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Home , Community Rule, Dead Sea Scrolls, Mar Samuel, Robert Eisenman, Shrine of the Book, Yigael Yadin

FOR FORTY-FIVE YEARS^ A SELECT GROUP OF SCHOLARS HAS QUARDED THE MORE CLOSELY THAN A STATE SECRET. CORNELL'S ON THE BEAT EXPLAINS WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT.

THE i BY GARY A. KENDSBURG

rom the moment forty-five years ago when a young k boy chasing down a stray accidentally discovered the first manu- scripts, to the most recent high- tech applications of pho- tography and computer-gener- ated texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls have captivated the imagination of the general public and the attention of scholars worldwide. In the last year and a half, there have been several new devel- opments based on various con- troversial aspects of Dead Sea Scrolls research. One result of these developments may be easier access to the Scrolls, which should make the life and work ars were taken to the site and sys- authenticity (and there were some of many scholars—including me— tematic exploration of the cave and who considered the scrolls to be much easier. neighboring caves was begun. The medieval) were proved to be unwar- The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls Taamire tribesmen were of great ranted. Scholars had before them begins in 1947 when Muhammad ed- assistance in this project, because what Prof. W. F. Albright of Johns Dhib, a young herder from the they alone know the desert and its Hopkins University called "the Taamire tribe of the Judean Desert, various features. The accidental dis- greatest find of modern followed a stray member of his flock covery by Muhammad ed-Dhib times," and what were henceforth into a cave in the cliffs high above turned out to be just the tip of the called the Dead Sea Scrolls or the the Dead Sea. He not only found his iceberg (perhaps an inappropriate Scrolls. lost goat, but he also discovered large metaphor in reference to the arid Starting with Prof. Sukenik's pottery vessels holding seven parch- wasteland of the Judean Desert, but earliest studies, it became clear that ment . Muhammad, who an apt one nonetheless). Manuscripts the scrolls were written by mem- like most of the tribesmen was il- were found in eleven caves in the bers of an ancient Jewish . But literate, could not read the material region. By the time the exploration which Jewish sect? We know that but recognized its value. On the was finished, dozens of complete or many varieties of existed Taamires' next trip to virtually complete manuscripts, during the 1st Century B.C.E. and to buy supplies, they sold the scrolls along with hundreds of fragments, the 1st Century C.E. Most promi- to a man named Kando, a cobbler had been found. nent were the , , who also dabbled in antiquities. , and . After 70 C.E., Kando, a Syrian Orthodox Christian, when the Romans destroyed Jerusa- also could not read the material, but lem and the Temple (as well as took the scrolls to where he caves were located in Qumran), the only Jewish sect that the Metropolitan , head an escarpment above an survived was the Pharisees; this sect of St. Mark's Monastery of the Syr- ancient archaeological site developed into the normative rab- ian Orthodox Church, recognized known as Qumran, only a binic Judaism which has dominated them as ancient Hebrew documents. few hundred meters from the religion for the last nineteen Word soon reached scholars in the northwestern shore of the Dead centuries. Jerusalem that a major discovery had Sea. While the and schol- To further complicate the pic- been made. On November 27,1947, ars cooperated in the exploration of ture, was in its infancy the same day the the caves, archaeologists began a at this time: and Paul were voted to partition and thus systematic excavation of Qumran. active, and the first of the , create the State of , Prof. There they found an ancient settle- Mark's, was written shortly before Eliezer Sukenik of the Hebrew Uni- ment, with a complex system of 70 C.E. The task of biblical schol- versity of Jerusalem dressed him- water courses and cisterns to col- ars then, from 1947 to the present self in Arab garb and made the dan- lect the meager amounts of rainfall day, has been to determine who gerous trip to Bethlehem. There he that the area receives. Of great im- wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, and how visited Kando, saw the scrolls for portance was the discovery of about the scrolls relate to the different the first time, confirmed their au- 250 coins, all dated, which thus en- brands of Judaism and to incipient thenticity and immediately purchased abled scholars to fix the period of Christianity during the period of the three of the documents. Mar Samuel settlement at Qumran between 120 Roman occupation of Israel. had the other four documents and B.C.E. and 70 C.E. (Like many schol- The majority view, to which I several years later, through a me- ars of antiquity, I prefer to use the subscribe, is that the scrolls were diator, sold them to Prof. theologically neutral terms B.C.E.