Ben wrote:
Wisdom of Solomon 2.10-22 is not about Jesus, is it?
10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.
11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraideth us with our offending the law, and objecteth to our infamy the transgressings of our education.
13 He professeth to have the knowledge of God: and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.
14 He was made to reprove our thoughts.
15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion.
16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed, and maketh his boast that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.
18 For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.
19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.
20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
I have no doubt that this motif was put to use for Jesus, but is there anything in James 5 which would indicated that this is what is going on? What distinguishes James 5 from Wisdom of Solomon 2?
Now that I think about it, perhaps it was put to use for Jesus at least by Hegesippus if not by James, since Eusebius appears to say that he used it in EH 4.22:
And not only he [Hegesippus], but also Irenæus and the whole company of the ancients, called the Proverbs of Solomon All-virtuous Wisdom.
The passage you cite certainly sounds very Jesus-like in any event and I can see the appeal it could have had for Hegesippus. And Hegesippus also cites LXX Is. 3:10 (in reference to James) in EH 2.23, like Barnabas 6:7 does for Jesus:
And when many were fully convinced and gloried in the testimony of James, and said, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ these same Scribes and Pharisees said again to one another, ‘We have done badly in supplying such testimony to Jesus. But let us go up and throw him down, in order that they may be afraid to believe him.’ And they cried out, saying, ‘Oh! oh! the just man is also in error.’ And they fulfilled the Scripture written in Isaiah, ‘Let us take away the just man, because he is troublesome to us: therefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.’
The Dead Sea Scrolls pesharim do something similar regarding the Teacher of Righteousness (who is associated with the coming of the Messiah in the Damascus Document), i.e., they apply OT verses with the word "righteous" in them to the Teacher of Righteousness, similar to what Hegesippus says of James in EH 2.23:
Because of his exceeding great justice he was called the Just, and Oblias, which signifies in Greek, ‘Bulwark of the people’ and ‘Justice,’ in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him.
Note the plural "prophets," for which Williamson's translation has a footnote that says "reference unknown," and a note for the translation here
(
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201 ... .xxiv.html) says: "To what Hegesippus refers I do not know, as there is no passage in the prophets which can be interpreted in this way. He may have been thinking of the passage from Isaiah quoted in §15, below, but the reference is certainly very much strained."
For example, the Habbakuk Pesher says:
"[For the wicked encompasses] the righteous" (Hab. 1:4). [The wicked is the Wicked Priest, and the righteous] is the Teacher of Righteousness ...
"O traitors, why do you stare and stay silent when the wicked swallows up one more righteous than he?" (Hab. 1:13). Interpreted, this concerns the House of Absalom and the members of its council who were dumb at the time of the chastisement of the Teacher of Righteousness and gave him no help against the Liar who flouted the Law in the midst of their whole [congregation].
"[But the righteous shall live by his faith]" (Hab. 2:4). Interpreted, this concerns all those who observe the Law in the House of Judah, whom God will deliver from the house of judgement because of their suffering and because of their faith in the Teacher of Righteousness.
And the Psalms Pesher says:
"The wicked watches out for the righteous and seeks [to slay him. The Lord will not abandon him into his hand or] let him be condemned when he is tried" (Ps. 37: 32-33). Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked [Priest] who [rose up against the Teacher of Righteousness] that he might put him to death [because he served the truth] and the Law, [for which reason] he laid hands upon him.
The DSS also refer to the coming of "the Messiah of Righteousness" in 4Q252 (and David's "seed"), like the references in the NT to Jesus being "the Righteous One" and David's "seed":
Whenever Israel rules there shall [not] fail to be a descendant of David upon the throne. For the ruler's staff is the Covenant of kingship, [and the clans] of Israel are the feet, until the Messiah of Righteousness comes, the Branch of David. For to him and to his seed was granted the Covenant of kingship over his people for everlasting generations ...
So maybe Hegesippus had something like this technique in mind when he says that James' "exceeding great" righteousness and nicknames and death were "in accordance with what the prophets declare concerning him," and the Wisdom of Solomon seems very suitable for this kind of exegesis as well.
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.
