nora
(Nora)
#1
Aharon Shemesh
There is a remarkable similarity between this passage from Jubilees
and the one quoted above from the Rule of the Community in both rhetoric
and the content of the injunctions listed in them. We should first consider
the list of phrases Abraham used to condemn Gentile deeds. He described
their actions as "defiled," "despicable," and "abominable," which are exactly
the same terms lQS uses to depict his opponents' behavior. According to the
Rule, a nonmember of the community is forbidden to touch the pure food
"for (he remains) impure among all those who transgress his words," and the
community's members are warned not to "lean on any worthless works
("?3n 'TO), for worthless ("73H) are all who do not know his covenant."
Finally, we must point out the similarity between the two in describing the
fate of the enemy. The author of lQS promises that "all those who spurn his
word he will destroy from the world" while Jubilees predicts: "And for all of
those who worship idols and for the hated ones, / there is no hope in the
land of the living; / because they will go down in Sheol."
As for the content of the injunctions themselves: Abraham instructs
Jacob to separate himself from the Gentiles, not to eat with them, not to be
have as they do, and not to associate himself with them. These prohibitions
are very similar to those of the Rule of the Community in both content and
order. This is especially evident in the Cave 4 version where, as in Jubilees,
the injunction to "separate from all the men of deceit" is immediately fol
lowed by the prohibition: "One will not eat with him "TriM." The word be-
yahad in this sentence is not a reference to the sect (as translated in the
Charlesworth edition: "within the community") but means "together," as in
the following sentence: "No one may be united (IIV) with him in his work
or his wealth." In the Cave 1 version, this interdiction is followed by the ad
monition "lest he burden him with guilty iniquity," which shows that the fo
cus is not on economic cooperation as such but on the fear that such a part
nership may lead the member of the sect to be influenced by an outsider and
subsequently fall into error and thus parallel the injunction in Jubilees: "Do
not become associates of theirs."
It seems, then, that very much as was the case for 4(3265, Jubilees is the
source for this piece of legislation in the Rule of the Community. Like the
author of 4Q265, the Rule of the Community adjusts the original material he
drew from Jubilees to his sectarian worldview: what Jubilees prohibits as
separatism from Gentiles — "do not eat with them, and do not perform
deeds like theirs" — the Rule of the Community prohibits as disassociation
from Jews who are not part of the sect — "No one must either eat or drink
anything of their property" and "No one may be united with him in his duty
