Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

another example of rewriting and developing aspects of the Genesis tradition with an eye towards
enhancing certain parts of it which were considered important by the author. Pseudo Jubilees in this
Chapter is a variation of this tradition, though aspects of Enochic literature also shine through the
fragmentary document that has survived.
Perhaps the most important method for enhancing previously recognized Biblical texts at Qumran was
using the direct interpretative one, called pesher because of the constant allusion throughout in the text
to the Hebrew word pishro ('its interpretation is'). At Qumran this approach usually involved a high
degree of esotericism, as the exegesis played on a passage or some vocabulary from older texts like
Isaiah, Nahum, Hosea, Habakkuk or Psalms, and developed it in the most intense and imaginative
manner conceivable, relating it to the present life of the community, its heroes and enemies, and the
people of Israel.
Pesharim (plural for pesher) such as these were even embedded in documents like the War Scroll,
where 'the Star Prophecy' was treated in this manner, and the Damascus Document, where, as we have
seen, Ezek. 44:15's reference to 'the sons of Zadok' and similar prophecies were interpreted in the
most graphic and vivid manner in relation to contemporary events and the interests of the community.
The document we have called (recalling John Allegro's similar usage) the Genesis Florilegium
contains examples of this kind of pesher as well, particularly when it comes to interpreting the
Messianic 'Shiloh Prophecy' (Gen. 49:10).
Such interpretations often had nothing whatever to do with the underlying Biblical text, often playing
on but a few words or an isolated allusion in it to produce the desired commentary. Sometimes words
in the underlying were deliberately changed to produce the desired exegesis having to do with
contemporary events and almost nothing to do with the original prophecy, except casually. This is the
case in passages in the Habakkuk Pesher and Ezek. 44:15 in the Damascus Document above. Parallel
processes of this kind can also be said to have taken place in the Gospels.
Finally, an author might wish to launch a direct attack on some overarching problem that particularly
exercised him, such as Biblical chronology or genealogy. This approach is again illustrated in the
presentation of the flood chronology in the Genesis Florilegium, as well as the Biblical Chronology
and Hur and Miriam texts which follow it below. These very easily flow into what it is called later in
Rabbinic circles Midrash (i.e. homiletic story).
14. A Genesis Florilegium (4 Q252) (Plate 5)
This text is one of the most fascinating in the corpus. It consists of some six columns as we have
reconstructed it and skims over the main Genesis narrative, alighting only on points and issues it
wishes for some reason to clarify or re-present. These include the flood, Ham's son Canaan's
punishment, the early days of Abram/Abraham, Sodom and Gommorah, and Reuben's offence against
his father. It ends, perhaps most importantly, with Jacob's blessing of his children. This last, more of
an interpretation (pesher) than a rewrite, incorporates some of the most telling Messianic
pronouncements of any Qumran text in this or any other volume.
In the process, the author picks up some of the major modern scholarly problems in Genesis textual