4QMess ar (4Q534) and Merkavah Mysticism Author(s): James R. Davila Source: Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Nov., 1998), pp. 367-381 Published by: BRILL Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4193104 Accessed: 20/10/2010 06:13 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
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4QMESS AR (4Q534) AND MERKAVAH MYSTICISM* JAMES R. DAVILA University of St. Andrews, Scotland
I. History of Interpretation The QumranAramaictext 4Q534, preservedin two very fragmentary columns,was publishedin 1964 by Jean Starckywith the siglum 4QMess ar.' It describes the birth, physical characteristics,esoteric wisdom and revelatoryexperiences,and strugglesagainst the wicked, of an unnamedfigure called "the chosen one of God." Starckyargued in the editio princeps that this figure was the messiah. This interpretationwas acceptedby Jean Carmignacin 1965, but in the same year it was challengedby Joseph A. Fitzmyer,who proposedthat the scroll actually describedthe birth and life of Noah.2He noted that intertestamentalliteratureshows a particularinterestin Noah's birth, adventures and wisdom, and that nothingin 4Q534 could not be understood as referringto Noah. P. Grelot respondedsympatheticallyto the proposal in 1975, and in 1978 Starckyretractedhis earlier identification and acceptedFitzmyer'ssuggestionthat the documentrefersto Noah.3 In 1981, FlorentinoGarcia Martinezpublisheda long article supporting Fitzmyer's interpretationand proposing in addition that 4Q534 * I am delightedto dedicatethis article to ProfessorEugene Ulrich in honor of his vast contributionto Qumranstudies, especially the many years he has invested in the thanklesstask of editing the criticaleditions of the biblical texts. ' J. Starcky,"Un texte messianiquearamien de la Grotte4 de Qumrin,"Memorial du cinqantenairede l'Ecole des langues orientales de l'InstitutCatholiquede Paris (Paris:Bloud et Gay, 1964) 51-66. 2 J. Carmignac, "Les horoscopesde Qumran,"RevQ 5/18 (1965) 199-217, esp. 217; J. Fitzmyer,"The Aramaic'Elect of God' Text from QumranCave 4," Essays on the SemiticBackgroundof the New Testament(Missoula,MT: ScholarsPress, 1974) 12760 (publishedoriginallyin CBQ 27 [19651348-72). 3 P. Grelot, "H6noch et ses dcritures," RB 82 (1975) 481-500, esp. 488-99; J. Starcky,"Le Maitrede Justiceet Jesus,"Le Mondede la Bible 4 (1978) 53-55. The latter citation is from F. Garcia Martinez,Qumranand Apocalyptic:Studies on the AramaicTextsfrom Qumran(STDJ9; Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1992) 1 n. 4. I have not been able to obtainthe articlemyself. ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 1998
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was a copy of the hithertolost Book of Noah.4He cites much evidence for the existence of this work in antiquity, to which we may add the mentionof rni zbn m:, "thebook of the wordsof Noah," in a fragment of the Genesis Apocryphon, first successfully read with advancedphotographictechniquesin 1993.SOtheridentifications have been proposed: Jonas Greenfield suggested that the figure is Melchizedek, while Andre Dupont-Sommerargued that he is the Chosen One (Messiah, Son of Man) describedin the Similitudesof Enoch. Andre Caquothas carriedthis idea furtherand proposedthat the protagonist is a "Henoch redivivus."6In 1996, Michael Wise, MartinAbegg, and EdwardCook, in theirnew translationof the Dead Sea Scrolls, suggest that "the initial impulsewas correct:the 'chosen one' is a messiah, if not the messiah."They thinkhe may be a future priestlymessiah.7In addition,Tom Blantonhas kindly made available to me an unpublishedstudy in which he argues (independentlyof Wise, Abegg, and Cook)thatthe hero of 4Q534 is an ideal, eschatological priestlyfigure.8Still, the most widely acceptedview until recently has been that the protagonistis Noah.9 Fitzmyer,J.T. Milik, and GarciaMartinezhave also suggestedthat two other fragmentaryAramaicMSS, 4Q535 and 4Q536, are copies of the same work as 4Q534.'0 However, although these two MSS overlap with one another,they do not overlapanywherewith 4Q534, and the parallelsin contentare not so strikingas to convince me that 4 Garcia Martinez, "4QMess ar and the Book of Noah," Qumran and Apocalyptic 1-44 (originally published in Spanish in Salmanticensis 28 [19811 195-232). s R.C. Steiner, "The Heading of the Book of the Words of Noah on a Fragment of the Genesis Apocryphon: New Light on a 'Lost' Work," DSD 2 (1995) 66-71. 6 J.C. Greenfield, "Prolegomenon," 3 Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch (ed. Hugo Odeberg; New York: Ktav, 1973) xi-xlvii, esp. xx-xxi (the original volume, minus Greenfield's prologue, was published in 1928); A. Dupont-Sommer, "Deux documents horoscopiques esseniens decouverts a Qumrin, pres de la Mer Morte," CRAIBL (1965) 239-53, esp. 246-53; A. Caquot, "4QMess ar I i 8-1 1," RevQ 15/57-58 (199 1) 145-55, esp. 155. 7 M.O. Wise, M. Abegg, and E. Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (San Francisco and London: HarperCollins, 1996) 427-29, the quotation is from p. 428. 8 T. Blanton, "4Q534: Not Noah, but the Ideal Levite," unpublished seminar paper, University of Chicago, 1997. 9 See, for example, R. Eisenman and M. Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (London and New York: Penguin, 1992) 33-37; M.E. Stone, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Pseudepigrapha," DSD 3 (1996) 270-95, esp. 288; G. Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (London and New York: Penguin, 1997) 521-22. 10 Fitzmyer, The Aramaic 'Elect of God' Text," 158-59; J.T. Milik with M. Black, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976) 56; Garcia Martinez, "4QMess ar and the Book of Noah," 17.
