Showing papers on "Dead Sea Scrolls published in 2013"

Riches, Poverty, and the Faithful: Perspectives on Wealth in the Second Temple Period and the Apocalypse of John

Abstract: Part I. Introduction: 1. The question of wealth in the Apocalypse Part II. The Language of Wealth and Poverty in the Second Temple Period: Introduction 2. Dead Sea Scrolls: non-sectarian Aramaic documents 3. Dead Sea Scrolls: non-sectarian Hebrew documents 4. Dead Sea Scrolls: sectarian Hebrew documents 5. Other Jewish literature Preliminary conclusions Part III. Wealth, Poverty, and the Faithful Community in the Apocalypse of John: Introduction 6. The language of wealth and poverty in the seven messages - Rev 2-3 7. The present eschatological age - Rev 4-6 8. Buying and selling in Satan's world - Rev 12-13, 18 9. Final conclusions.

Communal participation in the spirit : the Corinthian Correspondence in light of early Jewish mysticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: This thesis identifies Jewish mystical elements in the Dead Sea Scrolls and compares them with analogous elements in the Corinthian Correspondence, to illuminate through differences and similarities how Paul advocates a mystical and communal participation in the spirit. After defining early Jewish mysticism and introducing methodology?heuristic comparison?in chapter 1, Part I identifies and investigates mystical elements in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Chapter 2 explores how the spirit facilitates a liturgica mystica with angels in Hodayota. Chapter 3 shows from 1QS and Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice that the Qumran temple community, in an archetypal relationship, shares in the priestly service of the angels. Chapter 4 argues that Moses-???? traditions in the Scrolls portray Moses as an exalted, angelic-like mediator with supernatural authority?an ideal model for the Qumran priesthood. The ascent texts surveyed in chapter 5 reveal the conceivability of heavenly ascent at Qumran. In light of these studies, the Qumran community?s worship praxis and apperception of divine transcendence can be characterised as a liturgical and communal mysticism. Part II compares these findings with corresponding elements related to participation in the spirit in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Chapter 6 shows how Paul advances an epistemology of the spirit and participation (????????) in the spirit that is communal. Chapter 7 analyses angelic presence and angelic tongues as extensions of the spirit-enabled temple metaphor. Chapter 8 demonstrates how Paul democratises the spirit-facilitated, mystical encounter with the glory of the Lord and supports an ongoing, christomorphic and theotic transformation of the community. Chapter 9 examines how Paul?s heavenly ascent functions rhetorically to build up and instruct the ekklesia with a cruciform perspective of communal participation. Chapter 10 draws final conclusions showing the fruitfulness and validity of heuristic comparison. Paul appropriates Jewish mystical traditions and reinterprets them to promote the ongoing Christological and mystical transformation of the Corinthian community in and by the spirit. This reveals the predominantly corporate tenor of participation in the spirit for Paul. Overall, this investigation builds upon and contributes to studies of Jewish mysticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Paul and Jewish mysticism, Corinthians, spirit, and notions of communal participation and theosis.

Prophetic Scribalism: A Semantic, Textual and Hypertextual Study of the Serek Texts

Abstract: This thesis challenges the position that the serek texts are primarily prescriptive and legal, as they have been customarily defined. It argues that the term serek should be reconceptualized according to descriptive analysis, with the purpose of creating what C. Newsom terms a ‘Gestalt structure.’ In order to achieve this, four serek texts (M, S, Sa, and D) will be analyzed at three literary levels—semantic, textual and hypertextual—explaining how the elements at these levels interact as cohesive wholes, thus serving to create a more complete picture of this group of texts as a literary unity. Thus, while the separate, constituent semantic, textual and hypertextual parts must be analysed as separate elements, the fundamental questions posed regarding these elements will be different in a Gestalt paradigm as compared to a traditional, definitional analysis. Going from the micro to the macro, the first chapter will look at the serek texts through the ‘microscope’ of close philological analysis, examining how the term serek functions atomistically within the Dead Sea Scrolls. Building upon these results, the second chapter will more broadly analyse the structure, themes and narrative apparent in the serek texts, thus creating a fuller understanding of how the serek texts relate to one another and respond to circumstances in community life. Finally, the last chapter seeks yet more broadly to understand the serek texts in the wider literary milieu of the Second Temple Period. Here, a scribal technique present in the serek texts will be compared to a similar technique used in the Book of Isaiah—arguably the most important prophetic work for the Qumran sectarians.

