Part of a manuscript from Qumran. Dead Sea Scrolls. Qumran manuscripts. Dictionary of rare terms found in manuscripts

Michael Baigent

Richard Lee

Dead Sea Scrolls

Dedication

The Abbey remembers ancient years, Its chapel pleases the eye, And the ladies who captivated us Descended under the vaulted vaults of Ancient crypts. Armfuls of mown hay Wrapped in a shroud of salt, And the bell, the voice of pain, Sad as a humble monk. And just as lonely. But more than the sleepy virgin And all sorts of miracles, the spell of one of the druidesses shines, And the cat enchants her with the sun. Jean l'Ascuse (Translated from . V. Golova and A. M. Golova)

Preface

Four Dead Sea Scrolls

For sale are four biblical-era manuscripts dating back to at least 200 BC. They would make an ideal gift for an educational or religious organization from an individual or group. Box F 206.

This is what an ad published on June 1, 1954, looked like in the Wall Street Journals. If an announcement of this kind appeared today, it would, without a doubt, be perceived as a kind of joke, and, moreover, not in the best tone. In addition, it could raise suspicions that it is a coded message, the purpose of which is to disguise, for example, secret information about a scam or something related to espionage.

Of course, these days the Dead Sea Scrolls are known quite well, but usually only by name. Most people who have the most incredible fantasies about what they are have at least heard of the existence of scrolls. Among other things, there is an opinion that these scrolls are in some respects unique and priceless artifacts, archaeological evidence of enormous value and significance. It's hard to expect to find things like this when digging around in your garden or backyard. It is equally useless, although others think differently, to try to look for them among rusty weapons, household rubbish, broken dishes, remains of harnesses and other household items that can be found, say, during excavations at the site of Roman legionnaires in Britain.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 caused a stir and avid interest among both scientists and the general public. But by 1954, the first wave of excitement was skillfully dispelled. It was believed that the scrolls contained only what such things can store, and the information they carried turned out to be much less pressing than expected. Therefore, the advertisement for the sale of four scrolls, published in the Wall Street Journal (p. 14), did not arouse widespread public interest. Directly below it were advertisements for the sale of industrial steel tanks, electric welding machines and other equipment. The adjacent column contained lists of premises and objects for rent, and various types of vacancies. In short, this can only be compared with an advertisement for the sale of treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, placed among advertisements for water pipes or components and consumables for computers. This book will discuss exactly how such a blatant anomaly could arise.

Having traced the fate and path of the Dead Sea Scrolls from their discovery in the Judean Desert to the safes of various organizations and institutions where they are stored today, we found that we came face to face with the same contradiction that we had to deal with before: the contradiction between Jesus - a historical person and the Christ of faith. Our research began in Israel. Then they were continued in the corridors of the Vatican and, what is very strange, in the offices of the Inquisition. We had to face strong opposition to the "consensus" of interpretation regarding the content and dating of the scrolls and realize how explosive an impartial and independent study of them could be for the entire theological tradition of Christianity. Moreover, we have seen from our own experience with what rage the world of orthodox biblical scholasticism is ready to fight in the name of maintaining its monopoly on all sacred information.

Nowadays, Christians consider it quite acceptable to recognize the existence of, for example, Buddha or Muhammad as real historical figures, just like Alexander the Great or Caesar, and to separate them from all sorts of legends, traditions and theological heaps that have long surrounded their names. As for Jesus, such a division turns out to be much more complicated. The very essence of Christian beliefs, historical traditions and theology turns out to be inexplicably confused and contradictory. One overshadows the other. And at the same time, each individually poses a potential threat to everyone else. Thus, it is much easier and safer to remove all demarcation lines between them. Thus, for a believer, two significantly different figures will merge into one image. On the one hand, this is a real historical figure, a man who, according to most scientists, really existed and wandered the sands of Palestine two thousand years ago. On the other hand, he is the God-man of Christian doctrine, a Divine personality, for whose deification, glorification and preaching the Apostle Paul did a lot. Studying this character as a real historical figure, that is, trying to fit him into a historical context and put him on the same level as Muhammad or Buddha, Caesar or Alexander the Great, for many Christians still remains tantamount to blasphemy.

In the mid-1980s. we were accused of precisely this blasphemy. As part of a research project we were working on at the time, we attempted to separate history from theological dogma in order to separate the historical Jesus from the Christ of faith. In the process of research, we plunged headlong into the thick of the contradictions that all researchers of biblical materials face. And like everyone else

Thus, in the first half of the twentieth century we had, without a doubt, a highly accurate text of the Old Testament. The differences between the Masoretic texts, the Targums, the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint sometimes seemed quite large at first glance, but overall they had virtually no impact on the general understanding of the meaning of the biblical text. Yet sometimes scholars wished for a clearer guideline by which they could choose among several options, especially where the Masoretic text did not inspire confidence and the Septuagint seemed to offer a more acceptable solution. In 1947, a major event occurred that solved many problems of this kind and provided almost fantastic confirmation of the accuracy of our current Jewish biblical text.

In early 1947, a young Bedouin, Muhammad Ad-Dib, was looking for his missing goat in the area of ​​the Qumran caves, west of the Dead Sea (about 12 km south of the city of Jericho). His gaze fell on a rare-shaped hole in one of the steep rocks, and the happy thought came to him to throw a stone there.

In these caves of Qumran, near the Dead Sea, many ancient biblical manuscripts were found in 1947.

To his surprise, he heard the sound of breaking pottery. Having examined the hole, which turned out to be the entrance to the cave, the Bedouin saw several large jugs on the floor; Later it turned out that they contained very ancient leather scrolls. Although research has shown that the scrolls had been in the jars for about 1,900 years, they were in amazingly good condition because the jars were carefully sealed.

The Qumran scrolls were kept in such clay vessels. Along with the manuscripts of the Essenes sect, fragments and entire scrolls of biblical books were found. These Qumran scrolls confirm the fantastic accuracy of the Hebrew text of the Bible. Fragments of all the books of the Old Testament were discovered except the book of Esther.

Five scrolls from Cave No. 1, as it is now called, were, after many adventures, sold to the archbishop of an Orthodox Syrian monastery in Jerusalem, the other three to Professor Sukenik of the local Jewish University. At first, this discovery was generally kept silent, but by a lucky coincidence, in February 1948, the archbishop (who did not speak Hebrew at all) let scientists know about “his” treasure.

After the end of the Arab-Israeli war, the world quickly learned of the greatest archaeological discovery ever made in Palestine. During subsequent surveys of the area, manuscripts were discovered in ten more caves. It turned out that all of these caves were connected to a nearby ancient fortification, possibly dating back to around 100 BC. was created by the Jewish sect of the Essenes. The Essenes moved with their extensive library into the desert, to the fortification of Khirbet Qumran, probably fearing the invasion of the Romans (which followed in 68 AD). Cave No. 1 alone probably originally contained at least 150-200 scrolls, while Cave No. 4 yielded fragments of more than 380 scrolls. Subsequently, biblical scrolls dating back to the second century AD were also found in the Murabbaet caves, southeast of Bethlehem. Biblical scrolls discovered in 1963-65 during excavations at Massada, a fortification in the Judean Desert, also turned out to be valuable.

