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orion minim; Ib and II dating
Mr. Ben-David wrote: "Each of the three groups *did*, in fact, refer to
each other as miynim." [assuming he refers to Pharisees, Sadducees, and
Essenes and to minim]
This is not a fact. The term min (minim; minut) does not appear in the
Qumran mss in the sense of heretic/heresy. It does appear in Qumran mss
in the Biblical Hebrew sense of kind, species.
The term min evolved a secondary, negative, meaning in a similar way and
at about the same time period as did the Greek word for heresy,
hairesis.
Minim first appears in the negative sense in Rabbinic literature.
Hairesis appears negatively, e.g., in Irenaeus (and at most in a few
earlier instances).
Mr. Hutchesson continues to insist on a seventy or so year gap in Qumran
settlement, though very few Qumran mss are absolutly dated by internal
evidence. Again I invite him to read J. Magness (DSD 2, 1995, 58-65) and
other archaeological analyses and then to present the complete data.
Many of the Qumran loci were used for the same purposes in Ib and in II
which points to the same group using them after the fire. Again, the
coin evidence, radiocarbon dating, pottery types and dates do not bear
out his claim. Pliny's source (Marcus V. Agrippa, I think [JJS 45, 1994,
295-98]) wrote about Qumran as inhabited during this proposed gap. I see
no point in long exchanges based on misinformation. (Yes Ezekiel is
about the temple. Was it then necessarily written in Jerusalem?)
Stephen Goranson goransons@uncwil.edu