One of the hallmarks of Middle Kingdom speculative Egyptian Wisdom, composed in the wake of the F... more One of the hallmarks of Middle Kingdom speculative Egyptian Wisdom, composed in the wake of the First Intermediate Period (2150‒2020 BCE), is its critique of traditional beliefs and tenets as expressed in the didactic wisdom Instructions and other genres. This phenomenon is also evident in the biblical speculative wisdom books—Qoheleth and Job—whose authors call conventional sapiential concepts into question. As we shall see below the buds of this stance are already discernable in the earliest examples of the didactic wisdom Instructions, some compositions—both didactic (The Instruction of Any) and speculative (The Dispute between a Man and His Ba)— containing two antithetical approaches: dogmatic and critical. This circumstance raises several questions: Does this approach only occur in speculative wisdom as per the prevalent scholarly view? Does it belong to a particular period or is it the product of gradual diachronic development? Is it a one-off phenomenon or recurring one characteristic of documents written in specific circumstances or in the wake of significant historical events? The present discussion seeks to resolve these issues, few of which have been addressed in the literature to date. Following a brief survey of the relevant corpus, I shall adduce a number of examples of the critique and undermining of “traditional wisdom” not only from the speculative wisdom corpus but also from all the sapiential works. Having analyzed the Egyptian examples relating to two primary themes—study/education and religion/ritual—I shall compare them with the relevant biblical wisdom texts in order to shed light and clarify the phenomenon in both literatures. Finally, I shall draw some conclusions and offer answers to the questions posed above.
The majority of scholars today regard the Joseph story as an exilic novella written in Egypt duri... more The majority of scholars today regard the Joseph story as an exilic novella written in Egypt during the Persian or Hellenistic periods in order to encourage the exiles and demonstrate the possibility of prospering under foreign rule. The present study seeks to critically evaluate and refute this argument by re-examining the Egyptian features in the light of recently published findings. Analysis of these elements—more prevalent in the Joseph story than in any other biblical text—shows that it began its life in the mid- or late-second millennium BCE as an oral story about a Semite who rose to prominence in Egypt. Written down at the beginning of the first millennium BCE by a northern Israelite writer, it then underwent a protracted editorial process during which Egyptian terms and motifs were added to it, the latest of which belong to the Hellenistic period.
Egypt,Israel, and the Ancient Mediterranean World: Studies in Honor of Ronald B. Redfordrld, 2004
Recently there has been vigorous debate among scholars surrounding the origins of the people of I... more Recently there has been vigorous debate among scholars surrounding the origins of the people of Israel. Some of the questions that have arisen in this regard are the following: Did all the Israelites originate in Canaan or did at least some of them come from Egypt? Or did they perhaps originate among the nomadic tribes of the Shasu or the #abiru? Finally, does the appearance of the name "Israel" on the Merneptah stela attest to the existence of the people of Israel in Canaan at the end of the 13th century bce? At the heart of the debate are archaeological findings, both material and epigraphic, that were discovered especially in Canaan and in ancient Egypt. However, some details, namely the Egyptian elements recurring throughout the Oppression and Exodus narratives (Exod 4: 1-15:21), which can also serve as tools in resolving the problem, have been neglected and have not received the attention they deserve. 1
The enigmatic figure of the personified Wisdom described in Proverbs 1 and 8, appears in contrast... more 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.
