THE
"ENEMY" IN ISRAELITE WISDOM LITERATURE
A
Dissertation
Presented
to
the Faculty of
the
Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary
In
Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for
the Degree
Doctor of
Philosophy
by
John Keating Wiles
June
1982
Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt,
Displayed with permission from
Dr. John Keating Wiles
APPROVAL SHEET
THE "ENEMY" IN ISRAELITE WISDOM
LITERATURE
John Keating
Wiles
Read
and Approved by:
Marvin E. Tate (Chairman)
John Joseph Owens
John D. Watts
Date: August 10, 1982
CONTENTS
Page
Chapter
1. Introduction 1
Personal Enemies in the Psalms 3
A Methodology for Investigating
"Enemies"
in the Wisdom Literature 18
Methodological Caveats 22
Contemporary Value of this Study 28
2. Enemy Designations Within the
Wisdom Literature 30
Proverbs 32
The byvx-Group 33
The fwr-Group 35
The religion of the
wicked 36
The demeanor of the
wicked 37
The speech of the
wicked 39
The allies of the
wicked 41
The Neutral Group 45
The Friends and Kinfolk Group 56
The Animals Group 59
Job 61
The byvx-Group 61
The fwr-Group 66
The Neutral Group 72
iii
The Friends and Kinfolk Group 74
The Animals Group 76
Qoheleth 77
The fwr-Group 78
The Neutral Group 79
The Animals Group 80
Sirach 80
The byvx-Group 82
The fwr-Group 87
The wicked in the
cult 91
The wicked and the
economy 92
The wicked at court 93
The wicked and their
speech 94
Wicked friends 94
The wicked and the
family 96
The wicked and
duplicity 99
The wicked and the
fool 100
The Neutral Group 101
The Friends and
Kinfolk Group 105
The Animals Group 109
Wisdom of Solomon 110
The byvx-Group 112
The fwr-Group 114
The Neutral Group 118
iv
The Friends and Kinfolk Group 119
The Animals Group 120
Summary 121
3. Derivative Enemies in Wisdom
Literature 127
Proverbs
129
Foolish Characters as Enemies 130
Righteous Characters as Enemies 138
Wisdom and Yahweh as Enemies 141
Job 146
Righteous Characters as Enemies 150
Satan as an Enemy 156
Yahweh as an Enemy 157
"The Enemy behind the Enemy" 163
Qoheleth 166
Sirach 169
Historical Characters as Enemies 171
Dispositions, Actions and Things
as Enemies 172
Fools and Sages as Enemies 176
Wisdom and the Lord as Enemies 179
Wisdom of Solomon 184
Righteous Characters as Enemies 185
Idolatry as an Enemy 186
Creation as an Enemy 188
Summary 190
v
4. Wise Responses to the Enemy 194
Proverbs 194
Rejection of Enemy Behavior 195
No Anxiety over Enemies 199
Avoidance of the Enemy 201
Securing Actions in the Face of Enemies 206
Gifts work wonders 207
Heed wisdom 208
Fear Yahweh 209
Love for the Enemy 210
Motives for Wise Responses to the Enemy 218
Self-destruction 218
Fate-fixing actor 219
Yahweh as "midwife" 222
Job 227
The Friends 228
Elihu 232
Yahweh 234
Job 235
Response to Satan? 239
Qoheleth 239
"Quietism" 240
Hatred 242
Enjoyment 245
Fear
253
vi
Sirach 258
Hostility 259
Caution 262
Reconciliation 266
Piety 275
Motives behind Sirach's Counsel 278
Death 280
Shame 281
Response to Wisdom 284
Wisdom of Solomon 285
Welcome to Strangers 285
Responses to Idols and Their Worshipers 287
Gentleness
290
Motives behind Responses to the Enemy 293
Summary 296
5.
Conclusion 299
Bibliography 307
Appendices
I. Enemy Designations within the
Wisdom Literature 321
II. Enemy Behavior within the
Wisdom Literature 329
III. Derivative Enemy Designations 350
Abstract 361
Biographical
Data 363
vii
Chapter
1
INTRODUCTION
The wisdom tradition of
way from the dominant Old
Testament attitude toward personal
enemies.
