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Home / Review Reading the Old Testament Lawrence Boadt

Review Reading the Old Testament Lawrence Boadt

Hieratic ostracon with the beginning of "The Wisdom of Amenemope", dated to 525–404 BC.

Instruction of Amenemope (also chosen Instructions of Amenemopet, Wisdom of Amenemopet) is a literary work equanimous in Ancient Egypt, virtually likely during the Ramesside Flow (ca. 1300–1075 BCE); it contains thirty capacity of advice for successful living, ostensibly written by the scribe Amenemope son of Kanakht every bit a legacy for his son.[1] A characteristic production of the New Kingdom "Historic period of Personal Piety",[2] [3] the piece of work reflects on the inner qualities, attitudes, and behaviors required for a happy life in the face up of increasingly hard social and economical circumstances.[4] It is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of ancient virtually-eastern wisdom literature and has been of particular interest to mod scholars because of its similarity to the later biblical Book of Proverbs.[1] [5]

Overview [edit]

Amenemope belongs to the literary genre of "education" (Egyptian sebayt). Information technology is the culmination of centuries of evolution going dorsum to the Teaching of Ptahhotep in the Quondam Kingdom[1] [6] but reflects a shift in values characteristic of the New Kingdom's "Historic period of Personal Piety": away from textile success attained through practical activity, and towards inner peace achieved through patient endurance and passive acceptance of an inscrutable divine will.[1] [2] [3] [7] The author takes for granted the principles of Natural law and concentrates on the deeper matters of censor. He counsels that the weaker classes of gild are defended, respect is shown to the elderly, widows and the poor, whilst condemning any corruption of power or authorisation.[viii] The author draws an emphatic contrast betwixt two types of men: the "silent human", who goes about his business without drawing attending to himself or enervating his rights, and the "heated man", who makes a nuisance of himself to everyone and is constantly picking fights with others over matters of no real importance. Reverse to worldly expectation, the writer assures his reader that the old will ultimately receive the divine blessing, while the latter volition inevitably go to destruction. Amenemope counsels modesty, self-command, generosity, and scrupulous honesty, while discouraging pride, impetuosity, cocky-advancement, fraud, and perjury—not only out of respect for Maat, the cosmic principle of correct order, just likewise because "attempts to gain advantage to the detriment of others incur condemnation, confuse the plans of god, and lead inexorably to disgrace and punishment."[iii]

Witnesses and publication [edit]

The most consummate text of the Instruction of Amenemope is British Museum Papyrus 10474, which was caused in Thebes by E. A. Wallis Budge in early 1888.[1] [9] The scroll is approximately 12 feet (iii.vii m) long by 10 inches (250 mm) wide; the obverse side contains the hieratic text of the Instruction, while the reverse side is filled with a miscellany of lesser texts, including a "Agenda of Lucky and Unlucky Days", hymns to the dominicus and moon, and part of an onomasticon by some other writer of the same name.[10] In November 1888, Peter le Folio Renouf, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum (and Budge's supervisor), fabricated mention of a "remarkable passage" from the papyrus and quoted a few words from it in an otherwise unrelated article about the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis;[11] but Renouf was forced into retirement in 1891,[12] and publication of the papyrus was delayed for more than than three decades while Budge concentrated on other projects such every bit the Book of the Dead.

In 1922 Budge finally published a short business relationship of the text along with brief hieroglyphic extracts and translations in a French academic work,[13] followed in 1923 by the official British Museum publication of the total text in photofacsimile with hieroglyphic transcription and translation.[14] In 1924 he went over the same ground once more in a somewhat more popular vein, including a more than all-encompassing commentary.[15] [16] Subsequent publications of BM 10474 in hieroglyphic transcription include those of H.O. Lange (1925), J. Ruffle (1964), and V. Laisney (2007). Photographic copies of the papyrus are available from the British Museum.[17]

