Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

published Hymns from Cave 1 by the use of nephesh Ebion ('soul of the Poor One' - also used here in
Line 2.1.1), and nephesh--'Ani ('soul of the Meek'), used repeatedly throughout. A parallel, Nephesh-
Zaddik ('soul of the Righteous One'), is to be found in a context of some import at the end of Column i
of the Cairo recension of the Damascus Document. Evoking another familiar phrase, 'the Way of His
heart', used in these Hymns to the Poor as well, the passage describes a particularly violent attack on
'the soul of the Righteous One' (presumably the Righteous Teacher) and some of his colleagues. These
it refers to also as 'walkers in Perfection'.
Line 4 of Fragment 1 of the present text actually uses an allusion hinted at in compilations of
Messianic proof texts like the published Messianic Florilegium: 'tinzor Toratecha' ('to keep Your
Torah'). The use of this expression as a synonym for the Shomrei ha-Brit ('the Keepers of the
Covenant'), the definition in the Community Rule, v.2 and v.9 of 'the sons of Zadok', once more
confirms the basic circularity of all these usages. It is but a short step from here to the 'Nazoraean'
terminology often used as a synonym for Jewish Christians in other sources, and perhaps the root of
Matt. 2:23's tantalizing 'Nazarene' epithet.
From 2.1.5-9, one is completely in the context and atmosphere of the Habakkuk Pesher, xii, where the
Wicked Priest 'plotted to destroy the Poor Ones'. Beginning with the allusion to 'circumcizing the
foreskin of their hearts' (4) which the Habakkuk Pesher, xi. 13 applies in a negative manner to
disqualify the Wicked Priest presumably from Temple service, it is quite clear that a judgement of
sorts, similar to that being evoked in the Habakkuk Pesher, v, viii, and xii is being described.
The 'Violent Ones', prominent in both the Habakkuk and the Ps. 37 Peshers are alluded to (5). In the
last-mentioned text, they are referred to as 'the Violent Ones of the Gentiles'- and take 'vengeance' on
the Wicked Priest for what he did to the Righteous Teacher, i.e. 'swallowed him' or 'destroyed him'. In
Hymns of the Poor, Line 6, this allusion and one to the 'Wicked' that precedes it are followed
immediately by a reference to divine 'wrath' and 'hot anger'. These are used repeatedly by the
Habakkuk Pesher in the same context and with the same sense. Not only do they describe how the
Wicked Priest pursued the Righteous Teacher to 'swallow' or 'consume' him (xi. 4-5) - in return for
which he too would be ultimately swallowed or consumed (xi.14-15), but they also describe this
vengeance as the vengeance of God. The parallels are so exact that it is quite clear the two texts are
using the same vocabulary and concepts, to discuss the same events. They are also quite possibly by
the .came author. The link between them is that close. Because of their mutual regard for their subject,
'the Poor', both of them could be described as 'Hymns to the Poor', though the Habakkuk Pesher is
much more than this.
In Lines 1 and 8 of 2.1, the same word, hizillhizilam ('He saved' / 'He saved them') is also being used
that the Habakkuk Pesher uses to describe how 'the Righteous' are saved from 'the House of judgement'
or the 'Last judgement' (viii. 2 and xii. 14). The latter's eschatological exegesis of the all-important
Hab. 2:4, that 'the Righteous shall live by his faith', hinges on the condition that those to whom it
applies be both 'Torah-Doers' and 'Jews' (viii.l-2). Hab. 2:4, with Gen. 15:6 concerning Abraham's
faith is, as we have seen, the key scriptural foundation piece of Paul's absolutely fundamental
presentations in Rom. 1:17 and Gal. 3:11.
In the Hymns of the Poor, the Poor are 'saved' because of their 'Piety', and God's 'Mercy', and because
they 'walked in the Way of His heart'. In Line 4 of 2. 1, this proposition is put as follows: 'He saved