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ELEMENTS OF EMOTION
IN THE OPENING SECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY RULE
By
Diana M. Donovan
A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS
in the Department of Religion May 2006
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Copyright © 2006 by Diana M. Donovan
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America
Approved By:
Fred Horton, Ph.D., Advisor _________________________________
Examining Committee:
Kenneth Hoglund, Ph.D. _________________________________
Mary Foskett, Ph.D. _________________________________
ii
CONTENTS
List of Tables ........................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments .................................................................................... iv Abstract .................................................................................................... vi
1. Introduction............................................................................................. 1 The finds at Qumran .............................................................................. 2 Previous owners of the documents ........................................................ 3 How the Community Rule fits with other documents found near Qumran .......................................................................... 6 Some basics of the Community Rule .................................................... 7 Thesis details of this study .................................................................. 11 The why and how of looking at emotion in the Community Rule ................................... 12
2. Community Rule manuscripts .............................................................. 18 Recension traditions ............................................................................ 19 Function of the Community Rule ........................................................ 24 Figured worlds .................................................................................... 24
3. Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 ................................................. 30 Basic Arrangement of 1QS ................................................................. 31 Persuasion and emotion overview ....................................................... 32 Text overview ...................................................................................... 35 Introduction (1QS 1:1–15) ................................................................... 39
Outline ............................................................................................ 40 Commentary ................................................................................... 42 Transition (1QS 1:16–1:18a) .......................................................... 47 Other versions of text parallel to 1QS 1:1–18a .............................. 48 Emotion in 1QS 1:1–18a ................................................................ 49
Liturgical section (1QS 1:18b–2:19) ................................................... 53 Outline ............................................................................................ 54 Commentary ................................................................................... 56 Emotion in the liturgical section .................................................... 59 Other versions of text parallel to 1QS 1:18b–2:19 ......................... 62
Word List ............................................................................................ 62
4. Summary: How appeal to emotion enables the Community Rule to persuade ............................................ 64
Bibliography ............................................................................................ 74
iii
TABLES
Table 1: Community Rule manuscripts
and their redaction traditions, according to Metso...................... 27
Table 2: Word List ................................................................................... 63
Note: All abbreviations used in this thesis are those listed in the Society of Biblical Literature’s Handbook of Style.1
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the Bible are from the JPS Tanakh.2
1 Society of Biblical Literature and Patrick H. Alexander, eds., The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999). 2 Jewish Publication Society, JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: Traditional Hebrew Text and the New JPS Translation, 2d ed. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1999).
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks, first, as a human being, to that divine presence who has guided me through a
life journey of fifty-nine years—a journey that has challenged me to live love, however
poorly, in situations of hatred, danger, tragedy, acceptance, joy, and love. May I continue
to reflect you in small ways as much as possible.
As a woman, thanks to my husband, Gred-Bob, who has been enthusiastic about this
academic venture, despite the economic and personal sacrifices it has asked of him.
Thanks, too, to my three children—Brian, Micah, and Meggie—for all their advice and
support, not to mention the gift of the opportunity to have each of them in my life.
Thanks to my mother, Beatrice, who continues to enjoy ancient history and culture in the
midst of growing disability; and to deceased father, Bill, who was the first to introduce
me to the importance of the past. Thanks to my many friends, including Carol Clark,
Diane Nettles, and Ann Twombly, who have advised and encouraged me, and my
Episcopal church community who blessed me as they sent me off, and to whom I return
ready to serve. Thanks, finally, to my mother-in-law, Margaret Geissman Gross, for the
opportunity to take time off from studies, to learn more deeply about what life is. Nursing
her and my father-in-law, Dick, as they suddenly found themselves faced with their final
days together has enriched me more than I can say. I’ll see you both sometime in the not-
so-distant future, eh?
As a member of Celo Community, Inc., thank you for the opportunity to live in
God’s country while raising my family over the past quarter of a century. May there be
more such communities for young families in the future.
v
As a student I give endless thanks to Wake Forest University for being the diverse
and excellent institution that it is. Thanks especially to Wake Forest’s graduate religion
department for the way it encourages high scholarship and invites students of all
backgrounds to explore what academic study of religion is all about. I am especially
grateful to Dr. Hoglund, who guided me gently and patiently from a chaotic series of
passionate concerns to systematic ways to answer many of those concerns; to Dr. Foskett,
who patiently listened and found ways to give structure and method to my studies; and to
Dr. Horton, who consented to lead me through the terrifying process of giving life to an
academic thesis. Thanks also to Dr. Kimball, who explained the basics of Islamic thought
and cultures to me, and whose insistence that we experience what we study has been a
blessing. Thanks, finally, to Dr. Ford, who opened my mind to Buddhist thought and who
encouraged me to work even harder at maturing my paths of thought. I have listed your
names in the order in which I met you, not by priority—which would be impossible to do.
Thanks also to my co-students for being there, day after day—especially Josh, who will
one day be a five-star professor!
As a graduate of this program, I pray that I will continue to learn and teach and love
and support in the best, inclusive Christian traditions, through whatever paths the Lord
may open.
vi
ABSTRACT
Diana M. Donovan
ELEMENTS OF EMOTION
IN THE OPENING SECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY RULE
Thesis under the direction of Fred Horton, John Thomas Albritton Professor of Religion
Documents of Qumran — Community Rule — Manual of Discipline — rhetoric —
emotion. This study looks at the rhetoric of most of the first two columns of the
Community Rule, as evidenced in the document 1QS. The study shows methods used to
build emotion in the implied audience, and some of what that emotion implies about the
community that used the document. The emotion is used to persuade new and continuing
members to maintain the spirit of the יחד—the group of Jews using the document and
probably living in Qumran, in Palestine, from at least 100 BCE until about 68 CE.
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
There are ruins of buildings sitting atop cliffs overlooking the northwest shore of the
Dead Sea. They sit less than twenty statute miles east of Jerusalem, and less than forty
miles southwest of the biblical town of Jericho.3
Archaeologists like Roland de Vaux, F. M. Cross, and Jodi Magness tell us that these
ruins at Khirbet Qumran4 once were buildings used by a group of Jews from at least the
early first century BCE5 until 68 or 70 CE, when it seems clear that Romans wreaked
enough destruction on the buildings that any survivors of the Jewish group ceased to live
there. Although there are hints that the Romans later used the site as a military camp,
there is no evidence of the Jewish group’s use of the site after 68 or 70. These Jews were
probably not the first to use the site at Qumran, but they are the most likely source of the
documents found in the caves nearby.6 This thesis will examine emotional aspects in part
of one of those documents—the Community Rule.
3 “Holy Land Today” map, inset to Lands of the Bible Today. Map. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, December 1967. 4 Khirbet, from the Arabic khirbeh, means the still-visible ruins of a city. Khirbet Qumran means “ruin of the grayish spot.” Jeffrey A. Blakely, "Khirbeh," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East (Prepared under the auspices of the American Schools of Oriental Research), ed. Eric M. Meyers (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 294. 5 Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), 65, 68. 6 This recap of the history of the finds in the Qumran area comes largely from Ibid. Earlier, more detailed information can be found in Frank Moore Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995); Roland de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: Oxford University Press, 1973).
Introduction 2
The finds at Qumran
Academic interest in Qumran took off soon after the first of its scrolls came onto the
Western market in 1947. The caves surrounding Khirbet Qumran were searched. In the
area of documents, much of what was found was so broken into pieces that the term
fragments seems an overstatement. Eleven of the caves eventually yielded thousands of
pieces of ancient scrolls, many of which will probably never be assembled. Several
documents, however, were found largely intact. Paleography, along with spectrometry
and radio-carbon testing dated the finds from as early as the second century BCE to as
late as the first century CE—a goldmine for those interested in Jewish and Christian
studies of the era from about 200 BCE to 200 CE.7 Scholars conclude that most of the
scrolls are not autographs; that is, they are not what compares to what we call today a
first edition. Instead, the scrolls are copies of documents deemed important enough to be
preserved by copying, and (probable) revision. This means that some of the contents of
those texts were written sometime before the scrolls themselves are dated.8
With much diligent work, teams of scholars pieced together what fragments they
could, and filled in some portions of text that were missing because of broken or
deteriorated document sections. Some methods for doing so included deciding how the
size of a found scroll compared with that of the scroll when it was whole; using that 7 A few documents from the caves are dated as far back as the third century BCE. Spectrometry of some scrolls indicated dates later than the expected late Second Temple period, probably because of later handling of the scrolls. For more detail, see James C. VanderKam and Peter W. Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity, 1st ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002), chapter 2. Some of this history is also given in E. L. Sukenik, ed., The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University (Jerusalem: Magnes Press & Hebrew University Jerusalem, 1955). The recent radio-carbon dating is cited by Sarianna Metso, The Textual Development of the Qumran Community Rule (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 14. That data is reported in G. Bonani et al., "Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls," Atiqot 20 (1991). 8 More than this brief summary about finds at Qumran can be found in: de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls; Magness, Archaeology of Qumran; James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994); VanderKam and Flint, Meaning of DSS.
Introduction 3
decision to see how much text was now missing and where it was located in relation to
the extant text; counting the numbers of characters that could fit into the lacunae;
comparing different copies of the same text, both from Qumran and outside Qumran; and
reconstructing allusions to text now in the Bible. 9
Today, fifty-nine years after the first document from Qumran came to light, we have
the benefit of this diligent work and of subsequent years of scholarly insights that have
led to a certain amount of consensus on what Qumran and its documents were about.
There is still much to be done, however.
Previous owners of the documents
Most scholars agree that the Jews living at Qumran left at least most of the scrolls in
the nearby caves, and that they had a major ideological interest in those scrolls.10 This
includes the document that is the focus of this study—the Community Rule. In this study,
I join them in the assumption that documents with multiple copies indicate major
ideological interest.
The documents from the caves do not clearly tell us what the group’s members
called themselves. There is solid speculation based on other sources, however. The most
common suggestion is that those at Qumran were the Essenes mentioned in Josephus,
Pliny the Elder, and Philo.11 This is probably true, but once we say that a group was
9 More on reconstruction techniques can be found in Metso, Textual Development. 10 Boccaccini gives a list of scholars who have recently challenged mainstream opinion. They include Norman Golb, and Robert Donceel and Pauline Donceel-Voûte. Gabriele Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), n. 6, pp. 2-3. 11 Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundeus), "Natural History," in Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, ed. Menahem Stern (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities), 5: 73, p. 472; Flavius Josephus, "The Jewish War, Book II," ed. William Whiston (Philadelphia: John C. Winston), VIII:2-13, pp. 673-676; Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews, Book XIII," ed. William Whiston (continued next page)
Introduction 4
Essene, we imply that is who they were. Consequently, scholars who shy away from
naming the group when their name is not certain often settle for calling the group a sect.
This term is convenient, but sect carries with it associations of being out of the
mainstream. At the very least, sect suggests that the group is a minority; at its worst, sect
implies thought and practice on the edge of being unacceptable—morally or rationally or
theologically.
I not only wish to avoid giving any such implication to the group at Qumran, I want
to side with scholars who conclude that the evidence of Palestinian Jewish society in the
late Second Temple period is insufficient to conclude what mainstream—or fringe—Jews
actually thought and did to practice their religion. In fact, there is not even enough
evidence to say there was a mainstream (and therefore fringes); there may simply have
been many different groups that saw themselves and others as Jews, with no need for one,
central group.12 Therefore, it is not possible to speak about how the group at Qumran
stood in relation to any theoretical mainstream, if there was one.
(Philadelphia: John C. Winston), ch. V:9, p 387; Flavius Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews, Book XV," ed. William Whiston (Philadelphia: John C. Winston), ch X:4-5; Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man Is Free (Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit) ([cited May 1, 2005); available from http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book33.html; Philo Judaeus, The Contemplative Life (De Vita Contempliva) ([cited May 1, 2005); available from http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book34.html. 12 For groups in Judaism, see, for example, Shaye J. D. Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 1st ed., Library of Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987). We see evidence of the following strains of religious thought or practice in Palestine at the turn of the eras: temple-centered Jews in Samaria who had differences with temple-centered Jews in Jerusalem, Pharisees, Sadducees, Hasidim (possibly), messianic Jews, apocalyptically-inclined Jews, wisdom-centered Jews, and militant Jews. These groups are not necessarily exclusive of each other. For example, the writer of Sirach, a wisdom book, considered the temple cult in Jerusalem important enough to Judaism to praise a high priest, Simon son of Onias, for restoring the Temple and proper worship (Sirach 50). Neither were the members of each such broadly labeled group necessarily in agreement with each other. Different texts describe different apocalyptic scenarios in which, for example, with or without human help, God would come and eliminate evil and evildoers, so that his justice would reign unchallenged. On the pro-mainstream side, though, there is the fact that the Pentateuch was translated into Greek a few hundred years before the turn of the era, which suggests centrality of those texts to Judaisms of two different languages, and there is documentary evidence of support of the Jerusalem temple among Jews both inside and outside Palestine. See also James (continued next page)
Introduction 5
For all of these reasons, in this thesis I will use the term Qumranian for individuals
who lived at Qumran, for however long at a time for a given individual. This name holds
as few unnecessary implications as possible. It is my hope that the term Qumranian will
help the reader focus on the aspects of practice and belief revealed in any given
document, or set of documents, without automatically generalizing those aspects to either
general contemporary Jewish society or to contemporaneous groups we know about from
other sources.
Since I side with those who assume Qumranians left the scrolls in the caves, I use
that term for the owners of the scrolls as well. When, for the purpose of this thesis, I
assume that Qumranians were responsible for bringing the documents to the caves, I am
not necessarily also assuming they did so because they agreed with every (even major)
viewpoint in these documents. In fact, the scrolls contain varying viewpoints even on
subjects important to Christians, such as messiah. Some documents found at Qumran
speak of two messiahs, some three.13 For this reason, I will examine the way views of
practice and belief are presented in one given document that Qumranians preserved, in
order to see what the authors14 of that document had to say.
C. VanderKam, An Introduction to Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001); Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began: A Survey of Belief and Practice (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002). 13 The differences in views of messiah seen in some Qumranian documents is especially well treated in these two sources: John J. Collins, The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (New York: Doubleday, 1995); Geza G. Xeravits, King, Priest, Prophet: Positive Eschatological Protagonists of the Qumran Library (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003). The often touted dual messiah in the 1QS version of the Community rule (1QS 9:11) is not present in what we have of other copies of the rule. 14 In this study, I use the words author or authors to refer to all who took part in writing versions of the rule.
Introduction 6
How the Community Rule fits with other documents found near Qumran
There are many ways to divide the corpus found in those caves. One is to separate
them into the following two basic groups. The first includes those documents that were
probably unique to Qumranians, if not authored by them or their progenitors. These
documents are considered unique because there is no evidence of their use elsewhere.15
They include rules, liturgies, prayers and psalms, astronomical calendars, texts suggesting
how to realize what an author saw as God’s plan for their time, and interpretations of
Jewish sacred writings that supported the authors’ worldviews. I will refer to this first
group as Qumranic documents. The other group contains those documents not unique to
Qumran, documents that probably circulated elsewhere, like copies of books now in the
Hebrew Bible or Septuagint and some pseudepigrapha and apocryphal works.16 I will
refer to these documents as non-Qumranic documents.
For this study, there is no need to subdivide the documents found in the caves near
Qumran any further. As explained later in this chapter, I will examine aspects of emotion
in two sections of a Qumranic rule. The rules found at Qumran, Philip Alexander says,
are unique in the extant texts from early Judaisms.17 The sections I will examine are the
15 Of course, membership to the “unique” category could change, should more stashes of documents surface. The most generally accepted texts thought to be unique to Qumranians are listed under the heading “Other Texts” in the Contents of VanderKam, DSS Today, vi-vii, and text pages 43ff. They include the document in this study—the Community Rule (1QS, cave 4 documents 255 through 264, and 5Q11). Qumranic documents also include one not unique to Qumran: the Damascus Document. In 1896–1987, two copies of it were discovered in the walls of a genizah, or storeroom, of a synagogue in Cairo. [Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, rev. ed. ed. (London: Penguin Books, 2004), 127.] The genizah copies of the Damascus Document (CD A and B) are dated to the tenth and twelfth centuries CE. The CD fragments found in caves 4, 5, and 6 at Qumran are dated to the time of the other Qumranic documents. Because of similarities in point-of-view and language with the Community Rule, CD is usually included in the category of documents unique to Qumran. It is likely that CD has a close link to the group that authored 1QS and the cave 4 fragments of the Community Rule. 16 Boccaccini cautions readers that labeling non-Qumranic documents as biblical, pseudepigraphic, etc., is anachronistic. Boccaccini, Beyond Essenes, 57. 17 Philip S. Alexander, "Rules," in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Lawrence H. Schiffman and James C. VanderKam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Introduction 7
introduction to the rule and the description of commitment liturgy that follows in 1QS, a
version of the Serek ha-Yahad (סרך היחד), or the Community Rule.18
I have chosen to focus on the Community Rule because it was obviously important
to Qumranians. This is seen in the fact that the group who preserved it, did so in several
versions, updating it as needed.19 I have chosen to look at the 1QS version of the
Community Rule because it is the most expanded version of the rule. But I should also
state that scribes continued to copy significantly different versions after they copied 1QS.
