Davide's Notes: Didache

Monday, July 05, 2004

Didache

Text here.

This is definitely a composite text. See for example the Two Ways material (chaps. 1-6) vs the rest of the text, but the composition goes beyond this simple division by content: within the Two Ways section, it is possible to spot places that were probably added/modified over time (look at the different manuscripts). Another important indication of composition are concessions that make ideals more applicable to reality: for example (6:2-3):

For if thou art able to bear the whole yoke of the Lord, thou shalt be perfect;
but if thou art not able, do that which thou art able.

For what regards the Two Ways material, Kraft distinguishes between:

old Jewish material, 3:1-6
a Christian contribution, 1:3b-2:1

Reading the Two Ways, the first reference that came to my mind was Ps 1. But here the Torah-centric vision of that psalm is somewhat missing.
There are obvious references to NT texts (mostly Matthew), but these references are never explicit (i.e., it is never said "as it is written..."). Similar to what we have in Barnabas, this might point to the fact that the Didache did not know the NT material in written form. A complicated issue is then to relate these references e.g. to Matthew sources (Q, Q1, etc). This might give a clue to the dating at least of the oldest material here.

There are interesting points in the Two Ways material:

there is concern about carnal pleasures ("abstain thou from fleshly and bodily lust", 1:9)
look at these verses (1:18-21):
Woe to him that receiveth;
For, if a man receiveth having need, he is guiltless;
But he that hath no need shall give satisfaction why and wherefore he received;
And being put in confinement he shall be examined concerning the deeds that he hath done, and {he shall not come out thence until he hath given back the last farthing.}
This would seem to (or at least it can) reflect the point of view of a monastic type-of community. 1QS comes to mind.
Do not give alms until you have not learned to whom to give (cf 1:23): this assumes that the practice of alms-giving was a known one and shows the concern to identify the real targets of the alms (poor people, but perhaps also true prophets/priests: see later).

Chapter 2 seems a revisit of the decalogue, but there seem to be interesting additions:

"corrupting boys" (2:2): again the theme of pederasty we have seen already in Barnabas.
avoid abortion or the killing of newborn babies.
the reference to magic practices and sorcery.

A first comment is that these practices would not seem popular in a Jewish environment. On the contrary, for example the injunction against sorcery in 3:6 clarifies that these practices have to be avoided because they lead to idolatry, and this seems standard Jewish teaching. That is, from these verses I get the impression that the Didache was born within a Gentile milieu out of a Jewish background; in this milieu maybe pederasty, abortion and sorcery were common practice (otherwise there would be no need to stress their evilness in this way). Perhaps a gnostic environment would fit the bill; the connection between sorcery and gnosticism seems particularly obvious: cf. Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-24, including the importance of money both there and in the text of the Didache.

This Jewish background I refer to above is not a source of contrast with traditional Judaism, at least not the way it is in Barnabas. As a matter of fact, the only reference I was able to find that might refer to Judaism is

And let not your fastings be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and the fifth day of the week;
but do ye keep your fast on the fourth and on the preparation (the sixth) day.

(8:1-2, introducing the Prayer of the Lord). But this passage, given also the lack of explicit polemics against Judaism elsewhere, might just refer to Jewish Christians within the community, that would have kept the old Jewish rituals. The liturgical instructions here would therefore be a reaffirmation of the "new" Christian identity. Again, this would point to a composition of the text outside of Palestine.

This verse (4:6) I am not able to make sense of:

Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be.

Is it a reference to a philosophical thought, or what?

On the confession of sins, note 4:19:

In church (εκκλεσια) thou shalt confess thy transgressions

I don't know whether this practice is/was any different from the practice of Judaism of confessing sins in the synagogue (in Judaism, the importance of confession e.g. in Yom Kippur is in that it strengthens the community rather than the individual, and that is apparently a reason why the confession prayers are in the plural, "we have sinned, we have transgressed", etc.). On the other hand, in Judaism communal confessions seem reserved to serious sins, while light transgressions are a matter of individual repentence -- and here the instruction to confession "in church" seems rather general.

It is interesting to note that the Didache shows in different parts of the text a different type of Church organization: for example, in 4:3 it is said

thou shalt seek out day by day the persons of the saints, that thou mayest find rest in their words.

Who are these "persons of the saints"? And why should one "seek them out day by day"? Later on it is suggested that they are probably the prophets/priests. The fact that one should "seek them" perhaps points to the fact that originally these persons were not residential priests: therefore, one would have had to look for them. Likewise, chapters 11-12 lay down instructions on how to receive these itinerant ministers (and how to distinguish between true and false prophets, a problem certainly much felt when pastoral guidance was not clearly established or defined) -- see here (11:9) the reference to disinterested service as an essential sign to distinguish truth from falsity.

But in chapter 15 the picture changes completely:

Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not lovers of money, and true and approved

This would point now to a society where residential pastoral care is growing and encouraged. How these bishops and deacons (that are to be, again, "not lovers of money": this was definitely an important concern) are approved is not clear. Anyway, this is another hint to the composite nature of this text.

Finally, chapter 16 is eschatological: this is surprising from the point of view of the content that comes before chap. 16 (cmp with Barnabas, strongly concerned with eschatological matters throughout the text), but probably not surprising at all from a redactional point of view, as it provides, at the end of the text, instructions about the final end. Whether and how this eschatological message has reference to the actual life of the community that used/composed Didache, is not clear.