COLLECTION OF AUTHENTIC BIBLICAL BOOKS
The Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.
Over 100,000 fragments of text were discovered, and scholars have pieced these together into over 900 separate documents.
The biblical manuscripts comprise some 200 copies of biblical books, representing the earliest evidence for the biblical text in the world.
The Prophets, Apostles and Disciples could not quote invalid books, the uncanonized, Apocrypha, books listed below can only be authentic biblical text since quoted by the principle characters in Biblical text.The purpose of quoting the books was a means of expanding the continuity of scripture; from the first, Old Testament, prophet Enoch to the last Malachi.
THE BIBLICAL BOOKS QUOTED IN OTHER BIBLICAL BOOKS
The Book of Enoch …quoted in Genesis Ecclesiasties Jude 1:14
The book of Enoch is quoted by all Old and New testament prophets and disciples; the foremost of which are: Jesus of Nazareth, John the Baptist, Apostle Paul, Apostle Peter
The Book of Jasher …quoted in Joshua 10:13 , 2 Samuel 1:18
The Act of Uzziah …quoted in 2 Chronicles 26:22
Epistle of Paul at Laodicea …quoted in Colossians 4:16
The book of Shemaiah …quoted in 2 Chronicles 12:15
The Visions of Iddo …quoted in 2 Chrinicles 9:29; 2 Chronilces 12:15;
13:22
The book of Nathan …quoted in 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles9:29
The book of Gad …quoted in 1 Chronicles 29:29
The Prophecy of Ahijah quoted in 2 Chronicles 9:29
Sayings of the Seers …quoted in 2 Chronicles 33:19
Epistle to the Corinthians quoted in 1 Corinthians 5:9
Epistle to the Ephesians …quoted in Ephesians 3:3
Epistle from Laodicea …quoted in Colossians 4:16
The book of Samuel the Seer …quoted in 1 Chronicles 29:29
The book of the Acts of Solomon …quoted in 1 Kings 11:41
The book of Statues …quoted in 1 Samuel 10:25
The book of the Wars of the Lord …quoted in Numbers 21:14
The book of Covenants …quoted Exodus 24:7
The book of Daniel …quoted in 4 Esdras
§ Hebrew Bible - Old TestamentDOCTRINES OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Dr. Gary Gromacki
Associate Professor of Bible and Homiletics
Baptist Bible Seminary
Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania
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DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE BIBLICAL SCROLLS
There are almost 900 Dead Sea Scrolls and they are usually divided into two groups: the over 200 biblical scrolls and the 670 nonbiblical scrolls. The terms biblical and nonbiblical are defined differently by different religious groups. The Roman Catholic Church would include the Apocrypha as part of the biblical books (referring to them as deuterocanonical) while most evangelicals (myself included) would exclude the Apocrypha from the canon.
The books of the Hebrew Bible fall into three sections: the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. The Qumran community accepted the Old Testament books as inspired by God and authoritative. The number of books in the Essene “Bible” was not fixed during the Qumran period roughly from 250 BC to AD 68. . The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach (Ecclesiasticus; 135 BC) enumerates the books to which one should devote one’s study as “the Law and the Prophets and other books.” 4QMMT (col.10) lists “the book of Moses and the books of the Prophets and the writings of David.”
GENESIS
Genesis, the book of beginnings, was popular among the Qumran community. The remains of 20 manuscripts were unearthed: one in Cave 1, one in Cave 2, perhaps as many as 16 in Cave 4, one in Cave 6 and one in Cave 8. Two scrolls exist that contain both Genesis and Exodus, confirming an ancient order for these two important books (4QGen-Exod a and 4QpaleoGen-Exod 1).The oldest scroll of Genesis (4QpaleoGen m) dates from the middle of the second century BC. This manuscript is written in the ancient Hebrew script known as paleo-Hebrew . The Genesis manuscripts are relatively fragmentary and preserve only 34 of the 50 chapters of Genesis. They do reveal a text of Genesis that is very close to the Masoretic Text (MT) and the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP). Only 11 Genesis manuscripts contain slight deviations in spelling.
Only four manuscripts among the more than eight hundred found in the caves of Qumran preserve the title of the scroll. These titles were written on the outside of the first column. One of these is the scroll 4QGen h-title. As the fragment containing the title has been separated from the rest of the scroll, it has not yet been determined if it is the sole remnant of an otherwise lost scroll, or whether it should be included with some existing fragments (the best candidate being 4QGen k).
In one scroll (4QGenb) we have only the following words preserved for Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning Go[] made [ ].” Fortunately, another scroll contains this part of Genesis 1:1, “In the begin[ ] God [ ] the heavens and the earth.” This fragment includes material missing from 4QGenb. So when the preserved letters from the two scrolls are combined, the translation is evident: “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.” (Abegg, Flint , and Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 3-5).
EXODUS
Eighteen DSS manuscripts: 17 found in four of the eleven caves of Wadi Qumran: one in cave 1, three in cave 2, twelve in cave 4, and one in cave 7. Taken together these eighteen manuscripts attest to parts of the forty chapters in the book of Exodus. One manuscript shows that Exodus was followed by Leviticus (4Qexod-Lev f). In the main the text of Exodus recorded in the DSS is that of the Masoretic text. Even the scroll known as pap7QLXXExod—a Greek text from Cave 7—is more closely aligned to the Masoretic text than it is to the Greek Septuagint. The text labeled MurExod runs for 144 words and is identical in every detail to the traditional Hebrew Bible. The scroll known as 4QpaleoExod m is significant in that it witnesses to an expanded textual tradition that formed the foundation of the Samaritan Pentateuch. A remnant of the Samaritan community uses a form of this Bible today. Exodus was viewed as “God’s word” by the Qumran community. The book was quoted a dozen times in nonbiblical scrolls, introduced with the words “for thus it is written” (1QS 5:15 ). In addition, Exodus was the frequent subject of a popular method of biblical interpretation found among the DSS . A Commentary on Genesis and Exodus (4Q422) is an example of this method known as the “rewritten Bible” Exodus was a topic of legal discussion. Exodus 22-35 along with portions of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, form the foundation of the largest nonbiblical scroll, the Temple Scroll, a work that purports to be a new Torah for the Last Days in which God speaks to Israel evidently through Moses in the first person. In keeping with the Last Days focus of the Temple Scroll, Exodus 15:17-18 says, “The place, O LORD, which you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands have established” is interpreted by 4Q174 (3:3) as a new temple prepared for the end times. This time of future glory was envisioned as the setting for the arrival of the inspired Interpreter of Scripture (4Q174 3:12 ) and the royal Messiah, the Branch of David (4Q174 3:12 -13).
4QpaleoGen-Exod 1 containing portions of twenty two chapters is one of the most complete manuscripts witnessing to the text of Exodus. Both 4QpaleoGen-Exod 1 and 4QpaleoExod m are written in an ancient Hebrew script known as paleo-Hebrew. The fact that there are only eight biblical manuscripts written in this script, all of them representatives of the Torah (Gen.-Deut.) except 4QpaleoJob c, suggests that this ancient script was reserved for especially important books. (Abegg, Flint , and Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible , 23-25).
LEVITICUS
The sixteen manuscripts of Leviticus rank it as one of the most common of all the scrolls found at Qumran . Fourteen of the manuscripts were unearthed in five of the eleven caves in the vicinity of Qumran : one in cave1, one in cave 2, nine in cave 4, one in cave 6, and two in cave 11- while two were discovered in the ruins at Masada. Only the text of Leviticus 12 did not survive the ravages of time in the caves around the Dead Sea . None of the variants have been accepted by modern Bible translators. Every chapter of Leviticus is referenced somewhere in the nonbiblical scrolls. The Temple Scroll by itself quotes or paraphrases portions of twenty three chapters. The laws of the Damascus Document are to a great extent rehearsals of various Levitical commands. The key to understanding the community’s emphasis on purity is contained in Leviticus 15:31 , “You must keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they might not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.” (Abegg, Flint , and Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 77-78)
NUMBERS
This book begins with the Israelites in the Sinai desert, covers their forty years of wandering, and ends with the people poised to cross the river Jordan into the Promised Land. Our English title comes from the Greek title Arithmoi, perhaps chosen because Numbers opens with a census. However, the Hebrew title Bemidbar, which means “In the Desert” seems more appropriate to the main theme of the book.
A total of eleven Numbers scrolls have been found in the Judean desert. Eight were discovered in Qumran : one in cave 1, four in cave 2, and three in cave 4. While none of the scrolls is complete, of the thirty two chapters of Numbers only chapters 6 and 14 are not represented in at least one of them.
Three of the Numbers manuscripts deserve special mention. The first is 4Qlev-Num a which originally also contained the book of Leviticus. Scrolls containing more than one book of the Pentateuch must have been very long and are rare at Qumran , the only other two cases being 4QGen-Exod 1 and 4Qexod-Lev f. The second unusual scroll is 1QpaleoLev, which, as its abbreviated title shows, was written in the old paleo-Hebrew script. Although listed as a Leviticus scroll, 1QpaleoLev preserves at least two passages from Numbers ( 1:48 -50 and 36:7-0) somewhere between Leviticus 23 and 27. The third special Numbers scroll is 4QNum b, which is by fare the best preserved and contains material from chapters 11 to 36. This manuscript may be described as early Jewish “Living Bible” since it features many interpolations of other material and expansions of the biblical text. Several of these interpolations or expansions are large, consisting mainly of speeches. The book of Deuteronomy in our Bibles contains several speeches not found in the Masoretic Text of Numbers- but which were uttered during the events recounted in Numbers. So where these speeches are not included in the traditional book of Numbers, 4QNum b imports them from Deuteronomy into the appropriate place in the narrative. These speeches include Moses’ plea that he be allowed to enter Canaan (Deut.3:24-28 which is interpolated into Numbers 20:13b), God’s prohibition to Moses to fight Moab (interpolated from Deut.2:9 into Numbers 21:12a), the prohibition to fight Ammon (from Deut 2:18-19 into Num 21:13a), God’s command to fight the Amorites (from Deut.2:24-25 into Num 21:21a) and Moses’ exhortation to Joshua to be courageous (from Deut 3:21-22 into Num 27:23b).
Many of the longer readings included in 4QNum b are not found in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint but are often preserved in the Samaritan Pentateuch. To a lesser extent, 4QNum b also contains readings present in the Greek Bible but not in the Masoretic Text or Samaritan Pentateuch. This important scroll was copied about 30 BCE which was a critical time in the history of the transmission of the biblical text. Within a few decades, rabbinical circles began actively striving to establish a standardized form for the books of the Hebrew Bible, which many scholars term the ‘proto-Masoretic text’. This effort included the elimination or suppression of textual forms that deviated from the proto-Masoretic text. Since 4QNum b is one example of these “different” textual forms, it gives us a precious window on one textual tradition that differs markedly from the Hebrew Bible and English translations that are used today. One final feature of this fascinating scroll is that it contains words written in red ink, which is most unusual among the scrolls. It appears that the function of this red writing was to introduce passages for liturgical reading.
One of the Numbers scrolls 4QLXXNum was written in Greek with the preserved text starting at Numbers 3:40. The presence of Greek Manuscripts at Qumran (others include pap7QLXXExod, 4QLXXLev a, pap4QLXXLev b, and 4QLXXDeut) reminds us that during the Hellenistic and Roman periods many Jews- including those at Qumran- knew Greek as well as Hebrew and Aramaic. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 108-109)
DEUTERONOMY
The hero of this book of Moses, whose life and speeches are chronicled from the time the Israelites left Mt. Sinai (or Mt. Horeb ) to the death and burial of Israel ’s great leader. Since Deuteronomy also includes the authoritative Law given by God through Moses to Israel and is the only book of the Pentateuch that explicitly identifies itself as a record of Moses’ laws (Deut.1:5; 4:8), it is not difficult to see why this book was one of the most popular books at Qumran. In fact, Deuteronomy is second only to the Psalms in terms of the number of scrolls that were found in the Judean Desert caves.
Of the thirty three Deuteronomy scrolls, thirty were discovered at Qumran (2 in Cave 1; three in Cave 2, twenty two in Cave 4, and one each in Caves 5, 6, and 11). And three more were found at sites further to the south. Although none of these scrolls is complete, at least part of every chapter of the book is represented between them.
The list given is quite unusual for several reasons. First, it indicates that one Greek copy of Deuteronomy (4QLXXDeut) was used or stored at Qumran , which means that at least some of the Qumran community spoke Greek as well as Hebrew and Aramaic. Second, two of these manuscripts (4QpaleoDeut r and 4QpaleoDeut s) were written in the ancient paleo-Hebrew script rather than the square script used for the vast majority of the DSS . Third, one scroll (pap6Qdeut) was written on papyrus, which is much more fragile than the leather on which most other scrolls were written. Further, the somewhat confusing symbols 4Qdeut k1, 4Qdeut k2, and 4Qdeut k3 serve to remind us just how difficult it is to categorize fragments of ancient writing, to piece them together, and to identify the scroll to which each belongs. When earlier editors first identified these fragments as belonging to the book of Deuteronomy, they believed them all to be part of a single scroll, which they termed 4QDeut k. But when it was later discovered that the fragments actually belonged to three different scrolls, it was too late to assign the next symbols, l and m to the two new fragments, since these symbols had already been allocated to these scrolls. For this reason, the symbol k is now shared by three different manuscripts of Deuteronomy!
As we read through the translation of the scrolls, it becomes clear that the text of the traditional Hebrew Bible (the Masoretic Text) is confirmed or supported in most cases. But on several occasions readings from some scrolls clearly support other ancient textual traditions: for example in Deuteronomy 32, 4QDeut q most often agrees with the Septuagint, not the Masoretic Text or the Samaritan Pentateuch.
On other occasions a scroll has a reading not found elsewhere. For example, 4QDeut c stresses that the Israelites are going over ‘the Jordan ’ to occupy the land in Deuteronomy 4:14 , whereas the Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint do not mention this river. Sometimes material that is found in other biblical manuscripts is completely omitted: For example, in Deuteronomy 3:20, 4QDeut m and the LXX say “until the Lord your God gives rest to your countrymen” while 4QDeut d, the Masoretic Text and the Samaritan Pentateuch merely read “until the Lord gives rest to your countrymen…” The longer reading brings the person of God into sharper focus. Some readings are different. For example, in Deut.8:6, the Masoretic Text, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint tell us to keep God’s commandments and to fear him. This reading is also found in 4QDeut j. But another scroll (4QDeut n) says instead that we are to love him.
Why was Deuteronomy so popular at Qumran ? One reason is its emphasis on God’s covenant with Israel , a term that is found 26 times in the book (Deut.4:13; 9:9; 29:1). Several references to the Community of the New (or Renewed) Covenant in their writings show that the Qumran community saw themselves in covenant with God. Examples include the Damascus Document (CD 2:2; 19:14 , 33) and the Community Rule (1QS 1:16 , 18, 20; 8:21 ) and the Habakkuk Pesher (1QpHab 2:3). A second reason for Deuteronomy’s importance among the scrolls is the prominent place it gives to the Law and its interpretation. This was also a subject of great significance at Qumran : for example, the legal rulings in the document abbreviated 4QMMT. It is not surprising that Deuteronomy would play an important role in the religious life and legal rulings of the Qumran community. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 145-147)
JOSHUA
Only two scrolls of the book of Joshua were recovered in the Judean Desert, but one of them makes quite an impact, and several other previously unknown parabiblical works related to Joshua that were found among the scrolls have enriched our knowledge of the ancient world.
4QJosha is the oldest witness to the text of Joshua in any language, dating roughly to 100 BCE , and it provides a dramatic example of the light that the scrolls shed on the Bible. It takes us back to an earlier stage in the development of the biblical text and thus helps solve a problem that has long puzzled readers.
In the traditional narrative, Joshua leads the people across the Jordan , fights the battle for Jericho , mounts another victory over the city of Ai , and then eventually goes twenty miles north to Shechem to build an altar on Mt. Ebal , opposite Mt. Gerizim , where the Samaritans much later were to center their religion. He then immediately marches back down south, abandoning the newly built altar and leaving it exposed in enemy territory.
On a single fragment, 4QJosha contains the end of the altar building episode, followed by the beginning of chapter 5. This means that Joshua would have constructed the first altar in the Promised Land immediately after crossing the Jordan and before beginning any battles of conquest. This is, of course, what would be expected—that in thanksgiving for the fulfillment of the promise of the land, and in order to sanctify the land to the Lord, Joshua would have immediately erected an altar there at Gilgal. Gilgal continued to be known as an important place for worship (1 Sam.10:8; 11:14 -15), whereas Mt. Ebal is never referred to again as a worship site for Israel .
Two further pieces of evidence clinch the significance of this scroll’s sequence of events. First, the historian Josephus, retelling the biblical story in the first century CE, also appears to have had a biblical text like 4QJosha. He describes Joshua’s building of an altar immediately after the crossing of the Jordan ( Jewish Antiquities 5:16 -20), while not mentioning either the journey to Mt. Ebal or an altar at the point where the Masoretic text places it. Though he does eventually describe an altar at Shechem, it is not until noticeably later in the narrative, and certainly the tradition of Joshua’s covenant ceremony at Shechem after the conquest would have been widely known.
Second, both the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Old Latin version have the reading “on Mount Gerizim ” in the text at Deuteronomy 27:4, a passage in which Moses commands the building of this altar. What this undoubtedly shows is that “on Mount Ebal ” in the Masoretic and Greek tradition is a later Jewish polemical change from the unacceptable Samaritan claim that the first altar was built “on Mount Gerizim .” Thus there was a three stage history in the development of this command-fulfillment passage. First, the altar was simply to be built at an unspecified place—-wherever the people crossed the Jordan . Second, northerners, perhaps the Samaritans, specified the site of the first altar as on Mount Gerizim . Finally, Jewish scribes discounted the claim by changing Mount Gerizim anomalously to the otherwise insignificant Mount Ebal .
This does not mean that the text of 4QJosha is always superior. For example, at 7:14 it drops out almost a whole line, skipping from one phrase to the next occurrence of that similar phrase, thus losing the intervening text.
The text of Joshua was already known to have existed in two successive variant literary editions. As in the case of Jeremiah, the Greek text is an earlier, shorter edition of the book that was later developed into a fuller edition appearing in the Masoretic Text. 4QJosha now presents an earlier version of the text- one that is shorter in some spots. For example, at 8:3-14 the space available on the original scroll suggests that verses 12-13 were not yet in the text. The Greek text presents a somewhat longer text that 4QJosha, and the Masoretic Text is still longer. The individual textual variants displayed by both 4QJosha and the second scroll, 4Qjoshb, move back and forth, agreeing sometimes with the Greek text, sometimes with the Masoretic Text, and at other points showing their own distinctive wording. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 201-202).
JUDGES
The Qumran Community was more interested in the weightier matters of law and the poetic praise of the Psalms than in the narratives of the historical books. The sparse pattern begun in Joshua (only two scrolls) continues to Chronicles (one scroll).