— written by the Essenes. Unfortu- of the Hebrew University. All seven before the —and C.E. nately, we do not know a lot about of the documents found their way in place of the terms B.C. and A.D.) this group, but from the ancient Jew- to Jerusalem, where they are now At the same time, carbon-14 dating ish writers Philo and and displayed in the tests were done on the linen wrap- from the Roman writer Pliny the Pavilion of the . pers in which some of the scrolls Elder we learn some important facts But where exactly had these had been found. The tests dated the that dovetail nicely with the evidence scrolls come from? Were there more linen to 33 C.E. (with an accuracy from Qumran. Pliny tells us that the of them? Could their authenticity be of plus or minus 200 years). Essenes lived along the western proven beyond doubt? How old were A study of the handwriting of the shore of the Dead Sea, between Jeri- they? The answers to all these ques- scrolls by paleography experts led cho and ; this description tions began to unfold in the late to the conclusion that the manu- matches Qumran exactly. 1940s and early 1950s. Although the scripts were written in the same The Essenes lived a communal Bedouins had attempted to conceal period. In short, the various lines life, without money, with a period the exact location of the cave in of evidence converged to indicate of probation before complete accep- which the documents were found (for that the scrolls were about 2,000 tance in the community; all of this they wished to explore further and years old. Any doubts that scholars is reflected in the document called sell more items), eventually schol- had about the scrolls* antiquity or the . The Essenes

Cornell Alumni News 32 The caves at Qumran in which the scrolls were found. did not participate in the sacrificial munity Rule document and in other Light and the Sons of Darkness. services in Jerusalem; likewise the legal texts, there are no references Based on this evidence, then, I think Qumran texts do not refer to sacri- to women. Furthermore, only a few it is clear that the Dead Sea Scrolls fices and in fact allude to their cur- of the skeletons found in the cem- present us with firsthand material rent locale as a voluntary withdrawal etery at Qumran are female. The composed by ancient Jewish sectar- to the desert to remove themselves Essenes believed that all matters of ian Essenes. from what they perceived as the sins human life were predestined, and this Another reason such importance of Jerusalem and its Temple. Many is strongly reflected in all the has been attached to the Dead Sea of the Essenes were celibate, and Qumran texts. Finally, there was a Scrolls is that among the texts are while there is no proof of celibacy clear apocalyptic bent among the the oldest copies of the books of the among the people of Qumran, there Essenes, and this, too, is seen in ever found. In some cases, we are some hints in the texts. In the the Qumran material, especially in have only small fragments, but in various laws laid out in the Com- a text called the War of the Sons of the celebrated case of the Book of

April 1992 33 Isaiah we have a complete copy of sages from the (or Old do not think there is a direct rela- all sixty-six chapters. When one re- Testament) are cited both at Qumran tionship between the two. The most alizes that prior to 1947 the oldest and in the to prove important reason: at Qumran the law copies of the Hebrew Bible were the same point. For example, both of was upheld and followed from the early Middle Ages, one groups of texts use the verse "Male in the most scrupulous fashion. In quickly sees how the scrolls repre- and female he created them" (Gen- the New Testament, of course, there sent a tremendous boon to those esis 1:27) as the basis for their dis- is a strong move away from adher- scholars interested in how the bib- tinctive marriage laws. Another ex- ence to Jewish law. So the Qumran lical books were copied and passed ample, "A voice crying in the wil- people are not early Christians, but from one generation to the next. The derness" (:3) is used at they give us a picture of what an book of was written in 165 Qumran to refer to the community ancient Jewish sect that evolved into B.C.E., so the fragmentary copies itself, while in the New Testament Christianity would have looked like. of Daniel found