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An International Congress ABSTRACTS PHILIP S. ALEXANDER Palaeography, "Codicology" and the History of Serekh ha-YahadMore copies of the Community Rule survive than of any other sectarian text from Qumran. These copies are spread over at least 150 years and are very diverse as to their handwriting, size, material, general presentation and physical form. This data will be surveyed and an attempt made to integrate it into an account of the transmission and use of the Community Rule at Qumran. It will be argued that any redaction-history of Serekh ha-Yahad which relies only on internal literary and textual analysis, and does not make use of the external physical evidence for transmission is incomplete; any redaction-history that clearly runs counter to the external physical evidence is flawed. It will also be argued that the history of the copying of the Community Rule may provide a secure starting-point for a discussion of scribal practice at Qumran. It is unclear just how many of the Scrolls were actually copied at Qumran. Most would now concede that at least some of the Dead Sea manuscripts were copied elsewhere and brought to Qumran. Not every Scroll is, therefore, evidence for scribal practice at Qumran. The Community Rule is the sectarian text par excellence , and it is a reasonable assumption that its surviving copies were all made at Qumran. It survives in a sufficient number of copies, spread over a sufficient period of time to provide some insight into the distinctive practices of the Qumran "scriptorium." What emerges if we assume that the Serekh ha-Yahad scribal practices are "normative" and compare these with the practices found in the other manuscripts of the Dead Sea cache? ANDERS ASCHIM Melchizedek and Levi The portrait of Levi in certain Jewish works of the Second Temple
period (the Aramaic Levi Document, Jubilees 30-32, the Greek Testament
of Levi) shares some interesting features with the image of Melchizedek
in the Hebrew Bible. Like Melchizedek in Gen 14:18-20, Levi is called
"priest for the Most High God," and he is connected with
the tithe. Like the priest "according to the order of Melchizedek"
in Ps 110:4, Levi is proclaimed as "priest forever." MEIR BAR-ILAN Reasons for Sectarianism according to the Tannaim and the Impurity of Oil Alleged by the Essenes according to Josephus The aim of this paper is to present Rabbinic sources to aid the
understanding of the development of sectarianism according to the
Rabbis and to explain one of Josephus' statements (War II, viii,3)
in regard to the avoidance of oil by the Essenes. RICHARD BAUCKHAM The Qumran Community and the Gospel of John Among the New Testament writings, the Gospel of John has often been thought to show a special affinity with the literature of the Qumran community, such that an actual historical connection between the two has sometimes been postulated. This paper argues that no such connection is convincing. The most striking resemblance is in the dualism of light and darkness in 1QS and John, but it functions differently in the two texts, and this theme in John can be adequately explained as a development from Jewish tradition independent of the specifically Qumran literature. 1QS and John represent independent, not related, developments of the imagery of light and darkness. JOSEPH M. BAUMGARTEN The Tohorot Texts - Legal and Theological Aspects of Purification The ongoing analysis of the Cave 4 Tohora texts enables us to identify
new distinguishing characteristics of the sectarian approach to
purity. The widespread impression that the sect was invariably the
most stringent in all areas of purity is not completely accurate.
Thus, in consonance with the later Karaite exegesis, the verb rahas
in some texts was taken to signify only washing, while tabal meant
complete immersion. Initial washing after contamination was held
to be adequate for eating ordinary food. On the other hand, the
rites of parah adumah were construed rigorously to require their
performance by priests, rather than the young boys used by the Pharisees
for preparing the ashes and sprinkling the waters. Interestingly,
the sprinkling waters, mey niddah , were apparently held to be effective,
not only for corpse impurity, but for sexual uncleanness. There
are hints of this in certain non-normative rabbinic sources. GREGORY H. BEARMAN AND SHEILA I. SPIRO MICHAEL B. PHELPS IR Imaging of Ancient Manuscripts: Do It Yourself In 1994 a team from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Ancient
Biblical Manuscript Center applied the principles of imaging spectroscopy
to difficult Dead Sea Scroll fragments by digitally acquiring images
of DSS and other ancient documents further into the infra red (IR)
than film is able. Our project represented an ongoing trend toward
collaborations between humanists and their counterparts in the sciences,
which has proved particularly useful for scholars in all fields
of textual studies (witness the explosive growth MIREILLE B(LIS How to Establish the Original Link between the Scrolls and Their Wrappers We cannot match the wrappers found in Cave 1 with their scrolls.
The Bedouins took the manuscripts and removed the linen in which
they were folded. There does not exist any photograph of the original
shape of a scroll within its wrapper. Nevertheless, would it be
possible to follow a method providing an answer to this particular
question? My communication will describe: MOSHE J. BERNSTEIN The Interpretation of the Book of Isaiah at Qumran The Book of Isaiah was at Qumran one of the most popular works
of what we characterize today as the Hebrew Bible. This fact is
reflected in the approximately twenty manuscripts of Isaiah found
in the caves, and in the five different pesharim on Isaiah found
in Cave 4. Various other Qumran documents, such as CD, 4QFlorilegium,
and 11QMelchizedek, also contain exegetical remarks on Isaiah. This
paper will survey the scope and method SHANI L. BERRIN Lemma/Pesher Correspondence Herbert Basser in "Pesher Hadavar " (RQ 13, 1988) discusses
the two antithetical meanings of the root p.sh.r .: "loosening"
and "coming together." Many of George Brooke's important
discussions of the pesher genre reflect this duality, which may
be expressed as tension between "revelation" and "exegesis,"
or between "atomization" and "correspondence."
Etymologically, most Qumran scholars stress the "loosening"
aspect of the term pesher . Textually, though, it is the close relationship
between pesher and base-text which is stressed in most discussions
of the genre. However, this relationship, or "correspondence,"
has meant different things to different people. To impose some order
on the discussion, correspondence may be categorized into three
types: numerical, exegetical, and contextual. All three are to be
viewed as characteristic of the lemma/pesher relationship. STEVEN W. BOORAS, DONALD W. PARRY AND E.J. WILSON The Dead Sea Scrolls on CD-ROM The FARMS Electronic Database The FARMS/BYU DSS Database comprises a comprehensive, fully indexed,
and cross-linked computerized database of the Hebrew Bible and transcriptions
of the non-biblical DSS texts, photographs of the scrolls, and translations.
Many of the Database's functions were presented at the 1996 International
Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls, held at Brigham Young University.
