A characteristic of Qumran theology is the notion of revealed wisdom, i.e. the idea that man received wisdom by revelation. Wisdom is conferred by God as a particular endowment. Carried to its extreme, this idea conceives wisdom as transmitted by inspiration or by illumination. The latter concept is especially en vogue in Qumran. Wisdom is a divine light that shines over the chosen ones. Thus it is said in the Manual of Discipline (1QS), col. XI, ll. 3-7:^￿

The divine knowledge granted to the chosen ones enables them to understand the wonders of God and the secrets of what happened, i.e. the innermost significance of events^￿￿®øæ￿ðŠŽŠ©￿

The revelation of the secrets of what happens is a recurring motif in the recently published 4Q Instruction (”Œ–ø￿“”‡Ž•©￿￿4Q415 ￿ 418 + 423 + 1Q26.

We find there:

that God uncovered the ear of the understanding ones about the mystery of what happened.

ˆø￿‰“Š￿ˆ“￿ˆŒæ•￿”‡ŽðŽ’￿‡øæ￿ðŠŽŠ￿®4Q418:126)

and again there:

who uncovered your ear about the mystery that happened

ˆø￿‰“Š￿ˆæð‘Š￿‡øæ￿ðŠŽŠ￿®4Q418:184)

and also:

As for thee, He has opened for thee insight. And He has placed thee in authority over His treasure. And a measure of truth has been assigned to you

ŒˆœŠ￿‘“￿™œ￿“￿Œ‡ˆŒšøŒ￿Š”Ž“‘Š￿ŒˆŽ™œ￿ˆ”œ￿™Œ_‹Š￿˜“Ž‘Š￿®4Q418, 81 + 81a)

These godly gifts equalize men to angels, not only in terms of status, but as one sacred community. The Manual of Discipline goes on saying (XI:7-9):

“ˆø￿‡ø￿ˆ“￿￿￿

_œð’￿“ˆŒæœ￿˜Œ“’￿

ŒŽðŽ“’￿‡‰Œø“￿_‹ŒŽ’

Œ˜’￿‡ðŽ￿”Ž’￿‡ø￿–Œ‹’￿“˜šœ￿Ž‹

Œ–Œ‹￿”‡ðŽœ￿_Œ‹￿￿￿“”˜œ￿˜Œ“’

˜’￿‘“￿_›￿ðŠŽŠ

These two go very well hand in hand: divine, inspired wisdom and communion with heavenly beings ￿ a choir of angels and men.

The logical outcome of this view is a reassessment of the impact that age and experience can have upon the acquisition of knowledge. The Book of Jubilees already expressed a new view on this matter. Thus we read in ch. 23, vs. 11:

This fits in with the revolutionary character of the Qumran community and the circles that preceded it which we may define as Proto-Essenians. As it is said later: (Jubilees, ch. 23, vs. 16):

However, one cannot describe the Essenian view about the ineptitude of old age as deriving exclusively from the revolutionary character of this movement. It is enrooted in their world view and in their concept of revealed wisdom. Therefore, they ruled regarding the judges of their own community that they should consist of ten people, elected periodically, comprising four Levites and Aaronides and six learned Israelites, from the age of twenty-five to sixty. And then it is explicitly said:

In Hebrew:

Œˆ“ [Q4: Œ“ˆ￿￿ŽœŽš‡￿˜Œ‹￿”‡•￿Ž’￿ðŠ￿Œ”˜“Š￿“™Œ￿ˆœ￿Š˜‹Š

‘Ž￿‡”˜“￿Šˆ‹’￿”˜Œ￿Ž”Œ￿￿Œ‡øŒ•￿ˆ—￿ˆ“￿‡ŽŒ‡Ž￿Šˆø›￿ˆ”ø￿“–Žø￿ˆœ￿‹˜œ’￿˜‹￿

(Q4 + ˆø©￿“ˆ￿Ž“Ž”Œ￿ˆœ￿Ž”ŽŠ’￿

In what follows, I shall consider the question of possible Biblical antecedents to this peculiar Essenian-Qumranic view. In the first place, however, let me shortly summarize what can be considered as the dominant Biblical view about the acquisition of wisdom by man.

