¹ Lehmann, M. R., “New Light on Astrology in Qumran and the Talmud,” RevQ 32 (1975) 599–602. I am grateful to Eric Meyers and Kalman Bland, good friends and revered colleagues, for numerous enriching discussions.Google Scholar

² It is difficult to follow Urbach, E. E. (The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs [2 vols.; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975]);Google Scholar he does not distinguish between early documents, like the Pseudepigrapha, and later writings, like the Talmud. It is misleading and confusing to assume that first-century Jewish thought flows smoothly into the sixth century. A similar critique of Urbach has been published recently by Neusner, Jacob (“Method and Substance in the History of Judaic Ideas: An Exercise,” in Jews, Greeks, and Christians: Religious Cultures in Late Antiquity. W. D. Davies Festschrift, eds. Hamerton-Kelly, R. and Scroggs, R. [SJLA 21; Leiden: Brill, 1976] 89–111).Google Scholar

³ See Scholem, Gershom, The Messianic Idea in Judaism (New York: Schocken, 1971) 251–56.Google Scholar

⁴ See the translation and discussion in Saggs, H. F. W., The Greatness That was Babylon (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1962) 455–56Google Scholar; the translation is reprinted in B. O. Long, “Astrology,” IDBSup 76–78 [also see the bibliography cited on p. 78].

⁵ See the facsimile, translation, and commentary by Kennedy, E. S. and Pingree, D., The Astrological History of Māshā˒allāh (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1971).Google Scholar

⁶ See the references cited by Ginzberg, L., The Legends of the Jews (7 vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909–1928Google Scholar; reprinted 1968) 5.227 n. 108. Scattered throughout rabbinic literature is the claim that God commanded Abraham to reject astrology, e.g., “Therefore God raised Abraham above the vault of the skies, and He said, ‘Thou art a prophet, not an astrologer!’” (Gen. Rab. 44.8–12). I am greatly indebted here to Ginzberg (Legends 1.235; 5.227; also see 1.186, 202, 204, 207, 216, 225; and 5.175, 222).

In the past, NT specialists, with notable exceptions such as W. D. Davies and Morton Smith, have been reticent to employ rabbinic sources because of the fear of being misled by traditions that postdate the first century. A magnificent beginning in the process of discovering early traditions in rabbinic writings has been accomplished by Jacob Neusner, who adapts the NT tools of form criticism and redaction criticism to rabbinics. See his monumental The Rabbinic Traditions About the Pharisees Before 70 (3 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1971Google Scholar) and his most recent “Method and Substance in the History of Judaic Ideas: An Exercise,” in Jews, Greeks, and Christians, 89–111.

⁷ Lehmann parenthetically dismisses this main text in his introductory paragraph.

⁸ See Freedman, H., Shabbath (2 vols.; Hebrew-English Edition of the Talmud, Babylonian, ed. I. Epstein; London, Jerusalem, New York: Soncino, 1972Google Scholar) 2.156a. English and Hebrew are given according to this edition.

⁹ E. E. Urbach(The Sages, 1.277), thinking about b. Šabb. 156a and 156b, recently wrote perceptively that “Astrology not only contradicted the freedom of human choice, but also impaired the concept of Providence, that is, the doctrine of the free will and unrestricted power of God. Apparently R. Ḥanina did not overlook this problem, but even the Amoraim who excluded Israel from the influence of the constellations and transferred them to the domain of Providence stressed the ways of Providence in fullest detail and described them in expressions and images derived from the sphere of astrology” (italics mine).

Numerous other examples of astrological influence among the Sages can be found in Urbach's book (pp. 265–85) and in the general Jewish encyclopedias. A delightful story is preserved in Tanḥuma (ed. Buber), intro. 136: Solomon learned from the stars that his extremely attractive daughter would marry a poor young man. The prediction comes true in a remarkable fashion. See Ginzberg, Legends, 4.175; 6.303.

¹⁰ The Sages, 1.277.

¹¹ For a definition of Pseudepigrapha, a brief introduction to each document, and a list of recent publications see Charlesworth, James H., The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research (SCS 7; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1976).Google Scholar

¹² The translation is by O. Wintermute and will be published in the new edition of the Pseudepigrapha by Doubleday & Co., Inc., which is being edited by me and an Editorial Board of Advisors consisting of Walter Harrelson, Bruce M. Metzger, Raymond E. Brown, W. D. Davies, John Strugnell, and Roland E. Murphy.

