THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY
By Cleve A. Johnson
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Contents of this
article
I. Introductory remarks about THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY
II. Major issues relating to THE
QUMRAN COMMUNITY
III. What the scholars are saying
about THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY
IV. Importance of THE QUMRAN
COMMUNITY
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I.
Introductory Remark:
Since the discovery of the Dead
Sea Scrolls in 1947 scholars have spent years studying them and the nearby
ruins of Qumran. It has been assumed by
most scholars that the community of Qumran was an Essene group and that they
were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In the past several years much debate has arisen concerning whether or
not the community at Qumran was part of the Essene sect and whether or not the
members of the community wrote the Scrolls or if the community was only
responsible for hiding them.
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II.
Major Issues Relating to THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY:
As we look at
the community a Qumran, presumed to be part of the sect of Essenes, we need to
evaluate their lifestyle, religious practices, and theology. We also need to look at the community’s
relevance to modern Christianity in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
What
characterized the community of Qumran? The
members of this community were separatists.
“They abandoned the world”[1]. The community was a monastic group made up
of primarily of men; although, there has been evidence of women and children
being part of the community found in the nearby cemetery. New members were indoctrinated by taking an
oath of loyalty to the group after a three-year probationary period. The members of Qumran community had all
things in common, that is they did not consider property to be owned by the
individual, but by the community. The
members of the community shared their meals together, shared the community’s
work, and prayed together. The members
of the community would pray at least twice daily. They followed a solar (365-day) calendar instead of the
traditional Jewish lunar calendar. The
Essenes practiced ritual washings (baptism), which has caused some to
hypothesize that John the Baptist may have been an Essene or had been
influenced by the sect. “John the Baptist was born to aging parents Elizabeth and Zechariah —
and many people believe that he was brought up at the Qumran community when his
parents died. Part of their charitable work was to care for the orphans of the
priests.”[2] Some have even suggested that Jesus was part
of, or influenced by, the Essene group; however, this does not seem likely due
to his willingness to minister to non-Jews (e.g. the Samaritan woman and the
Roman centurion).
The Essenes believed, as the Pharisees
did, in the Torah and in purity. They
believed in one God. They believed that
there would be two messiahs—one priestly, one political. The Essene community of Qumran held a belief
in other spiritual beings (angels) that were of lesser degree than God. Apparently they believed in some type of
astrology (based on some of the DSS sectarian texts). They saw themselves as the “Sons of Light” who would one day
battle against the “Sons of Darkness.”
The Essenes saw themselves as the only true form of righteousness and
true followers of God. They did not
follow the practices of Temple sacrifice because they saw the leaders of the
Temple as 1) being corrupt, and 2) not being of the rightful priestly
line. Prayers, hymns, and the study of
the Law replaced the sacrifices as the Essene form of worship.
The discovery
of the Dead Sea Scrolls is considered to be the most important discovery
relating to the validity of the Old Testament texts and to ancient Jewish
literature. So far, eleven caves have
been found containing hundreds of texts—all the books of the Old Testament
(except Esther), documents concerning the monastic communal life of Qumran,
hymns, prayers, commentaries, secular texts, and apocryphal books. The Scrolls describe the discipline of the
community and give us a glimpse into what sectarian life was like in first
century Judea. There has been debate
over the Scrolls origins. Some scholars
have suggested that the Qumran community did not write the Scrolls, but the
writings were part of the Temple library that was removed before the Roman
attack on Jerusalem. Regardless of whether or not the Essenes or Qumran
community (if they were not Essenes) wrote and/or copied the texts known as the
Dead Sea Scrolls, it appears that this community is responsible for hiding the
multiple volumes to protect them from being captured or destroyed (possibly by
the Romans).
The Dead Sea
Scrolls provide a comparison to the more recent Masoretic Text of the Hebrew
Old Testament. These comparisons help to validate the accuracy of the newer
texts from where we get our English translations. The Biblical texts found near Qumran also provide different
versions of some of the books, including missing paragraphs that are not in our
modern Bibles.
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III.
What the Scholars are Saying About THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY:
It is
important to understand what modern scholarship is saying about Qumran, the
sect that lived there, and the community’s relevance to the Dead Sea
Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls play a
major roll in the scholars’ viewpoint on Qumran and the Jewish sects of the
latter centuries before Christ and the first century of the Christian era. The main focus here is what the scholars are
saying about the Qumran community, specifically concerning the identity of the
sect, their theology, and the Scrolls’ relevance not only to the sect/community
of Qumran, but also to Christianity.
