INSTITUTE OF CATHOLIC CULTURE
Different Senses of the title “Dead Sea Scrolls”
Broad Sense: Scrolls and fragmentary documents found at
a number of different locations in the general region of the
Dead Sea, including Masada, as well the earlier
archaeological finds of the 19th century in Egypt, especially
those of the Cairo Genizah.
Narrow Sense: Scrolls and fragmentary documents found
in 11 caves on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea near
the Wadi Qumran.
As you may be wondering what is
“Qumran” and what relation do the DSS
have to it?
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Aqueduct
Building with many rooms
Cemetery
Farming plots in the vicinity
The Historic Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls
1. They supply firsthand knowledge about the forms of
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that Jews spoke and
wrote in the first century AD.
2. They testify to the shape of the text of the Old
Testament that the Jews were reading in Palestine in
the period.
3. They shed new light on the diverse forms of Judaism
in Palestine in the period.
4. And as a result, the discovery has provided much
information about the religious and political matrix of
first century Palestine, the time and place in which
Jesus was born.
What is the significance of the DSS
for NT Studies?
Before the discovery of the DSS
1.There were sparse inscriptions in Aramaic,
Greek, and Hebrew.
2.The writings of the Jewish historian Flavius
Josephus (c. AD 37-100).
3. The writings of Philo of Alexandria (30 BC—AD
45)
Three Categories among the DSS
1. Biblical Texts
2. Sectarian Texts
3. Intertestamental Literature.
Which category do you think is the most
important?
Two texts from cave 4 of Qumran now give
evidence that there were Hebrew texts in
existence from the time of the composition
of the LXX that had a count of seventy-five
persons (4QGen-Exoda 17-18:2; 4QExodb
1:5).
What are some examples of the
Significance of the other
two categories of texts?
Is there any relationship between
John the Baptist and the DSS?
Josephus described John likewise:
Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's
army came from God, and was a very just punishment for what he
did against John called the baptist. For Herod had him killed,
although he was a good man and had urged the Jews to exert
themselves to virtue, both as to justice toward one another and
reverence towards God, and having done so join together in
washing.
For immersion in water, it was clear to him, could not be used
for the forgiveness of sins, but as a sanctification of the body, and
only if the soul was already thoroughly purified by right actions. And
when others massed about him, for they were very greatly moved by
his words, Herod, who feared that such strong influence over the
people might carry to a revolt -- for they seemed ready to do any
thing he should advise -- believed it much better to move now than
later have it raise a rebellion and engage him in actions he would
regret.
And so John, out of Herod's suspiciousness, was sent in chains
to Machaerus, the fort previously mentioned, and there put to death;
but it was the opinion of the Jews that out of retribution for John God
willed the destruction of the army so as to afflict Herod (Antiquities
18.5.2 §116-119).
According to Josephus, Essenes were
known to take “other men’s children, while
yet pliable and docile… and mold them
according to their own ways” (J.W. 2.8.2
§ 120).
And Josephus even tells about how he
himself had spent time as a youth among
the Essenes (Life 2 § 10-11).
In all four Gospels:
“The voice of one crying out in the
wilderness” (Isa 40:3).
“…to go into the desert to prepare there His
way, as it is written, ‘Make ready in the
desert the way of …[=YHWH]; make straight
in the wilderness a path for our God”
(1QS 8:12-16).
According to the NT, John the Baptist not only baptized,
but preached the need for repentance as well (Matt 3:4-10;
Luke 3:7-9).
Josephus described John similarly:
He was a good man and had urged the Jews to exert
themselves to virtue, both as to justice toward one another
and reverence towards God, and having done so join
together in washing. For immersion in water, it was clear to
him, could not be used for the forgiveness of sins, but as a
sanctification of the body, and only if the soul was already
thoroughly purified by right actions.
The NT also describes John as foretelling the coming of
one after him who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and
fire (Luke 3:16).
