Biblical Hebrew Forum

[dwashbur AT nyx.net]

On 1 Sep 2009 at 0:53, James Read wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Quoting dwashbur AT nyx.net:
> 
> >
> >
> > On 31 Aug 2009 at 23:06, James Read wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> Quoting dwashbur AT nyx.net:
> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On 31 Aug 2009 at 7:42, James Read wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Yeah,
> >> >>
> >> >> I think you're right David. There seems to have been quite a
> lot
> >> of
> >> >> this kind of thing. Too many conclusions from so little
> evidence.
> >> We
> >> >> basically have a library of manuscripts kept in a safe
> location.
> >> It
> >> >> could well have been just one very zealous individual hoping
> to
> >> keep
> >> >> the scrolls safe from some kind of disaster.
> >> >>
> >> >> I think some have even suggested that this may have been an
> >> early
> >> >> Christian fleeing from a besieged Jerusalem that put the
> >> scrolls
> >> >> there
> >> >> in a safe place. Some of the texts even seem to have
> Christian
> >> ideas
> >> >> in them. Like the wicked priest and the righteous teacher. I
> >> know
> >> >> there is a lot of debate over who the wicked priest is and
> who
> >> the
> >> >> righteous teacher is but it has to be admitted that there
> are
> >> >> parallels to be found with Christian teachings.
> >> >
> >> > James,
> >> > The parallels are such as might be found in most any
> >> offshoot-Judaic
> >> >  sect, especially with
> >> > regard to morality etc.  The whole wicked priest thing is so
> vague
> >> > that I don't base anything
> >> > at all on it; the pure fact is, we haven't a clue what they
> >> meant.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Yeah. Sure. It has also been suggested that this may be a
> reference
> >> to
> >> Maccabean usurpment. I suppose any theory is as good as any as
> >> nothing
> >> is conclusive. In an attempt to get the discussion back on
> track
> >> about
> >> the usage of Hebrew though it certainly would help in the matter
> of
> >> dating the DSS is we knew who was being spoken about.
> >
> > Rather than look at such documents, I prefer to think about the  
> > corpus as a whole.  Given
> > the general prevalence of biblical texts, the frequent archaizing 
> > even to the point of using
> > pre-exilic script, and the total lack of "common" documents, I
> think  
> >  we're looking at
> > somebody's collection of various books that they tried to hide  
> > around the time of the Roman
> > war.
> >
> 
> What about the possibility that the documents are not all from the 
> same period? Like any library can contain older and new books. I
> think  
> this could be even more so for a collection like this in such
> ancient  
> times.

Absolutely.  We have a fair idea that the documents found span about 200 
years, which 
makes sense for a library that was accumulated over time.  It could be from 
the temple, or it 
could be from some private collector's personal library, or it could be 
something we haven't 
even considered yet.
 
> >> > As for the idea that this was a single person, Christian or
> >> > otherwise, fleeing Jerusalem to try
> >> > and keep a corpus of books safe, I can't go that way.  If we
> had
> >> > found a moderate number of
> >> > documents in one or two caves, maybe.  800 documents in 11
> caves?
> >> I
> >> >  think not.
> >>
> >> Sure. I see what your saying. That's a lot of documents for one
> >> person
> >> to carry right? And why didn't he put them all in one cave? So
> is
> >> your
> >> guess a small Hebrew speaking community living in isolation?
> >
> > Nope.  I lean toward Golb's idea of somebody's library, possibly  
> > even the Jerusalem
> > Temple's, that some group tried to save from the Roman
> destruction.   
> >  I won't go to the wall
> > for it, but it's the explanation that makes the most sense to
> me.
> >
> 
> Yeah! I read about that one too. It does make sense from many
> angles.  
> But then why the document that makes such a big deal about a wicked 
> priest?

Haven't a clue.  But then, since it doesn't have much bearing on the b-hebrew 
question, it 
probably doesn't matter here.

Dave Washburn

http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur