The Biblical Antiquities of Philo, with Prolegomenon

445 Pages·1971·29.3 MB·English

by  Pseudo-Philo

TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY DOCUMENTS
SERIES I
P A L E S T I N I AN J E W I SH T E X TS
(PRE-RABBINIC)
T HE B I B L I C AL
A N T I Q U I T I ES OF PHILO
THE LIBRARY
OF
BIBLICAL STUDIES
Edited by
Harry M. Orlinsky
T HE BIBLICAL
ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO
NOW FIRST
TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION
BY
M. R. J A M E S, LITT.D., F.B.A.
HON. LITT.D. DUBLIN, HON. LL.D. ST. ANDREWS,
PROVOST OF KING'S COLLEGE. CAMBRIDGE
Prolegomenon by
LOUIS H. FELDMAN
KTAV PUBLISHING HOUSE, Inc.
N EW YORK
1971
FIRST PUBLISHED 1917
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF S.P.C.K.
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, MARYLEBONE
ROAD, LONDON N.W. 1.
NEW MATTER
COPYRIGHT © 1971
KTAV PUBLISHING HOUSE, INC.
SBN 87068-069-2
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 69-13579
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
C O N T E N TS
PROLEGOMENON ix
INTRODUCTION
1. GENERAL . . . . .. 7
2. HISTORY OF THE BOOK . . .. 8
(a) The Edith Princeps and after . .8
(b) Earlier history . . . .. 9
3. AUTHORITIES FOR THE TEXT . . . 12
(a) The printed edition . . . . 12
(b) MSS. of the text . . . . 13
(c) Subsidiary authorities. . . 17
(d) Geographical distribution . . . 18
(e) Community of origin . . 19
(/) Grouping of authorities, illustrated by
specimen passages . . . . 21
4. TITLE, AND ATTRIBUTION ,JO PHILO . . 26
5. ORIGINAL LANGUAGE . . . - 27
6. DATE . . . . . .. 29
7. FORM . . . . . .. 33
8. PURPOSE AND TEACHING . . .. 33
9. UNITY. CONTENTS . . . .. 42
10. RELATION TO OTHER LITERATURE, ESPE­
CIALLY—
(a) Enoch . . . . .. 43
(b) Jubilees . . .. . . 45
(c) Apocalypse of B a r u c h. . .. 46
(d) Fourth Book of Esdras . . . 54
(e) New Testament Writings . . - 59
V
vi CONTENTS
PAGE
11. EXTENT OF THE COMPLETE BOOK: THE LOST
CONCLUSION DISCUSSED 60
12. CONCLUSION. CHARACTER OF THE PRESENT
EDITION . 65
13. SYNOPSIS OF THE CONTENTS: DIVISION OF
THE BOOK . . , . 67
Additional Note . . . . - 73
TEXT AND NOTES 75
APPENDICES—
I. On various readings and corrupt pas­
sages . , . . . . 243
II. On the vocabulary, etc., of the Latin
version . . . . . . 2 69
INDEX . . . . . . . 2 75
PROLEGOMENON: TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Importance IX
II. Influence XI
a. Clement of Alexandria XI
b. Origen XI
c. Aphraates XII
d. EphraemSyrus XII
e. Ambrose XII
f. Theodoret XIII
g. The Middle Ages XIII
h. BookofCethel XIII
i. Nicholas of Cusa XIV
j. Juan Luis Vives XV
k. Azariah dei Rossi XV
III. Manuscripts XVI
a. MSS. known to James XVI
b. Kisch's list XVI
c. Three additional MSS. XVI
d. Munich and Budapest MSS. XVII
e. Kisch's edition XVIII
f. Relative merits of the Admont MS.
and the editio princeps XIX
g. StemmaofMSS. XX
IV. Title XXII
V. Authorship xxni
VI. Original language XXV
VII. Date xxvn
a. Terminus a quoafter 70 xxvm
b. Terminus ante quern: 132 xxvm
c. Shortly after 70 xxx
d. 101-102, 110-130 xxx
e. Quotations from the Bible as a criterion xxx
f. Targumic traditions as a criterion xxxi
VIII. Form: The Book of Chronicles x x xn
IX. Purpose xxxm
a. Deuteronomic conception of Israel's history xxxm
b. Anti-Samaritan polemic xxxiv
c. Anti-Tobiad polemic xxxvi
d. Anti-Mithraic polemic xxxvi
e. An Essene pamphlet xxxvin
f. Connection with the Dead Sea Scrolls xu
g. Mysticism XLHI
h. Gnosticism XLIV
i. Dura Europus XLV
j. LAB as apologetic XLVI
k. Polemic against intermarriage XLVI
X. Teachings X L V in
a. Angelology XLVIII
b. Messiah X L IX
XI. Relation to other books Li
a. The Septuagint Li
b. Jubilees LH
c. The Genesis Apocryphon LIII
d. IV Esdras and Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch Liv
e. New Testament LVI
f. Josephus LVIII
g. Targumim LXVI
h. Midrashim LXVIII
i. Unique features of LAB LXX
XII. Incompleteness of LAB LXXVII
XIII. Desiderata LXXVIII
XIV. Commentary (Including Corrections of James) LXXXII
XV. - Index of Biblical Citations and Parallels in LAB CXLV
XVI. Corrections to Kisch's edition CLIV
XVH. Bibliography CLVI
XVin.
Life of M. R. James CLXII
Addenda CLXIV
Acknowledgments CLXIX
PROLEGOMENON
CHAPTER I
IMPORTANCE
(James, p. 7)
Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (hereafter to be
be abbreviated LAB) has at last, and deservedly, become fashionable in
scholarly circles. Whereas during the three hundred years from its last
reprinting in the sixteenth century \intil its rediscovery by G>hn at the
end of the nineteenth century it was mentioned only by Conybeare,
Fabricius, Furst, Pitra (Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi Parata,
2 [Paris, 1884], who already, p. 321, realized its importance and
argued that it deserved a place among the Pseudepigrapha), Schurer,
and Steinschneider, it has, as the appended bibliography (which
endeavors to be complete) shows, since the publication of James*
translation in 1917 and especially since the publication of Kisch's
edition in 1949 (before Kisch's publication the Latin text was rare and
very difficult to obtain), become the subject of considerable study.
There is good reason for this, since LAB, as Ginzberg, Bloch, and
Vermes have seen, is one of the most significant links between early
haggadah and rabbinic midrash. Even so, though obviously an impor­
tant example of Pseudepigrapha, it is completely overlooked in the
collections and commentaries of Charles, Kautzsch, Pfeiffer, and
Strack-Billerbeck. And yet, if the dating arrived at by Cohn, James, and
Kisch, the three scholars who have done must with LAB, is correct,
LAB is, with the exception of the somewhat earlier Genesis Apocry-
phon, our oldest substantive midrashic work. Because the work has
apparently not been tampered with by Christians, it is one of our most
important sources of information for Jewish ideas and beliefs of the
early Talmudic period, to be studied side by side with the somewhat
earlier Dead Sea Scrolls and the rabbinic writings themselves.
In a number of cases LAB has preserved motifs or legends that
are found in no other extant source: e.g., the connection of the motif
of the Tower of Babel (6.4 ff.) with the story of Abram and the
furnace; the appearance of the Golden Rule in the framework of the
Decalogue (11.12); the reason for God's refusal (19.7) to allow
Moses to enter Palestine, namely, lest he see graven images; Moses'
rod as a symbol of a covenant (19.11); details concerning the con-
DC