Sweet mercy metropolis: Interpreting Aseneth's honeycomb

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 133-157

  Portier Young, Anathea E ^a  

^a DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 84949115645     PISSN: 09518207     EISSN: 17455286     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0951820705051956     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. The text I am using is the provisional longer text reconstructed by C. Burchard, 'Ein Vorläufiger griechischer Text von Joseph und Aseneth', in idem, Gesammelte Studien zu Joseph und Aseneth (SVTP, 13; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), pp. 163-209 (first published in Dielheimer Blatter zum Alten Testament 14 [1979], pp. 2-53)
2. See especially G. Delling, 'Einwirkungen der Sprache der Septuaginta in "Joseph und Aseneth" ', JSJ 9 (1978), pp. 29-56
3. See Burchard, Untersuchungen zu Joseph und Aseneth: Überlieferung- Ortbestimmung (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1965), pp. 91-99
4. See the review of proposals and discussion in R. Chesnutt, From Death to Life: Conversion in Joseph and Aseneth (JSPSup, 16; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), pp. 80-85
5. See also the comments of J.J. Collins in Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2nd edn, 2000), pp. 105-10
6. Burchard, Untersuchungen, pp. 99-107
7. see also the article by J J. Collins in the present collection
8. Note that Kraemer, When Aseneth Met Joseph, pp. 245-93, challenges these assumptions as well
9. The question of integrity arises from such differences as content, characters, and narrative setting. C. Burchard, 'The Present State of Research on Joseph and Aseneth', in J. Neusner, P. Borgen, E. Frerichs and R. Horsley (eds.), New Perspectives on Ancient Judaism. II. Religion, Literature, and Society in Ancient Israel, Formative Christianity and Judaism: Ancient Israel and Christianity (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987), pp. 31-52 (36), even states, 'The two parts can be read independently'
10. R. Pervo, 'Joseph and Aseneth and the Greek Novel', in SBLSP (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976), pp. 171-82, has suggested that chs. 22-29 derive from an earlier source used by the author (p. 178)
11. Another approach to the book's composition history is that of L. Wills, The Jewish Novel in the Ancient World (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995), pp. 170-84, who argues against the traditional division. Wills proposes that Joseph and Aseneth consists of an earlier Tove-and-adventure story', and a later 'symbolic conversion story', layered one on top of the other. The 'love and adventure story', he notes, is best exemplified in the latter portion of the book, but is also clearly visible in ch. 1. In the present study, I make no claim regarding the text's composition history, but instead employ a synchronic approach that treats the text as a unified whole
12. H.G. Liddell, Robert Scott and H. Stuart Jones, Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 9th edn, 1968), p. 1513
13. In Postbiblical Hebrew and in Aramaic the semantic field of the root "i" expands to include the idea of conversion. See M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (2 vols.; New York: Pardes, 1950), I, p. 226. The noun thus can mean either 'dweller, stranger' or 'proselyte, convert to Judaism' (see p. 263 of Jastrow's dictionary)
14. Deut. 19 emphasizes the importance of the geographical proximity of any habitation of the Israelites to a city of refuge, so that an innocent homicide should not be overtaken and slain by the avenger en route. Should the Israelites expand their territory, they must establish new cities of refuge
15. G. Zerbe, Non-Retaliation in Early Jewish and New Testament Texts: Ethical Themes in Social Contexts (JSPSup, 13; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), pp. 78-80, draws attention to a similar, 'significant rewriting of scriptural tradition and its implicit morality', in the use of the David and Goliath narrative as a model for Benjamin's actions in JosAs 27.1-5 and 29.2-3
16. E.W. Brooks, Joseph and Asenath (London: SPCK, 1918), p. xvi, calls attention to the further development of these ideas in Philo: 'The idea that the proselyte who has left country, friends and relations "for the sake of virtue and holiness" finds a city of refuge in Israel's religion has a close parallel in Philo, who says (De Monorchia, i. § 7) that such proselytes "ought not to be left destitute of some other cities, and homes and friends, but there ought to be places of refuge always ready for those who come over to religion".'
