DSS personalities & historical persons

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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DCHindley
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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Thanks Maryhelena,

I did not have those articles.

DCH
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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DCHindley wrote:Thanks Maryhelena,

I did not have those articles.

DCH
Quelle coincidence! I have been blogging about a couple of those very articles by Doudna and Stacey lately -- though new to this topic as I am I doubt I have much to offer some of the long-time specialists here....

Dead Sea Scrolls — All Well Before Christ and the First Jewish War

Qumran Not a Sectarian Community (Essene or Otherwise): Argument from Archaeology – #1

Qumran Not a Sectarian Community – #2

How Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls Went Awry — #1

Dating DSS Awry #1 — Appendix
vridar.org Musings on biblical studies, politics, religion, ethics, human nature, tidbits from science
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maryhelena
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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DCHindley wrote:Thanks Maryhelena,

I did not have those articles.

DCH

Greg Doudna's interpretation of the DSS figures of the Teacher of Righteousness and the Wicked Priest (i.e. Hycrancus and Antigonus) was referenced in this thread of nearly three years ago....

Doudna: Antigonus: Wicked Priest hung up alive on a cross

http://www.earlywritings.com/forum/view ... 9016&hilit

Below is a table I drew up referencing Greg's theory. The table also suggests a possible link to the Josephus James story i.e. Greg Doudna has identified the historical reality behind the DSS story - however - allusions to this Hasmonean history are also to be found in the Josephan story about James.

Hasmonean History.
Greg Doudna' interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Josephus: Antiquities: Book 20. ch.9.
Comment
37 b.c. Antigonus, the last King and High Priest of the Jews, bound to a cross, flogged and slain. Cassius Dio. Angigonus II is the Wicked Priest. Josephus: 62/63 c.e. The High Priest, Ananus and James story. 100 year Anniversary of the execution of Antigonus.
High Priest Ananelus, removed. 37/36 b.c. High Priest Joseph Cabi ben Simon, removed.
High Priest, Aristobulus III drowned (plot of Herod the Great) brother of Mariamne I. (36 b.c.) High Priest, Ananus ben Ananus, removed; “a bold man in his temper, and very insolent”. James stoned, brother of Jesus, called Christ.
Ananelus (restored) 36-30 b.c. Jesus, son of Damneus, made High Priest.
Herod the Great executed former High Priest, Hyrcanus II in 30 b.c. 7 years after the execution of Antigonus. (After the Battle of Actium). The DSS Teacher of Righteousness is Hyrcanus II. High Priest, Ananus ben Ananus, killed 7 years later at the siege of Jerusalem in 70 c.e.
After 37 b.c. Hyrcanus continued to be regarded - as both King and High Priest. Ananus, after being removed in 62/63 c.e.continued to be regarded as former high priest and was involved in the war of 70 c.e., in which he was killed. The Josephan account of Ananus in 'War' is of a 'good guy'. In Antiquities, Ananus is a 'bad guy'. The account in 'War' deals with the period up to 70 c.e., and the death of Ananus. If the account in Antiquities is a Josephan 'novel' - then the account of Ananus, assumed to be a historical figure, in 'War' is the correct account. An account that can be compared with that of Hyrcanus II after his removal from being High Priest. ie both figures, Ananus and Hyrcanus, remain historically relevent after removal from office. Different context, different perspectives, allowing for, as it were, a switch in characterization...and providing points to ponder....
Antiguities: Book 15. When Hyrcanus was brought into Parthia king Phraates treated him more fairly, being already aware of what an illustrious family he came from, and so he set him free from his chains and gave him a residence in Babylon, where there was a large numbers of Jews. These honoured Hyrcanus as their high priest and king, as did the whole Jewish nation as far as the Euphrates, which was gratifying to him. ........He was of a mild and gentle character, who generally left the state to be administered by others under him, being reluctant to mix with the public, and without the shrewdness to govern a kingdom. War. book 4. I would not be wrong in saying that the death of Ananus was the beginning of the destruction of the city and in dating the destruction of her wall and her total ruin from the day which saw their high priest, the guarantor of their safety, killed in the heart of the city. For the rest, he was a good and holy man, and despite the grandeur of the noble dignity and honour he possessed, he had shown a sense of equality, even with regard to the lowest of the people. He was a great lover of liberty and an admirer of a democracy, always preferring the public good over his own advantage and loving peace above all things, knowing well that the Romans could not be defeated. He also foresaw that a war would surely follow and that the Jews would be destroyed unless they quickly made peace with them. The Josephan story of 62/63 c.e. has the High Priest, Ananus, ordering the death of the James ( the Teacher of Righeousness). The DSS does not, as far as I’m aware, have the Wicked Priest executing the Teacher of Righteousness. Historically, the Wicked Priest of the DSS, (Antigonus according to the reconstruction by Greg Doudna) was executed 7 years prior to the execution of the DSS Teacher of Righteousness, Hyrcanus. However, historically (re Josephus) Antigonus did ‘kill’ Hycransus in 40 b.c. - he ‘killed’ Hycransus from being a High Priest - by biting off his ears – thereby disqualifying him from ever being High Priest in Jerusalem. The Josephan writer has reflected this history in his Antiquities interpretation of the DSS documents regarding a Teacher of Righteousness and a Wicked Priest. War: Book 1.ch.13

