Teacher of Righteousness

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Page from the Damascus Document

The Teacher of Righteousness (Hebrew: מורה הצדק, romanized: more haṣṣeḏeq) is a mysterious figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document (CD), which speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, 390 years after the Neo-Babylonian Empire captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE. After another 20 years of study and waiting, "God... raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of His heart".[1]

The Teacher is described as the one "to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets" – 1QpHab 7:5) and being the one through whom God would reveal to the community "the hidden things in which Israel had gone astray".[2]

Although the exact identity of the Teacher is unknown, based on the text of the Community Rule, the teachers of the sect are identified as Kohanim (priests) of patrilineal progeny of Zadok[3] (the first high priest to serve in Solomon's Temple), leading scholars to conclude the Teacher was a priest of Zadokite lineage.[3]

Identity

The missing High Priest of 159–152 BC

One theory initially advocated by

apologetic: to conceal the fact that the Hasmoneans obtained the High Priesthood by usurping it from its rightful holder, the Teacher of Righteousness.[5] Alvar Ellegård follows this line and argues that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also considered something of a precursor to Jesus Christ about 150 years before the time of the Gospels.[6] In 1965, the Dead Sea Scrolls document known as Melchizedek, dated to around 100 BCE, revealed that the Essenes were waiting for this Melchizedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק‎, romanized: malkī-ṣeḏeq, 'King of Righteousness') High Priest and King Messiah. The Essenes also wrote in this document that they knew the time of his appearing due to the prophecies written in Daniel
.

Critics of this theory accuse it of being too hypothetical:[

1QS or 4QMMT suggest that the legitimacy of the High Priest was an issue for the split. In addition, the motivation behind the split of the sect from mainstream Judaism appears to have been of a religious rather than political nature.[citation needed
]

A 1st-century BCE figure

While, early on, the academic consensus was that the Teacher of Righteousness belonged to the second century BCE, several scholars also proposed that he was active in the first century BCE. For example, this was argued back in 1961 by André Dupont-Sommer, who claimed that the Teacher was put to death around 65–63 BCE.[7]

In his 1999 work, Michael O. Wise suggested that the Teacher of Righteousness was the "first messiah", a figure predating Jesus by roughly 100 years.[8] This figure, who may have been named Judah, rose to prominence during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE), and had been a priest and confidant to the king.

According to Wise, he became dissatisfied with the religious sects in Jerusalem and, in reaction, founded a "crisis cult". While amassing a following, the Teacher (and his followers) said he was the fulfillment of various Biblical prophecies, with an emphasis on those found in the

golden age
, which would take place within the next forty years.

Wise said that dating of manuscript copies among the Dead Sea Scrolls shows that the Teacher's postmortem following drastically increased in size over several years, and that when the predicted return and golden age failed to materialize his following dissipated rapidly.

James Tabor recommends Wise's book for examining how the career of the Qumran Teacher may have been a precursor for that of Jesus of Nazareth. What happens to a religious community at the death of its leader? How the prophetic vision of the future can be maintained even when the apocalyptic expectations fail? These are important questions that Wise looks at.[9]

Also, Tabor points out that a prominent scholar Israel Knohl was also developing these same ideas at the same time as Wise; their two books were published almost simultaneously, without one author being aware of the other's work.[10][11] In his book, Knohl argued that the Teacher of Righteousness was a messianic figure who lived a generation before Jesus, and that he was killed by Roman soldiers during a revolt in 4 BCE.