This is the common opinion which Job quotes in his argument against his friends. And indeed, we find it widely. The poet of the Song of Moses invites his audience:

The elders (æ_ðŽ’) in Ezek 7:26 are those who give advice (˜šŠ), just as in Jer 18:18 a similar maxim attributes the advice (˜šŠ) to the sage (‘’). Obviously æ_• equals ‘’. The elders (æ_ðŽ’), being the depositaries of wisdom, were assumed to be in charge of justice in the older strata of Deuteronomy (Deut 19:12; 21:2,3,4,6; etc.). Probably in time the word came to denote status and not age; still the ground-meaning is significant. However, most telling, in my opinion, is that Psalm where the author asks to be granted old age in order to acquire intelligence; Ps. 90:12:

The idiom of counting days with the meaning of 'living on' is now well attested in the Aqhat epic from Ugarit: "I will let you count years with Baal with Ben El you will count months".

Ašsprk. 'm b'l. šnt. 'm bn.il.tspr.yrhm (Aqht 1:VI:28-29).

The challenge to the accepted concept that equated wisdom with old age comes from various quarters. In the first place let us mention that old iconoclast, Qohelet. The NJPS here is, in my view, excellent:

Œ‡￿Ž“‹￿”–‘•￿Œ‘’￿””“￿æ_•￿Œ‘–Ž“￿ˆø￿“ˆ￿Ž‹˜￿“ŠæŠø￿˜Œ‹￿

‘Ž￿”‡Žœ￿Š–ŒøŽ’￿Žšˆ￿“”“Œ￿￿‘Ž￿‰’￿‡”“‘ŒœŒ￿ðŒ“‹￿ø (Qoh 4:13-14).

Qohelet appears to be well-acquainted with the phenomenon of 'old fools'. However, about the same time there comes an onslaught from an entirely different side, the Response of Elihu. Thus says Elihu (Job 32:6-9, NJPS with some deviations):

š˜Žø￿ˆðŽ￿“Ž”Ž’￿Œˆœ’￿ŽŽŽ’￿￿˜“￿‘•￿捓œŽ￿ŒˆŽøˆ￿”ŒŒœ￿‹˜Ž￿ˆœ‘’￿

ˆ”øœŽ￿￿Ž”Ž’￿Ž‹‡øŒ￿Œø‡￿ðŽ’￿ŽŒ‹Ž˜Œ￿‘”Š￿￿￿ˆ‘•￿øŒ￿ŠŽˆ￿‡ˆðŒ

Œð”œ￿‹Ž￿œ‡Žð’￿￿￿“ˆ￿ø‡Ž’￿Ž‘”Œ￿Œæ_ðŽ’￿Ž‡ŽðŒ￿”™￿

Age and experience do not gain wisdom; it is the spirit emanating from God that instructs men. Further, Elihu illustrates how this is done, or at least, can be done (33:13-18©￿

”‹Œ˜￿ˆ“ŽŒ￿øŽ‡Œœ￿‘Ž￿‘“￿‹‡øŽŒ￿“ˆ￿Ž˜ðŠ￿

‘Ž￿‡ˆœ￿Ž‹‡ø￿ˆ“￿Œ‡œŽ’￿￿￿“ˆ￿ŽŒøðŠ￿

‡“Œ’￿æŽŒ•￿“Ž“Š￿￿‡ð™“￿œø‹”Š￿˜“￿ˆðŽ’￿￿‡œðŒ”Œœ￿˜“Ž￿”‘‡

ˆæ￿Ž‰“Š￿ˆæ•￿ˆðŽ’￿Œ‡”–ø’￿Žœ’

“Š–Žø￿ˆ‹’￿”˜Š￿®”˜Š￿©￿Œ‰ŒŠ￿”‰‡ø￿Ž‘–Š

Ž￿𙝌￿”ðŽ￿œ￿ŒŽœŒ￿”˜‡ø￿‡“￿

This is the way God reveals Himself to men, by dreams. Elihu adopted elements of the speech of Eliphaz in Job 4:12-16. Eliphaz, however, had spoken about a single particular event, a unique revelation. Elihu generalized: dreams ￿ this is a regular means of divine revelation to men; there the breath of Shaddai gives them understanding.

There is one story, a deutero-canonical one, that illustrates Elihu's concept about revealed wisdom; it is the story of Susanna, especially in the LXX version (as opposed to Theodotion). In this story there is a contrast between the two wicked elders and the pure and righteous young man, Daniel. The young man Daniel receives from an angel of the Lord a spirit of understanding which enables him to intervene in the case of Susanna.

