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

66 THE COVENANT IN QUMRAN
Altertumswissenschaft (PW), 22 says that the Greeks must have learned this
formula as well as other formalities of making and structuring covenants
from the Lydians. Today we know that the Acheans (= people of
Ahhiyawa) had covenantal relationship with the Hittites and apparently
used diplomatic conventions commonly used in the eastern political
sphere of the mid-second millennium. 23
From biblical usage we can learn that this formula was prevalent in the
first millennium B.C.E. Thus, we read in 2 Sam 19:6, “You love those
that hate you and hate those who love you”—love and hate expressing
loyalty and disloyalty to the king. Such is the case of Exod 23:22, “then
I will be enemy to your enemies and I will harass those who harass you,”
which speaks about recompense for observing the covenant. This formula
is reflected in 2 Chr 19:2 in connection with the pact between the
King of Judah and the King of Israel, “do you take delight in helping the
wicked and befriending the enemies of the Lord?” Compare also Ps
139:21–22, “I hate those who hate you and loath adversaries, I hate them
with undying hatred; I call them all my enemies.”
Similarly we find in the covenant ceremony in the Rule of the Community
this language, “to love all that he has chosen and to hate all that he has
rejected, keeping away from all evil and adhering to all good works” (1QS
1.3–4), and in the following lines we read, “to love all the sons of light,
each according to his lot in the council of God, and to hate all the sons of
darkness, each according to his guilt” (1QS 1.10–11). Similarly we read in
the Damascus Document: “to choose him in whom he delights and to reject
him whom he hates” (2.15). It is also found in Josephus’ account of the
Essene vows: “that he will forever hate the unjust and fight the battle of
the just” (J.W. 2.139). Compare Matt 5:43 “You have learned that they
were told: ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But what I tell you
is this: ‘love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.’”
22. 4.A1:1109.
23. See Moshe Weinfeld: “The Common Heritage of Covenantal Traditions in the
Ancient World,” in I Trattati Nel Mondo Antico: Forma Ideologia Funzione (ed. L. Canfora,
M. Lieverani, and C. Zaeagnini; Saggi di Storia Antica, 2; Rome: “L’Erma” di
Bretschneider, 1990), 180–81.