Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

Spirits,” and end with a thanksgiving hymn, whereas the version preserved

in 4Q259 ends with a calendrical text(}Otot).

The groups depicted in the main rules differ in various respects. The

Damascus Documentdescribes different groups but focuses on the congre-

gation of those Israelite households or families who lived in cities and

camps throughout the land, and who committed themselves to return to

the Law of Moses as it should apply to all Israel, according to its correct in-

terpretation. TheRule of the Communityuses another word,yaFad,to refer

to groups at different locations. It never refers to women or families but

only to the “men of the community.” The work mentions an oath to return

to the Law of Moses, stresses communal activities, emphasizes the handing

over of one’s property to the inspector, and describes a complex admission

procedure. Both rules refer to a subgroup that aspires to a higher degree of

holy perfection, but whereas this is mentioned only in passing in CD 7, the

Rule of the Communitydiscusses at length a real or ideal subgroup of

twelve men and three priests who in some way had a higher degree of holi-

ness. The example of theRule of the Congregation,which refers to both

“the congregation” and “the council of theyaFad,” cautions that one can-

not make an easy distinction between the congregation and theyaFad.

Several manuscripts in the corpus may be directly connected to theDa-

mascus Documentor theCommunity Rule,due to shared organizational ex-

pressions that are not found elsewhere. Thus, for example, the term “the

Community” is very rare outside of theRule of the Communityand theRule

of the Congregation,and the few other manuscripts with this term would

seem to refer to the same group. This goes for several of the pesharim, for

legal texts likeMiscellaneous Rules(4Q265) andHarvesting(4Q284a), and

for the liturgical textBlessings,which includes blessings and curses that are

very similar to those mentioned in 1QS 2. Another document,Rebukes of the

Overseer(4Q477), records rebukes as described both in theDamascus Docu-

mentand theRule of the Community,and mentions theyaFad.The Teacher

of Righteousness appears in theDamascus Documentand has a special role

in several pesharim, specifically theHabakkuk Pesher,which also refers to

theyaFad.The fragmentary manuscriptsCommunal Ceremony(4Q275)

andRule(5Q13), which mention the “overseer” and refer to an annual cere-

mony, may be connected to either of the main rules.

Taken in themselves, these different rules give an unprecedented in-

sight into aspects of the formation, organization, practices, and beliefs of

early Jewish groups or movements on the basis of their different interpre-

tation of the Law.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:04 PM