Qumran and predestination: A theological study of the thanksgiving hymns (Studies on the texts of the desert of Judah) 9004042652, 9789004042650

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QUMRAN AND PREDESTINATION

STUDIES ON THE TEXTS OF THE DESERT OF JUDAH EDITED BY

J. VANDERPLOEG, VOLUME VIII

LEIDEN

E.J.BRILL 1975

O.P.

QUMRAN AND PREDESTINATION A THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS BY

EUGENE H. MERRILL

LEIDEN

E.

J. BRILL 1975

ISBN 90 04 04265 2 Copyright 1975 by E. /. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands AJJ rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photop,int, microfilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

To the Ladies of My Life: Mother, Wife and Dartghter, with untold appreciation

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface . . .

IX

Abbreviations

XI

I.

Introduction The Problem Previous Studies. Delimitations Methodology

1 1 1 2 2

II. The Setting of the Thanksgiving Hymns . The Discoveries and Publication . . . The Significance of the Scrolls of Qumran The Khirbet Community and Identification of the Dead Sea Sect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Provenance and Uniqueness of 1QH Identity of the author . . . . . The role of the author . . . . The Teaching and Purpose of 1QH The Importance of Predestination in 1QH

6 9 9 10 11 12

III. Exegesis of Selected Predestinarian Passages

16

IV. Teachings in 1QH Related to or Dependent upon Predestination . . . . . . . . Creation . . . . . . . . Divine monergism . . The purpose of creation Divine foreknowledge . The "establishment" of all things The two spirits . . . . . . . The righteous and the wicked The whole universe Judgment . . Man's way of life Revelation To the Teacher of Righteousness Through the Teacher of Righteousness

4 4 5

24 24 24 24

25 25 25 28 29 30 31 33

34 34

CONTENTS

VIII

To the individual and Community Salvation. . . . . . The nature of man . Divine initiative The grace of God Forgiveness . . . Preservation . . . The free will of man The Reconciliation of Divine and Human Responsibilities The Covenant . . . Knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ethics and Eschatology . . . . . . . . Description of the Covenant Community . Description of the wicked The hereafter

35 37 37 38 39 40 44 45 46 47 SO 51 51 52 54

V. Summary and Conclusion

56

Bibliography .

59

Indices

65

. . .

PREFACE One of the central theological concerns of most ancient and contemporary religious thought systems is the reconciliation of the sovereign monergism of the Deity, especially as he foreknows and predestines the vicissitudes of life, with the almost self-evident prerogative of the worshiper to exercise his free will. This is perhaps particularly true in the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition with its extreme emphasis on both the concept of an ontologically selfsufficient, independent, prescient, omnipotent Creator and, paradoxically, the corollary notion that the human creature is somehow both subject to and independent of the Creator in the development of the patterns of his thought and action. It has long been recognized that discussions of these apparently mutually exclusive points of view are sparse if indeed discernible at all in the Old Testament. On the other hand, the New Testament, particularly in the Pauline formulation, outlines at quite some length both divine predestination and human freedom and responsibility, but with no formal attempt to reconcile them logically. Intertestamental literature as a whole paid scant attention to this tantalizing problem. The discovery, then, that the sectarians of Qumran held, on the one hand, to a rigid predestinarianism almost akin to the extreme dualistic system of Iranian Zoroastrianism and, on the other hand, to a belief in the free will and self-accountability of man-this discovery has engendered an intense interest in the problem as it was discussed in the era between the Testaments. Most significantly, the thinkers who produced the Dead Sea Scrolls which deal most directly with the issue (notably the Thanksgiving Hymns) attempted to bridge the gap between the two contradictory notions. In so doing they perhaps carried seminal Old Testament ideas to a logical conclusion and, moreover, anticipated much of the New Testament argument which, however, never rose to the rational development of the Scrolls. The weaknesses of the sectarian dialectical structure and its inability to provide a satisfactory solution to the predestination-free will contradiction must have been all too apparent to Paul and others who, therefore, were content to let the matter rest in the mind of God as one of the impenetrable divine "mysteries." The Biblical theologian cannot afford to disregard or minimize the

X

PREFACE

contributions of the Qumranian dogmaticians, however, especially on this very point. For in their writings, and most prominently in the Hymns, may be found a distillation of some of the most serious and profound thought on the matter in all religious literature. Neither Jewish nor Christian thinking on predestination can any longer be said to be complete without due consideration of the pioneering endeavors of the Dead Sea Covenanters. Herein lies the justification for the ensuing study. May the sovereign God of all power to whom all men are answerable enlighten the mind of the reader to the truth that he is also the sovereign God of all grace who is fully able both to demand an accounting of all men and to provide the requisite resources for the successful pursuit of his purposes for them. The author expresses his profound respect for and thanks to Prof. M. H. Goshen-Gottstein who made numerous suggestions in the course of the development of this project but who is in no way responsible for its inaccuracies or other failings. He also gratefully acknowledges the sympathetic support of his colleagues at Berkshire Christian College, in particular Prof. Oral Collins, whose expertise in Scrolls studies has been a source of frequent enlightenment; and Prof. Lois Jones, College librarian, who often assisted in locating otherwise inaccessible materials. Special tribute is paid to Mrs. Marilyn Acton who painstakingly typed the manuscript for publication and to Peter Kulberg for his meticulous preparation of the indices. Finally, the writer gratefully acknowledges the courtesies and counsel of Prof. J.P. M. van der Ploeg, 0. P., editor of the series Studies on the Texts of the Desert ofJudah, and of the publishers, E. J. Brill of Leiden.

ABBREVIATIONS BA BiOr BJRL CBQ CNI ETL 1--IThR

IEJ

JBL JNES JQR JSS NRTh NT NTS RB RQ SH ThLZ TS VT ZAW ZThK

Biblical Archaeologist Bibliotheca Orientalis Bulletin of the John Rylands Library Catholic Biblical Quarterly Christian News from Israel Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Harvard Theological Review Israel Exploration Journal Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Near Eastern Studies Jewish Quarterly Review Journal of Semitic Studies Nouvelle Revue Theologique Novum Testamentum New Testament Studies Revue Biblique Revue de Qumran Scripta Hierosolymitana Theologische Literaturzeitung Theological Studies Vetus Testamentum Zeitschrift for die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift for Theologie und Kirche

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION It has been more than twenty-five years now since the discovery of the Qumran manuscripts near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest coast of the Dead Sea. Yet, interest in these materials has hardly abated and, in fact, literature is still being constantly produced dealing with all aspects of Scrolls studies-historical, archaeological, textual, palaeographical, and religious or theological. Virtually every area of Old and New Testament studies has had to reckon with their implications. One of the most fascinating and important considerations has been that of the theology of the sect which produced or utilized the Scrolls. 1 Several of the most distinctive teachings of these texts have already been treated rather copiously. Examples, specifically, are Messianism, 2 flesh and spirit,3 immortality, 4 the nature of man, 6 and the two spirits. 6 Conspicuous by its absence, however, has been any substantial treatment of one of the cardinal doctrines espoused by the Scrolls, that of predestination or, in its narrower sense, election. There have been several brief surveys in the periodicals, to be sure, 7 and almost all of the standard words on the Scrolls have some discussion, 1 Obviously, it is impossible to determine with certainty whether or not the community which resided at Qumran during the period of the provenance of the Scrolls actually composed or even used them. The weight of evidence would surely suggest that this is so, and the great majority of scholars so maintain. See, e.g., Matthew Black, The Scrolls and Christian Origins (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1961), p. 4; Andre Dupont-Sommer, The Essene Writings from Q11mran (Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1967), p. 8. 2 W. H. Brownlee, "Messianic Motifs of Qumran and the New Testament," NTS 3 (1956/57), pp. 120 30, 195-210. 3 W. D. Davies, "Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Flesh and Spirit," The Scrolls and the New Testament, ed. Krister Stendahl (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957), pp. 157-182. 4 M. Delcor, "L'immortalite de l'ame clans le livre de la Sagesse et clans Jes documents de Qumran," NRTh 77 (1955), pp. 614-630. 6 J.P. Hyatt, "The View of Man in the Qumran 'Hodayot,' "NTS 2 (1955/56), pp. 276-284. 6 Jacob Licht, "An Analysis of the Treatise of the Two Spirits in DSD," SH 4 (1958), pp. 88-100. 7 E.g., A. Marx, "Y a-t-il une predestination a Qumran ?" RQ 6 (1967), pp. 163-181.