If a search for early christian origins is to be productive it has to deal with historical figures i.e. figures that left behind some evidence of their existence. While finding parallels between one literary figure and another literary figure might be interesting it is no basis upon which to hang a theory of early christian origins. There is no historical evidence for the Josephan figure of James....as there is no historical evidence for the gospel Jesus figure. Thus, while Eisenman is correct to see allusions of the DSS figures in the Josephan James story - his interpretation of these figures is not dealing with historical figures. Reading NT figures into the DSS via Josephus is akin to reading Philo's Essenes into the DSS.....

The DSS writers used literary figures to make allusions to historical figures. Josephus has done likewise with his James story. The Josephan figure of James is an allusion to the DSS Teacher of Righteousness - however - that figure, the DSS Teacher of Righteousness, is itself an allusion to Hyrancus II. The historical figures being alluded to are, in both cases, figures of lst century b.c.e. Hasmonean history. Josephus is alluding to Hasmonean history - a history that is alluded to in the DSS.
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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maryhelena wrote:
The DSS does not, as far as I’m aware, have the Wicked Priest executing the Teacher of Righteousness.
This came up in another thread, and I wrote that this is arguably in 1QpHab col. 11, which is translated by Vermes as:
This concerns the Wicked Priest who pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to the house of his exile that he might confuse him with his venomous fury.
The word that Vermes translates as "confuse" is the same word in Hab. 1:13 that is often translated as "swallow" and has the sense of destroying.

"Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?"

http://biblehub.com/habakkuk/1-13.htm

http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1104.htm

I think this is the sense in the interpretation in 1QpHab as well, because the Psalm 37 Pesher says that the Wicked Priest planned to try and kill the Teacher of Righteousness.
The Wicked Priest ... rose up against the Teacher of Righteousness that he might put him to death because he served the truth and the Law, for which reason he laid hands upon him. But God will not abandon him into his hand and will not let him be condemned when he is tried. And God will pay him his reward by delivering him into the hand of the violent of the nations, that they may execute upon him the judgments of wickedness.
This is how "swallow" is understood by Kalimi and Eshel (and spin) as well:
Its meaning concerns the Wicked Priest, who pursued the Righteous Teacher - to swallow him up (i.e., to kill him) with his poisonous vexation....

https://books.google.com/books?id=CwE8I ... st&f=false
The text [1QpHab] is clearly concerned with an attempt by the Wicked Priest on the lives of the Teacher of Righteousness and his followers.

https://books.google.com/books?id=t05ok ... st&f=false
And while Eshel sees this as only an attempt on the life of the Teacher of Righteousness, the Damascus Document refers to the "gathering in" of the Teacher of Righteousness, and Lim notes that:
The phrase "to gather in" (to his family) is a common expression of death (e.g., Gen 25.8, 17). It is, therefore, widely held that the Teacher of Righteousness died...

