What is it about?
This study shows that a very complex interplay of keywords shared by scriptural texts was used to interpret their meaning. Keywords from a text to be decoded were aligned with the same words in other scriptural texts. Parts of this second text, and their surrounding context, would then be incorporated into interpretation of the decoded text. Following this the secondarily used texts could be used to provide addition sources for keywords. This results in a connection of all of these verses in a cascade which is connected through the keywords. By understanding the context of these verses in relationship with one another and the primary decoded text both the meaning and process of interpretation are exposed. It was shown that there are three levels which result. 1) The plain meaning of the text. 2) Its relationship to contemporized history of the group. 3) An underlying theological meaning.
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Why is it important?
This study demonstrates an important, and underrecognized, way in which the authors of Qumran texts decoded the hidden meaning of scripture and unfulfilled prophecy. It is shown that a key word in a scriptural text is aligned with the same word in a text to be interpreted and that its context explains the meaning of this second text. Further, subsequent keywords could then be taken not from the scripture being interpreted but rather from the text which had been used in the interpretation. This technique greatly expanded the scriptural texts available in interpreting a specific text.
Perspectives
By understanding this use of cascading keywords and their ability to unlock three levels of meaning in texts is extremely important in understanding Qumran texts. An example is Pesher Habakkuk (1QpHab) VII:3-5. It has been ubiquitously discussed in the literature but never understood. By realizing that the interpretation is based on Joel 2:3; Deut 34:10; Num 16:5; Gen 41:39; Dan 4:6; and Jer 26:5, which are each connected through keywords, it meaning becomes clear. It is stating that the Teacher of Righteousness showers Torah knowledge like the rains, that he is like Moses and chosen in deference to false prophets, that he is equal in his understanding of the mysteries sent by God as were Joseph and Daniel. Through this technique the text describes exactly how the Qumran community understood the process of pesher interpretation.
David Katzin
University of California Los Angeles
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Tertiary Level of Understanding in Qumran Interpretive Texts Discoverable Through Cascading Stichwörter, Journal of Ancient Judaism, December 2015, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co, KG,
DOI: 10.13109/jaju.2015.6.2.206.
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