Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls University of Pennsylvania; Robert A. Kraft COLLECTED CLASS MINUTES, Spring Term 1998 --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes for 15 January 1998 Prepared by Joshua Ewing (edited by RAK, including some corrections of RAK's misstatements) [NOTE: in the first class of this term, on 13 January, we viewed and discussed the PBS Video on the DSS] A timeline of significant events surrounding the DSS: 323 BCE ==> death of Alexander the Great 168-165 BCE ==> Maccabean (also known as Hasmonean) Revolt 135-104 BCE ==> John Hyrcanus I rules and is then succeeded by his son Aristobulus (104-103), then another son, Alexander Janneus (aka Jonathan/Jehonathan; 103-76), then the widow of both Aristobulus and Janneus, Salome Alexandra (76-67), after which things deteriorate in the rivalry of her sons, Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II, creating a situation in which Rome intervenes (63 BCE). 63 BCE ==> Pompey (Caesar's rival) takes control of the region 37 BCE-4 BCE ==> rule of Herod the Great, under Roman patronage 66-73 CE ==> 1st Revolt (one hypothesis says that the DSS were placed in the caves to protect them from the violence in Jerusalem at the time. 132-135 CE ==> 2nd Revolt under Bar Kochba (Ben Kozeba) Cultural influences on the region at the time: People in the DSS area (Judea, Samaria, etc.) in the relevant period were influenced from many directions in various ways. It is tempting to employ such terms as "hellenized" (Greek-ized) to describe a major aspect of this phenomenon but this sort of simplification may prevent us from seeing the fuller complexity of the time. Major influences came from the Seleucids (Greeks located to the north, in Syria; main city Antioch), the Ptolemies (Greeks located to the southwest, in Egypt; main city Alexandria), and the Parthian Kingdom to the East. Other relevant points raised in class: Focus and the study of the DSS Many of the first people to study the DSS were from various Christian backgrounds and training, and thus tended to examine the scrolls from such perspectives. This tended to restrict certain types of scholarly focus for the first few of decades of DSS study. More recently, scholars such as Schiffman, with traditional Jewish training and interests, have begun to examine the scrolls in relation to the concerns of classical Judaism as well. For example, Schiffman argues that the proper focus for DSS interpretation must include the ongoing interests that have survived in Judaism, and especially the focus on halakah (Jewish religio-cultural law and practice). Is there a DSS conspiracy? Some have suggested that the Vatican and others have squirreled away important DSS manuscripts because they are damaging to Christian views. While there may be a few DSS fragments in private collections, it is highly unlikely that we do not have access to almost all of the surviving materials. It is hard to imagine that any sort of "conspiracy" could have taken place at any point in the modern history of the discovery. Pick-up point for next class: Learn about Essenes, Sadducees, and Josephus. //end DSS Minutes 980115// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes from 20 January 1998 prepared by Adena M Galinsky Josephus 37 CE - ~100 CE Leaves us no writing after about 100 CE Contemporary of Paul, Philo (both died before 70 CE) Wrote: The War (BJ = Bellum Judaicum) First edition: Aramaic (intended for Babylonian Jews) Second edition: Greek (for Roman world) War lasted 66-73 Included destruction of Temple, fall of Jerusalem to Romans in 70 CE The Antiquities (Antiq) Repeats some of The War material Attempts to describe history from Adam and Eve to present (~100 CE) Gold mine of Jewish history BUT: He's arguing his point of view His sources are often unknown example -- two views of Herod the Great! Calls Herod a half-breed Idumean Jew (negative) Also cites Herod's biographer, Nicolaus of Damascus, who speaks of Herod's upstanding Babylonian ancestors, building projects, ability to keep Judea-Jerusalem under control, etc. BUT in many cases this is all the knowledge we have It's likely that Christian copyists expanded the section on Jesus 30 years ago an Arabic text was found w/o the flowery " parts Origen (250CE) mentions Josephus, but not his love of Jesus His Life: Born in Jerusalem, during first year of Gaius Caligula's reign Ancestors politically significant (connected to high priests) Jewish authorities send him to be general in Galilee when war breaks Tells later: his heart wasn't in it His gang commits suicide one by one, J and one other guy give themselves up (i.e., were captured by Vespasian before fall of Jerusalem) Favored by Vespasian perhaps b/c he tells V that V will be Emperor Vespasian gives him a slave/captive wife. Abandons her later. Gets another wife with whom he "bursts in progenitorial activity" Spends last 30 years or so of life in Rome Admires Hasmonean John Hyrcanus (135 - 104 BCE) Tried out Jewish sub-groups ("sects") though was hardship to do so Probably didn't know much about Christianity Only enjoyed a "post-mortem Christian phase" :) Banus: man in desert, bathed in cold water, wore only tree products VanderKam identifies him as an Essene J stayed with him for 3 years (possibly the period of initiation as mentioned in DSS?) Pharisees: described somewhat like Stoics J went with their approach, though it's not clear if he actually became a full fledged member Some Tangents: Nero: Died in 68, though he was rumored to have fled to Parthia Replaced by Vespasian finally (after 3 short reigns) The rumors are an indication of eschatological expectations Vespasian is Flavian - a new line of Caesars Titus: Vespasian's son Petititions to marry Bernike, a Jewish princess of house of Herods Bernike, when younger, had been married to Philo's nephew Markus TJA = Titus Julius Alexander another nephew of Philo, and brother of Markus became governor of Alexandria and Egypt under Nero supports Vespasian as emperor in 69 CE J mentions he didn't observe "patriarchal laws/traditions" with the same fervor as his father Alexander textbooks thus say "he was an apostate Jew!" Professor Kraft says "more likely a 'reform'-style Jew!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Philo ca 15 BCE- after ca 50 CE Greek Jewish exegete and philosopher J mentions him, but no reason to believe they ever met Wrote numerous treatises such as: De Opificia Mundi - On the Creation of the Cosmos According to Moses Interpretation of the First 3 chapters of Genesis Uses Greek philosophical and scientific categories to interpret First example of Hexaemeral (= 6 days of creation) Literature Embassy to Gaius -- On the Jewish delegation to Rome in 40 CE, looking for help after riots against Judaism in Alexandria ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The DSS Form: pesher (commentary) Content: Caves are mile(s) apart, but seem to feature the same lit. forms Cave 1 discoveries included a pesher on Habakkuk and on Micah Later they found: pesharim on Isaiah, Psalms, Hosea, Nahum, Genesis All fragmentary Text quoted is sometimes different from traditional bibles Examples: Isaiah 5 from Cave 4 "The last days" - Eschatological formula The authors believe they're living in them "The interpretation of the wrod is" - formula (Habakkuk pesher usually says "The interpretation is") Opponents: the "arrogant men" who are in Jerusalem Isaiah 30 People in Jerusalem look for easy, simple, false interpretation Micah High places are pagan worship spots The "spreader of lies" misdirected the simpletons The "rightous teacher" leads people in correct observance of the law ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ - frequently used title Nahum Demetrius, king of Yavan (Greece) wanted to enter Jerusalem on advice of people who look for easy interpretation. Shades of Maccabees? didn't enter Antiochus's city Kittim - any world power antagonist, though maybe more specific Ephraim - one code meaning, or maybe a range good guys who got misled Manassah - Biblical brother of Ephraim, here representing those in conflict with Ephraim //end DSS Minutes 980120// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 22 January 1998 By Linda V. Wigfall CD-ROM--The Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed can still be purchased at a reduced price of $19.95 (negotiated by Dr. Kraft). Call Logos Research System 1-800-875-6467 or email dang@logos.com to place an order. The Scrolls (see the appended lists of manuscripts in GM 465ff) 1) In Cave 4, approximately 15,000 fragments were found by the Bedouin, plus many more by archaeologists (VanderKam 11). When the fragments were pieced together, about 575 different texts were represented; of these 125 or so are biblical (plus about 30 phylacteries/tefillin, etc.), the rest nonbiblical. The cave 4 scroll fragments had not been wrapped in linen or stored in jars; possibly they were stored on shelves in the cave. The contents of Cave 4 were the most important of all the caves discovered. 2) In Cave 1, some of the scrolls were wrapped in linen and stored in jars. Seven major scrolls were found in this cave including a virtually complete book of Isaiah and another partial copy, The Manual of Discipline, The War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Hymns, Commentary on Habakkuk, and the Genesis Apocryphon. Several other significant fragmentary works also come from cave 1 (GM lists more than 40 total, plus many unidentified scraps). 3) Cave 11 contained artifacts and showed signs of habitation. Texts found there include Leviticus in paleo-Hebrew script, several Psalms scrolls, a Targum of Job, the almost complete Temple Scroll, and a number of other fragmentary texts (GM lists more than 20 total). 4) Fragments were also found in 8 other caves near Qumran (see GM). The Dead Sea Scrolls, A New Translation, by Wise, Abegg, and Cook, provides another new translation of the DSS, with introductions to specific texts (unlike GM). Other Judean Desert discoveries not in the Qumran area include the Cave of Horrors more than 20 miles to the south which produced a copy of the biblical Minor Prophets in a Greek translation that was also known to the Christian author Justin Martyr around the year 150. These materials are associated with the "second Jewish revolt" in 132-135 CE, while the Qumran materials seem to predate the "first Jewish revolt" in 66-73 CE. The People of the DSS Jewish World: a) Sadducees (described by Josephus) -- focused on revealed authority in written law (we know little about any "oral law" among them), which permits them to effect change in situations where no written law applied. Thus in one sense they are "conservative" (only the written law), but in another "liberal" (not bound to unwritten traditions). Apparently they tended to be more elitist, with privileged children educated in a more hellenistic mode for leadership roles in the context of the Temple and its priesthood. b) Pharisees -- also sometimes had priestly connections, but less clearly so. Held to importance of "oral law" (firm tradition) alongside of the written. Tended to have more of a popular appeal among the people. The name might mean those who separate from ritual impurity, or perhaps (as used by their enemies?) those influenced by "Persian" ideas about eschatology, angelic/demonic worlds, etc. c) Essenes -- the origin of the name is debated; "pious ones" and "doers of the Law" are among the suggestions. Philo talks about the Essenes but not about the Pharisees or the Sadduccees. Philo has clear sympathies with the Essenes and a similar group that he calls "Therapeutae." d) Josephus also speaks of a "4th Philosophy" that seems associated with "Zealot" rebellious activity against Rome. Some points of discussion: Sanhedrin -- Jewish court or legal body of debated origin and function prior to the first revolt. Karaites -- late 700s ce. Name from Hebrew word "to read" Sometimes described as a Jewish "protestant revolt" against rabbinic Judaism. Possibly arose after an 8th century discovery of some DSS (described by the Christian author Timotheus), perhaps including the "Damascus Document" found in the Cairo geniza: Eschatology -- end times; judgment; satan; angels. Very present in DSS and also still found in classical Judaism but more toned down. According to some early sources, Sadducees believed in absolute free will and did not believe in angels. Some of the DSS show a firmly "predestinarian" stance, even to the point of constructing horoscopes. //end DSS Minutes 980122// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes: 27 January 1998 (Jonathan D. Werlin) Some Terms: 1) Tannaitic Midrash = Rabbinic literature from late second century CE; "Midrash" (lit. study/search) as a literary composition refers to commentary on biblical text. 2) Tannaim = the Palestinian teachers of the first two centuries CE whose teachings are collected in the Mishnah, which is the oldest stratum of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds. 3) aniconic= (lit. unimaged), refers to perspectives that prohibit images of God -- traditional Judaism is aniconic, as is Islam. *Class began with some discussion of current events concerning the scrolls. Recently, excavations near Ein Gedi (south of Qumran on the Dead Sea) have been interpreted as having a connection with ancient Essenes. This is quite problematic and already widely debated. *We then spent most of the first part of the class defining the above terms and relating them to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, early Christianity and early Rabbinic Judaism, as represented in the Mishnah. *We also discussed Jesus in Rabbinic literature- *Professor Kraft referred us to the appendix of Hastings _Encyclopedia of Christ and the Gospels_. *The problem with comparisons involving early Rabbinic Judaism is that the texts of the Talmud are relatively late in composition, and went through extensive censorship in the Middle Ages. Most references to early Christianity have undoubtedly been purged or disguised under symbolic language. The only sure way around this problem is to try and use early texts which predate this censorship, when possible. *Ultimately, for these and other reasons, it is very hard to compare Qumran with Judaism in the time of the Mishnah. *However, there are striking similarities between what the New Testament says about early Christianity and what writers say about the Essenes, for example, their beliefs on predestination and eschatology, not to mention communal goods and "baptisms." *We continued a disscusion from last class over the CD-ROM's reference to the Sadducees as conservative and the Pharisees as liberal. This led to a question about the definitions of "angels" and "cherubim" in the Tanach in relation to Sadducean beliefs. *Further, the etymology of the word Essene was brought up -- it is unknown where it comes from, with Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic among just a few of the possibilities. Professor Kraft also mentioned the recent revival of an old theory that it could come from the Hebrew root "asah", meaning "to do" (the law) -- see now 4QMMT! *We ended class by watching more of the CD-ROM on the Dead Sea Scrolls. //end DSS Minutes 980127// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 29 January 1998 by Chris Cudney 1. Map discussion 1) Dead Sea water level -- significantly lower today than at the time of the writing of the scrolls (not clear how much lower!) 2) Qumran -- located at the northwest curve of the Dead Sea 3) Engedi (Ein Gedi) -- about 20 miles south of Qumran, separated by a ridge of high hills; the higher water level may have made it difficult to get from one site to the other in antiquity 2. Discussion concerning Pliny on the Essenes Pliny reading found on p. 72 in Vanderkam (dated around 75 AD, but probably using older sources) gives a survey of the Dead Sea from Jericho: 1) Places the Essenes to the southwest of Jericho 2) Says they were avoiding impurities of some sort 3) Identifies the Essenes as a "tribe" -- Latin is "genus" 4) No women -- i.e. an abstainment from sexual procreation 5) Took in "refugees" who were "tired of life" 6) Says this "race" has survived through thousands of years 3. Questions and Short Answers (or Tangents) 1) "Below" the Essenes (to the South?) was Engedi- "a heap of ashes now" destroyed around 70 CE (or perhaps earlier) 2) Discussion of "atheism" -- Dr. Kraft quote: "an atheist is a conceited [i.e. very confident] agnostic" (agnostic doesn't know if there is a god, atheist claims to know there isn't) 3) Cherubim on p. 420 in Martinez -- following up on network discussion of this category of beings and/or symbols 4) Discussion of UPenn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology -- a "must see" for Penn students! 5) Temple Scroll -- very long with much information, highly "halakhic" (technical rabbinic term for authoritative law) 4. Cave Three 1) Cave Three yielded very little material compared with the other caves 2) Discussion on format of Garcia Martinez translations -- what "blank" means in the text; examples cited from cave 3 non-biblical manuscripts: Pesher Isaiah and The Book of Jubilees 3) Viewing of 3Q Copper Scroll(s)/Plaque(s) on the CD-ROM -- (1) how it was opened (or rather viewed) by slicing it into strips (2) very difficult to read (compared to other scrolls) as there is no punctuation, the format and content are cryptic, and it contains letters and words from other languages //end DSS Minutes 980129// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes from 3 February 1998 by Benjamin Reynolds 1. Categories of Jewish literature associated with the DSS (see VanderKam 34ff): "The Apocrypha" -- a defined group of Jewish writings (often now called "Deutero-Canonical") included in the classical Christian scriptures (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox) but not in Protestant or Jewish Bibles (in popular use, the term "apocryphal" suggests "not quite genuine," but it's sense here is "hidden" or perhaps "uncovered from hiding"); among the DSS, see especially the fragments of Tobit, Sirach, Epistle of Jeremiah, and Psalm 151. "Pseudepigrapha" -- a whole slew of other "apocryphal" Jewish writings attributed to ancient noteworthies who probably did not write them (e.g. Moses, Enoch, Elijah). Question about the development of the canon -- by the 4th century there was a general consensus over what made up the Christian "OT," based on the collection that has come to be known as the LXX (Greek Septuagint), which began as essentially the Pentateuch and was gradually expanded to include Greek translations of other books (LXX/OG = the larger "Old Greek" collection). Largely independently of this development, emerging classical Judaism also developed its canon, without "the Apocrypha" (see above). Among the DSS are fragments of a "Book of Giants" that probably was part of the collection of pseudepigraphic Enoch materials that has survived as "1 Enoch." The use of the "Book of Giants" by a competing offshoot of Judaism and Christianity, the new religion of Manicheism (3rd century ce), may have led to its later disappearance 2. Ancient Descriptions of "ESSENES": Most early Xn sources tend to ignore them; there are very few sources about them. First Xn author to mention them is Hippolytus "of Rome" around 200 ce (VanderKam 79ff). Prior to that, we hear of them from the Alexandrian Jewish author Philo who flourished in the middle first century ce and was involved in (and wrote about) an embassy to the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula after severe riots concerning Jews in Alexandria. Philo wrote about the very similar "Therapeutae" and "Essenoi" in a pair of related documents, *On the Contemplative Life* (about a local group of Jewish Therapeutae living near the Mareotic Lake west of Alexandria) and *Every Good Man is Free* (Philo's concept of what constitutes true freedom, using the active and communal Jewish Essenes of Syro-Palestine as an example). Philo recognizes the Essenes as Jews, more than 4,000 in number. He thinks that the name "Essenes" may be a variation on the Greek word for holiness. He also treats the Essenes in another treatise that has not been preserved in its entirety, called "Hypothetica" or also "Apology for the Jews." Other ancient authors leaving information about Essenes include Josephus, the Jewish historian, and Pliny the Elder, a Roman Greek geographer. //end DSS Minutes 19980203// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 5 February 1998 by Carolina Armenteros 1) Evidence of Jewish sects after the Second Temple period -- Justin's Dialogue with Trypho: Justin lists the Sadducees (though not in Josephus' sense), Genistae, Meristae, Galileans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists and others. We have little detailed knowledge of most of these groups. -- Hegesippus and Epiphanius also mention Hemerobaptists (those who baptize daily). 2) Two fundamental "sectarian" documents of length among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS): Manual of Discipline (1QS) and Damascus Document (DD) -- On the basis of 1QS, scholars at first conjectured that DD belonged to the DSS. Then fragments were found in cave 4 and other caves, so this is no longer a conjecture. DD is also called the Cairo Damascus Document, the Cairo Damascus Covenanters, or the Zakodite Fragments. DD was discovered 100 years ago in the Cairo Geniza ("storehouse" in Hebrew), a walled-up room in the synagogue where damaged documents (especially those bearing the divine name or dwelling on holy subjects) were stored awaiting ritual discarding or burial. The Geniza was discovered by the Western world when Simon Schechter, a British scholar, brought many of the fragments back to Cambridge, England. Other fragments found their way to the USA (including UPenn) and elsewhere. -- The Cairo Geniza fragments are probably more significant than DSS yet many of them remain unstudied. Two documents of DD were found in the Geniza, called A and B. A is longer and dates from the 10th century. B dates from the 12th. -- What these documents were doing in the Cairo synagogue is often debated. Their presence there is possibly the result of manuscript discoveries in the Judaean desert around the late 700s. By the year 800, we have a letter from Timotheus, a leader of the Christian community in Syria, attesting to documents recently discovered in the Jerusalem area and containing biblical and parabiblical materials. We also know that Timotheus sent representatives to Jerusalem to check them. Coincidentally, the Karaites rose about this time. The Karaites were a Jewish sect who took issue with mainstream rabbinic Judaism, insisting that Jews must return to the reading of the old scriptures ("Karah" is the Hebrew verb "to read," the same Semitic root as the Qur'an). The Cairo synagogue had Karaite connections, so it is quite possible that the documents discovered at that time (including DD) prompted the rise of the sect. -- The close relationship between the Cairo DD manuscripts and the fragments from the DSS makes it likely that the extensive text preserved in the relatively late Cairo materials represents the ancient text fairly accurately. Had the Cairo texts come from a continuous, living community, there would have been greater possibility for editorial intervention in the text, or quite simply the introduction of errata. -- Pre-DSS discussion of DD: look at Schechter's book on the Geniza, and articles on the Geniza in the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906). 