Qumran scrolls. Dead Sea Scrolls
This is the official version of the discovery of the Qumran scrolls. However, it is possible that the Bedouins specifically combed the caves in search of treasures. In any case, when the opportunity arose to trade finds, they did not fail to take advantage of it. In 1952, an international scientific expedition set out in the Judean Desert in search of new scrolls. And here a real archaeological war broke out between scientists and local tribes. The nomads tried to be the first to take possession of the manuscripts and then sell them to archaeologists. Often they were lucky, and the scientists had to buy back the scrolls. In this case, the most valuable information was lost - in which caves and how the manuscripts were found, how they were located, etc. Therefore, archaeologists, in turn, sought to get to the storage facilities before the Bedouins did.
The “cold” archaeological war, thank God, did not develop into a “hot” one, but still bore its sad fruits. Many legends regarding the Qumran finds are connected precisely with the fact that scientists did not have the opportunity to quietly carry out their work, and the first manuscripts found and published, as it turned out later, were not directly related to the main part of what was stored in caves on the shores of the Dead Sea. The work of archaeologists and the painstaking desk work of scientists deciphering and translating manuscripts lasted for four decades. Meanwhile, the sensation-loving public was discussing the “Quumran secrets,” which supposedly were supposed to blow up our entire understanding of the era of Jesus Christ and refute the Gospel.
One of the anti-Gospel theses says that many of the things that the Gospel talks about were invented by Christianized Greeks, but they could not have existed in the ancient Jewish environment. In fact, the Greeks were accused of having either invented or edited the Gospel. For example, the expression “Son of God” is often found there. They said that this expression in relation to Christ arose not at all in the Jewish environment, but in the Hellenized Christian communities of Asia Minor, that this was a purely pagan motive, inspired by Greek mythology about the supernatural birth of various heroes. Meanwhile, such an expression is found in the Qumran manuscripts, and it refers specifically to the coming Messiah.
How the myth was born
Oddly enough, the main “culprit” for the emergence of rumors was... the priest. This was a prominent Catholic biblical scholar, the leader of an archaeological expedition, Father Roland de Vaux. He suggested that the ruins of Qumran were a monastery that belonged to the ancient Jewish sect of the Essenes. Four of the seven scrolls that were found first and immediately published spoke about the structure and life of this sect.
Remains of fortifications were found at Qumran, and many manuscripts were found nearby in caves. Trying to determine what exactly he was excavating, Abbot Roland de Vaux thought in terms of a Catholic monastery. It is known that medieval Catholic (as well as Orthodox) monasteries were not only centers of spiritual life, but also military fortresses and centers of education, where books were stored and copied. In any monastery, the central place was occupied by the library and scriptorium (room for copying books). As it seemed to the leader of the expedition, he discovered all this among the ruins of Qumran. In addition, the life of the Essene community, described in published manuscripts, was very reminiscent of the monastic way of life.
In itself, the hypothesis of Father Roland de Vaux is quite acceptable. However, around the work of scientists who deciphered the manuscripts, there were absurd rumors - the same type as newspaper “sensations” about how Christ was “really” born, or that “science has proven” that Christ visited the Himalayas... in a word, something that has nothing to do with real science.
In the first published manuscripts, a certain “Teacher of Righteousness” was repeatedly mentioned. As a result, a scheme emerged: monastery + Essenes + Teacher of Righteousness. This is where speculation was born about a certain “Essene Christ”, stories about which, they say, inspired the authors of the Gospel when telling about Jesus. This myth existed for decades and collapsed only after the publication in 1991 of all the scrolls and the revision of the conclusions made by the archaeological expeditions of 1951-1956.
Of the 900 texts found near Qumran, only 11 were in complete scrolls, and all the rest had to be reconstructed from about 25 thousand fragmentary scraps, many of which were no larger than a postage stamp. The work on restoring the texts was completed only by the beginning of the 60s. And only in the 90s of the last century it became possible to systematize the Qumran scrolls.
All of them date back to the 3rd century. BC - beginning of the 1st century according to R.H. and are written in Hebrew and Aramaic, a small number in ancient Greek. Only a third of them were written by members of various Jewish sects: Essenes, Sadducees, Zealots, etc. About a third are biblical scrolls, in which all the books of the Old Testament are presented in fragments, with the exception of the book of Esther. Their text as a whole does not differ from the now standard Masoretic, but still has a number of interesting discrepancies. About a quarter are non-biblical, non-sectarian texts. They are especially interesting because they allow us to analyze the religious beliefs of the Jews of Palestine during the Second Temple period (538 BC - 70 AD). The remaining texts are too poorly preserved and cannot be identified.
It has been established that most (perhaps all) of the scrolls were written outside of Qumran.
What did you dig up...
What does modern science say about Qumran? Firstly, the “monastic” hypothesis of Father R. de Vaux is called into question. Archaeologists have concluded that the “monastery” was most likely the well-fortified country estate of some noble Jew. They were engaged in agriculture and crafts. Many luxury items and money were found on the territory of Qumran. This is absolutely impossible for the settlement of the Essenes, who were a mendicant sect and shunned any connection with the world of material wealth.
Secondly, Roland de Vaux’s beautiful theory about the Qumran scriptorium, where books were copied, did not stand up to criticism. Only one inkwell was found in the ruins, while an examination of the handwritings showed that the texts were written by more than five hundred different people! Not even the largest medieval monastery could boast of so many scribes.
Today it is obvious that the Qumran manuscripts are not the result of the activities of monastic scribes, but a library. More precisely, library collections, most likely taken here from Jerusalem shortly before the siege of the city by the Romans in 68 AD. They were taken to different places in Judea and there they were placed in vessels for safekeeping, so that they could later return and be used again. It is even possible that the Jews evacuated the library, which was located directly in the Jerusalem Temple, and what was found at Qumran is a small part of it.
The Essenes were finally “evicted” from Qumran after the publication of all the manuscripts in 1991-92, when, following the hypothesis of the monastic scriptorium, the myth that the library belonged to the Essene community collapsed. About 900 texts were found at Qumran. All of them date back to the 3rd century. BC - beginning of the 1st century according to R.H. Of these, only a few dozen turned out to be “Essene”. In modern terms, the four sectarian scrolls, which were published first and misled everyone, turned out to be part of the “special storage” of a large library. Basically, the Dead Sea Scrolls are well-known biblical texts, in which almost all the books of the Old Testament are presented in fragments, as well as non-biblical non-sectarian manuscripts.
The Essenes are a religious sect that arose in Judea in the 2nd half of the 2nd century. BC and existed until the 1st century. according to R.H. According to ancient authors (Philo of Alexandria, Pliny the Elder, Josephus, St. Hippolytus of Rome), the Essenes lived throughout Palestine, including in cities, in rather isolated communities, which were characterized by common property, collective work and life. They condemned war, slavery and trade, rejected blood sacrifices, and had a special ritual of ritual ablutions. Some Essenes led a celibate lifestyle.
The Essenes have long been considered the forerunners of the Christians. However, the similarity is purely external. Their religious views and spiritual practices have little in common with the teachings of Jesus Christ.