Since this study is based on the belief that it was Qumranians who had an interest in the
documents found at Qumran, I assume Qumranians had an interest in the Community
Rule. I do not, however, pretend to know exactly what that interest was.20 For this reason,
my study will remain almost totally within the world of the text itself.
Some basics of the Community Rule
In the early years of the first century CE, the Community Rule seems to have existed
in several copies, at least. These copies represent either three or four traditions of use.21
Two thousand years later, one fairly complete copy of a tradition was found in cave 1, on
the 1QS scroll, whose stitching showed it was attached to two other texts considered
unique to Qumranians—a text of blessings and curses (1QSb) and a text said to be a rule
18 Some early studies refer to this document as the Manual of Discipline. 19 This statement is explained in the section of this thesis on the redaction of the rule. See chapter 2. 20 Qumranian interest in the rule is also seen in how Qumranians preserved different traditions of the Community Rule, as well as the Damascus Document. For criteria on deciding the popularity of other documents at Qumran, see George J. Brooke, "The Canon within the Canon at Qumran and in the New Testament," in The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years After, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Craig A. Evans, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series 26 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997). 21 Philip S. Alexander and Geza Vermes, Qumran Cave 4: XIX Serekh Ha-Yahad and Two Related Texts, DJD XXVI (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 12; Metso, Textual Development, 146ff.
Introduction 8
of the congregation (1QSa). Fragments assumed to have come from other copies of the
Community Rule were identified in cave 4. Most of those fragments have been dated
later than cave 1’s scroll, but one is earlier and another may also be earlier. (These are not
composition dates, but dates the copies were made.) Some details of two redaction
proposals are given in chapter 2 of this thesis. It will be interesting to see how
Community Rule redaction studies progress, as scholars interact on this issue.
The Community Rule — ספר סרך היחד (sefer serek ha-yahad or, book of the rule of
the community)—lays out guidelines for the behavior of new and continuing members.
The 1QS version begins with an exhortation and then describes a commitment ceremony
for members of the יחד—a term for “community” popular in Qumranic documents.22 The
document seems to say that this ceremony was meant for both new and continuing
members, in an annual enactment of their “free”23 decision to give the יחד the authority to
translate for them what God wanted in their earthly actions.
There is no mention of women community members in Community Rule. By
contrast, there is mention of marrying and begetting children in column 7 of the
Damascus Document, often referred to as CD, another rule found in fragments in
Qumran. CD also has several laws that relate to women. Otherwise, it has much in
common with the views on life depicted in the Community Rule. It would be interesting
22 The noun יחד is used for community once in CD, 60 times in 1QS, and many other times in other Qumranic documents. See Martin G. Abegg, Jr. et al., The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, 2 vols., vol. 1 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), 307ff. This noun comes from the verb יחד, meaning to “be united,” as in an assembly in Gen 49:6 (ַאל־ֵּתַחד), or to “designate exclusively” or “concentrate,” as in Psalm 86:11 (ַיֵחד). Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. M.E.J. Richardson (Leiden and New York: Brill, 1995), 405. The verb יחד is used in six documents—1QS, 4Q256 (4QSc of the Community Rule), and several others. Abegg et al., DSS Concordance, 307. 23 Newsom’s translation of 1QS 1:7–8 is “freely offer themselves to observe the statutes of God in a covenant of loyalty.” Carol A. Newsom, The Self as Symbolic Space: Constructing Identity and Community at Qumran (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2004), 69.
Introduction 9
to see a study of the use of emotion in CD, in the context of its being more gender
inclusive than 1QS. In fact, studies of emotion in all documents of the late Second
Temple period, and in the Dead Sea Scrolls in particular, would add much to our
perspective on Judaisms of the era.
In this study of how the first sections of 1QS use emotion as a vehicle toward
commitment to the cause of the community, I lean heavily on other studies of the rule. I
have not used the transcription and photographs of 1QS in Burrows, but use
transcriptions, photographs, and translations in Qimron/Charlesworth, Trever, Martinez,
and Vermes.24 I use the Community Rule redaction studies of Alexander and Vermes, as
well as of Sarianna Metso.25 These studies are built on foundational studies by Jerome
Murphy-O’Connor26 and J. Pouilly.27 In 2004, Carol Newsom did a rhetorical study of
how the self is constructed in both the Community Rule and in the Hodayot, in her
excellent book The Self as Symbolic Space.28 This was a perfect start for this thesis, and I
am grateful not only for her work but for her timing! I could find no studies on emotion
24 Millar Burrows and with the assistance of John C. Trever and William H. Brownlee, The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark's Monastery, vol. II, Fascicle 2: Plates and Transcription of the Manual of Discipline (New Haven, CT: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1951); Elisha Qimron and James H. Charlesworth, "Rule of the Community," in Rule of the Community and Related Documents, ed. James H. Charlesworth, with F. M. Cross, J. Milgrom, E. Qimron, L. H. Schiffman, L. T. Stuckenbruck, and R. E. Whitaker, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations (Tübingen and Louisville, KY: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Westminster John Knox Press, 1994); John C. Trever, Scrolls from Qumran Cave I: The Great Isaiah Scroll, the Order of the Community, the Pesher to Habakkuk (Jerusalem: Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and The Shrine of the Book, 1972); Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 2 vols., vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 1997); Florentino García Martínez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, trans. Wilfred G.E. Watson (Leiden and New York: Brill, 1994); Vermes, Complete DSS in English. 25 Philip S. Alexander, "The Redaction-History of "Serekh Ha-Yahad: A Proposal," Revue de Qumran 17 (1996); Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules; Metso, Textual Development. 26 J. Murphy-O'Connor, "La Genèse Littéraire de la Règle de la Communauté," Revue Biblique 76 (1969). 27 J. Pouilly, La Règle de la Communauté: Son Évolution Littéraire, vol. 17 (Paris: Cahiers de la Revue Biblique, 1976). 28 Newsom, Symbolic Space.
Introduction 10
in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Lists of quotations of, and allusions to, text now in the Bible, and
comments on the intentionality of their use, have been published by P. Wernberg-Møller,
J. Fitzmyer, and G. Vermes.29 There are studies of emotion in the Hebrew Bible
concentrating on concepts included in words. Some notable ones are Moran’s
foundational article on אהב, which argues for nonemotional ties to this term for love
(1963), Tigay’s study of Deuteronomy, which argues for some emotional content to אהב
(1996), Lapsley’s call for reconsideration of more emotional content in concepts of אהב
(2003), and Latvus’s study of anger in the Pentateuch (1998).30 Gary Anderson studied
the ritual expression of grief and joy in Israelite religion. In that context he argues against
emotion preceding behavior, saying, “The emotional experiences of grief and joy were
inseparable from their behavioral components.”31 There are, of course, studies of emotion
in later Christian religious writings, from eras with more texts available for searching out
how emotions were understood and used. I used Abu-Lughod and Lutz and Barbara
29 P. Wernberg-Møller, "Some Reflections on the Biblical Material in the Manual of Discipline," Studia Theologica 9 (1956); Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "The Use of Explicit Old Testament Quotations in Qumran Literature and in the New Testament," in Essays on the Semitic Background of the New Testament (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1971; reprint, New Testament Studies 7 (1960-1961), pp. 297-333); Geza Vermes, "Biblical Proof-Texts in Qumran Literature," Journal for Semitic Studies 34, no. 2 (1989). These studies, however, only scratch the surface. 30 William L. Moran, "The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 25 (1963); Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996), 77; Jacqueline E. Lapsley, "Feeling Our Way: Love for God in Deuteronomy," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65 (2003); Kari Latvus, God, Anger, and Ideology: The Anger of God in Joshua and Judges in Relation to Deuteronomy and the Priestly Writings, JSOTSup 279 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998). Tigay, p. 76–77, says, “The idea of commanding a feeling is not foreign to the Torah, which assumes that people can cultivate proper attitudes. . . . Nevertheless, love of God in Deuteronomy is not only an emotional attachment to Him, but something that expresses itself in action. . . . To do something with all the heart and soul means to do it with the totality of one’s thoughts, feelings, intentions, and desires.” 31 Gary A. Anderson, A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance: The Expression of Grief and Joy in Israelite Religion (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991), ix, 2.
Introduction 11
Rosenwein for basic concepts of how emotion is studied,32 and Martha Nussbaum for a
working philosophical definition of emotion.33
Thesis details of this study
In this thesis, then, I will examine how aspects of the discourse of the Community
Rule give clues to how emotions played a part in affecting those who heard, lived by,
and/or possibly memorized the rule.34 Using mostly the Qimron/Charlesworth edition of
the Community Rule,35 I will examine the rule’s wording and proportion of wording in
the opening columns of the rule, the overall structure of these sections, and the structure
of its recommended liturgy in order to see how it uses emotion to invite, and maintain,
membership in the group.
I will support the view that the author intentionally shaped these sections of the
document, using both positive and negative rhetoric to affect emotions of the audience. I
will also look briefly at what this says about emotions of the author and the community.
32 Lila Abu-Lughod and Catherine A. Lutz, "Introduction: Emotion, Discourse, and the Politics of Everyday Life," in Language and the Politics of Emotion, ed. Lila Abu-Lughod and Catherine A. Lutz (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Lester K. Little, "Anger in Monastic Curses," in Anger's Past: The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages, ed. Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998); Barbara H. Rosenwein, "Introduction," in Anger's Past: The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages, ed. Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998); Barbara H. Rosenwein, "Controlling Paradigms," in Anger's Past: The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages, ed. Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998). 33 Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001). 34 James Charlesworth suggests that portions of the Community Rule would have been memorized during the probationary period described in 1QS 6:13–23, especially the section often referred to as the treatise on two spirits, which is found in 1QS 3:13–4:26. James H. Charlesworth, "Introduction to Rule of the Community," in Rule of the Community and Related Documents, ed. James H. Charlesworth, with F. M. Cross, J. Milgrom, E. Qimron, L. H. Schiffman, L. T. Stuckenbruck, and R. E. Whitaker, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations (Tübingen and Louisville, KY: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 1. 35 Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule."
Introduction 12
In order to contextualize the use of emotion in the rule, I will work mostly within the
Community Rule, comparing 1QS to other versions of the same rule as needed. I will also
take into account the importance of basic Second Temple Jewish views of God’s
relationship to his people, as seen in religious writings of the period. The plethora of
ancient Hebrew texts that have to do with views on what God wants of his people attest
to their importance to Qumranians. A dense set of direct and indirect uses of verses and
phrases—from the Pentateuch and from the prophets—in 1QS, as well as in the cave 4
Community Rule documents, tie this interest directly to the author and audience of the
Community Rule.36
The why and how of looking at emotion in the Community Rule
Writing of historical study of a different era, Catherine Peyroux reminds us that,
“When we write histories of the past in which feeling is omitted, we implicitly disregard
fundamental aspects of the terms on which people act and interact. . . .”37 Most people
would not disagree. What they tend to have difficulty with is how exactly to define
emotion and how to tease it out of ancient text validly. Situations that tend to trigger
emotion, and words used to describe duty, vary in different cultures and eras, and even
within any given culture and era.38
Teasing out emotion is particularly difficult for text that comes from a culture we
know so little about, written by an unknown author, for an ambiguous audience, in an era
36 In this thesis I am purposely avoiding words like scriptural and biblical in reference to writings now in scripture because these terms are anachronistic to the era of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The authority of ancient texts to Qumranians is also seen in the existence of the pesherim. 37 Catherine Peyroux, "Gertrude's furor: Reading Anger in an Early Medieval Saint's Life," in Anger's Past: The Social Uses of an Emotion in the Middle Ages, ed. Barbara H. Rosenwein (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998), 54-55. 38 Ibid., 43.
Introduction 13
and locale we can define only generally. I believe we can universalize far enough to state
safely that emotion is a significant component of action in any era. In the discourse of
this text that describes a religious exhortation, and in a commitment ritual that employs
speech-acts,39 the goal is obviously to convince the whole person. That whole person
includes emotion in any healthy person. The previously mentioned arguments over
Hebrew Bible word meanings do not deny emotion in ancient Jews. They argue over
what comes first—emotion or (sometimes ritual) action—and how significant the
emotion factor is, in precipitating loyalty and action. Still, if the rhetoric of an exhortation
is shaped to persuade, and if the goal of a described ritual is to commit one’s whole
person to a group’s stated method of obeying God’s commands, we can see ways that
emotion comes into play within that world of text.
One approach to assessing emotional impact that I cannot examine is the area of
sound and its effect on audience. In the times when the Community Rule was in use, texts
were read aloud to groups, as well as silently. How Hebrew sounded at this time,
however, is not clear to us. I leave this aspect of potential study to others.
To begin, let me give some definitions. The term emotion, like religion, is slippery
when it comes to definition. Different schools of thought see emotion differently. Is
emotion innate? Is it only a social construction?40 How does emotion relate to physical
sensations and actions, such as butterflies in the stomach or hitting someone without
39 In a speech-act “. . . each act is embodied in a statement and each statement contains one of those acts. They exist through one another and in an exact reciprocal relationship.” Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language (New York: Pantheon, 1972), 83. 40 Rosenwein, "Introduction," 2.
Introduction 14
forethought?41 In this study I will assume that emotion is innate, though manifestations of
it, including how it is spoken of, is a social construction. Putting aside debates among
philosophers in the arena of systems of thought about emotion, I will here adopt the
definition that Martha Nussbaum supports in Upheavals of Thought. Nussbaum says that
our emotions are thoughts that are value judgments about things and people that we
perceive as critically affecting our ability to flourish. She bases her definition, she says,
on that of the Stoics, but leaves aside Stoic suppositions that emotions are false.
Nussbaum says that, to be an emotion, three ideas must be present. They are (1) the idea
of evaluating a situation; (2) the idea of goals or projects that affect one’s flourishing;
(3) the idea that external objects are elements in one’s scheme of goals.42 These ideas,
then, are an acknowledgment of a lack of self-sufficiency.43 They may or may not include
physical sensations (grief may or may not include tears or distractedness, for example),
but they can cause psychological effects.44 In her system, because emotions are thoughts,
bodiless gods can have genuine emotions, since they are usually understood to be
thinking beings.45 This scheme, then, though not accepted by all philosophers,46 helps
explain the love and anger of the God in ancient Jewish traditions, where God’s anger,
for example, in its being controlled but meted out justly, could be seen as comforting.47
41 Diana Fritz Cates, "Conceiving Emotions: Martha Nussbaum's 'Upheavals of Thought'," Journal of Religious Ethics 31, no. 2 (2003). 42 Nussbaum, Upheavals, 4. 43 Ibid., 22. 44 Ibid., 57. 45 Ibid., 60. 46 Cates, "Conceiving Emotions." 47 Rosenwein, "Controlling Paradigms," 234.
Introduction 15
By discourse I mean “practices that systematically form the objects of which they
speak.”48 To shape reality, the author of 1QS uses common cultural symbols for effect.
He49 crafts that effect through his rhetoric. The cultural symbols crafted in these sections
of 1QS are words common to Second Temple Judaisms. The author leans heavily on
Deuteronomistic concepts.50
By rhetoric, I mean the use of language as a “means of persuasion” in speech or
writing.51 The Community Rule does not lean on logic to persuade, but a language of
emotion, which in Nussbaum’s definition includes ideas like need, fear, and loyalty—to
God and to one’s own religious traditions. The document is planned, as the redaction
studies show. The shaping of emotion in the document is therefore an intentional
phenomenon that can be examined.52 If we are careful, we can get a picture of what the
author is doing through text with his audience, despite how foreign and ancient his
culture is to us today.