3) Reading in the DD -- DSS speak very highly of the Zakodites, the priestly succession, lending credence to the theory that the sect was founded by priests. -- DD contains lots of intertextuality (e.g. lots of quotations from Isaiah). DSS in general are highly self-conscious about standard terms, biblical passages and traditions. -- The rich allusions to terms, people, events, wording, and the way the imagery is used, can be mined for information about the people who wrote DSS. E.g., Josephus says that the Essenes would never come in contact with oil. A good research topic would be to investigate the use of oil in DSS and see how it fits with Josephus' claim. Another example is the boat imagery of DSS: does it relate to the apparently higher level of the Dead Sea in the DSS period and to trade upon it, or is it more general biblical and/or traditional imagery? -- RIV Gattung topos--from "Riv" (Hebrew) "dispute," and "Gattung" (German) "form" or "genre." This is the debating formula constantly recurrent in the Jewish scriptures and in the scrolls concerning the dispute between God and God's witnesses (natural forces or phenomena) against an unfaithful people. It is often cast in trial scenes. -- The writers of DSS call themselves the people of the "new covenant." Covenant consciousness pervades the scrolls. -- The writers also consider themselves to be the "remnant," the people who will be saved at the end of times. The "remnant" concept is very often associated with eschatology and pervades DSS. -- "Sprout" terminology is an allusion to the planting of the shoot of David. Beginning of DD: a sprout shall arise from Israel and Aaron, from the people and the priests. The evidence suggests that at least some of the writers of DSS awaited two (or more) Messiahs. -- "Path" terminology likewise pervades DSS. The concept of "path" is central to Judaism, e.g. the halakhah are literally "laws that help one proceed" on the righteous way, from the Hebrew verb "to go." //end DSS Minutes 19980205// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes from 10 February 1998 Prepared by Miriam Kiss Languages and Materials of the DSS: The Dead Sea Scrolls are written primarily in Hebrew, about 20% in Aramaic and less than 1% in Greek. The Scrolls were written mostly on leather (parchment), but also on papyrus, and even on copper plates. Definition of papyrus -- A writing material made from the papyrus plant (a water plant abundant in the Nile Delta region), made by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, by soaking, pressing, and drying thin slices laid crosswise. Fitzmyer's Book, " Major Publications and Tools for Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls," outlines each of the documents. Continuation of Examining the "Rules" Documents The Damascus Document Several copies found in cave four, as well as the Cairo copies. The Damascus document includes a list of statutes. The presenter of the community addresses his "sons" on the themes of the sect's teachings. He urges the "community" to remain faithful to the rules of the "new covenant." This person exhorts the community to be righteous, and tells of past instances where God helped the Israelites because they were faithful to him and his laws. The following is a list of some topics addressed in this document: 1. One should follow the laws (note "halachic" focus) and not give into the evil inclination (compare the rabbinic "yetzer ha-ra"). 2. Monogamy and adultery. 3. Incest. 4. Loving one's brother and treating orphans and widows with respect. 5. Do not swear or profane the name of God. 6. The process of becoming a member of the community. 7. Do not perform unjust sacrifices. 8. The validity and need for witnesses in a trial. 9. Ten men shall judge (related to the rabbinic idea of the "minyan," ten men needed for prayer?) 10. Noone should bathe in, or purify themselves with unclean water. 11. Laws of the Sabbath (no work shall be done, what to eat, boundaries of travel, etc.). 12. Business with Gentiles. 13. Diagnosing and curing leprosy. 14. Organization and hierarchy of the camp. 15. Rewards for listening to God. 16. Noone "deranged" or "feeble-minded" should enter the temple. 17. Punishments for those misbehaving in the company of the "Many." The (presumably authoritative) "book of Hagy" is mentioned a few times. On Jewish Temples in Antiquity: Archaeology has discovered a Jewish Temple on the island of Elephantine in the Nile, from a Jewish community that performed sacrifices there in the period around 500-400 BCE. Heliopolis (Leontopolis) in the Egyptian Nile Delta was the site of a Jewish Temple from about 170 BCE - 73 CE, connected to Jewish military activity as well as to an exiled branch of the Jerusalem priesthood. A Note on Tribal Structures of Ancient Israel: Traditionally, of the 12 sons of Jacob (see Genesis), Levi (priesthood) and Joseph do not inherit a portion of the promised land, but the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh do. Watch for references to such patriarchial/tribal divisions in the scrolls. Historically, the origins and subsequent preservation of the 12 tribe system are subject to much debate. It clearly has at least a symbolic role in the scrolls. //end DSS Minutes 19980210// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes of 12 February 1998 Prepared by Joon Huh The class began with a discussion of an outline of the DD (Damascus Document) offered in Fitzmyer's book (Tools for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.) Fitzmyer assumes that there was an ideal, complete form of the text. His outline pieces together fragments from 4QD(b,c) with CD-A and CD-B. The following schematic shows a rough sequence for the compostition of the idealized form of the DD. |4QD(b) | |CD-A CD-B| |CD-B | |4QD(b)| |CD-A | |CD-A| |4QD(b) | |New | |pp. 1-8 | |19-20| |New | |15-16| |9-14| |New | |This | |There is | | | |Not in| | | | | |Unknown| |is a | |some over- | | | |CD-A | | | | | |from | |section | |lap in this| | | |or | | | | | |CD-A or| |that is | |section btw| | | |CD-B | | | | | |CD-B | |not in | |CD-A & CD-B| | | | | | | | | | | |CD-A or | | pp. 19-20| | | | | | | | | | | |CD-B | | | | | | | | | | | | | This composite reconstruction is based on the two incomplete Cairo texts and the various DSS fragments, which often have overlapping sections. Then a small discussion ensued over how one can know the original sequence of the text from the often quite small fragments. The next main subject that was discussed was that of traditional biblical texts compared to biblical texts found in the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus. Jeremiah was chosen as a test case, since there are now two known old forms of the book, one significantly longer than the other (and with some differences in order of materials). The Old Greek translation was made from the shorter form, while the longer form became part of the standard Jewish Hebrew Masoretic text -- as produced during the 8th-12th CE by the Jewish Masoretes (textual scholars; there were two groups: Babylonian style and Palestinian style -- the Masoretic tradition produced very carefully copied texts). Most modern scholars even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls argued that a consistent "proto-Masoretic" Hebrew text had become dominant in the 2nd century CE, and the DSS tend to support this view by showing a gread deal of variation in the earlier period. Both forms of Jeremiah are represented in the DSS! This led to a discussion of the Greek LXX/OG materials and their significance for this discussion. In general, the Greek translations come from the same time period as the DSS, and add evidence to our growing knowledge of a variety of biblical text forms. Another early text attesting this variety is the Samaritan Pentateuch, with its differences from the Masoretic Hebrew, and with its occasional correspondence with DSS evidence. The Samaritan Pentateuch points to Mt. Gerizim as the location for the Temple to be built, while the Masoretic text implies Jerusalem, for example. All this textual diversity existed before the advent of the codex form of the Bible in the 3rd-4th centuries CE. This meant that all the earlier texts were in scroll form. Scroll lengths usually did not exceed 15 m. This scroll format also might have contributed to the proliferation of variant forms of text. Another famous variation concerns the number of people going into Egypt with Jacob in the book of Genesis: 70 Masoretic Text 76 LXX Greek 76/70 DSS has examples of both variants The question arises, do the DSS attest a "wider canon" of scriptures than became traditional in Judaism? Note that the DSS themselves sometimes refer to books that are not part of the present canon -- e.g. the book of Hagy/Hagu -- and sometimes preserve what might serve as alternatives or supplements to what became "biblical" works -- e.g. the Temple scroll, or the additional Psalms, or the Genesis Apocryphon. The last portion of the class examined a key passage in the Damascus Document 2.15ff (GM 34), on the fallen "watchers." This class of spirit beings probably lie behind the unusual passage in Genesis 6.1-4, with its reference to "sons of God" and to "Nephilim." Perhaps Genesis has picked up cryptic fragments of a larger story as expounded in Enoch and other texts (Enoch offers the fullest story), many of which are found among the DSS. The fall of the watchers seems to have been used as an alternative explanation of the origin of evil among humans, in comparison to the Adam and Eve in Eden tradition. //end DSS Minutes 19980212// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes from 17 February 1998 Prepared by Linda V. Wigfall Class opened with a brief discussion of the following topics: --Michael Graham -- contemporary author (value of historical novels) --Julian the Apostate -- Roman ruler 361-63 CE --Gore Vidal -- contemporary novelist who wrote on Julian --Whether Josephus was a quisling --Jim Kugel -- popular Harvard prof; has a site on the web --Eusebius -- "historian" of early Christianity (ca 325) Class Minutes: Prof. Kraft reminded everyone to sign up to record minutes during class time. A list will be provided. Everyone is expected to record and submit minutes twice. DSS Index (from Gaster, annotated by RAK, xeroxed by yours truly): Extra copies are available. See Prof. Kraft. Manual of Discipline: --Lots of terms, ideas and categories. --Significant room for doubting some proposed reconstructions; trying to read between the lines raises methodological issues -- what are the assumptions on which ones interpretation is based? --Alternate names: G-M calls it "Rule of the Community" (same text) --Discussion of aspects of 4QS\e 5 (G-M 27), which is similar to calendrical materials on G-M 452ff. --1QSa (1Q28a) on G-M 126, "The Rule of the Congregation," is an appendix connected to Rule of the Community but considered to be a separate document originally (it is not attested by other fragments of the 1QS text). Notes on "Jubilee" Language: --See 4Q259 = S\e (G-M 27ff) on calendrical issues in a system of "jubilees" -- a technical (biblical) term for calendar cycles of 7 years, with every 7th jubilee resulting in a special jubilee year in which slaves are freed, land returned to original owners, debts cancelled, etc. -- then a new jubilee cycle begins. --In Jewish scripture, the special year seems to be the 49th (7 x 7), while in some of the DSS, it is the 50th (after the 7th jubilee). --"Book of Jubilees" uses this framework; many copies found in DSS. --VanderKam is an expert in this material. Notes on Jubilee/Calendar discussion: --Many Scrolls (but not all) presuppose a symmetrical solar calendar of 364 days (not a true 365.25 day solar year) as follows: --4 parts with 91 days each = 364 days, or 52 weeks of 7 days each = 364 days, with 3 months of 30 days in each