17. Cf. M. Philonenko, Joseph et Aséneth: Introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1968), pp. 55-56
18. E. Humphrey, Joseph and Aseneth (Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), pp. 91-92, points to the conflation of two levels of love, human and divine, throughout the work. I see this as owing in part to an ethic in which human love, and thus human mercy, is modeled on the divine. The conflict noted by Humphrey between themes of mercy and justice in the second part of the narrative (p. 110) likewise reflects traditional tensions between divine justice and mercy
19. B. Beck and D. Smedley, Honey and Your Health: A Nutrimental, Medicinal and Historical Commentary (New York: Robert McBride & Co., rev. edn, 1944), p. 71
20. Cf. Zech. 2.15 (LXX and MT, which corresponds to Zech. 2.11 in most English translations)
21. LSJ, p. 1373
22. Cf. C. Burchard, 'The Importance of Joseph and Aseneth for the Study of the New Testament: A General Survey and a Fresh Look at the Lord's Supper', in idem, Gesammelte Studien, pp. 276-77
23. A. Caquot, 'L'abeille et le miel dans l'Israël antique', in R. Chauvin (ed.), Traité de biologie de l'abeille. V. Histoire, Ethnographie et Folklore (Paris: Masson et Cie, 1968), p. 43, observes that for the ancient Israelites the bee incarnates hostility and aggression, noting its occasional use as an image for Israel's enemies
24. Cf. Deut. 1.44 and Ps. 118.12. Vergil sings of bees as warriors in Georgias 4.67-87
25. For the idea that bees inhabit a city, see Vergil, Georgias 4.153-96
26. V. Aptowitzer, ' Asenath, the Wife of Joseph: A Haggadic Literary-Historical Survey', HUCA 1 (1924), pp. 282-83
27. See B. Lindars, '"Joseph and Aseneth" and the Eucharist', in B. Thompson (ed.), Scripture: Meaning and Method (Hull: Hull University Press, 1987), pp. 181-99
28. and R. Chesnutt, 'Bread of Life in Joseph and Aseneth and in John 6', in J. Priest (ed.), Johannine Studies: Essays in Honor of Frank Pack (Malibu, CA: Pepperdine University Press, 1989), pp. 1-16
29. Honeydew in turn is used by some bees as an alternative to flower nectar for producing honey. For an explanation of these processes see E. Crane, A Book of Honey (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), pp. 34-36
30. See P. Borgen, Bread from Heaven: Art Exegetical Study of the Concept of Manna in the Gospel of John and the Writings of Philo (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1965), especially pp. 2, 14-15, 101-102, 114, 118-20, 139-40, 147-50
31. See K.-G. Sandelin, 'A Wisdom Meal in the Romance of Joseph and Aseneth', in idem (ed.), Wisdom as Nourisher: A Study of an Old Testament Theme, its Development Within Early Judaism and its Impact on Early Christianity (Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 1986), pp. 152-57. Based on perceived affinities with such traditions, Sandelin has suggested that the honeycomb represents 'heavenly nourishment' for the soul
32. M. Hubbard, 'Honey for Aseneth: Interpreting a Religious Symbol', JSP 16 (1997), pp. 97-110(98)
33. Regarding these two qualities, Crane, Book of Honey, p. 45, notes that 'On the world market honey is graded by its colour, light honeys commanding a higher price than dark honeys. The flavour and aroma of honeys, as of any other foodstuff, are more important than its colour, but they are very much more difficult than colour to assess quantitatively'. Beck and Smedley, Honey and Your Health, p. 71, write that 'Combs that look white or a creamy white are usually the best.. .as a general rule, the whiter a comb is, the more likely the contents will be satisfactory'
34. Pliny, Natural History 11.7
35. Numerous other examples are cited by H. Chouliara-Raïos, L'abeille et le miel en Egypte d'après les papyrus grecs (Jannina, Greece: Université de Jannina, 1989), p. 47 n. 42
36. E. Crane, The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting (New York: Routledge, 1999), p. 594, argues that 'The belief that honey fell from heaven probably contributed to its status as a sacred substance in pre-religious beliefs and in many religions'
37. Lactantius, Divine Institutions 1.22.19-20
38. See also W. Michaelis, in TDNT, IV, p. 552
39. Edward Neufeld, 'Apiculture in Ancient Palestine (Early and Middle Iron Age) within the Framework of the Ancient Near East', UF 10 (1978), pp. 219-47 (221, 223)
40. on Egyptian beliefs, cf. A.H. Jones, Essenes: The Elect of Israel and the Priests of Artemis (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1985), p. 71
41. Hubbard, 'Honey for Aseneth', p. 105
42. Kraemer, When Aseneth Met Joseph, p. 170
43. On the use of honey and wax as a preservative for corpses in the ancient world, see Crane, The World History, pp. 508-10; H. Chouliara-Raïos, L'abeille et le miel, pp. 159-61
