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John C. Trever

Biblical commentaries, or pesharim, constitute an important genre among the Qumran texts. In such works, the Qumran sectarians interpreted biblical prophecies as references to themselves and to the events of their community. For example, column 7 from the Habakkuk Commentary, seen here, interprets Habakkuk 2:2 (“Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so that he may run who reads it”) as a reference to “the Teacher of Righteousness [the Qumran sect’s leader], to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants the Prophets.”