Authors:Meike Christian First page: 1 Abstract: Source: Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 1 - 14This article is focussed on the question how to interpret the phrase בני שית in 4Q417 1 i 15. The analysis is based on a novel reconstruction of the preceding word, which is only poorly preserved. The common reconstructions (namely עולות, עו(ו)נות or עלילות) have a negative meaning. Hence, the בני שית are understood as a group that will be punished by God due to their sins. However, it is also possible to reconstruct עבודת in 4Q417 1 i 15. In contrast to the other suggestions this word not only fits the gap properly, but is also attested several times throughout 4QInstruction. Following this reconstruction, 4Q417 1 i 15f. indicates that the reward for the “ser[vic]e of the sons of Seth” has already been determined. Consequently, 4QInstruction uses the term בני שית in a positive way to denote the elect and builds on a tradition that praises Seth as well as his offspring. PubDate: 2018-05-25T00:00:00Z
Authors:Shem Miller First page: 15 Abstract: Source: Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 15 - 38In this article, I examine descriptions of community meetings in Rule Texts to outline the content, authority, and functions of membership’s oral performance in the sectarian movement associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. In particular, I explore portrayals of oral performance during local chapter meetings (1QS 6:1b–7a), nightly study sessions (1QS 6:7b–8a), general membership meetings (1QS 6:8b–13a; CD 14:3b–12a), covenant renewal ceremonies (1QS 1:24–26; CD 20:27–30), admission procedures (1QS 5:7c–9a, 6:13b–23; CD 15:5b–10a), and a meeting of Israel in the last days (1QSa 1:1–6a). Overall, I argue that oral performance consistently played a vital role in members’ lives, whenever and wherever they lived. PubDate: 2018-05-25T00:00:00Z
Authors:Brett Maiden First page: 39 Abstract: Source: Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 39 - 56This paper investigates the psychological mechanisms that underpin Qumran sectarian dualism and its construction of in-group/out-group boundaries. Specifically, evidence from experimental and developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology is used to argue that Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits Treatise (1QS 3:13–4:26) reflect a deeply-engrained psychological essentialism wherein non-group members are conceptualized as having inherently different biological essences. This essentialist tendency is easily extended to the social domain in what scholars call the “naturalization” of social groups. After reviewing this literature, the paper examines the Serek and Treatise’s use of kinship terms, the word “spirit,” and language denoting human nature and living species, in order to demonstrate that essentialist intuitions about outsiders provide a foundation for the sect’s dualistic worldview. Importantly, the essentialist thinking in these texts is also firmly grounded in and channeled through the intertextual interpretation of scripture, drawing heavily on the rich creation vocabulary in Genesis 1–3. PubDate: 2018-05-25T00:00:00Z
Authors:Pierre Van Hecke First page: 57 Abstract: Source: Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 57 - 82The question of how to classify the different texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a central issue in scholarship. There is little agreement or even little reflection, however, on the methodology with which these classifications should be made.This article argues that recent developments in computational stylometry address these methodological issues and that the approach therefore constitutes a necessary addition to existing scholarship. The first section briefly introduces the recent developments in computational stylometry, while the second tests the feasibility of a stylometric approach for research on the Scrolls. Taking into account the particular challenges of the corpus, an exploratory methodology is described, and its first results are presented. In the third and final section, directions for future research in the field are articulated. PubDate: 2018-05-25T00:00:00Z
Authors:Kasper Siegismund First page: 83 Abstract: Source: Volume 25, Issue 1, pp 83 - 106This contribution offers a critical evaluation of John Screnock’s hypothesis that the basic word order in 1QM is subject-verb, with inversion triggered by fronting of non-subject elements or by the use of intransitive verbs. After a detailed examination of the evidence, the opposite conclusion is reached. Basic word order is verb-subject, with inversion to subject-verb order with pragmatically marked subjects (focus fronting). There seems to be no causal relationship between transitivity and word order. Furthermore, it is argued that Screnock’s interpretation of 1QM 1:1–3 (which flows from his transitivity-based analysis) is highly unlikely, as it leads to a division of sentences that would produce a structure practically unattested in the rest of the text. In addition, the findings are applied to the general discussion of word order in Hebrew, in particular as an argument against recent attempts at describing Biblical Hebrew as a language with basic subject-verb order. PubDate: 2018-05-25T00:00:00Z
Authors:Ariel Feldman Abstract: Source: Page Count 7This note suggests a new reading and reconstruction of the oft-cited 11QMelchizedek 2:6–8. This passage is a part of the “pesher for the last days” expounding on Lev 25:13 and Deut 15:2. Its vision of future liberation from spiritual captivity to Belial relies on the language and conceptual framework of the Jubilee Year. Moreover, the pesher refers to a temporal scheme of ten Jubilees. The new reading helps clarify the precise timing of the eschatological redemption, “the beginning of the first Jubilee after [the] te[n] Jubilees,” and its implication for the scroll’s scriptural exegesis. PubDate: 2018-04-19T00:00:00Z
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