The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformulated Issues (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah) 9004111557, 9789004111554

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THE PROVO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

STUDIES ON THE TEXTS OF THE DESERT OF JUDAH EDITEDBY

F. GARCIA MARTINEZ

A. S. VAN DER WOUDE

VOLUMEXXX

THEPROVO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformulated Issues EDITEDBY

DONALD W. PARRY AND

EU GENE ULRICH

BRILL LEIDEN· BOSTON· KÖLN 1999

This book is printed on aeid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Provo International Conferenee on the Dead Sea Serolls (1996) The Provo International Conferenee on the Dead Sea Serolls : teehnologieal innovations, new texts, and reformulated issues / edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrieh. p. em. - (Studies on the texts of the desert of Judah, ISSN 0169-9962 ; v. 30) Includes bibliographieal referenees and index. ISBN 9004111557 (cloth: alk. paper) I. Dead Sea serolls-Congresses. 2. Dead Sea serolls 4Q-Congresses. I. Parry, Donald W. 11. Ulrieh, Eugene Charles, 1938- . III. Title: Teehnological innovations, new texts, and reformulated issues. IV. Series. BM487.P86 1998 98-44346 296.1' 55-de21 CIP

Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme International Conferenee on the Dead Sea Scrolls : The Provo International Conferenee on the Dead Sea Serolls : teehnologieal innovations, new texts and reformulated issues / ed. by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrieh. - Leiden; Boston; Köln: BrilI, 1998 (Studies on the texts of the deserl of Judah ; Vol. 30) ISBN 90-04- I 1155-7

ISSN 0169-9962 ISBN 90 04 11155 7 © Copyright 1999 by KoninkLijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, trans La ted, stored in a retrievaL system, or transmitted in any form or by an)' means, eLectronic, mechanicaL, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permissionfrom the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internaL or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directLy to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS

CONTENTS

Introduction TECHNOLOGY

Imaging Clarified ........................................................................

5

GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHEILA SPIRO

The Allegro Qumran Photograph Colleetion: Old Photos and New Information ............................................................

J.

GEORGE

Putting the Pieces Together: DNA and the Dead Sea Serolls .............................................................................. SCOTT R. WOODWARD, BLAKE C. BALLIF, LORI C. WOOD, GILA

K.

13

BROOKE

30

BARGAL, MAGEN BROSHI

Arehaeologieal Applieations of Synthetie Aperture Radar (SAR) ............... ...... .... ............. .... ......... ....................... GAYLE F. MINER, DAVID V. ARNOLD, DAVID G. LONG,

32

DOUGLAS G. THOMPSON, THOMAS W. KARLINSEY, PERRY

J.

HARDIN, AND ELAINE M. ALGER EDITIONS AND ANALYSES OF TEXTS

The Impact of the SeraIls on Biblieal Studies JAMES

A.

47

SANDERS

4QSam' (4Q51): A Preliminary Edition of 1 Samuel 25:3-31:4 ................................................................

58

DONALD W. PARRY

The Oldest Psalms Manuseript: 4QPs' (4Q83)

72

EUGENE ULRICH

A Preliminary Edition of 4QPSd (4Q86) ..................................

93

PETER W. FLINT

Toward a New Edition of lQGenesis Apocryphon ELISHA Q}:MRON

106

CONTENTS

VI

A Case of Mistaken Identity: Testament qf Naphtali (4Q21S) and Time qf Righteousness (4Q21S a)

110

ESTHER G. CHAZON

4QTime qf Righteousness (4Q21S a , Olim 4QTNaphtali): A Preliminary Publication of Fragment 1 ii ................ ........

124

ESTHER G. CHAZON AND MICHAEL E. STONE

Bib1ica1 Adaptation in 4Q392 Works qf God and 4Q393 Communal Corifession .................................................................. DANIEL K. FALK

126

4Q437: A First Look at an Unpublished Barki Nafshi Text

147

DAVID

R.

SEELY

4QMiscellaneous Fragments: Progress and Problems DANA M. PIKE AND ANDREW C. SKINNER

161

Reconstructing 11 Q1 7 Shirot COlat Ha-Shabbat

171

EIBERT

J.

C. TIGCHELAAR

More Fragments of 11QNJ ......................................................

186

FLORENTINO GARClA MARTINEz

Noah and the Flood at Qumran MOSHE

J.

199

BERNSTEIN

Correction Procedures in the Texts from the Judean Desert ........................................................................

232

EMANUEL Tov

THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY

How and Where Did the Qumranites Live?

267

MAGEN BROSHI AND HANAN ESHEL

Qumran and the Ancient Sources

274

CURTIS HUTT

Qumran Names

294

IDA FröHLIcH

In Search of the Sitz Im Leben of the Communiry Rufe ............ SARIANNA METSO

306

CONTENTS

Community Origins in the Damascus Document in the Light of Recent Scholarship ..................................................

Vll

316

CHARLOTIE HEMPEL

The Meaning and Significance of CD 20: 13-15

330

HANAN ESHEL

The Essene Yearly Renewal Ceremony and the Baptism of Repentance ........................................................................ STEPHEN J. PFANN John the Baptizer and Qumran Barriers in Light of the Rufe qf the Communiry ..............................................................

337

353

JAMES H. CHARLESWORTH

CALENDAR

Calendar Controversy in Ancient Judaism: The Case of the "Community of the Renewed Covenant" ................

379

SHEMARYAHU TALMON

Does Anyone Really Know What Time it Is: AReexamination of 4Q503 in Light of 4Q31 7

396

MARTIN G. ABEGG, JR.

An Astronomical Measuring Instrument from Qumran

UWE

407

GLEßMER AND MATIHIAS ALBANI

Some Observations on the New Mishmarot Texts from Qumran ........................................................................

443

CORRADO MARTONE UVI AND THE PRIESTHOOD

The Aramaic Levi Document A. FITZMYER, SJ.

453

JOSEPH

The Priesthood at Qumran: The Evidence of References to Levi and the Levites ........................................................

465

ROBERT KUGLER

Priestly and Levitical Gifts in the Temple Seroll ...................... LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN

480

CONTENTS

Vlll

Isaac's Blessing of Levi and His Descendants in Jubilees 31 ....... .......................................... ...............................

497

jAMES C. VANDERKAM

MESSIANISM AND ESCHATOLOGY

Structural Aspects of Qumran Messianism in the Damascus Document ..................................................................

523

WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

Messianic Forgiveness of Sin in CD 14: 19 (4Q266 10 i 12-13) ................................................................

537

jOSEPH M. BAUMGARTEN

Some Remarks on 4Q246 and 4Q521 and Qumran Messianism

545

EMILE PuECH

"The Two Sons of Oil": Early Evidence of Messianic Interpretation of Zechariah 4: 14 in 4Q254 4 2 ... ............. CRAIG A. EvANS Renewed Earth and Renewed People: 4Q475 ........................ T ORLEIF ELGVIN

566 576

WISDOM AND LITURGY

The Sapiential Work 4Q415ff and Pre-Qumranic Works from Qumran: Lexical Considerations ... .... .............. ...........

595

JOHN STRUGNELL

In the Likeness of the Holy Ones: The Creation of Humankind in a Wisdom Text from Qumran .................. JOHN

J.

609

COLLINS

The Identification of the "Speaker" of the Self-Glorification Hymn ........ .......... .... ...... .................... ........

619

ESTHER ESHEL

The Textual, Literary, and Religious Character of 4QfJerakhot (4Q286-290) ..........................................................

636

BILHAH NITZAN

Index of Modern Authors Citation Index ........................................................................... .

657 667

INTRODUCTION

Three technological innovations that contribute in unique ways to Dead Sea SeroIls research have been developed in Provo, Utah: the Dead Sea SeroIl Database created by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), DNA techniques to analyze Dead Sea ScroIl parchment fragments, and an imaging radar system that has archaeological applications for Qumran and its environs. The database, as the tide indicates, was developed over the past four years by FARMS, located at Brigham Young University; the other two are products of professors from the BYU Department of Microbiology and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. It is noteworthy that each of the three innovations was developed independent of the others, each contributes to Dead Sea ScroIl research in a unique manner, and the three together have caused a fturry of activity that reaches through many levels of personnel and across many disciplines and university campuses. It was this intense seroIls activity in the Provo community that persuaded Noel Reynolds, FARMS president and BYU professor of political science, to set the wheels in motion to stage a large conference on the Dead Sea ScroIls. This would be an opportunity to showcase current technological innovations that were being prepared at Provo and elsewhere (including the then forthcoming Dead Sea ScroIls CDROM produced by BriIl and Oxford University Press, as weIl as the ongoing reimaging work of Greg Bearman and Sheila Spiro) and bring together a host of international scholars to communicate their latest discoveries and research findings. The editors were invited to organize the conference in September 1995 and were given matching funds from FARMS and BYU. The conference was held on the Brigham Young University campus in Provo, Utah, 15-17 July 1996. This volume contains 43 articles placed under the foIlowing divisions, Technology, Editions and Anaryses if Texts, The Qjtmran Communiry, Calendar, Levi and the Priesthood, Messianism and Eschatology, and Wisdom and Liturgy. We note here that one of the conference presentations "Presentation of the FARMS Dead Sea SeroIls Electronic Reference Library," by Donald W. Parry, Steven W. Booras, and E. Jan Wilson,

2

INrRODUCTION

will not appear in published form in this volume since it was published in an earlier Brill volume.' An updated description of the FARMS Dead Sea Scrolls Database appears in 7he Dead Sea Scrolls qfter Fifty Years, edited by Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam (Leiden: Brill, 1998). We are indebted to many for the creation of this volume. We have received every possible assistance from FARMS, including encouragement, funding, editorial and research assistance, and a multitude of other resources. We thank Noel Reynolds for his leadership and support. We appreciate Brent Hall, Margene Jolley, and many others far assistance in preparing the physical facilities, scheduling, and many other items connected to the conference. We are extremely grateful to the editorial department at FARMS especially Alison Coutts and Shirley Ricks, for their work on copyediting the volume and humoring individual authors who requested variations in styles. We are grateful to the research efforts of Jeanette Miller, Becky Schulthies, David Geilman, J. T odd Hibbard, and others who undertook the sometimes labyrinthine task of source checking. We gratefully acknowledge the large grants provided by FARMS and Brigham Young University to assist with the various expenses associated with staging a conference of this size. W. PARRY Brigham Young University DONALD

EUGENE ULRICH

University qf Notre Dame

I Donald W. Parry and Steven W. Booras, "The Dead Sea Serails CD-ROM Database Praject," in Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Serolls: Coriference on the Textsftom the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, ed. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Rieks (Leiden: BrilI, 1996).

TECHNOLOGY

IMAGING CLARIFIED GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHElLA SPIRO

In the two years since Magen Broshi's invitation made possib1e the summer 1994 Jet Propulsion Laboratory I Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center (JPLlABMC) summer project in Jerusalem, we have observed a noticeable drop in what had been the generaily recognized reticence of text-oriented humanists to use their computers by and fir themselves in furtherance of their work. During this same brief period there has been a vast increase in inquiries about whether we will do further work on the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as those that be gin "do you think you can help me with ... " Without getting personal, we suggest that requests have come from scholars who were assumed to have virtually no interest in getting too elose to space-age technology. Among other factors (certainly the increasing simplicity and decreasing cost of needed hardware and software is prominent among them), increased acceptance of computer technology has been brought about most notably by collaborations between humanists and their counterparts in the sciences. These grow both within and without larger institutions; witness the unlikely alliance of the tiny ABMC and Caltech's JPLlNASA as weil as Brigham Young University/Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (BYU/FARMS) projects as wide-ranging as ground-penetrating radar and DNA analysis of Dead Sea Scroll fragments. Databases and collections of digital images are growing all the time; arecent artiele gives some idea of the range of possibilities we now have before uso I It is in this vein that we developed Imaging Clarified, our pep talk for text scho1ars. Indeed the many cases of equipment and many thousands of dollars that were required to make the JPLlABMC 1993 project the great success that it was (and continues to be) have both now shrunk to a size affordable, manageable, and understandable to the 1arger community of archaeologists and text scholars. Images are absolutely vital to all text scholars, not just those specializing in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It may be difficult to gain access to I Neil Silberman, "Digitizing the Ancient Near East," Archaeology 49/5 (1996): 86-88.

6

GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHEILA SPIRO

the originals physically, politically Ibureaucratically, or merely because travel is required; in any case, entropy teaches us that to conserve antiquities-of any medium-handling must be kept to a minimum, no matter how meticulous the conservators. For this paper, we shall define "image" as a two-dimensional representation of an object. This broader definition includes pictures, negatives, and photographs, as weIl computer images, and excludes drawings, at least for our purposes. Thus images can be acquired from the original manuscript photographically (i.e., by exposing film to light and treating it chemically) or digitally (by capturing data with sensors and ultimately writing them to a computer file). What we refer to later as secondary digital images can be madeat varying levels of quality-by scanning a print, transparency, microfilm, or other image. Two factors dictate which medium an individual scholar uses: availability and preference. Prints and transparencies (positive or negative) have to date been the most available. (Most of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center's clients prefer the depth and clarity that can be obtained using a light box and loupe on the high quality 8 x 10 positive transparencies the ABMC provides to sc hol ars at partially subsidized prices; others prefer high quality prints, which can also be brightened when placed on a light box. Where readings are difficult, one might even compare the two.) On-screen images are still, at this time, preferred by only a minority of scholars, for a number of reasons. The most obvious is simply lack of familiarity. As costs of hardware and software come down and interest in new technology increases, this motivation to leam is on the rise (the questions prompted by our talk in Provo 1996 were infinitely more educated and specific than in Jerusalem 1994). And current students are far more comfortable with all kinds of computer technology: They will teach you or they will do this part of the work for you. Further, the earliest scans were made by individuals, who scanned inferior target images (i.e., whatever they had on hand) on businessgrade desktop scanners (i.e., whatever they had available). The resulting images, while attractive novelties, could not compete with the high resolution offered by photographic images. The scans made by FARMS, which will be part of its Dead Sea Scrolls database CD-ROM, will far exceed anything heretofore seen and will meet virtually all your needs. For those readings that remain recalcitrant (and these

IMAGING

7

will be few) high resolution digital images (in very large computer files) are available on direct order from the ABMC. Still, preferences are a function of what one is used to. We have heard that the computer screen does not offer the depth and feel of prints and transparencies. However, just as some miss the scratching and popping of phonograph records when they listen to music on a CD, none can dispute the sheer quality of digital sound; we too must recognize the advantages of digital images. Such advantages include the manipulation of scanned images in in a number of useful ways. Contrast can be enhanced, lighting equalized, desired sections magnified, mirror writing reversed, letters cut and pasted, and the like. Armin Lange presented in 1993 an explanation of these and other problems typical of Dead Sea Seroll fragments and walked step-by-step through scans of specific fragments. 2 If Mr. Lange's concise (160-page) manual was largely overlooked, that could only be because he published it long before text scholars feit ready to use these techniques or because he limited hirnself to commands specific to what has become less-popular image-processing software (FotoTouch, PhotoStyler, Album, and Picture Publisher). In the Aramaic section of AAR/SBL 1995, 3 Drs. Marilyn Lundberg and Bruce Zuckerman demonstrated some of the operations Lange describes, using one of the few known inscribed Dead Sea Scroll fragments in private hands (an "uninscribed" fragment of 1QDanb that, along with fragments from lQapGn and perhaps other scroll[s], fell off in Metropolitan Athanasius Samuel's famous briefcase, were perhaps given by hirn to John Trever in 1948, and were sold by Trever to Martin Schoyen, a private collector, in 1995). Mter photographing the fragments with IR film, Lundberg and the Zuckermans scanned them, and commenced to bring forth evidence convincing themselves of the sc roll to which each fragment belonged as weIl as its likely location. These resuIts are far more dramatic than they were difficult to achieve, and three years after Lange's manual was published, text scholars have moved a long way toward realizing that, with the proper equipment and a high-quality digital image, they can do it

2 Armin Lange, Computer-Aided Text-Reconstruction and Transcription-CATT-Manual (Tübingen: Mohr, 1993). 3 Marilyn Lundberg and Bruce Zuckerman, "New Aramaie Fragments from Qumran Cave One" (paper presented at the AAR/SBL, 1995).

8

GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHEILA SPIRO

themselves. We strongly recommend Lange's book: He uses Dead Sea ScroIl images to illustrate his clear instmctions and the operations are easily translated to one's own image-processing software (Adobe PhotoShop being the best known, but by no me ans the only choice). Lange caIls for a minimum of 256 gray levels and 300 dots per inch (dpi) when scanning images, and we would agree. At the time his book was written, this was "state of the art"; a more realistic value for scanning resolution is now ~800-1000 dpi and 12 bit images resampled to 8 bits. This, and more, can now be achieved by many desktop scanners. Digitized Dead Sea ScroIl images are also ready for processing (and offered, certainly for academic use if not for publication) on the Dead Sea ScroIl image databases now available or soon forthcoming. When assessing digitized images scanned from photographic media, whether done at horne or purchased, a few general mIes should be kept in mind: - You can recover information not discemible without image processing, but digitizing an image cannot recover iriformation not captured in the photograph scanned. Scanning, like copying a photograph-or making a photocopyadds a generation, with the resulting loss of information, so scan the earliest generation image available. Once digitized, though, you can make innumerable sub se quent copies without losing information. When choosing a scanner, read the specifications, ask a lot of questions, and get lots of advice. All scanners are not created equal. - U se a scanner that is made to scan transparencies, as weIl as prints, as scanning transparencies is always priferable to prints, all else being equal. A group of scientists working with J. Charlesworth has recently done some exciting work on image processing of Dead Sea ScroIls and other documents using color space transformations. 4 The team started with a Dead Sea ScroIl image digitized from a color photograph, in which the data is represented in the familiar Red/Green/BIue (RGB) primary color space that the human eye uses. In some areas, the parchment has acquired a dark reddish/brown color, which makes it difficult if not impossible to read the black ink. A linear transfor4 Joseph Tusinski, Robert Johnston, Roger Easton, and Keith Knox, "Image Restoration of Degraded Text in the Dead Sea Serails," Paper presented at the Optieal Soeiety of Ameriea Conferenee, Roehester, Oetober, 1996.

IMAGING

9

mation into a different (and perhaps unphysical color space) accentuates the color differences between the parchment and the ink, improving legibility. In fact, they found an entire fine of text where the color photograph appears blank. Rather than working with digitized versions of existing images, you can move onto acquiring first generation digital images from the original manuscripts. This offers several advantages to the text scholar: - Instant, customized results. The editor can direct imaging to the questionable areas and leave the imaging sessions with the imagesin focus, properly exposed-on disk, tape or other electronic storage media. - The spatial resolution of a CCD camera can equal that of film. Electronic imaging takes images further in the infrared red than can film, providing additional contrast for revealing text. In the summer of 1994, the ABMC and JPL collaborated on a monthlong imaging project in Jerusalem. JPL provided imaging equipment, computers, and technical expertise for the project. That work,5 along with some earlier results, 6 demonstrated why infrared film provides better images than those taken with visible film. The 1994 field trip involved a considerable amount of equipment: scientific quality digital cameras, tunable electronic filters in the visible and infrared plus several computers. We took images in many wavelengths, from the blue end of the visible spectrum into the infrared, considerably further in the infrared than IR film. The major technical result of the field project was the discovery that a single wavelength image-970 to 1000 nm-was ideal for imaging the Dead Sea ScroIls. Once an optimal wavelength is known, the imaging system can be made much simpler and less expensive; a camera similar to a camcorder, with an appropriate filter, is adequate. We will describe for the reader how to make an inexpensive IR imaging system with an off-the-shelf TV camera. A silicon CCD 5 Gregory H. Bearman and Shei1a I. Spiro, "Archaeo1ogical App1ications of Advanced Imaging Techniques," Biblical Archaeologist 59/1 (1996): 56-66. 6 Gregory Bearman, Bruce Zuckerman, Kenneth Zuckerman, andJ. Chiu, "Multispectral Imaging of Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Documents," Paper presented at the annua1 meeting of the Society of Bib1ical Literature, Washington, D.C., November, 1993.

