The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

JAMES H. CHARLESWORTH 141
Harrington states, although the Qumran Scrolls “represent differences of
authorship, date and genre, they consistently champion a more stringent
standard of ritual purity than was currently observed in Jerusalem.” 141
This is obvious from the numerous cisterns and mikva)ot (ritual baths) at
Qumran, and from the claim in Some Works of Torah (4Q394–399) that
because of purity issues the Qumranites have separated from other Jews,
especially the priests in the Temple. The author of the Fourth Gospel
and his community knew in a special way the Jewish rites for purification
and the debates concerning them (see John 2:6; 3:25). If the
Baptizer and his followers were influenced by Essene rites of purification,
142 then perhaps the debate between them and another Jew “concerning
purification” (peri _ kaqarismou=), according to 3:25, may suggest
dimensions of Essene thought to which the Fourth Evangelist alludes.
The references in the Fourth Gospel are oblique, suggesting that perhaps
the author knew about the Essene obsession with purity and the need
for stone vessels for rites of purification. We will never be certain, since
some Sadducees and Pharisees also most likely developed, after the
“rebuilding” of the Temple, heightened requirements for purification—as
we know from excavations of mikva’ot in the Upper City of Jerusalem
and in Herodian Jericho.
10. Messianology and Christology. Prior to the destruction of 70 C.E., only
three known Jewish groups clearly yearned for the coming of the Messiah:
the Jews behind the Psalms of Solomon, the Qumranites, and the followers of
Jesus. Interest in Qumran messianism has peaked because of discussions
of recently published texts in which “Messiah,” “the Messiah,” and messianic
terms are mentioned. 143 A reference book is now dedicated to
Qumran-Messianism, and it contains all the relevant passages in which the
Messiah, and clear messianic figures, appear in the Qumran Scrolls. 144
141. Hannah K. Harrington, “Purity,” in EDSS (ed. L. H. Schiffman and J. C.
VanderKam; 2 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 2:724.
142. See Charlesworth, “John the Baptizer and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” chapter 1 in
the present volume.
143. Some authors have made wild and unprofessional claims about “the Messiah”
in some Dead Sea Scrolls. For a judicious assessment, see the chapters by James H.
Charlesworth, Lawrence H. Schiffman, James C. VanderKam, and Shemaryahu
Talmon in The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity (ed. J. H.
Charlesworth; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992); as well as the chapters by John J. Collins,
James C. VanderKam, and Émile Puech in The Community of the Renewed Covenant (ed. E.
C. Ulrich and J. C. VanderKam; Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,
1994). Equally important are Flusser, The Spiritual History of the Dead Sea Sect, 83–89; and
Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, 317–27.
144. James H. Charlesworth, Hermann Lichtenberger, and Gerbern S. Oegema,
eds., Qumran-Messianism: Studies on the Messianic Expectations in the Dead Sea Scrolls
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1998).