Only three manuscripts of the book of Judges survived at Qumran , but they confirm the patterns of the early biblical text provided by other biblical manuscripts. 4QJudga reveals that this earlier text is shorter than all other extant Hebrew and Greek witnesses, because it does not yet include a theological passage (Judges 6:7-10 inserted into the later versions.
4QJudgb may also have had a shorter text (see 21:18), although the evidence for the possibly missing text is no longer preserved on the fragments but is instead deduced from the reconstruction of the space available on the original manuscript.
The Masoretic text and all other traditions insert a theological paragraph (Judges 6:7-10) reciting the Deuteronomistic pattern: Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord sent a prophet, and the prophet charged the people with disobedience. 4QJudga retains the original, unembellished narrative. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 208-209)
SAMUEL
The book of Samuel (1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were treated as a single book in antiquity) offers some of the most dramatic learnings from the biblical DSS . The extensively preserved 4QSama has been known since 1953, one year after its discovery, to differ widely and frequently from the traditional Masoretic Text.
There were four manuscripts of Samuel found at Qumran : one in cave 1 and three in cave 4. These Samuel manuscripts, while containing some errors, also preserve a large nmber of original or superior readings that help correct errors in the traditional Masoretic Text. For proper perspective, it should be pointed out that the textual form of 4QSam b is more closer than the Masoretic Text to the text from which the Septuagint was translated. Similarly 4QSam a, while showing many agreements with the Septuagint in contrast to the Masoretic Text, is the type of Samuel manuscript that the author of Chronicles used in composing that book.
The variants recorded in the following pages improve our knowledge of the text of Samuel beyond the tradition Masoretic Text. Some of these variants involve individual words or phrases. Intermittently, there are whole sentences either left out of the Masoretic Text by mistake or added by the scrolls as supplementary material. Arguably the single most dramatic passage among the newly discovered biblical scrolls occurs in 4QSam a at the beginning of 1 Samuel 11. An entire paragraph, missing from all our Bibles for two thousand years, has now been restored in the New Revised Standard Version. Its existence had already been footnoted in the New American Bible in 1970. This paragraph graphically describes the atrocities of King Nahash of the Ammonites. 4QSama is the oldest extant witness to this text. The historian Josephus, writing in the second half of the first century CE, recounts the same details at the same point in his account of the history of the Jewish people, Jewish Antiquities. This demonstrates that the story was also in the Greek Bible that he was using. Thus our two most ancient witnesses attest to the existence of this passage in the biblical manuscripts of antiquity.
These manuscripts have also helped to realign scholars’ assessments of the value of the ancient Septuagint translation. Traditionally, when the Septuagint differed from the Masoretic Text (which has been considered the Hebrew original), the Septuagint was routinely thought to be a “free” translation (or even a paraphrase, or just plain wrong). The Hebrew manuscripts of Samuel found at Qumran , however, very often agree with the Septuagint when it differs from the Masoretic Text. This demonstrates that the Septuagint was translated from a Hebrew text form similar to that of the Qumran manuscripts. The problem in assessing the Septuagint, as with so many historical documents, had been with the scholars’ vision and criteria, not with the data. The Septuagint, of course, just like the Masoretic Text, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and every other ancient manuscript tradition, does have its share of errors. But the important lesson here is that the Septuagint is not a free or false rendering, but rather a generally faithful translation of its Hebrew source.
1QSam (1Q7) has only eight fragments remaining. It is interesting to notes that as the scroll lay rolled, a fragment roughly the size of a quarter was preserved at the same position on each of eight successive layers of leather.
4QSam b is the oldest of the manuscripts dating roughly to 250 BCE . One large fragment, containing nineteen continuous lines, is preserved, along with seven small fragments.
4QSam c, dating roughly to 100-75 BCE , contains one small fragment from 1 Samuel 25:30-32 and numerous fragments that can be pieced together to form a generous amount of two consecutive columns containing 2 Samuel 14-15. The same idiosyncratic scribe who copied it also copied two other manuscripts, the main scroll of the Rule of the Community (1QS) and a collection of scriptural quotations entitled the Testimonia (4Q175). The same scribe is also responsible for a correction in the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa a). Of the sixty seven partial lines preserved of 4QSam c, there are twenty one errors or corrections, roughly one for every three lines. It is likely that this scribe was entrusted with such an important task because he was a high ranking community leader rather than because of his scribal skills.
4QSam a dates from the middle of the first century BCE . It is one of the most extensively preserved and important biblical manuscripts. Hundreds of fragments are preserved, spanning from the first chapter of 1 Samuel to the final chapter of 2 Samuel.
(2 Sam.11 note): 4QSam a adds the detail that Uriah was Joab’s armor bearer, which the Masoretic text lacks. Josephus includes this detail, suggesting that an ancient form of the Septuagint had it, though it was excised from later Septuagint manuscripts to conform with the Masoretic Text. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 213-215)
KINGS
Only three manuscripts of the book of Kings (1 and 2 Kings) were found in the various Judean desert caves: one each on leather in Cave 4 and Cave 5, and a papyrus manuscript in Cave 6. The last present a typical snapshot of the Qumran scrolls. About ninety-four fragments that presumably belonged to this manuscript were found, but only seventeen can be identified and placed, since the majority of the fragments preserve only a few letters each. Many have not even one complete or nearly complete word, while others with only “these” or “all”or “he made” or “Judah” could have come from multiple loci within the book.
Despite the limited scope of text on most fragments, however, there are enough indications of text significantly divergent from the traditional Masoretic Text to suggest that the text of Kings was pluriform in antiquity, just as the text of Samuel has been demonstrated to be.
In addition to numerous small variants, sometimes in agreement with the Greek text, there are more significant variants as well, with the Qumran manuscripts at times preserving the superior variant and the Masoretic Text at other times doing so. Just as 4QSama recovers bits of text thought to be lost, so too 4QKgs preserves a passage (1 Kings 8:16 ) lost from the Masoretic Text when a scribe’s eye skipped from one phrase to a similar phrase below.
Moreover, an additional clue near the end of 1 Kings 7:25-27 suggests that Kings may have had an expanded text on which the author of Chronicles based his composition. Though the evidence is slight, it tends to confirm that the ancient text of Samuel-Kings that the Jewish author of Chronicles used not the Masoretic Text but one similar to those documented at Qumran . (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 260)
ISAIAH
For both Jews and Christians, the Isaiah scrolls found in the Judean Desert are of great interest, in view of their contents and because the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa a) is perhaps the best known of all the Dead Sea Scrolls. This, the only manuscript preserving a biblical book virtually in its entirety, was found wrapped in a protective linen inside a pottery jar and is among the seven scrolls that were first discovered (and published soon afterward). The circumstances surrounding this scroll’s discovery by the Bedouin in 1947, its transportation to the United Stated by the Metropolitan Samuel (head of the Syrian Orthodox Church), its clandestine purchase by the Israeli scholar Yigael Yadin, and its return to Israel in 1954 form a gripping tale.
The book of Isaiah was one of the three most popular books at Qumran , with twenty one manuscripts recovered. The only books represented in greater number are Psalms (37 scrolls) and Deuteronomy (30 scrolls). At Qumran , two Isaiah scrolls were found in Cave 1, eighteen in Cave 4, and one in Cave 5; one additional manuscript was discovered further south at Wadi Murabbaat. While only 1QIsa a survives completely, a few other scrolls are quite substantial and together the fragmentary Isaiah scrolls preserve generous portions of the book. These manuscripts were copied over the course of nearly two centuries ranging from about 125 BCE (1QIsa) to about 60 CE (4QIsac).
Though large scale variant editions are preserved for some other books (for example, Jeremiah and 1 Samuel), for Isaiah the scrolls and the other ancient witnesses preserve apparently only one edition of this book, with no consistent patterns of variants or rearrangements. Nevertheless, these scrolls (most notably 1QIsa a) contain hundreds of highly instructive variants from the traditional form of the Hebrew text- variants that teach us much about the late stages of the history of the book’s composition and provide many improved readings. These variant readings fall into four categories.
First, some variant readings are major in that they involve one or more verses present in some texts but absent from others. A contrasting pair of examples can be seen in chapter 2. On the one hand, the second half of verse 9 and all of verse 10 are not in 1QIsa a; these were most likely a later addition to the text of Isaiah by some unknown scribe, though made early enough to be recorded in 4QIsa a, 4 QIsa b, the Masoretic Text, and the Septuagint. On the other hand, verse 22 was not yet in the Hebrew text translated by the LXX but was inserted later into IQIsa a and the traditional Masoretic text. Numerous other examples are scattered among the Isaiah scrolls. The existence of such variants provides a privileged window-one that was unavailable before the scrolls- on the gradual growth process of the biblical text in general.
A second category of variant readings involves hundreds of differences-often insignificant for purposes of understanding or interpretation-in spelling, the forms of names, the use of the plural versus the singular, and changes in word order, to name a few. While these are quite minor variants, when taken together they provide rich evidence for the use of Hebrew, different spelling systems, and scribal inventions during the late Second Temple period.
A third category includes a wide spectrum of variants, usually a single word or two, ranging between the large scale compositional variants described in the first category and the mostly insignificant alternative spellings in the second. One example is found at 1:15 , which in 4QIsa f and the Masoretic text concludes with “your hands are filled with blood”, while 1QIsa a completes the parallelism by adding “your fingers with iniquity.” Another example is 2:20 , where the idols of silver and of gold are described in the Masoretic text as “which they have made for themselves to worship” but in 1QIsa a as “which their fingers have made to worship.”
The final category involves errors made by the Qumran scribes or found in the text that they were copying. It is often impossible to tell for sure whether an error was committed by the scribe or was already in the text he was copying. These are often difficult to identify as real errors, since a reading that to some scholars is “incorrect” may represent for others an alternative reading or a different textual tradition. But even with all necessary caution, we sometimes find that certain scribes were careless or wrote down variants that are better explained in terms of errors than viable alternative textual forms.
One example is found in Isaiah 16:8-9 where 1QIsa reads, “For the fields of Heshbon, and the vineyard of Sibmah languish. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the battle cry has fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your harvest.” The Masoretic text, however has a much longer passage (which is also found in the Septuagint but with some variations): For the fields of Heshbon and the vineyards of Sibmah languish. The leaders of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached as far as Jazer and extended into the wilderness; its shoots were spread and wide, even crossing the sea. Therefore I will weep with the crying of Jezer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for the battle cry has fallen upon your summer fruits and upon your harvest.
In this example the eye of the scribe must have skipped from Sibmah which follows languish in the Hebrew in verse 8 to Sibmah in verse 9, resulting in the omission of the intervening text. But was this omission made by the scribe who copied 1QIsa a or by an earlier scribe whose text the Qumran scribe was now copying? Since there are several more such lengthy examples in 1QIsa a, the most likely conclusion is that our scribe was somewhat careless and was responsible for many or most of the errors in this large scroll.
Because Isaiah is a lengthy book virtually preserved in its entirety in 1QIsa a, and since there are so many Isaiah scrolls, for the translation of this book and accompanying variants a somewhat different approach has been taken here than with other books in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. The translation that follows is consistently form 1QIsa a with the readings from the other scrolls shown in the footnotes.
Isaiah was one of the most influential and most quoted books among the DSS , providing evidence of its influence on authors both of general Jewish works imported to Qumran and of works that were specifically composed by the Qumran covenanters. Five commentaries, or pesharim, on Isaiah were found in Cave 4 and another in Cave 3. Using a system of quoting a base text and commenting on it, these commentaries underscore the authoritative and scriptural status of the book of Isaiah at Qumran .
With its emphasis on prophecy and the end times, it is not surprising that the book of Isaiah was so popular at Qumran , just as it was among the NT authors. In fact, the Qumran ascetics and all four Evangelists quoted Isaiah 40:3 for purposes of self identity, in support of the respective missions of both the desert community and John the Baptist. The Hebrew form of the verse is quoted in the Community Rule:
“They shall separate from the session of perverse men to go to the wilderness, there to prepare the way of truth, as it is written: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (1QS 8:13-14)
The New Testament authors, however, quote this verse from the Septuagint, which had lost the exact sense of the parallelism: “This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, The voice of one proclaiming in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” (Mt.3:3; Mk.1:3; Lk.3:4; Jn.1:23).
The Qumran covenanters show that they were fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy by separating from the Jerusalem Jews and going out to the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord through study of the Torah. In contrast, the Gospel passages see Isaiah 40:3 as describing John the Baptist in the wilderness calling his audience to prepare for the arrival of Jesus. In these two different, self defining uses of the same scriptural passage, the Qumran covenanters view the Isaiah passage as fulfilled in themselves, while the Evangelists present it as about to be fulfilled in John’s witness to Jesus the Messiah. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 267-271)
JEREMIAH
The prophet Jeremiah preached during the closing years of the kingdom of Judah and witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. After many Jews were exiled to Babylon , he chose to stay in Jerusalem in order to help those who had remained to begin again. But a few years later this prophet was forced to flee to Egypt in exile and soon thereafter was heard of no more.
Six Jeremiah scrolls were found at Qumran : one in cave2 and vine in Cave 4. Although these manuscripts between preserve much of the book’s fifty two chapters, they are all so badly damaged and fragmentary that not even a trace of twenty one chapters is preserved. These Jeremiah manuscripts were copied over a period of approximately 200 years, ranging from about 200 BC (4QJer a) to the latter part of the first century BC (4QJer c).
Two important scrolls are 4QJer b and 4QJer d, which reflect a Hebrew text that is very different from the Masoretic text form of Jeremiah from which modern Bibles have been translated. It is also interesting to note that the biblical text in these two manuscripts is very similar to the Hebrew text from which the LXX was translated. This is true not only in small details but also in major aspects where the Septuagint differs from the Masoretic text. Most notably, 4QJer b and 4QJer d (before they were damaged) and the LXX present a version of Jeremiah that is about 13 percent shorter than the longer version found in modern Bibles! One example of this shorter text is in Jeremiah 10:3-11, which is a satire on idols. While the Masoretic Text has all nine verses, the Greek Bible and 4QJer b lack verses 6-8 and 10, which extol the greatness of God.
Another fascinating scroll is 4QJer a, one of the oldest of all the DSS (copied, as we noted, about 200 B.C or even earlier). This manuscript contains a large number of corrections; in fact, no other Qumran text has as many corrections in proportion to the length of the document. The most noticeable example is in column 3, which contains additions made by a second scribe after the original scribe had written Jeremiah 7:28 to 9:2 but had omitted a long section (7:30 to 8:3). The second scribe’s attempt to insert so much missing text has resulted in a most unusual format: he squeezed Jeremiah 7:30-31 into the gap between 7:29 and 8:4 then filled in 7:32 to 8:3a sideways along the left margin and wrote 8:3b upside down at the bottom of the page!
Besides the six Jeremiah scrolls, several other Qumran scrolls mention Jeremiah, or have some relationship to his book. One of these is the Epistle of Jeremiah, written in Greek and found in Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bible as part of the Apocrypha (Baruch 6); a translation of papEPJer gr follows the book of Jeremiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls Bible. The theme of the Epistle of Jeremiah, supposedly written by Jeremiah himself is condemnation of idolatry; the preserved text in the Qumran scroll is from verses 43-44. Another interesting text is 4Qapocryphon of Jeremiah A (4Q383), where we find the phrase, “And I, Jeremiah” which claims the prophet to be the speaker.
A final text worthy of mention is 4Qapocryphon of Jeremiah C (4Q385b). This fragment, which contains two columns, draws on Jeremiah 40-44, although 1:4-6 recalls the fall of Jerusalem as found in Jeremiah 52:12-13. It is also interesting to note that the same Nebuzaradan in 4Q38b and 4QJer d (43:6) is spelled the same, and slightly different to the form in the Masoretic text (The MT has Nebuzara’dan). The first columns seems to be concerned chiefly with Jeremiah’s relations with the deportees to Babylon , whereas the second is clearly about his relations with the Jews in Egypt . The first column includes the following lines:
“and Jeremiah the prophet went before the Lord to go with the exiles who were led captive from the land of Jereusalem and came to…king of Babylon , when Nebuzaradan, the Chief Cook, struck…and he took the utensils of the House of God, the priests…and the Israelites and brought them to Babylon . And Jeremiah the prophet went …the river and he commanded them what they should do in the land of their exile…to listen to the voice of Jeremiah concerning the words which God had commanded him…so that they should keep the covenant of the God of their ancestors in the land of their captivity…and should not do as they had done, they themselves and their kings and their priests and their princes…they defiled the name of God…”
It appears that Jeremiah is here being portrayed in terms similar to Moses. For the Qumran community who passed down these texts, both Moses’ prophetic status and Jeremiah’s Mosaic status seem to have been of particular interest. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 382-384)
EZEKIEL
The setting of the prophecies of Ezekiel is the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC. The books answers a key question that must have occurred to the Jews in that disturbing time: “Has God abandoned us?” From the intriguing otherworldly description of God’s glory coming to earth by the River Chebar in Babylon to the plan of the gigantic end of time temple, the book sets the stage for the answer to the last verse: The Lord is there.
Small fragments from six manuscripts of Ezekiel were found at Qumran and another atop Masada . All of them and the traditional Masoretic Text fairly uniform attest the same textual tradition. Only seven minor variants are clearly preserved, though reconstruction according to spatial requirements indicates that in two places ( 5:13 and 23:16 ) the scrolls may have had a shorter text than the Masoretic Text.
One manuscript, 4QEzek b, may not have been a copy of the complete book of Ezekiel, but perhaps contained only the prophet’s inaugural vision or a few episodes. Another manuscript 4QEzek c survives in onely one fragment measuring about a half inch in diameter. It contains only three complete words and a couple of letters from six other words. Nonetheless, the fragments that do remain range over the course of the entire book, from chapter 1 to chapter 41, and show that the inherited text of Ezekiel was very carefully copied from antiquity.
The relatively small number of manuscripts does not prepare the reader for the importance that Ezekiel exerted among the members of the Dead Sea community. Ezekiel’s emphasis on the High Priest Zadok and his descendants is evident in the community’s self designation: Sons of Zadok. The description of the end time temple is also embellished in several copies of a text entitled New Jerusalem and forms a key component of the largest of the nonbiblical Dead Sea manuscripts: the Temple Scroll . (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 407)
TWELVE PROPHETS
The scrolls of the twelve Minor Prophets are of special importance because they allow a very early window not only into the text of the individual books, but also into what is perhaps of equal interest: the order of the books as unit.
Of a total of ten manuscripts, eight were found in the caves of Qumran : seven in cave 4 and one in cave 5. The manuscripts range in age from 150 BC (4QXIIa and perhaps 4QXIIb) to 25 BC (4QXIIg). The two remaining scrolls were found in caves that were utilized as hideouts by Jewish rebels during the Bar Kokhba revolt, an unsuccessful uprising against Rome (AD 132-135 ). These scrolls are thus likely to be later productions: 50 B.C. to A.D. 50 (8HevXII gr) and A.D.75 to 100 (MurXII). Letters signed by the leader of the revolt, Bar Kokhba himself, were found in both of these caves.
