James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II (165 page)

For its part ‘
the Land of Damascus’
, which did not actually appear at this point in Column Four, was rather picked up in the next exposition, this time of Numbers 21:1 in Column Six, which contained a similar apposition, namely, the two parallel categories of ‘
the Princes
’ and ‘
the Nobles of the People’
. Not insignificantly, the phrase, ‘
to dwell
’ or ‘
live in the Land of D
a
mascus
’ added here, enjoys a direct parallel in Acts 9:22 which in detailing Paul’s activities in the area actually makes reference to ‘
the Jews who dwelt in Damascus
’ and in Acts 26:20, now picturing Paul himself describing this as ‘
Damascus first and J
e
rusalem and in all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles’
, the whole passage containing several inversions of known Qumran usage or ideology.
110

Furthermore, we have pointed out that a certain amount of the exposition of Columns IV–VIII and XIX–XX of CD seems to be addressed to or signal a cadre of Gentiles associated with the Community, that is, in an associated ‘
God-Fearer
’ status.
111
This is particularly true of the manner in which CD IV.3 expounded the term ‘
Levites
’ from Ezekiel 44:15 in terms of
Nilvim
/
Joiners
– a typical expression in Hebrew documents for ‘
Gentiles attaching themselves to the
Torah
’ – and the way VI.3–11 applies the language of Isaiah 54:16 to its evocation of ‘
the Staff’
or ‘
the
Mehokkek
’, an individual which it defines (in another esoteric exegesis) as ‘
the
Doresh
’ or ‘
Seeker after the
Torah
’. In fact, that Isaiah 54–56, from which this latter expression is taken, is being directly applied to such ‘
Nilvim’
, to wit, ‘
the foreigners who have joined themselves to the Lord
…,
keep My Sabbaths
…
and hold fast to the Covenant’
,
is made explicit in Isaiah 56:3–6.

In the second appositive cluster in CD VI.3–9, ‘
the Nobles
’ or ‘
Leaders of the People’
, subsequently defined as ‘
those who came to dig the Well with the staves
’ – meaning the
hukkim
or ‘
Laws
’ legislated by
the
Mehokkek
/
Doresh
/
Interpreter
/
Seeker
(all these, as we saw, are play-on-words) – are now combined with ‘
the Princes
’ to develop a third overall category ‘
the Di
g
gers’
. This, in turn, produces the exposition: ‘
the Diggers are the Penitents of Israel who went out from the Land of Judah to dwell in the Land of Damascus
.’
‘
The Diggers
’ here are, self-evidently, synonymous with ‘
the Priests
’ in the earlier exposition in Column IV.2–3 of Ezekiel 44:15, ‘
the Land of Damascus
’ now being expressly and specifically added, probably because of the coming evocation of ‘
the New Covenant
’ which is going to be described later as being ‘
erected
’ there in connection with the ‘
digging of the Well’
. For their part, ‘
the Nobles
’ or ‘
Leaders of the People
’ are presumably those already in ‘
the Land of Damascus
’ who ‘
came to dig the Well
’ with ‘
the Seeker
’s or
Doresh
’s ‘
staves’
, that is, his
Laws
or
Statutes
.

As already remarked, much of this is rather obscure or arcane – in fact about as arcane as Pauline/Hebrews’ exposition of ‘
the Cup of the New Covenant in
(
his
)
Blood
’ though from a completely opposite ideological perspective – but some sense can be made of it. ‘
The Leaders of the People
’ (‘
Peoples
’ carrying on the ‘
Gentiles
’ theme) are now to be identified with ‘
the
Nilvim
’ of the earlier exegesis –
People
/
Peoples
, as repeatedly indicated, being a typical Qumran allusion to
Gentiles
. Accor
d
ing to Acts 26:17, even Paul evokes similar usages when he speaks of ‘
being taken out from among the People and the Peoples to whom I now send you’
.
In fact, throughout the rest of CD, as we have emphasized, there is continual allusion to ‘
fearing God
’
s Name
’ and ‘
God-Fearers’
, accompanied by pointed allusions to ‘
being steadfast
’ or ‘
holding fast
’ – meaning ‘
to the Covenant
’ or ‘
the
Torah
’.

This is typically put in Column XX.17–20 of Ms. B as follows:
‘But the Penitents from Sin in Jacob kept the Covenant of God
.
Then each man shall speak to his neighbor
,
each strengthening his brother
,
to support their step in the Way of God
…
and a Book of Remembrance was written out before Him for God-Fearers
and for those reckoning His Name until God shall reveal Salvation
(
Yesha
‘
)
and Justification to those fearing His Name
.’

It should also be noted that these are exactly the parameters of Isaiah 56:1,
Zedakah
(
Justification
) and
Yeshu
‘
ati
(
My Salv
a
tion
/
My Jesus
) introducing the material that follows in 56:4–5 about ‘
foreigners
attaching themselves to the Lord to
serve
Him and to love His Name and
be His Servants
’. The same idea is repeated again at the end of Column
XX
: ‘
For He does Mercy to
(
the thousands
)
of them that Love Him and
…
all those who hold fast to these Statutes
,
coming and going in accordance with the
Torah
and
…
listening to the voice of the Righteous Teacher.
… T
heir hearts will be strengthened and they shall prevail against all the Sons of the Earth
,
and God will make atonement for
(or ‘
through
’)
them
,
and
they will see His Salvation
(
Yeshu
‘
a
),
because they took refuge in His Holy Name
.’
112
The first allusion to
the New Covenant
associated with these promises comes in CD VI.14–16 amid allusion to ‘
separating
from the Sons of the Pit
’ and the
Nazirite
-rooted language of ‘
keeping away from
(
lehinnazer
)
polluted Evil Riches
…
and from the Riches of the Temple
…
and
(
from
)
robbing the Poor
(
Ebionim
)’.

In the newer fragments of the Damascus Document from Cave 4 (4Q266), this language is also found in the First Column in the instructions ‘
to the Sons of Light
’ ‘
to keep way from the Paths
’ (again
lehinnazer
) probably ‘
of Evil
’ or ‘
of Wicked poll
u
tion’
, ‘
until the completion of the Time of Visitation’
.
113
It is because of allusions such as this that we have been referring to this language as ‘
Nazirite
’ and this Community as a ‘
Consecrated One
’ or ‘
a House of the
Torah
’
dedicated to God
– or, to use more familiar language,
Nazirites
/
Nazoraeans
/
Nazrenes
as the case may be.

‘
The New Covenant in the Land of Damascus
’ and ‘
Drink this in Remembrance of Me
’

The actual reference to ‘
the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus
’ comes in Column VI.20 where ‘
the Staff
’s ‘
decrees’
in which they are commanded ‘
to walk during all the Era of Evil
’ are defined in terms of ‘
separating
between polluted and pure
…
Holy from Profane and to keep the Sabbath Day
…
the Festivals and the Day of Fasting (
Yom Kippur
) according to the pr
e
cise letter of the Commandment of those entering the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus’
.
113
This of course is the direct
opposite
of what Peter is presented as learning in the Acts 10:15 and 10:28 version of what it considers ultimately to be
the New Covenant
, namely, ‘
not
to make distinctions between Holy and impure
’ and ‘
to call no man impure
’!

In Column VI.20–VII.3, on the other hand, this ‘
Covenant
’ is then specifically defined
as
:
‘to set up the Holy Things a
c
cording to their precise specifications
,
to love every man his brother
,
to strengthen the hand of the Meek
(
‘
A
ni
),
the Poor
(
Ebion
)
,
and the Convert
(
Ger
) …
and not to uncover the nakedness of near kin
(
i
.
e
.,
niece marriage
or
incest
),
but to
keep away
from fornication according to the Statute
(
lehazzir
based on the same
N
-
Z
-
R
or
Nazirite
root) …
to bear no rancor
…
but to
separate
from all pollutions according to Statute
(the Nazirite ‘
separation
’ ideology again)’.

Now that we know the terms of ‘
the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus’
, the presentation turns
Messianic
and Co
l
umn VII.13–21 proceeds to evoke the imagery from Amos 9:11 – common to James’ speech in Acts 15:16 – about ‘
raising the Tabernacle of David which is fallen’
, combining it with the imagery from Amos 5:26–27 earlier, including ‘
the Star of your King
’, which it expresses rather in terms of ‘
exiling the Tabernacle of your King and the bases of Your statues from My Tent
(or ‘
from the tents
’)
of Damascus’
. For its part, the speech accorded James in Acts 15:13–21 puts an esoteric spin on ‘
rebuil
d
ing
’ this
Tabernacle
, compressing a good deal of what follows in CD VII–VIII and XIX–XX.