Julius Dead Sea Scrolls And The Tanakh
Dead
Sea Scrolls
And
The
Tanakh
Professor Sukenik, after initially defining the time span of the scrolls as the Second Temple period, recognized their special significance and advocated the now widely accepted theory that they were remnants of the library of the Essenes.
Today
scholarly opinion regarding the time span and background of the Dead Sea
Scrolls is anchored in historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence,
corroborated firmly by carbon 14-datings. Some manuscripts were written and
copied in the third century B.C.E., but the bulk of the material, particularly
the texts that reflect on a sectarian community, are originals or copies from
the first century B.C.E.; a number of texts date from as late as the years
preceding the destruction of the site in 68 C.E. at the hands of the Roman
legions.
Interesting
for Jews?
Professor
Schiffman Said of the scrolls…
“There
is an emotional component,” the expert explained, pointing to a piece of Psalm
121 on display: “Esa einai el heharim”—“I shall raise my eyes to the mountains
. . .”
“When you realize that these very words were recited directly from this scroll by our forefathers 2,200 years ago, it’s very moving.”
Schiffman
added that he finds that Jews generally have an intense interest in archaeology
and their history.
According to Schiffman, there are certain differences between the books of Tanach found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and those that we have.
“There are some texts that are slightly different, usually just in the spelling of a word here or there.” He explained that ultimately the differences were expunged; a scroll found in the courtyard of the Holy Temple “corrected all the other texts.”
More
to Investigate?
Professor
Schiffman said:
“Until recently the main task involved editing and publishing the Scrolls. But now, the research possibilities are endless.
“For example, one of the fundamental ideas in Jewish mysticism is that the angels praise G d in Heaven. When you open up the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are poems, not the same poems we have, and they describe the angelic praise of G d.
“So
now, if a person were to write a book about angelic praise of G d in Judaism,
they have a wider resource field available.”
The
Qumran Library
The
collection of writing recovered in the Qumran environs has restored to us a
voluminous corpus of Jewish documents dating from the third century B.C.E. to
68 C.E., demonstrating the rich literary activity of Second Temple-period
Jewry. The collection comprises documents of a varied nature, most of them of a
distinct religious bent. The chief categories represented are biblical,
apocryphal or pseudepigraphical, and sectarian writings. The study of this
original library has demonstrated that the boundaries between these categories
is far from clear-cut.
The biblical manuscripts include what are probably the earliest copies of these texts to have come down to us. Most of the books of the Bible are represented in the collection. Some books are extant in large number of copies; others are represented only fragmentarily on mere scraps of parchment. The biblical texts display considerable similarity to the standard Masoretic (received) text. This, however, is not always the rule, and many texts diverge from the Masoretic. For example, some of the texts of Samuel from Cave 4 follow the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Bible translated in the third to second centuries B.C.E. Indeed. Qumran has yielded copies of the Septuagint in Greek.
The
biblical scrolls in general have provided many new readings that facilitate the
reconstruction of the textual history of the Old Testament. It is also
significant that several manuscripts of the Bible, including the Leviticus
Scroll are inscribed not in the Jewish script dominant at the time but rather
in the ancient paleo-Hebrew script.
A
considerable number of apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts are preserved at
Qumran, where original Hebrew and Aramaic versions of these Jewish compositions
of the Second Temple period were first encountered. These writings, which are
not included in the canonical Jewish scriptures, were preserved by different
Christian churches and were transmitted in Greek, Ethiopic, Syriac, Armenian,
and other translations.
Some of these are narrative texts closely related to biblical compositions, such as the Book of Jubilees and Enoch, whereas others are independent works-for example, Tobit and Ben Sira. Apparently some of these compositions were treated by the Qumran community as canonical and were studied by them.
The most original and unique group of writings from Qumran are the sectarian Ones, which were practically unknown until their discovery in 1947. An exception is the Damascus Document (or Damascus Covenant), which lacked a definite identification before the discoveries of the Dead Sea area. This widely varied literature reveals the beliefs and customs of a pietistic commune, probably centered at Qumran, and includes rules and ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, and liturgical works, generally attributed to the last quarter of the second century B.C.E. and onward.
There
are 225 Biblical texts included in the Dead Sea Scroll documents, or around 22%
of the total. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain parts of all but one of the books of
the Tanakh of the Hebrew Bible. Listed below are the most represented books,
found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the number of translatable Dead Sea
texts that represent a copy of scripture from each Biblical book:
Book
Number found
Psalms
39
Deuteronomy
33
1
Enoch
25
Genesis
24
Isaiah
22
Jubilees
21
Exodus
18
Leviticus
17
Numbers
11
Minor
Prophets
10
Daniel
8
Jeremiah
6
Ezekiel
6
Job
6
Tobit
5
1
& 2 Kings
4
1
& 2 Samuel
4
Judges
4
Song
of Songs (Canticles)
4
Ruth
4
Lamentations
4
Sirach
3
Ecclesiastes
2
Joshua
2
Now I’m adding more from another
article I wrote, this one is newer, and sheds some information that I think was
discovered since the publication of the article above.
There is mention in the
Dead Sea Scrolls of a Teacher of Righteousness;
Some Christians say that this Teacher of Righteousness could be Jesus, but the timing of these writings of the Teacher of Righteousness were written over a hundred years before the lost years of Jesus. If we look in the New Testament and the many things written about the teachings of Jesus, we can see many correlations between what is written about what Jesus taught, and the many things written within the Scrolls. Could it be that what Jesus is said to teach were taken from the Dead Sea Scrools?
'Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven', preaches Jesus (Matt. 5:3); this line
comes from the 'War Scroll' from the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 1 and
states: 'Among the poor in spirit there is a power... '8
Indeed, the whole of the Gospel of Matthew, and
especially Chapters 10 and 18, contains metaphors and terminology at times
almost interchangeable with those of the 'Community Rule'. In Matthew 5:48, for
instance, Jesus stresses the concept of perfection:
'You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly
Father is perfect.'
The 'Community Rule' speaks of those 'who walk in the
way of perfection as commanded by God'. 9 There will be, the text affirms,
'no pity on all who depart from the way ... no
comfort... until their way becomes perfect'.10
In Matthew 21:42, Jesus invokes Isaiah
28:16 and echoes Psalm 118:22:
'Have you never read in the scriptures: It was the
stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.'
The 'Community Rule' invokes the same reference, stating that 'the Council of the Community... shall be that tried wall, that precious corner-stone'.11
If the Qumran scrolls and the Gospels echo each other,
such echoes are even more apparent between the scrolls and the Pauline texts -
the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters. The concept of 'sainthood', for
example, and, indeed, the very word 'saint', are common enough in later
Christianity, but striking in the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
According to the opening line of the 'Community Rule',
however,
'The Master shall teach the saints to live according to
the Book of the Community Rule...'12
Paul, in his letter to the Romans (15:25-7), uses the
same terminology of the 'early Church': 'I must take a present of money to the
saints in Jerusalem.'
Indeed, Paul is particularly lavish in his use of
Qumran terms and images. One of the Qumran texts, for example, speaks of 'all
those who observe the Law in the House of Judah, whom God will deliver...
because of their suffering and because of their faith in the Teacher of
Righteousness'.13 Paul, of course, ascribes a similar redemptive power to faith
in Jesus.
Deliverance, he says in his epistle to the Romans (3:21-3), 'comes through faith to everyone... who believes in Jesus Christ'. To the Galatians (2:16-17), he declares that 'what makes a man righteous is not obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ'. It is clear that Paul is familiar with the metaphors, the figures of speech, the turns of phrase, the rhetoric used by the Qumran community in their interpretation of Old Testament texts. As we shall see, however, he presses this familiarity to the service of a very different purpose.
In the above quote from his letter to the Galatians,
Paul ascribes no inordinate significance to the Law. In the Qumran texts,
however, the Law is of paramount importance.
The 'Community Rule' begins:
'The Master shall teach the saints to live according to
the Book of the Community Rule, that they may seek God... and do what is good
and right before Him, as He commanded by the hand of Moses and all His servants
the Prophets...'14
Later, the 'Community Rule' states that anyone who
'transgresses one word of the Law of Moses, on any point whatever, shall be
expelled'15 and that the Law will endure 'for as long as the domain of Satan
endures'.16 In his rigorous adherence to the Law, Jesus, strikingly
enough, is much closer to the Qumran texts than he is to Paul.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.
5:17-19), Jesus makes his position unequivocally clear - a
position that Paul was subsequently to betray:
Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets. I have come not to abolish
but to complete them. I tell you solemnly... not one
dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from
the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the
man who infringes even one of the least of
these commandments and teaches others to do the same
will be considered the least in the
kingdom of heaven...
