And all those who enter in the Rule of the Community shall establish a covenant before God in order to carry out all that he commands and in order not to stray from following him for any fear, dread or grief that might occur during the dominion of Belial."
This excerpt, from the Rule of the Community , also known as the Manual of Discipline (1QS.i.16-18).{1}, exemplifies a motif running throughout the Dead Sea scrolls, that of the division of life into good and evil.{2} The evil and the good are two spirits which God created and put within every person. These are the Angel of Light and the Angel of Darkness. The Manual of Discipline identifies the Angel of Light as God himself. The Angel of Darkness is identified in the same scroll as B elial. (1QS.ii.1-9){3} The purpose of the community is to remain pious in order to survive the reign of Belial until the final days. "These are the men of his counsel who have kept the covenant in the midst of wickedness to atone [for the e]arth." (1Q28a.i.3){4} An indication of this desire for piety is found in a blessing of the Creator in the Rule of the Community : "I shall not retain Belial within my heart." (1QS.x.21){5} The writer of the Manual of Discipline attributes the ex istence of Belial and the Sons of Darkness to the mysteries of God, and the Sons of Light must be at odds with them until the time when God has set aside to come down to destroy all the injustice in the world.(1QS.iv.18-19) {6}
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{1} Florentino Garcia Martinez , original translator.,The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: the Qumran Texts in English.Trans. into English by Wilfred G.E. Watson. (Leiden: E.Z. Brill, 1994), p. 3.
{2} Helmer Ringgren, The Faith of Qumran , Trans. by Emilie T. Sander (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), p. 68.
{3} Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated , p. 4.
{4} Ibid., p. 126.
{5} Ibid., p. 17.
{6} Ibid., p. 7.
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It is clear from the Manual of Discipline that since everything came from God, Belial came from him as well. Confusion arises as to why the scroll people believed that God created evil, since the scrolls state that He loathes the Sons of Darkness.
God loved one of them for all eternal ages and in all his deeds he takes pleasure for ever; of the other one he detests his advice and hates all his paths forever." (1QS.iii.26.iv.1) {7}
The Rule of the Community writes off this peculiarity as one of God's mysteries; He would end injustice in the world when the time was right. So, it seems from what is given in the scrolls that the people did not question the existence of evil in their li ves. {8} It seems, though, that the necessity of the existence of the Sons of Darkness would be to give a contrast to the Sons of Light, for good cannot be appreciated without bad. Thus, God would have created the bad, even though he loathed it, to allow humankind to appreciate the good, and therefore to allow humankind to choose to serve God as the right thing to do, rather than the only thing to do.
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{7} Ibid., p. 6.
{8} Ibid., p. 7.
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In the paragraph above, I have inferred the thinking of the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The inference is derived from the observation that one can not perceive shadow without light, and so everything has a duality associated with it. The scrolls do not assume that there are only two types of people, for then where would the battle be? For the good would be incorruptible and the evil could not repent. This is not the case, for both spirits exist, in differing amounts, in all humans.
The nature of all the children of the men is ruled by these (two spirits), and during their life all the hosts of men have a portion of their divisions and walk in (both) their ways. And the whole reward for their deeds shall be, for everlasting ages, according to whether each man's portion in their two divisions is great or small. (1QS.iv.15-16) {9}What this indicates is that humans will be punished based on how their lives are apportioned between good and evil, though how they lead their lives despite the amount of evil in them would logically tell in their favor. With this in mind, one would think that they could renounce their paths of evil and join the covenant, gaining forgiveness forever.
On the other hand, the curse of the Levites in the Rule of the Community says that the men of the lot of Belial should be given to the people who want vengeance, and includes a wish that " May God not heed you when you call on Him, nor pardon you by blotting out your sin!" (1QS.ii.8) {10} This is contrary to the idea in Judaism which says that if you do repentance, you can be forgiven. Perhaps it is important to note that this is not a statement of what God will actually do, but it is a curse against the sinners, perhaps along the lines (though certainly not as trivial) as a mother telling her child that if he keeps on making that face, his face is going to freeze that way. That is not to say that the Levites's curse is an idle threat, but that one could suppose that they were trying to tell the lot of Belial that they were so evil that they should not be forgiven. The context indicates that the bad people being addressed were ones who had not attempted to seek forgiveness for their sins, and were corrupting the society.
One must also consider the whole nature of the scroll containing the curse in question. This curse was in the Manual of Discipline, and thus the purpose is to outline things pertinent to the splinter community of the Dead Sea Scroll people. This sc roll is not representative of mainstream Judaism. Instead, it is representative of a group who decided that the group in Jerusalem with the Temple was not pious enough for them, so they ran away to observe the true faith. On the one hand, if a person were to renounce his ways of wickedness in order to join the community, it would be conceivable that he would be forgiven. If he were to then decide that it weren't for him, the Damascus Document claims that "they will have a visitation for destruction at the hand of Belial." (CD-A.viii.2){11}
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{9} G. Vermes, trans., The Dead Sea Scrolls In English , third edition, (England: Penguin Books, 1987), p. 66.
{10} Ibid., p. 62.
{11} Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated , p. 38.
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Horoscopes delineate the characteristics of each man by the sign under which he was born. For example,
His spirit has six (parts) in the house of light and three in the pit of darkness. And this is the sign in which he was born: the foot of Taurus. (4Q186.frag i.ii.7-8){12}Thus men are weighted towards either good or evil, resulting in ambivalence within themselves. Therefore, each man can decide, to some extent, since some might struggle more, to head towards goodness and light. The only ones who truly deserve either the reward for being righteous or the punishment for being corrupt are those who are approximately evenly weighted. Since the ways of darkness are abhorrent to the Sons of Light, and vice versa, it would seem logically unlikely that either of these polarized kinds of men would switch over to the other side. So, the evil men should be doomed to destruction, through little fault of their own, having been so heavily predisposed for the path of darkness from the beginning. At the end of time, if all the sons of darkness have the ability to repent and choose pious behavior, then only those who had not repented of their deeds would be wiped off the face of the earth by God, since they would be the only Sons of Darkness left.
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{12} Ibid., p. 456.
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The people who will be destroyed have characteristics defined in the Rule of the Community . Rather, the spirit has certain intrinsic qualities.
However, to the spirit of deceit belongs greed, frailty of hands in the service of justice, irreverence, deceit, pride and haughtiness of heart, dishonesty, trickery, cruelty, much insincerity, impatience, much insanity, impudent enthusiasm, appalling acts performed in a lustful passion, filthy paths for indecent purposes, blasphemous tongue, blindness of eyes, hardness of hearing, stiffness of neck, hardness of heart in order to walk in all the paths of darkness and evil cunning. (1QS.iv.9-11){13}
Several of these characteristics would be expected to belong to the Sons of Darkness, such as the blasphemous tongue, cruelty, filthy paths for indecent purposes, and pride and haughtiness of heart. Blindness of eyes and hardness of hearing seem very strange, because that would seem to imply that people with disabilities are evil. A more reasonable explanation would be that a bad person would turn deaf ears to people suffering or needing help, and would pretend not to see people in trouble, turning away from the beggar on the street. On the other hand, these characteristics are not so individualized. Most normal people would experience at least one of these at some point in their lives, if not many of them for the duration. Perhaps that is how the Dead Sea scroll people, or whoever wrote the scrolls, rationalized the existence of evil in all men.
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{13} Ibid., p. 7.
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Every man is going to have the evil impulse. Belial, the master of deviant behavior, is going to trap people and draw them away from goodness and light. The Damascus Document talks about the three nets of Belial, meant to catch and trip up men.
The first is fornication; the second, wealth; the third, defilement of the temple. He who eludes one is caught in another and he who is freed from that, is caught in another. (CD-A.iv.17-19){14}
So the battle against Belial is continuous, and it is a struggle to keep away and keep oneself upright. That in itself would be a reason for the existence of the Dead Sea Scroll people, since a civilization in relative isolation will escape from the general evils of society. In addition, the danger is not only from Belial but from others already seduced by him, as was written in the Psalms of Joshua :
So, then, cur[sed be the man of Belial,] [who rises] to be a bird-trap for his people and a reason for destruction by all his neighbors. (4Q379.Frag 22.ii.9-10){15}
Also, Pseudo-Ezekiel includes a prophecy by God that one of Belial's people would oppress His people, and that he will be taken down, but in the interim he will "defile a multitude." (4Q386.ii.3-4){16} How can this be unless God wants people to become defiled? If He is truly omniscient and omnipotent, then He could take down the person in question before he would get close to doing any damage.
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{14} Ibid., p. 35.
{15} Ibid., p. 283.
{16} Ibid., p. 287.
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In the Halakhic Letter, the writer speaks in the first person and asks its audience to keep on the good side of life and avoid Belial, and, in the end, they might discover that some of what was said was true. (4QMMT.114-116){17} If the audience were a student, then this would seem to be the kind of talk so often heard in mathematics lectures, that one should learn what they are teaching and they'll tell what it is used for at a later date. This passage seems to be an appeal by way of persuasion, rather than by logical proof, which would indicate the importance that the community of the scrolls placed on the avoidance of Belial. If it did not matter that the person believed that Belial was problematic, yet they were instructed, for their own good, to steer clear, then Belial must have been a very real presence in their lives.
