by
Damien F. Mackey
“The rivers
surrounding Eden are also mentioned in Sir 24:25–27.27
In addition
to these and many other probable subtexts, the Song of Songs provides
a parallel
for almost every line of Sir 24:13–20”.
Martti Nissinen
Against
arguments that all semblance and trace of the four antediluvian rivers of
Genesis 2 have been completely annihilated by a supposedly global Noachic Flood, I have previously noted that:
The … Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) provides us with a further
ancient testimony of these four rivers of Genesis 2, even apparently as then currently
active; but now with the inclusion of two new names, the Jordan and the Nile, that may
well provide us with a clue to the all-important, but un-named river of
Paradise itself (Sirach 24:25-27):
This is what makes wisdom brim like the Pishon, like the Tigris in the season of fruit, what
makes understanding brim over like the Euphrates,
like the Jordan at
harvest time; and makes discipline flow like the Nile, like the Gihon
at the time of vintage.
Some argue that the “Gihon” here is being identified
with the Nile; whilst others prefer, from their interpretation of the
parallelism used here, that Sirach had six rivers in mind. Yahuda, as we
shall … find, will conclude quite independently from this that there is a
connection between Gihon and the Nile, that the Gihon is in fact the Nubian
Nile.
[End of quote]
In other words, the four antediluvian rivers were still viable rivers
as late as the time of Sirach, conventionally dated to the C2nd BC – though I
would probably now have to date this Hebrew sage even later on the basis of my
radical article of revision:
A New Timetable for the Nativity of Jesus Christ
Now Martti
Nissinen, in his article, “Wisdom as Mediatrix in
Sirach 24: Ben Sira, Love Lyrics, and Prophecy”, has drawn attention to a
hitherto overlooked (“virtually unnoticed so far”) aspect of Sirach 24 which is, he writes, its dependence upon king
Solomon’s Song of Songs.
The author begins as follows:
Abstract
Sirach
24 can be read as a compendium of Ben Sira’s ideology of Wisdom, bringing together
the essential concepts of the book: Wisdom, Law, prophecy, and temple worship.
Scholars long ago recognized the dense network of intertextual links between
this chapter and other biblical texts, as well as the background of Ben Sira’s
image of Lady Wisdom in Hellenistic texts. One obvious biblical precedent of
Sirach 24 has gone virtually unnoticed so far: the Song of Songs. This essay attempts
(1) to demonstrate the close affinity of Sirach 24 with the Song of Songs; (2)
to disclose the underlying ideology of the goddess as mediatrix of divine knowledge,
prominent not only in the ancient Near Eastern love lyrics, but also in prophecy;
and (3) to show that the book of Ben Sira, while being a product of the Hellenistic-Jewish
culture, at the same time forms a part of the ancient Near Eastern heritage of
early Judaism.
Then much further
on, beginning on p. 380, Nissinen
will write:
The
image of Lady Wisdom as a fruit-bearing tree is likely to allude to Prov 3:18
where Wisdom is called a tree of life, which, again, leads the thoughts to the Garden
of Eden. The rivers surrounding Eden are also mentioned in Sir 24:25–27.27 In
addition to these and many other probable subtexts, the Song of Songs provides a
parallel for almost every line of Sir 24:13–20.
….
The
parallelism of cedar and cypress (Sir 24:13) can be found both in Cant 1:17 and
in SAA 3 14:9–10; in both cases, however, referring to the interior of the
scene of lovemaking. Moreover, in Cant 5:15, the male partner is compared with
a cedar, paralleled by the mountains of Lebanon, whereas the “brothers” of the
female partner, depicted as an adolescent girl, say of her: “If she is a door,
we will panel … her with cedar.” Lebanon and Hermon appear together in Cant
4:8, and Lebanon is also a common metaphor elsewhere in the Song of Songs (Cant
3:9; 4:11, 15; 7:5).
While
the woman of the Song of Songs is associated with a palm tree in Cant 7:8–9 and
En-Gedi appears as a seat of vineyards (Cant 1:14), the statement of Lady Wisdom
about herself in Sir 24:14, “Like a palm tree in En-Gedi I stand out,” rather
calls to mind what the woman says about her beloved: “Like an apple tree among
the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among men” (Cant 2:3). Obviously, Ben
Sira does not read this imagery as gender-specific but is free to adapt the
originally male image to Lady Wisdom, the focus being on her outstanding
quality. Jericho is not mentioned in the Song of Songs, nor does a rose garden …
feature anywhere in the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, the garden is one of the
basic topoi in ancient Near Eastern love lyrics in general (cf. SAA 3 14
r.17–18, 23–25),29 and the woman is equated with a garden in Cant 4:12–14, a
passage that is likely to have inspired Sirach 24.
The
Song of Songs does not know olive trees or plane trees (Sir 24:14), but as a
plane tree, Wisdom (according to one branch of the textual tradition …) “is
lofty beside the water”, which not only alludes to Ps 1:3 but also to Cant
4:13, where pomegranates with choice fruits grow by watering channels. …. What
follows both in Sir 24:15 and in Cant 4:14 is a catalogue of fragrances, of
which cinnamon and fragrant cane,32 as well as myrrh, are common to Sirach and
the Song of Songs, whereas the galbanum, onycha and mastic clearly draw from
Exod 30:34. …. In the Song of Songs, the fragrance is poured forth to seduce
the male beloved to the garden (cf. Sir 24:19), but in Sir 24:15, Wisdom
herself is compared to the odor of incense in the holy tent, the prototype of
the temple of Jerusalem which now is her domain (cf. Sir 24:10–11). There is
nothing in the Song of Songs to compare with incense in a sanctuary, since no
cult places are mentioned in this book; but it is all the more interesting to
find a rather exact counterpart to this line of Ben Sira in the Love Lyrics of
Nabû and Tašmetu, where it is said to the goddess Tašmetu: “Save, sit down in
the cella! Let (the scent of) pure juniper fill the sanctuary” (SAA 3 14:8).
