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Two Spirits in Man: An Essay in Biblical Exegesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

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Short Studies
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1959

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References

page 82 note 1 T. Jud. xx. 1, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error; in T. Reub. ii. 1f. the latter is elaborated into ‘seven spirits of error’, including ‘the spirit of fornication’, cf. Hos. iv. 12; v. 4; ‘a spirit of lying’, cf. I Kings xxii. 21 ff.; in T. Jud. xiii. 3, T. Dan 1. 6 ‘a spirit of jealousy’, cf. Num. v. 14, 30. For seven evil spirits cf. Matt. xii. 45; Luke xi. 26, in contrast to Rev. iv. 5; v. 6, ‘seven spirits of God’ presumably referring to Isa. xi. 2, from which T. Lev. ii. 3; xviii. 7 derives ‘a spirit of understanding of the Lord’. Hermas lists ‘understanding’ among a group of (12) ‘holy spirits’ in Sim. xix. xiii. i; xv. 2; cf. D.S.D. iv. 4 ‘spirit of knowledge’.

page 83 note 1 Mand. iii. 1ff; v. i. 2ff.

page 83 note 2 D.S.D. iii. 17ff.

page 83 note 3 Did. i. 1ff.; the affinities have been discussed by J. B. Audet, Revue Biblique, April 1952; a sequel, January 1953, deals with the Shepherd of Hermas.

page 83 note 4 Barn. xviii. 1ff.

page 83 note 5 Mand. vi. i. 2ff.; ii. 1ff.

page 83 note 6 Mand. xii. i. 1ff.

page 83 note 7 T. Ash. I. 3ff.; although Ecclus. xv. 14ff. mentions the inclination of man in the singular only, there too it is connected with a decision between the two ways, based on Jer. xxi. 8, cf. Deut. xi. 26ff; xxx. 15–19.

page 83 note 8 Study of the texts and methods in preparation of a dissertation on the thought of Hermas (unpublished except two articles on the term, δίψυχος J.B.L. lxiii (1944), 131–40; lxvi (1947), 211–19) has helped to throw light on the present problem.

page 84 note 1 The examination of New Testament allusions in The Shepherd by C. Taylor, The Witness of Hermas to the Four Gospels (1892), suggests how much more needs to be done in exploring the use of the Old Testament by Hermas.

page 84 note 2 Vis. ii. iii. 4 ‘as it is written in the (book of) Eldad and Modad’, a problem I have discussed in an article, ‘Afterthoughts on the Term “Dipsychos”’, N.T.S. iv (1958), 327.

page 84 note 3 In their respective translations of the Manual, W. H. Brownlee, and T. H. Gaster note many such allusions; the present study has revealed numerous others not so noted, as well as many not indicated in printed editions of The Shepherd.

page 84 note 4 Dupont-Sommer, A., The Jewish Sect of Qumran and the Essenes, pp. 118ff., emphasizes parallels between D.S.D. iii. 17ff. and the Zoroastrian doctrine of Yasna xxx.Google Scholar

page 85 note 1 Gen. R. xiv. 4; Berakot 61a; the same device was used in deriving the idea of a divided or double heart from leḇaḇ with two bēts, Midr. Tehillin on Ps. xiv. 1, but citing I Chron. xxviii. 9 where the plural leḇāḇḇḇ appears.

page 85 note 2 D.S.D. iii. 18; iv. 23.

page 85 note 3 T. Jud. xx. 1, cf. I John iv. 6.

page 86 note 1 Zech. viii. 19, cf. also v. 16 quoted in Eph. iv. 25.

page 86 note 2 Cf. Mand. v. i. 2; ii. 5ff., and esp. Jas. iv. 5 citing as ‘scripture’ πρòς φθóνον έπιποθεī τò πνεṽμα ô κατῴκισεν έν ήμīν; Wettstein's ingenious conjectural emendation of the first two words to πρòς τòνθεóν, suggesting an allusion to Ps. xli. 2 LXX is hardly convincing, and an apocryphal source is more probable in view of parallels to v. 7 in the Testaments as well as in The Shepherd. T. Sim. iii. 1, iv. 7 warns against τò πνεṽμα τοṽ φθόνου.

page 86 note 3 Cf. I Thess. iv. 8 ‘despises God who has given us his holy spirit’.

