Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha recent issues

Text and Context: Domestic Harmony and the Depiction of Hagar in Jubilees

Rothstein, D. — 2008-05-22

The women of Genesis, and their depiction in both biblical and post-biblical sources, have been the focus of much scholarly activity. One beneficiary of this literary output is Jubilees, whose formulation of Israel's matriarchs and their relationships with their respective spouses reveals a systematic, and tendentious, reworking of the biblical material. This study focuses on Jubilees' presentation of Hagar, and demonstrates that, while not according her the same status as that granted Sarah and the other matriarchs, the work does portray her, and her relationship with Abraham, as enjoying a measure of importance not reflected in the biblical text.

The Testament of Moses

Grierson, F. — 2008-05-22

The Moses fragment discovered by Ceriani in 1861 is the only extant copy of a pseudepigraphon containing Moses' farewell to Joshua and anticipating the end of Moses' life. It is assumed that the end of the manuscript contained Moses' death and burial. This article builds upon Bauckham's reconstructions of the Testament of Moses and Assumption of Moses and Davila's recent methodological probes to discuss which title, if any, can be assigned to the fragment. It also evaluates suggestions of authorship and composition dates, based on the fragment's ideals and references to historical events. Due to the fact that the end of the Moses fragment is no longer in existence, many of these suggestions, while plausible, are almost impossible to verify.

Moses--A Well-Educated Man: A Look at the Educational Idea in Early Judaism

Koskenniemi, E. — 2008-05-22

Early Judaism often freely retold the life of the Old Testament heroes. This article analyzes the kind of education provided to Moses as reported in early Jewish texts before the Mishnah. Because Exodus says nothing about the theme, everything is either taken from the tradition or created by the writers. Ezekiel the Tragedian, Artapanus and Philo suppose that Moses had a profound Gentile education. Jubilees only briefly refers to the education given by the father and Liber antiquitatum biblicarum and Josephus say nothing about the studies in Gentile schools. From what we may surmise from the evidence (and lack thereof) it appears that each of these writers emphasizes his own educational ideal.

History and Fiction in the Acts of Thomas: The State of the Question

McGrath, J. F. — 2008-05-22

The Acts of Thomas has not yet received as much attention as the Gospel associated with the same individual, and this is understandable. Current students of this early Christian work, however, are in danger of missing out on the discussions and differing perspectives long offered by scholars of the Indian church and Indian history on this work. This study suggests that, while the Acts of Thomas is almost certainly a work of novelistic fiction, this should not lead us to ignore the instances of confirmable historical information embedded therein, as in many other works of historical fiction. The Acts of Thomas merits renewed detailed study by historians interested in early Christianity both in Syria and in India.

Book Review: J. TROMP, The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek: A Critical Edition. Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece, 6. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2005. Cloth, viii + 208 pp. Euros 77.00, $104.00 USD. ISBN: 9004143173

Dochhorn, J. — 2008-05-22

A Split Jewish Diaspora: Its Dramatic Consequences II

Edrei, A., Mendels, D. — 2008-03-20

The article deals with the consequences of the split Diaspora that was described in Part I of this study (published in JSP 16.2 [2007]: 91-137). This second part demonstrates that the gap between western Jews and eastern ones continued and even widened in the early Middle Ages. The Jews in the west either converted to Christianity or remained biblical Jews. The latter were more agreeable to the Christian environment in Latin Europe, but at the moment the Rabbinic Law and lore started to arrive in Europe, the friction between Christians and Jews increased dramatically. Also, this study shows that the Jews living in the Byzantine Empire underwent the same processes that were experienced by their brethren in Latin Europe due to lack of communication with Rabbinic Judaism. In both Greek and Latin Europe, the Rabbinic revolution arrived circa the ninth century. This article also discusses various reactions to the earlier part of the study and thus add some useful information, clarify and strengthen some of their arguments in part I.

What's in a Name? Targum and Taxonomy in Cave 4 at Qumran

Shepherd, D. — 2008-03-20

Although Cave 4's textual contribution to the Qumran corpus of ancient Aramaic Bible translations is quite limited when compared to that of Cave 11 (11QarJob), the potential significance of the Cave 4 fragments should not be underestimated. In offering us evidence of two additional translations (4QarJob, 4QarLev), Cave 4 presents us with the opportunity not only to assess the relationship between the Qumran Aramaic versions, but also locate with greater specificity the Qumran tradition(s) within the diversity of translational approaches which eventually emerged in Jewish and Christian communities in antiquity.

The Alexandrinus Text of 4 Maccabees

Adams, M. P. — 2008-03-20

This article examines textual variants in the text of 4 Maccabees as presented in Codex Alexandrinus. The speci"c variant trends from Alexandrinus discussed in this study relate to the portrayal of the abilities of the Torah and reason, the diminished rewards the martyrs receive, how the torturers and torture acts are described, how the martyrs' direct speech about these torture acts is presented, and the manner in which the mother of the martyrs is domesticated. Rather than providing an etiology for these variants by attributing them to scribal intentionality, this study seeks to show that the reader of Alexandrinus would be more likely to give assent to the author's thesis, namely, that pious reason is the supreme master of the passions because of the manner in which the martyrs and their tortures are depicted. Additionally, Alexandrinus provides its reader with a more vivid picture of the training the Torah provides and with a more domesticated representation of the martyrs' mother. This article is thus focused on how the text of Alexandrinus would affect its reader differently than today's eclectic text.

