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Re: yahad ostracon
At 08:57 AM 9/13/96 -0600, Jack Kilmon wrote:
>Philip Davies wrote:
>>
>> >Let's suppose that the ostracon is the real mcCoy. What would it clarify?
>> >
>> Thatan entity called yahad is not attested only in literary documents from
>> the caves but in a documentary text from near the site; the implication
>> being (I stress implication, but a strong one) tha there was a group at
>> Khirbet Qumran calling itself officiAlly the yhd.
>>
>
> The ostracon fascinates us because of the word YAHAD. We immediately
>think of that which the sectarians call themselves in IQS, Serekh ha-Yahad. I
>have been following the ostracon thread with great interest because of this.
>My feeling, however, is that some of the listusers are unfamiliar with the use
>of YHD in the DSS and wondering why the excitement. I hope this clarifies the
>connection.
>
>
>Jack Kilmon
>Houston, Texas
>JPMan@accesscomm.net
>
Thanks, Jack & Philip. Here's my question. Doesn't your description of the
interest in the ostracon carry the assumption that there was only one yhd,
and that the yhd in the ostracon must be the same one as the yhd in the DSS
(IQS in particular)? There are several issues here:
(1) How distinctive was the use of yhd? Was it only used on rare occasions
to describe specialized communities of a certain kind? Or was it in general
use in the period associated with the DSS for many kinds of communities?
(2) The proximity of the ostracon, in space and time, to the DSS (alluded to
above).
Please excuse my ignorance if the answers to the above questions are obvious
to everyone on this list.
Thanks,
Bob Schacht
Northern Arizona University