One of the most prominent hallmarks of ancient wisdom literature-Egyptian and biblical alike-is i... more One of the most prominent hallmarks of ancient wisdom literature-Egyptian and biblical alike-is its use of metaphors and similes. This device was designed not only to adorn the text but also to elucidate and illustrate the topic at hand by comparing it with an object or situation well known to the audience. Metaphors and similes found in biblical wisdom literature have been studied quite extensively. Much less attention has been paid to their usage in Egyptian wisdom texts, however. Addressing this fallow field of research, the present paper was prompted, inter alia, by the recent publication of The Book of Thoth-an Egyptian sapiential work replete with metaphors and similes. I focus herein on metaphors associated with the field of learning and instruction-a central theme of wisdom literature. Comparison with the biblical material helps sharpen and clarify the use of this device in the two corpora and answer questions such as: do the two cultures draw metaphors from the same realms of life? Are the affinities typological-i.e., general-or do they attest to contact or the influence of one culture upon the other? Were the imageries taken from a common cultural reservoir? Following a review of the relevant Egyptian, biblical, and extrabiblical textual sources, I analyze the Egyptian imagery relating to learning and instruction, then comparing it with the biblical and extra-biblical literature. The findings evince that both cultures relate to the same general fields-educational motives, the attributes of wisdom, the way in which it is acquired, and the learning process. They also draw imagery from the same realms of lifenature, everyday life, customs and beliefs. The disparity derives from the differences between the two cultures in these areas of life. The parallel images-education as animal-training, marital relations as the plowing of fields, water as a symbol of female sexuality, the learning process as consumption, and wisdom/instruction personified as a woman-are universal typologies. While possibly growing and developing independently in each culture, they may also be drawn from a common Near Eastern reservoir.
In the absence of actual evidence on the existence of schools and relevant literature in ancient ... more In the absence of actual evidence on the existence of schools and relevant literature in ancient Israel, the present study attempts to reconstruct the learning methods and stages in light of the terminology applied to study and its accompanying images in the Bible (focused on wisdom literature). The analysis of these terminology and images indicates dierent teaching methods: listening, obedience, understanding, practice, learning lessons, and searching. These methods are complementary and reect various stages in the process of acquiring knowledge, from the first passive stage to the last more active and creative stage. In addition, it shows that the ancient Hebrew educators perceived knowledge first and foremost as traditional material, to be passed down from generation to generation.
Positive And Negative Human Types In The Egyptian Wisdom Literature
BRILL eBooks, 2010
A salient characteristic of the Egyptian wisdom literature is the division of mankind into opposi... more 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. This chapter focuses on the silent versus the hot-tempered man. The silent man, a central theme in Egyptian wisdom literature, is first mentioned in the Instruction to Kagemni at the end of the third millennium BCE. The silent man is a symbol and example not only in the social framework but also on the religious sphere. Two terms (smm, t?(w)) in Egyptian designate the hot-tempered man and both use an image of heat as illustration. The silent man is pious, his heart devoted to the god, while the heated man only makes a pretence of belief. Keywords: Egyptian wisdom literature; hot-tempered man; silent man; third millennium BCE
Stylistic and terminological traits common to Biblical and Egyptian literature
Die Welt des Orients, 1983
Finds from the Amarna Period at the Hecht Museum
Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica, Mar 1, 2005
Weighing in the Scales: How an Egyptian Concept Made Its Way into Biblical and Postbiblical Literature
Penn State University Press eBooks, Nov 6, 2015
The First Mickey Mouse: The Enigma of the Anthropomorphized Animal Drawings in Ancient Egypt
T&T Clark eBooks, 2023
Conversation with One’s Heart or Soul in Wisdom Literature
