Misplaced Pages

#29970

36-467: The Damascus Document is a fragmentary text, no complete version of which survives. There have been attempts to reconstruct the original text from the various fragments. The medieval recension appears to have been shorter than the Qumran version, but where they overlap there is little divergence. The correct ordering of all the Qumran fragments is not certain. The Damascus Document's primary body of composition

72-579: A precursor to Jesus Christ about 150 years before the time of the Gospels . In 1965, the Dead Sea Scrolls document known as Melchizedek , dated to around 100 BCE, revealed that the Essenes were waiting for this Melchizedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק‎, romanized: malkī-ṣeḏeq, 'King of Righteousness') High Priest and King Messiah . The Essenes also wrote in this document that they knew the time of his appearing due to

108-565: A text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts , this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from the Latin recensio ("review, analysis"). In textual criticism (as is the case with Biblical scholarship ), the count noun recension is a family of manuscripts sharing similar traits; for example, the Alexandrian text-type may be referred to as the "Alexandrian recension". The term recension may also refer to

144-464: Is a compilation of sectarian laws that have been coupled with historical information on the sect, and utilize the same figure names used in the group's pesharim commentaries . As the rules permit a woman to marry and possess private property, most scholars believe that they were composed to determine the lifestyles of the Essenes who lived in the camps and did not join the Qumran community. The redactor of

180-461: Is mentioned are the Pesharim on Habakkuk (numerous times), Micah (once) and Psalms , as well as 4Q172 .) The document introduces the group as having arisen 390 years after the first fall of Jerusalem, hence around 200 BCE, but attests that for the 20 years they "remained like blind men groping their way" until God "raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of His heart." On

216-536: Is not completely resolved, though there is a general agreement that they have some evolutionary connection. Some suspect that the Community Rule is the original text that was later altered to become the Damascus Document, others that the Damascus Document was redacted to become the Community Rule, a third group argues that the Community Rule was created as a utopian ideal rather than a practical replacement for

252-559: Is said in 1 Maccabees about a High Priest between Alcimus and Jonathan was apologetic : to conceal the fact that the Hasmoneans obtained the High Priesthood by usurping it from its rightful holder, the Teacher of Righteousness. Alvar Ellegård follows this line and argues that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also considered something of

288-407: Is the Teacher. Barbara Thiering questions the dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and suggests that the Teacher of Righteousness preached a future fiery judgment, has said "the axe is laid to the roots of the tree," called people "vipers," practiced baptism and lived in the wilderness of Judea. Due to these reasons, she believes there is a strong possibility that the Teacher of Righteousness was John

324-555: The Cairo Geniza , a storeroom adjoining Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat (Old Cairo), among over 190,000 manuscripts and fragments that were written in mainly Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic . The fragments were quite large, and a number of them matched documents found later in Qumran. They were divided into two separate sections, CDa, and CDb. Schechter dated CDa to the 10th century C.E and CDb to 11th or 12th century C.E. These fragments are housed at

360-724: The Cambridge University Library with the classmarks T-S 10K6 and T-S 16.311 (other references are CDa and CDb). The fragments from Qumran have been assigned the document references 4Q266-73 (pictured above), 5Q12 , and 6Q15 . The combined text of CDa and CDb contains twenty columns of writing. As it has come down to us, two columns have been mislocated: columns 15 & 16 originally preceded col 9. Fragments of this text from Qumran include material not found in CD. The Damascus Document can be divided into two separate sections, commonly called Admonition and Laws . Davies divides

396-633: The Damascus Document . This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect , probably Essenes , 390 years after the Neo-Babylonian Empire captured Jerusalem in 586 BCE . After another 20 years of study and waiting, "God... raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of His heart". The Teacher is extolled as having a proper understanding of the Torah , qualified in its accurate instruction (i.e. an inspired interpreter of

SECTION 10

#1732852442030

432-705: The Zadokite Fragments but after the work was found at Qumran, the name was changed because the document had numerous references to Damascus . The way this Damascus is treated in the document makes it possible that it was not a literal reference to Damascus in Syria , but to be understood either geographically for Babylon or Qumran itself. If symbolic, it is probably taking up the Biblical language found in Amos 5:27 , "therefore I shall take you into exile beyond Damascus" ; Damascus

