The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Historical Context

BETZ The Qumran Halakhah Text 4QMMT 195
belonged to the leaders among the 'Sons of Aaron' (B 15-16). For he
is held to be responsible for the purity of the temple and for the
exclusion of unclean animals and persons (B 39-74), for the correct
handling of the sacrifices (B 9-38) and for the holiness of the priesthood
(B 79-C 5). His well-being and that of Israel are interdependent
(C 29.33-34); Israel is called 'your people' (C 29). Those data can be
related best to the high priest in Jerusalem. One may find some allusions
to the office of the king of Israel. In C 19-20 the kings of ancient
Israel are held up as examples to be followed: 'Remember the kings of
Israel and consider their deeds!' (C 24); 'Remember David, that he
was a man of honour!' (C 27). One may conclude that a Hasmonean
priest king could be addressed; Alexander Jannaeus = Jehonathan
(103-76 BC) appears to be the first choice. He is meant in 4QNahum,
because there Demetrios, the king of Jawan (Syria) and opponent of
Alexander, is mentioned (1.2). Alexander must be the 'Lion of Wrath'
who hung up men alive on the tree (1.6-8). These victims of the
'Lion's' wrath belonged to the 'Seekers for Smooth Things', that is,
the Pharisees, who had supported the campaign of Demetrius and
were crucified by Alexander for the crime of high treason.
The new text 4Q448, published recently (4Q photo nr.79 and 1080),
contains a prayer with the name and the title of this Hasmonean priestking:
'To Jehonathan the king and the whole assembly of your people
Israel which is in the four winds of heaven: To all of them may be
peace!' The editors hold that 4Q448 is 'the only Qumran document
published until now whose author's world view is incompatible with
that of the sect's members who opposed the Hasmoneans'; 26 they are
inclined to the possibility that some alien documents were hidden in
the Qumran caves. I do not think that this conclusion must be drawn.
Of course, the Essenes of Qumran were opposed to Alexander Jannai
= Jehonathan, whom they called 'Lion of Wrath'. But they also disliked
the Pharisees being the 'Seekers for Smooth Things', that is, the
lenient interpreters of the law and the commandments of ritual purity.
And they agreed with the political interpretation of the commandment
Deut. 21.22-23: betraying the people of God to a foreign nation or
uttering curses against it must be punished by hanging the criminal on
a tree, that is by crucifixion (see the interpretation of Deut. 21.22-23
in HQMiqd 64.7-12). Y. Yadin believed that the Qumran Essenes
26. E. and Ch. Eshel, A. Jardeni, 'Prayer for the Shalom of King Jehonathan and
his Kingship' (Hebrew) Tarbiz 60.3 (1992), pp. 295-327.