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

JÖRG FREY 433
as a transcription of the Aramaic h)wc tyb which means a latrine, and
they refer to a passage in the Temple Scroll, 11QTemple (11Q19) 46.13–16,
where the construction of a latrine outside the city is commanded. So, the
“gate of the Essenes” could be the gate used by the Essenes to leave the
city to reach their toilets. But even if the philological interpretation of
“Bethso” is correct, it is not clear whether or to what extent the laws of
the Temple Scroll were obeyed by Essenes in Qumran and elsewhere.
Therefore, uncertainties remain regarding the function of the gate and
also regarding the place where Essenes possibly lived in Jerusalem.
Pixner and Riesner try to solve these problems by use of a third argument,
based on the network of ritual baths found on the area of the supposed
Essene quarter, including a double bath outside the city wall which
might have been used for cleansing after the use of the toilet. At one side
of the double bath, the entrance and exit are separated. This is often interpreted
as a peculiarity of Essene baths because similar constructions have
also been found at Qumran. 97 But recent excavations have shown that
constructions like that were much more frequent: they were used, for
example, near the Temple Mount as well. Thus, they cannot be interpreted
as an Essene peculiarity but only as a construction that was useful
for public baths or for baths used frequently. 98 The Essene character of
the ritual baths on the area of Mt. Zion can, therefore, not be ascertained.
The fourth pillar of the theory depends on traces of Jewish-Christian
presence on the southwestern hill in late Roman times. 99 These early
remains may at least raise the question whether there were any links
between the inhabitants of the area in Herodian times and the later
Jewish Christians. The archaeological evidence adduced for an early
Jewish-Christian use of the site are a niche in the room known as David’s
tomb that is oriented toward the rock of Golgotha, and some graffiti that
suggest a Jewish-Christian use of the building. 100 But the tradition of the
Last Supper’s location in that area is rather late and cannot be traced
back without problems. 101
97. Cf. Riesner, ibid., 38, and pictures on 183.
98. Cf. Magness, Archaeology of Qumran, 146–47, and the literature mentioned on
161; cf. further R. Reich, “Miqwa)ot at Khirbet Qumran and the Jerusalem
Connection,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years after Their Discovery: Proceedings of the
Jerusalem Congress, July 20–25, 1997 (ed. L. H. Schiffman, E. Tov, and J. C. VanderKam;
Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Shrine of the Book, 2000), 728–31.
99. Cf. Riesner, ibid., 38–55; idem, “Jesus, the Primitive Community, and the
Essene Quarter,” 198–234, esp. 198–206.
100. Cf. Riesner, Essener und Urgemeinde in Jerusalem, 58–62.
101. Cf. the argument in Riesner, ibid., 78–83, 138–41. In favor of a late formation
of the tradition from liturgical reasons, cf. Klaus Bieberstein, “Die Hagia Sion in