In my view, evidence is increasing that King Jonathan, Alexander Jannaeus, also the Lion of 4Qpesher Nahum, was the Qumran mss "Wicked Priest." And that his contemporary, Judah the Essene, the first known Essene individual, mentioned in War and Antiquities, and as a teacher and prophet, was the Qumran "Teacher of Righteousness."
It may be worth noting that Psalm 154, in a version in the 4Q448 A text, in the 11Q Psalms a version includes "Form a yahad...," praise of God, and condemnation of the wicked. 448 B&C (also on the tie end of a scroll likely worth preserving for its main text, regardless of these marginal additions) plausibly records "Rise up, O Holy One, against Jonathan the King"-- D. Harrington/J. Strugnell JBL 1993 498-9; Emmanuelle Main, in Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the DSS, 1998 113-35; A. Lemaire 1997 & 2000, G. Lorein, Ned. Theol. Tijd. 1999 265-73; i.e. is plausibly seen as wicked. Qumran's Hellenistic period may well have begun in his tenure, as well as flight to the "land of Damascus," sometime after he "fell from the name of truth" (1QpHab). The Eshels have added (in JBL 2000) more thoughts on the periods within Jonathan's rule, and previously mentioned other possible Qumran ms allusions to a warlike Alexander. I suggest that the proposals of Main et al. on the B & C columns have not been sufficiently considered and addressed, though the Eshels acknowledge and use Lemaire's proposals for the A text, and reread/conjectured it to include mention of Sennacherib. Posidonius and Strabo, sources on Essenes, considered Alexander, explicitly named, as notably "superstitious" and "tyrannical." And the Teacher, Judah, arising an estimated 390 years plus 20 (Damascus ms) after the end of Babylonian captivity fits these texts. Puech in RQ 1996 and DJD XXV published 4Q523, with mention of Jonathan, and ? Gallikah or ?Glakous or... (any possible IDs for that?...cf Bat Gallim in 4QpIsa a ??). Puech argued for the earlier Jonathan, but both 4Q448 and 4Q523 may quite well both refer to the Jannai Jonathan. (I am aware of proposals to read the Lion as gentile; I don't need more bibliography on that, thanks.) Are there more recent studies or notable reviews 4Q448 and 4Q523 besides the above-mentioned? Thanks. best, Stephen Goranson _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
