The Qumran Pesharim and Alexandrian Scholarship

Abstract

This article compares 4Q163/Pesher Isaiah C and Greek papyrus commentaries on the Iliad (hypomnemata). These Greek commentaries reflect the methods and assumptions of Alexandrian literary-critical scholarship. This comparison will demonstrate that the scribe or exegete responsible for 4Q163/Pesher Isaiah C was acquainted with Alexandrian textual scholarship. It is further argued that the familiarity of the Pesher commentator with Alexandrian scholarship is the result of ongoing exchanges of knowledge between Jewish intellectuals in Hellenistic- Roman Egypt and Palestine. Thus, this contribution proposes that Alexandrian commentary writing is one of the roots of the Pesher genre.