Where can Wisdom be found? The Sage's Language in the Bible and in Ancient Egyptian Literature

Abstract

In the comparative study of Egyptian and Biblical literature emphasis has been laid on content and ideas, while the formal and terminological aspects have been neglected. The present work deals with the semantics of terminology in Biblical wisdom literature as compared to that of the Egyptians and centers, therefore, on a somewhat abandoned aspect of the comparative research of the Biblical and Egyptian writings. The work has three primary objectives: (a) to draw up a glossary of Egyptian wisdom terms, a task as yet not undertaken elsewhere; (b) to elucidate the semantics of these terms; (c) to clarify the Biblical wisdom terms in relation to their Egyptian parallels. The fresh comparative inquiry into Hebrew and Egyptian wisdom vocabulary sheds light on some general problems intrinsic to Biblical wisdom, e.g.: Does the Hebrew sage (hākām) signify a function or a quality? Did Hebrew wisdom evolve from a secular to a religious stage? What was the Sitz im Leben of Biblical wisdom?