The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (26 page)

I
[and shall do penance for six months. But whoever has slandered the Congregation shall be expelled] and shall not return ag[ain] (1QS VII, 15-16). [If he has murmured against his companion unjustly, he shall do penance for six months (1QS VII, 17-18). And] the m[a]n whose spirit has so trembled [before the authority of the Community that he has betrayed the truth and walked in the stubbornness of his heart, he shall be excluded for two years] and do penance for sixty [days] (1QS VII, 18-19). [When his two years are completed, the Congregation shall consider [his ca]se, [and if he is admitted,] he shall be ins[cribed in his rank and may then question about the law (1QS VII, 20—21). And whoever] has despised the law of the Congregation shall leave and [shall not return again. And whoever has taken] his food (from another person) outside the rules, he shall return it to the man fr[om whom] he has taken it.
vacat
And whoever has approached his wife, not according to the rules, (thus) fornicating, he shall leave and will not return again. [If he has murmured] against the Fathers, he shall leave and shall not return [again (cf. 1QS VII, 17). But if he has murmured] against the Mothers, he shall do penance for ten days. For the Mothers have no
rwqmh
(distinction ?) within [the Congregation.
vacat

And these are the r]ules in [which they shall walk, all those who have been corrected. Whoev]er comes [to report some]one to the Priest [over]seeing

II
the Congregation, he shall willingly accept His judgement, as He has ordered by the hand of Moses regarding the soul that sins by inadvertence that he shall bring his sin-offering and his guilt-offering. And concerning Israel it is written,
I will go to the ends [of] heaven and will not smell the smell of your sweet odour
(Lev. xxvi, 31). And in another passage it is written,
To return to God with crying and fasting
(Joel ii, 13). And in another passage it is written,
Rend your heart and not your garment
(ibid.) and it is written to return to God
with fasting and weeping
(Joel ii, 12). And whoever rejects these rules which follow all the precepts found in the Law of Moses, shall not be counted with all the sons of His truth, for his soul has detested the righteous corrections (cf. 1QS III, I). As a rebel, he shall be dismissed from the Congregation. The Priest [over]seeing the Congregation shall speak about him. Answering, [he shall] say: ‘Blessed art Thou, “Lord” of the universe. Everything is in Thine hands and Thou art the maker of everything. Thou hast founded the [pe]oples according to their families and the languages of their nations. Thou hast made them err in confusion without a way. And Thou hast chosen our Fathers and hast given to their seed the precepts of Thy truth and Thine holy judgements by which a man, if he practises them, shall live. And Thou hast established boundaries for us and cursed those who transgress them.

And we are the people of Thy redemption and the flock of Thy pasture. Thou hast cursed those who transgress it (the boundary?) but we maintain (it).' And the dismissed man shall leave, and whoever eats from what is his, and greets (literally, inquires about the welfare –
shalom–
of) the man who has been dismissed, and agrees with him, his case shall be recorded by the Guardian according to the decree, and his judgement shall be complete. And all [the inhabitants] of the camps shall assemble in the third month and shall curse him who turns aside, to the right [or to the left from the] Law. And this (the foregoing) is the interpretation of the laws which they shall observe in all the age [of visitation which will be visited on them during al]l the age of wrath and in their marches for all those who dwell in their camps and all their towns. Behold all this is according to the last interpretation of the Law.

Twelve fragments of a manuscript, dating probably to the end of the first century BCE, have preserved remains of a writing dependent both on the Community Rule and on the Damascus Document but also including material which is in neither of these sources. Fr. I deals with the initiation into the Community and the penal code in terms recalling 1QS VI-VII, and fr. 7, lines 7-10 contains a description of the Council of the Community which is an abridged version of 1QS VIII, 1—9. It is worth noting that the ‘twelve men and three priests' of 1QS VIII, I is replaced here by‘fift[een men]'. Elements of the Sabbath laws from CD XI figure on columns I-II of fr. 7, while on one point the borrowing is probably from the Temple Scroll LII, 17-18. As for material alien to 1QS and CD, fr. 2 cites Isaiah liv, 1-2 in full and the last four lines of fr. 7 ii reproduce Lev. xii, 2, 4a, 5, 4b, but omitting xii, 3. This quotation is part of an account of the ages of the world arranged according to weeks, beginning with the garden of Eden.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. M. Baumgarten,
DJD,
XXXV, 57-58.