The persuasion attempted in the beginning of the Community Rule is one of what we
now term religious conversion. A. D. Nock defines conversion as follows.
[T]he reorientation of the soul of an individual, his deliberate turning from indifference or from an earlier form of piety to another, a turning which implies a consciousness that a great change is involved, that the old was wrong and the new is right. It is seen at its fullest in the positive response of a man [sic] to the choice set before him [sic] by the prophetic religions.53
48 Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, 49. Lila Abu-Lughod and Catherine A. Lutz point out Foucault’s work in Abu-Lughod and Lutz, "Language," 9. 49 In the documents discussed in this study, I am assuming all authors were men. Should someone discover otherwise, I would be thrilled! 50 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 111. 51 Aristotle, "On Rhetoric," in Aristotle: A Theory of Civic Discourse, ed. George A. Kennedy (NY: Oxford University Press, 1991), I:2:1, p. 36. 52 Abu-Lughod and Lutz, "Language," 10. 53 A. D. Nock, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998; reprint of, Clarendon Press, 1933), 7.
Introduction 16
This is certainly what is described in the discourse of the opening sections of the
Community Rule.
By author, I mean all people involved in creating the Community Rule as we see it
in the documents extant from Qumran. The author in this text speaks, not as an
individual, but as a voice of the group.54 His voice is omniscient, not unlike the narrator
speaking on behalf of God in much of what is now the Hebrew Bible.55
From the shaping of the text, we can surmise an intended probable audience. Metso’s
reconstruction of 1QS 1:1 tells us that the maskil (interpreter, wise teacher) is the most
likely audience named in the lacunae of the document’s first lines.56 Through the maskil’s
influence, though, the audience includes any religious Jew who felt enough unease about
his world that he was looking for solutions.57 He was religious enough to listen to rhetoric
(reflected in the document) that told him that people must be “perfect,”58 so that God
would save them (1QS 1:19) on his day of judgment (1QS 1:10–11). The author’s use of
the story and language of ancient texts tells us that the intended audience took those texts
as important. Chapter 3 of this thesis suggests more aspects of implied audience.
The 1QS group overtly seeks “converts” and presents itself as capable of ensuring
eternal salvation (1QS 1:3, 1:19, 2:1). The document uses ancient texts, which are 54 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 108. 55 A good explanation of the Hebrew Bible’s narrator can be found in Meir Sternberg, The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Reading (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985), 12. 56 She reconstructs the lacunae in 1QS 1:1 to read “For the maskil . . .” by measuring the space missing from the line and counting how many characters would fit into that space. She also compares the form of the line to that of similar lines in versions of the rule that contain the word maskil: 1QS 3:13, 9:12, 9:21; and 4Q256 5 1:1; and 4Q258 1 1:1. Metso, Textual Development, 110-112. Vermes and Martinez also reconstruct 1QS 1:1 to read “for the maskil.” Vermes, Complete DSS in English, 98; Martínez and Tigchelaar, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, 70, 71. 57 I say male because, as stated earlier, we do not know how women figured into this version of the rule’s viewpoint, if women were included at all. 58 See, for example, 1QS 1:8, 1:13.
Introduction 17
apparently familiar enough to attract the attention of the target audience, and authoritative
enough that it uses them liberally to support the views of the יחד. As discussed in chapter
3 of this thesis, the יחד also interpreted those texts to support its views, both in the
Community Rule and in other Qumranic texts. The decision the יחד seeks from its
audience is simplified by the discourse that offers a set of only yes or no choices. The יחד
also seems to be seeking to maintain itself in the face of a perceived threat to itself. This
is seen in the curses in 1QS 2:11–18, against people who join the group with less than
wholehearted agreement.
This study will concentrate on aspects of emotion in the persuasion discourse of the
introduction to 1QS, and in the enactment of commitment in the subsequent liturgical
section. I am sure there are other ways to examine emotion in 1QS. It is my hope that this
brief suggestive study will reveal aspects of life at Qumran. Perhaps it will also inspire
studies of emotion in other Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as in late priestly and Deuteronomic
strands within the Hebrew Bible. The latter would tie in with the strong priestly and cultic
bent of Qumranian worldview. Similarly, it would be interesting to see studies comparing
emotion in Qumranic documents to apocalyptic documents of the era.
Community Rule manuscripts 18
CHAPTER 2
COMMUNITY RULE MANUSCRIPTS
The most complete copy we have of the Community Rule—referred to as 1QS, or
the S document—was found in Qumran’s cave 1.59 The scroll is made of animal skin.60
Charlesworth says that 1QS shows signs of once being part of a larger scroll that
contained at least two other documents: what is usually called the Messianic Rule
(1QSa),61 and a document of Blessings (1QSb).62 All three documents seem to have the
same scribe’s handwriting and are dated paleographically to the same era.63 Metso points
out, however, that in the fragments we have, there is no evidence of a history of these
three documents being copied together.64 This implies that linking the three together may
have been important in only one place or time. Without more sets of documents, we
cannot say how widely all three were used as a set.
There are ten fragmentary manuscripts from cave 4 that are usually taken to be parts
of other copies of the Community Rule, and one from cave 5.65 In this study the cave 4
fragments are referred to primarily as 4Q255 through 4Q264, but they are often cross-
labeled by their other common nomenclature: 4QSa through 4QSj. The choice of
59 This thesis uses the scroll numbering system employed by Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules. Alternative labels are also listed. 60 Trever, Cave I Scrolls, 4. 61 Charlesworth, "Introduction," 1. This page has a typo on it, which lists 1QSb for both 1QSa and 1QSb. 1QSa is also called Rule of the Congregation, and is sometimes numbered 1Q28a. It has an additional fragment numbered 4Q249a. Vermes, Complete DSS in English, 159, 633. 62 This is sometimes numbered 1Q28b. Vermes, Complete DSS in English, 387. 63 Trever, Cave I Scrolls, 4. 64 Metso, Textual Development, 151. 65 The cave 5 document is extremely fragmentary. It is referred to as 5Q11.
Community Rule manuscripts 19
numbering in this study is not intended to imply any particular significance; it is simply a
choice of convenience. Tentative dates of these fragmented copies are given in Table 1.
Charlesworth states that scholarly consensus on the original language of the rule is
that it was first written in Hebrew.66 The copy of the Community Rule on 1QS is usually
dated paleographically from about 100 to about 75 BCE. Readers should be reminded
that 1QS, like the ten documents from cave 4, is not an autograph, but is copied from a
Vorlage67 that has not survived. Since it is merely a copy of a given recension of the rule,
it seems likely that the version of the Community Rule that we see in 1QS was set before
100 BCE.
Recension traditions
In 1998, Alexander and Vermes made a good case for at least four recensions of the
rule, based on Community Rule manuscripts that have survived. They proposed the
following four recensions of the rule.
· Recension A—the one seen in 1QS;
· Recension B—made up of: · Recension B1—the one seen in 4Q256 (4QSb); and · Recension B2—the one seen in 4Q258 (4QSd);
· Recension C—the one seen in 4Q259 (4QSe); and
· Recension D—the one seen in 4Q261 (4QSg). Alexander and Vermes state that the remainder of the scrolls are not sufficiently
preserved to speak to recension.68
66 Charlesworth, "Introduction," 2. 67 A Vorlage is the source document from which a copy has been made. 68 Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 12.
Community Rule manuscripts 20
The Alexander and Vermes recension groups are different from Metso’s, which, as a
critical redaction study, is more detailed. It is Metso’s redaction scheme that is given in
Table 1. Her suggested four redaction traditions of the rule are as follows.
1. A hypothetical original version (O). Metso arrives at this through a comparison of 1QS
and 4Q255 through 4Q264 (4QSa–j). There is no physical manuscript of O. She describes
this shorter version of the rule as having the following makeup.
· no section ~ 1QS 1–4 yet; version O began with 1QS column 5;69 · no section ~ 1QS 8:15b–9:11 yet · no final hymn parallel to 1QS 9:26b–11:22 yet · might have had a calendric text attached to text ~ 1QS 9:26a, (not = 4QOtot)70
2. A line of tradition, which Metso calls tradition A (and which is similar to Alexander and
Vermes’s recension C). Tradition A is based on 4Q259 (4QSe). It changed the hypothetical
original as follows:
· added proof-texts from what is now scripture · added terms to strengthen the self-understanding of the community · probably no text ~ 1QS 1–4 yet · no text ~ 1QS 8:15b–9:11 yet · calendrical text of 4QOtot instead of final psalm
3. A different line of tradition, which Metso calls tradition B (and which is similar to
Alexander and Vermes’s recension B). Metso says tradition B also changed the
hypothetical original, but not as much as did tradition A.71 Its early stage is based on
4Q258 (4QSd); its later stage on 4Q256 (4QSb).
· text ~ 1QS 5 is still the early, concise form · added text ~ 1QS 8:15b–9:11 (Metso calls this a loose parallel to the text we see for this
section in 1QS.) · added a final psalm after 1QS 9:26
There are two phases to Metso’s proposed tradition B:
· early tradition B, seen in 4Q258 (4QSd), still has no text ~ 1QS 1–4
· later tradition B, seen in 4Q256 (4QSb), adds text ~ 1QS 1–4 before text ~ 1QS 5–11
69 In this study, the symbol ~ is used as a succinct way to remind readers that we are talking about sections parallel to each other, not identical text. 70 Metso, Textual Development, 106. 71 Ibid., 89, 106.
Community Rule manuscripts 21
4. Still another line of tradition, tradition C (which is the same as Alexander and Vermes’s
recension A). Metso says that tradition C redacted text to arrive at what was close to, or
the same as, 1QS or its predecessor. To do so, it used traditions A and B.72 Therefore
tradition C is created later than A and B.73
· this tradition includes all sections attested in 1QS
5. A final line of tradition, tradition D, is seen in the corrections and additions to the 1QS
scroll, in columns 7 and 8.74
Metso says of tradition D:
In some places the second scribe [of 1QS] seems to have followed another manuscript while revising the text [of 1QS columns 7 and 8]. This Vorlage was apparently a combination of both traditions of 4QSb,d [4Q256, 4Q258] and 4QSe [4Q259], for in some places the corrections seem to follow the text of 4QSb,d, while in other places they seem to follow that of 4QSe. The nature of the additions and corrections in some places and their absence in all the known manuscripts of the Community Rule indicate, however, that the second scribe also independently supplemented and clarified the text. There cannot be a very long interval between the work of the first and second scribes of 1QS, but they manifest changes and developments in the practices of the community.75
Unlike Alexander and Vermes, Metso says there is not enough preserved of 4Q261
(4QSg) to place it in a redaction tradition. Otherwise they agree that the other documents
taken to be parts of the Community Rule, while valuable, cannot yet be placed in
redaction traditions.76
In her conclusion, Metso reminds readers that the changes in the Community Rule
were made over the period of about a hundred years, and that the records we have show
those changes to be complete by about 100 BCE.77 (But copies were made later than
that.)
72 As previously explained, Metso sees these traditions in documents 4Q256, 258, and 259 (4QSb,d, and e). 73 Metso specifically says traditions A and B are older than C. Metso, Textual Development, 152. 74 Ibid., throughout. See especially, pp. 145-147. 75 Ibid., 146-149. 76 Ibid. Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules. It should be noted, however, that 4Q255 (4QSa) does preserve the title of the rule— היחד .ספר סרך 77 Metso, Textual Development, 154.
Community Rule manuscripts 22
Significant points of Metso’s redaction study for this thesis are as follows.
1. Changes were made in the rule as the community developed and changed.78
2. The Community Rule seen in 1QS (tradition C) seems to be compiled from
sources that arose from different needs in different eras—Metso’s traditions O,
and A, and B. These traditions did not evolve linearly.79
3. Since the documents we have of tradition B80 are paleographically dated late first
century BCE, and that of tradition C (1QS) is dated early first century BCE, and
all three manuscripts are copies, the community continued to copy these earlier
versions after the longer 1QS version existed. Therefore, there is no evidence to
support theories of a “sole legitimate version.”81
4. Metso sees more frequency of terms like ריתבה and היחד in tradition C (1QS) than
in tradition B.82 She suggests this as evidence of the community’s making changes
to the rule when it needed to strengthen its self-understanding at the time and
place 1QS was used.83
5. Similarly, Metso says that tradition C added some direct quotations from ancient
Hebrew text, probably to legitimate the rules the community had.84
78 Ibid., 147. 79 Ibid., 148; Sarianna Metso, "In Search of the Sitz im Leben of the Community Rule," in The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 1999), 307. 80 That is, 4Q256 (4QSb) and 4Q258 (4QSd). 81 Metso, Textual Development, 154. 82 That is, 4Q256 and 4Q258 (4QSb,d). 83 Metso, Textual Development, 152. 84 Ibid., 152. For details on this and the previous conclusion, see also Metso's pp. 69-90 and 105-106.
Community Rule manuscripts 23
6. Metso says that the long calendrical section85 at the end of tradition A’s
document86 includes a list of the weekly service of the priestly families in the
temple. Only this scroll has this text. Metso concludes that it was superseded after
the community separated from the temple.87 Thus, she says, tradition A was early
and tradition C took it out, in order to update 1QS.
7. Another example of revising the rule to fit a current situation is 1QS 8:14–15,
which is similar to fr. 1, col. 3:4–5 of tradition A’s document.88 These verses in
both versions speak of preparing the way in the desert as studying Torah. But in
tradition C’s 1QS 9:9–10, after speaking of “walking with the perfect of the Way”
and not departing from the “counsel of the Torah,” there is an addition. Metso
translates it to say that 1QS has expanded a warning about departing from the
way, and emphasizing the importance of keeping “first rules.”89
8. Metso suggests that tradition D changed punishments to fit the needs of the time,
which she says is not long after tradition C’s time.90
9. The rules speak to contradictory practices, which are difficult to place timewise.91
To summarize, the basic points Metso makes that affect this study are the following.
The document 1QS is made up of sections from different traditions. Authors created or
85 That is, 4QOtot, or 4Q319. 86 That is, 4Q259 (4QSe). 87 Metso, Textual Development, 153. 88 That is, 4Q259 (4QSe). 89 Metso, Textual Development, 153. The phrase “first rules” is Metso’s translation. The other phrases in this paragraph are from Qimron and Charlesworth’s translation. Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule." 90 Metso, "In Search of the Sitz im Leben of the Community Rule," 310. 91 Metso, Textual Development, 155.
Community Rule manuscripts 24
included sections they needed, in response to the audience of their geographical and
historic location. This includes their changing need for persuasive intensity and
behavioral rules. The structure of each version of the Community Rule, then, was
intentional and specific to audience.
Function of the Community Rule
In her essay “Sitz im Leben,” Metso addresses the question of what can be said about
what the Community Rule could have meant to the community that used it, given its
preservation of different versions at the same time. She says that definitive answers will
have to wait until more Qumranic documents are studied for such questions. But she
offers her response to theories on why 1QS contains three penal codes and two passages
on admissions, sometimes in conflict with each other. Taking into account that there is a
lot of halakhic material in the caves, Metso suggests that the Community Rule was not
meant as an authoritative “last word” in any of the laws of the community. Neither was it
meant as a rule in the monastic sense, to outline day-by-day procedures. Instead she
suggests that, like Mishnaic traditions, it was a record of some of the oral decisions in use
at the time. These decisions would have come out of community meetings, a kind of
court record on matters important at the time. She suggests that the maskil would have
used the rule as a guide to educate members.92
Figured worlds
Carol Newsom also briefly addresses the rule’s redaction and use. She argues against
an earlier Alexander conclusion that the paleographic dates of the manuscripts should be
92 Metso, "In Search of the Sitz im Leben of the Community Rule," 306-315.
Community Rule manuscripts 25
taken to coincide with the redaction dates unless evidence to the contrary surfaces. This
theory of his would make 1QS one of the earlier versions of the rule. She does not
mention the later, more cautious redaction outline given in the 1998 study by Alexander
and Vermes—the one listed earlier in this thesis.93 Newsom agrees with Metso’s basic
conclusion that the later version of the rule is the one found in 1QS, and that the
arrangement of the rule is intentional.94
Newsom then sets up how to read 1QS without tying what is found in the document
too closely with theories of who this group was historically. She says that the discourse in
1QS clearly reflects how the group that used the rule maintained its sense of
differentiation from other Jewish groups.95 Whether or not historical members actually
memorized the rule, or parts of it, is not the point, she suggests.96 The “discourses and
practices of the sect had to become by some means the internalized words by which each
member of the community thought and spoke.” This internalization, she says, is the
“figured world” that Qumranians used to understand who they were and why they wanted
to live their lives (or part of their lives) at Qumran. In some way, the maskil, to whom we
assume the document is addressed, would have imparted what can be termed “the spirit”
of the group by using the cultural symbols seen in 1QS.