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ar7UA ... ss&f=false
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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In one of Neil's links above Doudna responds to a question from a commenter about the prohibition against niece marriage in the DSS that I also had when I read the article maryhelena linked to. It appears that Doudna is consequently willing to see (some of) the DSS as being written as late as 4 BCE.
Matt C., I have wondered based on the polemic against niece marriage in the Damascus Document (D) if that text could be as late as the end of the reign of Herod the Great and indeed allude to the niece marriages and polygamy of Herod and his extended family, and if: the figure of the Liar is none other than Herod himself; and the destruction of the congregation of the Liar, and of the Men of War who betrayed the Teacher and followed the Liar in D, and Pesher Nahum with its crucifixions, date as late as Varus of ca. 4 BCE. The “head of Greek kings” of D who exercises wrath upon the congregation of the Liar would become Roman emperor Augustus Caesar, ruler of the world, via his agent Varus who would become the Lion of Wrath of Pesher Nahum. The fact that first century CE Herodians continued to practice niece marriage would be true but irrelevant. In this reconstruction the final composition of the Damascus Document and the latest pesharim would postdate the death of the Teacher by a little, which on independent grounds I believe was Hyrcanus II, executed by Herod in 30 BCE. Earlier halakhic texts among the Qumran finds have strictures against niece marriage such that the stricture itself appears ancient, but the Damascus Document applying that stricture in such a prominent and polemical manner may be directed against its polemical target, the Liar figure and regime, a regime situated contemporary with the end of the Qumran texts.

http://vridar.org/2017/02/12/dead-sea-s ... ewish-war/
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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In the big picture I agree with Doudna that the Kittim in some of the DSS are the Romans and that the “head of Greek kings" in the Damascus Document at least refers to a Roman emperor (if not Augustus, as he suggests). In other words, we both see some of the DSS as being written in the imperial Roman era.

The context of this though is the practice of "the way" and the "new covenant" in a place called Damascus, and Bauckham notes that:
Although the Qumran community and the early Christians were certainly not the only Jews to focus their hopes on the Isaianic picture of the way ... they are the only two groups we know to have applied the image of this way to their own way of life.

https://books.google.com/books?id=U7-Qe ... re&f=false


And Lim notes that:
...the [DSS] sectarians and early church were the only ones to have used the concept of “the new covenant” from the prophecy of Jeremiah. Other Jews did not comment on “the new covenant” nor did they use it in their writings.

http://www.christianorigins.div.ed.ac.u ... t-seventy/
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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John2 wrote: <snip>

And while Eshel sees this as only an attempt on the life of the Teacher of Righteousness, the Damascus Document refers to the "gathering in" of the Teacher of Righteousness, and Lim notes that:
The phrase "to gather in" (to his family) is a common expression of death (e.g., Gen 25.8, 17). It is, therefore, widely held that the Teacher of Righteousness died...

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ar7UA ... ss&f=false
Re Greg Doudna's identification of the Teacher of Righteousness as Hyrcanus II and Antigonus as the 'wicked priest'. Historically, re Josephus, Antigonus denied Hyrcanus the High Priesthood via cutting off his ear (i.e. he 'killed', if you will, any hope Hyrcanus had of ever reclaiming the High Priesthood.) Antigonus, viewed as the 'wicked priest', does not literally kill The Teacher Righeousness - that job was left to Herod in 30 b.c.e. Thus, the DSS Teacher of Righeousness, Hyrcanus, survived the 'wicked priest', Antigonus, by about 7 years.
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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DCHindley wrote:
John T wrote:The "Curse of the Scrolls".

In my opinion, the Teacher of Righteous was a title that got passed to the most senior member of the Qumran community.
...
... the Eisenman theory; James the Just held the title of the Teacher of Righteousness, remains plausible.
But is that the same thing as identifying J t J as the Teacher of Righteousness mentioned in several of the scrolls?

I agree that in early Christian lore, J t J was a super righteous dude, as was probably the T o R, but how many others were similarly considered amazingly just by their disciples or the local population, only we have no literary remains that mention them?

IMHO, John T, the whole James the super Just legend, which seems to have been promoted by Clement of Alexandria and especially Hegesippus the story-teller, was fabricated whole cloth, probably by Hegesippus himself, from various Judean legends he had recorded in his notebooks during his travels. The trapping of the T o R into violating his own Sacred Sabbath (Day of Atonement) sounds nothing like what early Christians thought had happened to J t J.

Dinner time!