10

GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHEILA SPIRO

camera is normally sensitive to light from the visible spectrum and the IR as well; however, there is so much infrared radiation from the sun that it would swamp any visible image. Therefore, CCD cameras have a blocking filter in front of the sensor that passes only visible light. This needs to be removed to work in the IR. Be cautioned that some cameras are designed not to be sensitive in the infrared part of the spectrum, and so check with the manufacturer. Also, be sure to use a black-and-white camera, since this will not work with a color camera. After removing the lens to gain access to the CCD sensor, you should see a dark red glass filter inside the camera body. Remove it and reinstall the lens. The camera will now see infrared radiation and can be used to image Dead Sea Scrolls. The next step is to obtain a filter that will limit the light to the optimum wavelength; this filter can either go in front of the lens or in some cases be sized to replace the blocking filter removed earlier. There are two choices for filters: either a bandpass or a cut-on. As the name implies, a bandpass filter transmits light in a narrow band around a center wavelength. A cut-on begins to transmit at some wavelength, Ao , and blocks shorter wavelengths. Included here are some suggested cut-on filters (AO > 900 nm) and vendors (Corion and Reynard also make bandpass filters): Schott Glass

Reynard Corporation

Corion

400 York Avenue Duryea PA 18642-2036 FAX: 717/457 6960 FILTER: RG-1000 $65 for 6.5"sq

1020 Calle Sombra San Clemente CA 92673-6227 FAX: 714-498-9528 FILTER: 1708 $270 1"dia

73 Jeffrey Avenue Holliston, MA 01746-2082 FAX: 508-429-8983 FILTER: LL-900-S $180 2"sq

Once the filter and lens are reinstalled, infrared images will appear directly on the monitor. This system is suitable for viewing and working with images on screen; it does not yet make digital images. There are two "upgrades" one can make to this system. First, add a framegrabber to acquire digital images from the camera video signal. However, digitizing a video signal directly usually yields a relatively poor quality digital image with a reduced dynamic range and reduced contrast levels. The second, and better, upgrade is to use a digital camera. These are cameras that either digitize the image at the camera head or use specially designed circuits and cables for a

IMAGING

11

framegrabber. This will directly produce high-contrast digital images that can be immediately stored as computer files, ready for viewing, processing and printing. Once you have a digital image, regardless of its source, there are other uses and applications, each with its own set of problems: Archiving: What is an archival image of a degraded document? Is it an image that is the most legible and provides the maximum information for the reader or an exact copy, even if it appears illegible? This is both a philosophical question and a practical one that has been addressed extensively by conservators. 7 Distribution: Images can be distributed electronically through a variety of methods. Hard media, such as tape, CD-ROM and diskettes can be physically exchanged or images can be transmitted electronically through email, web sites or file transfer protocol (FTP) software. The main thing to keep in mind about electronic distribution is that once an image is available digitally, the originating institution will eventually lose control over it. It is simply too easy to duplicate electronic images-all one has to do is copy the file. Interpretation: Text scholars are interested in being able to read the documents. To that end, they will improve legibility using digital filters on the images to change contrast and sharpen the image. This can be done on the entire image or local areas chosen by the scholar. As Lange points out at length, digital images can be used to manipulate the text, fit missing pieces, interpret mirror writing and even see if a reconstruction can fit in the space required. More sophisticated techniques, such as the color-space work cited above, can also increase legibility. It mayaiso help to scan old negatives in color, as many acquire sepia or other color tones with age. Still open is the issue of determining objectively when an image needs work to improve legibility. There is an algorithm that can be applied to texts to measure their "legibility."8 The algorithm relies on the fact that the distribution of pixel values (histogram) is different for the parchment and the ink respectively. For the Dead Sea Scrolls, 7 "Digital Image Collections: Issues and Practices" covers these and other issues in depth. Its author, Michael Ester, has been generous with his time and advice. Copies ($15) may be ordered from the Commission on Preservation and Access, 1400 16th Street NW, Washington DC 20036-2217, (202) 939-3400. 8 James A. Cutts, et al., Conceptual Design qf a Monitoring System Jor the Charters qf Freedom, Jet Propulsion Laboratory pub1ication, 83-102.

12

GREGORY BEARMAN AND SHElLA SPIRO

the histogram is a gaussian distribution with some mean value, ~P' while that of the ink is f.1i [these values may be different for eaeh image]. Defining the eontrast as C = (f.1p-Ili)/f.1p provides one more objeetive, global, or loeal method for quantifYing text eontrast or legibility. All of these teehniques augment the seholar's most ereative tool-intuition.

THE ALLEGRO QUMRAN PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION: OLD PHOTOS AND NEW INFORMATION GEORGE

J.

BROOKE

John Marco Allegro, who became a member of the Dead Sea Scroils international editorial team in the 1950s, died in 1988, aged 65. He was a keen photographer and as part of his work on the scrolls, as he understood it, he had taken many photographs. After his death his collection of photographs was split up. Requests for photographic images from scholars and others kept on arriving. As a result Joan Allegro, his widow, acting on behalf of the Estate of John M. Allegro, took some negatives back to the Isle of Man so that she could comply with such requests. The Estate agreed that the other photographic materials should be housed at the Manchester Museum, the museum of the University of Manchester. There they were put under the curatorship of the keeper of archaeology. In 1993 a grant from the Leverhulme Trust enabled the employment of a research assistant to sort and catalog the photographic materials connected with Qumran and other Dead Sea sites. T 0 facilitate such work Mrs. Allegro agreed that all the photographic materials should be brought back together and housed in Manchester. 1 As the work of sorting progressed, it became increasingly clear that the collection contained many photographic images of scholarly interest. With encouragement from various visitors it was decided to publish in microfiche form those most closely connected with Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of Allegro's pictures have become world famous, the most renowned being the pictures he took, mostly in 1957, of members of the editorial team. Some of these have been reproduced many

I The whole Allegro Photo graph Collection is now housed in the Archaeology Department of the Manchester Museum under the curatorship of the keeper of archaeology, currently Dr. John Prag. All requests for reproductions should be addressed to hirn in the first instance: the keeper of archaeology, Manchester Museum, Oxford Road, Manchester Ml3 9PL, England. The Estate of John M. Allegro remains the sole owner of the copyright of all the images.

14

GEORGE

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times. In correspondence home,2 Allegro rarely spoke of his photographie activities, perhaps because he knew that his wife might worry about the expense. Although he owned a camera, most of the best images in the collection are black-and-white square negatives, taken with a camera he borrowed from the RockefeIler Museum. Apparendy he often took two shots of the same item, one in black and white (with the museum camera) and one as a color transparency (with his own camera), perhaps with the dual purpose in mind of blackand-white images for use in his publications,3 (which is indeed how some of them have become famous), and color transpareneies far the many public lectures he gave on Qumran and the scrolls. He also took a large number of photographs of the texts which were eventually published in Volume V of the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series. It would therefare appear that he took some pictures very much for his own research purposes to supplement the official PAM series from which he principally worked in producing his editions of texts. The Allegro photographie archive housed in the Manchester Museum contains hundreds of images from sites around the Eastern Mediterranean. The recent research project at the Museum has cataloged all those referring to Qumran and a few other sites connected with Jewish setdement in the J udaean wildemess and Dead Sea region in the late Second Temple period. Pictures of manuscripts and other artifacts from those sites have also been cataloged. All those photographie images that are significant for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their connected sites have been published in 7he Allegro OJimran Collection on Micrqfiche. 4 This microfiche collection contains nearly 1,500 images: (1) all Allegro's black-and-white photographs of 2 I am grateful to Mrs. Joan Allegro for permitting me to read much of the personal correspondence she received from her husband. 3 The most extensive use of the black-and-white photographs can be found in John M. Allegro, The People qf the Dead Sea Serails in Texts and Pictures (London: Roudedge and Kegan Paul, 1959). 4 The Allegro Qymran Collection on Micrqfiche, ed. George J. Brooke with the collaboration of Helen K. Bond (Leiden: Brili/lDC, 1996): 30 positive silver halide microfiches with a 51-page companion volume, Introduction and Catalogue. The whole is published as a supplement to the Dead Sea Serolls on Micrqfiche, ed. Emanuel Tov with the collaboration of Stephen J. Pfann (Leiden: Brill/IDC, 1993). The microfiches were produced from large black-and-white prints which were printed from the original negatives or color transparencies by West Semitic Research (Bruce Zuckerman, Kenneth Zuckerman, Marilyn Lundberg) for IDC. These large prints now belong to the University of Manchester and are currendy housed in the Manchester Museum,

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Qumran, 'Ain Feshkha and Mird, together with pictures of artifacts from Murabba'at, and all his color transpareneies relating to the same sites which are not precisely paralleled in black and white;5 (2) all his black-and-white and color images of scholars and others associated with the scrolls; (3) all his black-and-white and color images of the Copper Seroil, including his facsimile transcription;6 and (4) all his black-and-white and color images of linen and manuscripts from Qumran, Murabba'at, and Nal:tal I:Iever. 7 All the images are reproduced in black and white, but the catalog indicates which are available in color. Beyond the photographie images that have been reproduced in the microfiche edition, the collection contains several dozen color transpareneies of Qumran, for which a clearer image of an almost exactly parallel view is available in black and white. The collection also contains many large prints taken from the published negatives in the 1950s and 1960s; in a few instances where negatives no longer exist, some of these have been used in the compilation of images for the microfiche edition. The Allegro collection also features a series of seventeen photographs of the microseopie analysis of the leather, undertaken at Leeds University.8 Excluded from the microfiche Manchester, England, where they are available for public viewing by arrangement with the museum staff. 5 Black-and-white representations of all the archaeological color transparencies were not included, not only because the contents of the pictures were virtually identical, but also because in many cases the color transparencies have faded badly over the years. 6 Allegro's facsimile transcription of the Copper Seroil was published in John M. Allegro, 1he Treasure qf the Copper Seroil (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960) on the even-numbered pages 32-54. But the transcription was dropped from the second edition of the book (Garden City: Doubleday, 1964) because, in Allegro's words, the revised volume was "intended primarily for the non-specialist" (p. vii). Since both books have long been out of print it was considered worthwhile to include the facsimile transcription on Fiche 25, B9-C 10. 7 In the microfiche catalog these four groups of pictures are designated A (Archaeology), B (Biography), C (Copper Seroil), and D (Documents). Wherever possible the catalog has been devised to facilitate swift access to information. Thus the photographs of Qumran are arranged according to the number of the principal locus in the picture; the Copper Seroil pictures are arranged in sequence according to section; the documentary pictures are arranged according to site, and for Qumran according to cave and manuscript numbers. 8 These could not be included in the microfiche collection because the holder of the copyright in these images could not be determined. For some of the same and similar pictures see R. Reed and J. B. Poole, "A Study of Some Dead Sea Scroll and Leather Fragments from Cave 4 at Qumran: Part I~Physical Examination," Proceedings qf the lieds Philosophical and Literary Society (Scientific Seetion) 9/1 (1962):

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edition for reasons of copyright are several transparencies that Allegro had made of PAM photographs. In addition the collection contains a 16 mm film, lasting about five minutes, of the opening of the Copper SerolI. Not included in the microfiche edition are several dozen images taken of Christmas Cave, most of which feature those working in the cave. 9 The publication of the Allegro Qymran Collection in microfiche was undertaken for several reasons. In light of the history of journalistic attitudes toward scrolls scholarship, those entrusted with the sorting, cataloging, and care of the Allegro photographs did not wish to be accused of hiding anything or of restricting public access to materials which may be of wide interest. Furthermore, the continuous stream of inquiries about the photographs suggested that if the collection were put in the public domain, it would be possible for a wide range of people to have immediate access to it without either having to wait for answers to correspondence or making a journey to Manchester. In addition, the release of all the official photographs in 1991 has led to a renewed interest in all aspects of the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran and related sites. Several popular books have appeared, most with photographic illustrations, and some even with images from the Allegro collection. 1O Authors and publishers alike will now be able to see what is available, particularly in color, to enhance their publications. The most significant reason, however, for publishing the collection rested with the schol-

1-13; for further information on the work at Leeds see also]. B. Poole The Nature, Origins and Techniques qf Manujacture qf Those qf the Dead Sea Scrolls which are made ftom Animal Skins, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Leeds, n.d.; and R. Reed, "The 'Tannery' of'Ain Feshkha," PEQ93 (1961): 114-23;]. B. Poole and R. Reed, "The Preparation of Leather and Parchment by the Dead Sea Scrolls Community," Technology and Culture 3/1 (1962): 1-26; R. Reed and]. B. Poole, "A Study of Some Dead Sea Scroll and Leather Fragments from Cave 4 at Qumran: Part II-Chemical Examination, " Proceedings qf the lieds Philosophical and Literary Sociery (Scientijic Seetion) 9/6 (1964): 171-82; R. Reed, "The Examination of Ancient Skin Writing Materials in Ultra-Violet Light," Proceedings qf the lieds Philosophical and Literary Sociery (Scientijic Seetion) 9/10 (1965): 257-76. 9 The best pictures from the Christmas Cave collection are to be found in John M. Allegro, Search in the Desert (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964). 10 See, e.g., Lawrence H. Schiffinan, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scroils: The History qf Judaism, the Background qf Christianiry, the Lost Library qf Qymran (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1994), 8; Hershel Shanks, Frank Moore Cross: Conversations with a Bible Scholar (Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1994), 114, 120, 142, 144, 147; James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Seroils Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), after p. 82.

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arly value of the photographs. So, for example, Qumran archaeologists can now have access to clearer pictures of some things that are more obscure in the official photographs, and those scholars working on the Copper Scroll or other texts will be able to consult the microfiches for information to support their observations and readings. It is these scholarly concerns that occupy the rest of this study. Since the new microfiche edition of Allegro's photographs is published in black and white, the emphasis in the following discussion is on the benefits that derive from his color transparencies. Among the archaeological pictures II are several of loci from different angles than the pictures in the official series. For example, two 1957 color transparencies are of the pottery kiln taken from the north at locus 84 (AQ84.9, Fiche 6.C4; AQ84.l0, Fiche 6.C5). The nearest official image to these pictures from the Allegro Collection is PAM 41.008,12 though other 1950s photographs of the kiln taken from this angle may still exist. 13 Another example of a picture taken from a different angle features locus 75. Allegro took one color transparency of this locus (AQ75.3; Fiche 5.E6) looking down into the place where the potter's wheel was located, with the basin beyond. When compared with other early photographs of this locus, notably PAM 41.029,14 Allegro's picture clearly shows the bottom of the wheel location, which is not visible at all in the other pictures. Furthermore, the Allegro picture shows a clear ring mark in the basin. An undatable transparency in the Allegro Collection (AQ 110.11, Fiche 7.C4) not only shows the well-known landmark circular cistern (locus 110) in the foreground, but also shows clearly the staircase of locus 113 and, perhaps more importantly, the niche in the

II The Allegro Qumran archaeological photographs are referred to in Jean-Baptiste Humbert and Alain Chambon, Fouilles de Khirbet Qymrdn et de Ain Feshkha: I Album de photographies; Repertoire du fonds photographique; Synthese des notes de chantier du Pere Roland de Vaux OP (Gättingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994), 411, where they are labeled as Lot 14. 12 Published in RB 63 (1956): plate XI; reproduced as photograph 360 in Humbert and Chambon, Fouilles de Khirbet Qymrdn, I 71. 13 I have not had the opportunity to compare the Allegro photographs with those taken by Lankester Harding of locus 64 in 1954; see Fouilles de Khirbet Qymrdn, 405. Slide 58 in the Biblical Archaeology Slide Set (Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1993), taken by Hershel Shanks, shows something of how this locus has deteriorated over the years. 14 Humbert and Chambon, Fouilles de Khirbet Qymrdn, plate 377, p. 182.

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wall beyond, which is not readily discemible as such in PAM 41.574 15 or in de Vaux's own photographs. 16 Allegro's photographs AQ 110.1214 show similar views in 1960 when Allegro hirnself led an expedition to Qumran equipped with metal detectors to see if any of his hunches about the possible location of some of the items mentioned in the Copper Scroll might bear fruit. In a more general way Allegro's color photograph of a general view of loci 4, 13, and 30 (AQ4.17, Fiche 3.B6) complements and supplements very weIl the information discernible in the larger view of PAM 40.415. 17 The PAM photo dates from 1953, but does not show as readily as does Allegro's picture the state of locus 30, the plasterwork in locus 4, the small raised pIaster benches, and so on. Very many scholars, both archaeologists and Qumranologists, have visited Qumran over the years and taken photographs. The Allegro photographs of Qumran and other wilderness sites that were occupied in the late Second Temple period are an extensive complement to the photographs in other collections brought together in list form by Jean-Baptist Humbert and Alain Chambon. In 7he Allegro Qymran Collection on Micrqfiche, 662 pictures are included in the archaeology section, reflecting the very extensive character of the collection. Because it is extensive and most of the photographs are from the 1950s or early 1960s, it features pictures that provide information not presented in any of the photographs published so far. 18 It is up to others specializing in the archaeology of Qumran to assess the Allegro Collection more precisely in this regard. For the biographical pictures, some of which form the most wellknown part of the Allegro collection, little needs to be said here. Of interest to some people will be the large number of pictures l9 in this seetion, which may result in a greater variety being reproduced in popular introductions to the scrolls. Twenty-eight of these biographical pictures are color transpareneies. In the Dead Sea Scrolls Slide Set pubIbid., plate 227, p. 108. Ibid., plate 231, p. 110 = EBAF 13 692. 17 Ibid., plate 96, p. 54. 18 Emanuel Tov, who has visited the Allegro Collection in Manchester, has commented on it as folIows: "Especially the archaeological data have been enriched by these valuable photographs which include artifacts and sites that have not been recorded previously" (a preliminary assessment recorded in the leaflet published by Brill to mark the publication of The Allegro Qymran Collection on Micrqfiche, 1996). 19 181 pictures are included in this category, though 28 of them are of a trip made in 1957 by the British Broadcasting Corporation while filming a documentary. 15 16

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lished in 1993 by the Biblical Archaeology Society,20 no less than seven pictures are part of this biographical section of the Allegro Collection. The pictures in the BAS slide set are reproduced from black-and-white images, but the Allegro Collection also has very similar or approximately comparable pictures in color. 21 For example, the black-and-white image from the Allegro Collection, reproduced as BAS slide 81 in which J. T. Milik is examining some fragments, might be replaced by a color transparency from the Allegro Collection with a similar motif, such as B.SCROLLTEAM.9 (Fiche 15.C4) in which several scholars, including J. Fitzmyer and J. T. Milik, crowd around the newly purchased fragments from Cave 11 that have just arrived at the Rockefeller Museum: 11 QPsa is being held by a member of the team while other fragments are being examined by colleagues. In addition some of the black-and-white images commonly used from other photographic collections may now be supplemented with color images from the Allegro collection. For example, the BAS slide set includes a black-and-white picture of Kando,22 but the Allegro collection includes three color pictures of hirn at a similar age, though in the company of other people. 23 Most inquiries have been received in Manchester over re cent years about the photographs in the Allegro Collection which concern the Copper Seroll. These have been given their own separate section in the published microfiche collection. The Copper Seroll photographs can be readily divided into three groups. The first group of photographs portray the unopened scroll both in Jordan and in Manchester, the cutting machine which was made to saw the seroIl into seetions, the process of cutting the scroll open and lifting sections off the body of each roll, and so on. All the photographs concerning the process 20 Dead Sea Scrolls Slide Set (Washington: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1993) with accompanying booklet written by Dan P. Cole. Nine of the 116 slides are pictures from the Allegro collection, reproduced courtesy of the Estate of John M. Allegro; all are in black and white. 21 So, for example, with BAS slide 79 (lohn Allegro working on 4QpNah) might be compared the color transparency Allegro Collection B.ST.ALLEGRO.25 (lohn Allegro working on 4QpIsab and other fragments); with BAS slide 76 (J. T. Milik examining fragments) might be compared the color transparency B.ST.MIUK.II (l. T. Milik working on fragments from Murabba'at); BAS slide 77 (lohn Strugnell) has a direct color counterpart, B.ST. STRUGNELL.12. 22 This is slide 16 in the BAS slide set. The accompanying catalog notes only that the picture is from the BAS's own photographic archive. 23 Allegro Collection B.KANDO/ ALLEGRO. I (Fiche 14.BIO), B.KANDO/ ALLEGRO.2 (Fiche 14.CI), B.KANDO/ALLEGRO.3 (Fiche 14.C2).

