The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in the Early Communities of Faith
280
The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in the Early Communities of Faith
280eBook
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Overview
Whether revealing new understandings of Jesus before Pilate, the rituals governing the execution and burial of criminals, or the problems of dating ancient manuscripts, The World of Jesus and the Early Church draws the reader into the world of the early Christian and Jewish communities in fresh and insightful ways.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781598569186 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hendrickson Publishers, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 05/03/2022 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 280 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Craig A. Evans, PhD, is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a frequent contributor to scholarly journals and the author or editor of numerous publications.
Read an Excerpt
The World of Jesus and the Early Church
By Craig A. Evans
Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC
Copyright © 2011 Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLCAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-59856-918-6
CHAPTER 1
The Site of Qumran and the Sectarian Communities in the Dead Sea Scrolls
John J. Collins
The first batch of scrolls discovered in 1947 near Qumran, by the Dead Sea, famously included the Rule of the Community, or Serek Hayakhad, also known as 1QS. The press release issued by Millar Burrows on behalf of the American Schools of Oriental Research on April 11, 1948, said that this text "seemed to be a manual of discipline of some comparatively little-known sect or monastic order, possibly the Essenes." The idea that this "monastic" sect lived at Qumran did not arise immediately. Initially the ruins at Qumran were thought to be the remains of a Roman fort. But when Roland de Vaux and Lankaster Harding began to excavate the site in November–December 1951, they found a jar, identical to the ones in which the first scrolls had been found, embedded in the floor of one of the rooms. They inferred that the scrolls were related to the site after all. In his account of the excavation, Harding wrote:
it would appear, then, that the people who lived at Khirbet Qumran deposited the scrolls in the cave, probably about A.D. 70. The situation fits in well with Pliny the Elder's account of the Essenes, who had a settlement "above Engeddi," and the ruin itself, with its peculiar cemetery which is without parallel in other sites in Jordan, is clearly not an ordinary defensive or agricultural post.
The association of the scrolls with the site was cemented in 1952, when the Bedouin discovered Cave 4, with a trove of more than five hundred manuscripts, at the edge of the marl plateau, literally a stone's throw from the ruins. Several other caves containing scrolls were discovered in the immediate vicinity.
Once the connection between the scrolls and the site of Qumran had been established, it became customary to refer to the community described in 1QS as "the Qumran community," and to suppose that Qumran was the sectarian settlement par excellence. According to J. T. Milik, this rule was the work of the Teacher and "gave its special character to Qumrân monastic life in the first strict phase of Essenism." Frank Moore Cross argued that "the term yahad, 'community,' seems to apply to the community par excellence, i.e., the principal settlement in the desert. The Qumrân settlement is probably unique, not only in being the original 'exile in the desert,' the home of the founder of the sect, but also in following a celibate rule." Cross allowed that it was "possible, but not probable ... that more than one community could be termed the yahad." Thus the tendency developed to regard Qumran as the setting for all the scrolls, or at least for the community described in 1QS.
Another Rule Book
Almost from the beginning, however, it was realized that the situation was more complicated than that. It was immediately apparent that there was some relationship between the newly discovered Community Rule and a text that had been discovered in the Cairo Geniza in 1896, which had come to be known as the Damascus Document (or CD, Cairo Damascus) because of references to a new covenant in the land of Damascus. This document also described a sectarian movement. Not only were there similarities in the organization of the communities described in the two rule books, but also CD contained several code names that now reappeared for the first time in the scrolls. These included "Teacher of Righteousness," "sons of Zadok," and "man of the lie." The relationship was subsequently confirmed when fragments of the Damascus Rule were found in Qumran Cave 4. In 1955, Burrows wrote:
The form of the organization and its rules are found in the Damascus Document and the Manual of Discipline. We have seen that these two documents have a great deal in common, though there are sufficient differences to show that they do not come from exactly the same group. They may represent different branches of the same movement or different stages in its history, if not both.
Milik supposed that the Damascus Rule was a secondary development, drawn up by "a fairly important group" who "left the community at Qumrân and settled in the region of Damascus, without, however, abandoning the priestly character of the movement's theology, and remaining in communion with the 'mother house.'" Cross also supposed that 1QS was the older rule and that CD was a secondary development.
More recent scholarship, however, has generally favored the priority of CD. The Damascus Rule preserves the older, simpler form of community structure, while the Community Rule, or Serek, is more developed. In CD, the admission process requires only a simple oath. This simple process is also found in 1QS 5:7c–9a, but it is followed by a much more elaborate, multiyear process in 1QS 6. The Damascus (D) community required the contribution of two days' salary per month. The Serek requires full community property. The D rule places restrictions on sexual activity. The Serek does not speak of women or children at all. The Damascus Rule is critical of the Jerusalem temple. The Serek imagines the community as an alternative temple. Each of these cases suggests that the line of development was from the more primitive kind of organization found in the D rule to the more elaborate provisions of the Serek. It is not the case that one rule simply superseded the other. Both were copied throughout the first century BCE. Equally, there is no evidence that the differences between the two rules were due to a schism. Rather, it appears that within one broad movement some people opted for a stricter, more demanding form of community life.
