Department Of Biblical Studies

The enigmatic figure of the personified Wisdom described in Proverbs 1 and 8, appears in contrast with the image of Folly in chapter 9. Both figures, the Wisdom and the Folly have common features with the Strange Woman mentioned in Proverbs 2, 5, 6 and 7. The purpose of the present paper is to clarify the identity of the Strange Woman in the light of recently published Egyptian sources and thus to throw light on the rest of the female imagery in the book of Proverbs.

A salient characteristic of the Egyptian wisdom literature is the division of mankind into opposite categories juxtaposed for the sake of illuminating and delineating them. Hence the antithetical pairs: the hot-tempered and the silent man, the wise man and the fool, and the pious and the wicked man. Such pairs of opposites are not unique to Egyptian literature. They appear in the Bible too and in collections of Greek proverbs from the Hellenistic period on. For this discussion I have chosen to focus on the silent versus the hot-tempered man. To the best of my knowledge this pair is unique to Egyptian literature, unlike the wise man and the fool, and the pious and the wicked man, who are present in Biblical and Greek writings. 1

One of the key features of biblical prophecy is the criticism of the cult and the rejection of its superiority over morality. 1 Some scholars have defined this phenomenon in terms of the 'primacy of morality over the cult'. Although many of the classical prophets criticise ritual practice accompanied by unethical behaviour, they do not always confront cult with morality. On occasion, the cult is set in opposition to loving kindness (‫,)חסד‬ knowledge of God (Hos 6:6), justice (Isa 1:17), or heeding God's voice (Jer 7:23), etc. 2 While the idea also occurs in biblical historiography and wisdom literature, some scholars thus maintain that it originated with the Hebrew prophets. 3 Others, however, suggest that it preceded biblical prophecy, contending that the extra-biblical findings-primarily Egyptian-demonstrate its existence at least a millennium earlier than the emergence of biblical prophecy. This paper focuses on the question of whether Egyptian wisdom literature contains a similar rejection or criticism of the cult in favour of other values. It first surveys the attitude the Egyptian sages exhibit towards the cult, then proceeds to analyse a selection of texts-including passages from other genres that appear to demonstrate a critical attitude towards sacrifices. 4 These findings are then compared with the biblical view in order to determine the existence of affinities or lack thereof. If correspondences are identified, the possibility of Egyptian influence on the biblical wisdom writers and prophets will be discussed. Although previous scholars have already discussed these issues, they have generally approached it from the biblical rather than Egyptian perspective, adducing the relevant Egyptian sources as aids in resolving the question of whether the favouring of morality over ritual is unique to the Hebrew Bible or not. 5 I take the opposite approach here, beginning with the Egyptian texts, taking into consideration the recent studies and new translations of the Egyptian material that have prompted a re-examination of this question. 6

Ancient Egyptian sources frequently depict Pharaoh as god's representative on earth during his lifetime and as a god after his death. In his lifetime, the king was identified with Horus, the god of heaven. After his death, he became Osiris, the god of the dead. On occasion, he was also named after other gods-for example, Montu, the war-god, Sekhemet, the plague-goddess, and Khnum, the potter-god of creation. At times, he was also described as "the living image of god x." According to Egyptian thought, those who sat on the royal throne were the earthly successors of the gods who ruled Egypt during the primordial period. The ruling king was called prt nṯr "seed of god" or nṯr "god." On occasion, the boundaries between king and god became so blurred that it is impossible to determine whether the title "god" refers to the king or god. When a king ascended the throne, he was given a five-fold name that included divine epithets: "son of Re (the sun-god)" or "Horus." 1 The king's divine lineage is clearly reflected in the illustrations portraying his birth and the inscriptions accompanying them. Herein, the god was given the features of the king's father and coupled with his earthly mother. 2 The king was thus regarded as god's son in the literal, physical sense. 3 1. In the official literature, the title "god" when referring to king usually comes with adjectives such as nfr "good," wr "great," wʿ "one, unique," mnḫ "excellent," etc.

Egyptian features constitute an integral part of the Oppression and Exodus narratives and deserve our attention. These expressions, however, were so successfully translated and adapted to Biblical Hebrew that it is now difficult to detect their  foreign origins. Yet, while they would seem to be understood in their new context, it is possible to arrive at their true essence only after exposing their Egyptian roots. We
can then more fully comprehend what the biblical author meant, when he made use of an Egyptian expression instead of another phrase more commonly used in the Bible.
The discussion which follows takes as its subject three of these expressions,
which recur repeatedly in the Oppression and Exodus narratives (Exod. 4–15:21).
These are “heavy” kbd, “strong” hzq, and “hard hearted” qšh lēb, that pertaining to Pharaoh’s stubbornness and disobedience. We shall examine, on the one hand, the Egyptian background of these expressions, their meaning and context in the Egyptian
sources, and on the other, the evolution of their usage in the Bible. In addition, we shall attempt to answer why the biblical author used expressions originating in Egyptian when he had at his disposal synonymous expressions commonly used in the language of the Bible. Does the usage of the Egyptian signify some special meaning
or purpose?