page 86 note 4 In rabbinic exegesis the idea that man should return his spirit to God as pure as he received it is derived from Eccles. xii. 7; see Šabbaṯ 152 b, which I had already noted before W. D. Davies, co-editor of The Background of the New Testament and its Eschatology (1956) drew my attention to the article on pp. 482ff., by E. Schweizer, in which Lev. R. xviii. 1; Eccles. R. xii. 7. 1; T. Napht. x. 9 (Heb.) are also cited for this idea.

page 86 note 5 Presumably Exod. xx. 16; Deut. v. 20; but possibly this Mandate itself.

page 86 note 6 I Kings ii. 4; iii. 6; II Kings xx. 3; Ps. lxxxvi. 11; Isa. xxxviii. 3.

page 86 note 7 Mand. iii. 1, 2, 4.

page 86 note 8 ‘Afterthoughts on the Term “Dipsychos”’, N.T.S. iv (1958), 327.Google Scholar

page 86 note 9 This anthropological concept of spirit is ably discussed in the article by E. Schweizer, cited above.

page 87 note 1 The idea that the holy spirit may be ‘darkened’ by an evil spirit is as close as Hermas comes to the antithesis between ‘the spirits of light and of darkness’ in D.S.D. iii. 25; cf. T. Gad. vi. 2 ‘the spirit of hate darkened my mind’; T. Lev. xix. 2 bids men choose between light and darkness, the Law of God and the works of Beliar.

page 87 note 2 For the notion that the holy spirit may become defiled, cf. Sim. v. v. 2, 4; T. Napht. x. 9 (Heb), and The Zadokite Documents (ed. C. Rabin), v. ii, vii. 4.

page 87 note 3 Mand. v. 2a, 3–4.

page 88 note 1 The folly of wrath and anger is pointed out in Prov. xii. 16; xxvii. 3f., cf. also Prov. xxix. ii lxx.

page 88 note 2 Cf. Eph. iv. 31 for ‘bitterness, wrath and anger’ in the same order, following the exhortation ‘grieve not the holy spirit’, and see Mand. x. ii. 2, 4 where διψυχία and ỏξυχολία grieve the spirit; the ultimate source is of course Isa. lxiii. 10.

page 88 note 3 For ‘fury’ (μῆνις) with anger, cf. Ecclus. xxvii. 30-xxviii. 7; the entire passage culminating with an allusion to Lev. xix. 18 LXX, may have influenced Hermas, especially xxviii. 3, ‘a man cherishes anger against another, and does he then seek healing from the Lord?’

page 88 note 4 For the concept of forgiveness as ‘healing’, cf. Jer. iii. 22, and esp. Deut. xxx. 2–3, LXX only, to which Hermas alludes in Mand. xii. vi. 2, cf. Vis. i. i. 9; Sim. viii. xi. 3.

page 88 note 5 Sim. ix. xiii. 2f., 5; xv. 2; that these ‘spirits’ are symbolized by twelve maidens suggests the possibility that the idea may go back to a Hebrew source with the feminine rûhôt, although their Greek ‘names’ (virtues or dispositions) are likewise feminine substantives.

page 88 note 6 Other evil ‘spirits’ are διψυχία, Mand. ix. 11 and λύπη, Mand. x. i 2; cf. Mand. ii. 3; Sim. ix. xxiii. 5. where καταλαλία is termed a ‘demon’.

page 88 note 7 Mand. v. ii. 8.

page 88 note 8 Neh. ix. 17; Ps. ciii. 8; cxlv. 8; Joel ii. 13; Jonah iv. 2; Nah. i. 3; cf. Wisd. xv. i; Ecclus. v. 4; the various attributes of the two spirits in D.S.D. iii. 17ff. are listed in convenient tabular form by W. D. Davies, in an article in The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. K. Stendahl (1957), pp. 171 f.

page 89 note 1 Of these ‘fruits of the spirit’, μακροθυμία with three others άγάπη, πίστις, and έγκράτεια, are listed among the ‘holy spirits’ in Sim. xix. xiii. i, xv. 2; also cf. T. Napht. iv. 7, ‘the spirit of love’; concentration on the opposition between the spirit and the ‘desire of the flesh’ in Paul's thought should not lead one to overlook the fact that he too can speak of two antithetic ‘spirits’ in Rom. viii. 15, I Cor. ii. 12. The familiar expression to ‘walk by’ a certain spirit occurs in D.S.D. iii. i8; iv. 6, 12, cf. Rom. viii. 4; Gal. v. 16 (25).

