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

174 THE TWO SPIRITS IN QUMRAN THEOLOGY
Yes, there are two fundamental spirits, twins which are renowned to be
in conflict. In thought and in word, in action, they are two: the good and
the bad. And between these two, the beneficent have correctly chosen, not
the maleficent. Furthermore when these two spirits first came together, they
created life and death, and how, at the end, the worst existence shall be for
the deceitful but the best thinking for the truthful person. Of these two
spirits, the deceitful one chose to bring to realization the worst things. (But)
the very virtuous spirit…chose the truth and (so shall those) who shall satisfy
the Wise Lord continuously with true actions.
For Kuhn, in particular, these references to two spirits in a context which
contains fundamental ethical and eschatological dualisms suggest the influence
of Zoroastrianism on 1QS 3.13–4.26. 8
(3) 1QS 3.24–25: “But the God of Israel and his angel of Truth help
all the Sons of Light.” Dupont-Sommer discerned a parallel between this
affirmation of divine aid for the children of light and Yasna 50.5: “Lord,
let wisdom come in the company of truth across the earth! Yes, if ye shall
be pleased with your prophet, reveal Thyself with visible help, mighty
through Thy hand, through which he might see us in happiness.” 9
(4) 1QS 4.2: “And these are their [the spirits’] ways in the world.” The
concept of two ways in relation to two factions of people is discernible,
according to Dupont-Sommer, in Yasna 31.2, where, in a context which
refers to two factions, the truthful and deceitful, it is said, “If the better
course for the soul has not been seen through these words, then let me
lead all of you in which way the Wise Lord knows (to exist) that
judgment between the two alternatives by which we are going to live in
accordance with truth.” 10
(5) 1QS 4.6: “The visitation of all those who walk in it [the spirit of
truth] (will be) healing.” The effect of healing, according to Dupont-
Sommer, is frequent in the Gāthās, e.g., Yasna 44.16; 31.19. The good
person, “virtuous through truth, watching over the heritage for all, is a
world-healer and Thy ally in spirit, Wise One” (44.2). 11
(6) 1QS 4.15–18: “In these (two spirits are) the natures of all the sons
of man, and in their (two) divisions all their hosts of their generations
have a share…For God has set them apart until the Endtime; and put eternal
enmity between their (two) classes.…But God, in his mysterious understanding
and his glorious wisdom, has set an end for the existence of deceit.”
The division of humankind into two distinct groups until eschatological
8. Kuhn, “Sektenschriften,” 304–05.
9. Dupont-Sommer, “L’instruction,” 21.
10. Ibid., 22.
11. Ibid., 25.