Since the initial publication of BM 10474, additional fragments of Amenemope accept been identified on a scrap of papyrus, four writing tablets, an ostracon, and a graffito, bringing the full number of witnesses to viii. Unfortunately, none of the other texts is very extensive, and the British Museum papyrus remains the main witness to the text.[1] [18] As can be seen from the following table, the dates assigned by scholars to the various witnesses range from a maximum of ca. 1069 BCE (for the papyrus fragment and one of the writing tablets) down to a minimum of ca. 500 BCE (for BM 10474):

Textual Witnesses past Engagement[xix]
Dates B.C. Dynasties Fragment Type Lines
1069 - 0712 21-22 Stockholm MM 18416 Papyrus 191-257
1069 - 0712 21-22 Louvre Due east. 17173 Tablet 034-037
one thousand - 0900 belatedly 21-early 22 Cairo 1840 Ostracon 047-066
0945 - 0712 22 Medinet Habu Graffito 001
0747 - 0525 25-26 Turin 6237 Tablet 470-500
0747 - 0525 25-26 Moscow I 1 δ 324 Tablet 105-115
0747 - 0525 25-26 Turin Suppl. 4661 Tablet 001
0600 - 0500 tardily 26-early 27 B. M. 10474 Papyrus 001-551

Biblical parallels [edit]

Egyptian influence on Israel and Judah was especially potent in the reign of Hezekiah during Egypt's Third Intermediate Period;[20] every bit a result, "Hebrew literature is permeated with concepts and figures derived from the didactic treatises of Arab republic of egypt",[21] with Amenemope often cited as the foremost example.[1] [22] Even in his first brief publication of excerpts from Amenemope in 1922, Budge noted its obvious resemblance to the biblical wisdom books.[23] He amplified these comments in his 1923 and 1924 publications, observing that the religiously based morality of Amenemope "closely resembles" the precepts of the Hebrew Bible, and adducing specific parallels between Amenemope and texts in Proverbs, Psalms, and Deuteronomy.[24] Others before long followed his atomic number 82.

Erman'southward position [edit]

The most notable of these was Adolf Erman, "the Dean of all Egyptologists",[25] who in 1924 published an extensive list of correspondences between the texts of Amenemope and the biblical Book of Proverbs, with the bulk of them concentrated in Proverbs 22:17–23:11.[26] It was Erman who used Amenemope to emend a difficult reading in the text of Proverbs 22:20, where the Hebrew word shilshom ("three days ago") appeared to be a copyist'due south error that could be meaningfully translated just with difficulty. Erman pointed out that substituting the similar give-and-take sheloshim ("thirty") non just fabricated expert sense in context, but yielded the following shut parallel between the two texts, with the now-restored "thirty sayings" in Proverbs 22:20 respective exactly to the thirty numbered chapters in Amenemope:.[1] [27] [28]

(Proverbs 22:xx): "Have I not written for you lot thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge?" (ESV)

(Amenemope, ch. 30, line 539): "Expect to these 30 chapters; they inform, they educate."[29]

Erman also argued that this correspondence demonstrated that the Hebrew text had been influenced past the Egyptian instead of the other way effectually, since the Egyptian text of Amenemope explicitly enumerates thirty chapters whereas the Hebrew text of Proverbs does not accept such clear-cut divisions, and would therefore be more likely to lose the original meaning during copying.[30] Since Erman's time there has been a near consensus amongst scholars that there exists a literary connectedness between the two works, although the management of influence remains contentious even today. The majority has concluded that Proverbs 22:17–23:10 was dependent on Amenemope; a minority is split between viewing the Hebrew text every bit the original inspiration for Amenemope and viewing both works as dependent on a now lost Semitic source.[1] [31]

The bulk position [edit]

A major cistron in determining the management of influence is the date at which Amenemope was equanimous. At one time the mid-1st millennium BC was put forward as a probable appointment for the composition of Amenemope,[32] which gave some support to the argument for the priority of Proverbs. Notwithstanding, Jaroslav Černý, whose authority on New Kingdom paleography was and then nifty that his conclusions were considered "unquestionable",[33] dated the fragmentary Amenemope text on the Cairo 1840 ostracon to the late 21st dynasty.[34] Since a 21st-dynasty engagement inevitably makes Amenemope chronologically prior to the earliest possible appointment for Proverbs, this would definitively establish the priority of Amenemope over Proverbs and brand influence in the other direction impossible.[35]

