dssdead-sea-scrolls
G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works
Part 34
A fragmentary Aramaic list catalogues named false prophets who arose in Israel, drawing its first entries from the biblical record — Balaam, the elder of Bethel, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, Ahab son of Koliah, Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, and Shemaiah the Nehlamite — before breaking off in damaged text. The Qumran community's anti-Hasmonean posture likely placed John Hyrcanus I among the condemned, treating prophetic pretension unsanctioned by the Holy Order as a species of the same lying spirit the biblical names represent. The list is a covenant boundary document: those who speak presumptuously in Jehovah's name without His authority stand in a traceable lineage of condemnation.
1
This is a brief list of false prophets, recorded in Aramaic and palaeographically Herodian in date. The first six names come from the Bible. The last two lines are completed by the editor as 'Hananiah son of Azur' and 'a prophet from Gibeon', interpreted as the continuation of the description of Hananiah. One may object to this reconstruction that all the previous names occupy a single line. The name of Yohanan ben Shim'on, i.e. John Hyrcanus I, son of Simon Maccabaeus, has been suggested by A. Rofe and E. Qimron. Hyrcanus I was thought to have been endowed with prophetic gifts, but the anti- Hasmonaean Qumran sect would have condemned him as a false prophet. This identification is distinctly possible, but owing to the fragmentary state of the line the reading is purely conjectural. For the editio princeps, see M. Broshi and A. Yardeni, DJD, XIX, 77-9.
2
The lying prophets who arose in Israel: Balaam [son of Beor; the elder from Bethel; Zedekiah son of Kenaanah; Ahab son of Koliah; Zedekiah son of Maaseiah; Shemaiah the Nehlemite;. ur;. 'on.
