Additional Texts

Ben Sira 15.14

;wrcy dyb whntyw wptwx dyb whyt#yw {d) )rb ) ty#)rbm {yhl) MS A

;w[...] whty#yw {d) )rb #)rm )wh ty#)rbm {[...] MS B

MS A _{God from the beginning created man, and (they are set in the hand of his kidnapper)}291 he gave him his inclination in hand.

MS B 292 [Go]d from the beginning _{He from the first created man, and he placed [....] his.}

Sir 15.14, a brief statement in the midst of a larger section on human free will,293 _{combines elements of MT} Gen 1.1 (MS A - )rb ,ty#)rb; MS B - )rb), the creation of humankind, and an understanding of the genesis of

10-11 – God's rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked at the judgment 12-14 – The response of creation to this judgment

15-17 – (increasingly fragmentary) mention of discerning between good and evil and to the inclination of the flesh.

Also DJD XXXIV.8. 284 _{The occurrence of}

xwr in line 1 is questionable because of the state of the manuscript, and with no direct context any exegetical comment is near impossible.

285

r#b is used a second time in this fragment. In line 16 it is paired with rc[y. This use of the "inclination of the flesh" strengthens the fact that r#b xwr lk in line 12 ought to be read as a reference to sinful humanity.

286 _{Cf. MT Prov 8.27.}

}wk is used with the earth/world as the object in MT Isa 45.18, Jer 10.12, 51.12, Prov 3.19. Note that }wk is also used in line 15 to describe the establishment of the difference between good and evil.

287 _{DJD XXXIV.85} 288

w)ry may come from either )ry or h)r. Given that the context is divine judgment either is possible. 289 _{MT Isa 51.10; Ps 33.7, 135.7; Job 38.16.}

290 _{MT Amos 7.4, in a vision of the Day of the Lord, has the great deep being devoured.}

291 _{According to the analysis of A.A. Di Lella, The Hebrew Text of Sirach, (Studies in Classical Literature 1; The} Hague: Mouton & Co., 1966), the third colon of Sir 15.14, wptwx dyb whyt#yw, found in both MSS A and B, is likely a misplaced Medieval insertion of a retroversion of the Syriac of 14.19b. (121-125)

292 _{Superscripted text is a note from the right margin of the MS B that notes a difference with a manuscript of the} recension of MS A.

the human will (rcy). The Hebrew is found in two manuscripts, A and B.294 _{While there are only two intertextual} markers (MS A) in common with MT Gen 1.1-5, the combination of )rb and ty#)rb is worthy of note. The subject of the statement is God ({yhl)) who from the beginning (MS A, ty#)rbm; MS B, #)rm) created ()rb) man ({d)). The use of ty#)rbm in MS A is of particular interest given the use of two consecutive prepositions. The placement of the -m alongside the -b raises the possibility that the word was taken directly from MT Gen 1.1, without consideration of its grammatical construction, i.e., as a technical term of fixed construction. Other possibilities are that the first two words in MS A were retroverted from a Medieval Syriac manuscript295 _{or the result} of scribal error. MS B uses #)rm to convey a similar idea without any apparent reference to MT Gen 1.1,296 _though the manuscript has a marginal note correcting it to the reading of MS A. The Greek of Sir 15.14 reads evx avrch/j.297 This matches neither LXX Gen 1.1 nor Prov 8.23 (evn), nor the two uses of #)rm in the MT that are rendered evx avrch/j in Greek.298 _{In spite of the two Hebrew manuscripts of Sir 15.14, then, it is difficult, if not impossible, to sort} out the original text.

Ben Sira 41.10

}b _{;wht l) whtm vnx }k bw#y sp) l) sp)m lk} {nw) ') {nw)m MS B

wht l) whtm vnx }k bw#y sp) l) sp)[...] Masada

MS B from their wickedness to their wickedness _{Everything from darkness returns to darkness, so} too the irreligious from tohu to tohu. between

Masada _{[...]darkness to darkness returns; so too the irreligious from tohu to tohu.}

While this verse has little to do with creation, the use of wht is worthy of note, especially as it is the sole use of wht in the Hebrew manuscripts of Sirach. The verse is found in two manuscripts, MS B and the Masada manuscript.299 _{The larger context of this verse is a pessimistic poem (Sir 41.5-13)}300 _{about the persistent} disobedience of humankind to the ‘Law of the Most High’.301 While any deliberate connection with MT Gen 1.2

294 _{Beentjes, Ben Sira in Hebrew, ad loc.} 295 _{Di Lella, Hebrew Text, 121.}

296 _{A similar use of}

#)rm comes in MT Prov 8.23, regarding the genesis of wisdom. Other uses of #)rm that allude to the beginning of creation and/or the world come in Deutero-Isaiah (MT Isa 40.21, 41.4, 26, 48.16) and in MT Qoh 3.11 where it is used in conjunction with vws-d( to indicate the unknowable extremities of God's actions. 297 _{The whole of the Greek of Sir 15.14 reads:}

auvtoj evx avrch/j evpoi,hsen a;nqrwpon

kai. avfh/ken auvto.n evn ceiri. diabouli,ou auvtou/)

Cf. Ziegler, ed., Sirach - Göttingen, 194.

298 _{LXX Isa 40.21, 41.26. The phrase is also used again in the Greek of Sir 39.16. This verse is partially preserved} in MS B, though the first word on the right margin is missing.

