4QInstruction, (Hebrew: מוסר למבין, romanized: Musar leMevin, lit. 'Instruction to a student'),[1] also known as Sapiential Work A or Secret of the Way Things Are, is a Hebrew text among the Dead Sea Scrolls classified as wisdom literature. It is authored by a spiritual expert, directed towards a beginner. The author addresses how to deal with business and money issues in a godly manner, public affairs, leadership, marriage, children, and family, and how to live life righteously among secular society. There is some consensus that it dates to the third century BCE.
Manuscripts
4QInstruction is preserved in at least seven fragmentary manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran caves one and four, namely: 4Q415, 4Q416, 4Q417, 4Q418, 4Q418a, 4Q423, and 1Q26. These scrolls date approximately from the first century BCE and early first century CE.
History of scholarship
Cave 1 materials were first published by Józef Milik in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 1 in 1955.[2] Cave 4 materials were published in the Discoveries in the Judean Desert series in 1999 by John Strugnell and Daniel Harrington.[3] The document is written in Hebrew and is likely to be categorized as "non-sectarian" or perhaps "pre-sectarian".
Among the major studies published on the document are those by Armin Lange (1995),[4] Daniel J. Harrington (1996),[5] Torleif Elgvin (1998), John J. Collins (1999;[6] 2003), Eibert Tigchelaar (2001),[7] Matthew Goff (2003),[8] Cana Werman (2004), Benjamin Wold (2018),[9] and Jean-Sebastian Rey (2009).[10]
Authorship and reception history
Parts of six copies were discovered, indicating popularity and importance, especially to the supposed sect at Qumran. All of the Sapiential manuscripts are in Hebrew, which is deemed the original language of the text.[11] The actual ancient title is unknown, but the frequent use of raz nihyeh, translating to "the mystery of existence," "approaching mystery," or "the way things are" gave reason to title the work "The Secret of the Way Things are".[12] A well-accepted theory is that the Sapiential Work was a pre-Qumranic text. In other words, it was not written for an isolated sect, but it was directed toward a specific audience.[13] Many scholars assume the text to either have existed before the formation of the sect, or to have been a precursor to sect involvement.[14]
Parallels
Although there is no literal dependence between Daniel and the Sapiential Works, it is likely that they emerged from the same, or similar, scribal circles. Many phrases and ideas from Daniel pertaining to wisdom, revelation, and the elect recur in "The Secret of the Way Things Are." Similarly, both books reflect scribal activity with "a quest for divine communication," and "neither are concerned with the sacrificial cult of the Temple".[15] The Work is also analogous to New Testament scripture, with recurring similarities found in Proverbs and the Gospel of Matthew. Although the terminology is not consistently parallel, the ideas and themes are comparable.
Contents
This document continues to receive so much attention because it is viewed, on the one hand, as a wisdom document and yet, on the other, has multiple apocalyptic motifs that arise alongside sapiential ones. Many major studies have asked questions about the relationship of wisdom to apocalypticism which has been part of a larger question about categorizing genres, schools and worldviews in Judaism in the Second Temple period.
One of the most discussed passages (4Q417 1 i lines 15–18) from this document is a fragmentary and cryptic description of what many view as angelic involvement in the creation of humanity, which is apparently described in reference to Genesis 1:26.[6] Some translations find that humanity is divided into those who are among the "Spirit of Flesh" and the "Spiritual People". In addition to the fragmentary nature of these lines and the broader context, the identification of the "Vision of Hagu" and the "sons of Seth/perdition" have led to competing views about implications for the type, or even presence, of dualism that one should find in 4QInstruction.
Motifs
Although the text itself is not considered apocalyptic, and does not reflect the developed philosophical dualism of the War Scrolls or the Community Rule (1Qs), the text does reflect motifs of the end times, judgment, and a predestined division of good and evil. The overall ideas and form of the text are comparable to Proverbs, Jesus' instructions and parables in the New Testament gospels, the book of James, and especially the book of Daniel.
