Creation, Torah, and Revealed Wisdom in Some

Second Temple Sapiential Texts

(Sirach, 4QInstruction, 4Q185, and 4Q525):
A Response to John Kampen
GREG SCHMIDT GOERING

John Kampen combines philology, sociological analysis, and a com-

parative approach in order to “identify some of the characteristics in
the development of the wisdom tradition in the Second Temple pe-
riod.” 1 While similarities among the wisdom texts he examines make a
comparative study possible, the differences among them make such an
investigation interesting. 2 Specifically, Kampen argues that the “identi-
fication” of wisdom and Torah in Sirach contrasts strikingly with the
absence of Torah in 4QInstruction and in the early Enochic literature. 3
Moreover, he suggests that wisdom in Sirach is not

based upon… legal precedents from the Pentateuch… Torah is a term used
to describe the right manner in which its adherents should live rather than
the designation of specifics in an authoritative text that provides the basis
for making determinations about issues. This is wisdom based in creation,
hence subject to perceptions of the created world, rather than revelation. 4

In contrast to Ben Sira’s “identification” of Wisdom and Torah,

Kampen argues that “revealed wisdom” is the guiding authority in
both 4QInstruction and 1 Enoch. 5 Between these latter two traditions,
however, he notes another major difference: the revealed wisdom in

1 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 90. I would like to

thank Géza Xeravits and József Zsengellér for organizing the conference Aspects of
Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature, John Kampen for a generative paper, and
other conferees for useful feedback. A special thanks goes to Matthew Goff for read-
ing and commenting on an earlier draft of this article. All translation are the au-
thor’s, unless otherwise noted.
2 See SMITH, To Take Place, 13-14.
3 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 93.
4 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 92.
5 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 94.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
122 Greg Schmidt Goering

1 Enoch is recorded in a book, 6 whereas the raz nihyeh of 4QInstruction

cannot be identified with any textual tradition. Kampen concludes:
“We can identify within wisdom texts three distinct approaches to the
centrality of the Mosaic Torah and the manner in which communal
authority is established.” 7 Kampen goes on to describe probable social
locations for Sirach, 4QInstruction, and 1 Enoch.
I am in agreement with many of Kampen’s conclusions. In light of
my overall affirmation for his article, I will not respond to his argument
point by point, but rather use his study as a generative starting point
for my own reflections on wisdom, creation, and revelation in sapien-
tial texts of the Second Temple period, with an emphasis on the role of
the Mosaic Torah (or lack thereof). By “wisdom” I mean the particular
knowledge that the community thought was required for success. Spe-
cifically, I wish to suggest the following: Revelation becomes a significant
category in Jewish sapiential texts of the late 3rd- through early 1st-centuries
BCE. The older emphasis—in the book of Proverbs, for example—on wisdom
as experiential knowledge gained through observation of nature and social
relations continues into the Second Temple period and merges in various ways
and in differing degrees with revelatory knowledge. In some Second Temple
sapiential texts, the Mosaic Torah forms another source of knowledge, repre-
senting yet another development beyond the book of Proverbs. The way in
which Torah is understood and appropriated as a kind of wisdom, however,
takes many forms. I propose that examining the interrelation of wisdom, crea-
tion, Torah, and revelation offers a fruitful way to map variety and develop-
ment of sapiential traditions in the Second Temple period. I will focus my
analysis on Sirach and 4QInstruction, and on 4Q185 and 4Q525, two
texts which scholars argue have an outlook similar to Sirach. Along the
way, I will affirm many of Kampen’s findings and quibble with him
over others.

Wisdom and Revelation

While revelation was a category largely alien to the earlier Israelite

wisdom tradition, it became a common feature of late Second Temple
wisdom literature. 8 Pointing to parallels in Mesopotamia and antece-
dents in Job and Deuteronomy, Karel van der Toorn notes a shift in this

6 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 95.

7 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 99.
8 The category “revelation” is especially foreign to Proverbs and Qohelet. It is a dis-
puted category in Job; see, e.g., Job 4:12-21; 15:2-19; 26:2-14.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 123

period from religious knowledge based on experience (Erfahrungswis-

sen) to knowledge based on the revelation of heavenly secrets. 9 The
idea that wisdom is secret or inaccessible poses a problem in Job (esp.
chap. 28), and the notion that wisdom could be revealed in a body of
literature through an intermediary appears in Deuteronomy (4; 30; 32).
Van der Toorn points to the Deuterocanonical wisdom texts of Sirach
and Baruch, where Torah forms a kind of revealed wisdom, as the cul-
mination of this process. 10 Noting that revelation is not a creation of the
Second Temple period, he argues that:

the use of revelation as an epistemological category applied to the accumu-

lated religious tradition is itself a piece of theology. It is a scholarly con-
struct, systematically developed in the Second Temple period, in the wake
of the theodicy debate as exemplified in Job. Its purpose is to protect tradi-
tional tenets and beliefs against doubt and disbelief, and to convey author-
ity to new religious insights. Through the identification of the Book of the
Law, and by extension the entire corpus of religious tradition, with heav-
enly wisdom come down, early Judaic scholars presented revelation not as
a privileged individual experience but as the ultimate qualification of the
sum-total of approved theological knowledge. 11

Van der Toorn’s thesis about the growing importance of revelation as

an epistemological category in the Second Temple period contains
much merit. I would argue, however, that the matter is not as simple as
he states it, and that the sapiential texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls
complicate the picture. Revelation did not entirely replace experien-
tially-derived knowledge. Moreover, not all Second Temple wisdom
texts defined the Mosaic Torah as source of wisdom, as Kampen has so
ably pointed out.
The Jewish scholarly construct of revelation as an epistemological
category participates in a broader phenomenon, which Martin Hengel
termed “the revelation of higher wisdom.” This feature of wider Helle-
nistic thought influenced Jewish thinkers from the second century BCE
forward. 12 Hengel’s revelation of higher wisdom is what George
Nickelsburg and Grant Macaskill mean when they speak of “revealed

9 VAN DER TOORN, Sources in Heaven, 266-267. Van der Toorn suggests that the shift
grows out of a social and theological crisis in the “plausibility structure” of tradi-
tional religious values and ideas; ibid., 268.
10 VAN DER TOORN, Sources in Heaven, 270-271.
11 VAN DER TOORN, Sources in Heaven, 275-276; cf. 271-272.
12 HENGEL, Judaism and Hellenism, 1: 210-217.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
124 Greg Schmidt Goering

wisdom” as a concept central to the eschatology of certain Second

Temple texts. 13
While scholars of Second Temple Judaism tend to attribute revela-
tion to the influence of apocalyptic, van der Toorn’s reconstruction
suggests that apocalyptic is not the exclusive source of revelation as a
category. Revelation becomes a feature of scribal culture as a whole
and, therefore, associated with both apocalyptic and sapiential tradi-
tions. In some cases, revelation merges with earlier sapiential traditions
that retain a concern for knowledge derived experientially from obser-
vation of the created order and social relations.
Given this experiential dimension, John Collins noted long ago that
traditional wisdom contains many affinities with natural theology.
Specifically, the tradition expresses “the religious dimension of univer-
sal human experience” while at the same time portrays wisdom as a
revelation available to everyone. Collins’ view has affinities with Jon
Levenson’s reading of Psalm 119. In this psalm, the commandments are
simultaneously observable in the heavens and considered a divine
revelation (Ps 119:89-91). Levenson terms this sapiential revelation a
“revealed natural law.” 14 These two categories—which I will call re-
vealed higher wisdom and revealed natural wisdom—will prove useful in
analyzing the category of revelation in Second Temple sapiential texts.