Book Review: FRANCES FLANNERY-DAILEY. Dreamers, Scribes, and Priests: Jewish Dreams in the Hellenistic and Roman Eras. SJSJ 90. Boston/Leiden: Brill, 2004. 327 pp. ISBN 9004123679

Sulzbach, C. — 2008-03-20

Tobit and Moses Redux

Kiel, M. D. — 2008-02-13

This article argues that the book of Tobit is a tapestry woven from many different traditions within Israel and the wider culture. One of the primary influences on the book of Tobit according to most scholars is the book of Deuteronomy and its theology of retribution, one in which humans are responsible for their own fortunes by way of their obedience. The author of Tobit depicts the title character as one who emulates the figure of Moses in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Tobit assumes a Moses-like place among his exiled people, an intertextual strategy with which the author addresses the problem of individual misfortune and its eventual alleviation.

The Death and Legacy of Leah in Jubilees

Gregory, B. C. — 2008-02-13

While recent scholars have demonstrated that Jubilees reflects a positive view of women, and of Leah in particular, relatively little attention has been focused on Jubilees' use of the final references to Leah in Genesis. This article explores the way the author of Jubilees conveys Leah's death and her subsequent genealogy and how these aspects contribute to the overall portrait of Leah in the work.

Raguel as Interpreter of Moses' Throne Vision: The Transcendent Identity of Raguel in the Exagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian

Ruffatto, K. J. — 2008-02-13

Ezekiel the Tragedian's second-century BCE drama about the Exodus contains one of the earliest examples of a merkavah vision. The Exagoge exalts Moses, likely in polemic with Enochic traditions. Moses not only has a vision of God's heavenly throne: he is instructed by God to sit on the throne and is given God's scepter and crown. Moses then sees the whole universe, and angels (`stars') pass in military formation before him. Moses' dream is later interpreted in the text by Raguel. The exalted and divinized Moses is the hero of the drama, yet it is Raguel who discerns the meaning of Moses' throne vision. This article argues that Raguel's supernatural interpretive ability, as well as the name, titles, and characteristics attributed to him in the drama, suggest a transcendent identity. Raguel may, in fact, be an angel, a parallel to the angelic figures in other apocalyptic works who accompany the exalted patriarchs in their ascent and interpret their visions.

The Letter of Aristeas and the Authority of the Septuagint

De Crom, D. — 2008-02-13

The `ideological' features of the Letter of Aristeas have attracted the attention of scholars in the past, and have gained renewed importance in some recent studies. The present study focuses on a specific `ideological' feature, namely, the question of authority. Starting from the latest insights into the literary structure of the Letter of Aristeas , this study identifies two major focal points in the ancient work and briefly reviews the major characters involved in the translation of the Law into Greek. This analysis leads to the identification of two structures of authority, one text-centred, the other community-centred. These are both justified by the central quality of eusebeia that is shown to be operative in the text on two different levels, as put forth in the rhetorical theory of ethos (self-representation).

Ezekiel the Tragedian on the Despoliation of Egypt

Allen, J. — 2007-10-04

This article argues that, in his Exagoge, Ezekiel the Tragedian answers contemporary anti-Jewish charges publicly in a theater piece on the exodus. Ezekiel shapes the fair wage argument, as it is found in Jub. 48.18 and Wis. 10.16, to depict the plundering of Egypt as relatively inconsequential free-will gifts. Ezekiel uniquely claims that only Israelite and Egyptian women participated in the event taking no more than that which could have been carried by a single person. What happened was not excessive pillaging but a reasonable fair wage under the supervision of Divine Providence.

Locked-Out Lovers: Wisdom of Solomon 1.16 in Light of the Paraclausithyron Motif

Dodson, J.R. — 2007-10-04

The common Greco-Roman motif of paraclausithyron was made up of three key elements. These most basic components found in both rudimentary and developed forms of paraclausithyron are (1) an inflamed lover, who for some reason (2) has been locked-out from the beloved, which results in (3) expressions of deep longing to be united with them. This article establishes these elements in classical examples and demonstrates that Wis. Sol. 1.16 contains these three elements in its reference to the love affair between the ungodly and the personification of Death. Such an allusion to this motif would show the extent of the fools' commitment to evil and would assist in the sage's pursuit to make their actions look absurd. It is likely that the audience of the Wisdom of Solomon would have picked up on this allusion.

Why Does the Lion Disappear in Revelation 5? Leonine Imagery in Early Jewish and Christian Literatures

Strawn, B. A. — 2007-10-04

Despite the extensive literature on the lamb image in the Apocalypse, the reasons why the seer shifted from a lion (Rev. 5.5) to a lamb (5.6) have not been fully addressed. The present study presents an overview of the lion image in various corpora of Early Jewish and Early Christian literature. From these materials, it is shown that the lion qua lion is too ambivalent and thus potentially ambiguous of an image to serve as the primary metaphor for the Messiah-Christ figure given the precise nuances that the metaphor needed to connote for the rhetorical purposes of Revelation. Hence, it is not only the various and sundry connotations of the lamb that prompted the switch, but also the various and sundry connotations of the lion. Attention to the latter proves insightful, then, in addressing the former.

Book Review: KLUTZ, TODD E. Rewriting the Testament of Solomon: Tradition, Conflict and Identity in a Late Antique Pseudepigraphon. London: T&T Clark, 2005. Cloth. Pp. 176. USD 130.00. ISBN 0567043924. Paper. Pp. 192. USD 55.00. ISBN 0567081877

Schwarz, S. L. — 2007-10-04