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Dead

Sea

Discoveries XI

Dead r~ *

A

Sea

~~

of

Journal

Research

on

Related

the

Current

Scrolls

Literature VOLUME XI

BRILL LEIDEN*BOSTON 2004

and

Editors

John J. COLLINS,Armin LANGE,Hindy NAJMAN Editorial Board

P.S. Alexander,M.J. Bernstein,G.J. Brooke, E. Chazon, D. Dimant, C.A. Evans,H. Eshel, M. Kister,A. van der Kooij, F. GarciaMartinez, J.P. Meier, G.W.E. Nickelsburg,B. Nitzan, E. Puech, L.H. Schiffman, E. Schuller,M.E. Stone, E. Tov, E. Ulrich, J.C. VanderKam

ISSN 0929-0761 (Print version) ISSN 1568-5179 (Online version) ( Copyright 2004 by KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, withoutprior written permission of the publisher. Authorizationto photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill Academic Publishers provided that the appropriatefees are paid directly to Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.

CONTENTS

Articles JOSEPHATWILLand STEvE BRAUNHEIM, Redating the Radio-

carbonDating of the Dead Sea Scrolls .................................. 143 Who Cares and Why Does It Matter? ALBERTBAUMGARTEN,

Qumranand the Essenes, Once Again! .................................. 174 WomenandChildrenin LegalandLiturgical MosHEJ. BERNSTEIN, Texts from Qumran .................... 191 ............................ SHANIL. BERRIN, The Use of SecondaryBiblical Sources in 1 Pesher Nahum ............. ................................... KEITHBODNER,The Royal ConscienceAccordingto 4QSama 158 MAGENBROSHI,The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sciences and New Technologies ............ ................................... JOSHUAE. BURNS,PracticalWisdom in 4QInstruction............ CHARLOTTEE. FONROBERT,From Separatism to Urbanism: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Rabbinic 'Eruv MATTHEW J. GoFF, Reading Wisdom at Qumran: 4QInstruction and the Hodayot ................ ................................. MAXINE GROSSMAN,Reading for Gender in the Damascus

Document ...............................................

133

12 43 263

212

More on the Qumran Roundel as an GEORGEM. HOLLENBACK,

EquitorialSundial ................

...............................

289

JAMESA. KELHOFFER, Did John the BaptistEat Like a Former

Essene? Locust-Eating in the Ancient Near East and at Qumran ................................................ DONG-HYUKKIM, Free Orthography in a Strict Society: Reconsidering Tov's "Qumran Orthography"..

293

........................ 72

SARIANNA METSO,MethodologicalProblemsin Reconstructing Historyfrom Rule Texts found at Qumran ............................ 315 DAVID LAMBERT,Last Testamentsin the Book of Jubilees .... 82 ROB KUGLER and ESTHER CHAZON, Women at Qumran: Introducing the Essays .......................... ..................... BARBARATHIERING,The Temple Scroll Courts Governed by Precise Times ............ ................................... EMMANUEL ToV, Reply to Dong-Hyuk Kim's Paper on "Tov's Qumran Orthagraphy" ...................... ......................... BENJAMIN G. WRIGHT III, Wisdom and Women at Qumran ...

167 336 359 240

CONTENTS

vi

Book Reviews Bread, Wine,Wallsand Scrolls, by MAGENBROSHI.JSPSup 36 (JEANDUHAIME)

108

Meghillot: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls 1, edited by DEVORAHDIMANTand MOSHEBAR ASHER(TAL ILAN)

377

Where is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul's (JAMES Responsein Romans1-5, by SIMONJ. GATHERCOLE CROSSLEY)...............................................

381

Pesharim, by TIMOTHYH. LIM. Companion to the Qumran Scrolls 3 (KENNETHE. POMYKALA)......................................

113

Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the QumranCommunity, M. MURPHY.STDJ 40 (CHARLOTTE HEMPEL) 116 by CATHERINE The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and its Interpretations, edited by ED NOORTand EIBERTTIGCHELAAR. Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions 4 (HINDYNAJMAN) ............................................... QumranCave 4. XXIII:UnidentifiedFragments,by DANA M. PIKE and ANDREW C. SKINNER. DJD 33 (MARTIN G. ABEGG,JR.) ...............................................

380

120

The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After Their Discovery: Proceedingsof theJerusalemCongress,20-25 July1997, edited H. SCHIFMAN,EMMANUEL Tov, and JAMES by LAWRENCE 122 C. VANDERKAM(EILEENSCHULLER).................................... Calendarsin the Dead Sea Scrolls: MeasuringTime,by JAMES 127 C. VANDERKAM(DANIELK. FALK) ...................................... Accordance, QumranModule for Macintosh. Version 5.6.1., Oak Tree Software (BENJAMING. WRIGHTIII) .................... 373

Calliope: World History for Young People. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol. 12, Iss. 4 (SHANIBERRIN) ....................11............ I

Books in Debate The Archaeologyof Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls, by JODI MAGNESS(MAGENBROSHIand HANA ESHEL) ....................

361

The Archaeologyof Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls, by JODI .......................................... MAGNESS(JURGENZANGENBERG)

365

Sea

Dead

Discoveries A

Journal

on

Research

the

Scrolls

Literatutre

Related

VOL.

Current

of

1I1

NO.

1

www.brill.nl

BRILL

2004

and

DEAD SEA DISCOVERIES A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature Armin

Hindy

EDITORS:

John J.

EDITORIAL BOARD:

P.S. Alexander, M.J. Bernstein, G.J. Brooke, E. Chazon, D. Dimant, C.A. Evans, H. Eshel, M. Kister, A. van der Kooij, F. Garcia Martinez, J.P. Meier, G.W.E. Nickelsburg, B. Nitzan, E. Puech, L.H. Schiffman, E. Schuller, M.E. Stone, E. Tov, E. Ulrich, J.C. VanderKam

PUBLISHER:

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BRILL LEIDEN * BOSTON ? Copyright 2004 by KoninklijkeBrill Nv, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriatefees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. ISSN 0929-0761 (Print version) PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

ISSN 1568-5179 (Online version) THIS JOURNAL IS PRINTED ON ACID-FREE PAPER

THE USE OF SECONDARY BIBLICAL SOURCES IN PESHER NAHUM SHANI L. BERRIN University of Sydney

The "continuouspesharim"from Qumranare characterizedby their commentary-likeform-the structuredtreatmentof sequential,explicitly-citedversesof particularbiblicaltexts.1By definition,Qumranpesher is a type of "explicit"biblical interpretation,and this attributeis especially emphasizedin the continuouspesharim.It is thus well-known that the consecutiveunits of these pesharimare of the form "citation (lemma) + introductoryformula + pesher interpretation."Far less attentionhas been paid to the use of biblical texts other than the primary base-text in these compositions.In this paper,we draw from an aspect of Bilhah Nitzan's work on PesherHabakkukto investigatethe implicit employmentof biblical texts in Pesher Nahum. Specifically, we will examine how apparentlapses in lemma/peshercorrespondence may functionto signal the pesher'sdependenceupon a secondarybiblical source. In her treatmentof lQpHab, Nitzan drew attentionto instances in which the pesher interpretationincluded words or phrases with no apparentbasis in the cited base-text of Habakkuk.She referred to these cases as rnn=:

FTlrnKA5t MDOT

(additions without a 'peg' in the

text").2Nitzan demonstratedthat these "pluses"may be motivatedby

I The term "continuouspesher"is first found in J. Carmignac,"Le Documentde Qumransur Melkisddek,"RevQ 7 (1969-71) 361. Discussionof the natureof Qumran Peshercan be found, inter alia, in M.P. Horgan,Pesharim:QumranInterpretationsof Biblical Books (CBQMS8; Washington,DC: CatholicBiblical Association,1979);G.J. Brooke, "QumranPesher: Toward the Re-definitionof a Genre,"RevQ 10 (1981) 483-503; DevorahDimant, "Pesharim,Qumran,"in ABD vol. 5, ed. D.N. Freedman (NY: Doubleday,1992) 244-51; S.L. Berrin9' "Pesharim"in OxfordEncyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds. L.H. Schiffmanand J.C. VanderKam;NY: Oxford University Press, 2000) 2.644 47, 2.653-54; "QumranPesharim,"in Matthias Henze, Biblical Interpretationat Qumran(GrandRapids,MI: Eerdmans,forthcoming). 2 p1p:n -sB r'*=?(IQpHab), (Jerusalem:Mosad Bialik, 1986) 58-61.

? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also available online - www.brill.nl

Dead Sea Discoveries 11, 1

2

SHANI L. BERRIN

content or style. In the formercategory, the most significanttype of "tplus"is that which signals an allusion to a source from anotherbiblical text. Nitzan describes this technique as "similar to, but more sophisticatedthan, the explicit use of secondarysources in 4QFlor."3 By tracingthe sources of words or phrasesthat appearto be without pegs in the lemma, we can be led to biblical contexts that will illuminate the pesher. It has been observedthat PesherNahumexhibitsa very close correspondencebetween the cited biblical texts and their respectivepesher interpretations.4 As a rule, each elementof pesherinterpretation can be directlyalignedwith a correspondingelement,or "peg,"in the lemma. In the exceptionalcases in which an element of the pesher seems to lack such a "peg,"we have an example of a Zlflf m*rn NtE rMorl, or "un-peggedplus." Our interesthere is in those "unpeggedpluses" that function as "cross-references,"or "hyperlinks,"employing language that directs the readerto a secondarybiblical source. This phenomenonis not only noteworthyfrom a literaryperspective, but it can also be used to assist the modem readerin determining historical contexts of pesher interpretations.There is general agreementtoday that the subjectof 3-4, col. i of Pesher Nahum,the "Lionof Wrath,"is to be identifiedas the HasmoneanmonarchAlexander Jannaeus.SHowever, this same degree of consensushas not yet been reachedfor other identificationsin the composition.Let us examine a numberof cases in Pesher Nahum in which the historicalcontext is unclear, and in which "cross-references"to biblical texts may shed light on the matter. I. One case in which a useful cross-referencemay be discernedis in frags 1-2, lines 5-9 of PesherNahum: M-1 0':-: In

--r lar

17[:I,]6

1-._ .

[. .. iilW]

rl

vac t5nK 1jmt n::

'nol"9SI= b;...^]9

]r_z1

:5 [r

t t8AlU :&n

b21 1 t8v

3 Ibid., pp. 64-65.

Cf. Berrin,"Lemma/PesherCorrespondencein PesherNahum,"in The Dead Sea ScrollsFiftyYearsAfterTheirDiscovery(eds.L.H.Schiffman,E. Tov,andJ.C.VanderKam; Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety, 2000), 341-50. S This has been the consensus in the field since Allegro first proposedthe identificationin his preliminarypublicationof 4QpNah,"FurtherLight on the Historyof the QumranSect," JBL 75 (1956) 89-95. For the most recent dissenting view, see GregoryDoudna,4Q Pesher Nahum:A CriticalEdition(JSPSup35 Sheffield:Sheffield Press, 2001), 639-74. 4

THE USE OF SECONDARY BIBLICAL SOURCES IN PESHER NAHUM

3

The scholarlyliteratureon this passage reflects disagreementas to the identificationof "Lebanon"in the pesher.From formal standards, the extant portionsof the pesher identify the elements of the lemma in a very straightforwardmanner.The pesher formula entails "identifying pronouns"linking the biblical term with its corresponding element in the interpretation,thus explicitly indicating the exegetical "pegs"in the lemma (e.g., RtIMfl[]t Tlmi).Nonetheless,Lebanon has been identifiedvariously as a reference to foreign enemies (the Kittim);6Jewish opponents of the QumranCommunity(the Seekers after SmoothThings, whom we shall identify throughoutthis paperas the Pharisees);7and even the QumranCommunityitself.8The use of the word cri in the pesherhas no basis in the cited text of Nahum.It thus is likely to functionas a sort of "hyperlink,"directingthe reader to anotherbiblical contextin which the root cl: is used with Lebanon. Such a context is found in Isa. 10:33-34 (note the under-linedwords in the citation):Isa. 10:33-34 ptm' r'7A=':nm ... MTll Fir:pn'rzr. In the interpretationof these verses, the pesher of 4Qplsaa identified Lebanon as the Kittim.9The "un-pegged"word 1:1 in Pesher Nahummay thus be viewed as a referenceto Isaiah 10, as understood in Pesher Isaiah. This supportsthe identificationof Lebanon as the Kittim in this section of Pesher Nahum.

6 Cf. J. Strugnell,"Notes en Marge du Volume V des 'Discoveries in the Judean Desert'," RevQ 7 (1970) 163-276, specifically, "Notes sur le No 169 des 'Discoveries,"'206; L. Moraldi,I manoscrittide Qumrdn(Torino:Unione TipograficoEditriceTorinese, 1971), 547; Nitzan,plpan -sB Mt:n,43. Allegro does not explicitly identify the elements in this unit, but he notes that Lebanon is identified with the Kittimin 4Qplsaa(DJD 5, 37, n. 7). Horgan,Pesharim, 168-69. here to refer to the 8 Vermes himself takes "Lebanon"in the pesher interpretation community.He translates,"Carmeland to his commanders,Lebanonand the sproutof Lebanonare [the priests,the sons of Zadok and the men of] their [counclil and they shall perishfrom before... the elect.. ." (CompleteDead Sea Scrolls in English [New York: Allen Lane, PenguinPress, 1997] 473-4). Note that Vermes has associatedthe symbolicvalence of "Lebanon"in Qumranwritingswith two streamsof Targumictraditions in which the term is renderedas (1) a powerfulentity or (2) the Temple (and of Lebanon thus,theCommunity,in theCommunity'sview.) Cf."SymbolicalInterpretation in the Targums:The Origin and Development of an Exegetical Tradition,"JTS 9 (1958) 1-12; Scriptureand Traditionin Judaism(Leiden:Brill, 1961) 26-43. Vermes supposesthat 4QpNah 1-2 reflectsthe second of the two traditions,while we perceive the allusion to Isaiah as evidence of the first.

4Qplsaa iii 3-5: . .. cR:i 'l13KIchiK1

D I-IOEvac t1v]

jlns

] r._._ .

l -* ...b

[?r]D[1l:1] no[pp

_ m,on c"Dru __m nwp

'o-i1

[_

4

SHANI L. BERRIN

II. A second instance in which an un-pegged clue may function as a "hyperlink"and shed light on historicalcontext is found at the end of col. i and beginningof col. ii in frags 3-4 of PesherNahum,in the pesher interpretationto Nah 2:14.10 4QpNah frags 3-4, i 8-12-ii 1 reads: *1M-1-1 mln:;

i:n=r

-IVA o::wlVr

I...

porz

-im>

A:

r:[m ].]p

rn;

vac n::Rribp

-WSluxl cri

1's:[.]1

Sil- le-v[. tsK-

-1. -unul 0t110vac -,tm-[to .. .] 1 a1Z n I'B= [:[. .. .] Ini,

:n-i[R

. ..]J cn=:

i,r[,] rn1

12

Dlp

As above, the pesher identificationsin this selection are formally clear-cut ("x is y.. ."), but the referents of these elements are subject

to dispute. The allusive natureof these lines and their poor state of preservationprecludes us from determiningwhether the message is directedagainst the Lion of Wrathor one of his opponents.We suggest that using the distinctivelyBiblical Hebrew-i' as a synonymfor JKR',the author echoes the prophecies against Edom in Jer. 49:14 (= Obad. 1:1): "I have received tidings from the Lord and an envoy is sent out among the nations,"FrtwMI=l -b:l... 'nflV rwlrz1.11 The '& -CURrr:; CMrzRt01, sense of the pesher, C rnI'71u R D0 reflects that of Nahum, "thatthe voice of your messengers(iT::r7) will no longerbe heard,"but the languageis closer to thatof Jeremiah and Obadiah.We suggest that the verses from these biblical passages, which introduce prophetic vituperation against the land of Edom, would be particularlywell-suited to renunciationsof latter-dayEdomites, namely the Idumeans.Those "whose voices will no longer be heardamong the Gentiles"are thus best identifiedas Idumaeanambassadors of Jannaeusand Salome, and the use of the term m- may be viewed as a referenceto the biblical context involving Edom.'2

'0 The restoredlemma reads, "'Behold I am againstyou', it is the declar[ationof the Lordof Hosts. I will burnin smokeyoulr [multitude],and the swordwill consume your young lions. I will cut [off p]rey [from the land], and no [longerwill be heard the voice of your messengers." P1.,"we have receivedtidings"in Obad. 12 In Ant 14 ?10, Josephus states that the IdumeanAntipater(the grandfather of Herod)was made a generalof Idumaeaby Jannaeusand Salome (otpaTqlolv; Marcus renders this as "governor,").In this capacity, he formed a league with the Arabs, Gazites, and Ascalonites.We suggest that Antipaterand his associatesin these diplomatic activitiesare representedas Jannaeus's"messengers... among the Gentiles."


5

II.a Our next example is from frags 3-4, ii 3-6. As in the previous cases, the historicalcontext of columns ii and iii of frags 3-4 is subject to dispute. Chapter3, verses 1-3 of the biblical book of Nahum describe the punishmentof Nineveh. The pesher adapts these images to describe a time of suffering in Judea. Nah 3:1b-3 (as cited in 4QpNah) reads:'3

The pesher offers this interpretation:'4 1:0 Mli :11n1 =1n% n

rp I,hI

I~IE

vi, s ,:E6

K n

ottO

mp*mn'u-11 nltumn bsUI-10 -I r:11 nu M:rn: nrnIrn

Mz,I rnsr

The pesher has been set within the time-frame of Alexander Jannaeusby some scholars;'5others have assigned the passage to the period of Jannaeus'swife and successorSalome Alexandra;'6and still others, including A. Dupont-Sommer,date the events of the pesher somewhatlater, to the time of the Roman conqueror,Pompey.'7One of the issues at stake is whether lines 4-6 depict the Seekers-afterSmooth-Thingsas victims or victimizers.'8Accordingto the interpretationsof Tantlevskijand Amusin,lines 4-6 describea Pharisaicreign of terrorin which Pharisaicleaderscoerce and torturethe populaceof Judea. 13 "Predation will not cease, nor the sound of the whip, and the sound of the rumbling of the wheel, and the gallopinghorse, and the chargingchariot.Lunginghorseman! Flame and flash of spear!And a multitudeof slain, and a mass of corpses!And there is no end to the (dead) bodies and they will stumbleover their bodies." MT has the word DIl after nrl'. The omission in 4QpNahis probablya scribalerror. 14 "Its interpretation: upon the domain (or "the dominion")of the Seekers-aftersmooth-things,that there will not cease from their midst the sword of Gentiles, captivity and plunder,and heated strife among them, and exile from fear of the enemy." 1' See, esp., I.R. Tantlevskij,"The Reflectionof the Political Situationin Judea in 88 B.C.E. in the Qumran Commentaryof Nahum (4QpNah, Columns 1-4)," St. PetersburgJournal of OrientalStudies6 (1994) 221-31. 16 Thus, J.D. Amusin, "tphraim et Manasse dans le Pesher de Nahum (4 Q p Nahum)"RevQ 4 (1963-4) 389-96; and "The Reflectionof HistoricalEvents of the First CenturyB.C. in QumranCommentaries(4Q 161; 4Q 169; 4Q 166)" HUCA 48 (1977) 123-52. 1' Dupont-Sommer, "Le Commentairede Nahum D6couvertpres de la Mer Morte (4QpNah): Traductionet Notes," Semitica 13 (1963), 55-88; "Observationssur le Commentairede Nahum D6couvert pres de la Mer Morte," Journal des Savants (October-December1963), 201-26. 1 In the biblical text of Nahum,the phrase f1l0o'ni X' ends verse 3:1, and is part

6

SHANI L. BERRIN

We maintain, however, that this pesher is better understood as referringto Pompey's conquestof Jerusalem,in accordancewith the view of Dupont-Sommersince, as noted above, the lemma here refers to thepunishmentof Nineveh,notto Assyriancrimes.Contextualizing this passagewithin the time of Pompeyallows the pesherto be understood as faithfullyreflectingthe retributivecontext of the biblical verses in Nahum. Moreover,the pesherincludes a numberof "pluses"vis-a'-vis the lemma, all of which point to the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things as victims. The underlinedwords in the citationabove are stylistic pluses that stand out as specificationsof the Seekers-After-Smooth-Things, such as CNn MOM;rnniz ;rrwD:7prz. Similarly,the designationof M'1las perpetratorsof the violence in line 5, seems to stress that they occupy this role vis-a'-vis the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things (ratherthan that they are employed by the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things to harm others,as suggestedby some scholars).The functionof the above elements as "context-markers" accountsfor their presencein the pesher, despite the lack of "peg"in the lemma. Most significantlyfor our purposes,we suggest that additionalsupas the victims in port for viewing the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things this passage can be adducedif we recognizea secondarybiblical text which underliesthe formulationof the pesher. Daniel 11:32-35 is an excellent candidatefor this secondarysource since it seems to have exerted substantialinfluence on the phrasingof a numberof pesher interpretationsin these columns, cols. ii and iii, of PesherNahum. To illustrateour point, we have chartedthe structuralcorrespondence of the pesher and its lemma. Note that in our understandingof the pesher, the phrase 0r0' N' governs the subsequenttext up until n?n p-mi. All these horrorswere "not to cease." Although the elements of the pesherare not pairedwith the elementsof the lemma in a direct, linear fashion, our chart demonstratesthat a definite alignment, is discernible.The words of the pesher are not so much "unpegged"as they are crypticallypegged.

of the prophet'sdescriptionof the evil of Nineveh. r-C0 indicatesan offense, either plunderor bloodshed.The pesherattachesthese words to the following verse, so that they introduceand become partof a stringof phrasesindicatingterrorin Nineveh. It might be possible to construeverses 2-3 of Nahumas expansionsof the corruptacts committedby inhabitantsof the "bloodycity," but it seems morenaturalto view them as retributionexperienced by these inhabitants.In Nahum, verses 2-3 are almost always understoodas a descriptionof the imminentpunishmentof Nineveh.


7

Equivalents align as follows: 4QpNah

Nahum

n:r ,[:T] 9-ID

neD

=

:

MIP)

CC

CM,:2I

. ..

pmrn,:int,

1B' CL'(''

=

=

:"'s -rnDrnlt

m:rn:lnnrnl

A detailed account of the basis for each of the above pairs of equivalents is beyond the scope of the current investigation.'9 For our purposes here, we call attention to the dependence of the language upon Daniel 11:32-35. After describing the desecration of the Temple by the navies of the Kittim,and the establishmentof the "'tIUM rlnpt" by the King of the North, Daniel describes the anarchy that will plague Judea:20 C -It. 71tV' 0&V:n)M VWDMT= 'MOMMUIMt:l:2-I: ft=:n -7.ul 71.V ' . .. MIptlPtn= crr mn"5 l*:1 M.=

The significance of Daniel 11:32-35 for the pesher is both lexical and contextual. There is already lexical similarity between Daniel and the biblical verses of Nah 3:1-3, the base-text of the pesher. Note the words *0:2 and Fr:171nl:nnM in parentheses in the English translation in footnote 20. The author of 4QpNah seems to have relied upon this lexical overlap, as well as Daniel's use of the term nlpnr, in choosing to formulate the pesher to Nah 3:1-3 in words derived from Dan 11:32-35. Hence, the presence of the words no and Trnin the pesher. Although these words are aligned with elements of the lemma in the chart above, they are only loosely pegged upon the corresponding words of the biblical text. Rather than deriving from Nahum, they derive from an external source, and are imposed upon the text. We suggest that the author of 4QpNah chose to evoke the passage in 19 The matter is treated in greater depth in Berrin, "4QpNah (4Q169, Pesher Nahum):A CriticalEditionwith Commentary,HistoricalAnalysis, and In-DepthStudy of ExegeticalMethod"(Ph.D. diss., New York University,2001). 20 "He will flatterwith smooth words (nlpbnTD)those who act wickedly towardthe covenant, but the people devoted to their God will stand firm. The knowledgeable among the people will make the many understand;and for a while they shall fall ('nn1) by swordand flame ( MI:r' l:2n), suffer captivity and spoliation (Tt1T= '=:). In defeat they will receive a little help, and many will join them insincerely.. . for an intervalstill remainsuntil the appointedtime" (NJPS).

8

SHANI L. BERRIN

Daniel because he was describinga similarhistoricalsituation.Pesher Nahum implicitly employs Daniel's descriptionof Judea's encounter with AntiochusIV in its own descriptionof the Judeanencounterwith Pompey. In both cases, the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things suffer along with their followers, after having been swayed in some measure to supporta powerfulforeignkingwho proceededto desecratetheirTemple. III.b Pesher Nahum continues to allude to Daniel in the succeeding interpretation,in lines 7-10, commentingupon Nah 3:4:21 '1 nnnnl Vw:: IM: r1n:11 nzl ' -ItC7 al[on]: nlnC:l nlt ,TM-Iniew mrzC't jivj1 Irpto -nln:ri -i vac o -ie xmn ~[- il] -vo [:wt:;;[. .] *1C)"C?a ']Mn

Note the underlinedwords, and recall Dan 11:35

7[Z]:

11n _

nLpjnrn.

Correspondenceis not easy to chart in this unit. Althoughthere is an overall sense of symmetry, the details are elusive. For our purposes, it is sufficientto point to the words 'n*:1and C"n' (althoughthe formermay be somewhatrelatedto the word flf at the beginningof the verse). Both of these terms derive from Daniel 11:35. In fact, the termMI:Yrecalls the previouspesherinterpretation, even as it repeats the use of Daniel. Here again, the secondarybiblical source may be of some aid in determiningmattersof content and historicalcontext. It is unclearwhetherthe victims of the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things describedin this pesher are opponentsof the Phariseesor their followers. Do they sufferfrom Pharisaiclibel and slanderor do they bear the guilt of adhering to Pharisaic teachings? We maintain that the pesherdescribesboth sorts of victims. The dependenceupon Daniel is one of the indicationsthat at least some of the victims in this pesher are followers of the Pharisees. III.c Our final example of a "cross-reference" to a biblical text seems to re-workthe same verses of Daniel discussed above. 4QpNah 3-4 21 "Becauseof the many harlotriesof the harlot, the charminglypleasing mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries and families through her sor[celries. Its pesher:upon those who lead Ephraimastray, that by means of their lying tlmwd,deceitfultongue, and treacherouslips they mislead many:kings, officers, priests,and (the) people with the accompanyingstranger;cities and families will perish throughtheir counsel;notablesand rulerswill fall by ... their tongue."


9

col. iii 1-5 commentsupon Nah 3:6-7a, "And I will cast upon you detestedthings, and I will [de]gradeyou, and I will make you despicable. And it will be that all who see you will flee from you." Nahum describes Assyria's public experience of defeat. The prophetspeaks in generalterms,statingthatAssyriawill becomerepulsiveanddegraded. In the pesher,the fall of the Phariseeshas a more specific expression, as the grouploses its formeradherents.The people will not only witness the results of Pharisaicpower, but they will come to realize and reject the wickedness of the Pharisees. 17IT'1'W-1 tIM 77M 71InRM'Innol jbnt[:n] E:n;P07'g 'n:ftni ...' D'nn :nrimu*r rprtnbnn -vt rits 1:WIBVJ3vac 7n: mssnptrnns : 1:': :':m14'7M285 nnt[:]r:nonrzs pmntg :ns: :n:n: bi)i*nt:-nunm nn inuintg np linn:resm,-nk i i-n, n-nnin-I= 3lts pesher: concerning the Seekers-after-Smooth-Things that at the end of time

their evil deeds will be revealed to all Israel, 4and many will understand their iniquity and hate them and despise them because of their insolent guilt. And upon the revelation of the glory of Judah, -the simple ones of Ephraim will flee from the midst of their congregation and will leave those who mislead them and will join themselves to Israel.

Once again, there are two phrasesin this pesherwhich standout as "'unpeggedpluses"to the lemma, and once again these phrasescan be viewed as cross-referencesto Daniel 11:32-35. There is no equivalent in Nahum to ::IW: l:'M'DlIl nor to bK10t [I tD 1*21,both of which are by now familiarto us from chapter11 of Daniel and from the previous pesher interpretationwe discussed. In contrastwith the previousexamples, this pesher shows some reworkingof Daniel in its use of the borrowedterminology.Daniel predicts that "the knowledgeableamong the people will make the many understand (

*1:')."

There :]"' is a causative verb, with the

"many"serving as the indirectobject;in the pesher,the "many"functions as the subject of m:'r, indicating those who will understand). ':n" 0;bD 1l* seems to refer to folMoreover,in Daniel, nmpbpmn: lowers of the Smooth-talkers.That is how we understoodthe phrase in its previousadaptationin PesherNahum (ExampleIII.b).However, in this case, the term 11*flseems to indicatethose who remove themselves from the Seekers-after-Smooth-things and join the true Israel, the community of Qumran.We tentatively raise the possibility that Jer. 50:4-5 functions as an intermediarytext, serving as a vehicle which enables the authorof Pesher Nahum to adapt Dan. 11 to this

10

SHANI L. BERRIN

differentcontext. The text in Jeremiahreads, "In those days and at that time ... the childrenof Israel and the childrenof Judahtogether will come and attachthemselvesto the Lord (bLU1l*1) by a covenant for all time." Dan. 11:35 states that "the time" has not yet come; 4QpNah wishes to describe a time in which salvation has indeed arrived,the "time"for entry into the eternal covenant mentionedin Jeremiah.The languageof Daniel is thus re-workedin a mannerthat stressesthe arrivalof the long-awaitedtime of enlightenmentand salvation, for which the time had not yet been ripe in the prophecyfound in the book of Daniel itself. In this context, it is interesting to note a similar re-working of Daniel 11:34-35 by a Karaiteexegete, as cited by N. Wieder:22 "It is furtherwritten:nlp pr7r: D":: 71*n i.e. they [meaningthe maskilim]3 will now be joined by many of the people of God who have turnedaway from the words of the shepherds,who fed [them] with smooth things, with the smoothnessof their lips ... those who previously were unwillingto join and embracethe stringentways and keep the prohibitionsof the Torahof the Lordaccordingto the teachingsof the maskilim."In this Karaite eisegesis of Daniel, the phrase 1I*:1 fl-*1nDr: crn :nrrtu is presented as an assurance that the people will

abandon their earlier (Rabbanite)allegiance, and join the Karaites. The : of Mlpbptn: is treatedas though it means "instead";they will follow the way of the maskiliminstead of smooth things. This Karaite"eisegesis,"as I have termedit, highlightsan interesting questionabouttheuse of secondarybiblicalsourcesin PesherNahum. We have made the claim that lexical influence indicates contextual relevance;the use of biblical terminologyin a pesher is an implicit referenceto a biblical context. In our first two cases (examplesI and II), we suggested that biblical terminologyprovideda hyperlink,or cross-reference,which helped clarify an ambiguoushistoricalcontext. In the examples in section III, implicitreferencesto chapter11 of the book of Daniel helped clarify the contextof the pesher.But it remains unclearwhetherany of these pesherformulationsare also intendedas interpretationsof Daniel itself. Is Daniel viewed as describinga parallel case, and thus providing a relevant perspectiveon the current context?Or does the peshergo even furtherand aim to providea con-

22 Judahben Elijah Hadassi,Eshkol Hakofer, 132, lamed, cited by Wieder in The Judean Scrolls and Karaism(London:East and West Library,1962), 137. 23 I.e. the Karaites.


11

temporizingre-interpretation of Daniel as well? We have demonstrated the significance of secondary biblical sources in Pesher Nahum as vehicles of expression for interpretationsof Nahum. It remains to be determined whether the pesher's use of these sources should be viewed as implicit biblical interpretation,or "implicit biblical citation."24

24 This paper has been adapted from a paper presentedat the ThirteenthWorld Congressof Jewish Studies in Jerusalem,August 2001.

PRACTICALWISDOM IN 4QINSTRUCTION JOSHUAEZRA BURNS Yale University

4QInstruction,or the "MusarleMevin"document,as reconstructed by modem editors, is comprisedof a numberof fragmentaryscrolls from Cave 4, of which several are of sufficientlengthto imbueits text with a distinct profile.' Its primaryfocus revolves aroundcontemplation of the eschaton,the hereafter,touchingupon issues of rewardand punishment,and offeringthe readeradvice assertingthe notion that a praiseworthylife will merit a favorablejudgment.4QInstructionhas been classified by scholars as a wisdom text of the genre typical amongstthe scrolls, and indeed second templeperiodJewish literature in general.The text has been identifiedas a representativecomponent in the developmentof the genre, the distinct featuresof which place its stance somewhere between the speculative positions assumed by

I

The document,initiallylabeledSapientialWorkA, has been arrangedon the basis of five significantmanuscriptsfrom Cave 4 (4Q415-418, 4Q423), three smallerfragments whose place in the documenthave not been determined(4Q418a-c), and a correspondingcopy fromCave 1 (1Q26). On the groupingof the fragments,see T. Elgvin, "The Reconstructionof SapientialWorkA," RevQ 16 (1995) 559-80; J. Strugnelland D.J. Harrington(eds), Qumran Cave 4XXIV: 4Qfnstruction (Musar leMevin): 4Q415ff. (DJD 34; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1999) 17-20. In referringto the variousfragments, I will follow the designationsthat follow theirmost recentarrangement,as appliedby Strugnelland Harringtonin the DJD edition. Although certainrelevantparts of the 4Q416 and4Q417 manuscriptscontainoverlappingcontent,I shall for the sake of easier referencetend to cite the text from 4Q417, as publishedby Strugnelland Harrington. The form of the documentis one of a moralizingset of instructionsto an individual addressedas a "'1:0," not to be renderedas a "maven"in the word's Yiddish sense, but more accurately"one who understands," i.e. one who is a perceptiveindividual. I don't believe that the label refers to a known type of individualor that its use would have called to the mind of the ancient reader a preconceivedcharacter. Rather,the subjectought to be definedin the termsdelineatedby the documentitself, so that any individualwho heeds its advice would de facto assume the mantleof the of the mevineffectivelyopens the documentto the broader mevin.This characterization audience of the sectarianworld, not limiting its wisdom to consumptionby the few who would have been seen to merit its counsel. ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also available online - www.brill.nl

Dead Sea Discoveries 11, I

PRACTICALWISDOM IN 4QINSTRUCTION

13

Ben Sira in his work and by Pseudo-Solomonin his apocryphalBook of Wisdom. Yet despite its decidedlyspeculativenature,we encounter in 4QInstructionwhat appearsto be a strainof advice that seems more practicalthan sapiential. The text's apocalyptic interest may be it's most unique element, and indeed the one that has arousedthe most interestin currentscholarship. But the counsels offered in the document actually cover a range of issues. Its various advices are strungtogetherin a none-toocohesive fashion, boundingfrom one subject to another,much in the style employed in the books of Proverbsand Ben Sira. Much of its advice is ethereal, describing the imperative of the mysterious "tn mln,"and offeredin the context of a broaderdiscourseon the natures of the creation and of the imminent eschaton. Some of its advice, however, seems orientedtowardrealia, profferingdirectionsregarding more mundane topics as family life, business dealings, and social interaction.Its brief sidebaron the wife and family (4Q416 2 iii 15iv 13), though not obvious in its relationto the broadertheme of the document,does not involve a topic foreign to antecedentJewish sapiential works.2Its advice on financialtransactions,and especially their interactiveaspects, however, is starklyincongruouswith the milieu of the rest of the document. Yet even these tangible matters are addressedwith the detachedgravitycharacteristicof a sapientialtreatise, addressing the reader in a second-personimperative style, sterilely dictatingwhat the mevin is and what he is not to do. It is amidst this etherealpedagogythat the authordigressesto addressa very real problem, the threatof physical violence to the person of the mevin. (a) The mangledmevin in 4QInstruction Among the lofty morals prescribedto the mevin appears a bit of advice that yanks the reader out of the philosophical medium and throwshim squarelyin the middle of a Greco-Romansocial complex seemingly alien to the tenor of 4QInstruction.In a frameworkpatterned upon the document's eschatological interest, the mevin is exhorted to humble himself before the Lord in his effort to merit a

2 Cf. Sir. 3:1-16, 9:1-9, 25:13-26:27, et al. See J.J. Collins, Jewish Wisdomin the HellenisticAge (Louisville:WestminsterJohn Knox, 1997) 64-73 for discussion and parallelsto Ben Sira.

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JOSHUA EZRA BURNS

favorablejudgment.3But the directionof the discoursethereaftertakes a sharp turn away from concerns of divine justice and begins to addressa distinctlyhumanform of recompense.4What seemed a mere metaphorfor poverty, the referenceto the mevin's humility is recast as an indicationof actual destitution,of dire financialconditions.If, the narratoradvises, the mevin were to find himself so sorely broke that he can't even feed himself, he is advised "niron Mp,"to "take,"or borrow from someone, for this too, says the narrator,is part of the portionthat God has predeterminedas the lot of the mevin.S Once the mevin is assumed to have taken out the said loan, however,his fortunetakesa troublingturn.Suddenly,theindebtedis instructed to rack himself with angst, and is told to bristle underthe expected harsh survey of his creditor.6That the borrowershould remainwary of his debt is natural;that he should defer to the pressureof his creditor is less intuitive,but nonethelesscomprehensible.But in no time at all, the poor mevin is on his knees, receivinga flogging and getting beaten with a stick.7Ouch! What has happenedhere? How did the topic of 4QInstructionveer from a discussionof lofty eschatologicalspeculationto one of raucous brutality?Althoughthe words are lost beyondthis point in the instruction, the topic, I feel, can be safely seen to have run aground in respectto its originalcourse. The wisdom of this passage, it seems, is quite practical-too practical, in fact, for a sapiential treatise. The advice offered cannot even be called a moral instruction,but seems more a concessive gesture, informing the unfortunatedebtor that it I 4Q417 2 i 14-17. In respectto the motif of poverty,"'IDUttr"is employedin In. 14 and both "71':K" and "fl'rn7 " in In. 17. 4 Cf. the following with Sir. 27:1-7. s 4Q417 2 i 18-21. I am following here the reconstructionof Strugnelland Harringtonwho utilize the np of In. 18 to governthe apparentimperativeof In. 19 as well, renderingthe verb first as 'take' and then as 'borrow,'based on a similarreadingin the relatedsapientialtext 4Q424 (DJD 34.187). The term'Thi:nr," is repeatedin lns. 19 and 21, and later in In. 24 as well. 6 4Q417 2 i 21-24; Cf. Prov. 6:1-5. One might suggest a non-linearreadingof the recommendationsto the mevin, a readingwhich would not requireus to imaginethat his newly assumedonus is a directresultof the aforementionedmonetarytransaction. However,as I hope to demonstrate,the terms employed throughoutthis section tend to drawtogetherthe themesof advice into a groupsuggestiveof contemporary Jewish notionsof due legal process;note especially In. 24, whereinthe mevin is instructedto submitto the reproach,the `.:n:" of his patron.As we shall soon discuss, this term bears considerableweight in the context of the sectariancommunity. 7 4Q417 2 i 25-28.

PRACTICALWISDOM IN 4QLNSTRUCTION

15

would not be outside the boundsof expected behaviorfor his creditor to administersome form of physical abuse as long as the loan remains outstanding. There is a conspicuouswhiff of incongruitysuffusingthe advice to the mangled mevin. If indeed the documentis a productof the Dead Sea sect, the mere suggestion of such violent behavior amidst the sedate Qumranitesis striking. Even from the earliest stages of the community'sdevelopment,there had apparentlybeen set in place a complex system of civil procedure,one with a highly structuredset of rules regardingthe sect's modes of legal redress.The "streetjustice" of 4QInstructionis thus quizzical in its evidently licit administration, a social conventionuncharacteristicnot only of the Dead Sea sect but of the nascenthalakhicsociety envisionedin the rabbinicera. Further to this disparityis the passage's utter lack of context. The prevailing tenor of 4QInstructionis one typical of sapientialdiscourse,addressing the issue of God's eschatologicaljudgment,and offeringthe reader advice as to how to best gain His favor. Yet with our beleaguered mevin, the tone shifts to assume an apologetic stance, effectively telling the readerhow to sate not the Lordbut a peeved creditor.What does this have to do with the promiseof heavenly retribution? I will in the present study attemptto tie up these loose ends. By placing the incongruouspassage into its literary and historical contexts, I hope to demonstratethat the advice extended to the mangled mevin is, if nothing else, reflective of the dangerousposition of the indebted in the Roman-eraJudea contemporaryto the settlementof the Dead Sea sect. In doing so, I hope as well to providerationalefor the specific languageutilized by the authorof 4QInstruction,language that belies certain eschatologicalconcepts fundamentalto the framework of the documentas a whole. (b) Social legislation in the Qumranlegal codes Perhapsmost problematicabout our passage from 4QInstructionis not the mere appearanceof the vicious creditor,but the manner in which we are forced to digest the episode in light of our knowledge of the strict penal codes to which the Dead Sea sect was evidently bound.The sectarianpenal code, which appearswith variationsin the QumranDamascusDocument(4QDa-h [4Q266-273]) and the Rule of the Community(lQS) manuscripts,was quite clearly a viable entity, one bearing modes of legal recourse inherentlyintertwinedwith the

16

JOSHUA EZRA BURNS

developing organizational structure of the Qumran community.8 The penal code, or more precisely, codes, are comprisedof lists of offenses, recordingfirst the transgressionin question, followed by a prescribedpunishment.9The penalties imposed upon those deemed guilty were, in contrastto the vigilantejustice describedin 4QInstruction, quite meek. The very worst of offenses incurred permanent expulsion from the sect, while most infractionswere punishedwith abrogationsof the transgressor'srights within the frameworkof the community:the reductionof his food rations, his being barredfrom partakingof the so-called "pure"foods. Nowhere, of course, do we have any hint of the sort of penaltylevied against the indebtedmevin in 4QInstruction.In fact, one proscription in lQS seems to warn

8 I refer here to the theory placing the CD version of the penal code at an earlier stage in the developmentof the sectarianlaw than those which appearin the 4QD manuscripts,itself a componentof the 'GroningenHypothesis'set forth by F. Garcia Martinez in his articles "QumranOrigins and Early History,"Folia Orientalia 25 (1988) 113-36 and, with A.S. van der Woude,"A 'Groningen'Hypothesisof Qumran Origins and Early History,RevQ 26 (1990) 521-41. I do not necessarilyagree with GarciaMartinezin respectto his intimationthat the Qumransect was an offshootof a priorEssene group;in the matterof the sect's roots I defer to the theorydevelopedby L.H. Schiffman;see Schiffman,ReclaimingtheDead Sea Scrolls (New York:Doubleday, 1995) 83-95. GarciaMartinez'smethodology,however,holds fast in its treatmentof the developmentof the sectarianpenal code as a process evident in light of the two aforementionedrecensions;see F. GarciaMartinezand J. TrebolleBarrera,The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls (trans.W.G.E. Watson;Leiden:Brill, 1995) 152-57; cf. L.H. Schiffman,SectarianLaw in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts,Testimony,and the Penal Code (Chico, CA: ScholarsPress, 1983) 155-73, who treatsthe penalcode in a strictly halakho-centriccontext,and who identifieda stratumof the code priorits development into the Rule of Community,which stage we now can identifyamong the Cave 4 versions of the DamascusDocument.Thatthe penal code describedin the 4QD fragments itself underwentconsiderablechange and actuallyreflectsmultiplestrataof recension I accept as well; see J.M. Baumgarten,"The Cave 4 Versions of the QumranPenal Code,"JJS 43 (1992) 273-76; SchiffmanReclaiming108. For the sake of simplicity, however,I shall in this study refer to the DamascusDocumentand to the Rule of the Communityas uniformdocuments,as we will not be dealing with them in a formcritical framework;I shall refer to individual manuscriptswhen necessary. For an index of the penal code keyed to the lQS and 4QD manuscripts,see C. Hempel,"The Penal Code Reconsidered,"Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Proceedingsof the Second Meetingof the InternationalOrganizationfor QumranStudies,Cambridge,1995 (ed. M. Bernstein,et al.; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 338-41, 344. For a synoptic listing of the variants in the 4QD penal code(s), see Baumgarten,"The Cave 4 Versions of the QumranPenal Code"275-76. 9 Damascus Document:4Q266 10; 4Q269 11 i-ii; 4Q270 7 i; Rule of the Community: lQS 6:24-7:25, with parallels in 4QSe and 4QS (4QS261). As these latter fragmentscontainonly minororthographicalvariantsfrom the Cave 1 version,I shall, except where noted, employ lQS in my referencesto the document.


17

against this sort of behavior,imposing a year-longexpulsionfrom the communityupon one who "takeshis hand against someone else," or who "takesthe law into his own hand."'0 The operationof vigilantejustice within the sect clearly has no lawful basis. In fact, the codes are quite specific in providinga more temperate mode of legal redress in civil cases. In apparentdeference to Lev. 19:17-18, both the Damascus Document and the Rule of the The Communityprescribetheir adherentsa process of rebuke,7lrMM.T" verse in the Pentateuchordains,amidsta discourseon legal procedure: "You shall not hate your brotherin your heart;you shall surelyrebuke (rr:r mnrir) your neighborand not bear sin on his account."The sectarianssubscribedto the idea that a binding legal procedurecould be extrapolatedfromthisverse,thenotionthatan explicitexerciseof reproof was a prerequisiteto furtherlegislation in a civil qase. The responsibility for the procedure,we are told, was to be entrustedto the camp's Overseer,the Cpn, who is known from elsewhere to have played a role in a formal procedureof rebuke.'2 The law of reproof was evidently an essential componentof sectarian legal procedure,part of an immutablecourse of due process without which the litigation could not proceed."3And though the importanceof the rebuke is sufficientlyemphasizedwithin the legal codes, we can now be even more certainof its functionin light of two recently-publishedtexts wherein the procedureof reproof is further elucidated. One, 4QBerakhot(4Q286-290), includes in its benedictions referencesto the functionof the rebukeas a form of discipline, not so much a penalty on its own merit, but a preventive measure intendedto educate the transgressorin the properspirit of the law by

10 IQS 6:27, '"k IT' 7rDi[IM]," as renderedby E. Qimronand J. Charlesworthin J.H. Charlesworth,et al., The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew,Aramaic,and Greek Texts with English Translations,vol. 1 (Tiubingen:Mohr-Siebeck;Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994) 30-31. CD 9:2-4; IQS 5:24-6:1. 12 CD 9:16-20, cf. 5Q13 4:1; For the correlation,see E. Eshel in S.J. Pfann (ed.), Qumran Cave 4.XXVI: Cryptic Texts and Miscellanea, part 1 (DJD 36; Oxford: ClarendonPress, 2000) 475-76. 13 On the centralityof the law of reproofin the legal writingsof the Dead Sea sect, see Schiffman,SectarianLaw,92-97; J.M.Baumgartenin J.M.Baumgarten(ed.),Qumran Cave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 7; John Kampen, "CommunalDiscipline in the Social World of the MattheanCommunity," CommonLifein theEarlyChurch(ed.J.V.Hills,et al.;Harrisburg, PA: TrinityPress Int'l, 1998) 159-67.

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delineatinghis deviationtherefrom.'4The other,4Q477, labeledby the editors "RebukesReportedby the Overseer,"completes the picture, provideswhat appearto be recordsof the mm:rnin action, transcriptions of the procedureas it was performedby the Overseer.The sins transgressedby the litigants in question are, as in 4QBerakhot,not clear and are best characterizedas ethical breaches:having a short temper,being of haughtyspirit,etc.'5 Nonetheless,it is quite obvious that any officialswho would have upheld such lofty behavioralideals within their communitywould not have been very keen on allowing a litigant to prosecutehis opponentwith the advocacy of a whackingstick.16

14 B. Nitzan, "The Laws of Reproofin 4QBerakhot(4Q286-290) in Light of Their Parallelsin the DamascusCovenantand OtherTexts from Qumran,"Legal Textsand Legal Issues: Proceedingsof the SecondMeetingof the InternationalOrganizationfor QumranStudies,Cambridge,1995 (ed. M. Bernstein,et al.; Leiden:Brill, 1997) 157, of the text (159-60), notes (155-56) that 161-63. Nitzan,in her updatedreconstruction no legal transgressionsare specified in this version of the law of reproof,but merely She does, however,suggest that theoreticalvices such as anger (rs) and envy (FrtDp). these ethicaldirectiveswere seen as elementsof the enforceablelaw of the Torah,tributariesof the "love your neighboras you love yourself"maximin Lev. 19:18.Cf. here Eshel in Pfann, DJD 36.482, note on 4Q477 2 ii 8. 's Eshel in Pfann,DJD 36.476 and following. verse, 16 The law of rebuke,in that it seems to have been foundedupon a scriptural can be clearly discernedas having had conceptualparallels in other ancient Jewish sources.On the appearanceof prototypicallaws of reproofin Ben Sira (19:13-17), the Testamentof Gad (6:1-5), and the New Testament,see Eshel in Pfann,DJD 36.475; Nitzan, "The Laws of Reproof,"151-152; J.L. Kugel, "On HiddenHatredand Open Reproach:EarlyExegesis of Leviticus 19:17,"HTR80 (1987) 47-52. On the new 'ethical' transgressionsof 4QBerakhotand 4Q77 and their implicationsto the Israelite community as described in the Gospel of Matthew, see Kampen, "Communal Discipline,"167-72. In respectto knownparallels,one could suggesthere the laterhighly-developedrabbinic procedureof mWinr,warning, a prerequisitestage in the exaction of corporal punishment,as prescribedin the talmudiccodes and first alluded to as early as the mishnaicperiod,as is evident in m. San. 5:1. Althoughthe "warning"procedurewas no doubt relatedin concept to that of the "rebuke,"the developmentof the rabbinic law took place well into the tannaitic period and bears only vague traces of the Qumranicmethod(Schiffman,SectarianLaw,97-98; Nitzan,ibid. 152-53).As is described in numerousloci throughoutrabbinicliterature(see esp. b. San. 8b, 40b-41a, 80b; b. was originallydesignedto be administeredafter Mak. 6b, 16a;t. San. 11:1),the KTnnM the subject'sinitial transgressionof a given law in an effort to avert his repetitionof that same violation.The Qumranic7n:Dn,in comparison,was not envisionedas a preventativemeasure,but as a conciliatoryone, to have been administeredafter the violation but not in anticipationthat it would be repeated;on the contrary,the sectarian procedurewas to be recordedand kept on file. In the event that the transgressorwas caughtcommittingthe same errora second time, he would receive the due punishment ("IMtr3C:5"; see CD MS A 9:19-20). This ominous decree, as recorded in the


19

Althoughmuch of 4QInstructionis concernedwith issues not alien to the ongoing eschatologicaldiscussion of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we must be careful not to assume that this document is necessarily a productof the Dead Sea sect. Its strainsof wisdom and advice could easily be construedas the productsof any camp of ancientJewish philosophy. In fact, the Musar leMevin, for all its lofty metaphysical speculation,bears no indication that it was composed in a medium afield of the Judeanliterarymainstream.Unawareof the document's originalprovenance,therefore,we canonly makeguessesas to its intended role in the context of a broaderlegal system. In light of the temperate natureof the Dead Sea sect's legal proceduresand penal codes, it is certainlydifficultto construea set of circumstancesunderwhich the behaviordescribedin 4QInstructionwould have had to have been recognized by the novice mevin as a legitimate danger within its localized community.While we remain puzzled as to how such a reader might have perceivedthe advice offeredto him, we can be reasonably certain that the evil creditorreferencedthereinwould not have been acting underthe auspices of the Dead Sea sect. Its legal codes simply do not accommodaterogue violence as a means of negotiation. Furtherdistancingthe passage from the likelihood of a Qumranic origin is the mere notion of privateownershipin the context of a community bound by the known Dead Sea legal codes. The sectarians were supposedto have lived in an archetypalcommunistsociety, surrenderingtheir propertyto the sect as a collective. This rule is stated

DamascusDocument,was to be appliedonly to a capitaloffense (rtlwn:r, CD MS A 9:6, 9:17; see Schiffman,SectarianLaw 92; Kampen,"CommunalDiscipline" 163). The rabbinicwarning,however,was eventuallyappliedto all mannersof corporaldisciplining, includingthe non-lethalflogging, or mnpt, to which topic we shall return later. An additionaldifference,pointedout by Nitzan, "TheLaws of Reproof" 153, is that the rabbinicwarningwas not a legal procedureper se in that it was not meantto be performedin a juridical setting, but in confidentiality,in order to preclude any embarrassment on the partof the transgressor.The Qumranicrebuke,on the otherhand was to be performedin a procedureofficiatedby the Overseerand witnessedby designatedobservers(CD 9:16-19; lQS 6:1). In my opinion, the connection between the rabbinic warning and the Qumranic rebuke is justified in that they likely stemmedfrom a common pentateuchalsource. However, I would hesitate to place the Qumranicprocedurein a position within the developmentalframeworkof the later tannaiticmodel. The modi operandiof the two proceduresare sufficientlydisparateto warrantthe dissociation.In respectto our study, moreover,identificationof the rabbinicIN-TTlwith the sectarianlaw would not be helpful,as tannaiticlaw, quite unlike sectarianlaw, did indeedpermitbodily harm,in the form of flogging, as a legal mannerof discipline.

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explicitly in the Rule of the Community,'7 and allusions to it abound

throughoutboth thatwork and the DamascusDocument.'8Underideal circumstances,the membersof the Dead Sea sect presumablywere to have bowed to the authorityof their legal codes, eschewing private ownershipand consultingwith the leaders of their sect when a withdrawalfromthe publicfundwas necessary.'9Theneedymevin,as a member of such a community,likely would have had access to this fund, makingsuperfluousany need to seek monetaryaid from an outsider.20 Yet alongsidethe laws that prescribethe sectarians'rejectionof private propertyare laws that presumethe retentionof privateproperty among the members.2'By the stage at which the Rule of the Communitywas instituted,there existed a friction over the distinctionbetween privateand public propertyso evident that it necessitateda law addressingthose who would lie about the matter.22In the heyday of the Dead Sea sect, it seems, the paragonsof virtue in respect to the rules of propertyhad so erodedthat in the resultingsystem, "use was communalbut ownershipwas private."23 Possessionswere shared,but the recognition of one's own private property apparentlywas still upheld. The poor man of the sectariancommunityseems to have lived in a society with this sort of haphazardwelfare complex in place. He might have been affordedsome aid from commonfunds, but was provided with no guaranteethathis personalpiggy bankwould be replenished should he find himself so completelybereft of assets. Forcedto seek alternatemeans of funding,the sectarianwould not have been at a loss for options.Thrivingin the wildernessof Judeawas a network of desert outposts occupied by peoples of varying degrees of social

lQS I 6:19-20. CD 9:22; 12:8-11; IQS 1:11-12; 5:2; 7:6-8, 24-25, et al. On the communaluse of property, see Schiffman, Reclaiming, 106-10; J.C. VanderKam,The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (GrandRapids,MI: Eerdmans,1994) 82, 172-73. Both Josephus(War 2:122) and Pliny (HistoriaNaturalis 5:78) remarkedon analogouspracticesin their Essene communities,providingevidence that such operationwas commonamongquite a few Jewish sectariangroups,includingthe early Christians;cf. Acts 2:44 45; 4:32; 5:1-11. 19See CD 13:14-16, IQS 6:24-25; 7:6-8. For furthertextualattestationto this procedure, see C.M. Murphy, Wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Qumran Community(Leiden:Brill, 2002) 57-60. 20 CD 14:12-16, 16:14-16. 21 CD 9:10-14; 12:8-11; 14:12-16. 22 lQS 6:24-25. 23 Schiffman,Reclaiming,110. 18


21

conscientiousness.These towns were not unitedundera universallegislative aegis, each one essentially governedby the landowneror collective who held sway over the local trade. Despite the fact that the legal codes discouragemonetarytransactionswith individualsoutside of their communities,24 it would not be unreasonableto assume that a man so destitute may have been forced to seek the aid of eager moneylendersworking in the towns peripheralto his own. So who was the specious moneylenderof 4QInstruction?It's no mystery-he was simplyan opportunist,perhapsfromJerusalem,perhaps from Jericho, a man whose business it was to take advantageof the poor.25In fact, it doesn't really matter.Once a sectarianhad set foot outside of his insularcommunity,he had enteredthe wider, more precarious world of Roman-eraJudea. The advice to the batteredmevin bears the ring of universalprudence,essentiallyadvising the borrower of the dangers of the money-lending trade. It must therefore be regardedas reflectiveof the broadersocial dimensionsof the ancient Jewish world. The vicious creditormust be perceivedas a figurewho posed a threatto any Jew, sectarianor otherwise,who maintainedreverence for contemporarysocial and financialinstitutions. (c) Debt-bondageas a legal means of restitution But whereforethe author'stacit acceptanceof physical abuse? In thebroadercontextsof boththeknownJewishandGreco-Romanspheres, the mere mention of such violence calls to mind one common social construct:slavery. The slave was universallytreatedas a subhuman figure, an individualwhose civil rights were abrogatedby his social position. If there was anyone in the ancient world who would have been acquaintedwith the sortof beatingofferedthe mevinin 4QInstruction, it was the lowly servant.And it is towardslavery that we must turn to uncover the vital relationshipunderlyingthe friction between the creditorand the lender in 4QInstruction. That connection is the ancient notion of 'debt-bondage.'Defined simply, the notion of debt-bondageprescribedthat a borrower'smonetary obligations, if he was unable to afford restitutionby a given deadline, could be fulfilled by his entranceinto indenturedservitude, becoming a slave to the lender.The practicewas a common, if much

14 CD 9:8-9; 13:14-16; 1QS 5:14-18. 25

Cf. here the "richman"and "influentialman"in Sir. 13:1-24.

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reviled, form of investment security throughoutthe ancient world. Althoughthe terminologyis borrowedfrom the Greco-Romanworld, the institutionof debt-bondagewas deeply ingrainedin the law of the Jews,evidenceof thepracticeappearingquiteexplicitlyin thePentateuch. The practice of debt-bondagewas as simple as that of monetary security.The poor man, in lieu of money or possessions,would offer his own man-poweras security for a loan. A default on said loan would result in his conversionto the status of a 'debt-slave,'a status which ideally renderedits subjects"betweenfree men and slaves,"but in reality placed them firmly under the authorityof their creditors.26 Both at Athens27and at Rome28the practicehad been long outlawedby the era of the Dead Sea sect, althoughwe find attestationto its wideIn spreadpopularitywell into the later stages of the RomanEmpire.29 fact, debt-bondagewas not merely a last resortbut often enforcedas the initial course of action in a creditor'sattemptat restitution,who wouldhavebeenexpectedto levy a "personalexecution,"i.e. vigilantism, in his quest.30 Debt-bondagecould have easily found a place among the Jews of ancient Israel. Simply put, the essential frameworkof a debt-bondage

26 ThomasWiedemann, GreekandRomanSlavery(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press, 1981) 36, quoting the Second CenturyCE Hellenistic Egyptianlexicographer Julius Pollux, Onomasticon3:83. 27 In Athens, the practicewas bannedby the reformerSolon as partof an effortto relieve the burdens of the indebted around the year 592 BCE (Pseudo-Aristotle, AthenaionPolitieia 6:1). Althoughthe sort of servitudeemployed at Athens was not permanentslavery, the heavily indebtedseem to have been consideredon par with actual slaves, bearing the label of 8oikot just as would have any other slaves. See G.E.M.de Ste. Croix,Class Strugglein the AncientGreekWorld(London:Duckworth, 1981) 136-37; See also Paul C. Millet, Lending and Borrowing in Ancient Athens (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1991) 48. 28 At Rome, the issue was taken up at a similarlyearly date, probablycirca 326 BCE, when the practice of debt-slavery, there known as the nexum, was officially banned(This date accordingto Livy, Ab Urbe Condita8:28 [cf. 7:27-28], who attributes the lex Poetelia de nexis to the consul Gaius PoeteliusLibo Visolus. Varro,De LinguaLatina 7:105, dates the reformto 313 BCE, ascribingit to the son of the former Poetelius;viz. Wiedemann,Greekand RomanSlavery,40). 29 For a survey of classical Roman-erareferencesto debt-slavery,see Ste. Croix, Class Struggle, 162-70; see also Millet, Lending and Borrowing, 78; viz. primary sources in Wiedemann,Greekand RomanSlavery,37-44. 30 Ste. Croix, Class Struggle, 165-166. See also the canonical 'Twelve Tables' of Roman law, Table III, apud Aulus Gellius, Noctes Attica 20:1, which extends an official grace periodof thirtydays before the creditorwas to be permittedto "lay his hands"upon the indebted.Cf. Matt. 5:25, Luke 12:58, where one being 'accused' is advisedto come to termsquicklybeforehe is handedover to a judge and throwninto

prison.


23

institutioncloselyresemblingtheGreco-Roman modelwas fortheIsraelite audience definitively laid down in the Pentateuchitself. The text is quite explicit: "If any who are dependanton you become so impoverished that they sell themselvesto you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the Jubilee (Lev. 25:3940).9'31 The passage deals with such individualsin the context of the Hebrew slave, a figure treatedelsewhere in more detail (Exod. 21:111; Deut. 15:12-18; cf. Jer. 34:8-22). The Hebrew slave, unlike the paradigmaticCanaaniteslave, was allowed by the pentateuchalcode to retain his rights as a self-serving individual. His bondage is described with a fixed time limit, for, as the verse says, the Jews saw themselves not as servants of men but as servants of God (Lev. 25:42). The social construct of debt-bondagehas been identified as the ancient Babylonianundercurrentof the legislation in Leviticus, providing literary proof that the practice was not an invention novel to the Greco-Romanera but one which would have been recognized by the Jews as far back as theirlegal historycould be dated.32Although the Torahrefers to this man as an rnDs, as per its typical slave terminology, there is a discrepancy between this and other passages on Hebrew slavery. In other typical cases of Hebrew servitude,wherein the enslaved was for the purposesof labor tantamountto chattel, the Hebrew slave was instructedto be set free upon the seventh year of the shemitahcycle, which would effectively set the maximumtime of his indentureat six years (Deut. 15:12). This Hebrew slave was presumablyborn into his lot, or was a convert,or was acquiredin some other form of monetary transaction.But, as we saw above, a man,

3' NRSV translation. 32 J. Milgrom,Leviticus23-27, AB 3a (New York: Doubleday,2000) 2213-2214; G.C. Chirichigno,Debt-Slaveryin Israel and the AncientNear East (Sheffield:JSOT Press, 1993) 302; cf. 145-146; B.G. Wright,"'Ebed/Doulos:Terms and Social Status in the Meeting of Hebrew Biblical and Hellenistic Roman Culture,"Semeia 83-84 (1998) 86. For discussionof debt-bondageas the foundationfor otherpentateuchallegislation on slavery, see Chirichigno,ibid. 186-96, 268-75. Chirichigno'sstudy generally posits the debt-slaveas the universalsocial constructupon which the pentateuchal slave codes were designed, employing text-criticalreadingsof the relevant passages. In light of his identificationof debt-bondageas a definite substratumto the Israelite law, only our selectionfromLeviticusretainsa languagesufficientlyexplicit as deflects the need for a text-criticalreading.Wright,ibid. 90-91, addressesthe LXX translation of the Leviticuspassage, suggestingthe translators'recognitionof the uniquelegal status of the debt-slave.

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even a Hebrew,whose insolvency was so dire that he needed to sell himself into slavery was to be bound for a maximumof forty-nine This distinctionserves to years, to be freed only upon the Jubilee.33 bolster our identificationof debt-bondageas a legal mode of restitution. Clearly, the referencein Leviticus was to a case not dissimilar from the classical model of debt-bondage. The conceptualrecognitionof the debt-slavein ancientIsrael is not limited to the legal codes; referencesto the practiceof debt-bondage crop up throughoutthe Old Testament.In 2 Kgs. 4:1, a creditorthreatens to enslave the childrenof a deceaseddebtor.In Isa. 50:1, the concept of debt-bondage is employed in reference to the "sale" of mankindto a specious creditor.In Amos, both the righteousand the poor are said to be sold for silver (2:6; 8:6). In Neh. 5:2-5, the sale of childreninto slavery is suggestedas a means to allay the pangs of destitution.And in Prov. 22:7, the borroweris called the slave of the lender.The forceful imageryof debt-bondageis consistentthroughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus the institutionof debt-bondagewould have been a very real option to even the most observant Jewish creditors, having been grantedexplicit license in the Torah. The juxtapositionof the scriptural model with the contemporaryGreco-Romanmodel effectively insuredthat the practicewould have been saleable in the Judeansociety of the era duringwhich the Dead Sea sect was active. Although the practiceitself, as far as I can tell, has been definitivelyidentified nowhereelse among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the allusion in 4QInstruction to the mangledmevin appearsto establishthe crucialconnection. But would sectarians reading the Musar leMevin have accepted debt-bondageas a legitimate legal institution?Althoughthe Qumran legal codes are quite specific in their shared insistence against the sectarians' retentionof private property,we can be certain that the institutionof private slavery was not completelyforeign to the community.34The DamascusDocumentcode containstwo vital references that presume the ownership of slaves among its adherents.First, a slaveholderis discouragedfrom exhibitinghostilitytowardhis charges on the Sabbath.3" Second, he is prohibitedfrom selling his slaves to treatmentsof slav33 On the readingof this passage in light of other pentateuchal ery, see Milgrom,Leviticus,2217-19; Chirichigno,Debt-Slavery,303-11. 34 Cf. the Essenesdescribedby Philo, Prob.79, and Josephus,Ant. 18:21,who quite clearly did not tolerateslavery. 3S

CD 11:12; cf. 4Q271 5 i 7.


25

the Gentiles,the slaves apparentlyhaving convertedor semi-converted to Judaismwhile underhis command.36 Although no explicit referencesto slavery have been identifiedin the Rule of the Community,it is plausible to suggest that discussion of the practicehad been neglectedby that point in the evolutionof the legal code. But documentaryevidence from Qumransuggests that the institutionof slavery was not completely abolishedin the desert sect. An ostracon recovered from the Qumransite, throughits decidedly fragmentarytext, reveals a transactionwherein a slave named Hisdai was transferredto the possession of a certainEleazar.37Taken in the context establishedby the legal codes and various similar documents recoveredfrom desertsites, the documentappearsto be a deed recording a gift given by one sectarianto another.38 Regardlessof the intent of the transfer,we have in this documentproof positive that at least one form of slavery was practicedat Qumran. In respectto the pentateuchallaw of debt-bondage,we may turnto the apocalyptic lIQMelchizedek(1 1Q13) for a reference upholding the traditionset forth in the Pentateuchprescribingthe release of such slaves upon the Jubilee year.39Althoughthe evidence is only circumstantial, the document clearly composed in a metaphoricalvein, it serves only to reinforceour recognitionthat the Dead Sea sectarians, at some point in their developmentas a community,did indeed tolerate slave-ownership.Assumingthen that the sectarianswere forced to contemplatethe laws of slavery ordainedby the Torah, there is no reasonwhy we shouldn'tconcludethat they would have been wary of the institutionof debt-bondage.

36 CD 12:10-11. On the ambiguity of the objective of this law, see Schiffman, SectarianLaw, 379-80; Schiffman,Reclaiming,373. 37 The so-called "Yahad"ostracon(KhQ1), most recently publishedby F.M. Cross and E. Eshel as "1. KhQOstracon"in Pfann, DJD 36.497 and following, and previously by the same editors in "Ostracafrom Khirbet Qumran,"Israel Exploration Journal 47 (1997) 17-28. I will not include here as evidence the various deeds of slaves sales from Wadi ed-Daliyehand publishedby D.M. Groppin D.M. Gropp,et al. (eds), Wadi Daliyeh II and QumranCave 4XXVIII: Miscellanea, Part 2 (DJD 28; Oxford:ClarendonPress) 33 and following, as we cannotbe certainof the applicable religious affiliationsof the residentsof that settlement. 38 Murphy,Wealth,387-88. 9 1 QMelchizedek2.6, in F. GarciaMartinez,E.J.C.Tigchelaar,and A.S. van der Woude (eds), Manuscriptsfrom QumranCave 11 (JJQ2-8, IIQ20-30) (DJD 23; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1997) 221-41. Cf. Luke 4.18, where the release of the captive is associatedwith the Jubileeyear; Murphy,Wealth,257.

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Withthisdatain hand,we canfinallyreturnto thetextof 4QInstruction. For in the very next fragmentfollowing the advice to the mangled mevin, we find this telling maxim: "If your treasurepurse you have entrustedto your creditoron accountof your friends,you have given And soon afterwards,quitebluntly, away all your life for it(s price)."40 "Do not sell yourself for money. It takes no stretchof the imaginationto see how these references may have been intended to address the social dilemma of debtbondage.42Even assumingthat the advice offeredin 4QInstructiondid of the mangled not originatein a sectariancontext,its characterization in mevin could easily fill the mold of the debt-slave any of several contexts: the Greco-Romanproxy slave, the Old Testament'sindentured servant,or indeed the unfortunatepauperin a Jewish community. These debtors,all of whom had slid down the pathto destitution, wouldhavefoundthemselvesin similarstraits.Theyweren'tquiteslaves, nor were they free of obligationto their social superiors.They were subjugatedto their new 'masters,' subject to their work orders, and evidently, subjectto their discipline as well. (d) Sects and violence

There should be no doubt that the mevin could have fallen prey to the scourge of debt-bondage,and that his creditorwould have had every right to uphold the ancient institution.Part and parcel of this law was the violence inherentto the system. The abuse of slaves was no doubt a widespreadphenomenonin the Greco-Romanworld; their societies had very little tolerationfor the civil rights of the enslaved. Their possessions, their families, their very bodies were under the dominionof theirowners,alwayssubjectto whateveriniquitousor impulsive needs.43Slaves were forced to sustain physical abuse as a mode of discipline;mastersare said to have beatentheir unassumingslaves

40 4Q417 2 ii 6: "I: flY:"f Z: Mnn:,"translationD.J. Harrington,Wisdom Texts from Qumran(London:Routledge,1996) 42, parenthesesmine. Cf. Sir. 18:33. 41 4Q416 2 ii 17: 71O: -1:[Or 'I]; Cf. the next line: n:rn:z m N. JIM= Wisdom 42 For prior suggestionsof debt bondage in these words, see Harrington, Texts,46; Strugnelland Haffington,DJD 34.105, note on In. 17; Murphy,Wealth,180, 182. 43 See sources cited in K.R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress, 1994) 28-30, 49-50. See note 29 on p. 29 for further references.


27

out of sheer frustrationand anger." More temperate slave-owners, however, employed a rationale which reveals the logic behind the institution of debt-bondage:"Solus fustium ictus gravior est quam pecuniarisdamnatio"-a single blow of a stick is heavierthan a monetary penalty.45To the Romans, slaves were thus more propertythan they were people; corporalviolence was seen as nothingmore than a ploy to damage the sense of dignity inherentin the humanbeing.46 Though we've little to discern the rationalespecific to the slavery laws of the Pentateuch,therecan be little doubtof their acceptanceof violence toward certain slaves. The slave-owner is urged against inflictingany sort of bodily harmupon his servants,evidently including those of the Canaanitevariety (Exod. 21:26-27). Yet at the same time he is apparentlygiven license to do so at will, at least up until the point of the slave's death, upon which occasion the offender's actions would not escape retribution(Exod. 21:20-21).47 On the other hand, Hebrew slaves were, for the purposes of societal hierarchy, treatedas equals to their masters.In fact, the referenceto the debtslave in Lev. 25:39-40 is followed by a triptych of notices to the housemasterwarning him not to rule over his charge with force, be the slave a Hebrew,a Canaanite,or a proselyte(Lev. 25:43, 46, 53). Even the fugitive slave is instructedto be treatedwith some measure of egalitarianism (Deut. 23:17).48

I

See Seneca,Dialogi 5 ("OnAnger")3:24, 32; Galen,De AnimaePassionibus1:4,

1:8. Justinian,Digesta 48:19:10:2. 46 R.P. Saller, "CorporealPunishment,Authority, and Obedience in the Roman Household," in Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome (ed. B. Rawson; 4S

Canberra:HumanitiesResearchCenter;Oxford:ClarendonPress; New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1991) 151-54. 47 On this law, see Chirichigno, Debt-Slavery,163-69, who focuses his attention upon the terminologyof Exod. 20.20-21, "Up:':p'," a deviationof the formulaic"inr r1lz',"employed regularlythroughoutthe Exodus legal codes. Chirichignotakes this term as an indicationthat the verse refers to a Canaaniteslave, who, as the property of his master,would have had no relativesof legal standingwho could prosecutethe murderousslave-owner.In effect, the law prescribesthat no charge could be levied againstthe slave-owner,but that he would be subjectto divine retribution.The slaveowner, he suggests,would have been wholly responsiblefor any bodily harmexacted against a Hebrew debt-slave (pp. 166-67). Cf. the rabbinicdiscussion of this law, which limits its applicabilityto a case where the slave's ownershipis completely in the hand of a single master;any status less than full ownershipwould warrantthe release of the slave (b. B.Q. 90a). The Rabbisbowed to the prescriptionof the verse, but clearlyhad an uneasy opinionover the idea of uninhibitedviolence againstslaves. I8 Again, we have no informationas to what extent these laws were put into practice in Old Testamenttimes, but see Sir. 33:31 (cf. 33:26) for echoes of the ancient

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However, the beleagueredborrowerin 4QInstructionis not a typical slave. As we have seen, his debt-bondageis more of an indentured servitudethan a relegationto being the propertyof his creditor.Yet the poor mevin in 4QInstructionappearsnot to be affordedthe option of earninghis restitutionwith man-hours,but is promptlyand shortly issued a trouncingat the hands of his creditor.More imperativeto the situationenvisionedin 4QInstructionwould be an examinationof corporeal violence not as it relates to the laws of slavery, but as a lawful mode of persuasion. Thepassagedescribingthe mangledmevinemploysdualterminologies to describe the beating inflicted upon him. Initially, the ambiguous verb ni, "afflicted,"is used.49Soon after, the description becomes "struck more specific, telling us that the borrowermight be MwV:%:'%, of terms call to mind a known with a stick."50Though neither these method of legal recourse,they exude the bearingsof vigilante sentiment not unfamiliarto studentsof the milieu whence they were contrived.The use of physicalbrutalityas a legitimatemode of discipline, both for slaves and free men, was well-establishedin the era of the Dead Sea sect. Upon initial consideration,we would assume that the administration of vigilante justice was commonplace in the world of the Hebrew Bible; figures from Moses to Phineas to David are told to have at timesassumedthemantleof thejudge,juryandexecutionerin impromptu hearingson civil affairs.But execution, it seems, was a more popular penalty than merely beating the guilty. Aside from the archaic"eyefor-an-eye" code, or the lex talionis (Exod. 21:23-25; Lev. 19:21; 24:20),5'

the pentateuchalcodes include only one explicit referenceto a nonthe thirty-nine lethal form of bodily punishment,namely that of n stripesor flogging, mentionedin Deut. 25:1-3, specificallyin the context of civil litigation.52Evidently,the numberof stripesadministered

laws advocatedin a voice perhapsreflective of his times; see also Collins, Jewish Wisdom,73-74 for furtherHellenistic-eraparallelevidence. 49 4Q417 2 i 25. Cf. the employmentof this verb in referenceto mortalviolence in Deut. 17:8; 21:5; Prov. 6:33. 50 4Q417 2 i 27. For +b# as a instrumentof mortalviolence, see Exod. 21:20; Mic. 4:14; Isa. 10:15;Prov. 10:13, et al. s' This law was from a very early stage renderedas non-literal,its penaltyconsisting merely of monetarycompensation;see Josephus,Ant. 4:280; m. San. 8:1; b. San. 83b-84a. 52 Note the wordingin Deut 25.1: "If there is a disputebetweenmen and they take it to judgment. . ." The verse identitiesthe flogging penaltyas a legal institutionto be


29

was to be subjective,dependanton the circumstancesof the individual crimes at issue (25:2), which provisionmay have been includedin an effort to set limits on a practice already established among the Israelitepopulace.The licensed penalty, however, was prescribedfor no particularsort of offense. It is thereforeimpossibleto determineto what extent its legal usage was upheld in Old Testamenttimes. We may only suggest allusions to the practice of disciplinarycudgeling, culled from the book of Proverbs,as evidence of its continued use (Prov. 19:18; 23:13-14; 29:17; cf. the context in Deut. 21:18). Despite its relativeabsencein the Old Testament,we have a wealth of evidence in later literatureattestingto the continuedemploymentof corporealdiscipline in the sphereof social justice. The debtorin particularappearsto have been a frequenttargetof such correction.Philo recounts an occasion at which a tax-collector appointedwithin the Jewish community of Alexandria, seeking to bear down on certain absentee debtors,resortedto the abductionand methodicaltortureof their family membersand neighbors,demandingrestitutionfrom the While Philo certainlydid not approveof such behavimpoverished.53 ior on moral grounds, he nonetheless seems to have conceded that one's voluntarysubmissionto his social superiors,even as far as the surrenderof his personal freedom, was sometimes an unfortunate necessity.54 Perhapsthe clearestreferenceto the practiceof debt-bondagefrom Roman-eraIsraelis providedin Jesus' parableaddressingthe virtueof forgivenessin Matthew18:23-35. There, a slave (Gk. 8o?koq)is said employed in civil procedure.To be sure, the pentateuchalcodes do refer to certain vaguely-definedpenaltieswhich, althoughnot definedas such in the Bible, were taken by rabbiniccommentatorsas furtherreferencesto the penaltyof nlp'M.One such punishment, mentionedin Lev. 19:20, is called rnMP,literally rendered"investigation" (see b. Ker. Ila), and the other is the subjectionto -O0 (Deut. 21:18, 22:18; cf. Deut. 8:5. See b. Ket. 46a), or "discipline."See below on the limits of the flogging penalty as definedin rabbiniclaw. 53 Philo, Spec. iii.159-162; cf. Spec. ii.74-75. Cf. Josephus,Ant. 12:180-185 for similar episodes at Ascalon and Scythopolis.Cf. also a similar episode describedby the fourthcenturyCE St. Basil of Caesarea,Epistula3:2. 5 Philo,Spec.ii.79-85, commentingon thelawsof theHebrewslavein Deut. 15:12-15. R. MacMullen,Roman Social Relations, 50 BC to AD 284 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974) 11-15, identifiedpapyrirecoveredat sites of ancienttowns in the Nile valley thatreveal this barbarousforce to have been employedthroughoutthe Nile valley. It seemed that the pursuitof debt collection often relegatedthe stricturesof civil legal proceduresto the back of the creditor'smind. The conductthat resultedwas essentiallymanifestedin outrightthuggery,with enforcersaspiring"to 'shakedown'the defenselesswithoutexcuse."

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to beg a certainking for mercy when he is unable to repay an astronomical debt of ten-thousandtalents. The king takes pity and remits the debt. Relieved, the slave leaves the king and soon encountersa fellow slave who owes him a mere one-hundreddenarii. The first slave immediatelyseizes the second by the throat,demandingrestitution and throwingthe debtorinto prison.The moralof the story is not relevant here, but its details are telling. The "slaves" in question, despite their labels, are not actual servants,but debt-slaves.With our knowledge of the practice of debt-bondage,it's quite clear how one so-called "slave"could have been socially superiorto another.55 The Mattheanaudience,regardlessof their individualreligious affiliations, presumablywould have recognizedthe elements of the parable. Once the lien of debt-bondagehad befallen our mevin, he would have been helpless to defendhimself againstthe disciplineof his master, however harsh that might have been. Even bearingthe legal status of a Hebrew servant, the debt-slave would have been subject to the sort of maltreatmentthat was the unfortunatelot of the enslaved. (e) Corporealpunishmentin civil legal procedure The concept of bodily disciplineas legal institutionwas more fully developed by the Rabbis, whose treatmentof the pentateuchallaws updatedthe archaicIsraelitecode for applicationto a society attuned to the actual treatmentof criminalbehavior.Whereasthe Torahprovided very scant detail on corporealpunishment,the vicissitudesof the Jewish society contemporaryto the era of the Tannaimnecessitateda vast revision of the ancient law. The details of its undercurrent legal strategycan be read as evidence pertinentto the social circumstances surroundingthe mangledmevin episode. The pentateuchalpenalty of flogging providedthe Tannaimwith a scripturalbasis about which they circumscribedthe superstructure of an entirely novel order of legal requital. The Rabbis never defined which types of violations were to be deemed deserving of flogging, but the mishnaiccodex, in the tractateof Makkoth,"Penalties,"attests to its many applications.

ss Forthis identification,see Ste. Croix,Class Struggle,164. Wright,"'Ebed/Doulos," discusses the relevance of the Greek term bo&bo; to Hellenistic Jewish writers, but the choice of words seems to bear little upon this New Testament passage.


31

The penalty of flogging, as treated in the rabbinic codes, was clearly seen as an alleviating substitute for the more strict, albeit vague, divine judgment. That the Rabbis sought to soften the often harsh decree of the Torahwith their expansive institutionof flogging can be demonstratedby its applicationto the case of the false witness (mirt W) in m. Mak. 1:1.56 The Deuteronomiclaw would have such a violator subjected to whatever judgment in which he intended to implicatethe defendant(Deut. 19:16-21).7 That non-specificprescription, unique in the Pentateuchas a qualitativelyvarying penalty,was evidently seen as a parallel to the quantitativelyvarying flogging, which, as we have seen, was ordainedin quite specific terms. M. Mak. 3:1-8 prescribesthe penalty of flogging to those negative commandments("thoushalt not.. .") addressedby the Torahbut not explicitly associatedwith a particularmeans of corporealpunishment. These commandmentswere at some point before the tannaiticperiod perceivedas belonging to a categorytranscendingthe boundsof civil law and were, by the period of the Mishnah,designatedas 'tTk I': :lpUt," breachesin the relationshipbetween man and God, or simply 'divine law,' as opposed to the civil law infracted'Irrsnrf Crt r"9 between man and his fellow man."8The violation of such laws, since their penalties were not specified in the Pentateuch,were by some thoughtto incursomeformof divineretribution.59 By thetannaiticperiod, there appears to have been a consensus agreeing to shelve the illdefined penalty of divine judgment and apply the punishment of flogging as the preferredjudgmentin non-civil cases.60

56 On this legislation,see Philo, Spec. ii.27-28, who somewhatcuriouslyknew that the penaltyof flogging was to be levied against the false witness long before the age of the Rabbis. S7 The case presentedin the Mishnahis employedas a paradoxicalmodel which, as elucidatedin the Talmud(b. Mak. 2a), serves as justificationfor the introductionof flogging as a stand-infor otherill-definedpenalties.See the cited texts for the exegetical logic employedin redefiningthe fluctuatingpentateuchalpenalty. 58 See m. Yoma 8:9 and furthertreatmentbelow. S9 See m. Mak. 3:15; b. Mak. 13b; cf. m. San. 9:6; b. Shevu. 21a; b. Shab. 25a; b. Mo'ed Q. 28a; b. Yev. 2a; y. Bik. 2:1; 64c, et al.; biblical source in Num. 17:28. For the scripturalbasis of the concept of divine punishment,see Exod. 21:23-25; Lev. 24:19-21; Deut. 28:58-59; cf. Nathan'sparableto David in 2 Sam. 12:1-20, esp. vv. 13-14. w The applicationof the flogging penalty was seen not as an addendumto the Scripturalpenaltyof divine deathbut as an unequivocalreplacement;one punishedby floggingwas thoughtto have been legally exonerated.Thus the flogging penaltycould exempt one from a lighterpenaltysuch as a monetaryfine (m. Mak. 1.2; b. Mak. 4b;

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As for the rabbinicattitudetowardthe applicationof flogging as a means of civil discipline, it was much more reservedthan what was implicitlyendorsedin their scriptures.Their institutionof nMr- rnz:), apparentlysome sort of publicflogging,was employedonly in extreme cases of civil violations wherein, unlike the cases typically deserving of flogging, the violatorvocally refusedto obey a positive commandment ("thou shalt.. .").61 Other known legal applications of flogging

involve violations not specifically addressed in the Pentateuchbut ones clearly demonstratingthe perpetrator'slack of discipline, for example, having sexual relationsin public (b. Yev. 90b), and making untenablevows (y. Suk. 5:2, 55b).62 The Rabbis authorizedthe widespreadapplicationof flogging as a legal means of retribution.But they strayedfrom the plain text of the Torah in prescribingit as a mode of penance in non-civil cases, a legal recourse that had been in place since New Testamenttimes.63

b. Ket. 32a), and conversely,it could not exemptone from a heavierone such as execution (t. Mak. 5:17). We should note here that the rabbinicprescriptionof flogging, though a common penalty,did bearstrictrules as to the limitationsof its employment(m. Mak.3:10-14). Its application was not at all akin to the "vigilante justice" mold which we have assumedwas being filled in our passage in 4QInstruction.I chose that terminologyfor its associationwith violence, with brutality.But even the beatingof the mevinshould be taken as a result of due process, his penaltypresumablyto have been dictatedin some form of legal procedureor by a known legal code. That our text implies the creditorwas the one administeringthe beatingought not to be taken literally,as he or otherwise,take his place as the thrasher may have had some agent, court-appointed (cf. the proceduredescribedin m. Mak. 3.12). 61 See b. Ket. 86a-b. Cf. a referenceto the penaltyof flogging for civil infraction offeredin juxtapositionto its scripturalsource,b. San. 71a. 62 For otherapplications of the rabbinicpenaltyof flogging,see b. Tem. 3b; b. Mak. 16a; b. Shevu. 21a; y. Shevu. 3:10, 3:12, 35a. 63 Early Christianwriters too exhibited a tacit concession to "establishmentviolence," the very sort of legally-sanctionedvigilantismthat we've been discussing. I have adoptedthis identificationfrom T. Seland, EstablishmentViolencein Philo and Luke (Leiden:Brill, 1995) 9-11, who defines such vigilantismas a recognizedcorollary of the hierarchicalstructureof ancient mainstreamJewish societies. For further analysis of certain aspects of establishment violence in contemporaryJudea, see Seland, 205-21. The actual employment of legally-valid vigilante justice, viewed alongside such contemporarytestimony,was no doubt prevalentin the Judeansociety that provideda settingfor the New Testament.We have seen referencesto such behavior in the works of Philo and Josephus, in rabbinicliteratureand in the Dead Sea Scrolls, but the context in which they are used most explicitly is in that of the early church. So many of Jesus' parablesinvolve the batteringand executionof seeminglyundeservingsouls. As we have seen, the "slaves"in the parableof forgivenessare subjected to severe treatment,both by the proverbialking and by one another.In the parableof


33

But the Rabbis' tactic of softening the harshjudgmentof the Pentateuch in the divine MPt? ?n 1p:laws, however,was precededby the legislationbehindthe Dead Sea penal codes. Thereis no evidence that the penalty of flogging was a popularmode of punishmentor discipline in the Qumrancommunity.Apart from biblical references,reference to the practicedoes not appearin the Qumrandocuments,legal or otherwise. In fact, some of the legislationdescribedin the Qumranpenal codes seems to indicate that the sectariansdeclined to institutethe flogging penaltywhere otherswere inclined to do so. The Rabbis, in broadening the scope of the pentateuchalpenalty,resolved to generallyapply p: laws. But one such law, the dictum the flogging to the 01pD*Erm against blasphemy(Exod. 20:7; Lev. 19:12; Deut. 5:11), had been in the Scripturesprescribedthe punishmentof executionby stoning(Lev. 24:10-23).64Thoughwe might have justifiablypresumedsome authoritative capacity to have upheld the law, we find that the Tannaim instead softened the legislation of the Torah and effectively rendered the harsh penalty of stoning a rarity.Accordingto rabbiniclaw, the

the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19), the slaves don't fare much better,the renegadetenantsunceasinglybeating,wounding,insulting,and killing them. The parableof the talents (Luke 19:12-27; cf. Matt. 25:14-30) ends with the irresponsibleslave being sentencedto death for his lack of foresight. And the violence wasn't merely idiomatic.The ancientJewish institutionof violent capital punishment,eventuallyassuagedby the Rabbis,is all too evident in the tomes of ancientChristianity:so many of its crucialfigures-Jesus, Stephen,Paul, James,to name a few-are said to have fallen prey to its scourge.Thoughtheir known details are often vague, each of these men are said to have been affordedsome form of trial priorto his execution.The New Testamentepistles providefurtherdetails of the sorts of violence commonlyemployedin ancientJudeansociety. A maxim commonto three epistles describesthe familiarplight of the slave thatwe've seen in allusionsin GrecoRoman and Hebrewtexts: "Slaves, accept the authorityof your masterswith all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh... If you endurewhen you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that?"(1 Pet. 2:18-21; Cf. Col. 3:22-25, Eph. 6:5-8). In describinghis subjectionto the penaltiesof Judean law, Paul claims to have met with "countlessfloggings,",a stoning,five rabbinic-style floggings of thirty-ninelashes, and most intriguingly, claims, "Three times I was beaten with rods (2 Cor. 11:23-25)." The authorutilized here the verb " 38i4o," a hapax legomenon derived from the noun "P'6p3oq,"a "rod" or "staff." The word a6x8oqappearsin the LXX twenty-seventimes for 0:10, which makes this verse the closest parallelthat I've been able to find for 4QInstruction's"M=C:1:" as an apparently legal beatingthat was not administeredby means of the traditionalflogging. Cf. LXX esp. Prov. 10:13;22:15; 23:13-14; 26:3, which deal with the vaguely, thoughnot authoritatively,licit practiceof beating a fool. I Cf. the same punishmentlevied against a violator of anotherof the laws of the Decalogue,Num. 15:32-36.

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perpetratorwould get punishedby execution only if his violation of blasphemytranspiredundertwo circumstances:firstly,that it was seen and heard by two valid witnesses, and secondly that it was preceded by a formal FMrnM,, or warning.65 Instead, the penalty typically prescribedfor blasphemywould be flogging. The Dead Sea penal codes never go so far as to prescribeany form of bodily punishment,let alone execution;the Rule of the Community decreed as its very harshest penalty permanentexpulsion from the camp. This punishment,moreover,was to be levied againstthe member who would commit the dreadedsin of blasphemy.66 There can be no doubt that the authorsof this documenthad to consciouslyaffix a mollificationto the biblical law, as their treatmentof its violatorwas even less strict than that to which the Rabbis would be resigned.67 The sectarians'punishmentfor blasphemy,though ostensibly devastating to the culprit, is, when comparedto the biblical penalty of stoning and the rabbinicpenaltyof flogging,ratherlax. Yet it was the harshest penalty allowed within the sectarian law. But blasphemy wasn't the only crime associated with permanentexcommunication; several others are known from 1QS and from the Cave 4 versions of the Damascus Document(4QD). One can be roughly describedas a 011%JC7K1pnlaw, though one with no direct biblical parallel, namely

committing some forbidden sexual act with one's wife (4Q270 7 i 13).68 The others pertainto intra-sectlegislation,dealing with issues of deferenceto the community'srules themselves:69 apostatizingfrom the communityafter ten years (lQS 7:22-24), bearinga grudge in a capital case, i.e. failing to respect the decision of the sectarianjudge (4Q266 10 ii 1-2 = IQS 7:8), slanderingthe community(4Q270 7

65 M. San. 7:5; b. San. 56a, 60b; cf. the opinion of the sages in m. San. 7:8. See also y. San. 7:8, 25a, where the possibilityof repentancefor blasphemyis denied;b. 'A.Z. 18a retainsan opinionof the TannaAbba Saul, who treatedblasphemyas a typical Mpnbcrt 11: law, prescribingto its violatorthe divine punishmentof having no share in the world-to-come. 66 lQS 6:27-7:2. 67 At least that is how the situationseems to our modem sensibilities.In fairness, we shouldallow the possibilitythat sectariansperceivedexpulsionfromtheircamp and the resultingexile to dwell among the sons of Belial as a fate worse than execution. 68 On which see Baumgarten, "The Cave 4 Versionsof the QumranPenal Code," 270. 69 C. Hempel,The Laws of the DamascusDocument:SourcesTraditionand Redaction (Leiden:Brill, 1998) 146-147; Hempelincludesthe aforementionedlaw regarding improperfornicationin her account of the communallaws describedin 4QD fragments, thoughI see no direct connectionnor any need for one.


35

i 7 = 1QS 7:15-16), murmuringagainstthe fathers(4Q270 7 i 13-14), and despising the sectarianlaw (4Q270 7 i 11). Theviolationsforwhichthe sectariansreservedtheirmostharshpenalties do not seem to have had any unifying theme. While their ruling on blasphemyreducedthe severity of the Torah,their ruling on other sins perceived as equally detestableclearly amplifiedthe severity of the Torah.Despite the fact that these laws obviously were not drawn from the scriptures,they were treatedto the same legislation as those describedby the Torah as the most severe. But why would the sectarianshave made such an equation?Granting that blasphemywas perceivedas a very onerousviolation of the law, as it is described in the Pentateuch,the authors of these laws appearto have had very high expectationsas to the sanctity of their societal constructs70-sofar, in fact, that they saw the possible disruption of the rule of the communityas tantamountto a violation of the p" relationship. divine order,a violation of the sanctifiedDlpnmDmrn (f) The bearing of civil law upon the eschaton We have alreadystressedthe importantdifferentiationbetween the concepts of mpn* pm'-I and rl'ml crK 1j: in respect to rabbiic Jewish legal procedure.Clearly,the categorizationof these laws could not have been a mere mechanicaldivision. The distinctionbetweenthe two types of law is a crucial recognition that can go some way in helping us establish the context of our excerpt of 'practicalwisdom' in a conventionalsapientialtext. The typology of the distinctionbetween divine law and civil law, though not formally codified in its legal ramificationsuntil the age of the Amoraim, can be identified in rabbinic writing as early as The concept is introducedat the end of tractateYoma the Mishnah.71 in the context of defining the types of sins for which the Day of Atonementritual does indeed elicit atonement: 70 Cf. here N. Jastram,"Hierarchyat Qumrran" in Legal Texts and Legal Issues, 372-73. 71 The categorizationwas also known to Philo, who spoke of the Ten Commandments being "dividedequally into two sets of five, the former comprisingduties to God, and the other duties to men." (Her. 168, trans.F.H. Colson, LCL); cf. Her. 35, Decal. 50-51, 106. On Philo's recognitionof this division, see H.A. Wolfson, Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity,and Islam, 2 vols. "DerDekalog (Cambridge, MA:HarvardUniversityPress,1947)2.200-01; U. Kellermann, in den Schriften des Fruihjudentums: ein Uberblick," Weisheit, Ethos und Gebot:

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Transgressionsthat are between man and god (=ipr* =7K p`:)-the Day of Atonementatones [for them].72Transgressionsthat are betweenman and his fellow man ( C'rNJ I, p:)-the Day of Atonementdoes not atone [for them],until he seeks [forgiveness]from his fellow man.73

The statementinitially is left unattributed, but is immediatelyafterwards repeatedand ascribedto the first centuryCE TannaEleazarben Azariah, who, employing the exegetical tool of midrash halakhah, associates it with Lev. 16:30, "Fromall your sins you shall be clean before the lord."Irrespectiveof the intendedforce of the midrash,the Mishnahrecordsnothingfurtherin respectto the distinction.Its earliest expressionin rabbinicliterature,therefore,upholdsthe distinction between humanand divine law not in terms of legal procedurebut in terms of the meta-legalconceptionof heavenlyjudgment. Furthertreatmentof the distinction,however, furnishesa specific definitionof the mishnaic terminology.Casting an eye upon 1 Sam. 2:25, the thirdcenturyCE AmoraJosephben Hebo points out a seeming contradiction with the Mishnah: "If one person sins against another,someone can intercedefor the sinnerwith the Lord (D'flR), but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?" The former clause effectively contradicts the Mishnah in Yoma, eschewing one's necessity to seek forgivenessfrom his or her fellow. To explain the idiosyncrasy,he reads the verse's "n'rrt" not as "the Weisheitsund Dekalogtraditionenin der Bibel und im fruhen Judentum(ed. H. Graf Reventlow;Neukirchen-Vluyn: NeukirchenerVerlag 2001) 165-66; cf. Y. Amir, "The DecalogueAccordingto Philo,"The Ten Commandments in Historyand Tradition(ed. B.-Z..Segal; Englishversioned. G. Levi; Jerusalem:MagnesPress, 1990) 156-58. See also Wolfson, Philo 202; R.D. Hecht, "PreliminaryIssues in the Analysis of Philo's De SpecialibusLegibus,"StudiaPhilonica5 (1978) 4-5, 9-12, for opinionson whether we may safely apply Philo's distinctionto the broadercorpusof pentateuchallaw. Thoughless explicitlyassociatedwith the distinctionmade by Philo and the Rabbis, see furtherreferences to the sanctity of the Torah's civil law in 4 Macc. 2:1-13; Josephus,Ag. Ap. 2:190-219. 72 For God as the "1ipi" cf. m. Ber. 5:1. 73 M. Yoma 8:9; y. Yoma 8:9, 45c; cf. Sifra, Ahere Mot 8:5. Note that the term n'nrl (lit. "to his friend")should be taken as parallelto the rvir* of 4Q4172 i 23, as mrr is a commonrabbinicrenderingof the biblicalMiDT1; see especially the Hebrew of Exod. 22:7, 9, which deal with monetarymatters,cf. b. Qid. 1lb, b. Bek. 40b. At any rate, it is clear that both terms are euphemistic,as neitherrbx nor our MU-1seem to be dear friendsof their adversaries. Virtuallyabsentfrom theirtexts, the applicationof midrashhalakhahappearsnot to have been currentto the Qumrancommunity.On the general lack of evidence of halakhic exegesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls, see S.D. Fraade, "Looking for Legal Midrashat Qumran,"Biblical Perspectives:Early Use and Interpretationof the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed. M.E. Stone and E.G. Chazon; Leiden: Brill, 1998) 77-79.

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Lord"but as "the Judge,"thus renderingit a referenceto the mFTvs. CIPr distinction:"Thisis what [the verse] means to say: 'If a man sins againsthis fellow man, the judge will judge him, he [his fellow] will forgive him, but if a man sins againstthe LordGod, who shall entreat for him? Only repentanceand good deeds."74 In other words, Joseph's intimationputs the 'Minvs. nipmin direct juxtaposition to that of civil vs. divine law. The statement of the Mishnahwas clearly meantas an effortto establishcivil procedure,to compel a claimantto seek settlementwith his fellow man instead of harboringanimositytowardhim. Lateron, however,the 177* M-rtI': category was recast to include all laws that were subject to earthly legal procedure,while nlp73L: 0nt 1p: was defined to cover those subject only to divine judgment. The associationis upheld by furtherreferencesto the -:n vs. nipm distinctionsin the context of civil legislation.In fact, the distinctionis often treatedin the specific context of monetaryrelationships.The terminology of "rr'rf DkR I'm" is used in one early midrashin reference to a moneylenderwho conductshis businesswith a scowl on his face, who is said to thus receive no meritfor his supposedkindness.75 Elsewhereit is adoptedto frame rabbinicmaxim instructingits readers not to come between a man and his money, and ratherto work to make peace between man and his fellow man.76 It is to the theme of civil harmony,D1'tV, that the rr:nt Irt p1: label was most frequentlyapplied,but several referencesseem to tie even that theme to the concept of divinejudgment.77 The maintenance of 1-11or CrA v is in m. Pe'ah 1:1 called a requisitefor an indi11:rp vidual's rewardof a sharein the world-to-come.In b. Qid. 40a, Rabba (ca. fourth centuryCE) furtherasserts that one who maintainspeace between man and his fellow man is promised a share in the world to come. All of which leads me to draw a particularlyconduciveconclusion: the Rabbisperceivedof one's behaviorin civil legislationas integrally related to his or her eschatologicalreward.In the rabbinicmind-set,

74 b. Yoma 87a. Cf. similar usages of the -Zfl vs. orpr distinctionas an explanation for seeming Scripturalinconsistenciesin b. R. ha-Sh. 17b; b. Yoma 86b. 75 Avot R. Nat. version B 23, ca. third centuryCE. Cf. the use of the concept in respectto civil judgmentin y. Maas. 2:6, 50a. 76 Gen. Rab. 93:1, ca. thirdcenturyCE, commentingon Prov. 6:1. 77 See Avot R. Nat. version A 29, 40; version B 24, 25, 35. Cf. other uses of the terminologyin b. Pes. 8a; b. Mo'ed Q. 15a.

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therefore,one would necessarilyhave to defer to civil law if he or she wished to gain favor of the Lord. One's conductin financialmatters was particularlynoted as an arm of civil law which is of great bearing upon divine reward. If we could retrovert the rabbinic template to the world-view espoused by the author of 4QInstruction,we would find a perfect encapsulationof the wisdom describedtherein. Consideringthat the componentsof rabbinictraditionoften predatethe Dead Sea Scrolls, the authorcould have been offeringadvice to the mevinthatwas more than mere practicaledification.Keeping in tune with the tenor of the document,he appearsto have been offeringadvice on how the mevin could, by maintaininga docile role in monetaryrelationships,merit a favorablejudgmentfrom God. This position,of course,would call for exceeding humilityon the partof the suppliant,a humilitynot only of his body but in his spirit as well. These conceptionsof povertyare in fact crucial to the languageutilized in 4QInstruction. The image of the poor or humble man is not one employed frequentlyin early Jewish wisdom literature.It is employed,for instance, in theEpistleof Enochto an effectreminiscentof theone in 4QInstruction, projectinggood fortune for the poor in the world-to-come.78Nonetheless, our text containsa few exhortationsthat seem to posit financial humility as somehow indicativeof spiritualhumility.The author of 4QInstructionseems to have thus devised his metaphorof the poor man, employing it in rhetoricalfashion typical of wisdom literature: "Whatis more insignificantthan a poor man?,"he muses, "anddo not rejoice in your mourning,lest you have troublein your life."79Surely this couldn't have been intendedas reinforcementto the reader."Be like a humbleman when you contendfor a judgmentin favor of him," advises the narrator,"And then God will appear,and His anger will turn back, and He will overlook your sin.""8Before his advice slips into the temporalframeof debt-bondage,he leaves the mevinwith this last bit of advice:"Andwho will be declaredrighteouswhen He gives judgment?And without forgiveness,how will there stand before him any poor man?"8'

78 See J.J. Collins, Jewish Wisdom, 119, ref. to I Enoch 92-105. Cf. Isa. 6:62; Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20. See Murphy, Wealth, 184-85 for other possibly related treatments of poverty in sapiential contexts. 79 4Q417 2 i 10.

80 4Q417 2

81

i 14-15.

4Q417 2 i 16-17. Passages in the New Testament attest to the notion that God's


39

The termsused here are vague; we do not know whetherthe 'judgment' and the 'forgiveness' here were thoughtto be tenderedby God or by the proverbialpauper'sfinancialbenefactor.82 It appearsto me that the terminologyis not to be attributedto either partybut should be seen as an element of the metaphor.The narratorsought to equate one's earthly activities with his or her eschatologically-envisioned heavenly affairsby uniformlyapplyingthe imageryof the 'judgment.' Thus does the very text of 4QInstructionassociate one's civil affairs with his or her divine judgment.Indeed, the associationis reiterated elsewherein the scrolls, perhapsnot coincidentallyin a text with close affinitiesto the Cave 1 fragmentof 'lQlnstruction.' In lQMysteries (1Q27), which appearsto be a relic of anothertypical eschatological text, we find some telling rhetoric:"Who are the people who want to be oppressedby anothermore mighty than them?Who wants to have their wealth sinfully stolen? But who are the people who do not oppress their neighbor?Where is the people who have not stolen the wealth of another?"83 Once again we encounter the notion of man maintaininghis social and financial proprietyin the context of the final judgment.An aspiringmevin, of course, irrespectiveof his financial state, surelywould have had to recognizethe importanceof assuming a certainsense of humilityin the face of God, the ultimatearbiter of his supposedvirtues. As has been suggested by T. Elgvin,84much of the advice to the mevin is highly reminiscentof the sort of materialthat would eventu-

justice is integrallyconnectedto civil behavior,especially when the behaviorin question relates to one's community.The story of Ananias and Sapphirain Acts 5:1-11 indicates that divine punishmentcould effect even sectariancivil legislation, in this case failure to fully remit their propertyto the church. See Seland, Establishment Violence,266-67; R. Pesch, Die Apostelgeschichte,2 vols. (Zurich:Benziger Verlag/ Neukirchen-Vluyn: NeukirchenerVerlag 1986) 1.195-96. Cf. the aforementionedsectarianrule of the surrenderingof privatepropertyto the yahad. In 1 Cor. 5:1-5, Paul prescribeswhat seems to be a divine judgmentfor a church memberwho had been corruptedby immorality,a dictumfurtherconnotingthe association of humanbehaviorwith divine retribution.If nothingelse, we can be sure that the theoreticalproblemof divine vs. humanlaw and its relationto the eschatological judgmenthad begun to be mined by the authorsof these texts. 1 Cor. 5:5: "You are to deliverthis man to Satanfor the destructionof the flesh, thathis spiritmay be saved in thedayof theLordJesus."Cf. perhapsthedeliveryof thesoulto Belialin 4QFlorilegium 1:9 (Seland,EstablishmentViolence,268). 82 Cf. Murphy,Wealth, 178. lQMyst 1 i 10-12 (= 4Q299 1; 4Q300 3). 4 T. Elgvin, An Analysis of 4Qlnstruction(HebrewUniversityPh.D. Dissertation: Jerusalem,1997) 119-122.

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ally find its way into the post-Templeritualsof the New Year Day of Atonementliturgies.AlthoughI have not identifiedany strainof direct textual tradition,the thematic elements of divine judgment and forgiveness, just as they appearin 4QInstruction,createdthe cornerstones of the ancientrabbinicliturgythat today comprisesthe opening prayers of the Day of Atonementservice. I would like to reinforceElgvin's suggestion by offering the evidence of the undercurrentdistinctionbetween human and divine law in 4QInstruction.As we have seen, the prime rabbinicexpressionof this legal complex is found in the context of the Day of Atonement ritual (m. Yoma 8:9): the Mishnahstates quite explicitly that the Day of Atonementeffects only those transgressionsthat cannotbe resolved by means of humanforgiveness,transgressionsof cip: :-ro "'I laws. For others, the 1lF::T* C7R 1p" laws, one is said to require the forgiveness of the wrongedbefore he can achieve atonement.If indeedit was the roots of the distinctionbetween human and divine law that educatedthe authorof 4QInstruction,his advice to the mevin in reference to his interpersonalobligations accords quite well with the atonementritual describedin the Mishnah. The identificationof the Musar LeMevinwith the Day of Atonement is supportedby a convenientpassage in a late midrashictext. The Pesiqta Rabbati,a collection of unknowndate, preservesthe following discourse: Let our masterteach us: If there has been a quarrelbetweena man and his fellow, how may he obtain forgiveness on the Day of Atonement?Our Masters, using the style of the Mishnah,taughtas follows: "TheDay of Atonementatones for transgressionsof those thingsbetweenman and God. As for transgressionsof things between man and his fellow man, the Day of Atonementdoes not bring atonementto a man unless he makes peace with his fellow man [m. Yoma 8:9]." But if he goes to make peace with him, what is he to do? R. Samuel bar Nahmansaid: Let him fetch ten men, have them draw up in a line, and in their presencesay: "Betweenme and So-and-sotherewas a quarrel.I have soughtto make peace with him, but he will not listen. Since he remainsobdurate,I [in your presence] ask his pardon."And the source of this procedure?Scripture, which says: Let him draw up a line of men and say: I have sinned,and perverted that which is right, etc. (Job 33:27). When the Holy One, blessed be He, sees a man that humbleshimself, He forgives his sins.85

85 Pesiq. R. 38, trans. W.G. Braude, Pesikta Rabbati (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968) 691-92. Although the only named figure, Samuel bar Nahman, was active in the late third century CE, the elements of the midrash can be identified in earlier works. The process of the line of ten men is described in y. Yoma 8:9, 45c, as well as t. B.Q. 9:29-30, and y. B.Q. 8:10, 6c, where it is attributed to the early third century CE Amora Rab. The institution of seeking personal forgiveness can be dated as

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The Rabbisweren't dealing here with divine forgivenessas an element of man's eschatologicaljudgment,but merely in the context of his perennialjudgmentupon the Day of Atonement.Now comparethe conclusionof this section of the midrashwith the previouslydiscussed advice from 4QInstruction:"Be like a humbleman when you contend for a judgment in favor of him."86Replace the editor's "him"with "Him"and we have a direct associationbetween the concept of civil vs. divine law and the judgmentof the Lord. (g) Summary and conclusions

What at first seemed like a completely incongruouspassage in the wider context of 4QInstructionnow seems an essential componentof the sapiential treatise. The violent treatmentof the indebted pauper was almost certainlynot a recognized form of legal recoursewithin the communitiesenvisionedby the Qumranlegal codes. Violationsof their self-imposedrule engenderedpunishmentof an egalitariansort, providedby a penal code prescribingthe depravationof certainintrasect privileges;vigilantejustice was not an option for the sectarians. Althoughthe appearanceof such a confrontationalpassage among the often contemplativewritingscollected by the Dead Sea sect is initially striking,it becomes less so when removedfrom that context and properlyreplacedin the wider world of RomanJudea. Outsideof the walls of Qumranlay a harsherreality. The poor mevin in our passage appearsto have sought financialaid away from the environs of such a community,in a world where a rougherform of justice was prevalent. Whetherby the standardsof Israelite or Greco-Romanconvention, the indebtedmevin could have been subjectto the basest whims of his creditor.As a debtorincapableof remuneration,the poor mevin might have found himself reducedto the status of a slave in that he was subject to the possibly violent discipline of his benefactor.The phenomenonof the debt-slavewas one that ostensibly affectedsectarians and non-sectariansalike, a fact imbuing the final portionof the Musar leMevinwith a universallyrelevantgravity. The advice to the mevin can now be placed in its properliterary context as well. As a dutiful adherentto the law of the Torah, the early as the First CenturyCE Tanna GamalielH (t. B.Q. 9:30). On the textualdevelopmentof this pisqa, see B. Elitsur,Pesiqta Rabbati:Pirqe Mavo' (Hebrew)(Hebrew UniversityPh.D. Dissertation:Jerusalem,2000) 191-93. 86 4Q417 2 i 14.

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JOSHUA EZRA BURNS

mevin would have recognizedhis unluckyposition in the social hierarchyof his surroundings.Reflectingthe dictumsof the sectarianlegal codes, he would have to have been carefulnot to overstepthe bounds of acceptablebehaviorin dealing with his creditor.Althoughthe relationshipbetween borrowerand creditorcould be perceivedas a mere civil matter,the authorof the Musar leMevin,consideringits unique incorporationof financial and civil law, regardedthe resultinglegal complex with a particularlyhigh level of import.As would the Dead Sea sectarians and later, the Rabbis, the author of our document, deeming an individual'sfinancialproprietyan element of his or her relationshipwith God, perceivedthe issue as one directlypertinentto His final judgment.The advice to the mevin to respect social equilibrium in financial relationships thus bears directly on the broader eschatologicalthemes of 4QInstruction,and in turnamong the various eschatologicalwritingscollected by the Dead Sea sect.87

87 I would like to express thanksto ProfessorsJohn Collins and LawrenceSchiffman, in whose graduateseminarsI was familiarizedwith 4QInstruction,and whose insightson the explicationof the documenthave contributedto my own.