What have you read
After the publication of the entire Qumran corpus of manuscripts, the answer to the question became obvious: do they refute the gospel story. Unfortunately for fans of sensations: no. Moreover, the Qumran scrolls fully confirm it. The “Teacher of Righteousness” turned out to be a character characteristic only of sectarian scrolls, while non-sectarian manuscripts are filled with prophecies about the coming Messiah, Whom the Jews of that era were eagerly awaiting and writing about. The last texts found at Qumran were created shortly before the Birth of Jesus Christ, so they very accurately reflect the then mood of that era. The Jewish people were waiting for the birthday of the Messiah, but we knew about this even before Qumran.
However, the Dead Sea Scrolls provide very clear evidence of why, having waited for Christ, the Jews rejected Him. Among the Qumran scrolls were found the manuscripts “Messianic Collection” and “Messiah of Heaven and Earth.” This is a collection of biblical prophecies and non-biblical texts that show exactly what kind of Messiah the Jews were waiting for. And here, again, Qumran did not give anything new. The Messiah from the non-biblical texts of Qumran is a political and military leader who will miraculously defeat all the enemies and enslavers of Israel and place the Jews at the head of the nations of the world.
It is interesting that among the manuscripts there is also a biblical book of the prophet Isaiah, who is called the Old Testament evangelist. It is precisely Isaiah that contains prophecies that the Messiah, being God, will become a man, being seedlessly born of a virgin, that He will take upon himself the sins of the world and voluntarily accept death for people. The authors of the Gospel constantly refer to these prophecies. But the idea of the Messiah's suffering was not popular among the Jews. None of the Qumran non-biblical manuscripts contain a description of the Savior's suffering for the sins of His people - only descriptions of His power, glory and power.
The Gospel Christ, Who came to free people from slavery to sin, Who said: “My kingdom is not of this world,” did not at all correspond to the ideal of the Messiah, Who was expected in Judea at the turn of the era. In this sense, Qumran does not add anything new to the conflict between Jesus and the religious teachers of Israel, which the Gospel speaks of and which ultimately ended with Calvary...
This is the result of almost fifty years of research into the Dead Sea manuscripts. They did not refute the Gospel or shake Christianity. Moreover, from the point of view of science, the Gospel has received additional weight; it has been tested once again, this time by Qumran. And even though some people with esoteric romanticism continue to talk about sensational discoveries at Qumran, supposedly revealing secret knowledge or hidden truth, from the point of view of modern science, all these statements are nothing more than outdated gossip that arose in the 60s of the last century. And there is no need to drag them into the new century.
The term "sect" was coined by Josephus in the 1st century AD. to describe the religious life of Palestine at that time and is more consistent with the modern concept of “religious movement.” In the modern world, a sect is thought of as something not only separated from the general direction, but also opposing itself to it (for example, the “White Brotherhood” in relation to the Orthodox or Catholic Church, etc.). In Palestine at the time of Christ there was no single general direction, but a number of religious movements that were not only comparable in number of members, but also mutually influenced each other.
Qumran Scrolls - Dead Sea Chronicles The Qumran Scrolls - Jewish religious texts written between the 2nd century BC and 68 AD, were hidden in caves near Qumran by several waves of refugees leaving Jerusalem to escape the Romans. The first scrolls at Qumran were found in 1947 by a Bedouin boy searching for a missing goat. Eleven caves contained hundreds of manuscripts, carefully packed in clay vessels and well preserved in the dry air prevailing in the Dead Sea region. The find was one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries of the century; it consisted of Biblical and other manuscripts almost two thousand years old. Some scrolls were classified or never published.
Preface 2
DEAD SEA SCROLLS (more precisely manuscripts; מְגִלּוֹת יָם הַמֶּלַח, Megillot Yam ha-melakh), a popular name for manuscripts discovered since 1947 in the caves of Qumran (tens of thousands of manuscripts and fragments), in the caves wadi Murabba'at (to the south from Qumran), in Khirbet Mirda (southwest of Qumran), as well as in a number of other caves in the Judean Desert and in Masada (for the finds in the last two points, see the corresponding articles). The first manuscripts were discovered by chance in Qumran by Bedouins in 1947. Seven scrolls (complete or slightly damaged) fell into the hands of antiquities dealers, who offered them to scholars. Three manuscripts (Second Scroll of Isaiah, Hymns, War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness) were acquired for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by E. L. Sukenik, who was the first to establish their antiquity and published excerpts in 1948-50. (full edition - posthumously in 1954). Four other manuscripts fell into the hands of the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church, Samuel Athanasius, and from him to the United States, where three of them (the First Scroll of Isaiah, the Commentary on Havakkuk /Habakkuk/ and the Charter of the Community) were read by a group of researchers led by M. Burrows and published in 1950-51 These manuscripts were subsequently acquired by the Israeli government (with money donated for this purpose by D. S. Gottesman, 1884-1956), and the last of these seven manuscripts (the Apocrypha of Genesis), published in 1956 by N. Avigad, was read in Israel and I. Yadin. Now all seven manuscripts are on display in the Temple of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Following these finds, systematic excavations and surveys began in 1951 in Qumran and nearby caves, which were under Jordanian control at that time. The surveys, which uncovered new manuscripts and numerous fragments, were carried out jointly by the Jordanian government's Department of Antiquities, the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) and the French Archaeological Biblical School; Scientific activities were led by R. de Vaux. With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, almost all of these finds, concentrated in the Rockefeller Museum, became available to Israeli scientists. In the same year, I. Yadin managed to acquire (with funds allocated by the Wolfson Foundation) another of the famous large manuscripts - the so-called Temple Scroll. Outside Israel, in Amman, there is only one of the significant Dead Sea manuscripts - the Copper Scroll. The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; there are fragments of Greek translations of biblical texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts is the literary language of the Second Temple era; some passages are written in post-biblical Hebrew. The spelling is usually “full” (the so-called ktiw maleh with particularly extensive use of the letters vav and yod to represent the vowels o, u, and). Often such orthography indicates phonetic and grammatical forms different from the extant Tiberian Masorah, but in this respect there is no uniformity in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The main type used is the square Hebrew font, a direct predecessor of the modern printed font. There are two styles of writing: a more archaic one (the so-called Hasmonean letter) and a later one (the so-called Herodian letter). The Tetragrammaton is usually written in Paleo-Hebrew script, as is one fragment of the book of Exodus. The main writing material is parchment made from goatskin or sheepskin, and occasionally papyrus. Carbon ink (with the sole exception of the Genesis apocrypha). Paleographical data and external evidence allow these manuscripts to be dated to the end of the Second Temple era and considered to be the remains of the library of the Qumran community. Finds of similar texts in Masada date back to 73 AD. e., the year of the fall of the fortress, as terminus ad quet. Fragments of tefillin on parchment were also discovered; Tefillin belong to a type that precedes the modern one. Qumran manuscripts, written in the period from the 2nd century. BC e. up to 1st century n. BC, represent invaluable historical material that allows us to better understand the spiritual processes that characterized Jewish society at the end of the Second Temple era, and sheds light on many general issues of Jewish history. The Dead Sea Scrolls are also of particular importance for understanding the origins and ideology of early Christianity. The finds at Qumran led to the emergence of a special field of Jewish studies - Qumran studies, which deals with the study of both the manuscripts themselves and the whole range of problems associated with them. In 1953, the international Committee for the Publication of the Dead Sea Manuscripts was created (seven volumes of its publications were published under the title “Discoveries in the Judean Desert”, Oxford, 1955-82). The main publication of Qumran scholars is the Revue de Qumran (published in Paris since 1958). Rich literature on Qumran studies exists in Russian (I. Amusin, K. B. Starkova and others). According to their content, the Qumran manuscripts can be divided into three groups: biblical texts, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and literature of the Qumran community. Biblical texts. Among the Qumran finds, about 180 copies of (mostly fragmentary) biblical books have been identified. Of the 24 books of the canonical Hebrew Bible, only one is not represented - the book of Esther, which is perhaps not accidental. Along with Jewish texts, fragments of the Greek Septuagint (from the books of Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus) were discovered. Of the targums (Aramaic translations of the Bible), the most interesting is the targum of the book of Job, which serves as independent evidence of the existence of a written targum of this book, which, according to the order of Rabban Gamliel I, was seized and walled up in the Temple and under the name “Syrian Book” is mentioned in the addition to the book of Job in the Septuagint. Fragments of the targum of the book of Leviticus have also been found. The Apocrypha of the book of Genesis is, apparently, the oldest targum of the Pentateuch created in Eretz Israel. Another type of biblical material is the verbatim verses quoted as part of the Qumran commentary (see below). The Dead Sea Scrolls reflect the diverse textual variants of the Bible. Apparently, in 70-130. the biblical text was standardized by Rabbi Akiva and his companions. Among the textual variants found at Qumran, along with the proto-Masoretic ones (see Masorah), there are types that were previously hypothetically accepted as the basis of the Septuagint and close to the Samaritan Bible, but without the sectarian tendencies of the latter (see Samaritans), as well as types attested only in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, copies of the book of Numbers have been discovered, occupying an intermediate position between the Samaritan version and the Septuagint, and lists of the book of Samuel, the textual tradition of which is apparently better than that which formed the basis of the Masoretic text and the text of the Septuagint, etc. In general, however, comparative A study of the textual variants shows that the proto-Masoretic reading established by Rabbi Akiva and his companions is based, as a rule, on a selection of the best textual traditions. Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. Along with the Greek text of Jeremiah, the apocrypha is represented by fragments of the book of Tobit (three fragments in Aramaic and one in Hebrew) and Ben Sira of Wisdom (in Hebrew). Among the pseudepigraphal works are the Book of Jubilees (about 10 Hebrew copies) and the Book of Enoch (9 Aramaic copies; see also Hanoch). Fragments of the last book represent all the main sections with the exception of the second (chapters 37-71 - the so-called Allegories), the absence of which is especially noteworthy, since here the image of the “son of man” appears (a development of the image from the book of Daniel 7:13). The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (several fragments of the Testament of Levi in Aramaic and the Testament of Naphtali in Hebrew) are also pseudepigrapha - works preserved in the Greek Christianized version. The fragments of the Testaments found at Qumran are more extensive than the corresponding passages in the Greek text. Part of the Epistle of Jeremiah (usually included in the book of Baruch) was also found. Previously unknown pseudepigrapha include the Sayings of Moses, the Vision of Amram (Moses' father), the Psalms of Yehoshua bin Nun, several passages from the Daniel cycle, including the Prayer of Nabonidus (a variant of Daniel 4), and the Book of Secrets. Literature of the Qumran Community Section 5:1-9:25, in a style often reminiscent of the Bible, sets out the ethical ideals of the community (truthfulness, modesty, obedience, love, etc.). The community is metaphorically described as a spiritual temple, consisting of Aaron and Israel, that is, priests and laymen, whose members, due to the perfection of their lives, are able to atone for human sins (5:6; 8:3; 10; 9:4). Then follow the rules on the organization of the community and its daily life, listing the punishable offenses (blasphemy, lying, insubordination, loud laughter, spitting in the meeting, etc.). The section ends with a listing of the virtues of an ideal, “reasonable” member of the sect (maskil). Three hymns, similar in all respects to those contained in the Hymn Roll (see below), complete the manuscript (10:1-8a; 10:86-11:15a; 11:156-22). The Hymn Roll (Megillat ha-hodayot; 18 more or less complete columns of text and 66 fragments) contains about 35 psalms; The manuscript dates back to the 1st century. BC e. Most of the psalms begin with the formula “I thank you, O Lord,” while a smaller part begins with “Blessed be you, O Lord.” The content of the hymns is thanksgiving to God for the salvation of mankind. Man is described as a being sinful by his very nature; he is created from clay mixed with water (1:21; 3:21) and returns to dust (10:4; 12:36); man is a carnal creature (15:21; 18:23), born of a woman (13:14). Sin permeates the entire human being, even affecting the spirit (3:21; 7:27). Man has no justification before God (7:28; 9:14ff.), is unable to know His essence and His glory (12:30), since the human heart and ears are unclean and “uncircumcised” (18:4, 20 , 24). Human destiny is entirely in God's hands (10:5ff.). In contrast to man, God is an omnipotent creator (1:13ff; 15:13ff), who gave man a destiny (15:13ff) and determined even his thoughts (9:12, 30). God's wisdom is infinite (9:17) and inaccessible to man (10:2). Only those to whom God has revealed himself are able to comprehend His mysteries (12:20), devote themselves to Him (11:10ff), and glorify His name (11:25). These chosen ones are not identical with the people of Israel (the word "Israel" is never mentioned in the surviving text), but are those who received revelation - not of their own free will, but by God's design (6:8) - and were cleared of their guilt God (3:21). Humanity is therefore divided into two parts: the elect who belong to God and for whom there is hope (2:13; 6:6), and the wicked who are far from God (14:21) and who are allies of Bliy'al (2 :22) in his struggle with the righteous (5:7; 9, 25). Salvation is possible only for the chosen ones and, which is very characteristic, is considered as having already taken place (2:20, 5:18): acceptance into the community in itself is salvation (7:19ff; 18:24, 28) and therefore not surprising that there is no clear distinction between entry into the community and eschatological salvation. The idea of the resurrection of the righteous is present (6:34), but does not play a significant role. Eschatologically, salvation does not consist in the deliverance of the righteous, but in the final destruction of wickedness. The Psalms reveal a literary dependence on the Bible, primarily on the biblical psalms, as well as on the prophetic books (see Prophets and Prophecy), especially Isaiah, and are full of numerous allusions to biblical passages. Philological studies reveal significant stylistic, phraseological and lexical differences between the psalms, which suggests that they belong to different authors. Although the manuscript dates back to the 1st century. BC BC, the discovery of fragments of these psalms in another cave suggests that the Roll of Hymns is not the original, but a copy of an earlier manuscript. Damascus Document (Sefer brit Dammesek - Book of the Damascus Covenant), a work that presents the views of the sect that left Judea and moved to the “land of Damascus” (if the name is taken literally). The existence of the work has been known since 1896 from two fragments discovered in the Cairo Geniza. Significant fragments of this work were found at Qumran, allowing one to get an idea of its structure and content. The Qumran version is an epitomized version of a more extensive prototype. The introductory part contains exhortations and warnings addressed to members of the sect, and polemics with its opponents. It also contains some historical information about the sect itself. After 390 years (cf. Ech. 4:5) from the day of the destruction of the First Temple, “from Israel and Aaron” the “planted seed” sprouted, that is, a sect arose, and after another 20 years the Teacher of righteousness appeared (1:11; in 20 :14 he is called more ha-yachid - “the only teacher” or “teacher of the one”; or, if you read ha-yahad - “teacher of the /Qumran/ community”, who united those who accepted his teaching into the “new testament”. At the same time, the Preacher of Lies appeared, a “mocker” who led Israel along the wrong path, as a result of which many members of the community apostatized from the “new covenant” and left it. When the influence of apostates and opponents of the sect increased, those remaining faithful to the covenant left the holy city and fled to the “land of