PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

the pursuit of taboo intermarriage. In chapters 17-19 the relation to idolatry becomes explicit.
Loader summarises:
At its heart is an action of sexual wrongdoing. Much of its impact, however, is not
described in terms of further actions of sexual wrongdoing, either by the offspring or
by their evil spirits. 88
A prayer in Sirach illustrates the way in which appetites for food and sex became thought of
as fundamental vices to be avoided in much Jewish literature. This is presented as a prayer to
the one who has the power to discipline the mind and discern sin:
Sirach 23:4-6
O Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me conceited eyes, and turn lust away
from me. Do not let the desires of the belly and intercourse overpower me, and do
not give me over to a shameless soul.
Pseudo-Eupolemus presents Abraham’s piety as resulting in him being above greed and
beyond the reach of sexual sin:
Pseudo-Eupolemus, Fragment 1, 3-7 89
Having pursued piety, Abraham was pleasing to God….
When the elders came to him, suggesting that he might receive wealth in order to
release the prisoners, he did not choose to take advantage of the unfortunate. But,
having taken food for his young men, he returned the spoils….
88 William R.G. Loader, Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality: Attitudes Towards Sexuality
in the Early Enoch Literature, the Aramaic Levi Document, and the Book of Jubilees (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2007), 59. Loader (cf. especially 63) finds a similar pattern in the
Animal Apocalypse: the sexual transgression of the Watchers precedes sins of violence and
oppression among their heirs.
89 Not much of the original context of this fragment survives. It seems that the author is
pointing out the virtues that would have been applauded as pious. This version clearly differs
from the Biblical account.
234