6:39\u201341. your [ ] he shall rule over \u2026 and he shall fall These lines use vocabulary familiar from the creation stories in Gen. 1\u20132: dominion over the earth in 1:28, the creation of the man from the dust in 2:7, and the creation of the heavenly expanse in 1:6.
\n6:41. firmament This word also appears in 5:25 and 11:32.
\n7:12\u201320 This brief psalm is from fragment 10, which Stegemann locates in this column, although other scholars position it later in the scroll between columns 18 and 19. It is a remarkable fragment because it contains references in the first-person plural instead of the singular form that is typical for the scroll. In addition to these plural references, there are other liturgical elements. The hymnist speaks about being brought into the community of the yahad and about joyful singing. 7:17. and we si[ng joyfully See 7:21; 11:24; and 19:8, 17, 29; see also 4Q405.
\n7:19. [wi]th the sons of Man in the midst of the [son]s of Adam While \u201csons of Adam\u201d is fairly common in the scroll (9:29, 36; 10:27; 12:33; 13:13, 17; 14:14; 18:28; 19:9), with the singular \u201cson of Adam\u201d appearing at 12:31 and 18:30, the expression \u201csons of Man\u201d appears only here.
\n7:21\u20138:41 In this psalm, the speaker contrasts the righteous\u2014those prepared for salvation\u2014with the wicked\u2014those destined for destruction. It is perhaps no surprise that singular forms appear for the former while plural forms are used for the latter. These contrasts are presented within a framework that highlights the covenant relationship between the speaker, his community, and God. Similar to other psalms in this first part of the scroll, Deuteronomic language is used to contrast the righteous with the wicked. The image of loving God wholeheartedly and choosing that which he loves (7:23\u201324) is contrasted with that of despising God\u2019s statutes and choosing that which he hates (7:31\u201332). Many of the covenant images in this psalm are familiar from CD and 1QS.
\n7:21. bles[sed are you God of mercies with a] song, a chant for (the) Inst[ructor This is the second of the four headings to the \u201cinstructor\u201d (5:12; 20:7; 25:34). The word \u201cchant\u201d has been inserted supralinearly by a scribe.
\n7:23\u201324. and I shall love you freely with all (my) heart and with all (my) soul The language that appears here resembles that found in the Damascus Document, which recounts how Moses spoke to the people Israel: \u201cto return to the Torah of Moses with all (their) heart and with all (their) soul\u201d (CD 15:9\u201310).
\n7:24. the Many See also 12:28, 29. The term Rabbim commonly appears as a community reference in 1QS 6\u20137 and CD 14:7, 12.
\n7:25\u201326. I know by your insight \u2026 nor is a mortal able to determine his step This may be an allusion to Jer. 10:23: \u201cI know \u2026 that a man\u2019s road is not his [to choose], that man, as he walks, cannot direct his steps.\u201d
\n7:27\u201330. you alone have [creat]ed the righteous one \u2026 and from the womb you set them aside for the day of slaughter The language of predestination, here used to describe both the righteous and the wicked, is consistent with the language that appears in the \u201cTwo Spirits Treatise\u201d in 1QS 3:13\u20134:26, especially 1QS 3:15\u201317 and 4:25\u201326. The theme is also consistent with CD 2:2\u201313: \u201cBefore they were established, he knew their deeds\u201d (2:7\u20138). All of the deeds of the angels of destruction unfold by the design of God, and all \u201cthose whom he hates, he causes to stray\u201d (CD 2:13).
\n7:29. with the abundance of your mercies This expression also appears in 12:37, 38; 13:4; 14:12; 15:33, 38; 17:8, 34; and is reconstructed in 4:23; 18:23; 26:32, 34; and 4Q301 3 5. This may be an allusion to Isa. 63:15.
\n7:34. and what indeed is flesh that Cf. a similar phrase that appears in 4Q301 5 3: \u201cWhat is flesh that?\u201d See comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n7:35\u201337. I know that no wealth can compare with your truth \u2026 nor will you take a cover-up for the deeds of wickedness Cf. 6:31.
\n7:38. God This word is written in a paleo-Hebrew script. Because paleo-Hebrew does not appear consistently throughout the scroll, this script was likely present at this place in the text that scribe A of 1QHa was copying. It appears only in two other places in the scroll at 9:26 and 10:36. The infrequency of these appearances suggests that the Hymns scroll is a collection compiled from different literary sources.
\n8:36. the son of your maidservant This expression appears only here in the scroll and also in the concluding blessing in 1QS 11:16 and 4Q381 33+35 5.
\n9:1\u201310:4 The first few lines of 1QHa 9 either have not survived or are in poor condition. It may be that this psalm began very near the top of this column, which is the first column of the third sheet of the scroll. In addition to a number of wisdom themes, this composition speaks in a special way about the ordering of the cosmos and the heavenly bodies, primordial writing, the role of divine wisdom, and the cosmic praise of God. Traditional scholarship identifies this psalm as a Community Hymn type; however, it very likely functioned as an introduction to the Teacher Hymns collection (10:5\u201317:36). In support of this view, this hymn appears at the beginning of what may be a Teacher Hymns-only scroll from Cave 4 (4Q432). The psalm can be seen to have seven units, which are formed by six blanks (cf. 15:9\u201328). The seventh unit addresses the reader\/listener in a hortatory style, perhaps anticipating what is to come. Within a series of rhetorical questions, the speaker makes reference to himself as a creature of clay kneaded with water (9:23\u201328). This recurring theme appears in both of the Community Hymns sections and in the Teacher Hymns (e.g., 5:12\u20136:33; 11:20\u201337; 20:7\u201322:42; cf. 12:30).
\n9:23\u201324. but I am a creature of clay and mixed in water \u2026 the melting pot of iniquity and edifice of sin These references to the baseness of the human condition (e.g., self-understanding as nothing but a mixture of clay or dust) within a series of rhetorical questions appear in 5:32\u201333; 7:34; 11:24\u201326; 12:30\u201331; 18:5\u20139; 20:27\u201331; 21:11\u201313; and 1QS 11:9\u201310, 21\u201322. Similar language appears in 1QHa 15:39\u201340; 22:12; 23:12; and 4Q511 28+29 4.
\n9:25\u201326. everything is engraved before you with the stylus of remembrance This is a reference to primordial writing and perhaps an allusion to the heavenly tablets familiar from Jubilees. See also the references in 4Q417 2 14\u201316 to engraving and to a \u201cbook of remembrance.\u201d This reference to deep writing (engraving) suggests permanence.
\n9:28. O God of knowledge The scribe has written God in the paleo-Hebrew script (cf. 7:38 and 10:36).
\n9:29\u201333. you created breath on the tongue \u2026 according to their understanding The hymnist describes the primordial origins of speech and thus praise. These lines presume a scenario like that found in Ps. 19:2\u20135, which describes the divine creation of speech.
\n10:5\u201321 The opening address to God has not survived in this composition but has been reconstructed based on the consistent use of this formulaic address in the Teacher Hymns. In the first section, the speaker describes his distinct role both as a special leader to his own community and as the bane of his enemies. The enemies are described with particular attention to their speech and mouths. Not only do they speak distortions and lies, they sing mocking songs. The aggressiveness of their attacks is conveyed by images of their gnashing teeth.
\n10:11\u201312. you have made me a reproach and a taunt This may be an allusion to Ps. 44:14; 79:4; and Jer. 20:8.
\n10:15. in mysteries of wonder Cf. 5:19 and 12:28\u201329; see also 4Q428 9 1 and 4Q417 2 i 2, 13.
\n10:16. the lovers of discipline This may be an allusion to Prov. 12:1: \u201cHe who loves discipline loves knowledge.\u201d
\n10:16\u201317. and a master of [st]rife \u2026 against all those who seek flat[tering words] Perhaps this is an allusion to Isa. 30:10: \u201cWho said to the seers, \u2018Do not see,\u2019 to the prophets, \u2018Do not prophesy truth to us; speak to us falsehoods, prophesy delusions.\u2019 The phrase \u201cmaster of disputes\u201d also appears later in the scroll at 1QHa 13:37.
\n10:19 A shift in voice occurs here. The persecuted one is now described in the third person, even though, presumably, the persecuted one continues to be the speaker himself (10:18).
\n10:22\u201332 Here the hymnist voices his gratitude for God\u2019s protection against his ungodly enemies and expresses confidence in God and his covenant (10:24, 30). Vivid descriptions of the enemies\u2019 aggression against the speaker culminate with the declaration that they are entrapped by their own insidious snares. A number of biblical allusions appear in this composition, which concludes with an extended quotation from the lament psalm, Ps. 26:12\u2014perhaps the lengthiest biblical quotation that appears in the scroll.
\n10:22. in the bundle of the living An allusion to the speech that Abigail makes to David in 1 Sam. 25:29 where she expresses the wish that God will protect David from his enemies.
\n10:23. Because ruthless men seek my soul A short quote from the lament in Ps. 54:5 and 86:14.
\n10:25. Because of you Literally \u201cfrom you,\u201d as in 10:24 (cf. Ps. 22:26).
\n10:27. they have surrounded me Context makes it necessary to correct the third person masculine plural suffix in sevavum (\u201cthey have surrounded them\u201d) to a first person common singular suffix: \u201cthey have surrounded me.\u201d
\n10:28. (Their) arrows burst forth without remedy For similar imagery, see 11:28.
\n10:28. and (their) brandished blade (flashes) like a fire consuming wood Perhaps this is a scribal graphic confusion between the similarly shaped letters bet and khaf. Instead of \u201cin a fire consuming wood\u201d (reading bet), it makes better sense to read this expression as a simile (reading khaf): \u201cThe flashing blade of their spear is like a fire consuming wood.\u201d For similar imagery, see 11:30.
\n10:29. Like the roar of mighty waters is the uproar of their voice See Isa 17:13 \u201cWoe! The roar of nations, they roar like the roaring of mighty waters.\u201d Also see 11:14\u201315.
\n10:29. a tempest and rainstorm This may be an allusion to Isa. 30:30: \u201cFor the LORD will make His majestic voice heard and display the sweep of His arm in raging wrath, in a devouring blaze of fire, in tempest, and rainstorm, and hailstones.\u201d
\n10:30. Wickedness and worthlessness shall explode as high as the stars This may be an allusion to Isa. 59:5. The word \u201cworthlessness\u201d is a double entendre in the Hebrew and can also be rendered \u201cserpent.\u201d (This ambiguous word will also appear in 11:6\u201319.) The reading of limzurot (literally \u201cto the stars\u201d) is not certain but based on the reading in Job 38:32. For similar imagery see also 11:16.
\n10:31. my foot stands on level ground Another scribe has written the last two words of this line in the margin to complete what is certainly a quotation of Ps. 26:12. The quote is set off from the rest of the composition with a small indent.
\n10:33\u201311:5 In this brief composition, many of the classic themes of the Teacher Hymns appear. The speaker describes his persecution and misery at the hand of his opponents, while claiming a special illumination for himself.
\n10:33. the mediators of lies This phrase also appears in 12:10\u201311 but nowhere else in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The speaker\u2019s opponents proclaim a bogus teaching.
\n10:34\u201335. whom they planned to put to an end by pouring out his blood This is a key reference for those who favor the Teacher Hypothesis. These lines have been understood as a reference to violence against the speaker (Teacher of Righteousness).
\n10:36. my God The scribe has written these words in paleo-Hebrew script; see also 7:38 and 9:26.
\n11:4. you have illumined my face Also see 12:6, 28; 15:26\u201327 (cf. 13:17\u201318); 17:25\u201327. See also the description of the righteous leader as a radiant light in 2 Sam. 23:4 and the description of the sages as light in Dan. 12:3.
\n11:6\u201319 This striking composition is unusual for the scroll as a whole because the author uses a number of double entendres to create a remarkable composition that intertwines the powerful image of birthing with various apocalyptic images of tribulation, terror, and chaos. Two births are described in this psalm: the first is a wondrous child with divine strength, and the second is monstrous. While the apocalyptic imagery that appears throughout this piece is unusual for the Teacher Hymns, it resonates with the composition that immediately follows in 11:20\u201337. Several images from this composition and 11:20\u201337 reappear in 13:22\u201315:8.
\n11:8. like a woman laboring for her firstborn An allusion to Jer. 4:31: \u201cI hear a voice as of one in travail, anguish as of a woman bearing her first child.\u201d
\n11:9. her cervix This word is a double entendre. This word appears elsewhere in the composition as \u201ccrashing waves.\u201d Both meanings could fit the imagery of birthing, as \u201ccrashing waves\u201d can also evoke the powerful force of the birth waters. There is a pun here on the words \u201cin the womb\u201d and \u201cfirstborn.\u201d
\nbecause children come unto the shattering pains of death This is a quotation from Isa. 37:3 and 2 Kings 19:3, conflated with a reading in 2 Sam. 22:5 (= Ps. 18:5): \u201ccrashing waves of death.\u201d
\n11:10. she delivers a male Literally \u201cshe releases a male.\u201d For this idiom, see Isa. 66:7: \u201cBefore her pangs came, she bore a male.\u201d
\nthe snares of Sheol The Hebrew word in this construction is a double entendre. This construct phrase appears also in 2 Sam. 22:6 (= Ps. 18:6). The word used for \u201csnares of Sheol\u201d is the same word used for the \u201c(labor) pains\u201d of the pregnant woman in 1QHa 11:9\u201310.
\n11:13. the crucible of the pregnant one! But she who is pregnant with a serpent These four Hebrew words may also be interpreted as a chiasm. The words \u201ccrucible\u201d and \u201cserpent\u201d frame the two pregnant ones.
\nserpent This is another double entendre in the Hebrew. This word can mean either \u201cworthlessness\u201d or \u201cserpent.\u201d The meaning is obviously negative and intended to contrast with the prior description of the birth of the man-child. Here the word is translated \u201cserpent\u201d to sharpen the contrast with the human birth.
\nan excruciating pain This unusual phrase also appears in Mic. 2:10.
\n11:14. And the foundations of the wall shake like a ship on the surface of the water Here the verb \u201cto shake\u201d makes the best sense of the imagery. The same verb appears in 11:34 and also in 15:7. clouds thunder The basic meaning of this verb is \u201cto roar.\u201d It is rendered here \u201cthunder\u201d to fit the subject \u201cclouds.\u201d
\n11:14\u201315. those who dwell on the dust, like those who go down to the seas See 1 En. 97:7: \u201cWoe unto you, sinners, who are in the midst of the sea and on the dry land.\u201d
\n11:18. they will make their noise heard Perhaps an allusion to Ezek. 27:30.
\n11:20\u201337 This composition begins in a manner typical of the Teacher Hymns with the formulaic phrase \u201cI give thanks to you, O LORD.\u201d After an opening expression of confidence in God and his mercy, the composition goes on to describe in detail the coming destruction of the wicked. The coming cosmic apocalyptic judgment is described as a fiery catastrophe and a fierce battle. The extensive apocalyptic imagery and vocabulary in this composition is unusual for the scroll as a whole, but it is shared with 11:6\u201319. This may explain the clustering of these two compositions. Among the many images common to both compositions are the loud tumult, arrows of the Pit, cords of death, and the overflowing rivers of perdition. Among the remarkable images in this composition is that of the speaker elevated into the heavenly host and positioned among the angels so that he can join in their jubilant praise of God. The language to describe this mystical experience is very similar to that found in 19:6\u201320:6. As might be expected, being exalted into the presence of heavenly beings brings about a self-conscious awareness of one\u2019s own humility. A description of the speaker\u2019s baseness as a lowly creature of clay appears within a series of rhetorical questions (11:24\u201325). The language used here to describe the baseness of human flesh is common in both of the Community Hymns collections as well as in the Teacher Hymns collection.
\n11:20. from Sheol Abaddon The construct relationship between Sheol and Abaddon appears to presume that there are various layers of Sheol (cf. Prov. 9:18; Ps. Sol. 2:31; 1 En. 22). The two words do not appear in construct relationship anywhere in the Bible.
\n11:21. you have lifted me up to an eternal height, so that I might walk about on an endless plain Cf. Ode 36 of the Odes of Solomon: \u201cIt (the Spirit) lifted me up to a high place, and set me on my feet in the high place of the LORD.\u201d The same expression for \u201cendless\u201d appears at 14:19.
\n11:21. And I know that there is a miqveh for him whom The word miqveh (ritual bath) is preferred here in light of the cleansing imagery that appears in 11:22. The word for \u201chope\u201d (tikvah) appears later in 11:28. Notice that both the words \u201cmiqveh\u201d and \u201ctikvah\u201d reappear in 13:22\u201315:8; \u201cmiqveh\u201d at 14:9 and \u201ctikvah\u201d at 14:35.
\n11:22\u201323. in order to position him in station with the host of the holy ones The Hebrew formulation that appears here is very close to the phrasing found in 19:16 and 26:36. The image of communion with angels is a recurring literary theme throughout the scroll. The language is reminiscent of descriptions in 1 Chron. 23:28 and 2 Chron. 35:15, which describe the cultic functions of the Levites and the Asaphite singers respectively. This passage may also refer to a scene such as that described in 1 En. 60:2, which depicts beings assembled around a heavenly throne.
\n11:23. to come into the yahad with the congregation of the sons of heaven It is not clear if yahad is understood nominally or adverbially (with the preposition beth) in this context. \u201cSons of heaven\u201d is not a biblical expression, but refers to celestial beings and stands here in parallel to the heavenly host of holy ones. This and the next line suggest strongly that the community of these hymns envisioned themselves to be in an angelic assembly praising God\u2019s glory (cf. the Sabbath Songs). The theme of mystical communion with the angels or the suggestion of being in God\u2019s presence appears elsewhere in 1QHa 7:16\u201319; 12:22\u201326; 14:15\u201316; 15:33\u201334; 19:13\u201317; 23:30. The theme is especially prominent in the composition Self-Glorification Hymn.
\n11:24. together with shouts of rejoicing Again, the word yahad could be translated either nominally or adverbially; see comment on 11:23.
\nbut I am a creature of clay See comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n11:29. and the snares of death engulf without escape. Then the torrents of Belial will flow over all the high river banks See the very similar language at 13:41. The verb \u201cto engulf\u201d appears at 11:29 and 13:41 and nowhere else in the scroll.
\n11:30. their channels(?) This word is unclear but may possibly derive from the word for channels. It stands parallel to the word \u201ccanals.\u201d
\n11:38\u201312:5 Unfortunately not much of this composition survives. What appears to be its main theme is expressed immediately after the formulaic opening: God extends unfailing protection in the face of danger. The speaker describes his experience of God\u2019s support as being sure-footed and on the right path. The psalm\u2019s references to foes and God\u2019s protection from them fit well with the Teacher Hymns collection, although unlike many of the Teacher Hymns the cause of the dispute itself is not specified in this fragmentary text.
\n11:38\u201340. my strong wall \u2026 iron bars In 11:38, the speaker describes God as his \u201cstrong wall,\u201d and the image is clearly one of confidence. Unfortunately, the context of the reference to \u201ciron bars\u201d is difficult to recover. Both of these images reappear in 13:39, but there the speaker is not referring to his confidence in God. Instead, he uses the image to describe his deep distress at the hand of his enemies: \u201cA strong wall [around me] and iron bars.\u201d
\n12:6\u201313:6 This composition vividly describes a number of conflicts between the speaker and his opponents. Those who favor the identification of the author of this subcollection with the historical Teacher of Righteousness have long interpreted 12:10\u201311 as an important account of his time in exile. Many of the classic characterizations of the speaker appear. Through a number of moving and dramatic episodes, the speaker recounts his dire straits at the hands of his opponents. One of the points of contention is the correct interpretation of the Torah. In the second half of the psalm, the speaker announces his own miserable existence and his need for repentance. In so doing, he expresses his absolute dependence upon and confidence in God. These themes, as well as the special illumination and privileged knowledge that the speaker claims for himself, are signature features of the Teacher Hymns.
\n12:6. for you have illumined my face for your covenant This image is repeated in 12:28; see also comments on 11:3; 15:27; 17:26. In 12:24, the speaker describes God\u2019s power as perfect light.
\n12:9. and they did not consider me This may be an allusion to what modern scholars refer to as the Fourth Servant Song (Isa. 52:13\u201353:12). In Isa. 53:3, the phrase \u201cwe held him of no account\u201d is used to describe the servant. This same construction appears later in this psalm at 1QHa 12:24 and also later in the Teacher Hymns collection at 16:12.
\n12:9\u201310. for he has banished me from my land, like a bird from a nest \u2026 and all of my friends and relatives have been banished from me This is the famous passage that is interpreted as the Teacher of Righteousness being driven into exile by the Wicked Priest (based on the account preserved in 1QpHab 11:5\u20136). The first verb form, \u201che has banished me,\u201d is singular here in 12:9, although it is common to see it rendered in the plural form. Subsequently, the verb form, \u201cthey have been banished,\u201d appears in the plural form in 12:10. Those who favor the Teacher Hypothesis interpret the subject of the singular verb form here in 12:9 to stand for the Wicked Priest.
\n12:10. They consider me as a broken vessel This may be an allusion to Ps. 31:13.
\n12:11. Belial The Hebrew word means \u201cwickedness.\u201d It also appears twice in 12:14.
\nthat you impressed upon my heart This verb has the connotation of teaching distinctly and with precision. In contrast to the opponents who play fast and loose with God\u2019s Torah, the speaker has a sharp and precise understanding of it. The root of shinantah carries with it the idea of incision or piercing, and the sense of the root sh-n-n in the piel form (as here) is \u201cto inculcate\u201d (cf. Deut. 6:7). The image suggests that the speaker\u2019s heart is presumably a surface hard enough to be engraved with the words of God\u2019s Law, yet the image is one of durability and permanence. In contrast to this, the heart of the enemies could also be thought of as \u201chard\u201d but in the sense of stubborn, for theirs is a \u201cstubborn heart\u201d (12:16).
\n12:22\u201326. And those who are like you yourself shall stand before you forever \u2026 in the council of the holy ones In these lines, another allusion to a mystical communion with heavenly beings appears. While all those in covenant with God will stand in his presence, the speaker makes special reference to his own experience of being lifted up and exalted over his opponents.
\n12:24. they will not consider [me] This may be an allusion to Isa. 53:3 where a similar construction appears: \u201cWe held him of no account.\u201d See comment on 12:9.
\n12:25. in the yahad It is also possible to read this phrase adverbially as \u201ctogether.\u201d
\n12:27. and (they will become) a war club This may be the best possible sense of the text, but it is not clear. This proposal is based on Jer. 51:20.
\n12:28. your command Literally \u201cyour mouth.\u201d
\nAnd through me you have illumined the face of the Many See also 12:6; 11:4; 15:27; 17:26; cf. 1QS 4:27: \u201cto illumine the face of the Many.\u201d
\n12:28\u201329. the Many See also 7:24. The term Rabbim commonly appears as a reference for the community in 1QS 6\u20137 and CD 14:7, 12.
\n12:30. who is a mortal like this? See comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n13:7\u201321 The hymnist recounts a dramatic description of his bloodthirsty foes. The enemies are likened to monstrous beasts and lions with swords for teeth. He describes his foes by the ferocity of their savage mouths, lips, and tongue, which point to the viciousness of their malicious words. This text underscores both the severity of the speaker\u2019s ordeal and the extraordinariness of divine deliverance. God\u2019s Torah is hidden within the speaker, waiting to be revealed at the appointed time. The imagery of testing and purification that appears in this composition may be compared with the trials recounted in the book of Daniel and also in 1QM 17:5\u20139.
\n13:13. you have concealed me from the sons of Adam, and your Torah you have hidden in [me] Cf. 13:27\u201328, where a very similar idea is repeated.
\n13:15. the tune of my woes The construct form of the word \u201ctune\u201d (appearing in other places as \u201cjoyful rejoicing\u201d) is a likely reading of the Hebrew here. This spelling mistake is thought to be a graphic confusion between dalet and resh.
\n13:17\u201318. so that the life of your servant is not [cut o]ff \u2026 you have brought him to the te[st like g]old being worked by fire In these lines, there is a grammatical peculiarity. The object begins as \u201cyour [God\u2019s] servant\u201d in 13:17, which is a third person masculine singular, but a scribe has written a supralinear first person singular object \u201cme,\u201d which does not fit grammatically. The third singular form reappears in 13:18 when the speaker states, \u201cYou have brought him to the te[st.\u201d
\n13:18. like g]old being worked by fire, and like silver being refined in the crucible of the silversmiths to a sevenfold purity The image of refining metal is clearly one that interprets hardship as a means of purification. Silver refined sevenfold in a crucible may be an allusion to Ps. 12:7: \u201cThe words of the LORD are pure words, silver purged in an earthen crucible, refined sevenfold.\u201d The image of sevenfold illumination and radiance appears again in 15:27.
\n13:20. you turn my soul a storm into stillness The scribe has made deletion marks around the words \u201cmy soul\u201d (as indicated by { } in the text).
\n13:22\u201315:8 This psalm is full of poignant expressions of the speaker\u2019s despair at the hands of his enemies. While references to opponents are not uncommon in the scroll, this composition is distinguished from other complaints by the theme of betrayal. Misery comes from betrayal by close friends who inflict insults, slander, and taunts. The speaker\u2019s experience of suffering is described as acute physical pain. Here the reader is drawn into the composition in a special way by these vivid references to the speaker\u2019s body and its brokenness. While the speaker\u2019s suffering is highly individualized, God\u2019s positive and negative judgment are described as community experiences. Divine favor results in the establishment of a community of righteousness (14:11\u201319), and divine judgment is leveled against all those who are guilty. Many images and themes here are shared by other compositions, but there is an especially striking resonance with the hymns in column 11. Images common to both this composition and the apocalyptic compositions in 11:6\u201319, 20\u201337 include the woman in labor, the ship on a stormy sea, and the fortified city.
\n13:22. {I give thanks to you} The scribe made deletion marks around this word and wrote the words \u201cblessed are you\u201d above it. This is the only place where the typical formulaic opening in the Teacher Hymns is disrupted.
\n13:24\u201327. as for me, I was against [ ] \u2026 the men of my [coun]cil rebel and grumble round and round In this passage, the speaker speaks of rebellion and betrayal by friends and members of his own community. The injury done to the speaker is not physical but rather a blow to his reputation and authority.
\n13:27\u201328. about the mystery that you hid in me \u2026 and the counsel of truth The theme of God hiding or concealing something precious within the speaker continues from the previous hymn (13:13). Another theme repeated from the previous composition is that of God magnifying his power through the speaker.