Damascus.” Their leader was the “lawgiver who expounds the Torah,” who established the laws of life for those who “entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus.” These laws are valid until the appearance of the “Teacher of Righteousness at the end of days.” The “men of mockery” who followed the Preacher of Lies apparently refers to the Pharisees who “made a fence for the Torah.” The Torah was initially inaccessible: it was sealed and hidden in the Ark of the Covenant until the time of the high priest Zadok, whose descendants were “chosen in Israel”, that is, they have an indisputable right to the high priesthood. Now the Temple has been desecrated, and therefore those who have entered into the “new covenant” should not even approach it. “People of mockery” have profaned the Temple, do not observe the laws of ritual purity prescribed by the Torah, and rebel against the commands of God. The second part of the essay is devoted to the laws of the sect and its structure. The laws include regulations on the Sabbath, the altar, the place for prayer, the “temple city,” idolatry, ritual purity, etc. Some of the laws correspond to generally accepted Jewish ones, others are the opposite of them and are similar to those adopted by the Karaites and Samaritans, with a pronounced general tendency to rigorism. The organization of the sect is characterized by the division of members into four classes: priests, Levites, the rest of Israel, and proselytes. The names of sect members must be included in special lists. The sect is divided into “camps,” each of which is headed by a priest, followed in rank by a “supervisor” (ha-mevaker), whose functions include guiding and instructing the members of the sect. There appears to have been a distinction between those who lived in the "camps" as actual members of the community and those who "lived in the camps by the law of the land," which perhaps meant community members living in villages. The work is written in biblical Hebrew, free of Aramaicisms. Sermons and teachings are composed in the spirit of ancient midrashim. The images of the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of Lies are found in a number of other works of Qumran literature. It is possible that the sect described here was an offshoot of the Qumran one and that the composition reflects later events than the Charter of the community. On the other hand, "Damascus" can be understood metaphorically as a designation for the deserts of Judea (cf. Amos 5:27). If the name Damascus is taken literally, then the event of flight could only relate to the time when Jerusalem and Damascus were not under the rule of one ruler, that is, to the time of the Hasmoneans: in this case, the most likely is the reign of Alexander Janna (103-76 BC) . BC), during which, after the defeat in the civil war, Alexander's opponents and many of the Pharisees and circles close to them fled from Judea. The Temple Scroll (Megillat ha-Mikdash), one of the most important Qumran finds, is the longest manuscript discovered (8.6 m, 66 columns of text) and dates from the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. The work claims to be part of the Torah given by God to Moses: God appears here in the first person, and the Tetragrammaton is always written in full form and in the same square script that the Qumran scribes used only when copying biblical texts. The essay treats four topics: halakhic regulations (see Halakha), religious holidays, the structure of the Temple and regulations regarding the king. The halachic section contains a significant number of regulations, which are not only arranged in a different order than in the Torah, but also include additional laws, often of a sectarian and polemical nature, as well as regulations similar to, but often divergent from, the Mishnaic ones (see Mishnah). Numerous laws on ritual purity reveal a much more strict approach than that adopted in the Mishnah. In the section on holidays, along with detailed instructions relating to the holidays of the traditional Jewish calendar, there are instructions for two additional holidays - New Wine and New Oil (the latter is also known from other Dead Sea manuscripts), which should be celebrated respectively 50 and 100 days after the holiday Shavu'ot. The section on the Temple is written in the style of the chapters of the book of Exodus (chapter 35 and subsequent), telling about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, and, in all likelihood, is intended to serve as a filler for the “lost” instructions about the construction of the Temple given by God to David (I Chron. 28: 11 ff). The temple is interpreted as a man-made structure that must exist until God erects His temple not made by hands. The plan of the Temple, the ritual of sacrifice, holiday rites and the rules of ritual purity in the Temple and in Jerusalem as a whole are interpreted in detail. The last section establishes the number of the royal guard (twelve thousand people, one thousand from each tribe of Israel); the task of this guard is to protect the king from an external enemy; it must be made up of “people of truth, fearing God and hating self-interest” (cf. Ref. 18:21). Next, mobilization plans are established depending on the degree of threat to the state from the outside. The commentary on Havakkuk is the most complete and well-preserved example of Qumran biblical interpretation, based on the application of biblical texts to the situation of the “end of times” (see Eschatology), the so-called pesher. The word pesher appears only once in the Bible (Eccl. 8:1), but in the Aramaic part of the book of Daniel the similar Aramaic word pshar is used 31 times and refers to Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the inscription that appeared on the wall during the feast of Belshazzar (see Belshazzar) , as well as to the angels' interpretation of Daniel's night vision. Pesher goes beyond ordinary human wisdom and requires Divine illumination to reveal the secret, which is denoted by a word of Iranian origin once (occurring nine times in the book of Daniel). Both pesher and raz represent Divine revelation and cannot be understood without pesher: raz is the first stage of revelation, remaining a mystery until the second stage, pesher, comes. These two terms are widely used in Qumran literature (in the Hymn Roll, in the Damascus Document, in numerous biblical commentaries, etc.). Three main principles of the Qumran interpretation: 1) God revealed his intentions to the prophets, but did not reveal the time of their fulfillment, and further revelation was first given to the Teacher of righteousness (see above); 2) all the words of the prophets refer to the “end of times”; 3) the end of times is approaching. The historical context that clarifies Bible prophecy is the reality in which the commentator lived. Havakkuk's description of the Chaldeans (1:6-17) is here appended phrase by phrase to the kittim (apparently Romans) who are seen as God's instruments of punishment for unbelief, particularly the wickedness of the Jerusalem high priests; the kittim will deprive these high priests of the priestly throne they have usurped. Other parts of the Commentary apply the words of the prophet to the religious-ideological conflicts in Judea itself, primarily to the conflict between the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of Lies, or the Unholy Priest. In cases where Hawakkuq's text does not allow direct extrapolation, the commentator resorts to allegorical interpretation. Other Qumran commentaries include: Commentary on verse 1:5 by the prophet Micah, “Who built the high places in Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?", where Jerusalem is interpreted as "a teacher of righteousness who teaches the law to his community and to all who are ready to be included in the list of God's chosen ones"; the so-called Testimonies, in which Ex. 20:21, Num. 24:15-17 and Deut. 33:8-11 are interpreted as referring respectively to the eschatological prophet, prince and high priest, and Yehoshua bin Nun's curse on "the rebuilder of Jericho" is interpreted as referring to the "son of Bliya'al" (apparently one of the Jerusalem high priests) and his two sons . Messianic interpretations of biblical and apocryphal texts are also contained in the so-called Florelegium and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (see above). The War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness (Megillat milchemet bnei or bi-vnei hosheh; nineteen columns of Hebrew text) - a manuscript discovered in 1947 in cave No. 1; during a survey of the Qumran caves in 1949, two additional manuscript fragments were found in the same cave; Several more fragments of another list were found in cave No. 4. The work presents instructions regarding the coming eschatological war lasting 40 years, which will end with the victory of righteousness embodied in the sons of light over vice, the carriers of which are the sons of darkness. Equally, the work is a midrash to the book of Daniel (11:40ff), which details how the last great enemy of God's people will be crushed (Dan. 11:45). In the first stage of the war, which would last six years, the Kittim (presumably the Romans) would be defeated and expelled first from Syria and then