Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered - The Preterist Archive

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