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of sawing and opening the scroll can be dated to 1955 when Allegro was actively working with G. Lankester Harding to have the seroll sent to Manchester to be opened and when he worked elosely with Professor H. Wright Baker of the College of Technology in Manchester. 24 When the second larger roll (3Q15 1-8) arrived in Manchester at the start of 1956, Allegro hirnself no longer played a part in the opening process but did take a few black-and-white and some color photographs of the opened sections. The second group of 3Q15 photographs is aseries of distance shots of the open Copper Scroll that Allegro took in Jordan once the scroll had been returned. Most of these photographs show two or more sections of the scroll, and it is not easy to make out thc forms of many letters. Perhaps if the images were taken from a microfiche reader and scanned into a computer, the shading could be varied with a suitable program to permit greater legibility.25 The third group of Copper Scroll photographs is in two sections: the first section consists of 81 elose-up shots of one, two, or three sections of the scroll resting in their padded trays. On these images it is possible to read a strip of each section that happens to be suitably illuminated; it is rarely possible to read the whole section, since, as every photographer of the seroll has discovered, its curvature does not easily permit the production of a two-dimensional image. Allegro was weH aware of this problem and for each section of the scroll attempted to vary the position of each tray in relation to the light source so as to maximize the amount of legible text. The second section consists of 151 photographs of individual sections of the scroll held by hand outside in natural light. As many as eighteen separate pictures are available of section 5 of the scroll, but most sections of the scroll have between five and ten photographs taken in this way. Most of these photographs are in black and white, but a few are color transparencies. Because a microfiche reader both enlarges and backlights the image, this series of black-and-white photographs comes

Later the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. See the discussions of such programs in Armin Lange, Computer Aided TextReconstruction and Transcription: CA TT-Manual with an Introduction by Hermann Lichtenberger and an Appendix by Timothy Doherty (Tübingen: Mohr, 1993); Armin Lange, "Computer Aided Text-Reconstruction and Transcription (CATT) Developed with the Dead Sea Scrolls," in New Qgmran Texts and Studies: Proceedings if' the First Meeting if' the International Organization for Qgmran Studies, Paris 1992, ed. George J. Brooke with Florentino Garcia Martinez (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 223-32. 24 25

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out surprisingly weIl in microfiche fonnat; the few color transparencies do not seem to offer as much. Overall these photographs should be of some considerable use to the expert in the vagaries of the letter fonns on the Copper Scroll. A few of these black-and-white photographs have been published,26 but either because of the prohibitive cost or because of adesire not to preempt and upstage the official edition of the scroll, Allegro never published a complete series. With regard to the leather and papyrus manuscripts27 the 243 Allegro photographs do not offer any major alternative readings. One photograph (D.MUR.170ETC.l; Fiche 26.E2) contains a collection of small fragments with Arabic script on them; to my knowledge most of these small fragments have neither been photographed nor published. However, apart from the photograph mentioned above, the significance of the Allegro Collection rests in its infonnation on the range of small details of significance to any scholar working on the manuscripts concerned. For example, in 4Q171 (4QpesherPsabns a ), in frgs. 1-10, column 3, at the end of line 4, Allegro read nw,'? [ [t:l]b. 28 For t:l11, DJD 5, plate XVI shows no traces of ink; the plate seems to be based on PAM 43.418 which is likewise blank at that point. But D.4Ql 71.6 (Fiche 28.D2) in the Allegro Collection shows clear traces of ink which might account for both the letters in the word. Maurya Horgan, on the basis of traces of ink which she thinks she can see on plate XVI in DJD 5, reads and restores the end of the line as t:l[11] nI'il'?[ t:ltDr.l. 29 The likelihood is that now we should transcribe the end of the 1ine as ob n"il'? [ with circlets over both 'ayin and memo Of such minutiae is life among the scrolls made. Another example in which an Allegro picture assists the better reading of a manuscript concerns 4Q174. One particular phrase has bothered scholars ever since John Strugnell tentatively proposed that ilim 'tDl1r.l might be read in line 7 of the principal fragment 30 instead See John M. Allegro, Treasure qf the Copper Scroll, plates 3a-b. Cataloged as Seetion D (= Documents) in The Allegro Q.umran Collection on Microfiche. 28 John M. Allegro, "A Newly-Discovered Fragment of a Commentary on Psalm XXXVII from Qumran," PEQ. 77 (1954): 73-74; John M. Allegro with Arnold A. Anderson, Q!.lmrdn Cave 4 I (4Qj 58-4Qj 86) (Oxford: Clarendon, 1968), 44. 29 Maurya P. Horgan, Pesharim: Q!.lmran Interpretations qf Biblical Books (Washington: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1979), 214, and part I, 53. 30 John Strugnell, "Notes en marge du Volume V des «Discoveries in theJudaean Desert ofJordan»," RevQ. 7 (1969-71): 221: "Avec Carmignac on comprendra aussi mm 'tDllr:l (lire peut-etre m,n 'tDllr:l avec dalet endommage) comme l'objet de C""~r:l." 26

27

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of iii,n 'tDlJ1:) as Allegro had originally thought. 31 An examination of the actual manuscript in 1983 convinced me that Strugnell's alternative proposal was correct,32 even though the photograph published in DJD 5 as plate XIX is far from dear. For her detailed study of 4Q174, Devorah Dimant reexamined the photograph and proposed that Allegro's original reading should be maintained. 33 Since Dimant's study, several scholars have worked doselyon the text of 4Q174, resulting in so me considerable agreement that the reading should be iii,n ,tDlJ1:).34 Several of Allegro's photographs of 4Q174 support reading iii,n 'tDlJ1:) ,35 the tittle of the datet being dearer in them than in DJD plate XXIX.36 The reading of iii,n 'tDlJ1:) should now be accepted, but it is important to remember that the phrase should not necessarily be read as exdusively referring to "works of thanksgiving." It is quite likely that the author of 4Q174, or even simply the scribe of this particular copy of the composition, was aware of the double meaning involved in the choice of a datet. In other words we may reckon that "works of thanksgiving" is a particular interpretation of the more standard phrase, "works of the Law." The pun involves identifying the keeping of the Law in the community as its ability to practice correct worship, either in terms of thanksgiving without sacrificial

31 Allegro, "Fragments of a Qumran Scroll of Eschatological Midrafim," JBL 77 (1958): 352; Allegro, QJlmran Cave 4, 53. 32 See George J. Brooke, Exegesis at QJlmran: 4Qf'lorilegium in its Jewish Context (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1985), 87 with a comment on 108. 33 Devorah Dimant, "4Qf'lorilegium and the Idea of the Community as Temple," in Hellenica et Judaica: Hommage a Valentin NikiprowetZ/ry ~ 'f ed. Andre Caquot, M. HadasLebeI, and J. Riaud (Leuven: Peeters, 1986), 169. 34 See Emile Puech, La Crl!Yance des Essiniens en La vie fUture: immortaliti, risurrection, vie eternelle? Histoire d'une CTl!Yance dans le Judaisme ancien (Paris: Gabalda, 1993), 574, 578 n. 34; Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, "Die Bedeutung der Qumrantexte für das Vertändnis des Galaterbriefes aus dem Münchener Projekt: Qumran und das Neue Testament," in New QJlmran Texts and Studies: Proceedings qf the First Meeting qf the International Organizationfor QJlmran Studies, Paris 1992, ed. Georgej. Brooke with Florentino Garcia Martinez (Leiden: BrilI, 1994), 205-8 and plates 8-9 (supported orally by Hartmut Stegemann); Annette Steudel, Der Midrasch zur Eschatologie aus der Qymrangemeinde (4Q,MidrEchat a.b): Materielle Rekonstruktion, Textbestand, Gattung und traditionsgeschichtliche Einordnung des durch 4Qj74 ("Florilegium'') und 4Qj77 ("Catena A'') repräsentierten Werkes aus den QJlmrarifUnden (Leiden: BrilI, 1994), 25, 44. 35 Especially in D.4QI74.5 (Fiche 28.E4), D.4QI74.8 (Fiche 28.E7), D.4QI74.9 (Fiche 28.E8), and D.4QI74.1O (Fiche 28.E9). 36 The phrase is not extant in the fragments in PAM 41.308, 41.810, 43.423. The taw, waw, and dalet ofi1"n are very faint on PAM 41.807, 42.605 and somewhat faint on PAM 43.440 which was used for Qymran Cave 4 I, plate XIX.

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offering37 or in terms of actual thank-offerings when the eschatological temple is divinely established. Thus Roland Bergmeier's re cent insistence that even if i1i,n 'tDl1r:l is read it should be emended to i1i,n 'tDl1r:l on the basis of the place of the Law in the thought of the community is unnecessary.38 In a different vein, the careful consideration of Allegro's photographs of 4Q431, 4QHodayot e (D.4Q431.1, Fiche 29.DlO; 4Q43 1.2, Fiche 29.E1), has made me wonder whether scholars can be so certain conceming the possible margin in 1ines 1_3. 39 Allegro's photograph gives the impression that the surface of the manuscript was slightly damaged before the word i1r:ln1; perhaps it may be possible to discem traces of writing there. The infrared photograph PAM 43.531 is so clear that without recourse to the manuscript itself it is not possible to determine whether the Allegro picture really does reveal any further information. Though the analysis of the Allegro Collection is far from complete, in a few places it seems as if the collection contains the sole picture of particu1ar fragments from some particular aspect or other. For example, D.169.14 and 15 (Fiche 28.B7-8) are the only two photographs known to me that are color representations of the opening of fragments 3-4 of 4Q169, 4QpesherNahum. When the manuscript itself was investigated closely in 1983 a small piece of leather at the top right-hand side of frg. 4 was seen to be missing. This contains

37 Despite the arguments of Jean-Baptiste Humbert, "L'espace sacre a Qumrän: propositions pour I'archeologie," RB 101 (1994): 161-211, it is probably still preferable to understand cultic activity at Qumran as nonsacrificial. Thus for the community, thanksgiving in the present would be performed through hymns of praise, whereas in the future a divinely established sanctuary would see the restoration of pure sacrificial activity. 38 Roland Bergmeier, "Erfüllung der Gnadenzusagen an David," ZNW 86 (1995): 280-1. Bergmeier also draws attention to CD 4: 12 where 'i'~O must be read, but which may best read as 'i'~O as in 4QI77 10-11:6: Elisha Qmron, "The Text of CDC," in The Damascus Document Reconsidered, ed. Magen Broshi (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society), 17 n. 8; Chaim Rabin refers to 1QpHab 6: 13 ('i'~O; Habakkuk 2: I MT: i'~O), The Zadokite Documents: I. The Admonition; II. The Laws (Oxford: Clarendon, 1958), 15. 39 The manuscript was originally assigned to John Strugnell. Ben Zion Wacholder and Martin G. Abegg, A Preliminary Edition if the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls: The Hebrew and Aramaic Textsfrom Gwe Four Fascicle 2 (Washington: Biblical Archaeological Society, 1992), 280, present the information in the Preliminary Goncordance without question, representing the beginning of the first two lines as: 1. ]i1,!)tDi i10nll 2. ]O,!)f:1 tDm n:1tD i1:1/. This manuscript has now been assigned to Eileen Schuller for the preparation of its principal edition.

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the first three letters of line 2 and the first three letters of line 3 as extant in D]D 5, plate XII. For line 3, the loss is not especially serious: Allegro (D]D 5:38) read ,~o for which Strugnell proposed '~:J.40 For line 2 the loss is more serious, since whereas the final four letters of the name Demetrius could easily be read, now only the final samek remains. It could be that the Allegro Collection contains the only color image of the remains of this particular proper name. Other Allegro photographs also provide us with color images of what is extant only in black and white in the PAM series. One example of this is D.4Q549.1 (Fiche 29.E2), a fine color image of the Work Mentioning Rur and Miriam ar (see Plates 1 and 2).41 Another example of this involves 4Q22 and its famous circular patch. An Allegro color transparency (DAQ22.8; Fiche 27.B3) corresponds closely with PAM 42.648, which was used as the basis far the plates in D]D 9,42 though the fr yaw-natan > yehonatan (a backformation). LA (31:3) ?1'. The left stroke of the 'qyin is present, as is the tip of the curved downstroke of the lamed, making the reading secure. L. 4 (31: 3) 'i1~l~rJ[ "J. Space requirements permit this reconstruction. The upper left stroke of the mem approximates the cross stroke of the seribe's bookhand elsewhere in the document for the same character. The sade's left portion is missing, but the right arm and the right curve of the leg are present. L.6 (31:4) i1l';[~i1. The hook above the ceiling line of the lamed is consplcuoUS, allowing for this reconstruction. Variants 31:3 (4) ?'~iD?l1 ([5 = 1 Chronicles 10:3 ] ?'~iD ?~ m~. We have noted onee already the exchange of?1' and ?~ in the Hebrew tradition. Here we point out that the interchange of ?1' and ?~ in 4QSama and m is exeeptionally common. 4QSama reads ?1' versus m's partiality for ?~ in 1 Samuel 2:34, 14:32, 27: 10, 31 :3, 2 Samuel 20: 10, and 3:33; 4QSama reads ?~ at 2 Samuel 23: 1 against m's reading of ?1'; 1 Samuel 27: 10 presents its own problems with its double interchange of?~ and ?1' in the Hebrew MSS (see above). With regard to the agreement between 4QSama and the Chronicler, Cross has already shown that the texts of these two sources are often in agreement, sharing the same ancestor. 23 (See also, 31 :4, below.)

2! Cross explains in "The Ammonite Oppression," 149: "There are numerous agreements between the text of 4QSam a and the Chronicler's text; examination of these agreements has shown that the Chronicler in composing his work used a form of the Deuteronomistic History which was by no means identical with the later textus receptus, but which was ancestral to thc 4QSamucl manuscript." Sec also Cross, "The History of the Biblical Text," 292-97, and Werner Lemke, "The Synoptic Problem in the Chronicler's History," HTR 58 (1965): 349-63.

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DONALD W. PARRY

[~tDJ1?~ ?['~ltD = ~ (ffi, 1 Chronicles 10:4) ] ~tDJ'? ,?,~tD 1 Chronicles 10:4). The variant reading would be considered minor and of litde import if 4QSama did not reflect the reading of ~ (cf. above at 28:2). Where Chronicles parallels 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel through 11: 1, Cross notes, "the text of Chronicles normally agrees with 4QSama and ~BL against m."24 Here m's text of 1 Chronicles 10:4 accords with 4QSama and ~ in its usage of the preposition ?~ (l~tDJl ?~ ?['~ltD), but oddly enough, ~'s text of the same phrase agrees with m's text of 1 Samuel 31:4.

31:4 (5)

m'twv ~ ?~, (cf. n.20 a in BHK: i dl, prps ?~)

] ?.IJ,

m~

Psalms 35:26-36:9 ,]l'111i 'netD 'i:::ll) ]Ö1?tD '~Eln ].,"i? ii'ii' ;:::ll)? ri~JO[? ]361 4 ~~tD?] '~'l) ~'~r.l? ,,~, ll:::l ,;?~ :::l,C!) ~,]'? li; '7,:l fl)'n' ':::l:ltDe ii:l].,ön C1'r.ltDiir.l i11ii,6 8 i11ii' ]b'tD,n ii:::l C1ptDn ii:l'~il)] ?m1

(27)

28

1

2

(2,3)

3

(5)

4

(7) (9)

5 6 7 8

The right margin of this column is preserved, and the leather is split down part of the vertical ruling. L.2 (35:28) Psalm 35 ended on this line, followed by an interval that is no longer extant. L.3 (36: 1) ii'ii'. The dark line after the first ii on the photograph is not ink but shadow. The leather is also creased at this point.

80

EUGENE ULRICH

LA (36:3) ~,~c,. For a simi1arly written ~ade, see C~:l~ in 4 i 8. L.5 (36:5) Spacing indicates a ha1f-line interval after 36:5, and an interval is appropriate, because v 6 intro duces a new theme (God's attributes) following the description of the wicked person in vss 2-5. Normal1y (but see NOTE on frg. 13) in this manuscript intervals occur apparently on1y between psa1ms. Perhaps the scribe considered verse 6 as beginning a new psalm.

Variants 35:27 (2) (5) 36:5 36:6 36:7

1'; ';,~ r 1" '~[:l]

17'n' ]

:l~'n'*)

C'CtDi1C ] C'CtDi1:l m ('tD:l mmSS) (ß i1:l ] > m(ß

(6) (7)

Frgs. 7-8

m 1" '17 :l~'n' m; 1tupeo'tll1tacrn 080 (ß(=

'~5:ln 2° (ß(oi 8eAov'tEl All the wording comes from Jeremiah 31 :35 (note that npD is ladung in LXX and is intrusive in MT), with a symmetrica1 relocation of n'?~'? and rvorv from the ends to the midd1e, which also exp1ains the lack of conjunction between the two halves. i1'?''? i1~'? !:J~:J:l1:l1 ni' npJ:T !:J01' i1~'? fVOfV !:J':J:l1:l1 ni' i1'?''? fVOfV:J1 !:J01' i1~'? (4Q392

1nJ (Jeremiah 31 :35) frg. 16)

As Strugnell had proposed, :J, may have belonged to n'?~'? (cf. Genesis 1: 18; Psalm 136: 7-9) and have been written with rvorv by accident. It may be possible to conjecture that the covenantal themes in J eremiah 31 were what attracted the poet to this context. The idea of an unbreakable covenant assured by the durable order of the heaven1y bodies in which God's laws will be internalized in his peopIe and they will all know hirn is appropriate to the proposition of 4Q392 frg. 12 _4 that all will be in communion with God, obey his laws, ding to his covenant and study his words. Nevertheless, both the broken context and the weakness of the connection disallow confidence that this was a motivation. The point of relevance here, however, is that the reworking of Jeremiah 31 :35-if it was consciously being invoked-gained nothing apart from perhaps some perceived poetic purpose, but resulted in a highly awkward passage. Line 9, with its statement that God made the elements his servants is almost certainly indebted to Psalm 104:4 as Strugnell recognized: C!li1'? fV~ 1'nifVO n1mi 1':l~'?O i1fVll (Psalm 104:4) !:J'~~~ 1JEl'?O[ i]~:J' ~nifV[Q1 1':l~'?O] !:J'Pi:J1 n1m[i i1fVll] !:J1iOL:J ':l] [n1i]~Oi1

(4Q392 frg. 19 ; my proposed reconstruction).

Nevertheless, in the Hebrew Bible the pairing of mn" and tl~P':J occurs only within a formula which recurs inJeremiah 10:13//51:16 and again only slightly differently in Psalm 135:7: nrvlJ ,C!)O'? tl~P':J ,~n,rtl;o n" tI;~'~l This time, the contexts are very relevant to 4Q392. In Jeremiah 10:12-16 and 51:15-19, the formula occurs in a set polemic against idolatry in which God's understanding and knowledge-exhibited in his creation and mastery over the lightning and

4Q39 2 -3

135

wind-are contrasted with man's stupidity and lack of understanding and the folly of idols. Israel's election is by this knowing and potent God. In Psalm 135, God is praised for his election of Israel, his creation and mastery over lightning and wind, signs and wonders (r:::l'n~01 n1mtl;) against Pharaoh and his superiority over idols. Here, by the way, we also have a pattern for the combination of creation and Exodus themes for exemplifying God's greatness as in my proposal that 4Q392 frgs. 1 and 2 belong to the same composition. If one of these passages was particularly in mind, Psalm 135 would be the most likely candidate. The pairing of mm, and O'P'::J, the combination of many of the same themes and perhaps also the use of tl;~, suggest that 4Q392 frg. 18_9 draws on imagery from these contexts in posing the question, why does the creator of the universe who has wind and lightning as his servants perform signs and wonders for Israel? If this proposal is correct, the anticipated answer which is lost in 4Q392 is God's gracious election. It may further be possible to conjecture on the development of the passage. Lines 7-9 follow the progression of Job 5:9-11: i1rDlJ 0'0 n'?rD1 Y,tl;- 'J~- '?lJ ,~o 1nJi1 ,~Oo rtl;-'lJ mtl;'?~J 'pn rtl;1 m'?'J 01'0'? O''?~rD 01rD'? m~1n 'J~- '?lJ. In place of a mention of God as the giver of rain, it is God's creation of the more dramatic elements of the divine storm "lightning and wind" which is emphasized, drawn from the passage appearing in J eremiah 10: 13 and parallels. Interpreting the lightning as divine fire by midrashic combination with Psalm 104:4 provides the idea that the wind and lightning are God's servants ministering in his debir (cf also perhaps Ezekiel 1:4). In favor of this hypothesis, the comparable poem in 1QH IX analogously draws on Psalm 104:2-7 combined withJeremiah 10:12-131/ 51: 15-16 (i1::Jn1::J::J y,tl; i1ntl;'::J ;i1::JnO::J1i1::J i1mJ'::Ji1 I QH IX 13-14) and Psalm 135:6-7 (n101i1m 0'0' 1QH IX 14) in making the point that the elements (including winds, lightning and luminaries) were ordained as God's servants (angels and eternal spirits) before they were created (lines 9-14). Also relevant are the use of Jeremiah 10:12131/51: 15-16 in 11 QPsa Hymn to the Creator and the influence of Psalm 104:4 on the thought of Jub 2 (on the first day are created the various angels, including those of the winds and of thunder and lightning; mi11' '::Jtl;'?O 4Q216 V 8) and 4Q405 20 ii-2l-22 10 ('tl;,o::Jn rD'1P n1n1' rDtl;). If my conjecture is correct, then one passage (in this case Nehemiah 9)

136

DANIEL K. F ALK

provides general topics and structure to the poem, but the meaning is determined by deliberate midrashic activity on the basis of other passages. Since 4Q393 is a prayer of confession and follows in the next column to the material we have been looking at, it is tempting to suggest for both 4Q392 and 4Q393 a single framework indebted to Nehemiah 9. This could be charted as folIows: 4Q392-3 4Q392 frg. • privilege of knowledge of divine mysteries (2-4a) • God's creation of light and dark; the heavenly dwelling (4b-7a) - We are ftesh. Why is God with us? (7b-8) - winds and lightnings (9)

4Q392 frg. 2 - Pharaoh ignores signs/wonders (6-8)

- parting of Red Sea (9b) - passage on dry ground (9b) - Egyptians sink like stone (1 Oa)

- sustenance in wilderness (lOb) (4Q393 frg. 32-3a) the faithful God ... (4Q393 frg. 34_5) you have abandoned your people (4Q393 frg. 37_9) dispossessing before them great nations (4Q393 frg. 38_9) to give to us houses full of all good things

Nehemiah 9

God's mighty acts r:if creation • creation of the heavens - creation of the earth - creation of the heavenly host which worships God God's gracious acts fiT Israel - election of Abraham - deliverance from Egypt and Red Sea - signs and wonders against Pharaoh - parting of Red Sea - passage on dry ground - Egyptians sink like stone - led by pillars of cloud and fire - Revelation at Mt. Sinai - sustenance in wilderness - rebellion - You are a God ready to forgive ... - You did not abandon them - You gave them kingdoms and peoples - they captured fortified cities - they took possession of houses filled with every good thing, hewn cisterns, etc. - rebellion - punishment; abandonment to enemies

137

4Q.39 2 -3 4Q392-3

Nehemiah 9

(4Q393 frg. 35_7) gird on strength 4Q393 - Confession (1-2 ii 2) - of guilt - of God's justice - God's nature (3 2- 3a) - faithful God - keeping covenant and steadfast love - explicit plea to not abandon (3 3b) - the present calamity (3 4-5a) - Petition to confirm covenant (3 5b-9)

- deliverance Petition - God's nature - great, mighty and awesome - keeping covenant and steadfast love - Confession - of guilt - of God's justice - the present calamity

It is improbable, however, that 4Q392 and 4Q393 are part of a single composition based on such a framework for two reasons. (1) In contrast to 4Q392 which is didactic or reftective in tone and refers to God in the third person, 4Q393 is a prayer addressed to God in the second person which closely resembles other examples of postexilic communal confessions. 11 It is not surprising, then, to find resemblances to Nehemiah 9 in 4Q393. If the two were of the same composition, 4Q393 would have to be a reported prayer. (2) Even if 4Q392 follows the structure of Nehemiah 9, which I suggest is probably the case, it is not simply aversion of Nehemiah 9. Its purpose to reftect on the wonder of election would not easily accomodate a narrated prayer of the character of 4Q393 with its strongly pleading tone and admission that God had abandoned his people. Thus, it is here assumed that 4Q393 is aseparate composition, perhaps representing a liturgical prayer of confession. Both, however, seem to draw inspiration from the prayer in Nehemiah 9.

