Biblical Views: Where Are the Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

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The caves near Khirbet Qumran revealed almost a thousand Dead Sea Scrolls as well as large numbers of tabs for fastening scrolls. At least four inkwells were discovered in the nearby settlement of Qumran. Altogether we have access to material evidence for scribal activity more ample than anywhere else in the ancient world. While it has become clear that not all the scrolls were composed or copied in the vicinity of Qumran, some scribal activity was clearly taking place there—something that has recently been confirmed by materials science.

In light of this, it is all the more striking to find very few references to scribes in the non-Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls and none at all in the amply preserved accounts of the sectarian community’s affairs. When we do read about scribes, they are without exception figures of the past. The term occurs most frequently in the non-Biblical Aramaic scrolls often to identify individuals of the past who distinguished themselves in this role. In the Aramaic Levi Document, Levi depicts his brother Joseph as a teacher of wisdom and scribal crafts before instructing his own sons to pass this heritage to their children. Inspired by the intriguing account in Genesis 5:21–24, the portrayal of the heavenly traveler and apocalyptic seer Enoch in the ancient Jewish collection known as 1 Enoch also refers to his role as a writer and skilled, righteous scribe. The second century B.C.E. Book of Jubilees even credits Enoch with being the first among men to learn to write. Most scholars agree that while the Aramaic material unearthed at Qumran was an exceedingly influential part of the community’s literary heritage, it is unlikely that it was composed by the group who deposited the scrolls at and near Qumran.

While preserved in a Hebrew text rather than in Aramaic, the portrayal of David in the Qumran Psalms Scrolls is reminiscent of this model. David’s elevated status is the subject of “David’s Compositions,” a previously unknown Hebrew prose text that is part of the large Qumran Psalms Scroll from Cave 11. A luminous David is depicted as a wise and blameless scribe who shone like the light of the sun and was endowed with gifts of prophecy. David is portrayed as having achieved a level of elevation that the group called “the wise” (maskilim)—known from the closing chapters of the Book of Daniel—are promised in the afterlife. While David had undoubtedly passed away by the time this extraordinary endorsement of his achievements was composed, this new text speaks of his lifetime’s work rather than promising posthumous bliss.

It is clear that the Dead Sea Scrolls reflect a great deal of scribal activity that took place at the site of Qumran and elsewhere. Here, I will discuss several clues about the kinds of people who were engaged with such literary tasks.

The closest we come to an administrative office akin to a bookkeeper in the scrolls is the Overseer (Mebaqqer), who records misdemeanors reported to him, according to the Damascus Document—a text found in the form of two medieval codices in the Cairo Genizah and subsequently attested in ancient fragments from Qumran. One such list has been preserved at Qumran; in it, for instance, a certain Yohanan is in trouble for being intemperate and conceited. The overseer was also responsible for keeping a log of members’ possessions and the collection of monthly donations for those in need. The Community Rule refers to written registers of community members who are enrolled in writing by rank. The penal code in the same text also spells out sanctions against anyone who speaks in anger against one of the priests written down in the book.

The scrolls also clearly show that people in antiquity were able to multitask. An impressive multitasker is the Maskil, often rendered in English as “the sage.” Most references to the figure of the Maskil refer to a particular office-holder. We get some rare glimpses of some of his (less likely her) job description as a spiritual leader in the Community Rule, where he is tasked with teaching the children of light about the children of humanity with regard to all the varieties of their spirits. Several 070compositions employ Maskil in headings, suggesting an affiliation of this office with the final editing or performance of compositions. Such headings occur in liturgical scrolls such as the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Rule of Blessings, and in the apotropaic Songs of the Maskil. The latter composition describes his duties as causing fright in demons and other harmful spirits and creatures by enunciating God’s splendid glory. The text “The Words of the Maskil to All Sons of Dawn” continues—after the unencrypted title—in cryptic script admonishing those addressed to reflect on God’s past deeds for the benefit of gaining insights into the end time. The profile of the Maskil resembles and surpasses that of David in the scrolls, something perhaps underestimated because of the exceedingly evocative language with which David’s achievements are narrated and because the full picture of the Maskil has only come to light in piecemeal fashion with the full publication of the scrolls. The Qumran Psalms Scroll also credits David with having composed 4,050 psalms and songs, including four songs over the stricken, a reference to demonic possession. The term recurs in the Songs of the Maskil, the composition mentioned above that tasks the Maskil with keeping demonic forces at bay. This cumulative evidence paints a picture of the Maskil as a present-day David in the scrolls. The skillset of this enlightened figure and those responsible for the literature from Qumran reflects a broad spectrum of knowledge and scholarship.

What conclusions can be drawn from this? We get a sense that the skill of writing is admired as something remarkable among notable figures from generations past and perhaps taken for granted in the present. Though I would add that it is taken for granted for notable and leading figures, I have suggested recently that the majority of members of the movement based at Qumran were probably illiterate and took care of a myriad of relentless tasks that went undocumented in the daily life of even the most studious communities.¹ Those who transmitted the extensive literature unearthed at Qumran may not have drawn attention to their scribal efforts. However, by composing and copying their own literature to the same standards as works of the past—and by modeling on David leading figures like the Maskil—they send subtle yet powerful signals of their own place, and that of the movement to which they belonged, in the long line of worthies of the past.

The caves near Khirbet Qumran revealed almost a thousand Dead Sea Scrolls as well as large numbers of tabs for fastening scrolls. At least four inkwells were discovered in the nearby settlement of Qumran. Altogether we have access to material evidence for scribal activity more ample than anywhere else in the ancient world. While it has become clear that not all the scrolls were composed or copied in the vicinity of Qumran, some scribal activity was clearly taking place there—something that has recently been confirmed by materials science. In light of this, it is all the more striking to […]