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Israel at the Time of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Lawrence Schiffman
10.15.07
What do the scrolls teach us about the people of Israel at the time of the
scrolls?
History of the Second Temple Period
540 BCE to 70 CE
Persian Period
540 to 334 BCE
Aramaic Jewish Literature
All we have in this period are various texts
Daniel – completed around 168-164 BCE [Maccabean Revolt]
Targum – Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible
Enoch literature – early Hellenistic period [1 Enoch is a collection of
various Enochic literature pieces, known as pre-sectarian documents]
Genesis Apocryphon – Biblical interpretation, why Abraham would lie about
Sarah [God came to him and told him to lie]
Hellenistic Period
334 to 63 BCE
Maccabean Revolt
168 to164 BCE
175 BCE – Jews began to adopt a Hellenistic cultural expression
Lead to the Maccabean revolt
The Jewish Sects
Pharisees
Sadduccees
Essenes
Cairo Geniza/Damascus Document
Medieval manuscripts
About the sectarian interaction of
4QMMT – foundation document of the
after Jonathan came into power,
Sadducces, who then departed to
the Hasmonean period
Qumranian sect, possibly indicates that
sided with the Pharisees against the
begin the Dead Sea Sect
Temple Scroll
Laws appear to follow the Sadduccean understanding of law.
Rule of the Community
Appears to speak of various Qumranite groups that lived elsewhere, perhaps we
can learn more about groups and sub-groups in Judaism.
Jews in general were practicing Judaism at this time
Pesher Texts and Hasmonean History
Type of fulfillment interpretation, not too unlike what the New Testament
writers did with the Henrew Bible and Jesus
Habakkuk – Key feature is the confrontation between the Wicked Priest and the
Teacher of Righteousness
Nahum – Key feature is the historical setting presented. Jews go to Demetruis
II to request that he come and get rid of the current rulership, then
switch side to Alexander Janaeus [also spoken of in Jospehus, therefore a
complete historical account]
Isaiah – Gives us a picture of the rise of apocalyptic literature and its
impact on the culture of the day, including the rise of Christianity.
Jewish Tradition and Observance
Mikvot, phylacteries were found at Qumran and other locations.
Phylacteries came in two types, one that contained the passages used in
rabbinic Judaism, another with various other passages. Hence there is a
plurality of Judaisms being practiced at this time. There is a rich
tradition of Jewish thought that this period.
The 10 Commandment Document
Starts with Deuteronomy 8
Deuteronomy 5
10 Commandments, including the fusion of the two version of the Sabbath found
in the Hebrew Bible
Messianism
The Rule of the Congregation tells of what kind of utopian society would
occur after the end of days
Messianic Apocalypse – how peace and mercy would be brought to the society
The Period of the Revolt
66-73 CE
The Copper Scroll – don’t know for sure what this is an account of, but most
scholars feel that it is an account of the treasures of the Jewish Temple
were buried as the Romans were coming to destroy Jerusalem in the revolt
Apocalyptic literature fueled the revolutionaries in times of revolt,
ultimately bringing about the destruction of Jerusalem
Masada – Key feature is found in the fact that the apocryphal literature was
not merely a Qumranic phenomenon, but when the texts of Masada were found,
it exposed that this kind of literature was more wide spread in mainstream
Judaisms.
Qumran and Christianity
The scrolls enrich Christianity because in that it speaks of the environment
of Judaism that Christianity grew up in.
The terms “Son of God” and “Son of Man” were utilized in the period.
The literary form of the Beatitudes has been found in various other texts of
the period.
We need to look into various elements of Christianity that reflect a common
utilization and usage in the larger Jewish religious milieu.
The scrolls help us understand the Priestly/Davidic character ascribed to
Jesus.
Bar Kokhba
132-135 CE
We have no
His revolt
Revolt
[the second Jewish revolt]
evidence that Bar Kokhba ever saw himself as the Messiah.
was the last gasp of apocalypticism as an active movement.
Schiffman’s hope is that when books are now written about Second Temple
Judaism, rather than have a separate chapter on the Dead Sea Scrolls or
the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity, the scrolls would be sprinkled
throughout the text. The scrolls are a treasure giving us invaluable
information about this time.
The DSS force us to rethink the border between a biblical text and a nonbiblical text.
There were variegated texts that existed in the same community.
We can see the solidification of the MT from Qumran to Masada to Bar Kokhba.
Torah finalized most likely at the beginning of the second temple period.
Prophets most likely finalized before the writing of Daniel, because Daniel
was a prophet that was not included in the Prophets.
The first DSS ever found was the Damascus Document in the Cairo Geniza.