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

DENNIS T. OLSON 307
and who has revealed the mysteries of the divine drama in which the
Qumran community plays a role (frags. 33–34, col. 1, lines 4, 21; frags.
51–55, line 18; frags. 64, 69, 70–71, 76). God is the God of lights who creates
and directs all creation (frag. 13, line 1; frags. 21–22, line 1; frags.
29–32, line 8). These prayers express both the specially chosen and holy
status of the people of God (frags. 1–6, line 20; frag. 11, line 3; frags.
37–38, line 5) as well as the community’s need to confess its sin before
God (frag. 81). God has revealed to the community special knowledge of
the “psalms of glory” (frags. 51–55, line 9) and of the divine plan or
design (frags. 51–55, line 13). Much of the vocabulary in the prayers is
suggestive of distinctive themes of other documents composed at
Qumran: light as contrasted with darkness, “we, his holy people,” “for our
knowledge,” “the sons of the covenant,” frequent mention of “standards of
light,” “God of lights,” “Holy Ones,” “the Holy One of Holy Ones,” “the
Sons of Righteousness,” “the lots of light,” “the priesthood,” “the armies of
divine beings,” “his wondrous works,” and “lots of darkness.”
The daily blessings of 4Q503 bear strong resemblance to prose
prayers in the Hebrew Bible, especially the biblical genre of the “indirect
cultic blessing of God.” This genre is characterized by a passive participial
form of the verb “to bless,” followed by the name of God and a predicative
clause giving the reason for the praise of God. An example of a
biblical prayer in this genre is Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the
first temple in Jerusalem in 1 Kgs 8:56: “Blessed be the Lord, who has
given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one
word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke through his servant
Moses.” The corresponding typical form of the prayer in 4Q503
begins, “Blessed be the God of Israel who…” In addition to this frequent
“indirect cultic blessing of God,” the Qumran morning and evening
prayers also include a few examples of the “direct cultic blessing of God”
in which the deity is directly addressed in second person rather than in
indirect third person. An example is 4Q503 frags. 33–34, line20:
“[Bless]ed are you, O God of Israel, who has established…” This form of
the direct cultic blessing has been characteristic of traditional Jewish
prayer since the rabbinic period (e.g., “Blessed are you, O Lord our God,
King of the universe…”). The prayers in 4Q503 demonstrate that this
form of direct cultic blessing was already in place at Qumran.
The major difference between the biblical prayers and the prayers of
4Q503 is the time of day when the prayers are said. In the Hebrew Bible,
generic language in Prayers for Festivals does not point “clearly to Qumran authorship”
(177). For evidence of distinctively Qumranic terms and themes in the Prayers for
Festivals, see Charlesworth and Olson, “Prayers for Festivals.”