RelSt 225: DSS Class Minutes #10 (8 Oct 1996)
by Adam Kaplan

	For the assignment, a book or 2 or 3 articles should be chosen.  
The articles should include a common theme, for example, the finding of 
inkwells discussed in a previous class.  There were inkwells found at 
the Qumran site while none were found at other sites.  Does the presence of 
inkwells tell us anything about the material in the caves?  The paper should 
include an evaluation of the author's argument and a critical stance.  
The research project should focus on the scrolls themselves, on terms or 
themes found in them.
	There was discussion of why Christian scholars got involved in 
Dead Seas Scrolls study.  The scrolls reached the outside through the 
Jordanian side, not the Israeli side with the exception of the scrolls 
purchased by Dr. Sukenik.  The initial connection that drew Christian 
scholars to the scrolls was the mention of two spirits, truth and deceit, 
discussed in the Rules of the Community (1QS, p. 6 in Garcia-Martinez).  
Rabbinic scholars would read this passage and make a connection to the two 
Yetzers (inclinations), of good and evil.  Christian scholars made a 
connection to the two ways approach to Christian ethics.  This idea was 
known in early Christian sources, for example, the Epistle of Barnabas 
(2nd century ce, latest 130).  The Epistle is one of the earliest 
Christian documents and contains an exhortation to follow the angels of 
light, part of the Christian halaka, ethical and legal statements about 
life.  This was paralled by Didache, which contained the same kind of 
material about the two ways approach.  The Manual of Discipline 
presented this approach in similar terms.  There were two ways, one has 
light and the other had darkness.  This similarity struck a note with 
Christian scholars that were familiar with the two ways approach and 
could possibly shed light on the development of early Christianity.  
This parallel with early Christianity was one among others, including a 
central group of authoritative leaders, and the communal nature 
described.  The Book of Acts in the New Testament is similar to some
"sectarian" DSS with regard to communal organization.  
	Christians saw these parallels and asked several questions.  Was 
early Christianity an offshoot or an imitation of Judaism at Qumran?  
Was John the Baptist an Essene?  Was Jesus an Essene?  Now, people 
are more critical of this approach.  Schiffman believes that there is 
a connection between the early Judaism at Qumran with Rabbinic 
Judaism.  The scrolls are multivalent, in that they provide evidence
about early Judaism as well as its Christian offshoot and the world in
which these "movements" existed. 
	
	The discovery of fragments has proven to be frustrating at 
times.  With a long document, one can ask more questions, because you 
have the beginning and the end.  Things are put in context.  With 
fragments, this is much more difficult.  For example, there is a 
fragment that describes angels of lights singing hymns, but we don't 
know anyhting else, like what came before or after, or even whether it is
part of another fragmentary document.

	Several questions are involved with dating the scrolls, including: 
What are the dates for the occupation of the site of Qumran?  How is the
site related to the DSS? In earlier times, some scholars wondered if the
scrolls might be medeival forgeries, or were written by early Christian
writers, although these positions seem less tenable today. 
	68 ce is generally the date assigned to the end of the Qumran
community, and therfore, the scrolls.  Coins were found dating to 68 ce,
but nothing later.  The site seems to have been abandoned. 

It is unlikely that it was occupied until 73 (see Masada), it was probably
occupied until 68, and no later than 69 or 70.  The community was probably
dysfunctional after 68.

Two Latin technical terms are useful here.
terminus a quo -- a quo means "from which."  This is the earliest posible
date for something. 
terminus ad quem -- ad quem means "to which."  This is the latest possible 
date for something.

