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Journal of Theology of Journal Southwestern dead sea scrolls sea dead SWJT dead sea scrolls Vol. 53 No. 1 • Fall 2010 DEA D SEA SCROLL S Southwestern Journal of Theology Volume 53 Fall 2010 Number 1 ED ITOR -IN -CHIEF Paige Patterson, President, Professor of Theology, and L.R. Scarborough Chair of Evangelism (“Chair of Fire”) MANAGING ED ITOR Malcolm B. Yarnell III, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Director of the Oxford Study Program, and Director of the Center for Theological Research Ass I S TANT ED ITOR S Jason G. Duesing, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Assistant Professor of Historical Theology Keith E. Eitel, Professor of Missions, Dean of the Roy Fish School of Evangelism and Missions, and Director of the World Missions Center Mark A. Howell, Senior Pastor, Houston Northwest Baptist Church Evan Lenow, Director of the Riley Center Miles S. Mullin II, Assistant Professor of Church History, Havard School of Theological Studies Steven W. Smith, Professor of Communication, Dean of the College at Southwestern, and James T. Draper Jr. Chair of Pastoral Ministry Jerry Vines, Jerry Vines Ministries Joshua E. Williams, Assistant Professor of Old Testament ED ITORIAL Ass I S TANT W. Madison Grace II Southwestern Journal of Theology invites English-language submissions of original research in biblical studies, historical theology, systematic theology, ethics, philosophy of religion, homiletics, pastoral ministry, evangelism, missiology, and related fields. Articles submitted for consideration should be neither published nor under review for publication elsewhere. The recommended length of articles is between 4000 and 8000 words. For information on editorial and stylistic requirements, please contact the journal’s Editorial Assistant at journal@ swbts.edu. Articles should be sent to the Managing Editor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 22608, Fort Worth, Texas 76122. Books and software for review may be sent to Managing Editor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, P.O. Box 22608, Fort Worth, Texas 76122. Please direct subscription correspondence and change of address notices to Editorial Assistant, P.O. Box 22608, Fort Worth, Texas 76122. Change of address notices must include both the old and new addresses. A one volume subscription in the United States is $27. An international subscription is $32. Southwestern Journal of Theology (ISSN 0038-4828) is published at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas 76122. Printed by Branch-Smith Printing Inc., Fort Worth, Texas 76101. For the contents of back issues and ordering information please see www.BaptistTheology.org/journal.cfm. © 2010 CONTENT S Editorial . 1 Malcolm B. Yarnell III A Brief History of the Dead Sea Scrolls . 3 Eric Mitchell The Significance of the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls . 15 Peter W. Flint Second Temple Exegetical Practices: Extra- Biblical Examples of Exegesis Compared with Those in the Book of Hebrews. 26 Herbert W. Bateman IV The Origin of Sin in the Dead Sea Scrolls . 55 Ryan E. Stokes Qumran Quagmire: Recent Debates Regarding the Identification of the Site . 68 Steven M. Ortiz Book Reviews. 81 Southwestern Journal of Theology • Volume 53 • Number 1 • Fall 2010 Dead Sea Scrolls Malcolm B. Yarnell III Managing Editor [email protected] But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 2 Peter 1:16 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 Christianity wages warfare against two opposing worldviews: mysti- cism, which would dismiss reason entirely, and scientism, which would exalt reason unduly. Both are manifested in contemporary culture. For many in our age, modern science seems to be dissolving before the acidic onslaught of a mystical postmodernism. Even more recently, a resurgent militant atheism has attacked any form of theism as incompatible with enlightened rational- ity. As an historical and intellectual yet spiritual and simple faith, Christian- ity takes firm stands against both the mystical and the scientistic errors. On the one hand, our faith depends upon the eyewitness of the apostles, who lit- erally saw the God-man die and were then amazingly transformed by Jesus’ bodily resurrection. On the other hand, our faith is based on a hope that we ourselves may neither see nor measure in the same way that a geometrician calculates the hypotenuse of a triangle or a physicist measures the speed of light. Christianity does not fit within the modernist or the postmodernist worldviews, because it sublimely integrates historical objectivity with spiri- tual fideism. This issue of the Southwestern Journal of Theology maintains that bal- ance by concerning itself with the amazing developments surrounding the discovery and dissemination of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the last half century. First, Eric Mitchell of Southwestern Seminary reminds the reader of the history of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is, according to him, nothing less than a miracle. Their discovery has forever shifted the fields