though obviously opposed to Onias IV since he did not follow him to Egypt and to his unlawful Temple in Leontopolis. 71 He founded or re-founded the Community. He transmitted to them his own distinctive interpretation of the Prophets and, if we can rely at least indirectly on the Hymns, of the laws relating to the celebration of festivals. The âLiarâ and his sympathizers in the congregation of the Hasidim disagreed with him, and after a violent confrontation between the two factions in which the âLiarâ gained the upper hand, the Teacher and his remaining followers fled to a place of refuge called âthe land of Damascusâ: it has been suggested that this is a cryptic designation of Babylonia, the original birthplace of the group, or else that âDamascusâ is a symbolical name for Qumran. The âHouse of Absalomâ gave the Teacher of Righteousness no help against the âLiarâ, writes the Habakkuk commentator (1QpHab v, 9-12), the implication being that this was support on which he might have relied. If âAbsalomâ is also a symbol, it doubtless recalls the rebellion of Absalom against his father David, and thus points to the perfidy of a close relation or intimate friend of the Teacher. On the other hand, since the âHouse of Absalomâ is accused not of an actual attack but simply of remaining silent during the Teacherâs âchastisementâ, this allegorical solution may not be convincing. The allusion may then be a straightforward one. A certain Absalom was an ambassador of Judas Maccabaeus (2 Mac. xi, 17), and his son Mattathias was one of Jonathanâs gallant officers (1 Mac. xi, 70). Another of his sons, Jonathan, commanded Simonâs army which captured Joppa (1 Mac. xiii, 11).
Meanwhile, even in his âplace of exileâ the Teacher continued to be harassed and persecuted by the Wicked Priest. In this connection, the most important and painful episode appears to have been the Priestâs pursuit of the Teacher to his settlement with the purpose of pouring on him âhis venomous furyâ. Appearing before the sectaries on âtheir Sabbath of reposeâ, at the âtime appointed for rest, for the Day of Atonementâ, his intention was to cause them âto stumble on the Day of Fastingâ. It is impossible to say, from the evidence so far available, precisely what happened on this portentous occasion, or whether it was then or later that the Wicked Priest âlaid handsâ on the Teacher âthat he might put him to deathâ. The wording is equivocal. For example, the verb in 1QpHab xi, 5, 7, translated âto confuseâ, can also mean âto swallow upâ, and some scholars have chosen to understand that the Teacher was killed by the Wicked Priest at the time of the visit. On the other hand, we find recounted in the imperfect tense (which can be rendered into English as either the future or the present tense): âThe wicked of Ephraim and Manasseh ... seek/will seek to lay hands on the Priest and the men of his Council... But God redeems/will redeem them from out of their handâ (4QpPs a [XXXVII, II, I7-I9=4QI7I]). In other words, we neither know who the founder of the Essenes was, nor how, nor where, nor when he died. Only writers upholding the most unlikely Christian identification of the Community claim to be better informed, but disagree among themselves. J. L. Teicher thought the Teacher was Jesus. For Barbara Thiering Jesus was the Wicked Priest, John the Baptist the Teacher; R. H. Eisenman rejects both and prefers James the Just, âthe brother of the Lordâ, as the Teacher of Righteousness. Only the sensation-seeking media have been taken in by their theories.
It has been suggested that this inability to identify the Teacher of Righteousness in the context of the Maccabaean period undermines the credibility of the reconstruction as a whole. Is it conceivable, it is asked,