from Egypt, after which the purity of the temple service in Jerusalem would be restored. In the remaining 29 years (since hostilities will be suspended every seventh year) the remaining enemies of Israel will be defeated: first the descendants of Shem, then the descendants of Ham, and finally the descendants of Japheth. War is conceived on the model of the ancient institution of holy wars. The sacred nature of war is emphasized by the mottos inscribed on the trumpets and banners of the sons of light; in particular, on the banner carried at the head of the army, there will be the inscription “people of God” (3:13; cf. the official title of Shim’on Hasmonean “prince of the people of God” - sar ‘am El, I Macc. 14:28). Like Judah Maccabee, who encouraged his soldiers before battle by reminding them of how God helped their ancestors in similar circumstances by destroying the army of Sancherib (II Macc. 8:19), the author of the work recalls the victory of David over Goliath. Just as Judah Maccabee and his soldiers, returning from the battlefield, sang psalms of praise (I Macc. 14:24), the author of the work instructs the high priest, kohanim and Levites to bless those going into battle (10:1 ff.), and the soldiers after battles sing a hymn of thanksgiving (14:4 ff.). As befits a holy war, the priests are given a special role: they are prescribed special vestments during battle, in which they accompany the fighters in order to strengthen their courage; they must give battle signals with their trumpets. Kohens, however, should not be in the thick of battle, so as not to defile themselves by touching the dead (9:7-9). Ritual purity must be observed in the strictest manner: just as physical defect makes a person unfit for temple service, in the same way it makes him unfit for participation in war; During military operations, soldiers are forbidden to engage in sexual intercourse, etc. (7:3-8). Although war is conceived according to the ancient model of holy war, detailed instructions on the method of conducting combat operations, tactics, weapons, etc. partly reflect the author’s contemporary military practice. However, the entire course of the war is completely subordinated to the pattern predetermined by God. At the same time, it is obvious that the author familiarized himself with contemporary manuals on military affairs. The military formation prescribed by him resembles the Roman triplex acies, and the weapons are the equipment of the Roman legionaries of the era of Caesar (from the works of Josephus it is known that the Jewish rebels, when training and arming fighters, took the Roman army as a model). The Copper Scroll (Megillat ha-nechoshet) is a document, variously dated by scholars (30-135 AD), written on three plates of soft copper alloy, fastened with rivets and rolled into a scroll (length 2.46 m, width about 39 cm) : During rolling, one row of rivets burst and the remaining part was rolled separately. The text is minted (about ten mints per letter) on the inside of the scroll. The only way to read the document was to cut the scroll into transverse strips; the operation was carried out in 1956 (four years after the scroll was found) at the Manchester Institute of Technology, and with such care that no more than 5% of the text was damaged. The document is written in colloquial Mishnaic Hebrew and contains about three thousand characters. A French translation was published in 1959 by J. T. Milik; transcription and English translation with commentary - in 1960 by D. M. Allegro (Russian translation of the English edition was published in 1967); The official publication of the text with a facsimile, translation, introduction and commentary was carried out by Milik in 1962. The contents of the manuscript are an inventory of treasures with their burial places. The document is of significant interest from the point of view of toponomics and topography of ancient Judea and allows us to identify a number of areas mentioned in ancient historical sources. The total weight of the gold and silver treasures listed in the scroll is about one hundred forty or even two hundred tons, according to various estimates. If the treasures listed are real, it can be assumed that the scroll contains a list of treasures from the Temple and other places rescued by the defenders of Jerusalem in the final stages of the war against the Romans (see Jewish War I). It is typical that among the hidden treasures are incense, valuable wood, tithe jars, etc. The use of such a durable material as copper allows us to conclude that the listed treasures are real (according to Allegro). Just because a document was found at Qumran does not necessarily mean it belonged to the Qumran community. There is an assumption that the Qumran caves were used by the Zealots or their allies, the Edomites, who may have hidden the document here when the Romans approached. Other documents of the Qumran community include the Charter of Blessings (Serech ha-brakhot), the so-called Angelic Liturgy, or Songs of the Sabbath Burnt Offering (Serech Shirot Olat Ha-Shabbat), the Priestly Orders (Mishmarot) and other texts, as well as numerous minor fragments. Many materials from Qumran are still being deciphered and awaiting publication. Murabba'at manuscripts. In 1951, a group of local Bedouins offered to purchase fragments of parchment manuscripts in Hebrew and Greek that the Rockefeller Museum had in its possession. Following these finds, in 1952, under the leadership of R. de Vaux and J. L. Harding, an expedition was equipped to examine four caves where the fragments were found. During the expedition, a significant amount of handwritten materials was discovered. In 1955, local shepherds discovered a scroll in a previously unexplored cave containing a significant part of the Hebrew text from the 12 biblical books of the Minor Prophets. Manuscript materials discovered in the caves of Wadi Murabba'at include texts dating from the 8th to 7th centuries. BC e. and up to the Arab period. The oldest written monument is a papyrus palimpsest (twice used sheet), which was originally, apparently, a letter (`...[name] tells you: I send greetings to your family. Now, don’t believe the words that tell you... .`), on top of the washed-out text is a list of four lines, each of which contains a personal name and numbers (apparently, the amount of tax paid); the document is written in Phoenician (Paleo-Hebrew) script. The most numerous and interesting materials date back to the Roman period, when the caves served as a refuge for participants in the Bar Kokhba uprising. The caves appear to have been the last refuge of the rebels who died here at the hands of the Romans; some of the manuscripts were damaged during the enemy invasion. Manuscripts from this period include fragments on parchment of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy and the books of Isaiah. The biblical fragments belong to the proto-Masoretic text. Among the finds are tefillin of the type that became accepted from the beginning of the 2nd century. n. BC, in contrast to fragments of an earlier type that included the Ten Commandments that were found at Qumran. Fragments of a liturgical nature in Hebrew and a literary nature in Greek were discovered. A significant portion of the manuscript material consists of business documents (contracts and bills of sale) in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, most dating to the years leading up to the Bar Kokhba revolt and the years of the revolt. Of particular interest are the letters from the rebels, including two letters in Hebrew signed by the leader of the uprising, Shim'on ben Koseva (that is, Bar Kokhba). One of the letters reads: “From Shimon ben Koseva to Yehoshua ben Galgole [apparently the leader of the local rebels] and to the people of his fortress [?] - peace! I call heaven to witness that if any of the Galileans who are with you are ill-treated, I will put your feet in shackles... Sh. K. himself.” Second letter: “Peace from Shimon Yehoshua ben Galgole! Know that you must prepare five cows of grain to be sent through [the members of] my household. So prepare a place for each of them to spend the night. Let them stay with you all Saturday. Make sure that the heart of each of them is filled with contentment. Be brave and encourage courage among the locals. Shalom! I have ordered that those who give you their grain should bring it the day after the Sabbath.” One early Aramaic document (55 or 56 CE) contains the name of the Emperor Nero written in such a way (נרון קסר) to form the apocalyptic number 666 (see Gematria). Manuscript materials from the Murabba'ata caves indicate that the population of Judea of this period, as in the Herodian era, was trilingual, using Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek with equal ease. In Khirbet Mirda, as a result of excavations (1952-53), fragments of New Testament and apocryphal literature, business documents, fragments of the tragedy of Euripides and other manuscripts were found, mainly in Greek and Syriac, as well as in Arabic (4-8 centuries) . A number of important manuscripts (biblical fragments, letters of Bar Kochba) were also discovered in Nahal Hever, Nahal Mishmar and Nahal Tze'elim (see. Bar Kokhba's revolt; Judean Desert caves).
Preface 3
The Qumran scrolls are commonly called ancient manuscripts that were found in 1947 on the northwestern coast of the Dead Sea in the caves of Wadi Qumran, Wadi Murabba'ata, Ain Fashkhi and Masada. The first scrolls were discovered in 1947 in one of the Qurman caves; later archaeologists examined 200 caves in the Qumran area and in 11 of them they found about 40 thousand manuscripts of various sizes, written mainly in Old Hebrew and Aramaic. These were the remains of an ancient manuscript library, which numbered about 600 books, of which 11 were preserved almost completely. It has been established that, starting from the 2nd century BC. e. and until the first third of the 2nd century AD. e. A Jewish sect, apparently the Essenes, lived in Qumran, to whom this library belonged. Based on their content, the Qumran manuscripts are divided into biblical books (two versions of the book of Isaiah, the book of Job, Psalms, Leviticus, etc.), documents of the sect itself (“Charter of the community”, “War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness”, Hymns, Commentaries on Habakkuk , Nahum, Hosea, etc.), business documents (letters from the leader of the uprising against Rome in 132-135, Bar Kochba, his notes, etc.)
Mysterious discoveries made in the second half of the 50s of the 20th century in caves on the shores of the Dead Sea can easily be called the greatest sensation of the century. They are ancient manuscripts called Qumran scrolls. Found in Masada, the caves of Qumran, Khirbet Mirda, as well as in a number of other caves in the Judean Desert, these artifacts not only confirmed the truth of the Biblical texts, but also revealed many previously unknown events of the past.
Discovery of the Qumran Scrolls
In early 1947, two youth shepherds from the Taamire tribe were herding goats in a desert area of the West Bank called Wadi Qumran, on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea (hence these manuscripts are also known as dead sea scrolls) 20 kilometers east of Jerusalem. A hole in the rock caught their attention. Having entered the cave through it, they, to their amazement, found eight large clay vessels there. One of them contained seven scrolls, sewn from pieces of parchment and wrapped in pieces of linen cloth. The parchment was covered with parallel columns of text in a language other than Arabic. The find remained with the young men for many weeks until they reached Bethlehem, where they offered the scrolls to a Syrian merchant, who sent them to the Syrian Metropolitan Yeshua Samuel Athanasius at the Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem. At the end of 1947, Professor E. Sukenik, an archaeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, managed to acquire the three remaining manuscripts from a dealer in Bethlehem. All seven scrolls (complete or slightly damaged) are now on display in the Temple of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
In 1951, systematic excavations and surveys began in Qumran and nearby caves under Jordanian control. The surveys, which revealed new manuscripts and numerous fragments, were carried out jointly by the Jordanian government's Department of Antiquities, the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) and the French Archaeological Biblical School.
From 1951 to 1955, they organized four archaeological expeditions to the area a few kilometers south of the first cave, and even further south to Wadi Murabbaat. More than 200 caves were explored, and many showed traces of human presence here. The finds ranged in time from the Bronze Age to the Roman era, with the later period being precisely dated by the discovery of a large number of coins. 500 meters east of the Qumran caves, at a site called Khirbet Qumran, researchers discovered the remains of a stone building, probably a monastery, with a large number of halls, where there were many cisterns and pools, a mill, a pottery storeroom, a pottery kiln and a granary. In one of the interior rooms, table-like structures made of plaster with low benches and inkwells made of ceramics and bronze were discovered; Some of them still contain traces of ink. It was probably a scriptorium, that is, a writing room, where many of the found texts were created. To the east of the building was a cemetery containing more than 1,000 graves.
With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, almost all of these finds, concentrated in the Rockefeller Museum, became available to Israeli scientists. In the same year, I. Yadin managed to acquire (with funds allocated by the Wolfson Foundation) another of the famous large manuscripts - the so-called Temple Scroll. Outside Israel, in the Jordanian capital Amman, there is only one of the significant Dead Sea manuscripts - the Copper Scroll.
The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; There are also fragments of Greek translations of Bible texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts was the literary language of the Second Temple era, some fragments are written in post-biblical Hebrew. The main type used is the square Hebrew font, a direct predecessor of the modern printed font. The main writing material is parchment made from goatskin or sheepskin, and rarely papyrus. The ink used was mainly carbon. Paleographic data, external evidence, and radiocarbon dating allow us to date the bulk of these manuscripts to the period from 250 to 68 BC (the period of the Second Temple of Jerusalem). They are considered to be the remains of the library of the mysterious Qumran community.
According to their content, the Qumran scrolls can be divided into three groups: biblical texts (this is about 29% of the total number of manuscripts); apocrypha and pseudepigrapha; other literature of the Qumran community. Between 1947 and 1956, more than 190 biblical scrolls were discovered in eleven Qumran caves. Basically these are small fragments of the books of the Old Testament (all except the Books of Esther and Nehemiah). One complete text of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah was also found.
The founding of the Qumran settlement appears to date back to the Maccabean era, possibly to the time of King John Hyrcanus of Judea, as the earliest coins date back to his reign of 135-104 BC.