Sirach

Turning first to Sirach. Like most scholars, Kampen describes a notable

feature of Sirach as the “identification” of wisdom and Torah. 15 Such
scholarly interpretations mean either that Ben Sira nationalizes Wisdom
and makes it the province of Israel alone, or that he universalizes the
Torah, and defines the Mosaic covenant in terms of the older wisdom
tradition. I find both of these interpretive approaches reductive and
unsatisfactory. A more nuanced way to speak of the relation between
Wisdom and Torah in Sirach is to describe the two as correlated or

13 See NICKELSBURG, The Nature and Function of Revelation, 91-119; MACASKILL,

Revealed Wisdom and Inaugurated Eschatology, 14.
14 LEVENSON, The Sources of Torah, 567-569.
15 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 92 and passim. For a
survey of scholars who describe the relationship between wisdom and Torah in
Sirach as identification, see GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 3-9. Even van der
Toorn, in the quote above, speaks of “identification.”

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 125

congruous. 16 Clearly, for Ben Sira Torah is a kind of wisdom, but it is

not a wisdom intended for humanity as a whole. It is the “root” of
Wisdom (as he refers to it in Sir 1:6), a part of wisdom that has been
given to Israel as a special inheritance, but the Torah does not consti-
tute all of the wisdom in the universe. 17 Other kinds of wisdom are
available to all humans (Jew and Gentile alike), especially through ob-
servation of the natural world (Sir 17:1-10; 42:15-43:33), but also in the
larger international corpus of wisdom instruction (Sir 6:18-37; 8:8-9). 18
Kampen cites approvingly Seth Schwartz’s intriguing study of Sir
16:24-17:23. 19 Schwartz interprets this poem to describe three sets of
torah: (1) one for creation (Sir 16:26-8); (2) another for all humanity, akin
to the Noachide laws (Sir 17:1-15); and (3) a third for Israel (Sir 17:17-
23). In the second section, Schwartz interprets the “law of life” (no,mon
zwh/j, v 11) as a torah for the nations. I am persuaded by Schwartz’s ar-
gument about the three different entities discussed in this poem: crea-
tion, humanity in general, and Israel in particular. A tricolon at the
beginning of Sirach signals the centrality of this tripartite division for
Ben Sira, when he describes how YHWH “poured out [wisdom] upon
all his works, among all flesh according to his largess, and he lavished
her upon those who love him” (Sir 1:9b-10b). 20 I am not persuaded, how-
ever, by Schwartz’s attribution of the “law of life” to humanity in gen-
eral.
Admittedly, Sir 16:24-17:23 is one of the most difficult passages in
Sirach to interpret. As Collins has noted, the movement from creation,
to humankind generally, to Israel specifically is seamless. 21 In the

16 I make this argument in idem, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 8-9. For a recent treatment
of Torah and Wisdom in Sirach, see WRIGHT, Torah and Sapiential Pedagogy.
17 Cf. Sir 1:20, where Ben Sira associates fear of YHWH with wisdom’s root, again sug-
gesting a special dispensation of wisdom intended for Israel, YHWH’s pious ones. See
also the expression “root of wisdom” in 4Q300 1a ii-b 3, part of Mysteries. Contrast
Sirach 24, where the metaphor seems to be reversed: Wisdom is a tree and the Torah
is its fruit. Although Sirach 1 and 24 use different metaphors for wisdom, these
metaphors are “coherent”: both metaphors construe Torah as part of the larger phe-
nomenon of wisdom. On the notion of metaphorical coherence, see LAKOFF/
JOHNSON, Metaphors We Live By, 87-105.
18 Ben Sira’s recommendation of travel (Sir 34:10-13) indicates the value he places on
international wisdom.
19 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 93. See SCHWARTZ,
Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society?, 45-79.
20 See my discussion of this passage in GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 21-24.
There I referred to “two apportionments of wisdom,” but in light of Schwartz’s
work, I would amend this to say three apportionments.
21 Collins argues that “the law set before Adam and Eve was no different from the law
given to Moses on Mount Sinai…The law of creation and the law of Sinai are one

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
126 Greg Schmidt Goering

poem, Schwartz draws the line between humanity in general and Israel
in particular at v 17, since that is where the author first mentions Israel
by name. This permits Schwartz to assign the phrase “torah of life” in v
11 to all human beings. The language of vv 11-15, however, fits Israel
better than universal humanity. As Schwartz himself notes, the phrase
~yyx trwt refers specifically to Israel’s Torah in Sir 45:5. 22 Moreover, the
language of Sir 17:11-15 alludes to the Sinai event: (a) the giving of the
torah of life as an inheritance (evklhrodo,thsen); (b) the establishment of an
eternal covenant; 23 (c) a vision of YHWH’s majesty and the hearing of his
glorious voice (as in Sir 45:5); and (d) the giving of commandments
concerning the neighbor. Collectively, these features suggest that the
Torah of life in Sir 17:11 refers to Israel’s Torah, not some minimal set of
instructions (torah) for humans generally.
I wish to emphasize that Ben Sira distinguishes a special allotment
of wisdom for Israel, which he terms Torah, and which he expects Is-
rael to observe. Citing George Nickelsburg, Kampen argues that Ben
Sira’s concern for Torah observance seems more sapiential than legal. 24
In general, I agree. There are passages, however, where Ben Sira’s in-
terest is more nomistic. The sage appeals to Pentateuchal legislation
when he discusses adultery (Sir 23:16-26), the priestly portion (Sir 7:31),
hatred toward one’s neighbor (Sir 28:7), and almsgiving (29:8-13),
among other examples. 25 Beyond these ethical commandments, Ben
Sira also urges participation in the sacrificial cult, as a way to sustain
not only the priests but also the created order. 26 Certainly Ben Sira
views the Torah as Israel’s book of wisdom instruction, but he also
considers it a binding covenant between Jews and YHWH, a covenant
that defines certain privileges and responsibilities. Thus, Ben Sira views
the Torah and its wisdom through a combination of sapiential and
covenantal-legal traditions.
Yet wisdom for Ben Sira is something larger than the Torah and
therefore cannot simply be identified with it. Wisdom writ large in-

and the same;” COLLINS, Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age, 60. Cf. WÉNIN, De la
création à l'alliance sinaïtique, 147-158, esp. 155-8; CALDUCH-BENAGES, God, Creator
of All (Sir 43:27–33), 82 n 12.
22 SCHWARTZ, Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society?, 53 n 16. Sir 45:4-5 describes the
election of Moses as Israel’s leader and alludes to the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai.
23 Admittedly, Ben Sira uses the phrase “eternal covenant” (diaqh/kai aivw/noj) in Sir
44:18 to refer to the covenant with Noah, which, presumably, is a covenant intended
for all humankind; see SCHWARTZ, Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society?, 53 n 16.
24 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 93. See NICKELS-
BURG, Enochic Wisdom, 123-124.
25 For my fuller argument, see GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 143-166.
26 Sir 3:14-15; 7:31; 35:1-2; see GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 167-185.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 127

cludes not just Israel’s Torah, but also the wisdom bestowed upon crea-
tion (Sir 1:9b; 16:26-28). Such wisdom not only assures that the world
functions according to YHWH’s will, but also that humans will be able
to discern divine wisdom through experience of the natural world (Sir
42:15-16, 22, 25). Wisdom is also bestowed directly upon humanity
generally (Sir 1:10a; 17:1-10), something that gives them authority over
earthly matters, knowledge, physical senses for understanding, the
ability to distinguish good and evil, and a basic universal piety, or fear
of the deity. The general wisdom available to all humans through ob-
servation of nature forms a revealed natural law. It is both divinely
bestowed upon humans and available to them through contemplation
of the natural world. This revealed natural wisdom is codified in the
international instruction of the sages. 27
This revealed natural wisdom should be distinguished from Ben
Sira’s notion of a higher wisdom intended for Israel alone. Despite the
absence of apocalyptic influence on Ben Sira, he understands this spe-
cial wisdom contained in the Torah also as a kind of revelation—in
Markus Bockmuehl’s terms as a “divine disclosure of knowledge com-
municated by visionary or prophetic means.” 28 The creation hymn in
Sir 42:15-43:33 suggests that YHWH fills creation with his glory yet
even angelic beings fail to fathom it (how much more so humans;
42:17), and the poem ends by saying that many things remain hidden
(avpo,krufa; Sir 43:32). 29 Some parts of wisdom that were originally hid-
den from humans have been revealed by prophetic means. In Sirach 24
Woman Wisdom herself is sent, like a prophetess, to Israel, and Ben
Sira characterizes his own instructional activity, and that of other sages,
in prophetic terms (24:33; 39:6). 30 In this sense, the Torah forms a reve-

