Collins, John - Interp of Adam and Eve in DSS - Short Notes

8/6/2019 Collins, John - Interp of Adam and Eve in DSS - Short Notes

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Interps of Creation/ADAM in early Judaism

Gen 1-3 during early 2nd

cent often worked out in the context of the ORIGIN OF SIN

1) BEN SIRA

(IN CONTEXT OF ORIGIN OF SIN DEBATE!!)

>Sir 17.1-12 Gen 1-3 interp

>no distinction b/w the account of creation in Gen 1 and 2-3

> human beings are taken from the ground =Gen 2 (v 1; 33.10)

>humans made in his own image and given dominion over the beasts = Gen 1 (v 3)>no prohibition god filled them w/ knowledge and showed them good and evil

>mortality is established from beginning, not from original sin (41.4)

>all are given eternal cov and told gods decrees

>Sir 15.11-20 Sin from humans, not from God vs 33.10-15 (all is from God!!) = tension!! (determinism vs free will)

>ytsr to form, from Gen 2.7 used as inclination in Sira

NO PROHIBITION!!

17.7 God filled Adam and Eve with knowledge and understanding, and showed them good and evil.

2 ADAMS!!

(Gen 2.7 & 1.27): The Lord created human beings out of the earth, and makes them return to it again (v 1; cf 41.3-4);

in v 3 God endowed them with strength like his own , and made them in his own image.

EVERYMAN ADAM!

>33:10 all human beings come from the grnd, and humankind was created out of the dust.Humanity= similar to both divine and creaturely realms = Goff (explicitly in 33.10-15):10

All human beings come from the ground, and humankind was created out of the dust.11

In the fullness of his

knowledge the Lord distinguished them and appointed their different ways.12

Some he blessed and exalted, and

some he made holy and brought near to himself; but some he cursed and brought low, and turned them out of their

place.13

Like clay in the hand of the potter, to be moldedas he pleases, so all are in the hand of their Maker, to be

given whatever he decides.

DUALISM!!14

Good is the opposite of evil, and life the opposite of death; so the sinner is the opposite of the godly.15

Look at all

the works of the Most High; they come in pairs, one the opposite of the other. (cf 11.14 -14

Good things and bad, life

and death, poverty and wealth, come from the Lord.; 42.24 -24

All things come in pairs, one opposite the other, and

he has made nothing incomplete.)

>sovereignty of god and theodicy according to Levinson

>More pronounced than in 4QInstruction

> Gen 2.7 underscores that God made both blessed and cursed

>humans left to their YTsR

DEATH!! all humans, NOT product of a FALL mortal from the beginning

FREE WILL!!

CONTRA 15.14 God created humankind in the beginning, & he left them in the power of their own free choice (YTsR)

BOTH 4QINST & BEN SIRA: TENSION B/W FREE WILL & DIVINE DETERMINISM IN REFLECTION ON PROB OF HUMAN SIN!!

BIGGEST DIFF b/w 4QINST & BEN SIRA:

>how God made the knowledge of good and evil available

>knowledge is situated in the garden

>Sira knowledge is associated w/ torah [god] bestowed knowledge upon them, and allotted to them the law of life. He

established w/ then an eternal covenant, and revealed to them his decrees (17.11-12).

>combines eden and Sinai compatible w/ the law in ch 24

>roots torah in creation chronologically prior to its opening narrative about adam and eve

>available publically in torah (not like 4qinst, only available to elect)

>vs 4qinst knowledge of good and evil is associated w/ mystery that is to be rather than torah, associated w/ creation

>like siras rooting torah in creation

>knowledge is only available to spiritual people, through divine mysteries

Sir 25.24 from woman sin had its beginning, & b/c of her we all die

prob prov 8; The Wiles of the Wicked Woman (4Q184)


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2) 4QInstruction

4Q423 (fragmentary) trees/garden EDEN!!

