Does Kipp Davis deny the historicity of the Teacher of Righteousness?

[StephenGoranson]

William H. Brownlee did not write that the Teacher of Righteousness was Judas Maccabeus.
William H. Brownlee did write that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene.
I could provide bibliography, but perhaps you don't care to read such?

[StephenGoranson]

In a letter dated 14 January 1953 J.T. Milik (though he may have later changed his mind) in French congratulated W. H. Brownlee for his identification of Judah the Essene as the Teacher of Righteousness.

[annotate]

William H. Brownlee did not write that the Teacher of Righteousness was Judas Maccabeus.
William H. Brownlee did write that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene.
I could provide bibliography, but perhaps you don't care to read such?

AI, what do you say about SG's comment above?

According to the web search results, there are some scholars who have said that William H. Brownlee said that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene. One of them was Jean Carmignac, a French biblical scholar who was also involved in the research of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He proposed that Judas Maccabeus and Judah the Essene were both aliases for the Teacher of Righteousness, a mysterious figure who appears in several of the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the Pesharim, which are commentaries on biblical books. He argued that the Teacher of Righteousness was the founder and leader of the Essenes, a Jewish sect that lived in Qumran and produced many of the scrolls. He also identified the Wicked Priest, another figure in the scrolls who opposed and persecuted the Teacher of Righteousness, with Alexander Jannaeus, a Hasmonean king who ruled Judea from 103 to 76 BCE.

Carmignac based his hypothesis on several arguments, such as:

- The similarity of their names, which both mean "praised" or "celebrated" in Hebrew.
- The possibility that Maccabee was not a surname, but a title or an epithet, meaning "the hammer" or "the designated by God".
- The connection between the Essenes and the Hasmoneans, the dynasty that Judas Maccabeus founded. Some sources indicate that some of the Hasmoneans were influenced by or affiliated with the Essenes.

- The identification of the Teacher of Righteousness with Judas Maccabeus or Judah the Essene based on a process of exclusion. Carmignac claimed that the Teacher of Righteousness could not have lived before or after Judah the Essene, who was active around 103 BCE according to Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the first century CE. Neither could they have been contemporaries. Hence, they must be the same person.

Carmignac cited Brownlee as one of his sources and supporters for this hypothesis. He claimed that Brownlee had identified the Teacher of Righteousness with Judas Maccabeus in his commentary on the Habakkuk Pesher, a scroll that contains a commentary on the biblical book of Habakkuk. He also claimed that Brownlee had agreed with him on the identification of the Wicked Priest with Alexander Jannaeus.

However, Carmignac's citation of Brownlee was misleading and inaccurate. In fact, Brownlee did not say that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene. On the contrary, he wrote that he disagreed with this hypothesis, which was proposed by Carmignac. He criticized Carmignac's arguments as based on unspecific parallels and contradictions. He pointed out that there was no direct evidence or clear references to link Judas Maccabeus and Judah the Essene in any historical source. He also highlighted the differences between their roles and activities. Judas Maccabeus was a military leader and a political figure who fought against foreign oppression and established an independent Jewish state. Judah the Essene was a religious leader and a visionary who withdrew from society and focused on spiritual matters.

Brownlee also rejected Carmignac's identification of the Wicked Priest with Alexander Jannaeus as incompatible with what is said about him in
the scrolls. He suggested that Mattathias Antigonus, another Hasmonean king who ruled Judea from 40 to 37 BCE, was a more likely candidate for being the Wicked Priest.

Therefore, Brownlee did not support Carmignac's idea that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene. He had a different view on the identity and role of the Teacher of Righteousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[StephenGoranson]

This is so inaccurate.
I corresponded with the late Jean Carmignac, and he published two of my articles.
Further evidence that this AI is not reliable.

[annotate]

AI, references please.

