Philip and list, Progress in Qumran history is possible. After all, you helped, along with John Kampen and Fergus Millar and others in warning against the old saw that Essenes derived from the 1, 2 Maccabees Hasidim. That mistake is tied into the wrong proposal of the too early Jonathan as wicked priest. (Speculation: 1 Maccabees was written in Jannaeus' time, and harmonious with some of his changes?)
Philip, I see the starting place (already passed anyway) differently than you. But perhaps you could take your first paragraph, with its I would have thought difficult mention of intention, and answer for us your own two-part question. Do some texts qualify, pass your proposed text, in your view? Plainly, I think some texts can be used, with care, for history. (Example. pNah does refer to an 88 BCE event.) Do you? best, Stephen Goranson _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
