Pesher
Encyclopedia
Pesher is a Hebrew
word meaning "interpretation" in the sense of "solution". It became known from one group of texts, numbering some hundreds, among the Dead Sea Scrolls
.
The pesharim give a theory of scriptural interpretation, previously partly known, but now fully defined. The writers of pesharim believe that scripture is written in two levels, the surface for ordinary readers with limited knowledge, the concealed one for specialists with higher knowledge. This is most clearly spelled out in the Habakkuk Pesher (1QpHab), where the author of the text asserts that God has made known to the Teacher of Righteousness, a prominent figure within the history of the Essene community, "all the mysteries of his servants the prophets" (1QpHab VII:4-5). By contrast, the prophets themselves only had a partial interpretation revealed to them.
, often from the prophets, such as those of Habakkuk
, Nahum
, or from the Psalms, quote it phrase by phrase, and after each quotation insert an interpretation. The second type, the thematic pesharim use the same method, but here the author (or pesharist) brings together passages from different biblical texts to develop a theme. Examples of the latter include the Florilegium and what has been termed the Melchizedek Midrash. Smaller examples of pesher interpretations can also be found within other texts from Qumran
, including the Damascus Document
. The method has been likened to later forms of rabbinic biblical interpretation found in the midrash, termed midrash haggadah and midrash halakhah, although there are some significant differences. William Brownlee, the author of a textual study of the Habakkuk Pesher, even proposed a third category of midrash, namely midrash pesher. In general, however, scholars are divided as to whether the pesharim are a distinct genre.
The term pesher itself is used within these texts as a terminus technicus (although this is a gross simplification) to differentiate between the biblical text and its interpretation. Typical examples include: "its interpretation is/concerns" (pishro/pishro al); and "the interpretation of the word/passage is" (pesher ha-davar). It has been suggested that the Semitic root derives from a base meaning of 'loosen' and a similar term appears in the Hebrew Bible in connection with the interpretation of dreams. The Ancient Near Eastern roots are fully discussed by Maurya Horgan in her comprehensive study of the pesharim.
and his rival the Wicked Priest
, but the texts also refer to a number of other individuals, such as the Liar (or 'Scoffer'), and groups, including the Kittim
, Ephraim and Manasseh, who it is suggested refer to the Romans, Pharisees
and Sadducees
respectively. The authors of these texts claim that these references were fully integral to the original text, whose full meaning has been subsequently revealed by the Teacher. Such philosophical claims are similar to those found throughout the region at the beginnings of the Common Era, as evidenced by the many mystery cults of Mithras, Isis
, Dionysus
, and others active at the time; the tradition continued through the Gnostic movements
both Christian and non-Christian, and is still prevalent today among certain fundamentalist Moslem and Christian groups with a heavy emphasis on Holy Scripture.
, a theme familiar to readers of the New Testament. Other familiar themes from the New Testament found in the pesharim include: the "Righteous One", the Poor, the community as temple, the holy spirit, the Star Prophecy
, and other messianic
images. These allusive images are tied by the pesharim in an apocalyptic manner to selected prized biblical texts.
There is a considerable body of scholarly research discussing the methods of the pesharim, which can be classified under the general category of fulfillment hermeneutics.
peculiarly applies the term pesher to her elaborate, newly "rediscovered" interpretive technique. According to her, in the four Canonical Gospels
, Acts and Revelation
, historical facts have been encoded into the text, that is, they were written (and may be revealed) by applying the method, forgotten for twenty centuries.
Her theory has been widely disparaged and dismissed by scholars, and Thiering's thesis has received little support.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
word meaning "interpretation" in the sense of "solution". It became known from one group of texts, numbering some hundreds, among the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
.
The pesharim give a theory of scriptural interpretation, previously partly known, but now fully defined. The writers of pesharim believe that scripture is written in two levels, the surface for ordinary readers with limited knowledge, the concealed one for specialists with higher knowledge. This is most clearly spelled out in the Habakkuk Pesher (1QpHab), where the author of the text asserts that God has made known to the Teacher of Righteousness, a prominent figure within the history of the Essene community, "all the mysteries of his servants the prophets" (1QpHab VII:4-5). By contrast, the prophets themselves only had a partial interpretation revealed to them.
Types of Pesharim
There are generally considered to be two types of pesharim. Continuous pesharim take a book of the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, often from the prophets, such as those of Habakkuk
Book of Habakkuk
The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC. A copy of chapters 1 and 2 is included in the Habakkuk Commentary, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.Chapters 1-2...
, Nahum
Book of Nahum
The book of Nahum is the seventh book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Nahum, and was probably written in Jerusalem in the 8th century BC.-Background:...
, or from the Psalms, quote it phrase by phrase, and after each quotation insert an interpretation. The second type, the thematic pesharim use the same method, but here the author (or pesharist) brings together passages from different biblical texts to develop a theme. Examples of the latter include the Florilegium and what has been termed the Melchizedek Midrash. Smaller examples of pesher interpretations can also be found within other texts from Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
, including the Damascus Document
Damascus Document
The Damascus Document or Damascus Rule is one of the most interesting texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls because it is the only Qumran sectarian work that was known before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls....
. The method has been likened to later forms of rabbinic biblical interpretation found in the midrash, termed midrash haggadah and midrash halakhah, although there are some significant differences. William Brownlee, the author of a textual study of the Habakkuk Pesher, even proposed a third category of midrash, namely midrash pesher. In general, however, scholars are divided as to whether the pesharim are a distinct genre.
