A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem

CHAPTER 11 A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem Timothy H. Lim One of the most intractable, historical problems of Qumran scholarship is the identification of the figure known as “the wicked priest” (ha-cōhēn ha-rāšā’; ‫)הכהן הרשע‬, who is thought to be a coded reference to one or more high priests during the Maccabean period and Hasmonean dynasty. It is widely agreed that this sobriquet is a play on the similar sounding kōhēn hā-rō’š (‫)כהן הראש‬, a common designation for “the high priest” in the post-exilic period.1 The sectarians, so it is surmised, used a sobriquet or negative moniker to label someone, a priest, whom they thought was evil or wicked. Since the pun is made with the title kōhēn hā-rō’š, the figure known by the nickname must have been the high priest whom the pesherists regarded as wicked.2 That the wickedness involved an illicit claim to the office of the high priesthood is a possible, but not necessary, inference. It is not, in any case, supported by a contextual reading of the text.3 Different historical figures have been suggested, ranging from the high priest Onias III to Jesus and Paul, but the identification of “the wicked priest” as Jonathan or Simon Maccabee became common with the Maccabean theory of the origins of the Qumran community.4 According to this theory, the Qumranians are thought to have separated themselves from the sacerdotal 1 Karl Elliger, Studien zum Habakkuk-Kommentar vom Toten Meer (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1953), 266, was one of the first to have suggested this. 2 Other titles for “the high priest” include ‫כהן‬, ‫הכהן המשיח‬, and ‫( הכהן הגדול‬John W. Bailey, “The Usage in the Post-Restoration Period of Terms Descriptive of Priest and High Priest” JBL 70.3 [1951]: 217–25). 3 William H. Brownlee rightly states that while the meaning of “the Illegitimate Priest” is theoretically possible, the textual evidence points to his wicked deeds (“The Wicked Priest, the Man of the Lies, and the Righteous Teacher: The Problem of Identity” JQR n.s. 73.1 [1982]: 3). The legitimacy of the high priesthood is not evident in Pesher Habakkuk. It is also absent in other sectarian scrolls (see John J. Collins, “The Origins of the Qumran Community: A Review of the Evidence” in To Touch the Text: Biblical and Related Studies in Honor of Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. ed. Maurya P. Horgan and Paul J. Kobelski [New York: Crossroad, 1989], 159–78). 4 Up to 2000, I estimated some twenty plus identifications of the wicked priest (see my “Wicked Priest” in The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls ed. Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000], vol. 2: 974), discounting those identifications that postdate the Second Temple period (e.g., P.R. Weis, “The Date of the Habakkuk Pesher” JQR 41.2 [1950]: 125–54). © Timothy H. Lim, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004517127_012 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 269 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 270 Lim authority of the Jerusalem Temple to establish a community of study in the Judaean Desert because they believed that the incumbent Maccabean high priest, whom they called “the wicked priest,” did not meet the Zadokite lineage needed to hold the office.5 Recent scholarship has pulled down several of the pillars that propped up the Maccabean theory: the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran does not reflect a secluded enclave of sectarian activity but belongs to the regional context of the Judaean wilderness;6 the sectarian occupation of the site is dated to the first century BCE, and not to the middle of the second century BCE;7 Essene communities are dispersed throughout Judaea and not just at Khirbet Qumran;8 and the issue of illegitimacy of the high priesthood is not evident in the sectarian scrolls, but read in to sectarian history from the books of Maccabees.9 This article offers a fresh approach to the vexed problem of identifying “the wicked priest” of 1QpHab with the prospect of reconstructing one phase in the history of the communities reflected in the sectarian scrolls. It suggests that “the wicked priest” in 1QpHab is a sobriquet that the pesherist attached to the last three high priests of the Hasmonean dynasty, Aristobulus II, Hyrcanus II 5 The main advocates are Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls. Qumran In Perspective. rev. ed. (London: SCM, 1994), 135; Frank Moore Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran 3rd ed. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 110–20; and J.T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea (London: SCM, 1959), 85–87. Vermes originally dated the period of the scrolls to 66 CE, but evidently changed his mind (so G.R. Driver, The Judaean Scrolls. The Problem and a Solution [New York: Shocken Books, 1965], ix). Prominent supporters are Hanan Eshel, “The Two Historical Layers of Pesher Habakkuk” in Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003–2006 eds. Anders Klostergaard Petersen et al. (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 107–117; and James C. VanderKam, “The Wicked Priest Revisited” in The ‘Other’ in Second Temple Judaism: Essays in Honor of John J. Collins ed. Daniel C. Harlow, Karina M. Hogan, Matthew Goff, and Joel S. Kaminsky (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 350–67. 6 Eric Meyers, “Khirbet Qumran and its Environs” in The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls ed. Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins (Oxford: OUP, 2010), 21–45; and J. Zangenberg, “The Function of the Caves and the Settlement of Qumran. Reflections on a New Chapter of Research” in The Caves of Qumran. Proceedings of the International Conference Lugano 2014 ed. M. Fidanzio (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 195–209. 7 Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 63–9; Dennis Mizzi, “Qumran Period I Reconsidered: An Evaluation of Several Competing Theories” DSD 22 (2015): 1–42; and Dennis Mizzi and Jodi Magness, “Was Qumran Abandoned at the End of the First Century BCE?” JBL 135.2 (2016): 301–20. 8 John J. Collins, “Sectarian Communities in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls eds. Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 15–72; and Beyond the Qumran Community: The Sectarian Movement of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 65–69. 9 Collins, “Origins of the Qumran Community.” 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 270 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 271 and Antigonos. This proposal takes full account of the poetics of Pesher Habakkuk and the highly allusive and referentially ambiguous language that it uses to comment on the first two chapters of the prophecy of Habakkuk. A new solution is suggested by appealing to the identification of the Kittim as the Romans, and the tribute that they imposed on the nations under their rule, not least the Jews. 1 Methodology and Approach It is vital that we follow a method that avoids imposing our preconceived ideas on the texts. “It is dangerous,” William Brownlee cautions, “to adopt an historical hypothesis at the outset and then adjust the translations and interpretations to fit it.”10 He advocates a close reading of the biblical quotation and sectarian comment together to see how the pesher “is rooted in, and derived from, the quotation.”11 Uncharitably, he castigates most attempts of deciphering historical allusions as “superficial perceptions of the texts,” and states that it “sometimes takes decades of wrestling with a text before it yields up its meaning.”12 He is correct in emphasizing the importance of the textual evidence and the need to understand the pesher’s logic. Implied is the truism, not least found in historical studies, that textual and archaeological evidence should not be conflated, but understood first, in and of itself.13 We should seek to understand how the pesherist constructs and expresses the realities that he perceives in the language of the biblical text on which he is commenting, what I would describe as its poetics. Each unit of quotation, introductory formula and comment should be assessed for what historical information it can and cannot yield. On the other hand, we should not assume that the pesherist is invariably alluding to an event or action recorded in history. Some of the events are public and external, such as the coming of the Romans and the tribute imposed on the Jews. Others are internal and belong to 10 11 12 13 Brownlee, “The Wicked Priest,” 9. Brownlee, “The Wicked Priest,” 17. Brownlee, “The Wicked Priest,” 17. Brownlee provides a devastating critique of approaches that conflate the sources (especially the archaeology of Qumran; 4QpNah, 4QpPsaa, Admonitions of CD, and 4QTestimonia); assume that all these documents have the same circumstance, person and event in view; read in historical contexts to the meagre information found in Pesher Habakkuk; equate the wicked priest and liar as one and the same figure; and build one theory on top of another. Despite this, Brownlee himself did not adopt a method substantially different in his own reconstruction (“The Wicked Priest,” 17–18). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 271 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 272 Lim sectarian history, notably the internal dissension and confrontations between the Teacher of Righteousness, the Liar and the traitors. By attending to his poetics, one becomes better attuned to the way that the pesherist expresses his reading of the biblical text in relation to the perceived history of his own sect. I suggest that the case for the identification of the wicked priest should be based on the scholarly consensus that the Kittim are the Romans.14 2 The Poetics of Pesher Habakkuk I make several assumptions about the poetics of Pesher Habakkuk. The supporting evidence and arguments are found in my commentary, and I will document, but not repeat, the discussions of the book. 2.1 Public and Sectarian History There is history behind what the pesherist says about the wicked priest and other figures in 1QpHab. The pesherist expresses this history in a mixture of figurative and plain language drawn from or inspired by scripture and sectarian teachings. However, the pesher is not just a literary play on the figured world that it constructs. The clearest evidence is the identification of the “Chaldeans” of the biblical text with the Romans, whom the pesherist calls by the cipher “Kittim.”15 2.2 Biblical Quotations and Sectarian Comments Together The pesherist presents the biblical lemmata and sectarian comments as two intertwined strands of an interpretative chord. What he understands about his contemporary situation, and of the wicked and righteous figures, is informed both by the divine oracles of the prophet Habakkuk and the subsequent and more complete disclosure of the mysteries of the words of the prophets to the Teacher of Righteousness (6:17–7:5). To read only the sectarian comments is to miss the pesherite method of identifying the wicked and righteous of his day with those of the biblical text.16 Commenting on Hab 2:1–2, the pesherist himself makes this hermeneutical point (6:12–7:5). Yhwh’s response to the prophet standing on his watchtower is to command him to “write down the vision and make it clear upon the tablets 14 15 16 Timothy H. Lim, The Earliest Commentary on the Prophecy of Habakkuk (Oxford: OUP, 2020), 19–21. Henceforth, abbreviated as ECPH. The translation of Pesher Habakkuk is from this edition. ECPH, 19–25, 53–75, 84–93, and 125–27. The pesherite assumption is that divine revelation continues (ECPH, 93–101). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 272 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 273 in order that the one reading it will run.” Habakkuk 2:2 was interpreted in two ways: first, the command to record the vision refers to the written oracles of the prophecy that the pesherist has before him.17 This vision is partial, since it is about the things that are to come upon the present generation, and not the period to come. The second part of the biblical quotation encapsulates the reason for writing down the vision. Its recording on tablets, probably to be displayed, facilitates reading. In the prophet’s own words: “in order that the one reading it will run”. A discerning point about scripturalization, it explains that writing aids reading and understanding in a way that oral communication or a vision does not. The thrust of the sectarian comment, however, focuses on the hermeneutical role of the Teacher of Righteousness, for it is to him that God has disclosed a revelation, believed to be more complete than the one made to the prophet, about the enigmatic content and words of His servants, the prophets (7:4–5). It is through him that the reader “will run.” The prophetic texts more broadly, and not just the words of Habakkuk, are thought to be “mysterious,” requiring a divinely chosen interpreter to reveal their true meaning. Elsewhere in Pesher Habakkuk, the qualifications of the Teacher are mentioned and the pesherist calls him “the priest.” One assumes that it is not just his sacerdotal status that made him uniquely qualified, but that he was thought to be the righteous priest (2:5–10). The Teacher used a technique to interpret (lipšōr) the prophecies through which God had declared “all that is to come upon His people and up[on His congregation]” (2:8–10). Similar techniques are found elsewhere in ancient literature, but the Teacher forged a distinctive form of revelatory exposition that the sectarians followed.18 It is an assumption that the pesherist replicated the Teacher’s method.19 2.3 A Coherent Commentary Pesher Habakkuk is a commentary of the first two chapters of the prophecy of Habakkuk. There is no commentary on the third chapter of the prophecy, but 1QpHab is comprehensible as it stands. The pesher’s overall purpose is 17 18 19 It is assumed that the pesherist had one or more versions of the text of Habakkuk before him as he wrote, a view first suggested by Krister Stendahl, The School of Matthew and its Use of the Old Testament (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1954), 190 and 194. For a discussion of the biblical quotations in the pesharim, see my Pesharim (London: Bloomsbury, 2002), 54–63. There have been two “quests” to find literary parallels in comparative literature (ECPH, 14–16). See most recently, the study of Bronson Brown-deVost, Commentary and Authority in Mesopotamia and Qumran (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019). Pesharim, 44–53 and ECPH, 14–16. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 273 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 274 Lim to encourage the faithful “doers of the law” (7:11), a plausible reference to the Essenes, to persevere and not become dispirited by the apparent delay in the coming of the end-time.20 Concluding his exposition of Hab 2:19–20, on idolatry and the silence of the land before God, the pesherist states that the interpretation concerns “all the nations, which served the stone and the wood, but in the day of judgement God will destroy all who serve the idols and the wicked ones from the land” (13:1–4). This is a fitting coda to the prophet’s opening cry for justice and a comforting message to a sectarian community that has experienced distress and seeking vindication, disappointed by the delay of the predicted end-time (7:5–8; 9–14). Their coming has been terrifying for the sectarian community, as the Kittim ravaged the land (3:1–14), brought down fortresses (4:3–9), and mercilessly slaughtered the people (6:10–12). The Kittim served their own gods, sacrificing to their standards and weapons of war (6:2–5), and imposed a tribute that yoked the people in servitude (6:6–8). The sectarian also experienced betrayal from apostates who did not remain faithful in the statutes of God. The pesherist calls them “the wicked [ones].” The text is partially mutilated, but it is likely that they were thought to have acted treacherously (2:10–15). The mutilation at the bottom of column 2 has possibly deprived us of the pesherist’s reasoning. Their close association with the Kittim, in any case, allows us to suppose that their wickedness involves some form of political and military betrayal. These wicked ones are distinct from other enemies of the sect who are explicitly called “traitors” (1:16–2:10; 5:8–12). These “traitors” or bôgǝdîm are those who, in league with the Liar, are characterized by their disbelief in the Teacher’s pesher-exposition of the prophetic texts and the legal teachings derived from such a method. Like the righteous of the biblical text who is surrounded by the wicked, so the pesherist sees enemies all around him and his congregation of sectarians. 2.4 Multiple Righteous and the Wicked Figures The structure of the prophecy and pesher highlights the various righteous and wicked figures. The pesher has a beginning and an end, and it also has a turning point when it comments on Hab 2:1–4, which serve as the pivotal verses of the first two chapters of the prophecy. The beginning is badly mutilated, so it is impossible to say with certainty how the pesherist interpreted the opening four verses of Hab 1, but enough has 20 ECPH, 1–2, 105–106. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 274 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 275 been preserved in column 1 to deduce that the sectarian expositor understood them as a prediction of all that is to come in the latter-days. In the MT, the prophet saw “violence” (‫ ;חמס‬Hab 1:2–3; compare 1:9; 2:8, 17), “trouble” (‫ ;עמל‬Hab 1:3; compare 1:13), “destruction” (‫ ;שד‬Hab 1:3; compare 2:17), “strife” (‫ ;ריב‬Hab 1:3), and “dissension” (‫ ;מדון‬Hab 1:3) that led him to cry out for help and deliverance (Hab 1:2). The consequence is that the law (‫)תורה‬ becomes ineffective and right judgment (‫ )משפט‬never prevails, because the wicked (‫ )רשע‬surrounds the righteous (‫)הצדיק‬, and a perverted form of judgment (‫ )משפט‬issues forth (Hab 1:4). Most of these themes are preserved in the fragmentary column 1, but we do not know how they are understood. The central character of column 1 is the Teacher of Righteousness who is identified with “the righteous” of Hab 1:4c (1QpHab 1:13). In the MT and presumably in the unmutilated lemma, that same verse also refers to “(the) wicked” who surrounds the righteous. It is likely that this wicked figure is identified with an opponent of the Teacher, and almost all reconstructions restore line 13 with “the wicked priest.” But the following column 2 recounts a different opponent, the Liar and not the wicked priest. The wicked priest occurs for the first time in 8:8.21 The common reconstruction of “the wicked priest” in 1:13, therefore, is questionable. More likely, it is “the man of the Lie” who is in view. He is the “wicked” of Hab 1:4c, just as he is the wicked one who figuratively “swallowed up one more righteous than he” in Hab 1:13cd (1QpHab 5:8–12). From the beginning of the pesher, then, the righteous and wicked are juxtaposed. In columns 1–2, the righteous is the Teacher of Righteousness and the wicked is the Liar. But there are other figures who are associated with this liar.22 There are “traitors” who are his allies and whose treachery is likewise centred on their disbelief in the exposition and prediction of the Teacher of Righteousness (1:16–2:10). These traitors are not explicitly called “wicked” in column 2, but they are wicked by association and in their distrust of the Teacher of Righteousness. The opposition of the wicked and righteous is also found in Hab 1:13cd (5:8–12). The biblical text reports an incident during which time a wicked figure “swallows up” a more righteous person. The prophetic language is symbolic and allusive, and the pesherist interpreted it as a reference to an inner sectarian occasion when the Liar rejected “the torah,” meaning “teaching.” That this 21 22 ECPH, 36–42. The collective singular “wicked” is based on the biblical precedent that equates the grammatical singular of “the nation” (‫ )הגוי‬with the plural of “the Chaldeans” (‫ ;הכשדים‬Hab 1:6–7). The biblical lemma is not preserved at the bottom of column 1, but it was likely included in the original, unmutilated scroll. The pesherist imitates this technique elsewhere (e.g., ‫מאכלו‬/‫ מאכלם‬of Hab 1:16cd and 1QpHab 6:5, 7). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 275 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 276 Lim teaching was the Teacher’s is clear from his reproof of those who did not come to his aid. They are called “the house of Absalom and the men of their council,” and this group is identified with the “traitors” of the biblical lemma.23 The coded references evidently allude to an internal sectarian dispute between two rival leaders and played out before the community, and the failure of a third party to side with the Teacher. In the pesher, the identification of the wicked and righteous is not limited to individual figures. A striking example of the collective is in 4:16–5:8. God’s people are divided into “His chosen” and “the wicked ones of His people.” This pesher interprets Hab 1:12b and its declaration of divine judgment against the Chaldeans as a disclosure of the divine plan.24 God’s chosen, who are in distress, should take comfort in the assurance that they will not be destroyed by the nations. The possibility is raised because the Chaldeans are a “bitter and impetuous nation” (Hab 1:6), and it was Yhwh himself who raised them up in response to the prophet’s call for salvation. In the biblical text, there is a palpable sense that the solution to theodicy is worse than the problem itself. Unsurprisingly, the pesherist addresses his community’s fear of being destroyed by the Kittim whom he understands as the biblical Chaldeans. Rather, so the pesherist reassures his audience, God will judge all the nations through his chosen. This judgment, however, is not restricted to the punishment of the nations, for it includes “the wicked ones of His people.” The juxtaposition of the wicked and righteous is implicit and the intention is clear: not all of God’s people are his chosen. His chosen ones are the righteous who kept the commandments in their distress and did not whore after their eyes in the time of wickedness.25 The turning point of the pesher occurs in 7:14–8:3 when it comments on Hab 2:4. The biblical verse concludes the transitional section of the prophecy with a declaration of the promise of another vision, one that may be delayed but will certainly come (Hab 2:3).26 Habakkuk 2:4 comprises two clauses, the first is partially preserved in 7:14–15 and the other is presumed to have been 23 24 25 26 The term ‫ עצה‬can mean “counsel,” “council” or “congregation” (e.g., CD 5:17; 12:8; 1QS 2:25; 6:10). In this passage, the same term is used to refer to two different kinds of “council,” those associates of the house of Absalom and the congregation of sectarians broadly. See ECPH, 80–83. The text reads “him,” but the reference is to the Chaldeans. It is the style of Habakkuk to vacillate between the grammatical singular and plural. ECPH, 76–80. The biblical text is ambiguous and could alternatively mean the coming of the same, delayed vision (ECPH, 101–7). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 276 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 277 written in the unmutilated original of 7:17.27 This singular righteous figure of the biblical text, who lives by his faithfulness, is identified with “all the doers of the law” who will be delivered from judgment because of their faithfulness in the Teacher of Righteousness. His opposite, also a singular figure, is characterized by some protrusion on level ground, representing the soul lodged within him. His soul being “heaped up” is understood symbolically as arrogance.28 The following lines 15–16 of column 7 are partially mutilated, but what remains suggests that the pesherist interpreted this figure as a reference to a plurality of figures whose transgressions have not been accepted. The language of the sectarian comment is drawn from Isa 40:2–3, but unlike the biblical passage the punishment of these unnamed figures will not be confirmed.29 In this pivotal passage, then, there is an implied contrast between “the righteous” and those who may be described as wicked by what they have done. The passage serves as a thematic signpost and henceforth the pesher describes, using the language of the woe-oracles, the deeds of wicked and righteous figures. The rest of the second chapter of Habakkuk comprises five woes against various figures. The first four concern wicked and righteous figures. The fifth woe is directed at the non-Jewish nations that create and then worship idols (Hab 2:18–19 in 1QpHab 12:10–13:1). The second chapter closes with the statement that Yhwh is in his holy temple and all the land is silent before him (Hab 2:20 in 1QpHab 13:1–4). None of the figures of the first four woes is described as “wicked,” but the pesherist understood them as such. MT Hab 2:4–17 comprises five loosely constructed oracles, punctuated by the term ‫ הוי‬as a cry of disapproval, “woe” (Hab 2:6, 9, 12, 15 and 19).30 The first woe-oracle (Hab 2:5–8; 1QpHab 8:3–9:2) expresses opprobrium against a figure who is arrogant and avaricious. The disjunctive phrase ‫“( ואף כי‬moreover”) of verse 5 suggests that the subject of ‫“( עפלה‬heaped up”) of the previous verse is resumed. This figure is described as “a haughty man” and his unseemly behaviour and insatiable consumption are likened to the yawning jaws of Sheol and the unquenchable appetite of Death. But what is he consuming? The MT reading is problematic and there is a complex history of attempts to explain the incongruous association of “wine” with arrogance and amassing of pledges.31 The pesherite lemma preserves the variant reading ‫הון יבגוד גבר יהיר‬, and it is 27 28 29 30 31 ECPH, 108. Both in ‫ גבר יהיר‬of Hab 2:5 and ‫ רם לבו‬of 1QpHab 8:10. ECPH, 108. ECPH, 116. ECPH, 111–112. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 277 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 278 Lim easier to see how “wealth” or “possessions” could be associated with pride and avarice. But the syntax is ambiguous: is the subject “wealth” or “the haughty man”? And how is the ‫ ואף כי‬to be construed? Based on the pesherist’s understanding in lines 10–11, it likely means “And also because of wealth will the haughty man act treacherously.” The pesherist identified the wicked priest with this biblical figure, and the link is explicit in describing a pompous and greedy man. This man’s conceit is in exalting himself and its corollary of forsaking God and acting treacherously with the divine decrees “on account of wealth” (8:10–11). The greed, so the pesherist explained, involved robbery and accumulation of the wealth of two groups: the violent and rebellious men whom the pesherist must also have considered wicked (8:11–12);32 and “the peoples” (‫ )עמים‬who are identified with “the nations” and “the peoples” of the biblical lemma (Hab 2:5 in 1QpHab 8:12; compare 8:5).33 The former group are the non-sectarian, Jewish people (“who rebelled against God”), and latter are the non-Jewish, gentile nations.34 Extraneous to the biblical text is the pesherite statement that the wicked priest was “reckoned to the name of Truth” (8:8–9), meaning holy to Yhwh, at his accession and before he fell from grace.35 This is potentially historical information, and has been so understood by scholars as a reference to the good standing of a Maccabean or Hasmonean high priest before he became bad. That he is also a king or ruler is evident in the description “when he ruled Israel.”36 This rule caused the priest, presumably once thought righteous, to become wicked. The pesherite description of the priest’s change of character is largely drawn from or inspired by Hab 2:5a: “he exalted himself” (‫ )רם לבו‬is another way of saying “a haughty man” (‫“ ;)גבר יהיר‬and he acted treacherously with the decrees” (‫ )ויבגוד בחוקים‬ostensibly refers back to ‫ יבגוד‬of the lemma; and “on account of wealth” exploits the variant of ‫הון‬. Only “and he forsook God” (‫ויעזוב‬ ‫ )את אל‬is not derived from the quotation, but the clause is a common enough 32 33 34 35 36 The pesherist used the verb ‫“( מרד‬to rebel”) to describe the violent men in the same way that he characterized the wicked priest in 8:16. For the middle-passive sense of the variants of Hab 2:5de, see ECPH, 113–14. The variability of the usage is due to the semantic changes of the same term in the biblical text and the pesherist’s interpretation of those changes. Elsewhere he uses the plural ‫ עמים‬to refer to army of the Kittim (9:7), other nations (3:6, 11; 4:6, 14; 6:7), the peoples of the great judgment (9:12–10:5), and the non-elect, Jewish people (10:7; compare “elect of God” in 10:13). He uses the singular ‫ עם‬to describe the non-elect, Jewish people (4:16–5:8; compare 2:10). He also uses the biblical expression ‫ עם רב‬to mean “a great army” (4:7; ECPH, 70). ECPH, 117–18. The ‫ משל‬does not exclude monarchical rule, see ECPH, 118–19. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 278 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 279 biblical expression of the sin of idolatry and apostasy (e.g., Jud. 2:12–13; 10:6; 1 Kgs 9:9; 2 Kgs 21:22; Isa 1:28; 65:11). Here, it means “he abandoned the torah of Yhwh.”37 The re-use of biblical language as such does not warrant a categorical exclusion of this passage from historical consideration, but corroborative evidence is needed.38 Whether it is the accusation of arrogance, greed, treachery or apostasy, the charges against the wicked priest are subjective, sectarian judgements of wrongdoing. It is difficult to know whether anyone outside of the sect shared these sentiments about the high priest, and to whom it might have referred.39 Slightly less ambiguous is the description of the “men of violence” who are characterized by their rebellion against God. Brownlee interpreted the passage as a reference to John Hyrcanus’ destruction of Shechem and the Temple on Mount Gerizim.40 But the Samaritans are never called violent men in the biblical texts, nor is it likely that they, along with other apostate Jews, would be identified as ‫כול הגוים‬.41 It is more likely that the pesherist deduced “men of violence” from the ‫ חמס‬of the biblical text, and he must have considered them as wicked for rebelling against God.42 The wicked priest