Other evidence for Egyptian priority includes:

  • the close literary relationship between Amenemope and earlier Aboriginal Egyptian works such as the Instruction of Kagemni and the Instruction of Ptahhotep (both dated to at least the 12th dynasty)[36] and the Teaching of Ani (dated to the late 18th or early on 19th dynasty);[37]
  • the demonstrably native Egyptian character of the genre, themes, and vocabulary of Amenemope;[38]
  • the discovery of the editorial and structural mechanisms past which the Egyptian original was adapted by the biblical author.[39]

By the 1960s in that location was a virtual consensus amongst scholars in support of the priority of Amenemope and its influence on Proverbs.[40] For instance, John A. Wilson declared in the mid-20th century: "[Due west]eastward believe that at that place is a direct connexion between these two pieces of wisdom literature, and that Amen-em-Opet was the ancestor text. The secondary nature of the Hebrew seems established."[41] Many study Bibles and commentaries followed suit, including the Jerusalem Bible,[42] introductions to the Erstwhile Testament by Pfeiffer[43] and Eissfeldt,[44] and others. The translators of the Catholic New American Bible, reflecting and extending this agreement, even went then far as to emend the obscure Hebrew text of Proverbs 22:19 (traditionally translated as "I have made known to y'all this day, even to yous") to read "I make known to you the words of Amen-em-Ope."[45]

The minority response [edit]

R. N. Whybray, who at one point supported the majority position, changed sides during the 1990s and cast doubt on the human relationship between Amenemope and Proverbs, while even so acknowledging certain affinities. He argued, in office, that merely some of the topics in the Egyptian text tin can be found in Proverbs 22:17–24:22 and that their sequence differs.[46] J. A. Emerton[47] and Nili Shupak[48] have later on argued strongly confronting Whybray'south conclusions. John Ruffle takes a more conservative approach: "The connection then casually assumed is often very superficial, rarely more than similarity of subject matter, oft quite differently treated and does not survive detailed test. I believe it can merit no more definite verdict than 'not proven' and that it certainly does not exist to the extent that is frequently causeless", and "The parallels that I have fatigued between [the huehuetlatolli of the Aztecs], (recorded by Bernardino de Sahagún in the 1500s) and aboriginal Near Eastern wisdom are in no mode exhaustive, merely the fact that they tin exist produced so hands underlines what should be obvious anyway, that such precepts and images are universally acceptable and hence that similar passages may occur in Proverbs and Amenemope simply by coincidence."[49]

Comparison of texts [edit]

A number of passages in the Instruction of Amenemope have been compared with the Book of Proverbs, including:

(Proverbs 22:17–18): "Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thine heart to my doctrine; For it is pleasant if thou keep them in thy belly, that they may be established together upon thy lips"

(Amenemope, ch. 1): "Requite thine ear, and hear what I say, And apply thine heart to apprehend; Information technology is good for thee to place them in thine heart, let them rest in the catafalque of thy abdomen; That they may act as a peg upon thy tongue"[50]

(Proverbs 22:22): "Rob non the poor, for he is poor, neither oppress (or crush) the lowly in the gate."

(Amenemope, ch. 2): "Beware of robbing the poor, and oppressing the afflicted."[50]

(Proverbs 22:24–5): "Do not befriend the human being of anger, Nor become with a wrathful man, Lest one thousand acquire his means and take a snare for thy soul."

(Amenemope, ch. 10): "Acquaintance not with a passionate human being, Nor arroyo him for conversation; Leap not to carve to such an ane; That terror deport thee non away."[fifty]

(Proverbs 22:29): "[if y'all] You lot see a homo quick in his work, before kings will he stand, before cravens, he will non stand up."

(Amenemope, ch. 30): "A scribe who is skillful in his business findeth worthy to be a courtier"[50]

(Proverbs 23:ane): "When m sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently what is earlier thee; And put a pocketknife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are breads of falsehood."

