The Biblical Archaeology Society’s publication of transcripts of Dead Sea Scrolls (“BAS Publishes Secret Dead Sea Scrolls,” BAR 17:05) has been almost universally applauded, with one prominent exception—the editors who still control access to the secret documents. According to a headline in the Jerusalem Post they are “enrage[d].”
John Strugnell, recently fired as editor in chief of the Dead Sea Scroll publication team for calling Judaism “a horrible religion,” accused Professor Ben-Zion Wacholder and Martin Abegg of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, who reconstructed the secret manuscripts with the aid of a computer, of “stealing.” Professor Jonas Greenheld of Hebrew University, another insider, described the BAS publication as “scholarly thievery.” Father Emile Puech of the École Biblique in Jerusalem, another member of the team of editors, is considering suing us for breach of international law.
We planned to publish the three secret texts on this page even before the Huntington Library decided to release its photographs. However, we now expect considerably less flack from the scroll cartel for doing so. No doubt the former monopolists will now applaud our publication of these texts.
These three photographs have never before been seen by the public. Translations and brief commentary have been provided by Robert H. Eisenman, professor of Middle East Religions and chair, Department of Religious Studies, California State University, Long Beach. Brackets in the translations indicate gaps in the text, erasures or a presumed reading.
The Testament of Kohath
This is a beautifully preserved Aramaic text. Kohath is Moses’ grandfather. The text, of course, was not written by Kohath. It is what scholars call pseudepigrapha—a document written in the name of some ancient revered personage.
The text contains instructions apparently meant for the entire priesthood, put into the mouth of Moses’ grandfather. The identification of Kohath is based on the references to Amram as “my son” in the second column. (The translation of the second column is not included here because it so fragmentary). Amram was Moses’ (and presumably Aaron’s) father.
This text has been dated by those who rely on paleography to 100 to 75 B.C.E. A recent carbon-14 test on the parchment, however, yielded a date 200 years earlier. The xenophobic instructions in the text resembles the outlook of thc Zealots, a militant group in the First Jewish Revolt against Rome (66–70 C.E.) with roots going back to the Maccabean period (second-first centuries B.C.E.). The theme of the text seems to be the objection to the appointment of priests by foreigners and an antagonism to foreigners generally.
These conditions could apply not only to the Herodian period (37 B.C.E.–70 C.E.), where I am inclined to place the piece, but also to the Maccabean period. Should it date to the Maccabean period, this text would support a Maccabean-style (that is, native as opposed to foreign-imposed) priesthood. We will have to await more concrete evidence for dating the text to settle the matter.
1) And the Most High God for all eternity shall shine down as a light upon you and make known to you His Great Name.
2) And you will know Him [erasure], who is the God Everlasting, the Lord of all creation, the Sovereign
3) of all, governing all things according to His will. And he gives you joy and happiness for your sons in the dwellings of
4) Righteousness forever. And now my sons, be watchful of the inheritance vouchsafed unto you,
5) That your fathers bequeathed you. Do not give your inheritance to foreigners, not your heritage
6) [ ], lest you will be humiliated and you be looked on with derision in their eyes, and they trample you, for
7) [they will] come to dwell among you and become your masters. Therefore, hold fast to the words of Jacob
8) [and Isaac] and be strong in the judgments of Abraham, the Righteousness of Levi and myself. Be holy and pure
9) from all [ ], holding to the Truth and in all things, walking in fairness, not deceit,
10) but with a pure heart and a just and truthful spirit. Thus you will bequeath to me a good name among you and joy
11) [to Levi and happiness to Ja]cob and rejoicing to Isaac and a blessing to Abraham, inasmuch as you guarded
12) and walked [in the inheritance, my s]ons, your fathers bequeathed you. Truth, Righteousness and Uprightness
13) Integrity, pur[ity, ho]liness and the priesthood. In accordance with what you have been commanded….
A War Prayer
The following prayer evokes despair at the overwhelming losses and destruction that thc people are suffering. No carbon-14 test has yet been done on this fragment.
The call for divine intervention and vengeance does not sound like “peaceful Essenes.” Nor does it sound like these people are uninvolved in Israel’s national cause. The text is engagé and committed, as the allusion to “volunteers for war” makes clear.
The prayer is also replete with typical Qumran and early Christian imagery like “lying tongue” and “the meek and the poor.” This imagery runs through Qumran literature, as it does the New Testament, particularly the Letter of James. It also corresponds to another fragment from the unpublished corpus cautioning against “the stumbling block of the tongue” with strong parallels to James 3:5–8.
Like the Testament of Kohath, this prayer reflects a xenophobic outlook and antagonism to foreigners, collaborators and liars—themes encountered in several other Qumran documents.
1) [ ] do not give our inheritance to strangers and our built-up areas to the foreigners. Remember that
2) [ ] your people and those forsaken of Your inheritance. Remember the sons of Your Covenant who are being decimated.
3) [ ] the war volunteers wander astray and there is no one to set their broken limbs, nor dress their wounds.
4) [ against us] is arrayed overwhelming might; around us, an army, because Your people has been [deceived] by their lying tongue, so let there be turned against them
5) [ Your gl]orification of one born of woman is certain, but see the destruction of the sons
6) [of Your Covenant ] our city and to carrion birds our captors because of the tongue of their lying blasphemies, do not
7) [ ] with Your commandments and let not their seed be [ ]
8) [ ] against them the hosts of Your power and execute vengeance upon them
9) [ ] and You are not pitted against them as they overwhelm the Meek and the Poor.
A Messianic Vision
In this messianic vision we do not find the two-messiah material that has been widely publicized in already available Qumran materials. Instead, only a single Davidic-style messiah who rules heaven and earth seems to be referred to.
Here again we find references to the “poor,” but this time in the context of raising the dead and announcing glad tidings. Note the use of Adonai (Lord) throughout. Note also that, as in the Damascus Document, God will “visit” the earth, where he will join the “poor” and “those bent in the dust.” There are strong parallels between this and the interpretation of the Messianic Prophecy in the War Scroll.
The connections to early Christianity seem obvious.
1) [ the hea]vens and the earth will obey His Messiah
2) [ no on]e among them will turn aside from the Commandments of the Holy Ones.
3) Those seeking the Lord will be strengthened by His [rising/coming]
4) In this, shall not all those sore of heart find the Lord?
5) The Lord will visit the Pious [Hassidim] and the Righteous [Zaddikim] shall He call by name.
6) And over the Poor will His Spirit hover and the Faithful will He support with his strength.
7) The Pious [Hassidim] on [ ] the Kingdom of the People
8) He shall release the prisoners, make the blind see, and raise up those be[nt in the dust].
9) [ ] by His Piety [Hesed] [ ]
10) [ ] it will not tarry [ ].
11) [ ]and not [ ] when
12) [ He] shall heal the wounded and resurrect the dead [and to] the Poor announce glad tidings….
Second column
1) [the Pious (Hassidim)], and I will free them [ ]
2) [ ] the fathers are coming to the sons
[ ]
3) By the blessing of the Lord and the will of [ ]
4) [The Land] rejoices in all [ ]
5) [until] all Israel in rejoicing [ ] …
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