The Identity of the Qumran sect
A major
question has arisen over the past few years as whether or not the group at the
Qumran site was part of the Essene sect.
It has been generally accepted that they were part of the Essenes, but
some inconsistencies exist. The term
“Essene” neither appears in the New Testament nor in the DSS texts, but the
term may mean “pious” in East Aramaic.[3] The term "Essene" may come from
the Hebrew word "OSSIM" ("doers" [of the Torah]).[4]
According to
Geza Vermes the common opinion that Qumran was an Essene community (this is his
position as well) is based upon the following three components:
1. There is no better site than
Qumran to correspond to Pliny’s
settlement between Jericho and
Engedi.
2. Chronologically, Essene
activity placed by Josephus in the
period between Jonathan
Maccabaeus (c. 150 BCE) and the first
Jewish war (66-70CE) and the
sectarian occupation of the
Qumran site coincide
perfectly.
3. The similarities of common
life, organization and customs are
so fundamental as to render
the identification of the two
bodies extremely probable as
long as some obvious differences
can be explained.[5]
William S.
LaSor offers the explanation that Essene communities may have not been totally
uniform because of variations that may have developed due to the isolation of the
different Essene groups or possibly the differences were due to different
stages of Essenism’s development.[6]
A criticism that Norman Golb points out concerning the view that the Qumranites
and the Essenes were one and the same is that the official editors of the DSS
manuscripts have accepted the Essene hypothesis as a fact; therefore, they
reject “normal scholarly method and common sense” when scholars bring any
interpretation of DSS texts that do not conform to the generally accepted
position of the Essene connection.[7]
Archaeologist Dr. Yizhar Hirschfeld, of Hebrew University, argues
that the scrolls found at Qumran had no connection to the Essene sect. He shows that there was an Essene settlement
that was located on the Dead Sea coast, but it was not Qumran. Dr. Hirschfeld's view is based on a Latin
preposition, infra, translated as below. To show his point of
view, Hirschfeld quotes the Roman historian Pliny, in describing the Dead Sea
area in the First Century. "Out of range of the noxious exhalations of the
coast is the solitary tribe of the Essenes, which is remarkable beyond all the
other tribes in the whole world, as it has no women and has renounced all
sexual desire, has no money, and has only palm trees for company ... Lying below
(Lat. infra) the Essenes was formerly the town of Ein Gedi."[8]
Hirschfeld found a cluster of 22 tiny stone "cells"
which he believes to be individual habitats on the slopes above Ein Gedi, but found
no direct link to the Essenes except for Pliny's comment about Ein Gedi being
"below" the Essenes.[9]
In opposition to Hirschfeld’s view, scholars have pointed out that
the Latin word for below, infra, was often used by writers, including
Pliny himself, in the sense of downstream or south.
"Moreover," wrote Prof. Menahem Stern of Hebrew University, "the
impression one gets from reading Pliny is that he describes the Dead Sea by
starting from the north and that Ein Gedi, which is mentioned after the Essenes,
should therefore be mentioned south of the Essene habitation" (at
Qumran). Other archaeologists, namely
Gabriel Barkai of Tel Aviv University and Prof. Dan Barag, both said that they
were "very unconvinced" by Hirschfeld's hypothesis because of his reading
and interpretation of Pliny's infra and by the absence of any hard
archaeological evidence.[10]
A prominent young Jewish scholar, Lawrence H. Schiffman, opposes
the Essene hypothesis and believes that the DSS text designated as 4QMMT (or
MMT) points to the Qumran sect as being of Sadducean origin. He points out that the Damascus Document was
coined as a “Zadokite Work” (The “Sons of Zadok,” the name taken from the high
priest during David’s reign, were considered to be the only legitimate priestly
line and the Sadducees apparently took their name from the name “Zadok”) before
the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.[11] Schiffman says, “The most likely scenario,
based on the entire Qumran documents published so far, but especially on the
as-yet-unpublished[12]
MMT, is that a process of sectarianism and separatist mentality grew throughout
the Hasmonean period and blossomed in the Herodian period. As a result, a group of originally Sadducean
priests, under the leadership of the Teacher of Righteousness developed into
the group that left us the sectarian texts found at Qumran.”[13]
In response to Schiffman, James C.
Vanderkam of the University of Notre Dame, argues that the DSS texts point away
from, not toward, a Sadducean origin.
To argue his hypothesis, Vanderkam looks to the writings of Pliny and
Josephus, and to The Manual of Discipline (1QS). The Manual of Discipline (a.k.a. The Community Rule) describes
some of the beliefs of the Qumran community.[14] Vanderkam compares the Manual of Discipline
with Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews to support his position. For example, 1QS 3.15-16 says:
“All
that is now and ever shall be originates with the God of knowledge. Before things come to be, He has ordered all
their designs, so that when they do come to exist—at their appointed times as
ordained by His glorious plan—they fulfill their destiny, a destiny impossible
to change.”[15]
Similarly, Josephus says:
“But the sect
of the Essenes affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls
men but what is according to its determination. (173) And for the Sadducees,
they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of
human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions
are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the cause of what is good, and
receive what is evil from our own folly.”[16]
Vanderkam points to other comparisons
between Josephus’ description of the Essene community and religious life with
the Manual of Discipline’s description that support the notion that The Qumran
sect and the Essene sect were one and the same. Also, he points out that Pliny’s writings show that Qumran was
the location of an Essene group.[17]
Vanderkam refers to a recent analysis of
Josephus’ material and the sectarian DSS documents by Todd Beall, who concluded
that there exist “twenty-seven parallels between Josephus and the scrolls
regarding the Essenes, twenty-one probable parallels, ten cases in which
Josephus makes claims about the Essenes that have no known parallels among the
scrolls, and six discrepancies between them.”[18] And of the six scrolls that have
discrepancies, two differ among themselves.[19]
The doctrinal tenants of the Qumran community indicate that they
could not have been a group of Sadducees.
The Qumran sect had a belief in angels
and in the resurrection of the dead, which “was not a central tenet,
though they did believe that those who lay in the dust would rise (see 1QH
6:34–35). The ‘Children of Light’ are promised eternal life
along with the ‘Children of Heaven’ (1QS 11:5–9).”[20] The New Testament tells that the Sadducees
do not believe in the resurrection, therefore, the sect at Qumran could not
have been part of the Sadducees.
The late Phillip Sigal, former Rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel
in Grand Rapids and author, says that the Qumranites cannot be identified with
the known groups of ancient Israel, but they were “part of a vast complex of
groups or movements, all of whom can be subsumed under the rubric ‘Pharisees.’”[21] Sigal includes the Essenes, Philo’s Therapeutae,
and other pietistic, separatist movements as being part of the Pharisees.[22] Sigal further states that the Qumran group
was an offshoot of the Hasidim who had joined the Maccabean revolt c. 167 B.C.,
but later withdrew support of the Hasmoneans due to the replacement of the
legitimate priesthood by the Hasmonean line and by Simon the Hasmonean’s
assumption of the title “Prince of the People,” which appeared to the
Qumranites as usurping David’s throne.[23]
Some apparent contradictions show that
the Qumranites were not Essenes. The
first contradiction to the Essene theory is that the Essenes were reportedly
celibate. Josephus, Pliny, and Philo
all agree that this was the case, but Josephus also describes a group of
Essenes who married.[24] Celibacy was not
part of the Hebrew tradition, but there were sectarian groups in Israel who did
not marry and refrained from sexual activity. Perhaps those who married
did so to procreate, only having sexual relations for that purpose. “These groups were outside the mainstream of
Jewish society and lived in a remote region near the Dead Sea. There is
no evidence to suggest that celibacy was a requirement for membership in the
Qumran community of the Essenes. Three
of the unearthed manuscripts, (classified CD, QM and IQSA), believed to be from
the community's library, refer to the presence of women and children in the
community. The skeletal remains of women were found in the community's
cemetery.”[25]
Secondly, Philo reported that Essenes
pursued peaceful occupations, but the War Scroll found in the Qumran caves
gives detailed instructions of a future-armed conflict with the power of
darkness.[26] If the War Scroll was written by the Qumran
sect, this would apparently contradict that this was a group of Essenes.
Another contradiction is that neither Philo, nor Josephus mentions the
364-day solar calendar that seemed to be a “key tenet of the Qumran group.”[27] The traditional Jewish year is based on a
354-day lunar calendar.
The Practices
and Beliefs of the Sect
There were
four main documents found along with the Biblical texts in the caves near
Qumran that shed some light on the community life. These documents are the Manual of Discipline, the Damascus
Document, the Thanksgiving Hymn, and the Order of Warfare. These documents tell of the regulations and
beliefs of the community and from these works “one may deduce that the people
ate, lived, and worked together on a common basis.”[28] Furthermore, they withdrew from “official”
Judaism, retreating to the desert to live a monastic lifestyle of “moral and
spiritual discipline.”[29] Shaye J.D. Cohen, looking at the Qumran sect
from a sociological view, says that their goal was “to create a utopian society
for its members.”[30]
According to A.B. du Toit, the Essenes
stressed ethical correctness. “Moderation and sobriety characterized their
whole behaviour.”[31] Du Toit mentions the following practices as
being associated with the Essenes:
Wealth was not accumulated and property was shared.
Slaves were not allowed.
Truth was regarded highly, oaths were unnecessary.
Before each meal a cold bath was taken as part of the purification
ceremony.
White clothes were worn as symbols of purity and sobriety.
On admission to the group, a member was given three external tokens:
a small chopper, an apron and a white robe.
According to Philo and Pliny, marriage was rejected and celibacy
advocated. Josephus refers, however, to
a group of Essenes who allowed marriage (Bell. Jud. II:160f).
No animal sacrifices were offered, because they had sacrificed
themselves for the Lord’s cause.
The communal meal was a high point in the Essene ritual.[32]
Merrill Tenney lists the following basic
characteristics of the Qumran community:
Scriptural
interpretation was made by the pesher method, in which
the historical situation of the passage was applied to
their own time and situation.
Both
fulfillment of the law and faith in the Teacher of
Righteousness are necessary to gain salvation.
The
community was strictly separated from the rest of society who
were considered to be the wicked forces of darkness.
The
community was very disciplined and followed many rules and
regulations that were intended to protect the purity of the
community. Communal
worship consisted of a fellowship meal
administered by the priests.
A
strong eschatological orientation pointing toward the dawning
of God’s kingly rule and a coming war between the forces of
light and darkness permeated the community.
This
war would involve both human and supernatural (angelic)
forces.
The
community expected the coming of the Prophet and both a
priestly and a lay Messiah.
The
communal society was structured by a ranking of priests
first, then Levites, laymen, and proselytes. The ranking
determined where each person would sit during public
meetings, and
the order in which opinions and questions would be discussed.
Holiness was
an obligation and infractions were punished by
various levels of disciplinary action, including being put
out of the community for severe offenses.[33]
Different segments of Second Temple
Judaism had many religious practices, including certain rituals and dietary
practices. The Qumranites preferred to
be more restrictive in the areas of “dietary traditions, purity customs, and
domestic relations” according to Phillip Sigal.[34] Sigal also says that the holy days were
observed according to a solar, not lunar calendar (as was used in Jerusalem!),
which created disagreements between Qumran and Jerusalem about when festivals
and holy days would be observed. Most
notably was the celebration of the day of Pentecost.[35]
Geza Vermes explains that the
non-sectarian Jewish calendar was regulated by the lunar movements with monthly
variations of twenty-nine or thirty days.
This was a 354-day year that needed to be adjusted by adding an
additional month every thirty-six lunar months. The Qumran community, seeing that this was an artificial calendar
that did not correspond with the four seasons.[36] They rejected the traditional Jewish
calendar and used a 364-day calendar based on the sun. This calendar was divisible by the number
seven to equal fifty-two weeks per year exactly. The four seasons were 13-weeks long, divided by three months of
thirty days each “plus an additional ‘remembrance’ day.”[37]
Shaye Cohen
indicates that many Jews of the second temple period, including the Qumran
sect, were fatalistic, believing that their actions were predetermined (at
least in part) by God.[38] Cohen also points out that they were influenced
by astrology.[39]
Geza Vermes
compares the prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31-33 with Qumranite theology.