¹³ There are four New Year days for the Jews: the first of Nisan, the first of Elul, the first of Tishri, and the first of Shebat (m. Roŝ. Haŝ. 1.1). Herbert Danby correctly notes that Tishri “is alone spoken of throughout the rest of the tractate as ‘the New Year’” (The Mishnah [Oxford: Clarendon, 1933] 188).Google Scholar The present article was completed when the second volume of Compendia appeared. Now see the excellent discussion of the celebration of the new year in Tishri by Safrai, S., “Religion in Everyday Life,” The Jewish People in the First Century (eds. Safrai, S. and Stern, M.; Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 1.2; Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1976) 811–12.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Abraham's attempt to see future events is an astrological concern; it should not be confused with the Jewish prayer for dew at Pentecost. The Jews prayed for rain at Sukkoth.

¹⁵ APOT 2.442. F. Andersen's pioneering work on 2 Enoch raises serious doubts about the trustworthiness of all previous editions. Russia has generously made available, through the Duke Pseudepigrapha Institute, photographs of two unexamined but extremely important Old Church Slavonic manuscripts; one preserves the long, the other the short recension of 2 Enoch.

¹⁶ See Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, 82–83. Also see the excellent discussion of Artapanus by Fraser, P. M., Ptolemaic Alexandria (3 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1972) 1.704–06.Google Scholar

¹⁷ The Greek is reprinted conveniently by Denis, A.-M., Fragmenta pseudepigraphorum quae supersunt graeca (PVTG 3; Leiden: Brill, 1970) 186–95. It is important to note that Josephus Ant. 1.167, conceivably following Artapanus, claimed that Abraham taught the Egyptians arithmetic and astronomy (καὶ τὰ περὶ ἀστρονομίαν παραδίδωσι).Google Scholar

¹⁸ Wacholder, B. Z., “Pseudo-Eupolemus’ Two Greek Fragments on the Life of Abraham,” HUCA 34 (1963) 83–113.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, 77–78.

²⁰ Denis, Fragmenta, 198.

²¹ Ibidem.

²² See my “Rylands Syriac MS 44 and a New Addition to the Pseudepigrapha: The Treatise of Shem,” BJRL (in press).

²³ Italics denote rubrics; words in parentheses added for clarity of translation; brackets indicate textual restorations. The translation attempts to remain close to the Syriac. The full translation will appear in a literal form in my BJRL article (see n. 22) and in an idiomatic form in the Doubleday volume (see n. 12).

²⁴ Legumen aridum; cf. Smith, R. Payne, Thesaurus Syriacus (2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1879–1901) 1.937–38.Google Scholar Also see Köbert, R., Vocabularium Syriacum (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1956) 45. Mingana, incorrectly: “the watered cereals.”Google Scholar

²⁵ Following the system proposed by Fitzmyer, J. A., The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and Tools for Study (SBLSBS 8; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975).Google Scholar The text, translation, and facsimiles are found in Allegro, J. M., Qumrân Cave 4 (DJD 5; Oxford: Clarendon, 1968) 88–91, pl. XXXI.Google Scholar

²⁶ No change is suggested to this section of 4QCryptic by John Strugnell in his valuable “Notes en marge du volume V des ‘Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan,’” RevQ 26 (1970) 163–276, esp. 274–76.Google Scholar

²⁷ Lehmann, argues that this method “only makes sense, if astrology was not generally accepted, even in the Qumran community, and therefore had to be practiced in hiding” (RevQ 32 [1975] 559).Google Scholar

²⁸ Unfortunately the two fragmentary columns of another scroll are unpublished, although J. T. Milik mentioned them twenty years ago. The fragments preserve a brontologion, predicting events according to thunder: “On the 13th and 14th (of the month of Tebet) … Cancer. … If it thunders in the sign of the Twins, terror and distress caused by foreigners and by …” (Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea [SBT 26; London: SCM, 1959] 42).Google Scholar Milik recently drew attention to other unpublished zodiacal documents found in Cave 4, for example 4Q(Signs of) Zodiac, and argues that 1QS 10:2–5 refers to the zodiac: “When the lights shine forth from the Holy Dwelling-Place, and when also they retire (lit. are gathered) to the Place of Glory, when the constellations (of the Zodiac) make (their) entrance on the days of the new moon …” (The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 [Oxford: Clarendon, 1976] 187).Google Scholar See n. 29 below.