FROM SEPARATISM TO URBANISM: THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE ORIGINS OF THE RABBINIC 'ERUV CHARLOYITE ELISHEVAFONROBERT StanfordUniversity

The concept of the 'eruv appears to be one of the most radical innovationsof rabbiniclaw (halakhah),both with respect to biblical Sabbath law, as well as with respect to other interpretationsand expansionsof Sabbathlaw known to us from the later Second Temple period.'In its fully developedsymbolismthe 'eruv, therefore,presents itself as one of the most importantaspects of the rabbinicizationof the Sabbath laws. At first sight, this would seem to be an obvious claim, since we find the first attestationof this principleonly in the Mishnah,with one possible exception in the Dead Sea Scrolls to be discussed shortly.Granted,the BabylonianTalmuddoes recorda rabbinic opinionwhich attributesthe origin of the 'eruv to King Solomon (b. 'Eruv. 21b) who is said to have "ordained'eruvin and the washing of hands"(:"r'bn5'cmn pn:nmpfn)with the heavenly approvalof a can hardlybe accordedovert historHowever, this statement fl-.2 Lp not least of all because the claim is attributedto a first, ical value, resp. second generation'amora (first half of the thirdcenturyCE).3

I1 would like to thankespecially the following for their helpful commentson the manuscriptversion of this article: Daniel Boyarin, Hindy Najman, Ishai Rosen-Zvi, and Elliot R. Wolfson. I also received helpful remarksfrom LawrenceSchiffmanand the anonymousreadersof the manuscript.Further,I benefitedgreatlyfrom the discussion of a previous version of this article at the CJA Colloquium at Notre Dame University,March 26, 2003, as well as from discussions of some of the conceptual ideasat the"JewishConceptionsandPracticesof Space,"convenedat StanfordUniversity, May 18-19, 2003. 2 Some manuscriptversions of the text have MnlrNM 1':rW. See also Maimonides, MishnehTorah,HilkhotEruvin 1:2 and 1:4. 3 J.N. Epsteinappearsto read this as historicalinformation: "'Eruvin'is an ancient takkanah,and is already connectedto King Solomon, and they establishedthe eruv alreadyduringthe era of the (Second) Temple,"(Introductionto TannaiticLiterature, Jerusalem:Magnes Press 1957, [Heb.]) 300. Aside from the problemof the historicity of sucha statement,thisdisregardsthefact thattheattribution to Solomonis only 'amoraic,

C KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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CHARLOTTEELISHEVA FONROBERT

The Mishnahitself, of course, devotes an entire tractate(Mishnah 'Eruvin) to this institution in its two main forms; the oln'rn InrD ("boundary'eruv")which extendsthe distancebeyonda town's boundary a Jew is allowed to walk, and the nmvrrnD ("domain'eruv")or the 'eruv of court-yardsby means of which a Jew is allowed to transfer objects from what is commonly translatedas "privatedomain" (rnrlm'iltoV) to anotherprivatedomain.4As the companionto the preceding tractatedealing with the laws of the Sabbath,'m. 'Eruv.can, at least in part,be read as developingthe spatialityof the seventhday of the week. Indeed, supplementingHeschel's popularnotion of the Sabbathas the "palacein time,"which forms the basis of his description of Judaismas a "religionof time" versus a "religionof space," the rabbinicSabbathhas all the world to do with spatial practiceand situatingoneself and the communityin space.6 The culturalforce of the rabbinic'eruv as a practiceof place making has not yet been fully and properlyassessed.7The goal of the following reflectionsis to demonstratethatthe rabbinic'eruvas we know namely by Rav Yehudahin the name of Samuel, the lattera first generation'amora. Rather, the question to be asked is why Samuel would attributethe takkanahto Solomon. I A furtherform of an 'eruv, not to be consideredhere, is the 7'8'v:1 n?D(cooking 'eruv),the ritualact that allows one to preparefood for the Sabbath,even if Friday shouldhappento be a holiday.For basic information,see EJ 3.849-50. On the ambiguity of the term reshut,see furtherbelow. I J.N. Epstein and others following him have arguedthat the two were originally one tractate,but then were divided into two, due to its length (TannaiticLiterature, 300). See, however,A. Goldberg,TheMishnaTreatiseEruvin(Jerusalem:The Magnes Press, 1986, Heb.) who arguesfor an originaldivisioninto two tractates,IX (Eng.) and 13 (Heb.). 6 A.J. Heschel, The Sabbath: Its Meaningfor Modern Man (New York: Farrar, Strausand Giroux, 1951). He writes, for instance:"Judaismis a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time" (8, his emphasis). Further,"the meaning of the Sabbathis to celebrate time ratherthan space. Six days a week we live under the tyrannyof things of space; on the Sabbathwe try to become attunedto holiness in time," 10. Jon Schofer points out to me in oral communicationthat at the same time as juxtaposingspace and time conceptually,Heschel thoroughlyspatializeshis analysis of time metaphorically.For a moredifferentiateddiscussionconcerningsecond temple sourcessee L. Doering,Schabbat:Sabbathalachaund -praxisim antikenJudentum und Urchristentum(TSAJ 78; Tubingen:MohrSiebeck, 1999), esp. 47-48. the relationshipbetweendifference,identityand 7 This concept, which interrogates place, is developed in Culture,Power, Place: Explorationsin CriticalAnthropology (ed. A. Gupta and J. Ferguson;Durhamand London:Duke UniversityPress, 1997), 6-15. The intersectionof identityand space/ place is being exploredin a numberof different disciplinary discourses. E.g., ThinkingSpace (ed. Mike Crang and Nigel Thrift;Londonand New York:Routledge,2000) for a collectionof essays introducing a variety of approaches;The Geographyof Identity(ed. PatriciaYaeger;Ann Arbor:

FROM SEPARATISM TO URBANISM

45

it, in its fully developedsymbolism,can be read as a "theoryof neighborhood,"8a reflectionon the intersectionof collective identity (both ethnic and religious)and space, and more specifically,urbanspace. As such the 'eruv is a prominentsite of the process of rabbinicself-fashioning as normative"Israel"not only with respect to non-Jews, but also and in this context more significantlywith respect to other Jews, such as the Sadducees and other groups.9 By extension, therefore, the

'eruv-particularlyas it is designedto markcommunalbelonging and boundaries,as will be demonstrated-is a site of rabbinicheresiology, of the attempt, that is, to establish a clear boundarybetween those Jews who belong and those who are to be excluded from the 'eruv community. My hypothesisis that if the 'eruv is indeed to be regardedas a rabbinic innovation,we have to analyze it synchronicallyas to its function within the rabbinic culturaluniverse, or as one of the rabbinic strategies of drawing boundariesbetween Jews and others, and between rabbinicJews and other Jews. Admittedly,it is not as simple as it seems to advance this argument,since most often the ceruv is read as merely a symptomof the legal leniency characteristicof the rabbisvis-a-vis the strict letter of the law, in this case the prohibition of carryingon the Sabbath.10In other words, the 'eruv is commonly

The Universityof MichiganPress, 1996) on social geographyandRemappingMemory: The Politics of TimeSpace(ed. JonathanBoyarin; Minneapolis:University of Minnesota Press, 1994). All of these are helpful for a reflectionon the emergenceof the rabbinic'eruv. 8 For a contemporarytheory of neighborhoodand the productionof neighborhood which informs my thinking about the cultural significance of the 'eruv, see A. Appaduarai,Modernityat Large: CulturalDimensionsof Globalization(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996). See especially his chapter on "The Productionof Locality,"178-201. 9 On the adaptationof "Israel"as a choice of self-designationin early rabbinicliterature,see S. Stern,Jewish Identityin Early RabbinicWritings(Leiden:Brill, 1994). 10 E.g. Y. Gilat, R. Eliezer Ben Hyrcanus:A Scholar Outcast (Tel Aviv: Bar Ilan University, 1984) who assumes a "generaltendencyto relax the prohibitionsassociated with the Sabbath"among the rabbinicsages, 219. Doering follows Gilat in this respect (Schabbat,181). See also the recent discussionof the institutionof the 'eruv by the foildoristA. Dundes,The ShabbatElevatorand OtherSabbathSubterfuges:An Unorthodox Essay on Circumventing Custom and Jewish Character (Lanham, Maryland:Rowman & Littlefield,2002), 45-50. In his view, "the Jews have always been a resourcefulpeople and in this instance,they have had to be in orderto function on the Sabbath.The trick was to find an acceptableway aroundthe regulations, a loophole so to speak, or what has been aptly termeda Sabbathsubterfuge,"32. The Ceruvserves as an example of such a "subterfuge".Dundes' study of this cultureof

46


regardedas merely the productof a halakhic impulse that seeks to solve a technicalproblemof practicabilityin the process of applying biblical law to practicalor every-dayreality, for the sake of convenience." This reading has of course validity, since clearly the 'eruv does serve a practicalpurpose.At the same time, however, the institution of the 'eruv also allows the rabbisto engage more or less selfconsciously in a fashioningof a distinctJewish identityas rabbinic."2 The latter is precisely the approachto be developed here, by tracing the conceptual origins of the 'eruv, and more specifically the nrlv irnln, to the Dead Sea Scrolls.'3 To that end, the argumentadvancedin this article is that the sages of the Mishnah, as they develop the concept of the 'eruv, draw on concepts developed in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and more specificallyin the Manualof Discipline, but then translatethem into the context of tannaiticSabbathlaw. To put it boldly, what was the economicGutergemeinschaftor "communityof goods"'4at Qumran,is reconstituted

circumvention,however, is marredby his reductionistFreudianism,as David Biale points out in his review in AmericanJewish History (forthcoming). " See for instanceL.H. Schiffman,The Halakahat Qumran(Leiden:Brill), 1975. "In analyzingindividuallaws, it was noted that the existence of these legal fictions ['erubin]might answer a questionor solve a problemwhich the observantsectarian must have faced" (133), with reference to the Qumranitesas the sectarians.This assumes that the 'eruv primarily solves a problem of practicability, in that the Qumranitessurelystruggledwith the fact that they could not carryon the Sabbath.The rabbissubsequentlywould have relaxedthe prohibitionto circumventthat problem. 12 This is not to claim that the symbolic functionof the 'eruv in the rabbinicproject of fashioninga distinctJewish identityas rabbinicwas the exclusive or even the intentionalgoal of creatingthe ritualsystem of the 'eruv.Hence, my analysisdoes not intend to contradictor invalidatethe commonly assumed purposeof the 'eruv with regardsto the Sabbathprohibitionof carrying.Rather,the currentanalysis intendsto add a differentaspect to that common understanding,in that it focuses on the inner logic of the rabbinicinnovation.I thankIshay Rosen-Zvifor his remarkson this point. 13 The focus on the irnrn Mrn'ratherthan the C'Mnwrn Ml-I will become clearerin the second partof the articlewhich focuses on the tannaitictexts. Briefly,the latteris more concernedabout allowing an individualto pursuehis or her activities on the Sabbath,normallyprohibited,and walk furtherbeyondthe limits of a town, while the formerfocuses on the questionof a Sabbathcommunity,of forgingthe collective identity of "Israel."The mnmrIzr1u addressesthe residentialcommunity,whetherwithin the confinesof the courtyard,of the alleyway, or the walled town. 14 These locutionscan be consideredas keywordsof the earlierscholarshipon the relationshipbetweenthe Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament,e.g. S. Segert,"Die der Essaier," StudiaantiquaAntonioSalac septuagenariaoblata (ed. Guitergemeinschaft C. Varcle; Ceskoslovenskaakademieved. Sekce jazyka a literatury;Sbornikfilologicky 3.1; Prague:SumptibusAcademiaeScientiarumBohemoslovenicaePragae,1955), 66-73; and J.G. Greehy,"Communityof Goods: Qumranand Acts," ITQ 32 (1965),


47

by the rabbisas the symbolic 'eruv-communityof a shareddomainin the urbanneighborhood. In orderto develop this argumentand to analyze the rabbinicprogrammaticreconfigurationof earlier legal traditionsin the institution of the 'eruv, including its hermeneuticalrelation to biblical law, we need to briefly discuss the biblical backgroundas well as alternative Jewish adaptations of biblical Sabbath law in the second temple period. This will help us to sharpenthe distinctively rabbinic intervention in the developmentof Sabbathlaw. Exod. 16:29 and Its Interpretationsin Jubilees and the Damascus Document To begin with, biblical law does not provide an abstractlanguage for categories of space, such as the distinctionof "domains"in rabbinic legal terminology, nor does it name specifically designated spaces, such as houses, court-yards,and tents. Rather,it remainsunThe basic prohibidifferentiatedas to the spatialityof the Sabbath.15 tion can be found Exod. 16:29: ". . . sit, each man in his place (Vfllf), a man shouldnot go outfrom his place (Irz1pon)on the seventhday,"'16

230-40. Later also B.J. Capper,"Erwagungenzu IQS VI.20 und der urchristlichen RevQ 12 (1986), 223-36; idem, "Communityof Goods in the Gtitergemeinschaft," Early JerusalemChurch,"in ANRW2.26.2 (ed. W. Haase; Berlin:Walterde Gruyter, 1995), 1730-1774; idem, "ThePalestinianCulturalContextof EarliestChristianCommunity of Goods," in The Book of Acts in Its Palestinian Setting (ed. R. Bacukham; BAFCS 4; GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1995), 323-25. For a summarydiscussionon the history of scholarshipsee C.M. Murphy,Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Qumran Community(Leiden: Brill, 2002), especially chapter one. I thank Prof. LawrenceSchiffmanfor directingmy attentionto this importantstudy. 15 The M=scmn or Sabbathlimit of walking outsideof a city only emergesin later legal literature,such as the Damascus Documentresp. the ZadokiteFragments(CD 10:21) and tannaitictexts, based on mergingthe prohibitionin Ex 16:29 with the limits of the levitical cities in Num. 35:2-5. See L. Schiffman,The Halakhahat Qumran, 91-98, who also discusses Karaitehalakhah.See furtherL. Doering's recent discussion of how the Qumrantexts interpretedthe termCipn in Exod. 16:29, "New Aspects of QumranSabbath Law from Cave 4 Fragments,"Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the International Organization of Qumran Studies Cambridge1995 (eds. M. Bernstein,F. GarciaMartinez,J. Kampen;Leiden: Brill, 1997), 259-61. 16 Each partof the verse uses a differentlocution.The first partis difficultto translate literally.In his commentary,W.H.C. Propp,who attributesthis verse to JE, suggests "sit, (each) man underhimself,let (each) man not go out from his place on the seventh day," Exodus 1-18: A New Translationwith Introductionand Commentary (AB 2; New York:Doubleday,1999), 584. He notes that the locutionfor "underhim-

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a prohibitionthat seems, on the face of it, more concernedwith distance in generalthan with transferringobjects per se, even thoughthe second part of the verse (to go out) does imply a spatialrelationality of inside/outside.'7The verse leaves open both the qualitativeas well as the quantitativedefinition of "place" (mipn),whether it refers to whereverone happensto be (e.g., Gen. 28:11) or specificallyto a residential place. Biblical law itself is, therefore,not explicit about the prohibition of carryinganythingout of one's house. However, the prohibitionof carrying itself is clearly not a specifically rabbinic contributionto Sabbathlaw, but precedes rabbiniclaw by centuries.Already in the propheticliteratureand perhaps the post-exilic Nehemiah'8we find presumedrestrictionsof carryingon the Sabbath,and more specifically carryingthings out of one's house: "Thus says the Lord: 'Take heed to yourselves,and bear no burdenon the day of the Sabbath,nor bring it into the gates of Jerusalem.And do not bring out a burden

self" appearsalso in Exod. 10:23 (duringthe plague of darkness"they saw not one another,neitherdid anyone rise from his place for three days") and basically means "in his place"(598). Proppclaims that the verse meansthat"the Sabbathis to be spent at home" (598) and rathercuriouslyrefers to Mishnah'Eruvinwhich does precisely not legislate this. The NRSV translates"eachof you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day." The Septuagint translates1'flflfl as "in your (pi.) houses"(i.; oio; otKo'5o i i@v). 1" For a careful discussion of what he calls an "interpretative reworking"of this verse in one of the 'newer' fragmentsof Qumran(4Q251 (= 4QHal) 1 4-5, rendering it as a prohibitionto carry, see Lutz Doering, "New Aspects," 251-75, and more recentlyhis monographSchabbat,229-31. 18 For a careful analysis of the relationshipbetween Neh. 13:15-21, Jer. 17:19-27 and Dtn. 5:12-14, see M. Fishbane,Biblical Interpretationin AncientIsrael (Oxford: ClarendonPress 1985), 129-34. Accordingly,Nehemiahbases his formulationon Jer. 17:19-27, who in turnbases his exegetical expansionon the deuteronomicversionof the Decalogue(131-32). FishbanearguesagainstC. Tchernowitz'renderingof "do not take any burdenfrom your homes"in Jer. 17:22 as "do not barter"(132, n. 73). See alsoJ. R. Lundblom, Jeremiah1-20: A NewTranslationwithIntroduction andCommentary (AB 21A; New York:Doubleday,1999), 809. Neh. 13:15-22 focuses on the space of walled Jerusalem,and its gates. As opposedto Jer. 17:22,his mainconcernhere seems to be with tradingon the Sabbath,and carryinginto the city is regardedonly as a subsidiaryact to this: "In those days I saw in Judahpeople treadingwine presseson the Sabbath,and bringingin (VtV:1) heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine,grapes,figs,andall kindsof burdens,whichtheybroughtinto(Cfr"NO) Jerusalem on the sabbathday; and I warnedthem at that time againstselling food" (Neh. 13:15). As Lundblom(Jeremiah1-20) puts it: "no garagesales, tag sales or Sabbathflea markets," 806. So alreadyL. Finkelstein,The Pharisees: The SociologicalBackgroundof TheirFaith (Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1938), 3.136.


49

from your houses on the day of the Sabbath,nor do any work. And sanctify the day of the Sabbath,as I have commandedyour fathers"' (Jer. 17:21-22). 19

The prohibitionof carrying out from one's house becomes even more pronouncedin the legal literatureof the second and first century BCE. Jubilees demands death for the transgression: "[The man] . . . who

lifts that which he carriesto bring (it) outside his tent or his house is to die" (Jub. 50:8).20 Earlierin the same text we learn about bringing into the house on the Sabbathas well: "[Informand tell the Israelites the law (which relates to) this day . . . on which it is not proper to do what they wish, namely: . . . to bring in or remove on it anything

which one cafries in their gates ... (Jub. 2:29). They are not to bring (anything) out or in from house to house on this day because it is more holy and more blessed than any of the jubilee of jubilees"(Jub. 2:30).21

The evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls is equally unequivocal,as in the Damascus Document:"No one shall carry (anything)from the house to the outside, or from the outside into (the) house. And if he

'9

See previousnote. The anonymouseditoriallayer of the BabylonianTalmudin

b. Hor. 4a uses Jer. 17:22 to argue that the prohibition of carrying out is indeed bib-

lical law, contraxyto what the Mishnah(m. Hor. 1:3) seems to assume. The prohibition of bringingin, on the otherhand, not explicatedin Jer. 17:22, is here admittedto be a rabbinicenactment.Interestingly,the MassoretHa-Shas claims the existence of a differentversion of the text, according to which it is Exod. 16:29 which serves as proof-text for the argumentthat "carryingout" is a biblical prohibition.See also Doering,"New Aspects,"258, n. 37. 20 The text is cited from J.C. Vanderkam, The Book of Jubilees (CSCO 511; Louvain:Peters 1989), 326. For a more extensive discussionof this passage as well as Jub. 2:29, 30 see L. DoeringSchabbat,75-79. 21 Vanderkam, The Book of Jubilees, 15. Doering identifiesJub. 2:29 and Jub. 50:8 as stemmingfrom earlier halakhic lists which the authorof Jubilees works into his text, while Jub. 2:30 representthat author'sown gloss on this particularprohibition (Schabbat,76). I am not entirelycertainwhy the point of the locution"fromhouse to house"shouldbe to specificallyprohibitcarrying"overa sharedcourtyardand a blind alley-way,"as Doering claims, as if Jubileeswere alreadyfamiliarwith the halakhic particularitiesof the joined courtyardin tannaiticlaw ("New Aspects,"260). Doering here relies on Y. Gilat,RabbiEliezer, and cites Albeck and Epsteinfor the same argument (Schabbat,77), but I remainunconvinced,as if the sharedcourtyardwould be the only implied alternativescenario.Gilat writes: "The early halakhahforbade 'carrying' from one reshut(= domain)to another:not only from reshuthayahid(= private domain) to reshut harabbim(= public domain) or vice versa but also from a house into a courtyardor alley,"R. EliezerBen Hyrcanus,217, but he clearly retrojectsrabbinic language into his discussion of the "early halakhah",i.e., Jubilees and the ZadokiteFragments.

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is in the sukkah,let him not carry(anything)out from it or bring(anything) into it" (CD 11:7-9) on the Sabbath.22 It should be noted that in all these cases the juxtapositionis one between house and outside (Jub. 50:8 and 2:30, CD 11:7),23 or sukkah(CD 11:8) or tent (Jub. 50:8). The abstractionfrom these concretelynamedspaces to the rnnr M107is a rabbinicneologism in the "halakhicmarketplace"24 of the first centuryBCE throughsecond centuryCE. In short,whateverthe reason for the specific or ideologicalreason of this prohibitionmight be, it is well attestedthroughoutthe Jewish legal and interpretiveliteratureof the second templeperiod,regardless of what the precise identityof the respectiveauthorsmay be. We can thereforeeasily agree with A. Goldberg when he points out: "That these prohibitionswere not an 'invention' of the Rabbis is clearly demonstratedby the fact that they were observed by non-Pharisaic sects as well."25By contrast,"we do not find, however,among any of 22 Schiffman,Halakhahat Qumran,113. L. Doering notes that this text "is clearly dependenton Jer 17:22a*,"in contrastto the text fragmentthat is the subjectof his article,i.e., 4Q251 (= 4QHal) 1 4-5 ["(No) one shall bringout of his place (anything throughout)the whole Sabbath"]which is an interpretiverenderingof Exod. 16:29, "New Aspects,"256-258. This is recapitulated,with slight revisions,in his monograph Schabbat,216-217, 229-231. For his more extensive discussion of CD 11:7-9, see Schabbat,178-182. I shall not discuss 4Q251 separately,since it does not add to the point advancedhere. Doering argues, quite convincinglyin my view, that from the point of view of historyof halakhictradition4Q251 representsa later level than CD, even thoughbothareexemplarsof thepriestlyapproachto theSabbathhalakhah,Schabbat, 280. 23 Cp. m. Shab. 1:1 which juxtaposesMIM, "inside"and rrl=, "outside",both representedrespectivelyby the fl`:1l1'.: and the '1.V,pace Doering,"New Aspects,"259 into this n and again Schabbat,280 who reads the locutionC':77 nMCIresp. rn"Mr'I text. In his articulation"bothJubilees and the DamascusDocumentdeviate from the rabbinicconceptionof the 'domains',"("New Aspects,"260). However,m. Shab. 1:1 is not automaticallyto be equatedwith the programof t. Shab. 1:1-6 which precisely develops the abstractspaces as to theirmeasurementsand characteristics.I.e., rabbinic texts do not uniformlyuse the languageof "domains,"and m. Shab. 1:1 may represent a differentstratumof mishnaicmaterial. 24 I borrowthis felicitous phrase from L. Schiffman,"Halakhahand History:The Contributionof the Dead Sea Scrolls to Recent Scholarship,"in Judische Geschichte Munchen:OldenbourgVerlag,1999), in hellenistisch-romischer Zeit(ed. A. Oppenheimer; 213. 2S There is, however, a wide-spreadassumptionthat the Sadducees actually disagreedwiththisprohibition,"orwithsomeof its details"(Schiffman,Halakhahat Qumran, 113), in agreementwith B. Revel, The KaraiteHalakhahearlier(Philadelphia:Press of Cahan,1913)114, n. 201); so also L. Ginzberg,Albeck. However,aside from the questionof the "halakhicidentity"of the Qumranites,i.e., whetherthey are Essenes or Sadducceantypes, this hypothesisis based on a numberof problematicpresumptions, not the least of which is thatamoraicsources(b. Hor.4a) are consideredto be reliable evidence for Sadduceanhalakhahof the first century.Even the tannaiticproof-textin


51

the non-Pharisaicsects any effortto seek a formulafor the relaxation of any of the restrictionsregardingcarryingor the extend of the permitted walking limits."26 The prohibitionof carnyingout of and into the house on the Sabbathwas widely subscribedto (if not necessarily practiced!)across the presumedboundariesof various groups,but the attemptto circumventthat prohibitionwith the help of a legal fiction such as the 'eruv is uniqueto only one legal traditionin the "halakhic marketplace,"that of the rabbis.27 Damascus Document11:4-5 The one exception may be the indirect evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, more specifically from what Schiffmandesignatesas the "Sabbathcode"28in the Damascus Document, or the Zadokite fragments respectively,where we find the following much debated line: :'tn (CD 11:4-5, cp. 4Q 271 5 i 1-2 = 4Q Df 5 i 1-2).29

m. 'Eruv.6:2 is far from transparentas to Sadduceanhalakhah,as will be discussed below. More recently,Goldbergpresumesa Sadduceandisagreementon the prohibition of carrying:"the Sadduceesdid not accept all the Pharisaicrules restrictingcarrying from domain to domain,"(The Mishnah Treatise Eruvin, XIV [Heb.] and 16 [Engl.]).Only Doeringtentativelysuggests that in fact "the attributionin m. Erub.6:2 might turn out to be later rabbinicpolemic against the Sadducees,"("New Aspects," 262). 26 XIV (Engl.) and 16 (Heb.). Goldberg assumes a basic continuity between Pharisees(= proto-rabbis)and rabbis,while I-along with others-would take a more cautionaryapproach.See for instance A. Baumgarten,"Graeco-RomanAssociations and Jewish Sects" (ed. M. Goodman; Jews in a Graeco-Roman World, Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1998), 102, n. 35. 27 Of course, to be more precise one should say across the boundariesof textual identities,since whatevergroupstherewere are only representedby individualtextual voices, in this case Jubilees,the DamascusDocumentresp. the ZadokiteFragmentsor rabbiniclaw (e.g., m. Shab. 1:1). 28 On the argumentthat the body of Sabbathlaw in the Zadokitefragmentconstitutes a unity see Schiffman,Halakhahat Qumran,80-83. This view is adopted by Doering,"New Aspects,"251, n. 1. 19 As early as with the originalpublicationof the Zadokitefragmentsby Schechter in 1910 a numberof scholarshave suggested the emendationof ZWll' to :Irr (to fast, starve oneself): "no one should voluntarilyfast on the Sabbath."So Schechter, Rabin,Segal and Ginzberg,as discussedby Schiffman,Halakhahat Qumran,109-111. However, as far as I can tell this suggestion is now rejectedby virtuallyeveryone, since the actual manuscriptversions of the law have :)Wr7. So also most recently C. Murphy,Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, 70. Schiffman(op. cit.) weighs the fasting option and admitsin his summaryconclusionthat "it may have been forbiddento fast on the seventhday" (132), particularlysince Jub. 50:12, and later rabbinictexts make a point of prohibitingfasting on the Sabbath.In addition,some kind of Jewishpractice

52


Suggestionsfor translationsand the meaningof this particularprohibition, unique in the Qumrancorpus, are extremely far-rangingand need not all be rehearsedhere.30That it refers to some kind of 'eruv practice,prohibitedon the Sabbathby the authorof this law, had been suggested early

on3'

and is most recently affirmed by G. Stemberger,

if only tentatively.32 The immediatecontextwould seem to corroborate this assumption,since the immediatelyfollowing law concernsthe distance one is allowed to venturebeyond a city and CD 11:7-9 lists the prohibition to move things in and out of the house, as discussed above. At the same time, this explanationhas been debunkedsince it cannot explain the phrase l "by his own volition"or "voluntarily."33 F. Garcia Martinez, on the other hand, translates: "No-one should interminglevoluntarilyon the sabbath,"whatever that might specifically mean.34This echoes perhapsJ.M Baumgartenand D.R.

of fasting on the Sabbathseems to have been known among "Latinclassical writers" (111) and-one might add-in later debates over the observance of the Sabbath amongstJews and Christians,some authorsadvocatedfasting on the Sabbath,as for instance in the fourth centuryCE Didascalia Apostolorum.But even Schiffmanultimately chooses rnwr for his base translation. 30 L. Doering, Schabbat, 169-70 counts eleven, and adds his own, which is however closely relatedto J.M. Baumgartenand E. Qimron.Alread Qimronpresenteda M-In' R9",Proceedings careful critique of the suggested interpretations,in "nflZ 1z1'tN of the Ninth World Congress of Jewish Studies, D. 1, Hebrew Section (Jerusalem, 1986), 9-15. 31 Lezynsky and M.-J. Lagrange,"La secte juive de la Nouvelle Alliance au pays de Damas,"RB 9 (1912), 21340, 321-60, in responseto Schechter'sZadokitefragment in 1910. 32 G. Stembergeridentifiesthe authorsof the text as Essenes and argues:"Von den wissen, der Essenernist nach allem, was wir aus Josephusund den Qumranschriften Sabbatnoch strikterals von den Pharisaemeingehaltenworden:'Auch huten sie sich an Sabbatenmehr noch als alle Juden,Arbeitenanzuruhren'(BJ II, 147). Einen Erub hatten sie sicher nicht gestattet, auch wenn CD XI, 4f nicht eindeutig ist: 'Nicht yit'areb ein Mensch nach seinem Willen am Sabbat.'. . . Wenn man den Vers im Kontext mit dem Folgendenliest, lage allerdings der Gedankean den Erub naher" Essener,Stuttgart: Verl.Kath.Bibelwerk, thanemendingit to :nsrn (Pharisaer,Sadduzder, 1991), 71, my emphasis. 33 Thus alreadyS. Hoenig, "An InterdictAgainst Socializingon the Sabbath,"JQR N.S. 62 (1971), 77-83 pointedout againstLezynsky'sand Lagrange'searliersuggestions: ". . . can there be any forced wager or a compulsoryerub without volition or intention?"(80). However,it shouldbe notedthat the phrasedoes not easily fit any of the proposed interpretationsof this law. Following E. Qimron, Doering makes the explanationof the locution I1rN-I one of the criteriafor any possible explanationof the phraseSchabbat,170. 34 The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (eds. and trans. by F. GarciaMartinezand E.J.C.Tigchelaar;Leiden:Brill, 1997) 569, 621. See also Vermeswho translates:"No man shall willingly mingle (with others) on the Sabbath"(The CompleteDead Sea


53

Schwartz'stranslationwho, however, is more specific as to the reference of the intermingling:"Let no man intermingle(puritieswith others) voluntarily on the Sabbath."35Alternatively, this choice might point in the direction that S. Hoenig had suggested earlier. Hoenig translates:"let no man socialize, of his own free will, on the Sabbath."36 By socializinghe means with anybody,includingfellow-Jews, not merelywith non-Jews.However,his readingis based on the argument that this is a reiterationof known Karaitepractice, and hence supposedlyproves the Karaiteprovenanceof the Zadokitefragments,37 obviously no longer a tenable position. Finally, rejecting the 'eruv option based on a grammaticalargument,L.H. Schiffmantranslates:"No one shall enterpartnershipby his own volition on the Sabbath."38 That is, he rejects the hypothesisof

Scrolls in English [New York: PenguinPress, 1997] 140). The biblical echo for this translationis perhapsthe use of the hitpa'elform of the verb in Ps. 106:35(being mingled with the 0'1: or "non-Jews")and Ezra 9:2 (the holy seed is being mingled with the r 'rVtM, the "peoples of the land"). On the latter see Fishbane, Biblical Interpretationin AncientIsrael, 115-116. In both cases the mingling is negative. In the Damascus Document, the close-by prohibitionof contact with non-Jews on the Sabbathin CD 11:14 uses a differentlocution:n:1: C':' Dlcp mlpm:krKnUtt1'bm. 3S The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts with English Translations (ed. J.H. Charlesworth; Louisville:Westminster,1995), 2.47. It shouldbe noted that the parenthesisis pureconjecture.In a footnote,Charlesworthrefersto lIQ 45:11 (sic) and 4Q 274 1 i 5 (= 4Q TohorotA) for the verb as "intermingle"in the context of ritualpurity,47, n. 164. C. Murphyfurtherclaims that "the verb used for 'mixing' one's wealth, YID, is consistentwith the languageof purityand pollution,"Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, 133, 222 without however providingevidence for the latter. Qimron and Baumgartenboth made a connection with ritual purity, followed by Doering. Hence Doering translates "nobody should deliberately intermingle (with regardto humanlytransferableimpurity),"Schabbat,173. 3 "An InterdictAgainst Socializing,"83 (his emphasis). We might also consider E. Qimron'spropositionthat ZWrl' refers to sexual interminglingor relations,as one particularform of socializing.See E. Qimron,"ZnWi 't," 9-15 and E. Nodet, "LaLoi a Qumranet Schiffman,"RB 102 (1995), 56. 31 He arguesin fact that this line demonstrates "thatthe ZadokiteFragmentis nothing but a medieval Karaiticcontext ... No earlier text conveys such a notion,"("An Interdict,"83). Thus the argumentis circular. 38 The Halakhahat Qumran,109 (my emphasis).The grammaticalargumentis the following: "It is clear that this verb cannot mean 'to make an 'eruv' as that meaning commonly requiresa pie'el in Heb., and a pa'el in Aram."But this is derived from rabbinicHebrew.Interestingly,Schiffmanpoints out that grammaticallyour locutionis uniquein the Dead Sea Scrolls, the exceptionto any rule: ". . . Note that normallythe hitpa'elof 'rb in the Qumranliteraturerequiresthat the prepositionb follow. Our passage is an exception" (109, n. 167). On Schiffman's translationStembergernotes brieflywithoutfurtherelaborationthat his choice is "sachlichauch nicht problemlos," Pharisaer,Sadduzaer,70.

54


communalpropertyat Qumranand insteadinsists that"communaluse, not communalownership,seems to have been the rule at Qumran."39 He then clarifies that "the law would then prohibitdeclaringon the Sabbathany privatepropertyto be availablefor communaluse,"40but presumablynot duringthe rest of the week. In otherwords, the group allows for whateverform of co-mingling(or forminga partnership,or making an individual'spropertyavailable for shareduse) duringthe regularweek, or perhapsspecifically upon initiation,as will be discussed below, but not on the Sabbath.Schiffmanthen concludes:"If the interpretationof above is correct,there would be no rabbinicparallel, as the contentof this law is purely sectarian,applyingonly in a communitywhich sharedthe use of its property"to begin with, since in his view there is no evidence of such an idea to be found in rabbinic law.41 Pooling Property in the Manual of Discipline

Given the variety of interpretationsit would seem that the one line in the DamascusScroll does not yield a huge amountof information,

3 Halakhahat Qumran,90. Schiffmaninsists on communaluse of propertyas the Qumranitemode of affiliationin juxtapositionto an actualGutergemeinschaft throughout his work, see the subsequentnote. However,C. Murphy,Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, has now arguedfor communalproperty.She concludesin her monographthat the "sharingof wealth"was a featureof communallife (158). Based on this assumption she argueswith respectto CD XI, 4-5: "The passage is a naturalapplicationof the prohibitionof useless activity in Isa. 58:13 to the peculiarand voluntaryintermingling of propertythat characterizemembersof the Dead Sea commmunity"(70). Still, her translationclosely parallelsSchiffman's:"Let no man associate accordingto his pleasureon the sabbath,"to be understoodas prohibitingthe formationof associations with other membersof the community. I Again, this interpretation still does not accountfor the locution"by his own volition,"and thereforewould fall victim to Qimron'scriteriafor offeringa possibleexplanation of the prohibition.Schiffmandoes not expand on what the exact difference would be between the communal use and communalpropertyin The Halakhahat Qumran(1975). In his SectarianLaw in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts,Testimonyand the Penal Code (Chico: ScholarsPress, 1983) he describesthe social characterof the of CD 9:10-12 (restoragroupas "closely knit"and insists, based on his interpretation tion of lost property)and 1 QS 6:24 (on the man who lies about his property)et al. thatcommunaluse of propertyis envisaged,ratherthana communityof goods:"Communal use of propertynever obliteratesthe conceptof privateownershipso clearly assumed in the biblical traditionand, indeed,in the ancientNear East," 112, cf. 162 and 214. 41 109. Cp. also Doering,"New Aspects,"who arrivesat a similarconclusion:"In that there are missing conditionsfor such legal fictions as the 'erubhaserot,there is no congruenceof QumranEssene and rabbinicSabbathlaw regardingthis topic"(264). What he identifiesas missing conditionswill be discussedin the conclusion.


55

and building any argumentof the existence of a proto-type'eruv on this law at best has to remain conjecture. However, in contrast to Schiffman'sconclusion, often repeatedby others, that there would be no rabbinic parallel between Qumran and the rabbinic corpus, we might draw a different,and perhapsintriguingconnectionbetween the texts from Qumran and the rabbinic institution of the 'eruv which might add a differentnuanceto our understandingof the latter. Towards that goal we may draw on a tentative suggestion advanced by J. Licht in his commentaryon the Rule Scroll (SerekhHa-Yahad) or Manualof Discipline.42His study illuminatesthe use of the verbal forms of "'ID in that text. That is, in the context of the initiation process of a new memberinto the groupthe rule is that at the end of zwDMlR--"shall not [yet] be co-mingled the firstyear, still, a-Ilm plnn: with/in the propertyof the many"(lQS 6:17).43 Here, Licht takes the verb to mean: "He should not transferhis propertyto you. The verb :-D refers to the formationof a partnershipin propertyalso" throughout the Rule Scroll.44This point is sharpenedby C. Murphywho reads the initiation passage 6:13b-23 as a descriptionof "the incremental contributionof wealth and the graduallyincreasing,reciprocalclaims All of communityand individualupon the newly donatedresources."45 in all, Licht assumes a closer associationthan Schiffmanbetween the language deployed in IQS and in the rabbinic texts and notes that "thisroot is commonin the languageof the sages concerningthe issue of partnership(m. Qin.1:4); ... so also fl-lSr "mD which is nothing but

a partnershipof courtyardsand parallelto the languageof partnership

42 J. Licht, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the Wildernessof Judaea (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute,1965 [Heb.]). The difficultredactionalquestionsconcerningthe Rule Scroll need not concernus here, since we are only dealing with small passages from it. Vis-d-visthe conceptualdevelopmentin rabbinicliteratureit does not matterwhich layer of the text or textual traditionof the Rule Scroll the passages stem from. For a recent discussionof redactionaland textual questionsconcerningthe Rule Scroll, see J.H. Charlesworthand B.A. Strawn, "Reflectionson the Text of Serekh Ha-Yahad Foundin Cave IV,"RevQ 17, 1996, 403-35 and P. Alexander,"TheRedaction-History of SerekhHa-Yahad:A Proposal,"437-56. 43 Charlesworth translates:". . . Nor shall he have any sharein the Many's property" (TheDead Sea Scrolls:Rule of the Community,[PhotographicMulti-LanguageEdition, Philadelphia:AmericanInterfaithInstitute,1996], 62). For a descriptionof the Rule of the Communityand the inductionof a novice into the community,see D. Dimant, "QumranSectarian Literature,"Jewish Writingsof the Second Temple Period (ed. Michael E. Stone; Philadelphia:FortressPress, 1984), 483-551. 4 Licht, The Rule Scroll, 150 n. 17. 45 Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, 158.

56

CHARLOTIE ELISHEVA FONROBERT

(m. 'Emv. 3:1, 7:6; m. Dem. 1:4, etc.)."46In other words, he points to

an overlappingof language in both textual corpora:just as the 1nr mnrn:has to do with 'joiningtogether,"with the formationof a partnershipof sorts, so also the co-minglingof the propertyof the initiate. Based on Licht's linguistic point we are now in a position to advance the following suggestion. The overlappingof the language is not arbitrary,nor does it merely indicate a generic relationshipof two forms of partnership.Indeed, the rabbinic'eruv is thereforenot entirelya creatio ex halakhicor at least conceptualnihilo. Rather,the rabbis,I would suggest, in part adapt the conceptuallanguageof the Dead Sea Scrolls and specifically the Manual of Discipline for their own purposes,recontextualizeand translateit symbolicallyto endow it with a different,but relatedsymbolic task.47That relatedtask is one of producingand maintaininga sense of collective identity.In the rabbinic case this is carriedout in the midst of the religiouslyand ethnically mixed towns of Palestine, quite in contrastto the Qumranites. The relationshipis importanthere. In other words, I am suggesting that there is a conceptualrelationshipbetween the Qumranicthinking about the "mergingof property"as a way of constitutingthe yahad, and the rabbinic'eruv of symbolicallymerging individualresidential units to form a ?nfl flIw- on the Sabbath.To be more precise, in the conceptualbackgroundof the emergenceof the rabbinic'eruv is the concept of mergingthe initiate's propertywith the yahad, whetherin the sense of renderingit accessible to the community(Schiffman)or establishingcollective property(Murphy).

Licht, The Rule Scroll, 150 n. 17 S. Fraade who observes a different set of connections between the Qumran and the rabbiniccorpus, or more specifically the DamascusDocumentand Midrash Sifra, carefully raises the question of historical interconnectionsbetween the texts, "ShiftingFromPriestlyto Non-PriestlyLegal Authority:A Comparisonof the Damascus Documentand the MidrashSifra,"DSD 6 (1999), 123-24. None of these, he asserts, can be answeredwith any degree of certainty.However,regardlessof this open question, I agree with him that his "disclaimerof influence in either directionneed not negatethe historicalsignificanceof the comparisonof these texts, and the light thereby Polemics in shed by each on the other's contours"(124). M. Broshi,"Anti-Qumranic the Talmud,"(The MadridQumranCongress:Proceedingsof the InternationalCongress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18-21 March, 1991 [eds. J.T. Barreraand L.Vegas Montaner;STDJ 11; Madrid:EditorialComplutense;Leiden: Brill 1992]), arguesmuch more forcefullyand thereforeremainsopen to the chargeof speculation that "Qumranicbeliefs and practiceswere still in circulationall throughthe first millenium CE," as evidenced by the Karaites, and that hence the rabbis direct their polemics againsttheir contemporaries,2.599. 4' 47


57

We recall the self-definitionof the communityin IQS 5:1-2: "This is the rule for the men of the Communitywho freely volunteerto convert from all evil and to keep themselves steadfast in all He commanded in compliance with His will. They should keep apart from the congregationof the men of injusticein orderto constitutea Community in law and possessions (pfl1 7MTln) [...]."948 Hence, next to Torah49"poolingproperty"is one of the two ways which establishthe collective unity of the yahad, and which draw strong boundaries between outsiders and insiders, setting the yahad apart from others, includingotherJews outside the community.50 Integratingthe property of the individual into communal property signifies the individual's own assimilationinto the community.5'The rabbis,on the otherhand, constitutetheir version of Israel, their choice designationof the collectivity theirhalakhicwork constructs,52 aroundequivalentpoles. The first is obviously the study of Torah, rabbinicallyreinforcedby the concept of oral Torah,which becomes the main constituentfactor to establish the rabbinic verus Israel.53 The second pole, I suggest here,

48

So Martinez,The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 79, my emphasis. Murphy

translates ". . . in wealth," 154; alternatively Charlesworth has ". . . with Torah and

with property."Cp. lQS 5:14 and CD 20:7 on the injunctionfor the group members to separateoneself from a transgressoralso by means of property. 49 See S. Fraade,"Shiftingfrom Priestlyto non-PriestlyLegal Authority," who also emphasizesthat "studywas an essential practicefor both communities"(123). 50 For a recent assessmentof the laws of separatismat Qumranand their connection to rabbinichalakhah,see A. Shemesh,"The Origins of the Laws of Separatism: QumranLiteratureand RabbinicHalacha,"RevQ 70 (1997), 223-43 and referencesto previousstudies in n. 2, 224. Shemeshpoints out that "it is clear that within the sect's non-apocalyptic,practical-halachicframework,Jews outside the Qumrancommunity were treatedfor all intentsand purposesas non-Jews,"227, while the membersof the group are consideredto be "the true childrenof Israel,"230. On the issue of separatismsee also A. Baumgarten, "Graeco-Roman VoluntaryAssociations,"94. Charlesworth arguesthat some of the fragmentssuggest that the groupeven might have a notion of a corporatemiqdashor sanctuarywithin the group,"Reflectionson the Text of Serekh ha-Yahad,"432-5.The Qumranicseparatismhas traditionallyprimarilybeen read with respectto the centralsanctuaryin Jerusalem(Murphy,Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, 152). The case could be made that there are numerousother ways that undergirdthe projectof boundarydrawingby the groupsin additionto the two named above, such as the practice of commensality and the discourse of ritual and moral im/purity. However, it is strikingthat in the introductorysummaryto the rules for the community the boundariesare organizedaroundTorahand property. "1 Murphy,Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls, 158. Indeed, she considersthe sharing of wealth as "a preeminentsymbol of unity"in the Manualof Discipline. 52 See S. Stem, Jewish Identity,particularly11-13 and 127-38. 53 The classic text here is the much discussed passage in m.Sanh. 10:1. Daniel Boyarin discusses this passage in his forthcoming book Border Lines: Hybrids,

58


is similarlyconstitutedby property,that is by the 'eruv and the symbolicmergingof individualresidentialspaces.Butcontraryto theQumran texts, where the yahad is in partconstitutedby an exodus from urban space54and by a strict conceptualseparationfrom "the men of iniquity," the rabbis' Israel and its 'eruv is constitutedprecisely there, in the presence, nay, in the midst of and togetherwith other kinds of Jews of various shades and colors and non-Jews, of apostates and The 'eruvthenbecomesa meansof maintainingtheintegrity transgressors. the collective identityof Israel.WhatMeeksobservesaboutthePauline of groups is applicableto the rabbis in equivalentterms (without committing ourselves to his identificationof the group at Qumran):"The Pauline groups' strong and intimatesense of belonging, their special beliefs and norms,their perceptionof their own discretenessform 'the world,' did not lead them to withdrawinto the desert,like the Essenes of Qumran.They remainedin the cities, and their memberscontinued to go about their ordinarylives in the streets and neighborhoods,the shops and agora.""To demonstratethe conceptualconnectionbetween the tannaitic 'eruv and the Qumranicprocess of merging an initiate into the yahad let us turn to the rabbinictexts. The Tannaitic Eruv

The mishnah56in which the unity of "Israel"with respect to the 'eruv is foregroundedis the following: Heretics and the Partition of Judaeo-Christianity (University of Pennsylvania Press,

forthcoming). S4 Cp. Murphy,Wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 146, where she arguesthat the sepat some point in the community'shistory arationfrom the "men of unrighteousness" meant "a spatial separationto the wildernessas well." See also G.J. Brooke,"Isaiah 40:3 and the Wilderness Community" The New Qumran Texts and Studies: Proceedings of the First Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Paris

1992 (eds. G. Brooke and F. Garcia Martinez;Leiden: Brill, 1994), 117-32; and Associations,"107 with referenceto 1 QS 9:19-20. A. Baumgarten,"Graeco-Roman ss Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle

Paul (New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 1983), 105. Interestingly,Meeks entitles the section here "Gatesin the Boundaries"(105), an articulationthat applies very well to the rabbinicconceptualizationof the 'eruv. I thankElliot R. Wolfson for calling my attentionto the relevanceof this text for my argument. 56 I use lower case mishnahfor an individualtext unit and capitalizewhen referring to the entirecorpus.My translationsin the followingare based on the Kaufmannmanuscript.A. Goldberghas provideda text-criticaledition for this tractate,The Mishna TreatiseEruvin.Any relevantdivergencein othermanuscriptsof early printedversions will be noted. [ ] in the translationsindicate clarifying additionsto the eliptic and thereforeenigmatichalakhicrhetoricof the Mishnah.


59

If someonelives with a non-Jew57 in a court-yard,or with someonewho does not agree with the 'eruv,58 then that one [i.e., the non-Jew] imposes a prohibition [of

transferringany object from his house into the courtyardon the Sabbath]on him.59 But Rabbi 'Eliezer ben Ya'acov says: Indeed, he [i.e., the non-Jew, or the other personwho does not agree with the 'eruv] does not impose a prohibition [of carryinginto the courtyardon him], unless two Israelitesimpose a prohibition on each other. (m. 'Eruv. 6:1, my emphasis)

In the backgroundof this mishnahis the assumption,laid out in the tractateas a whole and specificallythe sixth chapter,that two rabbinic Jews

(:tfllw),

as those who presumably agree to the principle of the

'eruv and who live in a joined courtyard,would be able to make an 'eruv in orderto circumventthe prohibitionof carryinginto the courtyard on the Sabbath.This mishnah, then, raises the question about the collective homogeneity of such an ceruvcommunity.Differently put, the questionis whetherthat collectivity can potentiallytranscend "ethnic"(Jew versus non-Jew)or "religio-legal"(rabbinicJew versus "the one who does not agree to the principleof the ceruv")boundaries. The preliminaryansweris negative, or at least the mishnahleaves the questionopen, while the disagreementhere only concernsthe number of rabbinicJews present. Notably, the spatialframefor this questionis providedby the walls of the joined courtyard,which is expandedto the alley in the immediately following mishnah,a much-discussedcase-storyfrom the past involving a Sadducee:10 S7 Ms Kaufmannand most other versions of the text have '-:: (the most neutral term for non-Jew),whereas the printededition of the BabylonianTalmud has M"=Z (idol-worshipper). 58 J.N. Epstein, Introductionto the Version of the Mishnah (Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1963, [Heb.]), 2.608-9; and Introductionto the Literatureof the Tannaim,313, has argued that this phrase is a secondaryemendation.See also A. Goldberg, The MishnahTreatiseEruvin, 161. It is missing in a numberof manuscriptsas well as in some medieval commentaries.Rabbeinu Hanan'el omits the phrase, but as Albeck notes, he often abbreviatesthe textualversionof Mishnahor Talmud,ratherthan having a different textual version, 70OM flID ltUN(Tel Aviv: Dvir Publishing, 1988), 2.435. Rashi clearly does have our version in front of him, see b. 'Eruv. 61b. More significantly,however, both the Babylonian and the PalestinianTalmud ignore the phrasealtogetherin their discussionsof m. 'Eruv.6:1, based on which Epstein concludes that "essentially the mishnah only included the 'non-Jew"' (Version of the Mishnah, 609) whereas the phraseZn)s: n771 T'O 'ICis supposedlyimportedfrom elsewherein the tractate,i.e., m. 'Eruv.3:2. S9 The first printededition here adds "[according]to the opinion of Rabbi Meir." The discussionin the BabylonianTalmudassumesthat the first anonymousopinion is Rabbi Meir's, see b. 'Eruv.62a. I The case-storyis rathercomplicatedand has been put to varioususes, mostly as

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RabbanGamli'el said: [There is] a case story (;rO?O)about a certainSadducee who used to live with us in an alleyway in Jerusalem.Fathersaid to us: Hurry and bringout all your vessels to the alleyway, lest he bringsout [his] and [thus] imposes on you a prohibition[of carryingyour things into the alleyway on the Sabbath]. RabbiYehudahsaid it in a differentversion:Hurryand performall your needs in the alley lest he bringsout and [thus]imposes a restrictionon you. (m. 'Eruv. 6:2)

The joined courtyardand the alleyway are parallelcases both in a social and in a halakhic sense. Socially, in the Mishnahthey are the representativespaces of the mixed urban neighborhood.Israel, i.e., rabbinically defined Jews, are assumed to live with non-Jews and other types of Jews in close proximity,both in the past in Jerusalem, as in RabbanGamli'el's case-story,and in the presentof the mishnaic halakhic discussions themselves (m. 'Eruv. 6:1). The mishnaic legis-

lators reflect on whether these mixed neighborhoodscan be joined into a communityfor the purposesof the Sabbath.6'Secondly, both (joined) courtyard and (blind) alleyway62are halakhically parallel cases, in that they providethe properspatialframeworkwhich allows That is, the physicalspatial for the formationof an 'eruv-community.63

a proof-textfor Sadduceanhalakhah.See below for the halakhicanalysisof this story which, however,ignoresfor reasonsof space the differencebetweenRabbanGamliel's and Rabbi Yehudah'sversion of what exactly RabbanGamliel's statementwas. 61 For a discussion of the courtyardin terms of social space, in conjunctionwith discourse of gender as it constitutes distinction between private versus public, see C. Baker,Rebuildingthe House of Israel: Architecturesof Genderin Jewish Antiquity (Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 2002), in particularthe fourthchapter,"Inside Out and Outside In: Courtyards, Alleyways, and the Gendering of 'Public' and 'Private'."She emphasizesthe dynamic quality of the courtyardand alleys: "In the built environmentof Roman Galilee and in the texts of the tannaim,the -1;M,courtyard, and the U:, alleyway, are the sites par excellence of such overlapand indeterminacy"(1 13). 62 The furtherexpansion of the blind alleyway or cul-de-sac is the walled city, whose gates either are locked at night or can be locked, see Maimonides,Mishneh Torah,Hilkhot'Eruvin 1:1, which treats all three spaces together.The mishnaictractate, however, mostly discusses its issues within the walls of either the courtyardor the alleyway, as far as constitutingan 'eruv-communityis concerned.It is only the medieval responsa literaturewhich discusses issues pertaining to the status of a (walled) city more extensively. See, e.g., I'VID nOrMbP C'MR1 WDp"-m: (Tifrah: Makhonle-hotsa'atsifre rishonim,1991). (within it) as a courtyard 63 See m. 'Eruv.6:8: "The alleyway is to the courtyards is to the houses (within it)." The focus of the currentarticle does not allow for a detaileddiscussionof the complicatedways by which the spatialframeworkis constituted. Sufficeit to say that the first two chaptersof the tractatedeal with preparinga blind alley-way for co-joiningthe courtyardsand householdswithin it by constructing a "shapeof a doorway"in its entry (m. 'Eruv. 1:1). M. 'Eruv.9:2 and 9:3 define the


61

conditionsare only the preconditionfor the possibilityof mergingresidential space and residents,by means of food symbolism.The 'eruv itself, or the 97tt in the case of the alleyway, is the food collected from those who participatein the 'eruv-community.64 It is the collected and collective food which serves as a symbolic means of unification,65 to be deposited in one of the residential units (see m. 'Eruv. 8:4). Framingm. 'Eruv.6:1 and 6:2 within the walls of the courtyardor the cul-de-sac, then, allows the mishnaic editors to focus solely on the question of the socio-ethnic homogeneity of the 'eruv-communityto which we will now turn. Two groups other than the "Israelites,"16 the locution for the normative rabbinicJews, are namedin m. 'Eruv.6:1, non-Jewsand those "who do not agree with the very concept of the 'eruv."67 The referent for the former is of course evident, certainlyfrom the perspectiveof invalidationof a courtyardin case of a breachin the wall. The symbolisminherentin this tractateis a wildly understudiedissue. 64 In the case of the 'eruv, m. 'Eruv .7:10 records a disagreement.According to RabbiEliezer, any food but water and salt is appropriate,while RabbiYehoshuaholds that only a whole loaf of bread is appropriate.For a discussion of the disagreement see Y. Gilat, R. EliezerBen Hyrcanus,219-228. In m. 'Eruv.3:1, the anonymouseditorialvoice holds that"withanythingone can establishan 'eruvor a shittuf."M. 'Eruv. 7:6-7 describesthe preparationof the shittuffood, while it omits a detailed description of the preparationof the 'eruv food. See also t. 'Eruv.6:1 (ms Erfurt9:1) and b. 'Eruv. 80a For a later descriptionof the collection of the 'eruv food, modeled on the prescriptionof the shittuf,see MaimonidesMishnehTorah,HilkhotEruvin 1:16. 65 The unificatoryforce of the food symbolismis underscoredby an early amoraic statementrecorded in the Babylonian Talmud:"Rav Yehudah said in the name of Samuel:If a man is particularabouthis [share]in the 'eruv,his 'eruv is not an 'eruv. For what is its name?'Eruv [= co-joining]"(b. 'Eruv.49a). And again, the same Rav Yehudahin the name of Samuel:"He who divides his ceruv,it is not an 'eruv."The medieval commentaries,such as Rashi, R. Hananeland the Meiri, all emphasizethat the name ('eruv)impliesjoining of the community,and if an individualinsists on consuming only his own contribution,he is not really co-mingled with the group. His stinginess or miserliness preventshim from symbolic integrationinto the collective M singularform is the more commonone in tannaiticliterature.S. Sternpoints The out that "the pluralform Yisre'elimis occasionallyfound in the Mishnah,Tosefta and Sifre: e.g. M. Eruv.6, 1; M.AZ 4,11. However,IsraelFeintuchin MesorotveNus'haot (Ramat-Gan:Bar-IlanUniversity Press, 1985, 187-90) demonstrateson the basis of manuscriptreadingsand early editions that this pluralform Yisre'elim is probablynot authentic,"Jewish, 11, n. 68. 67 Even if Epstein is correct,as it seems he is judging from the talmudicevidence, and this locution is a post-talmudicemendation,the analysis presentedhere is still valid, since nobody contests that the phraseis indeed mishnaic,as the evidence in m. 'Eruv.3:2 is uncontested.The argumentabout the tension this phraseintroducesinto the mishnaictaxonomyof others as will be demonstratedin what follows is therefore not entirelydependenton the presenceof this phrasehere.


62

the mishnaiceditor,and marksthe ethnicboundary.It is the latterthat is remarkablein that it appearsas a rhetoricalindeterminacy,"someone who does not agree with the very principleof the 'eruv."This phrase, in fact, producesa tension in the taxonomy of the Mishnah which mostly names other groups of Jews, such as the Sadducees (:'plTv),68 Samaritans(Mrnz:),69Boethusians(p:n')70 etc.. Virtually every discussionof our mishnahhas been tryingto resolve this tension. The phraseappearsonly one other time, earlierin the same tractate (m. 'Eruv. 3:2), there in the context of who may serve as the legitimate representativeof a male (rabbinic)Jew to depositthe food on the in order to extend it: "If one [i.e., a rabbinic borderof the MOtMMnn Jew] sends his 'eruv by the hand of a deaf-mute,a mad person or a minor, or by the hand of one who does not agree to the [principleof the] 'eruv, the 'eruv is not valid." In this context, the Babylonian Talmud (b. 'Eruv. 31b) cites an amoraic one-word statement,attributed to Rav Hisda, a Babylonian'amora of the thirdgeneration,who More often than not dis"identifies"such a person as a Samaritan.7" cussions of m. 'Eruv.6:1, or for that matterm. 'Eruv.3:2, adaptthis identificationas a givenfact,andmodemcommentators frequentlyequate this personwith the Sadduceanof RabbanGamli'el's case-storyin m. 'Eruv. 6:2 and deduce their hypotheses about Sadducean halakhah from this identification.72

68 69 70

M. Mak 1:6, m. Par. 3:7-8, m. Nid. 4:1-2, m.Yad. 4:7. m. Nid. 4:1. E.g., m. Men. 10:3.

IRMI:.See also TractateKutim 1:7, accordingto which "theyprohibitedthe 'eruv nov, [in the case of a kuti]just as [in the case ofl an idolator"(Albeck, inrz -rrC 2:435). Rashi importsthis identificationinto the context of m. 'Eruv. 6:1. So does -I m": :ntC:v: -:I K":M-In'VIM (ed. z&:Qtk the Ritba, see p on-wnzorz b M. Goldstein; Jerusalem:Mossad Ha-Rav Kook, 1981), 577 as well as the Meiri, 71

it-T7

-II&M '1:0, 1967), 3.240. n"M(ed. M.B. Hirschler; Jerusalem: &Uil I7K-7'W171

J.N. Epstein, however, acknowledgesthe problemwith a historicistreadingof Rav Hisda's comment, and thereforethe limits to its referentialvalue. He observes that R. Hisda repeatedlyreads tannaitic collective and often ambiguousterms, such as EpsteinconM-7iK(b. Pes. 51a) or nn:-n- (b. Sanh. 21b) as referringto the MIMI:. cludes from this that R. Hisda, therefore,can only be understoodas referringto the Samaritansas a possible examplefor such tannaiticsignifiers,ratherthanas exclusive referents,Versionof the Mishnah,609. 'no ; 72 See for instance Ch. Albeck, ;1mO2.435 and L. Doering, "New Aspects,"262. Doering however suggests that "the attributionin m.Erub.6:2 might turnout to be later polemic againstthe Sadducees.Maybe a differentgroupwas originally meant there"(262-63), referringto A. Geiger's propositionthat Jews who blatantly transgress the Sabbath laws were meant. See also Doering's slightly more extensive discussion (Schabbat,524-27), in which he concludes: "Whatcan in my


63

However, ultimately these attempts at identifications follow the BabylonianTalmud'seffort to reestablisha clear taxonomyof heterodox identities and thus have only limited value in their avoidance of even consideringto ask whether or why the Mishnahwould choose precisely this formulation.Indeed, the indeterminacyof the locution arguablytells us moreaboutrabbinichalakhicself-perceptionwithregard to the 'eruv than about the "halakhic identity" of the projected oppo-

nents. Such an appraisalof the mishnah'sforce is corroboratedif we turnto theTosefta'selaborationon it, whichblurstheboundariesbetween "us"and "them"even more while raising the discussionto a different level: An Israel who desecratesthe Sabbathin public:he does not need to"3relinquish his "domain" [men- ',:'1.

But an Israel who does not desecratethe Sabbathin public [butperhapsin private] needs to74 relinquishhis "domain"[inIC An Israel can take ownershipor relinquish"domain"[mnic'tcmzrz mzni mi:, and with a non-Jew [presentan 'eruv cannot be established]until he rents [his domain].(t. 'Eruv.5:18; cp. b. 'Eruv. 62a and 69a)75

The Tosefta introducesyet anothertype of person, i.e., the (ostensibly) rabbinic Jew, still designated an "Israel,"who however desecratesthe Sabbath,in public or in privaterespectively,and attemptsto regulatethe ways in which such a personcan or cannotbe integrated into the 'eruv-community.The differentiationnow moves within the boundariesof "Israel."76 At issue here however, at least at first, is not

opinionbe deducedfrom mEr6:2 in termsof securehistoricalinformationis that from a Pharisaic-early rabbinicperspectiveone could not establish an 'eruv-community with Sadducees,since they objectedto the 'eruv (which made co-habitationwith them much more difficult)"(527, my translation). 73 S. Liebermancommentsthat the phrasingshould be "he cannot"renounce,see his Tosefta Eruvin (2nd edition; Jerusalem:The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992) 115, n. 47 and his elaborationin the commentary,Tosefta Kifshuta (OrderMo'ed) (2nd edition;Jerusalem:The Jewish TheologicalSeminaryof America, 1992), 402. 74 Rather,he "can"relinquish,see previousnote. 7S In the version of this baraita in the BabylonianTalmud(b. 'Eruv.62a) the latter partis phraseddifferently,perhapsin an attemptto clarify:"Therabbissaid: An 'eruv is not effective in a place of an idolator,and the annulmentof domainis not effective in place of an idolator,and he [the non-Jew]rents out" his share in the courtyard. 76 The Yerushalmiadds: Zm1 5Z5 'm KiM 17: C'n I*= ZfltD n =Ul1 1n Zn m"A resident alien, resident slave, and a brazen apostate, behold, these are to be regardedas a non-Jewfor all purposes,"(y. 'Eruv.6:2, 23b). See S. Lieberman,HaYerushalmi Kiphshuto: A Commentary, 1:1 (Jerusalem: Darom, 1934), 306 who notes that the Meiri adds: .. . for all purposes concerning the 'eruv." Cp. b. 'Eruv 69a, there l i.

64


the initial formationof the 'eruv-communitybefore the onset of the Sabbath, but the further fictional arrangementsto be made on the Sabbathif someone forgot to join in the 'eruv-makingby contributing food.77In such a case, the personwho forgot can-on the Sabbathverbally"relinquish"or "cancel"his rightsover his sharein the joined courtyard78 for the benefitof the otherresidentsby saying:"my reshut is given to you, my reshutis relinquishedto you ['irnn ,t MiM:'nIlt J Mrn"ny (t. 'Eruv. 5:18). Accordingly,he commits himself to refrain from carryingfrom his house into the courtyardfor the duration of the Sabbath.Here the two aspects of the term reshut in this context come into full play in that it oscillates between referringto a physical,definablespace (domain),i.e., his sharein the courtyard,and here referring to the rights or accessibilityto that space (dominion),79 specifically to carryingfrom his house into the courtyard.This performatorystatementcomes to mean:I will annulmy right of carrying from my house into the courtyardand therebyallow my share of the courtyardto be merged with yours, my rabbinicneighbor,or to the group of rabbinicneighborswho have alreadyjoined into the 'eruv community.My "dominion"is now your "dominion." By this verbal agreementhis share in the courtyardis conceptually merged into the collectivity of the courtyard,allowing him and the other rabbinically Jewish residents to carry from their houses into His verbal commitmentis key here, since ultimately the courtyard.80 the agreementcan only be valid and-I would add-retain a certain degree of symbolic integrity as far as the 'eruv-communityis concerned, if the person is to be trusted.In other words, the symbolic fiction of nlt- b10': which is in turnbuilt on the symbolic fiction of the 'eruv, can be regardedas a kind of privilege that only accruesto

T. 'Eruv.5:15 (ms Erfurt7:15). Cp. m. 'Eruv. 6:3. Specifically his right to carry into it. See also S. Schwartz, Imperialismand Jewish Society,200 BCE to 640 CE (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 2001), 234 n. 59. either and overlaps. 79 The terminologyin English is not always self-explanatory My choice of the two terms is a preliminaryeffort to capturethe two aspects of the tannaiticconcept of reshut,which requiresmore research.The primarydefinitionof 77

78

"dominion" suggested by the O4ord English Dictionary (2002) is "the power or right

of governingand controlling;sovereignauthority,. . . control,influence,"while domain may be understoodas referringto "heritableproperty,estate or territoryheld in possession; lands"or "a districtor region underrule, control or influence,or contained within certainlimits." 80 See also m. 'Eruv. 6:3


65

insiderswho are also recognizableas reliable in their public commitment to the notion of a Sabbathcommunity,at least accordingto the Tosefta. Hence, a person who blatantly transgressesthe Sabbath in public disrupts precisely that notion.8' Differently put, if he transgresses the Sabbathin public, the symbolic unificationof the joined court-yardinto an 'eruv-communitycannot attain believability. It may be surmisedthen that it is the question of niothat seems to be at stake in the case-storyof RabbanGamliel. That is, the questionaboutthe Sadduceeis whetherhe could be trustedto hold by an agreementnot to carry from his house into the courtyard.82 The itself does not concern the issue of an 'eruv with making case-story the Sadducee,whetherhe agrees to the principleof the 'eruv or not, but ratherthe issue of whetherhe can be trustedwhen he renounces his reshut in favor of the other rabbinicJews in the joined courtyard or the alleyway.83

8' The BabylonianTalmudillustratesthis point by providingan accountof an incident of "a certainpersonwho went out [on the Sabbath]with a bag of spices. When he saw R. YehudahNesiah he covered it" (b. 'Eruv. 69a). Nonetheless,R. Yehudah Nesiah ruled that such a person may still relinquishhis domain, presumablybecause he at least made an effort at correctappearance. 82 See also A. Goldberg,who reads the force of the story in line with the Babylonian Talmud:"RabbanGamliel differedfrom the opinionvoiced at the beginningof the chapterthat the one who does not agree with the eruv imposes a prohibition[of carrying]and cannot renouncehis reshut. RabbanGamliel held the opinion that the Sadducee (and the Samaritan)is not like a non-Jew,and even though the Sadducee does not agree to the principleof the 'eruvhe can renounce[his reshut]"(TheMishnah TractateEruvin, 164-65). It is the practiceof bittul reshut and the Sadducee'strustworthinessthat is at stake. In a parallelbaraita in the BabylonianTalmud(b. 'Eruv. 68b) RabbanGamli'el is quoted as calling that Sadduceanneighboran abomination (:Ynzn).Doering'sreading,however,is unclearto me when he states that "accordingto m.Erub.6:2 a certainSadduceedid carryinto a blind alley-way without participating in the shittuf," "New Aspects," 262. This reading is not supported by Rabban Gamli'el's case-story,in whose memoryhis fatheronly warnedthem thatthe Sadducee might act in a certainway. 83 G. Stembergersuggests that the Sadduceehad an alternativeexit throughwhich he could carry and thereforewould not need to carry throughthe courtyardor blind alleyway (Pharisaer,Sadduzder,Essener, 71), even thoughthis is not indicatedat all by the mishnah.Accordingly,this presumedalternativeexit would at least potentially allow the Sadduceeto enter an agreementwith the other residentsin the courtyard. Doering partially follows this reading, but points out the various questions that it raises, such as for instancethat it assumesthatthe Sadduceeeithersimply would carry on the Sabbath,contra the wide-spreadagreementon the prohibitionof carrying,or that he holds by a differentset of 'eruvrules, such that he might for instancedisagree on the natureof the court-yardor blind alleyway with respect to it being privateor public, (Schabbat,525-26).

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As far as the non-Jew is concerned,however, the boundariesare more clearly drawn.He is excludedfrom this notion of communityto begin with, and certainlyfrom the communityof symbolicfictionsthat are designedto unify the courtyardinto an 'eruv-community. We have seen that m. 'Eruv.6:1 merely states that he imposes a prohibitionof carryingfor the Jewishresidentsof the courtyard,but does not suggest how this obstacle could be overcome,whether,indeed, an 'eruv-communitycould be formedat all in the presenceof a non-Jew.However, ratherthan allowing the presence of a non-Jew in the joined courtyard to underminethe very possibilityof formingan 'eruv-community, as the Mishnahmight imply, the Tosefta rules that from a non-Jew one can rent, indeed, one must rent for the purposesof the Sabbath and the 'eruv-community,84 withouthoweveridentifyingwhat precisely it is that one rents. For presumablythe non-Jew will not lose his access to the jointly owned courtyard,and renting from him only affects the Sabbathbehaviorof the rabbinicJews.85Perhapsrenting, then, could be consideredas a more formalized,monetarytransaction with the other which would not transformthe non-Jewinto an actual memberof the symboliccommunity,even thoughat the same time the transactionenables the (rabbinically)Jewish membersof the courtyard, or the alleyway respectively,to forge it.86

84 The tannaitictexts do not discuss the amount of rent, i.e. whethera symbolic amountor a realisticamountis required(see b. 'Eruv.62a). The issue is actuallymore complex since t. 'Eruv.5:19 states that "the courtyardof non-Jewsis, indeed,like an animalbarn,it is permittedto carryin and out from the courtyardinto the houses, and from the houses into the courtyard."This raises the complicatedquestionwhy then a rabbinicJew would have to rentfrom the non-Jewat all, if his space is at least in theory not a halakhicallyvalid residentialspace, a non-entityand a Jew can theoretically carryinto the courtyard.The discussionin the BabylonianTalmud(b. 'Eruv.62a) suggests that the gezerah(or takkanahaccordingto the Tosafot,b. 'Eruv.62a, ff1zvi FrT) to rent from the non-Jewwas institutedin orderto inconveniencethe Jew and make it more difficultfor him to live in close proximitywith the non-JewI'MOC 7r` Nov. The talmudicdiscussionrequiresa separateanalysis. 85 The BabylonianTalmud,in distinctionfrom the PalestinianTalmud,adds in its formulationof the baraitaabout the rabbinictakkanahconcerningrenting from the non-Jewthat the non-Jewwill not comply (b. 'Eruv.62a) and then proceedsto discuss why the non-Jewwould not agree. The conclusionof this talmudicsugya is that even if the act of rentingis only symbolic,the non-Jewwill still be suspiciousthat the Jews are engaged in some kind of sorcery(Clnvzt ffZu O-FT,b. 'Eruv.62a). Most of this chapterin the BabylonianTalmudis built on that assumption.The talmudicdiscussion here again raises some interestingand importantissues pertainingto the rabbinicselfperceptionof the 'eruv, that cannotbe discussedin this framework. 86 Relevant in this context is A. Shemesh's enlighteningdiscussionof the prohibition of receiving gifts from people outside the sect, recorded in the Rule of the


67

To summarize:we can picturethe 'eruv-communityin the image of concentric circles of establishing symbolic boundaries. The image works in the following way: the perimeteris constitutedby the walls of the joined courtyardwhich framesthe residential,potentiallymixed community. This community includes non-Jews and other types of Jews or transgressingJews. The outercircle of the 'eruv-communityis establishedby the more formal relationshipof rentingfrom non-Jews. Ratherthan ignoring the presence of a non-Jew altogether,rentingis necessary towards the symbolic unificationof the residential,mixed community of the urban neighborhood and thereby to identify the shared space as a unified Tflrt nrs- with some symbolic integrity. That is, some form of agreementhas to be negotiatedwith the nonJewish resident. At the same time, renting maintains a relatively strongersense of the differencebetween "us" and "them,"an imaginary boundarywithin the residential community.The next circle is constitutedby the performanceof the 'eruv-ritualitself which is established primarilybetween rabbinicallydefinedJews, but also can conceivably include other types of Jews, as long as they do not reject the very principleof the 'eruv. This circle is drawn by the collection of food to establish a communityof intent. Finally, within that circle is anotherone which draws a furtherdistinctionby including only rabbinically definedJews ("Israel"),who are known to respect the notion of a Sabbathcommunityenough not to transgressblatantlythe observance of the Sabbathin public. That circle is constitutedby the practice of Mn17tIMIl in the form of an oral agreement,the least tangible form of forminga partnershipand, therefore,the one that requiresthe greatest possible sense of recognitionof the other as the same. The spaces between the circles are not necessarilyhermeticallysealed as suggestedby the various groupingsof differenttypes of Jews that are considered in the context of the 'eruv-communitywho hover somewhere between those circles.

Community:"No one must either eat or drink anythingof their property,or accept anythingwhateverfrom their hand withoutpayment"(IQS 5:16-17). Shemeshargues that "the law fits quite well into the separatistideology, since nothingfosters feelings of fraternityand obligationso much as receivinga gift," "The Originsof the Laws of Separatism,"238. He notes that "interestingly,no similarrule appearsin the mishnaic discussionsof interactionwith idolatersnor, for that matter,in all of rabbinicliterature."However,theremay be an echo of preciselythis prohibitionin the Toseftanruling that from a non-Jewone must rent for the purposesof the 'eruv, in contrastto joining the food collectionor the verbal act of bittul reshut.

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Conclusion We are now in a position to draw the connectionwith the texts of the Qumraniccommunity.The Rule Scroll uses the conceptof "merging" (nmflr) as it describes the absorptionor incorporationof an outsider's possessions who becomes an initiate into the community. By means of his property,he is includedin stages within the boundaries of the yahad. Thus, the individualis eventually no longer distinguishablefrom the Dm': by means of his possessions.If one of the most powerfuland persuasiveways of maintainingdistinctiveindividuality is by means of one's property,an equally powerful way of establishinga strong sense of collective identity and unity is to dissolve those means of self-constitution.In this way the collective identity of the yahad and concomitantlyits separatismfrom others, nonJews and other Jews, is strengthened. This strategyis mirroredin the rabbinicversionof mergingdomains for the purposesof the Sabbath.At the risk of appearingto advance an anachronistic point,Maimonides'explanationof whatthe'eruvaccomplishes is instructivehere: What is this 'eruv [nMlrl]? It is that they are co-mingledby meansof one [collectionof] food, which they deposit before the beginningof the Sabbath.That is to say, that we are all comingled [n1:1^ZfD?I], and there is one meal for all of us, and not a single one of us divides [his] reshut from his fellow. Rather,just as all our authorityis equal in this place [the jointly owned courtyard]that is availableto all of us, so is the authorityof all of us equal in every place which each individual lays claims to for himself and, indeed,we are all one reshut.(MishnehTorah,Hilkhot 'Eruvin1:6)

Granted,this is of course a much later explanationof the symbolic force of the 'eruv which is not spelled out as such in the tannaitic texts, but perhapswe may read this as an emphasis of that which is only implied in the earliertexts. Maimonidesemphasizesthe dissolution of the distinctionbetween individualsby means of the symbolic food collection, the effect of which is that "we all become one reshut."87The individual flflsV -rnr. That collective 7777T nfls

are merged into one collective n's: may include others, while at the same

preservingthe status of the other as other: The non-Jew is held at

87 Cp. the Meiri,nFflTTif nM:3:184, who emphasizesthe unifictation of minds:"The reasonthat it is called an 'eruv is that they will all be co-mingledin their minds and accomodateeach other."


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arms-lengthby means of renting,while the Sadducee is by means of his exclusion from rnil51D'i . Nonetheless,theirreshutforms an integral part of the symbolic 'eruv-community.While the yahad categorically excludes outsidersand establishesits boundariesby mergingthe newcomer'spropertyinto that of the crnn to cut his ties from the outside, the rabbis "translate"-in the broadestsense of this term88-this procedureinto the establishmentof the symbolic 'eruv community. Thisallowsus to modifyorto addto someof theconceptualapproaches to the questionof the connectionbetween the Qumranictexts and the tannaiticliterature,particularlyas this pertainsto the emergenceof the 'eruv as a ritual institution.As far as I have been able to establish there are basically three such approaches.The first one is the most basic in that it assumes a fairly simple chronological relationship accordingto which the Dead Sea Scrolls are simply the earlier texts in relation to the rabbinictexts, and the latter representthe halakhic trajectoryor expansionof the earliertexts to some degree, when they do not overlap directly.89 L. Doering more recentlyhas attemptedto qualify this chronological relationshipmore specificallyin two differentways. These deserve some discussion, in spite of the brevity with which he offers them, since they presentthe only attemptsto explain at least in embryonic form the developmentof the rabbinicconcept of the 'eruv and differ from the argumentdeveloped in this article. Accordingly,the emergence of the 'eruv is regardedas the productof what appearto be somewhatdubious"socio-historical"or "religious-historical" factors.90 As to the first, Doering suggests that "in (pre-) Hasmoneantimes the

88 That is, direct philological relationships can of course not be proven, while the strong conceptual relationship between the two at the very least is extremely suggestive. 89 See for instance,L. Schiffman,The Halakhahat Qumran,who summarizeshis commentaryon the SabbathCode in the Zadokitefragments:"An interestingquestion is whether the sect had the legal fictions which the tannaimcalled 'erubin. Several times, in analyzing individual laws, it was noted that the existence of these legal fictionsmightanswera questionor solve a problemwhich the observantsectarianmust have faced. Yet nowhereis there explicit mentionof such a device. It would be folly to concludeby casuisticmeans that the 'erubinwere in existence in this period.Only with the later developmentsin Pharisaismand the expansionof the traditionsof the fatherswould such legal fictionshave come into wide use. The Qumransect is apparently earlier than these devices." (132-33, my emphasis). 90 Thus L. Doering, "New Aspects,"262-63 in an otherwisestrictly philologically arguedarticle on the Sabbathlaw at Qumran,and again repeatedin his monograph,

Schabbat, 230-31.

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CHARLOTrE ELISHEVA FONROBERT

publicexerteda greatinfluenceon thelives of theindividuals,an influence that has sometimesevidentlyshapedthe ancienthalakah"9'in Jubilees and in Qumran,in juxtapositionto the laterrabbis.This seems to suggest that only the rabbiswho lived in a later socio-historicalera could develop the concept of the 'eruv which underminesthe strict separatismbetween the individualand the public. But, we may ask, why would this "greatinfluence"of the publicno longerbe the case in rabbinic times? Similarly,the second argumentis that "in religioushistorythe limits of one's own possessionplay an early and importantrole; in adhering to these limits, the Qumrantexts continue scripturalthinking,"92 and hence could not develop the concept of the 'eruv. But, we may ask again, not the rabbinictexts? This seems odd. In fact, Doering concludesthat"in this respect,Jubileesand the Qumrantexts evidence Chronologicallyspeaking,this is selfthe older halakhic tradition."93 evident. But the chronotopehere is "religioushistory"and older here seems to mean, closer to the mentalityof the ancients,as in biblical law. In the end, both these suggestionsare purely hypotheticalas to the supposed changes in religious or in socio-historyand cannot be corroborated.94 In view of these approaches,I do not considerthe rabbisto simply expand on the halakhic hermeneuticbegun in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in other Second Temple literature,when they develop the concept 9' "New Aspects,"261-62. The specific context for this suggestionis the question why supposedly both the Qumranitesand Jubilees considered shared courtyardsto be public rather than private spaces, while the rabbis do not. Since according to Doering'ssuggestionthe publicexertedgreaterinfluenceearlieron, the domainof the public already startedwith the sharedcourtyard,ratherthan beyond the walls of the courtyard. 92 "New Aspects," 262 and Schabbat, 231. Doering here refers to J. Assmann's analysisof the attachinga mezuzahto the door-post(Dtn. 6:9) as indicatingthe importance of the boundarybetween inside and outside. See J. Assmann, Das kulturelle (Munchen: Gedachtnis:Schrift,ErinnerungundpolitischeIdentitatinfruhenHochkulturen Beck, 1992), 219. One may object, however, that the rabbis do not underminethis commandmentat all, and thereforeseem to attributeequal importanceto the limits of one's own possession in this respect. 93

"New Aspects," 262.

9 This is the case also with L. Finkelstein'searlier attemptto explain the emergence of the eruv in terms of economic class distinctionswhere "the plebeiansbegan to merge their several householdsinto a single large unit for the Sabbath,"while the "aristocratic"Sadducess "living in spacious homes or on large countryestates, had never felt the weight of the original"prohibitionof carryinginto the courtyard(The Pharisees: The Sociological Backgroundof Their Faith [Philadelphia:Jewish Publication Society, 1938] 1:137).


of the

Ceruv.95

71

Nor do I assume that the rabbis were any less con-

cerned about their own possessions than the Qumranites and on that basis furtherremoved from biblical legal sensibilities than they. Rather,based on the evidence gatheredhere, we may suggest that the rabbishad a differentconceptualizationof the socio-spatiallocation of their version of verus Israel than the Qumranites.They reject the literalist separatismof the Qumranitesand more or less self-consciously locate their verus Israel in urban neighborhoods where symbolic boundariesare establishedto maintainits collective identity.Based on this they remolded the legal traditionsrepresentedby the Dead Sea Scrolls for their own purposes. The rabbinic'eruv can then be describedas a projectof constructing, maintainingand re-enactinga collective identityin relationto the residentialspace of the mixed urbancourtyard.Its purposeis to create neighborhoodsof what might be consideredas intentionalco-habitation. Finally, read on the backgroundof the Qumranicattemptsto protect the boundariesof its collective, the rabbinic 'eruv appearsas a concertedeffort to formulatea theory of neighborhood.

95 This is not to say, however, that other legal areas can follow differentpatterns of relationshipbetween the Dead Sea Scrolls and the rabbinic texts. The work of Schiffmanand othershas amply demonstratedthe significantoverlapbetween some of the legal traditionsin the Dead Sea Scrolls and the rabbiniccorpus.See The Halakhah at Qumranand SectarianLaw in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as Reclaimingthe Dead Sea Scrolls: The Historyof Judaism,the Backgroundof Christianity,the Lost Library of Qumran(Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1994). Perhapswe could carefully advancethe suggestionthat some areasotherthan the Sabbathmay, however,be less in need of rabbinicization.

FREE ORTHOGRAPHYIN A STRICT SOCIETY: RECONSIDERINGTOV'S "QUMRAN ORTHOGRAPHY"* DONG-HYUKKIM Yale University

Linguistic features of QumranHebrew (hereafter,QH) have been presentedwell by multiple scholars.' These scholars' methods cover most areas of grammar-orthography,phonetics,morphology,syntax, and semantics. But due to the fact that we are dealing with written material,the most basic data pertainto orthography.For this reason the study of Qumranorthographyby E. Tov in 1986 has been especially important.2 Tov's Project and "QumranOrthography":Strengthsand Limitations Tov's project is simple and neat. He delineates and distinguishes unique orthographicand linguistic features of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The orthographicfeaturesof some scrolls have been describedwell by many scholars,3but Tov advancesbeyond their discussion to present

* My heartfelt thanks to Professor John Collins for guiding this research from selecting the topic to discussingand revising the drawbacksof my argument.A word of appreciationis also due to my friend Julie Parker,who improvedmy English on last Christmasday. Of course, I assume the full responsibilityfor this final paper. I For example,C. Rabin,"The HistoricalBackgroundof QumranHebrew,"Scripta Hierosolymitana4 (eds. C. Rabin and Y. Yadin; Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1965) 144 61; E. Qimron,The Hebrewof the Dead Sea Scrolls (Atlanta,Georgia:Scholars Press, 1986); S. Morag, "QumranHebrew: Some Typological Observation,"VT 38 (1988) 148-63. 2 E. Tov, "The Orthography and Languageof the HebrewScrolls Foundat Qumran and the Originof These Scrolls,"Textus 13 (1986) 31-57. 3 Cf. Qimronin note 1; E. Y. Kutscher,The Languageand LinguisticBackground of the Isaiah Scroll (Leiden: Brill, 1974); M. Martin,The Scribal Characterof the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 volumes; Louvain: Publicationsuniversitaires,1958); Z. BenHayyim,"Traditionsin the HebrewLanguage,with Special Referenceto the Dead Sea Scrolls," Scripta Hierosolymitana 4, 200-214; M. Goshen-Gottstein, "Linguistic ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also available online - www.brill.nl


FREE ORTHOGRAPHYIN A STRICT SOCIETY

73

the distributionof the featuresin all the available scrolls. According to Tov, the majorityof the scrolls use a special orthographicsystem, which he calls "Qumranorthography."This system is generallyrepresented by 15 features,whose spelling, in short, is "full":e.g., t1: for LD,

R1* for tt,

A'z for "D, etc.4 Tov classifies

scrolls using the

"Qumranorthography"undergroup 1, and the others undergroup 2. The resultof the classificationis illuminating.The "Qumranorthography"is used in all the "sectarian"scrolls except some copies of the scrolls of Jubilees.SHere, "sectarian"refersto all the scrolls composed within the Qumrancommunity, such as Serekh ha-Yahad, the Damascus Document,Hodayot, MMT, etc. Group 1 also includes some biblical scrolls, and tefillin and mezuzot.6 Group 2 is characterized by one feature only-the lack of the "Qumran orthography."The orthography of these scrolls closely approximatesthat of the MasoreticText (hereafter,MT). It is usually defective, but cannot be described as a peculiar system. Group 2 is comprised mainly of biblical scrolls, as well as a few tefillin and mezuzot,and biblical paraphrases.7 The fact that all but one of the sectarianscrolls were writtenin the "Qumranorthography"led Tov to proposethat all the works authored in the communityused this special orthographicsystem. The discrepancy of the orthographyamongbiblical scrolls is likewise explainedthe biblical scrolls that followed the "Qumranorthography,"8Tov argues, were copied within the community;the other biblical scrolls that were writtenin the MT orthographywere broughtto the community from elsewhere.9Tov thereforemaintainsthat the Qumranscribes Structureand Traditionin the QumranDocument,"ScriptaHierosolymitana4, 101136.

I The 15 features are: 1) n:); 2) R1; 3) 7t010; 4) in:; 5) 6) R':); 7) rn1r/rttnrtlnlt; 8) lengthened pronominal suffix 2nd person sg. -,C-; 9) -mtuVI,nw-i, in-i ;ir1tp(l); iflt; 10) lengthened pronominal suffixes 2nd and 3rd person pl. rl2-, 7l1b-, I1 I-, :I -; 11) free usage of pausal forms *iMpr1(l), *'mpC(l); 12) lengthened future forms il5nt:pR(n), fl'tdl); 13) 1:'7olp'; 14) -TilnnC(1) for the 2nd person plural; 15)

innRnltrl:ttKlmltnR Tov, "The Orthography,"35-36. For the distributionof the features,see the chartsin Tov, "The Orthography," 50-55. 1 4QJubae.Tov, "The Orthography," 33, 56. 6 Tov, "The Orthography," 33. 7 Tov, "The Orthography," 33. 8 Most famously, IQIsa, and also lQDeuta, 2QJer, 4QDeutk,4QDeutm,4QSamc, 4QIsc,4QPsens, and 4QLama.Tov, "The Orthography," 53. 9 In Tov's argument,the "MT orthography" can only be definedagainsthis "Qumran orthography," given that the orthographyin MTis enormouslyvarious.Nevertheless,it is clearly shorterthan the "Qumranorthography."

74

DONG-HYUK KIM

whetherthey authoredor exclusively used the "Qumranorthography" copied the scrolls. Thus, the orthographyreveals the origins of the scrolls-the scrolls of group 1 were writtenin Qumran;those of group 2 were importedfrom outside.'0 Tov's argumentis impressive in two aspects. First, his research is extensive. Upon establishingthe 15 features,he analyzes not only all the published texts, but also some that were then unpublished, totaling approximatelytwo hundredtexts. The second strengthis the internalityof the evidence. Tov extractshis evidence pertainingto the scrolls' origin from within the texts themselves,not from speculation or reconstruction. There are weaknesses in his argument,nevertheless.The distribushows a greatdiversityeven among tion of the "Qumranorthography" sectariantexts. A uniformQumranicfeaturein one text exhibits heterogeneity in another, or in a third completely yields to its shorter equivalent.Also, some texts have all the Qumranicfeaturesand others only a few. Accordingly,Tov inevitablydivides the group which into threesubgroups:texts with "deciuses the "Qumranorthography" sive evidence," which constitute the majority of both sectarianand non-sectarianscrolls; texts with "positive but insufficientevidence," which include approximatelyone thirdof the whole group;and texts with "undecisiveevidence,"which consist of five sectarianscrolls." However, when separatingthe three subgroups,Tov fails to use a clear yardstick.He seems to dependon a generalratio of positive evidence, but he does not specify the ratio required. Therefore, a problem arises regardingthe texts with "undecisive evidence."What distinguishesthis thirdsubgroupfrom the texts lack(group2)? They hardlyshow the 15 ing in the "Qumranorthography" Qumranorthographicfeatures.'2According to Tov, these scrolls can still be groupedunderthe texts writtenin the "Qumranorthography" since they exhibitplene spelling in general.'3But here, I believe, Tov loses his logic by forfeitingwhat he has held throughoutthe project (i.e., the 15 criteria)and introducinga new criterion.In other words, Tov could not separatethese five texts with the 15 features,and had to resort to a new criterionof being generally written in "plene spelling."'4 10

39-40. Tov, "The Orthography," 11They are lQ34bis, 4Q162 pIsb, 4Q169 pNah, 4Q185, and 4Q434. Tov, "The 53. Orthography," 12 Especially,4Ql62pIsbdoes not have any of the 15 features. 3 Tov, "The Orthography," 36. 14 Tov, "The Orthography," 36.


75

Moreover, when we recognize that the texts in this subgroup(with "undecisive evidence") are all sectarian and that no non-sectarian scroll in group 1 belongs to this category, we may suspect that Tov imposes his hypothesisin interpretingthe data, ultimatelyforcing most sectarianscrolls into the groupwith the "Qumranorthography." These five texts cast a reasonable doubt on Tov's hypothesis and require more consideration. Nevertheless,it is fair to say that Tov, in 1986, generallysucceeded in arguingthatmostof theQumransectarianscrollsfollowedthe"Qumran orthography,"since the five "Iundecisive"texts are small in number, and moreover,as Tov points out, they are fragmentaryand may have stood at the early stage of the "Qumranorthography.""5 But is Tov's argumentstill valid after eighteenyears, when thereare far more texts available?This is especially pressing,since the QumranCave 4 series of the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert has broughtus a myriadof majortexts, many of which even Tov could not review in 1986. This new evidence along with the above problem in Tov's project duly calls for furtherresearch.In this article I will apply Tov's model of 1986 to the texts of 2003. "QumranOrthography"and Newly PublishedTexts In this discussion, I limit my samples to well-known major documents 4QS, 4QD, 4QInstruction,and 4QH.16Two things characterize my selection. First, there is enough text to provide an adequatebasis for research.Second, some of them (S and H) have parallelswhich were known before 1986. This will facilitate comparisonbetween my results and Tov's.'7 I also reducedTov's 15 items to 6 for practicalreasons.'8First, the items I have chosen are found in most documentsand therefore,in a betterposition to show a generaldistributionof the usage across most documents.The non-selectedfeatures in Tov's charts, such as numbers 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are attestedin a relativelysmall 's 16

Tov, "The Orthography," 36-37. 4QS = 4Q255-264; 4QD = 4Q266-273; 4QInstruction= 4Q415-418, 418a, 423;

4QH = 4Q427-432.

Tov's data are includedin my chart. The 6 featuresI have chosen from the original 15 are: 1) tIn; 2) Rt; 6) W':; 8) lengthenedpronominalsuffix2nd personsg. ;IZ-;9) flRt,, ;lt', iOnntn, 77flh; 10) lengthened pronominalsuffixes2nd and 3rd personpl. fln-, inn-, ;!r;t-, in-. I retainedTov's numberingfor comparison.For the whole list, see note 4. 17

18

76

DONG-HYUK KIM

numberof documents,and even in those documentswith only a few occurrences.'9Second, the selection and arrangementof items in the chart below (Distribution of "QumranOrthography")represents a spectrumof uniformity.The left mostwords(e.g., 1 and2), whenattested, are regularlywrittenin Qumranicforms, and therefore,show high uniformityof Qumranicfeatures.The fuller forms predominateover their shorterequivalentsin most sectariandocumentsand the shorterforms of these words are very hard to find. There should have been a general agreementamong the scribes in writing these words fully. The right most words (e.g., 8, 9, and 10), on the other hand, have many more variations-some texts have Qumranicforms uniformly;others exhibit MT forms only; still othershave mixed attestation.Many times, these forms yield to their Masoretic equivalents. This vacillation shows variationin documentswrittenwith the "Qumranorthography." Therefore,my arrangementwill show the distributionmore systematically accordingto the degree of uniformityof evidence.The resultof my analysis can be seen in the charton the following page. Non-shaded texts, which are a majority, indicate that my results do not deviate very far from Tov's suggestions. Though not every Qumranorthographicfeature may be found in each of these texts, a noteworthynumberof Qumranicfeaturessurfacein them. Conflicting evidence may exist, for example,in 4Q266, where items 6 and 10 uniformly show a non-Qumranicfeature.It is, however,compromisedby a sizable numberof items 1 and 2, and therefore,may be said to show Qumranicfeatures. The shaded texts, on the other hand, present cases where Tov's hypothesis is greatly challenged.The six texts are worth noting and shall be explained in three cases. The first case includes 4Q416 and 4Q423. The two texts are similar in that items 1, 2, and 6 predominantly use non-Qumranicorthography.Nevertheless, it is difficult to maintain that these texts do not use the "Qumranorthography" because of the Qumranic features in items 8 and 10 (in case of 4Q416, item 9 also). At least, one should hesitate to say that the orthographyof these texts is non-Qumranic.20 19 It may be alleged that by omittingsome of Tov's items I may rig the data and conclusions.In fact, however, inclusion of all the remainingdata would show more inconsistencyin Tov's results and thereforefortify my argument. is a consistent system, orthography" 20 Since Tov does not argue that the "Qumran accordingto Tov's these cases seem sufficientto qualify as "Qumran-orthographic" categorization.

77

FREE ORTHOGRAPHYIN A STRICT SOCIETY Distribution of "Qumranorthography" 1

2 (

)

8

6 S :

(L7

S -

-)

9 M nnIM MR7 I'

(

i---

10 (tCMMli(withRM nMD:- out

MIRnn MMRs Mr-M il;,

Serekh ha-Yahad + IQS 4 0 4Q255 a 4Q256 b 15 0 4 0 4Q257 c 2 23 4Q258 d 4 4Q259 e 1 4Q260 f 5 0 4Q261 g 1 4Q262 h 0 4Q263 i 0 5 4Q264 j 4QD 4Q266 4Q267 4Q268 4Q269 4Q270 4Q271 4Q272 4Q273

+ 4 4 0 1 7 0 0

+ 0 0 11 0 0 1 1

+

0

1

0

4

0 0 1

0

1

0

2 0 0 0 16 0 0

14 6 1 2 0 3 2 0

7 0 0 0 8 0 0 2

0 1 0 2 0 0 0

13 1 2 0 5 7 1

4QInstruction 5 4Q415 1 4Q416 17 4Q417 87 4Q418 5 4Q418a 2 4Q423

0 20 1 4 0 17

5 3 7 37 4 2

0 6 5 6 0 5

2 0 9 10 4 0

1 17 5 16 0 2

Hodawot 1QH-A 4Q427 4Q428 4Q429 4Q430 4Q431 4Q432

95% 6 0 4 0 0 2

20% 2 7 8 0 2 0 2

2

0

20% 4 4 0 0

0 1 2 1

0 3 0 0

2 0 1 1

5

0

1

2 0

3 1

6

5

0 0

1 1

0 0 0 1 1

2 4 7 2 3

11 86 45 128 7 15

4 1 1 3 2 0

1 1 8 1 1 0

0 3 1 8 0 2

70% 7 0 8 0 2 0

-

M-)

-7.-.-,7-

-

+

4 2 0

38 8 3 1 0 9 I

a b c d e f g h

)

1

7

0 1

17 3

0 0 1 0 0 0

35 8 4 5 10 2

0 5 5 10 1 1

1 5 6 29 2 2

8 0 1 1

1 3 1 1

1

2

0 1

0

The data of IQS and 1QH-A are from Tov's charts. + represents consistent attestation of the "Qumran orthography";- represents consistent avoidance of it; a percentage shows a ratio of the "Qumranorthography"in mixed attestation.

78

DONG-HYUK KIM

The second case is more complicated.In 4Q271, though items 1 and 2 are decisively Qumranic,the other features(items 6, 8, 9, and 10) are never attested.Moreover,items 1 and 2 in plene spelling (bI: and R*), unlike RI: and 7l,ifl, can be consideredas a naturaldevelopment from Biblical Hebrew (hereafter,BH) if we contemplatethe possible pronunciationof these words. The augmentativelettersin the latter(RI: and nwvn)may have changedtheir originalpronunciationof BH (by adding the vowel /a/), but the matres in the former(bI: and tRl*)would have hardly affected the original pronunciation of /o/.

Therefore, the evidence of the "Qumranorthography"in 4Q271 (i.e., items 1 and 2) may be consideredslight and thus insufficient. Tov, I believe, would have labeled this text as a text with "positive but insufficientevidence,"given the substantialnumberof the Qumranic featuresin items 1 and 2. Nevertheless,the evidence in this case appearsto be dubious. The thirdcase (4Q258, 4Q264, and 4Q270) distinctlyrefutesTov's hypothesis.Except for the two '1:'s in 4Q258, these texts never conform to the 15 criteriawhich Tov distinguishes.Tov's last resort of being generally"plene"is also futile.2'The editors of Discoveries in the JudaeanDesert note that the three texts are predominantlywritten Therefore,the threetexts cannoteven belong in "shortorthography."22 to Tov's third subgroupwith "undecisiveevidence." These three texts belong to the most famous sectarian works: Serekhha-Yahad(4Q258,4Q264)andtheDamascusDocument(4Q270). The copies of these two works were not only writtenwithin the community,but also authoredthere.They were not imported,and nonetheless they deviate from the "Qumranorthography."This is perplexing when we see that the othercopies in the same works use the "Qumran orthography."These works indubitablythreatenTov's 1986 hypothesis. And they requireexplanation.

Also, see page 3 of this article. Alexander,and G. Vermes,QumranCave 4.XIX:Serekhha-Yahadand Two Related Texts (DJD 26; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 20-21, 89, 202; J. M. Baumgarten(ed.), with J. T. Milik, S. Pfann, and A. Yardeni,QumranCave 4.XIII: The DamascusDocument(4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1996) 140. 21 Tov, "The Orthography," 36. 22

p. S.


79

Free Orthography in a Strict Society There seem to be two possibilities. First, these three texts may have stood at an early stage of the "Qumran orthography." Tov makes this suggestion when he explains the sectarian texts with "undecisive evidence" of the "Qumran orthography."23The same, if correct, might apply here too. But this is not, in fact, the case. Let's look at the palaeographic dates of Serekh ha-Yahad and the Damascus Document. Palaeography of Ser-ekhha-Yahad24 Texts

Dates

4Q255 (= 4QS ') 4Q257 (= 4QS') 1QS

125-100 BCE 100-75 BCE 100-50 BCE

4Q259 (= 4QSC) 4Q264 (= 4QSj)

50-25 BCE 50-25 BCE

4Q261 (= 4QSj) 4Q256 (= 4QSb)

50-1 30-1

(= 4QSd)

4Q258

4Q260 (= 4QSf) 4Q263 (= 4QSi) 4Q262 (= 4QS')

(1)

(2) (3) (4)

(4) (6) (7)

BCE BCE

30-1 BCE

(7)

30-1 30-1 1-68

(7) (7)

BCE BCE CE

(1)

Palaeography of the Damascus Document25 Texts 4Q266 4Q271 4Q267 4Q269 4Q272 4Q273

Dates (= (= (= (= (= (=

4QD ') 4QD') 4QDb)

4QD'1) 4QD-) 4QD')

4Q268 (= 4QDC) 4Q270 (= 4QDe)

100-50 BCE 50-25 BCE 30-1 BCE 30-1 BCE 30-1 BCE 30-1 BCE

(2) (3) (3) (3) (3)

1-30 CE 1-68 CE

(7) (8)

(1)

Tov, "The Orthography," 36-37. E. Tov, ed., The Textsfrom the Judaean Desert: Indices and an Introductionto the Discoveriesin the JudaeanDesert Series (DJD 39; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 2002) 372-374. Cf. Alexanderand Vermes, DJD 26.20-21. 25 DJD 39.372-374. Cf. Baumgarten, DJD 18.1-2, 30, 96, 116, 118, 124, 138, 140, 170, 172, 185, 187, 193-194. 23

24

80

DONG-HYUK KIM

I arrangedthe texts according to the palaeographicdates. Those underdiscussionare shaded.As exhibited,4Q258, 4Q264, and 4Q270 do not stand at an earlier stage in comparisonwith the other copies of the same corpus.4Q264 is aroundthe middle, and the othershave later dates. This refutes Tov's assumptionthat the defective spelling in sectarianscrolls may reflecttheirearlierdates. Moreover,relatively earlier copies, such as IQS, 4Q257, and 4Q266 demonstrate the "Qumranorthography."Therefore,no relationcan be found between the date and the orthography. If the orthographicdeviation is not a matterof date, we have to consider the second possibility: that is, the individual tendencies of scribes.Of course,Tov repeatedlymentionsthis consideration,but not to the degree that allows an individualto deviate completelyfrom the "Qumranorthography."26 Our new evidence, however, necessitates expandinghis explanation.Theseidiosyncrasies,in theveryfew instances of 4Q258, 4Q264, and 4Q270, cross over the boundaryof the "Qumran orthography." We find an intriguing fact about the handwriting of 4Q258 (= 4QSd), which is "very similar in style to that of 4QSb (= 4Q256)," which is writtenvery fully.27It is highly unlikely that the same hand copied both 4QSb and 4QSd, given the huge orthographicdifference. Accordingly,the similarityof the handwritingpresupposes,if not the same hand, a strong discipline in a scribal school or tradition.Notably, the strict discipline reflectedin scripts did not circumscribethe freedomof orthography. Libertyin orthographyis bolsteredby the fact that the texts of different orthographyeasily co-existed. The most importantsectarian documents(Serekhha-Yahadand the DamascusDocument)could be written not only in the "Qumranorthography,"but also in the MT orthography,and the texts of differentorthographywere preservedin the same cave (Cave 4). Conclusion While in 1986 Tov successfully demonstratedthe exclusive usage of the supposed "Qumranorthography"in the sectarian texts then available,this hypothesisshould now be revised. The majorityof the

26

27

Tov, "The Orthography," 34, 36. Alexander and Vermes, DJD 26.89.


81

sectarian scrolls were written in what Tov calls "Qumranorthography," but three of the newly published texts (4Q258, 4Q264, and 4Q270) were clearly writtenin the MT orthography.Textual evidence proves that the Qumrancommunitywas very strict. Ironically,however, the scrolls which reflect the communitybest-Serekh ha-Yahad and the Damascus Document-betray the scribes' liberty in their orthography.From this we also suppose that the five "undecisive" texts in Tov's chartsmay in fact belong to the short orthographyand not to the "Qumranorthography."28 Thoughin 1986 they were "undecisive" due to their being fragmentary,now they have parallelexamples in muchfullertextsof Serekhha-YahadandtheDamascusDocument. The fact that the MT orthographywas used in the Qumransectarian works also refutes Tov's claim about the origins of the scrolls. Now, the orthographycan no longer tell where the text came from. The Qumransectarianworks show a wide spectrumin theirorthography, which refuses to be described uniformly. This clearly shows that the orthographyof the Qumranliteraturewas unstable.Whether the orthographicinstabilityreflects the fluidityof the languageshould be treatedin furtherresearch.

28

See note 11.

LAST TESTAMENTS IN THE BOOK OF JUBILEES DAVID LAMBERT HarvardUniversity

Despite a wide-spreadinterestin the "testament"genre,1relatively little attentionhas been paid to the many last testamentsin the Book of Jubilees.2What treatmentdoes exist tends to emphasizethe theological at the expense of the exegetical, assumingthat the particular contentof the testamentsis determinedsolely by concernsessentialto the authorof Jubilees ratherthan by interpretationof Scripture.3The following is a representativeview: "The authorplaces in the mouthof the patriarchsthe commandsand admonitionsthat he himself wishes to make to his readers.The most strikingexample of this occurs in Abraham'sthree testaments... ."4 Scholarshave thus conceivedof the lasttestamentin Jubileesas "summationspeeches"5thattheauthor"freely

I For an up-to-datebibliography,see L. DiTomasso, A Bibliographyof Pseudepigrapha Research 1850-1999 (Sheffield:SheffieldAcademic Press, 2001), 973-75. See also the review of scholarship on the "testament"genre by A.B. Kolenkow, "Testaments,"in R.A. Kraft and G.W.E. Nickelsburg,eds., Early Judaism and its ModernInterpreters(Philadelphia:Fortress,1986), 259-67. 2 This scholarlyneglect may be due to an emphasison the study of literarygenres ratherthan religious phenomena.Since the testamentsin Jubileesare integralcomponents of a unifiedwork, they are not as readilysusceptibleto such study. 3 See M.J. Bernstein, "4Q252: Method and Context, Genre and Sources: A Response to GeorgeJ. Brooke,"JQR 85 (1994) 63-65, for criticismof this generaltenof second temple literature.C. Werman,"The Story of the dency in the interpretation Flood in the Book of Jubilees,"Tarbiz64:2 (1995) (Hebrew), 183-84, expresses the oppositeconcern,thatthe discoveryof the importanceof the exegeticalnot lead scholars to ignore the variously-motivatedoutright reworkingsto which second temple authorssuch as Jubileessubjectthe biblical narrative.Few thoughwould claim that a work such as Jubileesis "pureexegesis,"and the tendencyamongscholarsto focus on the theologicalover the exegeticalwould seem to be a far greaterever-presentconcern. in Jewish Writingsof 4 G.W.E. Nickelsburg,"The Bible Rewrittenand Expanded," the SecondTemplePeriod (ed. M.E. Stone;Philadelphia:Fortress,1984), 97. This genofferedof particeral scholarlyapproachis most readilyevident in the interpretations will be noted below. ular passages.Some of these interpretations I For this label, see J.L. Kugel, Traditionsof the Bible: A Guide to the Bible As It Wasat the Startof the CommonEra (Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1998),867.

? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


LAST TESTAMENTS IN THE BOOK OF JUBILEES

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composes"in orderto addresshis second-centuryaudience.6As such, they have looked to the last testamentin Jubileesas an epitome of the author'stheological concerns. However this view fails to explain the mysteriouslyshifting content of the last testaments.If the last testament in Jubileesrepresentsa summaryof the author'spreoccupations, why are no two testamentsalike? Other scholars have maintainedthat the historicalreferentsof the testamentare highly significant.In particular,Noah's testamentto his childrenis thoughtto constitutean early form of a tradition,otherwise known from rabbinic literature,7of Noahide Laws, commandments given to all of humanity,aptly representedby the sons of Noah.8This approach,however, fails to take into account the last testamentsin Jubilees given by other patriarchsand a matriarch.9Are we to conclude that there are AbrahamicCommandments,as well as Isaacian and Rebeccian Laws, all enjoined specifically upon their particular historicalreferents? It is not for naught that Jubilees is "one of the heroes" of J.L. Kugel's Traditionsof the Bible.'0 As a retelling of Genesis and the beginningof Exodus, Jubileesexists in fundamentalrelationto Scripture and is thereforehardlysusceptibleto analysiswithoutit. To avoid skewed results,one must first identifythe biblical basis of the author's statements. In the case of last testaments, the formal distinction between testamentand narrativemay have caused Jubilees' last testaments to obtain a false aura of independencefrom the biblical text." Yet, as we shall see, both the notion of last testamentsamong the patriarchsand the content of those testamentsderives in large part from interpretationof scripture, not the "free composition" of the author;it is the exegetical base of Jubilees' last testamentsand hence

6 For this formulation,see J. Endres;Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees (CBQMS 18; Washington:CatholicBiblical Associationof America, 1987), 28-30. 7 For instance,b. San. 56a. 8 See, for instance,Kugel, Traditionsof the Bible, 225 and 769, and N.G. Cohen, "Taryagand the Noahide Commandments," JJS 43 (1992) 51-53. 9 G. Andersonsimilarlypoints to this problemin "The Statusof the TorahBefore Sinai,"DSD 1 (1994), 3-4 n. 4. '0 Traditionsof the Bible, 32. 11For a discussion of the form of Jubilees' last testaments,see K. Baltzer, The CovenantFormulary(trans.D.E. Green;Philadelphia:FortressPress, 1971), 137-41. Cf. J. Kugel's "TheJubileesApocalypse,"DSD 1 (1994), 322-37, accordingto which even chap. 23 of Jubilees,sometimesthoughtof as a separate"apocalypse"within the book, constitutesin large part an interpretation of Psalm 90.

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their dependenceupon Genesis that accountsfor their shiftingcontent and referents.The presence of an exegetical base certainlydoes not exclude the possibility of ideological motivations.But it does mean that Jubilees'ideals cannotbe determinedsimplyon the basis of what the authorhappensto include.The identificationof a generaltendency in his interpretationof Scriptureattestedto throughoutthe work is a more reliable indicator.This paperwill examine how Jubileesdevelops the notion of last testamentson the basis of the book of Genesis (despitetheirapparentabsence there)and how exegesis constitutesthe main criterionof inclusion in the compositionof those testaments.It will go on to addresshow, in Jubilees, oral last testamentsseem to join with writtenbooks in the transmissionof law from generationto generation. The (Near) Absence of Instructionin the Book of Genesis In the book of Genesis, one only occasionally finds fathers commandingtheir childrento performspecific deeds or tasks. Isaac commands Jacob to go to Paddan-aramto find a wife from Abraham's family ratherthan taking a Canaanitewife (Gen. 28:1), Jacob commandshis childrento bury him in his ancestralcave in Canaanrather than in Egypt (Gen. 49:29), and Jacob before his death purportedly commands that Joseph forgive his brothers(Gen. 50:16.) More frequent, or at least more prominent,are examples of fathers blessing their children and predictingwhat the future holds for them. Noah blesses and curses his childrenupon waking from his drunkenstupor (Gen. 9:24-27), a deceived Isaac blesses Jacob insteadof Esau (Gen. 27:1-40), and Jacob foretells the fate of his children'sprogeny(Gen. 49:1-28.) These blessings predictfuturebehaviorand outcomesrather than prescribinglaw.12 Given the importance of law in the rest of the Pentateuch and throughoutthe history of Judaism,ancient readersof Genesis would have been surprisedby this absence of almost any indicationthat the greatpatriarchs,the foundersof the biblicaltradition,taughttheirchildren or commandedthem to follow any statutesor general principles about either how to serve God or relate to one another;indeed such

12 Note A.B. Kolenkow's distinction between "blessing-revelation testaments" and "ethical testaments" in "The Genre Testament and Forecasts of the Future in the Hellenistic Jewish Milieu," JSJ 6 (1975) 57-71.


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commandmentsand principlesare for the most partabsentin Genesis. The few that do seem to be in evidence"3lack any apparentprocess of transmission.'4 There is, however, one anomalousverse in Genesis that suggests just such a process of instruction: Now the LoRD had said, "Shall I hide from Abrahamwhat I am about to do, since Abrahamis to become a great and populousnation and all the nationsof the earthare to bless themselvesby him. For I have singledhim out, that he may instruct(MIX')his children and his posterityto keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right (lp7!) and just (mmon)in order that the LORD may bring about for Abrahamwhat He has promisedhim" (Gen. 18:19).'5

This verse not only suggests that Abrahaminstructedhis childrento serve God by doing "whatis right and just" but that it is preciselyfor the purpose of such instruction that God chose Abraham and will rewardhim. In fact by alluding to the instructionof Abraham'sdescendents,this verse colors the reader'sview of the subsequentpatriarchalnarratives.

13 E.g. not to eat the blood of an animalor shed the blood of a humanbeing (Gen. 9:4-6), and to circumciseall males (Gen. 17:11-14). 14 Anderson,"Statusof the Torah,"1-4, makes a similar point but from the perspectiveof canonicalanalysis,thus achievingslightly differentresults.Andersonpoints out that in historicalcritical terms the J source assumes that the patriarchshad some knowledgeof cultic and puritymatters;P, on the other hand, restrictedthe giving of such knowledge to Sinaitic revelation.Viewing the Pentateuchfrom a canonicalperspective as a whole, one is left with the problemof how to explain evidence of the patriarchs'knowledge of commandments.Furthermore,there are allusions to punishment in Genesis, which could not be meted out, accordingto the early interpretersof the Bible, without actual law. From the perspectiveof canonical analysis, Anderson thus highlightsthe problemfor the ancient biblical interpreterof what is in the text. The formulationabove highlights the problemfor the ancient biblical interpreterof what is not in the text, namelycommandmentsand a processof transmission.That the latter was a major source of concern for the ancient biblical interpreteris readily apparentin the rabbinicassumptionthat the patriarchsknew all of the commandments, a position that cannot be said to be based on a problemthat is in the text. (For the many relevant sources, see L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews [Baltimore: Johns HopkinsUniversityPress, 1998], 5.259.) As we shall see, Jubileesoften assumes that actions performedby the patriarchsmust have been carried out according to later Sinaitic regulations,an assumptiondriven not by canonical analysis but by a certain type of piety. Thus, I would suggestthat the problemfor the ancientbiblical interpreter was as much, if not more, the absence of the vast majorityof the commandmentsas the presence of a few. To put it in historicalcritical terms, they were perhapsmore botheredby P's restrictionof law to Sinai than by J's inclusionof elements of it in the book of Genesis. Is All translationsare from Tanakh:A New Translationof the Holy Scriptures, (New York:The Jewish PublicationSociety, 1985), with a few slight alterations.

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Modern scholars of the Hebrew Bible have not failed to note the unusualnatureof this verse and have long opined that either it or its whole, variously-definedsurroundingcontext should be considereda relativelylate interpolation.Theirreasonsincludeits apparently"Deuteronomic"language, its suppositionthat obedience is a precondition to fulfillmentof covenantalpromises,and, most importantlyfor us, its Whateverthe exact historyof focus on the teachingof righteousness.'6 of the pictureof Abraham a reassessment to it leads clearly verse, this as a teacher of righteousnessin the context of Genesis as a whole: whereas in the rest of Genesis there is no mentionof such teaching, here Abrahamis presentedas keeping "the way of the LORD"and transmittingits dictates to his children.The assumptionhad already been introduced,albeit in only one verse, that someone of Abraham's staturemust have passed on instructionconcerning"whatis right and just." The Centralityof Gen. 18:19 in Jubilees The value of such instructionwas no less a concernfor the author of Jubilees.He too was certainthat the patriarchsmust have actively engaged in the process of transmittingtheir values and laws to the next generation.However, true to his way, the authorof Jubileesdid not simply impose that assumption upon the biblical narrativeby freely composing new text. Rather,he constructeda complex system andexpanthatemergedorganicallythroughinterpretation of transmission trend by Gen. the begun sion of the biblical text itself, thus continuing 18:19. This verse, the sole piece of directbiblical evidence for such a process of transmission,was centralto his exegetical endeavor.'7

16 See the recentdiscussionof D.M. Carr,Readingthe Fracturesof Genesis:Historical and LiteraryApproaches(Louisville, Kentucky:WestminsterJohn Knox Press, Genesis12-36 (Minneapolis:AugsburgPublish1996), 159-61. See also C. Westermann, ing House, 1985), 288-89, and H. Gunkel,Genesis(Macon,Georgia:MercerUniversity Press, 1997), 201-2. Similarverses includeGen. 22:15-18 and Gen. 26:3b-5. 17 Abraham'stestamentto his children(Jub. 20:2-10), Isaac's testamentto his children (Jub.36:3-4), and to a certainextent Noah's testamentto his children(Jub.7:20 and 7:34), which will be discussedbelow, reflectthe languageof this verse. M. Kister, "Commentaryto 4Q298,"JQR 85 (1994), 246-47, points out that Gen. 18:19 plays a role not only in these two testamentarypassages but also in testamentarypassages found in T. Benj. 10:3 and 4QTQahat1 i 12. To this list may be addedT. Isaac 2:27, and possibly CD-A 3:3.


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In fact, Jubilees' whole system of transmission can be seen as emergingfrom a series of interpretivequestionsthat Gen. 18:19 might have raised for the ancient biblical interpreter,and which will serve as the organizing principle of the subsequentexamination: 1) Gen. 18:19 indicatesthat Abrahaminstructedhis childrento "keep the way of the LORD,"but at the time of the event to which this verse alludes only Ishmael had been born to Abraham.'8When did this instruction occur? 2) What precisely does it mean to do "what is right"(mpirr)? 3) What does it mean to do "whatis just" (MDMUM)? 4) Why does it say that Abrahamcommanded"his children"and "his posterity"(literally: his house afterhim)? Did Abrahamgive additionaltestaments?5) Did only Abrahaminstructhis children or did other patriarchsdo so as well? 6) Were such instructionsonly passed on orally or was some sort of writtenmedium also in use? The Time of Instruction As mentionedabove, in the context in which Gen. 18:19 appears, Abrahamhad as yet only one child, Ishmael."In that case to whom," the ancientbiblical interpreterwould wonder,"does the verse refer by its use of the plural 'children?"'Furthermore,the verb used in Gen. 18:19, 'Mn,here translatedas "instruction,"usually entails a discrete moment of commandmentrather than sustained education."9When 18 Some scholarshave maintainedthat the inclusionof Ishmaelamong the children whom Abrahaminstructsindicates a positive attitudetowards foreign peoples. The positive attitudetakentowardsIshmaelis contrastedwith the negativeattitudetowards Esau. On the basis of this contrastR. Syren concludes:"The Book of Jubileeswould seem to reflect periods of changing relationshipsbetween the Jews and their neighbours, sometimes at ease, sometimes at war" ("Ishmael and Esau in the Book of

Jubilees and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan," in The Aramaic Bible: Targums in their Histo-

rical Context[eds. D.R.G. Beattieand M.J. McNamara;JSOTSup166; Sheffield:JSOT Press, 1994], 314). Howeverit is quite clear that Ishmaelis includedin Abraham'stestamentfor exegetical reasons,namely the languageof Gen. 18:19. Indeedin Jubilees, Esau is also the recipientof Rebecca and Isaac's testaments.A similar problematic assumptionis found in C. Werman,"The AttitudeTowardsGentiles in the Book of Jubilees and QumranLiteratureComparedwith Early Tanaaic Halakhaand ContemporaryPseudepigrapha" (The HebrewUniversityPh.D. Dissertation:Jerusalem,Israel, 1995) (Hebrew),138-39, who uses Ishmael'sinclusionas proofthatIshmaelrepresents the Biblical categoryof sojourner(m:). 19Admittedly,Gen. 18:19 might be an exception;it is uncertainwhetherthe use of the imperfectof -,Miindicatessome sort of iterativeaspect since the clause of purpose introducedby tDk0 Jum5requiresa verb in the imperfect.It is also worth noting that, by Jubilees' time, the imperfectform was increasinglyused only for indicatingfuture time ratherthan imperfectaspect. (See E.Y. Kutscher,The Languageand Linguistic

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would such a moment of instruction have occurred? The biblical accountof an aged Abrahamdistributingpropertyamong his children (Gen. 25:5-6) could suggest to the ancient biblical interpreterjust such a moment.And indeedJubileesplaces his accountof Abraham's instructionsto his children(Jub. 20:1-10), not in its original biblical context, but ratherdirectly before his account of Abraham'sdistribution of property(Jub.20:11-13), thus resolvingthe exegetical problem of which discretefuturemomentof instructionGen. 18:19 refers to.20 By joining ethical testamentto monetarywill, Jubileesrendersthe last testamentthe fulfillmentof Gen. 18:19 and hence the primarymeans is aided by of transmissionof law and ethics.21Such an interpretation the quasi-technicaluse of the root M;1to express deathbedwishes.22 Just as the method of transmissionin Jubilees was derived through exegesis, so too, as we shall see, the content. "Whatis Right" Abraham's testimony to his children, as it appears in Jub. 20:2, constitutes in part a close interpretationof two key terms in Gen 18:19, "what is right" (Frpnr)and "what is just" (t:ns). These two termsgenerallyunderstoodas togetherexpressinga single meaning,a hendiadys, are midrashically interpretedby the author as separate components.The exact meaningof Abraham'stestimonyhas been has been somewhat obfuscated by an early emendation made by R.H. Charles.23O.S. Wintermute,basing himself on Charles' emendation, translatesthe passage in questionthus: And he commandedthem (a) that they shouldguardthe way of the Lordso that they might do righteousnessand each one might love his neighbor,and (b) that it shouldbe thus amongall men so thateach one might proceedto act justly and rightlytowardthem upon the earth...24

Backgroundof the Isaiah Scroll [Leiden:Brill, 1974], 351, and Kutscher,A Historyof the HebrewLanguage [Leiden:Brill, 1982], 45, 131-32.) This shift also would have encouragedviewing the instructionas a discrete,futureevent. 20 So too Isaac's testamentto Jacoband Esau (Jub.36:1-9) is placeddirectlybefore the distributionof his property(Jub. 36:12-14). 21 Jubileeswas not the first to do so. 1 Kgs 2:1-4 sets the deathbedscene of David as his momentfor instructingSolomon in languagethat is strikinglysimilarto that of Gen. 18:19. 22 See Gen. 49:33, 50:16, 2 Sam. 17:23, 1 Kgs 2:1, and 2 Kgs 20:1. 23 The Book of Jubilees or The Little Genesis (London:Black, 1902), 129, n. 20:2. 24 J.H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, (New York: Doubleday,1985), 2.93.


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This rendition of the passage is based on Charles' emending the Ethiopicword for "war"(sab') to the Ethiopicword for "men"(sab'). J.C. VanderKampreservesthe attestedtext and argues:"Thougha reference to war is unexpected,the word must be evaluatedin connection with the sequel which can be understoodin a martialsense (literally: so that they may go againsteach one againstthem)."25 Thus he translates: He orderedthem to keep the way of the LORD so that they would do what is rightand that they shouldlove one another;that they shouldbe like this in every war so that they could go againsteach one (who was) againstthem;and do what is just and right on the earth.. 26

How thoughis one to make sense of this version'sjuxtapositionof the commandmentto love one's neighbor,drawnfrom Lev. 19:18, and the injunctionto join togetherin war against a common enemy? The commandmentbased on Lev. 19:18 to love one's neighboralso appearsin the farewell addressesof Noah (7:20) and Isaac (36:4, 8). Both patriarchsexpress deep concernabout their inabilityto maintain peace among their childrenafter their deaths. ConsiderNoah's words in his farewell address(7:26): But now I am the first to see your actions-that you have not been conducting yourselvesproperlybecauseyou have begun to conductyourselvesin the way of destruction,to separatefrom one another,to be jealous of one another,and not to be togetherwith one another,my sons.27

Separationbetween brothersis a "way of destruction"in that it ultimately leads to bloodshed.In this context, the commandmentto love one another serves more as an attemptto prevent fraternaldisunity than as a positive and general ideal of how to relate to all humanity. The interpretationof Lev. 19:18 implicit in these passages fits the originalcontextof the verse: "You shall not hate your kinsfolkin your heart. Reproveyour kinsmanbut incur no guilt because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD"(Lev. 19:17-18). Here

The Book of Jubilees, (Louvain:E. Peeters, 1989), 2.115, n. 20:2. 115-16. All translationswill follow VanderKam.VanderKamalso arguesthat the conjunction,"and do what is just...," should be retainedthough Charlesexcised it, despite its appearancein various manuscripts.Including the conjunction sets this phraseapartfrom the previousone about war, making the "war"interpretationmore feasible (116). 27 See 35:15 for Isaac's expressionof concern. 25

26

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too the injunctionappearsless as an ultimatemoral ideal of how to relate to all humanitythan as an alternativeto hatred,grudge-bearing, vengeance, and worse in relation to one's "kinsfolk," "kinsman," "countrymen,"and "fellow."28Abraham'sexhortationto his children should likewise be understoodin this light: his childrenshould love one another (and not separate) and should band together against a commonenemy ratherthanfight among themselves.The "unexpected" referenceto war in Abraham'stestimonymay indicate that Jubilees, like some others in second temple times, understoodLev. 19:18 to indicate:"you shall love your neighborand hate your enemy"(Matt. 5:43).29

Throughan examinationof how the authorweaves his interpretation of Lev. 19:18 into the language of Gen. 18:19, it becomes clear Jubilees begins his forhow he interpretsthe commandto do p mulationby replicatingthe exact languageof Gen. 18:19:"He ordered them to keep the way of the Lord so that they would do what is right ." However rather than continuing the phrase as in Gen. (rpIT2O).. the author suspends 18:19, "what is right (Fp:r) and just (MMOO)," and introduces his discussion of Lev. 19:18. mention of MEWn Returning to the language of Gen. 18:19, he then continues: ". . . and

do what is just (mmon)and right (im17:)on the earth... ." This phrase is somewhatawkwardlyintroducedby a repetitionof the verb "to do" (Ml=tX).30It is thereforelikely that the insertion between 'rpr7 and MMUM constitutes an interpretationof the phrase "do what is right" n1t:). Following the structuraltechniqueof Wiederaufnahme, (71pD-r resumptiverepetition,3'the authorrepeatsthe verb nnV*, a repetition not found in Genesis itself, to signal a returnto the discussionof Gen.

28 Modern scholarshiphas recognized that these two verses should be read as a unity. See R. Neudecker,"'AndYou Shall Love Your Neighboras Yourself-I am the Biblica 73 (1992) 509. Lord' (Lev. 19,18) in Jewish Interpretation," This passage 29 Kugel, Traditionsof the Bible, 757-58, discusses this interpretation. in Jub., accordingto VanderKam'srendering,could be added to those collected by Kugel. Note that this interpretationis best attestedat Qumran.See also Neudecker, 499-503. The combinedlanguageof love and "Lev. 19,18 in Jewish Interpretation," union againsta commonenemy fits well with ancientbiblical notionsof kinship.(See F.M. Cross, "Kinship and Covenant in Ancient Israel," in From Epic to Canon: Historyand Literatureof AncientCanaan [Baltimore:John Hopkins,1998], 3-6.) 30 In the Ge'ez: "wa-la-gabira." 31 For an example and discussionof the technique,see S. Talmon,"Polemicsand Apology in Biblical Historiography:2 Kings 17:24-41," in LiteraryStudies in the Hebrew Bible: Form and Content (Jerusalem:Magnes Press, 1993), 134-59, esp. 136-39.

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has a dis18:19, and in so doing indicatesthat the second term,CDDrM, tinct meaning. The identificationof the termFrp?)with the commandmentto love one's neighboris attested in other farewell addressesin Jubilees. In Isaac's last testamentto his sons, the same juxtapositionof brotherly love and the term F`prMis present:"as each loves his brotherkindly (Jub. 36:8). So too in Noah's farewell address, and properly(mpr'%n)" quoted above, he accuses his sons of not conducting themselves "properly(;lmn;)," and then goes on to reveal that his complaintpertains to their lack of brotherlyunity.32If Frp17involves brotherlylove and if ;rprYand crnw have separatemeanings,what then is the meaning of cmDn? "What is Just" Immediately following the resumption of Gen. 18:19,

..

.

and do

what is just (tcsn) and right (r1pM)on the earth,"Jubilees includes a series of additionalcommandments,not found in Gen. 18:19, that can be divided into four basic categories: 1) "that they should circumcise their sons in the covenant. . .," 2) ". . . that we should keep

ourselvesfrom all sexual impurityand uncleanness. . .," 3) the related commandment,". . . they are not to commit sexual offenses (by) following their eyes and their hearts so that they take wives for themselves from the Canaanite women.. .," and 4) ". . . love the God of

heaven and hold fast to all his commandments.Do not follow their idols.. ." How does Jubilees know that there were additionalcommandments?The answer again lies in a close examinationof how the author presents his material:the additionalcommandmentsimmediately follow and therebyserve as an articulationof the general command to "do what is just (cLrtin)and right (Fp:) on the earth."These additional commandments address proper behavior vis-a-vis God, ratherthan vis-a-vis otherhumanbeings. Thus if rnFt, was understood as an allusion to the commandmentto love one's neighbor,CDt1M was related of an commandments to love understoodas allusion to God, a juxtapositioncommonlyfound in later second temple, early Christian, and rabbinicliterature.33

32

The originalHebrewin these two passages could have been p-l=; the Ge'ez for

both is "ba-sgdq." 33

D. Flusser,"A New Sensitivityin Judaismand the ChristianMessage,"HTR 61

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The temptationis surely great to view Abraham'stestamentto his childrenas a sort of summaryof the authorof Jubilees'own ideals. In the wordsof one recentcommentator:"Thechapteris interestingin that it deals with all of Abraham'sdescendants,not only the ones through whom the promise is transmitted; it thus reveals what the author considered their responsibilities as members of Abraham's household and

hence partof the covenant."34 The incorporationinto his speech of the two great commandmentsto love one's neighbor and to love God, often presentedas the highest ideals and epitome of the Torah,would seem to supportsuch a reading. Howeverfurtherexaminationreveals that each one of the additional commandmentsmentionedhas a likely exegetical base in the life of Abraham,as recordedin Genesis, thus suggestingthat biblical precedence ratherthan personalideology is the main criterionfor inclusion in Jubilees' testaments. Circumcision,the first commandmentmentioned as a componentof :Lwz, is the one commandmentexplicitly given in Genesis to Abraham and to his offspring (Gen. 17:10). Jubilees links the second commandment,the prohibitionagainst sexual impurityand uncleanness,to Abraham'switnessingthe judgments of the Sodomites:"Now you keep yourselvesfrom all sexual impurity and uncleanness... so thatyou do not make our name into a curse... Then you will be accursedlike Sodom, and all who remain of you like the people of Gomorrah"(Jub. 20:5-6).35In so doing, Jubilees provides a solution to a difficultinterpretivequestioninvolving Gen.

(1968) 112, pointed out the juxtaposition between these two commandmentsin Jubilees,i.e. the commandmentto love one's neighborand the commandmentto love God, though he did not recognize the exegetical basis of Jubilees' formulation.For examplesof this juxtapositionin othertexts, see Flusser,"A New Sensitivity,"107-27; D. Flusser,"TheTenCommandments andtheNew Testament," in TheTenCommandments in Historyand Tradition(eds. G. Levi and B. Segal; Jerusalem:MagnesPress, 1990), 219-46; and Kugel, Traditionsof the Bible, 758-59, 768-70, and 867-68. 3 (Italics mine.) J.C. VanderKam,The Book of Jubilees (Guidesto the Apocrypha andPseudepigrapha; Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress,2001),55. InG.W.E.Nickelsburg and M.E. Stone, Faith and Piety in EarlyJudaism(Philadelphia:FortressPress, 1983), 98, Abraham'stestimonyis describedas "a succinctsummaryof the basic way of the righteousman."J.P. Schultz, "Two Views of the Patriarchs:Noahides and Pre-Sinai Israelites,"in Text and Responses: Studies Presented to Nahum N. Glatzer on the Occasionof His SeventiethBirthdayBy His Students(Leiden:Brill, 1975), 44-45, suggests that, accordingto Jubilees,the patriarchsobservedall of the commandmentsbut that these commandmentswere deemedespecially worthyof emphasis. 3S That the sin of Sodom was sexual impurityis suggestedby the way in which the townspeoplebehave towardsthe visiting angels (Gen. 19:4-11) and their subsequent conclusionthat the town is indeed deservingof destruction(Gen. 19:13).


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18:17-19: why does the Lord connect his decision to reveal to Abraham his intentionto destroySodom with his expectationthat Abraham will instructhis childrento follow the "way of the LORD."Jubilees' suggestion seems to be that the LORD'srevealing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrahto Abrahamserves to warn Abrahamand his childrenagainst committingthe sort of sin of which Sodom was guilty.36Having witnessed Sodom's destructionfor sexual impurity, now Abrahamand, throughhis testament,his childrenhave no excuse in not avoiding it. ThoughJubilees' does not presenthis reworkingof Gen 18:19 in the narrativecontext of the verse, namely the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,he preserves its literary context by viewing the entireincidentas designedto teach Abrahamand, in turn, his children about an importantprohibition.The prohibitionagainst manyinga Canaanitewife is clearlyreflectedin theconcernthatAbraham expresses in the biblical account that Isaac not marrya native.37The fourth commandment,which has a positive and negative aspect, to love God and avoid idols, correspondsto two separateexegetical traditions. Based on the referencein Isa. 41:8 and 2 Chr. 20:7 to Abraham as loving God, Abrahamis referredto in many second temple texts including Jubilees as the "friend of (literally: one who loves) God."38The view of Abrahamas opposingthe worshipof idols, developed on the basis of Josh. 24:2-3, is extremelycommon in the literature of the period and was widely held to be the reason why Abrahammeritedto be singled out by God.39 Since all of the above commandmentsare associated with Abraham's life for exegetical reasons and given the absence of other commandmentsthat are clearly importantto Jubilees, e.g. the prohibition

36 See also Jub. 16:6. For a similar explanationin modem biblical scholarshipsee M. Weinfeld,Social Justice in AncientIsrael (Minneapolis:FortressPress, 1995), 30, esp. n. 20. Jubileesis probablynot interestedin stressingthe intercessoryaspect of the Abrahamnarrative,because he has little patience for its merciful message. Cf. his treatmentof the destructionof Shechemin Jub. 30:1-23. 37 For Jubilees' specificationof the punishment of a woman who commitsa sexual offense and its exegetical necessity, see Anderson,"Statusof the Torah,"19-29, esp. 22-24. 38 See Kugel, Traditionsof the Bible, 244 and 258. 39 See Kugel, "Abraham Journeysfrom Chaldea,"in Traditionsof the Bible, 244-74 and particularly"Abrahamthe Monotheist,"245-47, and "Terah,Priest of Idolatry," 247-49. See also G.W.E.Nickelsburg,"Abraham theConvert,"in BiblicalFiguresOutside the Bible (eds. M.E. Stone and T.A. Bergren;Harrisburg,Pennsylvania:TrinityPress Intemation,1998), 151-75. Nickelsburgsuggests that Jub. 11-12, Jubilees' accountof Abraham'srejectionsof idols, draws on earlier,traditionalmaterial.

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againstthe consumptionof blood, it is problematicto view Abraham's farewell speech as a "summation"of the ultimate concerns of the authorof Jubilees. These mattersare certainly of importanceto the authorbut they do not necessarilyrepresentthe totalityof his religious ideals. Such an assumptionof free compositioncan lead to skewed historical data: "Circumcision,fornication, idolatry, and endogamy may have been particularlyclose to Jubilees'concerns,since the book was written during the early period of Hellenization. At that time, those particularoffenses were rampant."40 As for the juxtaposition of the two great commandments,love of neighbor and love of God, the presence of the latter has been accountedfor exegeticallyand the presenceof the former,as Jubilees' interpretationof rlpTl, also fits the context of the biblical narrative; given the hostilities that had already broken out between Isaac and Ishmael (Gen. 21:9) and their subsequentseparation,the dying patriarch makes a last effort to secure a rapprochement.After Abraham's death (and testamentaccordingto Jubilees' presentation),the biblical account states:"His sons Isaac and Ishmaelburiedhim in the cave of Machpelah . . ." (Gen. 25:9). This cooperative venture would seem to be

eloquent proof of the effectiveness,at least short-term,of Abraham's remonstrations;for the ancient biblical interpreter,it was a sign that Abrahamhad broachedthe topic of unity among brothersbefore his death. Given the exegetical basis of Abraham'stestament,the juxtaposition of the two great commandments,occasioned by the use of both rpIS and t:Um, would seem to serve more as a rubricfor the organizationof the commandmentsthan as an epitome of ultimate ideals. "His House After Him"

The phrase"his children"in Gen. 18:19 could hardlybe interpreted as anythingbut includingall of Abraham'sbiological offspring,and, indeed, the testamentdiscussed above was addressedto all of them. However,while in its plain sense the phrase"his childrenand his posterity" probably constitutes an hendiadys, the phrase translatedas 40 Nickelsburgand Stone, Faith and Piety, 98. Thus, for instance,there is nothing in this passage to contradictthe view of Werman,"The AttitudetowardsGentiles," 200-9, that idolatrywas not a pressingconcernfor the author.For anotherexampleof potentialhistoricalerrordue to a neglectof the exegeticalnatureof the testaments,see n. 24 above.


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"his posterity,"which literally means "his house after him," could be understoodas referringto offspringwho are more closely identified with Abrahamand hence appropriatelylabeled as "his house."41It is likely that somethinglike this interpretationled Jubilees to maintain that Abrahamgave additional,individualtestamentsto Isaac (Jub.21) and Jacob (Jub. 22:10-24), the descendantsdestined to carry on his name.42

In his testimony to Isaac, Abrahampasses on detailed commandments concerningthe offering of sacrifices and related matters.The testament'salmostpurelyculticfocushas led one commentatorto remark: "This listing of issues in the speech suggests the author'soverwhelming concern with cultic and ritual purity, and his relative neglect of social and ethical issues."43To draw such a conclusionon the basis of this testamentis not only to ignore the presenceof "social and ethical issues" in the other testamentsin Jubileesbut to display a lack of awarenessof the exegeticalreasonswhy Abraham'stestamentto Isaac specifically concerns these matters.Jubilees interpretsGen. 12:8: ". . . and

he [Abraham]built there an altar to the LORDand invoked the LORD by name" in the following manner: ". . . he [Abraham] called on the

name of the LORD:'You, my God, are the eternal God.' He offered 41 Note the importanceattachedto "Abraham'shouse" in one part of his testament to Jacob:"This house I have built for myself to put my name on it upon the earth.It has been given to you and to your descendantsforever. It will be called Abraham's

house.. ." (Jub. 22:24). 42 Alternatively,Jacob was consideredby Jubilees to be as a son to Abrahamand hence included in the phrase "his children." In Jub. 19:16-31, the account of Abraham'schoosing Jacob over Esau and blessing him, Abrahamrefers to Jacob several times as "my son."In Jacob's speech in Jub. 25:5-8, he in turnrefersto Abraham severaltimes as "my father."Indeedin Gen. 28:13, God identifiesHimself to Jacob in

the following manner: ". . . I am YHWH God Abraham thy father. . ." (B. Halpern-

Amaru,Rewritingthe Bible: Land Covenantin Post-BiblicalJewish Literature[Valley Forge, Penn.:TrinityPress International,1994], 145, n. 52, also notes the importance of this verse for Jubilees' understandingof the nature of the relationshipbetween Abrahamand Jacob.) It is possible that there were two alternativeinterpretationsof the phrase"his children"that are combinedin Jubilees:"his children"refers to all of Abraham'schildren,and thereforehe instructedall of them, or "his children"refers specifically to Isaac and Jacob. The latter interpretationmay be found in CD 3:2-3: "Abraham... was considereda friend for keeping God's commandments ... And he transmitted(the commandments)to Isaac and to Jacob.. ." Yet a third possibilityis that the phrase "his house after him" applies only to Jacob. Indeed according to Jubilees, Abrahamonly bestows "his house" upon Jacob. (See the passage quoted in the previous footnote.) That would suggest that the testament to Isaac would be includedin the phrase"his children,"and the testamentto Jacob would be alludedto alone in the phrase"his house after him." 43 Endres,Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees, 31.

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to the LORDa sacrificeon the altarso that he would be with him and not abandonhim throughouthis entirelifetime"(Jub. 13:8-9). Jubilees assumesthat the buildingof an altarimpliedthe offeringof sacrifices. Accordingto Gen. 26:25, Isaac too built an altarand called out in the name of the LORD.Therefore,accordingto the ancient biblical interpreter,Abrahammust have passed on to Isaac the mantleof priestand the necessaryintricateknowledgeof sacrificiallaw. Such a phraseis never used in the biblical narrativewith regardto Jacob, and, indeed, accordingto Jubilees, Jacob never receives knowledgeof cultic matters, the priesthoodgoing straightto Levi. While sacrificewas probably importantto the authorof Jubilees, it is impossibleto argue on the strengthof this passage that cultic concerns eclipsed other religious issues for him. Ignoranceof the exegetical base of the testaments leads to a too narrowview of Jubilees' religious sensibilities. The main thrustof Abraham'stestimonyto Jacob is the importance of separatinghimself from gentiles by not eating with them, acting like them, or marryingthem. On the basis of the emphasisthis command receives in the testamentto Jacob, one scholarmaintainsthat it of Jubilees.4 constitutesthe foundationaldemand(Grundsatzforderung) This theme is indeed of great importancethroughoutJubilees.Nevertheless, thereare again exegeticalreasonsfor the centralityof this particular issue in Abraham'stestamentto Jacob that prevent us from drawing the simple conclusion that separationfrom non-Jews is the fundamentalteachingof Jubilees.As it happens,the biblical narrative aboutJacob's life revolves aroundhis travelsto the east following his father'scommandto marrya womanfromhis familyandnota Canaanite. There is, however, a more specific piece of evidence for Abraham's testamentand its content:"So Isaac sent for Jacob... He instructed him, saying, 'You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women ... May El Shaddaibless you ... May He grantthe blessingof Abrahamto you and your offspring..."' (Gen. 28:1-4). In the plain sense of the biblical narrative,Isaac expresseshis hope that Jacob be theobjectof the sameblessingthatAbrahamreceived.HoweverAbraham could also be understoodas the subjectratherthan the object of the blessing. Accordingly,Isaac would be alluding to a discrete blessing that Abraham had given to Jacob. Blessing, as an ancient biblical

44 E. Schwarz,IdentitatdurchAbgrenzung(Frankfurt: Lang, 1982), 21. Otherscholars also view this testamentas Jubilees' centralchapter.(See Werman,"The Attitude TowardsGentiles,"219.)


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interpreterwould have thought,goes togetherwith commanding.45 So when Isaac precedeshis allusion to Abraham'sblessing with the command:"you shall not take a wife from among the Canaanitewomen," he must be seen as reiteratingAbraham'sown stipulation.It is therefore not at all surprisingto find that Abraham'stestamentto Jacob consists of two distinctcomponents:1) an unusuallyinvolved blessing (22:10-15) and 2) a command(22:16-24). The authorof Jubileesdoes not maintainthat AbrahamprohibitedJacob from exogamy because such is his fundamentalteaching but ratherbecause Abraham'sown son had alludedto precisely such an event with the phrase"the blessing of Abraham." The Other Patriarchsand Their Testaments Accordingto Jubilees, not only did Abrahamprovide final instructions for his childrenbut Enoch (4:17-18), Noah (7:20-39), Rebecca (35:1-8 and 35:18-27), and Isaac (36:1-18) did so as well. These testaments differ greatly from one another in the commandmentsthat they contain. Such differences underscore the fact that testaments in Jubilees do not necessarily represent a formal statement of the author'shighest ideals but ratherthe accumulatedteachings of a particularpatriarchas seen throughthe author'sinterpretationof the biblical recordof that patriarch'slife. Thus Enoch-who does not provide formal farewell testimony but does transmitknowledge to his children-passes on knowledge of the calendar.Calendricalprecision is an importantpolemicalconcernof the author.Nevertheless,the author emphasizesthis aspect of Enoch's contributionnot because the calendar is his greatest concern but because earlier Enochic traditions, of Gen. 5:21-24,46 developedin partthrougha particularinterpretation connectedEnoch with astrologicalknowledge.47 45 Note the descriptionof Isaac's interactionwith Jacob that immediatelyfollows this passage: "When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob... charging him, as he blessed him, 'You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanitewomen' .. ." (Gen. 28:6). 46 See Kugel, Traditions,173-178. In privatecorrespondence, ProfessorM.E. Stone pointedout to me that the numberof years of Enoch's life (three hundredsixty-five) may also be relevant. 47 His referencesto testimoniesand books writtenby Enoch are generallythought to referto variousearly componentsof I Enoch. See G.W.E. Nickelsburg,1 Enoch 1: A Commentary(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 71-76, and J.C. VanderKam, Enoch: A Man for All Generations(Columbia,South Carolina:Universityof South CarolinaPress, 1995), 110-21.

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Noah'smoreelaboratefarewelltestimonyto his children(Jub.7:20-39) consists of the following commandments:1) to do what is right;2) to cover their nakedness;3) to bless theircreator;4) to honortheirfather and mother;5) to love one another;6) to avoid fornicationand pollution; 7) not to shed the blood of humans; 8) to abstain from the blood of animals;and 9) to follow certainagriculturallaws. Scholars have assumedthat these commandmentsconstitutea set of basic laws applicableto all humanity,"Noahidelaws." For instance,Kugel writes in Traditionsof the Bible (769): Of the items mentioned,"blessingtheirCreator"seems to correspondto the interdiction of cursing with the divine name found in the rabbinictraditionof the Noahide laws. It is also, however,similarto the Decalogue's prohibitionof taking the LORD's name "in vain."Likewise, honoringfatherand mother,avoiding fomication, and possibly also avoiding "injustice"correspondto other items in the Decalogue,while "love one another"representsLev. 19:18.

This statementis made in the context of a general discussion concerning the elevation of Lev. 19:18, sometimes along with the Decalogue, to the status of the "whole Torah, the great general teaching summingup the laws of the Pentateuchconcerninghumanrelations" (768). Elsewhere Kugel quotes from this passage in Jubilees after introducingit as follows: "Thus it happened that this passage [i.e. God's commandingNoah and his sons to avoid eating the blood of animalsand to avoid murderin Gen. 9:4-6] came to be understoodas settingforth some set of basic laws [italics mine], the 'laws of Noah's sons' (or 'Noahide laws') given to all mankind"(225). Both of these statementsunderstandJubilees as using Noah's farewell testimonyto his childrenas an opportunityto espouse some set of basic teachings and as operating with some sort of special tradition of "Noahide laws

"48

While it is conceivable that Jubilees was aware of a traditionof "Noahide laws," the fact is that his criterion for including specific commandmentswithin that basic frameworkis exegetical in nature. as we have seen, the authorof Jubileesassociatesvarious Furthermore,

JJS 43:1 48 See also N.G. Cohen, "Taryag and the Noahide Commandments," (1992) 51-53, and L. Finkelstein,"Some Examplesof the MaccabeanHalaka,"HTR 49 (1930) 21-25. SimilarlyWerman,"The AttitudetowardsGentiles,"326, presents this passage as an attemptto answer the contemporaryquestion of what principles in Biblical apply to non-Jews.LikewiseD. Dimant,"Noahin EarlyJewishLiterature," Figures, 139-140, and Schultz, "Two Views of the Patriarchs,"44 45, view Noah's commandmentsas relatingto the "maininterests"of Jubilees.


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commandmentswith specific patriarchs.The laws includedin Noah's testimonyare probablyno more the basic laws of humankindfor the authorof Jubilees than the laws of Enoch or Abraham.49 They are the laws that Jubilees associates with Noah throughexegesis of the biblical account of Noah's life, not througha "free composition"of the author'sown basic ideals.50 The commandmentto do "what is right" (#1 on the above list) apparentlyserves as a headingfor the commandmentsthat are to follow.51 In contrastto his evil generation,Noah is specificallyidentified in the biblicalnarrativeas a "righteousman"(Gen. 6:9). The commandment to cover one's nakedness(#2) results clearly from the incident of Ham's improperbehavior with respect to his father's nakedness (Gen. 9:22-25), as does the commandmentto honor one's father and mother (#4).52 The commandmentto bless one's Creator(#3) is not necessarily an allusion to the prohibitionagainst blasphemy,a prohibition that eventuallywas understoodas a basic law for all humanity and a componentof the "Noahidelaws."53Ratherit is more likely an allusion to Gen. 9:26 in which Noah is the firsthumanto formulatean actual blessing of God, "blessed be the LORD."54 The commandment to love one another(#5) has alreadybeen shown in Abraham'stestament as connectedto a concernto preventfraternalstrife. The author apparentlyincluded this commandmentin Noah's testament as the antidoteto sheddinghumanblood, a prohibitionalso mentionedin the testament(#7) that is taken directly from God's commandsto Noah in Gen. 9:4-6, along with the prohibitionagainstconsumingthe blood of animals (#8). Both commandments,to love one anotherand not to

49 This point is also made by Anderson,"The Status of the Torah,"3 n. 4. 50 Werman, "The Attitude towards Gentiles," 76, acknowledges a connection between Noah's commandmentsto his sons and the context of the biblical narrative but elsewhereimplies the existenceof a greaterdegreeof intentionalitybehindthe contents of the list. (See n. 53 above.) In the view of J.T.A.G.M.van Ruiten,Primeval History Interpreted:The Rewritingof Genesis 1-11 in the book of Jubilees (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 299, "Thereis nothingin the biblical text that promptedthe additionof Jub. 7:20-39." s' Such is also the understanding of Ruiten,PrimevalHistoryInterpreted,296. 52 Werman,"TheAttitudetowardsGentiles,"76, also recognizesthis connection.By contrast,Finkelstein,"Some Examplesof the MaccabeanHalaka,"24, maintainsthat the commandmentto cover one's nakednessis a responseto the perceivedimproprieties of the Hellenisticgymnasium. S3 For sources that include blasphemyamong the Noahide laws see Kugel, Traditions of the Bible, 226. 54 So too in the narrativeof lQap Gent 11:12-13, and 12:17, Noah blesses God.

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shed humanblood, are understoodby the authorof Jubileesas pressing concerns given the context of the biblical narrative:"But now I [Noah] am the first to see your actions-that you have not been conductingyourselvesproperlybecause you have begun to conductyourselves in the way of destruction,to separatefrom one another,to be jealous of one another,and not to be togetherwith one another,my sons" (Jub. 7:26). Love is the alternativeto separation,which in turn signifies destructionand ultimatelybloodshed.The prohibitionagainst fornicationand pollution(#6) are apparentlyincluded in Noah's testamentbecause the authorof Jubileesconsideredthem to be precisely the sins of the generationof the flood." As the destructionof Sodom served an importantrole in the testamentof Abraham,so too Noah specificallyprohibitsthose transgressionsthat were responsiblefor the Flood. Finally the commandmentsrelated to agriculture(#9) do not indicate that the authorhad a particularobsession with these laws or thathe felt that they were universaland shouldbe upheldby non-Jews as well.56 Rather, they appear because Noah is the first person in the biblical narrativeto plant a vineyard(Gen. 9:20) and/orbecause Noah's very namederivesfrom a concernto promoteagriculture:"And he namedhim Noah, saying, 'This one will provideus relief from our work and from the toil of our hands, out of the very soil which the LORD placed undera curse"' (Gen. 5:29). The authorassumesthat he must have done so accordingto properreligious law.57 The centralcommandmentfound in Rebecca and Isaac's respective farewell addressesto Jacob and Esau (35:18-27 and 36:1-18) is that theirchildrenshouldlove one anotherandavoiddoingevil to one another. Here too we find an obvious exegeticaljustificationfor their concerns in the biblical narrative:Esau's threatto kill Jacob (Gen. 27:41). It is

ss Jub. 7:20-21. A problemof fornicationcan be derived from the unholy matrimony alludedto in Gen. 6:2-4. A problemof injusticecan be discernedfrom the presence of OrM,violence, upon the earth(Gen. 6:11). D. Dimant,"The Fallen Angels in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Apocryphaland PseudepigraphalBooks Related to Them,"(The HebrewUniversityPh.D. Dissertation:Jerusalem,Israel, 1974) (Hebrew), 50-51, maintainsthat Jubilees' view of the particularsins of the generationof the flood are derivedback from a form of the Noahide laws. On the basis of the exegetical connections,it seems to me that the influenceworkedin the oppositedirection. Rewritingthe Bible, 26-27, seems to view the inclusionof these 56 Halpem-Amaru, agriculturallaws, which in the Pentateuchare associatedwith the Land of Israel, as indicatingthe generalimportanceof "the Land"for Jubilees. 17 Adherenceto agriculturallaws is worked into the narrativeconcerningNoah in lQap Gen- 12: 13-15.


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only naturalthat they would include such a commandin their testaments, and, indeed, it appearsto have been at least initially heeded as evidenced by the friendlyreunionof Esau and Jacob (Gen. 33:4) and theircooperationin buryingtheirfather(Gen.35:29),a scenethatappears in Jubilees(36:18) joined to Isaac's testamentand explicitly presented as a fulfillmentof it. It is thereforecuriousto find one scholar maintaining with regardto Rebecca's testament:"In view of the tensions in Palestine during this era, one could view her testament... as an exhortationto the Jewish communityto bind togetherin unity and harmony, the genuine characteristicsof covenantalfidelity,"and with regard to Isaac's: "Curiously,Isaac's farewell seems far less concerned with cultic matters than the testamentaryspeech he received from Abraham(21:1-25); could it be suggested that Rebekah's influence has guided this shift of concerns?"58 Probablynot, given the exegetical basis for the determinationof the content of his testament. Rebecca's command in her first testament that Jacob honor his father (Jub. 35:1) relates to Jubilees' view that Jacob did indeed greatlyhonorhis fatherthroughprovidinghim, as well as his mother, with adequate provisions in their old age (Jub. 29:14-20). Rebecca acknowledgeshis fidelity herself in Jub. 35:12: "And he [Jacob]has been blessing us and has not separatedfrom us since he came from Haranuntil this day. But he has been dwelling with us continuallyat home honoringus." Proof of such loyalty can be gleaned from Gen. 35:27, which states that "Jacobcame to his father Isaac at Mamre," and can be contrastedwith Esau's decision to move "to anotherland" (Gen. 36:6) away from his family. That Jubileesmade much of Esau's emigrationis reflectedin Rebecca's words to Isaac concerningEsau in Jub. 35:10: "You know everythingthat he has done ... that he has wholeheartedlyabandonedus. He has treatedus badly; he has gathered your flocks and has taken all your possessionsaway from you by force."Evidenceof Jacob's honoringhis parents,however,only sharpens the question:why would Rebeccahave to commandhim to do so? In fact, upon hearingher command,Jacob himself proteststhat he has all along been obedientto it (Jub. 35:2-5). Before approachinga possible answerto this question,a numberof observationsaboutJubilees and the biblical narrativemust be made. One of the unusual aspects of Rebecca's testamentis that it is revealedto her in a dreamthat she

58

Endres, Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees, 175 and 176 respectively;

italics mine.

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is to die imminently(Jub. 35:6). Jacob respondsto her proclamation of this fact with incredulitydue to her apparentgood health (Jub. 35:7). A few points must also be made about the biblical narrative. Though Isaac in this scene is apparentlypreparingfor his death, he does not die until many years later as recordedin Gen. 35:29. The biblical narrative,however, never mentionsRebecca's death. The reason for Rebecca's commandin Jubilees may lie in a peculiarreading of Gen. 27:6-9: Rebekahsaid to her son Jacob,"I overheardyour fatherspeakingto your brother Esau, saying, 'Bring me some game and preparea dish for me to eat, and I will bless you, with the LORD'Sapproval,before I die.' Now, my son, listen carefully to what I instructyou. Go to the flock and fetch me two choice kids, and I will make of them a dish for your father,such as he likes..."

What if Isaac's words as quoted by Rebecca were actually just "bringme some game and preparea dish for me to eat," and the subsequent statement, "I will bless you.. .," consisted of Rebecca's own

words?The expected death that Rebecca refers to would be her own. The injunction,"now, my son, listen carefullyto what I instructyou" would be her insistenceupon her purposeand expectationin response to the protestationof Jacob. The biblical context of Rebecca's words, namely the commandto obtainfood for Isaac, would be the key indicator of the content of Rebecca's testament:provision of victuals is one of the essential elements of honoringone's parentsaccordingto Jubilees, as seen in Jub. 29:14-20.9 One other commandmentin Isaac's farewell address differs from that of his father and requirescomment,namely, "thatyou will fear him [God] and worshiphim" (Jub. 36:7). SurprisinglyAbrahamin his farewell advice specifically commandshis childrento love God (Jub. 20:7), without mentionof fear, whereas Isaac commandshis children to fear God, without mentionof love. If we view either of these testimonies as summariesof the author'sideals, then we are left with a contradiction:does the authorwant us to love God or fear God? Once more, the discrepancydoes not reflect the ideals of the author but

S9 Such a readingapparentlyremovesRebecca'swords from their originalplace in rendithe chronologyof the biblical narrative.Jubileesalso includesa straightforward tion of Rebecca'swords (26:5-6). That does not howevermilitateagainstthe feasibility of the proposedinterpretationsince multiple interpretationsof the same biblical passage can often be presented within a particularwork. (See the discussion of "overkill"in J.L. Kugel, In Potiphar'sHouse [Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1994], 256-57.)


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ratherhis exegesis. Both love and fear appearin Deuteronomyas necessary ways of relatingto God (6:4 and 6:24 respectively).In 2 Chr 20:7, Abrahamis describedas the friendor lover of God. On the other hand in Gen. 31:42, Jacobrefersto God as the "Godof Abraham"but the "Fear of Isaac.'" The Written Testaments

Given the fact that Jacob actually gives a testament, albeit one comprised of blessings not commandments,in the biblical narrative (Genesis 48-49), it is surprisingto find that Jubileesdoes not take the opportunityto claim that the patriarchthroughhis testamenttransmittedcommandments to his children.J.C.Endreshas madea helpfulattempt towardsthe solution to this problem: Perhapsthe peculiarpresenceof Levi at Jacob's deathbedmight providea solution to this dilemma:insteadof verballytransmittinghis concernsand desires to his children, Jacob effectively handed over to Levi all the traditions he had received from his parentsand his grandfather(45:16). Levi, then, became not only the keeper of the sacred story, but also its interpreter,so that Jacob has entrustedto his son, the priest,the role and authorityof presentingand applying all the accumulatedrevelationthat his forebearshave received from God. This view of Jacob's farewell avoids an ambivalentfinal evaluationof Jacob's life by suggestingthat he actuallytransformedthe processof handingon revelationand its interpretationin ways that continue to nurturehis people, Israel. Jacob not only collected all the importantstrandsof the revealed tradition,but also provided for their future proclamationand application.In the final analysis, then, Jacob stands out not as the dominantcharacterin Jubileesbut as the innovator who structuresa bridge between the ancestralera and the Jewish experienceof the second centuryBcE.61

As Endresnotes, the presenceof Levi and the transmissionto him of the ancestralbooks is surely significant.The question,however, is whetherJacob's bequest is "transformative" or "innovative,"thus justifying the absence of an oral last testament.H. Najmanhas recently highlighted the importanceof books and their transmissionfor the authorof Jubilees.62Given Jubilees' consistent emphasis on the par-

60 Viewing both testamentsas an expressionof the ideals of the author,Flusser,"A New Sensitivity,"112, maintainsthat the authordid not distinguishbetween love and fear of God. However the differenceof language is broughtabout by purely exegetical considerationsand may, if anything,indicateattentionto the semanticdifference. 61 Biblical Interpretation in the Book of Jubilees, 193-94. I have quotedthe passage in full in orderto exemplify the motivationsgenerallybroughtto the interpretation of testamentsin Jubilees. 62 SecondingSinai: The Developmentof Mosaic Discourse in Second TempleJuda-

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ticipationof variouspatriarchsin the process of writing and transmitting, it is not clear that Jacob's act should be seen as atypical.The questionthereforeremains:why did Jacobfail to give a last testament, merely handingover the collected writingsof his ancestorsto Levi? It seems to me that the absence of a last testamentfor Jacob is merely one more indicationof the exegetical foundationof testamentsin the book of Jubilees. Jacob simply does not have any particularcommandmentsassociated exegetically with his life, leaving a testament unnecessary.63

The absence of a testamentof Jacob, as well as the failureof other testamentsto reiteratethe alreadyestablishedancestrallaw, indicates that the writtentext, not the farewell address,is the main mediumof transmissionof law for Jubilees. What then was the purposeof the last testament?The last testamentappearsto be one method for the promulgationof new laws, laws thatwere exegeticallyassociatedwith the particularpatriarchof the testament.' Certainpassages in Jubileesseem to reflectthe view that these new laws were, in turn, written down in the name of each patriarchand addedto the collected ancestralwritings.Accordingto Jubilees,Enoch was the first to learn to write and he "wrotedown in a book the signs of the sky in accord with the fixed patternof their months so that mankindwould know the seasons of the years accordingto the fixed patternsof each of their months"(4:17). Enoch is not explicitly said to have writtendown any legal materialoutsideof his calendricalcontributions.In Jub. 10:14 it is recorded:"He [Noah] gave all the books that he had writtento his oldest son Shem becausehe loved him much more than all his sons." Noah apparentlycomposedoriginalmaterial, beyond that received from Enoch. In Jub. 21:10, Abrahamexplains to

ism (Leiden: Brill, 2003), esp. 117-26, and "Interpretationas PrimordialWriting: Jubileesand its AuthorityConferringStrategies,"JSJ 30 (1999), 379-410, esp. 381-88. For the importanceof the transmissionof books in Jubileesand relatedtexts, see also M.E. Stone, "The Axis of Historyat Qumran,"in PseudepigraphicPerspectives:The Apocryphaand Pseudepigraphain Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds. E.G. Chazon and M.E. Stone; Leiden:Brill, 1999), 133-141. See also Kugel, In Potiphar'sHouse, 99-101, for the importantrole of Gen. 39:8-9 in this matter. 63 The one exception is Gen. 32:33 in which it is explained that the childrenof Jacob do not eat "the sinew of the vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh."This whole biblical accountis omittedin Jubilees. 64 Not all of the commandments includedin a given testamentare new. Old comwith mandmentsare sometimesreiteratedespecially if they are exegetically-associated the later patriarchgiving the testament.There is no evidence howeverof a reiteration of all the commandmentsand hence a completeprocessof transmission.


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Isaac the source of the laws of covering the blood and sacrificejust impartedto him: "becausethis is the way I have found (it) writtenin the books of my ancestors,in the words of Enoch and the words of Noah."The distinctiondrawnbetween "the words of Enoch"and "the words of Noah" indicates that Abraham'scollected books contained separatestatementsmade by each of them. We know that one pair of commandmentsincludedin these books, the prohibitionagainsteating blood and the requirementto cover it (Jub. 21:6-7), was specifically given to Noah (Jub. 6:4-16) and repeated by him in his testament (Jub. 7:30-33). The sacrificiallaws found in the testamentmay have been attributedto Enochbecausehe was the firstpersonto write a testimony, though the earliest inhabitantsof the earth clearly possessed some form of these laws.65In Jub. 39:6, we find the following statement: "But he [Joseph]did not surrenderhimself. He rememberedthe LoRDand what his fatherJacobwould read to him from the words of Abraham-that no one is to commit adulterywith a woman who has a husband;that there is a death penaltywhich has been ordainedfor him in heaven before the most high LORD."Althoughno exact parallel can be found in Abraham'swords concerningthis law, Jub. 20:4, a part of Abraham's testimony to his children is similar: ". . . that we

should dismiss all uncleanessand sexual impurityfrom among us. If any woman or girl among you commits a sexual offense, burnher in fire." Jub. 39:6 clearly indicates that Abraham's testimonial words have been written down; Jacob was reading the words of Abraham concerningadultery.Thus certainlaws found in the testamentsof particular patriarchs are found in written form associated with their names.66There is a close relationshipbetween oral and written testi-

65 Evidence of sacrificeis presentalreadyin the offeringsof Cain and Abel, Gen. 4:3-4. According to Jubilees, Adam made an incense offering (3:27), as did Enoch (4:25-26). Noah's sacrifice (Gen. 8:20) would have been viewed by Jubilees as continuing this tradition,though the detailedaccountfound in Jub. 7:3-7:5 may indicate that the authorthoughtan expansionof the laws of sacrificeoccurredin the time of Noah. If so, the attributionof priestlylaw to Noah in Jub. 21:10 would also include sacrificiallaw. 66 Thus there were books of Enoch, books of Noah, and books of Abraham,a fact that might suggest that the attributionof writtenworks to the patriarchswas merely an interpretiveclaim and that the elusive "Book of Noah" never in fact existed. Two differentviews on the oft-debatedhistoricityof the "Book of Noah" are seen, on the one hand, in C. Werman,"Qumranand the Book of Noah," PseudepigraphicPerspectives, 171-81, and Dimant,"Noahin EarlyJewishLiterature,"144 46, and, on the other hand, R.C. Steiner, "The Heading of the Book of the Words of Noah on a Fragmentof the Genesis Apocryphon:New Light on a "Lost"Work,"DSD 2 (1995)

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monies:oral testimonieseffectuatenew laws, while writtentestimonies transmitthem. The passages mentionedabove reveal a dynamic process of transmission with new revelationbeing pronouncedand recordedin nearly everygeneration.67 A dynamicview of theprocessof transmissionspawns a difficultquestion:how could God have failed to reveal the totality of His eternalwill to the great patriarchsof Israel?How can they be held up as ideals of piety if they did not act accordingto the Torah? It was precisely this set of concernsthat Gen. 18:19 was able to ease for the ancientbiblical interpreter.But Jubileesconstruedit in such a way as to fail to resolve the initial problem.Was true revelationnot bestowed upon the patriarchsafter all? Probablyon account of this outstandingdifficulty,many scholars have assumed Jubilees to have maintainedthat there was no distinctionbetween pre-Sinaiand postSinai laws.68However, it is likely that a dynamic process of transmission was the most compelling solution for the authorof Jubilees

66-71, and F.G. Martinez,Qumranand Apocalyptic:Studies on the Aramaic Texts From Qumran(Leiden:Brill, 1992), 24-44. 67 Jub. 7:38-39 is the one passage that might challenge such a theory of expanding revelation. After commandinghis children to keep the agriculturallaws, Noah explains: ... For this is how Enoch,your father'sfather,commandedhis son Methuselah; then Methuselahhis son Lamech;and Lamech commandedme everythingthat his fathershad commandedhim. Now I am commandingyou, my children,as Enoch commandedhis son in the first Jubilees.While he was living in the seventh generation,he commandedand testified to his childrenand grandchildren until the day of his death. The implicationis that Noah is not innovatingany commandmentsbut merelyfollowing the dictatesof his ancestors.Thereare, however,a numberof difficultieswith this passage. Accordingto Jub. 4:23, Enoch did not die. Jubileesgives no indicationthat Enoch specifically commandedhis son and grandson;rather, it says that he commanded"the childrenof men."It is particularlystrangeto find an attemptto ascribe the agriculturallaws, which precede this passage, to Enoch given Noah's biblicallyattested involvement in agriculture(Gen. 5:29). Stylistically it is odd to find what sounds like a general declarationof the antiquityof Noah's transmissionattached specificallyto the laws of agriculture.Given the internaldivisionsin Noah's testament, it is also stylisticallyawkwardto maintainthat this declarationpertainsto all the laws of the testament. (See J.C. VanderKam,"Enoch Traditions in Jubilees and other Second-CenturySources,"SBLSP 1978, 239, for some additionalincongruitiesin this passage.)It is thereforepossible that this passageconstitutesan interpolationor a distinct sourceaddedby the authorhimself to the end of Noah's testament.Alternatively, the authorof Jubilees is attemptingto constructmultiple levels of authorityfor the transmissionof patriarchallaw. For Jubilees'tendencyto constructmultiple"authority conferringstrategies,"see Najman,"Interpretation as PrimordialWriting,"388-89. 1 See C. Albeck,Das Buch der Jubilaenund die Halacha (Berlin:Scholem, 1930), 34-35.


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since he held a notion of law as subjectto gradualand continuedrevelation, perhaps similar to that found in the Dead Sea sect.69One implication of such a view is that the particular content of the laws

in the possession of the patriarchsis no longer essential. What is importantis the existence of a process of revelationand transmission that hearkensback to the time of the patriarchs,a process that continues at Sinai and on. ThereforeJubileesis able to constructthe content of the patriarchs'last testamentson the basis of actual prompts from the biblical narrative;he does not need to place a summaryof his own ideals into the mouths of the patriarchs.This is not to deny that some of the commandmentsfound in the last testamentshappen to be centralto Jubilees' overall agenda (and that all of them are not importantto him in some way) but ratherto point out that inclusion in the last testamentsor exclusion from them cannot be taken alone as evidence of their centrality.That Jubilees has an ideological program cannot be denied, but it was a programthat thrivedupon close interpretationof Scripture,not free composition.

69 The view of the Dead Sea sect is expressedin the terminologyof "revealedlaws" given at Sinai (M*lIf)and "hiddenlaws" revealedonly to the sect (nrno;). For a discussion of this terminology,see L.H. Schiffman,The Halakhahat Qumran(Leiden: Brill, 1975), 22-32. J.M. Baumgarten, "The Unwritten Law in the Pre-Rabbinic Period,"JSJ 3 (1972), 24, stresses the presence of continuedrevelationat Qumran: "Whilerabbinictraditionstressedthe finalityof the Mosaic revelation,there is found in the Scrolls an articulatedemphasison revelationas a continuingprocess involving a constant search for new illuminations."One suspects that the scholarly view of Jubilees as maintaining that the patriarchs possessed all of Sinaitic law was an anachronisticapplicationof the assumptionsof rabbinicliteratureto Jubilees. Both Anderson,"Statusof the Torah,"10, and Baumgarten,"UnwrittenLaw,"24-25, point out the compatibilitybetween biblical evidence for some sort of limited law in preSinaitic times and the Dead Sea sect's doctrineof continuedpost-Sinaiticlaw.

BOOK REVIEWS Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls, by Magen Broshi. JSPSup 36. Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 2001. Pp. 312. Price:?65.00. ISBN 1-84127-201-9. Magen Broshi is a respectedarcheologistand the formercuratorof the Shrineof the Book at the Israel Museumin Jerusalem.This book is a collection of twenty-threeessays gathered under four general headings:Part 1, Archeology and History (pp. 13-78): 1. "Religion, Ideology and Politics and their Impacton PalestinianArcheology",2. "Troyand Jericho",3. "How to Recognize a Jew", 4. "Archeological Museumsin Israel:Reflectionson Problemsof Identity",5. "Fire,Soil and Water:The Settlementof the Hilly Regions of Palestine in the Early Iron Age", 6. "The Credibilityof Josephus";Part II, Demography and Daily Life (pp. 79-172): 7. "The Populationof Iron Age Palestine", 8. "Methodologyof Population Estimates: The RomanByzantine Period as a Case Study", 9. "The Populationof Western thePopulation Period",10."Estimating Palestinein theRoman-Byzantine of Ancient Jerusalem", 11. "The Diet of Palestine in the Roman Period:Introductory Notes",12."Winein AncientPalestine:Introductory Notes";PartIII,Jerusalem(pp. 173-96): 13."TheExpansionof Jerusalem in the Reigns of Hezekiahand Manasseh",14. "Jerusalem,the City of David, and the Other Capitalsof the Land of Israel", 15. "The Role of the Temple in the HerodianEconomy";Part IV, Dead Sea Scrolls (pp. 197-295): 16. "The Archeologyof Qumran:A Reconsideration", 17."Anti-Qumranic Polemicsin theTalmud",18."VisionaryArchitecture and Town Planningin the Dead Sea Scrolls", 19. "Predestinationin the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls", 20. "Matrimonyand Poverty: Jesus and the Essenes",21. "Was Qumran,Indeed,a Monastery?The Consensusand its Challengers:An Archeologist'sView",22. "Hatred An Essene Religious Principle and its ChristianConsequences",23. "A Day in the Life of HananiahNothos: a Story".A select bibliography of the author'spublications(1968-2000) and two indexes (to references and to modem authors)are appended. C KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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The essay on predestination(chap. 19) is publishedhere for the first time; the others are earliercontributionsof the author,updatedwhen necessary.They have been selected "for their readability,non-technical nature,and the hope that they will be of interestto professionalas well as to lay readers"(p. 9). Behind this apparentsimplicity, however, stands an excellent scholarwho addressesevery problemwith a full knowledge of the data, a sound methodology,a clear reasoning and a fair appreciationof the relevant literature.This is particularly evident,for instance,when he combinesthe resultsof excavationsand surveys with a coefficientof density in order to estimate the population of Palestineand of Jerusalemat various periods (chap. 7 to 10). The studies on Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls fill the last third of the book and are generallyconductedwith the same skill. As a professional who led excavations in the area, Broshi is in a privilege position to express his views on the archeologyof Qumran.He generally agrees with the overall interpretationof the first excavator, R. de Vaux, but he holds a differentopinion on a few points (chap. 16 and 21). Accordingto him, de Vaux's understandingof the site as an Essene "monastery"for 150 to 200 persons makes better sense of the archeologicalevidences than any other suggestion;it is also supportedby the correlationsbetween the contentsof the sectarianscrolls and the portrayalof the "solitarytribe of the Essenes" by Pliny the Elder and other ancient writers (pp. 259-73). Broshi, however, does not find indicationsthat the site was occupiedby this groupbefore the end of the second centuryBCE (p. 201); he also argues that the gap between the end of stratum Ib (31 BcE?) and the beginningof stratum II lasted only a few years ratherthan a quarterof a century,as de Vaux had it (p. 205). Broshi's archeologicalexpertiseis also at work in his essay on the Description of the New Jerusalem found in chap. 18. This work, along with the Temple Scroll, "provideimportantinformation of the architectureand town planning of the Second Temple period" (p. 224); a close examination of architecturaldetails ("the tower with spiralstaircase","the peristyle"and "the Hippodamictown plan"),suggestthatthese compositionswere pennedduringthe Hellenistic period (pp. 232-35). Accordingto Flavius Josephus,the belief in fate as "the rulerof all things"was a distinctiveteaching of the Essenes; thereforethe "dual predestination"(for "Truth"or "Falsehood")found in sectarianscrolls like the Manual of Discipline (IQS 3-4), the Thanksgiving Scroll and the Habakuk Commentary provides "the main argumentfor identify-

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ing the Dead Sea Sect with the Essenes"(p. 238). Broshi agrees with A. Lange that this tenet is rooted in pre-Essene teachings about a "pre-existent,hidden, sapientialorderof the world, dualistic in character" (p. 242) still preservedin a few texts found at Qumranbut lacking sectariancharacteristics;it could also have been drawn from the Apocalyptictradition.Predestinationwas adoptedby Paul (Romans 9-11) and subsequentlyby Augustine,Lutherand Calvin; this "cornerstoneof Essene theology"may be consideredas "the most important contributionof the Dead Sea Sect, thatis, the Essenes, to Western civilization"(p. 247). In Broshi's opinion,Jesus, a "fringePharisee",was also influenced by Essene teachings,especially in areas where he differsfrom "mainstreamPharisaicdoctrines"(chap. 20 and 22). His view of marriage as "a sanctifiedunion"and of "remarriageafter divorce [.. .] as fornication"is close to the Essene attitudeto marriage(p. 256). Jesus also shared with the Essenes a contempt for wealth and a view of povertyas a value, despite the fact that he "hadno ascetic tendencies" (p. 258). It is widely acknowledgedthat the commandment"love your neighbor, hate your enemy", quoted by Jesus (Matt. 5:43), is of Essene origin;Broshi arguesthat the alternativecommandment,"Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors"(Matt. 5:44) has also its antecedentin the Essene convictionthat the punishmentof the "Children of Darkness"should be left to God (pp. 278-79). In chap. 17, Broshi similarlytracksdown variouskinds of anti-Qumranicpolemics in the Talmud,e.g. the overt argumentaboutthe paymentof the HalfShekel (pp. 215-16) or the covert one about sexual relationson sabbath (pp. 219-20). A few of these points were still debatedlong after destructionof the Temple; this raises the possibility that "Qumranic beliefs and practiceswere still in circulationall throughthe first millenium CE" and that the "spiritualdescendantsof Qumran[...] parented Karaism"(p. 222). The last chaptertakes the form of a novel about HananiahNothos, a sectarian whose name appears in a text recording the Rebukes of the Overseer (4Q477); subtly combining numerous details found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in ancient sources, Broshi uses this original frameworkto provide an impressionist view of the communal lifestyle of this Essene congregation, "the first monasticcommunityin the Westernworld"(p. 312). Adding a lively style to his vast knowledge and his long experience, Broshi sustainsthe interestof the readeruntil the last line of his essays. The texts are usually concise, and sensitive subjects like the

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1I1

identificationof the Qumraniteswith the Essenes or the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testamentwould have deserveda more elaboratedtreatment.There are slight repetitionshere and there, a phenomenonwhich cannot be easily avoided when similar topics are touchedupon in differentchapters(e.g. on the thirdwall of Jerusalem,p. 23 and p. 118). A few mistakes have escaped the attentionof an otherwise careful proofreader:on p. 39, the last sentence of the thirdparagraphshouldbe changedto "TheAeneid [rather than the Iliad] was composed by the Roman poet Virgil.. ."; on p. 229, fig. 1, the thick vertical line on the right correspondsto item "E" of the legend (main thoroughfare,east-west). Universite de Montreal

JEAN DUHAIME

Calliope: WorldHistoryfor YoungPeople. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Peterborough,N.H.: CobblestonePublishingCompany,Dec. 2001. Vol. 12, Iss. 4. Pp. 47. Price:$4.95 (back issue availablefor purchase throughwww.cobblestonepub.com). ISSN 1050-7086. Calliope is a children'smagazine that bills itself as a "passportto world history"for studentsin the 9-14 year age range.The December 2001 issue devoted to the Dead Sea Scrolls follows the standardformat of the magazine,incorporatingabout a dozen featurearticles,and some relevant"activities,"amidstnumerouscaptivatingvisual images, and some simple helpful maps, timelines, and a glossary. Young readerswill likely form their primaryimpressionsabout the Dead Sea Scrolls on the basis of the photographsin the magazine.The selection and layout of the images enhancetheirinherenteffectiveness. The ancienttexts and artifacts,the romanticcaves and cliffs, and even the modem dramatispersonae, seem exotic and inviting:faded black and white photos of Bedouin shepherds;Syrian Orthodoxclerics; and Western scholars and archaeologistsin the field. There is no doubt that the Calliope issue is successful as propagandafor the field of Qumranstudies. Its more serious pedagogicalvalue will depend upon the setting in which it is used. Calliope is not a magazine that many childrenwill read for extra-curricular pleasure,along the lines of the more humorous and outrageousHorribleHistories series. Nor is it likely to meet the academic needs of serious young studentswho would surely pre? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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fer direct engagementwith primarytexts. The magazine is probably most effective for classroomuse as a complementto a more general curriculum,in this case, in the area of religious studiesor ancienthistory. The issue on the Dead Sea Scrolls can serve as an effective introductionto Qumranstudies in the context of broaderinquiry,and in the hands of an informededucator. Some potentialuses of this publication,both positive and negative, can be deducedfrom the non-academicsections of the magazine.On the one hand, there are two "activities"contributedby an educator, LindaMasternakJustice,bothof whicharerelevant,creative,andappealing. One is a crafts project,entitled"How to Make a Scroll"and the otheris a simulationof a damagedscroll, in which the studentis challenged to restoremissing portionsof a "text,"specificallyan account, in English,of the activitiesof a fictionalscribe namedEleazar.On the other hand, there is a section on "wordorigins"that could have been useful but really misses its mark with the two featured words, "Jubilee"and "chutzpah."The formerat least is apt, thoughthe supplied definition and descriptiondo not refer at all to the Dead Sea Scrolls or even to the book of Jubilees. However, the inclusion of "chutzpah,"and the accompanyingsidebaridentificationof "Yiddish," seems to highlightthe potentialpitfalls of this enterprise. The feature articles themselves are mostly relevantand rise to the task of presentingreadily understoodsummariesof complex phenomena,concepts,andarguments.It is notsurprisingthatLawrenceSchiffman is the consulting editor for this publication and that he and James VanderKamauthoreda numberof the articles.Schiffman'sReclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls and VanderKam'sThe Dead Sea Scrolls Today have made the scrolls accessible to the general lay public, and it was a naturalstep for them to furthersimplify their presentationsfor a juvenile audience. Perhapsthe result is a bit too simplifiedin some cases, but most of the articles succeed in presentinga few key ideas, with the most significantsupportingdata. Thus, in his descriptionof "the QumranCommunity"and its associationwith KhirbetQumran, VanderKamadvocates the consensus view, including a defense of Essene identification,while presentingcompeting theories about the archaeologicalsite.Thisis morenuancedthanhis articleabouttheScrolls and Christianity,in which he assumes the Essene identificationas his starting-point.J. Hayes offers a readableand informativesurveyof the historical setting in the Second Temple period, and S. White Crawford's treatmentof the Bible and the Scrolls covers the basics of the

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issuesof "canon"andtextualcriticismin clearconciseprose.E. Schuller's descriptionof the physical scrolls themselvesand their scribalcharacteristicsmight be a bit too technicalfor the youngerportionof the target audience,but should be appreciatedby older students. One noteworthycharacteristicof the publicationis its emphasison modem controversysurroundingthe Qumrancorpus.Two informative articlesby G. Brooke and L. Schiffmanare devoted to the story of the discovery and acquisitionof the scrolls in modernity.The inclusionof a third article on the topic, by A. Roitman,seems excessive, though his accompanyingsidebarabout "the rights to MMT"was probablya sine qua non. The attention to modem academic politics is dispropor-

tionate to the focus upon the content and context of the scrolls. Of course, one of the goals of Calliope magazine is to demonstratethe contemporaryrelevance of historical inquiry. If the self-reflective stance of the Dead Sea Scrolls issue seems almost quainta mere three yearsafterits publication,perhapsit servesall the morereadilyto enhance our appreciationof historicaldevelopment. Universityof Sydney

SHANI BERRIN

Pesharim,by TimothyH. Lim. Companionto the QumranScrolls 3; London/New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002. Pp. x + 106. Price: $29.95. ISBN: 1-84127-273-6 (Pbk). For more than a decade, Sheffield Academic Press has published helpful handbooksfor biblical and relatedliteraturein the series entitled Old Testament Guides, New Testament Guides, and Guides to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. In a similar vein, Sheffield has launched a new series, Companionto the QumranScrolls, of which Pesharim,by Timothy H. Lim, is a part. The volume begins with a brief introductiondesigned to orient the reader to Qumranstudies generally and to the pesharimspecifically. In the lattercase, Lim discusses the importanceof the pesharim,their types, the biblical quotationsfound in them, and their dates. Of particular note here are two helpful charts, one cataloging the biblical citationsfound in each documentand anotherlisting each document's probabledate. Chaptertwo is devoted to a summaryof each continuouspeshera summarywhich describes the text and takes up assortedissues of ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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Lim concludesthat the genre textualreconstructionand interpretation. "pesher"correctlyidentifiesthe fifteen texts treated,thoughtheircommon features are fewer than often assumed: 1) continuousquotation of a biblical text; 2) use of the technicalterm "pesher"in the citation formula;3) identificationof a figure in the biblical text with a contemporaryone; and 4) eschatological orientation(with perhapsone exception). His next chapter seeks to relate this genre "pesher"to other genres of exegesis, including thematic pesharim,midrash,and eschatologicalmidrash.Lim concludesthat "pesher"representsa distinct genre which shares some features with other forms of biblical and post-biblical exegesis and that except for 1IQMelch, what are called "thematic pesharim"are better seen as loose collections of scriptureand comment. In chapterfour, Lim considerswhetherin some cases biblical quotationsfound in the pesharimrepresenttextualvariantsof the Hebrew Bible or exegetical variantsservingthe interpreter'spoint. He explains that the whole question is more complex than some previous studies have indicated. Chapterfive turns to the question of history in the pesharim.Lim reviews the meaning and value of key sobriquetsand titles found in the pesharim(Kittim;Wicked Priest;Liar;Teacherof Righteousness).In a final chapter,he briefly relates pesharimto the New Testament,arguingthat little is gained by identifyingthe biblical exegesis found in Paul or Matthewwith Qumranpesharim.Lim accountsfor sharedfeaturesbetween early Christianbiblical exegesis and Qumranpesharimon the basis of the common sectarianstatusof their respectivecommunitieswithin Second Temple Judaism. This book contains a good deal of useful informationand discussion, but suffers from a problem intrinsic to the book's stated aim. Lim writes: "I have written a book in a way that providesan introduction for the studentand advances the scholarlydiscussion on the pesharim"(p. ix). Both of these aims are worthwhile,but only with difficultydo they inhabitthe same volume. The volume has a numberof positive features.The chapterdevoted to summariesof the continuouspesharim,along with a concludinglist of their common and distinctivefeatures,will serve as a useful reference for studyingthe pesharim.Further,Lim's treatmentof historyin thepesharimoffersaninformativesummaryof key titlesfoundin Qumran discourse,and he seems correctboth when he judges Philip Davies's "historicalminimalist"view of the pesharimas overly skeptical and the Groningen Hypothesis-that the title "Wicked Priest" refers to

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various Maccabean high priests-as on the right track. Also, there is useful and up-to-date discussion of selected issues, such as the difficulty in using biblical quotations in the pesharim for assessing textual variantsof the HebrewBible. Finally, Lim supplies a full and up-to-date listing of editions, translations,and bibliographyfor the pesharim. The centralweakness of the book is its unevennessas a guide for students.For instance, the introductorychapteroffers too little about Qumranstudies to be of much help to studentswho do not already know a good deal about the subject.In addition,the sequenceof topics could be improved.For instance,discussionof problemsassociated with editing the pesharimcomes before a summaryof the texts themselves and would probably be unintelligible to many students. At points in the book, Lim takes up technicalissues which would quickly lose studentreaders.For example, the discussion of genres comparable to "pesher"refersto otherQumranscrolls(e.g., 4QDibHama, 4QMMT, CD),earlyChristiantestimonyliterature,andthemiddotof RabbiIshmael, all without sufficientexplanationabout what these are and how they illuminatethepesharim.Moreover,his technicaldiscussionis oftenhighly compressed,appropriatefor readersfamiliarwith the scholarlyarticles on the topic, but not for the novice. Add to this some poor editing (e.g., in the context of commentsabout lQpHab, referenceis made to fragment1, line 14, without indicatingthat the text cited is fragment 1, line 14 of 4QFlor [p. 48]; or the garbledphrasethat begins p. 51), and one is left with a volume of limited usefulness to studentsas an introductoryguide. When the church father Papias describedthe origin of the second Gospel, he explained that in writing it Mark "kept a single aim in view" (Eusebius,HE 3, 39.15)-good advice for writing gospels and, as it turnsout, guidebooks.Althoughat some points containingmaterial beneficial for students and at other points advancing the scholarly discussion, Pesharimwould achieve its aim better if there were only one. Calvin College

KENNETH E. POMYKALA

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Wealthin the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the QumranCommunity, by CatherineM. Murphy.STDJ 40. Leiden: Brill, 2002. Pp. xxi + 672; 10 plates. Price e 128.00/$ 149.00. ISBN 90-04-11934-5. CatherineMurphy'simpressiveand comprehensiveexaminationof wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls is a revisedversionof her NotreDame dissertation.After an introductorychapter,she begins with threemajor texts and their statementsabout wealth: the Rule of the Community, the Damascus Document,and Instruction.This is followed by chapters on wealth in other Qumrantexts, the archaeologicalevidence, documentaryevidence from the JudaeanDesert, and finally secondary descriptionsof the Essenes in Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder. The main body of the work is followed by eight appendices,a bibliography,indexes and ten plates all of which togethermake up almost a thirdof the book. Let me go throughthe chaptersin turn. Perhapsthe greatestcontribution of the chapter on the Damascus Document is Murphy's demonstrationof the importanceof economic issues in this text, cf., for example, her economic interpretationof the expression "sons of the pit" (p. 76) and her emphasison the commercialaspects of marriages as indicatedby contemporarymarriagecontracts(pp. 82-83). My only majormisgiving about this book is that the crucialrelationship between S and D is not given more attentionwith respectto the specific wealth angle of this study. Differences are occasionally acknowledged(p. 52), but elsewhere they are blurred(p. 419, where incidentallythe claim that the DamascusDocumentdoes not mention initiationproceduresis not true, cf. CD 15). Outside of the specific chapteron D, S and D are frequentlymentionedtogether,often as the constitutionaltexts, as if they presupposethe same kind of community setting (e.g. pp. 213, 399) and attitude to wealth. This failure sufficientlyto address the complexity of the relationshipbetween S and D throughoutthe study is a weakness in an otherwisethoroughly impressivecontribution.In her introductorycommentson the Damascus Document Murphyrightly notes the minority scholarly opinion that the laws are not an intrinsicpartof the document(p. 29). To use CUP, 1987];andP.R. M.A. Knibb(TheQumranCommunity[Cambridge: of the "Damascus An Interpretation Damascus Covenant: Davies, (The Document"[Sheffield:Sheffield:Academic Press, 1982]) to illustrate this point because their books do not include translationsof the legal part misrepresents their position and is surprising given the lack ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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of reference to the two most extreme advocates of this view, i.e. C. Rabin (The ZadokiteDocuments:I. The Admonition,HI.The Laws [Oxford:Clarendon,1954]); and H. Stegemann("Das Gesetzeskorpus der 'Damaskusschrift'(CD IX-XVI)," RevQ 14 [1990] 409-434). In contrastto the claim on p. 319 (see also p. 448), a reductionof food rations does not occur in the Damascus Document's version of the penal code, but in 4Q265. Finally, the favoured reading "sons of dawn" in CD 13:14-15 (pp. 58 and 255 where the referenceis erroneously given as CD 14:14-15) is briefly contradictedon p. 373. One of Murphy'smain conclusions in the S chapteris that the emphasis upon wealth as a characteristicof communalidentity runs across the various recensionsof S. I have recently come across a similarlypermanentconcern with opponentsto run across the versional spectrum ("The Communityand Its Rivals According to the CommunityRule from Caves 1 and 4," forthcomingin RevQ). It thus appearsthat the study of the relationshipbetween 1QS and the 4QS-manuscriptsis revealing new insights into the literaryand probablyalso sociological developmentsreflectedin S. Whereasinitialstudiesquiteproperlyemphasized the importanceof significantvariants,currentresearchis finding equally significantshared concerns presentalongside such variants.I haveto disagree,atleastpartly,however,withtheslightoversimplification that "the manuscriptsthat witness to an earlier version of the Rule, 4QSb,d, often use terminologyfor the communitythat is changedto 7rTr in lQS." (p. 154 following M. Bockmuehl,"Redactionand Ideology in the Rule of the Community,"RevQ 18 [1998] 541-60). While this is certainlytrue, it doesn't tell the whole story. An additionallevel of complexityentersthe picturewhen we note that even these earlierwitnesses 4QSb.d at times attest IFPterminologyalongsidetheirpreference at othertimes for alternatives.Let me spell out one in my view telling example: IQS 5

4QSb

4QSd

5:1 -rnn'= 5:2-3 Tfl'r vftk Zn

IX: 1 [-;lnm-7'0]

I:1 I n-nM '0

IX: 3 t:rn IX:8 7nn is

I:2 vminn I:7 r]rnil [']v2KnMSv

5:9-10 cn-n: 'x: Zn b -TM, vnflrnm

The point I am trying to emphasizeis that Murphyand others are paying due attentionto the first two lines of the table while neglecting the evidence of the third line which indicates literaryand redactional

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developmentwithin 4QSbd itself. Murphydraws attentionto the frequent use of economic symbolism in Instruction, cf. the contrast between wicked and poor ratherthan wicked and righteous(p. 172) and argues for an economically deprived backgroundbehind this text. Although she considers Instructionto be non-sectarianher final assessment raises the alternativeto "reimaginethe social and economic structureof the Qumrancommunity"based on the popularityof thecompositionat Qumran(p. 209). Thecriterionof popularityat Qumran does not strike me as a strong one, cf. the popularity of Isaiah, Genesis, Deuteronomy,Psalms or Jubilees in the collection. Another avenue not explored here is the possibility of the scrolls attestingat least two forms of distinct social organization,and two economies, one more segregatedthan the other.The chapteron other Qumranliteratureincludes both sectarianand non-sectarianworks. A very helpful featurethroughoutthe book are numeroustables, cf. e.g. table 12 which details coins recoveredfrom the Qumranplateau(pp. 306-7). An exceptionis table 11 on the distinctionbetween sectarianand nonsectariantexts in this chapterwhich is both incompletein relationto the contents of the chapter and mislabels MMT as eschatological ratherthan halakhic(p. 212, contrastpp. 218ff.). Note also that table 13 is erroneouslylabeled table 12 on pp. 391-93. The table of contents lists only the first level of subheadingswithin each chapter,a featurethat struckme as ratherunhelpfulin the presentchapterwhere a plethoraof "otherliterature"is discussed, and it would have been exceedingly useful to have furthersubdivisions of the chapterindicated in the table of contents.In her discussionof non-sectariantexts Murphyrightlydrawsattentionto the correspondencesbetween4Q390 2 i 6-10 and CD IV-V (p. 278). Disappointinglynot much more is said about the significance of this considerableoverlap. Such close agreement between a key sectarian passage on Murphy's analysis (others have argued that the nets of Belial material goes back to sources used by the compiler of D; cf. P.R. Davies, The Damascus Covenant: An Interpretation of the "Damascus Document" [Sheffield:

SheffieldAcademicPress, 1982], pp. 108-19) and a non-sectariantext raises some importantquestions that deserve to be addressed. The overlappingmotifs drawnout betweenthe sectarianliteratureand nonsectarianpoetic texts on p. 281 raise comparablemethodologicalquestions. It seems advisable to refrainfrom reconstructingthe sectarian social backgroundwith confidenceon the basis of motifs and concerns that the sectarian literatureshares with non-sectariansources. The

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chapter on archaeology offers a magnificent overview and wellbalanced discussion of the archaeologicalevidence quite apart from the specific economic issues addressed. Murphy is thorough in her overview and fair-mindedin handling various hypotheses that have been put forwardedeven where she is not convinced.Dealing with the documentarytexts, Murphymakes a strongcase againstYardeni'sthesis that the majorityof the documentarytexts from QumranCave 4 are ratherdocumentsfrom Nahal Hever that were misrepresentedas QumranCave 4 texts. While she acknowledgesthe possibility that a numberof the documentarytexts were broughtalong by community membersand that the languageand transactionsattestedby them may well pertainto their life priorto theirjoining the community(p. 398), in practiceherdiscussionof key textsthatprecedesthesemethodologically cautious statementsis rathercommunity-centric,cf., for example, her discussions of 4Q360a, and 4Q344, 4Q348 (pp. 396-97). Her discussion of the secondary sources on the Essenes concludes that their statementson economic matters confirm an Essene identificationof the communitybehind the scrolls. In sum, Murphy forcefully demonstratesthe importance of economic concerns in the corpus of the scrolls even if she might overstate her case occasionally, e.g. her economic interpretationsof the age limits in the Rule of the Congregation(p. 215), the haughtyspirit in 4Q477 2 ii 3-5 and privilegingkinsfolk in 4Q477 2 ii 7-8 (both pp. 222-23). Overall, Murphystrikes an admirablebalance between casting her nets wide and still paying attentionto detailed analysis. She deserves to be warmly applaudedfor her achievement.Given the vast amountthat is covered it is unlikely that she spoke the last word on all the issues she deals with but she certainly moved the debate and scholarshipalong in a numberof stimulatingdirections.It staggers me that a version of this massive opus was producedas a doctoral thesis, and the Germanacademiccustom of multiplyingdoctoral titles springsto mind. Cambridge

CHARLOTrE HEMPEL

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QumranCave 4. XXIII:UnidentifiedFragments,by Dana M. Pike and AndrewC. Skinner,with a contributionby TerrenceL. Szink, and in consultationwith James VanderKamand Monica Brady. DJD 33. Oxford:ClarendonPress, 2001. Pp. xiv + 380; 41 plates. Price: $135.00. ISBN: 0-19-924955-5. This volume, as one scroll researcherquipped, was published to prove once and for all that the name "Jesus"is not to be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Apartfrom this, the volume-like a bootleg of early Beatle outtakes-is importantbut perhapsonly so for the "completist." The publicationcovers the last 41 plates from the PAM 43.00044.000 series (pp. 11-317), photographedfrom May 1959 to June of 1960. These plates representthe puzzle pieces left over afterthe manuscripts were reconstructedto their "final"forms. The volume also republishesall the unidentifiedfragmentsfrom previousvolumes (pp. 319-69). The plates and concordanceat the rear of the volume cover only the first part of the publication,however, the republishedfragments must be checked in the plates and concordancesappendedto their original places of publication. Several questionsarise as one peruses the contents.The first concerns the completenatureof unidentifiedfragments.Does this volume indeedcover all unidentifiedfragmentswithin the last series of plates? On the one hand we must assume that a few fragmentswere lost if only to deteriorationin each (five in all) of the reorganizationsof the materialand never made it to this final stage. And on the other,there are numerousfragmentsin my own survey of the plates of the 43.000 series which have eluded attemptsat identificationthoughall the sectarianmaterialis encodedelectronically.See especiallyplates43.163-75, 43.552-56. Perhapswe can expect additionalvolumes of Unidentified Fragments. The second questionconcernsthe contents:how much usable material is to be had here? The answer is hinted at in the concordance. Over 300 pages of new transcriptionsfits in nine concordancepages with room to spare. A comparablesized volume (DJD XXII) has a concordanceof twenty-sixpages. As to concordablewords,this works out to 1022 for DJD 33 and 3342 for DJD 22. In truth,I am pleasantly surprisedthat the real meat is even this thick. The third questionconcernsthe certaintyof the transcriptions,and resulting lexical assignments and translations.Given the near total lack of context, the bane of Qumrantext reconstructiontakes on even C) KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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deadlierproportions.A couple of examples will suffice. PAM 43.670 frag. 27 1 seems straightforward enough: ]'rt[, "]brother(of?)[," and given the odds is probablycorrect.Fully 123 of 144 occurrencesof this series of letters elsewhere in the Qumrancorpus are solved by forms of the word "brother."But other possibilitiesexist and are not mentionedin the notes: mi (2x, howling desert animal), -[MA (lx, "to seize"), Ilrns ( lx, "sister"), rirnm ( lx, "Ahiiy ot"), l:wnA ( lx, "Ahiman"), nppnm(3x, "Ahikar"), Dm-tr (lx, "Ahiram"), D-717 (lx,

"Ahira"),or mIn(6x, "to live"). And these are only the extantQumran possibilities.More troublesomeare transcriptionssuch as PAM 43.686 frag. 73 1: ]oni*-1o[, "]those who come[." A search of the corpus

reveals thatnnR:, as suggestedin the notes, is not impossible(4Q368 10 i 5) but the reading is almost certainlyinItcn("produce")which shares the same orthographyas well as a very similar handwriting with 4Q299 6 ii 14. As a last example,PAM 43.689 frag. 31 1 is transcribed ]tin)[ and translatedas "hero"(liM.) when it is more likely ir]il:[, "mightydeed" (167x to 79x in Qumrantexts). This more or less random sample of examples could be multiplied many times over. A judicious use of the data bases that are currentlyavailable electronically would often have producedmore complete notes and seasoned decisions. To take the case of PAM 43.686 frag. 73 1 (]oritco[)

as an exam-

ple of the final and most importantproblem,how would one go about checkingwhetherthis fragmentmight indeed have brokenloose from 4Q299? Unfortunatelythe plates and commentaryare not up to the task. There is no scale to the images, althoughone might assume they are "life-size," and the quality is not suitable for serious decisions. What is needed-short of access to the holy of holies in the bowels of the RockefellerMuseum-are two items. The first is a CD-ROM of professionallyproducedscanned images (and better than 300 dpi, please!) with each volume of DJD. The second is a completefragment by fragment catalogue of each of the PAM series, so that the researchercould gain whateverclues might be forthcomingfrom the other contexts in which this fragment has been photographed.It is likely that this fragmentis to be found on four additionalplates. As this volume was not availablewhen the propername index was produced for DJD 39 (pp. 229-84), the following additions (47) should be made to that list: mrmK "Edom"(44.102 73 1); b= "Gamul" (44.102 66 3); rnv "Zanoah"(43.694 22 1); In "Hivite"(43.677 25 1); anrn"Hiram"(44.102 25 1); nw "Nile"(43.676 57 1); m7r,"Yahweh"

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(43.663 26 1; 43.674 40 2; 43.678 6 4; 43.678 66 1; 43.678 68 ii 1; 43.679 6 2, 10 1; 43.682 28 1; 43.684 98 1; 43.692 40 1; 57 1, 78 1; 43.696 26 1); 11p"Javan/Greece" (43.664 82 1); 901V "Joseph" (43.676 6 1); "p, "Jacob" (43.680 46 1; 43.699 39 1; 43.700 46 2); &*0-' "Jerusalem"(43.685 49 2); In'r-' "Jeremiah"(43.685 65 1); sW "Israel" (43.675 24 4, 36 2; 43.677 2 1; 43.680 51 3; 43.691 43 2; 43.692 92 1; 44.102 38 1); II.= "Canaanite"(43.692 85 1); I* "Levi/Levite"(43.666 79 1); C:'7:; "EgyptfMizraim"(43.680 33 2); non "Moses" (43.676 20 1, 43.685 60 1); }: "Noph" (43.679 1 3); V'P "Kish" (43.686 11 1); :M7 "Rahab"' (43.692 39 1); 0'.UV "Seorim" (43.675 8 2); nIR "Saul/Shaul" (43.691 54 2); 1170 "Sharon" (43.686 66 1); and no "Seth" (43.696 29 2). Criticisms aside, Dana Pike and Andrew Skinner have produced a fine volume given the current confines of DJD. To their credit, they treated the project seriously (no mention of Jesus, though); and their helpful comments attest to the energy that they applied to a rather thankless task. For this the "completists" (DSS research community) owe a debt of thanks. Trinity Western University

MARTIN

G. ABEGG, JR.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty YearsAfterTheirDiscovery:Proceedingsof theJerusalemCongress,20-25 July 1997,editedby Lawrence H. Schiffman, Emmanuel Tov, and James C. VanderKam. Executive editor: Galen Marquis. Jerusalem:Israel Exploration Society in cooperationwith the Shrineof the Book, 2000. Pp. xxi + 970; 15 plates. Price: $104 (for IES members: $78). ISBN 965-22-038-2. This volume contains ninety-one of the one hundredand twenty papers delivered at the internationalconferenceheld in Jerusalemin July, 1997 to mark fifty years since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, plus the talks deliveredat the final celebratorysession held at the site of Qumran.The volume is dedicatedto the memory of Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson. The editors have reorganizedthe papersfrom eighteen conference sessions into six major divisions and thirty-onechapters.There is a certain arbitrarinessin setting up these divisons, and many of the papers could have been placed equally well in differentplaces and ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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combinations.In every section, thereare both generalsurvey type articles and focused studies of a particulartopic or text. While it is impossibleto summarizein depth such a large numberof papers,this review attemptsto give an overview of the main topics covered, both as a resourcefor readerswho may not have ready access to a copy of the volume and in order to give a sense of primary areas of researchand debate at this stage of Scrolls researchfifty years after discovery. Part 1: The Hebrew and GreekBible in Light of the Qumran Discoveries Chapter 1: Qumran and the History of the Text of the Hebrew Bible. S. Talmon,E. Ulrich and A. Rofe presentbroad schematasurveys of how each understandsthe Scrolls to contributeto our understanding of the development and transmission of the text of the HebrewBible. R. Fullerand R.S. Hendel suggest that the time is right to producea criticaleclectic edition of the HebrewBible. D.W. Parry presentsa preliminaryedition of previouslyunpublishedtext, sixteen fragmentsof 4QSamafrom 1 Sam 14:24-24:22. A. Lemairegives his readingsof 4Q448 Col. A and arguesthat lines 4b-10 are a shortversion of Psalm 154. Chapter 2: Biblical Interpretationat Qumran. Three studies of specific texts: the receptionof the book of Leviticus at Qumran(H.-J. of 2 Samuel 7 (W.M. Schiedewind); Fabry);the use and interpretation Jubilees6, especially its interpretationof covenant(J.C. VanderKam). G. Brooke surveysbroad similaritiesand differencesin the interpretation of law, prophets,narrativeand poetry in the Scrolls and the New Testament,includingapproachesto Canonand exegeticalmethodology. Chapter3: The New Testamentand Qumran.A broad general survey of standardquestionof influence(J.H. Charlesworth)plus specific studiesof apocalypticism(J.J.Collins),theGospelof John(R. Bauckham), the Epistle to Barnabas (M. Dacy), First Thessalonians (K.P. Donfried), and Matthew(J. Kampen). Part 2: The QumranCorpus Chapter1: The Nature of the QumranCorpus.D. Dimant surveys the diversity of genres and the evidence of a history of development in many texts found in the libraryand arguesthat this is evidence that

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the Qumrancommunitybelonged to a well-establishedschool rich in traditions.S.J. Pfann surveys all materialswrittenin crypticscript;in an excursus he suggests that the sundial found at Qumranwas used as a clock to measure the fifth hour when the Essenes gatheredfor their communal meal. B. Thiering gives her chronology of all the majordocuments,datingtheircompositionfrom40 BCE to 70 CE, with the Teacherof Righteousnessbeing active 26-30 CE. E. Tov presents a detaileddescriptionof the specific featuresof 140 texts copied by a distinctiveQumranscribal school. Chapter2: Liturgicaland SapientialTexts. Liturgicaltexts: the content,themesandtimesfor prayerin DailyPrayers,4Q503, (E.G.Chazon); a re-edition of certain fragmentsof 4Q503 and the identificationof 4Q505 as part of the Festival Prayers, not the Words of the luminaries (D. Falk); the use of the Benedictions(4Q286-290) in the ceremony of Covenant Renewal (B. Nitzan). H. Stegeman's article describeshis reconstructionof the lQHodayotamanuscript;an appendix gives the correspondences.Between the older Sukenikcolumnand line numbersand the new numbers-though the full publicationof this reconstructionis still sorely needed to allow scholars to work easily with IQHa. Sapientialtexts: D.J. Harringtonsurveysthe majorwisdom works found at Qumran,and T. Elgvin concentrateson 4QInstruction. E.J.C. Tigchelaarexplores the relationshipbetween 11Q29 and 1QS VII 18-19; 11Q29 may be a slightly variantcopy, anotherformulation of the Penal Code or a citation. Chapter3: Themes in the Scrolls: Creationmotifs in the Hodayot (M.A. Daise), confession of sin in lQS 1:24-26 and CD 20:28-30 (J. Krasovec); implanting pious qualities as a theme in the Barki Nafshi Hymns (D.R. Seely); God and Belial (A. Steudel). Chapter4: Texts,ReadingsandMultipleEditions.Onegroupof papers in this diverse section explores the evidence for, and implicationsof, multiple editions of the War Scroll (H. and E. Eshel), the Temple Scroll (F. GarciaMartinez)and the Rule of the Community(S. Metso). C. Hempellinks4QOrdaspecificallyto thehalakhiclayerof theDamascus Document. M. Segal argues that 4Q364-367 + 4Q158 are not all copies of the same work, but that 4Q364 and 365 are a biblical text with pre-Samaritan-likefeatures, 4Q366 is a biblical text with rearrangementbut no expansion,4Q367 is an excerptedtext of Leviticus, and 4Q158 is closer to RewrittenBible. E.J. Wilson demonstratesthat the Peshittaof Job is dependenton the MT, not on 4QtgJob.D.M. Pike and A.C. Skinnerdescribe some features of the 2900 miscellaneous fragmentsthat they have now publishedin DJD XXXIII, and discuss

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4Q467 in detail. A. Shemesh proposesa new interpretationof 1IQTa 52:13-16 as referringto sacralsacrificeratherthannon-sacralsacrifice as usually interpreted.S.L. Berrin describes three types of peshercorrespondencebetween the biblical text and its interpretationand illustratesfrom IQS 2:5-10 and 4Q169 3-4 i 1-2. Chapter 5: The "Apocrypha"and "Pseudepigrapha"at Qumran. Tobit:thesignificanceof theHebrewandAramaictextsof (J.A.Fitzmyer). Enoch: new readingsof selected passages in 4QEnoch(E. Isaac); evidence of recensional activity in the Aramaic copies (none) and the Greek copies (some) (E. Larson). B.Z. Wacholder proposes that Deutero-Ezekieland-Jeremiah,preservedin 4Q384-391, is a singlelarge composition(contraD. Dimantin DJD XXX), which presentsEzekiel as the proto-founderof the Essenes. B.G. Wright comparesPseudoEzekiel (that is, the fragmentsassigned by D. Dimantto this work) to the patristicApocryphonof Ezekiel. Part 3: History,Archaeologyand Language Chapter1: The QumranTexts and Early Judaism.Six very diverse papers.J.M. Baumgartenexploreshow and why purificationby means of sprinklingwaters is extended from corpse impurityto other kinds of impurities.R. Gmirkinproposesthat sectarianscrolls are the literatureof the Hasidimfrom the 170s and 160s BCE. D. Greenexamines various scribal practices for writing the tetragrammatonand other names for God. E. Puech argues that the Essenes believed in the resurrectionof the body, not the immortalityof soul as we might think by reading only Josephus.Z. Safrai collects the remembrancesabout various sects in rabbinicliteratureand assesses their reliaibility.L.H. Schiffmanurges that we take into accountall the JudeanDesert texts, particularly to learn about the linguistic situation and aspects of Jewish law vs. non-Jewishlaw in Early Judaism. Chapter 2: The QumranTexts and Early Christianity.A general survey of the sectarianQumran/Essenecommunityand nascentChristianity(G. Vermes),plus specific studiesof similaritiesand differences in diarchicmessianism(C.A.Evans),resurrection andangels(D. Flusser), Sabbathregulationsand presentand futureeschatology(H.-W. Kuhn). Chapter3: The QumranCommunity.Threepapersexplore issues of purity:calendric and purity issues that led to sectarianismaccording to the rabbis (M. Bar-Ilan);purityregulationsconcerningthe Sabbath (L. Doering); and the distinction,maintainedby the Qumransectarians, between ritual and moral impurity(H.K. Harrington).C. Martone

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comparesQumranand Stoic ideas about determinism.In contrastto the more common view that limits the Sons of Zadok to a particular group of priests, C. Wermanargues that all priests were considered Sons of Zadok, (as well as Sons of Aaron). Chapter4: Archaeology.Six papersdeal with the site of Qumran: proposalsabout the name of the site (L. Cansdale);sectarianaspects of the Qumrancemetary (R. Hachlili); the site as a fortified manor house (Y. Hirschfield);a date of circa 100 BCE (not earlier) for the establishmentof the settlementat Qumran(J. Magness);an argument againstextra-muraldwelling quarters(J. Patrich);miqwa'ot at Qumran and in Jerusalem(R. Reich). Other papersdeal with coins relatedto Aelia Capitolinafound in a refuge cave used during the Bar Kohba revolt (H. Eshel); a proposalthat the incense shovels in the "Cave of the Letters"were Jewish, not pagan, ritual objects (R.A. Freund);the courts in the First Temple as comparedto the square courts in the Temple Scroll (A. Kaufman);Samaritanseals and coins from WadiDaliyeh (M.J. Winn Leith);a proposalthat the skeletalremainsfound at Masadaare from three non-Jewishburials(J. Zias). ChapterFive: QumranAramaic.The thirdpersonfeminine singular compapronominalsuffix in QumranAramaic(U. Schattner-Riesner); rison of various features of QumranAramaic and Biblical Aramaic (M. Sokoloff). ChapterSix: Womenat Qumran.Women's archives:the archivesof Babathaand Salome KomaYse(T. Ilan and S. Peterson). ChapterSeven: Eschatologyand Messianismin the QumranTexts. J. Duhaimesurveys various syntheses of Qumranmessianism,particularly those using texts publishedsince 1991, and proposes a social scientificagendafor futurestudies.The otherthreepapersare specific: images of Levi influencedby Melchizedek imagery in the Aramaic Levi Document and Jubilees (A. Aschim); the New Jerusalemtext (J. Frey); the combinationof wisdom and eschatology in the second redactionof Qohelet(Eccl ll:9c; 12:12-14), the Book of Mysteriesand SapientialWork A (A. Lange). Part IV. Texts from Sites Other than Qumran.The Wadi Daliyeh papyricomparedto the Elephantinelegal papyri(D.M. Gropp);Jewish and Nabateanlegal papyrifrom Nahal Hever (B. Levine); boundary descriptionsin the Bible, Elephantineand documentarytexts from the Judean desert (B. Porten); two Nabatean deeds from Nahal Hever (A. Yardeni). PartV: Dating, Restorationand Preservationof QumranTexts. E.B.

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Alkalay and E. Libmandescribe the techniquesthey are using at the Israel Antiquities Authority for the preservationof parchmentand papyrifragments.E. Puech describesthe restorationand conservation of the CopperScroll by the EDF-M6c6nat1993-1996. E. Carmi discusses radiocarbondating and the results of the tests done in Zurich and Arizona in the early 1990s. C.P. Thiede and G. Masuch describe the technique of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CSOM) for studyingdamagedfragments. Part VI: Perspectives. Three papers that discuss non-academic aspects of the Scrolls: how the Scrolls have figured in over a dozen works of fiction (B. Segal); interpretationsof the Scrolls in the popular religious imagination (N.A. Silberman);reflections on issues of freedom of access and copyrightownership(H. Shanks). The final papersin this volume were given at the closing session of the conference,an unforgettableevening held at the Qumrannational park.Betweena magnificentdinneranda speciallycommissioned"Sounds of Light and Darkness"musical composition, J. Aviram reminisced about E. Sukenik and Y. Yadin; F.M. Cross told tales of his early work in the Scrollery;and H. Stegemangave an academic paper on the challengesof Qumran,past and future.The volume concludeswith the survey of "Five Decades of Discoveries, Editions and Research" presentedby EmanuelTov as the opening addressof the conference. McMasterUniversity

EILEEN SCHULLER

Calendarsin the Dead Sea Scrolls: MeasuringTime,by James C. VanderKam.The Literatureof the Dead Sea Scrolls. London: Routledge, 1998. Pp. 136+viii. Price: $80.00 (hbk), $24.95 (pbk). ISBN 0-415-16513-X (hbk), 0-415-16514-8 (pbk). Study of the calendricalsystems representedin extremelyfragmentary manuscriptsis easily among the most arcaneand difficultsubjects in Qumranresearch.But as VanderKamnotes it is also one of the most burningconcernsof the Jewish communityat Qumranand vitally importantto understandingthem. It is all the more remarkableand welcome that VanderKamhas been able to producean entire volume dedicatedto the subject for a broad audience of non-specialiststhat does not feel heavy and complicatedbut is elegantly clear. This is in no small measuredue to a masterfularrangementand presentation. ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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The book is divided into two parts.The first part generouslytreats the context in which one must understandthe Qumrancalendrical data: calendrical data and concerns arising in the Hebrew Bible, Jewish literatureof the Second Temple period,and rabbinicliterature. Prominentamong matters arising from this survey are (1) that the Hebrew Bible remains ambiguous concerning the reckoning of the day, the beginningof the year, and an overarchingchronologicalsystem; (2) that during the Second Temple period various calendrical systems are attested in use by Jews including solar, lunar, and synchronizedschemes; and I Enoch and Jubilees advocate a distinctive 364-day solar calendar that allows a fixed date for the Feast of Weeks, but only the latter rejects lunar reckoning;and (3) that rabbinic writingsassumea calendarof lunarmonthsbased on observation of new moons that is synchronizedwith the solar year by a system of intercalation. The second partexamines the calendricaldata from Qumran,relating it to the developments and disputes outlined in the first part. Chapterfour summarizesthe informationgleaned from the first published scrolls: it became clear that this communityfollowed a different calendarthan that operativeat the Temple, which involved them in a bitter calendricaldispute over the dates for observing festivals and the times for Sabbaths,fundamentallyseparatingthem from other Jews. That is, they observeddifferentreckoningsof the year and of the day (beginningin the morningratherthan evening), which they regardedas divinely ordained.Chapterfive rehearsesthe history of scholarshipon calendarat Qumranpriorto the publicationof the calendricaltexts in the early 1990's that resultedin a fairly detailedand accurate understandingof the 364-day solar calendar, for example: every date (and thus festivals) falls on the same day of the week; the calendarwas deemed to begin on Wednesdayof creation;the dates of the Lifting of the Omer and the Feast of Weeks are fixed as 1/26 and 3/15 respectively;and extra-biblicalfestivals are incorporatedinto a sequenceof first-fruitsfestivals with a fifty day intervalbetweeneach: barley,wheat, wine, oil. Chaptersix describesthe calendricaltexts themselves.VanderKam makeslightworkof a potentiallytediousandconfusingsubjectby adeptly leadingthe readerfrom simple to ever more complex calendars.These calendarscoordinatethreekinds of data with the solar calendar:festivals and Sabbaths,the 24 priestly courses known from the Hebrew Bible, and the phases of the moon. The first two featurespoint to the

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fundamentallyreligious characterof these calendars-they are concerned with worship. The latter feature indicates that there was no rejectionof lunar observationin the calendaras in Jubilees, but that "the calendars of Qumranfound their closest analogs in 1 Enoch" (p. 76) with luni-solarreckoning.Some of the calendarsare extended over long periods of time (e.g., 294 years); this probably shows a practicalconcern with intercalation.But furthermore,the calculation of even the priestly courses back to creation reveals a deeply theological significanceof the calendars,that the cycles of the heavenly bodies and priestly courses both reflect the eternally ordaineddivine order and the correspondence of heaven and earth. VanderKam's views on several debated matters are worthy of note: (1) he agrees with B.Z. Wacholderand M.G. Abegg that the term pri in 4QCalendrical DocumentB refers to the new moon, and the other date refers to the full moon; (2) he suggests that the Qumrancalendarreckonsthe lunar month from full moon to full moon, and is thus differingfrom I Enoch which reckons from the new moon (as usually in Judaism); and (3) he suggests a simplified(but still speculative)system of intercalation over the course of Sabbaticalyears. He concludes this chapter with a brief discussion of astrological texts which reinforce the impressionthatcalendarat Qumranis relatedto ideasof eternallyordained divine order, and a sundial which shows the use of instrumentsfor precise calendricalmeasurements. Chapterseven discusses "measuringand symbolizing longer units of time," again setting the context in the biblical materialbefore turning to the data from Qumran.VanderKamemphasizesparticularlythe schematic use of sabbaticalyears ("weeks" of years), jubilees, and Jeremiah'sprophecyof seventy-yearsin variousways to outline all of history or an epoch, or most frequentlyfor a period of punishment extendingfrom the exile to a restorationin the author'sfuture.In such ways the authorsexpress conviction in God's supremecontrol of all history. In a concluding chapter, VanderKamfirst summarizes his main conclusionsand then sketchesa hypotheticalreconstructionof the role playedby calendricaldisputesin the originsof the Qumrancommunity. He notes several pieces of evidence that a new cultic calendarwas imposed on the Jews by AntiochusIV in 167 BCE. If the Teacherof Righteousnesswas the high priest between 159-152 BCE as proposed by H. Stegemann,he probablytried to restore the old Temple calendar. But Jonathan(the Wicked Priest)who ousted him gained the high

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priesthoodwith SeleucidsupportandwouldhavemaintainedtheSeleucid calendar.TheTeacher'scommunityregardedtheircalendaras theancient and authentic Temple calendar and all Israel to have strayed from God's ordainedorder. VanderKamacknowledgesthat this is highly speculative,but it well illustratesa plausibleplace for calendricaldispute in the origin of the Qumrancommunity. This book strikes a remarkablyhealthy balance between thoroughness and readability.Non-specialistswill find here the perfectstarting point for understandingthese difficultbut importanttexts. Curiously, however, VanderKam dismisses from his discussion the Genesis Apocryphonas lacking "any calendricaldetails"(43). In fact, solving chronologicaldifficultiesrelatedto the biblical narrativesof the flood andAbraham'ssojourningis a majorconcernof theGenesisApocryphon, and although it is heavily indebted to Jubilees on these matters it sometimes offers independentand creative solutions. Perhapsit may also have been worth mentioningthat a probableconcern-or at least side benefit-of the calendar with festivals on fixed days of the week-Wednesday, Friday, Sunday-was to avoid having festivals coincide with Sabbath, thus resolving a dispute concerning the sacrificial procedureson Sabbathsthat were also festival days. But these are very minor quibbles. This outstandingvolume is the most useful succinct treatmentof the subject of calendarin early Judaism available. Universityof Oregon

DANIEL

K.

FALK

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Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah Scholarlv translationand evaluation of Biblical textsfrom the papyrii and manuscriptsof WadiQumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and related bibliographic, linguistic, cultural and historical aspects of ancient Judaism and earlv Christianitv.

Psalmen- und Psalter-Rezeption im Friihjudentum Rekonstruktion,Textbestand,Strukturund Pragmatikder Psalmenrolle JI QPsaaus Qumran ULRICHDAHMEN

This volume is concernedwith the great Psalms Scroll from cave 11 at Qumranas an example for the reception("Fortschreibung")of biblical texts and books in earlyjudaism. After methodologicalconsiderationsthe scroll is examined and reconstructedentirely in its materialand textual extent for the first time. Detailed analyses of the text and the structureof this work show that 1IQpsadeveloped from the final redactionof the biblical book of Psalms. In its unique text form and arrangementof Psalms it was composed in a qumranicmilieu and functions as a work for a davidic figure. Readership:All those interestedin the history of the biblical text, in the early receptionof the Bible, in the Book of Psalms, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as theologians, Old Testamentand Qumran specialists.

Ulrich Dahmen, Dr. theol. (1996), University of Bonn, is assistantat the University of Siegen and PrivatdozentfuirAlttestamentliche Wissenschaftat the University of Bonn. In print 2003 Cloth withdusqiacket(xii, 364 pp. in German) Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah,49

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EDITEDBY PAULV.M.FLESHER If Greek was the language by which PalestinianJews talked to the Empire,then Aramaicand Hebrew were the languages by which they talked to themselves. In this context, what resulted when they translatedthe Hebrew Bible into Aramaic? Moments of the inner Jewish conversationabout the meaning and relevance of Hebrew Scripturesfrozen in Aramaic renditions. The scholars in this volume use these Aramaic translations,known as the Targums,like dioramas,peering throughthem to glimpse these moments in the development of Judaismand its theology. Dedicated to Ernest G. Clarke, the essays explore the variety of interpretationspreserved in the different Targumsfrom the Second Temple and post-Templeperiods during which they were composed. Paul V.M. Flesher earned his Ph.D. (1988) from Brown University, after studying at Oxford University and the Hebrew University. He is a founding memberof the InternationalOrganizationfor Targumic Studies, and actively publishes on the targumsand ancient synagogues. In print 2002 ISBN 90 04 12677 5 List price EUR 99.- / US$ 123.Hardback (xxvi, 330 pp.) Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture, 2

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This book is the first English commentaryon Philo's In Flaccum since the publicationof Box in 1939. The work contains an introductionin which mattersof genre, historicalbackground,the textual evidence etc. are discussed. This is followed by a new English translationof the Greektext. The main partof the book is a detailed philological and historicalcommentaryon Philo's text. Since In Flaccum is our only source for the anti-Jewishpogrom in Alexandriain the year 38 CE, it is of the utmost significance for the study of the origins and early historyof antisemitism.The book is of interestsfor scholars of Judaism,Ancient History,Biblical Studies, Classical Literature,and Historyof Religions. Pieter W. van der Horst, Ph.D. (1978) in Theology, is Professorof New Testamentand the Jewish and Hellenistic world of EarlyChristianity at UtrechtUniversity.He publishedhundredsof articles and books on a wide variety of subjects in this field, the most recent of which is Japheth in the Tentsof Shem: Studies oniJewish Hellenism in Antiquity(Peeters, 2002). In print2003 Cloth with dustiacket(xii, 284 pp.) Philo of AlexandriaCommentarySeries, 2


Also available in this series Philo of Alexandria, On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses Introduction, Translation and Commentary DAvID T. RUNIA

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NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS Submission of Articles Contributions to the journal should be sent in the first instance to Prof. John J. Collins, Dead Sea Discoveries, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Only one copy of the article need be sent. Preferably it should be written in English; articles in French or German will also be accepted. The text must be grammatically correct and in good literary style, using inclusive language. Articles must be typewritten, or in the form of a clear printout from a word-processor, on A4 or American-standard white paper, double-spaced (including notes, which must appear at the end of the article), and on one side of the paper only. Printouts should, if possible, be accompanied by a disk. Word Perfect, Microsoft Word as well as ASCII are accepted formats. Articles must follow Dead Sea Discoveries style, for which see DSD 5 (1998) 25660. Articles in French and German must follow the journal's style as far as possible. Articles must be complete, including all necessary notes, bibliographical references, tables, etc. Articles must be original work and should normally not have been published previously. Simultaneous submission of identical work to other journals is not acceptable. Articles will normally be put through a system of blind refereeing; authors who wish to avoid referees' knowing their identity should not give themselves away, for example, by referring to their own works in footnotes with first person possessive pronouns. Authors of accepted articles will be asked to complete a form concerning the content and the copyright of their articles. Authors will receive galley proofs for proofreading. These must be returned promptly within the period requested, and the publishers reserves the right to charge authors for changes to proofs other than corrections of compositor's errors. The page proofs are read by the editors. Authors receive twenty-five complimentary offprints of their published article and a copy of the issue in which their article appears. Reviewers receive eight free offprints of their published review. Book reviews Books for review should be sent to Prof. Armin Lange, The Department of Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3225, 106 Saunders Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3225, USA.

CONTENTS SHANI L. BERRIN,The Use of Secondary Biblical Sources in Pesher .............................................. Nahum ................

1

......

12

JOSHUA EZRA BURNS, Practical

Wisdom

in 4QInstruction

CHARLOTTE ELISHEVA FONROBERT, From Separatism The Dead DONG-HYUK sidering

Sea Scrolls

and the Origins

KIM, Free Orthography

ToV's

"Qumran

'Eruv

of the Rabbinic

in a Strict Society:

Orthography"

DAVID LAMBERT, Last Testaments

to Urbanism:

...

.................................

in the Book

43

Recon-

of Jubilees

....

72 82

BOOK REVIEWS

Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls, by MAGENBROSHI.JSPSup 36 (JEAN DUHAIME)

......

........................................................

108

Calliope: World History for Young People. The Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol.

12, Iss. 4 (SHANI BERRIN)

......................

........................

111

Pesharim, by TIMOTHY H. LIM. Companion to the Qumran Scrolls

3 (KENNETH E. POMYKALA)

...............

.......................

113

Wealth in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Qumran Community, by CATHERINE M. MURPHY. STDJ 40 (CHARLOTTE HEMPEL)

116

Qumran Cave 4. XXIII: Unidentified Fragments, by DANA M. PIKE AND ANDREW C. SKINNER. DJD 33 (MARTIN G. ABEGG, JR.)

120

The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, 20-25 July 1997, edited by LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN, EMMANUEL Tov, C. VANDERKAM

(EILEEN SCHULLER)

..............

AND JAMES ......................

122

Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Measuring Time, by JAMES C. VANDERKAM

(DANIEL K. FALK)

......................................

127

Sea Dead Discovries A

of

Journal the

on

Research

Scrolls

Literature

Related VOL.

Current

1 1

NO.

2 2004

B RILL

and

DEAD SEA DISCOVERIES A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature John J.

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PUBLISHED:

Three times a year

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BRILL LEIDEN * BOSTON 0 Copyright 2004 by KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmittedin any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriatefees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. ISSN 0929-0761 (Print version) PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

ISSN 1568-5179 (Online version) THIS JOURNAL IS PRINTED ON ACID-FREE PAPER

NOTE OF THE EDITOR This issue is a partialtheme issue. Since the essays on "Womenat Qumran"were not sufficientto fill a whole volume, they are supplemented here with three other essays, two of which deal with the use of the sciences in the study of the Scrolls. JJc

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS, THE SCIENCESAND NEW TECHNOLOGIES MAGEN BROSHI The Israel Museum

In the first four decades after the discovery of the Scrolls, the sciences were hardlyever harnessedto their study.' Only in the 90's of the last century,the fifth decade, several scientific and technological studies were carried out. Nobody should be blamed for the delay: most of these branchesof science were underdeveloped,or even nonexistent until recent years. We will start with radiocarbonwhich has contributedso far the most significantresults. Radiocarbon

The Dead Sea Scrolls (hence DSS) and the radiocarbonmethod were discoveredpracticallyat the same time. However, at the beginning, a C14 test requireda sacrificeof 200 g, far too much, and the resultswere within a large and impracticalrange.The first object connected to the DSS to be tested, a piece of linen, was pronouncedto belong somewherebetween 167 BCE and 233 CE,a range of some 400 years, almost a meaninglessconclusion. The applicationof radiocarbon to testing DSS and relatedmaterialstartedin earnestonly in 1991 with the introductionof AMS (AcceleratorMass Spectography).The revolutionaryadvantageof this methodis that it requiresonly 10 mg, sometimes even less. Samples taken leave almost no mark on the object sampled.The first roundof tests was conductedin Zurich2and included 14 manuscriptsfrom Qumranin whose caves were found the DSS and from some other sites in this region.3 It was a nice surprise I A notableexceptionis F.E. Zeuner,"Notes on Qumran,"PEQ 92 (1960): 27-36. This was writtenin the good old days when a scientist was able to write authoritatively on such diverse subjectssuch as geology, petrography,zoology etc. 2 In the InstitutfOrMittelenergiephysik, ETH-Hoenggeberg. I G. Bonani,M. Broshi,I. Carmi,S. Ivy, J. Strugnell,and W. Woelfli,"Radiocarbon

C Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also available online - www.brill.nl


134

MAGEN BROSHI

to learn that, by and large, the dates suggested by the paleographers agree with those arrivedat by the physicists.The accuracyof the new radiocarbonmethod was confirmed by the fact that three of these manuscriptsbear internaldates that fall within the range suggestedby the radiocarbontests. E.g., a papyrusfrom Wadi Murabbaatwrittenin 134 CE was dated by the scientists to 69-136 CE. We ought to learn here an importantlesson (which regrettablyhas not yet been internalized by all scholars):the radiocarbondate is not the median (in our case 102/103

CE)

but somewhere within the range, or slightly out of

it. The second round was carried out in Tucson Arizona4and was comprisedof 22 samples,20 manuscriptsand 2 linen fragments.'This batch contained also 3 date bearing manuscriptsand it was shown again that the mediandate is misleading.E.g., PapyrusYadin 21 was writtenin 130 CEand its sigma 1 date is 130-321 CE.6 Two papyrifrom Wadi Murabaatcaves that were occupied during the Second (Bar Kochba) Revolt (132-135 CE) were tested in Arizona.7 The tests show that after calibration,with a certaintyof 95%, both documentsshould be dated to 91 BCE-78 CE, and thus should be assigned to the First Revolt (66-70 CE), a conclusionof considerable significanceto the course of the Second Revolt. A heated controversyconcerning some theories based on certain texts supposedto belong to the end of king Herod'sreign (37-4 BCE) led to the examinationof two manuscripts.Both gave the same age and using the probabilitycalculationfor the 2-sigma range(95% probability) we obtain 167-51 BCE. The suggestion that the two manuscripts should be ascribedto the turn of the era was provenwrong.8 Results of a radiocarbontest done on a palm beam and published

Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls," 'Atiqot 20 (1991): 27-32 (= "Radiocarbon Dating of Fourteen Dead Sea Scrolls," Radiocarbon 34 [1992]: 843-49). At NSF-Arizona AMS Facility, The University of Arizona. A.J.T. Jull, D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi, E. Tov, "Radiocarbon Dating Of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert," 'Atiqot 28 (1996): 85-91 (= Radiocarbon 37 [1995]: 11-19). 6 For an introduction to the technique and a good summary of the results, see I.Carmi, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls," The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After Their Discovery1947-1997 (eds L.H. Schiffman, E. Tov, J.C. VanderKam; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000), 881-88. 7 H. Eshel, M. Broshi, A.J.T. Jull, "Documents from Wadi Murabaat and the Status of Jerusalem During the Second Revolt," Refuge Caves of the Bar KokhbaRevolt [Hebrew]; eds H. Eshel and D. Amit; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1998) 233-39 (Hebrew). 8 M. Broshi and H. Eshel, "Radiocarbon Dating and the Messiah Before Jesus," RevQ 78 (2001): 311-17.

THE SCIENCES AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

135

After by Zeuner in 19609was lately reconsideredand recalibrated.10 (how data on uncertain long and intricatecomputations,based partly old was the tree when felled?) the new study dates the wood to the first centuryCE. As the authorsascribe the log to StratumIb, which is usually dated no later than the end of the first century BCE, they suggest that the acceptedchronologyshouldbe revampedand that the end of StratumI occurredin the first centuryCE. However, Magness has arguedconvincinglythat the beam belonged to a StratumII ceiling and that no revision of the chronologyis necessary. A maverick hypothesis has been suggested by G. Doudna: the acceptedwisdom that partof the scrolls was writtenin the Hasmonean period (i.e. before 30 BCE) and part in the Herodian(i.e. 30 BCE-70 CE) is wrong. He believes that almost all Qumranmanuscriptscome from a single generation,in the first centuryBCE, and none from the first centuryCE." This paperis not the properplace to deal adequately with this hypothesis (the author hopes to discuss it elsewhere), but sufficeit to say that the only defence of Doudna'2publishedso far has been shown to be ill founded.Ramussenet al. suspect that castor oil used to facilitate the reading on some scrolls might have made them 'younger'. This suspicion seems to be absolutely superfluous:To 16 out of the 34 samples no castoroil was applied;in the other, samples were taken from margins never touched by castor oil. Even if there were traces of oil they would have been eliminatedby the pre-treatment.'3Conversely,De Water,who has little faith in paleographyand much faith in radiocarbon,is of the opinion,unlike Doudna,that some manuscriptsare younger than we think.'4 The results of radiocarbontests performedon charreddate stones from Cave 9 and a piece of wood from the coffin excavatedin Tomb 18 have recently been published.Never have objects so small and of

9 See note 1. J. Taylor and T. Higham,"Problemsof Qumran'sChronologyand the Radiocarbon Dating of Palm Log Samples in Locus 86," QumranChronicle8 (1998): 83-95. 11G. Doudna,"Datingand RadiocarbonAnalysis,"The Dead Sea Scrolls AfterFifty Years (eds P. Flint and J. VanderKam;Leiden:Brill), 430-65, esp. 463-64. 12 K.L. Rassmussen,J. van der Plicht, H.C. Cryer,G. Doudna,F.M. Cross,J. Strugnell, "The Effects of Possible Contaminationon the RadiocarbonDating of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1: CastorOil," Radiocarbon43 (2001): 127-32. 13 I. Carmi,"Are the 14C Dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls Affected By Castor Oil Radiocarbon44 (2002): 213-16. Contamination?" 14 R. van der Water,"Reconsidering Palaeographicand RadiocarbonDating of the Dead Sea Scrolls,"RevQ 19 (1999/2000):423-39. 10

136

MAGEN BROSHI

such limited interestbeen subjectedto tests performedin three laboratories(Denmark,Holland and New Zealand) and by half a dozen scientists and scholars.'5 To sum up: The AMS radiocarbontests are a greathelp to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among other contributions,a considerable one is the confirmationof the paleographicestimates.'6Thoughadmittedly the presentage ranges obtainedare not as precise as we would wish, quite a numberof problemshave been solved by these tests. The most importantof which is the definite conclusion that the theories claiming that the Scrolls are Christian are untenable-the relevant manuscriptsare considerablyolder than the rise Christianity. The reliabilityof the method can be seen also from the fact that two tests done in two laboratories(on the great Isaiah scroll, the only manuscriptthat was thus tested) reached practicallythe same date, with a negligible differenceof 13 years!'7 Archeobotany

Fromde Vaux's excavationshardlyany food remainsare reported.'8 It standsto reasonthat the climatic conditionsof Qumranshouldhave preservedbotanical remains besides palm logs, palm leaf mats and fabric made of woven palm fibers.The paucityof the reportedbotanical finds seems to be due to the fact that not enough sieving was done by the early excavators. Only recently two archaeobotanical studies were published.The first deals with remainsof dates from a cave dug by J. Patrich'9and food remainsfrom a cave excavatedby Broshi and Eshel.20 ,s J. van der Plicht,K.L. Ramussen,J.E. TaylorandG. Doudna,"Radiocarbon Dating of Materialfrom the Excavation,"KhirbetQumranet Ain Feshkha11(eds J.P. Humbert and J. Gunneweg;Fribourg:UniversityPress Fribourg,2003) 193-200; J.E. Taylorand G. Doudna,"Archaeological Synthesisof the New Radiocarbon Datings,"ibid.,201-204. 16 It is interestingto note that the first report(of the Zurichlaboratory) was refused by one of the leadingscience periodicalson the absurdclaim thatherewe have only (!) confirmationof what we have known already. 17 M. Broshi, "The New RadiocarbonDates of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their Significance,"The PracticalImpactof Science on Aegean and Near EasternArchaeology (eds S. Pike and S. Gitin;London:Archetype,1999) 107-109. 18 An exception are remains of dates, fig and olive stone in Cave 8 and some remainsof dates in Cave 10. Cf. M. Baillet, J.T. Milik, and R. de Vaux, Les 'Petites Grottes'de Qumrdn(DJD 3; Oxford:Clarendon,1962) 31. 19 N. Liphschitzand G. Bonani, "Wild and Cultivateddate Palm (Phoenixdactylifera) from QumranCave 24," Tel Aviv 28 (2001): 305-309. 20 M.E. Kislev and M. Marmorstein, "Cerealsand Fruitsfrom Cave South of Kh. Qumran,"IEJ 53 (2003): 74-77.


137

DNA Preliminarywork done cooperatativelyby laboratoriesin Brigham Young Universityand the Hebrew Universitydemonstratethe ability to recover biomoleculesfrom the Scrolls: "The precisionof the DNA analysis will allow us to identify at least three levels of hierarchy:the species, population,and individualanimal from which the parchment was produced".2" It is hoped that furtherstudy will enable scholarsto learn relationshipsof certainfragmentarymanuscripts:Do they belong to the same herd? To the same animal?22As these lines are written, two fragmentsare being studiedto find out if they belong to the same scroll. An interestingfact has been found-among the scrolls thereare some writtenon ibex skins. Glass

In the excavations conductedby de Vaux remains of at least 89 glass vessels were found. They were divided into eight categories of identifiedshapes: goblet, ointmentvessel, cup, bottle, flask, biconical recipientand chalice on foot. Two studieson the glass findswere published recently.23Both containdetailed analyses of the compositionof the glass, informationthat does not help us yet to establishits origin. Neither of the papers suggest exact dates for the vessels except the broadbracketsof first centuryCE. The assertionthat the glass vessels "supportthe view that Qumranwas a centre of the perfumeindustry in the Middle East at the time of production"24 is absolutelygroundless. Over half the vessels are table ware and it is highly likely that

21 S. Woodward, G. Kahila, P. Smith, Ch. Greenblatt,J. Zias, and M. Broshi, "Analysisof ParchmentFragmentsfrom the JudeanDesert Using DNA Techniques," Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds D. Parryand S. Ricks; Leiden:Brill, 1996) 215-38. 22 D. Parry,D. Arnold,D. Long, and S. Woodward,"New TechnologicalAdvances: DNA, ElectronicDatabases,ImagingRadar,"in Flint and VanderKamThe Dead Sea Scrolls AfterFifty Years,496-515. 23 A. Aerts,K. Janssens,B. Velde,F. Adams,H. Wouters, "Analysisof theComposition of Glass Objectsfrom Qumran,Israel,and Comparisonwith OtherRomanGlass from WesternEurope,"La Routedu Verre:ateliersprimaireset secondairesdu second milIMnaire av. J.-C. au MoyenAge (ed. M.D. Nenna;Travauxde la Maison de L'Orient Mediterraneen 33; Lyon:Maisonde l'OrientM6diterranden-Jean Pouilloux,2000) 113-124 (henceforth,Aerts et al.); H. Wouters,C. Fontaine-Hodiamont, R. Donceel, A. Aerts, and K. Janssens,"AntiqueGlass from KhirbetQumran,ArchaeologicalContext and ChemicalDetermination,"InstitutRoyal du PatrimoineArtistique(Bruxelle),Bulletin 28 (1999/2000) [2002], 11-40 (henceforth,Wouterset al.). 24 Aerts et al., "Analysisof the Compositionof Glass Objects,"113.

138

MAGEN BROSHI

the glass belongs to StratumIII, when the site was occupied by a Roman garrison. GroundPenetratingRadar Used for the detectionof graves and other cavities. Due to the use of this instrumenta practically complete plan of the cemetery was over 100 potentialgraves thatdid Out of ca. 1200 burials26 produced.25 were located. In one of these, excanot show superficialexpressions vated in 2002, in a depthof ca. 1 m., a male skeletonwas unearthed.27 With the help of GPR remainsof an artificialcave were detected.28 Imaging Use of advancedtechniquesof photography,some developedby the brothers Bruce and Kenneth Zuckerman29and some by Gregory The Bearmanenabled the reading of poorly preservedmanuscripts.30 greatestbeneficiarywas the Genesis Apocryphon,the only one of the originalseven scrolls much of which was read only abouthalf a century after its discovery, thanksto the new techniques. Inks The manuscriptsfound at Qumranwere writtenin two kinds of ink: the regular,black, almost pure carbon,made of lamp soot and some gum3'and red, rarelyused.32The latterwas made of cinnabarmercury 25H.M. Jol, M. Broshi,H. Eshel,R. Freund,J. Shroder,Jr.,P. Reeder,and R. Dubay, "GPRInvestigationat Qumran,"Ninth InternationalConferenceon GroundPenetrating Radar (eds S.K. Koopenjanand H. Lee; Proceedingsof SPIE vol. 4758, Santa Barbara2002) 91-95. 26 H. Eshel, M. Broshi,R. Freund,and B. Schulz, "New Data on the CemeteryEast of KhirbetQumran,"DSD 9 (2002): 135-165. 27 M. Broshi and H. Eshel, "WhoseBones?"BAR 29, 1 (2003): 31-33. 28 H. Eshel and M. Broshi,"Excavations at Qumran,Summer2001,"IEJ 53 (2003): 61-73. 9 B. Zuckerman,"Bringingthe Dead Sea Scrolls Back to Life: A New Evaluation of Photographicand Electronic Imaging of the Dead Sea Scrolls," DSD 3 (1996): 178-207. 30 G. Bearman, S. Pfann, and S. Spiro, "Imaging the Scrolls: Photographicand Direct Digital Acquisition,"in Flint and VanderKam,The Dead Sea ScrollsAfterFifty Years,472-95. 3' Y. Nir-EIand M. Broshi,"The Black Ink of the QumranScrolls,"DSD 3 (1996): 157-67. 32 y. Nir-El and M. Broshi, "The Red Ink of the Dead Sea Scrolls,"Archaeometry 38 (1996): 97-102.


139

sulfide,a poisonousmineralthatwas probablybroughtfrom Spain via Rome. Physical Anthropology Of the vast cemeterycomprisingca. 1200 graves only some 50 were dug.33Due to the laws of the State of Israel no graves are going to be unearthedin the foreseeable future. From de Vaux's 43 excavated tombs,403 skeletonswerefitto be analyzed-22 arein Germany(Collectio Kurth);3518 in French institutions (Musee de l'Homme, Paris and Ecole Biblique, Jerusalem);36I skeleton from Steckol's excavations (1966-1967) was studied in full37as well as 3 from Broshi-Eshel's (2001-2002),8 for a total of 44 skeletons. We have age estimates for 36 skeletons, admittedly too small a numberto draw final conclusions.However, it seems that the individuals examined so far did not enjoy the normallife span of their contemporaries.Our tentativeconclusionis that the interredlived an average of only 36 years, at a time when men of 20 (the minimumage requiredof candidates)39were expected to reach 50.4?Thus, a man who joined the community at the age of 22 had only half the life expectancyof his contemporaries,14 vs. 28.

Eshel et al., "New Data."

4 R. de Vaux, Archaeologyand the Dead Sea Scrolls (London:OxfordUniversity Press, 1973), index, s.v. cemeteries. 35 0. Rohrer-Ertl, F. Rohrhirsch,and D. Hahn,"Uberdie Graberfeldervon Khirbet Qumran,"Jericho und Qumran:Neues zum Umfeldder Bibel (ed. B. Mayer;Regensburg:Pustet, 2000) 165-226. 3 S. Sheridan,"The FrenchCollectionof HumanRemains from Qumran,"DSD 9 (2002): 199-248; S. Sheridan,J. Ullinger,and J. Ramp,"AnthropologicalAnalysis of the Human Remains: The French Collection," Humbert and Gunneweg, Khirbet Qumranet Ain FeshkhaII, 129-69. " N. Haas and H. Nathan, "Anthropological Survey on the Human Skeletal Remainsfrom Qurnran," RevQ 6 (1967-1969): 345-362. 38 See notes 21-22, above. 3

Damascus Document 15:5-6.

4 This is based on data of the so called Ulpian's Life Table (early third century CE).Cf. B.W. Frier,"RomanLife Expectancy:Ulpian's Evidence,"HarvardStudiesin Classical Philology 86 (1982): 213-51. Ulpian's data, computedin modem statistical methods,gives a 20 years old man a life expectancyof 28.41 years. This is amazingly corroboratedby analysisof 120 skeletonsof the 4th centuryCE fromwesternHungary. Theretheequivalentis 28.85years.Cf. B. Freier,"RomanLife Expectancy:ThePannonian Evidence,"Phoenix37 (1983), pp. 328-44, especiallytables I and II on 329-30. I wish to thankProfessorS. Sheridanfor her bibliographicalguidance(the responsibilityfor the conclusionslies on my shoulders).

140

MAGEN BROSHI

The Qumrandata ought to be comparedwith the nearby,contemporaneouscemetery of Jericho.4"Of the 192 skeletons unearthedin Jericho, 147 are of people who were over 20 when they died; 49 thereof,i.e. 30.4%, lived over 50. In Qumranonly 4 lived to be over 50, i.e. 11.11%.The reason for the short life span of the Qumranites is still waiting to be discovered.42 Plaster

Plaster is amongst the most ancient of artifacts.Made by what is referredto as the lime cycle, the technology of its manufacturehas changed little with time. A detailed petrographicand chemical study was carriedout on lime-basedplastersfrom water,ritualand/orindustrial (e.g. metallurgical,tanning, farming) installationsfrom Qumran and othermajorarchaeologicalsites. Duringmanufacturelime absorbs dust and organicimpuritiesfrom the surroundings,whereaswhen lining an installation, through time it assimilates dispersed major and trace elements from solid or liquid materials within it. Plotted on binary(two element)plots the chemicalcharacteristicsof individualor groups of installationsmay provide a meaningfulanomalousanthropogenic chemical signatureof importanceto the archaeologist. Over 200 samples of plaster were collected and analyzed from installationsincludingJerusalem(Opheland City of David), Sepphoris (Acropolis),Jericho(Palaces of the Kings), Lachish,Qumranand others. When comparedregionallyit is significantthat majorarchaeological sites show distinct chemical traits which are reflected in their plasters.Some can be attributedto geological factors.However,many are clearly a functionof some specific anthropogeniccharacteristicof the site. For example,chemicalplots reveal thatwhereasplastersfrom most installationsin Jerusalemand Sepphorisareas are highly contaminatedwith respectto the heavy metals (e.g., lead, copper,zinc, tin) which point to an industrial or military usag, those from Qumran installationsare significantlyimpoverishedin these elements. Plaster 4' B. Arensburand P. Smith, "The Jewish Populationof Jericho 100 BC-70 AD," PEQ 115 (1983): 133-39. 42 A possibleexplanation(partialat least) are the traceelementsthe communitywas exposed to. Cf. K.L. Ramussen,R. Gwozdz,J.E. Taylor,and G. Doudna,"Preliminary Data of Trace ElementsConcentrationsin HumanBone Remains,"in Humbertand Gunneweg, Khirbet Qumrdnet Ain Feshkha II, 185-89; A. Shimron,"An Archaeometric Study of Plastersfrom the Water Installations,"in ibid., 321-37, especially 337.


141

in a numberof Qumraninstallations,on the other hand, contains relatively high concentrations of potentially toxic elements such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, uranium and sulfur. Most of these can be linked either with a late phase of human industrialactivity, presence of metallicartifacts,or can be attributedto geological causes (e.g., uranium) at the site. The generally"clean"chemical characterof plasters from most Qumraninstallationspoints to a non-industrialand nonmilitarycommunityat the site duringthe majorperiodof settlement.43 Pottery

There are two techniquesto establishthe origin of pottery,or, to be more precice, the origin of its clay. One is instrumentalneutronactivation analysis (INAA) and the second is petrography. For almost two centuries of its existence the site had a thriving ceramicindustryemployingtwo furnaces-and this in a communityof 100-150 membersand in an area poor in wood and lacking proper clay. Apparently,dueto theEssenesupererogatory laws of purity,Qumran must have suppliedpotteryvessels to their brethren. The pioneeringINAA tests of Qumran'sceramicswere done in order to find out if there is a relationbetween Qumranand Ein el-Ghuweir, a site 15 km. south of Qumran.The archaeologicalremainsin the latter site resemblethose of the former,but the potteryis different.44 The second run of INAA tests teach us that the clay used here was broughtfrom afar, much of it from the environs of Jerusalem.45 The third run, done on a much larger scale and in greatersophistication includedseveral separatestudies. One study was aimed at finding the provenanceof the pottery.46 There is a basic errorin the objectivesof this study. Qumranhad a ceramic activity disproportionate to the size of its community and it was not in any need of importing pottery 43 This section was writtenby A. Shimron.Cf. his paperreferredto in note 42. 4 M. Broshi, "The Archaeologyof Qumran:A Reconsideration,"in idem Bread, Wine,Wallsand Scrolls, (Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress 2001) 209-210 (firstpublished in 1992. The tests were performedby J. Yellin). 4S J. Yellin, M. Broshi, and H. Eshel, "The Potteryof Qumranand Ein Ghuweir: The First ChemicalExplorationof Provenience,"BASOR321 (2001): 65-78. 46 J. Gunneweg and M. Balla, "Neutron Activation Analysis, Scrolls Jars and CommonWare,"in Humbertand Gunneweg,KhirbetQumrdnet Ain FeshkhaII, 3-53. In the epilogue to this paper which refrainsfrom stating any conclusions it is said: "Whatcan be said at the end of this report?It can be synthesizedinto the following sentences:Humaninventivenessis almost without limit; religious inventivenesseven more so." Whatdoes this statementhave to do with Qumran'sdrab,utilitarianpottery?

142

MAGEN BROSHI

vessels fromafar,beinga bulkyandfragilecommodity.Qumranundoubtedly broughtonly potter'sclay. A petrographicalstudy by two Polish scientistsshows that the clays of which the 'Scroll Jars'(orrather,the 'cylindricaljars') were made comes from the vicinity of Jeusalem.47Twelve samples of Qumran potterywere tested for magnetic susceptibilityand by thermoluminiscence in orderto establishtheir provenanceand firing temprature.48 Textiles Two lots of textiles were studiedand publishedso far: the first, 75 pieces, by GraceCrowfootand the second, 82 pieces, by MireilleBelis and others.49The latter,in which studiesmuch labor,expertiseand talent were invested, suffersfrom two grave drawbacks:the provenance and date of part of the lot is unknown.Though 18 sampleswere submitted to the GroningenUniversityfor radiocarbontests, the results have not been includedin this volume.

47 J. Michniewiczand M. Krzysko,"The Provenanceof Scroll Jars in the Light of in Humbertand Gunneweg,KhirbetQumranet Ain FeshArchaeometric Investigations," kha 11,59-99. 48 K.L. Ramussen, "On the Provenance and Firing Tempratureof Pottery," in

Humbert and Gunneweg, Khirbet Qumrdn et AM Feshkha 11, 101-104. 49 G.M. Crowfoot,"The Linen Textiles" QumranCave 1 (eds D. Barth6lemyand J.T. Milik; DJD 1; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955) 18-38; M. Belis, "Des Textiles, Catalogueset Commentaires,"in Humbertand Gunneweg,KhirbetQumracn et Ain FeshkhaII, 207-276; M. Mueller,M.Z. Papiz, T.D. Clark,M.A. Roberts,B.M. Murphy,M. Burghammer,C. Riekel, E. Pantos,and J. Gunneweg,in ibid., 277-86.

REDATINGTHE RADIOCARBONDATING OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS JOSEPHATWILL California State University Northridge

STEVE BRAUNHEIM President, Intri Plex Technologies, Santa Barbara,California

(with the participationof ROBERT EISENMAN California State University Long Beach)

Introduction The firstrequestfor up-to-dateAMS carbondatingon Qumrandocuments was made by Profs. Robert Eisenman of California State UniversityLong Beach and Philip Davies of SheffieldUniversityin a letter to Amir Drori, Israeli AntiquitiesAuthorityDirector,on May 2, 1989.1Four months later in Septemberof 1989, a spokesmanfor the AntiquitiesAuthorityannouncedthat a run of carbontesting of samples taken from the Scrolls were to be undertaken.The AMS Carbon 14 testson theDeadSea Scrollsthatwereeventuallydonewereconducted in two separateruns, the first in 1989-91 by laboratoriesin Oxford andZurichandthesecondin 1994at theUniversityof Arizona.2Following I Letter, Eisenmanand Davies to Amir Drori, 2 May, 1989; see M. Baigent and R. Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception(London:JonathanCape, 1991) 80-82 and 242. In it they includedtwo caveats, one that the new methodsbe used to determine relative not absolute chronology, that is, earlier versus later in the same test run; absolutechronologyis in theirview virtuallyimpossiblebecauseof the multipleimprecisions to which C14 testingwas subject.Second, they insistedthat "oppositionscholars" be includedin the process because they were the ones that had initially felt the most need for such tests and were most likely to understandwhich were the key documentsthat should be tested. Neithercaveat was heeded. 2 G. Bonani, M. Broshi, I. Carmi,S. Ivy, J. Strugnell,and W. Wolfi, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls",'Atiqot20 (1991) 127-32, and "RadiocarbonDating of FourteenDead Sea Scrolls",Radiocarbon34 (1992) 643-49; T. Jull, D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi,and E. Tov, "RadiocarbonDating of Scrolls and Linen Fragmentsfrom the JudeanDesert,"Radiocarbon37 (1995) 11-19. Not incuriously,these were the same laboratoriesthat had previouslybeen selected for the C14 testing of the Holy Shroud of Turin.



144

JOSEPH ATWILL AND STEVE BRAUNHEIM

both sets of tests, the groupcontrollingthe processeswas governedby the belief that the C14 results-which were on the whole inconclusive or to characterizethe impressiongiven by the firstreportof the results of these tests in BAR, 'skewed'3-in some manner confirmed the accuracyof the results arrivedat by paleography. This was clear not only from the several articles which appeared following each of the two runs, but also press releases and interviews accompanyingthe announcementsof the results. These not only bordered on being taken as being "official,"but so influentialwere they that in academicpapersaroundthe world these two runs of AMS C14 whenthe Scrolls testinghavebeenlookedat as conclusivelydemonstrating had been written-and in many cases this was generallytaken to be before 40 BC-even though no such results were warranted.4Indeed, so widespreadwas their effect that not a few scholarsbegan to argue that no "sectarian"documentswere put in the caves later than a date of approximately50-40 BC- "sectariantexts"being generallyconsidered to be the most importantdocumentsand, in particular,those representingthe unique ideas of the movementor "sect"itself.5 Review

The authors have now undertakenan independentreview of the results of the two runs of carbontesting, in particularthe second for which the actual raw data upon which the analyses are based is more fully available.Our findingsare as follows: 1) In both the 1989-91 and 1994-95 AMS C14 dating runs an inaccuratedatingcurvewas utilizedor, more succinctly,a datingcurve that because of its imprecision has since come to be considered I

"New Carbon-14Results Leave Room for Debate"BAR21/4 (1995), p. 61. For furtheranalysis see G. Rodley and B. Thiering,"Use of RadiocarbonDating in Assessing ChristianConnectionsto the Dead Sea Scrolls,"Radiocarbon41 (1999) 169-82. s M. Wise, The First Messiah (HarperCollins: San Francisco, 1996); A. Ellgard, Jesus One HundredYearsBeforeChrist(New York:OverlookPress, 1999);G. Doudna, "Datingthe Scrolls on the Basis of RadiocarbonAnalysis,"TheDead Sea Scrollsafter Fifty Years(eds P. Flint and J. VanderKam;Leiden:Brill, 1998) 430-71. Doudnaactually to some extent gives his agenda away at the end of this articlein discussinghis Hypothesis",that is, that most sectarianScrolls were ideas abouta "Single-Generation written in a very short timeframein the middle of the First CenturyBC (462-64). Thoughhe gives his creditsat the beginningof the article(430), he neglects to mention Eisenman,who firstintroducedhim to the subjectof AMS Carbontestingafterthe initial testing reports,initiatedhim into its complexities,and on whose behalf he first undertookto write BAR questioningthe resultsof the firstrun of C14 tests in 1991. 4

REDATING THE RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

145

inexact.6This is surprisingbecause even at the time, the 1986 Stuiver/ Pearson dating curve on which the authorswere relying was already obsolete and a newer calibrationcurve which tended towards great 'rejuvenation'was alreadyavailablein 1993.7 This inaccurate1986 dating curve for the 200 BCE-200 CE period, which was used for calibrationpurposesin both the 1991 and 1994 tests, made the absolute dating indicationsfor some samples appear older than they actuallywere-this by a period perhapsof some fifty years or more. Surprisingly,even though a majorityof Qumranspecialists worldwidehave now been relying uncriticallyupon the interpretationof these results, no retractionsor press releases have come forth from the groupthat issued the originalreportsbased on the outdated, inaccurate,and somewhaterroneousmodel. 2) The methodsused in interpretingthe meaningof the AMS carbon testing were also inaccuratefrom a purely statisticalpoint-of-view. 3) Finally-and this is a general statement-carbon testing is too imprecise a tool to provide conclusive evidence for a time span as short as the one at issue in the debate concerningwhen the sectarian Scrolls were written. Analysis

Let us go into these conclusions separatelyand more fully. In the first place, radiocarbondating is only able to give approximatedates and its results,therefore,are given in units of mean and standarddeviations-known as sigmas-that represent the statistical 'range' in which the mean date may fall. The first sigma is the time span that radiocarbondatingtheoryposits would containthe actualdate 68% of 6 M. Stuiver and G.W. Pearson, "High-PrecisionCalibrationof the Radiocarbon Time Scale, AD 1950-500 BC" Radiocarbon 28 (1986) 805-38; G. Rodley, "An Assess-ment of the RadiocarbonDating of the Dead Sea Scrolls," Radiocarbon35 (1993) 335-38. For the 1998 corrections,see M. Stuiver,P.J. Reimer,E. Bard, J.W. Beck, G.S. Burr, K.A. Hughen, B. Kromer,F.G. McCormac,J. van der Plicht, and M. Spurk,"INTCAL98RadiocarbonAge Calibration,24,000-0 Cal BP," Radiocarbon 40 (1998) 1041-83.Forfurtheranalysis,see G. RodleyandB. Thiering,"Useof Radiocarbon Dating in Assessing ChristianConnections to the Dead Sea Scrolls," 169-99, and Doudna,"Datingthe Scrolls on the Basis of RadiocarbonAnalysis,"433-36. 1 See for instance M. Stuiver and P.J. Reimer, "Extended 14C Data Base and RevisedCALIB14CAge Calibration Program," Radiocarbon35 (1993)215-30. Therefore, why Jull, Donahue,Broshi, and Tov used the older, more archaizingcalibrationcurve, when a newermore 'rejuvenating'one was alreadyavailableto them in 1993 (the year before they publishedtheirresults)is a mystery.See also F.G. McCormacand M.G.L. Baillie, "Radiocarbonto CalendarConversion:CalendricalBand Widthsas a Function or RadiocarbonPrecision,"Radiocarbon13 (1993) 311-16.

146


the time; the second sigma is a wider time span that would theoretically include the date approximately95% of the time. When it comes to analyzing the results of the carbon testing of Qumrandocuments, it should be observed that these time spans or "sigmas"are not narrow.Wherethe first sigma is concerned,the time span can range to over a hundredyears. When the second sigma is taken into consideration,this time span can extend to well over two hundredyears. Right from the start,this is well beyond the marginof errorrequiredto date individualScrolls with the accuracynecessary to affect the present chronologicaldebate or arrive, for instance, at absolutedates. To reiteratethereasonthisdebateis so importantis it concernswhether all the extra-biblical Scrolls date from before the First Century or whethersome of the sectarianScrolls reach into it and can therefore be considered contemporary with that movement called by most "Christianity" (in some cases, even perhapsindistinguishablefrom it). The groupsthat oversaw the two roundsof AMS C14 used the inexact pre-1993and 1998 calibrationcurvesin calculatingthese sigmas. In addition,they presentedas a quasi-controlthe time range arrivedat by priorpaleographicanalysis-analysis that was begun primarilyby Frank Moore Cross, S.S. Birnbaum,and Josef Milik, but was now being carriedforwardby the presentand ongoing editors of the DJD series.The relationshipbetweenthese two sets of time spans-i.e., what are termedas the first and second sigmas-was presumablythe basis fortheassertionby manyof thesepersonsthatthecarbondates'confirmed' the reliabilityof paleographywhere the Scrolls were concerned. The following chart presentsthese data togetherwith the distance in years between the mean of the carbondating age and the median of the paleographic age, which we have labeled as "Amount of Error"--weare using here; mainly the results arrivedat in the second 1994 run of carbon dating, the raw data concerning which is, as alreadynoted, more complete. Sample

CarbonAge

PaleographicAge

Amountof Error

100-50 Bc +117 years 45 BC-CE 120 4Q266 (The last columnof the DamascusDocument-not paralleledin CD from the Genizah) -30 years 30-1 BC lQpHab 88-2 BC (The HabakkukPesherfrom Cave 1 which mentionsthe charactersfamous in Qumrandebate known as 'the RighteousTeacher', 'the Liar' or 'Spouterof Lying', and 'the Wicked Priest')


147

Table (cont.)

Sample

CarbonAge

PaleographicAge

Amountof Error

lQS

206 BC-CE 111

100-75

+40 years

BC

(The CommunityRule from Cave 1) 4Q258

95 BC-CE 122

100 BC

+113 years

(Materialfrom the CommunityRule from Cave 4) 4Q521

93 BC-CE 80

100-80

BC

+83 years

(A Messianic text known as "The Messiah of Heaven and Earth"or "A Messianic Apocalypse") 4Q267

94-45

50-0

BC

-94 years

BC

(Anothersupposedly"early"copy of the DamascusDocument,includingwhat has been identifiedas the opening column) 4Q208

186-92

200 BC

BC

+61 years

(The AstrologicalEnoch-this in theory should be an early document) 207 BC-CE63 100-25 BC -8 years (An Exodus manuscriptin what is known as "paleo-Hebrew"script-this in theory should also be early, if it is not simply a late copy)

4Q22

4Q2

120 BC43

CE

50 BC-AD 50

-23 years

(A biblical patch from Genesis found in Cave 4) iQIsa

356-103

BC

150-125

BC

-97 years

(One of the Isaiah scrolls from Cave 1) The 1995 report also included the radiocarbon date range for 4Q171. This is the Psalm 37 Pesher, a document also mentioning not only the Liar, but the Righteous Teacher and the Wicked Priest as well. The report did not, however, include its paleographic range, though it had previously been determined by such analysis to be of the same "Herodian semiformal script" as lQpHab, which was dated to 30-1 BC. Had its paleographic age been included, its "Amount of Error" would have been close to the average of those given above which is 66 years. Sample

CalibratedAge

PaleographicAge

4Q171

CE 5-111

30-1 BC

148


What is the weakness of these test results,even as they were originally announced?As alreadysignaled, using the paleographers'own data, the average amount of error between the radiocarbonand the paleographicmedians for the samples is virtuallythe same length of time or longer as the parametersof the debate of when the Scrolls were written.Generallyspeaking,a measuringinstrumentthat has an average degree of erroras large as the phenomenonit is designed to measureis largelywithoutuse. It follows, therefore,that the resultsof of the accuracy the radiocarbontests cannotbe seen as "confirmation" of paleographicanalysiswith respectto the debateof when the Scrolls or in this case in particular,the sectarian or extra-biblicalScrolls, were written. Onthecontrary,if theradiocarbon datesareaccurate,theyindicatethat the techniquedoes not have the sensitivity to delineate between the time-framesin question. In the paper publishedin Radiocarbonpresenting the results of the first run of carbon testing in 1989-91, the authors,Bonani, Broshi, Stugnell,Wolfi, et al., statedthat "the radiocarbondates are in good agreementwith the estimatesbased on paleography"and that "the results confirmthe reliabilityof paleography",8 butthisis misleadingandthosemakingsuchassertionsweresimplyusing a differentdefinitionof "reliability"thanthe one requiredfor the technique to be useful in this debate. We shall say more about this later. One scrollin particular,the HabakkukPesher(lQpHab),is oftencited as provingthat the sectariantexts were writtenbefore 40 BC. It was datedin the initial run of carbontesting to a firstsigma of 104-43 BC, thoughaccordingto the newer calibrationthis firstsigma shouldrather read 88-2 BC. As alreadynoted above, this scroll mentionsthe three centralfiguresof Scroll polemics, the RighteousTeacher,the Spouter of Lying, and the Wicked Priest. Geza Vermes summarizedthe general position concerningthe HabakkukPesher on the part of consensus scholarsquite well: "If the carbondating (of lQpHab) establishes a terminusad quem prior to 30 CE, this will damage almost beyond repairthe hypothesisproposinga Christianconnection."9 8 G. Bonani, M. Broshi, I. Carmi,S. Ivy, J. Strugnell,and W. Wolfi, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls",'Atiqot20 (1991) 131-32. 9 G. Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (New York: Penguin, 1997) 13, a statementaimed primarilyat RobertEisenman'spositionthat some of the But in his sectarianScrolls are contemporarywith what we now call "Christianity". zeal to dismiss Eisenman's theories as silly, Vermes continually sets him up as a "strawman"claiminghe identifiesPaul as "theWickedPriest".Not only does Vermes makethis errorin his Introductionto The CompleteDead Sea Scrolls in Englishabove, but he does so in all versions of this introductionin previous editions back to the

REDATING THE RADIOCARBON DATING OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS 149

This statementis inaccurate.Not only did both the 1993 and 1998 recalibrationssubstantiallymove the Scroll's first sigma forward in time, but Vermes neglects to mention that the HabakkukPesher is paleographicallyequivalentto the Psalm 37 Pesher(4Q171) as we just saw. It is also parallelin terms of content. But the first sigma of the Psalm 37 Pesher,even accordingto the 1994-95 test run was 29 CE81 CE-22 CE-78 CE using the 1998 calibration curve. The second

sigma gives an even wider margin 3 CE to 126 CE. The C14 results, then, do not precludea date in the first centuryof the CommonEra. On the contrary,given the numerouscleansings and undoubtedimpurities that have seeped into the process to skew the results where a document as worried over as the HabakkukPesher has been-until recently on display in the Shrine of the Book-the Psalm 37 Pesher results are very likely the more accuratecalibration.'0 Results such as these illustratethe vagariesof applyingC14 results to confirmpaleographicattemptsto date absolutelya document'sterminus ad quem. In this instance, for two documentsas typologically similarpaleographically speakingandcontent-wiseas lQpHaband4Q171 (The Psalm 37 Pesher),one ends up with a C14 first-sigmadating of between 88 BC and 81 CE. When one takes the second sigmas into account,these resultsdiverge by yet another100 years. This createsa potentialrange of almost four hundredyears for two documentsthat according to the estimates of paleographywere written at approximately the same time! None of these constraintswere even signaled by those who hurried to proclaimthe resultsof paleographyprovenby the recentrun of C14 dating and, in particular,that the sectarian Scrolls were all written before about 50 BC. As alreadynoted too, many such personsderived l980s therebydemonstratingthat he has never read Eisenman'swork in any serious mannerbecause the lattermakes no such contention,but rathercarefullydistinguishes between the two characters,"the Wicked Priest"and "the Liar".The individualwho did in fact hold the position Vermes constantlyrefers to was J. Teicher in the early days of Qumranresearch.It is ratherVermes who does not distinguishbetween "the Liar"and "the WickedPriest"not Eisenman,therebyconstantlymakingthis erroneous report.This is what is meantby going accordingto the 'internalevidence' or what the Scrolls themselvessay, not the 'externalevidence' of paleography,carbontesting, etc. 10 To be fair, it is true that Doudna ("Datingthe Scrolls on the Basis of Radiocarbon Analysis,"452-53) was aware of this problem,but in line with an avowed design to push the sectarianScrolls back into a 'single generation'datingformula(that is, around50 BC), he dismissedthe newer dating evidence providedby the Psalm 37 Pesherin favor of the measurementsof lQpHab,this despite the numerouscleansings to which the latteras a principalDead Sea Scroll documentwas subjected.Par contra, also see G.A. Rodley and B.E. Thiering,"Use of RadiocarbonDating in Assessing ChristianConnectionsto the Dead Sea Scrolls,"Radiocarbon41 (1999) 176-77.

150


a second result from all this-that the Scrolls were put into the caves before 40 BC as well. Unfortunatelyfor these assumptionsa fragment, recentlyidentifiedby HananEshel as being from Cave 4, gives dated evidence of a contractcarryingthe name of a High Priestand date of approximately 46-47 CE; thus giving vivid internal evidence that negates any idea that the documentswere depositedin this cave prior to this time." This is also an instructive example of what can be meant by relying on the internal evidence-or what the documents themselves state-rather than the externalin debatesof this kind. Of the Scrolls that have been dated by radiocarbon,only nine can be seen as in any way relevantto the questionregardingwhetherthe sect was active duringthe First CenturyCE or not. These are: 11QT, IQH, 4Q266, lQpHab, 1QS, 4Q258, 4Q171, 4Q521, and 4Q267. The following table gives the Carbon dating one-sigma time range for the deathof the animalwhose skin was eventuallyused to producethe Scroll in question.It shouldbe remarkedthat these dates are terminus a quos not terminus a quems as Vermes and others of a similar mind-

set would have it, since they only measurewhen the animal whose skin was eventuallyused died, not when a given scroll was actually written.The table below gives two calibratedranges,one based on the 1986 calibrationcurve being used by those doing the analyses in both sets of reports,those from 1992 and 1995, and the otherthe one from 1998. As noted, this new calibration curve produced a significant change for the range of documentslike lQpHab and 4Q267 (paleographicallyspeaking consideredthe earliest fragmentrelating to the DamascusDocument). Scroll

1998 Calibration

1986 Calibration

11QT(TempleScroll)

53 BC-21 CE

IQH 4Q266

37 BC-68 CE 4-82 CE 88-2 BC 116-50 CE

97BC-1 CE 21 Bc-61 CE

lQpHab lQS 4Q258 4Q171 4Q521

36 BCe-81 CE 29-81 CE 39 BC-66 CE

4Q267

168-51

II

BC

5-80 CE 104-43 BC 159 BC-20 CE 11 BC-78 CE 22-78 CE 35 BC-59 CE 172-98

BC

H. Eshel, "4Q348, 4Q343, and 4Q345: Three Econimic Documents from Qumran Cave 4?", JJS 52 (2001) 132-35.


151

As explained, these one-sigma distributions represent a 68% probability that the actual date lies within the specified range. For claims based on results that may include measurement or other types of error, however, it is more instructive to use the 95% per cent confidence intervals. The plot given below illustrates with a veridical rectangle the one-sigma distributions for the more recent calibration (given above) along with the wider 95% percent confidence interval of the calibrated data represented by the line extending from the rectangle.

1998 CalibrationData 300 200100

[-100

-

K20

-400-

l

Where lQpHab and 4Q267 are concerned, the 1998 recalibration was particularly significant as it brought both of those Scrolls' twosigma time range well into the First Century CE. There is, however, reason to believe that the reported standard deviations in the C14 measurements of the Scrolls do not represent the true variation within these measurements. This is because for the most part only a single sample seems to have been utilized for dating purposes from each scroll. We are not speaking here about the number of "runs" that might have been done on any given sample. As arguedby N.L. Caldararo,12 12 N. Caldararo, "Storage Conditions and Physical Treatments Relating to the Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls," Radiocarbon 37 (1995) 21, in the same journal and as a seeming follow-up article to the Jull piece.

152


when using only a single sample any variation that would exist between differentsamples that came from the same host is lost and the imprecisionof the measurementtechniquebecomes the predominant contributorto the reportedvariance. Though Jull, Donahue, Broshi, and Tov do refer to "severalsubsamples"in some instances,they admit that "only a few independent measurementswere made due to sample-size limitations."'3Though the weights of their samples varied from a low of 4.9 mg (4Q521) to a high of 56.5 mg (lQIsa), in turn seemingly dictated the number of "runs",their only general remarkis that "all samples were taken from ragged edges of top or bottom margins of the scrolls."'4 Still in

both Tables 1 and 2, outlining their results includingthose for both 4QpPs37and lQpHab, only a single sample is referredto and the reference to "sub-samples"seems to refer for the most partto the material consumedin each of the several runs. This might be wrong, but as demonstratedby R.E.M. Hedges on well-controlledsamples, the sample-to-samplevariationwas found to be a substantialportionof the overall variancein multi-sampletests."' In the case he cites the best overall standarddeviationachieved was +/- 45 years, althoughit can be significantlylarger.This was for measurement precision originally established as +/- 20 years! In other words, therecan be great differencesbetween samplestakenfrom differentpartsof the samehostandvariationssuchas thesemustbe included when calculatingthe range of a given sigma. In the reportsas they were presented,as we just saw, no indication is given of how many samples were taken from a given scroll and from which parts.If only one sample were taken,which for the most part seems to have been true, this variance is not accountedfor and the resultingsigma is less accuratethan one obtainedfrom multiple samples. Though the tables Jull, Donahoe, Broshi, and Tov providedo suggest an average of four "runs"were done on documentsacross the

13 T. Jull, D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi, and E. Tov, "Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments,"11-12. 1' T. Jull, D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi, and E. Tov, "Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments,"11. Is See R.E.M. Hedges, "RadiocarbonDating by Accelerator Mass Spectomety:

Some recent Results and Applications," Philosophical

Society of LondonSeries A, vol. 323 (issue 1569) 57-72.

Transactions of the Royal


153

board,nothingis stated in these tables abouthow many separatesamples they used from differentparts of the Scrolls or how many runs were takenon samplesfrom differentpartsof the documentor, if they did use more than one sample from differentparts of a scroll, what the varianceor disparitiesin the resultsmight have been in these separate runs. A series of runs, therefore,on the same sample area-say fourmight help make a suggested sigma measurementsmore precise, but do not really have a determiningbearing on the final range of such sigmas since it has been shown that repeatedmeasurementsfrom different samples from the same host are requiredin assessing the true sample variance.This very definitelypresentsa lacuna in the reports they provideto say nothingof the resultsthey claim to have achieved. This brings us back to our third overall point. The uncertaintysurroundingC14 dating generallyis comprisedof several variancecomponents. These include: the precision of the test on a single sample, variationfrom sample to sample from a given source, and a variety of other unknownssuch as possible calibrationerror and the uncertainty remarkedabove, regardingthe period of time between death of the animal whose skin was used for the parchmentbeing tested and when that parchmentwas writtenupon. In general,the differentcontributionsto uncertaintyadd up according the equation: S2total = S2 precision+ s2 reproducibility+ s2 other Therefore,if sample-to-samplevariationsand other unknownsare left out of the analysis of C14 dates, as they were in both the writeups and press reportsof the 1991 and 1994-95 results,the conclusions are renderedinaccuratein proportionto the degree describedby the above equation. For example, suppose multiplesamplesfrom the appropriatescrolls had been run and the reportedvariancehad increasedonly by a factor of two (the fact that the Scrolls have been contaminatedby various cleaning solutions and samples were taken largely only from frayed edges, as noted, make it reasonableto assume that the actual overall variance would be even larger than this); then the calibrated standarddeviationsor confidenceintervalsgiven above would need to be recalculatedbased on the correctedstandarddeviationof the new measurements.The graphbelow gives a pictureof what the theoretical results emergingfrom such a process might look like.

154


Multi-Sample Correction 600 400 200-

K

20

-400 -600

4

I

I

I

I

I

I

Here even the one-sigma ranges for lQpHab and 4Q267 move into the first century. Work done by F.G. McCormac and M.G.L. Baillie suggests that the complex structureof the C14 calibration curve creates more error in the calibratedranges than suggested even in the aforementioned calibrations.16 As a general rule of thumb, they state that the calendar age range is typically 100 years for high-precision dates (+/- 20 years). This agrees more closely with the multi-sample correction provided above. In a recent issue of Science it was pointed out, for example, how a "recalibration of Carbon 14 dates ... indicates the Uruk Period lasted a minimum of 700-800 years." The latter period had appeared formerly to have been "relatively short-lived".'7 Two key words emerge here: "recalibration"and "appear".Most scientists in the physical fields think of "calibration" as something hard, that is, units of measurement

16 F.G. McCormac and M.G.L. Baillie, "Radiocarbon to Calendar Date Conversion: Calendrical Band Widths as a Function of Radiocarbon Precision," Radiocarbon 35 (1993) 311-16. 17 Elizabeth Carter, "At the Dawn of Tyranny," review of M.S. Rothman, ed., Uruk, Mesopotamia and Its Neighbors (Santa Fe: School of American Research, 2001), in Science, vol. 296, no. 5574, 7 June, 2002, 1809-10, with reference to the article of H.T. Wright and E.S.A. Rupley, "Calibrated Radiocarbon Age Determinations of UrukRelated Assemblages," in Rothman, Uruk, 85-122.


155

which can be tracedback to the National Bureauof Standardsor its equivalenthaving accuraciesin terms of a fractionof-say angstroms for linear units and equally miniscule units for other measures of weight, volume, etc. In these cases calibration is a 'real' process involving a real statisticalconcept of accuracy. In sciences like the historical field, calibration takes on another meaninghaving to do with placing an event in context or attempting to create a chronology that makes sense given all the facts. Radiocarbondatingfits into the second class not the first and, as such, typifies the differenceof what can be meantby words like "accuracy"and/ 18 "Precision"is a statisticalconcept that allows one to or "'precision". make inferencesbetween two measurements,one say 5.987 units and another-say 6.012 units. Given the "precision"of his work in such a context, an analyst may be able to accept or reject a hypothesiswith some specified degree of probabilityand confidence. On the otherhand,'accuracy'is the statisticalconceptthatenablesan analyst to tell the differencebetween, say 1 unit and 10 units. Carbon 14 testing falls within the lattercategory.If the analyst is not careful, each successive wave of recalibrationcan standhistoryon its head, as for instancein the above examplefrom Science. Carbon14 testing can certainlytell one from which epoch or era a given fragmentof carbonrich scrap may have come, but not much more. Claims like the ones that are sometimesheardin the field of Dead Sea Scrolls studies, that for instance Carbon 14 testing may have a "precision"of 30 years, such as those implied in some of the contexts mentionedabove, belie the fact that it may not have an 'accuracy'of even 200 years! It might be possible to achieve a "precision"of 30 years in relative dating between two samples, such as Eisenmanand Davies originally called for in their originalrequestto the IsraelAntiquitiesAuthorityin 1989 startingthe whole sequenceof events, but not "absolutedating" which many Qumranresearchersare misled into thinking has been achieved. The latter ratheris affected by the prevailing "systematic errors' such as those noted above or over-zealous attemptsat interpretingthe raw data in the interestsof a given typological theory or preconception.Where errors emanatingout of inaccuratecalibration are concerned,these can be as large as +/- 100 years or two Standard Deviations as already noted, a time-frame larger than many of the "I Cf. Doudna,"Datingthe Scrolls on the Basis of RadiocarbonAnalysis,"433-40 on the subjectof "Accuracyand Precision".

156


debates in questionregardingaccuratedating of Qumrandocuments. Numerousanalystshave attemptedto calibratea properCarbon14 dating curve for the period 200 BCE to the 200 CE. Some have suggested using a "spline"(a draftinginstrumentsimilar to a ship's or French curve) to fit the disparatedata. The more analytical suggest using fourth-orderpolynomials.Regardlessof which method is used, however, a quick glance at their curves and the 'fit' to the data they achieve quickly reveals that none is particularlyaccurate and certainly none sufficientlyprecise to draw the conclusionsthat have been drawn in connection with the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the timeframe representedby the documents from Qumran, it is simply 'dealers choice', that is to say, pick the one that supportsyour own arguments and toss the others aside. Surely therehas to be a betterway of making such determinations. Our purpose here has not been to supportany given theory, but simply to demonstratethat the radiocarbontesting that was done visa-vis the Dead Sea Scrolls did not rule out any given theory.This is because when dealing with an array of items expressed in units of probability,the resultsof the entiresample must be considered.A statistical outlier-that is, a single result that is outside a patterndetermined by multiple other results-is always possible and no single datum point can ever produce informationthat has greatermeaning than that providedby the arraythat containsit. Two samples were includedin the collection that were taken from scrolls that were known to have been producedat the time of Simon Bar Kochba's revolt against Rome. They were used as a control to determinethe accuracyof the radiocarbondating.Both of these samples producederrorsof over one hundredyears. Sample

CalibratedAge

Kefar Bebayou CE 144-370 CE 86-314 Hev 21

PaleographicAge

Amountof Error

CE 135 (dated) CE 128 (dated)

+122 years +100 years

In fact, the Kefar Bebayou papyruscarryinga known date of 135 CE was not only off the boardin its Ia range of 237-340 CE but even

It shouldbe clear thatthese results out of its 2ayrange (140-390 CE).19 Dating in AssessingChristian t9 ThoughRodley and Thiering,"Use of Radiocarbon Connectionsto the Dead Sea Scrolls,"171-72, and Doudna,"Datingthe Scrolls on the Basis of RadiocarbonAnalysis,"455-56, strugglewith this problem,theiranswersulti-


157

too, included mainly for control, make questionablejust how useful C14 datingcan be in attemptingfix absolutedateswithin a time spanas narrowas the one at issue where the Dead Sea Scrolls are concerned. In closing, it should be observed that C14 dating of a range of objects can only be meaningful if the samples that are tested are selected in an objectiveand scientificmanner.This was obviously not the case for the samples used to producethe results reportedin 1995 in Radiocarbon.As the authorsstated in a press release announcing these results,the methodused to select the Scroll sampleswas as follows: "Most of the (samples)had been suggested to us by colleagues who had special interestsin C14 analysis of particulartexts."20It is unacceptablethat the Scroll samples were selected on the basis of the special interests of colleagues and not on a methodologicallysound basis open to the generalcommunityof scholars.Such an approachis not only unscientific, but inevitably leads to speculation about the interestsinvolved. However this may be, the C14 test results did not demonstratethe reliabilityof paleography.On the contrary,when taken as a whole the C14 datesshowedthatneitherpaleographynorC14 datingis a sufficiently precise tool to contributeconclusively to the debate over the accurate dating of the Scrolls.

mately strikeone as self-servingor dissimulatingand they are in the end really unable to provideeither a satisfactoryor convincingexplanationof how to overcomeit. I T. Jull, D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi, and E. Tov, "RadiocarbonDating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments,"11.

THE ROYAL CONSCIENCEACCORDING TO 4QSAMA KEITH BODNER Tyndale University College

In a recent article in Dead Sea Discoveries, Alexander Rofe dis-

cusses a "smallvariant"of Ex 2:3 attestedin 4QExodb,a textualdetail pertainingto the transportof the ark of Moses to the Nile River.' In light of Rofe's analysis of Ex 2:3, I would like to suggest that thereis a not dissimilarvariantof 2 Sam 11:3 attestedin 4QSama,with a number of intriguingliterarypossibilities.The MT reads "And David sent and inquiredaboutthe woman, and he said, 'Is not this Bathsheba,the daughterof Eliam, the wife of Unah the Hittite?'", but 4QSamaincludes the phrase ". . . Uriah the Hittite armor-bearer of Joab?" (001[: *LZ).2 For the presentarticle, the issue here is not the perceived "originality"of this variant(or mattersof textualor compositionalhistory), but rathersome literaryimplicationsthat arise when the additional designation "armor-bearerof Joab" is considered against the backdropof the broadernarrativecanvas.3Most readerswould agree :^1

I

A. Rofe, "Moses' Mother and her Slave-Girl According to 4QExodb,"DSD 9 (2002) 38-43. Rof6 is discussingthe text as presentedin E. Ulrich, F.M. Cross et al., Qumran Cave 4.V11: Genesis to Numbers (DJD 12; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994)

79-95. The NRSV rendersEx 2:3 as follows: "Whenshe could hide him no longer she got a papyrusbasketfor him, and plasteredit with bitumenand pitch;she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river."However,4QExodb contains an additionalthree words at 2:3b (based on Cross' reconstruction),where Moses' motherissues a commandto her maid:"Shesaid to her maid, 'Go!"' (CICMlI 2 E. Ulrich, The QumranText of Samuel and Josephus (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1978) 173. Josephus(Ant.7.131) also includesthis detail.Cf. P.K. McCarter,II

Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary (AB 9; Garden

City, New York: Doubleday,1984) 279. A.A. Anderson(2 Samuel[WBC 11; Dallas: Word, 1989] 151) also notes the 4QSamavariant,opining that it is an "explanatory gloss." NAB renders2 Sam 11:3 as "Davidhad inquiriesmade aboutthe woman and was told, 'She is Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, and wife of (Joab's armor-bearer) Uriah the Hittite.'" 3 Note that Uriahdoes referto the generalas "my lord Joab"in the king's presence (11:11). Hence, the 4QSamavariantcould quite conceivablybe classed as a "scribal performance"(cf. R.F. Person,"The Ancient IsraeliteScribe as Performer,"JBL 117 ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


THE ROYAL CONSCIENCEACCORDING TO 4QSAMA

159

that this vocational epithet affects the narrativepresentationsof both Joab and Uriah in this episode. On the one hand, it locates Uriah within the larger matrix of the "master/armor-bearer" motif, represented by Jonathan'sarmor-bearerin the episode of 1 Sam 14:1-23, and also by the David/Saulrelationshipwhen David is introducedto the royal court (i.e. 1 Sam 16:21, "and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer" [0:~ R: l&7 Tfl7).On the other hand, the variant could grimly accentuateJoab's Machiavelliancunning, as he is willing to sacrifice his own armor-bearerto safeguardthe king's cover-up operation, and by extension, protect his own interests as commanderof the nationaltroops. Consequently, the 4QSama variant raises several interpretative issues for the characterization of both Joab and Uriahin this narrative. Some furthercomplicationssurfacewhen considering"David'stroubled conscience" that emerges in this episode, poignantly crystallized in 2 Sam 11:3. In termsof the wider context,2 Sam 11 representsa decisive moment in King David's career. Walter Brueggemannreflects, "We are now at the pivotal turningpoint in the narrativeplot of the books of Samuel. We are also invited into the presence of delicate, subtle art."4Further,Meir Stemnberg's analysis of 2 Sam 11 has drawn [1998] 601-9), influencedby the biting irony of Uriah'swords to David. There is also the matterof 2 Sam 23:37 (cf. 1 Chron 11:39),"Naharaiof Beeroth,the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah"(;rfl! p : 'n b: RM).An impressiveargumentfor the inner logic of this 4QSamavariantis articulatedby F. Polak, "David's Kingship-A Precarious Equilibrium,"in Politics and Theopoliticsin the Bible and Postbiblical Literature(eds H.G. Revendlow,Y. Hoffman,and B. Uffenheimer;JSOTSup171; Sheffield: SheffieldAcademic Press, 1994) 134-5. Polak draws attentionto the similarroles of Joab in both this episode of 2 Sam 11 and the rebellionof Absalom later in the narrative. Polak notes: "Themain point, however,concernsthe relationbetweenJoab and Uriah.Unlike the MT and LXX, the SamuelScroll from Qumranhas Uriahintroduced as ZkV "2Z tc1l[] (11.2), a detail also mentionedby FlaviusJosephus(Ant.7.7.1 ?131). The contentof this surplusis highly untypicalof explanatoryglosses, and thereforethe longer reading seems original. It implies an extremely involved introduction,which presents Bathshebain her relation to Eliam, and to Uriah, who is related to Joab" (134). After surveyingothersuch "introductions" to charactersin variousbiblicaltexts, Polak remarksthat the phraseZAK 1Z: =5[21"couldeasily have been omitted,since the introductionof Bathshebais quite elaborateeven without it. Of course, the mention of Joab in the introductionof the man who is to be killed by his co-operationwith the king (cf. 13.1-2) exhibits the bitter irony characteristicof this narrative.More importantly,it createsa deep psychologicaltension,as Joab inevitablywas quite close to the man he had to kill by the king's order.This tension adds anotherdimensionto Joab's sarcastic message after Uriah was killed" (135). For furtherexplication of Joab's "sarcasticmessage"to David in 2 Sam 11:19-21, see K. Bodner, "Is Joab a Reader-ResponseCritic?"JSOT 27 (2002) 19-35. 4 W. Brueggemann,First and Second Samuel (Louisville:John Knox Press, 1990) 271.

160

KEITH BODNER

attentionto a host of gaps and ambiguitiesin this chapter,and Robert Alter argues that in 2 Sam 11 and 12, "it seems as thoughthe writer has pulled out all the stops of his remarkablenarrativeart in orderto achieve a brilliantrealizationof this cruciallypivotal episode."5Bearing in mind the host of narrativesubtletiesand ambiguousovertones in this pericope,consider2 Sam 11:1-3 with the 4QSamaadditionin italics: It was at the returnof the year, the time when the kings6go forth, and David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonitesand besieged Rabbah,but David sat in Jerusalem.It was the time of the evening, and David arose from his couch, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and saw a woman bathingfrom the roof, and the womanwas very beautifulto look upon. And David sent, and inquiredconcerningthe woman,and he said, "Is this not Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite, armor-bearerof Joab?"

By any measure,the question posed in 2 Sam 11:3b representsa warning to the king.7 Most translations render the response to David's

instructionin the form of a reply, presumablyfrom a messenger-figure who is dispatchedwith the commissionto discoverthe woman's identity. The NIV, for example, adds the subject "man":"The man said, 'Is this not Bathsheba..

.?"'

Compare also the NRSV: "David sent

someone to inquireabout the woman. It was reported,'This is Bath-

I M. Stemnberg, ThePoeticsof BiblicalNarrative:IdeologicalLiteratureandtheDrama of Reading (Bloomington:Indiana University Press, 1985) 186-229; R. Alter, The David Story:A Translationwith Commentaryof I & 2 Samuel (New York: Norton, 1999) 249. 6 On the textual controversysurrounding C'Mft' and 1::O, see R. Polzin, David and the Deuteronomist(Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress, 1993) 109-17. Cf. H.P. Smith, A Critical and Exegetical Commentaryon the Books of Samuel (ICC; Edinburgh:T & T Clark, 1899) 317-18. 7 For whateverreasons,David has not gone forthto battle the Ammonitesand participate in the siege of Rabbah(2 Sam 11:1). If there is irony and ambiguityin the openingverse of this episode, it is certainlycontinuedin the next sentenceof the narrative. There is a second temporalreferencein as many sentences,and the second is meantto reflex back to the first:"It was the turnof the year"(when the kings/agents go forth-but David remains in Jerusalem) followed by "It was the time of the evening"(when David sallies forth from his couch where he is reclining,many miles from the siege led by Joab). Espying the beautifulwoman bathing,David's action is "to send,"and for the second time in as many verses he is once more engaged in the activity of sending;on this occasion, the task is to gatherintelligenceon the identity of the bather.Cf. Brueggemann,Theologyof the Old Testament,364-5: "Davidis regularlycritiquedin commentaryfor having stayed behindin time of war, sendingJoab in his place ... David is the sender, the instigatorof the battle, but David runs no risks. Indeed,he has time for much other 'sending'of a destructivekind (see the verb in vv. 3, 4, 6, 12, 14)."

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sheba daughterof Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite."' One could ask whetheror not this is an expectedresponsefrom a servantreturning from an assignment-a rhetorical-soundingquery framed in the negative with a hint of dissatisfaction,"Is this not Bathsheba...?"as a servant would perhaps reply with a more efficient "she is A, daughterof B, wife of C." While this sense is conveyed in the NRSV, rnr- ritr sn*7) the interrogativeaspect (nrrn M o9-i-n ls n should be retainedfor a host of literaryreasons. The informationis framed as an implicit warningdesigned to stir the conscience of the king regardingthe identity of the woman who happens to live next door to him: "Is this not Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite armor-bearerof Joab?"8 There are, then, numerousissues for the "royalconscience"that are containedin this question concerningBathsheba'sidentity. If indeed, as the NRSV and NIV renderthe verse, it is an unnamed"messenger" who delivers this question, it is a ratherbold and brave underling who registers a virtual objection and warning to the king. The question needs to be posed, however, as to whether this possibly might be David's own "stream-of-consciousness" that is refractedin 2 Sam 11:3b.In a chapterso "fraughtwith ambiguity,"9 could this "conscience" issue be one furtherexample of narrativedramadesigned to draw the readerinto its literaryweb? R.C. Bailey has alreadyargued that 2 Sam 11:3b is an example of inner direct speech; accordingto this proposition,the query "Is this not Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite armor-bearerof Joab?" is articulatedby David himself. Surveying2 Sam 11:3 as a whole, Bailey notes that a new subjectfor the verb "andhe said" is not introduced,and the pair of verbs preceding -rmml("and David sent, and inquired... and he said")both have David as the subject.1" Bailey suggests, "It shouldbe 8 This questionalso highlightsthe kind of dualismwhich reverberatesthroughout the rest of the episode-the conflict between the "outerman" (the king and military leader) and the "innerman" (the very fallible humanbeing with strugglesand temptations).Here, David displaysan "ignorance"for his public audienceby feigning ignorance as to the woman's identity,but privatelyhe must know exactly who she is, and this long statementof her name and familial connections,commencingwith a negative exclamation,demarcatethe issues at stake in an unambiguousmanner:"Is this not Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite,armor-bearerof Joab?" Cf. the recent literaryand historicalperspectiveof B. Halpern,David's Secret Demons: Messiah,Murderer,Traitor,King (GrandRapids:Eerdmans,2001). 9 G.A. Yee, "Fraughtwith Background:Literary Ambiguity in 2 Samuel 11," Interpretation42 (1988) 24041. 10 R.C. Bailey, David in Love and War: The Pursuit of Power in 2 Samuel 10-12

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noted that generally this third-personverb is attributedto an anonymous speakerwho 'answers' David's inquiry.The structureof 2 Sam 11.3, however, demonstratesthat there is no other subject introduced in the verse. Similarly,there is no use of 1 [b] to indicateDavid has become the indirectobject of the verb. Thus syntacticallyit appears that all three verbs have David as the subject."l1 Hence, when Bailey considersthat there is not an explicit marker denoting a change in the subject of the verb, it could conceivably mean that David is the speaker(or thinker)of these words-after all, the verb IMKcan also mean "to think"as well as "to say" in Hebrew.'2 If the notion of inner direct speech is taken seriously, an alternative way of renderingthis portionof text (assumingthe king remainsthe subject) could be, "And David sent, and inquired concerning the woman, and he thought, 'Is this not Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite,armor-bearerof Joab?'"13 In my view, such a reading becomes more plausible in light of other instances in Hebrew narrativewhere -IrMnshould be translated"and he thought." For instance, 1 Sam 18:11, "And Saul hurled the spear, and he (Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 1990) 85. Citing Bailey, J.C. Exum (Fragmented Women:Feminist (Sub)versionsof Biblical Narratives [Philadelphia:Trinity Press International,1993]) notes:"It is not clear who says these words,whetherDavid or an attendant,but, in any event, 'Is this not Bathsheba?'suggests that someone else is looking too." " R.C. Bailey, David in Love and War:The Pursuitof Power in 2 Samuel10-12, 94. Bailey furthernotes: "The story line offers furtherconfirmationof the correctness of the verbs in v. 3. The verb [nwt] follows [077], which points of this interpretation to an inquiryfor information.Similarly,it is followed by a 'speculativeidentification' of the woman [ritrtR1*fl. It would appear,therefore,that the statementin v. 3b is the 'inquiry'[71-1]of David in searchof the confirmationof the identityof the woman" (94). To supplementBailey's readingon this point, I would suggest that this doestnot have to be limited to David's speculativeinquiry,but rathermight also be the king's own conscience informinghim of the woman's identity, her family lineage (as the daughterof one of his warriorsaccordingto 2 Sam 23, and consequentlythe granddaughterof Ahithophel),and her status as a marriedwoman (the wife of Uriah,also a warriorlisted in 2 Sam 23; moreover,one who is currentlyaway on the battlefield, and thereforethis husbandis not a factor). McCarter(11Samuel,277) discountsthis option in his translation:"[He] sent out inquiriesabout the woman. 'Isn't she Bathsheba daughterof Eliam,' someone said, 'the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"'Anderson also insertsa differentsubjectfor the verb"andhe said (70K'))":"So David sent someone and made inquiriesabout the woman, and he reported..." (2 Samuel, 150). 12 Cf. BDB, 56; HALOT,66; DCH 1:324. 13 If 2 Sam 11:3b included a qualifyingphrase such as, "said in his heart,"-for example, as in Gen 17:17, "Then Abrahamfell on his face and laughed, and said or Gen 27:41, "Now Esau hated Jacob because of the to himself (Ij: t)..," blessing with which his fatherhad blessed him, and Esau said to himself (10 ' klmn lnZn) . . ."-the

ambiguity would of course be resolved.


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thought (IMl). 'I will pin David on the wall.' "14 Another useful example is 2 Kgs 20:19, "ThenHezekiahsaid ('r3Wr)to Isaiah, 'The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.' For he thought (-i2r1',),'Willtherenotbe peaceandsecurityin my days?"'15Fortuitously, both of these examples also representa royal stream-of-consciousness (from Saul and Hezekiahrespectively),and both kings are negatively characterizedthroughthese examples of inner discourse. There is a defensibleargument,it would seem, that David asks the question of 2 Sam 11:3b internally. Exactly why the king "inquires"

(t--) as to the woman's identityin 11:3a remainsobscure,and would have to be understoodas somethingof a formality.But my point here would be: whetherDavid is the speaker(internaldiscourse) of these words or whetherthis queryproceedsfrom an unidentifiedsubordinate, this providesyet anotherlevel of ambiguityin this episode, with consequences for the remainderof 2 Sam 11 and beyond.16 If this is a momentin biblical prose when the royal conscienceis stirredand motives are questioned,then the interiorangle of the king's mind which is briefly divulged is paramountfor the delineationof characterand the conflict generatedin the narrative.Even if an unnamed servant poses the questionto David, the audienceis nonethelessprovidedwith a "struggle"betweenking and servanton the roof at this early stage in the narrative,and it serves to tangle David's motives in a more intricate net.17But if, as a readermay be inclined to think, this question 14 :'prn rn1rz :8 ::'n mrn nlk ITns :1. Cf. the renderings of -ION'l by McCarter(1 Samuel [AB 8; GardenCity, New York: Doubleday, 1980] 301: "thinking") and R.W. Klein (1 Samuel [WBC 10; Waco: Word, 19831 184: "thought").

T.R. Hobbs (2 Kings [WBC 13; Waco: Word, 1985] 285) rendersthis line as "But to himself he said, 'Why not.. .?' Hobbs (2 Kings, 295) furthernotes that this inner *sp&chis revealing:"The clay feet of Hezekiahare now apparent."Cf. M. Cogan and H. Tadmor,1I Kings: A New Translationwith Introductionand Commentary(AB 11; New York: Doubleday, 1988) 258: "Forhe thought:At least there will be peace and securityin my lifetime."Cogan and Tadmoralso note that this inner thoughtshows Hezekiah's"self-concem"(260) and "unseemlypride"(262). See also the discussion of B.O. Long, 2 Kings (FOTL 10; GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1991) 244 45. 16 Note the footnoteof J.W. Wesselius,"Joab'sDeath and the CentralTheme of the Succession Narrative(2 Samuel IX-1 Kings II)," VT 40 (1990) 347: "It seems likely that David's unusualwords in 2 Sam xi 3, 'Is not she Bathsheba,daughterof Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?', indicate some considerationon the part of David, apparentlyleading to the conclusionthat he could do what he wantedwithoutfear for the consequences." 17 The same "roof" (23) featurestragicallyin Absalom'srebellion(16:21-22), as the counsel of Ahithophel(the fatherof Eliam) is followed and a tent is erected on the "roof" (2:) of the king's house to defile the concubines.The "struggle"of David's conscience on the roof in 2 Sam 11:3 presagesthe struggleof Absalom'srebellionto come.

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marksthe stirringof David's own conscience(meaningthathe is aware of the woman's identitybefore sendinghis agent to "takeher"),then the resultis a narrativethat is furtherfraughtwith complexity.'8When the 4QSama variant (". . . armor-bearer of Joab?") is thus considered

as a trajectoryof David's own mind, a host of narrativeforces further collide aroundthe identityof Bathshebaand the tessellatednetworkof relationshipsthat are involved in David's decision. Polak touches on some of the wider reaches of 2 Sam 11:3 and the 4QSamaaddition: The Qumranreadingalso sheds new light on the tale of Absalom'sdeath. First of all, one notes the structuralopposition:Uriah,Joab's armourbearer, must die by the express orderof David; Absalom,David's son, is killed by Joab, against David's express interdiction.The latterscene, then, is the counterpartof the former one. Moreover,afterhittingAbsalomwith threearrow-heads(C'nrf7)[18:14, LXX], Joab has him killed by ten of his armourbearers. Among the many other reminiscencesone must mentionthe 'roof of the gate' on which the spy stood in orderto informthe king of any news (18.24). This roof is an echo of the roof on which David was walking when he espied Bathsheba(11.2). Anotherintriguing detail is the mentionof the wall (18.24: ;rt?Ynf :n tt), reminding io us of the wall from which Uriahwas hit (MOTIM 7r, 11.24), as was Abimelech (11.21; this sound constellationis similar to ;rZfl '02f, vv. 7, 15-20, 25). The town gate appearsin the pericopeof Uriah's death in the heroic attemptto use the counter-attackfor forcing a way into the town (11.23). All these features enhanceand deepen the intricateconnectionbetweenthese two tales. Absalom's death is an act of divine retributionfor the murderof Uriah.'9

18 This example of 2 Sam 11:3b would correspondinglyprovide an instructive exampleof "stream-of-consciousness," definedas a "termcoined by WilliamJames in Principles of Psychology (1890) to denote the flow of inner experiences. Now an almost indispensableterm in literarycriticism,it refers to that techniquewhich seeks to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind. Anotherphrasefor it is 'interiormonologue"'(J.A. Cuddon,A Dictionaryof Literary Termsand LiteraryTheory3rd Edition [Oxford:Blackwell, 1991] 866). If, as is suggested above, 2 Sam Il is the turningpoint of David's reign, then this could be construedas a brilliantliterarydevice for showing the king's thoughtprocessat this crucialjuncture-a farmoresophisticatedliterarydevice(thesubjectof theverbis deliberately obfuscated to create a range of possibilities in the reader's mind) than is often acknowledged.One could furtherarguethatthis is a vital partof the theologicalvision of this narrativeas it providesthe readerwith an inside view of David's conscience before his greatfall. In theirinfluentialtextbook,TheNatureof Narrative,Scholes and Kellogg contendthat in 2 Sam 11 "Bathsheba'sbeauty is presentedimpersonally,as a fact, and not from David's point of view or in terms of his reactionto seeing her. The inwardlife is assumedbut not presentedin primitiveliterature,whetherHebraic or Hellenic"(R. Scholes and R. Kellogg, The Natureof Narrative[New York:Oxford University Press, 1966] 166). The argumentabove would pose a challenge to this observationabout"primitive"literature,which may in fact be more sophisticatedthan such critics have discerned hitherto. See also Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical

Narrative, 525. 19 Polak, "David's Kingship-A PrecariousEquilibrium," 135-6. One would further note that in Judg 9:54 Abimelechis run throughby "the lad who carriedhis armor" (trv

Men

ImSn).


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To summarizeand conclude,I would suggest that the 4QSamavariant (". . . armor-bearerof Joab?") merits interpretativeattentionfor threereasons.First,the additionemphasizesthe significanceof 2 Sam 11:3b in terms of its literaryforeshadowingof the climacticevents of this "turningpoint" episode in David's life. Clearly, the question posed in 11:3b points ahead to Ahithophel'sfutureinvolvement,since Ahithophel,accordingto 2 Sam 23:34, is the fatherof Eliam and thus grandfatherof Bathsheba.Ahithophel'srole in the ensuing civil war is thus anticipatedin this verse. But 2 Sam 11:3b also alertsthe readerto the complex role of Joab in 2 Sam 11, especially in the liquidationof Uriah, and in the rest of the David narrative.By extension, just as Eliam's daughterBathshebaand fatherAhithophelare importantplayers in the immediatewake of 2 Sam 11, Joab is a pivotal figure as well, and according to the 4QSamavariant, Joab and Uriah have a deeper relationalconnectionthan is representedin the MT. Second, the 4QSama variant underscores the ambiguity of conscience presentedin this episode: is the questionof Bathsheba'sidentity posed by a messenger,or is the king himself responsiblefor this utterance?One could argue that the 4QSamaaddition certainly preserves, if not enhances, the drama of this syntactic ambiguity. The forthcomingcivil war in 2 Sam 15-18 and its key playersare thus registeredin David's mind from the outset. In a narrative"fraughtwith ambiguity,"this ambiguityof whetherDavid himself is the speakerof these words (includingthe 4QSamavariant)adds one more level to the narrative sophistication, and accentuates the drama of conscience played out in the royal mind. Is this a remarkablywell-informedmessenger delivering a memorandumof veiled rebuke to the sedentary monarch(who is not out with the troopsbattlingthe Ammonites)?Or is this a Davidic stream-of-consciousnessunveiling a struggle in the royal conscience at this precipitousmomentfor king and nation?Such a question is only complicatedby the presence of Uriah's vocational epithet ("armor-bearerof Joab") in the Qumran fragment. In this article I have proposed a new reading of 2 Sam 11:3-including the 4QSamavariant-suggesting that there is an intentionalambiguity as to whetherthis is a questionfrom a servantor a royal soliloquy.On the one hand, it could possibly be a messenger of the king, who frames his "response"in order to prick the royal conscience. On the other hand, my readingentertainsthe possibilitythat 11:3b (including INI 'Z nt) proceedsfrom the mind of King David. This ambiguity is one of many in a narrativeepisode that representsa watershed moment in David's career.

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Finally, the presenceof this 4QSamavariantprovidesevidence that 2 Sam 11-the turningpoint of the David story-was vigorouslyread and viewed as highly importantto early readersof this narrative,and illustratesthe vitality of this verse and its dramaticpurposeat such a decisive momentof David's reign.20Naturallythereare argumentsthat the 2 Sam 11:3b variantattestedin 4QSamais secondary,much like the Ex 2:3b variantattestedin 4QExodbas describedby Rofe. However, appropriatingthe work of Rof6 and Uriel Simon, I would conclude that this varianttestifies to the often underratedrole of minor characterswithin the artistic economy of biblical narrative,and thus for the history of interpretationof 2 Sam 11 it is an issue that deserves furtherconsideration.3*

20

See furtherC.A. Evans, "Davidin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in The Scrolls and the Scriptures:QumranFifty YearsAfter (eds S.E. Porterand C.A. Evans; Roehampton Institute London Papers 3; JSPSup 26; Sheffield:Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 183-97. 21 Rofe, "Moses'Motherandher Slave-Girl Accordingto 4QExodb,"38-43; U. Simon, ReadingPropheticNarratives(Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress, 1997) 263-71, reprintof "MinorCharactersin Biblical Narrative,"JSOT46 (1990) 11-19. * An earlierversionof this paperwas deliveredat the EasternGreatLakes Region of the Society of Biblical LiteratureAnnualMeeting,Historyof Interpretation section, 2003. Linda Day (Pittsburgh)and John Bergsma (Notre Dame) deserve a word of thanks.

WOMENAT QUMRAN:INTRODUCINGTHE ESSAYS ROB KUGLER

ESTHERCHAZON

Lewis & ClarkCollege

HebrewUniversity

The questionsrelatingto women at Qumran-whether they were in attendance there and the attitudes of the community toward them regardlessof their presence or absence at the site-have drawn considerableinterestin the last few years and for good reasons.' Some of the skeletal remains from excavations in the Qumrancemeteries recently resurfacedand stimulateda flurryof new analyses.2Also on the archaeologicalfront, de Vaux's notes are graduallycoming to light, permitting researchers to determine from the fuller archaeological record the evidence for and against the presence of women there.3 And at nearly the same time, DJD editions of some of the halakhic and sapientialscrolls containingsubstantialpassagesrelatedto women For the most significantgeneraldiscussionsof women at Qumran,see E. Schuller, "Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls," in The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Assessment(eds P. FlintandJ. VanderKam; Leiden:Brill, 1999)2.117-44; Comprehensive Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Methodsof Investigationof the Dead Sea Scrolls and the KhirbetQumranSite: PresentRealities and FutureProspects(ed. M. Wise et al.; New York:The New York Academy of Sciences, 1994) 115-32; and S.W. Crawford,"Not Accordingto Rule: Women,the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran," Emanuel: Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint,and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov (eds S. Paul, R.A. Kraft, L. Schiffman,and W. Fields; Leiden: Brill, 2003) 127-50; see also M. Gruber,"Women in the Religious System of Qumran," Judaism in Late Antiquity5.1 The Judaism of Qumran:A SystemicReading of the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds A.J. Avery-Peckand J. Neusner;Handbookof OrientalStudies 1.56; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 173-96. 2 J. Magness,"Womenand the Cemeteryat Qumran," The Archaeologyof Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (GrandRapids,MI: Eerdmans,2002) 163-87; 0. Rohrer-Ertl, F. Rohrhirsch,and D. Hahn,"Oberdie Graberfelder von KhirbetQumran,insbesondere die Funde der Campagne1956. I: AnthropologischeDatenvorlageund Erstauswertung aufgrundder Collectio Kurth,"RevQ 19 (1999) 3-46; S. Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers, Craftsmen, Elites? Analysis of the French Collection of Human Remains from Qumran,"DSD 9 (2002) 199-246; J. Taylor,"TheCemeteriesof KhirbetQumranand Women's Presenceat the Site," DSD 6 (1999) 285-323; J. Zias, "The Cemeteriesof Qumranand Celibacy:ConfusionLaid to Rest?"DSD 7 (2000) 220-53. 3 J.-B. Humbertand A. Chambon,Fouilles de KhirbetQumrtinet de Ain Feshka 1 (Fribourg:tditions universitaires,1994). ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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were being published.4In light of these developments,the steering committeeof the QumranSection of the Society of Biblical Literature organizeda session of invited papers to addressthe topic of women at Qumran.Threeof the articlesin this issue of Dead Sea Discoveries were presentedat the meetingand have since been updatedin light of furtherdevelopments.'Lackingis a treatmentof developmentsrelated to thearchaeological record,especiallytheevidenceof theskeletalremains. So to introducethe articles by Baumgarten,Bernstein, Wright, and Grossmanin this issue, we begin with a brief summaryof currentopinion on the archaeologicalevidenceregardingthe existenceof women at Qumran.We conclude with a summaryof what readerswill find in the four articles and of how we think readersmight most profitably understandthem in relationshipto one another. The Archaeologyof Womenat Qumran To begin with the evidence from the cemeteries-the skeletal remains from only 43 of 1100-1200 tombs!6-the growing consensusis summed up nicely by Jodi Magness when she says (regardingthe whole body of archaeologicalevidence) that there was at most "only minimalfemale presenceat Qumran."7 Thanksto the recentrediscov-

4 See especially J. Baumgarten,QumranCave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford:Clarendon,1996) for the Cave 4 DamascusDocument evidence;t. Puech, QumranGrotte4XVIII (DJD 25; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1998) 115-78, for 4Q525; J. Strugnelland D. Harrington,QumranCave 4.XXIV(DJD 34: Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1999) for 4Qlnstruction. I Originallythe session was intendedto addressthe questionof women and children at Qumran,but the invited participantsall gravitatedalmost exclusively to the topic of women alone. The session includedpapersfrom A. Baumgarten,B. Wright, M. Bernstein, and J. Magness, and responses from E. Schuller and R. Kraemer. Magness published her remarks in updated form in another venue ("Women at Qumran?"WhatAthensHas to Do with Jerusalem:Essays on Classical,Jewish, and Early ChristianArt and Archaeologyin Honor of GideonFoerster [ed. L.V. Rutgers; Leuven:Peeters,2002] 89-123), and they are mostly availablenow in The Archaeology of Qumran(see above). M. Grossman'spaperwas presentedin a session related to the one in which Baumgarten,Wright,and Bernsteinpresentedtheirpapers.It was added to this small collection because of its pertinenceand special contributionfrom a methodologicalperspective.See below for furthercommentsin this regard. 6 S. Steckoll,"Preliminary ExcavationReportin theQumranCemetery," RevQ6 (1968) 323-44, reportson nine more skeletons from ten tombs, but we must join Magness ("Womenand the Cemeteryat Qumran,"169) in rejectingreliance on his evidence since it is no longeravailablefor fresh analysis,and his own suggestionsare so whimsical as to be patentlyunreliable. I "Womenand the Cemeteryat Qumran,"185.

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ery of remainslocated in Jerusalem,Paris, and Munich, 39 skeletons have lately undergone reexamination. Olav R6hrer-Ertl,Ferdinand Rohrhirsch,and DietbartHahn analyzed the remains of 22 skeletons from de Vaux's excavations broughtto Munich by GottfriedKurth, one of the physical anthropologists retained by de Vaux.8 Susan Sheridanhas examinednine skeletonshoused in the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, as well as the partial remains of eight more skeletons broughtto the Musee de l'Homme in Paris by Henri-VictorVallois, anotherof the physical anthropologistsemployed by de Vaux.9The German researchersidentified among their 22 sets of remains nine adult males, eight females, and five children.Only two of the females were located in the "main"western sector of the cemetery complex, while the remainingwomen (and children)were in the southernextension and southerncemetery.Joe Zias has since challengedthe identification of the remains in the western sector as female on the basis of theirstature,but he has won few adherentsto his positionon these two sets of remains.However, he has demonstratedconvincinglythat the women and childrenin the southernextension and southerncemetery are all later Bedouin burials.'0Meanwhile,Sheridan'sanalysis of the remainslocated in Jerusalemshows that eight were males and a ninth, likely from the northerncemeteryor extension,was a female." As for the remainsensconced in the Musee de l'Homme, Sheridanhas now determinedthat althougha letter from Vallois to de Vaux proposed that several were women, none of them are indisputably from a female, even though some bone fragmentsappearto possess feminine characteristics.More importantis Sheridan'sjudgmenton the condition of the Paris collection: the remains endured such abominable preservation-damageat the site in labeling and preparationfor transport,decay in the museumbecause of insufficientstorage,and mixture somewherealong the way-as to be almost useless to researchers.'2 So in all, one can at most say that there is evidence for perhapsthree

Rohrer-Ertl,Rohrhirsch,and Hahn"Uberdie Graberfeldervon KhirbetQumran." Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,Craftsmen,Elites?";we also include observation's from a presentationby Sheridanwe heardjust before going to press:"Analysisof the Skeletal Remains from Qumran:The French and GermanCollections from the De Vaux Excavations,"presentedon November23, 2003 in the ArchaeologicalExcavations and Discoveries:Illuminatingthe Biblical World Section at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literaturein Atlanta,GA. 10 Zias, "The Cemeteriesof Qumranand Celibacy." Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,Craftsmen,Elites?" 12 Sheridan,"Analysisof the Skeletal Remainsfrom Qumran." 8 9

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females among the remainsremovedfrom the 43 tombs excavatedby de Vaux. But one must also rememberthat the numberof tombsexcavated amounts to little more than 3.5% of the entire collection of graves at Qumran,and this tiny percentageis reducedin turn by the uselessness of the eight sets of remains in Paris. In other words, Magness is right that the skeletal remainsprovideevidence only for a "minimalfemale presence"at Qumran;but we must hasten to add with her and others that the amountof evidence we may consult to make this judgmentis statisticallyinsignificantrelativeto the amount of evidence that remainsuntouched. Do the "genderedobjects"(items usually associatedwith one gender or the other) from Qumranprovide more substantialevidence of women's active presenceat the site? Magness has surveyedthe available evidence to conclude that only "one spindle whorl and no more than four beads"'"3 may be counted as female-genderedobjects. Like the skeletal remains,this too promptsher to conclude that there was "only minimal female presenceat Qumran."'4But here also the paucity of available evidence forces Magness and others to qualify their judgments:de Vaux's full archaeologicalrecordis still not completely published,and furtherevidence"couldrevealthe presenceof additional genderedobjects."''5 As things stand, then, the entire known archaeologicalrecord permits one to say that there is only the slimmest of physical evidence for women having been at Qumran.'6At the same time, though,that recorditself is of the slimmestsort, reducingthe value of such a judgment regardingthe presenceor absence of women at Qumran. Bernstein, Wright, Baumgarten, and Grossman on Women at Qumran

One thing is certain, then, as a result of recent analyses of the archaeologicalevidence for women at Qumran:we remainas depen1' "Womenand the Cemeteryat Qumran,"178. Magnessis able to make this claim on the basis of some recently-publishedexcavation notes from de Vaux; but at the same time she observes that the incomplete publication of those notes limits the confidencewith which she and otherinterpreters can makeclaims aboutday-to-daylife at Qumran. 14 Ibid., 185. Is Ibid., 179. 16 Taylor,"TheCemeteriesof KhirbetQumran," 322-23, concludesmuch morepositively than this, but much of the re-sexing and re-assignmentof skeletal remainsto reduce earlier, higher estimates of the numberof women presentamong the tombs came after her articlewas completed.

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dent as ever on the scrolls themselves to attend to the question of women and Qumran. Thus the essays that follow take on added significance and, as we shall see, may serve as pointers for further research. Bernstein and Wright, incorporatingrecent publicationsof official editions, addressthe significanceof the legal and wisdom texts where there is an especially abundantamountof materialon women. Bernstein sets out to categorizethe kinds of texts in which laws regarding women are found to discover that they appear in "all the kinds of texts in which we expect to find them," so that "the [well-known] 'omission' of women by IQS might even be said to stand out as an anomalyby comparison."He also describeswhat these texts say about women and concludesthat they are, "on the whole unexceptionaland remainwithin the boundariesof what we might expect of any Jewish groupat the time,"althoughtheremay be a "smalladmixtureof legal materialwhich is perhapsuniquelygeneratedby the structureand ideology of the 'Qumran'community."In any case, he does not think that the texts are mere "theoreticalexercises, describingsome sort of ideal community, as opposed to legislating for some real social entity";ratherthey legislate for a real community.Yet he admits that he cannot be sure whether the legislation offered was that group's reality or not. Wrightexaminesthe wisdom texts at Qumranfor their peculiartestimony to women, since like the halakhic texts they provide an unusual amountof gender-specificmaterial.Wright frankly admits that wisdom texts do not "alone provide answers to the questions about women's presence and participation in the Qumran community." Indeed,he goes a step furtherto suggest that insteadthe wisdom texts "putinto relief the difficultyof findingthose answers."Wrightcomes to this conclusionby observingthat none of the "wisdom"texts from Qumranseems to be certainlysectarian.As a consequencehe is particularlyperplexedby the questionof how much these texts express the Qumrancommunity'sattitudesand perspectives.'7On the question of the social functions of the images of Woman Wisdom and Woman Folly so prominent in all of these texts except for 4QInstruction, Wrightis circumspect:"Perhapsthe most that one could make out of 17 Wright is also rightfully troubled by our lack of understandingregardingthe extent to which such texts were used in the life of the community.He asks, "Wereall these texts even read alongsideeach otherthroughoutthe long life of the Qumrancommunityor did some works fall out of favor and sit on the shelf collecting dust while other favoredtexts were avidly read and studied?"

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those Qumransapientialtexts that personifyWisdom or Folly is that they reinforceand reinscribe,by the continueduse of the images, male culturalconstructsof women to be desiredand women to be avoided." He also observes,though,that the sapientialtexts thatdo devote attention to practicalinstruction-the manuscriptsof 4QInstruction-donot utilize thefeminineimage of wisdom or folly when addressingrelations with women. Yet here too the evidence is equivocal:in Wright'sview the repeatedphrasein 4QInstruction, mmin, gives it an eschatological horizon,suggestingthat its stipulationsmight expressthe community's hopes ratherthan its historicalprofile.If so, says Wright,the "detailed advice the sage of 4QInstructionoffers about women tells us little to nothingon its own about the situationin the Qumrancommunity." For all of theircarefuldescriptionand analysisof what the halakhic and wisdom scrolls say about women, Wright and Bernstein both express substantialuncertaintyregardingthe correlationbetween that literaryevidence and the social realities that prevailedat Qumran.It would seem that like the archaeologicalrecord,the literaryevidence does not carry us very far in assessing the presence of women at Qum-

ran and the attitudesof the communityassembledtheretowardwomen. AlbertBaumgarten'sarticleserves as a salutarywarningthatwhatever we do in trying to move beyond this apparentstalemate,we should avoid letting longstandinghypothesesbias our judgmentregardingthe evidence.But MaxineGrossman'sarticleofferseven more directassistance to those who share Wright's and Bemstein's anxiety about the correlationbetweenliteraryevidenceand social realities. In addressinggender in the DamascusDocument,Grossmanintroduces a novel methodfor bridgingthat gap. The approachowes much to literarytheoristswho have long observedthat texts' meaningsare not static or unitary,but ratherdepend on the changing and diverse social locations of the individuals and subgroupsof their receiving communities.Taking this observationseriously, Grossmanstates that her approachis "to determinea range of plausible historicalsettings in which this text [the Damascus Document] may have been composed and transmitted,recognizing that the history of the text may have included more than one such moment."As a result Grossman shows that the "constructionsof gender"in the DamascusDocument providedrealitiesthat "were malleable,and covenanterswith different assumptionsor differentagendas may have leveragedthe text of the Damascus Document to support diverse views [regardinggender]. Those views also may have changed over time, in responseto (or in supportof) changingsocial situations."

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The value of Grossman's novel approachfor easing the anxiety researchershave regardingthe correlationbetween texts and social reality is plain. First, it admits that there is no one exclusive correlation between a literary work and a single social reality. Second, it acknowledgesnonethelessthat because texts are received in concrete social contexts, they do respondand contributeto the constructionof actual social realities.So we gain access-albeit limited in nature-to the social realitiesengenderedby scrolls throughreadingthem against the "range of plausible historicalsettings"we may constructfrom the available evidencewe have for the communityat Qumran.In short, while Grossman's approachmay cast doubt on the text's ability to answerdefinitivelyourquestionsaboutthepresenceof womenat Qumran, it does provide a way to imagine the wide range of attitudestoward women shared by membersof the communityover time as a result of sharing and transmittingthe kinds of texts Wright and Bernstein describe. These essays do not pretendto settle any of the disputedissues about women at Qumran.Ratherour hope is that they will help unsettleold assumptionsand show thatthe statusof women in the scrolls and in the sect that preservedthem is very much open to ongoing debate.

WHO CARES AND WHY DOES IT MATFER? QUMRAN AND THE ESSENES, ONCE AGAIN! ALBERT BAUMGARTEN Bar Ilan University

The identityof the groupthatproducedthe sectarianliteraturefound in the caves at Qumran,and thatlived at the site in accordancewiththe way of life prescribedin these texts, has been much discussed since the discoveryof the documentsover fifty years ago.' Among the various hypotheses offered, that identifyingthe Qumrangroup with the Essenes known from classical sources has won the most supportand is closest to achievinga scholarlyconsensus.2Nevertheless,a few dissentersremainwho prefernot to tie the scrolls communitytoo closely to any of the known groups.3While all acknowledgethe substantial overlapbetweenthe way of life of the Essenes and thatof the Qumran community,all also acknowledgethattherewere some differences.4 How I For the evidence supportingthe conclusionthat a sectariangrouplived at the site, and that that group was responsiblefor most, if not all, of the manuscriptsfound in the neighboringcaves, see D. Dimant,"The QumranManuscripts:Contentand Significance,"Preparethe Wayin the Wilderness(eds D. Dimantand L. Schiffman;Leiden: Brill, 1995) 23-58. 2 The most extensive discussion of this conclusion is T.S. Beall, Josephus's Descriptionof the EssenesIllustratedby the Dead Sea Scrolls (Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1988). 3 For the purposesof this paper I ignore the strangertheoriesof Qumranorigins that have arisen in the past decade. For furtherdiscussionsee A.I. Baumgarten,"The CurrentState of Qumran Studies: Crisis in the Scrollery-A Dying Consensus,"

Judaism in Late Antiquity, Part Three, Where We Stand: Issues and Debates in Ancient

Judaism,VolumeOne (eds J. Neusnerand A. Avery Peck;Leiden:Brill, 1999) 99-122. I focus here only on the "agnostic"view that considerssome of the scrolls as sectarian and as foundationalfor the way of life of a group that lived at the site, but that does not identifythat groupwith the Essenes. See above, n. 1. I See in particular,P.R. Davies, "Reviewof Todd S. Beall, Josephus'sDescription of the Essenes Illustratedby the Dead Sea Scrolls,"ITS 41 (1990) 164-69. Even when the Essene hypothesiswas in its energeticyouth, in a key lecturedeliveredin 1966, F.M. Cross,Jr. recognizedthat Qunran and the Essenes shared"similarbizarreviews, performing similar or rather identical lustrations, ritual meals and ceremonies" (emphasesmine). Note the qualificationsCross felt impelledto introduceinto his comparisonin orderto accountfor the similaritiesas well as differences.See F.M. Cross, ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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do we explain these differencesand what weight do we assign them? The dissenters,conscious of the importanceof small differencesin the self-definitionof smallgroups,assignthesedisparitiesgreatsignificance.5 When Josephusdivided the Jews into three philosophies(War 2:119), and a similardivision into three groups(identifiedby the code names Ephraim,Manassehand Judah)is found in the Nahum Pesher,6does that mean that all Jewish groups of the Second Temple era must fit into one of only three pigeonholes?Far from it, reply the dissenters. Josephushimself was awareof many more than threegroups.He even labeled one group the FourthPhilosophy(Ant. 18:9 and 23-25). One may reply that this group was an offshoot of the Pharisees (Ant. 18:23), not really an independentphilosophy,and hence its name does not contradictthe basic threefolddivision. Along the same lines, one might argue that Josephuswas anxious to deny all legitimacy to the FourthPhilosophy,hence calling it the "Fourth"Philosophymarkedit as an idiosyncraticand deviant additionto the three genuine (legitimate)philosophies(War2:118).Theseexcuses,however,will notexplain away Josephus'remarkson John the Baptist, the early Christians,or his teacher Bannus (Ant. 18:116-119; 20:200; Life 11-12). Josephus did not connect any of these teacherswith the three philosophiesthat supposedlyrepresentedall of Jewish experience.Thus, the division of the Jewishworld into three-even thoughsharedby Josephusand some Qumrantexts-was schematicand ad hoc at best, and never meantto be exhaustive.7Did those at Qumrancall themselvesby any name that couldhave yieldedEssenesin Greek?In the view of the dissenters,none New Directionsin BiblicalArchaeJr.,"TheEarlyHistoryof the QumranCommunity," ology (eds D. Freedmanand J. Greenfield;GardenCity: Doubleday,1971) 77. I See A.I. Baumgarten,"The Rule of the Martianas Applied to Qumran,"Israel OrientalStudies 14 (1994) 121-42. Since writing that paper I have learnedthat the formal name for the principleI called "the rule of the Martian"is "the narcissismof small differences." 6 See D. Flusser,"Pharisees,Sadduceesand Essenes in Pesher Nahum,"Essays in Jewish History and Philology in Memory of Gedaliahu Alon (eds M. Dorman et al.;

Jerusalem:HakibbutzHameuchad,1970) 133-68 [Hebrew].A Germanversion of this paper appearedin Qumran(ed. K. Grozinger;Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesselschaft, 1981) 121-66. As ProfessorH. Eshel kindly remindedme, Flusserwas preceded in these conclusions by J.D. Amoussine, "Ephraimet Mannasse dans le Wsh&rde Nahum(4QpNahum),"RevQ4 (1963) 389-96; and A. Dupont-Sommer,"Le Commentairede Nahum ddcouvertpres de la Mer Morte (4QpNah) Traductionet Notes," Semitica 13 (1963) 55-88. 7 See M. Goodman, "A Note on the Qumran Sectarians, The Essenes and Josephus,"JJS 46 (1995) 161-66. See furtheridem, "Josephusand Variety in FirstCentury Judaism," The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Proceedings 7,6

(2000) 201-13.

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of the suggestionsofferedcan be classified as more than possible.8 When discussing these issues with popularaudiences,whose interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls otherwise seems to have no limit, their responsehas often been along lines that inspiredthe title of this paper: "Who Cares and Why Does it Matter?"Non-specialistsin the material regularly ask whether it really makes a difference if those at Qumranwere the Essenes known from classical authorsor an otherwise unknown Essene-like community. Is that really an interesting issue for anyone other than the membersof the small communityof obscurantistpedantswho earn a deservedlymeager living by arguing with each other about useless trivia? Even if one answers the latter questionin the negative, I would submitthat we should care and the supposedidentityof the Qumrangroupwith the Essenes does matter. Scholarlyviews on these questionshave far-reachingimplicationsfor understandingnew evidence now coming to light. This articlewill be devoted to one central methodologicalpoint and then to the detailed examinationof two examples. Oneof thepioneersin the studyof the sociologyof knowledge,Ludwig Fleck, demonstratedthe importanceof the context in which we place data. That data, Fleck argued,only has meaningin context,as partof a theory,and scholarswill performintellectualacrobaticsof the most daringvarietyin orderto save the theorywhen expectationand observation do not coincide. The coping strategies described by Fleck 8 This is true even of the best suggestion,that of S. Goranson,"Othersand IntraJewish Polemic as Reflected in QumranTexts," The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years: A ComprehensiveAssessment(eds P.W. Flint and J.C. Vanderkam;Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.537-40. Goransoncan offer no proof that phrasessuch as Fflrfl "CI made the transitionfrom descriptionto designation,much less to self designationas the name of the group.IndeedM-1771 I;) is no differentlyused in the scrolls thanany numberof other descriptive terms for the group. On internal philological grounds alone, no one would have focused on it as special, and suggestedthat it became the basis for a widely used name for the group,were it not for the possibleconnectionto the term Essene. Thus it is not surprisingthat some scholarsemploy terms such as "Communityof the RenewedCovenant,"nM01nnm: :I, for the Qumrangroup,on the basis of sourcessuch as CD vi.19, as this seems to have been an explicit self-designation,while Goranson'sproposalhas won little acceptance. Furthermore, by way of contrast,Phariseesand Sadducees(understoodas "separatists" and those loyal to the house of Zadok,respectively),were designationsexplicitlyused by groupsfor themselvesand each other in sources in the same Semitic languagesin whichthe namesPhariseesand Sadduceesare explained(e.g. m.Yad.4:6-7). ForEssenes, however,we cannotbe certainwhetherthe name is to be understoodin a Semitic language or in Greek. On the name of the Phariseesand the historyof its interpretation see A.I. Baumgarten,"Pharisees,"Encyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds L.H. Schiffmanand J.C. VanderKam;Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 2000) 2.657-63.

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includehidingthe inconvenientfact,9explainingit away,'0and can even attainthe heights of creativefiction inventedto bridgethe gap." Fleck concludes:in science"onlythatwhichis trueto cultureis trueto nature."'12 This notion was formulatedslightly differentlyby RobertMerton.'3 Mertonbegan by citing the "Thomastheorem":14"if men define situations as real they are real in their consequences."Or, as Mertonhimself put it: "once we have assigned some meaningto the situation,our consequentbehavior and some of the consequencesof that behavior are determinedby the ascribedmeaning."As result of a self-fulfilling prophecy,Mertonargued,a reign of erroris perpetuated.Mertonwas interestedin analyzingthe role of self-fulfillingprophecyin social relations:religiousprejudiceand race relationsin particular.But scholarship is also a social product;hence his insight applies equally well to the intellectualworld. To turn to the ancient sources, Pliny the Elder plays a key role in the argument for identifying Qumran as an Essene settlement. He writes of a celibate Essene city on the west side of the Dead Sea that has no women and whose membershave only palm trees for company;below it lies Ein Gedi (Nat. Hist. 5:73). I thinktherecan be little doubt that Pliny (or his source) was thinkingof Qumranwhen these words were written,but we are underno obligationto accept Pliny's identificationof the Qumransite as Essene. In fact, there is good reason to question it, as Pliny is the weakest link on which to build a 9 E.g., against Columbus,could anyone be mad enough to believe that there are antipodes,people standingwith their feet oppositeour own, who walk with their legs sticking up and their heads hanging down? See also the concealing of the orbital motion of Mercury,which was not supposedto move. 10Consistencyis sought at all costs. For example, Paracelsusargued that only a miraclecould make a man-created in the image of God and saved from the devil by the Son of God-into a devil. Hence humanpossessionby the devil must be a miracle. 11See, e.g., the analogy betweenmale and female genitals that led to creationof a duct from the ovaries to the cervix, which ran alongside the uterus(note: these were not the fallopiantubes).Fertilizationtook place in that duct (not in the uterus,because accordingto Hippocratesthe uteruswas closed tightly,and nothingcould enterit from the cervix). These ducts were depictedin anatomytextbooks,even though they have no basis in observation. 12 L. Fleck, Genesis and Developmentof a ScientificFact (Chicago:Universityof Chicago Press, 1979) 28-38. 13 See R. Merton,"The Self-FulfillingProphecy," AntiochReview (1948) 193-210, reprintednumeroustimes since. I cite this paper according to the version in R.K. Merton,On Social Structureand Science (Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress, 1996) 183-204. 14 First proposedin 1928 by W.I. Thomas, one of leading sociologists of era, but also statedby a long line of thinkers,from Bossuet to Marx and Freud.

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chain of argumentfor a conclusion about the nature of an ancient Jewish group.He was a non-Jew,unlikelyto be awareof the finerdistinctions between Jewish groups, and likely to lump togethermovements whose memberssaw themselvesas very different.5 Furthermore, Pliny was wrong or inaccurateon at least threecounts. First, he called the Essenes gens sola, a solitary tribe. By this Pliny probablymeantthathe understoodthattheEssenesweretheirownnation, not necessarily part of the Jewish nation, although geograpically included in Judea (Nat. Hist. 5:73). In my view, this misconception was probablybased on Essene behavior,their treatingother Jews as if they were aliens.'6It was this error (likeliest to be made by outsiders, hence not surprisingfor Pliny) that Josephusintendedto correct when he insisted that the Essenes were Jews (War2:119).'7 Next, both Josephus(War 2:124) and Philo (OmnisProbus 76) placed the Essenes all over ancient Palestine, while Pliny knew of only one Essene city. Third, Pliny placed Ein Gedi below (infra) the Essene city. This phrasewould normallymean that the Essene city was somewhere in the heights above Ein Gedi, but as this meaningis implausible and unconfirmedby archeology,'8infra has been understoodas meaningdownstream,or south. This meaningis possible, but even its defenders concede that "Pliny is so inaccuratein his descriptionof Palestinethat he could easily confuse the exact location of the Essene habitationsin their relationto the Dead Sea."'9Yet this is the author whose testimony on a far more critical issue, requiringthe detailed 15 How many non-Jewsor othersunfamiliar with the contemporary Jewishscene are aware of the profounddifferencesbetweenthose religiousJews who wear cloth skullcaps and those who wear knittedskullcaps?Yet, if a girl whose fatherand brothers wear knittedskullcapsbroughthome a boy who wore a cloth one (or vice versa) that boy would likely be viewed with extremedisfavor.These differencesand others are self-evidentto insiders,but requireextendedexplanationto outsiders. 16 On the Essenes treatingotherJews as if they were aliens in mattersof food see A.I. Baumgarten,The Flourishingof Jewish Sects in the MaccabeanEra: An Interpretation (Leiden:Brill, 1997) 93-94. 17 Note especially the commentsof M. Stern,Greekand LatinAuthorson Jews and Judaism(Jerusalem:Israel Academyof Sciences and Humanities,1976) 1.480. 18 I do not think this difficultyis solved by the suggestionsof Y. Hirschfeld,"A Settlementof HermitsAbove Ein Gedi,"Tel Aviv 27 (2000) 103-55. Note the response of J. Magness,"Not A Settlementof Hermitsor Essenes:A Responseto Y. Hirschfeld," Tel Aviv 27 (2000) 273-85, and Hirschfeld's"Replyto D. Amit and J. Magness,"Tel Aviv 27 (2000) 286-91. 1' Stern,Greekand Latin Authors,1.481. Against Stern,the independenttestimony of Dio Chrysostom,as we learnfrom Synesius, VitaDionis (= Stem, Greekand Latin Authors,text 251) is not of much help in confirmingPliny, as Dio's testimonyis brief but with one major geographicaldifficulty.Dio writes that the Essene city is in the very vicinity of Sodoma.Sodoma,however,was locatedby Strabo(ibid., text 115) at

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knowledgeof an insider-identifying Qumranas Essene-we are supposed to accept as authoritative? These mattersreach a point of urgency when discussing the presence of women in the Qumrancommunity.Pliny is clear that there were no women in the Essene city on the west shore of the Dead Sea, yet thereis not a single Qumrantext that says explicitly that the communitywas entirelymale and celibate. Variouspassages can be interpretedto supportthat conclusion, as can others to supportthe oppoThis is puzzling, at the very least. How could a site determination.20 groupthat troubledto spell out explicitly so much of its rules and regulations leave such a significantsacrifice of identity to implication? Under these circumstanceswould anyone have thought that Qumran was an exclusively male celibate community(a monasteryof sorts) if not for the supposedconnectionwith the Essenes? Problems intensify when it comes to the remains found in the Qumrancemetery.At the outset of Qumranresearch,early in 1952, de Vaux sent finds from nine tombs, seven pelvis bones and nine crania, to Europefor forensic analysis by H.V. Vallois.2 Vallois replied that he had identifiedthe remains as those of thirteenpeople, seven men and six women. De Vaux was perplexedby these conclusionson two counts. First, de Vaux believed that each tomb containedthe remains of only one person,hence how had nine tombs yielded the remainsof thirteenindividuals?Next, findingwomen buriedin the cemeterycontradictedde Vaux's hypothesisaboutthe exclusivelymale natureof thei commumty,a difficultyde Vaux explicitly acknowledgedin a lettertoVallois.22Since de Vaux was certain that each tomb contained the bones of a single burial,doubtwas cast on all the conclusionsreached by Vallois, and they were never published.23One wonders how de

the southernend of the Dead Sea, but by Philo (De Abrahamo,141) in the vicinity of Jericho.As Stern himself concedes in his commentary(ibid., 1.540) given the uncertainty about the location of Sodoma,Dio cannotbe cited as clear evidence confirming Pliny that the Essenes lived to the northof the Dead Sea. 20 For the numerousdiscussionsof the place of women at Qumransee the excellent summaryby E. Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty, 117-44. 21 My analysis is based on the discussionin R. Donceel, "Synthesedes observations faites en fouillantles tombes des n6cropolesde KhirbetQumranet des environs,"QC 10 (2002) 35-43. 22 Ibid., 38, n. 90, quotinga letter of de Vaux to Vallois, writtenon May 6, 1952: "6ceque vous dites d6jAdu sexe de nos individus(la moiti6 f6minin)est tres important et tr6s surprenant,dans l'hypothbseque nous faisons jusqu'ici sur la naturede cette communaute." 23 Ibid., 40, n. 94, quotinga letterwrittenby de Vaux to Vallois on November25,

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Vaux might have acted if Vallois had identifiedthe remainsas those of thirteenmen. What might Fleck have said of all this? Might this be a case of genuine doubt24on one issue being exploitedto suppress the knowledgeof an uncongenialconclusionthat challengeda central hypothesisunderlyingthe analysis of the evidence as a whole? In the past few years the skeletons exhumed have been studied again by the methods of modern forensic pathology. As Zias has demonstrated,25 the women buried in the southernextension of the cemetery were Bedouins of the modem era, and not connectedwith the ancient Jewish site at Qumran.Furthermore,according to Zias, several of the remains originally classified as women buried in the main cemeterywere likely male, as they were much tallerthanwomen One woman, however, remains,from a generallywere in antiquity.26 grave in the northernextension (T9 [1072]), who cannotbe dismissed as either too tall or modem. Nevertheless,Zias is less than candid in his discussion of her. Nowhere in his article will one find a simple declarativesentence:T9 was a woman. Rather,T9 first appearsin a parenthesison p. 224, and then with her membershipin Qumranquestioned on p. 250. Zias commentsthere that perhapsshe was brought to Qumranfor burialfrom the outside or perhapsshe died therewhile on holiday. She is probablylurking behind the perplexingchart on p. 245 where a total of 35 Qumranburialsare divided into 34 males and one female,27and presumablyshe is responsiblefor conclusions such as "theneartotalabsenceof womenat Qumran,"on p. 249. Nevertheless, in concluding his article Zias claims that somehow all this supportsPliny's descriptionof the celibate Essene city on the shores of the Dead Sea and its identificationwith Qumran.It is only a small 1952:"je pense que vous serez d'accordavec moi pourconsiddrerqu'en raisonde l'erreurmateriellequi s'est produite,votre rapportne doit pas etre publi." 24 In retrospectit seems that de Vaux was righton one point:the tombsfromwhich he sent remainsto Vallois each had only one burial,hence Vallois was wrong to identify these as the remainsof thirteenindividuals.This conclusionhas been confirmed by S. Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,Craftsmen,Elites: Analysis of the FrenchCollection of HumanRemainsfrom Qumran,"DSD 9 (2002) 207. 25 J. Zias, "TheCemeteriesof Qumranand Celibacy:Confusionlaid to Rest?"DSD 7 (2000) 220-53. 26 For the purposesof this paper,lest I be suspectedof adoptinga conclusionthat increasesthe numberof women in the Qumrancemetery in order to strengthenmy argument,I accept these conclusionsproposedby Zias. Yet I must note the dissent of J. Zangenberg,"Bonesof Contention,'New' Bones fromQumranHelp SettleOld Questions (and Raise New Ones)-Remarks on Two Recent Conferences,"QC 9 (2000) 51-76. 27 If there are Freudianslips in speech, this might count as a Freudiantypo!

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matterfor Zias that Pliny writes of a place in which therewere no women, while even Zias must concede that the absence of women at Qumranwas "near total." To the three counts on which Pliny was inaccurateor wrong, as discussed above, we now must add a fourth. Yet, somehow, for Zias, this makes Pliny even more reliable in his identificationof Qumranas the Essene city on the west side of the Dead Sea. The differencebetween celibate, with no women, and near total absenceof women is not worth a worry. And all this is supposed to be "confusionlaid to rest?"I would categorize argumentsof this sort as confusion run amuck. In light of Fleck, I would classify Zias as a desperateattemptto maintainthe old Qumran-Esseneconnection at all costs, in spite of the evidence. In all this theremay be some furtherconfusion,but it does not concern the sexing of T9. Zias apparentlysaw the bones of the individual he identifiedas T9, yet careful study of the collections in France and Jerusalemby S. Sheridanindicatesthat while photographsof the exhumationof T9 exist,28the remains have been lost. Zias probably had another find from the northernextension in mind that he misidentified as T9, more properlydesignatedTomb A. The latter was among the finds of 1953, initiallyinvestigatedby Kurth,and identified by him as female,29an identificationsustainedby the renewedinquiry of Sheridan.30 Thus, whetherdesignatedas T9 or as Tomb A, Kurth, Sheridanand Zias agree that she was female. In additionto T9 or Tomb A, there are also three ancient graves whose remainsare a subjectof disputeamong the forensic anthropologists. Sheridanand Zias disagreeconcerningthe sexing of T7 (749?). Zias regardsT7 as "male?,"while Sheridanregardsit as "female?."3' There is a similar disagreementconcerningT22 (146) and T24 (151), See S. Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,"208, n. 33. See the photoof T9, 209, fig. 2c. Ibid., 207, Table 1. 30Ibid., 228, Table 5. H. Eshel suggestedto me (privatecormespondenceof March 5, 2003) that Tomb A may have been a Bedouinburial.In his opinion, all the graves from the northcemeterymay be Bedouin,no differentthanthose from the southfinger. The evidence for the burialpracticesconcerningTomb A is based solely on the reports of the originalexcavators,as the northcemeterywas coveredby the Israeli army (see H. Eshel, M. Broshi, R. Freundand B. Schultz,"New Data on the CemeteryEast of KhirbetQumran,"DSD 9 [2002] 140). Hence nothingaboutthis grave can be investigated today. In any case, based on de Vaux's report,Tomb A was buriedwith northsouth orientationand with no typical signs of Bedouinburial.See furtherEshel et al., "New Data," Table IV, 158 and Table V, 162. 1 am thereforereluctant to accept I am not certainthat Eshel's suggestionthat she may have been Bedouin.Furthermore, all of the burialsin the south finger are Bedouin. See furtherbelow, n. 42. 31 See furtherSheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,"228. 28

29

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sexed as female by Rohrer-Ertl,but as male by Zias.32T37 (807) is not the subjectof disputeand is classed as female by Rohrer-Ertl.33 Thus one cannot really object to my analysis as depending too muchon one skeleton.34 Furthermore, forthosewho basetheidentification of Qumranwith the Essenes on the foundationof Pliny the difficulties are likely to grow. In excavations in the summerof 2001, H. Eshel and M. Broshi found the remains of two more women at Qumran. These were the bones of two individualsfound in a shallow secondary reburial,uncharacteristicof Qumranburial practices,which they designated as burial 1000.3O Carbon 14 testing of one of the twenty five teeth collected shows that the bones date to the second temple Era.36 DNA testing now underway,if successful,will indicatewith absolute certaintywhetherthese were the remainsof females.37 Secondaryreburial,whilerareat Qumran,was notaltogetherunknown. T24 containedthe remainsof two individualsin secondaryreburial,in a grave that otherwiseconformsto the criteriaof Qumraninterments (such as north-south orientation).38One of these individuals was female, as re-classifiedby Rohrer-Ertl.39 Anotherwoman was found in secondaryreburialin T37, again conformingto the key Qumrancharacteristic of Qumran burial of N-S orientation.40Although in the southernfield, where all the othertombs of women had characteristics of Bedouin burials,this tomb did not.41Finally, a man was found in secondaryreburialin Til (959). Again, this tomb has other characteristicsof Qumraninterment,such as north-southorientation.42 The bones of the two women from Tomb 1000 were found in a buildingEshel and Broshi identifiedas the "MourningEnclosure."In 2002 the remainsof a man (includinghis head) were found in a primary burial, oriented north-south,three and a half feet under the "MourningEnclosure."This man was 35-45 years old when he died. See furtherEshel et al., "New Data,"Table V, 162. Ibid. 34 See D.R. Schwartz,"Reviewof A.I. Baumgarten,SecondTempleSectarianism:A 32

33

Social and Religious Historical Essay," Haaretz, English Edition, May 10, 2002.

38

See Eshel et al., "New Data," 150. Ibid., 151. I owe this informationto the kindnessof H. Eshel. Eshel et al., "New Data,"Table IV, 160.

39

Ibid., Table V, 162.

35

`6 37

4 Ibid., Table IV, 158. 41 Ibid., Table V, 162. The anomaly of Qumrancharacteristics combinedwith no Bedouintraitsin a grave in the south finger,where othergraves are now identifiedas Bedouin,is most puzzling.I do not know how to resolve it. 42 Ibid., Table IV, 156.

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A cooking pot found directly above the male skeleton dates from the late second temple period,the first centuryBCE to the first centuryCE, leading Eshel and Broshi to conclude that this was when the man lived. They expect this conclusionto be confirmedby Carbon14 dating of two teeth from the skeleton.43Nearby was found a zinc coffin (978). Zinc coffins were rare and costly in the ancient world, hence Eshel and Broshi conclude that this deceased probablydied elsewhere and was brought to Qumran in the zinc coffin for burial." The "Mouring Enclosure"built over the remains of someone, as well as the care and expense shown to bring the person buried in the zinc coffinto a final restingplace in Qumranlead Eshel and Broshi to suggest that this part of the cemeterywas used for the more important personalitiesof the Qumrancommunity.45How might the secondary reburialof two women in that part of the cemeteryfit? Again, in this case, thereare ways to save the old Essenehypothesis, based on the testimonyof Pliny. As noted above, secondaryreburialis rare but attestedat Qumran.The remainsof the two women in Tomb 1000 have the additionalanomaly of not having been found in the classic north-southorientationstandardin the Qumrancemetery.Even though the remains are unquestionablyancient there may be reasons to doubt their connection to the Qumran community. Alternately, given the proximityto the zinc coffinand to an area where the important figuresin the communitywere buried,perhapsthese women were re-buried in tomb 1000 because they had important relatives at Qumran. Note, however, that these two explanations are mutually exclusive. One must be wrong, strengtheningour certaintyin neither. The first explanation is a variation on the Golb hypothesis conceming the origins of the scrolls found in the caves near Qumran. Golb insistedthat the scrollswere of diverseprovenance,not the product of a single communitythat lived at the site. Golb believed the site to have been a fortress.46Golb's conclusions have been vigorously 43 On this male burialsee M. Broshi and H. Eshel, "WhoseBones?"BAR (January/ February2003) 31-33. 1 ignore the absurdsensationalistproposal(the preposterousness of which on all counts has been well demonstratedby Broshi and Eshel) that these were the bones of John the Baptist,the founderof the Qumrangroup. I Eshel et al., "New Data," 146-47. There is otherevidence for burialsat Qumran of those who died elsewhere, such as the remains of wooden coffins found in T18 (130), T19 (129) and T20 (135). Note that one must distinguishbetween secondary reburialand the remainsof those who died elsewherebroughtto Qumranin coffinsfor primaryburialthere. 45 Ibid., 153-54. 46 See N. Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran(New York: Scribner,1995).

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(and effectively,in my opinion)criticized,with field archeologiststaking the lead in that effort.47It would be wonderfullyironic if some of these same scholarsnow adoptedan explanationof the cemeteryfinds analogous to that of Golb's for the cave documents.The cemetery, these scholarswould maintain,was used by a variety of groupswho each buriedin accordancewith differentpractices,thus explainingthe presenceof the remainsof women at the supposedlyall male QumranEssene site. All this in orderto save the identificationof Qumranas Essene on the basis of the evidence of Pliny! Has Pliny provedhimself a sufficientlyreliablewitness to be worth all this trouble? As for the second possibility,it is unlikelywhen we rememberthat Qumranwas a place in which HananiahNotos was rebukedfor showing excessive concernwith his biological family.48The Qumrancemetery also representsa vivid renunciationof biologicalkinship.A member who was buried there relinquishedwhat most Jews of antiquity would have consideredtheir self-evidentplans for burialin the family tomb.49It is thus very unlikely that women were reburiedin tomb 1000 because of a family connectionwith one of the leaders of the supposedlyall male membersof the community.50 Anotherreason for 4 See e.g. J. Magness, "QumranArcheology:Past Perspectivesand FutureProspects," in Flint and VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years, 53-57. Mag-

ness has elaboratedher reasons for rejectingthe identificationof Qumranas a villa in J. Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans,2002) 90-100. See also M. Broshi,"WasQumranIndeeda Monastery?The Consensus and its Challengers:An Archeologist's View," Bread, Wine, Walls and Scrolls (London:SheffieldAcademic Press, 2001) 259-73. From a non-archeological perspectivesee also above, n. 1. I See E. Eshel, "4Q477:The Rebukesof the Overseer,"JJS 45 (1994) 111-22. For an imaginative(in the best sense of the word) account of Hananiah'sexperiencesee M. Broshi,"A Day in the Life of HananiahNothos:A Story,"A Day At Qumran:The Dead Sea Sect and its Scrolls (ed. A. Roitman;Jerusalem:The Israel Museum,1997) 61-70. 49 For a discussion of what distinguishedQumranburial practices from those of otherJews of the era, see R. Hachlili,"BurialPracticesat Qumran,"RevQ 16 (1993) 247-64. See also E. Regev, "FamilyBurial in HerodianicJerusalemand its Environs and the Social Organizationof Immigrantsand Sectarians,"Cathedra 106 (2002) 35-60 [Hebrew].For an analysisof the principleof the replacingof biologicalkinship with sectarian brotherhoodin ancient Jewish groups, with a special focus on the Qumran cemetery, see A.I. Baumgarten, Second Temple Sectarianism: A Social and Religious Historical Essay (2001) 26 [Hebrew]. Against Zias, "Cemeteries of Qumran

and Celibacy,"242, n. 63, findingmore than one body buriedin a single tomb does not invalidatethe notionthat biological kinshipwas replacedby sectarianbrotherhood at Qumran.What proof do we have that the two bodies buriedtogetherwere biological kin and that kinshipwas the reason for the joint burial? so Unless we make an assumption,sometimes true in other movements,that the leaders allowed themselves privileges denied their followers. But this assumption would be a sign of scholarlydesperation.Note also, that accordingto Josephus,the


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doubtingthe second explanationis the anomaliesbetween these burials and the Qumranstandard(even when it was a matterof secondary reburial).The anomalies suggest that, if anything,these women had no connection with Qumran,rather than a family relationshipwith prominentmembersof the supposedlyall male group.5 In sum, there were women buried at Qumran,and the remains of at least four of these women have been definitelyidentified(Tomb A, T37 and the two women in 1000). The anthropologists disagree whetherthreeadditionalsets of remainswere male or female (T7, T22 and T24). The presenceof these women may be minimal, and much lower than the averageat othersecond templeburialsites,52but it cannot be denied.53Nor is the minimalpresenceof women surprising.As I have arguedelsewhere, sectarianactivity in second temple Judaism was largely a male concern.54The conclusionsbased on the testimony of Pliny that Qumranwas Essene and was an exclusively male celibate community can be saved in spite of this new evidence. But I believe this hypothesisis becoming an intolerableintellectualburden, increasinglylike the numerousepicycles inventedto help explain the data accordingto Ptolemaic astronomy.It should be allowed to collapse under the weight of all the special argumentsneeded to maintain it in the face of the data. One additional reason for doubting the identificationof Qumran with the Essenes may emerge from study of de Vaux's field notes. leadersof the Essenes had no distinctivedress, but wore the same uniformas all other members(War 2:140). For adherentsof the Qumran-Esseneshypothesis,this passage shouldbe sufficientto exclude the conclusionthat the leadersallowed themselvesprivileges denied their followers. s' As noted above, T24 and T37 were women in secondaryreburialin graves oriented north-south.However, explaining the presence of these women away by the argumentthat they were relatives of leaders of the group, or otherwiseconnectedto them, will not work. These graves are nowherenear the "MourningEnclosure,"where the leaders of the movement were supposedly buried. In fact, T37 is in the south finger.See above, n. 42. 52 Sheridan,"Scholars,Soldiers,"229-34. S3 The archeological evidence at Qumran for objects typically associated with women may be slim. See Magness,Archaeologyof Qumran,163-87, esp. 175-79. S4 See Baumgarten,Flourishing,44 45. As I arguedthere, 45, n. 19, the ancient Christiansare somethingof an exceptionto this rule. However,the ancientChristians are exceptionsto a numberof rules that apply to the othergroups.Hence they are regularlythe exceptionthatprovesthe rule. Philo's Therapeutaeare also an exception,but in spite of the temptationto somehow connect them with the Essenes we should rememberthat they were an Alexandrianmovement,based on the Jewish world of the Greek-speakingdiaspora.To discover that women had a place in the membershipof the Therapeutaedoes not diminish the natureof the Jerusalembased groups in the Land of Israel as primarilymale.

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J. Magnesshas suggestedthat therewas a latrineat Qumran."If correct, this representsa most significantdisparitybetween Qumranand Josephus'Essenes. The latterdefecatedby digging a hole, each time necessary with the shovel they received on entry to the group (War 2:137). Objectsreceived on entry to a group are symbols of the new identity undertaken,hence not likely to be disregardedeasily. Moreover, as it was necessaryto carrythe shovel and dig a hole each time, defecationwas prohibitedon the sabbath(War 2:148-49). This was a real sacrifice of bodily convenience, hence also of great symbolic value in establishingEssene identity.If therewas a latrineat Qumran, its implicationsfor the identityof the group should not be avertedby intellectualacrobaticsof the sort attemptedby Magness.First,Magness argues that "the inhabitantsof Qumranpresumably56 refrainedfrom using the toilet in L51 on the Sabbath."57 But thereis no reasonto think that defecation in this toilet was prohibitedon the Sabbath.Its use requiredneithercarryinga shovel,nordigginga hole, norwalkingbeyond the limit permittedon the Sabbath.The toilet was permanentand on site. Next, Magnessarguesthat Essenes sometimesdefecatedone way and in other ways at other times. In this way she hopes to eliminate the discrepancybetween Essene defecation practicesas describedby Josephusand the presenceof a latrineat Qumran.But this contention empties the term "Essene"of all meaning,denying the significanceof receivingthe shovel on entry. It is as if one said that some Christians believed that Jesus was the messiah, while other Christiansbelieved that the messiahhad not yet come. On the otherhand, if thereis ever proof that those at Qumranemployed shovels to dig holes each time they needed to defecate,58then even the most die-hardof the agnosss Magness,Archaeologyof Qumran,105-13, summarizingand expandingher own earlierdiscussionsof these issues. See also ibid., figs. 40-45. 56 The burdencarriedby "presumably" is great.It is a concessionthat Magnesshas no evidence for a conclusionthat, for otherreasons,she dearlywants to accept. S

Magness, Archaeology of Qumran, 110.

It would be too much to insist that these shovels, if ever found, must have fecal materialat theirtips in orderto provetheiruse for the purposesdescribedby Josephus. Perhapsit would be enoughto find a collectionof shovels, unusualin numberfor ordinary uses, but sufficientto suggest that they were employedby membersof a communityof Essenes, as describedby Josephus.One shovel from Cave 11 (see the following note) does not meet this minimalcondition. Note that this criterionfor convincing agnostics is considerablylower and hence more realisticthan the fanciful one attributedto the late D. Flusser.He quippedthat the agnosticswould not be convincedof the identificationof Qumranas Essene until archeologistsuncovereda sign at Qumranannouncing:"We are Josephus'sEssenes,as describedin the Niese edition (Berlin, 1887-1889) of Josephus'sworks." 58


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tics should acknowledgethe truthof the identificationof Qumranwith the Essenes.s9 What then is the alternativeto the Qumran-Essenehypothesis,one that will account for the substantialsimilaritiesas well as give fair weight to the differences?I suggest that the Qumrantexts be given no privilegedplace in understandingthe classical sources on the Essenes and vice versa. These two groupsilluminateeach other,as two groups from the same time and place, respondingto the political, social and religious issues of their time, always shed light on each other. Both This paper is not the proper venue for philosophical reflections on the role of falsifiabilityin the naturalor human sciences. For a brief summaryof some of the leading positions see P. Galison, How ExperimentsEnd (Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1987) 6-13. Nevertheless,if no conclusionis ever falsifiable,if no evidence will ever convince a scholarthat he or she was wrong, then we labor in vain. Any distinctionbetween historiographyand ideologically self-serving propagandais erased.Given the very fragmentarynatureof our evidence concerningancientJudaism and the regulardiscovery of new sources,writtenand archeological,every proponent of a particularconclusion should be obligated to state the circumstancesthat would obligate him or her to reach a differentconclusionthan the one put forward. 59 In this paragraphI expand argumentsmade earlier in A.I. Baumgarten,"The Temple Scroll, Toilet Practices,and the Essenes,"Jewish History 10 (1996) 9-20. The limitedconclusionfor which I arguedthereconcerningthe Temple Scroll may now be expanded. De Vaux found one shovel in Cave 11 nearQumran,and he was eager to conclude that it was used for the purposesdescribedby Josephus,yet he had the intellectual honesty to concede that this conclusion was beyond proof. See R. de Vaux, "Une hachetteessenienne?"VT 9 (1959) 399-407, esp. 406-407 where de Vaux recognizes that the axe might have been used for choppingwood-the primarypurposefor which such axes were made-or for digging holes for defecation,as describedby Josephus; one just does not know. To help resolve this quandary,de Vaux turnsto the testimony of Pliny, but even he concludesthat Pliny cannotresolve the issue definitely.Nevertheless, this shovel was displayedat "A Day at Qumran,"a travellingexhibitionthat visited several cities in the United States and the Vatican in 1993-1994 and then returned"home"to the Shrineof the Book of the IsraelMuseumin Jerusalemin 1995. In the catalogue of that exhibit, Roitman, A Day At Qumran, the shovel/hatchet appearson p. 40 of the Hebrewsection. In the accompanyingtext, A. Roitman,"From Dawn to Dusk Among the QumranSectarians,"A Day at Qumran,44 [English section], notes that the object found in Cave 11 "resembles(emphasismine) the mattock which accordingto Josephuswas used by the Essenes to preserve their cleanliness when defecating."Roitman then quotes the relevant passages on the Essene shovel from Josephus,War 2. Roitman'sreluctanceto state a firm conclusion(note the cautionary:"resembles")is mitigatedif not contradictedby the fact of includingthe mattock in the display. This analysis of the history of the mattockfrom Cave 11 is a good, albeit minor, example of the deleteriouseffects of the Qumran-Essenehypothesis.A conclusionthat was acknowledgedby de Vaux to be possible but unprovableat the beginningof the second decade of Qumranscholarship(1959) was repeatedso often that it became virtually self evident confirmationof the Qumran-Esseneidentification,with only minor reservations,by the fiftieth anniversaryof the discovery of the scrolls (1997).

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agreementsanddisagreementsaresignificant,andneithershouldbe eliminated in the rush to identify Qumranwith some other known group. Thus, scholars do not need to assert the identity of the Essenes and those at Qumranin orderto be able to utilize each set of sources to understandthe other.The advantagesof the insightsthese texts allow into each otherare availablewithoutthe complicationsof the QumranEssene identification,which only obscuresand confuses.Once Qumran and the Essenes are understoodas parallelresponsesto the same culturalcontext and its dilemmas,scholarsof second temple sectarianism can "have theircake and eat it." They can benefitfrom the light these texts shed on each other while avoiding the intellectualmillstone of thesomersaultsincreasinglynecessaryto maintaintheidentityof Qumran andtheEssenesin theface of old andnew difficultiesto thatidentification. I point to two specific examplesof the approachI believe to be correct. The first concernsthe haverimand membersof the Qumransect. We now understandthe haverimof Rabbinicsourcesbetterin light of the Qumranorganization,yet no one today seriouslyproposesequating Qumranwith the haverim.60Sources about the haverimhave no privilegedplace in interpretingQumrantexts, and vice versa. Where haverimdifferfrom membersof the Qumransect, we feel no need to reconcileor explain away these differences.After all, the haverimand the Qumranyahad were not the same group. Second, laws in the Damascus Document help explain rabbinic law, as was recognized by L. Ginzbergalmost a century ago,6' yet we do not equate those who lived in accordance with the Damascus Document with those who made the Mishnahthe guide to theirlives. These cases shouldbe our models for the way to explain the relationshipbetween the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Essenes, examplesof how to learnfrom one group about another,from what was similar as well as from what was different, without assertingidentity.We can then read the Qumrantexts without the identificationwith the Essenes lurkingin the back of our minds, suggesting conclusions that do not stand the test of detailed examination and only lead to confusion of the sort exemplified by Zias, as discussed above. I See S. Lieberman, "The Discipline in the So-Called Dead Sea Manual of Discipline,"JBL 71 (1951) 199-206. The suggestion of C. Rabin, QumranStudies (New York:Schocken, 1957) to connectthe Qumrangroupwith the Phariseescan be disregardedas a relic of an older era of scholarship. New 61 See L. Ginzberg,An UnknownJewish Sect (revisedand updatedtranslation; York:Jewish TheologicalSeminary,1970).

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Let me put this conclusionin the strongestpossible terms. If some aspect of the Qumransect and what we know of the Essenes do not agree, this fact should not excite our imaginationin a searchto lower the dissonanceby argumentssuch as the internalevidence (Qumran) should be preferred over the external source (Philo, Josephus or Pliny).62We should not argue that such disagreementsare minor or that they reflectdiscrepanciesthat arose over time. Largerand smaller disagreementsbetween Qumranand the Essenes should be expected. Since when is it surprisingto scholarsthat two distinct groups of the same periodare similar,but different?A findingof this sort should be almost self-evident. As the Qumrangroup had a complicatedpast, as outlined at the beginning of the Damascus Document, perhapsit had some sort of "genealogical"connectionwith the Essenes.63Perhapsone group was an offshoot of the other, or perhapsthey had some common ancestor. Nevertheless,even if this conclusionis correct,the task of a historian is far from complete. Figuring out the right place of the Qumran branch on the family tree of Essene movements is not the ultimate goal of historicalscholarship.Almost two generationsago, M. Bloch attacked the "idol of origins."T4 He argued that focusing on origins was an errorwhose consequenceshad been grave. The historian,he asserted,should focus on explanation,not on ancestry,on understanding why an event took place when it did and how it did, no sooner and no later. Bloch concludedby citing an old Arab proverb:"'Men resembletheirtimes more than they do theirfathers.'Disregardof this orientalwisdom has sometimes broughtdiscreditto the study of the past."65Bloch's words apply, in my view, to Qumranand the Essenes. The supposed Essene origins of the Qumransect are not nearly as importantfor understandingeither group, as an analysis of them both that gives full weight to their similaritiesand differences.That analysis should seek to place both groupswithin the context of their times and of othermovementsthat offeredparallelresponsesto the issues of 62 For a classic attempt to resolve issues of this sort see J. Strugnell, "Flavius Josephusand the Essenes:AntiquitiesXVIII.18-22,"JBL 77 (1958) 106-15. 63 Perhapsthe best and most flexible formulationof this genealogicalconnectionis that proposed by F. Garcia Martfnez and A.S. Van der Woude, "A 'Groningen' Hypothesisof Qunran Origins,"RevQ 14 (1990) 521-41. 64 M. Bloch, The Historian's Craft (trans.P. Putnam;New York: RandomHouse, 1964) 29-35. Anothername for this same unfortunateintellectualphenomenonis "the genetic fallacy." 65 Ibid., 35.

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their age, according to the principles outlined above. Working this way, we should avoid the traps and intellectualdead ends likely to resultfrom worshipof the idol of origins.Researchof this sort should also prove much more important,enlightening,and intellectuallysatisfying than identifyingancestry,as Bloch rightly insisted. In conclusion, let me restate the principalargumentof this paper. On the individualor personallevel, nobody is perfect. On the intellectual plane no paradigmis perfect. The world we seek to explain, whetherin the naturalor the human sciences, is far too enigmaticto be explainedcompletelyby the means availableto finite humanimagination. Furthermore,if some paradigmwere ever perfect,all science in the realmof that paradigmwould come to a dead end, as both normal science and paradigmrevolutionsoriginatein the attemptto deal with anomaliesin the reigningparadigm.If, therefore,no paradigmis ever perfect,it should not be surprisingthat alternativeimperfectparadigms compete.66When they do so the question is which is more powerful,betterable to explain the data to its fullest, while remaining as free as possible from special pleading and unnecessarilycomplex assumptions. By these standardsI propose that the model offered above retains all the explanatoryadvantagesof the Qumran-Essene identification.This includesthe ability to drawon the informationprovidedby classicalauthorson theEssenes.Yet themodelI proposeobliges scholarsto none of the complex assumptionsthat always were partof the Qumran-Esseneidentification,assumptionsthat are becomingeven more numerousand elaborateas new evidence accumulates.For these reasons I recommendthat the Qumran-Esseneidentificationbe jettisoned as an unnecessaryburdenfrom which the study of second temple Jewish history should be set free.* 66 In formulatingthe issues this way, my debt to T. Kuhn,TheStructureof Scientific Revolutions(2nd ed.; Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress, 1970) shouldbe obvious. * This paper is an expandedversion of the presentationI made at the November Academy of Religion, 2000 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature/American Nashville, TN. The focus of my original remarkshas been broadenedin order to include a discussionof the largerissue of the Qumran-Esseneidentification. This articlehas been improvedsignificantlyby the commentsof two friends,Hanan Eshel of Bar Ilan University,RamatGan and MagenBroshi,Shrineof the Book, Israel Museum,Jerusalem.As both Eshel and Broshi disagreewith the main thesis of this article and remainunconvincedby my arguments(Broshi intendsto write a rejoinder to this article),theirwillingness to assist me with informationand helpful criticismis a sign of truefriendship,for which I am most grateful.Underthese circumstances,the usual caveat that I alone am responsiblefor the contentsapplieswith even greaterthan usual force.

WOMENAND CHILDRENIN LEGAL AND LITURGICAL TEXTS FROM QUMRAN MOSHEJ. BERNSTEIN YeshivaUniversity I. Introduction

The questionof "womenat Qumran,"as E. Schullerhas pointedout, was first raised by the initial publicationof IQS and its association with the ancientwitnesses to the Essenes.' The evidence of the ancient sources about the "celibate"natureof the Essenes appearedto dovetail with the absence of references to women from 1QS. However, when CD and its Cave 4 ancestors(which seemed to presentrules for a community of men and women), as well as some of the other ancient evidence were brought to bear, the picture was no longer clear.3The harmonizationof the texts which has generally been presented suggests that lQS presentsthe ideal prescribedfor one form of communitywhich lived a celibate life in isolation, while CD offered

I The writing of this essay was made simultaneouslyeasier and more difficultby having to follow E.M. Schuller's superb survey article, "Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls" The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years:A ComprehensiveAssessment(eds P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam;Leiden:Brill, 1998) 2.117-44 which covers, amid a broadertreatment,much of the groundof this essay. If I were to have noted every instancewhere my remarksparallelhers, this paperwould be much longer. My debt to scholars such as J.M. Baumgartenand L.H. Schiffmanshould be clear from the notes to the paper.I thankM. Grossmanfor being kind enough to send me a copy of her thesis "Readingthe Historyof the RighteousRemnant:Ideology and Constructions of Identityin the DamascusDocument"(Universityof Pennsylvania,2000; revisedand publishedas Readingfor Historyin the DamascusDocument:A MethodologicalStudy [STDJ 45; Leiden: Brill, 2002]). It contains a section on "Genderin the Damascus Document"which providedme with a perspectiveon some issues differentfrom the one to which I was accustomed.Anotherfine study of this issue by S.W. Crawford appearedwhile I was in the processof completingthis essay, "Not Accordingto Rule: Women,theDeadSea ScrollsandQumran," Emanuel:Studiesin HebrewBible,Septuagint and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of Emanuel Tov (eds S.M. Paul, R.A. Kraft, L.H. Schiffmanand W.W. Fields; SupVT 94; Leiden:Brill, 2003) 127-50. 2 Schuller,"Women,"117-18. Cf. Josephus,War 2:119-20 and Ant. 18:21. 3 Cf. Josephus,War 2.160-61 on marriedEssenes.



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a frameworkfor a "Qumran"communitywhich existed as a subgroup within the outside world with marriage as the norm.4 The recent re-

evaluationof the physical evidence for the presenceof women at the site furnishedby the cemeteriesat Qumrancalls for a re-examination of the textualevidence which has been employedin discussionof the same subject. Althoughtexts like IQS and CD apparentlyestablishvery broadly some of the "rules"for communityexistence and are the fundamental texts for studyingcommunalorganizationalpatternsat Qumran,there are many other legal documentsfrom Qumranwhich are not necessarily directedtowardthat specific goal. These legal texts, which are often more narrowlyfocused, also contain referencesto women, and occasionally to children,and must thereforebe a part of the analysis of the largerquestionof women at Qumran.Two forms of classification may aid us in our discussion.First, we need to classify the legal mass; second, texts by type and not study them as an undifferentiated we must categorizethe types and natureof the laws regardingwomen. The form of a code may help locate it among the others.Legal texts which are recapitulations,in one way or another,of the biblical legal corpus may not reflect a social reality in the way that sectarianregulationsdo. On the otherhand,laws which duplicatebiblicallaws, even in sectariancompilations,may also not tell us much aboutthe society which producedthe codes. Since the legal system of the Bible includes regulationspertainingto women in many contexts, we cannot ever be surprised that the heavily Bible-dependent community of Qumranincludedregulationsof a similarsort in manyof its legal texts.

4 Thus, for example, Schuller,"Women,"121. The issue pertainingto women that dominated earlier literaturewas the question of marriageand divorce among the "TheQumrangroup.Amongthesignificantarticlesare:J.M.Baumgarten, Essenes/Qumran Essene Restraintson Marriage,"Archaeologyand Historyin the Dead Sea Scrolls:The New York UniversityConference in Memoryof Yigael Yadin (ed. L.H. Schiffman; JSPSup8; JSOT/ASORMonographs2; Sheffield:JSOT Press, 1990) 13-24; G. Brin, "Divorce at Qumran,"Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Second Meeting of the IOQS, Cambridge1995. Publishedin Honor of Joseph M. Baumgarten(eds M. Bernstein,F. GarciaMartinezand J. Kampen;STDJ 23; Leiden: Brill, 1997) 231-44; E. Qimron, "Celibacy in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Two Kinds of Sectarians,"The Madrid QumranCongress:Proceedingsof the InternationalCongresson the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid18-21 March, 1991 (eds J. TrebolleBarreraand L. Vegas Montaner;Leiden: Brill, 1992) 1.287-94; G. Vermes,"SectarianMatrimonialHalakhahin the Damascus Rule,"Post-BiblicalJewish Studies (Leiden:Brill, 1975) 50-56. In light of the extensive discussionof divorce at Qumranin earlier secondaryliterature,I shall touch on this theme only minimallyin my discussion.

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It will prove valuablefirst to categorizethe kinds of texts in which the specific laws regardingwomen are found in the Qumranlegal corpus, before examining those laws in detail. We shall see that in the broadrange of legal materialat Qumranalmost all kinds of legal texts contain references to women. This pervasive presence is probably significantsince it could have been arguedthat referencesto women in only a fractionof the legal texts would not representthe "Qumran" legal perspective,but ratherthat of the authorsof those particulardocuments which happened to have been brought to Qumranfrom the outside and eventually found a place in the Qumran"library."The force of such an argumentis minimized by the appearanceof laws pertaining to women in a multiplicity of texts. Even if we cannot always be certain of the generic identificationof some of the legal texts, the categorizationwill be of some value. II. Wherein the TextsAre the WomenTo Be Found? It is naturalto begin our surveywith CD and its 4QD ancestorsnot only since it is the "Qumran"text known for the longest time, but because the fact that it acknowledgesthe presence of women in its legal sections sets it up in starkestcontrastto the other "complete" Qumranrulebook,the CommunityRule (IQS and the 4QS texts). CD has been divided traditionallyinto "Admonition"and "Laws,"and it is the latterportionwhich is of primaryinterestto us, since the presence or absence of women in the "Admonition"probablycould not tell us much aboutQumranlegal or customarypractice.It is, however, worthnotingthatit is in one of themorefamouspassagesin the"Admonition" in which the authorof CD characterizesthe differencesbetween his group and other Jews; two of the three laws describeddeal with marriage:the prohibitionsof uncle-niece marriageand of polygamy (CD 4:20-5:1 1).5

I For a recent re-evaluation of how this passage should be interpreted, see A. Schremer,"Qumran Polemicon MaritalLaw:CD4:20-5:11andItsSocialBackground," The DamascusDocument:A Centennialof Discovery.Proceedingsof the ThirdInternational Symposiumof the Orion Center, 4-8 February 1998 (eds J.M. Baumgarten et al.; STDJ 34; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 147-60. For a detaileddiscussionof the strictures against polygamy, see M. Gruber,"Women in the Religious System of Qumran," Judaism in Late Antiquity5.1, The Judaism of Qumran:A SystemicReading of the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds A.J. Avery-Peckand J. Neusner;Handbookof OrientalStudies 1.56; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 173-96, esp. 178-89.

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The legal materialin CD appearsto have been arrangedtopically, althoughthe divisions between units are not always completelyclear.6 Within some of the subsections,there are laws which are only relevant to a group of which women were a part, althoughthe presence or absence of women is usually not the majorpoint at issue. This is a point which needs to be stressed;laws about women are often not focused on women alone, but are laws aboutthe interactionsand relationshipsof men and women in a variety of contexts.7 The contributionof the recentlypublished4QD materialto the text in the medieval manuscriptsof CD is much greaterin the area of the "Laws" than in that of the "Admonition."Some of the new legal materialalso deals with women and extends substantiallythe range of laws pertainingto women beyond that which is found in CD. In particular,additionalregulationsconcerningmarriageand puritylaws for women are to be found, and several of these passagessurvivein more than one of the Cave 4 exemplars. The Temple Scroll (11QT) is a very differentkind of legal text, belonging to the genre of rewrittenBible. Modeled, often extremely closely,on thetextof thePentateuch,especiallyDeuteronomy,theTemple Scroll, one would think, could perhapstell us little about the "real life" of the Qumrancommunity.8Aside from the fact that its original provenanceis debated,and many scholarswould not identify it as a "Qumran"document,the Temple Scroll is so stronglymodeledon the legal materialin the Pentateuchthat the appearancein it of laws pertaining to women is unsurprising.Indeed many of the laws in the

6 The 4QD materialmakes it clear that the order of pages of the medieval CD copies is not correct,and despite the best effortsof scholars,a definitivearrangement of all of the material in the legal section has not yet been accomplished. J.M. Baumgartenwrites, QumranCave 4. XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford:Clarendon,1996) [hereafter,Baumgarten,DamascusDocument]2, referringto his tables on pp. 3-5, "for a substantialportionof the 4Q laws there are no parallelsin CD, and the placementof some of the fragmentsin the following table should be regardedas only tentative." I Crawford,"Not Accordingto Rule," 129, emphasizesthatthe literaturewe are discussing was producedby men and for men, and "thereforewhat they do have to say aboutwomen is primarilyprescriptiveand presentswhat is to themthe ideal situation." At the same time, however, it may reflect the actual situationin those communities which followed a "non-celibate"Qumranlifestyle. I On laws regardingwomen in 1IQT, see L.H. Schiffman,"Laws Pertainingto Women in the TempleScroll," The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research(eds D. Dimantand U. Rappaport;STDJ 10; Leiden:Brill, 1992) 210-28. Becauseof their extensive scope, we shall not attemptto deal with all of the laws aboutwomen in the Temple Scroll.


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Temple Scroll regardingwomen are nothing but repetition or rephrasing of biblical laws, but we shall see that in a variety of instances the treatmentof women in these pentateuchally-basedregulationsis sufficiently innovative that it sheds light, theoretically at least, on whatevercommunitycomposed them. The so-called "halakhicletter,"Miq$atMa'asei ha-Torah(4QMMT [4Q394-399]), is not, strictly speaking, a legal text, even though it containsreferencesto, and details regarding,many laws. Nevertheless, regardless of how we understandthe genre, origin and function of 4QMMT, it does contain a list of some of the laws that were points of contention between the group which authoredit and some other group or groups of Jews at the time. On the one hand, then, since it is not a prescriptivelegal code, its evidence must be treateddifferently from that of the law codes, but, on the other hand, and much more significantly,it apparentlyreflects issues which were subjects of current debate between its authors and their opponents. Some of these laws pertainto women, particularlyin the context of marriage.But it is importantto note that a text like MMT may say nothing about the presence of women at Qumransince the laws of marriagewhich are being dictatedto the recipientof the "letter"need not be directlyrelevant to its sender.Whetherwe can claim that the contentsof the text constitute evidence for the settlement at Qumranwould have to be consideredseparately. Althoughit is of course quite significantthat the CommunityRule (IQS) contains no allusions to the presence of women in the group which it regulates,the "appendix"to it, lQSa, often referredto as the Rule of the Congregation,seems to call for the presenceof women in a numberof places. A difficultywhich is posed by lQSa is that it is not clear that the documentis an integratedwhole, and we can therefore ask whether all the referencesto women are meant to apply to the same socio-historicalcontext.9The text also makes explicit certain principlesregardingthe raising of childrenand their educationwithin the community.

I The traditionalreadingof this text as completelyeschatologicalis typifiedby L.H. Schiffman, The Eschatological Communityof the Dead Sea Scrolls (SBLMS 38; Atlanta:Scholars,1989). C. Hempel,however,has arguedcogently for the centralportion of lQSa, 1:6-2:1la, to be "traditionalEssene communallegislation,.. . which was later incorporatedinto its presenteschatologicalsetting"("TheEarthlyEssene Nucleus of IQSa,"DSD 3 [1996] 254-69). I shall returnto this questionwhen I discuss several passages from lQSa below.

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When we turnto texts of a much more fragmentarynaturethan the ones we have been discussing to this point, the nomenclatureemployed for them is not always meaningfuland can occasionallyeven be quite misleading.'0The more fragmentarya text, particularlya legal text, is, the harderit may be to get an overallsense of its contents,not to mentionits undescribedcontext.For the purposesof our discussion of the place of women in the legal documents,this fact presents a majorobstacle to the properevaluationof some of them. Many of these texts are legal codes which clearly containa diverse range of laws, sometimes more like the Temple Scroll than CD, although they are not modeled closely on scripturaloriginals in the way that the Temple Scroll is. Thereare two overlappingCave 4 legal texts which contain references to women, 4Q159 and 4Q513. They (and 4Q514 as well, which may be unrelatedto them) were given the same name "Ordinances,"a perhapsunhelpfuldesignationfrom our perspective.It is virtuallyimpossibleto classify the sorts of legislation contained in these documentsin a satisfactoryfashion, althoughalmost all of the laws appearto be pentateuchalin origin, with appropriate interpretationand occasional expansion.There is some discussion of the size of certainmeasures,and in particularthe offeringof the half shekel, along with several referencesto purity laws. 4Q159 containstwo regulationsregardingwomen, while 4Q513 has a different one, unfortunatelyvery fragmentary. A text of a similar nature to 4Q159 is 4QHalakhahA (4Q251) which containsa variety of civil law, sabbathlaw, as well as laws of forbiddenfoods and forbiddenmarriages.More enigmatic,perhaps,is 4Q265 which includesregulationsresemblingsome of the community rules of IQS along with sabbathlaws parallelingthose of CD. Two kinds of regulationspertainingto women are to be foundhere, as well as scripturalcitations which are introducedin a way which is not characteristicof either lQS or CD."

10 I have drawnattentionto a similarproblemwith regardto biblicalcommentaries in "The Contours of Genesis Interpretationat Qumran: Contents, Contexts and Nomenclature," Studiesin AncientMidrash(ed. J.L. Kugel;Cambridge,MA: Harvard Centerfor Jewish Studies/Harvard UniversityPress, 2001) 57-85. 11J. Baumgartenhas addressedsome of the majorissues in this text in "Scripture

and Law in 4Q265," Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedings of the First International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature,

12-14 May 1996 (eds M. Stone and E.G. Chazon;Leiden:Brill, 1998) 25-33. In discussing the generic issue, he writes, "4Q265thus resembles4QOrdinancesin its legal


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Texts whose nomenclature reflects their concern with purities, 4QTohorot A and B and 4QPurification Liturgy (4Q274, 4Q277, 4Q284), unsurprisinglycontainlaws pertainingto women, and to children as well. A like concernwith issues of purityprobablyaccounts for the presence of references to women and children in the War Scroll (1QM) and its Cave 4 copies even thoughit is not a legal text, strictly speaking.Camp regulationsare also "laws." Finally, but not least significantly by any means, there is a text whose official designationis 4QRitualof Marriage(4Q502). Whether the originaleditor'sselectionof namewas correct,or whetherJ. Baumof the documentas a "GoldenAge Ritual"is garten'scharacterization to be preferred,or some third option is to be adopted,the ceremony or liturgy describedin this documentclearly involves women.'2The potentialimportanceof thistextcannotbe overstateddespiteits extremely fragmentarynatureand generic uncertainty. This initial and schematic survey of the legal and liturgical texts which contain explicit references to women or children indicates a pervasive textual presence of women at Qumran.Regardless of our final analysis of these texts in conjunctionwith others, such as the wisdom materialdiscussed by B. Wright elsewhere in this collection of essays,as well as the archeologicalevidenceevaluatedby J. Magness,'3 we cannot treat women in the legal materialas if their presencewas characteristicof only a few texts. Women appearin all the kinds of texts in which we expect to find them, and the "omission"of women by lQS mighteven be said to standout as an anomalyby comparison. III. WhatDo the Texts Say About Women? We must now turn to the more critical aspect of our analysis, a considerationof what these laws and the way they are framed can teach us. How many of the referencesto women in the legal texts can be seen to be merely restatements of pentateuchal material? How contentsand its literaryform. Both texts containmedleys of rules which do not appear to follow any particularsubjectclassificationor scripturalsequence.They also embrace biblical quotationsand narrativeallusionswhich are not strictly 'halakhic,'..." (30). 12 M. Baillet, DJD 7.81-105. Cf. J.M. Baumgarten,"4Q502, Marriageor Golden Age Ritual?"JJS 34 (1983) 125-35 and M. Satlow, "4Q502, A New Year Festival?" DSD 5 (1998) 57-68. 13 J. Magness, "Women at Qumran?"What Athens Has to Do with Jerusalem: Essays on Classical, Jewish, and Early ChristianArt and Archaeologyin Honor of GideonFoerster (ed. L.V. Rutgers;Leuven:Peeters,2002) 89-123.

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many are expansionsor interpretationsof that material?Can we tell whetherthe texts were intendedto guide the life of the communityat Qumranor any otherrelatedgroup?Or were they only theoreticalcompilationsof legal data withoutregardto their practicalapplicability?'4 MarriageLaws The institutionof marriage It is obvious that laws which pertaindirectlyto marriage(and several kinds of laws fall underthis broadrubric)furnishthe most critical evidence regardingthe presence or absence of women in the society presupposedby the text which contains those regulations. It is the presenceof such referencesin texts like CD which led scholarsto distinguishthe society portrayedin them from that describedin lQS and 4QS, from which women are absent.It is undeniable,in fact, that CD implies marriagefor some membersof the group,i.e., those who "live in camps in accordancewith the rule of the land and many wives and beget childrenaccordingto the law" (7:6-7). Whetherthis implies a differentstatus for those who lived in the settlementat Qumran(and who were perhapsgovernedby the stricterimplicationsof 1QS) is, of course, a larger issue which this paper does not attemptto answer. The mebaqqerof the camp is to oversee those marryingand give his attentionto those divorcing(CD 13:16-17 and 4Q266 9 iii 4-5). What camp (or camps) is (are) being described? The polemic in CD (4:19-5:11) against the opponentsof its author who violate laws of ritualpurity,incest and monogamyall imply the existence of marriage.It is only marriageto a second wife while the firstis still alive or marriageto the daughterof a brotheror sisterwhich are opposed; marriageitself is not. The opponentsare chargedwith failing to observe the laws of menstrualimpurityproperly,with the clear implicationbeing thatsexual activityis not in and of itself taboo. Suitabilityfor marriage Several of the fragmentarycopies of 4QD share a passage which indicates how marriagesare to be arrangedwithin the society gov'4 The perhapscompletely anachronisticanalogue of the traditionalyeshiva in its contemporarymodel comes to mind,where studentsmay put in immenseeffortsin the ordersZera'im, study and deep analysis of the tractateswithin the mishnaic/talmudic Qodashim,and Tohorot,despitethe fact that these tractateshave virtuallyno practical relevance.In other words, did the inhabitantsof Qumranstudy, analyze, and expand even those aspectsof Torahwhich were not directlyapplicableto theirown existence?


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ernedby these laws. Whetheror not the groupwhich lived at Qumran was a marryingone, the communityof 4QD took marriagevery seriously. Full disclosureby the fatherto the suitor of the potentialbride of all her defects is requiredand is subjectto the curse of Deut. 27:18 regardingmisleadingthe blind. A fatheris not to give his daughterto one who is not suitable for her, since inappropriatemarriages are analogousto plowing with mixed pairs of animals or wearing ?mto.'5 The potential groom, for his part, is not to bring into "the holy

.. ."

a

woman who is inappropriatelysexually experienced,either while in her father's home or during her widowhood.'6Even a woman who merely has a bad reputation(D: CO)as a young woman is not to be marriedwithout being examined by trustworthywomen at the command of the mebaqqer.'7In all of these laws, decisions regardingthe statusof women is to be madeby males, and even the trustworthy examinersare female only for the purposesof propriety,while the authority to decide on the basis of their investigationremainswith males. The issue of suitabilityfor marriagearises implicitly in two other unrelatedtexts, both involvingthe furthermodificationof biblical laws to accordwith Qumranpractice. 11QT 63:10-15 presentsa version of the law of the beautifulcaptive (Deut. 21:10-14), obviously not a law which had practicalimplicationstoo often.'8The most strikingchange from the biblical originalis the additionby the Temple Scroll, after a descriptionof the process that the captive woman must undergo in orderfor her captorto marryher, of a requirementthat she not touch herhusband'spurities(tohorah)or eat sacrificesfor sevenyears.Although thereis nothingin the biblical text which would stimulatesuch a rule, it is a stringencywhich we are unsurprisedto find in a text discovered at Qumran.It calls to mind the laws about novice membersof the group who were restrictedin the food which they could touch during the initial years of their membership (1QS 6:16- 21) and may be indicative of Qumranfeelings about Gentiles/foreignersas much as

'S The comparisonof mixed marriagesto other prohibited"mixed kinds" is found in MMT B 76-82 as well. 16 It may be worth noting that divorcees seem not to be under discussion here. Whetherwe should infer that divorcees are not to be consideredsuitable for remarriage, or whetherwe are to presumethat they are, barringany other information,is not obvious. 7 4Q271 3 7-15; 4Q269 9 1-7; 4Q270 4 14-21. 18 On the law in general,see M.R. Lehmann,"The BeautifulWar Bride (-kxn fln) and OtherHalakhothin the Temple Scroll,"TempleScroll Studies (ed. G.J. Brooke; JSPSup7; Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 1989) 265-71.

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aboutwomen. It is likely that a similarregulationwas associatedwith the marriageof the "designatedmaidservant"(4Q270 4 13-17) where the expression"seven yea[rs]"appearsas well. These women of nonIsraeliteorigin had to pass a long period of testing before they could functioneffectively within their marriages.19 Licit sexual activity

Althoughsexual activity within marriageappearsto be the normin the Qumranlegal systems, there is a tendencyin a broad variety of these legal documents to include legislation which restricts sexual activity in ways beyond the biblical purityregulations.Of course it is very likely that the composersof these texts interpretedthe Bible in ways that pointedtowardsa more restrictivepurityenvironmentthan did, for example, the mishnaic and talmudic rabbis. In the Temple Scroll (45:11-12), sexual activity with one's wife precludesone from enteringthe city of the sanctuaryfor threedays, while CD 12:1-2 prohibits sexual activity in that city completely in order not to defile it. But it is not the purityof habitationalone which may prohibitsexual activity; the sabbathlaw of CD, if Qimron's interpretationof :1lWfl is correct, prohibits sexual activity on the sabbath (11:4).20 Let us

remember,however, that regulationof sexual activity, while it certainly implies the presenceof women in society, does not concernor focus upon women alone, but affects males as well. It is furtherinterestingthat sexual activity is limitedby the Qumran codes not only by time and place. There existed sexual relations between husbandand wife which could be characterizedby the term mrn2t("to act immorally")and which were punishedin a very severe fashion. In a passage which appearstwice in the 4QD material,"One who approacheshis wife to act immorally,not accordingto the law, shall departand not returnagain"(4Q267 9 vi 4 = 4Q270 7 i 12-13). The specific natureof the forbiddenintercourseis, of course,unclear.2'

19 Baumgarten, Damascus Document, 79 and 154, notes the parallel with the Temple Scroll and suggests an explanationalong these lines. of 'Al 20 E. Qimron,"The Halachaof the DamascusCovenant-An Interpretation Yitarev',"Proceedingsof the NinthWorldCongressof JewishStudiesD.1 (1986) 9-15 [Hebrew].Cf. also 4Q270 2 i 18-19 "[or one who appr]oacheshis wife on the day of [" where Baumgarten,DamascusDocument,144, suggests the Sabbathor the Day of Atonementas the prohibitedtime. The parallelprohibitionof sexual activityon the Sabbathin Jubilees50:8 has been noted. 21 Suggestionsinclude intercoursewith a pregnantwife and other non-procreative sexual activity.


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And in a passagewhich does not focus uniquelyon sexual prohibitions (4Q270 2 ii 15-16), intercoursewith a pregnantwoman is forbidden, with the law placed between prohibitions against the slaughter of pregnantanimals,on the one side, and sleeping with one's niece or a male, on the other.22The context, in which this law can be seen as linked to precedingand succeedinglaws in differentways, is certainly striking.Regardlessof whether any of these texts were applicableat Qumranor only elsewhere, it is not difficultfor us to conclude that the group(s)which authoredthese texts adoptedrestrictiveattitudesto sexual activity undera varietyof conditionsas a partof theirlifestyle. Infidelity Even without the laws regardingthe possible sexual experienceof the potentialbride, we would not be surprisedto find that fidelity in marriagewas significantto the group at Qumran,and there are two texts, each parallelto a differentbiblical passage,which deal with the matterof a woman accusedof impropersexual behavioror unfaithfulness.23The first,4Q159 (Ordinances)2-4 8-10, deals with the brideaccused of not being a virgin. What the Qumrantext adds to the biblical law (Deut. 22:13-19) is the mannerof ascertainingthe truthfulness of the woman. As in the case of examinationbefore marriagediscussed above (4Q271), reliablewomen (rl1mtm)are to verify her status, with the death penaltyto be imposed if her husband'sclaim is found to be true,while a substantialfine and the inabilityto divorceher forever are imposed on him if he has leveled a false accusation.24 The other text is 4Q270 4 1-7 which seems to be an interpretation of the laws surroundingthe sotah ritual. The accused wife seems to 22 Of the lattertwo sexual prohibitions, the firstis a knownpoint of disputebetween Jewish groups in this period, while the second is a law not subject to debate. The Essenes accordingto Josephusdid not engage in intercoursewith theirpregnantwives. 23 The passage in the Temple Scroll (65:7-66:04) dealing with the accused virgin does not deviate significantlyenough from the biblical text to be worthy of comment here. Cf. Schiffman,"Laws Pertainingto Women,"220-22. 24 Baumgarten,Damascus Document, 177, noted this parallel between 4Q159 and 4Q271. See at greater length, J.H. Tigay, "Examinationof the Accused Bride in 4Q159: Forensic Medicine at Qumran,"JANES22 (1993) 129-34. AharonShemesh, "4Q271.3: A Key to SectarianMatrimonialLaw," JJS 49 (1998) 244-63, has creatively integratedthese two passages with others from the Qumrancorpus in arguing that any sexual activitybetweenman and woman automaticallycreateda maritalbond between them for the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and that that principle demanded the examination of potential spouses for prior sexual experience which would have bound them maritally to the earlier sexual partner.This theory, while intriguing,must still be deemed speculative.

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have had the right to claim in her defense that she had been raped (7n77MOl il7nrs[OR).Undercertaincircumstances(unfortunatelythe text is quite fragmentary)her claim is to be acknowledgedand she is not to be broughtto the ordeal.Both of these regulationsappearto be innovationsin the law which derive from the possibility of practical applicationratherthan from theoreticalcreativity.The workingout of these details certainlysuggests that the 4QD materialnot only derives from a non-celibatesociety, but from one which took the maritalrelationshipquite seriously and found ways of dealing with alleged challenges to its integrityin a numberof ways. ForbiddenUnions The Qumrancorpus includes regulationswhich prohibitmarriages betweencertainindividuals,as do thepentateuchal rulesfoundin Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy23. Once again, we must stress that these are laws in which women are involved, not laws which focus exclusively on women. The most extensive list of these is to be found, unsurprisingly, in the Temple Scroll which in its final column (66:11-17) lists a series of prohibitedrelationships.The last complete one on the list is uncle-niece marriage,the forbiddingof which is to be expected in light of other Qumranmaterial.25 A related assortmentof regulationsregardinginappropriate,if not forbidden,unions,is to be found in 4QMMT.Whetheror not this document really is a letter, one of the major themes which it spells out to its addressee(the "you")of the text, regardlessof his specific identity, is the presencewithin some Jewish groups of violations of marriage regulations.In the legal section (B) of Qimron's reconstructed text, lines 39-49, it is implied that there are Jews who violate some of the prohibitions of Deuteronomy 23 (and perhaps others which were listed in the lacunae), with the text concludingwith the words "fromany forbiddenunions"(1::[;1]flfM1flU LM).26 A furtherobjection to currentmarriagepracticesis found at B 75-76 and 79-82, referring to "immorality(rnlrt) which is practicedamong the people"which "pol-lutesthe holy seed."27This language perhapsrecalls CD 7:1-2 25 In addition to the long-known passage in CD 5:7-11, see now also 4Q251 "HalakhahA" 17 (formerly12):1-3, "Regardingforbiddenrelationships(nlVC;l)... let no man take ... his brother'sdaughteror his s[ister's] daughter."The whole of this passage is anotherlist of forbiddenunions. 26

This is the translation by Qimron and Strugnell, DJD 10.51.

Note also that C 4-5 containsa probablereferenceto women and a certainone to immoralityand perhapsshouldbe consideredas partof the "legal"sectionof MMT. 27


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"to refrainfrom immoralityaccordingto the law." Whetherwe adopt Qimron's view that the marriages being referred to are "intermarriages"betweenpriestsandnon-priestsor Baumgarten'sthattheyinvolve Jews and foreigners,it is clear that "correct"marriagesare very much the concernof the authorof MMT. Other laws Havingsurveyedthelaws andlegal themespertainingto womenwhich recurin a variety of the documentsfrom Qumran,we must now turn our attentionto laws in this categorywhich do not appearas densely throughoutthe corpus, but are significantnonetheless. Purity regulations It is unsurprisingthat a large proportionof the laws which relate to women do so in the context of ritual purity (niddah,zavah, yoledet). As opposed to the sourcesof impuritysuch as humancorpses or dead animals or reptiles which can affect both men and women equally, menstrualimpurityregularlyrendersadultwomen impure,while childbirth is also biologically exclusive to women. The concern of the Qumransect for meticulousobservanceof the purityof the camp, and especially of food, would lead us to expect that the topic of female impuritymight appearwith some frequencyin legal texts which might govern the activities within their habitation.What is striking is the number of Qumran documents which contain allusions to these regulations.28

The basic laws in these areas are scripturalso that we could anticipate finding them in the legal rewrittenBible of the Temple Scroll, but even there the laws are extendedbeyond the explicit demandsof the Bible. Thus women who are menstrually impure or are in an impurestate after childbirthare excluded from all cities, not just the "city of the sanctuary"(1 IQT 48:15-17).29 But can these regulations tell us anything at all about women at Qumran?The possible

28 Qimron,"Celibacy,"288, believes that the origin of whatevercelibacy is to be found in the Qumrangroupwhom he identifiesas the yahad actuallyderivesfrom "the purityof Jerusalemand its Temple.... The yahad was consideredby the sectariansas a temporarysubstitutefor Jerusalem." 29 For furtherdiscussionof these laws, see Schiffman,"LawsPertainingto Women," 210-12 and S. Japhet, "The Prohibitionof the Habitationof Women: The Temple Scroll's Attitude toward Sexual Impurity and Its Biblical Precedents,"JANES 22 (1993) 69-87.

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pre-Qumranicstatus of the documenttogetherwith its emphasis on cities probablymake laws like these very unhelpfulfor any sort of historical reconstructionvis-4-vis Qumranitself, althoughwe should not have been surprisedto find similar stricturesat Qumranif the habitationwere to have includedchildbearingwomen. As noted above, many of the fragmentarylegal texts refer to women's purityand impurity.4Q265 7 ii 11-17 explainsthe differencein the purificationperiodsafter the birth of a son or a daughterthrough the story of Adam and Eve in the Gardenof Eden. 4Q266 6 ii deals completelywith the laws of menstrualand childbirthimpurity,including, apparently,a regulationthatthe newbornchild is to be given over to a wetnurse"inpuri[ty]".4Q272 1 ii 7-16 has veryfragmentary remains regardingthe laws of zavah, while 4Q273 5 4 may link the laws of In 4Q274, marriageto the counting of days of menstrualimpurity.30 there are laws regulatingthe behaviorof a menstruatingwoman and restrictingher interactionwith individualswho are experiencingother forms of impurity.The very frequencyof the recurrenceof these laws in the Qumranlegal texts, in codes which appearto be of a practical nature,can only leave us with the impressionof their serious significance to the groupwhich followed these laws.3' Women's status

Two texts in particularare worthyof note. The shorterone is a section in one of the new fragmentsof the penal code of CD. 4Q270 7 i 13-15 indicates that "one who complainsagainst the fathers [shall be sent away] from the community and shall not return, [but ifl against the mothers, he shall be punished for te[n] days, since the S.W. Crawford mothersdo not have nnprnwithin the community."32 30

Cf. Baumgarten'sbrief remarks,DamascusDocument,197. I must note here ProfessorR. Kraemer'sobservationat the oral presentationof this paper(confirmedin an email of August 6, 2003) that the frequencyof menstruation for women in antiquitywas probablylower than that of women in the 20th century and that the repeatedappearanceof laws pertainingto women's puritymight tell us less aboutpracticalrealitiesthanwe mighthave thought.I thankProfessorKraemer for this significantpoint. 32 Baumgarten,Damascus Document, 164, translates "authoritativestatus (?)," GarcfaMartinezrenders"mingling(?)," Vermes "distinction(?)," and Wise-AbeggCook "such esteem."The meaningof the word is certainlyunclear.A comprehensive in the Damascus discussionof the possibilitiesis furnishedby J.F. Elwolde,"RWQMH Documentand Ps 139:15,"Diggers at the Well: Proceedingsof a ThirdInternational Symposiumon the Hebrewof the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira (eds T. Muraokaand J.F. Elwolde;STDJ 36; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 65-83. 31


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writes quite plausibly, "From the parallelismof the terms 'Fathers' and 'Mothers' it is evident that the term 'Mothers' does not simply refer to biological mothers(as is common in biblical Hebrew),but is Accepting the interpretaa special group within the congregation."33 tion of i-npri suggestedby J.L. Elwolde, she understandsthe term to mean 4"authority,"concludingthat the "Mothers"had a lower authoritative status in the communitythan did the "Fathers,"but that they did have some status which demandedrespect.34 As noted above, the original editor of 4Q502 called it "Rituel de Mariage,"and this identificationhas been questioned.It appearsto be a ritual or liturgicaldocument,and the main questionis for what sort of ceremonyit was composed.Fromthe many referencesto males and females in the course of the numeroussmall fragmentsof the text, as well as fromthe varietyof blessingswhich it apparentlycontains,Baillet surmised that what it contained was a marriage ceremony. Baumgarten,pointingout that the men and women are clearly describedas among the elders of the community,suggestedthat the ceremonywas not a marriage,but a celebrationof these aged membersof the community.35Once again, regardlessof the particularceremonywhich it describes,4Q502 must be broughtto the fore in any discussionof the role of women in the legal and liturgicaltexts from Qumran. Men and women are both involved in the ceremony, as is clear from the pairingof termslike "sons and daughters"(14 3), '"agedmen and aged wom[en. . . youths] and virgins, young men and you[ng women]" (19 3).36 Women are referredto as "daughterof truth"(rim and "his companion"(711?'V)(1-3 6-7) and are possiblydescribed Onn)

33 S.W. Crawford, "Mothers, Sisters, and Elders: Titles for Women in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian Communities," The Dead Sea Scrolls as Backgroundto Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity.Papers from an InternationalConferenceat St. Andrewsin 2001 (ed. J.R. Davila; STDJ 46; Leiden:Brill, 2003) 177-91 (178). 34 Ibid., 180. But see also G.J. Brooke,"BetweenQumranand Corinth:Embroidered Allusions to Women's Authority,"in the same volume, 157-76. 35 Baumgarten,"4Q502," 134-35, summarizes the conclusions of his study. He writes, 134, "These couples may have come from the ranks of the marryingEssenes or they may have been marriedbefore they joined the sect. In either case what was celebratedwas not their marriage,nor the offspringthey may have had, but theirplace of honouras brothersand sisters of the community."Satlow's suggestionthat the text is a New Year festival liturgyis considerablymore speculative. 36 Crawford,"Mothers,"181, argues that these and other terms in this work are titles, like the terms "Mothers"and "Fathers"in 4Q270. It is an attractivesuggestion, but the evidence for it is insufficientin my view.

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as possessorsof "intelligenceand knowledge"(1-3 7). The participation of women in the ritual may not have been completely passive, since it is possible that the words "s]he shall stand in the assemblyof old men and old wome[n]"(24 4) was followed by some recitationby a woman. If 4Q502 is "only"a marriageceremony,it confirmsagain the existence of that institution.If it is some sort of ceremonyhonoring the elders of the sect, it indicates the presenceof both men and women in that group, and the high regard in which they were both held.37Whetherwomen were "members"of the communityor not is not my issue here. Women's vows

Two legal texts, the Temple Scroll and CD, deal with the laws of vows within which the vows of women have special regulations accordingto Numbers30. In the former instance, the Temple Scroll in 53:11-54:7 integrates the laws of vows and oaths from Deut. 23:22-24 and Num. 30:3-17 withouttoo much modification.38 Vows of a young woman in her father's home may be annulledby her father; vows of a marriedwoman may be annulledby her husbandon the day they are made; vows of widows or divorcees are binding. It is all fairly straightforwardly biblical. CD 16:6-12, on the other hand, does not here merely rewriteand paraphrasethe biblical laws, but selects specific details for comment.39 The ability of the husband(and the fatheras well) to annulwomen's oaths is limited to cases where he knows that the oath should be annulled.We are not told how the male is to be certainthat the oath of the female should be annulled,unless the clause "if it is to violate the covenant, he shall annul it and not affirm it" is taken as the definition of annullableoaths.' In some cases, at least, the woman " Schuller, "Women," 137, notes perceptively that the fact that 4Q502 16 cites from lQS 4:4-6 (or its source), a text noted for not referring to women, makes the presence of women in 4Q502 more striking. 38 There is limited rearrangement of the biblical text for the sake of clarity. A part of the rewriting is in a lacuna which raises some questions about the nature of the reorganization. For a broader discussion of these passages, see L.H. Schiffman, "The Laws of Vows and Oaths (Num. 30, 3-16) in the Zadokite Fragments and the Temple Scroll," RevQ 15 (1991) 199-214. 39 See Schiffman's conclusions, ibid., 212-14, for possible rationales for the distinctions here between CD and the Temple Scroll. 40 This attitude of CD to the annulment of women's vows seems to stand in fairly sharp contrast to the sweeping statement in 4Q416 2 iv 8-10 which recommends that a husband annul all his wife's oaths.


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(single or married)is free to impose oaths upon herself without the risk of male annulment.41 Women's testimony

There is one oft-debatedtext in IQSa which contains anothervery importantregulationon the role of women within the community.42 After a descriptionof the "education"of the young male memberof the group(to be discussedbelow) throughhis marriagenot before the age of twenty, the text continues"then she [his wife] shall accept/be accepted (bpn)43 to testify against him (regarding)the laws of the Torah"(IQSa 1:11-12). This unemendedtext, however, implies what was taken by many scholarsto be too radicala right to be allowed to women in an ancientJewish document,i.e., the right to testify against her husband,and the text was often deemed to be in need of emendation from the early days of Qumranresearchon. After all, regarding what would a wife be expected to testify against her husband? Also underlyingthe "need"to emend the text was an implicitassumption that even "marryingEssenes"were sufficientlymisogynisticnot to allow a wife to testify against her husband. This passage was thereforefrequentlyemended to read something like "He shall accept/be accepted to testify accordingto the laws of the Torah."" More recently, however, not only has the unemended

4' It has been noticed, of course, that the referenceto sectarians"living in camps accordingto the custom of the land"(CD 7:6-9) concludeswith a "citation"of Num. 30:17, the final verse of the pentateuchalsection on vows, "betweenhusbandand wife, betweenfatherand son [MT "daughter"]." Whetherthis has any implicationsfor CD's position on women's vows is unknown. 42 The significantquestion in this case might be "which community"? The answer depends on the compositionalhistory of 1QSa which was alluded to above (n. 7). C. Hempelhas suggestedthat the centralportionof IQSa emergedfrom a social situation which was similar to or the same as that of CD and is not to be understoodas an eschatologicaldocument.One of her observationsis particularlyrelevantto our discussion:"The presuppositionof family life constitutesa furtheraspect sharedbetween the communitybehind IQSa 1:6-2:1la and the communallegislationof the Damascus Document.The position of women was by no means equal to that of the male members of the community,but they certainlyconstitutea visible presencein the community behind such texts" (266). 43 The Hebrewmay be read either as active (piel) or passive (pual). I The text was emended by J.M. Baumgarten,"On the Testimony of Women in IQSa," JBL (1957) 266-69, followed by Schiffman,The EschatologicalCommunity, 18-19, and Reclaimingthe Dead Sea Scrolls: The Historyof Judaism,the Background of Christianity,The Lost Libraryof Qumran(Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1994) 134-35. J. Licht, TheRule Scroll:A Scrollfrom the Wildernessof Judaea: JQS, IQSa, JQSb: Text Introductionand Commentary(Jerusalem:Bialik Institute, 1965)

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text been accepted and explained by Davies and Taylor, but Baumgarten,who was one of the early emendersof the text of IQSa, has abandonedhis formerpositionand now interpretsthe text as it stands. He now translates"she must promiseto admonishher husbandabout the laws concerningsexual intercourse,with which she is to familiarize herself by learningthem and fulfillingthem."45 Baumgartenargues that, in light of texts like 4Q269 and 270, which we saw earlierin our discussion (above) which allude to "legitimate"sexual activity between husbandand wife, we can understandthis one to impose a serious legal responsibilityon the young bride, that of making sure that she and her husbandengage only in those sexual activitieswhich are lawful. "ToadmonSomedifficultiesremain,nevertheless,withthistranslation. ish" is an unusualtranslationof iT,* which generallymeans"to testify," and it is difficultto understandhow the rest of the sentence,"the laws of the Torah and to stand in the hearingof the laws," pertains to the woman. Davies and Taylor suggest that "in additionto being allowed to testify against her husband,a woman who is marriedto a memberof the congregation,and thus a memberherself [italics mine], maybe entitledto attendjudgments.'Perhapsif we modifyBaumgarten's translationa bit, we shouldnot have to go as far as Davies and Taylor in their inferences:"she shall take it upon herself to testify against him (accordingto?) the laws of the Torah and to be present at the proclamationof the verdict(?)." Regardlessof the details of the translation,it is likely that testimonyagainsther husbandregardingintimate mattersabout which only she is likely to know is a unique privilege and responsibilityof the woman marriedto a memberof this com-

257, emendsto ':zpn, "he will be received."The most recenttrenchantcritiqueof the emendationcomes from P.R. Davies and J.E. Taylor, "On the Testimonyof Women in 1QSa," DSD 3 (1996) 223-35. 4S Baumgarten, Damascus Document, 165. This readingof tZpnl as piel ratherthan

a defective spelling of pual is perhapsto be preferredto the suggestionof Davies and Taylor,"she shall be received"which seems to be acceptedby Schuller,"Women,"133. 46 Whether or not Davies and Taylor are correct in their translation ("On the Testimonyof Women,"228), the inferencethat a woman marriedto a memberof the communityis thus a memberherself is simply unwarranted by the text. Their"proof' from IQSa 1:4-5 which refers to the inclusionof women to hear the law being read and taught is underminedby Hempel's source-criticalanalysis which would assign those lines to an eschatologicalframe, while the commentson testimonyrefer to a non-eschatologicalCD-type community.It should be noted that they do not presume that women were full membersof the communityas Schuller(in their reading)does (229-30).


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munity and implies nothing about her ability to testify in any other circumstancesor her status in the community. Womenand Children There is a small group of laws in the Qumrancorpus pertainingto women where they are treated in conjunctionwith children.47Such laws certainlyindicate the presencenot only of women, but of families in the society which they purportto regulate.Women and young are not permittedto be among the despoilersof the boys (M1DTILM:) enemy camp in the War Scroll (admittedlyan eschatologicaltext), nor may they enter the war camp at all (IQM 7:3-4). The remainderof those excluded are those who have physical infirmities(4-5). 4Q265 4 3 prohibits women and young boys (CDICDDT CPD:)from eating the Passover feast.48Both of these regulationsmay be seen as deriving from a need for strict purityin participatingin holy war and in consumingthe sacrifice,a level of puritywhich women and childrenwere presumednot to be able to attain and maintain. Intheopeninglines of lQSa, we also findwomenandchildrenincluded togetherin that plan for the eschaton.They are partof the largercommunity who join togetherto hear the reading of the law. Admittedly women seem to play no otherrole in the eschatologicalportionof this text, and their presence, as well as that of children,in this passage could be said merely to be derivativefrom Deut. 31:12-13 where the presenceof women and childrenis demandedat a similar ceremony. Laws regardingchildren Referencesto childrenare considerablymore sparse than those to women in the Qumrantexts. In additionto the few referenceswhere they are juxtaposed to women, we find them primarily in CD and 4QD. The Sabbathlaw (CD 11:11) containsa referenceto nursemaids and infants, and 4Q266 6 ii which deals with menstrualand childbirth impurityspeaks (line 10) of giving a "[ch]ild to a wetnurse in pur[ity]." We have noted earlier the responsibilitiesof the mebaqqerin the society of CD for advising those who are getting marriedor divorced.

Laws pertainingto childrenalone will be discussedbrieflybelow. See Baumgarten"Scriptureand Law in 4Q265," 31-2, for discussion. He notes that this sectarianrestrictionon the participationof women and childrenwas shared later by the Karaites. 47 48

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But the very same passage also charges him with the obligation to instructthe childrenand younger childrenof the camp appropriately (CD 14:16-17; 4Q266 9 iii 4-7). Likewise, the mebaqqer and the judges of the communityare responsiblefor "themaidenwho has n[o] re[dee]merand the youth [w]ho has no one looking out for his interests" (CD 14:15-16). The childrenof membersof the group must at some time follow in their parents'footsteps in pledging loyalty to the covenant (CD 15:5; cf. 4Q271 2 13), but only those of a sufficiently mature age are permitted to do so; the MIC1TCD: could not. The society envisionedby CD thus has marriageand divorce,and children who need looking after at differentages in their lives. The hierarchy which governed that society had the duty of caring for all of its members. Perhapsthe most extensive descriptionof the "education"of childrenwithin the communityis to be found in IQSa 1 6-15. In this passage, which we have seen above, belongs to the CD-relatedportionof IQSa, every native Israeliteis to be taughtthe Book of HGY and the statutesof the covenantfrom his youth (lnnr3) accordingto his intellectual development.For ten years he shall enter among the children (gcD)and at twenty into the regularmuster.He may not approacha woman sexually until the age of twenty when he understandsgood and evil.49Here (and in the following lines regardingadult development) we see a conceptionof what growth throughthe ranks of the sect was in a communitywhich operatedunderthese guidelines. One of the few otherregulationswhere childrenare not juxtaposed to women appearsin 4Q277 (TohorotB") 1 7. A child (bIntD, a variant of 'Jw)50 is not to sprinkle the waters of purificationfrom the ashes of the red heifer. This regulationregardingchildrenmay be of a polemical naturein light of the Pharisaicpractice(m. Parah3:2-4) which explicitly presentsthe involvementof young boys in the prepaIt furtheremphasizesthe stringency rationof the ashes for the ritual.5" which the Qumrangroup appliedto observanceof their puritylaws.

4 This is the passage containing the significant reference to the role of women "then she will take it upon herself to testify against him." 30 J.M. Baumgarten, "The Red Cow Purification Rites in Qumran Texts," JJS (1995) 117. s' Baumgarten, "Red Cow," 118, suggests that 4Q271 2 13 ("[any youth w]hose days are not filled to passing among the enr[olled]") is a similar disqualification of below-age youths for sprinkling.


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IV. ConcludingRemarks I have attemptedin this schematic survey of referencesto women in the Qumranlegal texts, and to the texts in which those references are to be found, to summarizethe data as they appear. In a sense, thesetextsareonly one piece of the largerpicturewhichwe wereattempting to sketch in the SBL session at which this paper was delivered. As a result, no definitive"conclusions"can be drawnfrom this paper alone, but it is certainlyworthmakinga numberof observationsbased on our analysis. There is no question that the often-made assertion that the communitydescribedby CD/4QD (and most other legal texts from Qumran)and that describedby 1QS differ substantiallyin terms of the presenceof women is correct.It is strikingthat IQS is perhaps the exception among legal texts at Qumranin representinga society which did not include women. Texts, however, are theoretical constructsand not socio-historicalrealities, and no numberof references to women in the legal texts from Qumrancan answer the question "were there women in the settlementat Qumran?" The broaderobservationwe can make has to do with the natureof the references to women where we do find them. They are, on the whole, unexceptionaland remain within the boundariesof what we might expect of any Jewish group at the time. The categories into which these laws fall are not much differentfrom those which we find in rabbinic legal material some centuries later. They are the laws whichany systembasedon biblicalprecedentsis likelyto contain,involving marriageand divorce, purityand impurity,with a small admixture of legal materialwhich is perhapsuniquelygeneratedby the structure and ideology of a "Qumran"community.These Qumranlegal texts, composed by men presumablyfor a communitywhich encompassed both men and women living in family structures,have not innovated new areas in laws regarding women, which would limit women's behavior in completely new ways. They may be more stringentthan rabbinicregulations,but, like them, the Qumranlaws do not focus on women exclusively, but ratheron the relationshipsbetween men and women, often in their roles as wives or potentialwives. I believe that it is very unlikely that these laws were written only as theoretical exercises, describingsome sort of ideal community,as opposedto legislating for some real social entity. Whetherthe laws are to be seen as depictingthe reality or the ideal state for such an environmentis a very differentquestion.

READING FOR GENDER IN THE DAMASCUS DOCUMENT MAXINEGROSSMAN University of Maryland And now, children(D'7Z),hear me and I will uncoveryour eyes so you may see and understandthe works of God, to choose that which he wants and to reject that which he hates: to walk perfectly in all his ways and not to stray in the thoughtsof a guilty inclinationand licentiouseyes.' (CD 2:14-16)

The Damascus Document describes a covenant communitythat is markedby righteousnessand obedienceto the will of God. Participants in this "communityof the new covenant" take care to understand God's will, so as to performit appropriately.They avoid all temptations towardimproperaction and inappropriate thought.At times, the covenantersappearas the righteouspriesthoodof Israel.At othertimes, they are a microcosmof Israelin all its diversity,or an exilic remnant of the nation.2And in nearlyall cases, they are assumedto be men. For historiansof ancient Judaism,the Damascus Document's descriptionsare important.They provide evidence for the makeupof a covenant communityassociatedwith the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they lay the groundfor a historicalunderstandingof that community.But the evidence of the DamascusDocumentcannotbe takenas a straightforwardor transparentreflectionof historicalreality. Rather,the text reflects an ideological stance-a selective readingof scripture,a specific understandingof communalidentity,and a programmaticview of history-and the righteouscovenant communityof the text must be I

Textualreferencesare drawnfrom the editionof J. Baumgartenand D. Schwartz, "DamascusDocument (CD)," The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations Volume2: Damascus Document, War Scroll, and Related Documents (eds J.H. Charlesworthet al.; PrincetonTheological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project;Louisville:WestminsterJohnKnox, 1995) 4-57; translations follow Baumgartenand Schwartzunlessotherwisenoted.See also the text of E. Qimron in The DamascusDocumentReconsidered(ed. M. Broshi;Jerusalem:Israel Exploration Society, 1992) 9-49. For this passage, see Baumgartenand Schwartz,"Damascus Document(CD)," 14-15. 2 The communityappearsas righteouspriests(CD 3:21-4:4), as a microcosmof the people of Israel (CD 3:13; 6:2-3), and as a post-exilicremnant(CD 1:4-8; 6:5). C KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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recognized,similarly, as an ideological construct-'In addition,to the extentthatthe DamascusDocumentwas a foundationtext for the covenant community,it served as a source for ongoing constructionsof communalidentity in later generations.4Individualcovenantersmight have understoodthemselvesin termsof the collective reality described in the text, but they also would have interpretedthat "reality"in their own terms and in supportof their own ideological claims. Among the text's ideological formationsis a specific understanding and sociallyof gender, by which I mean the culturally-constructed specific knowledge of sexual difference.'The building-blocksof gender-the detailed elements defining what makes people masculine or feminine-vary from culture to culture and ideologically within cultures.Genderis not the same thing as "natural"sexual difference,6nor is it the same thing as "women."This last observationbears elaboration. There is a tendency among historiansto elide the concepts of "gender"and "women,"so that a genderedreading of the scrolls is one that asks (literarily)how women are imaginedin a given text or (historically)whether women were present in the covenant community. These questionsare important,but they do not get beyond what Miriam Peskowitz has called the "misnomer of engendering," in which, "masculinityis still assumed as the universal,and femininity continuesto functionas the markof difference."7Readingsthat retain I On the Dead Sea Scrolls as ideological texts, see M.L. Grossman,Readingfor Historyin the DamascusDocument:A MethodologicalStudy(Leiden:Brill, 2002); and P. Davies, Behindthe Essenes:Historyand Ideologyin the Dead Sea Scrolls (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987). On scripturalcitation as an element of ideology construction, see J. Campbell,The Use of Scripturein the DamascusDocument1-8, 19-20 (New York:Walterde Gruyter,1995). 4 On communalidentityin the scrolls,see Davies, Behindthe Essenes,esp. "Chapter two: QumranBeginnings,"15-31; S. Fraade,"InterpretiveAuthorityin the Studying Communityat Qumran,"JJS 44 (1993) 46-69, esp. 69; C. Newsom, "The Case of the BlinkingI: Discourseof the Self at Qumran,"Semeia 57 (1992) 13-23; and Newsom, "Apocalypticand the Discourseof the QumranCommunity,"JNES 49 (1990) 135-44. On constructionsof communalidentity,see also D. Dimant,"Menas Angels:The SelfImage of the QumranCommunity,"Religionand Politics in the AncientNear East (ed. A. Berlin;Bethesda:Universityof MarylandPress, 1996) 93-103. S J. Scott, Gender and the Politics of History (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), providesa discussionof genderas the "knowledgeof sexual difference," understanding"knowledge"in a Foucauldiansense, as intimatelylinked with power. 6 The notion of an unmediatedand absolutebiological difference,labeled"sex,"has itself been called into question by queer theory. See J. Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminismand the Subversionof Identity(New York:Routledge,1990) 7; D. Boyarin, "Gender,"Critical Termsfor Religious Studies (ed. M.C. Taylor;Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1998) 117-35. 1 M. Peskowitz, "EngenderingJewish Religious History,"Judaism Since Gender (eds M. Peskowitzand L. Levitt;New York:Routledge, 1997) 30.

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the gender-biasesof the texts underconsiderationthus risk being limited by the assumptionsof those texts. Explicitlyandimplicitly,theDamascusDocumentestablishesa specific understandingof gendernorms.Readingthe text with an eye to these constructions-thedistinctionsbetweenpracticesandtraitsthatareunderstood as "masculine"and those that fall into the category of "feminine"-allows us to raise questionsat a numberof levels. First, from a purely literaryperspective,we can ask what understandingsof gender are presentedin the text. We will see that the text is androcentric (most likely writtenby and for men; envisioningthe male experience as an objective norm),8but what does this tell us about the ";men" envisionedwithin the text? Second, in a move from literaryto historical questions, we can ask how the text's presentation of gender reflects the makeupof a Damascus covenantcommunityin its actual existence. Does the text reflect a communityof men, marriedor celibate (or a mix of both);a communityof marriedmen and women;or a mixed communityof men and women, marriedand celibate?Were the writers-and readers-of this text always androcentricin theirview of men's and women's roles, or did they slide at times in the direction of misogyny,on the one hand, or egalitarianism,on the other? The goal of this articleis to highlightthe DamascusDocument'sideological assumptionsabout genderand to examine the ways that gender might have been understoodin the covenantcommunity(or communities) associated with the text. As such, this project builds on existingQumranscholarshipbut also introducesan alternativeapproach to the historiographyand literaryanalysis of the scrolls. The debt to Eileen Schullerand the influenceof her scholarshipon gender in the scrolls will be obvious throughout.9 As Schullerhas observed,past dis8 For a discussion of androcentrism in the context of the scrolls, see E. Schuller, "Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"TheDead Sea ScrollsafterFiftyYears:A Comprehensive Assessment (eds P. Flint and J. VanderKam;Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.122-23; and Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"Methodsof Investigationof the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet QumranSite: Present Realities and Future Prospects (eds M. Wise et al.; New York:The New York Academyof Sciences, 1994) 115. 9 See especially Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.117-44; and Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methodsof Investigation,115-31. Otherimportantdiscussionsof women in the scrolls can be found in L.H. Schiffman,"Womenin the Scrolls,"Reclaimingthe Dead Sea Scrolls: The History of Judaism, the Backgroundof Christianity,and the Lost Library of Qumran (Philadelphia:Jewish PublicationSociety, 1994) 127-43; Schiffman,"Laws Pertainingto Women in the TempleScroll,"The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (eds D. Dimant and U. Rappaport;Leiden: Brill, 1992) 210-28; and L.B. Elder,"TheWomanQuestionand FemaleAscetics AmongEssenes,"


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cussionshave tendedto speak only of women (and not of "gender")in the scrolls and have tendedto be limitedto the questionof whetherthe communityassociatedwith the scrolls was marryingor celibate.'0Her work has enriched the discussion significantly, by introducing the reflectedin the scrolls, notionof genderitself, notingthe androcentrism and observingthat their focus on male covenantersdoes not preclude the presenceof women as participantsin the covenantcommunity."1 My approachintroducesanotherelement to the literaryand historical readings of gender in the Damascus Document: multiplicity of textual meaning.Contemporaryliterarycriticismhas called into question the notionof fixed and unitarytextualmeaning,arguinginsteadfor of the relationshipof authors, increasedcomplexityin our understanding audiences,and texts in the constructionof such meaning.'2The theoretical insights of literary criticism allow for a numberof practical observationsfor scholarshipon the Dead Sea Scrolls. Among these is BA 57 (1994) 220-34. See also the discussions and bibliographyin P. Davies and J. Taylor,"OntheTestimonyof Womenin IQSa,"DSD 3 (1996)223-35; andL. Cansdale, QumranandtheEssenes(Tubingen: "Statusof WomenMembersof theScrollCommunity," Mohr [Siebeck], 1997) 49-57. Of relatedinterestis S. Peterson,"Caves, Documents, Women:ArchivesandArchivists,"TheDeadSea Scrolls:FiftyYearsAfterTheirDiscovery: Proceedingsof the JerusalemCongress,July 20-25, 1997 (eds L.H. Schiffman,E. Tov, and J. VanderKam;Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety, 2000) 761-72. 10Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.119-20 and n. 7. See also C. Hempel, "CommunityStructuresin the Dead in FlintandVanderKam, Sea Scrolls:Admissions,Organization, DisciplinaryProcedures," Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.67-92, esp. the discussionand bibliographyin 86-87 and n. 71; E. Qimron,"Celibacyin the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Two Kinds of Sectarians,"The MadridQumranCongress:Proceedingsof the InternationalCongresson the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid18-21 March, 1991 (eds J. TrebolleBarreraand L. Vegas Montaner; Leiden: Bnll, 1992) 1.287-94; and S. Japhet,"The Prohibitionof the Habitationof Women:the Temple Scroll's AttitudeTowardSexual Impurityand Its Biblical Precedents,"JANES22 (1993) 69-87. " Althoughshe initially proposedthat women may have been full membersof the Damascus covenant community,Schuller has more recently suggested that the language of independentparticipationis more useful than that of "full"participation.See Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methodsof Investigation, 121-22; Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.129-31. influencedby the audience-orientedapproacharticulated 12 My work is particularly in S. Fish, Is There a Text in This Class? The Authorityof InterpretiveCommunities (Cambridge:HarvardUniversityPress, 1980) and the more recent discussionsin Fish, Doing What Comes Naturally: Change, Rhetoric, and the Practice of Theory in Literaryand Legal Studies (Durham:Duke UniversityPress, 1989). In biblical studies circles, Fish's approachis less influentialthan that of W. Iser; see Iser, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1974) and Iser, The Act of Reading:A Theoryof AestheticResponse(Baltimore:Johns HopkinsUniversityPress, 1978).

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the understandingthat the common "location"for the constructionof textualmeaningis in a community'ssharedunderstanding of the text. The writersof the DamascusDocument,for example, presenteda set of historicaland religious claims that were meaningfulbecause they werecontextualized withinthelargerexperienceof theDamascuscovenant community.Membersof the community,who were among the earliest audiencesof this text, might have allied themselveswith the authors' views and understoodtheir own identityin light of these views. If texts are made meaningful in the context of collective experiences (hearinga text read, discussingthe ideas it presents,or participating in communalactivities relatedto the text), a second point that follows is that this meaningis neitherstatic nor unitary.Laterparticipantsin thecommunity,andeven simultaneousparticipants whoseviews were not identical with those of the authorsof the text, might have had other understandingsof what the text "meant"or of what historical, practical, and social claims were legitimately supportedby it. Even in a single community,and even among people with a common worldview and shared experiences, real differencesof interpretation are always possible. A third, and more sociologically-focused,point follows from this observation.Although interpretivedisagreementsin a religious communitycan lead to full scale rifts among participants(resultingin sectarianschism, as is well-evidencedin the scrolls), such differencesof opinion may merely generate an acceptable diversity of practice or belief within a single community.In otherwords, a single text, understood in different ways, may support different beliefs or practices among membersof a communitywithout necessarilyresultingin sectarianrifts.'3Not every textualdifferenceshouldbe understoodas evidence for a sectarian split.'4

'3 An example of the tension between acceptable diversity and unacceptable deviance is found in the referenceto the House of Peleg (CD 20:22-24). Because they have brokenaway from the covenantcommunityon certainissues, this groupwill not be judged among the righteous.However,becausethey have retainedthe community's view of the Temple,they are not rejectedas absolutelyschismatic.Instead,the members are to be judged by their individualactions. 14 Recentstudiesof theredaction historyof theDamascusDocumentandtheCommunity Rule suggestthattheirtextualtraditionsdevelopedover time and thatthe two traditions (and the communitiesassociatedwith them) are relatedto each other in complicated ways. I addressthis issue, with attentionto the questionof celibacy,in the penultimate section of this paper. For furtherdiscussion, see esp. C. Hempel, The Laws of the Damascus Document: Sources, Traditionand Redaction (Leiden: Brill, 1998) and S. Metso,TheTextualDevelopmentof the QumranCommunity Rule (Leiden:Brill, 1997).


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If covenanThehistoricalimplicationsof thisobservationareimportant. ters could disagreeon elementsof practiceand belief, while sharingthe view that their opinions were supportedby a common collection of authoritativetexts, then our attemptsto make sense of the history of the communitiesthat wrote and transmittedthese texts must be similarly open to potentialsfor multiplicity.Our historicalreconstructions (based on these texts and otherrelatedevidence) shouldbe recognized as both partialand conditional,and we shouldrecognizethatmore than one historicalreality may have obtained(in differentperiods,different communities,or even a single period and community)in the world of but actuallyproblematic these texts. In place of an ostensibly-definitive historicalapproachthat reads a text like the DamascusDocumentfor its singularhistoricalmeaning,the approachof this articleis to determine a range of plausible historical settings in which this text may have been composed and transmitted,recognizingthat the history of the text may have includedmore than one such moment." Crucialto this strategyis a means of determiningthe boundariesof appropriateinterpretation.How diverse can the historical interpretations of this text be, and is it possible to identify some interpretations that are not historicallylikely? In the interestof maintainingresponsible standardsof analysis, the approachof this article is to read the constructionsof gender in the Damascus Document not in isolation but in light of other texts that we know existed simultaneouswith it and (perhaps)within the same community.An intertextualapproach allows us to limit interpretationsto those that were potentiallyavailable-if not necessarilyobvious-to the covenantersthemselves. Constructionsof Gender in the LiteraryText Images of gender appearin the Damascus Document'6in the context of referencesto (idealized)individualcovenanters,the community as a whole, andthemoregeneralhistoryof Israel.TheDamascuscovenanter, as imagined in the text, tends to be a masculine figure. In part, 15 The next stage in writing such a history would be to attemptto limit the range of possible historicalexplanations,by takinginto accountadditionaltexts, archaeological evidence, and secondary sources. In this way, a more tentative but also more dynamichistoricalaccountmight be produced. 16 In this discussion, I have considered the manuscriptevidence from Qumran (4Q266-73) togetherwith the medieval DamascusDocumentmaterial(CD) as representativeof a single "text."Anotherproductiveapproachwould considereitherthe CD or the QD materialsin isolation.

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language contributesto this phenomenon:referencesto the covenant communitytake the masculineplural form (which can, but need not, refer to females as well), with some in the masculine singular.The covenantersare those who "knowrighteousness"(pIrm'.V7, CD 1:1). In that they are those who "enterthe covenant"(Mn= 'an, CD 2:2), "eachman"is responsibleto behaveproperlywithrespectto "hisbrother" (vr'rs fls ... Vs), CD 6:20, 6:21-7:1, 7:2). And a distinctionis made between covenanters"who walk [in the ways of the community]in perfectholiness"(vrp omn ... CD 7:4-5) and those who "live (in) camps... and take wives and beget children"(I"O nirnr al irnvm ol npJl..., CD 7:6-7; parallelin CD 19:3).These children, in turn,are to take an oath and to be initiatedinto the covenant when they reach the appropriateage (CD 15:5-6). Withinthis masculine plural language lies an obvious ambiguity.The covenantersare to initiate "theirchildren"(:f7::) into the covenant,but the text fails to specify whether this potentially-inclusiveterm refers to sons and daughtersboth, or only to male offspring. Ambiguities of language thus constructa normatively-malecovenanter,while leaving open the possibility of a female presence and female participationas a subset of that masculinenorm. is constructedin the text Althoughthe normalcovenant-participant in masculineterms,women are not erasedentirely.In places, the communityis imaginedas a microcosmof the people of Israel,and to that extent, its very ideology seems to requirethat women be includedas part of the population.But the text's representationsof men's and women's actionsdiffer,in sometimestellingways. Injunctionsregarding men's behavior range widely, including everything from theft to Sabbathpracticesto publicdecency,to the very oath that"a man"takes to enter the covenant. In contrast,legal referencesto women almost invariablyclusterarounda set of relatedissues:marriageand divorce;'7 the ordeal of the sotah and the reputationof a new bride;'8menstruation, birth,and post-partumpurity;'9and propersexual practiceswithin 17 CD 13:17;4Q266 9 iii 4-5; 4Q266 14 a; and 4Q269 9 1-2; see J. Baumgarten, Qumran Cave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1996) 70-71, 80, 132-33. On the historyand contentof the ancient witnesses to the DamascusDocument,see Baumgarten,DJD 18.1-6. 18 4Q269 9 4-8; 4Q270 2 i 16-19; 4Q270 4 1-9; and 4Q271 3 15, in Baumgarten, DJD 18.132-33, 142-44, 152-54, 175-77. '9 4Q266 6 ii 1-13; 4Q272 1 ii 1-10; and 4Q273 5 4-5, in Baumgarten,DJD 18.55-57, 189-91, 197. In addition,see CD 11:11 for a statementon Sabbathnursing practices.


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A few explicit mentions of women (as maidservantsand marriage.20 in referenceto oaths) are not overtly tied to sex or reproduction,21and one notablepassage refers to "the mothers"(rflrM)of the community (discussedfurtherbelow).22But these are the exceptionsto an implicit rule: women are of direct interestin this text only in relationto their sexual and reproductivecapacities, or to the extent that they may prove disruptive to the normative social order. Women may be "broughtinto a holy covenant,"by marriageto a male covenanter,23 but this in no way marksthem as full or independentparticipantsin the covenantcommunityitself. The Admonition,which prefacesthe statutesin CD containsseveral historical accounts that connect the Damascus covenant community with the paradigmaticexperiences of the people of Israel.24In these sections, the text follows in the androcentrictraditionof the Hebrew scriptures,and if anythingit demonstratesan even greatertendencyto erase women from the narrative.An account of cosmic history (CD 2:14-3:12) presents mostly generalizedreferencesto groups like the Watchers,the sons of Noah, and the people of Israel.The patriarchsAbraham,Isaac, and Jacob-are the only individualsto be named in this narrative.A more detailed description of Israelite history (CD 4:12-5:14) mentions a variety of figures, including prophets(Isaiah), ancestorsof priestlylines (Levi, Eleazar,Zadok), and nationalleaders and kings (Joshua,the elders, Moses, and David). In neitherof these 20 4Q267 9 vi 4-5, in Baumgarten, DJD 18.110-11. For other laws regardingsexual practices,see CD 12:1; and 4Q270 2 ii 15-17, in Baumgarten,DJD 18.144 46. 21 For referencesto slaves and maidservants, see CD 11:12; 12:10-11. On sex with bondwomen, see 4Q266 12 and 4Q270 4 13-16 in Baumgarten, DJD 18.78-79, 152-54. 22 A Cave 4 copy of the DamascusDocumentpenal code includes punishmentsfor offenses against these communityfigures.See 4Q270 7 i 13-15, in Baumgarten,DJD 18.162-66; and Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methods of Investigation,122. See also, Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.129. 23 Several of the QD manuscriptscontain an injunctionagainst bringinga woman with a bad sexual reputationinto "holy covenant"and assertthat such a woman should be examinedby a reliablewoman before being accepted.See 4Q269 9 4-8, with parallels in 4Q270 5 17 and 4Q271 3 11, in Baumgarten,DJD 18.132-33, 154-55, 175-77. For the view that this passage refers only to marriageand not to full membershipin the covenantcommunity,see Baumgarten,DJD 18.177, esp. the note to line 11. Slaves and maidservantsare referredto as membersof the "covenantof Abraham" in CD 12:10-11. Also see now C. Wassen, Womenin the DamascusDocument(Ph.D. Diss; McMasterUniversity,2003). 24 The historyof the covenantcommunityis relatedto the historyof Israel in complex ways; one story may be mappedonto the events of the other,or the two histories may be joined in one continuousnarrative.See Grossman,Readingfor History,98-141.

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large-scale narratives does the text refer to specific women or to women as an explicit partof the greaterIsraelitepopulation.25 Even in situationswhere a mentionof women might be expected-the account of the Watchers, for example, which might have mentioned the "daughtersof men" (CD 2:18)-the framingof the story is entirelyin masculineterms. The text's most explicit discussionof genderrelationsappearsin the distinctionsthataremadebetweenthecovenantcommunityandits unrighteous opponents. Here, the constructionof a covenanter's gender is linked intimatelywith assumptionsabout sexuality and righteousness. The sins of the opposition,accordingto the text, include unchastity, wealth, and defiling of the sanctuary(CD 4:17-18). These are associated, in a complex scripturalinterpretation,with the transgressions of taking two wives in one lifetime,26having sex with menstruating women, and permitting marriages between uncles and nieces (CD 4:20-5:11). Althoughandrocentricin its presentationof arguments,this text at times identifieswomen as active participantsin the story. The discussionof sex with menstruantsis the simplestof the three: it includesonly a basic statementof the designatedtransgression(CD 5:7). The referenceto polygyny (or marriageafter divorce) is more complexbut still entirelyandrocentricin focus. The passagepresentsa range of prooftexts-from creationand the flood, as well as the problematic actions of David, which must be explainedaway in the textto supportthe ideologicalclaim that the properstandardof marriageis "maleand female"(ilMp:ntzr,CD 4:21) and "two by two" (CM):M:M, CD 5:1). Verbs of action,in each case, are assignedto the male of the pair(men are the ones who "taketwo wives,"CD 4:20-21; "theprince" must not multiplywives for himself,CD 5:1-2, readingDeut. 17:17). In the third example, the case of uncle-niece marriages(CD 5:711), the text introducesits first (and perhapsonly) explicit reference to women as actors with volition. A close reading of this passage demonstrates,however, that this is an exegetical discussion whose

25 An allusion to the creationof woman ("male and female he createdthem,"CD 4:21) does appearin the text, but not in the Israeliteor communalhistoricalnarratives. It appearsinsteadas a prooftextfor propermarriagepractices(see below). 26 Scholars differ in their interpretations of the text's remarkwith regardto men who transgressby "taking two wives in their lives" (0flTT: 'VI TO Mrip', CD 4:20-21). The expressionmay refer either to polygyny or to marriageafter divorce. For discussionand bibliography,see Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methodsof Investigation,119-20; and Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.124-25.


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androcentricquality is not lost, even if an image of women in a notentirely-passiverole is necessaryto the text's largerinterpretiveclaims. Here, uncle-niecemarriagesare forbidden,with the assertionthat the scripturalprohibitionof marriagebetween aunts and nephews ("you shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother'snear relation,"Lev. 18:13, quoted in CD 5:8-9), tIr 1:t), but like them (the men) are the is written with respect to males ("1fl l women (0"rr tlI ), so if a brother's daughter uncovers the nakedness of a brother of her father, she is a (forbidden) close relationship (IM tR').27 (CD 5:9-11)

This passage standsout in the text for its presentationof a woman as a sexualactor(onewho "uncoversnakedness"in a sexualrelationship), a role otherwise attributedonly to men. However, the reversal of action and passivity is hardly complete here. The woman "uncovers nakedness,"but it is she, and not the man, who is the forbiddenclose relation(ItN o'iml).As such, she is the one who is presentedas sexually unavailableand unacceptablefor marriage,in the larger androcentric context of the text's scripturalsources. In addition,it is interesting to note that this potentialactor is nowherea "woman"(except in the text's explanationof its exegetical process); instead, she is "a [man's] brother'sdaughter"or, in the case of the quotationof Leviticus, "a [man's] mother'ssister."Ratherthan focusing on women as actors,this text makes its androcentricassumptionsclear in an exegetical tactic that ultimatelyconfirmsthe passive and secondaryrole of women with respect to the normativemale covenanter. Given the descriptionsof the sins of the majority,the Damascus Documentoften appearsto articulatethe distinctionbetween righteous covenantersand the unrighteousmasses in gendered and sexualized terms. The image that arises from this literaryconstructionis that of the covenanteras a righteousman who is in control of his sexuality and the sexuality of his female partner and his female offspring. Meanwhile,sinful outsidersare constructedas men who are willing to engage in inappropriatesexual or maritalbehavior(with women who are presumablyas transgressiveas they), even in the face of a scripture that forbids such actions. Images of the righteous male covenanter appearregularlyin the text: he is the audienceto whom its admonitions and scripturalinterpretationsare directed,and he is the recipient of its halakhicteachings;he is the participantin the founding of the covenant community and the one who stands firm when apostates 27 Comparewiththemoreidiomatictranslation andSchwartz,"Damascus in Baumgarten Document(CD)," 20-21.

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attempt to break it apart. But along with this covenanter,in a secondary position, stands anotherliteraryconstruction:the silent, often invisible, and generally passive female adjunct,who receives direct attentionwhen her presenceis required,but who otherwiseremainsin the shadow of her male counterpart. HistoricalImplicationsof the LiteraryEvidence The complex constructionsof gender in the Damascus Document are far from historicallytransparent.Although the literarypicture is clear (men are covenanters,and women are mostly invisible), this literary view might reflect any of a range of social realities:communities in which women were active participants,as well as those in which women could play only passive roles, or were not presentat all. Participantsin the covenant communitymay have had a clear sense of who was in and who was out, or that issue in itself might have been a point of contestation. If modem historianscannot get at "whatreally happened"from a face-valuereadingof the text (and if, in fact, "whatreally happened" was complicated even at the time it was going on), an alternative strategyfor readingtexts and writingtheirhistorymight be suggested. My approachis to read the gender constructionsof the text not once but in multipleways, to attemptto sort out a range of possible historical backgroundsagainst which the social norms of this text could be made to make sense. Several readings,taken together,demonstrate in this documentand underthe flexibilityof the gender-constructions line the lack of a one-to-one historical correspondencebetween the text and the community/iesthat used it. From this approach,we find that a unitary reconstruction of gender norms in the Damascus covenantcommunitycannotbe determinedbased on the contentof the text alone. Communityof an InclusiveCovenant The languageand conceptualstructuresof the DamascusDocument It is useful, thereshow familiaritywith the book of Deuteronomy.28 fore, to ask what participantsin the covenantcommunitywould have 28 Campbell notes that Deuteronomy(along with Numbers, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Psalms) serves as a majorsource for scripturalallusionsand explicit quotationsin the Admonitionof the DamascusDocument.See Campbell,The Use of Scripture,177-84, esp. 179, for a discussion,chartsand annotatedtexts.


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seen if they had read their community'sfoundationtext with an eye to the covenantceremonydescribedin that book (Deut. 28:69-30:20). In Deuteronomy, Moses reminds the people of Israel, gathered in Moab priorto enteringthe land: You stand this day, all of you, before YHWH your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, every man (O'tt ':) of Israel; your little ones (0n=), your wives (=:'0), 29:9-10)

and the sojourner who is in your camp. (Deut.

Historical links are emphasized in this scripturalpassage. References to the covenantat Horeb(Deut. 28:69) and the commitmentthat God made to Israel at that time ("as he promisedyou," Jt -m- mION, Deut. 29:12) are followed by a referenceto God's covenantwith the patriarchs("as he swore to your fathers,to Abraham,to Isaac, and to V -IO:, Deut. 29:12). The :nrtr Jacob,"npvlp" JTMA Uw: covenantis promisedto both the presentand the absent(Deut. 29:14), and the text makes clear that it is a covenantfor futuregenerationsas well. The long-termheirs of this covenantare identifiedas "the latter generation"(lplnsRrt-im7, Deut. 29:21), "your children who rise up after you" (C:fln"rn irzp',, -

::= , Deut. 29:21), who will know,

from the state of the land, whetherthe people have managedor failed to follow God's will. The sense of communal identity in the deuteronomic covenant might be defined as "inclusive":it incorporatesparticipantsfrom a range of ages and statuses, from heads of tribes to non-Israelitefellow travelers.This inclusivity is also gendered:it includes both male Israelitesand the "wives"or "women"(:'I) of the people; female as well as male children may be assumed (in that g "little ones" or "children"is a singular-collectivenoun without a specifically masculine sense), so that the covenantapplies to all the "children"(Clm) of the community,and not only to the "sons" (cln:). For a readerwho assumes these communalnorms, the text's "lattergeneration"might be understoodto have a similar makeup, including participantsof mixed status, diverse backgrounds,and more than one gender. It is importantto note that, although inclusive, this deuteronomic covenant remains androcentricand makes use of androcentriclanguage in stating its claims. There is no suggestion that women are equal actors in the community(to the contrary!),but only that they areincludedundertheauspicesof thecovenant.Womenarenotaddressed directly, nor do they appear as part of the main body of Israel. Instead, they are listed in the sequence after children and before whichis to say, amongtheothernon-adult-Israelites. sojourners, Similarly,

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there is no attemptto identify these women in specifically feminine language.Rather,masculinereferencesare understoodas universalor who rise up after them inclusive:the children("yourchildren,"=Z'1M) ("afteryou," :rTn), for example, have both female and male parents, even if they are namedin termsof (and may belong to) only the male. What is found in this text should not be romanticizedas an community;it is, rather,a gender-inclusivecommunity "6egalitarian" groundedin an androcentricideology.29 The DamascusDocument,in its use of languageand imagery,regularlyresonateswith that of Deuteronomy,in a way that suggests that the writersof the sectariantext were borrowingscripturalimageryto articulate their own community's narrativeof history and identity. Deuteronomiclanguage in the Damascus Document underscoresthe account of the experiencesof the "firstones" (tnvri) of the "covenant"(nn:) and of the "stubbornnessof heart"(: nimr-w) of those who transgressthe covenant.The "lattergeneration"(7rmT4-ir, Deut. 29:21) also plays a role in the narrative.30 Notably, though,the historicalsensibilitiesof Deuteronomyare not merelyreproducedin the DamascusDocument;they are internalizedand re-invented.Where Deuteronomyidentifies the "first ones" (:'2ttr) of the covenant as the ancient patriarchs,the Damascus Document uses this expressionvariously to refer to the patriarchs,the Israel of Deuteronomy,and the founders of the covenant communityitself.3' Similarly, as representativesof the deuteronomic"lattergeneration" the Damascus covenantersare heir to the transgressions (p-n flR), and pieties of all Israel, but they also appearas a present-timecommunity of Israel. This play and overlay of historicalmotifs creates a shifting sense of history in which the Damascus covenantersstand

29 A search for truly "egalitarian" communities in the history of ancient Israel and early Judaism will draw mostly blanks (but see n. 37 below). The Therapeutae, described by Philo, come closest to such an example, although even there (whether for historical reasons or because of Philo's description) an androcentric tendency continues to prevail. See Philo, Contempl. Life, and R.S. Kraemer, "Monastic Jewish Women in Greco-Roman Egypt: Philo Judaeus on the Therapeutrides," Signs 14 (1989) 342-70. Of related interest is J. Taylor and P. Davies, "The So-Called Therapeutae of De Vita Contemplativa: Identity and Character," HTR 91 (1998) 3-24. and the endtimes more generally 30 Notions of an endtimes generation (pl?rttt 'n) are explored in A. Steudel, "C'lorzl r1"IMTin the Texts from Qumran," RevQ 16 (1993) 225-46. 31 For "first ones," see Baumgarten and Schwartz, "Damascus Document (CD)," 13 n. 3. For a more extensive discussion of this overlapping construction of covenantal identities, see Grossman, Reading for History, 119-30.


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simultaneouslyas latter-dayheirs (in fact, a "remnant")of three generations of "first ones" (the patriarchs,the wanderingIsraelites, and the foundersof their own specific covenant), and also as the chosen communityof the covenant itself (identifyingwith the deuteronomic Israel, but standingalso as a communityof "new"covenanters). Deuteronomiclanguagetakes on metaphoricimportin some Damascus Documentpassages. An account in the Admonitiondescribesthe leader of an apostate communityas one who "(re)movesthe border markedout by the first ones in their inheritance,so as to apply to them the curses of his covenant"(CD 1:16-17). In Deuteronomy,the languageof moving or removingbordershas materialimplications:it refers to the injunctionagainst tamperingwith land boundariesestablished by the "firstones" (Deut. 19:14). In the Damascus Document it takes on a metaphoricalresonance,referringin its new context to the apostate leader's attempt to institute some major change to the covenant community's structureor practices,32a change that risks leading the community astray.33 The power of this deuteronomic language is underscored by the reference to "the curses of the covenant,"

in that the crime of moving boundariesis also mentionedin the ceremonyof blessingsandcursesordainedby Moses(Deut.27:11-26), which Joshua is said to have fulfilled (Josh. 8:30-35). In that ceremony,the Levites curse those who transgressagainst the covenant(throughidolatry,dishonorof fatheror mother,and otherperversionsof justice and the social order).Includedamong those cursed is one who "removes his neighbor's border-mark"(Deut. 27:17). For the writers of the Damascus Document, the actions of the apostate leader bring with them scripturally-defined consequences. As these examples make clear, the Damascus Document demonstratesan internalizingof deuteronomicidentity.It is plausible,therefore, to imagine a communityin which the deuteronomicsensibility was pervasive and in which covenantersunderstoodthemselves and their group in deuteronomic terms. In such a community, gender

32 A similar use of this expression may be found in Hos. 5:10, "The princes of Judah have become like those who remove the bordermark."See also Prov. 22:28; 23:10 for injunctionsagainst removing "the ancient landmark"(&d'1fl2), which might be interpretedin a literal or a metaphoricsense. 33 Given the schismatic tendency of sectarian movements, it is not clear how "major"such changes would have to be. What an outsidermight view as trivial, a memberof the covenantcommunitymay view as "bringinglow the eternalheights and departingfrom the paths of righteousness"(CD 1:15-16).

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assumptionstoo might reflect the deuteronomicsocial structure,in which men were central actors and communalleaders, but the presence of women was assumed, even if their participationas independent actors was not expected. The discussionof oaths in the DamascusDocumentcan be read in this light. A passage in the text (CD 15:5-16:6) describes the ceremony in which new members,or childrenof members,were to join the covenantcommunity,takingan oath "to returnto the law of Moses" (noor -mln sA t: r1, CD 16:1-2, equatingthe community'snormswith Torahitself). Insteadof referringto the new membersof the covenant in pluralterms,as the text generallydoes (e.g., as p.*I: 'v, Vo -Iv, or '"CZfl A:) this passage uses the masculinesingular,referringregularly to "the man"or "each one" who joins the covenantcommunity (V'iA or VtIA).The appearanceof explicitly masculine language in a suggests,at firstglance, textthatis generallymorelinguistically-inclusive the presenceof a two-tieredsociety, which explicitly relegatedwomen status. to nonparticipatory The text continueswith a numberof general statementson oaths. Men are instructedto fulfill any oath they make, if it is sanctionedby the Torah;oaths that transgressthe Torah must not be fulfilled (CD 16:7-9). Concerningwomen's oaths, the text says three things:a husband may annul his wife's oath if it transgresses the covenant; a father may do the same for the oath of his daughter;but neither should annul a woman's oath if he does not know whetherit should be annulledor not (CD 16:10-12). The text here assumes the scriptural stance that a man can annul his wife's or unmarrieddaughter's oaths;34what is new is the caveat that he shouldnot overrideher decision if he is unsureabout the propercourse of action. Understood in terms of a deuteronomic-androcentricbut inclusive-covenant, this discussion appears to confirm the conclusions presentedabove. As participantsin the covenant,women had the right to make and keep oaths;like men they were boundto the rules of the covenant and could not be made to retracta valid oath, or even one whose validity was uncertain.But unlike male covenanters,they were not independentmembersof the community.Their place in the social order was dependenton their relationshipwith a man, who was responsiblefor them.Thus, althoughthey might be marriedto members,

34

See Numbers 30, esp. 30:11.


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or be the mothers,daughters,or sisters of membersof the community, it appearsthat they were not expectedto take the actualoath of membershipin the community. Two observations complicate this androcentric reading of the Damascus Document,suggestingcontexts in which women may have partaken,fully and independently,of covenantparticipation.The firstis groundedin a grammaticalobservation:like masculine plural formations, masculinesingularexpressionscan be read as gender-inclusive, at least when they appearin an androcentriccontext (in which "Man" includes women, even though "Woman"does not include men).35A woman joining the covenantcommunitymight thus be seen simply as anothermember,one of those who "each"(O'K)joins, of "his"(which here includes "her")own volition.36Such a view does not assert that genderis irrelevant(as some otherancienttexts do),37but insteadsubsumes the individualfemale covenanterto the standardmodel of individual covenant participation,who is male. This formationdoes not suggest that the Damascus covenanterswere "egalitarian"as such, however it does supportthe view (first proposedby E. Schuller)that women may have participatedas independentactors in the community, and not only in connectionwith their male protectors. The second observationis that the text itself makes allusion to several leadershiproles for women in the community.As noted above, a Cave 4 manuscriptspeaks of "mothers"(fl1nt) as well as "fathers" "s In this sense, the assumptionsof scholarsin pre-feministmodem settings(and the translationsthey made of ancient texts) more accuratelyreflectedthe assumptionsof the ancient covenantersaboutwhom they wrote. 36 Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam, Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.129-30. For V'lRin the sense of "each"or "every,"see such texts as Gen. 9:5; 10:5;40:5; Exod. 12:3; 2 Sam. 6:19; and Job 42:11 (an explicit referenceto both men and women); and BDB 35-36. 37 A numberof early Christiantexts work to neutralizegender. See, for example, Gal. 3:28 ("thereis neithermale nor female, for all of you are one in ChristJesus") and Gos. Thom.22 ("whenyou make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female... thenyou will enter [the kingdom]"; trans.M. Meyer,The Gospel of Thomas:The HiddenSayingsof Jesus [San Francisco: Harper,1992134-35). The largertraditionfrequentlyreacts with ambivalenceto this egalitariantendency.See M.R.D'Angelo,"No 'MaleandFemale'in ChristJesus,"Women in Scripture:A Dictionaryof Named and UnnamedWomenin the HebrewBible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament (eds C. Meyers, T. Craven,andR.S. Kraemer;New York:HoughtonMifflinCo., 2000) 534-36. The egalitarianismof Gos. Thom.22 must be contrastedwith the pictureof gender presented in Gos. Thom. 114, on which see A. McGuire, "Women, Gender, and Gnosis in Gnostic Texts and Traditions,"Womenand ChristianOrigins (eds R.S. Kraemerand M.R. D'Angelo; New York: OxfordUniversityPress, 1999) 257-99, esp. 277-82.

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AnotherQumran (nnri)as recognizedfiguresin thecovenantcommunity.38 passage mentionsreliablewomen ([lIn]r: mm) who were to examine any woman of questionablesexual reputationbefore she could be perThese passages suggest a place mitted to marrya male covenanter.39 for women in active, recognizedroles in the community.At the same time, they reflectan ambiguityin that status."Mothers"appearin parallel to "fathers"in the first text, thus suggesting comparablestatus againstthem is a mere ten levels, but the punishmentfor "murmuring" days for offenses against women leaders, comparedwith permanent exile in the case of offensesagainstmen.40The explanationfor this disparity,that women have no njr1, appearsto imply that women lack "distinction"or "authority"in the community.41The second passage, similarly,assigns a role for women as religiousauthorities,in thatthey are consideredqualifiedto reportback to the men with confirmation of otherwomen'svirginityor chastity.Hereagainwomen'sauthority(in the form of knowledge and responsibility)is affirmedbut simultaneously constrained(their responsibilityis to report back to the men; their special knowledgeis limited to mattersof sexuality).These two examplessuggest a fundamentalambivalence-that women mighthave authorityin the community,but only in limitedand highly constrained ways-but also hint at a much more active role for women in the communitythan our initial androcentricreadingof the text suggested. 38 Again, see 4Q270 7 i 13-15, in Baumgarten, DJD 18.162-66; Schuller,"Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methodsof Investigation,122; and Schuller, "Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 2.129. 39 See 4Q269 9 4-8, with parallelsin 4Q270 5 17 and 4Q271 3 11, in Baumgarten, DJD 18.132-33, 154-55, 175-77. See also A. Shemesh,"4Q271.3:A Key to Sectarian MatrimonialLaw,"JJS 49 (1998) 244 63. 40 Schullernotes that the two expressionsmay have specific communalsignificance and adds that "the obvious discrepancyand apparentlylesser honor accordedto the 'mothers'shouldnot blind us to the fact that men and women are given paralleltitles" in the text. See Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methods of Investigation,122. Legal Textsand Legal Issues: 41 See C. Hempel, "The Penal Code Reconsidered," Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the InternationalOrganizationfor Qumran Studies Cambridge 1995 (eds M. Bernstein, F. Garcia Martinez, and J. Kampen; Leiden:Brill, 1997) 337-48, esp. 346-47; G.J. Brooke,"BetweenQumranand Corinth: EmbroideredAllusions to Women's Authority,"The Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from an International Conferenceat St. Andrews in 2001 (ed. J.R. Davila; Leiden: Brill, 2003) 157-76; S. WhiteCrawford,"Mothers,Sisters,and Elders:Titles for Womenin SecondTemple Jewishand EarlyChristianCommunities,"in Davila, Dead Sea Scrolls as Background, 177-91. As these articlesexplain, the plain sense of the termjrrpv refersto embroidery or ornateness.If such a meaningis intendedhere, it suggests an interestinggenderingof men as more "ornately"visible as leadersin the group.


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Inclusive and Egalitarian Covenant Formations

In the interest of expandingthe range of possibilities, it is worth mentioningone scroll documentthat does presentmen and women in something of an equal light. Although the text is fragmentaryand difficultto interpret(and in fact has been identifiedvariouslyas a marriage document,a "golden age" ritual, and a new year's celebration text), 4Q502 offers a balanced view of gender that is not otherwise visible in the scrolls.42The text identifies someone as a "daughterof truth"(nnt mm,4Q502 1-3 vi). It also refers to a collective "assembly" (nic, 4Q502 19 i) which apparentlyincludes a numberof gendered pairs:"sons and daughters,""old men and old women,""young men and young women," and "boys and girls."43A reading of the Damascus Document's constructionsof gender against the balanced presentationof gender in this text provides the closest thing that the scrolls offer to evidence for a more "egalitarian"community. It is possible to imagine a situationin which Damascuscovenanters had access to 4Q502 and understoodit as a relevant ritual formulation. Althoughthese are hypotheticals,they are far from extremepossibilities, given the discovery of multiple copies of the Damascus Document(4Q266-273) in the same cave in which this ritualtext was found. For covenanterswho assumed that a communityincludes balanced orders of "men and women," "boys and girls," and "sons and daughters,"the text of the Damascus Documentwould bear out that assumption.Collective expressions like "children"(D'::) and "those who know righteousness"(pv1 D'rV)in this context would be understood by such an audienceas an obvious referenceto a mixed-gender community, and even the collective masculine singular (with the explicit use of tDs for "each")would be understoodas nothing more than a means of grammaticallysimplifyinga complicatedsocial reality. Generalizeddescriptionsof piety, righteousness,and obedience to God's will (through appropriatesexual behavior, as well as in all other ways) become, in this reading, similarly inclusive of righteous and piousfemale covenanters,along with theirmale covenantpartners. 42 See "4Q502 (4QpapRitMar) 4QRitualof Marriage,"The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (eds F. GarcfaMartfnezand E. Tigchelaar;Leiden:Brill, 1998) 2.994-97. The text was originallypublishedin M. Baillet, QumranGrotte4.111(4Q482-4Q520) (DJD 7; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1982) 81-105. See also J. Baumgarten,"4Q502,Marriage or Golden Age Ritual?"JJS 34 (1983) 125-35; M. Satlow, "4Q502 A New Year Festival?"DSD 5 (1998) 57-68. 43 In order,see 4Q502 14 vi; 19 ii, 19 ii-iii, and 19 iii.

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Given the assumptionthat the text is inclusive, in otherwords, it can be leveragedin that directionwith surprisingease.4 Misogyny,Exclusivity,and CovenantFormation Reading the Damascus Document in light of 4Q502 allows us to picturea covenantcommunityat the "extremeinclusivity"end of the spectrum.It shouldcome as no surprise,though,that other scroll texts supportan opposingconstruction,in which the DamascusDocument's androcentriclanguage could be leveraged to exclude women utterly from participationin ritual or communalactivities, even if their presence in the communitywas assumed.One such contextualizingdocument is 4Q184, the Wiles of the WickedWomantext.45In the tradition of such wisdom literatureas Proverbsand Ben Sira,"6the Wiles text uses the metaphorof the "wickedwoman"to speak of the folly that is a serious threatto all men. Personifiedas the wicked woman, sinful misbehavioris a path that leads to death and to the pit. The bed of the wicked woman is one of darkness,and her heartweaves "traps" (lrrn, 4Q184 1 2) for innocentmen. She expresses an overt sexuality, and her presence is as dangerousas her couch or her tent. She is a woman of action, constantlyscanningfor her next victim, who is as likely to be a steady-minded "righteous man" (p'rm [UI's, 4Q184 1 13-14) as a simpletonwith no defenses.Whoeverthe victim,her goal is the same: to turn men away from the properpath, and "to seduce the sons of men with smooth words"(V' flp I MIM&nnD, 4Q184 1 17). As a metaphorand a catchall term, the wicked woman represents all the sins that a covenantermust avoid. At the same time, as an image presented in feminine form, the metaphorof the wicked woman would have had an impact on covenanters' perceptions of women in their communityand Woman as a generalconcept.

" Schullerworks throughan insightfulreadingthat takes this approach,beginning with the assumptionthat women were active participantsin the Damascuscovenant community.See Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Wise et al., Methods of Investigation,121-22. 4S For text and bibliography, see "4Q184 4QWiles of the Wicked Woman," in GarciaMartinezand Tigchelaar,Dead Sea Scrolls StudyEdition, 1.376-77. 46 Unlike the Wiles text, both Proverbsand (to a lesser extent)Ben Sira also include laudatoryfeminine images, both of humanwomen and of Lady Wisdom,who is the foil of Folly (embodiedin the "wickedwoman").It is possiblethatthe Wiles text originally was part of a wisdom compositionthat includedpositive as well as negative images.


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A comparisonof this wicked woman and the wife-motherof the Damascus Document is striking. At first glance, the two appear to bear little resemblance.The wife of the DamascusDocumentis silent, obedient, and often invisible; she stands on the sidelines, except in mattersof marriage,procreation,and child-rearing.The image of the wicked woman, in contrast,takes center stage and demandsrecognition. She is unconnected to a family in any way (she is neither a daughternor a wife), and there is no mention in the text of her productive or procreativecapacities.Unlike the women of the Damascus covenant, the wicked woman is picturedas walking about in public, whetherstealthilyor shamelessly,in searchof men with whom to fornicate. And worse thanwalking, this woman talks, leading men astray with "smoothwords"that steer them off the properpath and sidetrack them to their own destruction. As differentas these two genderedconstructsmay appear at first glance, they share enough-especially in the language and imagery that describes them-to permit the one to influence a reading of the other. The Wiles text asserts that the heart of the wicked woman weaves "traps" (prrM)for innocent men, an assertion that might res-

onate for a memberof the covenant communitywith the Damascus Document's statementthat the sexual sins of the people of Israel are "fear, and a pit, and a trap upon you, inhabitantof the land" (-rr rfltM :=r jD ni nrin, Isa. 24:17). Similarly, the fact that the among her vicwicked woman targetsthe "righteousman"(p'wTIMA') tims, speaking to him with "smoothwords" (nlpbF) might resonate for a readerwith the DamascusDocument'smany referencesto righteousness and its opposition of "the righteous" to "those who seek smooth words"

r (Mlnp'n

's).47

These seekers of smooth words are

guilty of othertransgressions,as well, since it is they who invertrighteousness and wickedness (CD 1:19), persecute the righteous (CD 1:21), and cause the covenantto be broken(CD 1:20). For readers with a specific agenda in mind, this shared imagery might suggest (or be mobilizedto support)not only relatedthemes but in fact a causative link. The Damascus Document states that the wicked who cause the covenant to be overthrown(CD 1:18-2:1) are to be identified with those who "seek smooth words." But, as the 7

The opponentsof the Damascuscovenantare accusedof having "soughtsmooth

words" (mllp'nl 107I) in CD 1:18; the text includes about 25 words with the root pT!,

which are clustered in some sections (esp. CD 1:1-20; 3:1-4:21; and 20:1-34) and largely absentfrom others(only threereferencesin CD 5-8; only one referencein the legal material,at CD 11:21).

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Wiles text states, the source of such "smoothwords" is in fact the wicked woman (4Q184 1 17). A conflationof these two statements, then, may allow for the conclusion that the wicked woman in particular, and not the smooth words in some abstract sense, should be understoodas the real threatto keepersof the covenant.Her negative influence is what serves "to sidetrackmen into the ways of the pit" (nrnvI:rr-nVD lt%X 4Q184 1 9-10), leadingthemto mistakewickedness for righteousness,persecutethe righteous,and engage in a general rejectionof all that is good (CD 1:18-21). A similar reading is also possible for the sexual sins that are described in the DamascusDocumentas the "threenets of Belial" (engaging in multiple marriagesor marriageafter divorce, marriageof uncles to nieces, and sex during women's menstrual periods; CD 4:14-5:11). The Wiles text speaks only of the "traps"(1Frp)that the wicked woman springson unsuspectingmen, but a conflatedreading of these two texts based on their shared language permitsthe interpretationthat the traps of the wicked woman in fact are the sexual transgressionsdescribedin the Damascus Document.The Wiles text makes clear that among the wicked woman's most significantattributes is an insatiableand inappropriatesexual desire (she prowls the streets looking for men and cannot be kept from "incessantfornicating").48From this reading-which interpretsa metaphoricalimage as a social reality-it would be possible for a readerto argue that the source of sin is a feminine desire for inappropriatesex. It is this that leads the wicked woman to tempt and trip up the men aroundher, causing them to engage in improper sexual and marital practices, which righteous men would not otherwise desire, and which simple men would not think to do (4Q184 1 14-17). This sort of readingof the DamascusDocumentand the Wiles text, which finds conceptuallinks based on sharedvocabulary,foregrounds a perceptionof genderand sexualitythat is alreadyimplicitin the former text. In this reading,men are part of the covenant,and they are righteous;women are separatefrom the covenantand a distinctthreat to it. With these assumptionsin mind, the genderedconstructionsof identity in the DamascusDocumenttake on a whole new sense. The text's call for "all who know righteousness"(pIrM'.vUl 7Z,CD 1:1) to heed its message becomes a gendered call, directed toward the 48 Followingthe restoration, "thereis no one who can keep her from (her) incessant fornicating"(rrn rturlmok 7 pi), 4Q184 1 12-13; as in GarcfaMartinezand Tigchelaar,Dead Sea Scrolls StudyEdition, 1.376-77.


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righteousmen of the covenant.In contrast,the mentionof those who dare "to departfrom the paths of righteousness"(pqtn MnI'n- -1107 CD 1:15-16) should bring to mind a more eclectic group, made up not only of the men who departfrom the path but also of the women who have lured them away. The Damascus Document's account of human history (from the Watchersto the covenanters'"presentday,"CD 2:16-3:16) might also be read with this sort of conflatingapproach.In this text, "men"are said to stray from God's path at every turn, provokinghis righteous anger by following the "stubbornness of their hearts" (OZL mlr-10).