4Ezra and 2Baruch in Light of Qumran Literature

Abstract: The variety of contacts between the Qumran library and the later apocalyptic works composed in Hebrew, 4Ezra , and 2Baruch , suggests an ongoing Hebrew literary tradition of apocalyptic writing, apparently at home in the land of Israel, during the centuries before and immediately after destruction of Second Temple, from 200bce to around 100ce. In addition, it points to numerous contacts between the Qumran documents and later apocalyptic compositions. Especially significant are the links uncovered regarding the common notion of time adopted by 4Ezra and 2Baruch and various Qumran texts. This chapter examines 4Ezra and 2Baruch in light of Qumran's rich depository of apocalyptic and other traditions. It shows that much is to be gained from a careful and thorough perusal of 4Ezra and 2Baruch in light of the Qumran library. Much remains in treasures of Qumran scrolls to illuminate a host of details in 4Ezra and 2Baruch , and awaits further research. Keywords: 2Baruch ; 4Ezra ; apocalyptic works; destruction of Second Temple; Hebrew literary tradition; Qumran library

Quantifying degradation of collagen in ancient manuscripts: the case of the Dead Sea Temple Scroll

Abstract: Since their discovery in the late 1940s, the Dead Sea Scrolls, some 900 ancient Jewish texts, have never stopped attracting the attention of scholars and the broad public alike, because they were created towards the end of the Second Temple period and the "time of Christ". Most of the work on them has been dedicated to the information contained in the scrolls' text, leaving physical aspects of the writing materials unexamined. They are, however, crucial for both historical insight and preservation of the scrolls. Although scientific analysis requires handling, it is essential to establish the state of degradation of these valued documents. Polarized Raman Spectroscopy (PRS) is a powerful tool for obtaining information on both the composition and the level of disorder of molecular units. In this study, we developed a non-invasive and non-destructive methodology that allows a quantification of the disorder (that can be related to the degradation) of protein molecular units in collagen fibers. Not restricted to collagen, this method can be applied also to other protein-based fibrous materials such as ancient silk, wool or hair. We used PRS to quantify the degradation of the collagen fibers in a number of fragments of the Temple Scroll (11Q19a). We found that collagen fibers degrade heterogeneously, with the ones on the surface more degraded than those in the core.

The Text Form of the Torah Quotations Common to the Corpus Philonicum and Paul’s Corinthian Correspondence

Abstract: Menken's efforts helped to keep scholarship focused on both the New Testament author's theological hermeneutic as well as on the form of the quotations in their new contexts. The emphasis on studies on the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament has gradually moved to include studies that investigate and establish the text forms behind the New Testament quotations. It investigates the text form of the Torah quotations common to the pre-Christian Corpus Philonicum and the New Testament. The Torah represented the oldest, most respected and most authoritative part of Scripture for both authors. The studies in the mentioned project that were already conducted in the Corpus Paulinum include Galatians and Romans. It is the intention of this study to supplement those here by adding Paul's Corinthian correspondence. Keywords:Corinthian correspondence; Corpus philonicum; New Testament; theological hermeneutic; Torah quotations

Outside the Bible : ancient Jewish writings related to scripture

Abstract: Customers in Europe should contact Combined Academic Publishers to order a copy of this book. Browse the Table of Contents The Hebrew Bible is only part of ancient Israel's writings. Another collection of Jewish works has survived from late- and post-biblical times, a great library that bears witness to the rich spiritual life of Jews in that period. This library consists of the most varied sorts of texts: apocalyptic visions and prophecies, folktales and legends, collections of wise sayings, laws and rules of conduct, commentaries on Scripture, ancient prayers, and much, much more. While specialists have studied individual texts or subsections of this vast library, Outside the Bible seeks for the first time to bring together all the major components into a single collection, gathering portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the biblical Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha, and the writings of Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. The editors have brought together these diverse works in order to highlight what has often been neglected; their common Jewish background. For this reason the commentaries that accompany the texts devote special attention to references to Hebrew Scripture and to issues of halakhah (Jewish law), their allusions to motifs and themes known from later Rabbinic writings in Talmud and Midrash, their evocation of recent or distant events in Jewish history, and their references to other texts in this collection. The work of more than seventy contributing experts in a range of fields, Outside the Bible offers new insights into the development of Judaism and Early Christianity. This three-volume set of translations, introductions, and detailed commentaries is a must-have for scholars, students, and anyone interested in this great body of ancient Jewish writings. The collection includes a general introduction and opening essays, new and revised translations, and detailed introductions, commentaries, and notes that place each text in its historical and cultural context. A timeline of the Second Temple Period, two appendixes (Books of the Bible; Second Temple Literature), and a general subject index complete the set. An electronic, password-protected PDF version of the selected readings is available for $25.0 0, payable by check or credit card. Please submit your order by email to mpress@unl.edu. Once the order is submitted, you will receive an invoice with payment instructions.

A New Reading of the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch: "All Nations Shall be Blessed"

Abstract: A New Reading of the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch offers a full theological analysis of this second-century BCE allegory and uses this as the basis for a new commentary on the text, presented in a fresh translation.

The Royal Psalms in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: This thesis examines the use and function of a specific group of Psalms, the so-called “Royal Psalms,” among the texts of the Qumran library. From the time of their integration into the worship practices of the Israelite people in the obscure past to the Second Temple period and beyond, these Psalms continued to be a source of inspiration to the Jewish people. Though there have been many studies that have analyzed their Sitz im Leben, use, interpretation, and application for many different periods, no study has attempted a thorough analysis of their use among the Qumran documents. Analyses of the use in the Qumran texts of certain individual Royal Psalms exist, but these do not attempt to cover the Royal Psalms as a corpus. The present thesis will analyze the appearance in the Qumran library of the eleven generallyaccepted Royal Psalms: Pss 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 89, 101, 110, 132, and 144. This study explores whether or not these Psalms are to be found in the known Qumran Psalms scrolls, variations or differences as compared to the Masoretic Text, how they are were interpreted in exegetical and other texts, quotations of and allusions to them, and how themes from the Royal Psalms contribute to the structure and theology of non-canonical royal psalms found at Qumran. An understanding of the use of the biblical Royal Psalms in these texts is of value for our comprehension of what happened to the pre-exilic royal traditions as these hymns continued to be used in a post-monarchic society. This dissertation makes an original contribution toward these goals, establishing that there was an interest on the part of the authors of many of the Qumran texts in royal themes although they lived long after the monarchy had ended.

The Hebrew Bible and/as Second Temple Literature: Methodological Reflections

Abstract: This essay offers methodological reflections on the relationship between studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls and studies of the Hebrew Bible. These reflections center around three main claims: (1) that the Hebrew Bible is Second Temple literature; (2) that the internal development of the Hebrew Bible is, in a specific and important sense, a history of exegesis; and (3) that Second Temple interpretation outside of the scriptural corpus is inseparable from the history of exegesis within it. These claims all point to the problematic and artificial nature of the boundaries between the two disciplines; and they illustrate how both fields require each other in order to understand their respective objects of inquiry in a rigorous and historically appropriate manner.

Characterization of the Dead Sea Scrolls by advanced analytical techniques

Abstract: For many years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, text analysis and fragment attribution were the main concern of the scholars dealing with them. The uncertain archaeological provenance of a large part of the collection added difficulties to the already formidable task of sorting thousands of fragments. After 60 years of scholarly research the questions of origin, archaeological provenance and correct attribution of the fragments are still debated. To help address these questions we have developed a methodology suitable for the material studies of the scrolls using combinations of X-ray, FTIR and Raman techniques. On the one hand, an accurate characterization of the highly heterogeneous writing media of the Dead Sea Scrolls leads to a reliable reconstruction of their history and, thus, contributes significantly to the current debate. On the other hand, it provides new information on the production of ancient parchment towards the end of the Second Temple period, opening a new page in the historical study of technology.

Reading and Re-Reading Scripture at Qumran (2 vol. set)

Abstract: In Reading and Re-reading Scripture at Qumran , Moshe J. Bernstein gathers over three decades worth of his essays on biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They address the Genesis Apocryphon and 4Q252, as well various legal texts and pesharim.

The Relationship between Religious Beliefs and the Accounting and Economic Practices of a Society: Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: This study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls to demonstrate how Essene socio-religious values shaped their accounting and economic practices during the late Second Temple period (ca. first century BCE to 70 CE). Our primary focus is on the accounting and commercial responsibilities of a leader within their community – the Examiner. We contend that certain sectarian accounting practices may be understood as ritual/religious ceremony and address the performative roles of the Essenes' accounting and business procedures in light of their purity laws and eschatological beliefs. Far from being antithetical to religious beliefs, we find that accounting actually enabled the better practice and monitoring of religious behavior. We add to the literature on the interaction of religion with the structures and practices of accounting and regulation within a society.