The most important of the Qumran finds are the famous scroll of Isaiah A, discovered in cave No. 1, the oldest complete Hebrew book of the Bible that has come down to us, dating back to the second century BC, as well as a commentary on the book of the minor prophet Habakkuk and an incomplete scroll of Isaiah B. In the cave No. 4, among other things, a fragment of the book of Kings of the 4th (!) century BC was discovered. - probably the oldest existing fragment of the Hebrew Bible. From cave No. 11 in 1956, a well-preserved scroll of Psalms, a miraculous scroll with part of the book of Leviticus and the Aramaic Targum of Job were recovered. Overall, the finds are so extensive that the collection covers all the books of the Bible (except Esther)! Thus, scientists got their hands on something they never dreamed of: a large part of the Hebrew Bible, which is on average a thousand years older than the Masoretic texts.

And what came to light? These ancient scrolls provided stunning evidence of the authenticity of the Masoretic texts. In principle, it is even difficult to believe that the text copied by hand has undergone so few changes over a thousand years. Take the scroll of Isaiah A for example: it is 95% identical to the Masoretic text, while the remaining 5% are minor errors or differences in spelling.

Part of an excellently preserved complete scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Today the scroll is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

And where the Qumran manuscripts diverged from the Masoretic text, their coincidence was revealed either with the Septuagint or with the Samaritan Pentateuch. The Qumran scrolls also confirmed various amendments to later texts proposed by scholars. It is not difficult to imagine that as a result of these discoveries, a whole new scientific direction arose, generating a large stream of literature and producing more and more amazing discoveries.

Let us not forget one of the important areas on which the Qumran findings had a serious impact: the camp of Bible critics. We will look at these questions in more detail in chapters 7 and 8. For example, the scroll of Isaiah B simply sweeps off the table many of the arguments that critics have made about the issue of the origin of this book. This concerns both theories about the time when this book was written, and claims that it is a collection of works by many authors. Of course, we must not lose sight of the fact that the books of the Bible, copies of which were discovered at Qumran, were first written down on paper hundreds of years earlier. As a rule, there was a significant period of time between the writing of a book and its widespread popularity and inclusion in the Holy Scriptures. Added to this is the slow pace of text transmission - due to the difficult, time-consuming instructions of the scribes. This also applies to the book of Daniel and some of the Psalms, which some critics once claimed did not originate until the second century B.C. The Isaiah scroll dates back to the second century BC, so the original must have been written several centuries earlier. This will refute a number of theories that claim that certain parts of the book of Isaiah were written in the third or even second century BC. Bernard Doom even wrote in 1892 that the final version of the book of Isaiah did not appear until the first century BC.

The discovery of the Isaiah scroll was also a bitter pill for liberal critics, who believed that chapters 40-66 of this book did not come from the pen of Isaiah, but were added much later by an unknown prophet (Isaiah the Second) or even - in part - by Isaiah the Third, who then he added them to the book of the prophet Isaiah. But it turned out that in the scroll of Isaiah, chapter 40 is not even highlighted with a new interval, although this was quite possible (moreover, chapter 40 begins in the last line of the column!). But such an interval can be found between chapters 33 and 34, i.e. right in the middle of the book. It consists of three blank lines and divides the book into two equal parts. In addition, both parts of the book differ in the structure of the text: either the scribe used different originals to copy the first and second parts of the book, or the work was carried out simultaneously by two scribes with different handwriting characteristics (probably this happened often). Therefore, the complete absence of such a separator between the 39th and 40th chapters is even more striking. Among all the arguments against the “theory of two Isaiahs,” the decisive one is the fact that nowhere among the Jews is there any reference to several authors of this book. On the contrary, even the apocryphal book of Jesus, son of Sirach (about 200 BC), in ch. 48, 23-28 attributes the entire book to the prophet Isaiah, directly pointing to chapters 40, 46 and 48!

Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are religious works, which on our website are divided into two types: “biblical” and “non-biblical.” “Tefillin and mezuzahs” are given a separate category. Documents of a non-literary nature, mainly papyri found not in the caves of Qumran, but in other places, are grouped into sections “Documents” and “Letters”, and into a separate small group “Exercises in writing”. There is also a separate group “Unidentified Texts”, which includes many fragments in poor condition, which scientists were unable to classify into one of the available categories. As a rule, the title of a particular manuscript refers to one text. However, in some cases, one title was assigned to several works. Sometimes the reason for this may be that the scroll has been reused - that is, new text has been written over old, blurred or scraped text (so-called palimpsest). In other cases, one text is written on the front of the scroll and another on the back. The reason for such a classification may also be errors or disagreements among scientists who have not reached a consensus on the classification of the fragments under study.

Sometimes researchers mistakenly believed that individual fragments belonged to the same manuscript. But sometimes these were excerpts from the same work - for example, the biblical Book of Leviticus, but from different copies. In some cases, letters are added to the names or numbers of the rolls to distinguish different copies of the same work. In the case of the above-mentioned book of Leviticus these are: 4Q26, 4Q26a, 4Q26b, 4Q26c.

Types of essays

Typically, researchers classify literary works among the Dead Sea Scrolls according to their content or genre. Scholars have differing opinions about some specific categories, and the terms we use are chosen only to aid the user's navigation through the site and not to contribute to already confusing scholarly discussions. Moreover, the same text can be classified into several categories.

Biblical texts

Holy Scripture (מקרא) – copies of books included in the Hebrew Bible. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, all the books of the Hebrew Bible were discovered except the Book of Esther (Esther). These are the oldest biblical texts that have reached us.

Translations of Scripture (תרגום המקרא) – translations of biblical texts into Aramaic and Greek.

Tefillin and mezuzahs

Tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzahs contain passages from the Torah, and are used in Jewish ritual according to Deuteronomy 6:6-9:

“Let these words, which I command you today, be in your heart... And you shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and let them be a mark between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Tefillin (תפילין) - rolled pieces of parchment placed in special boxes and intended to be a “sign on the hand” and a “mark between the eyes.” More than two dozen sheets of parchment with text for tefillin were discovered in the caves of Qumran, and several more tefillin were found in the Murabbaat, Hever and Tze'lim gorges.

They are identified by the biblical quotations they contain and by certain features of their writing, particularly the small print. These texts are identical to those required by the rabbinic law that is observed in Jewish religious practice to this day. However, some of the found copies also contain additional quotations from the Bible. Since the tefillin from Qumran are the only examples we have from the Second Temple period, we do not know whether their characteristic features reflect the tradition of one specific community, or a tradition widespread among the people.

Mezuzahs (מזוזה) - sheets of parchment with text from the Hebrew Bible, placed in special capsules and attached to doorposts. Eight mezuzahs were found in the Qumran caves and several more in Wadi Murabbaat. The biblical quotations written on these mezuzahs are identical to those texts that are placed on the doorposts of Jewish homes today.

