C.H.T. Fletcher-Louis

Abstract: "4Q381 (4Qnon-Canonical Psalms B) Frag. 1 lines 10-11: The Angelic Veneration of Adam in its Historical Context"

Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis

4Q381 frag 1 retells the Genesis 1 creation story. The text is fragmentary, but, it will be argued, its last two lines are probably best taken as a description of the veneration of Adam by the angelic host. This, it will be shown, is the most sensible reading from internal considerations. The text is part of a collection of Psalms which, on other grounds, have been dated by their editor to the late Persian or early Hellenistic period. The second part of the paper will support the natural conclusion that 4Q381 is the earliest extant witness to the later, well-known, tradition according to which Adam is worshipped by the angels as God's image before his fall. The angelic "worship" of Adam in 4Q381 is intelligible as an early "extra-biblical" witness to the Priestly image of God theology fundamental to the thought of Ezekiel and P (see Fletcher-Louis 1999, Kutzko 2000), according to which Adam rightly receives angelic service since he functions within creation in a way analogous to the role of a pagan god's statute or idol. Two other traditions more or less contemporaneous with 4Q381 suggest the normativity of this theological anthropology in the late Persian, early Hellenistic period: the worship of Daniel by Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2 and the worship of the High Priest by Alexander the Great (as recorded by Josephus et al.). I will develop my earlier discussion of these texts. The worship of Daniel only really makes sense if it presumes something like the full drama of the worship of Adam by the angels in the _Life of Adam and Eve_ 12-16. For the second, the theology of humanity as God's image is expressed through the religious iconography and ritual language of the Hellenistic orient. Alexander's worship of the High Priest must be understood within the conventions of the royal Adventus and as a parody of the story of Alexander's veneration of Amon in Egypt. The high priest whom Alexander worships plays the role of the cult statue according to the conventions of the Adventus (as Shaye Cohen has already seen) and the oracle giving idol of the sanctuary of Amon. This history-of-religions context provides the appropriate life setting for 4Q381 frag. 1 which is, in turn, an important witness to the function of Israelite image of God theology within liturgy and worship.

(c) 2001
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