299 _{The first three letters of the line are missing in the Masada manuscript, otherwise the lines are the same.} 300 _{Skehan and Di Lella, Ben Sira, 469.}

301 _{The Hebrew of Sir 41.8 in both MS B and Masada is extremely fragmentary. The Greek, however, reads: ouvai.} u`mi/n a;ndrej avsebei/j oi[tinej evgkateli,pete no,mon qeou/ u`yi,stou – Woe to you, ungodly men, who abandon the Law of the Most High God.

appears unlikely,302 _{the parallel use of}

wht with sp) provides a point of intertextual contact with MT Isa 40.17,303 part of a larger tapestry of MT Gen 1.1-5.304 _{The parallel use of}

wht and sp) in MT Isa 40.17 is unique in the Hebrew Bible, and the similar pessimistic tone about a group of people, the goyim in Isaiah and the unlawful in Sirach, suggests at least an intertextual connection.305

1QM xvii.4-9306

307_{[...])SwSlSwX[ ]h )wlb {tn(#mw {tqw#t whblw whtl hmh} 308_{[)yk] {w)ryt l)w wqzxth {t)w} 4

tl#mm r# lyp#hlw (ynkhl wd(wm {wyh {ymlw( yyhn lwkb l[ ]h[ ]w hyhnw hywh lwk l)r#y 5

{ymlw( rw)b l)kym tr#ml ryd)h \)lm trwbgb wtyrX[b] lSrXwXgXl {yS SmXlSwX(S rz( xl#yw h(#r 6

tl#mmw l)kym tr#m {yl)b {yrhl l) lrwgl hkrbw {wXl# l)r#[y tyr]bX hxm#b ry)hl 7

wtyrb ynb {t)w {ymlw( t(db wlygy wtm) ynb lwkw {ymwrm[b ]qdc xm#y r#b lwkb l)r#y 8

vacat {kdm(ml wyzr wyprcm )lmX[w ]wXdXyX vyny d( l) vrcmb wqzxth 9 4 _{And you, strengthen yourself and do not fear them, [for] they long for a tohu and for a bohu}

and their support is lacking [...]. And [they do] not [know that from the God]309 5 _{[of] Israel is everything that is and will be,}310 _{and [...].[...] in all that will be eternally. Today}

is his appointed time to humiliate and bring low the prince of the dominion

6 _{of evil. He sends perpetual help to the lot of his [cov]enant by the power of the majestic} angel, for the sway of Michael is in light perpetual

7 _{to illuminate the covenant of Israel with joy. Peace and blessing to the lot of God, to exalt} the office of Michael among all the gods, and the dominion

8 _{of Israel over all flesh. Righteousness will rejoice in the heights, and all the sons of his truth} will rejoice in perpetual knowledge. And you, the sons of his covenant

9 _{strengthen yourselves in God's crucible until he waves his hand and completes his crucible,} his mysteries in order that you might stand. vacat

Though this portion of the 1QM has no creation theme, it is included because of its unique use of wht and

whb. In the wake of a defeat at the hands of the sons of darkness,311 _{this is a speech meant to gird-up the reservists}

302 _{K. Baltzer, Deutero-Isaiah: A Commentary on Isaiah 40-55, (trans. M. Kohl; Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress,} 2001) does suggest that there is an allusion to MT Gen 1.2 in MT Isa 40.17. (72)

303 _{MT Isa 40.17}

;Ol-Ub:$:x"n Uhotfw sep")"m OD:gen }iya):K {iyOGah-lfK

All nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as darkness and emptiness. 304 _{MT Isa 40.12-31; see above, pp. 26-27.}

305 _{Also, Skehan and Di Lella, Ben Sira, 474.} 306 _{Sukenik, DSS of the Hebrew University, plate 32.}

307 _{The end of line 4 is absent. Only the bottom portions of )wlw are visible, though their reconstruction as such} seems plausible.

308 _{Carmignac, La Règle de la Guerre, reconstructs this lacuna}

)[yk v)]. (236) While it seems reasonable that there

is a conjunction here, I cannot see any evidence of an aleph from the photograph, Sukenik, DSS of the Hebrew University, plate 32.

309 _{This reconstruction reflects the work of Milik and Yadin,}

[l)m )yk w(dy], as noted by Carmignac, La Règle de la Guerre, 237.

310 _{There is a similar phrase in 1QS iii.15 –}

hyyhnw hywh lwk tw(dh l)m – From the God of knowledge comes all that is and shall be. This phrase also bears some similarity to the hyhn zr of 4QInstruction, noting that the mysteries of God are meant to be a focus of the soldiers (1QM xvii.9). Also similar is the statement in 1QS iii.15.

who have been placed on the front lines in the face of battle.312 _{It directs the new troops to stand firm as God in his} mysteries will back them to victory. While the order of wht and whb is the same as in MT Gen 1.2, the preposition, -

l, is used in 1QM xvii.4. Assuming an intertextuality with Gen 1.2, one might read line 4: "And you, strengthen yourselves and do not fear them, [for] they long for tohu wabohu..."313 _{That this is one of two uses of}

wht and whb

in the non-biblical texts from Qumran314 and given the infrequency of its use within the corpus of the Hebrew Bible,315 _{supports at least an intertextual connection with MT Gen 1.2.}316 _{Any further reference to MT Gen 1.1-5 in} this passage, however, is absent.317