Non-biblical writings

Non-biblical works are texts that are not included in the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, some of them could well be considered sacred by both their authors and readers of that time.

Apocrypha (אפוקריפה) – this term refers to specific works that are part of the Catholic and Orthodox Old Testaments, but are not part of the Hebrew Bible and the Protestant Old Testament. Three similar apocrypha have been discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls: Ben Sira (also known as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach or Sirach), the Book of Tobit, and the Epistle of Jeremiah.

Calendar texts (חיבורים קלנדריים) – calendar calculations found in the caves of Qumran and predominantly oriented towards the solar rather than the lunar cycle. These calendars are an important source of information about holidays and the so-called priestly successions (משמרות). Some of them are written in a secret script (an unusual way of writing for Hebrew), since this information may have been secret and esoteric. These manuscripts are especially valuable for their orderliness and systematic listing of days and months, thanks to which scientists reconstructed the missing parts of the calendar. The most common of these calendars includes 364 days, divided into four seasons of 13 weeks each.

Exegetical texts (חיבורים פרשניים) – essays that analyze and interpret specific biblical works. The most famous of these texts are the so-called “pesharim” (see below); as well as “halakhic midrash” and interpretations of the book of Genesis.

Pesher (פשר) – a separate type of commentary literature that very narrowly interprets biblical prophecies as relating specifically to the history of the Qumran community. Pesharim are particularly focused on the eschatological idea of ​​the “last days.” These comments are very easily recognized by the frequent use of the word "pesher", which links the Bible quotations and the sectarian explanations that interpret them.

Historical works (חיבורים היסטוריים) – texts dedicated to certain real events, and sometimes also commenting on these events from a moral or theological point of view. These passages mention historical figures such as Queen Salome (Shlamtsion) or Greek kings, and many of the events they describe take place in the midst of wars and rebellions.

Halakhic texts (חיבורים הלכתיים) – texts primarily concerned with halakha (a term used in later rabbinic literature), i.e., discussion of Jewish religious law. The Hebrew Bible contains the widest range of halakhic texts, discussing a wide variety of issues: civil relationships, ritual requirements and commandments (for example, the observance of holidays), temple service, ritual purity and impurity, behavior within the prescribed ethics, etc. Many Qumran texts interpret and expand the traditional biblical view of these laws. And among them there are also such as, for example, the Charter of the community or the halachic parts of the Damascus Document (also known as the Scroll of the Damascus Covenant), which are devoted to specific rules and regulations of sectarians. Several works, the most significant of which is Miktsat Maasei HaTorah (MMT, also known as the Halachic Letter), are devoted to polemics with opponents of the sect.

Circum-biblical texts (חיבורים על המקרא) – writings that retell the scriptures in new ways, expanding or embellishing biblical narratives or halakhic texts with new details. This category includes, for example, the Apocrypha of Genesis, the Book of Enoch and the Temple Scroll. Some of the circum-biblical texts, such as the Book of Jubilees or the Aramaic Document of Levi, may have probably had sacred status among some ancient religious groups.

Poetic and liturgical texts (חיבורים שיריים וליטורגיים) – Most of the poetry and hymns of praise discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls are closely related to biblical poetry. Many texts use themes and expressions characteristic of a later period, and this primarily applies to sectarian works, such as the Hymns of Thanksgiving. Some of these texts may have been composed for personal study and reflection, others for formal liturgical service: for example, Daily Prayers, Feast Prayers, and Songs of the Sabbath Burnt Offering.

Instructive texts (חיבורים חכמתיים) – Some of the Qumran scrolls continue the tradition of instructive or philosophical literature, such biblical books as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and such apocryphal works as the Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon. In these works, practical advice about everyday life is combined with deep reflections on the nature of things and the fate of humanity. Works such as the Instruction and the Mysteries combine pragmatic and philosophical themes with apocalyptic and halakhic issues.

Sectarian works (חיבורים כיתתיים) – writings using specific terminology and describing the specific theology, worldview and history of a separate religious group that called itself "Yachad" ("Together", "Community"). The central group of these texts describes the rules of the community with a special emphasis on the expectation of the end of the world, which is seen by the members of this group as inevitable and imminent. Previously, scholars had attributed all of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Essene community, one of the three leading Jewish sects of the Second Temple period. Today, most researchers believe that, taken together, these texts reflect several related religious communities at different stages of formation and development rather than a single sect. And even texts classified as “sectarian” were most likely composed by representatives of different groups within or outside the Yahad community. Three of the first seven scrolls discovered in Cave No. 1 were the most significant in identifying sectarian texts and are still the best known manuscripts. These are the Charter of the Community, the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness and the Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Habakkuk (Pesher Havakkuk).

Documents and letters

Letters of Bar Kokhba (איגרות בר כוכבא) – fifteen war messages that were preserved in leather fur in Cave No. 5/6 in Hever Gorge, also known as the Cave of Messages. All the letters in this bundle were compiled by a person from the inner circle of the leader of the uprising against the Romans, Shimon Bar Kochba, and most of them were written on behalf of the latter.

Archive of Babatha (ארכיון בבתא) – personal archive of a woman who apparently sought refuge in the Judean Desert during the Bar Kokhba revolt. These documents were also found in Cave No. 5/6 in the Hever Gorge (the so-called Cave of Messages) and represent thirty-five financial documents, including marriage contracts, land deeds, and trade agreements. All the documents were wrapped in a bundle and placed in a leather bag, which was then hidden in a hidden crevice of the cave. Apparently, the careful choice of hiding place was made with the expectation of future use of these documents. The documents are very well preserved and contain exact dates from 94 to 132 AD. n. e. The archive includes texts in Aramaic, Nabataean and Greek.

Archive of Eleazar ben Shmuel (ארכיון אלעזר בן שמואל) – In addition to the archives of Bar Kochba and Babata, another small set of interesting documents was discovered in the Cave of Messages - five contracts belonging to a certain Elazar son of Shmuel, a peasant from Ein Gedi. They were discovered inside a leather bag in the same secret cave crevice as Babata's archive. Another papyrus that belonged to Elazar was hidden among the reeds.

Presumably Qumran texts (תעודות לכאורה ממערות קומראן) – and finally, there are some documents sold by the Bedouins to the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem as supposed Qumran manuscripts, but it is possible that they were actually found in other places. In at least one of these cases, belonging to the Qumran scrolls is very likely. Another fragment is a financial account in Greek, supposedly written on the back of the original Qumran scroll.

Bible believers are often attacked with the accusation that the Bible is full of errors. These alleged errors can be divided into two main categories: (1) apparent internal inconsistencies between available information, and (2) scribal errors in the original manuscripts themselves. The first category includes those situations in which apparent discrepancies between biblical texts relate to specific events, persons, places, etc. (For a solution to these difficulties, see Archer, 1982, Geisler and Brooks, 1989, pp. 163-178). The second category concerns the larger problem of the reliability of the source documents from which our modern translations of the Bible were made. Some claim that the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts, written and copied by hand over many years, contain a host of scribal errors that seriously distort the information presented in the originals. If this is the case, then we cannot be confident in our translations that they convey the original information presented by the writers of the Bible. However, the documents discovered at Qumran, commonly called the Dead Sea Scrolls, provided compelling evidence of the authenticity of the Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts of the Old Testament, as well as the authenticity of the books themselves.

