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Since this is an introductory course, we will focus on the
most important as well as the most controversial scrolls only.
Additional information on all the scrolls discussed below
(and a good many more that aren't) can be found in the Bibliography,
and at the end of each scroll's overview.
A Little Background
From the first discoveries of Cave 1 in 1947 to the present,
something like 800 discrete Dead Sea scroll documents have
been identified. Few are complete. Roughly 500 of these documents
were originally located in Cave 4, just a short distance from
the south end of the village of Qumran. Discovered by Bedouin
in 1952, scholars spent years trying to acquire from them
the thousands of text fragments they carried off.
The scrolls divide into two basic categories: (a) copies
of known books of the Hebrew Bible, representing about 25%
of the total Dead Sea text corpus; (b) sectarian texts covering
the views of one or more Jewish sects of 2nd Century BCE-1st
Century CE. Included in this category which takes up the remaining
75% of the corpus are such apocryphal / pseudepigraphic texts
as the "Book of Enoch," and the "Book of Jubilees." There
are also letters, the famous guidebook of the Qumran community
known as the "Manual of Discipline," and works that interpret
Biblical texts, such as Isaiah and Habakkuk. Finally, there
are extraordinary texts with extraordinary themes, such as
the "Battle of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness,"
which outlines the final conflict between good and evil; and
"The Temple Scroll," the longest and most controversial of
all the Dead Sea scrolls. It claims to be a book of Torah
which outlines, among other things, the plan and operation
of a divinely restored Jerusalem Temple.
Scholars have distinguished a number of Hebrew writing styles
in the scrolls which can be dated with considerable accuracy.
There are two basic style "periods," each with a number of
subdivisions. The earlier style period is called "Hasmonean"
since it roughly corresponds to the era of Hasmonean independence,
roughly 150-50 BCE, inaugurated by the Maccabees. The later
and more elegant style is called "Herodian" and spans the
years from roughly 50 BCE to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
A few documents date in composition or copying as far back
as the Third Century BCE, while a few others can be assigned
as late as the Bar-Kokhba revolt of the Second Century CE.
A comparatively small number of texts were written in Greek.
Aside from what the script of the scrolls can tell us, the
scroll material itself offers its own story. Although a few
papyrus fragments survive, the usual material is finely finished
parchment animal skin, usually sheep/goat skin, but there
are occasional examples of calfskin. Herein lies the story
of some high technology detective work. DNA 'fingerprints'
can be determined for each of the skins used in the scrolls.
By comparing these fingerprints, one can determine if certain
skins share common family traits, leading to the possibility
that the skins came from animals of the same herd/flock during
a particular period. This evidence, in addition to the information
from the script style and historical clues in the texts themselves,
can assist scholars in determining if some texts were copied
locally at Qumran, using skins from local herds/flocks, or
perhaps brought in from another area. Although the process
of testing and assessment could take years, DNA research may
help us find out if some of the scrolls were written far from
Qumran, and later added to the existing 'library' of Qumran
material.
We'll start our overview of the Dead Sea scroll texts with
samples from Biblical books, followed by 'sectarian' materials.
Each scroll or fragment compilation will be identified by
its popular name/s, approximate date range, its scholarly
corpus catalog number (e.g.: 11QPs= text found in Cave 11
of Qumran area, Psalms). For 'Approximate Date Copied,' we
refer here to the date the scroll was copied and not necessarily
the date of the text's composition. In some cases, photos
of the texts will be shown.
 Biblical
Texts from Qumran
Scroll Name: Psalms (Tehillim)
Corpus Number: 11QPs
Approximate Date Copied: 30-50 CE
Biblical texts at Qumran can be surprising once you start
checking the differences between the canonical (accepted)
text of our Hebrew Bible (known to others as the Old Testament),
and the Dead Sea scrolls version. This Psalms scroll has parts
of 41 psalms found in the Bible (mostly from Psalms 101-150).
But there are additional psalms in this text not found in
our Bible. What's more, the biblical psalms in this text are
not presented in the order found in the Bible. This brings
home a key point, true not only of the Psalms, but of other
Hebrew Bible books: in the First Century CE, the Jewish community
had not yet 'locked in' a universally agreed selection of
biblical books with fixed contents.
Since the 150 canonical Psalms are available to everyone,
let's take a quick look at a portion of one of the non-canonical
psalms you can't find in your Bible:
For no worm thanks Thee, nor a maggot recounts Thy loving-kindness.
