The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

170 The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context
teacher is connected with the reference to the awaited high-priestly
anointed one. He will be the researcher of the Torah in the awaited
time of salvation. 22 The exploration of the infinite secrets of scripture
becomes the eschatological task in the messianic reign of the future.
Not only does the priestly messiah become the inspired interpreter
of holy scripture, but already the teacher of righteousness himself,
inspired by the Holy Spirit, interprets the texts of the prophets as
regards their fulfillment in the present time. According to the
Habakkuk pesher the teacher is the representative of the new covenant,
the priest to whom God has granted 'to interpret (lifsor) all words of
the prophets, his servants', 23 because to him alone 'God made known
all secrets of his servants, the prophets'. 24 Herewith the teacher
becomes the model eschatological exegete.
As in early Christianity, the teacher, in order to interpret the
inspired texts of the prophets, depends on the gift of the Holy Spirit, a
charism which is passed on to all members of the sect because they all
shall become 'scripture scholars'. Here we meet with a hermeneutic
principle, which we find again in Paul, and which has analogies in
Greek thought also: what has been revealed by the Spirit can only be
understood through the Spirit. Like can only be known by like. 25
As the inspired-'congenial' exegete of the prophetic texts, the teacher
initiated a new literary genre, namely the Pesharim, the earliest
commentaries which interpret sentence by sentence. The introductory
formula pisro, or pesaer had-dabar, has its nearest parallel in Daniel,
where in the Aramaic part we find the noun p e sar, meaning interpretation,
about 30 times. This eschatological 'exegesis' is basically an
actualizing allegory which ignores the context and wording. The texts
are related to concrete events in the present time or the awaited end.
They therefore disclose information, as the book of Daniel does, not
only about the eschatological anticipation of the sect, but also about its
history.
In addition there is their halachic interpretation of the Torah in
which the teacher of righteousness as researcher of the Torah also
enjoyed central importance. The characteristics of his Torah exegesis
become more evident in the Temple Scroll and most of all in the letter
22. Cf. 4QFlor 1.11.
23. IQpHab 2.1-10.
24. IQpHab 7.4-5.
25. Cf. 1 Cor. 2.13.