Do the Dead Sea manuscripts evidence the tradition of printing these twelve books together? This question can now be answered in the affirmative, according to the text of seven of the DSS . The remaining three are so fragmentary that they contain parts of but one book each (4QXIId, 4QXIIf, 5QAmos).
Do the scrolls witness to the order that is found in the Greek Septuagint or to that preserved in the Masoretic Text? All of the scrolls but one appear to follow the traditional Hebrew order. This is the same order that is followed by every major English translation available today. Of particular interest among these scrolls is 8HevXII gr, which despite being a Greek scroll, displays the order of the Hebrew text of books 2-6 (Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah) rather than that of the Greek tradition (Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah). The one old scroll (4QXIIa- the oldest of the manuscripts), suggests a third order in which Jonah follows Malachi. Jonah is certainly not in the first half of the twelve, as in the Greek and Hebrew traditions, but likely last in the collection.
The text of the books evidenced in the scrolls is, in the main, that of the Masoretic Text. Indeed, even the Greek manuscript found in Nahal Hever exhibits the Greek tradition as systematically corrected by comparison with the Hebrew. However, the number of variants indicated in the translations that follow suggest that the best description for the text is “slightly mixed” –not entirely that of the additional form of the Hebrew Bible, but showing some agreement with the Septuagint as well as some independence from both the Hebrew and the Greek traditions. The nine Hebrew texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls also evidence- in varying degrees- a slightly fuller approach to spelling (analogous to the British colour as opposed to the American color) than that of the traditional Hebrew Bible.
As was the case among the early Christians, the Minor Prophets were quite popular at Qumran . The sectarians at Qumran often understood the prophecies found in these twelve books to be speaking to their contemporary situation. A particular type of interpretation known as pesher- not known before the discovery of the DSS —was incorporated in the commentaries found at Qumran . Pesher is a prophetic commentary in which the interpretation—in the eyes of the community—shares the same authority as the original prophecy. The word is used frequently in the book of Daniel to introduce the “authoritative” interpretation of dreams (Dan.2:16). Of the fifteen known pesharim, six were written on the books of the Minor Prophets: two on Hosea, and one each on Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 417-418)
HOSEA
In addition to the two pesharim and the three biblical manuscripts containing portions of the book of Hosea (4QXIIc, 4QXIId, 4QXIIg), the prophet Hosea’s words can be found in several quotations in the DSS .
Hosea 2:15 and 18 are cited in the text of Barki Nafshi in general reference to God’s goodness to Israel . The remainder of the citations are characteristic of pesher interpretation, in which warnings spoken by Hosea to historical Israel in the period before the exile of the northern tribes at the hands of Assyria (722 B.C) are interpreted to address the situation of the Qumran sectarians in the first or second century BC. Hosea 3:4, and its description of Israel as “without king or prince” before the coming of the future Davidic king, is understood by the Damascus Document (CD) 20:16 as prophesying the chaotic period following the death of the Teacher of Righteousness. Corresponding to this, “like a rebellious cow” (Hosea 4:16 ) is quoted in CD 1:13 -14 in reference to the Jews who rejected the ways of the Qumran community during this same time period. Hosea 5:10 and its characterization of the “boundary shifters” refers to this same rebellious group (CD 8:3 with 19:15 -16) who manipulated the law—likely description of the Pharisees. Finally, the horn and trumpet of Hosea 5:8 are cryptically interpreted by 4Q177 to be the first and second books of the Law; which were rejected by the apostate in the Last Days.
In light of the pesher like treatment of these quotations, it is curious that the surviving portions of the pesharim (4Q166-67) appear to refer primarily to pre-exilic Israel . (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 419)
JOEL
Three of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts in the DSS contain sections of the book of Joel (4QXIIc, 4QXIIg, MurXII). Although the book of Acts quotes a rather extensive portion of chapter 2 (2:28-32 in Acts 2:17-21) in perhaps the clearest pesher type quotation in the New Testament—in which the outpouring of God’s Spirit that the early church experienced was in fact prophesied by Joel—the caves divulged neither commentaries on Joel nor documents that capitalized on language expressive of the central topic of the prophet’s declaration: the coming of the day of the Lord. It seems odd that, though the concept of the day of God’s coming in great power permeates the scrolls (see the War Scroll) the expression “the day of the Lord” is never found in the nonbiblical manuscripts.
The only surviving quote of Joel found elsewhere in the Qumran manuscripts is in 4Q266—one of the Cave 4 copies of the Damascus Document—applying the exhortation to return to God, originally addressed to sinful Israel (Joel 2:12-13), to the disobedient community member who has been told the punishment for his sin. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 428)
AMOS
Four of the ten Minor Prophets scrolls contain text from the book of Amos (4QXIIc, 4QXIIg, MurXII, 5Qamos). Elsewhere in the scrolls, a recast quotation of Amos 5:26-27 provides for the historical genesis of the Qumran sect in the land of Damascus (see the Damascus Document 7:14 -15). The expression “tents of Damascus ” (“beyond Damascus ” in the traditional text of the Hebrew Bible) is then interpreted in light of Amost 9:11, “I will re-erect the fallen tent of David”—as a reference to the neglected books of the Law which were reestablished in Damascus . Another reference to this passage—-perhaps more sensitive to the context—appears in Acts 7:43, notably replacing Damscus with Babylon . In light of this, it is possible that the Qumran community understood Damascus as a figure for the Babylonian exile when they spoke of the new covenant made in the ‘land of Damscus’ (CD 8:21 and 19:34).
Amos 9:11 turns up again in 4Q174 3:12 . On this occasion, the “fallen tent of David” is the messianic Branch of David who was expected to appear in the Last Days to deliver Israel . Finally, Amos 8:11 is also employed in true pesher fashion in the Prophetic Apocryphon (4Q387 2 8-9) and becomes a thirsting for the “words of the Lord” brought about in the Last Days by the apostate priesthood. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 433).
OBADIAH
The twenty one verse postexilic vision of Obadiah concerning Edom—Israel’s cousin and foe from across the Dead Sea to the southeast—is found in two of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts (4QXIIg, MurXII). Although Edom is mentioned in the scrolls (see the War Scroll 1:1 and 4Q434 7b 3), no use of Obadiah s found in the surviving nonbiblical manuscripts. Obadiah is, however, credited with a psalm whose fragmentary first line s found in A Collection of Royal Psalms (4Q381 1 ii 8-9). (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 441)
JONAH
The famous account of Jonah and the giant fish is found in five of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts. Neither the book nor the prophet attracted any attention among the nonbiblical scrolls that survived the two thousand year storage in the caves. One wonders what the Qumran community members might have thought of God’s forgiving Nineveh , the capital of Assyria , one of Israel ’s greatest enemies. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 443)
MICAH
Micah is found in three of the Minor Prophets manuscripts (4QXIIg, MurXII, 8HevXII gr) as well as in a fragmentary pesher (1Q14). This commentary interprets portions of chapter 1—which addresses the judgment of Samaria ( Israel ) and Jerusalem ( Judah ) at the end of the eighth century BC—as fulfilled in the time of the Teacher of Righteousness, enumerating the judgments due his enemies.
Quotations from Micah in nonbiblical texts are relatively numerous. The false prophets of the eighth century BC who commanded Micah to keep silent (Micah 2:6a), become in good pesher style, the Pharisees of the late Second Temple Period- in particular, the leadership, who evidently sought to silence the Teacher (Damascus Document, 4:20 ). Micah 2:10-11 and its command to “rise and go, for this is not a place of rest” is interpreted by 4Q177 as evidence of God’s desire that the sect remove itself from Jerusalem and go into exile. Micah 4:13 and its prediction of Jerusalem’s—the daughter of Zion’s—glory in the Last Days is incorporated into the blessing of the messianic Prince or Leader of Israel in Priestly Blessings for the Last Days (1QSb 5:26). Micah 7:11 is understood by the Damascus Document (CD 4:12 ) to be fulfilled at the end of the then-present wicked age, when “the wall is built, the boundary removed.”
As has been evidenced in earlier discussion, quotations from these Minor Prophets are normally employed to illuminate the events of God’s program—that which is termed pesher interpetation. Rarely, as is the case with the quotation of Micah 7:2 in the Damascus Document (CD) 16:15 , is a prophetic text used to determine a legal issue. In this instance, the issue is what might be offered or vowed to God. If the item is necessary for subsistence, and therefore liable to be reneged—setting one up to be hunted with a net—it should not be vowed. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 447)
NAHUM
Nahum’s late seventh century BC oracle against Nineveh is found in three (4QXIIg, MurXII, 8HevXII gr) of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts and is the subject of one of the most important and extensive pesher texts found in the caves at Qumran (4Q169). In that pesher, the prophecy’s original setting—the imminent fall of Nineveh , capital of the waning superpower Assyria —is ignored and the prophet’s words of judgment are turned against a group called “Seekers of Smooth Things” or “Flattery Seekers.” As is evident from the context, this designation is clearly meant to represent the Pharisees.
In addition to this large scale pesher, Nahum 2:11 undergoes similar treatment in 4Q177, along with a collection of other biblical quotes referring to the vindication of the righteous and the judgment of the company of darkness in the Last Days.
Nahum 1:2, “On his enemies God takes vengeance; against his foes he bears a grudge” is cited in the Damascus Document (CD 9:5) in conjunction with Leviticus 19:18, “Take no vengeance and bear no grudge against your kinfolk” to demonstrate that vengeance taken on a fellow sectarian is not proper. To deal with such a fellow in such a way would be to regard kinfolk as the enemy. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 455)
HABAKKUK
Habakkuk, the subject of one of the most extensive pesher texts (A Commentary on Habakkuk), also exists in three of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts (4QXIIg, MurXII, 8HevXII gr).
A Commentary or Pesher on Habakkuk exploits the original setting of the prophecy set in the early sixth century BC and the disturbing message of the coming of the Chaldeans—God’s agents of judgment on sinful Judah—to interpret the events of five hundred years later. The Chaldeans become the “Kittim” or Romans and the unjust of Judah are none other than the foes of the Qumran community, the Pharisees. Oddly, apart from this extensive pesher, there are no citations or allusions to Habakkuk among the scrolls.” (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 459)
ZEPHANIAH
The five short chapter of Zephaniah are well attested in the scrolls, preserved in five of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts (4QXIIb, 4QXIIc, 4QXIIg, MurXII, 8HevXIIgr). There is also an extremely fragmentary pesher, which was found in Cave 1 (1Q15).
Zephaniah is also appealed to in two instances among the nonbiblical scrolls. 1QS 5:11 quotes Zephaniah 1:6, They have not sought him or inquired of his statutes”—a charge originally made against idolatrous Judah near the end of the seventh century BC—characterizing those who did not enter the covenant of the Qumran community. Lives of the Patriarchs (4Q464 3 I 9) cites Zephaniah 3:9, “For I will give purified lips to the people”—a passage that in its original setting referred to the conversion of the Gentile nations in the last days. Although the rabbinic commentary Midrash Tanhuma 28 captures this intent (“purified lips becoming the Hebrew language)—it is rather unlikely that the Qumran community would have included the Gentile nations in their interpretation of the passage. All that can be said of the rather difficult fragment is that the scroll also understood “purified lips” to be referring to Hebrew and that speaking Hebrew may have been seen as part of the promise to Abraham. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 463)
HAGGAI
The diminuitive but powerful book of the postexilic prophet Haggai is preserved in only three of the ten Minor Prophets manuscripts (4QXIIb, 4QXIIe, MurXII). The pointed challenge to rebuild the Temple destroyed by the Babylonians is not cited in any of the nonbiblical writings, nor is the name Haggai mentioned in the scrolls. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 467)
ZECHARIAH
The postexilic prophet Zechariah is attested in five of the ten Minor Prophets scrolls (4QXIIa, 4QXIIe, 4QXIIg, MurXII, 8HevXII gr). And though not the subject of any preserved commentaries, was cited frequently among the nonbiblical manuscripts from Qumran .
An Aramaic Text on the Persian Period (4Q562 2 1) refers to Zechariah 2:8, “One who touches you is as one who touches the apple of his eye” evidently in reference to the time of return from Babylon and God’s promise to judge those who would plunder Israel .
In true pesher fashion, the community saw a reference to their own sufferings in the “seven eyes” of Zechariah 3:9. This passage was interpreted to be the “seven fold” refining of Psalm 12:6 (4Q177). Likewise, a Commentary on Consolating Passages in Scripture (4Q176 15 3-4) quotes Zechariah 13:9, “I will bring one third in the fire and refine them” in a context that tempers the suffering prophesied by Zechariah with words of comfort.
The messianic hope that characterized the Qumran community was likely the setting of the “two anointed sons” of Zechariah 4:14 , perhaps cited in reference to the blessing of Judah (Gen.49:8-12) in one of the Commentaries on Genesis (4Q254 4 2). Qumran doctrine found an acknowledgment of the priestly (anointed of Aaron) and royal (anointed of Israel ) messiahs in such passages. This very hope forms the setting of the reference to Zechariah 13:7—“If you strike down the shepherd, the flock will scatter”—in the Damascus Document (CD 19:7-9). The interpretation appears to refer to the martyrdom of the community’s leader in the Last Days. The “poor of the flock” (a reference to Zech.11:7) escape the subsequent punishment when the unrighteous are delivered up for judgment at the coming of the messiahs of Aaron and Israel . (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 470)
MALACHI
Only two of the ten manuscripts of the Minor Prophets contain the text of Malachi (4QIIa, 4QXIIc). This deterioration of the ends (and beginnings) of scrolls is a pattern seen frequently in the remains of the Qumran library. Although no pesher texts survive, a number of quotations reflect the manner in which the book was used by the Qumran community.
The exhortation of Malachi 1 to cease the presentation of worthless offerings to God is reaffirmed to the community in the Damascus Document (CD 6:5). Better to “lock the door” than to “light up my altar in vain” (Mal.1:10). In an ironic twist, it was the Temple —and not the offering—that had become the central problem. The altar had been defiled because the officiating priests had refused to enter the covenant of the Qumran community.
Malachi 3:16 and 18 were cited in the Damascus Document 20:19-22 in order to press the point that it was those who kept God’s covenant—the Qumran community—who were the righteous ones recorded in God’s book of remembrance.
A small fragment of Portions of Sectarian Law (4Q265 4 1-2) quotes Malachi 2:10 —“Why are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors”—evidently as part of an argument that denied young boys and females entrance to the Passover feast. Unfortunately, the fragmentary condition of the text does not preserve the logic behind this ruling, which is nowhere present in the biblical record. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 476-477)
DANIEL
For a group of Jewish men living in the desert, waiting for the end of the world, believing that almost everyone else was among the sons of darkness, the book of Daniel would have been welcome reading. Its tales of a godly man and his friends resisting persecution, refusing to compromise, and triumphing over wickedness and idolatry must have brought encouragement to the Qumran covenanters.
For modern readers and scholars, the Daniel scrolls and other related manuscripts are interesting for three reasons. First, of all the biblical books found at Qumran , these copies of Daniel are closest in date to when the book itself was written. Second, they provide our earliest evidence for the contents and form of Daniel. Finally, some related scrolls contain new stories surrounding Daniel that have only now come to light in the DSS .
Eight Daniel manuscripts were found at Qumran : two in Cave 1, five in Cave 4 and one in Cave 6. Unfortunately, none is complete due to the ravages of time, but between them they preserve a substantial amount of the book of Daniel. All eight scrolls were copied in the space of 175 years, ranging from 125 BC to AD 50. Since Daniel was compiled later than any other book in the Hebrew Bible (about 165 BC), these scrolls show that it was becoming popular and widely used at Qumran only forty years after being written.
What forms of this book are found in the scrolls? This is an important question, since Jewish and Protestant Bibles contain Daniel in twelve chapters, whereas Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles have a longer version that includes the Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon. Seven of the Daniel scrolls contained the book in the shorter form found in Jewish and Protestant Bibles—-not the longer form known from Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. But one scroll (4QDan e) preserves material from Daniel’s Prayer in chapter 9, which suggests that it probably contained this prayer alone. It is also interesting to note that every chapter of Daniel is represented in the eight manuscripts, except for chapter 12. Yet this does not mean that the book lacked the final chapter at Qumran , since one of the nonbiblical scrolls, known as the Florilegium (4Q174), quotes Daniel 12:10 as written in the “book of Daniel the prophet.”
Another question in the case of Daniel concerns the bilingual nature of the book , which in the Hebrew Bible opens in Hebrew, switches to Aramaic at chapter 2:4b and then reverts again to Hebrew at 8:1. The four scrolls that preserve material from two or all three of these sections make the very same transitions from Hebrew to Aramaic and back again. While the precise reasons for having Hebrew and Aramaic sections in the same book are complex, the scrolls show us that Daniel existed in this form very early on and thus was most likely written in Hebrew and Aramaic.
Do the scrolls offer clues to the position of the book of Daniel in the canon of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament? Daniel 12:10 in the Florilegium says that the verse is written in the book of Daniel the prophet. This indicates that at Qumran Daniel was classified among the prophets rather than the writings.
To say that the Daniel scrolls contain a book the one found in the Hebrew Bible does not mean that they contain exactly the same text. On the contrary, readings for individual words or groups of words frequently differ. Such variants will be of great interest to many readers, especially those desiring to find out how the scrolls affect our understanding of certain key verses of Scripture. Many of these readings are minor, with little or no effect on the meaning or interpretation of the book—but some are more significant. For instance, near the end of Daniel 7:1, the awkward phrase “he related the sum of the words” is completely absent from 4QDan b, the only scroll that preserves this verse. The importance of the reading is underscored by the New Revised Standard Version, which simply has “then he wrote down the dream” in line with 4QDan b and not with the Hebrew Bible. A second example is seen in Daniel 10:16 , where the Hebrew Bible reads “one in the likeness of the sons of men” but pap6QDan most likely agrees with the Septuagints’s “something in the likeness of a human hand.” In this case, the editors of the NIV decided to retain the reading of the Masoretic Text (as do other English translations) but considered the variant reading important enough to merit an extensive footnote.
Was the book of Daniel quoted or referred to in other writings at Qumran ? 11Qmelchizedek refers to the “Anointed of the Spirit, of whom Daniel spoke” (Dan.9:25-26). The quotation of Daniel 12:10 as from the book of Daniel the prophet in the Florilegium is significant for three reasons: (1) It proves that by about 25 BC Daniel was already being quoted as Scripture. (2) It shows that the author of the Florilegium knew Daniel as a complete book. (3) It suggests that at Qumran Daniel was included among the Prophets and not among the Writings.