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they really are part of the same work. In any case, they do not bear either way on my main argumentin this paper.For this reason, I will not considerthem furtherhere. I too wish to challenge the prevailingconsensus,althoughmy proposal is potentiallycompatiblewith all of those given so far. I argue in this articlethat the protagonistof 4Q534, whoever else he may be, is strikinglysimilarto the pictureof a Merkavahmystic which we can buildup froma close examinationof the Hekhalotliteratureand medieval Hebrewphysiognomictractates.I furthercontendthat his description in 4Q534 is probably an early formulationof traditionsfound later in far more developed form in Jewish mystical literature. II. The Hebrew PhysiognomicLiterature My point of entry is the parallelsdrawnby GershomScholem and IthamarGruenwaldbetween the Dead Sea Scrolls (including4Q534) and Hebrew physiognomic texts from late antiquityand the Middle Ages. Several such documentsare now known. Scholempublishedone titled "The Physiognomy of R. Ishmael" (Krnsr -1mO'ne nflm) in sev-
eral manuscriptsas well as a second (Oxford240 165b-166b),of which Gruenwaldfound anotherand less corruptcopy." Gruenwaldhimself publisheda thirdwork (T.-S. K 21) in one manuscript,'2and a fourth (T.-S. K 21.95.L) has been publishedby Peter Schafer.'3These works deal with the physical characteristicsof varioushumantypes and what these characteristics,combined with astrological data, allegedly tell about the characterand fate of the individualswho bear them. Scholem argued in 1953 that the CommunityRule (lQS) shared technical terminologywith the Physiognomyof R. Ishmael, particularly a paralleluse of the term mlr*rn, based on an interpretationof I G. Scholem, "Physiognomyand Chiromancy," SepherAssaf (Jerusalem:Mossad Harav Kook, 1953) 459-95 (Hebrew); idem, "Ein Fragmentzur Physiognomikund Chiromantikaus der Traditionder spatantikenjudischenEsoterik,"Liber Amicorum:
Studies in Honour of Professor Dr. C.J. Bleeker (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969) 175-93 (all
citations of the Physiognomyof R. Ishmael follow the paragraphingin this article); I. Gruenwald,"FurtherJewish Physiognomicand ChiromanticFragments,"Tarbiz40 (1970-71) 301-19, esp. 317-19 (Hebrew). 12 Gruenwald, "FurtherJewish Physiognomicand ChiromanticFragments,"306-17. '3 P. Schafer,"Ein neues Fragmentzur Metoposkopieund Chiromantik," Hekhalot Studien (Tubingen:J.C.B. Mohr [Siebeck], 1988) 84-95. In addition, a number of medieval Jewish writersreportthat the Merkavahmystics made use of similar physiognomictraditions(see Scholem,"Physiognomy," 459-68;Schafer,"EinneuesFragment," 84 n. 1).