Dating of documents

When these scrolls were first discovered in 1947, scholars argued about the dates of their writing. Scholars now generally agree that, although some of the documents are from an earlier period, the Qumran scrolls date to roughly the Hasmonean (153 – 63 BC) and Early Roman (63 BC) periods. – 68 AD). Several lines of evidence support these datings. After six major archaeological expeditions, archaeologists have established three distinct periods of occupation in the central part of ancient Qumran. The coins found in the first layer date back to the reign of Antiochus VII Sidetes (138-129 BC). Such finds also indicate that the architecture associated with the second phase of settlement dates no later than the time of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC). Also, the material remains at the excavation site reflect the destruction of buildings from the earthquake reported by the first-century historian Josephus ( Jewish antiquities, 15.5.2). Apparently, this natural disaster, which occurred around 31 AD, prompted the inhabitants to abandon the area for an indefinite period. After the repopulation of the area (third phase), the buildings were restored and rebuilt exactly according to the plan of the previous settlement of the ancient community. This community flourished until the Romans, under Vespasian, captured the site (see Cross, 1992, pp. 21-22). This evidence places the scrolls at a date ranging from the second century BC to the first century AD.

Qumran caves

The second line of evidence that is accepted by most for dating these scrolls is supported by paleographic considerations. Paleography is the science that studies ancient inscriptions, and more precisely, the shapes and styles of letters. The characteristics of ancient languages, the ways of writing Hebrew and Aramaic letters, changed over time. An experienced eye can determine, within certain limits, the period in which a document was written by the shape of its letters. This is what this paleographic method is, through which scientists determine the date of writing of a text. According to this methodology, the Qumran writings belong to three periods of paleographic history: (1) a small group of biblical texts whose archaic style indicates the period between 250-150 BC. BC.; (2) most of the manuscripts, both biblical and non-biblical, which correspond to the writing style common to the Hasmonean period (c. 150-30 BC); (3) and an equally large part of the texts, which clearly relate to the style of writing characteristic of Herod's period (30 BC - 70 AD). This linguistic evidence is also consistent with the generally accepted dating of the Qumran documents.

Finally, as an aside, carbon-14 studies of both the material in which the scrolls were wrapped and the scrolls themselves are generally consistent with paleographic dating. However, there are several significant difficulties. Because of the inherent imprecision of carbon-14 dating (see Major, 1993), and the possibility of chemical contamination, scientists place more confidence in historically verified dates using paleography (see Shanks, 1991, 17:72). In any case, archaeological and linguistic evidence helps scientists believe with reasonable confidence that the scrolls date back to 250 BC. - 70 AD

The importance of these scrolls

While the importance of these documents is indeed multifaceted, one of their main contributions to biblical studies is in the field of textual criticism. This is a field of study in which scholars attempt to reconstruct, as accurately as possible, the original content of biblical texts. Such work is natural and necessary, since we only have copies (apographs), not original manuscripts (autographs) of the Scriptures. The Dead Sea Scrolls are particularly significant in this regard for at least two reasons: (1) every book of the traditional Jewish canon except the book of Esther is represented (to some extent) among the Qumran materials (Collins 1992, 2 :89); and (2) for textual criticism, they provided ancient manuscripts that could be compared with accepted texts for accuracy of content.

Scrolls and Masoretic Text

This second point is of particular importance because before the discovery of the Qumran manuscripts, the earliest surviving Old Testament text was the so-called Masoretic Text (MT), which dates back to approximately 980 AD. MT is the result of editorial work carried out by Jewish scribes known as Masoretes. The name of these scribes comes from the Hebrew word masorah, which refers generally to the notes added to the top, bottom, and side margins of MT manuscripts to ensure the transmission of their traditions. Therefore, the Masoretes, as their name suggests, were guardian scribes Masorah, those. traditions (Roberts 1962, 3:295). From the fifth to the ninth centuries AD, the Masoretes worked to add marginal notes to both these notes and vowels to the consonant-only text, primarily to preserve correct pronunciation and spelling (see Hsiau, 1987 ., pp. 8-9).

Critical scholars have questioned the accuracy of the MT, which formed the basis of the English translation of the Old Testament, since there was such a large chronological gap between it and the autographs. Because of this uncertainty, scholars have often "corrected" the text quite freely. Qumran, however, provided a text that dates much earlier than the Masoretic, and predates the Christian era during which traditional MT emerged. Comparison of the MT with this earlier text revealed the astonishing accuracy with which the scribes copied the sacred texts. Accordingly, the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible was confirmed, which generally increased its respect among scholars and sharply reduced textual corruption.

Most of the biblical manuscripts found at Qumran belong to the MT tradition or family. This is especially true of the Pentateuch and some books of the Prophets. The well-preserved Isaiah scroll from Cave 1 illustrates the care with which these sacred texts were copied. Since some 1,700 years separated the book of Isaiah in the MT from its original source, critics have suggested that centuries of copying and rewriting of the book must have introduced scribal errors into the document, distorting the author's original message.

Scrolls of the Book of Isaiah found at Qumran have reduced the gap with the original manuscript to 500 years. Interestingly, when scholars compared the MT of the book of Isaiah with the scroll of Isaiah from Qumran, the match was amazing. The texts from Qumran were word-for-word identical to our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95% of the text. The 5% of differences consisted primarily of obvious typos and spelling changes (Archer, 1974, p. 25). Further, there were no major doctrinal differences between the already accepted texts and the Qumran texts (see table below). This convincingly demonstrated the accuracy with which the scribes transcribed the sacred texts and strengthened our confidence in the reliability of the texts of the Bible (see Yamauchi, 1972, p. 130). The Dead Sea Scrolls have strengthened our confidence that the faithful work of the scribes has essentially preserved the original contents of the book of Isaiah.

• TEXT FROM QUMRAN COMPARED WITH THE MASORIETIC
• Of the 166 Hebrew words in Isaiah 53, only seventeen letters in the Dead Sea Scroll 1QIs b differ from the Masoretic Text (Geisler and Nix, 1986, v. 382).
• 10 letters = difference in spelling
• 4 letters = stylistic changes
• 3 letters = added word “light” (v. 11)
• 17 letters = and no impact on biblical teaching

Critical Scholars, Daniel and the Scrolls

Similarly, the Qumran finds confirmed the reliability and authenticity of the text of the book of Daniel. Critical scholars, as is the case with all books of the Old Testament, have tried to disprove the authenticity of the book of Daniel. The contents of this book claim that it was written during the Babylonian exile, from the first exile of the Jews (606 BC) to the rise of the Persian Empire to world domination (c. 536 BC). ; ). However, these dates have been questioned and generally not accepted by critical scholars, who date the final composition of this book to the second century BC. In particular, it was stated that the narrative of chapters 1-6 in the form in which the book has come down to us could not have appeared earlier than the Greek period (c. 332 BC). Also, the sequence of successions of the four empires, which is clearly stated in Chapter 2, supposedly requires the dating of this book to a time after the rise of the Greek empire. In addition, these scholars stated that due to the fact that there is no clear mention in the book of Antiochus Epiphanes IV (175-164 BC), chapter 11 prophetically speaks of a Seleucid king, the more likely date is the end third, early second century BC. (See Collins 1992, 2:31; Whitehorn 1992, 1:270).