Multiple Settlements
The yahad, however, cannot be identified simply with one settlement in the wilderness, "the Qumran community." We read in 1QS 6:
In this way shall they behave in all their places of residence. Whenever one fellow meets another, the junior shall obey the senior in work and in money. They shall eat together, together they shall bless and together they shall take counsel. In every place where there are ten men of the council of the community, there should not be missing amongst them a priest ... And in the place in which the ten assemble there should not be missing a man to interpret the law day and night, always, one relieving another. (1QS 6:1c–8a)
"The council of the community" cannot be distinguished from "the community" or yahad. The plain meaning of this passage is that the yahad consists of multiple communities, with a minimum of ten members. Some scholars have tried to deny this by arguing that the passage refers to members traveling outside of community or that the "places of residence" are temporary structures. But multiple settlements are just what we should expect if the movement in question is identical with the Essene sect, as most scholars suppose. Josephus writes of the Essenes: "They have no one city, but many settle in each city; and when any of the sectarians come from elsewhere, all things they have lie available to them." Josephus clearly assumes that Essenes, apparently of the same order, live in many cities. Similarly, Philo says that the Essenes "live in a number of towns in Judaea, and also in many villages and large groups." Scholarship seems to have lost sight of these statements about the Essenes when it focuses exclusively on the site of Qumran.
The view that that the yahad was an association dispersed in multiple settlements may also shed light on one of the more puzzling aspects of the Qumran rule books. The fragments of Cave 4 show that both the D rule and the Serek existed in different recensions and that both were copied repeatedly during the first century BCE. Sarianna Metso has made a convincing argument that some later copies of the Serek preserve earlier redactional stages, while the most developed edition, in 1QS, is found in the earliest manuscript. Philip Davies has questioned whether the rules reflect actual community practice: "If the 'rule' is a rule, there can be only one version in effect at any one time. The paradox obliges us to reconsider our premises: is 1QS a 'community rule' at all?" But as Metso has argued, "it was not academic interest which motivated the Qumranic scribes in their editorial work but rather the changes which had taken place in the life and practices of the community." If we bear in mind that there were many settlements of the yahad, however, a new explanation becomes possible. Not all the scrolls found at Qumran were copied on site. Some may have been brought there from different settlements, which may have been operating with different editions of the Community Rule. In short, the different forms of the Serek may not have been copied side by side in the same community but may have been in effect in different communities at the same time. (This possibility also undercuts the question raised by Davies as to whether the Serek was a community rule at all.) Scrolls from various communities would have been brought to Qumran for hiding in time of crisis.
Reference to Qumran?
Do the DSS, or the Serek in particular, ever refer to a settlement at Qumran?
Needless to say, the text never indicates a specific location. It does, however, speak of a group that is to go to the wilderness to prepare there the way of the Lord. From the early days of scholarship on the scrolls, scholars have seen here a specific reference to the settlement by the Dead Sea.
The passage is found in 1QS 8. The opening section (8:1–4a) announces that there shall be "in the council of the community twelve men and three priests, perfect in everything that has been revealed from all the law" (8:1). This section is followed by three paragraphs, each of which begins with the phrase "when these are in Israel." The first of these, beginning in 8:4b, claims for the sectarian group the function of atonement, which was traditionally proper to the temple cult. The second paragraph begins in 8:12b: "when these are a community in Israel ... they shall be separated from the midst of the dwelling of the men of iniquity, to go to the wilderness to prepare there the way of Him, as it is written, 'in the wilderness prepare the way of **** ...' This is the study of the law, which he commanded by the hand of Moses." The third paragraph, beginning in 9:3, reads, "when these are in Israel in accordance with these rules in order to establish the spirit of holiness in truth eternal." This passage is not found in 4QSe, which lacks 8:15–9:11. The paragraph beginning in 9:3 seems to duplicate 8:4b–10 and may be a secondary insertion.
In the early days of scrolls scholarship, the twelve men and three priests were understood as an inner council. It is not apparent, however, that they have any administrative role. In an influential article published in 1959, E. F. Sutcliffe dubbed them "The First Fifteen Members of the Qumran Community." In this he was followed by Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, who labeled the passage "an Essene manifesto." This view has been widely, though not universally, accepted. Michael Knibb spoke for many when he wrote:
This material thus appears to be the oldest in the Rule and to go back to the period shortly before the Qumran community came into existence; it may be regarded as reflecting the aims and ideals of conservative Jews who were disturbed by the way in which the Maccabean leaders were conducting affairs, and whose decision to withdraw into the wilderness was motivated by the desire to be able to observe strictly God's laws in the way that they believed to be right. It probably dates from the middle of the second century BC.