Only the living thank Thee, all they whose feet totter,
thank Thee, when Thou makest known to them Thy loving-kindness,
and causest them to understand Thy righteousness.
For the soul of all the living is in Thy hand; Thou has
given breath to all flesh.
O Lord, do towards us according to Thy goodness, according
to the greatness of Thy mercies, and according to the greatness
of Thy righteous deeds.
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
In addition to the psalms, this scroll contains a prose passage
which notes that King David composed the Psalms, all 4,050
of them! Whatever relationship this claim has to reality,
the Psalms scroll clearly indicates that are a good many hymns
of praise not found in our Bible. A question comes to mind,
which we'll consider again in the next scroll example: should
these "non-canonical" psalms be added to the Bible?
Further reading:
Sanders, J.A. The Psalms Scroll of Qumran Cave 11 (11QPsa).
Discoveries in the Judean Desert, IV. Oxford, 1965.
Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English.
New York: Penguin-Putnam, 1997.
 Scroll
Name: Book of Samuel Fragments
Corpus Number: 4QSam
Approximate Date Copied: First Century
Have you ever wondered why passages in the Bible sometimes
don't seem to make sense on the first, or even the second
reading? Biblical scholars have come up with a number of explanations
for your frustration: the manners and customs of the Biblical
world are largely alien to us; some stories, such as the Creation
in Genesis; appear to be two separate versions of Creation,
woven together; the same story motif keeps getting repeated:
for example, Abraham and Isaac keep on running into embarrassing
situations where some king gets passionate over their respective
wives.
Sometimes stories may not make sense because there's something
missing: part of the text has somehow been lost over the millennia
of copying. Wouldn't it be great if we could have those lost
pieces back? In a few cases, the Dead Sea scrolls offer the
missing parts of a puzzle.
Here's an example. In the story of Saul's rise to kingship,
he makes his claim to fame by battling the nasty Nahash the
Ammonite (a distant and less civil predecessor of the current
monarch of the area, King Hussein of Jordan). When you take
a look at most versions of I Samuel 11, the narrative will
start out something like this:
Then Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh-gilead;
and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, "Make a treaty with
us, and we will serve you." But Nahash the Ammonite said to
them, "On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that
I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus put disgrace upon
all Israel." The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven
days respite that we may send messengers through all the land
of Israel. Then, if there is no one to save us, we will give
ourselves up to you." (RSV)
Does this make complete sense to you? For over two centuries
Biblical scholars have been suggesting that the beginning
of this story is missing: an essential bit of context that
lays down the background for Nahash wanting to poke people
in the eye. Before we look at that bit of context, a little
background. Nahash ruled on the eastern side of the Jordan,
an area where some Israelites were settled, but not in control.
Jabesh-gilead was an Israelite controlled town in this partially
Ammonite area (vaguely reminiscent of Israeli enclaves in
the territory of the Palestinian Authority today). By telling
the able-bodied Israelite men of Jabesh that he wanted their
right eyes in return for peaceful relations, Nahash was making
a simple statement: you can't effectively fight my soldiers
with sword, spear, or bow and arrow if you have no depth perception.
With only one eye, you won't! With no effective defensive
force, the Israelite enclave east of the Jordan would be doomed.
But there's still something missing. There's no introductory
context to Nahash' eye-poking shtick (routine). That's
where 4QSam comes in: here's the missing beginning, courtesy
of the Dead Sea scrolls.
Now Nahash, king of the B'nai Ammon (Ammonites), oppressed
the B'nai Gad and the B'nai Reuven with force, and he plucked
out every right eye. There was no savior for Israel and there
remained not a (single) man among the B'nai Israel beyond
the Jordan (river) whose right eye Nahash, king of the B'nai
Ammon had not plucked out from him. (Now) there were seven
contingents delivered from the hand of the B'nai Ammon. They
went to Jabesh Gilead. And so it was about a month (later)
that. . .
(Translation: students of Lehrhaus Judaica's Advanced Hebrew
course on the Dead Sea Scrolls.)
So here's the story: Nahash the Ammonite was attacking communities
of Israelite tribes living on the eastern side of the Jordan,
specifically the tribes of Gad and Reuben. To render the Israelites
militarily impotent, Nahash was poking out Israelite right
eyes like crazy. Ultimately, the elders went to Saul on the
other side of the Jordan, God's spirit Saul to fight, and
before long, Nahash the Ammonite was history.
How did this beginning passage get lost? All a copyist has
to do is skip from the word he was just copying down to the
next appearance of the same word, perhaps a few lines lower.
