jubilees, Qumran, and the Essenesand the immortality of the soul,^3 the concept of holy and evil angels and spirits
and the struggle between them,^4 a 364-day calendar,^5 the association of sin
with moral impurity in the pursuit of atonement, holiness, and eternal bliss.^6
One may also add Sabbath interdictions common to Jubilees and the Damas
cus Document 10-11,^7 as well as specific sacrificial laws common to Jubilees,
the Temple Scroll, and MMT.^8
The Qumran sects are usually identified with the Essenes, who were
described by Philo, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder: they share tension in rela
tion to the temple, an emphasis on moral behavior, self-restraint, purity, and
prayer. The Essenes and the yahad share common property, companionship,
gradual admission, and according to most scholars, celibacy. The avoidance
of oil (since it is thought to defile) and restrictions on the Sabbath, and the
role of overseers or officials, are common to the Essenes and the Damascus
Covenant.^9
- Jub 23:30-31. For Qumran, see iQHa 9 [Sukenik 3]:2i-23; J. Licht, The Thanksgiving
Scroll (in Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1957), 83-84; E. Puech, La Croyance des
Esseniens en la Vie Future: Immortalite, Resurrection, Vie Eternelle? (Paris: Gabalda, 1993),
366-75. - Jub 10:11; 18:9; 48:2-3,12-19; lQS 3:18-26; 4:1-2. Cf. CD 5:17-19. Similarities between
angelology in Jubilees and Qumran, e.g., the War Rule, the Hodayot, were noted by
D. Dimant, "bnei shanyim — torat ha-mal*akhim beseferer ha-yovlim le'or kitvei a'dat
qumran," in Tribute to Sara: Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Kabbala, ed. M. Idel,
D. Dimant, and S. Rosenberg (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1994), 110-18. For these general theologi
cal similarities, see also J. C. VanderKam, Textual and Historical Studies in the Book of Jubi
lees, HSM 14 (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977), 260-80. - For the general resemblance between the two calendars, see, e.g., J. C. VanderKam,
"The Temple Scroll and the Book of Jubilees" in Temple Scroll Studies, ed. G. J. Brooke,
JSPSup 7 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989), 211-36. This consensus was first disputed by L. Ravid,
"The Book of Jubilees and Its Calendar — a Reexamination," DSD 10 (2003): 371-94. Ravid
has shown that many of the liturgical characteristics of the Qumranic calendar are unat
tested in Jubilees, but he did not prove that there were actual contradictions between the
two. - Cf. also G. Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways be
tween Qumran and Enochic Judaism (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1998), 93-98. - L. H. Schiffman, Law, Custom, and Messianism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (in Hebrew)
(Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar, 1993), 90-135. - VanderKam, "The Temple Scroll and the Book of Jubilees." Cf. the articles of
Shemesh in this volume and J. Hopkins, "The Authoritative Status of Jubilees at Qumran,"
Hen 31, no. 1 (2009). - Todd S. Beall, Josephus' Description of the Essenes Illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls,
SNTSMS 58 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); J. M. Baumgarten, "The Dis
qualifications of Priests in 4Q Fragments of the 'Damascus Document,' a Specimen of the