Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age

John J. Collins

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Year: 1997
• Print ISBN:
  9780664238421
• eBook ISBN:
  9781611644999
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Jewish wisdom flourished under Hellenism in the books of Ben Sira and the wisdom of Solomon, as well as in a recently discovered sapiential text from Qumran. In this book, now available as a casebound, internationally known author John Collins presents a compelling description and analysis of these three texts and their continuing wisdom traditions.

The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

Chapter 1.
Where Is Wisdom to Be Found?

The category of wisdom literature is identified in modern scholarship primarily with the books of Proverbs, Qoheleth, and Job in the Hebrew Bible, and the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) and the Wisdom of Solomon. The reason for the designation “wisdom literature” is simple enough: more than half the occurrences in the Hebrew Bible of the word ḥokmāh, wisdom, are found in Proverbs, Qoheleth, and Job,¹ while the Greek equivalent, sophia, is found more than a hundred times in Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon.² Other wisdom literature from the ancient Near East is identified by analogy with these books. Like most traditional scholarly categories, however, “wisdom” is not identified by a systematic literary analysis, but is an impressionistic, intuitive grouping of books that seem to have something in common. Those who have attempted to define just what they have in common have found the task surprisingly difficult.³ Wisdom literature has certain typical literary forms, such as the proverb and instruction, but it is itself a macro-genre that embraces several literary forms. In the Hebrew Bible, wisdom is characterized by a particular view of the world or theological perspective. That perspective, however, changes over time, and there is a vast difference between Qoheleth’s view of the world and that of the Wisdom of Solomon.⁴ Wisdom, in short, is a tradition, held together by certain family resemblances rather than by a constant essence. In this book we are concerned with a segment of that tradition, Jewish wisdom in the Hellenistic age, as represented primarily by Ben Sira and the Wisdom of Solomon. In order to understand these writings, however, it is necessary to have some grasp of the long tradition to which they were heirs and on which they built.

Wisdom in Proverbs

Anyone who reads the book of Proverbs in the context of the Hebrew Bible cannot fail to be struck by the contrast with the Torah and the Prophets. From a literary point of view, Proverbs is neither narrative nor law nor prophecy. Neither is it liturgical poetry such as we find in Psalms. The greater part of the book (chapters 10 to 30) is a collection of sentences that are sometimes strung together by catchwords or a common theme, but on the whole defy continuous reading. These sentences are either simple declarative statements, asserting that something is the case, or commands or prohibitions, which are sometimes, but not always, accompanied by explanatory statements.⁵ In Proverbs 1–9 and again in chapter 31 we find longer, more developed instructions, which still contain a mixture of imperatives and declarative assertions. The direct, second-person form of address is characteristic of this material. Unlike the prophets, the sage does not address the nation as a whole but the individual person, typically “my son.” The address is authoritative, but it has neither the force of law nor the vehemence of the prophetic oracle. The authority to which it lays claim is that of the accumulated wisdom of parents and tradition.⁶ The typical sapiential attitude is articulated nicely by Bildad the Shuhite in the book of Job: “Inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found; for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow” (Job 8:8–10).

The subject matter of Proverbs also stands in sharp contrast to most of the biblical tradition. The people of Israel and its history and destiny are not even mentioned. The focus here is on the life of the individual and the family. Nothing is said of a revelation in history or of mighty acts of deliverance from Egypt. Neither is there any mention of Moses or the covenantal law. The sage does not claim divine inspiration in the manner of a prophet, nor does he report visionary experiences. The subject matter is drawn from everyday life, and should in principle be accessible to anyone. One might speak of a revelation of wisdom in Proverbs, chapter 8, where wisdom is said to call out “on the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads.” This revelation, however, does not require extraordinary experiences such as visions, but rather the attentive observation of everyday experience and, above all, deference to tradition.

There has been a long-standing debate as to whether the wisdom tradition preserved in Proverbs was originally secular in character. Some scholars have drawn a sharp distinction between “old wisdom,” which is “this-worldly and has no commitment to ethical values” and another strand that was “transformed through its subjection to distinctively Israelite religious and ethical insights.”⁷ There is an undeniable contrast between the hardheaded pragmatism of some sayings (e.g., 22:26–27: “Do not be one of those who give pledges, who become surety for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?”) and the doctrinaire pietism of others (e.g., 10:3: “The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked”). Whether this contrast can be translated into a differentiation of stages, however, remains disputed. In the book as we have it “the rules of wisdom cover all areas of life from a perspective that is ultimately religious.”⁸ It is doubtful whether any literature from the ancient Near East can really be described as secular. But even if the pragmatic “old wisdom” also rests on religious suppositions, it is reasonable to suppose that the doctrinaire attitude of a saying like Prov. 10:3 represents a distinct redactional stage in the development of the collection. We shall certainly find that the later wisdom tradition was increasingly influenced by covenantal Yahwism. It is not unlikely that such influence can already be detected within the book of Proverbs.