If your enemy is hungry, give him
bread to eat;
and if he is thirsty,
give him water to drink;
for you will heap coals of fire on
his head,
and Yahweh will reward
you.
Proverbs
25:21-22
This instruction, cited by Paul
in Romans 12:20, articulates
an ethic of treating enemies in
a beneficent manner. It is
perhaps the closest the Old
Testament comes to Jesus' com-
mand to love the enemy (Matt.
5:44). A few other passages
in the wisdom literature speak
of treating enemies in a
non-aggressive way.1
Examples of beneficent responses to enemies may be
adduced in other complexes of
Israelite tradition. Exodus
23:4-5 commands one to return
the enemy's stray ox or ass
and to help him lift up his
overburdened beast.2 Narratives
tell of Joseph aiding his
brothers who had conspired to kill
him, to cast him into a pit and
to sell him to the
1 Prov. 16:7; 24:17-18;
Job 31:29-30.
2 S. Driver, A Critical and Exegetical Commenter on
Deuteronomy (3rd ed.,
p.
250, commenting on Deut. 22:1, the deuteronomic reformu-
lation,
calls the Exodus form of the law "an old-world
anticipation of the spirit of
Mt. 5:44."
1
2
Ishmaelites.3 David
spared Saul's life when he was most
vulnerable.4 In the
latter case, Saul was evidently sur-
prised by David's behavior for
he asked, "If a man finds his
enemy will he let him go away
safe?" (I Sam. 24:19). Each
of these examples may be viewed
as beneficent responses to a
personal enemy.
The wisdom tradition, however, sounds this note most
clearly. The narrative examples
of this ethic may perhaps
be gainsaid since David was not
dealing with a common enemy
but with Yahweh's anointed,5
and Joseph was acting under the
watchful and subtle guidance of
God's providence.6 The
beneficent behavior mandated by
Exodus 23:4-5 is somewhat
oblique for the object of
neighborly consideration is the
enemy's livestock, not the
enemy himself. Why should
3 Gen. 37:18, 24, 28; the
whole story comprises chapters
37,
39-50.
4 I Sam. 24:1-22;
26:1-25. The two stories are doublets
of
the same tradition; see K. Koch, Was Ist
Formgeschichte?
Methoden der
Bibelexegese (3
Aufl., Neukirchen-Vluyn:
Neukirchener
Verlag, 1974), pp. 163-181.
5 1 Sam. 24:6; 26:9; in
both versions of this saga the
fact
that Saul is Yahweh's anointed is the reason given for
David's
restraint.
6 Gen. 45:4-8; 50:20; G.
von Rod argued that the Joseph
story
is a wisdom tale in "The Joseph Narrative and. Ancient
Wisdom,"
in The Problem of the Hexateuch and
Other Essays,
trans.
by E. Dickens (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966),
pp.
292-300; and in Genesis: A Commentary,
trans. by J.
Marks
(rev. ed.,
p.
435; but see also G. Coats, "The Joseph Story and Ancient
Wisdom:
A Reappraisal," CBQ 35 (1973), 285-297.
3
innocent animals suffer merely
because neighbors had become
involved in some dispute?
Personal Enemies in the
Psalms
Although personal enemies do appear in narrative
materials, law and wisdom
literature, they seem to play a
relatively minor role. With the
individual laments and
thanksgiving songs the enemies
play a major role. They form
one of the three fundamental
components of the lament.7
Furthermore, although the
Hebrew title of the Psalter
(Mylht) is
more properly translated "Praises" there is
a large amount of prayer or
petition (tvlpt);
approxi-
mately one third of the Psalms
are not in fact praises but
laments.8 It is
scarcely surprising, therefore, that
enemies appear so frequently in
the Psalter.
Because of the major role which enemies play in so many
psalms, impressions of Old
Testament attitude toward per-
sonal enemies are most easily
formed on the basis of the
Psalter. When it is examined
with a view toward discerning
how to treat one's enemies, the
results are radically dif-
ferent from the beneficent, or
at least non-aggressive,
7 C. Westermann,
"The Structure and History of the
Lament
in the Old Testament," in Praise and
Lament in the
Psalms, trans. by K. Crim and
R. Soulen (
Knox
Press, 1981), p. 169 (= "Struktur and Geschichte der
Klage
im Alten Testament," ZAW 66 [1954], 44-80).