The “Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice” are a selection of fragmentary Dead Sea texts that contain songs dedicated to particular Sabbaths in the first quarter of the year; the Songs are for angels to utter in the heavenly tabernacle-sanctuary. The dates for the texts range from c. 75-50 BCE to c. 50 CE, which indicates their enduring importance for the community within which they were found (Qumran).
Newsom suggests[1] that the “songs functioned primarily to form the identity and confirm the legitimacy of the priestly community” at Qumran. This was a necessary desideratum because the priests of the Qumran community had renounced the priesthood at Jerusalem. The recitation of the songs, which exhort the angels in the divine temple to praise God, would have been a way of associating the divine temple with the worshiping community at Qumran. G. W. E. Nickelsburg, in his “Introduction” to the Songs states, “They lift one up emotionally and imaginatively into the midst of heavenly choirs”.[2] M. J. Davidson concurs in this suggestion,[3] and cites 4Q400 2 1, 6-7:
…to praise your glory wondrously with the divinities of knowledge, and the praises of your kingship with the m[ost] holy ones…how will it be regarded [amongst] them? And how our priesthood in their residences? And […] their holiness? [What] is the offering of our tongue of dust (compared) with the knowledge of the divinity[ies?…][4]
This quotation uses the Hebrew term elim for angels (translated “divinities”, cf. Psa 29:1), and the Songs are noted for their wide variety of terms of reference for angels. Our interest is in the use of the word “tongue” in “offering of our tongue (!wvl)”. This poetic description of the praise of the Qumran community is to be contrasted with the description of the “tongues of the angels” in 1 Cor 13:1. Some of the texts are fragmentary and lack full sentences, but our interest in the Songs is in painting a context for “tongues of angels” in 1 Corinthians.
[…] through the wonderful height […] tongue of purity […] gods (~yhla), seven […] 4Q400 3 1, 1-2
…Psalm of praise, on the tongue of the fou[rth]…[Ps]alm of [tha]nksgiving, on the tongue of the fifth…[Psalm] of exultation, on the tongue of the sixth…Psalm of [singing, on the to]ngue of the seventh of the [chief] pri[nces,] a powerful song [to the God] of ho[lines] with its se[ven] wo[nd]er[ful songs] 4Q403 1 1, 1-6
Proclaim his glory with the tongue of all who proclaim knowledge, his wonderful songs with the mouth of all who proclaim [him. For he is] God of all who sing {knowledge} for ever, and Judge in his power over all the spirits of understanding. 4Q4031 1 36-37
…The tongue of the first will be strengthened seven times with the tongue of the second to him….{this is repeated for the series up to the seventh}… 4Q403 1 2, 27-30
[…Psal]m of singing, on the ton[gue of the seventh of the chief princes…] 4 Q404 1, 1
[…sp]irit of glo[ry…] […] wonderful likeness of the spirit of the hol[y of] holies, engra[ved…to]ngue of blessing… 4Q405 14 2, 1-2
In the chiefs of the praise-offerings are tongues of knowledge. They bless the God of knowledge in all the works of his glory. 4Q405 23 2, 12
The import of these extracts from these songs is that there was awareness on the part of the Qumran sectarians that angels praised God in their own tongues. This may appear to be an unremarkable point except that it has a specific implication for 1 Cor 13:1. Paul’s reference to “tongues of angels” is a reference to tongues spoken within the Corinthian assembly when praising God. It is a reference to a glossolalia involved in praise, song, prayer and blessing, and it was a form a glossolalia that was thought to be the tongue that angels spoke in praise to God.
The same concept is present in the Testament of Job.[5] This writing is usually dated to between the 1c. BCE and 1c. CE, but the later chapters (45-53) have been judged later (2c. CE). R. J. Spittler in his “Introduction” to his critical edition[6] hypothesizes that,
…the Testament may have been reworked in the second century by Montanists. Eusebius (HE 5.17.1-4) preserves the argument of an unnamed anti-Montanist who demanded to know where in the range of biblical history any precedent appeared for ecstatic prophecy. The descriptions of Job’s daughters speaking in ecstasy (TJob 48-50) may have been a Montanist move to supply such a precedent.[7]
Spittler points out some stylistic differences between T. Job 1-45 and T. Job 46-53 which is where (46-53) the references to “tongues of angels” come; such differences he hypothesizes indicate Montanist editing; Spittler’s suggestion however has been opposed by C. Forbes.[8] The point at issue can be put to one side for our purpose. If T. Job 46-53 is early, then it forms part of the Jewish literary co-text for Paul and Corinth; if these chapters are late, then they are an analogous case to both the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and 1 Corinthians.
In the Testament, Job gives one of his daughters some sashes,
And she took on another heart—no longer minded toward earthly things—but she spoke ecstatically in the angelic dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic style of the angels. And as she spoke ecstatically, she allowed “The Spirit” to be inscribed on her garment. T. Job 48:2-3
Job’s other daughters likewise took on “the dialect of archons”, “the dialect of those on high”, and the “dialect of the cherubim” (T. Job 49:1-50:3). The “cherubim” are also mentioned in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice as blessing God (4Q403 1 2, 15, cf. 4Q405 20 2, 3).
