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

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CHARLESWORTH AND MCSPADDEN 349<br />

<strong>the</strong> restoration of <strong>the</strong> Temple <strong>and</strong> its services (many were also looking for<br />

<strong>the</strong> coming of two Messiahs). Not only does <strong>the</strong> pesher comment upon a<br />

text with clear liturgical, religious, <strong>and</strong> sociological importance (Psalm<br />

37), but it also represents an equally authoritative voice. By revealing <strong>the</strong><br />

meaning of secular history, speaking prophetically, <strong>and</strong> perhaps intermittently<br />

functioning liturgically, Psalm Pesher 1 helped to shape communal<br />

identity <strong>and</strong> demonstrated to <strong>the</strong> priests, Levites, <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs living on <strong>the</strong><br />

northwestern shores of <strong>the</strong> <strong>Dead</strong> <strong>Sea</strong> that <strong>the</strong>y had been chosen by God<br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Holy Spirit, so that wryxb td( hmh (“<strong>the</strong>y are <strong>the</strong> congregation<br />

of his chosen ones”; 4Q171 = [4QpPs a ] frags. 1–10, 2.5). <strong>The</strong>se<br />

reflections are offered as a prolegomenon for fur<strong>the</strong>r probes of how<br />

scrolls may have functioned liturgically (defined broadly) at Qumran. For<br />

<strong>the</strong> Qumranites <strong>the</strong>ir community was <strong>the</strong> New Temple <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

antechamber of Heaven in which angels worship with (<strong>and</strong> are not<br />

always distinguishable from) “<strong>the</strong> Most Holy of <strong>the</strong> Holy Ones.”

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