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

204 THREE SOBRIQUETS, THEIR MEANING AND FUNCTION
General Observations
• Taken as a whole, the passages describing the Wicked Priest give a more
or less coherent picture of a once-trustworthy character who turned into
a villain.
• There is a general emphasis on evil deeds and the wicked character.
Retaliation is yet to be fulfilled. Some of these descriptions come close to
similar features in, for example, the book of Revelation. They are close to
a typological description of “the wicked.”
• There is no mention of triumphant victory or justice shaped on the behalf
of the Righteous Teacher. Some of these passages where vengeance is still
expected might be written in order to reassure the community of an imminent
justification.
Conclusions and Implications
The sobriquet “the Wicked Priest” is used (1) as a presentation and (2)
as a counterpart to the Righteous Teacher. The designation “the Priest”
is used in a passage that follows one in which “the Wicked Priest” is mentioned
and thus is a short form for “the Wicked Priest.” I suggest that we
must consider “the Wicked Priest”/“the Priest” as individual personal
sobriquets.
Further, several passages allude to a conflict between the Wicked Priest
and the Righteous Teacher. Most likely, the Wicked Priest is described in
unfavorable terms because he has been a real threat to the community.
SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN AND THE WOMAN JEZEBEL IN REVELATION 2–3
Occurrences of personal sobriquets can also be found in the Letters to the
Seven Churches in Asia Minor. Mixed among other unfavorable references
to enemies and notions connected with them, two designations are
quite similar to some of the sobriquets found in the pesharim, namely, “a
synagogue of Satan” (sunagwgh_ tou= satana=, Rev 2:9; 3:9) and “the
woman Jezebel” (th_n gunai=ka I)eza/bel, 2:20). I will deal with them here.
The Letters to the Seven Churches mention other “cryptograms”:
“Those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be
false” (tou_v le/gontav e (autou_v a)posto/louv kai _ ou)k ei)si/n, Rev 2:2),