Now comes the crucial move: in the intertestamental period ‘Wisdom’ was identified with Torah. Those who possessed and tried to keep Torah were therefore the true humanity: it was they who would be exalted to the place where humanity belonged, under the creator and over the creation.84 In one particular tradition, that of Ben-Sirach, this theme was focused on the high priest and the Temple cult in particular. The high priest ruling over Israel is like Adam ruling over all creation; even his vestments were, according to one version of the tradition, the self-same garments which the creator had
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