Noah Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conversations and Controversies of Antiquity (Early Judaism and Its Literature)

273 Pages·2008·1.87 MB·English

by  Dorothy M. Peters

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As father of all humanity and not exclusively of Israel, T T
Noah was a problematic ancestor for some Jews in the r A
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Second Temple period. His archetypical portrayals in d R
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the Dead Sea Scrolls, differently nuanced in Hebrew t
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and Aramaic, embodied the tensions for groups that o
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were struggling to understand both their distinctive
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self-identities within Judaism and their relationship to
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the nations among whom they lived. Dually located
within a trajectory of early Christian and rabbinic t S
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interpretation of Noah and within the Jewish Hellenistic e T
milieu of the Second Temple period, this study of the D I
Noah traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls illuminates e
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living conversations and controversies among the
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people who transmitted them and promises to have N
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implications for ancient questions and debates that
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extended considerably beyond the Dead Sea Scrolls. a
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Dorothy M. Peters is Sessional Assistant Professor of r Noah Traditions
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Religious Studies at Trinity Western University.
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ls I in the Dead Sea Scrolls
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D Conversations and Controversies
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Cover art is from the Rothschild Miscellany, Northern Italy,
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1450–1480. Collection Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo © Israel
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Museum/David Harris. Cover design by Mary Vachon. t
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Dorothy M. Peters
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NOAH TRADITIONS IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Conversations and Controversies of Antiquity
Society of Biblical Literature
Early Judaism and Its Literature
Judith H. Newman,
Series Editor
Number 26
NOAH TRADITIONS
IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Conversations and Controversies
of Antiquity
NOAH TRADITIONS
IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Conversations and Controversies
of Antiquity
Dorothy M. Peters
Society of Biblical Literature
Atlanta
NOAH TRADITIONS
IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Conversations and Controversies
of Antiquity
Copyright © 2008 by the Society of Biblical Literature
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or
by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly
permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for
permission should be addressed in writing to the Rights and Permissions Offi ce, Society
of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Peters, Dorothy M., 1958-
Noah traditions in the Dead Sea scrolls : conversations and controversies of
antiquity / Dorothy M. Peters.
p. cm. — (Early Judaism and its literature ; no. 26)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58983-390-6 (paper binding : alk. paper)
1. Noah (Biblical fi gure) 2. Dead Sea scrolls. 3. Judaism—History—Post-exilic
period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D. I. Title.
BS580.N6P48 2008
296.1'55—dc22
2008043301
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, recycled paper
conforming to ANSI /NISO Z39.48–1992 (R1997) and ISO 9706:1994
standards for paper permanence.
For Greg
With whom I fi nd my rest and consolation
wnmxny hz rm)l xn wm#-t) )rqw
wnydy Nwbc(mw wn#(mm
Genesis 5:29

Contents
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Noah in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Starting the Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Noah in the Literature of Early Judaism and Early Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Conversations about Noah among the Scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Noah Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
CHAPTER TWO
NOAH IN THE BIBLICAL TEXT
Introduction: Noah Enters the Ancient Near Eastern Conversation . . . . . . . . . 13
Texts and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Th e Genesis Scrolls at Qumran: A Few Words on Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Th e Introduction of Noah in Genesis: Th e Beginnings of Traditions . . . . . 17
Noah in Exile: Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Continuing the Conversation: Within the Gaps of the Noah Narrative . . . . . . 26
CHAPTER THREE
NOAH IN THE ARAMAIC ENOCH TEXTS AND
THE ARAMAIC LEVI DOCUMENT
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Texts and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
-vii-
viii CONTENTS
1 Enoch: Who Walks with the Angels? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Th e Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Astronomical Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Book of Watchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Book of Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Dream Visions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Apocalypse of Weeks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Birth of Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Book of Parables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Enoch: Th e Preferred Righteous Flood Survivor? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Th e Ebb and Flow of Noah and His Righteousness in 1 Enoch . . . . . . 49
Aramaic Levi Document: Noah as Ancestor of Priests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Th e Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Levi as a Literary Ancestor of Noah? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Continuing the Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
CHAPTER FOUR
NOAH IN THE HEBREW PRE-SECTARIAN TEXTS (1):
WISDOM TEXTS AND JUBILEES
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Texts and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4QInstruction: Righteous . . . Distinguishing between Good and Evil . . . 64
Ben Sira: “For his sake there was a remnant” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Jubilees: Toward Becoming an Ancestor like Moses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Th e Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Signposts to a New Noah: Reordering and Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Noah as “New Adam”: Listening to the “Right” Source . . . . . . . . 76
Noah: Th e Repentant Righteous One Escapes Judgment . . . . . . . 79
Noah as Priest: Covenant Redefi ned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Noah and Progeny: How to Be Rightly Planted in the Land . . . . . 85
Th e Scope and Timing of Revelation to Noah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Continuing the Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
CHAPTER FIVE
NOAH IN THE GENESIS APOCRYPHON AND
OTHER ARAMAIC TEXTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
CONTENTS ix
Texts and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
In the Aramaic Levi and Aramaic Daniel Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4QNaissance de Noé ar: Chosen One of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Th e Genesis Apocryphon: An Enochic and Levitic Noah? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Introduction of Th emes? (0, 1 – I, 29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Origin of Noah: Seed and True Planting (II, 1 – V, 27) . . . . . . . . 108
Noah, Righteous, Wise, Visionary Priest (V, 29 – XII, 17) . . . . . 110
Visions of Imminent and Eschatological Destinies
(XIII, 8 – XVII, 19) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Noah: A Diff erent Kind of Righteous One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Noah: Lamech’s Son and Abraham’s Ancestor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Noah as “Writer”: Was Th ere a “Book of Noah”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Continuing the Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
CHAPTER SIX
NOAH IN THE HEBREW PRE-SECTARIAN TEXTS (2)
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Texts and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4QExposition on the Patriarchs (4Q464): A Confusion of Languages . . . 130
1QBook of Noah (1Q19): Glorifi ed among the Sons of Heaven . . . . . . . . . 132
4QTanh\umim (4Q176): Th e Name of Noah and Consoling Words . . . . . 134
4QFestival Prayersb (4Q508): Covenant, Atonement, and Judgment . . . . 135
“To distinguish between the righteous and the wicked”
(4Q508 1 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
“You know our inclination” (4Q508 2 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
“We have done wickedly” (4Q508 3 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
“You established your covenant for Noah” (4Q508 3 2) . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4QParaphrase of Genesis and Exodus (4Q422):
Creation and Re-creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
“Whom/what God chose (it) (l) hb rxb r#))”? (4Q422 II, 6) . . . . . 142
“To raise water upon the earth (Cr)h l( Mym twl(l)”
(4Q422 II, 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
“It shone on the heavens . . . the earth . . . as a sign for future
generations of eternity” (4Q422 II, 9–11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
4QAdmonition Based on the Flood (4Q370):
Survival of the “Made Righteous” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
“He judged them . . . according to their . . . inclination” (1 I, 3a) . . . . 146
God “thunders” and the earth “trembles” (1 I, 3b-4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146