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Re: orion 63/64 bce - or about then etc.

On Wed, 8 Oct 1997 10:05:25 -0400 (EDT),  Dunnlaw@aol.com writes:

    [... snip ... already seen ...]

>Here is part of the problem I have with this viewpoint.  Josephus says in
>Wars, Bk 1, Ch. 5 that after Alexander died then the Pharisees (who had
>gained the favor of Alexandra S.) "themseleves" slew Diogenes (presumably the
>primary leader of the Sadducees - because he had advised Alexander on the
>religous issue, i.e., crucifiction of 800 Pharisees, and because he was the
>primary target of the Pharisees) and then the Sadducees were "dispersed all
>over the country."   The point is that when Scaurus arrived not too long
>thereafter the Sadducees were not in Jerusalem because they had been
>dispersed out of Jerusalem by Alexandra.  Therefore, those slaughtered in the
>temple in 64/63 bce were probably (for the most part) Pharisees, not
>Sadducees.   Would this possibly also suggest that 4QMMT might be a "letter"
>or manifesto from the Sadducees who had been chased out of Jerusalem by
>Alexandra (and perhaps taking some of their library with them - a more
>reasonable explaination for the library leving J.) directed to the Pharisees
>at a time just after being dispersed by Alexandra but just before Scaurus
>arrives?  This would leave room for a later arrival at Q by the E's under
>Herod the Great their probable benefactor.

    I read your summary of BJ in the paragraph above and wondered where
    your version came from.  Mary Smallwood's edition of Williamson bears
    "small" resemblance to the account above.  In fact, [my comments
    in square brackets] "the most prominent of the threatened citizens
    [followers of Diogenes] sought the aid of Aristobolus, and he persuaded
    his mother to spare them in view of their station, expelling them from the
    city if not sure of their innocence.  Thus granted immunity, they
    scattered over the country."

          (Depending on the source, the accessession of Alexandra
           took place in 78 or 76, ie, her death in 69 or 67.  Has 
           the list settled this small discrepancy yet?  It would 
           seem from BJ account the dispersion took place near the
           end of her rule.)

    This would seem an ideal time for those people to deposit their 
    literary cache as quickly and securely as possible from where they
    held it in Jerusalem.  They were not going have access to the city
    from there on, which was what happened.  Certainly from the description
    of the way the temple servitors behaved when Pompey beseiged the
    temple they were sticklers for liturgical details - ie Pharisees
    by Josephus' account, not Saduccees.


   [... snip ... already seen - not relevant to the above ...]


>Mark Dunn
>Dunnlaw@aol.com
>
Tom Simms