便西拉的字母

《便西拉的字母》（The Alphabet of Ben-Sira），又譯本司拉的知识，是中世紀時期一份佚名文獻，講述《舊約聖經》的次經《便西拉智訓》的作者、希伯來先知便西拉的生平，由受孕、出生、受教育到長大成人。《便西拉的字母》用希伯來語書寫，另外還有以亞蘭語書寫的古版，但內容略有不同。成書時間估計在公元7世紀至11世紀，很可能在10世紀。 在文獻中，便西拉以先知耶利米的兒子的身份被帶到巴比倫國王尼布甲尼撒二世的面前。尼布甲尼撒二世在法庭上向便西拉揭示四道神諭，並要求便西拉解釋這四道神諭的意思。便西拉於是利用了希伯來語的22個字母作開首，講述了22個故事來回應國王的問題。 本文獻宣稱猶太人在被虜到巴比倫的這段時期，曾一度有過莉莉絲的信仰。這在本書的結尾部份出現，內容記述如下。 Soon afterward the young son of the king took ill. Said Nebuchadnezzar, "Heal my son. If you don't, I will kill you." Ben Sira immediately sat down and wrote an amulet with the Holy Name, and he inscribed on it the angels in charge of medicine by their names, forms, and images, and by their wings, hands, and feet. Nebuchadnezzar looked at the amulet. "Who are these?" "The angels who are in charge of medicine: Snvi, Snsvi, and Smnglof. After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, 'It is not good for man to be alone' (Genesis 2:18). He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.' Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth.' But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: 'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the woman you gave me has run away.' At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels to bring her back. "Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees to come back, fine. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, 'We shall drown you in the sea.' "'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days.' "When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant.' She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers." כתב תחתי Eisenstein, J.D., Alpha Beta Ben Sira, in: Otsar Midrashim vol. 1 (1915). Steinschneider, Moritz Alphabeticum Syracidis, Berlin (1854). Steinschneider, Moritz Alphabeticum Syracidis utrumque, cum expositione antiqua (narrationes et fabulas continente), Berlin (1858). David Stern,, Mark Jay Mirsky (eds.), Rabbinic Fantasies : Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature, Yale Judaica Series (1998). ISBN 0-300-07402-6 Taylor, C., The Alphabet of Ben Sira, in: JQR 17 (1904/05) 238-239. Taylor, C., The Alphabet of Ben Sira, in: Journal of Philology 30 (1907) 95-132. Tobias Lachs, Samuel, The Alphabet of Ben Sira, Gratz College Annual of Jewish Studies 11 (1973), 9-28. SIRACH, THE ALPHABET OF（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） T. Witton Davies (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) The Alphabet Of Ben Sira - A Not So Divine Comedy（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） Rabbi Josh Yuter Ben Sira, The Alphabet of, Crawford Howell Toy, Louis Ginzberg, Jewish Encyclopedia. Straight Dope Article on Lilith（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） Fragment from the Alphabet of Ben Sirah（页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）