Abstract
This monograph, a revised version of a 2011 doctoral dissertation at New York University under Lawrence H. Schiffman, investigates the concept of historical time in Second Temple Judaism. The author focuses sharply on four works: Ben Sira, Jubilees, the Enochic Animal Apocalypse, and Fourth Ezra. Whereas three of the texts date from the first half of the second century BCE, Fourth Ezra originates from the end of the first century CE (actually after the fall of the Second Temple) but is included to further illuminate Jewish understandings of time. For each text, the author observes how communities have constructed their present identity by tracing their origins in the past, especially from creation and covenant.
After the introduction there are two chapters on Ben Sira and one each on Jubilees, the Animal Apocalypse and Fourth Ezra, before the conclusion. The book is rounded off with an up-to-date bibliography and an index of ancient sources, but no indexes of topics or modern authors. The study covers texts of diverse genres: wisdom literature (Ben Sira), Rewritten Bible (Jubilees), and apocalyptic (Animal Apocalypse and Fourth Ezra). Besides referring to text forms in Hebrew, Greek or Latin, Mermelstein refers to the Ethiopic of the Animal Apocalypse, but not the Syriac of Ben Sira except for a footnote.
The author begins the discussion by pointing to the crisis of faith caused by the Babylonian devastation of the Jerusalem temple and their exiling of the Jews: ‘Many feared that the destruction of 586 BCE marked an irreparable breach in the covenant…. Consciousness of a rupture in time among Second Temple writers was widespread’ (p. 1). Noting that some second-century BCE writers thought that the exile had not truly ended, since Israel was still under foreign domination, Mermelstein seeks to identify strategies used by the four texts for re-establishing links between the covenantal past and the Second Temple present.
Against that background, he first explores Ben Sira’s advocacy of the Jerusalem priesthood, especially of the high priest Simon II. He observes how Ben Sira connects the high priest and the temple not only to the Sinai tabernacle but even to the creation. With great care, Mermelstein traces verbal parallels between passages such as the great wisdom poem (chapter 24) and the praise of Simon (chapter 50). He demonstrates how Sirach 24 outlines the journey of divine wisdom with a gradual narrowing of location: from the cosmos to Israel and then to the sanctuary. Although Solomon’s sins eventually lead to the exile, by Ben Sira’s lifetime divine wisdom is once again present in Israel, embodied in the high priest. Instead of depicting the exile as a watershed event within Jewish history, Ben Sira portrays it merely as a passing moment (Sir 49:5–7). Though Mermelstein does not express it this way, we can see Ben Sira allowing the Priestly focus on the sanctuary to take precedence over the Deuteronomistic attention to national political life.
The following chapter deals with the Book of Jubilees in light of the timeless dimensions of the covenantal relationship, modelled on Deuteronomy 31–32. In this work the problems for humanity arise from the intervention of demons but they are suppressed by God. The writer of Jubilees responds to the idea that God might seem to have abandoned his chosen people: ‘creation marked the temporal beginning of Israel’s relationship with God, reassuring the book’s audience that redemption will eventually come’ (p. 89). Diminishing the significance of Sinai and the exile, the writer of Jubilees traces the divine commitment to the patriarchs in scenes that foreshadow the end-time, when God will entirely fulfil his plan for his people.
Thereafter Mermelstein discusses the latter part of the Enochic Book of Dreams, known as the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85–90), under the heading of the timeless symbols of history. By depicting the various historical actors as types of animals, the work illustrates the divine protection of the chosen people (the sheep) from the predatory attacks of wild beasts (foreign nations). Despite the depressing present, the historical review regards all human history as moving away from the ideal, so that the nation’s present travails match those of the past, but previous instances of redemption (flood and exodus) indicate God’s power to save his people once again.
Finally Mermelstein turns to a complex apocalyptic work, Fourth Ezra, written in the wake of the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem temple, indicating how notions of time and history serve the purposes of theological critique. This text ends by stressing God’s commitment in the face of human disobedience, whether this originates with Adam’s sin (in the dialogues) or with the people’s disobedience after Sinai (in the conclusion of 4 Ezra). Because God relates to the Israelites as individuals, they are justly punished when they sin, but God’s timeless commitment will be manifest towards those who repent and are obedient.
Mermelstein’s conclusion notes that unprecedented historical experience alters a community’s perspective on time. To account for new circumstances, communities create novel conceptions of time, involving narratives of beginnings. What emerges from this study is the general subsuming of Sinai and exile within a wider narrative, so that both these significant events serve as exemplary events within a broader framework. While creation predates the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, some texts see God’s election of Israel already present in the creation, even combined with a divine rejection of other nations. Thereby Mermelstein observes an ambiguity about the figure of Adam, sometimes regarded as the ancestor of all humanity but at other times viewed principally as the progenitor of the people of Israel.
The monograph deserves praise both for its careful exploration of the topic and for its generally lucid and well-focused style. By bringing into dialogue four disparate texts touching on themes of creation and covenant, Mermelstein has shown why these themes came to be deployed in particular historical circumstances. Inevitably the author has had to select some passages for discussion and leave others aside. There are occasional inconsistencies, such as two different translations of Sir 43:29 and of 50:22. To avoid the notorious text problems with Ben Sira, it might have been better to juxtapose Hebrew and Greek text forms rather than produce a harmonized translation, as in the case of Sir 45:25–26 (p. 85). A few other Ben Sira passages could also have been considered such as Sir 25:24, usually understood as tracing primeval sin back to Eve, and also Sir 33:7–15, touching on the election of Israel. One might ask: if Solomon’s sin was such a major negative turning point (p. 45), how can Sir 48:17–22 offer such a celebration of good king Hezekiah (p. 67)? Mention could also have been made of Italian monographs on Ben Sira by Gian Luigi Prato and Maria Carmela Palmisano. Overall, despite these very minor blemishes, this is a well-written monograph that advances our understanding of Second Temple Judaism.