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Re: orion Spoken DSS Hebrew
On Tue, 25 Nov 1997, Jack Kilmon wrote:
> sectarian" image of the Qumran folk. The genre of the Aramaic
> texts are explanatory and "storytelling." If these Aramaic texts
> were being used to explain biblical texts to the general populace,
> it is evidence that Aramaic was the lingua franca. If they were
> being used to teach initiates into the community, it again is evidence
> that Aramaic was the primary tongue of initiates not yet schooled
> in Hebrew.
Take a closer look at what is in Aramaic. Among other things, the book
of Enoch is included, which is (1) a book from the third and early second
century which seems to be brought into the collection, and (2) a book of
esoteric lore not intended for the general public (in contrast to your
understanding of the Targumin). It makes sense to me to pay attention to
what is in Aramaic and what in Hebrew, but I think that Davies is correct
in seeing material from more than one community or source here, which may
have something to do with the language issue.
David W. Suter
Saint Martin's College
Lacey, WA 98503
dsuter@catadon.stmartin.edu