DCH
Don't forget, James the Just had other names as well,...Oblias, Zaddick and Ozleam...(Euseibus' Ecclesiastical History, Book2 chapter 23).

It would seem that Jews, Christians, and Gentile leaders recognized the lofted position of James the Just. Hence why his death was worthy of recording, unlike other lesser known "righteous dudes".

James the Just was reported by Josephus, Hegesippus, Papias, and others to have been murdered by the Pharisees for professing that Jesus would soon return as Messiah. The Teacher of Righteousness was also anticipating the appearance of the Son of Man in the same manner that James the Just described to both Jew and Gentile alike. You can dismiss that as pure coincidence or poppycock Christian lore but it smacks as accurate history to me.

I maintain and will continue to cite evidence that "The Teacher of Righteousness" was a title for the leader of the Qumran community, i.e. Essenes and transferred to the next in line.
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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maryhelena wrote:
Re Greg Doudna's identification of the Teacher of Righteousness as Hyrcanus II and Antigonus as the 'wicked priest'. Historically, re Josephus, Antigonus denied Hyrcanus the High Priesthood via cutting off his ear (i.e. he 'killed', if you will, any hope Hyrcanus had of ever reclaiming the High Priesthood.) Antigonus, viewed as the 'wicked priest', does not literally kill The Teacher Righeousness - that job was left to Herod in 30 b.c.e. Thus, the DSS Teacher of Righeousness, Hyrcanus, survived the 'wicked priest', Antigonus, by about 7 years.
Doudna ties all this to a particular reading of 1QpHab col. 11.
The two sentences in the pesher of 1QpHab 11.4-8 almost certainly allude to two distinct events in the world of the text, not one as commonly supposed. The first is a murderous pursuit by the Wicked Priest of the Teacher driving the Teacher to a place of exile. The second takes place in the temple in Jerusalem, where the Wicked Priest appears in glory on the Day of Atonement and casts the righteous (who also are in the temple in Jerusalem on this day) into disarray. The issue, from the point of view of the text, is a usurpation of the high priesthood by the Wicked Priest. The Wicked Priest drives the Teacher into exile, and then the Wicked Priest assumes the office of high priest now vacated by the Teacher. 1QpHab 11.4-8 therefore has nothing to do with a calendar dispute. Rather than being a calendar dispute, 1QpHab 11.4-8 is a legitimate high priest and usurpation dispute. The real significance of 1QpHab 11.4-8 has been lost by the mistaken reading. The real significance is a glimpse of a dramatic scene of the Wicked Priest appearing as high priest in the temple on the Day of Atonement, an allusion to a usurper who has driven out the Teacher, the legitimate high priest. It is an image of a usurper assuming the office of high priest formerly held by the Teacher—a traumatic and shocking event to the righteous in the world of the text.
I'm fine with the calendar issue either way, but I agree that there may not have been a calendar dispute. As Doudna puts it elsewhere:
...any assumption that the people of the Qumran texts practiced a different calendar than that of the 1st century BCE Hasmonean high priests, and therefore the Teacher could not have been a high priest of the 1st century BCE temple for that reason, or the priests of the Qumran texts could not have supported a high priest of the 1st century BCE for that reason, is no better founded than the non-Zadokite Hasmonean notion—since there is no independent knowledge of the calendar ideology of the priests of the temple in the era of the Hasmoneans, and therefore no basis for assuming that a regime of priests of the temple held views different than those of priests of the Qumran texts, as opposed to the same or compatible views.
Here is the Habakkuk Pesher passage in question again (using Vermes for convenience):
Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest who pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to the house of his exile that he might confuse [or "swallow"] him with his venomous fury. And at the time appointed for rest, for the Day of Atonement, he appeared before them to confuse them, and to cause them to stumble on the Day of Fasting, their Sabbath of repose.
So while Doudna agrees with the sense of swallow/destroy over Vermes' "confuse" (since he says, "The first is a murderous pursuit by the Wicked Priest of the Teacher driving the Teacher to a place of exile"), he sees the Teacher of Righteousness as having escaped death at this point only to be killed later by Herod/the Liar by tying the latter to the reference to the gathering in (i.e., death) of the Teacher in the Damascus Document.
The portrayal of the Teacher as alive in the present of Pesher Psalms A could suggest, by analogy, that the likely contemporary text Pesher Habakkuk should be read similarly. But the Damascus Document, or at least the B text of the Damascus Document, does allude to the Teacher’s death. That allusion in the Damascus Document is set in the very recent past, in the authors’ personally known recent past, in the picture implied in the world of the text.


