The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (69 page)

As for that which He said,
Then you shall send abroad the trump
[
et in
]
all the land
(Lev. xxv, 9) ...

A large number of small fragments from a Cave 4 manuscript (4Q176), edited by J. M. Allegro in 1968, represent a scriptural anthology centred on the theme of divine consolation. Originally, each citation was accompanied by a sectarian exegesis, but only a few examples of the latter survive. The majority of the extant remains belong to Isaiah xl-lv (Ps. lxxix, 2-3; Isa. xl, 1-5; xli, 8-9; xlix, 13-17; xliii, 1-2, 4-6; li, 22-3; lii, 1-3; liv, 4-10; lii, 1-2; Zech. xiii, 9). The translated passage is based on Psalm lxxix, 2-3, and is followed by a new title—From the Book of Isaiah: Consolations—and the quotation of the opening verses of Isa. xl. The four asterisks symbolize the Tetragram indicated in the manuscript simply by dots.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. M. Allegro and A. A. Anderson,
DJD,
V, 60-67.

 

I And he shall accomplish Thy miracles and Thy righteousness among Thy people. And they shall... Thy sanctuary, and shall dispute with the kingdoms over the blood of ... Jerusalem and shall see the bodies of Thy priests...
and none to bury them
(Ps. lxxix, 3). From the Book of Isaiah: Consolations [
Comfort
,
comfort, my people
]
—says your God
-
speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and
c
[
ry
to her that] her [
bondage is completed
],
that her punishment is accepted, that she has received from the hand of
****
double for allhersins
... (Isa. xl, 1-3).

These two documents consist of over thirty fragments, none of which amounts to units of coherent text. The connecting theme is eschatology, with the phrase ‘at the end of days' appearing half a dozen times. The majority of the biblical quotations are from the Psalms (Ps. vi, xi, xii, xiii, xvi), but explicit mentions are also made of ‘the Book of the Law' (or possibly ‘the Second Law') (4Q177, frs. 1-4, 1. 14), ‘the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet' (4Q177, fr. 7, 1.3), and ‘the Book of Jerem[iah the prophet?]' (4Q182, fr. 1, 1. 4). The citations are introduced by ‘as it is written‘, and the expository sections start with
pesher.
The following typically sectarian expressions are attested: ‘party of light' (fr. 1-4, 1. 8), ‘men of his council' (ibid., 1. 16), ‘congregation of seekers of smooth things' (fr. 9, 1. 4), ‘men of Belial' (fr. 10-11, 1. 4), ‘Interpreter of the Law' (ibid., 1. 5), ‘sons of light' (fr. 12-13 i, 11.7, 11), ‘council of the Community' (fr. 14,1. 5).

For the
editio princeps,
see J. M. Allegro and A. A. Anderson,
DJD,
V, 64-74, 80-81; cf. J. Strugnell,
RQ
7(1970), 236-46, 256.

... The interpretation of the saying concerns the purifying of the heart of the men... to try them and refine them... by the spirit and the pure and the purified... [As for that which] he said,
Lest the enemy say,
[
I have prevailed over him
] (Ps. xiii, 5) ... They are the congregation of the seekers of smooth things who... [unt]il they seek to destroy... by their jealousy and hostilit[y] ... The int[erpretation of this word concerns] ... [whi]ch is written in the Book of Ezekiel the pr[ophet] ...

[The interpretation of the saying concerns the end] of days when there will be gathered against them ...

‘Jubilees',
Israel Antiquities Authority

The pseudepigraphon, known prior to Qumran from a complete Ethiopic and partial Greek, Latin and Syriac translations, has for the first time surfaced in a large number of mostly small fragments in its Hebrew original in five Qumran caves. The work itself is a midrashic retelling of the story of Genesis (and the beginning of Exodus) in the form of a revelation conveyed by angels to Moses. Apart from some 4Q relics, the texts from 1-3Q and 11Q are too mutilated to provide the basis for an English translation and their chief significance lies in their attestation of a Hebrew original generally close to the account preserved in the ancient versions.

