CHAPTER XVII

LEGALISM AND PRACTICAL PROBLEMS

SPECULATION on the ways of God is, from the nature of the case, the occupation of only one thinker in ten thousand. The majority of men are confronted by more immediate problems. This was the case with the Jews in the Greek period. This people, as we have seen, had ceased to be a nation, and the majority of them were living outside of what they still regarded as their true home. In the cities founded by Alexander and his successors the Jews were a prominent part of the population. The great port of Egypt which the conqueror called by his own name speedily counted a hundred thousand Jews among its inhabitants. In this and other large cities they were obliged to learn a new mode of life and to adjust themselves to new modes of thought. The nation of agriculturists had become a race of traders. Men who are engaged in commerce must develop a different ethic from that which satisfies a community of peasants.

Two things conspired to make the problem difficult. The Jew, although living among the gentiles, wished to preserve his own religion. To live in the world and yet not conform to its religious and social usages required no small skill. In the second place, knowledge of the Greek language (which was essential to the business man in this period) brought with it some knowledge of Greek culture. But Greek culture was predominantly intellectual. Both metaphysic and ethic had been studied by the ablest minds among the Greeks, and the claim of the philosophers to possess the truth was a challenge to the Jew to make good the claims of his own Law. Adjustment to practical life and to Greek modes of

thought was, therefore, forced upon reflecting minds among the Jews. Hence the rise of what we call the Wisdom literature. Although direct evidence is lacking, we may assume that in this period a regular system of instruction was inaugurated in Jerusalem. The teachers were called sages; their instruction was given orally, but the maxims in which they embodied the substance of their teachings were written down and have reached us in the books we have now to consider. The point of view is set forth with all desirable distinctness in the opening words of the book of Proverbs: "To know wisdom and discipline; to discern words of understanding; to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, and equity" (Prov. 1:2 f.).

The sage claims to have attained this knowledge and he desires to impart the knowledge to others. The art of right living is something that can be learned, and it is because the young man has not studied it that he so often goes astray. The bad man is a fool, either because he has not had the opportunity of learning how to live or because he has flouted the instruction offered him. The sage, therefore, addresses the young man in order to give him knowledge and discretion: "If thou wilt, my son, thou shalt be instructed, and if thou givest thy mind to it thou shalt become wise," says Ben Sira; and the same author admonishes: "Neglect not the speech of the wise, and reflect on their enigmas; by this thou shalt attain education, so that thou canst appear before princes; despise not the tradition of the ancients which they have received from their fathers; for thereby thou shalt attain insight so that thou canst give an answer when there is occasion" (Sirach 8: 8f.; 6: 32).

In dating the Wisdom literature in the Greek period, we do not mean to say that something similar had not existed from very early times in Israel. In fact, the wise men are occasionally alluded to in the pre-exilic period, and from the nature of the case apothegms embodying reflections on the problems of life are current among all peoples which have reached anything like civilisation. We have from Egypt the

sayings of Ptah-hotep, who is said to have lived two thousand years before Christ and whose point of view is not unlike that of our book of Proverbs. For example, he says: "How beautiful it is when a son receives what his father says; he shall attain long life. Take care what thou sayest! Let it be such that the nobles will say: How fine is the utterance of his mouth! If thou obtainest me (wisdom) thy body will remain sound, and the king will be content with all thy actions." We have also from Egypt a similar collection attributed to one Ani containing warnings against women and exhortations to care for father and mother very similar to what we find in our book of Proverbs, and the maxims of the Babylonian Ahikar were known to the Jews as early as the sixth century B. C. The Wisdom literature, therefore, is not of purely Jewish origin.1

Our reason for dating the books now under consideration in this period is easily understood. The books are four in number (the book of Job, though affiliated with them, has been treated separately), namely, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, and the Wisdom of Solomon. The similarity of the four is so great that they cannot have originated far apart in time. One of them we can date with almost absolute certainty. This is the book of Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus), which must have been written about the year 180 B. C. The others must belong in the same general period, Proverbs somewhat earlier, Wisdom certainly I later. Two of the four were received into the Hebrew canon. This was probably because they were attributed to Solomon. Wisdom was written in Greek and so did not appeal to the Rabbinical authorities. The ascription of Proverbs to Solomon is only in line with postexilic custom, which published many books under the name of ancient worthies.