468-692: The historical Jesus was James, brother of Jesus the Nazarene , the Teacher of Righteousness against the Wicked Priest Ananus ben Ananus , and a "Spouter of Lies" whom Eisenman identifies as Paul the Apostle . This theory is rejected by mainstream scholarship, as the Dead Sea scrolls date to around 100 BCE, predating James by almost 200 years. Stephen Goranson suggests that Judah the Essene, mentioned by Josephus,

504-561: The Admonition into four sections: History, Legal, Warnings, a Supplement (which Wise refers to as exhortations ). The Admonition comprises moral instruction, exhortation, and warning addressed to members of the sect, together with polemic against its opponents; it serves as a kind of introduction to the second section. The Laws looks at this New Covenant community expressed to them through the Teacher of Righteousness . It goes into great detail of

540-518: The Baptist . Her belief is based on the idea that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written in code. Richard A. Freund writes, "The difference of opinion over the positioning of the Teacher of Righteousness leads me to conclude that perhaps all of these researchers are correct. A Teacher of Righteousness did lead the group in the second century BCE when it was established. Another Teacher of Righteousness led

576-466: The Cairo Geniza. B. Laws (columns 15-16 + 9-14) Another way to organise the laws would be: The Damascus Document contains prominent reference to a cryptic figure called the Teacher of Righteousness , whom some of the other Qumran scrolls treat as a figure from their past, and others treat as a figure in their present, and others still as a figure of the future. (Some of these other scrolls where he

612-401: The Damascus Document, and still others that believe the Community Rule and Damascus Document were written for different types of communities, one enclosed and the other open. Most scholars believe that the rules featured in the Damascus Document, which let men to marry women and own private property, were created to regulate the lifestyles of the Essenes who lived in the camps and did not join

648-449: The Dead Sea Scrolls portray the Teacher as involved in a heavy conflict against a figure termed the " Wicked Priest ," which has led to several proposals for their identity: a Sadducee (Zadokite) priest as the Teacher, possibly even the legitimate High Priest, against a "wicked" Jonathan Apphus . "Zadok" translates as "righteous" in Hebrew. Along these lines is the proposal that Hyrcanus II

684-453: The Essene community that resided in Qumran. According to Boccaccini, the Damascus Document serves as a "bridge" document, connecting Judaism's post-exilic 'Enochian'-Essene majority to the asserted leadership of its radical minority Qumran– Essene community that was established in isolation near the shores of the Dead Sea. Recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising

720-408: The Qumran scrolls. To some scholars, this suggests that the two works are of different Second Temple groups. Most scholars, however, focus on the high degree of shared terminology and legal rulings between the Damascus Document and the Community Rule, including terms like sons of light , and their penal codes and on the likelihood that fragment 4Q265 is a hybrid edition of both documents. They turn to

756-406: The Teacher was a priest of Zadokite lineage. One theory initially advocated by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor and subsequently by Stegemann is that the Teacher of Righteousness served as High Priest but was subsequently ousted by Jonathan Apphus . In 1 Maccabees , no High Priest is named for the period from the death of Alcimus in 159 BC to the claiming of the position of High Priest by Jonathan on

SECTION 20

#1732852442030

792-406: The authority of Alexander Balas in 152 BC (1 Macc 10:18–20). From this, it could be concluded that there was no High Priest for these years, and indeed Josephus , drawing heavily on 1 Maccabees at this point in his history, comes to that conclusion ( Ant. 20.237). It is improbable, however, that the office remained completely vacant for these years. Stegemann suggests that the reason that nothing

828-463: The basis of that reference, historians date the Teacher to circa 170-150 BCE. Scholars have also believed that he was a priest based on other variations in the text that are also thought to be him. These include: "the teacher", "the unique teacher" and "the interpreter of the law". This Teacher of Righteousness does not feature at all, however, in the Community Rule , another document found amongst

864-406: The different social arrangements that were taking place at the time. The Laws feature Oaths & vows, Sundry rulings ( halakhot ), Camp laws, and a fragment of Penal codes (more of which were found in the Qumran fragments). This part is divided into four subsections. A. Admonition (columns 1–8 + 19–20) The first 12 laws are from the Damascus Document found at Qumran, while the others are from