This presentation will focus on a single function of the GEORGE J. BROOKE Biblical Interpretation in the Qumran Scrolls and the New Testament The principal purpose of this paper will be to argue that though
there are many similarities in method in the handling of scriptural
traditions in both the Qumran Scrolls and the New Testament, there
is less overlap in content than is often supposed. Examples will
be given to illustrate this thesis from five areas of exegesis:
the legal use of scripture, the narrative use, the admonitory use,
the poetic and liturgical use, and the prophetic use. The most widely
known kind of scriptural interpretation which is considered to be
characteristic of the community responsible for many of the sectarian
scrolls from Qumran is that of pesher . This kind of interpretation
of prophetic scriptural texts in the Qumran Scrolls is often thought
to lie behind many of the fulfillment quotations in the New Testament.
It will be argued, however, that as in other kinds of scriptural
interpretation, the differences between Qumran and the New Testament
are as important as the similarities. Thus whereas in large measure
the interpretation of scripture in the pesharim is controlled by
the text of scripture itself, in the New Testament, fulfillment
quotations function merely LENA CANSDALE The Metamorphosis of the Name "Qumran" The name "Qumran" by which the ancient ruins on the
western shore of the Dead Sea are known today has come into use
only in modern times. We have no sources available to tell us what
the settlement was called when it flourished in antiquity. ISRAEL CARMI Dating Dead Sea Scrolls by Radiocarbon Radiocarbon and the epoch of the Dead Sea Scroll began close to
the founding of the State of Israel and had a brief encounter when
W.F.Libby, the inventor of radiocarbon dating, proudly measured
the age of the fabric that wrapped a scroll and Yigael Yadin used
his data to anchor the time of writing of the scroll. JAMES CHARLESWORTH The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and research upon them have significantly enriched our understanding of Second Temple Judaism and the origins of the concepts and writings in the so-called New Testament. Methodologically, it is imperative to ascertain the ideas and technical terms peculiar to the Qumranites and to focus solely on them in seeking to discern possible influences from Qumran upon the NT. Thus, it is imperative to eliminate a possible relationship between Qumran and the NT from traditions and terms that are also found in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish writings that also antedate 70 CE. The lecture will evaluate Qumran influences upon John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth, and try to explain the widely recognized Qumran influences upon the Gospels of Matthew and John and the writings from the Pauline School. ESTHER G. CHAZON The Function of the Qumran Prayer Texts The Qumran sect's secession from the Jerusalem Temple created a cultic and spiritual vacuum in the life of that community. This vacuum was filled in large measure by prayer which was conceptualized as "an offering of the lips" (1QS 9:5). Prayer's role at Qumran as a substitute for the Temple cult fostered its development there as a communal, religious institution of worship on fixed occasions (daily, weekly, monthly, and annually). At the same time, as the primary mode of service to and contact with God, prayer flourished at Qumran as a multi-faceted religious phenomenon. Thus, besides fulfilling ritual requirements, providing steady worship, offering constant praise and petitioning for daily needs, prayer also became a medium for experiencing the heavenly realm, a part of eschatological preparations, and a means of affirming commitment to the divine law and sectarian rules. This paper will categorize and characterize the principal functions of the hundreds of prayer texts preserved at Qumran, thereby providing a broad perspective for more specialized research. A main focus of such research will be prayers said on a daily basis which surely must have held a central place and formative position in religious life and thought. BRUNO CHIESA Biblical and Parabiblical Texts from Qumran The recent publication of a number of Qumran texts clearly related to the Biblical writings, but offering a different arrangement of the contents, not to say additional materials, obliges us to rethink the question of the Biblical "canon" and, more generally, the question of the status of the Biblical writings at the end of the Second Temple period. As appears from studies by M. Kister (RB 97, 1990, 63-67) and R. Bauckham ("Memorial Starcky" II, 1992, 437-445), it seems highly probable that the "Biblical" corpus was at that time more extensive than the one familiar to us. A systematic research into the first Christian works is likely to disclose not only unexpected parallels to some Qumran texts, but also to offer a key for a strictly historically oriented understanding of the progressive constitution of a Biblical "canon". JOHN J. COLLINS Qumran Apocalypticism and the New Testament Apocalypticism was a world view first developed in Judaism in
the books of Enoch and Daniel in the late third or early second
centuries BCE. Its distinctive features were a claim to a special
kind of revelation, interest in the heavenly world and expectation
of a final judgment that would entail reward and punishment of the
dead. These books were influential at Qumran, but the sect modified
the apocalyptic world view in important ways. Instead of angelic
visions, they relied on inspired exegesis as their primary mode
of revelation, and they claimed to enjoy in the present the fellowship
with the angels that was promised to the righteous after death in
Enoch and Daniel. HANNAH COTTON The Diplomatics of the Greek Documents from the Judean Desert:
Linguistic and Diplomatics include the external features of the documents which
to varying degrees SIDNIE CRAWFORD 4Q158 as a Manuscript of 4QReworked Pentateuch 4Q158 was originally published by John Allegro in 1968 as a separate
manuscript under the title "A Biblical Paraphrase: Genesis,
Exodus." However, the editors of 4QReworked Pentateuch (4Q364-367),
Emanuel Tov and Sidnie White Crawford, identified in 1992 4Q158
as a fifth manuscript of 4QRP. The paper will first explore the
reasons for that identification: ALAN CROWN An Alternative View of the Nature of the Qumran Settlement There is ample evidence that in the century before the fall of
the temple the area around Qumran was teeming with people and that
Qumran itself was a township that served as a node in the caravan
and transit trade between the coast, Jerusalem and Arabia. It was
one of a chain of townships and fortresses that was built by the
Hasmoneans for the purpose of defense and supply. MARIANNE DACY The Epistle to Barnabas and the Dead Sea Scrolls The Epistle to Barnabas, an early Christian document, shows certain
characteristics which mirror ideas in Qumran material, and the Judaism
of Philo of Alexandria. These characteristics include: an allegorical
method of biblical exegesis, the quotation of texts MICHAEL A. DAISE Biblical Creation Motifs in the Qumran Hodayot In this paper I will address the question of how biblical creation motifs have been employed in the hymnic literature of Qumran, with particular attention given to the Hodayot (1QH and 4QH fragments). Since Gunkel's work a great deal of attention has been given to the questions of (1) the relationship between biblical and Ancient Near Eastern creation traditions and (2) how biblical creation imagery functioned in the life and faith of Israel. In the Second Temple Period a dramatic shift occurred in the tradition-history of biblical creation imagery, yet little work has been done to trace the changes which took place. Significant examples of this tradition-historical shift are found in the Qumran Hodayot. For instance, the chthonic theme of creation through the irrigation of dry land (used in Genesis 2: 4-25 to depict the making of the primal paradise) is used by the hymnist of 1QH 8.4f. to describe his role as the medium of the divine revelation to the Qumran community (cf. 1QH 8. 4-5 w/Gen 2:8-10). Similarly, the motif of the creation of humanity by fashioning a man out of dust or clay (characteristic of the Mesopotamian Eridu narrative tradition and adopted into Genesis 2:7) is employed throughout the Hodayot to characterize humanity's inherent frailty and sinfulness (cf. 1QH 1.21; 18.31 w/Gen 2:7). Furthermore, the theme of God placing luminaries in the sky to illumine the darkness (used in Genesis 1 to describe the cosmic inauguration of Israel's Heilsgeschichte ) is employed by the hymnist of 1QH 9 to describe his own divine deliverance from the oppression of his enemies (cf. 1QH 9.26-27 w/Gen 1:14-17). This paper will focus on these and other relevant Hodayot passages in order to (1) determine which biblical creation motifs the hymnist of the Hodayot drew upon and (2) discern how the form and function of those motifs were changed in order to serve the hymnists' contemporary religious expression. DEVORAH DIMANT The Qumran Library: Its Content and Character The study of the Qumran documents is going through a genuine metamorphosis. The old picture which dominated the scene for over thirty years, that of a sectarian library, owned by a small separatist community, is being replaced by the much wider perspective of a rich collection of literary documents, which belonged to a main current in Second Temple Judaism. Such a picture emerges from the constant flow of new publications, and from the complete list of the Qumran manuscripts put now at the disposal of scholars. Besides some 230 biblical manuscripts the library contained nearly 190 manuscripts of sectarian works, and around 240 manuscripts of other compositions which do not contain terminology and ideas typical of the Qumran community. It is this elusive group which has produced most of the surprises. It contains many apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works, some of which were previously known (such as Tobit, 1 Enoch, Jubilees), but many were not. In addition, a number of exegetical compositions, expanding and interpreting the Bible in various ways also came into light. They provide a link between the exegesis found in the late biblical books (such as Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah) and that of the later rabbinic midrashim. No less intriguing is the group of Aramaic texts, mostly dealing with haggadic stories about biblical patriarchs. All these documents open new vistas on ancient post-biblical Judaism and on the background and origin of first century Christianity. LUTZ DOERING Purity Regulations concerning the Sabbath in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature In the Dead Sea Scrolls there is a series of purity regulations
applying to the sanctification of the Sabbath, such as an obligatory
ritual purification before the onset of the Sabbath, a prohibition
of wearing filthy clothes, and an interdict of intermingling voluntarily
on the Sabbath. Similar concerns are indicated by the prohibition
of sexual intercourse on the Sabbath according to the Book of Jubilees,
a practice obviously also observed by the early Hasidim. A Sabbath
limit of normally 1000 cubits according to the Damascus Document
would make it impossible to visit the place of the hand in order
to relieve oneself KARL P. DONFRIED Paul and the Community of the Renewed Covenant: Convergence and Divergence Paul identified himself as a Pharisee. What kind of a Pharisee
was he; what does he mean by using this self-descriptor and how
is it that at a number of key points in 1 Thessalonians, his earliest
letter, striking similarities to the thought of the community(s)
reflected in foundational documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls (henceforth:
yahad ) occur both conceptually and linguistically? If Paul is effected
by this stream of thought within the pluralism of Second Temple
Judaism, can one locate more precisely the point(s) of contact or
association? Are the specific terminology and the broader conceptual
similarities between the two mediated through earliest Christianity
or was the pre-Christian Paul already influenced by the prophetic
movement of the yahad ? JEAN DUHAIME Recent Studies on Messianism in the Dead Sea Scrolls The synthetic view of Qumran messianism elaborated by J. Starky
in 1963 has remained the standard a few decades. However, the release
of all available texts from Qumran in the early 1990s has prompted
new studies which raise important theoretical and methodological
problems. This paper will explore some of them by comparing the
aims and methods of a few recent studies of messianic texts from
Qumran. Attention will be paid to various decisions made by the
researchers on the following questions: TORLEIF ELGVIN Wisdom and Apocalypticism in the Early Second Century BCE: The Evidence of 4QInstruction 4QInstruction preserves the largest amount of material among the
wisdom writings from Qumran. Form-critical analysis shows the presence
of two literary layers in the book: an older stratum of concise
wisdom admonitions, and another, more apocalyptic stratum consisting
of longer discourses. ESTHER ESHEL Recensions and Editions of the War Scroll 1QM is a compound composition which was based on different sources.
That can be shown by the fact that the same hymn is found twice
in 1QM. In the sixties and the seventies different scholars tried
to demonstrate how the scribe who composed 1QM had worked. HANAN ESHEL Caves and Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period Between 1947 and 1956 twelve hundred documents were found in the
Judean Desert. The earliest document is a papyrus from the end of
the First Temple period (seventh century BCE) found in Wadi Murabba'at.
The latest ones are from the early Arabic period, found in Khirbet
Mird and in Wadi Murabba'at. CRAIG A. EVANS The diarchic messianism evidently presupposed by some of the Dead
Sea Scrolls may clarify Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, his demonstration
in the Temple precincts, and the ensuing quarrel with the ruling
priests. Some of the Scrolls seem to expect the appearance of two
anointed individuals, one of Aaron and one of Israel. Many scholars
think the first anointed person is the new High Priest, while the
second anointed person is the new king of davidic descent. HEINZ-JOSEF FABRY In Qumran there exist 18 scrolls with Leviticus texts (incl. 3
RP-scrolls). Additionally, the importance of the Book of Leviticus
in Qumran is emphasized by the existence of more than 80 quotations.
Two copies in 11Q and several copies in palaeo-Hebrew handwriting
show canonical dignity. The distribution of the quotations demonstrates
that the book of Leviticus as a whole was well known in Qumran,
but special attention was given to Lev 2-5 (sacrifices and offerings),
Lev 10-11 (purity /impurity) and parts of the Code of Holiness.
