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

MOSHE WEINFELD 67
3. “BRINGING ALL THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND THEIR STRENGTH AND
THEIR PROPERTY INTO THE COMMUNITY OF GOD” (1QS 1.11–12)
On other occasions I tried to show that loyalty and devotion were
expressed in the ancient Near East by such expressions as: “to love with
all your heart and with all your soul, with all your property and with all
your ability.” 24 Generally we find these expressions in the oath of the vassals
to their sovereigns. In the Bible, where the relationship between God
and Israel is described as a relationship between the vassal and the sovereign,
we find these expressions in the context of the relationship between
God and his people. Furthermore, as I showed in my studies on this subject,
the command to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul and
with all your might” in Deuteronomy 6 has been interpreted by the
Targums and the rabbinic literature as devotion that includes not only
love in the heart but readiness to sacrifice life (“with all your soul” = “even
if he takes your soul”), so much more “to give your money and property.”
We have to see this formula in the Qumran Scrolls as a formal expression
of loyalty or devotion to the organization that the speaker is joining,
but more important are the formulae that appear at the beginning of the
Rule of the Community in close proximity to the expressions, “to love…and
to hate…” particularly the following paragraph:
Bringing all their knowledge and their strength and their property into the
community of God in order to strengthen their knowledge (Mt(d) by the
truth of God’s statutes, and discipline their strength (Mxwk) according to
the perfection of his ways, and all their property (Mnw)) according to his
righteous council (1QS 1.12–13; compare 11–12).
Similarly we read in connection with joining the sect in the Damascus
Document, “and whoever joins his congregation, let him examine him
with regard to his…intelligence, his strength and might and his wealth
wnwhw wtrwbgw wxwkw wlkw#w” (13.11). “Intelligence” here undoubtedly
overlaps the “knowledge” (t(d) of the Rule of the Community; to the
“strength” (xk) we find here added “might” (hrwbg), and both express
the same concept.
What is the meaning of this command for the new member to bring
with him his “knowledge” (or his “intelligence”), his “strength” and
“wealth?” According to our opinion this command overlaps the command
in Deuteronomy 6, “to love God with all your heart, with all your
24. See Weinfeld, “The Loyalty Oath.”