Dead Sea Scrolls - Chapter 1

Identity and History of the Qumran People

Following the suggestion of Eleazar Sukenik,25 Frank Moore Cross of Harvard University, one of the original scholars of the scrolls, definitively and succinctly identified the inhabitants of the ancient Dead Sea Scroll community of Qumran as Essenes.26 The Essenes were one of the four Jewish "philosophies," or sects, described by the first-century historian Josephus as the major competing ideologies contemporary in the Holy Land.

More recently Professor Cross reemphasized the Qumran-Essene connection by reminding us that a scholar who would suggest any non-Essene identification for the Dead Sea Scroll community "places himself in an astonishing position."27 For, in essence, one must explain away the simplest and most logical interpretations of historical sources in favor of more complicated theories based on supposition and inference. Professor Cross states:

He [the scholar] must seriously suggest that two major parties formed communalistic religious communities in the same district of the Dead Sea and lived together in effect for two centuries, holding similar bizarre views, performing similar or rather identical lustrations, ritual meals, and ceremonies. He must suppose that one, carefully described by classical authors, disappeared without leaving building remains or even potsherds behind; the other, systematically ignored by the classical sources, left extensive ruins, and indeed a great library. I prefer to be reckless and flatly identify the men of Qumran with their perennial house guests, the Essenes.28

Unfortunately, none of the Dead Sea Scrolls comes right out and explicitly states, "We are Essenes!" (though one gets the impression that such a declaration still might not be conclusive enough for some scholars). One of the most significant recent challenges to the Essene theory of Qumran identity was put forward by a scholar whose opinions carry significant weight, Lawrence Schiffman of New York University. He claims that the community members were Sadducees. This is based on similarities between legal issues found in a recently published Qumran text called Miqsat Ma>aseh ha-Torah (4QMMT) and certain legal positions that the Mishnah attributes to the Sadducees.

But the basic argument really seems to be one of semantics rather than substance, because Schiffman says that the Sadducees he is championing are not the aristocratic sect described by Josephus and the New Testament, but rather a different group, one that was conservative in its approach to the law and whose name also derives from "Zadok," just like the more famous group. This is not very helpful or insightful information because we already knew from Qumran texts that the leaders at Qumran called themselves the Sons of Zadok, and that their orientation and outlook was priestly.29 In addition, Schiffman overlooks many Qumran texts that express non-Sadducean theological concepts, ideas that better fit within an Essene context.30 Hence, the view expressed so eloquently by Professor Cross continues to be the most widely held position.

History of the Community

No single document found at Qumran, or elsewhere for that matter, constitutes anything like a purposeful history of the sect. However, from classical sources, archaeological evidence, and passages within the scrolls themselves, one can glean enough clues to put together a historical sketch of the community.

Both Josephus and Philo indicate that the total number of Essenes in the Holy Land was about four thousand. But archaeologists and historians estimate the number of persons living at the Dead Sea community at any one time to have been between 150 and 300. This indicates that the Essenes residing at Qumran were a very small part of the larger Essene movement in the ancient Near East.

Of the various ideas scholars have proposed regarding the origin of the Essenes, two basic theories have endured. One theory traces the beginnings of the sect to the exiled Jews living in Babylonia (587–538 b.c.). According to this scenario many of the Jewish deportees perceived the Babylonian captivity as divine retribution for unrighteousness. In response they bound themselves together as a covenant group devoted to the perfect observance of the law. Some of the group returned to the Holy Land at a time when Maccabean Jewish victories over the Greek Syrians (the Seleucids) seemed to ensure the renewal of an independent Jewish state (sometime between 165 and 143 b.c.).

Once they arrived back in Palestine, however, they became bitterly disappointed and disillusioned over the extreme Hellenization of Judaism that controlled the state. After an unsuccessful attempt to return their erring brethren to the truth, the covenantors retreated to the isolation of Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. Rallying behind a leader referred to in their documents as the Teacher of Righteousness, the group adhered to their strict lifestyle, believing that their divinely revealed precepts constituted the only sure refuge against the imminent judgments of a messianic age.

The other and perhaps more commonly accepted theory suggests that the Essenes originated in Palestine during the period of Hellenization. Advocates of this theory refer to certain passages of the Damascus Document—a document of commandments and exhortations that has been known since medieval times.31 In the Damascus Document, the birth of the community is said to have occurred in the "age of wrath," 390 years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. At that time God caused a "root" to spring "from Israel and Aaron." In other words, a group of righteous Jews encountered apostate conditions and formed a company of dissenters. They groped in darkness for twenty years until God sent them the famed Teacher of Righteousness (sometimes translated the "teacher who is right"), and he guided them "in the way of [God’s] heart."32 Nebuchadnezzar razed Jerusalem and its temple in 587 b.c. Subtracting the years mentioned in the Damascus Document (390 years after Jerusalem’s destruction, plus the other 20 years that were filled with struggle) places the founding of the community at approximately 177 b.c.

