Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

e complete and totally original, almost like Haiku poetry, except instead of 17 syllables, it contains
20 phrases.
This is followed by material in the lower half of Column 2 in the same hand. What we have here may
have been some important collection of 'poems' or 'Holy Songs'. They may even have been sung or
sent as part of a laudatory dedication to King Jonathan himself. Or they may simply have been a
private copy of something someone wanted to keep. It should be observed, however, that the
Community shows not reticence in addressing this Alexander as 'King'. Many coins minted in this
period bear the logo, 'Jonathan the High Priest of the Jews' (Yehudim). Those bearing the logo 'King'
are generally in Greek and bear his Greek name 'Alexander'. A few others bear the logo 'the King
Jonathan', but reversed from this poem.
The reference in Line 3 of the first column to 'the whole Community of Your People' is interesting in
that it reflects the similar terminology Qumran applies to itself, i.e. 'the Community'. So is the fact that
Line 5 recognizes the Jews as a diaspora people, inhabiting 'the four winds' as it were. However, the
two references in Lines 8 and 9 with which the laudatory dedication closes are perhaps most
interesting. The reference to 'perfection' in Line 8, of course, recapitulates this terminology as we have
been following it in this work. Strictly speaking, it is not exactly the word 'Perfect', but rather a
parallel vocabulary allied to it meaning something like 'complete'.
The word Hever at the end of Line 9 is used on numerous Maccabean coins from this period,
particularly those minted under Alexander Jannaeus. It derives from the Hebrew root, 'friend', or, if
one prefers, 'brotherhood'. Jonathan is almost always saluted on coins using this phraseology as 'the
High Priest and Head of the Brotherhood (or Council or Sanhedrin) of the Jews'. We have chosen to
render this word 'Commonwealth'. Its presence in this text, coupled with fulsome praise for
Alexander, accords with the coins from this period and increases the sense of the historical
authenticity of the poem itself.
If the laudatory sense of the first column were not sufficiently clear, the laudatory sense of the second
column, and, of course, the apocryphal poem above it, makes it even more so. It is difficult to imagine
that at some point this group could have become disenchanted with King Jonathan, and the editors
reject this position.
This column, as the reader can see, is more obscure, because less has survived. There is a reference to
'love', but the Translation of the word at the end of Line 2 'wine' is puzzling in the context of the rest
of the extant paean. The word could also be translated 'Greece', but this too would be difficult to
understand in the context we have. Without further data, little more can be said about it. The
'Commonwealth' reference in the first column is repeated in Line 6 of the second, including an
adulatory reference to 'Kingdom', presumably Jonathan's. The constant reiteration of 'name', intended
for the good of the monarch and a blessing is noteworthy.
In this context, the allusion in Line 2.4 to 'visit' is of interest. This is a term we have been following
throughout the corpus from Qumran. We have seen it in the Messiah of Heaven and Earth text,
referring to God 'visiting the Hassidim' or 'calling the Zaddikim by name'. Here, too, whether by
accident or intent, we have the 'naming' signification again. The allusion to 'visiting' also occurs, as