... as it is written [in the Book of] ... [as] it is written in the B[ook] of Isaiah the prophet:
[Sing, o barren one, who did not bear; break forth in singing and] cry aloud you who have not been in travail! For the sons [of the desolate one] will be more [than the children of her who is married, says the Lord]. Enlar
[
ge
]
the place of [your] ten[t]
... (Isa. liv, 1-2) Its interpretation concerns...

... Why does a ma[n] betray his brother ... [Let no] young man or woman eat [the sacrifice] of Passover...

I
... [and he shall be punished for t]en d[a]ys ... [and he shall be punished] thirty days ... [and he shall be punished during that time with the half of his food for fifte[en days] ... and he shall be punished for three months wi[th half of his food. The man who speaks before] his fellow inscribed before him, shall be excluded from purity for six months [and he shall be punished with half of his food.]
vacat
And the man who insu[Its his fellow... shall be punished] for thirty days.
vacat
And the man who know[ingly] deceives [shall be separated for six] months (IQS VII, 3-4) and shall be punished during that time with half of his food. [And the man who lies] knowingly in any matter shall be punished for thirty days
vacat
[And the man who lies concerning property] know[ingly], they shall exclude him for six months. [And the man who lies down]
II
... [and falls asle]ep during a session of the Congregation shall be punished for thirt[y days. And if... to read from] the book, he falls asleep up to three times and if [he goes out, he shall be punished for ten days.] And the man who comes to j[oi]n the Council of the [Commu]nity [the Guardian of] the Congregation [shall examine him]. If it falls to him he shall instruct him for [one] year. [And after he shall stand] before the Congregation and they shall deliberate [over h]im (cf. 1QS VI, 15). If he is not found [fit for the discipline (cf. 1QS VI, 14), he shall depart (1QS VI, 16). If he is to enter,] the Guardian shall [teach him the interpretation] of the Law. He shall not [touch the pure Meal of the Congregation until] another full year (1QS VI, 16-17). [And on completing] his year (1QS VI, 18) [they shall hand over his property to] the Guardian of the Congregation ... [Wh]en he comes ...

... on Sabbath day let no [man wear] soiled [garment]s (CD XI, 3). No man shall be dr[ess]ed in garments on which there is dust or ... on the Sabbath day. No [ma]n shall ta[ke] out of his tent a vessel and foo[d] on the Sabbath day. No man shall lift an animal which has fallen into water on the Sabbath day (CD xi, 13-14). But if a man falls into water on the Sabbath [day], he shall pass to him his garment to lift him out, but he shall not carry an instrument [to lift him out on] the Sabbath [day] (cf. CD XI, 16-17). And if the army...
II
... [on] the Sabbath [day]. And let no ... Let [n]o man of the seed of Aaron sprinkle [purifying] w[aters (cf. 1QS III, 9; IV, 21) on the Sabbath day.] ... And with a beast he shall walk two thousand cubits [on the Sabbath day (CD xi, 5-6). Every beast with a defect in it shall be kept at a distance of(?)] thirty stadia [from the city of the Sanc]tuary (cf. IIQTemple LII, 17-18) ... When there shall be in the Council of the Community fift[een men, perfectly versed in all that is revealed of the Law (1QS VIII, I) and the Pr]ophets, the Council of the Community shall be established [in truth (1QS VIII, 5). They shall be witnesses to the truth at the judgement and elect] of Goodwill. They shall be an agreeable offering atoning on behalf of the Land (cf. 1QS VIII, 6, 9) for a[ll iniquity ... He shall terminate the ages of injustice (cf. 1QS IV, 18) ...

... on the day of s[abbath ... on the da]y of sabbath... [N]o man from the seed of Aaron shall sprinkle wa[ter of purification ... They shall not bathe or wa]sh (their garments) [on] the great day and fast, on the day of [Atonement. He who goes outside his town to graze the] animals may go (to a distance of) two thousand cubits. [No man shall eat a blemished animal] within thirty stadia [from the sanctu]ary (cf. 1 1QT v, 16-18).... When there shall be in the Council of the Community fift[een men as God had said through His servants, the pr]ophets, the Council of the Community shall be established [in truth as an everlasting plantation, witnesses of truth and elect] of Goodwill, sweet fragrance to atone for the land... the ages of injustice will end by the judgement and the ... (cf. 1QS VIII, 1-10).

vacat
In the first week [Adam was created... until] he was not brought to the garden of Eden and a bone [from his bones was taken to become the woman] .... but she (Eve) had [no name (?)] until she was not brought to him (Adam) ... For holy is a garden of Eden, and every fresh shoot that is in it is holy [as it is written,
If a woman conceives and bears a male child,] then she shall be unclean for seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean
(Lev. xii, 2).
Then [she shall continue for] thi
[
rty-three days in the blood
]
of her purifying
(Lev. xii, 4).
But if she bears a female child,
[
then she shall be unclean two weeks as in her menstruation. And she shall contin
]
ue in the blood of her purifying
[
for sixty-six days
(Lev. xii, 5).
She shall not touch
]
any hallowed things, nor come into the Sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed
](Lev. xii, 4).

 

 

The Messianic Rule was published in 1955 by D. Barthélemy in
DJD,
I (Oxford, 1955, pp. 107-18). Originally included in the same Scroll as the Community Rule, this short but complete work presents the translator with great difficulties owing to its bad state of preservation and to the carelessness of the scribe.

Barthélemy named the work ‘The Rule of the Congregation', but I have given it a new title for the following reasons: (1) it was intended for ‘all the congregation in the
last days';
(2) it is a Rule for a Community adapted to the requirements of the messianic war against the nations; (3) it refers to the presence of the Priest and the Messiah of Israel at the Council, and at the Meal described in column II.

As in the Cave I version of the Community Rule and in the Damascus Document, but contrary to the version preserved in 4QS
^d
(=4Q258) and 4QS
^b
(=4Q
256
), ‘the sons of Zadok, the Priests' form the chief authority in the sect.

In the main, the precepts and the doctrinal concepts of the Messianic Rule foreshadow those of the War Rule. A mid-first-century BCE date may safely be proposed. Hundreds of tiny papyrus fragments of this text written in a cryptic script have been found in Cave 4. However, the pieces are so small that they cannot independently contribute to the textual criticism of 1QS
^a
. See S. J. Pfann, 4Q249a-h,
DJD,
XXXVI, 515-74.

 

When they come, they shall summon them all, the little children and the women also, and they shall read into their [ears a]ll the precepts of the Covenant and shall expound to them all their statutes that they may no longer stray in their [errors].

From [his] youth they shall instruct him in the Book of Meditation and shall teach him, according to his age, the precepts of the Covenant. He [shall be edu]cated in their statutes for ten years...

At the age of twenty years [he shall be] enrolled, that he may enter upon his allotted duties in the midst of his family (and) be joined to the holy congregation. He shall not [approach] a woman to know her by lying with her before he is fully twenty years old, when he shall know [good] and evil. And thereafter, he shall be accepted when he calls to witness the judgements of the Law, and shall be (allowed) to assist at the hearing of judgements.

At the age of twenty-five years he may take his place among the foundations (i.e. the officials) of the holy congregation to work in the service of the congregation.

At the age of thirty years he may approach to participate in lawsuits and judgements, and may take his place among the chiefs of the Thousands of Israel, the chiefs of the Hundreds, Fifties, and Tens, the Judges and the officers of their tribes, in all their families, [under the authority] of the sons of [Aar]on the Priests. And every head of family in the congregation who is chosen to hold office, [to go] and come before the congregation, shall strengthen his loins that he may perform his tasks among his brethren in accordance with his understanding and the perfection of his way. According to whether this is great or little, so shall one man be honoured more than another.