quarter, plus one transitional day = 91. --Symmetrical, so that every new year or festival begins on the same day of the week each year (especially Wednesdays). --Gradually would get out of synchronization with sun by 1.25 days each year (or about a month every 24 years), and we don't know if or how it would be readjusted to keep in step with the agricultural seasons. --"Gamul" and other special calendric names -- probably have to do with subdivisions in the calendar; see G-M 28 and 453 for example. --Probably cycles or names were given to priestly periods of service in the organization of the (or a) community. --An interesting aspect of DSS are the horoscopes and related texts with astronomical focus; see G-M 451ff. --Conscious of possibly predetermined horoscopes; see 4Q186 (G-M 456), where people are viewed as made up of 9 parts, and evaluated on the basis of the mix of "light" and "darkness" in those parts. --Classical Judaism developed a lunar calendar adjusted to the solar cycle every third year by adding a second 12th month. Notes on Crucifixion of Joshua/Jesus in relation to Passover: --Crucifixion -- the early traditions have it occurring on Friday. --Synoptic Gospels -- Matt, Mark, Luke; see things together (syn-optic); similar overview and outline of Jesus' main career (unlike John). --In the synoptics, the "Last Supper" is a Passover meal held Thursday after sunset, with the crucifixion the following daytime (Friday); in the Gospel of John, the Passover lamb is slaughtered when Jesus is on the cross (Friday); some modern scholars try to resolve the discrepancy by arguing that the synoptics follow a solar calendar like that in the DSS while G.John follows the luni-solar approach that became traditional -- thus Jesus and his followers observed passover earlier than it was done in the Jerusalem temple (this approach creates other problems). Contents of Rule of Community/Manual of Discipline: --Unlike Damascus Document, no historical introduction for Rule of Community; jumps into the middle of the thought world for the "community" (yahad). --The term "yahad" is still under discussion with reference to the ostrakon discovered last year; does it use this term? If so, it could be very significant as a reference of a gift given to the community in accord with the instructions in the Manual/Rule. --Spiritual and psychological attention (love/hate) see the opening lines of the Manual/Rule (G-M 3). --Covenant language; idea of associating yourself to community. --Idea of perfect life, purity, keep away from ethical shortcomings. --Revealed things. --Calendar interests. --Times and fixation on regulation and order. --Sons of light. --Predestinarian language -- possibly where horoscopes fit in with supposeldy physical descriptions (see above). --Voluntariness (idea of) --Idea of Knowledge -- Greek term 'gnosis' --Binary language/concepts; light/dark; left/right. --Two different classes of priestly orders; Priests and Levites. Col II, Pg. 4 --Lines 1 through 10 -- series of blessings and curses by priests, levites, and "all." --Entering into the Rule; a defined process. --Gradations in community; ex: priest. --Concept of unity. --Spirit of holiness/uprighteous. --All of this determined by God in advance. --Spirits of truth and deceit; dualistic "two ways" context. --Abode of light = origins of truth; darkness = origins of error. --Angels of darkness; Angels of Light. Possible Research Paper Topics: 1) Attitudes towards nudity; description of Sarah -- features/beauty in Genesis Apocryphon. 2) All Hebrew words - Shekaniah - meanings. You can use Jastrow to look up possible meanings in other materials. 3) Volunteer/election into Community; i.e Rule of the Community. 4) Binary Language Concepts; light/dark; left/right, etc. 5) Belial 6) Use of Marginal Markers or other "format" indicators. Next Class Discussion: --4QMMT -- Foundational Document --In Garcia Martinez, read pages 75ff -- The Halakhic Texts. //end DSS Minutes 980217// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 19 February 1998 by Annie Wu 1. Table fellowship -of a particular club, more than just eating, formalized - e.g. meal in Acts, love feast - in Greek, koinonia means fellowship, eucharistia means thanksgiving 2. Belial - is "teacher of righteousness" a real person or is it the name of an office/function(ary)? - Belial can be a) a general concept, evil, leader of the bad angels b) a being called Belial - Belial is the leader of the sons of darkness in the war scrolls - Belial may be envisioned as the serpent of Eden and Lucifer the bearer of light (Isaiah 14) - Satan is one of the sons of God, an accuser in Job - Ezekiel 28 : prince of Tyre setting himself up as a god - Psalm 14 : a fool says there is no god, a spiritual being who does not know that there is one above him -- "the blind one" - Jesus saw Satan falling from heaven - "Watcher" tradition : explains how evil comes into the world - Belial a human figure? Not in the scrolls. - Beliar? Variant spelling. - relationship with Baal? It depends on how easily the letters are changed. Not very likely. - high level monotheism maintains that Belial is a spiritual force derived from the one God - Babylon/Persia tradition has 2 opposing gods, 2 forces ("dualism") - Judaism got it from Persia? Persia may not have had the original. 3. Sectarian material - Damascus Document, Manual of Discipline - 4QMMT conscious of separation from similar leader/group. - Temple Scroll 4. 4QMMT background - from Cook, p.394, a sectarian manifesto in 6 fragments - Strugnell reconstructed the foundational document of 4QMMT - relationship between it and the others not clear because of different language used - Schiffman argues possible Sadducean connection - introduction to it read 5. 4QMMT content - mixing not allowed - details on sacrifice e.g. timing 6. Gentiles in 4QMMT - gentile make sacrifice or sacrifice for Gentiles? - sacrifice for the emperor of the time? Jewish royalty? If Strugnell is right, then it was written in the Herodian period. Since there are 6 copies, it was probably written in the early Herodian period. - was "gentile" used for opponents in general? //end DSS Minutes 980219// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes of 24 February 1998 by Stephen Wind Some basic distinctions (continued): Tannaim = [literally] teachers, refers to the generations of the rabbis of the Mishna, mainly 1st and 2nd centuries CE. [See the chart on the gopher page for Religious Studies 002 (Jewish Literature, etc.)] Samaritans = remnant of the Northern Kingdom of ancient Israel which has survived since antiquity, with current population of about 200-300, some say 600 (in the South was the Kingdom of Judah, whence "Judaism"). - Josephus wrote, rather unsympathetically, that the Samaritans claimed to be "Jews" when it was to their advantage to do so. THE TEMPLE SCROLL - The beginning is missing, but it is believed to have been the longest of the DSS, in its original form. - Contains a description of the Temple cult, laws, observance, etc. Fitzmyer categorizes the TS in two, with various sub-categories: - 1) Jerusalem Temple: architecture/altar, feasts/festivals, court areas, sanctity/purity. - 2) General Laws: purity, judicial laws, cultic regulations, idolatry, monarchy, priests/levites, prophets, military operations, property, family, capital crimes, protective laws, incest. - TS contains both similarities and differences (primarily with regards to the festivals) from Torah and other classical Jewish literature. - All we know of TS comes from Cave 11 (which was "off the beaten track"), but it's still considered by most scholars to be from the same authors as the other DSS. - We may think of the TS as "apocryphal," but we are not sure if the authors and original users of the TS thought so. - TS could be from Jerusalem, as opposed to Qumran. - Due to deterioration, 3-4 lines are missing off the top of certain columns. - Wise views TS as reshaping Deuteronomy because: - 1) TS never mentions Moses - 2) TS is written in the first person, as a direct revelation from God (w/o Moses as an intermediary). - In class, we skimmed cols. 2-22, with special focus on 2, 3, 15, and 19-22. - Vocabulary: Stelae = inscribed stones (or other material) Anathema = forbidden, cursed Anthropomorphism = description of God in human terms. - Beginning of col. 2 has a direct parallel in Deuteronomy 20.15-18. - The gold (mentioned in col. 3) might be related to that mentioned in the Copper Scroll, found in Cave 3, or could be an allusion to the Golden Calf. - Cols. 15 and 19-22 contain calendrical references which describe (and date) previously unheard of holidays such as the New Wine festival, the New Oil festival and the Wood festival. - We also looked at the description of the Temple architecture, and noted that the prescribed dimensions of the Temple are as large as the Old City itself, perhaps indicating that these dimensions provided are idealistic as opposed to factual. //end DSS Minutes 980224// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 26 February 1998 By Nathan D. Field (1) How to access Orion archives was discussed... Go through "Discussion Group ... Archives ... click on lower box". Problem is, no search engine. Can use search engine on browser but only week-by-week ... tedious! Best to download to a word processor in chunks and use its search command. Unfortunately, no listing of topics in Orion. (2) On book reviews -- book chosen can be the same as for the "paper". Clear first with Prof. Kraft... 4 to 6 computer pages is sufficient... Reviewing collections of essays is especially difficult and should be avoided in most instances... For normal monographs, student should ask : What is author attempting to do? Is author successful? What would I do differently if I were the author?... The review should tell the potential reader what the book is about. It should not be primarily an attack if you don't like it... It's OK To review a book which has already been reviewed. Prof. K will put previous reviews on the course gopher page. (3) The histories of Dropsie College and the Center for Judaic Studies were reviewed. Prof. K suggested that Solomon Zeitlin's views on the DSS (he thought them to be "medieval forgeries") might make for an interesting paper, especially for Zeitlin's claims of Karaite connections. (4) On the Orion list last week was another follow up on the Hirschfeld discovery around Ein Gedi. Questions raised dealt with the "bottle" and the speculation about "balsam"... What does "bottle" mean? Leather? Can leather container hold perfume? What about the glass bottle? What was known about glass manufacture?... Be alert to any passages in the DSS that mention balsam or perfume (or such passages in descriptive literature on the Essenes); there is some evidence in the literature of trading activities, and the presence of "boat" language in the DSS has been noted by some scholars as possibly relevant. Some other points about the discovery: (1) Hirschfeld found a group of "cells" about a one hour climb up the cliffs from Ein Gedi, not at Ein Gedi itself. (2) It's possible to read Pliny in a fashion which would question H's conclusions. For example, Pliny says "...to the west, the Essene gens exists..." -- he does not say that they "live there" in a particular location (town, camp). Moreover Pliny doesn't even identify them as Jews. The same is true of Dio's writing, although he does locate them in a "city" near the Dead Sea. The question arises as to both of their sources and how they interpreted those primary sources. The interpretive modern translation "noxious fumes" (from which Essenes "flee") attributed to Pliny may have had an entirely different sense then -- it is not clear how Pliny or his source understood this rather cryptic Latin. There's a lesson here: "If you want to change history, become a historian!" (or perhaps a translator of historical sources). (5) The translations in Garcia Martinez of the New Jerusalem fragments were examined. They appear to be an extension of the Temple Scroll. They seem to enlighten and be enlightened by the Temple Scroll. For example, compare NJ on the gates, their names and directions on the bottom of p.129 with TS on p.165. They are quite similar... Note also on p.133 that NJ talks of the Passover sacrifice reminiscent of TS and also 4QMMT. The subject of the NJ number, 14, of priests and the numbers 26, 84 and 7 which appear on p.134 was discussed in light of the 12 priests in the Damascus Document... Student speculation noted that the numbers might be related to multiples of 7 and 12... playing with the arithmetic... that is... 2 x 7=14... (2 x 7)+12=26 ... 