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Re: orion-list guilty corpses



   Judy writes:

> 1) Herb correctly persists in asking what it means
>  to say that a corpse is asham. This is still the
>  original crux, I think, for Russell.

    This is quite true.  There appears to be two alternatives, either asham 
is used polemically, or in a legal sense related to purity issues.  In 4QpNah 
3+4 ii 6 we read that "Many guilty corpses will fall in their days... as a 
result of their guilty counsel."  Certainly the second occurence of asham is 
polemical.  But at 4QpNah 3+4 ii 9-10 we read "Ho[nor]ed ones and rul[ers] 
will fall [because of] their insol[ent] tongue" (cf. the "guilty insolence" 
of iii 4).  Here "guilty corpses will fall" appears to be in parallel with 
"honored ones and rulers will fall" (along with many other categories of 
seemingly innocent, "misled" victims of the Seekers of Flatteries at ii 8-9). 
 It is very difficult for me to believe that the corpses are both "guilty" in 
a polemical sense and also misled.  
    By the way, Jerusalem is described as a "holy camp" in 4QMMT, cf. 
Christophe's "camp of the saints".  But the war camps appear not to have 
possessed this special status.  I also note that the Talmud does not consider 
the blood of even one mortally wounded to convey uncleanness, only 
post-mortem blood (and even then only in a minimum quantity of about half a 
liter).

Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin
For private reply, e-mail to RGmyrken@aol.com
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