The 4Q material includes some larger fragments suitable for rendering into English, and 4Q225, surnamed pseudo-Jubilees by the editors, but which could just as well be accepted simply as an alternative account, reveals supplementary material of some importance not only for Jubilees in general, but also for the study of the Akedah or story of the sacrifice of Isaac, certain features of which receive here their first pre-Christian attestation.

4Q216, which in part may be the earliest Jubilees manuscript and should be dated palaeographically to the last quarter of the second century BCE, testifies in the form of small fragments to the beginning of the book (between 1, 1 and 11, 24 of the Ethiopic version). It contains the Hebrew title of the work, Book of the Divisions of the Times, repeated also in other 4Q fragments, a title already known from the Damascus Document (XVI, 3). 4Q217 and 218, the first consisting of eleven tiny papyrus fragments and the second of a single small leather fragment, both probably derive from the opening chapters of Jubilees. 4Q219, also poorly preserved, has preserved tit-bits from chapters xxi, 1 to XXII, 1. Its only noteworthy contribution is that in col. 11, lines 35-6, it dates the death of Abraham correctly to the forty-third jubilee counted from the creation, and not to the forty-fourth, as the Ethiopic version does. 4QJube 4Q220 supplies a single largish, hence translatable, fragment of Jub. xxi, 5-10 written in an early Herodian script (last three decades of the first century BCE). It occasionally overlaps with 4Q219, thus permitting the filling in of two gaps. The remaining four 4QJub manuscripts are once again so fragmentary that no translation is possible. 4Q221 consists of thirty-seven tiny fragments, covering small identified portions of Jub. xxi, 22 to xxxix, 9. The six fragments of 4Q222 echo Jub. xxv, 9-12; XXVII, 6-7 and XLIX, 5(?) and the badly worn papyrus manuscripts of 4Q223-4, where identifiable, reflect Jub. XXXII, 18 to XLI, 10.

Remains of three Hebrew manuscripts (4Q225-7) have preserved a writing akin to Jubilees or representing a discrepant version of it. In either case, ‘Pseudo-Jubilees', the title chosen by the editors, is no doubt a misnomer. Palaeographically, 4Q225 is dated to the turn of the era; 4Q226 to the second half, and 4Q227 to the final decades, of the first century BCE. Of the three fragments, the first and the third are very damaged, but substantial parts of fragment 2 are extant. The author recounts the sacrifice of Isaac with details which differ from the Genesis story and display close parallels to the post-biblical representation of the Akedah or Binding of Isaac, anticipating features known from the Palestinian Targums (Ps. Jonathan and Neofiti on Gen. xxii, 10 in col. 11.4; Ps. Jon. on Gen. xxii, 11, and Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer 105c on the same passage in col. 11.1). The presence of angels at the sacrifice is repeatedly attested in the Targums. 4Q225 provides the earliest (pre-Christian) evidence for the rabbinic story of Isaac's voluntary self-sacrifice which is thought to have supplied a model for the formulation by New Testament writers of the teaching on the sacrificial death of Jesus. Cf. G. Vermes,
Scripture and Tradition in Judaism
(Brill, 1961), 193-227. Cf. also G. Vermes, ‘New Light on the Akedah from 4Q225',
JJS
47 (1996), 140-46.

4Q226 or psJub
^b
is made up of fourteen fragments, half of them unidentifiable. The first six mention Egypt, the wilderness, Joshua's crossing (of the Jordan) and the land of Canaan. Fr. 7, the largest, returns to the aftermath of the sacrifice of Isaac and furnishes a text closely resembling 4Q225 2, ii. The badly damaged fr. 2 of 4Q227 is centred on the figure of Enoch, instructed by angels, testifying against his contemporaries and the angels called Watchers. Allusion is made to his writing activity, including astronomical knowledge which was to stop the righteous from going astray. The two small fragments of 4Q227 contain references to Moses and to Enoch (cf. Jub. IV, 17-24) and 4Q228 consists of one large and eight tiny fragments, one of which (fr. 1, 1. 9) displays the phrase, ‘For thus is written in the Divisions [of times]'. Hence it is identified as an unknown work quoting the Book of Jubilees.

For the
editio princeps
of 4Q216-28, see J. C. VanderKam and J. T. Milik,
DJD,
XIII, 1-185. For 11Q12, see F. García Martínez
et al., DJD,
XXIII, 207—20.