93 She is arguing against Alexander, "The Redaction-History of "Serekh Ha-Yahad: A Proposal." Newsom does not address the later (1998) study—Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules. 94 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 104-105. 95 Ibid., n. 20, p. 102. 96 Charlesworth, "Introduction," 1.
Community Rule manuscripts 26
Table 1, given on the following page, summarizes data on the main manuscripts of
the Community Rule. It shows which manuscripts relate to which redaction tradition
Metso sets up, and gives approximate dates of the copies we have.
27
Table 1: Community Rule manuscripts and the versions of the rule they represent, according to Metso97
Table 1. Manuscript
Approximate Date
photo/inventory number 98
Comment 99
proposed original version
Metso does not attempt to date the origins of these copies of various versions of the Community Rule, but states that they probably predate the manuscripts we have of them.
no text ~1QS 1–4; short version of text ~1QS 5–9; no 1QS 8:15b–9:11; no final psalm as in 1QS 10–11; possibly had calendrical text ~4QOtot
4Q259 (4QSe) 150–100 BCE (Milik 1976, 61)100 50–25 BCE (Cross, 57)
PAM 43.264, 43.263, 42.377, 43.283 Mus. Inv. 818, 810, 683
this manuscript is a copy of what Metso proposes as redaction tradition A of the hypothetical original version; has proof-texts from what is now scripture and added terms that speak to the community’s self-understanding; has calendrical text 4QOtot; probably no text ~1QS 1–4; no 8:15b–9:11;101 skin
4Q255 (4QpapSa) 125–100 BCE PAM 42.371, 43.254 Mus. Inv. 177
this copy may be earlier than the copy of rule in 1QS; has text ~ parts of 1QS 1–4 and which probably was a shorter version of these texts;102 papyrus verso (a Hodayot-like text is on the recto and is identified as 4Q433a103
1QS 100–75 BCE this manuscript is a copy of Metso’s redaction tradition C, which combined traditions seen in 4QSe,b, and d;104 redaction tradition D is apparent in changes marked on columns 7 and 8 of 1QS, possibly from a lost manuscript;105 skin
97 Fragments in this table are ordered by paleographic date given in Cross and Milik; and interpreted by Metso. Cross, Ancient Library; J. T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976), 61; Metso, Textual Development, ch. 1, especially pp. 48ff. I have placed 4Q259 (4QSe) in two places, to allow for differences in dating by Cross and Milik. 98 Especially helpful are the excellent layouts of the reconstructions of these fragments in Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, plates I-XXIV. 99 For charts on various fragments, see Ibid., 18ff. 100 In her n. 63, p. 48, Metso points out that the document Milik calls 4QSb (4Q260) in the text of his 1976 book, dating it to “the second half of the second century B.C.” is actually 4QSe (4Q259). She bases this on his discussion of the document’s calendrical text, which 4Q259 does not have. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4, 61. (Metso’s note calls this book an article.) 101 Metso, Textual Development, 48. 102 Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 46-47. 103 Ibid., 28; Metso, Textual Development, 18-19. 104 Metso, Textual Development, 146.
29
Table 1. Manuscript
Approximate Date
photo/inventory number 98
Comment 99
4Q258 (4QSd) 30–1 BCE (early Herodian) (Cross, 57)
PAM 42.375, 43.244, 43.246 Mus. Inv. 140, 141
this manuscript is a copy of what Metso proposes as the earlier stage of redaction tradition B of the hypothetical original version; has the proposed original version’s shorter set of proof-texts from what is now scripture in its text ~1QS 5ff; has text ~1QS 8:15b–9:11; after text ~1QS 9:26a is a hymn with a calendric section, but that section refers to a weekly service for priestly families in the temple (not ~4QOtot);116 no text ~1QS 1–4;117 skin
4Q260 (4QSf) 30–1 BCE (early Herodian) PAM 43.265 Mus. Inv. 366
this copy probably later than the copy of rule in 1QS; skin118
4Q263 (4QSi) 30–1 BCE (early Herodian) this copy probably later than the copy of rule in 1QS;119 skin 4Q262 (4QSh) 1–50 CE PAM 43.267
Mus. Inv. 105 this copy probably later than the copy of rule in 1QS;120 has text ~1QS 3:4–6; skin
116 Metso, Textual Development, 37; Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 90. 117 Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 93ff. 118 Ibid., 153ff; Metso, Textual Development, 55. 119 Metso, Textual Development, 63. 120 Ibid., 61.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 30
CHAPTER 3
ELEMENTS OF EMOTION IN 1QS 1:1–2:19
As shown in chapter 2 of this thesis, the sections of the Community Rule found in
1QS seem to have been pieced together to serve some set of needs for the community that
used that version of the rule. These needs apparently differed from those of groups using
other traditions of the rule. Metso’s theory suggests that the version we see in 1QS
reflects the latest traditions that have survived.121 Metso does not draw any direct
developmental line between the traditions, but she does suggest that some older versions
of the rule122 probably did not contain the material we see in 1QS columns 1 through 4.123
She also suggests that scribes preserved copies of older, shorter traditions after 1QS was
in use. What seems clear is the fact that only some traditions used the columns of text that
are the focus of this study.124 Also clear, Metso points out, is that the sections added in
121 The 1QS version of the Community Rule includes both traditions C and D. 122 These older versions are those that reflect tradition A and early tradition B. 123 Metso recaps this information, given in detail earlier in her book, in Metso, Textual Development, 107. Her proposed version O did not have what we see in 1QS columns 1 through 4, nor did the early stage of tradition B. She thinks it likely that tradition A lacked text parallel to these early columns of 1QS, though that is not certain because of the state of the scroll. Tradition A’s document 4Q259 (4QSe) is missing its beginning. The surviving text begins with text parallel to some of 1QS’s column 7 text. The size of the scroll before it deteriorated is estimated to have contained enough characters to have included text parallel to what we see in 1QS column 5 onward. But we do not know for sure what text was there. It can only be stated with certainty that about 1,080 words preceded the extant text. Metso, Textual Development, 50-51. This theory does not contradict physical evidence reported in Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 129ff. 124 Metso’s proposal rests, in part, on assuming that the ages of the copies of the texts of these traditions do not necessarily reflect the ages of the traditions themselves. It also rests on her reading of which texts were added to previous traditions, and which were subtracted. See, for example, her discussion of 4QOtot becoming outdated when the community broke from the temple cult and of 1QS adding text that we now see in columns 8 and 9. Metso, Textual Development, 72, 143. If dates of the copies that have survived were the basis of a redaction scheme, and if Cross’s date for 4Q259 were used, a person would have to say that the earliest copy—4Q255—had text parallel to some of 1QS 1–4. Metso’s suggestion does not need 4Q259 to be earlier than A, since she dates the source of that document from her reading of some of the content of its 4QOtot section.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 31
tradition C were added because of a need to clarify self-understanding of the יחד, and to
maintain proper behavior within in the 125.יחד Newsom adds that self-understanding
came, in part, from internalizing the words of the figured worlds apparent in the discourse
of documents like 1QS.126
Before looking at the two subsections of 1QS that are the focus of this thesis, I will
briefly list the sections of the 1QS rule as a whole, and give an overview of how emotion
is used to persuade in 1QS.
Basic arrangement of 1QS
In 1959 Pierre Guilbert argued for intentional design of 1QS and gave a detailed
breakdown of the document. His six major sections are as follows.
1QS 1:1–15 Introduction générale 1QS 1:16–3:12 L’entrée dans l’Alliance 1QS 3:13–4:26 La “Weltanschauung” de la Communauté 1QS 5:1–6:25 Règlement interne de la Communauté 1QS 8:1–9:11 Dernier degree d’implantation de la Communauté 1QS 9:12–11:22 Règles pour la formation de nouveaux membres127
This breakdown still holds today.
Qimron and Charlesworth’s 1994 sectioning of the rule differs by making some of
Guilbert’s subdivisions into main units, including breaking out the final hymn of praise.
1QS 1:1–15 Preamble 1QS 1:16–2:18 Entering the covenant community 1QS 2:19–3:12 Renewal ceremony, denunciations, atonement 1QS 3:13–4:26 Qumran’s fundamental dualism 1QS 5:1–6:23 Rules for life in the community 1QS 6:24–7:25 Rules for punishment 1QS 8:1–10:8 Rules for the holy congregation 1QS 10:9–11:22 Hymn of praise128
125 See especially, comment 4 and its note in chapter 2, page 22, of this thesis. 126 See “Figured worlds” section of chapter 2 for more detail and sourcing on this. 127 Pierre Guilbert, "Le plan de la Règle de la Communauté," Revue de Qumran 3, no. Feb. 1959 (1959): 338-343. Guilbert’s analysis is pointed out by Newsom in Newsom, Symbolic Space, 106. 128 Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," 1.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 32
The first two sections are the focus of this thesis. I have broken them down as follows.
1QS 1:1–15 Introduction 1QS 1:16–1:18a Transition 1QS 1:18b–2:19 Liturgical section
The transition functions as a bridge between the preceding and subsequent sections.
Newsom suggests that the unity of the rule, especially as seen in the 1QS version,
does not come from an author’s effort to give literary unity like that found in the
narratives in the Hebrew Bible, for example. The unity of the Community Rule comes
from the ordering of general topics to fit the life sequence of members of the 129.יחד She
sees these stages of life through which a member of the יחד would live as going “from
motivation, to admission, instruction, life together, and leadership.”130 (Besides praise in
the hymn, Newsom sees a display of leadership.)131
This suggested pattern of organization of 1QS looks at how the text fulfils its
function. It helps support Newsom’s study, which looks at how the individual self is
defined within the world of the text. This insight into 1QS’s organization also helps lay
the ground for my thesis, which looks at how, in the world of the text, the emotions of
members of the group are important to a member’s commitment to the views of the יחד.
Persuasion and emotion overview
An aspect of the opening sections of 1QS is (new or ongoing) persuasion toward
wholehearted commitment to the views and lifestyle of the יחד. We see this persuasion
taking place through emotional processes, not through logical argument. This process of
129 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 107. 130 Ibid. 131 Ibid., 325.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 33
persuasion fits Nussbaum’s cognitive/evaluative theory of emotion. As mentioned in
chapter 1, in this theory, emotions are more than the pleasant or unpleasant sensations to
which we sometimes reduce them. Emotions can be present without sensations. But since
emotions are mental acts, they are embodied in humans and therefore they can occur with
sensations and can have psychological effects.132 Emotions are a way of seeing
something outside the self, through a system of belief about value. This something is an
object judged as essential to one’s flourishing.133
A person encounters an experience that he or she perceives as crucial to flourishing.
This experience is also perceived as beyond the person’s control. The person then
interprets that experience as good or bad, using his or her (conscious or unconscious)
value system. The value system is as essential to the emotion as is the judgment of what
to do in order to flourish. Because emotions are about need, they lead to actions. 134
In terms of universality, Nussbaum says, emotions occur in all normal people. What
varies are norms set by societies, which categorize emotional expectations in their
emphasis on what is important, and in influencing which emotions may be expressed, and
how. The value systems of individuals are formed within these societies. There do seem
to be some emotions that are universal, explainable as part of the evolution of human
adaptation to environment. Fear of darkness, for example, appears to be innate in young
humans.135 But other than this (and similar) universals, societies tend to help individuals
define the value systems that affect emotion. Fear or grief over death, for example, are
132 Nussbaum, Upheavals, 57. 133 Ibid., 27-37. 134 Ibid. 135 Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works (New York: Norton, 1997), 386-389. Nussbaum points out Pinker’s work in Nussbaum, Upheavals, n. 21, p. 151.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 34
treated differently, depending on one’s views of what happens after death and depending
on society’s ideas on whether and how one should grieve. Nussbaum believes that people
from one society can understand the emotions of another, however differently they
manifest, by understanding the experience generating those emotions. This is true
because the flip side of defining emotion as essential to evaluation is that emotion can be
evaluated.136
In this rational age, Nussbaum’s definition of emotion as a cognitive act of
evaluation, about external objects perceived as related to one’s flourishing or not, seems
opposed to decision making by reason. But it is not opposed, if the belief system is in
balance. Such a definition of emotion involves the whole person in the act of critical
judgments, not just reason and not just bias or sensation.
Placed in the context of relationships between humans and the divine, this
cognitive/evaluative theory of emotion is not so far from an interpretation of Hebrew
concepts of seeking God בכול לב ובכול נפש (1QS 1:1–2). Wolff’s Anthropology of the Old
Testament points out the range of meanings of these (and other) words used about the
human being in the Hebrew Bible. Both לב and נפש can include need, feeling, and
deliberation by means of reason, as a person negotiates his or her relationships with other
people and with God. So can רוח, which I discuss below.137 Post-Hellenistic systems of
thought that separate reason from feelings have done us some service. But I suspect that
studies of the Hebrew Bible done from a perspective where emotion is assumed to be part
of decision making might yield insights from which all of us in the present age could
benefit. We do not know for sure how much of these Hebrew viewpoints were 136 Nussbaum, Upheavals, 152-157, 169. 137 Hans Walter Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974), 1-58.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 35
intentionally part of the viewpoints of the יחד. But we do see an affinity for some Hebrew
traditions in the dominant use of Hebrew (not Aramaic or Greek) as the language of the
documents that have survived. We also see heavy use of ancient text phraseology in
documents like 1QS, as well as other documents dedicated to interpreting texts now in
the Hebrew Bible. It is not too far afield to assume that the יחד valued emotion as part of a
person’s decision making about his or her relationship with God.
Just as emotion evaluates, and just as we can evaluate emotion, so we can evaluate
the emotion content of rhetoric shaped to persuade others. In 1QS 1:1–2:19 we see
emotion judgments like those in Nussbaum’s theory at work. In the world of the text, the
explicit object encountered appears to be God’s final, eternal judgment (1QS 1:11, 1QS
2:1). The belief appealed to in the rhetoric is that, in order to flourish, one must be judged
by God as acceptable, not rejected (1QS 1:3–4). In the exhortation in 1QS 1:1–15,
emotion, not logic, is the dominant method of persuasion. In the ritual that follows the
exhortation, enactors are described as performing speech-acts said to realize the results of
their commitment. These are acts that can be said to include emotional fulfillment.
Text overview
As mentioned in chapter 1, the author of the first sections of 1QS speaks for the יחד,
not as an individual.138 His omniscient voice, which is not unlike the narrator speaking on
behalf of God in much of what is now the Hebrew Bible,139 lends a tone of authority to
the text. This יחד for which he speaks purports to be the true Israel, the community of
138 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 108. 139 Sternberg, Poetics, 12.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 36
God, whom God loves (1QS 2:22, 1:12, 1:9). It therefore presents itself as knowing what
it takes to flourish.
Also as stated in chapter 1, the audience is any male religious Jew who feels enough
unease to look for solutions.140 This unease may have been longstanding, which fits
Nussbaum’s background emotion category, or situational—brought on by some crisis
(real or perceived).141 We do not know for sure what that unease might have been about.
It could have been cultural, or religious, or narrower still—unease over some
interpretations within the יחד. But the implied audience has enough unease to look for
change in his religious life, as seen through the tone of the explanations of what is
acceptable throughout 1QS.
The rule’s introduction is analyzed later in this chapter. In the introduction, the
author aims to persuade by using the emotional attachment of religious Jews to their
textual heritage. He attracts his audience’s attention, and implies the authority of the יחד,
by speaking almost exclusively with ancient text phraseology and allusion. Using a
religious Jew’s love for his God and traditional writings, the author first focuses emotion
of unease on fear and then on a release from fear if the “right” (1QS 1:2) choice is made.
