The Flow of Authority between the Maskil and the Teacher

The Flow of Authority between the Maskil and the Teacher in the Hodayot from Qumran

Scholars now generally recognize that the hodayot preserved in 1QHa 10:5-17:36 form a block of stylistically distinctive material, which most but not all would associate with the Teacher of Righteousness. This collection is introduced by a hymn in a distinctly different style and voice, that of the Maskil or “Instructor.” What might we learn from the transitional material preserved at the very end of col. 9 about the relationship of the voice of the Maskil in col. 9 and the voice of the Teacher that follows? How does authority and the process of authorization operate in the rhetoric of this hymn? Can that analysis help evaluate alternative hypotheses about the origin and function of these texts and their relation to the Teacher of Righteousness?