2

INTRODUCTION

at least, but not nearly adequate in consideration of the clear importance of the teaching to the Dead Sea sect. 8 The present study, then, is warranted in the light of the paucity of previous systematic treatment and on the basis of the sheer intrinsic value of the doctrine to the sect, a fact which has already been noted by other authors. 9 However, because of the massive abundance of teaching on the subject in the entire collection of Scrolls literature, this investigation has restricted itself to an analysis of the doctrine of predestination in the Thanksgiving Hymns 10 alone. 11 Again because of the aforementioned considerations, there has been but little attention paid to predestination outside of 1QH and the Scrolls at large. As tempting as it might be to explore the relationship of the doctrine in 1QH to the Old and New Testament; apocryphal, pseudepigraphical, and other intertestamental literature; the rabbinics; and even modern Jewish, Moslem, and Christian theologies, we have assiduously resisted such temptations in the interests of space and purpose. We suggest that a very fruitful field of inquiry could be undertaken in all of these areas. The methodology of our approach has been rather simple, consisting of an analysis of the document as follows: 1. We have carefully studied the entire text of 1QH from both the Hebrew transcription 12 and English translations. 13 We have made no effort to exegete fully the entire document-a project far beyond the scope of this work-but the principal texts have been carefully translated and interpreted in the light of other passages both within and without 1QH. The exegesis of these selected passages, then, has formed the substratum upon which the analysis of the rest of the 8 See, e.g., Menahem Mansoor, The Thank1giving Hymn1 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1961), pp. 55-57; Helmer Ringgren, The Faith of Qumran (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), pp. 54 et pa11im. 9 Mansoor (op. cit., p. 62) suggests that the doctrine of predestination is the central theme of the faith and confession of their author, probably the Teacher of Righteousness, and certainly can be considered a normative statement of the community faith as a whole. 1 For sake of convenience the universally employed sigla 1QH will be used to designate the Hymns in future discussion. 11 For justification of this delimitation, seep. 12. 12 E. L. Sukenik and N. Avigad, 'w1r hmgy/wt hgnwzwt (Jerusalem, 1954). 13 Primary recourse was made to Mansoor, op. cit. Also consulted for variant translations were T. H. Gaster, The Dead Sea Script11re1 in Eng/i1h Tran1/ation (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964); Dupont-Sommer, op. cit.; and Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea s~ro//s in English (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966).

°

INTRODUCTION

3

document has rested. This appears valid because (1) there are only a few passages where any systematic treatment of the doctrine may be found and (2) the remaining references to the teachings of predestination, because of their lack of orderly presentation, must in any event be understood in the light of the extended discussions. We have disregarded any attempt to enumerate the Hymns because of the vast disagreement on the matter, though we have carefully considered the opinions and schemata of both Licht and Dupont-Sommer. 14 Because the study is not dependent upon the teaching of predestination in any one specific Hymn, we have thought it suitable to work on the basis of the regular eighteen column division of the document. 2. We have categorized as accurately as possible every reference to predestination or related concepts. These categories we have then subsumed under general headings, viz., predestination and its bearing on creation, revelation, salvation, human responsibility, and ethics. 3. We have next created a synthesis of the passages which have certain themes in common. 4. Finally, we have made an attempt to restate the teachings of 1QH vis-a-vis predestination and to see if reconciliation of apparently contradictory notions could be effected. Before we can investigate the document itself, however, we must consider briefly and dispose of certain prolegomena. 14 Mansoor, op. cit., pp. 33-34. They both suggest thirty-two hodayot in all, but disagree on the analysis which produces this number.

CHAPTER TWO

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS THE DISCOVERIES AND PUBLICATION

The story of the discovery of the Qumran Scrolls has been told so often and is so familiar that it need not detain us here.1 Our document, 1QH, was among those found in the first cave by the Bedouin goatherd in 1947. It was contained in two bundles, the first consisting of twelve columns of script of as many as forty lines each, and the second made up six columns in addition to sixty-six numbered fragments. The text is poorly preserved with numerous lacunae not only on the upper and lower edges of the Scrolls, but even in the middle. Hence, a great deal of conjecture must be employed to elicit the reading and meaning of many of the Hymns. 2 From the eighteen columns of text (excluding the sixty-six fragments) both Licht and Dupont-Sommer have isolated thirty-two individual hymns. They do not agree on the identity of individual hymns, however, and it is only coincidental that they have arrived at the same total number. 3 One point upon which virtually all scholars agree is that the expression "I thank Thee, 0 Lord," signals the beginning of a hymn as does the so-called benedictory salutation, "Blessed be Thou, 0 Lord," etc. In fact, the theme of thanksgiving is so predominant in the document that it has given the Scroll its name-Hodqyot ("The Thanksgivings"). 4 As pointed out above, however, we have not concerned ourselves in this study with individual hymns so all references are to columns and lines; e.g., X, 3-4 suggests column X, lines 3 and 4. The initial publication of facsimiles of 1QH was done by E. L. Sukenik (posthumously by N. Avigad) in 1954 in a work entitled >1vsr hmgJlwt hgnwz1vt. 5 ]. Licht, in 1957, also published the complete text with notes under the title mgJlt hhwdywt. Finally appeared the 1 One of the most authoritative accounts is that of John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1964), pp. 17-51. 2 Mansoor, op. cit., pp. 4-6. 3 For his methodology in this analysis, see Dupont-Sommer, op. cit., p. 198, n. 2. 4 Ringgren, op. cit., p. 13. 6 Subsequently issued in English as The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Magnes Press, 1955).

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS

5

work of M. Delcor, Les Hymnes de Qumran (1962). The principal complete translations have been those of H. Bardtke,6 H. E. Del Medico, 7 Andre Dupont-Sommer, 8 T. H. Gaster, 9 Svend HolmNielsen, 10 Menahem Mansoor, 11 and Geza Vermes. 12 In addition, scores of partial translations and articles have dealt with all aspects of 1QH studies. We have employed many of these in this investigation and have appropriately cited them as the occasion has required. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SCROLLS OF QUMRAN

It became readily apparent that the entire corpus of Qumran literature would have immeasureable value to all disciplines of biblical inquiry. W. F. Albright, for example, hailed the manuscripts at once as the greatest discovery of their kind in modern times. Scholarly opinion has but reinforced this early judgment as more and more materials have been discovered, published, and analyzed. Of 1QH especially can this be said. Aside from questions of palaeography, textual criticism, and comparative literature, all of which have been radically affected by this and other Qumran dbcuments, there is the important matter of the theological significance of the Hodayot. In what appears to be an understatement, Mansoor suggests that "This collection of Hodayot is important for the study of the religious ideas of the Qumran Sect which preserved them. Frequent recurrences of expressions and ideas throughout 1 QH constitute an important source for the comprehensive theological doctrines of the Sect." 13 There has, of course, been a great deal of discussion as to the relationship of the Qumran Sect and its literature to contemporary Judaism and primitive Christianity. While this complicated question is outside the purview of our study, 14 the following brief assessment 6 "Die Loblieder von Qumran," ThLZ 81 (1956), cols. 149-154; 589-604; 715-724; and 82 (1957), cols. 339-348. 7 The Riddle of the Scrolls (London, 1957), pp. 305-365. 6 Op. cit., pp. 202-254. 9 Op. cit., pp. 122-225. 10 Hodayot, Psa/msfromQumran (Aarhus: Universitets-forlaget I, 1960). 11 The Thanksgiving Hymns, pp. 97-193. 12 Op. cit., pp. 150-201. 13 Mansoor, op. cit., p. 52. 14 See, however, on the former of these, the relationship to Judaism, S. Aalen, "Die Begriffe 'Licht' und 'Finsternis' im Alten Testament, im Spiitjudentum und im Rabbinismus," RB 60 (1953), pp. 314-316; and P. Grelot, "L'eschatologie des Esseniens et le livre d'Henoch," RQ 1 (1958), pp. 113-131. There is abundant material on Qumran and early Christianity such as that of Black, op. cit.; F. F. Bruce, "Qumran and Early Christianity," NTS 2 (1955/56), pp. 176-190; Oscar

