by Geza Vermes
55
See his numerous articles in JJS between 1951 and 1955.
56
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, London, 1970.
57
. Jesusthe Man: A New Interpretation from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Doubleday, London and New York, 1992; Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Harper, San Francisco and NewYork, 1992.
58
Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, London and New York, 1992.
59
See my review of The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered in the TLS of 4 December 1992 and ‘The War over the Dead Sea Scrolls’, The New York Review of Books, 11 August, 1994, 10-13.
60
Cf. below, pp. 472-3.
61
Cf. below, p. 614.
62
Cf. G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, London, 1973, 67-9; The Religion ofJesusthe Jew, London, 1003,102-3.
63
See also G. Vermes, ‘Qumran Forum Miscellanea I’, JJS 43 (1992), 303-4, and Emile Puech, ‘Une apocalypse messianique’, RQ 15 (1991-2), 475-522.
64
Cf. Targum Neofiti, Fragmentary Targum and Pseudo-Jonathan on Gen. iii, 15.
65
S. Talmon in F. M. Cross and S. Talmon, Qumran and the Origin of the Biblical Text, Cambridge, Mass., 1975, 380.
66
The Dead Sea Scrolls Forty Years On, Oxford, 1987, 15-16.
67
On this, see G. Vermes, The Religion of Jesus theJew,London and Minneapolis, 1993.
68
The absence of any mention of the ‘sons of Zadok, the Priests’ in MMT deals a serious blow to the hypothesis that a proto-Sadducaean priestly group lurks behind this document. The basis of this theory is that three legal doctrines (out of a list of more than twenty) voiced in MMT are attributed to the Sadducees in rabbinic literature. But the soundest position is to consider these teachings as priestly halakhot, held by the forerunners of the Qumran Community and the later Sadducees.
69
The Therapeutai or Egyptian ascetics of Philo adopted celibacy, but formed separate male and female communities (mature men having left behind family and property, and women being mostly aged virgins; cf. Philo, Contemplative Life, 13, 68) whose members met for worship. A badly damaged manuscript from Cave 4 (4Q502), repeatedly mentioning old men and women, is interpreted by J. M. Baumgarten as probably alluding to a similar institution (‘4Q502, Marriage or Golden Age Ritual?’, JJS 34 (1983), 125-35). 4Q502 consists of 344 papyrus fragments. Its editor, M. Baillet (DJD, VII, 81-105), gave it the title ‘Marriage Ritual’, which is almost certainly a misnomer (see Baumgarten above). Not a single coherent section of this liturgical composition has survived; hence no meaningful translation can be supplied. However, it is worth noting that fr. 2 contains the phrase ‘daughter of truth’ and an allusion to the examination of women concerning their ‘intelligence and understanding’. Josephus states in connection with the marrying Essenes that they trained their women - like their men - for three years (War II, 161; cf. G. Vermes, Discovery in the Judean Desert, New York, 1956, 57, note 176; J. M. Baumgarten, DJD, XVIII, 143).
70
This interpretation of the data yielded by the excavation is that of R. de Vaux (see Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, I973). In her recent brilliant survey, Jodi Magness questions de Vaux’s theory regarding the first phase of the limited sectarian occupation of the Qumran site during the second half of the second century BCE and argues that the communal buildings were first erected around 100 BCE (see The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2002, 63-9). If she is right, the initial edifice was already on a relatively large scale and would correspond to the needs of an already well-established group. In fact, her theory is compatible with the early Hasmonaean beginnings of the sect based on literary considerations, albeit without supporting archaeological evidence.
71
The Zadokite affiliation of the Teacher of Righteousness may be supported by circumstantial evidence. According to the older version of the Community Rule, represented by 4Q258 and 256, the democratic ‘Congregation’ (‘the Many’) constituted the supreme authority of the Community with ordinary priests (sons of Aaron) forming the top layer in doctrinal and legal administration. This position is attributed to the ‘sons of Zadok’, members of the high-priestly family, in the revised 1QS v. In other words, at some early stage in the history of the sect there was a Zadokite takeover. Combining this information with the account of CD 1 (supported by 4QD), we may reasonably surmise that the change occurred with the arrival of the Teacher of Righteousness sent by God to take care of the ‘plant’ of Aaron and Israel (ordinary priests and lay Jews), who had been groping, leaderless, for twenty years. The crisis in the Zadokite ranks in the 160s BCE, following the secession of Onias IV to Egypt, provides the likeliest background for these events (cf. G. Vermes, ‘The Leadership of the Qumran Community’ in Geschichte-Tradition-Reflexion [Martin Hengel Festschrift] I (Tübingen, 1996, 375-84). In this connection it may not be irrelevant to note that according to 4Q266 fr. 5 ii priests who had emigrated among the Gentiles were disqualified.