The term pesher itself is used within these texts as a terminus technicus (although this is a gross simplification) to differentiate between the biblical text and its interpretation. Typical examples include: "its interpretation is/concerns" (pishro/pishro al); and "the interpretation of the word/passage is" (pesher ha-davar). It has been suggested that the Semitic root derives from a base meaning of 'loosen' and a similar term appears in the Hebrew Bible in connection with the interpretation of dreams. The Ancient Near Eastern roots are fully discussed by Maurya Horgan in her comprehensive study of the pesharim.
Historic Individuals
The pesharim are the main source for the history of the Teacher of RighteousnessTeacher of Righteousness
The Teacher of Righteousness 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, probably Essenes, 390 years after the Babylonian exile and after 20 years of 'groping' blindly for the way...
and his rival the Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest is a sobriquet used in the Dead Sea scrolls pesharim, four times in the Habakkuk Commentary and once in the Commentary on Psalm 37 , to refer to an opponent of the "Teacher of Righteousness." The phrase is generally regarded as a pun on "High Priest" and identified with a Hasmonean...
, but the texts also refer to a number of other individuals, such as the Liar (or 'Scoffer'), and groups, including the Kittim
Kittim
Kittim in the genealogy of Genesis 10 in the Hebrew Bible, is the son of Javan, the grandson of Japheth, and Noah's great-grandson....
, Ephraim and Manasseh, who it is suggested refer to the Romans, Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and Sadducees
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
respectively. The authors of these texts claim that these references were fully integral to the original text, whose full meaning has been subsequently revealed by the Teacher. Such philosophical claims are similar to those found throughout the region at the beginnings of the Common Era, as evidenced by the many mystery cults of Mithras, Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
, Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, and others active at the time; the tradition continued through the Gnostic movements
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices common to early Christianity, Hellenistic Judaism, Greco-Roman mystery religions, Zoroastrianism , and Neoplatonism.A common characteristic of some of these groups was the teaching that the realisation of Gnosis...
both Christian and non-Christian, and is still prevalent today among certain fundamentalist Moslem and Christian groups with a heavy emphasis on Holy Scripture.
Apocalyptic Themes
Many allusions within the pesharim are apocalyptic, with clear references to the eschaton, or the End timesEnd times
The end time, end times, or end of days is a time period described in the eschatological writings in the three Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios in various other non-Abrahamic religions...
, a theme familiar to readers of the New Testament. Other familiar themes from the New Testament found in the pesharim include: the "Righteous One", the Poor, the community as temple, the holy spirit, the Star Prophecy
Star Prophecy
The "Star Prophecy" is a Messianic reading applied by radical Jews and early Christians to a text from the Book of Numbers 24:17:...
, and other messianic
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
images. These allusive images are tied by the pesharim in an apocalyptic manner to selected prized biblical texts.
There is a considerable body of scholarly research discussing the methods of the pesharim, which can be classified under the general category of fulfillment hermeneutics.
Common Pesharim
- Continuous Pesharim
- 1QpHab: Habakkuk pesher
- 4Q161-165: 4QpIsa a-e (Isaiah pesher)
- 4Q166-167: 4QpHos a-b (Hosea pesher)
- 4Q169: 4QpNah (Nahum pesher)
- 4Q170: 4QpZeph (Zephaniah pesher)
- 4Q171 & 173: 4QpPs a-b (Psalms pesher)
- Thematic Pesharim
- 4Q174: 4QFlor (the Florilegium)
- 4Q177: 4QCatena a
- 11Q13: 11QMelch (the Melchizedek Midrash)
Barbara Thiering's usage
In books and scholarly articles, author Barbara ThieringBarbara Thiering
Barbara Thiering is an Australian nonfiction writer, historian, and Biblical exegete specialising in the origins of the early Christian Church. In books and journal articles, she challenges Christian orthodoxy, drawing on claimed new evidence that gives alternative answers to its supernatural...
peculiarly applies the term pesher to her elaborate, newly "rediscovered" interpretive technique. According to her, in the four Canonical Gospels
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
, Acts and Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, historical facts have been encoded into the text, that is, they were written (and may be revealed) by applying the method, forgotten for twenty centuries.
Her theory has been widely disparaged and dismissed by scholars, and Thiering's thesis has received little support.
Further reading
- Allegro, John M. (ed.), Qumran Cave 4, I (4Q 158 - 4Q 186), Discoveries in the Judean Desert (DJD), 5 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968)
- Brownlee, William H., The Midrash Pesher of Habakkuk, Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series, 24 (Scholars Press, 1979)
- Charlesworth, James H., The Pesharim and Qumran History: Chaos or Consensus? (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006)
- Doudna, Gregory L., 4Q Pesher Nahum: A Critical Edition, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement (Sheffield: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2002)
- Greidanus, Sidney, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999)
- Horgan, Maurya P., Pesharim: Qumran Interpretations of Biblical Books, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series, 8 (Washington: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1979
- Lim, Timothy H., Pesharim, (Sheffield Academic Press, 2002)
- Thiering, Barbara, Jesus the Man: Decoding the Real Story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene (Simon & Schulster: Atria Books, 2006)9)
- Van Gemeren, Willem A., Interpreting the Prophetic Word (Zondervan; New Ed edition, 1996)
- Wood, Marcus E. M., History and Prophecy in the Qumran Pesharim: an examination of the key figures and groups in the Dead Sea Scrolls by way of their prophetic designations (PhD, University of Durham, 2001)
External links
- Pesher and the Dead Sea Sectarians An Overview of the Pesher Technique in the Dead Sea Documents.
- The Pesher to Habakkuk – A discussion of Peshar commentary in the Dead Sea Scrolls—particularly to the transcription of Habakkuk.
- The pesher on Habakkuk (1QpHab) Barbara Thiering's interpretation of this pesher and its historical context.
- The Pesher Technique – An excerpt from one of Thiering's books.