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

GORDON M. ZERBE 339
The corresponding section in the judgment oracle reads:
they took vengeance and bore malice each toward his brother
wyx)l #y) rw+ynw Mwqnw
and they hated each man his fellow (8.5–6)
wh(r t) #y) )wn#w
With some minor variations, all these items restate Lev 19:17–18 (no
hate, 19:17a; reproof, 19:17b; no vengeance or malice, 19:18a; love
neighbor, 19:18b). In the Laws of CD, Lev 19:17b and 19:18a are applied
to relationships within the community, in particular to communal discipline
and judicial procedure. 60 In the context of rules for judicial procedure
(9.1–10.10), 61 we find the following ordinance:
And concerning the saying, “You shall not take vengeance and shall bear
no malice against the sons of your people” (Lev 19:18a): any man from
those who have entered the covenant who brings a charge 62 against his fellow
which is not with reproof before witnesses, or brings it in the heat of
anger, or relates it to his elders to dishonor him, he is one who takes
vengeance and bears malice. Is it not indeed written, ‘He takes vengeance
on his adversaries and bears malice against his enemies’ (Nah 1:2)? (CD
9.2–5)
The next lines further clarify breaches in the proper pattern of
“reproof”: “if he keeps silent from day to day (without reproving), 63 and
accuses him in the heat of anger with a capital offense” (CD 9.6–8). 64
The disciplinary procedure presupposed in this passage entails at least
60. On judicial procedure, see Schiffman, Sectarian Law, 23–110; Mathias Delcor,
“The Courts of the Church of Corinth and the Courts of Qumran,” in Paul and
Qumran (ed. J. Murphy-O’Connor; Chicago: Priory, 1968), 69–84; Michael Newton,
The Concept of Purity at Qumran and in the Letters of Paul (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1985). According to Josephus (J.W. 2.145), “They are just and
scrupulously careful in their trial of cases, never passing sentence in a court of less
than a hundred members; the decision thus reached is irrevocable” (LCL). According
to 1QS 5.6, members were expected to participate in community, trials (byr), and
judgment (+p#m). The practice of communal discipline was the means by which
members “would support their steps in the way of God” (CD-B 20.17–28).
61. Cf. also CD 13.5–7; 14.9–12; cf. 1QS 8.16–19; 8.24–9.2.
62. For the language of “bringing a charge” (rbd )yby, CD 9.3), cf. 1QS 6.1, 24.
63. The appearance of the phrase “from day to day” (Mwyl Mwym), probably from
Num 30:15 (30:14 ET; e.g., Schiffman, Sectarian Law, 101), in connection with Lev
19:17b–18a in both the Precepts for Covenanters and the Laws illustrates the close
relationship between the two texts.
64. On capital crimes, cf. CD 9.1, 16–22; 10.1–2. For this interpretation of
twm rbd, taking the phrase with “accusing him in the heat of anger,” see Schiffman,
Sectarian Law, 89, 101–2; Baumgarten and Schwartz, “Damascus Document” (PTS-
DSSP 2), 43.