On the other hand the wide-spread RP-texts are significant in excluding
main parts of the book (Lev 1-10; 14; 17 and 21s.), while now preponderance
is given to the purity laws (Lev 11-13). The Temple Scroll (nearly
50 quotations) points out the lasting importance of the priestly
laws for the Sanctuary Torah. DANIEL FALK The prayers published by M. Baillet in DJD 7 were for the most part extremely fragmentary and his attempts at reconstruction were only partly successful. This paper proposes several new reconstructions relevant to the texts 4Q503-509. JOSEPH A. FITZMYER The Significance of the Hebrew and Aramaic Texts of Tobit from Qumran for the Study of Tobit The four Aramaic texts of Tobit from Qumran Cave 4 and the one
Hebrew text raise the question about the language in which the book
was originally written. A case will be made for the composition
in Aramaic. These texts, both Aramaic and Hebrew, reveal that the
Book of Tobit contained originally all 14 chapters, and so they
put an end to the controversy about chaps. 13 and 14, as well as
their date and the date of the book as a whole. The Hadrianic date
of Tobit is now ruled out. The main problem for future study of
Tobit is the relation of the Aramaic and Hebrew texts to the Greek
versions (Sinaiticus and RICHARD A. FREUND A New Interpretation of the Incense Shovels from the "Cave of the Letters" In 1961, Y. Yadin discovered a hoard of vessels in the Judean
desert in a place known today as the "Cave of Letters".
Yadin speculated that the hoard containing incense shovels together
with elaborately designed patera and 16 other vessels, were taken
as booty from a Roman military camp situated almost above the cave.
The incense shovels are today displayed in the Shrine of the Book
and command some attention both by the public and scholars, despite
inevitable questions which relate to their meaning in the general
context of the Scrolls and the Letters. It was Yadin's impression
that the incense shovels were not in their original archaeological
context, but were part of the booty taken by Bar Kokhba's troops.
He states rather ambiguously that they were taken from: "...the
units of the Roman Legions or the Auxilia, which carried them about
for ritual purposes." He was not sure what the "ritual
purposes" were, but he, like other writers of the period, assigned
them to some ambiguous "pagan" ritual. Yadin did not apparently
consider why such a rich hoard of ritual objects would be located
in a military camp nor did he attempt to associate them with a specific
"pagan" cult. JOERG FREY IDA FR(HLICH The Theme of the Land in Qumran Promising the land of Canaan to the Patriarchs and occupying it
by their descendants is a major theme of the narratives in Hexateuch.
Particular laws of the Leviticus (Holiness Code), Numbers, and Deuteronomy
reflect an idea of the holiness of the land: the violation of taboos
concerning sexual relations ('zenut'), blood, the dead, mixing,
and magic result in defiling the land and its inhabitants being
wiped out of it. RUSSELL FULLER With the recent publication of the majority of biblical manuscripts
from Qumran, especially Cave 4, textual critics of the Hebrew Bible
may well be in a position which has never existed in the discipline.
After fifty years of modern editorial activity by a small army of
scholars the vast majority of Hebrew biblical manuscripts are now
available to scholars. Textual critics are now in a position to
make use of that easily accessible material. FLORENTINO GARC(A MART(NEZ The research on the biblical scrolls from Qumran has already proved
the advantages of the hermeneutic model of multiple literary editions
to solve the complex problems posed by the presence in the library
of Qumran of the different texts of several biblical books, and
has helped to understand the process of growth and standardization
of the biblical text. This hermeneutic model could be equally useful
to solve the problems posed by different forms of non-biblical or
clearly sectarian compositions. This model is particularly promising
for the study of compositions attested in widely different forms
in different manuscripts, such as the Hodayot , the War Scroll ,
the Rule of the Community , or even the Damascus Document , but
it could be equally useful to solve the problems posed by other
compositions also attested in several copies. RUSSELL GMIRKIN Identification of the War Scroll as the military manual of the
Maccabean army points to its authors at the Hasidim, the militant
defenders of mainstream Judaism during the Hellenistic crisis. This
in turn suggests that the "sectarian" boycott of the temple
in the scrolls reflects the historical boycott of the Hellenized
temple cult by the Hasidim ca. 170-164 BCE. Drawing on the War Scroll
and the Animal Apocalypse, three distinct phases in the history
of the Hasidim can be detected. The Hasidim arose in the period
ca. 200-170 BCE as a reform party in Jerusalem opposed to the Hellenists.
The first recension of Jubilees, both pro-temple and anti-Hellenist,
reflects this early phase. NORMAN GOLB During the past few years, several arguments and claims have been presented whose purpose has been to strengthen the theory that an Essenic or similar sect was established at Khirbet Qumran and either wrote or otherwise possessed the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of these arguments and claims have been of an archaeological, and others of a textual and palaeographic nature. The paper analyzes the several proposals, focusing in particular on the claim that the term "Yahad" or "Layahad" appears in the ostracon discovered approximately one and a half years ago outside the walls of Khirbet Qumran. KIRA N. GOUROVSKAYA Qumran Documents and Revelation of John: Some Parallels and Some textual parallels in Qumran documents to the Greek text of
Revelation of John have been studied and results have been applied
to the discovery of original meanings of symbols in Revelation. DENIES GREEN Emanuel Tov lists 5 criteria with which to establish sectarian
provenance of a number of Judean Desert manuscripts. He claims that
the accumulative force of these criteria is such that we can determine
the origin even of small fragments. DOUGLAS M. GROPP Despite the fact that the Samaria papyri and the Elephantine legal
papyri are drafted in virtually the same language (Official Aramaic),
within the same general temporal horizon (the Persian period), and
despite a number of striking similarities in their legal formulation,
the formularies as a whole stem from fundamentally different legal
traditions. The legal genres are only partly comparable between
the two corpora. Most of the Samaria ITHAMAR GRUENWALD Apocalypticism is generally described in terms of a movement,
a literary genre, a religious trend. Its sectarian configurations
are highlighted, too. It is considered a characteristic manifestation
of groups that found themselves in political or religious stress,
mostly in the Second Temple period. Recent studies have shown that
Apocalypticism can be found in later periods, and to some extent
even in the modern world, facing the turn of the millennium. RACHEL HACHLILI This paper will reconsider the question of the Qumran cemetery,
the burial customs and the identity of the interred. DANIEL J. HARRINGTON The Qumran library provides the earliest extant manuscripts of biblical wisdom books (Job, Proverbs, Qohelet, and Sirach). The extra-biblical sapiential texts expand the corpus of wisdom hymns and poems as well as the corpus of wisdom instructions. They personify to some extent Lady Folly and Lady Wisdom (though not as dramatically as Proverbs 8, Sirach 24, Wisdom 7 and 1 Enoch 42 do). The wisdom instructions provide further treatments of such standard wisdom topics as financial dealings, social relations, family matters, persons to be avoided and cultivated, the nature of happiness, and so forth. They present wisdom teachings in the context of creation and eschatology, link wisdom and the Torah, emphasize God as the source of true wisdom and the need for divine revelation, and add to the corpus of Jewish wisdom texts about women. The major problem raised by these texts is their relation to the Qumran community or sect. HANNAH HARRINGTON The debate over the issue of moral and ritual purity continues
