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Structure and Interpretation in the Pesharim CHAPTER 7 Structure and Interpretation in the Pesharim The macro-structure of the hypomnemata and the Pesharim is largely similar. Yet one difference is that the Pesharim are at times more lenient in their dis- tinction between lemmata and interpretation sections. This leniency will be discussed in the third section of this chapter. The other sections offer a sepa- rate treatment of lemmata and interpretation sections in the Pesharim, fol- lowed by a discussion of their connection. 1 Lemmata: Selection and Presentation The Pesharim quote prophetic base texts in their lemmata.1 Not all prophetic texts lend themselves to interpretation in a Pesher, though. Even if it remains a possibility that Pesharim on writings other than Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Psalms2 once existed, the surviving Pesharim re- flect a more than accidental preference for these prophetic writings in particu- lar. The principles that govern this preference escape one-sided explanations.3 In my view, three principles of selection can be distinguished, which together account for the existence of Pesharim on some prophetic writings, but not on others: (1) the contents of the base texts; (2) the type of textual and literary development of which it is considered to be a part; and (3) its structure.4 1 Cf. pp. 238–39, where it is argued that the words of ancient prophets were generally under- stood in the Second Temple period to be addressed not just to the contemporaries of the prophets, but also to later generations. 2 At least some Psalms were considered prophetic in the Second Temple period. See n. 1 on p. 1. 3 As they have been proposed by scholars concentrating on, e.g., the contents (Roth) or the type of textual transmission (Trebolle Barrera) of the works quoted in the Pesharim. 4 Shani Berrin (Tzoref), “Qumran Pesharim,” in Biblical Interpretation at Qumran, ed. Matthias Henze, SDSSRL (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 110–33 (118, n. 24) points out that there is a risk of circular reasoning when the principles of selection in the Pesharim are described on the basis of the Pesharim themselves. With Tzoref I will attempt to avoid too much circularity by formulating my explanations as much as possible in terms of the texts themselves rather than their use in the Pesharim. However, some circular reasoning always remains, if only it were for the fact that it is impos- sible to speak objectively of “the texts themselves.” © pieter b. hartog, ���7 | doi:��.��63/9789004354�03_008 Pieter B. Hartog - 9789004354203 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-NDDownloaded 4.0 from license. Brill.com09/30/2021 08:09:08AM via free access Structure and Interpretation in the Pesharim �37 1.1 Three Principles of Selection The most evident principle that governs the selection of base texts in the Pesharim is that of their contents. Cecil Roth wrote on this point: We have fragments of commentaries on five out of the twelve minor prophets…. Conceivably, these short and self-contained works … offered especial attractions to the priest who had set himself up as interpreter of these passages. There is thus no proof that similar commentaries were written on the remaining seven books of the twelve…. Outside the pro- phetical books of the Bible, or books embodying prophetical passages, a pešer is extant only on a small portion of the Psalms…. There is certainly no need to postulate that the existence of these inconsiderable fragments necessarily indicates that the entire Book of Psalms was dealt with in this fashion…. A good many other Psalms could be interpreted in the same fashion … but carried out consistently the result would have been pre- posterously repetitive.5 In agreement with Roth, Shani Tzoref has emphasised that the Pesharim have a special interest in passages of an eschatological import or dealing with the fate of the wicked.6 At the same time, George Brooke has objected that this relation between the content of the base text and its interpretation in a Pesher fails to account for those eschatological texts that are not interpreted in the form of a running commentary.7 Apparently, content plays a role for the Pesher exegetes, but cannot explain on its own why some books were interpreted in a Pesher whereas others were not.8 5 “The Subject Matter of Qumran Exegesis,” VT 10 (1960): 51–68 (62). 6 Berrin (Tzoref), “Qumran Pesharim,” 118–22. 7 “Qumran Pesher: Towards the Redefinition of a Genre,” RevQ 10/40 (1981): 483–503 (487). Tzoref is aware of Brooke’s objection (“Qumran Pesharim,” 118, n. 23), but she does not ad- dress it extensively. 