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

DENNIS T. OLSON 315
and 4Q507–509 represent still another system of special prayers assigned
for certain annual festivals like the Day of Atonement, Pentecost, or the
New Year. Thus, the individual days of the month, the days of the week,
and the festival days of the year each had their assigned prayers. One
may ask whether we have evidence that these three overlapping or competing
systems of prayer were coordinated in any way. For example, did
the prayers assigned for a given festival day replace or override the usual
morning, evening and thematic daily prayers for that day? Or would all
the prayers—evening-morning, daily thematic, and festival prayers—have
been recited for that festival day?
Unfortunately, the disjointed and incomplete nature of the preserved
prayers provides little information to help answer these questions.
However, it should be noted that the morning and evening prayers do
mention “festivals” (4Q503 frags. 29–32, line 21), and the thematic daily
prayers make reference to the “festival of our redemption” (4Q504 frag.
5, col. 2, line 4). The fact that these daily prayers allude to yearly
festivals suggests that some awareness and integration of these disparate
schedules of prayer seem likely. In any case, the Qumran prayers provide
invaluable resources for understanding the profound piety and
devotion of this group within Judaism, even as questions remain.
Moreover, these prayers add important insights in reconstructing the life
of prayer and worship that undergirds the practices of prayer in Judaism
and Christianity today. 37
37. For a helpful study of the similarities and differences in the practices of prayer
at Qumran versus rabbinic Judaism, see Richard Sarason, “The ‘Intersections’ of
Qumran and Rabbinic Judaism: The Case of Prayer Texts and Liturgies,” DSD
(2001): 169–81.