The image of the savior-goddess in the cella is closely related to that of Lady
Wisdom ministering in the holy tent, and Ben Sira’s use of this motif is a
wonderful example of the adaptation of love poetry in the context of worship, Wisdom
assuming the role of the goddess.
Mackey’s
comment: The non-Hebrew myths are, I would
suggest, pagan adaptations of the original Hebrew wisdom, rather than being the
inspiration for the latter. In similar fashion, Solomonic love poetry
influenced Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptian love poetry. See e.g. my:
Solomon and Sheba
Nissinen continues:
Terebinth
… Sir 24:16) is in the Hebrew Bible a tree … that is associated with both love
and worship … hence it is a most fitting metaphor for Lady Wisdom’s cultic and
erotic aspects, echoing even the ancient Palestinian tree goddess. …. The Song
of Songs does not mention this tree, but it does speak about sitting in the
shade of a fruit-bearing tree (here a metaphor for the male beloved), enjoying
the delights of wine and love (Cant 2:3–6). For Tašmetu, “the shade of a sprig
of juniper is shelter for my Nabû and my games” (SAA 3 14:11). The goddess is
sitting in the sanctuary filled with the odor of juniper in the shade of cedar
and cypress – imagery closely akin to the self-praise of Lady Wisdom, who, while
sojourning in the temple of Jerusalem, “puts forth delights like the vine” (Sir
24:17).
The erotic connotations of fruits, well attested in the Song of Songs and in
the ancient Near Eastern love poetry (Cant 4:13, 16; SAA 3 14 r.20, 30) … are conspicuous
also in Sir 24:17, 19, and Wisdom’s invitation to those who yearn for her to
come and be filled with her fruits is closely reminiscent of Cant 4:16: “Let my
beloved come to his garden and eat his choice fruits” (cf. Cant 6:2 and SAA 3
14 r.30: “May her eyes see the plucking of my fruit”). A conscious allusion to the
Song of Songs becomes all the more probable when we notice that the fruit metaphor
is followed by that of honey and honeycomb in both texts: “I eat my honeycomb
with my honey” (Cant 5:1) – “My remembrance is sweeter than honey, inheritance
better than the honeycomb” (Sir 24:20). It seems like Lady Wisdom presents
herself superior even to the (divine) love praised by the Song of Songs.
The
motif of the insatiable hunger and thirst in Sir 24:21 does not find a direct counterpart
in the Song of Songs, and the same is true for the assurance of those who obey
Wisdom not being put to shame. The Love Lyrics of Nabû and Tašmetu, however, starts
with a programmatic expression of trust and devotion to the divine couple,
which reads like a positive formulation of the same idea: “May anyone trust in
whomever he trusts! As for us, we trust in Nabû, we are devoted to Tašmetu”
(SAA 3 14:1–3; cf. Sir 15:4b: “He will trust in her [scil. Wisdom] and not be
put to shame”).
….
Apart
from chapter 24, motifs and metaphors related to the Song of Songs and ancient
Near Eastern love poetry can be found in other parts of the book of Ben Sira as
well. In another poem about Wisdom, Sir 14:20–15:10, spying at the gates of
Wisdom and peeping through her windows (14:22–23) is clearly reminiscent of Cant
5:2–4, and the erotic connotations of the tree metaphor can, again, be traced in
14:26–27.39 Wisdom provides the one received by her with food and drink (15:3; cf.
Cant 4:16–5:1; 6:2); he will not be put to shame (15:4; cf. Sir 24:22) but will
have an elevated position among his peers (15:5; cf. SAA 3 14 r.26: “Among the counsellors,
her [scil. Tašmetu’s] throne is foremost”).
More
distant but still recognizable echoes from the Song of Songs can be heard also
in the praise of Lady Wisdom concluding the book of Ben Sira (Sir 51:13–22). “Wisdom
was my wet nurse; thanks to the one who taught me” (51:17) may be taken as a
heavily modified reading of “I would lead you and bring you to the house of my
mother, and you would teach me40” (Cant 8:2). While this remains somewhat unclear,
the source of the seeking-and-finding motif in Sir 51:18–21 can quite plausibly
be traced to Cant 3:1–4 and 5:2–6. Rather than repeating either version of the
story of the nocturnal yearning of the woman, Ben Sira picks up images such as
opening the door of Wisdom with his hand (Sir 51:19; cf. Cant 5:4a) … and the bodily
thrill caused by the passion for Wisdom (Sir 51:21; cf. Cant 5:4b).
Finally,
a series of allusions to the Song of Songs can be found in the praise of Simon
the high priest concluding Ben Sira’s laus
patrum (Sir 50:1–24).42 This is important
to note because the description of the high priest unmistakably repeats motifs
used in Sir 24:1–22 of Wisdom herself. He is now the cedar of Lebanon, surrounded
by the “sons of Aaron” like the willows growing by the water (Sir 50:12; cf.
24:13–14, 31). The way Simon “looked forth from the tent, as he came from the house
of the veil” (Sir 50:5) inevitably brings to mind the “Lady at the window” motif
… the adaptation of which to a male person is fully understandable if the high priest
is representing the qualities of Lady Wisdom. A variation of the “Lady at the window”
image has also been recognized in Cant 6:10, a verse that corresponds to the
astral imagery used of the high priest in Sir 50:6–7: “Who is this that gazes
down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, radiant as the sun, terrifying as
the nidgālôt.” ….