2

6

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS

of H. H. Rowley is appropriate as regards the importance of the Scrolls to Christianity: "Let them be studied for what they are, and they are valuable. They enrich our knowledge of the Jewish world at the time of Christ and during the preceding two centuries. They give us a clearer picture of a Jewish sect which was devout and lofty in character, in which a true spirit of brotherhood prevailed. But they do not overthrow or confirm a single Christian doctrine. " 16 The chief importance of the Scrolls, within the limits of our study, is their use as a means of ascertaining the doctrinal beliefs of the Qumran Community itself, irrespective of how these beliefs may or may not impinge upon the faith of other sects or communities. That this community was, most likely, part of the larger Essene movement makes an understanding of the teachings of the group all the more significant. THE KHIRBET COMMUNITY AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE DEAD SEA SECT

This leads to some consideration of the community and the identity of the sect which lived there and produced or, at least, utilized the Scrolls. Shortly after the first documents were discovered, scholars began to focus on the ruins near the caves, ruins which became quickly associated with the Scrolls. The site, known for centuries as Khirbet Qumran, was excavated by Pere Roland De Vaux and Lankester Harding and they reached the conclusion, as did others, that this spot, indeed, marked the residence of the community of the Scrolls. 16 Palaeographical evidence from the Scrolls, together with stratigraphic and numismatic/ceramic confirmation, has led to the conclusion that the community flourished between ca. 130 B.C. and A.D. 132-135, with major periods in between of no Jewish habitation, principally between 31 B.C. and the early first century A.D. and between A.D. 70 and 132. 17 The manuscripts themselves, at least in Cullmann, "The Significance of the Qumran Texts for Research into the Beginnings of Christianity," JBL 74 (1955), pp. 213-226; and David Flusser, "The Dead Sea Sect and Pre-Pauline Christianity," SH 4 (1958), pp. 215-266. 1 ~ H. H. Rowley, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament (London: SPCK, 1964), pp. 30-31. . 11 A very good description of the reconstruction of the community building and of the adjacent cemetery may be found in Yigael Yadin, The Message of the Strolls (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1957), pp. 60-67. A more detailed account, replete with helpful illustrations, is found in Allegro, op. cit., pp. 84-102. 17 F. F. Bruce, Second Thoughts on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964), pp. 49-54.