Later, Wise developed his ideas further.[12] After making a detailed catalogue of all direct historical references found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, he pointed out that these references concentrate primarily in the first half of the first century BCE. This is when the persons and events underlying these references can be located. From this, Wise concluded that this is when the Qumran movement was flourishing. According to Wise,

"Another synthesis is at least equally viable, one that places the Teacher late in the second century B.C.E. and early in the first, fifty or sixty years later than the consensus view."[13]

Hyrcanus II

Along these same lines is the proposal that Hyrcanus II was the Teacher of Righteousness. This was proposed in 2013 by Gregory Doudna. Hyrcanus was High Priest from 76 to 67 BCE and 63 to 40 BCE. According to Doudna, Hyrcanus II’s sectarian orientation is generally understood as Sadducee. Further, according to this hypothesis, Antigonus II Mattathias would have been seen as the Wicked Priest. Antigonus was the last Hasmonean king. He ruled only for three years and was executed by the Romans in 37 BCE. Antigonus was supported by the Pharisees.[14]

A Sadducee priest

Other documents from the Dead Sea Scrolls portray the Teacher as involved in a heavy conflict against a figure termed the "Wicked Priest," which has led to several proposals for their identity: a Sadducee (Zadokite) priest as the Teacher, possibly even the legitimate High Priest, against a "wicked" Jonathan Apphus. "Zadok" translates as "righteous" in Hebrew.

Hillel against Shammai

Rabbi Harvey Falk identifies

Dead Sea scrolls
to the decades around the year 100 BCE, vastly predating Hillel and Shammai.

James is Jesus, Teacher of Righteousness

Dead Sea scrolls
date to around 100 BCE, predating James by almost 200 years.

Judah the Essene

Stephen Goranson suggests that Judah the Essene, mentioned by Josephus, is the Teacher.[18]

John the Baptist

Barbara Thiering questions the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness preached a future fiery judgment, has said "the axe is laid to the roots of the tree," called people "vipers," practiced baptism and lived in the wilderness of Judea. Due to these reasons, she believes there is a strong possibility that the Teacher of Righteousness was John the Baptist.[19] Her belief is based on the idea that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in code.

More than one Teacher of Righteousness

Richard A. Freund said that multiple theories could all be true, as there may have been more than one Teacher of Righteousness: "perhaps... A Teacher of Righteousness did lead the group in the second century BCE when it was established. Another... led the sect in the first century BCE and finally another... in the first century CE."[20]

References

  1. ^ (CD 1:9–11)
  2. ^ (CD 3:12–15)
  3. ^ a b Serech HaYachad text – Sod H'Megilloth (B.T. Katz) p. 22
  4. ^ Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, "Teacher of Righteousness", Anchor Bible Dictionary VI, p340f
  5. ^ H. Stegemann, The Library of Qumran: On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Grand Rapids MI, 1998
  6. ISBN 0-87951-720-4
  7. ^ Dupont-Sommer 1961, The Dead Sea Scrolls, 32–37; idem, The Essene Writings from Qumran (Oxford: Blackwell, 1961) 339–357
  8. ^ Michael O. Wise, The First Messiah: Investigating the Savior Before Christ, HarperCollins 1999
  9. ^ James Tabor 2018, The Messiah Before Jesus. - jamestabor.com
  10. ^ Israel Knohl, David Maisel 2002, The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
  11. ^ James Tabor 2018, The Messiah Before Jesus. - jamestabor.com
  12. ^ Michael O. Wise, “Dating the Teacher of Righteousness and the Floruit of His Movement,” JBL 122 [2003] 53–87. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268091
  13. ^ Michael O. Wise, “Dating the Teacher of Righteousness and the Floruit of His Movement,” JBL 122 [2003] 53–87. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268091 p.54
  14. ISBN 978-1-4073-1138-8
    .
  15. ISBN 978-1-59244-313-0
    .
  16. ^ James the Brother of Jesus, Penguin, 1997–98, pp. 51–153 and 647–816.
  17. ^ "Robert Eisenman's The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ".
  18. ^ The significance of Sinai: traditions about Sinai and divine ed. George J. Brooke, Hindy Najman, Loren T. Stuckenbruck – 2008 p. 123 footnote: "Greek word 'Εσσενοι'", see Stephen Goranson, "Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene" self-published on-line paper http://www.duke.edu/~goranson/jannaeus.pdf
  19. ^ "The Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls". YouTube - Discovery Channel documentary. 1990. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  20. ISBN 978-0742546455
    p. 287
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