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JAMES R. DAVILA
Gen. 5:1 (that is, the nll5ln of Adam constitutethe natureor physical characteristicsof human beings).'4 Gruenwaldfollowed up this observationin 1971 with new texts and new parallels.He showed that another Qumrandocument (4Q186, to which we may now add the Aramaic document 4Q561) is a physiognomictractatewith striking similarities to the later texts. He also pointed out that 4Q534 and Oxford240 165b-166bboth use a word for "lentils"(althoughnot the same one) to describe significantphysical characteristics.5 These connections are importantfor my argumentbecause it has been generally recognized that there is a close relationshipbetween the medieval physiognomictractatesand the Hekhalotliterature.The Physiognomy of R. Ishmael is narratedto R. Ishmael by the angel Suriah.Both rabbi and angel play an importantrole in the Hekhalot texts. This work also shares a numberof terminologicalpeculiarities with the Hekhalotmaterials,and one passage seems to allude directly to the ascent of the mystic. The single sentencein ?32 reads, "And if he has one (line) that standson his foreheadcorrespondingto 'bindings of crowns,' so he ascends."The expression"bindingof crowns" ) is paralleledby a similarexpressionin theHekhalotRabbati, (Y'"n and the ascent may be a mysticalascentto the Chariot.'6Scholemalso 14 Scholem, "Physiognomy," 478-79. Schaferexpressesreservationsabout his interpretationof M7fnn in "Ein neues Fragment,"91-92 n. 31. '1 Gruenwald,"FurtherJewish Physiognomicand ChiromanticFragments,"304-6, 317. On4Q186,anencodedHebrewphysiognomicwork,see ].M. Allegro,"AnAstrological CrypticDocumentfrom Qumran,"JSS 9 (1964) 291-94 and plate 1; QumranCave 4.1 (4Q158-4Q186)(DJD 5; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1968) 88-91, pi. XXXI; Carmignac, "Les horoscopesde Qumran,"esp. 199-206;M. Delcor,"Recherchessur un horoscope en langue h6braYque provenantde Qumran,"RevQ 5/20 (1966) 52142; R. Gordis,"A Documentin Code from Qumran-Some Observations,"JSS 11 (1966) 37-39; J.M. Strugnell,"Notes en margedu 'Volume V' des 'Discoveriesin the JudaeanDesert of Jordan,"'RevQ 7/26 (1970) 163-276, esp. 274-76; G.-W. Nebe, "1ntt in 4Q 186," RevQ 8/30 (1973) 265-66; M.R. Lehmann,"NewLighton Astrologyin Qumranand the Talmud,"RevQ 8/32 (1975) 599-602; M. Philonenko,"DeuxhoroscopesQoumrSniens: identificationdes personnages,"Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses 65 (1985) 61-66; F. Schmidt, "Astrologie juive ancienne: Essai d'interpr6tationde 4QCryptique(4Q186),"RevQ 18/69 (1997) 125-41. On 4Q561, an Aramaicphysiognomic tractate,see Eisenmanand Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered,263-65. The readingsI cite from this work are based on the photographPAM 43.598 in E. Tov (ed.) with the collaborationof S.J. Pfann, The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche:A
Comprehensive Facsimile Edition of the Texts from the Judean Desert (Leiden: E.J.
Brill, 1993). 16 The phrasein the HekhalotRabbatiis D-ro 'hn10 'D, "Whois like nop 'I'p Him among those who bind on bindings of crowns?"(?103). (All referencesto the Hekhalot texts follow the paragraphingof P. Schafer et al., Synopse zur HekhalotLiteratur[Tiubingen: J.C.B. Mohr(Siebeck), 1981]). Scholem notes a numberof other
4QMESSAR (4Q534)
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suggested that the detailed knowledge of other people's lives attributed to the Merkavah mystics in the introductionto the Hekhalot Rabbati (see the appendix)could have been due to their mastery of physiognomicindicators.'7 The text publishedby Gruenwaldalso has connectionswith Merkavah mysticism,mostly the Sar Torahtradition.A numberof figures describedin it are precociousor especially skilled in Torah(see T.-S. K 21 A1.7-10; 17-18; A2.15-17; 24; B1.12-14). One is given Ezra's epithet, "4aready scribe"(Cnfrn-M10; T.-S. K 21 B1.12). The warning at the end of this work againstrevealingthe materialto outsidersand its referencesto meditationin a hidden place and immersionare typical of the Hekhalotand magical traditions.'8 The most striking connections, however, are found in the Geniza fragmentpublishedby Schafer (G12 in his edition of Geniza texts).'9 Entitled"A Good Omen" (ncD lD'c), it begins with an alternateformulationof materialfound in 3 Enoch 1-2, a formulationthat Schafer has shown is redactionallymore primitivethanthe version in 3 Enoch. When R. Ishmael ascends on high to gaze at the chariot,God reveals parallelsin terminologyand contentbetween the Physiognomyof R. Ishmaeland the Hekhalotliterature,but some of them strikeme more as chancesimilaritiesin language ratherthan significantparallels.See his notes to the text in "Physiognomy,"480-87 and also "Ein Fragment,"186-93. Scholem, "Physiognomy,"468-69; idem, "Ein Fragment,"178-79. "x T.-S. K 21 B2.17-26. Partsof the passage seem to be corrupt,but I would translate it roughlyas follows: "My son, open your eyes and see with your eyes and hearwith your ears. If you "'revealthe work of recognitionof bodies, (you shall be) in fire and dloom]ed in both worlds "andhis [sic] body is given to the cruel one. And if he keeps it ... to any eye 20exceptto one for whom it is fittingand he shall not repeat... fruit and he shall not (perhapsdelete "not"?)meditate2"inhis heartwith immersion in a place of conceal[ment]with which people are unfamiliar22andhe conducts himself with humilityof spirit and he does not speak in vain, happy is he 23in his life and happyis he in his death,for he is one of the holy ones and he inherits 24agood name for himself and for his progenyforever. [End.] I[f] you want 25tobecome wise in them and in the work of man and womanand cattle and animals and birds 26andcreeping things of the ground,stand and performa strict immersionagainstdanger... The Physiognomyof R. Ishmaelbegins with a similarwarning.The longer versionof ?1 reads, "R. Ishmael said: Suriah,Prince of the Presencetold me a secret, which I am revealingto you. Anyone who reveals it to him who is unworthyis banishedfrom this world and from the world to come and his residence is in the lowest level of Gehenna."Comparablepassages in the Hekhalotliteratureinclude ??299, 314, 335, 489-90, 495, 623, 663, and 705-6. "'
P. Schafer, Geniza-Fragmente zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr
[Siebeck], 1984) 135-39.