If Jesus' adherence to the Law concurs with
that of the Qumran community, so, too, does his timing of the Last Supper. For
centuries, biblical commentators have been confused by apparently conflicting
accounts in the Gospels. In Matthew (26:17-19), the Last Supper is depicted as
a Passover meal, and Jesus is crucified the next day.
In the Fourth Gospel (13:1 and 18:28), however, it is
said to occur before the Passover. Some scholars have sought to reconcile the
contradiction by acknowledging the Last Supper as indeed a Passover feast, but
a Passover feast conducted in accordance with a different calendar. The Qumran
community used precisely such a calendar - a solar calendar, in contrast to the
lunar calendar used by the priesthood of the Temple.17 In each calendar, the
Passover fell on a different date; and Jesus, it is clear, was
using the same calendar as that of the Qumran community.
Certainly the Qumran community observed a feast which
sounds very similar in its ritual characteristics to the Last Supper as it is
described in the Gospels.
The 'Community Rule' states that,
'when the table has been prepared... the Priest shall
be the first to stretch out his hand to bless the first-fruits of the bread and
new wine'.18
And another Qumran text, the 'Messianic Rule', adds:
'they shall gather for the common table, to eat and to
drink new wine... let no man extend his hand over the first fruits of bread and
wine before the Priest... thereafter, the Messiah of Israel shall extend his
hand over the bread'.19
This text was sufficient to convince even Rome.
According to Cardinal Jean Danielou, writing with a 'Nihil Obstat'
from the Vatican:
'Christ must have celebrated the last
supper on the eve of Easter according to the Essenian calendar. '20
One can only imagine the reaction of Father de Vaux and
his team on first discovering the seemingly extraordinary parallels between the
Qumran texts and what was known of 'early Christianity'. It had hitherto been
believed that Jesus' teachings were unique - that he admittedly
drew on Old Testament sources, but wove his references into a message, a
gospel, a statement of 'good news' which had never been enunciated in the world
before.
Now, however, echoes of that message, and perhaps even
of Jesus' drama itself, had come to light among a collection of
ancient parchments preserved in the Judaean desert.
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Isa 11:9-16 They do no evil nor destroy in all My set-apart mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of יהוה as the waters cover the sea. | ט לֹֽא־יָרֵ֥עוּ וְלֹֽא־יַשְׁחִ֖יתוּ בְּכָל־הַ֣ר קָדְשִׁ֑י כִּֽי־מָֽלְאָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ דֵּעָה֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֔ה כַּמַּ֖יִם לַיָּ֥ם מְכַסִּֽים: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: knowledge of the Lord: [lit.] to know the Lord. | רשי": דעה את ה': לדעת את ה': | ||||||||||||||||
10 And in that day there shall be a Root of Yishai, standing as a banner to the people. Unto Him the nations shall seek, and His rest shall be esteem. | י וְהָיָה֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֔וּא שֹׁ֣רֶשׁ יִשַׁ֗י אֲשֶׁ֚ר עֹמֵד֙ לְנֵ֣ס עַמִּ֔ים אֵלָ֖יו גּוֹיִ֣ם יִדְרֹ֑שׁוּ וְהָֽיְתָ֥ה מְנֻחָת֖וֹ כָּבֽוֹד: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: as a banner for peoples: that peoples should raise a banner to gather to him. | רשי": לנס עמים: להיות עמים מרימים נס להקבץ אליו: | ||||||||||||||||