with many scholars concluding that among the Qumran sectarians there
was no differentiation between the two. A strong argument for this
view has been the fact that water immersion was required for both
the sinner and the ritually impure. However, the full implications
of this claim have not been recognized. It is perhaps true that
the sinner was regarded as both morally CHARLOTTE HEMPEL I will attempt to show that 4Q159 (Ordinances), which has a number of affinities with the laws of the Damascus Document, may go back to a similar or even the same community or movement as parts of the laws of the Damascus Document. I will spell out the relationship between 4Q159 and parts of the Laws of the Damascus Document, in particular the general halakhah, by looking at a number of areas of correspondence between both texts. RONALD S. HENDEL With the completion of the editio princeps of the Pentateuchal
texts from Qumran in DJD 9 (1992), 12 (1994), and 14 (1995), it
is appropriate to consider some goals for future research. One such
area is the study of the stemmatic relationships among the Qumran
texts and the other texts and versions. Much progress has been made
but a more comprehensive treatment is now a desideratum. The problem
of adequate methodology in this area requires careful attention,
particularly the relative merits of statistical vs. genealogical
methods. A second area is the use of Qumran texts in critical editions. MOSHE DAVID HERR A Reevaluation of the Significance of the Recently Published Halakhic Materials from Qumran The problem of the identity of the Qumran Sect has been baffling
scholars for the last fifty years (or even for the last one hundred
years if one takes into account the attempts to identify the provenance
of the Damascus Document, discovered and published by YIZHAR HIRSCHFELD At the well-known site of Khirbet Qumran northwest of the Dead
Sea, the remains of a large complex from Late Hellenistic and Early
Roman periods were discovered. An architectural examination of the
site reveals that this type of complex was not uncommon; in recent
years a number of similar sites were discovered in Herodian Judea.
These sites are distinguished by their size, strategic position,
and plan, which includes a fortified tower with dwelling quarters,
agricultural installation, and water systems. On the basis of these
data and comparison with the literary sources, these sites may be
defined as manor houses of well-to-do landlords who benefited from
the flourishing economy that followed the Roman conquest of the
East. TAL ILAN With the discovery and publication of the Babatha archive, the
question of the documents Jewish women possessed in Antiquity could
commence. The Babatha archive is itself a combined archive of two
women - Babatha and her step-daughter Shelamzion - since three of
the documents therein had clearly belonged to the latter. A third
woman's archive, that of Salome Komaise, has recently been reconstructed
and published by Hannah Cotton. The three archives diverge somewhat,
but all three women were apparently in possession of three sorts
of documents: a marriage contract, a deed of gift and a third document,
in which a third party renounces his right to a certain property
the woman possesses. EFRAIM ISAAC After the publication of the Qumran Enoch fragments by Milik (1976),
several reviews were published criticizing the work. However, surprisingly
less than half a dozen articles specifically focus on the integrity
of the readings and the restoration of the texts. Most of the critical
works deal with the author's interpretations of Enochic traditions
(in particular, the author's relegation of the so-called parables
of Enoch to a post-Christian date...). In spite of the criticisms
in fact numerous articles and books have been written about the
Enochic traditions taking the published text or granted and claiming
that the publication has shed new lights on I Enoch. GILA KAHILA BAR-GAL, P. SMITH, E. TCHERNOV, S. WOODWARD Development of improved molecular techniques over the last few
decades have made it possible to open up new areas of research in
archaeology and history. One application of these techniques is
being used to help resolve a number of questions concerning the
Dead Sea Scroll parchments. JOHN KAMPEN The recently published texts from Qumran containing references to wisdom provide significant new evidence for the development of its use within Second Temple Judaism. This paper will attempt to integrate the evidence for its use in literary contexts which concentrate on themes on dualism and eschatology into the conception of wisdom as Torah, also documented in other literature of that era, such as Ben Sira. This analysis suggests that the social setting and function of wisdom in the Qumran literature also requires reexamination in light of the hypothesis which finds wisdom to be characteristic of the aristocratic and/or learned classes of Jewish society. This portrayal of wisdom in Qumran literature provides a new context for the evaluation of its use in the Gospel of Matthew, particularly Matthew 11:25-30. The significance of such an analysis for understanding this gospel's social history will be developed. ASHER SELIG KAUFMAN The Courts of The First Temple and theTemple in the Temple Scroll Previous scholars (e.g. Yadin, Maier and Delcor) have compared
the descriptions of the courts of the temple in the Temple Scroll
with those of the First Temple, the Temple of Ezekiel and the Second
Temple.
ISRAEL KNOHL Menahem The Messiah of Qumran The figure in the "Self-Glorification Hymn" is, in my view, a historical figure. This figure, entitled "the King's friend," is in my view Menahem the Essene, who had a friendly relationship with Herod, and who served as the head of the court beside Hillel. According to the Talmudic tradition, Menahem and his followers were later excommunicated. His messianic self-image can be explained in light of the conditions of his time: the return of the Qumran community to Jerusalem and his elevation to high status in the Herodian administration. Menahem's Messianic conception had a significant influence upon the formation of Jesus' self-understanding and his messianic expectation.
JOSE KRASOVEC The Confessional Prayer in 1QS 1.24-26 and CD 20.28-30 A great number of similar phrases of confessional prayers in the
Bible (cf. especially
HEINZ-WOLFGANG KUHN Qumran Texts and Historical Jesus. Parallels in Contrast In the enormous amount of literature on Qumran and Jesus one finds more or less important similarities and differences, but generally misses the few decisive items to be worked out clearly. I will not get into the problem of John the Baptist, which is not very helpful here, and the sensational speculations which are not, or hardly, worth discussing (like a direct connection between Jesus and the Essenes); nor will I discuss what was shared by Jesus and these Essenes with many other Jews (especially the concept of one and the same God, more or less the same Hebrew Bible as A guiding source and also the expectation of the eschaton). I will concentrate my approach on a few fundamental questions of the problem concerning only the historical Jesus on the one hand and the Community of the Qumran texts on the other. The decisive problems to be discussed are: in the first place the observance of the Torah (Is an assumed loose observance of halakhah in the Galilee and the Gaulanitis the background for the attitude of Jesus?), further eschatology (How do future and present relate in the eschatology of the Qumran Community and Jesus?), the commandment of mutual love in the Hebrew Scriptures (love of an enemy against hate of all non-covenanters) and charismatic leadership (Jesus and the Teacher of Righteousness). Can a critical approach really show that Jesus was influenced in any way by the covenanters? How do we consider the "Sons of Light" in the parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16:8?