900-462: The fact that the Damascus Document describes the group amongst whom the Document was created as having been leaderless for 20 years before the Teacher of Righteousness established his rule over the group to explain that both works are from the same group under different situations. Within this approach of the majority of scholars, the textual relationship between the Damascus Document and Community Rule

936-445: The men who produced them." This philology -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a manuscript is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Teacher of Righteousness The Teacher of Righteousness ( Hebrew : מורה הצדק , romanized :  more haṣṣeḏeq ) is a mysterious figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran , most prominently in

972-496: The presence of God's throne. They then anticipated that the Teacher would return to judge the wicked and lead the righteous into a golden age , which would take place within the next forty years. Wise explains that dating of manuscript copies among the Dead Sea Scrolls shows that the Teacher's postmortem following drastically increased in size over several years, but that when the predicted return and golden age failed to materialize his following dissipated rapidly. Other documents from

1008-422: The process of collecting and analyzing source texts in order to establish a tree structure leading backward to a hypothetical original text. "An adequate method of recension has only been rendered possible by the growth of Palaeography , i.e. the scientific study of ancient documents – the hands in which they are written, the age to which they belong and generally speaking the purposes, methods and circumstances of

1044-510: The prophecies written in Daniel . Critics of this theory accuse it of being too hypothetical: slotting the Teacher as High Priest into a convenient gap during which no other High Priest is recorded in the few sources available. Neither the Damascus Document nor 1QS or 4QMMT suggest that the legitimacy of the High Priest was an issue for the split. In addition, the motivation behind the split of

1080-580: The prophets , as the one "to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants the prophets" – 1QpHab 7:5) and being the one through whom God would reveal to the community "the hidden things in which Israel had gone astray". Although the exact identity of the Teacher is unknown, based on the text of the Community Rule , the teachers of the sect are identified as Kohanim (priests) of patrilineal progeny of Zadok (the first high priest to serve in Solomon's Temple ), leading scholars to conclude

1116-552: The religious sects in Jerusalem and, in reaction, founded a "crisis cult". While amassing a following, the Teacher (and his followers) claimed he was the fulfillment of various Biblical prophecies, with an emphasis on those found in the Book of Isaiah . The religious leadership in Jerusalem eventually killed the Teacher, and his followers hailed him as a messianic figure who had been exalted to

Damascus Document - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-430: The sect from mainstream Judaism appears to have been of a religious rather than political nature. Michael O. Wise posits that the Teacher of Righteousness was the "first messiah", a figure predating Jesus by roughly 100 years. This figure, who Wise believes was named Judah, rose to prominence during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus , and had been a priest and confidant to the king. However, he became dissatisfied with

1188-487: The text allows that the covenant is open to all Israelites who accept the sect's halakha , while condemning the others as the "wicked of Judah" against whom God would direct "a great anger with flames of fire by the hand of all the angels of destruction against persons turning aside from the path". The text states that those who abandon the true covenant "will not live". The fragments found in Cairo in 1897 were originally called

1224-645: Was executed by the Romans in 37 BCE. Antigonus was supported by the Pharisees . Rabbi Harvey Falk identifies Hillel the Elder as the Teacher against a "wicked" Shammai , a significant conflict mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud , Shabbat 1:4 . Most scholars date the Damascus Document and many of the Dead Sea scrolls to the decades around the year 100 BCE, vastly predating Hillel and Shammai. Robert Eisenman has proposed

1260-434: Was part of Israel under King David, and the Damascus Document expresses an eschatological hope of the restoration of a Davidic monarchy. Two manuscripts (CDa and CDb) were found in Cairo, with further findings at Qumran. In contrast to the fragments found at Qumran, the CD documents are largely complete, and therefore are vital for reconstructing the text. The main fragments were discovered by Solomon Schechter in 1897 in

1296-470: Was the Teacher of Righteousness. This was proposed in 2013 by Gregory Doudna. Hyrcanus was High Priest from 76 to 67 BCE and 63 to 40 BCE. According to Doudna, Hyrcanus II’s sectarian orientation is generally understood as Sadducee. Further, according to this hypothesis, Antigonus II Mattathias would have been seen as the Wicked Priest. Antigonus was the last Hasmonean king. He ruled only for three years and

#29970