7 x 12=84. The NJ gives dimensions of an idealized temple and its environs which appear to be paralleled in the Book of Ezekial in the Bible (see Ezek 48:21 et seq). Prof K speculated on whether Ezekial influenced NJ or the reverse or even the possibility that both were influenced by a common earlier source. (6) Next class: Read the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa) followed by the War Scroll (7) Tangent on family relationships and the language of the Ashkenazim... the "other" ("rival") grandparent (or potential) is called the machetenitz(a). We don't seem to have an English term for that kinship (English is weak in kinship language). //end DSS Minutes 980226// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes 3 March l998 Scribes: Betty Temoyan Richards & Grace Freed Muscarella 1. GENERAL DISCUSSION 1.1 Assignment for the end of semester: in 3-4 pages, discuss & support your opinion: "The scrolls were written by...?" 1.2 To the question about the relationship of the Essenes/Dead Sea Jews to early Christians much could be said (and is said in the literature): the early Christians were also Jews; the Qumranites were not necessarily Essenes; the relationships between the groups are complex. 1.3 Impact of the scrolls not as originally anticipated: delay in publication due to immense amount of work and desire to protect against aberrant or self-serving interpretations. 1.4 Jacob/James, the brother of Jesus, was a leader of the early Christian community (see Acts of the Apostles and Paul to Galatians). Eisenmann would like to connect him to the DSS, despite the objections of most DSS scholars. Other forms of this name include Iacobus (Lat.), Iago, Diego, Jamie (Sp.) -- and interesting example of consonant shifts. 2. RULE OF THE CONGREGATION (GM 126-128) 2.1 Scroll identification: 1QS or 1Q28 = Rule of the Community 1QSa or 1Q28a = Rule of the Congregation 1QSb - 1 column [frag. of appendix to above] 2.2 1QSa "Rule of the Congregaton" apparently had been appended to 1QS in antiquity but is now considered a separate writing. At first, 1QS was called the "Manual of Disciplne" (so Burrows, still VanderKam), and that name has stuck as an alternate to the potentially confusing "Rule of the Community." 2.3 There are issues of internal criticism, style, homogeneity or discontinuity with regard to these physically related texts. 3. TEXTUAL DISCUSSION 3.1 Column 1, line 2 : "men of the covenant" = those on the right track, others not. 3.2 "Book of HAGY" (line 7) is also mentioned in the Damascus Document. See GM 41, col. 10.6. 3.3 Appropriate ages discussed: from age 10 to 20 "counted among the boys." 3.4 At 20 he will "join the holy community" (lines 8 and 9); until that age he will not know a woman "through carnal intercourse." What were the rules for marriage here? 3.5 At 25 he will take his place among the "foundations" or "pillars" of the community (lines 12 and 13). 3.6 At 30 he can "arbitrate in disputes and judgments" (lines 13-14). 3.7 Status depends upon whether a man has "much or little" (line 18). Compare horoscopes (4Q186, GM 456) where a person's spirit is divided into parts in "the house of light" or in "the pit of darkness" (Frag. 1, c1, line 7-8). Question of interpretation of term "poor" -- could it be a self designation for the group? (8). 3.8 After 30, tasks assigned will be according to the person's strength (19). 3.9 A simpleton, though excluded from office, will have a task in forced labor to the extent of his ability (19-22). 3.10 Col. 2. "Famous men" could be analogous to and associated with the "angel of holiness" (8-9). 3.11 The phrase, "[God] begets the Messiah (11-12), implies "Son of God" type language. Watch for it elsewhere. 3.12 The priest blesses the bread and the new wine (19-20) as in Jewish table fellowship and in later Christian holy communion. //end DSS Minutes 980303// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes 5 March 1998 Prepared by Stan Zebrowitz Topic: The War Scroll 1. The War Scroll was one of the original discoveries of scrolls found in Cave 1 at Qumran in 1947. The scroll was one of the three purchased by Prof Eleazar Sukenik at that time. It was widely circulated in scholarly circles and published in English in 1954. 2. At least six fragmentary portions of this document where found in Cave 4; however the Cave 1 document is the most complete. None of the other copies start with the introduction contained in the Cave 1 copy. 3.The War Scroll is an escatological document describing a 40 year long war between "the sons of light" along with God and his angels against the"sons of darkness," with Belial and his forces. It describes the military equipment, army formations and battle plans. It includes descriptions of weapons, trumpets, shields and banners. The prayers and exhortations of the high priest are detailed. It differentiates between the priests and the leaders of the community. 4. Dr. Yigael Yadin (Prof Sukenik's son) studied the military formations and armor described in this scroll and concluded that they represented typical military formations and organization of the end of the first century BCE. 5. The scroll includes rules on who can serve in the army, according to age, as well as rules on behavior and the maintenance of purity within the camps. 6. During the 40 years of war it predicts a total of seven battles, three to be won by the Kittim and three by the sons of light. The final battle is won by the sons of light with the help of God and his angels. During the war the people redeemed by God will suffer greatly until they are redeemed under a messianic leader. 7. The scroll ends with a series of psalms praising God and appealing for his help. //end DSS Minutes 980305// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class minutes for March 17th, Saint Patrick's Day by Benjamin Reynolds 1. Recent Discussions about Pliny and Philo Dr Kraft began class with a reassessment of the ancient writers Pliny and Philo in relationship to some of the recent discussions on the ORION list about their views on the Essenes. Pliny (Latin, died 79 CE) was one of the few ancient authors to mention the Essenes, and he does so in a context of being utterly amazed by some of their practices, and their celibate survival. He describes the Essenes as being a *gens* (group of people) but not necessarily a "Jewish" group. This is peculiar since Judaism could be identified as another, separate *gens* from the Essenes. Pliny also elaborates on the Essenes as being appealing to those who want to escape the drudgery of life; they seem to be a peaceful, tree-huggin' hippie community. Once in a while they follow the Grateful Dead on tour and they read a lot of Robert Bly. [The instructor is not responsible for the filters through which his comments are perceived!] Philo, on the other hand, is a Greek author from Alexandria and a contemporary of Pliny. He describes a group called the *Therapeutae*, a *genos* which he claims is widespread in the Greco-Roman world. He locates them geographically not far west from Alexandria, with the Mareotic Lake on the South and the Mediterranean Sea on the North. Philo comments on how the Therapeutae live in an area with salubrious breezes from the sea in an isolated community. Philo does not mention that these people are Jewish either, but from the way he describes them, they must be closely associated with Jews: they follow the same calendar, have similar traditions, and recognize the importance of Jewish historical figures such as Moses. Philo is ecumenical enough that the fact that he does not describe the Therapeutae as Jewish may be significant. (He *does*, incidentally, call the Essenes "Jewish" in an essay written as a companion piece to his description of the Therapeutae.) Is there any relationship between Pliny's Essenes and Philo's Therapeutae? Maybe what the relationship comes down to is that both ancient authors attempt to identify the same sort of enigmatic group in the Greco-Roman World. 2. Other Early Sources Dr Kraft then discussed Dio Chrysostom (the golden-mouthed), another ancient Greek author who wrote sometime after Philo and Pliny, who locates the Essenes (in a non-Jewish context) at about the same location near the Dead Sea as does Pliny. Unlike Pliny's Essenes, these people are identified with a city (*polis*). Solinus (insecurely dated, maybe from the third century) is another Latin author who mentions the Essenes in similar language to that of Pliny, without expressly calling them "Jewish." Possibly what is going on in the background here (perhaps in sources used by these authors) are vague references to a group or perspective otherwise connected in some ancient discussions to the "theosebeis" -- people respected in antiquity for a certain type of "piety" or "religiousity" toward God. It may be that Philo's Therapeutae represent for him a group of "God fearers" whom he thinks can be found all over the world. They may not be "Jewish-born," but they buy into an eclectic religious tradition which takes the "best" (for their purposes) of Judaism and makes it accessible to others in a recognized religious context. These people are not necessarily proselytes to Judaism. Similarly the "race" of "Essenes" for less knowledgeable authors such as Pliny, Dio and Solinus. Another ancient source, Strabo, a Greek geographer from the turn of the era, also seems to be aware of this sort of "selective Judaism." He talks about Moses as having been a great man who dreamt good dreams and who built a sort of temple enclosure in which followers could also dream good dreams (in a sort of mystical sense, following dream traditions in a world that also took seriously augury, haruspexy, etc). he then talks about how Moses' successors muddled up the purity of his religion with useless or negative elements such as circumcision and sacrifice. This might be a reflection of some sort of idealized Judaism -- clearing away the less positive aspects, such as food laws, sacrifice, and circumcision. This tradition may also be reflected in the ideas about "Noahic" law -- the covenant which God arranged with Noah and surviving humankind after the flood, prior to the emergence of Abraham or Moses as more specifically "Jewish" figures. In (later) Jewish tradition outsiders who abide by these laws given to Noah may be considered righteous in the eyes of God. Questions which arose from the first section of class discussion, which I timed at precisely fifty minutes, twenty-three seconds, included: - Do the DSS require followers to be Jewish? - How Jewish are the DSS? - In what ways are the DSS attractive or non-attractive to a sympathetic Jewish culture? 3. Examination of the Assigned DSS Materials We then focused on some fragmentary pieces of the DSS, on pages 123-24-25 of Garcia-Martinez. 