literature 123
both arise the next morning (Num 22: 13. 21) and report the divine mes-
sage to their visitors (Num 22: 9). further, both traditions mention a vision
coming from the gods el and Šadday: in the tell Deir ʿalla inscription the
gods are mentioned separately, and Šadday appears in plural form (ʾl line 2;
šdyn line 6), whereas in the biblical tradition they are both in singular
form (“the oracle of one who hears the utterances of el, who sees the
vision of Šadday”, Num 24: 4). this literary character is further indicated
by the use of some conventional expressions that are reminiscent of bibli-
cal phrases and motifs.48
6. Wisdom Literature
the only example of Old aramaic wisdom literature is the literary work
entitled “Words of aḥiqar,” namely the story of aḥiqar and the collection
of his proverbs.
even though the earliest-known aḥiqar manuscript was uncovered in
upper egypt and dates back only to the 5th century B.c. (taD c 1.1), it
is presented here because there is unanimous agreement among scholars
that the aḥiqar tradition arises from the ancient Syrian culture. actually, in
the military colony of elephantine there were not only aramaic-speaking
Judaeans, but also aramaeans whose original roots were aramaic. these
aramaean people brought their own literary traditions with them to
egypt, so that an aramaic, and also assyrian, cultural influence on their
literary writings appears very likely.49
the aḥiqar scroll consists of fragments of fourteen columns, the
sequence of which is uncertain.50 B. porten and a. Yardeni present the
most plausible hypothesis in their recent edition of the text.51 accord-
ing to this sequence, the whole story of aḥiqar precedes the collection of
proverbs. While the language of the aḥiqar story can be placed in the 7th
48 cf. Weippert 1991: 164–178 and Levine 2000: 267–271.
49 Weigl 2010: 677–688 supports a multivalent origin of aḥiqar’s literary traditions
based on a north Mesopotamian aramaic core.
50 B. porten and a. Yardeni in taD c 1.1 order the fragments according to their sup-
posed arrangement of the aḥiqar scroll’s palimpsest. according to their reconstruction,
the proverbs follow the whole story of aḥiqar. i. Kottsieper, on the basis of some material
observations, rather suggests that the story of aḥiqar forms a frame around the proverbs;
cf. Kottsieper 1990.
51 porten – Yardeni 1986 and Yardeni 1994 are followed by contini 2005; Niehr 2007;
Weigl 2010. for the hypothesis of Kottsieper, cf. the previous note.