Torah for “The Age of Wickedness”: The Authority of the Damascus and Serekh Texts in Light of Biblical and Rewritten Traditions

Abstract: Considerable attention has been paid recently to the similarities between the composition and development of biblical texts, rewritten scripture-type texts, and the major Qumran rule scrolls. This study adds a new dimension to that work by comparing the authority claims of the Damascus Document (D) and the Community Rule (S) with those made by Deuteronomy, the Temple Scroll (TS), and Jubilees. While D and S lack the pseudepigraphic self-presentation of the others, they share with them a concern to present themselves as the most authentic expression of God’s revealed will. D and S resemble Deuteronomy in particular in their use of several specific literary techniques to claim authority by means of asserting a close relationship with existing authoritative revelation.

Understanding the Demonologies of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Accomplishments and Directions for the Future

Abstract: This essay examines scholarship on the demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). It places a special focus on how the notions of evil spirits found in the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 1–36) were adopted, adapted, and reconfigured in various ways in the scrolls. Concepts crucial to many groups within Second Temple Judaism (impurity, dualism, apocalypticism, and monotheism) functioned to influence how the evolving concept of demonic beings was received and deployed in Hellenistic Jewish thought. The DSS provide the largest and most significant data set for analyzing these developments. The essay concludes by suggesting a critical methodological issue for future research on Jewish demonology.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the World of Jesus

Abstract: The Dead Sea Scrolls constitute a seminal resource for understanding the context of the early Christian community and several New Testament texts. Soon after their discovery, some very sensational claims were made about the Qumran community and its literature (the scrolls) in terms of their connection to Jesus and his followers. While these have largely been dismissed, and serious and persistent scholarship over the years has shown that there were differences between the Qumran community and early Christianity, significant similarities do exist. These similarities line up largely according to the following categories: common scripture and its interpretation, theological ideas, vocabulary and practices, importance of the temple, eschatological and apocalyptic orientation, and the centrality of messianic expectations. This essay attempts to highlight some of the most significant of these parallels to show that both the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls are products of the same roots, that we should expect to find certain commonalities, and that to fully understand one corpus of writings, we have to know something about the other.

Spittle, Clay, and Creation in John 9:6 and Some Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: John 9:6 contains a curious reference to Jesus’ use of spittle and clay to heal a man born blind. Beginning with Irenaeus, patristic exegetes saw here an allusion to God’s use of dust to create Adam. Modern commentators, however, are generally skeptical of this interpretation and are content to make note of the belief popular in antiquity that saliva held therapeutic properties. After noting the presence of other allusions to creation in John 9 and elsewhere in John’s Gospel, this article examines several Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient Near Eastern texts that mention spittle and clay alongside more transparent creation motifs. These texts helpfully illumine the role of spittle and clay in John 9:6 and lend substantial support to Irenaeus’s exegesis.

The Rewritten Joshua Scrolls from Qumran: Texts, Translations, and Commentary

Abstract: Among the unknown Jewish writings that emerged from the caves of Qumran are five scrolls rewriting the Book of Joshua. The present volume offers a detailed analysis of these texts and explores their relationship with each other and other Second Temple Jewish writings concerned with the figure of Joshua. The first full-blown study of this group of scrolls, this book is of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of the Dead Sea scrolls and ancient Jewish biblical interpretation.

Capturing the Voices of Pseudepigraphic Personae: On the Form and Function of Incipits in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: It is widely recognized that the authors of the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls often shrouded their tales in first person voices and exhibited a perennial interest in the production and transmission of ancestral booklore. The present study explores the literary convention of the incipit in light of these interrelated methods of pseudepigraphy. Throughout the Aramaic Scrolls incipits introduce entire compositions and putative texts within narratives. Comparative philological analysis reveals that these incipits feature strikingly similar literary-linguistic idioms. However, it is equally apparent that that these common elements were uniquely patterned by individual authors. It is suggested that these commonalities should inform how we conceive of the scribal milieu(s) from which the Aramaic Scrolls emerged and our understanding of pseudepigraphy in early Judaism. The article concludes with a fresh proposal for the function of the title “A Copy of the Writing of the Words of Noah” in 1QapGen 5:29.