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JAMES R. DAVILA
to him the place of souls who have not yet entereda body. Reference is made to Gen. 5:1 (as in the Physiognomyof R. Ishmael) in some relationto their prospectiveembodiment.Ishmaelis met by the angel Metatron,who takes him on a tour of this realm and shows him the signs of the zodiac. Metatron then launches into a description of someone's birthand life (whose is not clear), a descriptionsimilar to those found in the physiognomic tractates.He gives his horoscope, describesunusualphysicalmarkings,and says thathe shall be "ready" (vnfl [2b.18]; perhaps to be emended to "a ready scribe" [i1iro 1i1D]
as in Gruenwald'stext) and "one of the good." The text breaksoff in the middle of an account of a childhoodillness sufferedby the subject, but apparentlyit describedhis recovery and attainmentof great things later on. Thus we see that the writers of the physiognomictractateswere well aware of the traditionsof the Merkavahmystics, and vice versa. The same hero, R. Ishmael,figuresin both traditions;they sharemuch technical terminologyand the techniquesof physiognomyappear to have been used by the mystics to determinewho was worthyto enter their ranks.This interweavingof the two traditionsshould lead us to take a second look at the Qumranmaterialto see if it is reflectedthere as well. In fact it is. To supportthis assertion,I begin with an annotated translationof 4Q534. III. Translationof 4QMess ar (4Q534)20 Column 1 1. of the hand two... [ ]... [ ]... a mole. Red2' are 2. the hairs22[and] lentils on [ ] vacat
20 I have reconstructed the Aramaictext from the photographsin Starcky,"Un texte messianiquearam6en"and from the plates PAM 41.917, PAM 43.590-591, and PAM 43.941 in The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche.Other treatmentsof this document "Deux includeCarmignac,"Les horoscopesde Qumran,"esp. 206-17; Dupont-Sommer, documentshoroscopiquesessdniens,"esp. 246-53; Fitzmyer,"The Aramaic'Elect of God' Text";Grelot,"Henochet ses 6critures";GarciaMartinez,"4QMessar and the Book of Noah";Caquot,"4QMessar I i 8-1." 21 Reading1['JPaob (orI['lpoibi).I take the word to be a predicateadjectivemodifying the two masculineplural nouns in line 2. Somethingred is also mentionedin 4Q561 2 2, probablyclose to the mentionof hair (see next note). and is 22 Reading*4nW. The reading-.MM("barley")is possible paleographically supportedto some degree by the following word, but the masculinepluraladjective modifying the two words makes the second possibility unlikely. Referencesto hair
4QMESS AR (4Q534)
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3. and small moles on his thigh [ Is different23 one from another.He knows xxx24 4. In his youth he shall be like a lion,25[a m]an who knows no knowledge [until] the time when26 5. [he] knows the three books. vacat 6. [T]hen he shall become prudent and he shall know ... [ ] ...