The obvious reason for this conclusion among critical scholars is the predictable nature of the book of Daniel. It talks exactly about those events that were supposed to happen hundreds of years from the period in which it claims to have been written. And since the historical-critical method is based on principles that exclude miraculous intervention in human affairs (see Brantley, 1994), the idea of ​​inspired prediction or prophecy is a priori excluded from the list of possibilities. Accordingly, Daniel allegedly could not speak with such accuracy about events so distant in his time. Therefore, these scholars conclude that the book was written during the Maccabean period, in fact as a historical narrative about a long time ago, but expressed in apocalyptic or prophetic language.

The Dead Sea Scrolls had something to say in this debate. Due to the number of fragments of the Book of Daniel found in various caves in the vicinity of Qumran, it can be concluded that this prophetic book was one of the most popular and valued by the Qumran community. Perhaps the popularity of the book of Daniel was due to the fact that the people at Qumran lived in turbulent times in which many of the things written in it came true. Be that as it may, the book of Daniel was especially taken care of, so that we now have at our disposal all the chapters of this book, except for 9 and 12. However, one manuscript (4QDan c; 4 = Cave 4; Q = Qumran); Dan c = one of the fragments of the book of Daniel, arbitrarily marked "c") published in November 1989, was dated to the end of the second century BC. (See Hasel, 1992, 5:47). Two other important documents (4QDan b, 4QDan a) have been published since 1987 and have contributed to the scholarly analysis of the book of Daniel. These recently published passages are directly related to the confirmation of the reliability and authenticity of the book of Daniel.

Text integrity

As with the book of Isaiah, before Qumran there were no surviving manuscripts of Daniel dating earlier than the end of the tenth century CE. Accordingly, scholars have cast a shadow of suspicion on the integrity of the text of the book of Daniel. Just as with the book of Isaiah, this skepticism about the reliability of the contents of the book of Daniel has led scholars to take great liberties in correcting the Hebrew text. One of the reasons for this suspicion was the allegedly arbitrary appearance of the Aramaic section in the book. Some scholars, because of this language shift, have incorrectly assumed that Daniel originally wrote in Aramaic, and later parts of this book were translated into Hebrew. In addition, a comparison of the Septuagint translation (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) with the MT revealed a huge discrepancy in length and content between the two texts. Due to these and other considerations, critical scholars have begun to attach little importance to the text of the book of Daniel in the MT.

However, once again the finds at Qumran confirmed the authenticity of the text of the book of Daniel. Gerhard Hasel has provided a number of lines of evidence from fragments of the Book of Daniel found at Qumran that support the authenticity of MT (see 1992, 5:50). First, in general, the manuscripts of the book of Daniel from the Dead Sea Scrolls are very consistent and have very little difference in content from one another. Secondly, the fragments from Qumran generally correspond very closely to the MT, with very minor deviations from the latter in comparison with the Septuagint translation. Thirdly, the transition from Hebrew to Aramaic is preserved in the Qumran fragments. Based on such undeniable facts, it is clear that the MT is a very well-preserved version of the book of Daniel. In short, Qumran convinces us that we can be confident that the text of Daniel from which our translations have been based is reliable. Practically, this means that we have at our disposal, through a faithful translation of the original, the truth that God revealed to Daniel many centuries ago.

Dating the book

Fragments of the Book of Daniel found at Qumran also speak to the topic of the authenticity of this book. As mentioned earlier, most scholars generally place the completion of the book of Daniel in the second century BC. However, the book states that it was written by Daniel, who lived in the sixth century BC. However, the Dead Sea Scroll fragments provide compelling evidence for an earlier, i.e. biblical date for the writing of this book.

The relatively numerous fragments of the book of Daniel indicate the importance of this book for the Qumran community. In addition, there is a clear indication that this book was considered “canonical” for this community, which means that it was recognized as an authoritative book along with the rest of the biblical books (for example, Deuteronomy, Kings, Isaiah, Psalms). The canonicity of Daniel at Qumran is shown not only by numerous fragments, but also by the way it was referred to in other documents. One of the fragments uses a quotation with the note “as it is written in the book of the prophet Daniel.” This phrase is similar to Jesus' reference to "the prophet Daniel" (), which was the common formulation when quoting the canonical Scriptures at Qumran (see Hansel, 1992, 5:51).

The canonical status of the Book of Daniel at Qumran is important to its dating and authenticity. If, as critics have suggested, the Book of Daniel was finally compiled around 160 BC, how could it achieve its status as a canonical book at Qumran in just five or six decades? Although we do not know exactly how long it took for this book to achieve such authoritative status, it seems likely that it would have taken longer for this to happen (see Bruce, 1988, pp. 27-42). It is curious that even before the most recent publications of the fragments of Daniel, R.K. Harrison recognized that the canonical status of Daniel at Qumran refutes the theory that it was composed in the Maccabean period and serves to confirm its authenticity (1969, pp. 1126-1127).

Although Harrison made this observation in 1969, three decades before most of the Cave 4 documents became available to the public and scholars, no new evidence has refuted it. On the contrary, new texts from Qumran only confirmed these conclusions. The acceptance of the book of Daniel as canonical at Qumran indicates the antiquity of its composition—certainly much earlier than the Maccabean period. Therefore, the most recent publications of the Daniel manuscripts confirm the authenticity of this book - it was written when the Bible says it was written.

The final contribution of the Qumran finds to the biblical dating of the books of Daniel comes from linguistic considerations. Although, as noted earlier, critical scholars argue that the Aramaic section of the book of Daniel points to the second century B.C. as the date of its writing, but the Qumran materials indicate the opposite. In fact, a comparison of the documents found at Qumran with the Book of Daniel demonstrates that its Aramaic section points to a writing date earlier than the 2nd century BC. This comparison also shows that the book of Daniel was written in a completely different place than Judea. For example, the apocryphal book of Genesis found in the 1st cave is a document from the second century BC. written in Aramaic and dates from the same period as that claimed by critics for the writing of the book of Daniel. If the critics were correct in the dating of Daniel, then it should reflect the same linguistic characteristics of this apocryphal Genesis. But the Aramaic of the two books is noticeably different.