And the LXX version sums up the message of the story by saying:

Here too there is no doubt that the source of wisdom (knowledge and understanding) is a spirit emanated by the Lord.

This challenge to the authority of elderly people and their teaching ￿ a teaching that relied on experience and insisted on prudence and moderation ￿ did not go by unanswered. A response can be found, in my opinion, in 1 Kgs 12:1-16, the story about the advice of the elders (æ_ðŽ’) to Rehab'am and that of the youngsters (Ž“‹Ž’). The elders advised moderation and appeasement; the youngsters advocated an attitude of self-conceited arrogance. Rehab'am followed the latter; as a result, Israel revolted and the king lost the best part of his kingdom.

Not a few attempts have been made to detect an actual, historical background to this episode. In my opinion, they miss the point, because they do not start with the proper questions, namely what the literary genre of 1 Kgs 12:1-16 is and approximately when it was composed.

In the present context, I must limit myself to a statement of conclusions only, deferring all argumentation to a proper opportunity. I believe that this story is a relatively late one, as implied by some of its linguistic features, such as Ž“‹Ž’ with the meaning of youngsters as in Daniel ch. 1. The story is fiction; it is a paradigmatic legend, aiming to show what happens if one abandons the prudent advice of elders embracing instead the haughty attitude of youngsters. Thus it settles accounts with this new brand of sages, the revisionists, some of whom relied on inspiration, on revealed wisdom.

The texts discussed so far, relatively late ones, present what appears to have been an argument going on between two factions in wisdom circles; we may define these factions as 'elders' on the one hand and 'youngsters' on the other. Obviously, this is just a portion of a larger story. There is David in the Psalm Scroll from Qumran (11QPs^a), not a sectarian composition: David is described there as "wise, and a light like the light of the sun, and literate and discerning and perfect in all his ways before God and men. And the Lord gave him a discerning spirit and a light".

ŒŽŠŽ￿‹ŒŽ‹￿‡•￿ŽŽ￿‘’￿ŒˆŒø￿‘ˆŒø￿Š”￿Œ–Œ™ø￿Œð‡Œ•￿Œœ”Ž’￿‡‘“￿‹ø‘ŽŒ￿“™ðŽ￿ˆ“￿ŒˆðŽ’￿￿￿ŒŽœ•￿“Œ￿Š￿￿øŒ￿ð‡ŒðŠ￿ŒˆŒøŠ... (col. xxvii, ll. 1-4).

There is Daniel, of the canonical Book of Daniel, who being extremely wise, on account of the spirit of the holy God dwelling in him (Dan 2:23; 4:15; 5:11,14) is able to interpret dreams and signs and foretell coming events. There is Bezalel and his team, who built the tabernacle, endowed with a divine spirit of wisdom, discernment and knowledge in every kind of craft (Exod 31:1-6; 36:1-2). There is Solomon who in his dream obtained from the Lord a wise and discerning heart (1 Kgs 3:5-14). And there is Joseph at the Egyptian court, in whom is the spirit of God ￿ no one is as discerning and wise as he, and he is therefore appointed to administer the whole country (Gen 41:38-41). We have mentioned five cases, in five distinct narrative layers, where divine inspiration grants wisdom to those chosen.

At the root of this concept lies the idea that a deity is a depositary of wisdom. Indeed this comes as no surprise in the light of extra-Biblical material. Ea is the god of wisdom in Mesopotamia, much as Pallas Athena is the goddess of wisdom in Greece. El in the Ugaritic texts is described as wise, and wise is his word as well. One aspect of his knowledge might be magic, since El uses it in order to create Shatqat.^￿

As for the Bible, the Paradise story in Genesis 2-3 presumes the idea that knowledge is divine and that man should not have appropriated it. Job 15:7-8 hints at an analogous myth according to which the first man (øˆŒ•￿ˆ‹’) eavesdropped on the divine council and subtracted for himself (Œœ‰ø˜) part of their wisdom. The Paradise cherub of Ezek 28 is described as "full of wisdom" (vss. 12, 17). The angel of God, according to the sage woman from Teko'ah, is so wise that he knows all that happens on earth (2 Sam 14:20). Apparently, he too participated in a kind of divine council. Last but not least, wisdom was the divine property that served the Lord at creation (Prov 3:19-20):