On the whole, however, what is most striking about the book of Proverbs is its distinctiveness in the context of biblical Yahwism. There is, to be sure, coherence with the rest of the biblical tradition in significant respects.⁹ Wisdom theology is creation theology, and is therefore based on a fundamental presupposition of Israelite religion.¹⁰ There is an underlying similarity between proverbial wisdom and covenantal Yahwism insofar as both posit a system of retribution. Proverbial wisdom posits a chain of act and consequence, which is set in motion by the creator.¹¹ God is the guarantor of this system, but his role is like that of a midwife. No miraculous interference is needed. “Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity” (Prov. 22:8) just as surely as whoever sows the seed will reap the grain. Covenantal Yahwism also assumes that actions have their consequences, but it allows more scope for appeals to divine mercy, and its concern is with the conduct of the people as a whole rather than with the individual. Proverbial wisdom also allows for the unpredictability of divine freedom¹² (Prov. 16:1: “The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord”). Proverbs, however, has only a negligible place for prayer and sacrifice (e.g., 3:9; 12:2). The book is permeated by “the fear of the Lord,” which is the beginning of wisdom (1:7). This attitude bespeaks a cautious, conservative attitude, which reveres tradition and is wary of human arrogance, but it does not require the specific beliefs and practices that characterize the religion of Israel in the Torah and the books of the Prophets.

The Setting of Proverbs

In view of the distinctive character of proverbial wisdom, the question arises how such a tradition arose and took root in ancient Israel. Some scholars argue that its origins are to be found in folk wisdom and that it was transmitted in the context of home education within the family.¹³ The popular use of proverbs is often illustrated in biblical narratives (e.g., Judg. 8:2, 21 or Ezek. 18:2).¹⁴ It is certainly plausible that some of the proverbs in the collection originated as popular sayings. Many of the proverbs are concerned with issues of family importance, such as finding a good wife (12:4; 14:1; 18:22; 19:13, 14; 21:9, 19), or the discipline of children and slaves (19:18; 20:20; 22:6, 15).¹⁵ The typical wisdom instruction in Proverbs 1–9 is cast as the advice of a father to his son. It seems reasonable then to assume that some of this material either originated in a family setting or was modeled on home instruction, and that the book of Proverbs served as a resource for education within the household. It is difficult to believe, however, that the book as a whole was compiled either as a record of or as a resource for home instruction. The collection of instructions and proverbs that make up the book is most plausibly ascribed to a school setting.¹⁶

The book of Proverbs is attributed to King Solomon. No one would argue that the book as we now have it comes from the time of Solomon, but many scholars have held that the wisdom tradition had its origin in the time of Solomon. The establishment of the monarchy created a need for scribes and hence for schools attached to the court where scribes could be trained. The wisdom literature would then have developed in these scribal schools. This hypothesis derived support from the affinities between Israelite and Egyptian wisdom literature. The publication of “The Teaching of Amenemope” in 1923 led to the discovery of close parallels between this work and Prov. 22:17–23:11, and to the conclusion that the Hebrew text was modeled on the Egyptian.¹⁷ The reign of Solomon was the most plausible occasion for extensive Egyptian influence on Hebrew wisdom, although that influence might well continue once the tradition had been established.

The Teaching of Amenemope stands in a long tradition of Egyptian instructional literature, stretching back to the Instruction of Ptah-hotep, which some scholars date as early as the middle of the third millennium.¹⁸ Other examples of the genre are attributed to Merikare (a pharaoh from the twenty-second century B.C.E.);¹⁹ Amenemhet (a pharaoh about 2000 B.C.E.); Duauf (a treatise on the superiority of the scribe, preserved in copies from the nineteenth dynasty, 1320–1200 B.C.E., but possibly dating from the Middle Kingdom, 2150–1750 B.C.E.); and Ani (a parental instruction from the New Kingdom, 1580–1085 B.C.E.). The date of the Teaching of Amenemope is widely disputed, but a date in the thirteenth or twelfth century seems likely.²⁰ Later examples of the Instruction genre, from the Hellenistic period, are found in the Teaching of Onchsheshonqy and Papyrus Insinger.²¹ These instructions were written for the training of scribes and statesmen. Although these documents are typically cast as the instructions of fathers to their sons, they were copied in writing and learned by rote in Egyptian schools for more than two millennia. The existence of similar schools in Israel is often posited by analogy.²²

In Egypt schools existed primarily to train courtiers and scribes for governmental service, but the Egyptian instructions extend to matters of human psychology and proper behavior. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah also had need of scribes, and the e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Where Is Wisdom to Be Found?
• Part One: Hebrew Wisdom
• Part Two: Wisdom in the Hellenistic Diaspora
• Bibliography
• Index of Passages
• Index of Authors