THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Lady Wisdom in the Book of Ben Sira, Chapter 24 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved Juana L. Manzo Washington, D.C. 2009 UMI Number: 3361328 Copyright 2009 by Manzo, Juana L. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3361328 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Lady Wisdom in the Book of Ben Sira, Chapter 24 Juana L. Manzo, Ph.D. Director: Christopher Begg, S.T.D., Ph.D. The personification of Wisdom is one of the most intriguing topics of Old Testament scholarship. Scholars have debated a great deal about the origin of personified Wisdom and her theological significance within wisdom literature. She is a figure described through many different allusions. Lady Wisdom is portrayed as more beautiful than the sun or any constellation (Wis 7:29), as Yhwh’s partner in creation (Prov 8:22-30; Wis 8:4; 9:9), as Yhwh’s delight (Prov 8:30), as a lover (Prov 8:17; Wis 6:12), and as wife (Wis 7:28; 8:2, 17). The many-sided characteristics of Lady Wisdom are nowhere better illustrated than in Sirach 24. This dissertation will provide a detailed study of the tradition-historical background of the imagery in Sirach 24. Chapter One discusses such preliminary matters as the text of Sirach 24, the date and place of composition, and the literature dealing with the origins of personified Wisdom. Chapter Two presents a rhetorical analysis of the text so as to bring out the imagery of the text. Chapter Three focuses on the motifs of the tree and the goddess in the Ancient Near East and the Hebrew Scriptures. Chapter Four centers on an exegetical analysis of Sirach 24 to determine the theological significance of the vegetative, ornamental, and perennial imagery associated with Lady Wisdom there. Through his depiction of Lady Wisdom as Law, Ben Sira reminds his contemporaries that they still are the chosen people of Yhwh, who remains present to them in the personification of Lady Wisdom residing in the Jerusalem Temple. Lady Wisdom/ Law is presented as the means though which the Jewish people find their identity and the true source of their fulfillment as a people. This dissertation by Juana L. Manzo fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in biblical studies approved by Prof. Christopher Begg, S.T.D., Ph.D., as Director, and Joseph Jensen, S. S. L., S.T.D., and Francis T. Gignac, D.Phil., as Readers. Christopher Begg, S.T.D., Ph.D., Director Francis T. Gignac, D.Phil., Reader TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................iii ABBREVIATIONS AND CRITICAL TEXTS USED........................,..........................vi FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................viii CHAPTER 1: HISTORY OF EXEGESIS...........................................................................1 I. Introduction..........................................................................................................1 1. Ben Sira’s Author and Date of Composition........................................2 2. The Text of Ben Sira and Its Canonicity..............................................3 3. Purpose, Structure, and Content.................:......................................7 4 Sirach 24 and Its Textual Variants........................................................9 5. English Translation of Sirach 24.........................................................13 6. Dependence of Sirach 24 on Proverbs 8.............................................14 II. The Origin of Personified Wisdom.................................................................17 1. The Historical Approach: Ancient Near Eastern Influence................18 2. The Sociological Approach................................................................22 3. The Literary Approach.......................................................................26 III. Wisdom and Creation......................................................................................31 CHAPTER 2: RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF BEN SIRA............................................40 I. History of Rhetorical Analysis.........................................................................40 II. The Context of Sirach 24..................................................................................43 1. The Placement of Sirach 24 within the Book of Ben Sira...................43 iii 2. The Immediate Context of Sirach 24.....................................................47 III. The Structure of Sirach 24: 1-34...................................................................54 1. The Introduction: w. 1-2.......................................................................54 2. Wisdom’s self-praise: w. 3-22..............................................................54 3. Ben Sira’s Comments on Wisdom’s Speech: w. 23-29........................58 4. Ben Sira’s Path to Wisdom: w. 30-34...................................................59 5. Analysis of the Structure........................................................................60 6. Conclusion.............................................................................................79 CHAPTER 3: WISDOM IN THE IMAGE OF THE TREE GODDESS: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE IMAGERY OF THE TREE..................................................................................................................................81 I. Archaeological Evidence....................................................................................83 1. The Iconography of the Tree and the Goddess in Syro-Palestine.........83 2. Archaeological Evidence of the Image of the Tree and the Goddess within the Israelite Cult...........................................................................94 3. Asherah in the Hebrew Scripture..........................................................98 4. The Influence of Asherah Imagery on Lady Wisdom’s Portrayal........104 II. Literary Evidence for the Tree of Life............................................................104 1. The Tree of Life in Jewish Literature..................................................104 2. The Motif of the Tree of Life in Sirach 24 and Related Imagery.........109 3. Conclusion............................................................................................Ill CHAPTER 4: EXEGESIS OF SIR 24:1-34....................................................................123 I. Introduction.....................................................................................................123 II. Exegesis of Sirach 24.......................................................................................123 1. Presentation of Lady Wisdom: w. 1 -2....................................................126 2. The Heavenly Origin of Lady Wisdom: w. 3-7......................................135 3. Lady Wisdom’s Inheritance : w. 8-12......................................................151 4. Lady Wisdom’s Beauty: w. 13-14..........................................................165 5. Lady Wisdom in the Liturgy: w. 15-17..................................................179 6. Lady Wisdom’s Invitation: w. 19-22......................................................187 7. Ben Sira’s Interpretation of Wisdom’s Speech: w. 23-29.......................191 8. Ben Sira as a Wisdom Teacher: w. 30-34...............................................197 III. Wisdom and the Law in Ben Sira...................................................................199 IV. Conclusion.............................................................................................. 202 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION.........................................................................................205 BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................218 v Abbreviations and Critical Texts Used All abbreviations used in the notes can be found in “The Instructions for Contributors to the Catholic Biblical QuarterlyCBQ 65 (2003) 682-710. These instructions are also available online at http://cba.cua.edu/cbqinstructions.cfm. Abbreviations not found on the CBQ guidelines are listed under abbreviations. The primary source for the Greek text (= Gk) of the Book of Sirach is taken from the edition of J. Ziegler, Sapientia Iesu Filii Sirach (Septuaginta 12/2; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965). The Syriac text (= Syr) is that of the British Library Codex 12142, printed in P. A. de Lagarde, Libri veteris testamenti apocryphi syriace (Leipzig / London: F. A. Brockhaus / Williams & Norgate, 1861). For the Old Latin translation (= VL), I use Biblica Sacra ivxta latinam vulgatam versionem, 12: Sapientia Salomonis. Liber Hiesu Filii Sirach (Rome: Typis Polygottis Vaticanis, 1964). I also consulted D. Barthélémy and O. Rickenbacher, Konkordanz zum Hebräischen Sirach: Mit Syrisch-Hebräischem Index (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973); Flavius Josephus, the Jewish War: Newly Translated with Extensive Commentary and Archaeological Background Illustrations (ed. G. Comfeld, B. Mazar and P. L. Maier; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982); and F. Vattioni, Ecclesiastico. Testo ebraico con apparatö critico e versioni greca, latina e siraca (Naples: Seminario di Semitistica, 1968). All other biblical texts are from BHS and A. Rahlfs, Septuaginta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1979). Abbreviations Akk Akkadica AUS American University Studies BLS Bible and Literature Series BTFT Bijdragen: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie en Theologie BSAE British School of Archaeology in Egypt, London CA Connaître la Bible CC Corpus Christianorum CHANE Culture and History of the Ancient Near East EB Encyclopedia Britannica FTS Feiburger Theologische Studien HDB Hastings Dictionary of the Bible LAI Library of Ancient Israel Lev Levant Numen Numen PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association ofAmerica SHR Studies in the History of Religions Syr Syria UAVA Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie