Greg, thanks for your thoughtful comments. However, it seems to me your
equation (or perhaps correlation) of "sons of Zadok" and Moreh ha-Zedek with
the Sadducees of the first century BCE does not seem very secure. I would
point out that Sirach (c. 180-175 BCE) singles out the "sons of Zadok" for
special praise (Hebrew additions: "Give thanks to him who has chosen the
sons of Zadok to be priests"). He also praises Simon as the pinnacle of the
high priestly line (Sir. 50.1-21). Simon is of course the figure known
elsewhere as "Simon the Just" = Shimeon ha-Zedek. Simon the Just is to my
knowledge the only historical figure in the second temple period outside of
James the Just, and the only priest, period, associated with the term Zedek.
So in c. 180-175 we have a combined admiration of Shimeon ha-Zedek and the
sons of Zadok. H.H. Rowley believed Onias III (c. 180-170), son and high
priestly successor of Shimeon ha-Zedek, was the Moreh ha-Zedek, and I have
also argued this in various articles.
My Hellenistic Crisis dating of the Teacher of Righteousness aside, the
"sons of Zadok" / "Shimeon ha-Zedek" terminology documented at such an early
date calls into question the correlation of Zadok/Zedek/Sadducee, unless one
is prepared to see the Sadducees praised c. 180-175 in Sirach. (One may go a
step further back in time -- are Sadducees as sons of Zadok in Ezekiel?) It
seems to me reading Sadducee references in the scrolls involves chronological
assumptions that are by no means self-evident.
(On the other hand, I am surprised that no one I have read has suggested
that the Tomb of Zadok in the Copper Scroll does not suggest a Sadducee
background -- if the name Sadducee comes from Zadok, which seems the most
probable alternative, then I would think that the Sadducees would hold a
traditional burial spot of their quasi-founder Zadok in special reverence.)
One caveat/disclaimer: the phrase "Simon the Just" is not actually found
in Sirach, but in later sources. Nevertheless, I would think the term "Simon
the Just" was coined not terribly long after his lifetime, probably by the
supporters of the endangered/oustered Onias high priestly line. Compare the
timeframe and social milieu for the origination of the affectionate phrase
"James the Just".
Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin
Greg Doudna writes, in part:
> The point I was making is that there is a curious form of
> double vision in which 'Sadducee' (of Josephus, 1st BCE)
> is distinguished from 'sons of Zadok' (of the scrolls) or in
> the case of the sobriquet of the leader, the moreh ha-zedeq.
>
> On the etymology of Sadducee, Schurer has the standard
> consensus as from the proper name Zadok, compare 'sons
> of Zadok' who are the leaders in 1QS.
<snip>
> Since the Teacher is surely a Zadokite priest, he
> is a 'son of Zadok' or a Sadducee too, and his sobriquet
> moreh ha-zedeq would be assumed to be a wordplay on
> 'Sadducee' (Zadokite).
<snip>
> But the Qumran Sadducees and the Josephus Sadducees,
> same time, same place, same name--are almost hermetically
> sealed as scholarly constructions, as if they exist in *different
> worlds*.
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