I have been looking into the Pesher interpretations of the Qumran community. The appeared to believe the "teacher of righteousness" by the Spirit of God, would be able to bring about the revelation or the "Pesher" from the Razim or the mysteries of Torah prophecy. They also believed that the prophecies had application to their time period and related to them. Is there a less "charasmatic" version of this Pesher of which it would not be divinely imparted but simple rabinic exegesis that would have existed during the time of Hillel? Or is the Qumran Pesher the earliest introduction to this form of Jewish understanding of what the word means. I know it can also be found in the book of Daniel of which Daniel revealed the dream to the King. So would the midrash that existed in Jerusalem at that time included Pesher interpretation or was this something the Qumran community engaged in more exclusively?
Frank Rogers
Pesher and Razim - Qumran or Pharisee?
Re: Pesher and Razim - Qumran or Pharisee?
I would argue that the vast majority of the Hebrew scriptures is a more sophisticated Pesher interpretation.
For example the Book of Ezekiel is a parallel to the latter half of the book of Exodus. The writer of Ezekiel interpreted the plight of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity in light of the journey of Moses from Mount Sinai to the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus:
*Exodus passages aligned to Ezekiel passages.
The Book of Revelation does the same with the book of Ezekiel. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians as depicted by Ezekiel and the writer of Revelation used the book of Ezekiel to convey the story of Rome destroying Jerusalem. The difference is that the writer also took Isaiah chapters 6 to 29 and used the imagery of Jesus (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/12JZcor ... uSXCx/view).
I can give you literally hundreds of examples like the two provided above. The Pesher interpretation is a natural byproduct of how the Hebrews wrote and thought at the time that the Hebrew and Christian scriptures were written.
For example the Book of Ezekiel is a parallel to the latter half of the book of Exodus. The writer of Ezekiel interpreted the plight of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity in light of the journey of Moses from Mount Sinai to the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus:
Exodus 19:1 - 40:38 | Ezekiel (1:1 - 48:35) (Ordered by) |
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*Exodus passages aligned to Ezekiel passages.
The Book of Revelation does the same with the book of Ezekiel. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians as depicted by Ezekiel and the writer of Revelation used the book of Ezekiel to convey the story of Rome destroying Jerusalem. The difference is that the writer also took Isaiah chapters 6 to 29 and used the imagery of Jesus (see https://drive.google.com/file/d/12JZcor ... uSXCx/view).
I can give you literally hundreds of examples like the two provided above. The Pesher interpretation is a natural byproduct of how the Hebrews wrote and thought at the time that the Hebrew and Christian scriptures were written.