But if someone could have written the Damascus Document (or a version of it) after the death of the Teacher of Righteousness (and after the Psalms Pesher), I don't see why someone couldn't have also written the Habakkuk Pesher then too. And since the other times the death of Teacher of Righteousness is mentioned is in association with the Wicked Priest, I tend to suspect that his death that is mentioned in the Damascus Document was because of the Wicked Priest.

Whatever the "iniquity" or "wickedness" was that the Wicked Priest did to the Teacher of Righteousness, it was seen as being worthy of divine retribution and is mentioned in an interpretation of Hab. 2:8 that refers to blood and violence:
Because of the blood of men and the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants.

Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest whom God delivered into the hands of his enemies because of the iniquity committed against the Teacher of Righteousness and the men of his Council, that he might be humbled by means of a destroying scourge, in bitterness of soul, because he had done wickedly to His elect.
And it is mentioned in an interpretation of Psalm 37:32-33 that refers to killing and a trial:
The wicked watches out for the righteous and seeks [to slay him. The Lord will not abandon him into his hand or] let him be condemned when he is tried.

Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked [Priest] who [rose up against the Teacher of Righteousness] that he might put him to death [because he served the truth] and the Law, [for which reason] he laid hands upon him. But God will not abandon [him into his hand and will not let him be condemned when he is] tried. And [God] will pay him his reward by delivering him into the hand of the violent of the nations, that they may execute upon him [the judgments of wickedness].


This seems like harsh punishment for the Wicked Priest if he did not kill the Teacher of Righteousness.
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Re: DSS personalities & historical persons

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John2 wrote:maryhelena wrote:
Re Greg Doudna's identification of the Teacher of Righteousness as Hyrcanus II and Antigonus as the 'wicked priest'. Historically, re Josephus, Antigonus denied Hyrcanus the High Priesthood via cutting off his ear (i.e. he 'killed', if you will, any hope Hyrcanus had of ever reclaiming the High Priesthood.) Antigonus, viewed as the 'wicked priest', does not literally kill The Teacher Righeousness - that job was left to Herod in 30 b.c.e. Thus, the DSS Teacher of Righeousness, Hyrcanus, survived the 'wicked priest', Antigonus, by about 7 years.
Doudna ties all this to a particular reading of 1QpHab col. 11.
The two sentences in the pesher of 1QpHab 11.4-8 almost certainly allude to two distinct events in the world of the text, not one as commonly supposed. The first is a murderous pursuit by the Wicked Priest of the Teacher driving the Teacher to a place of exile. The second takes place in the temple in Jerusalem, where the Wicked Priest appears in glory on the Day of Atonement and casts the righteous (who also are in the temple in Jerusalem on this day) into disarray. The issue, from the point of view of the text, is a usurpation of the high priesthood by the Wicked Priest. The Wicked Priest drives the Teacher into exile, and then the Wicked Priest assumes the office of high priest now vacated by the Teacher. 1QpHab 11.4-8 therefore has nothing to do with a calendar dispute. Rather than being a calendar dispute, 1QpHab 11.4-8 is a legitimate high priest and usurpation dispute. The real significance of 1QpHab 11.4-8 has been lost by the mistaken reading. The real significance is a glimpse of a dramatic scene of the Wicked Priest appearing as high priest in the temple on the Day of Atonement, an allusion to a usurper who has driven out the Teacher, the legitimate high priest. It is an image of a usurper assuming the office of high priest formerly held by the Teacher—a traumatic and shocking event to the righteous in the world of the text.
I'm fine with the calendar issue either way, but I agree that there may not have been a calendar dispute. As Doudna puts it elsewhere:
...any assumption that the people of the Qumran texts practiced a different calendar than that of the 1st century BCE Hasmonean high priests, and therefore the Teacher could not have been a high priest of the 1st century BCE temple for that reason, or the priests of the Qumran texts could not have supported a high priest of the 1st century BCE for that reason, is no better founded than the non-Zadokite Hasmonean notion—since there is no independent knowledge of the calendar ideology of the priests of the temple in the era of the Hasmoneans, and therefore no basis for assuming that a regime of priests of the temple held views different than those of priests of the Qumran texts, as opposed to the same or compatible views.
Here is the Habakkuk Pesher passage in question again (using Vermes for convenience):
Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest who pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to the house of his exile that he might confuse [or "swallow"] him with his venomous fury. And at the time appointed for rest, for the Day of Atonement, he appeared before them to confuse them, and to cause them to stumble on the Day of Fasting, their Sabbath of repose.
So while Doudna agrees with the sense of swallow/destroy over Vermes' "confuse" (since he says, "The first is a murderous pursuit by the Wicked Priest of the Teacher driving the Teacher to a place of exile"), he sees the Teacher of Righteousness as having escaped death at this point only to be killed later by Herod/the Liar by tying the latter to the reference to the gathering in (i.e., death) of the Teacher in the Damascus Document.
The portrayal of the Teacher as alive in the present of Pesher Psalms A could suggest, by analogy, that the likely contemporary text Pesher Habakkuk should be read similarly. But the Damascus Document, or at least the B text of the Damascus Document, does allude to the Teacher’s death. That allusion in the Damascus Document is set in the very recent past, in the authors’ personally known recent past, in the picture implied in the world of the text.


