Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive
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speaks into any ear that doesn't listen or who tries to talk to a drowsy man, who falls asleep with the<br />
spirit of . . . (6) Do not send the hard-hearted man to discern thoughts, because his heart's Wisdom is<br />
defective, and he will not be able to control . . . (7) nor will he find the discernment of his hands. <strong>The</strong><br />
clever man will profit from Understanding. A Knowing man will bring forth Wisdom . . . (8) An<br />
Upright man will be pleased with judgement . . . A man . . . A soldier will be zealous for . . .<br />
34. <strong>The</strong> Demons Of Death (Beatitudes - 4Q525) (Plate 12)<br />
This next text has been called 'the Beatitudes', comparing it to famous recitations of a parallel kind in<br />
Ecclesiasticus (Ben Sira) and the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. This is perhaps a<br />
misnomer. Once again, we have a typical 'Wisdom' text here, but one also rich in the vocabulary of<br />
Qumran. Superficially, the text is fairly straightforward and commonplace. As such, it has much in<br />
common with the Sons of Dawn and Sons of Righteousness (Proverbs) materials above - at least<br />
Columns 1-3 do.<br />
But as in previous visionary recitals like the Testament of Naphtali, the piece, as reconstructed, grows<br />
more apocalyptic in columns 4-5, which are full of the language of Righteous indignation. Though the<br />
original order of the portions is speculative and though it might reasonably be queried whether all<br />
fragments really belong together, it is reasonable and convenient to assign Fragment 1 to the<br />
beginning of the work. <strong>The</strong> tone of the first three columns even part of the fourth - is more restrained<br />
than what develops towards the end, and we are clearly in the first-person milieu of the admonitions<br />
of the Maskil in the Sons of Dawn recital above.<br />
Again we come upon the familiar vocabulary of Qumran. For instance, 'the heart of Deceitfulness'<br />
language in Line 3 Column 2 is echoed in the Community Rule, viii.22 and ix.8 dealing with barring<br />
from 'table fellowship', common purse and mutual activity - subjects we shall also have occasion to<br />
discuss in Chapter 6 in relation to the end of the Damascus Document. One should note that<br />
throughout these Translations, the reference to hok / hukkim as in Line 1 (statutes, ordinances, or<br />
laws) is an equivocal one. Often we render it 'statutes', but where the occasion arises it can be<br />
rendered 'laws'.<br />
<strong>The</strong> reason it is important is that in the exegesis of Isa. 40:3 referred to above applied in two places to<br />
the activities of the Community in the wilderness, 'zeal' or 'he who is zealous for' is tied to it. In<br />
1QS,ix.24, following the second exegesis and reference to 'the Maskil', the actual words are: 'and he<br />
shall be as a man zealous for the Law, whose time is the Day of Vengeance.' <strong>The</strong> 'Way' terminology is<br />
also defined in viii. 15 in the first of these exegeses as 'the study of the Torah' (midrash ha-Torah), an<br />
allusion that will also emerge in the last line of the Damascus Document below.<br />
In this text, too, not only do we have an allusion to 'Way' and 'Ways', and another favourite, 'walking<br />
in the Way of', but also 'Watcher', 'Evil', 'Knowledge', 'Mysteries', and 'Perfection' language (cf. Matt.<br />
5:48: 'therefore be Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect', itself tied in documents like the<br />
Community Rule to the language of 'walking in the Way of and, of course, the allusion to Noah as<br />
'Perfect and Righteous in his generation' in Gen. 6:9), and an allusion in Column 4.20, combining both<br />
'Meekness' and 'Righteousness' terminologies - 'the Meekness of Righteousness'. In Column 5.4 there<br />
is also the allusion to 'Mastemah' - this time singular - we saw in Chapter 1, a linguistic variation of