Women
An unusual aspect of this particular text is that it addresses women, which is very uncommon for an ancient Jewish text. 4Q413 appears to give advice to a woman, presumably the wife of the beginner being instructed.[14] This particular section uses feminine verbal forms, rather than the singular forms used throughout the rest of the instruction.[16]
Editions
- Wise, Abegg, and Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, San Francisco: Harper, 2005.
Citations
- ↑ A guide to the Dead Sea scrolls and related literature – 83 Joseph A. Fitzmyer – 2008 "As a group they constitute Musar leMevin, "Instruction for a Maven/Student." See "General Introduction" (to these wisdom texts), ibid., 1-40. 4Q416 4QInstructionb Strugnell-Harrington, "416. 4QInstructionb (Musar leMevinb)," DJD 34."
- ↑ Barthelemy, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 1 (DJD 1) (Oxford 1955)
- ↑ 4QInstruction (Musar Le Mevin): 4Q415 ff. with a re-edition of 1Q26, ed. John Strugnell and Daniel J. Harrington, 505-533. DJD 34. Oxford: Clarendon, 1999.
- ↑ Lange 1995.
- ↑ Harrington 1996.
- 1 2 Collins 1999.
- ↑ Tigchelaar 2001.
- ↑ Goff 2003.
- ↑ Wold 2018.
- ↑ Rey 2009.
- ↑ Harrington 2000, p. 825.
- ↑ Davies, Brooke & Callaway 2002, p. 140.
- ↑ Elgvin 1996, p. 129.
- 1 2 Harrington 2000, p. 826.
- ↑ Elgvin 1996, p. 131.
- ↑ Harrington 1996, p. 57.
References
- Collins, J. J. (1999). "In the Likeness of the Holy Ones: The Creation of Humankind in a Wisdom Text from Qumran". In Donald Parry; Eugene Ulrich (eds.). The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Vol. 30. Leiden: BRILL. pp. 609–618. doi:10.1163/9789004350311_050. ISBN 978-90-04-35031-1.
- Davies, P.R.; Brooke, G.J.; Callaway, P.R. (2002). The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York City: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28371-4.
- Elgvin, Torleif (1996). "Early Essene Eschatology: Judgment and Salvation according to Sapiential Wark A". Current research and technological developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Brill. pp. 126–165. doi:10.1163/9789004350229_009. ISBN 978-90-04-35022-9.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2003). The Worldly and Heavenly Wisdom of 4QInstruction. Studies of the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Vol. 50. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004350489. ISBN 978-90-04-13591-8.
- Harrington, Daniel J. (1996). "A Large Wisdom Instruction (Sapiential Work A)". Wisdom Texts from Qumran. London: Routledge. pp. 50–69. doi:10.4324/9780203133156. ISBN 978-0-203-13315-6. OCLC 52211085.
- Harrington, Daniel J. (2000). "Sapiential Work". In Schiffman, Lawrence H.; VanderKam, James C. (eds.). Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 825–826. ISBN 978-0-19-513796-5.
- Lange, Armin (1995). "4QSap A: 4Q417 2". In Lange, Armin (ed.). Weisheit und Prädestination: Weisheitliche Urordnung und Prädestination in den Textfunden von Qumran. Studies on the texts of the desert of Judah (in German). Vol. 18. Leiden: Brill. pp. 43–92. doi:10.1163/9789004350205_003. ISBN 978-90-04-10432-7. OCLC 32927210.
- Rey, Jean-Sébastien (2009). 4QInstruction: Sagesse et eschatologie. Studies of the Texts of the Desert of Judah (in French). Vol. 81. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-17268-5. OCLC 568649846.
- Tigchelaar, Eibert J. C. (2001). To increase learning for the understanding ones: Reading and reconstructing the fragmentary early Jewish sapiential text 4QInstruction. Biblical Studies and Religious Studies. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11678-8. OCLC 48709412.
- Wold, Benjamin G. (2018). 4QInstruction: Divisions and Hierarchies. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-36424-0.