27 See my fuller discussion of Ben Sira’s general wisdom in GOERING, Wisdom's Root
Revealed, 79-89. Ben Sira’s revealed natural wisdom may form a functional parallel
with what Kampen notes in the Astronomical Book (chaps. 72-82): the detailed de-
scription of the celestial bodies indicates that their movements and relationships
were “considered revealed wisdom;” KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and
Cognate Literatures, 94. I mean to say that the two wisdom’s are parallel function-
ally as revealed natural wisdom. In their specifics, of course, the two differ. For ex-
ample, the Enochic community follows a solar calendar, whereas Ben Sira upholds a
lunar one.
28 BOCKMUEHL, Revelation and Mystery, 2.
29 The hiddenness theme also appears in Sir 11:4; 18:4-7.
30 For my detailed argument that Ben Sira uses a prophetic commissioning scene to
describe Wisdom’s self-disclosure, see GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 74-78.
There I build upon Randal Argall’s original insight that Sir 24 is based upon a pro-
phetic call; see ARGALL, 1 Enoch and Sirach, 54.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
128 Greg Schmidt Goering

lation of higher wisdom for Israel. 31 This higher wisdom derives from
observance of YHWH’s commandments codified in the Torah. 32

4QInstruction

Kampen contrasts Sirach and its emphasis on Torah with 4QInstruction,

where the term hrwt does not even appear in the extant text. 33 Instead of
Ben Sira’s correlation of wisdom and Torah, 4QInstruction associates
wisdom with the raz nihyeh, the “mystery of existence,” as Kampen
translates the enigmatic phrase. 34 Certainly, Kampen is correct that the
presence or absence of the Mosaic Torah in the conception of wisdom
constitutes a major distinction between Ben Sira, on the one hand, and
4QInstruction and the Enochic literature, on the other.
Moreover, where wisdom in Sirach and 1 Enoch is associated in part
with a text, Kampen says, “establishing a textual basis for wisdom in
Instruction is a more doubtful possibility.” 35 Armin Lange has associ-
ated the raz nihyeh with a pre-existent heavenly Torah, and Daniel Har-
rington posits that the phrase raz nihyeh refers to a body of teaching
with a fixed form. 36 The best argument in favor of the textual nature of
the raz nihyeh may be its apparent association with the Vision of Hagu
in 4Q417 1 i. The addressee is instructed to study the raz nihyeh (l. 6) as
well as the Vision of Hagu, which is described as a “book of remem-
brance” (ll. 14-16). Moreover, in the rulebooks, a similarly named Book

31 See GOERING, Wisdom's Root Revealed, 69-102.

32 I agree with Collins that there is a continuity between these two wisdoms; COLLINS,
Jewish Wisdom, 60. The two are distinct, but not sharply distinguished.
33 4Q418 184 1 and 4Q423 11 2 contain the phrase “through the hand of Moses”
(hXm dyb). The phrase may suggest a concern for the Torah on the part of
4QInstruction. The fragmentary nature of both texts, however, makes it impossible to
put the phrase into a larger context and draw such a conclusion.
34 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 96ff. Torlief Elgvin
argues that 4QInstruction substitutes the raz nihyeh for the Mosaic Torah; ELGVIN,
Wisdom and Apocalypticism, 237. Matthew Goff takes a more nuanced view, argu-
ing that the raz nihyeh has not displaced the Mosaic Torah entirely: the Torah forms a
source of instruction for 4QInstruction, but “its reception of the Torah is colored by
an appeal to revelation beyond that of Sinai”; GOFF, The Worldly and Heavenly
Wisdom, 72-73.
35 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 96.
36 LANGE, Weisheit und Prädestination, 72-79, 80-82, 89; HARRINGTON, The Raz Nihyeh
in a Qumran Wisdom Text, 552-3. Although Harrington expresses uncertainty as to
whether the raz nihyeh is written or oral, he suggests that it may be the Book of Medi-
tation (1QSa 1.6-8) or the Book of Mysteries.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 129

of Hagu is clearly a written text (CD 10.6; 13.2-3; 14.6-8; 1QSa 1.6-8). 37
Kampen and others, however, have cast doubts on the textuality of the
revelation. 38 The raz nihyeh probably should be associated with the Vi-
sion of Hagu. Despite the written nature of the Book of Hagu in the
rulebooks, however, the Vision of Hagu in 4QInstruction “is never
treated as an actual document.” 39 What makes 4QInstruction so un-
usual, then, compared to either Sirach or the Enochic literature is that
wisdom seems not to be contained in a text at all, but comes from con-
templating the raz nihyeh itself. So what is the raz nihyeh?

The raz nihyeh and Creation

Goff claims that 4QInstruction links the raz nihyeh to creation. If so, then
contemplating the raz nihyeh might include observation of nature. In
this case, 4QInstruction would evidence a parallel with Sirach.
According to Goff, 4QInstruction declares that God created the
world by means of the raz nihyeh. He sees this as similar to the claim in
Proverbs that God created the world through wisdom (Prov 3:19; cf. Sir
42:21). 40 After exhorting the mebin to continually study the raz nihyeh,
the author says,

Then you will distinguish between [go]od and [evil according to their]
deeds, [f]or the God of Knowledge is a foundation of truth, and by means
of the raz nihyeh he spread out its foundation and its works. [For all
wis]dom and [for all clever]ness he fashioned it (4Q417 1 i 8-9). 41

Goff interprets this passage as follows:

God is the foundation of the world because he created “its foundation and
its works.”…In 4QInstruction one can use the mystery that is to be to un-
derstand the natural order in a more comprehensive way because God
used this mystery to create the world. 42

37 GOFF, 4QInstruction, 28.

38 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures 98. Also see, e.g.,
GOFF, Wisdom of 4QInstruction, 88; MACASKILL, Revealed Wisdom, 82-84.
39 GOFF, Wisdom of 4QInstruction, 81.
40 GOFF, Creation in 4QInstruction, 170; GOFF, 4QInstruction, 18.
41 My translation is based on the text in STRUGNELL/HARRINGTON, DJD 34, 151. I con-
strue the preposition l (2x) as an ethical dative. For Goff’s latest reconstruction,
translation, and interpretation, see GOFF, 4QInstruction, 167-170.
42 GOFF, Creation in 4QInstruction, 170.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
130 Greg Schmidt Goering