Apocryphal Genesis, for example, tends to place verbs at the beginning of sentences, while in Daniel this tendency is different and has verbs mostly at the end of sentences. In view of this, linguists have suggested that the book of Daniel reflects an eastern type of Aramaic, which is more flexible in word order and bears almost none of the qualities of the western. In every significant category of linguistic comparison (i.e., morphology, grammar, syntax, vocabulary), the apocryphal Genesis (admittedly written in the second century BC) reflects a later style than the language of the book of Daniel (Archer, 1980). ., 136:143; cf. Yamauchi, 1980). Interestingly, the same is true of the Hebrew of Daniel when compared with the Hebrew texts of the sectarian documents preserved at Qumran (that is, those texts that were compiled by the Qumran community and reflected their social orders and religious practices). From such linguistic facts presented in the Qumran finds, it is impossible to conclude that the book of Daniel was written by a Jewish patriot in Judea in the early second century BC, as critics claim.

Conclusion

There are, of course, critical scholars who, despite the evidence, continue to dispute the authenticity of the book of Daniel, as well as other books of the Bible. That said, the Qumran texts have provided compelling evidence that strengthens our faith in the integrity of the manuscripts on which our translations are based. And now it is up to Bible believers to trust these texts and allow them to direct our attention to issues of concern to God and become the kind of people God wants us to be.

1. Archer, Gleason, Jr. (1974), A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago, IL: Moody).
2. Archer, Gleason, Jr. (1980), “Modern Rationalism and the Book of Daniel,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 136:129-147, April-June.
3. Archer, Gleason, Jr. (1982), Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).
4. Brantley, Garry K. (1994), “Biblical Miracles: Fact or Fiction?,” Reason and Revelation, 14:33-38, May.
5. Bruce, F.F. (1988), The Canon of Scriptures (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press).
6. Collins, John J. (1992a), “Daniel, Book of,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday), 2:29-37.
7. Collins, John J. (1992b), “Dead Sea Scrolls,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday), 2:85-101.
8. Cross, Frank Moore (1992), “The Historical Context of the Scrolls,” Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Hershel Shanks (New York: Random House).
9. Geisler, Norman and Ronald Brooks (1989), When Skeptics Ask (Wheaton, IL: Victor).
10. Geisler, Norman and William Nix (1986), A General Intorduction to the Bible (Chicago, IL: Moody).
11. Harrison, R.K. (1969), Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
12. Hasel, Gerhard (1992), “New Light on the Book of Daniel from the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Archaeology and Biblical Research, 5:45-53, Spring.
13. Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews,” The Life and Works of Flavius ​​Josephus, (Chicago, IL: John C. Winston; translated by William Whiston).
14. Major, Trevor (1993), “Dating in Archaeology: Radiocarbon and Tree-Ring Dating,” Reason and Revelation, 13:73-77, October.
15. Roberts, B.J. (1962), “Masora,” The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Abingdon), 3:295.
16. Seow, C.L. (1987), A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew (Nashville, TN: Abingdon).
17. Shanks, Hershel (1991), “Carbon-14 Tests Substantiate Scroll Dates,” Biblical Archeology Review, 17:72, November/December.
18. Whitehorne, John (1992), “Antiochus,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday), 1:269-272.
19. Yamauchi, Edwin (1972), The Stones and the Scriptures: An Evangelical Perspective (New York: Lippincott).
20. Yamauchi, Edwin (1980), “The Archaeological Background of Daniel,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 137:3-16, January-March.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS(or rather manuscripts; מְגִלּוֹת יָם הַמֶּלַח , Megillot Yam x ha-melach), a popular name for manuscripts discovered since 1947 in the caves of Qumran (tens of thousands of manuscripts and fragments), in the caves of Wadi Murabba'at (south of Qumran), in Khirbet Mirda (southwest of Qumran) , as well as in a number of other caves in the Judean Desert and in Masada (for the findings in the last two paragraphs, see the corresponding articles).

The first manuscripts were discovered by chance in Qumran by Bedouins in 1947. Seven scrolls (complete or slightly damaged) fell into the hands of antiquities dealers, who offered them to scholars. Three manuscripts (Second Scroll of Isaiah, Hymns, War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness) were acquired for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by E. L. Sukenik, who first established their antiquity and published excerpts in 1948–50. (full edition - posthumously in 1954). Four other manuscripts fell into the hands of the Metropolitan of the Syrian Church, Samuel Athanasius, and from him to the USA, where three of them (the First Scroll of Isaiah, the Commentary on Havakkuk /Habakkuk/ and the Charter of the Community) were read by a group of researchers led by M. Burrows and published in 1950–51 These manuscripts were subsequently acquired by the Israeli government (with money donated for this purpose by D. S. Gottesman, 1884–1956), and the last of these seven manuscripts (the Apocrypha of Genesis), published in 1956 by N. Avigad, was read in Israel and I. Yadin. Now all seven manuscripts are on display in the Temple of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Following these finds, systematic excavations and surveys began in 1951 in Qumran and nearby caves, which were under Jordanian control at that time. The surveys, which uncovered new manuscripts and numerous fragments, were carried out jointly by the Jordanian government's Department of Antiquities, the Palestine Archaeological Museum (Rockefeller Museum) and the French Archaeological Biblical School; Scientific activities were led by R. de Vaux. With the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, almost all of these finds, concentrated in the Rockefeller Museum, became available to Israeli scientists. In the same year, I. Yadin managed to acquire (with funds allocated by the Wolfson Foundation) another of the famous large manuscripts - the so-called Temple Scroll. Outside Israel, in Amman, there is only one of the significant Dead Sea manuscripts - the Copper Scroll.

The Qumran scrolls are written mainly in Hebrew, partly in Aramaic; there are fragments of Greek translations of biblical texts. Hebrew of non-biblical texts is the literary language of the Second Temple era; some passages are written in post-biblical Hebrew. The writing is usually “full” (the so-called asset male with particularly extensive use of letters wav And iodine to denote the vowels o, u, i). Often such orthography indicates phonetic and grammatical forms different from the extant Tiberian Masorah, but there is no uniformity in this regard among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The main type used is the square Hebrew font, a direct predecessor of the modern printed font. There are two styles of writing - a more archaic one (the so-called Hasmonean letter) and a later one (the so-called Herodian letter). The Tetragrammaton is usually written in Paleo-Hebrew script, as is one fragment of the Book of Exodus. The main writing material is parchment made from goatskin or sheepskin, and occasionally papyrus. Carbon ink (with the sole exception of the Genesis apocrypha). Paleographical data and external evidence allow these manuscripts to be dated to the end of the Second Temple era and considered to be the remains of the library of the Qumran community. Finds of similar texts in Masada date back to 73 AD. e., the year of the fall of the fortress, as terminus ad quet. Fragments of tefillin on parchment were also discovered; Tefillin belong to a type that precedes the modern one.

