:23) , and this i s picked

up in 16 :26- 30: "W hen the Lo rd c rea ted h i s wo rks from the beginning , and in

mak i ng t hem , de t e r mi ned the i r b o u n d a r i e s . . . " He re the emp has i s is on t he o r

der of nature , in a m an ner s imilar to Ps alm 104 or , c loser to the t im e of S i rach,

1 Enoch 2 - 5 ; 7 3 - 8 2 .

5 2

Th ere are several a l lus ions to Ge nesis 1-3: f rom the be-

ginning (Sir. 1 6:2 6); he filled it w ith good things (16 :29 ) ; a l l l iving creatu res

m ust re turn to the ear th (16:30 ; 17:1 ; cf. Gen . 3 : 19 ) .

5 3

Then in Sir . 17:1-10 the

4 8 .

The understanding of the Torah as Schopfungsordnung is em phasized by E. Zenger, "Die

spate W eisheit und das Gesetz ," in J . Maier , ed. ,

Liter atur und Religion des FrUhjudentums: Eine

Einfuhrung

(Guters loh: M ohn, 1973) 43 -5 6 .

4 9 .

Marbock,

Weisheit im Wandel,

9 3 -9 4 . For a contrary interpretation see Schn abel,

Law and

Wisdom, 8 9 - 9 2 .

5 0 . Ph i lo , De

Opif.,

3 .

5 1 . J. Barr, Biblical Faith and Natural Theolog y (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993 ) 5 1 -5 2.

5 2 . Argal l , 1 Enoch and Sirach, 158; J . D . Martin, "Ben Sira— A C hild of H is Time," in J . D .

Martin and P. R. D avie s , eds . ,

A Word in Season: Essays in Honour of William McKane

(Sheffield:

JSO T Press , 198 6) 148, adduces Jubilees 2 as a com parison here.

5 3 . See further Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct, 7 2 - 8 2 .



Wisdom and the Law

59

focus shifts to the creation of humanity, following the order of the biblical

t e x t .

5 4

Again , there a re severa l echoes of Genes i s . Human be ings a re gran ted

author ity and dom inion ov er the o ther c rea tures . They a re m ade in G o d ' s im

age, an idea that is exp lained b y juxtap osi t ion wi th the s ta teme nt that they are

given s t rength l ike that of God.

5 5

Character is t ical ly , Si rach ignores the refer

enc e to m ale and female in G en. 1:27.

The most surpr is ing aspect of this medi ta t ion on Genesis i s that i t ignores

the s in of Adam completely. (Si rach 25:24 ascr ibes the or iginal s in to Eve:

"From a woman s in had i t s beginning and because of her we al l die ," but this

explanat ion of the or igin of s in and death is anomalous, and unsupported by

anyth ing else in B en S ira .) In chap ter 17, death is not considered a pu nish m ent

for s in . G od l imi ted hu m an l i fe f rom the s tar t (17:2) . Similar ly in Sir. 4 0 :1 :

"Hard work was created for everyone, and a heavy yoke is la id on the chi ldren

of Adam," by the decree of the creator . ( In contras t , the s in of Adam is re

cou nted in full in Jubi lees 3 , a few d ecad es la ter than S ira ch .)

5 6

S i rach empha

s izes tha t God endowed the f i r s t human be ings wi th wisdom and unders tand

ing and sh ow ed th em g ood a nd evi l (Si r . 17:7; cf. G en. 2:9) . Th ere is no

suggest ion, however , that they were forbidden to eat f rom the t ree of the

kn ow led ge of goo d and evi l . Ins tead, G od "a l lot ted to them the law of li fe . H e

establ ished wi th them an eternal covenant , and revealed to them his decrees .

Th eir eyes saw h is glor ious majes ty, a nd thei r ears heard the glory of his vo ice "

(Sir . 17:11-13) . There is an unmistakable a l lus ion here to the revelat ion a t

Sinai (cf. E xo d. 19 :16 -19 ) . Th e "law of l i fe" in 17:11 mu st be identi f ied as the

Mosaic law. Sirach 45:5, in the context of the Praise of the Fathers , says that

Go d gave M oses " the l aw of l if e and kn ow ledg e ." The des igna t ion " law of

l ife"

is der ived f rom Deut . 30:11-20, where Moses te l ls Israel , "I have set before

you l ife and dea th, bless ing s and curs es . Cho ose l i fe ." In the contex t of Si rach

17,

the "eternal covenant" of v . 12 would a lso seem to refer to the Sinai

covenant , a l though Sir . 44:18 uses this phrase for the covenant wi th Noah.

(Th e Mo saic T ora h is cal led "the law that end ures forever" in Bar . 4:1.) I t may

b e , however , that Si rach admits no dis t inct ion between the covenant of Noah

and that of M os es , s ince he col lapses the interval betwe en the creat ion and the

giving of the Tora h. Th e impl icat ion of the passag e is that the "law of li fe ," and

the a t tendant choice between l i fe and death, was given to humani ty f rom the

5 4 . The same progression is found in a fragmentary paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus from

Qumran, 4Q422 .

5 5 . L. Alonso Schokel , S .J . , "The Vis ion of Man in Sirach 16:24-17:14," in J . G. Gammie et

al. , eds., Israelite Wisdom : Theological and Literary Essays in Hon or of Sam uel Terrien ( Mi s

soula , Mont.: Scholars , 1978 ) 23 5- 60 , observ es that the creat ion of humankind is dealt with in the

reverse of the biblical order: mortal condition, dominion over the earth, image of God.

56. G. Ve rm es, "Genesis 1-3 in Post-Bibl ical H ebrew and Aramaic Literature before the Mish -

n a h , " / / 5 4 3 ( 1 9 9 2 ) 2 2 1 - 2 5 .



60

Hebrew Wisdom

beginning . The same poin t i s made expl ic i t ly in 15 :14-17: "God made man

[Adam] in the beginning and se t h im in the power of h i s inc l ina t ion ."

5 7

The

passage cont inues: "Before each person are l i fe and death, and whichever one

chooses wi l l be given." The s in of Adam, which Sirach does not even ac

knowledge, i s no more s ignif icant than the s in of anyone else who breaks the

law. Conversely, the law set before Adam and Eve was no di f ferent f rom the

law given to Moses on Mount Sinai . The law of creat ion and the law of Sinai

are one and the same. We shall f ind an interest ing parallel to Ben Sira in this

respec t in a f ragmentary wisdom tex t f rom Qumran , 4Q423.

5 8

I t i s prob ably s ignif icant tha t the conten t of that law is sum m arize d h ere in

very general terms: "He said to them: 'Beware of a l l evi l , ' and he gave com

m andm ent to each of them con cern ing the ne igh bor" (17 :14 ; Gre ek only) . Mar

bock is probably r ight that we have here a form of the great commandment , to

love Go d and the neigh bor , eve n i f the fi rs t par t of i t i s exp ressed w ea k ly .

5 9

The

summat ion of the l aw under " two main heads" was typ ica l o f the Hel len i s t i c

synago gue , accord ing to Phi lo (De Spec. Leg. 2 .62-63) , and Ben Si ra may a l

ready show the beginnings of this tendency in Hel lenis t ic Jerusalem.

In view of the cosm ic character of w isdo m in Be n Sira, M arbo ck has sugge sted

that the identif ication with the law w as sugg ested by Stoic philosoph y, w here th e

Logos, or cosmic spiri t , could also be referred to as

Nomos,

o r l a w .

6 0

Zeno, the

founder of Stoicism , wrote that "the universal law [nomos], which is true reason

[logos]

permeating everything, is identical with Zeus, the guide of the arrange

ment of a l l things ."

6 1

Cleanthes , in his famous hymn, addresses Zeus as "pr ime

mover of nature, who with your law steer al l things," and speaks of "God's uni

versa l l aw."

6 2

In Cicero's formulation, "Law is the highest reason, implanted in

nature , wh ich com m ands w hat ought to be done, and forbids the op po si te ."

6 3

N o

Jew ish writer w ould simply identify w isdo m w ith the deity, but w e have seen that

in Sirach 24 w isdom is described in langua ge hitherto reserved for God . There are

clear similari t ies between the Jewish concept of wisdom and the Stoic Logos,

between the Jewish notion of a law given at creation and the Stoic law of

57 .

There is a doublet in the Hebrew text here; a redactor inserted "and set him in the power of

his plunderer," presumably with reference to the devil .

58 .

S ee Chap. 7 belo w, and T. Elg vin, "Adm onit ion Texts from Qum ran Cav e 4 ," in M . O. W ise

et al. , eds.,

Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls an d the Khirbet Qumran Site

( N e w

York: New York Academy o f Sc iences , 1994) 179-94 .

5 9 . Marbock, Weisheit im Wandel, 88 . Cf. Matt . 11 :3 4-40 ; Mark 12:2 8-3 1; Luke 10:2 5-28 .

6 0 . Marbock, Weisheit im Wandel, 93 -9 4 . For He l len i st i c concepts o f nomos, see H.

Kle inknecht , "Nom os ,"

TDNT4

( 1 9 6 7 ) 1 0 3 2 - 3 3 .

6 1 .

Diogenes Laert ius 7 .88; cf . Cicero,

De re publica

3 . 3 3 ;

De legibus

1.16, 18; 2.8.

6 2 . A. A. Long and D. N. Sed ley ,

The Hellenistic Philosophe rs

(Cambridge: Cam bridge Un iv.

Press, 1987) 1 . 32 6- 27 ; SVF 1.537.

6 3 . Cicero , De legibus 1.18.



Wisdom and the Law

61

n a t u r e .

6 4

It is no t impo ssible that the Stoic use of law as a cos m ic principle facili

tated the identification of the Tora h with w isdo m , since it pro vide d a prec ede nt for

thinking of law in cosmic universal terms. The affinities, however, are far clearer

in the Wisdom of Solomon and Philo than they are in Sirach, who st i l l wrote in

H ebrew and could scarcely hav e reproduced the technical terms of Stoicism if he

had wished to do s o .

6 5

Sirach does not develop the notion of the law as a co sm ic

principle. There are no poems describing how Torah came forth from the mouth

of God or circled the heavens before creation.

6 6

T he poin t of the identification is

to accredit the Tora h as a valid concretization (even as the ultim ate conc retization)

of universal w isdom , not to attr ibute a cosm ic role to the Torah itself.

The impor tance of Nomos, or law , in Stoic thoug ht m ay hav e contr ibuted to

Sirach 's ident i f icat ion of Torah and wisdom, but the analogy is not developed

here . The more di rect inf luence on Sirach probably lay in the growing author

i ty of the To rah in the Jud aism of his day. Th e Torah h ad al ready been assoc i

a ted wi th wisd om in De ute rono m y and the Psa lm s . I t had been recognized and

confi rmed by the Seleucid king Ant iochus I I I , through the mediat ion of Si

rach 's hero, the High Pr ies t Simon. Si rach wanted to br ing together the wis

dom t radi t ion inher i ted f rom Proverbs wi th the Torah-based wisdom of the

Levi t ical teachers . The ident i f icat ion of wisdom and the Law symbol ized that

merger of educat ional t radi t ions .

The ident i f icat ion of the wisdom implanted in creat ion wi th the law of

Moses has important impl icat ions for the thinking of la ter Jewish and Chris

t ian t radi t ion on the subject of natural law. In Sirach these not ions are embry

onic .

They emerge ful l - f ledged in Phi lo of Alexandria , who was thoroughly

versed in Gree k phi losophy. The conceptua l i za t ion of Wisd om in Greek p hi lo

sophical categor ies i s a lso a prominent feature of the other major apocryphal

wisdom book, the Wisdom of Solomon, as we sha l l see in Chapte r 11 .

6 4 . On the Stoic concept of natural law, see G. Watson, "The Natural Law and Stoicism," in

A. A. Long , ed . , Problem s in Stoicism (London: Athlone, 19 71) 21 6- 38 ; G. Str iker, "Origins of

the Concept of Natural Law," in J. J. Cleary, ed., Proceedings of the Boston Area C olloquium in

Ancient Philosophy (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 198 7) 7 9 -9 4; P. Van der Waert ,

"Ze no's R epublic and the Origins of Natural Law," in idem, ed. ,

The Socratic Movement

(Ithaca,

N.Y.: Cornel l Univ. Press , 1994) 272-308; P. Mits is , "Natural Law and Natural Right in Post-

Aristote l ian P hilosophy: T he S toics and Their Crit ics ," ANRW 2 . 3 6 . 7 ( 1 9 9 4 ) 4 8 1 2 - 5 0 .

6 5 .

On the law of nature in Philo , see H. Koester , "Nomos Physeos: The Concept of Natural

Law in Greek Thought," in J . Neusner, ed. , Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Mem ory of E. R.

Goodenough (Leiden: Bri l l , 1970) 5 2 1 ^ * 1 ; R. A. Horsley, "The Law of Nature in Philo and Ci

cero,"

H TR 7 1 ( 1 9 7 8 ) 3 5 - 3 9 .

66. The preexistence of the Torah is later affirmed in rabbinic writings, e.g. ,

Sifre Deut.

3 7 ;

b.

Pesah 5 4 a , b. Ned. 3 9 b ; Bereshith Rabba 1.1. Se e M . Kiichler, FruhjU dische Weisheitstraditionen

(OBO 26; Gott ingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , 1979) 55; G. F. Moore, Judaism (Ne w York:

Sch ocken , 1971 ) 1 .2 66- 67; G. Bocc accin i , "The Preexistence of the Torah: A Com mo nplace in

Second Temple Judaism or a Later Rabbinic Development?" Henoch 17 (1995) 329^48 .



Chapter 4 .

Ben S ira ' s Eth ics

Ap proxim ate ly ha l f o f Ben Si ra ' s boo k i s t aken up wi th prac t i ca l w isdom con

cerning re la t ions wi th family members , women, rulers , servants , and f r iends

and other aspects of social behavior . Most of these topics are touched on in

Proverbs , but only a few (most notably re la t ions wi th women) are developed

at length. Si rach occasional ly recommends that something be done "for the

sake of the commandment" (Sir . 35:7, Greek, wi th reference to cul t ic offer

ings) , and some of his concerns coincide wi th those of the Torah (e .g . , honor

ing one 's parents) . In general , however , the content of Si rach 's pract ical teach

ing is drawn from t radi t ional wisdom, and much of i t i s paral le led in the la te

Egypt ian Inst ruct ion of Phibis (Papyrus Ins inger) .

Si rach 7:18-36 touches on many of the re la t ionships that are of greates t

concern to Ben Sira . Here the sage gives advice on behavior toward f r iends ,

w ives , s laves , cat t le , son s , dau gh ters , wives (again ) , pare nts , pr ies ts , the po or ,

mourners , and the s ick. None of the re la t ionships is discussed in deta i l here ,

but several are discussed at greater length e lsew here . Al l the re la t ionships are

view ed in l ight of the interes t of the pat r iarchal ma le , wi th the unfor tunate con

sequence that wives , s laves , cat t le , and chi ldren are a l l grouped together .

(Com pare the Tenth Co m m and m ent of the De ca logu e , wh ere wi fe and an imals

are both c lass if ied as pos sess io ns , Exo d. 20 :17; Deut . 5:21.) W e shal l re turn to

the quest ion of mot ivat ion af ter we have considered what Si rach has to say

about the var ious re la t ionships .

Househo ld Re la t ionships

Th e proper rela t ions betwee n m em bers of a househ old w as the subject of "un

written laws" in Greek tradition, which are often reflected in the fifth-

century tragedians and later rhetoricians.

1

This was a popular topic of Hellenis-

1.

See R. Hirzel , ATPA<POX NOMOX (Leipzig: Teubner, 1900 ; reprint , Hildesh eim: O lm s,

1979); J .E. Crouch, The Origin and Intention of the Colossian Haustafel (Gott ingen: Van denho eck

& Ruprecht , 1972) 37 -46 .



Ben Sira's Ethics

63

t ic ph i losoph y.

2

I t was ad dressed b y Plato and A ristotle (in his

Politics),

and their

views inf luenced Stoics (Aris ton, Seneca) , neo-Pythagoreans (Bryson, Cal l i -

crat ides), and Hellenist ic Jews (Philo, De Decal. 1 6 5 - 6 7 ; De Spec, Leg.

2 .225-2 7 ; Josephus,

Ag. Ap.

2.198-210) . A vir tual manual on social re la t ions

can be found in the Jewish-Hel lenis t ic Sayings (or Sentences) of Pseudo-

Phocy l i de s , 175 -227 .

3

Th e household c odes beco m e a feature of the la ter book s

of the Ne w T es tam ent .

4

Increa sed interest in the regulation of these relat ions can

also be seen in the la te Egy pt ian w isdom l i tera ture .

5

It is likely , then , that S irach

is reflecting to som e degree his Hellenist ic context . Relationship s that w ere

self-

eviden t to earlier generations co uld no long er be taken for granted in the new p o

li t ical and social context , and philosophers and wisdom teachers fel t the need to

be more explici t in their instructions.

Honor o f Parent s

Th e com m and to hon or fa ther and m other is found a l ready in the D eca logu e .

In Lev . 19 :2 th i s commandment fo l lows immedia te ly on the command to

be holy, before the injunct ion to keep the sabbath. I t occupies a s imi lar ly

prominent place in the moral ins t ruct ions of Hel lenis t ic Judaism. Pseudo-

Phocylides,

v. 8 , te l ls the read er to "ho no r G od f irst and foremo st , and there

af ter your parents ." Josephus, in his summary of the Jewish law in

Ag. Ap.

2.206 l ikewise links hono r of G od and par en t s .

6

The "unw r i t ten l aw s" of Gree k

tradi t ion l ike w ise dem an d ho nor f i rs t for the gods and then for parents , and this

in junc t ion i s ub iqui tous in Greek gnomic poe t ry .

7

Accord ing to Diogenes

Laer t ius (7 .120) "the Stoics approve also of honouring parents and brothers in

the second place, next after the gods." Ben Sira is the f irst Jewish writer to of

fer an extended discussion of the subject . In this, as in several other respects,

he paral le ls the la te Egypt ian wisdom book of Phibis , found in Papyrus In

s i nge r .

8

The pr imary discussion of honoring parents i s found in Sir . 3 :1-16.

2. D. L. Ba lch , Let Wives Be Submissive: The Domestic Code in 1 Peter ( S BL MS 2 6 ; Ch i c o ,

Calif.:

Scho lars , 1981) 2 1 - 59 ; "Househo ld Codes ," in D. E. Aune , ed . ,

Greco-Roman Literature

and the New Testament: Selected Forms and Genres (SB LS BS ; At lanta : Scho lars, 1988) 25 -5 0 .

3. See below, Chap. 9 .

4 . Col . 3 :18 -4 :1 ; Eph . 5 :21 -6 :9 ; 1 Pet. 2 :11-3 :1 2; 1 Tim. 2 :18 -15 ; 5 :1 -2 ; 6 :1 -2 ; Ti tus 2 :1 -1 0;

3:1. See D. L. Ba lch , "Househo ld Codes ," ABD 3 ( 1 9 9 2 ) 3 1 8 - 2 0 .

5 . M. Lichtheim, Late Egyptian Wisdom Literature in the International Context (Gottingen:

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , 1983) 15 8-6 2 .

6. For further references see P. W. van der Horst, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides (Leiden:

Brill , 1978) 116.

7 . R. Boh len , Die Ehrung der Eltern bei Ben Sira (Trier: Paulinus, 1991) 8 2- 11 7.

8 . Bohlen , Die Ehrung der Eltern, 13 8- 39 ; J . T. Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom

( S BLMS 2 8 ; Ch i c o ,

Calif.:

Scholars , 1983) 81.



64

Hebrew Wisdom

In S ir . 7 :2 7-2 8 , the mot iva t ion for hono r ing on e ' s paren t s i s g ra t i tude : "R e

m em be r that i t w as of you r paren ts that you w ere born ; ho w can you repay w hat

they have g iven you?" The debt to one ' s paren t s , and espec ia l ly to one ' s

mother , i s of ten noted in Egypt ian wisdom l i tera ture .

9

In chapte r 3 , however ,

there is also a factor of self- interest : "Act accordingly, that you may be kept in

safety" ( 3: 1 ; G reek on ly) . In this , Si rach is in acco rdanc e wi th the D eca logu e

(cf . Exod. 20:12; Deut . 5:16: "Honor your fa ther and your mother , as the Lord

your God commanded you , so tha t your days may be long and tha t i t may go

wel l wi th you in the land") . The logic of this suggest ion is shown by Sir . 3 :5:

one who honors his parents can expect to be honored by his own chi ldren in

turn. Th ere is , then, a very pract ical reaso n for adm onish ing the son to be k ind

to the fa ther who is old and seni le (vv. 12-13)—the son may f ind himself in

the same posi t ion one day. Si rach does not re ly ent i re ly on the reciproci ty of

human behavior , however . He also offers that one who honors his parents

atones for s ins (vv. 3 ,14) . This idea is in accordance wi th the tendency in Sec

ond Temple Judaism to associate a tonement for s in wi th good works (cf . Dan.

4:24) .

Throughout S i r . 3 :1-16 , mothers a re honored equa l ly wi th fa thers , a l

though the sage ment ions the fa ther more of ten. This i s a lso t rue in the wis

dom t ex t 4QSap i en t i a l Work A f r om Qumran . The Qumr an work a l so

prom ises " length of day s" to one wh o honors h i s paren t s , and exhor t s ch i ldren

to honor paren t s " for the sake of the i r own honor ."

1 0

Here again the honor of

the parent is l inked to the self- interest of the son, as his honor too is at stake.

The theme of honor and shame wil l recur f requent ly as mot ivat ing factors in

Ben Sira .

W i v e s

Wives rece ive cons iderab ly more a t t en t ion than paren t s in Ben Si ra .

1 1

Sinc e a l l the ins t ruct ion is from the m ale poin t of view , there is no discu ssion

of hu sba nd s a t a l l . T he f irst com m en ts in the bo ok on the subject of w ives con

s is t of two verses in chapter 7 (vv. 19, 26) , which warn against i l l -advised di

v o r c e .

1 2

9. Sanders,

Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom,

65.

10. 4Q416, frag. 2 i i i 19; D. J. Harrington, "Wisdom at Qumran," in E. Ulrich and J. C. Van-

derKam, eds . , The Comm unity of the Renewed Covenant (Notre Da m e, Ind.: Un iv. of Notre Da m e

Press, 19 94) 148; cf. Sir. 3:1 1.

11. M . Gilbert, "Ben Sira et la femm e,"

RTL1

(1976 ) 42 6- 42 ; W. C. Trenchard ,

Ben Sira's View

of Women (Chico ,

Calif.:

Scholars , 1982) . Se e also T. Ilan, Jewish Wom en in Greco-Roman Pales

tine (Tubingen: Mohr, 1995) passim.

12. See , however, the object ions of Trenchard,

Ben Sira's View of Wom en,

2 6 - 2 8 , wh o p o i n t s

out that this is not the usual divorce terminology.



Ben Sira's Ethics

65

Divorce and Polygamy

Divorce appears to have been widespread in Second Temple Juda i sm. We

have several divorce documents f rom Elephant ine in Upper Egypt in the f i f th

century B . C . E . and f rom Nahal Hever near the Dead Sea f rom the ear ly second

century

C . E .

Divorce was the prerogat ive of the husband. According to the

Mishnah, "A woman is divorced i r respect ive of her wi l l ; a man divorces of his

own acco rd"

(m. Yebam.

14 :1) . Th e Jew ish com mu ni ty a t Elepha nt ine was ex

cept ional in a l lowing women to ini t ia te divorce. There has been much debate

as to whether women could ini t ia te divorce in the Roman era , but the evidence

i s a t be s t ambi guous .

1 3

Ben Sira caut ions against gratui tous divorce, but he

does not chal lenge the r ight to divorce as such. On the contrary, he declares

emphat ical ly in 25:25-26 that a wife who does not "go as you di rect" ( l i ter

a l ly , "according to your hands") should be "cut off f rom your f lesh" ( thereby

neg at ing the union of f lesh a t t r ibuted to marr iage in Ge nesis 2) . Si rach the reby

qual i f ies the advice not to divorce a good wife in Sir . 7 :26. The Hebrew verb

krt, cut off , gives r ise to the standard word for divorce, krytwt (Deut . 24:1) .

D eute ron om y al low ed that m an could divorc e his wife if she did not please h im

because he found someth ing objec t ionable (

erwat ddbdr)

abo ut her. Th is text

was invoked in a famous debate between the houses of Shammai and Hi l le l in

the first century

B . C . E .

T he S ham m aites t r ied to res t r ic t it s appl icat ion to c ases

of adultery. Hil lel ruled that a man was just if ied in divorcing "even if she

spoi led a dish for him" (m. Git. 9:10 ) . R abb i A kiba w ent farther , saying that it

suff iced i f he found another woman who was fa i rer .

1 4

The Mishnah a l so pro

vides that a woman could be sent away without her

ketubah

( the

mohar

or

br ide-pr ice owed by the husband) i f she t ransgressed the law of Moses or vio

la ted Jewish custom, even by going out wi th her hai r unbound, spinning in the

st reet, or speak ing w i th a m an

(m. Ketub.

7:6). R. Tarfon also permitted this in

the case of a scolding woman, who spoke ins ide her house so that a neighbor

could hear . Ben Sira does not suggest that the dowry can be re ta ined in this

case , and inde ed Sir . 25:2 1 impl ies that f inancial co nsiderat ion s sho uld not de

termine matr imonial decis ions . There is cr i t ic ism of the pract ice of divorce in

Mai . 2:13-16, but the text i s di f f icul t and obscure . Such cr i t ic ism of divorce

is exce pt iona l in the H eb rew B ible . Ch al leng es be com e mo re f requent af ter

13. J . J. Col l ins , "M arriage, Divorc e, and Fam ily in Seco nd T em ple Judaism," in L. Perdue et

al., Fam ilies in Ancient Israel (Louisvi l le: Westminster John Kn ox, 19 97) , 1 20 -2 1; T. I lan, "Notes

and Observations on a Newly Published Divorce Bi l l from the Judaean Desert ," HTR 89 (1996)

1 9 5 - 2 0 2 .

The primary piece of evidence is Papyrus Se'elim 13, wh ich appears, prima facie, to re

fer to a bill of divorce given by the wife to the husband, although the interpretation is disputed.

14.

L. J. Archer,

Her Price Is Beyond R ubies: The Jewish Wom an in Graeco-Roman Palestine

(Sheff ie ld: JSOT Press , 1990) 219.



66

Hebrew Wisdom

Si rac h ' s t ime , in the Dead S ea Scro l ls (CD 4 :20-5 :2) an d then in the New Te s

t amen t (Mark 10 : 2 ) .

1 5

Sirach 7:26b is ambiguous. The Hebrew literally reads "Do not trust a woman who

is hated." Skeh an and DiL ella render "Where there is i l l-feeling, trust her not." The verb

"to hate," however, is often used in the sense of "divorce" (e.g., at Elephantine). Ben

Sira here is most probably a dvising against trusting a divorced w om an , probably on the

realistic ground that "hell hath no fury like a wom an scorned." So the advice is: Be s low

to divorce, but do not trust a woman you have sent away.

T he issue of po lyg am y ar ises in con nec t ion wi th Sir. 25:1 4 ("Any suffer

ing, but not suffer ing f rom thos e w ho hate and any ven gea nce , but not the

vengeance of enemies") . Smend sugges ted tha t " those who ha te" and "ene

mies" in v . 14 a re mis takes by the Greek t rans la tor .

1 6

(The Hebrew i s no t ex

tant . ) The or iginal would have read feminine forms, "hated" ( i .e . , repudiated,

divorced) and "r ival ," and so the woman's anger would ar ise f rom a s i tuat ion

of e i ther polygamy or divorce. The subject of r ival ry between women is ex

plici t in 26:6 and 37 :11 . T he jealo usy of a wife for her r ival ra ises the ques t ion

of polygamy. While polygamy is never forbidden by bibl ical law and is s t i l l

permi t t ed by the Mishnah (m.

Ketub.

10 :5 ;

m. Ker.

3:7), i t has often been

thought to have died out by the Hel lenis t ic per iod, except for people in high

places l ike the sons of Herod. This common assumption has been put in doubt ,

however , by the Babatha archive f rom the ear ly second century

C . E .

1 7

Baba t ha

was an i l l i tera te woman from the region of the Dead Sea, who was involved

af ter her husband's death in a dispute wi th another woman who cla imed to be

his wife , and whose c la im is not disputed. While Babatha was not a poor per

son, she l ived in a rem ote area of Jud ea, and she wa s far rem ov ed f rom the so

c ial c i rcumstanc es of the He rodian fami ly . Polyga m y m ay not have been as ex

cept ional in the Hel lenis t ic and Roman per iods as was previously thought .

The Bad W ife

Sir ach 's mo st susta ined t reatmen t of m arr iag e, or ra ther of the go od and b ad

wife f rom the husband's point of view, is found in 25:13-26:27. The bad wife

receives more than twice as many verses as the good. The f i rs t s tanza

(25:13-15) se t s the tone by compar ing a woman ' s anger to a snake ' s venom.

The content ious or nagging wife is a common subject of complaint in folklore ,

15. J . A. Fitzmyer, "The Matthean Divorce Texts and Some New Palest inian Evidence," in

i d e m, To Advance the Gospel: New Testament Studies (Ne w York: Crossroad , 1981) 79 -1 11 .

16. R. Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach erk ldrt (Berl in: Reim er, 1906) 229.

17 . N. Lewis , The Documents from the Bar-Kokhba Period in the Cave of the Letters

(Jerusalem: Israel Explorat ion Society , 1989) 19-22.



Ben Sira's Ethics

67

and appears a lso in Proverbs (21:19; 25:24; 27:15) . The Egypt ian Inst ruct ion

of Phib i s re fe r s to an o therwise unknown book "Faul t s o f Women," so we

should ass um e that pass age s such as this w ere a

topos

of Near Eas te rn wisdom

in the Hel len i s t i c per iod .

1 8

Sirach 's comparisons are more violent than those we f ind in Proverbs . Even

if we make al lowance for Semit ic hyperbole , the s ta tement that any iniqui ty is

smal l compared to that of a woman (Sir . 25:19) i s except ional . This sent iment

is developed fur ther in 42:14, which says that the wickedness of a man is bet

ter than the goo dne ss of a w om an Th ere is an extrem e qual i ty to these sa yings

that cannot be dismissed as s imply par t of the cul ture of the t ime (Euripides ,

Phoenician Women, 80 5, refers to w om en as the wi ldest evi l , but the play

wr ight does no t necessar i ly endorse the v iew) .

1 9

The wish that a s inner ' s lot

befal l her may m ean that a s inner should m arry her . A s imilar idea is found in

Q oh . 7:26: "I found m ore bi t ter than death the w om an w ho is a t rap O ne

who pleases God escapes her , but the s inner i s taken in by her ." Si rach 25:

21-22 warns aga ins t mar ry ing a woman for e i ther her beauty or her wea l th .

The decept iveness of beauty was noted in Prov. 31:30. The weal th of a wife

might prevent a man f rom seeking d ivorce , s ince the woman could t ake her

ow n possess ions wi th her. Th e same sen t imen t is found in P s . - Ph oc , 19 9-2 00 ,

and in Eu r ip ides ,

M elannipus,

f rag . 5 0 2 .

2 0

No verse in Ben Sira i s more pregnant wi th impl icat ions or more contro

vers ia l in a modern context than 25:24: "From a woman s in had i t s beginning,

and because of her we al l die ." The not ion that the "s t range woman" can lead

a man to s in and death is developed in Proverbs 7 and f inds colorful develop

ment in 4Q184 ("The Wi les of the Wicked Woman") . The Qumran tex t has

been adduced as a parallel to Sir . 25:24 because i t says that "she is the start of

a ll t he ways o f wi ck ednes s " ( 4Q 18 4 : 8 ) .

2 1

Ben Sira , however , i s not concerned

only wi th the s t range or loose woman. ( I t i s c lear f rom the paral le ls wi th

Proverbs 7 that this i s the f igure envisaged in the f ragmentary 4Q184.) Si rach

speaks not only of the death of the s inner , but why we all die . There can be no

doubt that Sir . 25:24 represents an interpretat ion of Genesis 3, and that i t is the

ear l ies t extant wi tness to the view that Eve was responsible for the int roduc

t ion of s in and dea th .

2 2

Even the view that Adam was the source of s in and

death emerges only in l i terature of the f irst century C . E . ( Rom . 5 : 1 2 -2 1 ; 1 Cor .

15:22;

W i s . 2 : 2 3 - 2 4 ;

4 Ezra

4 : 3 0 ; 7 : 1 1 6 - 2 1 ; 2

Bar.

17:3; 48 : 4 5 -4 6 ; 54 : 19 ; the

18.

Phibis 8:10; Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 86.

19. Th. Middendorp, Die Stellung Jesu Ben Siras zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus (Leiden:

Bri l l , 1973) 21.

2 0 . Ibid.

21 . J . Le vison , "Is Ev e to Blam e? A Con textual Analysis of Sirach 25:24," CBQ 47 (1985) 622 .

2 2 .

C . Me y e r s , Discovering Eve (N ew York: Oxford Un iv. Press , 1988) 75 . Le vison argues that

the w om an in quest ion is the bad w ife .



68 Hebrew Wisdom

l a tt e r, how ever , contend s tha t A dam i s on ly respons ib le for h im se l f ) .

2 3

Sirach

17, which clear ly ref lects Genesis 2-3, contains no ment ion of an or iginal s in .

In the apocalypt ic l i tera ture roughly contemporary wi th Sirach the or igin of

evil was at tr ibuted to fal len angels (7

Enoch

6-11) or to God ' s des ign a t c re

at ion (1QS 3) . Si rach elsewhere ins is ts that death is s imply the decree of the

Lord, wi th no impl icat ion that i t i s a punishment (41:3-4) . Nonetheless , this

verse is extant in Hebrew and there is no reason to doubt i t s authent ic i ty . Si

rach 's inconsis tency on this mat ter shows only that his argumentat ion was in

fluenced by the im m ed iate con text in w hic h an issue is raised .

There is no precedent in Hebrew t radi t ion for the view that woman is the

source of a l l evi l , but there is a c lear Gre ek p recede nt in the s tory of Pa nd or a 's

b o x .

2 4

I t would be too s imple to ascr ibe the misogynis t aspects of Ben Sira ' s

thought to Hel lenis t ic inf luence. Pseudo-Phocyl ides represents a more heavi ly

Hel lenized form of Judaism but does not pick up these e lements . There is un

doubtedly Greek inf luence here , but Ben Sira ' s personal i ty a lso played a par t

in his se lect ive use of Gre ek cul ture .

In Sir . 26 :9, Si rach turns to the subject of the adul terous wife: "T he hau ghty

stare bet rays an unchaste wife; her eyel ids give her away." Proverbs 6:25 de

scr ibes the eyela shes of the adul terou s wo m an as ins t rum ents of seduct ion . Th e

point here is that a woman intent on adul tery makes up her eyel ids , whi le the

faithful wife has no reason to do so. In 1 Enoch 8:1 the art of making up the

eyes is taugh t to hu m an b eing s by the fa llen ange l A zaze l . Si rach 26:12 recal ls

Ezek . 16 :2 3-25 in i ts obsce ne por t raya l o f the prom iscuous w om an, bu t S i rach

at t r ibutes this behavior not to an except ional individual but to a daughter who

is not held in check. Both Hebrew and Greek t radi t ions had plenty of negat ive

v i ews abou t wo me n , bu t S i rach pushes t hem to new ex t r em es .

2 5

Th ere is a fur ther t reat ise on adul tery in 23:1 6- 26 . It i s int roduce d by a nu

merical proverb, which presents the adul terer as the c l imact ic s inner in a se

ries:

the person of unrest ra ined pass ion, the person gui l ty of incest , and the

adulterer.

Si rach gives equal t ime to the adul terer and the adul teress . The discussion

of the adul terer can be view ed as an extrapo lat ion f rom P rov. 9:17, which refers

2 3 . See J . R. Levison,

Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism from Sirach to 2 Baruch

(Sheffield:

JSOT Press , 1988) .

2 4 .

He s i o d ,

Works and Days,

4 2 - 1 0 5 ; Mi d d e nd o rp ,

Die Stellung,

21 .

2 5 . Sirach 26:19-27 is found in the second Greek recension and is not extant in Hebrew. It is

usually regarded as secondary, but N. Peters,

Das Buch Jesus Sirach oder Ecclesiasticus

(Miin-

ster: Aschen dorff, 191 3) 218 and Skeha n and D iLe lla, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 351 regard the

verses as authentic. They add little to the foregoing discussion. Verse 26c, d repeats 26:la,b. The

advice in vv. 19 -2 2 is c losely paralle l to Prov. 5:7 -1 4. The concern in sexual act iv ity is to propa

gate a line of offspring. Relations with a prostitute are wasted. Verse 23 recapitulates 25:19 and

26:3 . Some of the analogies in this passage are very crude: a prostitute is l ike spittle and a head

strong wife is l ike a dog.



Ben Sira's Ethics 69

to the sweetness of stolen water and bread eaten in secret . Sirach speaks of

sweet bread and dwel ls a t length on the issue of secrecy. (Compare 16:17-23,

on the futi l i ty of hiding from the Lord.)

Sirach does not specify how the adul terer wi l l be punished. Proverbs im

pl ies that the adul terer wi l l be beaten up by the wro nge d husb and and publ ic ly

disgraced, and that he wi l l have to pay a heavy f ine (Prov. 6:31-35: "seven

fold," "al l the good s of his ho use ") . Si rach eviden t ly envisage s publ ic disgrac e.

Nei ther Proverbs nor Sirach make any ment ion of the death penal ty for the

adul terer , prescr ibed by bibl ical law (Lev. 20:10; Deut . 22:22) .

The treatment of the adulteress differs from that of the adulterer in several

respects . Her s in is sa id to be threefold—the offense against God and against

her hu sba nd an d the fact that she prod uce d chi ldren by another m an. Si rach im

plies that the adulterer sins against God (v. 18), al though he does not say so di

rect ly . Th ere is no impl icat ion , how eve r , that the adul terer s ins against his wife .

The imbalance in this regard ref lects the common ancient tendency to group

the wife wi th the possess ions of her husband. The s in against the husband is

that she has viola ted his r ights and his honor . The product ion of chi ldren by

adul tery is con sidered a separate offense. S i rach 23:23 does not imply that the

w om an ' s adul te ry was prom pted by the des i re to have a ch i ld .

2 6

N ei ther i s there

any reason to th ink tha t the wom an ac t s ou t o f econo m ic nec ess i ty .

2 7

If an adul

terous affa ir en ded in preg nan cy, the wo m an w ould ha ve l it t le cho ice but to t ry

to pass the chi ld off as her husband's offspr ing. One of the main reasons for

proh ibi t ing adul tery w as to gua rantee the legi t imacy of a m an 's chi ldren. At i s

sue here is the r ight of inher i tance, and so the adul tery has economic conse

quences , which are deemed to const i tute a separate , thi rd, offense.

While the adul terer wi l l be punished in the s t reets of the c i ty , presumably

by the cuckolded husband, the adul teress i s led to the assembly. Si rach is not

expl ic i t as to what act ion the assembly may take. The s tory of Susanna, which

m ay be roughly contem porary , com es to m ind . Susanna i s sen tenced to dea th ,

in accordance wi th the bibl ical punishment for adul tery (Lev. 20:10; Deut .

22 :22) .

The death sentence is a lso proposed for the woman taken in adul tery

in John 8. Susanna is a lso ordered to be uncovered, and in the Old Greek ver

s ion the impl icat ion is that she was s t r ipped naked.

2 8

This was also part of the

punishment of an adul te rous woman in Hos . 2 :3 , 10 and Ezek . 16 :37-39 . The

Mishnah s t ipulated that a pr ies t should lay bare the bosom of the adul teress ,

2 6 .

Pace Trenchard, Ben Sira's View of Women, 99.

27 . Pace C. V. Ca m p, "Und erstanding Patriarchy: W om en in Sec ond Century Jerusalem

through the Eyes of Ben Sira," in A. J. Levine, ed., "Wom en like This": New Perspectives on

Wom en in the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta: Scholars , 1991) 27-28.

28 .

J. J. Collin s, Daniel (M inneapol is: Fortress , 1993) 43 1; the Theo dotion version adds a g loss

to indicate that she was only unveiled.



70

Hebrew Wisdom

but only i f i t was not comely (m. Sota 1.5). I t is very unlik ely, how ev er, tha t

these s tor ies ref lect actual pract ice in the Hel lenis t ic or Roman per iods . Al

ready in the Elephant ine papyri (5th century B . C . E . ) , the punishment for adul

tery is div orc e, w ith loss of so m e pro per ty r ights.

The extension of punishment to the chi ldren recal ls Ezra 10:44, where the

foreign wives were sent away with thei r chi ldren. Ben Sira , however , seems to

indicate a divine punishment ra ther than a human one. His content ion is that

the children of an adulteress wil l not prosper. A similar idea is found in Wis.

3 :16-19 . S i rach does no t p rovide any human mechanism to ensure tha t th i s

punishment wi l l be effected.

Sirach 23:2 7 br ings his discuss ion of adul tery to a con clusion b y ma kin g the

disgrace of the adulteress into a moral lesson that i t is better to keep the Law.

I t i s noteworthy that his discussion of the punishment of the adul teress does

not call for l i teral fulfi l lment of the Law. Sirach's concern is with conformity

to the t radi t ion in pr inciple , w i th the a t t itude of reveren ce, ra ther than w i th le

gal detai ls .

The Good W ife

Sirach 2 6: 1- 4 turns br ief ly to the jo ys of a good wife . Sh e is conside red

solely in term s of he r effect o n her hu sba nd . The po int of this stanza is the c on

verse of 25:19. As the s inner deserves a bad wife , the one who fears the Lord

deserves a good one. The good wife here seems to exis t to reward the deserv

ing m an rather than having a value in her ow n r ight . The value of a goo d wife

for a w ise ma n is a lso noted in the la te Eg ypt ian Inst ruct ion of Phib is 8 :5 .

2 9

S i

rach 26:13-18 is more expl ic i t than ear l ier passages on the a t t r ibutes of the

good wife . Al though she puts f lesh on her husband's bones , this i s not the ca

pab le wife of Prov erbs 3 1 , w ho can bu y a fie ld and deal wi th m erch ants . S i

rach 's ideal wife is a homebody, character ized by s i lence, modesty, and

chas t i ty , v i r tues a l so recommended by Ar i s to t l e .

3 0

In part , the difference in

perspective reflects the transit ion from a rural to an urban culture. The wife of

a scribe in Jerusalem has no occasion to buy a f ield, and her labor is not needed

outs ide the house . Ins tead sh e is por t ray ed as an ornam ent in his ho m e. This i s

the only passage where Ben Sira shows an appreciat ion of physical beauty

(contras t 25 :21 : "D o not be ensnared by a w om an ' s bea uty") . It i s charac te r i s

t ic of ancient Near Eastern love poetry to single out parts of the body for

p r a i s e .

3 1

Exampl e s can be found i n Can t . 4 : 1 -7 ; l QApGen 20 : 2 - 7 . The de -

29 . Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 86.

30 . A ristotle , Politics 1260a; Balch , Let Wives Be Submissive, 35.

31 . This kind o f poetry is often referred to by the Arab ic term

wasf.

S ee A. Blo ch and C. Bloch ,

The Song of Songs

(N ew York: Random H ouse , 1995) 15 ; M. V. Fox ,

The Song of Songs and the

Ancient Egyptian Love Songs (Madison, Wis . : Univ. of Wisconsin Press , 1985) .



Ben Sira's Ethics

71

scr ipt ion of Sara h in the la tter pas sag e com m ents on the perfect ion of her legs .

Ben Sira di f fers f rom the other passages , however , in drawing his analogies

from the furnishings of the Temple, and thereby project ing a sense of admira

t ion ra ther than physical desi re .

Things tha t make a woman a t t rac t ive a re a l so the subjec t o f 36 :27-28:

beauty, kindness and humil i ty . The verses that fol low digress on the advis

abi l i ty of marr iage. Si rach borrows the phrase of Gen. 2:18, 20 to refer to the

he lp a wi fe can g ive her husba nd . M oreov er , she can g ive h im a "nes t " and pre

vent h im f rom wander ing . S i rach impl ies tha t the una t tached man cannot be

t rusted (cf. th e langu age a ppl ied to Cain in Gen . 4:12 ) . A w ife is nece ssary for

social respectab i l i ty . Mo st revea l ing of Si rac h 's a t t itude on m arr iag e, how eve r ,

is the s ta tement that a wife is a man's best possess ion (v. 29) . Even whi le Si

rach exp resses th e high value he places o n a wife , he s t i ll regard s her as a pos

sess ion of her husb and . The pat r iarchal qu al i ty of this s ta tem ent i s not n egated

by the fact that the language recal ls Prov. 8:22, which says that the Lord ac

quired (or created,

qdndh)

wisd om as the beginning of h i s way.

Daughters

The females whose behavior weighed mos t heavi ly on Si rach , however ,

were daughte rs :

A daughter is a secret anxiety to her father, and worry ove r her robs him o f s leep;

wh en she is you ng , for fear she may not marry, or if married, for fear she ma y b e

repudiated; while a virgin, for fear she may be seduced and become pregnant in

her father's house; or having a husband, for fear she may go astray, or though

married, for fear she m ay b e barren. Keep strict watch ov er a headstrong daug h

ter, or she may make you a laughingstock to your e n e m ie s . . . . See that there is

no lattice in her room , no spot that ove rlook s the approaches to the hou se. D o not

let her parade her beauty before any man or spend her time among married

women.

(Sir . 42:9-12)

Ben Sira ' s anxiety is ext reme, and must be seen in the context of the gen

eral anxiety about l i fe that pervades his book (cf . Si r . 40:1-2: "A heavy yoke

is laid on the children of Adam. . . . Perplexit ies and fear of heart are theirs,

and anxious thought of the day of thei r death") . Nonetheless , he ref lects cer

ta in social and economic real i t ies that prevai led throughout the Second Tem

ple per iod. Fathers had to provide dowries for thei r daughters , but no longer

receiv ed any benefi t from th e mohar, or brid e-p rice, in this pe riod . If there w ere

no sons and a daughter should inher i t , th is resul ted in the t ransference of the

inher i tance f rom the fa ther ' s house to that of her husband. I f the woman were

divorced, the fa ther had to take her in . The economic considerat ions , however ,



72

Hebrew Wisdom

are m inor in Be n Si ra ' s view in com paris on to the r isk of sham e. A hea dst ron g

daughter can make her fa ther "a byword in the c i ty and the assembly of the

people , and put you to sham e in publ ic ga the r ings" (S ir . 42 :11 ) . He nce the pre

occupat ion wi th vi rgini ty before marr iage, and the demand that daughters be

carefully secluded.

Concern for the vi rgini ty of unmarr ied gi r ls i s ubiqui tous in the ancient

world, but especial ly in Hel lenis t ic Judaism. The draconian laws of the Penta

teuch that required the death penal ty for a woman who was found not to be a

virgin a t m arr iage w ere not enforced , but a w om an w ho w as not a vi rgin w ould

be di f f icul t to give in marr iage. Pseudo-Phocyl ides (215-16) advises that vi r

gins be locked up and not seen outs ide the hou se unt il thei r w edd ing d a y .

3 2

Ben

Sira warns against a la t t ice , les t the young woman even be seen. The warning

against her spending t ime in the company of marr ied women (42:12) probably

ref lects a fear that the vi rgin may become aware of her sexual i ty .

3 3

Th ere i s abund ant ev idence tha t sons we re va lued more h ighly than dau gh

ters in ancient Judaism. Ben Sira s tands a t or near the negat ive extreme of his

soc ie ty ' s a t t i tude toward women, bu t h i s p ronouncement tha t "a daughte r i s

born to his [ the fa ther ' s ] loss" (Sir . 22:3) cannot be dismissed as his personal

eccentr ic i ty . Similar sent iments are found in the rabbinic l i tera ture: "Without

both male and female chi ldren the world could not exis t , but blessed is he

wh ose ch i ldren a re male , and wo e to h im w hose ch i ldren a re fem ale"

(B. Bat.

16b) . W hile daug hters are not a lway s view ed so neg at ively, the preference for

sons was com m onp lace in the anc ien t Ne ar Eas t . Co m pare Ah ikar

1:4-5:

"Bu t

I ask of thee, O G od , that I m ay h av e a ma le chi ld , so that whe n I shal l die , he

may cast dust on my eyes" (cf . Tob. 6:15) .

B ut whi le som e of Be n S ira ' s con cern s ref lect the society in w hich he l ived,

his anxiety is ext reme. The economic and social real i t ies of ra is ing a daughter

in B en S ira ' s t ime do not seem great ly di fferent f rom tho se of ear l ier centur ies .

Yet no ear l ier Jew ish wri ter displays such deep anxiety on the subject . D aug h

ters are never discussed as an isola ted topic in the Hebrew Bible . The

metaphorical use of daughter as a term of endearment for Zion or Israel con

t ras ts sharply wi th Sirach 's recommendat ion "Do not le t your face shine upon

them" (7:24) . Si rach was scarcely typical of the Hel lenis t ic per iod e i ther . The

roughly contemporary book of Tobi t paints a much more affect ionate pic ture

of family l ife . Fe w pa rents had as m uc h reason for anxiety as R agu el and E dn a,

parents of Sarah, the eventual br ide of Tobias , whose f i rs t seven husbands had

died on thei r w edd ing nigh t Y et the con cern of the paren ts is s imp ly that "th e

Lord of heaven grant you joy in place of your sorrow" (Tob. 7:16) .

3 2 . See further Philo, De Spec. Leg. 3 . 1 6 9 ; In Flacc. 89; 2 M ace. 3:19; 3 M ace. 1:18; 4 M ace.

18:7; Archer, Her Price Is Beyond Rubies, 1 1 3 - 1 5 .

3 3 . Trenchard, Ben Sira's View of Women, 158.



Ben Sira's Ethics

73

Sons

Ben Sira has less to say on the subject of sons . His advice is wel l summed

up in 7 :23: "D o you have sons? Disc ip l ine them , and mak e them obedien t f rom

their youth." The method of discipl ine seems to have re l ied heavi ly on corpo

ra l pun ishm ent : "L ashes an d d i sc ip l ine a re a t a ll t imes wisd om ," and "H e w ho

loves his son will whip him often, so that he may rejoice at the way he turns

ou t" (Sir . 30:1 ) . Pse udo -Ph ocy l ides , w ri t ing in the Diaspora , takes a gent ler ap

proach: "Be not harsh wi th your chi ldren but be gent le" (v . 207) , but Si rach

wil l have none of this : "Do not laugh wi th him, or you wi l l have sorrow with

him, and in the end you wi l l gnash your teeth. Give him no f reedom in his

youth, and do not ignore his errors . Bow down his neck in his youth and beat

his s ides whi le he is young, or e lse he wi l l become s tubborn and disobey you,

and you wi l l have sor row of soul f rom him" (30:10-12) . Here aga in , cons id

erations of reputation and shame play a part : "It is a disgrace to be the father

of an undiscipl ined son" (22:3) .

Th e pat r iarchal perspect iv e of Si r ac h 's thou ght i s as painfully obv ious in his

discussion of sons as i t i s in his discussion of daughters . The goal i s the pro

duct ion of a son in the fa ther ' s image and l ikeness: "When the fa ther dies he

will not seem to be dead, for he has left behind him one l ike

himself"

(30:4) .

There is l i t t le sense that the son is an individual in his own right . There is no

cult of the individual in Sirach. Rather, the goal is the conformity of the indi

vidual to the tradit ion, as i t is t ransmitted from father to son, with only sub

servient roles for women as wives and daughters .

Slaves

The exis tence of s laves was taken for granted throughout the ancient

M e d i t e r r a n e a n w o r l d .

3 4

Ben Sira ' s advice on thei r t reatment vaci l la tes . In

33 :25 -30 , he advoca tes harsh t rea tment , com par ing the s lave to a beas t o f bur

den. A s lave who is underworked wi l l seek l iber ty , and idleness creates mis

chief. This advice is in l ine with Prov. 29:19, 21 and is also paralleled in

P h i b i s .

3 5

This advice, however, is severely qualif ied, if not undercut, by Sir .

33 :30c , d , wh ich warns aga ins t overbear ing behavior toward any one . Here S i

rach is probably inf luenced by the Torah, which granted s laves l imi ted but im

p o r ta n t r ig h ts ( E x o d. 2 1 : 1 - 1 1 , 2 0 - 2 1 , 2 6 - 2 7 ; L e v . 2 5 : 3 9 - 5 5 ; D e u t . 1 5 : 1 2 - 1 8 ;

23 :16 -17 ) . Levi t icus 2 5 :3 9 ,4 6 perm i t s the acquis i tion of Gent i l es as s l aves bu t

says that Israeli tes who are forced into debt slavery should be treated as hired

34 . F or a recent ove rvie w : J. A . Harrill, The Man umission of Slaves in Early Christianity (Tubin

gen:

Mohr , 1995) 11 -67 .

35 . Papyrus Insinger 14:6-11; Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 95.



74

Hebrew Wisdom

se rvant s . The Hel len i s t i c Jewish Ps . -Phoc . 223-26 a l so advoca tes humane

treatm ent for s laves , as Si rach doe s a lso in 7:2 0-2 1 and 33 :31 . Final ly Be n S ira

takes his characterist ic l ine of self- interest . A slave who is i l l - treated will run

awa y. Accord ing to Deut . 23 :15 -1 6 , it wa s forb idden to re turn a runaw ay s lave

to the ow ner . T he ne ed to take good care of a s lave is especial ly acute i f there

is only one. I t seems then that Ben Sira is transmitt ing a tradit ional hard l ine

on the t reatment of s laves , but recognizes that gent ler t reatment i s somet imes

more pract ical .

I t has been sugge sted that 7:21b ("D o not w i thhold f rom him his f reedom ")

is an a l lus ion to the bibl ical law in Exod. 21:2 that Hebrew s laves should be

released af ter s ix years ,

3 6

bu t S i rach recommends f reedom only for a wise

s lave. (Compare Paul ' s plea for Onesimus in the le t ter to Phi lemon.)

Friendship

The subject of f r iendship is one to which Ben Sira re turns repeatedly

( 6 : 5 - 1 7 ; 9 : 1 0 - 1 6 ; 1 1 : 2 9 - 1 2 : 1 8 ; 2 2 : 1 9 - 2 6 ; 3 6 : 2 3 - 3 7 : 1 5 ; 3 7 : 1 6 - 3 1 ) .

3 7

Fr iends

should be chosen carefully and trusted slowly, but a true fr iend is invaluable.

The theme of true and false fr iendship is sounded briefly in Prov. 18:24 (cf.

Prov. 19:4, 7) . Job complains that his f r iends have fa i led him (7:14-23;

19:19-22) . The closest paral le ls to Ben Sira , however , are found in the Greek

gnomic poe t Theognis and in the l a te Egypt ian Ins t ruc t ion of Phib i s .

3 8

Phibis

is especial ly c lose to Sirach in warning against premature t rus t . Compare Si

rach 6:13 ("K eep aw ay from you r ene m ies and be on guard wi th your f r iends")

and The og nis 57 5: "I t i s m y fr iends that bet ray me , for I can shu n my en em y."

Theognis also says that the trusty fr iend outweighs gold and si lver (cf . Sir .

6:15) . Si rach s t r ikes his own dis t inct ive note , however , when he says that one

who fears the Lord should seek a f r iend l ike

himself.

Th e them e of se lec t ive f ri endship i s repea ted in 9 :1 4- 16 : "A s muc h as you

can , a im to know your ne ighbors , and consul t wi th the wise . Le t your con

versat ion be wi th inte l l igent people and le t a l l your discussion be about the

law of the Mos t High . Le t the r igh teous be your d inner companions and l e t

your glory be in the fear of the Lord." This res t r ic t ive view of f r iendship is

not sus ta ined throughout the book, however . The advice on behavior a t ban

quets in 32:1-9 is much more worldly in character . But the need for se lect iv

i ty f inds even s t ronge r expres s ion in 11:29—12:18. W ha t i s m ost s t r iking abo ut

th i s passa ge , how ever , i s the v igorous ins i s tence tha t one sho uld only do goo d

to the jus t and g ive no comfor t to the wicked (12 :2- 3) , and even tha t G od ha tes

s inners (12 :6) . W e a re rem inde d of the m ore ex t reme v iew of the Q um ran

36 .

Skehan and DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 205 .

37 .

See the essays in F. V. Reiterer, ed., Freundschaft bei Ben Sira (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1996).

38 .

Sanders , Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom, 3 0 - 3 1 ; 6 4 - 6 5 ; 7 0 - 7 1 .



Ben Sira's Ethics

75

Communi t y Ru l e , whe re t hose who en te r the covenan t com m i t them se l ves to

hate

all the

sons

of

darkness , wi th

the

im pl ica t ion tha t

God

detes ts th em

(1QS

1:4, 10). A s imi la r p roverb is found in the mi d ra sh Qoh. Rab. 5. 8f. §5 (Son-

c ino ed i t ion) :

"Do no

g o o d

to an

ev i l person

and

harm wi l l

not

c o m e

to you;

fo r if y o u do g o o d to an ev i l person , you have done wro ng . " The con tras t w i th

the t eaching

of

J e sus

in the New

T e s t a m e n t

is

obv i ous (M a t t. 5 : 43 -4 8 ; Luk e

6 : 2 7 - 2 8 , 3 2 - 3 6 ) . But the idea that God hates s inners is a l so except iona l in

Jew ish l it e ra ture . Co nt ras t W is . 11 :24: "For you love all thing s that exis t , and

detes t none of the things that you h a v e m a d e , for you w o u l d not have m ade

anyth ing if you had ha t ed it." This idea is i l lus t ra ted in a colorful way in

T. Abr. 10 :14 , where God tel ls the a r change l M i chae l : "Abr aham has not

s inned

and has no

m e r c y

on

s inners .

But I

m a d e

the

wor l d ,

and I do not

want

to dest roy any one of t h e m . " Ben S i ra presu m ably co uld not c la im to be as in

nocen t of sin as A b r a h a m was.

T h e r e is a lso a more posi t ive s ide to fr iendship in Sirach. In 22 : 23 we are

told to "ga i n the trust of your ne ighbor in his pover ty , so that you may rejoice

with him in his prosper i ty . Stand by him in t i me of dis t ress , so that you may

share wi th him in his inher i t ance ." Even here , there is a s t rong note of self-

interest , but we should remember tha t an enl igh tened sel f- interes t a lso un der

l ies the pr inciple of the G olde n R ule ,

"As you

wo uld tha t m en should

do to you,

d o

you

a lso

to

them" (Luke 6 :31) .

The

w i s d o m

of

loyal ty

to

fr iends

is

rei ter

ated in S i r ach ' s l a s t p r onouncem en t on the subject in 3 7 : 1 - 6 .

The Bas i s for Eth ics in Sirach

The ethical teaching

of Ben

Sira

has

of ten been judged harshly

by

mode r n

schola rs . Wr i t ing in the Vic tor ian era, Al f red Ede rshe im d i smissed it as "a

most unpleasant mix ture of selfishness and Eas te rn wo r ld-wisdo m wi th re l i

g i o u s n e s s . "

3 9

While this formulat ion is somew ha t ex t reme , the charge of self

i shness , a r i s ing f rom eudaemonism and ut i l i tar ianism, runs l ike a refrain

through the mod ern l i te ra ture . H. M. H ugh es conc luded tha t "the e thical tea ch

ing of Sirach is som ew hat ind iv idua l is t ic and self-centred He g ives m any

ev i dences of a humane fee l ing , but n o n e of a spirit of g e n u in e a l t r u i s m . "

4 0

D.

Michae l i s condemns Si rach for hardening fa i th into ideology, by los ing the

sense of a persona l re la t ionsh ip wi th God.

4 1

E. G. Bauckm ann c l a i ms t ha t Si

rach d ivorces the Law from its re la t ionsh ip to the exodus , and m a k e s it into a

m e c h a n i s m for the hum an con t ro l of life, in the m a n n e r of the o lder w isdom

39 .

A.

Edersheim, "Ecclesiasticus,"

in H.

W a c e ,

ed., The Holy Bible According to the Autho

rised Version: Apocrypha

(London: Muray, 1888) 2.17.

4 0 . H. M. Hughes ,

The Ethics o f Jewish Apocryp hal Literature

(London: Culley, 1910) 39.

4 1 .

D.

Michael i s ,

Das

Bu ch Jesus Sirach

als

typischer Ausdruck fiir

das

Gottesverhaltnis

des

nachalttestamentl ichen Menschen,"

TLZ

83 (1958 ) 60 1 -8 .



76

Hebrew Wisdom

t e a c h i n g .

4 2

Only a few authors evaluate Sirach more posi t ively. Ot to Kaiser

em ph asizes the fundam ental p lace of the fear of the L o rd .

4 3

In this perspec t ive ,

wisd om i s the hum ble sub m iss ion to the wi ll o f God. The To rah provides a d i s

c ipl ine by which human beings are brought into conformity wi th the order of

creat ion, which is i t se l f the express ion of the divine wi l l . E. P. Sanders , who

also notes the importance of "the fear of the Lord," regards Sirach as an expo

nent of "cov enan ta l nom ism ," wh o "presuppo sed the b ib l i ca l v iew of the e lec

t ion of Israel and wrote wi thin the context of the doctr ine of the covenant ."

4 4

Th ere can be no dispu te that Si rac h 's teaching is eud aem onis t ic ( in the sense

that i ts go al , at least in part , is a goo d an d ha pp y l ife) a nd uti l i tarian. In this re

spect i t s tands fully in the tradit ion of Proverbs, which also has a strong prag

mat ic emphasis on resul ts ra ther than on intent ions . I t should be remembered,

how eve r , that the cov ena ntal re la t ionship a lso appe aled s t rongly to enl ighten ed

self - interes t . The observance of the Law would resul t in bless ing, whi le dis

obedience would br ing about a curse .

4 5

E ven the Golden R ule , the cen te rp iece

of New Testament e thics , i s not s imply an appeal to a l t ruism. Doing to others

as you would wish them to do to you is a lso a pragmat ic way to ensure one 's

own i n t e r e s t .

4 6

T his is essent ia l ly the logic of Si r ach 's advice on hono ring par

ents. The children do not hope for further benefi t from the parents in their old

age, but set a precedent for their own children, from which they may benefi t in

due t ime.

Ben Sira ' s ut i l i tar ianism somet imes leads to enl ightened advice , as when he

counse l s hum ane t rea tment of s l aves . But Near Eas te rn w isdom teachers w ere

not moral phi losophers , and were not given to or iginal thinking. Si rach too is

general ly co ntent to pass a lon g the tradi t ion he inher i ted, mo dif ied by the co n

vent ions and prejudices of his own t ime. Establ ished ins t i tut ions such as di

vorce and s lavery are never cal led into quest ion, and the di f ferences between

rich and poo r are accep ted as inevi table . M oreo ver , S i rac h 's ut i l itar ian thou ght

is l imi ted to the perspect ive of the pat r iarchal male . There is vi r tual ly no em

pathy wi th wives or daughters , s laves , or even sons .

The t rad i t iona l eudaemonism of Near Eas te rn wisdom l i t e ra ture i s over

shadowed in Sirach by his great concern for honor and shame, which goes far

4 2 . E. G. Bauckmann, "Die Proverbien und die Spri iche des Jesus Sirach: Eine Untersuchung

zum Strukturwandel der israelitischen Weisheitslehre," TAW 12 ( 1 9 6 0 ) 3 3 - 6 3 .

4 3 .

O. Kaiser, "Die Begriindung der Sittlichkeit im Buche Jesus Sirach,

TTK 55

( 1 9 5 8 ) 5 1 - 6 3

= Der Mensch unter dem Schicksal (Berl in: de Gruyter, 1985) 63 -9 0 ; compare J. Haspecker,

Gottesfurcht bei Jesus Sirach (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967).

4 4 . E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Phi ladelphia: Fortress , 1977) 33 0 -3 1 .

4 5 . J . J . Col l ins , "The Bibl ical Vis ion of the Common Good," in O. F. Wil l iams and J . W.

Houck , eds . , The Common Good and U. S. Capitalism (Lanham, Md .: University Press of Am er

ica , 1987) 50 -69 .

4 6 .

For the history of interpretation, see H. D. Betz, The Sermon on the Mount (Minneapol is:

Fortress , 1995) 508-19.



Ben Sira's Ethics

77

beyond anything that we find in the Hebrew tradit ion. I t f inds i ts most egre

gious express ion in his worry about daughters , les t a daughter "make you a

laughingstock to your enemies , a byword in the c i ty and the assembly of the

peo ple , and put you to sha m e in pub l ic gathe r ing s" (42:11) . Bu t as J . T. San ders

observed , "For Ben Si ra shame lurked every where ."

4 7

I t determines the re la

t ionships of r ich and poor , and the need to behave proper ly a t banquets . I t i s

acutely presen t in anything that touche s on sexual i ty: "D o not give yoursel f to

a woman and le t her t r ample down your s t rength" (9 :2) .

4 8

This concern wi th

honor and shame intensi f ies the impress ion of se l f -centeredness in Sirach 's

teaching. The sage is too anxious about his own honor to take thought of the

w ay othe r peo ple m ay be affected. T o a great degre e, this anxiety is cul tural ly

de te rmined and induced .

Sirach is not ent i re ly a s lave to convent ion, and he makes some at tempt to

cr i t ic ize the cul tural assum ptions of his day . I t should be noted that the p ursui t

of honor was somet imes cr i t ic ized by Hel lenis t ic phi losophers , especial ly Epi

c u re a n s a n d C y n i c s .

4 9

Sirach reco gniz es that "there is a sham e that leads to s in ,

and there is a sha m e that is glory and favor" (4:21) , and he re turns to this con

t ras t severa l t imes throughout the boo k (10:1 9-1 1:6 ; 20 :21 -23 ) The mos t e lab

orate discussion is in 41:14-42:8, a sect ion wi th the t i t le "Inst ruct ion about

Sh am e" in H ebrew M S B . The re i s no p lace for fa lse mo des ty w i th respec t to

wi sdom (41 : 14 -15 , r epea t ed f rom 2 0 : 3 0 - 3 1 ; c f . Mark 4 :21-25; Luke

8:16-19) . Not surpr is ingly, the Torah heads the l i s t of things of which one

should not be asham ed. But S i rach a l so recom m end s keeping accoun ts in dea l

ings wi th a com pa nion , s t ric t discipl ine for chi ldren an d s laves , and even lock

ing up an unrel iable wife . Si rach here incl ines to the pract ical , hard hea ded s ide

of t radi t ional wisdom, which has l i t t le place for t rus t (cf . 6:7; 11:29-12:18) .

W hile Sirach d iverges f rom He l lenis t ic m ores in his ins is tence on the honor of

the Torah, he re ta ins a qui te convent ional code of pat r iarchal control .

In Hel lenis t ic cul ture , fear of sham e w as of ten c i ted as a mot ivat ion for bold

a c t i o n .

5 0

In Sirach, how eve r , i t serves to re inforce w hat J . T. San ders has cal led

his e thics of caut ion. Si rach 32:19-24 provides a typical ly caut ious piece of

advice: "Do nothing wi thout del iberat ion, but when you have acted, do not re

gret i t . . . . Do not trust the road for bandits , and take care for your future. In

a ll you r wa ys , mind yourself, for whoever does th i s keeps the commandment .

The one who keeps the Law preserves himself, and whoever t rus ts in the Lord

shal l not be put to shame." The caut ious , defensive tone of a passage l ike this

is c loser to the la te Egyp t ian w isdo m texts than to the He l lenis t ic ph i losop hers .

47. J. T. Sanders, "Ben Sira's Ethics of Caution," HUCA 50 (1979) 99 .

4 8 .

See Camp, "Understanding Patriarchy," 14-23, who emphasizes the sage's anxiety about

control.

4 9 . H . Mox nes , "Honor and Shame," B TB 2 3 ( 1 9 9 3 ) 1 6 7 - 7 6 .

5 0 . E.g . , Plato , Laws, 64 7B ; J. T. Sanders , "Ben Sira's Ethic of Caution," 97.



78

Hebrew Wisdom

More immediate ly, Si rach 's e thic i s informed by the ideal of the fear of the

Lord, which required a humble submissive a t t i tude toward the t radi t ion. The

vir tue of hum il i ty was q ui te a l ien to the Gre ek sense of hon or , but i s deep ly in

grained in Near Eastern wisdom. In par t , th is too was a defensive measure , to

avoid embarrassment : "Do not be forward, or you may be rebuffed" (Sir .

13:10;

cf. Pro v. 25 :6 -7 ; Lu ke 14 :7- 11 ) . I t a lso reflects the dep end ent social po

s i tion of the sage, wh o m ust look to others for approv al . Yet Si rach also w arns

against fa lse modesty: "My son, honor yoursel f wi th humil i ty and give your

se lf the es teem yo u deserve . W ho w i ll acqui t those who co nde m n them se lves?

An d wh o wi l l hono r those wh o d i sc red i t them se lve s?" (S ir . 10 :28) .

The Shadow of Death

There is another factor that plays a significant role in Ben Sira 's ethical ar

gumenta t ion . Like h i s near -contemporary Qohele th , and unl ike the o lder He

brew t radi t ion, Si rach is hau nted by the shado w of

death:

"A he avy y oke is la id

on the ch i ldren of A d a m . . . . P erp lex i ti es and fear of hear t a re the i rs and anx

ious thought of the day of thei r death" (40:1-2; cf . 41:1-4) . This prospect in

f luences e thical beh avio r in a nu m be r of w ays . Fi rs t , i t un derm ines a l l hu m an

pr ide : "H ow can dus t and ashes be proud? Ev en in l if e the hum an bod y dec ays "

(10:9) .

While this in no way eliminates the fear of shame, i t sets a dist inct l imit

to the honor and glory that one may hope to a t ta in . Second, the common lot of

humani ty engenders sympathy . In 7 :36 Si rach conc ludes an exhor ta t ion to

char i ty wi th the injunct ion: "In a l l you do remember the end of your l i fe and

then you wi l l never s in ." In 28:6 the same remembrance is invoked as a reason

to set enmity as ide and not bear grudges . Admit tedly, Si rach 's reasoning here

is not s imply an appeal to sympathy. He l ives not only in the shadow of death

but a l so under the shadow of d iv ine judg m ent . Th e person wh o harbors wra th

against another human being cannot expect forgiveness f rom the Lord. The

prosp ect of divine re t r ibut ion is a lso invok ed as a reaso n for char i ty to the po or

in 4 :1 -6 : "I f in bi t terness of soul som e shou ld curse you, thei r creator wi l l hear

thei r prayer ."

Th e nature of the re t ribut ion that Si rach e xpec ts i s not ent i re ly c lear . H e h as

no place for jud gm en t af ter dea th, but he appa rent ly thinks of the day of death

as a day of jud gm en t : "F or i t i s easy for the Lord on the day of death to rew ard

individu als according to thei r con duct . An ho ur ' s misery ma kes one forget past

del ights , and at the c lose of one 's l i fe one 's deeds are revealed. Cal l no one

happy before h i s dea th ; by how he ends , a person becomes known" (11:26-8 ;

cf. 18:24) . Th e sent im ent that on e shou ld cal l no one hap py before the day of

h i s dea th i s commonplace in Greek t ragedy .

5 1

The point in the tragedies is that

anything can go wrong up to that point . Si rach 's point i s that death i t se l f can

be the occas ion of d iv ine judg m ent . T he ques t ion of judg m ent be ars on the i s -



Ben Sira's Ethics

79

sue of theod icy, wh ich w e wi l l con sider in the fol lowing chap ter . Fo r the pres

ent i t is sufficient to note that the thought of death and the expectation of di

vine jud gm en t are s ignif icant m ot ivat ing factors in Sirac h 's e thical system .

W hile the imm inen ce of death quali f ies the pursui t of hon or , it by no m ean s

el iminates i t . Rather , i t modif ies one 's pr ior i t ies . The most important honor is

that of a go od n am e. "T he go od of li fe i s a l imi ted num be r of

days ,

but the go od

of a name is for days wi thout end" (41:13) . Wisdom confers not only joy and

gladness but a lso "an ever las t ing name" (15:6) . The fa thers who are praised in

chapters 44-51 are those who have lef t a name, "so that people might te l l of

thei r inher i tance" (44:8) . Thought for one 's future reputat ion has an impact on

on e ' s behavior : " In grea t and smal l m at te rs cause no harm . . . for a bad nam e

incurs shame and reproach" (5 :15-16) .

The immortal i ty of a good name is noted in ear l ier wisdom l i tera ture .

Proverbs 10:7 says that "the memory of the r ighteous is a bless ing, but the

name of the wicked wi l l rot ," whi le Job 18:17 says that the memory of the

wicked per ishes f rom the ear th . This theme receives re la t ively l i t t le promi

nen ce in the ear l ier t radi t ion. In Sirach, i t acquires m ajor im po rtance . But this

again involves us in the sage 's views on theodicy and re t r ibut ion, which wi l l

be taken u p in thei r pro per con text in the fol lowing chapter .

5 1 . Ae s c h y l u s , Agamemnon, 928; Sopho c les , Oedipus Rex, 1529; Skehan and DiL el la , The Wis

dom of Ben Sira, 2 4 1 .



Chapter 5 .

The Prob lem of Ev i l and the Jus t ice o f God

Ben S i ra ' s e th ics we re h ighly convent iona l and t rad it ion-bound. No nethe less ,

the sage a lso made an a t tempt to const ruct a context for e thical behavior , by

addres s ing qu est ions of the or igin of s in and evi l and of re t r ibut ion a nd divin e

j us t i c e .

1

In so doing , he draw s on the resou rces of the wisd om trad i t ion and the

Hebrew scr iptures , but he a lso ventures his own suggest ions and draws on

Greek phi losophy, a l though only to a very l imi ted degree. His phi losophical

competence was very modes t , bu t S i rach was a p ioneer in t ry ing to combine

Greek phi losophy wi th the Hebrew scr iptures a t a l l . The wisdom teachers of

the Diaspora , who were bet ter educated in Greek learning, would go much far

ther in the di rect ion of a phi loso phica l theolog y.

The Origin of Sin

Th e s tory of A da m a nd Eve , w hich is usual ly taken as th e canonica l acco unt

of the origin of sin in Jewish and especially Christ ian tradit ion, receives no at

tent ion outs ide of G ene sis in the Heb rew Bib le . W ith the possible exce pt ion of

som e texts of unce r ta in date f rom Q um ran , it i s B en S ira w ho pro vide s the f irst

a t tempt to grapple wi th the impl icat ions of this s tory.

2

Even the book of Ju

b i l ees ,

which contains the oldest intact narrat ive paraphrase of these chapters ,

has surpr is ingly l i tt le to say about the s in of Ad am , a l though i t prov ides a v ery

ful l exegesis wi th respect to the halakic impl icat ions of the text .

3

Ben Sira ' s most expl ic i t reference to the s tory of Adam and Eve is s ingu

larly unfortunate, as i t inaugurates a l ine of interpretat ion that can only be de

sc r ibed as misogynis t i c : "Fro m a w om an s in had i ts beginning and because of

her we al l die" (25:24) . But whi le Sir . 25:24 is indicat ive of the sage 's notor i -

1.

J. J . Co l l ins , "W isdom , Apo calyptic ism and the Dead Sea Scrol ls ," in A. A. D iesel et a l . , eds . ,

"Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit...": Studien zur israelitischen und altorientalischen Weisheit Diethelm

Michel zum 65. Geburtstag

(BZ AW 24 1; Ber l in : de Gruyter , 1996) 21 - 26 .

2 . See J . R. Levison, Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism from Sirach to 2 Baruch (Sheffield:

JSOT Press , 1988) .

3. G. Vermes, "Genesis 1-3 in Post-Bibl ical Hebrew and Aramaic Literature before the Mish

nah,"

JJS 4 3 ( 1 9 9 2 ) 2 2 1 - 2 5 .



The Problem of Evil and the Justice of G od

81

ously negat ive view of women, i t i s not consis tent wi th his other pronounce

ments on the or igin of s in and death.

4

I t seem s to be an ad hoc com m ent , m ade

in the context of a lengthy ref lect ion on "the wicked woman," but i t has not

been integrated into a coherent theological system.

Sirach addresses the or igin of s in most di rect ly in 15:11-20. The passage

takes the form of a con troversy : "D o not say i t wa s the L or d 's do ing that I fe ll

away, for he does not do what he hates ." This l i terary form had a long his tory

in Eg ypt ian w isdo m l i tera ture , but i s rare in the H ebre w B ible . It occu rs e le ven

t imes in S i rach .

5

There was in fact a l ively debate on the origin of sin in Hel

lenis t ic Jerusalem. One current explanat ion was provided by the Book of the

Watchers in 1 Enoch 1-36, which expanded the s tory of the sons of God in

G ene sis 6 and at tr ibuted var iou s kind of evi l (violence, fornicat ion, as t rology)

to the fal len angels. This apocalypse refrains from attr ibuting the origin of sin

to the creator , but i t imp l ies that the prob lem is not of hum an o r igin e i ther . Ev en

within the Enoch l i tera ture , this explanat ion did not go unchal lenged. In the

Epis t l e of En och , which m ay be rough ly contem porary w i th Ben S i ra, w e read :

"I swear to you, you s inners , that as a mountain has not , and wi l l not , become

a s lave, nor a hi l l a w o m an 's m aid, so s in wa s not sent on the ear th , but m an of

himself created i t" (7 Enoch 98:4) .

The impl ied opponents of Ben Sira nei ther appeal to fa l len angels nor ac

cept human responsibi l i ty , but they actual ly had good bibl ical precedents for

thei r posi t ion. Compare the "evi l spi r i t f rom Yahweh" that fe l l on King Saul

in 1 Sam . 19:9. B en S ira him self see m s to enter ta in a s im i lar posi t ion on o c

casion. In Sir . 33:10-13, a passage that a lso a l ludes to the creat ion of Adam,

he proclaims: "Every man is a vessel of c lay, and Adam was created out of the

dust . In the ful lness of his knowledge the Lord dis t inguished them and ap

pointed thei r di f ferent ways. Some he blessed and exal ted, and some he made

holy and brought near to

himself;

but some he cursed and brought low, and

turned them out of thei r plac e. Like c lay in the hand of the pot ter , to be m olde d

as he plea ses , so a ll are in the hand of thei r M ake r , to be given w hatev er he d e

c ides ." Th e problem i s how to ba lance a mo nis t i c be l ie f in a good , om nipoten t ,

creator wi th the evident presence of evi l in the world.