a vision to come to him concerning [the] celestial realm
7. And xxx28and his fathers29xxx30and his beard.3'With him there [shall b]e his counsel and [his] prudence
(We2t) also probably appear in 4Q186 I iii 4 and 4Q561 2 4. Lines 1-3 of this column
seem to describe the physical appearance of the protagonist. The use of the word "lentils" in the later physiognomic texts to describe bodily markings has already been mentioned. Markings on the -hands are also mentioned frequently (e.g., T.-S. K 21 A2.18-21; Bl.8); Physiognomy of R. Ishmael ??23-30, 33. 23 The word 'i7 could also mean "teeth" or "years." The translation "different" seems to fit the next phrase and the overall context best, although teeth are mentioned in 4Q186 I iii 2 and 2 i 2 as well as in 4Q561 1 i 3. 24 I cannot decipher the word 7l'boo. 25 Reading CT`4:)with Carmignac (taking Vr7 to be a Hebrew loan word), rather than @O"C: (Starcky) or pl'nt (Fitzmyer). The first two letters are certain, the third does not seem large enough to be a tet, and the end of the word reads better as a gin, since the final nun would go farther below the line if it were 11.The spelling with double yod is unusual, but it may be an attempt to reflect the diphthong in the Hebrew word (cf. LXX Aatoa; Judg. 18:7 etc.). In the Physiognomy of R. Ishmael, ?3 begins "And whoever resembles a lion..." ('1tt'k Mlrl '0r). The meaning in 4Q534 is unclear, although the leonine individual in the Physiognomy of R. Ishmael "is vengeful and vindictive to his comrade, and concerning him it is said 'he hearkens to a lying word' (Prov. 29:12)." 26 The word "i (Fitzmyer) could also be read as tt (Starky), that is, "until a time of mystery..." 27 Another possible reading is fD-Itt. (For the meaninilgof this word, see section IV.) 28 This line bristles with difficulties, and I cannot decipher the first several words with any confidence. The best reading of the first word is *:"rnu (Carmignac); the original proposal of Starcky, Tdti, seems to me to be paleographically impossible: the second yod is clear and the final letter looks more like an 'aleph than a he'. The second bet is far from certain; kaph or mem seems possible as well. If we accept Carmignac's reading, the meaning "growth" is still problematic, since we would expect the masculine plural determined state to be marked with only one yod. If we take the first 'aleph as an internal mater lectionis, the translations "and the gates" or (reading A4!*kmt) "fits of weeping" are also possible, although I propose them with great hesitation. 29 Reading 'ifool. The reconstruction `itlbmi, "and his (fore)fathers" is possible but, in the absence of a clear context, conjectural. 30 I cannot decipher the word (or words) o'rla loo. 31 The word nrptl has been taken by previous commentators to mean "old age," even though the word is unattested elsewhere and should begin with a dalet in Qumran Aramaic. The translation "and his beard" is equally possible and subject to the same two objections. However, the phrase "and his beard" appears in Hebrew (liptl) in
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JAMES R. DAVILA
8. and he shall know the mysteries of man and his wisdom shall go to all the peoples and he shall know the mysteriesof all the living
9. [And alII theircalculationsagainsthim shall come to nothingand the corruptionof all the living shall be great 10. [ ] his [cal]culationsinasmuchas he is the chosen of God (Trin Kilbtk).His birth and the spirit of his breath ] his [cal]culationsshall be forever.vacat
11. [ 12.
calculations
13....
14-17. ... Column2 1. [ ] which... [ 2. [ ] 3-5. 6. his bi[rt]h ...
]...
fell of old. The sons of the pit
... evil. The lentil. belonging to
7. and the spirit of [his] breath... 8. forever 9-11....
12. and provincesQr:il). 13. and they will destroy... [ who...32
] [
and in xxx they dwell
[
14. waters shall cease I ] from [ I pupils (of the eye) (1p?33). They shall destroy all these, [they] shall g[o (?) 15.
...
16. [ ]... [ ] ... and... they shall understandhis work like Watchers 17. instead of [his] voice [ ] his/its foundationupon him/it they shall found. Sin and... [ 18. [ ] ... [ ] holy [] and Watcher[s ] word 19. [ ]... uponhim[ 20-21.
4Q186 2 i I and in Aramaic(iml-n1)in 4Q561 I i 3 (cf. Mlp in I ii 4), so it would make sense in the presentcontext. Descriptionsof beardsare also found in the later physiognomictexts (T.-S. K 21 B1.3; Physiognomyof R. Ishmael??2, 3). 32 I cannot decipher the phrase oo -i t Sn 15?5i. 33 Either p1 (Fitzmyer)or la= (Starcky)is paleographicallypossible.On the meaning, see section IV.
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IV. 4Q534 and the MerkavahMystical Tradition Although Gruenwald noted the parallel between 4Q534 and the physiognomictractates,no one has pointedout the much more extensive connectionsbetween the Qumrantext and the physiognomicand Hekhalot literaturesas a whole. Many are found in the self-aggrandizing hymns that introducethe Hekhalot Rabbati (translatedin the appendix)and in the Sar Torah tradition.I will survey these parallels here in the order they arise in 4Q534. After the physical descriptionin lines 1-3 of col. 1, we are told somethingabout the youth of the subject.Apparently,his magnificent esoteric knowledge is missing in his earlierdays and he knows nothing "untilthe time when he knows the three books" (lines 4-5). Such late bloomers also appear in the Hebrew physiognomic literature. Gruenwald's text features an individual who suffers a serious fall from a roof when he is seven years old, but who begins to study Bible (Torah,Prophets,and Writings)when he is eight. He goes on at age seventeen to study "Mishnah and halakhot more than his companions."' Anotherboy learns no Torah until he is eight years old, "but after that, anything that his companionslearn in two days, he shall learn in one.35It may be that the hero of 4Q534 is such a slow learner,who begins to excel only after masteringthe threefoldbiblical canon. Grelot takes the "threebooks" to refer to three works of the Enochic corpus (the Astronomical Book, the Book of Dreams, and the Book of the Watchers, all alluded to in Jub. 4:17-22). If the protagonist is Noah, he is probably right. But if 4Q534 has nothing to do with Noah, the three books may refer to the traditional threefold cor-
pus of biblical books (as in T.-S. K 21 A1.8), alluded to already at Qumran in 4QMMT 95g96.36 Thereafter the hero's progress is meteoric. We are told in line 6, "then he shall become prudent and he shall know . . . a vision to come
3 T.-S. K 21 A1.6-10 35 T.-S. K 21 A2.15-17. 36 Accordingto the lineationof the compositetext translatedby F. GarciaMartinez in The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated(Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994) 77-79. Cf. E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Qumran Cave 4.V: Miqsat Ma'afe ha-Torah (DJD 10; Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1994) 58-59 (C 9-10 accordingto the lineationused in DJD 10) 11112. If "Moses"(the Pentateuch)was considereda single book (1IO) and "David"(the Hagiographa)a single unit, then the collection of "Prophets"could easily have been thoughtof as a unit as well. In fact, it is not certainthat the text of 4QMMT(4Q397) readC"shoin3 ratherthan n'm:iih=on. since the yod markingthe pluralcontw structis not preservedon the leatherand the size of the lacuna is uncertain.
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JAMES R. DAVILA
to him concerning [t]nDlIK." J.T. Milik has noted that the same word appearsin lQapGen 2:23. The story goes that Lamech, suspicious that his son Noah is an offspringof the Watchers,convinceshis father,Methuselah,to travelto his own father,the patriarchEnoch,to whom the angels make everythingknown, in orderto confirmthat the child really is Lamech's son. The two words that describeEnoch's locationare difficult.The first is damaged,and the meaningof the second, pn1nm,is not obvious at first glance. The word IIIne is an Aramaic form of D'llI (2 Chron. 3:6),
the name of the place that is the source of the gold used for the settings of gems in Solomon'stemple.The medievalHebrewtractateMassekhetKelim takes it to be a name for the Gardenof Eden.Apparently the meaning is the same in the Genesis Apocryphon,since the translation of Enochto paradiseis partof the cycle of legends abouthim." If so, the best readingof the firstword is n which is used in Jewish Aramaicto mean the top layer (of three) of a clay dam in a field. In the Genesis Apocryphon,Milik argues,it means the thirdand uppermostheaven, which containsthe celestial temple and paradise.38 This is where Enoch lives after his translation,and where Methuselah travels to seek his advice. Another version of the story in I Enoch 106-107 has Enoch living among the angels and having access to the heavenly tables.39 Returningto 4Q534, we should conclude,then, that the persondescribedthereinalso experiencesa revelationaboutthe celestial realm. It is also possible to translatethe second phrasein 1:6 as something like "of a vision, so as to come to the celestialrealm,"in which case the person describedin the work experiencesan actual ascent to heaven of GarciaMartinez).Thus, the hero of 4Q534 (this is the interpretation has revelationsabout the heavenly realm and may even ascend there himself. Comparethe experienceof the Merkavahmystic in the opening paragraphof the HekhalotRabbati(?81; see appendix).Even if this interpretationis wrong and the mystery word means "upon his 37 See P. Grelot, "Parwaimdes ChroniquesA I'Apocryphede la Gentse," VT 11 (1961) 30-38; Milik, The Books of Enoch, 41 n. 1.
3I M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi,
and the MidrashicLiterature(New York: Pardes, 1950) 1.121a, s.v. I:Kf t; Milik, The Books of Enoch, 41 n. 1. 39 For a discussionof 4Q534 in the context of ascent traditionsin the Qumranliterature,see my article "HeavenlyAscents in the Dead Sea Scrolls," The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A ComprehensiveAssessment (eds P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam;Leiden:E.J. Brill, in press) vol. 2.
