The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

ADELA YARBRO COLLINS 237
During the Hellenistic period, this situation continued, with the temple
and the priesthood playing a major role. 30 In the crisis related to the
Hellenistic reform, which peaked from 169 to 167 B.C.E., Antiochus IV,
the Seleucid overlord of Judea, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem and built
a citadel for his garrison. He also desecrated the temple by rededicating
the altar and the temple as a whole to Ba(l S]amêm, a Syro-Phoenician
deity that the author of 2 Maccabees and Josephus identified with
Olympian Zeus (1 Macc 1:20–63; 2 Macc 6:2–5). 31
The Jewish priest Mattathias, along with his five sons, led a revolt
against the Seleucids. One of his sons, Judas Maccabee, liberated Jerusalem
in 164 B.C.E., with the exception of the Akra, as the Seleucid citadel was
called. Soon afterward, the temple was purified and rededicated (1 Macc
4:36–58). 32 Around 141 B.C.E., his brother Simon expelled the Seleucid
garrison from the Akra and cleansed the citadel (1 Macc 13:49–51). 33
Thus, he made Judea independent of Seleucid rule. From this time until the
conquest by Pompey in 63 B.C.E., Judea was an autonomous entity that
included Transjordan, and Jerusalem was its capital.
JERUSALEM IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Although all of these questions are disputed, it seems likely that at some
point in the late second century or early first century B.C.E. a reformist
movement crystallized into a sect, and a number of participants, including
a leader known only as the “Teacher of Righteousness,” left Jerusalem
to found a communal life at Qumran. The primary point of contention
was apparently how to establish the calendar and which calendar to follow
for the observance of holy days and festivals. This issue had implications
for the administration of the temple cult. 34
30. King, “Jerusalem,” 757.
31. See also ibid., 758; John J. Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel
(Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 62–63. On the basis of Neh 2:8 and 7:1,
Busink suggests that there was a fortification to the north of the temple in Nehemiah’s
time that was perhaps even older. Antiochus IV probably destroyed this fortress
when he tore down the walls of Jerusalem (Busink, Der Tempel von Jerusalem,
2:838–39). King notes that scholars do not agree on the location of the citadel built
under Antiochus and called “Akra” by Josephus (“Jerusalem,” 758).
32. King, “Jerusalem,” 758.
33. King states that Simon razed the citadel after capturing it (“Jerusalem,” 758).
Busink suggests that Simon rebuilt the fortification to the north of the temple (Der
Tempel von Jerusalem, 2:839).
34. See the discussion and literature cited in John J. Collins, “Dead Sea Scrolls,”
ABD 2:85–101, esp. 86, 98–99. See now also Jodi Magness, “Qumran Archaeology: