Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

proverbs, the favorite medium for transmitting wisdom. What wisdom

was is not given to easy summary, but its basic premise was that there exists

an underlying set of rules (including, but not limited to, what we would

call “laws of nature”) that governs all of reality. The sage, by studying the

written words of earlier sages as well as through his own, careful contem-

plation of the world, hoped to come to a fuller understanding of these

rules and, hence, come to know how the world works. His wise counsel was

therefore sought by kings and princes, and he was often a teacher who

trained the next generation of sages.

At a certain point in Second Temple times, the job description of the

Jewish sage was changed. Now, instead of contemplating the proverbs of

previous generations, it was the Torah that occupied the sage’s attention:

he became a biblical interpreter. In a sense, this transformation takes place

before our eyes, in books like the Wisdom of Ben Sira (or: Sirach). The

second-century-b.c.e.author is, in many ways, a traditional sage: his book

is full of clever, pithy proverbs, many of them his own rewording of the in-

sights from earlier generations and centuries. But along with this tradi-

tional sort of wisdom writing, Ben Sira also explains laws and stories from

the Bible; indeed, his book concludes with a six-chapter review of biblical

heroes and the lessons their stories are designed to impart. This is because,

for him, it is the Torah that is the great repository of wisdom. Indeed, he

says as much in an extended paean to wisdom in the middle of his book, in

which Wisdom (here personified as a woman) tells of her own existence.

“I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth

like a mist. I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar

of cloud. Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the

depths of the abyss.” (Sir. 24:3-5)

But God then orders Wisdom to transfer her headquarters out of heaven

and take up residence on earth:

He said, “Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheri-

tance... .” [So] I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the

Lord, His heritage. (Sir. 24:8, 12)

In recounting this, Ben Sira is not merely being a proud Jew who asserts

that wisdom is the peculiar possession of his own people. Rather, he has

something more specific in mind:

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james l. kugel

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:00 PM