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

GORDON M. ZERBE 331
Interaction, including economic interaction, with outsiders (cf. 1QS
2.4–10) and apostates or expelled members (cf. 2.11–18) 41 was strictly
regulated. In relation to all those outside the covenant (5.11) and marked
by impurity (5.13–14; cf. 2.25–3.12), a member must not “join in labor
or property” (5.14), and must not “receive anything from their hand
unless he pay its price” (5.16–17). 42 Indeed, not only are outsiders themselves
impure, as are their deeds (5.13–14, 19–20). In addition, “all that
is theirs” is to be set apart; “their possessions are wholly unclean” (5.18,
20). The connection of economic separation and purity is further noted
in 9.8–9:
Concerning the property of the men of holiness who walk in perfection, let
their property not be mingled with the property of the men of deceit
(hymrh y#n) Nwh) who have not purified their way.
Moreover, “a man of the men of holiness may not mingle with the property
or with the counsel” of those who have been expelled (8.23–24) 43 ; and a
member who “mingles with (a permanently expelled member), (sharing)
his purity or property,” shall likewise be expelled (7.22–27). Another text
seems to refer to the initial disengagement of a new member from his
former economic assets or associations: he must be willing “to surrender
to them (i.e., men of the pit) his property and labor of his hands
(Mypk lm(w Nwh wml bwz(l), 44 as a slave (db() to his master and as
one afflicted (hwn() in the presence of his overlord (hdwrh)” (9.22–23).
This disengagement takes place in the framework of his concealed “eternal
hatred” of them (9.21–22), 45 is motivated by considerations of purity,
and is tied to the notion of temporary subservience until the day of
vengeance (9.16–17, 23; 10.18–20; 11.1–2; see further below).
41. On procedures for entry and especially on expulsion, see Göran Forkman, The
Limits of Religious Community: Expulsion from the Religious Community within the Qumran Sect,
within Rabbinic Judaism, and within Primitive Christianity (trans. P. Sjölander; ConBNT 5;
Lund: Gleerup, 1972), ch. 2.
42. On only cash relations with outsiders, cf. CD 13.14–15 (above). Alfred R. C.
Leaney, The Rule of Qumran and Its Meaning (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966), 174, reasons
that cash payment apparently altered the object’s purity status. Separation also
includes the regulation not to “eat nor drink anything of theirs,” or to discuss any
matter of Law or ordinance (1QS 5.15–16).
43. Cf. CD-B 20.1–8: “let no man consort with him (an expelled member) in whatever
concerns property and labor, for all the Holy Ones of the Most High have
cursed him.” This is regarded as a Qumranic addition by Davies (Damascus Covenant)
and by Murphy-O’Connor, “Literary Analysis,” 563. Cf. also 1QS 5.14.
44. 4Q258 8.6–7 adds (cbw (“and gain”) after Nwh (“property”).
45. See below on 1QS 1.10–11; 10.19–20; on concealment from outsiders, see also
5.10–11, 15–16; 8.11–12, 18, 23–24; 9.16–17; 10.24–25; cf. CD 15.10–11; Josephus,
J.W. 2.141.