68 ce is the terminus ad quem for the Qumran site.  If this also is the
date for the last of the scrolls, then one might assume that the ruins
gave the terminus for the caves.  Coins apparently were not found in the
caves (VanderKam 21). 
	Dating material in the caves can be done in several ways. 
Paleography is the study of handwriting [see VanderKam 16ff].  It is not
as accurate as the finding of coins for certain dates.  Paleographers
study the shapes of letters and the division of words.  Usually, they can
compare undated documents with dated documents, but for the Qumran cave
texts there are few non DSS documents with which to compare (and no dated
DSS manuscripts)  so they must mainly be compared with each other.  This
can create a range for the scrolls in the caves.  The range is probably
200 - 250 years and maybe as much as 300 years.  The earliest are at least
before the 1st century bce, probably in the early 100s. The Maccabean
revolt occurred in this period (ca 168 bce).  Some people think they have
found clues in the material to the political conditions relating to that
revolt. 
	Another way to date the material is by using Carbon 14 dating. 
Selected manuscripts are tested and they have generally supported the
findings of paleographers.  One document tested earlier than 200 bce. 
There wers some into the first century ce.  Some scrolls have internal
clues that help to date them.  The Deliah deed and the Wadi sale contain
explicit dates but they are not part of the Dead Sea Scrolls proper.  The
scrolls do not generally have internal evidence of dates [see VanderKam
19f].
	Carbon 14 tests the leather, not the ink.  So, it is possible 
for a scroll to be written on an old piece of leather.  One scroll 
dates a couple hundred years earlier than expected, and the 
leather factor might explain this.  
	The hymn scroll dates from about the turn of the era to the middle
of the first century CE.  It is one of the latest scrolls.  The Genesis
Apocryphon also probably dates to the turn of the era. 
	Recent technological developments involving bouncing waves off the
inked areas of manuscripts has enabled scholars to read pages that had
been fused together by dampness and were difficult to separate. 

	There are several writings associated with Enoch.  The Enoch
material apparently was popular reading, and the DSS have produced 11
copies of different portions. Some say that copies existed as early as the
third century bce that were then passed to the caves.  If copies were
brought to the caves, then an earlier dating for the scrolls would not
indicate an earlier beginning to the community or a contradiction of
paleographic findings.  Enoch scrolls from the 12th century (and later) in
Ethiopic reveal few changes or revisions.  There was a compilation of 5 or
more older sources. Questions concern the extent to which the Dead Sea
Scrolls joined together in small collections, not identical in scope to
what we know from the later Ethiopic version. 
	The "sectarian" scrolls are generally dated to the expected time
framework. The "sect" probably self-consciously separated from other types
of Judaism around 170 bce. They probably brought older materials with them
that were associated with their outlook.  The original language of the
scrolls was primarily Hebrew, with some Aramaic.  For related materials
that were preserved only in translations (e.g. Greek), scholars have
debated what their original language may have been by focusing on such
things as proper names and sentence structure.  Some could have circulated
in both Hebrew and Aramaic, like Tobit, of which there are DSS fragments
in each.  The Wisdom of Solomon may have been in Greek originally. 

	The "LXX" (Septuagint) proper is only the Pentateuch.  "OG" (Old
Greek) refers to other translations of Jewish books into Greek.  There is
no homogeneity between Pentateuch in Greek and Isaiah in Greek because
they were done by different translators, doubtless at different times and
possibly in different places.

	There is a process by which writings came to be "canonized." 
There is wide diversity among DSS texts, representing a pre-canonization
situation.  The text is fluid in Qumran.  For example, in one text of Gen
46.27, Jacob went down to Egypt as one of 70 people, in another the
number given is 75.  Every copy does not necessarily have the same text,
even within the Dead Sea Scrolls.  This reflects the transmission of
biblical and nonbiblical materials.  Texts were different at different
points.  The differences can give insights into the periods and the
people. 

	Query: What is the date of the Christian "Didache" manual? Around
the year 30 ce, Joshua (Jesus) is executed by the Romans. A new movement
begins, the early members are Jewish.  Thus the terminus a quo for the
Didache would be 30 ce, since the Christian community to which it applies
would have begun no earlier than 30. Some date the early Christian
prophets mentioned in the Didache around 70 ce, but the final form of the
document can be placed more broadly between 30 and about 200 ce.

/end/