\n13:30\u201331. making [(his) spiri]t stumble and finishing off (his) strength, so that he cannot take hold of (his) station The form of the verb (from the root \u201cto strengthen\u201d) suggests that the speaker is describing someone in the third person. These phrases are repeated in 13:38, but there they appear within the clear context of the speaker\u2019s account of his own suffering.
\n13:32\u201333. with ruin and desolation, burning pains sei[ze me] and pangs like the contractions of one giving birth This language of agonizing birthing is reminiscent of the apocalyptic composition in 11:6\u201319.
\n13:41. [and the torrents of] Belial engulf my soul without (the hope of) [es]c[ape This line appears to be an allusion to 11:29, \u201cthe cords of death engulf without (hope of) escape.\u201d The phrase \u201cthe torrents of Belial\u201d also appears in 11:30.
\n14:15\u201316. your truth \u2026 glory \u2026 without a mediator between [your] h[oly ones This reference is to a mystical experience of communion with angels. See comment on 11:23.
\n14:18. raise up a shoot into the branches of an eternal planting The image of a special shoot or a planting appears here and continues through 14:20. Planting imagery is also a dominant metaphor in the first part of 16:5\u201317:36. The commentary on that passage contains a more extensive discussion of planting allusions in the notes. Like that psalm, the setting for this reference is the Garden of Eden (14:19 says \u201call the rivers of Eden\u201d).
\n14:24\u201325. I have [become] like a sailor on a ship on the churning of the seas. Their waves and all their crashing tides break over me The imagery here and elsewhere of a ship tossed on a stormy sea with crashing waves also appears in 11:7, 14\u201318.
\n14:27\u201328. I become like one who enters a fortified city and seeks shelter behind a high wall until (his) escape The image of a fortified city is picked up from 11:8, although it appears in extended form and the imagery of a fortified city under siege continues through to 14:36, 38.
\n14:32. and all the sons of his truth shall awaken The term \u201csons of his truth\u201d also appears in the Self-Glorification Hymn (26:32). The phrase appears as \u201cthe sons of your truth\u201d in 15:32\u201333; 17:35; 18:29.
\n15:9\u201328 This composition contains many of the classic elements of the Teacher Hymns. The speaker makes extraordinary claims for himself, including a sevenfold illumination (cf. 13:18). Like the sevenfold divisions of the creation hymn in 9:1\u201310:4, this hodayah may be interpreted as having seven small sections formed by blanks, the words ki (for, because), or the pronouns veatah (and you) and veani (and I).
\n15:15. for all who attack me you will condemn to judgment, in order to distinguish between (the) righteous and (the) wicked through me Those who read the Teacher Hymns in light of a historical Teacher of Righteousness interpret this line to be a reference to his persecution by his enemies.
\n15:21\u201322. and on the abundance of] your kindness I wait, in order to bloom like a plant, to flourish (like) a shoot Both words for vegetation (\u201cplant\u201d and \u201cshoot\u201d) found here are common in other compositions in the Teacher Hymns collection, although their appearance is restricted to 1QHa 14\u201316. In both this composition and in the composition that uses extensive garden imagery (16:5\u201317:36), the words \u201cplant\u201d and \u201cshoot\u201d function as synonyms, although these words have different references within each psalm. The reference to \u201cplant\u201d here also appears repeatedly in the garden composition in 16:5\u201317:36 (16:6, 14, 21, 22). In 15:9\u201328, the speaker is himself the plant, whereas in 16:5\u201317:36, the speaker is not the plant but the cultivator. The word \u201cshoot\u201d or \u201csprout\u201d here is also referenced in 14:18; 16:7, 9, 11. In 15:9\u201328, the \u201cshoot\u201d refers to the speaker, whereas in 14:18, the reference is to a community.
\n15:23\u201324. and you have made me a father to the sons of kindness and as a nursemaid to men of portent The speaker uses the language of fictive kinship to describe his relationship to the \u201csons of kindness\u201d and the \u201cmen of portent.\u201d The parent-child relationship is viewed positively. See also 17:29\u201331 for other positive uses of the parent-child relationship. In Num. 11:12 Moses is also referred to as a nursemaid to the Israelites in the wilderness.
\n15:27. I am radiant in sevenfold light See too the reference in 2 En. 66:7, which states that the righteous will have a radiance that is seven times more brilliant than the sun. Perhaps both texts presume the sevenfold intensity of the sun anticipated in Isa. 30:26. Earlier in the Teacher Hymns, the speaker uses the image of refining silver to a sevenfold purity in 1QHa 13:18 as a way of describing the suffering of God\u2019s servant. This may possibly be an allusion to the seven mysteries of knowledge that correspond to the seven boundaries of the holy of holies (4Q403 1 ii 27, 22) and also the \u201cseven wondrous powers\u201d (4Q403 1 i 2).
\n15:28. and you establish my foot upon leve[l ground forever] A fairly stock image of being sure-footed is used to describe righteousness; see 7:26; 8:31; 10:10, 31; 15:41.
\n15:29\u201336 This very brief composition is a hymn praising God\u2019s attributes. The hymnist uses a series of rhetorical questions to underscore the magnanimity of God and the insignificance of mortals. Several early scholars proposed that this was a Community Hymn embedded in the Teacher Collection because it did not contain the characteristic features of the Teacher Hymns, although this conclusion is not clear.
\n15:31. who is like you among the angels, O LORD? Cf. the rhetorical question the speaker makes in the Self-Glorification Hymn: \u201cWho is like me among the angels?\u201d (26:5).
\n15:32\u201333. the sons of your truth This community reference also appears in 17:35 and 18:29; but it appears as \u201csons of his truth\u201d in 14:32 and the Self-Glorification Hymn (26:32).
\n15:37\u201316:4 Like the previous composition, some early scholars classified this composition as a Community Hymn. Descriptions of the hymnist\u2019s strong sense of unworthiness and guilt stand out in this composition, which has been largely reconstructed with the help of 4Q428 frag. 10 (Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 29).
\n15:39\u201340. and I am an] uncl[ean] [ma]n \u2026 and until (my) old age, (I am) in the iniquity of flesh The speaker\u2019s use of family references (mother, nurse, and child) function as a metaphor for human iniquity and pollution. This stands in strong contrast to the extremely positive use of such references in 16:5\u201317:36, esp. 17:29\u201331 and 17:35\u201336, where God is presented as the parent figure. This extended description of the speaker\u2019s human mortality may also be compared to other instances in the scroll; see comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n16:5\u201317:36 Damage at the bottom of column 16 and the top of column 17 makes it uncertain if this was a single lengthy composition or several shorter ones. There are at least two major sections: an extended allegory of the trees, followed by a lament that concludes with an expression of confidence in God. Strong literary themes that continue throughout suggests that this is a single lengthy work. In addition to these literary features, scribal practices suggest that these two columns are part of a single composition that expresses an extended allegory of the trees. The most striking part, the allegory of the trees, combines allusions from the Garden of Eden in Gen. 2:4\u20133:24, the parable of the trees in Ezek. 31, Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dream in Dan. 4:7\u201314, and other passages from Jeremiah and Isaiah. Some allusions are also made to planting imagery in Jubilees and the Enochic traditions. The psalm begins with a description of a well-irrigated garden with two types of trees: the trees of life and the trees by the water. The former are righteous and the latter are wicked. The lush verdant image painted in this composition alludes to the mythical Garden of Eden, whose entrance was guarded by the flaming sword of the cherubim. Water imagery appears as a metaphor for divine inspiration in a manner befitting a garden setting. The psalm refers to mysteries that have been concealed, and special mention is made of an eternal shoot\/planting, which is likely an allusion to the community (1QS 8:4b\u20136; 11:8). The plants rely upon a gardener, the speaker, who nourishes them during times of drought. Finally, references to life-giving waters that irrigate parched ground round out the allegory of the trees. The lament that begins in 16:27 describes in a striking way the totality of the speaker\u2019s suffering. Both his spiritual pain (16:29\u201333) and physical brokenness (16:33\u201336) are described in great detail. The concluding expression of great confidence in God also describes the covenant relationship between God and the speaker in familial terms (father, mother, nursemaid, child). Like a parent to a child, God is both a compassionate father, loving mother, and embracing nursemaid to the speaker. In contrast to 15:37\u201316:4, this psalm uses familial terms as a positive metaphor.
\n16:5\u20136. a watered garden This is an allusion to Gen. 2:10, which describes the river that waters the Garden of Eden, and to 13:10, which compares the well-irrigated land of Jordan to the Garden of Eden.
\n16:6\u20137. trees of life See Ps. Sol. 14:3, which likens the holy ones to trees of life in the Garden of the LORD.
\n16:7. the trees by the water Licht is correct to identify this as an allusion to the allegory of the cedar tree in Ezek. 31:14. Allusions to Ezekiel\u2019s allegory of the lofty cedar stand as a veiled reference to the downfall of Egypt. For the author of this psalm, the reference to the arrogant trees by the water points to the enemies of the community. Various allusions to Ezek. 31 continue throughout the psalm and are not restricted to this passage.
\nthey will make a shoot sprout for the eternal planting In an earlier psalm, the eternal planting is also located in Eden (14:18). The reference to a shoot is an allusion to Isa. 60:21 where God states, \u201cAnd your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all time; they are the shoot that I planted, My handiwork in which I glory\u201d (also Isa. 11:1). The expectation that an eternal planting will emerge after the annihilation of wickedness from the earth appears in the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 10:16). The eternal planting plays a pivotal role in the Apocalypse of Weeks, in Enoch\u2019s revelation of 10 weeks or periods in human history, for in the seventh week, Jews \u201cfrom the eternal plant of righteousness\u201d will prevail over their opponents (1 En. 93:10). Language of planting also appears in CD-A as a reference to the righteous remnant during the age of wrath (1:7). In other places in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the entire Qumran community is compared to an eternal planting (1QS 8:5; 11:8). This allegorizing of men as plants is familiar from biblical prophetic passages like Isa. 5:7, which refers to the men of Judah as seedlings (also 60:21 and 61:3). Other relevant biblical passages include Ezek. 31 and Dan. 4:9\u201312. The metaphor of planting appears several times in Jub. 1:16; 16:26; 21:24; 36:6, and a possible reference to planting may also appear in the wisdom text 4Q418 81 13.
\n16:9\u201310. all the be[a]sts of the forest shall feed upon the shoot \u2026 and its branch will belong to every winged bird This passage brings together several passages from Scripture in a way reminiscent of Dan. 4:9\u201312, which describes a beautiful tree that both feeds creatures and provides a refuge for them. Both the psalm and Dan. 4:9\u201312 bring together images from Ps. 80:13\u201314, which describes passersby and creatures of the field feeding upon the fruit of a tree, and Ezek. 31:13\u201314, which describes the birds of the air and the beasts of the field finding refuge in a fallen tree.
\n16:10\u201311. for in their planting they grow tall This may be an allusion to Isa. 17:11. In the biblical context, the line refers to those who participate in an aberrant cult. Even though what they plant may grow initially, the entire crop will eventually come to naught. So too, within the context of this composition, the \u201cplanting [that] grow[s] tall\u201d is a reference to something that grows initially but eventually amounts to nothing because \u201cthey cannot extend their root toward the stream.\u201d
\n16:11\u201312. and the one who causes the shoot of h[o]liness to sprout \u2026 his secret is sealed The person being described here is different from the speaker who uses the first person elsewhere in this psalm. Here, there may be an allusion to what modern scholars refer to as the Fourth Servant Song (Isa. 52:13\u201353:12). Both the Isaian servant and the figure in the psalm could be said to be held without esteem (cf. Isa. 53:3). In the Isaian passage, the prophet describes the shoot visually as \u201cnot regarded,\u201d but here the language of the hymnist states that he is \u201cnot considered.\u201d One important distinction between the Isaian passage and this one is: the servant is referred to as a planting (Isa. 53:2) and a \u201cshoot,\u201d whereas in this psalm the plant shoot (presumably the community) is distinct from the one who cultivates it. Many identify this cultivator as the Teacher. Similar language is applied to the speaker of the Teacher Hymns in 1QHa 12:9, 24.
\n16:12\u201313. but you, O [G]od, you protect its fruit all around with the mystery of powerful warriors, spirits of holiness and a whirling fiery flame This is an allusion to Gen. 3:24, where God stations the cherubim and the fiery flaming sword at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to guard the fruit of the tree of life.
\n16:17\u201319. but you, O my God, have placed (words) in my mouth \u2026 and they will become flo[od] waters The teachings of the speaker are likened to life-giving waters and stand in contrast to the chaotic overflowing torrents of water in 16:15\u201316. The comparison of the speaker\u2019s words to lifegiving waters appears again later in 23:11\u201314. This powerful image of water flooding parched land alludes to scenes from Dan. 4:12 and Isa. 41:17\u201320.
\n16:27\u201328. [My] dwelling is with the sick, and (my) heart k[no]ws agonies. I have become like a forsaken man These lines may contain a brief allusion to the Fourth Servant Song (Isa. 52:13\u201353:12). In Isa. 53:3\u20134 the servant is described as being despised and forsaken by men. He, like the speaker of the psalm, is acquainted with agonies.
\n16:37. the sound of my lips This construction also appears at 19:8; 4Q491 11 i 17; 1QS 3:27; 4Q416 7 3; 4Q418 222 2; 4Q511 22 3, 63\u201364 ii 4; and 4Q525 8 2.
\n17:5. my eyes (burn) like a fire in a furnace This phrase can be read \u201cmy eyes are like a moth in a furnace,\u201d however the reading \u201clike a moth\u201d may be caused by a spelling error arising from a confusion over guttural letters.
\n17:26. my light shines forth On the luminosity of the speaker, see 11:3; 12:6, 28.
\n17:29\u201331. for you from my father have known me \u2026 you have shined the insight of your judgment on me The speaker uses familial references (father, mother, nursemaid) as extremely positive metaphors for God\u2019s nurturing and compassion. This stands in sharp contrast to the way these familial terms are used in 15:37\u201316:4.
\n17:34\u201336. until old age \u2026 over her nursing child The speaker describes his own relationship to God in terms of adoption. The (adoptive) parent-child relationship is evoked in a very positive light.
\n17:35. all the sons of your truth See comment on 14:32. The particular formulation \u201csons of your truth\u201d appears also at 18:29
\n17:38\u201319:5. This composition follows a full blank line (17:37) and is usually identified as the first one in the second group of Community Hymns. It is also possible to see this as a concluding composition to the Teacher Collection or as a transitional composition to the second group of Community Hymns, which begins in 19:6. A series of rhetorical questions draw striking comparisons between the insignificance of human beings and the greatness of God. The psalm begins with the formulaic \u201cBlessed are you, O LORD,\u201d which appears only here in the entire Teacher Hymns collection.
\n18:5\u20137. what then is a mortal?\u2026 the counsel of [your] tru[th]? The speaker uses a series of rhetorical questions in a similar manner to that found in other places in the scroll (5:32\u201333 and 9:23\u201325 and the places cited there). The rhetorical questions in this section and the one immediately following anticipate the extended account of the great glory of God.
\n18:5\u20136. he is but dirt, pinched off c[lay], and to dust he shall return This language appears later in 20:27. The words \u201cpinched off clay\u201d also appear in 1QS 11:22 and 4Q511 28+29 4.
\n18:8. how can I understand? The scribe has written \u201cHow can I cause stumbling?\u201d A mark appears above and below the second consonant, which indicates that there is a mistake here. The Hebrew roots for \u201cunderstanding\u201d and \u201cstumbling\u201d contain the same letters but in slightly different order. For the sense of the passage, it is assumed that the scribe intended to return to this mark to correct the spelling.
\n18:15 A full blank line appears here; one of only three (4:28 and 17:37)
\n18:23\u201324. I shall await] the [a] bundance of your mercies; and I shall hope for your pardons Cf. 19:34: \u201cJust as I waited for your goodness, so I hope for your kindness.\u201d
\n18:27\u201328. they shall bloom like a ve]rdant [tree] by the watercourses, bearing leaves and producing many branches Planting imagery and vocabulary familiar from the allegory of the trees in 16:5\u201327 make an appearance along with a reference to some of the sons of Adam.
\n18:29. but to the sons of your truth See the comments at 14:32 and 17:35.
\n18:29\u201330. and according to their knowledge they are glorified, each man over the other This line is shared with the wisdom text 4Q418 55 10 and may be a quotation of that text, which some think to be a nonsectarian work.
\n19:6\u201320:6 A number of elements that appear in the previous composition reappear in this one. Rhetorical questions and a listing of attributes are used to describe both God and the speaker, and once again these questions are used to heighten the insignificance of the speaker, in contrast with the greatness of God. The imagery used to describe the lowliness of the speaker includes \u201cdust\u201d and \u201cclay.\u201d Perhaps this sharp awareness of one\u2019s unworthiness should be expected in light of the communion with angels that also takes place in this composition. This would be consistent with biblical scenes such as Isaiah\u2019s vision in the throne room (Isa. 6), where the presence of angels heightens the prophet\u2019s feeling of unworthiness. Among the notable features are the three \u201cblessed are you\u201d formulas (1QHa 19:30, 32, 35). The hymnist also describes in different ways the sung praise of God. Mention is also made of the melodies and musical instruments as well as of the various body parts that are associated with singing.
\n19:12\u201313. because you have made them know the counsel of your truth, and in the mysteries of your wonder you have given them insight Very similar language appears in 18:6\u20137, but with reference to the speaker and not to all the sons of God\u2019s favor. These words will also appear in 19:19.
\n19:14\u201315. in order to unite wi[th] the sons of your truth; in the lot with your holy ones See the comments on 11:23 for the theme of communion with angels.
\n19:16. to position himself in place before you with the eternal hosts and spirits [of eternity] The speaker describes a situation where there is a communion with angelic beings. The Hebrew formulation here is very close to 11:22\u201323 and 26:36.
\n19:18. I thank you, O my God According to Stegemann, there is evidence of a letter trace at the beginning of the line, hence this formula does not begin a new psalm.
\n19:23. the inclinations of a man The word for \u201cman\u201d is not \u2018ish but gever.
\n19:24\u201327. they enter into my heart and penetrate my bones \u2026 (on) the flute of praise without ceasing The speaker makes reference to a series of musical instruments within the context of both lament (19:24\u201325) and praise (19:26\u201327). This passage suggests a liturgical context.
\n19:35. my shattering pains This word appears throughout 11:6\u201319, which uses extensive imagery for birthing. This expression can be translated either \u201cshattering pain\u201d or \u201cwomb opening.\u201d
\n20:7\u201322:42 The beginning of this composition is reconstructed as \u201cfor (the) Instructor\u201d (lemaskil). In addition to cosmic language, there is a strong emphasis on the unworthiness of the speaker, in contrast to the greatness of God. Not surprisingly, a series of rhetorical questions is also employed in the striking comparison made between the two. The beginning of the composition (20:7\u201313) makes reference to times for prayer (cf. 1QS 10:1\u20136 and 4Q408). Portions of 1QHa 21 were reconstructed from the sizable fragment 3 and with the help of 4Q428 frag. 13. It is worth mentioning the scribal peculiarity of not using the final forms of letters, most notably the final form of the letter tsadeh. This scribal practice continues into the next psalm as well.
\n20:7. [for (the) Instruct]or: thanksgivings and a prayer This is the third of four references to the \u201cinstructor.\u201d This heading has been reconstructed based on the overlap with 4Q427 8 i 10.
\n20:25\u201326. fo]r according to their insight you have brought them near Cf. 6:29\u201330: \u201cAccording to his understanding, I will draw him near\u201d; and 6:24: \u201cThus you bring him near to your insight.\u201d
\n20:27. your word Literally \u201cyour mouth.\u201d
\nas for me, [you] took [me] from dust. [And] I was [pi]nched [from clay] This is a reference to 18:5\u20136 (see comment). The speaker introduces stereotypical language to refer to his own mortality. The reference to dust and clay evoke the creation story from Gen. 2:7: \u201cThe LORD God formed man from the dust of the earth.\u201d
\n20:36. but I am(?), a vessel of clay, what could I say unless you open my mouth? See comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n21:12\u201314. and I am a creature [of clay \u2026 you have engraved the things that will be eternally onto the heart [of stone] The root of the verb used here for divine inculcation (\u201cyou have engraved\u201d) appears in 1QS 10:6, 8 as a reference to the eternally engraved statute set upon the speaker\u2019s lips. The imagery of deep writing (engraving) suggests permanence. The speaker uses stereotypical images for human mortality here and elsewhere in the scroll; see comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n22:25. the volunteers The term \u201cvolunteers\u201d appears as a reference to those who join the sect in 1QS 1:7, 11.
\n23:1\u201325:33 This is thought to be a single lengthy psalm spanning three complete columns. Because it is reconstructed from fragments, it is not always clear how the imagery develops. Like the preceding psalm, the scribe has not used the final form of the letter tsadeh (e.g., 25:13). The psalm begins with a description of the exaltation of the speaker who is brought into God\u2019s presence (23:11). As might be expected, this is accompanied by extensive descriptions of the speaker\u2019s unworthiness in stereotypical language. The insignificance of the speaker is highlighted by his state as a \u201ccreature of clay\u201d and \u201cborn of a woman.\u201d The theme of judgment emerges at the end of 1QHa 23 and continues until the end of this composition. There are many references to various types of spirits and heavenly beings, both righteous and wicked. The wicked are justly condemned, and God himself sees to their destruction (25:6\u201310).
\n23:11\u201315. you have opened [a foun]tain in the mouth of your servant \u2026 to bring news to the humble in accordance with the abundance of your compassion The comparison of the speaker\u2019s teachings to a water source is repeated from 16:17. The reference in 23:12 to writing is similar to other references to writing that appear in the scroll (9:26; 21:13) insofar as \u201cengraving\u201d suggests a deep writing with permanence. This is a reference to primordial writing and not ordinary writing. This reference is most like the one in 21:13: here the reference is to God engraving the speaker\u2019s tongue; previously in 21:13 it is said that God is engraving the speaker\u2019s heart of stone. Both passages highlight the depth and permanence of the speaker\u2019s authority by using this metaphor of deep writing. Other images in these verses may be interpreted as an allusion to Isa. 61:1: \u201cThe spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me as a herald of joy to the humble.\u201d
\n23:12\u201314. and to an interpreter, to dust like myself \u2026 of a woman according to his deeds The speaker introduces several stereotypical images associated with mortality. See comments on 5:31\u201333 and 9:23\u201324.
\n23:29\u201330. and over dust you have stretched out a spirit [ ] in the slime [the so]ns of gods, to unite with the sons of heaven The reference to dust is presumably the speaker (23:13). The passage, although fragmentary, suggests that God has sent a spirit that has made the speaker suitable for uniting with heavenly beings. This theme is present elsewhere in the scroll (7:16\u201319; 11:20\u201337; 12:22\u201326; 14:15\u201316; 15:33\u201334; 19:13\u201317).
\n23:33\u201334. you have stretched out your [spirit of ho]liness, to atone for guilt [ ] [m]inistering with your hosts, and those walking about This very fragmentary phrase may be a continuation of the theme of communion with angelic beings, discussed in 23:29\u201330. The meaning of these lines suggests that God\u2019s spirit of holiness has atoned for the guilt of the mortal speaker, thereby allowing him to join the ministering angelic host in the heavenly assembly. It is difficult to say with certainty, as these lines are so fragmentary.
\n24:13\u201316. imprisoned until the time of your will \u2026 [ ] the bastards The language in these lines is reminiscent of the myth of the Watchers, although the fragmentary context makes it difficult to confirm this. Reference to both \u201cimprison[ment]\u201d and \u201cbastards\u201d suggests the judgment against the Watchers that God tells to Gabriel and to Michael, described in 1 En. 10:9\u201315, esp. 10:13. The word \u201cbastards\u201d also appears again in 24:25 (\u201carrogant man\u201d).
\n24:25\u201327. and in judgments [ ] in the flesh \u2026 Thus their spirit is for condemnation concerning This reference is obscure, but it may be an allusion to the mythical account of the Watchers in 1 En. 10:9. There, God announces to the archangel Gabriel his judgment against the bastard offspring of the Watchers and human women.<\/p>\n
Apocryphal Psalms<\/p>\n
Eileen Schuller<\/p>\n
The cave 11 Psalms Scrolla, or 11QPsa (also known as 11Q5), contains 40 biblical psalms from between Ps. 101 and Ps. 150, many in a different order than in the Masoretic Text, and 8 poems not in the biblical Psalter. The scroll includes a prose paragraph at 11QPs 27:2\u201311 that lists the 4050 compositions that David wrote: 3600 psalms, 364 songs for the daily offerings, 52 for the Sabbaths, 30 for the festivals, plus \u201c4 songs for making music over the stricken.\u201d The prose paragraph concludes with the statement \u201call these he [David] spoke through prophecy which was given him from before the Most High\u201d (27:11).<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
11QPs is a long manuscript of five sheets sewn together and five separated fragments, containing sections of some thirty-four columns, that was copied in about the middle of the 1st century CE. One interesting feature of this manuscript is that the divine name (the Tetragrammaton) is always written in the \u201cold\u201d paleo-Hebrew script (rather than in the regular script that is found in most manuscripts).<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
Six of the apocryphal psalms are presented below. In addition, there is a Wisdom poem (cols. 21\u201322) that is also found in Wisdom of Ben Sirah (Sir. 51); and \u201cThe Last Words\u201d of David (col. 27) from 2 Sam. 23:1\u20137. None of these psalms is explicitly sectarian; that is, they reflect the piety and themes that are typical of the Second Temple period.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
James A. Sanders, The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11, 11QPs.a Discoveries in the Judean Desert of Jordan 4. Oxford: Clarendon, 1965.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
This psalm has long been known in a somewhat shortened version in Greek manuscripts, where in many copies of the Psalter it comes at the end with a notation that it is \u201coutside the number\u201d; there are also Syriac, Old Latin, Ethiopic, Coptic, and Armenian translations. The text preserved in 11QPs is clearly the Hebrew original, composed in the Second Temple period. The psalm actually consists of two separate psalms, although only the heading and a few words have been preserved from the second; in the Greek they have been conflated into one psalm. In 11QPs, this specifically Davidic composition is the final psalm in the scroll and may serve as its climax. It is not only attributed to David in the superscription, but the whole psalm is autobiographical, a paraphrastic expansion and midrashic development of the account in 1 Sam. 16:1\u201313, which narrates how David was chosen as ruler.