After the above research was finished I noted that Hengel, Martin (Judaism and Hellenism: Studies in Their Encounter in Palestine During the Early Hellenistic Period [2 vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974] 1.238)Google Scholar had argued that the “significance of the zodiac in the Essene community is confirmed by” this unpublished fragment (italics mine).

²⁹ A discussion of these two scrolls can be found in my John and Qumran (London: Chapman, 1972) 80–89. J. T. Milik has argued in his most recent book (Books of Enoch, 187, 295) that zodiacal interest at Qumran is more extensive than previously thought. He contends that mw˓dym is sometimes parallel to m˒wrwt and describes the stars; it should be translated in 1QS 10:3 as “constellations of the zodiac.” The term also appears in 4Qenastr^b (= 1 En. 82.9).Google Scholar

³⁰ Medico, H. E. del, “La Lamelle Virolleaud,” Παγκάρπεια: Mélanges Henri Grégoire (Annuaire de l'institut de philologie et d'histoire orientales et slaves 9; Brussels: De Meester Wetteren, 1949) 179–92.Google Scholar

³¹ See the article “Gematria,” Enc. Jud. 7.369–74, of which a significant section is written by Scholem; cf. Scholem, Major Trends, 357; also cf. Schrire, T., Hebrew Amulets: Their Decipherment and Interpretation (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1966) esp. 91–93.Google Scholar Schrire notes that sometimes an “inscription is written out normally and then backwards” (p. 43; italics mine).

³² The literature on the subject is extensive. Good discussions are contained in the following publications: Sukenik, E. L., The Ancient Synagogue of Beth Alpha (Jerusalem: Hebrew University; London: Oxford University, 1932)Google Scholar; idem, Ancient Synagogues in Palestine and Greece (Schweich Lectures 1930; London: British Academy, 1934)Google Scholar; Sonne, I., “The Zodiac Theme in Ancient Synagogues and in Hebrew Printed Books,” Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 1 (1953) 3–13Google Scholar; Roth, C. (ed.), Jewish Art: An Illustrated History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961)Google Scholar; Goldman, B., The Sacred Portal: A Primary Symbol in Ancient Judaic Art (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University, 1966)Google Scholar; Mazar, B., et al., Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2 vols.; Jerusalem: Massada, 1970Google Scholar [in Hebrew]); Goodenough, Erwin R., Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period vols.; New York: Pantheon, 1953–1968) esp. 1.248–67; 8.167–218.Google Scholar

³³ The nine are as follows: Hammath by Gadara, Jerash, Jericho, Salbit, Caesarea, ˓Esfia, Na˓aran, Beth Alpha, and Tiberias.

³⁴ For photographs see Sukenik, Beth Alpha, pl. X (in color and the best available); idem, Ancient Synagogues, 33, fig. 8; Goldman, Sacred Portal, photo, no. 5; Roth, Jewish Art, 211–12, fig. 78; Mazar, Encyclopaedia, 1.38; Sonne, , Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 1 (1953) 6, fig. 3; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 3, fig. 640.Google Scholar

³⁵ See Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues, 30, fig. 5; Roth, Jewish Art, 215–16, fig. 80; Mazar, Encyclopaedia, 2.415; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 3. figs. 641, 644, 647.

³⁶ See Avi-Yonah, M., “A Sixth-Century Synagogue at ˓Isfiya,” Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 3 (1933) 118–31; Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues, 85–86; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 1.257–59; 3. fig. 658.Google Scholar

³⁷ The photograph has been reproduced in numerous places; see, e.g., Mazar, Encyclopaedia, 1.197; Goldman, Sacred Portal, photo, no. 19; Enc. Jud. 7.1243. See Dothan, M., “Hammath-Tiberias,” IEJ 12 (1962) 153–54Google Scholar; idem, “The Synagogues at Hammath-Tiberias,” Qadmoniot 1 (1968) 116–23 [in Hebrew].Google Scholar Although they both are called Hammath-Tiberias, the synagogue excavated by Dothan should not be confused with one earlier synagogue excavated by N. Slouschz. The discussion in Goodenough (Jewish Symbols, 12.46) refers to the former, but the notes to the latter (discussed ibidem, 1. 214–16).

³⁸ Jewish Symbols, 8.168–70. Roth (Jewish Art, 214) disagrees: “In Naaran, Beth Alpha and Isfiya, it is the zodiacal wheel which is thus represented, in Yafa the emblems of the twelve tribes.” Galilee divisions have been discussed recently by Meyers, Eric M., “Galilean Regionalism as a Factor in Historical Reconstruction,” BASOR 221 (1976) 93–101.Google Scholar It is noteworthy that within Palestine the synagogues with zodiacal symbols are located, with the exception of Nacaran, in or near Galilee.