Identifying the referent of the several 3fs pronouns (italicized) forms

the interpretive crux of this passage. The nearest and most plausible
antecedent is tma (truth). Taking tma as the object of these verbs, the
passage says that by means of the raz nihyeh, God spread out the foun-
dations of truth and fashioned her. 43 All we can conclude about this
passage, then, is that God created truth by means of the mystery of
existence. Nothing in all of 4Q417 1 i explicitly links the raz nihyeh and
creation. 44
As Kampen points out, tma is a highly significant term for the Qum-
ran sect, and for 4QInstruction in particular. He prefers the translation
“truth” to “fidelity,” but affirms Ian Scott’s description of the term as “a
pattern of action that is neither Torah nor a set of rules.” 45 Kampen
interprets tma to designate specifically “the desired knowledge to be
appropriated by the son(s) of discernment.” 46 This is essentially the
definition of wisdom that I gave above. Kampen argues that this em-
phasis on truth represents part of a larger shift in terminology in the
non-biblical corpus at Qumran, where tma has overtaken hmkx (“and to a
lesser extent t[d”) as the predominant term to refer to the ultimate
knowledge sought by the community for success. 47 This casts some
doubt about the conclusions Goff reaches regarding the connection
between the raz nihyeh and creation. As the preferred synonym for hmkx,
tma (truth) is what the mebin seeks through study of the raz nihyeh. It is
possible to achieve truth in this manner, not because the raz nihyeh is
somehow associated with creation, but because God has founded truth
by means of the raz nihyeh.
Creation does not function as a direct source of knowledge for
4QInstruction. Rather, as Grant Macaskill has argued, “creation will be
restored as part of the eschatological scenario.” The opening of the text

43 Goff also takes tma to be the antecedent of “its” and “it,” yet he inexplicably leaps to
the conclusion that God created the world by means of the raz nihyeh; GOFF, Creation
in 4QInstruction, 170.
44 Goff points to 4Q418 126 ii 4-5 to support his thesis that God created the world by
means of the raz nihyeh. The passage suggests that God “spread them out” and “in
truth he established them.” After some intervening words and some missing text,
the passage continues, “and they did not come into being without his pleasure, or
apart from his wisdom.” The problem with interpreting this passage is that the mp
antecedents are unclear, and it is impossible to say for sure that creation is what the
author has in mind. See GOFF, Creation in 4QInstruction, 171.
45 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 109. See SCOTT,
Sectarian Truth, 303-343.
46 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 109. As evidence,
Kampen cites 4Q418 126 ii 11-12 and 69 ii 7.
47 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 107-110.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 131

(4Q416 1 1-17) describes the orderly conduct of the heavenly bodies

under divine control. There is, however, no exhortation to “observe”
them. The purpose of the passage is to demonstrate divine mastery and
therefore God’s ability to reward the sons of his truth and punish the
fleshly spirit. 48 The opening passage creates an eschatological frame-
work for the rest of the book.
Moreover, Macaskill argues, the idea of the eschatological restora-
tion of creation merges with “the idea of revealed wisdom, which en-
ables the elect to fulfill the design plan of creation in a way that those
outside their community are unable to emulate.” 49 Revealed wisdom is
the key to the mebin’s “inheritance,” his reward in an afterlife (e.g.,
4Q416 2 iii 7-10). 50 In other words, if we can even speak of the wisdom
that comes from contemplating the raz nihyeh as a revelation, it is of the
higher type of revealed wisdom. 4QInstruction seems completely unin-
terested in revealed natural wisdom.

The raz nihyeh as Revealed Mystery

If the raz nihyeh is not a text and it is not explicitly associated with crea-
tion, what is it?
In apocalyptic texts such as the Aramaic fragments of 1 Enoch and
the Aramaic portions of Daniel, the term raz refers to a mystery or se-
cret that is revealed supernaturally by heavenly sources. 51 Unlike the
later apocalyptic visions (!wzx) in Daniel, in which the visionary requires
the help of an interpreting angel to understand the meaning of the vi-
sion, in the Aramaic passages where the term raz appears, Daniel im-
mediately grasps the sense of the message. 52 In 4QInstruction, the
phrase refers to divine secrets that have been revealed to the mebin,
often through his ear (4Q416 2 iii 18; 4Q418 123 ii 4). 53 Unlike the apoca-
lyptic sections of Daniel, however, there is no interpreting angel. But

48 MACASKILL, Revealed Wisdom, 93-99. For the text, see STRUGNELL/HARRINGTON,

DJD 34, 81.
49 MACASKILL, Revealed Wisdom, 229.
50 On “inheritance” in 4QInstruction, see REY, 4QInstruction, 56-7.
51 In Daniel (2:18-19, 27-30, 47; 4:6 [ET 4:9]) the raz refers both to Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream and its interpretation revealed by God to Daniel. In 1 En 106.19, the term in-
dicates the secrets of God that the holy ones reveal to Enoch; see NICKELSBURG, 1
Enoch, 537.
52 See, e.g., Dan 7; 8.
53 See THOMAS, Hearing the Vision. That the father and mother “uncovered” (hlg) the
addressee’s ear to the raz nihyeh (4Q416 2 iii 17-18) may suggest that the raz nihyeh
includes the oral instruction that takes place in families.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
132 Greg Schmidt Goering

neither does the mebin grasp the raz nihyeh immediately, as Daniel does.
The addressee must contemplate the raz nihyeh, and this contemplation
of the revealed mystery leads to wisdom: “[Day and night meditate
(hgh) on the raz ni]hyeh, and study [it] continually, and then you will
know truth and wickedness, wisdom and [foll]y.” 54 The raz nihyeh in
4QInstruction differs from both the mantic wisdom of Daniel, where the
raz is the wisdom itself, and the apocalyptic portions of Daniel, where
the vision also constitutes a kind of wisdom, despite the need for a
supernatural interpreter. In 4QInstruction, the raz nihyeh is revealed,
but it is not wisdom. The revelation is a necessary but insufficient con-
dition for the acquisition of wisdom.
Given the apocalyptic influences on 4QInstruction and the parallel
uses of the term raz for revelation in apocalyptic literature, we should
interpret the raz nihyeh of 4QInstruction as revelatory. The Book of Mys-
teries associates the raz nihyeh with eschatological judgment; the wicked
will perish in the judgment because they lack knowledge of the revela-
tion (1Q27 1 i 3-4). In the Community Rule the raz nihyeh refers to the
divine revelation granted to the elect (1QS 11:3-4). 55 These uses also
seem to fit the apocalyptic framework of 4QInstruction. 56 Contempla-
tion of this non-textual mystery is the means by which the student ac-
quires wisdom. Thus, for 4QInstruction wisdom results from contem-
plating a non-textual esoteric revelation. This means that wisdom in
4QInstruction, like wisdom in Sirach and the Enochic literature, is asso-
ciated with revelation, but it is not a revelation that can be contained in
a text. It is more diffuse, less tangible, more mysterious. Perhaps the
most accurate thing we can say about the raz nihyeh is that it remains a
mystery.
We can conclude, however, that in 4QInstruction, wisdom is not ex-
plicitly associated with the Mosaic Torah. Thus Kampen is correct to
point out this marked difference with Sirach. Neither does
4QInstruction link wisdom explicitly to creation. Hence, any kind of
revealed wisdom in 4QInstruction is not of Levenson’s natural type.
Rather, 4QInstruction closely associates the acquisition of wisdom with
the raz nihyeh. Only the elect have access to this esoteric mystery, which
fits the category of Hengel’s revelation of higher wisdom. Hence the
nonelect are completely deprived of access to the knowledge that

54 4Q417 1 i 6-7; cf. 4Q416 2 iii 9.

55 GOFF, 4QInstruction, 17-18.
56 4QInstruction is best described as a wisdom text within an apocalyptic framework;
see COLLINS, Wisdom Reconsidered, 265-81; LARSEN, Visdom og apokalyptik, 1-14;
GOFF, Wisdom of 4QInstruction, 217; HARRINGTON, Wisdom and Apocalypticism,
343-355; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 9-10, 13, 68.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 133

would lead to success. Even for the elect, however, possession of the raz
nihyeh is insufficient. One gains wisdom only through contemplation of
this esoteric mystery.

