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

304 DAILY AND FESTIVAL PRAYERS AT QUMRAN
about 150 B.C.E. The script of 4Q505 seems to be somewhat later,
around 70–60 B.C.E. The latest of the three, 4Q506, has a script that
dates to a time in the first century C.E. 9 Distinctive themes or vocabulary
unique to the Qumran community are for the most part not found in this
prayer material. 10 Thus, these prayers were likely inherited from a pre-
Qumranic Jewish community. E. G. Chazon has demonstrated that the
consistent style and carefully structured progression of historical remembrances
in the prayers suggest a unitary composition by one author. 11
The number of copies found and the varying ages of the manuscripts
which span both the beginning and end of the community’s historical life
suggest that these prayers were much treasured and probably often used
in the actual worship life of the Qumran community.
1Q34–1Q34 bis ; 4Q507–4Q509
These manuscript collections contain four copies of Prayers for Festivals, the
fragmentary remains of prayers apparently recited on special festival days
throughout the Jewish liturgical calendar year at Qumran. 12 In
1Q34–1Q34 bis , fragments 1–3, col. 1 may refer to Sukkot (Tabernacles or
Feast of Booths) with its allusion to dew and the earth. Sukkot was an
autumn harvest festival (Exod 23:16) to which was added in the first century
C.E. a remembrance of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness from
Egypt to Canaan. 1Q34–1Q34 bis concludes with a reference to the Day
of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Fragments 1–3, col. 1, line 5 refer to “the
solstitial point” which may indicate its use for the New Year festival or
Rosh Hashanah. The gift of the covenant at Sinai is mentioned in fragments
3–5 col. 2 and thus may be related to the festival of Pentecost, otherwise
known as the Feast of Weeks, the Day of First Fruits, or Shavuot.
The five fragments of 1Q34–1Q34 bis were first published by J. T. Milik
9. Baillet, ibid., 137, 168, 170.
10. See Esther G. Chazon, “Is Divrei ha-Me’orot a Sectarian Prayer?” in The Dead Sea
Scrolls: Forty Years of Research (ed. D. Dimant and U. Rappaport; STDJ 10: Leiden:
Brill, 1992), 3–17.
11. Chazon, “4QdibHam: Liturgy or Literature?”
12. For the full Hebrew text, translation and explication of these prayers, see James
H. Charlesworth and Dennis T. Olson, “Prayers for Festivals (1Q34–1Q34 bis ;
4Q507–509),” in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts with English
Translations. Vol. 4A, Pseudepigraphic and Non-Masoretic Psalms and Prayers (ed. J. H.
Charlesworth et al.; PTSDSSP 4A; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck; Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 1998), 46–106.