page 89 note 2 T. Gad iv. 7.

page 89 note 3 Abôṯ iv. 1.

page 89 note 4 Mand. vi. ii. 1.

page 89 note 5 In Mand. v. i. 3 this characteristic of the holy spirit makes it peculiarly exposed to the violence of the evil spirit.

page 89 note 6 Cf. I Pet. iii. 4 ‘a meek and quiet spirit’.

page 90 note 1 Mand. vi. ii. 3f.

page 90 note 2 Cf. D.S.D. iii. 24.

page 90 note 3 The Hebraism άναβαíνειν έπì τὴν καρδίαν, LXX for ‘ālāh ‘al-lēb (Isa. lxv. 17; Jer. iii. 16; cf. Luke xxiv. 38; Acts vii. 23; I Cor. ii. 9 Cit.) occurs about sixteen times in The Shepherd, significantly with reference to the evil desire, or yēşer hā-ra, in Vis. 1. i. 8; ii. 4; Mand. iv. i. 1, 2.

page 90 note 4 Mand. vi. ii. 4, 5.

page 90 note 5 ένθύμησις here as in Mand. iv. i. 2 probably represents yēşer, as does ένθύμημα in Ecclus. xxvii. 6 (Heb vi. 22) and I Chron. xxviii. 9; the latter is cited in Midr. Tehillin on Ps. xiv. 1 as proof-text for the double heart.

page 90 note 6 άποτάξασθαι as in Luke xiv. 33, or as in Mark vi. 46 to dismiss.

page 90 note 7 Mand. vi. ii. 6b–9.

page 90 note 8 Cf. Mand. ix. 9–10 where διψυχία likewise bears the epithet ‘daughter of the devil’; men are to ‘abstain from’ her and ‘gain dominion over’ her, and to ‘put on’ faith and ‘serve’ her.

page 91 note 1 Cf. Sukkah 52 b; Kiddushin 30 b, ‘the (evil) yēşer of man seeks to gain dominion over him… and slay him’. For έπιθυμία as the source of sin and death see also Jas. i. 14f., and Hermas, Vis. 1. i. 8.

page 91 note 2 Cf. Isa. lix. 17; II Cor. Vi. 7; Eph. vi. 14 for putting on righteousness itself as armour; in Cant. R. vii. 8 evil yeşārîm are to be ‘resisted’; see also Philip Carrington, The Primitive Christian Catechism (1940), ch. iv and table vi, p. 48.

page 91 note 3 Cf. Sifre, Shemini (ed. Weiss), p. 43d, ‘Remove from your heart the evil yēşer, that you may be one in the fear of God’.

page 91 note 4 Cf. Jas. iv. 7 ‘Resist the devil and he will flee from you’, said also in Mand. xii. iv. 2; the flight of the devil, Beliar or an evil spirit is mentioned in T. Napht. viii. 4; T. Dan v. 1; T. Issach. vii 7; T. Benj. v. 2; resistance to the devil, but not his flight, in Eph. vi. 11f.; I Pet. v. 8f.

page 91 note 5 Mand. xii. iii. 2b-4a, 5b.

page 91 note 6 Kiddushin 30b declares man can rule over his evil inclination if he wills to do so, using the Torah as an antidote.

page 91 note 7 Mand. xii. ii. 5f.

page 91 note 8 That is the heart, the seat of all thought, emotion and volition.

page 91 note 9 Or ‘if the soul inclines toward the evil inclination’.

page 91 note 10 T. Ash. 1. 3 ff.

page 91 note 11 T. Benj. vi 1.

page 92 note 1 Mand. ix. 1.

page 92 note 2 Mand. xii. i. 1.

page 92 note 3 Greek άπλότης, that is singleness, integrity, cf. Barn. xix. 1.

page 92 note 4 Mand. ii. 1; cf. I Cor. xiv. 20.