\n2. My hands have made an instrument David\u2019s role as musician and singer of divine praises is highlighted and the author seems to want to emphasize that David\u2019s piety is the reason why God chose him. Some scholars have proposed that there are Orphic and Pythagorean motifs in this depiction of David as the musician-shepherd, along with the involvement and personification of nature; yet these are all biblical motifs (cf. Ps. 148), so there is little need to postulate strong Hellenistic influence.
\n7. At the beginning of David\u2019s power This is a second heading; in the Greek version there is no such heading and thus only one psalm.<\/p>\n
Plea for Deliverance<\/p>\n
This is a psalm of lamentation and petition for deliverance, with expressions of thanksgiving and confidence. It is biblical in style, content, and vocabulary (but see the comment on vv. 15\u201316 below). Since one of the petitions is for deliverance from an evil power, this psalm falls into the category of apotropaic prayer. Perhaps five or six lines are missing from the beginning; a few of the missing words are preserved in a second, very fragmentary copy, 11Q6 frags. 4\u20135, which reads, \u201c]and weak am I, for[.\u201d
\n1. Surely a maggot cannot praise You For the theme that the dead cannot praise God, see Isa. 38:18\u201319; Ps. 6:6; Job 7:21.
\n13\u201315 Noteworthy in these verses is the threefold combination of a plea for forgiveness (\u201cForgive my sin, O LORD,\u201d vv. 13\u201314), a petition for knowledge (\u201cGrant me a spirit of faith and knowledge,\u201d vv. 14\u201315), and a petition for deliverance from evil (\u201cLet not Satan rule over me,\u201d v. 15). Knowledge and forgiveness of sin often are mentioned in close proximity in prayer (e.g. 1QHa VI 35\u201336, XIX 30\u201335; the fourth and the sixth benedictions of the Amidah).
\n15. Let not Satan rule over me, nor an unclean spirit The psalmist petitions God directly for deliverance from the power of demons (in contrast to the Apocryphal Psalmsa scroll, columns 4\u20135, where the evil spirit is addressed directly). Unlike the petition in Ps. 119:133 (\u201cdo not let iniquity dominate me\u201d), here it is assumed that evil takes the form of demonic beings who can exert power over humans, though God can intervene to break their power. It is not clear whether the author conceives this as a specific demon so that Satan is a personal name (as translated), or if the Hebrew should be translated more generically as \u201ca satan\u201d or \u201can accuser,\u201d parallel to \u201can unclean spirit\u201d (as in Zech. 3:1\u20132, \u201cthe Accuser\u201d; Job 1:6, \u201cthe Adversary\u201d; cf. Aramaic Levi Document (4q213a 1 17): \u201cAnd do n]ot let rule over me any satan\u201d).
\n15\u201316. the evil inclination Although the concept of an evil inclination is biblical (Gen. 6:5; 8:21) and appears in various Second Temple and Wisdom texts, the specific phrase (yetzer ha-ra) is found only here and in the poem Barkhi Nafshi (4Q436 1 i 10). The double yetzer ha-ra and yetzer ha-tov, the good and bad inclination, became standard terminology in Rabbinic anthropology.<\/p>\n
Apostrophe for Zion<\/p>\n
This untitled poem is often called \u201cApostrophe to Zion\u201d since it addresses Zion directly with words of assurance that God will fulfill in the eschatology era the promises made to her because of the prayers and blessings of those who love her. It is full of biblical references and allusions, and many of its phrases and images overlap with similar Zion poems. Apostrophe to Zion is an alphabetic acrostic, with each colon or bicolon beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The poem first describes Zion\u2019s glorious future (vv. 1\u20136), then relates her purification from evil and wicked enemies (vv. 7\u201313), and finally envisions the results of the praise and prayers of the psalmist and the prophets for her (vv. 14\u201318). This poem is also preserved in 4QPsf, a manuscript written in the middle of the 1st century BCE with a mixture of biblical and apocryphal psalms; that copy is more fragmentary but offers some readings that are probably original. The psalm was also included in 11QPsb (11Q6 frag. 6) but only two words are preserved.
\n5. in your splendid squares will they toddle The very rare verb (\u2018ks) is used in Isa. 3:16 in the negative sense (NJPS translates \u201cmake a tinkling sound with their feet\u201d), but here the sense must be positive; the translation \u201ctoddle\u201d picks up the image of the previous line, a small child sucking at the breast (the language is taken from Isa 66:11). This type of reversal may be a deliberate poetic ploy; cf. the positively framed \u201cThose who yearn for the day of your salvation\u201d in verse 4 in this poem with the judgment on \u201cyou who wish for the day of the LORD\u201d in Amos 5:18.
\n14. Praise from you is pleasing to God, O Zion Literally, \u201cPleasant to the nose is your praise, O Zion.\u201d The comparison is made with the pleasing odor of incense.<\/p>\n
Hymn to the Creator<\/p>\n
This poem in praise of God as Creator draws extensively on biblical language and imagery; vv. 7\u20139 are made up almost totally of phrases from Jer. 10:12\u201313 (repeated in Jer. 51:15\u201316) and Ps. 135:7, here refashioned within the blessing formulary \u201cBlessed be he who \u2026\u201d The act of creation is seen as an expression and revelation of divine wisdom: \u201cby the knowledge of his mind he established the dawn\u201d (v. 4), \u201che showed them [the angels] what they had not known\u201d (v. 5). Very similar language is to be found in Jub. 2:2\u20133: \u201clight and evening which he prepared through his knowledge.\u201d Some scholars have proposed that the author of Jubilees was dependent on this hymn, which would date its composition before the 2nd century BCE, but it is not entirely clear in which direction the dependence moves (that is, this hymn may be derived from the Jubilees passage). The language and themes that are combined in this psalm (specifically the vocabulary \u201cgreat \u2026 holy \u2026 holiest unto every generation\u201d and the linkage in vv. 4\u20135 of the creation of the luminaries to angelic praise and to knowledge) are also to be found in Jub. 2:2\u20133 (as noted above), and in Sir. 42:16\u201320. Moreover, human and angelic praise at dawn are brought together in the Daily Prayers. All of these may be seen as early predecessors of the Kedushah in the conventional Yotzer Or (liturgy of the morning prayer).
\n1. the holiest unto every generation Literally, \u201choly one of the holy ones.\u201d
\n5. When all his angels had witnessed it they sang aloud For the morning stars (translated as \u201cangels\u201d in the Septuagint) singing at Creation, cf. Job 38:7.<\/p>\n
Psalm 154<\/p>\n
This is a psalm that had been known prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as part of a collection of five apocryphal psalms in Syriac; they were included in a Book of Discipline by a 19th-century Nestorian bishop and also copied in a 12th-century Nestorian Psalter, appended to the 150-psalm collection (hence the numeration Ps. 151\u2013155). Martin Noth in 1930 recognized that these poems were translations from Hebrew and attempted to retroject them back into Hebrew. In 11QPs we now have the original Hebrew version. A copy of Ps. 154 is also found in 4Q448, a single fragment that may have been the beginning of a long scroll; the bottom of the fragment has the Prayer for King Jonathan, and the top has three lines that overlap with Ps. 154:17\u201320 (much of which is missing in 11QPs and had been restored on the basis of the Syriac). In this psalm both hymnic and wisdom elements are interwoven. The psalm opens with seven imperatives summoning the hearers to glorify God. Much of it speaks in praise of the gift of Wisdom, which is personified in language very similar to that of Proverbs (Prov. 8; 9) and Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sir. 1:15; 14:20\u201327; 24:8). Nothing in the poem indicates that it was necessarily composed by the community at Qumran (the Essenes); the term yahad in v. 4, translated as \u201cassembly,\u201d seems to be used more in a general adverbial sense (\u201ctogether\u201d) rather than as a technical term specifying the particular community at Qumran, as in Rule of the Community.
\n1\u20132, 20 These three verses are shown in italics because they are not preserved in 11QPs or in 4Q448, but have been restored totally on the basis of the Syriac.<\/p>\n
Psalm 155<\/p>\n
This psalm was preserved in Syriac as Ps. 155 (see the comment on Ps. 154, above). It is an individual psalm of thanksgiving, though much of it recounts the author\u2019s distress and an appeal to God for help. The middle part (vv. 9\u201318) is clearly an acrostic, with each bicola starting with a consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from he to nun; vv. 19\u201321 can be reconstructed on the basis of the Syriac to continue the acrostic from samekh to pe. The first part of the psalm (vv. 1\u20138) is more puzzling; as it is presented here with short bicola, it is not an acrostic, but it may be possible to combine the lines differently so that there are lines beginning with aleph to dalet. The psalm uses languages and images that can be found in other psalms and in the prophets. Some linguistic features suggest that it was composed in the Persian period (5th or 4th century BCE), but it is difficult to say anything more precise about its origin.
\n5. Edify That is, \u201cbuild\u201d or \u201craise up.\u201d
\n11. lead me not into situations too hard for me Cf. the petition of Matt. 6:13: \u201cAnd do not bring us to the time of trial, \/ but rescue us from the evil one\u201d (NRSV).
\n20\u201321 These verses are reconstructed with the help of the Syriac, which also includes praise to God at the end of v. 20\u2014\u201dRender glory forever and ever\u201d\u2014that is probably a secondary addition.<\/p>\n
Non-Canonical Psalms<\/p>\n
Eileen Schuller<\/p>\n
Non-Canonical Psalms A (4Q380) and Non-Canonical Psalms B (4Q381) are two very fragmentary manuscripts that contain collections of psalms. None of the compositions (at least in those portions that have been preserved) are psalms that are included in the biblical Psalter or known from any other ancient source. The two manuscripts do not overlap in any way, so we cannot be certain whether they are two copies of the same collection or whether they represent two different collections.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
About 110 fragments are preserved from 4Q381. Many are very tiny with only a few letters; the seven largest pieces each have 9 to 16 lines, with one-half to three-quarters of each line preserved. 4Q380 is made up of seven fragments, one of 11 lines in two columns, and the other six with only a few words preserved. Portions of at least 15 psalms have survived, though none of them are complete.
\nThe two manuscripts are written in different hands; both can be dated on paleographic grounds to about 100\u201375 BCE. Determining when these psalms were composed is far more difficult, because the surviving fragments express none of the terminology and distinctive worldview of the sectarian scrolls from Qumran (e.g., 1QS, 1QM, 1QHa). The divine name, the Tetragrammaton, is used 11 times, both in biblical quotations and in non-biblical composition; in works composed by the Qumran sectarian community, by contrast, the divine name is avoided. The presence of some linguistic features of Late Biblical Hebrew means that these psalms were probably not written before the Babylonian exile, but could have been composed at any time after the exile within \u201cmainstream\u201d Second Temple Judaism. We have no knowledge of how or when these psalms were used, whether for individual meditation or within a communal setting.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
These poetic compositions are clearly modeled on the biblical psalms. They are addressed to God or speak about God, with words of lamentation, petition, and praise. Some have a superscription, similar in style to those found in the biblical Psalter, that attributes the psalm to a specific individual: Praise of the Man of God (4Q381 24 4) and Prayer of King Manasseh (4Q381 33 8); in 4Q381 31 4 the psalm is ascribed to a king of Judah, but the name is not preserved; 4Q380 1 ii 8 is the only case where the psalm is ascribed to a non-royal figure, to Obadiah (see discussion in the commentary below). It is not clear if these pseudepigraphic attributions come from the author of the psalm or if they were added secondarily by an editor who recognized some features in the psalm that suggested a specific biblical character. A number of the psalms are missing their beginning section, so we cannot know if all of them had titles or if some were \u201corphan\u201d psalms. Two psalms end with the word selah (4Q381 24 3; 33 6), a term that is used at various places in the biblical psalms to mark some sort of division, although the exact meaning and purpose of the term is uncertain.
\nThe language and content are very similar to the biblical psalms. There are petitions for deliverance from distress, affirmations of trust in divine deliverance, and the retelling of God\u2019s deeds in history (4Q381 frags. 77 and 69) and in creation (4Q381 frag. 1). Much of the language uses standard biblical vocabulary and images, but there are occasional distinctive phrases; for example, \u201cyou will bring me up from the tents of death\u201d (4Q381 31 2). Some psalms incorporate successive cola from a specific biblical psalm, sometimes with the wording only slightly reworked (see the commentary on the Prayer of Manasseh below and how it uses Ps. 18 || 2 Sam. 22), at other times in a more loosely allusive style.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
Both scrolls are very poorly preserved, and restoration efforts often involve rather small isolated fragments. Attempts have been made to reconstruct the original order of the major fragments in 4Q381, on the basis of the content, size, and shape of each fragment, but the results so far are tentative at best. In the translation below, where a specific biblical psalm is being quoted or echoed, the biblical wording has been restored, but in other places the text is too fragmentary to make restorations with any confidence.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Esther Eshel, Hanan Eshel, Carol Newsom, Bilhah Nitzan, Eileen Schuller, and Ada Yardeni. Qumran Cave 4.VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1. Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 11. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
Prayer of the Man of God (4Q381 frag. 24)<\/p>\n
4. A Tehillah This composition is designated as a Tehillah (Praise), as are two psalms in 4Q380. It is not clear if this is intended as a technical term, or if the terms Tehillah and Tefillah, \u201cprayer\u201d (as in 4Q381 33 8; see below) were used more or less interchangeably in the Second Temple period. In the biblical Psalter only Ps. 145:1 contains this designation, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript of this psalm (11QPs 16:7) the term used is Tefillah.
\nMan of G[o]d This expression could be a designation for David (as in Neh. 12:24, 36; 2 Chron. 8:14). This would fit with other attributions of the psalms to royal figures, as well as with the presence in this psalm of many phrases from Ps. 18 || 2 Sam. 22, in which David thanks God for deliverance from his enemies. Or the expression could refer to Moses. Finally, \u201cMan of God\u201d could be a term to designate a prophet, as in 1 Sam. 9:10 or 1 Kings 13:1 (at least one other psalm may be attributed to a prophet; see the comment on 4Q380 1 ii 8).
\n5. He redeemed This may also be translated as an imperative (\u201cRedeem\u201d) or as a participle (\u201cA redeemer\u201d).
\n6. Rise up [my] G[od The appeal to God to rise up and act for deliverance is frequent in psalms.
\n7\u201311. My rock, my fortress, and [my] deliverer In these lines the psalmist interweaves phrases from Ps. 18 || 2 Sam. 22:3\u20139 along with his own phrases.
\n7\u20138. On the day of [my] dis[tress] I call to YHWH A combination of Ps. 18 || 2 Sam. 22:7a (\u201cI call to YHWH\u201d) and Ps. 18 || 2 Sam. 22:19 (\u201con the day of my distress\u201d).
\n11. he taught, and instruction Teaching and wisdom are recurrent themes in these psalms, but unfortunately the context is always very fragmentary.<\/p>\n
Prayer of Manasseh (4Q381 frag. 33)<\/p>\n
8. The Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah, when the King of Assyria imprisoned him This is the longest of the psalm superscriptions. According to 2 Kings 21:1\u201318, the worst of the kings of Judah was Manasseh, the sinner whose wickedness was responsible for the exile and destruction of the Southern Kingdom (2 Kings 23:26\u201327). But in 2 Chronicles there is a different tradition about King Manasseh: after his exile, Manasseh repented and prayed to God and was restored to his kingdom (2 Chron. 33:12\u201313). The author of this prayer obviously knew of this tradition, although he did not draw upon the specific phraseology used in Chronicles. There is also an unrelated Greek prayer titled Prayer of Manasseh.<\/p>\n
11. But I did not remember you There may be a pun here on Manasseh\u2019s name, from the root n-s-h, \u201cto forget.\u201d Cf. Gen. 41:51; Mart. Isa. 2:1 (\u201che did not remember the commands of Hezekiah his father but forgot them\u201d); T. Sanh. 102b (\u201cManasseh (denotes) that he forgot God \u2026 that he caused Israel to forget their Father in heaven\u201d).<\/p>\n
Prayer of Obadiah (4Q380 1 ii 8\u20139)<\/p>\n
8. A Tehillah of Obadiah This psalm may have been attributed to Obadiah, the post-exilic prophet, whose collection of oracles against Edom is included among the Twelve Minor Prophets. But virtually nothing is known about the prophet Obadiah, making it unlikely that a psalm would be attributed to him. Alternatively, this psalm may have been attributed to the Obadiah of 1 Kings 18:2\u20134, the steward in charge of the house of Ahab who saved 100 prophets in the days of Queen Jezebel. Later Jewish tradition developed various legends around this figure (e.g., that he became a disciple of Elijah and that it was for his widow that Elisha performed the miracle with the vessel of oil [2 Kings 4:1]), and sometimes identified him with Obadiah the prophet. Unfortunately only two words are preserved from the psalm.<\/p>\n
Greek Synagogal Prayers<\/p>\n
Pieter W. van der Horst<\/p>\n
In a late 4th-century Christian church order called the Apostolic Constitutions (AC), six originally Jewish prayers had been adopted in a christianized form in order to be used in church services. They are still recognizable as coming from the Seven Benedictions for Sabbath morning, although they are in Greek and have been heavily edited by the Christian compiler of Constitutions. Often it is very difficult, or even impossible, to disentangle the Jewish source from the Christian redaction.<\/p>\n
History and Authorship<\/p>\n
Probably the prayers were originally composed in Hebrew sometime in the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Thereafter they were translated into Greek and expanded for use in Diaspora synagogues. Then they were adopted and adapted by judaizing Christians in 4th-century Syria. And, finally, they were redacted and incorporated into the Christian Apostolic Constitutions 7.33\u201338 by an anonymous compiler in Antioch in the 380s CE. In spite of having undergone all these adaptations and revisions, the prayers are still clearly recognizable as the first six of the Seven Benedictions for the Sabbath morning service, not only because they are in exactly the same order as their Hebrew counterparts, but also because each of these prayers shows, to a greater or lesser extent, verbal agreements with the corresponding Hebrew prayers.
\nIt turns out to be extremely difficult, however, to separate the Jewish source from the Christian redaction. That is so for two reasons. First, sometimes topics that were the Christian compiler\u2019s favorites coincided with what he may have found in the Jewish source (e.g., the great value of the Sabbath and learning Torah). Second, even where the text does not show traces of the compiler\u2019s typical vocabulary, it may have been part of a Christian prayer text that contained no specifically Christian motifs and was not modified by the compiler. Third, we do not know the exact wording (only the main motifs) of the original Jewish prayers.
\nThe main criteria used here to distinguish between the Jewish and Christian layers of the texts are the following: If there are verbal agreements between the earliest forms of the Hebrew counterparts, such passages are taken to derive from the Jewish source. If the contents of a clause or a sentence are characteristically Jewish and do not betray the vocabulary of the Christian compiler, they are taken to be Jewish. If parts of the text are distinctively Christian, they are regarded as coming from the compiler\u2019s pen (or from his Christian source, that is, the prayers in a christianized form before they arrived at the compiler\u2019s desk). Everything else is in the gray area in between, namely those large parts of the text that do not enable us, with the criteria mentioned here, to distinguish between Jewish and Christian material.
\nIt is on the basis of the above criteria that I have not included here ten other prayers from Constitutions that are taken by some scholars to be christianized versions of Jewish prayers. Even though these prayers may contain elements that point to a Jewish background, the correspondences between them and prayers that are certainly Jewish are too few and too general to justify their inclusion in this volume. These are just Christian texts containing occasional motifs from the Jewish Bible.
\nThe text of Constitutions has been preserved in 23 manuscripts (varying from the 8th to the 18th century), only 9 (varying from the 10th to the 16th century) of which contain the prayers. There are only a few serious text-critical problems (where relevant, these will be discussed in the comments).<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
These prayers are significant in various ways. The Seven Benedictions for Sabbaths and festival days consist of the first three (Avoth, Gevuroth, Kedushat ha-Shem) and last three berakhot (Avodah, Hoda\u2019a, Birkat Shalom) of the Eighteen Benedictions (known as Shemoneh Esreh or Amidah) plus a middle benediction for the sanctification of the day (Kedushat ha-Yom). So on Sabbaths and festival days (except Rosh ha-Shanah, \u201cNew Year\u201d) the 13 middle benedictions are replaced by one berakhah for that specific day. \u201cReplaced\u201d may not be the right word since it is not impossible that the Seven Benedictions were already in existence before the Amidah got its final form. From the earliest Rabbinic document, the Mishnah, we know that by the beginning of the 3rd century the Seven Berakhot for the Sabbath were already in existence, and they were probably even older than that (see M. RH 4:5). But we do not learn the text of these Benedictions there; in fact, the earliest preserved Jewish prayerbook (siddur) dates from as late as the 9th century. So the Greek prayers are our oldest testimonies to the text of these Benedictions.
\nFurthermore, these texts testify to the existence of a Greek-speaking Diaspora Judaism that was both loyal to their ancestral traditions (including liturgical ones) and at the same time deeply influenced by Greek philosophical notions. In that respect the Jewish-Greek redactors of these prayers were veritable heirs to Philo of Alexandria. Finally, these prayers are important in that they provide us with a window on an influential strand of judaizing Christians in Syria, of which we know otherwise only from inimical Christian sources (especially the anti-judaizing sermons by church father John Chrysostom, delivered by him in Antioch in 386\/387 CE). The compiler of our Antiochene church order, following the motto \u201cif you can\u2019t beat them, join them,\u201d decided to offer his parishioners as far as possible what they were looking for during their weekly visits to the local synagogues: Jewish prayers and practices, but now in a christianized form.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
In the translation, underlined type is used for words and phrases that can with a reasonable amount of probability be attributed to the Jewish source; patently Christian additions are printed in italic. Note that passages in normal type may well be hiding Jewish material without our being able to detect it. The emphasis in the commentary will be upon the Jewish material in underlined type.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READINGS<\/p>\n
Bousset, W. \u201cEine j\u00fcdische Gebetssammlung im siebenten Buch der apostolischen Konstitutionen.\u201d In Bousset\u2019s Religionsgeschichtliche Studien, ed. A. F. Verheule, 231\u201386. Leiden: Brill, 1979.
\nDarnell, D. R. \u201cHellenistic Synagogal Prayers.\u201d In Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, ed. J. H. Charlesworth, 2.671\u201397. Garden City: Doubleday, 1985.
\nFiensy, D. A. Prayers Alleged to Be Jewish: An Examination of the Constitutiones Apostolorum. Brown Judaic Studies 65. Chico: Scholars Press, 1985.
\nGoodenough, E. R. By Light, Light. The Mystic Gospel of Hellenistic Judaism, 306\u201336. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1935.
\nKohler, K. \u201cThe Origin and Composition of the Eighteen Benedictions with a Translation of the Corresponding Essene Prayers in the Apostolic Constitutions.\u201d Hebrew Union College Annual 1 (1924): 387\u2013425.
\nMetzger, M. Les Constitutions Apostoliques, vol. 3. Sources chr\u00e9tiennes 336. Paris: Cerf, 1987. (This is the best edition of the Greek text.)
\nvan der Horst, P. W., and J. H. Newman. Early Jewish Prayers in Greek: A Commentary. Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008. (This is the fullest commentary on the Greek text.)<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
AC 7.33<\/p>\n
Like all other prayers in AC 7, this prayer begins with a formula of address (it is different in all the prayers) in 7.33.2. It is followed by a section in which God\u2019s listening to and hearing of prayers (even the silent ones) is recognized and his (fore) knowledge of human thoughts is emphasized. AC 7.33.3 stresses the temporary nature of worldly goods and the importance of an abiding blissful afterlife. In 7.33.4\u20135 the prayer turns to the exemplary function of the three patriarchs who had already been mentioned in 7.33.2, and in 7.33.6 Moses is added. AC 7.33.7 forms the closing berakhah. Its emphasis on the \u201cFathers\u201d (the three patriarchs), the closing phrase \u201cdefender of the offspring of Abraham,\u201d and its position as the first prayer make it more than probable that this prayer is the Greek parallel to Avoth, the first berakhah of the Amidah, which is also the first berakhah of the Seven Benedictions for the Sabbath.
\n2. Our eternal Savior Refers to God. Since in Constitutions \u201csavior\u201d is almost always used for Jesus Christ, except here and in 7.35.1, it seems to have come from the Jewish source at both these places. \u201cSavior\u201d is used frequently as a designation of God in the Septuagint (LXX).
\nKing of the gods This formula is also found in Esther\u2019s prayer in an addition to LXX Esther (variously numbered Esther 4:17r, Add. Esth. C23, or Esther 14:12). In the background are passages). In the background are passages like Ps. 95:3: \u201cThe LORD is \u2026 a great King above all gods\u201d (NRSV). Cf. also Ps. 82:1, where God is standing \u201cin the assembly of gods.\u201d Since the expression \u201cking of the gods\u201d occurs only here in Constitutions, it most probably derives from the Jewish source.
\nthe one who alone is almighty and LORD, God of all beings is regarded by some as the compiler\u2019s addition because \u201calmighty\u201d is used often by him and because the compiler likes to emphasize the preeminence of the Father and the correlative subordination of the Son and the Holy Spirit. But it has to be objected that \u201calmighty\u201d is used at least as frequently by his sources and that in the instances of emphasis on the preeminence of the Father \u201calmighty\u201d is not used. So it stands to reason to take this whole phrase, just as the immediately surrounding phrases, to derive from the Jewish source, though perhaps the words \u201cGod of all beings\u201d is a free and universalizing rendering of \u201cour God\u201d in the alleged counterpart of this prayer, the berakhah Avoth in the Amidah (where God is also described as \u201ccreator of all\u201d).
\nGod of our holy and blameless fathers who were before us, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Occurs in very similar wording in Avoth in the Amidah: \u201cGod of our forefathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob\u201d (which is where this berakhah got its name from). The expression is from Exod. 3:16 and occurs also in the opening line of the Prayer of Manasseh (Dan 3:26 LXX); cf. Tob. 8:5. Since, however, \u201cblameless\u201d is a favorite word of the compiler, which he has demonstrably inserted on various occasions into his sources, the formula \u201choly and blameless\u201d is probably his interpolation. However, the formula \u201cGod of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,\u201d which has such a close parallel to Avoth that it is generally taken to be part of the original Jewish prayer, was also inserted twice into other texts by our compiler (7.26.3; 8.40.3). It could thus be argued that this formula is from the compiler\u2019s hand as well, but in view of the close parallel in Avoth and other Jewish prayer texts (e.g., the communal confession in 4Q393 iv 5) it seems unlikely. This matter does demonstrate how difficult it is to separate tradition from redaction.