Qumran manuscripts, written in the period from the 2nd century. BC e. up to 1st century n. BC, represent invaluable historical material that allows us to better understand the spiritual processes that characterized Jewish society at the end of the Second Temple era, and sheds light on many general issues of Jewish history. The Dead Sea Scrolls are also of particular importance for understanding the origins and ideology of early Christianity. The finds at Qumran led to the emergence of a special field of Jewish studies - Qumran studies, which deals with the study of both the manuscripts themselves and the whole range of problems associated with them. In 1953, the international Committee for the Publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls was created (seven volumes of its publications were published under the title “Discoveries in the Judean Desert”, Oxford, 1955–82). The main publication of Qumran scholars is the Revue de Qumran (published in Paris since 1958). Rich literature on Qumran studies exists in Russian (I. Amusin, K. B. Starkova and others).

Biblical texts. Among the Qumran finds, about 180 copies of (mostly fragmentary) biblical books have been identified. Of the 24 books of the canonical Hebrew Bible, only one is not represented - the book of Esther, which is perhaps not accidental. Along with Jewish texts, fragments of the Greek Septuagint (from the books of Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus) were discovered. Of the targums (Aramaic translations of the Bible), the most interesting is the targum of the book of Job, which serves as independent evidence of the existence of a written targum of this book, which, according to the order of Rabban Gamliel I, was seized and walled up in the Temple and under the name “Syrian Book” is mentioned in the addition to the book of Job in the Septuagint. Fragments of the targum of the book of Leviticus have also been found. The Apocrypha of the book of Genesis represents, apparently, the oldest targum of the Pentateuch created in Eretz Israel. Another type of biblical material is the verbatim verses quoted as part of the Qumran commentary (see below).

The Dead Sea Scrolls reflect the diverse textual variants of the Bible. Apparently, in 70–130. the biblical text was standardized by Rabbi Akiva and his companions. Among the textual variants found at Qumran, along with the proto-Masoretic ones (see Masorah), there are types previously hypothetically accepted as the basis of the Septuagint and close to the Samaritan Bible, but without the sectarian tendencies of the latter (see Samaritans), as well as types attested only in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, lists of the book of Numbers have been discovered, occupying an intermediate position between the Samaritan version and the Septuagint, and lists of the book of Samuel, the textual tradition of which is apparently better than that which formed the basis of the Masoretic text and the text of the Septuagint, etc. In general, however, comparative A study of the textual variants shows that the proto-Masoretic reading established by Rabbi Akiva and his companions is based, as a rule, on a selection of the best textual traditions.

Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. Along with the Greek text of Jeremiah, the Apocrypha is represented by fragments of the Book of Tobit (three fragments in Aramaic and one in Hebrew) and Ben Sira of Wisdom (in Hebrew). Among the pseudepigraphic works are the Book of Jubilees (about 10 Hebrew copies) and the Book of Enoch (9 Aramaic copies; see also Hanoch). Fragments of the last book represent all the main sections with the exception of the second (chapters 37–71 - the so-called Allegories), the absence of which is especially noteworthy, since here the image of the “son of man” appears (a development of the image from the book of Daniel 7:13). The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (several fragments of the Testament of Levi in ​​Aramaic and the Testament of Naphtali in Hebrew) are also pseudepigrapha - works preserved in the Greek Christianized version. The fragments of the Testaments found at Qumran are more extensive than the corresponding passages in the Greek text. Part of the Epistle of Jeremiah (usually included in the book of Baruch) was also found. Previously unknown pseudepigrapha include the Sayings of Moses, the Vision of Amram (Moses' father), the Psalms of Yeh hoshua bin Nun, several passages from the Daniel cycle, including the Prayer of Nabonidus (a variant of Daniel 4), and the Book of Secrets.

Literature of the Qumran community

Section 5:1–9:25, in a style often reminiscent of the Bible, sets out the ethical ideals of the community (truthfulness, modesty, obedience, love, etc.). The community is metaphorically described as a spiritual temple, consisting of Aaron and Israel, that is, priests and laity, whose members, due to the perfection of their lives, are able to atone for human sins (5:6; 8:3; 10; 9:4). Then follow the rules on the organization of the community and its daily life, listing the punishable offenses (blasphemy, lying, insubordination, loud laughter, spitting in the meeting, etc.). The section ends with a listing of the virtues of an ideal, “reasonable” member of the sect ( maskil). Three hymns, similar in all respects to those contained in the Hymn Roll (see below), complete the manuscript (10:1–8a; 10:86–11:15a; 11:156–22).

The Hymn Roll (Megillat x a-kh odayot; 18 more or less complete columns of text and 66 fragments) contains about 35 psalms; The manuscript dates back to the 1st century. BC e. Most of the psalms begin with the formula “I thank you, Lord,” while a smaller part begins with “Blessed be you, Lord.” The content of the hymns is thanksgiving to God for the salvation of mankind. Man is described as a being sinful by his very nature; he is created from clay mixed with water (1:21; 3:21) and returns to dust (10:4; 12:36); man is a carnal creature (15:21; 18:23), born of a woman (13:14). Sin permeates the entire human being, even affecting the spirit (3:21; 7:27). Man has no justification before God (7:28; 9:14ff), is unable to know His essence and His glory (12:30), since the human heart and ears are unclean and “uncircumcised” (18:4, 20 , 24). Human destiny is entirely in God's hands (10:5ff.). In contrast to man, God is an omnipotent creator (1:13ff; 15:13ff), who gave man a destiny (15:13ff) and determined even his thoughts (9:12, 30). God's wisdom is infinite (9:17) and inaccessible to man (10:2). Only those to whom God has revealed himself are able to comprehend His mysteries (12:20), devote themselves to Him (11:10ff), and glorify His name (11:25). These chosen ones are not identical with the people of Israel (the word "Israel" is never mentioned in the surviving text), but are those who received revelation - not of their own free will, but by God's design (6:8) - and were cleared of their guilt God (3:21).

Humanity is therefore divided into two parts: the elect who belong to God and for whom there is hope (2:13; 6:6), and the wicked who are far from God (14:21) and who are allies of Bliy'al (2 :22) in his struggle with the righteous (5:7; 9, 25). Salvation is possible only for the chosen ones and, which is very characteristic, is considered as having already taken place (2:20, 5:18): acceptance into the community in itself is salvation (7:19ff; 18:24, 28) and therefore not surprising that there is no clear distinction between entry into the community and eschatological salvation.

The idea of ​​the resurrection of the righteous is present (6:34), but does not play a significant role. Eschatologically, salvation does not consist in the deliverance of the righteous, but in the final destruction of wickedness. The Psalms show a literary dependence on the Bible, primarily on the biblical psalms, but also on the prophetic books (see Prophets and Prophecy), especially Isaiah, and are full of numerous allusions to biblical passages. Philological studies reveal significant stylistic, phraseological and lexical differences between the psalms, which suggests that they belong to different authors. Although the manuscript dates back to the 1st century. BC BC, the discovery of fragments of these psalms in another cave suggests that the Roll of Hymns is not the original, but a copy of an earlier manuscript.

Damascus Document(Sefer brit Dammesek - Book of the Damascus Covenant), a work that presents the views of the sect that left Judea and moved to the “land of Damascus” (if this name is taken literally). The existence of the work has been known since 1896 from two fragments discovered in the Cairo Geniza. Significant fragments of this work were found at Qumran, allowing one to get an idea of ​​its structure and content. The Qumran version is an epitomized version of a more extensive prototype.

