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hi,

i am interested in the parallels between our beloved Jesus and the Teacher of Righteousness - is this something u agree with?

Good day, Gilbert.

Yes, there are some things to be said on the topic you mention.

First, concerning what the Bible declares on this, see the following site on our Web page:
http://webwitness.org.au/teacherofrighteousness.html

This shows you the passage in Joel relating to the concept. It is as you will find there, also found in function in other passages of scripture. These include in essence, Psalm 72, Isaiah 11 and so on. In that connection, I recommend that you consider reading also The Shadow of a Mighty Rock, the first part of Ch. 9 at

http://webwitness.org.au/smr/bk3chap9-a.html

That will give you some idea of the actual prophecies in Isaiah, what they do and do not say, and in http://webwitness.org.au/heart book.html
you will find reference to a book, in which chapters 4, 5,  6,  and 7 cover a large part of the predictions of Isaiah, and will allow you to become more familiar with the background in the Bible.

I suggest then, that you first that you read the first article above, to find what the Bible has to say, and check the others.

A book of F.F. Bruce, a prodigiously famous scholar and Professor in this sort of area in the University of Manchester, is Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. This gives an informative account of various references outside the Bible, in a B.C. sect, which was very fond of the term "teacher of righteousness." As Bruce shows on pp. 60, 71, 76ff., 92ff., 112ff., with reference to detailed items found in the cave, there appears to have been a highly regarded teacher who was very inappropriately forced into some contexts in Hababkkuk, so that it was made to appear that HE would be the one to interpret and provide data. Others might possibly have borne the name as a title, but it seems that there was one, the founder presumably, who was most singularly revered. The distortions and insights combined provide, as Bruce exhibits, a strange fare indeed. It is far from Biblical truth, history and its termination, all three.

It was, Bruce indicates, a sect which seemed to have felt the end was near (e.g. p. 96) and that their teacher would instruct them concerning what was to be done. He also indicates that there is no slightest evidence of any special kind of death for this ‘teacher’, or that he was at all regarded as a, or the Messiah. Nor was the end anywhere near ‘near’! In fact, as you can see by consulting The Shadow of a Mighty Rock pp. 886ff., you will see that even the First Coming of the Messiah was set for about 30 A.D., long after this sect arose! That, of course, is, a matter of millenia, very far from the Second Coming and the End!

As Jesus indicates in Luke 24:25-26, there was first the prediction of His sufferings, and to follow, His glory.

The ‘teacher of righteousness’ concept of this sect, therefore, so keen on it, is not really very interesting, in this, that we just the same sort of phenomena today, people trying to force this or that into or out of the Bible, and seeming rather to make fools of themselves, like that modern sect which confidently ‘prophesied’ that Christ would return in 1934 or so. He neglected to do this, just as the modern sect apparently neglected to think much about Acts 1:6-8, where knowledge of such times and seasons is denied to the apostles.

It is true that when Christ’s return is "near", there are signals
(cf. http://webwitness.org.au/frank5.html),
but these are not date setting things, and it would appear from Bruce’s indications and citations, that the ancient sect appears was some millenia out in its views on "the end".

This for me makes them merely a diversion, a foolish aside, as in Jeremiah. If said Jeremiah, the false prophets HAD stood in the counsel of the Lord, then they might have turned some from their evil ways (Jeremiah 23: 16-24)! The sect’s writings  never received canon status, and it is fairly obvious why they are so bereft, since this sort of thing did not reach to the heights required for true prophecy, which at that time still was held worthy of the death penalty if it failed (Deuteronomy 18:19-21).  What sort of a failure is several millenia! God hates presumption in this field (Jeremiah 23 shows you just HOW MUCH!).

Actually, then, it appears that this teacher at the time of the Sect, who were thinking in terms of a horrible time before the coming end, was neither regarded as Messiah, nor found to be executed, nor exhibited the necessary powers (as in Isaiah 29, 35), nor provided any kind of salvation as in the Biblical prediction of Isaiah 52-55, but simply sought to give extra information for the end. Thus in all that is crucial, the parallel is more like an intersection. The interpretation of Habakkuk 2:4 seems especially astray (Bruce, p. 95 - cf. Barbs, Arrows and Balms 22 and Licence for Liberty Ch. 8).

On Biblical predictions on the Messiah, in the Psalms, you may care to look at Joyful Jottings at http://webwitness.org.au/jottingsbook.html

Numbers 21, 22, 23, 25 are much to the point here.
 

On the Old Testament Canon, you may care to look up http://webwitness.org.au/smr/appendd-a.html and http://webwitness.org.au/ss2.

People often want to do "something drastic" about "the end", and there were such in the Reformation. The requirements for the actual end are spelled out carefully in the Bible, and these as noted are shown together in the site noted (frank5). The proper thing to do at all times is to follow the word of God, ignore the words men try to put into His mouth, be thankful for the Bible and execute the commands of Christ, saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:1-12). Christ showed that the important thing is in faith to get on with His appointed tasks and commands (Matthew 28:19-20, 24:29ff., 45ff.).

The erratic things that come instead of simple faith in Christ and His word, the study of it and the wealth it gives, can serve like fat sausages for athletes, before a race. Not very well!

I hope this helps. You will realise that one does not know your background, so that a spread of possible vantage points is provided. If you care for more discussion on what the Bible actually states, please write further. On that, as you may find in the first reference above, there is much of interest to this point. The actual TEACHER (cf. Matthew 23:8-10), Jesus Christ the Lord,  has no equal, parallel or comparison, being God on earth, as in John 7:46, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 32, 40, 50-55, 11, Micah 5:1-3, Zechariah 12, Psalm 45, 72 and so on.

Regards,

Robert Donaldson
for World Wide Web Witness Inc