³⁹ Sukenik, Ancient Synagogues, 26. See the picture and drawing in Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 3. figs. 513 and 515.

⁴⁰ Jewish Symbols, 8.169.

⁴¹ See the drawing in Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 3. fig. 541. Goodenough is more convinced than other scholars about the identification (Jewish Symbols, 8. 169; cf. also 1. 211).

⁴² Goodenough concludes, “I have no doubt that it represented the zodiac” (Jewish Symbols, 8.169).

⁴³ For a picture see Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 3. fig. 621.

⁴⁴ “Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 8. 170. Earlier (Jewish Symbols, 1. 236–38) he spoke without hesitation about zodiacal influence at Nawa. His first statements better represent the data.

⁴⁵ According to Goodenough, Morton Smith pointed out that “less than twelve openings are left” (Jewish Symbols, 8. 170, n. 17). The number of openings left is five, if one ignores the double-sized rectangles contiguous to the menorah, seven, if one counts these, or nine, if one counts each of them as having ample space for two similarly sized symbols.

⁴⁶ Zodiacal symbols are preserved in the Dura Synagogue (see Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 9. 43, 53–59), on one side of a second or third century A.D. amulet (see Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 8. 170) in tomb paintings in Rome and at Palmyra, and Jewish burials at Vigna Randanini (see Roth, Jewish Art, 219–24; Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 8. 173).

⁴⁷ Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 4. 3–62.

⁴⁸ Urbach, E. E., “The Rabbinical Laws of Idolatry in the Second and Third Centuries in the Light of Archaeological and Historical Facts,” IEJ 9 (1959) 149–65, 229–5.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Tg. Ps.-J. to Lev 26:1 (ed. Ginsburger, p. 220), as quoted by Urbach in IEJ 9 (1959) 237Google Scholar n. 89; quoted earlier by Goodenough, Jewish Symbols, 4. 21.

⁵⁰ The Sages, 1.277. See n. 9 above.

⁵¹ See the richly documented discussion by Urbach, “Rabbinical Laws,” 229–38.

⁵² Almost fifteen years ago Jacob Neusner rejected Urbach's criticism of Goodenough and presented the hypothesis that “normative” Talmudic Judaism never existed, and that many groups of Jews diverged from Talmudic norms and rejected the policies of some of the rabbis. Neusner argued persuasively that pagan symbols were “appropriated by Jews for Jewish religious purposes” (see his “Jewish Use of Pagan Symbols after 70 C.E.,” JR 43 [1963] 285–94).Google Scholar

The complex subtleties of the data and the larger issues of the intent of symbols, many of which were ignored by both Goodenough and Urbach, are discussed in a brilliant article by Smith, M. (“Goodenough's Jewish Symbols in Retrospect,” JBL 86 [1967] 53–68).Google Scholar Smith concludes that Goodenough's “pandemic sacramental paganism was a fantasy; so was the interpretation of pagan symbols based on it, and so was the empire-wide, antirabbinic, mystical Judaism, based on the interpretation of these symbols.” Yet Goodenough “revealed a new world”; he opened our eyes to the Jewish iconic material.

⁵³ Sukenik, Beth Alpha, 56; cf. also idem, Ancient Synagogues, 66.

⁵⁴ Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 1 (1953) 3.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ The Sacred Portal, 60: “The frequency with which the zodiac appears in synagogue floors indicates not simply the popularity of the theme, but also its importance in Jewish metaphysics. …”

⁵⁶ Jewish Symbols, 8. 171; 12. 152. Goodenough's position is less than systematic. At times he argues that the zodiacal mosaics do “not testify to the congregation's interest in, or use of, astrology” (8.168). At other times—I am convinced this is his real position on the issue—he claims it is “impossible” to conclude that the zodiacal symbols were merely ornamentations (1. 266); indeed during the Roman period many Jews were “as thoroughly saturated with hellenistic ideas as they were loyal to the Torah” (1. 256). The zodiacal symbols were appropriated from the Romans and others and were reminted with Jewish traditions (8. 214–16, 177, 153; 1. 250–67).

