Stephen Goranson makes some interesting comments about Psalm 154, noting
that it occurs in one context on the same scroll as a sectarian calendar, on
another with 4Q448 (Hymn to King Jonathan). J.A. Sandars notes its Essene
affinities in terminology, but considers it to predate the Essenes. "Its
affinities to known ideas and practices of the Qumran Essenes suggest that it
may have originated in Hasidic or proto-Essenian circles, perhaps in the
second quarter of the second century BC" (The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll, p.
109). Sandars suggestion that the Hasidim may have authored the text (which
Goranson omitted in his otherwise informative posting) is doubtless related
to the phrase "qehal hasidim" ["assembly of the pious" or "assembly of the
Hasidim" (line 12). This is the same phrase in Ps. 149:1 which is the basis
for the phrase "company of Hasideans" at 1 Macc. 2:42 to describe the initial
army of [Mattathias and] Judas Maccabaeus. Some scholars earlier in the
century believed Ps. 149 and others (including Ps. 154, known from the
Syriac) derived from the Hasidim in Maccabean times. This view is now
discredited (largely due to Oesterly); rather, the Hasidim took their name
from Ps. 79 and 149 around 166 BCE. It is possible that Ps. 154 was
pre-Maccabean but came to be viewed with special favor by the Hasidim after
166 BCE.
Certainly the phrase "qehal hasidim" ["assembly of the pious"] came to
be specially and specifically applied to the Hasidim after the Maccabean
period. This raises the interesting question: why do lines from Ps. 154
appear on the same scroll as 4Q448? As I argued in "The War Scroll and Roman
Weaponry Reconsidered" (DSD 3 [1996] 89-129) and "Historical Allusions in the
War Scroll" (DSD 5 [1998] 172-214), all evidence points to the War Scroll
being the war manual of the Maccabean army of 163 BCE, i.e. the Hasidim.
Elsewhere I have argued (including on this list) that both the Sadducees and
Essenes revered the older literature of the Hasidim, and that the Qumran
scrolls may be a Sadducee library containing a large proportion of older
Hasidim texts. It seems to me that by the time of Alexander Jannaeus, such
texts as Psalms 154 must have been taken to refer to the Hasidim. The use of
Ps. 154 at Qumran shows the sectarians held literature referring to the
assembly of the Hasidim in high regard. The authors of 4Q448, by also
copying Ps. 154 on the same scroll, also show their Hasidean affinities:
that is, they probably considered themselves descendants and spiritual heirs
of the Hasidim. (I hold that 4Q448 was written by Sadducee partisans of
Alexander Jannaeus, but if it is insisted that 4Q448 was written by Essenes,
would this not suggest a linguistic as well as historical connection between
the Hasidim and Essenes?)
I do not at all follow Goranson's logic that the (rather incidental)
condemnation of the wicked in Psalm 154 somehow supports the proposition that
Jonathan is a wicked figure in 4Q448. If parallels must be drawn, why not
compare the "assembly of the Hasidim" in Psalm 154 with the "assembly of your
[God's? Jonathan's?] people Israel" in 4Q448? However, all such analogies
are speculative. The fact that a "qehal Hasidim" psalm is associated with
the Hymn to King Jonathan, however, is undeniably an important clue to the
spiritual affinities of the authors of 4Q448.
Regarding the date of Philo's essay on the Essenes, "Every Good Man is
Free," thank you for the references, which I will read with interest. If
this treatise predates 37 BCE, then the disturbances at Alexandria become
irrelevant to that treatise, as you say: however, one must see the dating
arguments first. "The Contemplative Life" (on the Therapeutae near
Alexandria) postdates the Essenes, but the Loeb introduction proffers no
suggested date.
Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin
For private reply, e-mail to RGmyrken@aol.com
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