4Q285 is separated by G-M from the War Scroll proper but is meant to be read as another section of this scroll. Fragments 1-2 immediately help us to underline that these authors (and presumably readers) felt that spirit agents (angels & demons) were very active in daily life and in direct contact with human agents. Fragment 5 (p 124) has been called "The Pierced Messiah Text" (or "The War of the Messiah"). Up until recently some interpreters believed it to be discussing a messiah becoming pierced by his enemies (we Christians just love finding prophetical stuff like this). Now the accepted interpretation seems to read it as a more militant messiah slaying his enemies. On page 125 we find 4Q529: The Words of Michael the archangel, which repeats an unusual formulaic name of God over and over -- "Great One, Lord Eternal." For the next class we are to read G-M pages 136-140 and consider the question of genre in these texts, especially in relation to the "pesharim" to which we will turn after that (G-M 185ff.) //end DSS Minutes 980317// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 19 March 1998 Prepared by Joshua Ewing Overall topic for the day: eschatology in the scrolls What can be learned from the 4Qtestimonia document? -Why is the document so clearly just a single sheeted document? -Is it somehow a precursor to the codex format? -Was it to be sewn/glued to other sheets to form a scroll? -The photograph reveals that the quotations are separated into four block paragraphs separated by a partly blank line and containing a marginal mark as well. This probably signifies that the writer thought of each quotation as an individual entity forming part of a group of quotations on a particular subject or topic. -Why are these quotations together? -All seem to talk about an expected Messiah type figure. -Fourth quotation comes from "Psalms of Joshua" and sparks a question about whether or not the testimony was considered authoritative by the compiler and readers -- this "parabiblical" work has been found among other DSS fragments (4Q379, G-M 283). J. Rendell Harris and his "Testimony Book Hypothesis" -Harris thought that many of the early Christian biblical "proof texts" (especially in G.Matthew) came from a group of quotations compiled in anthology form, a "testimony book." The discovery of 4Qtestimonia gave creedence to this hypothesis by suggesting that this form of anthology was not unknown to the Judaism from which Christianity arose. The DSS usage of the tetragrammaton -sometimes YHWH is written in the same script as the text -sometimes it is represented by four dots or **** (as in 4QTest) -often, YHWH is written in a more archaic script to emphasize its importance -occasionally written in a different color (e.g. red) from the rest of the writing Discussion of CD-A col 7 line 8 biblical quotation of Num 30.16 -Where does the difference between the CD ("son") and the biblical text ("daughter") come from? -Does it suggest that there were two versions of the Deuteronomy text and that this is a textual variant? -Does the variance reflect an inacurate copying of the materials? -Could the author have been quoting an extrabiblical tradition or testimony like text, or even a common legal phrase? [[apropos this problem, and the question of whether there may be "contamination" from similar biblical passages, Stephen Wind adds the following observations: I did some research using a CD-ROM search engine for both the Hebrew and English versions of the Old Testament and the word combinations of the last verse of Numbers 30 are unique. Nowhere else do we find the phrases "between man and his wife" (Ben Ish L'Ishto), "man and his wife" (Ish L'Ishto), or even "between a father..." (Ben Av). These Hebrew phrases are unique to this single verse. Checking the English also showed nothing interesting as all other sentences with these phrases had clearly different meanings, though the translations (Soncino Publications) were similar. ...This CD-ROM is a lot of fun.]] For next time -Look at targums -Look at pesharim/commentaries //end DSS Minutes 980319// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes from 24 March 1998 by Adena M Galinsky ("I'm afraid this is a little fragmentary...") Opening Distractions (ORION netgroup discussion): Cave 4 has (not too deep) man-made sockets -- maybe they held shelf supports, but no wood was found with the manuscript fragments: Maybe it disintegrated without a trace (unlikely); Maybe it was taken by later users/finders of the cave; Maybe the holes served some other purposes Hair will prove to be a great source of DNA for scientists and archeologists, but it probably is not being systematically collected from ancient sites such as Qumran yet Assigned Texts: 4Q "Florilegium" -- a collection of quotations, with comments (uses a commentary format); "biblical" text and materials are used in various ways in antiquity (as also today), for example: Explicit Implicit text parabiblical (not necessarily before bible) sequential/non Targum = translation / / | \ / wooden literal free / formulae | | passage (lemma) (sometimes whole text is quoted) commentary passage (sometimes drawn from other parts of scripture) Is it part of a commentary on second Samuel? Look at fragments on G-M 137 to see if/how words match up. Note many other quotes (commentary by associated quotations?). Formula introduces interpretation of lemma. Holy ones: angels? rightous humans? Similarity to Galatians 3 (Paul) seed (collective singular)--> Christ -->followers (plural) here seed is mentioned in passing; house-->seed Pesher of Habakkuk, Nahum "how does it apply to us living in last times?" = eschatological perspective, and a common "hermeneutical" technique in DSS No indication of authors in most material of this period (Philo and Paul being among the exceptions) Maybe some of the hymns are by the teacher of rightousness, but besides that we have no idea what specific individuals wrote DSS ln 10: Father/Son terminology someone being around forever ln 11: Very different from text in second Samuel Maybe from a parallel second Sam ("parabiblical") source? The passages interpreted here were also very popular with early Christians ln 14: Psalm one also very popular with early Jewish and Christian folks interpreted w/another biblical passage (ln 15) 4Q Aramaic Apocalypse The "son of God" text Provocative! To whom does it refer? //end DSS Minutes 980324// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for the Class of 26 March 1998 by Christopher Cudney I. The Opening Discussions a. Talk of baby sisters, grandchildren etc. b. Questions about religious studies courses next fall: 1. Great Books of Judaism -- Dr. Stern 2. Christian Origins -- RAK 3. Christian Thought -- Ann Matter -Details in the departmental brochure. What is a logical extension to the DSS class? c. The Religious Studies Review -- review articles 5-6 pages long, short descriptive essays on particular books and/or topics. [Actual Class Topic -- Some "Literature with Eschatological Content"] I. 4Q246 = Aramaic Apocalypse [GM 138] a. One of the "most overt of the Dead Sea Scrolls material with this type of [eschatological] language." b. Under this premise we read the A.A., skipping most of column I due to fragmentary language and so concentrating on the fairly complete column II. It is indeed overt in its language, spelling out the actions of God in the final days as saving his people, and casting away the evil from his everlasting kingdom. These actions follow a great war, which ends when the "people of God arises and makes everyone rest from the sword." II. 4Q552 = Four Kingdoms [GM 138f] a. Tree imagery is prevalent in the fragments of the Four Kingdoms document. The symbolism is like that of The Book of Daniel with the figure of many metals, or see Psalm 1 with the tree by the waters. (Tree imagery suggested as a paper topic.) b. This document is declared apocalyptic because someone is being shown mysteries, having secrets revealed, etc. c. Question and answer style of information gathering. Similar approach to that used in 4th Ezra/ 2nd Esdras, where the one receiving revelation asks questions. In chapters 13 and 14 of 4 Ezra there are references to Daniel's imagery. (No fragments of 4th Ezra have been found in the DSS.) d. The text (what can be read of it) deals with a talking, fragrant tree named Babel that speaks to narrator. There are four trees in all that speak to him, each representing a kingdom. The statue in Daniel does a similar job of symbolizing geography/kingdoms. e. [Question] Babylon and Persia -- who ruled whom? ...Sequential historical relationships break down in texts like these, requiring one to change ones perspective in order to identify with the text. "Western society doesn't easily grasp apocalyptic imagery." In other words, Persia may be used symbolically in the text. (f. Perfume language in the DSS as a paper topic...) III. Another fragment of 4QFour Kingdoms a. Material present is largely parallel. It also mentions Babel and Persia, and presents information through a narrator who has asked questions of talking trees. Probably another copy of the same text. IV. 11Q13 = Melchizedek [GM 139f] a. The name is symbolic and means "King of Righteousness." In some texts the opposite name is given as a symbol of evil. b. The document is in commentary format (pesher). c. "In the Genesis ballpark" -- links to the Genesis 15 tradition. Melchizedek is a person not described as in the Abrahamic genealogical line, yet he is described in a close relation with the God of Abraham. d. Psalm 110 -- famous Psalm used widely by Christians, with Melchizedek reference: "You are priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." What does this mean? ...possibly constructed by the Maccabean priesthood, and would mean a priesthood starting from a different genealogical line. Melchizedek is not given a definite genealogy. (It is not likely that the DSS people were "hip" to the Maccabeans, so if they were conscious of Psalm 110's reference they may have ignored it.) e. Melchizedek and his following are good guys (holy even) -- he takes on the role of a liberator. The use of the word "lot" in col. 2, line 8: "in which atonement will be made for all the sons of [God] and for the men of the lot of Melchizedek" suggests predestination. f. In col. 2 the repeated words "its interpretation" display the format of the pesharim/commentaries. g. [Question arises] Do the DSS people have one, or two messiahs (ie priestly and militant)? ... Melchizedek could be viewed as a priestly and/or a royal messiah and his name could refer symbolically to the messiah. V. Brief Tangents a. Balaam's Ass in Num 22 (better left alone). b. In Num 25.10ff, Phineas is given an eternal priesthood (like Melchizedek?), but this doesn't get much press, relatively, in the Bible or other texts. Next Class: The Pesharim //end DSS Minutes 980326// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes from 31 March 1998 By Adena Galensky (yet again!) Opening Discussion: People who wrote the scrolls were sometimes using texts that originated elsewhere (e.g. biblical materials); not entirely clear which of the hitherto unknown texts might have originated elsewhere How can you tell an ancient "synagogue" when you find one? "Synagogue" found in Palestine, near Jericho: room with pillars and bench, adjacent to mikvah-like room and to another room with u-shaped couches Masada: Last major holdout of the 1st revolt Resort for the Herods Romans besieged it for 3 years, then the inhabitants committed suicide 1 room = "synagogue" b/c in the room and vicinity of the room were found some parabiblical scrolls ruined while still in use (not abandoned) You don't usually find a Torah in the ark, a rabbi in the middle of leading prayers, an inscription over the door saying "This way in to the synagogue" Also, synagogue may not mean what we think it means, or has come to mean -- what are the functions associated with ancient "synagogue" locations? The Assigned Texts: Pesharim Isaiah - Not necessarily