⁵⁷ Sometimes Philo explicitly (De migr. ab. 32) and Josephus implicitly (J.W. 5.5.4 § 212–14; 6.5.3 § 288–92; also see above, n. 15) refute astrological ideas. But elsewhere their thought is influenced by zodiacal symbols. Philo uses zodiacal symbols in his exegesis of the OT (cf. Quaes. Gen. 4.164; Quaes. Exod. 2.75–78, 109, 112–14). E.g., in Exod 28:21 the twelve stones in Aaron's breastpiece are symbolic of the twelve tribes, but in Philo, Quaes. Exod. they are identified as “representations of the twelve animals which are in the zodiac” (cf. also Som. 1.214; Quis her. 176; Praem. poen. 65). Josephus identifies the loaves on the table in the Temple with “the circle of the zodiac and the year” (οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης ἄρτοι δώδεκα τόν τε ζῳδιακὸν κύκλον καὶ τον ἐνιαυτόν, J. W. 5.5.5 § 217).

Astrology is today divorced from astronomy. Earlier it was the sophisticated synchronization of heavenly and terrestrial phenomena that was guided by careful and complicated astronomical observations. During the Roman period, “astronomy” and “astrology” were usually synonyms and when they were distinguished it was to articulate a singular aspect of the whole that they represent; e.g., John Chrysostom, in the fourth century A.D., sometimes seems to use the word astronomia to denote the task of observing and predicting and employs astrologia to represent the whole discipline (cf. Homily 6 on Matt). To speak of “astrology” during the Roman period as a “pseudo-Science,” is misleading and anachronistic (pace Fraser and others). H. and H. A. Frankfort recognize that astrology “may succeed no less than modern thought in establishing a co-ordinated spatial system …” (Before Philosophy: The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man [Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1949Google Scholar; reprinted 1961 etc.] 30). G. de Santillana and H. von Dechend speak even more approvingly of the “hologram of archaic cosmology,” astrology, which “has provided man with his continuing lingua franca through the centuries” (Hamlet's Mill: An Essay on Myth and The Frame of Time [Boston, MA: Gambit, 1969] 345).Google Scholar

⁵⁸ The preceding article is only a glimpse of a fascinating area now open to those who have concentrated upon Jewish thought in the Roman period. Many issues need to be researched again; e.g., it is clear that Matt 2:2 (εἴδομεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀστέρα ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ, which may have been written under the influence of astrology—either by Matthew or by the author of one of his special sources—needs to be re-examined since we now possess evidence of interest in the zodiac by Jews prior to the first century A. D. Within a century after the composition of Matt many documents were influenced by his nativity account, some of these conspicuously omit the star (e.g., Ascen. Isa. 11.2–4; Justin, Dial. 78.5), others mention it and sometimes exaggerate its brightness (Justin, Dial. 78.1a; Protev. Jacobi 21–22). For a discussion of these possibilities see my article in BJRL.

For the moment, an appended note must suffice to point to the astrological writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus. Although these documents were composed in Alexandria by a Greek who was obviously influenced by Jewish traditions, they are appreciably different both from the early Jewish astrological documents preserved in Cave 4 of Qumran and from the Treatise of Shem. They were composed at the earliest near the end of the first century A.D. They focus upon the peculiar Egyptian idea that stellar gods (decani) control the 360 degree zodiacal circle, influencing daily all terrestrial events (cf. Corp. Herm. 13.12–13; Stob. Herm. 6). Also see the passages excerpted and discussed by Festugière, A.-J., La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste (4 vols; Paris: Lecoffre, 1949–1954Google Scholar) esp. vol. 1: L'astrologie et les sciences occultes.

⁵⁹ When the above research was finished I received the latest volume of Compendia in which D. Flusser, although he focuses almost totally on Beth-shan (Nysa or Scythopolis) and Jaffa, presents an erudite, informative, and brilliant description of “Paganism in Palestine.” While he has amassed significant evidence that “the most remarkable feature of Palestinian paganism is that paganism and Judaism co-existed in the Land of Israel in the Hellenistic and Roman periods” (1099), Flusser has failed to show or even indicate as probable either that “the Jewish people in Palestine and elsewhere had become completely [sic] immune to the attractions of the paganism against which the prophets” had spoken (1090), or that neither “Judaism, nor Christianity in its initial stages, felt the impact of paganism as a living religion” (1099). The thrust of the present article is precisely the opposite of Flusser's non sequitur concluding judgment (“Paganism in Palestine,” The Jewish People in the First Century, sect. 1;2. 1065–99). Paganism, at least via astrology, had become attractive to, and made an impression upon, numerous Jews during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.