Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

fiery zeal; (7) (rather) He judged them in the abundance of His Mercy. The Judgements of His eye
were to test them. In the greatness of His Mercy, He brought them (from) among the Gentiles; from the
hands of (8) Man He saved them. He did not judge them in the multitude of the nations, nor scatter
them among the Peoples. (Rather), He hid them in the shadow of His wings, (9) and made the dark
places Light before them, and the crooked places straight, and He revealed to them abundant Peace and
Truth. He made (10) their Spirit by measure, and meted out their words by weight, causing them to
sing like flutes. He gave them a heart of rejoicing, and they walked in the Way of His heart. (11) But
also, in the way of His heart He led them, because they . . . , their Spirit at rest, and raised up a
testi[mony . . .] He commanded a plague to . . ., (12) And He set his Angel around the s[ons of Israel
lest they be destroyed [in the land of] (13) their enemies . . . His wrath, to bring His anger . . . on them
. . . (14) He hated . . . His Glory to . . .
Fragment 2 Column 2 (1) in Evil . . . distress . . . (2) their works . . . for them against the sons of Man,
and You saved them for Your own sake . . . (3) And they aggravated their iniquity and the iniquity of
their fathers, but they atoned for it in . . . (4) Judgements, and to the Way that . . . (5) again, because . .
. their . . . in . . .
Fragment 3 (1) Your . . . to be comforted on account of her mourning; her affliction He . . . (2) nations
[He will destroy, and peoples cut off, and the Wicked . . . He fashioned (3) the works of Heaven and
earth, and they met, and His Glory filled . . . their [Tr]uth (4) will make atonement. Goodness will
multiply, and the Goodness of the . . . will comfort them .... to eat (5) its fruit and its Goodness. (6)
Like a man whose mother comforts him, so will He comfort them in Jerusal[em . . . Like a
bridegroom] over the bride, over her (7) . . and He will put . . . and He will lift a]p His Throne forever
and ever. And His Glory . . . and all the Gentiles (8) . . . and there will be . . . desire (9) . . . forever the
radiance of . . . I shall bless (10) [the Name] . . . blessed be the Name of the Most High . . . (11) . . .
Your Piety (or 'Grace') upon him (12) . . . for the sake of the Torah You established (13) . . . the book
of Your Laws . . .
44. The Children Of Salvation (Yesha') And The Mystery Of Existence (4Q416, 418) (Plate 22)
If we are justified in grouping all these fragments together, this is one of the longest extant
manuscripts in the unpublished corpus. Strictly speaking, the work as a whole has the character of an
admonition and belongs in Chapter 5, but because of its eschatological thrust, mysticism, emphasis on
the Mysteries of God and parallels with the preceding works and Hymns from Cave 1, we have chosen
to place it here.
Again we are in the vocabulary of 'Knowledge', 'Goodness', 'Faithfulness', 'the Glory of the Holy
Ones', 'the God of Truth', 'Righteousness', 'works', 'Judgement', 'the Lords of Evil', 'Lying',
'Unfaithfulness', etc. As in the case of the Chariots of Glory above, which it very much resembles, we
have separated out the various fragments and given each a subtitle drawn from the most striking and
beautiful of these allusions. As in the case of the Hymns of the Poor, here and there it is possible to
question the sequence or whether all fragments actually belong together; however manuscript overlaps
do seem to assure the sequence of most of the fragments.
Some of the most interesting imagery revolves around the use of the term 'Fountain' already
encountered above 'the Eternal Fountain/the Fountain of Living Waters' and 'the Eternal Secrets', the