of biblical archaeology and Christian apologetics as well as those of biblical textual studies and biblical hermeneutics. Second, Peter W. Flint of Trinity Western University contributes an essay on the significance of the biblical scrolls found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. While relaying the importance of the scrolls for affirming the content of our Bibles, he details in particular the Editorial 2 impact their discovery is having upon lower or textual criticism, the determi- nation of the earliest readings of the perfect Word of God. The next two articles of this issue on the Dead Sea Scrolls delineate the importance of the scrolls for our understanding of hermeneutical and theological trends contemporaneous with the ministry of Jesus Christ and His apostles. Herbert W. Bateman IV of Southwestern Seminary writes a groundbreaking essay on the hermeneutical practices of the extra-biblical scrolls and how they shed light upon the similar hermeneutical practices of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. Bateman’s essay will doubtlessly be considered a hermeneutical tour de force and we are elated he contributed it to this journal. Next, Ryan E. Stokes of Yale Divinity School considers the theological ruminations of both the extra-biblical and biblical authors of the Second Temple period regarding the origin of human sinfulness. Stokes’ reflections upon the doctrines of humanity, original sin, free will, and angels shed light upon the contextual options present to the apostles. Finally, Steven M. Ortiz, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Bib- lical Backgrounds and Director of the Charles D. Tandy Archaeology Muse- um at Southwestern Seminary, threads his way through recent archaeological debates regarding the identification of the uses and communities affiliated with the Qumran site where most of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Appreciation is extended to Professor Ortiz for his incalculable assistance in collecting the essays for this issue. It should also be mentioned that Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has received and is in the process of obtaining more of these im- portant archaeological literary remains known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These acquisitions make the Fort Worth, Texas seminary a central location for both specialists and the broader public, which has shown an abiding interest in their import for biblical archaeology and Christian apologetics. The continuing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls provides scholars with data that simultaneously affirms and challenges our perceptions of the bibli- cal faith once for all delivered to the saints. This is a cause for intellectual and Christian (as well as Jewish) rejoicing. The contributions of these ar- chaeological finds cannot be underestimated. On the one hand, the Dead Sea Scrolls reinforce the cry of Blaise Pascal against optimistic scientism, “Humble yourself, impotent reason. Listen to God!” On the other hand, they remind us that the texts upon which our faith is built have a demonstra- bly ancient and prestigious history. Southwestern Journal of Theology • Volume 53 • Number 1 • Fall 2010 A Brief History of the Dead Sea Scrolls Eric Mitchell Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Fort Worth, Texas [email protected] Ancient scrolls made of leather do not survive well in a humid environ- ment. Even in a hot dry climate they will eventually dry out, decay, and begin to fall apart. Thus no one really expected to find ancient manuscripts in the land of Palestine, because while it is arid in places, there is a small amount of rainfall, even in the arid regions. However, the desert rocks and caves of the Dead Sea region have occasionally countered this opinion. Around 800 AD, An Arab’s dog was hunting an animal, pursued it into a cave, and did not come out. Its master went after it and found in the rock a little house that contained many books. The huntsman then went to Jerusalem and told it to the Jews. Many of them then went out and found books of the Old Testament, along with others, in the Hebrew script.1 Thus wrote Timotheus, Nestorian patriarch of Seleucia, in a letter addressed to Sergius, Nestorian metropolitan of Elam. Two hundred Psalms of David had been found in a discovery not to be exceeded until modern times.2 The rocky ledges of this barren Judean wilderness around the Dead Sea are desolate. Their most frequent visitors are sheep and goats looking for forage with their ever present shepherds watching over them. It was thus in the winter of 1946/47. Three Ta’amireh Bedouin shepherds from Bethlehem had taken their flocks of sheep and goats to forage down near the Dead Sea. They led their flocks down to an area northeast of the Dead Sea near the cliffs overlooking the valley. Perhaps the winter rains were heavier that year and resulted in better forage for their flocks in such a deserted place.3 It is 1Oriens Christianus, vol. 1, quoted in Weston Fields, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History: Volume One, 1947–1960 (Boston: Brill, 2009), 21.