4Q}93 frgs. 1 ii-2 and 3: Communal Confession 4Q}93 frgs. 1-2 ii [

lo~

l1 Ooo[

1 I 2 3

i['l"!:l'~ p,~n 1110" 'n['rDl1 TJ'l1~ liflh, [,lßOJ 'J'n'J'l1~ ill'1 il~[El'rD~ il~lfn

11

See Falk, "4Q393," 199-201.

138

DANIEL K. F ALK

[ 1JJ'?'?1[nJ inch 1J'i11'?~ ~ilJ 'tvlP:J1 n~r.:lJcb:J iltDih mi1 ilnr.:l 1J'n1J1lJ '?[1~1 1JJ'fl[1~Jcbno i'JEl l'j'1' Ci'lJtD~'?1 n1J1r.l~ i~' 'J:JiP:J iJ1~1 1J:J ~i:J '? lJ[J ~'1i1n 'l'J~'?O ili:JtDJ n[1i '? J~; T'?~ :JtDil Ci'~~m 1[n~:J 1nn'J'?c '?lJ '''on; j[i 1J1J'1h llJO'? lOlJ 1~'?lJ [ J'1[ J'?[ 1iJ6,' n1~'?001 Ci',5 JlJtD "'100 i:Ji1''':J'1:J' [ [ Joo[ J1lJO'? il~'OlJ'?

3~

4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11

Translation 1 [...] 2

3 3~

4 5 6

7 8 9

10 11

and what is evil[ in your eyes ]1 have[ done,] so that you are just in your sentence, you are pu[re ... when ]you[ jud]ge. Behold, in our sins w[e] were set up, [we] were [br]ought forth[ ...] in imp[urity of. .. and in st]iffness of neck. Our God, hide your face from o[ur] faul[ts and] wipe out [al]1 our sins. A new spirit create in us, and establish within us a faithful nature. To transgressors your ways and return sinners to you. Do n[ot] thrust the broken of [spir]it from before you, because your people have fainted on account of [your gr]eat ang[erJ. Continually they [rely] upon [your] forg[iveness.] Nations and kingdoms will sa[y ...] [in?] their word[s? ...] for your peoples on account of[ ...]

Use qf Scripture It is unmistakable that 4Q393 frgs. 1-2 are deliberately dependent on Psalm 51. There is both exact citation and a more and less free use of the language, all of which follows the order of Psalm 51. 4Q393 frgs. 1-2 ii

Psalm 51

'JJn 3 ilnO Toni :Ji~ 'J1lJO 'JC:J~ il:Jiil 4

1,cn~ Ci'il'?~ 'lJtD~

'Jiil~ 'n~~n01

lJ'~ 'J~ 'lJtD~-,~

5

,'on ',JJ 'n~~n1 'n~C!ln l':J'? 1'? 6 'n'lD» "~'»~ JMM'

,,~,~ p,~n 'I!IElID~

l»tl"

M!:)m

'n""," 1"»~ -1M

7

"" ['ID» "~'»~

, ['] ,~,~

M!:)I!I [EI'ID~

].-,",

2

l»tl" M!:)] m

p'~

[']~O~ ,~'n,~,»~

m.,

3

139

4Q39 2 -3 Psalm 51 'O~

':Inon' ~~n:l'

4Q393 frgs. 1-2 ii ~'J)

'IZ) [p:n

+ + +

fWI]~

4

['Il]"'" [n]

mn~:I n~Eln no~-lil 8

':!.Il'"n ilO::ln I:lno:l' iil~~' :I'f~:I ':I~~nn

9

:I'?tzlO1 ':lO:l::ln ilnOtzl' l'tzltzl ':ll1'otzln 10 n'::l' mO~l1 m'?:ln p'?~

'''l!Ine "1II ,non Me 'Ml'J) -.,~, e'n"" ,., -",:1 "nl!l :1" ':1'P:1 lZ),n 1'~1 n",

11

12

T:lEl'?o ':I::l''?tzln-'?~ 13 ':100 npn-'?~ ltzl'P mi' ll1tzl' l'tzltzl ''? il:l'tzlil 14 ':I::lOon il:l":1 nn, "~" e'J)1Z)1) n,e"" 15

':1'IZ)' ".,,, tI'''l!In,

'] ~'n [.] I!Ine

"1IInne 'l'n'l'J) ,non 'l'm"" ., [~, 5

'l!:1 ",:1 6 n~n n", nme" ,~, 'l!:1'P:1 11'~'

i1 l["tI; ntl; 1i:l i5J'tz1:l]; line 8 has: '?,:>i1 p,tI; 1[':llI7 A. Hurwitz, with others, has proposed that in 11 QPsa XXVIII 7-8 the first instance of '?,:>i1 should be read with the preceding 1"tI; and the second with the preceding m,?tI;.18 Consequendy, in the case of the tide for God at the beginning of the blessing, the author of Jubilees resorts to a more widely known Hebrew designation. Its purpose here is to stress that the one who is being called upon to bless Levi and his offspring is overwhelmingly capable of effecting the words. Isaac asks that the Lord of all bless Levi and his sons throughout all ages. The priests had as one of their duties to bless Israel, but in this instance the Lord is to bless them. A number of scriptural passages may lie behind this sentiment. For example, the blessing of Levi in Deuteronomy 33 includes the words "Bless, 0 Lord, his substance"; and in Exodus 32:29, concluding the story of levitical zeal in punishing those who sinned with the golden calf, Moses says: you "have brought a blessing on yourselves this day." Jubilees itself attaches a blessing to Levi and his offspring in connection with the Shechem episode: "Levi and his sons will be blessed forever because he was eager to carry out justice, punishment, and revenge on all who rise against Israel. So blessing and justice before the God of all [note the tide] are entered for hirn as a testimony on the heavenly tablets"

16 The Psalms &roll qfOJ!.mran eave 11 (llQfsa) (Oxford: Clarendon, 1965),57 (the text is on p. 55). 17 Elisha Qjmron, "Times for Praising God: A Fragment of aSeroll from Qumran (4Q409)," lQR 80 (1990): 343. 18 "The Post-Biblieal Title ?"Oil p~-Its Appearanee in Psalm 151 from Qumran," Tarbiz 34 (1964-65): 224-27 [Hebrew]. In this essay he adduees paralieis from other postbiblieal texts and notes the dosest seriptural paralieIs.

ISAAC'S BLESSING

505

(30: 18-19; cf. T. Levi 4:4). We meet the temporal expression "throughout all ages" (la-kwellu 'älamät) or the like more often regarding priestly duties; e.g., Exod 29:9 speaks of the priesthood as be10nging to the Aaronides perpetually (cf. 40:15; Numbers 18:23 [for levites]; 25:13; Deuteronomy 18:5; 1 Chronicles 15:2; 23:13, etc.). The words translated "May the Lord give you and your descendants extremely great honor" conceal something of a textual problem. Where the Ethiopic has 'ebaya 'abäya la-kebr (literally: great greatness for honor/glory) the Latin has magno intellegere gloriam eius "greatly to understand his glory." The Latin may have the better text at this point. 19 The priesthood and the divine glory are connected in a number of biblical passages. Leviticus 9:6, 23-24 mention the Lord's glory at the beginning of the priesthood exercised by Aaron and his sons. Mter Aaron had offered sacrifices and had blessed the people, "Moses and Aaron entered the te nt of meeting, and then came out and blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people" (v. 23). The divine glory is associated with the sanctuary, whether the wildemess tabemacle or the temple (1 Kings 8: 11; see also various passages in Ezekiel; 2 Chronicles 7: 1-6; and 11 QTa XXIX 8-9), and signifies the Lord's presence there. The priests and levites, whose duties relate to the sanctuary, are to have some sort of understanding of the divine sp1endor. It may be, if the Latin version is more original, that the writer of Jubilees had not on1y Leviticus 9 but also its continuation in Leviticus 10 in mind. In that chapter Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu "offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out [rom the presence of the Lord and consumed them" (10: 1-2). In the sequel Moses quotes the Lord's words to Aaron: "Through those who are near me I will show myself holy, and before all the people I will be glorified" (v. 3). Nadab and Abihu's failure to understand in this case led to their deaths. There is no biblical precedent for the phrase "to understand his glory," but 4Q400 1 (4QShirShabb a ), which describes the heavenly sanctuary and its priests, does mention "the people (who possess) His glorious insight, [",::1::1 n'J'::1Fo the godlike beings who draw near to knowlege" (1 i 6).

See VanderKam, Book qf Jubilees, 2:203-4 for a discussion of the issue. Carol Newsom, Songs qf the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (Adanta: Scholars Press, 1985), 89, 91. Newsom remarks that "in the context of lines 5-8 the phrase ",::J::J n,r::J Cll would refer to the angels," p. 99. 19

20

506

JAMES C. VANDERKAM

The wording of the blessing mayaiso inelude the sorts of knowledge the priests and levites were to have in order to carry out their teaching duties that are mentioned frequently in the Bible (see, for example, Deuteronomy 31: 12; 33: 10; Nehemiah 8:7; 2 Chronieles 17: 7-9; 19: 10; 35:3, etc.). The blessing continues with more words for both Levi and his offspring: "May he make you and your descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach hirn to serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones." The words reftect the scriptural themes of separating the levites from Israel (who are already sepa~ rate from the nations) to perform the service of the sanctuary (Numbers 8:5-22). Some of the expressions are especially elose to Deuteronomy 18:5: "For the Lord has chosen Levi [text = him] out of all your tribes, to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, hirn and his sons for all time" (cf. 1 Samuel 2:28). This thought is combined with the notion of approaching the altar in Numbers 16:9-10: "Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to allow you to approach hirn [1',?t4; CJ:lnt4; ::l'ipi1'?] in order to perform the duties of the Lord's tabernaele, and to stand before the congregation and serve them? He has allowed you to approach hirn, and all your brother Levites with you" (see also Ezekiel 4-3: 19; 1 Chronieles 15:2; 23:13; 2 Chronieles 29:11). The comparison with the angels of the presence and the holy ones sounds Jubilean, although both angelic titles are biblical in origin (Isa 63:9; Dan 4-:13, 17, 23). These two elasses of angels are the highest ones according to Jubilees 2:2, and one of the angels of the presence dictates the contents of the book to Moses (1:27). The angel or angels of the presence are mentioned fairly often in the post-biblical literature (e.g., T. Levi 3:5, 7; T. Judah 25:2; lQH VI 13). lQSb IV 24--26, part of the blessing on the sons of Zadok (see III 22), is worth quoting: "You shall be like an angel of the face in the holy residence for the glory of the God of Hosts [...] You shall be around, serving in the temple of the kingdom, sharing the lot with the angels of the face and the Council of the Community"21 (cf. CJ'J~i1 'nitDr.l in 4-QShirShabba 1 i 4-). The point of Isaac's words is to compare the earthly and the heavenly priests; in this connection phrases such as 21 Unless otherwise noted, translations of Qumran texts come from F1orentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden: BrilI, 1994). The passage cited is on p. 433.

ISAAC'S BLESSING

507

the ones in 4Q400 1 i 4 are interesting: 1"0 'J~ 'niWO :J'iP ['J]m::l[ C'tDi'p] Wi'p. Lines 2-3 in the same text refer to some angels as ho1y ones who have become God's priests; and line 19 says: "He established for Hirnself priests of the inner sanctum, the holiest of the holy ones." The likeness of priests and angels was probably suggested to our author by a passage such as Malachi 2:7 in which the priest is termed a 1~"0.

3. Blessing on Levi's Descendants (Jubilees 31: 14b-15) The comparison with the angels continues in the next line of the blessing in which Isaac turns his attention to Levi's descendants: "The descendants of your sons will be like them in honor, greatness, and holiness. May he make them great throughout all ages." There is no difficulty finding scriptural passages in which the levites or priests are holy (Leviticus 21 :6; 2 Chronicles 23:6; 35:3); the other terms-greatness and honor-are not, however, associated with them. Yet Sirach 45 uses similar terminology for Moses (45:2-3 "equal in glory to the holy ones," "made hirn great," "glorified hirn" in the Greek), Aaron ("He exalted Aaron, a holy man like Moses" [v. 6] and "put a glorious robe on hirn" [v. 7], his gold crown has the inscription "Holiness" on it [v. 12], the Lord "added glory to hirn" [v. 20]), Phinehas (he "ranks third in glory" [v. 23]), the reigning high priest (? "the Lord who has crowned you with glory" [v. 26]), and Simon son of Onias ("How glorious he was" [v. 5], "he put on his glorious robe and clothed hirnself in perfect splendor" [v. 11]; cf. "All the sons of Aaron in their sp1endor" [v. 13]). Isaac predicts that Levi's descendants "will be princes, judges, and leaders of all the descendants of Jacob's sons." There is some uncertainty about the Hebrew equivalents of some of the terms, and the Latin version lacks the third one. It is possib1e that makWiinenta (Latin principes), translated "princes," reflects ~'tDJ, a word for levitical leaders in Numbers 3:24, 30, 35 (cf. 3:32). Another, more likely option is C'iW, a title also given to levites in the Bible (1 Chronicles 24:5). The reason for considering this the more likely word is that 1QSa I 22-24, in a context that speaks about the levites, refers to C't!l~'W, C'iW, and C'it!l'W in that order. The second term in Jubilees should be C't!l~,tD (Ethiopic masiifentalLatin iudices; for the levites in judicial roles, see Deuteronomy 17 :8-13 [cf. 19: 17]; 21 :5; Ezekiel 44:24; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 26:29; 2 Chronicles 19:8-11). The third word in Ethiopic is malii'ekta, a rather general term for leaders as well as the

508

JAMES C. VANDERKAM

word for angels. 22 Possibly it stands where tl"t!)'tv appeared in Hebrew (1 Chronicles 23:4; 26:29; 2 Chronicles 34:13).23 If so, the list in Jubilees and the one in I QSa agree exactly. Levi's descendants are to be leaders, not only of their own tribe and divisions, but of the entire nation-"of all the descendants ofJacob's sons." On this point Jubilees agrees with what is said in the biblical references to their holding the offices of judge and leader. 24 The words that follow also deal with Levi's descendants: "They will declare the word of the Lord justly and will justly judge all his verdicts." The sentence emphasizes the proper manner (ba-~edq [= P'~::J] figures twice, translated 'justly" in both instances) in which they will declare and judge. What lies behind these words is the frequent scriptural theme of the levites/priests as teachers and judges. Jeremiah's familiar formula promises that torah will not perish from the priest (18: 18; see 2 Chronicles 17: 7-9), while Lev 10: 11 contains the command to Aaron and his sons: "you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes the Lord has spoken through Moses" (cf. Deuteronomy 27:9-10). We also seem to have here an echo of the blessing of Levi in Deuteronomy 33: "they teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law" (v. 10; cf. v. 9). As for their judging, 2 Chronicles 19:8 provides that the priests and levites are "to give judgment for the Lord and to decide disputed cases" (cf. Ezekiel 44:24; 1 Chronicles 23:4; 26:29). The next sentence is a parallel to the previous one: "They will tell my ways to Jacob and my paths to Israel." These words again seem to paraphrase part of Levi's blessing in Deuteronomy 33: "they teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law." The connection 22 August Dillmann, Lexicon linguae Aethiopicae (reprint; Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1970), cols. 48-49. For the third sense of the term he lists "Iegatus, princeps, praefectus, praepositus, proconsul, procurator, dux, summus," with lipxOlV being a Creek equivalent. 23 In T. Levi 8: II the seven men in white clothing tell Levi that his "seed will be divided into three offices," but the sequel explains them quite differendy than here in Jubilees. T. Levi 8: 17 refers to "highpriests and judges and scribes." Translations of Testament 0/ Levi are from Harm W. Hollander and Marinus de Jonge, 7he Testaments 0/ the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary (Leiden: Brill, 1985). Aramaic Levi 99 mentions l'JJ~i1 l'~mn 1'~' (all quotations of Aramaic Levi are from Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest). 24 R. H. Charles believed that the double task of ruling and exercising priesdy functions, when "combined with other facts peculiar to the Maccabean period, requires us to recognise here the early Maccabean princes," R. H. Charles, 7he Book 0/ Jubilees or the little Genesis (London: Black, 1902), 187.

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of the priests and levites with teaching Torah has already been noted above. The levites were, of course, the ones who were to read the law to Israel every seventh year (Deuteronomy 31: 11-13; see T. Levi 2:10; 4:3). Isaac continues to elaborate the functions that Levi's offspring will carry out: "The blessing of the Lord will be placed in their mouths, so that they may bless all the descendants of the beloved." Blessing the Israelites was a primary levitical function (Deuteronomy 10:8; 21 :5; 2 Chronicles 30:27), and the priests, too, were charged with the duty of pronouncing blessings on the people, as the Aaronic benediction (Numbers 6:23-27) and other passages (1 Chronicles 23:13; 2 Chronicles 30:27; cf. Malachi 2:2) show. The phrase "in their mouth" may be influenced by Malachi 2:6-7, although the prophetic passage deals with priestly instruction, not with blessing. Sirach 50:20, describing the high priest Simon, says: "Then Simon came down and raised his hands over the whole congregation of the Israelites, to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his lips" (,'n~iD::J m n:J'::J,).2S The referent of "the beloved" is not absolutely clear; Jacob is a possibility (cf. Malachi 1:2: "I have loved Jacob," Hosea 11:1), but Abraham is called God's friend or loved one in Isaiah 41 :8. 26

4. Blessing on Levi (Jubilees 31 16-1 7) The b1essing takes a turn at v. 16 where Isaac deals with the name Levi. "Your mother named you Levi, and she has given you the right name. You will become one who is joined to the Lord and a companion of all Jacob's sons." He is alluding to Genesis 29:34 in which, according to the Samaritan Pentateuch, Leah named her third son Levi, explaining "this time my husband will be joined to me."27 Isaac, however, interprets the name as reflecting Levi's being joined to the Lord rather than as an expression of the relation between Leah and Jacob. The meaning of the name is played upon elsewhere in the Bible. In his curse on Levi and Simeon, Jacob says: "may I not be joined to their company" (Genesis 49:6b), and in Numbers 18:2 the 25 For the Hebrew text of the passage, see Francesco Vattioni, Ecclesiastico (Napies: Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 1968). 26 4Q379 (Apocryphon qf Joshua b ) 1 2 contains the words "eternal to Levi, the beloved [ (""1')," but in Isaac's blessing it is unlikely that Levi is the one meant by "the beloved," since Isaac couId better have said "all your descendants" in that case. 27 According to Jubilees 28: 14, Jacob named Levi.