dispossessed these violent, wicked men of their wealth. The verb ‫“ גזל‬robbed” does not occur in the prophecy, but is used in the sectarian comments of 1QpHab 1:8 and 12:10, the latter in the context of the wicked priest dispossessing the wealth of “the poor.”43 The clause “and he amassed” (‫ )ויקבוץ‬is derived from ‫ ויקבוצו‬of Hab 2:5e.44 The robbery of the wicked priest, according to the pesherist, was in addition (‫ )לוסיף‬to other sins that he had previously committed (8:12–13). He described these sins in language conventionally associated with procreative impurity, idolatry and the cultic worship of impure gold and silver. They are “ways of abomination” of a cultic and social kind that fills the land with violence (compare Ezek. 8:17).45 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 That the betrayal is legal, and not ontological, is indicated in “and he acted treacherously with the decrees.” For methodological considerations, see ECPH, 19–21. For instance, Vermes, Qumran in Perspective, 122–23, interprets this as a reference to Jonathan. Using the same passage, Brownlee, “The Wicked Priest,” 19–20, believes that it refers to John Hyrcanus. Brownlee, The Midrash Pesher of Habakkuk (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979), 140. ECPH, 120. The word occurs in Hab 1:2, 3, 9; 2:8, 17 (2x). The substantive (‫ )בגזל‬occurs in the pesherite comment of 10:1. It is possible that the pesherist also knew the MT reading (ECPH, 113–14). ECPH, 120–21. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 279 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM 280 Lim When the pesherist turns to Hab 2:7–8a, he interprets these verses as the response of creditors against “the priest who rebelled” and transgressed the divine decrees, another way of saying “the wicked priest.”46 This figure was attacked and the injuries that he sustained are described as “punishment for wickedness” (‫ ;במשפטי רשעה‬8:17–9:2).47 It is unclear how the debt amassed by the haughty man of Hab 2:6b leads to creditors rising up against him in Hab 2:7–8a, since debtors and creditors are on opposite ends of a financial transaction. For the pesherist, the lemma provides the reading of “your cr[e]ditors” (‫ )נ]וש[כיך‬and it is this element that is important to him. This comment, as opposed to the previous one, has nothing to do with wealth, credit or personal debt. Rather, it describes an attack that the “creditors” made on the wicked priest. The root ‫ נשך‬can also mean “to bite.” The wicked priest suffered physical injury of some kind. It is difficult to avoid the impression that “creditors” is understood as the ones who caused a somatic disfigurement on the wicked priest by laceration.48 In 9:2–4, Hab 2:8a is quoted a second time with one form of the re-citation formula. The pesherist does not always represent a re-quotation the same way (compare the two different versions of Hab 2:17cd in 12:1, 6–7), but in this case it is identical to its first iteration in 8:15. The subject of the biblical text remains the arrogant man, but the pesherist now reads this as a collective singular referring to “the last priests of Jerusalem.” They too amass wealth and booty much like the singular wicked priest figure of 8:3–13. They too must have been considered wicked. This is important evidence of the multiple “wicked priests” in the pesher. The sectarian comment draws its language from the biblical texts, and refers to the handing over of the plunder to the Kittim.49 Much has been made of the tense of the verb, and in the context the yiqtol is the imperfect rather than the preterite. It is nonetheless a reference to the future, written retrospectively.50 The switch of grammatical subjects continues and reverts back to the singular in the commentary of Hab 2:8b (1QpHab 9:8–12). Now, God is said to have handed over the singular wicked priest to his enemies for some form of affliction. This unit is notable for its loose connection, both within the prophecy of 46 47 48 49 50 ECPH, 111 and 122–23. The construct is an objective genitive (ECPH, 124). The description of the attack and the injury sustained is a mixture of the figurative, perceptive, moralizing and literal (ECPH, 124–25). An interpretation of “all the rest of the people will plunder you” (Hab 2:8a; ECPH, 125–27). The assumption is that predicted prophecy is a vaticinium ex eventu. The key phrase “in the last days” is likewise used in Gen. 49:28 to refer to a future retrospectively applied to the past (ECPH, 126–27). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 280 4/13/2022 8:06:45 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 281 Habakkuk and also between the quotation and the pesherite comment.51 In a complex sentence, the pesherist explained that God handed the wicked priest over to his enemies for affliction because of some unspecified wicked act that he committed against the Teacher of Righteousness and the men of his council, considered God’s elect.52 The second woe-oracle of Hab 2:9–11 is quoted in its entirety and glossed over with the pesherite comments in 1QpHab 9:12–10:5. Both in the MT and the lemma, displeasure is directed at someone who is “greedy of evil gain.” Like the addressee of the first woe, greed is the motivation. The latter figure, however, is greedy “for his house.” Both the biblical text and the sectarian comment turn on this term “house” (‫)בית‬. His “nest,” figuratively understood, is placed in an elevated position, out of reach from “the hand of evil.” It is characterized as a counsel of shame. Why this should be so is variously explained. MT Hab 2:10 points to an associated act of “cutting off many peoples” as the reason for having “forfeited your life” (NRSV). It could mean that the greedy man has set his own house at a height, away from evil hands, but in doing so left many peoples cut off. The result is a counsel of shame and a figurative forfeiting of life. The pesherist, however, read the two clauses as a reference to the location of divine judgment. For him, the lemma means “(the) confined territory of many peo[ples] and the bond[s of your] soul.” The antecedent is ‫ביתכה‬, identified as the house of the greedy man. The final verse of the second woe-oracle, the same in both the MT and the lemma, is a refrain of the figurative call-andresponse of the wall and rafter from the timber of the house. The pesherist identifies the addressee of the second woe with “the p[riest].” The damage to lines 16 and 17 of column 9 has potentially deprived us of what this priest had done. By the beginning of column 10, the stone of the biblical text is now understood as “the stones” associated with “oppression,” and “the rafter of its timber” with “robbery.” The end of line 1 and lines 2–5 constitute a re-citation of Hab 2:10b and an interpretation of it as a scene of divine judgment. Here, an unnamed figure, presumably the same priest mentioned previously, will be condemned “as wicked” and will be judged by God in a two-stage process of indictment. This judgment scene is tinged with the eschatological language of “fire of sulphur.” There is no gloss given for the case against him, but he is nonetheless judged guilty. The link to the biblical text is implicit: the 51 52 The same half verse is quoted also in Hab 2:17 (1QpHab 12:1) and Elliger has suggested that the latter was interpolated into the former (ECPH, 131). The sectarian comment includes a parenthetical comment that supplements the information in the main sentence (ECPH, 129). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 281 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM 282 Lim house of judgment is the confined territory, which in turn is the house of the greedy man. The third woe-oracle of Hab 2:12–14 is quoted in column 10 of 1QpHab, lines 5–8 and 14–15.53 The first two verses direct ire against someone who builds and establishes a town in blood and injustice, presumably because doing so runs counter to divine intention and favour (compare Gen. 4:17; 10:1– 11:9; Exod. 1:11). The final verse begins with the conjunction “because,” but its connection to the previous two verses is unclear. In what sense is the filling of the earth with the knowledge of the glory of Yhwh the reason for the illicit building activity?54 The pesherist took the oracle in a figurative sense, presaging a rival teacher’s establishment of a congregation “with falsehood” (10:19). No actual physical building took place. Rather, “the Preacher of the Lie,” another name for “the Man of the Lie,” caused many to err “with works of deception,” a futile effort that will result in divine judgment. Their guilt is specified as reviling and reproaching God’s elect, the sectarian community, who are the implied righteous. Lines 16 and 17 of column 10 are badly mutilated, but a preserved reading (“when they retur[n]”) possibly suggests that the deceived will find their way back to the knowledge of the divine as interpreted by the sect. The fourth woe-oracle is given a sustained, three-part interpretation by the commentator over the span of a column and a half of the scroll (Hab 2:15 in 1QpHab 11:2–8; Hab 2:16 in 1QpHab 11:8–17; and Hab 2:17 in 1QpHab 11:17–12:10).55 The sobriquet of “the wicked priest” explicitly identifies the antagonist in the first and third parts of the sectarian comment (11:4; 12:2), and implicitly in the second (“the priest whose shame exceeds his glory”, 11:12). The Teacher of Righteousness and sectarian community are in view in the first and third parts respectively, and the second part refers to the uncircumcised heart of the wicked priest. All three parts of the sectarian interpretation draw on language and themes of the biblical text. The biblical oracle is loosely constructed. Habakkuk 2:15–16 ostensibly castigates a drunk who causes his neighbour to drink and warns him of the consequent divine judgment. Habakkuk 2:17a foretells the response against the perpetrator of violence against Lebanon and his destruction of the beasts. 53 54 55 ECPH, 136–45. Hab 2:14 does not fit the context of the third woe–oracle, but is very close to Isa 11:9 (see ECPH, 143–44). ECPH, 145–60. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 282 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 283 And Hab 2:17b refers to human bloodshed and violence to the earth, towns and its inhabitants.56 The biblical text uses figurative language to express his disapproval, and the pesherist understands it as such and imitates this style. Habakkuk 2:15–16 turns on the figure of drink, and its associated tropes of pouring, satiation, and wobbling, as the literary vehicle to express prophetic dismay. This is corroborated by evoking the cup of the Lord, a biblical symbol of judgment (compare Isa 51:17, 22), as a metaphor of punishment. For the pesherist, Hab 2:15 refers to an encounter between the wicked priest and the Teacher of Righteousness on Yom ha-Kippurim or “the day of atonement,” a day of fasting and rest.57 The sectarian comment has been understood to imply a calendrical disagreement that allowed the wicked high priest to travel during the feast to the house of the Teacher. The “house of his exile” is thought to refer to a physical building, the archaeological site of Khirbet Qumran located in the Judaean Desert.58 That is a possible, but not necessary, inference, since “exile” is also a theological concept. The phrase “house of his exile” could also mean a community of the Teacher who is thought to be still in exile with him until the eschatological end.59 In the context of the pesher, “house” refers to those who were present with the Teacher of Righteousness.60 It could theoretically refer to both a physical building and community. The concrete interpretation turns on the literal understanding of “chased,” ‫רדף‬ meaning a physical pursuit. But the verb can also semantically denote a persecution. All the other verbs used in this pesher draw on the figurative use of language (“swallow,” “shone forth” and “cause to stumble”).61 56 57 58 59 60 61 The very same passage is found in Hab 2:8a (cited in 1QpHab 9:8–12). The lexeme ‫מדמי‬, a combination of the preposition (‫ )מן‬and plural construct (‫)דמי‬, grammatically functions as a conjunction, meaning “on account of” or “because of”. But its causal or consequential sense as an explanation of Hab 2:17a is unclear. Using the sectarian variant ‫( מועדיהם‬MT: ‫ )מעוריהם‬to refer to the feast and tottering (ECPH, 146). Eliezer Sukenik suggested that the Hodayot likewise referred to the same event (ECPH, 147). The presumed underlying calendrical issue, proposed by Shemaryahu Talmon, has been challenged by Sacha Stern (ECPH, 148–49). The exile will only be brought to an end with divine intervention. For the concept of exile, see M.A. Knibb, “The Exile in the Literature of the Intertestamental Period,” Heythrop Journal 17.3 (1976): 253–72. As the plural suffixes (‫לבלעם‬, “to swallow them up” and ‫לכשילם‬, “to cause them to stumble”) imply (ECPH, 144). ECPH, 147. While ‫ רדף אחר‬is most often used in connection with a physical pursuit, it can be understood figuratively. In the woe-oracle of Isa 5:11, ‫ ירדפו מאחרי‬is a figurative pursuit of strong drink. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 283 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM 284 Lim No direct mention is made of the cause of the wicked priest’s action, but his pursuit of the Teacher of Righteousness is described hyperbolically “in the fury of his wrath,” presumably he was incandescent with anger. The wicked priest’s intention is to swallow him and them up, an opaque expression that draws its verb from the biblical text of Hab 1:13b. Its effect is “to cause them to stumble,” an action that can figuratively mean to make someone weak, cause someone to deviate from the straight path or corrupt them with false teaching.62 The fact that this attack took place on Yom ha-Kippurim could mean that the unsaid point of deception is associated with fasting, or some other aspect of observance of the feast. Alternatively, it could literally mean that it occurred during the feast. The historical information that can be derived from this pesher is meagre. The same is true for the interpretation of Hab 2:16.63 Much of what the pesherist says is in one way or another derivative of the biblical text. The lemma and comment are well known for having a double reading. The lemma preserves a variant (‫הרעל‬, “to wobble”) attested in the versions, but the MT’s reading of “to be uncircumcised” (‫ )הערל‬is also reflected in the pesherite comment that the priest did not “circumcise the foreskin of his heart” (‫)ערלת לבו‬, a biblical expression adopted by the sectarians to convey the removal of any barrier to the love of God (compare 1QS 5:4–6). The use of biblical language as such does not exclude a potentially historical reference. The sectarian paraphrase, “he walked in ways of inebriation in order to quench the thirst,” points to a drinking problem. This is surely a sectarian perception, given that drinking is par for the course among the royalty. Several Maccabean and Hasmonean rulers imbibed excessively in the nectar of the vineyard, which makes it difficult to identify who the pesherist has in mind.64 The final part of the fourth woe-oracle turns from the shaming of the drunkard to two statements about the violence and destruction of Lebanon and its beasts (Hab 2:17a), and human bloodshed and violence throughout the land, town and all their inhabitants (Hab 2:17b).65 These sentences are evidently linked to each other and Hab 2:15–16, but the conjunctions (‫ כי‬and ‫ )מדמי‬do not shed much light on why they should follow one another. It may be that the 62 63 64 65 ECPH, 148. ECPH, 149–51. For example, Simon Maccabee and Alexander Jannaeus are reported to have had a problem with drink (1 Macc 16:11–17 and Josephus, Ant 13.398). ECPH, 152–60. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 284 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 285 reference to “violence” (‫ )חמס‬links these originally independent traditions to each other and to the prophecy as a whole. The pesherist interprets the biblical lemma as a foretelling of divine retribution against the wicked priest, for what he had done to his community of sectarians, figuratively identified with the “Lebanon” and “beasts.” 1QpHab 12:2–6 constitutes a complex sentence that condemns the wicked priest for what he had done to the sectarian community, variously described as “the council of the community,” “the simple ones of Judah,” “observers of the torah,” and “the poor.”66 A second interpretation of Hab 2:17b occurs in 1QpHab 12:6–10. Some of the biblical words have been re-arranged to allow the pesherist to identify “the town” with bloodshed in Jerusalem where the wicked priest committed acts of abomination that resulted in the defilement of the Temple. This is extraneous information not derived from the biblical text. Finally, the biblical reference to “violence of land” is peshered as the towns of Judah where the wicked priest robbed the wealth of “the poor,” another name for the sectarian community. The fifth and final woe-oracle does not refer to the wicked and righteous evident elsewhere, because the lemma is understood as the idolatry of gentile nations.67 The oracle points the finger of accusation at the idol-maker and the crafts that he produces (Hab 2:18–19). He is charged with creating “a fatling of falsehood” and “dumb idols,” themes that are common elsewhere in the biblical texts. The pesherist explains that this lemma refers to those among the nations who form idols in order to serve and worship them. These idols are impotent and will not save them on the day of judgment. The phrase “all the nations” refers to the Chaldeans/Kittim and other nations. The pesher draws to a close with a partially preserved quotation of Hab 2:20, declaring, “All the land is silent before Him”. In the MT, the preceding clause of Hab 2:20a proclaims that Yhwh is in his holy Temple. The pesherist understood the passage as a reference to the day of judgment when God will destroy the two groups of enemies, the gentile nations who serve stone and wooden idols, and the non-sectarian wicked of the Jewish people.68 66 67 68 Editing of secondary material is likely (ECPH, 154–55). These designations seem to refer to different groups within the community. The pesherist reserves the adjective ‫ רשע‬to describe Jews whom he disapproves. The Kittim and other gentile nations are never described as “wicked.” The clause “by artifice all their schemings are to do evil” (1QpHab 3:5) is a conventional description of the cunning and political machinations of the Romans (see ECPH, 61). ECPH, 160–64. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 285 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM 286 3 Lim The Wicked Priests of Pesher Habakkuk The presence of more than one wicked priest in 1QpHab has previously been argued. William Brownlee states: “The most telling blow to many theories of the identity of the Wicked Priest is to be found in the multiple dooms which befall him, not all of which can be made to fit a single man in known history, nor in any history, if more than one of these dooms is fatal.”69 The multiplicity of righteous and wicked figures is amply attested in Pesher Habakkuk, as the above discussion of the pesherite poetics show, but the end or demise of the wicked priest is described in figurative and plain language, often associated with eschatological judgment. It is God who will judge and condemn the priest as wicked (1QpHab 10:3–5), repay the recompense by judging him for destruction (1QpHab 12:2–6), and destroy him, along with other wicked ones, “in the day of judgment” (1QpHab 13:2–4). Even when the description concerns “shame” and “pain,” the pesherist uses eschatological language of the cup of the wrath of God to describe how the wicked priest would be swallowed up (1QpHab 11:12–15). It is difficult to distinguish a real death and punishment envisioned from a hoped for divine retribution in the end-time. A better way is to consider the reference to “the last priests of Jerusalem” (1QpHab 9:4). The pesherist does not explicitly call them “wicked,” due to the variability of his style, but these priests are described as having amassed wealth and booty in the same way as the figure of the wicked priest in 8:3–13.70 Their actions are described by the use of the yiqtol, and that aspect/tense in Hebrew is ambiguous. It could be an imperfect, referring to a future (“they will amass wealth and booty”), or to a preterite, describing how they have already gathered the spoils of the people. In the context, the phrase “in the last days” (9:6) suggests that the yiqtol grammatically expresses the future, but of an event that has already taken place.71 Unless the pesherist has been endowed with unprecedented powers to foretell the future, he could only have known that they were the last priests if he had been writing in the Herodian period.72 69 70 71 72 “The Wicked Priest,” 4. See also my article, “The Wicked Priests of the Groningen Hypothesis,” JBL 111.3 (1993): 415–25. See ECPH, 26. The description of their plunder of the people and dealings with the Kittim/ Romans suggest that they were high priests who had political and military power. But one cannot rule out the possibility that “the last priests”, as a summative statement, could also include ordinary priests (ECPH, 30–1). Compare the use of the yiqtols and ‫ אחרית הימים‬of the testament and prophecy of Gen 49:1. ECPH, 25 and 126–27. Even advocates of the Maccabean theory intuitively recognized the multiplicity of wicked priests. Vermes, Qumran in Perspective, 18 and 135, understood “the last priests of Jerusalem” to refer to multiple figures of wicked priests, from John Hyrcanus I (134–104 BCE) to Judas Aristobulus II (67–63 BCE), even while championing the view 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 286 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 4 287 The Tribute of the Romans The above discussion of the poetics shows just how difficult it is to derive historical information from the pesher. The pesherist’s perception and depiction of his historical reality, and of the figure of the wicked priest in particular, are refracted in the lens of the biblical lemmata that he cites and reuses, and occluded by his strategy of imitating the biblical obfuscation in his comments. Faced with this well-nigh impenetrable style, I suggest establishing the chronological parameters by the scholarly consensus that the Romans are the Kittim of the pesher. In his interpretation of Hab 1:16cd (“for by them fat is his portion and his food is his grain”), the pesherist comments: “Its interpretation is that they apportion their yoke and their forced labour–their food–among all the people year in year out to lay waste many lands” (1QpHab 6:5–8).73 The Romans imposed tribute in the form of money, forced labour, weapons, auxiliary troops, and food of grain upon the nations under their rule. This form of taxation was levied on Jews in the settlement of Judaea following Pompey’s conquest in 63 BCE. The Romans exacted more than ten thousand talents, and Jews paid tribute of money, grain or corn, other provisions and forced labour. As Josephus stated it succinctly, Pompey “made Jerusalem tributary to the Romans” (Ant 14.74; compare J.W. 1.154). Before 63 BCE, Jews would have paid tribute to the Hasmoneans, and from 37 BCE they paid taxes to the Herodians.74 During this twentysix-year period, three high priests ruled Judaea, Aristobulus II, Hyrcanus II and Antigonos. 