ARMIN LANGE Eschatological Wisdom in the Book of Qohelet and the Dead Sea Scrolls Before the Dead Sea Scrolls were found it was difficult to comprehend
how the second redaction of the book of Qohelet (8,5f; 11,9c; 12,12-14)
which introduced eschatological thought into the book could have
existed in a sapiential context. After the preliminary publication
of several manuscripts attesting to different wisdom texts in which
eschatology is an important issue this redaction can be localized
with more certainty. ERIK LARSON Florida International University The Relation between the Greek and Aramaic Texts of Enoch Scholarship was greatly enriched by the discovery at Qumran of
seven manuscripts of a work known as the Book of Enoch. Students
of this book had long recognized that it is not a literary unity
but rather a collection of at least five separate works forming
an Enochic Pentateuch, each of which has its own history of development.
The Qumran manuscripts have, in general, confirmed the correctness
of these views.
MARY JOAN W. LEITH Gleanings from Fourth Century BCE Bullae from Wadi Daliyeh The Wadi Daliyeh seal impressions attached to the Samaria Papyri
were produced in the late Persian period, over a century before
the inscribing of the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, the
sealings, the Samaria Papyri and the Dead Sea Scrolls alike bear
witness to that elusive quarry, early Judaism. Thanks to their discovery
in the Judean Desert, these precious artifacts from mid-fourth century
Samaria are included in the publication program of the more renowned
Scrolls.
ANDR( LEMAIRE Textual Testimony and Literary Criticism: 4Q448a and Ps 154 4Q448a is famous for mentioning "King Jonathan" as read
by Esther Eshel, Hanan Eshel and Ada Yardeni (IEJ 1992, 199-219).
They rightly identified also Column A,8-10 as Ps 154,17-20 attested
in 11QPsaXVIII and previously known by a Syriac translation studied
by Martin Noth (ZAW 1930, 1-23) who had anticipated the existence
of a Hebrew original.
BARUCH A. LEVINE
The Various Workings of the Aramaic Legal Tradition at Nahal Hever: The cache of papyri discovered by the late Yigael Yadin at Nahal
Hever includes Hebrew, Aramaic and Nabatean-Aramaic texts of varying
types, with the large part of them being of a legal character. The
editing and publication of the Yadin collection is being prepared
jointly by Ada Yardeni and Baruch Levine. ELENA LIBMAN AND ESTHER BOYD-ALKALAY The Conservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel Antiquities Authority Laboratory This paper is dedicated to problems of the conservation of the
Dead Sea Scrolls written on papyrus and parchment. Apart from the
damages caused by age, one of the essential problems of restoration
is the removal of the after-effects of fastening and storing materials
applied during conservation attempts in the fifties, sixties, and
seventies. The fragments were glued on cellotape and placed between
sheets of glass. As a result, the cellotape adhesive penetrated
into the parchment and appeared on the surface as greasy dark spots.
The pressure of the glass intensified the contact of the cellotape
with the parchment and accelerated this process. At first glance
the state of preservation of papyrus seems to be much better than
the parchment scrolls. The sticky mass of cellotape did not penetrate
the papyri and remained on the surface. It may be less troublesome
to remove this glue from the surface of the papyri, however, removing
the cellotape itself from such a fibrous material as papyri without
causing damage is a problematic undertaking. A good amount of the
papyri fragments bear texts on both sides, thus cellotape is glued
on the script. This makes the process of removing the tape too complicated.
HERMANN LICHTENBERGER
The Biblia Qumranica Project: A Synoptic Edition of the Biblical
Manuscripts Under the direction of Hermann Lichtenberger and Armin Lange preparation
has started of a synoptic edition of all manuscripts of the Hebrew
Bible from the Dead Sea including the Aramaic and deutero-canonic
writings. The manuscripts will be compared to the MT, LXX, Sam.
For every version and/or manuscript its own column is provided.
Included will be also the Greek manuscripts from the Dead Sea and
related material. In addition all quotations of and allusions to
biblical text in the Dead Sea Scrolls will be collected (especially
from the Pesharim and other exegetical texts). Text-critical evidence
from the Masora marginalis will be included.
TIMOTHY H. LIM Hippolytus on the Essenes In this short paper, I should like to reconsider the value of Hippolytus'
description of the Essenes as having splintered into four parties
Refutatio omnium haeresium . Is this simply a conflated account
of various sects in the Second Temple period, or does this contain
an historical kernel about the later history of the Essenes?
MARILYN LUNDBERG The Misbegotten Messiah: A Re-Examination of a Disputed Reading in 1QSa (1Q28a) It has long been claimed that 1QSa, "The Rule of the Congregation,"
makes reference to a Messiah begotten by God (Col. II, lines 11-12).
This interpretation, in addition to requiring the restoration of
"'l" [aleph-lamed] at the beginning of line 12, depends
on reading "ywlyd" at the end of line 11, a reading that
not all have accepted. Recently claims
JODI MAGNESS A Reassessment of the Excavations of Qumran The site of Khirbet Qumran was excavated from 1951-56 under the
direction of Roland de Vaux, who also conducted excavations at the
nearby site of Ein Feshka in 1958. De Vaux divided the settlement
of the sectarian community at Qumran into three phases, termed "Period
Ia," "Period Ib," and "Period II." He dated
Period Ia to the third quarter of the second century BCE, Period
Ib from the last quarter of the second century BCE to 31 BCE, and
Period II from 4-1 BCE to 68 CE.
CORRADO MARTONE Qumran and Stoicism: An Analysis of Some Common Traits The present paper will analyze some links between the Qumran sect
and some features of the Hellenistic coeval world. Particular attention
will be paid to the most widespread philosophical movement of the
Hellenistic period, namely the Stoic movement. It is possible, in
fact, to note some striking analogies between Stoic pre-determinism
and the well-known dualistic doctrine which we read in 1QS III,13-IV,
26 as well as in other Qumran documents, such as astronomical and
astrological texts.
