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THE CONCEPT OF THE IN QUMRAN LITERATURE

BILHAH NITZAN Tel-Aviv Universiry

I

During the first decades of research, the concept of the covenant in Qumran literature attracted great interest, specifically in relation to the Christian theological concept of the ',' because of both the Qumran community's explicit self-definition as a 'new covenant' (CD 6:19, 8:21, 19:34; lQpHab 2:3-4) and the wide range of covenant vocabulary found in the scrolls. This research, conducted mainly between the 1950s and 1980s, clarified that the Qumran concept of the covenant was based upon the religious ide• ology inherent in the biblical idea of the covenant between God and Israel. But while the biblical ideology of the covenant was empha• sized as the basic theme of Israelite religion, at Qumran this idea was embodied in the socio-religious life of the community.l A recon• sideration of the concept of the covenant in Qumran literature is justified by the availability in this decade of the entire corpus of Qumran scrolls. However, this reexamination should be based on the principal Qumran writings that deal with the covenant between God and Israel.

I K. Baltzer, The Covenant Fonnulary in and EarlY Christian Writings (Oxford: Blackwell, 1971); J. Licht, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll qf the Wilderness qf Judaea (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1965), 51-80 (Hebrew); A. S. Kapelrud, "Der Bund in den Qumran-Schriften," in Bibel und Qymran, ed. H. Bardtke (Berlin: Evangelische Haupt-Bibelgesellschaft, 1966), 137-49; J. A. Huntjens, "Contrasting Notions of Covenant and Law in the Texts from Qumran," RevQ8 (1972/75): 361-80; N. Ilg, "Uberlegungen zum Verstandnis von n'1:J in den Qumrantexten," in Qymriin: Sa piete, sa theologie et son milieu, ed. M. Dekor, BETL 46 (Paris: Duculot, 1978), 257-63; J. Murphy-O'Connor, "The New Covenant in the Letters of Paul and the Essene Documents," in To Touch the Text: Biblical and Related Studies in Honor qf Joseph A. Fit:::,myer, ed. M. P. Horgan and P. J. Kobelski (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 194-204; H. Lichtenberger, "Alter Bund und Neuer Bund," NTS 41 (1995): 400-14; H. Stegemann, The Library qf Qymran (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 149-65. 86 BILHAH NITZAN

The religious concept of the covenant is characterized as a con• tinual, ongoing relationship between God and Israel, a relationship that was a motivating factor in biblical and post-biblical historiog• raphy. Hence this subject may be examined from a historical per• spective. Eichrodt's claim that the biblical concept of the covenant was a revolutionary factor in the relationship between human beings and their deity is noteworthy. He noted that the covenant detached religious faith from the feelings of anxiety and insecurity that char• acterized pagan religions, in which the human being was a play• thing of various deities and of blind fate. The covenantal relationship regulated human life according to fixed laws of retribution given by a single divine authority, thereby providing hope for peace and secu• rity to those who kept the laws of the covenant.2 As demonstrated by Mendenhall, the concept of a covenantal relationship between God and human beings, realized in monotheistic religions, was derived from Hittite treaties between sovereign and vassal (fourteenth cen• tury BeE), transforming their forensic character into a religious one.3 This type of borrowing and adaptation was demonstrated in the Decalogue and in biblical historiography, prophecy, and liturgy;4 its influence on Qumran theology and liturgical practice has been demon• strated as well. 5 The intensified use of the concept of the covenant in Qumran theology may be understood in light of the continuity and renewal of the covenant relationship, even following a violation of the orig• inal stipulations, as promised to Israel in the deuteronomic literature (Deut. 4:29-31, 30: 1-10; cf. also the expression of this idea in Lev. 26:39-46) and in biblical prophecy (especially Jer. 31:30-36, 32:36-41, Ezek. 36:24-28 and 37:21-28). The Qumran concept of the conti-

2 W. Eichrodt, Ike 1heology if the Old Testament (London: SCM, 1961), 36-45; W. Eichrodt, "Covenant and Law," Interpretation 20 (1966): 302-21. 3 G. E. Mendenhall, "Covenant," Ike Interpreters' Dictionary if the 1 (1962): 714-23; G. E. Mendenhall, "Ancient Oriental and Biblical Law," BA 17 (1954): 26-46; G. E. Mendenhall, "Covenant Forms in Israeli Tradition," BA 17 (1954): 50-76. 4 Mendenhall, "Covenant Forms," 62-76; Mendenhall, "Covenant," 719-21. D.]. McCarthy, Old Testament Covenant (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1972), 10-21,24-30; D.]. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant, Analecta bib1ica 21 (Rome: Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 1981), 157-242; Baltzer, Covenant Formulary, 39-62. 5 Mendenhall, "Covenant," 721-22; D. F. Baumgarte1, "Zur Liturgie in der 'Sektenrolle' von Toten Meer," ZAW65 (1954): 263-65; Baltzer, Covenant Formulary, 99-122, 189-91. B. Nitzan, OJimran Prayer and Religious Poetry, trans.]. Chipman, STDJ 12 (Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1994), 121-24.