That this text is a second letter is clearly
signaled in Lines 29-30, quoted above, which refer to a first
letter already having been written on the same subject - 'works
reckoned as justifying you' (italics ours). Though
fragments of the two letters are in the same handwriting, it is
not clear that these are directly connected or on the same or
succeeding columns. That the same scribe wrote both
letters would not be either unexpected or surprising - nor would
the possibility that both letters were already circulating as
part of the same document or manuscript, as for instance 1 and 2
Corinthians or 1 and 2 Thessalonians noted above. The
second letter is, in any event, extant in a single document.
This short epistle of some 35 extant lines is
also of the most far-reaching significance for Qumran studies,
not only for all the reasons set forth in our discussion of the
First Letter, but also because this text is clearly
eschatological. The question then becomes, when were
people thinking in such an eschatological manner, i.e., using
expressions in daily correspondence
like 'the End of Days' (13 and 24) or a less familiar one used
here for the first time in the new materials we have been
considering, 'the End Time' (15 and 33)? Together these
terms are used four times in an extant document of only some 35
lines. This also distinguishes this letter to a certain
extent from the first one, where they were not used, at least
not in extant fragments.
Besides these points, the exact nature and
context of the 'split' between the group responsible for these
writings and 'the majority of the people' is delineated here.
Its words are pregnant with meaning:
'we broke with the majority of the people and refused to mix
with or go along with them on these matters.' The
word used in Line 7 is parash, the presumable root of the
word 'Pharisee', but these are obviously not anything resembling
normative Pharisees. The very issue of 'mixing' in Line 8
(cf. Line 87 above) is, of course, related to that of 'improper
separation' and not 'separating clean from unclean' just
discussed above. This sentence alone -- known but not
revealed for over 35 years - would be sufficient to
identify our group as sectatian -- at least according to
their own evaluation. And it definitively identifies them
as a group -- a movement.
Finally, the issues over which the split occurred
are brought into stark relief. These are always firmly
attached to 'the Law', repeatedly and unequivocally called here 'the
Book of Moses' (11,16,24 and compare Line 6 of the last column of
the Damascus Document below: 'the Torah of Moses').
Added to these are the Prophets, David (presumably Psalms), and some
additional writings, probably Chronicles and the like (10-11); that
is, we are at a point when the Bible, as we know it, has to a very
considerable extent emerged and the Deuteronomic blessings and
curses are recognized as being intimately connected with the arrival
of 'the last days' (23-24). These 'blessings and curses' will
also be the focal point of the last column of the Damascus Document
at the end of this chapter.
The vocabulary is rich in Qumranisms throughout,
including references to hamas ('violence'), (macal)
('rebellion'), zanut ('fornication'), Sheker
('Lying'), and 'heart' and 'Belial' imagery. Many of these
phrases are to be found in the Damascus Document. For
instance, CD,iv.7, as we have seen, actually uses the terminology
'condemning the Wicked' (25) -- as opposed to 'justifying the
Righteous' -- when describing the eschatological activity of the
'sons of Zadok.. in the last days'.
Probably reinforcing the impression that this is
addressed to an actual king, the particular example of David is
developed in Line 27ff., as are his works -- which were in their
view 'Pious' (Hassadim). Again the 'Way' terminology,
so widespread in these materials, is evoked, a phrase, as we have
seen, delineated in the Community Rule in terms of the 'study of the
Torah' and known to the Book of Acts as a name for early
Christianity in Palestine from the 40s to the 60s (22:4, 24:22,
etc.) Here, forgiveness from sin is found in 'seeking the
Torah', just as in the Community Rule 'the Way in the
wilderness' -- applied in the Gospels to John the Baptist's
activities -- is interpreted as 'the study of the Torah' and,
immediately thereafter, 'being zealous for the Law and the time of
the Day of Vengeance' (note the parallel use of the word 'time'
again). This expression 'study of the
Torah', familiar in Rabbinic Judaism too, will reappear in
the last line of the Damascus Document below.
The text ends with a ringing affirmation, as we
have noted above, of what can be described as the Jamesian position
on 'justification': that by 'doing' these 'works of the Law'
however minute (note the emphasis on doing again) in the
words of Gen. 15:6 and Ps. 106:31 -- a psalm packed with the
vocabulary we are considering here -- 'it will be reckoned to you as
Righteousness'. As a result, you will have kept far from 'the
consel of Belial' and 'at the End Time you will rejoice' (32-3).
This last most surely means either 'being resurrected' or 'enjoy the
Heavenly Kingdom', or both -- an interesting proposition to be
putting to a king or Community Leader in this time. Note, too,
the allusion to this word 'time' paralleling the second exegesis of
'the Way in the wilderness' material in 1QS, ix. 19 above. The
tone of the address, like that to King Jonathan below, is again most
certainly warm and conciliatory.
For his part, Josephus provides a glimpse of how
Daniel was seen by a first-century Jewish historian: 'One of the
greatest prophets...for the books that he wrote (note the plural
here) and left are read by us even now... He not only predicted the
future, like the other prophets, but specified when the events would
happen (Ant. 10.266-8)"
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
"This description would not only have relevance
for this text, but also for the view of the prophets as soothsayers
and fortune-tellers with special knowledge about the future in the
first century, which we discussed in the introduction to this
chapter. The belief that Daniel had predicted not only what
would happen, but when, was no doubt a significant factor in the
timing of the war with Rome in AD 66. For instance, the 70
years of wrath in Dan. 9:3 - a known interest in the War Scroll at
Qumran - could have been seen as the period between the first
outbreak of revolutionary activity at the time of Herod's death in 4
BC (not coincidentally the time assigned to Jesus' birth) and the
final proclamation of the uprising (AD 66); or 'the time, two times,
and a half' leading up to 'the End Time' in Daniel 12:7, the 3 1/2
years between the stoning of James the Just in AD 62 and the
outbreak of the uprising. (p.64)"