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tribe of the levites is joined to the Aaronides to serve them. In neither of these places is Isaac's interpretation of the term found (cf. T. Levi 2: 10: "you will stand ne ar the Lord"). The phrase "a companion of all Jacob's sons" seems to be another attempt at applying the notion of 'joining" to a different context; it, too, lacks a precise scriptural parallel. Clerical food comes under consideration next: "His table is to belong to you; you and your sons are to eat (from) it. May your table be filled throughout all history; may your food not be lacking throughout all ages." Levi's sons are included with hirn as the ones who are to enjoy this form of payment. The Bible alludes a number of times to the portions and types of sacrifices that the priests and levites were allowed to eat, and it also mentions the twelve loaves that were to be consumed by the levites (Leviticus 18; see also Leviticus 10: 12; Numbers 18, 9, 19, 31; Deuteronomy 14:29; 18:2-4; Nehemiah 10:3637; 12:44, 47; 13:5, 10-13; 2 Chronicles 31:4, 10, 19). Malachi spoke about problems in connection with the Lord's table (1:7, 12) and urged the people to bring the full tithe so that there would be food in the temple. Isaac closes his blessing with words of curse and benediction, "May all who hate you fall before you, and all your enemies be uprooted and perish. May the one who blesses you be blessed, and any nation that curses you be cursed." In some respects this is a loose reflection of Deuteronomy 33: 11: "Bless, 0 Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; crush the loins of his adversaries, of those that hate hirn, so that they do not rise again. " The second sentence is more of a paraphrase of the Lord's promise to Abram (Genesis 12:3) and Isaac's wish for Jacob (27:29b) that those who blessed the patriarch would be blessed, while those who cursed hirn would be cursed. The blessing in Jubilees 31: 12-17, then, is replete with scriptural words and phrases having to do with priests and levites. Only a few of its expressions cannot be matched or paralleled in the Hebrew Bible, and these can be found in texts such as Sirach or some of the scrolls. The benediction stresses that Levi and the levitical priests would be blessed forever, would have special honor, would alone have the right to serve God in the temple as the heavenly angels do in the celestial sanctuary, would hold positions of prominence, would instruct Israel in God's ways, and would bless the nation. As ones joined to the Lord, they would enjoy the privilege of the Lord's table; and their enemies would fall while their supporters would be

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blessed. Their role in war is not mentioned (though their enemies are) nor is any atoning funetion, but their judicial tasks are prominent. The subjeet of saerifiee is not mentioned explieitly, but presumably it is included in the notion of serving in the temple and enjoying the benefits of the Lord's table. Now that the setting and eontent of the blessing have been explored, we should examine whether study of Isaae's blessing ean make any eontributions to clarifYing the relation between the Levi material in Jubilees and other texts in the Levi priestly tradition, espeeially Aramaic Levi. As should beeome clear, Isaae's blessing, while only a small part of the Levi trajeetory, is a partieularly helpful element in the Levi priestly tradition far earrying out this kind of study. III. Jubilees and Aramaie Levi There is an affinity of conte nt between these two works in their presentation of Levi, but the nature of their relationship is debated. 28 We should initially assess the evidenee for whieh of the two eame first and then attempt to define the nature of the kinship the two have.

A. Aramaie Levi as the Earlier Text A eommon view has been that Aramaie Levi eame first and that the author of Jubilees used it as a souree in writing his Levi seetion. 29 Recently, J. Kugel has argued for a eonsiderable modification of this thesis, while R. Kugler, following an older theory, has nuaneed it, maintaining that Aramaie Levi did indeed come first but that Jubilees did not employ it as a souree. In Kugel's estimation, we should imagine the relationship in a more complex manner than simply as one text serving as a source for another. He holds that Jubilees antedates the completed Aramaie Levi but that parts of Aramaie Levi are actually older than Jubilees.

28 Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest, 147-49, provides a comparative chart for Aramaic Levi and the Levi addition in Jubilees. 29 R. H. Charles entided the section in which he presented the text of what is now called Aramaic Levi "Aramaic and Greek Fragments containing Phrases and Clauses from an original source of the Testament of Levi and the Book of Jubilees" in 7he Creek Versions qjthe Testaments qjthe Twelve Patriarchs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1908), liii. For a survey of the views about the date of Aramaic Levi, see Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest, 131-35.

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Kugel thinks that the author of Aramaie Levi had before hirn two older Levi sources: Levi's Apocalypse and Levi's Priestly Initiation. These correspond with the two visions imparted to Levi in the Testament qf Levi (2:3-6:2; 8:1-19). Both of these pre-Jubilees sources present different accounts of Levi's elevation and contain no signs that the author of Aramaie Levi has cross-referenced or accommodated them to each other. Jubilees knew and used the text Kugel names Levi's Priestly Initiation (corresponding with the second vision in Testament qf Levi), although the writer drastically reduced it in size to one verse (32:3). He did not, however, know or use Levi's Apocalypse and certainly does not betray awareness that the two were combined. There are indications that the author of the Aramaie Levi knew Jubilees: where they share material Jubilees regularly has good reasons for including it, whereas the author of Aramaie Levi seems to reproduce some items from Jubilees only because he found them in this authoritative source, not because they served any function in his book. 30 Kugler, however, with many others maintains that Aramaic Levi is the earlier work but he also argues that Jubilees' author did not consult it as a source. Rather, both writers resorted to a common source that he labels a Levi-apocryphon. The thesis he defends goes back to P. Grelot who was led to this conclusion by the differing order of events in the various documents. 31 The magnitude of the difference between Jubilees and Aramaic Levi is a reason for thinking the one did not use the other directly. Kugler's specific arguments for considering Aramaie Levi the earlier work are: 1. paleographic and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dating of 4Q213 (4QLevia ar) 2. nonpolemical use of the solar calendar 3. its incipient dualism. 32 See "Levi's Elevation," 27-33, 52-58, 60-64. Pierre Grelot, "Notes sur le Testament arameen de Uvi," RB 63 (1956): 402-3. From the tide of his article one can see that Grelot considered the Aramaic work to be a testament. He suggested that the common source had this sequence of events: (1) Jacob reaches Shechem and Dinah is taken; (2) Levi's first dream which he experiences at the sources of the Jordan; (3) Levi and Simeon arrive at Shechem; (4) massacre of the Shechemites; (5) Jacob's pilgrimage to Bethel; (6) Levi's second dream; (7) the visit with Isaac at which the patriarch blessed Levi (and Judah?); (8) the return to Bethel; and (9) the priesdy investiture of Levi and paying of the tithe. 32 Kugler, Frorn Patriarch to Priest, 134. For the argument from the solar calendar, see Jonas C. Greenfield and Michael Stone, "Remarks on the Aramaic Testament of Levi from the Geniza," RB 86 (1979): 224-25; and Stone, "Enoch, Aramaic Levi 30 31

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It is doubtful one can demonstrate, with the evidence currently available, that Aramaic Levi is earlier than Jubilees, but the sorts of considerations adduced point in that direction. The AMS dating of 4Q213 yielded the results of 191-155 B.C.E. and 146-120 B.C.E. 33 The earliest copy of Jubilees dates paleographically to approximately 125-100 B.C.E.;34 no copies of it have been subjected to AMS testing. The nonpolemical use of a solar calendar may point to an earlier time than the date when Jubilees was composed, but there are problems with this argument. The author of Aramaie Levi may have considered the morning as the beginning of the day, since he pinpoints the birth of Qahat as occurring at sunrise on the first day of the first month. If he did, then it is more likely he used a solar rather than a lunar calendar. However, he not only used the calendar non-polemicaIly; he hardly used it at all. One oblique calendrical reference is weak support for an argument. A more noticeable and widespread phenomenon is that Jubilees is closer in language and ideology to the Qumran literature than is Aramaie Levi, although copies of both were found in the caves. The extent of Jubilees's calendrical concern, for example, is hardly shared by Aramaie Levi, but it is a theme at Qumran. Also, some of the points made in Isaac's blessing of Levi and his descendantse.g., comparing earthly priests with the angels of the presence in the heavenly sanctuary-show that Jubilees and Qumran texts such as 1QSb and 11 QShirShabb are in agreement. There is no such comparis on in Aramaie Levi. 35 B. The Relationship between Aramaic Levi and Jubilees

Whatever we may conclude about the dating of the two works, it is evident that they are different in form and to a large degree in content as weIl. Aramaie Levi centers entirely around Levi, and it contains several sections, such as Levi's prayer and wisdom speech, that find and Sectarian Origins," JSJ 19 (1988): 160 n. 2. Kug1er, From Patriarch to Priest, 135, adds its subde (and thus 1ess po1emical?) attack on priesdy purity and proposal for change as another reason for p1acing Aramaic Levi in the third century. 33 G. Bonani, S. Ivy, W. Wölfti, Magen Broshi, I. Carmi, and John Strugnell, "Radio Carbon Dating of Fourteen Dead Sea Scrolls," Radiocarbon 34 (1992): 843-49. 34 See Milik and VanderKam, "216. 4QJubileesa " in Qymran Gtwe 4, VIII Parabiblical Texts Part I (DJD 13; Oxford: C1arendon, 1994), 2. 35 In Isaac's instruction to Levi on cu1tic mattcrs, he says: "You are near to [God,] and near to all his ho1y ones" (Aramaic Levi 18). There is, however, no comparison between Levi (or his sons) and the ho1y ones or angels.

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no reflex in Jubilees. The book of Jubilees is closely tied to the biblical text, and in the Levi section, while it moves far beyond the immediate narrative of Genesis, still uses it as its framework. Once the expansion, which is itself heavily indebted to other biblical texts, is completed, the writer returns to the Genesis story. If we draw the more likely conclusion that Aramaie Levi is the older of the two texts, how should we envisage their relationship? It is certainly the case, as Kugler maintains, that Aramaie Levi and Jubilees differ substantially. As he reconstructs Aramaie Levi it contains: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

The Shechem incident36 Levi's prayer Levi's vision Isaac and Jacob Isaac's instructions Family history Wisdom speech Levi's warnings 37

Jubilees has # 1, 3, and 4, while it lacks units 2, and 5-8. Even those parts that the two share appear in a very different way in them. For example, Levi's vision after the Shechem episode is summed up in just one verse in Jubilees, and the Isaac:Jacob section differs drastically from Jubilees 31, the chapter that contains the blessing of Levi and his descendants studied above. Whereas in Jubilees the scene takes up all of chapter 31 and the blessing itself occupies verses 12-17, in Aramaie Levi we read only: "And we went to my father Isaac, and he too blessed me thus" (Aramaie Levi 8). The fact that Aramaie Levi is much the shorter text here, one that could be seen as a simple abbreviation of Jubilees 31, could support Kugel's ordering of the sources. In such a case, one could argue, would it not be more reasonable to label Jubilees 31 the earlier text that the writer of Aramaie Levi, for his own reasons, chose to shorten? A point that makes Kugler's reading of the situation more likely than Kugel's involves aseries of dates in the two texts. Aramaic Levi and Jubilees contain a number of dates for events in Levi's life, but they are almost never the same. 36 Scholars have usually claimed that in Aramaic Levi, as in the Testament qf Levi, avision preceded the Shechem events. Kugler, however, has shown that the only visionary material in Ararnaic Levi followed this episode. 37 Kugler, Frorn Patriarch to Priest, chapter 2.

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Aramaie Levi

T. Levi Jubilees

born Shechem became a priest married Milcah

18 years 19 28

18 19 28

Gersam born Qahat born Merari born brought to Egypt Jochebedl Amram born Amram marries Jochebed Joseph's death dies

30 (10th month) 34 (1/1) 40 (3rd month) 48 (89 years there) 64 (7/1) 94 118 137

35 40 40 64 94 118 137

2127 month 1, day 1 (= 1/1) 2143 [= 16] 2143 (?) [= 16] 2149 or later [= 22]

2172 [= 45] 2242 [115]

The dates in Aramaie Levi and Jubilees do not tally at all where they can be compared, while those in Aramaie Levi and Testament qf Levi, which very likely did use Aramaie Levi as a source, coincide alm ost exactly. Aramaie Levi and Jubilees differ by two or three years in some cases, although in some instances the discrepancy is larger. If Moses' parents Amram and Jochebed were married when Levi was 94 and Moses was born a few years later, the chronology in Aramaie Levi would be far off Jubilees's system which puts Moses' birth in 2330, long after Levi's death (he would have been 203 years of age had he lived until then). In view of these facts, it is difficult to accept Kugel's conclusion that Aramaie Levi devotedly followed Jubilees, even taking over items that came to have no function in his book. Dates playavital role in Jubilees and should have been the kinds of details that, on Kugel's view, Aramaie Levi would have reproduced. In other words, it is implausible to think that Jubilees was a source for the person who compiled Aramaie Levi. Did Jubilees use Aramaie Levi at all or did the authors of the two have a common source? It seems more likely that the two had a common source, although we cannot exclude the possibility that the Hebrew-writing author of Jubilees read Aramaie Levi. The two works! share extrabiblical information about Levi, information that clearly grew up around the stories about the sack of Shechem and the problem of Jacob's unfulfilled vow made at Bethel. But the two writers develop that common fund of traditions in substantially different ways, as one can see from a simple comparison of the contents of their books. A passage such as Isaac's blessing on Levi and his descendants sheds light on the way in which the writer of Jubilees proceeded

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with traditional themes and stories. His source-we, too, can call it a Levi-apocryphon-mentioned a blessing that Isaac gave to Levi. There may have been little more than a simple reference to this idea, since it is merely mentioned and no words of it are quoted in either Aramaie Levi 8 or T. Levi 9: 1-2. Jubilees' author, however, saw this as a useful point for concentrating biblical and extra-biblical themes about the priesthood. He exploited a variety of scriptural passages, especially from the pentateuch and Chronicles for this purpose, and he augmented these sources with elements that we know from texts such as Sirach and some of the scrolls. He also drew from other sections of the hypothetical Levi-apocryphon, if we may ass urne that much of what is now in the Aramaie Levi belonged in that text. That is, as he did with the scriptural texts, he concentrated scattered material from the tradition into Isaac's blessing for Levi and his descendants. The reason why we cannot exclude altogether the possibility that the writer of Jubilees used Aramaie Levi itself is that there is aseries of scattered parallels in Aramaie Levi for parts of Isaac's blessing (and other elements in Jubilees' Levi addition). It is not impossible that the writer of Jubilees collected these in one place along with other material to create his unique version of Levi's blessing. Jubilees 31: 13-1 7

Paralleis in Aramaie Levi

13 bless you and your sons throughout all ages

61 And now, (my) child Levi, YOUf seed will be blessed upon the earth for all generations of etemity 4 Now see how we magnified you over all

14 give you and YOUf descendants "extremely great honor" (or greatly to know his glory)

May he make you and YOUf descendants (alone) out of all humanity approach hirn

s8 give to me counsel, wisdom, knowledge and strength 90 for glory, and for greatness, and for knowledge cf. 100-101 Also priests and kings you will te [ach] [] YOUf kingdom will be [glor]y. And there will be no end to its g[lory. s 11 draw me [= Levi] near to be your servant, and to serve you weIl 9 I was first, at the head [of the priestho] od

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(Fable cont.) Jubilees 31: 13-1 7

to serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and the holy ones The descendants of YOUf sons will be like them in honor, greatness, and holiness

May he make them great throughout all ages. 15 They will be princes, judges, and leaders of all the descendants of Jacob's sons They will declare the word of the Lord justly and will justly judge all his verdicts

They will tell my ways to Jacob and my paths to Israel The blessing of the Lord will be placed in their mouths, so that they may bless all the descendants of the beloved 16 YOUf mother named you Levi, and she has given you the right name. Y ou will become one who is joined to the Lord and a companion of all Jacob's sons

Paralleis in Aramaic Levi 20 you approach the altar 51 you were elected to the holy priesthood, and to offer sacrifice to the Most High Lord 58 you will be more beloved than all your brothers si 1 to serve you weIl [cf. the cultic instructions in 13-61] 16-1 7 for you are holy seed, and holy is your seed, like the holy place 18 near to all his holy ones 48-49 you are a holy priest of the Lord, and all your seed will be priests 51 you were elected to the holy priesthood 90 for glory, for greatness, and for knowledge cf. 90 for greatness leaders, judges, and magis[trates s9 to tell your words (?) with me s18 make (me) a partner with YOUf words, to do true judgment forever, me and my sons cf. 15 the true law I will show you, and I will not hide from you any word, so as to teach you the law of the priesthood s6 give me all the paths of truth 9 I blessed my father during my lifetime, and I blessed my brothers 59 blessing will be pronounced by YOUf seed upon the earth

s 11 draw me near to be yoUf servant si 7 YOUf servant Levi, to be near you

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(Table cont.) Parallels in Aramaic Levi

Jubilees 31: 13-1 7

His table is to belong to you; you and YOUf sons are to eat (from) it. May YOUf table be filled throughout all his tory; may YOUf food not be lacking throughout all ages. There are no parallels to the CUfseblessing formulation in Jubilees 31: I 7.

sl8 make (me) a partner with YOUf words 18 Y ou are near to [God, ] and near to all his holy ones 83 Levi ... God's friend 4 all the choice first fruits of the whole earth to eat

These parallels te nd to be more distant, and the wording in Aramaic Levi rarely gives the impression that they are the source for anything in Jubilees. Thus, while it is possible that the author of Jubilees borrowed ideas from Aramaie Levi and expressed them in his own way, it seems more likely that he did not use it at all. At least there is no strong evidence that he consulted it. The writers of both works more probably drew upon common traditions.

IV. J1Ihy Levi? A question that arises naturally is why we find Levi exalted to so prominent a place in aseries of sources-Aramaic Levi, Jubilees, some Qumran texts, Testament qf Levi-but not in others-Sirach, other scroIls, Josephus. We know too little about the developments within the Jewish priesthood in the early centuries of the Second Temple period to be able to infer any particular setting for the emphasis on Levi, but several bits of information may be relevant. 1. The Bible traces the priesthood to Levi, the son of Jacob. Hence, despite his failure to function in any way as a priest in Genesis, there was a strong textual incentive to attribute the sacerdotal office to hirn personally and to discover instances in which he may have exercised it. 2. Malachi is our first source for this process (2:4-7). He writes about the Lord's covenant with Levi and also attributes specific acts to hirn: "he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He

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walked with me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity" (2:5-6). It would have been difficult to derive this information from Genesis where Levi massacres the inhabitants of Shechem (Genesis 34) and is cursed by his father (49:5-7). Malachi was drawing on a wider tradition. 38 3. The Bible also contains other evidence that the Levites had been chosen for the priesthood before the wilderness period and the construction of the tabernacle at which they served. 1 Samuel 2:2736 contains the words of a man of God delivered to Eli: "Thus the Lord has said, 'I revealed myself to the family of your ancestor [yom father] in Egypt when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh. I chose hirn out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel" (27-28). This passage could be read as referring to the "father," Levi, and to his descendants, the Levites in Egypt. On that reading, God chose Levi out of the other tribes to be his priest, and he gave the fire offerings to his descendants. The Bible indicates that there were levites in Egypt, with Moses and Aaron being the two most prominent among them (see also Sir 45:6: "He exalted Aaron, a holy man like Moses/who was his brother, of the tribe of Levi"). Moreover, if one combines biblical genealogies, Eli was a levite as was Samuel (the Ahimelech of 1 Samuel 14:3; 22:9, 11, 20 is the great-grandson of Eli and may be the Ahimelech of 1 Chronicles 24:3). Here, then, we seem to have another biblical allusion to the election of Levi. These texts show the first stages in a process that was to come to greater fruition centuries later in a hypothetical Levi-apocryphon, Aramaie Levi, Jubilees, and the Testament qf Levi. By the time of these documents, Levi had emerged as the greatest of Jacob's sons and practicing priest du ring the lifetimes of his fathers Isaac and Jacob. The former predicted his appointment to the priesthood, while the latter ordained hirn to the position. In this way, the priestly tradition was pushed farther back in time than most of the Hebrew Bible implied, and it was given impressively authoritative support by heavenly and earthly powers.

38 See Kugler, From Patriarch to Priest, 18-22, where Kugler argues that Malachi used Genesis 34; Exodus 32:25-29; Numbers 25:6-13; and Deuteronomy 33:8-11 for this section. See also Kugel, "Levi's Elevation," 33-36.

MESSIANISM AND ESCHATOLOGY

STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF QUMRAN MESSIANISM IN THE DAMASCUS DOCUMENT WILLIAM

M. SCHNIEDEWIND UCLA

I argued in' arecent article that a duality and balance between king and priest was the ideology of the postexilic retumees as seen particularly in the book of Chronicles. I Although the retumees' hope for a restoration of the Davidic monarchy alongside the Jerusalem temple was unrealized, this frustrated expectation found both mundane and eschatological expressions in the Qumran community.2 The present paper develops some of the institutional and exegetical structures behind the duality of Qumran messianism as reflected in the Damascus Document.

The Problem Although once the consensus, the duality of Qumran messianic thought has been repeatedly challenged recendy, as have almost all the accepted canons of early scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls. For example, James VanderKam argues that "neither Jubilees (in connection with Levi) nor the Qumran documents (with regard to the 1 William M. Schniedewind, "King and Priest in the Book of Chronicles and the Duality of Qumran Messianism," ]]S 45 (1994): 71-78. The article played off observations made by Shemaryahu Talmon who had argued that the duality of Qumran messianism reflected dependence on a pattern plan of bicephalic leadership as described in the Book of Zechariah and, in particular, the joint appointment of king and priest "with harmony between them" (Zechariah 6: 12-14); cf. Shemaryahu Talmon, "Waiting for the Messiah: The Spiritual Universe of the Qumran Covenanteers," in ]udaisms and their Messiahs at the Turn qf the Christian Era, ed. Jacob Neusner et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 123-31. 2 Also compare Zechariah 4:2-3,11-14; 8:9-17; Haggai 1:12-14. Some advocate a complex development of messianic thought at Qumran associated with the political activities of the Hasmonean dynasty; see Jacob Liver, "The Doctrine of Two Messiahs in Sectarian Literature in the Time of the Second Commonwealth," HTR 52 (1959): 149-85; cf. Frederick Strickert, "Damascus VII, 10-20 and Qumranic Messianic Expectation," RevQ 12 (1986): 327-49; John J. Collins, "Messianism in the Maccabean Period," in ]udaisms and their Messiahs, 97-109. The balance of power shifts toward the priest in some sectarian literature (e.g., 1Jud 21:2), but the

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WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

messiah from Aaron) make explicit reference to these prophetie books" of Haggai and Zechariah, and he therefore doubts that the duality of Qumran messianism was in fact based on a biblical model. 3 Michael Wise and James Tabor caIl into question whether Qumran messianism was in fact dualistic at all. 4 And, in arecent issue of Dead Sea Discoveries, Martin Abegg surveyed a number of texts in order to emphasize the fluidity of the understanding of messianism in the Dead Sea ScroIlS. 5 These challenges beg the question: what do we me an by the terms "Qumran" and "messianism"? Obviously not everything found in the Caves was composed by the inhabitants of Khirbet Qumran nor do they necessarily reflect the community's own beliefs at aIl points. 6 messianic priest and king both still have a place in the properly balanced leadership of the eschatological kingdom. A survey of the types of messianic expectation is found in Shemaryahu Talmon, "Types of Messianic Expectation at the Turn of the Era," in Kinl5> Cult, and Calendar in Ancient Israel (Jerusalern: Magnes, 1986), 202-24. 3 James C. VanderKam, 'Jubilees and the Priestly Messiah of Qumran," RevQ 13 (1988): 365. 4 Wise and Tabor write, "only once in any Dead Sea Scroll text is the idea of two messiahs stated unambiguously," Michael O. Wise and James D. Tabor, "The Messiah at Qumran," BAR 18/6 (1992): 60; their argument is overly fixated on the term n'tDr.l; see also Michael O. Wise andJames D. Tabor, "4Q521 'On Resurrection' and the Synoptic Gospel Tradition: a Preliminary Study," JSP 10 (1992): 149-62. Although Wise and Tabor propose a consensus among scholars about a dual messiah, there is some debate; George J. Brooke, "The Amos-Numbers Midrash (CD 7: 13b-8: I a) and Messianic Expectation," ..('A W 92 (1980): 397-404 and "The Messiah of Aaron in the Damascus Document," RevQ 15 (1991): 215-30; Emil Wcela, "The Messiah(s) ofQumran," CBQ26 (1964): 340-49; Kar! G. Kuhn, "The Two Messiahs of Aaron and Israel," in The Serolls and the New Testament, ed. Krister Stendahl (New York: Harper, 1957), 54-64. Also see Marinus de Jonge, "Two Messiahs in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs?" in Tradition and Re-interpretation in Jewish and Earry Christian Literature, ed. J. Henten et al. (Leiden: BrillI, 1986), 150-62; Robert B. Laurin, "The Problem ofTwo Messiahs in the Qumran Scrolls," RevQ 4 (1963/64): 39-52. 5 Martin Abegg, "The Messiah at Qumran: Are We Still Seeing Double?" DSD 2 (1995): 131. 6 Devorah Dimant distinguishes between "documents employing terminology connected to the Qumran Community" and "works not containing such terminology." Clusters of terms and ideas concern four areas: (I) practices and organization, (2) history and present situation, (3) theological and metaphysical outlook, and (4) peculiar biblical exegesis. Dimant emphasizes that religious concepts and ideas themselves are not sufficient (e.g., I Enoch; Jubilees) except when they are accompanied by distinctive terminology; er. Devorah Dimant, "The Qumran Manuscripts: Contents and Significance," in "Time to Prepare the Wqy in the Wildemess": Papers on the OJimran Serolls by Fellows qf the Institute Jor Advanced Studies qf the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1989-90, ed. Devorah Dimant and Lawrence H. Schiffinan (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 23-58. Hartrnut Stegemann defines the community's literary corpus much more nar-

CD MESSIANISM

525

Devorah Dimant, for instance, estimates that approximately 40% of the Cave 4 manuscripts should be classified among those "not containing terminology connected to the Qumran Community."7 Included among these are such manuscripts as 4Q521, the so-called Messianic Apocalypse. 8 These obviously should not playamajor role in describing the messianic expectations of the Qumran Community-though they certainly may be used to describe the broader phenomenon. What is more, we should be careful about the role that the hypothetical reconstructions of fragmentary manuscripts play in describing the community's messianic expectations. These reconstructions are often based on our own preconceived ideas about messianism. Additionally, we must grant that the community existed for at least 200 years and their beliefs evolved over that period. The first question then is what was seminal to the community's beliefs? In part this may be distinguished by the criterion of multiple manuscripts. This would focus the discussion on texts such as the Rule qf the Communiry, the Damascus Document, the War Seroll, Hodayot, and the like. As a beginning I propose to concentrate on the Damascus Document which is undeniably one of the most important documents of the community and which has been the center of much controversy. As apreface, we should recognize that the Hebrew term n'rDr.::lwhich is often translated as "messiah" but which certainly should be rendered by the less technical "anointed one"-has received an inordinate amount of attention. While this point is often made, I am not sure that it has sufficiently taken root in scholarship. This problem is illustrated by recent articles in which texts like 4Q285, the so-called Pierced Messiah text, and 4Q521, the Messianic Apocalypse, are employed to recharacterize the Community's messianic expectations. And they receive more attention than 4Qf'lorilegium-the nearest thing we have to a systematic explication of the Community's messianic expectations. Why? I suspect in part because 4QFlor does not use the term n'rDr.::l. More to the point for the present paper, Abegg points out that rowly by requiring connection with the Teacher of Righteousness; cf. Stegemann, "Die Bedeutung der Qumranfund ftir die Erforschung der Apokalyptik," in Apocalyptici.rm in the Mediterranean World and the Near East, ed. David Hellholm (Tübingen: Mohr, 1989), 51!. 7 Dimant, "The Qumran Manuscripts," 32. 8 Dimant includes 4QJ21 on her list of nonsectarian works; cf. Dimant, "The Qumran Manuscripts," 48.

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WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

the debate over the nature and number of messiahs in the Damascus Document revolves around four places that use, with slight variation, the expression, '?~irD" liii~ n'rDO-an expression I would translate as "the anointed of Aaron and of Israel."g Much of this discussion assumes that the use of the singular or plural for n'rDO is critical to determining the number of expected messiahs. It does not look at the institutional or exegetical structures behind the pair, Aaron and Israel. Abegg's study concludes that the two-messiah theory is built on this "shaky evidence" which "might have foundered had it not been for the discovery of one (but only one) clear instance of the plural formula in the Dead Sea Scrolls."10 The expression liii~ n'rDO '?~irD" may by itself be insufficient evidence, but the two-messiah theory should hardly ftounder for the want of it. 11 We need to examine how Aaron and Israel are used as a pair throughout the Damascus Document. The institutional and exegetical framework of this pair support the dual messiah interpretation.

7he Tradition qf an Anointed Priest John Collins remarks in his recent book 7he Scepter and the Star: "The expectation of a Davidic messiah was part of the common Judaism of the last century B.C.E. and the first century C.E."12 A Davidic messiah is hardly a problem for most. What appears to be a problem for so many is the idea of a priesdy messiah and especially his appear-

9 CDa XII 23-XIII I ("~1tD" lm~ «n'tDr:l»); XIV 18-19 ("~1tD" l1il~ n'tDr:l); CDb XIX I 0-11 (~1tD" l1il~ n'tDr:l); xx I ("~1tD'r:l' l1il~r:l n'tDr:l). I QS has 'n'tDr:l

~1tD"

]11il~.

Abegg, "The Messiah at Qumran," 131. 11 Talmon showed how Hebrew uses a distributive singular form as in Judges 7:25, ::J~t1 ::J111 tD~1' "the heads of Oreb and Zeeb", or Genesis 14:10, 010 1"r:l il1r:lll' "the kings of Sodom and Gemorrah." See Talmon, "The Concepts of Miiffa~ and Messianism in Early Judaism," in The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 105, n. 64. See Paul Joüon, A Grammar qf Biblical Hebrew, ed. and trans. Tsunetsugo Muraoka (Rome: Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 1991), §136l; GKC §124r. 12 Collins, 1he Scepter and the Star: The Messiah qf the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient literature (New York: Doubleday, 1995), 74. On the other hand, there is no reason to believe, as Collins suggests, that the expectation of a Davidic king was "dormant for much of the postexilic era" (p. 49). Collins himself admits that there is a lacuna in our sources for this period so the lack of evidence for messianism merely corresponds to the lack of sources. 10

527

CD MESSIANISM

ance alongside the royal messiah. Given the historical and cultural perspective of the Qumran covenanters, it difficult to see why there has been so much resistance recently to the idea of two messiahsroyal and priestly. After all, priests were commonly anointed in ancient Israel and the term n'tD~ certainly is used as a description of priests in the Hebrew Bible. 13 Furthermore, the balance of leadership between priesthood and kingship-even if not actualizedwas certainly idealized in the later literary tradition of ancient Israel. 14 Should we not expect the eschaton to mirror this idealization? To illustrate this point we may cite just one text. In Abegg's recent article he identifies "" n~~ "the Branch of David" as an important messianic term in Qumran literature and traces its biblical antecedents. He fails to mention, however, the development of this "Branch of David" theme in Jeremiah 33: 15-18, where it takes an explicitly dualistic trajectory in verses 17-18: 15 n~~ i11?1~1 ~~~O i1~~1 i11?7~ nrt~ '177 lJ'O~~ ~WliJ n~91 t:liJjJ t:l'O~~ i1ii1~ i'l7-~lP'-i~~ i1!l n~~7 li::l~!'l t:l7.~1i'1 i1'~i1~ l)~m t:liJjJ t:l'O~~

o

15 16

1Jj?1~

:JtLi" tLi,~ .".,? ni::l'-~? i11i1' iO~ i1:'-'::l n~1,-i1tqlil i1~qDi'~Prt1'~7i~' n~~o '~~76 '6'~ 'n-j~,-~? 't:l;170' 't:l'~o:;'7i ?~ifD'-n':J ~O::l-?l)

o

17 18

t:l'O~iJ-?~

In those dcrys and at that time, I will cause to sprout for David a right-

eous Branch; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness." For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a E.g., Levitieus 4:3, 5, 16; 6:15; also note 4Q375 i, 9 and 4Q376 i, 2. See in partieular my article, "King and Priest," 71-78; also Shemaryahu Talmon, "Waiting for the Messiah: The Spiritual Universe of the Qumran Covenanters," in TIie World qf Qy.mran flom Within: Collected Studies (Leiden: Brill, 199o), 123-3l. IS Jeremiah 33 is not included in the shorter MT and some of the Qumran manuseripts of the Book of Jeremiah. It must be regarded as an exegetical addition whieh draws on Jeremiah 23. Additionally, Jeremiah 33: 17-18 aetually uses some of the language of the Dynastie Promise as developed in I Kings 8:25: 13 14

"17

nlf'-~'; 'b~'!. ;'y t;1l~r'l ,~~ n~ ':;l~

'11 "I'l:;lR7 ,btq

"~lüt' 'tr"~ il1i~

ilt;1R'

,jE) 10

tzN!;

'~~7 t;1:;l7i;1 ,~~~ 'j~7 n~'!.7 Cfl-!r-n~ "I'~~ 1'~tq'-C~ p"i "~lüt' ~1;;l:;l~S~ :Jtp';

"Therefore, 0 LORD, God of Israel, keep for YOUf servant my father David that whieh you promised hirn, saying, 'TIiere shllll never foil you a successor bifOre me to sit on the throne qf Israel, if only YOUf ehildren look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.'" This only underseores that Jeremiah 33 is not original, but rather stands in an interpretative tradition.

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WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to make grain offerings, and to make sacrifices for all time.

Jeremiah interweaves two separate prophetie texts, the "Braneh" text from Isaiah 11 and the Dynastie Promise of 2 Samuel 7, whieh yields an entirely new prophetie vision. Most important to this new propheey is the applieation of the Dynastie Promise to the priesthood whieh makes it explicitly dualistie-even if it is not necessarily eschatologieal. The Wisdom of Ben-Sira presents a similar example. BenSira 45:24-25 promises Aaron's deseendants the high priesthood forever and justifies this promise by saying, 'just as a eovenant was made with David son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah, that the royal sueeession should always pass from father to son, so the sueeession was to pass from Aaron to his deseendants." On the one hand, it is clear in Ben-Sira that the High Priest office is given greater prestige than Davidie kingship; on the other hand, the promise of an etemal priesthood in Ben-Sira is still built on 2 Samuel 7 just as it is in Jeremiah 33. 4QFlor follows in the same interpretative trajeetory; this is especially clear in lines 10-12: i1:lllir n~ 'n,c'pi11 i1:l? i1J:l' n':l ~':l i11i1' i1:l? "J ~,,] ,n:l?cc ~O:l n~ 'n1J':li11 Cll 'C'lli1 "" no~ i1~'i1 p" ,,, i1'i1' ~'i11 :l~" ~,,, i1'i1~ 'J~ C? ['ll"] itz)~ i1i,m tDi" C'C'i1 n'in [~:l J1]'~:l [t:np'] i1:l'in~

10

11 12

(10) "[And] Yahweh tells you that he will build a house for you, and I shall set up yoUf seed after you, and I shall establish his royal throne (11) [for eve]r. I shall be to hirn as a father, and he will be to me as a son." He is 'the Branch of David' who will arise with the Interpreter of the Law, who, (12) [shall arise] in Zi[on in the lJast days.

Here we have two obviously esehatologieal and messianie figures though neither is designated as n'tDr.l "anointed." The "Braneh of David" is a royal figure; the "Interpreter of the Law" a priestly one. And the Dynastie Oracle in 2 Samuel 7 is a promise for both. It is more than eoineidenee that 4QFlor uses the verb ...J,r.llJ "to arise" here sinee it is the same verb used to deseribe the advent of "the anointed of Aaron and of Israel" (e.g., 4QDa 18 iii 12; CDa XII 23; CDb XX 1) as weIl as "the Prinee of the Whole Congregation" (CDa VII 20).

CD MESSIANISM

529

l)ar.nascus l)ocur.nent Turning now to the l)ar.nascus l)ocur.nent, we shall see that the world view of the l)ar.nascus l)ocur.nent is bicephalic in the past, present, and future.

A. Punishr.nent and Restoration Beginning with the first column of CDa, there is a description of God's rejection and exile of "Israel and his sanctuary." 1tD'PCr.l1 ?~itD'C 1')El i'nOi1 1i11:Jrl) itD~ t:l?111C:J ':J

when they rebelled, they forsook hirn, (and so) He hid his face from Israel and from his Sanctuary (CD' I 3). Both the land and the temple are punished. It should be mentioned that Jeremias has argued that the prologue to CDa (I 1-12) is metrical and on these grounds he removes "and from his sanctuary" as a secondary expansion. 16 Jeremias at least regards the expansion to derive from the community, unlike Philip Davies who regards the expression "and from his sanctuary" as a non-Qumranic additionY The basis for such source-critical excisions is extremely thin, and it is for this reason they have not been widely accepted. More than this, the world view represented here is developed throughout the l)ar.nascus l)ocur.nent and consequently is not easily excised. This is immediately evident when comparing the duality of God's punishme nt with restoration. God hides his face fror.n Israel and fror.n his Sanctuary. Naturally then, there will be a corresponding duality in the restoration. When the period of God's wrath is over--390 years later-the scroll says, 1~i~ n~ tD1i'? nl1C!lC tDi1tD 1ii1~C1 ?~itD'C nC~'1

And he caused to sprout from Israel and from Aaron a root of planting to inherit his land (CD' I 7-8).

Jeremias, 151-52. Philip R. Davies, 7he Damascus CoverumL' An Interpretation rif the "Damascus Document" (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1982), 63. This type of source-critical exercise has not been widely accepted in Qumran research. In this case, it would imp1y a wh01e series of source-critical excisions. Davies wou1d then have to go on to suggest that "Aaron" in the expression "the remnant 'from Israel and from Aaron'" (CD' I 7) is possibly another secondary addition, p. 65. 16

17

530

WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

This restoration still refers to a past event since it is couched firmly within an historical account leading up to the rise of the T eacher of Righteousness (CDa I 11).

B. The "Sure House" When the Damascus Document uses the metaphor of a "sure house" it picks up another biblica1 metaphor app1ied both to the Davidic Dynasty and the priesthood. 18 CDa III begins, 'll' C'JEl?O? 'ilO:::l 'Oll ~? 'tl)~ ?~'tl)'~ 10~J n'~ Cil?

P"

And he built far them a sure house in Israel whose like has not arisen from former days until now ... (CDa III 19).

The "sure house" apparently refers to the present Qumran community as is indicated by the contrast with the former times. This wou1d be imp1icitly a reference to a royal house, and not the eternal priesthood. Indeed, it is not fortuitous that the sc roll explicitly states that the "sure house" will be in Israel since "Israel" is a symbol for the secular leadership. In a past context this would refer to the Davidic dynasty, and in a future context it would point to the royal messiah. The echo of a future context may be implied by the choice of the verb ..holJ "to arise" in the expression in the phrase 'lJ1 I:J'J5l?O? 1ilO:::l ,olJ ~? 'tD~ "whose like has not arisen from former days until now." EIsewhere in the scroIls 'OlJ achieves the status of a technical term describing the advent of eschatologica1 leaders (e.g., "the anointed of Aaron and of Israel," "the Branch of David," "the Prince of the Congregation," and "the Interpreter of the Law"). The bib1ica1 antecedent for "sure house" is 2 Samuel 7: 16, C7ill -'f? 1i:::l~ il:,i;!: ~~9:P ~'~~~ C7ill -'f? ~t;1~?901 ~t;l'~ 1rt~~1 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Two other biblical texts further the promise of a "sure house" for David (l Samuel 25:28; 1 Kings 11 :38). However, it should be emphasized that biblical tradition interpreted '9t;1-??'9~1 '9t;1':J 1~~~1 as two separate promises-'9t;1'~ "your house" referring to the temple and '9t;1.??'90 "your kingdom" referring to the Davidic monar18 The new translation by Florentino Garcia Martinez, "And he build for them a sqft hame in Israel," unfortunately misses the nexus with the Dynastie Promise; see Florentino Garcia Martinez, 1he Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden: BrilI, 1996), 35.

CD MESSIANISM

531

chy.19 This is apparent, for example, in the Jeremiah 33: 17-18 which was discussed above. It should not be surprising then that the priests are also promised a "sure house." In 1 Samuel 2:35-in spite of the misdeeds of the priestly line of Eli-we read, 11;l~~ n'~ i? 't:1'~~1 i1tq.t1~ '~~J:;l1

':;li?:;l itP.~,~ 11;l~~ lij!:l '7 't:1b'POi I:l'O;O -?~ 'r:T'~~-'~~7 l'?'Ot;1iJl

I will raise up far rnyself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in rny heart and in rny rnind. And I will build hirn a sure house, and he shall go in and out before rny anointed one forever.