at Qumran are very it refers to . Probably, the early Christians were close to the original date of compo- The organizational structure of a different group of Essenes, one that sition. Some of the copies in use was less rigorous in its ob- at Qumran diverge greatly from servance of Jewish law but the traditional text used in Ju- which adhered to many other daism (the ); at Essene principles. If there is the same time much of the ma- any direct connection, the terial is very close to the tradi- aforementioned John the Bap- tional text, differing sometimes THE QUMRAN tist is the most likely bridge. only in small matters of spell- The New Testament tells us ing. PEOPLE ARE NOT that he lived in the desert for The Scrolls have been of some time. There were so great interest to scholars of both few settlements in the wilder- Judaism and Christianity. Sim- ness that if he came in con- ply stated, the Dead Sea Scrolls tact with any Jewish commu- have revolutionized every as- BUT THEY GIVE US A nities in the region Qumran pect of the study of ancient Ju- likely would have been one. daism, and by implication, mod- In the past few years new ern Judaism. And scholars of controversies have arisen, not Christianity have also followed so much over questions of the developments outlined AN ANOIENT JEWISH interpretation but over ques- above with keen interest, for tions of access to the mate- not only do the Qumran docu- SEGT THAT EVOLVED rial. The first scrolls discov- ments represent Jewish texts ered in 1947 were published from the period in which Jesus UNTO CHRISTIANITY quickly. Sukenik published lived, but there are many points the three manuscripts that he of commonality between the WOULD HAVE had purchased; Millar Bur- Dead Sea Scrolls and the New rows of Yale University pub- Testament. Even before 1947 lished three of the books held some scholars had suspected by Mar Samuel, and Yadin that Christianity developed out eventually published the sev- of a particular type of Essene enth text. (Burrows was a Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls teacher of the late Isaac seem to prove this hypothesis; Rabinowitz, professor emeri- in the very least they provide tus of Semitic studies at an important bridge between the the community at Qumran and those Cornell, who in turn wrote several Essenes and the early Christians. described in the New Testament is important articles devoted to the strikingly similar. At Qumran a group Qumran texts.) Thus the scholarly of twelve elders presides over all public had early and easy access to activities, a practice paralleled in the the initial discovery. ome of the points dis- Book of Acts with the work of the As exploration of the eleven cussed above have close twelve Apostles. The leader of the caves progressed and additional ties with early Christiani- Qumran community is called the documents were found, the texts ty. The notion of commu- "overseer," which is the same term were entrusted to scholars compris- nal life, opposition to the used by Paul in Acts for a leader of ing an international committee de- sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple, a Christian community. voted to the publication of the ma- the role of celibacy, and an-empha- Yet despite all these close links terial. Some of these researchers did sis on apocalypticism all resonate in between the Dead Sea Scrolls and their well; within several years the New Testament. Specific pas- the New Testament, most scholars their texts were published for all the

Cornell Alumni News 34 world to read. But for numerous rea- ticated computer program designed by easier access to the unpublished sons, other scholars never published to read and create texts from con- materials. My main area of interest the documents they were entrusted cordances to produce a corpus of the lies not in the identification of the with. It is true that in some cases unpublished Qumran documents. sect (as noted above, I hold to the the texts are extremely fragmentary; The privately circulated majority Essene view), but in vari- there are hundreds of fragments, developed in the 1950s served as ous philological aspects of the docu- many of them barely legible. Better their database, and the computer did ments. Thus, for example, several readings sometimes can be gained the rest of the work. Scholars in years ago I published an article on from photographs of the material. possession of the actual texts claimed a key word in one of the laws of the Often the text needs to be pieced that their work had been stolen from Community Rule. This word is together in jigsaw-puzzle fashion be- them, and that the computer-gen- unique in the published Dead Sea fore the whole can be read and in- erated texts