The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

RANDALL D. CHESNUTT 409
possessions to their families or friends in order to devote themselves to
the contemplative life (Contempl. 2.13, 18). Aseneth, too, disposed of all
her valuables, throwing especially her idols and the related paraphernalia
out the window (10:10–13). However, this dramatic act serves to
accentuate Aseneth’s utter repudiation of idolatry and does not reflect
any ideal of poverty and simplicity. Her elegant clothing and opulent
feasting later in the story (18:5–6; 20:6; 21:8) stand in marked contrast
to the ascetic lifestyle of the Therapeutae, who, according to Philo, wore
only inexpensive clothing, ate only enough simple food to sustain life,
and abstained from meat and wine (Contempl. 4.37–38; 9.73–74).
Aseneth’s fasting in connection with her initial penance in sackcloth and
ashes is quite temporary and therefore scarcely comparable, pace Delcor,
to the regular fasts observed by the Therapeutae (Contempl. 4.34–35).
Not only are the supposed parallels with the Therapeutae illusory, but
fundamental differences render any close kinship highly improbable.
Joseph and Aseneth knows nothing of the retreat from the bustle of life into
the solitude of contemplation that is the hallmark of the Therapeutic sect
described by Philo. On the contrary, the ethic fostered by the formula “it
is not proper for the man (woman) who worships God to…” (8:5–7; 21:1;
23:9, 12; 29:3) and by other attempts to define the conduct befitting
“those who worship God” (23:10; 28:5–7) presupposes life in the everyday
world of ordinary social intercourse. Aseneth is not even a likely candidate
for the kind of conversion envisioned in Philo’s portrayal of the
Therapeutae: whereas one left the hubbub and temptations of daily life
to pursue the superior Therapeutic life of meditation and solitude, the
disdainful Aseneth is secluded in her tower and not even subject to the
vices and temptations of the outside world prior to her conversion. 44
Moreover, upon her conversion Aseneth enters no communal order
devoted to bodily and spiritual healing, regimented discipline of praying,
studying Scripture and philosophy, and composing and singing hymns
and psalms—all of which were definitive of Therapeutic life as Philo
describes it (Contempl. 1.2; 3.25–29).
The inevitable conclusion is that the persistent claims of kinship
between Joseph and Aseneth and the Essenes or Therapeutae emanate more
from Qumran fever than from compelling evidence. Neither the romance
in general nor its meal formula in particular has anything more in common
with either of these groups than is reasonable to expect from any
two Jewish circles, and the differences are so pronounced as to preclude
close kinship. Joseph and Aseneth is not an Essene or Therapeutic work.
44. Burchard, Untersuchungen zu Joseph und Aseneth, 108–9.