Further reading
- Adams, Samuel L. (2007). "Mystery And Eschatology In 4QInstruction". Wisdom in transition: Act and consequence in Second Temple instructions. Leiden: Brill. pp. 215–271. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004165663.i-314.46. ISBN 978-90-04-16566-3. OCLC 637059673.
- Adams, Samuel L. (2010). Rethinking the relationship between "4QInstruction" and "Ben Sira". Revue de Qumran, 555–583.
- Aitken, J. K. (1999). Apocalyptic, revelation and early Jewish wisdom literature. In New Heaven and New Earth. Prophecy and the Millennium (pp. 181–193). Brill.
- An, C. S. (2020). Re-Considering the Meaning and Function of the "Mystery" through the רן נהיה (Raz Nihyeh) in 4QInstruction. Canon & Culture, 14(1), 137–166.
- Antin, Katri (2019). Transmission of divine knowledge in the sapiential thanksgiving psalms from Qumran (Doctoral dissertation). University of Helsinki.
- Ballard, C. Andrew (2017). "The Mysteries of Paideia: "Mystery" and Education in Plato's Symposium, 4QInstruction, and 1 Corinthians" (PDF). In Hogan, K.M.; Goff, Matthew J.; Wasserman, E. (eds.). Pedagogy in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Early Judaism and Its Literature. SBL Press. pp. 243ff. ISBN 978-0-88414-207-2.
- Baumgarten, Joseph M. (2003). "Some Astrological and Qumranic Terms in 4QInstruction (Mûsār Lĕ Mēvîn)". Tarbiz. Mandel Institute for Jewish Studies: 321–328. JSTOR 23605082.
- Berg, S. A. (2008). Religious epistemologies in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The heritage and transformation of the wisdom tradition. Yale University.
- Beyerle, Stefan (2020). "The Book of Hagu, the Righteous Ones, and the Learning Ones: On 1Q/4QInstruction, Enochic Apocalypticism and their Mutual Influences". In Krispenz, Jutta (ed.). Scribes as sages and prophets: Scribal traditions in biblical wisdom literature and in the Book of the Twelve. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 255–281. doi:10.1515/9783110483604-013. ISBN 978-3-11-048360-4. OCLC 1220858517. S2CID 234676914.
- Burns, J. E. (2004). Practical Wisdom in 4QInstruction. Dead Sea Discoveries, 12–42.
- Byun, Seulgi L. (1 September 2020). "4QInstruction: Divisions and Hierarchies. By Benjamin Wold". The Journal of Theological Studies. Oxford University Press. 71 (2): 847–849. doi:10.1093/jts/flaa125. ISSN 0022-5185.
- Capper, Brian (1997). Sapiential Work A and the social interpretation of Essenism. Professor Otto Betz's Colloquium. Tübingen, Germany.
- Cashell-Moran, Helen (2020). "Cosmological Origins and Creation in 4QInstruction". In Duggan, Michael W.; Egger-Wenzel, Renate; Reif, Stefan C. (eds.). Cosmos and creation: Second Temple perspectives. Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 331–344. doi:10.1515/9783110677041-020. ISBN 978-3-11-067696-9. OCLC 1143825843. S2CID 213473551.
- Chazon, E. C. (1999). A Case of Mistaken Identity: Testament of Naphtali (4Q215) and Time of Righteousness (4Q215a). In The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls (pp. 110–123). Brill.
- Christian, Meike (25 May 2018). "The "Sons of Seth": A New Interpretation of 4Q417 1 i 14–16". Dead Sea Discoveries. Brill. 25 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1163/15685179-12341448. ISSN 0929-0761.
- Collins, John J. (1997). Wisdom reconsidered, in light of the Scrolls. Dead Sea Discoveries, 265–281.
- Collins, John J. (2003). The mysteries of God: creation and eschatology in 4QInstruction and the Wisdom of Solomon. Wisdom and apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the biblical tradition, 287–305.
