Abstract
Carolingian exegetes Hrabanus Maurus and Paschasius Radbertus encountered a paradox in the sources available to them regarding the prophecy of Dan and its representative Samson, the archetypal Nazirite, “Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels that his rider may fall backward. I will look for thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen 49:17–8). While in some sources, the blessing given to Dan in Genesis 49:17 is interpreted as foreshadowing Christ, in others it is seen as reflecting the Antichrist. In this article, I explore how these Carolingian exegetes rose to the challenge of this conflict, by the examining the sources for both approaches available to them. I argue that both exegetes engaged with the sources in a manner that bypassed the paradox, each choosing a different way to do so.
References
Primary sources
Ambrose of Milan. 1897. “De Iacob, De Ioseph, De patriarchis, De fuga saeculi, De interpellatione Iob et David, De apologia David, Apologia David altera, De Helia et ieiunio, De Nabuthae, De Tobia.” In CSEL, Vol. 32, edited by K. Schenkl, 125–60. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.Search in Google Scholar
Ambrose of Milan. 1964. “De spiritu sancto.” In CSEL, Vol. 79, edited by O. Faller. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.Search in Google Scholar
Ambrose of Milan. 1999. “Explanatio psalmorum xii.” In Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL), Vol. 64, edited by M. Petschenig, and M. Zelzer. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences.Search in Google Scholar
Augustine of Hippo. 1958. “Quaestionum in heptateuchum libri septem, Quaest. Iesu naue.” In Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (CCSL), Vol. 33, edited by J. Fraipont, 1–377. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar
Eusebius of Caesaria. 1903–1908. In Historia ecclesiastica, Vol. 9.1, trans. Rufinus, edited by T. Mommsen. Berlin: Corpus Berolinense.Search in Google Scholar
Hrabanus, M. 1851. “Commentaria in Genesim.” PL 107: 439–670.Search in Google Scholar
Hrabanus, M. 1851. “Commentaria in Exodum.” PL 108: 9–246.Search in Google Scholar
Hrabanus, M. 1851. “Commentaria in Ezechielem.” PL 110: 497–1084.Search in Google Scholar
Isidore of Seville. 1850. “Mysticorum expositiones sacramentorum seu Quaestiones in uetus Testamentum.” Patrologia Latina (PL) 83: 207–424.Search in Google Scholar
Isidore of Seville. 1911. “Etymologiarum siue Originum libri xx.” In Oxford Classical Texts, edited by W. M. Lindsay. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Isidore of Seville. 1989. “De ecclesiasticis officiis.” In CCSL, Vol. 113, edited by C. W. Lawson. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar
Jerome. 1959. “Liber quaestionum hebraicarum in Genesim.” In CCSL, Vol. 72, edited by P. de Lagarde, 1–56. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar
Radbertus, P. 1993. “De benedictionibus patriarcharum Iacob et Moysi.” In Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis (CCCM), Vol. 96, edited by B. Paulus. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar
Rufinus. 1961. “De benedictionibus patriarcharum.” In CCSL, Vol. 20, edited by M. Simonetti, 189–228. Turnhout: Brepols.Search in Google Scholar
Secondary sources
Aune, D. E. 2013. “Paul, Ritual Purity and the Ritual Baths South of the Temple Mount (Acts 21:15–27).” In Aune, Jesus, Gospel Tradition and Paul in the Context of Jewish and Greco–Roman Antiquity: Collected Essays Ii, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 303, Vol. 2, 414–41. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.Search in Google Scholar
Caffey, A. 2015. “Matthew 2:23 and the use of the Old Testament: Christ as Nazirite/judge/deliverer par excellence.” PhD diss., Deerpak Illininois: Trinity International University.Search in Google Scholar
De Hemmer Gudme, A. K. 2009. “How Should We Read Hebrew Bible Ritual Texts? A Ritualistic Reading of the Law of the Nazirite [Num. 6, 1–21].” Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 23 (1): 64–84.10.1080/09018320902853772Search in Google Scholar
Gray, G. B. 1997. “The Nazirite.” The Journal of Theological Studies 1 (2): 201–11.10.1093/jts/os-I.2.201Search in Google Scholar
Hayward, C. T. R. trans. 1995. Saint Jerome’s Hebrew questions on Genesis, 85. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Search in Google Scholar
Heydemann, G. 2020. “The People of God and the Law: Biblical Models in Carolingian Legislation.” Speculum 95 (1): 89–131.10.1086/706062Search in Google Scholar
Johnson, B. J. M. 2015. “A Nazorean and a Nazirite: Jesus and Samson in Matthew 1–2.” The Expository Times 126 (12): 586–592.10.1177/0014524615571246Search in Google Scholar
Lahav, R. 2018. “Christian Asceticism as Seen Through the Image of the Jewish Nazirite in Jerome.” Archa Verbi 15: 9–24.Search in Google Scholar
Phelan, O. M. 2010. “Horizontal and Vertical Theologies: ‘Sacraments’ in the Works of Paschasius Radbertus and Ratramnus of Corbie.” The Harvard Theological Review 103 (3): 271–289.10.1017/S0017816010000635Search in Google Scholar
Phelan, O. M. 2016. “New Insights, Old Texts Clerical Formation and The Carolingian Renewal in Hrabanus Maurus.” Traditio 71: 63–89.10.1017/tdo.2016.7Search in Google Scholar
Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/JBR-2020-0003).
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
