The Habakkuk Commentary or Pesher Habakkuk, labelled 1QpHab ( Cave 1,

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

pesher ''Pesher'' (; he, פשר, pl. ''pesharim''), from the Hebrew root meaning "interpretation," is a group of interpretive commentaries on scripture. The ''pesharim'' commentaries became known from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The ''peshar ...

Habakkuk Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Almost a ...

), was among the original seven

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

discovered in 1947 and published in 1951. Due to its early discovery and rapid publication, as well as its relatively pristine preservation, 1QpHab is one of the most frequently researched and analyzed scrolls of the several hundred now known.Bernstein, Moshe J. "Pesher Habakkuk." ''Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls''. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p.647

Description

Physical

The scroll is roughly from end to end, with thirteen

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

Herodian Herodian or Herodianus ( el, Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled ''History of the Empire from the Death o ...

script written on two pieces of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...

, sewn together with linen thread. Most of the columns are missing their lowest lines; the first column is nearly completely lost, and there is a hole through the center of the second column. The third chapter of Habakkuk is missing entirely from the

, but it was left out intentionally, not destroyed by aging (most of the last column of the scroll is blank, clearly showing that the text of the pesher was complete). Regardless, the scroll is still largely readable, and editors have filled the lacunae with reasonable confidence.

The pesher relates several contemporary individuals to the scroll, though they also are only referred to with titles instead of names. The hero or leader that the community should follow is called the

Teacher of Righteousness The Teacher of Righteousness (in Hebrew: מורה הצדק ''Moreh ha-Tzedek'') is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, proba ...

, a figure found in some other Dead Sea scrolls. The pesher argues that the Teacher has directly communed with God and received the true meaning of the scriptures.Wise, Michael O., Martin G. Abegg Jr., and Edward M. Cook. ''The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation.'' San Francisco: Harper, 2005. pp. 83–86 The Teacher has not yet been successfully identified with any historical figure, though

Robert Eisenman Robert Eisenman (born 1937) is an American biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, and poet. He is currently professor of Middle East religions, archaeology, and Islamic law and director of the Institute for the Study of Judaeo-Christian Orig ...

argued its identification as James the Just in his 1997 book with that title. Among the Teacher's opponents were the Wicked Priest and the Man of the Lie. The Wicked Priest is portrayed as a false religious leader who was at one point trusted by the Teacher. Towards the end of the pesher, the Wicked Priest is reported to have been captured and tortured by his enemies. His true identity is also unlikely to be named with certainty, though just about every contemporary Hasmonean priest has at some point been suggested by scholars as the Wicked Priest. It is even argued that this was a title attributed to multiple individuals.Bernstein, Moshe J. "Pesher Habakkuk." ''Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls''. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 649 The Man of the Lie is accused by the author of attempting to discredit the Teacher, as well as the Torah. His true name has likewise not yet been successfully identified with any historical figure, though

argued its identification as

Paul of Tarsus Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

. Also mentioned in passing by the author is a House of Absalom, which is accused of standing idle while the Man of the Lie worked against the Teacher. Unlike the others, this name is attributed only to a couple of historical figures, the most likely candidate being a supposedly

Sadducean The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio- religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Th ...

relative to

Aristobulus II Aristobulus II (, grc, Ἀριστόβουλος ''Aristóboulos'') was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea, 66 BCE to 63 BCE, from the Hasmonean dynasty. Family Aristobulus was the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Pries ...

, named Absalom. The author of the pesher reaches a similar solution to his difficult situation as the prophet Habakkuk had centuries before: perseverance through faith. He affirms that his community will not die at the hands of the wicked Judah. In turn, the power to retaliate against and judge the Kittim will be granted by God to the faithful.

Comparison with the Common Hebrew Text (Masoretic Text)

What is even more significant than the commentary in the pesher is the quoted text of Habakkuk itself. The divergences between the Hebrew text of the scroll and the standard

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

is startlingly minimal. The biggest differences are word order, small grammatical variations, addition or omission of conjunctions, and spelling variations, but these are small enough not to do damage to the meaning of the text.Harris, J. G., ''The Qumran Commentary on Habakkuk.'' London: A. R. Mowbray, 1966, pp. 22–30

References

Bibliography

Selected Bibliography * Brownlee, William H. ''The Text of Habakkuk in the Ancient Commentary from Qumran''. Journal of Biblical Literature Manuscript Series 11. Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1959. (Scholarly analysis of one of the first scholars to work on the scroll, specifically on the Biblical texts quoted in it) * Bruce, F.F.,"The Dead Sea Habakkuk Scroll," The Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society I (1958/59): 5–24. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ffb/habakkuk_bruce.pdf * Burrows, Millar. ''The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark's Monastery.'' New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1950. (Original scholarly publication of 1QpHab, predating the Discoveries in the Judean Desert series in which most of the rest of the Qumran material is published) * Charlesworth, James H., Henry W. L. Rietz, Casey D. Elledge, and Lidija Novakovic. ''Pesharim, Other Commentaries, and Related Documents.'' The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations 6b. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002. (More recent publication of the Hebrew text and English translation on facing pages) * Cross, Frank Moore. ''The Ancient Library of Qumran.'' 3d ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995. (General reading on the Dead Sea Scrolls in general, their discovery, and contents) * Elliger, Karl. Studien zum Habakkuk–Kommentar vom Toten Meer. J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen, 1955. * Ingrassia, David,(2002)CLASS 3 Biblical Commentaries:Pesharim.Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible, http://pastorcam.com/class_notes/deadsea/Class%203_Biblical_Commentaries.pdf * Nitzan, Bilha. Pesher Hbakkuk: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea (1QpHab) odern Hebrew Bialik Institute, Jerusalem, 1986. * Troxel, Ronald. (2009) Lecture 24: 1QpHab & 4QMM
http://hebrew.wisc.edu/~rltroxel/JHL/Lect24.pdf
* Young, Ian.“Late Biblical Hebrew and The Qumran Pesher Habakkuk,” '' Journal of Hebrew Scriptures'' 8 (2008): 8–25.

External links

The Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll
''The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls'', hosted by the Israeli Museum, Jerusalem. {{Authority control 1st-century BC biblical manuscripts 1947 archaeological discoveries Essene texts Dead Sea Scrolls Book of Habakkuk Ancient Hebrew texts