Part of this release from fear includes disdain for those who choose otherwise.142 The
author makes his case by his selection of, and sometimes reinterpretation of, religious
text. He also simplifies the world of response to two choices—all or nothing. In
emotional terms, he offers the option to flourish or not.
140 I say male because, as stated earlier, we do not see evidence of how women figured into this version of the rule’s viewpoint, if women were included at all. Scholars have filled in the phrase “all the heart and soul” in 1QS 1:2 by assuming allusion to Deut 4:29. 141 For more on background emotion and situational emotion, see Nussbaum, Upheavals, 69-71. 142 This disdain is explained later in this thesis.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 37
We can see appeal to emotion in the introduction of 1QS, then, in both the order of
the author’s wording and the critical words he uses to help load the rhetoric toward the
choice he wants his audience to make. We can also see emotional appeal in the pairing of
positives and negatives, and in the density of ancient text phraseology.
The liturgy described after the introduction is also examined later in this chapter.
This ritual of entering the covenant uses more obvious emotion words than does the
introduction’s exhortation, but the emotional aspects of the liturgy are also evident in
non-rhetorical aspects of the section’s discourse. In this liturgy, which has affinity with
Deuteronomy 27 and 29,143 the author emotionally confirms “right” decision by showing
ideal actions of members of the group who are said to have made the “right” choice to
“cross over” (forms of עבר) to the יחד. The liturgy is therefore a symbolic reward, in a
sense, for those taking on the views of the group.144
The members take their assigned places (assigned by the group, in its role of acting
as God), and speak and act out their choices.145 This speaking can be seen as what we
now call a speech-act, described in chapter 1.146 The joy of having crossed over, of being
part of the ritual is heightened by the author’s addition of cosmic consequences to the
143 Newsom also points out that the ritual is not dissimilar to the solemn convocation of Nehemiah 8 or to the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16. Newsom, Symbolic Space, 119. 144 This reward is seen in contrasts between who enters the “covenant . . . by the rule”(1QS 1:16) and the ritual curses on those who do not enter (1QS 2:11–18). 145 The hierarchical order is seen in several parts of 1QS. See, for example, the use of the term lot in this liturgical section, the order described immediately after this section (1QS 2:19–25), and the reference to ordering each according to his spirit in 1QS 5:23. 146 As Foucault says, speech-acts are seen as actualization of what is said. They can be viewed as non-emotional in certain contexts. For example, Little looks at medieval curses and says cursing can drain energy from the cursors. Little, "Monastic Curses," 27-28. But here we have a situation where the members of the יחד are privileged to be taking part in the ritual. The emotion comes from inclusion in the group that is perceived to be the group God will accept at the time of judgment (1QS 3:1–6 say that those who refuse to join the יחד cannot repent and atone, so are unclean). So this is the group that is privileged to curse outsiders.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 38
choice made. He does this but including in the rhetoric such words as everlasting and
eternal. (See, for example, 1QS 2:1.)
There is one final aspect to the emotional elements of the liturgical section. It is more
evident after reading later sections of the rule, but it relates to the emotion of those
described as taking part in this ritual. According to 1QS 5:20–5:24, each member was
judged annually on the basis of his behavior. If he was judged to have an acceptable
spirit, he was allowed to cross over (for the first time, or again, depending on whether he
is new or a recommitting member). If he was judged as not having the right spirit, he was
shunned (1QS 8:21–27). Within the world of the text, therefore, we would suppose that
those taking part in the ritual would have two reasons for feeling relief—they would
believe they were on the right side of God’s judgment, and they would have been judged
worthy to be part of the יחד, a group they respect as helping them to flourish in their
relationship with God. Taking part in the ritual, then, is both an enactment of their
commitment and a joyful celebration—an emotional affirmation—of their emotion-led
choice to take part in the “right” vehicle to flourishing.
Reading other parts of the Community Rule back into the liturgical section reveals
another source of joy in taking part in the commitment liturgy. Being included in the יחד
was not easy. Simple intention was inadequate. Inclusion was based on how those in
power judged each member’s “spirit” (רוחום or רוחם) (1QS 5:21, 24), by assessing his
attitude as seen in his behavior. The preferred attitude was wholehearted agreement. Not
only was simple intention or partial agreement unacceptable, it was not even a possibility,
according to the perspectives articulated in the text. The curses in 1QS 2:11–2:18 warn
against such less-than-total agreement, and state that such an unacceptable attitude comes
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 39
from having idols in the heart.147 This whole-being approach to flourishing as part of the
group is also emphasized in much of the rhetoric, by the frequent use of כול (“all”) and in
the rhetorical emphases on whole-being thoughts and actions.148
The emotional aspect of these sections of 1QS need not have been in the author’s
specific intent, as Newsom reminds her readers in reference to her reading for sense of
self. Consciously or not, he has left them in the text, so within the world of the text, they
function as we see them today.149 These techniques are not, however, foreign to the
culture of ancient Jews. Sternberg points out methods of dramatization, selection, and
intrinsic loading by the order of presentation and by accenting words, for example, in his
recommended methods for studying persuasion in the Old Testament.150 As mentioned
earlier, the interest in whole being and emotion as part of flourishing is also in keeping
with Hebrew traditions. This is seen in some of the usage of common words for aspects
of people, words like לב ,נפש, and רוח.
Introduction (1QS 1:1–15)
Below is an outline of the arrangement of the opening sections of the Community
Rule. The outline is in the form of a close paraphrase of the Qimron/Charlesworth text 147 The term idols, of course, would conjure up all sorts of antipathy in a religious Jew. If this group is the more rigid branch of Essenes that Josephus describes, and if Josephus’ description is accurate in this respect, then the extent of the emotion involved in being accepted by the יחד can also be seen externally from 1QS. His description of those who leave this branch of Essenes (and apparently believe their oath is still binding) says the following. “[H]e who is thus separated from them does often die after a miserable manner; for as he is bound by the oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been engaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to famish his body with hunger, till he perish; for which reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp, out of compassion to them, as thinking the miseries they have endured till they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment for the sins they had been guilty of.” Flavius Josephus, "War," Book II, ch. VIII:8. 148 These aspects are detailed in the commentary sections of this chapter. 149 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 137. 150 See especially, pages 476ff in Sternberg, Poetics.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 40
and translation, with some key words in Hebrew.151 This outline is designed to show as
visually as possible how emotion is an aspect of this section.
Words and phrases in the message of the document, which are familiar from ancient
text and which would arouse the attention and loyalty of the audience, are single-score
underlined. Words that involve a person’s whole being (ideas of flourishing) and
strengthen the appeal to emotion in order to engender commitment to the יחד are double-
score underlined. Goals pursued in the cognitive/evaluative act of emotion are displayed as
follows. The plus sign (+) to the left indicates a quality that would attract a member, or
prospective member, of the יחד—one that would be seen as helping that member to
flourish. The minus sign (–) indicates a quality that a member would want to avoid.
Positive qualities to develop because they avoid a negative quality are marked +/–. In this
outline, I have broken up the physical lines of 1QS in order to display the author’s
rhetorical arrangement. I reference the document’s physical lines in the right-hand column.
Outline
+ In order to seek God with [all the heart and soul] [כול לב ובכול נפש], 2–1:1 + doing what is good and right (הטוב והישר) before him, 1:2 + as he commanded through Moses 1:3 + and through all his servants the prophets:152 1:3
151 See Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," 6-9. In this thesis, as in Qimron/Charlesworth, words in brackets are what scholars have reconstructed for lacunae in the scrolls; words in parentheses clarify meaning in English. I assume here that 1QS 1:1–15 can be read as the introduction to the whole version of the rule, rather than as the introduction to just a section, based partially on Metso, who argues that it is reasonable to assume this section is meant to be an introduction to the whole document, not just to the section of the rule before the next introductory passage, which is 1QS 5:1–7. My thesis also sees 1QS 1:1–15 as introducing the whole rule, because of the conversation set up by this section. That conversation previews the rest of the Community Rule. For more detailed arguments on what the introduction is meant to do in terms of “doctrine” of the group that used the rule, see Metso, Textual Development, 122 ff. See also Newsom, Symbolic Space, 106-107. 152 There are many Dead Sea Scrolls quotations, direct and indirect, from writings of the prophets and from the written Torah.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 41
(one must): + love (אהב) what he has chosen 1:3 – hate (ׂשנא) all that he has rejected 1:4 + adhere to all good works 1:4 – keep away from all evil 1:5 + perform truth (אמת) and righteousness and justice (צדקה משפת) upon the earth 1:5
(be one) to walk no longer with: +/– stubbornness of a guilty heart 1:6 +/– lustful eyes doing all evil 1:6–7
(be among)
+ all those who [freely]153 devote themselves to do the statutes of God (חוקי אל) 1:7 + (those who are received) into the covenant of mercy (ברית חסד) 1:8 + (those who are to be) joined (להיחד) to the council of God (עץת אל) 1:8 + (those who) walk perfectly (תמים) before him154 1:8 + (according to) all revealed (laws) at their appointed times 1:9 + (those who) love (a form of אהב) all the sons of light (ינב אור ) 1:9 + each according to his lot in the council of God (עץת אל) 10–1:9 – (and those who) hate (form of ׂשנא) all the sons of darkness ( ךחוש ינב ) 1:10 – each according to his guilt at the vengeance of God155 1:10–11
+ all those devoting themselves to his truth 1:11 + (by) bringing into the community of God (יחד אל) all + their knowledge (דעת), and 1:11 + their strength (כוח), and 1:11 + their property (הון)12–1:11 156 + (those who want to benefit by being able to) strengthen their knowledge (דעת) 1:12 + by the truth (אמת) of God’s statutes (חוקי אל) 1:12 + (those who) discipline their strength (form of כוח) 1:12 153 Newsom’s translation of 1QS 1:7–8 is “freely offer themselves to observe the statutes of God in a covenant of loyalty.” Newsom, Symbolic Space, 69. 154 The word translated perfectly here is the adjective תמים, which has connotations of being blameless. The same root recurs in 1QS 1:13, with the noun תם, which has connotation of integrity. Martin G. Abegg, Jr. et al., The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, 2 vols., vol. 2 (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003), 764. Koehler and Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1752. 155 The phrase “vengeance of God” is the time of God’s final judgment. Elisha Qimron, James H. Charlesworth, and Michael T. Davis, "Notes to Rule of the Community," in Rule of the Community and Related Documents, ed. James H. Charlesworth, with F. M. Cross, J. Milgrom, E. Qimron, L. H. Schiffman, L. T. Stuckenbruck, and R. E. Whitaker, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations (Tübingen and Louisville, KY: J.C.B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), n. 12, p. 7. 156 Property itself is neutral, but being able to bring it to the יחד is seen as a privilege. This is not yet obvious in this introductory section, but the concept is developed in the liturgical section and later in the rule (See 1QS 3:2-3.) Here it is positive only by association with knowledge and strength. In addition, as Newsom points out, Wernberg-Møller argues that all three expressions—knowledge (דעת), strength (כוח), and property (הון)—here allude to intellectual capacity. If we accept Nussbaum’s definition of cognitive/evaluation for emotions, we could read these three qualities as parts of the whole being involved in flourishing. Newsom, Symbolic Space, 114. Wernberg-Møller, "Biblical Material," n.2, p. 54.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 42
+ according to the perfection of his ways (תם) 1:13 + (those who discipline) all their property (form of הון) 1:13 + according to his righteous counsel (form of עצת צדקו) 1:13 +/– (those who are able to) not deviate (ולוא לצעוד) 1:13 from any single one of all the commands of God (דברי אל) in their times 1:13–14 +/– (those who are not) early in their times nor late from all their seasons 1:14–15 +/– (those who are able) not to turn aside (ולוא לסור) from his true statutes (מחוקי אמתו) 1:15 by walking either (to) the right or (to) the left 1:15
Commentary
Below is a commentary on rhetorical elements in the introduction that build emotional
involvement of the reader. The word lines in this commentary refers to the line numbers
of 1QS, not to any count of the displayed lines of the preceding outline.157
1. Above the outline’s double line is the focus of exhortation—seeking God wholly—with
all the heart (לב) and soul (נפש)—as commanded through Moses and the prophets.
All the lines below the double line explicate how the author wants his audience to seek
God wholly—with all the heart (לב) and soul (נפש)—as defined by the יחד. The familiar
phrases in 1QS 1:1–3 set the stage for what is to come: the author’s ideas about what is
entailed in doing that which is good and right (1QS 1:2), and how totally that is required
in order to be loved by God and not rejected. These ideas are presented in religious
language drawn from ancient Hebrew texts—language that invites the listener to want to
hear more.
2. Allusions to ancient text abound. Besides the reference to Deut 4:29, noted earlier, 1QS
1:11 also refers to Deut 6:5, which says, “You shall love the LORD your God (יוה אלהיך)
with all your heart (לבבך) and with all your soul (נפשך) and with all your might (מאדך).”
These words invite the attention of all religious Jews.
157 The scroll’s physical lines breaks are not arranged to put emphasis on words, as poetry does. They are broken according to the space on the scroll, except where the leather is too rough to take inscription, or where there is a new major section of 1QS, or where the scribe apparently had trouble reading his Vorlage, and so left room for insertion. Metso describes this kind of detail in chapter 1. See especially Metso, Textual Development, 14-15. The spacing of the scroll, and its vacats, can also be seen in photographs of 1QS. See Trever, Cave I Scrolls, 126-147.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 43
Wernberg-Møller lists the following verses with similar phraseology to this section:
-Deut 12:28 for 1QS 1:2; -Josh 14:2, Josh 21:8, and 2 Kgs 17:23 for 1QS 1:3; -Deut 28:15, and Is 56:2 for 1QS 1:7; and -a non-Hebrew-Bible version of Ezra 10:3 for 1QS 1:13.
Wernberg-Møller also points out that the “fixed time” in 1QS 1:14 is similar to the
reference to a fixed time in 2 Sam 20:5.
A section where Wernberg-Møller sees that the 1QS author has used ancient text with
new meanings is 1QS 1:12, which 1QS says “strengthen knowledge” (לברר דעתם); this is
a change from Job 33:3, which uses the verb ברר to mean “be clean.”158
3. A few major passages of ancient text not mentioned above are:
-1QS 1:2 approximates wording of Deut 6:17–18, which says, “Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws (מצות . . . ועדתיך וחקיו) that the LORD your God has enjoined upon you. Do what is right and good (הישר והטוב) in the sight of the LORD. . .”
-In addition, in Deut 7:8, which concludes with why Israel should keep God’s rules and commandments, Moses reminds the people that God loved them (a form of אהב), and that is why he freed them from Egypt and would bless them with land and progeny if they remained faithful to him.
4. All 48 words or phrases (single- or double-) underlined are common to ancient texts, and
are used to set a tone similar to that of texts now part of the Hebrew Bible. Such words
important to Jews of the Second Temple era159 hit at the loyalties (probably) built up
from childhood: covenant, Torah,160 laws, statutes, commands, prophets, Moses,
righteousness, justice, good works, truth, council of God, and phrases about walking in
his ways. They also lend a tone of authority to the text. In order to guide the reader to the
intended conclusion, that author ensures that aspects of covenant that relate to avoidance
of idolatry and rewards of prosperity and land are minimized, while aspects of covenant
that relate to narrow definitions of obedience to cultic law are maximized.
5. The word כול (all) is used 15 times in the these 15 lines. This is an aspect of how the
author offers only two choices of response in his all-or-nothing worldview. The all-or-
158 Wernberg-Møller, "Biblical Material," n. 1, p. 41, and pp. 46, 53, 65. 159 The frequency of use of these terms, as opposed to their being meant only as references to Deuteronomy itself, can be seen in Second Temple writings of various genres. The fact that such terms were used commonly throughout Jewish culture of this era is also pointed out in Newsom, Symbolic Space, 10ff. She does not, however, attempt to give any full list of such terms. 160 The word Torah is not used in 1Q 1:1–15, but it is used later in the rule.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 44
nothing expectation of perfection is seen in 1QS 1:8, 1QS 1:13, and elsewhere. (The
dualistic all-or-nothing worldview previewed in this section is made especially clear later
in the Community Rule, in the treatise on two spirits, 1QS 3:13–4:26.)