ALEXANDER MAURER Some Remarks on 4Q510 and to 4Q511 In 1982 Maurice Baillet published the fragmentary remain of the two scrolls 4Q519 and 4Q511 in DJD VII. Both represent a work containing several pieces that deal with the subject of defense against evil spirits or demons. They are important for the theoretical study of this phenomenon. A material reconstruction in particular of the scroll 4Q511 makes it possible to establish the original extension of the text as well as to give information about the number of pieces and their construction.
P. KYLE McCARTER, JR. The Anomalous Spellings of the Copper Scroll As noted by Milik in the editio princeps and by most other scholars who have worked extensively on the Copper Scroll (3Q15), its text is troubled by numerous graphic mistakes and other epigraphic peculiarities. These include a group of misspellings that do not conform to patterns familiar from other documents and cannot be explained on the basis of either phonological error or graphic confusion. Instead, these misspellings seem best explained on the assumption that the text was produced by a metal smith copying the individual signs of an original cursive manuscript that he could not read, either because he was unfamiliar with Hebrew and the script in which it was written or because he was altogether illiterate. This communication will document this unusual group of mistakes and briefly explore the implications of the assumption that the Copper Scroll scribe was illiterate.
YAAKOV MESHORER The Numismatics from Qumran The numismatic material found at Qumran has not yet been properly
published. SARIANNA K. METSO The Redaction of the Community Rule The availability of the Cave 4 material of the Community Rule has
now opened up a new perspective on the development of the document
and made it possible to test earlier theories that had been based
almost entirely on 1QS. The hypothesis that the Community Rule was
a collection of different texts originating at different times and
from different sources is strengthened by my analysis of the 4QS
manuscripts. It seems that no standard collection of component sections
ever existed: the manuscript 4QSb appears to be the only
TAKAMITSU MURAOKA Aspects of the Participle in Qumran Hebrew The paper looks at some issues related to the syntax of the participle in Qumran Hebrew documents. The usage in Qumran Hebrew will be compared with that in Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew to highlight its special traits. One of the concrete issues chosen for study is the periphrastic structure, the verb ??? plus the participle.
YORAM NIR-EL AND MAGEN BROSHI The Study of Ink Used at Qumran The Qumran scrolls were written with a black ink. Ancient black inks were of two types: carbon ink, based on lampblack or soot; and iron-gall ink, consisting of copperas (green vitriol, iron (II) sulfate hepta-hydrate), treated with a decoction of crushed oak-nut galls. A very rare application of red ink on the Qumran manuscripts was found on only four fragments. Red ink was used in antiquity to write rubrics, that is, words at the beginning of a chapter, words at paragraph divisions, titles, or instructions for liturgical readings. In the present study, energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was employed for the specification of the chemical elements present in the Qumran black and red inks. This non-destructive analytical method does not require preliminary sample treatment and no residual effects are induced in the sample. The black ink analyses, of many parchment and papyrus fragments, provided evidence that it was not of the iron-gall type. Hence, it was based on a carbonaceous pigment. An iron-based black ink was invented, according to the Babylonian Talmud, by the Tanna Rabbi Meir (second century CE). This makes the introduction of the new ink to have occurred a short time after the disappearance of the Qumran community. The very severe degradation in badly decayed inscribed regions of some Qumran scrolls, mainly in the Genesis Apocryphon , is explained by the presence of binding constituents and metal ions in the black ink, and by adverse environmental changes (relative humidity, temperature). The XRF analyses showed that the red ink was based on a mercury compound, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was also employed for the identification of the red pigment, which was found to be the mineral mercury sulfide (HgS), known usually by the name cinnabar. The significant archaeological and historical aspects of this unique finding are discussed, and a route of importing this expensive material (first century BC), from the mine near Almaden in Spain, via Rome, to Jericho and Qumran, is proposed.
BILHAH NITZAN The Benediction Texts from Qumran Two of the biblical traditions reflected in the benediction texts from Qumran have a significant status: the tradition of the priestly blessing, and that of the Merkabah praise. Expressions of good wishes for the people of Israel or for the members of the Community are based on the priestly blessing of Num 6:24-26 (see the ceremonies of 1QS col. II, 1Q28b, and 4Q285 1 = 11QBer 1-2). By systematically elaborating the biblical priestly blessings with detailed felicitations, there is expressed the good destiny expected for the "sons of light" or for all Israel. The biblical tradition is thereby adapted literally and ideologically into the sectarian concept of a new covenant with God, and its eschatological reward. The Merkabah tradition of praising God is used in Qumran compositions to express the Holiness of God and the supreme authority of His dominion and His laws. Descriptions of the celestial throne, the heavenly temple and the angelic hosts who praise the Lord appear in variegated kinds of liturgy, such as a covenant ceremony (4QBerakhot), Sabbath prayer (4Q400-407 and parallels) and magical songs (4Q511 frg. 2 col. I and frg. 35). In these the worshippers, while performing the religious commandments, symbolize the presence of the Holiness of God among their community by using motifs of the Merkabah revealed to the righteous figures Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel and Enoch. Although this idea is expressed differently in each of the aforementioned texts, in accordance with its liturgical purpose, they share the dualistic concept of the sectarian ideology. This ideology is expressed by antithetically proclaiming the holiness and righteousness of the Lord and His worshippers against the abomination of wickedness in its variegated appearances, whether angelic, demonic, or human priesthood.
DONALD W. PARRY 4QSama (4Q51): A Preliminary Edition of 1 Samuel 14:24-24:22 PAM 43.11 comprises 16 fragments consisting of portions of 1 Samuel
14:24-25, 29-34, 47-49; 15:25-32; 17:3-6; 21:9; 23:15; 24:4-5, 8-9,
14-22. The largest fragment (24:14-22) has 12 lines and 97 identifiable
characters; the smallest fragment (21:9) has two lines and 9 identifiable
characters.
JOSEPH PATRICH Were there Extramural Dwelling Quarters at Qumran? The suggestion that extramural dwelling quarters existed at the
sectarian settlement of Qumran was put forward by de Vaux. According
to him, the majority of the sect members dwelt in huts or tents
outside Qumran walls, since he was aware that the space inside the
walls can accommodate only a moderate number of inhabitants. However,
he was unable to locate these hypothetical dwelling quarters, or
to describe their layout and extension, since there were no archaeological
finds to substantiate this hypothesis.