MOST of the material available regarding the legal aspects of life in ancient Egypt pertains to c... more MOST of the material available regarding the legal aspects of life in ancient Egypt pertains to contracts and other legal documents, as well as to literary works not directly connected with the legal system. No codex has so far been found even though the classical writers mention the existence of one; it is also alluded to in Egyptian writings.1 In the light of the available sources, it is possible to reconstruct the judiciary and law of the land of the Pharoahs. What emerges is a highly developed legal system evolving steadily over many generations. It is not the object of this inquiry to review the law of ancient Egypt, a subject already dealt with in a number of research papers. Such a mission should rather be carried out by those whose knowledge of the law at least equals their expertise in the Egyptian language. The present paper deals with a composition known as "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant," an example of the genre of Egyptian wisdom literature. The goal of this article is to show that this story has a well-founded juridical background. An analysis of the work from the point of view of content, form, and terminology,2 on the one hand, and a comparison with other works involved with the judiciary, on the other, will demonstrate that this work should be added to the body of sources which, although * I would like to thank S. Allam, H. Haase, and S. Shitreet for their helpful remarks. Special thanks go to R. Westbrook for his instructive remarks during our conversation in Baltimore. After I completed this article, A. R. Schulman kindly called my attention to E. Perry's doctoral thesis (see n. 2 below) to which I have referred as much as possible in the notes. I Hints regarding the existence of a written law in ancient Egypt are described in n. 34 below. But it is possible that no legal codex was ever formulated in Egypt. The ideology was imbued in the Egyptian monarchy according to which the king's command was law and every new king was a new law-giver. See H. Goedicke, Kilnigliche Dokumente aus dem Alten Reich, Aegyptische Abhandlungen 14 (Wiesbaden, 1967), p. 247. 2 In this case, it is difficult to separate these three levels of comparison, and thus they are presented together in what follows. The discussion of terminology has been limited to the general meaning of the terms and to determining their relation to the legal sphere. Determination of the terminus technicus of the legal register in Egypt and the semantic limits of the terms are subjects to be dealt with in another paper. Attempts have been made in this field by J. Pirenne and M. Stracmans, "La Portfe historique et juridique de la stble de Karnak," Revue internationale des droits de l'antiquite, 2 ser., 2 (1953): 42 ff.; J. Pirenne and B. van de Walle, "Documents juridique 6gyptiens," Archives d'histoire du droit oriental 1 (1937): 80 ff.; M. Malinine and J. Pirenne, "Documents juridique 6gyptiens," ibid. 5 (1950-51): 83 ff.; and recently, E. Perry, "A Critical Study of the Eloquent Peasant" (Ph.D. diss., The Johns Hopkins University, 1986). In the introduction to her book, Perry gives twenty legal terms (p. 77, n. 60), although in the work itself she defines a far greater number of terms as legal. Her conclusion, however, is at times unsubstantiated, as she relies only on the context of "The Tale of the [JNES 51 no. 1
In the comparative study of Egyptian and Biblical literature emphasis has been laid on content an... more In the comparative study of Egyptian and Biblical literature emphasis has been laid on content and ideas, while the formal and terminological aspects have been neglected. The present work deals with the semantics of terminology in Biblical wisdom literature as compared to that of the Egyptians and centers, therefore, on a somewhat abandoned aspect of the comparative research of the Biblical and Egyptian writings. The work has three primary objectives: (a) to draw up a glossary of Egyptian wisdom terms, a task as yet not undertaken elsewhere; (b) to elucidate the semantics of these terms; (c) to clarify the Biblical wisdom terms in relation to their Egyptian parallels. The fresh comparative inquiry into Hebrew and Egyptian wisdom vocabulary sheds light on some general problems intrinsic to Biblical wisdom, e.g.: Does the Hebrew sage (hākām) signify a function or a quality? Did Hebrew wisdom evolve from a secular to a religious stage? What was the Sitz im Leben of Biblical wisdom?
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Papers by Nili Shupak
As we shall see below the buds of this stance are already discernable in the earliest examples of the didactic wisdom Instructions, some compositions—both didactic (The Instruction of Any) and speculative (The Dispute between a Man and His Ba)— containing two antithetical approaches: dogmatic and critical. This circumstance raises several questions: Does this approach only occur in speculative wisdom as per the prevalent scholarly view? Does it belong to a particular period or is it the product of gradual diachronic development? Is it a one-off phenomenon or recurring one characteristic of documents written in specific circumstances or in the wake of significant historical events?
The present discussion seeks to resolve these issues, few of which have been addressed in the literature to date.
Following a brief survey of the relevant corpus, I shall adduce a number of examples of the critique and undermining of “traditional wisdom” not only from the speculative wisdom corpus but also from all the sapiential works. Having analyzed the Egyptian examples relating to two primary themes—study/education and religion/ritual—I shall compare them with the relevant biblical wisdom texts in order to shed light and clarify the phenomenon in both literatures. Finally, I shall draw some conclusions and offer answers to the questions posed above.