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knees" as translatedby Fitzmyer,the referenceto a vision remains.40 In lines 7-8 we are told of the hero's counsel and prudenceand that he will know "the mysteriesof man,""the mysteriesof all the living," and "his wisdom shall go out to all the peoples." His knowledge of the mysteries of others foreshadows the similar knowledge of the Merkavahmystic in the HekhalotRabbati,who knows the details of the privatelives of others, presentand future (??81-82), their hidden deeds, good and bad (?83), and all physical and ceremonialdisabilities of a given family (?86). The transmissionof the protagonist'swisdom to all peoples reminds one of the claim of the Sar Torah traditionthat full rabbinictraining can be impartedto even the dullest of students,even outside the land of Israel as far away as Babylon, with the proper spells and rituals (??287-88, 305). Indeedthe mystic is promised"if you meritthis seal so as to use the crown, an rIM :D shall not be found in the world, and there shall be no fool or dolt among you" (?288). The parallel here is not exact, since the beneficiariesof the Sar Torahpraxesseem always to be Jewish, but the connectionis still interesting. Line 9 of col. 1 tells us that, althoughhuman corruptionis great, the plots brought against the protagonistshall fail. Much the same is said of the Merkavah mystic in the introductoryhymns of the Hekhalot Rabbati. Attempts to harm him or even gossip about him meet with plagues and dreadfulskin diseases (?84), angelic defense (?85), loss of posterity and legacy, the "decreedannihilation"(?91), and celestial excommunication(?92). Much has been made of the title "the chosen of God" applied to the hero in 4Q534 i 10. It has been used as evidence of his messianic status, since the same title is given to the Son of Man in the Similitudes of Enoch. It is quite significant,therefore,that the same title is applied to the Merkavahmystics in the Hekhalot literature,who are called "the chosen ones"
(nfl'flif)
in Hekhalot Rabbati ?92. Likewise,
in 3 Enoch 2 (?3), the worthinessof R. Ishmael to behold the chariot is based on God's choosing of Israel and the priestly line of Aaron.
I The HekhalotZutartialso ties a visionaryexperienceto kneeling.The "teaching" mentionedhas to do with "the praxisof the ascent and descent to the chariot"(?423):
R. Akiva said: Whoever seeks to learn this teaching and to explicate the name fully must sit in fasting for forty days and he must place his head between his knees until the fasting overcomeshim. He must recite an incantationto the earth and not to heaven. (?424)
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Finally, the birthof the protagonistis mentionedin brokencontexts in 4Q534 i 10 and perhapsii 6. Details of the birth of those mighty in Torah study are also importantin the physiognomicliterature. It may be grantedthat at first glance some of the details of col. 2 that applies fit less readilywith my readingthanwith an interpretation them to Noah and his time. The referencesto "the sons of the pit" or "cities"(11'-1) (line 12), to destructionand (line 1), to "4provinces" the ceasing of the waters (lines 13-14), and the two references to "Watchers"(lines 16 and 18) certainlycohere with the story of Noah. But I do not think this objection is particularlystrong. If 4Q534 is in fact a physiognomictractate,it may refer to the fates of different types of people,and it quiteprobablywould cover a wide rangeof their life experiences. Of one type of person, for example, the Physiognomy of R. Ishmaelinformsus that "his end is to descend to the pit" (?38). Cities or provinces could figure in the narrativeof 4Q534 in many ways other than being washed away by the Flood. In fact, in Gruenwald'sphysiognomictext, one of the figures becomes a royal official and receives homage from "all the sons of the province" ' Dns:), while another"arrivesat the province"( D!tri r ) on business.4'The ceasing of the waters in line 14 has been plausibly applied to the subsidingof the Flood waters, but an obscureword in The word the same line suggests a completelydifferentinterpretation. is either Inn (translatedas "gates"by Fitzmyer)or on:(translatedas "high places"by GarcfaMartinez).If we read tff, the Aramaicword cannot be "gates,"which is masculine(plural1'ff or Rflf). But there is a feminine word Mnnin biblical Hebrew and Jewish Palestinian Aramaicwhich means "pupil"of the eye.42If this is the meaningof the word, the passage could refer to the abatementof runninessor tears from the eyes of the subject and thus might have nothingto do with the Flood. (The Physiognomyof R. Ishmael refers to someone with runnyeyes in ?2, as does Gruenwald'stext in Bl.22.) The references to the Watchers are not significant in themselves; the first comparessome person or persons to the Watchersratherthan implying the actual presenceof the angels, while the context of the second
4' 42
T.-S. K 21 Al.21-22; Bi.l. BDB 93a; Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, 1.136b; M. Sokoloff, A
Dictionary of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of the Byzantine Period (Ramat Gan, Israel:
Bar Ilan University Press, 1990) 83b. The same word is found in Syriac: J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903) 34a.
