A few words on how the #Qumran sect referred to the #Pharisees, whom they did *not* like.
Their writings often refer to the דורשי חלקות *dōrešē ḥalāqōt 'seekers/interpreters of smooth things'. This appears to be the Dead Sea Scrolls' most common term for the Pharisees. 1/5
Their writings often refer to the דורשי חלקות *dōrešē ḥalāqōt 'seekers/interpreters of smooth things'. This appears to be the Dead Sea Scrolls' most common term for the Pharisees. 1/5
It is probably a pun on דורשי הלכות *dōrešē halākōt 'interpreters of halakhot (= Pharisaic/Rabbinic rules)'. With the weakened pronunciation of the gutturals /ḥ/ and /h/ known from these texts, it was probably even more hilarious. It implies the Pharisees wanted easy rules. 2/5
Pesher Nahum (3–4 ii 1–2) uses this term besides two others: "'Woe to the city of blood; it is full of lies and rapine': its interpretation is the city of Ephraim, those who seek smooth things during the last days, who walk in lies and falsehood". ('Walking' again is √hlk.) 3/5
Later in the same column, they are called "those who lead Ephraim astray, who lead many astray through their false teaching, their lying tongue, and deceitful lips". My source for this thread, James VanderKam (eerdmans.com/Products/6679/…), notes two things here: 4/5
There's the emphasis on speech, which may reflect the Pharisaic emphasis on the Oral Torah which was rejected by other groups. And "their false teaching" is תלמוד שקרם *talmūd šaqram. While talmud can't mean 'commentary on the (written) Mishnah' here yet, it's striking! 5/5
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