are not fully accurate. Scrolls, and it is very rare in other terpreted. But some scholars were Still, this use of the most modern ancient Hebrew works such as the accused of simply "holding on" to research tool in the humanities Bible. The law states that members material, so that they could have forced the issue of access to some of the sect are to be punished with power over colleagues who needed of the most ancient Hebrew texts ten days of confinement for a cer- access to the texts. extant. tain public action. Most scholars To facilitate cooperation among translate the word in question ei- the members of the international ther as "gesticulate" (with the ar- committee—who were dispersed gument that it was impolite to ges- over three continents—a concor- 11 • few weeks later it was re- ticulate while speaking) or "lean, dance of the texts, including the f m • vealed that the Hunting- recline" (with the argument that this, unpublished ones, was produced in ton Library in San Marino, too, was impolite in the presence the 1950s and privately circulated , had in its col- of others). I proposed that the word among the researchers. This con- lection photographs and means "urinate, defecate," a mean- cordance listed every occurrence of microfilms of all the Dead Sea Scrolls ing I defended on philological every word in the entire collection materials. Apparently, they had been grounds. To solidify my argument, of the Dead Sea Scrolls. A commit- deposited there in case something I wanted to know if the word oc- tee member studying a text in the happened to the originals in Jerusa- curs elsewhere in the Dead Sea could use the concor- lem. The an- Scrolls, specifically in the unpub- dance to see if a particular word or nounced that it was "going public" lished texts. I was stymied. There phrase occurred in another text, per- with this material, and that any com- simply was no way for a researcher haps one being studied by a colleague petent scholar who requested access not connected to the international in Europe or Jerusalem. to the documents would be granted team to find answers to such ques- Several events in the last year permission to view them and pub- tions. In the end my article was pub- and a half have changed matters dras- lish them. lished in a respectable scholarly jour- tically. First, in 1990, the head of The and Huntington nal, but still one wonders if some- the international committee, Harvard projects will result in a dramatic where in the vast reserve of unpub- Prof. , made several change in the way Dead Sea Scrolls lished Dead Sea Scrolls this key word scathing anti-Semitic remarks in an research will be conducted. Already, is lurking. interview with an Israeli newspaper. scholars not connected to the inter- And so the saga still is not com- Prof. Strugnell was among the most national committee are publishing plete. From the moment forty-five guilty of the non-publishing commit- the results of their initial studies. years ago when an illiterate Bedouin tee members so there was little sym- For some scholars this means the goatherd first found the scrolls, un- pathy for him among scholars in the ability to test long-held theories. In til just recently when a literate com- field of Dead Sea Scrolls research. one case, Prof. puter program recreated the scrolls Strugnell was stripped of his com- of will be able from a concordance database, the dis- mittee chairmanship by the Israeli to test his hypothesis concerning the coveries have been revealing and Antiquities Authority, the official arm Sadducean identification of the startling. Who knows what discov- of the State of Israel charged with Qumran community (notwithstand- eries lie ahead as more scholars pore oversight of all archaeological re- ing the Essene connections de- over more texts as they become search. He was replaced by Prof. scribed above, there are also some available? As they say on television: of the Hebrew Uni- doctrines of the Sadducees reflected stay tuned! Q versity of Jerusalem, who is work- in the Dead Sea Scrolls). In another ing towards swifter publication of the case, Prof. '58 of Gary A Rendsburg is associate pro- texts. California State University at Long fessor of Biblical and Semitic stud- Still there was pressure to al- Beach will be able to test his theory ies in the Department of Near East- low more open access to the texts. that the Qumran manuscripts are ern Studies. Rendsburg will lead a A big break came in 1991 when a more directly connected to early one-week course on the Dead Sea pair of researchers at Hebrew Union Christianity. Scrolls for the Cornell Adult Univer- College in Cincinnati used a sophis- My own work will be affected sity the week of July 19, 1992. April 1992 35