historical perspectives: from the hasmoneans to bar kokhba in light ...

SHELAMZION IN QUMRAN 61
also alluding to the same hearsay. The image of the lion tearing
prey for his females may remind the reader of a story she or he
may have heard, of Yannai and his concubines feasting and at the
same time feasting their eyes on the horrific executions. If this interpretation
is correct, we find a second instance in Pesher Nahum where
an event involving women is alluded to through a biblical verse
rather than stated outright. The lionesses of the verse, who are fed
by the lion, could be understood as the concubines of Josephus' narrative.
The sect uses the verse to inform the reader of women present
at the event.
On the basis of this interpretation I would like to suggest that
another verse mentioned in Pesher Hosea A (4Q166) also alludes to
Queen Shelamzion and her reign. Two different pesher interpretations
of Hosea were found at Qumran. Both are very fragmentary.
They have been distinguished from one another based on the script 6
and, as I will show presently, also on chronology. Pesher Hosea A discusses
three verses from Hosea 2:
One attempt at a historical interpretation of this pesher was made
by Joseph Amusin. 7 Despite the sparse information that the pesher
affords, Amusin suggested that the famine alluded to in the interpretation
of Hos. 2:11-12 was the one that occurred in spring, 65
BCE, mentioned both in Josephus (Ant. 14.28) and in rabbinic literature
(e.g. b. Sot. 49b). 8 This famine occurred during the fraternal
6 See discussion in M. P. Horgan, Pesharim: Qumran Interpretations of Biblical Books,
CBQMS 8 (Washington: Catholic Biblical Assocation of America, 1979), 138-39,
148-49.
7 J. D. Amusin, "The Reflection of Historical Events of the First Century B.C.
in Qumran Commentaries (4Q161; 4Q169; 4Q166)," HUCA 48 (1977): 123-52.
8 For another opinion see D. Flusser, "Qumran and the Famine during the Reign
of Herod," Israel Museum News 6 (1987): 7-16. On the famine in 4QpHos. A, see
p. 11.