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

22 JOHN THE BAPTIZER AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS
Cursed be you in all your guilty (and) wicked works.
May God give you up (to) terror through all the avengers.
May he visit upon you destruction through all those who take revenge.
Cursed be you without compassion in accordance with the darkness of
your works.
Damned be you in everlasting murky fire.
May God not be compassionate unto you when you cry out.
May he not forgive (you) by covering over your iniquity.
May he lift up his angry countenance to wreak his vengeance upon you.
May there be no peace for you according to all who hold fast to the
fathers.
And all those who cross over into the covenant shall say after those who
bless and those who curse: “Amen, amen.” (1QS 2.4–10) 72
These words turn the famous Aaronic blessing on its head. They were
probably disturbing and finally shocking to the Baptizer. They reveal a
hate-filled and closed society with high barriers, exclusive to the extreme.
In the history of Jewish thought it is virtually impossible to match
such venomous hatred for other Jews. Only one who was convinced of
double predestination, who held the Qumranic doctrine of creation as a
Son of Light, and who believed that he was among the few elect ones
fighting the final battle against Belial and the Sons of Darkness—only
such a person could have recited such a liturgy. It is clear from 1QS
2.4–10 that Qumran theology does indeed devolve, in some passages,
into a theology of hate and exclusion.
Given the portrait of the Baptizer provided by Josephus and the
Gospels, he most likely would have become silent during the covenantal
renewal ceremony. He would not have been able repeatedly and ceremoniously
to curse all others to eternal damnation, without some concomitant
call to repentance, which obviously became the hallmark of his
eloquent preaching (Ant. 18.116–19). His compassion for others was celebrated
especially by Luke and Josephus. The great historian of the first
century called him “a good man,” who “had exhorted the Jews to lead
righteous lives” (Ant. 18.117); that means he did not reserve his preaching
for only God’s so-called predestined elect. The Third Evangelist
informs us that the Baptizer instructed the crowds to share their clothes
with the needy, the tax officials to collect only what is required, and the
soldiers to rob no one, make no false accusations, and be content with
their wages (Luke 3:10–14). This exhortation to share one’s goods is
reminiscent of Qumran’s storehouse, in which all possessions were
72. Charlesworth, ibid., 9–10.