Praise Israel for Wisdom and Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom, the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism)

381 Pages·2008·1.85 MB·English

by  Benjamin G. Wright III

Praise Israel for Wisdom and Instruction
Supplements
to the
Journal for the Study
of Judaism
Editor
John J. Collins
The Divinity School, Yale University
Associate Editors
Florentino García Martínez
Qumran Institute, University of Groningen
Hindy Najman
Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto
Advisory Board
j. duhaime – a. hilhorst – p.w. van der horst
a. klostergaard petersen – m.a. knibb
j.t.a.g.m. van ruiten – j. sievers – g. stemberger
e.j.c. tigchelaar – j. tromp
VOLUME 131
Praise Israel for
Wisdom and Instruction
Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom,
the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint
by
Benjamin G. Wright III
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2008
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wright, Benjamin G. (Benjamin Givens)
Praise Israel for wisdom and instruction : essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom, the
Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint / by Benjamin G. Wright III.
p. cm. — (Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism ; v. 131)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-16908-1 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Wisdom
literature—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Bible. O.T. Greek—Versions—Septuagint.
4. Letter of Aristeas. I. Title. II. Series.
BS1765.52.W75 2008
229’.306—dc22
2008035030
ISSN 1384-2161
ISBN 978 90 04 16908 1
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
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printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments .............................................................................. vii
Introduction ........................................................................................ ix
PART ONE
BEN SIRA AND EARLY JEWISH WISDOM
Chapter One Wisdom and Women at Qumran ........................ 3
Chapter Two From Generation to Generation: The Sage as
Father in Early Jewish Literature ................................................ 25
Chapter Three The Categories of Rich and Poor in the
Qumran Sapiential Literature ...................................................... 49
Chapter Four “Who has been Tested by Gold and Found
Perfect?” Ben Sira’s Discourse of Riches and Poverty
(with Claudia V. Camp) ............................................................... 71
Chapter Five “Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest”:
Ben Sira as Defender of the Jerusalem Priesthood .................. 97
Chapter Six “Put the Nations in Fear of You”: Ben Sira
and the Problem of Foreign Rule ............................................... 127
Chapter Seven Wisdom, Instruction and Social Location in
Ben Sira and 1 Enoch .................................................................... 147
Chapter Eight Ben Sira on the Sage as Exemplar ..................... 165
Chapter Nine B. Sanhedrin 100b and Rabbinic Knowledge
of Ben Sira ...................................................................................... 183
vi contents
PART TWO
THE LETTER OF ARISTEAS AND THE SEPTUAGINT
Chapter Ten The Jewish Scriptures in Greek: The Septuagint
in the Context of Ancient Translation Activity ........................ 197
Chapter Eleven דבע/∆ΟΥΛΟΣ—Terms and Social Status in
the Meeting of Hebrew-Biblical and Hellenistic-Roman
Culture ............................................................................................. 213
Chapter Twelve Access to the Source: Cicero, Ben Sira,
The Septuagint and Their Audiences ......................................... 247
Chapter Thirteen The Letter of Aristeas and the Reception
History of the Septuagint ............................................................. 275
Chapter Fourteen Translation as Scripture: The Septuagint
in Aristeas and Philo ..................................................................... 297
Chapter Fifteen Three Jewish Ritual Practices in
Aristeas §§158–160 ........................................................................ 315
Index .................................................................................................... 335
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Wisdom and Women at Qumran.” DSD 11 (2004) 240–61. Copyright
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Used by Permission.
“From Generation to Generation: The Sage as Father in Early Jewish
Literature.” Biblical Traditions in Transmission: Essays in Honour of
Michael Knibb. Charlotte Hempel and Judith M. Lieu, eds. JSJSup 111.
Leiden: Brill, 2006, 309–32. Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,
The Netherlands. Used by Permission.
“The Categories of Rich and Poor in the Qumran Sapiential Literature.”
Sapiential Perspectives: Wisdom Literature in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
John J. Collins, Gregory R. Sterling, and Ruth A. Clements, eds. STDJ
51. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 101–23. Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,
The Netherlands. Used by Permission.