(Amenemope, ch. 23): "Eat not bread in the presence of a ruler, And lunge not frontwards(?) with thy rima oris earlier a governor(?). When thou art replenished with that to which thou has no right, It is only a delight to thy spittle. Await upon the dish that is before thee, And permit that (alone) supply thy need."[50] (see above)

(Proverbs 23:four–five): "Toil non to become rich, And cease from dishonest gain; For wealth maketh to itself wings, Like an eagle that flieth heavenwards"

(Amenemope, ch. 7): "Toil not later riches; If stolen goods are brought to thee, they remain not over night with thee. They have made themselves wings like geese. And have flown into the heavens."[50]

(Proverbs 23:ix): "Speak non in the hearing of a fool, for he volition despise the wisdom of thy words"

(Amenemope, ch. 21): "Empty non thine inmost soul to everyone, nor spoil (thereby) thine influence"[50]

(Proverbs 23:ten): "Remove not the widows landmark; And enter not into the field of the fatherless."

(Amenemope, ch. half dozen): "Remove non the landmark from the bounds of the field...and violate not the widows boundary"[50]

(Proverbs 23:12): "Apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of noesis"

(Amenemope, ch. ane): "Requite thine ears, hear the words that are said, requite thine middle to interpret them."[50]

See also [edit]

  • Sebayt
  • Maat
  • Ancient Egyptian literature
  • Wisdom literature

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f 1000 h i Lichtheim 1976, 146-149.
  2. ^ a b Williams 1978, 131-137.
  3. ^ a b c Weeks 1994, 168-169.
  4. ^ Washington 1994.
  5. ^ Ray 1997, 17-29.
  6. ^ Lichtheim 1973, 61-eighty.
  7. ^ Wilson 1951, 289-309.
  8. ^ "Studies in Comparative Organized religion", General editor, Eastward. C Messenger, Essay by A. Mallon Southward. J, vol two/5, p. 16-17, Catholic Truth Society, 1934
  9. ^ Budge 1920, i:337.
  10. ^ Budge 1923, 18-19; Posener 1945, 112.
  11. ^ Renouf 1888, 5-10.
  12. ^ Usick 2006, 15.
  13. ^ Budge 1922.
  14. ^ Budge 1923.
  15. ^ Budge 1924.
  16. ^ Budge, Due east. A. Wallis (1924). "The Education of Amen-Em-Apt, Son of Kanekht". Cyberspace Annal. Internet Archive. Retrieved 8 January 2020. THE Instruction OF AMEN-EM-APT - Translated from Brit. Mus. Papyrus No. 10,474. The Papyrus. Papyrus No. 10,474 is about 12 ft. 1-1/2 ins. in length, and at its greatest width is about ten ins. [...]
  17. ^ "British Museum Web Site (www.britishmuseum.org)".
  18. ^ Black 2002, 212-293.
  19. ^ Black 2002, 266
  20. ^ Williams 1971, 271–276.
  21. ^ Williams 1971, 276-277.
  22. ^ Williams 1971, 277-282.
  23. ^ Budge 1922, 445.
  24. ^ Budge 1923, 12n2, 13n1; Budge 1924, 104-107, 118-119.
  25. ^ Mercer 1926, 238.
  26. ^ Erman 1924, 86-93.
  27. ^ Erman 1924, 88-90.
  28. ^ Black 2002, 303–307.
  29. ^ Lichtheim 1976, 162.
  30. ^ Mertz 1978, 317-318.
  31. ^ Overland 1996, 276-278.
  32. ^ Meet, for example, Lange 1925, xiii-14.
  33. ^ Ruffle 1995, 296.
  34. ^ Williams 1961, 106.
  35. ^ Overland 1996, 277-278.
  36. ^ Gardiner 1942, 70.
  37. ^ Lichtheim 1976, 135; Williams 1961, 106; Dishonest 1994, 13, 61–62, 84-85, 149, 202, 279.
  38. ^ Williams 1961, 100–106.
  39. ^ Overland 1996; Bryce 1979; Fox 2008.
  40. ^ Shupak 2005, 203.
  41. ^ Wilson 1951, 303n45.
  42. ^ Jones 1966, 932.
  43. ^ Pfeiffer 1948, 647–648.
  44. ^ Eissfeldt 1965, 474-475
  45. ^ Textual Notes 1970, 392; Boadt 1989, 644-645, 664-668. See besides the web site of the U.Southward. Conference of Catholic Bishops: [one]
  46. ^ Whybray Proverbs 1995, 78–84; Whybray Composition 1994, 132–145; Whybray "Structure" 1994.
  47. ^ Emerton 2001.
  48. ^ Shupak 2005.
  49. ^ John Ruffle, "The Education of Amenemope and its Connectedness with the Book of Proverbs Archived December 17, 2008, at the Wayback Auto," Tyndale Bulletin 28 (1977): 29–68. The Tyndale Biblical Archeology Lecture, 1975.
  50. ^ a b c d eastward f g h i "The Legacy of Egypt", S. R. Chiliad. Glanville, contributor Due west. O. Eastward Oesterley, p. 246–248, Oxford, 1942

References [edit]

  • Black, James Roger. "The Teaching of Amenemope: A Disquisitional Edition and Commentary—Prolegomenon and Prologue" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 2002).
  • Boadt, Lawrence East. "Proverbs," in Dianne Bergant and Robert J. Karris, eds. The Collegeville Bible Commentary: Based on the New American Bible with Revised New Testament (Liturgical Press, 1989), 644-674. ISBN 0-8146-1484-one
  • Bryce, Glendon E. A Legacy of Wisdom: the Egyptian Contribution to the Wisdom of Israel (Bucknell University Press, 1979) ISBN 0-8387-1576-1
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis. By Nile and Tigris, a Narrative of Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on behalf of the British Museum between the Years 1886 and 1913, ii vols. (London: J. Murray, 1920).
  • Budge, Eastward. A. Wallis. "The Precepts of Life past Amen-em-Apt, the Son of Ka-Nekht," Recueil d'études égyptologiques dédiées à la mémoire de Jean-François Champollion à l'occasion du centenaire de la lettre à G. Dacier relative à l'alphabet des hiéroglyphes phonétiques (Paris: E. Champion, 1922), 431-446.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis. Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, with Descriptions, Summaries of Contents, etc., 2d series (London: British Museum. Dept. of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, 1923), 5-6, nine-19, 41-51, plates I-XIV.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis. Teaching of Amen-Em-Apt, Son of Kanekht (London, 1924; reprinted Kessinger Publishing, 2003), ISBN 0-7661-4811-four.
  • Eissfeldt, Otto. The Old Attestation: An Introduction (tr. by P. R. Ackroyd; Harper & Row, 1965).
  • Emerton, J. A. "The Teaching of Amenemope and Proverbs XXII 17-XXIV 22: Farther Reflections on a Long-standing Problem," Vetus Testamentum 51 (2001), 431-465.
  • Erman, Adolf. "Eine ägyptische Quelle der 'Sprüche Salomos'," Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 15 (1924), 86-93, pl. Six-7.
  • Fox, Michael V. "The formation of Proverbs 22:17-23:11," Die Welt des Orients 38 (2008), 22-37.
  • Gardiner, Alan H. "Writing and Literature," in S. R. K. Glanville, The Legacy of Arab republic of egypt (Oxford, 1942).
  • Jones, Alexander, ed. The Jerusalem Bible (Doubleday, 1966).
  • Lange, H. O. Das Weisheitsbuch des Amenemope, aus dem Papyrus 10,474 des British museum, Danske videnskabornes selskab, Historisk-filologiske meddelelser 11, 2 (København: A.F. Høst & søn, 1925).
  • Laisney, Vincent Pierre-Michel. L'Enseignement d'Amenemope, Studia Pohl 16 (Pontifical Biblical Institute, 2007).
  • Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Former and Middle Kingdoms (University of California Press, 1973), 61-lxxx.
  • Lichtheim, Miriam. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume Two: The New Kingdom (University of California Press, 1976), 146-163, ISBN 0-520-03615-eight.
  • Mercer, Samuel A. B. "A New-Plant Book of Proverbs," Anglican Theological Review 8 (1926), 237-244.
  • Mertz, Barbara. Temples, Tombs and Hieroglyphs (Dodd, Mead, & Co., 1978).
  • Overland, Paul. "Structure in The Wisdom of Amenemope and Proverbs," in J. Due east. Coleson and V. H. Matthews, eds., Go to the State I Will Show You lot: Studies in Honor of Dwight W. Young (Eisenbrauns, 1996), 275-291. ISBN 0-931464-91-nine
