Ancient Jewish Letters and the Beginnings of Christian Epistolography

Preface ........................................................................................................... V
Abbreviations and Formal Guidelines............................................... XIII
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................. 1
1. The Problem and the Task........................................................................ 1
1.1 The Marginalisation of Jewish Letter Writing in
New Testament Scholarship............................................................... 1
1.2 The Study of Ancient Jewish Letters and the
Need for a New Investigation............................................................. 5
1.3 The Scope and Structure of the Present Study ................................. 15
2. Some Theoretical Assumptions Regarding Letters ................................ 18
2.1 Letters as ‘Form of Communication’ or ‘Basic Text Type’............. 18
2.2 Letters versus Epistles, Or: What Is a Letter? .................................. 20
2.3 A Theoretical Model for Epistolary Communication....................... 25
Chapter 2: Ancient Jewish Documentary Letters.............................. 28
1. Aramaic Documentary Letters from Elephantine................................... 28
1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 28
1.2 Formal and Formulaic Features of the Elephantine Letters ............. 29
1.3 Letter Topics and Pragmatic Functions of Elephantine Letters ....... 34
1.4 Conclusion........................................................................................ 43
2. Aramaic Ostracon Letters of the 4th and 3rd Century BCE................... 44
3. Documentary Letters from Qumran and Jerusalem?.............................. 47
4. Aramaic Documentary Letters from Masada ......................................... 54
5. Documentary Letters from the Bar Kokhba War ................................... 58
5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 58
5.2 Themes, Personae, and Register of the ‘Bar Kokhba Letters’.......... 61
5.3 Formal and Formulaic Features of the ‘Bar Kokhba Letters’ .......... 72
5.4 Conclusion........................................................................................ 78
6. Greek Documentary Letters Authored by Jews...................................... 80
6.1 Greek Documentary Letters Found at Masada ................................. 82
6.2 Greek Documentary Letters Found in Egypt.................................... 83
6.2.1 Letters Collected in CPJ.......................................................... 85
6.2.2 Letters from the Jewish Politeuma at Herakleopolis............... 92
6.3 Conclusion........................................................................................ 95
Chapter 3: Letters in the Hebrew Bible
and the Greek Scriptures............................................................... 96
1. Letters in the Hebrew Bible.................................................................... 96
1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 96
1.2 Hebrew and Aramaic Words for ‘Letter’;
Letters and Oral Messages ............................................................... 98
1.3 Hebrew Letters ............................................................................... 101
1.3.1 Letters in the Former Prophets .............................................. 102
1.3.2 Jeremiah 29............................................................................ 104
1.3.3 Letters in Esther, Nehemiah, and 2 Chronicles ..................... 108
1.4 Aramaic Letters .............................................................................. 114
1.4.1 Daniel 3–4 and 6.................................................................... 114
1.4.2 Ezra 4–7................................................................................. 116
1.5 Conclusion...................................................................................... 126
2. Letters in the Septuagint and Other Greek Versions .......................... 126
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 126
2.2 Greek Words for ‘Letter’................................................................ 131
2.3 Letter Conveyance according to the Greek Versions ..................... 132
2.4 Opening Salutations: ‘Idiomatic’ versus ‘Unidiomatic’................. 134
2.5 Embedded Letters in Texts or Passages Only Preserved in Greek. 138
2.5.1 First and Second Maccabees ..................................................138
2.5.2 Third Maccabees and Esther (OG and A-Text)..................... 147
2.6 The Increasing Importance of the Macroform ‘Letter’ .................. 154
2.6.1 The Epistle of Jeremiah (Ep Jer LXX).................................. 154
2.6.2 The Book of Baruch (Bar LXX)............................................ 158
2.6.3 The Introductory Letters of 2 Maccabees.............................. 160
2.6.4 Festal Books Perceived as Letters:
2 Maccabees and Esther OG .......................................................... 165
2.7 Conclusion...................................................................................... 167
Chapter 4: Literary Letters in the Dead Sea Scrolls ...................... 170
1. Aramaic Literary Letters in the Qumran Manuscripts.......................... 170
1.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 170
1.2 4Q203 (= 4QEnGiantsa ar) frg. 8.................................................... 170
1.3 The ‘Epistle of Enoch’ (cf. 4QEnc,g ar [= 4Q204, 212]) ................ 174
1.4 4Q550 (= 4QJuifs à la cour perse ar) frg. 1 (olim 4QPrEsth ara) ... 183
1.5 Conclusion...................................................................................... 188
2. Reading Jeremiah’s Letter (?) in 4Q389 (= 4QApocrJer Cd) ............... 190