consecutive in Garcia Martinez Later research may call for different order of fragments Look for overlaps - some do, some don't Isaiah 8, 10, 14, 19 Original: Isaiah commentary (lost except for these fragments) a b c d e Isa.10 Isa. 5 Isa. Isa. 54 Isa. 8-32 40, 21, 32 All written my different scribes; different handwriting; it may well be (so G-M) several copies of the same text. C is the best control case, since it covers more of Isaiah; Was this originally a consecutive treatment of Isaiah? In any case, the commentator was not doing Tigay-style historical analysis! Latest date for Isaiah as we have it: 4th century BCE Earliest date for these commentaries: 1st century BCE? late Hasmonean early Herodian We don't have any Aramaic/Hebrew mixed texts from Qumran, with biblical materials in Hebrew and comments in Aramaic. The "pesharim" are all in Hebrew, it seems. In his review of Allegro's original publication of some of these materials in the DJD (=Discoveries in the Judean Desert) series, Strugnell made extensive criticisms and corrections -- see the bibliographical notes in G-M. Discussion of the "Formulae" of citation used in the pesharim: 1. It says 2. Its/The interpretation 3. Its/The interpretation concerns 4. Its/The interpretation of it concerns 5. The intrepretation of the word 6. The interpretation of the word for the last days/times 5-6 seem especially characteristic of the Isaiah pesher; pesher Habakkuk uses several such formulae, while pesher Hosea favors #2 and the pesharim on Nahum and Micah tend to use #3. Who are the men of mockery, the arrogant men? Is this a code for specific opponents (e.g. Hasmonean rulers) that was transparent to the author and first readers, or possibly more general language about confrontational situations (any opponent), or might it have started as a specific reference that became more general as time passed and the materials were recopied? //end DSS Minutes 980331// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class Minutes: 2 April 1998 Prepared by Yoni Werlin I. We began class with the usual tangents. A. Advertisement for Religious Studies Video Night 1. A dull [well, black and white] Italian film on Jesus 2. Monty Python's the Life of Brian [lots of color] B. Dr. Kraft is very distantly related to Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher from the 1700's and a founder of Princeton U., through Jonathan's wife, Sarah Pierpont. 1. Edwards had 11 children 2. His wife was accused of witchcraft because they all lived. 3. For early American genealogy look at Savage or the Mormons. II. Back to the Scrolls: A. Wondrous Child imagery in 4Q246 (GM 138). 1. This imagery sounds like Jesus imagery in early Christianity. 2. This similarity is not surprising because Christianity did not make up the "Son of God" language. a. This language was used for kings and heros, inter alia. b. Israel also used it in community self-reference. 3. In Christianity it was taken a step further, to refer to a special person in a literal sense. B. The DSS Commentaries (GM 185ff). 1. Isaiah is quite popular, judging from the number of fragments 2. Also a focus on Minor Prophets: Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Malachi. a. Habakkuk Pesher mentions two types of objectionable people: 1. Those who should know better. 2. Outsiders -- the Kittim 3. Psalms Pesher (on GM 203) a. It mentions chronology and has a characteristic vocabulary, such as "the congregation of the poor." 4. The Pesharim reflect a vocabulary and symbolism common to most of these "sectarian" texts. C. The DSS commentaries are the earliest Jewish commentary materials (scriptural passage followed by comments/explanation) that we have. 1. Before the DSS were found, Origin's commentaries from around 200 C.E. were the earliest documents of that type we had. 2. It is possible that some of the stuff from Philo, written in a question answer format, could also be considered biblical commentaries. D. Why were the commentaries written down at all? 1. They were all aimed at making scripture contemporaneous to their times, seen as the end times. 2. It is important to remember that we are dealing with a group which had a writing mentality. 3. The question of where that mentality came from is a difficult one, as well as the ability (they also needed stuff to write on and to write with). 4. It is possible that these commentaries are the result of the position of the Interpreter and that they therefore represent the voice of an authority for the community. E. Do these commentaries repudiate the possibility that the Sadducees lived at Qumran because the Sadducees rejected "oral tradition"? 1. Do we know that the Sadducees rejected the "oral tradition" in all times and places? They may have had their own type. 2. We do not have any actual first hand Sadducean texts 3. We can not automatically assume an antagonism between the Sadducees and the Pharisees or even that the Pharisees were anti-temple. a. As an example of what we do not know- is the word Pharisee' a self designation, a derogatory name given to them by their opponents, or even possibly both at the same time? 4. What generalizations can we make about the Sadducees? a. Almost none. b. We only have labels. c. Rabbinic literature is anti-Sadducee, but it is contrived. 5. It is important to note the multiform heritage of Judaism. F. Are these documents copy books? 1. They seem to be written at a higher level of proficiency than copy books that have been identified elsewhere. 2. However, if everyone who joined the group had to prove they could write, it is possible that these are the evidence. 3. Are there ways to tell if the scrolls were used for other or special uses. a. No, but it was probably not economically practical to write on leather or papyrus just for practice. //end DSS Minutes 980402// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Class minutes from 7 April 1998 Provided by Miriam Kiss Consensus of the class on the PBS special on Jesus: Too Long! 1. "Parabiblical": This term is preferable "Rewritten Bible." The term was first used by H. L. Ginzberg in 1967 and was not invented by Garcia-Martinez. It refers to texts that have run parallel with biblical material and sometimes may be reflective of scriptures. On page 218 Garcia-Martinez says of some of the texts, " It is really literature which is parallel to, earlier than, or simultaneous with, the biblical text, but with no direct connection to it." "It is a broad category to be refined with more research," says Dr. Kraft. This material is not necessarily derived from the Bible, and this does not mean that the Bible is first. It has been argued that the Aramaic materials may have originated earlier than sectarian authors' works. (For Tobit in both Aramaic and Hebrew, see GM 297 on 4Q198 and 200.) 2. Brackets in the translations mean that there was a hole in the document. What caused these holes? Possibly insects, moisture or bat dung. Also, the scrolls may have been damaged when they were put inside the caves, so that the caves served as a genizah (storeroom) for such materials. 3. GM 219 starts with "4QReworked Pentateuch" and identifies the biblical text in fragment 6 as "Samaritan" in text type (rather than Masoretic or Septuagint). Does this mean there are different textual traditions of the Exodus material? The Proto-Masoretic Text developed into the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (LXX) is the old Greek Bible and there is also a Samaritan Pentateuch. Garcia-Martinez tells us it is Samaritan to let the reader know that the passage will differ from the Masoretic text of Ex 20.19-20. On GM 223 are fragments of the song of Moses that are arranged in poetic format by the use of blank spaces. This format is similiar to what is found in some of the other Hymns in the DSS. 4. For next class, look at the Genesis Apocryphon (GM 230ff), and the now famous passage describing Abraham's wife Sarah, which may especially interest the males of the class! //end DSS Minutes 980407// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 9 April 1998 By Joon Huh Genesis Apocryphon This text was so brittle that it was very difficult to open. Originally called the Lamech Text since that was part of the scroll that was visible After it was opened, the name Genesis Apocryphon was attatched to it and that name has stuck with it ever since. In the text there is a lot of talk about the watchers (Semitic parallelism watchers = holy ones.) Lamech thinks that a child (Noah) may not be his. It seems that Lamech thinks that the child is the child of a watcher. Here there was a tangent about the odd language in reference to Lamech and his wife. Lamech's wife refers to him as her brother and lord (Col 2.9) This was a common occurence in Egypt where in many cases this was literally true (especially in the royal line). Another example of this is the New Testament letter 1 Corinthians where the Apostle Paul speaks of a wife/sister. <---this term may be a proto-Christian term for monastic women. It may be a hold over from pre-Christian terminology. In any case, this text appears to be related to the Genesis 6 watchers text. The problem here is that Lamech is upset about questions of paternity. Apparently the child had exhibited some strange and miraculous behaviour even while in the womb. It is probable that the watchers are viewed in a negative light here. Lamech consults his father, Methuselah. (In the tradition, Lamech sired Noah when Lamech was 595 years old and lived to be 777 years old) The Genesis account gives no indication that the birth of Noah was in any way miraculous. Methuselah seeks out Enoch. Enoch <--- wisdom personified in these traditions The traditions that surround this story about the watchers are as follow: The watchers teach women/people different kinds of knowledge cosmetics(which gets a big thumbs down) metallurgy (associated with weapons of war, again a thumbs down) Methuselah goes to Parvaim (to the east in the hill country) to find Enoch. There is a long section where Enoch and Methuselah talk. A section on Noah A section on Abraham A small note about palm trees. There is a story about Abram and Sarai in which palm trees are mentioned. Is it possible that these have some association with the palm trees to which Pliny the Elder refers in his brief description of the "Essenes"? Going back to Enoch...Book of the Words of Enoch---> revelation of the heavenly tablets. This is not in Genesis, but in other traditions, Enoch, after being taken up into heaven is sent back to earth. He is to reveal the heavenly tablets to his family and to all human kind. This is similar to what Moses is described as doing on Mt. Sinai. The writers of the Genesis Apocryphon want to make Enoch important. In some early works, the material cited from "Enoch" does not match any of the preserved books that bear the name of Enoch. This seems to suggest that there was once an even larger corpus of books that compromised an "Enoch library." The Testament literature (Testaments of the Patriarchs) may reflect the same kind of development as the Enoch texts. There are some references to Enochic material Philo --> pentateuchal Josephus --> uses some material There are preserved Enoch texts in Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, etc., By the 9th century CE ---> renewed interest in chronology and hagiography (reverance for the saints.) Enoch was classified with the saints. Manicheans --> used Enoch materials -- 3rd century CE "heretical" group 5th-6th century CE it dies out in the Medieval world. The books of Enoch Milik suggested that there was an Enochic Pentatuch When the Manicheans picked up the 2nd book of this collection, the "Book of Giants," that section was dropped in the Ethiopic, or so it is suggested by Milik... it was then replaced by the "Parables" section which