Endnote 16 – Was It an Essene Settlement?

“ … [T]hey shall summon them all, the little children and the women also, and they shall read into their ears the precepts of the Covenant … ” Messianic Rule (1QSa). There are also special rules for women in the Temple Scroll (11QT) corresponding to the rules found in the Pentateuch, as well as similar ones in the Damascus Rule (CD) and in fragments from Cave Four. For a full treatment see L. Cansdale, “Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Proceedings of the 11th Conference for World Jewish Studies (Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies—Magnes Press, June 1993, in press).