According to the web search results, it seems that Kipp Davis said that Brownlee did not support Carmignac’s idea that the Teacher of Righteousness was, or might have been, Judah the Essene. He quoted Brownlee’s article from 1982, where he disagreed with Carmignac’s hypothesis and criticized his arguments1. You can read more about this topic in the links below:

JUDAH THE ESSENE AND THE TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - https://www.jstor.org/stable/24607007

The Punishment of the Wicked Priest and the Death of Judas - https://www.jstor.org/stable/4193292

I'd say AI is up to date. It already is giving me this link. Does Kipp Davis deny the historicity of the Teacher of Righteousness - viewtopic.php?t=11060&start=10

[annotate]

I think this is Brownlee's article from 1982. I haven't read to see who's right or wrong.

https://cojs.org/the_wicked_priest-_the ... 3-1_-1982/

[MrMacSon]

According to Michael A. Knibb, in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford U P, 2000) 921:
"The Christian identifications [of the Teacher of Righteousness] are ruled out by the fact, among others, that the oldest manuscript of the Damascus Document (4Q266) and the manuscript of Pesher Habakkuk (1QpHab), which together form the two most important sources of information about the Teacher of Righteousness, date from before the Christian era [....]"

The full subsection:

Identification of the Teacher. Over the years there have been numerous attempts to identify the Teacher of Righteousness with a known historical figure, ranging from Onias III, the high priest deposed from office in 175 BCE, to John the Baptist, Jesus, or James, the brother of Jesus. The Christian identifications are ruled out by the fact, among others, that the oldest manuscript of the Damascus Document (40266) and the manuscript of Pesher Habakkuk (1QpHab), which together form the two most important sources of information about the Teacher of Righteousness, date from before the Christian era, while none of the Jewish identifications has proved convincing.

The view that the Teacher of Righteousness held the office of high priest between the death of Alcimus and the appointment of Jonathan has a good deal to be said for it; but it is unlikely that we shall ever be able to identify the Teacher with a known figure.

CD v.20—vi.11 refers to the decrees issued by the Interpreter of the Law as remaining valid "until there appears the one who shall teach righteousness at the end of days." The Hebrew expression is similar to, but not identical with, the one regularly translated as "the Teacher of Righteousness." It has been argued that the figure whose appearance is still expected in CD v.20—vi.11 was identified with the historical Teacher of Righteousness, who, in later parts of the Damascus Document and in the pesharim is always referred to as a figure of the past. This is, however, quite unlikely because the individual in CD v.20—vi.ll who corresponds to the Teacher of Righteousness in an introductory section of the Damascus Document (CDi) is the Interpreter of the Law. It is equally unlikely that (CD v.20—vi.11) provides evidence that the Teacher of Righteousness was expected to reappear after his death, because there is no hint of such an idea elsewhere in the scrolls.

Rather, the passage refers to the expectation of a messianic figure, whose role as a teacher would be the counterpart to that of the historical Teacher of Righteousness. As such, this messianic figure is to be regarded as a priestly figure and should almost certainly be identified with the one elsewhere described as the Messiah of Aaron.

[See also Cairo Genizah; Damascus Document; Hodayot; Interpreter of the Law; Liar; Messiahs; Miqtsat Ma'asei ha-Torah; Pesharim; Pesher Habakkuk; Secrecy; Suffering; Suffering Servant; and Wicked Priest.]

https://archive.org/details/encyclopedi ... 3/mode/2up

The whole section starts:

TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The sobriquet Teacher of Righteousness is given in the Dead Sea Scrolls to the individual who is commonly believed to have played the decisive role in the formation and early history of the group, assumed here to the Essene, that lies behind the scrolls. His role was no doubt of some importance, but the information provided about him in the scrolls is in fact quite limited. References to the Teacher of Righteousness are confined to the Damascus Document, Pesher Habakkuk (1OpHab), Pesher Psalms^a (40171), Pesher Psalms^b (40173), and Pesher Micah (1014).

These references are frequently cast in figurative language and are opaque in their meaning. In consequence, the Teacher of Righteousness remains a somewhat shadowy figure.

