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

CHAPTER ELEVEN
PREDESTINATION IN THE BIBLE AND
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS 1
Magen Broshi
The study of the Dead Sea scrolls started with the right foot forward—the
seven Scrolls discovered in 1947 were quite well preserved and among
the most important of the 900 manuscripts unearthed in the decade
1947–1956.
It is frightening to think what would have been the state of the research
had it started with the shabby 15,000 fragments of Cave 4. It is no secret
that, even so, the scholarly community has known in the past half century
plenty of disagreements, some of which were quite acrimonious.
Four of the scrolls are sectarian, i.e., Essene, and would have been
shortlisted by almost any scholar who would be asked to compile a list
of the ten most important scrolls. 2 Just a year after the publication of the
Manual of Discipline, it became clear that the single most important theological
element in this composition is its firm belief in predestination, to
be precise, double predestination. 3 This element is what differentiates it
sharply from “Normative Judaism.” In short time it will become apparent
that this belief in predestination is common also to the other three scrolls:
the Thanksgiving Scroll, the War Scroll, and the Habakkuk Commentary. That
predestination lies at the foundation of the sectarian teachings will reach
soon almost a status of opinio communis. 4
1. This a slightly revised and updated version of a chapter in my book, Bread, Wine,
Walls and Scrolls (JSPSup 36; Sheffield; Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 238–51. I
dedicate this essay to the blessed memory of Prof. David Flusser, an eminent scholar
and inspiring teacher.
2. The other six Sectarian scrolls, in my opinion, would be: the Damascus Document;
the Temple Scroll; MMT (Miqsat Ma(ase ha-Torah); Angelic Liturgy; the Nahum Commentary;
and the Book of the Mysteries.
3. William H. Brownlee, “The Dead Sea Manual of Discipline,” BASORSup 10–12
(1951): 4–60; Karl G. Kuhn, “Die Sektenschrift [1QS] und die iranische Religion.”
ZTK 49 (1952): 296–316.
4. Friedrich Noetscher, Zur Theologischen Terminologie der Qumran Texte (Bonn: Peter
Hanstein, 1956); Jacob Licht, “Legs as Signs of Election,” Tarbiz 35 (1965–66): 18–26;
David Flusser, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Pre-Pauline Christianity,” in Judaism and
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