Several other manuscripts—all written in Aramaic—also mention Daniel or events associated with his book. These are the Prayer of Nabonidas (4Q242) , two pseudo-Daniel documents (4Q243-244 and 4Q245), the Daniel Apocryphon (4Q246), 4QDaniel Susanna (4Q551), 4QFour Kingdoms (4Q552-553), and pap4QApocalypse (4Q489). With their tales of courage in the face of persecution and their vision of the end of the world, these nonbiblical scrolls offer fascinating insights into Jewish thinking concerning inspired sayings, the course of history, and the end times during a period of Greek and Roman rule that was of great significance for both Judaism and Christianity. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 482-485)
PSALMS
Among all the books of the Bible, the Psalms are the most numerous in the DSS , which indicates their immense popularity at Qumran . But the form of the Psalter in these most ancient manuscripts is diverse and fascinating. Up to Psalm 89 or so, the scrolls contain material very much in the order used by Jews and Christians today, although there are a few variations. But from Psalm 91 onward, many of the Psalms scrolls differ radically from the Psalter as we know it. The variations involved are of two main types: variations in arrangement (a different order of Psalms) and variations in content (the inclusion of compositions not found in the traditional book of Psalms. Some of these were previously known, and others completely unknown, before the discovery of the DSS ).
Description and Contents of Psalms Scrolls
There are forty Psalms scrolls or manuscripts that range in date from the mid-second century BC to about 50-68 A.D. Thirty seven were found at Qumran: three in Cave 1, one each in the minor caves 2, 3, 5,6, and 8, twenty three in Cave 4, and six in Cave 11. Three more scrolls were discovered farther south along the Dead Sea : two at Masada , and one at Nahal Hever. Although none is complete, several of these manuscripts are very substantial—notably the Great Psalms Scroll (11QPs a), followed by 4QPs a, 5/6HevPs, 4QPs b, and 4QPs e.
Of the 150 Psalms found in the Masoretic Psalter, 126 are preserved in the 40 Psalms scrolls and a few other relevant manuscripts such as the pesharim. The remaining twenty four Psalms were most likely included but have since been lost due to deterioration and damage. Of Psalms 1-89, nineteen no longer survived; but of Psalms 90 to 150 only five are not represented (Ps.90, 108, 110, 111,and 117) since the beginnings of scrolls are usually on the outside and are thus more prone to deterioration. In addition to these Psalms that are found in modern Bibles, at least 15 apocryphal Psalms or similar compositions are also distributed among four manuscripts (11QPs a, 4QPs f, 11QPs b, and 11QPsAp a. Six of these compositions were previously familiar to scholars (151A, 151B, 154, 155, David’s Last Words (=2 Sam.23:1-7) and Sirach 51:13-30, but the other nine were completely unknown prior to the discovery of the DSS (The Apostrophe to Judah, the Apostrophe to Zion, David’s Compositions, the Eschatological Hymn, the Hymn to the Creator, the Plea for Deliverance, and three of the Songs against Demons.
Different Psalters in the Scrolls
Prior to the discovery of the DSS , the LXX contains a Psalter that differs in two respects from the one found in the Masoretic Text. The first type of variation is in arrangement and the second is in content. The existence of Psalters with different arrangements or contents is significant for our understanding of the book of Psalms since many scholars today are focusing on the shape of the Psalter and the implications of the order of the Psalms as well as on their contents.
In two scrolls (4QPs a and 4QPs q) Psalm 31 is followed directly by Psalm 33. We cannot be sure that Psalm 32 was ever part of these scrolls. In one scroll (4QPs a) Psalm 38 is followed directly by Psalm 71. Except for these two important variations, our translation of Psalms 1 through 89 is presented in the order of the Masoretic Text.
But for Psalms 91 onward- 90 is not preserved- both the arrangement and contents of many Psalms scrolls are very different from what we had known previously. These variations are so numerous and radical that it is necessary to provide a table at the end of the intro to assist readers in locating specific Psalms. (Table 2).
The most prominent arrangement that found in 11QPs a (the largest Psalms scroll), 4QPs e, and 11QPs b- can be termed the 11QPs a Psalter. It should be emphasized that this term denotes Psalms 1 through 89 plus the arrangement found in 11QPs a. The over all structure of the 11QPs a Psalter differs substantially from the Greek one.
The second arrangement—the Psalter used by Jews and most Christians today—is conveniently termed the MT-150 Psalter since the form of the Psalter found in the Masoretic Text contains 150 Psalms. It is most surprising to find that none of the Psalms scrolls from Qumran unambiguously confirms the arrangement of this Psalter; for such a sequence, we have to turn to a scroll from Masada (MasPs b- which ends with Psalm 150).
The other three arrangements are much smaller (see Table 1). One involves the Four Psalms Against Demons in 11QpsAp a, which are placed immediately after Psalm 89 in the DSS Bible. Another arrangement is found in 4QPs b, which preserves material from Psalms 91 through 118—but with Psalm 103 followed directly by Psalm 112 (thus not including Psalms 92 to 111). The final arrangement is in 4QPs f which contains Psalms 22, 107 and 109, followed by three apocryphal Psalms (the Apostrophe to Zion , the Eschatological Hymn and the Apostrophe to Judah ). Since Psalms 22 and 109 and the Apostrophe to Zion occur in other scrolls in combination with other compositions, the translation does not present them in the order found in 4QPs f in the DSS Bible. However, the remaining three (Ps.107, the Eschatological Hymn, and the Apostrophe to Judah ) are not found in any other Psalms scrolls, so these are grouped together after Psalm 151B under the heading “An Unusual Collection from Cave 4.”
New Readings and the Status of the Psalms at Qumran
Several interesting readings are also found in the Psalms scrolls. One of these is in Psalm 145, which is missing a verse in the MT. This is an acrostic psalm—in other words, one with every verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Although there are twenty two letters in this alphabet, the Psalm contains only twenty one verses: a verse beginning with the Hebrew letter nun should come between verse 13 (the mem verse) and verse 14 ( samek verse). 11QPs a is the only scroll that preserves Psalm 145; for verse 13 it contains not only the mem verse but the missing nun verse as well! This is an important example of how the DSS sometimes preserve material that has fallen out of the Masoretic Text during the process of transmission. This reading is so compelling that the nun verse has been included in many modern English Bibles, including the New Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible, the New International Version and the Good News Bible.
What was the status of the Book of Psalms at Qumran ? A text that was written at Qumran , 4QMMT, suggests that the Psalms form the most prominent composition in the third part of the Jewish canon which was actually still in the process of formation. “And we have written to you that you should examine the book of Moses, and the words of the Prophets and Davi[d]. (4QMMT C lines 9-10). A very similar statement is found in Luke 24:44 where Jesus says, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” Another pertinent text is the War Scroll (4Q491), which specifically refers to the “book of Psalms” (4Q491, fragment 17, line 4). The scriptural status of the Psalter is also supported by the three pesharim on the Psalms (1QpPs, 4QpPs a, and 4QpPs b), by quoting verses from the Psalms and expounding on them, the ancient commentaries clearly affirm that their writers viewed the book of Psalms as Scripture.
It thus seems clear that the book of Psalms was viewed as Scripture at Qumran . But it is not easy to determine which specific form of the Psalter was regarded as such. A passage from one of the compositions found in the 11QPsa-Psalter (David’s Compositions) is relevant in this regard: “And David, the son of Jesse, was wise and a light like the light of the sun, and literate…And the total of his psalms and songs was four thousand and fifty. All these he composed through prophecy which was given him from before the Most High.” Such language indicates that the Psalms of David, particularly those found in the 11QPsa-Psalter were viewed as inspired Scripture among those who compiled and used this ancient collection of Psalms. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 505-509)
JOB
The Hebrew text of the book of Job is the most problematic found in the Bible. This is due not only to its subject matter, but also to the fact that it is poetry, that it is high dramatic art of lyric quality, and that it may be based on an earlier drama not Israelite in origin.
Remnants of only four manuscripts were unearthed at Qumran , and only one of those (4QJob a) has more than six small fragments preserved. 2QJob, in fact, has only one fragment with a single complete word and letters from four others. Interestingly, one of the manuscripts of Job of very early date (225-150 BCE ) was inscribed in the archaic paleo-Hebrew script, common before the Babylonian exile (586 B.C). All the other identified manuscripts written in this script are among the Books of Moses though there are is another deals with the figure of Joshua. Rabbinic tradition attributes the book of Job to Moses. Thus the ancient script was presumably retained for some copies of these books as an attestation of their great antiquity. In addition, there were two copies of an Aramaic translation of the book found.
Unfortunately, the small amount of Job preserved at Qumran does not help much with the difficult Hebrew of the traditional Masoretic Text. Occasionally when the Qumran manuscripts differ from the traditional version, there is not enough text preserved to establish a context firmly. This is problematic, since even the Masoretic Text itself is sometimes obscure, and translators must make educated guesses. Most of the variants are quite minor: singular for plural, transposition of word order, presence or lack of a small word that adds no meaning or is implicit. Once 4QJob a uses a more familiar form of the word “God” (Job 33:26). In another instance 4QJob a has a negative that is not in the traditional text (Job 37:1), but the full context cannot be confidently established. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 590).
PROVERBS
Proverbs was an important book in Israel for training in wisdom, prudence, and moral character, and Qumran made use of it. Only scraps from two scrolls of Proverbs were found there and one of those has only two fragments. There are major differences between the Hebrew and the Greek versions of Proverbs, due to intentionally different editions of the book, and the Qumran fragments appear to agree with the traditional Hebrew edition. There are only a few variants, each presumably inadvertent, involving only a single look a like letter but yielding noticeable differences in meaning.
One verse of Proverbs is cited explicitly by one of the principle books of the Qumran community, the Damascus Document. The command is given not to send an “offering to the altar through anyone impure…for it is written, The sacrifice of the wicked is disgusting; but the prayer of the righteous is like a proper offering.” (CD 11:19-21 quoting Proverbs 15:8). The formula “for it is written” is sometimes used to introduce authoritative Scripture for deciding a course of conduct, but sometimes, as here, it is used simply to buttress a commonsense practice. In addition Proverbs 1:1-6 is echoed in 4Q525 fragment 1 “[to kno]w wisdom and disc[ipline,] to understand…” Proverbs 7:12 is possibly quoted in 4Q184 fragment 1 11-12 where Lady Folly “lies secretly in wait…in the city streets”; the same motif plays in 4Q415 fragment 9, reminiscent of Proverbs 8:22-31. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 594)
RUTH
This charming story about the foreigner Ruth and her devotion to her Israelite mother in law survives on fragments from four separate manuscripts, two from Cave 2 and two from Cave 4 at Qumran . Two of the scrolls date from the middle of the first century BC, one from the late first century BC or early first century CE, and one from the middle of the first century CE. Since the story is rather straightforward, and since there are few issues that would cite ideological change, all four texts plus the one recorded in the tradition MT exhibit the same language with only minor, unimportant variants. Most involve either a single letter mistaken for a similar one, an interchangeably synonymous word, or an insertion of an explicit word for what was already implicit. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 607)
THE SONG OF SONGS
The Song of Sons is one of the most controversial books in the Bible, although it contains only eight chapters. A careful reading of this book (whose title means “The Greatet of All Songs”) shows it to be a collection of love poems, several of which are very erotic and romantic. The precise sexual details are not always apparent, since they are frequently couched in imagery-much of it sensitive, beautiful and Middle Eastern—that is not easily understood by modern readers.
Because of its frankness and unabashed celebration of sexual love, some of the early Rabbis and early church fathers were disturbed by this delightful little book, interpreting it in a variety of ways that played down its sexuality. Some early Jewish and Christian sages found the contents plainly unacceptable and attempted to block its acceptance into the canon of the Hebrew Bible. Certain Rabbis, however, recognized the Song of Songs as Scripture but sought to interpret its contents in terms of the relationship between God (the lover or bridegroom) and Israel (the beloved or bride). Many church fathers who also accepted the book as Scripture interpreted it as describing the relationship between Christ and His Church. But in more recent times both Jews and Christians have increasingly come to recognize the sexual and romantic nature of the Song of Songs. This trend is to be welcomed by our various faith communities, since it affirms that the God who created us is concerned with our sexuality and romantic dimensions, that these are significant aspects of marriage, and that religious people can enjoy them without shame.
Four scrolls of the Song of Songs (or Canticles) were found at Qumran , three in Cave 4 (4Canta, 4Cantb, and 4Cantc) and the fourth in Cave 6 (6QCant). All were copied in the Herodian period between 30 BCE and 70 CE), the latest being 6Qcan (about 50 CE). Two of these scrolls (4Canta and 4Cantb) deserve special mention, both because they are the best preserved and because each has a number of interesting features. Although 4Canta preserves quote a substantial amount of material (3:4-5, 7-11; 4:1-7; 6:11 -12:7:1-7), the text between Canticles 4:7 and Canticles 6:11 is completely missing. Since in the Masoretic Text Canticles 4:7 forms the end of a content unit and Canticles 6:11 starts the beginning of another unit, it seems that the absence of chapters 4:8 through 6:10 was no mere accident; this material was either deliberately omitted, was not part of the text being copied by the scribe, or occurred elsewhere in the scroll. When compared with the size of the book as a whole, the section missing in this scroll is very large (about 30 percent). One explanation is the sensual language and erotic imagery that is found in much of the missing portion; the Song of Songs was evidently a controversial book before the time of Jesus.
The second noteworthy scroll is 4Cantb, which also preserves a goodly amount of text (chapters 2:9-17; 3:1-2, 5, 9-10; 4:1-3, 8-11, 14-16; 5:1) but omits two large segments (3:6-8 and 4:4-7) and possibly ended at 5:1, thus containing only the first half of the book found in modern Bibles. It is interesting that 4QCanta and 4QCantb lack a section at exactly the same point (Cant.4:7). But while 4QCanta omits a large piece of text starting after 4:7, 4Qcantb omits the three verses preceding the end of 4:7. 4QCantb also features several scribal errors, and although written in Hebrew, contains several Aramaic word forms that reveal Aramaic influence on the scribe. Moreover, 4Cant b contains several unusual scribal markings that seem to represent letters in either the paleo-Hebrew script, the Cryptic A script (which was used in some Qumran sectarian writings), or a combination of several scripts including Greek. These letters in 4QCantb may indicate a sectarian scribal background or a special function of this manuscript among the Qumran community. The actual purpose of the unusual letters is not clear. Since they appear in lines that were slightly or much shorter than the surrounding ones, they may have served as line-fillers written in the spaces at the end of the lines to prevent such lines from being mistaken as “open sections.” (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 611-613)
ECCLESIASTES
Qohelet- perhaps meaning “the assembler” is concerned with the purpose of life and in particular the inability of material things to provide meaning. As appropriate as this message might have been for the ascetic community reflected in the DSS , only two manuscripts of the book were found at Qumran . The Wisdom Books apparently were not yet considered of quite the same importance as the Law and the Prophets. The older manuscript, 4QQoha, is housed at the Amman Museum rather than with 4QQoh b and most of the other scrolls in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem .
4QQoha is among the oldest manuscripts at Qumran dating from about 175 BCE . Its writing is spacious and penned with flair. There are portions of three continguous columns preserved, containing text from chapters 5 through 7. The 4QQoha scribe made several copying mistakes—for example, once skipping from one occurrence of a word to a repeated occurrence (though he did notice the error and write the missing text supralinearly).
4QQohb has only two small fragments from chapter 1 and probably dates from the middle or latter half of the first century BCE .
All the witnesses—the scrolls, the Masoretic Text, and the Septuagint—generally exhibit a similar text, though each is dotted with minor variants. Most of the variants are small particles, late verses classical forms, minor scribal errors, lookalike words, or changes of word order. A few letters are extant at the ends of the 4QQoha fragments from 6:8 and 6:12 -7:1, but while they are insufficient to establish any meaning, they do not agree with the words in the Masoretic Text. Some minor features in Hebrew and Greek cannot be mirrored in the opposite language, but when minor differences between the Hebrew texts can be reflected in the Greek, the Septuagint usually agrees with the Masoretic Text, though sometimes it follows the scroll. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 619)
LAMENTATIONS
The destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC gave rise to the question: Why did this happen? This cry of lament is recorded as the first word in three of the five poems that make up the collection known as Lamentations (1:1; 2:1; and 4:1) and is the Hebrew title of the book. For the Qumranites- a community that still considered itself in exile (the present Temple being in the hands of imposters and therefore ritually unclean)—these poems must have been of heightened significance.
Four manuscripts—together witnessing to all five chapters of Lamentations—were found in the caves of Qumran . Cave 3, famous for the Copper Scroll , preserved one manuscript (3QLam). A somewhat variant version of the book was unearthed in Cave 4 (4QLam). Finally, the relatively meager cache of twenty five fragmentary manuscripts found in Cave 5 produced remnants of two scrolls of Lamentations (5QLam a and 5QLam b).
Chapters 1 through 4 of Lamentations were written in a poetic form known as acrostic. In an acrostic poem, each line, or group of lines, begins with a letter of the alphabet in its respective order. The versification of our modern Bibles evidences this characteristic, because each chapter is a multiple of twenty two, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter 5, though not acrostic, follows this numerical pattern as well. The acrostic form is also captured in our modern Bibles by the common practice of printing poetry in cola (poetic units that are divisions of the strophe or stanza). To our eye, this is what differentiates poetry from prose. It is noteworthy that while the scribe of 3QLam did copy Lamentations in such a fashion, those of 4QLam, 5QLam a and 5QLam b did not. Perhaps the ancient concern was much the same as publishing concerns in our time: the need to save space.
Lamentations is quoted at least from the nonbiblical scrolls. A Lament for Zion (4Q179 2 4), a literary piece that appears to be patterned after Lamentations cites Lamentations 1:1. A Prayer for Deliverance (4Q501) capitalizes on the genre of lament, although in this case the enemy is not the Babylonians, the Romans, or any other foreign people, but rather unbelieving Jews. The writer pleads with God to exclude them from the “sons of the covenant” because of their lack of faithfulness. One of the few as yet unpublished manuscripts (4Q241) is also reported to contain a passage from Lamentations.
The most extensive manuscript of Lamentations-4QLam—is a late first century BCE copy unearthed in Cave 4. The first preserved column of the scroll begins in the midst of line 1, with the upper margin clearly visible. Although, given the fragmentary nature of the text, the right margin is not visible (remember that Hebrew reads right to left) it is clear from the calculated line length that the first half of verse 1 necessarily began at the bottom of the previous column. Thus almost certainly Lamentaions was not the first book in this scroll. So we might as, what was the book that preceded it? Jews would likely answer that it was preceded by Ruth—according to the order of books represented by the Hebrew canon—whereas Christians would suggest Jeremiah, as is the case in the Christian Bible. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing near the end of the first century CE, gives the earliest evidence for an answer to this question. He discusses a twenty two book Bible (Contra Apionem 1:8), whereas the modern Jewish Bible numbers 24. Josephus’s number would suggest that Ruth was included with Judges, and Lamentations with Jeremiah. Unfortunately, the worms that feasted on the Cave 4 manuscript have eliminated any further clues to this mystery. Perhaps future DNA testing will reveal whether 4QJer e or one of the two Cave 4 copies of Ruth (4QRuth a or 4QRuth b) was written on skin from the same or related animal. (Abegg. Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 622-623)
ESTHER (MISSING)
Of the thirty nine books of the Hebrew Bible—or twenty four if the Minor Prophets, Ezra-Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles are each counted as one—only the book of Esther is missing from the collection of manuscripts unearthed in the caves of Qumran. The absence of Esther from the twenty or so scrolls found among the ruins of Masada and the hideouts used by the rebels of the Bar Kokhba revolt does not raise much of a question, but the absence of Esther from more than 200 biblical scrolls from the caves of Qumran is a bit more curious. To be sure, the books of Nehemiah and 1 Chronicles have not been found either, but they are generally assumed to have been present on the basis of the few crumbs of the scroll of Ezra and 2 Chronicles respectively.