“ ‘Who Has Been Tested by Gold and Found Perfect?’ Ben Sira’s Dis-
course of Riches and Poverty.” With Claudia V. Camp. Henoch 23 (2001)
153–74. Copyright Silvio Zamorani. Used by Permission.
“ ‘Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest’: Ben Sira as Defender of the Jeru-
salem Priesthood.” The Book of Ben Sira in Modern Research. P.C.
Beentjes, ed. BZAW 255. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1997, 189–222.
Copyright Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin. Used by Permission.
“ ‘Put the Nations in Fear of You’: Ben Sira and the Problem of Foreign
Rule.” First published in Seminar Papers: Society of Biblical Literature
Annual Meeting 1999. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 77–93.
“Wisdom, Instruction and Social Location in Ben Sira and 1 Enoch.”
Things Revealed: Studies in Early Jewish and Christian Literature in Honor
of Michael E. Stone. Esther G. Chazon, David Satran, and Ruth A. Cle-
ments, eds. JSJSup 89. Leiden: Brill, 2004, 105–21. Copyright Koninklijke
Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Used by Permission.
viii acknowledgments
“B. Sanhedrin 100b and Rabbinic Knowledge of Ben Sira.” Treasures
of Wisdom. Studies in Ben Sira and the Book of Wisdom. Festschrift M.
Gilbert. N. Calduch-Benages and J. Vermeylen, eds. BETL 143. Leuven:
Peeters, 1999, 41–50. Copyright Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000
Leuven, Belgium. Used by Permission.
“The Jewish Scriptures in Greek: The Septuagint in the Context of
Ancient Translation Activity.” Biblical Translation in Context. Frederick
W. Knobloch, ed. Studies and Texts in Jewish History and Culture X.
Bethesda, MD: University Press of Maryland, 2002, 3–18. Copyright
University Press of Maryland. Used by Permission.
“ ‘Ebd/Doulos: Terms and Social Status in the Meeting of Hebrew-Biblical
and Hellenistic Roman Culture.” Slavery in Text and Interpretation.
Richard Horsley, Allen Callahan, and Abraham Smith, eds. Semeia
83/84. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001, 83–111. Copyright
Society of Biblical Literature. Used by permission.
“Access to the Source: Cicero, Ben Sira, The Septuagint and Their Audi-
ences.” JSJ 34 (2003) 1–27. Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The
Netherlands. Used by Permission.
“The Letter of Aristeas and the Reception History of the Septuagint.”
BIOSCS 39 (2006) 47–67. Copyright The International Organization for
Septuagint and Cognate Studies. Used by Permission.
“Translation as Scripture: The Septuagint in Aristeas and Philo.” Sep-
tuagint Research: Issues and Challenges in the Study of the Greek Jewish
Scriptures. Wolfgang Kraus and R. Glenn Wooden, eds. SBLSCS 53.
Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006, 47–61. Copyright Society
of Biblical Literature. Used by permission.
“Three Jewish Ritual Practices in Aristeas §§158–160.” Heavenly Tablets:
Interpretation, Identity, and Tradition in Ancient Judaism [FS Betsy
Halpern-Amaru]. Lynn LiDonnici and Andrea Lieber, eds. JSJSup 119.
Leiden: Brill, 2007, 12–29. Copyright Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The
Netherlands. Used by Permission.
INTRODUCTION
In the twenty years since I completed my Ph.D. dissertation, the study
of Early Judaism has changed dramatically.1 Among the most important
changes that I have experienced is the breaking down of many tradi-
tional scholarly categories and boundaries that had long been taken for
granted. Of course, despite the increasing fluidity of these boundaries
scholars still specialize—and specialize in ever more narrow and detailed
subjects—but it has become increasingly difficult to study the Dead
Sea Scrolls, the wisdom literature of ancient Israel, or the Septuagint,
for instance, in isolation from the remainder of early Jewish literature
and history and without viewing all of these texts through a variety of
methodological lenses. In my work thus far, I would like to think that
I have crossed over some of those conflicted categories and boundaries
and that I have made some modest contribution to the exciting new
directions in which the study of Early Judaism is moving. As I looked
through my earlier work in order to select the articles for this volume,
three general themes stood out around which they coalesce: Transla-
tion, Social Location and the Transmission of Tradition. Although I
have separated the articles published here into two broad groupings—
Ben Sira and Early Jewish Wisdom and the Letter of Aristeas and the
Septuagint—articles from both groupings fit well into one or more of
these themes, representing a little more boundary crossing.
Translation
My earliest scholarly work was a rather technical study of some of the
translation techniques used by Jesus Ben Sira’s grandson, who translated
his book from Hebrew into Greek. While work on the minutiae of
translation in the Septuagint/Old Greek corpus has generated important
insights into the nature, form and development of the biblical text in
antiquity, the study of translation literature from multiple methodologi-
cal perspectives allows scholars alternative avenues into these texts and
1 The dissertation appeared as No Small Difference: Sirach’s Relationship to Its Hebrew
Parent Text (SBLSCS 26; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989).