JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

the powers of evil. It seems, therefore, that this eschatological
war is to be viewed as waged on a transcendental plane, despite
the elaborate rules based on mundane battles; the Essenes of
Qumran, like their predecessors the Hassideans of Hasmonean
times (cf. I Macc. 7:13–17; and perhaps Dan. 11:34), were
not militarists. They trusted more in the power of God than
in the force of arms. In the end God would be victorious, and
then the messianic age would begin.
MESSIANISM. The “Teacher of Righteousness” did not regard
himself, nor did his disciples regard him, as a Messiah. In fact,
there is little messianism in the earliest Qumran documents.
However, when the 40 years had elapsed after the death of
their founder and “the end” had not yet come, the Qumran
writers speak more often of the ultimate salvation that would
come with the appearance of the Messiah: “the coming of the
prophet and the Messiahs (meshiḥe – note the plural) of Aaron
and Israel” (1QS 9:11; cf. 4QTestimonia estimonia).
For the Jews of that time the Hebrew term, ha-Mashi’aḥ,
“The Messiah” (lit. “the Anointed One”), did not have the
same connotations that its Greek translation, Christos, had for
Christians. From certain other passages, in the Qumran writings
it appears quite certain that this community, which was
fundamentally a priestly one, expected an especially anointed
high priest (“the Messiah of Aaron”) as well as an especially
anointed lay ruler (“the Messiah of Israel”). It should be noted
that in the Cairo Damascus Document (CD 7:20) the royal
Messiah is not called a “king,” but a “prince” (nasi, in keeping
with Ezek. 34:24; 37:25; etc.). The concept of two Messiahs, one
royal and one priestly, probably goes back to Zechariah 4:14:
“These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of
the whole earth” (said of Zerubbabel of the Davidic line and
of the priest Joshua). On the presence and precedence of the
royal Messiah and the priestly Messiah at the eschatological
“messianic banquet,” see below.
It is not clear what the Qumranites meant by the
“prophet” who precedes these two Messiahs. He may be the
“prophet like Moses” foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, since
the Qumranites believed they were living or were to live under
a “new covenant” (CD 8:35 – the term, no doubt, borrowed
from Jer. 31:31); or he may be Elijah (on the basis of Mal. 3:23),
in whom the Qumranites were interested.
FUTURE LIFE. Although the Qumran community possessed
and, therefore, apparently prized several of the books of the
so-called intertestamental literature mentioned above – Jubilees,
Enoch, Testaments of Levi and Naphtali, etc. – its own
compositions, at least as far as now known, betray relatively
little concern with the future world after death. They do not
use the terms, “this world,” and “the coming world,” to designate
the present and the future eras. There is no explicit mention
of the resurrection of the bodies of their deceased members,
but neither is there any denial of such a belief. Perhaps
it was taken for granted, or it was left as one of God’s mysteries
about which they should not speculate. However, they do
eschatology
say the righteous “will share the lot of God’s Holy Ones,” i.e.,
the angels (1QH 11:11–12), and they are to enjoy “everlasting”
bliss (see below).
The Qumran writings often speak of “the end” (Keẓ), i.e.,
of the present era (1QS 3:23; 4:18, 25; CD 4:9–10; 20:15; 1QpHab ab
7:2; etc.). The end will be preceded by the “pangs” of the premessianic
era (1QH passim), by cosmic storms (1QH 3:13–16),
and by a cosmic conflagration (1QH 3:29–31; cf. 1QM 14:17).
At “an appointed time of decisive judgment” (mo’ed mishpat
neḥerashah: 1QS 4:20) God will judge both angels and men
(1QH 7:28–29), for in the present era there are both good and
evil spirits (1QS 3:20–22).
RETRIBUTION. Whereas the writings of the Qumran community
do not mention either a “Gehenna” for the wicked or
a “Garden of Eden” for the just in the afterlife, they do, apparently,
speak of the punishment of the wicked as an everlasting
death, and reward of the just as an eternity of bliss: “The
doors of the Pit will be closed upon those who are pregnant
with wickedness, and the bars of eternity upon all the spirits
of worthlessness” (1QH 3:18). “But the reward of all those
who walk in it [the way of truth] will be a healing remedy and
abundant well-being in a long life and a fruitfulness of seed,
together with all the blessings of eternity and everlasting bliss
in life forever, and a crown of glory with a recompense of majesty
in light everlasting” (1QS 4:6–8).
NEW TEMPLE. Because of God’s promise of “new heavens
and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17), the apocalyptic writings sometimes
speak of a new Jerusalem with its new temple as coming
down from heaven to the earth. Since the Qumran community
was basically a priestly one, it was naturally interested
in a new temple for the messianic age of bliss on earth. Even
the so-called War Scroll gives instructions on how the priests
and levites are to function in the new temple (1QM 2:1–6). But,
surprisingly, the new temple of the Qumranites is not thought
of as coming down ready-made from heaven, but as built by
themselves according to a new plan revealed by God.
The *Temple Scroll, like the Torah, is written as if dictated
by God to Moses. Besides giving various precepts concerning
ritual purity, festivals, sacrifices, etc., it presents detailed prescriptions
for the construction of the new temple and its surrounding
courts. The resulting construction differs from all the
previous temples – of Solomon, of Zerubbabel, and of Herod,
and even from the idealistic temple of Ezekiel 40:1–42:20.
To understand the relationship between this proposed
man-made temple and “the house that He [God] will make
for you at the end of days,” as mentioned in certain Qumran
pesharim, one must remember that the Qumran community
lived a quasi-sacramental life: their cultic acts both prepared
for, and symbolized, the full reality that would come to pass
in the messianic age. This is likewise the case in regard to the
so-called messianic banquet at Qumran.
MESSIANIC BANQUET. The midday and evening meals at
Qumran were cultic acts. Those who were ritually unclean
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 6 499