4Q185 (4QSapiential Work [B])

Since 4Q185 and 4Q525 have been compared to Sirach, I briefly analyze
how these two texts understand creation, Torah, and revealed wisdom.
Harrington and Goff have suggested that 4Q185 associates wisdom
with Torah, even though neither term appears explicitly in the extant
text. 57 Despite the absence of the term hrwt, the text may allude to the
Mosaic Torah twice. Once the author exhorts his sons, “Do not rebel
against the words of YHWH” (hwhy yrbd wrmt la; 4Q185 1-2 ii 3). 58 Frag-
ment 3 encourages the reader to “perform the words of [his]
covena[nt]” (t]yrb yrbd hX[; 4Q185 3). It seems reasonable to conclude
that “the words” of YHWH and his covenant are those found in the Mo-
saic Torah.
Allusions to the exodus and to Isaac and Jacob (4Q185 1-2 i 14; ii 4)
may strengthen the identification of these words as Torah. By them-
selves, allusions to the Mosaic Torah are indeterminate, however, since
many Qumran wisdom documents allude to biblical texts. 59 The issue is
whether the Torah is considered a source of wisdom.
4Q185 portrays Jacob and Isaac as exemplars. The audience is in-
structed to walk “[in the way He laid down for Ja]cob, and in the path
He appointed for Isaac” (4Q185 1-2 ii 4). Here Israel’s patriarchs func-
tion much as the heroes do in Sirach 44-49, and Torah assumes a sapi-
ential quality, providing positive models for how one walks the path of
wisdom.

57 The term hmkx does not occur explicitly in 4Q185, except in the reconstruction by
Strugnell (in 4Q185 1-2 ii 11, based on two letters, mk); STRUGNELL, Notes en marge,
271. In that position, John Allegro reads ba; ALLEGRO, DJD 5, 86.
58 Thus read Harrington and Goff; HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 36;
GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 133. (Goff mistakenly cites this line as iii 9.) Allegro
originally read lcy (let him deliver) instead of la, which rendered the following: “You
rebel against the words of YHWH”; ALLEGRO, DJD 5, 85-6. Strugnell argued for the
substitution of law, which while “materially difficult” to maintain is “required by the
context;” STRUGNELL, Notes en marge, 270. Noting that this same phrase occurs in
4Q370, Carol Newsom posits a connection between the two texts; NEWSOM, 4Q370,
39, 42.
59 4QInstruction, e.g., alludes extensively to Gen 1-3, but as we have seen it does not
consider the Mosaic Torah to be a source of wisdom.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
134 Greg Schmidt Goering

The exodus allusions function differently. Readers are urged to

“gain insight” (wlykXhw) from contemplating “the might of God”
(~yhla trwbg) and recalling the “wonderful deeds” (~yalpn) and “wonders”
(wytpwmw) he performed in Egypt (4Q185 1-2 i 14-15). Contemplation of the
exodus is designed to invoke fear of God and thereby encourage people
to “search for the path of life” (4Q185 1-2 ii 1-2). 60 As Harrington and
Collins note, 4Q185’s reference to the Exodus story is less like Sirach 44-
49 and more like Psalm 78 or the Wisdom of Solomon. 61 In this exam-
ple, the Torah serves a pedagogical purpose, using fright of God as a
primary motivator to pursue wisdom.
Assuming that Torah and wisdom are central concerns of 4Q185,
the 3fs pronouns in the beatitudes may be interpreted as referring to
Torah, to wisdom, or to both. The first beatitude describes as “happy”
the person to whom she has been given (wl hntn ~da yrXa; 4Q185 1-2 ii 8).
Moreover, the beatitude proclaims that God has not granted wisdom to
the wicked, but that “to Israel He has given her in go[od m]easure” (cf.
Sir 1:10). 62 As a result God will “redeem” all of his people (4Q185 ii 9-
10). The first beatitude thus asserts that the Torah forms a higher reve-
lation of wisdom, that this wisdom belongs to an elect Israel, and that it
plays a role in effecting their redemption. The second beatitude claims,
“Happy is the person who performs her” (hnX[y; 4Q185 1-2 ii 13), form-
ing a verbal parallel to “performing (hX[) the words of the covenant” in
fragment 3 (4Q185 3). This suggests that the divine revelation of wis-
dom/Torah is insufficient and that the recipient must carry out the
commandments of Torah, or put wisdom into action. 63
The division of humanity into two groups also appears in the in-
structions. The first instruction is directed to “mortals” (~da ynb), mean-
ing humankind generally. It describes the fragile and ephemeral condi-
tion of human beings, who, as a result, have no hope. Coming after the
passage predicting a future judgment at the beginning of the extant
text, the first instruction suggests that humans will perish in the judg-

60 In this, Goff sees a combining of sapiential and covenantal traditions, as in Sirach;

GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 141-142.
61 HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 37; COLLINS, Wisdom Reconsidered,
271. Strugnell also notes that 4Q185 is “in the style of Psalm 78”; STRUGNELL, Notes
en marge, 269.
62 Goff takes these 3fs pronouns as references to wisdom as Torah; GOFF, Discerning
Wisdom, 134.
63 The beatitude goes on to describe how wisdom/Torah is transmitted from generation
to generation (4Q185 1-2 ii 14-15). 4Q185 may imagine that wisdom/Torah was re-
vealed initially but is transmitted subsequently through a human mechanism.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 135

ment. 64 The author addresses the second instruction to “my people”

(4Q185 1-2 i 13), a reference to the author’s community, identified with
“Israel,” who will be redeemed. Taken together, the two instructions
portray a bifurcation, between all humanity and Israel, where Israel
forms a subset of all humanity, much as in Sirach.
While Israel possesses divine knowledge in 4Q185, it is not clear
that the nations do. The matter hinges on the reading of a single letter
in 4Q185 1-2 ii 8. Following Allegro, Harrington reads h[r (evil):
“[Be]fore him [i.e., God] evil (h[r) goes forth to all people.” 65 Strugnell
argues that the initial letter is a d, resulting in the term h[d (knowl-
edge). 66 Reading h[d with Strugnell, Goff translates, “[Be]fore him
knowledge (h[d) goes forth to all people.” 67 It is unclear how exactly
this divine knowledge reaches humans. Goff notes that 4Q185

never encourages the direct observation of nature. But the author of 4Q185
presents the view that the natural order of things is a consequence of di-
vine wisdom. It is implicit that nature is a source of wisdom for the ad-
dressee. 68

If this reading is correct, then we have another interesting parallel to

Sirach.
As much as I would like to affirm in 4Q185 a parallel to Ben Sira’s
notion that wisdom is available to all humans, I doubt the probability
of the reading h[d (knowledge) for several reasons. First, my inspection
of the plate on The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library leads me to confirm
the reading h[r (evil). 69 Second, Goff’s interpretation violates the liter-
ary integrity of the beatitude. He reads the clause “Before Him knowl-
edge goes forth to every people” with the following beatitude and links
this divine knowledge to the 3fs pronouns in that beatitude, which he