That Esther has turned up missing might be attributed to nothing more than chance coupled with the relatively small size of the book. In addition, as noted above, it is true that other books composed in the period following the Babylonian Exile are either missing (Nehemiah and 1 Chronicles) or nearly so (Ezra and 2 Chronicles). However, some evidence that has come to light just recently reveals that the absence of Esther was purposeful rather than accidental. The Qumran calendar texts-not generally known before 1991-chart festivals and holy days on the community’s 364 day year. The feast of Purim, which has its beginnings in the story of Esther is missing. As a result, the real question now becomes: Why was Esther rejected?
Several answers might be suggested. First, the fact that the festival of Purim was a later addition, not mentioned in the books of Moses, might have caused the DSS community to reject the book. Second, the mere fact that the story concerns the marriage of Esther (a Jew) to a Persian kin was likely repugnant to the group’s conservative sensibilities. Third, the book itself makes no mention of God whatsoever. Finally, the emphasis on retaliation evident in the final chapters of Esther (chapters 7-9) is contrary to the teachings of the DSS : “To no man shall I return evil for evil; I shall pursue a man only for good; for with God resides the judgment of all the living, and he shall pay each man his recompense” (1QS 10:17-18). Any one of these four factors would have provided good reason to reject the book of Esther. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 630-631)
CHRONICLES
Only a single small fragment, dated about 50-25 BC remains out of the sixty five chapters of 1 and 2 Chronicles. In contrast, four manuscripts of 1 and 2 Samuel and three of 1 and 2 Kings were preserved, one quite extensively. The relative scarcity of Chronicles at Qumran could be a matter of either chance or design, since Chronicles has a strong focus on Jerusalem and the Temple , from which the Qumran community had removed itself.
The single fragment of Chronicles, however, proves interesting. The text translated here is close to the traditional text, with three small variants—two meaningless and a third a minor error in the spelling of the name of the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother, of course, is important to dynastic kingship (when the king might have several wives) for determining which branch of the family inherits the royal prerogatives.
Preceding the recognizable text from 2 Chronicles 28:27-29:3, however, are the remains of a few letters in the previous column. They yield no connected text, but neither do they match any of the traditional text of Chronicles within a chapter or two before the recognizable text translated here. So there appear to be two possibilities: either (1) this fragment is not really from a manuscript of the book of Chronicles itself but is from another work that quotes Chronicles or (2) it s a text of Chronicles that simply has some text that varies from the traditional text. The latter is probably the case. The extensive Samuel manuscript (4QSam a) frequently varies from the traditional text in large and significant ways and half the time its text is to be preferred to the MT. More important, 4QSam a often agrees with Chronicles, the Septuagint, and the narrative of the historian Josephus, against the isolated Masoretic narrative. At any rate, this small fragment proves either that the book of Chronicles itself was in the Qumran library, or perhaps more significantly, that it was known and considered worth quoting. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 632-633)
EZRA-NEHEMIAH
Ezra, a manuscript that was copied around the middle of the first century BCE , survives in only three small fragments. It is the only manuscript of Ezra (and there are none of Nehemiah) that was found in the Judean Desert . For the small amount of extant text, it displays almost exactly the same wording recorded in the MT. There are only four minor variants. 4Qezra once shows the singular form of the verb in contrast to the MT’s plural, while in another case the manuscripts show the exact opposite. Twice the MT errs in spelling the definite article –ah , while 4Qezra has the correct form –a’. (Abegg, Flint , Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 634).
TRANSLATIONS ARAMAIC BIBLE TRANSLATIONS (TARGUMS)
Two books of the Hebrew Bible have survived in Aramaic translation in the Qumran caves. A small scroll, found in Cave 11 and measuring 109 cm, has preserved in Aramaic a large portion of the last seven chapters of the Book of Job. Twenty-seven smaller fragments cover parts of Job 17:14 to 36:33. This text, together with small remains from Cave 4 of Leviticus (4Q156= 16:12 -21) and of another manuscript of Job (4Q157 = 3:5-9; 4:16 -5:4), represent the oldest extant Aramaic renderings of the Hebrew Bible. The translation of Job frequently differs from the customary text of the Hebrew Bible, but it is unclear whether the divergences are due merely to the difficulty of translating poetry, or to a Hebrew original not identical with the traditional Scripture.
GREEK BIBLE TRANSLATIONS (4Q119-122, 7Q1-2)
Compared to the quantity of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, the Greek documents found in two of the Qumran caves, Caves 4 and 7, are remarkably few. Those which have been identified with certainty belong to the Greek translation of the Bible, mostly the Pentateuch. Cave 4 has yielded the remains of two scrolls Leviticus, one of leather (4Q119) and one of papyrus (4Q120), as well as one of Numbers (4Q121) and Deuteronomy (4Q122), all dating to the second or the first century BC. On the whole, they represent the traditional text of the Septuagint with minor variations such as word being replaced by its synonym (harvesting for threshing for example or nation by people). But 4QLXX Numbers (4Q121) testifies to an effort to bring the LXX closer to the Hebrew Pentateuch. However, it is worth nothing that in Lev.4:27 (4Q120, fragments 20, 4) the Tetragram (the divine name YHWH) is rendered semi-phonetically as Iao and is not replaced as was customary later by the Greek Kurios (Lord).
Among the nineteen minute fragments found in cave 7 which contained only Greek texts two have been identified as relics of Exodus 28:4-7 (7Q1) and the Letter of Jeremiah verses 43-44 (7Q2). The former is said to be closer to the traditional Hebrew text than to the LXX. Both are dated to about 100 B.C.
GREEK FRAGMENTS (4Q126-127, 7Q3-19)
The remaining two Greek texts in Cave 4 date roughly to the turn of the era. One (4Q126) cannot be identified and the other (4Q127) is either a paraphrase of Exodus, mentioning among others Pharaoh, Moses and Egypt , or possibly an apocryphal account of Israel in Egypt .
Seventeen out of the nineteen minute Greek papyrus fragments from cave 7 have been declared by the editors to be unidentifiable. A Spanish Jesuit, Jose O’Callaghan, in 1972 argued that these hardly legible scraps derived from six books of the New Testament: the Gospel of Mark 4:28 (7Q6 1), 6:48 (7Q15), 6:52-3 (7Q5), 12:17 (7Q7), the Acts of the Apostles 28:38 (7Q6 2); 1 Timothy 3:16, 4:1, 3 (7Q4); James 1:23-24 (7Q8), and even one of the latest New Testament writings: 2 Peter 1:15 (7Q10). Callaghan bases his opinion on a fragment which measures 3.3 x 2.3 cm. Letters appear on just four lines and these are of unknown length since both the beginning and the end of each line are missing. An unrecognizable trace of another letter is observed at the top of the fragment. Seventeen letters are identified of which only nine are certain. A single complete word has survived: the Greek word kai = and.
The leading experts in the field (C. H. Roberts of Oxford and G. Aland) discarded O’Callaghan’s theory. Roberts said that if he wanted to waste his time, he was sure he would be able to demonstrate that 7Q5 belonged to any ancient Greek text, biblical or non-biblical. Yet this unlikely hypothesis was revived in the 1980’s by Thiede and others only to encounter the same fate of summary dismissal as Father O’Callaghan’s a decade or so earlier.
REWRITTEN SCRIPTURES
The “Rewritten Bible” may be defined as a text that has a close narrative attachment to some book contained in the present Jewish canon of scripture and some type of reworking, whether through rearrangement, conflation, omission, or supplementation of the present canonical biblical text. Four texts fall into this category: Jubilees, the Temple Scroll , 4QReworked Pentateuch, and he Genesis Apocryphon.
JUBILEES
Jubilees is an extensive reworking of Genesis 1 through Exodus 12. Jubilees was found in fifteen copies in five caves in Qumran . The author of Jubilees uses the 364 day solar calendar to show that the solar calendar and the religious festivals and halakhah (his interpretation of them) were given to Moses on Sinai. Jubilees was considered an authoritative text at Qumran . It is cited by name in the Damascus Document (CD 16:3-4) and in 4Q228). Jubilees presents itself as authoritative as it claims to be dictated by an angel of God to Moses. The author of Jubilees condenses, omits, changes and adds. For instance, the author of Jubilees omits the fact that Abram lied about Sarah to Pharaoh (Gen.12:10).
TEMPLE SCROLL
The Temple Scroll (11Q19) is more than 8 meters or 26 feet in length, with remains of 66 columns. The first part has Moses at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 34) where God gives him instructions about building the sanctuary and altar (cols.2-13)
4QREWORKED PENTATEUCH
4QReworked Pentateuch appears in five manuscripts from Cave 4 in Qumran: 4Q158, 4Q364, 4Q365, 4Q366, and 4Q367. The manuscripts preserve parts of the Torah from Genesis through Deuteronomy. The author used a proto-Samaritan text as his base, regrouped passages according to a common theme, and added previously unknown material.
GENESIS APOCRYPHON
The Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) was found in Cave 1 at Qumran . The scroll was written in Aramaic so it is not only a rewriting of the scriptures but also a translation. The Genesis Apocryphon is made up of twenty one fragmentary columns, the best preserved of which are columns 2 and 19-22.
The Conception of Noah
The Genesis Apocryphon adds apocryphal stories to the Old Testament text. The narrative in column 2 of the Genesis Apocryphon begins with the story of Lamech (Gen.5:28) who questions his wife about her pregnancy.
“Behold, I thought then within my heart that conception was due to the Watchers and the Holy Ones …and to the Giants … and my heart was troubled within me because of this child. Then I, Lamech, approached Bathenosh [my] wife in haste and said to her, ‘… by the Most High, the Great Lord, the King of all the worlds and Ruler of the Sons of Heaven, until you tell me all things truthfully, if …Tell me [this truthfully] and not falsely … by the King of all the worlds until you tell me truthfully and not falsely.’ Then Bathenosh my wife spoke to me with much heat [and] … said, ‘O my brother, O my lord, remember my pleasure …the lying together and my soul within its body. [And I tell you] all things truthfully.’ My heart was then greatly troubled within me, and when Bathenosh my wife saw that my countenance had changed … Then she mastered her anger and spoke to me saying, ‘O my lord, O my [brother, remember] my pleasure! I swear to you by the Holy Great One, the King of [the heavens] … that this seed is yours and that [this] conception is from you. This fruit was planted by you … and by no stranger or Watcher or Son of Heaven …[Why} is your countenance thus changed and dismayed, and why is your spirit thus distressed … I speak to you truthfully.’ Then I, Lamech, ran to Methuselah my father, and [I told] him all these things. [And I asked him to go to Enoch] his father for he would surely learn all things from him. For he was beloved, and he shared the lot [of the angels], who taught him all things. And when Methuselah heard [my words … he went to] Enoch his father to learn all things truthfully from him … his will. He went at once to Parwain and he found him there …[and] he said to Enoch his father, ‘O my father, O my lord, to whom I … And I say to you, lest you be angry with me because I come here …’ ” (The Genesis Apocryphon, II. lines 1-25. in The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Edited by Geza Vermes. New York : Penguin, 1997. 449-450.)
In this account Lamech confronts his wife Bathenosh about her pregnancy and tells her to tell him the truth about her pregnancy. Lamech wonders if the pregnancy is due to the “Watchers” (a reference to angels?). Bathenosh, the wife of Lamech, denies that she is pregnant by a Watcher or Son of Heaven. She claims that Lamech is the father of the child within her. In this apocryphal story, Lamech tells the story to Methuselah (mentioned in Genesis 5:21 -27 as the man who lived the longest life on this earth at 969 years). Methuselah then supposedly goes to Enoch and discovers the truth from Enoch. Several observations can be made from the Genesis Apocryphon: (1) the writer added to the text of scripture an apocryphal story, (2) names from the OT scripture were used (Lamech, Methuselah, and Enoch) along with names that are not found in scripture (Bathenosh- the wife of Lamech), (3) the writer of the Genesis Apocryphon was familiar with the context of Genesis 6, (4) some place names are given with no explanation: Parwain = heaven?,
There has been much debate regarding the meaning of Genesis 6:1-4. “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” Who were the “sons of God” of Genesis 6? Some scholars believe that they were the sons of the godly line of Seth that intermarried with the daughters of the wicked line of Cain. Others believe that they were angels (demons) who intermarried with the daughters of men and produced a race of giants. Others believe that they were demon possessed rulers who took the daughters of men into their harems. The story of the conception of Noah from the Genesis Apocryphon shows that there was a tradition in the time of the writing of the DSS that the sons of God according to Genesis 6 were references to angels.
The Dream of Abram
Regarding the story of Abram and Sarah entering Egypt in Genesis 12:10-20, the Genesis Apocryphon adds to the biblical text a dream of Abraham in which he sees the future and what should be done:
I, Abram, dreamt a dream, on the night of my entry into Egypt . And in my dream I saw a cedar and a palm-tree…Some men arrived intending to cut and uproot the cedar, leaving the palm-tree alone. But the palm tree shouted and said: Do not hew down the cedar because both of us are of the same family. And the cedar was saved thanks to the palm tree, and was not hewn down. I woke up from my slumber during the night and said to Sarai, my wife: I have had a nightmare […and] I am alarmed by this dream. She said to me: Tell me your dream so that I may know it. And I began to tell her the dream. I said: […] they want to kill me and leave you alone. This favor only [must you do for me]: every time we [reach a place, say] about me: He is my brother. And I shall live under your protection and my life will be spared because of you. […] they will try to separate you from me and kill me. Sarai wept because of my words that night. (Genesis Apocryphon 19:14-21)
The Beauty of Sarai
The Genesis Apocryphon also gives this extra-biblical description of the beauty of Sarai, Abram’s wife. This description of Sarah is not found in the biblical text. Genesis 12:14 says “So it was, when Abram came into Egypt , that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.” The writer of the Genesis Apocryphon gives a vivid physical description of Sarai to explain why the princes of Pharaoh commended her to Pharaoh and why Pharaoh took Sarai into his harem to be his wife.
“and beautiful is her face! How … fine are the hairs of her head! How lovely are her eyes! How desirable her nose and all the radiance of her countenance … How fair are her breasts and how beautiful all her whiteness! How pleasing are her arms and how perfect her hands, and how [desirable] all the appearance of her hands! How fair are her palms and how long and slender are her fingers! How comely are her feet, how perfect her thighs! No virgin or bride led into the marriage chamber is more beautiful than she; she is fairer than all other women. Truly, her beauty is greater than theirs. Yet together with all this grace she possesses abundant wisdom, so that whatever she does is perfect. When the king heard the words of Harkenosh and his two companions, for all three spoke as with one voice, he desired her greatly and sent out at once to take her. And seeing her, he was amazed by all her beauty and took her to be his wife, but me he sought to kill. Sarai said to the king, ‘He is my brother,’ that I might benefit from her, and I, Abram, was spared becuase of her and I was not slain.” (The Genesis Apocryphon 20:1-11 in The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Edited by Geza Vermes. New York : Penguin, 1997. 454.).
BIBLICAL COMMENTARIES ( PESHARIM)
A total of seventeen pesharim have been identified, and the Essenes comment on passages from the following books: Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Psalms.
The Qumran community spent much time in exegesis of the Old Testament. The Rule of the Community states,
“In any place where is gathered the ten-man quorum, someone must always be engaged in study of the Law, day and night, continually, each one taking his turn. The general membership will be diligent together for the first third of every night of the year, reading aloud from the Book, interpreting Scripture, and praying together” (1QS 6.6-8 [WAC, 134]).
COMMENTARY ON HABAKKUK (1QpHab)
One of the first seven scrolls discovered in Cave 1 was a commentary on the book of Habakkuk. The term used in the commentary to introduce the interpretation is the Hebrew word pesher. As a result, the commentaries are often referred to as pesharim. These ancient commentaries reveal insights into how the Essenes interpreted the Old Testament scriptures and related them to their times. The Essenes assumed that the prophet was predicting events that related to their time. The following examples with my comments reveal the Essenes’ approach to the Old Testament scriptures.
Habakkuk 1:5-6
Habakkuk 1:5-6 states “Look among the nations and watch—Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. For I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.”
The Commentary on Habakkuk (1QPHab) gives this interpretation of Habakkuk 1:5:
“[Interpreted this concerns] those who were unfaithful together with the Liar, in that they [did] not [listen to the word received by] the Teacher of Righteousness from the mouth of God. And it concerns the unfaithful of the New [Covenant] in that they have not believed in the Covenant of God [and have profaned] His holy Name. And likewise, this saying is to be interpreted [as concerning those who] will be unfaithful at the end of days. They, the men of violence and the breakers of the Covenant, will not believe when they hear all that [is to happen to] the final generation from the Priest [in whose heart] God set [understanding] that he might interpret all the words of His servants the Prophets, through whom He foretold all that would happen to His people and [His land]. For behold, I rouse the Chaldeans, that [bitter and hasty] nation. Interpreted, this concerns the Kittim [who are] quick and valiant in war, causing many to perish. [All the world shall fall] under the dominion of the Kittim, and the [wicked…] they shall not believe in the laws of [God…].”
An Explanation of the Habakkuk Pesher
This pesher shows how the Essenes interpreted the Old Testament prophetic scripture. They believed that Habakkuk was addressing a specific group of unfaithful people—specifically those who followed the Liar and did not listen to the Teacher of Righteousness. The Teacher of Righteousness was well respected by the Essenes and viewed as a leader. The Liar was possibly a traitor who was at first an ally of the Teacher but then betrayed him. It is possible that the Liar and the Wicked Priest in the DSS are one and the same individual. The unfaithful people include those who have not believed in the Covenant of God and who will be unfaithful at the end of days (sons of darkness). The Essenes believed that Habakkuk was addressing the men of violence—a phrase possibly showing that some Essenes were killed by these unfaithful men. The Essenes interpreted the Lord’s response to Habakkuk to mean that the breakers of the Covenant would not believe what the Priest had told them about the final generation. The Priest here is probably a reference to the Teacher of Righteousness who in 1QpHab6:12-7.5 is described as “the Teacher of Righteousness to whom God made known all the mysterious revelations of his servants the prophets.” The Essenes did not look in their past to see if the prophecy of Habakkuk had already been fulfilled. Instead they interpreted Habakkuk’s prophecy concerning the Chaldeans to be predicting the invasion of the Kittim. The Kittim was their codeword for the Romans. The Essenes believed that the invasion of the Romans in their time (63 B.C.) was the fulfillment of Habakkuk’s prophecy.
