Wisdom and Torah: The Reception of ‘Torah’ in the Wisdom Literature of the Second Temple Period

347 Pages·2013·1.855 MB·English

by  Bernd U. Schipper, D. Andrew Teeter

Wisdom and Torah
Supplements
to the
Journal for the Study
of Judaism
Editor
Benjamin G. Wright, III
Department of Religion Studies, Lehigh University
Associate Editors
Hindy Najman
Department of Religious Studies, Yale University
Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven
Advisory Board
a.m. berlin – k. berthelot – r. bloch – g. bohak –
j.j. collins – j. duhaime – k. hogan – p.w. van der horst –
o. irshai – a.k. petersen – s. mason – j.h. newman –
m.r. niehoff – m. popović – i. rosen-zvi –
j.t.a.g.m. van ruiten – m. segal – j. sievers –
g. stemberger – l.t. stuckenbruck – j.c. de vos
VOLUME 163
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jsjs
Wisdom and Torah
The Reception of ‘Torah’ in the Wisdom Literature of
the Second Temple Period
Edited by
Bernd U. Schipper and D. Andrew Teeter
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wisdom and Torah : the reception of “Torah” in the wisdom literature of the Second Temple
period / edited by Bernd U. Schipper and D. Andrew Teeter.
  pages cm. — (Supplements to the Journal for the study of Judaism ; Volume 163)
 “The present volume presents papers which were given at an international symposium at
Humboldt-universitat zu Berlin in September, 2011”—Introduction.
 Includes index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-25332-2 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-25736-8 (e-book) 1. Wisdom
literature—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Congresses. 2. Bible. Old Testament—Criticism,
interpretation, etc.—Congresses. 3. Apocryphal books (Old Testament)—Criticism, interpretation,
etc.—Congresses. 4. Judaism—History—Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.–210 A.D.—Congresses.
I. Schipper, Bernd Ulrich, 1968– editor of compilation. II. Teeter, David Andrew, 1976– editor of
compilation.
 BS1455.W554 2013
 221.6—dc23
2013025138
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ISSN 1384-2161
ISBN 978-90-04-25332-2 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-25736-8 (e-book)
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CONTENTS
Introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
Bernd U. Schipper and D. Andrew Teeter
The Blinded Eyes of the Wise: Sapiential Tradition and Mosaic
 Commandment in Deut 16:19–20  ........................................................... 9
Reinhard Müller
Law and Wisdom according to Deut 4:5–8  ............................................. 35
Thomas Krüger
When Wisdom Is Not Enough! The Discourse on Wisdom and
Torah and the Composition of the Book of Proverbs  ..................... 55
Bernd U. Schipper
Job in Conversation with the Torah  .......................................................... 81
Markus Witte
“Fear God and Keep His Commandments”: Could Qohelet Have
Said This?  ...................................................................................................... 101
Stuart Weeks
Yahweh’s Torah and the Praying “I” in Psalm 119  .................................. 119
Karin Finsterbusch
Half Way between Psalm 119 and Ben Sira:
Wisdom and Torah in Psalm 19  .............................................................. 137
Anja Klein
Torah and Sapiential Pedagogy in the Book of Ben Sira  ..................... 157
Benjamin G. Wright III
“Wisdom” and “Torah” in the Book of Baruch  ........................................ 187
Sebastian Grätz
vi contents
Wisdom and Torah at Qumran: Evidence from the Sapiential
Texts  ................................................................................................................ 203
William A. Tooman
Torah, Wisdom, and the Composition of Rewritten Scripture:
Jubilees and 11QPsa in Comparative Perspective  ............................... 233
D. Andrew Teeter
Rewriting Torah in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls  ...... 273
Reinhard G. Kratz
Nόμος and Nόμοι in the Wisdom of Solomon  .......................................... 293
Joachim Schaper
Afterword: Wisdom and Torah: Insights and Perspectives  ................. 307
Bernd U. Schipper
Contributors  ...................................................................................................... 321
Index of Primary Sources  .............................................................................. 323
IntroductIon
Bernd u. Schipper and d. Andrew teeter
the present volume presents papers which were given at an interna-
tional symposium at Humboldt-universität zu Berlin in September, 2011.1
the symposium was funded by the German research council (deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft) in the framework of the dFG-project “discursive
Wisdom.” the symposium had as its central aim to bring together scholars
representing a diverse range of approaches, interests and specializations
within the study of Hebrew Bible and early Judaism to think deeply about
the relationship between “wisdom” and “torah” within a select network of
texts, and in so doing to work across the de facto disciplinary boundaries
that tend to assert themselves between traditional biblical studies and the
study of the literatures of Second temple Judaism outside of the canoni-
cal boundaries. these pragmatically determined dichotomies between
biblical studies and, say, Qumran studies, tend to obscure the profound
continuities that exist between the formation of scriptural compositions
and the thought forms, interests, concerns, and orientations represented
in other literature of the period. Indeed, not to take this wider, reciprocal
picture into account is to invite distortion. this is particularly the case
when considering the topic to which this symposium and the result-
ing volume is dedicated, for the complex and multifaceted relationship
between “wisdom” and “torah” is not one that originated in Jewish litera-
ture during the Hellenistic period.
A proper assessment of the manifold relationships that obtain between
“wisdom” and “torah” in the post-exilic period has fascinated and vexed
generations of interpreters. In view of the undeniable centrality of these
