Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

In 2 Chr. 16:4 Abel Mayin is designated as a city in Naphtali probably on the way to Syria in the
northern part of the country. In this text it is probably being seen as the location of Jacob's famous
vision in Gen. 28:10-19 of a ladder by which the Angels ascended to Heaven (and descended). The
visionary material in 18-21 projects Levi as another of these heavenly voyagers who are so much a
part of the literature of Heavenly Ascents. It has much in common with the literature of visionary
recitals in Chapter 1 and that of Hymns and Mysteries in Chapter 7.
Lines 5-6 in the first column of Fragment 4 begin with the rather typical emphasis on works
Righteousness and Truth. From Line 8 onwards, however, after the reference to 'Torah' and 'traditional
interpretation', the focus quickly moves on to Wisdom, and is hardly distinguishable from texts like
the Admonitions to the Sons of Dawn, the Sons of Righteousness, and the Demons of Death below.
The reference in Line 4 to Levi as a 'friend of God', if allowed, also parallels similar denotations about
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, already noted in Chapter 3. From Line 16 Column 2, the fragment shifts
emphasis to Messianic-style visions of the Kingdom reminiscent both of Dan. 2:44 and Pseudo-Daniel
collections.
Fragment 5 is, of course, a typically Righteousness-oriented apocalypse using the by now well-known
Qumran nomenclature of 'walking' (either in Light or Darkness) and 'Ways'. It emphasizes two
previous, primordial 'Righteous Ones' of the utmost importance to this tradition, Enoch and Noah.
Manuscript B Fragment 1, is a mundane, rather typical, recital of the paraphernalia of Temple
sacrifice.