Tomorrow's class will be devoted to the Ptolemaic period of Jewish history, roughly the third century BCE in Palestine.
Unfortunately, we have very little primary evidence for this period. Your reading assignments for tomorrow's class include the Tobiad legend from Josephus' Jewish Antiquaties, the Biblical book Koheleth, and excerpts from the apocryphal book Ben Sirach. Josephus Ant. 12: 160-236, the Tobiad legend, can be found here and is listed in the class readings links on the right side of this web page.
Koheleth (or Ecclesiastes) can be found in any Bible translation, preferably JPS. The Art Scroll translation of this book is based on the alegorical midrashic reading found in Rabbinic literature and thus is totally without use. The Ben Sira excerpts can be found in the course packet. You may also use any of the translations found in:
1) Apocrypha, ed. Edgar J. Goodspeed
2) Oxford English Apocrypha
3) Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, ed. R.H. Charles
4) Anchor Bible v. 39, ed. A. di Lella
5) online at http://etext.virginia.edu/rsv.browse.html (NSRV translation of the Old and New Testament hosted by the University of Virginia)
or you may consult the Hebrew reconstruction prepared by M.H. Segal (Ben Sira HaShalem).
Can you see signs of Greek influence in Kohelth or Ben Sira? If so, what are they? Try to come to class prepared to discuss this question.
If you have not been keeping up with the readings, focus on the Josephus reading, as well as the Tcherikover that you were supposed to have begun reading last week.
Thanks. See you tomorrow.
-LRS
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1 comment:
Qoheleth and Ben Sirah do seem significantly different from many other Biblical (and apocryphal) writings.
Qoheleth is a very passionate work with a discontent thrusted by reason (as the author seems to prove to us that everything indeed is worthless [as if it is unsufficient to claim, with no backup, that everything is worthless]). This differs from the general narrative style of most other Biblical and apocryphal writings; furthermore, the non-narrative passages of the Bible are generally related to legal codes or poetry. While Qoheleth can be read with a high degree of poetic presence, it is not necessarilly shaped like a biblical poem. Despite its metaphors and philosophizing, it is highly impassioned and very prose-like.
Ben Sirah reflects a style unlike any Biblical book. Its pedagogic and proverbial style seems almost more fitting for a Mishnaic compilation (especially a la Pirqey Avoth), but its morals reflect a sensibility that seems non-canonical - especially non-Toraitic. Ben Sirah's advice, in general, does not necessarilly come into conflict with the legal system dictacted in the Pentateuch; however, it is unusual in the ancient Jewish world for explicitly one human's wisdom to be compiled in a work. The ego involved in creating such an authoritative work seems far more in tune with the works of Greek philosophizers like Aristotle or Plato. Ancient Jewish writers rarely wrote with such confidence in their authority as a writer as Ben Sirah feels.
Anyway, it seems like there's a lot of Greek culture influencing the Qoheleth and Ben Sirah constructs.
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