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 190
2.2 Jeremiah’s Apparent Piece of Writing ‘Read’ at the River Sur ..... 191
2.3 Corollaries ...................................................................................... 193
3. Not Epistolary? Revisiting the Genre of 4QMMT ............................... 194
3.1 The status quaestionis..................................................................... 194
3.2 MMT and the Classification of Letters .......................................... 199
3.3 Does MMT Show Traits of ‘Epistolarity’? .................................... 200
3.4 MMT and the Hebrew and Aramaic Letter Tradition .................... 207
3.5 The Genre of MMT Revisited ........................................................ 210
Chapter 5: Letters in the Early Jewish Pseudepigrapha............... 215
1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 215
2. The Letter of Aristeas ........................................................................... 217
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 217
2.2 Epistolary Features in the Structure of the Letter of Aristeas ........ 220
2.3 Letters Referred to or Quoted in the Letter of Aristeas .................. 224
2.4 Evaluation....................................................................................... 227
3. Eupolemus ............................................................................................ 232
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 232
3.2 The Integration and Function of the Letters in Frg. 2 .................... 233
3.3 Analysis of Solomon’s Correspondence with
Vaphres and with Souron ............................................................... 236
3.4 Conclusion...................................................................................... 240
4. The Epistle of Baruch (2 Baruch 78–86) ............................................. 241
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 241
4.2 Letter Type and Pseudonymous Attribution................................... 243
4.3 Prescript and Proem........................................................................ 245
4.4 Letter Body..................................................................................... 249
4.5 Letter Closing ................................................................................. 251
4.6 Conclusion...................................................................................... 252
5. Letters in Paraleipomena Jeremiou (4 Baruch)................................... 253
5.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 253
5.2 Baruch to Jeremiah (4 Bar. 6:17–23 [19–25])................................ 257
5.3 Jeremiah to Baruch (4 Bar. 7:23–29 [24–34])................................ 259
5.4 Conclusion...................................................................................... 262
Chapter 6: Letters in Philo of Alexandria
and Flavius Josephus.............................................................................. 263
1. Philo of Alexandria and Letter Writing................................................ 263
1.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 263
1.2 Roman Letters Relative to the Temple-Statue Affair..................... 264
1.3 The Letter from Agrippa I to Caligula (Leg. 276–329)................. 265
1.4 Conclusion...................................................................................... 270
2. Letters in the Works of Flavius Josephus............................................. 270
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 270
2.2 Letters from the Books of the Hebrew Bible
and their Greek Translation............................................................ 273
2.2.1 From the United Monarchy to the Exile................................ 274
2.2.2 The Persian Period................................................................. 280
2.3 Letters of the Hellenistic Period
(from Letter of Aristeas, 1 Maccabees, and Unknown Sources).... 286
2.3.1 From Alexander the Great to the Tales of the Tobiads ......... 286
2.3.2 From Antiochus IV to the Death of
the Hasmonaean Jonathan .............................................................. 296
2.3.3 From Simon to the Last Hasmonaeans.................................. 304
2.4 Letters in the Dossier of Documents on
Jewish Rights in the Roman Era..................................................... 306
2.5 Letters in Josephus’s Narratives of Herod the Great
and the Herodians........................................................................... 310
2.5.1 Herod’s Ascent to Power....................................................... 311
2.5.2 Herod and his Sons................................................................ 313
2.5.3 The Herodians and Roman Rule until the Revolt.................. 318
2.6 Letters in Josephus’s Accounts of the First Revolt ........................ 324
2.7 Conclusion...................................................................................... 336
Chapter 7: Early Rabbinic Letters ...................................................... 343
1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 343
2. Letters in Tannaitic Literature .............................................................. 344
2.1 Brief References ............................................................................. 344
2.2 Letters Issued by the (High) Court ................................................. 349
2.3 Letters about Tithing and Intercalation: Rn. Gamaliel,
Rn. Simeon ben Gamaliel and R. Johanan ben Zakkai .................. 351
3. Amoraic Representations of ‘Earlier’ Letter Writing........................... 364
3.1 ‘From Jerusalem … to Alexandria …’........................................... 364
3.2 A Congratulatory Letter to R. Judah ben Bathyra .......................... 366