72
To these four outstanding Essenes we may now add possibly the name of a Bursar or Guardian, Eleazar son of Nahmani, mentioned in one of the Qumran ostraca (cf. below, p. 634), and the three imperfect members, Yohanan and two men called Hananiah mentioned in 4Q477. See above, pp. 31-2.
73
Another metaphorical use of Lebanon (= the foreign nations) is implied in the quotation of Isa. x, 34 in the Rule of War (4Q285 fr. 5).
74
4Q268 adds: to me.
75
4Q266 fr. 2 ii, 3 adds: so that from all the paths of the sin[ners you shall keep away].
76
Or: men called (4Q266, fr. 2 ii, II).
77
Or: when he acted wickedly against Israel the first time (4Q266, fr. 3 ii, 6-7).
78
4Q266, fr. 3 ii, 10 adds: of which Moses said:
79
MS. B continues: by the hand of the prophet Zechariah: Awake, O Sword, against my shepherd, against my companion, says God. Strike the shepherd that tbe flock may be scattered and I will stretch my hand over the little ones (Zech. xiii, 7). The humble of the flock are those who watch for Him. They shall be saved at the time of the Visitation whereas the others shall be delivered up to the sword when the Anointed of Aaron and Israel shall come, as it came to pass at the time of the former Visitation concerning which God said by the hand of Ezekiel: They shall put a mark on tbe forebeads of those who sigh and groan (Ezek. ix, 4). But the others were delivered up to the avenging sword of the Covenant.
80
MS. B inserts: they have entered the Covenant of repentance but they have not turned, etc.
81
MS. B adds: bore witness against the people, so will He love, etc.
82
The end of the Exhortation of CD is followed in 4Q266, fr. 4, lines 11-12, by a badly preserved allusion to the Messiah: ‘God [will set up] a shep[herd for His people] and he will feed [them] in [pastures] ...’
83
4Q266, fr. 8 i, 6 adds: and (then) draw near.
84
4Q266, fr. 8 ii, 8; 270, fr. 6 iii, 15 add: And that which He said:
85
Or: through (4Q270, fr. 6 iii, 18).
86
(4Q267, fr. 9 i,i) adds: and from one month to another.
87
Or: in any (4Q270, fr. 6 iv, 21).
88
Or: his field (4Q266).
89
Or: show bitterness to (4Q271, fr. 5 i, 7).
90
4Q270, fr. 6 v, 17 adds: day.
91
Or: transgress (4Q267, fr. 9 v, 5).
92
4Q266, fr. 10 i, 4 adds: to the congregation.
93
This reading (yolid), which has been queried by many, including myself, seems to be confirmed by computer image enh
ancement. E. Puech (RQ 16, 1994, 361) prefers to read yitgalleh,‘will be revealed’.
94
For the contents of the badly damaged columns III-XII, see p. 191.
95
Reading dglyw(standards = divisions) with the Samaritan Pentateuch against the traditional rglyw (feet). Computer enhancement, initiated by George Brooke, has made this reading certain.
96
The inclusion of these documents in the 1997 edition was made possible by the kindness of F. M. Cross and Esther Eshel, who generously put at my disposal in advance their decipherment of the two inscribed potsherds.
97
If the editors’ reading is correct, line 8 may also be understood as alluding to the completion of a year of initiation in the Community, at the end of which the novice had to hand over his property to the Bursar of the sect according to Community Rule (1QS VI, 18-20): ‘And if it be his destiny, according to the judgement of the Priests and the multitude of the men of their Covenant, to enter the company of the Community, his property and earnings shall be handed over to the Bursar of the Congregation who shall register it to his account and shall not spend it for the Congregation.’ ‘El’azar son of Nahmani, mentioned in line 2, may have been the Bursar (or the Overseer/Guardian) of the Community in the first century CE.