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS

7

their copy forms, appear to have covered the periods from ca. "300 B.C. to 68 or 70 A.D." 18 Cross is of the opinion that the copies are not quite that old, but he concedes that the Samuel Scroll of Cave IV, for example, may go back as early as 225 B.C. 19 Curious and enigmatic historical allusions in the Scrolls (such as the familiar references in CD I, 5-12; XIX, 35-XX, 1; XX, 13ff; 1QpHab VIII, 8-13; X, 9~13; XI, 4-8) and comparison between the teachings of the Scrolls and other literature of the period have led most scholars to believe that the Qumran sect was Essene. 20 This is not a universal consensus, however, and Cecil Roth, for example, feels that the Scrolls were the work of the Zealots of the first century A.D. 21 Even more radical a departure is that of Solomon Zeitlin, who has consistently, in the Jewish Quarter/y Review and elsewhere, maintained that the Scrolls are medieval, possibly having Karaite provenance. 22 But these views are those of a relatively small minority. We may safely accept on more than tentative grounds an Essene identification on the basis of evidence now available, and we may proceed from that premise. · Contemporary historians and other authors, notably Philo, Jose18 Millar Burrows, The Dead Sen Scrolls (New York: The Viking Press, 1957), p. 101. 19 Frank M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961), p. 42. In a later work, Cross suggests that the MSS cover the span from 250 B.C. to A.D. 70 (see "The Early History of the Qumran Community" in New Directions in Biblical Archaeology, eds. David Noel Freedman and Jonas Greenfield [Garden City: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971], p. 74). 20 Most valuable are the long discussions of Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, pp. 51-106; Black, op. cit., pp. 3-74; R. K. Harrison, The Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), pp. 72-101; Dupont-Sommer, op. cit., pp. 2167; J. T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of judaea (London: SCM Press, Ltd., 1959), pp. 44-98; W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, "Qumran and the Essenes: Geography, Chronology, and Identification of the Sect," The Scrolls and Christianity, ed. Matthew Black (London: SPCK, 1969), p. 23. Floyd Filson (and this author) see it as an "Essene-type" withdrawal sect. Cf. Filson, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament," New Directions in Biblical Archaeology, p. 147. 21 Cecil Roth, "Why the Qumran Sect Cannot Have Been Essenes," RQ 1 (1959), pp. 417-422. Moshe Goshen-Gottstein also rejects this identification in "Anti-Essene Traits in the Dead Sea Scrolls," VT 4 (1954), pp. 141££; so also E. J. Pryke, "The Identity of the Qumran Sect: A Reconsideration," NT 1, (1968), p. 60. 12 Solomon Zeitlin, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Scholarship (Philadelphia: Dropsie College, 1956), passim; S. B. Hoenig argues that 1QH V, 11-12; XII, 5; and XI, 3 show Karaite influence and are, therefore, medieval. See his "Textual ~eadings and Meanings in Hodayot (1QH)," JQR 58 (1967-68), pp. 309-316.

8

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS

phus, and Pliny the Elder, describe the Essenes in terms very reminiscent of the descriptions of the Qumran community within their own literature. 23 This, of course, has helped in the understanding of Qumran doctrine, and, reciprocally, the Dead Sea Scrolls have corrected and elucidated some of the obscurities of the contemporary reporters. Differences between the teachings of the Qumran sect and Essenism as described, for example, by Josephus, may be accounted for both by Josephus' widely recognized Hellenistic Tendenz and by the fact that the very existence of the community as an isolated, monastic society presupposes its difference in many respects from Essenism at large. This was a movement away from the Judaism of Jerusalem and a return of the "purity of Torah." As La Sor points out, "Both in Qumran and in Christianity there is the fundamental assumption that established or 'normative' Judaism has failed and stands under the judgment of God, whereas the new sect ... consists of the 'elect' or those who seek to fulfill the obligations of true religion." 24 Most striking in the comparison of the Dead Sea Sect to Essenism is their common concern with predestination. Epstein goes so far as to say that the Essenes "held to a rigid predetermination, which denied man all freedom of action and effort." 25 This may be true only if the Qumran sect was not Essene, for, as we shall see, there was definitely room for human responsibility, at least in 1QH. Cross is a little more cautious and, no doubt, accurate when he interprets Josephus' indictment of Essene "fatalism" in the light of the Greek frame of reference and in cognizance of the apocalyptic currents of the period. He states that "in a world captive to the powers of darkness, salvation is the gift of God to the elect, achieved by His new creation." 26 In other words, predestination to Qumran is the same as the "fatalism" of Essenism in general (if, indeed, Josephus' analysis is correct) only with salvific overtones which make it more akin to Pauline soteriology and predestination. But further amplification of this point must be deferred until a later stage.

23 Respectively in Quod omnis probus fiber sit, Par. 75-91; The Je11Jish War, II, 8, andfewish Antiquities, XVIII, 1; and Natural History, V, 17, 4. 24 W. S. La Sor, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Beginnings of Christianity," CNI 13 (July, 1962), pp. 8-9. 26 Isidore Epstein, Judaism (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966), p. 103. 28 Cross, The Ancient Library ofQumran, p. 92.

THE SETTING OF THE THANKSGIVING HYMNS

9

THE PROVENANCE AND UNIQUENESS OF 1QH Having considered the general background of the Dead Sea literaature as a whole, let us now narrow the investigation down to 1QH alone. First of all, it is incumbent that we make some effort to identify its author, for that factor influences the meaning of the text and speaks to the overall significanc