4QBarkhi Nafshi similarly
presents the inclination as a basic trait of the speaker that is evil by
nature. However, 4QBarkhi Nafshi further develops the biblical concept of the yēṣ
er in the context of a parallel with the śātān (“accuser/ satan”) of
Zechariah 3: 2. As Tigchelaar has demonstrated, there is an intertextual
relationship between 4QBarkhi Nafshi (specifically 4Q436 1 i-ii and 4Q437 4 par
4Q438 4a ii) and Zechariah 3, evident in the verbs used in both texts: g‘r, hlbyš,
h‘byr, hsyr, g‘r, and śym. An investigation into this intertextual
relationship reveals that the conversion of the rebuked śātān of
Zechariah to an “evil inclination” (yṣ r r‘) in 4QBarkhi Nafshi
corresponds to a process of abstraction that the author of 4QBarkhi Nafshi
utilizes throughout. For example, instead of the defiled clothes of the priest
that are removed and replaced with pure garments in Zechariah 3: 4, the speaker
in 4QBarkhi Nafshi exults that God has removed his sinful ways and “clothed”
him in the spirit of salvation (4Q438 4a ii.6: ורוח ישועות הלבשתני ),
paraphrasing Isa 61: 10b כִּי הִלְבִּישַׁנִי בִּגְדֵי יֶשַׁע “for he has
clothed me with garments of salvation.”
Consequently, rather than
“demonizing” sin, the author of 4QBarkhi Nafshi creates an abstraction of the śātān.
The non-human, external, and demonic role played by the śātān does not
suit the author’s focus, which is wholly on the internal change that has been
effected within the human being and the conversion of his innermost parts. For
these purposes the śātān is transformed into a wholly internal evil
inclination that is the abstract representation of the human desire to sin.
This evil inclination, like the heart of stone, is removed entirely and
replaced with a positive counterpart. (Miryam T. Brand, Evil Within and
Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple
Literature [Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 9; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 2013], 47-48)