Although the reference in CDa III 19 seems to playoff the promise to the Davidic dynasty when it states that the "sure house will be established in Israel," the context which follows points to the priests. In the lines immediately following the scroll cites and then elaborates on Ezekiel 44: 15 and thereby gives a priestly context to the "sure house." Both are apparently intended. Just as the Dynastie Promise is applied in both biblical and Qumranic literature to both the priest and king, so also the metaphor of the "sure house."20 It is noteworthy that history continues to be interpreted as needing a balance between royal and priestly figures. In column IV 15 ff. we have the explication of the three deadly sins: (1) lust, (2) wealth, and (3) defiling the sanctuary. The Damascus Document makes a point to excuse king David on the first count since "David had not read the sealed book of the Torah" and this was only revealed when Zadok arose (CDa V 2-5). Thus, David's sin was excused because Zadok was not yet guiding him. In a similar vein, the Temple ScroIl revises the "Law of the King" from the book of Deuteronomy so that the priest will write the Torah scroll and instruct the king (compare 11QT 56 12-57 2 with Deuteronomy 17:14-20; also see 4QpIsa 8-10, 15-25; lQSa; 4Q285 5). The dose interplay between king and priest plays a central role in the Book of Chronides in particular and in postexilic Judaism in general. It served as a practical blueprint for the royalist aspirations in the postexilic period, and also is expressed in the eschatological expectations-particularly in the Qumran community. 19 William M. Schniedewind, 7he Word qf God in Transition: From Prophet to Exegete in the Second Temple Period (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1995), 155-60. 20 See further Matitiahu Tsevat, "The Steadfast House," in The Meaning qf the Book qfJob and Other Biblical Studies (New York: Ktav, 1980), 101-17.

532

WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

A balance between secular and priestly roles is evident throughout the Damascus Document. One example of this is the rule for forming groups of ten, or the Minyan (n['J]nOiT :ltmo 1'0) in CDa XII 22-XIII 3: "Oll 'll iTlltz1iiT rp:l iT?~:l C'~?iTnOiT n[u]noiT :ltz1'0 liO iTn ?~itz1" liiT~ 21«n'tz10» iTitz1ll C'P0:l, mitz1ll' C'tz10n, m'~'o, C'El?~? ~ll'O? C'tz1J~ iTitz1ll 'll tz1'~ tz10' ?~ C?'~ ,ptz1' 'iT'El ? 'JiTiT iElO:l P':lO liT~

This is the rule for the assembly of the camps. Those who follow these statutes in the age of wickedness until the coming of the Anointed of Aaron and of Israel shall form groups of at least ten men, "by thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens" (Exodus xvii, 25). And where the ten are, there shall never be lacking a Priest learned in the Book of Meditation; they shall all be ruled by hirn.

A "learned" (P:lO) priest must be there even among the smallest group. In the rule for the larger group, the assembly of an the camps (n1JnOiT ?~ :lrv,o 1'0), both priestly and secular leaders are explicitly mentioned. One priest is appointed to the head22 of the "Many" (C':l,iT), and this person must also be P':lO-"learned in the Book of Meditation and in all the judgments of the LaW."23 The head priest has a counterpart, the 'P:lO, that is, the Overseer or Guardian of all the camps. This person has to master more secular knowledge, namely the "secrets of men and all their language" (CDa XIV, 3-12). The famous Midrash on the WeH further develops this mundane guide. Column VI, line 2 begins, i~:liT n~ 'i'Eln', Cll'oo', c'o~n ?~itz1'O' C'J,:lJ liiT~O cP"

And (God) raised up from Aaron men of learning, and from Israel men of wisdom. He caused them to hear, and they dug the WeIl (CDa

VI 2).

21 CDa, mtDo. 22 CDa reads ~; a better reading is found in 4QDb which reads, tfnI;1i:J "at the head." 23 When God raises up judges for the Qumran community, they come from both Israel and Aaron. This is the rule for the selection of judges: "Ten shall be elected from the congregation for a definite time, four from the tribe of Levi and Aaron, and six from Israel (CDa X 4-6)."

533

CD MESSIANISM

The division here of those "from Israel and from Aaron" is not just a literary ftourish-these represent praetieal divisions. The deseription of those from Aaron as rzl'J':JJ "men of leaming" reealls the deseription of the teaehing priest in the Rule of the Forming of Minyan and the Priest who enrolls the "Congregation" who must be P1:J0 "Ieamed." The midrash eontinues developing two roles. Those who "dig" the weIl are '?~itD' ':JtD t:lil "those who are the eonverts of Israel" and God ealls them t:l'itD "prinees." They are related to Israel, henee they take the title rzl'itD whieh has royal eonnotations. The t:ll1i1 ':J',J "the nobles of the people" are apparently a priestly group assoeiated with the pp,nc, that is, with the person identified with the priestly i1i,nil tDi" "Interpreter of the Law." In ease the duality of priesthood and royalty is lost on the initiate, a pastiehe of prophetie texts in the following eolumn elaborates the royal and priestly figures. Column VII 10-21 cites prophecies from Isaiah (7:17), Amos (5:2627; 9: 11), and Numbers (24: I 7) whieh explicitly develop two messianie figures: T:J~ n':J '?1l1 101l '?1l1 T'?ll 24~1:J' iO~ itD~ ~':JJiI r10~

P

i1'lltD' 'i:Ji:J itD~ C'O' i1i1i1' '?1l0 C'iEl~ itD '?~itD' 'n:J 'JtD iiElil:J i1i1i1' '?1l0 C'iEl~ i10 C1'0 1~:J n~ 'n''?Jm iO~ itD~~ l1El~ fi~'? 1c!)r.l:J c'p'mom :Jin'? 1iJ01i1 C'J10li '?~1 C~~'?O n~o iO~ i~~ l'?Oil n~10 Cil i1i1ni1 'iElO ptDOi ''?i1~0 c~'o'?~ 11'~ n~1 i1i ro10 n~ 'mo'pm i1t:J irD~ C'~':Jli 'iElO Cil c'o'?~ 11'~1 c'o'?nil "J'~1 '?i1Pil ~1i1 l'?Oil n'?ElJiI CiI'i:Ji n~ '?~itD' C!):JtD Cp1 :JPll'O :J~1~ lii :J1ro irD~~ ptDOi ~:JiI i1i1ni1 tDi1i ~1i1 :J~1~m C!):JrDiI '?~itD'O ntD 'D '?~ ~ ipip1 i1011:J1 iIillil '?~ ~'tDJ ~1i1

according to the words of Isaiah son of Arnoz, the prophet, who said, "(God) will bring on you and on your people and on your ancestral house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from J udah [Isaiah 7: I 7]." The two houses ofIsrael-Ephraim turned away from Judah and all who shrink back shall be delivered over to the sword; but those who hold fast shall escape to the land of the north just as it is said, "and I shall exile the sikkut of your king and the kiyyun of your images from the tents of Damascus [Arnos 5:26]." 24 MT, init' ~':J' "tbe Lord shall bring"; perhaps read, '~':J' "[days] shall come," cf. Magen Broshi, ed., The Damascus Document &considered (Jerusalern: Israel Exploration Society, 1992), 23.

534

WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

The books of the Torah are the tabemacle of the king just as it is said, "and I shall raise up the tabemacle of David which is fallen [Amos 9: 11]." The king is the assembly and the bases qf the statues are the Books of the Prophets whose sayings Israel despised. The star is the Interpreter of the Law who comes to Damascus just as it is written, "A star shall co me forth fromJacob and a scepter shall rise from Israel [Numbers 24: l7a]." The scepter is the prince of the entire congregation and when he comes, "He shall smite all the children of Seth [Numbers 24:l7b]." Most important is the concluding prophecy of the scepter and the star which is interpreted as representing two eschatological leaders. Not only is Numbers 24: 17 interpreted as referring to two figures, but even more noteworthy the scepter is interpreted as the royal figure. No doubt this is because the scepter arises "from Israel." It should also be emphasized that the pesher method in general and especially as illustrated by Num. 24: 17 teIls us something of the way in which the expression ,?~.,tv" 1"i1~ n'tvr.l "anointed of Aaron and of Israel" must be understood. There are no rhetorical redundaneies in the Bible for the Qumran interpreters. Thus, the star and the scepter are not merely parallel terms reflecting ancient Canaanite poetic style. Not at all. Rather, each part of the parallelism has its own individual meaning, each part has its own individual referent. Just as in 2 Samuel 7: 16 where the expression ln::l'?r.lr.l' ln':J "your house and your kingdom" are interpreted as referring to two separate institutions~temple and kingdom~so also in Numbers 24: 17 the star and the scepter are two separate individuals~a priestly Interpreter of the Law and the royal Prince of the Congregation. Given this basic methodology in Qumran interpretation,25 it seems quite unlikely that the phrase ,?~.,tv" 1"i1~ n'tvr.l was interpreted as having just one single referent. Given the interpretation of Numbers 24: 17, it is difficult to understand why '?~"tv" 1"i1~ n'tvr.l should refer to one anointed figure. I imagine that the problem goes back to the fixation on the term n'tvr.l itself; as a result, the clear testimony of Numbers 24 pesher is not taken into consideration because it does not explicitly use the term n'tvr.l.

25 This method of interpretation is a basic feature of rabbinic midrash; also see Michael Fishbane, "Use, Authority and Interpretation of Mikra at Qumran," in Compendia Rerum Iadaicum, ed. Martin J. Mulder and Harry Sysling (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 339-77; Geza Vermes, "Bib1e Interpretation at Qumran," Eretz Israel 20 (1989): 184*-91*.

CD MESSIANISM

535

Finally, this pesher should also eall to mind 4QFlor whieh also eites Amos 9: 11 in its development of themes from 2 Samuel 7. The "Interpreter of the Law" is again mentioned, although he arises with the ,~" no~ "Braneh of David" in the last days. I reeall this midrash on 2 Samuel 7 again not only beeause it eites the same text as the Damascus Document here, but also beeause it forms the exegetieal basis for the entire tradition of duality in leadership when the royal Dynastie Promise is extended to the priesthood. This exegetieal tradition is then applied in a whole range of texts. Examples I have eited include the book of Chronicles, Jeremiah 33, and Ben-Sira. 26 Chronicles rewrites 2 Samuel 7 as a perpetual promise for the institutions of the Davidie monarehy and the temple. Jeremiah 33 extends the royal dynastie promise to the priesthood. Ben-Sira piggybaeks the authority and preeminenee of the priesthood on the Dynastie Promise to David-a move whieh paradoxieally subordinates kingship to the priesthood. It is perhaps true that there is no systematie development of messianie beliefs preserved in Qumran doeuments. On the other hand, there seem to be eertain institutional and exegetieal struetures whieh shaped both the mundane and esehatologieal thinking of the eommunity. Foremost was the belief in the division between the seeular leadership of Israel and the priestly leadership assoeiated with Aaron. This bieephalie leadership is expressed by the roles of the Head Priest of the "Many" (t:l~:Jii1) and the Overseer of the Camps. It is also expressed in the last days by the anointed of Aaron and of Israel, or as the Damascus Document deseribes elsewhere, the Interpreter of the Law and the Prinee of the Congregation. I should like to eonclude by reealling an old article by Yigael Yadin eoneerning the relationship of the Serolls to the Epistle to the Hebrews.27 Yadin argues that the Epistle of Hebrews was addressed to a group of Jews formerly belonging to the Qumran eommunity. While Yadin's theory has not found wide aeeeptanee, he does raise some intriguing points. Yadin, for example, argues that the author of Hebrews employs a lengthy diseussion of the figure of Melchizedek in order to "present to his readers Jesus the Messiah-king and 26 Also see my article on interpretative aspeets in the Greek translation, "Textual Critieism and Theologieal Interpretation: A Pro-Temple Tendenz in the Greek Text of Samuel-Kings," Harvard 1heological Review 87 (1994): 107-16. 27 Yigael Yadin, "The Dead Sea Serolls and the Epistle to the Hebrews," in Scripta Hierosolymitana 4 (1958): 36-55.

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WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND

priest-in such manner and terminology as must have been intended to coincide both with their ideas of the Messianic priest and Messianic king," and he further surmises that "this subject is forced upon the author only because his readers' conceptions regarding the Aaronic priestly Messiah make it impossible for them to accept Jesus' unique authority."28 It is now clear that the concept of an Aaronic priestly Messiah was in much wider circulation than the Qumran community. The Dynastic Promise to David was widely considered to include an etemal promise both to the house of David and to the house of Aaron-both for kingship and priesthood. As such, the burden of the Epistle to the Hebrews was in part to explain to a broader Jewish audience how there could be only one anointed figure who combined both royal and priestly roles instead of the pattern idealized in biblical literature and early Judaism of both royal and priestly anointed leaders. Certainly, there was a precedent for the fusion of the royal and priestly offices with the Hasmonaeans, but questions of legitimacy always circled about the Hasmonaean priest-kings. In the final analysis, it is the idea of a single priest-king or its eschatological expression that is unusual and needs explaining. The idea of two anointed leaders-one royal and one priestly-was weH entrenched in ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism so its eschatological expression in the Qumran community is hardly remarkable. The Damascus Document evidences this duality in leadership as the legacy of the past, the model of the present, and the hope for the future.

28

Ibid., 44.

MESSIANIC FORGIVENESS OF SIN IN CD 14:19 (4Q266 10 I 12-13) M. BAUMGARTEN Baltimore Hebrew Universiry jOSEPH

There is an interesting Talmudic account (b. Sanh. 38b) of Rabbi Akiba's efforts to interpret the multiple thrones in chapter seven of the book of Daniel. He first suggested that one was for the Ancient of Days and another for David. This was rejected out of hand as an affront to the divine presence. He then proposed that the two thrones represented different divine attributes, but this, too, was dismissed as unacceptable by R. Elazar b. Azariah, who exclaimed, "Akiba, why are you meddling in Haggada? Keep rather to the laws of leprosy and tent defi1ement!" Those who know of my efforts to explore various aspects of Qumran religious law may view as ill-advised this venture into the nebulous realm of theology, especially that of the intensively debated topic of messianism. It might be appropriate to underline ab initio the very circumscribed objective of this paper, which is to determine the text and meaning of the messianic reference found in CD 14: 18-19 in light of the reading found in 4Q266, one of the early Cave 4 manuscripts of the Damascus Document. The medieva1 text of Genizah MS A reads: J itD~

C't!lEltDC"

tD1iEl jm[

J CJill iEl::l'i '?~itD'i lii1~

n{'tDC

18 19

The restoration of n['tDC was already suggested by Schechter, land on the basis of three paral1els in CD, the reading '?~itD" lii1~ n['tDC was generally accepted by subsequent commentators. It was also recognised that after t:J'l!l~tD1:li1 tD'i~ there must have followed an allusion to the present laws in the premessianic age, such as Rabin's restoration, "in which [they shall walk during the epoch of wickedness, until there shall arise the Messi]ah of Aaron and Israel."2 I Solomon Schechter, Fragments qf a Zadnlrite Work (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910), 54. 2 Chaim Rabin, The Zadokite Documents (Oxford: Clarendon, 1954), 70.

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JOSEPH M. BAUM GARTEN

There was much less clarity among scholars conceming the subject of the verb '~::J't Syntactically, the most natural supposition should have been that it was the n'rDr.:l just mentioned in the immediately preceding context. However, certain other considerations prevented scholars from accepting this straightforward conclusion. One was already given by R. H. Charles in 1913: "Since in the other four passages where atonement is mentioned [in CD] God is the agent, we conclude that it is so here."3 The cogency of this argument is considerably lessened by the fact that these four other passages are historieal, rather than eschatological in character. That the writer of CD may have conceived of God in the future using a soteriological agent for atonement should not apriori be dismissed as a possibility. Moreover, God is nowhere mentioned in our passage. True, Louis Ginzberg, proposed to remedy this lack by emending ,j:n.v '~::J" '?~'ill" l"il~r.:l n'illr.:l '?~ n'?rD' 'rD~ ,.v / but that was in an earlier age, when textual emendation was held to be a respectable scholarly vocation. Ginzberg's motives for resorting to this correction were apparently twofold. One was his understanding of the designation l'il~ n['rDr.:l '?~'rD" as referring to two messiahs, one priestly and one royal. In this he is still followed by a substantial number of contemporary scholars, although Martin Abegg has recently caHed for a reassessment of this messianic duality in Qumran writings other than the Serekh ha-Yal)ad. 5 The need for such reassessment is, I believe, underlined by the apparent combination of "priests and kings" among the descendants of Levi in the Cave 4 fragments of an Aramaie Levi apocryphon. 6 Moreover, the messianic Rufe qf the Congregation, which is often cited as exemplif)ring the two messiahs concept, actually puts the Messiah of Aaron in the cardinal position as the head of the entire congregation ofIsrael '?~'ill' m.v '?,::J rD~"[:J li11::Jill (1 ~a 2: 12). However, since Ginzberg held '?~'ill" l'il~ n['rDr.:l in CD to denote two messiahs, he could not take take them as the subjects of the verb '~::J'" in the singular. 3 Robert H. Charles, 7he Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha qf the Old Testament in English (Oxford: Clarendon, 1913), 2:832. 4 Louis Ginzberg, Eine unbekannte jüdische Sekte (New York: Ktav, 1922), 129. 5 Martin G. Abegg, Jr., "The Messiah at Qumran: Are We Still Seeing Double?" DSD 2/2 (1995): 125-44. 6 The preliminary Qumran Aramaie concordance, s.v. l?~ (2285), cites from a Testament qf Levi the phrase l1']iin r::l?~' r~ii::l r"j~; contrast the Greek T Levi 8: 14, where kingship and "a new priesthood" are to rise from Judah.

MESSIANIC FORGIVENESS

539

Ginzberg's other motive was frankly theological and he articulated it in categorical fashion: "Ein 'Sünden vergebender Messias' wäre nur in einem christlichen Werke denkbar."7 Hartmut Stegemann appears to lend support to this theological axiom when he writes: "Sündenvergebung aber kann nach alttestamentlichen Zeugnis kein Mensch gewähren, weder ein Priester noch ein Prophet, weder der Messias noch der gerechteste oder heiligste aller Frommen, sondern stets nur Gott allein (vgl. Mk 2,7)."8 This view was according to the Gospels (cf. Matthew 9:3) shared by the scribes who looked upon Jesus' forgiving of sins as tantamount to blasphemy. We would, however, caution that that which was blasphemy for the presumably Pharisaic scribes, may not necessarily have been blasphemy for the visionaries of Qumran. There are two Qumran works which display a distinct proclivity to attribute the divine roles of judgment and forgiveness to mediating figures. The first, 11 QMelchizedek, describes him as the archangel presiding in judgment as ~'m?~ over the divine assembly of Psalm 82. Melchizedek is to pro claim liberty for all the Sons of Light by releasing them from the burden of their sins. This will take place on the Day of Atonement at the end of the tenth jubilee, the time preordained far atonement to the Sons of Light ')::1 ?,;:, ?17 ,::1 ,~;:,? ["~l (1lQMelch 2:7-8). Some commentators have tried to mitigate this radical arrogation of divine power by an angelic intermediary, suggesting that ,~;:, has here the sense of "making expiation." Since Melchizedek was a priest he could obtain atonement by performing the appropriate cultic rituals. However, this approach fails to reckon with the fact that no such priestly function is mentioned in the text. It is the role of universal judgment which is attributed to the king of ~edeq who is to bring about the conviction of Belial and his cohorts as weIl as the granting of forgiveness for the Sons of Light. While Melchizedek is portrayed as a divine hypostasis, we now have another figure whose redemptive role is described as emerging on the plane of human activity. We owe to Emile Puech the publication of 4Q541, a fragmentary Aramaic text concerning the eschatological priest also known from Testament rf Levi 18. The best preserved Ginzberg, Eine unbekannte jüdische Sekte, 129. Hartmut Stegemann, Die Essener, QJlmran, ]ohannes der Tätifer und ]esus (Freiburg: Herder, 1993), 303. 7

8

540

JOSEPH M. BAUMGARTEN

continuous text is found in fragment 9 which describes the illuminational teaching of the future priest: "His word is like the word of the heavens, and his teaching according to the will of God. His sun will illuminate the world and his fire will bum to all the ends of the earth."9 Despite this glorification, he is depicted as the object of rejection and calumny on the part of his antagonists, much like the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. Yet, he is to atone for all the children of his generation, i1i' 'j:J '?,::J '?l] i~::J'l Here, too, scholars have been inclined to limit the eschatological priest's atonement function to expiation through sacrifice, although neither 4Q541 frg. 9, nor its parallel, Testament of Levi 18 make mention of any priestly sacrifice. The claim that '?l] i~::J always refers to ritual expiation is contradicted by the occasional usage in both biblical and Qumran Hebrew of this phrase for divine forgiveness. 1O Moreover, even if we take i~::J in the sense of expiation, the allusion to the ho stile disparagement suffered by the priest suggests that like the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53: 10) his humiliation was itself considered to constitute an l:Irv~, a guilt offering for the sins of his generation. Neither Melchizedek nor the eschatological priest are designated as messiahs. In 11 QMelchizedek the term mii1 n'rv~ is used for the herald (irv:J~), who has a distinct role. Yet, these eschatological figures illustrate weIl the tendency in Second Temple apocalyptic to assign divine functions such as judgment and atonement to heavenly or earthly intermediaries. This must be considered in assessing the nature of the messianic atonement referred to in CD 14: 18-19. We have seen how from the beginning the theological axioms toward which both Jewish and Christian scholars were predisposed influenced their understanding of this passage. It may be that such influence still lingers and should be consciously evaluated. Thus one finds repeatedly the presumption that the verb i~::J" in CD 14: 19 refers to expiation obtained by the priestly Messiah presumably by offering the prescribed sacrifices or performing the atonement rites. This opinion is expressed by scholars who, in consonance with others, take '?~irv', lii1~ n['rv~ to signity two messiahs; yet they attribute the 9 Emile Puech, "Fragments d'un apocryphe de Levi et le personnage eschatologique: 4QTestLevi c' d(?) et 4QAJa," in 7he Madrid Qymran Congress: Proceedings qf the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid 18-21 March, 1991, ed.Julio Trebolle Barrera and Luis Vega Montaner (Leiden: Brill, 1992), 466. 10 Jeremiah 18:23; CD 4:10; 4Q221 4:4.

