Jannes and Jambres

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Jannes and Jambres (also Mambres ) are people from the Bible . According to extra-biblical tradition, they are Egyptian magicians who played their magic against Moses and Aaron.

Name form and meaning

In the writings on Jannes (Ἰάννης) and Jambres (Ἰαμβρῆς) that have come down to us, the name spellings vary greatly. The forms Johanai and Iannes can also be found for Jannes, and Mamre or Mambres is also used for Jambres. In 2 Tim 3,8  LUT some text witnesses read the name Mambres (Μαμβρῆς) for Jambres. Jannes is a Greek form of aram. To interpret Johanna (= Johannes); Jambres means "The Unruly".

swell

In the Qumran scripts, in pseudepigraphic scripts, in the New Testament and in rabbinical texts, Jannes and Jambres are assumed to be known to the addressees. The scriptures, however, do not give any sources for their stories about Jannes and Jambres. These sources are likely to be pre-Christian material that may have come from a pseudepigraphic script. Other sources outside of the early Jewish-Christian tradition mention Pliny the Elder , Numenios of Apamea and Lucius Apuleius Jannes and Jambres ( International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ). The latter are an important testimony to the knowledge of the traditional material.

Stories about Jannes and Jambres

Jannes and Jambres are brothers and are identified in the tradition with the Egyptian magicians who, according to Ex 7.11  EU, led a magic contest with Moses and Aaron before the Pharaoh. Their names are not mentioned in the Book of Exodus. Paul describes Jannes and Jambres in 2 Tim 3 : 8  LUT as those who “resisted Moses”. Both Jambres and Jannes are only mentioned by name in the Bible at this point.

The rabbinical tradition connects her with the pagan prophet Balaam . Some writings also report other actions by the brothers against Moses and Israel beyond the conflict before Pharaoh: They prevented Israel from passing through the sea, tried to break away from Moses in the desert, and were the actual author of the ungodly worship of the golden Veal .

Writings on Jannes and Jambres

The Christian scholar and theologian Origen (185-um 254) mentions a book About Moses and Jannes and Jambres and a book About Jannes and Jambres . The Decretum Gelasianum mentions an apocryphal book called Paenitentia Iamne et Mambre ("Jannes 'and Jambres' penance").

literature

  • Hugo Odeberg , Art. Ἰαννης, Ἰαμβρης, in: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 3, Stuttgart 1938, 192–193.
  • Albert Pietersma, The Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres the Magicians. Edited with Introduction, Translation, & Commentary (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 119) Leiden: Brill, 1994. [1]
  • Albert Pietersma, Jannes and Jambres (JSHRZ.NF II / 4), Gütersloh 2013.

Remarks

  1. ↑ For other forms of names and their sources cf. Odeberg 193.
  2. ↑ See Eduard Lohse, Art. Jannes and Jambres, RGG³, Vol. 3, 1959, Col. 530.
  3. ^ Damascus script (CD) V, 18.
  4. ^ Testament of Solomon 25: 4.
  5. ↑ See Odeberg, 193.
  6. ↑ Naturalis historia January 30, 2011.
  7. ↑ Fragment 9 (Des Places) = Eusebius , Praeparatio evangelica IX, 8.1.
  8. ^ Apologia 90.
  9. ↑ Sources in Odeberg, 193: 11-18.
  10. ↑ Contra Celsum IV 51.
  11. ↑ Commentary on Mt 27.9.

Web links

Wikisource: Jannes and Mambres  - Sources and full texts