8 In several places, Brooke has argued that the Pesharim do not treat merely eschatologically minded passages, but that “Pesher is reserved for the interpretation of unfulfilled blessings, curses, visions and auditions” (“ ‘The Canon within the Canon’ at Qumran and in the New Testament,” in The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years After, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Craig A. Evans [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997], 242–66 [256; my italics]; also idem, “Prophetic Interpretation in the Pesharim,” in A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism, ed. Matthias Henze [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012], 235–54). This is an interesting suggestion, but I am not entirely convinced by it. The Pesharim evidently depict and approach their base texts as “unfulfilled” (in the sense of: “not having come to full frui- tion” rather than: “not having come true”; see pp. 249–51), but was it this view on the base Pieter B. Hartog - 9789004354203 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 08:09:08AM via free access �38 CHAPTER 7 A second principle of selection is the textual and literary transmission in which the base texts of the Pesharim are considered to partake. The prophetic writings quoted in the Pesharim were apparently viewed as “closed” in one way or another and, hence, as suitable for interpretation in the running commen- tary format. This does not imply that these writings held a higher status than others, or were more canonical than others.9 The difference between these and other writings was one of kinds, not of degrees of authority.10 There are plen- ty of indications, for instance, of the centrality of the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel for the composers—and probably collectors—of the Qumran manu- scripts; but no Pesharim on these books exist.11 In Brooke’s viewpoint, this may texts that triggered the interest of the Pesher commentators, or rather the reverse? I sup- pose Jeremiah and Ezekiel contain many visions that could be considered unfulfilled, and yet these books are not interpreted in a Pesher. 9 This was suggested by Julio Trebolle-Barrera, “Qumran Evidence for a Biblical Standard Text and for Non-Standard and Parabiblical Texts,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls in Their Historical Context, ed. Timothy H. Lim et al. (London: T&T Clark, 2000; repr. 2004), 89–106; idem, “A ‘Canon Within a Canon’: Two Series of Old Testament Books Differently Transmitted, Interpreted and Authorized,” RevQ 19/75 (2000): 383–99. There are several problems with Trebolle-Barrera’s argument. First, though his obser- vations on the frequency of quotation, the existing number of scrolls, literary and textual history, and the interpretation of certain writings are generally accurate, the correlations he draws are problematic. To mention only two examples: the book of Genesis exhibits a relatively homogeneous literary history, but is amply rewritten in the Second Temple period; and 2 Sam 7:10–14, although belonging to a fluid corpus (the books of Samuel), is explicitly interpreted in 4Q174. Second, Trebolle-Barrera’s work exhibits a canonical bias. As he takes the number of copies recovered at Qumran as an indication of the authority of a work, he should at least have mentioned that works such as Jubilees, the Hodayot, and the Community Rule were found in greater numbers than some of the works included in his first group. Cf. on this point Molly M. Zahn, “Talking About Rewritten Texts: Some Reflections on Terminology,” in Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second Temple Period, ed. Hanne von Weissenberg and Juha Pakkala, BZAW 419 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011), 93–119 (98, n. 16). 10 Cf. Brooke, “ ‘The Canon Within the Canon’,” 244: “Notwithstanding the ravages of insects and earthquakes, it is possible to count up the number of extant copies of particular com- positions to see what kind of popularity they might have had amongst the group which preserved them” (my italics). 11 On Jeremiah see George J. Brooke, “The book of Jeremiah and Its Reception in the Qumran Scrolls,” in The book of Jeremiah and Its Reception: Le livre de Jérémie et sa reception, ed. Adrian H.W. Curtis and Thomas Römer, BETL 128 (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1997), 183–205; Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, “Classifications of the Collection of Dead Sea Scrolls and the Case of Apocryphon of Jeremiah C,” JSJ 43 (2012): 519–50; Devorah Dimant, “From Pieter B. Hartog - 9789004354203 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 08:09:08AM via free access Structure and Interpretation in the Pesharim �39 be due to the different kind of tradition that these books represent in compari- son with the Isaianic corpus: Since Isaiah is the prophet most often quoted in the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls and is used in at least five distinct running commentaries, it seems as if the difference in the handling of the prophetic sources rests in some aspect of their authority and status, or at least in how that authority was recognized from generation to generation….
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