THE DIVINE NAME THE DIVINE NAME IN EARLY JUDAISM: USE AND NON-USE IN ARAMAIC, HEBREW, AND GREEK By ANTHONY R. MEYER, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctorate of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Anthony R. Meyer, July 2017 McMaster University DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (2017) Hamilton, Ontario (Religious Studies) TITLE: The Divine Name in Early Judaism: Use and Non-Use in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek AUTHOR: Anthony R. Meyer B.A. (Grand Valley State University), M.A. (Trinity Western University) SUPERVISOR: Professor Daniel A. Machiela COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Professor Eileen Schuller, Professor Stephen Westerholm NUMBER OF PAGES: viii + 305 i Abstract During the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 CE) a series of developments contributed to a growing reticence to use the divine name, YHWH. The name was eventually restricted among priestly and pious circles, and then disappeared. The variables are poorly understood and the evidence is scattered. Scholars have supposed that the second century BCE was a major turning point from the use to non-use of the divine name, and depict this phenomenon as a linear development. Many have arrived at this position, however, through only partial consideration of currently available evidence. The current study offers for the first time a complete collection of extant evidence from the Second Temple period in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek in order answer the question of how, when, and in what sources the divine name is used and avoided. The outcome is a modified chronology for the Tetragrammaton’s history. Rather than a linear development from use to avoidance, the extant evidence points to overlapping use and non-use throughout most of the Second Temple period. ii Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude is to Prof. Daniel A. Machiela for his patience and endurance in wading through endless pages of data in the earlier drafts of the current thesis. I express sincerest appreciation to Prof. Eileen Schuller and Prof. Stephen Westerholm for offering much needed direction, clarity, and focus on the questions and contributions of this study. iii Table of Contents 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION–THE DIVINE NAME IN EARLY JUDAISM ............ 1 1.1 Background and Question of the Current Study .......................................................... 1 1.2 The Scope of Sources Included for Analysis ............................................................... 8 1.3 Defining Terms: “Use” and “Non-Use” of Divine Name(s), Titles, and Epithets ...... 9 1.4 Contributions to the Study of the Divine Name: Collected Evidence and Modified Chronology ................................................................................................................ 11 1.5 Modern Scholarship on the Disuse of the Tetragrammaton ...................................... 13 1.5.1 Abraham Geiger (1857) ................................................................................ 13 1.5.2 Arthur Marmorstein (1927) ........................................................................... 15 1.5.3 Saul Lieberman (1951) ................................................................................. 22 1.5.4 Ephraim Urbach (1979) ................................................................................ 24 1.5.5 Hartmut Stegemann (1978) ........................................................................... 27 1.5.6 Patrick Skehan (1980) ................................................................................... 30 1.5.7 Sean McDonough (1999) .............................................................................. 32 1.5.8 Jonathan Ben-Dov (2008, 2016) ................................................................... 34 1.5.9 Frank Shaw (2014) ........................................................................................ 38 1.5.10 Summary of Modern Scholarship ................................................................. 40 1.6 Plan of Study .............................................................................................................. 42 2 CHAPTER 2: THE DIVINE NAME IN ARAMAIC TEXTS ......................................... 45 2.1 The Use of the Divine Name in Aramaic Sources ..................................................... 45 2.1.1 The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca ............................................................. 45 2.1.2 Ostraca .......................................................................................................... 46 2.1.3 Mibtahiah Archive ........................................................................................ 47 2.1.4 Anani Archive ............................................................................................... 49 2.1.5 Jedaniah Archive ........................................................................................... 50 2.1.6 Summary of the Divine Name(s) at Elephantine .......................................... 54 2.1.7 Papyrus Amherst 63 ...................................................................................... 54 2.1.8 Idumean ‘House of YHW’ Ostracon ............................................................ 56 2.1.9 British Museum Drachm ............................................................................... 58 iv 2.2 The Use and Non-use of the Divine Name in the Mount Gerizim Inscriptions, Ezra, and Daniel .................................................................................................................. 63 2.2.1 Mount Gerizim Inscriptions .......................................................................... 63 2.2.2 Book of Ezra ................................................................................................. 69 2.2.3 Book of Nehemiah ........................................................................................ 75 2.2.4 Book of Daniel .............................................................................................. 77 2.3 The Non-Use of the Divine Name in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls ........................ 82 2.3.1 Enoch ............................................................................................................ 84 2.3.2 The Book of Giants ........................................................................................ 85 2.3.3 Birth of Noah (or: Elect of God) ................................................................... 87 2.3.4 Genesis Apocryphon ..................................................................................... 88 2.3.5 Tobit .............................................................................................................. 91 2.3.6 The Aramaic Levi Document ........................................................................ 95 2.3.7 Testament of Qahat ....................................................................................... 96 2.3.8 Visions of Amram .......................................................................................... 98 2.3.9 Words of Michael .......................................................................................... 99 2.3.10 4QTestament of Judah? .............................................................................. 100 2.3.11 Son of God Text (or: Aramaic Apocalypse) ................................................ 101 2.3.12 Four Kingdoms ........................................................................................... 101 2.3.13 Other Visionary/Historical Texts ................................................................ 102 2.3.14 Prayer of Nabonidus ................................................................................... 102 2.3.15 Pseudo–Daniel Texts .................................................................................. 103 2.3.16 Jews at the Persian Court ........................................................................... 105 2.3.17 New Jerusalem ............................................................................................ 106 2.3.18 Wisdom Instruction Texts ........................................................................... 107 2.3.19 Unidentified Aramaic Texts ........................................................................ 108 2.3.20 Aramaic Translations: Job, Leviticus, and Isaiah ....................................... 108 2.4 Summary and Conclusion: Divine Name Conventions from the Persian Period .... 112 3 CHAPTER 3: THE DIVINE NAME IN HEBREW TEXTS ......................................... 124 3.1 A Sampling of the Use of the Tetragrammaton in the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls ... 128 3.2 The Qumran Biblical Scrolls ................................................................................... 134 v 3.2.1 Divine Name Variants: Comparing the Qumran Biblical Scrolls and the MT ................................................................................................................... 135 3.2.2 Explicit Scribal Interventions: Further Evidence that Scribes Did Not Deliberately Avoid the Tetragrammaton in Biblical Scrolls ..................... 141 3.2.3 Assessment of Scholarly Views on Biblical Variants ................................. 145 3.2.4 The Paleo-Hebrew Tetragrammaton in Qumran Biblical Scrolls ............... 149 3.3 The Qumran Sectarian Scrolls ................................................................................. 154 3.3.1 Sectarian Biblical Quotations: Use and Avoidance of the Tetragrammaton ..................................................................................................................