6. There are 25 instances of double-underscored words or phrases, indicating whole being,
or flourishing. If property (הון) is read here to mean one’s abilities, as noted earlier, there
are 27 such instances of words or phrases relating to whole being in these 15 lines of
text. Of these words/phrases, 4 are negative qualities one actively rejects and 5 are acts
one passively avoids, leaving the majority of statements fully positive. As mentioned
earlier, whole being was important to the Hebrew concept of personhood. It also relates
to Nussbaum’s cognitive/evaluative definition of emotion—goals or projects that affect
one’s flourishing are those that positively affect one’s whole being.
These terms include love and hate in relation to people’s relationships with God and
others—words that can be affective or not. (See discussion in chapter 4.) Covenant of
favor/mercy (ברית חסד)—a particularly enticing phrase—is accompanied by only two
choices—inclusion or exclusion. The audience would naturally tend toward the positive
of the two options offered—sons of light and not sons of darkness. In addition,
perfection for people is used in an exclusive sense of dedication to a given lifestyle, not
in the general sense of wholeness or health or flourishing seen in writings now in the
Hebrew Bible.161
7. Order of presentation helps lead attention to points the author wants to make. Two
phrases about what one wants to avoid (marked +/–) in 1:6 and 1:7—stubbornness of a
guilty heart (לב), and lustful eyes (form of עין) doing all evil (רע)—end the first
subsection of the explanation, which defines doing good in general terms. This section is
about four lines long. It begins with love/hate. Those seeking God (1:1–2) and wanting
to adhere to all good works (1:5) will perform/work/do truth, righteousness, and justice
on earth. By contrast, they will keep away from all evil (1:4) by no longer walking with
stubbornness of a guilty heart, and lustful eyes (1:6–7).162 Wolff’s previously discussed
161 See previous note on תם and תמים. 162 Heart ( בל ) was seen as the seat of moral decision. Michael Meslin, "Heart," in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. Lindsay Jones (Detroit: Macmillan, 2005). Whoredom (זנות) was a common metaphor for unfaithfulness to God. Abegg et al., DSS Concordance, 246; Koehler and Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 275ff. This whole phrase can also be translated “follow the inclination of guilt and passion of whoredom.” Qimron, Charlesworth, and Davis, "Community Rule (Notes)," n. 6, p. 7.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 45
explanations remind us that a usage of eyes and heart together is likely to be a Hebrew
way of describing whole person.
8. Beginning with line 7, the way to seek God by doing good is defined more narrowly:
They should devote themselves to the actions related to the יחד. This subsection is also
about four lines long. It concludes with sons of light and sons of darkness, each with a
qualification—phrases which take the weight of the subsection. Within it, this section
offers the shelter of a covenant named one of favor/mercy (חסד) (1QS 1:8)—an intense
cultural concept that involves one’s whole being, and which any Jew would crave,
especially in times of repression and chaos. Devotion—another term of whole self—is
what is said to be required to be received into this covenant, which the author equates to
the “council of God”(1:8). Devotion opens this section, as love and hate did the previous
one. The terms love and hate are repeated in this section as well, in lines 9 and 10.
9. The last five lines speak of specific traits for those devoting themselves in the
“community of God” (1:11). Devotion again opens the subsection. God’s acceptance
(1QS 1:3) is not simply a result of studying Torah.163 Acceptance comes from bringing
all one has—knowledge, strength, and property (1:11–12)—to the יחד. (This theme is
developed later in the document.)164 Here, the importance of submitting these essential
parts of a person’s whole earthly being is reinforced by how lines 11 through 13 mention
dedication of these qualities twice, in inverted order, followed by a reward: the ability
“to not to deviate from any single one of all the commands of God in their times.” This
reward appears in 3 positive statements of avoidance (marked +/–) in the last lines of the
introduction—1QS 1:13–15.
10. According to Newsom, the concept of knowledge in this section is at odds with the
knowledge presented in Deuteronomy. There, knowledge is not seen as belonging to an
elite, but as “transparent and unproblematic” if a person paid careful attention to the
teachings and passed them down to the next generation (Deut 4:1, 5:1, 4:9–10).
Although Deuteronomy does not invite innovative interpretations, the book presents the
word as “very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, [in order for us] to observe 163 The path of studying Torah is defined later in the 1QS version of the rule—in columns 8 and 9. But the focus on the source of חסד in this opening is a clue that the covenant the author means is related to the community’s version of how to live the covenant, not to broader concepts that can include other groups’ interpretations. 164 In 1QS 3:2, for example, submitting property is implied to be a privilege and part of atonement. See also the previous note that property can be read to mean one’s intellectual capacity.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 46
it” (Deut 30:14).165 Here in 1QS, the יחד presents knowledge as in need of strengthening
in order to walk perfectly, and the יחד is the group portrayed as understanding God’s true
statutes (1QS 1:12, 1:15). Other passages of the Community Rule and other Qumranic
documents, like the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa) spell out in more detail how and
when knowledge should be gained, and who judges when it is present or not.166
11. There are 25 positive statements in this outline. There are 4 statements of actively
rejecting negative states (marked –). And there are two sets of positive statements about
what to avoid (marked +/–)—the first of these sets is the set of 2 about halfway through
the introduction, discussed in comment 7 above. The last set, which winds up the
introduction, is a set of 3, described in comment 9 above. Its threefold, less positive form
prepares the reader for the transition that follows.
The heavy use of positive statements, even to using positive forms of negatives the
audience will want to avoid, is more inviting than would be a list of negatives. The list of
positives also reinforces the idea that in the community, the member will be enabled, not
just to walk in the ways of the law, but to do so better than others—in fact, perfectly
(1QS 1:8, 1:13). This is a reassuring presentation that, at the time of God’s final
judgment, those who are part of the יחד will be pleasing to God (subsection 2).167
12. The goal of flourishing is brought into focus by the word אל (God) being used 8 times;
the יחד is implied to be God’s spokesperson by juxtaposition in lines 8, 10, 12, and 13–
15.
13. The moral world in the introduction has been reduced to two choices.
a. Those defined as sons of darkness are said to be among those rejected by God (1QS
1:4); to be stubborn and of a guilty heart, with lustful eyes doing all evil (1QS 1:6–7);
to be judged guilty at the time of God’s final judgment (1QS 1:10–11); and who have
165 The insights in this paragraph are from Newsom, Symbolic Space, 31-32. 166 See especially, 1QSa. A commentary on this document is Lawrence H. Schiffman, Eschatological Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Study of the Rule of the Congregation (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989). Those who could have been among those whom members of the יחד would have considered to misunderstand God’s true statutes could have included temple teachers, wisdom teachers, and other worship or study groups; Jewish or Hellenistic/Roman intellectuals; or those who saw a person’s own study of whatever scriptures one considered authoritative as fruitful. 167 See the note about how Qimron/Charlesworth translate “vengeance of God” in lines 1:10–11, which ends subsection 2.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 47
turned aside from his true statutes (1QS 1:15). Such a condensed picture could help
generate an emotional crisis of aversion or fear in a religious Jew.
b. Those defined as sons of light are said to be chosen by God (1QS 1:3), keeping to all
good works and avoiding evil; doing truth, righteousness, and justice; devoting
themselves to God’s statutes; received into the covenant of mercy; joined to God’s
council; walking perfectly with all his revealed laws; devoting themselves to truth by
bringing all their capacities into God’s יחד; and then many of these qualities are
repeated again in the last four lines of the introduction. Such a condensed picture
could help generate an emotional decision based on attraction and yearning in a
religious Jew.
The author leaves the weight of the introduction on the positives, to invite
commitment with an implied promise that those who join the יחד will receive love and
approval by the divine. Who could resist?
Transition (1QS 1:16–1:18a)
In 1QS, the end of the introduction is followed by a repetition of the reasons given to
join the יחד. The reasons are to act according to everything (כול) God commanded (1QS
1:17). The author then shows that crossing over into the covenant before God
יאלפנ אל) is how to actualize the doing (בסרכ היחד) by the rule of the community 168(בברית
of all God’s commands. Before describing the solemn act of entering and
crossing over (form of עבר)
however, lines 17–18a give one final warning not to turn back
because of any terror, dread, affliction, or agony during the reign of Belial.
168 Qimron and Charlesworth have marked the א in אלפני in this 1QS 1:16 phrase as erased by the scribe. Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," xi, 8.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 48
This is a contrast to the first verb in the following liturgical section. That verb is praise
(1QS 1:19). But here in the transition, joining the יחד is presented as no lighthearted act.
Some apparently are afraid to do so. The seriousness of joining is also obvious from
(a) the oath taken upon joining, which is referred to later in the document, in 1QS 5:8;
this oath may in part be the wording given in the liturgical section of 1QS 1:16–2:19;
(b) the proscriptions against those who choose to leave the community and those who
initiate contact with former members, seen later in the Community Rule, in 1QS 8:21–
9:1; and (c) the highly ritualistic liturgy described for entering the יחד in the section
following the transition. With its tone of warning spoken in terms of 4 negative emotions,
this transition moves the reader from the positive-toned introduction, with its emotion-
laced rhetoric, to the liturgy, with its blessings and curses and its use of emotion as act.
Other versions of text parallel to 1QS 1:1–18a
Three cave 4 manuscripts have surviving portions that include parts of what is found
in 1QS 1:1–18a. They are 4Q255 (1QSa), which has text parallel to 1QS 1:1–5,169 and
4Q256 (1QSb), which has text parallel to 1QS 1:16 to past 18b–29.170 Alexander and
Vermes also see a possible fragmentary parallel to 1QS 1:10 in 4Q257 (1QSc).171 The
extant introduction texts read almost the same as what is found in 1QS.
Alexander and Vermes surmise that 4Q255 may have been a fairly complete copy of
the rule at one time, that its introduction to the rule may have been slightly shorter than
the introduction in 1QS, and that 4Q255 probably once contained a version of the treatise
169 Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 31. 170 Ibid., 47. 171 Ibid., 70.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 49
on two spirits, but a different version from that in 1QS 3:13–4:26.172 Neither Metso nor
Alexander and Vermes venture to speak of a redaction tradition for 4Q255, however,
given its fragmentary state.
By paleographic dating, 4Q255 is an earlier copy than the surviving copy of 1QS,
and 4Q256 is copied later than 1QS.173 As noted on Table 1, however, Metso has
assigned the text of 4Q256 to the later stage of her redaction tradition B, which she
suggests was in use sometime before the tradition C and D found in 1QS.
By Metso’s scheme, then, the rhetoric in 1QS 1:1–18a was not included in tradition
O, the proposed original version of the rule. Neither was it included in the early stage of
tradition B—4Q258 (4QSd). In addition, it may not have existed in tradition A’s 4Q259
(4QSe), though that is not certain. It was added to the later stage of tradition B, as seen in
4Q256 (4QSb), and it existed in traditions C and D (1QS). At least some of the rhetoric in
1QS 1:1–18a was therefore in use before 100 BCE and it remained in use for many years.
Since Metso shows how the Community Rule was changed in response to the need of the
community using it, we might look at what we can see of those needs in terms of
emotion.
Emotion in 1QS 1:1–18a
As stated in the overview to this section, the most obvious emotion dealt with in this
section is the intended audience’s fear of not doing what the יחד author says God has
required of his people when he commanded them to seek him with all the heart and soul.
The fear works to focus any unease the audience might have had, onto the world the 172 Ibid., 46-47. The treatise is not included in this study, but it is important to the redaction traditions Metso proposes. 173 Metso, Textual Development, 140.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 50
author presents. The fear is implied, and it centers on the day of judgment, which is
mentioned in 1QS 1:10–11, and later in the document—in the liturgical section that
follows, for example. This fear is developed as a result of the author’s having limited
familiar phrases from ancient text to his proffered context, and having limited choice of
action to all-or-nothing. For example, he does not offer an option for atonement for
having broken a law. He speaks only of keeping away from all evil and adhering to all
good works (1QS 1:4–5). These limited choices (which are highlighted in the outline of
the section) are not only presented as paired opposites of each other. They are also
emphasized in the heavy use of the word כול and in the stated need for perfection (which
is mentioned twice—in 1QS 1:8 and in 1:13).
Within the proffered set of choices, a promise of deliverance from fear is developed
by depicting the confidence of those who are said to have chosen what is good and right
(1QS 1:2). This confidence is implied in the overwhelmingly positive phrasing of the
section, with its subsections that depict what doing good is, juxtaposed to that of doing
evil. This enticing confidence from doing good is defined as being in God’s “covenant of
mercy” (1QS 1:8).
As shown in the preceding outline and in the comments, these subsections are laced
with phrases about wholehearted action—either by using explicit words like love and
hate and devotion and mercy, or by juxtaposing other phrases with such words. The
limited choices of the text world of 1QS 1–3 depict God as the source of good emotions
like compassion (רחם), mercy (חסד), and joy. This helps move the audience toward the
choice the author intends.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 51
The positive tone of this section, which explicates the first 3 lines, is also seen in the
4 statements (marked with a –) that speak of good acts that actively reject negative
qualities. Even these negatives thus imply that the sons of light will be loved and chosen
(1QS 1:3).
There are 5 statements of negative actions to avoid (marked with +/–, to show that
they are not acts, but avoidance of acts). The first two of the five are about halfway
through the introduction, at 1QS 1:6–7. They use Hebrew words that can refer to whole
being—heart (לב) and eyes.174 This pair winds up the first set of lines that pair good
against evil, statement by statement.
The last three of the five statements of actions to avoid are at the end of the
introduction. These three statements, which speak of not doing what a person would want
to avoid, move the audience away from feeling too secure about what they will be if they
choose to become a son a light. Phrased as they are, they remind the audience of who
they will be if they do not agree to act as a son light. The last contains an extra repetition
to drive the point home. These three statements prepare the audience for the transition to
the liturgical section.
The transition reminds the audience of the importance to do everything God
commanded. Here the author is explicit about the fears he apparently hopes he has
developed in order to strengthen resolve to join the יחד. In the transitional text of 1QS
1:17–18, those who do not join the group are clearly depicted as actively acting to refuse
to join because of fear. They are said to turn back because of terror, dread, affliction, and
agony. In keeping with the either/or worldview of the text, the author attributes these 174 Parts of the body, like eyes, can be used to refer to the whole body, especially when juxtaposed with whole-being words like לב. Wolff, Anthropology, 7-9.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 52
fears to the reign of Belial. There is no talk of understanding or forgiveness for those who
turn back. Against all the previous pairing of positive and negative statements for sons of
light, the omission is glaring. Here in the transitional text, Belial is said to be the source
of painful manifestations of fear.
Taking the limited choices for serving God that are offered in the text, any implied
audience member could easily agree that choosing to turn back, and choosing not join the
would be counterproductive to his (or possibly her) own flourishing. Within ,יחד
Nussbaum’s definition of emotion, then, this audience member would make an emotional
choice to join (or not).
The text is more than a text of persuasion through emotion, however. It also reflects
the way the person who wrote it sees the world. The author too has made his commitment
to the יחד. And since he speaks in the voice of the יחד, the text reflects the kind of
discourse that took part within the group of the יחד that added these sections to the rule.
This discourse would be a constant reminder to members, as well as to potential converts,
of what the יחד was, how it was seen as different from other Jews, and what the יחד
thought about those not in the יחד, either by “lot” (1QS 1:9, 1QS 2:1–2) or by free
choice.175
As mentioned earlier, the audience most likely to have been originally named in the
missing portion of 1QS 1:1–2 is the maskil. The broader audience, though, is all those
who would have heard this kind of discourse, either directly from this text or as part of
the spirit taught by the maskil. The maskil’s job was to impart the spirit of the יחד seen in
this discourse—a spirit of constant, wholehearted commitment and fear of not doing so 175 For free choice in the introduction of the Community Rule, see the note to lines 1QS 1:7–8 in the preceding outline of the introduction.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 53
well enough—to others, on a day-to-day basis. He, or others in senior positions, would
have imparted this spirit by word and behavior to potential converts and to continuing
members.176 This is part of how the יחד maintained itself for about two hundred years.
This spirit is seen even more fully in the liturgical section.
Here in the transition, an explicit statement on negative emotion sets the stage for the
reward for crossing over to the group, where there will be joy and praise to God for those
who become sons of light.