64 Goff notes that the way judgment frames instruction in 4Q185 parallels the function
of judgments in 4QInstruction and 1 Enoch; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 124. 4Q185
emphasizes judgment to a greater extent than Sirach (4Q185 1-2 i 5-9). Somewhat
like 4QInstruction, the apocalyptic elements—threatened destruction of wicked, sal-
vation of God’s people—frame the wisdom instruction. Apart from Sir 36, these fea-
tures resonate more with 4QInstruction than Sirach. Unlike 4QInstruction, though,
there is no indication in 4Q185 of an afterlife. See, however, Strugnell’s speculative
reconstruction of a phrase indicating an afterlife for the righteous in 4Q185 1-2 ii 6-7;
STRUGNELL, Notes en marge, 273.
65 HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 36.
66 STRUGNELL, "Notes en marge," 271.
67 GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 134.
68 Goff, Discerning Wisdom, 134.
69 The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, accessed 27 May 2013.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
136 Greg Schmidt Goering

takes as a reference to wisdom/Torah. It is preferable to interpret

~da yrXa (Happy is the person…) as the beginning of a new section. In
this case, the phrase about evil emanating from God belongs with the
previous passage. Third, the knowledge/evil issue must be resolved in
the context of the preceding instruction about two paths in life and the
judgment that befalls those who “rebel against YHWH’s words” and
“walk [in the way of the wicked],” instead of in the way of Jacob and
Isaac (4Q185 1-2 ii 3-4). Goff opts for “knowledge,” arguing that no-
where else does 4Q185 concern itself with the origin of evil. In the con-
text of the instruction, however, h[r refers to the disaster or misfortune
that God will bring upon the wicked as a result of divine judgment (cf.
Prov 1:33; Gen 19:19, among other passages), not an evil inclination or
wickedness. 70 In my alternative reading, then, there is no evidence that
the nations have knowledge.
In sum, 4Q185 views the words of YHWH and his covenant as a
source of revealed higher wisdom. The Torah presents moral exemplars
to help the audience discern the right path to wisdom. It also serves as
a repository of lore about God’s mighty acts in Exodus, designed to
instill fear, which in turn motivates the search for wisdom. In the exist-
ing text, there is some evidence to indicate that the author also views
the Torah as a covenant between God and Israel, the words of which
one ought to follow.
There is not, however, extant evidence that creation forms a source
of wisdom. In other words, the author is concerned with the revelation
of higher wisdom for his own community, but there is little evidence
for the existence of a revealed natural wisdom. All humans are weak
compared to the might of God and therefore vulnerable to his judg-
ment, but Israel has been given the Torah and wisdom to show them a
path to withstand God’s judgment. The wicked, however, lack any such
knowledge that may help them survive God’s fury.

4Q525 (4QBeatitudes)

Turning to 4Q525, frag. 1 may suggest that the text contains the words
of a sage, “which he spoke by means of wisdom which God gave him”
and that these words are “for knowing wisdom and discipline, for gain-

70 Cf. Kampen’s translation: “[from] his presence disaster goes out to all people”
(4Q185 1-2 ii 8); KAMPEN, Wisdom Literature, 261, 266.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 137

ing insight” (4Q185 1 1-2; cf. the introduction to Proverbs, 1:1-7). 71 Like
Sirach, the text presents itself as a source of wisdom.
4Q525 contains five beatitudes (4Q525 2 ii 1-10), followed by a se-
ries of instructions. 72 The instructions present fairly unremarkable con-
tent: caution against losing inheritance to strangers (4Q525 5 8) and
taking care in speech (4Q525 14 ii 18-28). 73 Despite their commonplace
advice, the instructions indicate the presence of traditional sapiential
teaching in 4Q525.
For the purposes of understanding the relation of wisdom and To-
rah, the beatitudes are significant. The lengthy fifth beatitude mentions
wisdom and Torah in parallel:

Happy is the person who has obtained wisdom, walks in the Torah of
Elyon, orients his heart toward her ways, restrains himself by means of her
disciplines, and takes pleasure continually in her chastising blows (4Q525 2
ii + 3 3-4). 74

While parallelism does not necessarily signal identification, 75 it seems

probable that the author views the Mosaic Torah as a kind of wisdom. 76
The many third feminine singular pronouns in the work could refer to
hmkx, to hrwt, or to both. 77 Harrington suggests that wisdom “is identi-
fied with the Torah,” Goff argues that “Torah piety is a distinguishing
feature of the work,” and Elisa Uusimäki describes 4Q525 as having “a
Torah-centered approach to wisdom.” 78 If the author does associate

71 The similarity to Prov 1:1-7 is noted by DE ROO, Is 4Q525 a Qumran Sectarian

Document?, 339. Elisa Uusimäki notes other allusions in 4Q525 to Proverbs 1-9;
UUSIMÄKI, Use of Scripture in 4QBeatitudes, 71-97.
72 By my count, among the 50 fragments there are six instruction formulae extant
(4Q525 2 ii + 3 12; 10 3; 13 6; 14 ii 18; 24 ii 2; 31 1). No doubt, the full text contained
many more. The first instruction, “Now then, listen, my sons” (4Q525 2 ii + 3 12), ap-
pears after the beatitudes, with a vacat in between. Most instructions are addressed
to sons in the plural. Like the first instruction, the one beginning at 4Q525 14 ii 18 oc-
curs after a vacat. This is the only one addressed to the mebin, in the singular.
73 Presumably these things are to be learned from listening to the sage’s advice, or
perhaps from reading his text.
74 Ben Sira uses the phrase !wyl[ trwt in Sir 41:4, 8; 42:2; 49:4.
75 KUGEL, The Idea of Biblical Poetry, 1-58.
76 GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 199.
77 See HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 68.
78 HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 68; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 199;
UUSIMÄKI, Use of Scripture in 4QBeatitudes, 71-97. Many scholars have assigned
4QBeatitudes to the wisdom family: HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 66-
70; KAMPEN, Diverse Aspects of Wisdom at Qumran, 1: 211-243; LANGE, Die
Weisheitstexte aus Qumran, 3-30; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 198-229.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
138 Greg Schmidt Goering

wisdom and Torah, then 4QBeatitudes constitutes another text in which

Torah forms a path to wisdom.
While 4Q525 alludes to no specific laws of the Torah, 79 the text
twice refers to “statutes.” The second beatitude begins, “Happy are
they who grasp her statutes…” (hyqwx ykmwt; 4Q525 2 ii 1). 80 Laying hold
of her statutes is contrasted with grasping the ways of iniquity. Frag. 5
reads: “those who fear God will keep (rcn) her ways and they will walk
in […] her statutes (hyqwx), and her rebukes they will not reject” (4Q525 5
9-10). Despite the lack of reference to any specific Torah command-
ments, these passages suggest that 4Q525 combines a nomistic piety—
observing statutes—with a sapiential ethos—accepting correction. 81
This association between wisdom and Torah in the beatitudes forms the
context for the more traditional sapiential instructions.
Other than the opening fragment, which claims that the sage re-
ceived wisdom from God, there is no evidence that the author thinks
wisdom is divinely revealed to humans. 82 Although election language
is scant (see perhaps 4Q525 5 9, 13), wisdom is thought to reside with
the members of the group. Given the lack of revelatory language, how-
ever, it would be hard to describe this knowledge as revealed higher
wisdom. Nothing in the extant text suggests that wisdom is available
from observing creation, and there is no evidence that those outside the
group have access to knowledge. Hence, it is hard to speak even of
revealed natural wisdom.
Rather than emphasizing wisdom as divine revelation, the majority
of the extant passages emphasize the need for the audience to seek
wisdom (4Q525 2 ii + 3 2-3). The fifth beatitude emphasizes persever-
ance in the pursuit of wisdom, even or especially when facing adversity
(4Q525 2 ii + 3 5-6). 83 The author suggests that the happy person will
not forget her in times of adversity but rather (yk) will “meditate (hghy)
on her continually, and in his stress he will ponder (xxwXy) [her(?)]”