Baptism among the DSS
He [who does not repent] will not become clean by the acts of atonement, nor
shall he be purified by the cleansing water, nor shall he be made holy by the
seas or rivers, nor shall he be purified by all the water of ablutions. Defiled,
defiled shall he be all the days he spurns the decrees of God, without allowing
himself to be taught by the community of his counsel. For, by the spirit of true
counsel concerning the paths of man all his sins are atoned so that he can look
at the light of life. And by the spirit of holiness which links him with his truth he
is cleansed of all his sins. And by the spirit of uprightness and of humility his
sin is atoned. And by the compliance of his soul with all the laws of God his
flesh is cleansed by being sprinkled with cleansing waters and being made
holy with the waters of repentance (1QS 3:4-9).
[God] will purge by His truth all the deeds of human beings, refining [i.e., by fire]
for Himself some of mankind to remove every spirit from their flesh, to cleanse
them with a holy Spirit, and sprinkle them with a Spirit of truth life purifying
water (1QS 4:20-21).
One shall not enter the water to partake of the pure meal of holy men, for they
shall not be cleansed unless they repent of their wickedness; for unclean are all
who transgress His word (1QS 5:13-14).
Is there any relationship of the DSS to
the life or words of Jesus?
“to love all sons of light . . . and hate all
the sons of darkness” (1QS 1:9-10).
Are there any parallels between the DSS
and the rest of the NT?
“The Righteousness of God”
(1QM 4:6 and 1QS 10:25)
“Works of the Law”
(4Q174:1-2 i 7; 4QMMT C 27)
Christological Titles
Lord?
Son of God?
Are they Hellenistic?
Do the DSS attest to messianic hopes in first century Judaism?
He shall be great upon the earth. All peoples shall make peace with
him; they shall all serve him. For he shall be called the holy one of the
Great God, and by His name shall he be named. He shall be hailed
son of God, and they shall call him son of the Most High. . . . one
people shall trample upon another, and one province on another, until
there arises the people of God, and everyone rests from the sword
(4Q246 1:8—2:4).
The heavens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and all that is in
them will not swerve from the commandments of holy ones. Be
strengthened in His service, all you who seek the Lord! Shall you not
find the Lord in this, all you who hope in your hearts? For the Lord will
visit pious ones, and righteous ones He will renew with His power. He
will honor the pious ones on a throne of eternal kingship, freeing
prisoners, giving sight to the blind, straightening up those bent
over. Forever shall I cling to those who hope, and in His steadfast love
He will recompense; and the fruit of a good deed will be delayed for no
one. Wondrous things, such as have never been before, the Lord will
do, as He said. For He will heal the wounded, revive the dead, and
proclaim good news to the afflicted; the poor He will satisfy, the
uprooted He will guide, and on the hungry He will bestow
riches…(4Q521).
The monastery [of Qumran] . . . is, perhaps, more
than Bethlehem or Nazareth, the cradle of
Christianity. . . .
These new documents have thus loomed as
a menace to a variety of rooted assumptions, from
matters of tradition and dogma to hypotheses that
are exploits of scholarship. . . .It would seem an
immense advantage for cultural and social
intercourse—that is, for civilization—that the rise of
Christianity should, at last, be generally
understood as simply an episode of human history
rather than propagated as dogma and divine
revelation.
The study of the Dead Sea scrolls—with the
direction it is now taking—cannot fail, one would
think, to conduce to this (Edmund Wilson,The Scrolls from the
Dead Sea [New York: Oxford University Press, 1955] 97-98, 100, 108).
The Christian message itself . . . has found no parallel in
those Scrolls. There is nothing about Jesus of Nazareth
or his story or the interpretation of him, nothing about he
Christian church, nothing about the vicarious and salvific
character of what Jesus accomplished for humanity in
his passion, death, and resurrection. I am not saying this
in a defensive or apologetic way; it is simply a statement
of fact. For all the light that the Scrolls have shed on the
Palestinian Jewish matrix of Christianity and on ways
that early Christians borrowed ideas and phrases in
order to formulate their kerygmatic proclamation of the
Christian message, there is nothing in the Scrolls that
undermines or is detrimental to that message.
Despite allegations made at times, nothing in the Scrolls
militates against the “uniqueness” of Jesus (DSS and
Christian Origins, 39-40).
Resources for further Study
J. A. Fitzmyer,
Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead
Sea Scrolls (New York: Paulist, 1992).
J. A. Fitzmyer,
The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian
Origins (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).
F. G. Martinez,
The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated (Leiden:
Brill, 1996).