4Q448
4Q448, often called the "Hymn to King Jonathan," is a piece of parchment from among the Dead Sea Scrolls, found in Cave 4, containing two separate short works, part of Psalm 154 and a prayer mentioning a King Jonathan (Yəhōnatan).
The only King Jonathan in early Jewish history was Alexander Jannaeus ("Jannaeus" being an abbreviated form of "Jonathan") and it is widely believed that this was the King Jonathan of 4Q448,[1][2] though some doubt has been raised over the identification.[3]
The first column of the prayer may read:
Others translate the first and second line quite differently:
If this text does in fact portray Alexander Jannaeus in a favorable light, it discounts his identification as the Wicked Priest, a figure mentioned in other scrolls. For the reading that the text is *against* Alexander Jannaeus, according to K. Penner, E. Main, A Lemaire, D. Harrington and J. Strugnell, G. Lorein, and S. Goranson, with bibliography, see Goranson in the references, as well as Emmanuelle Main in the footnotes. In this interpretation, the prayer is asking God himself to rise against the king.[7]
According to Steudel (2006), 4Q448 is quite similar to the larger manuscript 4QMMT based on philological analysis. Therefore these two manuscripts may have originally belonged to the same composition.[8]
Footnotes[edit]
- ^ "Alexander Jannaeus is the most likely candidate", VanderKam, James, and Flint Peter, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002) p.291.
- ^ Wise, Michael, Abegg, Martin Jr, and Cook, Edward The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996) p.399.
- ^ See Vermes, G., "The So-called King Jonathan Fragment (4Q448)" in JJS 44 (1993) 294-300.
- ^ Translation provided in VanderKam, James, and Flint Peter, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002) p.291. In this translation "your" is twice capitalized ("Your"), implying reference to God. Garcia Martinez (loc. cit.) doesn't capitalize it.
- ^ Garcia Martinez, Florentino, and Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C., The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition Vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1998) p.929.
- ^ For example, Garcia Martinez, Florentino, and Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C., The Dea Sea Scrolls: Study Edition Vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1998) p.929.
- ^ a b Main, Emmanuelle, “For King Jonathan or Against? The Use of the Bible in 4Q448.” Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 1998, 113–35. doi:10.1163/9789004350298_009.
- ^ A. Steudel, 4Q448 – The Lost Beginning of MMT? in F. Garcia Martinez et al. (eds), From 4QMMT to Resurrection (STDJ, 61; Leiden: Brill, 2006)
References[edit]
- Eshel, E., Eshel, H., Yardeni, A., "A Qumran Composition Containing part of Ps. 154 and a Prayer for the Welfare of King Jonathan and his Kingdom", IEJ' 42 (1992) 199–229.
- Goranson, S. *"Jannaeus, His Brother Absalom, and Judah the Essene,"
