Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity 9783666539152, 3727806834, 3525539150, 9783525539156

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ΝΤΟΑ 14 van der Horst · Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity

NOVUM TESTAMENTUM ET ORBIS ANTIQUUS (ΝΤΟΑ) Im Auftrag des Biblischen Instituts der Universität Freiburg Schweiz herausgegeben von Max Küchler in Zusammenarbeit mit Gerd Theissen

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Autor.·

Pieter Willem van der Horst, born in 1946, studied classical philology and theology at the University of Utrecht, where he received his doctor's degree in 1978. From 1971 onwards he has been a lecturer in New Testament literature and the cultural milieu of early Christianity at the Faculty of Theology in Utrecht. His most important books are: The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides (1978), Aelius Aristides and the New Testament (1980), Chaeremon, Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher (1984,2nd ed. 1987), Joods-hellenistische poezie (1987), De onbekende god: essays over de joodse en hellenistische achtergrond van het vroege Christendom (1988), Studies on the Hellenistic Background of the New Testament (together with G. Mussies, 1990).

NOVUM TESTAMENTUM ET ORBIS ANTIQUUS

14

Pieter W. van der Horst

Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity

UNIVERSITÄTSVERLAG FREIBURG SCHWEIZ VANDENHOECK & RUPRECHT GÖTTINGEN 1990

CIP-Titelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek Horst, Pieter W. van der: Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity/Pieter W. van der Horst. - Freiburg [Schweiz]: Univ.-Verl.; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, 1990 (Novum t e s t a m e n t u m et orbis antiquus; 14) ISBN 3 - 7 2 7 8 - 0 6 8 3 - 4 (Univ.-Verl.) ISBN 3 - 5 2 5 - 5 3 9 1 5 - 0 (Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht) NE: Horst, Pieter W. v a n d e r : (Sammlung]: CT

Veröffentlicht mit Unterstützung des Hochschulrates der Universität Freiburg Schweiz

© 1990 by Universitätsverlag Freiburg Schweiz Paulusdruckerei Freiburg Schweiz ISBN 3-7278-0683-4 (Universitätsverlag) ISBN 3-525-53915-0 (Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht)

For

Mechtild

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

9

1. 2. 3. 4.

Pseudo-Phocylides and the New Testament Pseudo-Phocylides Revisited Moses'Throne Vision in Ezekiel the Dramatist Some Notes on the Exagoge of Ezekiel

5. 6.

The Role of Women in the Testament of Job 94 Portraits of Biblical Women in Pseudo-Philo's Liber AntiquitatumBiblicarum Ill The Measurement of the Body. A Chapter in the History of Ancient Jewish Mysticism 123 The Samaritan Diaspora in Antiquity 136 The Jews of Ancient Crete 148 Jews and Christians in Aphrodisias in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor 166 "Lord, Help the Rabbi". The Interpretation of SEG XXXI 1578b ... 182 The Interpretation of the Bible by the Minor Hellenistic Jewish Authors 187 Nimrod After the Bible 220 Seven Months' Children in Jewish and Christian Literature from Antiquity 233

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

Select Indexes

19 35 63 72

249

Erstveröffentlichungen

1.

Pseudo-Phocylides and the New Testament: ZNW 69 (1978) 187-202.

2.

Pseudo-Phocylides Revisited: Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 3 (1988) 3-30.

3.

Moses' Throne Vision in Ezekiel the Dramatist: Journal of Jewish Studies 34 (1983) 21-29)

4.

Some Notes on the Exagoge of Ezekiel: Mnemosyne 37 (1984) 354-375.

5.

The Role of Women in the Testament of Job : Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 40 (1986) 273-289.

7.

The Measurement of the Body. A Chapter in the History of Ancient Jewish Mysticism: D. van der Pias (ed.), Effigies Dei, Leiden 1987,56-68.

8.

The Samaritan Diaspora in Antiquity: Revised version of an originally Dutch article in Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 42 (1988) 134-144.

9.

The Jews of Ancient Crete: Journal ofJewish Studies 39 (1988) 183-200.

10. Jews and Christians in Aphrodisias in the Light of Their Relations in Other Cities of Asia Minor Revised version of an English original in Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift A3 (1989) 106-121. 11. "Lord, Help the Rabbi". The Interpretation of SEG XXXI 1578b: Journal of Jewish Studies 38 (1987) 102-106. 12

The Interpretation of the Bible by the Minor Hellenistic Jewish Authors: M. J. Mulder (ed.). Mikra [CRINT Π1], Assen-Philadelphia 1988, 519-546. 14. Seven Months' Children in Jewish and Christian Literature from Antiquity: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 54 (1978) 346-360.

