Roy Rosenberg, The Veneration of Divine Justice: The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity. Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. Reviewed by Leonne Tanis for R. Kraft's RelSt 225 class at UPenn (Spring 1999) The main objective of this book is to find the correlation between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian origins. Rosenberg formulated a hypothesis about the relationship of the Qumran sect, the Essenes or Sadoqites, and the first Christians. He calls this book the "result of his hypotheses." He uses the teachings of the group that seceded from the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sadoqites are popularly known as the Essenes. Josephus is the first person to refer to the Qumran sect as the 'Essenes' [RAK: actually Philo and Pliny are both earlier], but Rosenberg does not believe that this is what the sect actually referred to itself as. There is no formal translation of the term 'Essenes.' Scholars do not know the origin of this word. Rosenberg believes that the sect actually called itself the "sons of Sadoq," meaning the sons part of God's Divine Revelation. Rosenberg opens the book with Josephus' accounts of the Essenes in The Jewish War 2. He summarizes Josephus' description of the Essenes. Josephus describes them as "communists, despising riches, giving up personal property to the order when they joined" (9). Rosenberg does say that women were present. The Essenes married, but strictly for procreation, not sexual pleasure: "Some Essenes marry, because they regard the procreation of children as necessary for the future of the race. Essenes who marry have no intercourse with their wives while they are pregnant, 'thus showing that their motive in marrying is not self-indulgence but the procreation of children'" (8). In order for a woman to marry she "must wait three years before the marriage may take place, demonstrating during that time through the regularity of her menstrual cycle that she is fertile" (8). This is interesting because Josephus says that there were no women present in the community. He seems to know a great detail of the rules of marriage and relations between men and women in the sect. This first chapter serves as an introduction for those less familiar with the community at Qumran. Rosenberg goes on to describe the daily routines of the Essenes as described by Josephus. He describes the purifying rituals, the morning ritual, and the general rules of the community. The link between Christian origins and the Sadoqites is through the description of the Christian Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the description of the Moreh Sedeq, the Teacher of Righteousness as described by the scrolls. Rosenberg introduces this theory with a discussion of the word 'sedeq.' Sedeq was a type of Divine Justice. It was an "aspect of God" (15). This teaching is a part of Israel's heritage from its earliest days. Variations of 'sedeq' were popular amongst many civilizations of that time. In Akkadian, the language of Babylonia, an Amorite king named Ammisaduqa\1/ was referred to as Kimtum-kittum, "the Kinsman is the Justice." Rosenberg provides this as proof that the "form Saduq, the Amorite name, was understood as the equivalent of Akkadian Kittu, the defied attribute of justice of the sun god" (16). Saduq, according to Rosenberg, is equivalent to sedeq, "the divine attribute of justice that acquits, or justifies, the innocent" (16). Philo of Byblos\2/ mentions a place name Sydyk, translated as "the Just," and in another place Sydyk and Misor\3/. They are Kittu and Mesharu of Babylonian tradition and Sedeq and Misor in the Bible. (Rosenberg says "the Bible" repeatedly through out the text. However, he does not explicitly state which Bible. It is safe to assume the Hebrew Bible). The root 'sdq' is used in other Semitic languages and is loosely translated "that which is proper" or "that which deserves." In the Bible, there are mentions of Sedeq as the Right Hand of Yahweh. Rosenberg parallels this idea of Kittu as the "minister of the Right Hand" in Babylonian Mythology. The Essenes view Sedeq as the "Angel of Light." Rosenberg call that an "epithet fitting for a divinity linked to the sun." Again, Rosenberg connects this thinking to Babylonian Mythology. I am unclear as to how or why this is relevant. The Babylonians were not monotheist, and did not have similar practices to the early Jews or Christians. Rosenberg, perhaps, is giving the history of the word "sedeq" and an explanation as to why the Sadoqites would more like refer to themselves as "sons of Sedeq" rather than the Essenes. Sedeq is also repeated many times in Dead Sea Scrolls. It is used in eschatological texts. It is used in relation to light. The War Scroll uses "Knowledge and Sedeq will shine over all the ends of the earth," repeatedly. Rosenberg next begins to explain the dynamics of the Sadoqites. They seceded from the Temple in Jerusalem because they felt that the popular Jewish sects, Sadducees and Pharisees, did not live in accordance with God. They were dissatisfied with the operation of the Temple in Jerusalem. They believed that it was defiled and that many of its leaders were sinners. When the Sadoqites left the Temple, they were without "charismatic or authoritative guidance" for twenty years. At the end of twenty years, "God raised up for them a moreh sedeq to lead them in the way of his heart" (30). The moreh sedeq is the correct teacher. This correct teacher, who is never named, taught them principals and practices that would "bring salvation to Israel" for those who followed the sons of Sadoq. Sadoqites believed that those who abandoned the group and those who rejected the groups teaching would bring God's anger, causing destruction, in the end days. Rosenberg next discusses John the Baptist. He believes that John the Baptist is the moreh sedeq for whom the Sadoqites were waiting. John the Baptist preached the need to cleanse one's soul in preparation for the Messiah. Rosenberg thinks that John the Baptist was a Sadoqite, either appointed by himself or other members of the sect. His job was to "bring elements of Sadoqite teaching to the common 'people of the land'" (78). According to Rosenberg, John the Baptist fulfilled one of the roles of moreh sedeq. Rosenberg supports this theory with the way the gospel according to Matthew portrays John addressing the Pharisees. He claims that the language John used addressing the Pharisees is similar to the language used in the Damascus Covenant: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come" (78). John preached the same message as the Sadoqites, that it was "adherence to the sect that God had chosen that made one a part of 'true Israel'" (78). Jesus, son of Joseph and Mary, "sought to complete John's work as the moreh sedeq" (79). He comes to this conclusion because Jesus is referred to as the "correct teacher" many times in the gospels. If Jesus 'sought' to complete John's work, then he taught the same teachings as John the Baptist. Therefore, Jesus taught the same teachings as the Sadoqites. Rosenberg uses the gospels of Mark and Matthew to show the connections between Jesus' teachings and the Sadoqites' teachings. According to Mark's gospel, Jesus found divorce and polygamy improper and gave to the poor, preaching the need to keep one's life simple, as did the Sadoqites. According to Matthew, Jesus disdained taking oaths and regarded celibacy superior to marriage, as did the Sadoqites. The weakness in Rosenberg's argument is that he does not provide a source for some of his information. He feels that women were part of the sect, but he does not explain why he thinks this. He also seems to be very familiar with the laws of marriage, but he does not say how he knows this. He bases a lot of his argument on language and translation. This could be seen as a strength or as a weakness. He could easily manipulate the translation to agree with his hypothesis. His argument is very strong. There seems to be a connection between the teachings of the sons of Sadoq and the early Christians. End Notes \1/ Amorite king of Babylon, fourth after the famous Hammurapi in the Amorite First Dynasty. Reigned from 1626 to 1596 BCE. \2/ Lived during the second century CE, preserves the description of Phoenician religion attributed to the priest Sanchuniathon of Beirut. \3/ Mythic descendants of the original village dwellers and herders of ancient Canaan. //end//