Howto find the pesher in DSS
The search "pesher" does not find all pesher in the DSS.
Some headings are like "1Qpesher", thus when I use the search "*pesher" it will find more. That kind of search is slow.
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Any suggestions?
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I don't know many you found. DSS Study Edition shows 15. Fr Devin's PB index to DSS web images shows 19, though I didn't compare scrolls. I thought I had a DSS book that had an appendix with the scrolls categorized.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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I found 19 with the "*pesher" and 15 with "pesher".
This page https://www.logos.com/product/43904/the-pesharim-and-qumran-history of the pre-pub book says there are 16 Pesharim.
The I wanted to check how many I have in various ways. It looks like DSS has a small labeling bug
By the way, do you have any opinion regarding to that book?
Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11
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Denise said:
I don't know many you found. DSS Study Edition shows 15. Fr Devin's PB index to DSS web images shows 19, though I didn't compare scrolls. I thought I had a DSS book that had an appendix with the scrolls categorized.
My PB index has 17 pesharim, at least if you count Biblical pesharim. Then there are more that are non-biblical. Here is the list of the 17:
- Isaiah (6): 3Q4, 4Q161, 4Q162, 4Q163, 4Q164, 4Q165
- Psalms (3): 1Q16, 4Q171, 4Q173
- Hosea (2): 4Q166, 4Q167
- Micah (2): 1Q14, 4Q168?
- Zephaniah (2): 1Q15, 4Q170
- Nahum (1): 4Q169
- Habakkuk (1): 1QpHab
Here is an article from the Lexham Bible Dictionary on the Pesharim. It includes references to the 17 that are typically listed as Biblical Pesharim, plus another one or two that are very fragmentary and usually not listed, as well as the non-biblical ones: https://ref.ly/logosres/lbd;hw=Pesharim_from_Qumran
Apparently, Charlesworth actually speaks about these 17 pesharim - http://www.jstor.org/stable/1561087?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents, as well as other similar writings: http://www.jhsonline.org/reviews/review088.htm.
Sometimes 16 are listed instead of 17 because one of the pesharim of Micah (4Q168) is questionable.
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Veli ... this is a good case where it looks like you're asking me, but actually since Fr Devin is 'here', I'm sure you're asking him!
My answer would be .... wow, I missed that one; thank you! ..... and I regard Charlesworth as on the DSS B-team. That sounds insulting, but reflects me, not him. I just don't care for loose (my metric) speculation. None the less, I want his book.
I'm presently enjoying 'the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hasmonian State' by Esbel. And running into pesher usage right and left. I'm not sure distinguishing Biblical vs non-Biblical pesher, if politics was the root (politics and religion being one and the same).
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Thanks a lot MJ, D and FrDR !
Denise said:Charlesworth as on the DSS B-team
I may have similar feeling, but I did place the pre-order.
Gold package, and original language material and ancient text material, SIL and UBS books, discourse Hebrew OT and Greek NT. PC with Windows 11
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Denise said:
I'm not sure distinguishing Biblical vs non-Biblical pesher
Yeah, a more precise distinction would be continuous vs. thematic.
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Speaking to the orgiinal query, I am also reading Fitzmyer's Impact of the DSS.
Ignoring his skipping over disagreements he doesn't agree with, he lists 18 Biblical pesherim. The eighteen one was 5QpMal(5Q10). I didn't check it. But it's an interesting problem, how to search for them. Fitzmyer has a lot of curious comments. One was the pesher only have 1 copy each, and all dated from 1stc ce. I'd assume the Quram librarian would not allow checking the pesherim out.
Not related but the DSS documentation of the movement of written aramaic so quickly (ok, centuries) is fascinating.
"If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.
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Denise said:
Speaking to the orgiinal query, I am also reading Fitzmyer's Impact of the DSS.
Ignoring his skipping over disagreements he doesn't agree with, he lists 18 Biblical pesherim. The eighteen one was 5QpMal(5Q10). I didn't check it. But it's an interesting problem, how to search for them. Fitzmyer has a lot of curious comments. One was the pesher only have 1 copy each, and all dated from 1stc ce. I'd assume the Quram librarian would not allow checking the pesherim out.
Here is a (relatively) easy way to quickly search for them, which turns up 19 pesharim, the 18 that Fitzmyer lists, plus 4Q172, which is probably a pesher but it's not clear to what:
Note that I am limiting the search to the DSS in English, then am limiting it further to Heading Text and Large Text.
Adding the * at the beginning is really important to do, because what makes this search challenging is that the word "pesher" at times only appears inside of a word, like "1QPesher". A simple search for "pesher" won't find that. So, we have to search for *pesher*, which is slow, but works!
Denise said:Not related but the DSS documentation of the movement of written aramaic so quickly (ok, centuries) is fascinating.
The change to Aramaic is indeed fascinating... I have really enjoyed studying the Targumim!
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