But, say the texts, things were not immediately and universally harmonious among the Jewish reformers. Conflicts between the Teacher and others seem to have arisen, and understandably so when one considers the force of the Teacher’s claims that God specifically revealed to him all the mysteries of the prophets.33 Some are said to have turned against him and formed a breakaway group. They persecuted the Teacher and his disciples who withdrew to the "land of Damascus" (Qumran?) where they entered into a new covenant. The leader of the dissenters is branded as the "Scoffer" and the "Man of Lies" (one who led many astray through deceptive speech) in the words of the Damascus Document and some of the community’s scriptural commentaries.34 This certainly sounds familiar to readers of latter-day revelation—similar occurrences are described in Alma 30 and Moses 4. The Commentary on Psalm 37 found at Qumran states explicitly that the Teacher of Righteousness was a priest. His primary contemporary opponent is called "the Wicked Priest" (Hebrew, ha-kohen ha-rasha>) in several Qumran texts. Scholars believe that the epithet is a play on words alluding to the Jerusalem high priest, who was called in Hebrew ha-kohen ha-ro<sh35 and was the man who was perceived by the Essenes as the enemy of all righteousness.

This theory of the Essene origins, including consideration of the dates provided in the Damascus Document, seems to accord well with what is known of the history of the second century b.c. The historical details of the period are outlined in the apocryphal books of First and Second Maccabees. According to those records, the process of Hellenization in the Holy Land began almost imperceptibly in the third century b.c. In the first part of the second century b.c., however, the forces of Hellenization gained new ground. In 172 b.c., Onias III, the legitimate high priest, was murdered in Jerusalem. Onias was a Zadokite, a priest who was descended from Zadok (King David’s high priest and the originator of the line of high priests at the Temple of Jerusalem). In place of Onias, the Syrian rulers of the region appointed Meneleus, an intensely Hellenized Jew not of the Zadokite line. To the faithful, Meneleus was a usurper.

Matters went from bad to worse when the Syrian overlord, King Antiochus IV, forced Judeans to Hellenize upon penalty of death. In 168 b.c. Judea revolted. Under the brilliant military leadership of Judah the Maccabee, the revolt was successful, and an independent Jewish state was once again established. This victory is still celebrated by Jews in the festival of Hanukkah. The Hasmonean line of Jewish rulers began with these events. Judah the Maccabee was first recognized as unofficial monarch (165–160 b.c.), followed by his brother Jonathan (160–143 b.c.). As it turned out, however, the latter began to dismiss orthodoxy and increase Hellenization.

Two events marked the culmination of degradation. The first came in 152 b.c. when Jonathan had himself appointed High Priest. This act was the ultimate provocation for many Jews and gave them a strong reason for abhorring the Hasmoneans. But the second event was far more significant. In 141 b.c. Simon (143–134 b.c.), the youngest surviving brother of Judah and Jonathan, accepted both the high priesthood and the official title of king. The high priesthood of the Aaronic order was now made hereditary in the Hasmonean line, and an independent Jewish state emerged in which the civil head and military leader of the state was at the same time high priest. A decree was issued that warned against any opposition to Simon by priest or layman alike, and prohibited private assembly or any other actions deemed contrary to the stipulations of the decree.

It was in this atmosphere that the Essene movement began, according to several scholars. Some Jews, disgusted by what they believed was the pollution of their ancestral religion and the usurpation of the high priesthood by non-Zadokites, rallied behind their Moreh Tzedek, the Teacher of Righteousness.36 While no clues disclose the identity of the Teacher of Righteousness (it most assuredly cannot be Jesus or John the Baptist), Professor Cross argues that we probably can deduce the identity of the Wicked Priest—Simon the Hasmonean. Simon’s program of absolute control "seems to give the appropriate occasion for the crystallization of the Essene sect."37 In addition, a document entitled List of Testimonia from Cave 4 at Qumran seems to describe Ptolemy’s assassination of his father-in-law, Simon, who was in a drunken stupor in Jericho. Finally, on the basis of evidence from the Commentary on Habakkuk, Professor Cross observes:

In this era one cannot complain of a shortage of wicked priests. One final text, however, deserves mention. In a passage of the Commentary on Habakkuk, the expositor comments, "This means the priest whose dishonor was greater than his honor. For he . . . walked in the ways of drunkedness in order to quench his thirst. But the cup of God’s wrath will swallow him up . . . !" The high priest caroused once too often. In Jericho, at the hands of Ptolemy, the cup of pleasure turned into the cup of wrath and swallowed Simon.38

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