One difference, noted by Spittler,[9] is that Paul does not use the Greek dialektos in 1 Cor 13:1, which is the term in the Testament. The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice do however use the ordinary Hebrew for “tongues” which does correspond to 1 Corinthians.
In his monograph,[10] G. Hovenden has dismissed the evidence of the Testament of Job, but does not discuss the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. He concludes, “…there is no conclusive evidence that this speech was intended to represent what the New Testament understands by tongues”.[11] He does not think that T. Job 46-53 has been subject to Montanist editing, although he allows the possibility that it has been edited by a Jewish redactor. His main point against Christian editing is that such an editor would not have used dialektos if they wanted to connect the Testament to 1 Corinthians; they would have used glōssai as in 1 Corinthians.
What is clear from the Testament is that there is a concept of angelic language being spoken. Hovenden claims that what is spoken by Job’s daughters is intelligible and that the angelic quality is a matter of “hymnic style” and therefore unlike Corinth. He notes that the songs that were preserved were available to the readers of the Testament. However, crucially, the writing of these hymns is described in terms that allow for the role of interpretation:
After the three had stopped singing hymns, while the Lord was present as was I, Nereus, the brother of Job, and while the holy angel also was present, I sat near Job on the couch. And I heard magnificent things, while each one made explanation to the other. And I wrote out a complete book of most of the contents of hymns that issued from the three daughters of my brother, so that these things would be preserved. T. Job 51:1-4
The process of “explanation” implies interpretation of the hymns and this corresponds to the requirement for interpretation in Corinth. If we return to a comparison of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and 1 Corinthians, it should not be surprising to find common concepts if 1 Corinthians is concerned with ecstatic praise in the tongues of angels. These are listed below:
| …understand all mysteries 1 Cor 13:2 | The concept of mysteries appears in expressions such as “wondrous mysterie[s…]” 4Q401 14 2, 2, as well as in motifs such as “hidden things” 4Q401 14 2, 7 and 17 4; see also “mysteries” in 4Q403 1 2, 27; 4Q405 13 3. |
| …in a spirit speaks mysteries 1 Cor 14:2 | |
| …knowledge 1 Cor 13:8 | The theme of divine knowledge is common in the Songs. .Angels are “divinities of knowledge”; they dispense knowledge through their songs in the heavenly sanctuary 4Q400 1 1, 4-5, 17 |
| …speaking unto God 1 Cor 14:2 | The notion of “praise” is everywhere present in the songs, for instance, 4Q403 1 2, 15. |
| …sing with the spirit 1 Cor 14:15 | The notions of chanting, melody and song are found in the Songs, for example, “Chant to the powerful God with the chosen spiritual portion, so that it is [a melo]dy with the joy of the gods…for a wonderful song…” 4Q403 1 1, 39-40 |
| …bless with the spirit 1 Cor 14:16 | The concept of blessing is frequent in the Songs, for example, 4Q403 1 1, 11; 4Q403 1 2, 12. |
| …hath a psalm 1 Cor 14:26 | The terms “psalms” is extensively used in the Songs, e.g. 4Q400 2 1, 4 |
In addition to these correspondences it is noteworthy that Paul uses a number of theatre amplification and musical analogies:
- “sounding brass, tinkling cymbal” 1 Cor 13:1
- “pipe or harp” 1 Cor 14:7
- “trumpet” 1 Cor 14:8
It is apparent therefore that the glossolalia in 1 Corinthians 14 included tongues of angels, and this term is readily understood in the context of Jewish angelology. Max Turner is therefore partial in his treatment of the topic of tongues in 1 Corinthians when he dismisses the evidence of the Testament of Job because it is late; he also doesn’t mention the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. He states that, “The outcome of Forbes’ detailed research is that there was no widespread Hellenistic phenomenon of ecstatic and linguistically incoherent speech to provide a background for the Corinthian problems”.[12] This may be correct for Hellenistic Greek texts, but the Jewish evidence of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Testament of Job is not to be dismissed.
It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss Paul’s attitude to glossolalia at Corinth. We have sought only to establish that it includes both tongues of men and of angels. The syntax of Paul’s mention of the tongues of angels indicates that he distinguished such tongues from the tongues of men. If we reproduce the order of the Greek, he says,
“If with tongues of men I speak and/even of angels, and have not love…”
By placing the verb between the two expressions “tongues of men” and “of angels” he distinguishes the two kinds of tongues. The question for further consideration is what Paul thinks of such tongues of angels.
[1] C. Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985), 72.
[2] G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (2nd Edition; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005), 153.
[3] M. J. Davidson, Angels at Qumran (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 237.
[4] All citations are from the critical edition F. G. Martinez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition (2 vols: Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997-1998).
[5] I am indebted to Steven Cox for bringing this text to my attention.
[6] J. H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols; New York: Doubleday, 1983-1985), 829-868.
[7] OTP, 834.
[8] C. Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech in Early Christianity and its Hellenistic Environment (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1995), 183-186.
[9] OTP, 866 note f.
[10] G. Hovenden, Speaking in Tongues: The New Testament Evidence in Context (Sheffield: Continuum, 2002).
[11] Speaking in Tongues, 47-52 (52).
[12] Max Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts: Then and Now (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1999), 232.
Analysis of the eschatology in 1 Thess 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thess 1:5-2:12