Sirach addresses this problem most di rect ly in 15:14: "God created the hu

man be i ng

[adam]

in the beginning and placed him in the power of his incl i

nat ion [beyad yisrd]." The word yeser, inclin ation , is related to the w ord for

"pot ter" in Sirach 33 (yoser) and to the verb used in Gen. 2:7 ("The Lord God

formed man out of the dust of the ground"; the fact that there are two

yods

in

the word wyysr, "an d he form ed," w as la ter used to argue that there w ere tw o

4 .

See F. R. Tennant, "The Teaching of Eccles iast icus and Wisdom on the Introduction of Sin

and Death," JTS 2 ( 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 0 1 ) 2 0 7 - 2 3 .

5 . J . L. Crenshaw, "The Problem of Theodicy in Sirach: On Human Bondage," J BL 94 (1975)

4 8 - 5 1 .



82

Hebrew Wisdom

inc l ina t ions , one good and one bad) .

6

One might infer that the "incl inat ion" is

the form given to human beings by the creator . While there is no ment ion of

an incl inat ion in Genesis 1-3, the term appears twice in the Flood s tory (J

sourc e) : G en. 6:5, "Eve ry incl inat ion of the though ts of thei r hear ts i s evi l con

t inual ly ," and Gen. 8:21: "The incl inat ion of the human hear t i s evi l f rom

youth." The associat ion of the yeser w i th evi l i s typical of bibl ical usa ge .

7

Only

tw o passag es use the term in a posi t ive sense: Isa . 26 :3 speaks of yeser sdmuk ,

a s teadfast disposi t ion, and in 1 C hro n. 29:18 Da vid asks that G od prese rve th e

incl inat ion of the thoughts of the hear t of the people . (The word appears to be

neutral in 1 Ch ron . 28:9.) Later , in rabbinic l i tera ture , the yeser acquires a tech

nical sense and is conceived as a force that determines behavior . The Talmud

at t r ibutes to R. Jose the Gal i lean the view that "the r ighteous are ruled by the

good inc l ina tion . . . ; the wick ed a re ru led by the ev i l inc l ina t ion . . . ; average

people a re ru led by both ."

8

Rabbinic usage a t t r ibutes a power to the incl ina

t ions that is not impl ied in the bibl ical usage . Urb ach sum m arizes the s i tuat ion

as follows:

In Sirach, as in the Bib le, the

yeser

is the natural inclination of man, and also in

the teaching of the Tannaim and Amoraim it sometimes denotes the power of

thought, or serves as a synonym for the heart as the source of human desires.

However, rabbinic teaching did to some extent personify "the Evil Inclination,"

to whom were ascribed attributes, aims and forms of activity that direct man,

even before he was explicitly identified, as by the Amora Resh Laqish, with Sa

tan and the angel of death.

9

The potency of the evi l incl inat ion (or "evi l hear t ," cor malignum) plays a

prominent par t in the apocalypse of 4 Ezra , wri t ten a t the end of the f i rs t cen

tury C . E . : "For the f i rs t Adam, burdened wi th an evi l hear t , t ransgressed and

was overcome, as were a l so a l l who were descended f rom him. Thus the d i s

ease becam e perma nent ; the To rah w as in the pe op le ' s hear t a long w i th the ev i l

roo t , bu t what was good dep ar ted , and the ev i l r e m ain ed ."

1 0

Fourth Ezra s tops

short of saying that God created the evil heart , but the sages are explici t on this

6. Gen. Rab. 14:4; G. F. M oore, Judaism in the First C enturies of the Christian Era (New York:

Schocken, 1975) 1 .484.

7. R. E. Murphy, "Yeser in the Qumran Literature," B ib 39 (1958) 334-^4; F. C. Porter , "The

Yec er HaRa: A Study in the Jewish D octrine of Sin," in

Biblical and Semitic Studies

(New York:

S c r i b n e r s , 1 9 0 1 ) 9 3 - 1 5 6 .

8. B. Ber. 61b . See Moore , Judaism, 1 .474-9 6; E. E. Urbach , The Sages: Their Concepts and

Beliefs (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975) 1 .471-83; G. H. Cohen Stuart , The Struggle in Man between

Good and Evil: An Inquiry into the Origin of the Rabbinic Concept of Yeser Hara'

(Kampen:

Kok,

1984) .

9 . Urbach,

The Sages,

I

All.

10. 4 Ezra 3 :21-22; 4 :20; see M. E. S tone , Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia; Minneapol is: Fortress ,

1 9 9 0 ) 6 3 - 6 7 .



The Problem of Evil and the Justice of God

83

point . So

Sifre Deuteronomy

§4 5: "M y chi ldren I hav e created for you the Ev i l

Incl inat ion, (but I have a t the same t ime) created for you the Torah as an ant i

d o t e . "

1 1

There is c lear ly some progress ion between the Bible and the rabbinic l i ter

a ture . The quest ion is , where does Sirach f i t in this process? Recent scholar

ship has been consis tent in emphasizing the neutra l i ty of the incl inat ion in Si

rach, and i t s conformity to the bibl ical view.

1 2

I t is clear from the following

verses that Si rach envisag es free cho ice . Th e formu lat ion is D eute ron om ic: "I f

you choose , you can keep the c o m m an d m en t s . . . . Be f o re each pe r son ar e life

and death, and whichever one chooses wi l l be given" (Sir . 15:15,17; cf . Deut .

30:15). The inclination is not an external , supernatural force. Yet if Sirach is

credi ted wi th any coherence a t a l l , th is passage must be read in the l ight of

chap ter 3 3 , w hich ins is ts that peo ple are c lay in the han d of the pot ter (yoser),

to be g iven whatever God dec ides . The exerc i se of human choice i s condi

t ioned by the inclination with which a person is f i t ted at creation, and so the

w o r d yeser in 15:14 cannot be s imply equated wi th "f ree choice" (as in the

N R S V ) .

The emphas i s in S i rach ' s a rgumenta t ion i s in f luenced by the immedi

ate con text of a pas sag e. In chapter 15, he is con cerne d to defend G od from im

pl icat ion in human s in , and so he puts the emphasis on f ree wi l l , but in chap

ter 33 his focus is on the omnipotence of God and the symmetr ical order of

creat ion. There is an unresolved tension in his thought between divine deter

mina t ion and human f ree wi l l .

1 3

Sirach f ills out his und ers tand ing of the creat ion of hu m ani ty in 17 :1-2 4, in

a passage that we have a l ready discussed in connect ion wi th Wisdom and the

La w . Th e cleares t references are to Ge nesis 1 ra ther than Genes i s 2- 3 , a l though

the not ice that God created the human being

(anthrdpon,

Adam) out of the

ground shows that Genesis 2 is a lso in view. There is no reference, however ,

to a "F al l" or to an or iginal s in of A dam . De ath is par t of creat ion f rom the be

ginning (17:1-2; cf . 41:4) . God f i l led humani ty wi th knowledge and under

s tanding a nd sh ow ed peo ple goo d and evi l (Si r. 17 :7; cf. G en . 2:9) , and gav e

them the law of l ife from the start . Sirach appears to be close to the rabbinic

pos i t ion c i ted abo ve f rom

Sifre Deuteronomy

§45 that G od prov ided the To rah

as an ant idote to the human incl inat ion.

11. Urbach , The Sages, I All.

12.

J. Hadot,

Penchant Mauvais et Volonti L ibre dans La Sagesse de Ben Sira {VEccUsias-

tique) (Brussels: University Press , 1970) 2 09; G. L. Prato, / / Problema delta Teodicea in Ben Sira

(AnBib 65; Rome: Pontif ical Bibl ical Inst i tute , 1975) 240; Skehan and DiLel la , The Wisdom of

Ben Sira, 111. Hadot provides an exten sive survey of passages wh ere yeser migh t be reconstructed

on the basis o f the Greek. Th ere is a clear reference to the evil inclination in the Greek text of Sir.

3 7 :3 , but it seems to derive from a mistranslation of the Hebrew.

13. G. Maier , Mensch und Freier Wille (Tubingen: Mohr, 197 1) 98 -1 15 . In M aier's v ie w , the

deterministic view was traditional, and Ben Sira moves away from it in debate with opponents in

chapter 15.



84

Hebrew Wisdom

Despi te th i s v igorous endorsem ent of Deute ronom ic theology and hum an re

sponsibi l i ty , Si rach 's overal l posi t ion remains ambiguous. A Hebrew redactor

of chapter 15 com plem ented the s ta tem ent that G od lef t hum ani ty in the po w er

of i ts inclination with the phrase "He set him in the power of his spoiler"

(hotpo). Th e phrase is not supported by the vers ions . Th e or iginal Si rach had no

place for a dem onic "sp oi ler" (unl ike the Eno chic t radit ion or the Q um ran C om

muni ty Rule) . Consequent ly , the human "incl inat ion" ul t imately comes f rom

Go d. There w as, then, in Sira ch 's ow n theology a basis for the view that sin a lso

comes f rom God, even though this inference was unacceptable to the sage.

In fact , the impl icat ions of divine responsibi l i ty are drawn out in the sec

ondary recensions of Ben Sira . Si rach 11:14 reads: "Good and evi l , l i fe and

death, pover ty and r iches , are f rom the Lord." The Hebrew MS A from the

Ca iro Ge niza a dds an other l ine that i s not ref lected in the Gree k: "S in and r igh

teous w ays are from the Lord ." The G reek ad ds two verse s , the f irst af fi rming

tha t "wisdom and unders tanding and knowledge of the Law are f rom the

Lord," and the second s ta t ing that "error and darkness were formed with s in

ners f rom thei r bi r th ." N on e of these verses can be accep ted as the work of B en

Sira himself.

14

We can see , however , how a scr ibe might arr ive a t such s ta te

ments by ref lect ing on Ben Sira ' s text . We f ind a much clearer acknowledg

m ent of ul t imate divine respon sibi l i ty for evi l in the Q um ran C om m un ity R ule ,

where the t reat ise on the Two Spir i t s begins: "From the God of knowledge

stems all there is and al l there shall be. . . . He created man to rule the world

and placed wi thin him two spir i t s so that he would walk wi th them unt i l the

moment of his vis i ta t ion" (1QS 3:15, 18) .

Evil and the

Goodness o f Creat ion

The view that evil has i ts place in the design of creation is implied in sev

eral passages in Ben Sira. So in 11:14 we are told that "good and bad, l i fe and

death, pover ty and weal th are f rom the Lord," but this passage probably does

not have moral evi l in mind. There is a ful ler discussion in 33:7-15. Here Si

rach s tar ts wi th the quest ion w hy on e day should be di f ferent f rom or m ore im

portant than another . His answer: "By the Lord 's wisdom they were dis t in

guished." He goes on to discuss the di f ferences between human beings , in the

passage a l ready ci ted above. People are di f ferent , too, because God appointed

their di f ferent w ay s, m oldin g them as a pot ter mo lds his c lay. The i l lus t ra t ion

of this principle in v. 12 contrasts the election of Israel with the dispossession

of the Canaani tes , but both are taken by way of example. The idea that God

14. S e e S me n d , Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach, 106; Skehan and DiL el la , The Wisdom of Ben

Sira, 237.



The Problem of Evil and the Justice of God

85

makes people walk in thei r di f ferent paths seems remarkably c lose to the de

te rmini s ti c v iew of the Qu m ran Co m m uni ty R ule (1QS 3 :15 -6) and is a t odds

with Sirach 's vigorous defense of human responsibi l i ty in chapters 15 and 17.

Final ly , in 33:14-15, Si rach argues that divine e lect ion is not random, but i s

par t of a coherent system: "Good is the opposi te of evi l , and l i fe i s the oppo

si te of death; so the sinner is the opposite of the godly. Look at al l the works

of the Mo st Hig h: they are a ll in pai rs , on e opposi te the oth er ."

1 5

The pr inciple

of the dual i ty of a l l things is repeated in 42:24-25.

Th e doc tr ine of oppo si te pai rs i s on e of the c learer ins tances of the inf luence

of Greek phi losophy on Ben Si ra .

1 6

The Stoic phi losopher Chrysippus ( la te

thi rd century

B . C . E . ,

and therefore c lose to Ben Sira ' s t ime) held that

there is absolutely nothing more foolish than those who think that there could

have been goods without the coexistence of evi ls . For s ince goods are opposite

to evils , the two m ust necessarily e xist in opp osition to each other and supported

by a kind of opposed interdependence. And there is no such opposite without its

matching opposite. For how could there be perception of justice if there were no

injustices? Wh at else is justice, i f not the removal of in ju st ic e? . . . For good s and

evi ls, fortune and misfortune, pain and pleasure, exist in just the same w ay: the y

are t ied to each other in polar o pp osi t io n.

1 7

The doctr ine of complementary opposi tes i s a lso found in Pythagoras and Her-

a c l i t u s .

1 8

For the Stoic phi losopher , dual i ty i s s imply an innate qual i ty of

things . Fo r the Jew ish sage , i t i s the design of a t ranscend ent creator . Th is ide a

of such a system at ic divis ion of creat ion, how eve r , has no preced ent in the H e

brew scr iptures . (There are some binary opposi tes in Genesis 1 , such as l ight

and da rkn ess , day and n ight , but there is no sug gest ion that a ll the wo rks of the

Lord are so pai red.) The appearance of this idea in the Hel lenis t ic per iod, and

i ts resemblance to the Stoic doctr ine , can hardly be coincidental .

T he ord er of creation is the subject of tw o further reflections in Sir. 3 9: 12 -3 5

and 42 :15 -4 3:3 3. Bo th of these passages are cas t in the form of hym ns of praise ,

but they indirect ly address quest ions of theodicy. The Stoic phi loso pher Clean -

thes a lso used the form of the hym n ( to Zeu s) to present a discourse on cosm ic

order . The E gyp t ian Inst ruct ion of Phibis includes a section on the work s of "the

god" in creation, but does not present i t in the form of a hymn.

Sirach 39:14-15 int roduces the fol lowing passage wi th a cal l to praise , and

the imperat ive to praise is repeated in 39:35. The passage i t se l f i s made up of

15. For a full exegesis, see Prato, / / Problema delta Teodicea, 1 3 - 6 1 .

16.

Winston, "Theodicy in Ben Sira and Stoic Phi losophy," 242.

17 .

Chrysippus, On Providence, Boo k 4 in Ge l l ius 7 .1 .1 - 13 ; S VF 2 .11 69; c i ted from A . A. Lo ng

and D. N. Sed ley , The Hellenistic Philosophers (2 vols . ; Cam bridge: Cam bridge Un iv. Press ,

1987) 1.329.

18 .

T h . Middendorp , Die Stellung Jesu Ben Siras zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus (Leiden:

Brill , 1973) 29.



86

Hebrew Wisdom

declarat ive senten ces . At the outset , w e are told that the w ork s of the Lord are

al l goo d, in accord anc e wi th the jud gm en t of G en. 1:31, but Si rach is aw are of

the proble m of evi l . In this pas sag e he offers tw o sugg est ions as to ho w the evi l

in the wor ld can be reconc i led wi th the good ness of c rea t io n .

1 9

First , everything will be clarif ied at the appointed t ime (v. 17). This solu

t ion is not unlike what we find in apocalyptic l i terature, especially in 4 Ezra,

wh ere Ez ra ' s pers i s t en t ques t ion ing ab out the jus t i ce of G od ' s dea l ing w i th I s

rael is overcome by a series of eschatological visions that shift the focus from

past and present to future. In effect , just ice will prevail at the appointed t ime.

Unl ike the apocalypt ic vis ionar ies , Si rach projects no eschatological scenar io

to s i lence the cr i t ics . However , the not ion of the appointed t ime is common to

sapien t ia l and apoca lypt ic wr i t ings .

2 0

In the wisdom tradi t ion, i t i s developed

especial ly by Qoheleth (e .g . , Qoh. 3:1-8) but has a long his tory in Egypt ian

w i s d o m .

2 1

Sirach also shares wi th the apocalypses the bel ief that God can see

every thing f rom age to age (39:2 0) , but he di ffers b y not a t tempt ing to d escr ibe

his tory from a reve aled perspec t ive . Si rach w ould proba bly agre e w i th Qo h.

3 :11 tha t such com prehen s ive kn ow ledge i s no t access ib le to hum ani ty , bu t he

i s conten t tha t G od kno w s even if w e do n o t .

2 2

Second, everything has been created for a purpose (Sir . 39:21) . Here again

Sirach ref lects the inf luence of Stoic phi losophy.

2 3

Chrysippus is sa id to have

taught that bedbugs are useful for waking us and that mice encourage us to be

t i d y .

2 4

Carneades (mid-second century

B . C . E . )

taught that everything is bene

fi ted when i t at tains the end for which i t was born. So the pig fulfi l ls i ts pur

pose w hen i t i s s l aughte red and ea t en .

2 5

The Stoics a lso conceded that the use

fu lness of some p lan t s and an imals remains to be d i scovered .

2 6

S i rach ' s

e laborat ion of this not ion, however , i s somewhat confusing. Al l God's works

are good (39:16,33) but for s inners good things and bad were created (39:25) ,

19.

Crenshaw, "The Problem of Theodicy ," 5 2- 53 .

2 0 .

G. von Rad,

Wisdom in Israel

( Na s h v il le : Ab i n g d o n , 1 9 7 2 ) 1 3 8 ^ 3 ; 2 5 1 - 5 6 .

2 1 .

Crenshaw, "The Problem of Theodicy," 58. See also H. H. Schmid,

Wesen und Geschichte

der Weisheit, 190.

2 2 . On the (limited) analogies between Sirach and early apocalyptic l iterature, see J. D. Martin,

"Ben Sira—A Child of His Time," in J . D. Martin and P. R. Davies , eds . ,

A Word in Season: Es

says in Honor of William M cKane (Sheff ie ld: JSOT Press , 1986) 14 1-6 1 and R. A. Argal l , 1 Enoch

and Sirach

(Atlanta: Sch olars, 1995 ).

2 3 . For the debates about teleology in antiquity, see Long and Sedley, Hellenistic Philosophers,

1 . 5 8 -6 5 ; 1 2 1 - 2 2 ; 3 2 3 - 3 3 .

2 4 . SVF 2 .1163; Plutarch, On Stoic Self-Contradictions, 1044D ; Long and Sed ley , Hellenistic

Philosophers,

1 . 3 2 8 - 2 9 .

2 5 . SVF 2 .1152. Porphyry, O n Abstinence, 3 .20 .1 ,3 ; Long and Sed ley , Hellenistic Philosophers,

1.329.

2 6 .

SVF 2 .1172; Lactantius , On the Anger of God, 13 .9 -10 ; Long and Sed ley , Hellenistic

Philosophers, 1.330.




87

or the same things are good for the r ighteous but bad for s inners (39:27) . In

par t , the confusion l ies in the am bigui ty of the term " ba d." W ha t is bad for s in

ners is really good. But there is also a reluctance on the part of Ben Sira to ad

mit that bad things can happen to good people . The idea that nature discr imi

nates between the r ighteous and the wicked is a lso found in Wis . 19:6.

The language of Si r . 39:12-35 has occasional bibl ical over tones: 39:17 al

ludes to the exodus; 39:23 to the conquest ; 39:29-30 to the curses of the

coven ant (Lev . 26 :14 -2 2; Deut . 28 :2 0-2 4) . Here aga in there is a para l le l w i th

the Wisdom of Solomon, insofar as Israel i te his tory is used to i l lus t ra te the

workings of the cosmos. Si rach 's discussion, however , i s qui te ahis tor ical . He

is con cern ed w i th the universal w orkin g of nature , not wi th the his tory of a par

t icular people .

The hymn to the c rea tor in 42 :15-43:33 conc ludes the book except for the

Praise of the Fathers and the concluding mater ia ls in chapter 51. Chapter

42:15-20 pra i ses the omnisc ience of God, 42 :21-43:26 l i s t s the works of c re

at ion, 43 :2 7 -3 3 con clude s the hy m n with a cal l to praise . Th e praises of nature

in chapter 43 recal l Job 28; 3 8 - 4 1 , but a lso Psalms 104; 148, and the Song of

the Th ree Yo ung M en in the G reek addi t ions to Dan ie l . W e may a l so com pare

the praise of God as creator in the hymns of Qumran (e .g . , 1QH 9:10-14, for

merly = 1QH 1) .

The pra i se of God ' s omnisc ience in S i r . 42 :15-20 i s rep le te wi th b ib l i ca l

echoes . On 42:15a, cf . Ps . 7 7 : 1 1 ; on 42:1 5b , cf. Jo b 15:17. O n creat ion by the

w ord, cf. P s . 33 :6; W is . 9 :1 . O n G o d 's kno w ledg e of past and future , cf. Isa .

4 1 : 2 2 - 2 3 ;

44:7. God's abi l i ty to reveal hidden things is a lso emphasized in

Dan. 2 :22 . The in t roduc t ion to God ' s works in S i r . 42 :22-25 , however , in t ro

du ces som e non bibl ical conc epts : 42 :23a expre sses the te leological , Stoic view

that a ll things are created to mee t a need (cf. 39:21 an d the discussion abo ve) ;

42 :24 repea t s the idea of complementary oppos i t es , a l ready encounte red in

33 :14 -1 5 , wh ich a l so has it s roo t s in S to ic ph i losophy .

The praise of nature in chapter 43 envisages the sun as a char ioteer , racing

h is s t e e d s .

2 7

T he ho rses and cha r iots of the sun were famil iar in ancient Israel ,

but were dest royed in Josiah 's reform (2 Kings 23:11) . The image of the solar

char ioteer was s tandard in Greece, and this may have led to i t s rehabi l i ta t ion

here . In 1 Enoch 72:5, the wind blows the char iots on which the sun ascends.

The permanence of the as t ra l world is a lso celebrated in

1 Enoch

7 5 : 1 , b u t

1

Enoch 80 ant ic ipates that the order wi l l be disrupted in "the days of the s in

ne rs ." Th e ra inbo w is praised for it s bea uty, but no reference is ma de to it s role

as a s ign of the covenant of Noah (Gen. 9:13-17) . The descr ipt ion of l ightning

and thun der has over ton es of the t radi t ional lang uag e of theop han y (cf.

P s . 18 :7-15) . S i rach 43:23-26 re fe r s to God ' s mas te ry over the deep and i t s

27 . Hebrew abbirim, see Skehan and DiL el la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 488. The Greek trans

lator ( fo l lowed by NRSV) missed the reference.



88

Hebrew Wisdom

monsters (cf . Job 41:1-11) . I t i s poss ible that the word rabbah, great , in the

H ebrew of vv . 23 , 25 should be em end ed to Raha b , a t r ad it iona l nam e for the

sea-monster (Job 26:12; Isa . 51:9) .

Th e mos t remarkab le s t a tement in th i s hym n, how ever , com es in 43 :2 7: "H e

is the a l l ." (There is a rem ark able p aral le l to this expre ss ion in a f ragment of

t he Dam ascus Docum en t found in Qum ran Cave 4 . )

2 8

This formulat ion c lear ly

evokes t he pan t he i sm o f t he S t o i c s .

2 9

Ch rys ippus t aught tha t "d iv ine pow er re

s ides in reason and in the mind and inte l lect of universal nature . He says that

god is the wo rld itself, and the universal perv asiven ess of i ts m ind; a lso that he

is the wo rld 's ow n com m and ing-fac ul ty , s ince he is located in inte l lect and rea

son; that he is the common nature of things , universal and al l -embracing; a lso

the force of fa te and the necess i ty of future events ."

3 0

Because the Stoic dei ty

is the com m an din g facul ty , he can a lso be cal led "father of a l l" and identi fied

w i th Z e u s .

3 1

C l ean t hes ' s Hymn to Zeus por t rays him as the one that the whole

cosmos obeys, the giver of the universal law. The Stoic dei ty is immanent ,

how ever , and is no t a t r anscendent c re a to r .

3 2

I t i s c lear f rom Ben Sira ' s book taken as a whole that the author i s no pan

theis t. His use of the ph rase " H e is a l l" is exce pt ional , and therefore prob ably

hyp erbol ic . I t i s quick ly qual if ied in the fol low ing verse w i th the rem inde r that

"h e is greater than al l his wo rk s ." A bet ter-a t tes ted ap pel la t ion is "Go d of a l l ,"

which occurs in

3 6 : 1 ;

45 :23c (H ebrew on ly) ; and 50:22a (Greek only ; H ebrew

read s "G od of Israel") . Th e imm an enc e imp l ied in Sir . 43 :27 shou ld not be dis

m issed , how ever . Th ere wa s a lways a t endency in the wisd om t rad it ion to see

the chain of act and co nseq uen ce as self - regulated, and to rega rd the role of the

de i ty as tha t o f m id w ife .

3 3

W e have seen tha t S i rach t rans fers to W isdo m m any

roles and character is t ics that were reserved for God in the Hebrew Bible , and

28 .

4 Q D

b

frag. 18, col . 5 , l ine 9 . See B . Z. W acholder and M. G. A beg g, A Preliminary Edition

of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Texts from Cave Four

( Wa s h

ington: Bibl ical Archaeology Society , 1991) 1 .21; F. Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls

Translated

(Leide n: Brill , 1994 ) 57. Th e parallel bet w een this text and B en Sira is noted by M.

Kister , "On a New Fragment of the Damascus Covenant ," JQR 8 4 ( 1 9 9 3 - 9 4 ) 2 4 9 - 5 2 .

2 9 . R. Pautrel, "Ben Sira et le stoicisme," RSR 51 (19 63) 543 ; M. Heng e l , Judaism and Hel

lenism (2 vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974) 1.148; J. Marbock, Weisheit im Wandel: Unter-

suchun gen zur Weisheits-theologie bei Ben Sira

(Bon n: Hanstein, 1971) 170; Middendorp,

Die

Stellung Jesu Ben Sir as, 29.

3 0 .

SV F

2 .1077 . Cicero ,

De Natura Deorum

1 .39; Lon g and Sedle y,

Hellenistic Philosophe rs,

323 .

3 1 . SV F 2 .1021. Diogenes Laert ius 7 .147. On the ambiguity of the Stoic usage of the word

"God," to refer both to the world as a whole and, more restrictively, to its active principle, see F.

H. Sandbach, The Stoics (N ew York: Norton , 1975) 73.

3 2 . See M. Pohlenz , Die Stoa: Geschichte einer geistigen Bewe gung (2d ed.; Gott ingen: Van

denhoeck & Ruprecht , 1959) 95.

3 3 .

K. Koch, "Is There a Doctrine of Retribution in the Old Testament?" in J. L. Crenshaw, ed.,

Theodicy in the Old Testament (Phi ladelphia: Fortress , 1983) 57 -8 7.




89

Wisdom i s ce r ta in ly immanent in the wor ld . The Sto ic v iew of the immanent

God, then, was not ent i re ly a l ien to the thought-world of Jewish wisdom. Si

rach, however , was a quintessent ia l ly eclect ic thinker , not dis t inguished for

consis tency. His most basic views of the dei ty were incompat ible wi th Sto

ic ism and were rooted in Hebrew t radi t ion. The idea of a t ranscendent creator

was one such idea. Another was the idea of God as judge.

Prayer and Atonement

Despi te the pantheis t ic-sounding "He is a l l" of Si r . 43:27, Si rach speaks of

God in personal terms more of ten than any previous wisdom wri ter . He is ex

cept ional in this tradi t ion in address ing a prayer of pet i t ion to Go d (22 :27 -23 :6;

the auth entici ty of the praye r in cha pter 3 6 is disp uted ). Th is is a pra ye r for pr o

tect ion ag ainst tem ptat ions of the l ips and tongue. The m ost notew orthy feature

of the pray er i s undo ubtedly the fact that God is addressed as "fa ther" in 2 3: 1 ,

4 . Go d is only rarely called father in the Heb rew B ible, and is nev er so ad dress ed

by an ind ividu al . (G od is called father of the pe op le of Israel in Isa. 63:1 6; Ma i.

2:10; and possibly 1 Ch ron. 29:1 0, w here "o ur fa ther" co uld refer to e i ther G od

or Israel .) Th e He brew text of the psalm in Sir . 51:10 reads , "L ord, you are m y

father ," but the Gre ek has a confused reading, "Lo rd, fa ther of m y L o rd ."

3 4

The

Hebrew of chapter 23 is not extant . Joachim Jeremias argued that there was no

evidence for the use of "my father" as a form of direct address to God in He

brew before the Chris t ian era and suggested that Si r. 23:1 or iginal ly read "G od

of my fa ther . "

3 5

The direct address, however, is now attested in the Prayer of

Josep h (4Q3 72) f rom Q um ran, which is dated tentat ively about 200 B . C . E .

3 6

The

Pray er begins , "M y father and m y G od ." In view of this paral le l there is no rea

son to quest ion the authent ic i ty of the Gre ek text of Sir . 23 :1 ,4 .

We have noted that some Stoic phi losophers a lso spoke of the dei ty as "fa

ther of al l ," bu t this is scarcely the m od el for the perso nal ad dress to "m y father"

in Sirach 23 or the Prayer of Joseph. Si rach 's unders tanding of the fa therhood

of God is better i l luminated by the analogy of human fatherhood in Sir . 4:10:

"Be a father to orphans and be l ike a husband to their mother; you will then be

l ike a son of the M ost H igh, and he wi l l love you m ore than does you r m othe r ."

The same analogy is most probably a t tes ted in reverse in Sapient ia l Work A

from Qumran (4Q416 frag. 2 . i i i . l6) , a l though the text requires emendat ion:

"For as God [reading el ra ther than ab] is to a man, so is his father."

3 7

3 4 . A. Strotmann, "Mein V oter Bistdu " (Sir 51:10) (Frankfurt am M ain: Knecht , 19 91) 83 -9 2.

3 5 . J. Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967) 29.

36 .

E . Schuller , "4Q 372 1: A T ext about Joseph," RevQ 1 4 ( 1 9 9 0 ) 3 4 9 - 7 6 .

37 .

D . J . Harrington, "Wisdom at Qum ran," in E. U lrich and J . C. Van derKam , eds . , The Com

munity of the Renewed Covenant (Notre Da m e, Ind.: Un iv. of Notre Da m e Press , 1994) 148.



90 Hebrew W isdom

Sirach is a lso except ional in the wisdom tradi t ion in his a t tent ion to cul t

and sacr i f i ces .

3 8

He devotes a whole t rea t i se to the subjec t in 34 :21-35:26 .

The first part of this treatise, 3 4 : 2 1 - 3 1 , is a cri t ique of the abuse of the cult ,

in the spi r i t of the prophets . Especial ly s t r iking are vv. 24-27, which equate

the offer ings of the unjust wi th mu rder : "L ike one s laying a son in his fa th er ' s

pres enc e is w ho ev er offers sacr if ice from th e po sses s ion s of the po or ." (A po s

s ible paral le l can be found in Isa . 65: 3, w hich ca n be read as equ at ing sacr i

f ice wi th m urd er , but the text is am big uo us.) Si rach is qui te c lear that the pro b

lem is no t wi th sacr if ice as such but wi th the abu se of the poo r ; sacri f ice can not

compensa te for soc ia l in jus t i ce . S i rach may be comment ing on contemporary

abuses here , or he may be s imply ref lect ing the teaching of the prophets (cf .

A m o s 5 : 2 1 - 2 7 ; 8 : 4 - 8 ) .

In 35:1-5 Sirach addresses those things that are most pleas ing to the Lord

and ins is ts that the e thical demands of the Law are more important than sacr i

f ices : "The one who keeps the law makes many offer ings; one who heeds the

commandments makes an of fe r ing of wel l -be ing ." The poin t here i s no t tha t

the La w requires m an y sacr i fices (a po int that Si rach wo uld a lso grant) but that

obs erva nce is the equivalen t of m an y sacr i fices . Si rach display s his famil iar ity

with the different kinds of sacrif ice, but the point is that kindness and alms

giving are as effective as sacrif ice in pleasing God. This kind of spiri tualizing

of the cul t i s found al ready in the H eb rew Bib le (e .g . , Ps . 51:1 7: "Th e sacri fice

acceptab le to God i s a broken sp i r i t " ) . In the Qumran Communi ty Rule (1QS

8:1-4) r ighteousness serves as a subst i tute for the cul t . Hel lenis t ic Jews l ike

Phi lo a lso place d thei r pr im ary s t ress on the spi r itual , sym bol ic m ean ing of sac

r i f ice . Ben Sira , however , goes on to say that one should a lso observe the l i t

eral commandments in this respect (cf . Si r . 7 :31) . This i s in accordance wi th

Be n S ira ' s gen eral ins is tence on the ful fi llment of the La w .

Sirach evidently at taches value to the sacrif icial cult insofar as i t is required

by the fulfi l lment of the L aw . Y et he nev er m en tion s a priv ate offering of

a t o n e m e n t .

3 9

T her e is a prob able a l lus ion to the r i tual on the Day of A ton em ent

in Sir . 50 :5, wh ich refers to the High P r ies t Simo n com ing ou t throu gh the cur

tain (pdrdket, the ve i l a t the en t rance to the Ho ly of Ho l ies , Exo d. 3 6 :3 1 -3 5 ) .

4 0

But here , and throughout the praise of the High Pr ies t in chapter 50, Si rach is

concerned with the spectacle of the r i tual rather than with i ts efficacy. There is

no reason to doub t that Si rach favored obse rvan ce of a ll the presc r ibed r i tuals ,

but he is not an advocate for the sacrif icial cult . In the words of E. P. Sanders,

"H is concern is ra ther to de nou nc e abuse s of the Tem ple service , to contes t any

38. See L. G. Perdue, Wisdom and Cult (Missoula , Mont.: Scholars , 1977) 188-260.

3 9 . See A. Buchler , "Ben Sira's Conception of Sin and Atonement," JQR 1 3 ( 1 9 2 2 / 2 3 ) 3 0 3 - 3 5 .

4 0 . See , however, F. O'Fearghai l , "Sir 50,5-21: Yom Kippur or The Daily Whole Offering?"

Bib 59 ( 197 8) 3 01 -1 6, w ho argues that the reference is to the dai ly offering.




91

poss ible view that i t m ight be eff icacious autom at ical ly , and to con nec t the sac

r i f ic ia l system with the moral l i fe ."

4 1

Whatever misgivings Sirach has about the abuse of the sacrif icial cult , i t is

c lear in a ll this that he a l lows for the possibi l i ty of a to ne m en t .

4 2

W h o e v e r h o n

ors his father atones for sin (3:3); also almsgiving atones for sin (3:30). Who

ever doe s not show m ercy to others cannot seek pardon for his ow n s ins (28:4) ,

but in pr inciple one can appeal for divine mercy. The point i s most vividly

made i n 35 : 21 -25 :

The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds,

and it will not rest until it reaches its goal;

it will not desist until the Most High responds

and does justice for the righteous, and executes judgment.

Indeed, the Lord will not delay,

and like a warrior will not be patient

until he crushes the loins of the unmerciful

and repays vengeance on the nat ions; . . .

until he repays mortals according to their deeds,

and the works of all according to their thoughts;

until he judges the case of his people

and makes them rejoice in his mercy.

With the except ion of the disputed passage in chapter 36, which fol lows di

rectly on this passage, this is the closest Sirach comes to the typical biblical

pic ture of a God who intervenes in his tory on behalf of his people . Even here ,

the conc ern is pr imari ly w i th the po or ra ther than wi th the people of Israel , de

spi te the bibl ical idiom of the passage. Leaving as ide for the moment the role

of Israel in Sirach's thought, i t is at least clear that individuals can make atone

ment , whether by sacr i f ices or by good works , and can appeal to the mercy of

God. (Cf. also

2 : 7 - 1 1 ;

5 : 5 -7 ; 18 : 1 - 15 ; 21 : 1 -3 . )

Such intervent ionis t langu age is interspersed in Be n Sira wi th the m ore typ

ical sapiential view that wisdom yields i ts fruit by following i ts course. So we

are told that the fear of the Lord "gives gladness and joy and long l ife. Those

who fear the Lord will have a happy end; on the day of their death they will be

blessed" (1:12-13). Again, "God's ways are straight for the fai thful but full of

pitfal ls for the wicked" (39:24). What is remarkable in ei ther case is the appar

ent naivete of the sage. The view that wisdom and virtue lead to a long l ife and

happ iness w as tradi t ional in the H ebrew Bible , especial ly in D eutero nom y and

Pro ver bs, but by the tim e of Sirach i t had be en subjected to devasta t ing c ri t ique,

4 1 . E. P. Sanders,

Paul and Palestinian Judaism

(Philadelphia: Fortress, 197 7) 33 9. For an ar

gum ent that Sirach attached greater imp ortance to the sacrificial cu lt, see H. S tadelm ann, Ben Sira

als Schriftgelehrter (Tubingen: Mohr , 1980) 40 -1 38 .

42 . Sanders , Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 338 .



92

Hebrew Wisdom

especial ly by Job and Qoh eleth. Co nseq uen t ly , even before S irac h 's t im e, som e

Jews argued that retr ibution must come after death. This belief is f irst at tested

in the Boo k of the W atch ers , and i t gained groun d rapidly after the persecut ion

in the t ime of An t iochus Epi ph an es .

4 3

I t i s a l ready impl ied in Qohe leth, wh o re

jects it wi th the skept ical quest ion: "W ho kn ow s whethe r the hu m an spir i t goes

upward and the spi r i t of animals goes downward to the ear th?" (3:21) .

Sirach's View of Death

Sirach resolutely rejects the belief in retr ibution after death. Consistently in

Sirach (except for 25:24 ) , death is viewed as the end for which humani ty was

created ra ther than as punishment for s in .

4 4

We have seen this point a l ready in

17 : 1 -2 :

" Th e Lord c rea ted hum an be ings ou t o f the ear th , and ma kes them re

turn to i t again. H e gav e them a f ixed nu m ber of day s " Th e m ost exten ded

discuss ion of hum an m or ta li ty is found in 40 :1- 41 :13 , a c lus te r o f shor t poem s

framed by two ref lect ions on death. Chapter 41:3-4 expresses Sirach 's view of

death in a nutshell :

D o n ot fear death that is decreed for you ;

remember that those who went before and those who will come after are

with you.

This is the portion of all flesh from God,

and why should you reject the decree [torah ] of the Most High?

Whether [life is for] a thousand, or a hundred, or ten years

there is no reproof in Sh eol.

This is Sirach's most definit ive statement on the finali ty of death, and leaves

no room for resurrect ion or a blessed af ter l i fe . Si rach 's views on this subject

are no di f ferent than those of Qoheleth, except that he holds them with res ig

nat ion, wher eas Qo heleth chafes aga inst them . Sirach reco gnize s that death can

be bi t ter for one w ho is a t pea ce am on g his pos sess ion s (40 :1) . B ut he a lso rec

ogn izes that death can be w elco m e "to one wh o is need y and fa i ling in s t rength,

wo rn dow n by age and anx ious about every th ing" (41 :2) . Th e a t trac t iveness of

death in cer ta in c i rcum stanc es receive d class ic expre ss ion in the Eg yp t ian Dis

pute of a Man with His Ba (Soul ) about 2000

B . C . E .

4 5

Such sent iments are not

common in the Hebrew Bib le bu t occur more than once in Ben Si ra . Accord-

4 3 . See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Minn eapol is: Fortress , 1993) 394 -9 8.

4 4 . J . J . Col l ins , "The Root of Immortal i ty: Death in the Context of Jewish Wisdom," H TR 71

(1978) 179-85; L. J . Prockter , "95




93

ing to Sir . 30:17, "Death is better than a futi le l ife, and eternal sleep than

chronic s ickness ." (The repose of the dead is commonly cal led s leep in Jewish

epi taphs of the Hel len i s t ic and R om an pe r io ds . )

4 6

The same sent iment i s found

in Tob. 3:6, 10, 13 in the prayers of Tobi t and Sarah.

4 7

S i rach , however , does

not speak out of personal misery, nor i s he a skept ic l ike Qoheleth. His obser

vat ion is a ll the m ore rem ark able for i t s dispass ion ate object ivi ty . A paral le l i s

found in Theog nis 18 1-8 2: "To the needy , dear Cy rnus , dea th i s be t t e r than a

l ife oppressed wi th gr ievous pen ury ."

Sirach 's argument that one should not fear death because there is no judg

ment thereafter is in some tension with his earl ier assert ions regarding the day

of death as a day of judgment , when God can reward people according to thei r

conduct (11:26-8; 18:24) . His remarks in chapter 41 are c loser to the spi r i t of

Epicurus: "A correct unders tanding that death is nothing to us makes the mor

tal i ty of l ife enjoyable, not by adding infinite t ime, but by ridding us of the de

sire for imm ortali ty. Fo r there is no thing fearful in l iving for one wh o g enu inely

grasps that there is nothing fearful in not l iving."

4 8

Sirach 's general under

s tanding of the world is remo te f rom that of Epicurus . For the phi losopher , death

is the absence of sensation. Sirach st i l l retains the tradit ional belief in Sheol.

They converge, however , in the argument that death is not something to be

feared. Neither Sirach nor Epicurus inferred that one could l ive a l ife of l icen

t iousn ess with im pu nity. In this respe ct , their reaso ning is in sharp contrast w ith

the argument a t t r ibuted to the wicked in Wis . 2:1-20. Si rach occasional ly ap

peals to the f inali ty of death as a reason to enjoy l ife, and also to be generous

and do good: "My son, use f reely whatever you have, and enjoy i t as best you

can; rem em ber that there is no pleasure in Sheol and death doe s not delay, an d

the ordinanc e of death has not been told to you. Before y ou die do good to y our

fr iend, and give him a share in what you possess" (14:11-13) . The same kind

of eudaemonism is impl ied in 40:18-27, where the sage 's ref lect ions on death

are interrupted by a l ist of ten things that are surpassingly good.

4 9

Sirach shows

his appreciat ion no t only for weal th , wisd om , and a good wife , but a lso for w ine,

m usic , and beau ty (40 :20 -22 ) . Character is t ical ly , Si rach conc ludes wi th the su

periori ty of the fear of the Lord. The argument that l i fe should be enjoyed be

cause i t is short had a long and dist inguished history in the ancient Near East .

In the Epic of Gi lga m esh the hero , in the course of his vain search for imm or

ta l i ty , encounters the a le-wife Sidur i , who te l ls him: "When the gods created

4 6 .

P. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kam pen: Kok/Pharos, 1991) 1 14 -1 7, but see a l

ready Job 3:13.

4 7 .

Com pare also 1 King s 19:4 (El i jah); Jonah 4:3; Job 3:11, 13, 17; Qoh . 4:2 .

4 8 .

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus 124; Lo ng and Sedley , Hellenistic Philosophers, 149.

4 9 . In each cas e, Sirach lists tw o things that are goo d and a third that is better. On the form, see

G. S . Ogden, "The 'Better'-Proverb (Tob-Spruch) , Rhetorical Crit ic ism, and Qoheleth," JB L 9 6

( 1 9 7 7 ) 4 8 9 - 5 0 5 .



94

Hebrew Wisdom

m ank ind / D eath for man kind they set as ide / Life in their own h and s re ta ining.

Th ou G ilgam esh, le t full be thy bel ly , / M ak e thou m erry by day and by n ig ht ."

5 0

Closer to the t ime of Si rach, Qoheleth taught : "So I commend enjoyment , for

there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy

themselves" (Qoh. 8:15) . This theme is more prominent in Qoheleth than i t i s

in Sirach, where i t is always qualif ied by the fear of the Lord.

Moreover , Si rach is aware that for most people the ant ic ipat ion of death is

a source of anxiety: "Perplexi t ies and fear of hear t are thei rs , and anxious

thought of the day of thei r death" (40:2) . He goes on to comment on the anxi

ety of dis turbed s leep, a theme also found in Qoh. 2:22-23 and Job 7:4, and

also in Sir . 31:1-2. I t should be said that Si rach himself feeds this anxiety on

occasion, when he por t rays the day of death as a day of judgment . The tone in

chap ter 40 is m ore sy m path et ic , and designed to mit igate the fear of death. T he

only hop e for imm ortal i ty that he enter ta ins , how eve r , is for the pe rso n 's na m e

and reputa t ion (41:12-13) and the cont inu i ty of one ' s p rogeny (30:4-6) .

Sirach 's view of death, admirably real is t ic though i t i s , only serves to ex

acerbate the problem of theodicy, s ince the sentence of death fa l ls on jus t and

wick ed al ike and there is no jud gm en t in Sheol . Si rach offers several su gge s

t ions on this problem, not a l l of them ful ly consis tent wi th one another .

5 1

W e

have al ready noted his c la im that God rewards people for thei r deeds on the

day of thei r death, but this c la im can hardly be susta ined by exper ience.

Eq ual ly un con vinc ing are the c la im that things that are good for the god ly turn

into evi ls for s inners (39:27) and the unsupported asser t ion that lawbreakers

will ut terly fai l (40:17; compare the theology of the fr iends of Job in Job

8:11-15) . Si rach offers one of his more or iginal suggest ions in the context of

h i s d i scuss ion of human anxie ty : "To a l l c rea tures , human and an imal , but to

sinners seven times more,

come death and bloodshed and s t r i fe and sword,

calamit ies and famine and ruin and plague. Al l these were created for the

wicked, and on thei r account the f lood came" (40:8-9, i ta l ics added) . The con

text sugg ests that the wick ed a lso suffer m ore f rom anxiety, a l tho ugh this i s not

expl ic i t ly s ta ted. The cla im that disas ters ( including death ) befal l the wicked

at a greater ra te can scarcely b e taken ser iously. Th e idea that law break ers suf

fer f rom anxiety has the adv antag e that i t cann ot be veri f ied. C rens haw is pre

pare d to grant "that there ma y be som e truth in Sirac h 's con vict ion that w icked

men expe r i ence exces s i ve n i gh t mare s . "

5 2

I t is diff icult , however, to avoid the

suspicion that al l Sirach has to offer here is wishful thinking.

5 0 . ANET, 90. Se e T. Abusch , "Gilgam esh's R equest and Siduri 's Den ial ," part 1 in M. E. C o

hen et al. , ed s.,

The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor ofW. W. Hallo

(Bethesda,

Md.: CDL Press , 1993) 1-14; part 2 in JANESCU 22 (193) 3 -1 7 .

5 1 .

See Crenshaw, "The Problem of Theodicy."

5 2 . Crenshaw , "The Problem of Th eodicy," 6 3; he refers to David B akan's theory of "te lic de

centralization," in his Disease, Pain and Sacrifice (Chicago : Un iv. of Ch icago, 19 68) .




95

Conc lus ion

Sirach 's most or iginal and substant ia l contr ibut ion to the discussion of

theodicy l ies in his theory that there is a duali ty inherent in creation that serves

t he pu rposes of Go d .

5 3

In the end , one can only bow b efore the wi l l of the cre

ator and t rus t that whatever happens is par t of a greater design. "No one can

say, 'What i s this? ' or 'Why is that? ' for everything has been created for i t s

ow n purp ose " (39 :21) . "N o one can say , T h i s i s no t as good as tha t , ' fo r every

thing proves good in i t s appointed t ime" (39:34) . There may be an impl icat ion

here tha t the goodness of wha tever happen s eventua l ly beco m es ev ident to hu

mani ty; i f so, i t i s a quest ionable assumption. But unl ike Qoheleth, Si rach is

inform ed b y a basic t rus t in the goodn ess of creation, so that occas ional de m on

strat ion is sufficient to establish the general principle. He does not question the

torah of the Most High (41:4) .

In al l this, Sirach bears at least a general similari ty to the Stoics, who held

that "ne i ther m en no r gods hav e any greater pr ivi lege than this : to s ing for ever

in r igh teousness of the un iversa l l a w ."

5 4

B ut there are a lso plenty of prece den ts

for submission to the wi l l of the creator in the Hebrew t radi t ion. The great

hymns to the creator in Sir . 39:16-35 and 42:15-43:33 have the effect of s i

lencing opposi t ion jus t as surely as God's speeches f rom the whir lwind in Job.

The di f ference is that Si rach, unl ike Job, has never assumed the role of the

cr i t ic ,

and has not addresse d the quest ion of theodicy in as di rect a m ann er . S i

rach lacked the phi losophical sophis t icat ion to develop a consis tent theory in

the manner of the S to ics . He i s more concerned wi th pass ing on the hodge

podge of t radi t ion than wi th achieving consis tency. Never theless , he is not de

void of or iginal thought . By int roducing the phi losophical concept of comple

mentar i ty in creat ion he made a s ignif icant contr ibut ion to the development of

the t radi t ion in the di rect ion of a m ore phi loso phica l theolog y.

Appendix: Resurrec t ion in

the Hebrew Text of Sirach?

It is well known that the Greek translator of Sirach introduced a belief in resurrec

tion at several points in the text, e.g., 7:17b and 48:11b, and that the redactor of the

Greek text (Gil) added further allusions to the afterlife, e.g., at 2:9c; 16:22c; 19:19.

5 5

Recently, however, Emile Puech has argued that there are allusions to resurrection in

5 3 . O. S . Rankin, Israel's Wisdom L iterature (Edinburgh: Clark, 1936 ) 35 .

5 4 . Cleanthes , Hymn to Zeus.

5 5 . C. Kearns, "The Expan ded Tex t of Ec cles iast icus: I ts Teaching on the Future Life as a Clue

to i ts Origin." D iss . Ro m e (Bibl ical Co m m ission , 1951); idem , "Eccles iasticus , or the W isdo m of

Jesus the So n of S irach," in R. C. Fuller, ed., A New Catholic Comm entary on Holy Scripture ( Lo n

don: Ne lson , 1969) 54 1- 62 ; Skehan and DiLe l la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 86.



96

Hebrew Wisdom

the original Hebrew text

of

4 8 : 1 1 , 1 3 .

5 6

The text

of

48:11

is

difficult. Th e Greek rea ds:

"Blessed are those

who saw you

and have fallen aslee p

in

l ove ,

for we

also shall cer

tainly l ive." The H ebrew (MS B) is fragmen tary at this point. T he first half of the verse

reads, "Blessed

is he

wh o see s you and dies" ( i .e . , sees you before

he

dies) . The second

half has been restored, plausibly, to read, . . . for you giv e l ife, and he wi l l l ive ."

5 7

W hile granting that Sirach did not believ e

in a

general resurrection, Puech thinks he an

ticipated

a

limited resurrection

at

the return

of

Elijah. The prophet

is

often associated

with

the

esch atolog ical resurrection

in

later tradition (m. Sota 9:15; Pesiq. Rab. Kah.

76a).

Elijah was also credited with reviving the dead

in a

nonesch atological con text

in

2 Kings

18.

Presumably the resurrection was temporary

in

these ca ses ,

so

the life that

Elijah

is

said

to

confer

is

not necessarily eternal l ife. A gain , in 48 :13

it is

said

of

Elisha

that "from

his

place

his

flesh

was

[rejcreated" (mitahtdw rubra' bdsdro).

The

Greek

reads that his flesh

prophesied

in death (reading

nb'

instead

of nbr').

Puech has made

a

plausible c ase for the authenticity of the He brew . T he resurrection of El isha, how ever,

would be an exceptional event, l ike the assumption of Elijah, and wou ld be com patible

with Sirach's general denial

of

resurrection.

The

expectation

of a

limited resurrection

at the return

of

Elijah

is

more difficult.

In

v i ew

of

Sirach's emphatic insistence

on the

f inal i ty of death elsewhere (Sir. 14:11-19; 38:21-22; 41:4), such

a

view cannot

be at

tributed to Sirach himself. W e ha ve se en that both the text and the interpretation are un

certain

in

any case.

56. E.

Puech ,

Ben

Sira 48 :11

et la

Resurrection,"

in H.

Attridge

et al., eds., Of

Scribes

and

Scrolls: Studies

on the

Hebrew Bible, Intertestamental Judaism

and

Christian Origins (Lanham,

Md.: University Press of Am er ica , 1990) 81 -9 0; idem, La

Croyance

des

Esseniens

en la Vie Fu

ture: Imm ortalite, Resurrection, Vie tternelle? (Paris: Gabalda, 1993) 73 -7 9. F. Saracino, "R isur-

rezione in Ben Sira?"

Henoch

4 ( 1 9 8 2 ) 1 8 5 - 2 0 3 , c l a i ms to find further references in 4 6 : 1 2 and

49:10, but he has found no fo l lowing .

57. Puech, "Ben Sira 4 8 :1 1 , " 8 1 - 9 0 .



Chapter 6.

The His tory and Dest iny of I srael

The t rad i t iona l wisdom teaching found in Proverbs , Job , and Qohele th i s no

table for i ts lack of at tention to the history of Israel and i ts claims of special

revelat ion. B en S ira ' s a t tem pt to deal wi th this his tory m arks a s ignif icant shif t

in the t radi t ion. The Mosaic Law could be ass imila ted to wisdom more easi ly ,

s ince both wisdom and law deal wi th the regulat ion of e thical l i fe . There was

no precedent in the wisdom tradi t ion for us ing the his tory of a par t icular peo

ple as a source of sapiential instruction.

The Genre of the

"Praise of the Fathers"

The las t major sect ion of Ben Sira (chapters 44-50) fol lows the out l ine of

b ib l i ca l h i s tory f rom the an ted i luv ian pa t r i a rchs to Nehemiah , and then con

c ludes wi th a eu logy of the contemporary High Pr ies t , S imon the Jus t . His

tor ical reviews are a s taple of several genres of Jewish l i tera ture , beginning

wi th the covenanta l rec i t a t ions in Deute ronomy 26 ( "A wander ing Aramean

was my f a t he r . . . " ) and Joshua 24 .

1

But S i rach ' s rev iew has no precedent in

the bibl ical wri t ings . He does not a t tempt to reconst ruct his tory or even to

rete l l the s tory. His focus is not on revelatory events such as the exodus. The

long rev iew in chapte rs 44-50 s ing les ou t ind iv idua l s as examples to be

praised, but presents no cont inuous his tor ical narrat ive . This sect ion of the

book bears the t i t l e "Pra i se of the Fa thers of Old" in the Hebrew and "Hymn

of the Fathers" in the Greek. I t s s ta ted purpose is to s ing "the praises of pious

m e n

['ansey hesed;

the G reek reads "fam ous m e n " ] , our fathers in their gen

era t ion s ." A s Ba um gar tne r no ted , th i s "h ym n" is fundam enta l ly d i ffe ren t

f rom the hymns of the Psal ter , because here praise is di rected to men, not to

1. On historical reviews in postbiblical Jewish literature, see E. Janssen,

Das Gottesvolk und

seine Geschichte: Geschichtsbild und Selbstverstandnis im palastinensischen Schrifttum von Jesus

Sirach bis Jehuda ha-Nasi

(Neuk irchen-Vluyn : Neukirchener Verlag, 1 971); R. G. Hall ,

Revealed

Histories

(Sheff ie ld: JSO T Press , 1991) .



98

Hebrew Wisdom

G o d .

2

T here is no real paral le l for such a cata log of praises in the H ebrew B ib le .

3

The closest paral le ls are found in other books of the Apocrypha, 1 Mace.

2 :51-60; 4 Mace . 16 :20-23; 18 :11-19 , and in the New Tes tament in Hebrews

11.

Ea ch of these passage s recal ls heroe s of the past as exa m ples of vi r tue . In 1

Maccabees 2, Mat ta thias te l l s his sons: "Remember the deeds of the ancestors ,

wh ich they did in thei r gene rat ions; and you wi l l receive an ever las t ing n am e,"

and he proceeds to l i s t examples of fa i thfulness and other vi r tues . In 4 Mac

cabee s 16, the moth er enco urage s her sons in the face of persecu t ion by recal l

ing the exam ples of Isaac and of Da niel and his com pan ions . In chap ter 18, she

adds A bel and Jos eph to the l is t , and also remin ds them of the zeal of Ph ineha s .

Th e Let ter to the Heb rew s assem bles "a c loud of wi tne sses" to the efficacy of

faith . Ea ch of these passage s , how ever , has a hor ta tory purp ose, and app eals di

rect ly for imi ta t ion on the par t of the reader . Similar ly , the D am ascu s D ocu m ent

from Q um ran pro vides a li s t of peo ple w ho did and wh o did not wa lk in the s tub

bornness of thei r hear ts , wi th obvious hor ta tory impl icat ions (CD 2:17-3:12) .

In B en S ira, the conte xt is lauda tory rathe r than hortato ry, and i t m ay no t be po s

sible to emulate the exalted deeds of the heroes in question, especially since

their glory is asso ciated with the offices they held.

Hellenist ic l i terature offers a more promising background for this section of

the book. The re are amp le Hel lenis t ic precedents for the l i st ing of exa m ples , es

pecial ly for hor ta tory purposes .

4

The homilet ical pract ice of Diaspora Judaism,

insofar as i t can be reconstructed from the writ ings of Philo and from such texts

as the Testaments of the Twelve Patr iarchs , a lso made extensive use of exam

ples to i l lustrate virtues and vices.

5

Sirach must surely have encountered Hel

lenist ic rhetoric in his travels, or even in Jerusalem. One can hardly infer from

the Praise of the Fathe rs that he had a ny techn ical training in the subject , but the

very fact that he devotes the concluding section of his book to the praise of hu

man beings betrays the influence of Hellenist ic culture on a fair ly deep level .

A more specific generic analogy for Sirach's Praise of the Fathers was pro

posed by Th ierry Maerten s , w ho pointed to the genre De Viris lllustribus in Latin

l i tera ture , f rom a somewhat la ter per iod.

6

(Noted pract i t ioners included Cor

nelius Nepos in the f irst century B . C . E . and Suetonius in the late first and early

second centur ies

C.E.)

This genre was a development of the kind of biography

2 .

W. Baumgartner, "Die literarischen Gattungen in der Weisheit des Jesus Sirach," ZAW 3 4

( 1 9 1 4 ) 1 7 3 .

3.

E. Jacob, "L'Histoire dTsrael vue par Ben Sira," in Melanges bibliques rediges en Vhonneur

de Andre Robert (Paris: Blou d et Gu y, 19 57) 28 8 -9 4; R. T. Siebeneck, "May Their Bo nes Return

to Life Sirach 's Praise of the Fathers," CBQ 2 1 ( 1 9 5 9 ) 4 1 1 - 2 8 .

4 .

A. Lumpe , "Exemplum," R AC 6 ( 1 9 6 6 ) 1 2 2 9 - 5 7 .

5 . See H. Thyen, Der Stil der JUdisch-H ellenistischen Hom ilie (Gott ingen: Van denhoeck &

Ruprecht, 1955).

6 . T. Maertens, L'Eloge des peres (Ecclesiastique XLIV -L) (Bruges: Ab baye de Saint-Andre,

1956) .



The History and Destiny of Israel

99

practiced in the Peripatet ic scho ol in the Hellenist ic period, wh ich is believed to

have been developed init ial ly by the fourth-century B . C . E . wr i t e r Ar i s toxenus .

7

Both the Hel lenis t ic and Roman biographies , however , were largely anecdotal

and often m ad e use of gossip . Th ey d o not in fact bear m uch analog y to the brief

eulog ies of the fathers in B en Sira. Th e best He llenist ic analogy p ropo sed to da te

is the encomium, a genre or iginal ly developed by Isocrates (436-338 B . C . E . ) .

8

Here at least we have a common purpose: to praise the subject of the speech or

po em . T. R. Le e has argued that Sirach 4 4 -5 0 shou ld be understoo d specifically

as an encomium of the High Priest Simon II . In his analysis, the structure of the

composi t ion is as fol lows:

Prooemium

( 44 : 1 - 15 ) ;

genos

(enumerat ing the an

cestors of the subject and thei r m eri ts ; 44 :16 -49 :16 ) ; praxeis ( the achievements

of the main subject; 50 :1- 21 ) ; and epi logue (5 0:22 -24 ) . Th e praise of Sim on in

chapter 50 is certainly the climax of this section, but the fathers are praised in

their own right , and not merely as a buildup for Simon. The explici t purpose of

the poem, stated at the beginning (44:1) is to praise pious men, "our fathers in

thei r generat ions ." The poem, then, must be viewed as an encomium of a l l the

heroes of Israeli te history, and not just as an encomium of Simon.

Two other suggest ions about the genre of the Praise of the Fathers require

a br ie f comment .

M art in He ng el has noted that the them e of success ion ap pears several t im es

(S ir . 44 : 17 ; 46 : 1 , 12 ; 47 : 12 ; 48 : 8 ,1 2 ) .

9

The Per ipatet ic phi losopher Sot ion of

Alexa ndr ia , w ho w as a contem porary of S i rach , wrote a wo rk on

The Succes

sion of the Philosophers in thi r teen bo ok s, in w hich he t reated each ph i loso

phe r as the def ini t ive successo r of another . Fur the r Jew ish exam ples of the in

terest in establishing a l ine of succession can be found in the historian

Eupolemus , who wrote of the success ion of k ings and prophe t s , in the Mac

cabean per iod, and Josephus, who refers to "the exact success ion of the

p r o p h e t s "

(Ag. Ap.

1.41).

Th e class ic expre ss ion of the pr inciple of success ion

in Judaism is found in the Mishnaic t racta te Pirke Aboth, which begins by de

clar ing that "Moses received Torah f rom Sinai and del ivered i t to Joshua, and

Jos hu a to the Elde rs , and the Elders to the Pro phe ts , and the Prophe ts del ivered

i t to the men of the Great Synagogue." I t goes on to l ink the rabbinic author i

t ies down to the second century c .E . ( the Tan na im ) in a cha in of suc ces s ion .

1 0

Lee objects to this analogy, on the ground that Si rach does not develop a s in

gle l ine of success ion b ut refers var iously to the success ion of jud ge s , king s ,

a n d p r o p h e t s .

1 1

Nonetheless , the fact that the theme of success ion is noted so

7. T. R. Lee, Studies in the Form of Sirach 44-50 (SB LD S 75; At lanta : Scho lars , 1986) 54 -7 3 .

8 . Lee, Studies, 8 3 - 2 4 5 .

9 . Henge l , Judaism and Hellenism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974 ) 1.136.

10.

R. Travers Herford,

The Ethics of the Talmud: Sayings of the Fathers

(New York: Schocken ,

1962) .

1\. Lee, Studies, 79.






101

Most probably, Si rach 's l i s t began wi th Noah, as the recipient of the f i rs t

covenant . Abraham's covenant i s a l so emphas ized . Abraham i s sa id to have

kept the law of the Most High, even though i t was not yet revealed to Moses .

Th is is in acco rdan ce wi th Sir ac h 's tenden cy to associate the La w w ith creat ion

(cf. 17 :11 ; 24:1-7) , and also wi th the tendency in some other texts f rom the

Hel lenis t ic per iod (notably Jubilees) to re t roject the obse rvanc e of the Law

back to the beginnings of human his tory. There is a pass ing reference to the

sacrif ice of Isaac, seen purely as a test of Abraham. As we should expect in

view of the encomiast ic character of the composi t ion, no ment ion is made of

Jacob 's t r ickery. Isaac and Jacob are of interes t pr imari ly as l inks between

Abraham and Moses in the t ransmiss ion of the divine bless ings .

M os es, predictably, is praised as the recipient of the Torah. In contrast to so m e

He llenist ic Jew ish w riters, such as Ph ilo, Sirach does not call M ose s a law giver,

nor does he at tr ibute any creativity to him. He makes him equal in glory to the

angels (holy ones) , wh ereas Phi lo , fol lowing Exod . 7:1 , m akes him a god

(De-

Vita Mos. 1.155 -58). T he "law of l ife and kn ow led ge " (45:5) echo es the "law of

l ife" given by the creator in 17:11. The most str iking thing about the praise of

M os es, how eve r, is that i t is less than half as long as the praise of Aa ron.

Al though bibl ical t radi t ion ranked both Moses and Aaron as pr ies ts (Ps .

99 :6 ) ,

Sirach does not acknowledge the pr ies thood of Moses . He fol lows the

Pries t ly source in emphasizing the e ternal covenant of pr ies thood wi th Aaron,

but he ignores Zadok, and does not refer to the sons of Zadok, who are promi

nent in the Dead Sea Scro l l s .

1 4

We can scarcely infer , however , that he was

pole m icizing against the res t r ic t ion of the pr ies thood to the Za dok i tes . H e m ay

equ al ly wel l hav e regard ed them as the only legi t im ate A aron ids , and so found

i t unnecessary to s ingle them out . The only individual who receives t reatment

of length com para ble to that of Aaron is the Zad oki te H igh Pr ies t , Simo n II , in

chapter 50. The covenant wi th Aaron, however , extends to a l l the pr ies thood,

not just the office of High Priest .

Sirach touches only briefly on Aaron's role in offering sacrif ices, and gives

equal t ime to his teaching authori ty. The basis of that authori ty was stated in

the bless ing of Moses , in Deut . 33:10: "They teach Jacob your ordinances , and

Is rae l your l aw."

1 5

(The teaching role of the eschatological priest is i l lustrated

powerful ly in 4Q541 [4QAaron A] f rom Qumran.) Si rach 's interes t in sacr i

f ices does not match his interest in the priesthood. In the Hellenist ic period, the

H igh Pr ies t a lso wield ed pol i t ical po w er in Jerusalem and could be a powerful

pat ron for a scr ibe l ike Sirach. Si rach notes how rebel l ion against Aaron was

put down by God. The impl icat ions for his own day were obvious .

14. See S. Olyan, "Ben Sira's Relationship to the Priesthood," HTR 8 0 ( 1 9 8 7 ) 2 6 1 - 8 6 .

15. Compare the emphasis on the teaching role of the eschatological High Priest in the Aramaic

4Q541 (4QAaron A) from Qumran. See J . J . Col l ins , The Scepter and the Star: Th e Messiahs of

the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (Ne w York: Doubleday , 1995) 88 -89 .



102 Hebrew W isdom

Phinehas is thi rd in the pr ies t ly l ine , af ter Aaron and Eleazar (45 :23 ; cf.

N um . 25: 7- 13 ) . In 1 M ac e. 2:26, Ph ineh as is c i ted as the m od el for the vio lent

act ion of Mat ta thias . Ben Sira ignores the mil i tancy of Phinehas . His interes t

is in the covenant he receives. I t is clear from v. 25 that this is not conceived

as a separate covenant but i s par t of the her i tage of Aaron. This covenant i s

contras ted wi th the Davidic covenant in a way that impl ies i t s super ior i ty , be

cause of i t s inclusiveness: "The inher i tance of a man is for his son alone, but

the her i t age of Aaron i s for a l l h i s descendants" (45 :25) .

1 6

There is no impl i

ca t ion , how ever , tha t the pr ies thood has inher it ed the prom ise to D av id .

1 7

The

offices of kingship and priesthood are clearly dist inct .

Th is sect ion of the Praise of the Fathers ends w i th a ben edict ion add ressed

to the pr ies thood:

And now bless the Lord w ho has crowned you with glory. May the Lord grant

you w isdom of mind to judge his people w ith justice , so that their prosperity m ay

not vanish and that their glory may endure through all their generations.

(45:26)

Th is is the only t im e that the Praise of the Fathe rs i s interrupted b y a ben edic

t ion, but there is another benediction at the end of the praise of Simon II in

50:22-24. I t i s no coincidence that both benedict ions fol low the praises of

priestly figures.

Judges, Kings, and Prophets

After Phin eha s , Si rach turns to Joshu a, son of N un, w hose praise extends to

ten verses. (M ose s received five.) Th is extensiv e praise of Joshu a is ini t ial ly sur

prising, since there is l i tt le m ili tancy in Sirach a part from the disputed p raye r in

chapter 36 . Ev en m ore surpr is ing is the s ta tement that he wa s an a ide (He brew ;

Greek : successor) to M oses in the

prophetic

office, des pite the fact that neith er

Moses nor Joshua is sa id to have del ivered oracles . Of pr imary importance to

Sirach is the glory enjoyed by Joshua. In this respect he resembles the High

Pries t Sim on (com pare 46 :2 wi th 50:5) . H e also resem bles the pr ies thood in his

role as intercessor (46:5) , a l though this role might a lso be deemed prophet ic

(Josh. 10:6; cf. M oses in N um . 1 4:1 3-1 9) . Final ly , Joshu a and Caleb are praised

for loyal ty , a vi r tue a l ready commended by Sirach (6:14-17; 26:19-26) .

16. The Hebrew text must be corrected in the light of the Greek. See Skehan and DiLella,

The

Wisdom of Ben Sira, 510; K. E. Pomykala , The Davidic Dyna sty Tradition in Early Judaism: Its

History and Significance for Messianism

(Atlanta: Scholars , 1995) 132 -4 4.

17. This was sug gested by H. Stadelmann, Ben Sira als Schriftgelehrter (Tubingen: Mohr, 1980)

157. Stadelmann follows the Hebrew text of Sir. 45:25, reading "the inheritance of a man is in ac

cordance wit h his glo ry" (rather than "for his son alone"), and reads this as a reference to the priest

hood.




103

Th e prayer for the jud ge s in 46 :1 1- 12 , that thei r bon es sprout f rom thei r

place , i s not found in the He brew at this poin t in the text , but app ears aprop os

of the minor prophets in 49:10. The new l i fe envisaged by Sirach is the im

mortal i ty of thei r names in thei r chi ldren.

Samuel i s character ized pr imari ly as a prophet , by anoint ing rulers , judging

in l ight of the Law , and being a trustw orth y seer. He is also adm ired for offer

ing sacrif ice (without consideration of his priest ly rank), and for his profession

of inn oce nce . His appar i t ion to Saul (46:2 0; cf. 1 Sam . 28:19) adds to his glory ,

wi th no hint of disapproval of Saul for consul t ing the wi tch of Endor . Rather

the incident redounds to the glory of Samuel by showing how he t ranscended

his death.

After a brief me nt ion of Nath an, chap ter 47 deals wi th the ear ly kings . S aul

is pa sse d ov er in si lenc e, bu t D av id is glorified for his early exp loits , with som e

elabora t ion . W here 1 Sam . 1 7 :34 -35 has David rescue an imals f rom l ions and

bea rs , Si rach has him play wi th l ions and bears as if they we re lambs and k id s .

1 8

There may be over tones here of the idyl l ic scene in Isa . 11:6-9, where wolves

and leo par ds an d l ions are said to be pacified in the t im e of the me ssian ic sho ot

of David. Si rach 47:8 ref lects David 's reputat ion as author of the psalms.

1 9

V erses 9- 1 0 reflect the por t raya l of D avid in 1 Ch ronicles 15 -2 6, em pha siz

ing his role as organizer of the tem ple cul t and l iturgy. T he m ost contro vers ia l

s ta tement about David is found in 4 7 : 1 1 , which says that God exal ted his

"horn" or s t rength forever . Some scholars see here an express ion of messianic

h o p e ,

2 0

wh i l e o t he r s d i s ag ree .

2 1

Sirach does not c i te Nathan 's oracle , and ex

presse s no hop e or exp ectat ion for the res torat ion of the Dav idic l ine . H e do es ,

however , acknowledge the b ib l i ca l record tha t ever las t ing k ingship was

promised to David . Whi le the word t rans la ted "covenant" in 47 :11c i s hdq

(s ta tute) ra ther than the usual word for cov ena nt

(berit),

the lat ter word is used

in 45 :2 5, and so there can be no dou bt that Si rach affi rmed a D avidic cove nant .

The perpetui ty of the l ine is a lso aff i rmed in 47:22. In shor t , Si rach acknowl

edged the promise, but i t was far f rom the center of his own devot ion. He at

tached far greater importance to the High Pr ies thood, the actual seat of au

thor i ty in his t ime. We shal l comment fur ther on the issue of messianic

exp ectat ion be low , wi th reference to the psa lm found in Sirach 5 1 , be tween v v .

12 and 13 in the He bre w text .

18 . Contrast the more subdued portrayal of David 's youth in Psalm 151 ( = 11Q 5, col . 28 ) .

19. Compare the l is t of David's composit ions in

1

lQP sa lm s (11Q 5, co l. 27 ) .

20 . S me n d , Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach, 45 2; J. D . Martin, "Be n Sira's Hy m n to the Fathers:

A Messianic Perspect ive ," in A. S . van der Woude, ed. , Crises and Perspectives (Leide n: Brill ,

1986 = OTS 24 ) 107-23; Skehan and DiLe l la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 526; Olyan, "Ben Sira's

Relat ionship to the Priesthood," 282-83.

2 1 . A. Caquot , "Ben Sira et le Messianisme," Semitica 16 (1966) 43 -6 8; S tadelmann, Ben Sira

als Schriftgelehrter, 157; Ma ck, Wisdom and the Hebrew Epic, 3 5 - 3 6 ; P o my k a la , The Davidic

Dynasty Tradition, 145.



104

Hebrew Wisdom

Th e success and prosper i ty of Solom on are accounted to the credi t of D avid

(47:12) . Solomon is praised as the one who bui l t the Temple and, inevi tably,

for his wisdom. He is sa id to overf low l ike the Ni le , as Wisdom or the Torah

doe s in 24:27 . Bu t Solom on also il lus t ra tes a favor i te th em e of Sirach, the dan

ger of women. The Hebrew of 47 :19b reads "and you le t them ru le over your

body," which recal ls Si r . 9 :2 , and the fear that a woman can t rample a man's

s t rength. Si rach makes Solomon's sexual t ransgress ions ra ther than idolat ry re

spons ib le for the d iv i s ion of the k i ng sh ip .

2 2

He nonetheless aff i rms the endur

ing va l id i ty of the promise to David . Whi le Solomon ' s record i s mixed , Re-

hoboam and Jeroboam are the only f igures in the review who are ent i re ly

negat ive. Si rach fol lows the s tandard Deuteronomic l ine in making the s in of

Jeroboam responsible for the exi le of nor thern Israel .

The t reatment of El i jah (48:1-11) dwel ls on the miraculous and therefore

glorio us a spec ts of his caree r. His a scen t in a cha riot of f ire (v. 9) f its this th em e

and is a l ready found in 2 Kings 3:11. Si rach 48:10, however , i s except ional in

Ben Sira in c i t ing a prophecy as eschatological predict ion: "At the appointed

time, i t is writ ten, you are destined to calm the wrath of God before i t breaks

out in fury, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and to restore the

t r ibes of Jacob ." The prophecy in ques t ion i s Mai . 3 :23-24 , supplemented by

Isa . 49:10. Because there is so l i t t le eschatological interes t in Sirach, some

schola rs a rgue tha t th is verse m us t be sec on da ry .

2 3

But Sirach here is only af

firming what he found in the older scripture. There is no implication of immi

nent expectat ion . Like the pro m ise to D avid , El i ja h 's re turn w as par t of the t ra

di t ion, even i f i t had l i t t le importance for Si rach 's overal l theology. The idea

of an appointed t ime is reminiscent of Dan. 10:14; 11:29,40, and so on, but i t

i s a lso qui te compat ible wi th the wisdom tradi t ion. Si rach himself argued that

God ' s commands wou l d be accompl i shed and t he goodnes s o f God ' s works

w ould be co m e clear each in i ts (proper) t ime (3 9:1 6-1 7) , and that the Lo rd h ad

m ade one day mo re i mpor t an t t han ano t he r ( 3 3 : 7 - 9 ) .

2 4

The praise of Elisha is in a similar vein to that of Eli jah. Sirach notes that

"even w hen he was dead , h i s bod y proph es ied" (4 8 :1 3-1 4; cf. 2 Kings 13 :21) .

As in the case of Samuel , Si rach is interes ted in the cont inuing power of the

prophet af ter death, but there is no impl icat ion of a las t ing resurrect ion.

2 5

Th e k ings of Judah a re judg ed by the Deute ron om ic c r i te r ion of observa nce

of the To rah (49 :4, cf. 2 Kings 18:3 ; 23:2 5) . Si rach emp has izes the m iraculo us

in the accou nts of Heze kiah and Isaiah (cf. 2 Kings

2 0 : 8 - 1 1 ;

I sa . 38 :7-8) . The

Hebrew text of 48:21 at t r ibutes the dest ruct ion of the Assyr ians to a plague.

22 . C ontrast the bibl ical account in 1 Kin gs 11 :11 -13 , 33.

23 . Th. Middendorp, Die Stellung Jesus Ben Siras zwischen Judentum und Hellenismus (Lei

den: Brill , 197 3) 13 4; M ack,

Wisdom and the Hebrew Epic,

200 .

2 4 . Cf . Qoh. 3:1-8; G. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nashv i l l e : Abingdon , 1972) 26 3- 83 .

25 .

See the discussion of Sir. 48:11 in the preceding chapter.



The History and Destiny of Israel 105

The Greek substi tutes the angel of the Lord, in conformity to the biblical text

(2 K ing s 19 :35 ; Isa. 37 :36 ). I t is clear from Sir . 4 8: 2 4- 25 that Sirac h a t tr ibuted

the whole book of Isaiah to the e ighth-century prophet , who is credi ted wi th

foretel l ing the future return from the exile.

Jeremiah is credited with foretel l ing the destruction of Jerusalem and the

Temple. Ezekiel is remembered only for his vision, which was influential in

apocalyptic circles (e.g. , Daniel 10) and was also elaborated in 4QPseudo-

Ezekiel (4Q385) a t Qumran. Job is ment ioned between Ezekiel and the Minor

Pro phe ts. I t is possible that Jose phu s also included Job am on g the proph ets w hen

he said that they wrote the history from Moses to Artaxerxes in thirteen books

(Ag. Ap.

1.40). The o rder of the biblical boo ks w as not set in the t ime of Sirach.

The Minor Prophets are treated as one book (Sir . 49:10), and are understood to

conv ey a mes sag e of ho pe rather than doo m . Th ere is no reference to Daniel . T he

book of Daniel was presumably not yet composed when Sirach wrote .

