04_Reymond_224_246 15/07/14 12:18 Pagina 236 236 ERIC D. REYMOND In any case, the juxtaposition of words that should be mutually ex- clusive is jarring and makes the reader pause and, subsequently, reflect on Ben Sira’s message that not all shame is bad. It might be added that this reading of the verse does not negate the possibility that Ben Sira is using the word tXb in a way that is more in line with how it is used in some later Hebrew texts, where it implies bashfulness and not outright shame; since biblical texts universally present tXb as a negative thing, we may assume that an ancient reader would have thought initially that Ben Sira was using it in this sense too. Essentially the same sentiment is reiterated later in Sir 41,16, though in this latter verse the relevant terms are not jux- taposed and the effect is less dramatic, though still paradoxical. This latter verse reads in the Mas scroll: Xwbl hwan tXb lk al “not every shame merits shameful feelings” 25. The use of polysemous words and ambiguous morphology is also used to highlight subtle nuances or an innovative angle on a particular topic. For example, the ambiguous meaning of the Hith- pael conjugation is used to condense the seemingly contradictory advice that one should not appear too ambitious or too aloof 26. anXt !p qxrtt law qxrtt !p brqtt la Do not bring yourself forward lest you become a stranger, but do not keep far off, lest you are hated (Sir 13,10; Ms A). Here, it would seem, the initial use of the verb is passive and the second reflexive 27. Such is implied not only by the Greek and 25 See E.D. REYMOND, Innovations in Hebrew Poetry. Parallelism and the Poems of Sirach (SBL 9; Atlanta, GA 2004) 49-50. 26 This contradictory advice is also echoed in other ways; compare Sir 4,22 with 7,5 and 10,26. Note also the parallel to 13,10 in The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq (XVII,8-10) and in Papyrus Insinger (X,12-13), the latter of which J.T. Sanders views as certainly related to Sir 13,10; see J.T. SANDERS, Ben Sira and Demotic Wisdom (SBLMS 28; Chico, CA 1983) 85. The De- motic text does not include wordplay. 27 A more linguistically sophisticated description of these two uses is of- fered by Benton; the first qxrtt he says expresses the process of “becoming” far, while the second describes the act of behaving as if far. See R.C. BENTON, “Aspect and the Biblical Hebrew Niphal and Hitpael”, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation (Madison, WI 2009) 368. Both these functions are common to the Hithpael from early Hebrew onward according to Benton.