An Interpretation of Habakkuk 1:5-6
Habbakuk was a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah . He prophesied prior to the invasion of Judah by Babylon in 605 B.C. The date of his prophecy was between 612-605 B.C.. Habakkuk prophesied during the reign of King Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:34 -24:7). The book of Habakkuk begins with Habakkuk’s hang-up. Habakkuk complained to God about His indifference to the plight of the righteous. The righteous were being persecuted by the wicked and there was no justice in the land. Habakkuk 1:5 begins the Lord’s answer to Habbakuk’s complaint. The Lord told Habakkuk to look around and see what He was going to do. The work involved the Babylonian invasion of Judah led by Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonians invaded Judah in 605, 597, and 586 B.C. In 586 B.C. the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. They also took many Jews into captivity. This prediction must have astounded Habakkuk in his day because he would not have expected God to use a wicked nation like Babylon to judge Judah , but that is exactly what He did.
Habakkuk 2:15-17
Habakkuk 2:15-17 states, “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness! You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the Lord’s right hand will be turned against you, and utter shame will be on your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon will cover you, and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid, Because of men’s blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it.”
The Commentary on Habakkuk (1QPHab) gives this interpretation of these verses:
“Woe to him who causes his neighbors to drink; who pours out his venom to make them drunk that he may gaze on their feasts.” ( 2:15 )
Interpreted, this concerns the Wicked Priest who pursued the Teacher of Righteousness to the house of his exile that he might confuse him with his venomous fury. And at the time appointed for rest, for the Day of Atonement, he appeared before them to confuse them, and to cause them to stumble on the Day of Fasting, their Sabbath of repose.
“You have filled yourself with ignominy more than with glory. Drink also, and stagger! The cup of the Lord’s right hand shall come round to you and shame shall come on your glory.” ( 2:16 )
Interpreted, this concerns the Priest whose ignominy was greater than his glory. For he did not circumcise the foreskin of his heart, and he walked in the ways of drunkenness that he might quench his thirst. But the cup of the wrath of God shall confuse him, multiplying his…and the pain of…
“[For the violence done to Lebanon shall overwhelm you, and the destruction of the beasts] shall terrify you, because of the blood of men and the violence done to the land, the city, and all its inhabitants” ( 2:17 )
“Interpreted, this saying concerns the Wicked Priest, inasmuch as he shall be paid the reward which he himself tendered to the Poor. For Lebanon is the Council of the Community; and the beasts are the simple of Judah who keep the Law. As he himself plotted the destruction of the Poor, so will God condemn him to destruction. And as for that which He said, Because of the blood of the city and the violence done to the land: interpreted, the city is Jerusalem where the Wicked Priest committed abominable deeds and defiled the Temple of God . The violence done to the land: these are the cities of Judah where he robbed the Poor of their possessions.”
An Explanation of the Habakkuk Pesher
This pesher emphasizes the conflict between the Wicked Priest and the Qumran community. The Wicked Priest was a non-Zadokite high priest (or possibly a type of several Hasmonean priests) who was considered by the Qumran community to be an illegitimate priest of Israel . The Essenes believed that Habakkuk predicted that the Wicked Priest pursued the Teacher of Righteousness (the founder of the Qumran community) to the house of his exile ( Qumran ?). On the Day of Atonement, the Wicked Priest appeared before the Qumran community to confuse them and to cause them to stumble (possibly encouraging them to eat on the Day of Fasting in the Qumran community). The Qumran community followed a different calendar than the Jews who worshipped at the temple in Jerusalem so this explains how the Wicked Priest could come to Qumran on the Day of Atonement (a day that you would expect the Wicked Priest to be in Jerusalem ). The Day of Atonement must have been the Day of Atonement for the Qumran community. The Essenes thought that Habakkuk predicted that the Lord would judge the Wicked Priest for his sinful heart and drunkenness. The Essenes interpreted Habakkuk 2:17 to say that the Wicked Priest killed the council of the Community in Qumran and some Essenes (the simple of Judah who keep the Law). The Essenes interpreted Habakkuk 2:17 to teach that God would condemn the Wicked Priest for killing some Essenes, committing abominable deeds, defiling the Temple of God (in Jerusalem ), and robbing the poor of their possessions.
An Interpretation of Habakkuk 2:15-17
How can a holy God use a wicked nation like Babylon to judge Judah ? The answer to that question is found in Habakkuk 2:2-20. The LORD told Habakkuk that he was going to use the Babylonians to judge Judah and then he was going to judge them. Five “woes” tell the reasons why God would judge Judah, the Babylonians and all the wicked. God would judge them for their sins of selfish ambition (2:5-8, greed and covetousness (2:9-11), oppression of others ( 2:12 -14), drunkenness, immorality and violence ( 2:15 -17), and idolatry ( 2:18 -19). The wicked were forcing people to drink and trying to get them to become drunk so they would expose themselves. Habakkuk predicted that the Lord would give them his cup of wrath to drink and their glory would be turned to shame as a result. The violence done to Lebanon could be a reference to an execution of people there when the Babylonians invaded the region.
GENESIS COMMENTARIES (4Q252-254)
From this non continuous paraphrase of Genesis, four sections are reproduced here, two of which are of sectarian inspiration. The composition on the first fragment attempts to adapt the chronology of the biblical Flood story to the solar calendar of the Qumran Community. Along more general lines, it seeks also to explain certain peculiarities of the scriptural text, e.g. why, despite Ham’s disrespect to his father, it was not he, but his son Canaan , who was cursed by Noah. The exegesis attested in this section is distinct from pesher, and resembles the style of the ‘rewritten Bible’ such as the Genesis Apocryphon, and partly the plain or peshat interpretation of the rabbis.
The subject of the second excerpt is the blessing of Judah, i.e. the tribe in which David originated. The sectarian commentator (see the mention of the men of the Community in line 5) emphasizes that the royal power will belong forever to the descendents of David, thereby implying that all non-Davidic rulers, such as the contemporary Hasmonaean priest-kings, unlawfully occupy the throne. If so, the composition best fits to the first half of the first century BCE . Only four tiny fragments of 4Q253 are extant. Fragment 1 mentions the ark. Fragment 3, column I contains a citation from Malachi 3:16-18. This is the only translatable excerpt. Fifteen mostly insignificant scraps of 4Q254 correspond partly to the Noah story and partly to the blessings of the Patriarchs. Only fragments 1 and 5 can be translated. Fragment I, lines 2-4 overlap with 4Q252, ii, 1.6.
COMMENTARIES ON ISAIAH (4Q161-165, 3Q4)
Translatable fragments of four commentaries on Isaiah were discovered in Cave 4 (4QpIsa a-d = 4Q161-4). A fifth (4QpIsa f = 4Q165) is too mutilated to be rendered into English. The first document alludes to the defeat of the Kittim and expounds the renowned messiah prophecy of Isaiah 11. It is related to 4Q285. The second and third deal with the Jewish opponents of the sect. The fourth, relying on Isaiah 54, identifies the Community as the New Jerusalem. They may all be assigned to the first century B.C. A small fragment from Cave 3 (3Q4) represents a commentary on Isaiah 1:1 but with no continuous text.
COMMENTARIES ON HOSEA (4Q166-167)
Two fragmentary manuscripts (4Q166-167) include exegesis of Hosea. In the first, the unfaithful wife is the Jewish people led astray by her lovers, the Gentiles. The second refers cryptically to the ‘furious young lion’, mentioned also in the Commentary on Nahum, and to ‘the last Priest who shall…strike Ephraim’.
COMMENTARY ON MICAH (1Q14, 4Q168)
Tiny fragments from Cave 1 (1Q14) represent an exposition of Micah. Although the prophet’s words are intended to castigate both Samaria and Jerusalem, the Qumran commentator interprets Samaria as alluding to the ‘Spouter of lies’, the enemy of the sect, but relates Judah and Jerusalem to the Teacher of Righteousness and his Community. Further fragments of Micah 4:8-12 are given the title ‘Commentary on Micah’ in 4Q168, but since neither the word pesher, nor any interpretive material is extant, the manuscript may be biblical.
COMMENTARY ON NAHUM (4Q169)
Substantial remains of a Nahum Commentary were retrieved from Cave 4 (4Q169) and published in DJD, V, 37-42. They cover parts of chapters 1 and 2 of the biblical book, and the first fourteen verses of chapter 3. Their historical significance has been discussed in chapter III (p.55-62). It is worthy of note that the commentator employs not only cryptograms (Kittim, furious young lion), but the actual names of two Greek kings (Demetrius and Antiochus). Reference to the ‘furious young lion’ as one who ‘hangs men alive’ shows that ‘hanging’ probably a synonym for crucifixion was practiced as a form of execution. It is also legislated for in the Temple Scroll (LXIV, 6-13), where it is the capital punishment reserved for traitors. In biblical law, by contrast, only the dead body of an executed criminal is to be hanged, that is, displayed in public as an example (Deut. 21:21). On palaeographical grounds the manuscript is dated to the second half of the first century B.C.
COMMENTARY ON ZEPHANIAH (1Q15, 4Q170)
The relics of a Zephaniah Commentary from Cave 1, covering Zephaniah 1:18 -2:2 and using palaeo-Hebrew letters for the divine name, are badly mutilated. A lengthy quotation is followed by the word pesher (interpretation), and the expression ‘ land of Judah ’ implies that the divine anger spoken of by the prophet was understood to be directed against the Judaeans. Two small fragments from Cave 4 represent two broken lines of Zephaniah 1:12-13; a couple of words which are not biblical precede the introductory formula, pishro (its interpretation), but the actual commentary is lost. The two excerpts are presented in the order of the biblical text.
COMMENTARY ON PSALMS (1Q16, 4Q171, 4Q173)
Cave 1 has preserved a few scraps of a commentary on Psalms 57 and 63. Most of them are too small for a coherent translation, but fragments 9-10 mention the Kittim (Romans), the name of the final enemy. More importantly, two manuscripts with Herodian script from Cave 4 (4Q171, 4Q173) include interpretations of Psalms. The bulk of the text is devoted to Psalm 37, in which the destiny of the just and the wicked is expounded in connection with the story of the sect and its opponents, and in particular, the struggle between the Teacher of Righteousness and the Wicked Priest. Recognizable remains of Psalms 45 and 127 also survive.
COMMENTARY ON AN UNIDENTIFIABLE TEXT (4Q183)
Three fragments of a biblical commentary, indicated by the introductory formula, “And that which he said,” which is common in pesher literature, have been published by J. M. Allegro. None of the quotations has been preserved, but the phraseology and the historical allusions recall the Habakkuk Commentary and other pesharim. The divine names ‘God’ ( el ) and ‘the Lord’ ( YHWH ) are written in palaeo-Hebrew script. Only fragment 2 is suitable for translation. 4Q172 is also an amalgam of commentaries on unidentified texts, but the fragments are so small as to preclude altogether any translation.
APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA
APOCRYPHA
TOBIT (4Q196-200)
Prior to the Qumran finds, the Book of Tobit existed among the Apocrypha in two, a long and a short, Greek recensions and in various secondary ancient versions. Cave 4 has revealed remains of four Aramaic (4Q196-9) and one Hebrew (4Q200) manuscripts, of which two scrolls, the papyrus Tob a (196) and the leather Tob b (197), have yielded copious extracts. They all basically represent the Semitic original from which the longer Greek recension, attested by the fourth century CE Codex Sinaiticus, and the Old Latin version were made.
Tob a, Tob c, and Tob d are palaeographically dated to the first century BC and Tob b, as well as the Hebrew Tob e, to the turn of the era (30 B.C.-20 A.D.). The translation of the a composite Aramaic text is followed separately by that of the Hebrew fragments. The Aramaic and the Hebrew overlap only in Tob. 14:1-2. Of the two, the Aramaic, represented by older and more numerous manuscripts, is likely to be the original language of the composition.
Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, p.636-637 “I, Tobit, have walked in the ways of truth and righteousness all the days of my life” (Tob 1:3). So begins the fascinating tale of Tobit, a Jew of the late eighth century BCE , who lived in exile in Nineveh , the capital of the ancient Assyria . The story chronicles the reverses of Tobit, which culminate in blindness. His son, Tobiah, with the help of Azariah (the angel Raphael in disguise) sets out on an adventure that secures a cure for his father’s blindness, rescues a damsel in distress from demons (she becomes his wife), and establishes his fortune. Along the way the reader learns that feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, and honoring one’s father and mother are the keys to godliness.
Before the discovery of copies of the book of Tobit among the DSS , scholars debated whether the tale was originally written in Greek or perhaps a Semitic language (Hebrew or Aramaic). As is often the case with new discoveries, the DSS answered the original question but raised another. Of the five scrolls uncovered in Cave 4, four are written in Aramaic while one is in Hebrew. The debate has already begun as to which represents the original tongue. Another important discussion concerns the date of writing. Those experts who argued before the Qumran findings for the first to third centuries CE have now been silenced because the oldest manuscript (4QTobit d ) dates to 100 BCE . Though the tale was probably composed as early as the late third century BCE .
Tobit is one of three deuterocanonical books (that is from the second canon or Apocrypha) that were found in the Qumran Caves . The other two are Ben Sira (also known as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus) and the Epistle of Jeremiah. These three books, although not recognized as authoritative by Protestant or Jewish communities, are recognized as canonical (sacred Scripture) by the Roman Catholic Church.
THE WISDOM OF JESUS BEN SIRA
Jesus ben Sira was a Jewish teacher who complied a book of wise sayings and instructions in Hebrew in about 190 BC. The author’s grandson later translated this work into Greek and added a preface of his own. The book has several names, which can be confusing. It is known as “Sirach” or “Ecclesiasticus” among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, who include it in the Old Testament, and also among Protestants and some Jews, who group it among the Apocrypha. This traditional form of the book is based on the Greek translation made by Ben Sira’s grandson, which is found in the LXX. Although the Hebrew text was known and read for several centuries into the common era—being discussed in some rabbinic writings—it fell into disuse in most Jewish circles. The Hebrew version is known as the Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sira, or simply Ben Sira, a name increasingly preferred by Jews and by scholars working with the Hebrew text.
Early in the twentieth century substantial Hebrew texts of Ben Sira, copied in the eleventh and twelfth centures A.Dl were discovered in the Cairo genizah. This term denotes a storeroom attached to a synagogue in this case in Cairo , that was used for old and damaged manuscripts, since in Jewish tradition these cannot simply be discarded or burned. None of the Cairo copies is complete; when combined, however, these copies provide the Hebrew text for approximately two thirds of the book.
Three copies of Ben Sira (or rather two copies and a poem also included in Ben Sira) were found among the DSS . The most substantial manuscript was discovered at Masada , the fortress where over nine hundred Jewish defenders took their own lives in 73 A.D. Abbreviated MasSir, this scroll preserves portions of chapters 39 to 44 of the books fiftyone chapters. The only Ben Sira scroll found at Qumran was in Cave 2 (2Qsir or 2 Q18). It preserves parts of chapters 1 and 6. One manuscript from Cave 11, the Great Psalms Scroll (11QPsa) preserves about two thirds of a poem found in chapter 51; the second canticle (Sir 51:13-30) that follows the epilogue written by Ben Sira. With respect to dates, the earliest of the three scrolls containing material from Ben Sira was copied in the first half of the first century BC (MasSir); and the latest about 30 to 50 A.D. (11QPs a).
In view of Ben Sira’s size, it is surprising that so little of the book was found among the DSS ; just parts of three chapters at Qumran, and portions of six more at Masada. The Masada scroll is significant since it was copied not much more than a hundred years after the original. Moreover, the form of the Masada text confirms that the medieval manuscripts of Ben Sira from the Cairo genizah basically represent the original Hebrew version, although with numerous corruptions and later changes.
The Qumran evidence is particularly interesting since it is of two different types. The Cave 2 scroll preserves very little text but may come from a manuscript that contained some or all of Ben Sira. However, the fact that the Cave 11 poem is found in a manuscript of the book of Psalms suggests that it was originally an independent composition. This assessment is confirmed in that the canticle seems to be tacked on at the end of Ben Sira in the later, more complex versions of the book. Comparison of the Hebrew and Greek texts reveals substantial differences in the poem; this is largely because the Greek translator substituted pious ideas for the many erotic images in the original Hebrew found in 11QPs a. For example, the following excerpt from 11QPs a is highly erotic, with its sexual imagery “I bestirred my desire for her and on her heights I could not relax. I spread my hand…and perceived her nakedness.” But the Greek translator has clearly downplayed the erotic imagery by substituting pious language, with the purpose of pursuing wisdom in a more spiritual or philosophical sense: “I directed my soul toward her, and in my deeds I was exact. I stretched my hands on high, and perceived her secrets.” Eventually, this Wisdom book fell out of favor in Jewish circles and was excluded by the Rabbis from their list of scriptural books. As mentioned earlier, it survived in Greek as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus and is included in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. Our oldest copies of Ben Sira, written in the original Hebrew, are among the DSS and form the basis of the translation in the DSS Bible.
THE LETTER OF JEREMIAH (4Q384-5b)
The Epistle or Letter of Jeremiah fails to live up to its billing. Not by form a letter, nor written by the prophet Jeremiah, the document is instead a pointed exhortation concerning the futility of idol worship written in the spirit of Jeremiah 10.
The Epistle of Jeremiah is one of three deuterocanonical books- that is books from the so called second canon or Apocrypha—that were found in the Qumran caves. The other two are Sirach and Tobit. These three books, accepted as fully canonical by the Roman Catholic Church, are not recognized by Protestant or Jewish communities; they are instead labeled “apocryphal” or outside the canon. The Epistle of Jeremiah could also be classified as a “pseudegraph” a document written in the name of a famous personage in order to speak with authority- a reverse plagiarism of sorts. The Epistle of Jeremiah is normally printed in modern translations as the sixth chapter of another apocryphal work, the book of Baruch.
Although the Epistle of Jeremiah was likely composed in Hebrew, the one copy—actually, only a fragment the size of a postage stamp—found in the caves (7QpapEpJer gr) is written in Greek and does not vary substantially from the text known from the Septuagint. Cave 7, the source of the so called Jesus Scroll (7Q5) is unique among the Qumran caves in that each of the nineteen manuscripts that is preserved was written in Greek.
OT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA
JUBILEES (4Q216-28, 1Q17-18, 2Q19-20, 3Q5, 4Q482, 11Q12)
The book of Jubilees is a fascinating ancient Jewish work that is unfamiliar to most modern reders. Containing an account of things revealed to Moses during his 40 days on Mt. Sinai (Ex.24:18), Jubilees presents an overview of the history of mankind and of God’s chosen people until Moses’ time and is revealed to him by an angel. The book is sometimes categorized as “rewritten Bible”.