From the first years of work on the found texts, the prevailing opinion in scientific circles was that the Qumranites’ own works (“Charter of the Community”, “War Scroll”, “Commentaries”, etc.) were written in the 2nd-1st centuries BC. Only a small group of scholars chose to date the scrolls to a later time.
Of the hypotheses in which the manuscripts date back to the 1st century AD, the version of the Australian orientalist Barbara Thiering caused the greatest resonance - if not in the scientific community, then at least in the media. The main person appearing in the scrolls is the leader of the community, called the Righteous Mentor, or Teacher of Righteousness. Identifying him with historical figures of the 2nd-1st centuries BC encountered great difficulties. At the same time, many Qumran scholars point out that there are many similarities between the teachings of this man, as reflected in the manuscripts, and the preaching of John the Baptist. Tiering put an equal sign between these people. Moreover, she was not the first who decided to do this. As early as 1949, the Austrian scholar Robert Eisler, known for his study of the Slavic translation of The Jewish War, pointed out that the Righteous Master was John the Baptist.
Dead Sea Scrolls
It is interesting to note that, apparently, not all dead sea scrolls fell into the hands of scientists. In 2006, Professor Hanan Eshel presented to the scientific community a hitherto unknown Qumran scroll containing fragments of the Book of Leviticus. Unfortunately, this scroll was not discovered during new archaeological excavations, but was accidentally seized by the police from an Arab smuggler: neither he nor the police suspected the true value of the find until Eshel, who was invited to the examination, established its origin. This incident once again confirmed that a significant part of the Dead Sea Scrolls may be in the hands of thieves and antiquities dealers, gradually falling into disrepair.
Of particular interest is the connection between the Qumran Scrolls and early Christianity. It turned out that the Dead Sea Scrolls, created several decades before the birth of Christ, contain many Christian ideas, for example, about an imminent change in the course of history. The Qumran community itself, which arose several centuries before this event, was similar to a monastery in the Christian sense of the word: strict rules, shared meals, obedience to the abbot (called the Righteous Mentor).
Almost all Qumran scholars agree that the scrolls were hidden in the caves during the war with the Romans - most likely in 68 AD, shortly before Qumran was captured by the latter. It is obvious that the comments were created by witnesses to the events described in them.
The significance of the found scrolls and their fragments is extremely great. The found fragments almost completely correspond to the texts of the Bible, and thus confirm the authenticity of later Jewish texts. Also important are manuscripts of non-biblical content, reflecting a previously little-known aspect of Jewish thinking of that era. They talk about people who lived and were buried at Qumran, who called themselves the Community of the Covenant. The order of life of the community is fixed in its Charter. The ideas expressed in it are similar to those attributed to the Jewish sect of the Essenes, who, according to Pliny, lived on the western shore of the Dead Sea, where Qumran is located. The Temple Scroll, discovered in 1967, contains detailed instructions for the construction of a large temple and touches on topics such as ritual impurity and purification. The text is often given as being spoken in the first person by God himself.
Before the Qumran finds, analysis of the biblical text was based on medieval manuscripts. The Qumran scrolls have significantly expanded our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament. Previously unknown readings help to better understand many of its details. Thanks to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the reliability of ancient translations has been confirmed, primarily the Septuagint - the Greek translation of the Old Testament, made back in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
Some commentators say there is historical continuity between the teachings of the Essenes and the ideas of early Christianity. In addition to ideological similarities, a certain chronological and geographical coincidence of the two groups is emphasized. Thus, the formation of the Christian church is associated with the revival of the Qumran monastery between 4 BC and 68 AD. Moreover, these scholars point out that when the Word of God was revealed to John the Baptist, he withdrew into the Judean Desert near the mouth of the Jordan River. There he baptized Jesus Christ. Thus, the discovery and study of the Qumran scrolls helped scientists get closer to the circumstances of writing the Bible - the main book for millions of people.
The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; there are fragments of Greek translations of biblical texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts was the literary language of the Second Temple era; some passages are written in post-biblical Hebrew. The main type used is the square Hebrew font, a direct predecessor of the modern printed font. The main writing material is parchment made from goatskin or sheepskin, and occasionally papyrus. Charcoal ink (with the sole exception of the Genesis apocrypha). Paleographic data, external evidence, and radiocarbon dating allow these manuscripts to be dated to the period from 250 BC. e. up to 68 AD e. (late Second Temple period) and consider them as remains of the library of the Qumran community.
Publishing texts
Documents found at Qumran and other areas are published in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) series, consisting of 39 volumes published between 1955 and 2005. published by Oxford University Press. The first 8 volumes are written in French, the rest in English. The chief editors of the publication were R. de Vaux (volumes I-V), P. Benoit (volumes VI-VII), I. Strungel (volume VIII) and E. Tov (from volume IX).
Document publications contain the following components:
- A general introduction describing the bibliographic data, physical description including fragment dimensions, material, list of features such as errors and corrections, orthography, morphology, paleography, and dating of the document. A list of variant readings is also provided for biblical texts.
- Transcription of text. Physically lost elements - words or letters - are given in square brackets.
- Translation (for non-biblical work).
- Notes regarding complex or alternative readings.
- Photographs of fragments, sometimes infrared, usually on a 1:1 scale.
The final volume of the series contains an annotated list of all published texts. Some documents were previously published in scholarly journals devoted to biblical studies.
Implications for Biblical Studies
In terms of their textual status, the biblical texts found at Qumran belong to five different groups.
- Texts written by members of the Qumran community. These texts are distinguished by a special orthographic style, characterized by the addition of numerous matres lectionis, making the text easier to read. These texts make up about 25% of the biblical scrolls.
- Proto-Masoretic texts. These texts are close to the modern Masoretic text and constitute about 45% of all biblical texts.
- Pre-Samaritan texts. These texts repeat some features of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Apparently, one of the texts from this group became the basis for the Samaritan Pentateuch. These tests account for 5% of biblical manuscripts.
- Texts close to the Hebrew source of the Septuagint. These texts show close similarities to the Septuagint, for example in the arrangement of verses. However, the texts of this group differ significantly from each other, not forming such a close group as the above groups. Such scrolls make up 5% of the Qumran biblical texts.
- The remaining texts have no similarities with any of the above groups.
Before the Qumran finds, analysis of the biblical text was based on medieval manuscripts. The Qumran texts have greatly expanded our knowledge of the text of the Old Testament from the Second Temple period.
- Previously unknown readings help to better understand many details of the text of the Old Testament.
- The textual diversity reflected in the five groups of texts described above gives a good idea of the multiplicity of textual traditions that existed during the Second Temple period.
- The Qumran Scrolls provided valuable information about the process of textual transmission of the Old Testament during the Second Temple period.
- The reliability of ancient translations has been confirmed, especially the Septuagint. The found scrolls belonging to the quarter group of texts confirm the correctness of the previously made reconstructions of the Hebrew original of the Septuagint.