Sirach's review of the major personali t ies in the Hebrew scriptures is selec

t ive and not exhaust ive . The book of Esther , l ike Daniel , may not have been

known in Jerusalem at this t ime, since i t is also absent from the Dead Sea

Scrolls . But Sirach also ignores Ruth and fai ls to select a single woman for

praise . H e passes over Joseph, an oddi ty that m ay be explained by his ant ipathy

to the Samaritans ( if indeed the reference to "the foolish people who l ive in

Shechem" in 50:26 is to be a t t r ibuted to Ben Sira himself ) .

2 6

Joseph , however ,

is m ent ioned in the re t rospect ive s tanza in 49 :14 -1 6. Saul ma y be om it ted as in

sufficiently glorious or inspiring. Most str iking, however, is the omission of

Ezra, especially in view of the inclusion of Nehemiah (49:13). I t would be rash

to con clud e that the bo ok of Ezra w as not yet writ ten, or that i t w as unk no w n to

B e n S i r a .

2 7

Several explanat ions have been proposed, for example, a re ject ion

of Ez ra ' s po l ic ies on mixed m ar r ia ge s ,

2 8

or the view that Ezra was too narrowly

concerned wi th the Mosa ic l aw,

2 9

or that Sirach's priest ly sympathies were of

fended by the prominence of the Levi tes in Ezra .

3 0

But these suggestions are

hardly convincing. In view of Sirach 's own enthusiasm for the Law, he should

ha ve found i t pos sible to say som ething p osit ive abou t Ez ra, jus t as he did abo ut

Solomon. All we can safely conclude is that the story of Ezra had not yet

2 6 .

J. D. Purvis, "Ben Sira and the Foolish People of Shechem," The Samaritan Pentateuch and

the Origin of the Sam aritan Sect

(Cambridge, Mass . : Harvard Univ. Press , 1968) 119-29.

27 .

K. F. Pohlmann, Studien zum Dritten Esra (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970)

72-73, argues that Sirach did not know the book of Ezra, and the argument is occasionally re

peated. See J . Blenkinsopp,

Ezra-Nehemiah

(Philadelphia: W estminster, 1988 ) 55 .

2 8 . S me n d , Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach, 474 .

2 9 .

G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley, "Sirach," in R. H. Charles, ed.,

The Apocrypha and

Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament

(Oxford: Clarendo n, 1913 ) 1.506.

30 .

P. Hoffken, "Warum schwieg Ben Sira uber Ezra,"

T AW

87 (1975) 184-202. See the cri

t ique of this suggest ion by C. R. Be gg , "Ben Sirach's Non-M ention o f Ezra," BN 42 (1988) 14 -18 .



106

Hebrew Wisdom

acquired the kind of "canonical" s ta tus enjoyed by Solomon, and consequent ly

that Si rach fe lt no obl igat ion to include him. I t m ay be , as Joseph Ble nkin sopp

has suggested, that "Ezra ' s s ingle-minded theocrat ic ideal was uncongenial to

t he au t h o r , "

3 1

but in fact the om iss ion rem ains an enigm a. The inclusion of N e-

hemiah is readily intel l igible, because his building activity offered a precedent

to that of Simon I I .

3 2

Sirach places s imilar emphasis on the bui lding act ivi t ies

of Hezekiah, Zerubbabel , and Joshua the High Pr ies t (49:12) .

S i rach 49:14-16 conc ludes the rev iew of the anc ien t pas t , by comment ing

on the g lory of En och , Joseph , Shem , Se th , Eno sh , and Ada m . Except for the

quest ionable reference to Enoch in 44:16, none of these f igures has been men

tioned in the Praise of the Fathers. Only Adam has f igured in the rest of Sir-

ach 's book. Al l except Joseph are antedi luvian (Shem is son of Noah; Gen.

6:10) . The authent ic i ty of this passage has been quest ioned, as i t does not f i t

any pat tern of character izat ion in Sirach,

3 3

but this is not necessari ly a decisive

object ion to a concluding s tanza. I f the passage goes back to Sirach, i t repre

sents the ear l ies t reference to the splendor of Adam.

3 4

The High Priest Simon

(50:1-28)

Even though Si r . 49 :14-16 seems to conc lude the pra i se of the ances tors ,

the passage on Simon is the culminat ion of a l l that has gone before .

3 5

S i mon

I I was H igh Pr ies t in the years 21 9- 19 6 B . C . E . He was presumably dead when

Ben Sira wrote . (Si rach 50:1 refers to what he did "in his generat ion" and "in

h i s days .") U nde r h is leadersh ip , Je rusa lem w elcom ed A nt iochus I I I o f Syr ia ,

and ass i s ted h im in bes ieg ing the gar r i son of the Egypt ian genera l Scopas .

3 6

A ntioc hu s, in re turn, ass is ted in the res torat ion of the Te m ple . Si rach does not

ment ion the support of the foreign king, but he takes evident pr ide in the re

newed splendor of the Temple. Si rach had al ready noted bui lding projects un

der Solomon, Hezekiah , Zerubbabe l and Joshua , and Nehemiah . Verses 5-21

descr ibe the splen dor of the High Pr ies t performing his funct ions , recal l ing the

sp lendor of Aaron in S i r . 45 :6-13 . A comparable account of the sp lendor of

the High Priest is found in the

Letter ofAristeas,

96 -9 9 . Al l the sons of Aa ron

31 . Blenkinsopp , Ezra-Nehemiah, 55.

3 2 .

Begg, "Ben Sirach's Non-Mention of Ezra."

33 . Ma c k , Wisdom and the Hebrew Epic, 2 0 1 .

3 4 . Another early reference to the glory of Adam is found in CD 3:20. This motif was later elab

orated, notably by Philo, De

Opif.,

1 3 6 - 4 1 .

3 5 . See the discussion of this issue in Lee, Studies, 1 0 - 2 1 . Scholars who view chap. 50 as an

appendix that is not integral to the foregoing poem include Smend, Die W eisheit des Jesus Sirach,

4 1 2 ;

B ox and Oesterley, "Sirach," 47 9; M aertens, L'Eloge des peres, 19 5-9 6; and Jacob , "L'H is -

toire d'Israel," 290.

36 .

Josephus, Ant. 1 2 . 1 2 9 - 5 3 .




107

share in the splendor . The recol lect ion of the bless ing pronounced by Simon

(vv . 20-21) l eads in to the benedic t ion in vv . 22-24 . The Hebrew (MS B) in

cludes in v. 23 a prayer for Simon, that God might fulfi l l for him the covenant

with Phinehas forever . In fact , Simon's l ine came to an end in the next gener

at ion, in the re ign of A nt ioc hus IV . S im on 's son Onias I I I w as murd ered in 172

B . C . E .

(2 Mace. 4:34) , whi le another son, Jason, became a protagonis t in the

so-cal led "Hel lenis t ic Reform." His grandson, Onias IV, f led to Egypt and

founded a t emple a t Leontopol i s . We cannot know whether Ben Si ra had an

inkl ing of im pen ding p rob lem s wh en he prayed for the preserva t ion of the l ine .

Th e Gree k t ransla tor drop ped the prayer for Sim on and subst i tuted a pray er that

G od m ight rede em Israel "in our day s ." I f Si rach wro te dur ing the High Pr ies t

hood of Onias I I I , the praise of Simon would redound to the glory of his son,

but would also serve as a reminder to the son of the standards set by the father.

I t i s qui te possible that the benedict ion in 50:22-24 was the conclusion of

Si rac h ' s book , except for the subscr ip tion in vv . 27 -2 8 . The num er ica l p ro verb

in vv. 25 -2 6 ("tw o nat ion s my so ul detes ts , and the thi rd is not even a peo ple" )

has no re la t ion to the context , and could easi ly have been added by a scr ibe .

Th e Edo m ites of Seir and the Phi l is t ines were old enem ies of Israel . Th e thrust

of the proverb is to express dis l ike for the Samari tans . There was conf l ic t be

tween Samar i t ans and Jews in the t ime of Ezra . The books of Maccabees im

ply that the Samari tans were sympathet ic to Ant iochus Epiphanes in his sup

press ion of Judaism (1 Mace. 3:10; 2 Mace. 4:2) . At the end of the second

century

B . C . E . ,

Shechem was sacked and the t emple on Mount Ger iz im razed

by John H yrcan us . We hav e no ev idence for Jewish-Sam ar i t an re la t ions in S i

rach 's t ime. The fact that open host i l i ty developed in the Hasmonean era leads

to the susp icion that the epi logue to Be n Sira wa s added b y a scr ibe in that pe

riod or later , rather than by the sage himself.

A Pattern of Cha racterization

Bu rton M ac k has c la im ed to f ind a consis tent pat tern of character izat ion in

the Praise of the Fathers , which has seven components : designat ion of off ice ,

m ent io n of divine app robat ion or e lect ion, reference to a cov enan t , m ent ion of

the person 's character or pie ty, an account of the deeds , reference to the his

tor ical s i tuat ion, ar id ment ion of rewards .

3 7

Obviously, this pat tern is abbrevi

a ted in some of the shor ter character izat ions , and even the longer accounts do

not necessar ily hav e a l l seven com pon ents . There a re no covenants w i th judg es

or with prophets. Mack further maintains that "i t is the concept of office that

determ ines the pat tern as a w ho le ." "T he a ss ignm ent of a f igure to an office is

so consis tent ly emphasized that one must ask whether i t i s not the off ice that

37 . Mack , Wisdom and the Hebrew Epic, 18.



108

Hebrew Wisdom

m ake s the ma n for Ben Sira . . . . Th e greatness of these hero es is di rect ly re

la ted to the great s ignif icance of these o ff ic es ."

3 8

All the f igures in question are

public f igures, who play significant roles in the interest of the people. Conse

quent ly , "the congregat ion proclaims thei r praise" (44:15) . Their glory is a t

tained through their discharge of their official functions. Glory is not individ

ual is t ic , but i s der ived f rom contr ibut ing to the wel l -being of the people . The

emphasis on human glory is surely a ref lect ion of Ben Sira ' s Hel lenis t ic cul

ture . Yet the things that are considered glor ious , such as pr ies thood and

prophecy, are not especial ly Hel lenis t ic , and are rooted in t radi t ional Jewish

values .

Sirach's review of the glorious f igures of Israel 's history at tains a point of

fulf il lment in the descr ipt ion of the High P r ies t Sim on. The re is no adm iss ion

of any lack in Simon's glory. The fact that he was subject to the Seleucids de

t racts nothing f rom him, because he used that c i rcumstance to improve the s i t

uat ion of his people . In view of Sirach 's evident contentment wi th the glory of

Simon, there would seem to be very l i t t le room for any eschatological expec

tat ion in his book.

Mess ian i sm in S i rach?

Nonetheless , scholars intermit tent ly c la im to f ind evidence of eschatology,

or more specif ical ly of messianic expectat ion, in Sirach 's book. R. T. Siebe-

neck suggested "that Si rach went to the past not only to enl ighten the present

but a lso the future , specif ical ly the future messianic kingdom."

3 9

The cha rac

ter izat ion of the fa thers , then, would carry impl icat ions for a new Abraham, a

new Moses , and so on. Siebeneck admit ted, however , that the only expl ic i t ly

eschatological passage in the poem was the reference to the second coming of

El i jah in 48:10. There is no reason whatever to suspect eschatological impl i

cations in the rest of the poem.

W e have al ready con sidered the reference to the horn of David in 47 :11 ,

which serves as the mainstay for the argument that Si rach enter ta ined mes

s ian ic expec ta t ions . I t i s t rue tha t "h orn " som et imes has a m ess ian ic n ua n ce ,

4 0

but this i s not necessar i ly so. In Sir . 49:4-5 we read that the "horn" of the Da-

vidic king s was given to others becau se a l l but three w ere s inful. Th e sam e pas

sage refers to the end of the Judean royal l ine without any hint of a future

r e s t o r a t i on .

4 1

38 .

Ibid., 19.

39 . Sieb eneck, "M ay Their Bo nes Return to Life ," 42 5, fo l lowin g M aertens, L'Eloge desperes,

1 9 5 - 9 6 .

4 0 . Olyan, "Ben Sira's Relat ionship to the Priesthood," 283, c i t ing Ezek. 2 9 :2 1 ; Pss . 132:17;

148:14.

4 1 . Pomykala , The Davidic Dynasty Tradition, 147.




109

There is a messianic reference in the Hebrew text B f rom the Cairo Geniza,

chap ter 5 1 , but i t i s general ly adm it ted that the psalm in w hich i t i s found w as

not com pose d by Si rach . This He brew p sa lm i s inserted be tw een vv . 12 and 13

(accord ing to the num berin g of the Greek v ers ion) . I t i s m ode led on Psalm 136,

insofar as i t has the refrain "for his mercy endures forever." Lines 8 and 9 read:

Give thanks to him who makes a horn to sprout for the house of David,

for his mercy endures forever.

Give thanks to him who chose the sons of Zadok to be priests,

for his mercy endures forever.

Line 8 mus t be unders tood as express ing hop e for a Dav id ic mess iah . Co m pare

lQSb 5:26, where the bless ing for the pr ince of the congregat ion, that he may

establ ish the kin gd om of his peo ple forever , include s the pray er "M ay he plac e

upon you horns of i ron." While Sir . 47:11 aff i rmed the covenant wi th David,

i t showed no such messianic hope. The fol lowing l ine aff i rms the pr ies thood

of the sons of Zadok. Since messianic expectat ion was conspicuously lacking

even in t he M accabean p e r i o d ,

4 2

i t i s unl ikely that this comb inat ion of D avid ic

hope and Zadoki te pr ies thood da tes f rom pre-Hasmonean t imes . I t i s more

l ike ly tha t th i s psa lm or ig ina ted in the Qumran communi ty , which was

s taunchly pro-Zadoki te and had l ive ly mess ian ic expec ta t ions .

4 3

DiLel la sug

ges t s tha t the He brew M S B f rom the Cai ro Geniza was one of the d ocum ents

found b y the K arai tes in a cav e near Jer ich o about 80 0 C . E . and had or iginated

a t Q u m r a n .

4 4

This wo uld expla in how the me ss ian ic ideology of the De ad Sea

sect could have found i t s way into a manuscr ipt of Si rach 's book.

The Prayer for

Del iverance in Chapter 36

Th ere is one pa ssage in B en Sira that burns with eschatological fervor. Th is is

the prayer for deliverance in chapter 36, which asks God to hasten the day, re

member the appointed t ime, crush the heads of the hosti le rulers, gather al l the

tribes of Jacob, and have pity on the ci ty of the sanctuary.

4 5

The prayer begins

with an appeal for mercy to the "God of al l" (36:1). The phrase recurs in 45:23c

(Hebrew only) and 50:22a (Greek only; Hebrew reads "God of Israel") . The

praye r then ask s Go d to put al l the nations in fear, as had bee n the case during the

original conq uest of Ca naa n (cf. Ex od. 15 :15 -16 ). Th e nations should be brou ght

4 2 . See Col l ins , The Scepter and the Star, 3 1 ^ 1 .

4 3 .

I b id ., 7 4 - 1 0 1 .

4 4 . Skehan and DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 569 .

4 5 .

J . Marbock , "Das Gebet urn d ie Ret tung Zions S ir 36 ,1 - 22 (G :33 , l -1 3a ; 36 ,1 6b -22 ) im

Zusammenhang der Geschichtsschau Ben Siras ," in J . B. Bauer, ed. , Memoria Jerusalem

(Jerusalem/Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt , 1977) 93-116.



no

Hebrew Wisdom

low just as Israel has been ; as G od h um iliated Israel to show the nations his holi

ness ,

so now he should bring dow n the nations to show his glory. T he prayer ask s

for new signs and wonders in the manner of the exodus (Exod. 7:3). This is the

only passag e in the book w here the exod us is evok ed as an event of l iberation.

The not ion that God determines the t imes has been encountered a l ready in

Si r . 33 :7-9 . In S i r . 36 :10 , Hebrew "end" (qes) is rendered in the Greek as

kairos,

t ime. There is some tension in 36:10 between the bel ief that God can

hasten the day of vengeance and the bel ief that the t ime is appointed and God

need only remember i t . The l ink ing of the t e rms "end" and "appoin ted t ime"

der ives f rom Hab. 2:3, and is ref lected several t imes in Daniel (10:14; 11:27,

35) , where i t invar iably impl ies that the t ime is f ixed. The idea that God can

hasten the end ar ises f rom the urgency of prayer . Si rach 36:11 cal ls for com

plete dest ruct ion of the en em y, leaving no surv ivors . Th e crushing of the h ead s

of the enemy is an a l lus ion to Balaam's oracle in Num. 24:18 (cf . a lso Ps .

110:6) . Especial ly noteworthy is the emphasis on the ful f i l lment of prophecy

in Sir. 3 6 : 2 0 - 2 1 . While Sirach 's sage s tudies prophecies (39:1) , we do not get

the sens e that he exp ects the m to be fulfi lled. Th e fulfil lment of pro ph ec y is of

urgent concern in Daniel (cf . Daniel 9) and in the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g. , the

Peshe r on Hab akkuk ) . The Apo s t rophe to Z i on from Qu mran ( 1 l Q P s 2 2 : 5 - 6 ,

13-14) a lso recal ls the vis ions of the prophets for the res torat ion of Zion.

This prayer i s except ional both in the context of the bibl ical psalms and in

the context of Ben Sira . In the canonical psal ter , communal prayers for del iv

e rance a re usua l ly embedded in psa lms of compla in t , which inc lude some de

scr ipt ion of the abject s ta te of the community.

4 6

Comparable prayers f rom the

Sec ond Te m ple per iod a lso typical ly include a confess ion of s in . Ex am ples can

be found in Ezra 9 :6-15; Neh. 9 :6-37; Dan. 9 :4-19; Prayer of Azar iah ; Bar .

2:11-26; 4QWords of the Luminar ies . There is no confess ion of s in in Sirach

36 ,

and the distress of Jerusalem is only hinted at . Instead we find a direct ap

peal for divine intervent ion.

This prayer i s the main passage in Sirach whose authent ic i ty i s disputed.

4 7

N ow here e l se in the boo k does S i rach express an tagonism tow ard fore ign na

t ions . I f this prayer was composed by Ben Sira , the host i le rulers would have

to be the Seleucids , w ho ruled Pales t ine f rom 198 B.c.E. But Josephus repor t s

that Seleucid rule was ini t ia l ly welcomed by the Jews, and that Ant iochus I I I

( the Great) helped res tore the c i ty and supported the temple cul t {Ant.

12.129-53) . The High Pr ies t of the day was Simon II ( the Just ) , who is eulo

gized in Sir . 5 0 : 1 - 2 1 . The res torat ion of Temple and ci ty are l i s ted as his out

s tanding ac hiev em ents . I t i s scarcely conc eivab le , then, that Si rach wo uld hav e

4 6 .

Pss . 44; 74; 79-80; 83; E. Gerstenberger, Psalms: with an Introduction to Cultic Poetry

(Grand Rapids: Eerdm ans, 1 988) 14.

47 . M iddendorp , Die Stellung Jesus Ben Siras, 1 2 5 - 3 2 .




111

viewed Ant iochus I I I as a host i le ruler , or asked God to crush his head.

4 8

In

fact , such sent iments make sense only in or af ter the t ime of Ant iochus IV

Epiphanes , and there is no other ref lect ion of that re ign in Sirach 's book. The

possibi l i ty that the poem was composed before the Syr ian takeover , and re

gards the Ptolemies as the enemy, i s unsat isfactory because of the gener ic de

nun ciat ion of foreign n at ions , w hich does not discr im inate betw een f r iend and

foe.

Ben Sira ' s book was cer ta inly compiled af ter the Seleucid conquest . The

l ikel ihood that this prayer i s a secondary addi t ion to the book is overwhelm

ing. I t i s t rue that 35 :2 1- 26 p rovid es a lead into the p ra y er .

4 9

T his expla ins w hy

the praye r wa s inser ted a t this par t icular point . But the passag e in chapter 35 is

concerned wi th the un iversa l judgment of God on the unr igh teous , whereby

"he repays mortals according to thei r deeds" (35:24) . The prayer in chapter 36

cal ls for a highly par t icular judgment on the enemies of Israel .

In fact, this pra ye r in cha pte r 36 is rem ote in spiri t from the rest of the te ach

ing of Si rach, and was most probably inser ted into the book at the t ime of the

M accab ean c r i s is . S i rac h ' s ow n v iew of h is tory has no escha to logica l u rge ncy .

Rather , he takes a synchronic view, where the goal of his tory l ies in the es tab

l ishment of certain inst i tut ions and offices. When a High Priest l ike Simon II

is in office in Jerusalem, there is no need to crush the heads of foreign rulers;

they can be manipulated for the greater glory of the Jewish people . Zion is a l

ready fi l led with the divine majesty.

Sirach's lack of eschatological concern is typical of the biblical wisdom tra

di t ion. Eschatology is equal ly absent f rom Proverbs , Job, and Qoheleth. We

should not necessar i ly conclude that eschatology is incompat ible wi th wisdom

literature as such. Sirach modified the tradit ion boldly in some respects. Later

wisdom writers would modify i t in others. Some of the sapiential texts from

Q um ran , at m ost a century after Sirach, com bine d their tradit ional wisd om teach

ing wi th an eschatological perspect ive , which entai led a cosmic judgment . We

shall f ind elaborate eschatological expectations in the Wisdom of Solomon, but

these are more concerned with the immortali ty of the soul than with the restora

t ion of Israel . Neither the wisdom texts from the Dead Sea nor the Wisdom of

So lom on ex hibit the kind of eschatolog ical urgen cy reflected in the pray er in Si

rach 36 or in some apocalyptic l i terature. Nonetheless, wisdom li terature was a

flexible macro-genre that could incorporate a wide and changing array of con

cerns. Ben Sira 's lack of eschatology is a result not of the genre he uses but of

his social location, which led him to eulogize the status quo, and of the relat ive

peac e and prosper i ty of the t im e at wh ich he wrote . It wo uld be mu ch m ore

dif

f icult to view the inst i tut ions of Israel , and especially the High Priesthoo d, w ith

such uncri t ical contentment after the upheavals of the Maccabean era.

4 8 .

Pace Skehan and DiL el la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 42 2, wh o argue that Antioch us III was

arrogant enough to say, "There is no other beside me" (36:12b).

4 9 . Skehan and DiLel la , The Wisdom of Ben Sira, 420 .



Chapter 7.

W is d o m in t h e D e a d S e a S c r o l l s

The corpus of Hebrew wisdom l i tera ture f rom the Hel lenis t ic per iod has been

great ly increased by the Dead Sea Scrol ls .

1

Th ere are f ragme nts of the bibl ical

books of Proverbs (4Q102, 103) , Qohele th (4Q109, 110) , and Job (2Q15;

4Q99 , 100 , 101 ) .

2

There a re a l so two Aramaic Targums of Job (4Q157,

11Q10) . Ben Sira i s represented by two smal l f ragments f rom Cave 2 (2Q18) ,

but Si r . 51:13-19a is found in the Psalms Scrol l , and extensive f ragments of

the book were found at Masada.

The Psalms Scrol l f rom Qumran Cave 11 also contains the Hebrew text of

a wisdom psa lm tha t was prev ious ly known only in Syr iac (Psa lm 154 =

1 l Q P s

a

1 8 : 1 - 1 6 ) .

3

This psalm locates the voice of wisdom in "the assembly of

t he p i ou s"

(qehal hdsidtm):

"W he n they eat in ful lness , she is m ent ion ed; an d

when they dr ink in community together , thei r medi ta t ion is on the Law of the

Most High." I t a lso contends that praise is as acceptable to the Most High as

sacr i f ice . Inevi tably, one thinks of the Qumran Community Rule , which pre

scr ibes Torah s tudy every night of the year (1QS 6) and speaks of a tonement

by r ighteous act ion (1QS 8) . The psalm, however , i s not necessar i ly a product

of the Qu m ran co m m uni ty , s ince there m ay have been o ther assembl ies of the

pious who s tudied the Torah. In the words of the edi tor : "Al though Psalm 154

may have been proto-Essenian and may have or iginated in ear ly c i rc les which

later became par t of the Qumran group, the psalm i tse l f lacks any character is

t ic that should be cal led exclusiv ely E ssenian . I t i s bibl ical in voca bulary and

t one ,

no t Es sen i an o r Qumran i an . "

4

The psalm is closer in spiri t to the Torah

1. The most comprehensive review available is that of D. J. Harrington, Wisdom Texts from

Qumran

(London: Ro utledge, 1996) . See also L. H. Schiffman,

Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls

(New York: Jewish Publicat ion Society , 1994) 197-210. An older survey before the unpublished

scrol ls became avai lable was included in M. Kuchler , Fruhjud ische Weisheitstraditionen ( O B O

26;

Got t ingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979) 88 -1 09 .

2 . E. Ulric h, "An Index of the Passa ges in the Biblical M anuscripts from the Judean De sert (part

2: Isaiah-Chronicles) ," Dead Sea Discoveries 2 ( 1 9 9 5 ) 8 6 - 1 0 7 .

3. The "Hymn to the Creator" (11Q5 26:9-15) , a previously unknown composit ion also found

in the Psalms S crol l , resembles som e of the material in Sir. 39 -4 3, but it is an independent hym n

and not part of a wisdom book.

4 .

J. A. Sanders, The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1967) 109.



W isdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls

113

psalms of the Psal ter than to Ben Sira , as i t does not deal wi th pract ical wis

do m and i t i s not c lear that it env isages any other sources of wis do m a par t f rom

the Torah and the worship of the Lord.

Even this br ief comment on Psalm 154 ra ises one of the most pers is tent

problems in the s tudy of the sapient ia l mater ia ls in the Dead Sea Scrol ls :

Should they be regarded as produc t s of the communi ty , o r communi t i es , r e

spon sible for hidin g them in the cave s , or should they be view ed as par t of the

gen eral her i tage of Jud aism aroun d the turn of the er a?

5

Th ere are plenty of ex

amples of wisdom language and mot i fs in texts that are c lear ly sectar ian, such

as t he Com m uni t y Ru l e , t he Dam ascus Do cum en t , and the Hod ayo t .

6

W i s d o m

tradit ions were a significant source for the thinking of the Dead Sea sect . Our

concern here , however , i s wi th works that are formal ly sapient ia l ins t ruct ions ,

no t ru le book s or hym ns (a l though som e passages in bo th the Com m uni ty Rule

and the Damascus Document can reasonably be regarded as wisdom ins t ruc

t ions) . Such tex ts typical ly give l i t tle indicat ion of thei r pro ven anc e. On the on e

han d, they do not refer to com m un ity s t ructures or organ izat ion, but deal ra ther

with family re la t ionships and individual pie ty. Never theless , a text that deals

wi th family issues , and presupposes marr ied l i fe , could be a product of the

D ead Sea sect or a bran ch thereof. (The D am ascus Doc um ent c lea r ly envisages

marr ied members . ) On the other hand, some of these texts , in varying degrees ,

contain language and mot i fs that l ink them with sectar ian composi t ions such

as the Community Rule . This l inkage does not prove sectar ian or igin, but a t

least i t shows that the texts in question belong to a stream of tradit ion that was

congenial to the sectar ians and not necessar i ly common to a l l par t ies in Ju

daism at the t ime.

Tradi t ional Wisdom in the Scrol l s

The more t radi t ional end of the spectrum of wisdom inst ruct ions a t Qum

ran i s represented by severa l f ragmentary works .

7

4Q420-21 desc r i be s t he

character is t ics of a wise and r ighteous person. 4Q424 descr ibes persons to be

avoided and others to be cul t ivated as f r iends . Even though 4Q413 is int ro

du ced as a psa lm , i ts subject i s the way of w isdo m . 4Q5 25 is kn ow n as 4Q B eat-

i tudes because i t contains a ser ies of f ive macar isms that invi te comparison

5. On the m ethodo logical problem, see C. N ew so m ," 'Sectual ly expl ic i t ' Literature from Qum

ran," in W. Propp et al. , eds., The Hebrew Bible and Its Interpreters (Wino na Lake, Ind.: Eisen -

brauns, 1990) 167-87.

6 . A. Lange, Weisheit und Predestination: Weisheitliche Urordn ung und Prddestination in der

Textfunden von Qumran

(Le iden: Br i ll , 1995) 195 -29 5; A. -M . Den is ,

Les themes de connaissance

dans le Document de Damas (Studia Hel lenist ica 15; Louvain: Leuven U niv. Press , 1967); S . J .

Tanzer, "The Sages at Qumran: Wisdom in the Hodayof (Ph.D . Dis s . Harvard, 1987) .

7. Harrington, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 6 0 - 7 4 .



114

Hebrew Wisdom

with the Bea t i tudes in the Gospe l s .

8

The most notable of these is found in

vv . 3-4: "H app y i s the m an [w ho] has a tt a ined wisdom , and walks by the Law

of the M os t Hig h ," a them e fami li a r from P sa lm 1 and Psa lm 154 . Th e wisd om

expounded in these texts , however , i s unexcept ional , and gives no hint of sec

ta r i an provenance .

T w o texts pub l ished in the 1960s a lso resem ble t radi t ional wisd om , but thei r

in te rpre ta t ion i s more cont rovers ia l . One of these , 4Q184, was dubbed "The

Wiles of the Wicked Woman" by i t s ed i tor , John Al legro .

9

Al legro recon

s t ructed "the har lot" (hazzondh) in the opening l ine to read "th e har lot ut ters

fol ly ," but this reconst ruct ion is not possible .

1 0

He also exaggerated the sexual

expl ic i tness of the po em (e .g . , in terpret ing references to "the pi t" as "the pi t of

her legs" ra ther than the netherworld) . But whi le his character izat ion of the

poem is exaggerated, the general tenor has been maintained in subsequent

t r a n s l a t i o n s .

1 1

There can be no doubt that the poem is modeled on the por t rayal of the

"s t range w om an " of Prov erbs 2 , 5 , 7 , and 9. Already in Prove rbs , this f igure is

am bigu ous. S he is por t rayed real is t ical ly as a s treetwalker , wh o seduc es the un

suspect ing youth, in Prov erbs . But in Prove rbs 9 "the foolish w om an " (or "Lad y

Fol ly" ) i s c lear ly the ant i type to La dy W isdo m , an a l legor ical representat ion of

fool ishness ra ther than a m ere pro st i tu te .

1 2

Since the paths of this wom an are re

peatedly said to lead to the netherw orld (Prov. 2 :1 8- 19 ; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18) , som e

scholars hav e suspected an a l lus ion to a go d de ss .

1 3

I t is not surprising , then, tha t

the Qumran text has a lso given r ise to a wide range of interpreta t ions . These

range f rom the fanciful (a r ival sect , Simon Maccabee)

1 4

to the intriguing (the

8. E. Puech, "4Q525 et les pericopes des beat i tudes en Ben Sira et Matthieu,"

RB

98 (1991)

8 0 - 1 0 6 .

9 . J. M . Allegr o, "The W iles of the W icked W om an: A Sapiential Work from Q umran's Fourth

Cave ,"

PEQ

9 6 ( 1 9 6 4 ) 5 3 - 5 5 ; i d e m,

Qumran Cave 4:I(4Q158-4Q186) (DJD

5; Oxford: Claren

don, 1968) 82-85. Also indispensable is the review by J . Strugnel l , "Notes en marge du volume

V des 'Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan, '" RevQ 1 (1970) 163 -27 6 (pp . 26 3- 68 dea l

with this text).

10.

Strugnell , "Notes en marge," 264. Only the final

he

is preserved. If the preced ing letter were

nun, the ligature should be visible.

11. G. Vermes , The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (4th ed.; London: Penguin, 1995) 27 3, ent i tles

the poem "The Seductress ." F. Garcia M artinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden : Brill ,

1994) 379, retains "Wiles of the Wicked Woman."

12. On the symbolism of these passages , see C. Newsom, "Woman and the Discourse of Patri

archal W isdom : A Study of Proverbs 1 -9 ," in P. L. Day , ed. , Gender and Difference in Ancient Is

rael (M inneapol is: Fortress , 1989) 1 42 -6 0.

13.

R. J . Cl i f ford, "Proverbs IX: A Suggested Ugarit ic Paral le l ," V725 (1975) 298-306.

14. J. Carmignac, "Poeme allegorique sur la secte rivale," RevQ 5 (1965) 361-74 , argues that

the wo ma n represents a r ival sect . Cf . A. M . Gazov -Ginzb erg, "D ouble-M eaning in a Qumran

Work: The Wi les o f the Wicked Woman," RevQ 6 (19 67) 27 9- 85 . Ev en more fanciful is H.

Burgmann, "The W icked W oman: D er Makkabaer S imon?" RevQ 8 ( 1 9 7 4 ) 3 2 3 - 5 9 .



Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls

115

demones s L i l i t h ) .

1 5

I t is probably safe to say that something more is intended

than a warning against adultery. The statement that "she is the beginning of al l

the ways of iniquity" (v. 8) invites a contrast with the f igure of wisdom in Prov.

8:22, and suggests that a way of l ife is at stake. She looks at

the righteous man to overtake him, and at the important man to trip him up, at

upright men to pervert their way, and at the righteous elect to keep them from

the commandment, at the firmly established to bring them down wantonly, and

those w ho walk in uprightness to chan ge the statute, to cause the humb le to trans

gress from G od, and to turn their steps from the ways o f rig h te ou sn es s . . . to lead

people astray in the ways of the pit, and to seduce with flatteries the sons of

m e n .

1 6

W ha t is at i ssue here is not jus t sexua l t ransgress ion b ut a who le wa y of l ife ,

of w hich sexual t ransgress ion is only a represen tat ive ins tance. The wo rd t rans

la ted "f la t ter ies" (hdlaqot) is the sam e w ord that is often used to cha racte rize

the teachings of the opponents of the Dead Sea sect as "seekers af ter smooth

t h i n g s . "

1 7

N eve r theles s , it i s too narrow to say that the text warn s against "the

dang ers and a t trac tion of fa lse do c t r in e ."

1 8

Th e wom an in the po em represent s

the wa y of fol ly , and this i s not only a m at ter of fa lse do ct r in e .

1 9

On the one hand, 4Q184 lacks the real ism of Proverbs 7 in por t raying the

har lot , and re l ies on more abst ract formulat ions . On the other hand, the asso

cia t ion of the fool ish woman with death and the netherworld, which was a l

ready prom inent in Prove rbs , beco m es mo re pronoun ced . Th e re la tive ly shor t

poem conta ins no fewer than e leven a l lus ions to the ne therwor ld .

2 0

Mos t s ig

nificant is the statement in v. 7: "Amid everlast ing fire is her inheri tance, not

among al l those who shine br ight ly ." Nei ther Proverbs nor Sirach enter ta ined

the prospect of everlast ing fire for the wicked. In Jewish tradit ion, this was an

innovation of the apocalyptic l i terature (cf .

1 Enoch

10:6,13; 18:15) . I t i s a lso

the punishment of those who walk in the spi r i t of darkness in 1QS 4:13. The

older wisdom of Proverbs , Qoheleth, and Sirach was resolutely this-worldly in

i ts worldview. In the Dead Sea Scrol ls we f ind that wisdom inst ruct ion could

also env isage the prospect of jud gm en t after death.

15. J . Baum garten, "On the Nature of the Seductress in 4Q 184 ," RevQ 57 (1991 ) 133 -43 , iden

tifies her as the malevolent female spirit Lilith.

16.

Lines 13-17, trans. Harrington.

17. This is usually taken as a reference to the Pharisees, because of its use in the pesher on

Na hum with reference to the opponents of King Alexa nder Jannaeus. The word hdlaqot may be a

play on the halakah of the Pharisees.

18.

V e r m e s , The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, 273 .

19. Com pare R. D. M oore, "Personif icat ion of the Seduction of Evi l : The W iles of the W icked

W o m a n , " RevQ 1 0 ( 1 9 8 1 ) 5 0 5 - 1 9 .

20 .

Baumgarten, "On the Nature of the Seductress," 139.



116

Hebrew Wisdom

The threat of ever las t ing f i re i s not the only mot i f that 4Q184 has in com

m on w i th the t rea ti se on the T w o Spi r i ts in the Com m uni ty R ule . Th e "w icked

w om an " i s assoc ia ted wi th "founda t ions of darkn ess" (v . 4 ) ; "her lodgings a re

bed s of dark ness . In the dee p of nigh t are her tents ; in the foundat ions of g loo m

she sets up her dwel l ing"(vv. 5-6) . She could easi ly be taken to symbol ize the

way of darkness , and the text was probably read this way at Qumran. This in

terpreta t ion d oes not require that the text was co m po sed as a sectar ian a l legory ,

but i t is closer in spiri t to the sectarian texts (such as 1QS) than to the practi

cal , this-worldly wisdom of Ben Sira .

Th e use of a fem ale f igure to sym bol ize the way of fol ly a nd w icked ness un

doubted ly has nega t ive im pl ica t ions for the au th or ' s v iew of wo m en. N one the

less , i t doe s not warran t the con clusio n that e i ther the author or the peop le w ho

hid the scrol ls were misogynis ts . The semierot ic poem in praise of wisdom as

a feminine f igure in Sirach 51 is a lso preserved in the Psalms Scrol l . Nei ther

poem was necessar i ly composed for a sectar ian context . Al l we can say is that

4Q 18 4 cont inues an o ld t rad i t ion of us ing the sexua l ly prom iscuou s w om an as

a symbol for the way of folly. I t differs from the older texts primarily by in

t roducing an eschatological perspect ive , and by heightening the dual is t ic im

pl icat ions of the symbol ism through the imagery of darkness .

An other re la t ively t radi tional piece of w isdo m teaching is found in 4Q 1 8 5 .

2 1

Th e addressee s of this text are cal led not only "yo u s im ple " and "m y so ns , " but

a l so "sons of m en " and "m y peo ple ." The l as t appe l lat ion l ed St rugne l l to com

pare the text to "sapient ia l m edi ta t ion s in the s tyle of Psa lm 7 8 " ra ther than to

t he s t anda rd wi sdom books .

2 2

(Psa lm 78 begins , "Give ear , O my people , to

my teaching," and proceeds to ref lect on the his tory of Israel . ) The occasional

address to "you, sons of men," however , shows that the hor izon of the text i s

not l im i ted to Israel . Th e text uses the famil iar sapient ia l mixtu re of co m m an ds

and prohibi t ions . The extant f ragments conclude wi th beat i tudes , congratula t

i ng " t he man t o wh om she has been g i ven . " The "sh e" i s p r e sumab l y w i sd om .

2 3

Th ree features of this f ragm entary text are notew orthy in light of the ear l ier

wisdom tradi t ion.

Firs t, the f ragmentary beginning of the text speaks of an imp ending jud gm ent

by the angels. We shall f ind that the most extensive wisdom text found at Qum

ran (4QSapient ia l Work A) a lso begins wi th a passage about divine judgment .

Th e role of angels in judg m ent i s noted prom inent ly both in the Co m m unity Ru le

(1QS 4 :11-13) and the Damascus Document (CD 2:5-6) , bo th of which speak

2 1 . H . Lichtenberger, "Eine weish eit l iche M ahnrede in den Qumranfunde (4Q 185 ) ," in M . D el-

cor, ed., Qum ran: Sa piete, sa theologie et son milieu (BET L 46; Louva in: Leuven U niv . Press,

1978) 15 1- 62 ; T. H. Tob in, "4Q18 5 and Jewish W isdom Literature," in H. W. Attr idge et a l . , eds . ,

Of Scribes and Scrolls (Lanham, M d.: University Press of Am erica, 1990) 14 5- 52 .

2 2 . Strugnel l, "Notes en marge," 269.

2 3 . Harrington, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 38 , a l lows that i t may b e e ither wi sdo m or the

Torah.




117

of "the angels of destruction." Angels also play a part in judgment in the books

of Da niel and

Enoch,

bo th of wh ich are older than the Qu m ran s ec t .

2 4

Here again

w e see the influence of apocalyp tic tradit ions on a w isdo m instruction. Sinc e the

following p assa ge com pare s the "so ns of m en " to grass that sprouts and dies, the

judg m ent env isaged is probably the judg m ent of the individual dead .

Second, the speaker cal ls on "my people" to ref lect on the might of God

2 5

and remember the marve l s he d id in Egypt (1 :14-15) . The use of I s rae l ' s h i s

tory as a source of wisdom and teaching was pioneered by Ben Sira , but a lso

in a di f ferent w ay by the psalm ists (e .g . , Psa lm 7 8) . I t w ould b e develop ed fur

ther , in a di f ferent context , in the Wisdom of Solomon. Despi te the avoidance

of Isra el ' s his tory in Prov erbs and Q ohe leth, it s inclusion in a w isdo m b ook no

longer occasions surpr ise in the second century

B . C . E .

Third, the text admonishes i t s readers not to rebel against the words of the

Lord (2:3) . This ins is tence on the Commandments in a wisdom text i s a lso un

surprising in a text from the second century B . C . E . , and fol lows f rom Sirach 's

ident i f icat ion of wisdom with the Torah.

Th is text , too , w arn s against holding fast to w isdo m w ith flatteries (hdlaqot),

but there is no reason to posi t a sectar ian set t ing. The use of the divine name

in 2:3 would be exceptional in a sectarian context . This text reflects a stage in

the wisdom tradi t ion when appeal to the specif ic t radi t ions of Israel and apoc

alypt ic not ions of eschatological judgment had become par t of sapient ia l in

struction. I t is unlikely that this was the case before the second century B . C . E .

2 6

4 Q S a p i e n t i a l

W o r k A

The most extensive wisdom inst ruct ion found at Qumran is the text known

as 4QSap i en t i a l Work A.

2 7

Fragments of this work are preserved in 1Q26,

4 Q 4 1 5 ,

416 , 417 , 418 , and

4 2 3 .

2 8

The fact that s ix (or seven)

2 9

copies have

2 4 . E.g . , Dan . 12 :1 -4 ; 1 Enoch 1:9; 10:9-10; 2 0 : 1 ^ ; 88 :1 - 3 , e tc . See Tobin , "4Q185 ," 151 .

2 5 . The might of God is often associated with wisdom at Qumran, e .g . , 1QS 4:3; 10:16; 1QH

12:13. See Tobin, "4Q185," 150.

2 6 . The text to which 4Q185 is most c losely related is 4Q370, "An Admonit ion Based on the

Flood ." See C. Newsom, "4Q370: An Admoni t ion Based on the F lood ," RevQ 1 3 ( 1 9 8 8 ) 2 3 - 4 3 .

Newsom argues that there must be some interdependence between the two texts , s ince they have

tw o

topoi

in co m m on , the ephem eral nature of huma n existenc e and the need to pay attention to

the wonders of God. It is not possible to determine which text is prior.

27. This is dist inguished from 4QSapiential Work B (4Q 419) and 4QSapiential Work C (4Q 424 ) .

2 8 .

Harrington,

Wisdom Texts from Qumran,

40 -5 9 . S ee a l so Harrington , "W isdom at Qum

ran," in E. Ulrich and J. VanderKam, eds . , The Comm unity of the Renewed Covenant (Notre Da m e,

Ind.: Univ. of Notre Dame Press , 1994) 137-52; Lange, Weisheit und Prddestination, 4 5 - 9 2 .

2 9 . T . Elgvin counts sev en cop ies rather than s ix , dist inguishing betw een 4Q 418 a and 4Q4 18b .

See Elgvin, "Wisdom, Revelat ion and Eschatology in an Early Essene Writ ing," in E. H. Lover-

ing, ed. , SBL Seminar Papers (Atlanta: Scholars , 1995 ) 44 0; "The Mystery to Co me : Early Esse ne

Theology of Revelat ion," in T. L. Thompson and N. P. Lemche, eds . , Qumran between the Old

and the New Testament

(Sheffield: Sheffield Ac ade m ic Press: forthcom ing).



118

Hebrew Wisdom

survived is an indicat ion of the impo rtanc e of the w ork at Q um ran , and the fact

that a cop y w as hidde n in C av e 1, w i th several m ajor sectar ian scrol ls , m ay also

be s ignif icant . Al though substant ia l par ts of the text have survived, i t i s ex

tremely fragmentary, and therefore i t is impossible to get a clear picture of i ts

l i terary s t ructure . The avai lable evidence suggests that , l ike the book of Ben

Sira , i t was loosely s t ructured a t best . Like Sirach (and la te Egypt ian wisdom

texts) i t combines passages of a pract ical nature wi th theoret ical , theological

r e f l ec t i ons .

3 0

Un l ike S i rach , the ex tan t passages have no poem s on wisdo m i t

self,

e i ther personif ied or not . This work has , however , a f rame of reference

that dis t inguish es i t f rom Sirach and bibl ical wisd om . The add ressee is told re

peatedly to "gaze on the mystery that i s to be"

(raz nihyeh).

While the exact

unders tanding of this mystery is , appropr ia te ly enough, myster ious , i t appears

to invo lve a cosm olog ical and esch atologica l f rame that i s qui te di fferent f rom

the this-worldly perspect ive of Si rach.

The pract ical ins t ruct ion of this text i s found mainly in 4Q416 and 417.

These texts are punctuated by reminders that "you are poor ." They are not ex

pl ic i t as to w heth er the pove r ty is mater ia l or spi r i tual , but the con text indicates

that mater ia l pover ty is involved. In 4Q416, the comments on pover ty fol low

a sect ion that deals wi th credi t and responsibi l i ty in f inancial mat ters : "As

m uch as a m an ' s c red i tor wi ll l end h im in mon ey, has ti ly pay h im back and you

wil l be on an equal foot ing wi th him. I f your t reasure purse [ l i t . "cup"] you

have entrusted to your credi tor on account of your f r iends , you have given

aw ay al l you r li fe for it s pr ice . Has ten an d give wh at i s his , and take ba ck yo ur

pu rse " (4Q 41 6 frag. 2 , col . i i . 4 - 5 [= 4 Q 4 1 7 frag. 1 , col . i i . 6 -8 ] ; cf. 4Q 41 6 2.

iii. 5 - 7 ) .

3 1

This advice is in accordance wi th age-old wisdom (cf . Prov.

22 :26 -27 ) . But the Qu m ran tex t has no precedent in Jewish w isdo m l it e ra ture

for i t s ins is tence o n the pov er ty of the a ddre ssee.

This poverty is not at al l an ideal . The addressee is warned, "Do not esteem

yourself highly for poverty when you are a pauper, lest you bring into contempt

your ow n l i fe" (4Q 416 2. i i . 20 -2 1) . One should not refuse prosper i ty i f the op

portun ity offers: "If they cau se yo u to dw ell in splendor, w alk in i t T o H im

w ho glorif ies you g ive hon or, and praise H is na m e alway s. Fo r out of pov erty H e

has li fted up you r head and w i th nobles He has seated you " (4Q 416 2 . i ii . 9-1 2) .

Th e author realizes that peo ple wa nt m or e than they can afford, but war ns ag ainst

3 0 .

Harrington,


4 0 - 4 1 .

3 1 . Translations follow those of Harrington, with minor modifications. A provisional transcrip

t ion of the Hebre w text can be found in B. Z. Wa cholder and M . G. Ab egg , A Preliminary Edition

of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls (W ashington: Bibl ical Arc haeo logy Society , 1992) Fascic le

2 . 44-154; 166-71. Translat ions can also be found in Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls

Translated, 38 3- 93 ; and in R. H. Eisenman and M. Wise , The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (Rock-

port , Mass . : Element, 1992) 241-54 (of 4Q416 and 418) . On the Eisenman and Wise translat ion,

see D . J. Harrington and

J.

Strugnell , "Qumran Cave 4 Texts: A N ew Publicat ion," JB L 112 (1993)

4 9 1 - 9 9 .




119

i t: "Y ou are poor . D o not desire something bey ond y our share and do not be con

fused by i t , lest you displace your boundary" (4Q416 2. i i i . 8) . Also, poverty

should not be made into an excuse for not studying (4Q416 2. i i i . 12-13). In al l

of this it w ou ld seem that the text has m aterial pov erty in m in d .

3 2

T he ideal seems

to be one of mod eration and self-sufficiency: "D o not sate yourself with food

when there is no clothing, and do not drink wine when there is no food; do not

seek after luxury when you lack bread" (4Q416 2. i i . 18-20); or again: "That

which He gives you for food eat , and do not [eat] any more lest [you sh]orten

yo ur life" (4Q 417 1. i . 20 -2 1) . Sim ilar advice on mod eration and self-sufficiency

can be found in Proverbs and Ben Sira, but there is no assumption in the earl ier

tradit ion that the addres see is poo r. On the con trary, it is assu m ed that Ben Si ra 's

instruction, and that of the sages in general , is prima rily directed tow ard the w ell-

to-do.

The social set t ing of the Sapiential Work from Qumran would seem to be

significantly different from that of the earlier wisdom books.

T he pov er ty of the address ees is imp l ied in one other text f rom the ear ly sec

ond century B . C . E . , the Epis t le of Enoch (7 Enoch 92-105) . But the Enochic

text has a very di fferent tone , as i t repeated ly pron oun ces w oes ag ainst the r ich

and promises the poor redress in the l i fe to come.

3 3

The Sapient ia l Work f rom

Qumran expresses no anger against the r ich. I t does , however , share wi th the

Enochic text an eschatological perspect ive to which we shal l re turn below.

The Qumran Sapient ia l Work also advocates humil i ty , but the advice seems

to be bound up wi th the low esta te of the addressee. A very f ragmentary and

obsc ure passa ge a t the beg inning of 4Q 41 7, on the subject of

reproof,

caut ions ,

"D o not over lo ok you r ow n s ins ." Un der lyin g this advice is the rem inder : "F or

what i s more ins ignif icant than a poor man?" (4Q417 1. i . 10) . Honor and

sham e p lay som e ro le in these re la t ionsh ips . 4Q4 16 2 . ii . 15-1 6 counse l s : "D o

not abase your soul before one wh o is no t equa l to y o u . . . . D o not smi te one

who does not have your s t rength les t you make him s tumble, and your own

shame you increase great ly ." These concerns , however , are not near ly as

prominent in the Qumran text as they were in Ben Sira .

Th e pover ty of the addres sees do es not appreciably a l ter thei r famil ia l re la

t ions ,

except perhaps that i t under l ines the need for respectful and proper be

havior . The Sapient ia l Work agrees wi th Sirach, and al l of Hel lenis t ic Jewish

e th ics , in demanding honor for bo th fa ther and mother ,

3 4

but i t adds some

3 2 . A further indication of the addresse e's low estate can be seen in 4Q 41 7 1. i . 25 , wh ich giv es

advice for a person subjected to flogging.

3 3 . E.g . , 1 Enoch 94:8 : "Wo e to yo u, you rich, for you hav e trusted in your riches, but from you r

riches yo u w ill depart for you did not reme mb er the M ost H igh in the days o f your riches." Se e G .

W. Nicke l sburg , "The Apoca lypt ic Messag e o f 1 Enoch 92- 10 5 ,"

CBQ

3 9 (1 9 7 7 ) 3 0 9 - 2 8 ;

"Riches , the Rich , and God 's Judgment in 1 Eno ch 9 2- 10 5 and the Go spel according to Luke,"

NTS 25 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 3 2 4 - 4 4 .

3 4 .

Sir . 4:1-17; 7:27-28. See the discussion in Chapter 4 above.



120 Hebrew W isdom

interes t ing mo t ivat iona l phra ses: "for as Go d is to a m an, so is his fa ther , and

as a m aster [or: the Lord ? 'dddnim] is to a fe l low, so is his mo the r" (4 Q 416 2.

iii. 1 6 ) .

3 5

Several reasons are given for this exal ted s ta tus . Fi rs t , "They are the

smel t ing-pot that was pregnant wi th you" (cf . Si r . 7 :27-28) . Second, "God set

them in au thor i ty over you ." Thi rd , "They uncovered your ea r to the mys te ry

that i s to be ." Final ly , one should revere one 's parents "for the sake of your

hon or . . . for the sake of you r li fe and the length of you r day s" (cf. Si r . 3 :1 1:

"His fa ther ' s g lory i s a person ' s own g lory") .

Th ere are tw o dist inctive notes here . Fam ily relations are not egali tarian. T hey

are based on an order, which is believed to be God-given. The concern for hier

archical authori ty is also typical of sectarian texts such as the Community Rule.

Th is text m ay be uniqu e in mak ing grati tude for rel igious educa tion a reason for

hon oring o n e's pa rents. (Incidentally, it also show s that the primary locus for re

l igious education was the home.) The importance at tached to this education is

entailed by the imp ortanc e of "the m ystery that is to b e. " I t also sugg ests that this

document is not addressed to Jewish society at large, but to those who share an

understanding of this mystery and therefore have been init iated into some kind

of move m ent , w hatever i t s re la tionship to the set tlement a t Q um ran.

Relations between man and wife are characterized by respect , but also by hi

erarchical author ity . Th e impl ied addressee of the docum ent i s m a le .

3 6

He is ad

m onished not to "dishono r the vessel of your bos om " (4Q4 16 2. ii . 21) , a l though

we are not told what that might entai l .

3 7

The main discussion of marr iage in

4Q 41 6 frag. 2 , col . iv em pha sizes tha t it is "yo u H e has set in authori ty ove r her.

. . . H er father He has not set in authori ty over her; from he r m othe r H e has sep

arated her." The passage frequently al ludes to Genesis. The wife is called "the

helpmeet of your f lesh" (Gen. 2:20; an al lusion also found in Sir . 36:29). The

unity of f lesh, however, is interpreted primarily in terms of authori ty. The chief

exa m ple of this authori ty that is preserv ed co ncern s the mak ing a nd fulfil ling of

v o w s :

"Let her not make numerous vows and votive offerings. . . . Every oath

bind ing on her, to vo w a vow , annu l i t acco rding to an utterance of you r m ou th."

This passage addresses an old problem, where the piety of the wife incurred ex

pense for the husb an d .

3 8

The biblical basis for the advice given here is found in

N um . 30 :6 -1 5. Th e subject is a lso addressed in C D 16 :10-1 2, but there the ad

vice is m ore caut ious: no one should ann ul a vow without check ing as to wh ether

i t should b e kept; i t shou ld be ann ulled o nly if i t violates the cove nan t.

35 . The manuscript actually reads "for as a father [ab] is to a m an, so is his father," but this is

obviously a mistake. Read 'el, with Harrington. See Harrington, "Wisdom at Qumran," 148.

36 .

There is an exception to this in 4Q415. See below.

37. For the wife as "vessel ," cf. 1 Th ess . 4:4 . Ps . -Phocyl ide s 189 adm onishes against outraging

one 's w ife for shameful w ays o f intercourse , but the context in 4Q 41 6 is not sexual . The addressee

is also told not to bring his own life into contempt.

38 .

K. van der Toorn, From Her Cradle to Her Grave: The Role of Religion in the Life of the

Israelite and the Babylonian Wom an (Sheff ie ld: JSOT Press , 1994) 97-99.




121

In the Sapien t ia l Work , however , the annulment of vows i s on ly an in

s tance of a bro ade r pr inc ip le : "H e has se t you in au thor i ty so tha t she shou ld

walk in your good p leasure" (4Q416 2 . iv . 8 ) . Ben Si ra explo i t ed tha t p r in

c ip le and use d i t a s a jus t i f i ca t ion for d ivorc e : " I f she does no t confo rm to

your au thor i ty , cu t her of f f rom your f l esh" (S i r . 25 :26) . I t may be s ign i f i

can t tha t there i s no ment ion of d ivorce in the Sapien t ia l Work . S ince

the work i s so f ragmentary we cannot be sure tha t the subjec t was no t ad

dressed , bu t d ivorce (or a t l eas t r emar r iage) was prohib i t ed by the Damas

cus Documen t (CD 4 : 20 -21 ) , and t he Sap i en t i a l Work may have had a s i m

i l a r pos i t ion .

One other feature on the subject of women should be noted. One f ragment

of the man uscr ip t 4Q 41 5 (f rag. 2 , col . i i ) includes im perat ives an d p rohibi t ions

in the feminine form and so seems to be addressed to women, a t leas t in par t .

(Other f ragments of the manuscr ipt contain mascul ine verbs , and also contain

some of the character is t ic phrases of Sapient ia l Work A, such as "the mystery

tha t i s to be" and "you a re poor . ")

3 9

The actual advice given is qui te conven

t ional . The addressees are told to beware of viola t ing the "holy covenant" and

to be a subject of praise for al l men. But the very fact that a wisdom instruc

t ion is addressed to women is highly unusual .

The Mystery That Is to Be

The ethics advocated in this Qumran wisdom text are not merely ad hoc.

They a re grounded in a comprehens ive v iew of the purpose of c rea t ion ,

summed up in the en igmat ic phrase raz nihyeh, which is var iously t ransla ted

as " the mys te ry tha t i s to come,"

4 0

" t he mys t e ry of ex i s t enc e , "

4 1

or , here , "the

m ystery that i s to be ." Th e phrase occu rs mo re than tw enty t ime s in S apient ia l

Work A. The word

raz,

mys te ry , appears in Hebrew and Aramaic as a loan

w ord of Pers ian or igin. It appe ars nine t imes in the A ram aic chap ters of Dan iel .

I t occurs repea ted ly in the Qumran Communi ty Rule and Hodayot , and n ine

t i mes i n t he Book o f Mys t e r i e s .

4 2

The ph ra se raz nihyeh also occurs in the

Book of Mys te r ies and in the Communi ty Rule (1QS 11:3-4) . The word

ni

hyeh is a niphal par t ic iple of the verb to be. I t a lso occurs , wi thout the word

raz, in 1QS 3:15 and CD 2:10 (plural : nihyot). I t is usually taken to have a

39 . Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated, 50 0, regards this man uscript as only

"possibly" part of Sapiential Work A . W acholder and Abe gg, A Preliminary Edition, 44 , l ist it as

part of a separate work.

4 0 . So Harrington. Cf. J. T. Milik in DJD 1 .10 2-1 04: "le mystere future."

4 1 . So Eisenman and Wise , The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, 24 1- 55 ; c f. Lange , Weisheit und

Prddestination, 52 , "das Ge heim nis des W erdens."

4 2 .

Elgvin, "The Mystery to Come."



722

Hebrew Wisdom

future sense ("that which is to be"), but that sense does not appear to do full

jus t ice to i t s use in Sapient ia l Work A.

In the Sapiential Work, this mystery is repeatedly mentioned as an object of

study. It is taught by parents to their children (4Q416 2. iii . 18). People should

study i t despite their pove rty (4Q 416 2. ii i . 14). Peo ple sho uld m editate on i t by

day and by night (4Q417 2. i . 6) . Only a few passages, however, betray the con

tent of this m yste ry. O ne im po rtant text is found in 4Q 41 7 1. i . 10—12: "G az e o n

the raz nihyeh and und erstand the birth-t im e of salvation, and kno w w ho is to in

heri t glory and evil ." The passage goes on to promise "eternal joy for their sor

row." From this we may gather that the mystery concerns eschatological salva

t ion and judgment. This datum supports the view that the phrase should be

t ranslated as "the m ystery to co m e." Another passage, howeve r , is m ore co m pre

he nsiv e. 4Q 41 7 2. i . 8 -9 is a difficult text, and the correc t read ing an d tran slation

is disputed. Elgvin translates l i teral ly: "The God of knowledge is the secret of

t ruth. W ith the my stery to com e, he separated the w om an "

4 3

Harr ington, by

slight emendation, produces a more satisfactory text: "The God of knowledge is

the foundation of truth and by the m ystery that is to be/com e H e has laid out its

foundat ion and i t s deeds ."

4 4

In ei ther case, the passag e associates the raz nihyeh

with creation. I t also speaks of "truth and iniquity; w isdo m a nd foolishness you

w i l l . . . in al l their w ays together with their punishm ent(s) in al l ages ev erlast ing

and eternal punishment" ( l ines 8 and 9). There is an obvious parallel here to the

discourse on the T w o Spiri ts in 1QS 3 ^ , which uses the same He brew phrase for

the God of knowledge, and also uses the niphal part iciple nhyh for that which is

to be. The Sapiential text does not speak of two spiri ts of l ight and of darkness,

but it does distinguish between "a people of spirit" and "a spirit of flesh" (17.2. i .

16 -17 ) and outl ines tw o wa ys, truth and iniquity or w isdo m an d folly, wh ich lead

to eternal reward and punishment. Thfe raz nihyeh seems to encompass the entire

divine plan, f rom creat ion to eschatological ju d g m e n t

4 5

If it has an eschatologi

cal thrust , this is because the marvelous mysteries become clear only in the end.

The person w ho s tudies the mystery, however , can know "the glory of His m ight

together with His marvelous mysteries and His mighty acts" ( l ine 13). The mys

tery encom passes "the com ing of the years and the going of the per iods" (4Q41 8

123. i i . 2 -8 ). Study of the my stery can also explain anything else that hap pen s in

life.

S o, if one rises from pove rty to dwell in splendor, one sh ould study the source

of this good fortune by the raz nihyeh (4Q 416 2. ii i. 9) .

4 3 .

Ibid.

4 4 . Harrington, 53, reading yswd, founda tion, instead of swd, cou ncil , for the first "foundation"

an d wsh, foundation, rather than 'ish, wom an, for the second .

4 5 . La n g e , Weisheit und Predestination, 60 , understands the phrase to refer to the preexistent

order of creation. J. Licht, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea: 1QS. IQSa.

IQSb. Text, Introduction and Comm entary (Hebrew ; Jerusalem: Bial ik , 1965) 90 ,2 2 8 , takes i t as

the mystery of the universe, including the future.




123

Harr ing ton has suggested that the mys te ry is "a body of teaching" dis t inct

f rom t he Torah .

4 6

Possible candidates include the Ins t ruct ion on the Tw o Spi r

its

in

1QS

3 ^ ; the

B o o k

of

M edi ta t ion ( the Book

of

H a g u

or

Hag i ) ,

by

which

you t hs

are to be

educa ted

for ten

years according

to

l Q S a

1:6-8 and

which

j u d g e s are supposed to s tudy, according to CD 10:6 and 13:2; or the B o o k of

M y s t e r i e s ( 1 Q 2 7 , 4 Q 2 9 9 - 3 0 1 ) . It is not apparent that the mys t e ry m us t be

identif ied simply with the conten t s of one wri t ing. It may be the subject m at

ter to which each of these wri t ings refers . Th e Boo k of M edi ta t ion is esp ecial ly

int r iguing, as it is d i scussed in a pa s sage in 4 Q 4 1 7 2. i. 1 4 - 1 8 :

Engraved

is the

ordinance, and ordained

is all the

punishment. For engraved

is

that which

is

ordained

by

God against

all the

iniquities

of

the children

of

Seth.

And written

in His

presence

is a

book

of

remembrance

of

those

who

keep

His

word, and

it is the

Vis ion

of

Meditation (Hagu/i) and

a

B ook

of

Remembrance.

He gave

it as

an inheritance

to

' nds (Man), together with

a

spiritual people,

for

his inclination (yisrd)

is

(or:

He

fashioned him , ydsdro) after the likeness

of

the

Holy Ones. But the Meditation is no longer given to the spirit of flesh, for it did

not dist inguish between good

and

evil , according

to

the judgm ent

of its

spirit.

A n d n o w ,

O

understanding son, gaze

on the

my stery that

is to be

and kn ow

the

inheritance

of

al l the l iving.

4 7

T h e " B o o k of R e m e m b r a n c e" is an al lusion to M ai . 3 :16 : "A b o o k of re

m em bran ce w as wr i tt en before Him of those who revered the Lord and thought

on Hi s nam e . "

In

the Qu m ran con text , this boo k has s t rongly apocalypt ic over

tones . Heavenly tablets and boo ks f igure prom inent ly in the b o o k s of Enoch,

Da nie l , and Ju bilees.

48

Th e reference to engra ving also recal ls 1QH 9:24 (for

mer l y

1:24):

"All things are grave n before T hee w i th the stylus of r e m e m

brance for ever las t ing ages ." In s o m e of these cases the emphas i s is on the

r eco rd o f r ewar ds and pu n i sh m en t s ,

4 9

bu t

in

others the wh ole divine plan

is

i m

p l i e d .

5 0

Th is boo k m ay not be the only formulat ion of the m ystery of that w hich

i s made

to

b e ,

but it is

surely

one

formulat ion

of it.

The know ledge conta ined in the Boo k of Ha gu is angel ic . (Com pare 1 Enoch

9 3 : 1 - 2 : "Enoch began to speak f rom the books . . . according to that w hich ap

peared to me in the heavenly vis ion, and which I know from the words of the

holy a ngels and un derstan d from the tablets of heav en.") I t is given to

ends

(Man)

4 6 .

Cf.

Wacholder and Abeg g ,

A

Preliminary Edition,

xiii , w ho also consid er the possib ility that

the reference

is to

specific writings.

47. This passage is the subject of an exten sive analysis by Lange , Weisheit und Prddestination,

6 6 - 9 0 .

4 8 .

1

Enoch 47 :3 ; 93 :1 - 2 ; 108:3 ; Dan . 7:10; 10:21; 12:1;

Jub.

3 0 : 2 0 - 2 2 . On the Babylonian

background of this motif, see S. Paul , "Heavenly Tablets and the B o o k of Life ,"

JANESCU

5

( 1 9 7 3 ) 3 4 5 - 5 3 . See the extensive excursus in Lange , Weisheit und Prddestination, 6 9 - 7 9 .

4 9 . E.g . , Dan . 12 :1 ; 4QD ibHam .

5 0 .

E.g., 1

Enoch

9 3 : 1 - 2 .





W isdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls 125

ent ia l text und ers tand s them as tw o types of hum ani ty, a spi ri tual peo ple in the

likeness of the Holy Ones and a "spiri t of f lesh." The duali ty of human exis

tence is formu lated di f ferently in the Ins t ruct ion on the Tw o Spir i t s in the C om

muni ty Rule : God c rea ted

ends

to rule the world and appointed for him two

spir i t s . The two formulat ions , however , are a t tempt ing to express the same

con vict ion, that hum ani ty is divided du al is tical ly r ight from creat ion.

The addressees of the Sapiential text are offered the opportunity to share in

the knowledge of the Holy Ones that is withheld from mere flesh. This idea fi ts

we l l wi th the "real ize d esch atolo gy " of such sectar ian texts as the H od ayo t and

Communi ty Rule . This book of remembrance i s a l so ca l l ed " the Vis ion of

Med i t a t i on" (hdzon hehdgi).

55

Th e designa t ion "v is ion " is unu sual , but should

prob ably b e re la ted to the repea ted exho rta t ions to "ga ze upo n the m ystery that

is to be." I t also suggests an absorption of a prophetic form, the vision, in the

genre of wisdom inst ruct ion.

The Orig in of S in

The unders tanding of the or igin of s in and of Genesis 2-3 in the Qumran

Sapient ia l Work can be unders tood as a development of the unders tanding that

we al ready found in Sirach. We have noted that Si r . 17:7 ignores the prohibi

t ion of eat ing f rom the t ree of the know ledg e of goo d and ev i l , but ins is ts that

f rom the beginning God "f i l l ed them wi th knowledge and unders tanding ."

Sapient ia l Work A suggests the kind of exegesis that may under l ie this posi

t ion, by co m binin g G en. 2:9 and 3:6 so that "eve ry goo d f rui t and every pleas

ant t ree is desi rable to give knowledge" (4Q423 2) and any t ree in the garden

can serve as the t ree of the knowledge of good and evi l . The garden is a

metaphor for l ife, and the si tuation of the addressee of the text is the same as

that of Adam: "Is [ i t ] not a n[ ice] garden. . . . He set you in charge of i t to t i l l

i t and guard i t . . . . Thorns and thist les wil l i t cause to sprout for you, and i ts

s t rength i t wi l l not yie ld to you . . . in you r being unfaithful She w ho gives

bir th , and every w om b that bears . . . in a l l you r busin ess , for everyth ing i t wi l l

p roduce fo r you . "

5 6

The passage goes on to ment ion "an e ternal plant ing" and

how someone re jects (?) the bad and knows the good.

Th e passag e imp l ies that Ad am wa s not forbidden to eat f rom the tree of the

knowledge of good and evi l , but that good and evi l were set before him and he

5 5 . W ith Elgvin and Lange. Harrington takes hdzon here as "the appearing [of] the meditating

on the book of m emorial ." See further Elgvin, "W isdom, R evelat ion and Eschatology in an Early

Essene Writ ing," SBL Seminar Papers (199 5) 456. Elgvin suggests that the Bo ok of Hagi provided

the right interpretation of scripture, but there is no clear evidence for this.

56 .

T. Elgv in , "4Q423 ," DJ D 20 ( forthcom ing) . See also Elgvin , "Adm onit ion Texts from Qum

ran Cave 4 ," in M. O . W ise et a l . , eds . , Method s of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the

Khirbet Qum ran Site: Present R ealities and Future Prospects

(Ne w York: N ew York Acad emy

of Arts and Sc ience s , 1994) 188; "W isdom, Reve la t ion and Eschato logy ," 45 2- 53 .



126

Hebrew Wisdom

had to ch oo se, as in Sirach 17. In view of the pas sage w e hav e seen abo ve f rom

4Q 417 2 we should expec t tw o d if fe ren t ch oices , depen ding on whethe r o ne ' s

inclination is after the l ikeness of the angels or belongs to the spiri t of f lesh.

For one w ho cho oses the good , the garden of li fe i s pleasan t . Fo r on e wh o t rans

gresses , i t y ie lds thorns and br iars . From the ment ion of the "eternal plant ing"

Elgvin infers that the one who rejects the bad and knows the good is a mem

ber of an e lec t com m uni ty , and tha t " the en l igh tened m em bers of the c om m u

ni ty a l ready have a share in the glory of A d am " (cf. C D 3:20; 1Q S 4: 23 ; l Q H

a

17:15) . I t appears , however , that the text does not descr ibe a permanent , es

chatological state, but st i l l envisages the possibil i ty of transgression.

The danger of transgression is related to the effect of the evil inclination.

The author caut ions his readers : "Do not be deluded wi th the thought of the

evi l incl inat ion [ ] Inve st igate the t ruth " (4Q 417 2. i i . 1 2 -1 3 ) .

5 7

The t e rm

yeser is used in a posi t ive sense in 4Q 41 7 2 . i . 11 , "to w alk in the incl inat ion

of his unde rs tan ding ," and also in 4Q 41 7 2. i . 17, w here the incl inat ion of '8n6$

i s af ter the l ikene ss of the ange ls . I t app ears , then, that the "inc l inat io n" in 4 Q

Sapient ia l Work A can be e i ther good or bad. People can res is t the evi l incl i

nat ion, and exercise a t leas t a measure of f ree choice . The context for human

choice in this Sapiential Work is significantly different from that of Sirach,

s ince it i s m ade in v iew of an im pend ing escha to logica l ju dg m en t .

5 8

The Eschato logy

of the Sapient ia l Work

The Sapient ia l Work di f fers most radical ly f rom the older wisdom teaching

of Be n Sira and Qo heleth by i ts s trong eschatolog ical perspec t ive . 4Q 41 6 frag.

1 appears to pres erve the beginn ing of the wo rk. (There is an extensive m argin

on the r igh thand s ide before the wr i t ing beg in s . )

5 9

W hile this f ragmen t i s badly

damaged, so that no complete l ine survives , i t i s c lear that i t provided a cos-

mologica l and escha to logica l f ramework for the document .

6 0

(Cf.

1 Enoch

1.)

The cosm ic aspec t i s ind ica ted by phrases such as "Sea son by season . . . the

hos t o f the heav ens He has es t ab l i s h ed . . . and luminar ies for the ir por ten t s and

signs for thei r fes t ivals ." The eschatological e lement i s c lear ly preserved: "In

57. A reference to

yeser bdiar

in 4Q 41 6 1. i . 1 5- 16 is translated by Elg vin as "a creature of

flesh" rather than "inclination of the flesh" ("Early Essene Eschatology").

58 .

On the role of the yeser in other Qumran texts , see J . J . Co l l ins , "Wisdom , Ap ocalyp tic ism

and the Dead Sea Scrol ls ," in A. A. Diesel et a l . , eds . ,

"Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit Studien

zur israelitischen und altorientalischen Weisheit. Diethelm Miche l zum 65 Gebu rtstag (Berlin: de

Gruyter , 1996) 26-30.

5 9 .

Harrington,


4 1 .

6 0 .

For a reconstruct ion, see T. Elgvin, "Early Esse ne E schatology: Judgm ent and Salvation A c

cording to Sapiential Work A," in N. Reynolds and D. Parry, eds . , Proceedings of the Judaean

Desert Scrolls Conference at Brigham Young University, 1995 (Leiden: Bri l l , forthcoming) . Elg

vin notes several overlapping phrases in 4Q418.




127

heave n H e sha l l p rono unce judgm ent up on the wo rk of wick edne ss , bu t a ll the

sons of truth will be accepted with favor . . . and al l iniquity shall come to an

end un t i l the epoc h of dest ruct ion w i l l be f inished."

The divis ion of his tory into ages or per iods is typical of apocalypt ic l i tera

ture and also of the major sectar ian documents . Here we f ind a contras t be

tween the qes risah, the epoch of wick edne ss , and the qes haemet, the era of

t ruth. God wil l put an end to the era of wickedness a t the appointed t ime. The

na t u r e o f t he j udgm en t i s spe ll ed ou t i n 4Q 418 6 9 .4 - 1 5 .

6 1

The foolish are told:

"[For Sheo] l you were formed, and your re turn wi l l be e te rna l damnat ion . . . .

All the foolish of heart wil l be destroyed and the sons of iniquity will not be

found any m ore , and al l those w ho sup port evi l wi l l be asha m [ed] a t you r ju dg

ment ." In contras t , the r ighteous are those "whose inher i tance is e ternal l i fe ."

Th eir dest iny is "eterna l l ight ," glory, and hon or . The m ann er in w hich this pa s

sage addresses the wicked and the r ighteous in turn is reminiscent of the Epis

t le of En och . The extan t descr ipt ion of the jud gm en t , ho w eve r , has i ts c losest

paral le l in the Ins t ruct ion on the Two Spir i t s , where the wicked are dest ined

for "sham eful extin ction in the fire of the da rk reg ion s," w hile the r ighteous an

t ic ipate "eternal joy in l i fe wi thout end, a crown of glory and a garment of

majesty in unending l ight ." There is an e lement of real ized eschatology in the

Sapien t ia l Wo rk, insofar as the e lect are granted in this li fe to share the kn ow l

edge of the angels and gaze a t the mystery that i s hidden f rom most of hu

mani ty. The Sapient ia l Work says nothing of nat ional res torat ion, messianism,

or an eschatological war , but these themes are a lso miss ing in the Ins t ruct ion

on t he Two Sp i r i t s .

6 2

I t does , however , speak of the punishment ordained by

God against the children of Seth (4Q417 2. i . 15). If this is a reference to Bal

aam's orac le (Num. 24:17) , as Har r ing ton sugges t s , then i t may presuppose

mil i tant messianic expectat ions af ter a l l .

6 3

The Book of Myster ies

The mys te ry tha t i s to be i s a l so the subjec t o f an ins t ruc t ion known as

"T he Boo k of M ys t e r i e s " ( 1Q27 1. i. 1 -12 ; 4Q2 99 1. 1 - 4 ; 4Q 30 0 3 . 1-6).

6 4

Like the Sapien t ia l Work , th i s t ex t envi sages a t ime when " the begot ten of

6 1 .

Elgvin, "Early Essene Eschatology."

6 2 . See further Elgvin, "Wisdom, Revelat ion and Eschatology," 458; idem, "Early Essene Es

chatology."

6 3 .

O n the m essia nic interpretation of Bala am 's Oracle at Qum ran, see J. J. C ollin s, The Scepter

and the Star

(Ne w York: Doub leday , 1995) 4 9 - 73 .

6 4 . L. H. Schiffman, "4QMysteries b , A Prel iminary Edit ion,"

RevQ

1 6 ( 1 9 9 3 ) 2 0 3 - 2 3 ;

"4QMysteries a: A Preliminary Edition and Translation," in Z. Zevit et al. , eds., Solving Riddles

and Untying Knots: B iblical, Epigraph ic, and Sem itic Studies in Hon or of Jonas C. Greenfield

(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1995) 207-60; Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2 0 6 - 1 0 . S e e

a l so Lange , Weisheit und Prddestination, 9 3 - 1 2 0 .



128

Hebrew Wisdom

unr i gh t eousnes s a r e de l i ve r ed up , and wi ckednes s i s r emoved f rom be f o r e

r igh teousness , as darkness i s removed f rom before l igh t . . . . Wickedness

wi l l cease forever and r igh teousness wi l l be revea led as the sun throughout

t h e m e a s u r e o f t h e w o r l d . "

6 5

A n o t h e r p a s s a g e d e n o u n c e s m a g i c i a n s w h o

t e ac h t r a n s g r e s s i o n .

6 6

In l anguage remini scent of Danie l the au thor ins i s t s :

"Sea led i s the v i s ion , and on the e te rna l mys te r ies you have not looked , and

you have no t come t o unde r s t and knowl edge" (4Q300 l a . i i . 1 - 5 ; c f . Dan .

12:9) . The v i s ion , t r ad i t iona l ly the medium of the prophe t , i s here appro

pr ia ted as the vehic le of wisdom. The mys te r ies of God a re revea led in

crea t ion , bu t the au th or ' s wis do m res t s on a fur ther, sp ec ia l r ev e la t ion :

"Wi t h an abundance o f i n s i gh t He opened ou r ea r s so t ha t we mi gh t hea r "

(4Q299 8 . 6 ) .

The appeal to special revelat ion suggests s t rongly that the Book of Myster

ies originated in a sectarian milieu. I t also poses a question about the nature of

sapient ia l ins t ruct ions a t Qumran. One of the t rademarks of the sapient ia l t ra

di t ion in the Hebrew Bible was the avoidance of c la ims to special revelat ion.

Th e author i ty of the sage res ted to a great degre e on t radi tion, but his teach ings

were in pr inciple access ible to anyone. In the Qumran texts we f ind a s tyle of

ins t ruct ion that is base d on a m ystery , bu t bo rrow s form s and voc abu lary f rom

the t radi t ional wisdom inst ruct ion: imperat ives and prohibi t ions , beat i tudes ,

and a range of t e rms for wisdom and unders tanding . Wisdom te rminology no

longer necessar i ly indicates an empir ical ly based worldview. I t can a lso be

used in the service of apocalypt ic revelat ion.