It happens frequently enough so that scholars have given this
scribal error a fancy name: homeoteleuton.
 Sectarian
Texts
Scroll Name: The Temple Scroll
Corpus Number: 11QTemple
Approximate Date Scroll Copied: Late 1st Century BCE-Early
1st Century CE
Possible Original Composition Date: ca. 150-125 BCE
At over 27 feet long, the Temple Scroll outstretches even
the Great Isaiah Scroll found in Cave 1. Discovered in Cave
11 by Bedouin in 1956, it finally ended up in the hands of
Yigael Yadin in the wake of the Six Day War in 1967. The scroll
contains 66 columns of text, of which the first column is
lost, and columns 3-12 are badly fragmented. Despite this
damage, Yadin was able to edit, translate, and effectively
interpret most of its content. The Cave 11 scroll turns out
to be a later copy, belonging perhaps to the early First Century
CE. Fragments of older copies of the Temple Scroll were discovered
in Cave 4. Yadin believes the original date of composition
for the Temple Scroll was the mid-late Second Century BCE.
Yadin also posits that the writer of the Temple Scroll saw
his work as a "torah" or "teaching" as divinely sanctioned
as the accepted five books of Torah we know today. However,
it's reasonably certain that only the Essenes and perhaps
a few other small, sectarian Jewish groups regarded the Temple
Scroll as a book of Torah.
Although the focus of the text is on the ideal design and
operation of the Temple in Jerusalem, the scroll covers other
topics as well. One section discusses calendar and festivals,
and reveals that the writer of the Temple Scroll followed
a solar calendar of 364 days rather than the traditional Jewish
lunar calendar we use to this day. The Qumran community used
the same solar calendar, just one of many points of observance
shared by both the writer of the Temple Scroll, the Essene
Jewish sect, and the Qumran community, strongly suggesting
that the Temple Scroll was an Essene sectarian document.
There are both problems, opportunities and surprises in a
364 day solar calendar. For one thing, the earth takes 365
1/4 days to make its circuit around the sun, so the Temple
Scroll/Qumran calendar would lag about one month every 24
years. We don't know for sure, but it's possible that the
Qumran calendar added an intercalary month every 24 years
to fix the problem. If you divide 364 by 7, you get exactly
52 weeks, and herein lies the opportunity: the start of a
festival/holiday would always fall on the same day of the
week, and so would the first day of the new year. But what
day was that?
And God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of
the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them
be for signs and for seasons and for days and years . . .
And it was so. . . And there was evening and there was morning,
a fourth day.
On the fourth day of creation, God created sun and moon so
that days and nights could be reckoned. Therefore, the new
year, and the festivals of the Qumran community always began
on a Wednesday, the fourth day! Many of the Qumran festivals
were quite different from those practiced today by normative
Judaism: First Fruits of Barley; First Fruits of Wheat; First
Fruits of Wine; First Fruits of Oil; and the Feast of the
Wood Offering. With a calendar whose operation was completely
different than the normative calendar of Judaism both then
and now, the Essenes and the Qumran community understandably
found themselves alienated from the majority.
While the calendar and festivals of the ideal Temple are
important, the true focus of the Temple Scroll is the plan
and operation of the Temple as envisioned by the Qumran community.
Although the Temple structure proper had fixed measurements
dictated by Biblical tradition (I Kings 6), the Qumran community
had their own interpretation of the courtyards surrounding
the Temple. Three, square, concentric walls created an Inner
Court immediately around the Temple complex, a Middle Court,
and an Outer Court. The Inner Court had four gates, the Middle
and Outer Courts each had twelve. The Outer Court square was
about 1,600 cubits (approximately 2,400 feet) on each side,
making the overall area of the envisioned Temple complex far
larger than the one that sat atop the Temple in Jerusalem
2,000 years ago. Indirect inspiration for the Temple Scroll's
description of the Temple complex comes from the layout and
terminology used by Ezekiel to describe the Temple that God
would someday create for Israel. But there are many variations
in the Temple Scroll plan, due in part to the Temple Scroll
writer's belief that his Temple would be built by Israelites
themselves, not God.
The Temple Scroll spends a good many columns on issues of
ritual purity in the holy city of Jerusalem, the Temple City.