Liturgical section (1QS 1:18b–2:19)177
For the liturgical section, I have again paraphrased the Qimron/Charlesworth text
and translation of 1QS. I have used the same line numbering and + and – marking system
here that I used for the introduction. This liturgical section is the author’s dramatization
of this ceremony of admission, or readmission, for those who choose, or are approved to
re-choose, to adopt the lifestyle of the יחד. The outline and its markings help show the
proportion of positive and negative statements used in the ritual, to give members
confidence that they’ve made the correct choice in their place in God’s hierarchy. Here,
unlike in the “rhetoric as rhetoric” in the first section, the author depicts “acts per se” in
his text.
The liturgy is placed directly after the introduction and its transitional lines, and
before a commentary on the liturgy (1QS 2:20–3:12) and the unique treatise on two
176 See the “Figured worlds” section of chapter 2 of this thesis for more on Newsom’s reminder of the figured world’s indication of internalized words. 177 I have divided this section differently from others. Metso includes verses through 3:12 in her liturgical section, which she then subdivides. See Metso, Textual Development, 110-112. It seems to me that lines 2:23 through 3:12, like line 2:19 are an explanation of why the liturgy is as it is, not a description of the liturgy itself, so it seems clearer to call them different sections.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 54
spirits (1QS 3:13–4:26) that gives a detailed outline of the group’s dualistic worldview.
These sections are not within the scope of this study, but the placement of the liturgical
section before them is significant. By the time the audience has heard or read up to the
point of 1QS 2:19, he (or less possibly she) is emotionally prepared to see the need for
the sterner sections of the rule that follow.
The liturgy can be outlined as follows.
Outline
+ (When the members) cross over (form of עבר) into the covenant: 1:18b
priests and Levites: 1:18b–19
+ · praise the God of salvation and all his true works 1:19
those who cross over (form of עבר): 1:20 + · respond by saying, “Amen, amen” (אמן אמן) 1:20
priests then: + · report the righteousness of God and of wondrous works178 1:21 + · recount all (God’s) merciful (a form of חסד) acts of love 179toward Israel 1:22
Levites then: – · enumerate the iniquities of the sons of Israel 1:22–23 – all their guilty transgressions 1:23 – their sins during the dominion of Belial 1:23–24
those who cross over (form of עבר): 1:24 +/– · confess, saying, “We (and our fathers) have 1:24, 25 +/– · perverted ourselves, 1:24 +/– · rebelled 1:25 +/– · sinned 1:25 +/– · acted impiously by walking [. . . ] 1:25 +/– · state that they and their fathers deserve judgment 1:26 by the true and righteous God of Israel180 1:26 178 According to Charlesworth and Davis, the Hebrew wording here is ambiguous as to whom these wondrous works belong. Qimron, Charlesworth, and Davis, "Community Rule (Notes)," n. 21, p. 9. 179 This is a different word for love than אהב. The base verb רחם has more of a sense of acting compassionately. Abegg et al.,
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 55
+ · and state that God’s loving mercy (ורחמי חסדו) has been given them 2:1 + “from eternity to eternity” 2:1
priests then: + · ritually bless “all the men of God’s lot who walk perfectly in all his ways 2:1–2 · saying: + “ May he bless you with all good, and keep you from all evil; 2:2–3 + may he enlighten your heart with insight for living 2:3 + may he favor you with eternal knowledge. 2:3 + may he lift up his merciful (form of חסד) countenance toward you + for eternal peace (שלום).” 2:4
Levites then: – · ritually curse all the men of Belial’s lot 2:4–5 _ · saying, – “Cursed be you in all your guilty (and) wicked works. 2:5 – May God give you up (to) terror through all avengers. 2:5–6 – May he visit upon you destruction through all those who take revenge. 2:6–7 – Cursed be you without compassion (form of רחם) 2:7 – in accordance with the darkness of your works 2:7 – Damned be you in everlasting murky fire. 2:7–8 – May God not be compassionate (form of the verb חנן)181 until you cry out. 2:8 – May he not forgive you by covering over your iniquity. 2:8 – May he lift up his angry countenance to wreak his vengeance upon you. 2:9 – May there be no peace (שלום) for you 2:9 – according to all who hold fast to the fathers.” 2:9
those who cross over (form of עבר): 2:10 + · say, “Amen, amen.” 2:10
priest and Levites: – · say, “Because of the idols of his heart which he worships, 2:11 – · cursed be he who enters into this covenant 2:12 – and puts the stumbling-block of his iniquity before him 2:12 – so that he backslides. . . , or 2:12 – when he hears the words of the covenant 2:13 – blesses himself erroneously, saying, 2:13 – ‘Peace (שלום) be with me, 2:13 – for I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ 2:14 – · May his spirit be destroyed 2:14 – (suffering) thirst along with saturation, 2:14 – without forgiveness 2:14–15 – · May God’s wrath and his angry judgments flare up against him 2:15 – for everlasting destruction, and 2:15 – · may all the curses of this covenant stick to him. 2:16 – · May God set him apart for evil 2:16 181 The verb חנן means to show favor. Abegg et al., DSS Concordance, 270.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 56
– that he may be cut off from all the sons of light 2:16 – because of his backsliding from God 2:16–17 – through his idols and the stumbling-block of his iniquity. 2:17 – · May he put his lot among those who are cursed forever.” 2:17
those who enter the covenant: + · say, “Amen, amen.” 2:18
After 1QS 2:18, there is then an explanatory sentence in the rule, that says during
all the days of the reign of Belial,
this ritual will be enacted
year after year (1QS 2:19).
Commentary
A basic list of how 1QS 1:18b–2:19 is written to emotionally engage the reader is below.
Again, the line numbers cited are those of 1QS, not of the lines that can be counted in the
outline.
1. The 76 (single- or double-) underlined words and phrases in 1QS 1:18b–2:18, both
single- and double-underscored, represent familiar religious terms that support
confidence on the part of the audience that the יחד can help members flourish. In 1QS
1:18b–2:18, however, the author presents most of these words and phrases as being
spoken aloud. They are therefore speech-acts performed by those who have been
persuaded by the spirit of the יחד. This spirit can be detected throughout 1QS, including
the introduction just analyzed. There are 47 instances of words or phrases in this
subsection identified as pertaining to emotion, including praise, mercy, love, guilt, bless,
heart, evil, compassion, terror, darkness, lack of forgiveness, and anger. It is not
surprising, given that this is a liturgy, that more of the emotion words in this section are
closer to expressed feelings than we need to associate with a cognitive/evaluative
emotion.
2. The most obvious allusions to ancient Hebrew texts are the blessings and curses used to
separate the members from the world gone wrong. The ritual acts related here would
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 57
engender confidence, in part, by its reliving the blessings and curses related in texts now
part of the Hebrew Bible. Deuteronomy 27 speaks of Moses and the elders instructing
the people to enact the following ritual after they cross over (form of עבר) the Jordan,
into a valley bounded by two high hills. A group that includes Levites (Deut 26:12)
stands on Mount Gerizim and another group stands on Mount Ebal. The Levites
proclaim curses on those who prefer idols or insult parents of mislead others or
otherwise break the basic commandments they have just inscribed onto rock. After each
of the twelve curses, the people say, Amen (Deut 27:15–26). Blessings are also
proclaimed, but how and what they are is ambiguous in this passage. Deuteronomy 28,
however, has Moses listing blessings for those who “keep the commandments . . . and
walk in His ways” (Deut 28:9). The blessings are about progeny, prosperity, and respect,
and the following curses in Deuteronomy 28 are about illness, lack of children, and
political defeat. As noted earlier, Newsom also points out that the 1QS ritual is not
dissimilar to the solemn convocation of Nehemiah 8 or to the Day of Atonement
described in Leviticus 16.182
3. Wernberg-Møller lists the following affinities in phraseology to ancient Hebrew texts.
-1QS 1:18: Deut 29:11 -1QS 1:19: Isa 12:2 -1QS 2:1: Isa 63:7 -1QS 2:2: Deut 10:12, 11:22 -1QS 2:3: Ps 121:7 -1QS 2:5ff: Jer 29:18 -1QS 2:8: Ps 4:2, Ps 86:3, Lev 4:26, 31, etc. -1QS 2:16ff: Zeph 1:6183
Johann Maier lists:
-1QS 1:24: 1 Kgs 8:47 -1QS 2:2ff: Deut 27–29 -1QS 2:12-16: Deut 29:18-20 -1QS 2:17: Ezek 14:3184
These lists speak to the heavy use of texts to which members would be loyal, and which
would bring them joy to actualize.
182 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 119. 183 Wernberg-Møller, "Biblical Material," n. 1, p. 41. 184 Johann Maier, Die Qumran-Essener: Die Texte vom Toten Meer, vol. Band III (München: Ernst Reinhardt, 1996), 161-182.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 58
4. The word כול (all) is used here 14 times in the 27 lines between 1QS 1:18b and
1QS 2:18.
A new word is introduced to add weight to decision making: variations of עולם (eternal).
Whether the word is used with an understanding of an afterlife or not is not important; it
is a powerful word that affects the emotional decision making if the statements are taken
at face value. One of these uses is doubled; it is a statement of the sons of light receiving
God’s everlasting compassionate mercy in 1QS 2:1, following a confession of sin. A
single use in 1QS 2:3 refers to everlasting knowledge in a blessing the sons of light
receive after this confession. The other 3 are negatives: one is in a curse on the men in
Belial’s lot (1QS 2:7–8) and refers to a vivid picture of their fate—everlasting murky
fire. The other 2 are reserved for the curses on those who join the יחד without
wholehearted agreement (1QS 2:15, 17). The second of these is the last word in the curse
section, taking the weight of all the preceding curses (1QS 2:17).
5. There are only 15 totally positive statements in these 27 lines. There are 35 negative
statements, and there are 6 that I have marked as statements of avoidance. These are the
confessional statements of sin. The weight of the section has changed from the positive
statements in the introduction to much more negativity toward those not in agreement
with the יחד. These negative statements contain 27 of the 44 emotion words, contributing
to the emotional tone of the liturgy. Those cursed are divided into two groups. A
relatively brief set of curses (5 lines; 12 emotion words) are given to those “of Belial’s
lot.” These may have been seen as having been assigned there by God, not having
chosen to be there. A longer set of curses (7 lines; 12 emotion words) is used on those
who join halfheartedly. This section ends the ritual, so it is what would sit in one’s heart
upon departing.
6. The division of the moral world into only two choices is emphasized first by the physical
act of crossing over (the verb רעב is used 4 times), then by the division of ritual enactors:
priests make two rounds of positive statements—an enumeration of God’s mercy and
love for Israel (1QS 1:2–22), and a short list of blessings (1QS 2:1–4); Levites speak two
rounds of negative statements—an enumeration of transgressions of Israelites under the
dominion of Belial (1QS 1:22–23), and a list of curses against “all the men of Belial’s
lot” (1QS 2:4–9); together, priests and Levites praise God briefly at the beginning (1QS
1:18–19), and give the longest list of curses against those who enter the covenant
without total agreement with the יחד (1QS 2:11–17); the members respond “Amen,
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 59
amen,” after the initial praises, after the Levites curses of the men of Belial’s lot, and at
the end, after the curses against those entering the covenant less than wholeheartedly.
The members also confess their sins and speak of receiving God’s mercy—forever and
ever—for themselves and their fathers (1QS 1:25–2:1). Such an enactment drives home
the danger of not having the right spirit to enter the יחד, and the joy and confidence in
having entered the covenant.
7. The word covenant is used 5 times, and lot 3 times. this reinforces the view that they
have made the right choice. Later in the rule, this “lot” is seen to have a hierarchy. (See,
for example, 1QS 2:20ff, especially 2:23.)
8. The word אל (God) is used 10 times in this section, always with an emotion word: 5
times when speaking of sons of light185; with men of Belial, 2 times186; for those who
enter the covenant less than wholeheartedly, אל is used 3 times.187
Emotion in the liturgical section
In this section, confidence over fear is shown to be built up by actions, not just by
rhetoric as in the introduction to the rule. The ritual actions of the members, and the
words spoken and heard during the liturgy, reinforce the message that the יחד is the only
place of security for the coming judgment. This security is further reinforced in the
subsequent commentary in 1QS 2:24–3:12, which would be part of the internalized words
of those participating in the ritual. The negatives for those who are ritually referred to as
outside the יחד far outweigh the positives for those who are in the יחד. The only reason the
author gives for those who remain outside is that they stubbornly, actively refuse to join.
185 These are: God of salvation (1QS 1:19); righteousness of God (1QS 1:21); (implied as God’s) works of merciful compassion (forms of חסד and רחם) (1QS 1:22); true and righteous is the God of Israel (1QS 1:26, partially reconstructed); blessing of men of God’s lot (1QS 2:1–2). 186 These are: May God give them up (1QS 2:4–5); may God not be compassionate (1QS 2:8). 187 These are: May they receive God’s wrath (1QS 2:15); may God set them apart for evil (1QS 2:16); cut him off for backsliding from God (2:16–17).
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 60
Where in various ways, the יחד is said to be the community of God,188 the three references
to life outside the יחד refer to that life as the dominion of Belial. Again the extremes of
the choices contribute to the joy and security felt by those who have made the right
cognitive (emotional) judgment.
For the audience—both the maskil or the members who experience the discourse
represented in the introduction and the ritual—the weight of this ritual reinforces fear of
leaving, and gratefulness or joy to be safe from the dominion of Belial. Besides the ritual
affirmations in word and action, these emotions are reinforced by (a) the cosmic weight
of God’s expected final judgment (words referring to eternity in the ritual, added to
words of the vengeance of God in 1QS 1:10–11; these phrases are in comment 4 above);
(b) the annual judgment (seen later in the rule, in 1QS 8:10) that a member must pass in
order to be re-accepted into the יחד and therefore present at the ritual; (c) the corrections
of behavior from “fellows” during the year (1QS 5:26); and (d) the shunning if one were
banished from the יחד. All this is affirmed by the amens in the liturgy.
In the ritual described above, and in the description of how members crossed over in
set places assigned to them, the act of crossing over would reinforce a sense of
wholehearted commitment, of which emotion—particularly safety—is a part. These
emotions are also reinforced in the opportunity to confess past sins, on behalf of self and
Israel in general, followed by statements of receiving gracious mercy (חסד) forever and
ever (1QS 2:1). The refuge of safety in the יחד would also be felt in the inclusion among
those allowed to perform the 6 stated blessings for the good and the following litany of
188 The יחד is said to be a community of God or God’s council in 2:22, 3:6, and 3:7; of various virtues in 2:24; holy and eternal in 2:25. A covenant is mentioned six times, one of which (2:25–2:26) explicitly says it is a covenant of God; another explicitly says it is a covenant of the everlasting community (3:12). These all follow the section analyzed above.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 61
32 curses for the evil left behind. The amens verifying these speech-acts must have been
joyous indeed! What a sense of relief the יחד must have felt in that assembly that believed
that only one of two (emotional) choices could be made, and they had made the right one
in choosing to cross over!189
Within the world of the text, whether or not the ritual was ever really enacted, the
liturgy as described enacts the ritual crossing over into the Israel that members believe
will be loved and not hated on the day of judgment. It also reinforces the יחד views on
hierarchy of authority and the need to agree wholeheartedly with the views of the יחד.
Hierarchy can give a sense of security, since it lets a person know where he (or possibly,
she) stands.
Within the world of the text, we see elements of emotion in the ritual that could
heighten or be heightened by events said to occur throughout the year. Looking forward
to the ritual itself and its representation of unity among “fellows” (1QS 5:26) could offer
encouragement during the year if one became discouraged. That same unanimity in the
ritual would have helped cohere the group as well, thus helping erase any animosity built
up over the year (1QS 5:25–26), especially during corrections by fellow members (1QS
5:26) or as a result of words spoken during the annual examination of spirit (1QS 8:10).
Whether enacted or not, the addition of the described ritual to Community Rule speaks of
the need to write down such a liturgy, in order to address needs not addressed by other
parts of the rule and other liturgical documents.190 Was this tradition C ritual, which
189 Lines 1QS 2:25ff allow no room for those who do not join the יחד to be defined by the group as remaining acceptable to God. Not joining is defined as coming only from stubborn refusal, not from choosing other acceptable ways to serve God. A whole list of what he misses out on is given. 190 In 1QS, see, for example, 1QS 5:5ff, which speaks of the יחד atoning for those who devote themselves to making a sanctuary for Aaron (said to be the forefather of the priests).