But if someone could have written the Damascus Document (or a version of it) after the death of the Teacher of Righteousness (and after the Psalms Pesher), I don't see why someone couldn't have also written the Habakkuk Pesher then too. And since the other times the death of Teacher of Righteousness is mentioned is in association with the Wicked Priest, I tend to suspect that his death that is mentioned in the Damascus Document was because of the Wicked Priest.

Whatever the "iniquity" or "wickedness" was that the Wicked Priest did to the Teacher of Righteousness, it was seen as being worthy of divine retribution and is mentioned in an interpretation of Hab. 2:8 that refers to blood and violence:
Because of the blood of men and the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all its inhabitants.

Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest whom God delivered into the hands of his enemies because of the iniquity committed against the Teacher of Righteousness and the men of his Council, that he might be humbled by means of a destroying scourge, in bitterness of soul, because he had done wickedly to His elect.
And it is mentioned in an interpretation of Psalm 37:32-33 that refers to killing and a trial:
The wicked watches out for the righteous and seeks [to slay him. The Lord will not abandon him into his hand or] let him be condemned when he is tried.

Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked [Priest] who [rose up against the Teacher of Righteousness] that he might put him to death [because he served the truth] and the Law, [for which reason] he laid hands upon him. But God will not abandon [him into his hand and will not let him be condemned when he is] tried. And [God] will pay him his reward by delivering him into the hand of the violent of the nations, that they may execute upon him [the judgments of wickedness].


This seems like harsh punishment for the Wicked Priest if he did not kill the Teacher of Righteousness.
What Greg Doudna has done is reference Hasmonean history i.e. he sees allusions within the DSS that fit, as it were, the historical situation between two fractions of the Hasmonean dynasty: The family of Hyrancus and the family of his brother Aristobulus. A family squabble that brought the dynasty to an end.

  • And so the Hasmonean rule ended, a hundred twenty six years after it began. It was a splendid and distinguished house, ennobled by the high priesthood, and what their ancestors had done for our nation. But through their internal strife they threw away the leadership, which passed to Herod the son of Antipater, who was from an ordinary private family in subjection to the monarchy. This is what history tells us of the end of the Hasmonean family. Ant.book 14 ch.15.
Yes, there are other interpretations of the DSS. However, unless these interpretations seek to understand the DSS in it's own time and place i.e. the historical situation that prevailed up to the end of the Hasmonean dynasty - one is simply blowing in the wind...Interpretations, to have value, need to show relevance to a political situation. Theology, philosophy - whatever spiritual or intellectual visions one might conceive, are secondary issues to the concerns or needs on the ground i.e. the actual physical and material reality, the social and political environment, that people experience.

The scenario, the illusions, that Greg Doudna has identified within the DSS resonates with that 'internal strife' that Josephus says led to the downfall of the Hasmoneans.
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