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Scribal Culture in Ben Sira (Sir 38:1-15; 41:1-15; 43:11-19; 44-50)

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Scribal Culture in Ben Sira (Sir 38:1-15; 41:1-15; 43:11-19; 44-50) Scribal Culture in Ben Sira (Sir 38:1-15; 41:1-15; 43:11-19; 44-50) Lindsey Arielle Askin Queens’ College, University of Cambridge February 2016 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. 2 Table of Contents Preface 4 Abbreviations 5 Chapter One: Introduction 7 Chapter Two: Noah (Sir 44:17-18) and Phinehas (Sir 45:23-26): Originality and the Use of Texts 19 2.a. General Introduction 18 2.b.1. Introduction to Noah 22 2.b.2. Primary Texts for Sir 44:17-18 25 2.b.3. Textual Commentary on Noah (Sir 44:17-18) 28 2.b.4. Noah and Other Sources 33 2.c.1. Introduction to Phinehas 35 2.c.2. Primary Texts for Sir 45:23-26 37 2.c.3. Textual Commentary on Phinehas (Sir 45:23-26) 40 2.c.4. Phinehas and Other Sources 54 2.d. Ben Sira’s Textual Reuse and Creativity Compared with Other Sources 57 2.e. Chapter Two Conclusions 61 Chapter Three: Multiple Source Handling: Harmonization and Paraphrase in Hezekiah-Isaiah (Sir 48:17-25) and Josiah (Sir 49:1-3) 63 3.a. General Introduction 63 3.b.1. Introduction to Hezekiah-Isaiah and Josiah 64 3.b.2. Primary Texts for Sir 48:17-25 67 3.b.3. Textual Commentary on Hezekiah-Isaiah 72 3.b.4. Hezekiah-Isaiah and Other Sources 86 3.c.1. Primary Texts for Sir 49:1-3 89 3.c.2. Textual Commentary on Josiah (Sir 49:1-3) 91 3.c.3. Josiah and Other Sources 98 3.d. Ben Sira’s Multiple Source Handling Compared with Other Sources 100 3.e. Chapter Three Conclusions 102 3 Chapter Four: Ben Sira’s Use of Job and Psalms in Sir 43:11-19: Literary Models and Textual Quotation 104 4.a. General Introduction 104 4.b. Primary Texts for Sir 43:11-19 107 4.c. Textual Commentary on Sir 43:11-19 111 4.d. Summary of Textual Findings 127 4.e. Sir 43:11-19 Compared with Other Sources 133 4.f. Chapter Four Conclusions 137 Chapter Five: Sir 41:1-15: Echoes of Job, Qohelet, and Ancient Perspectives on Death and the Body 139 5.a. General Introduction 139 5.b. Introduction to Death and the Body in Ben Sira 141 5.c.1. Primary Texts for Sir 41:1-15 143 5.c.2. Debates about the Structure of Sir 41:1-15 151 5.d. Textual Commentary on Sir 41:1-15 153 5.e. Analysis of Textual Findings 169 5.f. Death in Sir 41:1-15 and Other Sources 173 5.g. The Body in Sir 41:1-15 and Other Sources 179 5.h. Chapter Five Conclusions 182 Chapter Six: Sociocultural Perspectives and Textual Reuse: The Physician and Piety (Sir 38:1-15) 184 6.a. Introduction 184 6.b. Primary Texts for Sir 38:1-15 187 6.c. Textual Commentary on Sir 38:1-15 193 6.d. Ben Sira and Ancient Medicine 210 6.e. Chapter Six Conclusions 227 Chapter Seven: Conclusions 231 Bibliography 237 4 Preface This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University of similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the Faculty of Divinity Degree Committee. 5 Abbreviations AB Anchor Yale Bible Commentary AJS Association for Jewish Studies BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft BNZW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft BEAT Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des antiken Judentums BVC Bible et vie crétienne BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium BN Biblische Notizen BDB Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon BAR British Archaeological Reports BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BHM Bulletin of the History of Medicine BIOSCS Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies CBAA Catholic Biblical Association of America CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series Clines D.J.A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew DSD Dead Sea Discoveries DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan ESV English Standard Version EstBib Estudios bíblicos FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament HTR Harvard Theological Review HAR Hebrew Annual Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual HBS Herders biblische Studien HCOT Historical Commentary on the Old Testament IOSCS International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible IAA Israel Antiquities Authority Jastrow Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature JIGRE Horbury and