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 62
highlights loyalty to the יחד as the sole representative of God’s community, an addition to
the lifestyle of the יחד? Or was the ritual traditional but in danger of being watered down?
We may never know. But the presence of it in this tradition of the Community Rule does
indicate some need that required its inclusion.
Other versions of text parallel to 1QS 1:18b–2:19
Four cave 4 manuscripts have surviving portions that include parts of what is found
in 1QS 1:18b–2:19.191 Document 4Q256 (4QSb) has text parallel to 1:18b–25; 2:4–11.192
Manuscript 4Q257 (4QSc) has text parallel to 1QS 2:4–11.193 Both these texts are similar
in content to the text found in 1QS. The former text is the one Metso assigns to the later
stage of tradition B; the latter text is the one whose copy is dated to the same era as the
copy of 1QS. Not enough has survived of 4Q257 to be assigned to a redaction tradition.
Word List
Many words are instrumental in setting the tone of the rhetoric of 1:1 through 2:19 of
the 1QS version of the Community Rule. They are discussed in the outlines given earlier
in this chapter. They are also listed in Table 2 on the following page.
191 Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," 59; Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 33. 192 Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 47, 51-52. Qimron and Charlesworth have almost the same line numbering. Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," 61. 193 Qimron and Charlesworth, "Community Rule," 69; Alexander and Vermes, Cave 4 Rules, 71-77.
Elements of emotion in 1QS 1:1–2:19 63
Table 2: Word List quality
one would
want (+) or not (–)
Words that are emphasized in 1QS to involve one’s whole being
(these are double-underscored in the outlines of 1QS 1:1–15 and
1QS 1:16–2:19)
quality one would want (+) or not (–)
Other familiar words in Judaisms of the era when 1QS was used (these are single-underscored
in the outlines of 1QS 1:1–15 and 1QS 1:16–2:19)
– anger property – avengers – darkness – Belial & his dominion – destruction – idols – evil – iniquity – not forgive – sin – guilt – stumbling-block – hate – transgression, etc. – judgment/vengeance of God – turn aside (or not) – not live – wicked works – lustful eyes doing all evil – murky fire + atone – refuse/reject + commands of God – repent + council of God
– revenge (when not God’s day of judgment)
+ covenant
– sons of darkness + good works/wondrous works – stubbornness of a guilty heart + Israel – terror + justice – wrath + Moses
+ revealed laws + all the heart and soul + right + bless + righteous counsel + chosen + righteousness + community of God + statutes of God + compassion + Torah + cross over + true statutes + devote + truth + enlighten + upright ones + eternity + walking in his ways + forgive + heart (לב) + knowledge + light + live + love (אהב) + mercy (חסד) + peace (שלום) + perfection (of people) + praise + salvation + sanctify + sons of light + soul (נפש) + spirit + strength + worship
Summary 64
CHAPTER 4
SUMMARY: HOW APPEAL TO EMOTION
ENABLES THE COMMUNITY RULE TO PERSUADE
As stated earlier, there were, no doubt, many persons involved in the creation of
what we read in 1QS. These persons never emerge as individual voices. They take on the
voice of the group, speaking only as the 194.יחד This is true in each redaction tradition that
Metso proposes. In her scheme, however, the voice of the group is slightly different from
one tradition to another. Although the voice remains oriented toward imparting the ideals
of the group, we can discern different needs in groups that used different elements of the
rule.195 The traditions that did not need the introduction that we encounter in 1QS 1:1–15
probably did not need as much positive reinforcement as those traditions that did need
this section. Perhaps they were already convinced. If the ritual described in 1QS 1:18b–
2:19 was not written in every rule tradition, perhaps it did not exist in every group. Or
perhaps it was so well known, there was no need to write it down. Was the spirit in the
that formulated 1QS beginning to wane? Was doubt creeping in, or laxness of spirit יחד
(hence the cursing of the halfhearted)?
In her article on her preliminary ideas on the Sitz im Leben of the rule, Metso
suggests that the rule is not meant to be a full explication of all the rules of the
community, but a reminder—a record of decisions made in meetings. These decisions
194 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 108. 195 Metso, Textual Development, 146ff.
Summary 65
were meant to solve current problems in a way that would minimize those problems.196
She says that many more such decisions were probably transmitted orally. We may never
know the details of how the decisions listed197 in the Community Rule relate to all the
other rules the יחד had—those unwritten and those we see in other documents found at
Qumran. But it seems clear to me that the effort to address such behavior patterns as
spitting and falling asleep in meetings198—behaviors that affect the morale of the group—
make it clear that one of the rule’s goals was to preserve aspects of the spirit of the group
in the arena of the challenges of living together, day after day.
Newsom suggests that the structure of the rule in 1QS mimics the stages of life of a
group member. She gives these stages as moving from motivation, to admission, to
instruction, to life together, and then, possibly, to leadership.199 It is these first two stages
that are presented in 1QS 1:1–2:19, the focus of this study. These are the sections that are
written to persuade the audience and preserve the spirit as such. Those who, according to
the world presented in the text, made the right choice, would be included in the group that
would “cry for joy” to God (1QS 10:14) and “bless him for (his) exceedingly wondrous
activity” (1QS 10:16).
The most direct audience of the Community Rule is thought to be the משכיל (maskil),
a figure assumed to be a wise teacher whose teaching role in the physical, historical
community is not totally clear in its details. This assumption of the maskil as the one
probably named in 1QS as the audience comes from the consensus of Metso, Vermes, 196 In the article, Metso states that the Sitz im Leben cannot be clearly understood without further study of other rules found at Qumran. Consequently, she says, her ideas on the function of this rule are preliminary. Metso, "In Search of the Sitz im Leben of the Community Rule," 314. 197 Some are changed—see the changes marked in columns 8 and 9. 198 See 1QS 7:10–13. 199 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 107.
Summary 66
and Martinez noted in chapter 1.200 Perhaps, as Charlesworth suggests, members
memorized portions of the rule.201 Perhaps members read the Community Rule upon
certain occasions, or perhaps members experienced the essence of what we read in the
document as it was lived and spoken about by peers and by senior members. However the
text was used, one way or another, the spirit reflected in the text would have been
communicated to everyone—potential or full member, in varying degrees. And the
symbols we see in 1QS were internalized, as Newsom points out.
We are almost sure that at least two traditions—Metso’s tradition C and D—
addressed the rule on animal skin to the maskil. And in 1QS the maskil has a prominent
place. This is seen in how the treatise on two spirits in 1QS begins with these words: “It
is for the master (משכיל) to instruct and teach all the sons of light concerning the nature of
all the sons of man . . .” (1QS 3:13).
The inclusion of the word ʚמי
Summary 67
first place.202 This reminder would have helped ensure the effectiveness of his teaching in
transmitting that spirit.203
The need to impart such spirit in order to preserve the יחד would be constant
throughout all traditions of the group. The basic views on the need to adhere to a pure
priestly cult probably did not change. The differences in the traditions that Metso
suggests may be differences only in having to write down that spirit, in order to ensure its
survival because of forgetfulness or a growing membership. Or they may reflect
dissension at a stage of the life of the יחד.
In an ideal form, then, 1QS presents how a group, as well as their maskil, thought
and felt about themselves in respect to God. It also reveals how they thought and felt
about others who were not in the group. The rule’s earlier sections concentrate on
persuading new members of these views, or reminding continuing, perhaps doubting,
members of aspects of the יחד. These sections also serve to remind members (whether
directly or through the maskil) of why those views are seen to be critical to hold.
I include felt in this last paragraph because feelings are part of any person’s makeup.
Philosophers like Martha Nussbaum have built philosophical theories to show how
feelings and emotions can be seen as intrinsic to seeing situations that are perceived as
critical choices, as part of the essence of thinking and making decisions about situations
one perceives as critical to flourishing—like acting in a way that promises eternal
202 We all, at times, lose touch with the motivating spirit that led us to whatever station in life we have chosen. The need to remotivate is worked into corporate structures everywhere, religious and secular. Religious motivation is accomplished partly through ritual, where, through speech and action, the spirit of a religion is reinforced. 203 It seems to me that this tends to be true in any group, and that in addition to reminding the maskil of decisions and speech patterns to use in his job of inspiring others to agree with the group, the rule also functioned to keep him inspired too.
Summary 68
acceptance by God.204 Others like Diana Cates see emotions as separate from thought, but
linked.205 Jeffrey Tigay writes of feeling as part of Deuteronomy’s concepts of serving
God.206 Emotion must be taken into account by an author representing a figured world if
he wants to persuade his audience. How one feels about a choice sways a person in
making a decision.
Newsom reminds us that rhetoric was important to Qumranians. Those who used the
Community Rule, she says, used speech in many ways important to the community. She
points out the use of a speech-act to join the community, that is, the oath referred to in
1QS 5:8. Another such speech-act is the blessings and curses used to separate themselves
from those they disagreed with. It is seen in the liturgical section, in 1QS 1:18b–2:19.207
We do not know for sure what the oath entailed. But the blessings and curses are laced
with words that evince emotion on the extremes of feeling. These extreme terms would
have been familiar to the intended audience from ancient text, and therefore powerful.
The emotion of the speech-act would have come from being accepted into the יחד, so that
repentance and atonement were possible (1QS 3:1–6), and so that one was part of the
group speaking these words that re-dramatized the covenant scenes in Deuteronomy. The
enactment would also emotionally move the enactors because of their own affinity with
concepts at the heart of Jewish faiths of their time.
204 “. . . [E]motions include in their content judgments that can be true or false, and good or bad guides to ethical choice.” Nussbaum, Upheavals, 1. 205 See, for example, the brief survey of how Nussbaum’s views fit into other philosophers’ views in Cates, "Conceiving Emotions," 328-334. 206 Tigay, Deuteronomy: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation, 76-77. 207 Newsom, Symbolic Space, 1-2.
Summary 69
While staying within the text it becomes unnecessary to answer questions like that of
whether the liturgy in 1QS describes a liturgy actually enacted or not.208 Or whether a
speech-act embodies emotion or disembodies it.209 These are important questions, but
only when looking at historical issues and how liturgy and speech-acts relate to historical,
“real” people who enacted those blessings and curses. Here I look only at how the world
is presented in the world we see through the text. Emotion is part of that persuasion.
In anthropological studies of emotion, Abu-Lughod and Lutz say there are four
strategies that can be used. They are:
1. essentializing: which assumes that the emotions people feel are universal; feelings are considered essential to emotion, which is somewhat invisible;
2. relativizing: which stresses culturally variable ideas of emotion that affect social behavior;
3. historicizing: which looks at the discourses of a culture in terms of emotion and attempts to compare what it sees with how emotion is understood in a modern context;
4. contextualizing: which looks at how emotion is evidenced in a given sociocultural location and tries to understand it in those terms.210
For a study of an ancient document about whose users little is known, this points out the
need to stay contextualized, and not make too many assumptions about the words used
and what their links to emotion are. That is why I have tried to base this thesis on how
emotion, as a cognitive/evaluative act, about a situation perceived as pertaining to
everlasting flourishing, is used within the text, and the emotional content of words in the
text is presented only secondarily. I have tried to point out that, unlike our modern
concepts that reason is the reliable basis for decision making, the whole-person concepts
in Hebrew words point to emotions as part of the mix in people’s need-actions.
208 Metso, Textual Development, 142. 209 Little, "Monastic Curses." 210 Abu-Lughod and Lutz, "Language," 1-7.
Summary 70
This is not to deny the need to look at how emotion could be separated out of the
words themselves—the terms for anger, love, and hate—and argued for their emotional
content in the context of the understanding the יחד had of those words. This has been
done in biblical studies to some degree. As mentioned earlier, for example, in 1963
William Moran pointed out non-affective aspects of the meaning of the word אהב (a
Hebrew word for love), when speaking of people’s love for God in Deuteronomy, based
on other Near Eastern documents.211 Tigay and Lapsley point out that the word in
Deuteronomy has more meanings that Moran’s legal meaning of loyalty with little
emotional content.212
Neither do I mean to minimize the approach of comparing quantity and source of
usage of words linked to emotion and leaving conclusions about the effects of that usage
to the reader. Latvus did that effectively with anger in Deuteronomy, pointing out which
biblical strands seem to have added this God of anger, and concluding that the God of
anger is mentioned far more frequently than the God of love, yet people tend to prefer to
relate to the God love.213
But building on the substantial studies of Qumranic documents already
accomplished, I find promise in looking at concepts that Wolff points out. If aspects of
Hebrew words for people—words like רוח ,בשר ,נפש, and לב—could be examined in
context throughout similar Qumranic documents, we might come to a clearer
understanding than we already have of the place of emotion in the יחד. This will shed
light on the figured world apparent in the discourse within the documents. It will tell us 211 William Moran, "The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 25 (1963). 212 Lapsley, "Feeling Our Way." 213 Latvus, God, Anger, and Ideology.
Summary 71
more about this strain of Judaism during its stressful era, and what it has in common or in
difference from religions existing in stressful times today.214
In this study, I suggest that the conversation we see taking place in 1QS is about
maintaining the spirit of the יחד by limiting choices in its worldview—to good or bad—
and by praising a disciplined approach to God and cursing those who disagree with the
This conversation includes both positive and negative emotion in its approach and in .יחד
its described ritual. This conversation is apparent in the words chosen—traditional words
from ancient Hebrew text and words that can be seen as including emotion, like love,
hate, devotion, etc. Words and phrases presented in effective order in the introduction
create focus for emotion. Either/or choices help sway the emotion to the solution that will
agree with the views of the יחד. Emotion is also seen in the foreground and background of
the ritual described after the introduction. This emotional content is not a surprising
aspect of the Community Rule, given the inclusion of emotion in the wholeness of any
person, given the Hebrew integrated views of personhood, and given the whole perfection
expected of a יחד member’s devotion.
There was much upheaval in Israel at the time these documents were (probably)
written. Simple answers can be welcome in such times. Anyone accepting the views of
cult as central to the Judaisms of the time, anyone feeling a sense of loss at seeing the
high priesthood become politicized to the point where he (or she) found it difficult to
detect the ideal high priest of ancient text, anyone disturbed at the presences of less
theistic and more Sapiential Jewish responses to the cultural dominance of Persia,
Assyria, and Rome, might desire to simplify the world in order to hope for a solution.
214 Newsom has commented briefly on emotional content in the Hodayot in Newsom, Symbolic Space.
Summary 72
These are some of the tensions that include emotional distress that are implicitly
addressed in the either-or worldview of the Community Rule. Hearing familiar allusions
to religious text, hearing that an act of commitment could ensure reward for self, and
punishment of others, under a God who requires action with eternal consequences would
at least initially attract those who saw the world through similar types of religious views.
Because of how the text sets up the situation, this is an emotional attraction. Those
exposed to a broader spectrum of choices would probably not be attracted.
Along with their devotion to worshiping God in the way they thought right, the
members of the יחד seem to have had no empathy on those who disagreed with them. This
is seen in the curses of those who joined halfheartedly. It is also seen in the need to shun
those who leave and in the damning terms reserved for sons of darkness who choose not
to join the יחד.
If we accept that some traditions of the יחד added sections to the Community Rule
like the introduction and ritual and treatise on two sprits in the first four columns of 1QS,
we accept that there were problems these sections were addressing. These problems may
have been partly a result of historical situations like those alluded to above. They seem
also to have been related to some difficulty in maintaining the spirit of a group so
unforgiving as we see in the Community Rule.
For the time one believed in the secure world set up in the Community Rule, the
fears about what the world was coming to, and the anger at feeling lost, would have been
more than adequately assuaged by the security-reinforcing views we can see in the
rhetoric of the Community Rule, especially the opening sections viewed in this study.
This is not so different from ideals presented by some religious groups today. The study
Summary 73
of emotional components in documents from Qumran will help us further understand the
religion of the members of the יחד. This in turn, will shed light on our understandings of
ourselves. For as Charles Kimball writes in When Religion Becomes Evil, if we want to
understand how adherents of a religion interpret their religion, we have to understand
how it exists in their hearts, minds, and behavior.215
215 Charles Kimball, When Religion Becomes Evil (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002), 21.
Bibliography 74
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