44. Collins, Between Athens and Jerusalem, p. 236, draws a similar connection, though his conclusions are more modest. He finds that the image here recalls the comparison of wisdom with honeycomb in Sir. 24.20, which in turn ' suggests that the transformation to the quasi-angelic state is due to the nourishment of wisdom'
45. R. Chesnutt, 'Revelatory Experiences Attributed to Biblical Women in Early Jewish Literature', in A.J. Levine (ed.), Women Like This; New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), pp. 107-25 (111), writes that Aseneth plays a 'role alongside Levi as a prime example of and advocate for the ethical ideals which the text promotes'
46. See also Chesnutt, 'Revelatory Experiences', pp. 113-15, where a link between the mysteries symbolized by the eating of the honeycomb and the ethical ideals expressed elsewhere in the work is suggested but not spelled out
47. Chesnutt, 'The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Meal Formula'
48. E. Crane, Book of Honey, p. 96, writes that 'In Ancient Egypt honey was the most popular medicament of all; it is mentioned some 500 times in the 900 remedies that are known'. The majority of these prescriptions can be found in the Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE) and the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (seventeenth century BCE). Translations can be found in B. Ebbell, The Papyrus Ebers: The Greatest Egyptian Medical Document (London: Oxford University Press, 1937)
49. and J.H. Breasted, The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus (2 vols.; Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1930)
50. See further E. Crane, 'Past and Present Importance of Bee Products to Man', in A. Mizrahi and Y. Lensky (eds.), Bee Products: Properties, Applications, and Apitherapy (New York: Plenum Press, 1997), pp. 1-14
51. Crane, The World History, pp. 507-11
52. and Chouliara-Raïos, L'abeille et le miel, pp. 146-53
53. A. Caquot, 'debhash', in TDOT, III, pp. 198-31 (129), writes that medicinal use of honey was 'well known in Mesopotamia' and 'also attested in the Mishnah and Talmud'. Externally, honey served as dressing for wounds and bums (see especially the Ebers and Smith papyri), as well as a treatment for the eyes (Beck and Smedley, Honey and Your Health, pp. 121-24)
54. J. Leclant, 'L'abeille et le miel dans l'Égypte pharaonique', in R. Chauvin (ed.), Traité de biologie de l'abeille. V. Histoire, Ethnographie et Folklore (Paris: Masson & Cie, 1968), p. 57, notes that in ancient Egypt honey was the symbol of sweetness par excellence
55. Cf. Num. 14.8: 'If the Lord chooses us, the Lord will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey'
56. See H. Anderson, '4 Maccabees: A New Translation and Introduction', in OTP, II, pp. 533-37
57. Philonenko, Joseph et Aséneth, p. 53, has remarked on the centrality of the theme of repentance for the work as a whole: "Joseph et Aséneth pourrait passer pour une illustration de la de la repentance'. Smith, 'Joseph and Asenath', pp. 26-27, similarly points to the predominance of the theme of conversion even though the actual terms and are not frequently used. Equally important for the work is God's merciful response to the repentant, and Aseneth's modeling of this response for others to imitate
58. Humphrey, Joseph and Aseneth, p. 107, writes that the motifs of 'the triumph of mercy over revenge, the lifting up of the meek and the lowering of the proud', dominate the narrative, 'evoked at every point of the action'
59. The word for conversion here, is the same verb used to indicate repentance in Deut. 30.2 and 30.8 'you will return')
60. W. Klassen, Love of Enemies: The Way to Peace (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), p. 56, writes that 'the questions of vengeance and forgiveness of the enemy are nowhere more clearly faced in Jewish or Christian literature'. Zerbe, Non-Retaliation, p. 72, echoes this sentiment. Zerbe's valuable study contains the most thorough treatment of the ethic of non-retaliation in Joseph and Aseneth, and he notes well its connection in the text to the positive mandate of granting mercy, seeking reconciliation, and offering the gift of healing (p. 88)
61. Humphrey, Joseph and Aseneth, p. 66, notes that, in contrast to those who wield weapons, Aseneth's strength andheroism consist in her dependence on God (cf. also her comments on p. 43)
62. Zerbe, Non-Retaliation, pp. 74-80, argues that the motif of divine deliverance serves to ground the ethical message of the book regarding non-retaliation and the practice of clemency. God's actions remove the exercise of vengeance from the human sphere
63. Chesnutt, From Death to Life, p. 107, notes that 'Jewish characters on both sides of the conflict periodically articulate the principle of clemency toward offenders, which the author clearly wishes to convey as the Jewish ideal'