\nwho is merciful and compassionate, patient and abundant in mercy This is probably a free-floating liturgical formula based on passages such as Exod. 34:6\u20137; Num. 14:17\u201319; Joel 2:13; Neh. 9:17; but cf. also Jon. 4:2; 2 Esd. (4 Ezra) 7:132\u201340; Pr. Man. 7. In view of the compiler\u2019s tendency to insert scriptural quotations, it could be regarded as his insertion. Since, however, the formula should not be regarded as a quotation but rather as a reminiscence, the phrase may be part of his source, but that remains very uncertain. The corresponding section in the berakhah Avoth, following upon \u201cGod of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,\u201d praises God as \u201cgreat, mighty, awesome, Most High, bestowing lovingkindness.\u201d
\nto whom every heart appears as naked Since the Greek vocabulary of this line is completely atypical of our compiler, it most probably derives from his Jewish source. The imagery of the naked soul goes back to Plato (Gorg. 523c\u2013e; Crat. 403b; cf. Marcus Aurelius 12.2 and 2 Cor. 5:3). The author has rephrased \u201cnaked soul\u201d as \u201cnaked heart\u201d so as to give the phrase a more biblical color (in the Bible the heart is also the source of cognition, unlike in the Greek world where the soul or mind has that function); so here Plato and Moses go hand in hand. The theme of God\u2019s knowledge of even the innermost thoughts of humankind is widespread in the Bible and Jewish literature (e.g., 4Q504 [4QDibHama] 5 iv 4\u20135: \u201cEvery thought of our hearts lies open before you\u201d; Josephus, Ant. 4.41: \u201cNeither what is done nor what is thought is hidden from you\u201d).
\nTo you the souls of the righteous cry out, upon you the devout have put their hopeful trust This line has vocabulary that is atypical of the Christian compiler and should be regarded as coming from the source.
\nFather of the blameless This phrase is again one of the many cases in which the compiler has inserted expressions with his favorite word \u201cblameless.\u201d
\nyou who listen \u2026 supplications that are kept silent Recurs verbatim in a Christian prayer in 8.15.2 and should therefore probably be regarded as Christian, even though it cannot be ruled out that in 8.15.2 the compiler copied this phrase from the Jewish prayer since the theme is already found in a prayer for the Day of Atonement from Qumran: \u201cYou know the hidden things and the revealed things \u2026 you know our inclination\u201d (4Q508 ii 4\u20135, which has a close parallel in the confession made in the public recitation of the Amidah on the Day of Atonement in the later synagogue liturgy: \u201cDo you not know all hidden things and the revealed things? You know the mysteries of the universe and the hidden secrets of all living\u201d). That God is said to hear even silent prayers has its background in the widespread ancient conviction that prayers to God or the gods should be said out loud and not in silence.
\nfor your foreknowledge reaches as far as the inmost parts of humankind This line is meant to explain the previous one, so it probably is an addition by the compiler as well, the more so since pronoia (foreknowledge) is one of his favorite topics. In every occurrence of this word in Constitutions where we can compare the passage with its source, it has come from the compiler. pronoia is usually rendered as \u201cprovidence\u201d but that is not very fitting here. The theme is still God\u2019s knowledge of the thoughts of humankind, so it seems that pronoia here has the sense of \u201cforeknowledge, foresight,\u201d which is, of course, a prerequisite for providence (cf. the use of progn\u00f4sis [foreknowledge] in Jdt. 9:6). Most translators take the Greek word for \u201cawareness\u201d (syneid\u00easis) to refer to human conscience or consciousness, but in view of the parallelism with \u201cyour foreknowledge\u201d it makes better sense to have it refer to an activity of God with regard to human thoughts; hence the translation \u201cawareness.\u201d
\nthe incense that comes through prayer and words is sent up to you This phrase stands in some contradiction to the preceding clause. There the subject was God\u2019s knowledge of human thoughts and silent prayers, whereas here the thought seems to be that the incense is sent up to God in the form of audible prayers (\u201cwords\u201d). This ties in with the crying out of the righteous souls mentioned previously; hence we can take this phrase also to belong to the source. The vocabulary does not militate against this. On incense\u2014originally used in the Temple service as an offering\u2014in a metaphorical sense (i.e., prayer) see, for example, Ps. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; cf. 1QS 9:5.
\n3. you have established the present world as a place where men should run the race of righteousness The Greek for \u201cworld\u201d (ai\u00f4n) may also be translated \u201cage\u201d (cf. Hebrew olam) or \u201clife.\u201d Life in this world as a contest in a stadium is a Stoic commonplace that is also used on various occasions by Paul (e.g., 1 Cor. 9:24\u201327). The structure of the phrase (encasing the whole clause between an article and a participle, which is a common stylistic trait of the compiler) betrays its origin at the compiler\u2019s desk. Even though translated here with main verbs, this and the following sentences are good examples of the compiler\u2019s fondness for participial clauses; in 8.12.9\u201320 and elsewhere (e.g., 7.34.1 and 7.37.1) one finds a long series of participial clauses.
\nyou have opened to all a gate of mercy \u2026 that physical power is easily dissolved For the most part, these phrases do not have vocabulary that suggests the compiler\u2019s hand in any way, so they may be taken to derive from the source. Although the phrase \u201cby implanted knowledge and natural judgment as well as through the exhortation of the Law\u201d reflects recurring motifs in Constitutions, a Jewish origin is very well possible. The words \u201cimplanted\u201d and \u201cnatural\u201d belong to the compiler\u2019s favorites in connection with the implanted Law and natural knowledge, and his emphasis on the value of the teachings of the Law (of Moses) recurs throughout Constitutions. However, the motif of the implanted Law occurs already in a 2nd-century BCE Jewish prayer in Qumran (it is one in the series of prayers in Words of the Luminaries, 4Q504 1\u20132 ii 13\u201315). We may therefore conclude that the Jewish source furnished the compiler with one of his favorite themes or expressions. Moreover, in the old morning prayer, the importance of studying Torah was emphasized. For that reason I assign this clause to the source, albeit with some hesitation. The text\u2019s message is that the combination of natural and revealed knowledge makes humans aware of the passing nature of worldly affairs.
\ngate of mercy For the metaphorical use of \u201cgate\u201d in contexts like this see, for example, Ps. 118:19 (\u201copen the gates of righteousness for me\u201d [NJPS margin]); 1QM 18:7 (\u201cyou have opened for us many times the gates of salvation\u201d); 4Q434 viib 2 (\u201ca gate of hope\u201d). The temporary nature, and therefore the relative unimportance, of wealth, beauty, and power is a theme in various Jewish writings (Jer. 9:22; Pseudo-Phocylides 53; Philo, Spec. Laws 1.311) but also many church fathers. The theme of the worthlessness of worldly goods and values is also stressed in the morning prayer. Since there are no lexicographical reasons to attribute this phrase to the compiler, it is best to take it as the natural complement to \u201cyou have showed that\u201d and hence as belonging to the Jewish source.
\nall these things are nothing but vapor and vanity Seems to be an addition by the compiler, judging on the basis of its probable reminiscence of James 4:14 (\u201cyou are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes\u201d). For \u201cvanity\u201d see Eccles. 1:2 and 12:8, also quoted in the morning prayer.
\nonly a sincere conscience of faith \u2026 that soul rejoices as it is exulting in hope This sentence is difficult to translate and understand, but this much is clear: it contrasts the permanent character of a blessed afterlife of the soul in heaven (and the joy of anticipating that life) to the ephemeral nature of worldly pleasures such as wealth, beauty, and power. The concept of the ascent of the soul is strikingly Philonic. This passage is from the hand of the compiler for the following reasons: (1) In a prayer that focuses on God\u2019s hearing of the prayers of humankind (strongly reminiscent of the berakhah Shomea Tefillah [he who hears the prayer] in the Amidah), this passage on the mystical ascent of the soul through the heavens and its vision is not very fitting. (2) The central term \u201crebirth\u201d (palingenesia), though not necessarily Christian, is a favorite word of the compiler, who regularly uses it for resurrection. So it is not likely that this passage was in the Jewish source. It cannot be ruled out, however, that something in the source here has been recast in such a way by the compiler as to have become unrecognizable.
\n4\u20136 Here begins a long passage on the patriarchs\u2019 and Moses\u2019s visionary experiences: Abraham\u2019s in Gen. 15, Jacob\u2019s in Gen. 28, and Moses\u2019s in Exod. 3. The compiler could hardly omit Isaac, but\u2014since the biblical text does not attribute a vision to Isaac\u2014he can say only that God found Isaac to be just like Abraham. Since what we learn about the contents of Abraham\u2019s vision (\u201c[he] taught him \u2026 what this world\/life really is\u201d) exceeds what the reader is told in Gen. 15, one may assume that the author was also familiar with the interpretative traditions about this chapter, for example, such as Apoc. Ab. 9 (esp. 9:9: \u201cI will show you the things which were made by the ages and by my word, and affirmed, created, and renewed\u201d) or 2 Esd. (4 Ezra) 3:14 (\u201cto him alone you revealed the end of the times\u201d [NRSV]). Mention of the three patriarchs and God\u2019s covenant with Abraham is a common feature in ancient Jewish prayers. The whole passage seems intended to illustrate what was said in the long closing sentence of 7.33.3 and may for that reason be suspected as being work of the compiler who also wrote that sentence.
\nFrom that knowledge resulted his faith, and the covenant was the consequence of his faith The textual situation is confused here (see alternative translation). This may indicate that an (originally Jewish?) emphasis on the order knowledge-faith-covenant (based upon Gen. 15:6); was replaced by Christian copyists with the order faith-knowledge-covenant (based upon Rom. 4:1\u20135). In that case, Abraham\u2019s (and the others\u2019) knowledge of \u201cwhat this life\/world really is about,\u201d revealed to him by God, smoothly fits in with what was said in 7.33.3 about God\u2019s showing humankind the passing nature of worldly goods or outer appearance, lines that I suggest are Jewish. So the interpolator\u2019s hand may be found only in the words \u201cyou showed him [i.e., Jacob] Christ.\u201d When we further delete the unnecessary biblical quotations, which are so characteristic of the compiler, and also the paragraph on Moses, clearly also a favorite of the compiler, this might yield a Jewish source of 7.33.4\u20137 in more or less the following form: \u201cFor from the beginning, when our forefather Abraham strove for the way of truth, you guided him by a vision and taught him what (life in) this world really is (about). From that knowledge came forth his faith, and the covenant was the consequence of this faith. When you had given him Isaac and knew that he was going to be like him (his father) in his way of life, you called yourself also his God. And when our father Jacob set out for Mesopotamia, you showed him [a vision?] and spoke to him. Defender of the offspring of Abraham, blessed are you forever.\u201d
\nAC 7.33.4\u20136 is in the form of a series of biblical exempla, a phenomenon that has many parallels in other Jewish texts. The longest of such series in the prayers of Constitutions is 7.37.2\u20134.
\n7. Defender of the offspring of Abraham, blessed are you forever! There can be no doubt that this line belongs to the Jewish source. It is perfectly parallel to the ending of the berakhah Avoth of the Amidah, which in all versions runs as follows: \u201cBlessed are you, LORD, Shield of Abraham\u201d (barukh ata Adonai, magen Avraham). \u201cDefender of the offspring of Abraham\u201d only makes explicit what the formula \u201cShield of Abraham\u201d means. The idea of God being Abraham\u2019s shield derives from Gen. 15:1: \u201cDo not be afraid, Abraham, I am your shield.\u201d That the author uses here the Greek word for \u201cdefender\u201d instead of a word for \u201cshield\u201d may have its origin in Symmachus\u2019s translation of \u201cshield\u201d (magen) in Gen. 15:1 with a form of the verb \u201cto defend.\u201d God is called \u201cdefender\u201d by Philo (Flaccus 170; Abraham 232) and also in 2 Macc. 8:36; 14:34 (cf. God as \u201cprotector\u201d in 3 Macc. 6:9). The phrasing here in Constitutions is a good summary of the contents of the original berakhah in its Hebrew form, but less so of the Greek version as it stands in its interpolated form. \u201cBlessed are you forever\u201d (barukh ata le\u2019olam [va\u2019ed]) is certainly an old Jewish blessing in view of Rom. 1:25, where Paul says that the creator is \u201cblessed forever.\u201d Cf. also the frequent occurrence of the formulas \u201cblessed are you, God of Israel\u201d and \u201cblessed be the God of Israel\u201d in the collection of daily prayers from Qumran in 4Q503 and in the purification rituals in 4Q284, 4Q414, and 4Q512 (cf. Tob. 8:5; Jdt. 13:17).<\/p>\n
AC 7.34<\/p>\n
After the opening formula of address (Jewish from the start but immediately christianized), the rest of the prayer consists mainly (7.34.1\u20136) of a praiseful listing of God\u2019s acts of creation, patterned upon Gen. 1, but with deviations in the order of the acts and in a strongly hellenized form. AC 7.34.7 gives expression to the feeling of inadequacy to describe properly the greatness of God\u2019s creation. The closing paragraph (7.34.8) hints at the story of Adam and Eve\u2019s disobedience in Gen. 3 but adds that instead of punishing them with eternal death God promised them resurrection. The whole prayer is permeated with Greek philosophical terminology and ideas. The problems of this prayer concern mainly the large section between the opening and closing Jewish phrases. Some regard it as completely the work of the compiler and leave only the opening and closing lines as belonging to the source, because these have close counterparts in the section Gevuroth (God\u2019s powerful deeds) of the Amidah. The arguments for leaving out everything else are as follows. The prayer is very similar to 8.12.9\u201320. After the opening line the prayer goes on with an enumeration of God\u2019s various acts of creation, roughly patterned after Gen. 1 (LXX), but with a markedly different sequence. The two prayers have been regarded as different and independent redactions of one and the same Jewish text. This common source was not a Jewish prayer text but the Christian liturgical tradition. And it was the compiler himself who redrafted this tradition into two similar yet different prayers, the differences having been caused perhaps by there being a considerable amount of time between his reworking of the source in 7.34 and in 8.12. This Christian liturgical tradition can be traced in a variety of sources where the various elements of creation are enumerated in praise of God. The prayer in 7.34 reflects the theme and language of this liturgical tradition, and the main theme of the Amidah\u2019s second berakhah (Gevuroth) led the compiler to recast this benediction using his own liturgical tradition, which had such a similar emphasis. That there are so many common themes and stock expressions in 7.34 and 8.12 can be explained only on the assumption that the compiler himself redacted both prayers. Only the barest framework still reminds one of the Jewish berakhah. This seems to be a well-argued position. On closer scrutiny, however, matters appear to be somewhat different. The differences between 7.34 and 8.12.9\u201320 are much greater than suggested, if only because the second prayer contains some 70 lines of Greek (in Metzger\u2019s edition) whereas the former has only 45, and the verbal agreements amount to no more than a handful of turns and phrases. To explain these vast differences by the assumption that much time had lapsed between the compiler\u2019s redrafting of the source in 7.34 and in 8.12 is not very illuminating. It would seem, therefore, that they are different redactions of a common source by different hands and that most probably 7.34 with its shorter form was the earlier one. This would explain two things: (1) that most of the parallels in the Christian liturgical tradition are parallels to 8.12, much less so to 7.34; (2) that, contrary to 7.34, the prayer in 8.12 has a eucharistic setting (the so-called ante-sanctus), which is also the case in other liturgies. In other words, what is applicable to 8.12 is not necessarily so to 7.34, in spite of agreements between the two texts. This reopens the possibility that parts of the middle section of 7.34 do indeed go back to Jewish sources. In the present state of research, however, there is no way of determining to which parts that applies since there certainly are redactional elements in parts of this middle section. Hence the matter must be left open.
\n1\u20138. Blessed are you, O LORD, King of the ages, who made all things \u2026 you reviver of the dead (see page 2122) = Barukh ata Adonai, melekh ha\u2019olam(im), bore [or: koneh or yotzer] hakol \u2026 mechayyeh hametim. The first part is a variant of the standard opening benediction of many Jewish prayers; for example, the Berakhot Avoth and Da\u2019at in the Amidah open with barukh ata Adonai, and in many other prayers one finds melekh ha\u2019olam (King of the universe\/ages). \u201cWho made all things\u201d is an expression the Hebrew equivalent of which one expects to find in the second berakhah of the Amidah, Gevuroth, because the overriding theme of that benediction is God\u2019s mighty deeds, of which his creation of the universe is of course the paramount example. It does not occur there, however, but it does so in the first berakhah, Avoth, in the form koneh hakol (creator of all things). Moreover, the formula \u201cblessed are you, O LORD, creator of all things [yotzer hakol]\u201d is already found in the opening line of a thanksgiving hymn from Qumran, 1QHa 8:16. It is striking that the expression \u201cKing of the universe\u201d used for God occurs for the first time in a passage that refers to him as a reviver of the dead, in 2 Macc. 7:9: \u201cThe King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life\u201d (NRSV). In the benediction Gevuroth there is a clear emphasis on God as mehaye hametim (the reviver of the dead), in that this expression is used of God both at the beginning and (twice) at the end of the prayer in all versions known to us. Only at the end of the Greek prayer (7.34.8) is God called the \u201creviver of the dead,\u201d but the coincidence is striking enough to suggest that in all likelihood the origin of this Greek prayer lies in the second benediction of the Amidah, the more so since it is positioned between two prayers that correspond to the first and the third benedictions of the Amidah. The idea of the revival of the dead is mainly a postbiblical development in the history of the Jewish religion and, even though this tenet gained a predominant position because it was so strongly backed by the Pharisees and later by the Rabbis, it never gained a position of complete monopoly. Best known is the antagonism at this point between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, reflected in texts such as Mark 12:18\u201327; Acts 23:8, and M. Sanh. 10:1 (with the talmudic discussion of this passage in B. Sanh. 90a). For God as reviver of the dead see Jos. Asen. 20:7 and Rom. 4:17. Cf. also the phrase \u201che will revive the dead\u201d (metim yehayeh) in the Messianic Apocalypse from Qumran (4Q521 2 ii 12).
\n1. who separated waters from waters by a firmament See Gen. 1:6\u20137.
\nwho also put a spirit of life into them If this is a reference to Gen. 2:7 where God breathed a spirit of life into Adam\u2019s nostrils, then the plural \u201cthem\u201d is strange; and since humans have not been mentioned before it would be unclear what \u201cthem\u201d refers to. But if the reference is to Gen. 1:2 where God\u2019s spirit hovers over the water (mentioned in the plural \u201cwaters\u201d in the immediately preceding phrase), the formulation \u201che put a spirit of life into them\u201d is strange since this suggests a bringing to life of something that is not what the biblical verse is about. Because, however, from a grammatical point of view the word \u201cthem\u201d cannot but refer back to \u201cwaters,\u201d we have to assume that this is what the author means, however odd that may seem.
\nwho established the earth and stretched out the heaven Cf., apart from Gen. 1, also Ps. 102:26; 104:2.
\nwho ordered exactly the (dis) position of each one of the creatures Psalm 119:91 also speaks of God\u2019s \u201cordering\u201d in a creation setting. That creation was primarily a matter of bringing order into chaotic matter (and not a creatio ex nihilo) is a common early Jewish and Christian thought. A very good parallel to AC 7.34.1 as a whole can be found in the (Jewish or Christian?) prayer in Jos. Asen. 12:1\u20132.
\n2. Master (despot\u00ea\u0113s) is more often used as a substitute translation for YHWH instead of \u201cLORD,\u201d kyrios (e.g., by Josephus), and is found a number of prayers.
\nthe universe is bright Cf. Ladder of Jacob 2:11: \u201cthe heaven that beams under you.\u201d The rest of AC 7.34.2 is full of references or allusions to the creation story in Gen. 1, albeit in a different order than in that chapter, possibly because the author felt free to draw on other creation accounts as well. A comparable text is the noncanonical Psalm B from Qumran, 4Q381 frag. 1.
\n3. how could anyone describe it? The motif of the indescribability of God\u2019s creation is probably a variant of the biblical motif of God\u2019s incomparability, for example, Ps. 40:6; Isa. 40:25\u201326; Sir. 43:27\u201333 (esp. 43:28: \u201cWhere could we find the strength to sing his praises?\u201d). The motif of human inability to describe God\u2019s great deeds is also found in the Qumran Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot) for example, 1QHa 19:24: \u201cWho among all your creatures is able to recount [your wonders]?\u201d (cf. 11Q5 28:7); also 2 Bar. 54:8: \u201cFor if my members were mouths or the hairs of my head voices, even then I could not honor you with praise or praise you properly, nor could I recount your splendor or tell of the glory of your beauty.\u201d In the Bible, though, only in Ps. 89:9\u201312 are the themes of God\u2019s incomparability and his power in creation interwoven.
\nit is stopped there by your command, for you said that its waves shall be broken by it This is most probably an allusion to Job 38:8\u201311, where God says that he established the bounds of the sea and set its barred doors in place: \u201cThus far may you come, but no farther, here your surging waves must halt\u201d; cf. the very similar allusion to Job 38 in AC 8.12.13. Psalm 104:6\u20139 may also be at the background here.
\nyou have made it passable for small and large animals and for ships This is certainly an allusion to Ps. 104:25\u201326.
\n4. Then the earth became green This is again a paragraph full of allusions to the creation story. When the text emphasizes that the heavenly luminaries \u201cunwaveringly keep their course without deviating from your command in any respect,\u201d again the element of the order that God has brought about is brought to the fore (see also 7.34.1 and cf. Theophilus, Autol. 1.6); for the unwavering nature of the heavenly bodies cf. 1 En. 2:1; Jos. Asen. 12:2; and 4Q432 1. That all this is done \u201cfor the service of humankind\u201d is a prelude to the motif of God\u2019s providence that the next sections will focus upon.
\n5. Thereafter the various kinds of animals were formed This paragraph is a free rendering of Gen. 1:20\u201325, here with a special focus on God\u2019s pronoia (the term occurs three times); where the translation has \u201ccorresponding provisions\u201d and \u201cdifferent provisions\u201d for each animal, the Greek has pronoia for \u201cprovisions\u201d both times. This non-biblical emphasis has its background in a Greek motif current since Plato (Prot. 320d\u201321e), that each living being has received its own equipment (often called \u201cweapon\u201d) to defend itself. It is also used by Jewish authors such as Philo (Dreams 1.103) and Pseudo-Phocylides 125\u201328: \u201cGod allotted a weapon to every creature; the capacity to fly to birds, speed to horses, strength to the lions, he clothed the bulls with self-growing horns, he gave stings to the bees as their natural means of defense, but reason [or: speech, logos] to man as his protection.\u201d Whereas in Greek authors (especially Stoics) it is usually nature that endowed humans and animals with their \u201cweapons,\u201d in Jewish and Christian authors it is God\u2019s providence. That \u201cthe skillful Wisdom of your [God\u2019s] providence\u201d is said to have accomplished this may be another way of saying, \u201cYou have done this in your skillful and wise providence,\u201d but it should be noted that ever since Prov. 8:22\u201331 the personified Wisdom was seen as an agent in creation; in the next paragraph God gives orders to Wisdom in the creation process (cf. Wis. 9:2: \u201cBy your Wisdom you fashioned humankind\u201d; 11Q5 26:14: \u201cBy his Wisdom he established the earth\u201d; Gen. Rab. 1:1 [with reference to Prov. 8]; Targum Neofiti on Gen. 1:1 where \u201cin the beginning\u201d is rendered as \u201cby Wisdom\u201d). Moreover, the order given to Wisdom is in the form of a quotation of Gen. 1:26 (\u201clet us make man\u201d), demonstrating that in the ongoing debate on the meaning of the plural form of the verb in this verse among ancient Jews and Christians, our author has it refer to God and Wisdom.
\n6. As the goal of your creation you formed the rational living being That humans are the goal (or end, telos, in the sense of \u201cfinal work\u201d; cf. Philo, Creation 77) of creation, an \u201cornament of the world\u201d (kosmou kosmos), is a common idea in Jewish and Christian antiquity and emerges directly from Genesis 1. That this human is also a rational being is a typically Greek philosophical concept, developed especially by the Stoics (e.g., SVF 3.95) and taken over by hellenized Jews such as Philo (e.g., Alleg. Interp. 2.75).
\nworld citizen That humans are citizens not just of their own city or country but of the whole world is originally a Stoic idea (e.g., Epictetus, Diatr. 2.10), although the Greek term kosmopolit\u00eas is scarcely found outside Philo and Christian writers depending upon him; see Creation 3.
\nyou shaped a body for him from the four bodies \u201cBodies\u201d (s\u00f4mata) here has the sense of \u201celements\u201d (earth, water, air, and fire). It is a rather unusual meaning of the term s\u00f4ma, but the author preferred it to the more common stoicheion (used in this context in 8.12.17) because he indulges in wordplay here: kosmou kosmos \u2026 ek \u2026 s\u00f4mat\u00f4n \u2026 s\u00f4ma.
\nyou created for him a soul out of nothing Most probably a reference to both Gen. 2:7 and the (Christian) doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. The author draws a contrast between the corporeal origin of the body and the incorporeal origin of the soul.
\nyou bestowed upon him fivefold sense perception Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. The idea of the five senses has a Greek philosophical origin, but it was known to Jews and Christians as well; for example, T. Reu. 2:3\u20139; 2 En. 30:9 (the five senses are mentioned again in AC 7.38.4).
\nbut over the senses you placed the charioteer of the soul, the spirit The image of the charioteer of the soul derives from a well-known passage in Plato\u2019s Phaedrus 246a\u2013b. Philo, too, refers frequently to this Platonic image. The idea here is that the rational part of the soul, namely the spirit, enables humankind to take control over the irrational parts, the senses and their perceptions, that might otherwise lead to sin.
\n7. who can adequately describe See comment on 7.34.3.
\na harmonious blending of the air This expression has a Greek scientific background. The idea behind it is that the air (\u201cclimate\u201d\/\u201dairs\u201d in the plural) in which humans live is crucial not only to their physical but also to their spiritual and moral well-being; a balanced climate (Philo calls it \u201ca good climatological blend\u201d; Virtues 154) is necessary in order to further that well-being; see, for example, the highly influential (Pseudo-)Hippocratic treatise Airs, Waters, Places 12.3; Plato, Tim. 24c; Pseudo-Aristotle, Probl. 909a; and cf. Strabo\u2019s remarks in Geogr. 2.5.14 and 6.4.1. That God sees to it that there is a harmonious climate for his people to live in is more than just a meteorological remark; it is about God\u2019s care for a good spiritual and moral state of mind.
\n8. But when man disobeyed you, you deprived him of the life you promised him as a reward A clear allusion to the story of Gen. 3. The phrase seems to refer to the eternal life that God promised Adam and Eve if they would be obedient.
\nafter having put him to sleep for a little while \u2026 and you loosened the bond of death As the immediately following acclamation of God as \u201creviver of the dead\u201d demonstrates, the meaning of this line is that, although God punishes humankind temporarily with death (\u201csleep\u201d), he will finally deliver them from its bonds by resurrecting the dead. On \u201cnew birth\u201d (palingenesia) see comment on 7.33.3. The Greek for \u201cbond\u201d or \u201cboundary, limit\u201d indicates that the limit of life (i.e., death) has been abolished by God. What exactly the author has in mind when he speaks about God\u2019s oath is hard to say with certainty, but it is not improbable that he refers to a promise by God such as the one in Dan. 12:2: \u201cMany of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.\u201d It may also, however, refer to the story that God promised Adam a future resurrection as reported in the Greek and Latin versions of Life of Adam and Eve (Greek 28, 37, 41; Latin 47, 51).<\/p>\n
AC 7.35<\/p>\n
The prayer opens with praise of the LORD\u2019s great power and goodness (7.35.1). This power and glory are proclaimed by heaven and earth (7.35.2), the angelic world (7.35.3), and the people of Israel (7.35.4). AC 7.35.5 summarizes the theme of nature\u2019s and humankind\u2019s recognition of God\u2019s great power. Gratefulness is the only fitting answer to all that (7.35.6). The next two paragraphs (7.35.7\u20138) again give examples of God\u2019s unlimited power and greatness, 7.35.9 stresses his uniqueness, and 7.35.10 gives further praise, but in an explicitly Christian vein. The structure of this prayer is a bit rambling, perhaps due to its interpolatory character. The identification with the Kedushah (i.e., the repetition of the expanded third berakhah of the Amidah in an antiphon between cantor and community) is based mainly upon its third position and the striking combination of quotations from Isa. 6:3 and Ezek. 3:12 that it shares with the Kedushah.
\n1. Great are you, O LORD almighty, and great is your power, and of your understanding there is no measure This opening line is clearly based on Ps. 147:5: \u201cGreat is our LORD and great is his power, and his Wisdom is beyond all telling\u201d (author\u2019s translation). The word \u201calmighty\u201d may have been added by the compiler but may also be a common liturgical expansion of the psalm text that is not literally quoted here and so may have already been in the source. Moreover, \u201cLORD almighty\u201d is a common designation for God in the LXX. It is hard to say whether the rest of the paragraph derives from the compiler since the vocabulary does not suggest his hand (e.g., \u201csavior\u201d is here used of God; see comment on 7.33.2). But since the emphasis on God\u2019s mercy and forbearance would seem to be somewhat out of tune with the main theme of the prayer, God\u2019s power and greatness, it might have been added later. The appeal to God\u2019s patience and mercy (echoing the divine epithets in Exod. 34:6) is reminiscent of the prayer in AC 7.33.2, in a passage that is possibly from the compiler\u2019s hand (see comment).
\nyou are good by nature God\u2019s goodness is mentioned frequently in the LXX and often in Jewish prayers (Pr. Azar. 67; Ps. Sol. 5:2; Pr. Man. 11). That it is God\u2019s very nature (physis) to be good is, however, a typically Greek idea. A belief in the inherent goodness of the divine nature was widely shared by Greek philosophers (e.g., Plato, Resp. 379b1; Tim. 29e1\u20132). This idea was also adopted by Jewish and Christian philosophers such as Philo (e.g., Confusion 180\u201381) and Clement of Alexandria (e.g., Paed. 1.9.82.4), although the Rabbis and others retained the biblical idea that both good and evil come from God\u2019s hand.
\nyour warnings are full of compassion The idea that God warns his people before punishing is found in Ezek. 3:17\u201319; Jer. 11:7\u20138; Neh. 9:30; Jdt. 8:27.
\nHow could we subsist Humans are not able to keep their ground before God\u2019s judgment seat (Ps. 130:3; see also 1QHa 15:28\u201329).
\n2 This paragraph returns to the main theme, but the very close parallels between this passage and 7.34.3 (redactional) and 8.12.13 suggest that the compiler is at work here. God\u2019s greatness in creation is a favorite theme of his, so when it also occurs as a motif in his source, it is hard to decide where it derives from in the present text. But since 7.35.5, which more or less summarizes this whole theme, again shows a number of striking parallels to 7.34 and 8.12, one can hardly avoid the conclusion that both paragraphs are the compiler\u2019s work.
\nYour power is proclaimed \u2026 it is hanging upon nothing The idea that the earth is hanging upon nothing has a Greek cosmological background. The idea is that of a disk-shaped or drum-shaped earth held in place by free suspension in the air. The motif of the steadfastness of the earth is also expressed, for example, in Ps. 93:1.
\nThe sea \u2026 is bound by the sandy beach and trembles before your will For this motif see comment on 7.34.3. The quotation from Ps. 104:24 (\u201cthe earth is full of your creation [ktise\u00f4s]\u201d) differs slightly from what one finds in modern editions of the LXX, where the adopted reading is \u201cthe earth is full of your property [kt\u00ease\u00f4s],\u201d a case of confusion between two vowels (i and \u00ea were pronounced in an identical way).
\n3. A fiery army of angels and the intellectual spirits say: \u201cOnly one is holy to Phelmouni\u201d In this paragraph God\u2019s holiness is emphasized as in the Kedushah. Other translations have: \u201cThe intellectual spirits say to Phelmouni: Only one is holy.\u201d The text is a quotation from Dan. 8:13, where the visionary sees angels (\u201choly ones\u201d) and hears \u201ca holy one speaking and another holy one answering him, a certain one\u201d (author\u2019s translation), which the Greek translators (LXX, Theodotion, and Aquila) seem not to have understood and hence simply transliterated the Hebrew word palmoni (a certain one) instead of translating it. Be that as it may, in both Hebrew and Greek, Phelmouni is the one addressed, but in the context of our prayer that no longer seems to be the case, since the Greek word order militates against it. However, the alternative is also problematic for it is hard to discover what the composer of the prayer could have meant by \u201conly one is holy to Phelmouni.\u201d The whole phrase is probably to be attributed to the compiler, since in other passages where he inserts quotations from Daniel, he uses the Theodotion version. The angels are here called a \u201cfiery army\u201d because angels were often thought to have a body of fire, or of wind, on the basis of Ps. 104:4 \u201cYou make the winds your messengers, fire and flame your ministers\u201d (e.g., 2 Esd. [4 Ezra] 8:22; 2 Bar. 21:6; 48:8; Pirke R. El. 4).
\nthe holy seraphim \u2026 heaven and earth are full of your glory!\u201d Apart from some minor elements, the passage does not show traces of the compiler\u2019s vocabulary. The words \u201cthe song of victory\u201d appear in other early Christian liturgies and may have replaced another expression in the source. Seraphim and cherubim are combined here because seraphim are mentioned in Isa. 6 as the six-winged angels who sing the Trishagion (quoted here) and because the angels mentioned in the context of Ezek. 3:12 (quoted immediately hereafter) are identified as cherubim in Ezek. 10; the same combination occurs in 2 En. 21:1. The quotation of Isa. 6:3 is not exact, for the Hebrew and Greek versions of the biblical text have only \u201cthe earth\u201d (without heaven), but most early Christian liturgies have the formula with \u201cheaven and earth.\u201d So \u201cheaven and\u201d may also be an addition by the compiler. The various versions of the Kedushah (known as Kedushah de-Amidah, Kedushah de-Yotser, and Kedushah de-Sidra) always follow the biblical text (\u201cthe earth is full of his glory\u201d), so the probability that the compiler added the words familiar to him from his own liturgical tradition seems to be great. Some scholars, however, argue that the formula \u201cheaven and earth\u201d in quotations of Isa. 6:3 occurs in early Jewish sources as well (e.g., T. Isaac 6:5, 24; 2 En. 21:1). These documents were preserved, however, in Christian circles and may have been altered so as to make them conform to Christian usage. Yet it cannot be ruled out that the formula \u201cheaven and earth\u201d derives from a Jewish source since one of the Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot) from Qumran clearly alludes to Isa. 6:3 with the words \u201cyour holy spirit \u2026 the fullness of heaven and earth \u2026 your glory, the fullness of\u201d (1QH 8:9\u201311). Moreover, both the (admittedly later) Old Slavonic and Hebrew versions of the Ladder of Jacob 2:20 have \u201cheaven and earth\u201d in their quotation of the Trishagion, as does the longer recension of 2 En. 21:1. The overall situation remains too uncertain, however, to justify printing the words \u201cheaven and\u201d in underlined type. Another difference with Isa. 6:3 is that the biblical text describes the praise of God by angels in the third person (\u201chis glory\u201d), whereas here it becomes a direct address of God in the second person (\u201cyour glory\u201d), a trait more often seen in Christian versions of the Trishagion.
\nAnd the multitudes of the other orders \u2026 \u201cBlessed be the glory of the LORD from his place\u201d Precisely this combination of quotations from Isa. 6:3 and Ezek. 3:12 (and their distribution over two different groups of angels) is the characteristic core of the Kedushah and is to be found, for example, in T. Ber. 1:9 and 3 En. 2 (and perhaps already in Qumran texts such as 4Q405). Even though this is now generally regarded as a proof of the origin of this prayer as a form of the Kedushah, it should be noticed that in the same period that Constitutions was compiled, the Antiochene church father John Chrysostom quoted this very same combination of biblical verses in his first sermon against the judaizers (Adv. Jud. 1.1 [without \u201cheaven and\u201d]). This observation is perhaps counterbalanced somewhat by the fact that, whereas the biblical text of Ezek 3:12 does not explicitly state that it is the angelic beings who recite the blessing, this is made explicit in the Targum to this verse (by adding ve\u2019amerin), exactly as is done in our text (legousin). Lists of angelic powers are to be found in both early Jewish and Christian sources (e.g., 1 En. 61:10; 71:7\u20139; T. Adam 4; 1 Pet. 3:22), so the phenomenon in itself does not point in a certain direction, but the sequence \u201cthrones, dominions, principalities, authorities, and powers\u201d seems to be too close a parallel to Col. 1:16 to go unsuspected. Since \u201carchangels\u201d further appears only in the compiler\u2019s material, we may conclude that the whole list is his work. The concept of angelic liturgy has ancient roots and is attested in many early Jewish sources, especially in a wide variety of apocalyptic and mystical documents.
\n4 This whole paragraph derives from the Jewish source, apart from the phrase \u201cwith an overflowing heart and a willing soul,\u201d which looks like a standard phrase of the compiler since it appears also in 8.6.12 and 8.16.5. The formula \u201cyour earthly assembly (that was taken) out of the Gentiles\u201d looks like a Christian formula at first sight, but it may be an expression for God\u2019s having chosen Israel from among the Gentiles; the expression remains of doubtful provenance. The epithet \u201cearthly\u201d is added here in order to stress that the people of Israel forms the earthly counterpart of the heavenly powers (i.e., the angelic orders) in their common and coordinated liturgies that are conducted in unison by angels above and Jews below. This well-known motif in the history of early Jewish liturgy occurs already in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and in the Qumran Thanksgiving Hymns (Hodayot) and is also a recurring theme in the later mystical hekhalot literature. The quotation from Ps. 68:18 (\u201cthe chariot of the LORD is ten-thousandfold thousands of thriving ones; the LORD is among them at Sinai, at the holy place\u201d) also plays an important role in early Jewish mystical sources and in angelological speculations.
\n5 This paragraph is completely from the compiler\u2019s hand; see comment on 7.35.2. References to the creation story in Gen. 1 and other biblical passages are here woven together so as to make the whole into a doxology.
\nHeaven knows Perhaps the idea is that the parts of creation are well aware of who created them and realize their being dependent upon him.
\nthe one who fixed it [heaven] upon nothing, in the form of a vault, like a cube of stone This expression is based on a combination of two biblical verses: Isa. 40:22 LXX: \u201cWho stretches out the heavens like a vault\u201d; and Job 38:38 LXX: \u201cI have cemented it [heaven] like a cube to a stone\u201d (both translations by author).
\n[he] conjoined fire with it [heaven] for warmth and comfort in darkness is a reference to the creation of sun and moon in Gen. 1:14\u201318.
\nthe choir of stars that points to the one who counted them is a clear allusion to Ps. 147:4.
\n6 Apart from the obvious interpolation \u201cthrough Christ,\u201d there is no reason to doubt the Jewish origin of this paragraph, and it ties in neatly with 7.35.4 about singing in unison with the angels. Since God has given humankind dominion over all things (Gen. 1:28), it is fitting that everyone should send up to him a song of heartfelt thanks.
\n7 It is not easy to determine whether this paragraph derives from the source or from the compiler. Some argue that the first half (up to \u201cthe ability to do it is yours\u201d) with its emphasis on God\u2019s mercy does not harmonize with the theme of the sanctification of God and so was not in the source, but that the second half was, since its contents follow smoothly after 7.35.6. It could be objected, however, that, first, when 7.35.6 ends with praise of God for giving humans power over all things, it makes sense to speak thereafter of God\u2019s goodness and benefactions, amongst which is also his compassion (also mentioned at this point in some Hebrew versions of the Kedushah). His compassion is a manifestation of his power, and for that reason the text goes on to say that God is always able to do what he wants. Second, if 7.35.6 ends with praise of God for having given humankind power over all things, whereas the second half of 7.35.7 is about God\u2019s own power over all things, the shift of theme here is greater than that between 7.35.6 and 7.35.7a. So both 7.35.7a and 7.35.7b may well derive from the source, the more so since the vocabulary of both passages is atypical of the compiler.
\ngoodness See comment on 7.35.1.
\nwhen you want to do something, the ability to do it is yours See Wis. 12:18.
\ncools flames See Dan. 3.
\nmuzzles lions See Dan. 6.
\ntames sea monsters See Jon. 2.
\nraises up those who are sick See 2 Kings 5.
\noverturns powers See 2 Kings 19. There is here a remote parallel with Heb. 11:33\u201334.
\na people that is counted among the arrogant The phrase might be a reference to the Romans and is also reminiscent of the 12th berakhah in the Amidah, the Birkat ha-Minim, which asks God to uproot \u201cthe dominion of arrogance\u201d (malkut zadon). But the exact reference remains uncertain. Cf. also Prov. 3:34: \u201cThe LORD resists the arrogant.\u201d
\n8 Even though emphasizing God\u2019s uniqueness (as Father) is typical of the compiler, at this point some versions of the Kedushah also have the same emphasis, which makes it very probable that at least large parts of both 7.35.8 and 7.35.9 were in the source. In 7.35.8 some doubt exists about the clause \u201cthe one who, though being in finite areas, is himself infinite,\u201d since this emphasis on God\u2019s infinitude is found also in 8.15.7. That may be right, and in view of the compiler\u2019s tendency to insert biblical quotations into his sources, it would seem safe to take the quotation from Ps. 145:3 to be his addition. The quotation from Deut. 4:39 then ties in well with the opening line of AC 7.35.8: \u201cYou are the one who is in heaven, the one who is on the earth, the one who is in the sea,\u201d parallels \u201cYou will know in your heart that the LORD your God is a God in heaven above and on earth below, and there is no other beside him.\u201d Why the text so strongly emphasizes that \u201cthis oracle is not ours \u2026 but your servant\u2019s\u201d is unclear. The use of Greek negation m\u00ea (instead of ou) with the indicative seems to indicate that the sentence is either a rhetorical question to which an emphatic \u201cno\u201d is the only possible answer or a rather emotional statement (\u201cit is out of the question!\u201d), but it is hard to see why the author would use such an emphatic construction in this case. Perhaps it is a clumsy way to account for the change of referent for \u201cyou\u201d (in the previous quotation \u201cyou\u201d referred to God, in the latter quotation it refers to Israel).
\noracle Literally, \u201csaying [of a deity].\u201d This term designates God\u2019s words through Moses and the prophets and hence biblical texts.
\n9 This paragraph continues the theme of God\u2019s uniqueness with echoes of Isa. 45:5, 14, 18, 22. That God alone is holy echoes the Trishagion of Isa. 6:3. The curious plural word \u201cknowledge\u201d in \u201cGod of knowledge\u201d derives from 1 Sam. 2:3 LXX (MT el de\u2019oth) and is also found in 1QHa 22:15: \u201cBlessed are you, O God of knowledge [el hade\u2019oth]\u201d and 1QHa 9:26; cf. 4Q427 8 ii 15\u201316 and 4Q506 131\u201332 9. \u201cGods of knowledge [eley da\u2019at]\u201d in the sense of angels are also mentioned in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400 2 1; cf. also 1QS 3:15). The \u201choly ones\u201d are angels (as they are often called in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice). Finally, a quotation of Deut. 33:3 may still belong to the source, although that is far from certain in view of the compiler\u2019s inclination to insert biblical quotations; but the string of phrases with adjectives from a theologia negativa vocabulary (invisible, inscrutable, unchangeable, unfailing, etc.) is certainly the compiler\u2019s work. Such constructions are favored by our compiler (e.g., 8.5.1; 8.6.11; 8.12.6\u20137) and the vocabulary is his. So the rest of 7.35.9 is redactional.
\n10 The same applies to 7.35.10, since, apart from obvious Christian phrases such as \u201cthe God and Father of Christ,\u201d this paragraph first enumerates several of the compiler\u2019s favorite themes (creation through Wisdom as mediator, providence in creation, the giving of the laws) and then continues the list of theologia negativa adjectives. One should not exploit the contradiction between the statement in 7.35.9 that God\u2019s \u201cwork is unmediated\u201d and the one in 7.35.10 that he created his handiwork \u201cthrough a mediator\u201d so as to claim the whole of 7.35.9 for the Jewish source. One must not expect strict consistency from the compiler when he indulges in eulogistic language. One may assume that the compiler has supplanted the original Jewish ending of the prayer with one more to his own taste.<\/p>\n
AC 7.36<\/p>\n
In the opening paragraph, God is thanked for his institution of the Sabbath and festivals. Its final line (\u201cthat we may be reminded of the Wisdom [understood as the Christ] created by you\u201d) leads into 7.36.2, which consists of a creedal formula celebrating Christ\u2019s deeds. AC 7.36.3\u20134 mentions the Exodus, the wanderings through the desert, and the lawgiving, and the Sabbath (the seventh day) is again emphasized, which leads to a eulogy of the number seven. AC 7.36.5 continues the praise of the Sabbath, but 7.36.6\u20137 then heavily stresses that Sunday is after all superior to the Sabbath, and the prayer ends with praise of Christ and his grace. Since on several occasions the compiler of Constitutions urges his readers to keep the Sabbath (e.g., 2.36.2; 2.59.3; 5.20.19; 7.23.3), it might be argued that the major parts of this prayer are his work. That the position of this prayer in the sequence of AC 7.33\u201338 is exactly the one its Jewish counterpart has in the order of the Seven Benedictions for the Sabbath strongly pleads in favor of the Jewish origin of this prayer: both are in the fourth position and both glorify the Sabbath. Here we clearly have a case where the interests of the compiler partly coincided with those of the author(s) of the original Jewish prayer. It is probably for that reason that here the compiler tried to christianize the Jewish source much more explicitly and emphatically, for instance by inserting creedal statements, than is the case in the other prayers.
\n1 After removing the obvious interpolation \u201cthrough Christ\u201d and the editorial phrase \u201cfor training in your laws\u201d (however Jewish that may sound, but the compiler also inserted it into his source in 2.36.2 and 6.23.3), we are left with \u201cLORD almighty, you created the world and you have instituted the Sabbath in memory of the fact that it was on that day that you rested from your works.\u201d The reference seems to be to Gen. 2:2\u20133, the passage that is also quoted or referred to in the prayer for the sanctification of the Sabbath in the Jewish liturgy, the Kiddush or Kedushat ha-Yom, but since Gen. 2:2\u20133 does not mention the Sabbath explicitly, this phrase may also reflect the fourth commandment of the Decalogue in the version of Exod. 20:8\u201311, where Sabbath and creation are mentioned in tandem (as distinct from the version in Deut. 5:12\u201315). That the Sabbath was instituted by God in memory of his creation of the world (zekher lema\u2019aseh bere\u2019shit in later terminology) is also an element in the above-mentioned Jewish liturgical prayer, as is the motif of the Sabbath being a gift for rejoicing and gladness. This whole phrase therefore derives from the source.
\nso that we may be reminded of the Wisdom created by you The statement that Wisdom is created is, in view of the immediately following identification of Wisdom with Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:24, 30), a heretical statement from an orthodox Christian point of view, but more blatantly so than one would expect from our compiler. That may be a reason to retain that phrase for the source, the more so since the creation of Wisdom is a common theme in Jewish writings (Prov. 8:22; Sir. 1:15; 24:8), but it remains uncertain. If, however, the phrase belonged to the source, it may be that the motif of being reminded of God\u2019s Wisdom has to be closely linked to the preceding training in his laws. Then it would be an instance of the identification of Torah and Wisdom also found in several other Jewish sources of the era.
\n2 All of this section on the life of Jesus Christ is obviously a Christian interpolation. The objection that the final line, with its explanation of the name Israel as \u201cseeing God,\u201d must be Jewish because of the prominence of this theme in Philo fails to convince in view of the explanation being so often repeated after Philo by the church fathers (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 1.9; Origen, Princ. 4.3). The participles and pronouns in the Greek, although referring back to Wisdom (Greek Sophia is feminine), are now in the masculine form because the compiler identifies Wisdom with Jesus Christ. The emphasis on the \u201cfeast of the resurrection\u201d to be celebrated on Sunday is repeated in 7.36.6.
\n3 This whole paragraph is likely to derive from the Jewish source. It contains no vocabulary or themes that are the compiler\u2019s favorites, and the words \u201cour fathers\u201d for the generation of the Exodus suggest a Jewish origin and are also found in the Hebrew counterpart.
\nsaved them from an iron furnace See Deut. 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; and Jer. 11:4.
\nmaking of bricks See Exod. 1:14.
\nyou redeemed them from the hand of Pharaoh See Exod. 18:10 and Deut. 7:8.
\nthrough the sea as through dry land See Exod. 14:21\u201331 (cf. Ps. 66:6).
\nwith all sorts of good things Is probably an allusion to the quails, manna, water at Mara, and the like.
\n4. You gave them the Law of the ten words spoken by your voice and written by your hand The first words are no problem, the giving of the Law being also mentioned in the corresponding Jewish morning prayer for the Sabbath. But the restriction to the Decalogue (\u201cthe ten words,\u201d lit., \u201cthe ten oracles\u201d) is too reminiscent of the compiler\u2019s theory of the validity of only the Decalogue (the other commandments being a Second Legislation abolished by Jesus Christ) to go unsuspected, even though there are no stock words or expressions of the compiler to be found here. On the other hand one could argue that the author of the prayer follows the outline of the book of Exodus and has now arrived at Exod. 20 where God gives the Decalogue (the designation \u201cTen Words\u201d occurs only in Exod. 34:28 and Deut. 10:4). That cannot dissipate all doubts, however, so I do not take the clause \u201cof the ten words\u201d to belong to the source. Deuteronomy 9:10 says that the two tablets of the Law had been written by God\u2019s finger.
\nYou commanded them to keep the Sabbath See Exod. 20:8\u201311; Deut. 5:12\u201315. No doubt this phrase was in the source, but the following words, \u201cnot in order to give them a pretext for laziness but an opportunity for piety,\u201d sound a familiar theme in Constitutions (2.36.2; 6.23.3) so that it is safer not to regard them as part of the source, although it should be noted that Philo, too, explicitly states in a discussion of the Sabbath that Moses\u2019s Law is not an \u201cadviser of idleness\u201d (Spec. Laws 2.60; cf. Hypothetica 7.14). This may have its origin in apologetic aimed at non-Jews; for examples of pagan accusations of Jewish indolence on the Sabbath, see Seneca in Augustine, Civ. 6.11; Juvenal, Sat. 14.96\u2013106; Tacitus, Hist. 5.4.1.
\nfor the knowledge of your power, for the prevention of evil There is no reason to regard this phrase as added by the compiler since it does not reflect the compiler\u2019s vocabulary and is thematically related to the first sentences of 7.36.5, which are most probably from the source. The message is that knowledge or study of the Law of Moses induces people to live morally better lives.
\nby confining them as it were within a sacred precinct for the sake of instruction This phrase does not contain the compiler\u2019s favorite words or expressions and belongs to the source. A \u201csacred precinct\u201d is usually a Temple precinct, but since Jews were not \u201cconfined\u201d to the Temple precinct on the Sabbath, it must mean something else. The phrase \u201cfor the sake of instruction\u201d makes it highly probable that the \u201csacred precinct\u201d meant here is the synagogue, which according to an abundance of ancient sources was primarily a place of instruction in the Law (e.g., the Theodotus synagogue inscription [CIJ 1404]: \u201cfor the reading of the Law and instruction in the commandments\u201d). That the synagogue was called \u201csacred\u201d or \u201choly\u201d is known from both literary and inscriptional evidence, and that Temple terminology was used to designate the synagogue building is also clearly attested. So what is said here is that God commands his people to attend synagogue services on the Sabbath because it is there that they can learn Torah. One could argue that the probably redactional nature of the phrases \u201ctraining in your laws\u201d and \u201csearching of the laws\u201d in 7.36.1 and 7.36.5 militates against this conclusion, but it is exactly the casual and nonemphatic reference to \u201cinstruction,\u201d without mention of the Torah (that being self-evident), that makes it probable that this phrase is from the source. It is possible that the compiler adopted a phrase about instruction in the Torah from his Jewish source and reused it in 7.36.1 and 7.36.5. Because there remains some uncertainty, however, the words \u201cfor the sake of instruction\u201d are not printed in underlined type.
\nfor rejoicing in the number seven This strong emphasis on the importance of the number seven (hebdomas) is totally atypical of the compiler, so it belongs to the source. It has striking parallels, for instance, in the hebdomadic (i.e., based on the number seven) speculations of the Jewish exegetes and philosophers Aristobulus (frag. 5, in Eusebius, Praep. Ev. 13.12.9\u201316) and especially Philo of Alexandria (e.g., Creation 89\u2013128; Alleg. Interp. 1.8\u201316; Spec. Laws 2.71\u2013192). The number seven plays a dominant role in several of the Qumran Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (e.g., 4Q403 1 i 1\u201329 and 1 ii 18\u201331; cf. also 4Q404, 405, 11Q17). There is also a remarkable string of hebdomadic verses by some \u201cepic poets\u201d (the Jewish Pseudo-Homer and Pseudo-Hesiod) quoted by Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 5.14.107) and Eusebius (Praep. Ev. 13.13.34). Outside Jewish circles it was well known that Jews had a preference for the number seven and hebdomadic speculations; see, for example, Censorinus, De die natali 11.6: \u201cThe number seven, which rules the whole of human life, as Solon writes, and the Jews follow this in their general division of days, and so also the Etruscan books dealing with religious ceremonies seem to declare.\u201d The \u201cfiftieth year\u201d is of course a reference to the jubilee year (Lev. 25), which followed after a recurring cycle of seven times seven years. It is called here a year \u201cfor remission,\u201d using LXX terminology.
\n5 The first half of this paragraph (up to and including \u201cto speak a word in anger on the day of Sabbath\u201d) probably derives from the source, not only because the compiler\u2019s hand is nowhere traceable, but also since there is a parallel in the siddur, where precisely in the prayer for the Sabbath morning service God is asked to guard the tongue from evil. The Qumranic Damascus Document states that \u201cno man shall speak any useless or stupid word on the Sabbath day\u201d (CD 10:17\u201318 = 4Q266 8 iii 17\u201318). That the instruction in the Torah on Sabbath is meant to remove any excuse to pretend ignorance is also stated by Josephus (Ag. Ap. 2.176\u201378; Ant. 4.209\u201311).
\nFor Sabbath means resting from creation The rest of 7.36.5 is likely the work of the compiler since the expressions \u201cresting from creation\u201d and \u201csearching of the laws\u201d have parallels elsewhere in Constitutions, where they probably derive from his hand. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the final words, \u201cthankful praise to God for the gifts he gave to humankind,\u201d are just the compiler\u2019s rephrasing of the closing phrase of the Jewish berakhah: \u201cBlessed be you, O LORD, who hallows the Sabbath.\u201d
\n6\u20137 There is not the slightest doubt that these two paragraphs were clumsily appended by the Christian compiler in order to demonstrate that, even though his community kept the Sabbath\u2014which he fully supported\u2014Sunday is still regarded as superior to the Sabbath.<\/p>\n
AC 7.37<\/p>\n
The prayer opens with an appeal to God to accept Israel\u2019s prayers just as he accepted the sacrifices and prayers of righteous Israelites in the past. The body of the prayer (7.37.2\u20134) consists of a long list of examples of such sacrifices and prayers from the Bible, running from Abel to the Maccabees. AC 7.37.5 closes the prayer with a repeated call for acceptance of the petitions of God\u2019s people. The corresponding prayer in the Jewish liturgy, the 17th berakhah of the Amidah, called Avodah (Temple service), also makes the connection between acceptance of Israel\u2019s sacrifices and the present prayers, but it should be added that the 16th berakhah, called Shomea Tefillah (he who hears the prayer), also shows clear thematic resemblances with our prayer, as does the 15th, Tsemach David (Sprout of David). See comment on 7.37.1.
\n1 Since all the parallels to berakhot in the Amidah occur in 7.37.1, it is certain that much of that paragraph goes back to the source. The most obvious interpolation is of course the clause about the birth of Christ, meant to christianize the sentence by clarifying how God has shown compassion on Jerusalem and exalted the throne of David. It may further be suggested that the words \u201cwhich are out of the Gentiles\u201d is a christianizing addition. Finally, \u201cas you accepted the gifts of the righteous in their generations\u201d is an introduction to 7.37.2\u20134, which is redactional from beginning to end, and should therefore certainly be attributed to the compiler. What then remains is: \u201cYou who have fulfilled the promises made through the prophets, who showed mercy on Zion and had compassion on Jerusalem by exalting the throne of your servant David in its midst, O Master (and) God, please also accept now the prayers that come from the lips of your people.\u201d The problem with this form of the text, however, is that the parallel passages in neither Avodah nor Tzemah David nor Shomea Tefillah speak about God\u2019s having already done the things the text mentions. The various versions of these berakhot we know usually ask God to bring them about as soon as possible (e.g., \u201cSpeedily cause the offspring of David, your servant, to sprout, so that his horn may be lifted up by your salvation\u201d). So it would seem that even in this restored form there is still more redactional work of the compiler to be seen because as a Christian he wanted to demonstrate that what the Jews prayed for in this prayer had already been fulfilled in Christ\u2019s coming. Further, the main parallel with Avodah is the theme of acceptance of prayers (and sacrifices), but the berakhah Shomea Tefillah stresses, apart from the hearing of prayers, the element of God\u2019s compassion and mercy, and the berakhah Tzemah David has the motif of the exalting of the horn of God\u2019s servant David. It would seem, therefore, that the original Jewish prayer was a fusion of these three berakhot of the Amidah or that the prayer originated in a phase of development of the Amidah when these benedictions were not yet strictly separate ones. But we have no means of knowing that for sure.
\n2\u20134 The compiler evidently had a penchant for listing Old Testament heroes, as we have seen before, and it is for that reason that we must assume the whole rest of the prayer to derive from his hand, even though similar lists of Old Testament examples can be found in Selichot prayers. So here a favorite theme of the compiler may have coincided with what he found in his source. Because there is no way to decide whether this list was in the source, it is not printed in underlined type.
\n5 This paragraph is just a restatement of the request in 7.37.1 and may therefore partly (\u201caccept the prayers of your people\u201d) belong to the source. \u201cAccept\u201d in 7.37.1 and 7.37.5 is the only imperative in these six prayers.<\/p>\n
AC 7.38<\/p>\n
The prayer opens with thanksgiving to God for his benefactions. A short list of biblical periods in which God helped his people follows in 7.38.2. In 7.38.3 God\u2019s help through Jesus Christ is mentioned and instanced. The next paragraph again thanks God, now for his having endowed humans with the senses, hands, and feet. AC 7.38.5 lists various other benefactions of God, and 7.38.6 expresses feelings of inadequacy to thank God for all that. AC 7.38.7 again thanks God for having saved us from various errors through sending Christ and the Spirit, and 7.38.8 is a concluding doxology. So in its present form the whole prayer has a rather rambling structure. The equation of (the source of) this prayer with the 18th benediction of the Amidah, Hoda\u2019a (or Hodaya), is based on the combination of the striking similarity of the opening formulas (see comment on 7.38.1) and the position of the prayer in the sequence of the Seven Benedictions. However, as in the case of the previous prayer, here too elements from other prayers of the Sabbath morning service have crept in.
\n1 Most versions of the berakhah Hoda\u2019a have an opening line that runs as follows: \u201cWe give thanks unto you because you are the LORD, our God, \u2026 the shield of our salvation through every generation.\u201d The similarities with the opening line in our prayer, \u201cWe thank you for all things, almighty Master, for \u2026 in each and every generation you save, deliver, help, and protect us,\u201d are far too great to be considered pure coincidence. There may be a slight rewording by the compiler here (\u201calmighty Master\u201d might be his), but surely the body of 7.38.1 derives from the Jewish source. There are echoes here of Ps. 79:13: \u201cWe your people \u2026 will give you thanks forever and repeat your praise to every generation.\u201dThe motif of thanksgiving is also dominant in the Qumran Hodayot, although there usually the grammatical subject is in the singular (\u201cI give thanks to you\u201d). God\u2019s \u201cpity and compassion\u201d is frequently mentioned in Jewish prayers and has its origin in Exod. 34:6 (see comment on 7.33.2).
\n2\u20133 The list in 7.38.2 also falls into the category of listings of Old Testament examples that our compiler is so fond of (see comment on 7.37.2\u20134), and the opening statement of 7.38.3 is patently Christian. The real problems begin with the line \u201cfor he delivered us from the sword and saved us from hunger by nourishing us, he healed (us) from disease and protected (us) from an evil tongue.\u201d As the sentence stands in its present context, it cannot refer to anyone else but Jesus. The problem is, however, that Jesus did nothing of the sort (delivering from the sword, saving from hunger, protecting from an evil tongue), healing excepted. If one takes the line about Jesus Christ at the beginning of 7.38.3 to be an interpolation but takes the list in 7.38.2 to belong to the source, this line refers to Judas Maccabaeus, the last one mentioned in the list before Jesus; and to Judas indeed the whole sentence fits better (though the words \u201che healed [us] from disease\u201d remain problematic in relation to this Maccabee). If on other grounds, however, one declares 7.38.2 to be the work of the compiler and takes 7.38.3b to refer to a person in the preceding list, then the whole of 7.38.3b should be said to derive from the compiler. There is, however, a third possibility. The vocabulary of 7.38.3b is atypical for the compiler. If on that ground we take it to derive from the source, the whole sentence could refer to God. This passage then turns out to have a very close parallel in an early Jewish prayer for the Sabbath morning service called Nishmat kol hay: \u201cYou have fed us in famine and satisfied us in plenty. You have delivered us from the sword, freed us from pestilence, and relieved us from severe and lasting diseases.\u201d In view of this strikingly close parallel, there can be little doubt that the composer of our prayer had a form of Nishmat kol hay in mind when he wrote these phrases. His use of this synagogal prayer is further confirmed by the contents of 7.38.4. When the compiler had to recast the prayer so as to make it fit in with his interpolated clause on Jesus Christ, he had to change the second person singular to the third person. So the original form may have looked something like the following: \u201cWe thank you for all things, LORD our God, for you have not taken your pity and your compassion away from us, but in each and every generation you save, deliver, help, and protect us. For you delivered us from the sword and you saved us from hunger by nourishing us, you healed us from disease and protected us from an evil tongue.\u201d
\n4 Apart from the obvious interpolation \u201cthrough Jesus Christ,\u201d much of 7.38.4 may be regarded as deriving from the source. To be sure, there are no similarities here to the sixth of the Seven Benedictions, but, apart from there being no reminiscences of the compiler\u2019s favorite themes and expressions, as in the previous paragraph the contents of 7.38.4 are clearly paralleled in Nishmat kol hay, in a passage almost immediately following upon the one just quoted: \u201cTherefore the limbs that you have apportioned for us, the spirit and soul that you have breathed into our nostrils, and the tongue that you have put into our mouth, shall all render homage, bless, praise, glorify, exalt and declare the power, the holiness and dominion of your name, O our King.\u201d It is impossible to determine how far the differences between this text and 7.38.4 are due to some rewording by the compiler or to Nishmat kol hay originally having a somewhat different wording from the versions in use nowadays. The image of the tongue as a plectrum (i.e., a pick for a stringed instrument) has its origin in Stoic theories about sound and voice as air struck by the tongue. The emphasis on being endowed with \u201ca harmonious tongue\u201d underlines the duty of thanking God (in the preceding line). Since the phrase about the five senses is reminiscent of the probably redactional passage in 7.34.6 (\u201cyou bestowed upon him fivefold sense perception\u201d) and has no parallel in the Nishmat kol hay passage quoted above, I regard it as deriving from the compiler.
\n5 Probably the mention of the human body in 7.38.4 induced the compiler to insert some further material on one of his favorite topics, the formation of humans, this time in the womb. There is a purposeful contrast between \u201ca little drop\u201d (of semen) and \u201cthis rational being\u201d (on which see 7.34.6) stressing the greatness of God\u2019s creative activity. Also the themes of education in the Law, the human as a rational being, and death and resurrection also belong to his stock themes. The whole of this paragraph is, therefore, from the compiler\u2019s hand.
\n6 Since the need to give thanks to God is such an overriding theme in Hoda\u2019a, it may well be that 7.38.6, which stresses this theme, belonged to the source. The extent to which the compiler may have recast the original Jewish text, however, is impossible to gauge. Even so, it is highly probable that the original Jewish prayer text stopped at the end of 7.38.6.
\n7\u20138 Apart from the expression \u201cyou saved us from the ungodliness of the polytheists\u201d (which in itself might be Jewish) being a stock phrase of the compiler, the whole triad of pagans (\u201cpolytheists\u201d), Jews (\u201cChrist-killers\u201d), and heretics (\u201cthose gone astray\u201d) is so traditionally Christian that one must assume that most if not all of 7.38.7 is from the compiler. The references to Christ and the Paraclete (i.e., Holy Spirit, using terminology from the Gospel of John) are self-evident cases; the final line (\u201cyou made those who did not exist, you watch over those who have come into being, you measure out life, you provide nourishment, and you promised repentance\u201d) is less explicitly so, but its themes are quite familiar from Constitutions. So we may conclude that these lines, together with 7.38.8, are from the compiler\u2019s hand. The phrase \u201cyou put the devil to shame\u201d is the only passage in these six prayers in which the devil (or Satan) is mentioned; demons are not mentioned either. Apparently the compiler (and his source) had little or no interest in demonology or satanology, unlike most of his contemporaries.<\/p>\n
Prayer of Enosh<\/p>\n
James L. Kugel<\/p>\n
The Qumran text designated Prayer of Enosh (scroll 4Q369) consists of two substantial fragments and seven additional scraps. The two large fragments seem to have contained two separate prayerlike compositions, since most of their readable parts are addressed to a divine \u201cYou.\u201d Its time of composition is unknown, but it appears to have been written sometime before the start of the 1st century BCE. When 4Q369 was officially published in 1994, the text\u2019s first column was misidentified as a prayer spoken by the biblical figure of Enosh (mentioned in Gen. 5:6\u201311), a name that was consequently given to the composition as a whole. In reality, the speaker of the first and second columns (if any speaker at all was mentioned) is quite unknown. The more readable second column ought rather to be identified as \u201cPrayer Concerning God and Israel,\u201d a name that might do for the first column as well.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
This second column (fragment 1 ii) may be described as a catalog of the munificent gifts that God gave to the people of Israel and its progenitor, Jacob. This catalog is framed through a series of biblical quotations and the interpretive motifs connected to them. The motifs include the idea that Israel was \u201cpromoted\u201d to the status of God\u2019s firstborn son by dint of its acceptance of the Torah\u2014a theme paralleled in numerous other compositions of the period; that, in addition to granting Israel the Torah, God also \u201cclarified\u201d its laws for His people; that God appointed a particular angel to watch over Israel; and other themes well known in the writings of the Second Temple period. All these are presented as things that God has graciously granted to His people, for which the speaker of this section is presumably offering heartfelt thanks.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
H. Attridge and J. Strugnell in Qumran Cave 4.VIII: Para-Biblical Texts Part 1. H. Attridge, et al., DJD 13, 353\u201362. Oxford: Clarendon, 1994.
\nKugel, J. \u201c4Q369 \u2018Prayer of Enosh\u2019 and Ancient Biblical Interpretation.\u201d DSD 5 (1998): 119\u201348.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
1:2. Your [angel of?] peace The word \u201cangel\u201d is a conjecture based on the phrase \u201cYour angel of peace\u201d that appears in the next column, line 9.
\n1:3\u20134. they] will understand These two lines, though far from clear, may be referring to the use of an improper calendar, a theme common in Jubilees and other works. If so, \u201cthey\u201d\u2014the errant ones in Israel\u2014\u201dwill understand that they will incur guilt\u201d if they fail to keep the sacred festivals \u201cin their [proper] time periods.\u201d
\n1:5. peri]od of Your miracles Presumably the time of the exodus and wilderness wanderings, since that period, filled with miraculous events, is what the Torah\u2019s pilgrimage festivals are said to commemorate (Exod. 12:17, 27; Lev. 23:43).
\nof old You decreed for them God ordered Israel to keep the festivals in their proper time.
\n1:6. his punishment until the period of judgment The word mishpat can mean both \u201cjudgment\u201d and \u201cpunishment.\u201d This line may be saying that the punishment for Israel\u2019s failure to observe these festivals properly has been put off \u201cuntil the time of judgment\/punishment.\u201d But this is quite speculative.
\n1:7. all appointed times The word te\u2019udah has a variety of meanings (\u201cruling,\u201d \u201cwarning,\u201d etc.), but at Qumran it sometimes had the specialized meaning of a fixed or appointed time, and this seems to fit with the preceding lines.
\n1:9\u201310. Mahalalel \u2026 Enoch There is no obvious connection between these two lines and the preceding ones\u2014nor with the prayer that follows them in column 2. It is possible that some sort of genealogical list (if that is what this is) preceded the prayer in column 1, just as this one precedes the prayer in column 2.
\n2:1. Your name These words apparently end the preceding sentence, now lost. As in the previous column, the \u201cYou\u201d addressed throughout this column is God; by the same token, the third-person \u201che\/it\u201d in this column unmistakably refers to the people of Israel and its founder, Jacob\/Israel.
\nYou apportioned his inheritance to cause Your name to dwell there Deut. 32:8\u20139 asserts that God divided up the world into different nations (over whom, presumably, different angels would have dominion); but He kept Israel for Himself, since \u201cthe LORD\u2019s portion is His people, Jacob is His own inheritance.\u201d Our text\u2019s \u201capportioned His inheritance\u201d seems to allude to this theme, adding that God had caused His \u201cname to dwell\u201d in Israel\u2019s homeland, a frequent motif in Deuteronomy.
\n2:2. It That is, this homeland.
\nthe splendor of Your earthly habitation The word \u201csplendor\u201d (tzevi) is an apparent allusion to Ezek. 20:6, 15, \u201ca land which I had sought out for them; it is the fairest [lit., \u201cthe splendor\u201d] of all the lands [tzevi hi lekhol ha-aratzot].\u201d
\n2:3. Your eye upon it Alludes to Deut. 1:12, \u201cIt is a land upon which the eyes of the LORD your God are forever.\u201d
\nand Your glory is seen there Reflects Isa. 60:2, \u201cand His glory will be seen upon you [Jerusalem].\u201d
\n2:4. to his seed for generations as an eternal possession This alludes to Gen. 48:4; cf. Gen. 17:8.
\n2:5. and Your goodly statutes You have made clear to him That is, to Israel. The belief that the Torah\u2019s laws require expert interpretation was widespread among different Jewish groups of the Second Temple period, including the Jews of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is noteworthy here, however, that no human interpreter or intermediary is mentioned: God Himself has clarified His laws. Cf. L.A.B. 12:2, where Moses is said to \u201cilluminate the Torah for us and expound for us the law of God from His own mouth.\u201d
\n2:6. in an eternal light The Torah is frequently compared to an eternal light or lamp: this motif appears, for example, in Wis. 18:4 and T. Levi 14:4, 19:1. (Its origin may lie in the wording of Prov. 6:23, \u201cFor a commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light.\u201d) It seems likely that the previous line was connected to this one by an assertion that God had clarified His statutes to Israel to allow him (Israel) \u201ct[o walk about?] in an eternal light\u201d or something similar.
\nYou have made him a firstborn son for Yourself A reflection of Exod. 4:22, \u201cIsrael is My firstborn son.\u201d Ancient interpreters were puzzled by this verse, since in genealogical terms, Israel was no firstborn at all, but the second son of Isaac and Rebekah, themselves some 21 generations from the creation of the first man, Adam. Interpreters therefore concluded that Israel had been honorifically promoted to the rank of God\u2019s firstborn (\u201cYou have made him a firstborn\u201d) by dint of Israel\u2019s having received the Torah and accepted the discipline imposed by its laws. Those laws, in this conceit, are like the instructions given by a father to his son to obey. This connection is made clear in line 10 below, \u201cto him righteous laws, as a father to a so[n].\u201d
\n2:7. like him as a prince and ruler over all Your earthly habitation If, in the previous line, Israel was declared God\u2019s firstborn, that line may have ended by saying \u201cAnd You blessed his offspring\u201d or something similar, to be followed directly by this line. In other words, God declared Israel to be His firstborn son and then blessed him and his descendants to be rulers over the whole world. The idea of Israel\u2019s world domination apparently derives from Isaac\u2019s (divinely inspired) blessing of Jacob in Gen. 27:29, \u201cLet peoples serve you and nations bow down to you.\u201d The connection with this blessing is made explicit in line 8 below.
\n2:8. heaven and with the glory of the skies You have sustained [him In this same biblical blessing of Jacob, Isaac had begun by saying, \u201cMay God grant you the dew of heaven and the fat of the earth, abundance of new grain and wine\u201d (Gen. 27:28). Later, Isaac explains to his son Esau, \u201cI have given him [Jacob] all his brothers for servants, and I have sustained him with grain and wine\u201d (Gen. 27:37). It seems that our text is alluding to that verse by using the same verb, semakht[o]. The missing words between lines 7 and 8 of our composition may therefore have read something like: [\u201cAnd I have blessed him with the dew]-c[loud of] heaven.\u201d
\n2:9. Your angel of peace in his assembly Deut. 32:8\u20139 seemed to state that every other people is ruled by an angel, but that Israel is ruled directly by God (see, e.g., Jub. 15:30\u201332, Sir. 17:17, and above on 2:1). Elsewhere, however, Israel is nonetheless said to have a guardian angel such as Michael (Dan. 12:1; see also Dan. 10:13 and 21), the \u201cAngel of Lights\u201d in War Scroll (17:6\u20137) or here, God\u2019s \u201cangel of peace.\u201d The apparent contradiction between such an angel\u2019s existence and the assertion in Deut. 32:8\u20139 was no doubt troublesome; but one might always claim, with War Scroll (17:6\u20137, that while \u201cYou [cre]ated [us] for Yourself \u2026 from of old You appointed the Angel of Lights to help us.\u201d God\u2019s \u201cangel of peace\u201d mentioned here and above in 1:2 also appears as Israel\u2019s helper and\/or guardian in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T. Dan 6:5, T. Ash. 6:4\u20136, T. Benj. 6:1); the name may have been inspired by the \u201cangels of peace\u201d mentioned in Isa. 33:7.
\n2:10. to him righteous laws, as a father to a so[n See above on 2:6. God\u2019s laws are \u201crighteous\u201d in the sense of fair or just.
\n2:11. \u201c\u2026]My love. May your soul cleave to It is probably best to see in this fragmentary line an internal quotation of words spoken by God to Israel, since otherwise the text would be expressing a wish about God\u2019s soul. While references to the divine soul are not entirely lacking in the Bible, they are rare, and always with the word neshamah rather than the term used here, nefesh. But not much more can be conjectured about this and the last line.<\/p>\n
Prayer of Manasseh<\/p>\n
Esther G. Chazon<\/p>\n
The title attributes this prayer to King Manasseh of Judah (687\u2013642 BCE). According to 2 Chron. 33:1\u201320 (cf. 2 Kings 21:1\u201318; 23:3\u20134), Manasseh was deported in fetters to Babylon as divine punishment for promoting idol worship. In captivity, he humbly entreated God, who heard his supplication and restored him to his throne in Jerusalem. Chronicles does not record the text of Manasseh\u2019s prayer, and the apocryphal Prayer of Manasseh fills that gap. This confessional\/penitential prayer has three parts: an invocation to God (vv. 1\u20138a); a confession of multiple sins, notably the speaker\u2019s setting up abominations (vv. 8b\u201312); a petition for forgiveness and concluding promise to praise God (vv. 13\u201315).<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Prayer of Manasseh was apparently composed by a Greek-speaking Jew who lived outside Palestine before 200 CE. Either the author had 2 Chron. 33:1\u201320 in mind or the title bearing the attribution was a later addition by someone who recognized the similarities with Manasseh\u2019s biography.
\nThe oldest copies of the Greek Prayer of Manasseh are found in 3rd- and 4th-century compositions of church teachings (the Didascalia and Apostolic Constitutions) and in the Odes appended to the Psalms in 5th- and 7th-century Greek Bible manuscripts (Codices Alexandrinus and Turicensis). A Hebrew version, evidently based on a Syriac translation of the Greek, appears in a small collection of prayers attributed to biblical heroes in a 10th-century manuscript from the Cairo Genizah. The Hebrew Prayer of Manasseh found in the Dead Sea Scrolls is a completely different composition; it attests an ancient tradition for Manasseh\u2019s prayer in a collection of noncanonical psalms (4th\u20133rd century BCE). Rabbinic midrash has yet another tradition of Manasseh\u2019s prayer (Y. San. 10:2, 28c; B. San. 102b\u20133a; Deut. Rab. 2:20).<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Prayer of Manasseh is an important link in Jewish and Christian exegetical and liturgical traditions. Verse 7 attests a Greek liturgical formulation of the 13 middot\/ divine attributes (Exod. 34:6\u20137). The text\u2019s history indicates Jewish and Christian cross-fertilization: the Jewish prayer penetrated early Christian teaching and psalmody; the Syriac version was translated into Hebrew and placed in a medieval Jewish prayer collection. The prayer continues to be used in Christian, but not Jewish, liturgy.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Charlesworth, James H. \u201cPrayer of Manasseh.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by J. Charlesworth, 2.625\u201337. New York: Doubleday.
\nDavila, James, R. \u201cIs the Prayer of Manasseh a Jewish Work?\u201d In Heavenly Tablets: Interpretation, Identity and Tradition in Ancient Judaism, edited by L. LiDonnoci and A. Lieber, 75\u201385. Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplements 119. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
\nLeicht, Reimund. \u201cA Newly Discovered Hebrew Version of the Apocryphal \u2018Prayer of Manasseh.\u2019 \u201d Jewish Studies Quarterly 3 (1996): 359\u201373.
\nNewman, Judith H. \u201cThe Form and Settings of the Prayer of Manasseh.\u201d In Seeking the Favor of God Vol. 2, The Development of Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism, edited by M. J. Boda, D. K. Falk, and R. A. Werline, 105\u201325. EBL 22. Atlanta: SBL, 2007.
\nRyle, H. E. \u201cPrayer of Manasseh.\u201d In The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, edited by R. H. Charles, 1.612\u201324. Oxford: Clarendon, 1913.
\nSchniedewind, William M. \u201cA Qumran Fragment of the Ancient \u2018Prayer of Manasseh\u2019?\u201d Zeitschrift f\u00fcr die altestamentliche Wissenschaft 108 (1996): 105\u20137.
\nSchuller, Eileen M. Non-Canonical Psalms from Qumran: A Pseudepigraphic Collection. Harvard Semitic Studies 28. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cNon-Canonical Psalms.\u201d In Qumran Cave 4 VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1. Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 11, edited by E. Eshel, et al., 122\u201334. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
\nStone, Michael E. \u201cApocryphal Notes and Readings.\u201d Israel Oriental Society 1 (1971): 123\u201331.
\nvan der Horst, Pieter W., and Judith H. Newman. Early Jewish Prayers in Greek, 145\u201380. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
The title \u201cPrayer of Manasseh\u201d appears in the earliest Greek (Alexandrinus and Turicensis) and Syriac (Didascalia) manuscripts. The medieval Hebrew adds \u201cKing of Judah at the time when he did repentance.\u201d A medieval Latin translation adds \u201cKing of Judah when he was held captive in Babylon\u201d; a similar title heads the different prayer of Manasseh in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
\n1\u20133 The invocation to the all-powerful God of creation (Gen. 1:1\u20132:1; Job 38:8\u201311) and of the nation\u2019s forefathers is common in Jewish prayer (1 Chron. 29:10\u201319); it may allude to Manasseh\u2019s supplication (2 Chron. 33:12).
\n1. righteous offspring The unusual reference here foreshadows v. 8 and the main theme: God appointed repentance not for the righteous but for sinners.
\n4\u20136. your promised mercy This promise offsets the fear of God and his threatening anger toward sinners. It might refer to the repentance appointed by God for sinners (v. 8) that some versions call \u201cpromised\u201d (v. 6) or to the covenantal promise made when God revealed himself as merciful and long-suffering (Exod. 34:6\u201310).
\n7 This a traditional liturgical adaptation of the 13 middot\/divine attributes. The formula here echoes Joel 2:13 and Jon. 4:2, which add \u201crenouncing punishment\u201d to Exod. 34:6, thereby also alluding to Exod. 32:14. This addition lays the groundwork for the speaker\u2019s repentance (Pr. Man. 8). Michael Stone notes Prayer of Manasseh 7\u2019s use of a rare Greek word instead of the first two adjectives in the list and suggests that it reflects \u201ca variant Greek rendering of this formula, not attested in the LXX, and perhaps of liturgical origin.\u201d In Rabbinic liturgy, Joel 2:13 is said on fast days proclaimed for droughts (M. Ta\u2019an. 2:1); the 13 middot are recited on the Day of Atonement and \u201cwhenever Israel sins\u201d (B. RH. 17b). The second half of Pr. Man. 7 is extant in the Didascalia and Apostolic Constitutions but not in the earliest Greek manuscript. Its main point about repentance for sinners also occurs in v. 8.
\n8. O LORD, God of the righteous This invocation to God of the righteous forefathers echoes v. 1 and marks the transition to the confession. The notion that God appoints repentance not for the righteous but for sinners is unusual in ancient Jewish literature (see 4 Ezra 8:31\u201336).
\n9. the sand of the sea The speaker\u2019s comparison of his numerous sins to the \u201csand of the sea\u201d recalls God\u2019s promise to make the forefathers\u2019 descendants that plentiful (Gen. 22:17). The multiple sins may refer to those of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; 4Q381 33:9). The speaker admits that, because of his many sins, he does not deserve \u201cto look up and see \u2026 heaven,\u201d i.e., to pray (cf. the medieval Hebrew translation; Ezra 9:6; and Rava\u2019s prayer in B. Ber. 17a). The Syriac translation adds, \u201cNow, O LORD, I am justly punished and deservedly afflicted; For I am in captivity.\u201d This represents the formal proclamation of God\u2019s just punishment that typically accompanies a confession of sin. The final word of this Syriac addition might allude to Manasseh\u2019s captivity (2 Chron. 33:11).
\n10 The references to being weighted down with an iron shackle, doing evil in God\u2019s sight, and provoking his anger by setting up abominations fit Manasseh\u2019s biography (2 Chron. 33:2\u201311) and explain this prayer\u2019s attribution to him, whether in the original composition or at a later stage (cf. Exod. 32:7\u201314; Ps. 51:6).
\n11. bend the knee of my heart The phrase seems to combine an expression for inclining one\u2019s heart as a sign of sincerity (cf. Joel 2:13 for rending the heart) with one reflecting the practice of bending the knee in supplication (Ezra 9:5\u20136; 3 Macc. 2:1). This verse may allude to Manasseh\u2019s humbling himself (2 Chron. 33:12).
\n12\u201314 These verses appeal to God\u2019s mercy and appointing repentance for sinners. They allude back to vv. 6\u20139.
\n12. I have sinned, O LORD For the confessional formula see Ps. 51:5b. The second part of vs. 12 quotes Ps. 51:5a and signals this biblical psalm\u2019s influence on the adjacent verses.
\n13 Psalm 103:9\u201310 and probably 51:16 lie behind this verse. The final request not to be condemned to the depths of the earth is apparently another plea to be spared the death penalty (cf. Ps. 103:4a; for the earth\u2019s depths as the dwelling place of the dead, see Job 33:22\u201324).
\n15 The prayer ends with a typical concluding promise of praise (Ps. 51:16b\u201317) and doxology (1 Chron. 29:11\u201312). For the host of heaven and angelic praise, see Ps. 103:20\u201321; 148:2; the Hymn to the Creator in 11QPs 26:12; and Luke 2:13\u201314. This line might allude to Manasseh\u2019s worship of the host of heaven and his later recognition of Yahweh as God.<\/p>\n
Prayer for King Jonathan<\/p>\n
Hanan Eshel<\/p>\n
Prayer for King Jonathan (4Q448), preserves fragments of three scroll columns\u2014an upper column and two lower columns, which mention the name of King Jonathan twice. A square piece of leather was attached to the right margin of the scroll, for insertion of a strap that was wrapped around the scroll. Similar reinforcing tabs were attached to many Qumran scrolls. The last six lines of column 1 include parts of Ps. 154, which is known from the Psalms Scroll from cave 11 (11QPs) as well as from several Syriac manuscripts.
\nPrayer joins two separate prayer compositions. Column 1 is a hymn in praise of God, while columns 2\u20133 are a prayer for the welfare of King Jonathan. Lines 5\u201310 of col. 1 preserve fragments of verses from Ps. 154, a psalm that was previously known from a collection of five apocryphal psalms preserved in Syriac. In 1956 the Psalms Scroll of cave 11 (11QPs) was discovered; it contained three of the five apocryphal psalms (151; 154, and 155). The text of Prayer column 1 appears to be an earlier version of the text of Ps. 154.<\/p>\n
These are the verses of Ps. 154 that are found in the Prayer for King Jonathan:<\/p>\n
1. [With a loud voice glorify God, in the Congregation] of the many procl[aim His majesty].
\n3. [Bind your souls to the good ones,] and to the pure ones [to glorify the Most High].
\n16. [Behold the eyes of the LORD are compassionate over the good ones,]
\n17. And upon those who glorify Him He [increases His mercy. From an evil time He will deliver their soul,]
\n18. [(He) who redeems] the humble from the hand of adversaries. [And He delivers the perfect from the power of the wicked.]
\n20. [He who desires] His habitation in Zion, ch[ooses Jerusalem forever.]<\/p>\n
Column 2 is narrow and has been preserved in full. Column 3 is apparently the continuation of column 2 and appears to have been narrower than column 1. In column 2 and the beginning of column 3, the author addresses God and asks him to guard King Jonathan and to bless him and Israel with peace. The author expresses the fervent hope that the kingdom of God will be blessed and that someone (not decipherable from the text) will be remembered and be able to approach Jerusalem and the Temple. It seems that at the end of line 4 in column 3 the text shifts from a plea to a thanksgiving prayer. God is praised for having placed his name upon Israel and for delivering King Jonathan on the \u201cDay of War.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
There is no evidence that this text was written by the group that penned the sectarian Qumran scrolls. Its language differs from that of the known sectarian manuscripts from Qumran, and Ps. 154 is not a sectarian composition. In fact the positive view of King Jonathan in this text contradicts the anti-Hasmonean attitude expressed in many of the sectarian scrolls. Thus it is likely that the composition originated elsewhere and was brought to Qumran by one of the sect\u2019s members.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The King Jonathan mentioned in the prayer should be identified with the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, who was called Jonathan in Hebrew. He is likewise the only Maccabean Jonathan who ever bore the title of king; although Jonathan the brother of Judas Maccabaeus ruled over Judea and actually did serve as high priest from 152\u2013142 BCE, he never took the royal title.
\nAlexander Jannaeus ruled from 103\u201376 BCE. His coinage styles him as both king and high priest. His reign was marked by warfare, as he tried to extend and secure the borders of Judea. He conducted three military campaigns in which he was unexpectedly rescued; all three rescues could have been attributed to divine intervention, and any of the three could have occasioned the composition of this hymn.
\nThe sectarians who produced the Dead Sea sectarian scrolls are known to have generally opposed the Hasmoneans and their assumption of the high priesthood. Three of the sectarian pesharim (biblical commentaries) refer to events during Alexander Jannaeus\u2019s reign; two of them use the sobriquet \u201cLion of Wrath\u201d to refer (unfavorably) to his execution of his enemies in the war with Demetrius. Thus it is unlikely that this composition originated at Qumran, but it may give us an example of pro-Hasmonean writing contemporary with Alexander Jannaeus.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Eshel, E. \u201cPersonal Names in the Qumran Sect.\u201d In These Are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics, edited by A. Demsky, J. A. Reif, and J. Tabory, 39\u201352. Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press, 1997.
\n\u2014, H. Eshel, and A. Yardeni. \u201cA Qumran Composition Containing Part of Ps. 154 and a Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan and His Kingdom.\u201d IEJ 42 (1992): 199\u2013229.
\n\u2014, H. Eshel, and A. Yardeni. \u201c448. 4QApocryphal Psalm and Prayer.\u201d In Qumran Cave 4. VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, 1, edited by E. Eshel, et al., 403\u201325, DJD 11. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
\n\u2014, and E. Eshel. \u201c4Q448, Psalm 154 (Syriac), Sirach 48:20 and 4QpIsaa.\u201d JBL 119 (2000): 645\u201359. Eshel, H. \u201cA Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan.\u201d In The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonean State, 101\u201315 (chap. 5). Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2008.
\nLemaire, A. \u201cAttestation textuelle et critique litt\u00e9raire: 4Q448 col. A et Psaulme 154.\u201d In The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years after Their Discovery, edited by L. H. Schiffman, E. Tov, and J. C. VanderKam, 12\u201318. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 2000.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
1:5. They were terrified of Senna[cherib In the Syriac manuscripts, Ps. 154 bears the title: \u201cThe Prayer of Hezekiah, when the Assyrians were surrounding him and he asked God for deliverance from them.\u201d In 2 Kings 19:4 the text relates how Hezekiah turned to Isaiah, asking him to \u201cpray for the remnant that still survives.\u201d Yet Isaiah\u2019s subsequent prayer is not documented there. Instead, 2 Kings supplies a prophecy, delivered by Isaiah, that Sennacherib would not conquer Jerusalem. The author of Chronicles expanded the account by describing how Hezekiah and Isaiah prayed and cried to heaven for the salvation of Jerusalem (2 Chron. 32:20). A Second Temple author in turn composed such prayer in the form of a psalm, attributing it to Isaiah and Hezekiah. It is this prayer that eventually found its way into Prayer for King Jonathan. How did this prayer then come to be associated with the Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan in columns 2\u20133? It seems that Sennacherib\u2019s siege in 701 BCE was interpretively linked with the battle of Ptolemy Lathyrus against Alexander Jannaeus in 103 BCE. This link was known at Qumran since it is documented in 4QpIsaa.
\n2:1\u20132. Keep guard \u2026 over King Jonathan This prayer is reminiscent of two biblical models: Ps. 21, a prayer for the welfare of King David, and Ps. 72, a prayer for the welfare of King Solomon.
\nKing Jonathan The use of this title may imply that the prayer was composed by one of Jonathan\u2019s followers.
\n3\u20136. the four corners of heaven The mention of Israel\u2019s dispersal to the \u201cfour corners of heaven\u201d may be a piece of Hasmonean propaganda; pro-Hasmonean authors often stressed that the cities captured by the Hasmoneans were not land belonging to Gentiles but part of Israel\u2019s inheritance (see 1 Macc. 15:30\u201334; Ant. 14.74\u201377).
\n7. Let them all be at peace This expression is also found in later sources, e.g. the Kaddish (the mourner\u2019s prayer), and in synagogue inscriptions (e.g., the synagogue inscription from Alma).
\n9. May Your name be blessed A common expression during the Second Temple period and is attested as a textual variant in 1QIsaa (Isa. 56:6). It is frequently used in the liturgy, e.g., in the second benediction of the Grace after Meals.<\/p>\n
Outside the Bible 3<\/p>\n
Wisdom Writings<\/p>\n
The selections here span the early 2nd century BCE to the end of the 1st century CE. The first four circulated in Greek, although Wisdom of Ben Sira was originally composed in and also circulated in Hebrew. They include a variety of genres and literary techniques\u2014short aphorisms, biblical-sounding idioms, practical instruction, philosophical ideas and vocabulary, and more generally common to Wisdom writings of the period. A distinctive group is the diverse selection of Wisdom writings in Hebrew found at Qumran. These were not necessarily composed by the sectarians but were fundamental to its thought; they greatly enhance our picture of Wisdom speculation in the Land of Israel in Second Temple times.<\/p>\n
Wisdom of Solomon<\/p>\n
Peter Enns<\/p>\n
The Wisdom of Solomon (also known as the book of Wisdom) is a Hellenistic work and is found in the Apocrypha. The book is essentially a plea to follow the path of wisdom, and a few passages indicate some sort of connection with King Solomon (especially chapters 6\u20139; see below)\u2014hence the traditional title of the book. Overall, the book is an argument to follow wisdom rather than the ways of the ungodly. The author does this by contrasting wisdom\u2019s care for the godly to the ultimate fate of Israel\u2019s enemies, past (in chapters 10\u201319) and present (chapters 1\u20139). Death will come from following an ungodly path, but God helps his people \u201cin all times and in all places\u201d (19:22).<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Wisdom is an anonymous work. It seems clear, however, that the author wants to identify himself with Solomon. For example, the author\u2019s quest for wisdom in 7:1\u201314 is reminiscent of Solomon\u2019s plea in 1 Kings 3:6\u20139. Also, the author\u2019s reference to God\u2019s command to build the Temple (Wis. 9:7\u20138) can only refer to the Solomon of Scripture. It is a commonly attested literary device in the ancient world to attribute one\u2019s work to a famous figure from the past or some heavenly being. This not be an act of deception, but a vehicle for communicating an important message. Since the author of this work adopts a Solomonic mask, he is conventionally referred to as \u201cPseudo-Solomon\u201d (hereafter Ps.-Solomon).
\nThere is no reason to assign its authorship to more than one person, as was the tendency in previous centuries of scholarship. The presence of certain key words and phrases throughout Wisdom argue for the book\u2019s unity. On the basis of these repeated words and phrases, James Reese has demonstrated convincingly that one author is responsible for the whole.
\nAs with much of ancient literature, it is difficult to pin down with any degree of certainty when Wisdom was written. A date somewhere between 100 BCE and 50 CE is broadly accepted. More precisely, a date during the reign of the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula (37\u201341 CE) can be defended. For one thing, the cataclysmic event of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE is neither mentioned nor alluded to in the book. In fact, in 3:14 and 9:8, its existence is assumed. Second, Wisdom indicates a clear undercurrent of strong persecution (see 2:12\u20135:14), which is consistent with Caligula\u2019s reign of terror. Third, the author\u2019s vocabulary consists of a significant number of words and usages, some associated with Middle Platonic philosophy (a popular philosophical school at the time that grew out of Platonic philosophy and taught, among other things, the immortality of the soul) that are unattested elsewhere before the 1st century CE.
\nAlthough the original work can reasonably be dated to the early 1st century CE, no manuscripts from this time survive (as is typically the case with ancient texts). The oldest manuscripts are the 4th century CE codex Vaticanus and codex Sinaiticus. A 4th-century CE date leaves about a 300-year gap between the original and the oldest copies. Although much can certainly happen during that time to introduce errors in transmission, scholars are confident we have a solid and reliable text.
\nIt is nearly universally accepted that Wisdom was written originally in Greek by an Alexandrian Jew. Even though the book exhibits an occasional Semitic style (phrases, word order), this does not support an argument for a Hebrew original. Rather, it simply reflects the mixing of cultures and languages during the time in which Wisdom was written.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The book\u2019s significance can be seen mainly in two areas. First, like his fellow Alexandrian (and rough contemporary) Philo, the author blends Jewish faith and life with Greek philosophical influence. This can be seen in his choice of words as well as concepts. For example, Ps.-Solomon deals with such issues as the preexistence and immortality of the soul; the relationship between Torah and wisdom, and between the Logos and wisdom; and the tensions between free will and determinism.
\nSecond, the author\u2019s understanding of Israel\u2019s history in chapters 10\u201319 reflects interpretive conclusions and techniques found in other ancient literatures. In some cases, his interpretations reflect the insights of previous interpreters. In other cases, they are only reflected (more fully) in later Rabbinic literature. In either case, his way of understanding the significance of Israel\u2019s past is a snapshot of a very early stage in the history of biblical interpretation.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
There are a number of legitimate ways of outlining this book, but a two-part scheme will provide helpful guidance for readers. In chapters 1\u20139 (part 1), Ps.-Solomon\u2019s focus is on attributes and benefits of wisdom and in this sense is reminiscent of Proverbs. In chapters 10\u201319 (part 2), the character of the book shifts noticeably. Here the author looks back over Israel\u2019s history, beginning with Adam through Joseph (10:1\u201314). Then at 10:15 the writer continues this historical focus with a lengthy discourse on the Exodus and the wilderness period, which will remain his major theme for the remainder of the book.
\nUnderstanding the central role of the Exodus in part 2 is important for understanding the book as a whole. In 3:2 and 7:6 the author uses the word \u201cexodus\u201d (Gk. exodos) to refer to a person\u2019s physical death. (The \u201cexodus\u201d mentioned in 3:2 refers to the faithful who die at the hands of tormentors, while 7:6 describes the death of all people.) In his use of this term, Ps.-Solomon lends encouragement to a people facing the very real possibility of death, a personal \u201cexodus\u201d (3:1\u20139).
\nThis personal exodus is put into a larger perspective in part 2, where the author draws our attention to Israel\u2019s Exodus experience, her metaphorical passage from death to life. Ps.-Solomon apparently views the Exodus as the prime biblical portrait of what wisdom is doing now in the lives of these persecuted Alexandrian Jews. Just as God was faithful in delivering the generation of Moses, so is he poised now to deliver these persecuted Jews. In fact, even if they die a martyr\u2019s death, wisdom will not forsake them, for the righteous will judge the ungodly and live forever (4:16\u201320; 5:15\u201316).
\nThis connection between the two parts of the book can further be seen by how certain words and concepts in the second half echo what one sees in the first half. Important examples of this include words like \u201cgodly,\u201d \u201cungodly,\u201d \u201cseed,\u201d \u201cpeople,\u201d and \u201cnations\u201d to describe both God\u2019s people and God\u2019s enemies, past and present.
\nOne final point to bear in mind is the book\u2019s intended audience. Even though the book is addressed to the \u201crulers of the earth\u201d (1:1; see also 6:1), the real audience is fellow persecuted Jews. In part 1, the secular rulers are being called to account for their actions, but this book is certainly not meant to be delivered to them as a declaration of some sort. It was written to encourage the Jews that God will hold to account all his enemies and will deliver his people.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Clarke, E. G. The Wisdom of Solomon. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1973.
\nCoogan, Michael D., and others, eds. New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
\nEnns, P. Exodus Retold: Ancient Exegesis of the Departure from Egypt in Wis 10:15\u201321 and 19:1\u20139. Harvard Semitic Monographs 57. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.
\nHorbury, W. H. \u201cThe Christian Use and the Jewish Origins of the Wisdom of Solomon.\u201d Wisdom in Ancient Israel: Essays in Honor of J. A. Emerton, edited by J. Day, R. P. Gordon, and H. G. M. Williamson, 182\u201396. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
\nReese, J. M. Hellenistic Influence on the Book of Wisdom and Its Consequences. Analecta biblica 41. Rome: Biblical Institute, 1970.
\nReider, J. The Book of Wisdom. New York: Harper & Row, 1957.
\nSchaberg, J. \u201cMajor Midrashic Traditions in Wisdom 1,1\u20136,25.\u201d Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods 13 (1982): 75\u2013101.
\nSkehan, P. W. \u201cThe Literary Relationship of the Book of Wisdom to Earlier Wisdom Writings.\u201d In Studies in Israelite Poetry and Wisdom, 172\u2013236. Catholic Bible Quarterly Monograph Series 1. Washington DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1971.
\nVogels, W. \u201cThe God Who Creates Is the God Who Saves: The Book of Wisdom\u2019s Reversal of the Biblical Pattern.\u201d \u00c9glise et th\u00e9ologie 22 (1991): 315\u201335.
\nWinston, D. The Wisdom of Solomon. Anchor Bible 43. New York: Doubleday, 1979.<\/p>\n
COMMENTARY<\/p>\n
1:1\u201315 These verses summarize the heart of the entire book: Wisdom is found among those who love righteousness and seek God, not those who are deceitful and perverse. The remainder of the book is an extended argument to support this.
\n1:1. rulers of the earth The book is addressed to secular rulers, but the author\u2019s aim is not to persuade them. Appealing to rulers is a literary technique to remind the readers that God, the ruler of all the nations, will call their persecutors to account for their unjust and ungodly actions.
\n1:11. destroys the soul Ps.-Solomon understands the souls of the ungodly to come to \u201cdestruction.\u201d He may be saying that ungodly life leaves one with a \u201cdead\u201d soul. On the other hand, the verses that follow take a more literal view of death. It does not seem likely that the eternal destruction of the soul is in view, however. The ultimate fate of the ungodly is punishment, judgment, and alienation from God according to 4:20\u20135:14. The same or similar notion is found in Dan. 12:1\u20135 as well as the New Testament (Heb. 9:27), and this is a common theme in the Hebrew Bible and subsequent Christian and Jewish literature.
\n1:13. God did not make death God is not the author of death, nor does he take delight in the death of the living. Rather, death is introduced through Adam (Gen. 2:17; 3:19). What makes the ungodly life so terrible is that it extends an invitation to death.
\n1:14. Hades Not referring to an individual mythic figure as one finds in the ancient world, but simply death itself personified.
\n1:15. righteousness is immortal Here the author introduces a theme that will occupy his attention through Wis. 5:23. All of this is a significant departure from the Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible (particularly Proverbs), where wisdom is for the mastery of this life, not a means of entering the next. Eternal consequences of one\u2019s actions, of limited interest in the Hebrew Bible (Dan 12:1\u20134), receives increased attention in postbiblical literature. Ps.-Solomon\u2019s understanding of the soul\u2019s immortality owes something to his Platonic philosophical climate. The notion of everlasting life is also a mark of Rabbinic teaching.
\n1:16. covenant Ps.-Solomon presents a clear choice to his readers. In 1:12\u201315 he argues that the path of the godly leads to life. In 1:16\u20132:24 he argues that the path of the ungodly, which he describes as arrogant, short-sighted, hedonistic, and conspiratorial toward the innocent, leads to death. In fact, the ungodly make a \u201ccovenant\u201d (1:16) with death by virtue of their words and deeds. A similar notion is found in the writings of Philo. The contrast between the godly and the ungodly is repeated in the second half of the book (chapters 10\u201319), although there the writer appeals to important figures from Israel\u2019s past (see also Sir. 44\u201349). Wisdom delivered godly men of the past, and so readers can count on the same treatment today.
\n2:1. Short and sorrowful is our life Ps.-Solomon begins his caricature of the skepticism of the ungodly concerning the afterlife and their \u201cseize the day\u201d philosophy of life in Wis. 2:1\u20135. Both are well documented in Greek philosophical literature and are echoed in Ecclesiastes (3:18\u201322; 6:12). Ps.-Solomon\u2019s message to his readers is that this life is not all there is. The \u201cunsound reason\u201d displayed by the ungodly amounts to making a covenant with death.
\n2:2. reason is \u2026 kindled by \u2026 our hearts Likewise, in the Hebrew Bible the heart is the seat of reason as well as emotion (e.g., Prov. 23:7; see also Luke 5:22).
\n2:6. enjoy the good things that exist Closely echoed in Eccles. 2:24\u201325 and 5:18\u201320 (as well as Isa. 22:13), and is also a well-known Greek sentiment.
\n2:9. our portion \u2026 our lot The narrator of Ecclesiastes (called \u201cTeacher,\u201d or Hebrew, Kohelet) repeatedly mentions humanity\u2019s \u201cportion\u201d (also translated \u201clot\u201d), i.e., what God has assigned for humans to do (e.g., Eccles. 3:22). Since humans cannot fathom what God does and why, they are to find contentment in daily existence (Eccles. 5:18\u201320).
\n2:10\u201316. Let us oppress the righteous Denial of the afterlife leads to hedonism, which leads to violence against the innocent and helpless. The righteous, widowed, and aged will be at the mercy of those for whom \u201cmight is right.\u201d The attitude expressed in Wis. 2:10\u201316 is clearly and regularly contradicted by both biblical and Rabbinic teaching. The ungodly mock the righteous, who claim to be children of God and expect that the end of their life will be \u201chappy\u201d (2:16).
\n2:18\u201320. if the righteous man is God\u2019s child \u2026 he will be protected The test proposed by the ungodly is a common one in biblical and extra-biblical literature: if what these righteous ones say is really true, if God is really their God, he will deliver them. What the ungodly do not understand, and what will become clearer in chapter 3, is that God\u2019s deliverance is not necessarily from death but through death.
\n2:20. shameful death Reflected in Heb. 12:2.
\n2:21\u201324. Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray The writer exposes the foolish reasoning of the ungodly. Because they have made a \u201ccovenant with [death]\u201d (Wis. 1:16), they do not understand the \u201csecret purposes of God\u201d (2:22). Had they known this, they would have known what are the \u201cwages of holiness\u201d and the \u201cprize for blameless souls\u201d (2:22), namely, that there is an afterlife. God did not create humanity to die, but to live on (2:23). It is the devil who is responsible for death, and all those who see death as the end will experience it. It is clear already at this point that Ps.-Solomon is not thinking ultimately of physical death, since all experience this, but death without afterlife. To belong to the devil\u2019s company (2:24) means experiencing this final death.