Sectarian Instruct ions

The combina t ion of wisdom forms wi th an apoca lypt ic wor ldview can be

seen mo st c lear ly in a ser ies of specif ical ly sectar ian ins t ruct ions . Th e "W ord s

of the Mas ki l to the sons of da w n" (4 Q 29 8) , which is wri t ten in crypt ic scr ipt ,

i s apparent ly a manual of ins t ruct ion for novices or postulants .

6 7

Much of the

conten t i s unexcept iona l : "You who pursue r igh teousness , unders tand my

words . . . " Only a t the end of the extant f ragments do we f ind an apocalypt ic

note :

"You may unders tand the end of the ages ."

Another wisdom inst ruct ion intended for a sectar ian context i s found in CD

2 ,

in a passage tha t begins : "God loves knowledge . Wisdom and unders tand-

6 5 . B oth Sch i ffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, 20 7, and Harrington read in the next l ine,

"and all the adherents of the mysteries of Belial will be no more," but the word Belial is not legi

ble in the photographs (Schiffman puts it in brackets). For the light imagery, cf. the Aramaic text

4Q541 (4QAaron A) .

66 . Lange , Weisheit und Prddestination, 93 -1 2 0, argues that these ma gicians are associated

with the false wisdom spread on earth by the Watchers or fallen angels.

67. S . Pfann, "4Q298: The Maskil 's Address to All Sons of Dawn," J QR 8 5 ( 1 9 9 4 ) 2 0 3 - 3 5 .




129

ing H e has se t before h im, and prude nce and know ledge se rve H im ."

6 8

T h e p a s

sage goes on to speak of the dest ruct ion of those who depar t f rom the way by

the hand of a l l the angels of dest ruct ion, and the e lect ion of a remnant . God,

w e are told, "k ne w the years of thei r com ing an d the length and exact d urat ion

of thei r t ime s for a l l ages to com e throug hou t a l l e terni ty ."

The most developed, and best preserved, sectar ian ins t ruct ion is the In

s t ruct ion on the Two Spir i t s in the Community Rule . Because of i t s s t r iking

dual is t ic and apocalypt ic content , this passage has seldom been considered as

a wi sdom i ns t ruc t i on .

6 9

Yet i t is specifically an instruction: "The Master shall

instruct al l the sons of l ight and shall teach them the nature of al l the children

of men according to the kind of spi r i t which they possess , the s igns ident i fy

ing thei r works dur ing thei r l i fe t ime, thei r vis i ta t ion for chast isement , and the

t ime of thei r reward." We have a l ready noted several points of s imi lar i ty be

tween the eschatology of this ins t ruct ion and that of the Sapient ia l Work. The

account of or igins goes beyond the Sapient ia l Work by developing an expl ic i t

du al ism of two spir i t s , of light and darkn ess , but i t non etheless co nt inue s a de

bate ab out the or igin of s in , and the interpreta t ion of Ge nesis 1-3, that we hav e

already encountered in Ben Sira and the Sapient ia l Work.

The Inst ruct ion on the Two Spir i t s (1QS 3-4) says that God "created man

to rule the wo rld and placed wi thin him tw o spir it s so that he wo uld w alk wi th

them unt i l the moment of his vis i ta t ion." The phrase "to rule the world"

(lememselet tebel)

reflects the sovereig nty given to A da m in Ge nesis 1 . (W hile

the verb in G ene sis i s rdddh, the verb himsil is used in several texts from C av e

4 wi th re fe rence to the ro le of Adam [4Q381,4Q422, the Words of the Heav

enly Luminar ies , and 4QSapient ia l Work A].) No exeget ical jus t i f icat ion is

given for the int roduct ion of two spir i t s , a l though one may be presupposed. I t

i s pos s ible that the author read the nismat hayyim (breath of life) and the nepes

hayyah

( l iving bein g) of Ge n. 2:7 as tw o spir i t s .

7 0

Bu t nei ther the la ter m idrash

nor any source outs ide of Qumran unders tood the Genesis text to refer to op

po sing sp i r i ts . H ere , then, w e have a c lear break w i th the interpreta t ion of G en

esis that we have found in Ben Sira and in var ious texts f rom Cave 4.

P . Wernberg-M0ller has argued that the Ins t ruct ion on the Two Spir i t s

shou ld be unde rs too d in terms of the good an d evi l incl inat ions , and that i t does

not represe nt a radical brea k w i th ear l ier interpreta t ions:

68. On the sapiential terminology of this passage , see A.-M . Denis ,

Les themes de connaissance

dans le Document de Damas. On the parallels with the Instruction on the T w o Spirits, see L ang e,

Weishe it u nd Prddestination, 242 .

6 9 . See , however, C. Newsom, "The Sage in the Literature of Qumran: The Functions of the

Maskil ," in J . G. Gammie and L. G. Perdue, eds . , The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East

(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 373-82.

7 0 . Compare Gen. Rab. 14:10: "Here the neshamah (sou l) is identified with nefesh, whereas in

another text [Gen. 17:22] the neshamah is equated with ruah (spir it ) . . . because ' l i fe ' (hayyim)

is written in both texts, proving that they are analogous."






131

t ens ion in Ben Si ra be tween the Deute ronomic theology wi th i t s emphas i s on

free choice and the recogni t ion that the Lord appointed the di f ferent ways of

humani ty (Sir . 33:11) . Si rach lays the foundat ion for a dual is t ic view of the

world wi th his asser t ion that a l l the works of the Lord come in pai rs , one the

opposi te of the other (33:15) . His dual ism, which may be inf luenced by Stoic

phi losophy, i s p r imar i ly e th ica l and psychologica l . I t i s no t metaphys ica l .

H um an b e ings ha ve both a goo d and a bad inc l ina t ion , bu t they a re no t bere ft

of the pow er of choice . Th is is a lso the case in the Sapien t ia l W ork f rom Q um

ran . De spi te it s de te rm ini s t i c l angu age , the Com m uni ty R ule a l so pre supp oses

the power to choose . The opening co lumns of the Scro l l descr ibe a Deute ro

nomic covenant renewal in which the covenante rs f ree ly choose to submi t to

the com m an dm en ts . Insofar as the two sp i r i ts a re p laced wi th in hum an b e ing s ,

and "feud in the hear t of man" (1QS 4:23) , they funct ion in a way s imilar to

the tw o inc l ina t ions . Th e dua l i sm of Qu m ran i s e th ica l and psycho logica l . Bu t

i t i s m ore , for the two sp ir i ts are a lso me taph ysic al po w ers , the Pr ince of L ight

and the Pr ince of Darkness , o r Be l ia l . Moreover , the Communi ty Rule pre

supposes a myth ic s t ruc ture , whereby h i s tory i s d iv ided be tween these con

f l ic t ing powers , but in the end God wil l intervene wi th a decis ive judgment .

Th e appe al to sup ernatu ral forces as an exp lana t ion of the or igin of s in c lear ly

separates the sectar ian scrol ls such as the Community Rule f rom the t radi

t iona l wisdom of Ben Si ra .

This appeal to supernatural forces is not , however , necessar i ly incompat i

ble wi th a l l wisdom l i tera ture . The Inst ruct ion on the Two Spir i t s i s not an

ap oc aly ps e; it is no t pre sen ted a s a reve lation . I ts l i terary gen re is , in fact , a typ

ica l w isdom genre . 4QSap ien t ia l Text A, wh ich does no t hav e the doc t r ine of

the Two Spir i t s , has an eschatological perspect ive which we associate wi th

apoca lypt ic i sm ra ther than wi th t rad i t iona l Hebrew wisdom. The Wisdom of

So lom on is a lso informe d by apo calypt ic t radi t ions about the jud gm en t of the

dead . "Wisdom" cannot be ident i f i ed wi th any one wor ldview. The apoca lyp

t ic mindset of the Scrol ls can furnish the content of a wisdom inst ruct ion jus t

as wel l as the em pi r ica l , th i s -wo r ld ly m indse t o f Proverbs and Q oh ele th .

7 3

7 3 . See J . J . Col l ins , "Wisdom, Apocalyptic ism, and Generic Compatibi l i ty ," in L. G. Perdue,

B .

B. Scott , and W. J . Wiseman, eds . , In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Mem ory of John G. Gam-

mie (Louisv i l le : Westmins ter John Kn ox , 1993) 16 5-8 5 .





PART TW O.

WISDOM

IN TH E

HELLENISTIC DIASPORA





Chapter 8.

The Diaspora Set t ing

The second grea t wisdom book of the Apocrypha , the Wisdom of Solomon,

was a lmos t ce r ta in ly composed in Alexandr ia in the ear ly Roman per iod .

1

In

this case the cul tural con text wa s very dif ferent f rom that of Si rach. The W is

do m of Solom on w as wr i tt en in Greek . This was undoub ted ly the pr imary , and

prob ably th e only, lang uag e of the author , wh o exhibi ts a far greater famil iar

i ty wi th and mastery of Hel lenis t ic thought than the Hebrew sage had. The so

cial location of a Jewish sage in Alexandria was also very different from that

of his counterpar t in Jerusalem. In Egypt , Judaism was a minor i ty cul ture , and

rela t ions wi th the Gent i le world assumed a far greater importance than was the

case in the Jewish homeland . Consequent ly , the wisdom l i t e ra ture of the Di

aspora takes on an apologet ic character . Even i f we assume that i t was wri t ten

for the internal ins t ruct ion and edif icat ion of the Jewish community, there is

a lways an e lement of apologet ics in the a t tempt to explain and extol the Jew

ish re l igion in the categor ies of the Hel lenis t ic wo rld.

The h i s tory and l i t e ra ture of Alexandr ian Juda i sm present numerous com

plex problems tha t cannot be addressed here .

2

We wil l focus on three issues

that have a bearing on the discussion of the wisdom li terature: f irst , the legal

s ta tus of the Jewish community and i t s ancest ra l laws in Alexandria ; second,

the re la ted issue of the access of Jews to the gymnasium and to Greek educa

t ion; and f inally the que st ion of a Jew ish m iss ion, or the degree to whic h Jew s

at tempted to win Gent i le conver ts , or even sympathizers , to thei r fa i th .

1 . See Dav id Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon (AB 43; N ew York: Doubleday , 1979) 2 0 - 25

and the discussion in Chap. 10 below .

2.

O n the history, see V. Tch erikover, Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (New York: Jewish

Publicat ion Society , 1959); V. Tcherikover and A. Fuks,


( Ca m

bridge, M ass . : Harvard Un iv. Press , 1957) 1 .1- 93; A . Kasher,

The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman

Egypt (Tubingen: Mohr, 1985); E. Schi irer , The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus

Christ, vol 3, part 1,

(rev. and ed. G. Vermes, F. Mil lar , and M. Goodman (Edinburgh: T. & T.

Clark , 1986) 87 -137; J . M. Modrzejewski , The Jews of Egypt: From Ram eses II to Emperor

Hadrian (Phi ladelphia: Jew ish Publicat ion Socie ty , 1 995); J .M.G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediter

ranean Diaspora, from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE-117 CE) (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 199 6)

1 9 - 8 1 . On the literature, J. J. Co llins , Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hel

lenistic Diaspora (N ew York: Crossroad, 1983 ); Schiirer , The History, 3 . 4 7 0 - 7 0 4 .



136

W isdom in the Hellenistic Diaspora

T h e J e w i s h C o m m u n i t y

in Alexandria

The Alexandrian Jewish community had i t s or igin in the per iod af ter

Alexander ' s conques t s . There had a lways been t ra f f i c be tween Pa les t ine and

Egypt . Many Jews sought refuge by the Ni le in the wake of the Babylonian

conques t ( see Je remiah 41-44) . Jewish mercenar ies had se rved a t Elephant ine

in the f i f th century, having come to Egypt before the Pers ian invasion under

C a m b y s e s ( 5 2 5 ) .

3

The coming of the Greeks , however , marked a new era .

While Jews set t led in many par ts of Egypt , they were especial ly drawn to the

newly founded Greek ci ty on the del ta . Josephus c la imed that Jews came to

Egyp t unde r Al exande r .

4

This c la im is unsupported, and therefore suspect .

5

There is much bet ter evidence for Jewish set t lement under the f i rs t two

Ptolemies . Hecataeus of Abdera repor ts the wi l l ing migrat ion of a group of

Jews led by the pr ies t Hezekiah af ter the bat t le of Gaza in 312 B . C . E . ,

6

whi le

the Letter of Aristeas (12 -14 ) c la ims tha t P to lemy I t r anspor ted 100 ,000 Jew

ish capt ives to his coun try, drafted the m en into the arm y, and sold the res t as

s laves . According to the Letter, the s laves were la ter redeemed by Ptolemy II

Phi lade lphu s . Wh i le the num bers a re probably exagg era ted , the repor t is gen

eral ly thought to have a his tor ical basis .

7

The ear l ies t Jewish inscr ipt ions in

Eg ypt date from the thi rd centu ry B . C . E .

8

A nother migra t ion is kn ow n f rom the

M accab ean p er iod , when O nias IV, son of the murdered High P r iest Onias I I I ,

sought refuge in Egypt and was eventual ly a l lowed to found a colony, com

ple te wi th a t emp le , at Le on top ol i s .

9

Josephu s boas t s tha t P to lem y VI Ph i lome -

tor entrusted his whole army to Onias and his f r iend Dosi theus (Ag. Ap. 2.49) .

Again, a l lowing for exaggerat ion, we may accept that they were generals in his

army. In the next generat ion, we again encounter Jewish generals , Helkias and

3. B. Porten, Archives from Elephan tine: The Life of an Ancient Jewish Military Colony (Berke

ley: Univ. o f Cal i fornia Press , 196 8) . This sett lement seem s to have been wip ed out at the end o f

the fifth century. On the presence of Jews in Egypt before the Hellenistic period, see Modrzejew-

ski, The Jews of Egypt, 5 - 4 4 .

4 . Josephus,

J. W.

2 .487;

Ag. Ap.

2 .35.

5 . Tcherikover,


27 2; Tcherikover and Fuks,

Corpus Papyrorum Ju

daicarum, 1.3. Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt 2, finds it "quite credib le."

6. Hecataeus, in Josephus,

Ag. Ap.

1 .1 86 -89 . See M. Stern,

Greek and Latin Authors on Jews

and Judaism

(Jerusalem: The Israel A cad em y of Scien ces and Hum anit ies , 1976) 1 .3 5-4 3.

7 . Tcherikover, Hellenistic Civilization, 27 3; Schiirer, The History, 3 .46 ; M odrzejewski , The

Jews in Egypt,

73 .

8 . W. Horbury and D. Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt (Cambridge: Cam

bridge Univ. Press , 1992) .

9 . Tcherikover,


27 6- 81 ; Schi irer,

The History, 3A1-49;

D. N oy , "The

Jewish Communit ies of Leontopol is and Venosa," in J . W. van Henten and P. W. van der Horst ,

eds . , Studies in Early Jew ish Epigraphy (Le iden: Br i ll , 1994) 162 -82 ; M odrzejewski , The Jews in

Egypt, 1 2 1 - 3 3 .



The Diaspora Setting

137

H a n a n i a h {Ant. 13.349) . There was some tension in the re ign of Ptolemy VIII

Euergetes , the brother and r ival of Phi lometor , due to Jewish support for

Phi lometor in the c ivi l war that raged between the brothers in the second cen

tury

B . C . E .

(Ant.

13 .349) . No nethe less , Jewish com m uni t i es cont inued to grow

and f lour ish throughout the Ptolemaic per iod.

By the early f irst century, Philo claims that they occupied two of the f ive

quar ters of Alexandria and that "there were no less than a mil l ion Jews res i

dent in A lexan dria and the coun try from the s lope into Lib ya to the b oun dar ies

of Eth iopia" (In Flacc. 43) . Phi lo ' s ta l ly i s unrel iable: there was no census of

Jews in the Diaspora un t i l 71-72 C . E . when the Jewish t ax was imposed by

Rome in the wake of the grea t Revol t .

1 0

N one theles s , it i s c lear that there w as

a large Jewish populat ion in Egypt , wi th a high concentrat ion in Alexandria .

Even a modern es t imate that puts the Jewish populat ion of Alexandria a t

180,000 s t i l l a l lows that they may have made up as much as one thi rd of the

popula t ion of the c i ty .

1 1

Th e Jews as a group w ere never c i ti zens of Alexand r ia , bu t the Jew ish com

muni ty had i t s own internal organizat ion and enjoyed cer ta in r ights that were

recognized by the ru l ing au thor i t i es .

1 2

Strabo of Amaseia , in the re ign of Au

gustus , wrote (apropos of Sul la ' s suppress ion of a revol t in Cyrene) :

Cyrene, which had the same rulers as Egypt, has imitated it in many respects,

particularly in notably encouraging and aiding the expansion of the organized

groups of Jews, which observe the national Jewish laws. In Egypt, for example,

territory has be en set apart for a Jew ish settlem ent, and in Alexan dria a great part

of the city has been allocated to this nation. And an ethnarch of their own has

been installed, who governs the people and adjudicates suits and supervises con

tracts and ordinances, just as if he wer e the head of a sovereign st at e.

1 3

The off ice of e thnarch was apparent ly discont inued by Augustus in 11-12

C . E . but the organizat ion of the Jewish community was not ser iously a l tered.

The e thnarch was rep laced by a gerousia, or cou ncil of eld ers. Ph ilo tel ls us

10 . Tcherikover and Fuks,


1.4; S. J .D. Coh en," 'Those W ho Say

They Are Jews and Are Not ' : How D o Y ou Kn ow a Jew in Ant iqui ty Wh en You See One?" in

S.J.D. Cohen and E. S. Frerichs, eds.,

Diasporas in Antiquity

(Atlanta: Scholars, 1993) 2 2 -2 3 .

Philo's est imate is accepted by L. H. Feldman,

Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World

(Princeton,

N.J.: Princeton Univ. Press, 1993) 65-66, who wishes to argue that the size of the community

would militate against assimilation.

11.

Modrzejewski ,

The Jews in Egypt,

73 .

12.

P. M. Fraser,

Ptolemaic Alexandria

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1972) 1.38 -92 , and especial ly pp.

5 4 - 5 5 ;

Schiirer,

The History,

3. 87 -1 25 ; S. App lebaum , "The Organization of the Jewish Co m

munities in the Diaspora," in S. Safrai and M. Stern, eds.,

The Jewish People in the First Century

(CR INT 1/1; Asse n: Van Gorcum/Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974) 46 4- 50 3 .

13. Strabo, in Josephus,

Ant.

14 .1 14- 18; M. Stern,

Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Ju

daism

(Jerusalem: The Israel Ac ade my of Scienc es and Hum anities , 1976) 1.2 77- 82 .



138 Wisdom in the Hellenistic Diaspora

that "our senate [gerousia] was appointed to take charge of Jewish affairs by

our saviour and benefactor Augustus, after the death of the genarch

14

From

Strabo s account,

it

would seem that

the

Jewish community

had a

measure

of

autonomy

in

running

its

own affairs. The analogy with

a

sovereign state, how

ever, would seem to entail some exaggeration.

Other ethnic minorities in Ptolemaic Egypt also enjoyed a measure of

self-

regulation. Dorothy Thompson describes the Idumaean community in Mem

phis

as

follows:

The Idumaean mercenaries act here

as a

corporate group

in a

religious context.

The unit

of

organization

is

the

politeuma,...

which holds meetings,

synagogai,

in the temple

of

Qos which may result in decrees, psephismata. The community,

however,

is

broader than just the troops, and the Idumaeans from the city join

in

many

of

its activities;

in

Hermoupolis and elsewhere these supporting members

are called those sharing

in

the politeuma, the sympoliteuomenoi.

15

Similar ethnic community organizations, or politeumata, are also found else

where

in

Egypt

and in

other parts

of the

Hellenistic world.

1 6

Other ethnic

groups have representatives variously known as timouchoi, or prostataiP The

Jewish communities in Alexandria and Cyrene were exceptionally large, and

the Jews were exceptional

in

their adherence

to

their ancestral laws.

It

is doubt

ful,

however, whether the Jewish communities enjoyed any greater autonomy

than other ethnic organizations.

The prototypical charter of Jewish rights in the Hellenistic world was that

issued by Antiochus III of Syria when he captured Jerusalem in 198 B.C.E. In

a letter

to an

official named Ptolemy,

who had

apparently been appointed

to

govern Coele-Syria, Antiochus provided a subsidy for the temple cult and re

mission of certain taxes for the council of elders

(gerousia)

and Temple per

sonnel.

He

also provided that the Jews should conduct their political affairs

in

accordance with their ancestral laws.

1 8

The principle of allowing people to live

14. In Flacc.

74.

It is

generally assumed that

genarch

and

ethnarch

are equivalent terms for the

same office. Philo dates this transition

to

the time when Magius Maximus was about to take office

for

the

second time

as

governor

of

Alexandria, that

is,

11-12

C.E.

Josephus claims that on

the

death of the ethnarch of the Jews, Augustus did not prevent the continued appointment of eth-

narchs"

(Ant. 19.283), but Philo's account

is

more credible.

15.

D. J.

Thompson, Memphis under

the

Ptolemies (Princeton,

N.J.:

Princeton Univ. Press,

1988) 101- 2. See also her essay, D.

J.

Thompson-Crawford, The Idumaeans

of

Memphis and the

Ptolemaic Politeumata,

in M.

Gigante, ed., Atti del XVII Congresso Internazionale di Papirolo-

gia

(Naples: Centro Internazionale per

lo

Studio

dei

Papiri Ercolanesi 1984) 3. 1069-75.

16. Compare the ethnic organizations called koina, listed in Schiirer, The History, 3.108-12.

See

also Kasher,

The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt,

179-80.

17 . Thompson, Memphis,

97.

18 .

Ant.

12. 13 8^4. On the authenticity of this document, see E. J. Bickerman, La Charte seleu-

cide

de

Jerusalem,

in

Studies in Jewish and Christian History (Leiden: Brill, 1980) 2.44-85.




139

according to thei r ancest ra l laws seems also to have been honored by the

Pto lemies and the Ro m ans , and to have been ex tended to Jewish com m uni t i es

in the Diaspora , a l though there is l i t t le documentary evidence. Josephus pre

serves a le t ter of Ant ioch us pro viding for the transfer of tw o thousan d Jew ish

famil ies f rom Babylonia to Mesopotamia to serve as a mi l i tary colony, and

st ipulat ing that they should be a l lowed "to use thei r own laws"

(Ant.

12.150) .

A s imilar general formula is of ten repeated in documents f rom the Roman pe

riod. Julius Ca esa r affirmed the right of Je w s on Pa ros and De los "to l ive in ac

cordanc e wi th the i r cus tom s and to cont r ibu te mo ney to com m on m eals and sa

cred r i tes , for this they are not forbidden to do even in R o m e ."

1 9

W hen the Jews

of As ia and Libya ap pealed to Augu stus that the Gre eks we re conf iscating thei r

sacred funds, the emperor responded by issuing a decree, af f i rming that "the

Jews may fol low thei r own customs in accordance wi th the law of thei r fa

thers." He specifically affirmed their r ight to collect money for the Jerusalem

Temple and thei r exemption f rom appear ing in cour t on the sabbath (Ant.

16.162-65) . Decrees such as these , however , were i s sued in response to spe

ci f ic complaints . While the general pr inciple of respect ing ancest ra l laws was

widely acknowledged, i t does not appear that there was any formal Jewish

char ter or bi l l of r ights e i ther in Alexandria or e lsewhere .

2 0

D espi te the s t rong t radi t ion that Jews co uld l ive according to thei r ancest ra l

laws, the evidence of the papyr i shows Jews in l i t igat ion only before Greek

c o u r t s .

2 1

One of these documents shows that contracts could indeed be made

in accorda nce wi th the law of the Jew s, but that a pla int if f co uld app eal bey ond

that law to the king. The papyrus in quest ion

(CPJ

128) dates from 218 B.c.E.

A woman named Hel ladote , daughte r of Phi lon ides , compla ined tha t a Jew

named "Jona thas" had mar r ied her in accordance wi th Jewish l aw, bu t now

wa nted to repudiate her and cast her out of the house. There se em s to be som e

cross-cul tural misunders tanding here . In Jewish t radi t ion, the husband was

al low ed to divorc e his wife "i f he found som ething object ionab le in he r" (Deut .

19. Ant. 14.2 14. Th e manuscripts read Parium (w hich w as on the coast of the Troad), but the

men tion of D elo s su ggests that the reference w as to Paros . The proconsul L. Valerius Flaccus, w ho

was tried for maladministration in 59

B.C.E.

(and defended by Cicero), was accused inter alia of

confiscat ing the money col lected by Jews in Asia for the Jerusalem Temple . The charge implies

that the Jewish right in this matter was acknowledged.

20 . So T. Rajak, "Was There a Rom an Charter for the Jews?" Journal of Roman Studies 74 (1984)

1 0 7 - 2 0 3 . See further J. Juster,

Les Juifs dans 1'empire romain

(2 vols .; Paris: Geuthner, 1914 )

2.1-18; E. J. Bickerman, "Une Question d'authenticit^: les privileges Juifs," in Studies in Jewish

and Christian History

2 . 24 -4 3; S . Applebaum, "The Legal Status of the Jewish Com mun it ies in the

Diaspora," in S. Safrai and M. Stern, eds., The Jewish People in the First C entury (CRINT 1 /1 ; A s-

sen: Van G orcum, 1974) 4 20 -6 3. C onsequently , attempts to date the origin of such a supposed char

ter are moot (Eraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1.56, dates it to the tim e of Philom etor).

21. The Tosefta claims that Jewish courts in Egypt had independent jurisdiction, t. Ketub. 3:1;

t. Pe'ah 4:6 . CPJ 143 say s that a certain Theod orus d eposite d his will in "the Jewish arch ive," but

this is the only reference to an autonomous Jewish legal institution in the papyri.



140


24:1) .

Greek law recognized the equal i ty of husband and wife in divorce pro

c e e d i n g s .

2 2

Hel ladote , who presumably was not Jewish , took her case to the

king. Another papyrus gives some indicat ion as to how the conf l ic t between

different laws might be resolved. In 226

B . C . E . ,

one Dos i theus , an Egypt ian

Jew, sued Herakle ia , daughte r of Diosdotos , who was a l so Jewish , before a

pan el of Gree k jud ge s in Cro cod i lopo l is , for insul t ing him and r ipping his co at .

Even though Dosi theus fa i led to appear in cour t and forfei ted his case , Hera

kleia submit ted documents in her defense. One of these was an extract f rom a

royal regu lat ion on jud icia l proce du re . Th e jud ge s were ins t ructed "o n al l

points that any person knows or shows us to have been deal t wi th in the regu

la t ions of king Ptole m y, [ to give jud gm en ts] in acco rdan ce wi th the regula

t ions; and on al l points not dealt with in the regulations, but in the civic laws

[politikoi nomoi], in accorda nce With these law s; and on al l other points to fol

l ow t he mos t equ i t ab l e v i ew."

2 3

The c iv ic l aws were presumably the Greek

common law. I t has been suggested that in disputes between Jews the law of

Moses could serve as the re levant c ivic law. ( I t was apparent ly the operat ive

law in the marr iage of Jonathas in CPJ 128.) I t was never the highest court of

appeal . In Ptolemaic Egypt , the king was a lways the ul t imate author i ty . But

w here the king had not i ssued a re levant regulat ion, the jud ge s could abid e by

whatever local law, Greek or Jewish, was acceptable to the l i t igants .

There is plenty of evidence in the papyr i of the observance of Jewish laws

(e .g. , regarding the sabbath) , but there are a lso except ions . The bibl ical prohi

bi t ion of loans wi th interes t among Jews was not observed, a l though the no

t ion of a "f ree loan" was wel l es tabl ished in Greek t radi t ion. In the Roman pe

r iod we f ind a Jew ish cou ple dissolving thei r marr iag e by mutu al consen t , af ter

the Greek ra ther than the Jewish cus tom.

2 4

Inevi tably, the Jewish observance

of their ancestral laws was modified by the influence of the law of the land.

The Politeuma

M odern schola rsh ip has com m only charac te r ized the lega l s ta tus of the Jew

ish community in Alexandria as that of a politeuma, a term that is also en

countered wi th reference to other e thnic groups, such as the Idumaeans of

Memphis . In the context of discussions of Jewish r ights , the politeum a is usu

al ly unders tood as "a formal ly const i tuted corporat ion of a l iens enjoying the

r ight of domici le in a foreign ci ty and forming a separate , semi-autonomous

civic body , a c i ty wi thin a c ity; i t had i t s ow n const i tut ion a nd ad m inis tered i t s

internal affairs as an ethnic unit through officials dist inct from and independent

2 2 . Modrzejewski ,

The Jews in Egypt,

112.

2 3 .

CPJ 19 ; Mod rzejewski , The Jews in Egypt, 108.

2 4 . CPJ 144; Modrzejewski , The Jews in Egypt, 1 1 2 - 1 3 .




141

of the hos t c i ty . "

2 5

In fact , however , the term has a ra ther wide range of mean

i ngs .

I t could refer to the governing class of a polls as a sov ereig n bo dy , or i t

cou ld be appl ied to var ious other associat ion s , including "fes t ival associat ions

of women, a cul t society, a c lub of soldiers , associat ions of c i t izens f rom the

same c i ty l iv ing abroad , and e thn ic communi t i es . "

2 6

The clear definit ion as "a

sem iauto no m ou s civic bo dy " is an unwa rranted g eneral izat ion, a t best . I t i s un

safe,

then, to draw inferences about the c ivic s ta tus of the Jewish community

in Alexandria f rom the supposed impl icat ions of the term politeuma.

In fact , the term politeum a is a t tes ted only once wi th reference to the Jew s

of Alexandria , and twice wi th reference to another Diaspora community, that

of Berenice in the C yr en a ic a .

2 7

(Som e new evidence may be for thcom ing f rom

the archive of the Jewish

politeuma

a t He racleop ol is , w hich is repor tedly be

ing edi ted by Jam es Co w ey for his disser ta t ion a t the Un ivers i ty of H eidelbe rg,

but this m ater ia l i s not avai lable a t the t ime of wr i t in g. )

2 8

The inscr ipt ions f rom

Berenice are honorary decrees f rom the f i rs t century

B . C . E .

to the first century

C . E .

They show that the community had leaders and funds and could pass de

c rees ,

but they show nothing about i t s s ta tus vis-a-vis the c i ty of Berenice .

2 9

Th e usage in the Letter ofAristeas is m ore prob lem at ic . Th ere w e are told that

the t ransla t ion of the Torah into Greek was acclaimed by "the pr ies ts and the

elders f rom am on g the t ransla tors and f rom am on g the peo ple of the

politeuma

and the leaders of the congregat ion [tou plethousY (Ep. Arist. 310 ) . I t seem s

reaso nab le to assu m e that the politeum a in quest ion per ta ins to the Alex and rian

J e w is h c o m m u n i t y .

3 0

I t is less clear whether i t is identical with the plethos, or

c o n g r e g a t i o n ,

3 1

or a separate body "dis t inguishable somehow from the other

Jew s of Alexan dr ia— for exam ple persons wi th some proper ty , w ho had orga

n ized themse lves in a politeum a and w ere m ent ion ed here separate ly because

2 5 . So E. Mary Smal lwood , The Jews under Roman Rule (Leiden: Brill , 1976) 225, cited with

approval by Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 30. Cf. also Kasher, "The Civic

Status of the Jews in Ptolemaic Egypt," in P. Bilde et al. , eds., Ethnicity in Hellenistic Egypt

(Aarhus: Aarhus Univ. Press , 1992) 100-121.

2 6 .

G. Luderitz, "What Is the Politeuma?" in Jan Willem van Henten and Pieter Willem van der

Horst , eds . ,

Studies in Early Jewish Epigraphy

(Leiden: Bri l l , 1994) 1 83 -22 5. (The quotat ion is

from p. 189.) Compare C. Zuckerman, "H ellenist ic Pol i teumata and the Jew s: A Reconsiderat ion,"

Scripta Classica Israelica 8 - 1 0 ( 1 9 8 5 - 8 8 ) 1 7 1 - 8 5 .

27. Schuerer, The History, 3 .88.

2 8 .

J. Cowey, "Zwei Archive aus dem zweite Jahrhundert vor Christus," a paper presented to

the Twenty-first International Congress of Papyrology in Berlin in August 1995. (I owe this in

formation to Gideon Bohak.)

2 9 . CIG 5361, 5362. See the discussion by Luderitz , "What Is the Pol i teuma?" 210-22.

30 . Contra Zuckerman, "Hellenistic Politeumata," 182-84, who argues that it refers to the po

lls of Jerusalem, and Luderitz, "What Is the Politeuma?" 206-8, who suggests that it is the poli

teuma

of the city of Alexandria.

31 . Schiirer,

The History,

3 .88; Tcherikover and Fuks,


1.9,

n . 2 4 .






143

assumed to be using the term in a nontechnical sense. I t i s poss ible that Jose-

phus was e i ther t rying to exploi t this ambigui ty or was genuinely confused in

his c la im that the Jews as a group were c i t izens of Alexandria .

The term "Alexandrian" was a lso ambiguous, insofar as i t might refer e i

ther to a perso n f rom Ale xan dria or , in the s t ric t sense , to an Alexan drian c i t i

zen. Th e contras t i s nicely noted in a pap yrus (CPJ 151) in w hic h the pe ti t ioner,

one Helenos son of Tryphon, descr ibed himself ini t ia l ly as "an Alexandrian,"

but then crossed that out and wrote "a Jew from Alexandria ." Both Josephus

and Phi lo explo i t the ambigui ty ,

3 8

but there is no evide nce that Jews as a c lass

were ever Alexandrians in the legal sense of the term.

The cla im of Josephus that Jews, as a group, were c i t izens of Alexandria

had no l ega l ba s i s .

3 9

Jul ius Caesar , or Augustus , may wel l have granted c i t i

zenship to some ind iv idua l Jews ( inc luding the fami ly of P hi lo )

4 0

and recorded

them on the tablet to which Josephus refers , but the pr ivi lege cannot have ex

tended to the ent i re Jew ish com m unity . That som e Jew s, a t leas t , c la ime d to be

ci t izens , may also be inferred f rom the chal lenge of Apion : "W hy th en, if they

are c i t izens (cives), do they not wo rsh ip the same gods as the Ale xa nd r ian s? "

4 1

I t is l ikely, ho w ev er, that ci t izen ship w as an issue only for the uppe r-clas s stra

t um o f Al exandr i an J ews .

4 2

The precise s ta tus of the Jewish community in Alexandria became a subject

of conf l ic t only af ter the Roman conquest of Egypt . Lack of c i t izenship in the

Greek ci t ies (Alexandria , Naucrat is , and Ptolemais) does not appear to have

caused any ser ious problems for Jews in the Ptolemaic per iod. Like other for

e ign ethnics , they found a way to advancement in the mil i tary. Some Jews je t

t i soned thei r t radi t ional re ligion in pursui t of thei r careers . O ne D osi theu s son

of Dr im ylus , who m akes a cameo appe arance in 3 M accab ees , rose to bec om e

ep on ym ou s pr ies t of the cul t of Alexa nde r and the dei fied P tolem ies , one of the

high est hon ors in the service of the king, in 222

B . C . E .

4 3

Others found a way to

combine Jewish re l igion and royal service . We have a l ready noted the success

of the Jewish pr ies t Onias and his colony at Leontopol is . The s i tuat ion

changed , however , wi th the coming of the Romans .

At the root of the conflict was a poll tax (laographia) impo sed by the R o

mans in 24 /23 B . C . E . The Greek ci t izens of Alexandria (and the other

poleis,

Ptolemais and Naucrat is) were exempt f rom this tax. Nat ive Egypt ians were

3 8 .

Ph i lo ,

De Leg.,

1 8 3 , 3 5 0 ; J o s ep h u s ,

Ant.

1 9 . 2 8 1 ;

Ag. Ap.

2 .38. Tcherikover,

Hellenistic Civ

ilization,

315 .

39 . This conclusion does not preclude the possibility that the situation may have been different

in Asia Minor. For the claim that Jews were citizens of Sardis see Josephus, Ant. 14 .235 , 259 .

4 0 . Modrzejewski , T he Jews in Egypt, 185.

4 1 . Ag. Ap.

2.65. The Greek text of this passage is not preserved. For further evidence of Jew

ish c i t izens in Alexandria se e Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranea n Diaspora, 6 7 - 6 9 .

4 2 . Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, 6 6 - 6 7 .

4 3 . CPJ 127 . Mod rzejewski , The Jews in Egypt, 60.



144


not. In 4/5 C . E . a thi rd c lass was created , to take accou nt of Gree ks outs ide the

poleis.

44

S ince there had been cons iderab le mix ing of Gree k and Egy pt ian e l

ements in Egypt , the cr i ter ia in this case were pr imari ly cul tural . Those who

had a gymnas i um educa t i on

(hoi apo tou gymnasiou)

and the hel leniz ed in

habi tants of the larger towns (metropolitai) were ackn ow ledged as an in te r

m ediate c la ss . Th ey s t il l paid the laographia, but a t a redu ced

rate .

Th e Al exan

dr ian Jew s , how ever , r ece ived no benefi t from th i s c on ce ss io n .

4 5

Th e line be tw een c i t izen and nonc i t i zen was now m ore sharp ly draw n than

ever before . Th e issue not only ha d f inancial im pl icat ions , but a lso put in ques

t ion the sel f -unders tanding of hel lenized Jews, who thought of themselves as

cul tural ly akin to the G reek s and desp ised the nat ive Egyp t ians . Their d i lem m a

is ref lected in the pet i t ion of Hele no s, the son of Try ph on , wh o beg an by cal l

ing himself an Alexandrian, but corrected this to "a Jew from Alexandria"

(CPJ

151). While the papyrus is fragmentary, the gist of the peti t ion is clear

enoug h. Heleno s a rgues tha t h i s fa ther w as "an Alexa ndr ian ," and tha t he h im

sel f had received "the appropr ia te educat ion, as far as my father ' s means a l

lowed." Hence his pet i t ion for exemption f rom the

laographia.

T he pet i t ion

had l i t t le hope of success.

The Alexandrian Greeks , in contras t , welcomed the pol l tax and the c lear

dis t inct ion between ci t izens and nonci t izens that i t enta i led. A papyrus f rom

2 1 - 1 9 B . C . E .

(CPJ

150) prese rves an appe al to R om e for the res torat ion of the

Alexandrian c i ty counci l , or boule . In re turn, the Alexandrians promised to

"take care that the c i t izen-bod y of A lexa ndria i s not corrupted by m en w ho are

uncul tured and un educ a ted ." Th e pre tens ions of Jew s l ike Helenos l ed to con

f l ic t wi th the Alexandrian Greeks . Mat ters came to a head in the re ign of

Cal igula (37

C . E . ) .

T he prefect Flac cus had previously show n no i ll wi l l tow ard

the Jew s , bu t whe n C al igu la came to pow er he acquiesced in the dema nd of the

Alexandrians that s ta tues of the emperor be erected in Jewish synagogues . He

then proc la im ed tha t the Jew s were "fore igners and a l i en s ."

4 6

Wh at ensued has

been apt ly cal led "the f i rs t pogrom in his tory."

4 7

Members of the Jewish ger

ousia were f logged wi th whips in the theater . The outrage was aggravated by

the fact that they were beaten wi th the whips usual ly used for Egypt ians ,

4 4 . Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, 1 .59; M odrzejew ski , The Jews in

Egypt, 163; Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 76.

4 5 . Modrzejewski , The Jews in Egypt, 163: "Not a s ingle Jewish name can be found am ong the

numerous d ocum ents deal ing with the process ing of qual i f icat ion [epikrisis] for the fourteen-year-

old sons of notables, to warrant their eligibility for the reduced tax rate." Some individual Jews

may have qualified for the reduction as the descendants of military settlers (Kasher,

The Jews in

Hellenistic and Roman E gypt, 88 -9 3) , but the evide nce is very limited.

46. Phi lo , In Flacc. 54.

4 7 .

Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum 1. 66 .




145

w here as hi ther to Jews w ho w ere f logged w ere beaten wi th flat blades , like the

A l e x a n d r i a n s .

4 8

Jewish houses were p lundered . The phi losopher Phi lo headed

a miss ion to p lead the i r case before C al ig u la .

4 9

T hey ha d to wai t for mon ths for

an audience, and then they met wi th contempt and r idicule . At this very t ime

Cal igula provoked a cr is is in Judea by order ing that his s ta tue be ins ta l led in

the Temple, but the cr is is was fores ta l led by his assass inat ion. The Jews of

Alexandria seized the opportuni ty to take vengeance on the Greeks . Riots

broke out which were suppressed by Roman so ld ie r s .

Claudius , who succeeded Cal igula , se t t led the quest ion of Jewish r ights in

4 1

C . E .

H is

Letter to the Alexandrians,

for tuitously preserv ed in papy rus and

f irst publ ish ed in 1924, sheds som e inva luable l ight on the eve nts of the t im e .

5 0

He refused to make an exact inquiry into the responsibi l i ty for "the dis tur

ban ces a nd r iot ing, or ra ther , to speak the t ruth, the war , against the Je w s," an d

demanded that both s ides desis t f rom thei r mutual enmity. He urged the

Alexandr ians

to behave gently and kindly towards the Jews who have inhabited the same city

for many years, and not to dishonour any of their customs in their worship of

their god, but to allow them to keep their own ways, as they did in the time of

the god Au gustu s and as I too having heard both sides have confirmed. The Je ws ,

on the other hand, I order not to aim at more than they hav e prev iously had and

not in future to send two embassies as if they lived in two cities, a thing which

has never been done before, and not to intrude themselves into the games

presided over by the

gymnasiarchoi

and the kosmetai, since they enjoy what is

their own, and in a city which is not their own they possess an abundance of all

go od th ings. Nor are they to bring in or invite Jew s com ing from Syria or Egypt.

. . . I f they disobey, I shal l proceed against them in every way as fomenting a

common plague for the whole world.

5 1

Seve ra l po i n t s i n t h i s l e t t e r r equ i r e comment .

5 2

The s ta tement tha t

Claudius had conf i rmed the r igh t o f the Jews to keep the i r own ways , hav

ing heard both s ides , has been t aken to imply tha t he had a l ready i s sued an

edic t on the subjec t . Josephus , in fac t , p resen t s an a l l eged ed ic t o f Claudius

in Ant. 19 .280-85 , t ha t i s much mor e f avo rab l e t o t he J ews t han t he Letter

pre se rv ed i n the papyru s . Th e ed i c t i n Jose phu s , how eve r , sh ow s c l ea r s i gns

4 8 .

In Flacc.

78 . It may b e that only m embers o f the Jewish

gerousia

enjoyed this mo dest priv

i lege (Barclay,

Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora,

69) .

4 9 .

The mission is recorded in his treatise

De Legatione ad Gaium.

5 0 . Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum 2 .3 6 -5 5 (no . 153) .

5 1 . Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, 2 .43 .

5 2 . The reference to two embassies is puzzl ing. Tcherikover has suggested that the delegat ion

to Caligula , led by Philo , was st i l l in Rome when a second delegat ion arrived. The second dele

gat ion may have been more radical , because of the worsened s i tuat ion in Alexandria . This sug

gestion is speculative, but the reference should probably be taken to imply some division within

the Jewish community .



146


of Jewish propaganda , and l i t t l e conf idence can be p laced in i t . Some schol

a r s regard i t a s en t i re ly spur ious ; o thers th ink i t may conta in an au thent ic

c o r e e m b e l l i s h e d b y i n t e r p o l a t i o n s .

5 3

A c c o r d i n g t o J o s e p h u s , C l a u d i u s a c

kno w l edg ed t ha t " t he J ews in Al ex and r i a , c a l l ed A l exan dr i ans , we re f e ll ow

colo nize rs from the very ear l i es t t im es jo in t ly wi th the A lexa nd r ian s and re

ce ived equa l c iv ic r igh t s [ises politeias] f ro m t h e k i n g s . "

5 4

In contras t , the

i nd i spu t ab l y au t hen t i c

Letter

says that the Je w s live in a c i ty not thei r o w n,

in e f fec t denying them the t i t l e Alexandr ians , and makes qu i te c lea r tha t

t hey d i d no t have "equa l c i v i c r i gh t s . "

5 5

T h e Letter rea f f i rms the t rad i t iona l

r igh t o f the Jews to l ive accord ing to the i r ances t ra l l aws , bu t the overa l l

tone i s no t sympathe t i c . I t ends by sugges t ing tha t the Jews foment a p lague

for the whole wor ld . They have no c la im to c i t i zenship . Mos t s ign i f i can t ly

of a l l , they a re to ld no t to in t rude themse lves in to the games organized by

the of f i c ia l s o f the gymnas ium, wi th the obvious impl ica t ion tha t they had

done so i n t he pa s t .

5 6

Claudius ordered the Jews "not to a im at more than they have previously

had." The actual goal of the Jewish agi ta t ion has been a mat ter of dispute in

modern scholarship. Victor Tcher ikover found that "the fundamental idea of

Ph i lo ' s p ol i t ics is qui te c lear : Jewish c la im s for ful l c i t izensh ip are qui te jus t i

f ied because Jews di f fer but l i t t le f rom the Greeks ."

5 7

Aryeh Kasher , in con

t rast , argues that Jew s cou ld no t aspire to ful l c i t izenship, as it w ould hav e e n

ta i led some form of homage to pagan dei t ies . Hence he envisages a s ta tus that

is separate but equal : "Their t rue a im was a separate , independent l i fe ."

5 8

K ash er ' s a rgum ent , which has a t ransparen t apologe t ic qua l ity , depe nds h eav

i ly on his unders tanding of the politeuma as a qua si - inde pen den t pol i t ical

enti ty that could afford a status equal to that of ci t izen. As we have seen, this

5 3 . See the discussion in Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, 1 . 7 0 - 7 1 . A

much m ore posit ive assessm ent of the edict in Josephus can be found in Kasher, The Jews in Hel

lenistic and Roman Egypt, 2 6 2 - 8 9 .

5 4 . Ant. 19 .281 .

5 5 . The edict in Josephus also claims that Augustus did not prevent the appointment of eth-

narchs, a claim that is contradicted by the evidence of Philo, In Flacc. 74.

5 6 .

Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 3 1 4 -2 1 , argues that Claudius did not

warn the Jews against infiltrating the gymnasium, but rather sought to dissuade them from ha

rassing public performances (reading

epispairein,

"harass," rather than Tc herik over 's reading

epi-

spaiein). Th is reading is rejected by Tcherikov er in CPJ 2 .53. The context , which is warning the

Jews not to seek more than they have, favors Tcherikover's interpretation.

57. Tch erikover and Fuks, CPJ 1.63.

58 .

Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 230 . Kasher mak es exten sive use of 3

Maccabees, which he dates implausibly to the early Ptolemaic era. In that book, some Jews are of

fered equal rights w ith the citizens of A lexand ria on co ndition that they participate in Greek rites,

but they refuse (3 Mace. 2:28-30). In fact, the book is l ikely to reflect one Jewish reaction to the

cris is of the Roman era. See Coll ins ,

Between Athens and Jerusalem,

1 0 4 - 1 1 .




147

unders tanding i s unfounded . Isopoliteia in the str ict sen se is a recipro cal

a r rangem ent be twee n Greek c i t i es, and no such agreements a re kno w n be tw een

a G r e e k a n d a n o n - G r e ek c o m m u n i t y .

5 9

Josephus does not use the term in an

accurate technical sense, but only loosely, to imply that Jews had equal s ta tus

wi th Greeks .

In fact, d if ferent J ew s may ha ve had dif ferent asp ira t ions . So m e Jew s ab an

doned thei r re l igion to embrace Greek ci t izenship. We have noted the case of

Do s i theus , son of Dr im ylos , in the P to lemaic per iod . The mo s t ce lebra ted case

in the R om an per iod was Ph i lo ' s neph ew , Tiber ius Ju l ius Alex ander , wh o w ent

on to become prefect of Egypt and to par t ic ipate in the Roman s iege of

J e r u s a l e m .

6 0

Others may have found a way to f inesse the re l igious demands of

the

polls

and con t inue in the Jew ish fa ith . Th ere is reason to suspect that P hi l o ' s

wh ole fami ly m ay have en joyed R om an c i t i zenship , s ince h i s b ro ther A lexan

der held the posi t ion of

arabarch

in A lexan dria and several m em be rs of the

family h ad the midd le nam e Jul ius , in t r ibute to Jul ius Caesar . Th e quest ion of

Apion, "Why then, i f they are c i t izens , do they not worship the same gods as

t he Al exa ndr i ans?"

(Ag. Ap.

2.65) , impl ies that some Jews cla imed ci t izenship

and st il l refrained from apo stasy .

Phi lo ' s v iewpoin t i s r e f l ec ted in a famous passage in h i s Life of Moses,

where he i s os tens ib ly speaking of the anc ien t I s rae l i t es in Egypt : "For

s t rangers , in my judgment , mus t be regarded as suppl ian t s of those who re

ce ive them , and not on ly su ppl ian t s bu t se t tl e r s and f r iends , w ho a re a nxiou s

to ob ta in equa l r igh t s [isotimid] wi th the burg esses and a re near to be ing c i t

i zens becau se they di ffe r l it t le f rom the or ig ina l in ha bi tan t s . "

6 1

I f we may as

sume, as seems l ikely, that Phi lo is making a vei led reference to the s i tuat ion

in Alexandr ia , the passage c lear ly acknowledges tha t Jews were no t in fac t

c i t i zens . His concern i s for equa l r igh t s . Exempt ion f rom the laographia

wo ul d su r e l y hav e r anked h i gh am ong t he se r i gh t s . Acc es s to t he g ym nas i u m

was probably a l so a t i s sue . In Roman Alexandr ia , these r igh t s would proba

b ly have requi red c i t i zenship in the polls, bu t i f they cou ld be ob taine d oth

e rw ise , the i s sue of c i t i zensh ip m ight w el l be m oot , as it w as in the P to le m aic

per iod . The v iew of Kasher , tha t Jews would not have sought Alexandr ian

c i t i zenship in pr inc ip le , imposes a fa l se ly r ig id or thodoxy on the anc ien t

communi ty . But the goa l o f Jewish ag i ta t ion was not c i t i zensh ip in itself;

ra ther , i t was the res torat ion of the r ights and s ta tus that had been los t in the

Roman e r a .

5 9 . A pplebau m , "The Lega l Status ," 43 6, 438 ; Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman

Egypt, 279 .

6 0 . Modrzejewski , The Jews in Egypt, 1 8 5 - 9 0 .

61.

De VitaMos. 1 .34 -36 ; H. A. W ol f son , Philo (Cam bridge, M ass . : Harvard Un iv. Press , 1948)

3 9 9 ^ 0 1 .



148


T h e J e w s a n d th e G y m n a s i u m

Part ic ipat ion in the gymnasium involved more than a love of a thle t ics . I t

m ay hav e been a s tepping -s tone to c i t izenship , i t had so m e impl icat ions for ac

cess to Greek educat ion, and i t had enormous s ignif icance for social s ta tus in

the Hel lenis t ic world.

The love of spor t and athle t ics was one of the pr imary character is t ics that

d i s t inguished Greek f rom barbar ian in the anc ien t wor ld . Consequent ly ,

whe reve r Greeks wen t , t hey bu i l t gymnas i a .

6 2

A ny ba rba r i an com m uni t y t ha t

aspired to the s ta tus of a Greek polls a l so r equ i r ed a gym nas i u m ; t he so -

ca l l ed Hel len i s t i c Reform tha t p receded the Maccabean revol t in Je rusa lem

is a case in po in t .

6 3

Beginning in the f i f th century, the Sophis ts f requented

the gymnas ia in search of s tudents . Socra tes d id l ikewise . P la to se t up h i s

school in the Academy, a gymnas ium on the ou t sk i r t s o f Athens . Other

ph i l o soph e r s , i nc l ud i ng An t i s t henes and Ar i s to t l e , a l so t augh t i n gy m na s i a .

6 4

In the Hel len i s t i c per iod , a gymnas ium usua l ly had an audi tor ium or l ec ture

ha l l . So m e, such as the P to lem aeu m a t A then s , a l so had l ib ra r ies . Th e d egre e

of in te l l ec tua l ac t iv i ty var ied , and should not be exaggera ted . The pr imary

func t ions of the gy m na s ium rem aine d a th le t i c , soc ia l , and to som e deg ree re

l i g i o u s .

6 5

Nonetheless , the ins t i tut ion played a s ignif icant par t in Hel lenis t ic

educa t ion .

The impor tance of the gymnas ium both for c i t i zensh ip and for educa t ion

i s bo und up w i th another G reek ins t i tu t ion , the ephebeia. Th is w as or iginal ly

conce ived a t Athens as a per iod of mi l i ta ry se rv ice for young m en, begin ning

at age e ighteen and las t ing for two years , of which the f i rs t was devoted to

t ra ining. By the Hel lenis t ic per iod, the per iod of service was l imi ted to one

year , and i t s mi l i tary character was great ly reduced. Ins tead, i t became a f in

ishing school for young ci t izens . In Egypt , i t served to ini t ia te the youth into

the Greek way of l i fe , and i t began when they were four teen, on the threshold

of adolescence. The curr iculum consis ted of a thle t ic t ra ining and s tudies in

the l iberal ar ts . During the year , ephebes par t ic ipated in a thle t ic and rhetor i -

6 2 . O n the dif fusion of gym nasia in the Hel lenist ic world, see Jean Delorm e, Gymnasion (Paris:

Boccard, 1960) .

6 3 .

A.H.M. Jones ,

The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1940 ); R.

Doran, "Jason's Gym nasion," in H. W. Attr idge et a l ., eds . ,

Of Scribes and Scrolls

(Lanham , M d.:

Univers ity Press o f Am er ica , 1990) 9 9 - 10 9 .

6 4 . M. L. Clarke, Higher Education in the Ancient World (London: Ro utledge, 19 71) 59.

6 5 . See the comments o f U. Wi lcken , Grundzuge und Chrestomathie der Papyruskunde LI

(Leipzig and Berl in: Teubner, 1912) 138-45; Diana Del ia ,

Alexand rian Citizenship during the Ro

man Principate (Atlanta: Scholars , 1991) 84 -8 5 , and W il l iam V. Harris , Ancient Literacy ( Ca m

bridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1989) 134-35. Harris stresses the lack of evidence for intel

lectual instruction in the Egyptian gymnasia.




149

ca l contes t s , and there were annua l ephebic games a t the end of the year .

6 6

These a re presumably the games f rom which Claudius bar red the Jews of

Alexandr ia .

In his

Letter to the Alexandrians,

C l aud i us con f i r med t he Al ex andr i an

c i t i zenship of "a l l those who have been reg i s te red as epheboi up to the t ime

of my pr inc ipa te . . . wi th the excep t ion of any w ho , tho ug h born of s l av e-

p a r e n t s , h a v e m a d e t h e ir w a y i n t o y o u r e p h e b a t e . "

6 7

Th i s wou l d s eem t o i m

p l y t ha t t hose who compl e t ed t he ephebeia we re no r m a l l y r ega rded a s c i t i

z e n s .

The s ame i mp l i ca t i on appea r s i n t he

Boule

p a p y r u s

(CPJ

15 0), in

wh i ch t he Al exandr i an Greeks pe t i t i oned Augus t us f o r t he r e s t o r a t i on o f

the i r c i ty counc i l . In the course of the pe t i t ion they promise " tha t the Coun

ci l wi l l see to i t that none of those who are l iable to enrol lment for the pol l

tax [laographia] d im in i sh the rev en ue by be in g l i s ted in the pub l ic record s

a long wi th the epheboi for each year ; and i t wi l l t ake care tha t the pure(? )

c i t iz en bod y [politeuma] of A lexa nd r ia i s no t cor ru pted by m en who a re un

c u l tu r e d a nd u n e d u c a t e d . "

6 8

Th i s pa s sag e show s t ha t peop l e cou l d evade t he

pol l t ax by be ing reg i s te red among the ephebes . Even i f enro l lment in the

ephebeia w as not form al ly e i ther a pre re quis i t e or a gua ran te e of c i t i zensh ip ,

i t i s c lea r tha t the two were c lose ly assoc ia ted .

6 9

At the same t ime , i t i s ap

pa ren t t ha t som e peop l e w ho w er e no t en t i tl ed to c i t i z ensh i p man age d on oc

cas ion to ge t themse lves enro l l ed among the ephebes , and so to ga in en t ry

in to an e l i t e soc ia l c lass . Those who a t t a ined th i s s t a tus might then c la im

pr i v i l eges no rma l l y en j oyed by member s o f t he c l a s s , such a s exempt i on

from the pol l tax.

Th e case of He lenos son of Tryp hon , the "Jew of Ale xand r ia" wh o was not

al lowed to cal l himself an Alexandrian

(CPJ

151) is onc e mor e per t inent he re .

Helenos begins his pet i t ion by point ing out that his fa ther was "Alexandrian"

and that he had received "the appropr ia te educat ion, as far as my father ' s

m e a n s a l l o w e d . "

7 0

M os t schola rs assum e tha t " the appropr ia te educa t ion " w as

ob t a i ned i n t he gymnas i um.

7 1

T h e Letter of Claudius probably made i t more

difficult for Jews to obtain "the appropriate education" thereafter , even if their

means a l lowed.

66. H. I. Marrou, A History of Educa tion in Antiquity (Lon don: Sheed & W ard, 1956; reprint:

Mad ison: Univ . o f W iscons in Press , n .d .) 10 7-1 2; De l ia ,

Alexand rian Citizenship,

7 1 - 8 8 .

67 .

Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, 2 .43.

68. Ibid., 2.28.

6 9 . De l ia , Alexand rian Citizenship, 7 1 -8 8 , denies that there wa s any formal connect ion betw een

the ephebate and citizenship, but she grants that this education was a cultural and social require

ment for those w ho c laime d to be Greek, and that the exercise of c i t izen r ights wa s postponed un

t i l the ephebate was completed.

7 0 . Tcherikover and Fuks, Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum, 2 .31 .

7 1 . Despite the object ions of Kasher, The Jews in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt, 204 .



150 W isdom in the Hellenistic Diaspora

Jews and Greek Education

The pr imary argument in favor of the view that some Egypt ian Jews re

ceived a Greek educat ion, a t leas t to the level of the ephebate t ra ining and

somet imes beyond i t , l ies in the considerable l i terary output of Egypt ian Ju

daism. The s i tuat ion in Alexandria was very di f ferent f rom that in Jerusalem.

Whi le Pa les t in ian Juda i sm, even in Ben Si ra ' s t ime , was by no means devoid

of H el lenis t ic inf luence, the Jew s of the D iaspo ra we re far m ore profound ly im

bued w i th Gre ek cu l ture . To begin w i th , Gree k was never the pr imary l anguage

in Judea. In Egypt , i t was the l ingua f ranca f rom the t ime of Alexander . Even

thou gh Jew s typical ly l ived close together in com m unit ie s , there seem s to have

been l i t t le a t tempt to maintain the Hebrew language, or Aramaic e i ther . The

Jewish inscr ipt ions of Greco-Roman Egypt include 114 epi taphs , which are a l l

in Gre ek except for five in Hebrew or A ra m ai c .

7 2

The Tor ah wa s t ransla ted into

G reek in the thi rd century B . C . E . E ven recent com pos i t ions , such as Ben Si ra ' s

book, were t ransla ted wi thin a generat ion or two.

By the t ime of Ben Sira, there was already a f lourishing Jewish l i terature

be i ng com posed i n Greek i n A l exa nd r i a .

7 3

The oldest composi t ion was that of

Demetr ius the Chronographer , who retold the bibl ical his tory in Greek and at

tempted to resolve some of i t s chronological problems. He is a lso our ear l ies t

wi tness to the exis tence of the Greek t ransla t ion of the Bible . But the Greco-

Jew ish w ri ters did not conf ine them selve s to resolving pro blem s in the bibl ical

text . They explored the ful l range of Hel lenis t ic genres . The his tory of Arta-

panus was indebted to Hecataeus and Manetho at leas t as much as to the Pen

ta teuch. Eze kiel recast the s tory of the exod us in the form of a G reek t ragedy .

Phi lo the Eld er com po sed an epic on the his tory of Israel . O ther Dias pora Jew s

produced prophet ic verses in epic hexameters in the name of the Sibyl , or im

i ta ted the s tyle of the Orphic verses . Aris tobulus pract iced phi losophy by de

veloping an a l legor ical interpreta t ion of the Torah, a technique learned f rom

Hellenis t ic phi losophers and thei r cr i t iques of re l igion. This remarkable l i ter

ary outpu t show s that A lexan drian Jew s in the Ptolem aic era m ust have had ac

cess to Greek educat ion in whatever form was avai lable to them.

H. A. Wolfson argued vigorously that a l l Jewish educat ion in the Diaspora

took place in Jewish ins t i tut ions , but his argume nts have bee n re jected b y m ost

r ecen t s cho l a r s .

7 4

Wolfson argued that the gymnasium was re l igious in nature ,

7 2 . W. Horbury, "Jewish Inscriptions and Jewish Literature in Egypt, with Special Reference

to Ecclesiasticus," in J. W. van Henten and P. W. van der Horst, Studies in Early Jewish Epigra

ph y (Leiden: Bri l l , 1994) 11.

7 3 .

O n this l iterature see C ollin s, Between Athens and Jerusalem; Schiirer, A History of the Jew

ish People, 4 70 -7 04 . For the texts see Carl R. Holladay, Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish A u

thors (4 vol s . , Atlanta: Scholars , 198 3, 19 89 , 199 6) .

7 4 . A l a n Me n d e l s o n , Secular Education in Philo of Alexandria (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union Col

lege Press , 1982) 29.




151

and so wo uld hav e required the apostasy of any Jew w ho at tended i t . H e further

argues that Egypt ians were excluded f rom these ins t i tut ions , "and so undoubt

ed ly we re the J e w s . "

7 5

T he lat ter assert ion is que stiona ble for the perio d before

Clau dius . In the Ptolem aic per iod, anyo ne wh o could afford a gym nas ium edu

ca t ion could acqui re one . Accord ing to A.H .M. Jones , me m bersh ip of the gy m

nasiu m at the end of the Ptolemaic per iod w as "social ly uniform, consis t ing of

the wel l - to-do H el lenized class , but racia l ly very mixed, including besides such

famil ies as had preserved thei r Greek blood unmixed a large number of half-

cas te and Hel len ized Egypt ian fami l i es . "

7 6

The Romans adopted a more re

s t r ic t ive pol icy of exclu ding n on-G reek s , but it i s apparent f rom the

Boule

pa

pyrus and the Letter of Claudius that this policy was not always successful .

Th e v iew tha t observant Jews w ould have re jected the gym nas iu m founders

on the evidence of Phi lo , who, as Feldman remarks , has a l l the appearance of

an observant Jew but none the less speaks on ly pos i t ive ly about the gy m nas iu m

and l ibera l educa t ion .

7 7

In comment ing on the benef icence of parents to chi l

dren he wri tes that they have not only given them l i fe but educat ion of body

and soul ,

so that they m ay hav e not only l ife, but a goo d life. They have benefited the bod y

by means of the gymnasium and the training there given, through which it gains

muscular vigour and good condition and the power to bear itself and move with

an ease marked by gracefulness and elegance. They have done the same for the

soul by means of letters and arithmetic and geometry and music and philosophy

as a whole which lifts on high the mind lodged within the mortal body and es

corts it to the very heaven.

{D e

Spec.

Leg. 2 .2 3 0 )

He d i sp lays in t imate knowledge of the methods of reproach and punishment

used by the gymnasium off ic ia ls , the

sophronistai (De M ig. Abr.

116) , and

draws numerous examples f rom a th le t i c contes t s .

7 8

H e descr ibes his pursui t of

phi losophy in t e rms remini scent of Ben Si ra ' s e ro t i c hymn to wisdom:

When first I was incited by the goads of philosophy to desire her I consorted in

early youth with one of her handmaids, Grammar, and all that I begat by her,

writing, reading and study of the writings of the poets, I dedicated to her mis

tress. And again I kept company with another, namely Geometry, and was

charmed with her beauty, for she sh ow ed symm etry and proportion in every part.

Ye t I took n one of her children for m y private use, but brought them as a gift to

the lawful wife. Again my ardour moved me to keep company with a third; rich

7 5 . Wo l f s o n , Philo, 1.79.

76 .

A.H.M. Jones , The Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces, 2d ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press,

1 9 7 1 ) 3 0 8 - 9 .

77 .

Fe ldman, Jew and Gentile, 5 7 - 5 9 .

78 .

Ibid., 60.



152


in rhythm, harmony and melod y wa s she, and her name was M usic, and from her

I begat diatonics, chromatics and harmonics, conjunct and disjunct melodies,

conforming with the consonance of the fourth, fifth or octave intervals. And

again of none of these did I make a secret hoard, wishing to see the lawful wife

a lady of wealth with a host of servants ministering to her.

(De Cong. 74-76)

Alan Mendelson has a rgued persuas ive ly tha t such passages should be

taken to re f l ec t Phi lo ' s own educa t ion .

7 9

The ephebate year (a t age four teen)

would only have been the int roduct ion to the l iberal or encycl ical s tudies ,

which would then have cont inued , in the gymnas ium, un t i l about the age of

t w e n t y .

8 0

Phi lo never ment ions the

ephebeia,

bu t he could scarce ly hav e pro

ceeded to his l iberal s tudies wi thout complet ing i t . The possibi l i ty that he re

ceived his educat ion f rom a tutor , a t home, should be discounted in view of

his f requent references to the gymnasium and athle t ic contes ts . I t i s t rue that

the gy m nas ium had re l ig ious assoc ia t ions , and was usua l ly adorned w i th s ta t

ues of Hermes and Herac les , bu t Phi lo does no t seem to have found there in

any s ignif icant impediment to his educat ion. He also remarks that he has of

ten been to the theater (De Ebr. 111). Jewish famil iar i ty wi th theat r ical pro

duct ions could a l ready be inferred f rom the t ragedy of Ezekiel . An inscr ipt ion

from Asia Minor shows that a special place was reserved for Jews in the the

a t e r a t Mi l e t u s .

8 1

In contras t , the only Jew ish sch ools that Ph i lo descr ibes are conn ected wi th

the sabbath synagogue service: "Each seventh day there s tand wide open in

every c i ty thousands of schools of good sense, temperance, courage, jus t ice

and the other vi r tues"

(De Spec. Leg.

2.62) . Again, in

De Vita Mos.

2.16:

The Jew s every seventh day occup y them selves w ith the phi losophy of their fa

thers, dedicating that time to the acquiring of knowledge and the study of the

truths of nature. For what are our places of prayer throughout the cities but

sch ools o f prudence and courage and temperance and justice and also of piety,

holiness and every virtue by which duties to God and men are discerned and

rightly performed?

Sabb aths , accord ing to Phi lo , should be devoted to ph i losophy (D e

Opif.

128).

Th i s ,

of course , i s a phi losopher ' s unders tanding of his re l igion. The s ignif i -

7 9 . Me n d e l s o n , Secular Education, 2 5 - 2 6 .

80 . On the stages of Hel lenist ic education, see M. Hengel , Judaism and Hellenism (2 vol s .

Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974) 1.66, and, with specific reference to Philo, Mendelson,

Secular Ed

ucation, 4 0 - 4 2 ,9 9 . Wh ere the ephebate began at 18, som e liberal s tudies wo uld have preceded i t ,

and in any case the line betw een e lementary and secondary education was som etim es blurred. Mar-

rou,

A History of Educ ation in Antiquity, 16 0- 75 , warns, with reference to secondary education,

that "it is impossible to say definitely when it began or how long it lasted" (p. 161).

81 . Fe ldman, Jew and Gentile, 62 . Th e inscription is CIJ 748 .




153

cant point for our present purpose is that these sabbath schools are obviously

not the set t ing for secular educat ion. Jews who became versed in Greek l i ter

a ture and phi losophy mu s t have acqui red tha t com petence e l sewh ere .

W e shou ld not conc lude tha t a ll Jew s , o r a major i ty of them , had the be n

ef i t o f a gymnas ium educa t ion . This educa t ion was the pre roga t ive of the

wel l - to -do . Phi lo was except iona l no t on ly for h i s ph i losophica l ab i l i ty , bu t

a l so for h i s fami ly background. His bro ther was a banker , and h i s nephew

rose to become prefec t o f Egypt . There were c lass d i s t inc t ions wi th in

Alexandr ian Juda i sm, as appears f rom the t rea t i se In Flaccum, wh e r e Ph i l o

compla ins tha t the Jewish magis t ra tes who were f logged wi th whips "fa red

wor se t han t he i r i n f e r i o r s , " t he commoner s among t he Al exandr i an J ews .

When sums of money a re ment ioned in the Jewish papyr i , they a re "a lways

smal l , whe ther g iven as dowr ies or bequea thed as l egac ies or loaned ."

8 2

The

number o f t hose whose means a l l owed a gymnas i um educa t i on was p roba

b l y qu i t e l i mi t ed .

8 3

The authors of wisdom l i tera ture were by def ini t ion an educated c lass . The

author of the Wisdom of Solomon, probably a contemporary of Phi lo , i s l ikely

to have had a s imilar educat ion , but he doe s not display the sam e grasp of phi

losophy and cannot have persevered as long in his s tudies . His work shows an

acquaintance wi th rhetor ic and some famil iar i ty wi th phi losophy, a l though he

had not thoroughly mas te red e i ther . Nonethe less , the Jewish wisdom teacher

of the first century

C . E .

in Alexandria had a much bet ter opportuni ty real ly to

unders tand Hel lenis t ic ideas than was possible for Ben Sira two centur ies ear

l ier in Jeru salem .

Educat ion in the Hel lenis t ic c i t ies a t the beginning of the Roman era

was more deve loped , sys temat ic , and sophis t i ca ted than can poss ib ly have

been the case in Ben Si ra ' s bet midras. The wisdom l i t e ra ture of the Greek-

speaking Diaspora was l ikewise more complex . The c loses t para l l e l to t rad i

t iona l H ebrew w isdo m i s found in Gre ek gnom ic poe t ry , which i s represented

in Jewish l i tera ture by the poem of Pseudo-Phocyl ides . At the other end of the

spec t rum i s the work of Phi lo . Here wisdom i s proper ly ph i losophy, d i s t in

guished f rom i ts t radi t ional forebear by i t s systemat ic and cr i t ical nature . The

susta ined character of Phi lo ' s thought goes far beyond anything found in the

w isdo m bo oks of the Bib le or the Ap ocry pha , and a l so goes beyon d the scope

of th i s book . The W isdo m of So lom on occu pies an in te rmed ia te p lace . It con

ta ins l i t t le gnomic wisdom, and is informed by phi losophy, but i t a lso bears a

resemblance to the longer ref lect ive poems of Sirach on the subject of wis

dom, and i t fol lows the Hebrew sage in br inging the his tory of Israel into the

purview of the sage.

8 2 . Tcherikover and Fuks,


1 .51 -52 .

83 . Me n d e l s o n ,

Secular Education,

27.



154

Wisdom in the Hellenistic Diaspora

Propaganda and God-fearers

The Wisdom of Solomon speaks of the Israelites as those "through whom

the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world" (Wis. 18:4). For

a long time modern scholarship assumed that the Jewish literature written in

Greek was missionary literature, intended to promote Judaism in the Hellenis

tic world.

8 4

Closely bound up with this idea was the notion of a Jewish mis

sion to the Gentiles, which succeeded not only in making converts to Judaism

but also in creating a class of God-fearers and sympathizers who stopped short

of full acceptance of the Jewish Law. All these assumptions have been sharply

disputed in recent years.

The propagandistic character of Greco-Jewish literature was called into

question by Tcherikover in a famous article in 1956.

8 5

Tcherikover argued that

this literature was primarily intended for the edification of Jews rather than for

the conversion of Gentiles. There is very little evidence that Gentiles paid any

attention to this literature, although much of it was collected by the polymath

Alexander Polyhistor in Rome in the first century

B.C.E.,

and the opening verse

of Genesis is cited in the

f irs t-century

-C.E. rhetorical treatise On the Sublime,

which is attributed to Longinus.

8 6

The high esteem for Judaism in works

(falsely) attributed to the Sibyl and Orpheus would have the effect of bolster

ing the self-respect of the Jewish community.

8 7

The alternatives on this issue

are not mutually exclusive, however. Much of this literature attempts to de

velop a view of Judaism that would be both intelligible and congenial to a cul

tivated Greek. In so doing, it shapes the self-perception and self-understand

ing of the Jewish community, but by no means excludes a Gentile readership,

if such could be found.

8 8

Recent scholarship is sharply divided on the question of a Jewish mission.

Louis Feldman defends the traditional view and argues that extensive prose-

lytism must be posited to explain the supposed growth of Judaism in this pe

riod.

8 9

The estimates of the numbers of Jews in antiquity are unreliable, how

ever, and so this argument is not compelling. At the other end of the spectrum,

Martin Goodman has examined the texts that are usually adduced as evidence

for a Jewish mission and found them wanting. Rather, he finds striking "the

84 .

E.g., M. Friedlander, Geschichte

der jUdischen

Apologetik

(Zurich:

Schmidt,

1900) ;

P. Dal-

bert, Die Theologie der Hellenistisch-JUdischen Missionsliteratur unter Ausschluss von Philo und

Josephus

(Hamburg: Reich,

1954) .

8 5 .

V. Tcherikover, Jewish Apologetic Literature Reconsidered, Eos 48 (1956) 1 6 9 - 9 3 .

86 . Stern, Greek and Latin Authors, 1.361-65.

87. Cf. M. Goodman, Mission and Conversion (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994) 80.

88 . See further Collins,

Between Athens and Jerusalem,

8-10.

89 .

Feldman,

Jew and Gentile,

293. So also D. Georgi,

The Opponents of Paul in Second

Corinthians (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986) 8 3 - 8 4 .




155

lack of pros elyt iz in g a t t i tudes in f irst-century Ju d ai sm ."

9 0

So , for exam ple , the

famous d ic tum in Mat t . 23 :15 about sc r ibes and Phar i sees c ross ing l and and

sea to make one proselyte may refer to the eagerness of Phar isees to conver t

other Jews to thei r

halakah

ra ther than to the convers ion of Gent i l es . Good

man is surely r ight that there was no systemat ic or organized at tempt to win

conver t s to Juda i sm in th i s per iod in the manner of Chr i s t i an miss ionary ac

t i v i t y .

9 1

He acknowledges , however , tha t there was "an apologe t ic miss ion ,"

to win the approva l and es teem of Gent i l es for Juda i sm.

9 2

To some degree ,

th i s was accompl i shed through the synagogue se rv ice . Phi lo says tha t "each

seventh day there s tand wide open in every c i ty thousands of schools of good

sense , t em pera nce , courag e , jus t i ce and the o ther v i r tues . . . " (De Spec. Leg.

2.282) , and Josephus c la ims tha t the Jews of Ant ioch "were cons tan t ly a t

t ract ing to thei r re l igious ceremonies mul t i tudes of Greeks , and these they had

i n som e measu re i nco r po ra ted w i th t hemse l ves " (J.W. 7 .45) . To some degree

i t was accomplished by Jews in the course of thei r regular work. The royal

house of Adiabene was conver ted to Juda i sm by a sa lesman, Hananias , who

none the less adv i sed the he i r to the th rone , Iza tes , aga ins t und ergoing c i rcum

cis ion

(Ant.

20 .34 -3 8) . At leas t some of the Grec o-Jew ish l i te ra ture could a l so

hav e cont r ibu ted to th i s "apo loge t ic m iss ion " by present ing Jud a i sm in an a t

tractive l ight .

Ge nt i les wh o we re a tt racted to Jud aism bu t s topped shor t of ful l c onv ers ion

are of ten cal led "God-fearers" in modern scholarship, fol lowing the terminol

ogy of the Acts of the Apost les . Here again modern scholarship is sharply di

v ided , and present s ex t reme v iews tha t cannot be main ta ined .

9 3

On the one

hand , there can be no doub t tha t m any Gent i l es sympath ized wi th Juda i sm to

varying degrees . Josephus boasts that "the masses have long s ince shown a

kee n desi re to adop t our re l igious obs erva nce s; and there is not one c i ty , Gree k

or barb ar ian, no r a s ingle nat ion, to w hich our custom of absta ining f rom wo rk

on the seventh day has not spread, and where fas ts and the l ight ing of lamps

and many of our prohibi t ions in the mat ter of food are not observed" (Ag. Ap.

2.282) . This tes t imony is corroborated by the Roman sat i r i s t Juvenal , a

younger contemporary of Josephus :

9 0 .

G o o d m a n ,

Mission and Conversion,

89. Cf . S . M cKn ight ,

A Light among the Gentiles: Jew

ish Missionary Activity in the Second Temp le Period

(M innea polis: Fortress, 199 1).

9 1 .

Even Georg i ,

The Opponents,

88, who regards the Jewish miss ion as widespread, ackn owl

ed ge s that it was not directed by any central authority.

9 2 . G o o d m a n , Mission and Conversion, 86.

9 3 . On e extreme is presented by A . T. Kraabel , "The Disappearance of the 'God-F earers , '" in

J. A . Overm an and R. S . MacL ennan, eds . , Diaspora Jews and Judaism (Atlanta: Scho lars, 1992 )

119-30, and R. S . MacLennan and A. T. Kraabel , "The God-Fearers—A Literary and Theologi

cal Invention," ibid. , 13 1- 43 . The other extreme can be found in L. H. Feldman, "The Om nipres

ence of the G-d Fearers," BAR 1 2 ( 1 9 8 6 ) 5 8 - 6 9 ; Jew and Gentile, 3 4 2 - 8 2 .



156


Some chance to have a father who fears the sabbaths,

They adore nothing beside the clouds and the deity of heaven

Nor do they think swine's flesh to be different from human,

From which the father abstained, and soon they lay aside their foreskins;

But used to despise the Roman laws

They learn, and keep, and fear the Jewish law,

Whatsoever Moses del ivered in the secret volume:

No t to show the ways , unless to one observing the same rites,

To lead the circumcised only to a sought-for fountain;

But the father is in fault, to whom every seventh day was

Idle, and he did not med dle with any part of l ife.