Drawing on rules of purity established primarily in the Book
of Deuteronomy for Moses' wandering community and its Tabernacle
in the Wilderness, the Temple Scroll writer translates these
rules into use at the future Temple City of Jerusalem. The
Temple replaced the wandering Tabernacle shrine in the time
of Solomon, making Jerusalem the navel of the Jewish religious
world. The Temple Scroll writer took the Deuteronomic purity
laws and made them laughably (or painfully, for those who
had to observe them) strict. An example: Deuteronomy 23 commands
the Sinai Wilderness Jewish community to have an "outhouse"
outside the camp when they are preparing to battle their enemies.
After all, God was in the camp of the Israelites at such times,
and so would naturally not want to encounter an unpleasant
and unholy "deposit" within the camp. The writer of the Temple
Scroll translates this law to the walled city of Jerusalem:
fellow Essenes who live in Jerusalem must build an outhouse
"so that it will not be visible at any distance from the city,
three thousand cubits." (Temple Scroll, Col. 46). Three thousand
cubits is roughly 3/4 of a mile!
Unfortunately, things get worse. Normative Judaism at the
time declared that you could not walk more than 2,000 cubits
from your camp/town on the Sabbath, while the Essenes apparently
set the limit at an even stricter 1,000 cubits. The painfully
logical conclusion: if you were an Essene, you could not go
to the bathroom within the walls of Jerusalem, and you could
not go at all on the Sabbath, since the outhouse was
well beyond the Sabbath walking limit. To ease the situation
slightly, the Essenes apparently had their own gate in Jerusalem
through which they could exit at the end of the Sabbath in
a mad dash for the outhouse nearly a mile away. This is but
one example of Essene perspectives that can best be described
as mad dogma run amuck!
Without doubt, the Temple Scroll will continue to stimulate
both controversy, and ultimately insight, among scholars in
the next century.
Further reading:
Yadin, Yigael. The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the
Dead Sea Sect. New York: Random House, 1985.
 Scroll
Name: The War Scroll/War Rule
Corpus Number: 1QM, plus many fragments from Cave
4, including 4Q285 (shown in the enhanced photo to the right)
Possible Original Composition Date: ca. 30 BCE - early
First century CE
The War Scroll (sometimes known as The War of the Sons
of Light Against the Sons of Darkness) was found in badly
damaged and incomplete condition in Cave 1. Fragments from
six other manuscripts of the same text were found in Cave
4, helping to fill in the gaps in the Cave 1 manuscript. In
addition, additional fragments from Cave 4 (including the
pictured fragment 4Q285) may also belong to the War Scroll,
possibly the final section which is missing in the Cave 1
text.
Although the text is fairly rich in military terminology
based on the organization of the early Roman imperial army,
it is the Roman Empire itself which the text pictures as among
the foremost of the "sons of darkness," code-named the "Kittim
of Assyria." The forces of the sons of light and sons of darkness
are equally matched in this contest that will take 40 years,
but through God's intervention, the glorious outcome is already
predetermined.
Without question, the imagery of a final and cataclysmic
battle between light and darkness is drawn from the theological
motifs of the Persian royal religion, Zoroastrianism. Reaching
the Holy Land when Cyrus' Persian Empire swallows the Babylonians
in the Sixth Century BCE, Zoroastrianism posits a final conflict
between the long-time opponents Ahuramazda and Ahriman, where
Ahuramazda's triumph is ultimately assured.
A few quotes may not give you the whole picture, but will
suffice to offer some sense of the character of the text,
which shares much in common with the later Christian book
of apocalyptic eschatology, Revelation.
. . .there shall be battle and terrible carnage before
the God of Israel, for that shall be the day appointed from
ancient times for the battle of destruction of the sons of
darkness. At that time, the assembly of gods and the hosts
of men shall battle, causing great carnage; on the day of
calamity, the sons of light shall battle with the company
of darkness amid the shouts of a mighty multitude and the
clamour of the gods and men to (make manifest) the might of
God.
And the Prince of Light Thou hast appointed from ancient
times to come to our support;[all the sons of righteousness
are in his hand], and all the spirits of truth are
under his dominion. But Satan, the Angel of Malevolence, Thou
hast created for the Pit; his [rule] is in Darkness and his
purpose is to bring about wickedness and iniquity.
The light of Thy greatness [shall shine forth on 'go]ds'
and men. [It shall be like a fire bur]ning in the dark places
of perdition; it shall burn the sinners in the perdition of
hell, in an eternal blaze. . . in all the eternal seasons.