[And do not go a]fter idols and after... and do not [eat any bl]ood of a wild or domestic animal or a bird which [flies] ... [And if you sac]rifice a peace-offering as a burnt-offering, sacrifice it for (God's) pleasure. And sprinkle their blood on the alt[ar. And all] the flesh of the burnt-offering you will offer on the alt[ar] together with the flour mixed with [o]i[l] of its meal-offering.... [You] will offer all on the altar as a fire-offering, a pleasant odour before God. [And the ... of peace-offerin]gs you will offer on the fire which is on the altar. And the fat [which is on ... and] the [f]at which is on the entrails and the kidneys [and] the [fat which is on them (cf. 4Q219)] ... and the lobes of the liver with the kidneys you shall remove [and you shall offer (cf. 4Q219)] ... with its offering and its libation...

... [on] that [day] and on the morrow...

I
... that so[ul] will be cut off... [he dwel]t in Haran for twenty [yea]rs (not seventeen as in Jub. XII, 12, 28). [And A]braham [said] to God, ‘Behold, I am naked (childless) and it is Eli[ezer, the son] of my household, who will inherit from me.'
vacat

[And the Lo]rd [said] to A[b]raham, ‘Lift up (your eyes) and gaze at the stars and see and count the sand that is on the sea shore and the dust of the earth as to whether [they can be coun]ted. And Abraham bel[ieved in] G[o]d and this was reckoned for him as righteousness. And a son was born af[ter]wards [to Abraha]m and he called his name Isaac. And the prince Ma[s]temah came [to G]od and accused Abraham on account of Isaac. And [G]od said [to Abra]ham, ‘Take your son, Isaac, [your] only (son) [whom] you [love] and offer him to me as a burnt-offering on one of the ... mountains [which I will tell] you.' And he ro[se and he we]n[t] from the wells to Mo[unt Moriah] ... And Ab[raham] lifted up II his [ey]es [and behold there was] a fire. And he placed [the wood on Isaac, his son, and they went together]. And Isaac said to Abraham, [his father, ‘Behold there is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb] for the burnt-offering?' And Abraham said to [Isaac, his son, ‘God will provide a lamb] for himself.' Isaac said to his father, ‘T[ie me well‘] (Ps. J, N on xxii, 10) ... the holy angels.standing and weeping over [the altar] ... his sons from the earth. And the angels of M[astemah] ... were rejoicing and saying, ‘Now he (Isaac) will be destroyed... [we shall see] whether he will be found weak and whether A[braham] will be found unfaithful [to God.' And he (God) called,] ‘Abraham, Abraham.' And he said. ‘Here am I.' And he said, ‘N[ow I know that (it was a lie that?)] he (Abraham) will no longer be loving.' And the Lord God blessed Is[aac all the days of his life (cf. 4Q226 7.3) and he begot] Jacob, and Jacob begot Levi (in the) [third (cf. 4Q226 7.5)] genera[tion. And all] the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Lev[i were ... years]. And the prince Ma[s]temah was bound [and the holy angels (cf. 4Q226 7.6)] ... the prince Ma[s]temah, and Belial listened to ...

Abraham was found faithful to [G]o[d and] ... for pleasure. And the Lord blessed [Isaac all the days] of his life. And he begot J[acob and Jacob begot] Levi in the thi[rd] generation. [And all the days] of Abraham, Isaac and Ja[cob and Levi were... years]. And the holy angels... Fast here ...

... [E]noch after they/we taught him... six jubilees of years... [e]arth towards the children of men. And he testified against all of them... and against the Watchers. And he wrote all the ... heaven and the ways of its host and the [mon]ths ... [th]at the ri[ghteous] may not stray...

Ten fragments, including three large ones, have survived of a manuscript written with Herodian characters, apparently recording prayers. There is no direct reference to the persons in whose mouths the words are placed, but the context seems to indicate that the first fragment is associated with Enosh, who according to Gen. iv, 26, was the first human to call on the name of the Lord. Since line 10 in fr. 1, col. 1 mentions Enoch, the editors have made a reasonable inference in attributing to him the prayer in fr. 1, col. 11. Fr. 2 alludes to a war against the lands without any context and frs. 3-9 contain nothing intelligible.