79 On this basis, Goff concludes, “4QBeatitudes is closer in spirit to Ben Sira’s instruc-
tion, which praises God’s Torah as the key to following the right path, without
showing interest in the details of its legal material”; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 210.
It should be clear from what I have argued above that Ben Sira does show interest in
specific commandments.
80 Cf. Sir 15:1, noted by KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate
Literatures, 92.
81 Thus Goff is closer to the mark when he says: “4QBeatitudes can be understood as
asserting a kind of covenantal nomism”; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 219.
82 GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 200.
83 Cf. the similar message of not abandoning the divine statutes in face of adversity in
Ps 119:23.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 139

(4Q525 2 ii +3 6). 84 In other words, 4Q525 emphasizes human initiative

over divine gift.
Based on the reward of a “crown” in 4Q525 2 ii + 3 9, Émile Puech
argues that the beatitudes are eschatological. 85 Goff notes, however,
that “crown” is better interpreted as a symbol of acquiring wisdom, as
in Sir 6:31. Any potential references to eschatological judgment appear
in fragmentary texts, and it is impossible to say whether eschatology
was a concern of the author. 86 Rather than eschatological rewards and
punishments, 4Q525 imagines a long life and an early death as the wise
and foolish person’s rewards, respectively. 87 In Jacques Dupont’s classi-
ficatory scheme, the beatitudes of 4Q525 are sapiential, rather than
eschatological. 88
While 4Q525 has neither the revelatory quality of Ben Sira’s Torah,
nor his interest in the natural world as a source of revealed wisdom, its
combination of a covenantal and nomistic piety with a sapiential ethos
parallels Ben Sira’s approach.

Conclusion: Creation, Torah, and Revealed Wisdom

Let me conclude by summarizing Kampen’s main contributions, as well

as my own reflections generated by his paper.
Kampen’s comparative analysis clearly delineates significant simi-
larities and differences: in the understanding of wisdom, the relative
importance of the written medium, and in social location, among other
features. I find myself in agreement with his argument about the social
locations of the various texts, and with his emphasis on the transitional

84 Harrington translates yk as “for;” HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 67.

Following the negative clauses, however, the translation “but rather” makes more
sense. 4Q525 14 ii 19 may also recommend meditating in one’s body, though the
reading is uncertain; see ALLEGRO, DJD 5, 146-148. The invitation in a beatitude to
“meditate” on wisdom/Torah calls to mind the encouragement to meditate on
YHWH’s Torah in Ps 1:2, and on wisdom (hghy hmkxb) in Sir 14:20. Ps 119 uses the par-
allel verb xyX in this bicolon numerous times to refer to ruminating on God’s statutes
(vv 15, 23, 27, 48, 78); see GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 209. Cf. 4QInstruction’s encour-
agement to meditate on the raz nihyeh (4Q417 1 i 6-7).
85 PUECH, The Collection of Beatitudes, 364.
86 See 4Q525 8 3; 10 4-7; 21 8; 22 5. Goff cautiously concludes, “The eschatology of
4QBeatitudes is muted at best”; GOFF, Discerning Wisdom, 218.
87 See 4Q525 14 ii 14; 23; 32 2-3; cf. Sir 5.7. 4Q525 14 ii 12-16 point to this-worldly goals
of wisdom: days filled with goodness and peace (l. 13), honor (l. 14), children(?) who
will follow one’s teaching (l. 15), and remembrance after one’s death (l. 16).
88 DUPONT, Les béatitudes.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
140 Greg Schmidt Goering

role of the scribe, 89 what I would call “the tyranny of the literate.”
Kampen has shown the centrality of the Mosaic Torah as a source of
wisdom in Sirach, its apparent absence in 4QInstruction, and the substi-
tution of Enoch’s own revelations for the Mosaic Torah in the early
Enochic literature. Moreover, he has demonstrated the textuality of the
wisdom traditions in Sirach and 1 Enoch and the apparent lack of the
raz nihyeh’s textuality in 4QInstruction.
My main concerns have been to suggest the following. First, we
must nuance the way we speak of the relation of wisdom and Torah in
those texts that conceive of Torah as a kind of wisdom. The usual term
“identification” is imprecise, since texts that portray the Torah as a kind
of wisdom sometimes view wisdom as a phenomenon larger than the
Torah. 90
Second, while 4QInstruction and Mysteries point to a model in
which wisdom is framed by an apocalyptic outlook, Sirach, 4Q185, and
4Q525 point to another model in which sapiential traditions merge with
the Mosaic Torah. 91 We must, however, be attentive to the different
ways in which Torah comes to be understood as a source of wisdom: as
a list of moral exemplars, as national lore, as a record of God’s mighty
acts, as a binding covenantal relationship between God and Israel, or as
a legal code that undergirds sapiential instruction.
Third, I have sought to complicate the way in which we speak of
revealed wisdom. Revealed wisdom not only differs in content from
text to text, but also in kind. Increasingly important in this period is the
higher revealed wisdom available to the elect, whether through the
Mosaic Torah, a community’s non-Torah textual tradition, or through
some esoteric, non-textual revelation. Sirach and 4Q185 view the Torah
as a higher revelation of wisdom; 4Q525 does not use the language of
revelation at all. Moreover, most texts that portray wisdom as revela-
tion assume that the revelation alone is insufficient. In addition to re-
ceiving the revelation, the addressee must do something with it. Re-
vealed wisdom must be sought after, studied, meditated upon, enacted,
or inculcated, in order for it to be efficacious.
As the phenomenon of higher revealed wisdom grows in signifi-
cance during the late 3rd to late 1st centuries BCE, the older experiential

89 KAMPEN, Wisdom in Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literatures, 104-105.

90 Harrington, e.g., says that wisdom “is identified with the Torah” in 4Q185;
HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 68. Goff puts it more accurately: “4Q185
associates wisdom and Torah. But the two are not synonyms”; GOFF, Discerning
Wisdom, 134.
91 Harrington suggests that the relationship between wisdom and Torah is similar in
Ben Sira and 4Q185; HARRINGTON, Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 38.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 141

type of knowledge so prominent in Proverbs also comes to be regarded

by some authors in terms of a natural revelation of wisdom. This natu-
ral wisdom is available for any human who would take the time to
study the natural world and social relations, and draw conclusions
about the right path for success in life. Although universally available,
this practical wisdom is also conceived of as divine revelation. While
the preserved parts of 4Q185 and 4Q525 give no evidence that their
authors thought wisdom is available to humanity generally, Ben Sira
understands wisdom to have been revealed to all human beings, espe-
cially though nature, but also in the international corpus of sapiential
instruction.
In one direction, then, Sirach helps us understand more clearly the
Qumran wisdom literature. Ben Sira’s well-developed merger of sapi-
ential and covenantal/nomistic traditions provides one point from
which to interpret some of the more enigmatic Qumran texts, such as
4Q185 and 4Q525. Were it not for Ben Sira’s book, we might be less
attentive to the confluence of wisdom and Torah in such texts. At the
same time, we should not overemphasize the significance of Torah in
these Qumran wisdom texts, since our evidence is so fragmentary.
In the other direction, the extensive cache of sapiential texts from
Qumran enhances our appreciation for a Deuterocanonical wisdom
text, such as Sirach. On the one hand, Sirach appears less unusual in
light of 4Q185 and 4Q525. These Qumran wisdom texts indicate that
Torah was appropriated as a kind of wisdom by various authors in
different ways. On the other hand, the scrolls have allowed us to brush
the book of Sirach into a larger sapiential landscape of the Second
Temple period. Ben Sira offers just one specific model among many.
While all of the wisdom texts share certain core features, the sapiential
corpus from Qumran indicates how much more variety existed than
previously thought.
Finally, wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls seems less explicitly associ-
ated with creation than it does in Sirach, suggesting that revelation
overtook experience as an authoritative source for many Jewish sages
in this period. In some cases, revelation seems to have trumped experi-
ential knowledge altogether. Sirach remains the clearest specimen of
revealed wisdom available through creation in the Second Temple pe-
riod. As a result, it also remains the best example of a Jewish wisdom
text from the period that contains a generous view of the wisdom
available to non-Jews.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
142 Greg Schmidt Goering