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
While this kind of fire and brimstone language might seem
at home among some Christian sects, both past and present,
it seems totally out of place as the dogma of Jews. In fact,
ancient rabbinic Judaism (the forerunner of modern Judaism
today) rejected the language and the dogma behind the War
Scroll. The Essenes, perhaps the Zealots and a few other small
Jewish sects which embraced the language and the vision of
the War Scroll effectively disappeared after the First Jewish
Revolt (66-74 CE) and the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-35 CE). By
'satanizing' the Roman Empire, sectarian Jewish groups set
themselves on a path that led to their annihilation. Early
Christianity survived because it did not demonize the
Roman Empire. Early Christianity would choose a different
victim. For more on this, see the final section of this course,
The Devil and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Before we close, a moment on the fragment shown here, 4Q285.
It's an intriguing fragment measuring only 1.6 by 2 inches.
It presumably comes from the War Scroll's end section. The
writing style of this particular fragment dates to the First
Century CE. The reconstructed text goes something like this:
[. . .] Isaiah the Prophet, [The thickets of the forest]
will be cut [down with an axe and Lebanon by a majestic one
will f[all]. And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump
of Jesse [. . .] the Branch of David and they will enter into
judgement with [. . .] and the Prince of the Congregation,
the Br[anch of David] will kill him (alt. trans.: they
will kill) [. . .by strok]es and by wounds. And a Priest
[of renown (?)] will command [. . . the s]lai[n] of the Kitti[m.
. .]
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
The text probably alludes to Chapter 11 of the Book of Isaiah,
where a messianic ruler from the stump of Jesse (the line
of King David) will arise to slay the wicked. If you
can read Hebrew, take a look at the enlarged version of the
enhanced photo of the text accompanying this description.
Look down to the fourth line, the first word on the right.
The letters are vav, hey, mem, yod, tav, vav. These
letters, depending on context, can represent two words, transliterated
as follows: vehemitu, or vehemito.
On the last vowel hangs everything: vehimitu translates
'they will kill'; vehimito translates 'he will kill
him.' Following the context of Isaiah 11, the messianic ruler
will kill his enemy by strokes and wounds. Alternatively,
one could read 'they will kill the Prince of the Congregation,
the Branch of David . . . with strokes and wounds.' Do we
have in this translation a reference to the execution of Jesus
of Nazareth? After all, the text dates to the First Century
CE, the century in which he lived. When this suggestion came
out late in 1991, it made front-page headlines throughout
the world.
The majority scholarly response to this question is 'no,'
but the debate still simmers. The Jesus-oriented translation
was proffered by Robert Eisenman of Cal State Long Beach.
He works from the premise (or prejudice) that many of the
Dead Sea Scrolls don't merely set the stage for early Christian
texts, they are early Christian texts. While the Dead
Sea Scroll corpus does offer a wealth of background to the
development of Christianity from Jewish sects, such as the
Essenes, there is still no proof or even likelihood of references
to the historical Jesus in these texts.
Further reading:
Abegg, Martin. "Messianic Hope and 4Q285: A Reassessment,"
Journal of Biblical Literature 113 (1994), 81-91.
Eisenman, R., and Wise, M. The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered.
London and New York, 1992.
Tabor, James. "A Pierced or Piercing Messiah?-The Verdict
is Still Out," Biblical Archaeology Review 18 (1992),
58-59.
Scroll Name: The Community Rule or Manual of Discipline
Corpus Number: 1QS, plus numerous fragments from Cave
4 and 5, including the fragment illustrated here, 4Q258
Approximate Date Scroll Copied: 4Q258: late First
Century BCE- First Century CE
Possible Original Composition Date:ca. 100 BCE
If you were one of the bosses at Qumran, The Community
Rule was your operations manual. A complete copy of the
scroll was part of the original cache discovered in Cave 1
in 1947, but numerous fragments from other copies have been
discovered, so it's a safe bet that this was popular reading
in the village near the shores of the Dead Sea.
Aside from the mundane issues of admitting initiates, organizing
and disciplining the membership and some key ceremonies, the
text also overviews the duties of the Master of the community
and his disciples. The following passages offer a taste of
life at Qumran:
The Master shall instruct all the sons of light and shall
teach them the nature of all the children of men according
to the kind of spirit they possess, the signs identifying
their works during their lifetime, their visitation for chastisement,
and the time of their reward.
From the God of Knowledge comes all that is and shall
be. Before ever they existed He established their whole design,
and when, as ordained for them, they come into being, it is
in accord with His glorious design that they accomplish their
task without change.