INTRODUCTION

The present volume contains 14 essays written over the past dozen years. Their purpose is to shed some light on less well known aspects of Judaism in the Hellenistic and Roman periods (ca. 300 BCE to 500 CE)1. The title of the volume indicates that these studies have been written with an eye on the relevance their subjects might have for the study of early Christianity. In this short introductory chapter I will sketch the main areas in which I believe the topics discussed in this book have that relevance. These areas can be indicated by the following catchwords: ethics, women's studies, mysticism, diaspora, use of Scripture, anthropology. The volume opens with two essays which together represent the oldest and the youngest in the volume. My dissertation, The Sentences of PseudoPhocylides (Leiden 1978), dealt with a long neglected Jewish writing from probably the first century CE. When writing a commentary on this Wisdom poem, I was struck by the many similarities between the ethical admonitions in this document on the one hand and the New Testament parenesis on the other. Half a century earlier the great Martin Dibelius had already tried to draw the attention of NT scholars to this document, convinced as he was of the relevance of this Jewish pseudepigraphon for the study of the NT. In the first article of this volume I have collected the material from this poem which shows most points of contact with the NT writings and which demonstrates that much of NT parenesis has its roots in the ethical teachings of first century Greek-speaking Judaism. Of course, taken by itself this can hardly be called a startling conclusion, but the surprises often lie in the details, in this case for example in the striking observation that PseudoPhocylides uses the traditional scheme of the Haustafel for an extensive exposition of his sexual ethics (largely based on Leviticus 18). Another instance is the verse (228) that served Klaus Berger as the chief witness for his theory of the existence of a Jewish-Hellenistic conception of the Torah which emphasizes the social commandments but neglects the cultic ones, and which Berger sees at the background of Mark 7:15. 2 Moreover, a discussion of two lines which reflect the originally pagan Hellenistic charis anti charitos principle (vv. 80 and 152) clarifies what may lie behind the critical remarks in Luke 6:32-35.

For a similar volume with 'pagan' essays see P. W. van der Horst and G. Mussies, Studies on the Hellenistic Background of the New Testament, Utrecht: Rijksuniversiteit, 1990. Die Gesetzesauslegung Jesu I, Neukirchen 1972, 260 and 467.

10

Introduction

Both my dissertation and the one by the distinguished editor of this series, Max Küchler3, have done much to rehabilitate Ps-Phoc., as a result of which a resurgence of research on this poem has taken place during the last decade. In the second contribution in this volume, I discuss no less than twelve publications which deal with our author and date from the period 1978-1987. In these years a demonstrable progress has been made in the research on this writing. This is also the case with regard to its relevance for NT studies as has been demonstrated, for instance, by K. W. Niebuhr's fine dissertation on 'katechismusartige Weisungsreihen' in early Jewish literature4 and by the continuing debate over the exact meaning of v. 228 in relation to Jesus's and Paul's attitudes to the Torah (especially in the publications by R. P. Booth and H. Räisäinen). Further research on the poem has induced me to include in this contribution some retractationes, i.e. addenda et corrigenda to my commentary (ch. 2). Another author which in my opinion has not yet been sufficiently exploited for his relevance to NT studies is the second century BCE dramatist Ezekiel. After having written a more general article on this fascinating author in Dutch 5 , I tried to discover the meaning of the most curious scene in his play, the Exagoge, namely the dream-vision of Moses in which God leaves His own throne and actually places Moses upon it. Although my interpretation remains somewhat speculative, I assume this scene must have a connection with the later attested idea that an originally human being is exalted to divine status and becomes God's highest angel and plenipotentiary. Henoch-Metatron (in 3 Enoch = Sefer Hekhalot) is of course the most well-known example, but there is a gap of at least 5 or 6 centuries between the Exagoge and this mystical writing. Judaism must have known traditions - suppressed because heretical6 - about these and other figures being transformed from a human being into God's deputy. Witness to this is inter alia the fact that in Matt. 28:18 the evangelist has Jesus say: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" (RSV), i.e. "God has committed His authority to me". There can be little doubt that Matthew here refers to traditions about Moses (and other OT figures) who were believed to have become God's vice-regent. In a short contribution (ch. 3) I try to find traces

Frühjüdische Weisheitstraditionen, Freiburg CH - Göttingen 1979. Gesetz und Paränese, Tübingen 1987. De joodse toneelschrijver Ezechiel, Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 33 (1982) 97112, now also in my De onbekende god. Essays over de joodse en hellenistische achtergrond van het vroege Christendom, Utrecht 1988, 85-103. The reason for this suppression was inter alia the threatening conception of 'two powers in heaven', on which see A. F. Segal, Two Powers in Heaven, Leiden 1977. It is telling that the figure of Metatron, which can be met on almost every page of the Hekhalot-literature, is mentioned only three times in Talmudic literature, two of which are negative. On "Ausschaltung der Henoch-Spekulationen" in rabbinic Judaism see H. Odeberg in TWNT 2 (1935) 555.