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{17} Ibid., p. 79.
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[...] Belial and all the men of his lot will be finished for ever, and all the Sons of Light will be reunited [...]" (4Q177.iv.16){18} This statement and other statements like it refers to the time when God will finally end the injustices of the world and block out Belial and his followers for all time, bringing about the reign of the sons of light. The Dead Sea scroll people ostensibly believed that they were living in the last times, and that it was up to them to be pious and good in preparation. Thus, not only did they seem to believe that the people in Jerusalem were doing things wrong, but that theirs was the only right way.
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{18} Ibid., p. 211.
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The War Scroll describes in detail what will happen at the end of the dominion of Belial, describing the struggles between the two forces.
By the hand of your anointed ones, seers of decrees, you taught us the times of the wars of your hands, to {fight}}to cover you with glory} with our enemies, to fell the hordes of Belial, the seven nations of futility, by the hand of the poor, those you saved, with the strength and the peace of your wonderful power." (1QM.xi.7-9){19}
Therefore, the times for the war to end all wars were prophesiedfor the people. The knowledge of coming peace and prosperity would give the devout hope, rather than allowing them to wallow endlessly in despair that the state of the world would never im prove. This passage, in conjunction with the following, seems to better identify the hordes of Belial.
The first attack by the Sons of Light will be launched against the lot of the Sons of Darkness, against the army of Belial, against the company of Edom and of Moab and of the sons of Ammon and the comp[any of . . . and of] Philistia, and against the companies of the Kittim of Ashur and [those who assist them from among the wicked] of the covenant. (1QM.i.1-2){20}
The first passage cited is located later in the scroll than the one directly above, but it is clearer in indicating or seeming to indicate that the hordes of Belial are synonymous with the seven nations of futility.
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{19} Ibid., p. 104.
{20} Ibid., p. 95.
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The War Scroll also mentions statements engraved on various trumpets used for pursuit, and reassembly, and of alarm for the slain during the battle. (1QM,iii.1-2){21} There were supposed to be seven sets of battle, three of which where the Sons of Light were dominant, three where the sons of darkness were successful, and the last in which God would come down and vanquish the Sons of Darkness.(1QM.i.13-15){22} God has struck all the Sons of Darkness, he shall not cause his wrath to return, until they are exterminated.(1QM.iii.9){23} This sentence was to be engraved upon the trumpets of pursuit, and the choice of these words seems appropriate because while the Sons of Light would be pursuing, it would seem as if God were helping them, and that their good fortune would not disappear. On the banner called the "banner of the thousand" would be written "God's fury unleashed against Belial and against all the men of his lot so that no remnant (is left)."(1QM.iv.1-2){24} This statement says the same thing that the trumpet of pursuit says, for all intents and purposes. Assuming that these statements held no mystical purpose, their functional purpose would seem to be to encourage the masses of the Sons of Light.
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{21} Ibid., p. 97.
{22} Ibid., p. 95.
{23} Ibid., p. 97.
{24} Ibid.
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In the midst of the battle, the War Scroll says that "all shall be ready [...] to shed the blood of the fallen on account of their wickedness."(1QM.vi.16-17) {25} Therefore, the scroll explicitly states why the Sons of Darkness need to be killed. But why then instead of beforehand? An invisible line in time must be crossed, after which all who have not repented have no rights, and who are no longer given the chance to see the error in their ways. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, everything about how God is going to treat the hordes of Belial seems to point towards the mysteries of God. The writers of the Dead Sea scrolls openly admit that they cannot understand why God has put Belial into this world, and the writer of this paper openly admits that she cannot understand why, if He created evil to serve a purpose, that purpose would ever disappear so that the bad people had to be destroyed, thrown away like used tissues.
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{25} Ibid., p. 100.
References to wicked people or to Belial run rampant throughout the scrolls found in the caves around Qumran. The Dead Sea scroll people seem to accept the existence of the wicked as one of God's mysteries, with the provision that at an appointed time, God will come down and vanquish them. If the purpose of evil is to make a contrast to good, then it does not make sense to ever destroy the evil. On the other hand, if the purpose would be so that humans could choose to be good rather than evil, then there would probably come a time when the extra factor could be eliminated. People who live on the path of darkness are able to repent and to become Sons of Light. So, the purpose of the Sons of Darkness in the scrolls seem to be as an example to the people of what not to do, to give purpose to the existence of the community split apart from the rest of society, and to explain the existence of criminal activity and unrighteous individuals in the world.
In conclusion, Belial may just have been a name attached to an abstraction of undesirable behavior, but the threat of his influence was very real to the writers of the Dead Sea scrolls. Belial was a danger to the desired way of life of the people who adhered to the scrolls.