the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

RANDALL D. CHESNUTT 407
concepts of the two spirits, rigid determinism, and utter depravity of
humanity are all foreign to Joseph and Aseneth. Light-darkness dualism
appears in Aseneth’s prayers but is far less central than in the scrolls and
lacks the predestinarian character of Qumran dualism (see especially
1QS 3.13–4.26). Death-to-life polarity also appears in Aseneth’s conversion
story (15.4–5; 16.16) as well as in the Qumran Hodayoth (1QH
3.19–23; 11.3–14) and Philo’s description of the Therapeutae (Contempl.
13), but these various usages of familiar imagery share nothing distinctive.
Certainly the mere presence of virtually universal antitheses such as
light-darkness and death-life afford no evidence of close kinship. 38 The
wearing of white garments by both Aseneth 39 and the candidates for
Essene initiation described by Josephus (J.W. 2.8.3, 7) is a noteworthy
similarity, but once again the phenomenon is too common in antiquity 40
to support a direct connection. Aseneth’s white garment parallels that
worn by Joseph (14:12–15; cf. 5:5) and functions to demonstrate that as
a new convert she shares his exalted status. 41 This status approximates
angelic existence and therefore does bear some similarity to the angelic
status ascribed to God’s elect in the Qumran scrolls. However, the portrayal
of the righteous as angels is itself widely attested. 42 Again we are
dealing with a concept shared by many Jews rather than with distinctive
ideas indicating a direct relationship.
O’Neill’s claim that the special meal founded by Melchizedek and
associated with entry into the Promised Land is the connecting link
between Aseneth’s meal and Qumran practice is mere speculation and
leaves the problematic oil of anointing unexplained. Beckwith’s case that
calendrical concerns corroborate the Essene connection is likewise unconvincing.
No such concerns are explicit in Joseph and Aseneth, and even the
implicit pattern that Beckwith reconstructs from the scattered temporal
38. See my discussion in From Death to Life, 145–49, 172–76, 180–81.
39. The text is uncertain at this point. Burchard’s edition has linh~, “linen,” where the
old edition by Pierre Batiffol (Le Livre de la Prière d’Aseneth [StPatr 1–2; Paris: Leroux,
1889–90]) has leukh&, “white, radiant.” Philonenko’s text reads lampra&, “bright, shining.”
In any case, that Aseneth’s new garment is white can be deduced from the context
in 14.12–15 and from the obvious parallel with Joseph’s white tunic (5.5).
40. See Wilhelm Michaelis, “leuko&v, leukai&nw,” TDNT 4:241–50. To name only
a few, the Therapeutae, Merkabah mystics, and devotees of the Isis cult all wore
white garments. See my discussion in From Death to Life, 196, 211, 247–50.
41. On the carefully crafted parallels between the portrayals of Aseneth and Joseph,
and their function to show Aseneth’s worthiness to be fully accepted into the Israelite
community and married to the patriarch, see my From Death to Life, 109–11.
42. Charlesworth, “The Portrayal of the Righteous as an Angel,” 135–51; and Paul
B. Decock, “Holy Ones, Sons of God, and the Transcendent Future of the Righteous
and the New Testament,” Neot 17 (1983): 70–82.