Introduction

11

of such traditions in Jewish literature and to demonstrate that Ezekiel proves the antiquity of these ideas, which have turned out to be so fruitful for the development of early christology. Shortly after the publication of that article the magnificent commentary on the Exagoge by Howard Jacobson was published.7 He advocates an explanation of Moses' throne vision which is completely different from mine. The editor of Mnemosyne was so kind as to allow me to take up as much space as I wanted in writing a review article on Jacobson's work. In that article (ch. 4) I cross swords with Jacobson on this passage8, and add some other observations on particular points of translation and interpretation of this, the only Jewish play from antiquity we still have. In the end I leave the reader in no doubt that Jacobson's work is an excellent example of what a combination of Classical and Judaic learning in one scholar can achieve, a combination, I might add, that unfortunately is only too rare in our field of study. Part of the discussion between Jacobson and myself revolved around the question of whether or not the passage on Moses' dream-vision should be seen in the light of the Jewish mystical tradition. Mysticism and ecstatic phenomena in general continued to exert a great fascination on me ever since as an 18 year old boy I saw people entering into a trance and speaking in tongues in a meeting of the Pentecostal community in my home village. This longstanding interest was one of the reasons to turn to the Testament of Job, where these phenomena play such a significant role. In this first century CE Jewish writing ecstaticism and especially glossolalia play a prominent role especially in chapters 46-53, that is, in that part of the work which other researchers had already surmised - for different reasons than mine must be derived from another source than the rest of the book. The sheer fact of the occurrence of glossolalia in this part of the book's story has led several scholars to assume that these chapters cannot but derive from Christian circles. I came to the conclusion, however, that nothing whatsoever justifies this assumption. On the contrary, it can be proved with relative certainty that this ecstatic form of religious experience has its roots in early Judaism and that in this respect, too, Christianity is in debt to its mother-religion (ch. 5). The other striking fact in these final chapters of the Testament of Job is that it is only women, Job's three daughters, that have these enriching spiritual experiences.Indeed the author (or authoress?) cannot resist emphasizing that they are far superior to all men in the story from a spiritual point of view. The complete reversal of roles of men and women as compared to the previous chapters of the book is one of the most remarkable characteristics of

H. Jacobson, The Exagoge of Ezekiel, Cambridge 1983 The Dutch scholar D. T. Runia reacted upon this debate in his article 'God and Man in Philo of Alexandria', Journal ofTheological Studies 39 (1988), esp. 49-53 (with useful critical observations).

12

Introduction

this writing as a whole, and it can hardly be explained in another way than by assuming that the person who wrote these final chapters - whether he/she was a man or a woman we will never be able to determine - had a strong feminist 'Anliegen' and was convinced that women have the capacities required to play a leading role in Jewish religious communities. This is, to say the least, a rare point of view in ancient Judaism.9 The synagogue inscriptions to which Bernadette Brooten had so aptly and rightly drawn our attention10, prove that there must have been some communities, especially in the diaspora, where female leadership in the synagogue was accepted. But these were most probably exceptions, and no literary confirmation of this epigraphical evidence is adduced by Brooten. Testament of Job 46-53 may now confirm her findings, but it does not stand alone. When we turn our attention to Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum, which also dates from the first century CE, we again find women portrayed in a striking manner. In his rewriting the stories of Tamar, Debora, Jael, and Seila (LAB's name for Jephtha's daughter), the author of LAB makes conspicuous and remarkable changes in the Biblical stories to the effect that the roles of these women is consistently put on a par with those of the patriarchs or Moses. One cannot avoid the conclusion that here again a very specific 'Anliegen' plays a part which does not differ from that in the final chapters of the Testament of Job, even if the means by which this is brought to the fore are quite dissimilar (ch. 6). So in two contemporary but completely different Jewish writings from the NT period we find, to our surprise, strongly emancipatory tendencies which we can now no longer deny must have been present in first century Judaism alongside and in opposition to the current 'frauenfeindliche' atmosphere and sentiments. This opens unexpected vistas which demand further exploration. Another relatively unknown aspect of early Judaism, which has already been touched upon, is its mystical side. In the merkavah speculations of Ezekiel the dramatist and in the ecstaticism of Job's daughters we see only the first ingredients of what was to become a powerful movement in the Judaism of Talmudic and post-Talmudic times. Gershom Scholem's classic study of 1941, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism11, has brought this aspect of Judaism to the attention of the scholarly community in an impressive way. But in the last 50 years, and especially in the last decade, the study of

9

The best way to get a feeling of the 'frauenfeindliche' atmosphere in much of early Jewish literature is to read the first volume in this series (NTOA), Max Kiichler's Schweigen, Schmuck und Schleier (1986). W