The introductory part contains exhortations and warnings addressed to members of the sect, and polemics with its opponents. It also contains some historical information about the sect itself. After 390 years (cf. Ech. 4:5) from the day of the destruction of the First Temple, “out of Israel and Aaron” the “planted seed” sprouted, that is, a sect arose, and after another 20 years the Teacher of righteousness appeared (1:11; in 20 :14 it's named sea ​​x a-yakhid- “the only teacher” or “the teacher of the one”; or, if you read x a-yahad- `teacher of the /Qumran/ community`), who united those who accepted his teaching into a “new covenant”. At the same time, the Preacher of Lies appeared, a “mocker” who led Israel along the wrong path, as a result of which many members of the community apostatized from the “new covenant” and left it. When the influence of apostates and opponents of the sect increased, those remaining faithful to the covenant left the holy city and fled to the “land of Damascus.” Their leader was the “lawgiver who expounds the Torah,” who established the laws of life for those who “entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus.” These laws are valid until the appearance of the “Teacher of Righteousness at the end of days.” The “people of mockery” who followed the Preacher of Lies apparently refers to the Pharisees who “made a fence for the Torah.” The Torah was initially inaccessible: it was sealed and hidden in the Ark of the Covenant until the time of the high priest Zadok, whose descendants were "chosen in Israel", that is, have an unquestionable right to the high priesthood. Now the Temple has been desecrated, and therefore those who entered into the “new covenant” should not even approach it. The "people of mockery" have profaned the Temple, do not observe the laws of ritual purity prescribed by the Torah, and rebel against God's commands.

The second part of the essay is devoted to the laws of the sect and its structure. The laws include regulations on the Sabbath, the altar, a place for prayer, the “temple city”, idolatry, ritual purity, etc. Some of the laws correspond to generally accepted Jewish ones, others are the opposite of them and are similar to those adopted by the Karaites and Samaritans, with a pronounced general tendency to rigorism. The organization of the sect is characterized by the division of members into four classes: priests, Levites, the rest of Israel, and proselytes. The names of sect members must be included in special lists. The sect is divided into “camps”, each of which is headed by a priest, followed in rank by a “supervisor” ( x a-mevacker), whose functions include leadership and instruction of sect members. There appears to have been a distinction between those who lived in the "camps" as actual members of the community and those who "lived in the camps by the law of the land," which perhaps meant community members living in villages.

The work is written in Biblical Hebrew, free of Aramaicisms. Sermons and teachings are composed in the spirit of ancient midrashim. The images of the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of Lies are found in a number of other works of Qumran literature. It is possible that the sect described here was an offshoot of the Qumran one and that the composition reflects later events than the Charter of the community. On the other hand, "Damascus" can be understood metaphorically to refer to the deserts of Judah (cf. Amos 5:27). If the name Damascus is taken literally, then the event of flight could only relate to a time when Jerusalem and Damascus were not under the rule of one ruler, that is, to the time of the Hasmoneans: in this case, the most likely is the reign of Alexander Janna (103–76 BC) . BC), during which, after the defeat in the civil war, Alexander's opponents and many of the Pharisees and circles close to them fled from Judea.

The Temple Scroll (Megillat ha-Mikdash), one of the most important Qumran finds, is the longest manuscript discovered (8.6 m, 66 columns of text) and dates to the 2nd–1st centuries. BC e. The work claims to be part of the Torah given by God to Moses: God appears here in the first person, and the Tetragrammaton is always written in full form and in the same square script that the Qumran scribes used only when copying biblical texts. The essay treats four topics: halakhic regulations (see Halacha), religious holidays, the structure of the Temple and regulations regarding the king. The halakhic section contains a significant number of regulations, which are not only arranged in a different order than in the Torah, but also include additional laws, often of a sectarian and polemical nature, as well as regulations similar to, but often divergent from, the Mishnaic ones (see Mishnah). Numerous laws on ritual purity reveal a much more strict approach than that adopted in the Mishnah. In the section on holidays, along with detailed instructions relating to the holidays of the traditional Jewish calendar, there are instructions for two additional holidays - New Wine and New Oil (the latter is also known from other Dead Sea manuscripts), which should be celebrated respectively 50 and 100 days after the holiday Shavu'ot.

The section on the Temple is written in the style of the chapters of the book of Exodus (chapter 35 and subsequent), telling about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, and, in all likelihood, is intended to serve as a filler for the “lost” instructions about the construction of the Temple given by God to David (I Chron. 28: 11 ff). The temple is interpreted as a man-made structure that must exist until God erects His temple not made by hands. The plan of the Temple, the ritual of sacrifice, holiday rites and the rules of ritual purity in the Temple and in Jerusalem as a whole are interpreted in detail. The last section establishes the number of the royal guard (twelve thousand people, one thousand from each tribe of Israel); the task of this guard is to protect the king from an external enemy; it must be composed of “people of truth, fearing God and hating self-interest” (cf. Ex. 18:21). Next, mobilization plans are established depending on the degree of threat to the state from the outside.

Commentary on Havakkuk is the most complete and well-preserved example of Qumran biblical interpretation based on the application of biblical texts to the situation of the "end of times" (see Eschatology), the so-called pesher. Word Pesher appears in the Bible only once (Eccl. 8:1), but in the Aramaic part of the book of Daniel there is a similar Aramaic word pshar used 31 times and refers to Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the writing that appeared on the wall during Belshazzar's feast (see Belshazzar), as well as the angels' interpretation of Daniel's night vision. Pesher goes beyond ordinary human wisdom and requires Divine illumination, allowing one to discover the secret, which is denoted by a word of Iranian origin once(occurs nine times in the book of Daniel). How Pesher, so once represent divine revelation even without Pesher cannot be understood times: times- this is the first stage of revelation, remaining a mystery until the second stage comes - Pesher. These two terms are widespread in Qumran literature (in the Hymn Roll, in the Damascus Document, in numerous biblical commentaries, etc.).

Three main principles of the Qumran interpretation: 1) God revealed his intentions to the prophets, but did not reveal the time of their accomplishment, and further revelation was first given to the Teacher of righteousness (see above); 2) all the words of the prophets refer to the “end of times”; 3) the end of times is approaching. The historical context that clarifies Bible prophecy is the reality in which the commentator lived. The description of the Chaldeans in Havakkuk (1:6-17) is here appended phrase by phrase to kittim(apparently the Romans), who are seen as an instrument of God's punishment for unbelief, in particular, for the depravity of the Jerusalem high priests; kittim these high priests will be deprived of the priestly throne they have usurped. Other parts of the Commentary apply the words of the prophet to the religious-ideological conflicts in Judea itself, primarily to the conflict between the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of Lies, or the Unholy Priest. In cases where Hawakkuq's text does not allow direct extrapolation, the commentator resorts to allegorical interpretation.

Among the others Qumran comments: