Hebrew Bible: Deutero-cannonical wisdom literature

Deutero-cannonical Wisdom Literature

Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ben Sira), Baruch

12/07/2011

Authorship

Sirach

   only book written by the name given in the title

Wisdom

   sophisticated Greek and Platonic ideas, so must not have been written by Solomon

Baruch

    "Jeremiah's friend" -- written in Greek, Baruch's living situation not the same as Jeremiah describes

Sirach (or Ben Sira)

• written in Hebrew in 180 BCE
• autobiographical statements and a prologue
• prologue written by son in Alexandria
• translated the text into Greek 
• never cannonized, so Hebrew version was lost
• hope that the original would come to light at some point
• two Scottish sisters 1890 went to Cairo...
• buy a piece of a manuscript 
• they do not recognize the Hebrew text
• Cambridge friend Solomon Sectar (?) realizes this is the Hebrew version of Ben Sira!!!
• at Cairo, Solomon tracks down the manuscript
• a synagogue that is broken down
• found 750,000 leaves of Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts!!
• Cairo Geniza -- the find of the manuscripts, especially the letters
• Then, Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947

Book Contents

• Textual contents
• from Jerusalem 
• from a priestly family (or closely linked to one)
• an anthology
• not cannonized probably because of how blatantly late 
• Daniel was cannonized though, and it was later!
• yet Daniel was pseudonimous -- said to have been written by a Babylonian prophet
• on the other hand, Ben Sira didn't claim to write the words of any person in antiquity
• Women
• spoken of poorly 
• visionary experiences brought about "flaming eyes" -- flaming vaginae?
• blames Eve for the sin of humanity
• Wisdom = Logos
• wisdom is the pillar of cloud that accompanied the Israelites after the Exodus
• wisdom is the Torah
• Logos -- Gr. "word"
• important in Christianity
• e.g. Gospel of John prologue, saying Jesus = Word
• Logos becomes intermediary between God and humanity
• No belief in life after death
• Life is ultimately just

Wisdom of Solomon

   written around 20 BCE in Greek in Alexandria, Egypt, where a thriving group of Jews lived. 

• Contextual ideas
• The author was a learned, Hellenized scribe
• full of Greek philosophical language
• Jews in Alexandria were very Hellenized 
• written to persuade Hellenized Jews to embrace their Judaism
• biblical-style wisdom and Greek philosophy
• FIRST TIME the idea of an eternal soul is discussed
• God made the soul eternal
• (explicit talk about soul's immortality)
• soul is the vehicle of ultimate justice
• after death, true justice will prevail
• became important for Christian theology
• Three parts
• ch. 1-6 -- Book of Eschatology -- study of the End Times
• ch. 7-10 -- Book of Wisdom
• ch. 11-19 -- Book of History -- specifically, the Exodus

Baruch

   written ~ 200 BCE.  Written in Hebrew first? (now oldest in Greek)

• poem to wisdom
• wisdom will come live with among humanity
• fits with Logos
• Christians attribute this idea to Jesus

Hebrew Bible: Daniel and Maccabees

Daniel and 1-4 Maccabees

12/05/2011

Final Papers:  DUE MONDAY 12/12 BY 11:59PM

   Absolutely no papers will be accepted late.  If all else fails, submit a paper with simply "land and children" and receive a D. :)

   Remember to check Blackboard, and write out 8 pages (and no more).

Final Exam:  THURSDAY 12/15 FROM 3-5, SAME ROOM

   On Wednesday, all the questions for the final will be posted on Blackboard.