He has created man to govern the world, and has appointed
for him two spirits in which to walk until the time of His
visitation: the spirits of truth and falsehood. Those born
of truth spring from a fountain of light, but those born of
falsehood spring from a source of darkness. All the children
of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and walk
in the ways of light, but all the children of falsehood are
ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness.
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
As God's chief representative to the community of the sons
of light, the Master had to judge the character of the community's
members, keeping in mind that their character was predestined
by God. The Master presides over the "Council of the Community,"
consisting of 12 men and 3 priests. The Master dealt with
a variety of issues, particularly infractions of the endless
rules members of the community must follow. To a certain extent,
the community was self-policing (or self-informing), as indicated
by this passage:
They shall rebuke one another in truth, humility, and
charity. Let no man address his companion with anger, or ill-temper,
or obduracy, or with envy prompted by the spirit of wickedness.
Let him not hate him [because of his uncircumcised] heart,
but let him rebuke him on the very same day lest he incur
guilt because of him. And furthermore, let no man accuse his
companion before the Congregation without having first admonished
him in the presence of witnesses.
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
If you saw someone breaking the rules, how did you handle
it? The text is clear: immediately you are to confront the
transgressor yourself on the issue, without anger. If the
transgressor doesn't listen, you must repeat the confrontation
in front of witnesses. If that doesn't work, take the matter
to the Congregation. From that point, the case would be judged
by the Council, and the transgressor would be disciplined
or expelled from the community. This approach has its roots
in Torah, including Deuteronomy 19.
Take a look at the following passage and see if you notice
some similarities:
If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault,
between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have
gained a brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two
others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by
the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen
to them, tell it to the congregation; and if he refuses to
listen even to the congregation, let him be to you as a gentile
and a tax collector.
These are the words of Jesus in Matthew 18. The procedures
for dealing with transgression are essentially identical among
the earliest Christian community led by Jesus, and the Qumran
community. Along with simple communal living, a community
treasurer who received the funds of the initiates and other
community income, and other features, the tiny Jewish sectarian
group of Jesus, first known as the Notzrim, shared
a number of features with other Jewish sectarian groups, including
the Essenes of Qumran. The Community Rule provides the reader
with other points of comparison, of which these are but a
few.
Further reading:
Charlesworth, James H., et al (eds). The Dead Sea Scrolls.
Volume I: Rule of theCommunity and Related Documents. 1994.
Scroll Name: The Damascus Document
Corpus Number: CD (Cairo text); 4Q265-73, 5Q12, 6Q15
Approximate Date Scroll Copied: Cairo text of Damascus
Document copied in Middle Ages (ca. 10th Century CE); Cave
4-6 fragments may date to late 1st century BCE
Possible Original Composition Date: ca. 100 BCE
In 1896, a British scholar named Solomon Schechter discovered
a fascinating document in a storeroom for old Torah scrolls
in Cairo's venerable Ben Ezra Synagogue. The document spoke
of a community of righteous Jews who had left Judea and Jerusalem
for the "land of Damascus." While it is possible that this
group made its way to Damascus, it seems more likely that
Damascus was a "code term" referring to the settlement they
established at Qumran. In 1910, Schechter published the text,
and argued that the community mentioned in the document lived
in the Judean Desert about 2000 years ago. In the winter of
1947, his prediction proved true. The Dead Sea Scroll versions
of the Damascus Document include material not found in the
Cairo medieval manuscript.
In addition to an exhortation to the righteous to remain
faithful to their beliefs while in "exile," the Damascus Document
contains a variety of laws dealing with oaths, witnesses and
judges, the Sabbath, and ritual purity. One of the laws deals
with the problem of how much to tell a prospective bridegroom
about your daughter. It draws on the laws of buying and selling
discussed in Leviticus 25. Although somewhat damaged and occasionally
obscure, it makes for very interesting reading:
. . .[a man gives his daughter to another ma]n, let him
disclose all her blemishes to him, lest he bring upon himself
the judgement [of the curse which is said (Deuteronomy 27:18)]
(of the one) that 'makes the blind to wander out of the way.'
Moreover, he should not give her to one unfit for her, for
[that is Kil'yim, (plowing with) o]x and ass and wearing wool
and linen together. Let no man bring [a woman into the holy
[ ] who has had sexual experience, whether she had such experience
[in the home] of her father or as a widow who had intercourse
after she was widowed. And any woman [upon whom] there is
a bad name in her maidenhood in her father's home, let no
man take her, except [upon examination] by reliable [women]
who have clear knowledge, by command of the Supervisor of
the Many.