includes Son of God/Man phrases. Continuing in the Genesis Apocryphon: Col 20.8 HRKNWS--the name here is Hyrcanus (Maccabeen ruler???) The Book of Jubilees--a popular book (multiple copies) //end DSS Minutes 980409// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 14 April 1998 By Stephen Wind We all agreed that there is no significant difference for our purposes between a hymn and a psalm. However, since certain poems in the DSS are parallel to biblical psalms we refer to those scroll materials as "psalms" and to the other materials as "hymns". In general though, the two words are interchangeable. Characteristics of DSS poetry: Rhyme is not a necessary or normal characteristic of early Hebrew poetry, but "parallelism" is frequent, where the content of contiguous or nearby lines is repeated (synonymous parallelism) or contrasted (antithetical parallelism) or in some other way related through repetition. Perhaps some of the DSS poems were sung out loud or performed, but there is no conclusive evidence for this. In some earlier Hebrew poetry, we do know that the people did have access to instruments, and that the wording of certain materials implies that they were written with "music" in mind. Perhaps in connection with the need for people to remember the content and words of certain writings, the authors sometimes used alphabetic (or other) acrostics, and they made sure that the lines were of certain lengths (and sometimes even written in obviously "poetic" formats), so that memorization of the materials was facilitated. Also, meter is not necessarily a defining factor in these poems. Regarding the alphabet used in acrostics, we cannot always be sure that the writer of the composition had the same names and pronunciations of the letters as we have today. The Phoenicians are credited with developing the alphabet in the late 2nd millennium BCE. We are not sure if the non-biblical poems were written down by their original composers or not. In addition, it is possible that these poems are part of other texts (as certain DSS documents have poems inserted within them). We do know that the time period was an era of great confusion and complexity with regards to both religion and literature. In class, we noted that 11QPs\a (11Q5) on pages 307-308 [in G-M] was definitely missing one the letters in its alphabetic acrostic (sin-shin, next to last in the conventional Hebrew alphabet) and we questioned whether there was a good reason for this phenomenon. It was suggested, among other things, that perhaps the letter had negative words associated with it or that beginning a sentence with that letter would have negative connotations. We also looked at the Compositions of David passage on the bottom of page 309 [in G-M] that provides an accounting of all the psalms of David. According to the passage, David wrote 4,500 psalms in total: one for every day of the year, one for every Sabbath in the year, one for every month, one for every festival, some more for "the possessed", and numerous others. Dr. Kraft reminded the class that the calendar of the DSS group consisted of 364 days, divided up into four periods of 91 days, each comprised of three 30-day months and an extra day, perhaps for special celebration of the "seasonal" transition. The passage states that all of David's psalms came through divine prophecy. However, we cannot tell which of the preserved psalms were believed to have been composed by David. Some of the biblical Psalms have titles in some versions, but whether such titles are original and/or accurate is problematic. It was also noted that the name David, when spelled in Hebrew, is very similar to the words Dodi or Dod, terms for loved ones, so the possibility exists that there may have been confusion in the transmission of such titles, etc. It is important to realize that many of the psalms found in the DSS materials that are not found in our traditional versions of the Bible (Jewish or Christian, Hebrew or Greek), may be equally ancient and may have once been included in other "biblical" collections (e.g. Psalm 151 in Greek and Latin, and some psalms previously known only in Syriac). Another work of interest and significance here is the book known as the Wisdom of Joshua/Jesus Ben Sira (sometimes called Ecclesiasticus), which was translated into Greek by the author's grandson in the late 2nd century BCE. We find an alternative version of Ben Sira's Hymn to Wisdom (Sirach 51.13ff) in 11QPs\a on page 306 [in G-M]. Interestingly, the DSS version lacks all references to wisdom and presents the passage as an erotic love poem (though wisdom in Hebrew is a feminine noun, which allows for the possibility that the poem does refer to wisdom through pronouns). How this material came to be incorporated into the "postscript" chapter 51 of Sirach, and what its background was (who composed it? was it ever considered Davidic? how is it related to the 11QPs\a poem?), are at present unanswerable. Finally, we glanced at 4QWiles of the Wicked Woman (unofficially dubbed 4QHarlot by its first editor, John Allegro), otherwise known as 4Q184, found on page 379 [in G-M]. This passage also contains erotic imagery, though here the context involves a description of a seductive prostitute. The symbolism can be understood in many ways -- feel free to use your imagination -- all of them bad. //end DSS Minutes 980414// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 16 April 1998 by Carolina Armenteros New News: --A Spaniard, Diego Ramos, claims to have found an inscription dating to the year 87 CE addressed to the son of Lydia (he suggests Lydia of Thyatira, "the seller of purple" in the Book of Acts). The inscription seems to be in the Greek language written in Etruscan characters, and makes a reference to a certain "Jesus of Palestine." Cf. http://www.ctv.es/USERS/drp/ --He also claims that the inscription contains some Greek alphabetic acrostics (first letters of each line taken together spell out a message); there is a very famous early Christian acrostic on IXQYS (Greek ichthys, "fish"): Ie^sous Jesus Christos Christ Theou Of God Yios Son So^te^r Savior The DSS Hymns --1QH (Hodayot) = Large Hymn Scroll. This is one of the largest and earliest published scrolls. We can look for similarities between what the authors of the "hodayot" say with respect to other sectarian materials. [[NOTE: There is room for confusion about the numbering of the columns and lines in 1QH, since the older ordering of the fragments as reflected e.g. in the translations published prior to about 1990 has now been abandoned in favor of something close to what GM gives, based on the work of Puech and several others -- the "old" column 1 is now column 11 (GM 325), and the original beginning is thought to be largely lost. If you find specific col/line references to 1QH in older sources, they probably will take a bit of effort to locate in GM (see the parentheses following the new column numbers)]] --1QH 4.23f (GM 318) shows interesting affinities to 1QS (Manual), with the petition that the Lord should make his servant strong and enable him to hold out against the forces of evil and perform the will of God, to "walk in all that you love and loathe all that you hate." This echoes the beginning of the Manual of Discipline (1.3f = GM 3): "to love everything which he selects and to hate everything that he rejects"; see also 1QH 6.8ff (GM 321): "... give thanks to you, Lord, for putting wisdom in the heart of your servant... to love all that you love, hate all that you hate...." --Scholars classify material as "wisdom literature" according to content and format (hymns and prayers). The Weltanschauung (outlook) of such literature uses wisdom and understanding as its basis. These are the religious expressions of what also is represented in more "secular" modes of understanding (primitive science). --The discussion next turned, somehow, to how the DSS people with their strict purity laws might have looked after their material and physical necessities (e.g. reaching the latrines, outside the camp, on Sabbath). How did the legendary Christian monastic Symeon the Sylite survive up on his pillar for about 4 decades? Even he had disciples down below to bring him the things he needed. --Various other queries: Could there have been any cynical Essenes? We cannot know. Might Paul have been an Essene at some point in his life? Potter, in "The Lost Years of Jesus," argues that Jesus was the Teacher of Righteousness. Was there any attempt at central control among various Essene groups/settlements? Again we cannot know. --On Jesus' selfunderstanding, we have a letter, considered a forgery by western scholars, in which Jesus answers a letter from the king of Edessa, who is ill and has asked Jesus to heal him. Otherwise, all our sources of information about Jesus seem to come, directly or indirectly, from his followers, reflecting their understanding of him. --The Biblical Psalms belong to a range of dates and we can't tell how many psalms date back to the tenth century BCE to the time of David. Can we assume a straight-line development from strict to looser parallelism in verse? We can't always tell how things develop in poetry. Linguistic developments can also be seen in the copies of the books of Isaiah among the DSS. We find many hands and dialect-type stages of language development in the DSS -- from quite archaic language to proto-rabbinic "mishnaic" Hebrew (especially in 4QMMT, the halakhic letter). --There are always problems determining what is the earlier form of a text. The US pledge of allegiance ("under God" seems as if it should be an early element, but it is not) and the different versions of the story of Little Red Riding Hood (what happens to Grandma?) illustrate this. Rather, what the author thought, his/her intentions, are crucial to determining the earliest history of a text. //end DSS Minutes 980416// --- Religious Studies 225 The Dead Sea Scrolls Minutes for 21 April 1998 Prepared by Annie Wu 1. Assignment: write 2-3 screens on "The scrolls were written by" 2. Orion discussion on the meaning of "Essene" - From assah as "doers" of the law? - Hasidians as the pious withdrawn group? - Hosios, "pious" in Greek, used by Philo? - there are spelling variations in the sources. 3. Earliest source on Essene - Josephus used the term for a group started in 2nd cen. bce but he wrote later than Philo and Pliny, who also use the designation. - Josephus might have obtained the information from Nicolaus of Damascus who worked under the patronage of Herod the Great, and is probably the source of the favorable view of Herod in part of Josephus' work (on the whole, Josephus is unfavorable). - Posidonius of Apamea might have been the first to use "Essene." He wrote on religion, folk tradition and culture from 170-150 bce. Moses was presented like a (Stoic) Greek leader, focusing on dreaming good dreams. Sacrifices and circumcision were introduced by his successors, as corruptions of the ideal. Eusebius (4th century CE) and Strabo (1st century BCE/CE), a Greek Roman geographer like Pliny, quoted him. 4. Discussion on who wrote the scrolls. - the scrolls may reflect a group's change over ca 200 years - no other sacred objects with the scrolls, 4Q like a library - phylacteries found in 4Q, jars and pots found in 1Q - writings of public not personal use, rarely of the same hand, written only on one side of the skin (not reused) - some of the scrolls critical of the (Jerusalem) temple leadership - they may be from a Jerusalem library, representing more than one group 5. Poetry - sometimes in strophic format (separate lines) - p. 331 of GM, crucible and birth pains of the Messiah, tribulation before the new creation, terminology used frequently in the eschatological imagery of the period. //end DSS Minutes 980421// --- insert 980423 here //end DSS 98 Minutes file//