But the exclusive mention of male straying might be clarified by a readingof the Wiles text. It might suggest, instead,that men's sinfulness is not really their fault: they have been lured to their transgressions, constantlyand relentlessly,by the dark and shadowy figure of the wicked woman, invisible in the text but ever-presentin this imagined dynamicof human sin. If the masculine plural language in the Damascus Document is interpretedas a referenceonly to male covenanters-or to men outside the covenant who have been lured to temptation by wicked women-then it follows that the only significantreferencesto women in the text are those that focus on sexually-relatedsubjects:marriage, divorce, reputation,procreation,and menstrualpurity.This gendering of thematic domains (women with sex and transgression;men with everyday action, covenant maintenance,and righteousness)creates a discoursein which men's and women's roles are sharplyand emphatically divided. For a community of readers working with these assumptions,it might make sense thatwomen shouldnot be full members of the covenant communityand, furthermore,that the everyday actions of women should be closely controlledby patriarchalstructuresenforcingtheirpiety, purity,and domesticity.If a woman's voice is a threat, if her presence in public places is a constant source of temptationto sin, then her communitywill ensure that every possible means of control (throughmen's authorityand the discipline of other women) keeps her out of the path of those innocent men who might be led astrayby her wiles. Marriage,Celibacy,and CombinedCovenantCommunities In light of this discussion of inclusive and exclusive covenant communities,it is worth returningat least briefly to the question of marryingand celibate covenant communities,mentioned above as a

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common context for the discussion of gender in the scrolls. Recent scholarshiphas called into question the appropriatenessof making a simple distinctionbetween a celibateyahad associatedwith the CommunityRule and a marryingcommunityassociatedwith the Damascus Document,notingboththatthe two texts demonstratea numberof commonalities49and also that they both reflect some developmentover time.S0The DamascusDocumentitself, althoughgenerallytakenas evidencefor a covenantcommunityin whichmarriagewas thenorm,appears to make reference to a celibate branch of the covenant community. The text also shows evidence of an intracommunalchange in views on the subject.How that evidence is to be interpretedremainssubject to discussion. A core text for the distinctionbetweenmarryingand celibatecovenantersis found at the end of the DamascusDocument'sAdmonition,5' in a passagefor which thereare two variantwitnesses.52The first witness to this passage53states that God's covenantwill be an assurance

49 For discussions of possible relationships among the various rule texts, see J. Baumgarten,"The Cave 4 Versions of the QumranPenal Code," JJS 43 (1992) 268-76; C. Hempel, "The EarthlyEssene Nucleus of IQSa,"DSD 3 (1996) 253-69; Hempel, "The Penal Code Reconsidered";Hempel, "CommunityStructures";and S. Metso, "Constitutional Rules at Qumran,"in Flint and VanderKam,Dead Sea Scrolls, 1.186-210. 50 Hempel identifies parallels in the Damascus Document and the Rule of the Congregation,which lead her to suggest that the two texts may have originatedin a common(or similar)social setting;she sees the final text of lQSa as a Zadokiteredaction of the earlierrule text. Similarly,Metso's analysisof the Cave 4 CommunityRule manuscriptshas led her to the view that lQS reflectsa Zadokiteredactionof an earlier tradition(representedby two Cave 4 CommunityRule manuscripts);she suggests that theremay have been no one single authoritativeredactionof the CommunityRule. See Hempel, "The EarthlyEssene Nucleus";and Metso, TextualDevelopmentof the CommunityRule. 51 The CommunityRule's failure to mentionwomen or rules concerningwomen is a second point in supportof this distinction.The primarypoint, of course,is the connection of the scrolls communitywith the Essenes, especially as describedby Pliny, butalso in thedescriptionsof Josephus(who identifiesbothmarryingandcelibatebranches of the Essene movement)and Philo. For an updateddiscussionof the Essene hypothesis, see G. Vermes,The CompleteDead Sea Scrolls in English (New York:Penguin Books, 1997) 26-66, esp. "Appendix:The Essenes and the QumranCommunity," 46-48; see also The Essenes Accordingto the Classical Sources (eds G. Vermes and M. Goodman;Sheffield:JSOT Press, 1989). 52 Both are from the Genizah:CD 7:4-9 (MS A) and CD 19:1-5 (MS B). No parallel to this passage was found among the QumranDamascus fragments(the only ancientwitnesses to the textualtraditionfound in MS B are two small fragmentsparalleling CD 20). See Baumgarten,DJD 18.6 n. 5. "3 The working assumptions of this discussion (irrespective of the dates of the medievalmanuscripts:MS A = 10th cent. CE; MS B = 12thcent. CE) are that the tex-


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to bringlife for a thousandgenerationsto all "thosewho walk in these [the ways of God] in perfect holiness" (tDrpM rnnr-*K- :M:znlnmn, CD 7:4-5). Similarly,those covenanterswho "live in camps, according to the rule of the land, and take wives and beget children"(rinnf rrPN' 1:: 1:0 CD7:6-7), are expected to C'M 17",11 :C' 1Mn1 follow the specific ordinances of the covenant community. These statementsgenerallyare understoodto be referencesto complementary communities,one celibate (living in "perfectholiness")and the other marrying.54

The second witness to this passage containsseveral interestingtextual variants.God's promiseof a thousandgenerationsis assertedagain, this time with an explicit prooftext(CD 19:1-2, referringto Deut. 7:9). Referenceis then made to that second groupof covenanters,who "live in camps, according to the rule of the land, as it was from of old (nw0 :7pr) mrT), and take wives according to the custom of the Torah (xmrz:

;1rrnm)and beget children"(CD 19:2-4). As in the first witness, these covenantersare expectedto abide by the community'sordinances. Readingthese texts againstone another-"offers a remarkableopportunity to identify changes in the covenant community,as well as a changing sense of the interpretationof the covenantaltext. It should come as no surprise,however,that the evidencecan be read in support of any of several historicalreconstructions.Scholars have suggested, for example, that the covenantcommunitywas originallycelibate and only later permittedmarriedmen to join; from this perspective,celibacywas thenormandmarriagewas a lifestylethatneededto be defended.56 In this case, it is possible that the Damascus Document statement tual traditionpreservedin MS A is earlierthan that found in MS B and that the variants are ancient in origin and not the product of later transmission. All of these assumptions(and also the largerquestionof the history of the text of the Damascus Document) are worth further study. See Baumgarten and Schwartz, "Damascus Document(CD),"4-9. S4 It is also possible that the firstreferenceis to covenantersin generaland the second refers to marying covenantersas a subset of the largergroup,but in either case, the practiceof marryingand having a family is viewed as an option, not a given. ss Considerationof the variantsof the A and B manuscriptsof CD has tended to focus on the issue of messianismand the anticipationof endtimes.If both sets of variants are of ancientorigin (which is the currentscholarlyconsensus),these variantsmay point to communaldevelopmentsor to an elasticityof belief and practice.On the textual variantsfor these passages, see Grossman,Readingfor History, 137-38. S6 Schwartznotes that CD 7:4-9 includesa prooftextfor marriagebut no prooftext to support"livingin perfectholiness."He takes this as evidencethat celibacywas "the acceptedideal or norm."See Baumgartenand Schwartz,"DamascusDocument(CD)," 25 n. 67.

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permittingmarriagemight have been viewed, in its shorterform, as too weak a statementof the new position.For this reason,latereditions might have been strengthenedby the two additions.The first asserts that living according to "the rule of the land"-which may include having a home and family-is acceptablebecause it has been a way of life "fromof old" and is thereforeas valid a means of carryingout the covenantas is celibacy. The second statementis double-edged:it is acceptablefor covenantersto take wives becausethe Torahsays so, but covenanterswho do so must follow "the custom of the Torah" of the law, equatedwith"Torah" (Flrmnnmr),the sectarianinterpretation more generallybecause it is the only acceptableinterpretation of it. An opposinginterpretationis also possible, in which case it is celibacy that is the innovation,either as a minoritypracticein the community or as a short-termpracticefor marriedcovenanters.If this is the case, then the strengtheningof supportfor marriageand family may reflect a defensive postureby marriedcovenanters,who saw a need to justify actions that were formerlyviewed as normative.Thus, they assert that marriagehas been an appropriatepractice "from of old." The assertionthat covenantalmarriagesoccur "accordingto the custom of Torah"may even be viewed as a responseto an unspoken accusation,that those who are marriedare incapableof living a life of purity accordingto (the new standardsof) the covenant community's Torah. Interestingly,both of the above models imagine situationsin which marryingand non-marrying covenanterswere in close contactand held claims to a sharedtradition.57 It is here that the real imporcompeting tance of interpretation is underlined:for membersof the covenantcommunity, having the right text, or the right interpretationof a shared

5 It seemed,at one point,that the evidencefrom the Qumrancemeterieswould provide a conclusivesolutionto the questionof marriageand celibacyamongcovenanters at Qumran.In my opinion, however, the questionremainsthoroughlyvexed. See the argumentspresentedin this volume,as well as discussionsof the evidencein J. Taylor, "TheCemeteriesof KhirbetQumranand Women'sPresenceat the Site,"DSD 6 (1999) 285-323; 0. Rohrer-Ertl,F. Rohrhirsch,and D. Hahn, "Uber die Graberfeldervon KhirbetQumran,insbesonderedie Funde der Campagne 1956. I: Anthropologische aufgrundder Collectio Kurth,"RQ 19 (1999) 3-46; Datenvorlageund Erstauswertung Mohr[Siebeck],1999) T. Ilan,IntegratingWomenintoSecondTempleHistory(Tuibingen: 206-7; J. Zias, "The Cemeteriesof Qumranand Celibacy:ConfusionLaid to Rest?" DSD 7 (2000) 220-53; and now J. Magness,TheArchaeologyof Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls (GrandRapids,MI: Eerdmans,2002) 163-87. An importanttheoreticaldiscussion of genderand burialis found in M. Peskowitz,"TheGenderingof Burialand the Burialof Gender:Notes from Roman-PeriodArchaeology,"JSQ 4 (1997) 105-24.


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text, was more than a matterof accuracyof reading.Texts and traditions providedkeys to authority-and to the inheritanceof the authentic covenant tradition,establishedby Moses and reconfirmedby the acceptedby thecommunity Damascuscovenant.Havingan interpretation was a key step towardhaving an impacton the discourse,and thus the "reality,"of that community.And having a specific "reality"confirmed was what allowed a covenanter to count himself-or herself-as a memberof the righteousremnantof Israel,heirs of a nationalcovenant. Reading Texts, Writing Histories

For the writers of the Damascus Document-and for their audiences, both in their own generationand in later years-the constructions of gender in the text were among the "realities"reflectedby it. Butthoserealitiesweremalleable,andcovenanterswithdifferentassumptions or differentagendasmay have leveragedthe text of the Damascus Documentto supporttheir diverse views. Those views also may have changed over time, in response to (or in supportof) changing social situations. These observationssuggest a numberof points of methodological concern for historiansworking with texts like the Damascus Document. First, readings that consider only the "originalmeaning"of a text, or its authors'intentionsin writingit, will fail to get at the whole history associatedwith the text. Originaltextual meaning is certainly important,but it does not limit the way texts can be used, or mobilized, in the real world. Especially in the case of images as complex as those found in the DamascusDocument,but even for less allusive and multivalentdocuments,reading is always a matterof interpretation, and interpretationis always a matterof selection. The selective process of interpretationof texts like the Damascus Document was constrainedby the norms of the community in which the text was In read, but even such communalconstraintswere not unchanging."8 re-readingand re-mobilizinga given foundationaltext, communities could support,alter, or actually contradictthe intentionsof the text's original authors.59Indeed, as this discussion has shown, an author's S8

Again, the influenceof Fish and Iser will be notable here. Also of interestfor

their discussions of these issues are B. Stock, Listening for the Text: On the Uses of

the Past (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1990) and R. Chartier,Forms and Meanings: Texts, Performances, and Audiencesfrom Codex to Computer (Philadelphia:

Universityof PennsylvaniaPress, 1995). '9 An obviousexamplehereis rabbinicmidrash.At less remove,see A. Berlin,"Qumran

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originalintentmay matterlittle in later readingsof texts that communities view as authoritativesources for sharedsocial norms.60 In additionto recognizingthatsectarianaudiencescould changetheir understandingof their foundationaltexts (and thus of their communal self-identity)over time, historiansmust also recognize the contested nature of those interpretations.Covenantersmay have disagreed in their interpretationsof shared texts, and they may have disagreed about how those interpretationswould shape their communities as well; the whole concept of sectariandevelopmentcan be understood in terms of the historical consequencesof such differencesof interpretive opinion. The inclusivity of a DamascusDocumentreadingin light of 4Q502 contrastsstarklywith the misogyny of a readingthat accepts the genderdiscoursearticulatedin the Wiles text. But all three texts were (most likely) presentin the same social setting. The presence of texts that reflect-or can be mobilized in supportof-such differentunderstandingsof gender serves as a reminderof the basic complexity of such issues. It is not simply that women are one thing or that men are another.The constructionsof genderthat springup in the interpretationof a text, or that shape its compositionin the first place, are dynamic and variable.They serve as culturalcurrencyfor the establishmentof a social order. Textual readings do more than interprettexts. They define power relationships;establish, uphold, or challenge social norms; and provide for the constructionof social "*realities"whose appearance of naturalness is the source of their efficacy.6'

As the above readings demonstrate,the Damascus covenant community may have included both men and women as active participants, it may have included women only in secondary roles, or it may-for some members,and in some times-have vilified women as dangerouscreatureswhose actions and speech were to be kept under constantscrutiny.For historiansof the Dead Sea Scrolls, the task is not to settle on a single unitaryreadingof the text thatexplainsall the evidence and settles all the questions.As appealingas such a concluLaments and the Study of Lament Literature,"LiturgicalPerspectives:Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposiumof the Orion Centerfor the Studyof the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 19-23 January, 2000 (eds E.G. Chazon, with R.A. Clements and A. Pinnick;Leiden:Brill, 2003). 60 On the methodologicalimplicationsof interpretation,especially in light of the problemof "originalintent,"see Grossman,Readingfor History, 15-26. 61 See C. Geertz,The Interpretationof Cultures(New York: Basic Books, 1973).


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sion may be, it fails to address adequatelythe possible complexities at work in a sectariancommunityand the ways that the communityand its sectarian ideology-might have changed over time. A less comprehensivehistorical account, with a sensitivity to the range of possibilitiesbehind the texts, may feel less satisfyingto contemporary historians,but it ultimatelyprovidesa more satisfactoryreadingof the texts as we now have them.*

* I am grateful to Esther Chazon, Kim Haines-Eitzen,Ross S. Kraemer,Susan Marks, E. Ann Matter,and especially Hayim Lapin for their helpful commentsand suggestions.I presenteda versionof this paperto the Jewish FeministResearchGroup at the Jewish Theological Seminary.Many thanksto Gail Labovitz for bringingthat session togetherand to MarthaHimmelfarband Steven Fraadefor theirinsightfulcomments as respondents.

WISDOMAND WOMENAT QUMRAN BENJAMING. WRIGHTIII LehighUniversity Israelite and Jewish wisdom texts form a tributaryof a larger streamof ancientwisdom that flowed throughthe Near East. The prirelationships, maryconcernsof these traditionswere with interpersonal with how to live a good life, with humankind'splace in the created order and with the way that the created order works (what we in the modern world leave predominantlyto scientists). Furthermore, to ancientIsraelandlaterto earlyJudaism thewisdomtraditionsparticular drew heavily on the largercommonstock of ancientNear Easternwisdom. Thus, much of the content of Israelite and Jewish wisdom is conventionalwisdom instructionthat cannot be understoodas reflecting any specific social situation or political concern at a particular time. For anyone interestedin using these texts to assist in reconstructingthe social or political realitiesof early Judaism,the wisdom texts look potentiallyfruitful,but they presentdifficultobstacles.'Such problemscertainlyattendany attemptto use these works to shed some light on the possible presence of women in the Qumrancommunity and the roles envisionedfor them there.Can the Qumranwisdom texts tell us anythingaboutwhetherwomen were presentat the community along the shores of the Dead Sea, and if they were, were they members of the sect? Do they provideany evidence for the attitudesof this particularcommunitytowardwomen?

I For examples of some of the problemsand payoffs using one particularwisdom text, the Wisdom of Ben Sira, see B.G. Wright III, "Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest:Ben Sira as Defenderof the JerusalemPriesthood,"The Book of Ben Sira in ModernResearch (ed. P.C. Beentjes;BZAW 255; Berlin: Walterde Gruyter,1997) 189-222; idem, "'Put the Nations in Fear of You:' Ben Sira and the Problem of

Foreign Rule," Seminar Papers: Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting 1999

(Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1999) 77-93; B.G. WrightIII and C.V. Camp, "'Who Has Been Tested by Gold and Found Perfect?' Ben Sira's Discourse of Riches and Poverty,"Henoch 23 (2001) 153-74. ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


WISDOM AND WOMEN AT QUMRAN

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I. WisdomTexts at Qumran Severalkinds of wisdom texts came to light among the scrolls from Qumran.2 Therewere,of course,biblicalwisdomtexts(Proverbs,Qohelet, Job and targumimto Job, biblical Psalms), along with a numberof apocryphalwisdom texts. The Cave 11 Psalms Scroll, for example, contained Hebrew versions of apocryphal Psalms 151, 154, 155, known previously only in Syriac, and the poem on wisdom from Sirach 51. Finally, scholarshave identifieda numberof wisdom texts unknownbefore the discovery of the scrolls. For texts in this latter group, one of the importantproblems that affects any discussion of women is whetherthese works were composedat Qumranor brought there from outside.3 The Cave 11 Psalms Scroll (11Q5): Of the eight apocryphalcompositions in 11Q5, two display characteristicsof our topic that appear quite regularly in Jewish wisdom material and that we will see in other Qumranwisdom texts.4In Psalm 154 (1 1Q5 xviii 1-16) wisdom is personifiedas a woman. How far the idea of personificationcan be pushedin this psalm is not clear, however, since the grammaticalgender of the noun ;7M:)n is feminine,and thereforefemininepronounsare used when referringto wisdom. In many cases if one translatesthe feminine pronounby English "it" ratherthan "she," there is no substantialdifferencein the meaning of the text. In lines 10-11, at least some personificationseems intendedin the referencesto "her voice" and to "her song." Such personificationis much more clearly intendedin Sir. 51:13-19,

2 For a general discussionof wisdom at Qumranand the manuscriptsidentifiedas such, see A. Lange, "Die Weisheitaus Qumran,"The WisdomTextsfrom Qumranand the Developmentof Sapiential Thought(eds C. Hempel, A. Lange and H. Lichtenberger;BETL 159; Leuven/Paris/Sterling, VA: Leuven UniversityPress/Peeters,2002) 3-30, especially 5-9 where he discusses a numberof texts whose wisdom characteris not clear due to the considerablydamagednatureof the manuscripts. I See the discussionby C. Newsom in "'SectuallyExplicit'LiteraturefromQumran," The HebrewBible and Its Interpreters(eds W. Propp,et al.; WinonaLake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 167-87. A good general introductionto the more comprehensiveissue of wisdom at Qumrancan be found in D. Harrington,WisdomTextsfrom Qumran (Londonand New York:Routledge, 1996). Of those texts categorizedas "wisdom"at Qumran,one very fragmentaryCave 4 text, 4Q426 that looks to be sapientialmay have personifiedwisdom as a woman. Fragment1 ii 6 containsthe phrase"upright, and he will possess her."There is little to make of this text, however, and I will not discuss it below. 4These texts were publishedin J.A. Sanders,The Psalms Scroll of QumranCave 11 (DJD 4; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1965).

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30 preservedin 11Q5 xxi 11-17-xx 1 as an independentpoem.5This text relatesthe reciprocallonging and searchof a young man and wisdom for each other. Although scholars have differingestimationsof how erotic the languageof this poem really is, there seems no doubt that some eroticismis intended.6The beginningsets the tone for the remainder:"WhenI was a young man before I traveled,I soughther. She came to me in her beauty,and unto the end I will searchfor her."7 Proverbsand Sirach: Both of these importantwisdom books share the common personificationof wisdom as a woman (see, for example, Prov. 1:20-33; 8; Sir. 4:11-19; 14:20-15:8; 24). Folly also appearsin Proverbs(but not in Ben Sira) in the form of the "strange"woman.8 Besides these personificationsboth Proverbsand Ben Sira offer extensive advice on the practicalitiesof relationshipswith women. In keeping with one of the key purposesof wisdom literature,to live a good and satisfying life, they contain numerous maxims about how to behave towardwomen in what appearto be potentiallyreal-life situations. Prov. 5:18-19 says about one's wife, "Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. May her breastssatisfy you at all times; may you be intoxicated always by her love. Why shouldyou be intoxicated,my son, by anotherwoman and embracethe bosom of an adulteress?"Ben Sira cautionsagainst unbridledlibido when he says, "Do not look intently at a virgin, or you may stumble and incur penalties for her. Do not give yourself to prostitutes,or you may lose your inheritance"(9:5-6). Of course, these works intendthis advice to be more thanjust practical; they also constructthe ideal woman/wifewho is to be soughtand the loose/"strange"woman who is to be avoided. Passages like Prov. 31:10-31 and Sir. 26:13-18 offer both practical advice-this is the kind of woman one should seek as a wife-and an ideal constructthis is how "good"women ought to be. I will commentbelow on the extent to which I think that the Qumranwisdom literaturereveals the community'sadherenceto such ideals. I It is clear that the scroll originallycontainedthe entirewisdom poem from Sirach 51 (not including,of course,the lateradditionfound in Ms A from the CairoGeniza). Verses 13-19 and v. 30 are the only verses preservedin the manuscript. 6 Sanders thought the language to be very erotic. Others, like T. Muraoka("Sir. 51:13-30: An Erotic Hymn to Wisdom?"JSJ 10 [1979] 166-78) and Harrington (WisdomTexts,29), have seen it less so. ' Translationfrom Harrington,WisdomTexts,29. 8 See C. Camp, The Strange Womanand the Making of the Bible (JSOTS 320; Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 2000).


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4Q184 and 185:9JohnAllegro in a 1964 articlegave 4Q184 the title "Wiles of the Wicked Woman,"a name that has stuck ever since.'0 The text relies heavily on the sections in Proverbs 1-9 that describe Woman Folly, whose intentionis to seduce the "simple"and "senseless" (cf. Prov. 7:4-27 and 9:13-18)." The woman figure personified in 4Q184 representsthe anti-typeof WomanWisdom.WhereWisdom is to be sought,therighteousmanmustclearlyshunthiswoman.Although the language that describesthe woman of 4Q184 dependson biblical Proverbs,this woman is not simply a foolish or "strange"woman out to pervertthe way of some oblivious man. In this text she has a more sinister character. S. Crawfordremarksthat the woman of 4Q184 "appearsto be more cosmic in scope than the simple 'loose woman' of Proverbs 1-9."12 She furtherobservesthat the descriptionsof this woman recall ancient Near Easternbeings associatedwith death,especially the night demon Lilith.13Like these ancient death demons, the woman of 4Q184 is associatedwith the netherworldwhere she will lead the unsuspecting (see, for example, 4Q184 10-11, 17). In Crawford'swords, "Dame Folly has ceased to be simply human and has become demonic."'4 M. Aubin construesthe "sexually voracious, street-walking,brainwashing seductress"of 4Q184 not as a demonicfigure,but as an "othering device" that serves to connect femininitywith theological error. The authorof the text employs this figure,borrowedfrom the biblical Proverbs, as the vehicle for making the connection.'5The woman's dangerousand deviant sexuality expresses a powerful symbol of the I Both of these texts were edited by John Allegro in QumranCave 4.1 (DJD 5; Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1968) 82-87, but his work should not be used separately from the supplementsand correctionsofferedby John Strugnellin "Notes en margedu volume V des 'Discoveriesin the JudaeanDesertof Jordan',"RevQ7 (1970) 163-276. 10 "The Wiles of the Wicked Woman, a Sapiential Work from Qumran'sFourth Cave,"Palestine ExplorationQuarterly96 (1964) 53-55. " Althoughthese two chapterscontainthe majorspeeches of Folly, those passages that speak of the strangewoman are also relevant.See Prov. 2:16-19 and 5:3-14. Also Camp, The StrangeWoman. 12 S.W. Crawford,"LadyWisdomand Dame Folly at Qumran," DSD 5 (1998) 360. 13 Crawford,"Lady Wisdom,"360. See also J.M. Baumgarten,"On the Natureof the Seductressin 4Q184,"RevQ 15 (1991) 136-43. 14 Crawford,"LadyWisdom,"361. 15 "'She is the beginning of all ways of perversity':Femininityand Metaphorin 4Q184,"Womenin Judaism:A Multidisciplinary Journal2:2 (2001) 22 [www.utoronto. Aubincalls thepoetof 4Q184"orthodox." ca/wjudaism/index.html]. Whilethepoetalmost certainlywould have thoughtof himself as "orthodox,"Aubin's use of the term seems anachronisticin this context.

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theologically pernicious other against which the male poet/author warns his unsuspectingcharge. Such voracious error can engulf the simple and uprightbefore they become aware of what is happening.'6 The elevation,so to speak, of WomanFolly from the humanseductress of Proverbsto the demonic figure (Crawford)or perverseheretic (Aubin) of 4Q184 suggests a cosmic dualism between good (in the form of Woman Wisdom?) and evil or a theological/socialdualism between the theologicallycorrect"us" and the error-ladenother, both importantnotions in Qumransectarianwritings. But is the text sectarian?R.D. Moore enumeratesa numberof parallelsbetween4Q184 and the doctrineof the Two Spirits(1QS iii-iv). While he recognizes the similaritiesbetween the two texts, he stops short of claiming that 4Q184 is sectarian;he ratherseems to assumethat it is. His comments about4Q184 12 are typical of his approach:"Eventhougha concrete relationship[between1QS and 4Q184] is not certain,we are reminded once again of the conceptual kinship [emphases mine] between our poem and 'The Two Spirits'."'7 One might also point to the characterof the seductress'svictims as an indicationof the sectarianorigin of this work. Whereasin Proverbs Folly accosts the "simple"and "senseless";the siren of 4Q184 singles out a "just"man, a "noble"man, the "upright"(-Ir) and the "righteous chosenones"(line 14). She also lures"thosewho walk uprightly"('zbr ms', line 15) and "thehumble"(line 16). All these men are clearlyfollowing God's path, unlike the intendedvictims of Proverbswho are regardedas foolish, likely to be taken in by Folly, and who serve as negative examples for the righteous. Why the difference in the characterof the victims? One answer might be that if the text is sectarian,all these adjectivesdescribethe Qumrancommunity.'8Perhaps,however,the authorof 4Q184 has read the "simple"and "senseless,"those sought by Folly in Prov. 7:7 and 9:16, not as synonyms, but as antonyms. His exegesis of Proverbs

16

Aubin, "Femininityand Metaphor,"22.

of the Seductionof Evil: 'The Wiles of the Wicked '7 R.D. Moore,"Personification Woman',"RevQ 10 (1979-81) 517. 18 J.C.R. de Roo, "Is 4Q525 a QumranSectarianDocument?"The Scrolls and the Institute Scriptures:QumranFiftyYearsAfter(edsS.E.PorterandC.A.Evans;Roehampton LondonPapers3; JSPSup26; Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 1997) 352-53 argues preciselythis way, criticizingHarringtonfor overlookingthe natureof the victims.She claims, "It is typical for Qumranonly to instruct,warn and reprovethose who belong to the righteousones, that is, to the people of their community."What she has overlooked is that 4Q184 may well be more inclusiveas I will attemptto show.


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understandsthe "simple"to be those treadingGod's path,not those who are fools.'9 Certainlythe context of 9:14-16 allows such a reading. Speakingof Folly, the sage of Proverbssays, "She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the high places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight (Df-irmn) on their way, 'You who are simple, turn in here!' And to those without sense she Those "who are going straight" or perhaps "walking says....." uprightly"(cf. 4Q184 15) are identifiedby the authorof 4Q184 with the "simple,"while the "senseless"are anothergroupaltogether.So 4Q184 understandsFolly as indiscriminatein her call; she is after everyone. That same approachmay, in fact, be found in 4Q184 at the end of the poem where the seductress'svictims are the inclusive "sons of men." Apparently,even for 4Q184, all can fall prey to Folly's wiles. One could marshal two further parallels with Qumran sectarian texts. In line 2 the term MnI appears, a common denotation of the Qumrangroupin sectarianliterature.Here, however, as Moore rightly notes, the word seems to be used as an adverb.20In most cases, however, when the word refers to the Qumrancommunityin sectarianliteratureit has the definite article attached(see, for example, 1QS 1:1, 16; 5:3, 7, 16; 6:3, 10, 14; lQSa i 27; ii 11). The second parallelis the use of the word nlpbn (line 17), usually translated"smoothwords" This word, as is well (GarciaMartinez)or "flatteries"(Harrington).2' known, often designatesin sectarianliteratureone of the groups that the Qumrancommunitysaw as an opponent,"the seekersafter smooth things," commonly identified with the Pharisees. In 4Q184, though, the word indicatesthe speech that the seductressuses to seduce people. Prov. 2:16 and 7:5 also use the term in the same contextas 4Q184 to describewhat the "strange"woman says to lure the unwitting. These arguments,however, even when demonstratinga similarity between 4Q184 and some sectariantexts, do not constituteunequivocal indicatorsof a Qumranorigin for the text. These same similarities have promptedHarringtonto write, "If this text is not clearly 'sectarian,' at least its contentand terminologywould have appealedto and

19 Althoughthe Hebrewword o^nM does not occur in 4Q184 to refer to the righteous it is apparentlyin 4Q185 1-2 i 13-14: "And now please hear me, my people (9ni)! Pay attention,simple ones (V'AMD)!" 20 Moore, "Personification," 511-12. But he still understandsthe word as a self-reference by the Qumransect. 21 F. Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated(2nd ed.; Leiden/Grand Rapids,MI: Brill/Eerdmans,1996), 380; Harrington,WisdomTexts, 32.

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have been readilyappropriatedby the Qumransectarians."22 We probably have to be satisfiedwith that characterization. Some have seen in this text, behindthe demonic/hereticalfigure of Dame Folly, an allegoricalreflectionof group polemics. J. Maier, in his Encyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls article on this text,23maintains that the referencesin 1:1-2 about "words"and "nonsense"and the misleading advice of 1:14-15 indicate controversybetween the group represented by the text and some adversarial group. Much depends on whetherone understandsthe referencesto the "righteous chosen ones" (line 14) and "the humble" (line 16) as indicating a specific communityratherthanthe more universal"sons of men"mentioned in line 17. I do not think,however, that the text unequivocally supports such an interpretation.I agree with Harringtonthat other interpretationsof the text that allegoricallyrepresentWomanFolly as Rome or Simon Maccabeus have "no textual foundation at all."24 Aubin gets it essentiallyright, I think,when she says, "Whenthis text is read in its full potentialas an heir to Jewish wisdom traditions,the questionof a concretehistoricalreferentfor the Seductressis eclipsed by others concerningthe complexityof the poem's structure,its relationship to Proverbs, and its rewriting of Folly as a figure uniting themes of apostasy and adultery."25

4Q185 1 and 2 preservetwo fragmentarycolumns of a previously unknownsapientialwork.26In it a sage both warns and admonishes The first column contains his "sons,"who are also called "simple."27 warnings about God's judgment and the frailty of human existence. 1-2 i 14 preservesthe sage's admonitionto "Drawwisdom from the power of God," which he connects to God's mighty acts during the Exodus. In column ii 11-14, we find what looks to be the language of the personificationof wisdom much like that of Proverbsand Ben Sira. The main differencebetween4Q185 and these othertwo wisdom 22 WisdomTexts, 34. Aubin ("Femininityand Metaphor,"3, 10) makes the same point. 23 "Wiles of the Wicked Woman,"Encyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds L.H. Schiffmanand J.C. VanderKam;New York:Oxford,2000) 2.976. 24 Harrington,WisdomTexts, 33. 25 Aubin, "Femininity and Metaphor,"11. 26 Allegro publishedthis text in DJD 5. As with 4Q184, one must consultStrugnell, "EineweisheitlicheMahnredein den "Notesen marge."In additionsee H. Lichtenberger, (4Q185),"Qumrdn:Sa piete, sa theologieet son milieu(ed. M. Delcor; Qumranfunden BETL 46; Paris:Duculot, 1978) 151-62. inclusive) 27 It is notablethat this text also uses the inclusive(at least male-intended

"sons of man" (C-Ik '2) in line 9.


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texts, as T. Tobinobserves,is thatthe extantportionof the Qumrantext preservesno speeches of wisdom like those that we find in both Proverbs and Ben Sira.28Furthermore, the femininewisdom of this column does not actively seek out humanbeings, but God gives her to human beings as a possession.29Columnii also makes referenceto "the path which he decreedto Isaac,"and it may have containeda referenceto commandments.30 Such language suggests that this work may have equatedWisdom with Torah. 4Q185 is probablynot a Qumrancomposition.A. Lange concludes that the text's use of the tetragrammatonand aljrl offers the most compellingargument."Derfreie Gebrauchdes Tetragrammsin 1-2 113 und die fur essenische Texte untypische Verwendungvon :'ilts in 1-2 I14;III3 zeigen, daB es sich um ein mindestensvor 150 v. Chr. anzusetzendesnichtessenischesWerk handelt."'31Tobin proposes that the personificationof r:nnn as a woman probablyindicatesa non-sectarianorigin for the text as well, since "[i]n the sectariantexts, 'wisdom' most often refers to the providencewith which God createdand sustainsthe world (e.g., 1QH 1:7, 14-15, 19-20; 9:17; 10:2) or is connectedwith the mysteriesrevealedto the Qumransectarians(e.g., IQS 4:3, 18, 22)."32 Tobin also notes, however, that two particularideas found in 4Q185 would have resonatedwith the Qumrancommunity and may account for its presence in the Qumrancollection. The first is the use of rrmnl in the sense of "mightywisdom,"which is found 28 T.H. Tobin, "4Q185 and Jewish Wisdom Literature,"Of Scribes and Scrolls: Studies on the Hebrew Bible, IntertestamentalJudaism, and Christian Origins (eds H.W. Attridge,J.J. Collins, T.H. Tobin, S.J.; Resourcesin Religion 5; Lanham/New York/London:UniversityPress of America, 1990) 148. 29 Crawford("LadyWisdom,"363) compareswisdom in this column to the "nonpersonifiedwisdom figure of Job 28, where Wisdom is describedas establishedby God, but is not active.... 30 "The way that he commandedto Jacob"is reconstructed in the parallelclause by F. Garcia Martinez and E.J.C. Tigchelaar in The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Leiden:Brill, 1997) 1.379. 31 Lange, "Weisheit,"11. Tobin ("4Q185," 148) argues that the use of the tetragrammatonpoints to the text's non-sectarianorigin. 32 Tobin, "4Q185,"149. Tobin also offers a thirdreason,which I do not find as convincing. He argues that 4Q370, "An Admonitionof the Flood,"which was probably not composed at Qumran,displays the closest parallels with 4Q185. C. Newsom ("4Q370:An AdmonitionBased on the Flood,"RevQ 13 [1988] 23-43) has arguedfor a literaryrelationshipbetween the two texts, althoughthe precise natureof that relationshipis not certain.Tobin concludes(149-50), "Becausethe Qumrantext to which 4Q185 has the closest affinitieswas probablynot composedat Qumran,this is an additional indicationthat 4Q185 too was not composedat Qumran."The literaryconnection would only be decisive if 4Q370 were dependenton 4Q185, however.

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in IQS and IQH (IQS 4:3; 10:16; 1QH 12:13) with this meaning,but not in the biblical wisdom books. The second is the role that 4Q185 gives to angels in the judgmentof human beings. This theme is, of course, not found in either Proverbs or Ben Sira.33

4Q525: This wisdom text from Qumranis best known primarilyfor its list of five beatitudesor, more properly,macarisms,in frag. 2 ii.34 In fact, it is a text of 50 fragments,several of which are extensive enough to give a good sense of the content of the work. The extant portionsof 4Q525 begin in the thirdpersonand then later shift to the second person singular, a usual form of address in other sapiential works. The text consists primarilyof admonitions,especially on seeking wisdom, which is portrayedhere, as elsewhere, as a woman. In many ways it looks a lot like other traditionalJewish wisdom books. Forexample,frag. 14 treats,amongotherthings,theproperuse of speech, especially care in speaking (cf. Sir. 19:4-17). Harringtonis almost certainlycorrectwhen he arguesthat the shift in personand the inclusion of standardwisdom fare indicate that at least these parts of the text were intended for the training of young sages.35 Unlike Proverbs

and Ben Sira, however, 4Q525 may display an interest in future thesmallerfrag(eschatological?)rewardandpunishment.Unfortunately, ments where these ideas may appear are far from clear, but future rewards seem to be enumeratedfor those who follow Wisdom and punishmentsfor those who abandonher. In frag. 24 ii 4-5 "my house is a house of [...]

5 [...] my house dwells in [...I

6 forever" may

indicate some future recompense (perhaps based on an exegesis of Psalm 23). Referencesto "eternalcurse,"the "flamesof death"(frag. 15) and "the pit" (frag. 23), for instance,may indicate some punishment awaiting the wicked. At the very least, they suggest similarities with a work like 4Q184.36 The personificationof Wisdom as a woman in this documentmay Tobin, "4Q185," 150. t. Puech published the text in Qumrdn Grotte 4.XVIII (DJD 25; Oxford: ClarendonPress, 1998) 115-78. The extant text only contains four occurrencesof '-o; the first is reconstructedby Puech. On the beatitudes in 4Q525, see Puech, "4Q525et les pedricopes des beatitudesen Ben Siraet Matthieu,"RB 98 (1991) 80-106 and "The Collectionof Beatitudesin Hebrewand in Greek (4Q525 and Mt 5,3-12)," Early Christianityin Context.Monumentsand Documents(eds F. Mannsand E. Alliata; StudiumBiblicum Franciscanum,Collectio Maior 38; Jerusalem:FranciscanPrinting Press, 1993) 353-68. 3S Harrington, WisdomTexts,68. 36 For eschatology in 4Q525, see G.J. Brooke, "The Wisdom of Matthew's Beatitudes(4QBeat and Mt. 5:3-12)," ScriptureBulletin 19 (1988-1989) 35-41. 33 34


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reflect the close associationof Wisdom and the Law in some Jewish literature(cf. Sirach 24). In fact, since the Hebrew word Fmfl, like n71=r,is feminine in gender,the feminine pronounsmay actuallyrefer to both wisdom and the law in this work. For instance,the macarism beginningat frag. 2 ii 3 says, "Blessed is the personwho attainswisdom and walks in the law of the Most High (1' rrrnn1:), and sets his heartto her ways, and is constrainedby her disciplineand always delights in her admonishments"(lns 3-4). The latter part of the passage is consistentwith what other sapientialtexts say aboutone's attitude towardWisdom (cf. for example, Sir. 4:17-19; 6:23-31). Thus, I understandthe pronouns as referring primarilyto Wisdom, who is more valuable than any preciousmetal or stone (frag. 2 iii). Withoutdoubt 4Q525 transmitstraditionaland ratherconventional wisdom material,but could it be a sectariancomposition?J.C.R. de Roo has argued that, despite what she calls "a strikingresemblance between4Q525 and traditionalJewish wisdom books such as Proverbs and Ben Sira,"4Q525 is a sectariantext.37In supportof her case, she cites an impressivearrayof vocabularyand thematicparallelsbetween 4Q525 and several sectarianworks. What she fails to treat, however, is the date of the work and the possibility that 4Q525 has influenced these sectariantexts. E. Puech, the text's editor, also recognizes similarities between 4Q525 and sectarian literature,especially a tantalizingtext in fragments 11-12, but he does not believe 4Q525 to be a sectariandocument.It is more likely that4Q525 has influencedthose sectarianworks. In thatvein, he notes that frags. 11-12 1-2 parallelIQS iv 7-8, which he thinks has most probablytaken the materialfrom 4Q525. He says aboutthese lines, "En effet les frgs 11-12 1-2 semblentavoir des prolongementsen IQS IV 7-8 qui paraissentreprendreces lignes en les developpant."38 Concerningthe date of the work, he says, "Si, comme il semble, ce texte de sagesse (4Q525) a pu servir de creuset oiu ont puis6 les differentesRegles de la communauteessenienne, il faudrait envisagerune compositionvers le milieu du Ile siecle avantJ.-C., soit grosso modo entre 160 et 140."39 If Puech is correct,4Q525 influenced the Qumranauthors,and it is most likely non-Qumranic. 4QInstruction(4Q415, 416, 417, 418, 423): Edited by J. Strugnell and D. Harringtonin DJD 34, 4QInstructionor jlnm3 -10z (another 37 38

de Roo, "Is 4Q525 a QumranSectarianDocument?"345. Puech, DJD 25, 119.

39

Ibid.

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copy is found in 1Q26) is the most extensive sapientialtext found at Qumran.Eight copies were found in Caves I and 4.4 Despite the fact that the remainsof all the copies are very fragmentary,Strugnelland Harringtonconclude that 4Q418 "was probablyquite as long as the They furtherarguethatthe large number longestQumranmanuscripts." of copies indicatesthatthis text "was treatedas important,authoritative, perhapseven 'canonical',among the Qumrancommunity...."41 This work, formerlyknown as SapientialWork A, takes the form of instructionfrom an older sage to a youngerone, who is called 1pnz, which Strugnelland Harringtonrender"the maven."The large margin before the text in 4Q416 1 may indicate that this column began the work. 4QInstructionthus startedwith a ratherextensive section dealing with cosmology and eschatology,especially with mattersof God's judgment of the wicked. This section is characterizedby use of the thirdpersonwithoutany of the secondpersoninstructionfoundlater.In fact, the instructiongiven to the maven shouldprobablybe understood as providingthe guidelinesfor avoidingthe impendingjudgment. 4QInstructionrefers repeatedlyto "the mysterythat is Furthermore, to come" (irm ri), a phrasethat also occurs in IQS 11:3-4 and the Book of the Mysteries(1Q27, 4Q299, 300).42 Althoughthe text does not reveal its content,the mysteryhas an esotericqualityaboutit. The maven is to "study" it, "gaze upon" it, "understand"it, and these activitieswill bringrewardto the maven. Harringtonconcludeson the basis of the noun phrasesthat parallelthe phrase"mysterythat is to come"'in 4QInstructionthat the mysteryconcernscreation,ethics and eschatology.43 I QumranCave 4XXIV (DJD 34: Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1999). On the number of copies, overlaps between the manuscriptsand other codicological matters, see antedate Strugnelland Harrington,DJD 34.1-40. A numberof studiesof 4QInstruction the appearanceof Strugnelland Harrington'sDJD edition.AlthoughI will referto several of them in the courseof my discussionof this text, I take the new DJD volume as the most definitiveyet on this text. Strugnelland Harringtonlist the most importantof these earlierstudies in DJD 34.37-40. See more recently,however,E. Tigchelaar,To Increase Learning for the UnderstandingOnes: Reading and Reconstructing the FragmentaryEarlyJewishSapientialText4Qlnstruction(STDJ44; Leiden:Brill, 2001). 4' Strugnelland Haffington,DJD 34.2. 42 Strugnelland Haningtonnote that the Book of the Mysteries,althoughcertainly a separate document from 4Qlnstruction, has a lexicon "quite close to that of 4Q415ff.-indeed, it is appropriate to ask whether 4Q415ff. knew the Book of Mysteriesor was known to it" (ibid.). "Two Early Jewish Approachesto Wisdom:Sirach and Qumran 43 D. Harrington, SapientialWorkA," Societyof BiblicalLiterature1996 SeminarPapers (Atlanta:SBL, 1996) 130. See also on the "mysterythat is to come" and its content, T. Elgvin,


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emphasison mysteryandeschatologicaljudgmentsets 4QInstruction's it apartfrom a work like Ben Sira, whose emphasis is on the practicalities of life, creation,Torah and the history of Israel.' That is not to say, however, that 4QInstruction is not practical. In fact, the paranesisgiven to the maven is eminentlypracticaland much like that of Ben Sira. A good portionof the text offers advice on various family relationshipsand financialaffairs,which frequentlydependson the traditionsfound in the Torah.In this sense 4QInstructionis like most other wisdom literature.The advice given to the maven assumes that he is immersedin the realitiesof daily life-providing suretyfor loans, honoringparents,getting marriedand having a family. The maven is not one who has withdrawnfrom social life and relationships,and he is certainlynot a memberof a celibate, indeed isolationist,communal society like the one so often picturedfor Qumran. Both the assumptionof the work that the maven participatesin the larger social world, on the one hand, and the language of 4QInstruction, on the other,raise the questionof its origins. The work contains some languagefound in other Qumranworks, and it contains also many eschatologicaland cosmological passages anticipatoryof what we find in normative Qumran texts such as Serekh ha-Yahad and the Hodayot. . . Moreover,consideredsociologically4Q415ff. does notreflecta specific sect or closed communitylike that of Qumran,nor an earlier quasi-sectarian group.Indeed,it is dubiouswhetherone shouldtalk of communitiesor groupsat all in looking for the backgroundof this work. The work is addressed,then, not to any closed communitylike that at Qumran, nor to any earlierand theologicallycognatepopulation,but to a typicaljuniorsage for his needs in every stage of his life (e.g. who receivesadvice appropriate (pzMn) marriage)and in variousprofessions.45 the priesthood,administration,

Unlike the other Qumranwisdom texts that I have sketchedabove, 4QInstructiondoes not, at least in any of its extant fragments,personify wisdom or folly as a woman. Whatever material it contains about women falls into the categoryof practicaladvice. "Wisdom, Revelation, and Eschatology in an Early Essene Writing,"SBL Seminar Papers 1995 (ed. E.H. Lovering;Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1995) 440-63; idem, "Early Essene Eschatology:Judgmentand Salvationaccordingto SapientialWorkA," Current Researchand TechnologicalDevelopments(eds D.W. Parryand S.D. Ricks; STDJ 20; Leiden:Brill, 1996) 126-65; idem, "The Mysteryto Come: Early Essene Theology of Revelation,"QumranBetween the Old and New Testaments(eds F.H. Cryerand T.L. Thompson;JSOTSup290; Sheffield:Sheffield Academic Press, 1998) 113-50; D.J. Harrington,"TheRaz Nihyehin a QumranWisdomText (1Q26, 4Q415-418, 4Q423)," Hommage d Josef T. Milik, RevQ 17 (1996) 549-53; idem, Wisdom Texts from Qumran,chap. 6. " Harrington, "Two EarlyJewish Approaches,"130. DJD 34.36. 45 Strugnelland Harrington,

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Quite a numberof the fragmentsin 4Q415-418, 423 referor allude to women. Much of the advice is based on biblical texts. 4Q416 2 iii 20-iv 6, for example,derivesfrom a transparent exegesis of Gen. 2:24 and 3:16. And if you are poor as [...] 20 without statute.You have takena wife in your poverty;take her offspringin your lowly estate [... .1 21 from the mysterythat is to be/come while you keep companytogether.Walk togetherwith the helpmeet of your flesh [... . iv I his father and his mother [... ] 2 you He has set in authorityover her [...J her father3 He has not set in authorityover her; from her motherHe has separatedher and towardyou shall be [herdesireand she will become]4 for you one flesh. Your daughterto anotherhe will separateand your sons [... 1 5 And you will be made into a unity with the wife of your bosom for she is flesh of your nakedness;6 and the one who claims authorityover her apart from you has displacedthe boundaryof his life.6

4Q416 2 iv 8-10 takes up the matterof a man's right to annul the vow of his wife or daughter as authorized in Num. 30:3-15, a bibli-

cal text that receives attentionin otherQumrantexts (see also Temple Scroll [11Q19] 53:16-54:3 and DamascusDocument[CD] 16:10-12). One matterof note here is that 4QInstructionappearsto take a dim view of women makingvows and grantsthe husband/father an absolute right to annula woman's vow. The DamascusDocument,on the other hand, qualifies such annulmentby the additionof "if it violates the covenant." In one remarkablepassage, 4Q415 2 ii, the sage of 4QInstruction addressesa woman. Harringtoncharacterizesthis fragmentas "highly unusual,"47 which seems a bit of an understatement,since I know of no other Jewish wisdom text in which the addressee is a woman. Unfortunately thefragmentis notwell preservedandonly phrasesremain, but the extant text indicatesthat the advice to the woman was pretty conventional.The column begins with "honorhim like your father," presumablya referenceto the woman's father-in-law.48 Line 3 is evidently the end of some kind of warning to the woman, but unfortunately the text of the actualwarningdoes not survive.The remaining text reads,"lestyou neglect [his?]holy covenant"-a possiblereference to the marriagebond. Lines 5 and 7 containtwo femininepossessives, "yoursoul" and "yourcovenant."The phrase"praise[in the m]outhof all men"(C:'t:R 7':"B[ ] Flfl) in line 8 most likely indicatesthe results of the woman's appropriatebehavior.PerhapsProverbs31 forms one I 47 48

Harrington,WisdomTexts,44. Ibid., 57. Strugnelland Harrington,DJD 34.48.


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of the bases of the entire section. Strugnell and Harringtonsuggest that the phrasesused in this fragmentmost likely addressthe wife of the maven.49Another possibility, however, might be to imagine the presence of wise women or even women sages in Israel during this period, as C. Camp has done for the Persianperiod (see below). Overall, the man-womanrelationshipin 4QInstruction,whether it be with a wife or daughter,is hierarchicallyconceived and essentially based on those biblical texts that can be read in that fashion.The husband has authorityover his wife and the fatherover his daughter.Yet one can observe two interestingfeaturesof this text. First, within the contextof sucha hierarchy,4Qlnstructionteachesthatthehusbandshould treat his wife with honor and respect. The sage enjoins the maven to "walk with the helpmeet of your flesh" (4Q416 2 iii 21); he further advises the husbandnot to "treatwith contempt the vessel ('5Z) of your bosom" (4Q416 2 ii 21). Strugnelland Harringtonremarkthat this latter passage representsthe sage's attemptto extend the honoring of one's father and mother to one's wife.50 Second, there are apparentlyno "bad"women talked about in 4QInstructionlike those in Proverbsand Ben Sira. While the sage admonishesthe maven to hold his spouse in high regardand he encouragesthe woman addressee of 4Q415 2 ii to act properly,the extantfragmentsdo not seem to preserve warningsagainst loose or "strange"women. This absence could simply be the accident of what has survived or it could be that the work containedno such warnings.If it is the latter, what should we make of it?5" II. Wisdom and Women at Qumran

As E. Schuller has noted, despite the rather dramaticrise in the number of books and articles on women in ancient Judaism and Christianity,"the one area for which there is still virtually no bibliography is study about women in the type(s) of Judaismwhich produced the Dead Sea Scrolls."52Yet, perhapsas a recognitionof the 49

Ibid., 48.

of the difficultuse of oKc66o; s0 Ibid., 109. This text also bears on the interpretation in I Thess. 4:4. See the Excursus,109-10. 51 Strugnelland Harrington have one fragmentthat might run counterto this observation, 4Q418 243 2. They note, however, that the piece "is much shrunkenand well on its way to becoming glue." They read line two as "and a woman aboundingin folly" [italics theirs] (ibid., 451). 52 E. Schuller,"Evidencefor Women in the Communityof the Dead Sea Scrolls,"

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inherentdifficultyof trying to tease social realitiesout of wisdom literature,the article in which Schullermade the above remarkcontains almost no treatmentof the sapiential texts discovered at Qumranonly a brief mentionof Sir. 51:13-30 and 4Q184. In a second article on women in the scrolls, Schullerdevotes a bit more attentionto the wisdom texts, but here, too, she makes little of them. The following paragraphseems to encapsulateher approachto these texts. While these manuscriptsare of great interestin and of themselvesand as evidence of the ongoing productivewisdom tradition,it is less clear how relevant they are to a reconstructionof the role of women in associationsthat produced the rules and legal materialswe examinedearlier(that is, those from Qumran). Even the main large work, "InstructionA," does not display any knowledgeof the organizationof the yahad, its particularpiety concerns,or sectarianvocabulary and theology; in fact, this compositionseems to predatethe Qumrancommunity.Althoughthe presenceof six copies (1Q26, 4Q415-18, 4Q423), all in a Herodianhand, indicatesthe ongoing popularityof this work at Qumranperhaps it should be read more in the same way that we read Proverbsor Ben Sira than as a direct source of informationabout the sect and its views of women.53

I absolutelyagreewith Schullerconcerningthe difficultyof handling these texts. In fact, one could go a step furtherthan she has and note that theredoes not seem to be a single wisdom text found at Qumran that deals with women that was composedby the Qumrancommunity itself. That would seem to be a damningrealizationfor anyone trying to find ways into the problemof women and the Qumrancommunity. But I do not think that all is completelylost. In what follows I will make some summaryobservationsand raise a few questions. Essentially two issues should concern us at this juncture.Can we makeanythingoutof thepersonifications of WisdomandFollyas women? Does the practicaladvice given about women in the sapientialliterature found at Qumrantell us anythingaboutwomen's participationin the sect or about the sect's attitudestowardwomen generally? Unfortunately, those texts that personify Wisdom and Folly as women do not take us very far down the road to answersto our questions. C. Camp has made an intriguingargumentthat the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs actually provides clues about wise

VoluntaryAssociationsin the Graeco-RomanWorld(eds J.S. Kloppenborgand S.G. Wilson; Londonand New York:Routledge,1996) 252. S3 E. Schuller,"Womenin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"The Dead Sea Scrolls AfterFifty Years. A ComprehensiveAssessment(eds P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam;Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2.138.


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women, or even women sages, in Israel during the Persian period.54 As a development subsequent to Proverbs, Camp argues that Ben Sira's utilizationof the idealized image of wisdom most likely functions to repress women, even though it depends to an extent on the descriptionof wisdom in Proverbs.Finally, she concludesthatwisdom as woman becomes completelydivorcedfrom real women in the later Wisdom of Solomon "in favor of mystical speculation."" In orderto make her argument,Camp cannot relegate her study to the personificationof wisdom only; she must in additionincorporatethe other availableinformationabout the culturaland social worlds of the book of Proverbs.What Camp has to work with, however, are complete texts that have culturaland social contexts that can be, at least to some degree, described,and she recognizes that some reconstruction of social context is essential. For example, she notes concerning Proverbs,"The questionof whetheror not we can discover a real-life female sage behind this poetic form depends in part on our ability to For connect the literaturewith one or more socio-historiccontexts."56 fragmentarytexts like 4Q184, 185 and 525 that do not look as if the Qumransectarianscomposed them, the original "socio-historiccontexts" of these works are obscure at best, and even informedreconstructionof those contextsmight be almost impossible.If the texts are non- or pre-Qumranic,they might date from sometime in the second century BCE, perhapseven close to or slightly after the time of Ben Sira (usually thought to be in the 190's-180's BCE). Whatevertheir exact dates, almost certainlyby the time these works were composed the images of Woman Wisdom and Woman Folly had become conventionalwisdom motifs. Conventionalityallows the image to be used for purposesquite differentfrom its earlier one in Proverbs.So, for example, in the case of Ben Sira an image that in Proverbsreflected "a relativelyhigh statusfor women in society duringthe Persianperiod (especially early on), and the possibility of real social influence for women of experience and wisdom"57later gets turned on its head, since the authoremploys it, not as a symbol of women's influenceand status, but as an instrumentof control over women. S4 C,V. Camp, "The Female Sage in Ancient Israel and in the Biblical Wisdom Literature,"The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East (eds J.G. Gammie, L.G. Perdue;WinonaLake, IN: Eisenbrauns,1990) 185-203. 5S Camp,"The Female Sage," 202. 56 Ibid., 191.

"I Ibid., 194.

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It might indeedbe possible to discoverthe social functionsof these images in the Qumrantexts were they more completeand if they had a clearer social context. In 4Q184, Lady Folly is describedin very much the same language as that concerningthe "strange"woman in Proverbs1-9. The Qumranfragmentstartsin the middle of a discussion of this dangerouswomanwho sets alluringtraps,and it ends with a comment about her seductive words. The explicit sexuality of the text reflects the sexual language of Proverbsas well. The length of 4Q184, as long as or longer than any of the individual poems in Proverbs1-9, representsthe gatheringtogetherand exegetical expansion of those poems into a single text, but with a very specific agenda, specificallythe use of unfetteredfemale sexualityas a powerfulmetaphor of the poet's "other,"as Aubin argues,or as a representationof the demonic as Crawfordsuggests. In the light of both 4Q184's reading of Proverbs and modern scholarly readings that argue for a metaphoricalunderstandingof the text, I doubt that 4Q184 reveals to us much of anythingabout the realia of the Qumrancovenantersand the presenceof women among them. Their use of the text may, however, reflectsomethingof theirassumptionsaboutand constructionsof women and female sexuality. The early portionof 4Q185 does not contain any indicationof a personificationof wisdom, but in 1-2 ii 8-14 the text seems to personify wisdom as a woman, althoughthe word n73:: does not appear in the extantportionsof this fragment.58 Wisdomwill make happythe one to whom she is given (the macarismin line 8). The one who has her will "takeher as a possession,""findher,""get her for an inheritance." Whoever possesses her will have a long life and "fatty bones," among other desirables.All of these sentiments,and some of the actual phrases,are familiarfrom otherwisdom texts. In one interesting phrase,God's mercies are said to be for "her people"(mr2s) The man who "does her"will be happy.The notion of wisdom as an inheritancereappearsin line 15 where it is said that the personwho practiceswisdom will pass her along to his descendants. In all of these cases, 4Q185 contains an element of active performance. One does wisdom. This performativeaspect of the text may indicatethat wisdom comportswith Torah.Althoughthe text does not explicitly equateTorahand Wisdom, a connectionbetweenthe two is

S8 It is, however, reconstructed by GarciaMartinezand Tigchelaarin line 11. See The Dead Sea Scrolls StudyEdition, 1.378.


257

assumed in the background.59 In column iii, the text turns to God's judgment, where God knows the innermost workings of human thoughtsand deeds. Whereasearlier in column ii wisdom is the subject of the sage's teaching,iii 9 speaks of fulfilling the "wordsof the covena[nt],"a probablereference to the Torah. This conjunctionof wisdom and law may provide confirmationthat the authorof 4Q185 worked with an understandingthat Wisdom and Torahwere related. In 4Q185 the image of WomanWisdomhas become a conventional sapientialtrope,and the link betweenWisdomand Torahlooks similar to that made by Ben Sira. Whetherthis connection in 4Q185 represents a correspondencethat has gained prominencein Jewish wisdom literatureof the secondto firstcenturiesBCE or whetherit reflectssome specific social context,like the movementof wisdom out of the domestic sphere and into the male-controlledpublic sphereas Camp argues for Ben Sira,cannotbe determined.60 My own sense is thatit is the formerratherthanthe latter.Partof the difficultyin decidingis thatin Proverbsand Ben Sirawe also find practicaladvice abouthow the budding sage shoulddeal with realwomen,and this advicecan informwhat may have constituted the content of the image of Woman Wisdom for those authors.4Q184 and 185 contain no such practicaladvice. Much the same could be said about 4Q525. The text's close association between Wisdom and Torah presentsnothing especially new. In fact, Wisdomloses some of her personalityin being connectedwith Torah. One must almost speak of Wisdom/Torah together in this text.6'In short,one finds no indicationin this text of any specific attitudes towardwomen, real or imagined. Perhapsthe most that one could make out of those Qumransapiential texts that personifyWisdom or Folly is that they reinforceand reinscribe,by the continueduse of the images, male culturalconstructs of women to be desired and women to be avoided. But, of course, ideal constructdoes not constitutesocial description.By the time of the second to first centuries BCE, the images of Woman Wisdom and Woman Folly appearto have been separatedfrom associationswith real women. The nuancedinterplaybetween how the sage treats real women and the personificationof wisdom and folly as women describedby Campfor Proverbsand Ben Sira is completelyobscuredin 59 Harrington,WisdomTexts, 38. 60 Camp,"The Female Sage," 199. 61 Crawford("Lady Wisdom," 365) speaks of Wisdom being "subsumed"under Torahin 4Q525.

258


the Qumrantexts. The demonizationof Folly in 4Q184 even further mythologizes her and probably removes her even fartherfrom any connectionto real women.62Yes, the Qumrancommunityhad copies of Proverbsand Ben Sira where such interplayis important,but their preservationprobablydoes not provide informationabout the social world of that community.And unlike Proverbsand Ben Sira, the texts I have described above contain in their extant fragments none of the potentiallyhelpful advice (both to an ancient studentor us) about how the young sage shouldtreatreal women. The reverseis also true; the one major Qumrantext that preserves fairly extensive practical instruction,4QInstruction,shows no evidence of utilizing the image of personified wisdom or folly. Separation has apparentlybecome divorce. 4QInstruction,as part of the practicalnature of its advice to the maven, has a lot to say about women. The specifics of what it says aboutmothers,wives and daughters,however,are less crucialthanthe fact that this wisdom text was preservedin eight copies at Qumran.If the text was indeed consideredauthoritativeby the Qumrancommunity, as Strugnelland Harringtonargue, did the practicalinstruction about women apply to the communitymembersand does it provide any evidence for the possibility that women made up a part of that community? Strugnell'sand Harrington'sconclusion, that its basic characteristics make it unlikely to be sectarian,probably,but not certainly,indicates that its advice about women provides evidence for its own originalcontext and not for that of Qumran.Harringtonsuggeststhree possible reasonsfor the presenceof the non-sectarian4QInstructionat Qumran."[T]he work could be pre-Qumranic-beforethe movement became sectarianand monastic;or it could be intendedfor Essenes who lived a life more directly integratedinto Second Temple Jewish society; or it could be designed as a step in the educationand formation of those who would eventuallypresentthemselvesfor full membershipin the movement."63 But even if we could determinepossible reasonswhy the text was part of the collection at Qumran,why would the community hold 4QInstructionin such apparenthigh regard?The most plausibleexpla-

62 This conclusionwould be warranted, I think,whetherone reads4Q184 with Crawford or Aubin. 63 Harrington, WisdomTexts,41.


259

statusheldby theeightcopiesof 4QInstruction nationfor the authoritative is that the communityat Qumran,whethercelibate or not, regardedit as one of its foundationalworks containingideas crucial to its selfunderstandingor its world view. 4 4QInstruction'splace in the community's literary holdings, however, most likely did not dependon its practicaladvice about money, women and other mundanematters,but on the importanceand centralityof the MM:rn, "the mysterythat is to come."As we saw above, the sage repeatedlyencouragesthe maven to study and to comprehend the mystery.The eschatologicalwarningsin 4Q416 1 are centralto the entirework, and the mysteryseems to be partof that eschatology.This notion of the "mysterythat is to come" is also found in otherQumran tf "the light texts. The sectarianRule of the Communitycalls the M;M: of my heart"and speaks about the mystery in the same context as God's knowledge,his wonders,his truth,wisdom and judgment(lQS 11:3-6). The Book of the Mysteriesrefers to the mlimTnin eschatological language(cf. 1Q27). It is almost certain,in my estimation,that "the mysterythat is to come"explainsthe importanceof 4QInstruction for the Qumrancommunity.But a group can certainlyconsidera text foundationaland authoritativeeven when that work assumes a set of social and culturalrealities and normscompletelydifferentfrom those of the people using it, as the continued use and reverence for the Jewish and Christianscripturesin modernityattests. If this explanation is correct, then the detailed advice the sage of 4QInstruction offers about women tells us little to nothingon its own about the situation in the Qumrancommunity. We cannot, ultimately,keep the wisdom literaturecompletely isolated from the remainderof the Qumranscrolls. 4QInstructionis not the only text at Qumranthat has a practicalconcernfor real women. Several non-wisdomQumrantexts have women as an importanttopic (the DamascusDocumentand the Temple Scroll are primeexamples), and two other texts might even have a woman as the speaker (cf. 4Q414, 4Q502).65The relationshipbetween all these documentsand what group or groups they might representis still not clear, however.

4 Tigchelaar(To Increase Learning,206), for example, argues that 4Qlnstruction probablyinfluencedthe compositionof IQH 5-6. 6S See Schuller,"Women,"120. See more recently,S.W. Crawford,"Not According to Rule: Women, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran"Emanuel: Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagintand Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of EmanuelTov (eds S.M. Paul, R.A. Kraft,L.H. Schiffmanand W.W. Fields; VTSup 94; Leiden:Brill, 2003) 127-50.

260


This lack of clarity has promptedSchuller to remark,"Thus,at present, we can say somethingabout women in the Rule of the Congregation or the Damascus Document,or the TempleScroll-but much cautionand furtherstudy are requiredbefore we can combinethe evidence of one or more of these documents,plus the fragmentarybits and pieces, into some comprehensivepicture."16 While Schuller'sobservationis certainlytrue,these texts were, after all, found togetherand presumablywere read and studiedby the community who inhabitedthe settlementat KhirbetQumran.One reason that we find at Qumran4QInstructionand other texts that talk about women might simply be that the texts reflect the realities and ideals of the larger social and culturalworld of the community.If we momentarilyhold in abeyancethe usual assessmentthat the people who lived at Qumranwere celibate and isolationist,all of these texts that treat women (even if they were not composed at Qumran),both as objects of practicaladvice and of symbolic significance,might have been kept and read because there actually were women membersof the community.Because a work appears to have origins outside of Qumrandoes not automaticallymean that it could not reflectin some measurethe social situationof Qumran.That might be just the reason it was copied and used. Of course, other pertinentevidence, such as that from the nearby cemetery, will necessarily have an important bearingon a case like this, but as a matterof methodology,we cannot a priori rule out this possibility.67 Of course, the most desirable situationwould be to have wisdom texts among the scrolls that treat women and that are clearly sectarian compositions.Unfortunately,such is not the case. Since the wisdom texts that we do have are probablyimports, they do not offer much assistance in answering the questions about the presence of women at Qumran,although they might coincide with the community s attitudestoward women. And even if the best candidatesfor inclusionas sectariantexts, 4Q184, 185 and 525, were admitted,they would tell us very little on their own. If 4QInstructionoriginatedin a largermovementout of which the Qumrancommunitydeveloped,or from which it splintered,we might gain some insight into the parent movement's social world, and perhaps by extension into the social I

Schuller,"Women,"121-22. On women and the Qumran cemetery, see J. Magness, The Archaeology of Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls (GrandRapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans,2002) 163-87. 67


261

context of Qumran.But scholars have not as yet satisfactorilysorted out the origins of the group that lived on the shores of the Dead Sea. 4QInstructionoffers perhapsthe most intriguingpossibilityamong the wisdom texts for trying to addressthe problemof women at Qumran. We are left in the end with many more questions than answers. How significantis it that apparentlynone of the wisdom texts found at Qumranwere sectarian(at least none is clearly sectarian)?Were all these texts even read alongside each other throughoutthe long life of the Qumrancommunityor did some works fall out of favor and sit on the shelf collecting dust while other favoredtexts were avidly read andstudied?How shouldwe readtheseseeminglydisparatetextstogether in order to say somethingsociologically about the people who lived at Qumran?Ultimately,however,I do not think that the wisdom texts alone can provide answers to the questions about women's presence and participationin the Qumrancommunityas much as they put into relief the difficultyof findingthose answers.

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BYPAULVNLFLESHER EDIT1ED If Greek was the language by which PalestinianJews talked to the Empire,then Aramaic and Hebrew were the languages by which they talked to themselves. In this context, what resulted when they translatedthe Hebrew Bible into Aramaic? Moments of the inner Jewish conversationabout the meaning and relevance of Hebrew Scripturesfrozen in Aramaic renditions. The scholars in this volume use these Aramaic translations,known as the Targums,like dioramas,peering throughthem to glimpse these moments in the development of Judaismand its theology. Dedicated to Ernest G. Clarke, the essays explore the variety of interpretationspreserved in the different Targumsfrom the Second Temple and post-Temple periods during which they were composed. Paul V.M. Flesher earned his Ph.D. (1988) from Brown University, after studying at Oxford University and the Hebrew University. He is a founding memberof the InternationalOrganizationfor Targumic Studies, and actively publishes on the targumsand ancient synagogues. In print 2002 ISBN 90 04 12677 5 Hardback (xxvi, 330 pp.) List price EUR 99.- / US$ 123.Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture, 2

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NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS Submission of Articles Contributions to the journal should be sent in the first instance to Prof. John J. Collins, Dead Sea Discoveries, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Only one copy of the article need be sent. Preferably it should be written in English; articles in French or German will also be accepted. The text must be grammatically correct and in good literary style, using inclusive language. Articles must be typewritten, or in the form of a clear printout from a word-processor, on A4 or American-standard white paper, double-spaced (including notes, which must appear at the end of the article), and on one side of the paper only. Printouts should, if possible, be accompanied by a disk. Word Perfect, Microsoft Word as well as ASCII are accepted formats. Articles must follow Dead Sea Discoveries style, for which see DSD 5 (1998) 25660. Articles in French and German must follow the journal's style as far as possible. Articles must be complete, including all necessary notes, bibliographical references, tables, etc. Articles must be original work and should normally not have been published previously. Simultaneous submission of identical work to other journals is not acceptable. Articles will normally be put through a system of blind refereeing; authors who wish to avoid referees' knowing their identity should not give themselves away, for example, by referring to their own works in footnotes with first person possessive pronouns. Authors of accepted articles will be asked to complete a form concerning the content and the copyright of their articles. Authors will receive galley proofs for proofreading. These must be returned promptly within the period requested, and the publishers reserves the right to charge authors for changes to proofs other than corrections of compositor's errors. The page proofs are read by the editors. Authors receive twenty-five complimentary offprints of their published article and a copy of the issue in which their article appears. Reviewers receive eight free offprints of their published review. Book reviews Books for review should be sent to Prof. Armin Lange, The Department of Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB#3225, 106 Saunders Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3225, USA.

CONTENTS The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sciences and New Technologies ........................................................................

MAGEN BROSHI,

JOSEPH ATWILL AND STEVE BRAUNHEIM,

133

Redating the Radiocarbon

............................... 143 KEITH BODNER, The Royal Conscience According to 4QSama .... 158 Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls ...............

ROB KUGLER AND ESTHER CHAZON, Women at Qumran: Introducing

the Essays .

........................................................................ It Matter?Qumran and the Essenes, Once Again! ................. ............................... MOSHE J. BERNSTEIN, Women and Children in Legal and Liturgical Texts from Qumran ......................... ............................... MAXINE GROSSMAN,Reading for Gender in the Damascus Document BENJAMIN G. WRIGHT III, Wisdom and Women at Qumran ......

167

ALBERTBAUMGARTEN,Who Cares and Why Does

174 191 212 240

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DEAD SEA DISCOVERIES A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature Armin

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READING WISDOM AT QUMRAN: 4QINSTRUCTIONAND THE HODAYOT MATTHEW J. GOFF Georgia Southern University

Introduction SarahTanzer,in an unpublisheddissertationcompletedin 1987,argued that the collection of hymnic writings known as the Hodayot reflects significantinfluencefrom the sapientialtradition.'Her analysis developedthe insightsof HansBardtke,who in 1956observedthattheHodayot combines sapientialvocabularywith a pedagogicalintent.2 The publicationof the sapientialtext 4QInstruction(1Q26, 4Q41518, 423), which is also known as SapientialWork A or Musar LeMevin, can shed new light on the question of 'wisdom influence' in the Hodayot.3They are both lengthy compositionsof which multiple copies were found in Caves 1 and 4 of the Qumransite.4Lange has

I S. Tanzer, "The Sages at Qumran:Wisdom in the Hodayot" (diss.; Harvard University,1987). In Tanzer'sview the impactof the wisdom traditiontends to be in the "Hymns of the Community"and not those that are considered "Hymns of the Teacher." 2 H. Bardtke,"Considerations sur les Cantiquesde Qumran,"RB 63 (1956) 220-33. See also H. Germann,"Jesusben Siras Dankgebetund die Hodajoth,"TZ 19 (1963) 81-87; H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartungund gegenwartigesHeil. Untersuchungenzu den Gemeindeliedernvon Qumranmit einem Anhanguber Eschatologieund Gegenwartin der Verkundigung Jesu (SUNT 4; Gottingen:Vandenhoeck& Ruprecht,1966) 139-75. 3 J. Strugnelland D.J. Harrington, QumranCave 4XXIV: SapientialTexts,Part 2. 4Qlnstruction(MasdrLe6Mevin):4Q415ff.Witha re-editionof IQ26 (DJD 34; Oxford: Clarendon,1999). T. Elgvin is the editor of 4Q423. 4 The corpusof Hodayotmaterial,aside from the main text of IQHa,includes 1Q35 (IQHb) and 4Q427-432 (4QH11 and 4QpapHf). The 4QH texts, edited by E.M. Schuller,are available in QumranCave 4XX: Poetical and LiturgicalTexts, Part 2 (DJD 29; Oxford:Clarendon,1999) 69-254. In terms of citing column and line numbersin the Hodayot,this articlefollows the formatgiven in DSSSE 1.147-203, followed, in brackets,with referencesaccordingto the editionof E.L. Sukenik,which is availablein The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University(Jerusalem:MagnessPress/TheHebrewUniversity, 1955).

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argued that the deterministic worldview of the Hodayot reflects a "weisheitlichen Hintergrund" thatis exemplifiedby 4QInstruction.5 Elgvin notes several distinctive terms found in both texts, such as "eternal glory" (:1i mn:),6 "wondrous mysteries" (Kt7 In),7 and "fleshly spirit" (CIV rlfl).8 Tigchelaar, observing these and other parallels, argues that columns 5 and 6 of the Hodayot were influenced by 4QInstruction.9IQHa 18:27-28 (10:27-28) and 4Q418 55 10 have material in common: ImglP VIArn7:' =D-1, "(according to) their knowledge they are glorified, each more than his neighbor."'0This raises the possibility that texts of 1QHa aside from columns 5 and 6 may have a relationshipwith 4QInstruction. Moreover,the two texts share several key themes. Both compositions stress not only revelationto the elect, but cast theirreceptionof this knowledge in pedagogical terms, as students learning from a teacher. In differentways the two texts describe the elect as a symbolic re-establishmentof the prelapsarianbliss enjoyed in the garden of Eden. Both also relatethe elect to the angels. 4QInstructionand the Hodayot recount the divine act of creation to stress not only the grandeurand might of God, which meritspraise,but also to assertthat reality unfolds accordingto a deterministicframework. In this article I will examine 4QInstructionand the Hodayot in order to assess the relationship between them. The hymns of the Hodayot are widely regardedto be a productof the Dead Sea sect.

I A. Lange, Weisheitund Pradestination:WeisheitlicheUrordnungund Pradestination in den Textfundenvon Qumran(STDJ 18; Leiden:Brill, 1995) 297. 6 4Q418 126 ii 8; lQH' 5:12 (13:6); cf. 4Q428 12 i 3. 74Q417 1 i 2, 13; IQH' 5:8 (13:2); 10:13 (2:13); 12:27-28 (4:27-28); cf. 4Q428

9 1.

I4Q416 1 12; IQH' 5:19 (13:13). See T. Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction" (diss.; Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem,1997) 160-63. This work is forthcomingas Wisdomand Apocalypticin 4Qlnstruction(STDJ 38; Leiden:Brill). I E.J.C.Tigchelaar,To IncreaseLearningfor the UnderstandingOnes:Readingand Reconstructingthe FragmentaryEarlyJewish SapientialText4Qlnstruction(STDJ44; Leiden:Brill, 2001) 206. 10 Elgvin,"AnAnalysis,"160;D.J.Haffington,"WisdomatQumran," in TheCommunity of the RenewedCovenant:The Notre Dame Symposiumon the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds E. Ulrich and J. VanderKam;Notre Dame: Universityof Notre Dame Press, 1994) 137-53 (esp. 142-43). In IQH' the phrase in question begins with the word '& ("accordingto"). Accordingto DJD 34.266, the passage begins with`h["i. Tigchelaar, however,reconstructsthe tracesas 1[. Regardingthe transcriptionin DJD 34, he writes that it is "textuallypreferable,but not at all compatiblewith the preservedtraces."See To IncreaseLearning,89-90. A review of Plate XVI in DJD 34 supportsTigchelaar's contention.

READING WISDOM AT QUMRAN

265

This group, however, probablydid not write 4QInstruction,although its memberswereclearlyfamiliarwithit. The strikingsimilaritiesbetween these two texts can be understooda consequence of 4QInstruction being read by membersof the yahad group associatedwith Qumran. 4Qlnstruction 4QInstruction is considered a wisdom text because it includes numerousadmonitionsthat are reminiscentof the Book of Proverbs and is drivenby a eudemonisticethos in its concernfor the addressee, the p1r: ("'understandingone")." Like the prologue to Proverbs (1:1-7), 4QInstructionpresumessome sort of pedagogicalsetting and seeks to inculcate a love for learning: "Increase in understanding greatly,and from all of your teachers(i'zl:0n) get ever more instruction" (4Q418 81 17; cf. 4Q418 221 3). 4QInstructiongives advice designed for the ordinary life of the addressee.The composition,for example, guides him regardingmarriage and moderationwith food and drink (4Q416 2 ii 18-21). Both of these topics are commonplacein the sapientialtradition(e.g., Prov. 18:22;23:1-8; Sir. 31:12-31). 4QInstructiondoes more, however,than repeatteachingsfound in older wisdom. The text combinestraditional wisdom with an apocalypticworldview.'2This is above all evident in the composition'suse of the enigmatic phrase,mmn1 Tn,which can be translated as "the mystery that is to be."'3 This term occurs over twenty times in 4QInstructionbut is attestedelsewhere only twice, in the CommunityRule (IQS 11:3-4) and the Book of Mysteries(1Q27 1 i 3-4; par 4Q300 3 3-4). The word T- is frequentlyused in Second

DJD 34.28-33. Elgvin, "Wisdomand Apocalypticismin the Early Second CenturyBCE-The

12 T.

Evidence of 4Qlnstruction," in The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20-25, 1997 (eds L.H. Schiffman,

E. Tov, and J.C. VanderKam;Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety/Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum,2000) 226-47; K.B. Larsen,"Visdom og apokalyptiki Musar leMevin (IQ/4QInstruction) [Wisdom and Apocalyptic in Musar leMevin (IQ/ 4QInstruction)],"D7T 65 (2002) 1-14; F. Garcia Martfnez,"Wisdom at Qumran: Worldlyor Heavenly?"in Wisdomand Apocalypticismin the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Biblical Tradition(ed. F. Garcia Martinez;BETL 168; Leuven: Peeters-Leuven UniversityPress, 2003) 1-15. 13 The function of this expressionin 4QInstruction and the issue of its translation are examinedin M.J. Goff, The Worldlyand HeavenlyWisdomof 4Qlnstruction(STDJ 50; Leiden:Brill, 2003) 30-79.

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Temple literatureto signify revealed knowledge (e.g., Dan. 2:27-30; 4QEnC5 ii 26-27; cf. I En. 106:19).14 As in 1QS 11 and 1Q27 1, 4QInstructionuses the mysterythat is to be to refer to a comprehensiveplan that orchestratesthe flow of historyaccordingto God'swill, presentedas a revealedtruth.'5 Knowledge of this mysteryallows the addresseeto perceivehow the createdorder functions:"And you, understandingson, gaze into the mysterythat is to be and know [the path]sof all life. The way thatone conductshimself he appointsover [his] deed[s] ([1']rU 5b -Ijn' l:znF")" (4Q417 1 i 18-19).16 This teaching reflects a deterministicmindset.4Q417 1 i 11-12 also stresses the revelationof the divine frameworkguiding events:

"...

in proper understanding were made [known the secr]ets

of his plan (OnMOnn // nH4P: ]I`5), along with his walking [perfe]ctly [in all] his [dejeds." 4QInstruction explainsits understanding of thenaturalorderby appealing to divine creation.'7 The main passage for this is 4Q417 1 i 8-9, which reads:"By means of the mysterythat is to be he has laid out O its foundationand its works ( riV m' H : fl)." The act 'iW iiIll' n of creationis presentedas a rdz, or mystery.4Q417 I i puts forward a theology of a transcendentdeity who exerts his power over the cosmos. Thus realityunfoldsaccordingto a divinely determinedscenario. This understandingof God clarifies why the act of creation is presented as a revealed truth.If the world bears the imprintof a transcendentGod, it follows that the means he used to fashion it is also somethingthat must be revealed. Since the mysterythat is to be is centralto the conceptualizationof the naturalorder in 4QInstruction,it is not surprisingthat this mystery is also critical for the pedagogy of the composition.In apocalypses such as Daniel or 4 Ezra, angels explain to the seer how revelation should be understood.In 4QInstructionthe addresseehas to do much of this work himself. The acquisitionof knowledgeis the con-

14 M. Bockmuehl, Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity(GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1990) 53. Is T. Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"80-81; idem, "Wisdomand Apocalypticism,"235; Lange, Weisheitund Pradestination,60; D.J. Harrington,"The Raz Nihyeh in a QumranWisdomText (1Q26, 4Q415-418, 423)," RevQ 17 (1996) 549-53. 16 The transcription of the final phraseof this passageis in dispute.It is clear, however, that it emphasizesthe knowledgeof God's controlover events. See DJD 34.151; Tigchelaar,To IncreaseLearning,52. 17 M.J. Goff, "The Mysteryof Creationin 4QInstruction," DSD 10 (2003) 163-86.


267

sequenceof studyingthe mysterythat is to be, which has alreadybeen revealed to him (e.g., 4Q418 123 ii 3-4). The addresseeis exhorted to "gaze" (=12) upon,'8"examine"(wnr), "meditate"(-Mim) upon, and this mystery.19 "grasp"(MIpM) Although4QInstructionconstantlyrefers to a single addressee,it is clearly intendedfor more than one person.20At times the text mentions the mel,inim, using the plural (4Q415 11 5; 4Q418 123 ii 4; 4Q418 221 3). The stress on higher revelation to the elect suggests that 4QInstructionwas intendedfor a specific community.The preference for the singular appears to be a rhetorical maneuver that addressesthe mjbUntmin a more direct and personalfashion. It has been claimed that the addressees of the composition were priests.2' However, the text shows little interest in cultic and halakhic issues, suggesting not that the addresseeis a priest but ratherthat his elect status is presented in priestly terms, as Elgvin has argued.22Some have argued that 4QInstructionis a product of the same movement that producedthe CommunityRule and the Damascus Document.23 The text, however, has none of the red-flag markersof provenance from within the yahad movement,such as the Teacherof Righteousness or sectarianuse of the word -r17'. 18 4Q416 2 i 5 (par 4Q417 2 i 10); 4Q417 1 i 3, 18 (par 4Q418 43 2, 14). See also 4Q418 123 ii 5. Note that the words D:: and Tf are used togetherin 1QS 11:19. 19 See 4Q416 2 iii 9 (par 4Q418 9 8), 4Q418 43 4 (par 4Q417 I i 6), and 4Q418 77 4. See T. Elgvin, "The Mysteryto Come: Early Essene Theology of Revelation," in Qumranbetweenthe Old and New Testaments(eds F.H. Cryerand T.L. Thompson; JSOTSup290; Sheffield:SheffieldAcademicPress, 1998) 113-50 (esp. 133). 20 Tigchelaar, To Increase Learning, 245-48; idem, "The Addressees of in Sapiential,Liturgicaland Poetical Textsfrom Qumran:Proceedings 4QInstruction," of the ThirdMeetingof the InternationalOrganizationfor QumranStudies,Oslo 1998 (ed. D. Falk et al.; STDJ 35; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 62-75. 21 DJD 34.20-21. C.H.T. Fletcher-Louishas argued that 4Q418 81 was written to priests. See his All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls(STDJ42; Leiden:Brill,2002) 178-87. A. Langehasclaimedthat4QInstruction originated in the JerusalemTemple. See his "In Diskussion mit dem Tempel: zur Auseinandersetzung zwischenKoheletundweisheitlichenKreisenamJerusalemer Tempel," in Qohelet in the Contextof Wisdom(ed. A. Schoors; BETL 136; Leuven: Leuven UniversityPress/Peeters,1998) 113-60. 22 T. Elgvin, "Priestly Sages? The Milieus of Origin of 4QMysteries and 4QInstruction," in SapientialPerspectives:WisdomLiteraturein Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedingsof the SixthInternationalSymposiumof the Orion Center,20-22 May 2001 (eds G. Sterlingand J.J. Collins;STDJ51; Leiden:Brill, 2004) 67-87. In the same volume, see also L.H. Schiffman,"HalakhicElementsin the SapientialTexts." 23 J.M. Scott, "Korahand Qumran,"in The Bible at Qumran:Text, Shape, and Interpretation(ed. P.W. Flint; GrandRapids:Eerdmans,2001) 182-202; G. Vermes, The CompleteDead Sea Scrolls in English (New York: Penguin, 1997) 402.

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There are other differences between 4QInstructionand the main texts of the Dead Sea sect. The group behind 4QInstructiondoes not claim to have a new covenantwith God, in contrastto the Community Rule.No institutionalhierarchyis mentionedin thewisdomtext,although this may be an issue of genre. Unlike the rulebooks,4QInstruction neither raises calendrical issues nor specifies proper observance of major festivals. There is no penal code stipulating punishmentfor infractionsof the community'srules. The instructioncontainsno regulationsthat membersmust obey to remainin the group.The composition simply gives advice for the addresseeto follow. The focus is on the individualand his own pursuitof wisdom. Also, while the Torah is an importantsource for the teachings of 4QInstruction,it never explicitly makes the Torah a theme in its own right.24The Dead Sea sect, by contrast,is a much more Torahcenteredmovement(e.g., 1QS 6:6-8). It is reasonableto argue that 4QInstructionis not a productof this group.It thereforemakes sense to date the wisdom text to a time before the compositionof the texts of the Qumrancommunity.While there is not enough internalevidence to date 4QInstructionwith precision, it was likely composed at some point duringthe second century BCE.25

It would be a mistake,however,to consider4QInstructionunrelated to the sect associated with the Teacher of Righteousness.The large numberof manuscriptsof the compositionfound at the site suggests that it was at least read by this group. It has been claimed that 4QInstructionis a 'pre-Essene'or 'early Essene' composition.26 There is some value in this assessmentbut it must be qualified.There are too many differencesbetween the intendedaudienceof 4QInstruction

24 Lange has arguedthat the mystery that is to be should be associatedwith the Torah.Thus in his view the text displays"eine Verbindungvon Weisheitund Thora." See his Weisheitund Pradestination,48. Thereis a connectionbetweenthe two in that the Torahis considereda source of wisdom. But the mysterythat is to be is a source of revelationonly availableto the elect, and for that reasonthe extent to which it can be identifiedwith the Torahis limited.See also J.T. Sanders,"WhenSacredCanopies Collide:The Receptionof the Torahof Moses in the WisdomLiteratureof the SecondTemple Period,"JSJ 32 (2001) 121-36. 25 Elgvin and Lange date 4QInstruction to the early partof the second centuryBCE. See Elgvin, "PriestlySages?";Lange, "In Diskussionmit dem Tempel,"157. 26T. Elgvin,"EarlyEsseneEschatology:Judgment andSalvationaccordingto Sapiential Work A," in CurrentResearch and Technological Development on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conferenceon the Textsfrom the Judean Desert, Jerusalem,30 April 1995 (eds D.W. Pany and S.D. Ricks; STDJ 20; Leiden:Brill, 1996) 126-65 (esp. 164).


269

and that of the undisputedsectariantexts to posit a directrelationship between the two groups. It is possible that some of the mJbintmof wentto Qumran,bringingtheirteachingwiththem.Whether 4QInstruction that happenedor not, some aspects of the writings of the Dead Sea sect are compatiblewith 4QInstructionand could have been shapedby this text. One way to explore this possibility is to comparethe wisdom text with a compositionwrittenby the yahad group. The Sitz-im-Lebenof the Hodayot Like 4QInstruction, the Hodayot never mentions by name the Teacher of Righteousness,or the Examiner(mebaqqer)and Overseer (paqid) of the sectarianrulebooks.Nevertheless,in the editio princeps of the Hodayot Sukenikarguedthat the text is a productof the Dead Sea sect, and today this is widely considereda valid claim.27Some hymns of the Hodayot are prefaced with the phrase &78ZVMt mnUt, and some simwhich can be translatedas "Chantfor the Instructor,"28 ply with t:zvnr.29 The word in, is used in a sectariansense, as in, for example, 1QHa 6:18 (14:18): "I was broughtnear in the community (IrM)of all the men of my counsel (1-n1t02A)"(cf. 7:7 [frg. 10:6]; 12:24 [4:24]; 19:14 [11:14]). As in the rulebooks, the elect are referredto as the "Many":"Throughme you have enlightenedthe face of the Many (D:1:)' (12:27 [4:27]; cf. 7:14 [15:11]; IQS 6:1; CD 14:7). The fragmentarytext IQHa 22:2 (frg. 47:2) mentionsthe "volunteers"(M""rM), similarto a prominentterm in IQS 1 for those who are joining the sect (=m2Tn;11.7, 11). In languagereminiscentof 1QS

27 Sukenik,The Dead Sea

Scrolls of the Hebrew University,39. See, for example, IQHI 5:1 (frg. 15:1) and 7:11 (10:10). Note that the transcription 'I:XM nlintr in IQH' 5:1 assumes t. Puech's reconstructionand restorationof fragment 15 in the Sukenik edition. See l2. Puech, "Un Hymne essenien en partie retrouv6et les Beatitudes:IQH V 12-VI 18 (= col. XIII-XIV 7) et 4QBeat,"RevQ 13 (1988) 59-88; H. Stegemann,"The Numberof Psalms in JQHodayot?and Some of Their Sections,"in LiturgicalPerspectives:Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Proceedingsof the Fifth InternationalSymposiumof the Orion Centerfor the Studyof the Dead Sea Scrolls and AssociatedLiterature,19-23 January,2000 (ed. E.G. Chazon;STDJ 48; Leiden:Brill, 2003) 191-234 (esp. 195). 29 See 20:4 (12:4); 25:10 (frg. 8:10); and 4Q428 12 ii 3 (cf. 4Q427 3 4). See also IQM 1:1; IQS 1:1; lQSb 1:1; 4Q403 1 i 30; and 4Q511 2 i 1. Tigchelaarhas proposed a hypotheticalreconstructionof 4Q416 1 1, accordingto which the first visible word of the fragment,and probablythus of 4QInstructionas a whole, would be 'IDVM. 28

See his To Increase Learning, 183.

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10, IQHa 20:4-11 (12:4-11) discusses prayerin relationto the regular movementof the sun, suggestingthe use of a solar calendar.30 The Hodayot may also be referredto in the sectarianWar Scroll (1QM 15:5).

But if there is widespreadagreementon the Hodayot's provenance within the Dead Sea sect, there is less on its precise Sitz-im-Leben within this group. The extent to which its hymns were used in liturgy,31andwhich,if any,werecomposedby theTeacherof Righteousness himself have been majortopics of scholarlydebate on the Hodayot.32 While the texts of the Hodayotare writtenin the style of the biblical psalms, the form-criticalclassificationof the genre or genres within the collection has also been a subject of discussion.334QHa(4Q427)

30S. Holm-Nielsen,Hodayot:PsalmsfromQumran(Aarhus:Universitetsforlaget, 1960) 202-3. He also suggests that IQHa 12:23-24 (4:23-24) presupposesthe examination of initiatesdescribedin lQS 5:20-24. See ibid., 328. 31 H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartungund gegenwdrtiges Heil, 29-33, argued that the Hymns of the Communitywere recitedduringthe annualcovenantrenewalceremony. Holm-Nielsen,Hodayot,348, claimed that the hymnswere "'free' prayerswhich may be used anywherein the service,"withoutbeing fixed to specificfestivals.Manyscholars today do not considerthe Hodayotcollection as a whole to be liturgicalprayer. J.J. Collins, for example, has recently argued that the hymns of the Hodayot are better understoodas "texts for personal devotion." See his "Amazing Grace: The Transformationof the ThanksgivingHymn at Qumran,"in Psalms in Community: Jewish and ChristianTextual,Liturgical,and Artistic Traditions(eds H.W. Attridge and M.E. Fassler;Atlanta:Society of Biblical Literature,2004) 75-85. Most of the hymns of the collection lack a call for a groupto praiseor prayin unison,suggesting that they are not liturgicaltexts. Such an exhortation,however, is found in 4Q427 (4QHa) 7. Also the connectionof prayerin IQH' 20 to the regularsequenceof day and night suggests some sort of liturgicalformat.See furtherE.M. Schuller,"SomeReflections on the Functionand use of PoeticalTexts amongthe Dead Sea Scrolls,"in Liturgical Perspectives,173-89 (esp. 177); B. Nitzan,QumranPrayerand ReligiousPoetry (STDJ 12; Leiden: Brill, 1994) 321-55; E. Chazon, "The Functionof the Qumran PrayerTexts," in The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty YearsAfter TheirDiscovery,217-25. 32 G. Jeremias,Der Lehrerder Gerechtigkeit(Gottingen:Vandenhoeck& Ruprecht, 1963); M. Delcor, Les Hymnesde Qumran(Hodayot)(Paris:Letouzeyet Ane, 1962) 63-71. In current scholarship it is common to attributethe block of material in columns 10-17 to the Teacherof Righteousnessand understandthe rest as "Hymnsof the Community."See M.C. Douglas, "Powerand Praise in the Hodayot:A Literary Critical Study of IQH 9:1-18:14 (diss.; University of Chicago, 1997); idem, "The Teacher Hymn Hypothesis Revisited: New Data for an Old Crux,"DSD 6 (1999) 239-66. 33 G. Morawe,Aufbauund Abgrenzung der Lobliedervon Qumrdn.Studienzur gattungsgeschichtlichenEinordnungder Hodajoth (Berlin: EvangelischeVerlagsanstalt, 1961); Kuhn,Enderwartungund gegenwartigesHeil, 16-33; B. Kittel, The Hymnsof Qumran(SBLDS 50; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1981) 1-20. To emphasize that the Hodayothymns imitatebiblical prototypes,Holm-Nielsen,Hodayot,337, characterizes them as "epigonicpoetry."See also Nitzan, QumranPrayer, 28-30.


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preserves near verbatim copies of 1QHa hymns but in different sequence, and materialin 1QHa 26 is found in differentversions in 4Q427 7, 4Q47Ib, and 4Q491c (cf. 4Q431 ).34 This evidence calls into questionthe extent to which lQHa can be consideredthe authoritative version of the collection, or even if it can be considered a unifiedcomposition,an issue raisedby Holm-Nielsenin the early days Debate on these subjectswill continue.For of Hodayot scholarship.35 that the Hodayot is a collection of hymsay it suffices to the present nic writings that was composedby membersof the Dead Sea sect.36 There are obvious differences between 4QInstruction and the Hodayot.Aside from the issue of provenance,the formeris a wisdom text while the latter is hymnic poetry.Thus the second person singular in 4QInstructiontypically refers to the mebin, whereas in the Hodayot the antecedentof this pronounis normallyGod. 4QInstruction is written in an impersonal manner and says nothing directly about its author. By contrast, the Hodayot often describes, in an intense and personalmanner,the travails and angst of its speakerin the first personsingular,even thoughit is difficultto associate this "I" Forexample,1QHI13:22-24 (5:22-24) withan authorin everyinstance.37 reads: "I have been the target of sl[anderfor my rivals] ... for jealousy and angerto those who have joined my covenant. . . Ev[en those who e]at my bread have raised their heel against me; they have mocked me with an unjusttongue all who had joined my council" (cf. 10:18-19 [2:18-19]; 14:19 [6:19]; 22:8 [frg. 4:8]). While this text is in the traditionof biblical psalms in which the speakercomplains aboutthreatsfrom others(e.g., Pss. 31; 44), 1QHI13:22-24 can 34DJD 29.69-75, 203-5; J.J. Collins, and D. Dimant,"A Thrice-ToldHymn,"JQR 85 (1994) 151-55; E. Eshel, "4Q471b:A Self-GlorificationHymn,"RevQ 17 (1996) 175-202; M.O. Wise, "'V3tk ':1z: Mr:A Study of 4Q491c, 4Q471b, 4Q427 7 and 1QHa25:35-26:10,"DSD 7 (2000) 173-219. 35 Holm-Nielsen,Hodayot,316-31. 36 It is possible that some of the hymns in this collection were not written by the yahad communityper se, but ratherrepresentfree adaptationsof existinghymns.Wise, for example, argues that 4Q491c is older than the TeacherMovementand was incorporatedin slightly differentform into the Hodayot.See his 'V'Rz: 1:= In," 215-16. For a redactionalstudy of the Hodayot,see Douglas, "Powerand Praise,"351-70. 3' When dealing with the Teacherhymns it is generallysafer to equatethe "I"with an authorfigure than with the CommunityHymns. The matteris complicatedby the fact that the Psalms often use the first person singular. Holm-Nielsen, Hodayot, 318-19; idem, "'Ich' in den Hodajoth und die Qumrangemeinde,"in QumranProbleme.Vortragedes LeipzigerSymposions1961 (ed. H. Bardtke;Berlin:Deutsche Akademieder Wissenschaftenzu Berlin, 1963) 217-29; Douglas, "Powerand Praise," 379-91.

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be reasonablyread as referringto tension within the Dead Sea sect (cf. CD 19:33-35; 20:11-12).38There is no hint of comparablesectarian dynamicswhatsoeverin 4QInstruction. Determinism,Creation,and Revelation With regard to theological issues, 4QInstructionand the Hodayot have much in common.The Hodayot,like 4QInstruction,has a deterministic conception of God: "before creating them you know fall) their deeds for ever and ever. [Without you no]thing is done, and nothing is known without your will" (lQH8 9:7-8 [1:7-8]; cf. 6:27 [14:27]; 7:15-17 [15:12-14]). Such sentimentsare found elsewherein Second Temple texts, such as the Treatise on the Two Spirits (1QS 3-4). But 4QInstructionand the Hodayotconvey a deterministicmindset in similarways. IQHa 9:23-24 [1:23-24] employs the image of a writing implement in its descriptionof God's control over history: "Everythinghas been engraved(pipr) before you with the stylus of remembrance (flzr nrnn)."Thevisionof Hagupericopeof 4QInstruction associatesa "bookof remembrance" (1l:?r-P:) with the assertionthat God's plan for the world has been "engraved":"Engravedis the statute(p17I hiM), and ordained(jplpn)is all the punishment,because - by God"' engraved is that which has been ordained (pp1n inn) (4Q417 1 i 14-15).39 Both texts draw on the traditionthat the divine plan of history is written in a heavenly book, as does I Enoch and Jubilees (cf. IQM 12:3).40 Both 4Q417 1 i and lQHa 9 use the epithet "God of Knowledge," an expression used in several Second Temple texts when making deterministicclaims.4' Both relate the "God of Knowledge" to the

Holm-Nielsen,Hodayot, 106; Douglas, "Powerand Praise,"130-36. Lange, Weisheitund Pr&destination, 223-25. He offers a thoroughstudy of column 9 of lQH' on pp. 204-32. 40 Cf., for example, I En. 89:70; 103:2; Jub. 6:31; 15:25. See further Lange, WeisheitundPradestination,69-79; S. Paul, "HeavenlyTabletsand the Book of Life," JANESCU5 (1973) 345-53; C. Werman,"'The MlIT and the MDlD' Engravedon the Tablets,"DSD 9 (2002) 75-103. 41 The term occurs in 4Q418 55 5-6 and numeroustimes in the Hodayot.See, for example,20:10 (12:10);21:12 (frg. 3:12); 22:15 (frg. 4:15); 4Q427 7 ii 22; and 4Q428 21 4. Note the parallelin IQS 3:15: "Fromthe God of Knowledgestems all there is and all therewill be." Cf. 4Q299 35 1; 4Q299 73 3; 4Q400 2 8; 4Q402 4 12; 4Q405 23 ii 12; 4Q504 4 4; 4Q510 1 2; and 4Q511 1 7-8. 38 3


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"foundationof truth." IQH 9:26-27 (1:26-27) reads "To you, you God of Knowledge,belong all the works of justice and the foundation of truth (nmti- TO)." It is claimed in 4Q417 1 i 8 that "the God of Knowledge is a foundationof truth (fR 0fl1)."42Both compositions describeGod as a "God of Truth"(fnrt tR; 4Q416 1 14; 1QHa 7:28 [15:25]; cf. 12:40 [4:40]), a rare expression.43 The terminology common to 4Q417 I i and 1QH5 9 suggests a common milieu, as Elgvin

and Lange have claimed." Both 4Q417 1 i and IQHI 9 link determinismto the theme of creation. 4Q417 1 i teaches that one can perceive the divine world-order throughthe mystery that is to be because God used this mystery to fashion the world (11.8-9). IQHa 9:13-15 (1:13-15), thoughfragmentary, makes a compatibleassertion:"You have createdthe earthwith your strength,seas and deeps ... with your wisdom, everythingwhich is in them you have determinedaccordingto your will" (cf. 1. 7). The theme of creationin 4QInstructionrepresentsthe adaptationof a sapiential motif to accommodate a deterministicperspective. Since the Hodayot'sappeal to creationperformsa similarfunction,it is reasonable to attributethis to the influence of the sapientialtradition.This opens up the possibilitythat the authorof IQHa 9 read 4QInstruction. Althoughthe mysterythat is to be is not attestedin the Hodayot,it uses the word tn in relation to the created order, as does 4QInstruction.454Q417 1 i 8-9 describescreationas a nl, a mysterythat reflects God's splendorand dominion.In the descriptionof the createdorder in IQHa 9:9-13 (1:9-13) the word m is prominent: You have stretchedout the heavensfor your glory. Everything[which it contains] you have [es]tablishedaccordingto your will... luminariesaccordingto their mysteries (0n7T'), stars according to [their] circuits, [all the stormy winds]

42 Cf. IQH' 4:19 (17:19); 18:4 (10:4); and 19:9 (11:9). The speakerrefers to himself as a "foundationof truth"in 10:10 (2:10). The phrasemay also occur in 4Q418a 12 2. See also Lange, Weisheitund Pradestination,230. 43 DJD 34.87; Elgvin, "EarlyEssene Eschatology,"153. " Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"87; Lange, Weisheit und Pradestination, 297. to refer to 4S Note that the Hodayotemploys the Niphal participleof the verb mrm things which are eternal,a usage that is similar to the Niphal portionof the M;M:m (4Q417 1 i 3-4; 4Q418 123 ii 3-4). IQH' 5:17-18 (13:11-12) affirmsthat what God makes is eternal:"... creatingnew things, demolishingancient things and [erec]ting what exists for ever (oMburfl,m)."Cf. 19:13-14 (11:13-14); 4Q428 69 2. See Goff, Worldlyand HeavenlyWisdom,54-61.

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accordingto theirroles, lightningand thunderaccordingto theirdutiesand welldesigned storehousesaccordingto th[eir]purposes... accordingto their mysteries (117to*) (cf. 4Q432 1 1-3).46

The word raz is parallelto both "circuits"and "purposes,"terms that denotetheregularmotionof astralbodies(cf. IQHa5:13-16[13:7-10]).47 The "mysteries"of the cosmic order reflect the wisdom (=rz:r) of God, accordingto IQH' 9:7 and 19. Elsewhere the Hodayot praises "the mystery of your (God's) wisdom (FTlzM:n tr-f)"(17:23 [9:23]; cf.

20:13 [12:13];4Q491c 3; IQS 4:18). While this exact phraseis not in 4QInstruction,texts such as 4Q418 126 ii 4-5 stress the role of divine wisdom (ri7n=7) in the createdorder.48 The Hodayotemploys the word raz in other ways that are similar to 4QInstruction.As in the wisdom text, the word tn in the Hodayot signifies both heavenly knowledge and its revelation. In lQHa 9:21 (1:21) the speaker explains how he knows about the divine plan orchestratingthe cosmos: "These things I know throughyour knowledge, for you opened my ears to wondrousmysteries(K'r!'n)" (cf. 15:26-27 [7:26-27]; 16:35-36 [8:35-36]; cf. CD 3:l18).49 In IQHa 10:13 (2:13) the speakerclaims to disclose revelation:"you have set me like a bannerfor the elect of justice, like a knowledgeablemediator of wondrousmysteries(WM'M)" (cf. 12:27-28 [4:27-28]; 19:10 [11:10]). The phraseR 'fl never specificallyrefers to the transmission of revelationin 4QInstruction(4Q417 1 i 2, 13; 4Q418 219 2), whereasthis is clearly the case in undisputedwritingsof the Dead Sea sect.50 4QInstructionand the Hodayotcombinepedagogicalintentwith the theme of revelation.Both compositionsecho Proverbs1:4 when they state a desire "to make the simple understand."'" But they have difLange, Weisheitund Prddestination,217-18. 1QH'5:6 (frg. 17:3) uses the word fl in referenceto an overarchingplan:"Every [one who has been chosen by the know]ledgeof all intelligencewill under[stand...] and the mysteriesof the plan (nzUrTr'rl) and the begin[ningof.. .1 you have estab'f to the Mn!?fl 7rflI4:("secriets of his lished." Note the similarityof the nMUnM plan")that are revealedin 4Q417 i 11-12. 48 Note thatTreatiseon the Two Spiritsalso uses the word n to assertthat its deterministicclaims abouthumannatureare "in compliancewith the mysteriesof God ('r 't)" (lQS 3:23). Cf. 2 Bar. 81:4: "he (the Most High). .. madeknownto me the mysteries of the times, and showed me the coming of the periods"(cf. 4 Ezra 14:5). 49 Tigchelaar,To Increase Learning,204. 50 See, for example, IQS 9:18-19, in which the Maskil is to teach the "mysteriesof wonder and truth"(nrOK1 t0e "v:) so that membersof the communitymay "walkperfectly... in all that has been revealedto them."Cf. 4Qppsa 1:25-27. s' The second half of 4Q418 221 3 reads r,"rfi)e5 --ZT*, "to make all the simple 47


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ferent pedagogicalapproaches.4QInstructionshows surprisinglylittle interestin the revelationof the mystery that is to be. It has already been disclosed to the mebin (e.g., 4Q418 123 ii 3-4), and the author never mentions how the addressee learned about this mystery. It is reasonable to suggest that the author mediated this revelation, but 4QInstructionis utterly silent on this point. In the Hodayot, by contrast, the speaker celebrateshis own role as a transmitterof revelation. Those who receive revelation are said to be lovers of learning 1QHa 10:14 [2:14]) and are encouragedto meditate on (nom -17mm; what they have learned:"Accordingto your mouthyou teach them ... that they may contemplate[your] exploits unceasingly"(14:9, 11-12 [6:9, 11-12]).52 Comparedto 4QInstruction,however, the Hodayot shows more interest in the teacher impartingrevelation than in his students studying his disclosures. In terms of the Teacher Hymns, an emphasis on the authorityof the speaker and his revelationmay be an effort to exalt the Teacher of Righteousness. The author of 4QInstructiondoes not have the same leadershipstatus. The wisdom text's stress on studentsmay also be an issue of genre. Sapientialtexts characteristicallyexhibit more interest in the education of students than hymnic compositions. The Hodayot makes bolder claims than the wisdom text regarding revelation.The speakeraudaciouslydeclaresto God that "Like perfect dawn you have revealed yourself to me with per[fect] light" (12:6 [4:6]). There is nothinglike this in 4QInstruction.The speakerin the Hodayot at several points claims that God's very own "holy spirit" has been placed within him." The authorof 4QInstructionnever says this. While the mebin is said to have a holy spirit (4Q416 2 ii 6-7), the text never describesthis explicitly as a spirit of God, and it does not celebratepossessingit with hymns. Ratherit is used as a rationale for the addressee to avoid indebtedness.The teacher who mediates

"to Partof the fragmentarytext lQH' 5:2 (frg. 15:4) reads plnn M'tnlm, understand." make the simple understand." 52 Nitzan,QumranPrayer, 333-43. Note also that the Hodayotuses the word :'2'Zr: "You placed in his heartto open the sourceof knowledgefor all those who understand (o'2'::)" (10:18 [2:18]). It is not clear, however, that "thosewho understand"should be identifiedas the sectariancommunity.The next line reportsthat the people turn from theirinstruction.The text uses the word1:'2'rDto affirmthat the speakerhas been establishedto instructpeople, but that the people in questionhave rejectedhis teaching. See also Douglas, "Powerand Praise,"115. S3 4:26 (17:26); 6:13 (14:13); 15:6-7 (7:6-7); 17:32 (9:32); 20:12 (12:12).

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"wondrousmysteries"in the Hodayot, who may be the Teacher of Righteousnesshimself, shows even less humility with regard to his own teachingthan Ben Sira.54 TheophanicJudgment An importantlesson in 4QInstructionregardsthe final judgment.55 The mysterythat is to be can provideeschatologicalwisdom. 4Q417 2 i 10-11 reads:"[Gazeupon the mystery]that is to be, and graspthe birth-times of salvation (Dtr IIL7) and know who is inheriting glory

and who ini[qu]ity (t[I]b rn7:)."564QInstructionteaches that divine judgmentwill occur at a specific momentin the future,using the word rP("period").This is clear from the proclamationof "the period of tru[th]"in 4Q416 1 10-13: Fromheaven he will judge over the work of wickedness.But all the sons of his truthwill be acceptedwith favor. . . They (the wicked) will be in terror.And all those who defiledthemselvesin it (wickedness)will cry out. For the heavenswill be afraid... The [s]eas and the depthswill be in terror,and every fleshly spirit will be laid bare (7Z: m:-Ib: *iIm1). But the sons of heave[nwill rejoiceon the day of] its [judg]mentand all iniquitywill come to an end, and the period of tru[th]([n]6rWTl yp) will be completed(cf. 4Q418 69 ii 6-9).17

S See, for example, Sir. 24:32-33: "I will again make instructionshine forth like the dawn, and I will make it clear from far away. I will again pour out teaching like prophecy,and leave it to all futuregenerations."This attitudeis found in an even more extremeform in 4Q491c: "thereis no teachingcomparable[to my teaching]"(11. 9-10). For the view that the "wondrousmysteries"refer to the Teacherof Righteousness' claim of revelation,see Douglas, "Powerand Praise,"356-59. ss Elgvin, "EarlyEssene Eschatology,"126-65; J.J. Collins,"TheEschatologizingof Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in SapientialPerspectives,49-65. 56 The transcription of the word '[I]b is disputed.Strugnelland Harrington,DJD 34.182, suggest that either 'ntk or t= are likely readings. In their transcriptionof 4Q417 2 i the word is listed as *bb. Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"196, and Tigchelaar,To IncreaseLearning,55, transcribethis word as SliD, "iniquity."I favor this lattertranscription.In PAM 43.516 no tracesof the lettermem are visible in this word. Moreover,there does not appearto be enough space betweenthe 'ayin and the idmedfor a mem. There is, however,enough room for a wdw. 5 Tigchelaar'sedition of this passage supplements4Q416 1 11 with materialfrom 4Q418 212. His version of the second sentenceof this line thus includesmaterialnot found in DJD 34: "Forthe heavens shall fear, and the earthshall be shakenfrom [its place]." The additionalsecond phrase,though hypothetical,is attractiveon thematic grounds.See Tigchelaar,ToIncreaseLearning,174.See alsohis "Towardsa Reconstruction of the Beginningof 4QInstruction(4Q416 Fragment1 and Parallels),"in The Wisdom Texts from Qumranand the Development of Sapiential Thought (eds C. Hempel, A. Lange, and H. Lichtenberger; BETL 159; Leuven:LeuvenUniversityPress/Peeters, 2002) 99-126. For suggestionsregardingthe difficult verb nvrr, see Elgvin, "An


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This depictionof judgmentexpressesthe theology of the composition. God not only destroysthe wicked. His adventoverwhelmsthe cosmos, placing the entire naturalsystem in a state of fear, drawingcomparison with the theophanic tradition.58The final judgment is revealed in the Hodayot: "You have made known the time of the testimony (7nlDrnr1) to the fle[sh" (25:11 [frg. 5:11]; cf. 9:17-18 [1:17-18]). The Hodayot, like 4QInstruction,teaches that there is a final period (rp) in which judgmentis to occur. They shareotherexpressionswith regardto judgment,such as "eternalretribution"(-D fl7np.; IQHa5:16 [13:10]; 4Q417 1 i 8) and "periodof wrath" (1"'rr rp; IQHa 11:28 [3:28]; 4Q416 4 1).59 Like 4Q416 1 and 4Q418 69 ii, IQHa 11 (3) includesa theophanicjudgmentscene:"Theearthcriesoutat the calamity which overtakesthe world, and all its schemersscream, and all who are upon it go crazy, and melt away in the great calamity. For God will thunderwith the roar of his strength... [and] the eternal foundations melt and shake" (11.32-35).60 Theophanicjudgment accords with the depictionof God as an overwhelming,transcendentdeity that is promotedin both texts. Angels, Eden, and the Elect Accordingto both 4QInstructionand the Hodayot,the elect will be rewardedduring the final judgment.They use similar expressions to describe the elect. Both teach that the "sons of his truth"(innm:::) will be recompensedat the final judgment(4Q416 1 10; IQHa 14:29

Analysis of 4QInstruction,"245; Tigchelaar,To Increase Learning, 180; DJD 34.86. The verb may be a Hithpalpelof the root rwg,"to make bare"(cf. Jer 51:58). 58 Collins, "The Eschatologizing of Wisdom," 52; Elgvin, "Early Essene Eschatology," 150; idem, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"100. S9 The two texts may also sharethe phrase Ol nrnlp. IQH' 9:17 (1:17) atteststhe expression0?210 nrnpe. 4Q418 113 2 and 4Q418 126 ii 6 have the phrase]V Mn1lpM. The reconstructionc*lo rnlrpDis consideredlikely for these texts, accordingto DJD 34.340, 354. Regardingthe phrase 1lrT rp, cf. IQH' 22:8 (frg. 1:5); CD 1:5; and 4QpHosa1:12. See furtherTigchelaar,To IncreaseLearning,203, 240-41; Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"160-61. 60ThereareothersimilaritiesbetweenIQH' 11andthejudgmentscenesof 4Qlnstruction. IQH8 11:31 (3:31) mentionsthe "deep"and 4Q416 1 12 the "depths,"a motif found in biblical theophanies(cf. Exod. 15:8; Hab. 3:10). In IQH' 11:35 (3:35) the shaking destroysthe "eternalfoundations";the foundationsof the firmamentshout out (ix') in 4Q418 69 ii 9. The earthlikewise shoutsout (Vsn1i)in IQH' 11:33 (3:33). See also C.G.Frechette,S.J.,"Chiasm,ReversalandBiblicalReferencein IQH 11.3-18 (= Sukenik Column3): A StructuralProposal,"JSP 21 (2000) 71-102.

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[6:29]).61 IQHa 19:9 (11:9) associates the "sons of your favor" (0M1M '1:1)with mercy from God during judgment (cf. 6:10 [frg. 22:6]; 12:32-33 [4:32-33]). 4Q481 81 10 declaresthat the addressee has the ability to "turnaway angerfrom the men of favor (p1rsi=tK)." Though vague, this text appearsto be a call to the mebin to encourage others in his group to heed instructionand thus be spared from divine wrath.624Q418 69 ii 10 urges the "trulychosen ones" (fli nOR)not to tire of study; 1QHa 6:15 (14:15) uses relatedlanguageto describe the elect: "Trueare all your chosen ones" (7-nlLMbI: nRr). The "truly chosen ones" of 4Q418 69 ii 10-15 are opposed to the "foolish of heart"(Ml j'5R) of lines 4-9, who will be destroyedat judgment.Outside of 4QInstruction(4Q418 58 1; 4Q418 205 2), this phraseis only found in the Hodayot (9:37 [1:37]) and the minortext 4Q425 (4QSapientialWork C) (1 + 3 8).63 4QInstruction emphasizes that its intendedcommunityis "poor,"and this may also be the case in the Hodayot.64

61 Similarlanguagefor the elect is used in lQS 4:6; lQpHab7:10; and 1QM 17:8. The Hodayot prefersthe phrase "sons of your truth"(15:29-30 [7:29-30; cf. lQHb 1:4]; 17:35 [9:35]; 18:27 [10:27]; 19:11 [11:11];cf. 4Q427 7 ii 14). Also note that in 4Q418 55 6 God gives an allotmentto "the inheritorsof truth"(nfl "2mr). 62 This interpretation is suggested by 4Q416 1 10, which affirms that the "sons of his truth"will be will be accepted with favor (?tt) when judged. See further DJD 34.307; Elgvin, "The Mysteryto Come," 124; A. Wolters,"AnthropoiEudokias (Luke 2:14) and 'ansy rswn (4Q416)," JBL 113 (1994) 291-97. The main text of 4Qinstructionwhich the latterarticlediscusses is now numberedas 4Q418 81. 63 The Hodayot seems to take a softer stance towardsthe "foolish of heart"than 4QInstruction. While they will be destroyed in 4Q418 69 ii 8, IQHa 9:36-38 (1:36-38), thoughfragmentary,reads:"Be slow to anger, and do not despise an[y... the fool]ish of heart do not understandthese matters."For the text of 4Q425, see

T. Elgvin et al., Qumran Cave 4.XV: Sapiential Texts, Part I (DJD 20; Oxford: Clarendon,1997) 203-10. See also DJD 34.274. The expression:m "'b'I may be an

example of the influenceof the sapientialtraditionon the collectionof hymns. i Regarding4QInstruction,see, for example,4Q416 2 iii 8 and 12. 1QHa 13:21-22 (5:21-22) reads: "wonderfulheroes are your attendants,and with the humble ones (:'11.) in the mud before [your]feet... to raise from desolationthe communityof all ... the poor in kindness(70rl 91r')." lQHa 6:3-4 (frg. 18:3-4), thoughfragmentary, equatesthe phrase"thosesearchingfor wisdom"with "the poor in spirit,those refined by poverty."If one grantsthat the Hodayotrefers to the elect as poor, then the two texts use this conceptin very differentways. 4QInstructioncombinesremindersof the povertyof the addresseewith frequentfinancialteachings(e.g., 4Q417 2 i 21-24), suggesting that he was in fact literally poor, or could easily become so. The Hodayot shows no interestin giving the elect advice aboutfinancialaffairs.The collectionmay continuea trope from the Psalms, in which the speakeroften declareshimself to be poor (e.g., Pss. 34:7; 40:17). While the Hodayotmay help its addresseesunderstand their poverty, its hymns do not seem designed to help them with their povertyin a practicalsense, unlike4QInstruction.See furtherH.-J. Fabry,"Die Armenfrommigkeit


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The addresseeof 4QInstructionhas elect status. A key text regarding this theme is 4Q418 81, which in part reads: "As for you, with this honorhim: by consecratingyourself to him, as he has established you as (the) most holy one [of all] the world ([ vn']D'np S t:2h) (cf. 4Q423 4 3) and with all the [div]ine being[s] he has cast yourlot"(11.3_5).65 The addresseeis holy andin the angeliclot. Assessing these claims involves considerationof the vision of Hagu passage (4Q417 1 i 13-18), which has generateda great deal of interest in recent years.P6This pericopeteaches that this vision has been granted both to 01:0 and "spiritualpeople"who are created"accordingto the likeness of the holy ones" (orrjp ni'Mm).The vision of Hagu is not given to the "fleshlyspirit"because it does not possess the knowledge of good and evil. This presumably predisposes it to wickedness, althoughthis is never statedexplicitly. Accordingto 4Q416 1 12, this spiritwill be destroyedduringthe final judgment.The "fleshly spirit" representspeople who are not among the elect, and may signify the wicked. CMAis an intentionallyenigmaticterm that can be understood as humankindwrit large or the patriarchEnosh.67It can also be read as a referenceto the biblical Adam. The word 01:Kelsewhere is used elsewhere in this way (lQS 3:17-18). Collins has argued that the phrase o0101p rfl'ZnZ should be understood as an allusion to the expression:'ni &2;= of Genesis 1:27, "taking 'nftK in its angelic sense."68The mentionof the knowledge of good and evil in 4Q417 1 i 13-18 also suggests a link to Adam.

in den qumranischenWeisheitstexten," in Weisheit in Israel (eds D.J.A. Clines, H. Lichtenberger,and H.-P. Mtiller;Munster:Lit-Verlag,2003) 145-65; N. Lohfink, Lobgesdngeder Armen(Stuttgart:Verlag KatholischesBibelwerk,1990) 38-100. 65 The phrase0'171p Vrl7phas been understoodas a referenceto the Holy of Holies. See DJD 34.302. As Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"136, has pointedout, if it were "Holy of Holies" it probablywould have been spelled VVnnpV17p ratherthan 0'VrnpVn-p. Unlike lQS 8:5-6, the elect addresseeof 4QInstructionis never presented elsewhereas the remnantof Israelor the vessel throughwhich the atonementof Israel can take place. The text neverpolemicizesagainstthe JerusalemTempleor assertsthat it has been supplanted(cf. 4Q423 3 4-5). Neverthelessthe phrase T'rnlpVr7p clearly alludes to the Holy of Holies, presumablyas a way to emphasizethe holiness of the addressee. 66 DJD 34.162-66; T. Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"85-94; A. Lange, Weisheitund Pradestination,80-90; J.J. Collins, "In the Likeness of the Holy Ones: The Creation of Humankind in a Wisdom Text from Qumran," in The Provo InternationalConferenceon the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds D.W. Parry and E. Ulrich; STDJ 30; Leiden:Brill, 1999) 609-19; Goff, Worldlyand HeavenlyWisdom,80-126. 67 DJD 34.165; Lange, Weisheitund Pradestination,87. " Collins, "In the Likenessof the Holy Ones,"615.

