AbstractThis article presents and discusses the results of an online survey undertaken in 2018, which targeted scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls and associated research fields. Respondents were asked questions on the state of knowledge in the field regarding provenance issues and related ethics and policies. The goal of the survey was to establish the levels of awareness within Qumran and related studies concerning the role of the antiquities market, the potential accountability (or not) of scholars as perceived by respondents, as well as their general awareness of relevant policies and codes of conduct. The article discusses the key points that the survey raised, with the aim of offering textual scholars tools to assess their role in provenance issues.
Qumran pesher is characterized as contemporizing exegesis of poetic/prophetic biblical texts. Previous research has focused upon pesher exegesis of works which later canonical tradition designates as "Latter Prophets" and of the book of Psalms, the dominant base-texts in pesharim. The current study surveys the use of the Pentateuch in Qumran pesher, examining instances of explicit citation, overt Pentateuchal typology, and implicit interpretive traditions. The most noteworthy attributes that emerge are the prominence of Deuteronomy and a strong reliance upon pre-existing exegetical traditions.
This essay surveys the attitudes towards gentiles/foreign nations in constructions of the "other" in the Minor Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, and examines how the biblical trajectories are continued and reshaped in the corresponding pesharim from Qumran. The development of the biblical texts is examined from historical, literary, and theological perspectives. Thus, for example, the concrete historical encounter with Assyria shaped the original prophecies of the last three pre-exilic prophets (Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah), while later redactional layers transform these texts hy incorporating the experience of the Babylonian conquest. Literarily and theologically, the initial texts focus upon individual judgement against a concrete people, and the divine salvation of Israel from this threat. In the Persian period, there is an initial expansion of the focus to universal judgment, highlighting the special status of Israel vis-à-vis other nations. This is followed by a narrowing of the group selected for salvation, so that only the righteous of Judah will survive the final judgment, fn the pesharim, there is further narrowing of the discour.se of alterity for internal idetuity formation, as the biblical prophecies against foreign enemies are applied to the group's contemporary antagonists.* We would like to thank R. G. Kratz and M. Popovic for giving us the opportunity to cooperate on the subject as well as for their helpful suggestions while writing the article. Also thanks should go to the anonymous reviewers from DSD whose comments helped to sharpen the argument, and to M. J. Bernstein and N. Sharon for their responses to earlier drafts. All remaining shortcomings are of course our own. ® Koninkliike Brill NV. Leiden. 20L1
With its exhortation "You shall also love the stranger (gēr), for you were strangers (gērîm) in the land of Egypt" (Deut 10:19), the book of Deuteronomy helps cultivate a healthy and appreciative sense of past hardship, current prosperity, progress, and relative privilege. In contemporary culture, where the term "privilege" has become an unfortunate source of contention, Deuteronomy might point a way for recognition of one's relative privilege in regard to an Other as a basis for gratitude and responsibility. This essay argues that we have gained "privilege" after having been immigrants and strangers in a strange land. Privilege could become an empowering and challenging exercise of counting one's blessings and considering how these could be used for the benefit of others, including strangers in our land.
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