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

344 SOCIOLOGICAL AND LITURGICAL DIMENSIONS
the sustaining force of this power derives from willing and constant interpretation
and reinterpretation of Scripture, God’s Word, through r#p,
which provides legitimation.
The second part to this “whom” is the constructing of high social barriers.
Psalm Pesher 1 makes a clear distinction between those inside the
community and those outside it. In both the text’s commentary and
lemma we find examples of an unambiguous sociological duality: those
guided by “the Man of the Lie” (frags. 1–10, 1.26) and those united
under “the Interpreter of Knowledge” (frags. 1–10, 1.27). The former are
“the ruthless ones of the covenant” who are indeed “in the house of
Judah” (frags. 1–10, 2.14), “the wicked ones of Ephraim and Manasseh”
(frags. 1–10, 2.18), and “the wi]cked ones of Israel” (frags. 1–10, 3.12).
The latter are “all those who return to Torah” (frags. 1–10, 2.2–3), “those
who do the Torah” who “are in the Council of the Community” (frags.
1–10, 2.15), “the congregation of his chosen ones” (frags. 1–10, 2.5), and
“the congregation of the Poor Ones” (frags. 1–10, 2.10). Indeed, they are
“the cho[sen] ones of God” (frags. 1–10, 4.14). The social barriers are so
high that persecution is evident. The Pesher reveals that God’s elect live
in the “time of affliction” because it was “appointed” (frags. 1–10, 2.10).
And “the wi[c]ked princes” are those “who oppress his holy people,” who
are clearly the members of the community (frags. 1–10, 3.7–8). Hope is
provided in times of extreme suffering because it is certain that God will
“destroy” “the wi]cked ones of Israel” (frags. 1–10, 3.12–12).
In addition, Psalm Pesher 1 appears to use barrier language to plot a
mode of social survival. That is, by building and maintaining certain barriers,
the community ensures its own social survival and relegates all
other groups to social extinction. Barriers have two functions: too keep
out and to restrict within. The barriers in Psalm Pesher 1 include the cessation
of sacrifice, the exacting observation of Torah (frags. 1–10, 2.2–3,
15, 23), the removal of sin (frags. 1–10, 2.4), the flight from evil (frags.
1–10, 2.3), and adherence to the defining teachings of the Righteous
Teacher (frags. 1–10, 1.27). Some of these barriers clearly had existed
since the founding of the community as a reaction to the Jerusalem cult
and its followers; however, by the time Psalm Pesher 1 was composed, the
Qumranites had organized them into a more structured sociology, which
was also a cosmology. The barriers present in the text seem to serve as a
symbolization of life, a rubric that defines proper social interaction within
the community and ascribes a particular social character to those outside