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The addressee,like the "spiritualpeople,"has access to revelation and enjoys affinitywith the angels. These people representan ideal to which he is to aspire.Like the "spiritualpeople,"the mebin is distinguishedfrom the "fleshlyspirit."In 4Q418 81 1-2 he is told that God has "separatedyou from every fleshly spirit. And you, keep yourself separatefrom all that he hates."The vision of Hagu of the spiritual people is compatiblewith the mysterythat is to be of the mebtn. The vision representsdivine revelation,being associatedwith the "bookof remembrance"that exists in heaven (4Q417 1 i 16). The vision also teaches the inevitability of judgment (11. 14-15). Since the "fleshly spirit"that is denied the vision of Hagu does not have the knowledge of good and evil, it is reasonableto assume that the vision made this knowledge available.The mystery that is to be likewise providesthe addresseewith knowledgeon these two topics (4Q417 1 i 6-8; 4Q417 2 i 1O-12).69 Realizingthat the spiritualpeople have access to the same heavenly vision as VI:$could help the mebin understandthat the mystery that is to be discloses knowledgethat was originallypossessed by Adam. This view is strengthenedby the claim in 4Q423 1 that the addressee has authority over the garden of Eden: "... every fruit that is pro-

duced and every delightful tree, pleasing to give knowledge (j: ':ttr* -rnr, vx: r). Is [it] not a ple[asant]garden...? Over it he has given you authority to serve it and till it ( rlnt

u )" (11. 1-2;

cf. Gen. 2:15).'? The nurturingof Eden is a metaphorfor the addressee's successful commitmentto the study and ethics advocatedby 4QInstruction.His elect status is depictedas a symbolicrestorationof the relationshipGod enjoyed with Adam in the garden. If the addressee does not dedicate himself to this task the gardenwill sprout "thornsand thistles"(7`fnl rlp), an allusion to Genesis 3:18 (4Q423

69 Note that the Hodayotmay also associate the knowledgeof good and evil with revelation, although this is not certain. In lQH' 6:11-12 (14:11-12) the speaker's understandingof good and evil may be presentedas revelation:"You teach your servant [... of the spirit]sof man, for correspondingto the spirits. . . betweengood and evil (-Vvl* :10 ':), and set over them [... to sho]w them their actions." 70 E. Chazon, "The Creationand Fall of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls,"in The Book of Genesis in Jewish and Oriental Christian Interpretation:A Collection of Essays (eds J. Frishmanand L. van Rompay;Leuven: Peeters, 1997) 13-24; E.J.C. Tigchelaar,"Edenand Paradise:The GardenMotif in Some Early Jewish Texts," in ParadiseInterpreted:Representationsof Biblical Paradisein Judaismand Christianity (ed. G.P. Luttikhuizen;Leiden:Brill, 1999) 37-57.


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1 3).71 While Adam was forced to deal with these difficult yields because he attempted to obtain knowledge that was forbidden, in 4QInstructionthey are a consequenceof the addressee's inability to acquirewisdom. The addressee,who is in the angelic lot, is admonishedto be like the angels: "Do] you [not k]now, or have you not heard, that the angels of holiness are h[is] in heaven... They pursue after all the roots of understandingand are vigilant for.. ." (4Q418 55 8-9; cf. 4Q418 69 ii 13-1-4).4QInstructionalso describesthe elect community as an "eternalplanting."4Q418 81 13, a fragmentarytext, reads: ". . . dur-

ing all periods (is) his splendor,his grandeur(is) with the eter[nal] planting ([&]DPMDMM in-IND iM! op tIZ CS)." The phrase occurs in several Second Temple texts, typically as a referenceto a human community that is blessed by God.72Loren Stuckenbruckuses the claim in 4Q418 81 1 that the addressee's praise of the divine is an "eternalfountain"(&wldrlpm)to interpretthe "eternalplanting"of line 13. He argues that "the watering from the fountain may thus signify the participationof the communityin the activities that characterise God's holy ones in heaven." This is a helpful assessment. 4QInstructionnever says that the mebinparticipatesin prayerwith the angels. According to 4Q418 81 1, he should "bless the holy ones" (1:1D0p lm)' not with the holy ones (cf. 11. 11-12). An important part of his divinely appointedstatus is to praise both God and the angels (4Q416 2 iii 11; 4Q417 1 ii 9). By acquiringknowledge and praisingthe divine, the addresseeacts like the angels and thus fulfills his divinely appointedrole in the their lot. After the "mourning"of this life, the addresseeis to receive "eternal joy" (1'*V MUDw) a designationfor eternallife (4Q417 2 i 10-12).

DJD 34.510. Cf. 1 En. 10:16; 93:10; Jub. 1:16; 16:26. See furtherP.A. Tiller, "The 'Eternal Planting' in the Dead Sea Scrolls,"DSD 4 (1997) 312-35; Elgvin, "An Analysis of 4QInstruction,"128-34; G.W.E. Nickelsburg,1 Enoch:A Commentaryon the Book of I Enoch, Chapters 1-36, 81-108 (Hermeneia;Minneapolis:Fortress,2001) 444 45. See also S. Fujita,"The Metaphorof Plant in Jewish Literaturein the Intertestamental Period,"JSJ 7 (1976) 30-45. 73 L.T. Stuckenbruck, "'Angels' and 'God': Exploringthe Limits of Early Jewish in ExploringEarlyJewishandChristianMonotheism(edsL.T.Stuckenbruck Monotheism," and W. SprostonNorth;London:T&T Clark,forthcoming).See also MichaelFishbane, "The Well of Living Water:A Biblical Motif and its Ancient Transformations,"in Sha'arei Talmon:Studies in the Bible, Qumran,and the AncientNear East presented to ShemaryahuTalmon (eds M. Fishbane and E. Tov; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1992) 3-16. 7'

72

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Joy is an eschatological reward elsewhere in Second Temple texts (e.g., I En. 104:4;Jub. 23:30-31; IQS 4:6-8). Since the angels have eternallife (4Q418 69 ii 13), it is reasonableto claim that the mebin is to join the angels. By acting like the angels during life, the addressee can join them after death. The Hodayot describes the elect in ways that are similar to 4QInstruction.Both compositions,for example,reflecton the relationship between the elect and the "fleshlyspirit"(-=: nfl).74 Only these two texts attest this phrase.75In 4QInstructionthis spirit does not receive the vision of Hagu, and in 4Q418 81 1-2 the mebtnis separated from it. By contrast, in Hodayot the speaker laments that he himself is a "fleshly spirit."In IQH 5:19-20 (13:13-14) the speaker asks: "In the mysteries of your insight [you] have apportionedall these things ...

[However, what is] the fleshly spirit (:wl nfl) to

understandall these matters?"(cf. 4:25 [17:25]; 9:21-23 [1:21-23]). This is an example of the Hodayot'sNiedrigskeitsdoxologien, a term coined by H.-W. Kuhn,in which the speakercomplainsaboutthe lowliness of the humancondition.76The no: Mn-refers to humanitywrit large,includingtheelect. Whiletheself-awarenessevidentin theHodayot regardingtension between the elect and his "flesh"resonateswith the hymn concludingthe CommunityRule, there is nothingof the sort in 4QInstruction.77It is possible that 4QInstructionand the Hodayot came upon the expression"fleshlyspirit"independently.Frey suggests that the use of the term "flesh"in the Hodayot and the other sectarian texts could representinfluencefrom older sapientialwritingssuch as 4QInstruction.78 It uses the term "flesh"in a negativeway, but the concept is more negative in the Hodayot and the CommunityRule. The wisdom text is never troubledby the fact thatthe mebin,although he has been separatedfrom the "fleshlyspirit,"is still a humanbeing.

" J. Frey, "Fleshand Spiritin the PalestinianJewish SapientialTraditionand in the QumranTexts: An Inquiryinto the Backgroundof Pauline Usage," in The Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 367-404. 75 Tigchelaar, To Increase Learning, 206. 76 Kuhn, Enderwartung und gegenwdrtiges Heil, 27-29; Frey, "Flesh and Spirit,"

378-85. 77 After the speakerdeclaresthat he has been given the mysterythat is to be in lQS 11:3-4, he is distressedsince he neverthelessbelongs to the "assemblyof unfaithful flesh" (5l -2: mno)(1. 9; cf. IQM 4:3). 78 Frey, "Fleshand Spirit,"400. See also C. Hempel,"TheQumranSapientialTexts and the Rule Books," in The Wisdom Texts from Qumran, 277-95.


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Texts such as IQHa 5 and lQS 11 seem to be the productof further reflectionon the issue of the "flesh"of the elect. This suggests Frey is right, althoughthe evidence is not conclusive. Assessmentsof humankindin the Hodayotare not, however,wholly negative. 1QHa 19 (11), after affirmingthat the "sons of your favor" have been given revelation, declares that "You have purified man (tDr) from offence, so that he can make himself holy (pnni) for you... to become unitedwi[th] the sons of your truthand in the lot with your holy ones (MlMOrTp MDt71M)... so that he can take his place in your presencewith the perpetualhost... to renew him with everythingthat exists forever"(11.10-14; cf. 14:13 [6:13]). The "man" of this text refersnot to all of humankind,but the elect who have been purgedof the baser elementsof theirhumanity.As such, they are with the angels (cf. 11:19-23 [3:19-23]; 4Q427 7 ii 17). While most of the hymns of the Hodayotdo not appearintendedfor liturgicaluse, there is a call to praise God in unison with the angels in 4Q427 7 i: "Sing praise, 0 beloved ones, sing to the king of [glory, rejoice in the congrelgation of God... [ex]tol together among the eternal hosts ('rF &ID t:2mz), ascribe greatness to our God and glory to our king" (11.13-15; cf. 1QHa26:9-13).79Liturgical texts such as the Songs of the SabbathSacrifice,4QDaily Prayers,and 4QBerakhot,indicatethat fellowship with the angels in prayerwas an importantfeatureof life at Qumran.80 In 1QHa 19 the prospectof eternallife afterdeath is presented as simply a continuationof the blessed life they enjoy.8' Angelic fellowship is presentedin boldertermsin the Hodayotthan 4QInstruction.Unlike these hymns, there is no sense in the wisdom text that the mebtnis a "creatureof dust"(IQHa 5:21 [13:15];cf. 9:22 [1:22]) who was purifiedby God so that he can be with the angels. The addresseeshould be like the angels. But there is no sense that he is, as it were, shoulderto shoulderwith them. While praise is a key

DJD 29.96-99; Collins, "AmazingGrace." B. Frennesson,"In a CommonRejoicing":LiturgicalCommunionwith Angels in Qumran(Uppsala:Universityof Uppsala Press, 1999); D. Dimant, "Men as Angels: The Self-Image of the QumranCommunity,"in Religion and Politics in the Ancient Near East (ed. A. Berlin; Bethesda: University Press of Maryland, 1996) 93-103; E. Chazon, "Human and Angelic Prayer in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls," in LiturgicalPerspectives,35-47 (esp. 43-45); eadem, "LiturgicalCommunionwith the "9 80

Angels at Qumran," in Sapiential, Liturgical and Poetical Texts from Qumran, 95-105. 81 J,J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Routledge, 1997)

119-23.

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themeof bothcompositions,4QInstruction neverclaimsthattheaddressee joins the angels in liturgicalprayer.While 4Q417 2 i 10-12 contrasts the "mourning"of this life with "eternaljoy" ( mr%5 nnrr), which will be experienced after death, 4Q427 7 i 17 declares that the elect "rejoicewith eternaljoy (vntL Mirn)v"when prayingwith the angels (cf. 4Q427 7 ii 11; lQS 4:6-8).82

The differencebetween 4QInstructionand the Hodayotwith regard to the realizationof eschatologicalrewardsin life can be illustratedby comparing4Q418 126 ii with IQHa 19 (11).83 The former has the phrase "eternalglory and peace everlasting"(-w =*V1 &v 7=n:) in line 8. Whilethecontextof thisphraseis fragmentary, it seemsto describe the eschatological rewards of the elect, since line 7 mentions the destructionof the wicked and the lifting up of the poor. Line 8 also has the obscure phrase"to separatethe spirit of life," suggestingthat these rewards are to be allocated after the death of the body (cf. 4Q418 103 ii 9). By contrast,1QHa 19:27 (1 1:27), in its descriptionof the community's unison with the angels, declares that the group's unceasing praise will display God's "everlasting glory and eternal peace"(&IPVOftl -T i1nz) (cf. 4Q428 12 i 3).84 In contrastto 4Q418 126 ii, these are divine attributesthat are availablein the present. However, God has establishedthe mebin in the angelic lot, and in that sense this status is an ordainedfeatureof his largerplan guiding history.Althoughacquiringa blessed afterlifeis predicatedon conduct during life, 4QInstruction, like the Hodayot, blurs the distinction between this life and the rewardsof the next: "Praisehis name constantly because he has raised your head out of poverty ( vffl tflr: T:IZV). With the nobles (0-1'nm) he has placed you, and he has given

you authorityover an inheritanceof glory" (4Q416 2 iii 11-12). The "inheritanceof glory" refers to the elect status of the addressee.It is therefore reasonable to understandthe term D:',:' as referring to

Note that IQHa 23:15 (18:15) atteststhe phrase"mourningto eternaljoy" (D^bti Mnloo). Unlike 4Q417 2 i, there is no indicationthat this text presents"mourning" as somethingthat exists currentlyand that "eternaljoy" is somethingthat is not yet realized,althoughthe passage is fragmentary.One does, however,get this impression from the varianttext of IQH' 23:15 in 4Q428 14 5-6. See DJD 29.149-50. 83 DJD 34.354. 14 B. Nitzan has recently arguedthat "eternalpeace" is a motif in sectariantexts (e.g., IQS 2:4; lQSb 3:5) that refers to "the eternalrewardexpectedfor the righteous at the End of Days." See her "Prayersfor Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the TraditionalJewish Liturgy,"in LiturgicalPerspectives,113-32 (esp. 131). 82

rP11)


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angels. 4Q427 7 ii 8-9 has similar imagery: "(God) casts down the haughty spirit so that there is no remnantand lifts up the poor from the dust (11K IM. DEin\)... and to the clouds he magnifies him in statureand (he is) with the heavenly beings in the assembly of the community"(cf. 1QHI26:1-2; 1 Sam. 2:6-7).85 In 4QInstructionthe addresseedoes not "sit" with the angels duringhis life, but he lives in the angelic lot and can expect to join them afterdeath. 4Q416 2 iii 11-12 gives symbolic expressionto this. By contrast,4Q427 7 ii 8-9 is better interpretedin a more literal fashion, given the stress on fellowship with the angels in liturgyin this text and the sectariancorpus in general.While it is possible that these two texts are independentof one another, their similarity can be read as a consequence of the authorof 4Q427 7 reading4QInstruction.If so, he incorporatedsome of its imageryinto his own hymn, in light of a conceptionof angelic fellowship that is fully realized in the present, a view not found in 4QInstruction. Like 4QInstruction,the Hodayot relates the elect not only to the angels but also to the primordialpast. They possess the "glory of Adam":"You [protect]the ones who serve you loyally... You have raised an [eternal] name, [forgiving] offence, casting away all their iniquities,giving them as a legacy all the glory of Adam (rnK -T:) [and] abundanceof days" (IQH' 4:14-15 [17:14-15]). As FletcherLouis has stressed, this glory is depicted as somethingthat the elect alreadyhave.86This same glory is promisedto the elect in the rulebooks, and in CD it is explicitly associated with eternal life (3:20; lQS 4:22-23; cf. 4QpPsa3:1-2). Whiletheexpressionremainsenigmatic, in IQHa 4 the "glory of Adam"is associatedwith the redemptionof the elect, who have been cleansed of their iniquities. 4QInstruction also connectsthe mebitnto Adam, but never stressesthat God cleansed him of any sin before he was given authorityover the garden. The theme of a renewal of a prelapsarianstate is combinedwith angelic fellowship in lQHa 14:14-16 (6:14-16): "They (the elect) will

85DJD 29.100. The relatedtext 4Q491c makes a similar,but more extreme,claim: "I am counted among the gods and my dwelling is in the holy congregation;[my] des[ire] is not accordingto the flesh" (1. 7). Also note the use of the word "noble" (Z-11) in the fragmentaryline 5 of this text. The term appearsto refer to humandignitarieswho are comparedto angels: "a mightythronein the congregationof the gods above which none of the kings of the East shall sit, and their nobles no[t..." 86 All the Glory of Adam,96.

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be your princes in the lo[t of your holy ones. Their root] will sprout like a flo[wer of the field flor ever, to make a shoot grow in branches of the eternal planting (:TlD UcDrZ)...All the streams of Eden [will water] its [bra]n[ch]es" (cf. 4Q428 8). The phrase DC7wMn:mis also used in IQH' 16 (8), in which the speaker declares that God has placed him in the midst of a luxurious and secret garden: I give [you] thanks, [Lord,j because you have set me at the source (lipm; cf. 4Q418 81 1) of streams... a plantationof cypresses and elms, togetherwith cedars,for your glory. Trees of life in the secret source(n -DM),hiddenamong all the trees at the water, which will make a shoot grow in the eternalplanting (M'w flnin) (11.4-6; cf. 4Q433a 2).87

In this hymn, which is generally considered a Teacher Hymn, the speaker describes the garden as at a t- num, literally a "spring of mystery." The revelation disclosed to the speaker represents a recovery of knowledge possessed by Adam in Eden. The expression &%Unun helps convey both the lush growth of the garden and that its yield is the result of divine favor. In column 14 it is associated with the claim that the elect are in the lot of the holy ones, as in 1QS 11:7-9. 4Q418 81 also describes the elect in the angelic lot as an eternal planting. An association between the elect as an "eternal planting" and Eden is explicit in IQHI 14. It is implicit in 4QInstruction since the mebifnis to maintain the garden, and he comprises an "eternal planting" insofar as he acts like the angels. The theme of Eden is elaborated further towards the end of column 16 of the Hodayot. The speaker boasts over his control over this garden: "But if I remove my hand it (the garden) will be like the acac[ia in the desert] ... thorns and thistles (77171 rlM) shoot up" (11.24-25). While the expression "thorns and thistles" in Genesis 3:18 is a harsh reminder that Adam is no longer in the garden, here the phrase is used to imply that the speaker has responsibility over the garden since, if he abandons it, it will fall into ruin. In this way the speaker compares himself to Adam. It is thus not surprising that the elect have the "6gloryof Adam." The Hodayot's depiction of the elect in Eden is similar to 4QInstruction in that the mebin has authority over this garden (4Q423 1). But they

87 The range of biblical texts alludedto in this passage is examinedin M.A. Daise, "BiblicalCreationMotifs in the QumranHodayot,"The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years

After Their Discovery, 293-305.


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appeal to Eden in differentways. In lQHa 16 the speakerboasts that he can turn the garden into "thorns and thistles." The author of 4QInstructiondoes not make this claim. Ratherhe warns that the garden will produce these same weeds if the mjbtn does not properly maintainit. In 4QInstructionGod gives the addresseeauthorityover the garden.In contrastto the Hodayot,the authordoes not confer this power on the mebin himself. The office of the teacheris more exalted in the Hodayot. The figure is not only a source of instructionand transmitterof divine revelation.He is the conduit of the elect status God grantsto the community.The hymns in columns 14 and 16 are generally consideredTeacher Hymns, and may have been written by the Teacherof Righteousness.Whetherthat is the case or not, in comparison to the speaker in these texts, the author of 4QInstruction shows much more interestin his studentsthan himself. Conclusion The impressiongiven by the authorialvoice of the Hodayotis that the only source that inspiredthe collection was God himself, through the Torah and direct revelation. But comparisonwith 4QInstruction suggests that other influenceswere at work. The Hodayot exhibits a degree of reliance on the sapientialtradition.4QInstructionprovides new evidence to supportthis claim. Although the Hodayot does not share 4QInstruction's interest in practical wisdom (but see lQHa 9:36-37 [1:36-37]), the two texts have much in common.The authonal voice of each composition is that of a teacher who encourages people to learn and study. Both texts purportto disclose revelationto the elect and appeal to creationto explain a deterministicworldview, as Lange has observed.They also associate the elect with Adam and the angels. The two texts share a numberof distinctive terms, and lQHa 18 and 4Q418 55 have verbatimmaterial.Their thematiccorrespondencesand terminologicaloverlaps suggest a direct relationship. Since 4QInstructioncan be plausiblydated to the second centuryBCE, it is reasonableto posit that the wisdom text influencedthe Hodayot. The two texts, however, conceive of the elect and the figure of the teacher in different ways. The elect are with the angels in the Hodayot,whereasin 4QInstructionfull participationwith the angels is achieved only after death. In the Hodayot the speakermakes numerous claims about his revelationand his teachingthat are not matched by the author of 4QInstruction,such as control over the garden of

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Eden. These differencessuggest that ideas and phrasesfrom the wisdom text were loosely incorporatedinto the hymnsof the Hodayotand presentedin a bolderand more extremefashion.The authoror authors of the Hodayotlearnedfrom 4QInstructionand elaboratedsome of its ideas. Similarities with 4QInstructionare found throughoutthe hymns of the Hodayot, in both its Teacher and Community Hymns. The Hodayot need not be considereda unified text, and it is not required to positthatit hada singleauthorto explaintheinfluenceof 4QInstruction. The multiplemanuscriptsof the wisdom text found at Qumransuggest that it was popularfor the communitythat lived there. The affinities between 4QInstructionand the Hodayot also indicate the appeal the wisdom text had within the Dead Sea sect.

MORE ON THE QUMRAN ROUNDEL AS AN EQUATORIAL SUNDIAL GEORGEM. HOLLENBACK Houston, Texas

Shown in Fig. 1 is the small limestone disc known as the Qumran roundel, a shadow-casting gnomon mounted in the socket in the roundel's center.' Deeply incised in the roundel's face are four concentric circularchannels. Less conspicuouslyincised are the remains of threeconcentric,segmentedcircularbandsthat have the appearance of irregularly calibrated-probably botched-scales of some kind. Possible functionssuggestedfor the roundelinclude solar compass to lay out the four cardinalpoints, markerfor solstitial and equinoctial phenomena,and sundialthat tells time in "seasonalhours"(i.e., hours that vary in length with the seasons, longer in the summerand shorter in the winter).2A recent addition to the literaturesuggests that the segmentedbands were not associatedwith the sundialfunctionof the roundel,but ratherwere simply tally countersused for keeping track of distanceswalked in a given period of time.3 The presentwritersuggestedthat based on the configurationof the roundel-a calibrateddisc with a socket in the center for a perpendicular gnomon-it could have been used as a particular kind of sundial known as an equatorial (or equinoctial) sundial. When the gnomon of an equatorialsundial is orientedtowardthe celestial pole, the shadow cast by the gnomon duringdaylighthours will sweep out constanthours, not varying "seasonalhours."Although the dial face

I Illustrationof Qumranroundelfrom cover of A Day at Qumran: The Dead Sea Sect and Its Scrolls (ed. A. Roitman;Jerusalem:Israel Museum, 1997). 2 M. Albani and U. Glessmer, "An Astronomical Measuring Instrument from Qumran,"in The Provo InternationalConference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and ReformulatedIssues (eds. D.W. Parry and E. Ulrich;STDJ 30; Leiden:Brill, 1999), 407-42. 3 B. Thiering, "The Qumran Sundial as an Odometer Using Fixed Lengths of Hours,"DSD 9 (2002) 347-63.



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of an equatorialsundialis typicallydividedinto twenty-foursectorsto representthe hours in a day, the threering scales on the roundelseem to indicatesmallergradationsof time, perhapshalf, third,and quarter hours markedby forty-eightincrementson the inner scale, seventytwo incrementson the middle scale, and ninety-six incrementson the outer scale.4 The presentwriterlater became aware of equatorialsundialsin old Beijing that bear an uncanny resemblance to the Qumranroundel. Like the roundel,they are stone discs with concentric,calibratedring scales and perpendicular gnomons mounted in their centers. The Beijing sundial shown in Fig. 2 has an outer ring scale divided into ninety-sixincrementsand an innerring scale divided into twenty-four increments;the innerring scales of some Beijing sundialsare divided into twelve "doublehour"increments.5The Beijing sundials like the one shown in Fig. 2 probably date from the first half of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE) and reflectEuropeaninfluence.6The morphological similarities between the Beijing sundials and the Qumran roundelcannot help but suggest functionalsimilaritiesas well.

I G.M. Hollenback,"TheQumranRoundel:An EquatorialSundial?"DSD 7 (2000) 123-29. Thiering(355) takes issue with the division of the innerscale into forty-eight incrementsand opts for sixty increments,correctlypointingout that even in spite of the damageto the surfaceof the roundel,more than forty-eightincrementsare visible. The inner scale, however, is the most erraticin its calibration.One incrementis so large as to suggest a twenty-fourincrementdivision of the scale if all the increments were of similar size; other incrementsare about a quarterthe size of the large one, suggestinga ninety-six incrementdivision of the scale if all the incrementswere of similarsize. A botchedovercalibrationof an intendedtwenty-fouror forty-eightincrement scale would accountfor the superfluityof incrementalmarkings. IIllustrationof Beijing sundialfrom A. Aveni, AncientAstronomers(Washington: Smithsonian,1993), 83. 6 The presentwriterwould like to acknowledgeDr. E.C. Krupp,Director,Griffith Observatory,Los Angeles, for providingthis informationvia personalcorrespondence.

MOREON THEQUMRANROUNDEL

Fig. 1. Qumranroundel(Roitman,A Day at Qumran,cover).

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Fig.2eijingundaAenin

Fig. 2. Beijing sundial (Aveni, Ancient Astronomers, 83).

DID JOHN THE BAPTIST EAT LIKE A FORMER ESSENE? LOCUST-EATINGIN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND AT QUMRAN JAMES A. KELHOFFER Saint Louis University

JamesH. Charlesworth has arguedthatJohntheBaptist'seatinglocusts and honey characterizesthe legendarywildernessprophetas a former Essene: During the beginningof his [John's]attemptto enter the Community,he would have sworn an oath to obey Torahaccordingto the interpretationof the priests (IQS 1.16-20; 5.1-6.1; 6.13-23). He ate only honey and wild locusts. That would indicatethat he did not accept food from others.The descriptionof what John ate has a decidedlyQumranor Essene ring to it. That is, locusts and honey were acceptablefoods for the Qumranitesand the Essenes.'

Charlesworthuses a particularinterpretationof CD 12:1lb-15a to supportthis characterizationof John as a formerEssene: No-one should defile his soul Lhwithany living being or one which creeps, by eating them, from the larvae of bees to every living 13being(iP 'flt1fl nrrTn : ') which creeps in water. And fish: they should not eat them unless they have been opened up 'alive, and the[ir blood poured] away. And all the locusts (cmnnr'z%),accordingto theirkind (MrrM), shall be put into the fire or into water LSwhile[they are] still alive, as this is the regulationfor their species.2

Charlesworthis not the first scholar to posit a connectionbetween the diet of the Baptist and the Essenes, however.3

I

Charlesworth,"Johnthe Baptizerand QumranBarriersin Light of the Rule of the

Community," in The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ

30; ed. D.W. Parryand E. Ulrich;Leiden:Brill, 1999) 353-75; here: 367. Cf. Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c, discussedbelow. 2 CD 12:1lb-15a; Heb. and ET: F. GarciaMartinezand E.J.C.Tigchelaar,eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls StudyEdition(Leiden:Brill; GrandRapids:Eerdmans,2000 [1998]) 570-71. 3 Already J.M. Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Penguin Books, 19582 [1956]) 163-65; here, 164: "We are told that besides his wearingof only the simplest C KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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Charlesworth'sargument,that the "descriptionof what John ate" in Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c "has a decidedlyQumranor Essene ring to it," is open to criticismfor several reasons: 1. It construes inaccurately Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c, the NT witnesses to John's locusts and honey. 2. It misinterpretsCD 12:llb-15a. 3. It wrongly assumes that locusts were a distinctive food in a PalestinianJewish context. The first two points may be dispensed with rather briefly. The majority of this article will be concerned with locust-eating in the Ancient Near East and in Jewish writings from Leviticus to Moses Maimonides.A plethoraof testimoniesdemonstratesthat locusts were (and, incidentally,remain) a rathercommon food for people in this region and, moreover, can shed some light on one aspect of the Baptist's and the Essenes' way of life. I. What Mark 1:6clIMatt. 3:4c Does (and Does Not) State concerning John's Diet

Charlesworth'scharacterizationof John as eating "only honey and wild locusts" is dubious in two respects. First, the exclusive attribution ("only")correspondsto the later claim of Matthew,that John's wildernessfood consisted of (v) locusts and wild honey: Ti E Tpopy fnva)roi aKpi6Ec d js ti "yptov(Matt. 3:4c). The earlierGospel attriicp bution of Mark 1:6c states with an iterative imperfect periphrastic (iv ... eAOiwv)merely that John was in the habit of eating grasshop... aO1kov pers and wild honey: ijv o 'Iho6ivv1 'ayptov. a9xpiSx; 'iCCtgt Inferringfor the historical Baptist the heightened attributionof the later Gospel, Matthew, requires an argument,which Charlesworth does not provide.4

garments,he ate only honey and locusts, bothof which are mentionedin the food laws at the end of the DamascusDocument.This again may indicatethat the food he was able to eat was strictly limited owing to his purityvows taken in the Community." NTS 29 (1983)569-71, Additionally,S.L.Davies,"JohntheBaptistandEsseneKashruth," maintainsthat John's eating locusts and wild honey did not make him an ascetic; rather,it was concernedwith ritualpurity. I There is no reason,however, to questionthe plausibilityof Mark 1:6c, that John regularlyate these foods while in the wilderness.

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A second questionable aspect of this scholar's interpretationof Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c concernsthe adjective&yptov(neuter,singular), which in both Mark 1:6c and Matt. 3:4c must modify ji'Xt (neuter, singular),not icxpi6s;(feminine, plural). It is thereforeinaccurateto refer to John's diet as "honey and wild locusts."' II. The Damascus Documentand QumranCuisine In addition to misconstruingMark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c, Charlesworth finds a referenceto bee honey where it is not presentin the Damascus Document.In CD 12: 1lb-15a, the larvae of bees are mentionedonly as a negative example of what not to eat (12:12b). The passage does not state that the Essenes ate honey. CD 12:1lb-15 mentionsonly two foods, fish and locusts. Moreover,if John,who baptizedin the Jordan River (!), did indeed eat like a formerEssene, it is surprisingnot to find a referenceto fish in Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c (or elsewhere). CD 12:1lb-15a makes the rather unremarkablestipulations that blood be drained from the fish and that the locusts be roasted or boiled, presumablyto facilitate the removal of the insects' legs and wings. As compared with the Damascus Document, conspicuously absent in Mark 1 and Matthew 3 is an attempt to show that John the Baptist ate locusts/grasshoppersin accordancewith some interpretationof kashrut.Therefore,ratherthan the similarities,the differences between CD 12:11b-15 and Mark 1:6c//Matt. 3:4c are more noteworthy. III. From Leviticusto Maimonides:Locust-Eatingin Jewish Literature I have thus far observed that the main similarity between John's diet and the Damascus Document concerns locust-eating.These two witnesses to the eating of a particularfood merit attentionnot primarilyin relationto one another(althoughthecomplementarysynchronic testimonies are interesting),but in view of the common practice of locust-eatingin the ANE. This study, to be offered in the remainder of this article, dismisses Charlesworth's implicit assumption that locusts were a distinctive food and could thus support other links

5 "Wild locusts"(in contrastto domesticatedlocusts?)would be redundant.

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between a particularlocust-eatingindividual(John)and anothergroup (the Essenes), of which at least certain members ate locusts. This inquirywill also shed light on a small but routineaspect of some (but not necessarilyall) Essenes' and the Baptist's life. Overviewof HB and Jewish Writingsof the Second Templeand RomanPeriods Most passages in Hebrewscriptureand second temple Jewish literature that mention locusts are concerned with what these insects devour. For example, the Lord who sent a plague of locusts against the Egyptians6could also send them againstthe covenantpeople.'The prophet Malachi offers a corollary to this affliction by way of the Lord's promiseto remove the locust from the covenantpeople:"I will rebukethe locust for you (e:K: mz 'fl-=), so that it will not destroy the produceof your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the LORD of hosts."8 Numerousother ancient Jewish authorsrefer to locusts metaphorically, to highlight the size of a crowd,9frighteninglyrapid movement,'0or the shortnessof life." Likewise, the prophetNahumfinds a threefoldmetaphorin the ability of locusts to devour, multiply and shed their "skin."'2Perhapsthe only positive referenceto locusts in

6 E.g., Exod. 10:3-20; Wis. 16:8-9; Jub. 48:5; Ezek. Trag. 144-6 (apud Comelius AlexanderPolyhistor[flour.ca. 49 B.C.E.], apudEuseb.,Praep.evang.9.28-29); Artapanus (apud AlexanderPolyhistorapud Euseb., Praep. evang. 9.27.32); Philo, De vita Mos. 1.121, 122, 126; cf. 1.145; Jos., Ant. 2.306.1 (on Exodus 10); R. Hendel,"TheExodus in Biblical Memory,"JBL 120 (2001) 601-22, esp. 610 on the 8th c. B.C.E. curse involving hail and locusts in Sefire I.25-28. 7Deut. 28:38; 1 Kgs. 8:37 = 2 Chr.6:28; 2 Chr. 7:13; Pss. 78:46; 105:34;Joel 1:4; 2:25; Amos 4:9; 7:1; Philo, Praem. 128.3 (alludingto Deut. 28:38). 8 Mal. 3:11; cf. Homer,Od. 4.287-8; Cyranides3.33.9-12; Diod. Sic., Hist. 1.87.6; AristonicusAlex., De sig. Od. 4.285-289; Strabo,Geog. 13.1.64. 9 Judg.6:5: The enemy came with "theirtents, as thick as locusts."Cf. Judg.7:12; Jer. 46:23; 51:14, 27; Judith2:20. 10A horse leaps like a locust (Job 39:20; the context in vv. 19-25 suggeststhat the horse should thus be feared);Isa. 33:4: "Spoil was gatheredas the caterpillargathers; as locusts leap, they leaped upon it." So also Sir. 43:17, referringto the snow: "its descent is like locusts alighting."Cf. Rev. 9:1-11; Herm.Vis. 4.1.6. 11In Psalm 109, an individualPsalmof lament,the petitionercomplains,"I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shakenoff like a locust"(109:23). Similarly,2 Esdr. 4:24 observes,"We pass from the world like locusts, and our life is like a mist, and we are not worthyto obtainmercy."Cf. m. Pesah. 3:5 ("like the horns of a locust"). 12 Nah. 3:15-17: "Therethe fire will devouryou, the swordwill cut you off. It will devour you like the locust. Multiply yourselves like the locust, multiply like the


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the HB-notably, in their "gregarious"phase-is the admirationconferredin Proverbsfor their ability to organizewithout a recognizable leader.'3

With regard to the eating of locusts/grasshoppers,Leviticus 11 allows the consumptionof four differentkinds of 'leaping' insects: All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestableto you. "iButamong the winged insects thatwalk on all fours you may eat those that have jointedlegs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground.LOf them you may eat: the locust (inm:t)accordingto its kind, the bald locust ([?] Heb: UD3O)accordingto its kind, the cricket ([?] Heb: 'nYlr) accordingto its kind, and the grasshopper (:Mr)accordingto its kind. "But all otherwinged insects that have four feet are detestableto you. (Lev. 11:20-23, NRSV)

Attentionwill be given to this passage in the following section. In additionto Leviticus 11, the other part of the HB reflectingdifferent terms for locusts is the prophetJoel, who mentions four: the cutting locust (Mun), swarminglocust (l:n'Il), hopping locust (pT) and destroyinglocust (bflfl, Joel 1:4). When this prophetlater uses the same four designations,Cu occurs last ratherthan first in the list of assailants(CU-m il O'Dll p'lrl mn-IM,Joel 2:25). In Joel, these terms could designate distinct species of locusts, or differentphases of the Desert Locust (schistocercagregaria). Joel either uses the swarming locusts as a metaphorfor attacking (human) combatants'4or, more

grasshopper!You increasedyour merchantsmore than the stars of the heavens. The locust sheds its skin and flies away. Your guardsare like grasshoppers,your scribes like swarmsof locusts settling on the fences on a cold day-when the sun rises, they fly away; no one knows where they have gone." '3 Prov. 30:24, 27: "Fourthings on earth are small, yet they are exceedingly wise: ... the locusts have no king, yet all of them marchin rank."Cf. D. Daube,"A Quartet of Beasties in the Book of Proverbs,"JTS n.s. 36 (1985) 380-6, esp. 383-5. '4 This interpretation is sometimes based on the mistakenassumptionthat locusts would never enter Palestine from the north, i.e., from Assyria. See, e.g., P.R. Andiliach,"The Locusts in the Message of Joel," VT 42 (1992) 433-41, who argues that the locusts in Joel are not actual locusts, because Joel 2:20 refers to a "northerner,"and in Palestine "locusts always come from the desert areas of the south" (433). Additionally,H. Brodsky,"'An EnormousHorde Arrayedfor Battle': Locusts in the Book of Joel," Bible Review 6 (1990) 32-39, states erroneously,"The desert locust migratesback and forth, aroundNorthAfrica and the Near East, from about50 to about 35? northof the equator.(Israelis the northemmostextensionof the locusts' range.)"(34), althoughhe maintainsthat Joel refersto actuallocusts (33-4). See Lucy W. Clausen,Insect:Fact and Folklore(New York:Macmillan,1954) 57-58, on migrations of 'gregarious'locusts from Africa as far north as Englandand even to North America.It thus follows that locusts could enter Assyria first and then subsequently into Palestine.

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probably,describesan actual plague of locusts in terms of an invading army.'5 The Prescriptionin Leviticus11 As the only partof Hebrewscriptureto mentionlocust/grasshoppereating, the aforementionedpassage in Leviticus 11 merits additional consideration.The section devotedto food laws in Lev. 11:9-42 offers instructionsconcerningcreaturesthat inhabitthe water (11:9-12), the air (11:13-23) and the land (11:24-42). The second part, Lev. 11:13-23, is concernedwith birds (vv. 13-19) and four (types of?) insects. 16

Scholarsare well aware of the difficultyof ascertainingwhich four insects are prescribedin Lev. 11:22.'7In v. 22a, mrs is a generic 15 V.A. Hurowitz,"Joel's Locust Plague in Light of SargonII's Hymn to Nanaya," JBL 112 (1993) 597-603, cites an 8th c. B.C.E. Sumerian(Assyrian)prayerto the goddess Nanaya asking that "the evil locust which destroysthe crop/grain... be turned into nothing"(597-8; cf. Joel 2:18-27). Hurowitznotes, "nearlyevery detail in this passagehas eithergeneralor quite specific parallelsin Joel's descriptionof the locusts afflictingJudah"(599). For additionalreferencesto locust infestations,see, e.g., Philo, Praem. 128.3 (alludingto Deut. 28:38); Jos., Ant. 2.306.1; BJ. 4.536; Pliny, Nat. Hist. 11.35.104-6; S. Krauss, "Zur Kenntnis der Heuschreckenin Palastina,"ZDPV 50 LocustPlague:Beinga Description (1927)244 49, esp. 248-49; J.D.Whiting,"Jerusalem's of the Recent Locust Influxinto Palestine,and ComparingSame with AncientLocust Invasions as Narratedin the Old World's History Book, the Bible," The National GeographicMagazine28/6 (1915) 511-50; F.S. Bodenheimer,"Note on Invasionsof Palestineby Rare Locusts,"IEJ 1 (1950-51) 146-48. 16

J.

Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16: A New Translation with Introduction and Com-

mentary(AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991) 664, notes the following distinction within Lev. 11:13-23: "two-leggedwinged creaturesmostly fly, hence they are called birds (vv 13-19), but four-leggedcreaturesmostly walk and for this reasonconstitute a discretegroup." 1' Milgrom, Leviticus, 665-66; idem, "The Biblical Diet Laws as an Ethical System," in: idem, Studies in Cultic Theology and Terminology (SJLA 36; Leiden:

Brill, 1983) 104-18; M. Noth, Leviticus: A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster,19772) 94; J.E. Hartley,Leviticus(WBC4; Dallas, TX: Word, 1992) 161; P.J. Budd, Leviticus: Based on the New Revised Standard Version (NCB Commentary;

London:Pickering;GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1996) 172; R.K. Harrison,Leviticus:An Introductionand Commentary(Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity,1980) 129; J.A. Thompson,"Translationof the Wordsfor Locust,"Bible Translator25 (1974) 405-11; B.D. Lerner, "Timid Grasshoppersand Fierce Locusts: An Ironic Pair of Biblical Metaphors,"VT 49 (1999) 545-48 (on Num. 13:31-33); S.R. Driver, "Excursuson Locusts,"84-89; H. Brodsky,"'An EnormousHorde Arrayedfor Battle': Locusts in theBookof Joel,"BibleReview6 (1990)32-39; here,36; [UBSCommitteeon Translations], Fauna and Flora of the Bible (Helps for Translators11; London;New York: United Bible Societies, 19802) 53; A. Kaplan, The Living Torah: The Five Books of Moses, A New Translation Based on Traditional Jewish Sources (New York; Jerusalem:

Maznaim, 19812)319-20; M.B. Isman and M.S. Cohen, "KosherInsects,"American


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term for "locust," indeed "the most common term in the HB for this species.""8In v. 22b-c, UDSOand tmil are hapax legomenain the HB and difficult if not impossible to identify precisely. Finally, Mrn (v. 22d) in Num. 13:33 and Isa. 40:22 signifies a "grasshopper." Whatevertheir precise identity,one may fairly ask why only these four insects are allowed to be eaten. Lev. 11:21 states simply that theseinsects'possessionof "hindlegs abovetheirfeet"andcorresponding ability to hop ratherthan crawl distinguishesthem from other 'swarmers,' which cannotbe eaten.'9FrankGormanfinds a basis for this distinction in the order of creationin Genesis 1: "[W]ingedinsects that walk on all fours"are prohibitedbecause "[t]he means of locomotion is not appropriatefor their bodily appearance.They representa disruption of the normative order ... [and] are 'detestable' (vv. 20,

In the case of the four insects specifiedin Lev. 11:22, however, "[w]ings are consistentwith leaping as a means of locomotion.Thus, they appropriatelyreflect their location within the created order."21 From the standpointof the final editor of Leviticus, this explanation may well have been employed to sanction tolerationfor consuming this quartetof winged insects but not other types of bugs. Writing with an expertise in entomology that the present author cannot claim, MurrayIsman and MartinCohen argue that the permission to eat locusts but not otherinsects is based upon the locusts' vegetarian(that is, non-flesh-eating)diet:

23)."20

Entomologist41 (Summer 1995) 100-2; here, 101; M. Bates, "Insects in the Diet," AmericanScholar 29 (1959-60) 43-52; here, 45; E. Firmage, "Zoology,"art. ABD 6.1109-67, esp. 1150 (s.v. 'locusts');W.W. Frerichs,"Grasshoppers," IDB 2.470; F.S. Bodenheimer, "Fauna,"art.IDB2.246-56;here,254; Y. Palmoni,"Locust,"IDB3.144 48; here, 145. 18 Hartley,Leviticus, 161. '9 J. Soler, "The Semiotics of Food in the Bible," in: Food and Drink in History: Selections from the Annales, Economies, Socihtes, Civilisations, Volume 5 (eds. R. Forster,0. Ranum;Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress, 1979) 126-38; here, 135; L.R. Arrington,"Foods of the Bible," Journal of the AmericanDietetic Association 35 (1959) 816-20; here, 818; M. Douglas, "The Abominationsof Leviticus," in: idem, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Conceptsof Pollution and Taboo (New York: Praeger,1966) 41-57; here, 56. Cf. Arist., PA 4.6 (683A). 20 F.H. Gorman,Jr., Divine Presence and Community:A Commentaryon the Book of Leviticus(InternationalTheological Commentary;GrandRapids:Eerdmans,1997) 73. Concerninglron and 1711'i "accordingto its kind"(Lev. 11:22), Gorman(73) also pointsplausiblyto "the languageof creationfound in Gen. I (see, e.g., vv. 11, 12, 24, 25)." Cf. J. Trublet,"Alimentationet saintet6:Mvitique 11 Deut6ronome14,"Christus 29 (1982) 209-17, esp. 214-15. 21 Gorman,Divine Presence, 73.

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As both the blood and carrionare strictlytaboo accordingto the dietarylaws, so are the animalsthat thrive on them. All flying insects, other than the orthopterans, may have been viewed as predators (blood-feeding dipterans, stinging hymenopterans),or carrionfeeders (dipterans).In contrast,orthopterans,particularly locusts and other acridids,are primarilygraminivorous.22

However attractivefrom a contemporarypoint of view, the explanation suffersfrom an inabilityto postulatecrediblythat the authorof Lev. 11:20-23 possessed such a 'scientific'understandingor rationale. Since the eating of blood is a concern elsewhere in Leviticus (Lev. 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14; 19:26a),it could easily have been offeredas a rationalein Lev. 11:20-23 as well. As is discussedbelow, however, such a motivationis clearly evident in the later authorof Aristeas. More persuasively,ErhardGerstenbergerconsiders the normative eating habits of the common people and asks whetherthe exception offered in Lev. 11:21-22 may have been an "[a]daptationto some prevalenteating custom in Israel's proximity?Experienceof the distresses of famine forcing them no longer to disdain 'even' grasshoppers?"23Gerstenberger'sfirst question merits additional attentionin light of other witnesses to locust-eatingin the Ancient Near East. Locust-Eatingin the AncientNear East Lev. 11:20-23 does not at all point to a distinctivelyIsraeliteculinary practiceof locust/grasshopper-eating. On the contrary,the widespreadand well-attesteddelight in eating such insects in the Ancient Near East may well lie behindthe partialprescriptionaffordedin this passage. R.K. Harrisonnotes that, "[a]s a food, locusts have been eaten in the Near East for millennia.A royal banquetscene from the palace of Ashurbanipal (c. 669-627

BC), the last great Assyrian king,

The depictedservantsbringinglocusts on sticks for the gueststo eat."24 Assyrian bas-relief of servantscarryingskeweredlocusts and pomegranates,to which Harrisonrefers,is reproducedimmediatelybelow:25

Isman and Cohen, "KosherInsects,"102. Leviticus:A Commentary(OTL;Louisville,KY: Westminster E.S. Gerstenberger, John Knox, 1996) 140. 22

23

24 Harrison, Leviticus, 129. 25 The relief appears in: Y. Palmoni, "Locust," 146; cf. D. Brothwell and P. Brothwell,Food in Antiquity:A Surveyof the Diet of Early Peoples (Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress, 19982)70, fig. 24; J. Bottdro,"TheCuisineof Ancient Mesopotamia,"BA 48 (1985) 36-47; here, 37.

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Oded Borowski refers first to another Assyrian relief and then to the aforementioned relief: The locust was considered a delicacy; and, on one Assyrian bas-relief, servants can be seen carrying, among other foodstuffs, long pins of skewered locusts to a royal feast (Aynard 1972:60). Another relief from the palace of Ashurbanipal shows two servants, one of whom is carrying ... rows of locusts (Brothwell and Brothwell 1969:fig. 24).26

Complementing this pictographic evidence, the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary cites numerous literary testimonies to locust-eating, including the following: On the steppe its (the enemy's land) animal life is famished, he roasts (it) like crows (var. locusts) (with his fiery, divine brilliance). (Lugale 3.5) Send me a hundred locusts and (some) food. (YOS 2.15.27 [OB let.])

26 Borowski, Every Living Thing: Daily Use of Animals in Ancient Israel (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 1998) 159.

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. . . and the locusts for which I asked you, do not forget the ... and the locusts! (CT 29.11a.7, 9) I have forwarded to my lord as many locusts as they were able to catch for me. (ARM 3.62.15) Send me as many locusts as you have been able to collect and kill. (ABL 910.5)27

The first passage points to the eating of locusts during a time of hardship,in this case following militarydefeat (Lugale3.5). The other four testimonies,however,supportthe depictionsof the two bas-reliefs in that they point to orders from individuals of some wealth who desired this particularfood. This same inferenceapplies to locust-eatingin Mesopotamia:"In a letterfound at Mari the writeraddressesthe King thus: 'Locustsoften come to Terqa and the day they arrivedthe heat was torridso they did not alight. But all the locusts that were taken I have sent to my Lord."'28It thus follows that locusts were not just the food of necessity for those who possessedno othermeanswith which to feed themselves. On the contrary,locusts routinelycomprisedthe chosen cuisine of the wealthy.29Understoodwithin this light, John the Baptist's eating locusts/grasshoppers does not self-evidentlyconstitutea critiqueof the rich or point to a wildernessdweller.30Both rich and poor people ate locusts in a variety of ruraland (comparativelymore) urbanlocations in the Ancient Near East. Furthermore,ElizabethDouglas Van Burensummarizesthe follow-

217These passages are cited in the entry for erbu (cf. Heb. MIRTm) in CAD ([Vol. 4, 1958] ed. I.J. Gelb et al.; Chicago: Universityof Chicago OrientalInstitute,1956-) 4.256-8; here, 257. 28 J.M. Aynard,"Animalsin Mesopotamia," in: Animalsin Archaeology(ed. A.H. Brodrick;New York: Praeger,1972) 42-68; here, 60. Aynard(60) continues,"These insects were in fact much esteemedas a foodstuff,and on one Assyrianbas-reliefservants are carryinga hare,birdsand long pins of skeweredlocusts to a royal feast"(cf. 59-60, 64). Moreover,Bottero,"Cuisine,"39, notes that the Mesopotamians"prepared a fermentedsauce (siqqu), for both kitchen and table use, out of fish, shellfish, or grasshoppers." 29 Note the overgeneralization of J. Milgrom,"Ethicsand Ritual:The Foundations of the Biblical Dietary Laws," in: Religion and Law: Biblical-Judaicand Islamic Perspectives(ed. E.B. Firmageet al.; WinonaLake, IN: Eisenbrauns,1990) 159-91: "Hereit would seem an exceptionwas made because allowing locusts as food was a hallowed practicestemmingback to the wildernessperiodwhen, as pastoralists,they lived off their herds and feasted on locusts. . ." (189). 30Against M.E. Boring, "Matthew,"New Interpreter'sBible (Vol. VIII; Nashville: AbingdonPress, 1995) 168; E. LaVerdiere,The Beginningof the Gospel: Introducing the Gospel according to Mark (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999) 31-32; W. Carter,Matthewand the Margins:A Sociopoliticaland Religious Reading (The Bible and Liberation;Maryknoll,NY: Orbis,2000) 95.


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ing archeologicalevidence for the prevalence of locusts in Ancient Near Easterncultures: A stamp-sealfound at Lagas was adornedwith a design of a grasshopperexecuted with a drill. A golden dagger found in the grave of Meskalamdugat Ur had an image of a locust incised upon it. A locust appearson a few cylinder seals of the time of the FirstDynastyof Balylon as one of the symbols scattered in the field..., but on seals of the Kassite period it seems to be a grasshopper which is placed near the deity. Lead figurinesof a locust, naturalsize and renderedwith greataccuracyof observation,came to light in Room 4 of the Temple of Asur in Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta, and on a plaque of glazed fayence a locust is representedin the backgroundof a scene showing an Assyrian,probablythe king himself, makinghis petitionto a seateddivinity.... A wall relief from the palace of Sanheribat Nineveh depicts attendantsbringinglocusts strungon sticks and other provisionsfor a banquet,and anotherrelief representingSanheriband his queen feasting in a gardenshows a locust on one of the topmostbranchesof a palm-treeto the left of the group.3"

Although the interpretationof some of the items to which Van Burenrefersmay be disputedor less clear than she suggests,her work is valuable for highlightingthe place of locusts not only as food but also in Ancient Near Easternfolklore. The preceding observations are valuable to the present inquiry because they demonstratethat Lev. 11:20-23 is not a distinctiveliterary testimony. That locust-eating was a common practice is documentedby copiousmaterialsfromthe AncientNearEast.Whatis unusual aboutLev. 11:20-23 is the tolerancegrantedto the eating of only certain kinds of "clean"grasshoppers/locusts. The reason for this limited indulgencehas been touchedupon briefly above and may be explored somewhatfurtherin light of the materialsdiscussed in this section. It is the view of the presentauthorthat Lev. 11:20-23 offers an argument from the order of creationto supporta dispensationfor eating locusts, which were not merely for the poor or famine-strickenbut a prizeddelicacy in the Ancient Near East.32In short, locusts were just

3' E.D. Van Buren,TheFauna of AncientMesopotamiaas Representedin Art (AnOr 18; Rome: Pontificiuminstitutumbiblicum, 1939) 109-10; cf. J. Malek, "The Locusts on the Daggers of Ahmose,"in: Chief of Seers: EgyptianStudies in Memoryof Cyril Aldred(ed. E. Goringet al.; Studiesin Egyptology;London:Kegan Paul International, 1997) 207-19; J.A. Thompson,"Joel's Locusts,"54-55. 32 With F.S. Bodenheimer,Insects as HumanFood: A Chapterof the Ecology of Man (The Hague:Junk, 1951) 40-41: "This permissionto eat locusts [Lev. 11:21-221 is nothingmore than a codificationof a habit existing since oldest times among the nomadsof the Middle East, which, as we will see, has lasted down to our day." Cf. D. Nevo, "The Desert Locust, Schistocercagregaria, and Its Controlin the Land of Israel and the Near East in Antiquity,with Some Reflections on Its Appearancein

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too popularanddelightfulto proscribecompletely,anda reasongrounded in Genesis 1 was thus found for allowing the eating of at least some of these insects. Are LocustsPermitted?Lev. 11:20-23 and Deut. 14:19 A notablecontradictionto the exceptiongiven for "jointedlegs" in Lev. 11:21 is Deut. 14:19, which proscribesthe eating of any and all insects that have wings: "And all winged insects are uncleanfor you; they shall not be eaten."Deut. 14:19 begins much as Lev. 11:20 but does not offer an exceptionlike thatin Lev. 11:21-22 for certaintypes of (winged) locusts:

Lev. 11:20 V:r w~ 117.r 1no

Deut. 14:19

r om: Rin

The similarityin wordingbetween this and other partsof Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy14 has suggestedto a majorityof scholarsa literary connectionbetween the two, and thus that one passage reflects a revision of the other: The fact of a literaryconnectionbetweenLv 11,2b-23 and Dt 14,4-20 is evident and challengedby no one; the commontopical arrangementof the two texts and their verbatimcorrespondencein so many places, both in the generalnormsfor the distinctionof clean and uncleananimalsand in the long list of uncleanbirds, admitsof no other explanation.33

The questionthen becomeswhich traditionis earlierand which passage offers a modificationof the other.W.L. Moranis persuadedthat Deuteronomy14 is the later tradition,in part because of the mention of an additional"ten quadrupedsin [Deut. 14:]4b-5."34If correct,this

Israel in Modem Times,"Phytoparasitica:Israel Journalof Plant ProtectionSciences 24 (1996) 7-32, esp. 19-22; Gorman,Divine Presence, 73. 33 W.L. Moran,"The LiteraryConnectionbetween Lv 11,13-19 and Dt 14,12-18," CBQ 28 (1966) 271-77; here, 271. 34 Moran, "LiteraryConnection," 272; so also B.J. Bamberger, The Torah: A Modern Commentary(Vol. 3: Leviticus; New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations,1979) 3.90: "The Torahcontainsa numberof repetitions,but none as


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would mean that Deuteronomy came to issue a blanket statement against insect-eatingas an objectionto Lev. 11:21-22. Alternately,if Leviticus 11 reflectsa revision of Deuteronomy14,35 Lev. 11:21-22 could be viewed as an attemptto forge some common ground between a common practice among the people and the absoluteprohibitionof Deut. 14:19. A resolutionto this problemis not necessary for the present inquiry. What is importantto note is that even within the Pentateuchthere is disagreementconcerningthe propriety of eating locusts. The Letterof Aristeasand Philo of Alexandria:Locusts as a RecognizedFood in the Jewish Diaspora Regardlessof the tension resultingfrom the inclusion of both Lev. 11:20-23 and Deut. 14:19-20 in the final form of the Pentateuch, ancientJewishwritingsthat mentionlocust-eatingconsistentlyembrace Lev. 11:20-23 and seem to ignore Deut. 14:19. The witnesses to locust-eating discussed in this and the following sections are: the Letterof Aristeas,Philo of Alexandria,the Temple Scroll and Damascus Documentfrom Qumran,the Mishnahand midrashim,and, finally, Moses Maimonides. The Letterof Aristeas (2nd c. B.c.E.)-probablyfrom Alexandriaoffers the earliest literarytestimony subsequentto Lev. 11:20-23 to locust-eatingby certainJews.36Aristeas presentsa list of "vegetarian" birds, including locusts, which the Jews known to this authoreat in accordancewith kashrut: These laws have all been solemnly drawnup for the sake of justice, to promote holy contemplationand the perfectingof character.14-Forof the winged creatures of which we make use (ol? XpO)POa) all are gentle and distinguishedby cleanliness and they feed on (Xpdg?eOa npo; djv rpovjv) grain and pulse, such as pigeons, doves, 'locusts' (&arracoi),partridges,and also geese and all similar fowl. '46Butof the winged creatureswhich are forbiddenyou will find that they are wild and carnivorous

(crap

coqxiya).

...

extendedas this one. Since the passage seems typical of P in content and in style, it is probablethat a priestlyeditor insertedthe passage into Deuteronomy"(cf. 3.xviii). 3S So L. Khalife, "ttude sur l'histoire r6dactionnelledes deux textes para11Rles: Lv. 11 et Dt. 14,1-21," Melto 2 (1966) 57-72. J. Trublet,"Alimentationet saintetW," 214-15, does not take a stand on this issue. 36 On the date of Aristeas, see the discussionof R.J.H. Shutt in OTP, 2.8-9. 37 Let. Aris. 144b-146a; Greek text and ET: Moses Hadas, Aristeas to Philocrates (LetterofAristeas)(JewishApocryphalLiterature; New York:DropsieCollegeforHebrew and Cognate Learning/Harper,1951), 158-59. On the "vegetarian"eating habits of locusts, see furtherNepualius31, in: W. Gemoll, Nepualii,fragmentum,2.

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The inclusion of locusts (&taictoi;cf. Lev. 11:22b, LXX) in a list of birds assumes the context of Lev. 11:13-23, which mentionsclean creatureswho inhabitthe air-first birds (11:13-19) and then locusts/ grasshoppers(11:20-23). In an apology for the proprietyof the Jewish Law, including its dietary requirements(cf. Let. Aris. 128-72), the authorbuilds on Leviticus in offeringlocusts as an example of clean, 'vegetarian' birds that at least some Jews continue to eat. There is clearly no aversionto locust-eating,as the authorof Aristeas assumes that his/her audiencewill recognize both the validity of the Law and the correspondingdietary practices among diasporic (Alexandrian?) Jews at the time of this letter. Philo of Alexandriaoffers anotherwitness to locust-eatingin the Jewish Diaspora. In his Legum Allegoriae, Philo refers indirectlyto locusts as human food, which serve as a referentfor his allegorical interpretationof Lev. 11:21-22: Now in Leviticus the sacred word advises (capaxvzvei... 6 irpo; ko;o;) them to feed 'on creeping things that go upon all four, which have legs above their feet, so as to leap with them' [11:21]. Such are the locust (o plpoiX?o),the wild locust (6 &rTwaic),the grasshopper (aicpi;), and in the fourth place the snake-fighter.38 And this is how it should be. For if serpent-like pleasure is an un-nourishing (a`po(pov) and injurious thing, self-mastery, the nature that is not in conflict with ... Kai pleasure, must be wholesome and full of nourishment (TpoWptW,cTaTov scopy ptov). (Leg. 2.105; ET: LCL, modified)

with snakes(cf. the citaPhilo's comparisonof locusts/grasshoppers tion of Gen. 3:1 in Leg. 2.106) is predicatedupon the assumptionthat locusts/grasshoppersare indeed a wholesome kind of human food. Notably, Philo interpretsLeviticus 11, an indulgenceallowing the eatillusas God'sexhortation(napactwvo) ing of certainlocusts/grasshoppers, trating humanity's moral development.39Such advice from heaven only makes sense if Philo's Hellenistic Jewish audience alreadyrecognizes locusts as "most nutritious"(tpo(pt?rrato;, superlative of TpoptjO.t6O;) and "grantingof safety" (acwpjpto;),whetherto the body (so Lev. 11:21-22), or, in Philo's allegoricaldichotomy,to the soul. 38

Gk.: 6o6p'logaX,

following the LXX of Lev. 11:22d:

Kai

TOV0'PtowaXiv wc.i Ta

ogpouaalcri. Cf. Arist., HA 8.6 (612A). In Leg. 2.105, Philo's terms for locusts/ (cf. grasshopperscorrespondto Lev. 11:22 (LXX), except that Philo has 6o&Taico6; &rtcxicoi in Let. Aris. 145) instead of 6oaaivcr; (1 1:22b, LXX). In his work On the Creation,Philo again mentionsthe 'snake-fighter,'which "springsfromthe groundand lifts itself into the air like the grasshopper"(Opif. 58 [163]). Similarlyto Leg. 2.105, of this allusionto Lev. 11:22 in Opif. 58 Philo himself offersa symbolicinterpretation of self-control." (163), that the snake-fighter"is nothingbut a symbolicrepresentation 39

Cf. in the LXX: taivra qiYw$Ae (Lev. 11:21, 22), for *Z14n


307

Conditional Affirmation of Locust-Eating at Qumran

The assumptionof Philo, Leg. 2.105 and the statementof Let. Aris. 145 that Jews recognized locusts as food are echoed by the Essenes at Qumran.In particular,the Temple Scroll more or less repeats the instructionsof Lev. 11:21-22: [Of the]40winged [insects]you can eat: the locust and its species, the bald locust and its species, the cricket4andits species, the grasshopperand its species. These you can eat from among winged insects:those which crawl on four paws, which 5havethe hind legs wider than the forelegs in orderto leap over the groundwith them and to fly with theirwings. (1 1Q19 [ lIQTemplea]48:3-5)

The only detail addedto the prescriptiongiven in Leviticus 11 concerns the physiology of locusts:Their hind legs are "wider"than their forelegs. This differs only slightly from Lev. 11:21b,which mentions the insects' ability to jump from having "jointed legs above their feet." The distinctivedetail in the Temple Scroll could well have come from a scribe who had observed locust legs, perhaps in connection with the preparationof a meal. Such repetitionof Leviticus 11 without comment suggests that allowing locusts/grasshoppersto be eaten could be affirmedwithout referenceto Deut. 14:19. Moreover,fragmentarycopies of partsof Lev. 11:20-23 survive in MasLevb,4Q365, and 2QPaleoLev(2Q5).41 As alreadymentioned,moreover,CD offers specific instructionsfor preparingfish and locusts (CD-A 12:1lb-15a). The interpretationis notablycloser to Lev. 11:20-23 than to Deut. 14:19 in that locusts are kosher, providedthat they be roasted or boiled prior to consumption. The process of roastingor boiling the locusts would presumablyallow for the easy removalof the insects' wings and legs, which in fact are not easily digestible. CD 12:14-15 is a significant literary testimony that locusts were still eaten by at least some Jews aroundthe time of the Baptist. The Damascus Documentdoes not, however, supportan Essene influence (whetherdirector indirect)on John's eating habits.Since locusts were such a common food in much of the Ancient Near East and not distinctivein Jewish literature(cf. above on Philo andAristeas),the com-

I 11Q19 48:1-2 are corrupt.It is plausible that the paraphrasebegan with Lev. 11:20 at 1lQ19 48:2 or, perhaps,48:1. 41 D.L. Washbun, A Catalog of Biblical Passages in the Dead Sea Scrolls (TextCriticalStudies 2; Atlanta:Society of Biblical Literature,2002) 40.

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parison is flimsy. In the case of the Baptist and the Essenes, then, there is no basis to infer, as Charlesworthdoes, that "[t]hedescription of what John ate [in Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c] has a decidedlyQumran or Essene ring to it" in that John intentionallyate like a (currentor) formerEssene.42 Locusts in the Mishnah:Like Fish, But Not Quite Fowl The Mishnah reflects a rather lively discussion on whether, and under what conditions, locusts/grasshoppers-usually referredto as :D'Dir (cf. Lev. 11:22d)-are permittedas food. Threepassages in particular point unambiguouslyto locust/grasshopper-eating among certain Jews in late antiquity: Unclean locusts [D'RtCD Ml=-;i]which were pickled with clean locusts [0':)7T C-n1n] have not invalidated[imparteduncleannessto] the brine [in which they were pickled].TestifiedR. Sadoq43concerningthe brine of uncleanlocusts, that it is clean. (m. Ter. 10:9)

Over somethingwhich does not grow from the earthone says, "Forall [was created accordingto his word]."Over vinegar, unripe fruit, and edible locusts ['tR:77]one says "Forall [was createdat his word]."(m. Ber. 6:3) TestifiedR. Yose b. Yoezer of Seredahabout a qamsa locust [KNop't], that it is clean [for eating];.... And they called him 'Yose the Easy-going.'(m. 'Ed. 8:4)

42 Charlesworth,"Johnthe Baptizer,"366-68; here, 367. Moreover,accordingto Philo (Hypothetica11.8) as preservedby Eusebius(Praep. evang. 8.11.8), the Essenes kept bees. If accurate,this would representa difference,since John is said to eat wild honey (iXt ayptov)ratherthancultivatedhoney. In the view of the presentauthor,the larger thesis that the Baptist had ever been an Essene is also dubious. On this last point, see further J. Frey, "Die Bedeutung der QumranfundefUirdas Verstandnis des Neuen Testaments,"in: Qumran:Die Schriftrollenvom TotenMeer (ed. M. Fieger et al.; NTOA 47; Gottingen:Vandenhoeck& Ruprecht,2001) 129-208, esp. 168-70; F.I. Andersen,"The Diet of John the Baptist,"AbrN 3 (1961-62) 60-74; here, 62-63; C.H.H. Scobie, John the Baptist (Philadelphia:Fortress,1964) 137-39; J.P. Meier,A MarginalJew: Rethinkingthe HistoricalJesus [Vol. 2: Mentor,Messageand Miracles; New York:Doubleday,1991] 2.49. 3 I.e., in m. 'Ed. 7:2: "R. Sadoq gave testimony concerning brine made from uncleanlocusts that it is clean. For the firstMishnahholds: uncleanlocustswhich were pickledwith clean locusts-they have not invalidatedtheirbrine."Here and elsewhere, translationsof the Mishnahare from J. Neusner, The Mishnah:A New Translation (New Haven:YaleUniversityPress,1988);Hebrewtext:C. Albek,ShishahSidreiMishnah (Jerusalem:Mosad Biyalik: 1952-59). Cf. H.L. Strackand P. Billerbeck,Kommentar zum Neuen Testamentaus Talmudund Midrasch(Munich:Beck, 1922-61) 1.98-100; E.J. Schochet, Animal Life in Jewish Tradition:Attitudesand Relationships(New York: Ktav, 1984) 92, 98; M. Broshi, "Diet of Palestinein the RomanPeriod,"51.


309

Accordingto m. 'Ed. 8:4, Jose b. Joezer of Zereda's receptionof the nickname 'Easy-going' or 'Permitter'suggests that not everyone was pleased with his interpretationallowing that a particulartype of locust be eaten. Additionally,m. ?abb. 9:7 refers to a "living unclean locust" (s7D In Min)as somethingthat a child plays with (R. Judah), thus suggestingthe common place of the locust in Jewish (and other) homes. Moreover,two otherpassagesfrom the Mishnah,like the Damascus Document,appendstipulationsto Lev. 11:20-23: Among locusts [0'1:,MI][these are clean]: Any which has (1) four legs, (2) four wings, and (3) jointed legs, and (4) the wings of which cover the greaterpartof its body. R. Yose says, "And (5) the name of which is locust [::n l (m. Hul. 3:7)

These are things which [to begin with] are permittedfor [Israelite]consumption: . .. Locusts which come from [the shopkeeper's] basket are forbidden. Those which come from the stock [of his shop] are permitted."

Whether one should consider the physical characteristicsor the source of the locusts (m. Hul. 3:7; m. 'Abod.Zar. 2:7), the practice of

eating locusts was seen to need at least some regulation.On this point R. Jose again offers a notableexception (m. Hul. 3:7; cf. above on m. 'Ed. 8:4). Elsewherein the Mishnah,locusts, along with fish, belong to a special classificationrelative to other kinds of meat: Every [kind of] flesh [of cattle, wild beast, and fowl] is it prohibitedto cook in ort' 1=0 rm]. And it is milk, except for the flesh of fish and locusts [0133MI prohibitedto serve it up onto the table with cheese, except for the flesh of fish and locusts. He who vows [to abstain]from flesh is permitted[to make use of] the flesh of fish and locusts. (m. Hul. 8:1)

Additionally,Jews are liable for consumingthe blood of cattle, wild animals or birds, but are not liable because of "the blood of fishes or the blood of locusts" (a'mn C: =f1

Er).45

Thus, locusts and fish may

be 'mixed' with dairy, and the blood of these two creaturesdoes not result in impurityas that of other meats does. These statements from m. Hullin and m. Kerithotwould not, however, warranta 'vegetarian'construalof locusts in the Mishnahor, by

" m. 'Abod.Zar. 2:7. H. Danby, The Mishnah(London:Oxford UniversityPress, 1933) 440 n. 3, suggests that the shopkeeper'slocusts are forbiddenbecause "[h]e is suspectedof sprinklingthem with wine." 45 m. Ker. 5:1. Likewisem. 'Uq. 3:9; cf. m. Hul. 3:7 and m. Ter. 10:8-9, which mention fish and locusts together.

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implication, of the Baptist's diet.46According to m. Kelim, contact with locusts can imputeuncleanness,but touchingfruitcannot:"There are three [kinds ofl leather gloves....

That of the locust-catchers

b0) is susceptibleto corpse uncleanness.And that of the fruit(I"MM pickersis clean of all" (m. Kelim 24:15). Thus with regardto matters of purity, the Mishnah discusses locusts and fish as something inbetween fruitsand vegetables,on the one hand, and most othermeats, on the other. Locusts are indeed a kind of meat, but these insects along with fish can be eaten undercertaincircumstanceswhen eating other types of meat would be forbidden. Locust-Eatingin Later Jewish Literature It has been noted that the Letterof Aristeas, the Temple Scroll, the Damascus Document and various tractatesfrom the Mishnahdo not prohibitthe eating of locusts (so Deut. 14:19), but ratherconsistently allow them as humanfood undercertainconditions(with Lev. 11:2023). Such tolerationis also attested in the midrashim.For example, concerningIsaac's statementto Esau in Gen. 27:33, "I ate from all [of it] (bYn ':Xl) beforeyou came,"47the Genesis Midrashplaces into the mouth of Isaac the following answer to Esau concerning what the patriarchhad eaten: "'I do not know,' he replied,' but I tasted in it the taste of bread, the taste of meat, the taste of fish, the taste of locusts and the taste of all the delicacies in the world."'48The commentaryassumes that locust-eatingis permittedand calls attentionto the quality of the meal that Rebekahhad preparedfor Jacob to give to his father Isaac (cf. Gen. 27:5-17). In addition,the LamentationsMidrashstates: R. Haninab. Abbahusaid: There are seven hundredspecies of clean fish, eight hundredof clean grasshoppers,and birds beyond number;and they all went into

46 Against J. Marcus, Mark 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary(AB 27; New York: Doubleday, 2000) 151; R. Eisler, "The Baptist's Food and Clothing,"in: idem, The MessiahJesus and John the Baptistaccordingto FlaviusJosephus'RecentlyRediscovered'Captureof Jerusalem'and OtherJewishand ChristianSources (New York:L. MacVeagh,1931) 235-40. 47 Gen. 27:30-40 reportswhat transpired upon Esau's arrival,afterIsaac had already blessed Jacob,who was impersonatinghis brotherEsau. " Genesis Midrash(Toledoth)67.2; ET: MidrashRabbah(trans.H. Freedman;ed. H. Freedmanand M. Simon; London:Soncino, 1961 [19391)2.607-8; cf. S. Krauss, 244. "Heuschrecken,"


311

exile with Israelto Babylon;and when the people went back, they returnedwith them....49

Here one learns that myriad kinds of locusts permittedas human food entered into exile with the covenant people and returnedwith them after the period of captivity in Babylon had ended. A similar statementmay also be found in the BabylonianTalmud.50The implication is that Jews have always had, and continue to have, copious varieties of fish, grasshoppersand birds to eat. For whatever reason, the midrashim on Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 have nothingto say aboutthe directionsfor eating certain kindsof locustsor grasshoppers(Lev. 11:20-23) or abouttheproscription of all winged insects (Deut. 14:19).51 One may safely infer that the rabbis had more pressing concernsthan to commenton such a commonplaceactivity as locust-eating. In addition to these midrashim,the medieval testimony of Moses Maimonides(1135-1204 C.E.)furtheraffirmsthe consistencyof Jewish interpreters'allowing the eating of certain locusts. His famous Code contains a treatise on forbidden foods, including locusts (Holiness 5.2): The Torah permits eight species of locusts: the grasshopper;another species of grasshoppercalled razbanit; the cricket; another species of cricket called carsubya;the commonlocust;anotherspecies of locust called 'the vineyardbird'; the bald locust; and another species of bald locust called 'the Jerusalemite Johana.' "He who is an expertin them and in theirnames may eat of them, and a hunteris to be believed in theircase as in the case of birds.But he who is not an expert in them must examine their tokens. They possess three tokens: Whicheverhas four legs and four wings which overlie most of the length of its body and most of its circumference,and has in additiontwo legs with which to leap, is deemed a clean species. Even if it has an elongatedhead and a tail, so long as it is known by the name of locust, it is clean. LIf at presentthe locust has no wings or legs, or if its wings do not cover the greaterpart of the body, but it is known that it will grow them after some time when it has matured,it is deemed permittedimmediately.52 I LamentationsMidrash(Proems)34, following a citation of Jer. 9:10c: "boththe birds of the air and the animalshave fled and are gone." ET: MidrashRabbah(trans. A. Cohen;ed. H. Freedmanand M. Simon;London:Soncino, 1961 [1939]) 7/2.64. 50See b. Hul. 63b (II.IO.B);ET: J. Neusner,The Talmudof Babylonia:An Academic Commentary(Vol. 30: Bavli TractateHullin, 1994; Atlanta:ScholarsPress, 1994-99) 30.278. 51An ET of the Leviticus Midrash (Shemini) 13 is conveniently available in: Midrash Rabbah (trans. J. Israelstam; ed. H. Freedman and M. Simon; London: Soncino,1961[1939])4.162-76; fortheDeuteronomyMidrash(Re'eh)4: MidrashRabbah (trans. J. Rabbinowitz; ed. H. Freedman and M. Simon; London: Soncino, 1961 [1939]) 7/1.89-101. 52 Maimonides,Holiness 5.2.1.21-23; ET: The Code of Maimonides(MisnehTorah)

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Apparentlyfollowingthepatternof Leviticus11, Maimonides'sinstructions concerninglocusts follow on the heels of his interpretationson clean and unclean birds (Holiness 5.2.1.14-20). As in the Mishnah, moreover, locusts appear in the same context as fish (Holiness 5.2.1.24; cf. b. HuI. 66a-67a [V.1-2]). Maimonides seems to draw from the BabylonianTalmud for his discussion of the "tokens,"or characteristics,of locusts (b. Hul. 65a [IV.1.A]). He also echoes this traditionin allowing that eight kinds of be eaten, ratherthan the four mentionedin Lev. locusts/grasshoppers 11:22: "What does it come to teach by repeating 'according to its kind' four times [in Lev. 11:22]? To include [in the rules] the vinehopper,the Jerusalemywhn', the 'rzwby',and the rzbnyt"(b. Hul. 65a [IV.2.B]). In allowing that one trust the intuition of a locust-hunter (-gatherer?),moreover, Maimonides may be seen as comparatively more permissive, when weighed against the ratherdetailed debates concerning the identificationof characteristicsof permittedlocusts in b. Hui. 65a-66a (IV.3.C-IV.5.C).The importantthingto note in the Babylonian Talmud and Maimonides is that the debates concern which-not whether-locusts may be eaten.To these observationsmay be addedthat "Yemeniteand NorthAfricanJews also ate [eat?]'clean' grasshoppersin variousways."53 mentioned Of course, with the eight types of locusts/grasshoppers by Maimonidesand the BabylonianTalmud,the same exegeticalproblem persists as was noted earlier for Lev. 11:22: The moderninterpreterdoes not know which insects are prescribedand, by implication, which others are proscribed.It was perhapsfor this reason that certain modernJewish interpretationsof halakhahave in effect come to embrace Deut. 14:19 over Lev. 11:20-23.54For example, J.H. Hertz observes: None of the four kinds of locusts [in Lev. 11:22] is certainlyknown.... For this reasonalso, laterJewish authorities,realizingthat it is impossibleto avoid errors being made, declareevery species of locust to be forbidden.55

(Yale Judaica Series 16: Book Five: The Book of Holiness (Sefer QedugahJ,1965; trans.L.I. Rabinowitzand P. Grossman;New Haven:Yale University,1949-) 16.157. 53 Broshi, "The Diet of Palestinein the RomanPeriod,"51, referringto S. Krauss, TalmudischeArchdologie(Grundrissder Gesamtwissenschaftdes Judentums;Leipzig, 1910-12 = Hildesheim:G. Olms, 1966) 1.112-13; cf. 1.347 n. 542; D. Nevo, "Desert Locust,"20; A. Kaplan,Living Torah,320. S4 Such a difficultycould well have suppliedthe originalimpetusfor offeringDeut. 14:19 as a responseto Lev. 11:20-23. S5 Hertz, The Pentateuchand Haftorahs(London:Soncino Press, 19602)451.


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Hertz does not specify which Jewish authoritiesultimatelycame to this conclusion.Whateverthe origin of this development,the present study suggests that it occurrednot earlierthan Maimonidesat the turn of the thirteenthcenturyC.E.56 Excursus:Al-Damri on Locust-Eatingand Islam Some two centuriesafter Moses Maimonidesrecognizedthe eating of certainkosher locusts by Jews, in the Islamic traditionMuhammad ibn Muisaal-Damiri (1341-1405 C.E.) affirmedthe lawfulness of the locust (Al-Jarad)as food for Muslims: "All the Muslims are agreed Al-Damiri'swork on animals as regardsits eating being permitted."57 is a compilationfrom various authorson animals vis-a-vis the Koran, foLklore,medicine and food. His entry on locusts also cites five different authoritiesthat the prophetMuhammadate locusts.58Indeed, Allah is the one who sends locusts to the people, whetheras food or as an affliction.59Such prescriptionscontrastnotablywith al-Damini's instructions concerning certain red worms (caterpillars: al-Ascri%, which may not be eaten, "as they are reckoned among the creeping animals."60

The present authordoes not assume that al-Damiri's collection of Arabic materialson locusts is representativefor all Islamic literature eitherpriorto or at the turnof the fifteenthcentury.Thereis no reason,

S6Such an inquirywould indeedbe interestingbut lies beyondthe scope of this article and the expertise of the present author. Commenting on Lev. 11:20-23, B.J. Bambergerstates that "Medievalhalachists,uncertainaboutthe identityof the kosher species, forbadethe eating of any insects"(in: The Torah:A ModernCommentary[ed. W.G. Plaut; New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981] 815). Bamberger'sgeneralizationmay well be correct for certain medieval Jewish interpreters(other than Maimonides),but Bamberger,like J.H. Hertz, unfortunatelydoes not specify to which interpretershe (Bamberger)refers. S Al-Damiri, Haydt al-Hayawan; ET: A.S.G. Jayakar, Ad-Damiri's Haydt alHayawdn:(A Zoological Lexicon) (London:Luzac; Bombay:Taraporevala,1906-08) 1.413; cf. 1.407; L. Kopf, "al-Damiri,Muhammadb. Misa b. 'Isa Kamal al-Din"art. The Encyclopaediaof Islam (ed. H.A.R. Gibb et al.; Leiden: Brill, 19602-) 2.107-8; Bodenheimer,Insects as HumanFood, 43-44. 58 E.g.: "IbnMajahrelates on the authorityof Anas, who said that the wives of the Prophetused to have sent to them locusts in trays as presents"(Al-Damiri, HaydtalHayawan;ET: 1.413). s9"I am the Lord of locusts and their sustainer,if I desire I send them as food for a people and if I desire I send them as a trial for a people"(ET: 1.410). Al-Damiri also calls attentionto medicinaluses for locusts (ET: 1.417). 60 Al-Damiri, .Hayatal-.Hayawan;ET: 1.49-50; here, 1.50. The similarityto Lev. 11:20 is noteworthy.

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however, to dismiss al-Damiri's remarksas simply anecdotal.What is significant for this study is that the complementarytestimonies of Maimonides and al-Damiri highlight the distinctiveness of the Western/European aversionto the eating of locusts and other insects. IV. Summation John the Baptist's and the Essenes' eating of locusts/grasshoppers in Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c and CD 12:1lb-15a belongs to a cultural heritage shared for centuries by many Jews, other peoples of the AncientNear East, and Islamictraditionsfrom Muhammed(allegedly) to al-Damiriat the turnof the fifteenthcenturyC.E., and beyond.That certain Jews ate locusts/grasshoppersis attested by not only Lev. 11:20-23butalso-and closerto thetimeof theEssenesandtheBaptistthe Letter of Aristeas and Philo. One point of contrast between certain Jewish witnesses and the depictions of John the Baptist in the NT Gospels is enlightening. Different from the Damascus Document, the Mishnah and the midrashim, conspicuously absent in Mark 1:2-8 and Matt. 3:1-6 is an attempt to show that John the Baptist ate of prescribed locusts/ grasshoppersand in a 'proper'way, that is, in accordancewith some interpretationof kashrut.This suggests that Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c is not intendedprimarilyfor an audience that was concernedwith the finerdetailsof kashrut.Especiallyin lightof Mark7:1-23//Matt.15:1-20, which dispensewith such requirements,this observationmay come as no surprise.That John himself ate of grasshoppers/locusts from time to time is entirely plausible (so Mark 1:6c). Many Jews both before and after John and the Essenes ate such insects. What is unusualfor Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c is the absence of some qualificationof which locusts John ate or how he ate them. Moreover,it is not extraordinarythat CD 12:1lb-15a mandatesto Essenes certainprescriptionsfor the preparationof fish and locusts. If nothingelse, CD 12:11b-1Saand Mark 1:6c//Matt.3:4c offer an additional indicationthat John and certainEssenes belongedto a common milieu and ate a particularfood, locusts, that flourishedin theirmidst. To argue for a direct connection between those described in these ratherdifferentpassages, however, is an unfortunateinstanceof 'parallelomania.'

METHODOLOGICALPROBLEMS IN RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY FROM RULE TEXTS FOUND AT QUMRAN SARIANNA METSO AlbionCollege

The purposeof this article is to highlight the complexity involved in our attemptsat reconstructingcommunityhistory and development behind the legal texts composedby the Essene community.My interest in methodologicalquestions was initially promptedby my work with the Cave 4 manuscriptsof the CommunityRule,' but this particular article has been stimulated especially by Maxine Grossman's recent perceptive monographReadingfor History in the Damascus Document:A MethodologicalStudy.2As the name of this book indicates, Grossman'sfocus is on the manuscriptsof the DamascusDocument, but the methodology of her valuable work clearly has wider implications. I think we are approachinga very interestingphase regardingthe study of the historyof the Qumrancommunity.We have seen that the Qumranarcheologicalevidence, an equally importantparallel avenue to historical questions, is currentlyundergoinglively debate and reevaluation.3I am convincedthata similarkindof re-evaluationis required in our reconstructionsof the history of the Qumrancommunityfrom

I See, e.g., S. Metso, The TextualDevelopmentof the QumranCommunityRule (STDJ 21; Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1997) and "ConstitutionalRules at Qumran,"The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years.A ComprehensiveAssessment(eds. P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam;Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1998) 186-210. 2 M.L. Grossman,Reading for History in the Damascus Document: A Methodological Study(STDJ 45; Leiden:Brill, 2002). 3 One can referhere, for example,to the work of HananEshel, Jodi Magnes,Susan Sheridan, and others, and the recent congress on Qumran archeology at Brown University.This conferenceentitled"Qumran:The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls"was organizedin theCenterforOldWorldArchaeologyandArtat BrownUniversity,November 17-19, 2002. Among the paperspresented,but not yet published,were HananEshel, "ArtificialCaves at Qumran;"Jodi Magness, "Why Scroll Jars;"and Susan Sheridan, "SkeletalRemainsfrom the Cemeteryat Qumran:The FrenchCollection."



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the textual evidence. To illustratethis point, I would like to refer to Murphy-O'Connor'stheory with respect to the redactionalstages of the CommunityRule. Based on the Cave 1 evidence alone, which was all that was available at that time, Murphy-O'Connortraced four stages of textual developmentwhich he directly linked with the four archeologicalphases of the Qumrancommunityas outlinedby R. de Vaux.4 In the light of the Cave 4 evidence, however, this theory-although

in its claritystill very attractive-appearsoversimplified.The ten manuscripts of the CommunityRule from Cave 4 give evidence both of parallel editions or developing editorial stages and of cross-influence between differentdocuments.' Anotherilluminatingexample is the question of the social groups behindthe texts. Fairlyearly, a commonlysharedview developedthat the CommunityRule describedthe life of an all-male communityat Qumranspecifically,whereas the Damascus Documentdescribedthe larger Essene movement including women and children.6It is quite likely true that the Essene movementincludedvarious groups which differedin their ideals and practices;but now that we have both additional copies of manuscriptsthat were publishedearlier and manu-

4 J. Murphy-O'Connor, RB "La gendse litt6rairede la R6gle de la Communaute," 76 (1969) 528-549. s For discussion on the textual history of the CommunityRule, see G. Vermes, "PreliminaryRemarks on Unpublished Fragments of the Community Rule from QumranCave 4," JJS 42 (1991) 250-255; J. Charlesworthand B.A. Strawn,"Reflections on Text of Serek ha-YahadFound in Cave 4," RevQ 17 (1996) 403-435; P.S. Alexander,"TheRedactionHistoryof SerekhHa-Yahad.A Proposal,"RevQ 17 (1996) 437-56; P. Garnet,"Cave 4 Parallelsto IQS 5.1-7: Towardsa Serek Text History," JSP 15 (1997) 67-78; S. Metso, TextualDevelopment;C. Hempel, "The Penal Code Reconsidered"(Legal Texts and Legal Issues. Proceedings of the Second Meeting of theInternationalOrganizationforQumranStudies,Cambridge1995 (eds. M. Bernstein, F. GarciaMartinezand J. Kampen;Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1997) 337-348; P.S. Alexander and G. Vermes, QumranCave 4XIX: Serekhha-Yahadand Two Related Texts, DJD 26 (Oxford:Clarendon,1998); M. Bockmuehl,"Redactionand Ideologyin the Rule of the Community(IQS/4QS),"RevQ 72 (1998) 541-560. 6 There are, of course,differentnuancedviews within this generalperspective,see, e.g. J.M. Baumgarten,"TheQumran-EsseneRestraintson Marriage,"Archaeologyand History in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The New YorkUniversityConferencein Memoryof Yigael Yadin (Journalfor the Study of the Pseudepigrapha.SupplementSeries 8; Sheffield:JSOT Press, 1990) 13-24; L.H. Schiffman,SectarianLaw in the Dead Sea andthePenalCode(BrownJudaicStudies33;Chico,California: Scrolls:Courts,Testimony Scholars Press, 1983) 12-13. For the role of women at Qumran,see E. Schuller, "Evidence for Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls," in VoluntaryAssociations in the Graeco-RomanWorld (eds. J.S. Kloppenborgand S.G. Wilson; London:Routledge, 1996) 252-65.

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scripts of previously unknown documents, it may be possible to a achieve a clearerfocus.7 It is methodology,and not only contents of the texts, that needs re-examination.The Cave 4 copies may help us to improveon earlierhypothesesand results,as well as on the method by which the rule texts from Qumranhave been used in the reconstructionof the history of the community. In this articleI will deal with four passages in the CommunityRule that particularlypoint out problemswith regard to historical reconstruction: (1) a penal code that is shared by both lQS and 4QDe; (2)

a passage in IQS that appears to mirror conditions in the larger Essene movementratherthan specifically in the Qumrancommunity; (3) a passage of the Doctrine of the Two Spirits that is quoted in 4Q502, a manuscriptentitled a 'Ritual of Marriage';and (4) a passage from the Covenant Ceremony of 1QS that is attested also in 4QSh and 5Q13. All of these passages are redactionallyinterestingand highlightthe versatilityof Qumranscribesin theireditorialwork. I do want to make it clear right at the outset that, while all of these passages speak to the problematicsof historicalreconstruction,they may not necessarilybe analogousin any other way. I am well aware that the passages have been chosen somewhathaphazardly. (1) A Penal Code Shared by IQS and 4QD' The Damascus Document includes a penal code which bears remarkablesimilaritiesto the one in IQS VI,24-VII,25. The passage is preservedin two 4QD manuscripts:4QDa(4Q266) and 4QDC(4Q270).

7 The work of C. Hempel with its focus on the Damascus Documentand related texts leads us in the right direction, see esp. Laws of the Damascus Document:

Sources, Traditions and Redaction (STDJ 29; Leiden: Brill, 1998). Using redaction-

critical ratherthan sociological analysis, Hempel ("TheQumranSapientialTexts and the Rule Books," The WisdomTextsfrom Qumranand the Developmentof Sapiental Thought[eds. C. Hempel,A. Lange, and H. Lichtenberger; Leuven:LeuvenUniversity Press, 2002] 277-295, esp. 277) distinguishesbetweendifferentgroupsbehindthe rule texts: "I sharethe convictionof those scholarswho have arguedthat the Qumrantexts reflect the life and thoughtof more than one communityand find it useful to think of these in terms of a parent movement and an off-shoot community... in my view, the bulk of the communallegislationin the Laws of the DamascusDocumentand the communal legislation preserved in IQSa refer to a parent group whereas most of the CommunityRule describesthe yahad, an off-shootof the parentgroup.However, the situationis more complex, and it is, in fact, impossibleto allocate each document in toto to a particular background."

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Joseph Baumgartenhas studiedthese sections both in his 1992 article and in his DJD edition of 4QD manuscripts.8CharlotteHempel has also discussed the parallelsextensively in her article of 1997.9In the edition Baumgartencommentson these sections in the following way: "It thus appearsthat the penal code, which in the CommunityRule seems to reflect the discipline of an all male order,was capable of being also applied to a society in which both men and women took part in communallife."'0Whetheror not one accepts Baumgarten's view of the CommunityRule as addressedto an all-male order,his point that differentlyorganizedgroups could share material,remains true. Indeed, even the first look at the sections raises the question whetherthe authorsor compilersof the CommunityRule and those of the DamascusDocumentused the same source or whetherone of the sections is directly dependenton the other. In what follows I shall briefly describe the similaritiesand differencesbetween the sections and consider the nature of editorial changes that are discernible in these manuscripts. Baumgartendated 4QD"(4Q266) to the first half or the middle of the first centuryBCE and 4QDe (4Q270) to the early first centuryCE.' The penal code is locatedtowardthe end in both of these manuscripts, before the expulsion ceremony,which concludes the work. The manuscriptIQS is generallydatedto 100-75 BCE.'2Two manuscriptsfrom

8 J.M. Baumgarten,"The Cave 4 Versions of the QumranPenal Code," JJS 43 (1992), 268-276; J.M. Baumgarten,with J.T. Milik, S. Pfannand A. Yardeni,Qumran Cave 4.XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273) (DJD 18; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 7-9, 74-75, and 162-166. C. Hempel,"The Penal Code Reconsidered,"337-48. '0

Baumgarten, DJD 18.8.

'Ibid., 26 and 138. 12 For the dating of IQS, see F.M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumranand Modern Biblical Studies. The Haskell Lectures (London: Duckworth, 1958) 58; N. Avigad, "The Palaeographyof the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Documents," Aspectsof the Dead Sea Scrolls (ScriptaHierosolymitana4; Jerusalem:MagnesPress, 1958) 56-87, esp. p. 57; G. Bonani,M. Broshi,I. Carmi,S. Ivy, J. Strugnell,W. Wolfli, "RadiocarbonDating of the Dead Sea Scrolls,"'Atiqot20 (1991) 27-32. For the datdes feuilles des rouleauxdans le ing of 4QSb and 4QSd, see J.T. Milik, "Num6rotation scriptoriumde Qumran(PlanchesX et XI)," Sem 27 (1977) 75-81, esp. pp. 76-78; TheDead Sea Scrolls.Hebrew, Dates of the Manuscripts," F.M. Cross,"Paleographical Aramaic,and Greek Texts with English Translations.Vol. I: Rule of the Community and Related Documents (ed. J.H. Charlesworth with F.M. Cross, J. Milgrom, E. Qimron,L.H. Schiffman,L.T. Stuckenbruckand R.E. Whitaker;Tubingen:J.C.B. WestminsterJohn Knox Press, 1994) 57; A.J.T. Jull, Mohr [Paul Siebeck]ALouisville: D.J. Donahue, M. Broshi, E. Tov, "RadiocarbonDating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the JudaeanDesert,"Radiocarbon37 (1995) 11-19.


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Cave 4, 4QSbd,have preserveda shorterand more original text than IQS, althoughthey are palaeographicallyyounger than IQS.'3 There is quite little materialleft of the penal code in 4QSb and 4QSd, but the material reconstructionof these manuscriptsbased on the physical characteristicsof the remaining fragments indicates that the penal code, like many other passages, existed in 4QSb,d in a version shorter than that of IQS.'4 What catches attentionis that the section parallelto the materialin 1QS forms only a partof a largerpenal code in 4QD; it is surrounded and preceded by penal regulations,which have no parallel in IQS. Similarly,the sharedportionof the penal regulationsforms only a part of a larger penal code in IQS. The penal code begins at the end of column VI, but the first case that has a parallel in the 4QD manuscriptsis to be found in column VII line 8, and at the end of column VII there are penal regulationswhich have no parallelin 4QD. There is an incredibleamountof complexityhere, but what I will focus on is not the quantitativeaspects but the qualitativemoves that the editors make in developing their sources. The parallelsections (lQS VII, 8-21, 4Q266 (4QDa)10 ii,2-15 and 4Q270 (4QDe) 7 i,1-11) cover sixteen cases of transgressionand punishment.*Thirteenof them are found in both the CommunityRule and the DamascusDocument,and the cases in common occur in identical order in the manuscripts.'5In IQS there are three additional cases, however, located in between the sharedregulations.The cases that are absent from the DamascusDocumentbut includedin the Community Rule involve revenge for oneself (#2), spitting in the meeting of the rabbim (#8), and murmuringagainst the foundationsof the community (#14).

1' J.T. Milik, "Num6rotation", 78; G. Vermes,"PreliminaryRemarks,"255; Metso, TextualDevelopment,74-90; C. Hempel, "The Communityand Its Rivals According to the CommunityRule from Caves 1 and 4," RevQ 21 (2003) 47-81, esp. 51. For a differentview, see P.S. Alexander,"The RedactionHistory",437-56. 14 Metso, TextualDevelopment,24-26 and 38-40. * The discussion in this section depends in part on my article "The Relationship between the Damascus Document and the Community Rule," The Damascus Document: A Centennial of Discovery: Proceedings of the Third International Symposiumof the Orion Centerfor the Studyof the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature,4-8 February,1998 (ed. JosephM. Baumgarten,EstherG. Chazon,Avital Pinnick;STDJ 34; Leiden:Brill, 2000) 85-93. 15 See AppendixA. Throughoutthis article,the numbersin parenthesesreferto the listing of these cases in the Appendix.

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A special characteristicof the penal code of the DamascusDocument is the use of double punishmentconsistingof exclusion and fine. In IQS, however, except for one case, we encounteronly single punishment.The double punishmentoccurs in seven, possibly eight, cases in D: insultingthe neighbor(#1), foolish speech (#3), falling asleep at the meeting of the rabbim(#5), possibly walking about nakedly(#7), indecentexposure(#9), guffawingstupidly(#10), slanderof neighbor (#12), and deviating from the fundamentalprinciplesof the community (#16). Apparentlythe natureof the transgression,i.e. whetherthe transgressionwas minoror more severe, was not decisive in using the double punishment,for double punishmentoccurs in connectionwith both foolish speech and deviatingfrom the fundamentalprinciplesof the community.Interestingly,in all of these cases the length of the exclusion in 4QD correspondsto the length of the fine in IQS. In three cases the texts are clear enough to state with certaintythat both 4QD and IQS had a single punishment:In the case of interrupting a neighbor's speech (#4) and that of gesticulatingwith the left hand (#11) the transgressorwas to be fined, whereas the one who slanderedthe rabbim(#13) was to be sent away without a possibility of return.There are three more cases where the punishmentin 4QD may have been the same as in IQS (cases of permanentexpulsionare not counted here). In all of them, the text in 4QD is very fragmentary, and Baumgarten'sreconstructionsare largely based on lQS. The cases concern leaving in the middle of the rabbimmeeting (#6; it is unsurewhetherthe verb used in Da actuallywas M:3 [2x]), indecent exposure (#9; 4QDa has a double punishment,but Baumgartenhas reconstructeda single punishmentin 4QDe on the basis of 1QS), and murmuringagainst a neighbor(#15; De here is wholly reconstructed on the basis of 1QS).'6 Two of the cases of comparisonare particularlyinteresting.First, in the case of deviatingfrom the fundamentalprinciplesof the community (#16) 4QD lists a double punishmentof two years' exclusion and sixty days' fine. IQS reads a single punishment,two years' fine, but there is an additionalclause indicatingthat the two year periodof punishmentconsisted of differentstages: In the first year the transgressorwas not allowed to touch the purityof the rabbim.In the second year he was not permittedto touch the drinkof the rabbim,and

16

Baumgarten,DJD 18.74-25 and 162-166.


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he had to sit behind all the men of the community.An inquiryof the rabbimafter the two-yearperiod is attestedin both IQS and 4QD. After the punishment,both texts develop, but in differentways. In IQS the regulation is expanded by two rules, the first of which regardsa communitymemberwho has betrayedthe communityafter having been in the council of the communityfor ten full years, and the second of which regardsany othermemberwho is in contactwith such a transgressor.In 4QDe, on the other hand, there follows a regulation about despising the law of the rabbim.Both the regulationin IQS and that in 4QDe deal with the member's conduct towards the rabbim, but whereas IQS speaks about "betrayingthe community" and "leaving the rabbim" (D'8ifl '"tn ts') after ten (71': 1nuf) years, 4QDe speaks only about "despising the law of the rabbim" owrn rl[m] CDrl)and makes no differentiationbetween a new memberand a memberwho has been in the communityfor a longer period.In short,whereas4QDChas one somewhatimpreciserule, IQS has a more elaborateand precise rule plus the addition of a second rule. Both would normallyindicatethat the rule in IQS would be secondary. The comparisonbetween the 4QD manuscriptsand IQS may thus shed furtherlight on the redactionof the penal code in lQS. The second interestingcase is the one of slanderingthe neighbor (#12). A double punishmentof fine and exclusion is attestedboth in D and S, and this is the only occurrenceof a double punishmentin IQS. However,even thoughthe length of the exclusion is defined,the length of the periodfor the fine is unclear. IQS reads:"The man who goes about slanderinghis neighborshall be excluded from the purity of the many for one year and fined."The regulationis not fully preserved in Da, so the length of the fine is not known from there either. Accordingto Baumgarten,Milik suggesteda restoration"six months" for De, but Baumgartendoes not relate the basis for Milik's restoration.'7Da and De specify only that the transgressoris to be expelled from "the purity,"whereas 1QS emphasizesthat the transgressoris to be expelled from "the purityof the rabbim." It is remarkable that the wordings of the transgressions are expressedin exactly the same terms in both documents(there are four such cases: ##3, 5, 11, 15). A fifth transgressionis listed using synonymous words (#1). Three furthertransgressionshave been defined

t7

Ibid., 165.

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in one of the documentsslightly differently,e.g. more accurately(##4, 6, 7). In addition,there are orthographicaldifferencesand a number of morphologicaland syntacticaldifferencesbetween the documents (##4, 9, 10, 12, 16; 1, 13). Both the agreementsand the substantiveand grammaticaldifferences indicate an interrelationshipbetween D and S more complex than that of direct dependence. In the backgroundthere must have been an earlier penal code, which D and S each reworkedindependently. Redactionalactivityfurthercontinuedwithin the S tradition,as shown by a comparisonbetween the shorterversion in 4QSbd and the longer version in IQS. I think that the observationswe can make throughcomparisonof the penal codes have methodologicalimplicationsfor the study of the rule texts: If various groupswere using common sources and borrowing materialfrom each other and revising it, how can we identify the specific groups behind the manuscripts?If large partsof the material included in various manuscriptsare borrowedand modified,how do we make the link between text and history?i.e., what are the criteria that enable us to assign whole manuscriptsto the practiceof particular groups(e.g., a celibatecommunityversus a communitywhere marriage was a common practice)?The case of the penal codes in S and D, in my view, shows clearly that the composite natureof the documents needs to be consideredin any attemptat the reconstructionof the life and history of the Essene communities. (2) A Passage in JQS MirroringConditionsin the Larger Essene MovementRather than Specificallyat the Communityin Qumran Whereasin the previousexample it is the new manuscriptevidence that has introducedus to new problematics,my next example is not a new one, and it is based on internaltextual evidence ratherthan differences between the manuscripts.According to common assumption-an assumptionthat may need re-examinationas J. Collins has argued"8-the CommunityRuleis addressedto thecommunityatQumran. 18 J.J Collins, "Formsof Communityin the Dead Sea Scrolls,"Emanuel:Studiesin Hebrew Bible, Septuagint,and Dead Sea Scrolls (eds. S.M. Paul, R.A. Kraft, L.H. Schiffmanand W. Fields; Leiden, Boston:Brill, 2003) 97-111, esp. 99-104. See also F.M. Cross, The AncientLibraryof Qumran(3rd ed.; Minneapolis:Fortress,1995) 71; C. Hempel, "InterpretativeAuthority in the CommunityRule Tradition,"DSD 10 (2003) 59-80, esp. 67-68; E. Regev, "The Yahadand the DamascusCovenant:Structure, Organization and Relationship," RevQ 21 (2003) 233-262, esp. 235-236;


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The passage in lQS VI,lb-8, however, appearsaddressednot to the communityat Qumranbut to the largerEssene movement. Columns V and VI in 1QS contain heterogeneoussets of community rules consideringthe principlesof communitylife, the oath to be taken by each member,and the need for separationfrom outsiders,as well as rules for the meeting of the rabbim,i.e. the full membersof the community, and two separaterules for accepting new members into the community.Manuscripts4QSb and 4QSd providea shorterand probablymore original form of the text for these columns. The rule for accepting new membersinto the communityin lQS V,20b-VI,la concludes with a referenceto the rabbim and, like the precedingpassages, displays the regularorganizationalterminologyof the yahad, the community.The next passage in IQS VI,lb-8, however, introducesa very differentkind of vocabularyand seems oddly out of place. The passage opens with the heading b1:= IZ'n:r rl'R

InMA ': =:f'1-20 ('In these {ways) shall they all walk o'tk RNnYI in all theirdwelling-places,each with his neighbour';VI,lb-2a). M.A. Knibb translatesthe passage as follows:'9 In these (ways) shall they all walk in all their dwelling-places, each with his neighbour. The one of lower rank shall obey the one of higher rank in regard to work and money. Together they shall eat, together they shall pray, and together they shall take counsel. In every place where there are ten men from the council of the community, let there not be lacking among them a man who is20 a priest; they shall sit before him, each according to his rank, and in the same order they shall be asked their counsel in regard to any matter. When they prepare the table to eat or the new wine to drink, the priest shall first stretch out his hand to bless the first fruits of the bread and the new wine... In the place where there are ten men let there not be lacking a man who studies the law day and night continually, one man being replaced by another.21 And the many rabbim shall watch together for a third of all the nights of the year to read the book, to study the law, and to pray together.

There are a numberof surprisingfeaturesin this passage, but I will mention only two. The term C'nl:0 is used (here translated as a

S. Metso, "Whom does the Term Yahad Identify," forthcoming in Biblical Traditions

in Transmission:Essays in Honourof MichaelA. Knibb(eds. C. Hempel and J. Lieu; JSJSup; Leiden: Brill, 2005). 1' M.A. Knibb, The Qumran Community (Cambridge Commentaries on Writings of the Jewish and Christian World 200 BC to AD 200, vol. 2; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) 113. 20 Lacking in 4QSd 21 The text parallel to IQS VI,6b-7a was apparently shorter in 4QSd, but the the text is too fragmentary there to be fully reconstructed.

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dwelling-place);it occurs nowhereelse in the CommunityRule. Also, it seems odd that a point about the presence of a priest should be made at Qumran,since the rest of the document seems to presume rathera multitudeof priestspresentin any given situation.It had been suggestedalreadyin the early stages of the analysisof the Community Rule that the passage forms an interpolation,and I agree with this conclusion.22The last sentence of the passage referringto the rabbim may very well have been createdby the redactoras a form of resumptive clause (cf. IQS VI,la), and as a bridge to the rules for the session of the rabbim(lQS VI,8b-13a) that follow. The passage must have been insertedinto the compositionat a very early stage, however, for it is includedin 4QSd, which has generally preserveda more original text than lQS. The passage is preserved only fragmentarilyin 4QSd II,6-10 (Frg. la ii), but a few differences can be noted:the word 'tki' (man) is absentfrom 4QSd, and towards the end of the passage, the text in 4QSd appearsto have been shorter, althoughdue to the fragmentarynatureof the text, it can no longerbe reconstructed.In short, the passage is in all witnesses in one form or another,and the conclusionthat here we are dealing with an interpolation is based on internal textual clues rather than on differences between manuscripts. This passage is the only one in the CommunityRule where the Sitz im Leben is very unlikely to be the settlement at Qumran.A.R.C. Leaney suggests that the passage regulated the life of the general Essene movementin the periodbefore the Qumrangroupwithdrewto the desert, since it describes life "as it was lived in small scattered groups,kept togetherby acknowledgingsome centralauthorityas well as by their own communitylives."23Michael Knibb is of the opinion that the material describes the circumstances contemporary with those

at Qumran,but that the section alludes to the membersof the Essene movement living in towns and villages amongst their fellow Jews.24 These intermingledgroups are mentionedby Josephusand Philo, and a basic group of ten is also referredto in the text of Josephus(J.W. II.8.4). Leaney and Knibbhave a point here. The term1:17Musually

22

A.R.C. Leaney, The Rule of Qumranand Its Meaning:Introduction,Translation

and Commentary (New Testament Library; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1966) 180; Knibb, QumranCommunity, 115; Metso, TextualDevelopment, 115-116 and 134-135. 23 Leaney, Rule of Qumran, 180, see also 173-174. 24 Knibb, Qumran Community, 11 5.


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designatesa place of sojournand, indeed,the idea of meetinga neighbor would be best suited to somewhereother than Qumran.But what functioncould this passage possibly have served in the context of the CommunityRule? Was the passage intendedas a kind of guide for those travellingto areas outside of Qumran?Or was it includedonly for archivalpurposes?Or, as J. Collins has suggested,was it integral to the Rule, envisioning smaller groups that togetherconstitutedthe ya ad?25What does the passage say about the groups and the social realitiesbehindthese texts and aboutthe groups'ability to sharematerials? It is passages like these that ought to questionour readinessto assign a documentto one group or another. (3) A Passage of the Doctrine of the Two Spirits Quoted in a Ritual of Marriage (4Q502) 4Q502 has been a document difficult to interpret,largely due to the fragmentarystate of the manuscript.M. Baillet, its editor, viewed it as a liturgy for a ritual of marriage,26and it is entitled as such in the DJD Index volume (vol. 39).27 J.M. Baumgarten,in contrast, has proposed that the document presents a Golden Age ritual celebratedat the time of Sukkot,a ritual comparableto the 'sacredvigil' of the Therapeutae.28 In partial agreement,M.L. Satlow considers it more likely that the festival took place at the time of the New Year.29 The point, first presentedby Baumgarten,that the ceremonyis called nriz, 'a festival', to be celebratedat an appointedtime, is enough to convince me that the documentwas associatedwith some Jewish festival.30What the exact natureof the festival was, however, is a question I will gladly leave to those more initiatedin matterscalendrical.

I Collins, "Formsof Community,"99 and 104. In Collins' view, the term yahad functionedas an 'umbrellaterm'forthesesmallercommunitiesandshouldnotbe identified with the communityat Qumran. 26 M. Baillet, QumrdnGrotte 4.111(4Q482-4Q520) (DJD 7; Oxford: Clarendon, 1982) 81-105 and plates XXIX-XXXIV. 27 E. Tov et al., The Textsfrom the JudaeanDesert: Indices and an Introduction to the 'Discoveriesin the JudaeanDesert' Series (DJD 39; Oxford:Clarendon,2002) 71. 28 J.M. Baumgarten,"4Q502, Marriage or Golden Age Ritual?"JJS 34 (1983) 125-135. 29 M.L. Satlow, "4Q502 A New Year Festival?"DSD 5 (1998) 57-68. 30 Baumgarten, '4Q502,' 128-129.