541

MESSIANIC FORGIVENESS

singular verb ':l~" to the priestly Messiah because he is the one who can perforrn the cultic acts necessary for atonement. If so, we may ask, leaving the grammatical problem aside, why is the Messiah of Israel mentioned altogether? Let us now see how the interpretation of this passage is affected by the reading found in 4Q266 10 i rv1iEl i1n

?~"1rv'1 11ii1~ mb6 ';1100 vaca! [

i3]19 ]0

i~ 1:l'C!)OOl:lii] nc!)n1 im[XlO 1:l~113] iEl~'1]

I:l~

1C!)ijrv'

11 12 13

The significant addition here is the phrase nC!)m i1n[JO "meal and sin offerings" which follows after the required restoration of [om.11 ':l~"l. In his edition of the Genizah manuscripts for which he used the Cave 4 fragments, Elisha Qjmron restored h~C!)m m[JO OJ,.11 ':l~" and left it at that. He perhaps took n~C!)m i1nJO to be the compound subject of the preceding verb, but this is syntactically very difficult. Clearly apreposition is needed before n~C!)m i1nJO. It was suggested to me that a bet might be restored before i1nJO, thus yielding the sense through "meal and sin offerings." This may appear straightforward, but it raises the question as to why the coming of the Messiah is needed for the bringing of regular atonement sacrifices. Moreover, in Genizah MS A, the curvature of the base of the letter after OJ,.11 fits a mem rather than a bet, as Qjmron has properly indicated. The reading which best conforrns to the criteria of both the Genizah and the Cave 4 MSS is nC!)m i1n[JOO OJ".11 ':l~"J "and he (the Messiah) will atone for their sin better than meal and sin offerings." This comparative connotation of the prepositional mem is supported by a significant parallel. The Communiry Rule looks forward to the time when the ya~ad will be established as a House of Holiness for Aaron and a Communal House for Israel, "to atone far iniquitous guilt and for sinful unfaithfulness and as good will for the earth better than the flesh of bumtofferings and the fat of sacrifices" (I QS 9:4), ?.110, .11tD:l noo~ ?.11 ':l~? n:n ':l?no, n,?,.11 ,tD:lO r'~? 1'~'?' n~C!)n. The prepositional mems in this passage have been rendered by some translators in the privative sense, "without the flesh of bumt-offerings and without the fat of sacrifices." Jaacov Licht took them to denote comparison, "better than," which is preferable as a more commonly used connotation of 10. In either case, this 1QS passage is relevant to our text not only grammatically, but conceptually. Both envision a time when the perfection

542

J0SEPH M. BAUM GARTEN

of priestly and lay institutions will become a source of atonement which will be available without the need for ritual sacrifice. " In CD 14: 19 it is the Messiah of Aaron and Israel, standing at the head of the total community, both priestly and lay, who will have the role of providing atonement. He will do so not through any prescribed ritual, but as the divinely anointed redeemer through whom forgiveness of sin will be granted. Is such a delegation of the divine power of atonement to the Messiah conceivable in a pre-Christian Jewish text? On the basis of the Gospels, one may infer that the contemporary scribes would have viewed it as bordering on blasphemy. We also noted the disapproval of later tannaitic sages of any suggestion assigning a judgment throne in the heavenly court to David. In the same context the Talmud sharply rejects the notion that Metatron, the mysterious angel whose name was associated with that of God (Exodus 23:20-21) had any discretionary authority (b. Sanh. 38b). In apocalyptic literature, however, one finds considerably less restraint in assigning the function of divine judgment to surrogate figures. This is well illustrated by the role of the Elect One or the Messiah in the Parables qf Enoch, whose pre-Christian origin is now widely accepted. As Nickelsburg observes, "the Elect One is the agent of God's judgment and as such is depicted with imagery that the early chapters of Enoch ascribe to God himself."12 Michael Knibb notes that both the Similitudes qf Enoch and 4 Ezra "assign almost divine status to their respective messianic figures."13 Strack and Billerbeck early on made the same observation and explained it as due to the fact that the Messiah, looked upon as the preexistent figure for the redemption of God's people, ultimately assumed functions originally reserved for the Creator. 14 11 John Collins has in private conversation raised the valid question whether the parallel with I QS 9:4 is not weakened by the fact that this passage deals with the atoning value of the institutions of the community in the present age, while CD 14: 19 refers to the messianie era, when a purified sacrificial cult would presumably be restored. Granting the centrality of some form of eschatological temple, divinely or humanly built, as in the visions of 4Qflorilegium and the Temple Scroll, it nevertheless seems inevitable that the emphasis on prayer and "perfeetion of way" as superior offerings had its effect on Qumran concepts of ultimate atonement. 12 George W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981), 215. 13 Michael A. Knibb, "Messianism in the Pseudepigrapha in the Light of the Scrolls," DSD 2/2 (1995): 170-1. 14 Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch (Munieh: Beck, 1922), 1:68.

MESSIANIC FORGIVENESS

543

The Qumran tendency to assign divine functions to surrogate personifications is, as we have seen, weIl illustrated by the glorification of Melchizedek as the one who presides over the celestial court. This surrogation of the ro1e of Elohim, who is called upon in Psalm 82:8 to rise and judge the earth hirnself, f'tl:ii iiC!l~tD t:l'ii'?tI: iiC'P, wou1d, I suspect, have been particularly jarring to some of the Tannaim and presumab1y also their Pharisaic forerunners. At the end of the mishnaic tractate dealing with the Day of Atonement there is appended a haggadic homily, not found in all the manuscripts, which is attributed to R. Akiba: "Fortunate are you Israel! Before whom do you purify yourselves, and who purifies you? Your Father who is in heaven" (m. Yoma 8, 9). Fourth century homilists drew a simi1ar lesson from Isaiah 35: 10: "And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, not the redeemed by Elijah, not the redeemed by the royal Messiah, but the redeemed by the Lord."15 That God was the supreme judge of all mankind and the ultimate source of forgiveness was, of course, not denied in Qumran theology. This is affirmed repeatedly in the Hodayot and in the lyrical prayers appended to the Communiry Rufe: "For with God is the judgment of every living being" (1 QS 10: 18); "(By) his judgment I am chastened according to my iniquities ... and to God I call "My Righteousness" 'P'~ (lQS 10:11). Yet, this did not prevent Qumran teachers from attributing the dominion of all the Sons of Righteousness to the Prince of Lights and personifying P'~, Righteousness, as a divine warrior who will rejoice on high when he overcomes the dark forces of Belial (1QM 17:6-8). In this connection I tried some years ago to redirect attention to Josephus's statement concerning Essene belief: 1tEpt~uiXTJ'tov llYOUj.1EVOt 'tou ÖtKatOU 'tTJV 1tpocroÖov (Antiquities 18.18). Strugnell and Feldman pointed out that 1tpocroÖov must be taken in the sense of "approach" rather than "rewards," which usually requires the plural. Feldman translates: "[They] believe that they ought to strive especially to draw near to righteousness," taking ÖtKatoV as equiva1ent to ÖtKatocruVTJ. 16 However, "to draw near" would be better with 1tpO~ 'to ÖtKatoV,

1he Midrash on Psalms, tr. William G. Braude (New Haven: Yale, 1959),2:196. John Strugnell, "F1avius Josephus and the Essenes: Antiquities XVIII. 18-22," JBL 77 (1958): 109; Louis H. Feldman, trans., Josephus IX, Loeb edition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965), 15-16; Joseph M. Baumgarten, "The Heavenly Tribunal and the Personification of $edeq in Jewish Apocalyptic," Aufstieg und NUidergang der RiJmischen Welt 11.19.1 (1979): 219-39. 15

16

544

JOSEPH M. BAUMGARTEN

rather than the genitive. In view of the messianic belief in the coming of one who wiH teach Righteousness P'~il il'" (CD 6: 11), perhaps Feldman's alternative interpretation: "[They] believe that the approach of the righteous one is highly to be prized," is worthy of renewed consideration. Such an eschatological credo would fit rather weH fol10wing Josephus's reference to the Essene belief in immortality. In conclusion, the receptivity in Qumran eschatology for agents of divine salvation, whether angelic or human, removes the basis for the scholarly reluctance to read the now more fuHy available text of CD 18:19 in anything other than its literal sense. The Messiah of Aaron and Israel, that is of the total eschatological community, wou1d with his coming atone for any sins resulting from the previously imperfeet knowledge of the Law. He would do so not through ritual sacrifice, ncom iln[J~, but through his illuminational presence as the embodiment of divine good will for the earth.

SOME REMARKS ON 4Q246 AND 4Q521 AND QUMRAN MESSIANISM EMILE PUECH

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Messianism is surely one of the main themes whieh have drawn the attention of seholars of the Dead Sea SeraIls sinee the first publieations 1 and it eontinues still to be a subjeet of passionate debate. In this note my aim is not to do a survey of Qumran Messianism but to eoneentrate attention on some specifie but important points related to this topie in two reeendy published manuseripts, 4Q246 and 4Q521. I 4Q246-4QPseudo-Daniel d

Sinee its preliminary publieation,2 the unique fragment of 4Q246 or 4Qfseudo-Daniel d has been the objeet of intensive investigation,3 mainly may be beeause it has been sometimes designated as the "Son if God" text, 4 and thus more easily included among the Qumran messianie eompositions. 5 1 Joseph A. Fitzmyer, 7he Dead Sea Scrolls. Major Publications and Tools Jor Sturfy (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 164-67;JohnJ. Collins, "Bibliography," in 7he Scepter and the Star: 7he Messiahs qf the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Ancient Literature (New York: 1995), 216-4l. 2 Emile Puech, "Fragment d'une apocalypse en arameen (4Q246 = Pseudo-Dan d ) et le «Royaume de Dieu»," RB 99 (1992): 98-13l. 3 For a bibliography, see Qjimran Cave 4. XVIL· Parabiblical Texts, Part 3, ed. George Brooke et al. (D]D 22; Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 165-84; Edward M. Cook, "4Q246," BulletinJor Biblical Research 5 (1995): 43-66; Annette Steudel, "The Etemal Reign of the People of God----Collective Expectations in Qumran Texts (4Q246 and 1QM)," RevQ 17 (1996): 507-25; John J. Collins, "The Messiah as the Son of God," in 7he Scepter and the Star, 154-72. 4 See particularly Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "4Q246: the 'Son qf God' Document from Qumran," Biblica 74 (1993): 153-74; John J. Collins, "The Messiah as the 'Son qf God' Text from Qumran," in From ]esus to lohn. Essays on ]esus and Christology in Honour qf Marinus de Jonge, ed. Martinus C. de Boer (Sheffield: JSNTSupS. 84, 1993), 65-82. 5 Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn, "Röm 1,3 f und der davidische Messias als Gottessohn in den Qumrantexten," in Lese-Zeichen fir Annelies Find~ zum 65. Geburtstag am 15. März 1984, ed. Christoph Burchard and G. Theißen (Heidelberg: 1984), 103-13; John J. Collins, citati, idem, "The Son of Man in the First Century Judaism," NTS

546

EMILE PUECH

If the copy of the manuscript can be paleographically dated around 25 B.C., the composition of this Aramaie scroll is surely older and pre-Qumranic. Nothing of what is preserved indicates a date after 150 B.C. and an Essene origin. On the contrary, the similarity of the language and of the conte nt with Aramaie and Hebrew chapters of the book of Daniel greatly favor a date and an origin before the installation of the Essene community on the Dead Sea shore. It may be a product of the Hasidic movement. 6 The unique mention of 'm '[ in 4Q246 and in lQM I 5; III 13 or of nMyr, 'swr, and ~rym are not a sufficient proof for such a conclusion (see 'mk in Daniel 12, etc.). But it is true in my opinion that 1QM mayaiso be dependent on 4Q246 as it depends on the book of Daniel. 7 Thus this text cannot give us any information, in the case it could have contained some, on Qumran messianism. This can explain why the first editor, J6zef Milik, in his lecture at Harvard University in 1972, proposed to interpret the "son of God" as a negative figure and to identify hirn as the Seleucid king Alexander Balas. But for historical background I have preferred a somewhat earlier Seleucid period and identified hirn with Antiochus IV Epiphanes, son of Antiochus III the Great, even if at the end of the preliminary edition I did not totally exclude a possible messianic interpretation. 8 38 (1992): 448-66; John J. Collins, "Messiahs in Context: Method in the Study of Messianism in the Dead Sea Serails," in Methods qf Investigation qf the Dead Sea Serolls and the Khirbet Qymran Site. Present Realities and Future Prospects, ed. Michael O. Wise et al. (New York: Academy of Sciences, 1994), 213-27; Frank M. Cross, 7he Ancient library qfQymran and Modern Biblical Studies (Sheffield: Academic, 1995), 188-91; Craig A. Evans, "A Note on the 'First-Born Son' of 4Q}69," DSD 2 (1995): 185-201, esp. 189-200; Craig A. Evans, "The Recently Published Dead Sea Scrolls and the Historical Jesus," in Stu4Jing the Historical ]esus: Evaluations qf the State qf Current Research, ed. Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (Leiden: Brill, 1994), 547-65;JohnJ. Collins, '''He Shall not Judge by What his Eyes See': Messianic Authority in the Dead Sea Scrolls," DSD 2 (1995): 145-62, esp. 155; Frank M. Crass, "Notes on the Doctrine of the Two Messiahs at Qumran and the Extracanonical Daniei Apocalypse (40146)," in Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Serolls: Coriference on the Textsfrom the]udean Desert, ]erusalem, 30 April 1995, ed. Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 1-13. 6 This text found in Cave 4 can in no way be called "sectarian," pace Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "The Aramaie 'Son of God,'" 175; Collins, Seepter and the Star, 166-67: because there is nothing messianic in this text, the given arguments are void. 7 For the dependence of I QM on Daniel, see, for instance, Alfred Mertens, Das Buch Daniel im Lichte der Texte vom Toten Meer (Stuttgart: Echter, 1971). 8 See my conclusion in RB (1992): 130: "Cette interpretation aurait I'avantage de ne pas faire intervenir une figure 'etrangere' dans le recit. .. Elle expliquerait au mieux les proximites et dependances de Dn." and 131: "Mais dans I'un et I'autre cas ... le peuple de Dieu vivra dans la justice et la paix messianique ... sans qu'on

MESSIANISM

547

Translation qf i 4-ii 4 5 6 7 8

9

... Ihrough] strong [kings] oppression will come on the earth [It will be war between people ]and great slaughters in the provinces. [1he kings will mise] and the king of Assur and of Egypt [will unite.] [Another/ last king will arise and hirnself] he will be great on the earth. [Ihe kings] will do [peace with hirn] and all will serve [hirn. [Ihe son qf the gre]at [Lord] he will be called and by this name he will be designated, ii Ison of God he will be said and son of the Most High they will call hirn. Like the 2meteors of the vision, so will be their kingdom. For years they will rule on 3the earth and they will trample all: People will trample on people and province on province, 4 vacat until the people of God arise and will make everyone rest from the sword. vacat 5Its kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all its ways in truth. It will jud[ge] 6the earth with truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth 7and all the provinces will pay it homage. The great God hirns elf will be Bits strength and He will make war on its behalf. He will give nations in its hands and all of them 9He will cast down before it. Its sovereignty is everlasting sovereignty and all abysses of[ iii I

I have emphasized over and over again the difficulty of introducing a positive figure or character in the well-planned paratactic structure before the two intervals of ii 4 by which the scribe had intentionally indicated some important changes. But some authors do not pay attention to these scribal marks and are impressed only by the puisse savoir si un messie est indirectement implique." See also my "Notes sur le fragment d'apocalypse 4Q246- h]ands in their midst, and had told them all the[ precepts(?),

4- 5 -

••• a]ll the earth, and there will not be any more guilt in the land, and there will not b[e any more ... (?) ... destruc]tion and great envy, all the earth will be like moth, and all who li[ve there will ... ... , the earth will be quiet for ever, and those who live [ there] will ... and it will be for him(?)]a beloved son, and they will seek it all, and ri[ghteousness ... (?)

6 7-

L.1-3 is formed as a dispute in prophetic/ deuteronomistic style. God's election and acts of salvation are contrasted with the disobedience of the people. L.l ...,riJ[' 11["~. The first preserved sentence refers to God's election, probably referring to Zion. Only a trace is preserved of the bel in ...,riJ[', but among words ending with ...,n-, ...,n:l seems to be the only option (BH uses ...,ntD on man seeking God, not about God's electing activity). This suggests the reconstruction Jf["~. The mention of P"~ in the continuation supports this reconstruction: Isaiah 1:2127 connects P"~/i1P"~ with Jerusalem; God expected righteousness from his people and his city (for the connection between Zion and i1P"~, cf. also Isaiah 28:16-17; 33:5; 54:14; 61:3, 10-11; 62:1; Zechariah 8:8, and below on possible reconstructions of line 7). We reconstruct the imperfeet form ...,n:l' (the lacuna after Jf["~ has space for one letter only). The use of the imperfect for the past tense would be somewhat irregular in Qumran Hebrew, but also J:I,tD.."." ~,,?, in the following line must be interpreted in the past tense. The divine choice of Jerusalem is mentioned in many biblical

580

TORLEIF ELGVIN

passages, see e.g., 1 Kings 8:44; 11:13, 32, 36; 2 Kings 21:7; Psalm 132: 13 F~:J iWl' ,n:J-':J. Zion is hanDy mentioned in writings composed by the ya~ad. Exceptions are the War Seroll, 4Ql77 (4QMidrEschatb), and 4QßarkiNafshi, which testifies to the end-time hope connected to Zion; 1QM XII 13; XIX 5; 4Ql77 12-13 i 10 '01V' '1V"p' '?~ ,~'" m':J ]C''?1V'''' iln01V:J 1"~ '~:J'; 4Q434 (4QßarkiNafshi a) 1 i 6 '1V~ 1V'~:J O']?1V"':J oom' p ,jomn 'o~. The same theme recurs within the wider Qumran literature: 2Qj 4Qj 5Qjfew Jernsalem, 4QWords if the Luminaries,5 11QPsa 154:20,6 4Q462 (4Qjfarrative C), and not least 11 QPsa Apostrophe to '0 ['J~ ':> 'C!lEltDO:1 ilO"1 'J'D1' 11tD'?:1 ] '0 '?':>' '0 'nEltD ["1:1:>'?1 ':1 ~:1' ~1'?1 0'tD1]'P'? Di 1'?Oil "" [~1'? 1'?0 'J:1 OD "1:1:>1 "ODO O''?~ OD 'J]~ ':' ilO" ~1'? 4. •• ~1'? 0'i'El1~ on:>1 ''? i' ]f6(~) rEl:1 ... 0""'] iior [ ]

I

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Translation I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

[... 1 am r]eckon[ed with the angels, my dwelling is in] the holy council.] Wh[o has been accounted despicable like me? And who] has been oppressed like [me? And who] has been shunned [by men] like me? [And who] compares to m[e in enduring] evil? [No teaching] compares to my teaching. [Far] 1 sit [. .. in heaven] Who is like me, among the angels? [ Who could cut off my words? And who] could measure the [flow] of my lips? Who[ can associate with me in speech, and thus compare with my judgment? I] am the beloved of the King, a companion of the ho[ly ones, and none can accompany me. And to my glory] none can compare, far 1 [have my station with the angels, and my glory with the sons of the King. Neither] with gold will crown myself, nor [with refined gold .... [...] Sing, [0, beloved ones ...

In 4Q4 71 b frg. 4 only one line was preserved, with the word: ]"or [. This word can be linked to the beginning of the hymn which follows the Self-Glorffication Hymn in 4QHa line 13: 1"0" ~"", "or

,,'tD

3 The script of 4