\n2:22. secret purposes Gk. myst\u0113ria (mysteries), referring to the afterlife (1 En. 103:2, 1 Cor. 15:51).
\nwages The Gk. misthos is used here and in Wis. 5:15 to refer to the afterlife. Its only other occurrence is in 10:17 where it refers to the \u201creward\u201d of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. The writer seems to draw a parallel between the two acts of deliverance.
\n2:24. devil\u2019s envy The serpent in the Garden is understood as being the devil, a common view throughout ancient literature. \u201cDevil\u2019s envy\u201d may refer to an interpretive tradition. It may also refer to Cain\u2019s jealousy, instigated by the devil, through which death entered the world.
\n3:1. in the hand of God Cf. B. Shab. 152b: \u201cthe souls of the righteous are hidden under the throne of glory.\u201d
\n3:1\u20139. the souls of the righteous The righteous belong to God, even in death.
\n3:2\u20133. departure The Gk. is exodos. The \u201cdeparture\u201d of the godly from this life to the next is an \u201cexodus,\u201d patterned after Israel\u2019s departure from Egypt (which will occupy Ps.-Solomon beginning at 10:15). The same goes for \u201ctheir going from us\u201d (3:3, Gk. poreia, \u201cjourney\u201d). Like the Israelites of old, this journey likewise results in \u201cpeace\u201d (3:3), this time in a heavenly country rather than an earthly one.
\n3:4. punished The punishment (kolaz\u014d) of the godly at the hands of the ungodly parallels the punishment of the Israelites by the Egyptians (the same word is used in 11:5, 8, 16; see also the use of the noun kolasis in 11:13).
\nimmortality This may refer to the immortality of the soul, since the soul is mentioned in 3:1. This is not a Rabbinic concept, but is reflected in other Second Temple sources. Wisdom 8:19 assumes the preexistence of the soul, which is a thoroughly Hellenistic concept.
\n3:5\u20136. God tested them Suffering and death are merely a temporary discipline imposed by God in testing the worthiness of the righteous. This should not be over-read as though failing any one test would disqualify one from the afterlife, or as if a developed doctrine is being communicated here. Rather, Ps.-Solomon is motivating his readers to persevere in the knowledge that these trials are used by God for a higher purpose.
\n3:6\u20137. like gold in the furnace \u2026 like sparks through the stubble Verse 6 introduces the common image of refining gold, and in verse 7 this \u201cfire\u201d is turned against the ungodly (See also Zech. 12:6). This view of the elevated role of the departed seems to have a parallel in Dan. 7:22, 27; 12:3. Ps.-Solomon clearly has in mind some end-time setting, although he does not elaborate.
\n3:9. holy ones The Gk. hosios is also found in Wis. 7:27: the one who is holy is the one who lives with wisdom (7:28). In the context of the book, living with wisdom means trusting God\u2019s deliverance even in the midst of persecution. The word is also found in 10:15, 17 to describe the Israelites of the Exodus. God delivers his \u201choly ones,\u201d both past and present.
\n3:10\u201319. But the ungodly The contrast between the godly and the ungodly, a major theme throughout the book, is clearly expressed here and continuing to 4:19.
\n3:12\u201318. their wives are foolish, and their children evil The ungodly man may appear to have great blessing in a wife and children, but all will eventually come to naught. His children will perish early (v. 16), but even if they live a long life, their old age will be without honor (v. 17). One should read these words in the context of the overall high importance placed on children in the ancient world, where barrenness could be understood as the result of sin (see v. 13). For Ps.-Solomon, children are not the sign of blessing, but of the quality of the life lived (see esp. vv. 16\u201319).
\n3:13. sinful union Here, the writer may have in view Israelite women either intermarrying or being intimate with non-Israelites (see also v. 16 and 4:6), which, in the mixed culture of Judaism and Hellenism of the 1st centuries BCE and CE, would have been an ever-present temptation. It would be better to be barren than be defiled in such a way. The godly woman\u2019s \u201cfruit\u201d should be her life lived in wisdom rather than simply a matter of having offspring.
\n3:14. Blessed also is the eunuch According to Deut. 23:1\u20132, eunuchs are excluded from participation in the covenant. Isa. 56:3\u20135 leaves room for their inclusion, and Ps.-Solomon certainly seems to have that view in mind. For him, what is more important than the eunuch\u2019s physical state is that \u201cno lawless deed\u201d be done.<\/p>\n
4:2. crowned in triumph Virtue as a victory crown (stephanophore\u014d). Wisdom is the crown in Prov. 4:9 and Sir. 6:31. For Ben Sira it is also the fear of the LORD (Sir. 1:11).
\n4:3. illegitimate seedlings Children of the ungodly are considered bastard children, \u201cborn of unlawful unions\u201d (Wis. 4:6). The language here may be hyperbolic or may be a warning to Jewish readers not to engage in mixed marriage.
\n4:7\u20139. But the righteous, though they die early In the Hebrew Bible, length of days and children are a sign of God\u2019s blessing. In the face of persecution, however, people naturally question whether God is truly with them if they are dying before their time. Ps.-Solomon responds that the quantity of one\u2019s years is far less important than the quality of one\u2019s years. The life that follows wisdom is one that is truly \u201clong,\u201d for it is the wise who will be at rest with God in the life to come (2 Bar. 17:1).
\n4:10. There were some who pleased God Ps.-Solomon supports his point above with this reference to Enoch, who makes his brief appearance in Gen. 5:21\u201324. The brevity of the biblical reference combined with the mysterious assessment of his life (v. 24, \u201cEnoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him\u201d) naturally led to some speculation as to what it meant to \u201cwalk with God\u201d and for God to \u201ctake him.\u201d Ps.-Solomon capitalizes on this biblical figure: the quality of Enoch\u2019s life was the very reason it was so brief. The problem with the reference is that Ps.-Solomon uses Enoch as an example of someone killed for his wisdom, whereas Gen. 5:24 is hardly so explicit. But Ps.-Solomon may reflect some of the ambiguity surrounding the Enoch tradition in the history of interpretation; for example, Tg. Onk. to Gen. 5:24 states that Enoch did in fact die.
\nloved Ps.-Solomon understands \u201cEnoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him\u201d (Gen. 5:24) as an expression of God\u2019s love for Enoch (see Gen. Rab. 9:7).
\n4:11. that evil might not change their understanding Enoch was snatched away not because of his perfection (Sir. 44:16; see also Heb. 11:5), but to keep him pure, as in Gen. Rab. 25:1.
\n4:15. grace and mercy Enoch\u2019s story has significance for Ps.-Solomon\u2019s audience: God\u2019s grace and mercy are always with his people, in Enoch\u2019s time as well as now.
\n4:16. perfected The same Gk. root (telos) is used in Wis. 4:13 to describe Enoch and may also be translated \u201cend.\u201d Death that leads to everlasting life with God is the proper endpoint for all the godly (Wis. 5:15).
\n4:18\u201319. laugh them to scorn \u2026 dash them speechless to the ground These verses clearly reflect the language of Ps. 2: God \u201claughs \u2026 in derision\u201d (Ps. 2:4) at the unrighteous who have contempt for the godly, and will \u201cdash them in pieces\u201d (Ps. 2:9) By drawing upon this psalm, Ps.-Solomon highlights that God\u2019s present protection of his people is based on biblical precedent. This biblical appeal is taken up more thoroughly beginning in Wis. 10, where Ps.-Solomon illustrates the point by appealing to Israel\u2019s Exodus and sojourn in the wilderness.
\n4:20\u20135:23 Ps.-Solomon paints a scene of future judgment in these verses.
\n5:1. oppressed them The Gk. verb thlib\u014d is used elsewhere in the book only in 10:15, with reference to the Egyptian oppression of the Israelites. The noun form of the word, thlipsis, is used in the Greek translation (Septuagint, or LXX) of Exodus in 3:4 and 4:31. Beginning in Wis. 5:1 and throughout chapter 5, we see a number of allusions to passages in Isaiah, especially passages dealing with Israel as the \u201cmy servant\u201d in Exile in Isa. 52:13\u201353:12 (for example, cf. Wis. 5:1 to Isa. 52:13\u201315). Ps.-Solomon clearly portrays the readers\u2019 struggles under persecution as a kind of suffering in exile.
\n5:2. unexpected salvation The Egyptians at the Exodus also saw an unexpected salvation: the parting of the sea and Israel\u2019s safe passage through. Here again, for Ps.-Solomon, the deliverance of the righteous through death is like the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. The final judgment scene that begins here is similar to what we see in 1 En. 62\u201363.
\n5:4. byword of reproach At the final judgment, the unrighteous will repent of their foolishness for declaring the righteous a \u201cbyword of reproach.\u201d In the Bible, this designation is the destiny of the unrighteous (e.g., Jer. 24:9) and is only applied to Israel when disobedient (see 1 Kings 9:7 where the reference is to the exile). In Wis. 4\u20138, the remorse of the ungodly is heartfelt but too late. In their lives, they were strangers to truth, righteousness, and knowledge of God. Rather, their lives were full of lawlessness, destruction, arrogance, and \u201cboasted wealth\u201d (Wis. 5:8; see also comment on v. 8). As we have seen in 4:1\u20139, the question is \u201cwhat will last?\u201d For the ungodly, they found that what lasts is what they had derided.
\n5:7. journeyed through trackless deserts This same combination of Gk. (diadeu\u014d [journey], er\u0113emos [desert], abatos [trackless]) is found in Wis. 11:2 with respect to Israel\u2019s desert journey after the Exodus. The contrast Ps.-Solomon is making is evident: the \u201cdesert trek\u201d of the ungodly here ends in death, but Israel\u2019s march leads to life in the promised land.
\n5:8. our boasted wealth The mention of wealth may suggest that those lamenting are rulers or at least members of a privileged class. As through all time, money yields power, which makes one susceptible to corruption and aggression toward others. This is a common biblical theme (e.g., Prov. 11:4; Ezek. 27:27).
\n5:13. as soon as we were born, ceased to be The ungodly will learn the lesson of Wis. 5:9\u201312, the futility of life. Because the life of the ungodly is without virtue, they have nothing to show for it, in contrast to the godly whose virtue lives on as an example for others (4:1\u20132). See also Sir. 44:9, where the memory of the \u201cfamous men\u201d (Sir. 44:1) is lasting, because they were men of mercy and righteous deeds (v. 10). It is the ungodly who simply perish without memory. Kohelet\u2019s complaint is similar to that of the ungodly here, but his words are directed at all humanity, regardless of their virtue (Eccles. 1:11; 3:19\u201322).
\n5:15. the righteous live forever Everlasting life for the righteous has already been mentioned or alluded to (e.g., Wis. 3:1\u20139; 5:1\u20135). Philo shares the view (Joseph 264). The notion is by no means restricted to Hellenistic Judaism (e.g., B. Ber. 17a).
\n5:18. righteousness as a breastplate Ps.-Solomon concludes his contrast of the godly and ungodly by employing the imagery of the \u201carmor of God\u201d (Eph. 6:13), familiar from both the Hebrew Bible (Isa. 59:16\u201317) and the New Testament (Eph. 6:13\u201317).
\n5:23. thrones of rulers The reference to rulers is a reminder of the \u201cliterary audience\u201d announced in Wis. 1:1. It also forms a bridge to 6:1, where kings and judges are mentioned.
\n6:1. kings \u2026 judges See 1:1, which begins in a similar way. Having just described the final end of the godly and the ungodly in the preceding chapter, Ps.-Solomon now turns his attention, in this chapter, back to the powers that be, the \u201crulers of the earth.\u201d He exhorts them to submit themselves to God, follow wisdom, and thereby quit their deplorable treatment of God\u2019s people.
\n6:3. sovereignty from the Most High God is in control over all earthly rulers, a common theme in the Hebrew Bible (1 Chron. 29:12; Dan. 2:21, and throughout the book of Daniel), in the New Testament (Rom. 13:1), and in Second Temple texts (4 Macc. 12:11).
\n6:6. lowliest man The God of those whom the rulers are oppressing is the one who will bring swift judgment upon the oppressors, and who is not intimidated by their power. Humility rather than high standing is what will bring mercy rather than judgment. God does not grant anyone a privileged status.
\n6:9. learn wisdom The rulers are further exhorted to humble themselves and seek wisdom in order to avoid the insights gained by the ungodly in Wis. 5:4\u201314, insights that came too late. This is certainly reminiscent of the call in Proverbs for the godly to pursue wisdom (Prov. 4:1\u20139; 8:1\u201321).
\n6:12. radiant and unfading Here and through Wis. 6:16, and similar to Prov. 8, the appeal to follow wisdom is followed by a description of a personified wisdom\u2019s lofty attributes (Prov. 8:22\u201331). This description serves to justify wisdom\u2019s worthiness. The imagery used by Ps.-Solomon here is also reminiscent of Prov. 1:20\u201333, where wisdom is personified as a woman, sitting at the town gate, who expects to be sought out.
\n6:17\u201318. wisdom is \u2026 love of her, and \u2026 her laws Ps.-Solomon draws the explicit connection between loving wisdom and keeping law, and the resulting assurance of immortality. Although the connection between wisdom and law is hinted at in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Deut. 4:5\u20138), it becomes much more prominent in Second Temple sources (see also Sir. 24:23\u201329; Bar. 3:9\u20134:4). Wisdom must be understood within the boundaries of the law, but the proper understanding of the law can only be gained through employing wisdom. The promise of immortality, so prominent here, is not at all the focus of biblical Wisdom Literature. To make his point, Ps.-Solomon employs a very common rhetorical technique called sorites, which is an argument chain where each successive statement is connected to the one before it, reaching a climax in the final statement. Such a technique can be seen not only in Greek literature, but also in Rabbinic literature (M. Avot 1.1) and in the New Testament (Rom. 5:1\u20135).
\n6:22. hide no secrets Wisdom is not the possession of the few elite, but is meant to be disbursed so all rulers can benefit from her. See also Wis. 7:1\u20136, where Ps.-Solomon makes clear that he possesses wisdom not by some special means. He is a man, just like everyone else. He is wise because he prayed for it (7:7).
\n6:24. salvation of the world \u201cThe notion of the wise man as the foundation (Prov. 10:25) and salvation of the world is a widespread motif both in Philo and in Rabbinic literature.\u201d
\n7:1\u201322a For much of this chapter, Ps.-Solomon recounts his own quest for wisdom.
\n7:1. first-formed child of earth Literally, \u201cearthborn.\u201d Refers to Adam and his origins in \u201cthe dust of the earth\u201d (Gen. 2:7 NJPS; see also Wis. 10:1).
\n7:2. ten months A Greek and Roman convention for referring to the period of gestation, with the child being born in the 10th month. Refers to 10 lunar months, which correspond to 9 solar months.
\ncompacted with blood Refers to the ancient understanding of the fetus being formed by a union of semen and menstrual blood. This notion may already be reflected in Job 10:10, where Job describes God having formed him in the womb: \u201cYou poured me out like milk, congealed me like cheese\u201d (NJPS).
\n7:7\u201314. Therefore I prayed This passage of self-description has unmistakable allusions to the description of Solomon in 1 Kings 3:1\u201315. Ps.-Solomon\u2019s quest for wisdom was more important than wealth, but, as was the case with Solomon, God gave him material riches along with wisdom.
\n7:14. unfailing treasure Whoever has wisdom has an \u201cunfailing treasure,\u201d for they \u201cobtain friendship with God.\u201d Ps.-Solomon\u2019s attitude toward worldly wealth may be compared to that of Jesus in Matt. 6:19\u201321.
\n7:16. understanding and skill in crafts As in the Hebrew Bible, wisdom is not simply cerebral, to know about something. It is to know intimately, and where applicable, to demonstrate that knowledge by skill. For example, the skill of Bezalel and Oholiab to build the Tabernacle is a result of God filling them with \u201ca divine spirit of skill, ability, and knowledge in every kind of craft\u201d (Exod. 31:3; see also Exod. 36:1). Ps.-Solomon, like Solomon, demonstrates his appropriation of wisdom by listing areas in which he has been given knowledge: the sky and what it contains, and the earth and what it contains. His knowledge is comprehensive, even including hidden things (Wis. 7:22a).
\n7:20. powers of spirits The Gk. pneuma could be translated \u201cspirits\u201d or \u201cwinds.\u201d The latter is in keeping with the other natural phenomena of this passage. The former, however, forms a nice parallel with \u201creasonings of men\u201d in the second half of this line, and thus fits better the immediate context. The word likely refers to angels.
\nplants \u2026 roots Certainly an allusion to 1 Kings 4:33 LXX. \u201cVirtues of roots\u201d refers to the natural medicinal properties of plants (see also Sir. 38:4).
\n7:22a. fashioner The Gk. technitis refers to one who has \u201ctechnical\u201d skill. Here, wisdom is posed as the \u201cfashioner\u201d of all things. One should also refer to Wis. 13:1, where God is called the \u201cartisan\u201d of the world (same Gk. root). The writer is not equating wisdom and God. Rather, as we see in Prov. 8:22, wisdom\u2019s connection to God is so intimate as to be present at Creation, as a \u201cconsultant,\u201d as it were. The purpose of this description is to persuade the readers that, since wisdom has such strong credentials, she is worthy of pursuit. This notion may have as its basis Prov. 8:30, which contains a difficult Hebrew word (amon) translated variously as \u201cnursling\u201d (OJPS), \u201cconfidant\u201d (NJPS), \u201ccraftsman\u201d (NIV, NKJV), and \u201cmaster worker\u201d (NRSV).
\n7:22b\u201323. There is in her a spirit that is Wisdom\u2019s attributes are numbered at 21. Both the number of attributes and the actual descriptions of wisdom are \u201cborrowed largely from Stoic Philosophy,\u201d according to David Winston, although the notion is reflected in Rabbinic thought as well. The number 21 is likely significant in that it is a multiple of 3 and 7, both numbers representing completeness or perfection.
\n7:24\u20138:1 Many of Ps.-Solomon\u2019s conceptions here are, again, derived from the philosophical world in which he lived. A number of these images are used to describe wisdom\u2019s intimacy with God; for example, Wis. 7:26: \u201cFor she is a reflection [apaugasma] of eternal light.\u201d This is similar to the description of Christ in Heb. 1:3: \u201cHe is the reflection [apaugasma] of God\u2019s glory.\u201d Although the terminology in this passage is Greek (also seen in the writings of Philo), the personification and exaltation of wisdom is hardly limited to Greek thought, but also seen in Proverbs and in Second Temple literature (e.g., Sir. 1).
\n7:27. friends of God Wisdom is what makes someone a friend of God. See Isa. 41:8; Wis. 1:4; 10:16.
\n8:2. loved \u2026 desired \u2026 became enamored Sexual or marital imagery is used to communicate the necessity of intimacy with wisdom. Ps.-Solomon is determined to make her his, and has been courting her from his youth.
\n8:4. she is \u2026 an associate in his works Wisdom is extolled similarly to Prov. 8:22\u201331, where she is present with God during his creative acts. See Wis. 7:22a.
\n8:7. self-control and prudence, justice and courage One\u2019s desire for righteousness can only be met in wisdom, who teaches the \u201cfour cardinal virtues\u201d known from Greek philosophy (Plato, Stoics): self-control, prudence, justice, courage. These virtues are also mentioned in 4 Maccabees (written around the middle of the 1st century CE). See, for example, 4 Macc. 1:6, 8; 5:24.
\n8:9\u201316 Ps.-Solomon lists the benefits of knowing wisdom. They include the ability to rule wisely (a Solomonic theme found in 1 Kings 3:16\u201328), \u201cimmortality\u201d (Wis. 8:13), and a life filled with \u201cgladness and joy\u201d (v. 16).
\n8:16. I shall find rest with her The rest offered by wisdom is analogous to the rest found in the Promised Land after the Exodus, the topic of the second half of the book. The sense of inner calm with wisdom is also seen in Philo (e.g., Abraham 27) and in Sirach (6:28).
\n8:18. seeking how to get her A common theme in Proverbs (1:28; 2:4; 8:17). Wisdom must be sought wholeheartedly, but it cannot be possessed unless it is a gift from God.
\n8:19. a good soul fell to my lot Assumes preexistence, which reflects Platonic influence. Such thoughts are not entertained in Judaism until the Amoraic period. However, an ancient author\u2019s understanding of reality may be expected to reflect the common beliefs of his day, even in the midst of a call to his readers to follow the God of Israel.
\n8:21\u20139:18. so I appealed to the LORD Ps.-Solomon\u2019s recounts to his readers his earnest prayer for wisdom, which is certainly modeled on 1 Kings 3:6\u20139. This prayer forms the crescendo of the first half of the book.
\n9:1. made all things by your word God creating by his word is a common biblical and extrabiblical theme.
\n9:2. dominion Likewise a biblical theme (Gen. 1:26, 28; Ps. 8:6\u20138). The same notion is also seen in Wis. 10:2 with respect to Adam.
\n9:4. sits by your throne Echoes Prov. 8:30.
\n9:8. copy of the holy tent This notion is consistent with Platonic philosophy but is not derived from it wholly. Exodus 25:9, 40 certainly imply a heavenly pattern or blueprint for humans to follow. See also 1 Chron. 28:11\u201312.
\n9:11. she will guide me \u2026 and guard me The ultimate purpose for wisdom being present, here as in Proverbs, is moral guidance so that the life lived may be in accord with the path of wisdom. In the next verse, Ps.-Solomon credits his ability to rule justly specifically to this guidance.
\n9:13. For who can learn \u2026 who can discern See also Isa. 40:13\u201314; Prov. 30:2\u20134; Sir. 1:1\u201310; 18:1\u20137; 24:28\u201329; 1 En. 93:11\u201314.
\n9:15. a perishable body weighs down the soul Reflects Platonic philosophy where the body is a burden on the soul, going beyond the Hebrew Bible, which speaks only of the body\u2019s temporary existence (e.g., Ps. 103:14).
\n9:16. We can hardly guess \u2026 but who has traced out These words echo the LORD\u2019s response to Job\u2019s defense of his innocence and questioning of God\u2019s justice (see Job 38\u201339). In both cases, \u201cthe reasoning of mortals is worthless\u201d (Wis. 9:14).
\n9:18. saved by wisdom These words close the first part of the book and introduce the second. The events recounted next, in Wis. 10:1\u201321, in particular are concrete examples of those whose \u201cpaths \u2026 were set right\u201d and who were \u201csaved by wisdom.\u201d
\n10:1\u201319:22 The primary focus of the second half of the book is to give evidence from Israel\u2019s past that wisdom does indeed deliver the godly. Ps.-Solomon illustrates the point by tracing Israel\u2019s history from Adam to Joseph in 10:1\u201314. A similar literary device is used in Sir. 44\u201350 and Heb. 11: the past illustrates God\u2019s present activity. Then Ps.-Solomon turns his attention to the Exodus period at 10:15, and this topic will remain his primary focus for the remainder of the book. Through a series of contrasts, the writer demonstrates that God cares for his own while punishing the ungodly, often by the same means with which he delivered the Israelites.
\n10:1. Wisdom What the Hebrew Bible attributes to God, Ps.-Solomon attributes to wisdom. Such a role for wisdom is consistent with Greek literature of the time, but it is also found in the Hebrew Bible as well (Prov. 1\u20139). For Ps.-Solomon, wisdom stands for God, and he makes no attempt to distinguish between the two.
\nprotected the first-formed father That is, protected Adam. The text is not clear about what Adam was protected from at his creation. That he was \u201cdelivered from his transgression,\u201d however, is likely a reference to his disobedience, and may reflect an interpretive tradition where Adam is restored through his obedience. Throughout this section, Ps.-Solomon refrains from naming his subject. There are likely two reasons for this: (1) his readers were well familiar with the biblical characters; (2) by leaving them unnamed, the focus is on the present application of these past figures rather than on the figures themselves.
\n10:3. an unrighteous man Cain. Just as the characters in this section are unnamed, so they are also designated unambiguously as \u201crighteous\u201d or \u201cunrighteous.\u201d That way their lives stand as models of virtue for Ps.-Solomon\u2019s readers as he challenges them to remain steadfast.
\nhe perished Likely refers to Cain\u2019s banishment, or perhaps to spiritual perishing. Or, it may be an exaggeration to support Ps.-Solomon\u2019s underlying point, that the ultimate end of the unrighteous is death.
\n10:4. because of him Cain is the cause for the Flood. See Wis. 14:6, however, where the cause is \u201carrogant giants,\u201d which is more in keeping with Gen. 6:1\u20134 (see also the comment on Wis. 14:6).
\npaltry piece of wood The ark. Wisdom is intimately engaged in the world she helped create, as demonstrated here by her knowledge of the property of wood and of sea travel. Wisdom\u2019s ability to control the natural world reflects Greek philosophy and is elaborated in Wis. 19:6\u201321.
\n10:5. when the nations \u2026 had been put to confusion \u2026 the righteous man Here, Ps.-Solomon refers to Abraham, portraying him as a contemporary of the Tower of Babel episode (L.A.B. 6\u20137).
\npreserved him blameless In one ancient text (L.A.B. 6\u20137), Abraham resists the idolatry of Babel\u2014a capital crime\u2014and God responds by delivering him from death, thus keeping him free of any conviction.
\n10:6. a righteous man This time, Ps.-Solomon refers to Lot.
\nFive Cities Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Gen. 10:19; 14:2). The last was spared, according to Gen. 19:22, but Ps.-Solomon considers it to have been destroyed.
\n10:7\u20138. their wickedness \u2026 they passed wisdom by Reference to the residents of Sodom and the folly of Lot\u2019s wife. Her act of disobedience (looking back) is for Ps.-Solomon a rejection of wisdom\u2019s guidance. If there is any memory of the unrighteous (cf. Wis. 5:9\u201314; see further the comments on 5:7, 13), it is a negative one (see also Jude 7).
\n10:10. a righteous man Jacob.
\nshowed him the kingdom of God \u2026 knowledge of holy things This may refer to Jacob\u2019s dream in Gen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
6:39\u201341. your [ ] he shall rule over \u2026 and he shall fall These lines use vocabulary familiar from the creation stories in Gen. 1\u20132: dominion over the earth in 1:28, the creation of the man from the dust in 2:7, and the creation of the heavenly expanse in 1:6. 6:41. firmament This word also … <\/p>\n