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

CHARLESWORTH AND MCSPADDEN 339
the Righteous Teacher; they could see fulfillment in their own origins and
recent history. Their time and their own community is the crucible in
which God is fulfilling all his prophecies. For the Qumranites the future
was becoming part of the present (in ways known to the Psalmists who
composed some of the psalms with the use of verbs that are examples of
perfectum propheticum). Thus, the “why“ clarifies that time is being fulfilled
by God’s activity for and within the community.
Using the terminology and sociological and anthropological sophistication
provided by V. W. Turner, we can comprehend that the
Qumranites experienced a liminal existence. In terms of “where,” they
were only temporarily in the wilderness (1QS), since the wilderness is
where they were “preparing the Way,” and wilderness is a biblical concept
that signifies primarily preparation; as S. Talmon states, “Ultimately (at
Qumran) the desert became the locale of a period of purification and
preparation for the achievement of a new goal.” 66 The liminality of where
is obvious also in that the community is not merely part of the earth; it is
sacred space in which angels join the “Most Perfect of Perfect Ones” and
anthropology moves close to angelology. In terms of when, the
Qumranites, as Semites, knew no clear distinction of past, present, and
future; moreover, for them the liminality was phenomenological, since
the past was full of future promises and the present was regnant with fulfilled
meaning, which is enunciated pellucidly in the pesharim. Turner’s
competence does not include Judaism, though he (a Roman Catholic) is
a specialist on the sociology of pilgrimage, which makes sense for the
Qumranites, since certain passages in the Qumran Scrolls indicate that
they are on a pilgrimage to a renewed Temple and Holy City (cf. The New
Jerusalem and the Temple Scroll). Thus, the liminality of the Qumranites is
evident in the fact that they are interstitial, living within “the in-between
state of life-in-death.” Like a “seclusion camp,” the Qumranites obtain selfidentity
by emphasizing “gnosis (liminal wisdom).” 67 The concept of liminality
helps us comprehend deeper dimensions of the interiority of
Qumran perception; for example, consider the following from Psalm Pesher
1 which interprets (provides a pesher on) Ps 37:21–22, and the promise
that those who are blessed by “the righteous one…[will inh]erit (the) land”:
66. Shemaryahu Talmon, Literary Studies in the Hebrew Bible (Jerusalem: Magnes;
Leiden: Brill, 1993), 253.
67. This reflection on liminality has been influenced by Victor W. Turner’s Process,
Performance and Pilgrimage: A Study in Comparative Symbology (Ranchi Anthropology Series
1; New Delhi: Concept Publishing, 1979); see esp. 142. Also see Victor W. Turner,
The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure (Chicago: Aldine, 1969; repr. Berlin:
Walter de Gruyter, 1995).