Rami Arav reviewed Yizhar Hirschfeld, Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence (2004) in AJS [Association of Jewish Studies] Review 29.2 (2005) 373-6.
It's a mixed review. "...Hirschfeld's most important achievement is that he thinks outside the box." And (also p. 375): "Placing Qumran in the context of Herodian estates would place the DSS out of context--and indeed this is what they are in this book! The eleven caves were not the library where scrolls originally were placed, a fact that almost nobody questions. What were the exact circumstances by which the scrolls arrived at the caves and what was their original context are the next key questions. Instead of concluding with the true and simple answer that "We don't know," Hirschfeld invents a story that is on the verge of science fiction and reads like a novel. He suggests that the owners of the library, Sadducees in his opinion, decided to take the scrolls out from "the doomed city to someone close to them, apparently of the same social status, the owner of the estate at Qumran. He may have also supplied the jars in which some of the scrolls were found...we can imagine that a whole convoy of pack animals was needed to to deliver them to Qumran. The owner of Qumran, probably familiar with the area, helped locate the most suitable caves in which to conceal the scrolls...." (243) All that is needed to add is that this took place in the middle of the night under the pale light of the moon." best Stephen Goranson http://www.duke.edu/~goranson "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene" (slightly revised) _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