(Satires 1 4 . 9 6 - 1 0 6 )

9 4

Ju ve na l ' s accou nt does not imp ly any proselyt iz ing act ivi ty on the par t of

Jews;

the convers ion comes about because of the cur ios i ty of the Romans about for

e ign ways. Gent i le respect for the sabbath was a l ready repor ted by Phi lo , hal f

a century or so ear l ier . The Jewish laws, he c la imed, "at t ract and win the a t

tent ion of a ll , of barbar ian s , of G ree ks , of dw el lers on the m ainlan d an d is land s ,

of nat ion s of the eas t and the west , of Eu rop e and Asia , of the wh ole inhabi ted

wo rld f rom end to end. Fo r wh o has not show n his high respec t for that sacred

seventh day , by giving res t and re laxat ion f rom labor to himse lf and his ne igh

bors , f reemen and s laves a l ike , and beyond these to the beasts" (De Vita Mos.

2.20-21) . The Roman phi losopher Seneca a l so no ted the widespread obser

vance of the sabbath, and complained that "the vanquished have given thei r

l aws to the v ic tors . "

9 5

While the references to the God-fearers in the Acts of

the Apost les may be s tyl ized for theological purposes , and the phrases used to

refer to them, phoboumenos ton theon and sebomen os ton theon, do not occur

i n i n sc r i p t i ons ,

9 6

the exis tence of Gent i les who par t ia l ly observed Jewish laws

cannot ser iously be quest ioned.

Much of modern schola rsh ip , however , has assumed a much more d i s t inc t

prof i le of these "God-fearers" than is warranted by the evidence. According to

one s tandard reference ar t ic le : "They f requent the services of the synagogue,

they are monotheis ts in the bibl ical sense, and they par t ic ipate in some of the

ceremonial requirements of the Law, but they have not moved to ful l conver

s ion to Judaism through ci rcumcis ion. They are cal led . . . sebomenoi o r

phoboumenoi ton theon"

97

The i r num bers have been es t imated as "perha ps

mil l ions by the f i rs t century."

9 8

In fact , we have no evidence of thei r number ,

9 4 . Stern, Greek and Latin Authors, 2 . 1 0 2 - 7 .

9 5 . Seneca, in August ine, De C ivitate Dei, 6 .11 ; Stern, Greek and Latin Authors, 1.431.

96 .

Kraabel , "The Disappearance of the 'God -Fearers . '"

97. K. G. Kuhn and H. Stegemann, "Proselyten," Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopddie Supp. 9

(1962) 1260 .

98 . Enc. Jud.(\91l) 10.55.




157

and i t does not appear that they consti tuted a defined class with specific re

qui rements for membersh ip . There were many ways in which a Gent i l e might

express sympathy for Juda i sm." These could range f rom a qui te vague admi

ration of the Jew ish law s, or from financial con tributio ns to the co nstru ction of

a syn ago gu e, to the pract ice of som e Jew ish r i tuals or the venerat ion of the G od

of Israel . This si tuation is not at al l al tered by the much-discussed inscription

from Aphrodis ias in Asia Minor ( thi rd century C . E . ) , which was discovered in

1976 and pub l i shed in 1 9 8 6 .

1 0 0

This inscr ipt ion contains the names of 125 in

divid uals , of w ho m the f irst 71 were Jew s ( including three prose lytes) . Th e sec

ond part of the l ist is dist inguished by a sl ight gap on the stone and a heading

tha t reads : "as many as a re God- feare rs" (kai hosoi theosebeis). N on e of the

names that fol low are dis t inct ively Jewish. Some of the individuals are indi

cated as "co un ci l lors ." I f they w ere coun ci l lors of the c ity of A phro dis ias , thei r

du t ies would presumably have en ta i l ed ido la t ry .

1 0 1

The inscr ipt ion has r ight ly

been ha i l ed as conc lus ive ev idence for the ex i s tence of "God- feare rs , "

1 0 2

but

i t throw s no l ight a t a l l on the bel iefs a nd pract ices of these peop le . They m ay

have qualif ied as "God-fearers" by financial or poli t ical support for the Jewish

com m un ity, and need no t ha ve endo rsed any Jew ish bel iefs or r i tuals a t a l l . N ot

al l sympathizers f requented the synagogue or were pract ical monotheis ts .

The exis tence of Gent i le "God-fearers ," however def ined, i s re levant to the

wisdom l i tera ture of the Hel lenis t ic Diaspora . This l i tera ture presents Jewish

tradi t ions in Greek dress , drawing heavi ly on Greek phi losophy and ethical

t eaching . Pseudo-Phocyl ides makes no over t r e fe rence whatever to Juda i sm.

This l i tera ture may s t i l l have been addressed pr imari ly to Jews, but i t would

also seem to be very congenial to interes ted Gent i les . To a great degree, i t ex

p lores common ground be tween Jews and Gent i l es . The common ground tha t

i t explores , however , i s on a fa i r ly high inte l lectual and moral level . The sab

ba th-observers descr ibed by Josephus and Juvena l may have been mere ly su

pers t i t ious , a t t racted by cur ios i ty about Jewish pract ices . Othe r Jew ish w ri ters ,

such as Ar tap anus , sought a rapproch em ent w i th popula r Grec o-Egy pt ian cu l

ture, even going so far as to at tr ibute the founding of the Egyptian animal cults

to Moses . The appeal of the wisdom wri ters i s to educated, cul tured Hel lenes ,

who were phi losophical ly sophis t icated. Whether or not they hoped to a t t ract

such Greeks to Judaism, they sought to unders tand thei r re l igion in such a way

that they themselves could be both fa i thful Jews and cul tured Hel lenes .

9 9 .

J. J. Collins, "A Symbol of Otherness: Circumcision and Salvation in the First Century," in

J. Neusner and E. S. Frerichs, eds., To See Ourselves as Others S ee Us: Christians, Jews, "Oth

ers" in Late An tiquity (Chico ,

Calif.:

Scholars , 1985) 17 9- 85 ; S .J .D. Co hen, "Crossing the Bou nd

ary and Be com ing a Jew," H TR 8 2 ( 1 9 8 9 ) 1 3 - 3 3 .

100. J . Reynolds and R. Tannenbaum, Jews an d God-Fearers at Aphrodisias (Supp. 12; Ca m

bridge: Cambridge Philo logical Society , 1987) .

101 . G o o d m a n ,

Mission and Conversion,

118.

102.

Fe ldman, Jew and Gentile, 3 6 2 - 6 9 .



Chapter 9 .

Jewish Eth ics in Hel len is t ic Dress :

T h e S e n t e n c e s o f P s e u d o - P h o c y l i d e s

The pr incipal formulat ion of pract ical wisdom from the Hel lenis t ic Diaspora

is found in a didact ic poem of 230 verses a t t r ibuted to the Greek gnomic poet

Phocyl ides , who l ived in Miletus in Ionia in the middle of the s ixth century

B . C . E .

This poem achieved wide popula r i ty in the Middle Ages , on the as

sum ption that it w as an authent ic w ork of Pho cyl ide s . The fact that it con tained

severa l rem ini scences of the Old Tes tam ent w as taken as independ ent c or rob

oration of the universal validity of biblical norms. I ts authentici ty was first se

r ious ly cha l lenged by Joseph Sca l iger in 1606.

1

Scal iger incl ined to Chris t ian

rather than Jewish authorship, but he made a valuable contr ibut ion in showing

the dependence of the poem on the LXX. After Scal iger ' s cr i t ique, interes t in

Pseudo-Phocyl ides dec l ined , un t i l i t was rev ived by Jacob Bernays in 1856.

2

Bernays accepted the dependence on the LXX as an es tabl ished fact , but

showed tha t the poem be t rays no knowledge of Chr i s t i an i ty . The Jewish au

thorship of Pse udo -Ph ocy l ides w as s t il l d isputed by a few scholars ear ly in the

twent ie th cen tury ,

3

but i t i s now universal ly accepted as an es tabl ished fact .

4

A date around the turn of the era seem s mos t l ikely. Th e po em uses som e w ords

that are no t at tested before the f irst centu ry B . C . E .

5

The universal is t tone, which

betrays no hint of conf l ic t between Jew and Gent i le , makes a date af ter the

re ign of Ca l igu la (37-41

C.E.)

u n l i k e ly .

6

With the possible except ion of v . 39

1.

J . Scal iger , "Animadversiones in Chronologica Eusebi i ," in idem, Thesaurus Temporum

(London, 1606) . An excel lent history of research is provided by P. W. van der Horst , The Sen

tences of Pseudo-Phocylides (Leiden: Bri l l , 1978 ) 3- 54 .

2. J . Berna ys, Uber das phokylideische Gedicht: Ein Beitrag zur hellenistischen Literatur (Berlin,

1856);

reprinted in Be rnay s' Gesammelte Abhandlungen I (Berl in: Hertz , 1885) 192-261.

3.

See van der Horst , The Sentences, 19 -2 2, on the theories of K.F.A. Lincke (19 03 ) and A. Lud-

wich (1 904 ) , and pp . 3 9 - 4 2 on F . Dornse i ff (1939 ) .

4.

M . Good ma n, in E. Schiirer ,

The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, vol

3, part 1 (rev. and ed. G. Vermes, et al.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986) 688, favors Jewish au

thorship but grants that "it is non ethe less not entirely clear wh ether the author w as Jew ish."

5. Van der Horst, The Sentences, 8 1, claim s that there are about 15 such wo rds.

6 . P. W. van der Horst , "Pseudo-Phocyl ides Revis i ted," Journal for the Study o f the Pseude-

pigrapha 3 (198 8) 15. Th is essa y is reprinted in P. W . van der Horst, Essays on the Jewish World

of Early Christianity (Gott ingen: Van denhoeck & Ruprecht , 1990) 35 -6 2 . In his earlier work, van

der Horst dated the composit ion between 30 B.C.E. and 40 C.E., but he now extends the period to

include the whole first century B.C.E.



Jewish Ethics in Hellenistic Dress

159

("Strangers should be held in equal honor wi th c i t izens") , which may ref lect

the agi ta t ion concerning the r ights of Jews in Alexandria in the t ime of Phi lo ,

there is l i t t le in the book to indicate a specific date, and even the place of ori

g in i s uncer ta in .

7

T h e P s e u d o n y m

An init ial clue as to the nature of this work is provided by the at tr ibution to

Phocyl ides . We have severa l examples of Jewish wr i t ings f rom the Hel len i s

t ic Diaspora that are fa lsely a t t r ibuted to famous pagan author i t ies , including

the Sibyl , Orpheus , and the grea t t r agedians .

8

We have noted the long-s tand

ing dispute as to w heth er this l i tera ture wa s pr imari ly ad dressed to the G ent i le

wo rld for miss iona ry or prop agan dis t ic purpo ses , or w as ra ther intended to bo l

s ter the sel f -conf idence of the Jewish com m unity . W e shal l re turn la ter to the

purpose of this par t icular pseudepigraphon. I f a pseudonym was to be credi

b le ,

how eve r , there had to be som e aff inity b etw een the kind of l itera ture usu

al ly a t t r ibuted to the famous author i ty and the Jewish pseudepigraphon.

Phocyl ides was c i ted as an author i ty in e thical mat ters by Plato

(Republic

407a7) , Ar i s to t l e (Politics IV.11 .1295b 34) , and I socra tes (Ad Nicoclem 4 2 -

4 3 ) ,

and by a host of la ter authors .

9

Isocrates groups him with Hesiod and

Theognis as the best counselors for human l i fe . Only f ragments of his poems

h a v e s u r v i v e d .

1 0

Like the poems of Theognis , they belong to the category of

gnomic poetry, which is the c losest Greek analogue to the proverbial wisdom

found in Proverbs and Sirach. A gnome is "a short sentence giving a rule for

condu c t in da ily l i f e . "

1 1

G no m ic poetry is dis t inguished by the juxtap osi t ion of

s ingle- l ine sayings (monost ichs) , which lend themselves to c i ta t ion in other

contexts . I t deals wi th t radi t ional moral themes, and was widely used for edu

cat ional purposes , for prel iminary exercises in phi losophical and rhetor ical

t r a i n i n g .

1 2

G nom ic poem s may be the wo rk of ind iv idua l au thors , o r they m ay

7. While Alexandrian provenance is not certain, it remains the most l ikely option. There is no

evide nce whatever to suggest any other locat ion (pace J .M.G. Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean

Diaspora, 336 , w ho categorizes i t as "outs ide Egypt") .

8. For a survey of this l iterature see G ood m an, in Schiirer,

T he History,

vo l . 3 , 61 7- 70 0 . For the

texts in translation, see J. H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (N ew York:

Doubleday , 1985) 2 . 775-919 .

9 . The test imo nia are col lected by van der Horst ,

The Sentences,

6 0 - 6 2 .

10. B. Gentili and C. Prato, Poetarum Elegiacorum testimonia et fragmenta, vol . 1 (Leipzig:

Teubner, 1979) x i i , xxxvi i i , 130-40.

11. V an der Horst ,

The Sentences,

79 .

12. P. Derron, Pseudo-P hocylide: Sentences (Paris: So ciete d'fidition "Les B elle s Lettres,"

1986) x xi i ; A. J . Malherbe, Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook (Phi ladelphia: W est

minster , 1986) 109. For an overv iew of Greek gnom ic poetry see Derron, Pseudo-Phocylide,

vn-xxvi;

M. Kuchler , Fruhjud ische Weisheitstraditionen (Gott ingen: Van denhoeck & Ruprecht ,

1 9 7 9) 2 3 7 - 6 1 .



160


be const i tuted by anthologies of sayings (gnomologia) from different sou rces .

Such verses were somet imes a t t r ibuted to famous ancient f igures in Greek ci r

c les , qu i te apar t f rom Jew ish pseudep igraphy. (The "Go lden V erse s" a t t r ibu ted

to Pythagoras provide an ins tance of the phenomenon. ) Like wisdom ins t ruc

t ions , they exhibi t varying degrees of themat ic organizat ion, but are of ten

loosely s t ructured. Gnomic sayings were widely used in phi losophical ins t ruc

t ion in the Hel lenis t ic per iod, especial ly by the Cynics , but a lso by phi loso

phers of v i r tua l ly every school .

1 3

Literary Structure

Most scholars have seen l i t t le s t ructure in Pseudo-Phocyl ides . Van der

Horst argues that what i s t rue of Prov. 10:1-22:16 is a lso t rue of Pseudo-

Phocyl ides: "Most ly no order ing pr inciple can be discerned and each s ingle

l ine has to be looked at on i t s own."

1 4

Like most scholars , he contents himself

wi th a l is t of topics that occu py th e body of the bo ok ("exho rta t ions to jus t ice ,

admon i t i ons to mercy , e t c . " ) .

1 5

Recent ly , however , Wal te r Wi l son has a rgued

that "the poe m has been des igned in a fa ir ly sophis t icated and system at ic m an

ner according to cer ta in l i terary and argumentat ive s t ra tegies famil iar f rom

contemporary gnomic , paraene t ic , and phi losophica l sources ."

1 6

In his view,

vv. 3-8 funct ion as a type of

prothesis

o r

propo sitio,

sett ing forth the bas ic

pr inc ip les and presuppos i t ions of the work . Th e body of the poe m , vv . 9 -2 27 ,

const i tutes the pistis o r probatio, w hich exp and s on the int roduct ion in

concrete terms. This in turn is divided into two major sect ions . Verses 9-131

are s t ructured acco rding to the cardina l vi rtues: jus t ice (9 -5 4 ) , m ode rat ion

(55-96) , for t i tude (97-121) , and wisdom (122-31) . Verses 132-227 a re orga

nized according to the different social relat ionships in the l ife of an individual .

Final ly , the po em is f ramed by a prolo gue an d epi logue that identi fy the author

and indicate the nature of the poem.

This at tempt to identify a l i terary structure in Pseudo-Phocylides is at least

part ial ly successful . I t is quite clear that the seco nd half of the po em deals w ith

social relat ion ship s. Th e organ ization of the first half in acc ord anc e with the car

dinal virtues is not immediately obvious, as i t is not indicated explici t ly in the

13 .

See further W. T. Wilson,

The Mysteries of Righteousness: The Literary Composition and

Genre of the Sentences of Pseudo-P hocylides (Tubingen: Mohr , 1994) 18 -33 .

14. V an der Horst, The Sentences, 78.

15. J . Thom as , DerJUdische Phokylides (Gott ingen: Vand enhoeck & Ruprecht , 1992 ) 32 0, pro

vides a convenient tabulation of the lists of contents identified by van der Horst, Derron, and

Tho m as himself. Th e most detai led l is t is provided by N. Walter , Poetische Schriften (JSHRZ 4 .3 ;

Gutersloh: Mohn, 1983) 197-216, but the sheer detail of the list obscures rather than clarifies the

structure of the work.

16 .

Wi l s o n , The Mysteries of Righteousn ess, 178.




161

text . Wilson's interpretat ion requires, for example, that the reflections on death

and afterl ife in vv . 9 7 -1 2 1 be related to the virtue of fort i tude. Th e them e of for

t i tude is present in this passage: v. 118 urges the reader not to be dismayed by

evi ls , and v. 121 advises acc om m oda t ion to the vic iss itudes of l ife . Bu t the pas

sage a lso recommends moderat ion in gr ief and respect for the dead, and i t ar

gues against covetousness in vv. 109-10. A warning against "love of money"

in v. 42 is classif ied under "just ice" in Wilson's schema. Again, the classif ica

t ion is somewhat forced. Derron favors a looser structure, with short sequences

on several topics, several of which are virtues ( just ice, vv.

9 - 2 1 ;

philanthropia,

2 2 - 4 1 ; w e a lt h , 4 2 ^ 7 ; p ru d e n c e, 4 8 - 5 8 ; m o d e r at io n , 5 9 - 6 9 ; e n v y , 7 0 - 7 5 ; t em

perance, 76-96; death and af ter l i fe , 97-115; for tune,

1 1 6 - 2 1 ;

w i s d o m , 1 2 2 -

3 1 ) .

1 7

Th is par t of the poem does deal wi th vi r tues , how ever , and jus t ice , m od

erat ion, and wis do m are al l highl ighted in turn. At the leas t , W ilso n 's propo sal

is helpful in clarifying the major e m ph ase s in the different parts of the poem . If

we dispense with his insistence on the four cardinal virtues as an organizing

pr inciple , we may s t i l l accept his divis ion of the body of the poem: vv. 9-131

prov ide ins t ruct ion that i s largely, thoug h not ent i re ly , concerne d w i th var ious

vir tues , whi le vv. 132-227 provide ins t ruct ion on social re la t ionships .

Th e Introductory Sum m ary

(vv. 3-8)

Th e bod y of the work is int roduce d by a shor t poem of s ix verses that br iefly

s ta tes several mo ral pr inciples in apod ict ic form:

D o not comm it adultery nor rouse homo sexual passion,

Do not stitch wiles together nor stain your hands with blood.

Do not become unjustly rich, but l ive from honourable means.

Be content with what you have and abstain from what is another's.

D o n ot tell l ies, but alwa ys speak the truth.

Honour God first and foremost, and thereafter your parents.

M an y of these topics are taken up la ter a t greater length, a l though they are not

examined in systemat ic fashion.

Bernays was the f irst to identify these verses as "a selection from the deca

log ue ," and to reco gniz e in the juxta pos i t ion of Go d and parents an a l lus ion to

Lev i t i cus 19 .

1 8

The passage re flec ts the comm and m ents ag a ins t adul te ry , m ur

der (s ta ining hands wi th blood) , thef t , and te l l ing l ies—all the commandments

about soc ia l r e la tions except for the com m and m ents aga ins t cove tou sness . T he

injunct ions to hon or Go d and paren ts represe nt the first hal f of the D eca logu e.

17. Derron, Pseudo-Phocylide, x x v i - x x v i i .

18 .

S e e Th o ma s , Der judische Phokylides, 89 ; van der Horst, The Sentences, 66.



162


Yet the depar tures f rom the bibl ical precedents are noteworthy. There is no

prohibi t ion of idolat ry and no ment ion of the sabbath, a l though both topics ap

pear prominent ly in Levi t icus 19 . M oreov er , Pseudo -Phocy l ides inser t s a pro

hibi t ion of homosexual i ty that i s not par t of e i ther the Decalogue or Levi t icus

19 but ha s a bibl ical basis in Levi t icus 18 and 2 0. W e shal l re turn to the issu e

of homosexual i ty below, in the context of sexual re la t ionships . Al though the

denunc ia t ion of hom osexua l i ty wo uld be re la t ive ly unusua l in the G reek wo r ld ,

i t i s no t wi thout para l l e l .

1 9

Despi te the rea l dependence of th i s opening sum

mary on the Decalogue, there is nothing in i t that could not conceivably have

been wr i t t en by a Greek mora l i s t .

2 0

The Vir tues

The pursu i t o f v i r tues has a t ime-honored p lace in Near Eas te rn wisdom.

The book of Proverbs is dedicated to "learning about wisdom and ins t ruct ion

. . . r ighteousness , jus t ice and equi ty" (Prov.

1:2-3).

The concept of vi r tue ,

how ever , i s f ar mo re deve loped in G reek t rad it ion . Th e Greek w ord arete or ig

inal ly referred to any form of human excel lence for which a person might be

admired. In Homer, i t was associated wi th the smal l upper c lass . The s ixth-

century gnom ic poe t The ognis brok e wi th trad i tion when he dec la red tha t " the

whole of

arete

i s sum m ed up in jus t i ce , every man i s good

[agathos]

if he is

j u s t . "

2 1

Long a f te r Theognis , however , arete rema ined a m at te r o f com pet i t ive

success , c lose ly bo und u p wi th the pursu i t o f ho n or .

2 2

On ly wi th the r ise of phi

losophy did the word take on the moral sense of "vi r tue ."

The not ion of four cardinal vi r tues was def ined pr imari ly by Plato in Book

4 of the Republic, w here they are identi fied as w isdo m , jus t ic e , tem pera nce

(sophrosyne), and cou rage , and w as pop ular ized especial ly by the Stoics . Th e

ident i ty , and even the number , of the pr imary vi r tues remained f luid, how

e v e r .

2 3

Not only may dif ferent names be used for the same vir tue (e .g . ,

egkrateia fo r sophrosyne) but the l is t cou ld be exp and ed. Piety w as f requent ly

added. One text , falsely at tr ibuted to Aristotle, l ists eight virtues with

co r r e spond i ng v i ce s .

2 4

Aris tot le discusses courage, temperance, and jus t ice a t

19 . V an der Horst , The Sentences, 111.

2 0 . An analogous moral poem attr ibuted to Philemon is a lso recognized as Jewish because of

i ts depend ence on the Dec alog ue, a l though i t ma kes no expl ic i t reference to Judaism. See W ilson,

The Mysteries of Righteou sness, 67.

21 . Th e o g n i s 1 4 5 - 4 6 . S e e A . W. H. Ad k i n s , Moral Values and Political Behavior in Ancient

Greece (London: Chatto & W indus, 1972 ) 42 .

2 2 . K. L Dover , Greek Popular Morality (Indianapo lis: Hack ett, 199 4; first pub lished 197 4)

2 2 6 - 3 4 .

23 .

Wi l s o n , The Mysteries of Righteousness, 4 2 - 5 9 .

2 4 . H. Rackman, Aristotle: The Athenian Constitution, The Eudemian Ethics, On Virtues and

Vices (LCL; Cambridge , Mass . : Harvard Univ . Press, 1961) 4 84 -5 03 .




163

length as moral vi r tues in the Nicomachean Ethics Bo ok 3, and several var i

e t ies of wis do m as inte l lectual vi r tues in Boo k 5, but he a lso discus ses assor ted

vir tues concerned wi th money, honor , and social intercourse in Book 4. The

norm of four vi r tues is found in Jewish wri t ings f rom the Hel lenis t ic Dias

p o r a .

2 5

W isdo m of Solom on 8 :7 li st s t emp erance , p rud ence , jus t i ce , and

courage (phronesis

f

pru den ce or w isdo m , w as a wid ely accep ted a l ternat ive for

sophia).

T he sam e vir tues are s ingled out in 4 M ac e. 1:1-4. Ph i lo a lso con tend s

tha t each of the t en commandments " inc i t e and exhor t us to wisdom and jus

t ice and god l iness and the res t of the com pan y of vi r tues Of the que en of

the vi r tues , pie ty or hol iness , we have spoken ear l ier , and also of wisdom and

temperance . Our theme mus t now be she whose ways a re c lose ak in to them,

t ha t i s j u s t i c e . "

2 6

W e sho uld not, then, be su rprised to find an interest in the se

vir tues on the par t of Pseudo-Phocyl ides , a l though the gnomic poet does not

appear to a t tach any importance to a specif ic number of cardinal vi r tues .

The theme of jus t ice is qui te expl ic i t in vv. 9-21. This passage has bibl ical

over tones a t severa l po in t s .

2 7

V erse 10b, l i tera l ly "D o not ju dg e a face," uses

a Hebrew id iom

(naiapanim)

to forbid part ial i ty. Fa lse w itnes s is , of co urs e,

forbidden in the Decalogue. There are bibl ical laws about deposi ts (v . 13; cf .

Lev . 5 : 20 -26 ; Exod . 22 : 6 -12 ; Josephus Ant. 18.7) and jus t me asur es (Deu t . 25 :

1 4 - 1 5 ;

Lev . 19 :35-36; and numerous passages in the prophe t s and wisdom

b o o k s ) .

2 8

Pseudo-Phocyl ides adds an interes t ing mot ivat ing c lause in v . 11: "If

you ju dg e wick edly, G od w il l ju dg e you thereaf ter ." T he idea that there is re t

r ibut ion for wrongdoing is endemic in the Wisdom l i tera ture , and indeed in

most of the Bible . In view of the discussion of af ter l i fe in Ps .-Phoc. 97-115,

how eve r , it i s reaso nab le to assu m e that "thereaf ter" refers to a jud gm en t af ter

death. As we shal l see in the Wisdom of Solomon, this was an issue on which

the wisdom teachers of the Hel lenis t ic Diaspora depar ted f rom the t radi t ion of

Proverbs and Ben Sira .

Jus t i ce in Pseud o-Pho cyl ides i s t emp ered w i th me rcy and k indness . V erses

22-41 address the duty of char i ty , in the sense of a lmsgiving, and ground this

duty in the common lot of human beings . Again, there are bibl ical over tones .

Verse 38 ("Do not damage f rui ts that are growing on the land") recal ls the

Deuteronomic law of war , which forbids the army to cut down t rees in the

2 5 . Some scholars find the four cardinal virtues already in Sir. 36:23-38:23, where the instruc

t ions dea l in turn wi th jus t ice (36 :23-3 7:15 ) , wisd om (37 :16 -26 ) , moderation (37:2 7-3 1) , and

courage (38:1 -23) . See Wi l son , The Mysteries of Righteousn ess, 56.

26. Phi lo ,

De Spec. Leg.

4 .1 34 -35 ( trans . F . H. Co lson ,

Philo

VIII, LCL ; Cambridge , M ass . :

Harvard Univ. Press , 1968) 93.

27 .

T h o m a s , Der judische Phokylides, 16 1- 70 , fo l low ing Bern ays, argues that this sect ion is a

paraenesis based on Leviticus 19 in conjunction with the Decalogue. There are several parallels to

Le viticu s 19 in this section , but there are also influences from other sources, both Greek and Jew

ish. See K.-W. Niebuhr, Gesetz undPardnese (Tubingen: Mohr , 1987) 20 -2 6 .

28 .

V an der Horst , The Sentences, 122.



164


course of a siege, and specifically trees that bear fruit .

2 9

The most s t r iking par

al le ls in this passage, however , are Greek. Verse 27: "Suffer ing is common to

al l ; l ife i s a w hee l ; prosp er i ty is un stab le ," is a com m on pla ce of Gre ek t ragedy

and of c lass ical l i tera ture in general .

3 0

I t i s not , ho we ver , paral le led in the H e

brew Bible . The obl igat ion to be kind to s t rangers i s grounded in enl ightened

self- interes t "for we al l exp er ien ce the pov er ty that m ake s one wan der ; and the

land has no th ing cons tan t for men" (vv . 40^41) . The an thropocent r i c charac

ter of Pseu do -P ho cyl ide s ' s e thic here is typical of G reek tho ugh t , but i t i s a lso

in l ine wi th the general or ientat ion of Hebrew wisdom. Both Pseudo-

Ph ocy l ides and Ben S ira m ake so m e app eal to divine re t r ibut ion, and both take

cognizance of the common fate of humani ty and i t s level ing effect . Ben Sira ,

however , i s somewhat more theocent r i c . He promises tha t one who i s l ike a

father to orphans will be l ike a son to the Most High (Sir . 4:10), and that kind

ness to a fa ther wi l l be credi ted against one 's s ins (Sir . 3 :14) . Pseudo-

Phocyl ides , conversely, has a s t ronger sense of human sympathy and sol idar

i ty, and in this he shows the influence of Greek tradit ion.

One sentence in this passage, however , may ref lect a dis t inct ively Jewish

interes t . Verse 39 urges that "s t rangers should be held in equal honor wi th c i t

izens ." This formulat ion recal ls the argument of Phi lo that "s t rangers , in my

judgment , mus t be regarded as suppl ian t s of those who rece ive them, and not

only suppl iants but se t t lers and f r iends who are anxious to obtain equal r ights

with the bu rge sse s, and are ne ar to be ing ci t izens bec au se they differ l i t tle from

the or ig ina l inhabi tan t s . "

3 1

Phi lo ' s argument must be seen in the l ight of the

proc lamat ion of the Roman pre fec t F laccus , tha t Alexandr ian Jews were

"s t range r s and fo r e i gne r s . "

3 2

Pseudo-Phocyl ides , too, may ref lect the s t ruggle

for Jewish r ights in Alexandria in this per iod. The fur ther argument in vv.

40 ^4 1 that "w e all exp er ienc e the pov er ty that m ake s one wa nd er" is a plea for

sym pathy for exi les , but i t m ay also be an

apologia

for the Jew s as foreign set

t lers in Alexandria .

The say ings on modera t ion and temperance a re Hel len i s t i c commonplaces

to a great extent . Th e s ta tem ent that mo ney is the mo ther of a l l evi l (v . 42) par

al le ls 1 Tim . 6:10 ("lov e of mo ne y is the root of a ll e v i l " ) .

3 3

The sent iment i s

found al ready in Sir . 8 :2; 31:5. The ideal of control l ing the emot ions has a

phi losophical basis both in Plato and in the Stoics , and the sayings on moder

a t ion reca l l the Delphic maxim, "Noth ing too much." Pseudo-Phocyl ides 69 ,

"M od erat ion is the best of a l l ," ech oes Th eog nis 33 5: "M od erat ion in a l l things

2 9 . Deu t. 20 :1 9- 20 . Cf. als o a partial parallel in Deu t. 23:2 5.

30 . See the parallels cited by van der Horst, The Sentences, 1 3 2 - 3 3 .

31 . Ph i lo , DeVitaMos. 1.35.

3 2 . Ph i lo , In Flacc. 54 . See Tcherikover and Fuks, CPJ 1. 4 8 - 7 4 .

33 . For Greek and Roman parallels, see van der Horst, The Sentences, 142 -46 . One o f the most

powerful condemnations of greed is found in Sib. Or. 8 : 1 7 - 3 6 .




165

i s best ." But ancient Near Eastern wisdom also counseled moderat ion. Si rach

counsels on moderat ion in food and dr ink (31:12-31) , and the same advice is

found in the Egypt ian Papyrus Ins inger (Phibis) 12-18.

There is l i t t le theological reflection in these sentences, but one statement is

notewor thy: "The one God i s wise and mighty" (v . 54) . This sen tence may

mean s imply "Only God i s wise ," bu t the express ion heis theos inevi tably re

calls the Sh em a (De ut. 6:4) and entails an affirmation of the singula ri ty of Go d.

Such aff i rmat ions const i tute a theme of Hel lenis t ic Judaism (Phi lo , De Opif.

\l\\Ep. Arist. 132 ; Sib. Or. 3 :11-12; f rag . 1:7-8, 32 ; f rag . 3 : 3 ) .

3 4

The ep i the t

heis

(one, only) is applied to God already in Sir . 1:8. The singulari ty of God

was a l so p roc l a imed b y some Greek ph i l o sophe r s, such a s X en op ha ne s ,

3 5

and

is often found in inscriptions and magical texts, where i t reflects popular syn

c r e t i s m .

3 6

The monotheism impl ied in this verse is a l l the more s ignif icant be

cause Pseud o-Ph ocyl ides does no t po lemic ize aga ins t ido la try .

A no ther qua si -doctr inal pa ssage is found in the ref lect ions o n death and af

ter l i fe in vv. 97-115. Pseudo-Phocyl ides c lear ly posi ts an af ter l i fe ; the form

that afterl ife is to take is less clear, since the senten ces pre sen t a ju m bl e of H e

brew an d G reek anthro polo gy. On the on e han d, vv. 1 06 -8 reflect G enes is 1-3:

"F or the spi r it is a loan f rom G od to mo rtals , and his im age . Fo r we hav e a body

out of ear th , and when af terwards we are resolved again into ear th we are but

dust; but the air has received our spiri t ." The idea that the spiri t survives the

body does not necessari ly reflect the Greek idea of the immortali ty of the soul;

i t i s found in thoro ugh ly S em it ic contexts in 1 Enoch 22 and Jub.

2 3 .

3 7

It is also

compat ible wi th the resurrect ion of the body, which is c lear ly envis ioned in v .

103: one sh ould not dis turb the grave s of the decease d "for in fact w e hope that

the rem ains of the depar ted w i l l soon co m e to the light again out of the ea r th ."

T he ide a of physical resurrect ion is exce pt iona l in the Jewish l i tera ture that is

wri t ten in Greek, but there are notable paral le ls in 2 Maccabees 7 and

Sib. Or.

4 . After the resurrect ion, we are told, "they become gods" (v. 104) . "Gods"

in the Greek world were s imply immortals . In Jewish apocalypt ic l i tera ture ,

however , the r ighteous dead are of ten said to become angels (e .g . , 1 Enoch

104:4-6) , and ange l s can be ca l l ed elim, o r elohim, " g o d s . "

3 8

P s e u d o -

Phocyl ides is not outs ide the bounds of Jewish t radi t ion on this point . The

3 4 . Cf . the Pseudo-Orphic frags . , v . 10 , and Pseu do-S oph ocles in Euseb ius , Praeparatio evan-

gelica

13.13.40.

3 5 .

Xenophanes, frag. 23: "one God, the greatest among gods and men." Van der Horst ,

The

Sentences, 151.

36 .

E. Peterson, Heis Theos (Gott ingen: Van denhoec k & Ruprecht, 192 6) .

37. See G. W. Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Imm ortality and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Ju

daism

(Cam bridge, M ass . : Harvard Un iv. Press , 1972) 3 1 -3 3 , 13 4-3 7.

38 .

Y. Yadin , The Scroll of the W ar of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford:

Oxford Univ . Press , 1962) 230; C. A. N ew som ,

Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition

(Atlanta: Scholars , 1985) 23-24.



166


immortal i ty of the soul (v . 115) is the more typical ly Greek not ion and is log

ical ly qui te independent of any idea of resurrect ion. The s ta tement that

"H ades i s ou r com m on e t e rna l ho m e" is a com m on expre s s i on t h roughou t t he

anc ien t wor ld , and i s echoed on numerous anc ien t ep i t aphs , bo th Greek and

J e w i s h .

3 9

Normal ly i t does not imply any meaningful af ter l i fe whatever .

Pseu do-P hocy l ides here seem s to jux ta po se severa l d i s t inc t und ers tandin gs of

death, a l l of which were t radi t ional , but which were not s t r ic t ly compat ible

with one another . He clear ly expects some form of af ter l i fe . Unl ike the Wis

dom of Solomon, however , Pseudo-Phocyl ides ' s unders tanding of l i f e and

wisdom i s no t t r ans formed by th i s

belief.

H e appea l s to jud gm en t a ft er dea th

only in v . 1 1, and eve n there it i s not cer ta in that po stm orte m jud gm en t i s en

ta i led. Ins tead, his e thic i s based on the inherent value of the vi r tues and on

his sense of human solidari ty in face of the uncertainties of l ife (cf . vv.

1 1 6 - 2 1 ) .

T he discussion of the vi r tues in Pse udo -Ph ocy l ides co nclu des w i th an aff ir

mat ion of the value of wisdom: "Bet ter i s a wise man than a s t rong one. Wis

dom directs the course of lands and ci t ies and ships" (vv. 130-31) . Such s ta te

ments can a lso be found in t radi t ional Hebrew wisdom. Dis t inct ively Greek,

however , i s the s ta tement that when God al lot ted every creature a weapon he

gave reason to man as h i s p ro tec t ion (vv . 125-28) . Like much of Pseudo-

Phocyl ides , the theme of these verses i s commonplace in Greek l i t e ra ture .

4 0

The notion that reason is God's f inest gift to humanity is also found in Philo

(DeSomn.

1.103).

Social Relat ionships

The aff ini t ies of Pseudo-Phocyl ides wi th the kind of pract ical wisdom

taught by Ben Sira are most c lear ly in evidence in vv. 132-227. Here again

Wilson 's analysis i s helpful . He divides this sect ion into three paragraphs or

subsect ions . The f i rs t (vv. 132-52) "discusses what we might cal l social 'out

s iders ' , that i s , assor ted referents on the per iphery of moral l i fe and conduct ,

wi th an emphas i s on how one ought to dea l wi th ev i l persons ."

4 1

The second

(vv. 153-74) addresses how a person ought to earn a l iving. Final ly , the thi rd

subsect ion discusses obl igat ions wi thin the household (vv. 175-227) .

The f i rs t of these subsect ions begins wi th advice to "turn away an evi l

doer forc ib ly ," because " those who a re wi th the bad of ten d ie toge ther wi th

them" (133-34) , and conc ludes by urg ing the reader to "f l ee d i ssens ion and

3 9 . P. W. van der Horst, Ancient Jewish Epitaphs (Kam pen: Kok Pharos, 1991) 42. Cf . Qoh.

12:5: "Man goes to his eternal home."

4 0 . V an der Horst , The Sentences, 20 0- 20 1 , g ives the re ferences .

4 1 . Wi l s o n , The Mysteries of Righteousn ess, 119.




167

s t r i fe" and "d o no go od to a bad m an, i t i s l ike sow ing in the sea" (1 5 1 -5 2 ) .

4 2

T he need for se lec tiv i ty in f r iendship i s a co m m on pla ce in anc ien t Nea r Eas t

e r n w i s d o m .

4 3

The not ion tha t one should not even do good to a bad person

is more extreme than this , and i t p icks up a theme found expl ic i t ly in Sir .

11 :29-12:18 , which spec i f i ca l ly warns aga ins t g iv ing a lms to the wicked

(Sir . 12:7) . Si rach goes far ther and cla ims that even God hates s inners (Sir .

12:6) .

No such s ta tement i s found in Pseudo-Phocyl ides . (The o ther major

wi sdom book f rom t he Di a spo ra , t he Wi sdom o f So l omon , dec l a r e s empha t

ical ly that God loves a l l things that exis t and hates "none of the things that

you have made , for you would not have made anyth ing i f you had ha ted i t "

(Wi s . 11 : 24 . ) Moreove r , Ps.-Phoc. 140 rep eats the bibl ic al injunc t ion: "I f a

beast of your enemy fal ls on the way, help i t to r i se" (cf . Deut . 22:4) . In this

case , the k indness i s p r imar i ly d i rec ted to the innocent beas t ra ther than to

t he enem y , bu t in gene ra l Pseu do-Ph ocy l i de s i s m ore hum ane and l e s s s eve r e

than B en S i ra . H is gent le r d i spos i t ion i s ev id ence d a t two o the r po in t s in th i s

s ec t ion . Ve r se s 14 1-4 2 cau t i on : "N eve r b l am e an e r r an t m an o r a t ransg r e s

sor . I t i s bet ter to make a gracious f r iend ins tead of an enemy." This advice

signif icant ly modif ies the injunct ion to do no good to an evi l man; a t leas t

no t a l l s inners a re d i smissed as ev i l . Verse 150 en jo ins , "Do not apply your

hand v io len t ly to t ender ch i ldren" (c f . v . 207) . S ince anc ien t educa t ion , es

pec ia l ly as re f l ec ted in Near Eas te rn wisdom l i t e ra ture , was based on corpo

ral pu nis hm en t (cf. Si r . 3 0 :1 , 12) , this injunct ion is a no tew orth y brea k w i th

t radi t ion.

In addi t ion to the theme of humane behavior , th i s sec t ion of Pseudo-Pho

cyl ides a l so warns aga ins t "unna tura l " prac t i ces . Verses 147-48 ( "Ea t no

meat that i s torn by wi ld animals , but leave the remains to the swif t dogs . An

imals ea t f rom animals") a re drawn f rom the Bib le (Exod. 22 :30) .

4 4

P s e u d o -

Phocyl ides , however , does not appeal to bibl ical author i ty . His appeal i s to the

law of na ture : "Animals ea t f rom animals . " This i s fo l lowed by an admoni

t ion to avoid pot ions and magical books (v. 149) . Sorcery of var ious kinds is

out law ed in the Bib le (e .g . , De ut . 1 3 :1 -2) , and such prohib i t ions beco m e m ore

common in the Hel len i s t i c per iod . Charms and spe l l s a re among the i l l eg i t i

mate reve la t ions of the Watchers in 1 Enoch 6 :1-2 . The prohib i t ion of magic

4 2 . Wi l s o n ,

129f.,

finds a chiastic structure throughout this passage, but some of the correspon

dences are questionable. Verses 137 and 150 are paired as sayings on the treatment of children,

but the correspondence depends on reading v. 137 as "pay due respect to children [paisin]" with

N. Walter, rather than "render to all [pasin] their due" (so van der Horst, Derron). Both re adings

have manuscript support. The admonition against magic in v. 149 is classified as a "specific com

mand on moderation," to correspond to v. 138 ("use all things sparingly").

4 3 .

Cf. Papyrus Insinger 11:22-15:6. Cf. also Num. 16:26: "Turn away from the tents of these

wicked men ."

4 4 . On the biblical sources of Ps.-Phoc. 1 3 2 - 5 2 , s e e Th o ma s , Der judische Phoky lides, 1 7 4 - 7 9 ,

wh o po ints to Exodu s 22 -2 3 , Deuteronomy 13 and 22 .



168


w a s s o m e t i m e s r e c k o n e d a m o n g t h e N o a c h i d e l a w s .

4 5

Despi te the prohib i

t ions there was much Jewish magic in an t iqu i ty .

4 6

Pseudo-Phocy l i de s does

not give a reason for the injunct ion. Since the previous sentences were based

on the law of na ture , w e may surm ise tha t m agic w as deem ed to be unna tura l .

Some object ions to such pract ices can a lso be found in Greek l i tera ture . Pla to

assoc ia tes magic wi th un jus t behavior

{Republic

3 6 4 ;

Laws

93 3) . In gen eral ,

those who condemned these prac t i ces saw them as ways to in jure people .

The second subsect ion on social re la t ions (vv. 153-74) is a coherent block

of verses on the importance and nature of labor . The opening verses (153-57)

deal with the them e of self-sufficiency. Be n Sira likew ise says that i t is bette r

to die than to beg (Sir. 40 :28 ) . Th e unde r lying issue is on e of ho nor and sha m e.

Pseudo-Phocyl ides di f fers f rom Ben Sira , however , in his evaluat ion of man

ual labor . Ben Sira acknowledges that no c i ty could be inhabi ted wi thout

craf tsmen (38:32 ) , but he is a t pain s to em ph asize the super ior i ty of the voca

t ion of the scr ibe. There is no such polemic in Pseudo-Phocyl ides , who seems

to reco m m end a ll k inds of wo rk who lehear ted ly . Th e conc lud ing ana logies

with ants and bees are

topoi

der ived f rom LXX Proverbs (cf . Prov. 6:6-8;

30 : 2 4 -2 5 on t he an t; LX X Prov . 6 : 8a - c on be es ) .

4 7

The sect ion of Pseudo-Phocyl ides that most c losely paral le ls Ben Sira con

cerns re la tionsh ips wi th in the house hold (17 5-2 27 ) . This sect ion of the p oem

also has c lose paral le ls in Jos ep hu s,

Ag. Ap.

2 .199 - 206 , and Ph i l o ,

Hyp. 1.

1-9.

Verses 175-94 deal wi th var ious sexual re la t ions and sexual acts , whi le vv.

195-227 deal wi th re la t ions wi th wives , chi ldren, the e lder ly , and s laves .

There a re some para l l e l s be tween Pseudo-Phocyl ides and Ben Si ra on the

subject of women. Both texts have an expl ic i t ly male point of view. Both re

gard marr iage as desi rable (Ps.-Phoc. 17 5-7 6; S i r. 36 :29 -30 ) and both a re

aware of the advantages of a las t ing and happy marr iage (Ps.-Phoc. 1 9 5 - 9 7 ;

Si r. 8 :19 ; 26 :1 -4) .

Pseudo-Phocylides

in vv . 199 -200 wa rns aga ins t ma r ry ing

"a bad and wea l thy woman," l es t one become a s l ave to her dowry . (The hus

band would be inhibi ted f rom divorcing her , because he would have to re turn

the dow ry . ) Th e sam e warn ing i s found in S ir . 25 :21 -22 , wh ere the sham e in

volved in such a marr iage is more expl ic i t . Pseudo-Phocyl ides a lso advises fa

thers to "guard a virgin in f irmly locked rooms, and let her not be seen outside

the house unt i l he r wedd ing-d ay" ( 21 5-1 6) , r eca l l ing Ben S i ra ' s anxie ty on the

same subject (Si r . 7 :24; 42:9-14) . The tone of the two sages , however , i s very

different . Pseudo-Phocyl ides has no polemic against "evi l" women and barely

al ludes to adul tery, not even address ing the subject of divorce. While the

chast i ty of daugh ters i s s t il l a con cern, the subject does not exercise the gno m ic

4 5 . L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews (Phi ladelphia: Jewish Publicat ion Society , 1925) 5 .93.

46 .

See P. S. Alexander, "Incantations and Books of Magic," in Schiirer, The History, 3 4 2 - 7 9 .

47 .

Philo , De Prov. 1.25, and Orige n, Contra Celsum 4:8 1, also mention the bee and the ant in

comb ination. See van der Horst, The Sentences, 2 2 4 - 2 5 .




169

poet as it d id Ben Sira . W hile the Heb rew sage is open to the charg e of miso g

yny, there is no s ign of such prejudice in Pseudo-Phocyl ides . The contras t be

tween the two teachers in this respect shows that i t is simplist ic to at tr ibute the

misogyny of Ben Sira to Hel lenis t ic inf luence.

M uch of what Pseu do-P hocy l ides has to say on the subject of m arr iage is not

paralleled in Ben Sira at al l , and is concerned with behavior in accordance with

the natural law. The reason to marry is to "give nature her due, beget in turn as

you w ere beg ot ten " (v. 176) . This i s in accorda nce w i th Stoic teaching that m ar

r iage is "according to nature" (kata physiri).

4

* (Unlike the rabbinic tradit ion,

Pseudo-Phocyl ides does not speak of a divine command to marry.) The choice

of a spouse is also guided by an analogy from nature: "We seek noble horses

and s t rong-necked bul l s , . . . ye t we fool s do not s t r ive to mar ry a good wi fe"

( 2 0 1 ^ 4 ) .

4 9

Pseudo-Phocylides does not elaborate the cri teria for a good wife,

but the analogy w i th the animal w orld is typical of his appeal to natural la w .

5 0

The passage proceeds to l i s t people wi th whom one should not have sexual

re la t ions: s tepmother , one 's fa ther ' s concubines , s is ters , and s is ters- in- law.

These prohibi t ions are in accordance wi th Levi t icus 18 and 20 ("None of you

shal l approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness , says the Lord," Lev.

18:6;

cf. a l so the behavior cursed in Deu t . 27 :2 0^ 23 ) .

5 1

The prohibi t ion of in

tercourse wi th one 's s tepmother i s f requent ly noted in Jewish l i tera ture of the

He l l en i s ti c pe r i o d .

5 2

Saint Pa ul, in 1 Co r. 5: 1 , claim s that this is a kind of im

moral i ty that i s not found even among the Gent i les . Such unions were expl ic

i t ly forb idden in Roman law,

5 3

and Cicero denounces the un ion of a woman

wi th her son- in- law as "an incred ib le c r ime ."

5 4

The warning against re la t ions

with the concubines of one 's fa ther presupposes that a man may keep concu

bines . Concubines were not forbidden in the Hebrew Bible , and the pract ice

4 8 . Se e the parallels cited by van der Horst, The Sentences, 22 6. Sen eca , frag. 58 , also parallels

Pseud o-Ph ocyl ides in his concern that on e's nam e not die out . On the Stoic idea of l iv ing accord

ing to nature, see H. Ko ester, "phy sis etc." TDNT9 (197 4) 264 -6 6; G. Striker, "Fol low ing Nature:

A Study in Stoic Ethics," Oxford Society for Ancient Philosophy 9 (1991) 1 -73 .

4 9 . T his passage is dependent on Theogn is 18 3-9 0. Se e van der Horst , The Sentences, 2 4 5 ; Ad -

kins , Mora l Values and Political Behav ior, 38.

50 . On the role of such analogies in Greek thought, see Dover, Greek Popular Morality, 7 4 - 7 5 .

Aristophanes, Clouds 14 20 -1 4 33 , caricatures the attempt to establish what is natural by a nalog ies

with birds and animals.

5 1 .

Niebuhr,

Gesetz und Pardnese,

2 6 - 3 1 .

5 2 . Jub. 33 :10; Ph i lo , De Spec. Leg. 3 .2 0 - 21 ; Josephus, Ag . A p. 2 .200; Ant. 3 . 2 7 4 - 7 5 ; m. Sanh.

7:4.

Van der Horst,

The Sentences,

230 .

5 3 . T he Institutes of Gaius 1.63: "Neither can I marry her wh o has aforetime been m y m other-

in-law or step-mother, or daughter-in-law or step-daughter. I say 'aforetime,' for if the marriage

w hich has created the affinity still sub sist, I cannot take her to wife for this other reason,— that nei

ther can the same woman have two husbands, nor can the same man have two wives ." (Cited by

H. Conze lmann, 1 Corinthians (Herm eneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975 ) 96 .

5 4 . Cicero , Pro Cluentio 6 ( 1 5 ) .



170


was also accepted in pagan ant iqui ty . Reuben 's intercourse wi th Bi lhah, the

concubine of his fa ther , i s repor ted as a scandal in Gen. 35:22 ("and Israel

heard of

i t") ,

bu t wi thout any ex tended co m m entary . In the Hel len i s ti c p er iod ,

this became a paradigmat ic s in

(Jub.

3 3 : 1 - 9 ;

T. Reub.

3 : 11 -15 ) . The p roh i b i

t ion of incest was deeply rooted in Jewish t radi t ion—cf. the s tory of Amnon

and Tam ar in 2 Samue l 1 3 .

5 5

Incest wa s a lso abho rred in G reek t radi t ion. P la to

refers to the prohibit ion as an agraphos nomos, or unwri t ten law (Laws

83 8a -b) . Egypt ian cus tom wa s except iona l in the anc ien t wor ld in th i s regard .

Pha raoh s and Ptolem ies had rout inely m arr ied thei r s is ters , and the cus tom w as

not conf ined to the roya l fa m il ie s .

5 6

Best ia l i ty was a lso condemned in the Bible

(Exod. 22 :18; Lev .

18:23;

20 :15-16; Deut . 27 :21) and in Hel len i s t i c Juda i sm

(Phi lo ,

De Spec. Leg.

3 : 4 3 - 5 0 ;

Sib. Or.

5:393), al though i t receives l i t t le at

t en t ion f rom pagan mora l i s t s .

5 7

Pseudo-Phocyl ides a lso urges res t ra int in the manner of lawful intercourse

with one 's wife: "Do not outrage your wife for shameful ways of intercourse"

(v . 189 ) .

5 8

This counsel s tands in sharp contras t to the rabbinic teaching that

"a man may do whatever he p leases wi th h i s wi fe"

(Ned.

20b) . In the context

of Pseudo-Phocyl ides , the issue is par t ly one of considerat ion for the wife but

also of se l f -control and moderat ion: "Do not del iver yoursel f whol ly unto un

br idled

eros

for your wi fe" (v . 193) .

5 9

Verse 194 adds a rem arkable com m ent :

"For 'eros ' i s not a god, but a pass ion dest ruct ive to a l l ." The divini ty of Eros

is often asserted in classical Greek l i terature (e.g. , Hesiod, Theogony 120; Eu

r ipides , f rag. 269) . We do, however , f ind polemics against the divinizat ion of

Eros in Stoic and Cynic phi losophy. So Ant is thenes is sa id to have cal led eros

"an evi l of na ture " and a "d isea se ," wh ich is regarde d as a god by infer ior peo

p l e .

6 0

Pseudo-Phocyl ides a l so cau t ions : "Lay not your hand upon your wi fe

when she is pregnant ." This verse may be a prohibi t ion of intercourse dur ing

pregnancy, a posi t ion that Josephus a t t r ibutes to the Essenes

(J. W.

2.61). I t

may, however , s imply require that a husband not s t r ike his pregnant wife , les t

he cause a mi sca r r i age .

6 1

Two issues in this sect ion of Pseudo-Phocyl ides s tand out as t rademarks of

Jewish e thical teaching in the Hel lenis t ic world. These are the prohibi t ions of

homosexual i ty and of abor t ion and infant ic ide.

Like many of the injunct ions in this sect ion, the prohibi t ion of homosexu-

5 5 . Cf . a lso Lev. 18:9; 20:17 ; Deut . 27 :22.

56. R. Taubenschlag, The Law of Greco-Roman Egypt in the Light of the Papyri (N ew York:

Herald Square, 1944) vol. 1, 83.

57.

But see Plutarch, Brut. an im. rat. 1. 990 F; van der Horst , The Sentences, 236 .

58 .

The interpretation of this verse is disputed. See van der Horst, The Sentences, 237 .

59 . Or, s imp ly, "for a wo ma n." See van der Horst, "Pseudo-Ph ocyl ides R evis i ted," 27.

6 0 . Clement of Alexandria , Stromata 2.1 07 .3. See further C. Schn eider, "Eros," RAC 6 .309 .

6 1 . Van der Horst, The Sentences, 235 .




171

al i ty has a bibl ical basis , in Le v. 18:22;

20 :13 .

Th e prec ise mean ing of the b ib

l ical phrase "and wi th a male you shal l not l ie the lying down of a woman" is

disputed, but i t seems safe to conclude that a l l coupl ings between males are

p r o h i b i t e d .

6 2

Prohib i t ion of male homosexua l i ty i s a l e i tmot iv of Greco-Jew

ish l i terature (Philo, De Abr. 135 ; De Spec. L eg. 2 .50 ; Sib. Or. 3 : 1 8 5 , 5 9 6 , 7 6 4 ;

Sib. Or. 4 :34; 5 :387 , 430; Josephus , Ag. Ap. 2 .199 , 215 , 273) . This w as an i s

sue on wh ich there was a c lear contras t betw een G reek and Jew ish e thics , s ince

homosexua l i ty was wide ly accepted in the Greek wor ld .

6 3

The a rgument of

Pseudo-Phocyl ides , however , does not appeal to a revealed law, but to the law

of nature: "Do not transgress the sexual order of nature for i l l ici t sex, for even

anim als a re no t p leased by in te rcourse of m ale wi th m ale " (vv . 1 90 -91 ) . Su ch

an a rgument would have found some sympathy among Greek phi losophers .

Despi te a posi t ive a t t i tude toward homosexual i ty in the Symposium, P la to de

clared unequivocal ly in the Laws that "the intercourse of men with men, or of

w om en w i th wo m en, is cont ra ry to na tu re"

(Laws

636) . H e adds , how ever , tha t

" i f anyo ne fo llowing na ture should l ay dow n the l aw . . . and denounc e these

lusts as contrary to nature , adducing the animals as a proof that such unions

we re mo ns t rous , he m ight prove h i s po in t , bu t he would be w hol ly a t var iance

with the custom of your s ta tes" (Laws 836) . Occas iona l denunc ia t ions of ho

mo sexua l i ty as cont ra ry to na ture a re found in the Hel len i s ti c ph i los op he rs ,

6 4

but the Jewish ins is tence on this i ssue remains dis t inct ive in the Hel lenis t ic

wor ld . The denunc ia t ion ex tends a l so to l esb ian i sm: "Le t no t women imi ta te

the sexua l ro le of m en " (Ps.-Phoc. 192) . Th e laws do not env isage lesbianism ,

but it i s con dem ned in the Ta lm ud,

Yebam.

76a , and the condemnat ion i s im

pl ied a l ready in the New Tes tament , Rom. 1:26.

65

The prohibi t ion of abor t ion and infant ic ide was a lso dis t inct ive: "A woman

should no t dest roy an unborn b abe in the wo m b, nor af ter bear ing i t should she

cast i t out as prey for dogs and vul tures" (vv. 184-85) . Abort ion and exposure

of infants were widespread in the ancient world, and only rarely condemned.

Nei ther was addressed in the Hebrew Bib le , bu t Exod. 21 :22-23 , which en

visages the case where a man s t r ikes a pregnant woman and she miscarr ies ,

6 2 .

S . M. Olyan,

'And wi th a M ale You Sha ll Not Lie the Ly ing D ow n of a W oma n' : On the

Meaning and Signif icance of Levit icus 18:22 and 20:13," Journa l of the History of Sexuality 5

(1994) 179-206. Olyan argues that only the insertive partner is addressed in these laws, and sug

gests that at an earlier stage only the penetrator was punished. The final form of the laws, how

ever, pr escribes death for both parties.

6 3 . K. J . Dover, Greek Popular Morality, 2 1 3 - 1 6 ; i d em , Greek Homosexuality (2d ed.; Cam

bridge: Cambridge Univ. Press , 1989) .

6 4 . E .g . , Muso nius Rufus 12; Plutarch, Brut. anim. rat. 1. 9 9 0 E - F .

6 5 . S ee J. A. Fitzm yer, Romans (A B 33 ; N ew York: Doub leday ,1993) 285 ; R. Hays , "Re la t ions

Natural and Unnatural: A Response to John Boswell 's Exegesis of Romans 1 ," JR E 14 (1986)

184-215 . B. J . Brooten ,

Love between Wom en: Early Christian Responses to Homoeroticism

(Chicago: Univers i ty o f Chicago Press , 1996) 239-53 .



172


came to be in te rpre ted wi th re fe rence to abor t ion .

6 6

Accord ing to the Hebrew

text of E xo du s, if there is a m iscarr iag e "b ut no further ha rm fo l low s," the per

petrator is only fined, but if the mother suffers harm, "then you shall give l ife

for li fe , eye for eye , too th for to o t h . . . . " Th e word for "h arm " (

a s o n )

is trans

la ted in the LXX as "form," wi th far- reaching consequences for the issue of

abor t ion. Phi lo expounded the passage as fol lows:

If a man c om es to blo w s with a pregnant wo m an and strikes her on the belly and

she miscarries, then, if the result of the miscarriage is unshaped and undevel

oped, he must be fined both for the outrage and for obstructing the artist Nature

in her creative work of bringing into life the fairest of living creatures, man. But,

if the offspring is already shap ed and all the limb s have their proper qualities and

places in the system, he must die, for that which answers to this description is a

h u m an b e i n g .

6 7

The concern here is for harm to the formed fetus ra ther than to the mother . In

rabbin ic trad i tion , how ever , abor t ion remaine d a noncapi ta l c r ime . Th e Jew ish

law that a l l chi ldren be reared was noted wi th approval by Hecataeus .

6 8

^ O c c a

s ional protes ts against abor t ion and exposure were ra ised by phi losophers , es

pecial ly the Stoics (e .g . , M uso niu s Rufus 15) , and the R om an sat ir i s t Juve nal

refers scathingly to the pract ices

(Satire

6.596) , but these were minor i ty voices

in the Greco-Roman wor ld .

The recommendat ions of Pseudo-Phocyl ides on the rear ing of ch i ldren a re

also rem arka bly m ild: "B e not harsh w i th you r chi ldren, but be ge nt le" (v . 20 7) .

The mos t remarkable i t em in the advice on ch i ldren concerns the warn ing

against ef feminate hai rs tyles for boys, and the need to "guard the youthful

beauty of a comely boy" (v . 213) . Pederas ty was not unknown in Pa les t in ian

Juda i sm. The Qumran War Scro l l guards aga ins t i t by bar r ing young boys as

wel l as women from the mil i tary camp (1QM 7:3) . But the need to guard the

beauty of a boy in normal c i rcum stances w as ev idently unkn ow n to Ben Si ra ,

and ref lects the more Hel lenized environment of Alexandria .

The humane a t t i tude of Pseudo-Phocyl ides ex tends to s l aves .

6 9

Ben Sira

66 . D. M. Fe ldman, Birth Control in Jewish Law (New York: New York Univ . Press , 1968)

2 5 4 - 6 2 .

See also R. Freund, "The Ethics of Abortion in Hel lenist ic Judaism," Helios 10 (1983 )

1 2 5 - 3 7 .

61 . Spec. Leg.

3 . 1 0 8 - 9 .

68. Diodorus Sicu lus 40.3 . M. Stern, Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism (Jerusalem:

The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanit ies , 1976) 1 .27, 29, 33.

6 9 . O n the develop m ent of hum ane attitudes to slaves in the Rom an period, see A. D ihle , "Ethik,"

RAC 6 (1966) 667-68. For a recent overview of slavery in the ancient world, see J. A. Harrill , The

Ma num ission of Slaves in Early C hristianity (Tubingen: Mohr, 1995) 11 -67 . D . B. Martin, "Slav

ery and the Ancient Jewish Family," in S.J.D. Cohen, ed., The Jewish Family in Antiquity (Atlanta:

Scholars , 1993) 113-29, argues that "slavery among Jews seems to have looked l ike those s lave

structures prominent in the time and place of the particular Jew s under investigation" (p. 129).




173

vaci l la ted on this subject , between counsel ing harsher (33:25-30) and gent ler

t rea tment ( 7 : 2 0 - 2 1 ; 33:3 1). Ev en his gen tler ad vice is give n from self-interest :

a s lave wh o is t reated badly wi l l run aw ay. Pseu do-P hoc yl ides has no place for

harsh t rea tment , and even recommends consul t ing a wel l -d i sposed s lave for

advice (v. 227) . The prohibi t ion against branding a s lave (v. 225) must be ex

p la ined by humane mot ives . Al though Pseudo-Phocyl ides draws heavi ly on

Le vi t icus 18 -2 0, there is no reason to see here an a l lus ion to the prohibi t ion of

making gashes or ta t toos in Lev. 19:28.

Pseudo-Phocy l ides

and the Torah

Pseudo-Phocyl ides a lso has s ignif icant over lap wi th the summaries of the

Torah in Josephus , Ag. Ap. 2 .190-219 , and Ph i l o , Hyp. 7 .1-9 , espec ia l ly , bu t

not exclusively in mat ters per ta ining to social re la t ions .

7 0

All three texts fo rbid

adul tery, hom osex ual i ty , a nd the rap e of a vi rgin, and prohibi t abor t ion and th e

exposure of infants . Phi lo and Pseudo-Phocyl ides forbid emasculat ion and

warn aga ins t mar ry ing a woman for her dowry . Both Josephus and Pseudo-

Phocyl ides l iken honor of paren t s to honor of God and emphas ize the respec t

of e lders and the r ights of a l iens . Other paral le ls outs ide of the sect ion on so

cia l re la t ions inclu de the duty to bury the dead , the need for jus t ice in w eights

and measures , and the commandment tha t a mother b i rd should not be t aken

wi th her young (Ps.-Phoc. 8 4 -8 5 ; cf. Deut . 22 :6-7 ) . Josephu s back s h i s e th i

cal code with an affirmation of reward after death

(Ag. Ap. 2.

218-19) . I t i s

highly unl ikely that a l l these paral le ls are coincidental . Al l three presumably

draw on a t radi t ion of Jewish teaching that combined a select ion of the Penta-

teuchal laws wi th other requirements that had become es tabl ished as essent ia l

to Judaism, such as the prohibi t ion of abor t ion.

This teaching is not adequately descr ibed as a summary of the Jewish law.

It also included elements of Greek origin. Philo identif ied the source of at least

some of these l aws when he asked , "What need in heaven ' s name have we of

your Buzyges and h i s p r ecep t s ? " (Hyp. 7.8) . Buzyges was a legendary At t ic

hero , w hose descend ants he ld an annua l comm em ora t ion a t wh ich curses were

pronounced against those who refused to bury the dead, share f i re and water ,

and so on. These laws appear to be the source of the "unwri t ten customs and

inst i tut ions" l i s ted in the preceding paragraphs of the Hypothetica ( 7 .6 -7 ) ,

w he re the obl igat ion to share f ire and w ater and to bury the dead is noted. Th is

passage a l so conta ins a formula t ion of the Golden Rule : "What a man would

hate to suffer he m ust not do himse lf to oth ers " (7 .6) . Th is formulat ion reflects

7 0 . J. E. Crouch, The Origin and Intention of the Colossian Hau stafel, 84—87; Niebu hr, Gesetz

und Pardnese, 42-44.



174


Semit ic idiom, and so can scarcely be taken f rom Buzyges , but a form of the

Golden Rule i s a t t r ibu ted to Buzyges by Clement of Alexandr ia .

7 1

Josephus

also reflects the laws of Buzyges relat ing to f ire, water, and burial , al though he

does no t ment ion Buzyges by name

(Ag. Ap.

2 .211) . Pseudo-Phocyl ides warns

in v. 99 against leaving the dead unburied.

Th e cor responden ce of Pseud o-Pho cyl ides w i th Phi lo and Josephu s is by n o

means complete . Both these authors present thei r mater ia l expl ic i t ly as sum

maries of the Jewish law, and Josephus emphasizes that chi ldren must be

t augh t t he l aws .

7 2

Josephus has several paragraphs on cul t and sacr i f ice .

Pseudo-Phocyl ides , in contras t , conceals his Jewish ident i ty throughout .

Both Phi lo and Josephus emphasize the f requency of the death penal ty in

Jewish law and regard the leniency of the Greeks as a defect . In the case of

Josephus, this i s somewhat incongruous, s ince the discussion of penal t ies (Ag.

Ap.

2.215) fol lows di rect ly on a sect ion prais ing the gent leness and humani ty

of the Law

(Ag. Ap.

2.213-14) . Both authors extend the appl icabi l i ty of the

death penal ty beyond what i s found in the bibl ical laws. They deem al l ext ra

mari ta l sexual re la t ions punishable by death, and Phi lo extends the death

penal ty to a l l forms of thef t . Since both authors appear more severe in these

passa ges tha n in the res t of thei r wo rk, i t has been plau sibly su gge sted that they

drew on a source tha t wa s concerned to em phas ize the severi ty of Jew ish l a w .

7 3

Pseudo-Phocyl ides makes no a rgument for the dea th pena l ty .

There is also a notable difference in the area of family relat ionships. Philo

insis ts that "wives must be in servi tude to thei r husbands, a servi tude not im

posed by violent i l l - t reatment but promoting obedience in a l l things" (Hyp.

7.3) . Josephus echoes Aris tot le ' s view that the woman is in a l l things infer ior

to the m an, bu t he a t t r ibutes this posi t ion to the La w (Ag. Ap. 2 . 2 0 0 ) .

7 4

He con

t inues: "Let her accordin gly be s ubm issive, not for her hum il ia t ion, but that she

m ay be di rected; for the author i ty has been give n by God to the ma n." Th e par

al le l wi th the New Testament has of ten been noted (cf . Eph. 5:22) .

7 5

P s e u d o -

Phocyl ides agrees that the wife should not be humil ia ted, but never makes an

issue of her submission. Josephus goes beyond the Jewish law in forbidding a

man to have re la t ions wi th anyone other than his wife , whereas Pseudo-

Phocy l ides imp l ic it ly a l low s co ncubin es .

7 1 . Stromata 2 .23 .139 . See Crouch , The Origin and Intention, 87 -8 8 . On the Golden Rule , see

more broadly H. D. Betz ,

The Sermon on the Mount

(Hermeneia; Minneapol is: Fortress , 1995)

5 0 8 - 1 6 .

7 2 . On the character of Josephus's summary in i ts own right , see G. Vermes, "A Summary of

the Law by Flavius Josephus," NovT 2 4 ( 1 9 8 2 ) 2 8 9 - 3 0 3 .

7 3 .

Crouch, The Origin and Intention, 88.

7 4 .

For Aristot le 's v iew of women, see D. L. Balch,

Let Wives Be Submissive

(Chico ,

Calif.:

S c h o l a r s , 1 9 8 1 ) 3 3 - 3 8 .

7 5 . Because of the NT parallel, the authenticity of this passage in Josephus is suspect. Cf. LCL

372.




175

De spite these differences,

it

is l ikely that Pseu do-P hoc ylides drew on

a

source

that was also shared by Philo and Josep hu s, but he used

it

selectively

for

his p ur

poses . He om itted any overt reference to the Law, and recast the material in the

form of paraen esis rather than law. He

is

consistently less severe

in

tone than the

other authors , and emphasizes the humane dimensions of the m aterial .

T h e P u r p o s e

of

Ps e udo-Phoc y l ide s

The pu rposes

for

wh ich Pseudo-P hocyl ides wrote remain uncer ta in .

In his

1978 comment a ry , van der Ho rst dis t inguished four theoret ical possibi l i t ies :

(1)

the

au thor

had no

agenda ,

but

wrote pure ly

for

the pleasu re

of

w r i ting ;

(2)

the au thor wrote

for

his fel low J ew s,

to

reassure the m that Greek ethics essen

t ia l ly agreed wi th the Torah , and that they did not need to look beyond thei r

ow n t rad i tion ; (3) the au thor w rote for a pagan publ ic , not in order to conver t

t hem

to

Juda i sm

but

on ly

to

make them sympathe t i c

to

Juda i sm;

or

al terna

t ively to h u m a n i z e the pagan wor ld by giving them the benefi t of Jewish e thi

cal teaching; (4) the au thor w as a "God- feare r" who accep ted cer ta in aspects

of Juda ism b ut not the full r i tual law ;

he

wr o t e

to

win conver t s

to

h i s own way

of life.

Van der

Hors t d i scounted

the

first possibility,

but

found

it

imposs ib le

to cho ose be tw een the la t ter three . H e also canvassed the idea that the boo k wa s

wri t ten

for

schoo lch i ldren ,

as

w as often

the

case wi th gnom ologies . Ten years

later , he revis i ted the p rob l em and declared that the third and fourth op tions

w e r e no longer viable . Rather , he now favored

the assumption that

the

author wr ote

a

kind

of

compendium

of

misvot

for

daily

life w hich c ould he lp Jews in a thoroughly Hellenistic environment to l ive as Jews

without having

to

abandon their interest

in

Greek culture.

If

our author intend ed

to write

a

school-book (and

we

have seen ho w often gn om ologies served educa

tional purposes), one could imagine that,

as a

Jew ish writer,

he

tried

to

provide

a

"pagan" text that could b e use d safely

in

Jewish schools

to

satisfy Jew ish p arents

who wanted their children

to be

trained

in the

classical pagan authors. Ho we ver

that may be, the hypoth esis that Ps.-Phoc addressed himself to

a

pagan audience

in order to win them over to a kind of "ethical m onotheism " (and this wa s the func

tion

of

his pseudonym )

is a

theory that has no w definitively

to be

laid

ad acta.

16

The not ion tha t Pseudo-Phocyl ides wrote

to

prevent

the

defect ion

of

Jews

from thei r t radi t ion because of the at tractions of Hel lenis t ic cul ture had been

proposed by the Israel i scholar G. A lon in 1 9 5 7 .

7 7

In this view , the fact that the

76. Van der Horst , "Pseudo-Phocyl ides Revis i ted," 16. Cf. Niebuhr,

Gesetz

und

Pardnese,

67.

7 7 .

G. Alon, "The Halakah in the Teach ing of the Twelv e A post le s ," in i d e m, Studies

in

Jew

ish History

in the

Times

of

the Second Temple,

the

Mishnah

and the

Talmud

(Jerusalem: Ha kib-

butz Ham euchad , 1957) 1 . 2 7 4 - 9 4 (in H ebrew) .



176


poem does no t condemn idola t ry i s expla ined by suppos ing tha t the Jewish

audience did not need such a prohibi t ion. But then we must wonder , to what

we re they be ing t empted by the suppo sed b landishm ents of Hel len i st i c cu l ture?

Or converse ly , wh at would i t m ean " to live as Je w s" in van der H ors t ' s phrase?

Tradi t ional ly , f idel i ty to Judaism entai led avoiding idolat ry, a t tending syna

gog ue , having o ne ' s ch i ldren c i rcum cised , no t ma r ry ing Gen t i l es , and so on—

precisely the issues that Pseudo-Phocyl ides s tudiously avoids . His fa i lure to

co nd em n idolat ry is especial ly s t r iking, s ince it i s a co m m on pla ce in other He l

lenis t ic Jewish wri t ings , a l though these too may have been intended pr imari ly

fo r J ewi sh r ead e r s .

7 8

I t is diff icult to believe that Pseudo-Phocylides wrote for

the purpose of conf i rming adherence to Judaism

when he avoids mention of

anything that is distinctively Jewish.

There is , in fact , no trace of apologetics

anywhere in this book.

Van der Horst was cer ta inly r ight to re ject the old theory that Pseudo-

Phocyl ides , and mos t o f Greco-Jewish l i t e ra ture , had a miss ionary purpose .

There was no organized or un i f i ed Jewish miss ion to the Gent i l es .

7 9

P s e u d o -

Phocyl ides could not poss ib ly hav e hoped to conver t peop le to Juda i sm w hen

he told them nothing expl ic i t about the re l igion to which they were supposed

to conver t . The same object ion holds against the view that he wanted to make

"sym path izers" or "G od- fea re rs" of h i s audience , insofar as these (vague ly de

f ined) groups required some recogni t ion of Judaism. This book cannot be read

as an a t tempt to promote Judaism in any way, a l though i t promotes e thical

teachings that are largely der ived f rom Judaism. Contrary to van der Horst ' s

posi t ion, the teaching of the book is not inappropr ia te ly descr ibed as "ethical

m o n o t h e i s m . "

In v iew of the educa t iona l purposes usua l ly se rved by gnom olog ies , the sug

ges t ion tha t Pseudo-Phocyl ides sen tences were in tended for school room in

s t ruct ion is a lmost cer ta inly r ight .

8 0

The book was cer ta inly used for this pur

po se in la ter t im es. There is noth ing to indicate that the pupi ls for wh om i t was

intende d we re exclus ively Jew ish; nei ther , of cou rse , w ere Jew s in any wa y ex

cluded. But in adver t is ing his teachings under the name of Phocyl ides , the au

thor surely ho ped to a t tract pup i ls regard less of thei r adh eren ce to Jud aism . T he

teachings presumably ref lect the author ' s own ethical convict ions . Obser

vanc es pecul iar to Jud aism play no par t in these teaching s . Th ey ca nno t be said

to put forward a view of Jewish ident i ty , a l though the author most probably

was Jewish. Judaism was not his subject . His subject was moral i ty , as this

78 . Pace

Barclay,

Jews in the Mediterranean World,

342^ 43, Pseudo-Phocyl ides would not

have destroyed his pseudonymity if he had included a critique of idolatry, since such critiques can

be found in Hellenist ic philosophers. S ee Attridge,

First-Century Cynicism ,

1 3 - 2 3 .

79 . See the discussion in the preceding chapter.

80. Derron,

Pseudo-Phocylide,

xl ix.



Jewish Ethics in Hellenistic Dress 177

m ight hav e bee n the subject of any G reek phi loso phe r wh o set up a schoo l . The

fact that his unders tanding of moral i ty , or his phi losophy, was shaped by the

Jewish scr iptures was incidental . He did not even inform his readers that these

scr iptures exis ted, any more than he lectured them on Plato or Stoic ism. His

purpose, the only purpose we can safely impute to him, was to impar t to his

readers , whether Jews or Gent i les , his unders tanding of the moral l i fe .

At the conc lus ion of h i s boo k Pseud o-Pho cyl ides provides a sea l

(sphragis)

wh ich says some th ing about the charac te r o f h i s b o ok :

8 1

"Purifications are for

the pur i ty of the soul , not of the body. These are the myster ies of r ighteous

nes s ;

l iving thus may you l ive out a good l ife, r ight up to the threshold of old

age." The f i rs t sentence in this conclusion is the only comment on r i tual in

Pse ud o-P ho cyl id es . In effect , i t d iscou nts the value of actual r i tuals , and favors

a spi r i tual iz ing or a l legor iz ing interpreta t ion. The "myster ies" wi th which this

author i s concerned are not very myst ical . They are pr imari ly concerned wi th

the myster ies of e thical conduct , which enable one to l ive a good l i fe . These

myster ies do not require that one belong to a specif ic re l igious group or ob

serve specif ic cul t ic pract ices . What i s important i s that one pract ice r igh

teousness and the other vi r tues .

Th e at t itude of Pse udo -Ph ocy l ides to the Jew ish law, then, i s ra ther di ffer

ent from that of Ben Sira, al though he too paid relat ively l i t t le at tention to the

r i tual laws. Pseudo-Phocyl ides is c loser to Proverbs and Qoheleth, nei ther of

whom paid much at tent ion to the cul t ic s ide of Yahwism. In the case of the

older wisdom l i tera ture , this s i tuat ion is unremarkable , s ince we assume that

there were no r iva l cu l t s in the immedia te envi ronment . Pseudo-Phocyl ides

must have been aware of the mul t ipl ic i ty of cul ts in Hel lenis t ic Egypt . I f we

may judge by his sentences , however , these cul ts were not very important in

his eyes , s ince the myster ies of r ighteousness were concerned wi th moral i ty ,

not wi th cul t . In this respect Pseudo-Phocyl ides was of one mind wi th many

Hel lenis t ic phi losophers , but he could a lso have found support in the prophets

and sages of Hebrew t radi t ion.

81 . On the not ion of a sphragis, see W i l son , The Mysteries of Righteou sness, 64 .



Chapter 10 .

W is d o m a n d I m m o r t a l i t y

Th e mos t im por tan t wisd om wr i t ing from the Hel len i s t ic Diaspo ra is undo ubt

edly the Wisdom of Solomon (hencefor th Wis . Sol . ) . Like the book of Si rach,

this work at ta ined the s ta tus of scr ipture in the Cathol ic Church, but was re le

gated to the Apocrypha by the Reformers . In ant iqui ty , i t was more widely ac

cepted as canonical than any of the other "deuterocanonical" books. I t was

quoted as author i ta t ive f rom the end of the second century

c .E . ,

and i t w as re

garded as scr ipture by Clement of Alexandria , a l though Origen, in the thi rd

centu ry, adm it ted that i t " is not held by al l to hav e au tho r i ty ."

1

Odd l y enough ,

i t was l i s ted wi th the books of the New Testament in the Murator ian Canon,

which or ig ina ted in Rome about 200 C . E .

2

Provenance and Date

I t i s usual ly assumed that the book was wri t ten in Alexandria . This i s due

in par t to the resem blan ces to the thoug ht of Ph i lo that occur f requent ly in the

book, bu t a l so to the prominence of Egypt and Egypt ians . Whi le chapte rs

10 -19 a re insp i red by the b ib l i ca l s tory of the exo dus , the ex tended em phas i s

on the Egypt ians , in contras t to the br ief t reatment of the Canaani tes , most

readi ly suggests an Egypt ian set t ing. The polemic against idolat ry and the

worship of animals a lso f i t s the Egypt ian context very wel l . While none of

these arg um ents i s con clus ive, there is no evid enc e a t a l l in favor of any other

l oca t i on .

3

1.

O r igen , On First Principles 4 .4 .6 .

2. S ee W . Horbury, "The Christ ian Us e and the Jewish Origins of the W isdo m o f Solom on," in

J. D ay, ed . ,

Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honour of J. A. Emerton

(Camb ridge: Cam bridge

Un iv. Press , 1995) 18 2- 96 . Various efforts have been mad e to explain this oddity . The passage in

question in the Muratorian Canon refers to the boo k as "the W isd om written by friends of So lom on

in his honor." It has been suggested that the Latin is a mistranslation, and that the Greek should

read "by Philo" instead of "by his friends." The association with the NT might then have resulted

from a tradition that Ph ilo had converted to Ch ristianity. Se e D . Win ston, The Wisdom of Solomon

(A B 43 ; Garden City , N.Y .: Dou bleday , 19 79) 68.

3.

Pace

D. Georg i ,

Weisheit Salomos

(JSHRZ III /4 ; Guters loh: Mo hn, 1980) 39 5- 96 , who lo

cates the boo k in Syria bec aus e of the author's indeb tedne ss to apoca lyptic traditions in chaps. 1-5 .

But these traditions could be as easily available in Egypt as in Syria.



Wisdom and Immortality

179

The da te of compos i t ion i s somewhat more cont rovers ia l . Some commen

tators set the date as early as the second century B . C . E .

4

Others favor the f irst

cen tury

B . C . E . ,

be cau se of the lack of c lear a l lus ions to Ph i lo ,

5

but then the fact

tha t Phi lo show s no acqua in tance w i th W is . Sol. becom es problem at ic . By far

the mos t p robab le da te is the ea r ly Ro m an per iod . David W ins ton has po in ted

to som e thi r ty-f ive w ord s and usage s that do not appear in Gre ek l i tera ture be

fore the first century

C . E .

6

Several other aspects of the work also fi t the early

Roman per iod, notably the content ion that idolat ry ar ises f rom the desi re of

subjects to f lat ter a distant ruler (Wis. 14:17). The term kratesis, " d o m i n i o n "

(Wi s .

6:3) , i s e lsewhere used specif ical ly for the Roman conquest of Egypt .

7

The account of the persecut ion of the r ighteous and the subsequent divine

jud gm en t in cha ps . 2-5 f igure p rom inent ly in a ttempts to date the boo k. In W in

s to n 's view , this section of the book "cou ld only be cal led forth by a d esperate

his tor ical s i tuat ion."

8

He suggests the re ign of the Roman emperor Cal igula

( 3 7 - 4 1 C . E . ) , w hen there were riots in Alex andria and the Jew s were p roclaim ed

"al iens and foreign ers ." W heth er the book can be t ied to such specif ic ev ents re

m ains qu est ionable , s ince it never a l ludes to them ex pl ic it ly . M oreo ver , w e shal l

argue that the account of the persecution of the r ighteous has the character of a

qu asi-ph ilosop hical arg um en t about the profi tabil ity of jus t ice , rather than of a

vei led his tor ical com m entary , and the apocalypt ic scene that i t evok es wa s t ra

dit ional by the Roman period. I t cannot be taken as a rel iable guide to the cir

cum stances in which the book w as compo sed . The book could have been wr i t

ten at any t ime in the century from 30

B . C . E .

to 70

C.E.

Structure and Genre

Th e bo ok is usual ly divide d into three m ain par ts : the "b oo k of esc hato logy "

in 1 :1-6 :21 , the "bo ok of w isdo m " in 6 :22 -10 :21 , and the "book of h i s tory" in

chapters 11-19, but there are numerous var ia t ions in the exact def ini t ion

of these un i t s .

9

Some scholars def ine the "book of eschatology" as chapters

4 .

So Georgi, ibid., on the basis of parallels with 1 Enoch.

5. D. Dimant, "Pseudonymity in the Wisdom of Solomon," in N. Fernandez Marcos, ed. , La

Septuaginta en la Investigacidn Contempordnea (V Congre so de la IO SC S; Madrid: Insti tuto

"Arias Mon tano" C.S . I .C. , 1985) 24 3- 55 .

6 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 2 2 - 2 3 .

7. Ibid., 153. The word is found in

m. Abodah Zdrdh

1.3 and frequen tly in Gr eek papyri.

8 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 23 .

9. For a survey of the history of scholarship on this question, see M. Kolarcik, The Ambiguity

of Death in the Book of Wisdom 1-6 (An Bib 127; Ro m e: Pontif ical Bibl ical Insti tute , 1991) 1-28 ;

Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 1 0 - 1 2 ; Ge o r g i, Weisheit Salomos, 39 3; J. M . R ees e, "Plan and

Structure in the Book of Wisdom," CBQ 27 (1965) 391-99; A. G. Wright , "The Structure of the

Bo o k o f Wi s d o m, " Bib 48 (1967) 165-84; H. Engel ," 'Was Weisheit is t und wie s ie entstand, wil l

ich verki inden. ' Weish 7 ,22-8,1 innerhalb des egkomion tes sophias (6 ,22 -1 1,1 ) a ls Starkung

der Plausibilitat des Judentums angesichts hellenistischer Philosophic und Religiositat," in G.

Hentschel and E. Zenger, eds . , Lehrerin der Gerec htigkeit (Le ipz ig : Ben no , 1991) 67 -1 02 .



180 Wisdom

in the

Hellenistic Diaspora

1-5,

1 0

or 1-6,

1 1

or associate chap ter 10 wi th the f inal sect ion of the b o o k .

1 2

The

definition of the third se ction as chapte rs 10-19 has m u c h to c o m m e n d it, since

chapte r 10 init iates the bibl ical paraph rase that is cont inued in chapte rs 11 -19 ,

bu t

it is

a lso t rue that W isd om

is the

pr im ary subject

in

chapte r

10 (and in

11:1),

as it was in 6 : 22 - 9 : 18 . A f te r 11:1 , the narrat ive of the sav ing deed of W i s d o m

gives way to di rect address to God.

In the la te e ighteenth and ea r ly n ine teenth cen tur ies , it was c u s t o m a r y to

ascr ibe the different par ts of the b o o k to d i ffe ren t au th o rs .

1 3

The c o m m e n t a r y

of Car l Gr imm in 1860 w e n t far toward es tab l i sh ing the un i ty of the b o o k on

the basis of l anguage and s t y l e .

1 4

Theor i e s of mul t ip le au thorsh ip were re

vived

in the

ea r ly twent ie th cen tury .

The

m ost inf luent ia l arg um ents w ere

those

of

F r i ed r i ch Focke ,

who

held that chapters

1-5

were or ig ina l ly com

posed in H e b r e w , and tha t the t rans la tor of these chapte rs added chapte rs

6 - 1 9 .

1 5

His

ma i n a rgum en t s conce rned

the

supposed l ack

of

Gr eek ph i l o so

p h y and the re la t ive absence of the pe rson ified figure of w i s d o m in chapte rs

1-5, and the increased tone of na t iona l i sm in chap t e r s 1 1 - 1 9 . These a rgu

men t s have

not

wi ths tood c r i t i c i sm, however . There

is no

lack

of

ph i l o soph i

ca l t e rminology in chapte rs 1-5. The "spir i t of the Lo rd" t ha t ho l ds all things

toge ther in 1:7 is indebted to S to ic ph i losophy and c a n n o t be d i s t inguished

from

the

spiri t

of

wi sdom t ha t

is

eu l og i zed

in

6 : 2 2 - 9 : 1 8 .

The

doc t r ine

of im

morta l i ty in these chapte rs is a l so indebted to Gree k phi loso phy . S evera l

Greek exp re s s i ons in chap t e r s 1-5 h a v e no c lea r equiva len t in Hebrew (e .g . ,

to synechon ta panta, tha t wh ich holds all th ings toge ther , in 1:7; aphtharsia,

incor rupt ion , in 2 :23) . W ins ton c onc lu des tha t "the s t ronges t a rgum ent for the

uni ty

of

W i s d

may be

drawn f rom

its

l anguage

and

s ty le , " which desp i te

oc

casional Hebrew features (chief ly the use of paral le l ism ) ref lects an ex ce l l en t

c o m m a n d of G r e e k .

1 6

It is now general ly agreed that the W i s d o m of S o l o m o n is a unified, artful

compos i t ion , which uses the t echniques of Greek rhetor ic in a sophis t icated

10.

G eorg i,

Weisheit Salomos,

393.

11.

M.

Gilbert, "Wisdom Literature,"

in M. E.

S tone ,

ed.,

Jewish Writings of the Second Tem

ple Period ( CRI NT 2/2; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984) 3 0 1 - 2 .

12.

J.

Fichtner, Weisheit Salomos

(HAT 2/6;

Tubingen: M ohr,

1938) 7; J.

Reider,

The

Book

of

Wisdom

(Drops ie Co l lege Ser ies ;

New

York: H arper,

1957) 2; M.

G o o d m a n

in

Schiirer,

The

His

tory,

3.1. 569.

13. Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 1 2 - 1 3 , ma k e s

an apt

com parison w ith

the

history

of

Homeric scholarship.

14.

C. L.

Gr i mm, Das Buch der Weisheit (Leipzig , 1860) .

15.

F. F o c k e , Die

Entstehung

der

Weisheit Salomos

(Gott ingen: Van denhoeck & Ruprecht,

1913) .

16.

Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 1 4 - 1 5 .

Cf. A.

Schmitt , Das Buch der Weisheit

(Wurzburg: Echter, 1986) 12.



Wisdom and Imm ortality

181

w a y .

1 7

Unl ike the loosely s t ructured book of Ben Sira , or gnomologion- l ike

Sayings of Pseudo-Phocyl ides , Wis . Sol . p resen t s a coheren t a rgument to ad

vocate a course of act ion and show that i t i s expedient and good. The subject

of the exhorta t ion is love of r ighteousness (1:1) and wisdom (6:9) . The "book

of eschatology" shows what i s a t s take by present ing the arguments of the op

ponents and showing thei r inadequacy. I t a lso presents the author ' s most basic

argument for the value of r ighteousness: i t leads to vindicat ion in a judgment

af ter death. The "book of wisdom" descr ibes the or igin and nature of wisdom

and the m ann er in which i t i s a t ta ined. This par t of the book h as a (pseu do) au

tob iographica l component , which s t rengthens the a rgument by the t es t imony

of personal exper ience. Final ly , the "book of his tory" e laborates the theme by

wel l -known examples . Bibl ical his tory, especial ly the exodus s tory, i s ex

pounded to show that the eff icacy of r ighteousness is guaranteed by the uni

verse itself. The author makes plent i ful use of synkrisis, compar i son and con

t ras t , to show the super ior i ty of r ighteousness over i t s opposi te .

Th e genre of the bo ok as a w ho le has been identi f ied as logos protreptikos,

a d idac t i c exhor ta t ion , by J . M. Reese and David Wins ton .

1 8

Protrept ic was a

blend of phi losophy and rhetor ic developed by the Sophis ts . The ear l ies t ex

ample of the genre is found in Plato ' s Euthydemus ( 2 7 8 E - 2 8 2 D ) . T h e Pro-

trepticus

of A ris tot le , kn ow n only in recon st ructed form, exho rts it s readers to

"exercise moral vi r tue for the sake of wisdom, for wisdom is the supreme

e n d . "

1 9

Another los t prot rept ic discourse is a t t r ibuted to Posidonius , the Stoic

philosopher of the early f irst century B . C . E . who numbered Cicero among h i s

pu pi ls , and w ho has som et im es been su spected as a source for the bo ok of Wi s

d o m .

2 0

A protrept ic discourse was not a formal phi losophical lecture , but an

appeal to follow a philosophical way of l ife, or , in other terms, the pursuit of

wi sdom.

Other scholars have objected, however , that the protrept ic genre is poor ly

at tes ted, s ince nei ther the Protrepticus of Aris tot le nor that of Pos idon ius has

17.

Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 1 5 - 1 6 : " He e mp l o y s chiasmus (1:1 , 4 , 8; 3:15) , hyper-

baton, th e Sorites (6 :1 7- 20 ) , ant i thesis , accumu lat ion of epithets (accum ulatio; synathroismo s)

(7:22-23) , a l l i terat ion, assonance, homoioteleuton, paronomasia , isokolia (balance of c lause s) ,

l itotes, anaphora (c. 10), and Greek philosophical terminology." See further J. M. Reese, Hel

lenistic Influence on the Book of Wisdom and Its Consequences (AnB ib 41 ; Rom e: Ponti fi ca l Bib

lical Institute, 1971 ) 25 -3 1 (H ellenistic influence o n style), and W right, "The Structure of the Boo k

of Wisdom," who emphasizes the role of concentric composit ion and inclusio.

18 .

R e e s e , Hellenistic Influence, 1 1 9 - 2 1 ; Wi n s t o n , The Wisdom of Solomon, 18. This designa

t ion was already applied to Wisdom 1-5 by Focke, Die Entstehung, 85.

19. Protrepticus B 21; c i ted by W inston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 18.

2 0 . The inf luence of Posidonius on Wisdom was advocated especial ly by I . Heinemann, "Die

griechische Quel le der Weisheit Salomos," in idem, Poseidonios' Metaph ysische Schriften

(reprint; Hildesheim: 01ms, 1968) 136-53. See C. Larcher, Etudes sur le Livre de la Sagesse

(Paris: Gabalda, 1969) 224-31.



182


ac tua l ly been preserved .

2 1

Moreover , Wisdom 11-19 f i t s the genre on ly wi th

dif fi cu lty. A ccord ingly they propose tha t W isdo m be v iewed as an enc om ium ,

which is a genre of epideict ic rhetor ic , demonstra t ive ra ther than didact ic . The

book, then, would be read as a praise of wisdom rather than as an exhorta t ion

to pursue i t , a l though no one disputes that an encomium entai ls impl ic i t (and

som e expl ic i t ) exho rta t ion. W insto n su m m arizes the s i tuat ion as fol lows: "I t i s

thus extrem ely dif ficul t to dete rm ine wh ether W is is an epideict ic com posi t ion

with an admixture of prot rept ic , or essent ia l ly a prot rept ic wi th a considerable

e l emen t of ep i d e i c t i c . "

2 2

Th e dist inction is no t cruc ial for our pu rp os es. In fact ,

the di f ferent par ts of the book have di f ferent characters . The hor ta tory aspect

is most c lear ly in evidence in the "Book of Eschatology"; the middle par t of

the boo k (6 :22 -9 :18 ) bes t fits the genre "encom ium "; whi le the "Bo ok of His

tory" is epideict ic in character , consis t ing of a demonstra t ion of the workings

of the Wisdom that was praised in the preceding sect ion. Moreover , the author

draw s on sources of dif ferent kind s in each sect ion. H e ut il izes apocalyp t ic t ra

di t ions in the Book of Eschatology, draws heavi ly on phi losophical terminol

ogy in the praise of Wisdom, and develops a homilet ical exposi t ion of bibl ical

his tory in chapters 10-19. These uni ts , however , are bound together by t ransi

t ional passages in chapters 6 and 10, which are var iously ass igned to the pre

ceding or the fol lowing sect ions . Moreover , there is an under lying coherence

to the book as a w ho le . I t pro pos es an und ers tand ing of W isd om and i ts role in

the cosmos and in his tory, and draws inferences f rom this for human conduct .

Th e Book o f Eschato logy

Re cen t studies of the structure of Wis. 1:1-6:21 have em phasized the concen

tric nature of the com posit ion, wh ich is outl ined as follows b y Mich ael K ol arc ik :

2 3

A . 1:1-15: exhorta t ion to jus t ice

B . 1:16-2:24: speech of the wicked, explaining thei r rea

soning

C. 3:1 -4 :20 : four diptyc hs contras t ing the jus t wi th the

wi cked

B

1

5 : 1 -2 3 : speech of t he wi cked i n a j udgm en t s cene

A

1

6 : 1 - 2 1 :

exhor ta t ion to wisdom

The se sec t ions a re wove n toge ther by verba l links be tw een on e passage and the

next . So , for ex am ple , the them e of death is ra ised in 1:12-13 and picked up in

2:24; the r ighteous are int roduced as subjects in 3:1 and again in 5:1, 15; the

2 1 . Gilbert , "Wisdom Literature," 307; idem, "Sagesse ," DBSup 11 (1986 ) 77 -8 7; P. Bizze t t i ,

IlLibro delta Sapienza (Bres cia: Paide ia, 198 4) 157.

2 2 . Rev iew o f Bizze t t i , / / Libro delta Sapienza, CBQ 4 8 ( 1 9 8 6 ) 5 2 5 - 2 7 .

2 3 .

Kolarcik, The Ambiguity of Death, 62.




183

word " i nco r rup t i on" (aphtharsia) l inks 2:23 wi th 6: 18 -1 9; the app eal to the

rulers of the earth in 1:1 is res um ed in 6: 1 . T he sec tion con sti tutes a t ightly

s t ructured and coherent argument .

The argument may be summarized as fol lows. The reader i s invi ted to love

just ice and seek the Lord. Injust ice is incom pat ible wi th W isdom . But , in g ood

sapiential t radit ion, this propos al is not base d on pu rely al truistic reason s, bu t is

supp orted by con sideration s of ult im ate self- interest. T he ult imate catalyst of hu

man values is death. Those who pursue unr ighteousness "reasoned unsoundly"

that death is the end of human existence, after which "we shall be as though we

had ne ver bee n." Co nseq uen tly, they seize the day , and even afflict the r igh teous

m an be cause his presence is inconven ient . But they fa il to unders tand the m ys

teries of God. While the r ighteous seem to die, in fact they enjoy immortali ty.

This prospect calls for a radical reevaluation of usual human values. I t is not

length of life that should be desired, bu t w isdo m an d righteo usne ss. Th is is even

tually made clear in an eschatological tr ial scene in chapter 5, where the wicked

belated ly learn the error of their w ay s. Th e section con clud es by reaffirming the

imp ortance of pursuing W isdo m " so that you m ay reign forever ."

In som e respects this argum ent i s f irmly grou nd ed in t radi t ional Jew ish w is

dom . I t i s couc hed in te rm s of the hum an goo d, no t o f d iv ine comm and . M ore

over , the book of Proverbs a l ready taught that Wisdom "is the t ree of l i fe to

those who lay hold of her" (Prov. 3:18) , and had her proclaim: "He who f inds

me f inds l i fe and obtains favor f rom the Lord; but he who misses me injures

himself;

a l l who hate me love death" (Prov. 8:35-36) . Life and death of ten

have a qua l i t a tive sense in Pr ov er bs .

2 4

Th ose wh o "ha te l i fe" and " love dea th"

are not suicidal but are at tracted by a l ife that the sages equated with death.

However , Proverbs a l so promises " length of days and years of l i f e and abun

dant welfare" (3:2) , and says that Wisdom has "long l i fe in her r ight hand, in

her lef t r iches and honor" (3:16) . While "l i fe" i s measured by the favor of the

Lo rd ra ther than by durat ion , it m ust be exper ien ced o n this s ide of death. T he re

is no suggestion that anyone can enjoy l ife in the hereafter . Ben Sira is brutal ly

direct on this topic: "Whether l i fe i s for ten years or a hundred or a thousand,

there are no quest io ns aske d in H ad es " (Sir . 41 :4) . Th is resolute ly this-wo rldly

or ientat ion is typical of t radi t ional Jewish wisdom. Only in the Dead Sea

Scrol ls do w e f ind a hop e for e ternal l ife in a H eb rew sapient ia l text (4 Q 21 8) .

Apocalypt ic Inf luence

In the Wisdom of Solomon, th i s perspec t ive i s changed u t t e r ly . Here , the

hope of the r ighteous is ful l of immortal i ty . Several factors contr ibute to this

new perspect ive . Fi rs t , two centur ies had elapsed s ince the t ime of Si rach. Be

l ief in re t r ibut ion af ter death had become much more widespread in Judaism

2 4 . G . von R ad, "Life and Death in the OT ," TDNT 2 . 8 4 3 ^ 9 .



184


in the interim. This belief wa s initial ly form ulated in the apoc alyptic w rit ings at

t r ibu ted to Enoch and Danie l .

2 5

The judgment scene in Wis . Sol . chapter 5 is

couched in apoca lypt ic id io m .

2 6

W he n the w icked see that the r ighteous are vin

dicated, they ask "H ow wa s he recko ned a m ong the sons of Go d, and how is his

por t ion among the holy ones?" (5:5) . The "sons of God" and "holy ones" refer

to the angelic hosts, and the conception parallels 1 Enoch 104:2-6 , which

pro m ises the r ighteous that "y ou w ill hav e great jo y as the ange ls in hea ven . . .

for you wi l l be companions to the host of heaven."

2 7

The parallel with this sec

t ion of 1 Enoch ( the "Epist le of Enoch") is especially str iking in view of a pas

sage in

1 Enoch 102 :6 -11 :

But when you die, the sinners say about you, As we die, the righteous have died,

and of what use to them were their deeds? Behold, l ike us they have died in sad

ness and in darkness, and what advantage do they have over us? From now on

w e are equal I say to you , you sinners, Y ou are content to eat and drink, and

strip men naked and steal and sin, and acquire possessions and see good days.

But you saw the righteous, ho w their end wa s peace, for no wrong wa s found in

them until the day of their death.

H ere , as in W is. Sol. cha pte r 2, the wick ed ask wh eth er r ighteousness is ul t i

mately prof i table , and mistakenly conclude that i t i s not . Lothar Rupper t has

argued tha t W is . 2 :1 2-2 0; 5 :1 -7 or ig ina ted as an apoca lypt ic comp os i t ion in a

Sem i t ic l anguag e in Pa les t ine , and had presum ably bee n brought to Egypt and

transla ted into G reek before i t w as inco rporated in W is . S o l .

2 8

I t is un likely that

the source document can be s imply re t r ieved f rom i ts present context , where i t

is w ell integ rated , bu t it is l ikely that the author had an ap oc alyp tic so urce h ere .

The passage in ques t ion i s modeled on the Servant Song in I sa . 52 :13-53:12 ,

2 5 .

See J. J. Collins,

Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls

(London : Rou tledge, 1997)

11 0- 29 . A com prehen sive but ma ximalist overv iew of Jewish bel ief in li fe after death can be found

in E. Puech, La Croyan ce des Esseniens en la Vie Future: Imm ortalite, Resurrection, Vie Eter-

nelle? (Paris: Gabalda, 1993) 1-3 24 .

26 .

P. Grelot , "L'esc hatologie de la Sag esse et les apocalypses juives ," A la Rencontre de Dieu:

Memorial Albert Gelin (Le Puy: Mapp us , 1961) 16 5-7 8 .

27. Compare also Daniel 12:1-3, where the wise teachers shine like the stars after the resurrec

tion.

The stars are the host of heaven, and symbolize the angels. See J. J. Collins, Daniel

(Hermeneia; Minneapol is: Fortress , 1993) 393-94. There is a possible reference to astral immor

tality in Wis. 3:7, where the righteous are compared to sparks in the stubble. See Winston,

The

Wisdom of Solomon, 128.

28 .

L. Ruppert, Der leidende Gerechte (Wurzburg: Kath ol isches Bibelw erk, 1972) 70 -1 05 ; cf.

idem, "Gerechte und Frevler (Gott lose) in Sap 1 ,1-6 ,21: Zum Neuverstandnis und zur Aktual-

isierung alttestamentlicher Traditionen in der Sapientia Salomonis," in Hiibner, ed., Die Weisheit

Salomos, 15 -1 9, where he highl ights the dif ferences in vocabulary betw een these passag es and the

rest of Wis . Sol . Ruppert is overly specif ic , however, when he dates the Semit ic composit ion to

the persecution of the Pharisees by Alexan der Jannaeus about 86 B.C.E. (Der leidende Gerech te,

1 0 3 - 4 ) .



W isdom and Immortality

185

a passage that also influenced the formulation of hope for an afterl ife in Dan.

1 1 : 3 3 - 3 5 ;

12:1-3 and the Simil i tudes of Enoch (7 Enoch 4 6 , 6 2 ) .

2 9

Like the

Enochic passages , bu t un l ike Danie l , Wis . Sol . does no t speak of a resur rec

t ion. Ra ther i t env isages ex al ta t ion to the heaven ly realm . It i s notew orthy that

the dominant expectat ion of af ter l i fe in the Dead Sea Scrol ls , as found espe

cia l ly in the Hodayot , a lso avoids resurrect ion language but speaks ins tead of

exa l ta t ion and fe l lowship wi th the ange l s .

3 0

The Immorta l i ty o f the Soul

Th ere w as, how ever , ano ther t radi t ion av ai lable to the author of

W i s .

Sol., of

which Sirach bet rays no knowledge. This was the Greek idea of the immortal

i ty of the soul. As formulated by Plato, this doctrine was closely bound up with

the theory of Ideas, and entailed the preexistence of souls. In his dialogue the

Phaedrus, he depic ted the incarnation of the soul as a fall from a high er state,

but in the Timaeus the soul is meant to be incarnate, as part of the completion

o f t he un i ve r s e .

3 1

Wisdom of Solomon cer ta inly does not espouse the ful l Pla

tonic doctrine, but i t does betray acquaintance with the idea of preexistence at

one point . In Wis . 8:19-20, (pseudo) Solomon recounts : "I was indeed a chi ld

w el l -endo w ed, ha ving h ad a noble soul fa ll to m y lot , or ra ther being noble I en

tered an undef i led bo dy ." The formu lat ion recal ls the myth of Er in Plato ' s Re

public B ook 10, w here Lac hesis , daug hter of Nec essi ty , addresses a ssem bled

souls before they re turn to ear th: "No w is the beginn ing of another cycle of m or

tal generation.. . . Let him to whom falls the f irst lot f irst select a l ife to which

he shal l c leave of necess i ty" (Republic 617E) . Pseudo-Solomon g ives no h in t

that he has l ived a pr ior l i fe ,

3 2

but i t should be noted that Philo held that souls

were preexi s ten t bu t incarna ted only once .

3 3

The vaci l la t ion between two for

m ulat ions su ggests that the author of

W i s .

S ol. had no t taken a firm p osit ion on

the preexistence of the soul. Preexistence played no significant part in his

thought, but his self-correction in 8:20 must be taken as a favorable nod to the

Platonic tradit ion. A more flagrantly Platonic, or Pythagorean, statement is

found in 9:15 : "F or a per ishable bo dy w eighs do wn the soul and this tent of c lay

enc um bers a mind full of

cares . "

Accord ing to P la to ' s

Phaedo

66 B, "S o long as

2 9 . G.W.E. Nicke l sburg , Resurrection, Imm ortality and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Ju

daism

(Cam bridge, M ass . : Harvard Un iv. Press , 1972) 6 8 -9 2; Ruppert , "Gerechte und Frevler ,"

2 2 - 3 2 .

3 0 . Nicke l sburg , Resurrection, 1 4 4 - 6 9 ; Co l l in s , Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls,

110-29. See further M. Delcor, "L'immortalite' de l'ame dans le Livre de la Sagesse et dans les

documents de Qumran," NRT11 ( 1 9 5 5 ) 6 1 4 - 3 0 .

3 1 . See Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 2 6 - 2 7 .

32 . Larcher, Etudes, 21

A.

33 .

De Somn.

1 . 1 3 3 - ^3 ; Gi g . 6 - 9 ;

De Plant.

11 -1 4. Cicero also presents a doctrine of immor

tal i ty without metempsychosis in the Tusculan Disputations I and the Dream ofScipio.



186


w e have the body, and the soul is contam inated b y such an evi l , w e shal l never

a t ta in comple te ly wh at we de s i r e . "

3 4

A gain , this idea is paral le led in Phi lo: " Bu t

those w ho bear the burden of the f lesh, oppressed b y the gr ievou s load, can not

look up to the heavens as they revolve ."

3 5

I t should not, then, be dismissed as

anomalous in a Hel lenis t ic Jewish author .

Th e W isdo m of So lom on present s i ts unders tand ing of the soul on ly paren

thet ical ly in these passages . Elsewhere i t seems to regard both soul and body

as equal ly const i tut ive of the person. ( In 1:4 both soul and body are potent ia l

dwel l ing places for Wisdom.) There can be l i t t le doubt , however , that the im

mortal i ty envisaged is immortal i ty of the soul , as in Phi lo . There is never any

sugg est ion of resurrect ion of the bod y, nor indeed of resurrect ion of the spi r i t,

such as we f ind in the ear ly Enoch apoca lypses .

3 6

The au thor does no t , how

eve r, speak of imm orta li ty as a natu ral prop erty of the soul. R ath er i t is the fruit

of r igh teousness and wisdom.

Th e noun " i mm or t a l it y " (athanasia) occ urs five time s in W is . Sol . (3:4; 4 :1 ;

8:13, 17; 15:3) and adjective athanatos on ce (1:15 ). In 4:1 and 8:13 i t is ass o

cia ted wi th memory, and presumably refers to an undying reputat ion. In 3:4 i t

i s the hope of the r ighte ou s. In 8:17 i t i s associated w i th W isd om , and in 15:3

the root of immortal i ty i s paral le led to r ighteousness and associated wi th the

knowledge of God. In these contexts , immortal i ty i s not jus t the natural en

do w m en t of the soul , but is specifically as sociated wi th r ighteous ness a nd w is

dom. In contras t , the fa te of the wicked is unclear . In chapter 5 they are pres

en t a t a pos tmor tem judgment , and accord ing to Wis . 3 :10 they wi l l r ece ive

pun ishm ent in accorda nce wi th the ir r easoning . This may m ean , how ever , tha t

they experience death as f inal , just as they thought i t would be. In this case, the

jud gm en t sce ne in chap ter 5 is only a l iterary f ic tion to dram at ize thei r m iscal

culat ion. Wisdom of Solomon 5:14 emphasizes the t ransi tory character of thei r

hop es and contras ts them w ith the jus t , w ho l ive forever . The auth or nev er de

scr ibes ever las t ing punishments of the damned. The immortal i ty that interes ts

him is the blessed afterl ife of the r ighteous.

Another re la ted t e rm, " incor rupt ion" (aphtharsia) app ears three t im es, in

W i s .

2: 23 ; 6:18, and 6:19, and the corresp ond ing adject ive tw ice, in W is . 12:1

and 18:4. This word had a technical sense in Epicurean phi losophy. The Epi

cureans held that the gods had mater ia l exis tence, and they explained thei r un

ending l i fe by say ing tha t they were incor rupt ib le .

3 7

Accord ing to Wis . 2 :23 ,

34 . For further references see Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon, 207 . Cf . Seneca , Epistles

65 .16: "For th is body o f ours i s a we ight upon the s o u l . . . "

3 5 . Gig.

3 1 ;

Leg. All.

3 . 1 5 2 ;

QuodDet.

16.

36. P. Beauchamp, "Le salut corporel dans le l ivre de la Sagesse,"

B ib

4 5 ( 1 9 6 4 ) 4 9 1 - 5 2 6 , a r

gue s that an interest in the physical restoration of the un iverse runs through the seco nd h alf of the

boo k and infers that bod ily resurrection is imp licit , but this is an unn ecessary inference.

37 . Reese , Hellenistic Influence, 6 5 - 6 6 ; Wi n s t o n , The Wisdom of Solomon, 121.




187

humani ty was created "for incorrupt ibi l i ty ." In 6:18-19 i t i s ensured by keep

ing the law s , and it m akes o ne be near to God. In 12 :1 , G od ' s

pneuma

is im

perishable, and in 18:4 the l ight of the law is similarly described. There is no

pract ical di fference be twe en im m ortal i ty and incorrupt ibi l ity in W is . Sol . Sim

ilarly, for Philo "incorruption is akin to eternali ty"

(De Abr.

55) . Th e passages

that speak of incorrupt ion envisage more than ever las t ing durat ion. The word

also carr ies a posi t ive ev aluat ion. A gain , it i s not c lear w heth er the wicke d s im

ply per i sh . Wisdom of Solomon 5:8-14 states that the things on which the

wicked based thei r hopes , such as weal th and postur ing, leave no t race. The

impl icat ion seems to be that s ince they have no immortal qual i t ies , such as

r igh teousness , they a re simply consu m ed.

The De n ia l o f De a th

Wisdom of Solomon at tempts to ground i t s doctr ine of immortal i ty in the

exeg esis of the creat ion s tor ies in Gene sis . So w e are told in 2:2 3- 24 : "Bu t G od

created m an for incorrupt ibi l i ty , and m ad e him an im age of his ow n proper be

ing [or: h i s ow n im m or t a l i ty ] ;

3 8

but by the de vi l ' s env y death entered the w orld

and those who are of his lot exper ience i t ." The word "image" points to Gen.

1:27, wh ere A da m is created in the ima ge of God . Phi lo argued that "i t i s in re

spect of the Mind, the sovereign element of the soul , that the word ' image ' i s

used; for after the pattern of a single Mind, even the Mind of the Universe as

an archetype, the mind in each of those who success ively came into being was

m ould ed ." W isdo m of Solom on do es no t inser t a ro le for the M ind of the U ni

verse , or Logos, here , but makes incorrupt ion or immortal i ty the point of re

s embl ance be t ween de i t y and c r ea t u r e .

3 9

Moreover, we are told in 1:14 that

God created a l l things that they might exis t

(eis to einai),

and the generat ive

processes of the wor ld preserve l i f e

4 0

and have no dest ruct ive poison in them.

Phi lo s imilar ly argued that "nature in each case s t r ives to maintain and con

serve the thing of which i t is the nature, and if i t were possible to render i t

i m m o r t a l " (De Aet. 35) and that "God wil led that nature should run a course

that br ing s it bac k to i ts s tar ting-point , end ow ing the species wi th imm ortal i ty

[aidiotetos)

and m akin g them sharers of e ternal exis tenc e"

(D e

Opif. 44) .

Th e divine plan for creat ion w as disrupted, how ever , by the int roduct ion of

death. Wisdom of Solomon breaks wi th the ent i re bibl ical t radi t ion by s ta t ing

categor ical ly that "G od did not mak e death" (1:13) . Th e contras t wi th Ben Sira

3 8 . Some manuscripts read aidiotetos, imm ortality, instead of idiotetos, proper being .

39 . Philo also differs from Wisdom in positing a double creation of the heavenly and earthly

Man. See T. H. Tobin , The Creation of Man: Philo and the History of Interpretation (Washing

ton: Cathol ic Bibl ical Associat ion , 1983) 10 2- 34 .

4 0 . soterioi hai geneseis tou kosmo u. Geneseis ma y also m ean "created things" or "all that has

come into existence."



188


could not be mo re s tark. A s Sirach reads Ge nesis , "The Lord created hum an b e

ings out of the earth and m ak es the m return to i t ag ain " (Sir. 1 7:1). D eath is "the

decree of the Lord for al l f lesh" and represents the pleasure of the Most High

(Sir . 41 :4 ) .

4 1

Ev en the dual is t ic Ins truct ion on the Tw o Spir i ts from Q um ran at

tr ibutes to God the creation of both spiri ts and the destinies that at tach to them.

The idea that God did not make death is such a shocking novel ty in Jewish

tradit ion that m any scholars have refused to accept it a t face va lu e .

4 2

Since the

author associates death only with the wicked, who are of the lot of the devil , i t

i s assum ed that he must be speak ing of spi r itual , not physical death. Phi lo m ake s

a c lear dis t inct ion betw een tw o kinds of death, "o ne that of the m an in ge neral ,

the other that of the soul in part icular. T he de ath of the m an is the sep aration of

the soul from the body, but the death of the soul is the decay of virtue and the

br ing ing in of wickedness ."

4 3

Wisdom of Solomon, however , does no t make

this dist inction. The implici t al lusions to Genesis in

1:13-14

and 2 :23- 24 favor

the view that physical as well as spiri tual death is in view.

4 4

There is , however ,

considerable ambigui ty a t tached to the concept of death in Wis . Sol .

4 5

I t i s c lear enough that physical death can serve as a punishment for those

w ho be long to the lot of the devi l . In this case , no dis t inct ion is necessa ry b e

tween physical and spir i tual death, except insofar as spi r i tual death may be

thoug ht to occu r eve n before the dem ise of the body. The case of the r igh teous

is more complicated. The author i s wel l aware that "in the eyes of the fool ish

they seem to d ie " (3 :2) . M oreov er , the au thor acknowledg es tha t he i s "a mo r

ta l [thnetos] man, on a par wi th a l l" and that a l l share the same way of enter

ing and leavin g l i fe (7 :1 , 6; cf. 9 :5) . No neth eless , the autho r denies that the

physical demise of the r ighteous const i tutes "death." They only seem to die , in

the eyes of the fool ish, but they are real ly immortal .

4 6

The cessat ion of physi

cal l ife ha s different m ea nin gs for the r ighteous and the un righ teo us, and here in

l ies i ts am bigu i ty . On ly in the case of the unr ighteou s is i t cal led "d eath ."

Be cau se of this ambigu i ty of death, it i s not cer ta in how the author envisag ed

the or iginal s ta te for which humani ty was created. The use of the word aph-

tharsia, incorrupt ibi li ty , in Wis . 6:1 8- 19 , suggests that this s ta te , for w hich hu

mani ty was or iginal ly made (2:23) can s t i l l be a t ta ined by those who keep the

4 1 . See further J. J. Collins, "The Root of Immortality: Death in the Context of Jewish Wis

d o m, " H TR 7 1 ( 1 9 7 8 ) 1 7 7 - 9 2 .

4 2 .

See R. J . Taylor , "The Eschatological Meaning of Life and Death in the Book of Wisdom

I - V , " ETL 42 (1966) 102-13; Kolarc ik , The Ambiguity of Death, 1 4 8 - 5 1 .

43 .

Leg. AIL 1 .105-8 .

4 4 . So M. Gilbert, "Gn 1-3 dans le l ivre de la Sagesse," Lectio Divina 1 27 ( 1 9 8 7 ) 3 2 3 - 4 4 .

4 5 . Kolarcik, The Ambiguity of Death, 15 9- 90 . See also Y. Am ir, "The Figure of Death in the

' Bo o k o f Wi s d o m, ' " JJ S 3 0 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 1 5 4 - 7 8 .

4 6 .

Cf . B. R. Gaventa, "The Rhetoric of Death in the Wisdom of Solomon and the Letters of

Paul ," in K. G. Hoglund, ed. , The Listening Heart: Essays in Honor ofR. E. Murphy (Sheffield:

A l m o n d , 1 9 8 7 ) 1 2 7 ^ 5 .




189

l aws .

It m ay be un der stoo d, then , as imm ortali ty of the soul. In this cas e, the dis

ruption of the original divine plan is simply the intrusion of sin, which has di

sas t rous consequences for the wicked but does not ul t imately a l ter the dest iny

of the righteo us. I t i s a lso possible , howe ver , that even physical exis tence wa s

or iginal ly supposed to be incorrupt ible , s ince aphtharsia wa s a m ode of m ate

r ia l exis tence in Epicurea n phi losop hy. In e ither case , the auth or ' s und ers tand

ing of life an d death is very different from that of Be n Sira. Con seq uen tly, i t is

som ewh at mis lead ing to speak of "an or ig ina l , ha rmo nious m or ta l s t a te . "

4 7

For

Wis. Sol . , the or iginal s ta te was one of harmonious immortality, and the dura

t ion of bod i ly exis tence w as s imp ly not a m at ter of great impo rtance.

T h e O r i g i n o f D e a t h

Wisdom of fe r s two explana t ions of how dea th en te red the wor ld . Accord

ing to Wis . 1:16, "Impious people invi ted him with hands and words; thinking

him a f r iend, they pined for him and made a covenant wi th him, because they

are worthy to be of his lot ." Th e anteced ent of "him " is found in 1:14: "T he re

i s no k ingdom of Hades on ear th ." Hades , the Greek counte rpar t o f Sheol ,

s tands metonymical ly for Death. The not ion of a kingdom of Death der ives

from ancient Near Eastern mythology. In the Canaani te myths f rom Ugari t ,

Dea t h (Mot) is the god of the netherworld who at one t ime swal lows up Baal ,

the god of fert i l i ty and l ife. There are occasional references to M ot as a super

natural po w er in the Bible . In Isa . 28:15 the rulers of Jerus alem say, "W e h av e

made a covenant wi th Dea th , and wi th Sheol we have an agreement , " whence

the a l lus ion in Wis . 1:16. Death is the eschatological adversary of God in Isa .

25:7 and Rev. 20:14. In this t radi t ion, which inf luenced apocalypt ic l i tera ture

much more than wisdom, Death was or iginal ly a dei ty in his own r ight , and in

the m ono theis t ic conte xt of Jud aism h e s t il l represen ts a m ythical pow er w ho se

rela t ionship to God's creat ion is not c lar i f ied. The "kingdom of Hades" a lso

brings to mind the figure of Belial , the Satanic f igure of the Dead Sea Scrolls ,

w hose nam e should probably be unders tood as an a l lus ion to the n e th erw or ld .

4 8

Th e Scrol ls refer both to "the lot of B el ia l" (1QM 1:5; 1QS 2:5) and "the king

dom/ domi n i on o f Be l i a l " ( 1QM 14 : 9 ; 1QS 1:23-24; 2 :19) . The War Scro l l

s ta tes expl ic i t ly , ho w eve r , that G od "m ad e Bel ia l to corru pt" (1Q M 13:11) . Bu t

wh i l e W i s . 1:14-16 envisages D ea th or Hades as a pr imo rdia l , my th ica l po we r ,

the responsibi l i ty for int roducing him into the world is placed on impious

humani ty. This was a lso the posi t ion of Ben Sira , who in turn drew on the

4 7 .

Pace Kolarcik, The Ambiguity of

Death,

169.

4 8 .

bely ya'al [ the place from w hich] one do es not go up. See C oll ins , Apoca lypticism in the

Dead Sea Scrolls, 101 . Th e parallels betw een D eath in W is. Sol. and Be lial in the Scro lls are also

noted by Y. Amir, "The Figure of Death in the 'Book of Wisdom,'"

JJ S

3 0 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 1 5 4 - 7 8 .



190


Deuteronomic t radi t ion: "Before each person are l i fe and death, and whichever

one chooses wi l l be given" (Sir . 15:17) .

Wisdom of Solomon 2 :24 , however , in t roduces a new idea : "By the envy

of the devi l death entered the world, and they who are of his lot exper ience

i t . "

4 9

T he Greek w ord for devi l, diabolos, is the t ransla t ion equiva lent of sa tan,

adversary. In R ev . 12 :9, the dev il or Sata n is identif ied w ith "th e anc ient ser

pen t , " p resum ably the snake of Ge nes i s 3 . This passage in W isdo m m ay be the

earl iest at testat ion of that identif ication. The notion that the devil was moti

vated by envy is l ikewise not at tested before the f irst century C . E . at the earl i

es t , w hen i t app ears in The Life of Adam and E ve 12-17 (cf. 2 E noch3l).

50

The

agency of a devi l or Satan plays no fur ther role in Wis . Sol . , but this passage

show s that a sapient ia l auth or cou ld appeal to superna tural pow ers on o ccasion .

(Cf . Si r . 15:14, w her e the second ary H ebr ew rec ension inser ts a reference to a

demonic "snatcher" in explaining the re la t ion between creat ion and the or igin

of sin.)

The pr imary point that Wis . Sol . makes about the or igin of death is that i t

was no t from Go d. The sam e presumab ly holds t rue of s in . Th e au thor ex pend s

l i t t le effor t in c lar i fying whence these evi ls arose . The apparent metaphysical

dua l i sm of Wis . 2 :24 seems incons i s ten t wi th the dominance of God and wis

dom in the res t of the book. In a world pervaded by the spi r i t of wisdom, evi l

is anomalous, and i t engages the at tention of the author only as a foil for the

r ighteousness that he advocates .

The Ethics of Immortal i ty

Unl ike Ben Si ra and Pseudo-Phocyl ides , Pseudo-Solomon provides no in

structions on social relat ions. His at t i tude to the concerns of everyday l ife is

ap t ly summed up in the s ta tement tha t "a per i shable body weighs down the

soul , and this tent of c lay enc um bers a mind ful l of ca res " (Wis . 9:15) . Mo st of

what the book has to say about sexual relat ions and family l ife is found in

3:11-4:20. Much of i t has to do wi th the fut i l i ty of ear thly success and re la

t ionsh ips i f one l acks wisdom and r igh teousness . For those who desp i se wis

do m , "thei r deeds are fut ile , the wive s are frant ic , thei r chi ldren w orthless , thei r

l ineage under a curse" (3:11-12) . The t radi t ional values a t tached to chi ldren

and weal th are not important in this perspect ive . Barrenness was t radi t ional ly

a disgrace, and in

1 Enoch

98:5 i t i s even said to be punishment for s in . Wis

dom insis ts that no disgrace should a t tach to i t , so long as the woman "has not

gone to bed in s in" (3:13) . The eunuch, a l ready rehabi l i ta ted in Isa . 56:3-5, i s

4 9 . In light of this passage we cannot agree with Amir, "The Figure of Death," 158, that "in the

Book of Wisdom

'Death '

(Thanatos)

and Satan

(Diabolos)

must design ate the sam e figure."

50 .

J .A.F. Gregg,

The Wisdom of Solomon

(Cambridge: Cam bridge Un iv. Press , 1909) argued

that the reference here w as to the sin o f C ain rather than to the Garden of E den.




191

also aff i rmed here i f he avoids t ransgress ion. The chi ldren of adul terers are

doomed, and even i f they do not die young they never a t ta in honor . In a l l this ,

nothing is sa id of the chi ldren of fa i thful marr ied couples . The s ta tement in

W is . 4: 1 , "I t i s bet ter to be chi ldless , provide d on e is vi r tu ou s," should p rob a

bly not be taken absolutely, but in contrast to the fert i l i ty of adulterers.

N on ethe less , no posi t ive value is a t tached to chi ldren an d famil ies , and the au

thor ce r ta in ly does no t ackno wled ge a com m and m ent to increase and m ul t ip ly .

I t is not diff icult to see how such a perspective on l ife could encourage asceti

c i sm o r even ce l i bacy .

5 1

Again, the author is explici t that "i t is not length of

l ife that m ak es for an ho nora ble old age , nor i s i t m easu red by nu m be r of yea rs"

(4:8) .

Ra ther , he eu logizes the one wh o, like Eno ch , "wh i le ye t l iv ing am ong

sinful m en w as t ransla ted. He wa s snatched a w ay les t evi l a l ter his in te l l igence

or wi le deceiv e his m ind " (4:11 ) . A n ear ly death is not only preferable to a long

l ife of wick ed nes s; it i s inherent ly adv antag eou s, as i t lessens the dan ger of co r

rupt ion. There is some s imilar i ty here to the perspect ive of apocalypt ic texts

such as Danie l 11-12 , which embrace mar tyrdom in t ime of persecut ion be

cause of the prom ise of resu r rec t ion .

5 2

B ut W isd om 's de tachm ent from th is l if e

is more radical . I f the per ishable body weighs down the soul , the a t t ract ion of

a shor tene d l ife i s not cont inge nt on persecu t ion. In this respect , W isd om is pr i

m ari ly informe d b y the Platon ic t radi t ion, and is in acco rdan ce wi th the thou ght

of Phi lo and even of Middle S to ic i sm. Wins ton ap t ly c i t es Seneca ' s De Con-

solatione ad M arciam 2 2 - 2 3 : "Those who a re t rea ted mos t k indly by Nature

are those wh om she rem ove s early to a p lace of s a fe ty . . . . Th e br igh te r a fire

glo w s, the m ore quick ly i t d ies So wi th m en — the br ighter thei r spi r i ts , the

br ie fe r the i r day ."

5 3

The goal of immortal i ty , then, leads to a t ransformat ion of t radi t ional val

ues in Wis . Sol . The book also has a place, however , for more convent ional

e th ica l t eachings . These bas ica l ly conform to the "common e th ic" of Hel

lenis t ic Judaism, which focused on idolat ry and sex-rela ted offenses , espe

cia l ly homosexual i ty and the exposure of infants . The basic s in is idolat ry,

which i s denounced repea ted ly th roughout the book.

5 4

The consequences tha t

resul t f rom i t are descr ibe d in 14 :22 -2 8: "A l l i s confu sion— blood y m urde r ,

decei t ful theft , corrupt ion , t reachery, tumu l t , per jury, agi ta t ion of dec ent m en,

ingrat i tude, soul def i lement , interchange of sex roles , i r regular marr iages ,

adul te ry and debau chery ." Ad ul te ry incurs f requent condem nat ion throughou t

5 1 . See D. Georgi , "Der vorpaulinische Hymnus Phil 2 , 6-11," in E. Dinkier , ed. , Zeit und

Geschichte: Dankesgabe am R. Bultmann (Tubingen: Mohr, 1964) 27 3.

5 2 . J . J . Col l ins , "Apocalyptic Eschatology as the Transcendence of Death," CBQ 36 (1974)

2 1 - 4 3 .

5 3 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 1 4 1 - 4 2 .

5 4 . See especial ly M. Gilbert , La Critique des Dieux dans le livre de la Sagesse ( An Bi b 5 3 ;

Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1973).



192


the book . Infant ic ide is s ingled out in the accou nt of the oppre ss ion of the H e

brew s in Eg ypt (18 :5) . " In te rchan ge of sex ro les " presum ably involves h om o

sexual i ty , but there is less po lem ic against hom osex ual i ty h ere than is usua l in

wri t ings of the Hel lenis t ic Diaspora . There is a reference to "secret myster ies

or f renzied revels connected wi th s t range laws" (14:23) , which were a lso con

dem ned by c la s s ica l au t h o r s .

5 5

O therw ise the e thical con cern s of the author can

be inferred f rom the speech of the wicke d in cha p. 2 , w hen they res olve to tyr

annize the poor and the feeble and le t might be thei r norm of r ighteousness .

Such ac t ion would be condemned in any cu l ture .

Th e W isd om of Solom on refers on several occasions to law or law s. In 2:12

the wicked complain that the r ighteous man accuses them of s ins against the

law. In 6:4 the "k ing s" to who m the book is addressed are reproac hed beca use,

a l though they were s tewards of God's kingdom, they did not keep the law. In

the sam e chapter , in the course of the famous

sorites

on W i sdom i n 6 : 17 - 20 , we

are told that love of instruction entails the keeping of her laws, and keeping of

laws is a guarantee of incorruptibil i ty. Finally, 18:4 refers to "the imperishable

light of the Law" that is given to the world. The last reference is clearly to the

Law of Moses . The references to the laws of Wisdom in 6:17-20, and the law

with wh ich the impiou s are reproac hed in chapter 2 , m ay also be ident if ied wi th

this La w , s ince the ident if icat ion of W isd om with the To rah w as a l ready es tab

l ished by Ben Sira. At the same t ime, since the kings of the earth are account

able for keeping the law, it m ust hav e a universal aspect . As is wel l kno w n, Phi lo

held that "the w orld is in harm ony with the La w an d the La w with the wo rld and

that the ma n w ho o bserves the L aw is const i tuted thereby a loyal c it izen of the

world, regulat ing his doings by the purpose and wi l l of Nature , in accordance

with which the ent i re world i t se l f a lso is adminis tered."

5 6

It is likely that Wis.

Sol . a lso saw the La w of M ose s as the em bod ime nt of a universal law .

W e have seen , how ever , in the preceding chapte r tha t the Law of M oses was

of ten interpreted in a highly select ive way in Hel lenis t ic Judaism. There is no

reference in W is . Sol . to such specifically Jew ish observ ance s as c i rcum cis ion,

sabbath ob serv anc e, or die tary law s. Th is is t rue even w hen th e text is a l luding

to a b ib l i ca l passage where such observances were ment ioned . Wisdom of

Solomon 3:14 provides a nice i l lus t ra t ion: "And the eunuch who has not acted

unlawful ly or medi ta ted wickedness against the Lord wi l l receive the exquis

i te gift of grace in return for his steadfas tness and a po rt ion in the tem ple of the

Lord to del ight his hear t the more." This i s c lear ly an a l lus ion to Isa . 56:4-5:

"For thus says the Lord : To the eunuchs who keep my sabba ths , who choose

5 5 . E.g . , Livy , History 3 9 . 8 - 1 8 .

56 .

De Opificio Mundi 3. On the relation betw een the Torah and natural law in Philo , see H .

Koester , "Nomos Physeos: The Concept of Natural Law in Greek Thought," in J . Neusner, ed. ,

Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of E. R. Goodenough (Leiden: Bri l l , 1970) 53 3- 36 .

K oeste r's thesis that it w as Ph ilo w ho first dev elop ed the idea of natural law can not be m aintained.

See R. A. Horsley, "The Law of Nature in Philo and Cicero," H TR 7 1 ( 1 9 7 8 ) 3 5 - 5 9 .




193

the things that please me and hold fas t my covenant , I wi l l give, in my house

and wi th in m y wa l l s , a m onu m ent and a nam e be t te r than sons and daug hte rs ;

I wil l give them an everlast ing name that shall not be cut off ." The reference

to sabbath observance in Isaiah is replaced by a more general reference to not

act ing unlawful ly in W is . Sol . T he re la t ion of the law of M os es to the laws of

Wisdom is an ins tance of the problem of par t icular ism and universal ism, to

wh ich we sha l l r e turn wh en we d i scuss chapte rs 10 -19 .

The Ident i ty of the Unrighteous

The ethical teaching of Wis . Sol . i s sharpened by ant i thesis wi th the views

of the unr ighteous, in a speech placed on thei r l ips in chap 2. Act ion fol lows

from reasoning. The problem with the unr ighteous is that they do not reason

correct ly . The crucial argument turns on the unders tanding of death. In the

view of the wicked , "we were born by mere chance

[autoschedids],

and here

after we shall be as though we had never been, for the breath in our nostri ls is

smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beat ing of our hear ts ; when i t i s

ext ing uishe d, the bod y w i l l turn to ashe s , and the spi r it wi l l dissolve l ike e m pty

a i r " (Wis . 2 :2-3 ) . From th i s p rem ise , they infer how they should behave : "Le t

us enjoy the good things that exist , and make use of the creation to the full as

in you th Le t us crow n ourselv es wi th roseb uds before they wi ther . Let no ne

of us fa i l to share in our r e v e lr y . . . be cau se this i s our por t ion, and this our lot"

(2:6-9) . Not only this , but they also decide to oppress the r ighteous man, "be

cause he is inconvenient to us and opposes our act ions; he reproaches us for

s ins against the law , and accuses u s of sins against our t ra ining " (2:12) . So they

resolve to condemn the r ighteous to a shameful death to "tes t what wi l l hap

pen at the end of his l ife" and see whether God will in fact deliver him.

The init ial part of this argument can be paralleled from many sources in the

ancient world. Within the Bible , Isa iah denounced those who say, "Let us eat

and dr ink, for tomorrow we die" ( Isa . 22 :13 ; cf. 1 Co r. 15 :32). Bu t Sheol w as

nothing to look forward to in the biblical tradit ion, and moderate enjoyment of

l i fe was general ly approved. Qoheleth argued that the same fate comes to the

r ighteous and the wicked, and concluded that one should "go, eat your bread

with enjoym ent , an d dr ink you r wine wi th a m erry hear t" (Qoh. 9:7). Ev en B en

Sira counseled: "Do not deprive yourself of a happy day; let not your share of

desi red goo d pass you b y" (Sir . 14:14) . Th e speech of the wicked in Wis . Sol . ,

however , i s t inged wi th Greek phi losophy. The word autoschedios, "by

ch an ce," i s first a t tes ted here or in P h i l o ,

5 7

but the idea is typical of Epicurean

p h i l o s o p h y .

5 8

Lucret ius wri tes : "And the seeds of things themselves of thei r

57. Phi lo ,

De Somn.

2 .50 . See Winston ,

The Wisdom of Solomon,

116.

58 .

T he view that the wick ed in W is . Sol . are Epicureans was proposed by A. D upont-S om mer ,

"Les ' imp ies' du Livre de la Sage sse ne sont- i ls pas des Epicuriens?" RH R 111 (1935) 9 -109 . See

the critique of this position by Larcher, Etudes, 2 1 3 - 6 .



194


ow n accord, jos t l ing f rom t ime to t ime by cha nce, were dr iven together in m an y

w ay s, rash ly, idly, and in vain ; at last tho se united, whic h sud den ly cast tog ether,

m ight beco m e ever and anon the begin nings of great things , of ear th and sea and

sky, and the race of l iving creatures" (2:1-58) . The same idea is found in the

phi losophy of Atomism, expounded by Leuc ippus and Democr i tus . The idea

that reason is a spark is reminiscent ra ther of Stoic ism. Seneca, for example,

con side rs the theo ry "th at ma n is part of the divin e spiri t, that som e part , spark s,

as i t were, of the stars fel l down to earth and l ingered here in a place that is not

t he i r own . "

5 9

The reference to crowning wi th rosebuds is a more general a l lu

s ion to Greek and Roman popula r cu l ture . Compare Horace , Odes 2 .3 .13 - 16 :

"Hither bid s laves br ing wines and perfumes and the too br ief blossoms of the

lovely rose , wh i le For tune a nd you th a l low, and the dark threads of the S is ters

Th ree ," or Luc ret ius 3 .9 12 -1 5: "T his , too, m en of ten do , w hen they are lying at

the board, and hold thei r cups in thei r hands, and shade thei r brows wi th gar

lands:

they say from the heart , 'Brief is this enjoyment for us puny men: soon

it wil l be past , nor ever thereafter wil l i t be ours to call i t back. '" Epicurus ar

gue d that plea sure w as the go al of l ife, bu t he adv oca ted a frugal an d sim ple l ife,

and the pleasu re of sober reason ing. His view s, how ever , w ere re laxed by som e

of his la ter fol lowers , and Epicureanism was easi ly dis tor ted by r ival polemi

c i s t s .

6 0

Nonetheless , there is no reason to suppose that the unr ighteous of Wis .

Sol . we re specifically Ep icurean. T he phi losoph y of "Eat , dr ink, and be m erry "

is too wide spread to be ident if ied wi th a s ingle phi losophical sc ho ol .

6 1

The major di f f icul ty wi th ident i fying the unr ighteous wi th a phi losophical

schoo l , ho w eve r , l ies in the turn to violence in W is . 2:10. T he w icke d not only

enjoy themselves; they must a lso oppress the poor and the weak, and specif i

cal ly the r ighteous. Since they complain that the r ighteous man rebukes them

for s ins against the law (2:12 ) it i s reaso nab le to suppo se that they a re Jew ish,

p r e sumab l y J ewi sh apos t a t e s .

6 2

There was a wel l -known precedent for inner -

Jewish persecut ion on the par t of Hel lenizing apostates in the Maccabean pe

r iod, and we read of another a t tempt to suppress Jewish observance in Ant ioch

in 67 C . E . on the par t o f one Ant iochus , whose fa ther was a Jewish magis

t r a t e .

6 3

Th ere is no eviden ce for such aggress iv e act ion by apostates in Alexa n

dr ia , unless we count the profess ional role of Tiber ius Jul ius Alexander in

5 9 .

S e n e c a ,

On Leisure

5.5. See further W insto n,


117.

6 0 .

Larcher,

Etudes,

215 .

61 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 118 , aptly cites a graffito from the tomb of a certain Ja

son from the time of A lexander Jannaeus in Jerusalem: "Enjoy yourselve s , you w ho remain l iv ing

. . . eat and drink al ike ."

6 2 . P. Heinisch,

Das Buch der Weisheit

(Miinster: Aschend orff, 1 912 ) 4 1 .

Pace

Barclay,

Jews

in the Mediterranean World, 186, there is no goo d reason to see a reflection of conflict b etw een

Jews and non-Jews here.

6 3 . Josephus, / .

W .

7 . 4 6 - 5 3 . S e e Ba r c la y ,

Jews in the Mediterranean World,

256 .




195

put t ing down d i s turbances in 66 C . E .

6 4

I t i s unl ikely, however , that the author

of W is . Sol . i s referr ing to actual occ urren ces here . Ra ther he is dev elopin g an

ideal ized argument about the consequences of bel ief in , or denial of , the im

mor ta l i ty of the soul .

6 5

An i l luminat ing paral le l to Wis . Sol . on this point can be found in the sec

ond book of P la to ' s Republic. H ere G lauco n takes up the argu m ent that injus

t ice is m ore prof i table than jus t ice . He beg ins by recal l ing the s tory of G yg es 's

r ing, which a l lowed him to become invis ible when he so desi red. Given such a

r ing, argues Glau con , "no m an can be imag ined to be of such an i ron nature that

he wo uld s tand fast in jus t ic e ." (This argum ent i s ant ic ipated in W is . 1:6 -11 ,

which insists that no one can escape the vigilance of the spiri t of the Lord.)

G lauco n proce eds to argue that in order to cho ose betwe en the jus t and the un

just w e mu st im agine the m in thei r pure s ta tes . Th e unjust mu st be dee m ed jus t

thou gh h e is not , and the jus t m ust be the best of m en and thoug ht to be the w orst .

Fur ther , "T he jus t m an wh o i s thought un just wi ll be scourged , racked , b o u n d -

will have his eyes burnt out; and at last , after suffering every kind of evil , he

wi l l be imp aled" (Republic, 36 1). W e have a similar separation of ideal type s in

W is. So l. In the Jew ish text , the picture is also colored by biblica l al lusions. T he

suffering righ teou s figure recalls the suffering servan t of Isaiah

53 .

The purpose

of the chapter, however, is simply to establish which way of l ife is truly

prof

i table . This i ssue cannot be decided merely on appearances . One must a lso

kn ow "the mys ter ies of G od ," which guaran tee the imm ortal i ty of the r ighteo us.

The chapter, then, is not a coded reflection of social history in Alexandria or

elsew here , but a quasi -phi losop hical arg um ent abou t the best way to l ive .

The argument i s quasi -phi losophical because i t appeals to "the myster ies of

God" and assumes ra ther than argues that the Jewish law is representat ive of

r ighteousness . I t i s s imul taneously an a t tempt to formulate a coherent and ra

t ional view of the world and an apologia for a cer ta in unders tanding of Ju

daism. The unders tanding of Judaism in quest ion, however , i s s t r ikingly novel

i f i t i s view ed in l ight of the Heb rew Bib le and of older w isd om bo ok s such as

that of Ben Sira . Bel ief in reward or punishment af ter death was a la te arr ival

in Jewish t radi t ion, and was vigorously repudiated by Qoheleth and Ben Sira .

The idea of immortal i ty , as formulated here , was scarcely possible before the

Hel lenis t ic per iod. Yet Wis . Sol . makes the immortal i ty of the r ighteous the

linchpin of his argument for f ideli ty to the law. While the way of l ife that is re

pudiated is character is t ical ly Greco-Roman, that which is endorsed is no less

a product of the Hel lenis t ic age, and indebted to Greek phi losophy.

6 4 . M . Gilbert, "II giusto sofferen te di Sap 2:1 2- 20 ," in G. de Gennaro, ed., L'antico testamento

interpretato dal nuovo : il messia (Na ples , 1985 ) 19 3- 21 8, concludes that i f the peop le in quest ion

are Jewish renegades, they cannot be further identified.

6 5 . Kolarcik, The Ambiguity of Death, 123.



Chapter 11 .

W i s d o m a n d t he C o s m o s

Acc ording to W is . 6:17- 20 i t i s the desi re for w isdom that leads to imm ortal ity

and ul timately to a "kin gd om ." In W is . Sol . , how ever , w isdom is not only an in

tel lectual virtue. I t is a cosm ic principle that "h olds al l things to geth er" an d is the

conn ecting l ink betw een G od an d the univ erse. As such , i t clearly stands in a tra

dit ion with Proverbs 8 and Sirach 24, but the portrayal of Wisdom here is far

more developed and makes extensive use of Greek phi losophical terminology.

W hile reference is m ade to the "la w s" of W isdo m (6:18) , W is . Sol . does not en

dorse the claim of Ben Sira that Wisdom is identical with the Law of Moses.

W i s d o m , P n e u m a , a n d L o g o s

Th e conc ept of W isd om is int rodu ced in W is . Sol . 1 in the context of an ex

hor ta t ion to seek the Lord. Perverse thoughts separate f rom God, and when his

po w er is tes ted it exp ose s the fool ish. The reason , we are told, is that " W isd om

wil l not enter a f raudulent m ind, nor dw el l in a bod y that i s m ortga ged to s in "

(1 :4). Th e l anguage of "dw el l ing " here imm edia te ly br ings to mind S i rach 2 4 ,

wh ere Wis do m i s sa id to be es tab li shed on M oun t Zion and m ake i t s dwel l ing

in Israel . Wisdom of Solomon speaks of a more personal indwel l ing in the in

dividual . Wisdom, we are fur ther told, i s a holy spi r i t (pneuma 1:5), benevo

lent

(philanthropori),

and eviden t ly ident ical wi th "the spi r it of the L or d" (1:7) .

The equat ion of wisdom and spir i t was not made in the Hebrew wisdom l i ter

a ture , a l though we encounter the "spir i t of wisdom" in Isa . 11:2 (cf . 1 Enoch

49:3) .

The word "sp i r i t "

(pneuma),

how ever , had i ts ow n resona nce in a Greek

context , especial ly in the context of Stoic phi losophy.

T h e w o r d pneuma bas ica lly mean s "win d" or "brea th ." Ar i s to t le dev e loped

the idea of an inborn

pneuma,

w hich was the source of grow th and gen erat ion

but was dis t inct f rom the soul . Zeno, the founder of Stoic ism, as a thorough

going mater ia l is t ident i f ied the two. The

pneuma

was spread throughout the

body, bu t i t a l so had a "command cente r" (hegemonikon). I t w as prob ably

Ch rys ippus w ho deve loped the theory of a cosm ic pneuma.

1

T h e pneuma, then,

1. SV F 2 .1091. See M. Lapidge, "Stoic Cosmology," in J . M. Rist , ed. , The Stoics (Berkeley:

Univ. of California Press, 1978) 170.



Wisdom and the Cosmos

197

w as the soul of the universe (w hich w as conceiv ed as a l iving organism ). I t was

a fine, f iery substance which permeated and vivified al l reali ty, "a breath per

vad i ng t he who l e w or l d . "

2

Sometimes this intel l igent and fiery spiri t was iden

t i f ied as God.

3

I t i s the physical aspect of the Logos, the ra t ional , act ive pr in

c ip le in the un ive rse .

4

Reason is a port ion of this cosmic spiri t , inserted into the

h u m a n b o d y .

5

The influence of this Stoic pneuma on Wis . Sol . i s evident in

Wis. 1:7, where "the spiri t of the Lord" is described as "to synechon ta panta,"

that which holds a l l things together . The Stoics contras ted pneumat ic being,

which holds th ings toge ther (to synechon) wi th mater ia l being, which is held

toge ther (to synechomenon),

6

and cla im ed that one thing, the divine pneuma,

held the whole cosmos toge ther .

7

In Wis. Sol. , l ikewise, the spiri t of the Lord

is "that which holds a l l things together"

(to synechon ta panta,

1:7).

Th e Sto ic over tones of Wisdo m /Pne um a are c lea rly in ev idence in the cen

t ra l sec t ion of the book, espec ia l ly in Wis . 6 :22-8 :1 .

8

Here the au thor under

takes to expound "what Wisdom i s and how she came in to be ing ." Solomon,

we are told, was enabled to unders tand this because of his prayer (1 Kings

3:6 -15 ) . The unders tanding i s g ran ted by Go d (7 :15) bu t t aught by "W isdo m ,

the ar ti ficer of a l l" (7:22a) . Th is designat ion of W isd om is an a l lus ion to Prov .

8 :30 , w here the LX X re ads , " I wa s wi th h im as a jo in er , "

9

but i t also brings to

mind the Stoic definit ion of nature as "an art ist ically working fire

[pyr tech-

nikon] go ing on i t s way to c rea te . "

1 0

There is no dis t inct ion between the work

of Wisdom and the work of God, s ince God i s " the gu ide of Wisdom" (7 :15) .

Th e wisdom tha t Pseu do-S olom on i s g ran ted inc ludes some e lements tha t were

associated wi th Solomon in the book of Kings ("the species of plants , and the

vir tues of roots") . But the conf igurat ion of the whole has over tones of Hel

lenis t ic phi losophy. I t enta i ls "unerr ing knowledge of exis tent being, to know

the s t ructure of the universe and the operat ion of the e lements ; the beginning,

2 . SV F 2 .1027; Long and Sed ley , The Hellenistic Philosophe rs, 1.275.

3.

SVF 2 . 442; 1009; 1027. See H. Hubner, "Die Sapientia Salomonis und die antike Philoso

phic," in H. Hubner, ed., Die Weisheit Salom os im Horizont Biblischer Theolog ie (Neukirchen-

Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1993) 60.

4 .

See M. Pohlenz , Die Stoa (2d ed.; Gott ingen: Van denhoeck & Ruprecht, 1959) 1 .6 4-7 5;

F. H. Sandbach, The Stoics (Ne w York: Norton , 1975) 72 -7 3 .

5 . H. Kleinknecht , "Pneuma, pneumatikos etc." TDNT6 ( 1 9 6 8 ) 3 5 4 - 5 5 .

6 . SV F 2 . 4 3 9 . SVF 2 .448; Dioge nes Laertius 2 .439 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 104.

7 . SV F 2 .448; Diog enes L aert ius 2 .439 . (W inston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 104.) Th e idea of

something holding al l things together is found already in Xenophon, Memorabilia 4 . 3 . 1 3 ; Cy-

ropaedia 8.7 .22 . There are also parallels in Ph ilo, De Conf 136; De Somn. 1 .63 -64 .

8 . Hubner, "Die Sapientia Salom onis ," 5 5 - 8 1 ; H. En gel , "W as Weishe it is t ," 94; C. Larcher, Le

Livre de la Sagesse ou la Sagesse de Salomo n (Paris: Gabalda, 1984) 47 9- 51 8.

9. Greek harmozousa, rendering the problem atic M T reading amdn.

10. Diogenes Laert ius 7 .156. Compare Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.58 : "The nature of the

wor ld

itself.. .

is styled by Zeno not merely 'craftsmanlike' but actually 'a craftsman' [artifex]"

See Winston ,


176.



198


and end , and middle of t imes" (7 :17-18) . The l anguage echoes Chrys ippus ,

who taught that "the s t ructure of the whole is const i tuted f rom the four e le

m e n t s . "

1 1

The unders tanding to which Pseudo-Solomon asp i res has a sys tem

at ic character that was lacking in the wisdom speculat ion of Ben Sira .

The echoes of Stoic ism cont inue in the l i s t of the a t t r ibutes of Wisdom in

7 : 2 2 b - 2 4 .

1 2

T he pa ssag e begin s: "Fo r in her i s a spir i t in te l l igent

[noeron]

and

holy ." Whi le the t ex t does no t say tha t Wisdom is such a spiri t , we have al

ready seen that a dis t inct ion between Wisdom and spir i t cannot be maintained.

In Stoic phi losophy, God is of ten cal led a

pneuma noeron,

an intel l igent

sp i r i t .

1 3

M ost s t r iking in this pas sag e, ho w eve r , are the a t tr ibutes that imp ar t to

wisdom a f ine physical qual i ty , l ike the Stoic pneuma: subt le (lepton), agile

(eukineton),

lucid

(tranon)—

more m obi le than any m ot ion . Th e Sto ic pne um a

"co nsis ted of fire and ai r and perva ded al l bod ies . . . m ov ed of itself, unto i t

self."

14

W isdo m "p ervade s and permeates a l l th ings by reason of her pure ness "

(7:24) .

For the Stoics , the

pneuma

is that w hich pervad es a l l thing s , by wh ich

a ll th ings a re he ld tog e th er .

1 5

W e have a l ready seen that the "spir i t of the L ord "

is portrayed in similar terms in Wis. 1:7. Yet another similar formulation is

found in Wis . 8:1: "She s t re tches might i ly f rom pole to pole and orders a l l

th ings w el l . " Th e way in wh ich W isdo m t rans forms hum an be ings is a l so rem

iniscent of the Stoic Logos: "generat ion by generat ion she enters into holy

souls and renders them fr iends of God and prophets" (7:27) . Wisdom is able

to enter into people because of i ts f ine, subtle quali ty. People are transformed

to the degree that the spiri t of God is in them.

The Stoic Logos/Pneuma is an immanent dei ty , ident ical e i ther wi th the

world i tself or with the active force within i t .

1 6

The Wisdom of Solomon, l ike

Be n Sira and the ent i re Jew ish t radi t ion, ins is ted on a t ransce nden t creator G od,

w ho "c reated the w orld out of form less m at ter" (11 :17) . Th is is not yet the idea

of creat ion out of nothing, an idea that was only dubiously a t tes ted in ancient

Judaism. (Second Maccabees 7:28, in the course of an argument on resurrection,

says that G od m ade h eave n and ea rth and all that is in them "ou t of things that did

not exist" ex ouk onton).

11

Bu t the idea of creation requires a clear dist inction be -

11 . SV F 2 .555. Both Wis . Sol . and Chrysippus use the Greek words systasis an d stoicheia.

12 .

See E. des Places , "Epithetes et attributs de la 'Sag esse' (Sg 7 ,2 2 -2 3 et SV F 1 557 A rnim),"

Bib 5 7 ( 1 9 7 6 ) 4 1 4 - 1 9 .

13 .

SV F

2 .31 0 ,1 00 9 . Enge l , "Was W eishe i t i s t," 74 . Compare Pos idonius , f rags . 10 0-1 01 (ed .

Kidd): "an intelligent spirit pervading all being." See Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon, 180.

14 . SVF 2 .442 . S ee Hiibner, "Die Sapientia Salo mo nis ," 61 . For further paral le ls see W inston,

The Wisdom of Solomon, 181.

15 . SV F 2 .416.

16 .

On the ambiguity of Stoicism in this respect, see Sandbach, The Stoics, 73 . Chrysippus

cal led the whole world "God" (Cicero, De Natura Deorum 1.39).

17 .

Cf. also Job 26:7 , where G od "hangs the earth upon noth ing," but Job does n ot envisa ge cre

ation out of nothing.




199

tween God and the world, which is c loser to Platonism than to Stoic ism. The

formulat ion of Wis . Sol . i s c lose to that of Phi lo , who interpreted Genesis in

the l ight of Plato ' s Timaeus. I t i s uncer ta in whether Phi lo thought that pr imor

d ia l mat te r was i t se l f c rea ted .

1 8

The Wisdom of Solomon i s l ikewise unc lear

on this subject .

Wisdom and the Creator

The re la t ion of Wisdom to the creator God is addressed expl ic i t ly in Wis .

7 : 2 5 - 2 6 :

She is an exhalation from the power of God,

a pure effluence from the glory of the Almighty;

therefore nothing tainted insinuates itself into her.

She is an effulgence of everlasting light,

an unblemished mirror of the active power of God

and an ima ge of his good ness .

Th e languag e of this passage vaci l la tes betw een d ynam ic (eff luence, aporroia)

and pass ive (mirror) im ages . Th e terminology is reminiscent of the Platonic t ra

di t ion ra ther than Stoicism, as i t impl ies a G od be yond this w or ld .

1 9

It is not ad

equately explained b y reference to the Glory of Go d in the H ebrew Bible , w hich

is also said to stream forth l ike a l i g h t .

2 0

T he biblical "G lory," or Kabod, is nev er

given a role in ordering the universe. Rather, this passage stands in the tradit ion

of Sir . 24 :3, according to wh ich W isdo m " cam e for th f rom the m outh of the M ost

H igh, and covered the ear th l ike a m is t ." (Co m pare Wis . 9:1 -2 , where W ord [lo-

go$] and W isdo m are paral le l to each other as G od 's m eans of creat ion.) The lan

guag e of em anat ion or effulgence, how ever , suggests an even closer con nect ion

between Wisdom and the Dei ty than was envisaged by Sirach.

Th e languag e of em anat ion la ter acquires a technical sense in N eo-Platonism ,

where a l l modes of be ing a re he ld to emanate f rom the One Supreme Being .

I t does not yet have this sense in Wis . Sol . , but i t impl ies more than a s imple

aff i rmat ion of divine or igin. Wisdom is an independent ent i ty , which der ives

from God and ref lects the divine glory, but then becomes the means of God's

presence in creat ion. Pla to used the analogy of l ight and the sun to explain

the re la t ionship between the good as present in the world and the Idea of

18. See H. A. Wolfson,

Philo

(Cambridge, M ass.: Harvard Un iv. Press, 1948) 1.2 95- 324 ;

D .

Winston,

Logos and Mystical Theology in Philo of Alexandria

(Cincinnati: Hebrew Union Co l

l ege Press , 1985 ) 47 ^ 9 .

19. For the parallels , see Winston,


18 4-8 6; Larcher,

Le Livre d e la

Sagesse,

4 9 6 - 5 0 5 .

20 .

Hubner, "Die Sapientia Salomonis,"

6 6 - 7 1 ;

Larcher,

Etudes sur le Livre de la Sagesse,

3 8 7 - 8 8 .




th e G o o d .