Bibliography

ALLEGRO, John M., Qumrân Cave 4.I (4Q158-4Q186) (DJD 5), Oxford 1968.
ARGALL, Randal A., 1 Enoch and Sirach. A Comparative Literary and
Conceptual Analysis of the Themes of Revelation, Creation and Judgment
(SBLEJL 8), Atlanta 1995.
BOCKMUEHL, Markus N. A., Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and
Pauline Christianity, Tübingen 1990.
CALDUCH-BENAGES, Núria, God, Creator of All (Sir 43:27–33), in: R. Egger-
Wenzel (ed.), Ben Sira's God. Proceedings of the International Ben Sira
Conference, Berlin 2002, 79–100.
COLLINS, John J., Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age (OTL), Louisville 1997.
COLLINS, John J., Wisdom Reconsidered in Light of the Scrolls: DSD 4 (1997)
265-81.
DUPONT, Jacques, Les béatitudes (3 vols), Paris 1952-73.
ELGVIN, Torleif, Wisdom and Apocalypticism in the Early Second Century
B.C.E.: The Evidence of 4QInstruction, in: L. H. Schiffman, et al. (eds.), The
Dead Sea Scrolls. Fifty Years After their Discovery. Proceedings of the
Jerusalem Congress, July 20-25, 1997, Jerusalem 2000, 226-247.
GOERING, Greg Schmidt, Wisdom's Root Revealed. Ben Sira and the Election of
Israel (JSJSup 139), Leiden 2009.
GOFF, Matthew J., 4QInstruction (Wisdom Literature from the Ancient World
2), Atlanta 2013.
GOFF, Matthew J., Discerning Wisdom. The Sapiential Literature of the Dead
Sea Scrolls (VTSup 116), Leiden 2007.
GOFF, Matthew J., The Mystery of Creation in 4QInstruction: DSD 10 (2003) 163-
86.
GOFF, Matthew J., The Worldly and Heavenly Wisdom of 4QInstruction (STDJ
50), Leiden 2003.
HARRINGTON, Daniel J., The Raz Nihyeh in a Qumran Wisdom Text (1Q26,
4Q415-418): RevQ 17 (1996) 549-53.
HARRINGTON, Daniel J., Wisdom and Apocalypticism in 4QInstruction and 4
Ezra, in: F. García Martínez (ed.), Wisdom and Apocalypticism in the Dead
Sea Scrolls and in the Biblical Tradition, Leuven 2003, 343-55.
HARRINGTON, Daniel J., Wisdom Texts from Qumran, London 1996.
HENGEL, Martin, Judaism and Hellenism. Studies in Their Encounter in
Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period (trans. John Bowden, 2 vols),
Philadelphia 1974.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
 Response to John Kampen 143

KAMPEN, John, The Diverse Aspects of Wisdom at Qumran, in: P. W. Flint and J.
C. Vanderkam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years. A
Comprehensive Assessment, Leiden 1998, 1: 211-43.
KAMPEN, John, Wisdom Literature (Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea
Scrolls), Grand Rapids 2011.
KUGEL, James L., The Idea of Biblical Poetry. Parallelism and Its History,
Baltimore 1981.
LAKOFF, George / JOHNSON, Mark, Metaphors We Live By, Chicago 1980.
LANGE, Armin, Die Weisheitstexte aus Qumran: Eine Einleitung, in: C. Hempel,
et al. (eds.), The Wisdom Texts from Qumran and the Development of
Sapiential Thought, Leuven 2002, 3-30.
LANGE, Armin, Weisheit und Prädestination. Weisheitliche Urordnung und
Prädestination in den Textfunden von Qumran (STDJ 18), Leiden 1995.
LARSEN, Kasper Bro, Visdom og apokalyptik i Musar leMevin
(1Q/4QInstruction): Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 65 (2002) 1-14.
LEVENSON, Jon D., The Sources of Torah: Psalm 119 and the Modes of
Revelation in Second Temple Judaism, in: P. D. Miller, et al. (eds.), Ancient
Israelite Religion. Essays in Honor of Frank Moore Cross, Philadelphia 1987,
559–74.
MACASKILL, Grant, Revealed Wisdom and Inaugurated Eschatology in Ancient
Judaism and Early Christianity (JSJSup 115), Leiden 2007.
NEWSOM, Carol A., 4Q370: An Admonition Based on the Flood: RevQ 13 (1988)
23-43.
NICKELSBURG, George W. E., 1 Enoch. A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch,
Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Hermeneia), Minneapolis 2001.
NICKELSBURG, George W. E., Enochic Wisdom: An Alternative to the Mosaic
Torah, in: J. Magness and S. Gitin (eds.), Hesed ve-Emet. Studies in Honor
of Ernest E. Frerichs, Atlanta 1998, 123-32.
NICKELSBURG, George W. E., The Nature and Function of Revelation in 1 Enoch,
Jubilees and Some Qumranic Documents, in: E. G. Chazon and M. E. Stone
(eds.), Pseudepigraphic Perspectives. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Leiden 1999, 91-119.
PUECH, Émile, The Collection of Beatitudes in Hebrew and in Greek (4Q525 1-4
and Mt 5,3-12), in: F. Manns and E. Alliata (eds.), Early Christianity in
Context, Jerusalem 1993, 353-68.
REY, Jean-Sébastien, 4QInstruction. sagesse et eschatologie (STDJ 81), Leiden
2009.
ROO, Jacqueline C. R. de, Is 4Q525 a Qumran Sectarian Document?, in: S.E.
Porter and C.A. Evans (eds.), The Scrolls and the Scriptures, Sheffield 1997,
338-67.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM
144 Greg Schmidt Goering

SCHWARTZ, Seth, Were the Jews a Mediterranean Society? Reciprocity and

Solidarity in Ancient Judaism, Princeton 2010.
SCOTT, Ian W., Sectarian Truth: The Meaning of ‫ אמת‬in the Community Rule, in:
P.W. Flint, et al. (eds.), Celebrating the Dead Sea Scrolls. A Canadian
Collection, Atlanta 2011, 303-43.
SMITH, Jonathan Z., To Take Place. Toward Theory in Ritual, Chicago 1987.
STRUGNELL, John, Notes en marge du volume V des “Discoveries in the Judaean
Desert of Jordan”: RevQ 7 (1970) 163-276.
STRUGNELL, John / HARRINGTON, Daniel J., Qumran Cave 4.XXIV. Sapiential
Texts, Part 2. 4QInstruction (Mûsār Lĕ Mēbîn). 4Q415ff. With a re-edition of
1Q26 (DJD 34), Oxford 1999.
THOMAS, Samuel I., Hearing the Vision: ‫ גלה‬+ ‫ אזן‬as a Mode of Perception in
Qumran Texts, unpublished paper delivered at Seventh Congress of the
International Organization for Qumran Studies, Helsinki, 2010.
UUSIMÄKI, Elisa, Use of Scripture in 4QBeatitudes: A Torah-Adjustment to
Proverbs 1–9: DSD 20 (2013) 71-97.
VAN DER TOORN, Karel, Sources in Heaven: Revelation as a Scholarly Construct
in Second Temple Judaism, in: U. Hübner and E.A. Knauf (eds.), Kein Land
für sich allein. Studien zum Kulturkontakt in Kanaan, Israel/Palästina and
Ebirnâri für Manfred Weippert zum 65. Geburtstag, Göttingen 2002, 265–77.
WÉNIN, André, De la création à l'alliance sinaïtique, in: N. Calduch-Benages
and J. Vermeylen (eds.), Treasures of Wisdom. Studies in Ben Sira and the
Book of Wisdom, Leuven 1999, 147–58.
WRIGHT, Benjamin G., Torah and Sapiential Pedagogy in the Book of Ben Sira,
in: B.U. Schipper and D. A. Teeter (eds.), Wisdom and Torah: The Reception
of “Torah” in the Wisdom Literature of the Second Temple Period, Leiden
2013, 157-186.

Unauthenticated
Download Date | 5/6/16 2:15 PM