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It is noteworthy,however, that the fragmentsof this manuscripthave preservedover ten referencesto women and issues regardingfamily life. Baumgartenappearsto believethat4Q502describesthecircumstances of the Qumran community, for he writes: "It is now known from 4Q502 that women were evaluatedwithin the Qumrancommunityin accordancewith their 'intelligence and understanding'as 'daughters of truth'. The Essenes who marrieddid so not only after determiningtheirfuturewives' probablefecundity,butafterthreeyearsof probation (Jos. J.W. 2.161). The lattermay have been intendedas a pre-marital demonstrationof good character,analogousto the probationaryperiod for male candidatesto the order."3" On the otherhand,J. Maierin his Encyclopediaarticle on 4Q502 writes: The fact that membersof families are mentionedas recitingbenedictionsor as participantsor subjectsof such ritualsindicatesa "nonsectarian" character.The fragmentsare probablyremainsof a pre-Qumranicliturgicaltradition,attested also in other texts containingprayersand benedictionsfor definedevents or certain days or festivals. It representsnot necessarily a proof for the practiceof marriagewithin the Qumrancommunity,but may be taken anyway as proof for "'normal" life beyondthe boundariesof the performanceof the yahad,which may be regardedas an inner circle of a broadergroup,all sharingthe liturgicalheritage of the Jewish establishmentbefore the split that occurredduringand after the events underAntiochusIV.32

Clearly, it is difficultto find any consensusregardingthe character of 4Q502, and one need not agree with the details mentionedabove, nor will I attemptto solve the dispute here. Rather,I wish to comment only on a small part of this manuscript,namely fragment 16. This fragmenthas only eight words-some only partiallypreservedbut they seem to overlap with IQS IV, 4-6, a passage from the socalled Doctrine of the Two Spirits. The overlappingpassage comes from a list of virtues induced by the spirit of light, and reads as follows: a spirit of knowledgewith regardto every plan of action, zeal for the precepts of righteousness, a holy purpose with a constant mind, abundant kindness towardsall the sons of truth,a gloriouspuritywhich loathesall the impureidols, circumspectionlinked to discernmentin all things, and concealmentof the truth

Baumgarten,DJD 18, 144. J. Maier,"Ritualof Marriage,"Encyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls (vol. 2; eds. L.H. Schiffmanand J.C. VanderKam;Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 2000) 783. 3'

32


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of the mysteriesof knowledge.These are the counsels of the spirit for the sons of truthin the world. The visitationof all those who walk in it .."33

Althoughquite a numberof scholarshave suggestedthat the text of the Doctrine in IQS III,13-IV,26 does not form a literary unity,34 it

has not yet been suggested, as far as I know, that the list of virtues of the spirit of light and theirrewards,and those of the spirit of darkness respectively,would have originallyformeda separateunit within the Doctrine. However, in 4Q502 a passage listing the virtues of the spirit of light is quoted.I find it quite unlikely that the whole of lQS III,13-IV,26 would have been included in 4Q502, so one has to reckonwith the possibilitythat such a list of spiritualvirtuesdid exist independently.This would not, of course, be surprising,for such lists or ethical catalogues are attested in various Hellenistic, Jewish and Christiancircles in antiquity(e.g., AristophanesBatr. 5.145; Andronicus StoicorumVeterumFragmenta3.64; Virgil Aen. 6.732; Horace Ep. 1.1.33-40; Philo Sacr. 20-27; Leg. All. 1.19.26; 2.23.24; Wisdom of Sol. 14:25-26; 2 Cor 6:6-8; Gal 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:5-7).35 Thus, a comparisonbetween 4Q502 and IQS opens up a number of questions,most of which as of now remainunanswered:Is the text of 4Q502 literarilydependenton the CommunityRule in the passage overlapping with lQS IV, 4-6, or should we assume a common source, oral or written,behind the two texts? From a socio-historical point of view, was the text of 4Q502 created by an Essene scribe quotinganotherEssene text (the CommunityRule), or was the text of 4Q502 createdoutsideof the Essene circles, with no knowledgeof the CommunityRule and/or the Doctrine of the Two Spirits? In other words, should we read this passage from 4Q502 without referenceto

TranslationM.A. Knibb,QumranCommunity,98. P. von der Osten-Sacken, Gott und Belial: TraditionsgeschichtlicheUntersuchungenzumDualismusin den Textenaus Qumran(SUNT 6; Gottingen:Vandenhoeck & Ruprect,1969) 17-27; J. Duhaime,"L'instructionsur les deux esprits et les interpolations dualistes a Qumran,"RB 84 (1977) 566-594; For furtherdiscussion, see A. Lange, Weisheitund Prddestination:WeisheitlicheUrordnungund Pradestinationin denTextfunden vonQumran(STDJ18;Leiden:Brill,1995)128;J.J.Colfins,Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Literatureof the Dead Sea Scrolls 1; London and New York:Routledge, 1997) 38-43, esp. 39. 35 J.C. Charles,"Vice and VirtueLists,"Dictionaryof New Testament Background: A Compendiumof ContemporaryBiblical Scholarship (eds. C.A. Evans and S.E. Porter;Downers Grove, Grove, IL, and Leicester,England:InterVarsityPress, 2000) 1252-1257. 3

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the Doctrineof the Two Spirits, presumingthat what is quoted there is merely an independentlyexisting list of virtues that only happened to be incorporatedalso in the CommunityRule? Or: Is the passage from 4Q502 actually quoting the Doctrine of the Two Spirits, at a intotheCommunity andnotyet incorporated timewhenit was independent Rule of Qumran? In sum, dependingon the textual analysis of these two texts and of their mutualrelationship,we may end up with very differenthistorical scenarios.Ratherthannaivelymovingdirectlyfromthe surfacemeaning of the text into historicalreconstructions,account must be taken of the various possibilitiesfor explainingthe sociological or editorial relationshipsof the texts. (4) A Passage from the CovenantCeremonyin JQS III,4-5 Attested also in 4QSh and 5Q13 My next example deals with the scant remains of the manuscript labeled as 4QSh (4Q262). Accordingto Cross, the script of this manuscriptdates to about the first half of the first centuryCE.36Although threefragmentson PAM 43.267 look a lot alike, in my view only two fragments can be confidently identified as belonging to this manuscript.(Alexanderand Vermes,the editorsof 4QSh considerthirdfragment on PAM 43.267 as belonging to the same manuscript,although they, too, note the differences).Fragment 1 alone has a parallel in IQS (IQS III,4-5), whereas frg. 2 (labeled A by Alexander and Vermes) and frg. 3 (labeled B by Alexander and Vermes) remain unidentified.The text of fragment 1 paralleling IQS III, 4-5 comes from the end of the covenantceremonyand recountsthe fate of those who refuse to enter the covenant or, rather, enter with an impure heart. The text of frg. 1 of 4QSh (includingits immediatecontext) reads as follows: "(He shall not be made clean) [by atonement]s, nor cleansed by [purifyingwaters, nor sanctifiledby seas and rivers, [nor shall he be cleansed by any water] of ablution. Uncle[an, unclean

36 F.M. Cross, "PaleographicalDates", 57; Alexanderand Vermes, DJD 26.189195, esp. 190.


329

shall he be all the days that] he [despi]ses the judgmentsof God by not ... I"

The reason for my present interest in this manuscriptlies in the connection it seems to have with the manuscript5Q13, a document entitled as "Une regle de la secte" by Milik in DJD 3,38 and simply as a "Rule"in the DJD Index volume (vol. 39). L.H. Schiffmansuggests that SQ13 "may [have] function[ed]as a serek, a rule, for the conduct of the covenantrenewal and the musteringceremony of the Qumransect."39Althoughthe manuscriptbears the name of a rule, it is not self-evidentthat the Gattungof the manuscripttruly is a rule. Fragments 1 and 2, which are the largest preserved,form rather a hymn or a prayer,where God is addressedin the second person singular and where his deeds in Israel's history are recounted.Fragment 4, on the other hand, does have similaritieswith both the Damascus Documentand the CommunityRule: its line 1 reads "He shall stand before the mebaqqer"(paralleling CD XV,1 1), and the next lines include two brief citations from the liturgy of the covenant renewal includedin the CommunityRule (IQS III,4-5 and IQS II,19): "[...] He shall not be made clean by atoneme[nts.. .J Unclean, unclean shall he be [all] the d[ays... These shall they do every year, a[ll the days.. .]" Thus, frg. 4 might suggest that this work is a rule, but the hymn or prayerin frgs. 1-2 clouds the issue. 4QSh presentsa similar problem.It too contains hymnic or poetic material and quotes one of the rule passages just mentioned: IQS III,4-5. My question or methodologicalcriticism concerns our readiness (includingmy own readiness)to label 4Q262 as a manuscriptof the Community Rule (4QSh). As we compare 4QSh and 5Q13, we can-

not detect any significantqualitativedifferencebetween these manuscripts.Both manuscriptscontainhymnic or poetic material,and both have a passage parallelinglQS. Why is one manuscriptassigned as a copy of the CommunityRule, while the other is seen only as quoting it? Do not we have here a good likelihood that 4QSh is really not a

The translationfollows that by Alexanderand Vermes, DJD 26.191. M. Baillet, J.T. Milik, and R. De Vaux, Les 'petitesgrottes' de Qumrdn(DJD 3; Oxford,Clarendon,1962) 181-183 and plates XXXIX-XL. 39 L.H. Schiffman,"Sectarian Rule,"Rule of the Communityand RelatedDocuments (eds. J.H. Charlesworthet al.; The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts with English Translations 1; Tubingen and Louisville: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck] and WestminsterJohn Knox, 1994) 132-143, esp. 133. 37 38

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copy of the CommunityRule at all, but that it was a separatecomposition altogether-perhapsa collection of hymns-quoting a phrase from the CommunityRule? Furthermore: What are the implicationsof finding that material involving the covenant ceremony is extant in these threewritings(lQS, 4Q262, 5Q13)? For example,if we were to approach the covenant ceremony from the direction of 5Q13 and 4Q262, and not from that of IQS as we normallydo,40how would it change our views concerningthe liturgicaldetails of the ceremony? And-I am playing devil's advocate here-who wrote the text: the communityat Qumran,someotherEssenecommunityoutsideof Qumran, or some non-EsseneJewish group?What if the three documentsare literarilyindependentand derivefrom an oral source?Verbatimagreements in formulaiclanguage such as in blessings and curses are not uncommonin orally transmittedtraditions. Conclusionsand Applications Three of the four cases discussed above provide physical manuscriptevidence of the complexitiesinvolved in textualtransmissionof the writingsincludedin the Qumranlibrary.In many othercases, such as the second of the four cases discussedabove, the evidence does not rest on multiple copies but is intertextual. Methodologically, we shouldkeep the option open that complex developmentswere likely to have been in place even in those parts of the Qumranlibrary for which physical evidence attestingto these developmentsis no longer preserved.Thus, these small glimpses give us clues as to what kind of phenomenawe should reckonwith even when we cannot see them preserved, as we try to develop analytical tools for sound textual reconstructionsof the history of the Qumrancommunity. Thus, it is importantto pay attentionto the compositenatureof the rule texts when they are comparedand focus on individualredactional units ratherthan on completedocumentsas if they were literaryuni-

40 To be sure, materialrelated to the covenant ceremonyis also attested in CD, 4QD, and 4QBerakhot,see D.K. Falk, Daily, Sabbath,and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls (STDJ 27; Leiden:Brill, 1998) 219-236; B. Nitzan,QumranPrayer and Religious Poetry (transl. J. Chipman;STDJ 12; Leiden: Brill, 1994) 125-139; eadem, "4QBerakhot(4Q286-290): A PreliminaryReport,"New QumranTexts and Studies:Proceedingsof thefirst Meetingof the InternationalOrganizationfor Qumran Studies (eds. G.J. Brooke and F. Garcia Martinez;STDJ 15; Leiden: Brill, 1994) 53-71.


331

ties. Redactionalmattersas highlightedby textual similaritiesand differencesmust be takeninto considerationbefore historicalapplications can be made. Comparisonof the rule texts indicates that different groups shared certain materials, perhaps sharing older material in common, perhaps borrowingfrom each other. This probablymeans that one groupformulatedthe material,which presumablymatchedthe activity of that group.When a differentgroup borrowedthat material because they thoughtit was valuable, it is not necessaryto conclude that the new groupacted out every detail of the passage;thus it would be misleading to make the direct connection between that group's texts and its historicalactivity. It is true that, when the communityactually used a manuscript,it presumablyfunctionedas a unified document,and the separate sections that comprisedthe documentmay have gained a new focus in the new context of the newly redacteddocument.But there may well have been an understandingthat certainpartswere importantand their details correspondedwith the activities of the group, but that other partswere less so and those details had little or no correspondenceto the historicalactivity of that group. The results emerging from my study of the CommunityRule concurwithMaxineGrossman'sfindingsregardingtheDamascusDocument. The methodologicalprinciplesshe has eloquentlyformulateddeserve our attention: At a most fundamentallevel, the insightsof a literarycriticalapproachto historiographyserve as a reminderthat texts are not neutralor objective in the way that they convey historicalevents or communaldescriptions.Rather,even in their originalcontexts-and in termns of the meaningsassigned to them by their original author(s)or editor(s)-texts like the Damascus Document reflect complex, and sometimesmultivalent,constructionsof historyand communalidentity."4'

Grossmancontinues: Althoughit is still importantto ask about the events that led to the composition of the literaryevidence, it becomes increasinglyimportantto ask how that literary evidence would have been understood-in its original setting, but also in later settings;by audienceswith continuinginterestsin, but a potentialfor very differentinterpretations of, the historicalclaims presentedin the text. A historical account that is understoodas literal in one setting may be understoodas a metaphoror a morallesson or a predictionof futureevents in another.Similarly, historicalaccountsthat are not 'originallyintended'as literal might be taken-

4'

M. Grossman,Readingfor History,210.

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by a laterreaderwith an interestin knowingthe detailsof the past-in just such terms.Thus, a text like the DamascusDocumentmight serve both to recordhistoricalevents and also to 'create' those events, in the sense that later audiences mightunderstandthem to be 'factual'in ways that theiroriginalauthor(s)or editor(s) did not intendthem to be understood.42

Although I am not even close to solving the many questions I raised in this article, I would like to give an example as to how textual observationscan influenceand change historicalconclusions.The questionI would like to brieflyrefer to is that of the Sitz im Leben of the CommunityRule.43 My analysis of the Cave 4 material of the CommunityRule has indicatedthe existence of paralleltextual traditions,i.e., the community continuedcopying a shorterand more originalform of the Rule even when an expandedversion was alreadyavailable.The question how the Rule really functionedin the communityis a problem,but not just because of the Cave 4 evidence. The functionof the Cave 1 copy is also problematic.The Cave 1 manuscriptcontainsthreepenal codes and two admissionsprocedures,and some of these passages attest to contradictorypractices.But, as E.P. Sandersnotes: "Theologicaldisparitiescan be accommodated,but the halakahon a given point cannot be two differentthings at once."" In the light of this kind of textualevidence, we need to re-evaluate what we mean when we describethe CommunityRule as a lawbook or rulebook.45In the modem sense of the words, the term rulebook indicates a normative,legally binding set of written regulations,but surprisingly,in the CommunityRule there is never referenceto written rules in the judicial meetings. The authorityfor decision making is grantednot to a writtenrulebookbut ratherto the rabbim(e.g., lQS VI,8-13) or to the sons of Aaron (IQS IX,7). Thus, the suggestionis reasonable that in the community's court proceedings,"6the leading

Ibid., 211. A fuller form of this discussionhas appearedin my "In Search of the Sitz im Leben of the CommunityRule,"The Provo InternationalConferenceon the Dead Sea Scrolls: TechnologicalInnovations,New Texts, and ReformulatedIssues (eds. D.W. Parryand E. Ulrich;Studieson the Texts of the Desertof Judah30; Leiden:E.J. Brill, 1999) 306-315." 4 E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism; A Comparison of Patterns of Religion (London:SCM, 1977) 325. 4S The nature and function of such rulebooks in antiquity invites further investigation. I This does not exclude the possibilitythattheremay have been othersettings,e.g., 42 43


333

authorities perhaps did not resort to written regulations, but rather were guided by the oral tradition created and transmitted by the priestly membersof the community.The authoritativeform for community decision-makingmay well have been oral, not written. If we assume that the purposeof the documentwas not to serve as a lawbook in the modern sense, but rather as a recording of different judicial decisions and a reportof oral traditions,then the existence of contradictoryregulationsin compilationslike the CommunityRule is not so surprising.This kind of documentwould, of course, be of great significancenonethelessfor educatingthe membersof the community. I think we can find an interestinganalogy in the ancient rabbinic writings, although comparison of the rabbinic and Essene textual corpora involves many complexities, and the rabbinic categories of Writtenand Oral Law clearly do not apply in the case of the Qumranic writings. The Mishnaic rabbis kept developing new halakhic materialas court cases accumulated.It was not officially permittedto recordthehalakhahin writtenform,andpublicdiscussionson thehalakhic decisions took place in oral form. However, privatelypreservedwritten recordswere producedfor future guidance(cf. Mishna Sanhedrin 4.2). Theexistenceof suchwrittenrecords,as pointedoutby J. Weingreen, is shown by Temura14b, for example,that forbidsthe recitingof oral material from a written record. This provides "clear evidence that what is designatedas 'oral' matteractually existed in written form." Weingreenemphasizesthat "the adjectiveoral refers not to the means of preserving authoritativerabbinic legalistic materials, but only to their circulationand transmission."47 To summarize,literarycritical analysis often leads to problematic results for the reconstructionof the community'shistory. In order to address these problems, we should attempt to formulate principles for methodologically sound historical reconstructionthat heed the

ceremonialand educational,in which texts createdand copied by the communitywere publiclyrecited.In fact, the reconstructedtext of IQSa I,4-5 appearsto referto a ceremony in which 'statutesof the covenant' (fl"=7 PM) were read 'in their hearing' ([.n7nil'nt]iz). Knibb(The QumranCommunity,147) notes that "These lines have been inspired by Deut. 31:11-12, part of the passage referring to the renewal of the covenantevery seven years; this raises the possibilitythat the ceremonyto which allusionis madeheremaybe thatof the entryinto(andrenewalof) thecovenant.Alternatively, these lines merely refer to the instructionof new members." 47 J. Weingreen,From Bible to Mishna: The Continuityof Tradition(Manchester: ManchesterUniversityPress, 1976) 78-79.

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complexitiesinvolved in the processes of textual transmission.A text can originatefrom a simple historicaloccurrence,but then that text can assume a life of its own. If the text passes throughseveraleditorial hands,the resultingtext that we read may have been disconnected from its historical mooring and no longer reflect that history but a developedset of thoughts.When the resultsof literarycriticalanalysis indicate such complexities, we should not simply apply minor adjustmentsto old theories but formulatenew theories,which better take into considerationthe tenuouslink between the text and the historicalrealitiesbehindit. The way I now approachthe questionof the Sitz im Leben of the CommunityRule is an attempttowardssuch new formulation.


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APPENDIX A: A Comparison Between the Parallel Penal Codes in the Community Rule and the Damascus Document Transgression 1. Insult/bearing grudge 2. Revenge 3. Foolish talk

Punishmentin IQS fine: 6 months/l year (above the line) fine: 'the same' (i.e. 6 months/1year) fine: 3 months

4. Interruptionof speech 5. Falling asleep

fine: 10 days

6. Leaving the rabbimmeeting three times 7. Walkingabout naked 8. Spittingin the rabbimmeeting 9. Indecentexposure

fine: 10 days; if while standing,30 days

fine: 30 days

fine: 6 months

Punishmentin 4QD exclusion: 1 year + fine: 6 months fine: 20 days + exclusion: 3 months fine: 10 days exclusion: 30 days + fine: 10 days fine: 10 days, if while standing,30 days exclusion:6 months+ fine: 30 days (?)

fine: 30 days fine: 30 days

10. Guffawingstupidly

fine: 30 days

11. Gesticulationwith left hand 12. Slanderof neighbor 13. Slanderof rabbim 14. Murmuringagainst community foundations 15. Murmuringagainst neighbor 16. Deviating from fundamental principlesof community

fine: 10 days

exclusion: 30 days + fine: 10 days exclusion:30 days + fine: 15 days fine: 10 days

exclusion: 1 year + fine (length?) permanentexpulsion permanentexpulsion

exclusion: 1 year + fine: 6(?) months permanentexpulsion

fine: six months

fine: 6 months (?)

fine: two years; if exclusion: two years + after ten years of fine: 60 days membership,permanent expulsion

THE TEMPLE SCROLL COURTS GOVERNED BY PRECISE TIMES BARBARA THIERING Universityof Sydney,Australia

The QumranTemple Scroll (11Q19) plans a new temple and its courtswhich the authorsbelieved should be built in Jerusalem.It follows the concept of Ezekiel 40-43, written with a similar intention. Where Ezekiel's plan itself reflected Babylonianscience, expressing perfectionthroughsymmetricalsquares,the Temple Scroll added the sophistication that had been developed over subsequent centuries. Furtherstudy of time, a centralconcernat Qumran,had enhancedthe concept of its equivalencewith space. The squarecourts, largerthan those of Ezekiel, were to be punctuatedin the walls by gates that may be shown to be placed accordingto an exact science of time derived from the positions of the sun. The gates leading to the middle and outer courtsare namedfor the tribes of Israel, in the same relative positions in both sets of walls. The sizes of the gates and the spaces between them are set out in the text in numbersof cubits. On the easternwall in both courts,the first gate, on the north-east,is for Simeon, the centralone for Levi, and the south-easternone for Judah.On the south wall, Joseph (EphraimManasseh)in the centre is flankedby Reuben and Benjamin.On the west wall, Zebulunlies in the centre,with Gad on the north-westand Issacharon the south-west.On the northwall, Naphtaliin the centre is flankedby Asher and Dan (39:11-16; 41:1-11) (DiagramA). In each of the four quartersof the complex of courts,a triangleis formedby two straightsides arounda right-angleat the centreof the walls (DiagramA). The size of the other two angles of the triangleis determinedby the length of the two straightsides, the perpendicular and the base. Of these, angle 0 lies at the centre of the whole complex, facing the north-southperpendicularopposite.Given information on the length of the perpendicularand base, the size of this angle can be calculatedby trigonometry.



337

THE TEMPLE SCROLL COURTS GOVERNED BY PRECISE TIMES

N THE TEMPLE COURTS

Dan

Gad

Naphtali

E

Asher

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Simeon

_

Gad

Zebulun

~

~

mo

eblu

Issachar

Jda

Benjamin J Iss

w

har

eph Reuben

ah

lud

Benjamin

Joseph

Reuben

1678

l

1600 814 l 100 cul

l

800

Diagram A

In an important earlier article' Margaret Barker has shown that the gate of Simeon in the north-eastern section of both sets of walls is so placed that the rising sun at the summer solstice would shine on this 1 M. Barker, "The Temple Measurements and the Solar Calendar," in Temple Scroll Studies, (ed. G.J. Brooke; JSPSup 7; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1989).

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BARBARA THIERING

gate. Angle 0 could be calculated,from the measurementsof sides that she employed,to be 28.650 from the east-west axis, facing the middle court gate of Simeon, and 28.32? facing the outer court gate of Simeon. Thus "the gatehouse(gate of Simeon) of the outer and middle courts and the centre point of the complex would have formed a straightline." In each case she measuredthe perpendicularfrom the northernpoint of the NE gate. Jerusalem,where the templewas to be built, lies at the latitude310 47' N. At the summersolstice the sun rises a few minutesafter5 a.m.2 The question arises why the position of the sun is not exactly the same for both courtsin her calculations,giving the same angle 0. The rays of the rising sun would surely strikeboth Simeon gates simultaneously. To this question may be added the observationthat Barker has had to rely on the measurementsof the courts as given by Maier and Yadin in early studies,and a closer scrutinyof the text shows that these need to be reconsidered. It may be demonstratedthat a differentreading of the text concerning the width of the courts, togetherwith a furtherobservation aboutmeasurementof minutes,resultsin a findingthat gives the same angle 0, 280 to the nearestdegree:28.050 for the middle court,28.030 for the outer court. The further observation on the use of minutes shows a matterof great interest,that the gates were constructedso as to indicate precise times, not only at the solstices and equinoxes,but throughoutthe year. The Temple Scroll shows its belief in the primacyof the sun in its use of the methodsof the solar calendarto determinethe pentecontad feasts. In cols 18-21 it sets out a series of feasts every 49 days, seven weeks, using the methodof countinga jubilee found in the documents of the solar calendar. It reconciles the biblical figure of 50 for a jubilee by countingthe day afterthe sabbathas both a 50 and the first of the next 49, as stated in 18:11-13. Dimensionsof the Courtsand Gates The temple, the plan of which is set out in the fragmentaryopening columns 3-10, is to lie at the centre of three squarecourts. Cols

2

A. Roitman,ed., A Day at Qumran,The Dead Sea Sect and Its Scrolls (The Israel

Museum, Jerusalem, 1997), chart p. 22.

339


PLACEMENT OF GATES IN WALLS NE SECTION

Middle Court

Outer Court

15 cu

50 cu

99 360 1100

t7

244

365

Siuo814 4.55

Sro

455

Sooeo

5 35m

271

am

5a

50

130 99 400

120 360

Lev I14

Lev

.

6oam

Centre

5

6a

14

DiagramB 36-42 include the dimensions of the courts. A large outer one is to consist of a square of 1600 cubits (but see further below on its measurements). This is for people of the level of women and Gentiles, "daughters and foreigners", excluded from any closer access to the temple at the centre (39:7; 40:6). A smaller square court with a side of 480

340

BARBARA THIERING

cubits lies much closer to the temple. Its twelve gates named for the tribes are placed in the same relative positions as in the outer court. Within it again, an inner squarewith a side of 280 cubits surrounds the temple itself.3(DiagramA) The gates and chambers The gates of the plan are actually gatehouses,on the model of the entrance portals of ancient cities, where some of the more secular business of the city was conducted.Withinthe structurea wide doorway gave access in the centre of its outer wall. The doorwayopened to a corridorrunningthe length of the gatehouse,to a parallel door opening to the courtswithin. The inner court gates, one only on each wall, are to be 40 cubits square.Each of the three gates on the walls of the middle court are to be 28 cubits square.Each of the outer court gates 50 cubits square (cols 36-41). The influenceof Pythagoreanmathematicalontology is seen in the treatmentof numbersthroughout.The Essenes are stated by Josephus to have followed "a way of life taughtto the Greeksby Pythagoras" (Ant. 15:371). Inner court gates (Diagram C) The descriptionof the inner court gate in 36:4-7 gives the size, 40 within the gates, 26 cubits square,and the size of its chambers([1vR]n) is be a within a square,leaving a cubits square.There thus to square strong wall 7 cubits wide surroundingthe chamber, as is stated in 36:5. The width of the entrancedoorways is to be 14 cubits (36:8). The 14 cubit wide corridorlies within the 26 cubit lengthof the chamber, leaving a 6 cubit width of wall on either side. The word Rrf "chamber"in the Temple Scroll has changed its meaning from its use in Ezekiel, as is recognisedin the translations.

I Althoughthe actual length of the cubit does not affect the presentstudy, it may be noted that the 18 inch cubit can be seen to be standardisedat Qumran.In the triangularspace, loc 100, boundedby the aqueduct,two carved stone pillar bases were found, of circularshape. The roundedrings into which they are carvedare in marked contrastwith the rough stones used for the surroundingbuildings.The diameterof the circulartop of the bases is just 18 inches. Photo in B.E. Thiering,Jesus the Man (Sydney:TransworldDoubleday,1992) (publishedin the U.S. as Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls [San Francisco:HarperCollins1992]) opp. 212.


341

INNER COURT GATE

33

A

]

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 26~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entrancedoorvay

14

Antechamber

1

~~~~~~~~~40

3 cu

DiagramC In Ezekiel (40:7, 10, etc), it is used for a side-room, one of the small rooms lining either side of the centre of the gatehouse from which guards could control those who entered.4 The word means "guardroom" in 1 Kgs. 14:28. In the Temple Scroll it refers to a single large room occupying most of the space within a gatehouse, as is shown by

4

W. Eichrodt, Ezekiel (London: SCM Press, 1970) 544.

342

BARBARA THIERING

its dimensions.It was suitablefor such purposesas councils. The king or leading citizens in ancient cities held meetings with ordinarypersons in the gates, and the large chamberwithin the gates would be plannedfor such a purpose(Ezek. 46:1-3; Prov. 31:23; 2 Sam. 15:2).5 Since the chamberis to lie within the square,the entrancedoorway of the corridor within the outer wall may be understood as an antechamber.In this inner court gate close to the temple, councils of greatersignificancewould be held, requiringa place for petitionersto wait before an audiencewith the king. One of the mattersrelevantto the presentstudy is the extensionand projectionof the walls and gates. Do the walls lie outside the width of the court, or within it? Are the gates wholly inside the walls? It is essential to understandthis in orderto know the width of the bases of the triangleon which the calculationof angle depends.In the text, a statementon this questionis includedfor each of the courts. For the inner court gate, an incompletesentenceat the end of column 36 reads "and the gates coming towards the inside of the court....A parallelsentencefortheoutercourt,41:12-13, is completed by a statementof how many cubits projectinside, as a sub-divisionof the whole, some of which lies outside. A similar meaningwould be the case for the innercourtgate. The incompletesentencewould have gone on to describe the numberof cubits inside the court, as a subdivision of the 40 cubits, some of which lie outside. Yadin agrees that the whole of the court-wall,7 cubits wide, lies outside the innercourt.He holds that for ritualreasons"only the interior sides (of the walls) were properlyconsideredpart of the inner court, the court of extreme holiness and purity. Their exterior sides were in fact the interiorsides of the walls of the middle court, and rightly belonged to that court."6

I

When the word [1'kI9rappears in 36:6, one letter only of it survives, given in the transciption as taw, with a dot indicating uncertainty. The letter is partly obliterated, but its outlines appear to be a taw, as F. Garcia Martinez and E. Tigchelaar (The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition [2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1997-19981; hereafter = GM-T) and Vermes (The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English [London: Penguin, 1998]) accept, supplying "chambers". The Concordance in Y. Yadin, Megillat-hammiqdas (3 vols.; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1977 [English Edition 1983]) reads it as r11n. 6 Y. Yadin, The TempleScroll. The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) 121. Y. Yadin, Megillat-hammiqdas; E. Qimron, The

Temple Scroll. A Critical Edition with Extensive Reconstructions (Judean Desert Studies; Beer-Sheva-Jerusalem: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, Israel Exploration Society, 1996).


343

The projectionof the gates inside the inner court is, therefore,of 33 cubits. A wall 7 cubits wide, containingthe entrancesto the gates, surroundsthe whole inner court, including the entrance to the gate. The full size of the side of this court is, then, more than 280 cubits. It is 294 cubits, as Yadin agrees. Middle court gates (DiagramD) The width of the middle court outside the inner court is to be 100 cubits (38:12). The length of sides of the middle court is stated to be 480 cubits (38:13). Using the court limits alone without extensions, the inner court 280 cubits + 200 cubits on the two sides gives 480 cubits. The questionof whetherthe middle courtwall lies outside the middle court affects the length of the base of the triangle.The text contains a statement concerning structuresoutside, in 38:14-15: "The width of the wall (of the court) will be 4 [cubit]s... and chambers made for the wall on the outside (rnn -rpt m[n']OD vsn) and between the chamber to the chamber 3 . . ." leaving the sentence incomplete at

the end of the column. The word "chamber"would have the same meaningas for the inner court gate, a room within the gatehousefor councils. The statementis most easily understoodas saying that the whole of the court wall, 4 cubits wide, lies outside the 100 cubit width of each side of the middle court. Within that wall, continuingits exteriorface, the entrances to the gates for tribesare placed, beginninga council chamber.Of the 28 cubit squaregates, 4 cubits of their length lie in the wall, and 24 cubits projectinto the middle court. The wall extends the dimensionsof the court in the same way as for the inner court.This means that the 480 cubits sides are extended by 4 cubits all roundto give a total length of side of 488 cubits, with 244 cubits in each half. The base of the triangleis 244 cubits. Yadin and Maier,however,gave a differentreading.Yadin took the statementthat the side is to be 480 cubits to mean that its full length is 480 cubits, with no extension outside.7 He thus placed the wall within the middle court, contraryto his treatmentof the inner court. His difficulty is seen when he measures the 100 cubit width of the middle court from inside the inner court wall to outside the middle

I Yadin,

The TempleScroll 139-150.

344

BARBARA THIERING MIDDLE COURT GATE OF SIMEON

Wall of

court

________________________________ 24

3

5

4

Side chamlber

/

130 from centre

4.55 am

14 4.50 am

4.57 am

20

4.58 am

CORRIDOR-CHAMBER 3

Side chamber

120

from centre

4.59 am 5 am

/7

Wall of court/

to centre line

Diagram D

court wall. It would be more natural to read it from the insides of both outlying walls. Further, he does not treat the word "outside" (rli) in 38:15 as referring to an extension outside, whereas he does treat it in this sense for the outer court wall (41:12). In her calculations for the middle court, Barker has employed a base of 258 cubits, from figures supplied by Maier in his first study, which gave a total side of 480 + 28 cubits, 508, half being 254. Barker then added 4 cubits for the projection of the wall, giving 258 cubits in each half, the base of the triangle in her calculations. It may


345

be shown that Maier'sconclusionsare not justifiedby the text. He has alteredhis figures in a later study, which also finds no supportin the text.8

There is a differencebetween the shape of the chamberin the inner court gate and its shape in the middle and outer court gates. In the inner court gate, it is a squarewithin the square.In the other two, it is a rectangle.The chamberbegins on the outer face of the wall, at the entrancedoorway itself (38:15, 40:10). There is no statementthat it is a square.The chamberincludes the corridorfrom one doorway to another,so may be called a corridor-chamber. In the middle court 28 cubit square gate, a space 20 cubits wide and 28 cubits long lies within the 4 cubit walls. The missing portion

8 J. Maier, Die Tempeirollevom Toten Meer (Munchen:Ernst ReinhardtVerlag, 1978). In his study of the outer court in this publicationMaier takes into accountthe 18 storeroomsthat are to be placed along the 360 cubit length of the wall division of the outer court accordingto 42:4-6. These are necessarilyof 20 cubit length, and the incompletetext mentionsa width of 10 cubits, its placementunclear.Maier supposes that each storeroomis to be 20 cubits square,with an internaldivision of 10 cubits. He furthersupposes,withoutjustificationfrom the text, that each 20 cubits in length includeda dividingwall of 5 cubits.The 1600 cubit side is made up of the storerooms plus the final 5 cubits dividingwall of the one nearestthe corner,giving 10 cubits at both ends, added to 1590. At the corneritself a whole extra storeroomis supposed, withoutsupportfrom the text, having a 20 cubit side plus the final dividingwall. Thus this cornerroom is 25 cubits square,and the two of them give an additionof 50 cubits of the difficultyconcernto the 1590, total 1640 cubits. This is Maier's interpretation ing the word "about"in the descriptionof the outer court side, in which the figures add up to 1590, althoughthe side is said to be "about1600". Since 50 cubits is a gate length, he adds a parallelextra gate length of 28 cubits for the cornersof the middle court,althoughthere is no statementthat there are storerooms in the middlecourt.It is this assumptionthat gives him a side of 508 cubits for the middle court. In his discussion of the middle court (101, note), he attemptsto account for his assumption in a way that reads further figures into the text, an unjustifiableprocedure. In a subsequentpublication("TheArchitecturalHistoryof the Temple in Jerusalem in the light of the Temple Scroll"in TempleScroll Studies),Maier has alteredthese figures in the light of his comparisonof the Temple Scroll with both the plan of Ezekiel and the plan of the second Jerusalemtemple of about 200 BCE. While the inside measurementsof the courts are derivedfrom the Temple Scroll text, including 1600 for the inside of the outer court,he now supposesoutside measurementsto fit a theory of "massive enclosing structuresin the form of concentricsquareporticoes," each of these giving totals in even lOOs. The side of the middle court remains480 on the inside, but 500, not 508, on the outside, on the theory that the Temple Scroll middle court reproducesEzekiel's outer court of 500 square.He supposesan inner courtwith an outside of 300. The outside of the outercourtnow becomes 1700, not 1640, with a full 50 cubits"enclosingstructure"supposedon each side. There is, however, no supportin the Temple Scroll text for these reconstructions.

346

BARBARA THIERING

of text at the end of col. 38 will have describeda doorway 14 cubits wide throughwhich the middle court gates are entered.This measurement of the doorways is stated for the inner court (36:7-8) and the outer court (41:14). A personcoming from due east or west along the centralline would go throughthreedoorwaysof equal width into each of the successive courts.Thus, within the 20 x 28 space thereis a corridor of 14 x 28, from doorway to doorway. On either side of the doorway there is a furtherspace of 3 cubits on each side. This would accountfor the expression"betweenthe chamberto the chamber3...." (%v*t w nn p-) in the incompletesentence.Two divisions, both called a chamber,are made. The majorcorridor-chamber 14 cubits wide and 28 cubits long is for the councils in the gates. The 3 cubit wide spaces on either side act as side chambers.The use of the word tri for them preservesthe original Ezekiel meaning, a guard-roomat the side of a gatehouse.The use of the same word for both partswould be intendedto emphasisethat the side chambersare legally part of the chamber,so that what takes place there also has legal force. In the middle court gate of Simeon, then, the majorcorridor-chamber, 14 cubits wide, lies between cubits 7 and 21 from the top of the gate. Its southernlimit lies on cubit 21. The position of its southern limit is of significancefor the interpretation. Outer court gates (DiagramE) The outercourtgates are to be 50 cubits square,with walls 7 cubits thick (40:9). The word "chambers"(CtAM)again appearsin 40:10-11. "It will have chambersmade in it (the wall), for its gates on the outside, at the base of the foundation up to its crowns".9The word "chambers"again may be understoodto refer to the council chamber in each gate beginning at the entranceto the doorway, the corridorchamber.The term "base of the foundation"may mean that it begins on the groundfloor, level with the lowest of the three storeys in the outer court walls (42:7-17). Its height is measuredup to a stone pediment ("crowns")over the doorway,as illustratedby Yadin.'0 Thequestionof projectionsis againa relevantmatter.Column41:12-13

I GM-T translate"recesses"for "chambers". They transcribethe word after"made" as in "in it", but translateit "between"as if for pzM. The photo shows a damagedspot with only beth visible, the next two lettersmarkedas uncertain. 10 Yadin, The Temple Scroll 141-144.


347

OUTER COURT GATE OF SIMEON

36

/

|

X|

/

///////

_

79

7_

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~45

CORRIDOR-CHAMBER

Side chamber

0

40t5

mam

400~~~~-

Diagram B

reads: "The gates going out (GM-T "shall protrude") from the wall of the court to the outside 7 cubits, and coming inwards out of the wall of the court 36 cubits". This adds up to 43 cubits, leaving 7 cubits to be accounted for. The missing 7 cubits must be the width of the wall. The 36 cubits are said to project inwards "from the wall of the court", and the projection of 7 cubits outside is "from the wall of the court". The wall is therefore intermediate between the two projections. The statement that 36 cubits project inside surely means that the wall lies

348

BARBARA THIERING

outside the court limits in the same way as the walls of the innerand middlecourts.Like the othertwo courtwalls, the wall forms an extension beyond the court limits, so that only the 36 cubits of the gates lies within the court. The 7 cubit wall extendingoutside the court runs roundthe whole court,and beyond it again the gates projectanother7 cubits.The total width outside the court is 14 cubits. The gates of this court would stand out distinctly from the wall, with clear cut corners.This is a differencefrom the other two courts, where the entranceto the gate is continuouswith the wall. It will be seen that there is a reason for their position and shape. When the width of the court inside its wall is understoodto be 1600 cubits (see below), the full width of the court with extensions and projectionis 1628 cubits.The length of base of the triangleis half of it, 814 cubits. Barkerhas acceptedYadin's figureof 807 cubits, from his assumption that the wall lies inside the court and only the gates project. The internaldivisions of the outer Simeon gate are to be derived from the informationon the placementof this gate in the east wall, togetherwith the width of the entrancedoorway, 14 cubits, given in 41:14. It will be shown below from the figuresthat the placementof the Simeon gate makes a division of the gate at a majorline, a line at a quarterof the whole wall. Of the 50 cubit gate, 35 cubits lie above this line and 15 cubits below it. The 15 cubits below consequentlyconsist of 8 cubits, plus the 7 cubit south wall. On the model of side chambersin the middle courtgates, the 8 cubits on either side constitutethe side chambers. of a centralcorridor-chamber 20 cubits wide lies in the centre,its southern The corridor-chamber end lying on the majorline, at cubit 35 down from the top of the gate. Its width of 20 cubits containsthe 14 cubits door, and the 3 cubits on either side of the doorway may be accountedfor as doorjambs,panelling beside a door. Accordingto 41:15-16 the doors are to be "furnished with jambs of cedar wood overlaid with gold", the width of which is not stated.The differencefor this largergate is that the corridor-chamberis not limited to the doorway, as it is in the middle gate. A furtherpoint, concerning the whole outer court, is the size of each half outside the middlecourt,not clearly suppliedin the text. On each side, not allowing for projections,it must measure 560 cubits, being 800 less 240 of the inner courts.Allowing for the extension of


349

4 cubits outwardsof the middle court gate and the projectionof 36 cubits inwardsof the outercourtgate, it is 520. Even if the outercourt wall were part of the court, it would add only 7. However, the figure of 600 cubits for the width of each side of the outer court is supplied by GM-T in the lacuna at the end of 40: 7. Vermes suppliesno figure. The photographof the damagedspot" makes clear only the complete 7 cubits". After n:7=' words "aroundthe middle court....... "middlecourt",the transcriptiongives a dotted shin, indicatingthat it is uncertain,before a hole followed by some indecipherableletters. The last two lettersof iRrt3("cubits")end the line. The size of the line space where the hole was made is uncertain.At the edge of it a fragmentarypiece of the lines above has been placed, but it is not clear whether its placement is so accurate that it precludes a space for enough missing letters to have read :"tDi nimarCri, 560. A remaining letter before the hole could well be a heth. Lengthof Walls, Positions of Gates (DiagramsA, B) The figures for the length of court walls, the gates, and the spaces between them are fully suppliedin the text. It is known exactly where each gate is to be placed on each wall. It may be shown, further,that the internal structureof the gates, especially the dimensions of the corridor-chambers, gives an even greaterexactitude.All the figuresare necessary for the constructionof the temple courts as an instrument for measuringtime. The figures show that while the gates on the east-west line (Levi east, Zebulunwest) are placed with their centre on the line, as would be expected, the other gates on the walls are not centredin the same way. A majorline runs throughthem, one that lies at exactly a quarter of the length of the wall, but it divides the gates themselves unevenly. The position of the majorline within the gate is an essential factor for the observation. Middle court For the middle court, the subdivisionsof its walls, each containing three gates for the tribes, are given in 39:11-16, adding up to a side of 480, the inner side of the wall. Each gate is to measure28 cubits,

"

Y. Yadin, Megillat-hammiqdas, vol. 3.

350

BARBARA THIERING

with the four spaces from the corner of the court to the gate, then from gate to gate, stated to be 99 cubits, giving a total of 480. East wall: from the north-eastcourt cornerto the gate of Simeon 99, gate of Simeon 28, from it to the centralgate of Levi 99, gate of Levi 28; from it to the gate of Judah99, gate of Judah28, from it to the southeast corner99. Thus, (4 x 99) 396 + (3 x 28) 84 = 480. The middle court gate of Simeon (DiagramD) containsa corridorchamberin the centre, its south end placed at cubit 21 from the top of the gate, as has been seen. The line of this south end, is, therefore, at cubit 120 from the top of the court(99 + 21 = 120), and 120 cubits up from the centre (7 remainingof Simeon + 99 + 14 half of Levi). Since the inside length of court from the top down to the centre line is 240, this point, the south end of the corridor-chamber, lies exactly half way to the centre, and at a quarterof the whole length of the court (DiagramB). Outer court The outer square court is to be very much larger, its wall nearly half a mile by our measurements. It is stated to be "about 1600 cubits", and the term "about",with the fact that the measurements given add up only to 1590, has caused some difficulty.Each of the three gates is stated to be 50 cubits long and the interveningspaces 360 cubits. The four spaces of 360 amount to 1440, and the three gates to 150, total 1590. Yadin deals with the "about"by pointingout that 7 cubits of each gate projectbeyond the wall.'2 He thereforeadds 14 cubits, 7 at each end, to the 1590, giving 1604. He assumes that the wall itself, also 7 cubits wide (40:9) lies inside the 1590 cu. But, as shown above, the gateways were to extend "inwardsout of the wall of the court 36 cubits". Only the 36 cubits lie within the court, the remaining 14, includingthe 7 cubit wall, lie outside it. The questionof "about"still needs to be resolved. In a text that is concentratingon numbers,requiringthe reader to understandexact numbersand fit them together,it does betterjustice to the wordingif it is assumed that there was a reason for writing 1600, because that was the exact length of the court inside the wall and it was significant

12

Yadin, The TempleScroll 151-152.

351


ANGLE O

Middle court gate of Simeon

am

5~_

5a

Outer court gate of Simeon 50 cu 4.55am 5

0

28.03?

-

Levi

814

Diagram F

6 am

352

BARBARA THIERING

for understanding.The other two courts have sides divisible by 40, and it is surely intended that all three should be in symmetry.An extra 10 cubits, 5 at each end inside the wall, have to be accounted for. It may be supposedthat a small platformof 5 x 5 cu, considered to be not worth describing,was placed inside each of the four corners of the court. It might have been a base for an object such as a washing vessel for use by the "unclean"women and Gentilesfor whom the outer court was reserved(40:5-6). This suppositionis supportedby a detail of the inner court. In the four cornersof that court there are to be places for "the cauldronswhere they shall cook their sacrifices" (37:13-14). The divisions of the 1600 side of the courtwould then be: 5 for the corner object + 360 + 50 gate of Simeon + 360 + 50 gate of Levi +

360 + 50 gate of Judah+ 360 + 5 for the cornerobject, total 1600. The majordividing line, at a quarterof the length of the wall, lies 400 cubits up from the centre. Cubit 35 from the top of the Simeon gate lies on this line. Cubitsequatedwith Hours and Minutes There is evidence that the Qumranwriters followed contemporary scientific practice,using hours of fixed length.'3The belief that they used seasonal hours as was done in popular practice-the daytime simply divided into 12 equal hours,varyingin length accordingto the season-does not take into accounttheir scientificinterests,especially

II, iv, 5 (ed. C. Manitius,1894) 184; cited by J. Finegan,Handbook 13 Hipparchus of Biblical Chronology(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1964) 11. Hipparchus (c. 140BCE)speaksof "equinoctialhours",equalhoursderivedfromtheequinox.Ptolemy (c. 150 CE, Tetrabiblos,76) distinguishesbetweenordinaryand equinoctialhours.For the use of equinoctialhours at Qumran,see B.E. Thiering,"The QumranSundialas an Odometerusing Fixed Lengthsof Hours,"DSD 9 (2002) 347-363. It is evidentthat the Temple Scroll was a productof the Qumrancommunity,from its correspondenceswith other Qumranwritingson such mattersas the strictrules of physicaluncleanness(45: 11-12, cf. CD 12:1-2) as well as from the fact that 11Q20, anothercopy of the Temple Scroll, was almost certainlycopied by the same scribeas the first hand of lQpHab: "The hand is very similar to that of the first hand of lQpHab, and several sharedcharacteristicssuggest both manuscriptswere copied by the same scribe"("1lQTembleb" in F. GarciaMartinez,E. Tigchelaar,and A.S. van der Woude, QumranCave 11 part 11 [DJD XXIII; Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1997], 364).


353

on the matterof time and calendar.From the fact that day and night are equal at the spring and autumn equinoxes, 24 hours of equal length were in use, the hour that is known to us. Given that it was a breach of the rule to be early or late for an appointedtimeat Qumran(1QS 1:13-15),it is likelythattheymeasured time, not only in hours,but in minutes.It was possible to find a means of doing so once they treated the sunrise at the equinox as 6 a.m., beginningthe series of hours. Sub-divisionsof the hour were a practical necessity. A division of the hour into a marked60 minutes could be made by usingan instrumentderivedfromthelampson theMenorah.According to Exod. 27:20 the Menorahlamps contained"purebeaten olive oil for the light." They burnedall night, attendedcontinuouslyby Aaron and his sons. They were dressed every morning and set up in the evening (Exod. 30:7-8). Centuries of observation by the levitical attendantswould have shown the rate at which the oil burneddown. When close subdivisionsof the hours were needed, gradationson the containerswould be capable of markingminutes. The walls of the courtsare of lengths evenly divisible by significant numbers:280, 480, 1600. Each of the walls containinggates for the tribes is equally divided, with the corridor-chamber of a gate on the quarterline. In the wall of the middle court, the corridor-chamber within the gate of Simeon lies 120 cubits above the centreline of the complex, while that of the SE gate of Judah(reversingthe divisions, see below) lies 120 cubits below it. The whole length of 480 cubits of the wall is divided into 4 sets of 120 cubits. The corresponding positions for the outer court give 4 sets of 400 cubits each. Since, as Barkerhas shown, the NE gate correspondsto the summer solstice sunriseat about5 a.m., and the SE gate to the winter solstice sunriseat about7 a.m., abouttwo hours separatethese two gates. In orderto be more exact, the placementof the corridorson equidistant lines would have been deliberatelydone. Although the precise hours of 5 and 7 a.m. do not correspondto the exact times of solstice sunrisesin Jerusalem,the equidistantlines could be made to stand for precisely 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., the hours read from their oil-burning instruments,with 6 a.m. in the centre. If these NE and SE lines lie two exact hours apart,the whole of the wall correspondsto 4 hours, the upper corner to 4 a.m. and the lower to 8 a.m. In 4 hours there are 240 minutes.The middle court wall of 480 cubits is divisible into 240 minute-spacesof 2 cubits each.

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BARBARA THIERING

The outercourtwall of 1600 cubits is divisible into 240 minute-spaces of 6 2/3 cu each (120 inches, for a cubit of 18 inches).'4 The gatehouse entranceof an ancient city needed to be guarded. While there may have been guards in the internalside chambers,it would have been necessary to have guards outside the gates, to prevent unauthorisedpersons from even entering. The sets of minutespaces down the exteriorof the gate walls would be suitablefor use by such guards.Outsidethe middle court gates, guardstationswould have markedevery 2 cubits;outside the less sacredouter court gates, every 6 2/3 cubits. Outside the gates on the eastern side, the guards were to look towards the place of sunrise on the eastern horizon, changing each day. Since communitymembershad a commitmentto offer prayers frequently, including at set points throughout the day (lQS 10: 13-16), it is possible that the guardswould use the time to offer a set prayer at each minute in the minute-spaces. Long experience and training would show how many words and what speed would be needed for a prayerof exactly one minute'sduration.The time would then be known to observers,who would read it from the positionsof successive guards,and hear it soundedby their prayers. The minutes would be measuredfrom the exact hour line, above and below it. For the middle Simeon gate, the 21 cu above the 5 a.m. line divide into 10 /2 minute-spaces,and the 7 cu below the line into 3 1/2 minute-spaces.Each 2 cubits representinga minute,the time of 4:50 a.m. would be sounded at the station 1 cubit below the top of the gate, and the time of 4:55 a.m. at the station 11 cubits below the top and 10 cubits above the 5 a.m. line. Since the 5 a.m. line itself lies 120 cubits above the centralline of the complex-the base of the triangle-the stationfor 4:55 a.m. lies at 130 cubits above the central line (DiagramD). For the outer Simeon gate of 50 cubits or 900 inches, a point 1 2/3 cubit (30 ins) below the top begins 5 stations of 6 2/3 cubits or 120 inches each (600 ins) down to the 5 a.m. line, while below the line there are 2 1/4 minute-spacesor stations (270 ins). On this gate there is only room for the stations from 4:55 a.m., beginning33 1/3 cubits (600 ins) above the 5 a.m. line. Since the 5 a.m. line lies at 400 cubits above the centralline of the complex, the stationfor 4:55 a.m. lies at 433 1/3 cubits above the centralline (DiagramE).

14

See note 3 above on the length of the cubit at Qumran.


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Thus the time five minutesbefore the main hour, 4:55 a.m., would have been soundedsimultaneouslyat both gates of Simeon, the middle gate at cubit 130 above the centralline, the outer gate at cubit 433 1/3 above the central line. These two figures give the perpendicularsof the triangle.When taken with the base measurementsset out above, they supply the size of the angle 0 at the centre of the complex (DiagramF). For the middle court triangle,with a base of 244 cubits as has been seen, angle 0 may be calculatedfrom tangent 130/244. The calculation on a scientific calculatorgives a result of 28.05?. For the outer courttriangle,with a base of 814 cubits as has been seen, angle 0 may be calculatedfrom tangent4331/3/814, giving a result of 28.030. The sunrise would be related to the minute-spaces,but not as the primaryfactor at the solstices. The points for 4:55 a.m. and for 5 a.m. would be fixed throughoutthe year, whereas the sunrise varies from day to day. The Simeon gates are to be so constructedthat the first rays of the summersolstice sunrisestrike a point at or near the south cornerof each. For the outergate, this may be seen as the reasonwhy the gate projectsbeyond the wall, having distinct corners.Being 21/4 minute-spacesbelow the S a.m. line, the cornerrepresents5:021/4a.m. This may have been understoodas the actual momentof solstice sunrise. For the middle gate, which does not projectbeyond the wall, its southern limit lies at minute-space 31/2below the 5 a.m. line. The number31/2was a significantone in their thinking,being half of 7, as is illustratedin Dan 9:27. It is likely that the first solstice sunriserays were understoodas striking this gate also at 5:021/4 a.m., while the point 1/4minutes later at the lowest end of the gate would mark a fuller stage of sunrise. The angles establishedby the 4:55 a.m. stations governedalso the solstice sunrise point, only a matterof cubits away. When it is seen that the angles given by the 4:55 a.m. point in both gates are the same, to the nearestdegree, it may be concludedthat the gates were constructedboth to receive the solstice sunrise and to measure the minutesfor the whole of the year. Gates of Judah For the SE gates of Judah, placed at the winter solstice sunrise, angle 0 is the same, since the bases and perpendicularsare the same, with the perpendicularsin a reverse direction. The figures for positions in the walls show that the majordivision at the quarterdividesthisgate at the northernend of thecorridor-chamber,

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not the southern.For the middle Judahgate, the line 120 cubits from the centredivides it at cubit 7 from its top, with 21 cubitslying below it (14 lower half of Levi + 99 + 7 of Judah = 120). For the outer Judahgate, the line 400 cubits from the centredivides it at 15 cubits from its top, with 35 cubits below it (25 lower half of Levi + 360 + 15 of Judah= 400). These majordividinglines mark7 a.m., the exact hour close to the winter solstice sunrise. Below the 120 line of middle Judah,5 minute-spacesof 2 cubits each take the end of the perpendiculardown to cubit 130 from the centre line of the complex, partway down the corridor-chamber. The minute-space for 7:05 a.m. is marked at this point. The tangent 130/244 gives the same angle 0, 28.050 from the east-west axis. Below the 400 line of outer Judah,5 minute-spacesof 62/3 cubits or 120 inches each finish close to the bottomof the gate. The minutespace on cubit 4331/3 from the centre line of the complex marks 7:05 a.m. The same tangent, 4331/3/814, gives the same angle 0, 28.03?

from the east-west axis. In Jerusalem,at 310 47' N, the sun rises at the winter solstice a few minutesbefore 7 a.m."5 For the outer Judahgate, the cornerat the top of the gate projecting outwardsfrom the wall would be the spot where the first rays of the winter solstice sunrise struck,at 2'/4 minutesbefore 7 a.m. For the middle gate of Judah, the top of the gate lying 7 cubits northof the 120 line gives 31/2minute-spacesof 2 cubits each before 7 a.m. The winter solstice sunrise would be about to appearat 3'/2 minutesbefore,with its firstrays strikingat 2'/4 minutesbefore 7 a.m. Correspondingwesterngates The western gates, NW Gad and SW Issachar,are placed at the times for sunset,Gad for the approximate7 p.m. summersolstice sunset, Issacharfor the approximate5 p.m. winter solstice sunset. The placementof the minute-spaceswould correspondto the easterngates. Gates of Levi For the gates of Levi at the equinoxes in March and September, there are no angles. The sun rises due east, at 900 from the northsouth axis. The centralline of the whole complex, runningeast-west, correspondsto the equinoxtimes, its easternlimit to 6 a.m. As shown

'1

Roitman,A Day at Qumran,chartp. 22.

THE TEMPLE SCROLL COURTS GOVERNED BY PRECISE TMES

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above, sunrise at the equinox was treated as the starting point for measuringthe 24 hours, and consequentlyfor measuringminutes. Since the main line for 6 a.m. lies on the centre of the gate, the minute-spaceswould have requiredat these major gates 7 guards, 3 on either side and one at the centre of the doorway,beginningat 3'/2 minutes before 6 a.m., ending at

31/2

minutes past.

A further use may be suggested for the extensions outside the courts, of 4 cu for the middle court gates, and 14 for the outer. Since the timekeeping instruments,their chronometers,were to be set to begin markingtime at 6 a.m. at the equinox,a place would be needed for this function,for the levites to stand facing the rising sun. Along the centre line of the entrancedoorway of the middle gate, 4 cubits wouldbe reservedfor two superiorlevites,who wouldset theirchronometers at the moment the rising sun at the equinox shone on the centre of the doorway.When theirwork was done, they were to move inside to the court. The 14 cubit extension and projection of the outer court gates would be for 7 lesser levites, setting their instrumentsin the same way. These would have belonged in the outer world, the place for those who were admittedto the outer court only, whereas the two in the middle gate were to be ministersof the inner temple courts. The gate of Zebulunon the west correspondedto Levi, for the setting sun at the equinox. North and south gates The gates of Asher and Dan on the northwall, and of Reuben and Benjaminon the south, are placed in equivalentpositions to those on the upper and lower east and west walls. The corridor-chamberof each is placed on the exact quarterline, leaving the smaller proportion of the gate nearerto the centre of each wall. These gates could not take accountof the rising sun, which moves upwards. Once the sun rises in the sky on its way from east to west, its elliptical orbit causes it to travel faster. At the equinox it rises at 6 a.m. in the east at 90 from the north-southaxis, and by about 10 a.m., after 4 hours, it has reached the 450 point in the sky. Then it takes only 2 hours from 10 a.m. to noon to cover the remaining450 to the north-southaxis. This fact is reflectedin the placementof the gates on the northand south walls, which lie betweeneast and west. Whereastherehad been an hour between each gate on the east wall, the whole wall representing 4 hours, the north and south walls of the same length repre-

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sent 8 hours, with the gates 2 hours apart. On the south wall, the south-eastcornerwhere east and south meet marks8 a.m., the corridor-chamberof the Reuben gate 10 a.m., Joseph noon, Benjamin2 p.m., and the south-westcorner4 p.m. On the northwall, the northwest corner marks 8 p.m., Dan 10 p.m., Naphtalimidnight,Asher 2 a.m., ending at the north-eastcornerat 4 a.m. The numericallysignificantlines, at 120 and 400 cubits from the centre of the wall, were to representthe exact hours of 10-10 and 2-2, similarlyto the other gates. The placementof guardson the outside of these gates would correspondinglycontinue throughoutthe on the south and year. The centralgates, Joseph (Ephraim-Manasseh) Naphtali on the north,would mark the noon hour and the midnight hour respectively. It is noteworthythat the Temple Scroll plan shows no sign of the "six gates of the sun" of 1 Enoch 72. These were placed between the positions of sunrise at the summerand winter solstices, over successive months. There is no furtherdivision into six of the two hours between sunrisesof the temple plan. One interpretationof this fact is that the Temple Scroll is later than 1 Enoch, relying on closer observation without the artificialityof the Enoch scheme. Conclusion The courts and gates of the plannedtemplewere, then, intendedas an instrumentfor expressing precise times. The temple acted as a space-timecontinuum.The starting-pointfor calculationwas the position of sunriseon the day of the equinox,and from that point, treated as 6 a.m., sub-divisionsof time and correspondingspace were made. The main positions of the sun on the horizon and in the sky were observed and reflected in the placement of gates. Lines within the gatehouses for exact hours were established,with minute-spaceson the gate walls correspondingto minutes aroundthe hour. Successive guardsstandingat the minute-spaceswouldhavegivenobserversa means of knowing the correct time. These conclusions follow from the trigonometriccalculation made possible by the figures given in the text. The duty of telling times so preciselyis entirelyin accordwith the of Qumran. emphasison punctiliousobservanceof set timescharacteristic The fusion of time and place in the sacredcourtsof the templereflects theirview of the unity of everythingin natureunderthe determination of heaven.

REPLY TO DONG-HYUK KIM'S PAPER ON "TOV'S QUMRAN ORTHOGRAPHY" EMMANUEL TOV HebrewUniversity,Jerusalem

Dong-HyukKim's paper in the most recent issue of DSD' reviews and criticizes my study of Qumranorthographyof 1986.2The gist of the paper is that Tov did not know all the texts at the time of writing, and that "this hypothesis should now be revised"(80) following completionof the publication.The "strengthsand limitations"of what the author names "Tov's project" (72) are analyzed, much to my agreement,upon which he turns to "'Qumranorthography'and the newly [sic] publishedtexts," referringto those publishedsince 1986. The authorapplies "Tov's model of 1986 to the texts of 2003" (75), but does so imprecisely, using only six of my fifteen criteria for Qumranorthography"for practicalreasons."3Furthermore,the author chose to limit his analysis to "well-knownmajor documents 4QS, 4QD, 4QInstruction,and 4QH." The results are presentedin a table on page 77 showing that of the 32 texts examined,six "presentcases where Tov's hypothesisis greatlychallenged."In his conclusions(81), theauthormentionsthatthreetextswereclearlynotwrittenin theQumran

1

"Free Orthographyin a Strict Society: Reconsidering Tov's 'Qumran Ortho-

graphy," DSD 11 (2004) 72-81. 2 "The Orthography and Languageof the HebrewScrolls Foundat Qumranand the Origin of These Scrolls,"Textus 13 (1986) 31-57. 3 Had Kim broadenedratherthan narrowedthe criteria,his paperwould have been different.He might have reachedconclusionssimilar to my own, as publishedin an analysis which the reviewercould not have known: "The QumranScribal PracticeThe Evidence from Orthographyand Morphology,"in Verbumet Calamus-Semitic and RelatedStudiesin Honourof the SixtiethBirthdayof ProfessorTapaniHarviainen (ed. H. Juusola et al.; Studia Orientalia99; Helsinki 2004) 353-68. The extensive analyses and tables included in that paper recordingboth positive and negative evidence are also contained in my forthcoming monograph Scribal Habits and ApproachesReflectedin the TextsFound in the JudeanDesert (STDJ54; Leiden:Brill, 2004), Appendixes 1 and 9.



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orthography(4Q258, 264, 270), three out of a large numberof presumably sectariantexts and other texts copied by the Qumranscribal school (170? + many fragments).Although the backgroundof these 'exceptions' is far from clear, I doubt whetherthey disprovethe theory, as presentedin 2000, as a whole.4 Most of the reviewer's criticisms of my work have already been addressed in my writings since 1986, namely the existence of socalled exceptions(five or six sectariantexts in my view) and the limitationsof orthographyas the sole criterionfor the assumptionof the Qumranscribal school, partly because of its inconsistency.However the reviewer has not quoted from any of my post-1986 papers.The majorproblemwith this review articlecompletedin 2003 is thus that it disregardsmy work of the last 17 years. After my 1986 paper, I moved away from the recognition of orthography (now named and morphology")as the sole criterionfor the recog'"orthography nition of the Qumranscribal school. In the new thinking,the major criterionfor the recognitionof that scribalschool has become the existence of certain scribal phenomena occurring almost exclusively in texts that also use the Qumranorthographyand morphology(e.g., cancellation dots),5 as well as the distinction between two types of tefillin found at Qumran.6The main argumentswere summarizedin 2000 (see n. 4).

4 "FurtherEvidence for the Existence of a QumranScribal School," in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty YearsAfterTheirDiscovery:Proceedingsof the JerusalemCongress, July 20-25, 1997 (ed. L. H. Schiffmanet al.; Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety, 2000) 199-216. s "HebrewBiblical Manuscriptsfrom the JudaeanDesert: Their Contributionto Textual Criticism,"JJS 39 (1988) 1-37; "Some Notes on a Generationof Qumran Studies (by FrankM. Cross):Reply,"in The MadridQumranCongress:Proceedings of the InternationalCongresson the Dead Sea Scrolls-Madrid, 18-21 March, 1991 (ed. J. Trebolle Barreraand L. Vegas Montaner;STDJ 11.1); Leiden: Brill, 1992) 1.15-22; "Lettersof the CrypticA Script and Paleo-HebrewLettersUsed as Scribal Marks in Some QumranScrolls," DSD 2 (1995) 330-39; "ScribalMarkingsin the Texts from the JudeanDesert,"in CurrentResearchand TechnologicalDevelopments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conferenceon the Textsfrom the JudeanDesert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995 (ed. D. W. Parryand S. D. Ricks; STDJ20; Leiden:Brill, 1996) 41-77. See furtherthe papersmentionedin notes 3 and 5. 6 Rabbinic-type tefillinand probablyQumranictefillinas indicatedby their content and, in the lattercase, also orthographyand morphology:"Tefillinof DifferentOrigin from Qumran?"in A Lightfor Jacob, Studies in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls in Memoryof Jacob Shalom Licht (ed. Y. Hoffmanand F. H. Polak; Jerusalem/Tel RosenbergSchool of Jewish Studies, 1997) 44*-54*. Aviv: Bialik Institute/Chaim

BOOKS IN DEBATE Underthis rubric,in the future,books of exceptionalimportancefor the field of Qumranand Dead Sea Scrolls studies will be discussed from differentpoints of view by two reviewers.In this way, we hope to create a forum which allows and initiates a discussion about key issues in the field. The Archaeologyof Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Jodi Magness, Grand Rapids, Mich. and Cambridge,UK: Eerdmans, 2002. Pp., X + 238pp. and 66 figures.Price: $26. ISBN 0-80284589-4. This is undoubtedlynot only the best book on the site of Qumran but also one of the best books ever publishedon Palestinianarchaeology. Magness is a leading authorityon Roman Palestine. She has produced a highly readable small volume based in part on several innovative articles of hers that are already accepted as part of the scholarly consensus. Her most importantcontributionseems to us to be her correctionsto de-Vaux's chronologicalconclusions:The site, first settled in the Iron age, was reoccupiedonly after a long hiatus and later than previouslyassumed(not about 130 BCE, but somewhere in the firsthalf of the firstcenturyBCE). This stratumended at the end of the first centuryBCE (not 31 BCE, but around4 BCE, duringthe disturbanceswhichfollowedHerod'sdeath).De Vauxwas apparentlywrong in assuminga long gap after the earthquakeof 31 BCE. Yet, by and large, the book is a well argueddefense of de-Vaux's main conclusion that Qumranwas an Essene settlement.This is perhaps the book's most importantcontribution.Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls suffered from a deluge of theories, ranging from the bizarreto the improbable.These theoriesare unquestionablymutually exclusive. The site could not have possibly been both a monastery(a term de Vaux never used) and a caravanserai,or both a fortressand an agriculturalvilla rustica. The scrolls could not have been at the same time Essene, Sadducean,Pharisaic,Christian,and a melange of



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books from the Temple archives.The 900 manuscriptsof Qumranare amazinglyhomogenousand representthe theology and practicesof a sect.' This proliferationof theories constitutesthe Qumranparadox: few sites have ever been excavated in the Holy Land which are so well preserved,so unambiguousin their unique character,with outstandingcollectionsof books as serencliptousas these. Speakingabout the archaeologyof Qumranand ignoringthe manuscriptsis ludicrous. The scrolls found in the 11 caves of Qumranare part and parcel of the archaeologyof Qumran.Most of the scrolls were found in the six artificial caves of the marl terrace and nobody could have reached them without the consent of the owners of the Qumrancompound. The manuscriptsfound in the five naturalcaves in the cliffs north-west of the compoundare exactly of the same natureas those found in the artificial caves. The repeated efforts of scholars since Karl Heinz Rengstorfand NormanGolb, like Alan Crown,Lena Cansdale,Yizhar Hirschfeld,and JuergenZangenbergto dissociatethe manuscriptsfrom the compoundare untenable.The suggestionthat Temple archivesor just various Jerusalemarchives were taken to Qumranas a hiding place is not borne out by the circumstancesin which they were found. The overwhelmingmajorityof the books (cave 4 alone containedover 2/3 of the lot) were not storedas manuscriptsought to be stored;they were found lying on the floor. Cave 4 might have been the community's storage room vandalized by Roman soldiers. The few scrolls found carefullystored;like those of cave 1, were storedin cylindrical jars the like of which was not found among the myriadsexcavatedin Jerusalem.The rabidhatredtowardsthe JerusalemTempleand its personnel expressedin scrolls precludesthe possibilitythat these compositions could have belonged to the temple. It should be noted that we have not used the term library or libraries.Unlike contemporaneouscultureswhich cultivatedprivateas well as public libraries,2Second CommonwealthJudaismdid not tolerate the idea of broadmindedcollections of books. MenahemHaran is probablyright in his estimate that in the Temple were kept only copies of the HebrewBible. Only in the MiddleAges, Jewish libraries

I See ourpaper'Qumran andtheDeadSea Scrolls:TheContentionof TwelveTheories', Religion and Society in Roman Palestine: Old Questionsand New Approaches(ed. D.R. Edwards,Londonand New York, N.Y.: Routledge,2004) 162-69. 2 L. Casson, Librariesin the Ancient World(New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 2001).

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were established.3One should trust the testimony of Josephus who tells us that "We do not possess myriads of inconsistent books, conflictingwith each other.Ourbooks, those that are justly accredited, are but two and twenty, and contain the record of all time" (Against Apion I, 38. translationof H. St. J. Thackeray). Let us assume, for the sake of argument(a farfetchedassumption in our mind), that all of the manuscriptswere broughtfrom Jerusalem. As the overwhelmingmajorityof the studentsof the scrolls (practically all the scholarswho took part in the deciphermentand publication of the 39 volumes of Discoveries in the JudaeanDesert) agree about the Essene natureof the Qumrancollection, what does its attributionto Jerusalemcontribute?It ought to be kept in mind that Qumranis the only candidatefor the Essene settlementPliny tells us about. The western shore of the Dead Sea is arguablythe best surveyed strip of land on earth. If we were asked to choose the best partof the Magness'we would single out chapter5: "WhatDo Potteryand ArchitectureTell Us about Qumran?".The reviewers are of the opinion that it is possible to prove on the basis of the archaeologicalfinds alone, even without the use of the wealth of the manuscripts,that in the last 150 years of the Second CommonwealthQumranwas occupiedby a monasticcommunity. The buildings of Qumran are executed with utmost austerity: undressedstones, almostwithoutmortar(in a compoundthatwas built by people who could produceexcellent mortaras they used in their cisterns and miqva'ot), almost without proper paving, almost total lack

of decorationand any sign of luxury.No dormitorieswere found here, and even if they existed they must have been disproportionately small to accommodate all the residents of the community (as can be deduced from the size of the dining hall and the cemetery).Most of the members,perhapsall, residedin the artificialcaves dug in the soft marl to the south and north of the compound.The troglodyte residences were not chosen out of ascetic tendenciesbut for practicalconsiderations-in this partof the world the caves' microclimateis by far superiorto constructionserected above ground. I M. Haran,'Archives,Libraries,and the Orderof the Biblical Books', The Journal of the Near Eastern Society 22 (1993) 51-61; Y. Shavit, 'The "QumranLibrary"in the Light of the AttitudetowardsBooks and Librariesin the Second Temple Period', in Methods of Investigationsof the Dead Sea Scrolls and the KhirbetQumranSite (eds. M. 0. Wise et al.; New York, N.Y.: New York Academy of Sciences, 1994) 299-315.

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The small finds are also monotonous,utilitarianand constitute a limited repertory.The pottery,at least its majority,was producedon the site, which duringthe whole time of its existence had two potter's kilns. As thereare no sourcesof properclay nearby(muchof the clay was broughtfrom the environs of Jerusalem)and wood to heat the kilns is quite rare on the shores of the Dead Sea, there can be only one explanationfor the extensive ceramic activity: strict puritylaws. This is furtherconfirmedby the greatestdensity of miqva'ot(10 in an area of ca. one acre) as well as the largest miqvehever found anywhere (with one exception, a miqveh that probablyserved pilgrims going to the Patriarchstombs in Hebron). In her defense of de Vaux's identificationof Qumranas a religious establishment,Jodi Magness is right.There is no doubt,the settlement was an Essene monastery. Rival theories, like the one regarding Qumranas an agriculturalfarm,4do not hold water if only for one cardinalreason:Qumranlacks water (rainfallof 100 mm. and evaporation of 2600 mm.). The mighty springs of Ein Feshkha are too saline for any cultivated plant except the date palm. But to tend a palm grove can hardlybe the reason for the existence of the Qumran compound. "No theory ever solves all the puzzles with which it is confronted at a given time, nor are the solutionsalreadyachievedoften perfect".5 This book is not the final word on Qumran(there are no such things in science and scholarship),but it is the best account one can wish for, indeed a brilliantone. Jerusalem Bar Ilan University

Magen Broshi HananEshel

4 J. Zangenberg,"Wildnisunter Palmen? KhirbetQumranim regionalenKontext des Toten Meers," in Jericho und Qumran (ed. B. Mayer; Regensburg: Verlag FriederichPustet,2000) 129-63. Cf. the review of this volume by M. Broshi,BASOR 329 (2003), 94-96; and Y. Hirschfeld,"QumranDuring the Second Temple Period: Re-evaluatingthe ArchaeologicalEvidence,"Cathedra109 (2003) 5-50 (Hebrew). 5 T.S. Kuhn,TheStructure of ScientificRevolutions(Chicago,Ill. andLondon:University of Chicago Press, 1962) 145.

The Archaeologyof Qumranand the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Jodi Magness, Grand Rapids, Mich. and Cambridge,UK: Eerdmans, 2002. Pp., X + 238pp. and 66 figures. Price: $26. ISBN 0-80284589-4. Fifty years after Roland de Vaux excavated at and aroundKhirbet Qumranthe interpretationof the site is again hotly debated. It certainly is a welcome development that archaeology plays an ever increasingrole in the discussion about the characterof the buildings and the identity of its inhabitants.After having publishedmany articles on several topics of Qumranarchaeology,Jodi Magness now presents the first monographic study specifically devoted to Qumran archaeologyafter de Vaux-certainly filling a gap long felt by scholars and a wider interestedpublic alike. The book is very well written and easy to read even for non-specialists. Referencesat the end of each chapterhelp finding one's way through the growing jungle of Qumranliterature.I only regret the poor technicalquality of many of the illustrationswhich, with a little more investmentfrom the publishers,could have been reproducedin much better quality. As one could expect from her previous publications, Magnessboth a brilliantspeaker and lucid writer-leaves no doubt about her own position and fervently defends the traditionalmodel as the one and only correctinterpretationof the site: Qumranwas an Essene site from its beginning (p. 15 and passim). She adopts de Vaux's model accordingto which archaeologyand textualevidence combineto yield a concise picture of a sectariansettlement. She skillfully modulates thistunethroughout thebook,manytimesaddingnew andhelpfulinsights even for those who are not convinced by her overall approach.For the sake of many students who read the book as an introduction to Qumranarchaeologyin general,however, I would have hoped that Magness had devoted more room to summarize systematically competingapproachesand assess their pros and cons in a more comprehensiveway; certainly not all of them only receive attentionbecause-in her words-w"scandaland controversysell" (p. 15). Neither Magness' methodologicalapproachnor the way she puts her argument forth can conceal that Qumranarchaeologyis currentlyundergoinga fundamentaltransitionin whichold modelsbecomeincreasinglyanachronistic and new models are still in their nascent state. Given this situation, Magness' firmness in defending de Vaux's conclusions seems C KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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awkward.A statementat the very beginningmay be taken as symptomatic: Magness stresses that "althoughthe eventual publicationof all of the materialfrom de Vaux's excavationsmight make it necessary to modify some details of these interpretationsand will enrich our knowledge of the site, it will not substantiallyalter the picture" (p. 4). One can only wonder about such a bold prediction!Contrary to Magness,I personallydoubtthat enough informationhas been published to give us an accuratepictureof the Qumransite in the sense Magness proposes.The still fragmentarystate of publishedevidence and the general uncertaintyabout how to relate texts to archaeology cast a cloud over all theories that are currentlydiscussed and Magness' book is certainlyno exception. Magness proceeds in 10 chapters, each focussing on a different topic, some of which are revised versions of papersalreadypublished elsewhere.This gives her the opportunityto refinepreviousarguments and present ideas in writing which were so far only put forwardin oral form. Despite occasional inconsistencies(esp. in chapter 5 between the previouslypublishedversion and later additions)the overall agenda-rather than the data en detail-tie the parts togetherand in the end form an eloquentand powerfulwhole. to the Archaeologyof Qumran",pp. 1-18) Chapter1 ("Introduction briefly introducesthe readersto the methods of archaeologicalexcavation and dating. This is helpful for beginners and will certainly cause no controversyamong specialists (pp. 4-12). The fundamental problemof this chapter(and subsequentlyof the whole book) is that Magness sets out her agenda before the archaeologicalevidence is independentlyreviewed.She misses the opportunityto show what both the potential and the shortcomingsof archaeologymight mean specifically for Qumran studies and how archaeological methods and caveats could help us weigh conflicting argumentsand alternative interpretations(pp. 13-16). Instead, Magness states more than she provesthatQumranis "anomalous","becauseit has too many features that are unparalleled at other sites" and that "Qumranprovides a unique opportunityto use archaeologicalevidence combinedwith the informationfrom ancient historicalsources and scrolls to reconstruct thelife of a community"(p. 13,my italics).Here,Magness andunderstand and with her many more Qumranscholarsare in dangerof enteringa circularargument.The challenge is not to create a conclusive picture by combiningtexts and archaeology,but ratherto allow archaeology to find its own languageand develop a methodologyfor when to bring

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which texts into play and why. What follows in the book is hardly a demonstrationthat "the scrolls and our ancient sources provide evidence that complementsthe archaeology"(p. 13), but just the opposite: in almost every chapteron specific archaeologicalissues Magness first presentsa summaryof what "the texts" say and then relates the archaeologyto them:consequently,archaeologyonly illustratesandcomplements "the texts". This is an awkwardapproachfor an excellent and experiencedfield archaeologistlike Magness and hardly innovative. One should not forget that the fact that the same pottery was found in the caves and at the site does little more than providea general link between the two locations in terms of chronology and regionalpotteryuse. It does not necessarilyprove that the scrolls were writtenby the same people that hid them (p. 43f). The proximityof some caves like 4Q and the site could equally well suggest that the inhabitantsallowed and perhapsalso actively helped to hide the scrolls from the Romans simply because both the scrolls and the inhabitantsof the settlementwere Jewish. Archaeologycannot prove a genetic relationshipbetween the texts and the site and there are certainly alternativeapproachesto the one proposedby Magness which should not be dismissed out of hand. Chapter2 ("TheDiscoveryof theDeadSea ScrollsandtheExploration of Qumran",pp. 19-31) introducesthe readersto the history of Qumran research. The chapter starts with what could have provided an alternativeapproachto Qumran-the descriptionof "Qumran'sSetting" (only pp. 19-22). Every archaeologistagrees that a settlementcannot be understoodwithout a clear pictureof its naturalenvironmentand the settlementhistory of the region aroundit. Magness rightly states that the region was used for agricultureand had its place in local traffic,but it is strikingto see that these importantobservationshave virtuallyno impact on the overall theory set out in the previouschapter (a welcome exceptiononly is pp. 77-79). Here, the adoptedmodel clearly dictatesthe appreciationof the evidence. On the basis of such an assumption,it is no surprisethat map 1 is almost empty!The only "othersite by the Dead Sea" (caption)on the map apartfrom Qumran is-Masada! Magnesscertainlyis well awareof the many surveysand excavationsthat have been carriedout in the region, but why does she not use them? So, althoughEin Feshkhaand Ein el-Ghuweirare discussed in chapter 10 with importantresults in terms of chronology, chapter2 does not present a concise picture of the region which in itself would have deserved an entire chapterand could have opened

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up a totally differentview. The "isolation"of Qumranis not a result of the evidence itself but more of the approachMagness takes to the evidence. Chapter3 ("TheDead Sea Scrolls and the Communityat Qumran", pp.32-46) dealswiththe"identityof thiscommunity",althoughMagness sees the answer to this question"providedby the scrolls and ancient historical sources, not by archaeology". True, Magness is not an expert in scrolls (and she freely admits that), but her model of the communityis curiouslyconservativeand her treatmentof the textual evidence quite traditionaleven in terms of the mainstreamof Qumran research.The following chaptersshow that in detail. Chapter4 ("The BuildingPhases of Qumran",pp. 47-72) re-presentsMagness' revised chronologyof the settlement(eliminatingde Vaux's period la, sepaphase from between 100-50 BCE ratingperiodIb into a pre-eartliquake phase from 31 BCE to 4 BCE at the to 31 BCE and a post-earthquake latest, re-datingperiodH from 4 BCE to 68 CE; leaving only periodIII and the IR-II unchanged)which-on the basis of presentlyavailable ceramic evidence-is indeed very plausible and has rightly been almost universally accepted. The chapter serves as a good example that the book is at its best where it uses archaeologicaldata to challenge and refine de Vaux. Tell Us aboutQumran?", Chapter5 ("WhatDo PotteryandArchitecture pp. 73-104, also a revised version of two articles previously published), however, is disappointing.The section on pottery is clearly outdated:the claim of an "absenceof imports"and "absenceof ESA" are based on a 1991 investigation (p. 3!) and cannot stand after RobertDonceel and Pauline Donceel-Vofutemade clear in 1994 that ESA, importedvessels and also a lot of glass (a categoryof finds that is completely ignored by Magness) were in fact presentat Qumran. Recent finds by Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg and the ongoing ceramicanalysis by Rachel Bar-Nathan(presentedat the 2002 Brown Conferenceon QumranArchaeologyand soon to be publishedin the ConferenceProceedings)flatly contradictMagness' claim that the pottery assemblageis austereand demonstratesthe Qumranites'concern for isolationand ritualpurity(see summaryp. 89 and more often). On pp. 77-79, however, Magness supplementsthe chapter by valuable remarkson regionalpatternsof commonware usage based on the latest excavations at other Dead Sea sites, but-again-does not take these new finds into considerationto revise her basic assumptions about the characterof the site. Togetherwith a more comprehensive

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look at the region in general, the newly published ceramic material could have opened a more complex view and helped overcome anachronisticideas. How should one still considerthe potteryas supporting the "sectarianhypothesis"although the ceramic assemblage can equally well be understoodas a regional phenomenon?Similarly is Magness'discussionof the"scroll trappedby text-basedpreconceptions jars". She is certainly correct in distinguishingthe bag-shapedjars from the cylindricaVovoidones in terms of chronologyand typology and in criticisingthe frequentinterpretationas "scrolljars",but I find the connectionbetween the cylindrical/ovoidjars and sectarianpurity concerns not convincing. New research by Jan Gunnewegjust published in the second volume of the official Qumran-Reports has shown that the cylindrical/ovoidjars were not indigenous only to Qumran (there were several sub-typesand at least three sources of clay from which they were made). Thus, their interpretationcannot depend on factors that are only relevant for this site, namely the alleged purity concernsof its "sectarian"inhabitants.The fact that both bag-shaped and cylindrical/ovoidjars were used in Qumranprecludesthe assumption that one was preferredover the other to meet the inhabitants' alleged purity concerns.What purposedid the bag-shapedjars have, why place their contents in less "safe" containersand not everything in cylindricaljars? Why do cylindricaljars appearlong after4QMMT (Magness'referencetext to supporther assumptionsaboutpuritypractices at Qumran)was written?Magness' exegesis of 4QTohorotdoes not at all supporther interpretationof the jars, nor does the passage quoted from As. Moses. On the contrary,Magness' methodologyof using isolatedpassages in the literaturewithoutmuch concernfor their socio-historicalsetting and combining them with archaeologicalfeatures that are allegedly unique and thereforeseem especially indicative of sectarianidentity, is highly problematiceven if it is widely espoused in Qumranresearch.That As. Moses describesthe "sectarians' practiceof storingscrolls in jars placed in caves" (p. 88) is pure speculation.As. Moses is not Essene, so why should its authorrefer to sectarian habits? And Jer. 32:13-14 (which Magness quotes on p. 89) shows that placing scrolls in jars is not a "sectarian"habit nor is it "sectarian"to hide one's valuables in caves-as the finds from the Babathaarchiveand the Bar-Kokhbacaves demonstrate.The potteryshouldindeedbe explainedas a regional,nota religiousphenomenon and does not supportthe sectarianinterpretation. The large number of miqva'ot (discussed in chapter 7 "Miqva'ot at

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Qumran", pp. 134-162) does clearly demonstrate that Qumran's inhabitantswere pious Jews, but they do not requirethe assumption that they were exclusively Essenes. The bone deposits (discussed in chapter6 "Communalmeals, a Toilet, and SacredSpace at Qumran", pp. 105-133) are a much too trickyphenomenonand much too poorly documented to use them as proof of Essene presence. Moreover, Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg have found more evidence of bone deposits inside the settlementthat renderMagness' differentiationon "sacred space in Qumran"invalid. The discussion of the Qumran latrine L 51 (if it indeed was one!) is equally questionable.If the inhabitantswere so much concernedwith purityand abhorreddefecation as a source of impurityso strongly(p. 110 and more often), why should they have a toilet inside the Qumransettlementat all? Why did they not simply walk out of the settlementto relieve themselves as was supposedlythe customof the Essenes of Jerusalem?With people constantlymoving aroundin the settlement,the toilet would have been a constantsource of impurity.The fact that L 51 was in a side room with appropriateprivacy should not be seen as an indicationof purityconcernsand contrastedto Roman public latrineswith multiple seats, but should be comparedto other privatetoilets like the one in the Iron Age City of David or in the Dionysos Villa in Sepphoris.If one comparesappleswith pearsone cannotexpect them to match,and the fact that the Qumrantoilet is differentfrom Romanpublic latrines does not prove it is "unique"or sectarian. Chapter8 ("Womenand the Cemeteryat Qumran",pp. 163-187) deals with an issue that in recent years has become a true hot-spot in Qumranresearch.It is very unfortunatethat Magness in the end rejects the results of the two experts who have worked extensively with the original material (anthropologistsSusan G. Sheridan and Olav Rohrer-Ertl)and instead follows Joe Zias who claims that the physical appearanceof the female and infant skeletons indicates a much morerecentdate. Both Sheridanand Rohrer-Ertl,however,have challengedZias' methodologyof re-sexingindividualsand rejectedhis claim about different dates of interments.But again, the agenda is already set (pp. 163-167 first on "LiterarySources on Female Sectarians/Essenes",then 168-175 on "The Cemetery")and perhapsZias is more convenientthan the others to supportit. The second part of thechapterdealswiththelackof "genderedfemaleobjects"thatallegedly demonstrates"only a minimal"female presence(p. 185). Apartfrom the tricky questionhow many "genderedmale",in contrastto female,

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objects were found (see the argumentationon pp. 182-184), Magness still skates on thin ice, because much of her argumentdependson the paucityof materialpublishedso far. However,what is known already suggestsindeedthatwomenandchildrenwerepresentat the site, although perhaps less than the biological average. Moreover, both Susan G. Sheridanand Olav Rohrer-Ertlemphasizethat the randomexcavation of less than 5% of the graves does not provide a statisticallyrepresentative sample. After chapter9 ("The Temple Tax, Clothing, and the Anti-Hellenizing Attitudeof the Sectarians",pp. 188-209), Magnessreviews "The Settlementsat Ein Feshkhaand Ein el-Ghuweir(ch. 10, pp. 210-225). Here, she presents importantchronologicalobservations(neitherEin Feshkhanor Ein el-Ghuweirhave a pre-Herodianphase of occupation) with the surprisingresultthat "althoughthe settlementsat Ein Feshkha and Ein el-Ghuweirwere inhabitedby Jews and are contemporaneous with Qumran",they very likely were not sectarian. This statement seems inconsistentwith her overall position, since here the closeness of the sites to Qumran is taken as only "circumstantial"(p. 222), whereas "closeness"was obviously crucial for demonstratingthat the caves and the site were used by the same people. In the end, Magness' confidence in a slightly revised traditional model to interpretQumranas a sectarian settlementis problematic. Her book makes the question even more urgent what archaeological criteriawe actually have to identify a site as "Essene":Miqva'ot are a commonJewish feature,animaldeposits are of uncertainnatureand cylindricaljars are a regional type of vessel that was not restrictedto Qumran and shows no "Essene" characteristics. The reference to Khirbet Qazone not only shows that the little cemetery at Ein elGhuweiris not sectarian,but also that the large one at Qumranand the potteryspectrumat Qumran,Ein el-Ghuweir,and Ein Feshkhaare to be understoodin regional terms. In the end it all comes down to the fact that the scrolls were found close to the site. But does that really suffice to interpretthe site guided by the scrolls? I have the impressionthat Magness unnecessarilyputs her own keen imagination and the innovative potential of the archaeologicaldata in tight, prefabricated fetters. On the basis of a refined de-Vauxian model she downplaysargumentsand data that are not favourableto her position (e.g. ch. 2 or 8) or overstatesthe supportiveevidence (e.g. see ch. 5) and in the end helps neitherthe text scholar nor the archaeologist.In my opinion, the archaeologicalevidence points to just the opposite

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direction that Magness wants us to believe: the more data becomes available, the less "isolated" and "unique" Qumran appears. The graves are no indicationof "Essene"theology and identity,the overall layout of the building points to an agriculturalfunction, the site was integratedinto the local traffic network and there was limited industryand trade typical for the region. To be sure, there are still anomalies such as the large numberof pools and the bone deposits, but they do not justify interpretingQumranexclusively along religious-not to speak of sectarian-parameters.Moreover,if Essenes lived at Qumran(and nobody can disprove this assumptioneither), they must have looked prettydifferent,at least accordingto the material remains, from what one can usually read about "celibate male ascetics".Whatwe need is a more carefulanalysis of what "thetexts" really say and a greater appreciation of the independentvalue of archaeologyif we want to gain a betterpictureof Qumran.In the end, both sets of evidence might tell two differentstories which might not so easily be combinedas many of us hope. Harmonizationobscures and only more carefuldifferentiationwill clarify.One also has to keep in mind that all theories,conflictingas they might appearon the surface, are still based on incompletedata;none of them (includingthose of de Vaux and Magness) can claim to have sufficient information available based on which they could pronounce a final verdict. Magness' book is an excellent adaptionand welcome refinementof de Vaux's interpretation of the site and by that an importantcontribution to an ongoing debate, but the truly authoritativebook on the archaeology of Qumranthat can lead the way into the futurehas yet to be written. Universityof Wuppertal

JURGENZANGENBERG

BOOK REVIEWS Accordance,QumranModulefor Macintosh.Version 5.6.1. Altamonte Springs, FL: Oak Tree Software [www.OakSoft.com], 2002. Price: $80. With the release of its Qumranmodule, Oak Tree Software has enhancedadmirablyits AccordanceBible Softwarepackage for those users who are interestedin the texts from Qumranand other areas aroundthe Dead Sea. I mountedthe programon three differentApple computersusing three differentMacintoshoperatingsystems: an iMac runningOS 8.6, an iBook (G3 processor)using OS 9.0 and a G4 cube runningOS X 10.2.8 (Jaguar).In each case, I found that the program ran without obvious glitches or problems,althoughthe display of the Hebrew and Greek on the iBook was not as sharp as it was on the 15-inch flatscreenmonitorI use with the G4 cube. All in all, I found that the programran smoothlyon all three machines.Discoveringthis compatibilitywas especially nice, since the differencesbetween OS X and earlier Macintoshoperatingsystems often means that older versions of Mac softwarewill not run in OS X. Thankfullythat is not the case with Accordance. Right at the beginning, it is importantto say that the Accordance Qumranmodulefor Mac is an excellent tool for searchingthe Qumran texts, although,due to the fact that the module only containsHebrew and Aramaictexts with no accompanyingEnglish translations,it will be of primaryinterestto scholars, and it will have relatively limited use for the non-specialist.In this review, it is not my purposeto evaluate the entire Accordancepackage as a tool for biblical studies, but only to review the Qumranmodule specifically.For those not familiar with Accordance,online reviews of the softwareare plentiful.For those who are familiarwith Accordanceand who use it for study of the Bible, I only note that the biblical texts and referencetools that are linked together in the biblical modules of Accordance are not linked to the Qumrantexts, so this module will function mostly as a stand-alonecorpus. The same search capabilitiesthat Accordanceutilizes for the Bible C Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also available online - www.brill.nl


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can also be used for the Qumrantexts, and the text windows (called panes in Accordance),navigationand buttonsall work the same way as they do for the biblical texts. The searches run quickly and efficiently.For the first-timeuser of Accordance(as I was), the tutorial that orientsthe user to the overall packageprovidesa good introduction to its capabilities,even though it is orientedto Bible study and the sample searches and researchpossibilitiesit gives are geared to the non-specialistwhose primaryinterestis Bible study in English translation. After going through the tutorial, I had to run several searchesand trials using the Qumrantexts to see what the limits and possibilitieswere for that module. Even though the AccordanceQumranmodule is an excellent tool for helpingwith researchon the scrolls, users shouldbe awareof several issues and problems.These fall into two categories:(1) problems with the encoding/taggingand (2) issues with the texts themselves.(1) Accordanceprovidesthe user with several types of informationabout each word in the text under examination.The most ubiquitousand importantis the parsinginformationfor each word in the text. When one places the cursorover any Hebrew or Aramaicword, its parsing informationappearsin a box at the bottomof the screen.Prefixesand suffixes parse separately.Placing the cursor over a prefixedpreposition like b reveals informationon the prepositiononly. Moving the cursor to the noun or verbal form brings up the parsinginformation on that lexeme. So, for example,in 1QS 1:1 the morphemetirnr contains the following informationwhen one places the cursor over the verb: Orrr drws VERB s-- drs qal infinitive Const to seek. (The transliterationsafter the Hebrewdo not distinguishbetween shin and sin; both appearas "s".) Generallythis parsinginformationis accurate, but periodicallyone encountersodd or incorrecttransliterations, such as mworh instead of mwrh in 4Q171 (Accordance line fl_lOiii:15) or yhwh for the first person common singularyod in the word 1[-J1 in 4Q171 (fl_1Oiv24). Every now and again the tagging for a dictionaryform is recordedincorrectly,as it is in 4Q172 (f4:2) where the word Inn"in the text is given as coming from the verb mnn. One expects some problems like these in the enormous numberof parsing tags requiredfor the entire Qumrancorpus, and I have run across, relatively speaking,very few mistakes.The user must always view the tags with a critical eye, however. One of the nice featuresof the AccordanceQumranmodule is the QumranIndex that is linked to the texts and is accessed throughthe "General Tools" menu. While the Hebrew and Aramaic texts dis-

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played in the text pane only show the Qumrannumberassigned to each fragmentand not the more common name of the text, the Index providesthe name, relatedmanuscripts,a descriptionof the text, language, paleography/dateand a bibliography.(Accordingto the introduction to the Index, this last rubriccontains the official publication of the manuscript,usually the DJD volume in which the text appears.) While the user will find this informationquite helpful, occasionally informationis incompleteor missing. For example, none of the Index entries for 4Q266-73, all Cave 4 copies of the DamascusDocument, give any of the other Damascus Document manuscriptnumbers or even the Cairo Damascus Document (also included in the database) under the "RelatedManuscripts"heading. I have found at least one manuscript,1IQ10, that does not appearat all in the Index. Thus, if in the text window and click on the GeneralTools I highlight I10 Box to find it in the Index, a message appearsthat it is not there, and, indeed, 11Q10 is not presentin the list of manuscriptsincludedin the Index. Some other minor inconsistenciesmay presenttemporaryobstacles for the user. For example, while just about all of the texts appearin the text window with their Qumrannumbers,at least one does not. If one searches for 1 Q19, the Temple Scroll, a message pops up that the user has to give a valid entry,leading the user to thinkthat 1lQl9 might not be in the database. But this manuscript is in actuality included in the database; the text designation is not the number, 1 1Q19, however, but 1IQT, the usual abbreviationfor the scroll. When we considerthe Qumrantexts, a couple of difficultiesattend the AccordanceQumranmodule. Perhapsthe most crucial is that the user does not know which edition of each text appearsin the module. The bibliographyin the Index usually gives the DJD volume in which the texts appear,and the transcriptionsoften follow the DJD editions. Yet the DJD series is clearly not the source for a good numberof the Qumranscrolls. Those publishedby John Allegro in DJD 5 offer one good example. Only this DJD volume stands in the Index bibliography for the numberspublishedthere, but the Accordanceversion of 4Q184, for example, does not come from Allegro's edition. It seems to have been based on the correctionsmade by John Strugnellin his indispensablearticle devoted to DJD 5 ["Notes en marge du volume V des 'Discoveries in the JudaeanDesert of Jordan,"'RevQ 7 (1970) 163-276]. The same holds true for some texts whose majoredition is not DJD. Here the Temple Scroll is again the best example.The Index lists Yadin's edition for 1IQT, but that does not seem to be the one

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used throughout in the database. In the sample of places that I checked, a number of readings agree with those given in Elisha Qimron's publication of the scroll [The Temple Scroll: A Critical Edition with ExtensiveReconstructions(Beer Sheva: Ben GurionUniversity of the Negev; Jerusalem:Israel ExplorationSociety, 1996), althoughwithoutmore thoroughchecks I cannotbe certainthat this is the edition used for the Accordancemodule. This situation puts the user in a difficult spot. If the text in the Accordancedatabasedoes not come from the DJD edition, the user will not know the source from which it came unless he/she is already familiarwith it. As a resulthe/she cannotcheck any readingsor scholarlyjustificationsfor them withoutexpendingquite a bit of effort.The example of DJD 5, then, puts into relief two separateproblemsfacing the user of this module:(1) the user cannot assume that DJD 5 is the sourceof the text providedin the Accordancemodule(which it apparently is not), and (2) he/she has no indicationthat Strugnell'sarticle, which may be the edition utilized for Accordance,must be consulted for the texts that Allegro edited in that volume. The Accordanceuser thus needs to be cognizantthat for many texts, he/she has access to only one of perhapsseveral scholarlyeditions/reconstructions, and the Accordance version might not derive from the official publication listed in the bibliography.A simple solutionto eliminatethe confusion and to save the user a lot of extra work would have been to list in the bibliographythe official publicationand the edition used in the Qumranmodule if it differedfrom the official one. I should also note a couple of smaller matters.Some of the names commonlyassigned to the texts are somewhatout of date. This problem, of course, cannot be helped since these changes almost certainly originatedafter the publicationof the Accordancemodule. Any subsequent updatesto the module, however, ought to include them. One example is 4Q390. Originally its editor gave it the name PseudoMoses, which is the name listed in the Index, but she now considers it to be part of an Apocryphonof Jeremiah.The Index also contains informationon a numberof texts not from Qumran:Masada,Nahal Mishmar, Nahal Se'elim, Ketef Jericho, Wadi Murabba'at,Wadi Sdeir, Wadi Daliyeh, Nahal Hever-none of which appearin the database. While many of the texts found at these sites are documentary papyriand probablyare not suited well to this module,the one major exception is Masada.It would be very nice, for instance,to have relevant texts from Masada,such as the Ben Sira scroll or the Songs of

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the SabbathSacrifice,included in this database.The editors included theCairoDamascusDocumentpresumablyforits relevanceto theQumran manuscripts. I want to reiterate,however, that I have highlightedthese problems as cautions so that the user can maximize the utility of the texts contained in the module and understandthe program'slimitations.The Accordance Qumran module greatly enhances the user's ability to navigate and especially to search the Qumranscrolls. The editors of this module deservethanksand congratulations.The easy task is to be the reviewer who tests the programand evaluates its strengthsand shortcomings,but this reviewer certainlywould not have relished the task of preparing the material for the database, in which I have detected remarkablyfew errors. I have employed the Accordance package with great profit in my own work and with my studentsin class (primarilyas a searchengine to identify appropriatepassages for study). It is a major,and very welcomed, additionto the Accordance offeringsand to the tools availablefor researchon the Qumranscrolls. [Author'snote: I want to thank Dr. EibertTichelaarfor his initial help with certainmattersrelatingto the AccordanceQumranmodule. He is an extensive user of the Accordancedatabase,and conversations with him helped me to identify a numberof the issues raised in this review.] Lehigh University,Pennsylvania

BENJAMING. WRIGHTIII

Meghillot:Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls 1, edited by Devorah DimantandMosheBar-Asher.HaifaandJerusalem:HaifaUniversity and Bialik Institute,2003. Pp. 246 + 12 (Hebrew with English abstracts). This is the first issue of what promisesto be a new Israelijournal entirely devoted to the Dead Sea Scrolls and cognate literature.The Dead Sea Scrolls were first reportedin 1947 and now, 56 years later, they have finally been fully published-the material stored in the RockefellerMuseum(the formerDepartmentof Antiquitiesof Jordan) in some 40 volumes of the prestigious Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series publishedin Oxford and the scrolls in possession of the State of Israelin variousIsraelipublications.This seems to be a fitting eventfor Israelischolarsto launcha newjournalin whichfurtherresearch ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


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and investigationinto the scrolls will be published.The need for a journalin Hebrewcan be justifiedon several grounds.Firstly,thereis a large body of Israeli scholars who devote time and energy to the study of the scrolls and these better express themselves in Hebrew than in any other medium. Secondly, these scholars teach a growing body of studentswhose primarylanguageis Hebrew,and who, like all studentsthe world over, struggleconstantlywith literaturewrittenin other languages. Studies written in Hebrew are a god-send to these students.Finally, thereexists a very large body of educatedlaypersons in Israel, who are highly interestedin the historyof the land and the Jewish people who had once (and now again) populatedit, as the settlers of Qumranhad undoubtedlybeen, and they read Hebreweasily and fluently.Since Qumranstudies have developedin the last decade from an esoteric occupation,whose participantswere no more than a sect themselves,to a fulfledgeddisciplinein Jewish studies,the foundation of such a journalis certainlywelcome. In this volume many of the most prominentIsraelischolarspublish their work, and broach some keytopics of Qumranstudies.They also touch on some of the hottestissues associatedwith Qumraninvestigation. One of these issues is the uniquesolar calendarof 364 days. The first article in the volume, written by J. Ben Dov and W. Horowitz discusses this calendar,showing its mixed lunar-solarnature.It is a nuancedstudy using the results of many previousinquiriesas well as a knowledgeof Babylonianastronomy.The Qumraniccalendaris also the topic of inquiryof S. Talmon,who wishes to argue that the day in Qumranbegan in the morning,ratherthan, as in otherJewish communities,in the evening of the previousday. One of the documentsused extensively in Ben Dov and Horowitz's article is the Book of Jubilees. It is now agreed that this apocryphal book known to us from its Ethiopeanversion, large chunksof which have been publishedin Hebrewfrom Qumran,played a majorrole in the ideology of the sect. It is, however, still disputedwhetherit was actually composed in Qumran or brought there from elsewhere. Several articles in the present issue discuss various aspects of the Book of Jubilees.This is particularlytrue for M. Segal's contribution, which attemptsto argue that Jubilees was not composed by a single author,and that internalchronologicalcontradictionscan prove this. Segal's work is supplementedby M. Kisterwho attemptsto place the chronology of the Book of Jubilees within a wider Graeco-Roman context, using the ByzantinechronographerSyncellus.

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With the publicationof all the documentsit has now become clear, firstly to Qumranscholars,that some of the old suppositions(treated as near-axiomsby the lay public) about the settlers of Qumranwere laid on shaky grounds. Thus, despite Sukenik's assertion that the Qumraniteswere Josephus'Essenes, scholarsnow are willing to concede that in some respects they resemble much more the rabbinic Sadducees.One articlein this issue, that of Y. Erder,suggests that we should take seriously the possibility that the Dead Sea Sect were the forerunnersof the Karaites,and that some aspects of Qumrantheology, such as their presentationof the unique"PrinceMastema"as the manifestationof evil, were passed down to the latter. The connectionsmade by early scholars between the Qumransect and early Christianity have almost completely disappeared. The Qumraniteshaveturnedoutto be as legal-mindedas therabbisif not more so. But it seems to me that the most importantdevelopmentin Qumran studies has been to overturnsome of the assumptionsabout rabbinic literaturewhich have been currentat least in the last quarterof a century.SinceJacobNeusner'spioneeringworkit hasbecomefashionable to be scepticalaboutthe antiquityof rabbiniclaw and abouttheir connection with the Second Temple Pharisees.The Dead Sea Scrolls now reveal that many of the laws the rabbis hold are found in opposition to those of the Qumranites,ascertainingthat (even if not Pharisaicin origin) these legal issues were under dispute in Judaismlong before the publicationof the Mishnah. A. Shemesh's article in the present issue is an examplefor such a study. Shemeshshows how the Qumran interpretersread the biblical account of priestly gifts differentlyfrom the rabbis of the Mishnahand other rabbiniccompositions. Some of the studies in the present volume propose to discuss recently published texts within the wider theology, ideology and biblical exegesis of the Dead Sea Sect. Such are the studies of D. Dimant, E. Chazon and B. Nitzan. In E. Qimron's article alternative readingsare suggestedfor some of the newly publishedscrolls. Of special interestis E. Tov's article on the Qumranicversions of the biblical scrolls, in which he posits two kinds of texts-those that conform to the Masoratic biblical text, which he maintains were correctedaccordingto thebiblicalscrollfoundin theTemplein Jerusalem, and those that were not. He maintains that the former were ceremonial scrolls used in synagogues and Torah reading. Interestingly, Z. Talshir's examination of the Ezra fragments found in Qumran, also publishedin this volume, seems to confirmhis conclusions.

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The second part of the volume is dedicatedto linguisticaspects of the scrolls. It is hardly surprisingthat the authorsin this part mainly attempt to demonstratethe intermediatestage between biblical and rabbinic Hebrew that the Qumranliteraturerepresents(see M. BarAsher, D. Talshirand J. Joosten). In conclusion,there is little doubt that this volume, and hopefully the volumes that will follow in the series, are and will be a welcome contributionto Hebrewreadersinterestedin Qumranand its literature. Freie UniversitatBerlin

TALILAN

The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and its Interpretations,edited by Ed Noort and EibertTigchelaar.Themes in Biblical Narrative:Jewish and Christian Traditions4. Leiden: Brill, 2002. Pp. xv +230. 12 illustrations.ISBN 90-04-12434-9. The Sacrificeof Isaac contributesin a rich and deep way to the history of interpretationof the Aqedah.Among the topics addressedare: the Nachlebenof the Aqedahin later biblical and Second Temple traditions; rereadings of the Aqedah in rabbinic, early Christian and Islamic traditions;and contemporaryreadingsthat engage Psychoanalysis, GenderStudies, and Art History.The Sacrificeof Isaac is to be praisedboth for its chronologicalbreadthand for its methodological openness. I quote here from Ed Noort's excellent essay: "The Aqedahis one as of the great stories of the Hebrew Bible. It is multi-interpretable, its historical reception and the papers demonstrate.Therefore, it is every generation'stask to startthe dialoguewith this text again, making clear where changes have occurredin the position of the inquiring exegete, and the time in which and the circumstancesunderwhich the dialogue is taken up." (2) Ed Noort and Eibert Tigchelaarhave fulfilled this task by assemblinga rich arrayof essays. In what follows, I will focus on the two essays in the volume that engage the Scrolls and Second Temple literature. Garcia Martinez'essay is characteristicallyincisive and illuminating. He unveils new exegetical dimensionsin 4Q225 that are absent in the narrativeof Genesis 22. Martinezwrites: "But the most interesting elements of our text are those which are not present in the HebrewBible and which clearly anticipatesome of the later developments of the Aqedahstory, both in Judaismand in Christianity."(49) C) KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


BOOK REVIEWS

381

These later interpretivetraditionssurroundingthe Aqedah are widespread and should shed light on how we conceive the field of the history of interpretation:the rereadingof already authoritativetexts participatesin the recovery of ancient myths, interpretationand appropriationsof older texts. In addition,Garcia Martinezpoints to the way that the Aqedahis used to demonstratefidelity to God in Second Temple traditions.In a very suggestiveand nuancedmanner,he shows that many of the readingsin 4Q225 anticipatelater rabbinicreadings. However, he also points to surprisingdissimilaritiesbetween 4Q225 and other Qumrantraditions,the book of Jubilees and later rabbinic interpretations.With great attentionto the interpretivedetails that are present in and, also, surprisinglyabsent from 4Q225, he provides a model of how to considerthe larger and variegatedworld of Second Temple biblical interpretation. Jacques van Ruiten challenges older suggestions that Jubilees was influenced by Job. Instead, he emphasizes the profound differences between Jubilees and Job, positing an original text that underliesJob much as Genesis underliesthe book of Jubilees. Van Ruiten's contribution providesreaderswith an importantword of cautionwhen constructinginterpretivetrajectoriesand connectionsbetween exilic and post-exilic texts from ancientJudaism. This volume exemplifiesthe methodologicalopennessand philological rigor that are essential to work in the history of biblical interpretation.The editorsand contributorsare to be commendedon an extraordinaryvolume that contributessignificantly to scholarshipon the Aqedah. Universityof Toronto

HINDYNAJMAN

Where is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul's Response in Romans1-5, by Simon J. Gathercole.GrandRapids, Mich. and Cambridge,UK: Eerdmans,2002, Pp. xii + 311. Price: $32.00. ISBN 0-8028-3991-6. This book-a reactionto the 'New Perspective'scholarshipof both Pauline and early Jewish studies-is based on Gathercole'sdoctoral thesis completedunderthe supervisionof J. D. G. Dunn. The 'Introduction'(pp. 1-34) reviews the theme of 'boasting' in scholarship,from Lutherand Calvin throughto the New Perspective and its impact (pp. 1-10) and how boasting is thoughtto fit into the ? KoninklijkeBrill NV, Leiden, 2004 Also availableonline - www.brill.nl


382

BOOK REVIEWS

wider context of Paulinestudies (pp. 10-16). In additionto brief considerationsof introductoryissues such as the date and provenanceof also has someconsiderationof methodJewishliterature,the Introduction ology (pp. 20-33), with a particularconcernto avoid vocabularycentred comparisonsbetween Paul and Jewish literatureand to focus on 'holistic understandingsof certainbroadpatterns'(p. 21), and in particular to re-establishthe importanceof eschatology for this area of early Judaismand Pauline studies. The rest of the book is divided into two parts:Part 1 (chapters1-5) covers 'Obedience and Final Vindication in Early Judaism';Part 2 (chapters 6-8) is an 'Exegesis of Romans 1-5'. Chapter 1 (pp. 37-90), 'Works and Final Vindicationin Pre-70 C.E. Apocryphaand Pseudepigrapha',argues that these Jewish texts have a consistent emphasis on final judgement,reward,and punishmentin relation to leading a law observant life. While this is frequently portrayedin terms of post-mortemrewardsand punishments,there are exceptions (Sirach, Tobit, 1 Maccabees) which stress a 'this worldly' reward (long life, prosperityetc.). Of particularrelevance to readersof this journalis chapter2 (pp. 91-111), 'Worksand Final Vindicationin the QumranLiterature',where it is arguedthat this patternof rewardand punishment,both individualand national-political,is continued.This includesdiscussionof passages such as 4QMMTC 26-32 and 4Q174 6-7 which have been at the centre of the debate over 'works-righteousness' in early Judaism.This patternis also found in other areas of early Judaismin chapter3 (pp. 112-135), 'Jewish Soteriology in the New Testament', and chapter4 (pp. 136-160), 'Obedience and Final Vindicationin the Aftermathof 70 C.E.' and so presentinga wide range of materialfrom a wide range of perspectives.In chapter 5 (pp. 161-194), 'Boasting in Second Temple Judaism', Gathercole suggests that the available evidence has the Jewish people, on both individualand national levels, portrayedas confidentin their ability to be blameless in law observance,'virtuouspeople both in relation to gentiles and before God' (p. 194). In the remainingmajorchapters the focus, as noted, is on Paul: chapter 6 (pp. 197-215), 'Paul's Assessmentof Jewish Boasting in Romans 1:18-3:20'; chapter7 (pp. 216-262), 'Paul'sReevaluationof Torah,Abraham,andDavidin Romans 3:27-4:8'. The 'Conclusion' (pp. 263-266) summarisesthe previous chaptersand providesfurthersuggestionsfor Pauline studies. This is a very impressive piece of work which backs up its persuasive argumentthrougha wide rangingdiscussion of both primary

BOOK REVIEWS

383

and secondary sources. It provides a third way between the two extremes in the 'works-righteousness'and 'grace' debates in early Judaism. Both sides of this debate far too often assume a 'grace' good, 'works-righteousness'bad principle: the traditionalLutheran view, as is well known, has had a negative view of early Judaismas a religion dominated by works; the New Perspective all too often makes early Judaismthe model of orthodoxChristianityand certainly not an early manifestationof Pelagius. Helped in part by focusing on rewardand punishment,Gathercoleshows that salvation accordingto a wide variety of texts from early Judaism was believed to have involved observanceof the commandments.But this is portrayedsympathetically,without resortingto the old caricaturesof early Judaism as a cold, harsh,legalistic religion.Crucially,following the lead of the New Perspective,he also rightlynotes the importanceof what is often called 'grace', 'election', and so on in the Jewish sources, something which is famously prominent in the hymns from Qumran. Consequently,thisbook,althoughnotalwaysexplicitly,providesa morechaotic modelwherebyreward,punishment,grace,andelection,canexisttogether in a given text withoutany hint of contradiction.In contrastto far too many of the discussionsof soteriologyfrom both sides of this debate, Gathercolerightly avoids imposing models from Christiansystematic theologyon textswhichareneitherChristiannortheologicallysystematic. There are some very minor problemsthat should perhapsbe mentioned, although they do not change Gathercole'soverall reading of early Judaismin any significantway. While he has presenteda great deal of evidence to show there was a well established tradition of confidence in blameless observance, those views, such as 1QS 11, which do not seem to express great confidenceare only briefly mentioned (e.g. pp. 163, 187, 205-206). Moreoversome of the evidence he cites in favour is not wholly convincing,such as 1 Macc. 2:67-68 and 13:48 (p. 186). Here people who observe the Law are praisedtoo generally.Such verses stand in direct contrastto those who, willingly or forcibly, have stopped observingthe Law in a visible and noticeable way (e.g. 2 Macc. 1:41-53; 2:15-18). 1 would therefore have reservationsin using these verses. On a relatedissue, but this time in the context of a discussion of Rom. 2:4-5, his brief discussion of repentance,atonement,and relatedissues surroundingthe Temple system (pp. 205-6), issues which would imply that not all thoughtperfect observancewas not possible, is unsatisfactory.He notes 'evidence for a possibledowngradingof the sacrificialsystemamongvariousgroups

384

BOOK REVIEWS

within Second TempleJudaismwell before the destructionof the temple' (p. 205) and the 'interimmeasuresevidencedin the Qumrantexts (e.g. IQS 3:6-12; 8:3, 6, 10; 9:4, 5-7)' (p. 205, note 38). He also believes (p. 205, n. 38) that there is evidence from outside Qumran (e.g. Tob. 12:9; Sir. 3:3, 30; 45:23; 4 Macc. 17:22;Pss. Sol. 3:8). The case for Qumrandownplayingthe Jerusalemsacrificialsystem is of course strong, but it is not in those other texts given by Gathercole. All they do is take the wholly unremarkableview that God can forgive sins outside the Temple too withoutever downplayingthe role of the Jerusalemcult. In fact, unlike the polemics aimed at the Jerusalem Temple system in certainDSS, the texts cited by Gathercolealso contain endorsement(e.g. Tob. 1:6-7; Sir. 50:1-21; 4 Macc. 3:20-4:14; Pss. Sol. 2:1-5; 8:11-13). But it would be unjustto end on such a pedanticnote. This book deservesto be regardedas a highly importantcontributionto not only Pauline studies but also to our understandingof the relationship between law observanceand salvationin early Judaism.Unlike other thirdways, this one has substanceand is convincing. Universityof Exeter

JAMESCROSSLEY

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The Goodness of God and the Problem of Evil

Theodicy in

the

World

of

the

Bible

EDITED BY ANTTI LAATO AND JOHANNES C. DE MOOR

Inprint2003 ISBN 90 04 13275 9 Cloth with dus(/acket(liv, 834 pp.) List price EUR 119.- / US$ 142.-

Is it justice when deities allow righteous human beings to suffer?This question has occupied the minds of theologians andphilosophersfor manycenturiesand is still hotly disputed. All kinds of argumenthave been developed to exoneratethe 'good God' of any guilt in this respect. Since Leibniz it has become customaryto describesuch attemptsas 'theodicy', the justificationof God. In modem philosophicaldebatethis use of 'theodicy'hasbeenquestioned.However,thisvolumeshowsthat it is still a workabletermfor a conceptthatoriginatedmuchearlierthanis commonlyrealised. Expertsfrom many disciplines follow the emergenceof the theodicy problemfrom ancient Near Easterntexts of the second millennium BCE through biblical literature,from both Old and New Testament,intertestamentalwritings including Qumran,Philo Judaeusand rabbinicJudaism. Readership:All those interested in the history of ideas which played a formative role in modem theological and philosophicalthought.All those engaged in the study of the ancient Near East, the Bible and early Judaism. Antti Laato, Ph.D. (1988) in Theology, Abo Akademi University,Finland,is Professorof Old TestamentExegetics and Judaic Studies at the same university. Johannes C. de Moor, Ph.D. (1971) in Semitic Philology, Free University,Amsterdam,is ProfessorEmeritusof Semitic languages at Kampen,The Netherlands.

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NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS Submission of Articles Contributions to the journal should be sent in the first instance to Prof. John J. Collins, Dead Sea Discoveries, Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511, USA. Only one copy of the article need be sent. Preferably it should be written in English; articles in French or German will also be accepted. The text must be grammatically correct and in good literary style, using inclusive language. Articles must be typewritten, or in the form of a clear printout from a word-processor, on A4 or American-standard white paper, double-spaced (including notes, which must appear at the end of the article), and on one side of the paper only. Printouts should, if possible, be accompanied by a disk. Word Perfect, Microsoft Word as well as ASCII are accepted formats. Articles must follow Dead Sea Discoveries style, for which see DSD 5 (1998) 25660. Articles in French and German must follow the journal's style as far as possible. Articles must be complete, including all necessary notes, bibliographical references, tables, etc. Articles must be original work and should normally not have been published previously. Simultaneous submission of identical work to other journals is not acceptable. Articles will normally be put through a system of blind refereeing; authors who wish to avoid referees' knowing their identity should not give themselves away, for example, by referring to their own works in footnotes with first person possessive pronouns. Authors of accepted articles will be asked to complete a form concerning the content and the copyright of their articles. Authors will receive galley proofs for proofreading. These must be returned promptly within the period requested, and the publishers reserves the right to charge authors for changes to proofs other than corrections of compositor's errors. The page proofs are read by the editors. Authors receive twenty-five complimentary offprints of their published article and a copy of the issue in which their article appears. Reviewers receive eight free offprints of their published review. Book reviews Books for review should be sent to Prof. Armin Lange, Institut fur Judaistik der Universitat Wien, Univ.-Campus Hof 7.3, Spitalgasse 2, A-1090 Wien, Austria.

CONTENTS MATTHEW J. GOFF, Reading and the Hodayot

GEORGE M. HOLLENBACK, More Sundial

Equatorial

Locust-Eating

Qumran

................

in the

Found

Texts

Temple

THIERING, The Times

Precise

Near

Ancient

a Former

East

and

at 293

Problems

in Reconstructing

at Qumran Scroll

..........

Courts

................

Governed

336

Kim's Paper on "Tov's 359

..............................................................

Orthagraphy"

315

by

................................

..............................

EMMANUEL Tov, Reply to Dong-Hyuk Qumran

289

Eat Like

..............................................

SARIANNA METSO, Methodological BARBARA

as an

Roundel

on the Qumran

..............................................................

Essene?

from Rule

263

.......................

JAMES A. KELHOFFER, Did John the Baptist

History

4QInstruction

at Qumran:

Wisdom

.......................................

BOOKS IN DEBATE

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, by JODI MAGNESS (MAGEN BROSHI and HANAN ESHEL)

.........

.........

361

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, by JODI MAGNESS (JURGEN ZANGENBERG) BOOK

..................

........................

365

REVIEWS

Accordance, Qumran Module for Macintosh. Version 5.6.1., Oak Tree Software (BENJAMING. WRIGHTIII) .................... 373 Meghillot: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls 1, edited by DEVORAH DIMANT and MOSHE BAR-ASHER

(TAL ILAN)

....

377

The Sacrifice of Isaac: The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and its Interpretations, Themes tions

edited by ED NOORT and EIBERT TIGCHELAAR.

in Biblical

Narrative:

4 (HINDY NAJMAN)

Jewish

and Christian

Tradi-

........................................................

380

Where is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul's Response

in Romans

CROSSLEY)

1-5,

by SIMON J. GATHERCOLE (JAMES

................................................................................

381

Dead Sea Discoveries, 11, 2004

Dead Sea Discoveries 17 1

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Новый Мир ( № 11 2004)

QEX 2004-11

The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Cipher

Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

The Dead Sea Deception

Deep Sea Dead

The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Deception

The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Cipher

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The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

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Dead Sea Discoveries, 11, 2004

Dead Sea Discoveries 17 1

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Dead Sea

Новый Мир ( № 11 2004)

QEX 2004-11

The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Cipher

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The Dead Sea Deception

Deep Sea Dead

The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Scrolls

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The Dead Sea Cipher

The Dead Sea Cipher

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