11 And it shall be in that day that יהוה sets His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Ashshur and from Mitsrayim, from Pathros and from Kush, from Ěylam and from Shin‛ar, from Ḥamath and from the islands of the sea. | יא וְהָיָ֣ה | בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יוֹסִ֨יף אֲדֹנָ֚י | שֵׁנִית֙ יָד֔וֹ לִקְנ֖וֹת אֶת־שְׁאָ֣ר עַמּ֑וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִשָּׁאֵר֩ מֵֽאַשּׁ֨וּר וּמִמִּצְרַ֜יִם וּמִפַּתְר֣וֹס וּמִכּ֗וּשׁ וּמֵֽעֵילָ֚ם וּמִשִּׁנְעָר֙ וּמֵ֣חֲמָ֔ת וּמֵֽאִיֵּ֖י הַיָּֽם: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: a second time: Just as he acquired them from Egypt, when their redemption was absolute, without subjugation, but the redemption preceding the building of the Second Temple is not counted, since they were subjugated to Cyrus. | רשי": שנית: כמו שקנאם ממצרים שהיתה גאולתם ברורה מאין שיעבוד אבל גאולת בית שני אינה מן המניין שהרי משועבדים היו לכורש: | ||||||||||||||||
12 And He shall raise a banner for the nations, and gather the outcasts of Yisra’ěl, and assemble the dispersed of Yehuḏah from the four corners of the earth. | יב וְנָשָֹ֤א נֵס֙ לַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְאָסַ֖ף נִדְחֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וּנְפֻצ֚וֹת יְהוּדָה֙ יְקַבֵּ֔ץ מֵֽאַרְבַּ֖ע כַּנְפ֥וֹת הָאָֽרֶץ: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: And he shall raise a banner: Perka, perche in O.F. [i.e., the verse is literally referring to the pole upon which the banner is attached.] And it shall be for a sign to gather to him and to bring the exiles of Israel to Him as a present. | רשי": נשא נס: פירקא בלע"ז והיה לאות לקבוץ אליו ולהביא את גליות ישראל מנחה לו: | ||||||||||||||||
13 And the envy of Ephrayim shall turn aside, and the adversaries of Yehuḏah be cut off. Ephrayim shall not envy Yehuḏah, and Yehuḏah not trouble Ephrayim. | יג וְסָ֙רָה֙ קִנְאַ֣ת אֶפְרַ֔יִם וְצֹֽרְרֵ֥י יְהוּדָ֖ה יִכָּרֵ֑תוּ אֶפְרַ֙יִם֙ לֹֽא־יְקַנֵּ֣א אֶת־יְהוּדָ֔ה וִֽיהוּדָ֖ה לֹֽא־יָצֹ֥ר אֶת־אֶפְרָֽיִם: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: Ephraim shall not envy Judah: The Messiah, the son of David, and the Messiah, the son of Joseph, shall not envy each other. | רשי": אפרים לא יקנא את יהודה: משיח בן יוסף ומשיח בן דוד לא יקנאו זה בזה: | ||||||||||||||||
14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; together they plunder the people of the east, their hand stretching forth on Eḏom and Mo’aḇ, and the children of Ammon shall be subject to them. | יד וְעָפ֨וּ בְכָתֵ֚ף פְּלִשְׁתִּים֙ יָ֔מָּה יַחְדָּ֖ו יָבֹ֣זּוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי־קֶ֑דֶם אֱד֚וֹם וּמוֹאָב֙ מִשְׁל֣וֹחַ יָדָ֔ם וּבְנֵ֥י עַמּ֖וֹן מִשְׁמַעְתָּֽם: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: And they shall fly of one accord against the Philistines in the west: Heb. בְכָתֵף. Israel will fly and run of one accord against the Philistines who are in the west of Eretz Israel and conquer their land. [כָּתֵף, lit. a shoulder, is used in this case to denote unity. The word שֶׁכֶם, also lit. a shoulder, is used in a similar sense.] Comp. (Hoshea 6:9) “They murder on the way in unison (שֶׁכְמָה);” (Zeph. 3:9) “One accord (שְׁכֶם אֶחָד).” And so did Jonathan render it: And they shall join in one accord to smite the Philistines who are in the west. and the children of Ammon shall obey them: As the Targum states: Will hearken to them. They will accept their commandments over them. | רשי": ועפו בכתף פלשתים ימה: יעופו וירוצו ישראל שכם אחד על הפלשתים אשר הם במערבה של ארץ ישראל ויכבש את ארצם כמו דרך ירצחו שכמה (הושע ו׳:ט׳) שכם אחד (צפניה ג) וכן ת"י ויתחברון כתף חד למימחי פלישתאי די במערבא: ובני עמון משמעתם: כתרגומו ישתמעון להון, מקבלין מצותם עליהם: | ||||||||||||||||