5 Acts of the Last Hasmonean High Priests In Pesher Habakkuk, there may be references to the acts of the last Hasmonean high priests. Some of these are uncorroborated by any external source, and 73 74 that Jonathan was the one wicked priest. Vermes also interpreted “the furious young lion” and “the last priest” of 4QpNah as references to the wicked priest, Alexander Jannaeus (103–76 BCE). I read “his grain” instead of the anomalous feminine adjective of the MT. Apart from this, there is clear evidence of tribute in 1QpHab 6:5–8 (see my “The Grain of the Kittim in Habakkuk Pesher. A New Reading of ‫( ומאכלו ברו‬1QpHab 6:5)” in Scribal Practice, Text and Canon in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Essays in Memory of Peter W. Flint, ed. Ananda Geyser-Fouché and John J. Collins [Leiden: Brill, 2019]), 205–209; and ECPH, 21–25 and 84–93. They paid taxes to the Romans when Judaea came under direct rule, after the deposition of Archelaus (ECPH, 23). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 287 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM 288 Lim belong to sectarian history.75 A Hasmonean high priest evidently stole the wealth or possession of the “poor,” another name for the community (1QpHab 12:9–10). The same one or another high priest figuratively pursued, or persecuted, the Teacher and his community (“the house of his exile,” 1QpHab 11:2– 7). A group, called “the house of Absalom,” was reproved by the Teacher of Righteousness for not helping in his dispute with the Liar (1QpHab 11:9–10). This group may have been named after Aristobulus’s uncle and father-in-law. Other passages allude to public acts that are recorded by Josephus. In col. 9, lines 1–2, the wounds sustained by the wicked priest involved a somatic disfigurement of some kind (“in the body of his flesh”), possibly caused by biting, since the “creditors” are those who figuratively take a bite out of those indebted to them. This could be a reference to an incident when Antigonos cut off or bit off the ears of Hyrcanus in order to make him ineligible for resuming the high priesthood, physical defect would have disqualified someone from the office of the high priest. Josephus records two, different accounts of the incident (Ant. 14.366–67; J.W. 1.270). The pesherist may have known one version of the story relating to Antigonos’s laceration of Hyrcanus’ ears “with his own teeth.”76 In col. 9, lines 2–7, there is a reference to the hand-over of the wealth and plunder of the people to the Kittim or Romans. As discussed above, this incident has already taken place, but cast as a prediction of the fate of the wicked priests’ booty. This could be a reference to the procedural change of collecting taxes. Whereas the Romans used to contract out the collection of taxes to the publicani or “farmer” of tax-revenue, from 47 BCE onwards Julius Caesar reformed the collection of tribute from the Jews. Jews were exempted from or paid a reduced rate of tax, and the collection of the tribute was now the responsibility of the high priest who handed it over to the Romans. John Hyrcanus and his sons were said to have collected the taxes for the Romans.77 In col. 8, lines 3–13, the amassing of the wealth of the violent men could be a reference to Aristobulus’ reputation as a violent and turbulent man who was accused of incursions into neighbouring regions and piracies in the sea. He was helped by other violent men from whom he stole.78 75 76 77 78 ECPH, 33. ECPH, 17–30. ECPH, 29–30. ECPH, 28. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 288 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM A Fresh Approach to a Vexed Problem 6 289 Conclusions In the foregoing, I have advanced a fresh approach to the vexed problem of the historical identity of the wicked priest in Pesher Habakkuk. This approach is characterized by a method that reads the biblical lemma and sectarian comment together, taking full account of the virtually impervious poetics. There is only the faintest outlines of historical figures sketched in the presentation of the prophetic oracles and the pesherite interpretation, and these bare lines may be interpreted in various ways that cannot be easily falsified or verified without also accepting the assumptions and interpretation of evidence external to Pesher Habakkuk. The above argument that there were several wicked priests is not based on what is said of their evil deeds, punishment, demise or death, but on the reference to the last wicked priests of Jerusalem. The pesherist knew that they were “last” because he was writing after the end of the Hasmonean dynasty and in the Herodian era. My approach took the political, military and financial imposition of tribute or taxation on the Jews as a clue to demarcating the period of Roman and Jewish history. Jews paid tribute to the Romans between 63 BCE and 37 BCE. They did not pay tribute to them before that time, and they paid taxes to the Herodians after that time. During this span of twenty-six-year, Aristobulus II, Hyrcanus II and Mattathias Antigonos were the high priests. Passages in the pesher reflect knowledge of some of the acts of these final three rulers of the Hasmonean kingdom.79 Bibliography Bailey, John W. “The Usage in the Post-Restoration Period of Terms Descriptive of Priest and High Priest.” JBL 70.3 (1951): 217–25. Brown-deVost, Bronson. Commentary and Authority in Mesopotamia and Qumran. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019. Brownlee, William H. The Midrash Pesher of Habakkuk. SBLMS 24. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979. 79 On the Teacher of Righteousness, this much is clear: in Pesher Habakkuk, the Teacher is portrayed as a sacerdotal pedagogue with a distinctive form of scriptural interpretation closely associated with the pesher. There is no evidence that he once held the office of the high priesthood (ECPH, 32–33). 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 289 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM 290 Lim Brownlee, William H. “The Wicked Priest, the Man of the Lies, and the Righteous Teacher: The Problem of Identity” JQR n.s. 73.1 (1982): 1–38. Collins, John J. “The Origins of the Qumran Community: A Review of the Evidence.” Pages 159–78 in To Touch the Text: Biblical and Related Studies in Honor of Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. Edited by Maurya P. Horgan, and Paul J. Kobelski. New York, NY: Crossroad. 1989. 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Harlow, Karina Martin Hogan, Matthew Goff, & Joel Kaminsky. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011. Vermes, Geza. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Qumran In Perspective. Rev. ed. London: SCM, 1994. Weis, P.R. “The Date of the Habakkuk Pesher.” JQR 41.2 (1950): 125–54. Zangenberg, Jürgen. “The Function of the Caves and the Settlement of Qumran. Reflections on a New Chapter of Research.” Pages 195–209 in The Caves of Qumran. Proceedings of the International Conference Lugano 2014. Edited by M. Fidanzio. Leiden: Brill, 2016. 9789004517110_Collins and Geyser-Fouche_11-Lim.indd 291 4/13/2022 8:06:46 PM