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

GORDON M. ZERBE 325
to support the hand of the afflicted, the poor, and the alien 16 [item 10]
rgw Nwyb)w yn( dyb qyzxhlw
to seek each man the well-being of his brother [item 11]
whyx) Mwl# t) #y) #wrdlw
not to betray each man the one who is flesh of his flesh [item 12]
wr#b r)#b #y) l(my )lw
The parallel denunciations in CD 8.6 read as follows:
and each man hated his fellow
wh(r t) #y) )wn#w
and they hid themselves, each man from him who is flesh of his flesh
wr#b r)#b #y) wml(tyw
Although the first items in each cited passage (to love his brother; to hate
his fellow) are quite general in reference (cf. Lev 19:17a, 18a), in these
passages they introduce more specific injunctions to support the afflicted.
Precept 10, whose wording recalls Ezek 16:49, 17 uses the same language
as the passage in the Laws detailing communal charity (CD 15.13–17):
“with the other portion they shall support the hand of the poor and the
afflicted” (Nwyb)w yn( dyb wqyzxy wnmm; CD 14.14). The threefold reference
to poor, afflicted, and stranger may be inspired in particular by
Ezek 22:29, the only other verse in the Scripture besides Deut 24:14 that
includes all three. 18
The idiom of Precept 12 does not appear in the Scripture, although the
phrase wr#b r)#b (“from flesh of his flesh”) occurs only in Lev 18:6
and 25:49. While this item might refer to incest legislation (Leviticus 18), 19
it more likely refers to the Jubilee themes of Leviticus 25. The corresponding
16. Since the rg (“alien, stranger”) in CD seems to refer to slaves who had become
circumcised according the Law and thus “who have entered the Covenant of
Abraham,” adopting the faith of the master (12.10–11; cf. 11.2), it is appropriate to
refer them also as “proselytes” (CD 14.5–6; e.g., Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea
Scrolls in English [5th ed.; London: Penguin Books, 1997], 143), although this somewhat
obscures their socioeconomic identity as slaves in the community.
17. Ezek 16:49: “And the hand of the afflicted and the poor she did not support”
(hqyzxh )l Nwyb)w yn(-dyw). In Leviticus, the only occurrence of the verb qzx is
in 25:35, legislating that the kin who becomes dependent should be supported and
allowed to live as an “alien” in the community.
18. Otherwise, the general theme derives from, e.g., Lev 19:9–10, 33–34; 23:22;
Deut 10:18–19; 24:14–15, 17–22. The importance of Ezekiel 22 (which recalls much
of Leviticus 17–26) for this code of distinctive conduct is evident also in the allusion
to Ezek 22:7 in CD 6.16–18. See also Jonathan G. Campbell, The Use of Scripture in the
Damascus Document 1–8, 19–20 (BZAW 228; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1995).
19. For example, Joseph M. Baumgarten and Daniel R. Schwartz, in The Dead Sea
Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts with English Translations, Vol. 2, Damascus Documnt,
War Scroll, and Related Documents (ed. J. H. Charlesworth et al.; PTSDSSP 2; Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 29.