Texts and Languages of Baruch/ Paraleipomena of Jeremiah
There are twelve Sibylline Oracles in all, but these came to us via two separate manuscript collections. The first collection was published in the sixteenth century based on the discovery a manuscript (P) dating a century earlier.1 This collection consisted of only the first eight oracles, which are identified as Oracles 1-8. What is a little perplexing is the enumeration of the remaining four oracles. One would expect that these would be numbered consecutively after the first eight, but such is not the case. The second collection is actually numbered 11-14. The omission of numbers 9 and 10 is not due to faulty numbering or oversight, but rather to manuscript history. Collins explains that these two collections of manuscripts in circulation contained some repeated material common to both manuscript traditions. For example, the books that made up oracles 9 and 10 consisted of material already found in books 1 through 8.2 It was not until the nineteenth century that the remaining four books were published based on the recent discovery of manuscripts M, Q, and V.3
The pride of position that these oracular texts held in antiquity became legendary. Rome was noted for its collection of oracles and probably had the most famous collection at that time having acquired these even before the fall of the monarchy, according to Collins. Additionally, Collins notes: "These oracles were entrusted to special keepers, first two men, then ten, finally fifteen. Consultation had to be authorized by a decree of the senate. No other body of literature was granted such prestige in the Greco-Roman world."4
Notes
1Codex Monacensis 351. Cf. J. J. Collins, "Sibylline Oracles," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments, Vol. 1, ed. James H. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983): 321.
2J. J. Collins, "The Sibylline Oracles," in Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period: Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian, Writings, Philo, Josephus, ed. Michael E. Stone (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984): 357.
3Collins, "Sibylline Oracles," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: 321.
4Collins, "The Sibylline Oracles," in Jewish Writings: 358.
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