MedLawPlus.com®
|
- From: Peter
State of residence: Not Given
Subject: Dating the Teacher of Righteousness
Date: 3-29-2012
I've seen this before, and I think you are right to point out that it places the "Teacher" just prior to the Maccabean revolt. This is serious internal evidence that caught me off-guard when I first saw it. What bothers me about this "390-years-after" statement (plus 20) is the notoriously bad institutional memory in those days for knowing history, making it legendary, and then translating that "knowledge" into exactly stating when certain events occurred. Certainly it's possible, but how likely from a group of people who were casting out demons? So, I had not completely written off Eisenman's interpretation.
- From: JJR
Subject: Reply
Date: 3-29-2012
>>What bothers me about this "390-years-after" statement (plus 20) is the notoriously bad institutional memory in those days<<
Some ancient societies maintained excellent records, some did not. If the statement came from a Roman historian, would you have objected? How did the Romans keep track of dates? They used the name of the consuls then in office and, later, also the year of the reign of the emperor. The general consensus is that the Teacher of Righteousness was a Kohen priest. See 4Q171, "this concerns the Priest, the Teacher of Righteousness." It was extremely important for the Kohanim to maintain their ancestor lists. This was how one established his right to the office of priest, i.e, tracing personal lineage back to Aaron. The Kohanim also recorded the terms of each high priest. There were only 13 high priests from the time of the Babylonian restoration under Cyrus up to Onias III. See list of Jewish high priests. Today, we have the dates for the terms of office for each of those 13 high priests. If we have them today, then the Kohamin of the second century BCE possessed this information as well. In my view, the Kohanim would have been able to accurately count the years from Babylonia captivity up to the time that Onias III was improperly removed from office and replaced by his brother Jason (which occurred in 175 BCE). In 2 Maccabees one finds specific references to dates, such as, "In the reign of Demetrius, the year of hundred and sixty-nine, we Jews wrote to you ... ." 2 Maccabees 1:7. 2 Maccabees starts its narrative with the ouster of Onias III, which just so happens to be the approximate date referenced in the Damascus Document for the advent of the Teacher of Righteousness. It's difficult to argue that the writers of the Damascus Document were dealing in legend while a nearly contemporaneous document (2 Maccabees) references specific historical dates.
|
|
|
