the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE 209
worshipping with the angels is in evidence in the Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice or Angelic Liturgy (4QShirShabb a–h = 4Q400–407), 30 which repeatedly
summon the heavenly powers to worship. 31 Echoes of the piety that
describes the worship of the “holy ones,” “sovereign princes,” and “gods”
may appear not only in the opening chapter of Hebrews, but also in its
description of the eschatological reality to which its addresses are called.
The heavenly Jerusalem in Heb 12:22 is first characterized by its “myriads
of angels in festive assembly.” The “sacrifice of praise” that the
addressees are called upon to offer (13:15) is of a piece with what the
angels proclaim on high. 32
There are various designations of the heavenly beings in the scrolls in
general, and particularly in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, but two are
worth noting. The heavenly powers include the “seven priesthoods in the
wonderful sanctuary” as well as the “angels of the king in their wonderful
residences.” 33 If heavenly beings offer “sacrifices of praise” and function
as priests propitiating the divine will for penitent sinners, 34 it is
hardly surprising that they should be worshipping in the heavenly tabernacle.
This image, prominent in Heb 6:19; 8:4–5; 9:11–12, 24; and
10:20, is developed in a complex and evocative way, but it has firm roots
in Jewish literature of the Second Temple period. 35 Two passages from
30. See Carol Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (HSS 27;
Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985).
31. 4QShirShabb d [= 4Q403] 1.30–31; cf. 1.43; 2.18; 4Q404 frag. 4; 4Q405 frag.
8. Unless otherwise indicated, the translations throughout are those of Florentino
García Martínez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English (Leiden:
Brill; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992).
32. The notion of a “sacrifice of praise” is familiar to the worshippers using the
scrolls. Cf. 1QS 9.4–5: “The offering of the lips in compliance with the decree will be
like the pleasant aroma of justice and the correctness of behaviour will be acceptable
like a freewill offering.” Cf. 1QS 10.5–6.
33. 4QShirShabb d [= 4Q403] 2.22–23; cf. 11Q17 2.5 for angels, and 4.1–5 for the
priestly accoutrements. The notion that angels are priests appears also in the Songs of
the Master: 4QShir b [= 4Q511] frag. 35, 3–4: “Among the holy ones, God makes some
holy for himself like an everlasting sanctuary, and there will be purity amongst those
purified. And they shall be priests, his holy people, his army and his servants, the
angels of his glory.” See the discussion of the text in André Caquot, “Le service des
anges,” RevQ 13 (1988): 421–29.
34. 4QShirShabb a [= 4Q400] frag. 1, 1.16: “And they shall appease his will, in
favour of those converted from sin”; cited by Carol Newsom, “‘He Has Established
for Himself Priests’: Human and Angelic Priesthood in the Qumran Sabbath Shirot,”
in Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The New York University Conference in
Memory of Yigael Yadin (ed. L. H. Schiffman; JSPSup 8; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990),
104–13, esp. 105. See also Darrell J. Pursiful, The Cultic Motif in the Spirituality of Hebrews
(Lewiston: Mellen Biblical Press, 1993).
35. See Hans Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spätjudentum
(WUNT 2; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1951); Aelred Cody, O.S.B., Heavenly Sanctuary