Pieter W. van der Horst and Judith H. Newman Early Jewish Prayers in Greek Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York Table of contents Preface . ........................... VII Abbreviations . ........................... XIII I. The Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers in the Apostolic Constitutions . 1 II. A Communal Prayer (Pap. Egerton 5) . 95 III. A Prayer for Protection against Unclean Spirits (Pap. Fouad 203) . 123 IV. A Prayer for Vengeance from Rheneia . 135 V. The Prayer of Manasseh . 145 VI. The Prayer of Azariah . 181 VII. The Prayer of Jacob . 215 VIII. Appendix: The Prayer of Joseph . 247 Indices . ........................... 259 Index of References . 261 Index of Names and Subjects . 287 Index of Modern Names . 293 Preface VII Preface During the past few decades a great amount of scholarly work has been done on the various prayer cultures of antiquity, both Graeco-Roman and Jewish and Christian.1 In Jewish studies this burgeoning research on ancient prayer has been stimulated particularly by the many new prayer texts found at Qumran, which have shed new light on several long-standing problems.2 The present volume intends to make a modest contribution to the ongoing scholarly debate on ancient Jewish prayer texts by focusing on a limited set of prayer texts, scil., a small number of those that have been preserved in Greek. There are many Jewish prayer texts in Greek, those in the Greek apocrypha and pseudepigrapha,3 those in Josephus,4 those in Philo,5 but these will not be dealt with here. The prayers that have been inserted into the Greek versions of the book of Esther also fall outside the scope of the 1 For bibliographies the reader is referred to G. Freyburger & L. Pernot (eds.), Bibli- ographie analytique de la prière grecque et romaine (1898–1998) (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), with the supplementary volume F. Chapot & B. Laurot (eds.), Bibliographie analytique de la prière grecque et romaine. Supplément années 1999–2003 (Turn- hout: Brepols, 2008). M. Harding, “The Lord’s Prayer and Other Prayer Texts of the Greco-Roman Era: A Bibliography,” in J. H. Charlesworth, M. Harding & M. Kiley (eds.), The Lord’s Prayer and Other Prayer Texts of the Greco-Roman Era (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1994) 103–257. See also the bibliographies on the many individual prayers in M. Kiley et al. (eds.), Prayer from Alexander to Con- stantine: A Critical Anthology (London: Routledge, 1997). There is also a good bib- liography in H. Löhr, Studien zum frühchristlichen und frühjüdischen Gebet (WUNT 160; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003) 532–614. 2 See, e.g., J. Tabory (ed.), From Qumran to Cairo: Studies in the History of Prayer (Jerusalem: Orhot, 1999); E. G. Chazon (ed.), Liturgical Perspectives: Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 48: Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2003); D. K. Falk, Daily, Sabbath, & Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 27; Leiden: Brill: 1998). 3 See N. B. Johnson, Prayer in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (SBLMS 2; Phila- delphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1948). Johnson’s book was out of print but is currently available through the SBL Press as a print-on-demand edition. 4 See T. Jonquière, Prayer in Josephus (AJEC 70; Leiden: Brill, 2007). 5 See J. Leonhardt, Jewish Worship in Philo of Alexandria (TSAJ 84; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001). VIII Preface present book, not only because they will receive their own treatment in a commentary on the Greek Esther but also because this volume focuses on prayers that show signs of independent use in Jewish life. The same caveat applies of course to the prayers in the book of Judith and other apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works which appear to have been written as part of their narrative contexts. The Prayer of Azariah, however, which is part of the Greek Daniel, is dealt with here because it is clear from its contents that its setting in Daniel is not original; it is loosely tied to the context;6 and it may be safely assumed that originally it circulated independently, as is also the case with the Prayer of Manasseh that is dealt with in the present com- mentary as well. The Prayer of Jacob, too, is an independent composition that was preserved on a Berlin papyrus (PGM XXIIb). Other independent prayer compositions on papyrus are the communal prayer on Pap. Egerton 5 (now in London), and the prayer for protection against unclean spirits on Pap. Fouad 203 (now in Cairo). An excerpt from the narrative text entitled the “Prayer of Joseph”, although not itself a prayer, is included as an ap- pendix because it sheds light on interpretive traditions related to the Prayer of Jacob. All these will be dealt with in the present work. A special case is the inscription on a tombstone from Rheneia which consists of a Jewish prayer for vengeance, a unique prayer on stone that could not be left out- side this volume. The largest set of independent prayers is that