CHAPTER SIX

THE WAR SCROLL AND THE RULE OF THE CONGREGATION

The relationship between M and Sa has long been recognized.1 Much of it has already been expounded by Jacob Licht in his classic work on the three ‘rules’: S, Sa, and Sb.2 To a lesser degree, it has been explored by Lawrence Schiffman as well.3 Both are founda- tional texts for the sectarians, and similarly to D and S,4 they deal with community organization. In light of the present read- ing of M, a review of the similarities between the two are in order, as they can now be appreciated in a slightly different light. In fact, understanding how they are complimentary helps confirm the two stages of the eschatological war and how the sectarians anticipated a kind of intermediary period between the present evil age and the final, fully-redeemed, age to come in which evil will have been

———— 1 The Rule of the Congregation was initially published by Dominique Barthélemy, “28a. Règle de la Congrégation (1QSa),” in Qumran Cave I, Domini- que Barthélemy and Jozef T. Milik, DJD I (Oxford: Clarendon, 1955), 108–18. See also the more recent edition of Charlesworth and Stuckenbruck, “1QSa,” 108–17. Other studies on Sa will be mentioned as needed. .מלת ם ,Licht 2 3 Schiffman, Eschatological Community. 4 While there are a number of works looking at the similarities between D and S, at times including Sa, few incorporate M into the discussion, and if they do, it is only cursory. A sampling of the more recent ones include Charlotte Hempel, “Com- munity Structures in the : Admission, Organization, Disciplinary Procedures,” in The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years, vol. II, Peter Flint, W. and James C. VanderKam (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 67–92; Sarianna Metso, “The Rela- tionship Between the and the ,” in The Damascus Document: A Centennial of Discovery, ed. Joseph M. Baumgarten, Esther G. Chazon, and Avital Pinnick, STDJ 34 (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 85–93; Philip R. Davies, “The (s) of the Damascus Document,” in The Damascus Docu- ment: A Centennial of Discovery, ed. Joseph M. Baumgarten, Esther G. Chazon, and Avital Pinnick, STDJ 34 (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 27–43; Kapfer, “Attitutes Toward the Temple,” 152–77. Consequently, Licht’s and Schiffman’s investigations remain the most comprehensive on the relationship between M and Sa.

328 CHAPTER SIX annihilated.5 It is during this in-between time that the sectarian com- munity expected to apply Sa, Sb, and the ‘Rule of War’, our War Scroll.6

1. BASIC SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE WAR SCROLL AND THE RULE OF THE CONGREGATION

In his study of Sa, Carmignac noted at least 12 points of contact between it and M, several of which are exclusive to the two documents. In addition, he also pointed to certain ideas which, although not identical in wording, nevertheless have parallel or similar meanings.7 The intimate relationship between these two texts can be seen best in matters pertaining to how the sect divided responsibilities according to age, as in its procedure for conscripting soldiers for war. With respect to the former, the two texts are partic- ularly complementary: while Sa seeks to lay out all the stages of a person’s life, from birth until retirement, M focuses only on those

———— 5 As will become clear with the rest of this chapter, there is little doubt that the authors and redactors of Sa believed it was intended for the future eschatological and messianic period (see John J. Collins, “Forms of Community in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Emanuel: Studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honor of , ed. Shalom M. Paul, Robert A. Kraft, Schiffman, and Weston W. Fields, VTSup 94 [Leiden: Brill, 2003], 107–10; contra , “Some Remarks to 1QSa, to 1QSb, and to Qumran Messianism,” RevQ 65–68 [1996]: 479–505; Qumran, 113–15), even if some of its content reflected current practices of the sectarians (Knibb, Qumran Community, 145; Schiffman, Eschatological Community, 35–36, 68–71; Charlotte Hempel, “The Earthly Essene Nucleus of 1QSa,” DSD 3 [1996]: 253–69). 6 The Rule of the Benedictions, being an anthology of prayers, is only marginally helpful in understanding how the sectarians anticipated being organized during the messianic age. See Barthélemy and Milik, “1QSa,” 118–30; Carmignac, “Le ,Schiffman ;89–277 ,מלת ם ,Recueil des Bénédictions,” 29–42; Licht Eschatological Community, 72–76; James H. Charlesworth and Loren T. Stucken- bruck, “Blessings (1QSb),” in Rule of the Community and Related Documents, vol. 1 of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations, ed. James H. Charlesworth, The Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1994), 119–31. 7 Jean Carmignac, “La Règle de la Congrégation,” in Les textes de Qumran traduits et annotés, vol. 2, Jean Carmignac, É. Cothenet, and H. Lignée, Autour de la Bible (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1963), 9–27.