The Wisdom of the Aramaic Book of Ahiqar

Unravelling a Discourse of Uncertainty and Distress
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-90-04-47311-9
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 199, 480 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 896 g

Reihe: Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism

This book offers fresh readings of the Aramaic book of Ahiqar, an oft underappreciated ancient wisdom text. In undertaking a comprehensive literary analysis, incorporating both the drama and the sayings together, Bledsoe shows that Ahiqar’s didactic impulse is founded on a sense of uncertainty about life, offering advice for those in times of distress, much like the titular character himself. While Ahiqar shares many features with instructional literature like Proverbs, the ambiguous cosmic and social order imagined in the text resonate more strongly with the likes of Qoheleth or Job. Bledsoe also takes seriously the Elephantine context, suggesting that the social and political ethic evinced by the work would have resonated strongly with the Judean community in Achaemenid Egypt.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bledsoe, Seth

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

1 Identifying the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship

2 Responding to the Gaps in Ahiqar Scholarship

3 Outline of This Study

1 Locating Ahiqar

Materiality, Language and Intertextuality

1.1 Ahiqar In Situ: Material Aspects

1.2 Ahiqar In Lingua: Linguistic and Scribal Aspects

1.3 Ahiqar In Litteris: Legacy, Literary Milieu, and Intertextuality

1.4 Conclusion: The Elephantine Instruction of Ahiqar

2 Unraveling Ahiqar

Narratology and Discourse in the Story of Ahiqar

2.1 Plot Tensions & Resolutions: Unraveling the Structural Threads of the Story

2.2 Actants, Voices, and the Narrator/Audience Complexity: A Narratological Reading of Ahiqar

2.3 Summary of Literary Analysis of Narrative

2.4 Finishing the Story: The Missing End and the Later Witnesses

3 Delineating Ahiqar

Structure and Style in the Sayings of Ahiqar

3.1 Sayings-Types, Structures, and Stylistic Devices

3.2 Coherence, Context, and Compositional Units: A Theory of Reading and Meaning

3.3 Summary of Sayings

4 Cultivating an Ethic of Caution

Practical Instruction and the Dangers of Speech

4.1 The Synchrony of Proper Speech

4.2 Cultivating a Cautious Attitude

4.3 The Pragmatic Value of Contentment and Humility

4.4 Conclusion

5 Wisdom from Below

Financial Instruction and Social Status

5.1 Loans and Other Financial Matters

5.2 Poverty and Wealth

5.3 Labor and Servitude

5.4 Wisdom from Below: Synthesis, Story, and Rhetorical Effect

6 Constructing and Contesting Social Domains

The Familial Discourse of Loyalty and Reciprocity

6.1 The Double-Sided Domains of Family and Friendship

6.2 The Estranged Brother and the Familial Foreigner

6.3 Authority & Hierarchy: A Competition for Favor

6.4 Conclusion: Constructing and Contesting “Ahiqar” at Elephantine

7 Many Are the Stars

Humanity, the Gods and Speculative Wisdom

7.1 Humanity

7.2 The Gods

7.3 At the Intersection of Humanity and the Gods: The King in Ahiqar

7.4 Conclusion

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Seth A. Bledsoe, Ph.D. (2015), Florida State University, is Assistant Professor in Textual, Historical, and Systematic Studies at Radboud University. He has published several articles on Ahiqar and ancient wisdom literature in peer-reviewed journals (including JBL) and collected volumes.