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Herod-era and DSS
Russell Gmirkin wrote:
> Personally, I don't see evidence for the _composition_ of any texts after 62
> BCE.
>
> (1) Yadin dated the War Scroll after this date based on the Roman weaponry
> and tactics described therein, but my article on "Roman Weaponry and the War
> Scroll Reconsidered" in DSD [last winter it was reportedly coming out in the
> "next" issue!?] shows 1QM 2-9 reflects 2nd century BCE Roman practices.
>
> (2) pNah and pHab are sometimes dated after 62 BCE due to references to the
> Kittim, but in both cases I find this argument unconvincing. There is no
> reason why references to the Romans could not have predated the Roman
> conquest of Judea.
>
> (3) In the whole scrolls corpus there appears to be no even veiled reference
> to the Herods.
>
> Did the sectarians (wherever they resided) stop composing new texts in the
> Roman period???
>
> -- Russell Gmirkin
Yes, there is not a shred in the Qumran texts
directly or indirectly that requires a Herod-era
date of composition. In light of the huge number
of texts at issue, this surely requires explanation.
The next question is whether there is any evidence
for _copying_ of texts as late as the Herodian period
in the Qumran texts. The arguments in favor of this
are palaeography (ambiguous, since absolute dates for
Qumran scripts should never have been considered other
than floating, and have in no small measure themselves
been anchored on the basis of the 68 CE scenario, which
is circular reasoning), AMS dates (again, ambiguous, on
present evidence), and a good story scenario for 68 CE
(albeit unattested, even in legend). So it is an
interesting question.
But here is a question for you, Russell. Your "sectarians"
of the first BCE--who are they? According to Josephus,
the "sadducees" carried influence during the first part
of the 1st BCE, then lost power. Perhaps Qumran literature
emerges from this context? And forget Essenes--who may
be the first-century CE successors of this formerly-powerful
party or philosophic school or association, by another name.
Isn't it strange that the rabbis knew first- and second-
century CE heterodox types as "sadducees" and seem never
to have heard of Essenes? What is going on here?
Best wishes and looking foward to your War Scroll article--
Greg Doudna
gd@teol.ku.dk