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the
Lord, “when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel…But this is the covenant
which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My
law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I
will be their God, and they shall be My people.”[40]
The same ideology of Jeremiah’s prophetic utterance was the very
core
of the Qumran community’s basic beliefs.[41] The Essenes at Qumran saw
themselves as the final ‘remnant’ of Israel and the heirs of the
‘new
Covenant’ as was prophesied.[42]
“The most distinctive belief held by the Essenes, however, was
that
they themselves were the community of the new covenant living in
the
last days immediately prior to the eschatological realization of
Israel’s hope.”[43]
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Turning to the
Dead Sea Scrolls, there has been discussion about dating, authenticity, and
origin of the DSS texts. The discovery
of the scrolls according to F.V. Wilson, “is the most significant manuscript
find ever made” for the study of New Testament background.[44]
Concerning the
Dead Sea Scrolls’ authorship, Norman Golb concluded that only the Copper Scroll
showed any indication that it was an original literary autograph. All other DSS texts that were available
apparently were copies. He discovered
at least one hundred fifty different handwritten scripts among the available
texts, leading him to theorize that the library of the caves near Qumran could
not have been the work of the small community that only housed about two
hundred people.[45] Professor K.H. Rengstorf of the University
of Munster suggested that the scrolls found near Qumran were actually written
in Jerusalem, part of the Temple library, and hidden at Qumran when the Romans
advanced toward Jerusalem.[46]
H.P. Scanlin tells of the importance of
the Dead Sea discovery. He says, “The
accumulated evidence of the study of the manuscripts is only now reshaping our
understanding of the history of the Old Testament text around the turn of the
era.”[47] Scanlin also states that the textual
evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms the reliability of the Old Testament
text as it exists today and offers evidence of important early witnesses to
variations of the text. “Even the nonbiblical manuscript evidence will play an
in-direct role in the work of the translators by providing a detailed picture
of one Jewish group of the first century, their theology, and their method of
biblical interpretation.”[48]
Scanlin also refers to Dewey M. Beegle, who in 1957
assessed the impact of the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries on translating the Old
Testament. Although the manuscript
evidence was not complete, Beegle reached three conclusions, which have been
confirmed by the accessibility of nearly all of the Biblical manuscripts from
Qumran. First, the scrolls confirm the
reliability of the Masoretic Text.
Second, the scrolls reestablish the textual authority of the
Septuagint. Finally, the scrolls are a
source of reading reliable Old Testament variations.[49]
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IV.
Importance of THE QUMRAN COMMUNITY:
This topic is
important in understanding the Old Testament.
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain Old Testament texts—all but Esther—that
essentially agree with the newer texts that our modern Old Testament
translations come from. The DSS texts
are the oldest known to exist, providing Biblical scholars with reliable Old
Testament references that are in harmony with the later texts that were
previously used for translations of the Bible before the discovery near the
Dead Sea.
This topic is
important to understanding ancient Judaism.
The non-Biblical, sectarian texts provide scholars with knowledge of the
religious practices and daily lifestyle of Jews during the time of Christ. Although these texts primarily describe the
practices and beliefs of one sect (presumed to be the Qumran sect), some of
their practices may have been similar to those of other Jewish sects. The texts also give scholars insight into
the apocalyptic thought of the Jews of that day.
This topic is
important to understanding early Christian practices and provides a background
of the culture that the first Christians arose from. The Qumran community may have influenced the practices of first
century Christians or possibly some of the practices were not unique to the
sectarians. For example, the Qumranites
practiced ritual washings (baptism). So
did the Christians. The Qumranites
shared their property with the whole community. So did the Christians.
The Qumran community practiced fellowship meals. So did the Christians. Again, these similarities may be of direct
or indirect influence, but very well could have been common practices of many
of the ancient cultures in the ancient Mediterranean world. The Qumranites were a people who expected
the coming of God’s kingdom, a final war between light and darkness, and looked
forward to the coming of the Messiah or Messiahs. They believed in the resurrection of the dead and in a spiritual
realm. These beliefs are similar to
Christian doctrinal stances, although the Christian views are more spiritual in
nature, especially regarding the coming war between light and darkness.
This topic is important to me personally as I seek more knowledge in the
areas of Biblical studies and theology.
Although I have merely scratched the surface of the Qumran/Essene/Dead
Sea Scrolls topic, I have gained a better understanding of the background of
first century Jewish religion that gave birth to Christianity. It is also important to me in that this
preliminary research on Qumran and the DSS texts may lead to further research
on this, or a related topic.
