Texts in Conversation
In Habakkuk, the prophet is told to write the message on tablets so it can be read easily. The Dead Sea Scrolls community interprets that to say God kept the timing from Habakkuk, revealing it only to their Teacher of Righteousness.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Habakkuk 2:2
Hebrew Bible
1 I will stand at my watch post; I will remain stationed on the city wall. I will keep watching so I can see what he says to me and can know how I should answer when he counters my argument. 2 The Lord responded: “Write down this message. Record it legibly on tablets so the one who announces it may read it easily. 3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. Even if the message is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; for it will certainly come to pass—it will not arrive late.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
1QpHab 7:1
Commentary on Habakkuk
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation
1 And God told Habakkuk to write down the things that are coming upon 2 the last generation, but the completion of the age he did not make known to him. 3 And as for what it says, “so that the one who reads it may run,” 4 its interpretation concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God made known 5 all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets. “For there is yet a vision 6 for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie.” 7 Its interpretation: that the last age will be prolonged, and it will go beyond all 8 that the prophets have spoken, for the mysteries of God are wondrous. 9 “If it delays, wait for it, for it will surely come and will not 10 be late.” Its interpretation concerns the men of truth, 11 those who observe the Torah, whose hands do not slacken from the service of 12 the truth when the last age is drawn out over them, for
Date: 175–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Two aspects are remarkable in this interpretation. The first is that it is evident that the Habakkuk commentary relates the prophecy of Habakkuk, in the Bible set in the Babylonian period, to its own time, to the community at Qumran in the 2nd century b.c.e. This application is made explicit in the interpretation of Habakkuk 2:2: “. . . its meaning concerns the teacher of righteousness.” The “teacher of righteousness” is the founder and leader of the Qumran community. He belongs historically to the middle of the second century b.c.e. and was supposedly a high priest from Jerusalem who had a falling out with the establishment over theological questions. This dispute brought about the secession of his followers. He then claims that the prophecy of Habakkuk from the Babylonian period relates, in reality, to activities that took place 500 years later. And connected with this is a second, equally important point. The Habakkuk commentary appears to presuppose that Habakkuk himself was not completely aware of what he prophesied about. ..."
Konrad Schmid, Is There Theology in the Hebrew Bible?, CSHB 4 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 106–107.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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