Texts in Conversation
In Sirach, personified Wisdom describes herself as cassia, myrrh, and fragrant incense. 1 Enoch reshapes this into a cosmic tradition, where the traveler passes these same elements at the edge of the earth.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Enoch 30:3
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And beyond these, I traveled far to the east, and I saw another place, a valley full of water. 2 There, there was a tree, the color of fragrant trees such as the mastic. 3 Along the sides of those valleys, I saw fragrant cinnamon. And beyond these, I continued to the east.
Sirach 24:15
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
14 I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore, like rose bushes in Jericho, and like a fair olive tree in the plain. I was exalted like a plane tree. 15 Like cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given a scent to perfumes. Like choice myrrh, I spread abroad a pleasant fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, stacte, and as the smell of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16 Like the terebinth, I stretched out my branches. My branches are glorious and graceful.
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Notes and References
... Ben Sira’s description of wisdom in 24:13-17 is also similar to depictions of flora associated with Eden in other Second Temple Jewish literature. 1 Enoch, for example, portrays the trees located just outside of the Garden of Righteousness (Eden) in a similar manner (1 Enoch 29-32). In both Ben Sira (24:15) and 1 Enoch, the trees are described as aromatic (ἀρωμάτων; 1 Enoch 29:2; 30:2-3; 31:1, 3; 32:1) and associated with specific fragrances including cinnamon (κιννάμωμον; 1 Enoch 30:3; 32:1; compare Exodus 30:32), myrrh (σμύρνας; 1 Enoch 29:2), onyx, and galbanum (χαλβάνη; 1 Enoch 31:1). ...
Naizer, Eric Raymond
Adam, Humanity, and Angels: Early Jewish Conceptions of the Elect and Humankind Based on Genesis 1-3
(p. 81) Florida State University, 2013
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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