dssdead-sea-scrolls
E — Wisdom Literature
Part 2
Badly damaged fragments preserve a wisdom address to sages built around the image of a great tree — reaching heaven, its branches spanning the earth's extremities — that nonetheless yields thorns. The pairing of former rain and latter rain within a context of thirst deepens the riddle: outward reach and spiritual fruitlessness coexist. A second fragment shifts to divine reckoning: God does not stand to rebuke in man's timeframe, but His seat is in heaven and His dominion extends over lands and seas, and transgression will be answered.
1
This text comprises eighteen badly damaged papyrus fragments palaeographically dated to the end of the second century BCE. The topic of the first fragment seems to be the giant 'good' tree which produces thorns. For the editio princeps, see B. Nitzan, DJD, XX, 135-41. Fr. ii Sages, reflect on this. If a man has a good tree which grows as far as heaven and its branches reach to the extremities of the lands, yet it produces thorny fruits.. former rain and latter rain.. and in thirst... Fr. ii.. God will avenge Himself on you for your transgression.. your designs and He does not stand up against you to rebuke you, and to dispute with you. God's seat is in heaven and His dominion is over the lands and seas..