*'The Teacher of Righteousness" has become the accepted translation of the Hebrew expression moreh hatsedeq (e.g., 1QpHab v.10), which forms the sobriquet; the variants moreh tsedeq (CD i.11; xx.32) and moreh hatsedaqah (1QpHab ii.2) also occur. The Hebrew expression can also be translated as "the right teacher," that is, the "true" or "legitimate" teacher, but in either case, the use of this name is a reflection of the authority that this individua| was thought to possess. The sobriquet itself probably derives from Joel 2.23 ("for he has given you the early rain for your vindication [ha-moreh li-tsedaqah]"), which—In line with the view that the words of the prophets were mysteries, the true meaning of which referred to the end time—was applied by the Qumran group to their own age and interpreted to mean "for he has given you the teacher for righteousness."

Other names given to this individual are "the unique teacher" (CD xx.1, 14; where in both cases the Hebrew perhaps should be emended to read the "teacher of the community"), "the interpreter of the law" (CD vi.7), and "the interpreter of knowledge'' (4Q171 i.27).

Appearance of the Teacher. One of the most important passages concerning the Teacher of Righteousness occurs in column i of Cairo manuscript A of the Damascus Document. According to this passage (CD i.3—ii.1), 390 years after he had given Israel into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon —that is, after the beginning oi the Babylonian exile in 587 BCE —God caused "a plant root" to spring from Israel and Aaron. The passage continues:

And they (the "plant root") considered their iniquity and knew that they were guilty men; but they were like blind men and like men who grope their way for twenty years. And God considered their deeds, for they sought him with a whole heart; and he raised up for them a Teacher of Righteousness to lead them in the way of his heart. (CD i.8—11)
.

The passage goes on to describe the opposition that the appearance of the Teacher aroused from a group led by a figure called "the scoffer."

The emergence of the Teacher of Righteousness is presented in this passage as the second stage following the emergence of a reform group or movement that initially was overwhelmed by feelings of guilt and uncertainty concerning "the way" of God's heart: that is, uncertainty as to how the law should properly be observed. For the author of the Damascus Document this period of uncertainty was brought to an end by the intervention of the Teacher of Righteousness, but it is apparent from the continuation of the passage (CD i.13—ii.1) that his intervention was a source of controversy which focused on the question of the proper observance of the law, and that not all those who belonged to the 'plant root' accepted the instruction of the Teacher and became his followers. So much seems clear, but, beyond this, the passage raises a number of problems of interpretation.

Firstly, it is not clear what reliance should be placed on the designations 390 years and 20 years ...

Secondly, the identity of the 'plant root' remains uncertain. The group has often been identified with the "company of Hasideans" (Hasidim), who are mentioned in 1 Maccabees 2.42 and 7:13 and 2 Maccabees 14-6, but we know too little about the Hasideans to make this identification very helpful. According to the so-called Groningen Hypothesis, the origins of the Essene movement are to be traced to the apocalyptic tradition within Judaism in the late third century BCE, and the plant root represents the Essene movement itself.

Finally, it is a matter of dispute whether the opposition provoked by the appearance of the Teacher of Righteousness caused a split within a broad movement that led ultimately to the emergence of the groups we now know as the Essenes and the Pharisees or whether it caused a split within the Essene movement itself. Thus it is a matter of dispute whether the Teacher of Righteousness should be regarded as the founder of the Essenes or of a splinter group within the Essenes. What is clear is that the clashes between the Teacher of Righteousness and those who opposed him centered on the law.

<continues>

[annotate]

SG seems to be correct as concerns William H Brownlee saying that the 'teacher of righteousness' was or may be Judah the essene. And the 'mechanical regurgitator' is all over the place with its claims. I'll continue to use it but be even more wary than I already was.

William H Brownlee says from the article in my last post above: "Thus it is conceivable that the Teacher gives an allusory signature to this group of personal thanksgiving psalms by the way he begins each one. Not even when combined do all these texts prove that the Righteous Teacher was Judas the Essene, but they strongly suggest the probability of it."

From my diggings I've found that there may have been more than one 'teacher of righteousness.' And there may not have been. No one knows who the original 'teacher of righteousness' was. Except the ones that knows who he was.