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

CRAIG A. EVAN S 85
[Pdr] them violently” (CD 1.21). “The Wicked Priest…pursued [Pdr]
the Righteous Teacher to destroy him” (1QpHab 11.4–5).
Matthew 5:20: “For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of
heaven” (le/gw ga_r u9mi=n o3ti e0a_n mh\ perisseu/sh| u9mw~n h9 dikaiosu/nh
plei=on tw= n grammate/wn kai\ Farisai/wn, ou) mh\ ei0se/lqhte ei0j th\n
basilei/an tw= n ou0ranw= n). At times the scrolls complain of the shallowness
of their opponents’ commitment to torah (cf. CD 1.18–21; 1QH
10.31–33), labeling their opponents “seekers of smooth things.” 12
Matthew 5:45: “in order that you become sons of your Father in
heaven, because he makes the sun rise over the wicked and the good, and
rains upon the righteous and the unrighteous” (o3pwj ge/nhsqe ui9oi\ tou=
patro\j u9mw= n tou= e0n ou0ranoi=j, o3ti to\n h3lion au0tou= a0nate/llei e0pi\
ponhrou\j kai\ a0gaqou\j kai\ bre/xei e0pi\ dikai/ouj kai\ a0di/kouj).
Becoming “sons of your father” is defined in 5:48, where Matthew’s
Jesus enjoins his followers to “be perfect, as [their] heavenly Father is perfect.”
The injunction roughly approximates Deut 18:13: “You shall be
perfect [Mymt] before the Lord your God”), as well as the view expressed
in CD 7.5: “by these laws, in perfect [Mymt] holiness, according to all the
instructions, God’s covenant stands firm.” The association of righteous
with perfect is attested in 1QH 9.36: “O you righteous [Myqydc], put an
end to injustice. All you whose way is perfect [Mymt] take hold of […] of
the destitute.” W. D. Davies has opined that Matt 5:48 is paralleled by
1QS 1.12–13 (“to direct their strength according to the perfection of His
ways”) and other passages. 13 Davies suggests further that in style and
authority Jesus approximates a teacher of righteousness, including his
building a fence around the law (i.e., in reference to the antitheses; cf.
1QS 10.25: “I shall encompass it close about, so to preserve faith and
strict judgment—conforming to the righteousness of God”).
Matthew 6:1: “Watch lest you practice your righteousness before people
to be seen by them; if you do not [so watch], you will have no reward
from your Father in heaven” (prose/xete [de\] th\n dikaiosu/nhn u9mw~n mh\
poiei=n e1mprosqen tw= ~n a0nqrw&pwn pro\j to\ qeaqh=nai au0toi=j: ei0 de\ mh/
ge, misqo\n ou0k e1xete para\ tw|~ patri\ u9mw= n tw|~ e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j).
The Rule of the Community enjoins the men of the Yah[ad “to hold fast to all
12. The phrase twqlx y#rwd (1QH 10.32) may be rendered literally “those who
seek the smooth things.” It is speculated that this is a deliberate allusion to religious
interpreters who seek (i.e., #rd) legal rulings (twklh) from Scripture. Some have suggested
that these are the Pharisees, but Qumran’s criticism could apply to other groups.
13. William D. Davies, “‘Knowledge’ in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Matthew
11:25–30,” HTR 46 (1953): 113–39, here 115.