page 92 note 5 T. Reub. iv. 1; T. Sim. iv. 5; T. Lev. xiii. 1; T. Issach. iv. 1; cf. II Reg. xv. 11; I Chron. xxix. 17 LXX; Hermas, Vis. 11. iii. 2 πορευομέμους έν άκακιᾳ καì άπλóτητι, cf. Ps. xxv (xxvi) 1, 11 LXX where άκακíα a represents tōm in the Hebrew, as άπλóτης does elsewhere.

page 92 note 6 D.S.D. III. 18f; iv. 23.

page 92 note 7 Ibid. III. 19; for the association of light and truth. Cf. Ps. xliii. 3.

page 92 note 8 Ibid. III. 25; cf. T. Lev. xix. I ‘choose either the light or the darkness, the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar’; cf. II Cor. vi. 14b–15a; the light-darkness antithesis is entirely absent from The Shepherd, but see John iii. 19ff.; Rom. xiii. 12; Eph. v. 8ff.; I Pet. ii. 9; I John i. 16; ii. 8–11.

page 92 note 9 Ibid. iii. 26-iv. 1; that God loves truth is said in Ps. 1 (li) 6; lxxxiii (lxxxiv) 11 LXX.

page 92 note 10 Ibid. iii. 21, 22; cf. Prov. iv. 18f.; Wisd. v. 6; II Enoch xxx. 13; Barn. xviii. 1; also Isa. ii. 5; 1. 10; Jer. xxiii. 12; John xii. 35.

page 92 note 11 Ibid. 1. 9; iii. 24; cf. Luke xvi. 8; John. xii. 36; Eph. v. 8; I Thess. v. 4f.; with ‘prince of lights’ cf. II Cor. xi. 14; Barn. xviii. 1.

page 92 note 12 Ibid. iii. 21; cf. 1. 18; ii. 19 ‘the dominion of Belial’.

page 92 note 13 Ibid. 1. 10.

page 92 note 14 Ibid. iii. 22; cf. Eph. vi. 12 ‘cosmic rulers of this darkness’.

page 92 note 15 Ibid. iii. 24; cf. Mand. vi. ii. 4.

page 93 note 1 Ibid. iv. 12.

page 93 note 2 Ibid. iii. 24f.; Kiddushin 30b says man could not overcome the evil inclination if God did not help him.

page 93 note 3 Ibid. iv. 3 rûaḥ ‘anāwaā, iii. 8, berûaḥ yošer we‘anāwāh, cf. I Cor. iv. 21; Gal. vi. 1 έν πνεύ;ματιπραūτητος, also I Pet. iii. 4.

page 93 note 4 Ibid. iv. 4; cf. Isa. xi. 2.

page 93 note 5 Ibid. iv. 10, rûah zenût, cf. Hos. iv. 12; v. 4 rûaḥ zenûnim, cited in Sukkah 52b in context dealing with the yeşer ha-ra', cf. Cant. R. vii. 8 yeşer zenûṯ.

page 93 note 6 Cf. D.S.D. iii. 7f. ‘by a spirit of holiness tending to unity in (God's) truth, a man shall be cleansed from all his iniquities’; a rare textual variant in Luke xi. 2 reads: ‘let thy holy spirit come upon us and cleanse us’.

page 93 note 7 D.S.D. iv. 20–2.Google Scholar

page 93 note 8 Ibid. iv. 23.

page 93 note 9 Exod. R. xli end; cf. Num. R. xv. 16; Deut. R. vi. 14 cit. Joel iii. 1; Cant. R. 1. 2 § 4.

page 93 note 10 D.S.D. iii. 15, 17–18, 25.

page 93 note 11 Gen. R. xiv. 4; Berakot 61a; cf. also Cant. R. vii. 8; Kiddushin 30b; Sifre de be-Rab 82b for the creation of evil yeşarim.

page 94 note 1 D.S.D. iv. 5.

page 94 note 2 Reading ki “im instead of” m; but see Brownlee's translation for a different explanation of the text.

page 94 note 3 D.S.D. v. 4–5.

page 94 note 4 Midr. Tehillin on Ps. xiv. § 1.

page 93 note 5 Sukkah 52a.

page 93 note 6 Meg. Hod. plate 38, lines 30–1, in The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University, ed. E. L. Sukenik (1955).Google Scholar

page 93 note 7 Ibid. line 38.