Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

the thirtieth = the seventh of the sixth month.] (10) The first of Je[shua = the twenty-ninth = the fifth
of the seventh month.] (11) The third of Huppah = the thirtieth = the fifth of the eighth month. (12)
The fourth of Hezir = the twenty-ninth = the fourth of the ninth month. (13) The sixth of Jachin = the
thirtieth = the third of the tenth month. (14) The Sabbath of Jedaiah = the twenty-ninth = the second of
the eleventh month. (15) [The second of] Mijamin = the thirtieth = day [two] of the twelfth month.
24. Priestly Courses III - Aemilius Kills (Manuscripts A-E - 4Q323-324A-B) (Plate 8)
Though extremely fragmentary, this series of manuscripts provides another record of the proper
rotation of priestly courses in the sexennial cycle. This is fairly straightforward and similar to the two
preceding ones, though in this one no attempt is made at lunisolar harmonization. It is worth
mentioning, too, that its Hebrew is closer to that of early Rabbinic literature than many texts at
Qumran. But what is unique about these fragments is that they belong to a select group of Qumran
documents mentioning identifiable historical personages, as the Nahum Commentary does with
Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius and the Paean to King Jonathan below appears to do with
Alexander Jannaeus (c. 104-76 BC).
In this text, amid over a dozen references to historical events commemorated in the record of
rotations, these figures include: 'Aemilius' (Aemilius Scaurus, Pompey's general in Syria and
Palestine), 'Shelamzion' (Salome Alexandra, d. 67 BC - Phariseeizing widow of Alexander Jannaeus),
her eldest son Hyrcanus II (executed in 30 BC on Herod's orders also a Pharisee) and possibly
Shelamzion's younger son Aristobulus (d. 49 BC, poisoned on his way back from Rome to regain his
kingdom by supporters of Pompey - a Sadducee). In addition, too, in Manuscript E, the text possibly
contains a reference to John Hyrcanus, Alexander Jannaeus' father (c. 134-104 BC), though Hyrcanus
II was also known as John. The text also contains fairly negative references to 'Gentiles' and 'Arabs',
which increase the sense of its authenticity.
Like others, this text has been known since the 1950s, but for some reason, never published.
Withholding it is really quite inexplicable, because we have here a view, however tenuous, of one of
the most crucial periods in the Second Temple period. Scaurus was Pompey's adjutant at the time of
the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC. After it fell and Pompey attached it to Syria, he was left behind
as governor.
In turn, Scaurus was closely connected with Herod's father Antipater, who became one of the first
Roman procurators in Jerusalem. At one point Scaurus led a campaign on his behalf against the
Arabian king at Petra, a locale Paul also refers to as 'Arabia' when describing his own sojourn there in
Gal. 1:17. Antipater, who was the intermediary between Hyrcanus II and the Romans, probably began
his rise some time earlier under Shelamzion and her Pharisee supporters (War 1.110-114).
Of Greco-Idumaean background and married to an Arab (a relative of this same Arab king), Antipater
connived at Hyrcanus' survival, played a key role in Aristobulus' discomfiture, and through his
intimacies with Pompey and Scaurus, and Mark Antony thereafter, placed his son Herod in a position
both to destroy the Maccabeans and succeed them.
For his part, Aristobulus was more hot-headed and popular than his accommodating brother