The Jewish Roots of Stoicism
The Jewish Roots of Stoicism
By
James Scott Trimm
By
James Scott Trimm
At the dawn
of the 4th Century BCE a revolution began in among the Philosophers of
ancient Greece. In the year 399 BCE,
Socrates was tried and subsequently found guilty of corrupting the minds of the
youth of Athens and of impiety in "not believing in the gods of the
state". As a punishment he was
sentenced to death and he ultimately took his own life on the eve of his
scheduled execution, by the drinking of a mixture containing poison hemlock.
Socrates did
not actually write anything, but his student Plato recorded much of his
teachings and, along with Plato’s student Aristotle, laid the foundations of
Western philosophy and science. Teachings
which ultimately led to variety of philosophies, including Stoicism.
Stoicism
is a school of philosophy founded in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE by
Zeno of Citium. Stoicism is heavily influenced by certain teachings of Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle.
But there is
also a good argument to be made that this philosophy actually has Jewish Roots.
The
Alexandrian Jewish writer Aristoblus, wrote in the Second Century BCE:
(Aristoblus; Fragment 3; quoted in Eusebius 12:12:1f)
"And it seems to me that Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato with great care follow him [Moses] in all respects. They copy him when they say they hear the voice of God, and they contemplate the arrangement of the universe, so carefully made and so unceasingly held together by God.
(Aristoblus; Fragment 4; quoted in Eusebius 13:13:4)
One key
element of Stoicism is the Four Virtues, which came to Stoicism from Plato, who
wrote in his book The Republic, concerning the “Perfect State” that “it will obviously have the qualities of
wisdom, courage, self-discipline, and justice.” (Republic 5, 1, 428)
However these
same four virtues are found in the Wisdom of Solomon as the Four Labors of the
Spirit:
5 If riches are a desirable possession
in life,
what is richer than wisdom who effects all things?
6 And if understanding is
effective,
who more than she is fashioner of what exists?
7 And if any one loves
righteousness,
her labors are virtues;
for she teaches self-control and prudence,
justice and courage;
nothing in life is more profitable for men than these.
(Wisdom of Solomon 8:5-7 RSV)
Solomon lived five
centuries before Plato. The Wisdom of
Solomon is one of the books found in the "Apocrypha" today. But according to
Melito in the second century CE, the Wisdom of Solomon was in his day considered
canonical by both Jews and Christians.
Ramban (Rabbi
Moshe ben Nachman) (1194-1270 C.E.) wrote one of the most authoritative Torah
commentaries in Rabbinic Judaism. In his Introduction to his Commentary to the
Torah Ramban quotes from an Aramaic version of the Wisdom of Solomon and takes
these quotes as the authentic words of Solomon:
King Solomon, peace be upon him, whom G-d had given wisdom and
knowledge, derived it all from the Torah, and from it he studied until he knew
the secret of all things created, even of the forces and characteristics of
plants, so that he wrote about them even a Book of Medicine, as it is written,
And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop
that springeth out of the wall (1Kings 5:13)
Now I have seen the Aramaic translation of the book called The Great
Wisdom of Solomon, and in it is written: "There is nothing new in the
birth of a king or ruler; there is one entrance for all people into the world,
and one exit alike. Therefore I have prayed, and the spirit of wisdom was given
to me, and I have called out and the spirit of knowledge came to me; I chose it
above scepter and throne." (Wisdom 7:3-8) And it is further said there:
"It is G-d alone Who gives knowledge that contains no falsehood, [enabling
one] to know how the world arose, the composition of the constellations, the beginning,
the end and middle of the times, the angles of the ends of the constellations,
and how the seasons are produced by the movement of heavens and the fixed
positions of the stars, the benign nature of cattle and the fierceness of
beasts, the power of the wind and the thoughts of man, the relationship of
trees and the forces of roots; everything hidden and everything revealed I
know." (Wisdom 7:17-21) All this Solomon knew from the Torah, and he found
everything in it - in its simple meanings, in the subtleties of its expressions
and its letters and its strokes, as I have mentioned.
(Ramban; The Introduction to the Commentary on the Torah)
Ramban had
studied the Aramaic version of the Wisdom of Solomon and was convinced that it
recorded the actual words of Solomon. So
it is entirely possible that Plato derived these four virtues from the Wisdom
of Solomon.
In the First century, the Jewish philosopher Philo of
Alexandria used allegory to derive from the Jewish Scripture,
mainly the Torah, Greek philosophy and especially Stoic philosophy. Philo found the teachings of Plato, Aristotle
and Stoicism in the words of Moses.
Likewise the
author of Fourth Maccabees lays out the teachings of Stoicism and then makes
his case for these teachings by citing passages and stories from the Tanak and
the Channukah story as found in Second Maccabees.
And when the Mishna presents
Simeon Ben Zoma's his four Stoic paradoxes, he shows how each may be
derived from a passage in the Tanak:
Ben Zoma would say:
Who is wise? He who learns from everyone. As is stated (Psalms 119:99):
"From all my teachers I have grown wise";
Who is strong? He who controls his impulses. As is stated (Proverbs
16:32), "Better one who is slow to anger than one with might, one who
rules his spirit than the captor of a city.";
Who is rich? He who is happy with what he has. As is stated (Psalms
128:2): "If you eat of toil of your hands, fortunate are you, and good is
to you"; "fortunate are you" in this world, "and good is to
you" in the World to Come;
Who is honored? He who honors everyone! As is stated (1 Samuel 2:30):
"For to those who honor me, I accord honor; those who scorn me shall be
demeaned;".
(Pirkei Avot 4:1)
The basic principles
of Stoicism are to be found in the Jewish Scriptures, and there is every reason
to believe that this is because the fundamental ideas of Stoicism originated
from those very Scriptures.
In future blogs,
we will find these fundamental teachings of Stoicism are to be found in the Bible.
From the author:
My wife Kitty Trimm was hospitalized for 53 consecutive days in
August and September of 2018. She had three major surgeries and was in
the ICU on a ventilator twice, for several days each, during this stay.
She came home to a difficult recovery, and is still being seen several
times a week by a home health care nurse. She is still (as of Jan. 24th,
2019) having complications and being seen by three different
specialists. During t the 53 days I lost my full time job, and I am
currently acting as her caregiver. As a result of this lengthy
hospitalization we came home broke and behind on bills and facing
medical bills not covered by insurance. We are raising funds to help us
get caught up on bills. We will use the donations to pay bills including
but not limited to medical bills, medical supplies, rent, car payments
and utility bills, as well a pay for food and toiletries.
Visit the Trimm Family Crisis Go Fund Me Page
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