הערות אחדות ל"פשר נחום"

a. The expression "Young Lion of Anger" in the fragment of the "Commentary on the Book of Naḥum" published by J. M. Allegro (JBL, June, 1956) is based on a paraphrase of three characteristic words in Prov. 19:12: king, lion, wrath, which in conjunction with the ending of the parallel verse, 20:2, "whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul", he alludes to Alexander Jannaeus, the cruel king. b. The condemnation in the Commentary of the "hanging of live people" is based on an ancient law quoted in a Baraita, Bavli Sanhedrin 46a, under which a man sentenced to death by hanging was put to death before being hanged. c. If the "Young Lion of Anger" is indeed Alexander Jannaeus, then it follows that he must not be identified with the "Wicked Priest" who appears in other writings of the sect, as there is no mention in the "Commentary on the book of Naḥum" of persecutions either of the sect or of the Teacher of Righteousness, whereas it does mention the excesses of Alexander Jannaeus against "his own confederates" and those "that sought smooth things," the Pharisees. Neither does the description of the Wicked Priest as a preacher and militant champion of faith tally with the character of the king. d. The Teacher of Righteousness went into exile twice: once within the country, and it is there that the dispute with the Wicked Priest about the Day of Atonement took place; the second time in "The Land of Damascus," where he was joined by his confreres from Judea. After his death the belief in a "Teacher of Righteousness" took root among members of the sect, a Teacher who would return to lead it in the Last Days — an archetype of the later Teacher of Righteousness — Christ. The remnants of this sect became the core of the Christian community in Damascus, from which, it would seem, Saul-Paul borrowed his idea of "Grace" and some other fundamental elements of his teaching.