2 1

The t e rm apaugasma, effulgence, i s a lso used by Ph i lo to express

the re la t ionsh ip be tw een the hum an m ind and d iv ine Logo s : "E very m an, in re

spect of his mind, i s a l l ied to the divine Logos, having come into being as a

copy or f ragment or

apaugasma

of tha t b lessed n a t u re ,"

2 2

and he relates this

cla im to the s ta tement in Genesis that God breathed into Adam the breath of

l i f e .

2 3

In the cosmic analogy, Wisdom is the mind or spi r i t of the universe . In

effec t, W isdo m e m bodies the S to ic conce pt of the Pn eum a or Lo gos , bu t sub

ordinates i t to a transcendent God, who is affirmed as i ts source.

T h e P h i l o s o p h i c a l C o n t e x t

The quest ion ar ises , then, whether the author had real ly unders tood and as

s imila ted his phi losophical sources , or whether he was a t tempt ing to combine

contradictory systems by superf ic ia l rhetor ic . Chrysostom Larcher , one of the

mos t l ea rned modern commenta tors on Wisdom, emphas ized the d ivers i ty of

phi losophical doctr ines that can be seen to be ref lected in the book. Larcher

con clude d that the author had read a l it t le of everyth ing bu t had fa i led to gra sp

the tota l i ty of any phi losophical system, or to appreciate the di f ferences be

t ween t he va r i ous s choo l s .

2 4

In this jud gm en t , Larche r fol lowed in the foot

s teps of Paul Heinisch, who character ized the phi losophical knowledge of the

author as "very superf ic ia l ," and saw no evidence that he had ever s tudied a

major phi losopher a t f i rs t hand.

2 5

More recent ly , however , David Wins ton has

pointed out that the background of the book should not be sought in c lass ical

Platonism or Stoic ism, but in "the phi losophical sphere of Middle Platonism,

whose boundar ies s t re tch f rom ca. 80

B . C . E .

to ca. 220

C . E . "

2 6

The t rademark

of this school wa s the com bina t ion of Stoic and Platonic ideas . In the wo rds of

John Di l lon , "A nt iochus [of Asc a lon , c. 13 0-6 8 B . C . E . ] . . . had a coherent view

of how phi losophy had developed, and that view may not have been qui te as

perv erse as i t now appe ars to us . He an d his successors fe lt jus t if ied in appro

pr ia t ing f rom the Per ipatet ics and the Stoics such doctr ines and formulat ions

as seemed to them to express bet ter what Plato had real ly meant to say. At

mos t , they were 'modern iz ing ' P la to . The ra t iona le of the i r p rocedure was

clear and consis tent , and i t does not seem to me to be prof i table to character-

21 .

Republic

508 . See H. Lyttkens,

The Analogy between God and the World

(Uppsala: Lund-

equist ,

1953) 26.

22 .

De Opif.

146.

2 3 . De Spec. Leg.

4 .123. On the

apaugasma

in Philo , see E. R. Goo den ough,

By Light, Light:

The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism

(Ne w Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ . Press , 1935) 11- 47 .

24 .

Larcher,

Etudes,

2 3 5 - 3 6 .

25 .

P. Heinisch,

Die Griechische Philosophie im Buche der Weisheit

(Munster: Aschendorff,

1 9 0 8 ) 1 5 5 .

26 .

Winston ,

The Wisdom of

Solomon, 33 .




201

i ze i t a s ec lec t i c . "

2 7

Other Middle Platonis ts , af ter Ant iochus of Ascalon, in

cluded Eudorus of Alexandria , who f lour ished about 30 B . C . E . and wrote a

comment a ry on P l a t o ' s

Timaeus,

and Ar i us Di dymus , who was Augus t us ' s

court philosopher in the late f irst century

B . C . E .

"Timaeus Locrus ," an in te r

preta t ion of Plato ' s Timaeus from the late first century

B . C . E . ,

was a l so repre

sentat ive of this phi loso phica l scho ol . Ty pical of M iddle Plato nism wa s the af

firmation of a tran sce nd en t deity , and of an interm edia te rea lm m edia ting

be tw een the h ighes t de ity and the v i s ib le w or ld .

2 8

Also typical was the formu

lation of the goal of life as homoidsis

thed,

becom i ng l ike G o d .

2 9

Con versely, Midd le Stoicism, in the same per iod, increasingly g ave Go d "a

real place in the Stoic system over against the cosmos."

3 0

Posidonius dist in

guished betw een G od an d nature in a way that ear lier Stoics had n o t .

3 1

The no

tion of an effluence

(aporroia)

f rom G od was probably developed by the M id

dle Stoics. Cicero w rote that "if man kin d possess es intel l igence, fai th, vir tue and

concord, whence can these things have flowed down upon the earth if not from

t he power s above?"

3 2

I t is l ikely then that the comb ination of Platon ic and Stoic

ideas in W is. So l. did not result from the superficiality of the autho r, bu t reflected

the philosophical tendencies of his day. The basic Platonic, rather than Stoic,

structure of his thought is shown by the importance he at taches to the immortal

i ty of the soul in cha ps. 1-5, and also by the insistence on a transcen dent creator.

The c loses t para l l e l s to Wisdom, as we might expec t , a re no t found in

Ci ce ro o r An t i ochu s bu t i n t he au t h o r ' s J ew i sh comp a t r i o t , Ph i l o o f Al exa n

d r i a .

3 3

Of pr imary impor tance in the present contex t i s Phi lo ' s doc t r ine of

the Logos, wh i ch he i den ti f ie s wi t h W i sdo m i n s eve r a l p l ac e s .

3 4

T h e L o g o s

i s an i n t e rmed i a t e r ea l i t y be t ween t he t r anscenden t God and t he un i ve r se .

3 5

2 7 .

J . Di l lo n, The Middle Platonists: A Study of Platonism 80 B.C. to A. D. 220 (London: Duck

worth, 1977) x iv . See also his essay," 'Orthodoxy' and 'Eclect ic ism': Middle Platonists and Neo-

Pythagoreans," in J . M. Dil lon and A. A. Long, eds . , The Question of 'Eclecticism': Studies in

Later Greek Philosophy (Berkeley: Univ. of Cal i fornia Press , 1988) 1 03 -2 5. For a defense of the

category "eclecticism" in the case of Philo, see J. Mansfeld, "Philosophy in the Service of Scrip

ture: Phi lo 's Exeg et ical Strategies ," in ibid. , 70 -1 02 .

2 8 .

T. H. Tobin, The Creation of Man : Philo and the History of Interpretation (Washington:

Cathol ic Bibl ical Associat ion, 1983) 10-19; Dil lon, The Middle Platonists, 1 3 6 - 3 7 .

2 9 . D i l lo n , The Middle Platonists, 4 3 ^ 4 ; T ob in , The Creation of Man, 18. The formula was de

rived from Plato's Theaetetus 176b and is found in a fragment from Eudorus. This formula w as

also used by later Stoics.

30 . E. R. Dodds, Proclus: The Elemen ts of Theology (Oxford: Oxford Un iv. Press, 1963) 214.

3 1 . J. M. Rist, Stoic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cam bridge Univ. Press , 1969) 20 2- 18 .

3 2 .

De Natura Deorum

2 .79 . See W inston ,


185.

3 3 . For a detailed listing of parallels, see Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon, 5 9 - 6 3 .

3 4 . Leg. All. 1.65; De Fug. 97 ; De Som n. 2. 242 . See L.K.K. Dey , The Intermediary World and

Patterns of Perfection in Philo and Hebrew s

(SB L DS 25 ; M issoula , Mont.: Scholars , 1975) 8 .

3 5 .

See T. H. Tobin, "Logos,"

ABD

4 : 3 5 0 - 5 1 ; W o l f s o n ,

Philo,

1 .226 -82; W inston ,

Logos and

Mystical Theology, 9 - 2 5 .



202


I t r e s em bl e s

the

S t o i c Logos

or

P n e u m a i n s o fa r

as it is a

p r i nc i p l e

of

r a t i o

na l i t y pe rvad i ng

the

u n i v e r s e ,

but as an

i n t e r med i a t e be i ng

it

con fo rms

ra t he r

to the

pa t t e rn

of

M i d d l e P l a t o n i s m .

The

L o g o s

was a

m e t a p h y s i c a l

re

al i ty dis t inct f rom

God, but it

s t i ll pa r t i c ipa ted

in the

rea l i ty

of

G o d .

It was

t he i mage

and

re f l ec t ion

of

G o d ,

the

m o d e l

for

the res t

of

c r ea t i on ,

but it was

a l so

the

p o w e r t h r o u g h w h i c h

the

u n i v e r s e

was

o rde r ed

and

c o n t i n u e d

to be

o r d e r e d .

3 6

The

L o g o s

was the

p a r a d i g m

for the

c r ea t i on

of

h u m a n k i n d .

The

h u m a n m i n d

was to the

res t

of

t h e h u m a n b e i n g

as the

L o g o s

was to the

c o s

m o s

as a

w h o l e :

"It is in

r e s p e c t

of the

m i n d ,

the

s o v e r e i g n e l e m e n t

of the

soul , tha t

the

w o r d ' i m a g e '

is

u s e d ;

for

after

the

pa t t e rn

of a

s ing le mind ,

e v e n

the

m i n d

of

t he un i ve r se

as an

a r c h e t y p e ,

the

m i n d

in

e a c h

of

t h o s e

who

succes s i ve l y came i n t o be i ng

was

m o u l d e d .

It is in a

fash ion

a god to him

who ca r r i e s and e n s h r i n e s it as an ob j ec t of r e v e r e n c e ; for the h u m a n m i n d

ev i den t l y occup i e s

a

pos i t i on

in men

p r ec i s e l y an sw er i ng

to

tha t wh i ch

the

grea t ru le r occupies

in all the

w o r l d . "

3 7

The

m i n d

was a

p a r t

or

e m a n a t i o n

of the d iv in e L o g o s .

3 8

F i na l l y , the L o g o s was the g u i d e of the hum an sou l

in

its

m ys t i ca l a s cen t ,

in the

p r o c e s s

of

b e c o m i n g l i k e

God,

" s h o w i n g ,

as it

d o e s ,

the way to the

th ings tha t

are

be s t , t e ach i ng ,

as it

do es , such l es sons

as

the

va ry i ng occas i on s r equ i r e .

For God, not

d e e m i n g

it

m eet tha t se nse

shou l d pe r ce i ve

him,

sends for th

his

w o r d s

to

s u c c o u r

the

l ove r s

of

v i r t u e . "

3 9

In all of

th i s , P h i l o ' s L o g o s

is

s imi la r

to

W i sd o m

in the

W i s d o m

of So l omon , a l t hough

it is

m ore e labo r a t e l y conce i ved . Ph i l o ' s Lo go s cou l d

also

be

r e p r e s e n t e d

as an

a n g e l .

4 0

In

W i s . 18 : 15

the

a l l -pow er fu l L og os l eap s

f rom heaven l ike

a

m i gh t y wa r r i o r .

The au t ho r of W i s. Sol. was not a ph i losopher , and his t hough t is far less

complex than tha t

of

Phi lo . P la to ' s theory

of

Ideas p lays

no

significant pa rt

in

his book ,

and he

m a k e s

no

men t i on

of

G o d ' s P o w e r s .

He

d o e s

not

deve l op

the

idea

of the

ascent

of the

soul . Never theless there

is

enough co r r e spondence

with Phi lo

to

d e b u n k

the

idea that

he was an

id iosyncrat i c ama teur ma king

his

own superficial

use of

ph i losophica l t e rm s .

He had

ev ident ly

had a

good edu

cat ion, a l though

his

incl inat ion

was to

rhetor ic ra ther than

to

ph i l o sophy .

His

concep t

of

W i s d o m

is

deve l oped

far

beyo nd tha t

of

Be n S i ra,

and is

intel l igi

b le

in the

contex t

of

the Midd le P la ton ic ph i losophy

of

h is

day.

36. Phi lo dist inguished betw een the Creative Powe r and the Ruling Po wer, and associated them

with the nam es Eloh im and Lord, respect ively (De Vita Mos. 2 . 9 9 - 1 9 9 ) .

37 . De Opif. 69.

38 . De Opif.

146 (c i ted abov e);

De

Spec.

Leg.

4 .123 .

39 . De Somn. 1 . 6 8 - 9 , 8 6 ; Leg. All. 3 . 1 6 9 - 7 8 ; Wi n s t o n, Logos and Mystical Theology, 9 - 2 5 . Cf.

Solomon's prayer

in

W i s .

Sol. 9,

where

he

confesses that human beings cannot find their

way to

God wi thout the aid of W i s d o m.

4 0 . Dey, The Intermediary World, 8-9.




203

W i s d o m a n d I s i s

Thus far we have emphasized the phi losophical aff ini t ies of the concept of

Wisdom. Many schola rs , however , have a rgued for in f luences of a more

mythological character , specif ical ly f rom the cul t of the Egypt ian goddess

I s i s .

4 1

This thesis carr ies a measure of a pr ior i plausibi l i ty . A connect ion be

tween Is is and Wisdom has a lso been argued wi th reference to Proverbs 8 and

S i ra c h 2 4 .

4 2

Sev eral epi thets and character is t ics of W isd om are a lso pred icated

o f I s i s .

4 3

For exam ple, an areta logy (sel f -praise) of Is is f rom C ym e in A sia M i

nor credi ts her wi th much of the work of order ing the universe , and says that

she is in the rays of the sun.

4 4

Many of these ep i the t s , however , a re no t pecu

l iar to Is is . The mot i f of order ing the universe was more s t rongly associated

with the Stoic L og os , and the im age ry of l ight had a centra l role in the Plato nic

t radi t ion s ince Pl ato ' s Al lego ry of the Cav e in the Republic. Despi te occas iona l

claims to the contrary, the form of the aretalogy, or self-praise, that is reflected

in Sirach 24 is not found in Wis . Sol .

4 5

T here a re , how ever , r esemblanc es of a

m ore genera l na ture be tw een W isdo m and I s is tha t wo uld have been apparen t

to any Hel lenis t ic reader . While Wisdom is not c losely or pr imari ly modeled

on Is is , these resemblances are undoubtedly s ignif icant for the rhetor ical im

pact of the book.

There are three general points of s imi lar i ty between Wisdom and Is is .

Fi rs t , and m ost obv ious , i s the depict ion of W isd om as a feminine f igure ,

w ho m the devo tee can pursu e for a br ide (W is . 9:2) . Th is trope is a l ready found

in Proverbs and Sirach, but i t i s reminiscent of the goddess nonetheless . Wis

do m is dep icted as living both wi th Go d (8 :3; 9:4) and Solo m on (8:9) and as

the beloved of each. Isis was wife of Osiris but also spouse of the king. (For

this reason several Ptolemaic queens ident i f ied themselves wi th Is is . ) Con

versely, the name Is is was suggest ive of wisdom in Greek. So Plutarch speaks

of her as "one who i s except iona l ly wise and devoted to wisdom. Her name

cer ta in ly seem s to imply tha t to her mo re than anyone be long know ledge and

u n d e r s t a n d i n g . "

4 6

4 1 . R e e s e , Hellenistic Influence, 4 0 - 5 2 ; B . L . Ma c k , Logos und Sophia: Untersuchungen zur

Weisheitstheologie im hellenistischen Jud entum (Gott ingen: Van denhoeck & Ruprecht , 1973);

idem, "Wisdom Myth and Mytho logy ," Interpretation 24 (197 0) 46 -6 0; J . S . Kloppen borg, "Is is

and Sophia in the Book of Wisdom,"

H TR

75 (1982) 57-84. Kloppenborg reviews the older l i ter

ature.

4 2 . On Proverbs, C. Kayatz ,

Studien zu Proverbien 1-9

(Neukirchen-V luyn: Neukirchener Ver-

lag, 1966); on Sirach, Conzelmann, "The Mother of Wisdom."

4 3 .

Re e s e , Hellenistic Influence, 48 -4 9 , a l though som e of his paral le ls are quest ionable .

4 4 . F. C. Grant, Hellenistic Religions (Indianapolis: Bobbs-M erri l l, 1953 ) 13 1- 33 . On the Is is

aretalogies , see J. Berman ,

Ich Bin Isis

(Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksel ls , 1968) .

4 5 .

Contra Reese ,

Hellenistic Influence,

45 .

46. Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, 2 .



204


Second, the ent i re Wisdom of Solomon is presented as an address to the

king s of the ear th , and the benefi ts of W isd om are prese nted in re la tion to king

sh ip : "Th e des ir e f or W i sdom l eads t o a k i n g d o m . . . . Ho nor W i sdom so t hat

you m ay reign forev er" (6 :20 -2 1) . Is is boas ts that i t i s by her that kin gs re ig n,

and she is depicted as nurse and counselor of the king.

4 7

She is also the giver

of l i fe . The theme of kingship is suggested in Wis . Sol . by the persona of

Solomon, bu t the prominence of the theme may wel l be sugges ted by the as

sociat ion of Is is wi th the kingship.

Final ly , Is is i s f requent ly cal led "savior ," and she is acknowledged as such

in several dedicatory inscr ipt ions . An inscr ipt ion f rom Medinet Madi reads:

As many as are in prison, in the power of death,

and as many as are in pain because of long, troubled sleepless nights,

all who wander in foreign lands,

and as many as sail on the Great Sea in winter

when men are destroyed, their ships broken and sent below,

all these are saved when they pray that you be present.

4 8

In W is . Sol . 10, W isd om takes ov er the saving role that is reserve d to the Lo rd

in the Hebrew Bible . The hazards f rom which she saves are of the same kind

as those f rom which Is is rescues: water , f i re , imprisonment , and so on. Of

course the l i s t of saving act ions is determined by the bibl ical narrat ive , but as

K lopp enb org has pointed out , other para phra ses of sa lvat ion his tory only rarely

at tend to such mat ters as the guidance of the ark and the imprisonment of

J o s e p h .

4 9

I t i s reaso nab le , then, to assu m e that the mod el of Is is has had som e

inf luence on the formulat ion of Wis . Sol .

Some scholars a t t r ibute this inf luence to the author ' s "conscious effor t to

offset the appeal of the l i terature of the revived Isis cult ."

5 0

It is difficult, how

ever , to see any ap ologet ic p olem ic a t w ork in the taci t a l lus ions to Is is . W he n

W i s .

Sol . wants to oppose a pagan cul t , i t does so openly and wi th vigor in

chapters 13-15. I t is t rue that the book offers Jews an al ternative to Isis in the

f igure of Wis do m , but there is no hint here , or any w here e lse in Jewish l i tera

ture of the t ime, that Jews found the cult of Isis especially at tractive or tempt

ing. Rather , the taci t a llus ions to Is is are taken up into the com plex pic ture of

W isd om to enr ich i t and m ak e i t m ore a t t ract ive and sat isfying to a hel lenized

Jewish readership. The al lusions to Isis are not essential ly different in function

from the more over t a l lus ions to Greek phi losophy: they make the f igure of

Wisdom inte l l igible by depict ing i t in terms that were famil iar and wel l re

spected in the Hel lenis t ic world.

47. Kloppenborg, "Is is and Sophia," 75. Mack, Logos und Sophia, 9 0 - 9 5 .

48. Kloppen borg, "Is is and Sophia," 68.

4 9 . Ibid., 71.

5 0 .

Re e s e ,

Hellenistic Influence,

40.




205

The Knowledge o f God

I t i s becau se of the connec t ions es tab l i shed through W isdom tha t hum ani ty

can a r r ive a t the knowledge of God. Solomon ' s p rayer for wisdom in chap . 9

disparages human abi l i ty in this regard:

For what man can comprehend the plan of God ,

or who can grasp what the Lord wills?

The reasonings of mortals are wretched

and our devices precarious;

for a perishable body weighs down the soul,

and this tent of clay encumbers a mind full of cares.

We barely make inferences concerning what is on earth,

and laboriously d iscove r what is at hand;

who, then, has tracked out what is in the heavens?

Who was privy to your design, unless you gave him Wisdom,

and sent your holy spirit from o n h igh?

Thus it was that the paths of earthlings were set aright,

and me n w ere taught what pleases you ,

and were saved by Wisdom.

(Wis . 9 :13-18)

The l imi ta t ions of human knowledge a re f requent ly no ted in anc ien t Jew

i sh , and more genera l ly Near Eas te rn , l i t e ra ture . The famous ques t ion of

A gur i n P rov . 30 : 4 : "W ho has a scended t o heaven and com e dow n? " i mp l i e s

tha t no one has . Some th ings a re s imply inaccess ib le to humani ty . The same

inference can be drawn f rom the speeches of God a t the end of the book of

J o b .

In the Hel lenis t ic per iod, however , such an admiss ion of l imi ta t ion is of

t en the pre face to an apo ca lyp t ic rev e la t io n .

5 1

Eno ch a sks , "W ho i s t he r e wh o

can look a t a l l the works of heaven? and how should there be anyone who

cou l d unde r s t and t he works o f heaven?" (7 Enoch 93 : 12 -13 ) , and t he ange l

Ur ie l bombards Ezra wi th imposs ib le ques t ions (4 Ezra 4) . Enoch , o f course ,

c la ims to have been shown a l l the works of heaven , and 4 Ezra conc ludes

with a ser ies of apocalypt ic vis ions . In Wis . Sol . there is no recourse to such

superna tura l reve la t ions . Wisdom i s of superna tura l , d iv ine or ig in , bu t i t

t r ans forms human unders tanding f rom wi th in . I t i s the complement and fu l

f i l lment of the na tura l human s ta te , which compensa tes for the shor tcomings

of bodi ly ex i s tence .

The Wisdom of Solomon vac i l l a tes as to whether human be ings a re cu lpa

ble if they fai l to arrive at the knowledge of the true God:

5 1 . M. E. Stone, "Lists of Revealed Things in the Apocalyptic Literature," in F. M. Cross et al. ,

eds . , Magnalia Dei: The Mighty Acts of God (N ew York: Doubleday , 1976) 41 4- 52 .



206


Vain by nature w ere all wh o w ere ignorant of God and were unable to know the

Existent

One [ton onto]

from

the

good things that

are

seen,

or to

recognize

the

Craftsman through attention

to his

works.

But

either fire,

or

breath,

or

swift

air,

or starry heaven,

or

torrential water

or the

celestial l ights they accoun ted go ds ,

cosmic lords. If through delight in the beauty of these things they took them to

be gods , let them k now how much superior is the Master of these things, for it

was the primal author of beauty w ho created them. If it wa s through am azem ent

at their dyna mic op erations, let them apprehend from these how mu ch more p ow

erful is he w ho shaped them . For from the greatness and beauty of created things

is their author correspon dingly [analogos] per ceived. Y et l ittle blame attaches to

these, for they too perhaps err in spite of their search for Go d and their desire to

find

him.

For they are engaged

in

searching out his wo rks, and are persuaded

by

visual impressions, since what they

see is

beautiful.

Yet

even they

are not to be

exc use d, for if they w ere so resourceful as to be able to infer the "U niverse," h ow

is it they did not sooner discover the master of these things?

(Wis . 13:1-9)

Th e not ion that "the hea ven s te ll for th

the

glory

of

G od " (Ps . 19 :1) has ho n

orab le precedents

in the

H e b r ew B i b l e .

5 2

S ince

the

reali ty

and

p r i macy

of the

G o d

of

Israel

are

a lm ost universal ly tak en

for

gran ted

in the

Bib le , how ever ,

the problem

of

arr iving

at a

k n o w l e d g e

of

G od

is

never addressed . When

the

r ival c la ims

of

different deit ies

are

assessed

in

Second I sa iah ,

the

appea l

is to

his tory

as the

a rena

of

v indica t ion .

It is

on ly when Jewish t rad i t ion comes

in

contac t wi th Greek phi losophy tha t

the

po ssibi l ity

of a

sys temat ic theology

based

on the

s tudy

of

na ture a r ises . W isdo m

of

So lomon 13 mu s t

be

v i ewed

in

the context of Hel lenis t ic phi losophical debates and of t he con t empor a ry J ew

ish reasoning

of

Phi lo

of

Alexandr ia .

The Greek deba te about

the

re la t ion

of God or the

gods

to

na ture

and the

cosm os had i t s or igin

in

the r ise of natural is tic ph i losop hy

in

the f if th c en tu ry .

5 3

A t

the

ex t r eme

of

th i s deve lopment ,

the

a tomis t s Leuc ippus

and

D emocr i t u s

found

no

role

for

g o d s

in

the wo rkings

of

the un iverse

or in

hu m an l ife .

A

mo re

reverent ia l

but

re la ted a t t i tude

is

at tr ibuted

to

Socrates

by

Xenophon :

He that orders and hold s together the w ho le un iverse in whic h are all things beau

tiful and good, and who preserves it for us to enjoy a lway s unimpaired, undisor-

dered and unde caying, ob eying his will more swiftly than thought and with all

regularity,

is

manifest him self only

in

the performance

of

his mighty w orks,

be

ing invisible

to us

whi le

he

controls th em.

(Memorabilia 4 .3 .13 ; cf. 3 .3 -15 )

5 2 . J. Barr, Biblical Faith and Natural Theology (Oxford: Clarend on, 1993) 8 1 - 1 0 1 . Ba rr d i s

cusses e lements of natural theolog y in P s s. 1 9 , 1 0 4 , and 119 , the W isd om literature; the Prophets,

an d the Law. On the re levance of the earlier W isd om literature to this discussion see a lso J. J.

Coll ins , "The Bibl ical Precedent for Natural Th eolog y," JAAR 45 /1 Supplement (1977) 35 -67 .

5 3 . For a conc i se summary see M. R. Wright , Cosmology in Antiquity (London : Ro utledge,

1995) 166-75 .




207

Plato, in the Laws, took issue wi th those wh o found the sources of being in

the natural e lem ents an d regarded the go ds as exis t ing not by nature but by c on

vent ion and law

(Laws

10 [890 ]). H e argue d that the soul w as prior to the bo dy ,

and that the souls of the planets and such were gods "whether as l iving beings

inside bod ies arranging the w hole universe or in some other w ay " (Laws 898b) .

In the Timaeus, he envisa ged a craf tsman or D em iurge wh o w as responsible for

the con structio n of the un ivers e after a perfect atem pora l m od el. Th is craftsman

was the maker and fa ther of the cosmos and could be referred to as god. Aris

totle reasoned from the universali ty of motion that there must be a f irst Mover,

wh i ch i s unm oved (Physics 258 b) , but this Pr im e Mo ver is a force wi thin the

world. Again, the Stoics use much of the same terminology as Plato, but thei r

G od is imm ane nt an d even par t of the physical universe . Go d is identi fied as th e

act ive pr inciple in the universe , the Logos inherent in mat ter .

5 4

He is

the artificer [demiurge] of the universe and, as it were, the father of all, both in

general and in that particular part of him which is all-pervading, and which is

called many names according to its various powers. They give the name Dia be

cause all things are due to him; Zeus pervad es all life; the nam e Athen a is give n,

because the ruling part of the divinity extends to the aether; the name Hera marks

its ext en sion to the air; he is calle d H eph aestus since it spreads to the creative fire;

Pose idon , since it stretches to the sea; Dem eter, since it reaches to the ea rth .

5 5

G od m ay even be ident if ied w i th the cos m os itself, or wi th it s com m and ing fac

u l t y o r mi nd .

5 6

Despi te the immanence of God in S to ic theology , the manner of a rgumen

ta t ion is ra ther s imi lar to what we f ind in Wis . Sol . Cleanthes saw the chief

cause of bel ief in God as

the regularity of the m otion, the revolution o f the heave ns, and the individuality,

usefulness, beauty and order of the sun, the moon, and all the stars. The mere

sight of these things . . . wa s proof enoug h that they are not products of accident.

Just as , i f someone enters a house, a gymnasium or a forum, when he sees the

contro lled m ethod ical pattern of all that go es on he cannot think that these things

happen without cause, but understands that there is someone in charge who is

obe yed , mu ch more m ust he, in the case o f these great motions and phases and

of the orderings of things so numerous and immense . . . conclude that it is by

some mind that these great motions of nature are controlled.

5 7

Or again: "We alone of l iving creatures know the r is ings and set t ings , and the

courses of the s t a r s . . . and contem pla t ing the heavenly bodies the mind a r r ives

a t a know l edge o f t he go d s . "

5 8

5 4 . Diogenes Laert ius 7 .134.

5 5 . D iogen es Laertius 7 .147; SV F 2 .1021 .

56 .

Dio gene s Laertius 7 .148; Cicero , De Natura Deorum 1.39; SV F 2 .1077 .

57 .

Cicero , De Natura Deorum 2 . 1 2 - 1 5 .

58 .

Ibid. , 2 .253.



208


Th e closest paral le ls to W is . Sol . are found, as usua l , in the wo rks of Ph i lo .

In his t reat ise on the Decalogue he wri tes :

A great delusion has taken hold of the larger part of mankind in regard to a fact

which properly should be established beyond all question in every mind to the

exclusion of, or at least above, all others. For some have deified the four ele

m en ts, earth, water, air and fire, others the su n, mo on , planets and fixed stars, oth

ers again the heaven by

itself,

others the whole world. But the highest and the

m ost august, the begetter, the Ruler of the great W orld-city, the C om ma nder-in-

Chief of the invincible host, the Pilot who ever steers all things in safety, Him

they have hidden from sight by the misleading titles assigned to the objects of

worship mentioned. Different people give them different names: some call the

earth Kore or De m eter or Pluto, and the sea Pose idon The y call air Hera and

fire Hep haestu s, the sun A po llo, the m oon A rtemis . . .

5 9

I t i s c lear from the passag es c i ted ab ove that Phi lo here is taking issu e wi th S to

ic ism. The issue is the dis t inct ion between the cosmos and God, and the con

sequent cont ingency of creat ion:

For the world has become what it is , and its becoming is the beginning of its de

struction, even though by the providence of God it be made immortal, and there

was a time when it was not. But to speak of God as "not being" at some former

time, or having "become" at some particular time and not existing for all eter

nity, is profanity.

6 0

Although both Phi lo and Wis . Sol . make extensive use of Stoic concepts and

arguments , thei r bibl ical her i tage lent i t se l f more readi ly to rapprochement

with the Platonic t radi t ion. The possibi l i ty of knowledge of God kata analo-

gian

was a l so a f f i rmed by the Middle P la ton ic ph i losopher Alb inus .

6 1

Wisdom of Solomon c lear ly regards those ph i losophers who worsh ip the

creat ion ra ther than the creator as culpable to som e degre e. This imp l ies that a t

leas t some knowledge of God is a t ta inable in pr inciple by human reason. The

same impl icat ion is found, more careful ly nuanced, in Rom. 1:19-20: "For

what can be known about God i s p la in to them, because God has shown i t to

them . Ev er s ince the creat ion of the wo rld his e ternal po w er and divine nature ,

invis ible thou gh they are , hav e been unde rs too d and seen through the things he

has ma de . So they a re wi thout excu se ." In v iew of the d i sparagem ent of h um an

reason in W is . 9 :1 4-1 7 , success w ould seem to be un l ike ly wi thout the d iv ine

gift of W isd om , bu t the pos sibil i ty is no ne thele ss affirmed.

Th e re luc tance of W is . Sol . to con dem n those wh o dei fy the cosm os can be

clar i f ied by another paral le l passage in Phi lo ' s

De Decalogo:

59 . Ph i lo , De Decal. 5 2 - 5 4 ; c f. De Spec. Leg. 1 .13 -20 . W inston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 248.

6 0 . De Decal. 58.

6 1 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 25 3. On the Greek tradition, especial ly the usage in N eo -

Platonism, see further Lyttkens, The Analogy Between God and the World, 1 5 - 1 1 0 .




209

But while al l who give worship and service to sun and moon and the whole

heaven and universe or their chief parts as gods most undoubtedly err by mag

nifying the subjects above the ruler, their offence is less than that of the others

who have given shape to sticks and stones and silver and gold and similar mate

rials, each according to their fancy, and then fil led the habitable world w ith im

ages and wooden figures and the other works of human hands fashioned by the

craftsmanship o f painting and sculpture, arts which h ave w rought great misc hief

in the l i fe of mankind.

6 2

The phi losophers who seek the t rue God and fa l l shor t deserve respect . Those

w ho eng age in mere ido la t ry rece ive noth ing but contem pt .

T h e P o l e m i c a g a i n s t I d o l a t r y

The Wisdom of Solomon a l so fo l lows i t s d igress ion on the knowledge of

God wi th a l engthy polemic aga ins t ido la t ry in 13 :10-14:31 and 15:7—19.

63

Jewish opposi t ion to idol worship can be t raced back to the Decalogue, a l

though i t s ul t imate or igin remains myster ious . I t i s widely a t tes ted in the Sec

o n d T e m p l e p e r i o d .

6 4

The most e laborate denunciat ion in the Hebrew Bible is

found in severa l passages in Second I sa iah .

6 5

In I sa . 44 :9-20 , the prophe t de

r ides those w ho tak e par t of a piec e of w oo d to mak e a fire and coo k food, and

bow down before the other par t as the image of a god. Other notable bibl ical

passag es a re found in Je rem iah 10; H ab. 2 :18 -1 9 , and Pss . 1 15 :4-8 and

1 3 5 : 1 5 - 1 8 .

Polem ic aga ins t ido l s beco m es mo re com m on in the Hel len i s t ic pe

r iod. Extended examples are found in the Let ter of Jeremiah and in the s tory

of Be l and the D ragon , appended to the Gree k t rans la tion of D an ie l .

6 6

D e n u n

cia t ion of idolat ry is a common theme in Jewish l i tera ture wri t ten in Greek

from the Egyp t ian Diasp ora , such as the Letter ofAristeas and the Sibylline Or-

acles.

67

T he closest paral le ls to W is . Sol . are found in Ph i lo , a l thoug h the s im

i lar i t ies are not so c lose as to require interdependence.

6 8

6 2 . De Decal. 66.

6 3 . M. Gilbert, La Critique des Dieux dans le livre de la Sagesse (An Bib. 53 ; Ro m e: Pontif ical

Biblical Institute, 1973).

6 4 . W .M .W . Roth, "For Life , He A ppeals to Death (W is 13:18): A Study of Old Testament Idol

Parodies ," CBQ 37 (1975) 21 -47; H. D. Preuss , Verspottung fremder Religionen im Alten Testa

ment

(Stuttgart: Kohlham mer, 1971); G. von Rad,

Wisdom in Israel

(N ashvi l le: Ab ingdon , 1972)

1 7 7 - 8 5 .

65 . T hese passa ges are probably secondary insertions into the exilic oracles. Roth , "For Life," 22 .

66 .

See Col l ins , Daniel, 4 0 5 - 1 9 .

67 . Ep. Arist. 1 3 4 - 3 8 ; Sib. Or. 3 :29-35; Gi lber t , La Critique des Dieux, 2 6 2 . Go o d ma n , Mis

sion and Conversion,

5 5 -5 6 , argues that W is . Sol . and the

Sibylline Oracles

were exceptional in

their hostility to idols, but while they are exceptionally vehement, they are not exceptional in their

disapproval.

6 8 .

Phi lo , De Decal. 5 2 - 8 1 ; Vita Cont. 3 - 9 ; De Spec. Leg. 1 .13 -29; 2 .255; Larcher, Etudes,

1 6 2 - 6 6 .



210


The polemic against idols in Wis . Sol . begins wi th a lengthy discourse on

the m aking of woo den im ages . The f ir st par t (13 :10 -19 ) c lose ly resem bles the

polemic of Second Isaiah. A man uses par t of a piece of wood to make an

everyday vessel and to prepare his food, and then makes an idol f rom the re

mainder . "For heal th he invokes that which is feeble; for l i fe he prays to a

co rps e" (v. 18) . T he seco nd par t of this discou rse (14 :1- 11 ) mo ck s the sai lor

who appeals for a id "to a piece of wood more unsound than the craf t that car

r ies him ." The ship is a prod uct of "W isd om the art if icer" an d is s teered by di

vine providence. The Stoics spoke of the guiding power of the Logos as a kind

of s teer ing (kybernad), and Phi lo used the same verb for bo th hum an reaso n

a n d d i v i n e p r o v i d e n c e .

6 9

The author i s careful to dis t inguish between the

proper use of wood and the abuse of the ido la tor .

7 0

The polemic aga ins t c lay

f igur ines (1 5:7 -13 ) i s in a s im i lar vein , bu t here the pot ter is accuse d of act ing

in bad fa i th: for one must make a l iving, he says , f rom whatever source, even

an evi l one. For this man knows more than any other that he s ins , fabr icat ing

from ear then s tuff f ra i l vessels and carved images .

But Wis . Sol . a lso offers a more phi losophical explanat ion of idolat ry, in

1 4 : 1 2 - 3 1 . Two i l lus t ra t ive ins tances are c i ted: the fa ther who makes an im

age of a dead ch i ld , and the ru le r wh o com m and s tha t h i s s t a tue be w orsh ipe d

in his absence. The f i rs t ins tance f inds an interes t ing paral le l in the work of

the four th-century c onve r t to Ch r i s t ian i ty , F i rm icus Mate rnu s , De errore

pro-

fanarum religionum, w ho drew on anc ien t sources . A ccord ing to F i rm icus ,

D ionys us w as the son of a Cre tan k ing na m ed Jupi te r . S ince he was the prod

uc t of an adul te rous un io n , the k i ng ' s wi fe , Juno , had h im m urde red by the Ti

tans . When the fa ther discovered this he had an image made in the l ikeness of

the son and ins t itu ted a cu l t .

7 1

Several other paral le ls can be c i ted, notably the

cul t o f Hadr ian ' s favor i t e Ant inous , who drowned in Egypt in 130 C . E .

7 2

The

tendency toward a cul t of the dead, involving the erect ion of s ta tues , could

probably have been observed in Roman Egypt . The au thor ' s explana t ion of

ido la t ry may a l so be indebted to the theor ies of Euhemerus of Messene , who

wrote about 300

B . C . E .

Euhemerus c la imed tha t Cronos and Zeus were grea t

k ings of the pas t wh o we re wo rsh iped as god s by gra te fu l peo ple . His theory

was taken up by Diodorus Siculus in his world his tory, in the middle of the

first century

B . C . E .

I t i s a lso ref lected in H el lenis t ic Jew ish w ri t ings . Sibylline

Oracles 3: 11 0- 55 te l ls the s tory of C ron os and the Ti tan s as an ear ly ph ase of

6 9 .

Winston ,


2 1 4 ;

SVF

3 .390; Ph i lo ,

De Opif

8 8 , 1 1 9 ;

De Abr.

8 4 ;

De

Decal. 155.

7 0 .

It is difficult, nonetheless, to see 14:7 ("Blessed is the wood through which righteousness

comes") as anything but a Christian interpolation. Winston avoids this conclusion by translating

"through wh ich r ighteousness survives" (ginetai). See Gilbert, La Critique des Dieux, 1 1 4 - 2 4 .

7 1 . Gilbert, La Critique des Dieux, 15 3- 55 ; J . Geffcken , "Der Bilderstreit des heidnischen A l-

tertums," AR W1 9 ( 1 9 1 9 ) 2 9 2 - 9 3 .

7 2 . Gilbert, La Critique des Dieux, 1 4 6 - 5 7 .




211

hum an h i s to ry . The Letter ofAristeas (1 35 -3 7) argues that i t i s fool ish to de

i fy people because they invented th ings , as they only demons t ra ted the use

fu lness of th ings tha t w ere a l ready c rea ted . Wisd om of Solom on doe s no t en

gage in a ful l Euhemeris t ic cr i t ique of polytheism, but the cr i t ique of idols

ref lects a s imi lar mental i ty . The idea that idolat ry was not pract iced f rom the

beg inning , bu t was a produ c t o f hu m an h i s tory , i s com m on place in Jew ish l i t

erature , where i t i s of ten associated wi th the generat ion of Enosh in the ante

d i l u v i a n p e r i o d .

7 3

The worship of images to honor absent rulers was character is t ic of the Ro

man era . The at tempt of Cal igula to ins ta l l his s ta tue in the Jerusalem Temple

c o m e s t o m i n d .

7 4

Josephus repor ts that Herod erected temples and s ta tues in

the c i t ies he bui l t , a l though not in Jewish terr i tory: "To the Jews he made the

excuse tha t he wa s doing these th ings no t on h i s ow n account bu t by com m and

and order , whi le he sought to please Caesar and the Romans by saying that he

was less intent upon observing the customs of his own nat ion than upon hon

o r i n g t h e m . "

7 5

Fina l ly , Wis . Sol . adds a caus t i c comment on an imal worsh ip , which was

especial ly character is t ic of Egypt : "Moreover , they worship the most hateful

bea sts , w ho com pa red for brut ishness are wo rse than al l the res t" (15:18 ) . Phi lo

s imilar ly cas t igated the Egypt ians:

But the Egyptians are rightly charged not only on the count to which every cou n

try is liable, but also on another peculiar

to

themselves. For in addition to w ooden

and other images, they have advanced to divine honours irrational animals....

But actually the Egyptians hav e gone to a further excess, and chosen the fiercest

and most savage of wild animals, lions and crocodiles and among reptiles the

venomous asp.

(De Decal 76-78)

Josephus ques t ioned whether the Egypt ians deserved to be ca l l ed "men," be

cause they worsh iped an imals hos t i l e to humani ty (Ag. Ap. 2 .66) . Ar tapanus ,

w ho w rote in the second century B . C . E . , r ings a pecu l iar cha ng e on this pole m ic

wh en he c la ims tha t M oses ac tua l ly founded the Egy pt ian an imal cu l t s , jud g

ing the an im als in ques t ion to be use fu l

7 6

Bu t for m ost Hel lenis t ic Jew ish w ri t

ers the worship of animals typif ied the abysmal character of the Egypt ians .

7 7

7 3 . S. Fraade, Enosh and His Generation (Chico ,

Calif.:

Scho lars , 1984) 174 , 226-27;

P. Schafer , "Der Gotzendienst des Enosch: Zur Bildung und Entwicklung aggadischer Tradit io-

nen im nachbibl ischen Judentum," in idem, Studien zur Geschichte und Theologie des Rabbinis-

chen Judentums (Leiden: Bri l l , 1978) 13 4- 52 .

7 4 . / . W . 2 . 1 8 4 - 8 7 .

7 5 . Ant. 15.330.

76 .

Col l ins , Between Athens an d Jerusalem, 35.

77 .

Ep. Arist. 138; Sib. Or. frag. 3; 3:30; Gilbert, La Critique des Dieux, 2 3 9 - 4 0 .



212


While the polemic against idolat ry was obviously di rected a t pagan prac

t ice , the Jewish apologis ts could hope to f ind a sympathet ic hear ing among

some Greek phi losophers . There had been a growing tendency toward

m on oth eism in Gre ek phi loso phy s ince the fif th century

B . C . E .

7 8

T he oldest cr i

t iques of idolatry in this tradit ion can be found in the fragments of Heracli tus

a n d X e n o p h a n e s .

7 9

Ant is thenes , a pupi l of Socrates and teacher of Diogenes ,

t aught tha t there were many convent iona l gods , bu t on ly one by na ture .

8 0

Cle m ent of A lexan dria c la im s that "Z en o, the founder of the Stoic sect, says in

the book on the s ta te that i t i s necessary to make nei ther temples nor s ta tues ,

for no cont r ivance i s wor thy of the gods ."

8 1

Accord ing to S t . Augus t ine , the

Roman ant iquar ian Varro ( f i rs t century

B . C . E . )

c la imed that "for more than one

hundred and seventy years the anc ien t Romans worsh ipped the gods wi thout

an image. ' I f this usage had cont inued to our own day, ' he says , 'our worship

of the gods would be more devout . ' And in support of his opinion he adduces ,

am ong o ther th ings , the t es t im ony of the Jewish ra c e ."

8 2

Strabo also expresses

admirat ion for Judaism in this respect , in a passage that i s thought to der ive

from Posidonius: "[Moses] taught that the Egypt ians were mis taken in repre

sent ing the Divine Being by the images of beasts and cat t le , as were a lso the

Libyans ; and tha t the Greeks were a l so wrong in model l ing gods in human

form; for , according to him, God is this one thing that encompasses us a l l ."

8 3

Plutarch complains that "then again such persons give credence to workers in

metal , s tone, or wax, who make thei r images of gods in the l ikeness of human

beings , and they have such images fashioned, and dress them up and worship

them. But they hold in contempt phi losophers and s ta tesmen, who t ry to prove

that the majes ty of God is associated wi th goodness , magnanimity, kindl iness ,

and so l i c i t ude . "

8 4

Numerous other examples can be c i ted f rom the wri t ings of

Stoics and Cynics around the turn of the era .

8 5

I t is clear, then, that the cri t ique of idolatry in Wis. Sol. does not represent

an unqual i f ied opposi t ion to the Gent i le world.

8 6

Rather , the author was a t

t empt ing to make common cause wi th en l igh tened Greeks who would share

his contempt for popular supers t i t ion, and especial ly for the crass forms of

78 .

M. P . Ni l s son , Geschich te der Griechischen Religion. 2. Die hellenistische und romische

Zeit (M unich: Beck , 1974) 569 -7 8 .

7 9 . B. de Borries , Quid veteres philosophi de idolatria senserint (Gott ingen: Dieterich, 1918) .

8 0 .

Cicero ,

De Natura Deorum

1.32.

8 1 . Clement , Strom. 5 .11 .76 .

82 .

August ine , De Civitate Dei 4 .31 .

83 .

Strabo 16.2.35.

84 . Plutarch, De superstitione, 167 D .

85 . See H. W. Attr idge, First-Century Cynicism in the Epistles of Heraclitus (M issoula , Mont.:

Scho lars , 1976) 13 -23 .

86.

Pace Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, 18 6-8 8 , wh o m isses both the ph i lo

sophical context of the polemic and the parallels in Philo.




213

ido la t ry prac t i ced in Egypt .

8 7

Moreover , he lumps together wi th idolat ry a l l

manner of abuses assoc ia ted wi th "secre t mys te r ies" and "s t range l aws" of

which cu l tured Greeks and Romans would d i sapprove (14:23-28) . This s t ra t

egy had impl icat ions that were social as wel l as theological . Jews of the kind

represented by Wis . Sol . and by Phi lo of Alexandria desperate ly sought ac

ceptance by the cul tured Greeks of Alexandria and sought to dis tance them

selves f rom the Egypt ians , who were barbar ians and, besides , were subject to

the hated Roman pol l tax. Unfor tunately for thei r purpose, not a l l the Greeks

of Alexa ndr ia w ere cu ltured , and those of w hom we have any know ledge we re

more concerned wi th preserving thei r pr ivi leged s ta tus than wi th advancing

not ions of human sol idar i ty .

We should not , however , think of Wis . Sol . ' s polemic against idolat ry as

m erely par t of the social s tra tegy of A lexan drian Ju daism . I t wa s one of the as

pects of the boo k that had d eepes t roots in Jew ish t radi t ion. I t w as a lso par t of

a coh erent theolog y that w as found ed in the und ers tand ing of W isd om as a uni

versal spi r i t that boun d the universe to the creator G od.

Cosmos and His tory

The re la t ions between Judaism and the Gent i le world const i tute the centra l

issue in the long paraphrase of bibl ical his tory in chaps . 10-19.

The reading of biblical history in Wis. Sol. is quite different from what we

found in Be n Sira , a l thoug h both book s have in co m m on an interes t in the char

acter izat ion of individuals ra ther than narrat ive sequence. Both books are pre

sumably inf luenced by the Hel lenis t ic convent ion of l i s t ing examples

(Beispielreihen).

ss

B en Si ra ' s s ta ted purp ose is to s ing the praises of piou s

men, and to hold them up as models to be imi ta ted. This i s a lso t rue of the ap

pea l to para digm at ic f igures in 1 M acc ab ees 2 ; 4 M acc abe es 16 and 18; and

He brew s 11 . In W is . Sol ., how ever , W isdo m ra ther than hum an be ings i s the

subject of praise . The encomium has c lear impl icat ions for human behavior ,

but there is a greater sense here of a pattern in history than was the case in Si

rach . Co nseque nt ly , there i s a l so some resemb lance to apoca lypt ic sum m ar ies

of his tory, w hich of ten sh ow a pat tern of s in , pun ishm ent , and sa lv at io n.

8 9

87. M . Gorg, "Die Rel ig ionskritik in Weish

13,If.

Beobachtungen zur Entstehung der Sapientia-

Salomonis im spathel lenist ischen Alexandria ," in G. Hentschel and E. Zenger, eds . , Lehrerin der

Gerechtigkeit (Leipzig: Ben no, 19 91) 1 3- 25 , argues that the polem ic is primarily against Eg yp

tian religion.

88 .

See the literature cited in Chap. 6 above. On Wis. Sol. 10 as a "Beispielreihe," see

A . Schm itt, "Struktur, Herkunft und Bed eutun g der Beisp ielreihe in W eish 10," BZ2\ (1977 ) 1-22 .

89 . On the treatment of h istory in apocalyptic l iterature, see in general R. G. H all, Revealed His

tories: Techniques for Ancient Jewish and Christian Historiography (Sheffield: JSO T Press,

1991) .



214


The most interes t ing comparat ive reviews of his tory are provided by the

Apocalypse of W eeks in 1 Enoch 93 : 1 - 10 and 91 : 11 - 17 and t he Damascus

Do cum en t (CD ) 2 : 14 -3 : 11 . The Ap oca l ypse o f W eeks r e sembl e s Wi s . So l. 10

insofar as no names are named, a l though the characters of bibl ical his tory

(Noah, Abraham, e tc . ) are eas i ly recognizable . There is a dia lect ic of r ight

eou sness an d iniqui ty , wi th a recurr ing pat tern of sa lvat ion, and those w ho are

saved are r ighteous, a t leas t impl ic i t ly . There is , however , a fundamental

dif

fe rence be tw een the two tex t s . In the Apoca lypse of We eks , h i s tory m oves in

exorably tow ard a prede te rm ined goa l . Th e dec i s ive tu rn ing poin t com es in the

seventh "w eek ," or per iod , and thereaf te r co m es the judg m ent an d a new cre

at ion. His tor ical prog ress ion has no s ignif icance in W is . Sol . 10, nor indeed in

Wis. Sol . as a whole .

U nl ike the Ap oca lyp se of W eek s and W is . Sol . 10 , C D 2:14 -3 :1 1 me nt ions

na m es . In so m e res pe cts, it is the inve rse of W is. Sol. 10. I t nar rates the effects

of the evi l incl inat ion, the ant i thesis of Wisdom. Because of i t , the Watchers

and the sons of Noah fe l l . But CD also narrates a his tory of sa lvat ion, which

com es to fruit ion a t a specif ic po int in t ime w i th a new re velat ion to "tho se w ho

remained s teadfast ." While CD provides a ser ies of moral examples as does

W i s .

Sol . , i t a lso resembles the Apocalypse of Weeks in ident i fying a turning

point in his tory and a movement toward a goal .

There is no turning point in Wis . Sol . , and the goal i s access ible i r respec

t ive of chronologica l p rog ress ion . No ah , A braha m , Lot , Jaco b , and Joseph a ll

serve as types of "the r ighteous man." Israel in Egypt i s "a holy people and a

blameless race," and Moses is "the servant of the Lord." While the ident i f ica

t ions are t ranspare nt to anyo ne w ho is famil iar w i th bibl ical narrat ive , they are

never made explici t . The implication is that the specific historical f igures are

only significant as examples of a type. The story of Israel is viewed as a cos

mic a l legory, that could in pr inciple be appropr ia ted by any r ighteous people ,

i f any other should ever exis t .

9 0

This manner of t reat ing the ear ly his tory is re la ted to Phi lo ' s a l legor ical

t reatment of the pat r iarchs . For Phi lo , the pat r iarchs were animated laws

(empsychoi nomoi). Seven are s ingled out , two t r iads and then Moses , who

stands a lone. In the f i rs t t r iad, Enosh symbol izes hope, Enoch repentance, and

Noah jus t ice . In the second, Abraham represents vi r tue der ived f rom inst ruc

t ion, Isaac vi r tue from n atural endo w m en t , and Jaco b vi r tue achieve d by effor t.

The f igure of Moses is more complex, represent ing the perfect man, who can

even be ca l l ed a god .

9 1

Phi lo ' s a l l egor ies a re much more complex than the

9 0 .

See B . L. M ack, "Imitat io Mos is: Patterns of Co sm olog y and Soteriology in the Hel lenist ic

Synagogue ,"

Studia Philonica

1 (19 72) 2 7 -5 5. This point is in no way negated by the observation

that "it is a stylistic and rhetorical device, in the Alexandrian tradition of l iterary allusion"

(pace

Barclay, Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, 190).

9 1 . S e e Go o d e n o u g h , By Light, Light, 1 2 1 - 2 3 4 .




215

t reatment we f ind in Wis . Sol . , where each of the pat r iarchs uniformly repre

s en ts " the r igh t eous m an . "

9 2

In both cases , however , his tor ical par t icular i ty i s

disregarded and pr imary importance is a t tached to representat ive type.

W isdo m of Solom on 10 em phas ize s tha t each of the pa t r i a rchs in ques t ion

is saved by Wisdom. The hazards f rom which they are del ivered are c lear

eno ugh , even i f they involve som e surpr is ing assessments . (Abraha m w as kept

s t rong against pi ty for his chi ld . ) But in what does thei r sa lvat ion consis t? On

the surface, i t w ou ld se em that i t consis ts in rescu e f rom the dang er of the m o

m ent . There a re two passages in the book , howev er , tha t seem to speak of jud g

ment and salvat ion in more def ini t ive terms.

The f i rs t of these passages is found in Wis . 5:15-23, and we have touched

upon i t a t the end of Chapter 10. There we are told expl ic i t ly that "the r ight

eous l ive forever and thei r reward is wi th the Lord." But the passage goes on

to speak of a t ransformat ion in terms reminiscent of Isa . 59:16-17. In the Isa-

ian text , God "put on r ighteousness l ike a breastpla te , and a helmet of sa lva

t ion on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for c lothing, and wrapped

himself in fury as in a mant le ." In Wis . Sol . , "he wi l l put on r ighteousness as

a breastpla te , and wear impar t ia l jus t ice as a helmet ; he wi l l take hol iness as

an invincible shie ld, and sharpen s tern wrath for a sword." But Wis . Sol . adds

ano t he r

motif:

"H e wi l l arm al l creat ion to repel his en em ies ," and "the cos m os

wil l f ight wi th him against the madmen." There are bibl ical precedents for the

cooperat ion of nature in the wars of the Lord. Judges 5:20 says that the s tars

fought f rom heaven for Israel against Sisera . There is no apocalypt ic new cre

at ion here , however , no t ransformat ion of nature such as we know from Isaiah

11. I t is not even clear that the cosmos reaches a f inal state. The promise is

ra ther that i t wi l l be consis tent ly subservient to the purposes of God in a way

that is not apparent in the present.

The manner in which the cosmos is harnessed for the divine purposes is i l

lus t ra ted in the secon d passag e that sugg ests a def ini te sa lvat ion and ju dg m en t ,

the account of the exod us in W is . Sol . 1 6 -1 9 .

9 3

The whole s tory of the exodus

is taken to show that "creat ion, serving you who made i t , exer ts i t se l f to pun

ish the unr ighteous, and in kindness re laxes on behalf of those who t rus t in

you" (16 :24) . Wisdom of Solomon draws here on a S to ic theory whereby the

elements admit of di f ferent degrees of tension or re laxat ion.

9 4

The idea is that

e lements are modif ied or interchanged. Nothing new is created. So in 19:6 we

are told that "the whole creat ion in i t s nature was fashioned anew, complying

9 2 . Again there are seven, culminating in Moses, but the figures chosen are different from those

in Philo because of the emphasis on del iverance from some predicament. See Winston, The Wis

dom of Solomon, 2 1 1 - 1 2 .

9 3 .

P. Beauc ham p, "Le salut corporel des justes et la conclusion du l ivre de la Sagesse ," Bib 4 5

( 1 9 6 4 ) 4 9 1 - 5 2 6 .

9 4 . Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 300 .



216


with your com m and s , so tha t your ch i ldren migh t be kept unh arm ed." In 19 :18

the process i s explained: "For the e lements changed places wi th one another ,

as on a harp the notes vary the nature of the rhythm, whi le each note remains

the same." The cosmos is a c losed ent i ty , a l though i t admits of internal var ia

t i o n .

9 5

The goal of his tory is to i l lus t ra te the workings of God. There is no

movement toward ul t imate t ransformat ion. Phi lo a lso uses the idea of tension

and s lackening to explain changes in nature . The bow that God sets in the

clouds after the f lood indicates that "in the laxness and force of earthly things

there wi l l not take plac e a dissolut ion b y thei r being c om pletely lo osen ed to the

poin t of incong rui ty no r wi l l there be force up to the point of reach ing a bre ak "

(Quaest. Gen. 2 .64) . Go d a l so provided the ma nna by "chan ging roun d the e l

e m e n t s "

(De Vita Mos.

2 .266-67 ) .

Phi lo a t leas t re ta ins a gl impse of t radi t ional Jewish nat ional eschatology.

In the t rea t i se on Rewards and Punishments (De Praemiis et Poenis) he en

ter ta ins the possibi l i ty that the Jewish people wi l l conver t in a body to vi r tue ,

and thus s t r ike awe into thei r masters , who wil l se t them free . "When they

have ga ined th i s unexpec ted l iber ty , those who but now were sca t t e red in

Greece and the outs ide world over i s lands and cont inents wi l l ar ise and post

f rom every s ide wi th one impulse the one appointed place, guided in thei r pi l

gr image by a v i s ion d iv ine and superhuman"

(De Praem.

165) . Th en , "eve ry

thing wi l l suddenly be reversed, God wil l turn the curses against the enemies

of these peni tents , the enemies who rejoiced in the misfor tunes of the nat ion."

(169) . Har ry W ol fson conc luded f rom these passage s tha t " the so lu t ion found

by Phi lo for the Jewish problem of his t ime was the revival of the old

prophe t ic promises of the u l t imate d i sappearance of the Diaspora ,"

9 6

but he

has been jus t i f iably cr i t ic ized for reading Phi lo in the l ight of an over ly har-

mon i s ti c p i c t u re o f "na t i ve Ju da i sm ."

9 7

P hi lo ' s na t iona l i sm m us t be modi f ied .

Ev en W olfson gran ts that "th e dep ict ion of the M essia nic A ge in Ph i lo is qui te

ev ident ly co lored wi th S to ic phraseology ," a l though he contends tha t i t i s

none the less opposed to the S to ic idea l o f a un iversa l po l i ty . Phi lo ' s escha to

logical vis ion entai ls harmony with the animal world, as prophesied in Isaiah

11, peace , and prosper i ty . His G od i s the One " to wh om a l l m us t be long w ho

9 5 .

Cf . J .P.M. Sweet , "The Theory of Miracles in the Wisdom of Solomon," in C.F.D. Moule ,

ed. ,

Miracles

(London: M owb ray, 1 965) 11 5- 26 ; J . J . Col l ins , "C osm os and Salvat ion: Jewish

Wisdom and Apocalyptic in the Hel lenist ic Age," H R 17 (1977) 127 -28 .

96 . Wol f son , Philo, 2 .407.

97 .

R. D. Hecht, "Philo and Messiah," in J. Neusner, W. S. Green, and E. S. Frerichs, eds.,

Judaisms and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ.

Press , 1987) 13 9-6 8. H echt argues that m essianic ho pe is consistent ly dehistoric ized in Philo . Cf .

a lso U. Fischer, Eschatologie und Jenseitserwartung im Hellenistischen Diasporajud entum

(BZ NW 44; Ber l in : de Gruyter , 1978) 1 84 -21 3 .




217

fol low t ruth unfeigned ins tead of mythical f igments" (De Praem. 162) , not

jus t the God of Israel . He repeatedly def ines the ant i thesis in terms of the vi r

tuous and the wicked ra ther than in na t iona l o r e thn ic t e rms . Those who a re

dest ined for dest ruct ion in the messianic war are "some fanat ics whose lus t

for war def ies res t ra int or remonstrance" (94) . The benef ic iar ies of eschato

log ica l p rosper i ty a re " those who fo l low God and a lways and everywhere

c l eave t o Hi s com m and m en t s " ( 98 ) . M oreove r , De Praemiis is exc ept ion al in

the Phi lonic corpus in i t s lack of a l legor ical interpreta t ion. Elsewhere , Phi lo

typical ly reads the bibl ical text in terms of the spi r i tual ized exper ience of the

indiv idua l . Nonethe less , we know tha t Phi lo was an advoca te for h i s commu

ni ty in the t ime of the emperor Cal igula , and that he ins is ted on the l i tera l ob

serva nce of the law s in addi t ion to the spi r i tual interpreta t ion. I t is l ikely, the n,

tha t he re ta ined a l it e ra l m ess ian ic ho pe , even though h e emp has ize d i t s sym

bol ic s ign i f i cance for humankind as a whole .

9 8

In the wo rds of Ped er B orgen ,

"the l i tera l and al legor ical interpreta t ions are interwoven, and the concrete na

t iona l and 'mess ian ic ' e scha to logy and the genera l , cosmic pr inc ip les be long

t o g e t h e r . "

9 9

In the case of Wis . Sol . , however , there is no over t messianic es

chatology. The hope of nat ional res torat ion might be inferred f rom the pat tern

of the exodus, but the book never addresses the quest ion of a f inal resolut ion

of his tory.

The unders tanding of na ture and h i s tory tha t we f ind in Wis . Sol . i s very

c lose to w hat we found ear l i e r in B en Si ra . S i rach a l so env isaged the co sm os

as the implement of God. He speaks of "winds c rea ted for vengeance" and

c la ims tha t wi ld an imals and even " the sword tha t punishes the ungodly"

neve r d i sobey t he d i v i ne command ( S i r . 39 : 28 -31 ) . S i r ach , howeve r , r e cog

n izes the am biva lenc e of na ture : "A l l these [e lem ents ] a re goo d for the godly ,

but for the s inners they turn into evi ls" (Sir . 39:27) . The cla im is that people

exper ience na ture , and h i s tory , d i f fe ren t ly in accordance wi th the i r charac

te r s .

The cla im of Wis . Sol . in the account of the exodus is s imi lar : "For

through the very th ings by which the i r enemies were punished , they them

se lves rece iv ed benef i t in the i r ne ed " (W is . 11 :5) . So the e lem ents w ere co n

s i s ten t ly des t ruc t ive to the Eg ypt ian s bu t p ro tec t ive towa rd the I s rae l it es . Th e

claim of Wis . Sol . i s that nature is ever thus protect ive of the r ighteous and

des t ruc t ive toward the wicked . We might in fe r f rom th i s tha t the r igh teous

ul t imate ly prosper and the wicked a re punished . When Wis . Sol . addresses

the i s sue of u l t imate reward and punishment , however , in chapte rs 1-5 , the

reward t akes the form of ever las t ing l i f e for the ind iv idua l ra ther than com

muna l v i nd i ca t i on .

9 8 .

See Col l ins , Between Athens and Jerusalem, 116.

9 9 . P . Borgen ,

'There Shal l Com e Forth a M an': Reflect ions on M essianic Ideas in Philo ," in

J. H. Charlesworth, ed., The Messiah (Minn eapol is: Fortress , 1992) 360.




Universa l i sm

and Part i cu lar i sm

Unlike Sirach, Wis . Sol . uses the s tory of the exodus to i l lus t ra te the con

t ras t ing fa tes of r ighteous and wicked, and thereby seems to ident i fy the Is

rael i tes wi th the r ighteous and thei r enemies wi th the wicked. Consequent ly ,

many commenta tors speak of "undisgui sed par t i cu la r i sm" in th i s par t o f the

boo k, and find that G od is par t ia l to the Jew s and inim ical to thei r e n e m ie s ."

1 0 0

Israel i s never ment ioned by name. Ins tead i t i s cal led "a holy people and

blame less race " (10 :15) , bu t a l so "yo ur peo ple" (12 :19; 16 :2 , 3 ,5 , e tc . ) , "yo ur

chi ldren" (16 :10 , 2 1 , 26 ; 18 :4) , " the ho ly ch i ldren" (18 :9) , " the ho ly na t ion "

(16:2) , "you r ho ly on es " (18 :2) , and even " the son of G od " (18:13) . The l ast -

ment ioned t i t l e , which has i t s b ib l i ca l bas i s in Exod. 4 :22-23 , echoes Wis .

2:13-20, where the r ighteous man cla ims to be son of God and that God is his

fa ther . But e thnic cont inui ty is a lso a factor . Wisdom of Solomon 18:6 refers

to the Israel i tes of the exodus as "our ancestors ."

Th e quest ion is , then, how far has the exodu s s tory been red uce d to an a l le

gory of the r ighteo us an d the wick ed, an d how far does i t reflect the e thnic a n

tago nism s not only of Israel i te his tory but a lso of R om an A lexa nd ria? W insto n

is surely r ight that "the ancient Eg yp t ians and Cana ani tes . . . served the author

as symbols for the ha ted Alexandr ians and Romans of h i s own day ."

1 0 1

The

pr im ary s ins of w hich the Egyp t ians are accused, idolatry and infant ic ide, w ere

common reproaches in Hel len i s t i c Jewish polemic . Wins ton a l so no tes tha t

Philo, the most universalist ic of al l Jewish writers, also entertains a fantasy of

nat ional is t ic t r iumph in De Praem iis et Poenis. In both Wis . Sol . and Phi lo ,

however , the occasional nat ional is t ic notes c lash wi th the phi losophy of phil-

anthropia that both wri ters expl ic i t ly endo rse .

Th e adject ive

philanthrdpos

oc curs three t ime s in W is. So l. I t is used tw ice

to character ize W isd om (1:6; 7:23) . In 12 :19, the mercy of G od is c ited as evi

dence that the r ighteous ought to be phi lanthropic . God's mercy is grounded in

creation: "For you love al l things that exist , and detest none of the things that

you have m ade , for you would not have ma de anyth ing if you had ha ted i t . . . .

You spare al l things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the l iving. For

your imper ishable spi ri t i s in a ll thin gs" (11 :24 -12 :1) . By this logic , G od should

love the Egyptians as well as the Israeli tes.

The not ion of philanthropia w as a Sto ic con cep t, gro un de d in the affinity

be twee n the d iv ine and the hum an es tab l i shed by the Lo gos . "T he w or ld i s , a s

i t were , the common dwel l ing-place of gods and men, or the c i ty that belongs

100.

J. Reider, The Book of Wisdom (N ew Y ork: Harper, 1957) 41 ; Barclay, The Jews in the

Mediterranean Diaspora, 18 1- 91 , takes W is . Sol . as a w hole as an exam ple of "cultural antago

nism."

101. Winston , The Wisdom of Solomon, 45 .




219

to both; for they alone have the use of reason and l ive by jus t ice and law."

1 0 2

Among human be ings , there should be no d iv i s ion : "The much admired Re

pub l ic of Z en o . . . i s a ime d at this one ma in point , that our hou seho ld arran ge

m ents sh ould not be based on ci t ies or par ish es , each on e m arke d out by it s ow n

legal system , but w e should regard a l l m en as our fe l low-ci t izens and local res

idents , and there should be one way of l i fe and order , l ike that of a herd graz

i ng t oge the r and nu r t u red by a com mo n l a w ."

1 0 3

Seneca recognized that "there

are two communi t i es—the one , which i s g rea t and t ru ly common, embrac ing

gods and men, in which we look nei ther to this corner nor to that , but measure

the boun dar ie s of our s ta te by the sun; the other , the one to w hich w e have b een

ass igned by the acc ident of our b i r th . "

1 0 4

For Phi lo , "Al l we men a re k insmen

and brothers , being re la ted by the possess ion of an ancient kinship, s ince we

rece ive the lo t o f the ra t iona l na ture from one a no th er . "

1 0 5

But even the Stoics

did not think that universal ism el iminated a l l need for discr iminat ion. Zeno,

"making an invidious contras t , declares the good alone to be t rue c i t izens or

friends or kindred or free men; and accordingly in the view of the Stoics par

en t s and ch i ldren a re enemies , no t be ing wise ."

1 0 6

Later Stoics modified this

view, but a dis t inct ion between r ighteous and wicked, wise and fool ish, re

m aine d essent ia l . Fo r the Stoics and the C yn ics , ho we ver , there could be no as

sumption that these dis t inct ions coincided wi th e thnic l ines .

For Jews in the Hel lenis t ic world, in contras t , such an assumption was par t

of thei r cul tural her i tage , and not eas ily discarded. Je ws w ere of ten accu sed of

an ant isocial and misanthropic way of l i fe , even by people who were not i l l -

d i s p o s e d t o t h e m .

1 0 7

Heca taeus comments on the i r "unsoc ia l and in to le ran t

m od e of l i fe" (apanthrdpon tina kai misoxenon biori), a l though his accou nt w as

g e n e r a l l y p o s i t i v e .

1 0 8

Diodorus Siculus a t t r ibuted the intervent ion of Ant i

ochus Epiphanes in Jerusalem to advice that he should wipe out the Jews,

"s ince they alone of a l l nat ions avoided deal ings wi th any other people and

l ooked upon a l l men a s t he i r enemi es . "

1 0 9

These charges were ampl i f ied in

ant i - Jewish polemics of Alexandr ian Greeks in the Roman per iod .

1 1 0

In large

par t , these charges arose f rom the impress ion of exclusiveness created by

dietary laws, and by refusal to intermarry and to worship the same gods as

102. Cicero,

De Natura Deorum

2 .154 .

103 .

Plutarch,

On the Fortune of Alexander

3 2 9 A - B ;

SV F

1.262.

104. Seneca,

On Leisure

4 .1 .

105.

Quaest. Gen.

2 .60.

106. Diogenes Laert ius 7 .33.

107. See Feldman,

Jew and Gentile,

1 2 5 - 3 1 .

108. Diodorus Siculus 40.3 .4 .

109. Ibid. , 34/35.1 .1 .

110.

S ee J. N . Sevenster , The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World (Leiden: Brill ,

1980). J. G. Gager,

The Origins of Anti-Sem itism

(Ne w York: Oxford , 1983) 39 -5 4 . The charges

are recorded and answered in Josephus' tract Against Apion.




everyone else . Apologis ts for Judaism such as Phi lo labored to explain, both

to the Jews themselves and to any Gent i le who might l i s ten, that these Jewish

pract ices were real ly in the best interes ts of humani ty and served the purpose

of

philanthrdpia.

111

Phi lo dev oted a lengthy expo si t ion to the

philanthrdpia

of

Moses and h i s l aws in De Virtutibus 51-174 . Yet even the a rgument for the

philanthrdpia of Juda i sm often en ta i ls a c la im of Jewish su pe r io r i ty .

1 1 2

"The

Jewish nat ion," wri tes Phi lo , "is to the whole inhabi ted world what the pr ies t

is t o t he S t a t e , "

1 1 3

and in an ideal world "each nat ion would abandon i t s pecu

l iar ways, and throwing overboard i t s ancest ra l customs, turn to honouring our

l a w s a l o n e . "

1 1 4

True, ethnic affi l iat ion alone did not qualify anyone as r ight

eous , and convers ion was cer ta inly possible . "In real i ty ," wrote Phi lo , "the

proselyte i s one who ci rcumcises not his uncircumcis ion but his desi res and

sensual pleasures and the other pass ions of the soul . For in Egypt , the Hebrew

na t i on was no t c i r cumc i sed . "

1 1 5

Phi lo might have agreed wi th Paul that "he is

not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor i s t rue c i rcumcis ion something ex

ternal and physical . He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real c i rcumcis ion is

a mat ter of the hear t , spi r i tual and not l i tera l" (Rom. 2:28-29) . Yet Phi lo , un

l ike Paul , was unwil l ing to dispense wi th l i tera l c i rcumcis ion, or wi th the spe

cial im po rtan ce of "Isra el acc ord ing to the f lesh."

The same is most probably t rue of the author of Wis . Sol . His intent ions

were indeed universal is t , and his God hated none of the things that he had

made. The High Pr ies t i s able to intercede for humani ty, "for on his long robe

t he who l e wor l d was dep i c t ed" ( Wi s . 18 : 24 ) .

1 1 6

F o r a Je w in first-century

Alexandria , however , this was a di f f icul t ideal to maintain. Custom and t radi

t ion led him to associate r ighteousness wi th the observance of the Jewish law,

how ever modi f ied . C onverse ly , the enemies of the Jew s were "an accursed race

f rom the beginning ," and the i r wickedness was inbred (12:10-11) . The pagan

world offered few i f any exemplars of vi r tue . When the Jewish community

came increasingly under a t tack, the incl inat ion to draw the l ines between the

holy people and the accursed foreigners was i r res is t ible .

Th e fact that e thnic anim osi t ies surface in his work should not , how ever , d e

t ract f rom the s incer i ty or admirable character of the author ' s humanis t ic

i d e a l .

1 1 7

At no point does he fault the Genti les for fai l ing to observe peculiarly

111.

See A. Mende lson ,

Philo's Jewish Identity

(Atlanta: Scholars , 1988) 1 03 -1 3.

112. Ibid. , 128-29.

113. DeSpec. Leg. 2 .163 .

114.

DeVitaMos. 2 .44.

115.

Quaest Exo d. 2.2.

116. Compare Philo ,

De Spec. Leg.

1 .66 -97 , w here the truest temple of God is the whole uni

verse.

117. Barclay, The Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora, 190, m isses the com plexity of the book

when he characterizes its primary tone as one of "cultural antagonism."



Wisdom and the Cosmos 221

Jewish customs, or hold them to ideals that were not shared by some Gent i le

phi losophers . The s ins for which the Gent i les are condemned are idolat ry and

infanticide; they are not reproached for dietary observances or sabbath viola

t ion. T he insisten ce that Eg yptia ns de serve d their fate is ul t im ately a reaction to

their

hosti l i ty to the Jews: "for they practiced a more bit ter hatred of strangers.

Oth ers had refused to receive s t rangers whe n they came to them , but these m ade

slaves of guests w ho w ere thei r ben efactors" (W is . 19:1 3-14 ) . Th e ancient s tory

of captivity in Egypt was al l too applicable to Jews who were faced with the

host i l i ty of Greeks and Egypt ians in Roman Alexandria . I t was a s tory of de

l iverance, not of conq uest . Th e dest ruct ion of the enem y takes place becau se of

thei r aggress ion tow ard the Israel ites . U nl ike other bibl ical s tor ies and p roph e

cies ,

i t does not represent the establishment of Israeli te rule over the Genti les.

I t may well be that the Stoic ideal of

philanthrdpia

was ul t im ately incom pat i

ble wi th the Jew ish c la im to be G o d' s cho sen peo ple , but the e thnic host i li ty that

seeps through in Wis. Sol. 11-19 was a reflection of historical circumstances

rather than a logical consequ ence of the autho r ' s ideology.



Chapter 12 .

E p i l o g u e : F r o m H e b r e w W i s d o m

t o Gr e e k Ph i lo s o p h y

At the beginning of this book we noted that the category "wisdom l i tera ture"

w as not identi fied by system at ic l i terary analysis but was prom pted by the f re

quency of words meaning "wisdom" in ce r ta in books , and then ex tended by

analogy to other books of s imi lar content . The pr inciple of analogy would cer

ta inly perm it us to include a muc h larger corpus of li tera ture than wh at we hav e

cons idered here .

1

T her e is cer ta inly m eri t in an inclusive a ppro ach , but there is

a l so som e danger tha t the concept of w isdom m ay beco m e so broad as to cease

to become useful . In this book we have chosen a narrower focus , by concen

t ra t ing pr im ari ly on the two m ajor w isd om b oo ks, the bo ok of Be n Sira and the

W isdo m of Solom on, wi th supplem entary d i scuss ions of the De ad Sea Scro l ls

and Pseudo-Phocyl ides to f i l l in the context . Even wi th such a l imi ted corpus ,

however , the var ie ty that we have found is remarkable .

I t is clear that wisdom li terature is not held together by a single l i terary

genre. Certain l i terary forms are characterist ic of this l i terature and appear re

peatedly, such as the gnomic sentence, the wisdom inst ruct ion, and poems in

praise of wisdom. Even these forms take on di f ferent color ings when we move

f rom Hebrew to Greek mater ia l and the convent ions of Greek rhe tor ic come

into play. At most we may speak of a macro-genre that encompasses var ious

li terary forms on a fair ly high level of abstraction. Wisdom li terature is pri

mari ly ins t ruct ional l i tera ture , character ized by second-person forms of ad

dress. The classic form of this instruction is cast as the advice of a father to his

son, but var ia t ions are possible . The second-person speech of Wis . Sol . 11-19

is addressed to God, a l though the passage is homilet ic in character and has

clear didact ic impl icat ions . Wisdom also includes a s ignif icant amount of re

flective material , in the form of assert ions in the third person. This material

ma y be cons idered " the express ion of the ac tua l , " in von R ad ' s ph ras e ,

2

but the

express ion can be h ighly t endent ious . (Cons ider Ben S i ra ' s " fac tua l" s t a tem ent

that "f rom a woman s in had i t s beginning.") I t i s bet ter regarded as a con

struction or construal of reali ty, and is often an expression of the conventional

1.

See the inclusive survey of M. Kuchler , FruhjU dische Weisheitstraditionen ( OBO 2 6 ; Go t -

t ingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , 1979) .

2. G. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel (Nash vi l le: Ab ingdon , 1972) 115.



From Hebrew Wisdom to Greek Philosophy

223

w isdo m of the au th or ' s t ime and p lace . Th e hym nic and encom ias t ic pra i ses of

Wisdom are a lso ref lect ive , and may be taken as a t tempts to const ruct a meta

phys ica l v iew of rea l i ty . The pra i ses of Wisdom are couched in more phi lo

sophica l l anguag e in the Wisd om of Solom on than in S i rach .

