Patterns of Daily Prayer in Second Temple Period Judaism

272 Pages·2012·1.087 MB·English

by  Jeremy Penner

Patterns of Daily Prayer in
Second Temple Period Judaism
Studies on the Texts of the
Desert of Judah
Edited by
Florentino García Martínez
Associate editors
Peter W. Flint
Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar
VoluME 104
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/stdj
Patterns of Daily Prayer in
Second Temple Period Judaism
By
Jeremy Penner
lEiDEn • boSTon
2012
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Penner, Jeremy.
 Patterns of daily prayer in Second Temple period Judaism / by Jeremy Penner.
  p. cm. — (Studies on the texts of the desert of Judah, iSSn 0169-9962 ; v. 104)
 includes bibliographical references and index.
 iSbn 978-90-04-23307-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — iSbn 978-90-04-23033-0 (e-book) 1. Prayer—
Judaism—History. 2. Judaism—History—Post-exilic period, 586 b.C.-210 A.D. i. Title.

 bM669.P46 2012
 296.4’91—dc23
2012028842

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iSSn 0169-9962
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ConTEnTS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... ix
Abbreviations and Sigla  ................................................................................ xi
introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
1. Review of Scholarship  ........................................................................ 3
1.1. Fixed Prayer as a Gradual Development  ............................. 5
1.2. Fixed Prayer as a Radical innovation  ................................... 19
1.3. other Trends and Approaches to the Study of Prayer  .... 25
2. Patterns of Daily Prayer in Second Temple Period Judaism:
A Way Forward  ..................................................................................... 28
i. Sacrifice and Daily Prayer  .................................................................... 35
1. introduction  ........................................................................................ 35
2. Spontaneous Prayer and Times of Sacrifice .............................. 37
2.1. Prayer in Sirach 50  .................................................................... 45
3. Descriptions of Times of Prayer in the Psalms  ........................ 48
4. Daily Prayer in the Temple  ............................................................ 54
4.1. Priestly Prayer in M. Tamid 5.1  .............................................. 59
5. The influence of the Temple in the Development of Daily
Fixed Prayer  ........................................................................................ 67
6. Conclusions  ......................................................................................... 70
ii. Scripture and Daily Prayer  .................................................................. 73
1. introduction  ........................................................................................ 73
2. Let. Aris. §158–160  ............................................................................. 75
3. Josephus, Ant. 4.212  ........................................................................... 81
4. 1QS X 10, 13–14  .................................................................................... 87
5. Conclusions  ......................................................................................... 97
iii. luminary Cycles and Daily Prayer  .................................................... 101
1. introduction  ........................................................................................ 101
2. 4Q504, 4Q506  ..................................................................................... 103
2.1. liturgical Features  .................................................................... 104
2.2. A Daily liturgy?  ......................................................................... 105
vi contents
3. 4Q503  ..................................................................................................... 107
3.1. liturgical Features  ..................................................................... 108
3.2. Calendar: The Sequence of Prayers and Reckoning
of Days ........................................................................................... 109
3.3. The Calendar in 4Q503 and Times of Prayer  .................... 115
3.4. Times of Prayer ........................................................................... 116
3.5. Prayer with Angels  .................................................................... 118
3.6. Provenance  .................................................................................. 123
4. 4Q408  .................................................................................................... 131
4.1. Times of Prayer ........................................................................... 132
4.2. Prayer with Angels  .................................................................... 133
4.3. Provenance  .................................................................................. 134
5. Conclusions  ......................................................................................... 135
iV. The liturgical Calendar at 1QHa XX 7–14a and
1QS iX 26b–X 8a  ...................................................................................... 137
1. introduction  ........................................................................................ 137
2. 1QHa XX 7–14a  ..................................................................................... 140
2.1. The literary Structure of 1QHa XX 7–10  .............................. 141
3. 1QS iX 26b–X 8a  ................................................................................. 147
3.1. The literary Structure of 1QS X 1–3  ..................................... 149
4. The Redaction of the Calendar at 1QHa XX 7–14a and
1QS iX 26b–X 8a  ................................................................................. 152
5. The Calendar at 1QHa XX 7–14a and 1QS iX 26b–X 8a
and the Daily life of the Qumran Community  ........................ 158
6. Conclusions  ......................................................................................... 164
V. nocturnal Prayer  ..................................................................................... 165
1. introduction  ........................................................................................ 165
1.1. Preliminary Remarks on the Anthropology of Sleep
in the Ancient World  ................................................................ 166
2. The influence of Cosmology on Prayer  ...................................... 172
3. Prayers for Protection  ...................................................................... 180
3.1. Ps-Philo, L.A.B. 60:1–3  ............................................................... 180
3.2. Jub. 12:16–27  ................................................................................. 182
3.3. 11Q11 V  ............................................................................................ 184
3.4. 4Q510–511: Were Prayers for Protection Routinized?  ..... 189
4. nocturnal Praise  ................................................................................ 190
4.1. 4Q503  ............................................................................................. 190
4.2. 1QHa XXV 30–33  .......................................................................... 195
contents vii
5. 4Q334: A liturgy for Praise or Protection?  .................................. 198
5.1. Genre and Setting  ....................................................................... 200
6. Conclusions  ............................................................................................ 207
Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 209
bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 215
index of Ancient Sources  ............................................................................. 241

ACKnoWlEDGMEnTS
This book is a revised version of my dissertation submitted to McMaster
university in 2010; it marks only the beginning of my thinking on this
topic, but i nonetheless hope others will find its contents helpful in
moving the current discussion forward. My dissertation was supervised
by Eileen Schuller. Her persistence, patience, and high academic standard
have left an imprint on this book and in my life. i cannot imagine a better
thesis supervisor and i would like to offer her my sincerest gratitude.
i have benefitted from the other exemplary members of my committee,
Annette Reed and Anders Runesson, and to them i also express my appre-
ciation and thanks. There are others, in particular Daniel Falk, who care-
fully read my dissertation and offered precise comments and feedback
that only improved my work. in 2005 Esther Chazon gave me the oppor-
tunity to present some of my earlier research at the orion Center for the
Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and to her i would also like to express my
appreciation. My time in Jerusalem that year proved to be invaluable for
many reasons, but most importantly because of the colleagues i met and
from whom i had the pleasure to learn. Aryeh Amihay patiently guided
me as i stumbled through Ezra Fleischer’s important article on the begin-
nings of Jewish prayer. That same year i also met Dan Machiela, and i am
very pleased to have become friends and colleagues.
There are many other friends and colleagues that have encouraged me
along the way, some of whom i would like to mention here: i can always
rely on Jennifer Zilm, not only for her academic and literary acuity, but
also for providing hours of laughter; Mika Pajunen and Rob Virdis for their
friendship; and Dan Klassen for inspiration.
i would also like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Theology
and Religious Studies at Ku leuven, in particular Eibert Tigchelaar for the
opportunity to study in Europe and for encouraging me to prepare the
manuscript for this book. i only arrived in leuven a few months ago, but
already in this short period of time i have benefitted immeasurable from
such an academically stimulating environment. Finally, i would like to
thank Florentino García Martínez for accepting this manuscript for pub-
lication in the STDJ series.
leuven, June 2012