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

JOHN R. LEVISON 175
judgment is fundamental to the Gāthās, e.g., Yasna 31.2, 3; 43.12; 47.6;
51.9. Both Kuhn and Dupont-Sommer cited in this regard Yasna 44.15:
“Tell me truly, Lord…when the two hosts who share no wonts come
together, where and to which one shalt Thou grant victory?” 12
To be able to locate at Qumran a particular text which confirmed the
suspicion that the community had been influenced by Iranian theology
must have generated considerable enthusiasm. The recurrence of the
opposition between two spirits in a context dominated by eschatology
and ethical dualism is of considerable import.
Nonetheless, these parallels were challenged because the Gāthās,
though they purport to express the convictions of Zoroaster, who lived
centuries before the founding of the Qumran community, were actually
written centuries after the demise of the Qumran community. 13 Dupont-
Sommer had partially anticipated this critique by marshalling corroborative
evidence from Plutarch’s description of Zoroastrianism in De Iside et
Osiride, which was composed prior to ca. 120 C.E., in support of the possible
influence of Zoroastrianism on the community at Qumran. On the
respective origins and enmity of the two spirits in light and darkness
(1QS 3.19–21), Dupont-Sommer could refer to Plutarch’s description of
Zoroastrian gods: “Oromazes [Ahura Mazda], born from the purest light,
and Areimanius, born from the darkness, are constantly at war with each
other.” 14 On the equal divisions of the two spirits (1QS 4.15–16), Dupont-
Sommer noted that every time the good god (Ahura Mazda) created
other gods, the evil god matched them in number. 15 And on the ultimate
defeat of the evil god (1QS 4.18), Dupont-Sommer cited a small portion
of Plutarch’s description: “But a destined time shall come when it is
decreed that Areimanius, engaged in bringing on pestilence and famine,
shall by these be utterly annihilated and shall disappear.” 16
These parallels with De Iside et Osiride were not entirely adequate to
forestall the criticisms of scholars such as F. Nötscher. Nötscher contended
that general dualisms, such as good and evil, belong to common
human perceptions of reality and, therefore, need hardly be traced to
12. Ibid., 28–29; Kuhn, “Sektenschrift,” 305. Dupont-Sommer cited Yasna 43.8, 15;
46.6 as parallels to the “eternal hatred.” The ultimate defeat of the evil spirit and victory
of the good spirit is, according to Dupont-Sommer (“L’instruction,” 30), “a fundamental
doctrine” of Zoroastrianism (Yasna 30.8, 10; 43.5).
13. For a recent and concise discussion of Zoroastrianism, see Mary Boyce, “Zoroaster,
Zoroastrianism,” ABD 6:1168–74.
14. Dupont-Sommer, “L’instruction,” 18.
15. Ibid., 29n1.
16. Ibid., 30.