JUDAIZATION 269
The lamps of Edom were mighty and flared forth/ the lamps of Zion flickered
and were extinguished.
The lamps of Edom pass before every pit (?)^78 / the lamps of Zion were set back.
The lamps of Edom, their brilliance is clear/ the lamps of Zion were darker than
black.
The lamps of Edom were laden and brimful/ the lamps of Zion fell and shattered.
The lamps of Edom were honored and attended/ the lamps of Zion were con-
strained by force.
The lamps of Edom glow for a corpse (i.e., Jesus)/ the lamps of Zion are forgotten
like a corpse... .[the MS breaks off, and resumes with fragments of thesilluq;
the last stanza of thesilluqis largely preserved].
(IV).. .[the heavenly bodies (identified here with the angels)] arise at night/ to
declare Your faith by night/ trembling like slaves before You/ those who are
made according to Your plan/ who run alongside the wheels of Your chariot/
who face the surfaces of Your throne/ but see not the likeness of Your face/ but
rather the luster of the light of Your face/ surrounded by snow and fire/ and its
wheels [of the divine chariot] are burning fire/ and a river of fire is drawn out
before it/ from which they [the angels/heavenly bodies] are created/ and
through which they pass/ but their light avails You not/ for it was You who lit
the lamps/ You who make the lights/ who create the heavenly bodies/ who bring
forth the constellations/ who spread out the stars/ who light the light of the sun/
who cause to shine the luster of the moon/ which runs to the light of the sun/
who cause the sun to shine/ and Mercury to scintillate/ who set Venus in its
place/ who correct the moon-star/ who illuminate the light of Jupiter/ who
enrich the splendor of Saturn/ who make red the light of Mars/ and all of these
are lamps in the heavens/ and You wished to light lamps on earth/ like.. .the
appearance of the tent of heaven/ was made the likeness.. .[of the Tem-
ple?].. .[the MS breaks off]
The first stanza resembles the midrashicpetihta, or proem, in that it uses
a prophetic text to illuminate a Pentateuchal one, which is, however, implied
rather than quoted .In doing so, it also uses the common exegetical technique
of reading the biblical text into the present, conceived as an episode in the
historical mythology of the nation of Israel: with the destruction of our temple
and holy city we live in darkness, yet those who persist in hearing of its past
corresponding to the Ten Commandments, and each menorah has seven lamps—for a total of
seventy, corresponding to the seventy nations; and whenever the lamps burn the nations are
restrained, but as soon as the lamps were extinguished, the nations prevailed”; see A .Epstein,
Beitra ̈ge zur ju ̈dischen Alterthumskunde(Vienna: C .D .Lippe, 1887), pp .xvii–xviii.
(^78) Perhaps, following Rabinowitz,Liturgical Poems, “reach every corner,” an allusion to the
spread of Christianity.