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Re: orion-list Prof. Goranson's "DOERS" - A MACCABEAN EVIDENCE?

Dierk:

I am always pleased when someone offers questions that are
EASY to explain:

1) The whole POINT of a secretly organized and secretly
maintained organization is that "civilian" soldiers distributed
throughout all the villages can maintain a credible village
life and STILL be coordinated against the enemy at specific
times and places.  I see NO reason to think the operations
of a Maccabeean/Essenian unit would be limited to LIBERATED 
territories only.  If that were true, secret oaths would be an
unusual aspect of an ancient military guerilla regime.

Over time, the "civilian guerillas" became
strong enough to be a full fledged army.  And then, again,
over time, and with the establishment of the Hasmonean
princes, the "Secret Organization" contracted down to the
size of a CORE of "die-hard" "stalwart" Holy Ones.  Less
military operation and MORE secrets and MORE planning
for the future End of Days.

2) So many people compress ALL the writings of the DSS
or Essene related literature onto a single time frame and
for only ONE organization.  And yet we know the Essenes
persisted for more than 100 years, and according to Josephus
and Hippolytus ESPECIALLY, this "umbrella" movement split
into SEVERAL varieties.  So the idea that that the earliest
Maccabeean/Essenian structures required a 3-Year probation
period is not only a little far-fetched, it is also inappropriate to
think that this would be a foundational requirement (no matter
WHEN or WHERE the Essenes first emerged).

Obviously the 3 year requirement was developed to test the
endurance of people who SAID they could be DOERS OF THE
LAW.... and DOERS OF WAR... while at the same time distancing
the VETERANS from these neophytes that could put their lives in
danger because of their uncertain loyalties.

George Brooks
Tampa, FL
George.X.Brooks@JUNO.com

> 
> No doubt that the only secret was the MEMBERSHIP in a militant 
> POLITICAL
> organization which tactics to realize its strategic aims were just 
> as known
> to the contemporaries as we knew the strategy of the former Vietcong.
> Moreover, we see the clear tendency to come to regular military 
> organization
> forms, at least in the battle rules of the War Scroll. That means, a 
> sāv'-ā
> (an army) of the yachad must have operated by using regular tactics 
> within a
> liberated zone (e.g., haGalil). Otherwise we talk about nightmares of
> militant spinners.
> 
> NB. If we develop a secret GUERILLA scenario in the Maccabaean age, 
> we have
> to reduce ourselves on the closed 3-year interval between the first 
> military
> confrontation on the road from Shechem to the Gophna area 167 BC and 
> the
> purification of the Temple 164 BC. That is because the Maccabaean
> commander-in-chiefs exclusively made use of regular tactics in the 
> following
> INTERNATIONAL stage of war against Seleucid-Syria.
> To reach the fragments mentioning Shelamzion & Co. such a bubble 
> scenario
> consequently aims at the classical Sleeping Beauty phenomenon of 100 
> years
> or more of passive (literary) coming to terms with the past.
> 
> Unfortunately I myself know no scenario that would fit perfectly. But
> perhaps we all are doped by the 390 years of 0CD, a mysterious 
> number, not
> at least because it is divisible through six (a hidden reference to 
> 65
> yearweeks?)...
> 
> Best regards,
> Dierk
> ---------------------------------------------------

On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 23:58:34 +0100 "Dierk van den Berg" <haGalil@gmx.net>
writes:
> George wrote:
> 
> > As I mentioned earlier, it is the MILITARY aspect of the DSS 
> community
> > structure that seems to be the DEFINING element of that 
> society.... all
> these
> > elements are PERFECTLY in tune with a secret military society.
For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <george.x.brooks@juno.com>
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