Re: [Megillot] CD 6.10-11 (Gmirkin and Davies discussion)

[RUSSELLGMIRKIN]

Dear Greg,   I agree with a large number of points you raise.  For instance, I do not take references to the "end of days" to be (necessarily) futuristic, for many of the reasons you lay out.  I also agree that the Interpreter of the Law and the Teacher of Righteousness are within the present or recent past of the texts associated with Qumran (as well as the medieval text CD that is later but clearly related to Qumran materials).  I nevertheless view the TR reference in CD 6.10-11 to be to a future figure due to a point you only lightly touch upon in your book as well as your recent postings, and that is the mention of the TR within the larger phrase "until the rise of the one who teaches righteousness in the end of days."  Here I do not put particular weight on the mention of the "end of days", but the phrase "until the rise of X" appears to be consistently used of future figures or groups in the Qumran corpus.  I can't think offhand of any exceptions.  To me this outweighs other considerations.  However, the TR is a contemporary living figure (or recently deceased figure) elsewhere in CD.  (As I recall from The Damascus Covenant, Davies views the mention of the TR at CD 1.11 to be a secondary, redactional element, but this seems to follow from his historical reconstruction rather than any compelling textual argument, unlike the added chronological reference at CD 1.5-6 which disturbs the metrical structure.)    I would also somewhat disagree with the broad assertion that "the age of wickedness... is currently ongoing (from the authorial perspective of CD)" insofar that the earliest strata of CD written while the TR was still alive do not refer to the era of wickedness.  To the later exiles in the land of Damascus who authored the last portions of CD, the age of wickedness was definitely ongoing.    A point that previous discussions of CD 6.3-11 have overlooked, so far as I can tell, is that this pesher on Num. 21:18 contains contradictory interpretations, which appears to demonstrate redactional development. CD 6.3-11 appears to interpret the digging of the well of knowledge with the staff to refer to both the Interpreter of the Law and to the nobles (princes) who left Judea to live in the land of Damascus.  The exegesis on Num. 21:18 is essentially a doublet.   From CD 7.18-19 one has the Interpreter of the Law at Damascus.  In Hymns 12.8-11 (which I take to be one of the autobiographical hymns of the Teacher) we have a combination of a reference to exile from Judea ("they evict me from my land like a bird from the nest") and a comparison of Law/teachings with water ("the drink of knowledge to the thirsty" etc.) which suggests that the interpretation of the well of Num. 21:18 as the exegetical efforts of the interpreter of the law and/or nobles in CD stemmed from Hymns.   I would suggest the following historical (and textual) sequence.  (1) The TR accompanied by some of his followers goes into exile in the land of Damascus.  (2) Num. 21:18 was applied to the TR by his followers using metaphors taken from Hymns, much as other pesher material in 1QpHab and 4QpPs(A) borrow language from the teacher's Hymns.  (3) The TR died during this period of exile.  Num. 21:18 was now interpreted to apply primarily to the leaders in Damascus, and CD 6.3-11 was written that preserved both the old and new interpretations. (4) The exiles in Damascus hoped for the appearance of a new Teacher to replace their deceased leader during the present end of days = "era of wickedness" as expressed in the addition at CD 6.10-11, which postdates the earlier exegetical reference to the (living) interpreter of the law.  This understanding of CD 6.3-11 as preserving materials from both before and after the TR's death seems to best explain the complexities of the text.   Best regards, Russell Gmirkin