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is hopelessly damaged(but reminiscentof the phrasingof Dan. 4:10, 14, 20 [4:13, 17, 23 English]). The Watchersalso appearin the Hekhalot text 3 Enoch 28 (?44-45), a passage that also echoes Daniel 4. V. Conclusion In this article I have shown that it is possible to read the description of the hero of 4Q534 along the lines of the much later"descender to the chariot"of the Hekhalotliterature.The later mystics are known by their physical markings(which I have argued elsewhere are akin to shamanicmarkings),43 their esoteric wisdom and knowledge, their heaven-supportedinvincibility, and their visionary experiences and ascents. It is very strikingto find much the same combinationof traits in the far earlier text from Qumran,and this early formulationtends to suggest that Merkavahmysticism as a quasi-shamanicsystem of religious experiencehas very ancientroots indeed." I am inclined to interpret4Q534 as a physiognomictractateessentially identicalin genre to the much later Hebrewexemplars,in which the figuresdescribedare anonymous,but my proposalmay be compatible with any of the other interpretations of 4Q534 noted in section I. If the figure is indeed Noah, Melchizedek, Enoch redivivus, or the eschatologicalhigh priest,we shouldconcludethat he was picturedin 4Q534 as a prototypeof the Merkavahmystics.45
J3J. Davila, "The Hekhalot Literature and Shamanism," Society of Biblical Literature 1994 Seminar Papers (ed. E.H. Lovering, Jr.; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994)
767-89. 4 This conclusion is supported by another article of mine in which I showed that the basic elements of the story of the Four Who Entered Paradise appear in a Qumran hymn in a mystical context involving the Garden of Eden and the celestial temple: "The Hodayot Hymnist and the Four Who Entered Paradise," RevQ 17/65-68 (1996) 457-78. 4S In favor of the last possibility, the eschatological high priest, I note that some Hekhalot texts emphasize the fact that R. Ishmael is of the priestly line of Aaron. His lineage forces the angels to show him respect and even to refrain from killing him when they otherwise might have (3 Enoch 1:3 [?1]; 2:1-4 [?3]; Messiah Aggadah ?140; Ma'aseh Merkavah ?586; Merkavah Rabba ?681). Given the tendency of the Hekhalot literature to reformulate apocalyptic traditions as mystical teachings (e.g., the transformation of the eschatological Enochic Son of Man in the Similitudes of Enoch into the celestial but non-eschatological Metatron in 3 Enoch), it is possible that second temple speculation about the eschatological high priest was transformed into mystical adventures and teachings of the priestly rabbi, Ishmael, and his companions.
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Appendix: The Introductory Hymns of the Hekhalot Rabbatil
(?81) R. Ishmael said: What are the songs that he who seeks to gaze on the vision of the chariotrecites, so as to descend safely and ascend safely? Greatestof all is to engage oneself in making oneself enter and bringingoneself into the chambers of the Aravot firmamentso as to make oneself stand on the right side of His throneof glory, and the times that one stands opposite T'SS YHWH, God of Israel, to see whateveris done before His throneof glory and to know whatevershall happenin the futurein the world: (?82) whoever is abased,whoever is made lofty, whoever is weakened, whoever is made mighty, whoever is impoverished,whoever is made rich, whoever is killed, whoever is made alive, whoever is dispossessed of an inheritance,whoever is given an inheritance,whoever is given Torah as an inheritance,whoever is given wisdom. (?83) Greatestof all is that he has a vision of every deed that people do, even in inner rooms, whetherfine deeds or corruptingdeeds. He knows and recognizesthe thief; he knows and recognizesthe adulterer;he knows and recognizesthe murderer;he knows and recognizes the one who is suspect regardingpurity;he knows and recognizesthe one who tells gossip. Greatestof all is thathe recognizesall sorcerers. (?84) Greatestof all is that anyonewho raises his hand againsthim and strikes him-they clothe him with plagues and cover him with leprosy and wreathe him with skin blemishes. Greatestof all is that anyone who tells gossip about him-they attack and cast on him all strokesof skin eruptionsand sores and wounds from which raw boils emerge. (?85) Greatestof all is that he is set apartfrom all people and he is confoundingamong all his peers and he is honoredover heavenly beings and earthlybeings. And anyonewho stumblesover him-great, evil, and harshstumblingblocks fall on that personfrom heaven. And anyone who stretchesout his hand against him-with a writ of the heavenly law court they stretchout a hand against him.
"6 This translationof the beginningof the HekhalotRabbatiis from a preliminary draftof my forthcomingedition and translationof the document,based on the manuscripts publishedby Schafer in the Synopse. ??87-90 in the Synopse are secondary reorderingsof ??84-86 in two manuscriptsand do not involve any additionaltext. For more informationon the edition, see my article"Prolegomenato a CriticalEditionof the HekhalotRabbati,"JJS 45 (1994) 208-26.
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(?86) Greatestof all is that all beings shall be before him like silver before a refiner,whetherit be refinedsilver, whetherit be unfit silver, or whether it be pure silver. And also he will have visionary insight into a family, (knowing) how many bastardsthere are in a family, how many impurepeople, how many woundedby crushing,how many with mutilatedurinarycanals, how many sons of slaves, how many uncircumcisedmen. (?91) Greatestof all is that anyonewho insolentlydefies him-they make dim the light of his eyeballs. Greatestof all is that anyone who despises him does not leave behind root or branch,nor does he leave an inheritance.Greatestof all is that anyone who tells of his shortcomings-they bring "the decreed annihilation"upon him and have no compassionon him. (?92a) Greatestof all is that they blow the trumpetand blow the horn and blow the trumpet,and afterwardthey excommunicateand take captive and excommunicateand ban (him) three times each day, from the day that permissionwas given to Israel,to the upright,to the honest,to themeek,to thehumble,to the sensible,to thechosen(D'Tfl:), and to the ones set apart,to descend and to ascend to the chariot.