This view does not withstand a close analysis of the text.
The text of 1QS 8:1, "In the council of the community (there shall be) twelve men and three priests," can be read in either of two ways. The twelve men and three priests can be taken to constitute the council of the community or to be a special group within it. It is possible to take the verse to mean that the twelve men and three priests are a special subgroup within the council of the yahad. (The council of the yahad is simply the yahad itself). This is in fact how they are understood in 1QS 8:10–11: "When these have been established in the fundamental principles of the community for two years in perfection of way, they shall be set apart as holy within the council of the men of the community." They are not, then, a council in the sense of an administrative or executive body. Rather, they are an elite group set aside for special training. The establishment of such a group is necessary for the completion of the yahad: "when these exist in Israel the council of the community is established in truth" (8:5). The group in question cannot be taken to constitute the whole yahad, at any stage of its existence. Rather, as Leaney already saw, "the community or movement out of which it arose must have been represented by groups dispersed throughout the land." The elite group does not break away from the yahad, nor does it found a separate organization. It may be said to found a new community, but it is a community that is an integral part of the broader yahad. The text (1QS 8:10–11) says quite clearly that certain people who have been established in the community for two years will be set apart as holy in its midst. In the extant text, the antecedent is the group of twelve men and three priests.
Unfortunately, we do not know what part this group played in the history of the movement. The numbers have symbolic significance, referring to the twelve tribes and three priestly families, and we cannot be sure that this group ever came to be. Moreover, the command to prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord is taken from Scripture and is interpreted allegorically in the text:
As it is written: In the desert prepare the way of ****, in the wilderness make level a highway for our God. This is the study of the law which he commanded through the hand of Moses, in order to act in compliance with all that has been revealed from age to age, and according to what the prophets have revealed through his holy spirit.
Symbolism does not preclude literal enactment, and the fact that this text was found beside an inhabited site in the wilderness is hard to dismiss as mere coincidence. Accordingly, the suspicion persists that the retreat of this pioneering group to the wilderness marked the beginning of "the Qumran community." If so, it should be noted that it did not arise from a schism in a parent group and did not by itself constitute the yahad but was part of a larger whole. It would also, of course, have to have grown in size. But while the identification of this group with the founding of the Qumran community is attractive, it is by no means certain.
If the passage in 1QS 8 does indeed refer to the beginnings of the settlement at Qumran, then that settlement would appear to be an offshoot of the main association, or perhaps a kind of retreat center where people could devote themselves to the pursuit of holiness to an exceptional degree. There is nothing to suggest that this settlement would become the headquarters or motherhouse of the sect. Neither, it should be noted, is there any mention of a motherhouse in the Greek and Latin accounts of the Essenes. Pliny writes about an Essene settlement near the Dead Sea because he happens to be giving an account of that geographical region. He does not indicate any awareness of other Essene settlements. Philo and Josephus, however, emphasize that the Essenes live in multiple locations, with no indication that any one took precedence. The passage in 1QS 8, in any case, is too enigmatic to allow us to deduce much about a settlement in the wilderness, and its historical and geographical value remains uncertain.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Contents
Copyright,Preface,
Contributors,
Abbreviations,
Introduction,
Part One: Identity in Jewish and Christian Communities of Faith,
1. The Site of Qumran and the Sectarian Communities in the Dead Sea Scrolls,
2. From the Earthly to the Heavenly Temple: Lines from the Bible and Qumran to Hebrews and Revelation,
3. The Scrolls and the Scriptures on the Margins: Remembered in Canons or Forgotten in Caves,
4. Disputed Issues in the Study of Cities, Villages, and the Economy in Jesus' Galilee,
5. Children in House Churches in Light of New Research on Families in the Roman World,
6. The Family Buried Together Stays Together: On the Burial of the Executed in Family Tombs,
7. The Trial of Jesus at the Jerusalem Praetorium: New Archaeological Evidence,
Part Two: Interpreting the Scriptures in Jewish and Christian Communities,
8. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Interpretation of Scripture,
9. Excavating Ideas: The Qumran Scrolls of Samuel,
10. The Oldest Attested Hebrew Scriptures and the Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription,
11. Biblia Hebraica Quinta,
12. What Do the Earliest Christian Manuscripts Tell Us about Their Readers?,
13. Bold Claims, Wishful Thinking, and Lessons about Dating Manuscripts from Papyrus Egerton 2,
Bibliography,