Jubilees can be divided into seven sections:
1. An introduction (chapter 1) in which God describes the apostasy of his people and their future restoration.
2. A primeval history (chapters 2-4) dealing with creation and Adam.
3. Stories about Noah (chapter 5-10)
4. Stories about Abraham (chapters 11:28:8)
5. Thoughts on Abraham’s death (chapters 23:9-32)
6. Stories about Jacob and his family (chapters 24-25)
7. Stories about Moses (chapters 46-50)
The pseudepigraphon, known prior to Qumran from a complete Ethiopic and partial Greek, Latin and Syriac translations, has for the first time surfaced in a large number of mostly small fragments in its Hebrew original in five Qumran caves. The work itself is a midrashic retelling of the story of Genesis (and the beginning of Exodus) in the form of a revelation conveyed by angels to Moses.
Before the discovery of the DSS , Jubilees was known to scholars in Greek, Syriac, Latin and Ethiopic translations and was part of the ancient canon of the Ethiopic Church. The discovery of a large number of Jubilees manuscripts at Qumran was a surprise to many. Approximately 15 Jubilees scrolls were found in 5 caves (two each in Caves 1 and 2, one in Cave 3, nine in Cave 4, and one in Cave 11). All were written in Hebrew and one on papyrus. The large number of copies indicates that Jubilees was extensively used at Qumran. As an influential pre-Qumranic writing, composed in the first third of the second century BCE , the book has been compared by scholars to 1 Enoch. It has been suggested that Qumran scribes gradually lost interest in compositions attributed to Enoch and that Jubilees become increasingly important to the Qumran community during their later history.
Jubilees has several prominent themes related to the sectarian texts of Qumran: the 364 day calendar, its division of history into 94 year jubilee periods, and its practice of dating covenants to the third month (especially the fifteenth day) which may have inspired the practice at Qumran of renewing the covenant annually on the Festival of Weeks.
Several factors lead to the conclusion that Jubilees was viewed and used as Scripture by the Qumran community. First, a work called 4Qtext with a Citation of Jubilees (4Q228) seems to denote Jubilees by its Hebrew title “The Division of the Times” and later introduces the first word of the title by a citation formula, “For thus it is written in the Divisions of the Times” (fr. 1 i. 9). Second, Jubilees claims to be divine revelation in that its contents are given by an angel of God (Jub.1:26-29; 2:1) and have been inscribed on heavenly tablets (Jub.3:10, 31). Third, the fact that Jubilees is represented by such a large number of manuscripts shows that it was extensively used at Qumran, which points to its popularity and more likely authoritative status. Jubilees is found in about 15 scrolls. Fourth, Jubilees is quoted in some of the nonbiblical scrolls, which indicates its authoritative status to the authors of such texts. For example, the Damascus Document 16:2-4 cites Jubilees as the source of information concerning the times when Israel would be blind to the Law of Moses, while CD 10:7-10 may well be based on Jubilees 23:11, which refers to people’s loss of knowledge in their old age.
Apart from some 4Q relics, the texts from 1-3Q and 11Q are too mutilated to provide the basis for an English translation and their chief significance lies in their attestation of a Hebrew original generally close to the account preserved in the ancient versions.
The 4Q material includes some larger fragments suitable for rendering into English, and 4Q225, surnamed pseudo-Jubilees by the editors, but which could just as well be accepted simply as an alternative account, reveals supplementary material of some importance not only for Jubilees in general, but also for the study of the sacrifice of Isaac, certain features of which receive here their first pre-Christian attestation.
4Q216, which in part may be the earliest Jubilees manuscript and should be dated palaeographically to the last quarter of the second century BC, testifies in the form of small fragments to the beginning of the book (between I, I and II, 24 of the Ethiopic version). It contains the Hebrew title of the work, Book of the Divisions of the Times, repeated also in other 4Q fragments, a title already known from the Damascus Document (XVI, 3). 4Q217 and 218, the first consisting of eleven tiny papyrus fragments and the second of a single small leather fragment, both probably derive from the opening chapters of Jubilees. 4Q219, also poorly preserved, has preserved small lines from chapters XXI, I to XXII, I. Its only noteworthy contribution is that in column II, lines 35-56, it dates the death of Abraham correctly to the forty third jubilee counted from the creation, and not to the forty fourth, as the Ethipoic does. Erroneously 4Qjub e supplies a single largish, hence translatable, fragment of Jubilees XXI, 5-10 written in an early Herodian script (last three decades of the first century BC). It occasionally overlaps with 4Q219, thus permitting the filling in of two gaps. The remaining four 4Q Jubilee manuscripts are once again so fragmentary that no translation is possible. 4Q221 consists of thirty seven tiny fragments, covering small identified portions of Jub. XXI, 22 to XXXIX, 9. The six fragments of 4Q222 echo Jub. XXV, 9-12; XXVII, 6-7 and XLIX, 5 and the badly worn papyrus manuscripts of 4Q223-4, where identifiable, reflect Jub. XXXII, 18 to XLI, 10.
Remains of three Hebrew manuscripts (4Q225-7) have preserved a writing akin to Jubilees or representing a discrepant version of it. In either case ‘Pseudo-Jubilees’, the title chosen by the editors, is no doubt a misnomer. Palaeographically, 4Q225 is dated to the turn of the era; 4Q226 to the second half, and 4Q227 to the final decades, of the first century BC. Of the three fragments, the first and third are very damaged, but substantial parts of fragment 2 are extant. The author recounts the sacrifice of Isaac with details which differ from the Genesis story and display close parallels to the post-biblical representation of the Akedah, or Binding of Isaac, anticipating features known from the Palestinian Targums (Ps. Jonathan and Neofiti on Gen. 12:10 in columne 1.4; Ps. Jonathan on Geneiss 22:11 and Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer 105 c on the same passage in column II. 1). The presence of angels at the sacrifice is repeatedly attested in the Targums. 4Q225 provides the earliest (pre-Christian) evidence for the rabbinic story of Isaac’s voluntary self sacrifice which is thought to have supplied a model for the formulation by New Testament writers of the teaching on the sacrificial death of Jesus. (cf. G. Vermes, Scripture and Tradition in Judaism. Brill, 1961. p. 193-227).
4Q226 or psJub b is made up of fourteen fragments, half of them unidentifiable. The first six mention Egypt , the wilderness, Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan , and the land of Canaan . Fragment 7, the largest, returns to the aftermath of the sacrifice of Isaac and furnishes a text closely resembling 4Q225 2, ii. The badly damaged fr. 2 of 4Q227 is centered in the figure of Enoch, instructed by angels, testifying against his contemporaries and the angels called Watchers. Allusion is made to his writing activity, including astronomical knowledge which was to stop the righteous from going astray. The two small fragments of 4Q227 contain references to Moses and to Enoch (cf. Jub IV, 17-24) and 4Q228 consists of one large and eight tiny fragments, one of which (fr.I, l.9) displays the phrase, “For thus is written in the Divisions of times’.” Hence it is identified as an unknown work quoting the Book of Jubilees.
THE PRAYER OF ENOSH AND ENOCH (4369)
Ten fragments, including three large ones, have survived of a manuscript written with Herodian characters, apparently recording prayers. There is no direct reference to the persons in whose mouths the words are placed, but the context seems to indicate that the first fragment is associated with Enosh, who according to Genesis 4:26 was the first human to call on the name of the Lord. Since line 10 in fragment I, column I mentions Enoch, the editors have made a reasonable inference in attributing to him the prayer in fragment I, column II.Fragment 2 alludes to a war against the lands without any context and fragments 3-9 contain nothing intelligible.
THE BOOK OF ENOCH (4Q201-2, 204-12)
Various Qumran caves have yielded for the first time the original Aramaic text of one of the major Pseudepigrapha, the Book of Enoch, which was previously known from a complete Ethiopic translation and from a Greek rendering of chapters I-XXXII and XCVII-CI, CVI-CVII, as well as from a number of Greek quotations from chapters VI to XV transmitted by the Byzantine writer George Syncellus.
Qumran Cave 4 has yielded seven copies of the writing attested by, but not strictly related to, the Ethiopic, and four further copies of the related Book of Giants, dependent on chapter VI of Enoch, fragments of which have been discovered also in 1Q and 6Q. Palaeographically, all of them are dated to between 200 BC and the end of the pre-Christian era. The differences they display concern partly the structure of the work, e.g. the astronomical section is more developed in parts than the text from which the Ethiopic Enoch LXXII-LXXXII was made, while the Book of Parables (chapters 37-71) with its Son of Man speculation is completely lacking at Qumran. There are also noticeable stylistic divergences which may be attributable more to the absence of a unified text of Enoch than to the work of the Ethiopic translator.
The bulk of the fragments is too small for translation. It would be wholly meaningless to render into English the retranslation into Aramaic of the Ethiopic and/or Greek text supplied by their editor, J. T. Milik, who has conjecturally filled the many gaps in the Qumran manuscripts. The passages included in this volume are those which make sense in themselves. The first excerpt (4Q201) supplies the Aramaic names of the twenty chiefs of the fallen angels. The second (4Q204) relates the miraculous birth of Noah, which should be compared to the parallel accounts in the Genesis Apocryphon col. II and in the fragments of the Book of Noah (1Q19, 4Q534). The third and fourth extracts (4Q206) testify to a recension noticeably different from the corresponding Ethiopic version. The fifth (4Q209), the Astronomical Book is—as has been noted—considerably longer than the Ethiopic. As for the Book of Giants, they are missing from the Ethiopic, though it circulated in Manichaean, Talmudic, and medieval Jewish literature (cf. J. T. Milik, 298-339)
THE BOOK OF GIANTS (1Q23-24, 2Q26, 4Q203, 530-33, 6Q8)
AN ADMONITION ASSOCIATED WITH THE FLOOD (4Q370, 4Q185)
4Q370 is a rewritten account of the Noah story based on Genesis 7-9; two fragmentary columns have survived, only the first of which is suitable for translation. Palaeographically, it is said to be late Hasmonaean, i.e. from the first half of the first century BCE , but the composition itself is pre-Qumran. Both the Tetragram and the divine name El are used. The badly damaged column II switches from narrative to ethics and exhortation. Part of it can be reconstructed with the help of 4Q185.
THE AGES OF CREATION (4Q180)
A badly worn manuscript from Cave 4 (4Q180) has been published under this title by J. M. Allegro. Its decipherment and interpretation have been further improved by J. Strugnell and J. T. Milik The only section yielding coherent sense deals with the myth of the fallen angels and the daughters of men, which is based on Genesis 6:1-4, and fully developed in I Enoch. If Milik’s reconstruction is correct, the work present human history as divided into seventy weeks of years (70 x 7 years), the first ten of which cover the period from Noah to Abraham. The manuscript is claimed by Strugnell to belong to the first century CE.
THE BOOK OF NOAH (1Q19, 1Q19bis, 4Q534-6, 6Q8, 19)
Several groups of small fragments from Qumran Caves 1, 4, and 6 appear to be the relics of a Book of Noah mentioned in Jubilees X, 13 and XXI, 10 and reproduced in an abbreviated form in Aramaic in the Genesis Apocryphon Iiff, and in Enoch CVI. 1Q19 and 19bis are remains of a Hebrew version. 6Q8 and 19 belong to an Aramaic Noah narrative.
1Q19, 6Q8, and 1QapGen deal with the miraculous birth of Noah, as does also 4Q534, which was originally understood by scholars as describing the birth of the Royal Messiah (p.357 above). In 1Q19 fr. 1 the subject is the miserable state of mankind before the Flood; frs. 3 and 13-14 (as well as 6Q8) allude to the birth of Noah, accompanied by miraculous signs.
WORDS OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL (4Q529, 6Q23)
In this poorly preserved Aramaic fragment the speaker, Michael, addresses the angels in general and the archangel Gabriel in line 4 about a vision. The subject is unclear, but since he refers to the sons of Noah, Shem, and Ham, and to the construction of a city filled with wickedness, it is possible that the author alludes to the building of the tower of Babel.
THE TESTAMENT OF LEVI I (4Q213-14, 1 Q21)
Among the numerous small fragments representing the Aramaic Testament of Levi, a damaged portion of two columns of 4Q213a contains parts of a prayer of Levi. As the best part of the same text survives also in Greek in a manuscript from Mt. Athos (Monastery of Koutloumous, Codex 39, dating to the eleventh century), it is possible to complete most of the missing sections of this prayer. Other small Aramaic fragments of the Testament of Levi, mentioning among other matters the ‘kingdom of the high priesthood,’ are listed under 1Q21.
THE TESTAMENT OF LEVI II (4Q537-41)
An Aramaic work of which numerous fragments are extant in Cave 4 resembles the Testament of Levi from among the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The central figure is Levi, but the testament is probably that of his father, Jacob. Hence 4Q537 is referred to also as the Jacob Aprocryphon (4QAJa ar). Palaeographically, its proposed date is the end of the second century BC. The text alludes to an eschatological priestly figure (recalling the pseudepigraphic Testament of Levi 17-18) whose mission encounters opposition due to the wickedness of the men of his generation. 4Q537 probably represent Jacob’s dream at Bethel. Minute fragments (4Q538-9) unsuitable for translation, are conjecturally identified as belonging to a Testament of Judah and a Testament of Josphe by J. T. Milik.
THE TESTAMENT OF NAPHTALI (4Q215)
Two reasonably intact fragments, dating to the turn of the era, represent the Hebrew text of the Testament of Naphtali, with occasional similarities to the version which survives in Greek. Fragment 1 partly overlaps with Tnaphtali I, 9, 11-12 without being identical with Fragment 2 depicts the blessedness of the end of time and may belong to a separate sectarian document.
THE TESTAMENT OF QAHAT (4Q542)
The Testament of Qahat is an Aramaic work of which two columns, one complete and one damaged have survived. It is a typical example of moralizing death bed literature, similar to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, but characterized, like the Testaments of Levi and Amram, by its priestly perspective. The script has been palaeographically dated to the end of the second century BCE , but the carbon 14 test, performedin 1990, places it considerably earlier, possibly to 388-353 BCE , or more probably to 303-235 BCE . It is not a sectarian composition. Only the undamaged part of the text is translated here.
Two further small fragments have survived without providing anything continuous or meaningful. Fragment 2 alludes to darkness and light and fragment 3 mentions precious stones extant in large numbers apparently on account of zenuta (fornication, or whoredom).
THE TESTAMENT OF AMRAN (4Q543-8)
An Aramaic document surviving in five or six fragmentary copies from Cave 4 contains an admonition by Amram, the father of Moses, to his children. The context is that of the Book of Exodus, but the visions and teachings are the author’s free compositions. Amram’s age at his death (137 years) is borrowed from Exodus 6:20, but its dating to the 152nd year of the captivity reflects the tradition according to which the Israelites remained in Egypt, not for 430 years (Ex.12:40), nor 400 years (Gen.15:13), but 210 years.
In the gravely damaged text of the vision, Amram sees the chief Angel of Darkness, Melkiresha‘, already mentioned in the Curses of Belial and the Curses of Melkiresha‘ (pp.379-380). He also addresses the leader of the Army of Light, whose name has disappeared in one of the many lacunae. But it is highly probable that one ofhis ‘three names’ is Melchizedek, as appears from the reading of the Melchizedek document from Cave 11.
THE WORDS OF MOSES (1Q22)
Fragments of four very mutilated columns of a manuscript from Cave I have been skillfully reconstructed by J. T. Milik. They form a farewell discourse of Moses which takes its inspiration from various passages of Deuteronomy and is chiefly remarkable for the emphasis laid on the appointment of special teachers, or interpreters, of the Law (Levites and Priests). The last two columns are so mutilated as to be untranslatable. Another document consisting of two insignificant fragments, tentatively entitled, “A Moses Apocryphon’ (2Q21) and including a prayer attributed to Moses, has been published by J. T. Milik. (DJD, III, 79-81).
SERMON ON THE EXODUS AND THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN (4Q374)
Only one of the sixteen surviving fragments of a writing, palaeographically dated to the last third of the first century BCE , which deals with the exodus from Egypt and the occupation of Canaan, is large enough to provide an intelligible account. The speaker remains anonymous but may conceivably be Joshua.
A MOSES APOCRYPHON a (4Q375)
In a style imitating the Pentateuch, and recalling the Sayings of Moses from Cave I (1Q22), 4Q375, fr. 1, col. 1 lays down instructions regarding the treatment of a person who claims to be a prophet. Should he exhort people to commit apostasy, he is to be executed. However, his tribe may come to his rescue and lodge an appeal with the anointed priest in the city of the sanctuary. The very damaged column 2 contains a sacrificial ritual employing the terminology of the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 16.
A MOSES APOCRYPHON b (4Q376, 1 Q29)
This mid-first-century BCE text, which partly overlaps with 1Q29, is a reworking of Exodus 28:9-12, dealing with the two engraved stones set in the shoulder of the pieces of the high priest’s liturgical garments (the ephod). Another fragment introduces the secular head of the community, the ‘Prince of the whole congregation’ (cf. 1QM V, I. CD VII , 20) in his military role, confronting the enemies of Israel or attacking one of their towns.
A MOSES APOCRYPHON c (4Q377)
This is part of an apocryphal account introducing an elder called Eliab, cursing the Jews who fail to observe the Law mediated by Moses during the latter’s stay with God on the mountain.
PSEUDO-MOSES e (4Q390)
In this apocryphal narrative, purporting to be a divine speech, no doubt addressed to Moses (hence the suggested title), the future of Israel is foretold in a framework of jubilees. Consequently, the kinship with the Book of Jubilees is undeniable. The account is also reminiscent of the opening paragraph of the Damascus Document. Two large fragments form the basis of the translation. The script is considered Herodian, but on the basis of historical allusions contained in other fragments pertaining to the same composition, Devorah Dimant tentatively suggests a second century BCE date, not later than the rule of John Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE ).
A MOSES APOCRYPHON (4Q373, 2Q22)
Three small Cave 4 fragments which partly overlap with 2Q22 published by M. Baillet (DJD, III, 81-82) represent a historical narrative of an unnamed speaker in the first person, and with the single actual name of Og, king of Bashan (cf. Numbers 21:33-35; Deut. 3:4-5, 11). Baillet and the editor of 4Q373, Eileen Schuller, wonder whether the narrator is David and the subject is his fight with Goliath, a theory based on a few verbal similarities to 1 Samuel 17, which cannot, however, easily account for the mention of Og, apart form his height (see Deut. 3:11) which was comparable to that of the giant Goliath (cf. 1 Sam.17:4). S. Talmon, on the other hand, has argued that the topic of the fragment is more likely to be the defeat of Og by Moses, richly elaborated by Targum, Midrash, and Talmud. On the whole the second alternative seems slightly preferable.