(Translation: Joseph Baumgarten)
Clearly, the rules of the Qumran community in the First Century
BCE would find little welcome in the modern world! What we
can also say without doubt is that the Damascus Document presents
a theology and reference to specific events that link it with
other Dead Sea Scroll texts, including the War Scroll and
the Community Rule.
Further reading:
Schechter, Solomon. Fragments of a Zadokite Work. Cambridge,
1910.
Broshi, Magen. The Damascus Document Reconsidered. Jerusalem,
1992.
 Scroll
Name: Some Torah Precepts (Miqsat Ma'ase HaTorah=MMT)
Corpus Number: CD (Cairo text); 4Q394-399
Approximate Date Scroll Copied: Late First Century
BCE-Early First Century CE
Possible Original Composition Date: Second-Early First
Century BCE
This is a doubly controversial text. The first controversy
focuses on publishing rights. Dead Sea scrolls scholar Elisha
Qimron reconstructed the text from fragments, and copyrighted
his assembly of fragments and editing work. Hershel Shanks
of the Biblical Archaeology Society published Qimron's reconstruction
without permission as part of his effort to break the scholarly
monopoly on access to the scrolls. Qimron sued Shanks for
copyright infringement and won a judgement of $43,000, which
Shanks subsequently appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court.
As of 1997, the issue was not finally resolved.
The second controversy centers on the meaning of the text.
Parts of several copies were found in Cave 4, the cave closest
to the ancient village of Qumran. Otherwise, the text is completely
unattested. The text is designed as a direct and hostile comparison
of 20 rules the way the Qumran community observed them as
opposed to the way the Jerusalem Temple leadership observed
them. The following passage makes it clear that, when confronting
intermarriage, the Qumran community found it abominable while
the outsiders apparently tolerated it:
And concerning the mixed marriages that are being performed
among the people, and they are sons of holy [seed], as is
written, Israel is holy. And concerning his (Israel's) [clean]
animal, it is written that one must not let it mate with another
species, and concerning his clothes [it is written that they
should not] be of mixed stuff; and one must not sow his field
and vineyard with mixed species. Because they (Israel) are
holy, and the sons of Aaron are [most holy]. But you know
that some of the priests and [the laity intermingle] [And
they] adhere to each other and pollute the holy seed as well
as their (i.e. the priests') own [seed] with corrupt women.
(Translation: J. Strugnell and E. Qimron)
One last point: one section of MMT deals with the calendar
of this sectarian group. The group clearly followed a solar
calendar of 364 days, so it's reasonably certain that MMT,
perhaps one of the earliest Qumran documents, outlined the
views of the presumably Essene population at Qumran at its
beginning. Some scholars suggest that this text was actually
composed by the founder of the community, the so-called "Teacher
of Righteousness."
Further reading:
Qimron, Elisha, and John Strugnell. Qumran Cave 4--V. Discoveries
in the Judean Desert Vol. 10. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1994.
Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English.
New York: The Penguin Group, 1997.
Scroll Name: Messiah Apocalypse
Corpus Number: 4Q521
Approximate Date Scroll Copied: after 100 BCE
Possible Original Composition Date: possibly First
Century BCE
The composition of this text probably precedes the life of
Jesus of Nazareth. On that basis, it clearly demonstrates
that aspects of the identity and mission of a Messianic figure
were already well established in Jewish sectarian thought
long before Jesus was born. Here's a passage from 4Q521:
Surely the Lord shall visit the pious and shall call the
righteous by name. His spirit shall hover over the poor; by
his strength He shall renew the faithful. He shall glorify
the pious upon the throne of the eternal kingdom. He shall
release the captives, restore sight to the blind, make straight
those who are bent double. . . He shall heal the wounded,
resurrect the dead, preach glad tidings to the poor.
(Translation: Michael Wise)
If this sounds familiar, read the next passage:
They said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying,
'Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?'".
. . [Jesus] answered them, "Go and tell John what you have
seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he
who takes no offense at me." — Luke 7:20-23
Although somewhat divergent in detail, the character of the
two texts is essentially the same.
So what do you make of it? Was Jesus at Qumran? To date,
not a single text mentioning the name of Jesus has been identified
among the Dead Sea Scroll documents. As discussed earlier
in this course, a number of scholars have suggested that John
the Baptist spent time as a member of the Qumran community.