While wisdom l i tera ture is thus a loose category, i t i s s t i l l poss ible to dis

t inguish i t from other forms of biblical and parabiblical writ ing. I t is not nar

ra t ive in form. When narrat ive e lements are subsumed into these books (e .g . ,

Wis . Sol . 10-19) , they serve the purpose of i l lus t ra t ions . Wisdom does not

cla im to be inspired speech in the manner of prophecy (even though Ben Sira

cla im ed to pour for th teac hing l ike prop hec y) . Nei ther doe s it ha ve the force of

law, even though i t of ten takes the form of commands and prohibi t ions . While

the poems in pra i se of wisdom resemble hymns , th i s l i t e ra ture was not com

posed for l i turgical use , and the wisdom poems are only subordinate e lements

wi th in the whole . Wisdom l i t e ra ture somet imes approximates to ph i losophy,

especial ly in the Wisdom of Solomon, but on the whole i t does not pursue i t s

analyses in a r igorous or susta ined way. I t general ly avoids the abst ract rea

soning of the phi losophers . So whi le wisdom l i tera ture does not const i tute a

very sat isfactory l i terary genre , i t has recognizable parameters , and the cate

gory is not arbitrary.

T h e W i s d o m T r a d i t i o n

The Jewish wisdom books may be cons idered to cons t i tu te a t rad i t ion tha t

is held tog ether by cer ta in family re sem blan ces ra ther than by a s ingle l i terary

form. Both Ben Si ra and the Wisdom of Solomon draw heavi ly on Proverbs .

Wisdom of Solomon also draws on Sirach, and the incorporat ion of Israel i te

his tory in the older wisdom book was an important precedent for the Alexan

dr ian au thor .

3

Ps eud o-P hoc yl ide s s tands mo re di rect ly in the t radi t ion of G reek

gnomic poetry, but has extensive paral le ls wi th Ben Sira in the area of social

e thics . Al l of these book s are in cont inui ty w i th aspects of the book of P rove rbs .

But a l l of them also ref lect the new environments in which they were wri t ten,

and, they depar t f rom the older bibl ical wisdom in s ignif icant ways.

In his excel lent int roduct ion to Old Testament Wisdom, J ames Cr enshaw

sugges t s tha t wisdom involves "a mar r iage be tween form and conten t . "

4

Formally wisdom consists of proverbial sentence or instruction, debate, intel

lectual reflection; thematically, wisdom comprises self-evident intuitions about

mastering life for human betterment, grop ings after l ife's secrets with regard to

innocent suffering, grappling with finitude, and quest for truth concealed in the

created order and manifested in Da m e W isdom .

3.

C. Larcher, Etudes sur le Livre de la Sagesse (Paris: Gab alda, 196 9) 101.

4 . J . L. Crenshaw ,

Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction

(Atlanta: John K nox , 1981) 19.



224

Epilogue

H e sugge sts that "w isdo m is a par t icular a t ti tude toward real i ty , a wo rld vi ew ."

5

Th e worldv iew c onsis ts in a wa y of looking at things that "beg ins wi th h um ans

as the fundamental point of orientation. I t asks what is good for men and

women. And i t bel ieves that a l l essent ia l answers can be learned in exper i

e n c e . "

6

I t i s apparent that Crenshaw has only the wisdom books of the Hebrew

Bible in mind in al l of

this ,

and is not reckoning wi th the new developments of

the Hel lenis t ic per iod. His usage, however , i s typical of Old Testament schol

arship, and he is cer ta inly r ight that the wisdo m b ook s of the Heb rew Bible share

a worldv iew as wel l as par t icular li terary forms. This worldview involves m ore

than a point of orientation. I t also involves a set of assumptions about the uni

verse . I t af f i rms a world where there is an organic connect ion between cause

and effect, where human fulfillment, such as it is, is to be found in this life, and

where wisdom can be a t ta ined f rom accumulated exper ience wi thout recourse

to special revelat ions . This w orldview is found pr im ari ly in Prov erbs an d is a l

ready cal led into quest ion to some extent in Job and Q oheleth, but i t undergo es

more fundamental t ransformat ions in the Hel lenis t ic age.

In the bibl ical context , the most dis t inct ive feature of the wisdom books is

thei r avoidan ce of the specif ic t radi t ions of Israel . Th e wisd om they t ransm it i s

potent ia l ly av ai lable to any wise and r ighteou s person, regardless of e thnic af

fil iation. I t do es not de rive i ts auth ori ty from any sp ecial rev elatio n of G od to

Israel . In this respect , the bibl ical wisdom books may be said to const i tute an

incipient form of natural theolog y, in the broa d sense of the term — the idea that

" jus t by be ing hum an be ings , men and w om en have a ce r ta in degree of kno wl

edg e of G od . . . or a t leas t a capac i ty for such an aw arene ss; and this know l

edge or awareness exis ts anter ior to the special revelat ion" to Israel .

7

This is

not to suggest that wisdom teaching was based on reason alone, or that i t a t

t empted to prove the ex i s tence of God.

8

The Hebrew sages were no t ph i loso

phers . St i l l less should they be considered secular . While they make no refer

ence to the exodus or Sinai , thei r worldview is profoundly re l igious . I t i s

oriented to creation rather than to the history of Israel , and so i t might equally

wel l be ca ll ed c rea t ion th eolo gy .

9

While they occasional ly appeal to personal exper ience (pr imari ly in the

cases of Qoheleth and Job) , the wisdom books are , for the most par t , com-

pendiums of t radi t ional opinions . The s t ra tegy of the sages is wel l ar t iculated

by Bi ldad, in Job 8:8-10:

5. Ibid., 17.

6. Ibid., 18.

7. J. Barr, Biblical Faith and Natural Theology (Oxford: Clarendon, 199 3) 1. Cf. J. J. Co llins,

"The Bibl ical Precedent for Natural Th eolog y," JAAR 45 /1 Supp . B (1977) 3 5 - 67 .

8. The se are other understandings o f "natural theology " ack now ledged by Barr, Biblical Faith, 2.

9. Leo G. Perdue, Wisdom and Creation: The Theology of the Wisdom Literature (Nashvi l le:

Abingdon , 1994) , e sp . 77 -122 .




225

For inquire, I pray you, of bygone ages,

and consider w hat the fathers have found;

for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

for our days on earth are a shadow.

Th e sage s do not aspire to or iginal i ty . Rathe r they ref lect the consen sus of th ei r

cu l ture , and pass on the commonly accepted assumpt ions about rea l i ty . The

bibl ical wisdom books do not give us the ful l range of ancient Israel i te ideas

abou t real i ty . Th ey pa y l i tt le a t tent ion to m ytho logical bel iefs , a l though the au

thor of Job, at least , was familiar with them. They virtually ignore the cult . I t

i s reasonable to bel ieve, however , that what they give us was widely shared in

Israeli te society.

Sirach and the

Wisdom Tradi t ion

The wisdom of Ben Sira i s not great ly a t var iance wi th the worldview of

Proverbs , despi te the fact that i t equates wisdom with the book of the Torah

and dra w s it s exa m ples of great and fam ous m en from the his tory of Israel . Si

rach reads the To rah throu gh the lens of D eute ron om y. He pays vi r tual ly no a t

tent ion to the Pr ies t ly laws of Levi t icus . Deuteronomy i tse l f was heavi ly in

f luenced by the older w isdo m trad i t io n,

1 0

and had al ready suggested the

ident if ication of wisd om and the La w . Apar t f rom i ts focus on Israel , the w orld-

v iew of Deute ronomy has much in common wi th tha t o f Proverbs . The com

mandment i s not something that has to be brought down from heaven, but i s in

your mouth and hear t for you to observe i t (Deut . 30:11-14; cf . Prov. 30:4) .

De ute ron om y assum es the same cha in of act and consequen ce tha t i s opera t ive

in Pro verb s . O ne co urse of act ion leads to l ife , another to death (D eut . 30 :19) .

Nonetheless , Deuteronomy dif fers radical ly f rom the wisdom tradi t ion pre

served in Pro verb s in assu m ing a qual i ta t ive di fference betw een Israel and the

other nat ions .

The posi t ion of Ben Sira on the re la t ion between Israel and the nat ions is

open to dispu te , but w e have argu ed for a universal is t interpreta t ion. T he To rah

is the supreme manifes ta t ion of wisdom, but wisdom can also be found else

where . The law of Sinai i s only a concret izat ion of the wisdom implanted in

the wo rld a t creat ion. In this respect , the Jerusalem sage ant ic ipates Phi lo , the

Jew ish phi loso phe r of A lexan dria , wh o held that "the world is in harm ony with

the Law and the Law wi th the wor ld" (D e

Opif.

3) . Bu t the idea that the Jew

ish Torah is ident ical wi th the best in human wisdom inevi tably gives r ise to

tens ions . Th ese t ens ions bare ly beco m e ev ident in S i rach . Th e Sto ic - sounding

10.

M. Weinfe ld ,

Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic School

(Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press ,

1972) ;

Deuteronomy

(AB 5; N ew York: Doub leday , 1991) 62 -6 5 .



226

Epilogue

phrase "He is the a l l" (Sir . 43:27) i s logical ly incompat ible wi th the t ranscen

dence of God, which Si rach o therwise main ta ins . The not ion tha t God ' s c re

at ion is made up of complementary opposi tes (33:15) entai ls divine responsi

bil i ty for evil in a way that the sage is reluctant to endorse. If these tensions do

not become more apparent in Sirach, i t i s only because he fa i ls to explore the

impl icat ions of his ident i f icat ion of Wisdom and the Law. His use of the his

tory of Israel remains unproblemat ic , because he draws f rom i t examples of

glor ious and dis t inguished men, wi th vi r tual ly no phi losophical ref lect ion.

In addit ion to the difficult ies posed by incorporating Israeli te history into

wisd om teaching , another set o f p rob lems a r i ses f rom the chang ing wo r ldviews

of the Hel len i s t ic age . W isdo m teach ing t ended to reprodu ce conven t iona l be

liefs. Some of the bel iefs that were convent ional in the t ime of Proverbs were

undergoing change by the t ime Ben Sira wrote . Hel lenis t ic ideas play only a

modest role in Sirach. The Stoic ideas c i ted above are cases in point . The in

c reased impo r tance of hon or and sha m e in the sag e ' s e th ica l teaching a l so be

t rays the Hel lenis t ic context , but these ideas were not complete ly a l ien to Is

raeli te tradit ion. Sirach stood firm in rejecting the belief in retr ibution after

death that was gaining ground in his t ime, and consequent ly he cont inued to

view the context of human decis ion making in terms very s imilar to those of

Proverbs or Deute ronomy.

That context changes , however , in the text cal led Sapient ia l Work A, f rom

Q um ran. He re e thical decis ions are inform ed b y "the m ystery that i s to b e" (raz

nihyeh),

wh ich inc ludes the prospec t o f escha to logica l judg m ent . Eve n tho ugh

the actual e thical advic e given in this docu m ent i s paral le led in Sirach at m an y

p o i n t s ,

1 1

i ts presupposit ions are different in two crucial respects. First , the

"mystery" is not access ible to everyone, but presupposes a special revelat ion

to a select group. Second, the not ion of eschatological judgment radical ly a l

ters the this-worldly perspect ive of Proverbs . On both of these points , the text

f rom Qumran is inf luenced by another t radi t ion that emerges in the Hel lenis

t ic per iod , that of ap ocaly pt ic ism .

W i s d o m a n d A p o c a l y p t i c is m

The apoca lypses of Enoch and Daniel in the ear ly second century

B . C . E .

in

t roduce a view of the world that i s sharply a t var iance not only wi th the bibl i

ca l wisdom books , bu t wi th the Hebrew Bib le as a whole .

1 2

This new wor ld-

view is dis t inguished pr imari ly by the increased importance a t tached to

11. D . J. Harrington, "W isdom at Qum ran," in E. Ulrich and J. VanderKam , eds . , The Commu

nity of the Renewed Covenant (Notre Da m e, Ind.: Un iv. of Notre Da m e Press , 1994) 13 7- 52 .

12. See my essay, "The Place of Apocalyptic ism in the Rel ig ion of Israel ," in P. D. Mil ler , P .

D . Hanson, and S. D. McBride, eds . , Ancient Israelite Religion: Essays in Honor of Frank Moore

Cross (Phi ladelphia: Fortress , 1987) 53 9- 58 .




227

supern atural agen ts and a wo rld bey on d this on e, and by the ho pe for judg m en t

and vindicat ion beyond death. Of course , bel ief in the supernatural world was

com m onp lace in an t iqu i ty . W hat w as nove l was the degree to wh ich th is w or ld

was thought to impinge on human affa i rs and the bel ief that human beings

could have access to i t . This novel ty is readi ly evident i f we compare the var

ious components of 1 Enoch wi th Ben Sira .

Th e re la t ions be tw een w isdom and apoca lypt ic i sm hav e been the subjec t o f

tw o dis t inct debates in recent bibl ical scholarsh ip. In the context of the H ebr ew

Bible , the debate has centered around the controvers ia l c la im of Gerhard von

Rad that wisdom is "the real matr ix f rom which apocalypt ic l i tera ture or igi

n a t e s . "

1 3

T his c la im has not been ac cepted , but i t has contr ibuted to a tendenc y

to refer to the content of apoca lypt ic revelat ions as a kind of wisd om , a l though

a very di f ferent kind f rom that which we f ind in Proverbs and Qoheleth.

1 4

In

New Tes tament schola rsh ip the deba te has cen te red on the mix ture of apoca

lypt ic and sapient ia l mater ia l in the sayings source Q. Some scholars have ar

gued that these two kinds of mater ia l represent di f ferent redact ional layers ,

wi th the wisdo m sayings cons t i tu t ing the o lder s t ra tu m .

1 5

Bur ton Mack has a r

gued that this conclusion "turns the tables on older views of Jesus as an apoc

alypt ic preacher and br ings the message of Jesus around to another s tyle of

speech a l t oge t he r . "

1 6

There is an impl icat ion here that there is some inherent

incompat ibi l i ty between sapient ia l sayings and apocalypt ic ism.

The Sapient ia l texts f rom Qumran throw some new l ight on both of these

debates . Sapient ia l Work A shows close paral le ls both wi th the ant iapocalyp-

t ic wisdom of Ben Sira , on the one hand, and the quintessent ia l ly apocalypt ic

Inst ruct ion o n the Tw o S pir i t s , on the other . It lends crede nce to the view that

there wa s cont inu i ty be twee n the sages of Q um ran , wh o a t tached grea t impo r

tance to the To rah , and the k ind of w isdom school represented by Ben S i ra .

1 7

I t does not , however , throw any l ight on the or igins of apocalypt ic ism in

J u d a i s m .

1 8

The o ldes t apoca lypses , in 1 Enoch and Daniel , are not character

ized by reflection on the Torah, and are far more l ikely to have influenced the

13. G. von Rad,

Old Testament Theology

(N ew York: Harper, 1965) 2 .306.

14 . E.g ., Kiichler, Fruhjud ische Weisheitstraditionen, 62 -8 7 ("Die W eisheit der Apokalyptiker").

15. H. K oes ter , "GN OM AID IAP HO RO I: The Or ig in and Nature o f Divers if i ca t ion in the His

tory of Early Christianity," in J. M. Robinson and H. Koester, eds., Trajectories through Early

Christianity

(Philadelphia: Fortress, 197 1) 138 ; J. S. Klop penb org,

The Formation of Q: Trajec

tories in Ancient Wisdom Collections (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987 ) 317 .

16 .

B. L. Mack , A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins (Philadelphia: Fortress,

1988) 59.

17.

J . J . Col l ins , "Wisdom, Apocalyptic ism and the Dead Sea Scrol ls ," in A. A. Diesel et a l . ,

eds . , '"Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit. . .': Studien zur israelitischen und altorientalischen Weisheit

(BZ AW 24 1; Ber l in : de Gruyter, 1996) 19 -32 .

18 . Pace A. Lange , Weisheit und Prddestination (Leiden: Bri l l , 1995) 3 01 -6 , w ho argues that

the Qumran texts support the thesis of von Rad.



228

Epilogue

sapient ia l texts f rom Qumran than vice versa . The apocalypt ic e lements in

Sapient ia l Work A tes t i fy to the inf luence of apocalypt ic ism on the wisdom

schools ra ther than to the inf luence of wisdom on apocalypt ic ism.

Th e Sapient ia l W ork f rom Q um ran sho uld give pause to those wh o take wis

dom a nd apocalypt ic ism as mu tual ly incomp at ible forms of discou rse . Ev en be

fore this text be cam e avai lable , there was am ple eviden ce that the two kind s of

mater ia l could be com bined in var ious wa y s .

1 9

Th e apocalypt ic bel ief in escha

tological jud gm en t provided a f rame for e thical exhorta t ion, by holding out the

prospect of ever las t ing reward or punishment . In many apocalypses , the exhor

ta t ion is impl ic i t ,

2 0

but i t is sometimes spelled out in forms that resemble those

of the wisdom li terature. Perhaps the clearest use of a sapiential instruction in

an apoca lyptic con text is found in the secon d

Sibylline Oracle,

a Chris t ian adap

tat ion of a Jewish oracle, probably from the second century

C . E .

2 1

The Jewish

oracle was organized around the famil iar Sibyl l ine schema of ten generat ions .

At the end of the description of the tenth generation, the Christ ian redactor in

serted a passage about "a great contest for entry to the heavenly ci ty. I t wil l be

universal for a l l men, holding the glory of immortal i ty"

(Sib. Or.

2 : 39 - 55 ) .

At this point there is inserted a lengthy extract from the sayings of Pseudo-

Phocylides. At the end of the extract the Sibyll ist resumes, "This is the contest ,

these are the pr izes , these the awards" (2:149) . The extract f rom Pseudo-Pho

cylides is evidently m ean t to supply the rules for the contest , the cri teria for the

apocalyptic judgment. This is clearly a secondary usage of the sapiential mater

ial.

The sentences are inserted intact , and not redacted. (There are a few omis

sions.) Th ere is non e of the eschatolog ical urgen cy h ere that is typical of apo ca

lyptic material . Rather, we find the typical sapiential ethic of moderation: "Do

not gain wealth unjustly, but l ive from legit imate things" (v. 56); "Do not dam

age your m ind w i th wine or dr ink to exce ss" (v . 95) . Th e sayings represent every

day wisdom, and are not material ly al tered by their new context . While this text

is exceptional in many respects, i t may serve as a warning that ancient writers

could som et imes juxtap ose m ater ia ls that seem ideological ly incom pat ible to us .

In other cases, the content of the wisd om is integrally related to the apo calyp

t ic context . Th e Epist le of En och

(1 Enoch

9 1- 10 4) is the last major sectiorfof the

collection we know as 1 Enoch. The affinity of the Epistle with wisdom instruc

t ions is apparen t from the exordium : "H ear m y children, all the wo rds of your fa

ther and listen properly to the voice of my m ou th" (91:3). Th e ensuing instruction

dist inguishes repeatedly b etw een the w ise and the foolish. The typical form con-

19 .

J . J . Co l l ins , "W isdom, A pocaly ptic ism and Generic Com patibi li ty ," in L. G. Perdue et a l. ,

eds . ,

In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Mem ory of John G. Gamm ie (Louisvi l le , Ky.: Westminster

John Knox , 1993) 1 65 -85 .

2 0 . E.g., the wise in Daniel 11 are said to instruct the rabbim, but the actual instruction is not

recorded.

2 1 . J. J. Collins, "The Sibylline Oracles," in OTP 1 . 3 4 5 - 5 3 .




229

sists of an exhortat ion o r adm onition, followed by a short motivation c lause (e.g. ,

94:1:

"And now I say to you my children, love righteousness and walk in i t ; for

the paths of r ighteou sness are worthy of acceptan ce, but the paths of iniquity w ill

quickly be destroyed and vanish"). The subject matter of Enoch's instruction is

quite tradit ional and is primarily concerned with the exploitat ion of the poor by

the rich. It differs from othe r sapiential instructions in tw o respec ts. First, the a u

thori ty to which he lays claim derives from his know ledge of the heavenly tablets.

His utterances, therefore, have the quality of revelation, and give his instruction a

prop hetic as w ell as a sapiential tone. S econd , the prim ary m otivating factor is the

expectation of jud gm ent, an d the assurance for the r ighteous that they "w ill shine

like the l ights of heave n an d w ill be seen, and the gate of heaven will be open ed

to yo u" (104:2). As a corollary of this, i t is a premise of the apo calyptic wo rld-

view that earthly wealth is fleeting, and this conviction strengthens the woes

against the wicked . Unlike the sayings of Pseudo-P hocylides in Sibylline Oracles

2, the words of Eno ch are thoroughly permeated wi th an apocalypt ic w orld vie w .

2 2

The Sapient ia l Text f rom Qumran shows an even closer fus ion of wisdom

forms and apocalypt ic worldview. Formal ly, this text i s a wisdom inst ruct ion.

Much of the pract ical wisdom i t inculcates i s s imi lar to what we f ind in Ben

Sira . But the presupposi t ions of this author about the nature of the world and

human dest iny are very di f ferent f rom those of Si rach, s ince they are predi

cated on a m ystery an d expect an escha tological jud gm ent . T his text show s that

the form of the wisdom inst ruct ion was not inherent ly wedded to the kind of

worldview that we f ind in Proverbs , but could jus t as wel l be used in the ser

vice of an apocalypt ic worldview.

The Sapient ia l text f rom Qumran also shows that wisdom forms are not in

heren t ly wedded to na tura l theo logy . The raz nihyeh is not available to hu

mani ty a t large, but presupposes a special revelat ion, jus t l ike the ins t ruct ion

of En och . The Qum ran sage can draw on com m on wisd om abou t honor ing par

ents and weal th and pover ty, jus t as the Sibyl can draw on the sayings of

Pseudo-Phocyl ides . But in each case the "na tura l " wisdom i s subord ina ted to

the revelat ion o r inspira t ion to wh ich the wri ters lay c la im.

W isdom and He l l en is t ic Phi losophy

The Wisdom of Solomon is a lso inf luenced by apocalypt ic t radi t ions in i t s

depic t ion of the jud gm ent of the de a d .

2 3

I t also speaks of "the mysteries of

G o d" (W is . 2:22 ) . In this case , ho w eve r , the apoca lypt ic e leme nts are recast in

2 2 . Compare also the combination of sapiential instruction and eschatology in the Testaments

of the Twelve Patriarchs and in 2 Enoch 39 -6 6; Co l l ins , "Wisdom, Apoca lypt ic i sm and Gener ic

Compatibi l i ty ," Ml-19.

2 3 .

J . J . Col l ins , "Cosmos and Salvat ion: Jewish Wisdom and Apocalyptic in the Hel lenist ic

A g e , " / / / ? 1 7 ( 1 9 7 7 ) 1 2 1 - 4 2 .



230

Epilogue

the language of Greek phi losophy, by adapt ing the Platonic not ion of the im

mortal i ty of the soul . Despi te the a l lus ion to "myster ies ," Wis . Sol . cont inues

the search of the sages for a natural theolog y, anteced ent to special revelat ion.

The Alexandr ian au thor was cons iderab ly more sophis t i ca ted phi losophica l ly

than Ben Sira , but for that very reason his book exposes the tensions and dif

f icul t ies of t rying to combine natural theology wi th bibl ical revelat ion.

Th e key pass age on natural theolog y in W is . Sol . i s found in 1 3: 1- 9, and w e

hav e discussed i t in C hap ter 11 abo ve. Th e author vaci l la tes as to w heth er G en

ti les (more specifically Genti le philosophers) are culpable for fai l ing to reach

the knowledge of the t rue God, and he acknowledges tha t human reason can

hardly g uess a t wha t is on ear th , mu ch less wh at is in heav en. Y et he does h old

them responsible , for i f they had power to know so much, why did they fa i l to

d i scover the Lord of a l l ? Th e a rgum ent assum es tha t ph i losophica l reasoning

should lead to the conclusion that one God has created the world. While Wis .

Sol . can scarcely be said to have suppl ied the necessary arguments , the author

could c la im adequate support for this posi t ion among the phi losophers of his

day. I t seems clear , however , that the author ' s own bel ief i s not the f rui t of

phi losophical reasoning, but of the fa i th inher i ted f rom his re l igious t radi t ion.

His use of phi losophy seems to be rhetor ical ra ther than const ruct ive , but i t

does at test to his conviction that the truth is one, and is accessible in principle

to G reek as we l l as Jew . ^

A m ore sev ere dif ficul ty a t tends the a t temp t of W is . Sol . to incorp orate the

his tory of Israel into the author ' s universal is t theology. Ben Sira ' s use of bib

l ical history was relat ively unproblematic. He used the great f igures of the

Bib le as exemplars of c iv ic accompl i shment . Wisdom of Solomon, however ,

a t temp ts to glean a m ore profound m oral , and even cosm olog ical , lesson by us

ing the s tory of the exodus as a paradigm of vi r tue and wickedness . Conse

quent ly , Is rae l beco m es "a ho ly peop le and a b lame less race ," whi le the Eg yp

t ians are "a nat ion of op pre sso rs" and the Ca naan i tes were deserve dly pun ished

because of the i r ido la t ry . Wisdom of Solomon does no t name names , and so

leaves ope n the possibi l i ty that there ma y be other holy peo ples an d nat ions of

oppressors . The author appears to be interes ted in the type ra ther than in the

hi s tor ica l par t i cu la r s . Nonethe less , many commenta tors have found here

"undisguised par t icular ism," and undoubtedly the book ref lects the animosi t ies

of Roman Egypt in the f i rs t century

C . E .

There is an undeniable tension be

tween the avowed universal ism, according to which the creator loves a l l things

that exis t "for they are yours" (11:26) , and the ident i f icat ion of the author ' s

own ancestors as God's people and chi ldren in a special sense.

In the case of both Phi lo and the Wisdom of Solomon, the use made of

Greek phi losophy was se lec t ive . The Jewish au thors made much use of S to ic

concepts , but ul t imately the s t ructure of thei r thought was Platonic . Pla tonism

al lowed them to aff i rm the t ranscendence of God, as opposed to the immanent




231

dei ty of the Stoics . The doctr ine of immortal i ty of the soul was acceptable be

cause the belief in a significant afterl ife had been popularized in Judaism by

the apocalypt ic wri ters . Nonetheless , the bibl ical t radi t ion was great ly a l tered

when i t was interpreted through Platonic lenses . The emphasis on immortal i ty

leads to the reversal of m uc h of B en S ira ' s value system and open s the way for

an ascet ic view of l i fe , w her e chi ldlessness an d ear ly death can be view ed p os

i t ively. The cla im tha t G od did not ma ke death a lso bespe aks a view of the un i

verse that i s far removed f rom that of the Hebrew sage. St i l l , Pseudo-Solomon

believed that he was affirming the essentials of his tradit ion in affirming the

one creator Go d and re ject ing idolat ry, infant ic ide, and sexual pervers ion s . O n

each of these points he was taking a s tand against Greek popular cul ture but

could c la im the support of the more enl ightened phi losophers .

Th e a t tem pt to com bine na tura l theo logy , th rough the m ediu m of Greek ph i

losophy, wi th bibl ical revelat ion set the tone for much of Western theology

down to modern t imes. In his great opus on Phi lo of Alexandria , Harry Wolf

son argued that i t was Phi lo who inaugurated medieval phi losophy, by ins is t

ing that "s ince God is the author both of the t ruths made known by revelat ion

and of the t ruths made known by reason, there can be no conf l ic t between

t h e m . "

2 4

In fact , this principle is already implici t in Sirach's identif ication of

Wisdom and the Torah, but Si rach lacks s ta ture in the his tory of phi losophy.

There were other antecedents in Hel lenis t ic Judaism, notably the second-

cen t u ry ph i l o sophe r Ar i s t obu l us ,

2 5

but i t is Philo who first explores this prin

c ip le a t l ength and in depth . The Wisdom of Solomon comes f rom the same

w orld as Ph i lo , but presents i t s argu m ent in rhetor ical form rather than thro ugh

phi losophical analysis . Because of i t s s ta ture as scr ipture in the Cathol ic

Church, Wis . Sol . arguably had greater inf luence than the Jewish phi losopher .

Nei ther Wis . Sol . nor Phi lo wished to asser t (or even conceived of) the

autonomy of reason. Both ins is ted on the need for divine ass is tance, through

Wisdom or the Logos. But both a lso ins is ted on the abi l i ty of human reason to

ar r ive a t som e apprehens ion of God , and both saw the work of Wisd om as com

plementary to human inquiry, in no way ant i thet ical to i t .

Th e unders tanding of na tura l theo logy tha t wa s inaugura ted by the W isdo m

of Solomon and Phi lo received an inf luent ia l endorsement in the epis t le to the

Romans , where Paul asse r ted tha t "what can be known about God i s p la in to

them [ the G ent i le s] , bec aus e Go d has show n i t to them . Ev er s ince the creat ion

of the world his e ternal power and divine nature , invis ible though they are ,

have been unders tood and seen through the th ings he has made" (Rom.

1:19-20). Again, in Rom. 2:14, Paul a l lows that the Gent i les who do not have

2 4 . H. A. Wol f son ,

Philo

(Cambridge, Mass . : Harvard Univ. Press , 1947) 2 .447.

2 5 .

See C. R. Holladay,

Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors,

vol . 3 ,

Aristobulus

(At

lanta: Scholars, 1995).



232

Epilogue

the La w m ay "do by na ture [physei] the things of the law ." The re la t ion of Pau l

to natural theology is complex, and cannot be adequately discussed here . In 1

Co r. 1:22 he sets Ch rist crucified, the foolish ness of G od , ov er against "the w is

do m of the G ree ks ," as i f these we re ant i thet ical . Bu t w hatev er the place of nat

ural theology in Paul ' s thought as a whole , he a t leas t makes pass ing use of i t

in form ulat ing h is argu m ent in R om an s 1 and 2, and he is a lso credi ted w i th an

appeal to natural theology in the speech on the Areopagus in Acts 17 :16—31.

2 6

By vir tue of these passages , Paul lent a powerful ly author i ta t ive voice to nat

ural theolo gy in the Chris t ian t radi t ion.

That t radi t ion received i t s c lass ic formulat ion f rom Thomas Aquinas in the

Summa Theologica,

Firs t Par t , Art ic le 12. Th om as ci tes R om an s 1, but the dis

cussion seems closer to the formulat ion of Wis . Sol . 13:

Our natural kn ow led ge takes its beg inning from sen se. Hen ce our natural kn ow l

ed ge can go as far as it can be led b y se nsible things, but our mind cannot be led

by sense so far as to see the essence of God, because the sensible effects of God

do not equal the pow er of God as their cause. He nce from the kn ow ledge of sen

sible things the whole power of God cannot be known; nor therefore can His

essence be seen. But because they are His effects and depend on their cause, we

can be led from them so far as to know of God whether He exists, and to know

of Him what must necessarily belong to Him as the first cause of all things, ex

ceeding all things caused by Him.

Nei ther Tho m as nor any au thent ic "na tura l theo log ian" sugges ted tha t God

can be ful ly or adequately known by human reason, but he aff i rmed that nat

ural human knowledge has i t s ful f i l lment and goal in the knowledge of God.

In this he cont inued an approach to theology that had i t s roots in the Jewish

wisdom wri t ings of the Hel lenis t ic age.

26. See Barr,

Biblical Faith and Natural Theolog y,

21 -5 7; G. Bornkam m, "Gesetz und Natur:

Rom 2 , 14 -16 ," in idem,

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INDEX OF PASSAGES

The Hebrew Bible

Genesis

1 - 3 5 8 , 8 2 , 8 3 ,

124,165

1:2 51

1 :27 59 ,124 ,

187

1:31 86

2 52,65

2 -3 19, 20, 68 ,

125

2:7 81 , 129

2 : 9 5 9 , 8 3 ,

125

2:18 71

2:20 71 , 120

3 67

3:1 56

3:6 125

3:19 58

4-5 124

4:12 71

4:26 124

5:6-7 124

5:9-11

124

6 81

6:5 82

6:10 106

8:21 82

9:13-17 87

17:22 129

34 34

35:22

170

Exodus

4:22-23

218

7:1 101

7:3 110

13-21 51

15:15-16 109

19:16-19 5 9

20:12 64

20:17 62

21:1-11 73

21:2 74

21:20-21

73

21:22-23

171

21:26-27 73

22:6-12 163

22:18 170

22:22-23 171

22:30 167

25:8-9 51

33:9-10 51

36:31-35 9 0

Leviticus

5:20-26

163

18 162

18-20 173

18:6 169

18:9 170

18:22 171

18:23 170

19 16 1, 162,

163

19:2 63

19:28 173

19:35-36 163

20 162

20:10 69

20:13 171

20:15-16

170

20:17 170

25:39-55

73

26:14-22 87

Numbers

14:13-19

102

16:26 167

24:17 127

24:18 110

25:7-13 102

30:6-15

120

Deuteronomy

4:5-6 15

4:6 54

5:16 64

5:21 62

6:4 165

12 51

13:1-2 167

15:7-11 47

15:12-18 73

20:19-20 164

22:4 167

22:6-7 173

22:22 6 9

23:15-16 7 4

23:16-17 7 3

23:25 164

24:1 65

25:14-15 163

26 97

27:20-23 169

27:21 170

27:22 170

28:20-24 87

30:11-14 225

30:11-20 5 9

30:15 83

32:8-9

51



258

Index of Passages

D e u t e r o n o m y

(continued)

33:4 52

33 :10 8 ,101

Joshua

10:6 102

24 97

Judges

5:20 215

8:2 4

8:21 4

1 Samuel

17:34-35 103

19:9 81

28:19 103

2

Samuel

13 56 ,170

1 Kings

3:6-15 197

11:11-13 104

11:33 104

19:4 93

2

K i ngs

3:11 104

18 96

19:35 105

20:8-11 104

23:11 87

1 Chronic les

15-26 103

28:9 82

29:10 89

29:18 82

2

Chroni c l e s

17:7-9 8

E zra

7 :14 16 ,54

7:25 16 ,54

9:6-15

110

10:4 70

N e h e m i a h

8:9 8

9:6-37

110

E s ther

5:6 32

Job

3:11 93

3:13 93

3:17 93

4:7 13

7:4 94

7:14-23 74

8:8-10

2 , 2 2 4 - 2 5

8:11-15 94

9:8 51

9:22-23 13

15:17 87

18:17 79

19:19-22 74

26:7 198

26:12 88

2 8 1 3 , 4 6 , 5 2 , 5 5 ,

87

29:21 57

31 34

38-41 87

38:16 51

40:4 13

41:1-11 88

42:7 13

Psa l ms

1 16, 17,

49 ,

52,

114

1:6 17

18:7-15 87

18:19 49

19 16, 17,

206

19:1 206

19:7-8 16

19:10 17

22:5 49

25:2 49

33:6 87

44 110

51:17 90

65:8 51

74 110

77:11 87

78 116 ,117

79 -80 110

82:1 50

83 110

89:10 51

92:12 52

93 :3 -4 51

99:6 101

1 0 4 5 8 , 8 7 , 2 0 6

104:15 33

110:6 110

112:1 16

115:4-8 209

1 1 9 1 6 , 1 7 , 2 0 6

119:66 16

132:17 108

135:15-18 209

136 109

148 87

148:14 108

Proverbs

1-9 2, 12,

3 7 - 3 9

1:2-3 162

1:2-4 9

1:5-6 9

1 : 7 4 , 9 , 1 3

1:20-21

38

2:1-5 13

2:6 50

2 :18 -19 114

3:2 183

3:7 13

3:9 4

3:16 183

3:16-18 12

3:18 183

3 :19 11 ,12

4 :6 -9 49

5:5 114

5:7-14

68

5:12-13 38

6:6-8 168

6:25 68

6:31-35 6 9

7 6 7 , 1 1 5



Index of Passages

259

7:27 114

8 50, 52 ,196 ,

203

8:1-21

11

8:2 51

8:13 13

8:17 12

8:21 50

8:22 11,71,

115

8:22-31 12

8:27 51

8:30 197

8:32-36

. 12

8:35-36 183

9:1 36

9:1-5 49

9:1-6 10,12

9:10 13

9:13-18

10

9:17 68

9:18 114

10-31 12

10:1-22:16 160

10:3 3

10:4 49

10:7 79

12:2 4

12:4 4

13:17-19 29

14:1 4

14:20 29

16:1 4

18:22 4

18:24 74

19:4,7 74

19:13-14

4

19:18 4

20:1 33

20:20 4

21:9 4

21:19 4,67

22:6 4

22:8 4

22:15 4

22:17-21

7

22:17-23:11

5 ,9 ,

39

22:21 9

22:26-27 3,118

23:1-3 29,32

23:29-35

33

25:1 7,9

25:6-7 78

25:24

67

27:15 67

30:4 10, 205, 225

30:24-25

168

31 2,10,70

31:4-5 33

31:30 67

Qoheleth

1:12 28

2:4-9 28

2:12 14

2:22-23

94

3:1-8

86,104

3:11 86

3:19-21 14

4:2 93

7:26 67

8:15 94

9:7 193

9:16 29

12:5 166

12:9 14

Canticles

2:9 49

4:1-7 70

5:4 54

5:15 52

Isaiah

5:22 33

11

215,216

11:2 196

11:6-9 103

22:13 193

25:7 189

25:11 50

26:3 82

28:9-13 7

28:15 189

37:36 105

38:7-8 104

41:22-23

87

44:7 87

44:9-20

209

45:23

50

48:3 50

49:10 104

50:4 7

51:9 88

52:13-53:12

184

53 195

56:3-5

190

56:4-5 192

59:16-17 215

63:16 89

65:3 90

Jeremiah

10 209

41-44 136

Ezekiel

16:23-25 68

16:37-39 69

18:2 4

29:21 108

Daniel

2:22 87

4:24 64

5:1-2 32

7:10 123

9 110

10:14 104,110

10:21 123

11-12 191

11:27,35

110

11:29,40

104

11:33-35

185

12:1 123

12:1-3 184,185

12:1-4

117

12:9 128

Hosea

2:3,10

69

Joel

3:6 26

Amos

4:1 33

5:21-27 90

8:4-8 90



260

Index of Passages

Jonah

4:3

93

Habakkuk

2:3

110

2:18-19

209

Malachi

2:10

89

2:13-16

65

3:16

123

3:23-24

104

The New Testament

Matthew

5:43-48

75

11:28-30

48

11:34-40

60

23:15

155

Mark

4

48

4:21-25

77

10:2

66

12:28-31

60

Luke

6:27-28

75

6:31

75

6:32-36

75

8:16-19

77

10:25-28

60

14:7-11

78

John

1:1

50

1:14

52

6:35

52

8

69

Acts

2:30

18

17:16-31

232

Romans

1:19-20

208,231

1:20

58

1:26

171

2:14

231

2:28-29

220

5:12-21

67

1 Corinthians

1:22

232

5:1

169

15:22

67

15:32

193

Ephesians

5:21-6:9

63

5:22

174

Colossians

3:18-4:1

63

1 Thessalonians

4:4

120

I Timothy

2:18-15

63

5:1-2

63

5:23

33

6:1-2

63

6:10

164

Titus

2:1-10

63

Hebrews

II 98,213

1 Peter

2:11-3:12

63

Revelation

12:9

190

20:14

189

The Apocrypha

Tobit

3:6, 10, 13 93

7:16

72

Judith

13:2-8

33

Wisdom of Solomon

1-5

180

1:1 181,183

1:1-6:21

179,182

1:4 186,196

1:5

196

1:6

218

1:6-11 195

1:7 51 , 180,

196-98

1:12-13 182

1:13

187

1:13-14 188

1:14 187,

189

1:14-16 189

1:15

186

1:16

189

2-5

179

2:1-20

93

2:1-58

194

2:2-3

193

2:6-9

193

2:10

194

2:12 192-94

2:12-20 184,218

2:22

229

2:23 180, 183,

186

2:23-24

67,

187-88

2:24 182,

190

3

48

3:1

182

3:2

188

3:4

186

3:7

184

3:10

186

3:11-12

190

3:11-4:20

190

3:13

190

3:14

192

3:16-19

70

4:1 186,191

4:8

191

4:11

191

5:1

182

5:1-7

184

5:5

184

5:8-14

187

5:14

186

5:15

182

5:15-23

215

6:1

183



Index of Passages

261

6:3 179

6:4 192

6:9 181

6:17-20

1 9 2 , 1 9 6

6:18 196

6:18-19 1 8 3 , 1 8 6 - 8 8

6:20-21

204

6:22-8:1 197

6:22-9:18 180 ,

182

6:22-10:21 179

7:1 ,6 188

7:15 197

7:17-18 198

7:22 197

7:22-24 198

7:23 218

7:24 198

7:25-26 199

7:27 198

8:1 198

8:3 203

8:7 163

8:9 203

8 :13 ,17 186

8:19-20 185

8:20 185

9:1 87

9:1-2 199

9 : 2 5 0 , 2 0 3

9:4 203

9:5 188

9 :13 -18 205

9 :14 -17 208

9 :15 185 ,190

1 0 5 1 , 2 0 4 ,

2 1 4 - 1 5

1 0 - 1 9 1 7 8 , 1 8 0 , 1 8 2 ,

1 9 3 , 2 1 3 , 223

10:15 218

11 - 19 179 , 18 0 ,1 82 ,

2 2 1 , 2 2 2

11:1 180

11:5 217

11:17 198

11 :24 75 ,167

11:24-12:1 218

11:26 230

12:1 186-87

12:10-11 220

12:19 218

13 -15 204

1 3 : 1 - 9 2 0 6 , 2 3 0

13 :10 -19 210

13:10-14:31 209

14:1-11 210

14:7 210

14:12-31 210

14:17 179

14:22-28 191

14:23 192

14:23-28 213

15:3 186

15:7-13 210

15:7-19 209

15:18 211

16 -19 215

16:2,

3, 5 218

16:10 218

16 :21 ,26 218

16:24 215

18:2 218

1 8 : 4 1 5 4 , 1 8 6 - 8 7 ,

1 9 2 , 2 1 8

18:5 192

18:6 218

18:9 218

18:13 218

18:24 220

19 :6 87 ,215

19:13-14 221

19:18 216

Sirach

1:1 50

1:1-10

4 4 - 4 6

1:1-2:18

45

1:1-4:10

45

1:1-23:27 45

1:3 46

1:8 38

1:9 46

1:10 46

1:12 46

1:12-13

91

1:14 46

1:16 46

1:18 46

1:20 46

1:23 47

1:26 55

1:26-27

47

2:1 37

2:7-11 91

2:9 95

3 :1 37 ,64

3 : 1 - 6 3 4 , 4 7

3 : 1 - 1 6 4 4 , 6 3 , 6 4

3 :3 64 ,91

3:5 64

3:11 120

3 :12 -13 64

3 : 1 4 6 4 , 1 6 4

3:17 37

3:21 92

3:30 91

4:1 37

4 : 1 - 6 4 7 , 7 8

4:1-17 119

4:10 89 , 164

4 : 1 1 - 1 9 4 5 , 4 7

4:11-6:17 45

4:12 47

4 :14 47 ,51

4:15 48

4 :20 -31 34

4:21 77

5:5-7 91

5 :15 -16 79

6:5-17 74

6:7 77

6:10 40

6:13 74

6:14-17

102

6 :15 40 ,74

6:18-37 4 5 , 4 8

6:18-14:19 45

6:20 38

6:23 37

6:30 54

6:32-37 48

6:34-37 3 8 , 5 6

6:37 55

7:6 31

7:17 95

7 :18 -36 62

7:19 64

7 : 2 0 - 2 1 7 4 , 1 7 3

7:21 74

7:23 73



262

Index of Passages

Sirach (continued)

7:24 168

7:26 64,65

7:27-28

64,119,

120

7:29-31

37

7:31 47,90

7:36 78

8:2 164

8:19 168

9:1-9 34,77

9:2 77,104

9:10-16

74

9:14-16

33 ,74

9:15-16

44

10:6 40

10:9 78

10:19-25 34

10:19-11:6 77

10:28 78

11:3 40

11:14 84

11:26-28 79,93

11:29-12:18 74,

77, 167

12:2-3 74

12:6 74,167

12:7 167

13:4 29

13:8-13 32

13:10 78

13:23 57

14:11-13 93

14:11-19 96

14:14 193

14:18 40

14:20 49

14:20-27 48,49

14:20-15:10 45,

48

14:20-23:27 45

15:1 48,49,55

15:2-10 48

15:3 49

15:6 49,79

15:11-20 81

15:11-16:23 58

15:14 20 ,43,

81, 83,

190

15:14-17 59

15:15 43,83

15:17 83,190

16:17-23 69

16:22 95

16:24-17:20 58

16:26 58

16:26-30 58

16:29 58

16:30 58

17 68

17:1 58,187

17:1-2 83,92

17:1-10 58-9

17:1-24 83

17:2 59

17:7 20,52,

59, 83,125

17:11 101

17:11-13 59

17:14 60

18:1-15 91

18:9 40

18:19 95

18:24 79,93

19:20 55

19:23 56

20:21-23 34,77

20:28 31

20:30-31 77

20:31 44

21:1-3 91

22:3 72,73

22:19-26 74

22:23 75

22:27-23:6 44

23:16-26 68

23:18 69

23:23 69

23:27 70

24

49 , 57-61 ,

196,203

24:1-2 50

24:1-7 101

24:1-34 44

24:1-32:13 45

24:3 20,199

24:3-7 50

24:3-22 49

24:4 57

24:5 51,57

24:8-12 50,51

24:10 57-8

24:13-17 52

24:15 52

24:23 37,45,

50, 52 , 55

24:27 104

24:28 52

24:30-34 45

25:13-15 66

25:13-26:27 66

25:14 66

25:19 67,68,70

25:21 65,70

25:21-22 67,168

25:24 20,59,

67,

80

25:25-26 65

25:26 121

26:1 44

26:1-4 70,168

26:3 68

26:6 66

26:9 68

26:12 68

26:13-18 70

26:19-26 102

26:19-27 68

26:29-27:3 30

28:4 91

28:6 78

30:1 73,167

30:4 73

30:4-6 94

30:10-12 73

30:12 167

30:17 93

31:1-2 94

31:5 164

31:8-10 30

31:12-31 165

31:12-32:13 32

31:16 47,57

31:21 32

32:1 33

32:1-9 74

32:1-13 33

32:14-24 56

32:14-38:23 45

32:19-24 78



Index

of

Passages

263

33 81

33:2 56

33:7-9 104,110

33:7-15

84

33:10-13 81

33:11 131

33:14-15 85,87

33:15 131,226

33:16-18

45

33:25-30

73 , 173

33:30 73

33:31 74 , 173

34:9-13 53

34:12 29

34:21-31

90

34:21-35:13 37

34:21-35:26

90

35:1-2 48

35:1-5

90

35:7 62

35:21-25 91

35:21-26 111

35:24 111

36 102,109-11

36:1 88,109

36:1-22

44

36:10 110

36:11 110

36:20-21 110

36:23-37:15

74,

163

36:23-38:23 163

36:27-28 71

36:29

71 , 120

36:29-30 168

37:1-6

75

37:11 66

37:15 44

37:16-26

163

37:16-31 74

37:21-31

163

38-39

31

38:1-23 163

38:21-22

96

38:24 31

38:24-39:11

40

38:24-50:29

45

38:29 25

38:32

168

38:32-33 32

38:34 52

38:34-39:5 56

39-43 45,112

39:1 53,110

39:1-2

45

39:1-11

23

39:4 31,53

39:12 45

39:12-35 44,85,87

39:14-15

85

39:16,33

86

39:16-17 104

39:16-35

95

39:17 87

39:20 86

39:21 86,87,95

39:23 87

39:24 91

39:25 86

39:27 87,94,217

39:28-31 217

39:29-30 87

39:34

95

39:35 85

40:1

59,92

40:1-2 71,78

40:1-41:13

92

40:2 94

40:8-9

94

40:17 94

40:18-27 93

40:20-22

93

40:28 168

41:1^1

78

41:2 92

41:3-4 92

41:4 83,95,96,

183,187

41:12-13 94

41:13 79

41:14-15

77

41:14-42:8 34,

77

41:19 34,77

41:21 77

42:9-12

71

42:9-14

168

42:11

72,77

42:12 72

42:14 67

42:15 45

42:15-20

87

42:15-43:33 44,

85, 87,95

42:21-43:26 87

42:22-25 87

42:23 87

42:24-25

85

42:24

87

43:23-26 87,88

43:27 88, 89, 226

43:27-33 87

44-49 45

44-50

44,49,97ff.

44-51 79

44:1 99

44:1-15 99,100

44:6-26 52

44:8 79

44:15 108

44:16 106

44:16-45:26 100

44:16-49:16

99

44:17 99

44:18 59

45:5 59,101

45:6-13 106

45:17 37

45:23 88, 102,109

45:25 102, 103

45:26

102

46:1, 12 99

46:2 102

46:5 102

46:11-12 103

46:20 103

47:8 103

47:11 103,108,109

47:12 99, 104

47:19 104

47:22

104

48:1-11 104

48:8,

12 99

48:10 104, 108

48:11 95,96

48:13 96

48:13-14 104

48:21 104

48:24-25

105

49:4-5 108



264

Index of Passages

Sirach

(continued)

49:10 103,

105

49:12 106

49:13 105

49:14-16

105, 106

50:1 106

50:1-21 28,52,

99,110

50:1-28 106,107

50:5 90, 102

50:22 88,109

50:22-24 99, 102,

107

50:25-26

44

50:26

105

51 109,116

51:1-30

45

51:8-9

109

51:10 89

51:13 29

51:13-19

112

51:13-20 43

51:13-28 49,53-54

51:13-30

23

51:23 36

51:26 48

Baruch

2:11-26 110

3:9-4:4 55

4:1 52,55,

59

4:4

55

1 Maccabees

2

213

2:26 102

2:51-60 98

3:10 107

16:15-16

33

2 Maccabees

2:27

32

3:11 28

3:19 72

4:2

107

4:33

28

4:34 107

7

165

7:28 198

Pseudepigrapha

2 Baruch

17:3

67

48:45-46

67

54:19 67

1 Enoch

1 126

1-36 81

1:9

117

2-5 58

6-11

68

6:1-2 167

8:1

68

10:6,13 115

10:9-10

117

18:15

115

20:1-4

117

22

165

42:1-2 51

46

185

47:3 123

49:3

196

62

185

73-82

58

75:1

87

80 87

88:1-3

117

91-104 228

91:3 228

91:11-17

214

92-105

119

93:1-2

123

93:1-10 214

93:12-13

205

94-105 30

94:1

229

94:8 119

97:8-10

30

98:4

81

98:5 190

102:6-11

184

104:2 229

104:2-6

184

104:4-6 165

108:3 123

2 Enoch

31 190

39-66

229

4 Ezra

3:21-22 82

4

205

4:20 82

4:30

67

7:116-21 67

Jubilees

3 59

23 165

30:20-22

123

33:1-9

170

33:10 169

Letter of Aristeas

12-14 136

96-99 106

132 165

134-138

209

135-37

211

138

211

310

141

Life of Adam and Eve

12-17

190

3 Maccabees

1:18

72

2:28-30 146

4 Maccabees

1:1-4

163

16

213

16:20-23

98

18

213

18:7

72

18:11-19

98

PSEUDO-PHOCYLIDES

Sentences

56

228

84-85

173

95

228

99

174

115 166

125-28

166

129-30

167

130-31

166

132-52 166, 167



Index of Passages

265

1 3 3 - 3 4

166

137 167

140

167

1 4 1 - 4 2

167

1 4 7 - 4 8

167

149

167

150

167

1 5 1 - 5 2 167

1 5 3 - 5 7

168

1 5 3 - 7 4 166,

168

1 7 5 - 7 6

168

1 7 5 - 9 4

168

1 7 5 - 2 2 7

166, 168

176

169

1 8 4 - 8 5 171

189 170

1 9 0 - 9 1 171

192

171

193

170

194

170

1 9 5 - 9 7

168

1 9 5 - 2 2 7

168

2 0 1 - 4 169

207 167,

172

213 172

22 5

.173

22 7

173

Psalms

1 5 4 4 9 , 1 1 2 - 1 4

Sibylline Oracles

1:7-8,32 165

2:39-55 228

2:149

228

3:3

165

3:30

211

3:11-12 165

3:29-35 209

3:110-55 210

3:185

171

3:596 171

3:764 171

4

165

4:34

171

5:387

171

5:393 170

5:430

171

8:17-36

164

Testament

of

Abraham

10:14

75

Testament of Reuben

3:11-15 170

Dead

Sea

Scrolls

lQApGen

20:27

70

1QH

(Hodayot)

9:10-14

87

9:24

123

9:25

124

12:13

117

19:10

124

1:5

189

7:3

172

13:11

189

14:9

189

1QS

1:4,10 75

1:23-24

189

2:5

189

2:19 189

3 68

3 -4 122 , 123 ,

129

3 :15 84 ,121

3:15-16

85

3:17 124

3:18

84

3:20-21 130

4:3 117

4:11-13 116

4:13

115

4:23 126, 130,

131

5:2

8

6

112

8 112

8 : 1 - 4

90

10:16 117

11:3 -4 121

lQSa

1:6-8

123

lQSb

3:22-27 8

5:26

109

1Q27

l . i .

1-12 127

4QBeatitudes

3 ^ 114

4Q184

4 116

5 - 6

116

7

115

8 6 7 , 1 1 5

4Q185

1:14-15

117

2:3 117

4Q299

1.1-4

127

8.6

128

4Q300

la. ii.

1-5 128

3 : 1 - 6

127

4Q415

2.

ii 121

4Q416

1 i 1 5 - 1 6

126

2

ii 4-5 118

2

ii

1 5 - 1 6

119

2 ii 1 8 - 2 0 119

2

ii

2 0 - 2 1

118

2 ii 21 120

2 iii

5-7 118

2 iii

8 119

2 iii

9 122

2 i i i 9-12

118

2 i i i 12-13 119

2 iii

14 122

2 iii 16 8 9 , 1 2 0

2 iii

18 122

2 iii

19 64

2

iv 120

2

iv 8 121



266 Index of Passages

4Q417

l i l O

119

l i 10-12 122

l i 20-21

119

1

i

25

119

2 i 6 122

2

i 8-9 122

2 i l l 126

2i14-18 123

2 i15

127

2 i 16-17 122

2

i 17 126

2 ii 12-13 126

4Q418

69.4-15 127

123 ii 2-8 122

4Q423

2 125

HQPsalms

18:1-16 112

22:5-6

110

22:13-14 110

26:9-15

112

col. 27 103

col.

28 103

CD

2

128

2:5-6 116

2:10 121

2:14-3:11 214

2:17-3:12 98

3:20 106, 126

4:20-21 121

4:20-5:2 66

10:6

123

13:2 123

13:2-4

8

14:6-8 8

16:10-12

120

Hellenistic Jewish'

Authors

JOSEPHUS

Against Apion

1.40

105

1.41

99

1.186-89 136

2.35

136

2.37 142

2.38

143

2.49 136

2.65 143,147

2.66 211

2.190-219 173

2.198-210 63

2.199

171

2.199-206 168

2.200

169,174

2.206 63

2.211

174

2.213-14 174

2.215 171,174

2.218-19 173

2.273 171

2.282 155

Antiquities

3.274-75 169

12 56

12.129-53 106,110

12.138-44

138

12.139-40

28

12.142 24

12.146 29

12.150 24,139

12.154-234

27

12.161 27

12.212

30

12.224

27

13.349 137

14.114-18

137

14.188

142

14.214 139

14.235 143

14.259 143

15.330 211

16.162-65 139

18.7 163

19.280-85

145

19.281

143,

146

20.34-38 155

Jewish War

2.61 170

2.184-87 211

2.487 136

7.45 155

7.46-53 194

PHILO

De Abrahamo

17

100

55

187

84 210

89-93

47

135 171

De Aeternitate M undi

35 187

De Confusione

Linguarum

136

197

De Congressu

Eruditionis Gratia

74-76 152

De Vita Contemplativa

3-9 209

De Decalogo

52-54 208

52-81 209

58 208

66

209

76-78 211

155 210

165-67

63

Quod Deterius Potiori

Insidiari Soleat

16 186

De Ebrietate

177

152

In Flaccum

43 137

47

142

54

144,

164

74 138,146



Index of Passages

267

78 145

89:2 72

De Fuga et Inventione

97 201

De Gigantibus

6-9 185

31 186

Quis Rerum

Divinarum Heres Sit

203-6 51

Hypothetica

7.1-9 168,

173

7.3 174

7.6 173

7.6-7 173

7.8 173

Legum Allegoriarum

1.65 201

1.105-8 188

3.152 186

3.169-78 202

Legatio ad Gaium

183 143

350 143

De Migratione

Abrahami

116 151

De Vita M osis

1.34-36

147

1.35 164

1.155-58 101

2.16 152

2.20-21 156

2.44 220

2.99-109 202

2.266-67 216

De Opificio M undi

3 192,225

44 187

69 202

88 210

119 210

128 152

134-35 124

136-41 106

146 200,202

171 165

De Plantatione

11-14 185

De Praem iis et Poenis

94 217

98 217

162 217

165 216

169 216

De Providentia

1.25 168

Qua estiones et

Solutiones in Exodum

2.2 220

Quaestiones et

Solutiones in G enesim

1.8a 124

2.60 219

2.64 216

De Somniis

1.63-64

197

1.68-9 202

1.86 202

1.103 166

1.133-43

185

2.50 193

2.242 201

De Specialibus Legibus

1.13-20 208

1.13-29 209

1.66-97

220

2.50 171

2.62 152

2.62-63 60

2.163 220

2.225-27 63

2.230 151

2.255 209

2.282 155

3.20-21

169

3.43-50 170

3.108-9

172

3.169 72

4.123 200,202

4.134-35 163

De V irtutibus

51-174 220

Mishnah

m. Aboth

3.5 48,54

m. Abodah Zarah

1.3 179

m. Gittin

9.10 " 65

m. Ketubot

7.6 65

10.5 66

m. Sanhedrin

7.4 169

m. Sota

1.5 70

9.15 96

m. Yebamot

14.1 65

Talmud and Tosefta

b.

Baba Batra

16b 72

21a 35

b. Berakot

61b 82

j .

Ketubot

8.32c

35



268

EUSEBIUS

Praeparatio evangelica

13.13.40 165

LACTANTIUS

On the Anger of God

13.9-10 86

ORIGEN

Contra Celsum

4.81 168

On F irst Principles

4.4.6 178

Classical Authors

AESCHYLUS

Agamemnon

928 79

ARISTOPHANES

Clouds

1420-1433 169

ARISTOTLE

Nicomachean Ethics

3-5 163

Politics

1260a 70

iv .l

1.1295

159

Protrepticus

B21 181

CHRYSIPPUS

On Providence

Index of Passages

4 85

CICERO

Pro Cluentio

6.15 169

De legibus

1.16,18

60

2.8 60

De Natura Deorum

1.32 212

1.39 88, 198,

207

2.12-15

207

2.58 197

2.79 201

2.154 219

2.253 207

De republica

3.33 60

CLAUDIUS

Letter

to the

Alexandrians

145-46, 149, 151

CLEANTHES

Hymn to Zeus

8 8 , 95

DlODORUS SlCULUS

34/35.1.1 219

40.3 172

40.3.4 219

DIOGENES LAERTIUS

7.33 219

7.88 60

7.120 63

7.134 207

7.147 88,207

t. Ketubot

3.1 139

b.

Nedarim

20b 170

39b 61

t. Pe'ah

4.6 139

b. Pesah

54a 61

t. Yebamot

26a 171

Other Rabbinic Texts

Genesis R abbah

1.1 61

14.4 82

14.10 129

Pesiqta

de

Rab Kahana

76a 96

Qoheleth Rabbah

5.8f 75

Sifre Deuteronomy

37 61

45 83

Christian Authors

AUGUSTINE

De C ivitate

Dei

4.31 212

6.11 156

CLEMENT OF

ALEXANDRIA

Stromata

2.23.139

174

2.107.3 170

5.11.76

212



Index of Passages

269

7.148 207

7.156 197

7.185 41

7.439 197

EPICURUS

Letter to M enoeceus

124 93

EURIPIDES

Melanippus

frag. 50 2 67

Phoenician Women

805 67

GAIUS

Institutes

1.63 169

HESIOD

Theogony

120 170

Works and Days

4 2 - 1 0 5 6 8

HOMER

Iliad

6.146-49 4 0

HORACE

Odes

2.3.13-16 194

ISOCRATES

Ad N icoclem

42-43 159

JUVENAL

Satires

6.596 172

14 . 96 -106 156

LlVY

History

39 . 8 -18 192

MUSONIUS RUFUS

12 171

15 172

PLATO

Euthydemus

278E-282D 181

Laws

10[890] 207

636 171

647b 77

836 171

838a-b 170

898b 207

933 168

Phaedo

66B 185-86

Physics

258b 207

Republic

361 195

364 168

407a7 159

508 200

617E 185

Symposium

176E 33

Theaetetus

176b 201

PLUTARCH

Bruta animalia

ratione uti

7.990E-F 171

7.990F

170

On the Fortune of

Alexander

329A -B 219

On Isis and O siris

2 203

On Stoic Self-

Contradictions

1044D 86

De Superstitione

167D 212

PORPHYRY

On Abstinence

3.20.1,3 86

SENECA

De Consolatione ad

Marciam

22-23 191

Epistles

65.16 186

On Leisure

4.1 219

5.5 194

SOPHOCLES

Oedipus Rex

1529 79



270

Index of Passages

STRABO

1 6 . 2 . 3 5 2 1 2

THEOGNIS

9 - 2 1 1 6 1 , 1 6 3

9 - 5 4 1 6 0

1 0

163

1 1

1 6 3 , 1 6 6

1 3 163

2 2 - 4 1 1 6 1 , 1 6 3

2 7 1 6 4

3 8 163

3 9 1 6 4

4 0 - 4 1 1 6 4

4 2 1 6 1 , 1 6 4

4 2 - 4 7 1 6 1

4 8 - 5 8 1 6 1

54 165

5 5 - 9 6 1 6 0

5 9 - 6 9 1 6 1

6 9 1 6 4

7 0 - 7 5 1 6 1

7 6 - 9 6 1 6 1

7 7 - 7 8 4 0

9 7 - 1 1 5 1 6 1 , 1 6 3 ,

165

9 7 - 1 2 1 1 6 0 , 1 6 1

103 165

1 0 4 1 6 5

1 0 6 - 8 1 6 5

1 0 9 - 1 0 1 6 1

1 1 5 - 1 6 4 0

1 1 6 - 2 1 1 6 1 ,

1 6 6

1 1 8 161

121 161

1 2 2 - 3 1 1 6 0 , 1 6 1

1 3 2 - 2 2 7 1 6 0 , 1 6 1 ,

1 6 6

1 4 5 - 4 6 1 6 2

1 8 3 - 9 0 1 6 9

3 2 5 4 0

3 3 5

1 6 4 - 6 5

5 7 5 7 4

6 4 3 - 4 4 4 0

XENOPHON

Cyropaedia

8 . 7 . 2 2 1 9 7

Memorabilia

4 . 3 . 1 3 1 9 7 , 2 0 6

Ancient Near

Eastern Texts

Ahikar

1 . 4 - 5 7 2

5 5

2 9

Papyrus Insinger

8:5 70

8 : 1 0 6 7

1 1 : 2 2 - 1 5 : 6 1 6 7

1 2 - 1 8 1 6 5

1 4 : 6 - 1 1 7 3

2 5 : 3 4 0

2 7 : 2 1 4 0

Papyrus Se'elim

1 3

6 5

Teaching of

Amenemope

5 - 7 , 3 2

2 3 2 9



INDEX OF AUTHORS

A b e g g , M . G , 8 8 , 1 18 , 1 2 1, 1 23

Ab usch, T. , 94

Adkins , A. W . H. , 16 2, 16 9

Alex ander , P. S., 168

Alleg ro, J. M ., 114

Alo n, G., 175

Alo nso Schok el, L. , 59

Amir , Y. , 18 8, 18 9, 190

A p p le b au m , S ., 2 8 , 1 3 7 , 1 4 7

Archer, L. J., 65 , 72

Ar gal l, R . A . , 3 0 ,5 8 ,8 6

At tr id ge, H . , 96 , 11 6 , 14 8 , 17 6 , 212

Au ne, D . E. , 63

B ai l l e t ,M. , 43

B a lc h, D . L . , 6 3 , 7 0 , 1 7 4

Barc lay, J . M. G , 13 5, 14 3, 144, 159,

1 7 6 , 1 9 4 , 2 1 2 , 2 1 4 , 2 1 8 , 2 2 0

B a r r , J . , 5 8 , 2 0 6 , 2 2 4 , 2 3 2

Barto n, J., 18

Bauckman, E . G , 75

Bauer, J. B. , 109

Baum garten, J., 115

Baumg artner, W ., 98

Beauchamp, P. , 18 6, 21 5

Beentjes, P. C , 55

Be gg , C. R. , 105, 106

Berm an, J., 20 3

Berna ys, J., 158 , 163

B e t z , H . D . , 7 6 , 17 4

B ick e rman , E . J ., 25 , 3 1 ,1 3 8 ,1 3 9

Bild e, P., 141

Bizetti, P., 182

B lack , M , 24

B le n kin sop p , J ., 18 ,1 0 5 , 1 06

Bloch , A. and C , 70

Boccacc in i , G , 61

Boh len, R. , 63

Borgen , P. , 217

Borries, B. de, 21 2

Bo x, G. H., 42 , 105, 106

Braun, R., 15, 39

Bryce, G. E. , 5 , 6

Buchler, A., 90

Bu dge, E. A. W ., 5

Burgm ann, H., 114

Cam p, C , 10, 34 , 69 , 77

Caquot, A., 103

Carm ignac, J., 114

Cer esko, A. R., 16

Ch arles, R. H., 105

Charlesworth, J. H., 159 , 21 7

Clarke, M . L., 148

Cleary , J. J., 61

Clifford, R. J., 114

Co hen Stuart, G. H., 82

Coh en, M . E. , 94

Coh en, S. J. D . , 137, 142, 15 7 ,1 7 2

Col lin s, J. J ., 3 ,1 2 ,1 9 ,4 1 , 65 , 69 , 76 ,

80 ,

92, 101, 109, 126, 127, 130, 131,

135 ,146 , 150 , 154 , 157 ,184 , 188 ,

189 , 191 ,206 , 209 , 216 , 224 , 226- 29

Con z elman n , H . , 50 ,1 69 , 203

C ow ey , J., 141

Crenshaw, J. L. , 2 , 4 , 8 ,9 , 10, 14, 28 ,

3 6 , 8 1 , 8 6 , 8 8 , 9 4 , 2 2 3

Cross , F . M. , 2 6 , 2 05

Cr ouc h , J. E . , 6 2 ,1 7 3 ,1 7 4

Dalbert, P., 154

Dav ies , P . R. , 19 ,2 0 , 58 , 86

D a y , P . L . , 1 0, 1 1 4 , 1 7 8

De lcor ,M . , 116, 185

De l ia , D . , 14 8 ,14 9

De lorm e, J., 148



272

Index of Authors

De nis, A. M ., 113, 129

Derron, P., 159, 160, 161 , 167, 176

Deutsch, C , 53

Dey, L. K. K., 201,202

Di ese l ,

A . A ,

80,126,227

Dih le, A., 172

DiLel la, A. A., 1 , 18, 23 , 24, 42 -4 6,

5 2 , 53, 57, 68, 74, 79, 83, 84, 87, 95,

102 ,103 , 109 , 111

Dillo n, J. M ., 201

Dimant ,

D ., 179

Dinkier,

E. , 191

Do dd s, E. R., 34 , 201

D ove r, K. J., 162 , 169 , 171

Dupon t-Sommer, A. , 193

Edelm an, D . V., 19

Edersheim , A., 75

Eisenm an, R. H., 118, 121

Elgv in, T., 60 , 117, 121 ,

124-27

Ellis , E. E., 19

Em erton, J. A ., 2, 130

Engel ,

H., 179 , 197, 198

Englund,G. , 11

Feldman , D . M ., 172

Feldm an, L. H., 137, 151, 152, 154,

155,

157,219

Fernandez M arcos, N. , 179

Fichtner,

J., 3 , 180

Fischer, U., 21 6

Fitzmy er, J. A., 66 , 171

Focke,R,

180

Fon taine, C. R., 4

Fox , M. V., 15, 39, 70

Fraade, S., 211

F r a s e r , P . M . ,

137, 139

Freedman, D. N., 26

Frerichs, E., 137,

142,157,216

Freund,R., 172

Friedlander, M ., 154

Fuc hs, A., 43

Fuks, A , 13 5-3 7, 141, 142, 144, 145,

146, 149, 153, 164

Fuller, R .C ., 95

Gag er, J. G., 21 9

Gam mie, J. G , 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 14, 16, 47 ,

59 , 129

Garcia M artinez,

R, 88 ,1 14 , 118 , 121

Gaventa,

B. R., 188

Gazo v-Ginzb erg, A. M ., 114

G ef fcken ,J . ,

210

Gen tili, B., 159

Georgi , D. , 154, 155, 17 8- 80 , 191

Gerstenberger,

E., 4,

17,110

Gigante, M., 138

Gi lbert, M. , 16 , 3 7 ,4 5 ,4 9 , 64 , 180 ,

182,

188, 191, 195,209,210,211

Gilmore, D. G , 34

Gi lpin, W .C . , 13

Ginzb erg, L., 168

Golka, F. W ., 6, 7

Gooden ough, E. R., 20 0, 214

Goodm an, M., 135, 154, 155, 15 7-5 9,

180,209

Gordis,R.,

31

Gorg, M ., 213

Grant, F. C , 203

Green, W. S., 21 6

Greenfield, J. C , 26

Gr egg, J. A. F., 190

Grelot,R, 184

Gressmann, H., 3

Grimm , C. L., 180

Habel , N. C , 13

Hadot,

J., 83

H a l l , R . G , 97,213

Hanson, P. D. , 226

H a r r i l l , A B . ,

73,172

Harrington, D . J., 64 , 89 , 112 , 11 3,

116, 117, 118, 120-22, 125, 126,

226

Harris, W . V ., 148

Harvey ,

J. D ., 45

Haspecker,

J ., 4 6 , 47 , 76

Hays,R.,

171

H e a t o n , E . W . ,

6 , 3 6

H e c h t , R . D . , 2 1 6

Heinem ann, I., 181

Hein isch, P., 194, 20 0

H e n g e l , M . , 2 4 , 2 5 , 2 7 , 2 9 , 4 1 , 8 8 , 9 9 ,

152

Hentschel ,

G , 179, 213

He rm isson, H. J., 5

Hirzel,R., 6 2

Hoffken, P., 105

Hoglu nd, K. G , 10, 188

Holladay,

C. R.,

150,231



Index

of

Authors

273

Hon igman n, S., 142

Horbury,

W ., 136, 142,

150,178

Hor sley, R. A., 61 , 192

Horst,

P . W. van der , 3 2 ,6 3 , 9 3 , 136,

1 4 1 , 1 5 0 , 1 5 8 - 7 0 , 1 7 5

H o u c k , J . W . , 7 6

Htibner ,H. ,

184,

197-99

H ughes , H .M . , 75

Humbert,

P., 5

I lan,T., 65

Jacob, E., 98 , 106

Jamieson-Drake, D . W ., 7, 8

Janssen, E., 97

Jerem ias, J., 89

Jones, A. H. M ., 148, 151

Juster,J. ,

139

Kaiser, O., 76

Kasher, A., 135, 136, 138, 14 1, 14 2,

144, 146, 147, 149

K a y a t z , C , 11,50,203

Kearns , C ,

43,95

Kister, M ., 88

Kleinknecht,

M ., 60 , 197

Kloppenborg ,

J. S., 20 3,

204,227

Klostermann, A. , 7

Knight,

D . A., 1

Koch,K.,

4,18,88

Koester,

H .,

61,169,192,227

Kolarcik,

M ., 179, 182, 188, 189, 195

Kraabel, A. T., 155, 156

Kuchler,

M ., 61 , 112, 159, 22 2, 227

Ku hn, K. G., 156

Kuhrt,

A., 24

L a n g , B . , 1 1 , 4 7

Lange, A. , 113 , 117 , 121 -25 , 127 -29 ,

227

Lap idge, M ., 196

Larcher,

C , 18 1 ,1 85 , 193 , 194 , 197 ,

199, 200, 209, 223

Lee, T. R.,

99,106

Leiman, S. Z. , 17, 18 ,4 2

Lem aire, A. , 8

L e m c h e , N . P . , 1 1 7

Lev ens on, J. D ., 15, 16

Le vine , A . J., 34 , 69

Levison, J ., 6 7 , 6 8 , 80

Lew is , N., 66

Licht,

J., 122

Lichtenberger, H., 116

Lichtheim, M ., 5, 6, 40 , 63

Lin cke , K. F. A. , 158

Lindenberger,

J. M , 6

Link-Sal inger, R., 4 1 ,5 5

Long, A. A. , 60 , 61 , 85 , 86 , 88 ,9 3 ,

197, 201

Lov ering , E. H., 117

L u d e r i t z , G ,

141 , 142

Ludin

Jansen, H., 17

Lud wich, A., 158

Lum pe, A., 98

Luy ten, J., 16

Lyttkens, H., 20 0, 208

Mack, B . , 5 0 , 1 0 0 , 1 0 3 , 1 0 4 , 1 0 6 , 1 07 ,

2 0 3 ,

204, 214, 227

M acLennan , R. S., 155

Maertens, T., 98 , 106, 108

Ma ier, J., 58 , 83

M alherbe, A. J., 159

Mans fe l d ,J . , 201

Marbock, J., 49 , 56, 58 , 60 , 88, 109

Marrou, H. I., 35 , 38 , 149, 152

Martin, D . B., 172

Martin, J. D ., 58 , 86 , 103

M ays, J. L. , 16 ,1 9

McBride, S. D ., 226

McKane, W., 3 ,5

McK ni ght ,

S., 155

Mendelson, A. , 150 , 15 2 ,1 53 , 200

Meyers , C , 67

M ichael is , D ., 75

Middend orp, Th., 40 , 67 , 68 , 85, 88 ,

104, 110

M i l i k , J . T . ,

43,121

Millar, F.,

24,135

M iller, P. D ., 22 6

Mits i s ,P . , 61

M odrzejew ski , J. M., 13 5-3 7, 140,

142-44 , 147

M oore, C. A. , 55

Moore, G. F.,

55,61,82

M oore, R. D ., 115

M oule, C. F. D., 216

Mowi ncke l ,

S., 17

Moxnes , H. , 34,77

M u e n c h o w ,

C , 34



274

Index of Authors

Muraoka, T., 53

Murphy, R. E., 1- 3, 14, 16, 82 , 131

Neusner, J ., 61 , 157, 19 2, 21 6

N e w s o m , C . A . , 1 0 , 1 1 3 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 7 ,

129, 165

Nicke lsburg, G. W . E., 30 , 119, 165,

185

Niebuhr, K. W., 16 3, 16 9, 173, 175

Nilsson , M. P. , 21 2

No y, D., 136, 142

O'Fearghail,

R , 90

Oesterley, W . O. E., 42 , 105, 106

Ogd en, G. S., 93

Olyan, S. M ., 101 , 103, 108, 171

Overm an, J. A ., 155

Parry, D ., 126

Paul, S., 123

Pautrel, R , 88

Perdue, L. G , 1,3 ,4 ,6 ,8 ,9 , 13,

1 5 - 1 7 , 4 6 , 4 7 , 6 5 , 9 0 , 1 29 , 1 31 , 2 2 4 ,

228

Peters, N ., 68

Petersen, D . L., 19

Peterso n, E., 165

Pfann, S., 128

Philonenko, M ., 130

Place s, E. des , 198

Plo eg , J. P. M . van der, 16

Poh lenz, M ., 88, 197

Pohlman n, K. R , 105

Pomykal a, K . E . , 10 2 , 10 3 ,1 08

Porten, B ., 136

Porter, C. R , 82

Prato, G. L., 83 , 85 , 159

Preuss, H. D ., 20 9

Prockler, L. J., 92

Propp,W., 113

Pu ech ,E. , 96 , 114 , 184

Purv is, J. D ., 105

Qimron, E., 19

Rackm an, H., 162

Rad, G. von, 2 , 4 , 11, 12, 86, 104, 183,

209 , 222 , 227

Rajak, T., 139

Ranken , O. S., 95

Ree se, J. M., 179, 181, 186, 20 3, 20 4

Reider, J ., 18 0, 21 8

Reiterer, F. V ., 74

Re yno lds, J., 157

Reyn olds, N., 126

Richar ds, K. H., 19

Rickenbacher, O., 4 0 , 4 9 , 52

Riesn er, R., 36

R i s t , J . M . , 1 9 6 , 2 0 1

Rob inson, J. M ., 50 , 227

Roth, W. M. W ., 209

Roth ,W . , 45

Rttger, H. P., 4 2

Rup pert,L., 184, 185

Safrai , S. , 35, 36 ,1 3 7 , 139

Saldar ini, A . J., 31

Sandbach, R H., 88 , 197, 198

Sanders, E . P . , 5 5 ,7 6 ,9 1

S an de rs , J. A , 2 4 , 4 3 , 5 3 , 1 1 2

S an de rs, J. T ., 3 1 , 3 2 , 4 0 , 6 3 , 6 4 , 6 7 ,

70 ,

73, 74, 77

Saracino, R , 96

Satran, D ., 27

Scaliger , J., 158

Schafer,P. , 211

Schechter, S. , 4 2 ,4 3

Schiffman, L. H., 19, 11 2, 12 7, 128

S c h m i d , H . H . , 1 , 8 6

Schmitt, A. , 18 0 ,2 13

Sch nab el, E. J., 55

Schneider, C , 170

Schu ller, E., 89

Schiirer, E., 24 , 13 5- 13 8, 141 , 158,

159, 168, 180

Scot t, B .B . ,

1,4,46,

131

Sedley, D . N., 60, 85, 86, 88, 93 , 197

Segal , M .H . , 45

Sevenster, J. M ., 21 9

S he pp ar d, G . T ., 2 0 , 5 0 , 5 1 , 5 7 , 5 8

Sherw in-Wh ite, S., 24

Shupak, N ., 6

Sieben eck, R. T., 98 , 108

Skehan, P . W., 18 , 23 , 2 4 ,4 3 ,4 5 , 52 ,

5 3 ,

57 , 68 ,74 , 79 , 83 , 84 , 87 , 95 ,102 ,

103,

109, 111

Sm allwood, E. M., 141

Smend, R , 18 ,5 0 , 66 , 84 , 103 , 105 ,

106

Sm ith, D . E., 33



Index of Authors

275

Soi l, W ., 17 Vau x, R. de, 43