Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls

With this post and tomorrow's I want to finish my summaries of material related to the Dead Sea Scrolls for my intertestamental class. I've already discussed a possible history of the community. Here I will discuss the theology of the scrolls (notice I did not say of the community), and tomorrow I will point out possible intersections of the scrolls with the New Testament.

1. Theologies rarely if ever exist in a vacuum. In that sense, all theology is historical theology, whether it is in a systematic form or not. A precise theological description of the theology of the Dead Sea scrolls would need to dialog with the historical development of the communities that produced them.

For this reason, the first characteristic of the scrolls I mention is the call to purity and holiness. The antecedents of the Dead Sea community were formed by separation from the rest of Israel. The Enochic community was apparently born in reaction to the radical Hellenization of the early second century BC. The Teacher of Righteousness separated from what became the operations of the temple and further separated the Essene community from broader Israel and the Pharisees. Finally, the community at the Dead Sea appears to have become radically separated from the rest of Israel and, perhaps, the rest of the Essenes.

A good deal of this separation involved "works of law" (cf. 4QMMT, Some of the Works of the Law). In other words, what is the proper way to keep the Jewish Law. The Pharisees said unclean water whose path was broken did not make you unclean. The Teacher of Righteousness (and the Sadducees) said no--the water itself makes you unclean whether the path to you is broken or continuous. The Pharisees said an uncle could marry his niece because the Pentateuch does not forbid it. The Qumranites did not allow it, because an aunt could not marry a nephew.

So proper holiness is perhaps the most defining aspect of Dead Sea scroll theology. The Essenes are thus the strictest of all the Jewish sects we know of at this time.

2. In keeping with the above separation and distinction of practice is a sense of a "new covenant" God is establishing with Israel. It is no surprise that the Covenant of Damascus document, perhaps the charter of the Essenes, uses this sort of language of renewal. The Temple Scroll optimistically looks to a time of a renewed temple and city of Jerusalem.

3. The Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH) perhaps not surprisingly have a strong sense of humility and renewal to them. Perhaps giving the voice of the Teacher of Righteousness himself, we hear the acknowledgement of deep sinfulness and need for God's grace, coupled with the prospect of perfection in the rest of life. Most of the scrolls do not have this sort of humility to them, the majority of the scrolls are very concerned with perfection and do not have this sense of utter sinfulness.

4. It follows from what we have just said that the scrolls have an increasing sense of election and predestination the more sectarian they become. By the time we reach 1QS (the Community Rule), the sect exclusively constitutes the sons of light and the rest of Israel will be judged with the rest of the sons of darkness.

5. The scrolls perhaps expectantly become more and more vindictive toward the rest of the world and look for apocalyptic judgment. The pesher commentaries of Habakkuk and Nahum look to the destruction of the enemies of the community (principally the Hasmonean priest-kings). The War Rule (1QM) looks to the final battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The angel Melchizedek or perhaps Michael (11QMelch) will lead the spiritual charge againts Belial, while the righteous Branch will lead the earthly fight. The Kittim, the Romans, will bite the dust, reflecting the new enemy of the community after the Romans took control in 63BC.

6. At the same time, messianic expectation arguably wanes as the community continues. While two or even three messianic figures are expected at one point--the messiahs of Aaron and Israel and the Prophet. At one point this was the messiah of Aaron and Israel, perhaps reflecting the fact that the Hasmonean rulers were priest-kings. Eventually that line is taken out (in the 4Q versions of the Community Rule) and we have just the Prophet, who may now retroactively have become equated with the Teacher of Righteousness now long dead.

7. In all this, there is little sense of the afterlife. There are hints here and there, but almost nothing. They were interested in vindication in this life, not in the next. There are images of eternal punishment, perhaps confirming Josephus' claim that the Essenes' beliefs were closer to the immortality of the soul, in contrast to the Pharisaic belief in resurrection. Only two fragments seem to imply physical resurrection. And given the fact that many scrolls must have come to Qumran from elsewhere, we cannot be sure at all that these two small fragments represent mainstream Qumran belief.