The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (39 page)

Three small fragments allude to a group unfaithful to the Covenant (of Israel). The allusion to dogs recalls 4QMMT B 58-9.

For the
editio princeps,
see T. Lim,
DJD,
XXXVI, 249-54.

The outcasts (?) who stray and do not practise [the precept], for they transgress it [from day] to day, from month to mon[th], all that is (in) the Covenant of I[srael].... its flesh and they spit ... and he will be angry. And the dogs will eat [the bones (coming) from the Temple]. He shall exclude the d[og]s from the (Temple) court ...

Fragments of two columns of a document contain a list of Community members rebuked for offences against the rules. This is the only scroll fragment which reveals the names of individual members: Yohanan son of Ar[ ], Hananiah Notos and Hananiah son of Sim[on]. According to the editor, Esther Eshel, the rebukes listed here were read out in public by the
mebaqqer
(or Guardian), hence the title given by her, The Rebukes Reported by the Overseer. To be more precise, it is likely that the rebukes originated with witnesses of the offence. They reported it to the Guardian who was to record the infringement (cf. CD IX, 2-4; 16-20). The epithet Notos attached to the name of Hananiah probably means ‘Southerner' in line with a parallel Masada inscription (no. 462: Shim'on bar Notos) according to Y. Yadin and J. Naveh,
Masada I
(Jerusalem, 1989), 40. D. Flusser, as quoted by Eshel, associates Notos with the Greek
nothos
(bastard). In col. II, 1. 8, Eshel, following M. Broshi, reads
shyr
(=
sh'r
)
bsrw
(i.e. near kin); R. Eisenman and M. Wise have
shpk bsrw
(emission of his body) and J. M. Baumgarten (
JJS
45 (1994), 277)
swd bsrw
(the carnal foundation of man).

Frs. 1, 2 i and 3: the text is too fragmentary for translation. Note the significant phrases ‘[to] recall their transgression', ‘men of the [Community?]', ‘to rebuke' and [‘c]amps of the Congregation' and ‘they rebuked'.

For the
editio princeps,
see E. Eshel,
DJD,
XXXVI, 474-83.

II ... who ... [wh]o acted wickedly ... the Congregation ... Yohanan son of Ar ... [they rebuked because] he was short-tempered ... with him ... the iniquity with him and also the spirit of pride was with [him] ...
vacat
They rebuked Hananiah Notos because he ... [to dis]turb the spirit of the Communi[ty ... and] also to mingle the ... they rebu[k]ed because evil ... was with him and also because he was not ... and also because he loved his bodily nature (or: showed preference to his near kin) ... [blank] And [they rebuked] Hananiah son of Sim[on] [because he] ... and he also loves the goodness ...

(4Q471
^a
)

 

 

This small fragment, written in Herodian script, contains reproofs addressed in the second person plural to a group of wicked Jews. The context is that of a war. It is unlikely to belong to the War Scroll or the Book of War as neither of these includes speeches to outsiders. According to a conjecture proposed by the editors, the opponents of the sect thus criticized are the ruling class of Judaea (Hasmonaeans and perhaps also Sadducees), but nothing in the surviving text positively supports their cautiously presented surmise. However, the second half of the fragment can be interpreted in a positive sense, in which case the scene may be a last-minute mass conversion of unfaithful Jews before the final battle.

For the
editio princeps,
see Esther Eshel and Menahem Kister,
DJD,
XXXVI, 446-9.

 

... time(?) you have commanded not to ... You have been unfaithful to His covenant ... [You] said: Let us fight His wars for He has redeemed us ... Your [mighty men] shall be humbled. And they did not know that He has despised ... you shall show yourselves mighty in war. And you have been reckoned ... by His measuring line(?). You shall seek righteous judgement and the work ... you shall exalt yourselves. And He has chosen t[hem] ... for a cry ... And you will return ... sweet

(IQH, IQ36
, 4Q427-32
)

The Hymns Scroll was published by E. L. Sukenik in 1954-5
(The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University,
Jerusalem). It has suffered a good deal of deterioration and the translator has difficulty, not only in making sense of the poems, but also in determining where one ends and another begins. For a method of restoration of the Hymns, see E. Puech, ‘Quelques aspects de la restauration du Rouleau des Hymnes',
JJS
39 (1988), 38-55. He has convincingly argued that apart from some fragments, the first three columns of the original Hymns Scroll are lost. The missing beginning should be followed by the existing columns in the following order: XVII (sheet 1), XIII-XVI (sheet 2), I-IV (sheet 3), V-VIII (sheet 4) and IX-XII of the
editio princeps.
Four further columns (XXI-XXIV) may be reconstructed with the help of the former col. XVIII and various fragments published by Sukenik. Puech tentatively suggests also two further columns (XXV-XXVI) made up from other fragments.

Our presentation of the Hymns is now rearranged according to Puech's thesis and his reconstruction of the poem in col. VI (formerly XIV) is also adopted (cf. art. cit., 53-4). No translation is offered for the extremely fragmentary cols. XXIV-XXVI, though it should be noted that col. xxv includes the beginning of a new poem, ‘For the Master. A s[ong (?)]' from IQH, fr. 8. Further fragments, occasionally used to improve the reading of IQH, may be found at IQ
35
(cf. also IQ
36
and 37-40; see
DJD,
I, 136-43) and 4Q
427-32;
for the latter, see Eileen Schuller,
DJD,
XXIX, 69-232.

The poems contained in the Scroll are similar to the biblical Psalms. They are mostly hymns of thanksgiving, individual prayers as opposed to those intended for communal worship, expressing a rich variety of spiritual and doctrinal detail. But the two fundamental themes running through the whole collection are those of salvation and knowledge. The sectary thanks God continually for having been saved from the ‘lot' of the wicked, and for his gift of insight into the divine mysteries. He, a ‘creature of clay', has been singled out by his Maker to receive favours of which he feels himself unworthy and he alludes again and again to his frailty and total dependence on God. Whereas some of the Hymns give expression to thoughts and sentiments common to all the members of the sect, others, particularly nos. 1, 2, and 7-11, appear to refer to the experiences of a teacher abandoned by his friends and persecuted by his enemies. Several scholars tend to ascribe the authorship of these to the Teacher of Righteousness, and even consider that he may be responsible for all the Hymns. But although this hypothesis is not impossible, no sure conclusion can yet be reached. Nor are we in a position to date any particular composition. The most we can say is that the collection as such probably attained its final shape during the last pre-Christian century.

Philo's account of the banquet celebrated by the contemplative Essenes, or Therapeutae, on the Feast of Pentecost may indicate the use to which the Hymns were put. He reports that when the President of the meeting had ended his commentary on the Scriptures, he rose and chanted a hymn, either one of his own making or an old one, and after him each of his brethren did likewise (
The Contemplative Life,
§ 80). Similarly, it is probable that the psalms of this Scroll were recited by the Guardian and newly initiated members at the Feast of the Renewal of the Covenant. Hymn 4 (formerly 21) expressly refers to the oath of the Covenant, and Hymn 5 (formerly 22) appears to be a poetic commentary on the liturgy marking the entry into the Community. Indeed, the relative poverty of principal themes may be due to the fact that all this poetry was intended for a special occasion and its inspirational scope was thereby limited.

 

Cols. I-III are missing.

 

IV
(formerly
XVII
) ...