Š￿￿‡‘”Š￿Ž–‹￿ˆø›

‘Œð•￿”Ž’￿‡œ‡ŒðŠ

‡‹˜œŒ￿œŠŒ”Œœ￿ð‡_˜Œ

Œ_Ž’￿Žø˜™Œ￿“

In addition, there are statements in wisdom literature where wisdom, personified, is described as abiding with the deity, playing before the Lord (Prov 8:21-31), being hidden and recognized only by God (Job 28), being treasured in heaven because Ba'al Qedašin exalted her (Ahiqar 6:79).^￿ All this clearly attests that wisdom was conceived as belonging to the realm of the divine.

What we have not found so far is a clear statement, coming from wisdom circles and preceding the late and polemical Elihu, a statement that would sanction the authority of a wise man by appealing to divine revelation. Such a saying is extant, in my view, in one passage only, i.e. Prov 30:1-4: The words of Agur bin Yakeh the Massaite ‹‡øŽ￿ˆ‰Œø￿‡•￿Ž_Š￿Š”ˆ￿®Š”ˆŽ™©￿

These words begin with neum haggeber, as do the prophecies of Balaam in Num 24:3-4, 15-16. There Balaam defined himself as the man "who hears El's sayings, knows the knowledge of Elion, beholds the vision of Shaddai, prostrate but with eyes unveiled".

ðˆ’￿”˜￿ˆ”øŽ￿ˆ“

ŒŽ‹˜￿‹˜œ￿˜“ŽŒ•

”æŠ￿‹Ž￿ŽæŠ

ð™“￿Œ‰“ŒŽ￿˜ŽðŽŽ’

In these passages, the prophet does not receive the Lord's word (‹‡ø) in revelation, as usual in classical prophecy, but shares in divine knowledge ￿￿ŒŽ‹˜￿‹˜œ￿˜“ŽŒ•. It is no chance that this line has been omitted, or deleted, in v.4. The claim was considered human hubris, all the more so coming from a foreign, pagan seer.

An additional instance of such a formula in prophetic speech is found in the "Last Words of David", 2 Sam 23:1-7. After defining the speech as ðˆ’￿‹Œ‹￿‡•￿ŽŽ￿Œðˆ’￿Š‰‡ø￿Š_’￿˜“ "utterance of David son of Jesse, utterance of the man set high", the author proceeds to state his source of inspiration: "The spirit of the Lord has spoken through me, His word is on my tongue". Here again neum haggeber opens a prophetic address which differs in its essence from the dabar of classical prophets. The spirit of the Lord speaks from within the prophet.

Taking into account these parallels, one can arrive at an interpretation of the Words of Agur (Prov 30:1-4). Agur maintains that he is ignorant of human wisdom (v. 2) and then proceeds to say (v. 3): Œ“ˆ￿“”‹œŽ￿‘”Š￿Œ‹˜œ￿_‹Ž’￿ˆ‹˜￿￿￿"I have not learned wisdom, (nor) do I know the knowledge of the Holy Ones". As against it the LXX offers:

_____________________________

_____________________________

which could be retroverted into Hebrew as:

Œˆ“￿“”‹ðŽ￿‘”Š￿Œ‹˜œ￿_‹Ž’￿ˆ‹˜

El taught me wisdom and I know the knowledge of the Holy ones.

In my view, the LXX attests to a preferable Hebrew reading, since it fits in with further ancient sayings coined in the same style: the spirit of YHWH speaks through David, Balaam knew the knowledge of Elion and Agur ￿ that of the Holy Ones. Plausibly, the same orthodox trend that deleted the 'offensive' line from Balaam speech in Num 24:4 was responsible for a pious correction in Prov 30:3: Agur was not taught wisdom by God; in fact, he did not learn wisdom at all! If the argument so far is right, the primary text of Prov 30:1-4 represent an old, if not the oldest, statement by a Biblical sage who relied on divine revelation as a source for his knowledge.

This is presented as a piece of wisdom coming from Massa, one of the Qedem tribes, dwelling in North Arabia. Balaam the seer also came, according to one version, from the Hills of Qedem (Num 23:7). Agur's saying might originally have been pagan lore which relied on El and Qedošim. In time, it was accepted and incorporated in Israelite Wisdom, and its effects are evident from Elihu to Qumran.