4Q Pesher Nahum: A Critical Edition

Full title
4Q Pesher Nahum: A Critical Edition
Research notes

Reader Checked|24/06/2013 SE

Reference type
Author(s)
Doudna, Gregory L.
Year
2001
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series
Number of volumes
0
Issue / Series Volume
35
Publisher
Sheffield Academic Press
Place of Publication
Sheffield
Pages
813
Work type
Label
16/07/2001
Abstract

4Q Pesher Nahum has long been considered one of the most important Qumran texts for understanding the historical context of the Scrolls. Doudna's comprehensive critical edition presents new readings and undertakes extensive analysis and reconstruction of broken text. Areas of focus include text-critical implications, scribal practices, and formal and composition patterns common throughout the Qumran pesharim. An outcome of this work sure to attract attention is its demonstration that the mysterious 'Lion of Wrath' figure of the text is not the Hasmonaean king Alexander Jannaeus, as almost universally held. Rather, Pesher Nahum portrays a coming conquest from the 'Kittim', and the 'Lion of Wrath' is a Nebuchadnezzar-like foreign invader coming to deliver the wrath of God on a sinful Israel. There is also an Appendix: 'Was Hyrcanus II the Teacher of Righteousness and Were the Scrolls Deposited in the Caves near Qumran in 40 bce?'

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents
Scroll / Document
Scroll / Document
Passage
2
Section type
Fragment