Noy, Jewish Inscriptions of Graeco-Roman Egypt JQS Jewish Quarterly Review JSQ Jewish Studies Quarterly JAJ Journal of Ancient Judaism JAJSup Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement JANER Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology JHebS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JSJ Journal of Jewish Studies JSJSup Journal of Jewish Studies Supplements JSOT Journal for the Study of Old Testament 6 JSOTSup Journal for the Study of Old Testament Supplement Series JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series JTS Journal of Theological Studies KJV King James Version LDAB Leuven Database of Ancient Books LBH Late Biblical Hebrew LXX Septuagint (Rahlfs-Hanhart) MT Masoretic Text (BHS) OLA Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta QH Qumran Hebrew REJ Revue des études juives RevQ Revue de Qumran RSV Revised Standard Version SCS Septuagint and Cognate Studies Skehan and Di Lella P.W. Skehan and Alexander A. Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira, AB 39 (London: Doubleday, 1987). SBL Society of Biblical Literature SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers ST Studia Theologica VT Vetus Testamentum TVZ Theologischer Verlag Zürich ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik B Manuscript B Btext Manuscript B main body text Bmg Manuscript B marginalia l. line(s) Mas1h Masada Scroll of Ben Sira MS(S) Manuscript(s) r. recto v. verso 7 Chapter One Introduction This thesis analyses how Ben Sira wrote his text.1 Therefore, this study will explore Ben Sira’s reuse of texts in order to characterize his individual scribalism—that is, the personal compositional style—as witnessed by his surviving Hebrew text. The aim is to avoid generalizations about scribes by focusing on scribal culture. Scribal culture is the evidence reading and writing left behind by material culture2 and textual data from societies with handwritten texts (manuscripts) and a scribal profession. In a manuscript society, scribes are the creators and copyists of texts.3 However, scribes are also individuals with different agendas, levels of training, and environments. Analysing characteristics of Ben Sira’s individual scribalism will tell us more about Ben Sira: his education and compositional habits, his sociocultural concerns, his social background, and his use of the texts around him. The central argument is that seeing Ben Sira through the lens of scribal culture helps reveal the complexity behind his compositional style. Recently, biblical scholarship has renewed interest in scribal culture. In particular, scholarship on Ben Sira has long been interested in the question of Ben Sira as a scribe. This interest is because of his advice and autobiographical comments on the scribal profession and on the importance of a lasting name. He is also the first Jewish author to assign his own name to his text. Studies on Ben Sira have broadly concentrated on two issues: his sociocultural background and his interpretation of other texts. Both issues make Ben Sira an excellent case study for scribalism during the Second Temple period. 1 The Book of Ben Sira (also known as Ecclesiasticus, Sirach, or the Wisdom of Ben Sira) was written sometime between 198 and 175 BCE in Jerusalem. 2 Material culture is a term from archaeology meaning the physical objects left by people of the past. 3 Note that scribal culture can also be left behind by educated people who were not professional scribes. 8 Literature Review Ben Sira Scholarship The textual history of Ben Sira is complex. Six medieval manuscripts of Hebrew Ben Sira were found in the genizah of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo in 1896 by Solomon Schechter4 and by Neubauer and Cowley.5 These finds revealed the long-lost Hebrew of Ben Sira. Other fragments have been uncovered from the Cairo Genizah, including an imprint of Sir 1 discovered by Reymond in 2014.6 The other Hebrew witnesses discovered are 11QPsa which includes Sir 51:13-30,7 and the Masada Scroll of Ben Sira (Mas1h) found in 1964 by Yigael Yadin.8 Two-thirds of the Hebrew survives today. Because of the incomplete survival of the Hebrew and the differences between the ancient and medieval manuscripts, the Hebrew must be compared to the other ancient versions: the Greek, Latin, and Syriac.
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