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

334 ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND NONRETALIATION
Economic Justice in Other Documents
DSS documents of diverse genre reinforce or supplement the emphases
of CD and 1QS in regard to economic justice. Some of these documents
are more overtly sectarian in the manner of 1QS, and others less so.
The theme of attending to the welfare of the needy can be found in
the fragmentary 1Q22 (Sayings of Moses), a text of uncertain provenance
that rewrites Moses’ injunctions to the people, combining various passages
from the Pentateuch. 52 The first main section of injunctions, following
the preamble and followed by regulations for the Day of
Atonement, pertains to the laws for the sabbatical year (2.11–3.7). The
text first paraphrases Lev 25:1–7, within which is added a sentence probably
based on Exod 23:10–11 and recalling the legislation on gleaning 53 :
“[And whatever re]mains shall be for the [poor] among [your] brothers
who are in [the land]” (1Q22 3.2). Following this is a paraphrase of Deut
15:1–3, on canceling debts in the sabbatical year.
Instruction (Sapiential Work) exhibits considerable interest in matters of
economics. Of uncertain provenance, less obviously sectarian than other
DSS writings, and dating probably to the beginning of the second century
B.C.E., this work was nevertheless popular at Qumran, evident
from the remaining fragments of at least six manuscripts. 54 It is
addressed to a specific group with elect status, but yet in varied social
circumstances (e.g., farmers, 4Q418 frag. 103 line 2; artisans, 4Q418
frag. 81 line 15). Striking especially is its extensive advice to those in
some situation of financial vulnerability (4Q416; 4Q417), referring to
the lack of food, indebtedness, servitude, possible liberation from
poverty, parental relationships, and marriage when poor. Throughout,
eschatological rewards for the faithful elect are identified in economic
him” (237). In this connection, his proposal that Josephus and Philo especially
describe “the life-style of those Essenes who did not follow the Teacher of
Righteousness” (235) seems unlikely, given the primacy of the theme of community
of goods in 1QS and in Josephus and Philo (as opposed to CD). That is, no accompanying
warrant would be given for the non-Qumranites to practice full community
of goods, especially if they are still in locations of greater proximity and interaction
with outsiders (as with the presumed pre-Qumranites of CD).
52. For a similar genre, see Emanuel Tov, “Excerpted and Abbreviated Biblical
Texts from Qumran,” RevQ 16 (1995): 581–600.
53. As in Lev 19:9–10; 23:22; Deut 24:19–22.
54. See, e.g., Torleif Elgvin, “The Reconstruction of Sapiential Work A,” RevQ 16
(1995): 559–80; Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, To Increase Learning for the Understanding Ones:
Reading and Reconstructing the Fragmentary Early Jewish Sapiential Text 4QInstruction (STDJ
44; Leiden: Brill, 2001); Murphy, Wealth in the DSS, ch. 4.