  • Pfeiffer, Robert H. Introduction to the Old Testament (Harper & Brothers, 1948).
  • Posener, Georges. "I More Duplicate of the Hood Papyrus," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 31 (1945), 112.
  • Quack, Joachim Friedrich. Dice Lehren des Ani: Ein neuägyptischer Weisheitstext in seinem kulturellen Umfeld, OBO 141 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994).
  • Ray, J. D. "Egyptian Wisdom Literature," in John Twenty-four hours, et al., Wisdom in Ancient Israel" (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 17-29, ISBN 0-521-62489-4.
  • Renouf, Peter le Page. "The Thematic Vowel in Egyptian," Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 11 (1888).
  • Ruffle, John. "The Teaching of Amenemope and its Connectedness with the Book of Proverbs" (M.A. Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1964).
  • Ruffle, John. "The Teaching of Amenemope and its Connection with the Book of Proverbs," in Roy B. Zuck, ed., Learning from the Sages; Studies on the Book of Proverbs (Bakery Books, 1995), 293-331.
  • Shupak, Nili. The Instruction of Amenemope and Proverbs 22:17-24:22 from the Perspective of Gimmicky Enquiry," in R. Fifty. Troxel, Yard. G. Friebel, and D. R. Magary, eds., Seeking Out the Wisdom of the Ancients: Essays Offered to Honor Michael 5. Flim-flam on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday (Eisenbrauns, 2005), 203-217. ISBN one-57506-105-8
  • Textual Notes on the New American Bible (St. Anthony's Guild, 1970).
  • Usick, Patricia. "Review of The Letters of Peter le Folio Renouf (1822-1897)", British Museum Studies in Aboriginal Egypt and Sudan five (2006), 13-xvi.
  • Washington, Harold C. Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs, SBL Dissertation Series 142 (Scholars Press, 1994).
  • Weeks, Stuart. Early Israelite Wisdom (Clarendon Press, 1994), 168-169.
  • Whybray, Roger Norman. The Volume of Proverbs: A Survey of Modern Study (Brill, 1995). ISBN 90-04-10374-0
  • Whybray, Roger Norman. The Composition of the Book of Proverbs (JSOT Press, 1994).
  • Whybray, Roger Norman. "The Structure and Composition of Proverbs 22:17-24:22," in S. E. Porter, P. Joyce, and D. E. Orton, eds., Crossing the Boundaries: Essays in Biblical Estimation in Laurels of Michael D. Golder (Brill, 1994), 83-96.
  • Williams, Ronald J. "The Alleged Semitic Original of the Wisdom of Amenemope," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 47 (1961), 100-106.
  • Williams, Ronald J. "Egypt and State of israel"," in J. R. Harris, The Legacy of Egypt, 2d ed. (Oxford, 1971), 257-290.
  • Williams, Ronald J. "Piety and Ethics in the Ramessid Age," Periodical of the Lodge for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities eight (1978), 131-137.
  • Wilson, John A. The Culture of Ancient Arab republic of egypt (originally The Burden of Egypt; Academy of Chicago Press, 1951). ISBN 978-0-226-90152-7

External links [edit]

  • Fractional English Translation in Maat-Sofiatopia website.
  • Papyrus BM 10474 British Museum
  • E.A. Wallis Budge, "The Teaching of Amen-Em-Apt, Son of Kanekht" (1924)

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruction_of_Amenemope