The point of view of this whole school is well put before us by Ben Sira, or rather by his grandson, who translated his book into Greek, in his preface: "Whereas many and great

1 The sayings of Ptah-hotep and of Ani are translated in Gressmann, Altorientalische Texte und Bilder, I, pp. 201 f.

things have been delivered to us by the Law and the prophets and the others who have followed after them, for which things Israel ought to be commended for culture and wisdom, and since it is becoming not only that the learned should themselves attain insight but also that they should be able to profit the unlearned, therefore my grandfather when he had much given himself to the study of the Law and the prophets and the other books of our fathers and had got therein sufficient skill, felt moved himself to write something pertaining to learning and wisdom, that those who are desirous to learn, being attached to these things, might profit all the more in living according to the Law." The grandson in stating his grandfather's desire formulated his own purpose also, since it was his aim in translating the book into Greek to benefit his fellow Jews in precisely the same way. What impresses us is that the Jew has taken up the Greek challenge which claimed culture and wisdom as Greek possessions. The claim is rejected on the ground that in the Law the Jew has the supreme source of wisdom. The Law is already supplemented by the collection known as the prophets and by some other books, which are not described more particularly. But it is plain that the Hebrew Scriptures already exist in the threefold division which still obtains. In these Scriptures the Jew has the supreme code of ethics, and the object of Ben Sira in publishing his reflections is to enable his fellows to live according to the Law. The author of Proverbs avows the same aim: "He that turns his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 289). Both authors, however, claim to speak not only from knowledge of the Law but also from long observation of human life. Ritual, to be sure, which occupies so large a space in the Pentateuch, is not made prominent by them. This is because they could trust the priestly scribes to see that this part of the Law was carefully obeyed. What most interested them was the problem of carrying the ethic of the Jewish code into practical life in foreign and often hostile surroundings.

Since these authors deal with every-day problems, they do not permit themselves to dwell much on the specific Messianic hope. Yet the strong racial feeling comes out now and then. Ben Sira prays that Israel may be saved and that Yahweh will send his terror on the gentiles. This author hopes for the gathering of the tribes and the return of Elijah, and in one passage even alludes to the Messiah (Sirach 48:9; cf. 47: 22). His pride in the history of Israel comes out in his panegyric on the national heroes. He is confident that the God of Israel is the only true God (36: 22), and genuine Jewish feeling shows itself in his hatred for the schismatic Samaritans, "the foolish people that dwell in Shechem" (50: 26).

So thoroughly has the belief in one God established itself that the polemic against idols such as we find in DeuteroIsaiah is no longer necessary. The hope of the Jew is that the gentiles may recognise that there is no God besides Yahweh (Sirach 33:5). There is, however, no speculation on the problems raised by the belief in God—as to his character, his toleration of evil, or his government of the world.1 Ben Sira deprecates such inquiries: "What is too high for thee search not out, neither inquire into what is beyond thy strength; for men have many vain opinions, and evil speculations lead them astray" (3:21 and 24). At the same time certain things are assumed; for example, that the universe is an ordered universe, a kosmos, as the Greeks would say. The principle of its ordering is wisdom, and the glowing words in which she describes her part in the creation of the world testify to the firmness with which this idea of an ordered universe had rooted itself in the mind of these thinkers (Prov. 8). Ben Sira is moved to praise by his contemplation of the works of God in nature, and utters his thought in one of the most elevated passages which have come to us from a Hebrew source (Sirach 42: 15 to 43:33). To this exalted mood the problem of evil seems to be no longer a problem, for even the evil spirits and the venomous beasts are subject to the will of the Creator (39: 28–31).

1 The exception in the case of Ecclesiastes is discussed below.