- Cook, Johann (2005). "The Wisdom Texts from Qumran and the Development of Sapiential Thought, C. Hempel, A. Lange and H. Lichtenberger (Eds.): book review". Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages. 31 (1): 125–129. hdl:10520/EJC101306.
- Corley, J. (1999). Wisdom of Solomon. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 61(1), 120.
- Crenshaw, J. L. (2000). Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age. The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 120(1), 106-106.
- Elgvin, Torleif (1995). "The reconstruction of Sapiential Work A". Revue de Qumran. 16 (4): 559–580. JSTOR 24610077.
- Elgvin, Torleif (1996). "Early Essene Eschatology: Judgment and Salvation according to Sapiential Wark A". Current research and technological developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Brill. pp. 126–165. doi:10.1163/9789004350229_009. ISBN 978-90-04-35022-9.
- Elgvin, Torleif. (1997). An analysis of 4QInstruction. Jerusalem: Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
- Elgvin, Torleif. (2000). Wisdom and apocalypticism in the early second century BCE: the evidence of 4QInstruction. The Dead Sea scrolls fifty years after their discovery, 226–247.
- Elgvin, Torleif (2003). "Priestly sages? The milieus of origin of 4QMysteries and 4QInstruction". In Collins, John J. (ed.). Sapiential perspectives: Wisdom literature in light of the Dead Sea scrolls: Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 20-22 May, 2001. Leiden: Brill. pp. 67–87. doi:10.1163/9789047412755_007. ISBN 978-90-04-13670-0. OCLC 53796813.
- Elgvin, Torleif. (2009). From secular to religious language in 4QInstruction". Revue de Qumran, 24(1), 155–163.
- Fitzmyer, Joseph A. (2008). A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature. Studies in the Dead Sea scrolls and related literature. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8028-6241-9.
- Fox, Michael V. (2011). "Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom Literature (Didactic)". Religion Compass. Wiley. 5 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1111/j.1749-8171.2010.00251.x. ISSN 1749-8171.
- Frey, Jörg (1999). "The notion of 'flesh' in 4QInstruction and the background of Pauline usage". In Falk, Daniel K.; Martínez, Florentino García; Schuller, Eileen (eds.). Sapiential, Liturgical, and Poetical Texts from Qumran: Proceedings of the Third Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Oslo, 1998: Published in Memory of Maurice Baillet. Leiden: Brill. pp. 197–226. doi:10.1163/9789047400424_020. ISBN 978-90-04-11684-9. OCLC 60245777.
- Gayer, Asaf (2020). "A new reconstruction of the "Wisdom of the Hands" unit in 4QInstructiond (4Q418)". Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha. SAGE Publications. 30 (2): 60–73. doi:10.1177/0951820720963475. ISSN 0951-8207. S2CID 228076547.
- Goering, Greg Schmidt (15 October 2014). "Creation, Torah, and Revealed Wisdom in Some Second Temple Sapiential Texts (Sirach, 4QInstruction, 4Q185, and 4Q525): A Response to John Kampen". Canonicity, Setting, Wisdom in the Deuterocanonicals. De Gruyter. pp. 121–144. doi:10.1515/9783110367232.121. ISBN 978-3-11-037262-5.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2003). The Worldly and Heavenly Wisdom of 4QInstruction. Studies of the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Vol. 50. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004350489. ISBN 978-90-04-13591-8.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2003). The Mystery of Creation in 4QInstruction. Dead Sea Discoveries, 163–186.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2004). Reading Wisdom at Qumran: 4QInstruction and the Hodayot. Dead Sea Discoveries, 263–288.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2005). Discerning trajectories: 4QInstruction and the sapiential background of the sayings source Q. Journal of Biblical Literature, 124(4), 657–673.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2006). Discerning wisdom: The sapiential literature of the Dead Sea scrolls. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004147492.i-372. ISBN 978-90-04-14749-2. OCLC 74492281. Excerpt
- Goff, Matthew J. (2009). "Adam, the angels and eternal life: Genesis 1‐3 in the Wisdom Of Solomon and 4QInstruction". In Xeravits, Geza G.; Zsengeller, Joszef (eds.). Studies in the Book of Wisdom. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–21. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004186125.i-234.6. ISBN 978-90-04-18612-5. OCLC 704673448.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2009). Recent trends in the study of early Jewish wisdom literature: The contribution of 4QInstruction and other Qumran texts. Currents in Biblical Research, 7(3), 376–416.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2013). 4QInstruction. Wisdom Literature from the Ancient World. SBL Press. ISBN 978-1-58983-783-6.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2013). 4QInstruction: A Commentary.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2016). "Searching for wisdom in and beyond 4QInstruction". In Najman, Hindy; Rey, Jean-Sébastien; Tigchelaar, Eibert J. C. (eds.). Tracing sapiential traditions in ancient Judaism. Leiden: Brill. pp. 119–137. doi:10.1163/9789004324688_010. ISBN 978-90-04-32467-1. OCLC 951556663.
- Goff, Matthew J. (2017). Gardens of Knowledge: Teachers in Ben Sira, 4QInstruction, and the Hodayot. Pedagogy in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, 171–193.
- Goff, Matthew J., Rothschild, C. K., & Thompson, T. W. (2011). Being fleshly or spiritual: Anthropological reflection and exegesis of Genesis 1–3 in 4QInstruction and First Corinthians. Christian body, Christian self, 41–59.
- Hankins, Davis (6 September 2016). "4QInstruction's Mystery and Mastery of Wisdom". Dead Sea Discoveries. Brill. 23 (2): 183–205. doi:10.1163/15685179-12341388. ISSN 0929-0761.
- Harding, J. E. (2012). Divine knowledge in the Book of Job and 4QInstruction. Far from minimal: Celebrating the work and influence of Philip R. Davies, 173–192.
- Harding, J. E., & Davies, P. (2002). Qumran Cave 4. XXIV: Sapiential Texts, Part 2. 4QInstruction (Mûsār lěMēvîn): 4Q415ff. With a Re-Edition of 1Q26.
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- Macaskill, Grant (2005). Wisdom and apocalyptic in the Gospel of Matthew: A comparative study with 1 Enoch and 4QInstruction (Doctoral dissertation). University of St. Andrews. hdl:10023/7356.
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- Moran, H. J. C. (2019). Wisdom's Wide Trajectory: Reading the Letter of James in Light of 4QInstruction (PDF) (Doctoral dissertation). The University of Dublin.
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- Puech, Émile (2007). "Les Identités En Présence Dans Les Scènes Du Jugement Dernier De 4QInstruction (4q416 1 Et 4q418 69 II)". In Martínez, Florentino García; Popović, Mladen (eds.). Defining identities: We, you, and the other in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the fifth meeting of the IOQS in Gröningen (in French). Leiden: Brill. pp. 147–173. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004164147.i-283.45. ISBN 978-90-04-16414-7. OCLC 310403371.
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- Puech, Émile (2013). "Family Relationships in 4QInstruction". Family and Kinship in the Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110310436.377. ISBN 978-3-11-031043-6.
- Rey, Jean-Sébastien (2007). "Quelques Particularités Linguistiques Communes À 4QInstruction Et À Ben Sira". In Joosten, Jan (ed.). Conservatism and innovation in the Hebrew language of the Hellenistic period: proceedings of a fourth International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls & Ben Sira (in French). Leiden: Brill. pp. 155–173. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004164048.i-250.56. ISBN 978-90-04-16404-8. OCLC 651941629.
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- Rey, Jean-Sébastien (2009). "Family relationships in 4QInstruction and in Eph 5:21-6:4". In Martínez, Florentino García (ed.). Echoes from the caves: Qumran and the New Testament. Leiden: Brill. pp. 231–255. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004176966.i-350.58. ISBN 978-90-04-17696-6. OCLC 607555120.
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