3.3 Rabbi’s Letters................................................................................ 367
4. Summary and Glimpse Forward: Amoraim and Patriarchs ................. 372
Chapter 8: Paul’s Letters in the Context
of Jewish Letter Writing......................................................................... 377
1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 377
2. The ‘Quasi-Official’ Character of Paul’s Letters ................................. 383
2.1 The Use of Letters in the Maintenance
of a Network of Communities ........................................................ 383
2.2 The Authorisation of the Addressor in the Prescript ...................... 393
2.3 Co-Senders and Co-Authors........................................................... 399
2.4 The Stylisation of Multiple Addressees ......................................... 403
3. Epistolary Formulae ............................................................................. 406
3.1 The Structure of the Prescript: ‘A to B, grace to you and peace’... 406
3.2 The Proem ...................................................................................... 415
3.3 Body Closing and Letter Closing ................................................... 422
4. Summary............................................................................................... 428
Chapter 9: The Catholic Epistles and Other Early
Christian Letters ...................................................................................... 429
1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 429
2. Early Christian Diaspora Letters .......................................................... 430
2.1 Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Diaspora Letters .................... 430
2.2 The First Letter of Peter ................................................................. 434
2.2.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 434
2.2.2 The Diaspora Address ........................................................... 435
2.2.3 The Paraenetical and Consolatory Character of 1 Peter........ 442
2.2.4 The Reference to ‘Babylon’ .................................................. 444
2.2.5 The Salutation in the Prescript .............................................. 447
2.2.6 The Epistolary Eulogy........................................................... 449
2.2.7 The ‘Peace’ Wish in the Eschatocol...................................... 450
2.2.8 Conclusion............................................................................. 452
2.3 The Letter of James ........................................................................ 452
2.3.1 Introduction ........................................................................... 452
2.3.2 The Prescript and Its Diaspora Address ................................ 455
2.3.3 Trials and Paraenesis in James .............................................. 459
2.3.4 Conclusion............................................................................. 463
2.4 The Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:23–29).......................................... 463
2.5 Diaspora Letter and Apostelbild ..................................................... 469
2.6 The First Letter of Clement ............................................................ 471
3. Letters Related to the Diaspora Letter Tradition .................................. 477
3.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 477
3.2 The Letter of Jude........................................................................... 477
3.3 The Second Letter of Peter ............................................................. 479
3.4 Other Second Century Epistolary Texts ......................................... 482
4. Further Early Christian Texts until ca. the 4th Century ....................... 489
4.1 Further Occurrence of ἔλεος, εἰρήνη and / or πληθυνθείη
in Salutations .................................................................................. 489
4.2 Revelation....................................................................................... 493
Chapter 10: Conclusions ....................................................................... 498
1. Attestation and Occurrence of Ancient Jewish Letter Writing............. 498
1.1 Jewish Documentary Letters .......................................................... 498
1.2 Literary Letters in and as Jewish Texts .......................................... 501
2. Jewish Letters between Near Eastern
and Graeco-Roman Epistolography .................................................... 505
2.1 Writing in More than One Language.............................................. 505
2.2 Reformulation: The Impact of Greek
Epistolography on Semitic Letters ................................................. 506
2.3 Resemantisation: Making New Sense of
Semitic ‘Peace’ Greetings .............................................................. 507
2.4 Reinterpretation: Jewish Letters and the
Development of the Proem............................................................. 507
3. Early Christian Letter Writing and Jewish Epistolography.................. 507
3.1 Epistolary Pragmatics: Letters to and between Communities ........ 508
3.2 Epistolary Components and Formulae ........................................... 509
3.3 Epistolary Topics............................................................................ 511
Bibliography ................................................................................................. 515
Index of Passages ......................................................................................... 561
Index of Modern Authors ............................................................................. 586
Index of Subjects .......................................................................................... 595