A More Perfect Torah: At the Intersection of Philology and Hermeneutics in Deuteronomy and the Temple Scroll

Abstract: The historical-critical method that characterizes academic biblical studies too often remains separate from approaches that stress the history of interpretation, which are employed more frequently in the area of Second Temple or Dead Sea Scrolls research. Inaugurating the new Eisenbrauns series, Critical Studies in the Hebrew Bible, A More Perfect Torah explores a series of test-cases in which the two methods mutually reinforce one another. The volume brings together two studies that investigate the relationship between the composition history of the biblical text and its reception history at Qumran and in rabbinic literature.The Temple Scroll is more than the blueprint for a more perfect Temple. It also represents the attempt to create a more perfect Torah. Its techniques for doing so are the focus of part 1, entitled "Revelation Regained: The Hermeneutics of KI and 'IM in the Temple Scroll." This study illuminates the techniques for marking conditional clauses in ancient Near Eastern literature, biblical law, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It also draws new attention to the relationship between the Temple Scroll’s use of conditionals and the manuscript’s carefully organized spacing system for marking paragraphs. Syntax serves as a technique, no less than pseudepigraphy, to advance the Temple Scroll’s claim to be a direct divine revelation.Part 2 is entitled "Reception History as a Window into Composition History: Deuteronomy’s Law of Vows as Reflected in Qoheleth and the Temple Scroll." The law of vows in Deut 23:22-24 is difficult in both its syntax and its legal content. The difficulty is resolved once it is recognized that the law contains an interpolation that disrupts the original coherence of the law. The reception history of the law of vows in Numbers 20, Qoh 5:4–7, 11QTemple 53:11–14, and Sipre Deuteronomy confirms the hypothesis of an interpolation. Seen in this new light, the history of interpretation offers a window into the composition history of the biblical text.The volume shows the significance of syntax and historical linguistics for understanding how ancient scribes established claims of religious and textual authority. Appendixes on the use of conditionals in biblical law and the Dead Sea Scrolls provide resources for further research.

The Nexus between Textual Criticism and Linguistics: A Case Study from Leviticus

Abstract: Forty-five years after James Barr’s Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament appeared, it is time to reiterate his call for a balanced approach to philology and textual criticism. Though the essential issues are the same as when Barr wrote, the amount of textual data from the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as methodological challenges to the standard view of the linguistic history of ancient Hebrew have produced a significantly more complex situation. As scholars move forward in both subdisciplines of Hebrew studies—textual criticism and historical linguistics—it is more critical than ever to keep in mind that the history of the text and the history of the language are inextricably bound to each other. Using two variants in Leviticus, I will illustrate what a reasonably balanced approach looks like from the perspective of a Hebrew linguist, with the hope that textual critics and Hebrew linguists will see the need to work more closely with each other.

The Reception of Tobit in the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, with Special Reference to Luke-Acts

Abstract: Detailed studies of the influence of the deutero-canonical books on the New Testament and early Christian literature are relatively rare. Direct citations from the Apocrypha, that can be detected in the New Testament, has led to the view in some quarters that they have little value for the student of early Christianity. This chapter seeks to re-examine this perception by assessing the reception in selected early christian writings of one of these deutero-canonical texts, the Book of Tobit. It explores if the first Christians read Tobit, the theological and narrative themes which are present in both Tobit and Luke-Acts, and the reception of Tobit in second century Christian Literature. It is clear that Book of Tobit must be included in any consideration of the trajectory of development from the Hebrew Bible to early Christian beliefs about angels, prayer, charity, and the inclusion of gentiles in God's salvation. Keywords:Book of Tobit; Christian literature; early Christianity; Hebrew Bible; Luke-Acts; New Testament

Bringing New Life to Video Narratives for Exploring Cultural Heritage

Abstract: In this paper we present a project of creating a web based interactive encyclopedia of historical knowledge related to the history of the religions, the Bible and the history in general. The main source of information in the project is a film made by the Israel Museum that accompanies the exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls the oldest remaining copies of the Bible and extra Biblical documents. The film is describing the life of the members of the ancient community of Qumran that was behind the creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In order to annotate the video we developed a data repository for creating and for linking various types of digital information to the video. Data stored in the repository is then used to develop tools for exploring the film and related annotations.