concepts within the thought and literature of late Second temple Judaism,
1 the makeup of the present volume differs from the symposium itself insofar as it does
not include contributions by three participants (Bernard Levinson, “reception History as a
Window into composition History: deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as reflected in Qoheleth
and the temple Scroll”; Kent reynolds, “Ps 119: Who can Say ‘I Have more discretion than
My teachers’?”; and udo rüterswörden, “Spruchweisheit und kasuistisches recht,” whose
paper was read in absentia), and in that it includes contributions from four scholars who,
for various reasons, were not present in Berlin (Karin Finsterbusch, Sebastian Grätz, rein-
hard Kratz, and Joachim Schaper).
2 bernd u. schipper and d. andrew teeter
the question of their relationship is increasingly one of determinative
importance. on the one hand, scholars have emphasized the immense
significance of the rise of torah, variously understood, for the social and
religious development of Second temple Judaism, for the composition of
biblical literature, and for the nascent formation of canon. on the other
hand, the decisive importance of wisdom traditions for each of these same
categories has become ever clearer. the intersection of these two complex
and multifaceted concepts, “wisdom” and “torah,” therefore proves to be
a crucial nexus for understanding late post-exilic Jewish thought and liter-
ary production.
the essays of present collection aim to contribute to understanding this
key relationship by focusing attention once more on specific instances of
the reception of “torah” in Wisdom literature and the shaping of torah
by wisdom. Each author has undertaken to gauge this relationship in a
key passage, book, or set of texts, and has attempted to relate this to the
broader picture.
two lines of investigation are pursued. the first two essays contain
an examination of the changing concepts of wisdom and torah in their
interrelationship found within various literary strata of the book of deu-
teronomy itself. taking this as a point of departure, the remainder of the
book examines the relationship between wisdom and torah in Wisdom
literature of the Second temple period, including Proverbs, Qohelet,
Ps 19 and 119, Baruch, Ben Sira, Wisdom, sapiential and rewritten scrip-
tural texts from Qumran, and the Wisdom of Solomon.
In his article “the Blinded Eyes of the Wise,” Reinhard Müller examines
deut 16:19–20 as a test case for the determining the relationship between
wisdom and torah in the book. Müller argues that this text both takes
up sapiential tradition regarding the self-acquired skill necessary for lead-
ership, and critically transforms it, subordinating this “wisdom” to the
pursuit of righteousness, i.e., the keeping of divine commandments. this
accords with the emphases of the latest layers within the development of
the book, texts such as deuteronomy 4 and deuteronomy 29–30. thus,
Müller argues, the book of deuteronomy cannot simply be ascribed to a
continuum of sapiential tradition in an undifferentiated way. rather, it
contains multiple conceptions of “wisdom.” Within the diachronic devel-
opment of the book, older concepts of human “wisdom” are transformed,
relativized, and subordinated to Mosaic torah—which is to say, to the
written text of deuteronomy itself. this represents, according to Müller, a
clear position on the relationship between “wisdom” and “torah.”
introduction 3
Thomas Krüger examines deut 4:5–8 in his article “Israel’s Law and Wis-
dom according to deut 4:5–8.” this represents a key text for our discus-
sion, insofar as “torah” and “wisdom” are explicitly related to one another
only here within the Pentateuch. According to Krüger, this text attests to
a transformation of deuteronomic law in the direction of sapiential life
instruction. It endeavors to express the acceptance among other nations
of Israel’s obedience to the Mosaic law, reflecting Achaemenid political
realities, and was thus not designed as a fundamental position statement
regarding the relationship between law and wisdom per se. nonetheless,
Krüger argues, the passage served as a catalyst among later interpreters
for thinking more deeply and precisely about this very relationship. over
the course of time, it also provoked critical positions in a sapiential mode,
forcing consideration of whether the Mosaic Law really was as just and
reasonable as deut 4:5–8 claims.
thus, according to the analysis of both Müller and Krüger, within the
multi-staged development of deuteronomy, older texts are taken up and
various conceptions of the relationship between wisdom and torah are
developed—conceptions that are determinative for later traditions.
Bernd U. Schipper argues in his paper, “When Wisdom Is not Enough!
the discourse on torah and the composition of the Book of Proverbs,”
that the book of Proverbs also contains diverse concepts of wisdom. these
differences can be related to a theological debate on wisdom (המכח) and
torah (הרות) in post-exilic times. this discourse shaped the redaction of
the book of Proverbs, in which a position finally prevailed that reduced
wisdom to an everyday concept without any theological claim. According
to Schipper, it is thus clear that “torah” can be related above all to deu-
teronomy and that the book of Proverbs is part of a discourse in which
two conceptions of revelation stand opposed to one another. on the one
hand, there is the idea that the torah can be taught from one generation
to the next; on the other hand, there is the thought that this is not pos-
sible, since human beings can never in their life completely carry out the
divine directive. rather, God himself must plant the torah in the human
heart (Jeremiah 31). this critical position also shapes the external frame-
work of the Book of Proverbs, which can be assigned to a redactional level
of critical wisdom similar to Job and Qoheleth.
In his essay, “Job in conversation with the torah,” Markus Witte pursues
the essential question whether—and if so, how, and with what purpose—
the book of Job has recourse to the torah. Witte develops the thesis that
Job reflects in its various literary strata a multiform critical engagement