DIVINE PLAN FOR THE CONQUEST OF THE HOLY LAND (4Q522, 5Q9)
Two mutilated columns, as well as several further small fragments, of a narrative appear to describe the future conquest and/or division of the Holy Land. It appears to be related to the extremely fragmentary 5Q9, published by J. T. Milik in DJD III 179-30 which mentions the name of Joshua. Col I of 4Q522 consists of a list of localities, of which a number appear in Joshua 15-21 (Beer Sheba, Bealoth, Keilah, Adullam) and Judges 1 (Ashkelon, Ktron). Column II predicts the conquest of Zion by David and the building of the Temple. In Columns II, 4 and 7 God is referred to in the third person, but in lines 9-10 he seems to be the speaker.
A JOSHUA APOCRYPHON I or PSALMS OF JOSHUA (4Q378-9)
Usually designated by the misnomer ‘Psalms of Joshua’, this badly mutilated composition represents a rewritten account of the story of Joshua. 4Q378, written in Herodian formal script, consists of twenty seven mostly tiny fragments, while the late Hasmonaean 4Q379 comprises forty one. The majority of the fragments are too small for meaningful translation. According to Carol Newsom, the overall form of the composition is a farewell speech by Joshua. It contains admonitions, curses and prayers (e.g. ‘prayer for our sins’ 4Q378 6 i. l.4) a prayer listing the twelve tribes of Israel-Levi, Reuben, Gad and Dan are legible, 4Q379 I, sons (‘songs of praise’, 4Q379 22 2, 7 and a praise mentioning Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Eleasar and Ithamar, 4Q379 17. The biblical text used recalls the Septuagint and the Samaritan Pentateuch. The numbering of the fragments appears to be arbitrary, as it does not correspond to the sequence of the biblical story. 4Q379 22 ii is quoted in 4Qtestimonia (4Q175).
THE SAMUEL APOCRYPHON (4Q160)
Fragments of an account of the story of Samuel from Cave 4 said to pertain to the second century BCE , were published by J. Allegro and A. Anderson (DJD, V, 9-11). They follow the first book of Samuel and include a narrative passage, a dialogue between Samuel and Eli, a prayer and an autobiographical discourse.
A PARAPHRASE ON KINGS (4Q382)
154 papyrus fragments, palaeographically dated to the first half of the first century BCE , belong to a kind of paraphrase of the Books of Kings as various personal names (Jezebel, Ahab, Obadiah, Elijah, Elisha) clearly indicate. Only one fragment is extensive enough to allow intelligible translation. An unidentified speaker recounts events pertaining to the history of Israel in the form of an address to God.
AN ELISHA APOCRYPHON (4Q481A)
Three minute fragments reproduce the Hebrew text of 2 Kings 2:14-16 with paraphrastic supplements. Only fragment 2 can be partly reconstructed and translated. The opening words ‘And Elisha went up’ are without biblical parallel.
A ZEDEKIAH APOCRYPHON (4Q470)
Three badly damaged fragments of an early Herodian manuscript speak in favorable terms of the last Judean king Zedekiah. He is depicted as conversing with the archangel Michael who promises to make a covenant with him. The Bible is less kind towards this evil doer (2 Kings 24:19), but 4Q470 prefigures Josephus, who praises Zedekiah’s goodness and sense of justice (Antiquities X, 120) and the Talmud (bShab. 149b; bSanh.103a; bArak.17a).
NARRATIVE BASED ON GENESIS-EXODUS (4Q462-4)
Palaeographically dated to the mid-first century BCE , the two joined fragments of 4Q462 represent the only meaningful part of a historical narrative told from a theological point of view. Both the beginning and the end of each of the nineteen lines are missing, but the general tenor of the story can be guessed: after repeated oppression and humiliation, God is to remember Jerusalem. The Tetragram is twice replaced by four dots as in the Community Rule (1QS) VIII, 15. There are six further small fragments.
4Q463 or Narrative D, contains only a few broken lines, starting with “And God remembered his word which he said’ followed by the quotation of Leviticus 26:44. Apparently the fragment has vanished and the text edited by M. Smith is based on J. Strugnell’s transcription. The poorly preserved 4Q464 refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and apparently to Joseph. Fragment 3 ii, 7 contains the word pesher (interpretation), suggesting that an exegetical comment followed in the lacuna.
JEREMIAH APOCRYPHON (4Q384-5B)
Originally considered as part of an Ezekiel apocryphon, the remains of these two columns, written in a well imitated biblical Hebrew, have been identified by Devorah Dimant as pertaining to an apocryphal account of the life of Jeremiah in Babylon and in Egypt. The script probably dates to the end of the first century BCE . The related papyrus fragments of 4Q384 (Jeremiah Apocryphon B) are too small for connected translation.
APOCRYPHAL PSALMS I (11Qpsa=11Q5, 4Q88)
The incomplete Psalms scroll from Cave 11 was published by J. A. Sanders (DJD, IV, Oxford, 1965) contains seven non-canonical poems interspersed among the canonical Psalms.
One of these psalms (Psalm 151) in the Greek Psalter, and four further compositions have been preserved in the Syriac translation. Three previously unknown poems and an extract from the Hebrew version of Sirach 51 also are featured in the Scroll.
Psalm 151A and B (Syriac Psalm 1) contain the story of the selection of David, the shepherd boy, as ruler of Israel and his victory over Goliath.
Psalm 154 (Syriac Psalm 2) is a sapiental hymn, the beginning and ending of which are extant only in Syriac, but 4Q448, column A (lines 8-10) represent a few words in Hebrew corresponding to Psalm 154: 17-20.
Psalm 155 (Syriac Psalm 3) is a combination of an individual complaint and thanksgiving. Part of it is an alphabet acrostic (i.e. the lines begin with consecutive letters of the Hebrew alphabet).
Prayer for Deliverance is an individual thanksgiving hymn, the beginning of which is lost.
The Zion Psalm is another alphabetic acrostic hymn praising Jerusalem .
The Hymn to the Creator praises God for his creation.
A midrashic account of the poetic activities of David is inserted in column XXVII of 11Q5, crediting him with 4,050 compositions, subdivided into psalms, songs for the daily holocaust, songs for the Sabbath sacrifice, songs for festivals, and songs for exorcism. The mention of 52 Sabbaths and the 364 days indicates that the author envisaged the solar year of the Qumran calendar. The figure of 4,050 should be viewed against the equally prolific literary achievement of Solomon in 1 Kings 5:12 (3000 proverbs and 1005 songs according to the Hebrew text; 3000 proverbs and 5000 songs according to the LXX). As for Josephus, he attributes to Solomon 1005 books of poems and 3000 books of parables (Antiquities 8.44).
“David son of Jesse was wise and brilliant like the light of the sun; he was a scribe, intelligent and perfect in all his ways before God and men. YHWH gave him an intelligent and bright spirit, and he wrote 3600 psalms and and 364 songs to sing before the alatar for the daily perpetual sacrifice, for all the days of the year; and 52 songs for the Sabbath offerings; and 30 songs for the New Moons, for Feast-days and for the Day of Atonement. In all, the songs which he uttered were 446, and 4 songs to make music on behalf of those stricken by evil spirits. In all, they were 4050. All these he uttered through prophecy which was given him from before the Most High.” (11QPs a 27:1-12).
APOCRYPHAL PSALMS II (4Q88)
Three apocryphal psalms are found in the last four columns ( VII -X) of a fragmentary Psalms manuscript from Cave 4.
The first of these (columns VII -VIII) is identical with 11Q5 XXII.
The second (column IX) focuses on the final judgment.
The third (column X) is a hymn to Judah
APOCRYPHAL PSALMS III (11QapPsa=11Q11)
The badly worn remains of five columns of a scroll with apocryphal psalms which deals with the topic of exorcism survived in Cave 11. Most of the columns are so poorly preserved that no continuous reading is possible.
In column 1 where the name of Solomon implies that this was one of the poems attributed to him, the repeated use of the word “demons” and the mention of “healing” suggest the genre of composition. In column III a powerful angel is mentioned who seems to be charged with defeating the demon and casting it to the “great abyss” and the “nethermost” (hell?). Column V, 3-13 has been recognized as the canonical Psalm91, preceded by small remains of the exorcistic poem of column IV and followed by a liturgical formula.
NON-CANONICAL PSALMS (4Q380-81)
Two poorly preserved manuscripts, the first consisting of seven and the second of 110 fragments, contain apocryphal Hebrew religious poetry resembling biblical Psalms more than the Hodayot (1QH) from Qumran. Some of them reuse and combine canonical Psalms (fragment 15 reemploying Ps. 86 and 89 and fragment 24 Psalm 18). Not one single line has survived intact and only a few of these largely mediocre poems can be translated. Their editor, Eileen Schuller, assigns the collection to the Persian-Hellenistic era and considers it to be presectarian composition. No historical allusions are included. Like many of the biblical Psalms, these poems bore titles: Psalm of Obadiah (4Q380 I II, 8), “Hymn of the Man of God” (4Q381 24, 4) and Prayer of Manasseh, King of Judah when the King of Assyria imprisoned him” (4Q381, 33, 8). The attributions are no doubt pseudepirgraphic.
LAMENTATIONS POEM (4Q179, 4Q501)
Several fragments of a poem inspired by the biblical Book of Lamentations have been preserved in Cave 4 (4Q179). Only fragment 2 offers a text long enough for intelligible translation. Both texts are dated to the second half of the first century BCE .
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LINKS TO OTHER DSS WEB PAGES BY DR. GARY GROMACKI
Doctrine of God Doctrine of Man and Sin Doctrine of Salvation
Doctrine of the Community Doctrine of the Messiah Doctrine of Eschatology
Archaeology of Qumran Dead Sea Scroll Bibliography Web Sites on the Dead Sea Scrolls
DSS Table of Contents
Dr. Gary Gromacki’s Home Page
Non-Canonical
· 2 Baruch
· 3 Baruch
· 3 Maccabees
· 4 Ezra
· 4 Maccabees
· Acts of Andrew
· Acts of Peter
· Acts of Thomas
· Apocalypse of Elijah
· Apocryphon of Ezekiel
· Didache
· Enoch
· Gospel of Mary
· Gospel of Peter
· Gospel of Thomas
· History of the Rechabites
· Ignatius of Antioch
· Infancy Story of Thomas
· Joseph and Aseneth
· Jubliees
· Letter of Aristeas
· Letter of Peter to Philip
· Life of Adam and Eve
· Lives of the Prophets
· Martyrdom & Ascension of Isaiah
· Odes of Solomon
· Paraleipomena Jeremiou
· Protoevangelium of James
· Psalms of Solomon
· Q
· Secret Gospel of Mark
· Sermon on the Mount
· Shepherd of Hermas
· Sibylline Oracles
· Testament (Assumption) of Moses
· Testament of Abraham
· Testament of Job
· Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
SOURCE
http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CN092MAPS2.htm
OLD TESTAMENT VERSES QUOTED IN
NEW TESTAMENT
Book 27 - BOOK OF REVELATION
(including the more direct use of Old Testament language)
JOHN DESCRIBES THE AWESOME APPEARANCE OF JESUS CHRIST
Revelation 1:13b-16 - …. ‘like a Son of Man’ ( Daniel 7:13 ). He (Christ, now described in essentially Old Testament priestly terms) was dressed in a long robe with a golden girdle around his breast; his head and his hair were white as snow-white wool, his eyes blazed like fire, and his feet shone as the finest bronze glows in the furnace. His voice had the sound of a great waterfall, and I saw that in his right hand he held seven stars. A sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth, and his face was ablaze like the sun at its height.
TO THE CHURCH IN THYATIRA - HARD-WORKING, BUT SOME REMAIN PAGANS
Revelation 2:28b - ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces’ ( Psalm 2:9) .
TO THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA - WEAK IN POWER, BUT LOYAL
Revelation 3:7b - ‘He who has the key of David. He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’ (Isaiah 22:22 ).
THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES, WHO WITH THE 24 ELDERS WORSHIP GOD ETERNALLY
Revelation 4:6b-8 - On each side, encircling the throne, are four living creatures covered with eyes in front and behind. …
- The four living creatures are similar in appearance to the Cherubim (heavenly angels) of Ezekiel 1 and 10 , and the Seraphim (heavenly beings or attendants) of Isaiah 6 in the Old Testament -
… The first living creature is like a lion, the second is like a calf, the third has a face like a man, and the fourth living creature appears like an eagle in flight. These four creatures have each of them six wings and are covered with eyes, all around them, and even within them. Day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.”
GOD’S SERVANTS FROM THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL ARE MARKED FOR PROTECTION
Revelation 7:4-8 - I heard the number of those who were thus sealed and it was 144,000 (or 12 x 12 x 1,000 - a symbolic number based on the square of twelve representing completeness or a great multitude of people) , from every (one of the twelve Jewish) tribe (s) of the sons of Israel . Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Judah; twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben; twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad; twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher; twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali; twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh; twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon; twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi; twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar; twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun; twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph; and twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin.
THE POWER OF THE TWO WITNESSES UNTIL THEIR TESTIMONY IS FINISHED
Revelation 11:3-6 - “And I will give authority to my two witnesses (… the minimum legal requirement in Jewish law. There are various theories about their identity, but they bear some resemblance to Elijah and Moses who appeared with Jesus at his Transfiguration …) to proclaim the message, clothed in sackcloth for twelve hundred and sixty days (“time, times and half a time”) .” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands (related to the message of Zechariah 4) which stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire issues from their mouths and consumes their enemies. Indeed, if anyone should try to hurt them, this is the way in which he will certainly meet his death. These (two) witnesses have power to shut up the sky and stop any rain from falling (as Elijah did, 1 Kings 17:1) during the time of their preaching. Moreover, they have power to turn the waters into blood, and to strike the earth with any plague as often as they wish (as Moses did with the plagues of Egypt , Exodus chapters 7-12 ) .
A HEAVENLY WAR WITH THE DRAGON - SATAN, WHO IS THROWN TO EARTH
Revelation 12:7 - The war broke out in Heaven. Michael (one of the seven archangels of Judaism; the Protector, Defender, or guardian angel of Israel , Daniel 10:13 ,21; 12:1 ) and his angels battled with the dragon
THE BEAST IS GIVEN THE DRAGON’S THRONE AND POWER
Revelation 13:1-2a - Then, as I stood on the sand of the sea-shore, there rose out of the sea before my eyes an animal (the Beast from the Sea) with seven heads and ten horns . There were diadems upon its horns and blasphemous names upon its heads. The animal which I saw had the appearance of a leopard, though it had the feet of a bear and a mouth like the mouth of a lion (… the description derives from Daniel 7:1-7) .
THE SECOND ANGEL ANNOUNCES THE FALL OF WICKED BABYLON
Revelation 14:8 - Then another, a second angel, followed him crying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She who made all nations drink the wine of her passionate unfaithfulness (or adultery - idolatry in Old Testament terms) !”
THE ” SON OF MAN ” SEATED ON A CLOUD, HOLDING A SICKLE
Revelation 14:14b - ‘the Son of Man’ ( Daniel 7:13 ).
SEVEN ANGELS LEAVE THE TEMPLE WITH THE PLAGUES; THEY RECEIVE THE BOWLS OF GOD’S WRATH
Revelation 16:1 - Then I heard a loud voice from the Temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out upon the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God!”
- Now the Beast has appeared ( Revelation 13 ), the Seven Bowls of wrath, unlike the the judgments of the Seven Seals and Seven Trumpets, are poured out on him and his followers, and with a far greater intensity and completeness. Some of the plagues are like those visited on Egypt by Moses before the Exodus :
THE FIRST ANGEL ON THE LAND - SORES BREAK OUT ON THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE BEAST
Revelation 16:2 - The first angel went off and emptied his bowl upon the earth. Whereupon loathsome and malignant ulcers (similar to those of Exodus 9:8-12 ) attacked all those who bore the mark (“666”) of the animal and worshipped its statue.
THE THIRD ANGEL ON THE FRESH WATERS - HE SPEAKS OF GOD’S JUDGMENT
Revelation 16:4 - Then the third angel emptied his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned into blood (similar to Exodus 7:17 -21 ) .
THREE SPIRITS GATHER THE KINGS OF THE EARTH FOR THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
Revelation 16:13 -16 - And then I noticed three foul spirits, looking like frogs (mythological miracle-working demons or agents of Satan; also related to the plague of frogs in Exodus 8:2-6 ) emerging from the mouths of the dragon, the animal and the false prophet. …
… They are diabolical spirits performing wonders and they set out to muster all the kings of the world for battle on the great day of God, the Almighty (drawing together all the nations and forces of evil to resist God’s judgment) .
So they brought them together to the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon (Har-Magedon, the “Mount” or “Mountain of Megiddo”, an ancient city on the coastal road through Israel from Egypt to the North, the scene of many battles in Old Testament times and later, including 1918. It is used as a symbol of all battles and the final battle) .
THE SEVENTH ANGEL INTO THE AIR - NATURAL CATASTROPHES STRIKE MEN AND CITIES, ESPECIALLY BABYLON
Revelation 16:18 -21 - Then followed flashes of lightning, noises and peals of thunder. There was a terrific earthquake, the like of which no man has ever seen since mankind began to live upon the earth - so great and tremendous was this earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell in ruins. And God called to mind Babylon the great and made her drink the cup of the wine of his furious wrath. Every island fled and the mountains vanished. Great hailstones (as in Exodus 9:18 -26 ) like heavy weights fell from the sky and men blasphemed God for the curse of the hail, for it fell upon them with savage and fearful blows.
THE FALL OF BABYLON
- Babylon , the ancient city on the River Euphrates, had become an emblem of a godless culture at the heights (or depths) of its powers, and was often pictured as a prostitute dominating her clients. By New Testament times, Rome and the Roman Empire with its corruption, emperor worship, torture and persecution had become equated with the Babylon of old:
AN ANGEL ANNOUNCES THE PUNISHMENT OF THE GREAT WORLD PROSTITUTE, BABYLON
Revelation 17:1-2 - Then came one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls, and said to me, “Come, and I will show you the judgment passed upon the great harlot who is seated upon many waters. It is with her that the kings of the earth have debauched themselves and the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk on the wine of her filthiness (Old Testament imagery for accepting the overlordship of ” Babylon “, the worship of Rome and its paganism) .”
THE RIDER, CHRIST, ON THE WHITE HORSE, AND HIS ARMIES
Revelation 19:15b - ‘He will rule them with a rod of iron’ ( Psalm 2:9 ),
SATAN IS RELEASED; THE FINAL BATTLE ; HIS DESTRUCTION
Revelation 20:7-9 - Then, when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison, and will set out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog ( … representing all who oppose God in the last great battle by Satan at the end of time, Ezekiel 38) , and to lead them into battle. They will be as numerous as the sand of the seashore.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN RESTORED
Revelation 22:1-2 - Then he (the angel) showed me the river (suggesting the river of the Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:10 ) of the water of life, sparkling like crystal as it flowed from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street of the city and on either bank of the river grew the tree of life (no longer denied to mankind as it was so long before to Adam in Genesis 3:22-24 ) , bearing twelve fruits, a different kind for each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. excerpt Ibid.