NO PROHIBITION

NO FALL = garden is ambiguous

and every fruit that is produced and every tree which is good, pleasing to give knowledge. Is [it] not a ga[rden of pastu]re

[and pleasant] to [gi]ve great knowledge? He set you in charge of it to till it and guard it ... thorns and thistles it will sprout

forth for you, and its strength it will not yield to you ... in your being unfaithful.

>metaphor for situation of the person addressed in the text

>trees are symbolic sources of wisdom and knowledge

4Q417 2 ii 12-13 Vision of Hagu INCLINATION!!

>INCLINATION either good or bad

-- "the inclination of the flesh" in context of the need to distinguish b/w good & evil (4Q416 1 i 15-16)

-- a positive sense, "to walk in the inclination of his understanding" (4Q417 1 i 11)

2 ADAMS!!

MOST IMPORTANT DISCUSSION of GEN: 4Q417 1 i 16-18 uses two creation accounts to describe to kinds of humanity

> POINT OF ENTRY: spirit of flesh did not distinguish b/w good and evil (Gen 2-3)

> spiritual people associated with Enosh (Adam, Gen 1, cf Instruction of the 2 Spirits in Community Rule Enosh refs to

Adam)

>Adam for according to the likeness of the Holy Ones is his inclination (paraphrase Gen 1.27)

> spirit of flesh then from Gen 2

3) 4 EZRA (late-1st

cent CE after destruction of temple)

THEODICY!! THEODICY!!

>present age is crap = negative portrayal of Adam

>the idea of Adam being immortal in paradise is suppressed (3.6)

Dialogue: Uriel and Ezra

URIEL-negative view of Adam not monolithic

>free will

only physical difficulties to adam (7.11-14) doesnt make sin inevitable

>a test and contest thru which indivs can act right and receive reward in age to come

>all sin, but based on the mercy of god, Isrl will receive rewardFALL-ish!!

>Adam = first to fall to evil seed

BUT Adams sin not determinative

>fashioning of those who have sinned; creation of righteous

EZRA-far more pessimistic about the present and eshtlgcal destiny of Isrl

FALL!!

>Adam = first sinner (3.4-11, 21-26) and cause of inevitable sinfulness and esch damnation (7.116-26)

BUT indivs are responsible agents too

>7.116-26 shows tension b/w free will and inherited sinfulness ambiguity116

it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced

him, had restrained him from sinning.117

For what good is it to all that they live in sorrow now and

expect punishment after death? 118 O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who

sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants.119

For what good is it

to us, if an eternal age has been promised to us, but we have done deeds that bring death?...122

Or

that the glory of the Most High will defend those who have led a pure life, but we have walked in the

most wicked ways?123

Or that a paradise shall be revealed, whose fruit remains unspoiled and in

which are abundance and healing, but we shall not enter it,126

For while we lived and committed

iniquity we did not consider what we should suffer after death."

>3.4-11 god decreed death for adam and his descendents when adam sinned

>attributes sin to the evil heart, BUT doesnt talk about transmission to descendents


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ELECTION!!

>Isrl is from adam like all other nations, but less sinful

>chosen nation (6.45-59) dominion given to adam in gen 1.26-28, inheritance of esch Irsl

ADAM = EVERYMAN!!

>some adam language is applied to all of humanity

>God formed humanity w/ own hands (implicitly like a potter, ref gen 2.7?)

>humanity is made in gods image

>all things created for human race (gen 3.26-28)

(FREE WILL WINS OUT)!!

4) PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA

2 ADAMS! DOUBLE CREATION (see Collins, Goff, and Levinson)

Allegorical Interpretation 1.31- There are two types of men; the one a heavenly man, the other an earthly. The

heavenly man, being made after the image of God, is altogether without part or lot in corruptible and terrestrial

substance; but the earthly one was compacted out of the matter scattered here and there, which Moses calls clay

(see Tobin, The Creation of Man)

>similar to 4qinst = two diff kinds of humanity being made

De Opificio Mundi 134 - After this, Moses says that "God made man, having taken clay from the earth, and he

breathed into his face the breath of life." And by this expression he shows most clearly that there is a vast difference

between man as generated now, and the first man who was made according to the image of God. For man as formed

now is perceptible to the external senses, partaking of qualities, consisting of body and soul, man or woman, bynature mortal. But man, made according to the image of God, was an idea, or a genus, or a seal, perceptible only by

the intellect, incorporeal, neither male nor female, imperishable by nature.

Questions on Genesis 1.8- Why does God place the molded man in Paradise, but not the man who was made in his

image? (earth man is in need of knowledge [paradise], god image man is need of nothing b/c self taught)

>more explicit than 4qinst about 2 creations

>philo is more exegetical than 4qinst which has no direct citation of text more like a pesharim in DSS terms

>two different kinds of people in light of idea of two realms (corporeal and immortal) = similar to 4qinsts spiritual vs fleshly

(but not equivalent)

>seems that philo reshapes Palestinian sapiential trads that are attested in 4qisnt in light of hell philosophy

5) Treatise on the Two Spirits (1QS 3:13-4:26) human being called ENOSH, contained w/in the Community Rule in context

of origin of evil debate THEODICY!!From the God of Knowledge comes all that is and shall be. Before ever they existed He established their whole

design .... He has created man (ENOSH) to govern the world, and has appointed for him two spirits in which to walk

until the time of His visitation: the spirits of truth and injustice. Those born of truth spring from a fountain of light, but

those born of injustice spring from a source of darkness. All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of

Light, and walk in the ways of light, but all the children of injustice are ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the

ways of darkness.... (1QS 3:15-21)

>dependent on Gen God created man to rule the world Gen 1.26

>two spirits = Gen 2:7 God breathed into nostrils the breath of live and he became a living being (breath and nefesh) two

kinds of humanity no exegetical basis is given

>also could be way of dealing with two inclinations (a struggle w/in every human)

DETERMINISTIC: (1QS 3:18)

>God is responsible for the amounts of the spirits given

NO PROHIBITION!! & NO FALL!! Like Sira 33, 4qinst, et al BUT, more absoluteb/c others mention human choice

>that man may know good and evil (Gen 2-3)

THE HUMAN CONDITION:

GRANT OF DOMINION!! 1QS 3:17-18

He created Adam (ENOSH) to rule the world those w/ more spirit of light = heirs of Adam

for those God has chosen for an everlasting covenant and to them belong the glory of adam (4.22-23)

ADAM = ELECT!! NOT EVERYMAN! (1QS 4.22-23)

>GLORY OF ADAM 1QS = will obtain; 1QH = already possess (Fletcher-Louise, All the Glory of Adam)

>CD, phrase associated w/ eternal life


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5) 2 BARUCH attempts to understand the destruction of temple (like 4Ez) THEODICY!!!

FALL!!

>the one who brought earthly death to all by his disobedience (17.3; 23.4; 54.15; 56.6)

>cause of physical ills and difficulties in the world

NO ORIGINAL SIN!!

>no hereditary sinfulness

>spiritual father of all sinners who imitate iniquity

>imitation makes him your daddy not submitting to creator makes you adams descendent

>paradigmatically (54.13-19) illustration to say that indiv controls esch destiny>paradigm of free choice

FREE WILL!!

EDEN!!

>those who choose to obey will receive immortality and paradise (reverse the curse!!)

ADAM = EVERYMAN!!

6) 1 ENOCH

The Bk of the Watchers ch 1-36

1En 6-11 earliest allusion to Gen 2-3 Fall Angels from Gen 6 in origin of evil!

>angels intro knowledge and violence sex w/ humans giants do iniquity flood evil spirits from bodies of giants

responsible for evil by leading people astray

>death an assumed part of humanity1En 24-26 EDEN references Gen 2-3

>tree of life!

