Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age.

• Author: CRENSHAW, JAMES L.
• Position: Review

Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Age. By JOHN J. COLLINS. The Old Testament Library. Louisville, Ky.: WESTMINISTER/JOHN KNOX PRESS, 1997. Pp. xii + 275.

While providing readers a superb analysis of Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic age, John Collins has raised anew the issue of the relationship between Wisdom and Apocalyptic. Whereas Gerhard von Rad focused on the determination of the times to argue for Apocalyptic's origins in Wisdom (Wisdom in Israel [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972], 263-83), Collins emphasizes views of the afterlife as the link between the two types of literature. Furthermore, he thinks the popularity of the new belief in an eschatological judgment paved the way for natural theology.

The affinities between wisdom and apocalyptic first emerge in a prayer attributed to Ben Sira (36:1-17), but its unusual views have led many interpreters to consider the text a product of the Maccabean period. This date rules out authorship by Ben Sira, in the view of scholars, who see nothing else in the book to indicate that he was active that late. Even if the rhetorical question in Qoheleth, "who knows whether the human r[hat{u}]ah ascends and animal's r[hat{u}]ah descends?" (3:21) addresses speculation about a post-mortem judgment, the text rejects an apocalyptic understanding of reality. A decisive shift occurs, however, in diaspora Judaism, as shown particularly by 4Q Sapiential Work A and Wisdom of Solomon. The authors of these two works reinforce ethical instruction with eschatological expectation of divine judgment after death. The former, 4Q Sapiential Work A, refers to the mystery that is to be (raz nihyeh) more than twenty times, and Wisdom of Solomon uses the expression must[bar{e}]r[acute{i}]on theo[hat{u}]. This divine mystery has been revealed to the authors in some manner, which Collins calls special revelation, One may ask how this disclosure is any more special than the experience that Eliphaz reports in Job 4:12-21, or even the divine speeches from the whirlwind.

One of the strengths of Collins' approach is the close attention paid to social location. His discussion of the context of Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon accentuates the differences between the authors. Collins finds no evidence to support the claim that Ben Sira engaged in polemic against an aggressive Hellenism; instead, the data suggest that he welcomed many features of the Greek world. His advice about participation in Hellenistic banquets is all the more...