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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we have seen, in i.6-7 of the Damascus Document. <strong>The</strong>re it relates to the evocation of the 'root of<br />
Planting out of Aaron and Israel', which God appears to have caused to grow 'to inherit His land'. In<br />
the context of CD, the notion of 'visiting' can be taken to imply this first Messianic figure with roots in<br />
both the Davidic and the priestly traditions or backgrounds, who would then be the similar figure who<br />
'stands up', 'arises', or 'returns' at the end of the document. It could also be taken to mean the<br />
Community itself. However this may be, the occurrence of this 'visiting' terminology in this Paean to<br />
Alexander is striking.<br />
Finally there is the important reference in 2.7 to the 'Joiners in the war' or 'joining the war'. Again the<br />
terminology is striking. It is used in a most important context in the exegesis of the Zadokite Covenant<br />
from Ezek. 44:15 in Column iv of the Cairo Damascus Document. It is possible to read the allusion in<br />
that prophecy to 'the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok' as a construct phrase with the sense of 'the<br />
priests who were the Bnei-Zadok Levites'. But the Damascus Document deliberately breaks this open<br />
in favour of its preferred exegesis. 'Ands' are added, so the prophecy now reads: 'the priests and the<br />
Levites and the sons of Zadok', all distinct categories, not descriptive of each other. This prepares the<br />
way for the exegesis to follow, which then identifies 'the priests' as 'the penitents of Israel who went<br />
out in the wilderness' and the 'sons of Zadok' in the well-known manner.<br />
But the category 'the Levites' is not mentioned in the exegesis. Rather another word, our 'Joiners'<br />
(Nilvim) here evidently playing on the word 'Levites', is inserted. <strong>The</strong> interpretation then reads: 'and<br />
the joiners with them' - 'them', it will be remembered, being 'the penitents of Israel . . . in the desert'.<br />
This is the term that reappears in this Paean to King Jonathan, but it is now tied to an additional<br />
phrase, missing in the Damascus Document, namely 'the joiners in the war of or 'those joining in the<br />
war of'. 'In the war of is a significant addition, evoking at once the war-like ethos of this group and<br />
that war Jonathan seems to have been involved in against Demetrius, mentioned in the Nahum Pesher.<br />
As it turns out, a variation of this terminology also appears in the Nahum Pesher, i.e. the verbal usage<br />
'join'. <strong>The</strong>re it is attached to the 'Simple' notation just encountered, and linguistically linked to the<br />
expression ger-nilveh ('resident alien') - another variation of this usage - in the underlying text. <strong>The</strong><br />
word 'Nilvim' actually appears in Esther 9:27, where it is used to refer to 'Gentiles' connecting<br />
themselves in some manner to the Jewish Community - therefore the sense of 'join'/ 'joining', which<br />
plays on the word 'Levites' in the Damascus Document. In this, it may even refer to some 'associated',<br />
albeit lesser, status, i.e. a cadre of God-fearing Gentiles associated with the Community. However this<br />
may be, the presence of this allusion in this Paean to King Jonathan, the nationalist sentiments of<br />
which are patent, with the additional evocation of being connected to war, is of no mean import.