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

110 A STUDY IN SHARED SYMBOLISM AND LANGUAGE
section of Jerusalem, 47 it is worth pondering what relation the well-known
Barnabas, a Levite from Cyprus, had with Essenes of Levitical descent
living in Jerusalem and its environs (Acts 4:36). If he was a convert and
a Levite, then why not others—especially those we call Essenes?
What is the most reliable indication that Essenes were entering the
Jesus group? And how do we know they were joining this new Jewish
group in sufficient numbers to have an impression on the new movement
after the 60s? The answer seems to lie in the paucity of parallels to
Qumran or Essene thought in works prior to that time. There is virtually
no clear Essene influence on Romans, Galatians, and other authentic
writings by Paul. 48 In contrast, however, significant links with Essene
thought and terminology appear in works postdating the 60s and especially
70 C.E., namely in Ephesians, Hebrews, Matthew, Revelation, and
particularly the Fourth Gospel. 49 It is also apparent that a section in Paul’s
second letter to the Corinthians (6:14–7:1) is a later addition to it by one
influenced by Essene thought. But in the Fourth Gospel scholars have
found the most impressive and numerous parallels to Qumran thought.
In the Fourth Gospel we find a unique form of dualism and a
collection of technical terms. This dualism and these termini technici are not
47. Both the author of the Temple Scroll and Josephus mention a gate, purportedly
that of the Essenes, which was located at the southern end of Jerusalem’s western
wall. Many archaeologists now claim that a gate, below the remains of a Byzantine
one and beside a Herodian socket, is indeed the “Essene Gate.” It is located in the
southwestern section of the old wall of Jerusalem (not the present Turkish wall) and
appears in the model of first-century Jerusalem near the Holy Land Hotel. For photographs,
drawings, and discussion, see Rainer Riesner, “Jesus, the Primitive
Community, and the Essene Quarter of Jerusalem,” in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed.
J. H. Charlesworth; ABRL; New York: Doubleday, 1992), 198–234; and James H.
Charlesworth, The Millennium Guide for Pilgrims to the Holy Land (North Richland Hills,
TX: BIBAL Press, 2000), the 7th color picture between 40 and 41, and 149 (the
Herodian socket of the Essene Gate and discussion).
48. See the pertinent chapters in Murphy-O’Connor and Charlesworth, Paul and the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
49. Krister Stendahl demonstrated that there was a school of Matthew and that
scholars within it interpreted Scripture in a manner strikingly similar to that found in
the Qumran commentaries, or pesharim; see The School of St. Matthew and Its Use of the
Old Testament (rev. ed.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968). Also see Kurt Schubert, “The
Sermon on the Mount and the Qumran Texts,” in Stendahl and Charlesworth, The
Scrolls and the New Testament, 118–28; and William D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon
on the Mount (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966), esp. 208–56. Davies
argues—and I fully concur—that the Sermon on the Mount “reveals an awareness of
the [Dead Sea Scroll] Sect and perhaps a polemic against it” (235). On the links
between Essene thought and Ephesians, see Murphy-O’Connor and Charlesworth,
Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ix–xvi. Essene affinities with the Fourth Gospel are recognized
by the contributors to James H. Charlesworth, ed., John and the Dead Sea
Scrolls (New York: Crossroad, 1991).