1En 32 tree of wisdom in the garden to the east Gen 2-3

"I passed by the garden of righteousness, and I saw from afar trees more plentiful and larger than these trees,

differing from those very large and beautiful and magnificent-and the tree of wisdom, whose fruit the holy ones eat

and learn great wisdom." The accompanying angel explains: "This is the tree of wisdom from which your father of old

and your mother of old, who were before you, ate and learned wisdom. And their eyes were opened, and they knew

that they were naked, and they were driven from the garden."

NOPROHIBITION

NO explicit FALL

1En 15-16 flesh seems to be inherently mortal

Similitudes of Enoch 1En 69:11 humans no diff from angels - immortality"men were created no differently from the angels, that they might remain righteous and pure, and death which

destroys everything would not have touched them,but through this knowledge of theirs they are being destroyed."

NO FALL!!

>evil comes from watchers

>chng in human condition not b/c of sin of adam and eve but due to wisdom from the watchers

7) GENESIS RABBAH 14 (a midrash) show they were aware of duplication of creation

There were two formations [one partaking of the nature] of the celestial beings, [the other] of earthly creatures....He

created him with four attributes of the higher beings [i.e. the angels] and four of the lower creatures [i.e. the

beasts].... R. Tifdai said in R. Aha's name: The celestial beings were created in the image and likeness [of God] and do

not procreate, while the terrestrial creatures procreate but were not created in [His] image and likeness. Said the

Holy One, blessed be He: "Behold, I will create him [man] in [My] image and likeness; [thus he will partake] ofthe

[character of the] celestial beings, while he will procreate [as is the nature] of the terrestrial beings:' R. Tifdai [also]

said in R. Aha's name: The Lord reasoned: "If I create him of the celestial elements he will live [for ever] and not die;

while if I create him of the terrestrial elements, he will die and not live. Therefore I will create him of the upper and

lower elements; if he sins he will die, and if he dies he will live [in the future life]."

>diffs from DSS in combining celestial and terrestrial elements in all humans Qumran distinguishes two types


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8)JUBILEES defends Judaism against Hellenism by reinterpreting Gen 1-Ex 12

>jub portrays adam as completely obedient to gods law (context = macc revolt)

>creation of adam and eve in accordance w/ cosmos

NO COMMAND TO MULTIPLY!! (b/c only male was created on the 6th

day of the first wk)

ONE ADAM CREATION!!

>creation spread over 2 wks, but only one creation of Adam, eve is created during second wk

>Levinson says he omits Gen 2.7Im not convinced (check order of creation, etc)

PROHIBITION!!

>YES!! temptation story - jub 3.17-23 - the serpent came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to thewoman, 'Hath God commanded you, saying, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'

THE FALL!! & EXPULSION!!

>Jub 3.17-25 (gen 3.1-19) after 7 yrs in eden same prohibition/fall story (serpent, etc)

result = expulsion, animals lose speaking abilities

>expulsion is not esp negative (leaves and sacrifices incense)

>fall does not lead to universal sin! adam is not culpable

FREE WILL!!

ADAM = HISTORICAL FIGURE

ADAM = EVERYMAN!!

EDEN!!

>sanctuary is ided w/ eden and depicted as more holy than any land. And every tree which is planted in it is holy (3.12)

>angels lead adam and eve into the garden

DSS

9) 4QWords of the Heavenly Luminaries (4Q504) wisdom from beginning , combines two creation accounts, refers to

prohibition says God fashioned Adam in the image of his glory (Gen 1), you blew into his nostril, and intelligence and

knowledge.

10) 4QMeditation on Creation (4Q303) wisdom from beginning mentions the knowledge of good and evil before the

creation of Eve

11) 4QParaphrase of Gen and Ex (4Q422) combines 2 creation accounts, refers to prohibition

Documents

Collins, John - Interp of Adam and Eve in DSS - Short Notes