Language of the Qumran manuscripts
Texts created by the members of the Qumran community themselves play a huge role in studying the history of the Hebrew language. The most important of this group are the "Rule" (1QSa), "Blessings" (1QSb), "Hymns" (1QH), "Commentary on Habakkuk" (1QpHab), "War Scroll" (1QM) and "Temple Scroll" (11QT) . The language of the Copper Scroll (3QTr) differs from that of these documents and can be attributed to the spoken language of the time, a precursor to Mishnaic Hebrew.
The language of the remaining documents created by members of the community, on the one hand, is close in vocabulary to early biblical Hebrew. On the other hand, features common to Late Biblical Hebrew and Mishnaic Hebrew are absent from the language of the Qumran manuscripts (Qumran Hebrew). Based on this, scholars suggest that members of the Qumran community, in written and perhaps spoken language, deliberately avoided trends characteristic of the spoken language of the time, such as, for example, the increased influence of Aramaic dialects. To protect themselves from the outside world, members of the sect used terminology based on biblical expressions, thereby symbolizing a return to the “pure” religion of the generation of the Exodus.
Thus, Qumran Hebrew is not a transitional link between late biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew, but represents a separate branch in the development of the language.
Unknown scrolls
It is interesting to note that, apparently, not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls have yet fallen into the hands of scientists. After completing the publication of the DJD series, in 2006, Professor Hanan Eshel presented to the scientific community a hitherto unknown Qumran scroll containing fragments of the book of Leviticus. Unfortunately, the scroll was not discovered during new archaeological excavations, but was accidentally seized by the police from an Arab smuggler: neither one nor the others suspected the true value of the find until Eshel, who was invited to the examination, established its origin. This case once again reminds us that a significant part of the Dead Sea Scrolls may pass through the hands of thieves and antiquities dealers, gradually falling into disrepair.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity
Of particular interest is the connection between the Qumran manuscripts and early Christianity: it turned out that the Dead Sea Scrolls, created several decades before the birth of Christ, contain many Christian ideas (an approaching turning point in history, etc.) The Qumran community itself, which arose several centuries before this event , is a monastery in the Christian sense of the word: strict rules, communal meals, obedience to the abbot (called the Righteous Teacher) and abstinence from sexual intercourse. These facts made it possible, in particular, to more reasonably consider Christianity as a natural internal development of Judaism, and not as a relatively independently arising religion. Such an understanding, on the one hand, allows Christians to defend themselves against attacks on the lack of connection between the religion of the New and Old Testaments and the alleged “ignorance” of Christ in matters of the Jewish religion, and, on the other hand, demonstrates the correctness of Friedrich Nietzsche, who linked Judaism and Christianity into a single “ Judeo-Christian civilization."
On the other hand, supporters of the idea of the emergence of Christianity as an independent religion, recall that initially Christianity actually arose as a sect that interpreted Judaism outside the main, traditional interpretation (like many other sects before and after Christianity, such as the Hellenists, Seduseans, Karaites, and Reformed movement in Judaism). However, with the advent of Paul’s ideas, a breakdown occurred that separated the sect, which was originally in the Jewish tradition (although not in the “mainstream”) from Judaism. It is this moment, and not the original evolution of Christianity within Judaism, that is the moment of the emergence of a new and separate religion. The fact that Christianity developed gradually from Judaism does not mean that such a development is a natural internal development, otherwise the ideas of Christianity (which do not relate to the Written and Oral Torah, that is, the Tanakh and Talmud) would have been reflected in the ideas of traditional Judaism.
Literature
- S. Rysev.
- Amusin I.D. Finds near the Dead Sea. - Science, 1965. - 104 p. - 30,000 copies.
- Amusin I.D. Qumran community. - Science, 1983. - 328 p.
- Tantlevsky, I.R. History and ideology of the Qumran community. - St. Petersburg: 1994. - 367 p. - ISBN 5-85803-029-7
- Tov, E. Textology of the Old Testament. - M.: BBI, 2003
- Angel Sáenz-Badillos, John Elwolde, A History of the Hebrew Language, Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521556341, 9780521556347
- D. Yurevich. Prophecies about Christ in the Dead Sea Scrolls. - St. Petersburg: Aksion estin, 2004. - 254 p., ill.
Links
- Article " Dead Sea Scrolls» in the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
Texts of the Qumran manuscripts
- On the Israel Museum website:
- Amusin, I. D. Qumran Fragment of the Prayer of the Babylonian King Nabonidus
- Amusin, I. D. Qumran Commentary on Hosea (4QpHosb II)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
(8 votes: 5.0 out of 5)- Brockhaus Biblical Encyclopedia
- prot. D. Yurevich
- priest D. Yurevich
- A.K. Sidorenko
Qumran manuscripts- a set of ancient religious manuscripts discovered in the Qumran area, compiled at the end and beginning (for some reasons, this time dates back to the period: 3rd century BC - 68 AD).
Where does the story of the discovery and publication of the Qumran manuscripts begin?
In 1947, two Bedouins, Omar and Muhammad Ed-Dib, herding cattle in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea, in the Wadi Qumran region, came across a cave, inside which, to their surprise, they discovered ancient leather scrolls wrapped in linen. According to the explanation of the Bedouins themselves, they came to this cave quite by accident, while searching for a missing goat; according to another version, which seems no less plausible, they purposefully looked for antiquities.
Unable to appreciate the found manuscripts, the Bedouins tried to cut them into leather straps for sandals, and only the fragility of the material, corroded by time, convinced them to abandon this idea and look for a more suitable use for the find. As a result, the manuscripts were offered to antiquarians and then became the property of scientists.
As the manuscripts were studied, their true historical value became clear. Soon, professional archaeologists appeared at the site where the first scrolls were discovered. As part of the systematic excavations of 1951-56, carried out in the Judean Desert, many written monuments were discovered. All of them together received the name “Dead Sea manuscripts”, after the place of discovery. Sometimes these monuments are conventionally classified as Qumran, but often only those that were found directly in the Qumran area are so designated.
What are the Qumran manuscripts?
Among the Qumran finds, several well-preserved scrolls were identified. Mostly, the finds revealed a mass of scattered, sometimes tiny fragments, the number of which reached approximately 25,000. Through long and painstaking work, a number of fragments were identified by content and combined into more or less complete texts.
As the analysis shows, the overwhelming majority of the texts were compiled in Aramaic and Hebrew, and only a small part - in Greek. Among the monuments, scriptures of biblical, apocryphal and private religious content were discovered.
In general, the Dead Sea Scrolls cover almost all the Books of the Old Testament, with rare exceptions. It is interesting to note that, for example, the Book of the Prophet Isaiah has been preserved in almost its entirety, and a comparison of the ancient text of this Book with modern copies indicates their mutual correspondence.
According to one theory, the Qumran manuscripts originally belonged to the Essev community that lived in that area, known from ancient sources. It was an isolated sect within which observance of the law and strict (Old Testament) practices were practiced. Among other things, the conclusions from the study and the peculiar scientific interpretation of the ancient ruins found there are in favor of the above-mentioned assumption. It is believed that the Essenes could have lived in this area until it was captured by Roman soldiers in 68.
Meanwhile, there is another point of view, according to which at least some of the documents found are not of sectarian, but of Jewish origin.
