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

336 ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND NONRETALIATION
kindness” (dsx ynwyb)) whom God intends “to raise together (dxy)
from desolation” (1QH a 13.21–22). God is celebrated as the one who
“brings down the arrogant spirit without even a remnant” but “raises the
poor (Nwyb)) from the dust” (1QH a 26.1–2 [= 4Q427 frag. 7 2.7–8]). In
all cases, the characterization of the elect person or group as “poor” in its
textual context refers concretely to the experience of persecution or
oppression, not merely to spiritual poverty. 56 A writing similar to the
Hodayot, titled for its opening line “Bless, my soul,” extols God for deliverance
of the poor (Nwyb)), the afflicted (yn(), and the deprived (Myld,
4Q434 1.1), while acknowledging the proper disposition as the “contrite
heart” (hkdn bl) and “humility” (hwn() that God has provided in the
midst of this circumstance (4Q436 frag. 1 1.1; 2.2). Similarly, in an apocryphal
hallelujah psalm, God is extolled for ransoming “the afflicted from
the hand of oppressors” (4Q488 A; 11Q5 18.17).
A fragmentary document that might be termed “The Triumph of
Righteousness” (from Book of Mysteries and Mysteries), whether a sermon or
an apocalyptic writing, castigates the unjust seizing of wealth by one
nation against another (1Q27 frag. 1 1.10–12; 4Q299 frag. 1 lines 1–3),
and identifies the loss of wealth as a form of divine judgment (1Q27 frag.
1 col. 2; 4Q299 frag. 2), apparently in regard to transgressions in matters
of “property” (4Q300 frag. 5 line 5).
Striking in relation to the New Testament is the use of Isa 61:1–2 in
two fragmentary texts. One is a hymn from the Hodayot characterizing
the ministry of God’s “servant,” appointed “to proclaim to the poor
(Mywn( r#bl) the abundance of your compassion,” leading to deliverance
“[the bro]ken of spirit, and the mourning to everlasting joy” (1QH a
23 [top] 1.10, 14–15). The other (On Resurrection [= Messianic Apocalypse) celebrates
the work of God’s Messiah, whose spirit will hover over the poor
(Mywn(), and who will “heal the wounded, revive the dead, and bring
good news to the poor (r#by Mywn()” (4Q521 frag. 2 2.6, 12).
The theme of God’s vindication of the oppressed poor can also be
found in writings of the Roman period, as in the War Scroll and the
Commentary on Psalms, in which the “poor” becomes not just a characterization,
but nearly a title for the elect community. In 1QM not only will
the enemies be delivered “into the hand of the poor” by God’s power;
56. Contra, e.g., Hans-Joachim Kandler, “Die Bedeutung der Armut im Schriftum
von Chirbet Qumran,” Jud 13 (1957): 193–209. In an overstatement, Martin Hengel,
Property and Riches in the Early Church (trans. J. Bowden; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974),
18–19, views the Essenes as transforming a socioeconomic notion of poverty into a
religious one.