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

18 JOHN THE BAPTIZER AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
A KEY QUESTION NOT YET ANSWERED
Thus, we confront a key question: What could have been the major catalyst
for John the Baptizer’s leaving the Qumran Community? The
Qumranites developed the concept of predestination in a way that marks
their theology as distinct and unique in Judaism. 61 A human was created
either a “Son of Light” or a “Son of Darkness,” with fixed portions of
light and darkness (4Q186; 4Q534). The Qumranites allowed no free
will to alter one’s destiny. If one was born a Son of Darkness, then no
repentance, acts of contrition, or forgiveness could help him become a
Son of Light. Damnation was tied to one’s creation. John the Baptizer
certainly did not share such rigid determinism. From what we learn about
the Baptizer, it is obvious that he would have left the community to urge
all Israel to seek God for forgiveness. All extant sources clarify that his
message was focused on calling all Israel to repent in the face of God’s
impending judgment. Such a mission certainly entails the concept of free
will for those who hear the Baptizer’s words. These observations lead to my
thesis, which has already been adumbrated in a few preceding comments.
THESIS
My thesis is rather simple, and at least to some extent it is novel. Working
on the critical edition of all the manuscripts of the Rule of the Community
and thinking about life at Qumran has convinced me that one cannot be
fair to all the data regarding the Baptizer and the Qumranites and conclude
simply that he was a Qumran Essene. At the same time, it is also
apparent that this mass of primary evidence does indicate that some relationship
did exist between him and the Qumran Community.
The unique exegesis of Isa 40:3 alone makes it prima facie apparent
that there is some significant relation between the Baptizer and the
Qumranites. Both chose a prophetic book, the same chapter, the same
verse, and virtually the same interpretation. The geographical proximity
61. See esp. the insights by Magen Broshi in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Reproduction Made
from the Original Scrolls Kept in the Shrine of the Book, Jerusalem (ed. M. Sekine; Tokyo:
Kodansha, 1979), esp. 15: “Perhaps the most important theological point differentiating
the sectarians from the rest of Judaism was their belief in predestination, coupled
with a dualistic view of the world (praedestinatio duplex). Also see Armin Lange,
“Wisdom and Predestination in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” DSD 2, no. 3 (1995): 340–54.