Daniel and Maccabees -- same time period; same social and religious issues

Post-Persian History

•  Alexander the Great
• conquered the ancient world ~ 330 BCE
• died in 323 BCE
• split kingdom between two generals
• Ptolemies, ruling from Egypt, had control over Palestine (Jewish land) from 323-198 BCE
• Seleucids, ruling from Syria, had control over Palestine starting in 198 BCE
• Antiochus IV Epiphanes
• son of the Seleucid king who overtook Palestine
• ruled from 174-164 BCE
• the name Epiphanes was self-given name glorifying his "incarnation of wisdom and piety"
• in actuality, Antiochus was like an Ancient Hitler
• he sold the position of high priesthood to the highest bidder
• Jason paid to be the high priest; he urged Hellenization (Greek culture)
• opened a gymnasium in Jerusalem
• for exercise
• men exercised nude --> circumcision deemed abbrasive to the "perfect body" ideal of the Greeks
• Jews stop circumcising
• others have reversals....
• opened a school of thought in Jerusalem
• encouraged worship of Greek god Dionysus in Israelite temple
• hoped that Jerusalem would become like the shining Greek example of Polis
• Internal priestly skirmish seen as a revolt against Grecian rule
• Antiochus reacted by desecrating the Israelite temple
• took sacred dishes and tools (?)
• supposedly sacrified a pig to his god there
• he outlawed Judaism and ordered everyone to worship Zeus
• his actions paved the way for the Maccabean revolt
• Mattathias violently attempted to stop Hellenization
• Judah, his son, effectively led a revolt agains Antiochus' rule
• Israelite local rule lasted from 167-63 BCE
• Maccabee family ruled until Pompeii (Rome) conqured in 63 BCE

Daniel

   Chapters 1-6 -- court tales (like short stories)

   Chapters 7-12 -- Apocalypses (Gr. "Revelation").  Two types:

         -- revelation of the heavens

         -- often symbolic revelation of end times, either historical events or "The End" (like Daniel)

   Chapters 2-7 Aramaic; the rest in Hebrew.  One Theory as to why:

      -- ch. 1 composed later

      -- 2-6 independent tales (circulating in Persia, Aramaic being the local language)

      -- 7 written in Aramaic to tie in the later apocalypses

      -- 11-12 are appended apocalypses (in Hebrew)

Dating:  ch. 2-6 -- 5th century BCE (that is, after the Persians but before the Greeks)

              ch. 7-12 -- much later

Daniel's apocalypses

• statue of metals describe political history
• gold = Babylon;
• other metals are Media, Persia, Greece, and Ptolemies/Seleucids
• little horn = Antiochus
• prediction that he will die in Israel
• yet he dies in Persia
• **evidence of ch. 7-12 composition date in 2nd century BCE
• Nebuchadnezzar goes crazy and eats grass
• actually, the final Babylonian king, Nabonidus goes crazy
• but he is cured by conversion to YHWH by a Jewish man
• **first direct reference to resurrection in Hebrew Bible**
• **apocalypses advocate political quietism
• the Jewish practice of NOT revolting
• the idea was that God would intervene, and even if not, resurrection was promised in the end

1 Maccabees

• first written in Hebrew, but since it was lost, the oldest manuscript is in Greek
• covers 185-135 BCE (before Antiochus)
• **gives details of the revolt
• heroes are the Maccabees
• not in cannon -- probably because of the advocation of rebellion  (maybe that's why Daniel is in the cannon instead)

2 Maccabees

• covers same events as 1 Mac, but narrower time frame -- 175-161 BCE
• written in Greek by a man named Jason
• like a summary of the events
• anti-Greek tones

3 Maccabees

• not in the Protestant or even Catholic cannons
• nothing to do with Maccabees!
• **discribes the life of the Diaspora in Egypt

4 Maccabees

• Greek wisdom literature
• discusses the revolt

Daniel additions

• in the furnace -- a pslam/prayer added
• Bel and the Dragon (NRSV pg 1552)
• Bel = Babylonian Marduk
• a detective story
• Daniel outwits Bel (?)
• Susana
• saved by Daniel's wisdom

 

 

 

 

Hebrew Bible: Short Stories

Hebrew Short Stories

Ruth, Jonah, Esther, Judith, and Tobit

12/02/2011

In the Hebrew Bible -- Ruth, Jonah, and Esther

Omitted -- Tobit and Judith

   regardless of the cannonization of the books, they were all most likely written in Hebrew originally.