Certainly his theology, and the importance of purifying water
in his Dead Sea rituals suggest a link with Qumran. That Jesus
addressed the imprisoned John in Luke 7 with a description
of a Qumran-style Messianic figure would certainly show that
Jesus was familiar with the revolutionary Messianism of the
Dead Sea Scroll community. To convince John that he was a
messiah, he would naturally use language already familiar
to John from his Qumran study.
If all this speculation strikes you as just a bit stretched,
welcome to world of Biblical studies, where scholars often
pull and twist the little available evidence to develop and
defend their pet theories. Let's try a more conservative approach.
With some confidence, we can say that the idea of a messianic
figure, including his ability to raise the dead, was a fairly
well-known and accepted concept among sectarian Jews of the
First Century BCE. By the time Jesus reaches the scene, he
blends his ministry with these concepts, presenting himself
as the embodiment of the Jewish messianic dream. Since Jesus
was neither the first, nor the last to put on the messianic
mantle, it should come as no surprise that the majority of
traditional Jews would reject him. Within a few centuries,
this rejection would have dire consequences for the Jewish
community worldwide, but more on that in our final session,
The Devil and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Further reading:
Wise, M., and J. D. Tabor. "The Messiah at Qumran," Biblical
Archaeology Review, Nov-Dec. 1992, 60-65.
 Scroll
Name: The Copper Scroll
Corpus Number: 3Q15
Possible Original Composition Date: 30-130 CE (?)
Our last text in this survey does not carry the profound
significance of nearly all the manuscripts discussed above.
It's just plain fun, because it's a guide to buried treasure,
plain and simple.
Discovered in Cave 3 in 1952 with other Dead Sea scroll materials,
the first feature that makes this scroll unique is that it's
made of copper. Why? The presumption is that the content of
the text was so important that the writer did not want to
entrust the data to a scroll of perishable animal skin. Ironically,
oxidation over nearly 2000 years made the scroll too fragile
to be unrolled. In the mid-fifties, it was carefully cut and
conserved by Professor H. Wright Baker of the College of Technology
in Manchester, England.
Theories abound about the significance and credibility of
the scroll. Here are some of the possibilities, offered in
no particular order: (a) it's a fraud sold to gullible members
of the Qumran community, purporting to be a guide to the hidden
treasures of the Temple; (b) it records the true locations
of over 85 tons of precious metals (gold and silver) belonging
to the Jerusalem Temple, hidden away in advance of the Roman
attack of 70 CE; (c) it lists the hideaway treasures of the
Essene community; (d) it's an embellished fairy tale describing
the hiding places of Temple treasures dating back to Solomon's
time; (e) it's a relatively late text noting the amounts paid
by the Jewish community worldwide in place of the sacrifices
no longer taking place after the destruction of the Temple
in 70 CE; (f) it has only questionable connection to Temple
treasures, and was placed in Cave 3 long after the destruction
of Qumran and the Temple. While you're pondering which theory
to buy, here's a sample treasure guide from the Copper Scroll:
[In the wa]ter conduit on the road east of Bet Ahsor,
which is east of Ahzor, vessels of offering and books and
a bar of sil[ver]. In the outside valley. . . at the stone
dig seventeen cubits underneath: 17 talents of gold and silver.
In the heap of stones at the mouth of the Pottery ravine dig
three cubits: 4 talents. In the westward-looking stubble-field
of ha-Sho, on the south side, at the underground chamber looking
northwards dig twenty-four cubits: 66 talents
(Translation: Geza Vermes)
So when do we start digging? In fact, Johnny Allegro of the
original Dead Sea scrolls editing clique (discussed in Session
I of our class), actually mounted a treasure hunting expedition
in 1960. He came up with zip. His failure is not surprising.
In most cases, we have no idea where the described treasure
sites were: where is the 'stubble field of ha-sho', or the
'heap of stones at the mouth of the Pottery ravine'? Even
if the sites and the treasures were real, the odds are quite
high that the Romans (or someone else) found most of them.
But then, the Dead Sea scrolls (and King Tut's tomb) rested
untouched for millenia. . . .
Further reading:
Milik, J.T. Discoveries in the Judean Desert III. Oxford:
Oxford University Press,1962.
Harper, J.E. "26 Tons of Gold and 65 Tons of Silver,"
Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov-Dec. 1993, 44ff.
I hope you've enjoyed this brief overview of some of the
more interesting (and controversial) Dead Sea scroll texts.
Keep in mind that this session barely touches the surface
of the scope and significance of the Dead Sea scrolls. With
the further reading suggestions offered throughout the session,
I hope that you will continue your own exploration of this
fascinating topic.
Continue to
the final session of this course.
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