SIGRID PETERSON Caves, Documents, Women: Archives and Archivists The clear archaeological context in which Yigael Yadin found the
Babatha Archive
STEPHEN PFANN The Corpus of Manuscripts Written in the Qumran Cryptic Scripts The majority of the scrolls from the Judean Desert were penned in one of the three scripts: Jewish "square" script, paleo-Hebrew, and Greek. To these must be added Nabatean and three previously unknown scripts dubbed 'Cryptic A', 'Cryptic B', and 'Cryptic C', used in ten manuscripts from Qumran of diverse character though all apparently sectarian. Cryptic A, which is often utilized in order to conceal the contents of a text from unauthorized readers, may have been the personal script of the Mask?l. The use of this esoteric script in 4Q249, the Midrash Sefer Moshe (MSM), will be the focal point of this paper.
DANA M. PIKE AND ANDREW C. SKINNER "A Light to Jacob" and Other Interesting Finds in 4QMiscellaneous The approximately 2900 miscellaneous and unidentified fragments from Cave 4 with which we are working comprise an interesting assortment of textual evidence from Qumran. In this paper we summarize our findings, providing information on vocabulary, scribal hands, ruled documents, the use of basic electronic enhancement to assist in reading texts and other pertinent topics. We also provide a preliminary presentation/publication of another small fragment, the text on which appears to be previously unknown. BEZALEL PORTEN Boundary Descriptions in the Bible and in Conveyances from Egypt
and Some dozen Biblical passages from all parts of the Bible (Torah, Prophets, and Writings) record boundary descriptions or list in sequence the four points of the compass. Strikingly, virtually each passage has a different geographical order. In legal contracts, however, the order tended to become standardized. The sequence SNEW was de rigueur in demotic and Arabic documents and dominant in Greek and Coptic contracts. In nine Judean contracts the order is EWSN (5x), EWNS (3x) and SENW (1x). At Elephantine the problem is compounded by the use of the terms ?above? (= A) and ?below? (= B) for the NS directions and the uncertainty as to their meaning. Is ?above? north or ?upstream,? as the Nile flows, and so ?south?? Ten documents display five different sequences: ABEW (5x), EWAB (2x), BAWE (1x), EWBA (1x), and EABW (1x). The paper will clarify the meaning of ?above? and ?below? and propose an explanation for the multiplicity of pattern at Elephantine and the deviation in one Judean document. MILE PUECH Immortality and Life after Death Did the Qumran Community, and more generally the Essenes, believe
in immortality of the soul after death, the just enjoying eternal
bliss and the wicked unending torment, as Flavius Josephus maintains
mainly in War II 151-158, ascribing to them a neo-pythagorean belief,
or did their eschatological belief encompass the Last Judgment,
the resurrection of the body of the just that will be immortal,
the conflagration of the universe and the eternal chastisement of
the wicked, as Hippolytus of Rome asserts in the Elenchos IX (27?
RONNY REICH The Miqwa?ot (Immersion Baths) of Qumran The relatively large number of stepped and plastered water installations,
which are fed by the aqueduct which crosses the site, catches the
eye of the visitor to Qumran. R. de Vaux, the excavator of the site,
has devoted little attention to these installations. Although claiming
that the question of their function, as serving cultic purposes,
has been raised, he dismissed the suggestion, since only two parallels
from Jerusalem were brought up (from the Tombs of the Kings and
from Bethany), summing up that these installations were in fact
?cisterns?. Only two installations (nos. 138 and 68) were somehow
defined by him as ?Baths?. Several studies were published on the
subject, by North (1962), Strobel (1972), Wood (1984), trying to
reach a better understanding of this phenomenon. ALEXANDER ROF Historico-Literary Aspects of the Qumran Biblical Scrolls The biblical and parabiblical scrolls from Qumran were copied in
the latter part of the Second Commonwealth, after the making of
the Septuagint version. A priori one cannot expect these scrolls
to bear witness to the early stages of the formation of biblical
literature, but rather to the late ones. However, since the scrolls
illustrate the methods applied by the scribes, we may at times extrapolate
from the late ones to their predecessors. ZEEV SAFRAI The Contribution of the Rabbinic Sources to the Study of the Dead Sea Sect The purpose of this lecture is to examine the reliability of the
Rabbinic tradition regarding the sectarian controversies in the
late Second Temple period. URSULA SCHATTNER-RIESNER Some Observations on the Aramaic in Qumran: The 3rd Fem. Sing. Pronominal Suffix A characteristic trait of the Aramaic literary texts from Qumran
is the longer form of the suffix -h?/-hh instead of the well-known
-h (ah) of other Aramaic dialects. The phenomenon had been explained
as a survival of old Aramaic with preservation of the final long
- vowel (beside -t and -k ), as the result of diglossia or as a
hebraism. This brief survey examines ?l? tat de la question? of
this feature among others. LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN The Judean Scrolls and the History of Judaism Ever since the discovery of the various collections of Judean Desert
documents, it has been customary to study each as an independent
entity, paying virtually no attention to the interrelation of these
disparate materials. This presentation will attempt to demonstrate
that when taken together the scroll materials from Wadi Daliyeh,
Qumran, Masada, and Nahal Hever can help in our reconstruction of
the history of Judaism in Late Antiquity. These materials, when
analyzed as a group, can yield important results which cannot be
gained when they are investigated individually. Subjects to be treated
include the linguistic situation, the corpus of Second Temple literature,
canonization of the Hebrew scriptures, Jewish-non-Jewish relations,
Jewish reactions to Greco-Roman culture, legal formulary and the
development of Jewish law. WILLIAM M. SCHNIEDEWIND The Davidic Dynasty and Biblical Interpretation in the Qumran Community An eschatological interpretation of the davidic dynasty among the Qumran sectarians is evidenced (e.g., 4QFlorilegium, Damascus Document). This eschatological interpretation of the davidic dynasty-tradition was marginal in ancient Judaism and its prevalence at Qumran was undoubtedly shaped by the social and historical context of the Qumran sectarians. Although the eschatological interpretation of the davidic dynasty is quite unique, the interpretation of the davidic dynasty-traditions follows well plowed exegetical categories. The association and combination of various proof texts (e.g., Amos 9:11; Ex. 15:17; 2 Sam 7:10) used in the Qumran interpretation already crystallizes within the biblical corpus as well as the Septuagint. Thus, while the final conclusion of the Qumran exegetes might be quite original, they nevertheless relied on well established exegetical traditions in their interpretation of the davidic dynasty-traditions. |
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