of the six synagogal prayers that have been incorporated in a christianized form into the late fourth-century Church Order called Apostolic Constitutions and are now generally regarded as originally Jewish compositions. Altogether these are twelve prayer texts, with a chronological range from the second century B.C.E. to the third or fourth century C.E. Since most of the scholarly attention tends to be paid to the material in Hebrew and Aramaic (mainly the prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the rabbinic literature, and the corpus of mystical Hekhalot treatises), these Greek prayers from Jewish diaspora communities deserve a treatment in some more detail than they have hitherto received. The assembled collection reflects a wide range of early Jewish prayers in terms of contents and geographical provenance. Such diversity is an impor- tant dimension of the commentary in itself. Seen from the lenses of later rabbinic Judaism, the prayers offer a syncretistic diversity. Including such a 6 In this respect it differs from the other prayer inserted in the same chapter, the elabo- rate song of praise by the three young men who were saved from the burning oven (Dan 3:52–90 LXX and Theodotion), which probably represents an adaptation of an existing hymn of praise as a result of deliverance for the purposes of inclusion in the book of Daniel and therefore falls outside the scope of this commentary. Preface IX range of prayers allows evaluation of early Jewish prayer not through the more narrow retrospective standpoint of evolved Judaism or Christianity in the present day, but provides a glimpse across the broad spectrum of Jewish belief and practice in Graeco-Roman antiquity. So for example, considering the Prayer of Jacob found in the Greek magical papyri, with its view of human angelification resulting from the prayer ritual, side-by-side with one of the Hellenistic Synagogal prayers, AC 7.35.1–10, which includes an early version of the angelic praise of the Qedushah, provides a broader perspec- tive on the role of angels in the ritual life of Jewish antiquity than has been considered. Contrasting views of Jewish theodicy are on display in the prayers from Rheneia set alongside the Prayer of Manasseh. Many studies have been shaped by the interests of a particular religious tradition or a confessional tilt.7 One trend, for instance, has been to isolate the origins of a particular prayer tradition whether in Judaism or Christian- ity.8 In scholarship on early Jewish prayer, a focus has been to isolate the origins and development of the fixed prayer forms of the Amidah, though the relation of Jewish prayer to other aspects of Jewish observance in an- tiquity has also been explored.9 Christian liturgical scholarship has focused on the origins of eucharistic and baptismal prayers which are presumed to be rooted in Jewish prayer practices.10 Other scholarship on prayer in an- tiquity has considered only biblical prayers, whether in the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament or New Testament.11 Our collection is broader in scope. 7 For more bibliography on the topics mentioned in notes 8–11, see note 1. 8 See, for example, R. A. Werline, Penitential Prayer in Second Temple Judaism: The Development of a Religious Institution (SBLEJL 13; Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1998) and the three volumes on the origins and development of penitential prayer edited by M. J. Boda, D. K. Falk, and R. A. Werline, Seeking the Favor of God, cur- rently being published in the same series. 9 The classic study of J. Heinemann remains of seminal importance to the field, Prayer in the Talmud: Forms and Patterns (R. Sarason, transl.; SJ 9; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1977). His view that the statutory prayer crystallized gradually has been challenged by the work of Ezra Fleischer; see especially, “The Kedushah of the Amidah and other Kedushot: Historical, Liturgical, and Ideological Aspects,” Tarbiz 67 (1998): 301–50 [Hebrew]. 10 P. F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy (2nd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). 11 M. Greenberg, Biblical Prose Prayer as a Window to the Popular Religion of Ancient Israel (Berkeley: University of California, 1983); P. D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1994); S. Balentine, Prayer in the Hebrew Bible: The Drama of Divine-Human Dialogue X Preface The authors could offer only so much commentary upon each prayer and interrelate them without going beyond the mandate of the commentary series. Thus there are a number of issues arising from our work on these prayers that suggest avenues for further research, from the significance of Greek as the language of Jewish prayer to the nature of Jewish-Christian in- teraction that resulted in some of the prayers’ adoption in Christian con- texts, particularly in light of recent scholarship that has posited various and later “parting of the ways.”12 Most of the scholarship done on early Jewish prayer, including this commentary, has been done within an historical-criti- cal methodological framework.