15 And יהוה shall put under the ban the tongue of the Sea of Mitsrayim, and He shall wave His hand over the River with the might of His Spirit, and shall strike it in the seven streams, and shall cause men to tread it in sandals. | טו וְהֶֽחֱרִ֣ים יְהֹוָ֗ה אֵת לְשׁ֣וֹן יָם־מִצְרַ֔יִם וְהֵנִ֥יף יָד֛וֹ עַל־הַנָּהָ֖ר בַּעְיָ֣ם רוּח֑וֹ וְהִכָּ֙הוּ֙ לְשִׁבְעָ֣ה נְחָלִ֔ים וְהִדְרִ֖יךְ בַּנְּעָלִֽים: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: And… shall dry up: [lit. shall cut off] to dry it, so that the exiles of Israel will pass through it from Egypt. over the river: The Euphrates River, for the exiles from Assyria to cross. with the strength of His wind: Heb. בַּעְיָם. This is hapax legomenon in Scripture, and according to the context it can be interpreted as “with the strength of His wind.” into seven streams: into seven segments, for the aforementioned seven exiles: from Assyria and from Egypt, etc. Those from the islands of the sea are not from that side. and He shall lead: the exiles within it. | רשי": והחרים: ליבשו כדי שיעברו בו גליות ישראל ממצרים: על הנהר: נהר פרת לעבור בו גליות אשור: בעים רוחו: אין לו דמיון במקרא ולפי הענין יפתר בחוזק רוחו: לשבעה נחלים: לשבע גזרים לעבור בו שבע גליות האמורות למעלה מאשור וממצרים וגו', ומאיי הים אינו מאותו צד: והדריך: בתוכו את הגליות: בנעלים: ביבשה: | ||||||||||||||||
16 And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Ashshur, as it was for Yisra’ěl in the day when he came up from the land of Mitsrayim. | טז וְהָֽיְתָ֣ה מְסִלָּ֔ה לִשְׁאָ֣ר עַמּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִשָּׁאֵ֖ר מֵֽאַשּׁ֑וּר כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֚ר הָֽיְתָה֙ לְיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּי֥וֹם עֲלֹת֖וֹ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם: | ||||||||||||||||
Rashi: And there shall be a highway: in the midst of the water for the remnant of His people. | רשי": והיתה מסילה: בתוך המים לשאר עמו: | ||||||||||||||||
Hashem is bringing and restoring Yehuda first….. [GENESIS 44:18] THEN JUDAH CAME NEAR UNTO HIM, AND SAID, OH MY LORD, LET THY SERVANT, I PRAY THEE, SPEAK A WORD IN MY LORD'S EARS, AND LET NOT THINE ANGER BURN AGAINST THY SERVANT: FOR THOU ART EVEN AS PHARAOH. Commentary: On the verse: “FOR THOU ART EVEN AS PHARAOH”: Rabbi Schneerson quotes the source saying that Judah meant to say that Joseph is as powerful as Pharaoh and that Judah acknowledges his authority. Judah acknowledged the authority of Joseph. Because of this Judah merited the Promise in Ezekiel 37, “MY SERVANT DAVID SHALL BE THEIR PRINCE FOR EVER”. The Rabbi says that in order for Judah to bring on the Messiah, to help the Messiah come, and realize the promise given to his seed (“MY SERVANT DAVID SHALL BE THEIR PRINCE FOR EVER) Judah must first do as the Patriarch Judah did when he CAME NEAR UNTO Joseph and he acknowledged the authority of Joseph and initially was influenced from Joseph.' | ה' מביא ומשקם קודם את יהודה... אפרים תבוא לשיקום כאשר היהודים יתחילו לבנות בית להשם כאשר, לא עושים רע ולא משמידים בכל ההר המופרד שלי, כי תמלא הארץ ידיעת יהוה כמו המים מכסים את הים. תחשוב על זה? 'רבי מנחם מנדל שניאורסון, הרבי מליובאוויטש (חב"ד), ערך את ההערות הבאות על פעולת יהודה (בראשית: ויגש). רבי מנחם מנדל שניאורסון נחשב בהשראת חסידיו ורבים אחרים. הפסוק הרלוונטי אומר: [בראשית 44:18] אז התקרב אליו יהודה, ואמר, הו אדוני, נא עבדך, דבר דבר באזני יהוה, ואל יבעור כעמך על עבדך: כמו פרעה. פירוש: על הפסוק: "כי אתה אפילו פרעה": הרב שניאורסון מצטט את המקור שאומר שיהודה התכוון לומר שיוסף חזק כמו פרעה וכי יהודה מכיר בסמכותו. יהודה הכיר בסמכותו של יוסף. בגלל זה יהודה זכאי להבטחה ביחזקאל 37, "עבדי דוד יהיה הנסיך שלהם לעולמים". הרבי אומר שכדי שיהודה יביא את המשיח, יעזור למשיח לבוא ולממש את ההבטחה שניתנה לזרעו ("עבדי דוד יהיה הנסיך שלהם לנצח) יהודה צריך לעשות תחילה כפי שעשה הפטריארך יהודה כאשר התקרב אל יוסף והוא הכיר בסמכותו של יוסף ובתחילה הושפע מיוסף.' (יאיר דוידי, ברית-עם) | ||||||||||||||||
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