Novellas

   fictional short stories that are often entertaining and edifying

• although the short stories are located in different locations, the share in common their novella structure
• especially in the Christian Bible, the novellas are located in totally different places

Apocrypha

   see NRSV Bible page 1362 for cannonization chart

• The Jews still read the apocryphal (or deuterocannonical) works, even if they are not considered Scriptural
• e.g. the event from which Hanukkah is derived is located only in the Apocrypha (1 and 2 Maccabees)
•  the oil of Hanukkah is a later rabbinic tradition
• The Chart -- 
• **How did all these books end up in the Christian Apocrypha but not the Jewish cannon?
• the cannon represents a certain timeline (no later)
• the Jews considered the Apocrypha to be written too late to be cannonical
• the issue of revolts developed after the Second Temple period
• 70 CE -- Romans torch the Temple in Jerusalem
• 139 CE -- Bar Kokhbah's revolt
• **Jewish leaders decide that revolts are bad, so writings that favor revolts are not considered Scriptural

Ruth

    Plot:  Ruth, the main character is a Moabite, a race that is often looked down upon in the Hebrew Cannon.  Naomi is an Israelite, and Ruth marries into an Israelite family, yet Naomi's sons die.  Ruth does not return to her home but stays with Naomi.  Naomi has Ruth "lie at Boaz's feet" to get him to marry her -- this is a euphemism:  "feet" = "genitals".  Genealogy is given from Ruth to King David.

    Lessons:  the importance of the kinsman-redeemer (Boaz) in society and religious integrity; the use of a Moabite as the main character opposed strict ethnic purity Ezra-Nehemiah supported.

    Composition:  either just before or during the Hellenistic period

Jonah

    although Jonah is considered a prophet in the Christian Bible, the lack of prophecies and the prose content makes it more like a short story. 

    Plot:  Jonah flees from God's command to prophesy to Nineveh in order that they repent.  On a boat, Jonah is thrown overboard;  he lives inside a giant fish (like Pinocchio) and eventually goes to Nineveh.  His teaching gets them to repent/convert, so God's wrath upon them is subsided.  Then Jonah gets mad at God's grace. 

    Fiction:  records from Nineveh show no evidence of a Jonah-like prophet or mass conversion.

    Lessons:  bell of a fish represents turmoil and distress "in the waters," but for Christians, this has been interpreted as a sign of Christ's burial and resurrection.  The Jews understood this story as fictional but with moral/spiritual significance (whereas Christians often understand the story to be literally true).

    Why included in the Cannon?

• message:  don't take prophets too seriously!
• not written in first-person like most prophets
• not consisting of prophecies
• God's ways are above people's
• for Christians, "the sign of Jonah" represents Jesus' resurrection
• God's grace/mercy can rest on Israel's enemies
• in contrast to Harem -- "total destruction," most notably ordered when Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land
• a whole nation can be converted
• mercy specifically to Assyrians

Esther

    Plot:  Israelite woman lives in Persia as the king's wife; a court tale -- popular motif in Hebrew literature; Mordechai verses Haman (Ha-MAHN); Esther saves the people by her bravery; the king orders Haman's death and the Jews are allowed to kill their enemies.

    Purim:  a celebration of victory over enemies -- deliverance of Jews in Persia; today, Purim is celebrated by drunkenness, costumes, and noisemakers, and the point is to party so hard that you don't know who's your friend and who's your enemy.

    Critiques of the story:  

• "God" is never mentioned in the cannonized text 
• the Diaspora (Israel) doesn't want to leave Persia 
• Diaspora -- "displaced" Israelites living outside their homeland
• e.g. the diaspora in Deerborn, Michigan
• Esther lives in the Persian king's harem....

For the first time, the concept of killing of all the Jews arises.

The Greek versions of Esther are longer, containing prayers, dream, and "God"

Tobit

    Plot:  Tobit lives in Nineveh; he buries the dead (illegal but moral); a bird poops in his eyes, blinding him; son Tobias is instructed to marry someone from the family, and he goes to Medes for money; Raguel, an angel in disguise, and a dog accompany Tobias; Sarah's 7 husbands all died by a demon before their marriage was consummated; demon is warded off when Tobias and Sarah marry; Tobit is cured.  :)

    Not cannonical:  too late a date of composition; concerns Northern Jews; **yet the book gives us insight onto the culture of 2nd Temple Judaism; historical inaccuracies; the text appreciates but doesn't know the Law

Judith

    Plot:  Judith in Judah during military conflict; she goes into the Assyrian (?) camp, into the general's tent; general:  "a woman this beautiful would be offended if I don't seduce her"; Judith cuts off his head

Big historical errors, such as Nebuchadrezzar living in Nineveh.