Texts in Conversation
In 4Q213, a Dead Sea Scrolls copy of the Aramaic Levi Document, Levi tells his sons that whoever learns wisdom gains honor. The Testament of Levi reworks the speech and replaces wisdom with the law of God, so that honor comes from knowing the law.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q213 1 i 10
Aramaic Levi a
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings
8 [… you will bring in a blessed harvest.] Whoever sows good brings in good, 9 [and whoever sows evil, his seed returns upon] him. And now, reading and instruction and wisdom 10 [teach to your sons, and wisdom will be with you] as eternal honor. Whoever learns wisdom, honor 11 [is his; but whoever despises wisdom] is given over to contempt and scorn. Look, my sons, 12 [at Joseph my brother, who taught reading and the instruction of] wisdom, for honor and for greatness and for kings
Testament of Levi 13:3
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha, Testaments
1 And now, my children, I command you: Fear the Lord your God with all your heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His law. 2 And you also, teach your children letters, so that they may have understanding all their lives, reading continually the law of God. 3 For everyone who knows the law of the Lord will be honored, and will not be a stranger wherever he goes. 4 Yes, he will gain many friends—more even than his parents—and many will desire to serve him and to hear the law from his mouth.
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Notes and References
“... A comparison between ALD 12:9–13:13 and TPL 12:6–13:7 reveals the relation between them. TPL is clearly based on ALD, but changes and modifies it. Of special interest is the change from “wisdom” in ALD 13:4–5 to “the law of God” in TPL 13:2–3. This occurs several times in this passage, and arouses some surprise. If TPL is a Christian reworking of Jewish material, it remains difficult to understand why a Christian author/redactor would have replaced “wisdom” with “the law”. In the wisdom poems in Baruch 3:36–4:1 and in ben Sira 24:23 the identification of wisdom with the Torah is a point strongly made, and it is implied in the earlier 11QPsa 18:12–15. ...”
Greenfield, Jonas C.
The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary
(p. 204) Brill, 2004
* 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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