Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Stephen Goranson <goranson AT duke.edu>]

The Qumran Cave 11 manuscripts--remains of a Zealot library?

Such is the proposal in Pfann, Stephen J. "Reassessing the Judean Desert 
Caves: Libraries, Archives, 'Genizas' and Hiding Places." Bulletin of the 
Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 25 (2007) 147-170 Available at
http://www.uhl.ac/articles/

A CTVC program (not yet scheduled, as far as I know) apparently will advocate 
this proposal, at least, based on descriptions at CTVC:
http://www.ctvc.co.uk/scrolls.html
and on Dr. Robert R. Cargill's website:
http://robertcargill.com/ Feb. 3 and March 15 posts

Some comments and questions:

 Tov characterized 11Q as most consistently written in Qumran scribal 
practice. Tov, Emanuel. "The Special Character of the Texts Found in Qumran 
Cave 11." In Things Revealed: Studies in Early Jewish and Christian 
Literature in Honor of Michael E. Stone, ed. E. Chazon, et al., 187-196. 
JSJSS 89. Leiden: Brill, 2004. What would a "Zealot library" look like (e.g. 
consistently produced?)? Would zealots defending the existing temple be 
hoping for its destruction to allow for a different temple? Were zealots 
known for their linens? Did Josephus say zealots took scrolls or something 
else?

11Q29 Fragment Related to Serek ha-Yahad. An S-Qumran connection. Tigchelaar, 
Eibert J. C. "A Newly Identified 11QSerekh ha-Yahad Fragment (11Q29)?" In The 
Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years after Their Discovery. Proceedings of the 
Jerusalem Congress, July 20-25, 1997, ed. L. Schiffman et al., 285-292. 
Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society in cooperation with the Shrine of the 
Book, Israel Museum, 2000.

11QSefer ha-Milhama.

11QcrypticA Unidentified text. Did Zealots use crypticA? Who did (cf. 4Q)?  
How could that be bracketed off?

Ada Yardeni observed that dozens of texts come from one "Qumran scribe," 
including texts from Caves 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8-- and Cave 11. Yardeni, Ada. "A 
Note on a Qumran Scribe." In New Seals and Inscriptions: Hebrew, Idumean, and 
Cuneiform, ed. Meir Lubetski, 287-298. Hebrew Bible Monographs 8. Sheffield: 
Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007. Unless she is mistaken, or unless one posits 
that zealots shared this scribe, how can her observations fit the 11Q as 
zealot hypothesis? Abraham Schalit in the Namenwörterbuch zu Flavius Josephus 
p.34, 46, 66 noted that "John the Essene" is likely a misreading for John of 
Essa.

 Weston Fields DSS; A Full History vol. 1 (Leiden, 2010) gives reasons to be 
cautious about cave assignments of some purchased mss. If appreciable numbers 
of mss are incorrectly assigned, cave assemblages may be significantly 
affected.  Caves that have few mss, such as 3Q, make arguments from silence 
even more iffy, and why ignore a probable 3Q pesher and angel texts? If the 
3QCu burials are in the Sokakah Qumran area, then that's something possibly 
relevant with those in the area, if they were keeping things for a temple, 
not from a temple.

Stephen Goranson
http://www,duke.edu/~goranson