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

ADELA YARBRO COLLINS 249
better than the tabernacle. 85 “The house” in the Animal Apocalypse consistently
represents, not a building for cultic activity, but a place for Israel
to dwell. 86 After the crossing of the Jordan and settlement in the land,
“that house” was in the midst of sheep in the pleasant land (1 En. 89:40).
This may be understood as an allusion to Josh 18:1: “Then the whole
congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and set up the
tent of meeting there.” But, in light of the overall context, it is more likely
an allusion to Josh 18:9: “Then they came to Joshua in the camp at
Shiloh.” 87
After a veiled account of the career of David and an allusion to his successor,
Solomon, the text reads:
And that house became large and spacious, and a tall tower was built for
those sheep on that house, and a tall and large tower was built on that
house for the owner of the sheep. And that house was lower, but the tower
was raised up and became tall, and the owner of the sheep stood upon that
tower, and a full table was set before him (1 En. 89:50). 88
In this passage, the “house” represents the city of Jerusalem. 89 The
“sheep” will dwell in it until its destruction (1 En. 89:66–67). The use of
the term “house” for the camp and for Jerusalem suggests that the Animal
Apocalypse, like a halakic letter from Qumran (4QMMT [= 4Q394–399]),
equates the two. In the letter, the equation has implications for the regulations
related to purity. The text includes the following remarks:
And we think that the temple [is the place of the tent of meeting, and
Je]rusalem is the camp; and outside the camp is [outside Jerusalem;] it is the
camp of their cities.… 90
For Jerusalem is [the sacred camp] and is the place which He has chosen
from all the tribes of Israel, for Jerusalem is the head of the camps of
Israel. 91
85. The camp (hnxm is mentioned in Exod 14:19–20 (RSV: “the host”); 16:13;
19:16 and frequently thereafter in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
86. Tiller, Animal Apocalypse, 42; see also Devorah Dimant, “Jerusalem and the
Temple in the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85–90) in the Light of the Ideology of
the Dead Sea Sect”, Shnaton 5–6 (1982): 177–93 [Hebrew].
87. Tiller, Animal Apocalypse, 42, 301.
88. Trans. from Tiller, Animal Apocalypse, 305.
89. So Tiller, who cites Tob 1:4; Test. Levi 10:5; and Dimant (“Jerusalem and the
Temple in the Animal Apocalypse,” 312).
90. Trans. from García Martínez, DSS Translated, 77 (4QMMT [= 4Q394–399]
lines 32–34 of his composite text).
91. Trans. from Vermes, Complete DSS, 225; cf. 4QMMT (= 4Q394–399) lines
62–65 of García Martínez’s composite text (idem, DSS Translated, 78).