STUDIES ON THE TEXTS

OF THE DESERT OF JUDAH

EDITED BY

F. G A R C I A M A R T I N E Z

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

P.W. F L I N T

VOLUME XLII

' I6 8 ‫' י‬
ALL THE GLORY OF ADAM
Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls

CRISPIN H.T. FLETCHER-LOUIS

‫י‬ ‫י‬6 8 ‫' <י‬

BRILL
L E I D E N • BOSTON · K Ö L N
2002
 This book is printed on acid-free paper.

D i e Deutsche Bibliothek - C I P - E i n h e i t s a u f h a h m e
Fletcher-Louis, Crispin H . T :
All the Glory of Adam / by Crispin H . T . Fletcher-Louis. - Leiden ; Boston ; Köln
: Brill, 2002
(Studies on the texts of the desert ofjudah ; Vol. 42)
ISBN 90-04-12326-1

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PRINTED I N T H E NETHERLANDS
Christopher Rowland
 CONTENTS

Preface xi

I . Allelomorphism in Late Second Temple

Judaism 1
Jewish angelomorphism: A n overview of texts, themes
and setting 5
Conclusion 32

II. The Divine and Pricsily Noah 33

Is Noah an angel? 37
Noah as angelomorphic priest: The life setting of his
wondrous birth 39
The birth of the priestly Noah in its wider
history-of-religions context 49

I I I . The Angelomorphic Priesthood in Conceptual

Perspective 56
The angelomorphic priesthood in the cosmic temple .... 61
The chief priesthood as the embodiment of God's
Glory 68
Sirach 50 and the praise of the high priest as the One
Jewish God 72
Conclusion 84

IV. A Divine and Angelic Humanity in the DSS 88

Humanity as the Glory of God in Qumran texts 91
Transformation in the Hodayot 104
IQ/4QInstruction 113
Josephus on Essene Theological Anthropology 123
Qumran angelomoiphism and sectarian ascetism 131
Conclusion 135

V. The Divine and Angelic Moses at Qumran 136

4Q374 Frag. 2 col. i i : The Deification of Moses at
Sinai 136
Vlll CONTENTS

4Q377 Frag. 1 recto col. i i

Moses and priesthood

V I . Priestly Allelomorphism in the DSS

The blessing of the high priest (lQSb 4:24-28)
The founding of an angelic priesthood among the
Holy (4Q511 35)
Israel are the Holy Ones and Aaron are the Holiest
of the Holy Ones
4Q418 (4QInstruction) Frag. 81
(a+C
4QVisions of Amram ' ar: Aaron as God and the
Angel of God
4QAaron A l'Vag. 9: A heavenly ami cosmogonie
high priest
4Q468b: The solar high priest and the light of his
garments
b
4Q513 (4Qprdinances ): Angelic food for the
priesthood
4Q369 1 i i (Prayer of Enosh(?))
A throne in the heavens for the divine human
mediator
Melchizedek in 11 QMelchizedek

V I I . The High Priest, the Breastpicce and the

Urim and Thummim at Qumran
The Light-giving stones and the Tongues of Fire
(1Q29 + 4Q376)
Levi's possession of the Urim and Thummim
(Deut 33:8-10 and 4Q175)
Twelve chief priests' illuminating judgement of the
UT (4QpIsa‫)'׳‬
The U T and the perfect light of God's presence ...
.. The perfect light of the U T in the Hodayot
The theophanic presence of the light giving
headdress (4Q408)
The U T , the high priest' breastpiece and the name
"Essenes"

V I I I . The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

Introduction
 CONTENTS IX

Newsom's interpretation paradigm and its problems 253

Qumran theological anthropology and the Sabbath
Songs 277

I X . The First Song (4Q400 1 I): The Founding

of a Divine Community 280
Problems of the angel reading 281
4Q400 1 i and the founding of an angelic
priesthood in 4Q511 35 293
4Q400 1 i and the formation of the cultic community
in the 1QS 296
The sectarian elohim, the qerubim and the angelic
rhmibim (lino 6) 299
Conclusion and prospects for a new reading of the
Songs 301

X . The Second to the Twelfth of the Sabbath

Songs 306
The second song 306
The sixth song 309
The seventh song 325
The eighth song 335
The ninth song 338
The tenth song 341
The eleventh song 342
The twelfth song 345

X I . Song 13 356
Angelic humans wonderfully dressed for service 358
The identification of the "spirits" in 4Q405 23ii 365
The lightgiving stones of the breastplate 368
The Chief Priests' embodying the Glory of God 373
Embodiment of the Glory in wider Jewish
perspective 378
The chief priesthood as the recipients of worship 381
Cosmology and the climax of the cycle's ritualized
ascent 382
The vision of the breastpieces, the Essenes and the
Qumran community 388
Conclusion to the Sabbath Songs 391
χ CONTENTS

X I I . The War Scroll

Humanity and the angels in battle together ..
Divine and human agency
Columns 10-19: The ideological heart of the
holy war

Conclusion

Bibliography

Indices
Index of Authors
Index of Sources
Index of Subjects
 PREFACE

This book is the development of a footnote in my published doc-

toral dissertation (Luke-Acts: Angels, Chistology and Selenology) and an
attempt to answer a question which, doctorates being limited in
length as they are these days, I did not have space to address in
that work. The second part of that work was a survey of the late
Second Temple evidence for the belief in an ideal humanity which
is angelic (or "angelomorphic") or divine in nature or status. In a
footnote (o a brief discussion of the evidence of the I.)SS I suggested
that the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice had been misinterpreted and that
insufficient scope had hitherto been given to the possibility that this
angelic liturgy assumed a transformed, angelic humanity as the wor-
shipping community. As I began to work in detail on that liturgical
text it became clear to me that indeed a very different interpréta-
tive paradigm was needed i f it was to be placed in its appropriate
tradition-historical and history-of-religions contexts. The rest of this
study then grew up around what eventually became the four chap-
ters (8-11) devoted to a revisionist reading of the Sabbath Songs.
Since others (most notably Charles Gieschen and William Hor-
bury) have, independently, undertaken similar surveys of the mate-
rial in the literature oflate Second Temple period a divine or angelic
humanity is now, I hope, reckoned to be widespread. Whilst I
attempted as thorough a survey as possible in my work on Luke-
Acts, I did not adequately address the social and religious life-set-
ting of an essentially literary pattern of belief. What was die experiential
context which lead (some) Jews to believe that they—or their heroes—
were divine? What were the wider, cosmological, co-ordinates of a
world-view which fostered an angelomorphic anthropology? Already,
in the latter stages of my doctoral work it became clear to me that
in large measure it is the experience of worship in Israel's temple
and a sophisticated, i f decidedly un-modern, mythological under-
standing of temple time and space which answers these questions.
And so, the other impetus for writing this book has been an attempt
to demonstrate not only that Jews in antiquity had a much higher,
positive, anthropology than is normally assumed, but that they held
such an anthropology within the context of an understanding of the
Xll PREFACE

cult to which, until recently, modern scholarship has tended to pay

too little attention.
What follows, then, is a case study—an examination of relevant
literature from the library of the community at Khirbet Qumran—
which seeks to verify two, interlocking, hypotheses: (1) the theology of
ancient Judaism took for granted the belief that in its original, true, redeeme
state humanity is divine (and/ or angelic), and that (2) this belief pattern
was conceptually and experienlially inextricable from temple worship in whic
ordinary space and time, and therefore human ontology, are transcended be
the true temple is a model of the universe which offers its entrants a transfe
from earth to heaven, from humanity to divinity and from mortality to immor
taliiy. Since it is only a case study—of one particular group of Jews—
it will by no means serve as a sufficient verification of the universal
validity of these two hypotheses. But it is a start.
I have many to thank for their encouragement and assistance dur-
ing the journey that this book has taken. In the first instance I should
thank Daniel K . Falk and Gcza Vermes for kindly giving me the
opportunity to share my early ruminations on the Sabbath Songs at
the Oxford Seminar for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. And,
were it not for a tea-time discussion with Daniel Falk in the Ori-
cntal Faculty my reading of Sirach 24 and 50, which plays a piv-
otal part in the argument, may never have been conceived. To the
participants in the Jewish Mysticism Group at the American meet-
ing of the Society of Biblical Literature, especially Chris Morray-Jones
and Jim Davila, I am much indebted for the vigorous discussion of
the Sabbath Songs, and of my thesis. Latterly, I must thank Michael
Knibb, Loren Stuckcnbruck, Robert Hayward and Archie Wright
whose collegiality, encouragement and critical eye have provided the
perfect environment in which to finish the job. Throughout, I have
been indebted to the inspiration of my Doktorvater, Chris Rowland,
and to Margaret Barker.
Many thanks go to those who have provided technical and other
resources: to the librarians at the Bodleian, Tyndale House and
King's College, London, and to Florentino Garcia Martinez for both
kindly accepting publication in STDJ and for sage advice regarding
certain details of the argument. Thanks also to Pim Rietbroek and
Mattie Kuiper at Brill, and to Webb Mealy and Nick Drake for
their help in the final production of the book.

Pentecost, 2001
Durham, U K
 CHAPTER ONE

A N G E L O M O R P H I S M I N L A T E SECOND
TEMPLE JUDAISM

It has usually been thought that Judaism at the turn of the eras nei-
ther believed in the inherent divinity of humanity nor did it coun-
tenance the possibility of an apotheosis for the righteous. There was,
it was assumed, an absolute qualitative difference between God and
man which would not permit such an anthropology. It has normally
been assumed that Jewish monotheism, which played a fundamen-
tal role in the definition of Jewish faith, piety and practice, excluded
any notion of human beings having a divine identity or a status that
transcended their mortality; their position as creature across the ere-
ator—creature divide. Also, a divine human being, however righteous
and exceptional (s)he be, would threaten the singularity of the one
Jewish God and his absolute transcendence.
To be sure, there is plenty of historical data which lends itself to
this construction of the Jewish worldview. Jews were notoriously
scrupulous in avoiding reverence towards any god other than their
own and even their own God lacked any statue or permanent phys-
ical image in his temple. There are many instances in late Second
Temple Jewish history where claims by human individuals (for exam-
pie, Antiochus I V , Epiphancs and Gaius Galigula) to be divine are
regarded with contempt by Jews even when those individuals are
Israel's own appointed leadership (Herod Agrippa I according to
Acts 12 and Josephus Ant. 19:343—52). Within Israel's scriptures there
are texts which are naturally read as an outright condemnation of
any transgression of the creature-creator divide (Gen 3:22; Ezek
28:U19; Num 23:19). Where a later Jew, such as Philo, might appear
to disregard this boundary their work can be explained away as the
result of a deviation from Jewish orthodoxy and the indulging in a
1
Greco-Roman belief in a divine man, a theios aner.

' This phenomenon occupied a good deal of scholarship i n the seventies and
eighties of the twentieth century. See the studies of Tiede 1972; Holladay 1977;
Blackburn 1991 and note the older work of Bieler 1935-6.
2 CHAPTER ONE

However, recent scholarship questions many of these assumptions

in the light of closer attention to Jewish texts from the period. Numer-
ous studies have now challenged a rigid view of the creator—créa-
ture relationship which would exclude any possibility of a developed
sense of a theological anthropology in which humanity's bearing of
God's image might actually entail its participation in his own iden-
tity, his divinity. Much of this work has been driven by the straight-
forwardly historical problem that within a very short space of time
after his death Jesus' Jewish followers started to accord him an iden-
tity far beyond his ordinary humanity to the point where he become
2
a recipient of their devotion. This is an historical fact which is diffi-
cult to explain i f first century Jews were utterly opposed to any kind
of abrogation of a rigid divine-human boundary.
At the same time, work on Jewish texts with little direct concern
to explain early Christian theology has drawn attention to belief pat-
3
terns which are much less dualistic than pre\iously supposed. In par-
ticular, one thinks here of those studies which have challenged the
consensus opinion that Jewish apocalyptic is thoroughly dualistic and
therefore maintains a sharp distinction between heaven and earth,
divine and human. I n his magisterial survey of Jewish apocalyptic
Christopher Rowland took to task the prevalent definition of apoc-
al)ptic which emphasized the orientation to an otherworldly escha-
tology and explored a model which privileged apocalyptic's interest
4
in the revelation of heavenly secrets. This alternative model, which
has regrettably still not received the attention it deserves, necessar-
ily undermines the dualistic reading of apocalyptic texts because it
insists on the mutually interpenetrating relationship between heaven
and earth as a fundamental assumption of texts which are interested
5
in revelation.
Rowland's work has been taken up by Martha Himmelfarb who
has highlighted in greater detail the centrality of the heavenly ascent

2
See-in particular the work of Hurtado 1988 and the responses to his work
exemplified by the essays in Newman, et al. 1999.
3
O f the many different (and often imprecise) senses of the word "dualism'' I
have i n mind here, and throughout this study, both the spatial dualism (heaven and
earth as two rigidly separated realms) and the theological dualism (between God and
humanity, creator and creature) identified by J ö r g Frey (1997, 283-4).
4
Rowland !982.
5
Rowland's thesis has not yet received sufficient attention and many still work
with the older eschatologically oriented model. However, for his approach compare,
e.g., Stone 1976; Gruenwald 1980; Barton 1986; Barker 1991a; Bryan 1995.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 3

within apocalyptic texts. Such ascents frequently entail the transfer-

mation of the seer from an earthly identity to a new heavenly, divine
or angelic existence which befits an access to the heavenly world.
Quite righdy Himmelfarb concludes from her examination of such
texts that they do "not really reflect a gulf between man and G o d . . .
[and] clearly we need to rethink the pessimism so often attributed
6
to the apocalypses".
Whilst such a revisionist assessment of Jewish apocalyptic has been
underway there has, concurrently, been a re-evaluation of the nature
of Jewish mysticism, the successor to apocalyptic after the fall of the
temple. Gershom Scholem recognized in Jewish mysticism a "gnos-
tic" pattern which allowed considerable openness to human partici-
pation in the realm of heaven and the divine identity. However,
Scholem himself denied that Jewish mysticism during the first mil-
lennium (Merkabah and Hekhalot Afyslicism) held any belief in a unto
7
mjstica; a union of the mystic with God himself. Scholem's judge-
ment on this matter has now been righdy rejected by those who
have taken up his challenge that scholarship take Jewish mysticism
seriously. So, for example, Moshe Idel has shown the extent to which,
already within Merkabah Mysticism, the adept expects some kind of
8
assimilation to the Godhead. Similarly, G.R.A. Morray-Jones has
shown just how central to late apocalyptic and early Jewish mysti-
cism is the belief in a pattern of "transformational mysticism" in
which the mystic seeks transformation from an ordinary mortal and
human existence to an angelic or divine one, through the techniques
9
of ecstasy; ascent, theurgic use of the divine Name and ascesis.
It has long been known that Samaritan theology and the some-
what heterodox movements surrounding the likes of Simon Magus
in the first century adopted a openness to a divine humanity. I n the
past this phenomenon had tended to be bracketed out of the discus-
sion of "orthodox" Jewish practice and belief because the Samari-
tan texts were perceived to be too late (200 A.D. onwards) to be of
trustworthy testimony to the Second Jerusalem Temple period and,
in any case, from a form of Judaism that was to all intents and pur-
poses hermetically sealed off from its Judaean rival. There is a

6
Himmelfarb 1993, 90.
7
Scholem 1941, 122-3.
8
Idel 1988a, 59-73; Idel 1988b, 1-31.
9
Morray-Jones 1992.
4 CHAPTER ONE

growing body of opinion that such a shaq‫ נ‬divide between "Judaism"

and Samaritanism is unwarranted and Jarl Fossum has done much
to rehabilitate the relevance of Samaritan traditions for an under-
standing of the broader phenomenon of Jewish theological anthro-
pology. He has shown that there is a rich tradition within Samaritan
thought according to which the righteous, particularly Moses and
those like him, possess a divine identity in as much as they are assim-
ilated to God's Glory and his principal Angel by virtue of their bear-
ing his Name. Far from being a phenomenon isolated to Samaritan
thought, or even various heterodox subgroups within Samaritanism,
Fossum has shown how closely related, literarily and conceptually,
such ideas are to contemporary Jewish, Christian and developing
10
gnostic thought.
This is the broader context of recent research within which this
present study is situated. More narrowly, the following discussion of
Qumran texts is oriented towards the recent scholarly emphasis on
angelomorphism as a defining feature of late Second Temple anthro-
pology. A number of recent studies have highlighted the way in
which Jews believed Ike righteous lived an angelic life and possessed an angel
identity or status, such that although their identity need not be reduced to tha
of an angel they are nevertheless, more loosely speaking, angelomorphic. I n
pioneering essay in the early nineteen eighties James H . Charlesworth
collected a number of texts where the righteous are portrayed as
11
angels. In the last ten years there have been a flurry of studies
examining this phenomenon and its relevance for various aspects of
early Christianity. For example, Charles Gieschen has undertaken a
broad survey of all the evidence which would explain the develop-
ment of an angelomorphic Christology across a wide spread of early
12
Christian texts in the first couple of centuries of the Christian era.
Tri an earlier study I have undertaken a preliminary examination of
similar texts, exploring the typologies of Jewish angelomorphism,
showing their relevance both for Christology and soteriology in Luke's
3
two,.volume work Luke-Acts.' Since these two publications, though
in independence of their approach and conclusions, William Hor-

10
Fossum 1985 and Fossum 1995.
" Charlesworth 1980.
'‫ יי‬Gieschen 1998. See also Carrcll 1997 examining the Christology of Rcvcla-
don; Knight 1995 and Knight 1996 concentrating on the Ascension of Isaiali.
"Fletcher-Louis 1997b, esp. pp. 110-215.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 5

bury has challenged the prevalent opinion amongst New Testament

scholars that first century Jewish messianic expectation lacked any
discernible belief in a transcendent or divine messiah. Horbury has
shown, in particular, that there is a wealth of textual evidence from
within the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, the tar-
gums and Dead Sea Scrolls for the expectation of a messianic figure
14
with strongly angelic characteristics.
It is hoped that the reader of this Dead Sea Scroll monograph
will be familiar with this secondary literature and the primary sources
upon which it relies. However, in this and the following two chap-
ters I offer a brief overview of some of the relevant texts, their con-
ceptual features, and the questions they raise are a necessary
introduction to our study of texts from Qumran which belong to
this conceptual world. A pressing issue to arise from the work in
this field thus far is the relationship between literary form and social
and religious setting. I n what follows, I will attempt to show that the
principal socio-religious life setting for a Jewish divine anthropology, particular
in its earlier formative stages of development, was the Jewish Temple, its sacr
space and priesthood, and this also will set the scene for our examina-
tion of priestly and liturgical material among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Jewish Allelomorphism: An Overview of Texts, Themes and Setting

The ways in which an angelomorphic or divine identity is expressed

in the Jewish texts are diverse. Propositional statements to the effect
that someone is "an angel", "a god", "a holy one", and so forth,
abound. In each instance contextual considerations are, of course,
necessary to establish the precise force of the language. Often the
suprahuman identity is expressed through visual symbolism, such as
the wearing of glorious, luxurious clothing of the shining of the face
with a heavenly light. Again it is important that the iconographie
code be sensitively interpreted with a sympathetic attention to a text's
own particular religious grammar. In general, however, it is possi-
ble to discern a language which is shared by a wide spread of Jew-
ish texts from otherwise distinct socio-religious settings within the
broader parameters of late Second Temple Judaism.

" Horbury 1998, 64—108, cf. the earlier work of his Cambridge colleague Chester
1991 and Chester 1992.
6 CHAPTER ONE

The individuals and communities which have attracted an angelo-

morphic and divine anthropology are equally diverse. The existence
of texts in which such characters as Moses and Enoch are divine is
unsurprising because already in the Biblical text their humanity had
transcended its "normal" limitations. But the range of individuals
involved in such speculation is much broader. It is possible to recon-
struct an angelomorphic succession which stretches back as far as
the pre-lapsarian Adam, through the likes of Enoch, Noah, Melchi-
zedek, Jacob/Israel, Joseph, Levi, Moses, embracing the offices of
king, priest and prophet, all of which, in turn, prepare for the angelo-
!s
morphic messiah of the future. As an illustration of the kind of
material we have in view here we may take two case studies—Moses
and the king—focusing on texts which are particularly relevant for
our study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Moses

One character who receives considerable attention from those explor-

ing a divine anthropology is Moses. I n the biblical text God makes
him "as God/a god to Pharaoh" (Exod 7:1) and upon his descent
from Sinai Moses' face has received the horns that mark him out
as a divine being in the iconography of the ancient Near East (Exod
16
34:29—39). The Septuagint took this to signify Moses' glorification
(w. 29-30, 35: δεδόξασται and δεδοξασμένη). From at least the
third century B.C. onwards Exodus 7:1 and 34:29-39 were widely inter-
17
preted to mean that Moses had a heavenly and divine identity.
One text, which illustrates the development of this Moses tradi-
tion, is particularly important for our study of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
since we know that it was part of the Qumran library. Fragments
of the book of Sirach have turned up in Cave 2 (2Q18) and exten-
sive sections of the Hebrew text have been recovered from Masada
along with portions of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. Though the

15
This "angelomorphic succession" is nowhere spelt out explicitly, but is a legiti-
mate reconstruction from the continuity in diachronic characterization of individu-
als, the comparison with such succession narratives as Sirach 44—50 (which concentrates
on the Glory of God i n his chosen humanity) and the Jewish value that is attached
to racial election and purity.
16
Here Wyatt 1999, 871—73 states what should have been obvious long ago.
" For a full sun-‫־‬ey of the texts see Fletcher-Louis 1996 and Fletcher-Louis 1997b,
173-184. The earliest extra biblical witness to this tradition is the third century
B.C. text Artapanus (3.27.22-26).
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 7

relevant section has not been preserved in the DSS we can be sure
that the sectarians knew very well Sirach's account of the life of
18
Moses in his praise of the fathers (chs. 44-50).
After a brief mention of Isaac and Jacob, Sirach praises Moses
(44:23-45:5):
43:23c p r o [Jacob's] descendants he b r o u g h t forth a m a n o f mercy,
m

w h o f o u n d favour i n the sight o f all the l i v i n g (‫ כ ל חי‬, π ά σ η ς σαρκός)

4 5 : 1
a n d was beloved b y G o d a n d people,
Moses, whose m e m o r y is blessed.
2
H e made h i m like the angels i n glory (δόξη ά γ ι ω ν , ‫ ) א [ ל ה י ם‬,
a n d made h i m great, to the t e r r o r (έν φόβοις, cf. Β m a r g i n : ‫) ב ס ו ר א י ם‬
o f his enemies.
‫ יי‬By his words lie performed swift miracles;
the L o r d glorified ( έ δ ύ ς α σ ε ν , H e b : πρπτί) h i m i n the presence o f kings.
H e gave h i m c o m m a n d m e n t s for his people,
9
a n d revealed to h i m his G l o r y (της δ ό ξ η ς α ύ τ ο ΰ ) . ‫י‬
4 2 0
F o r his faithfulness a n d meekness he consecrated h i m ,
he choose ( ‫ י ב ח ר‬, έξελέξατο) h i m f r o m all flesh (έκ πόισης σ α ρ κ ό ς , ( ‫] מ כ ל‬
‫)'־בשק‬.
‫נ‬
H e a l l o w e d h i m to hear his voice, a n d led h i m i n t o the d a r k c l o u d ,
and gave h i m the c o m m a n d m e n t s face to face, the l a w o f life a n d
knowledge,
so that he m i g h t teach J a c o b the covenant, a n d Israel his decrees.

At the close of 43:23 Moses finds favour in the sight of "all the liv-
ing", or "all flesh". This statement has some precedent in the bib-
lical text. Moses won the favour of Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus
2:5-10), of the priest of Midian and his family (Exodus 2:16-22) and
of the Egyptians according to Exodus 11:3. However, Sirach's sum-
mary statement goes beyond these intimations in a more strongly
universalistic direction. The language should be compared with the
well-known passage in Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge where Moses
receives all rule and authority over the cosmos and the prostration
22
of the angels (lines 68-89). That text dates from roughly the same
period as Sirach's wisdom collection.

18
The Hebrew is extant i n ms Β from the Cairo Geniza. For an accessible
Hebrew text see Becntjes 1997.
19
The Hebrew for the last words o f verse 3 is not extant.
2 0
Hebrew lacks "he consecrated h i m " .
21
Hebrew restored on basis of Greek and on analogy with the language of 50:17.
22
Cf. Also Philo De Vila Mosis 1:155-8 and the identification of Moses with
Musaeus, the teacher o f Orpheus, in Artapanus (9.27.3-4).
8 CHAPTER ONE

In 45:2 Moses is angelomorphic. For the angelic "holy ones" of

the Greek translation, the Geniza text had a plural "gods". Here,
then, the glory is a specifically angelic glory, though how far that is
to be distinguished from God's own Glory is not clear. The Geniza
manuscript seems to assume the reference is to Sinai, because it has
Moses strengthened "in the heights (‫ ")במרומים‬in the second half of
23
verse 2. And obviously the second half of verse 3 summarizes the
giving of the Torah at Sinai and the revelation to Moses of God's
Glory in Exodus 33:17—23. The Septuagint also interpreted Moses'
transfigured visage on his descent from Mount Sinai as a glorifica-
tion (Exod 34:29: "the countenance of the complexion of his face
had been glorified (δεδόξασται)." The Sinaitic revelation is again pro-
minent in verse 5.
However, our author may also have had his eye on Exodus 7:1
24
where God makes Moses "as God to Pharaoh". Reference to this
verse is supported by verse 3a-b where the glorification (Hebrew:
"strengthening") of Moses is set "in the presence" of kings, of whom
Pharaoh is the prime example and the reference to Moses' per-
forming swift miracles will include the signs and wonders set in Egypt.
In this case Sirach is an important, and perhaps the earliest, wit-
ness to the combination of the deification at Sinai and in Exodus
7:1. The combination of Moses' "heavenly" ascent at Sinai, his trans-
formation and his being made ‫ אלהים‬to Pharaoh in Exodus 7:1 is
known from Philo, rabbinic texts, Samaritan tradition and is also
25
attested in one fragmentary Qumran text (4Q374 frag. 9: see below).
In 45:4b Moses is chosen for his faithfulness and meekness "out
of all flesh". Hitherto it has been assumed that this phrase should
21
not be taken literally; it means, rather, "from all Israel". ' But nei-
ther in the Greek nor the Hebrew is there any real precedent for
this translation. The phrase is a common one in Sirach and means
2
the whole of creaturely reality. ' For the meaning "Israel" in 45:4b

23
For Moses' ascent up Sinai an ascent to the heavenly realm, cf. Pseudo-Philo's
Biblical Antiquities 12:1.
24
So Smend 1906, 426; Skehan and DiLella 1987, 509.
2 5
See esp. Philo's De Vita Mösts 1:155-8 and Tanhuma Buber Beha'alokkha 15
(26a-b) and Meeks 1968, 353-59.
26
Smend 1906, 427; Skehan & DiLella 1987, 51 1.
27
For ‫ כ ל ) ־ ( ב פ ר‬see Sirach 8:19a; 13:15a, 16a; 14:17a; 39:19a; 41:4a; 44:18;
48.-Ι2Γ and for nâacx σαρξ sec Sirach 1:10; 13:16; 14:17; 17:4; 18:13; 39:19; 40:8;
41 ;4; 44:18; 45:1; 46:19.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 9

commentators appeal to 50:17a where the phrase obviously refers,

at least in part, to Israel and is translated by πας ό λαός in the Greek.
However, in that context the Hebrew has not lost sight of the nor-
mal sense of the phrase, but sets up Israel as the representative of
28
all created flesh in the liturgy of the Temple. So, too, in 45:4 it
is preferable to read the second half of the verse in the light of the
preceding description of Moses' ontological transformation and the
revelation he receives in the next verse. The choice of Moses from
all flesh suggests both spatial transfer in as much as he is taken into
God's presence from the realm of creation, and ontological trans-
formation in as much as he is transformed from the limited iden-
tity of the creature and taken up into the life of the creator, God.
As we shall see the language was to become stereotypical in second
29
century transformational texts.

Kingship

There is a long tradition, with its origins in the melting pot of ancient
Near Eastern religious experience from which Israel was to emerge,
30
that gives to kingship a divine identity. Texts such as Psalm 45:7
,
and Isaiah 9:6 are well known: they speak of the king as • ‫ א ל ה‬and
‫ א ל נבור‬, respectively. Less well known are texts where the king is
likened to an angel (1 Sam 29:9; 2 Sam 14:17, 20; 19:17; L X X Isa-
31
iah 9:5, Zechariah 12:8, cf. Esther L X X 15:4-19 (Add. D)).
One of these, Zechariah 12:8, is important for our study because
it is perhaps picked up in the War Scroll from Qumran (11:10, see
below). In this text the house of David is both divine and angelic:
a n d the house o f D a v i d shall be like G o d / g o d s , like the angel o f the
LORD before t h e m ( ‫ ) כ א ל ה י ם כ מ ל א ך י ח ו ה ל פ נ י ה ם‬.

28
See Fletcher-Louis 2001b, ad be.
2 9
Compare the similar expression used of Aaron in Sirach 45:16: "He chose
him out of all the living (‫מכל חי‬, άπα παντός ζώντος)".
30
The place of "divine" kinship within Israel and the ancient Near East has
been much debated. Hermeneutical constraints have not allowed a full apprécia-
don of this aspect of Israelite religion. Though see Wyatt 1996 and Wyatt 1999
for an important recent contribution. For a balanced assessment of the data as it
pertains to the post-biblical period see Collins 1995b, 2 0 - 4 8 and Horbury 1998,
5-35.
31
O n these see, esp., Mettingcr 1976, 254-93.
10 CHAPTER ONE

There seems here to be a deliberate reappropriation of the tradition

according to which God's principal angel prepares the way for the
32
people in the wilderness (Exod 23:20-21).
Also worthy of some note, again because of the text's significance
at Qumran, is Numbers 24:17 which speaks of a star which shall
come out of Jacob, and a sceptre which shall rise out of Israel. In
the post-biblical period to speak in such astral terms is, unavoidably,
to speak of an angelomorphic, heavenly figure.
In its original context this prophecy obviously looks forward to
king David, but it was widely interpreted later as a prediction of a
future redeemer. I t appears at least three times in the Dead Sea
Scrolls though in each case without obvious comment on the ontol-
ogy in view'(CD 7:19-21; 4Q175; 1QM 11:6-7, cf. lQSb 5:24, 27).
33
It is interpreted messianically in the Septuagint and the Targums.
It's most significant influence was exerted on the Bar Kochba revolt
where it has left its mark on the eponymous hero of the Jewish
uprising. Both the rabbinic sources (R. Akiba according to j . Ta'anit
68d) and the church fathers (Justin Apol. 1.31.6 = Eusebius Eccl.
Hist. 4.8.4) agree on the significance of the star prophecy for the
pseudonym of the revolt's leader. That such astral symbolism was
dear to the revolutionaries themselves is consistent with the existence
3i
of the rosette-star on some of the coins they minted.
Neither, it seems, were the ontological implications of this astral
imagery lost on those who knew of its use of Bar Kosiba. Accord-
ing to Eusebius he was a

murderous bandit, but relied on his name, as if dealing with slaves,

and claimed to be a luminary who had come down to them from

32
For the influence of Exodus 23:20-21 here see Smith 1984, 275; Meyers and
Meyers 1993, 333. This application of Exodus 23:20-21 is of considerable importance
for the understanding of later mystical tradition which identifies the transformed
Enoch, Metatron, with the Name bearing angel (on which see esp. Fossum 1985).
3 3
See Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Neofiti, Fragment Targum (Paris Ms
110 arid Vatica Ms Ebr 440), Neofiti Targum and Vermes 1961, 165-66. Its cita-
tion in 4Q1 75 within a collection of eschatologically significant passages lacking any
explicit interpretation will also have been messianic. T. Judah 24:1—6 and T. Levi
18:3 evince the influence of Numbers 24:17 onjewish tradition which is now extant
principally in Christian form. The reference injosephus B.J. 6:289 to the star resem-
bling a sword standing over the city of Jerusalem as a visionary sign in the death
throws of the first Jewish revolt also reveals the influence of Numbers 24:17. For
Christian reflexes of this text see Rev 22:16; Justin Apology 1:32:12-13.
3 4
For these coins see Mildenberg 1984, who, is unnecessarily dismissive (pp.
43-45) of their messianic symbolism.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 11

heaven (έξ ούρανοΰ φωστήρ) to illuminate with marvels (έπιλάμψαι τερ-

ατευόμενος) those who were in misery (JEccl. Hut. 4.6.1-4).
This picture of a messianic luminary from heaven who illuminates
d
others reminds us of several Qumran texts (e.g. lQSb 4:27; 4QTLevi
33
frag. 9; 4Q374 frag. 2 and see esp. 4Q405 23 i i below).
For corroboratory evidence for the influence of Numbers 24:17
on the angelomorphic expectation of Jews around the end of the
first century A.D. we have the fifth book of the Sibylline Oracles (lines
414-5). There the seer describes, proleptically, how

A blessed man came from the expanses of heaven

36
with a sceptre (σκηπτρον) in his hands which God gave him.
37
Here the redeemer is heavenly, though still human (άνήρ μακαρίτης).
It will, perhaps, have been this kind of expectation that Bar Kosiba
was thought to fulfil and, as we shall see, it was the same kind of
messianic vision which motivated the author of the Qumran War
Scroll
Jerome records a variant on the tradition in Eusebius. According
to Jerome {Contra Rufmum 3:31) "the great Bar Kochba, instigator of
an uprising of Jews, held a straw in his mouth and fanned the flames
with his breath so that people believed that he spat out flames". This
is noteworthy because it ties up suggestively with 4 Ezra 13:4, 10—11
where the Son of Man breathes destructive fire from his mouth.

These two traditions, reflecting a belief in an angelomorphic or divine

Moses and king, are illustrative of many of the themes that a fuller
examination of the primary sources would reveal. However, their
focus on individuals must be balanced by the fact that there is, equally,
in many of the texts a stress upon whole communities living the
divine life. Here, of course, the nation of Israel is the most impor-
tant angelomorphic community. By virtue of her reception of the
Torah at Sinai, her keeping of laws which give her true humanity,
her access to the heavenly world through her temple and liturgy,
Israel is set apart from the rest of humanity. Pagans inhabit the

35
The messianic status of Bar Kosiba has, in fact, been contested (Aleksandrov
1973; Mildenberg 1984).
36
For the influence of Numbers 24:17 here see Hengel 1983, 675; Chester 1992,
243-4.
3 ,
Compare Sib. Or. 5:10810; 155-61; 256-7.
 12 CHAPTER ONE

realm of dumb idols, living a life no better than the beasts, whilst
Israel has the power of the living God and an angelic identity appro-
priate for members of his household. (For some Jews towards the
end of the Second Temple period, racial Israel had ceased to be co-
extensive with the true, spiritual Israel and so only their own (sec-
tarian) community—a subset of racial Israel—is truly angelomorphic.)
Studies driven by New Testament concerns have tended to focus
attention on the singular angelomorphic hero of old or the future
38
messiah whose identity prefigures early Christian beliefs about Jesus.
However, the fact that so often the angelomorphic identity is grounded
in that of Adam before his exit from Eden, the existence of a con-
tinuity of angelomorphic identity through the generations of God's
elect and the focus on Israel as an angelomorphic people of God
speaks for a theological perspective which should not be missed: there
seems to be'-'a claim which is usually implicit, but, as we shall see,
is at other times explicit, that true humanity, as it is restored among
the elect, is both angelomorphic and divine. In the rush to explain
the origins of early Christian beliefs about Jesus sight can be lost
of the fact that the peculiarly divine, angelic or exalted status of a
particular righteous individual is fundamentally an expression of a
more universal theological anthropology. In the rest of this study we
will explore how that theological anthropology is understood in one
particular community, that of Khirbet Qumran.
The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran community are particularly
important for our inquiry because they are a strongly priestly com-
munity. Again, scholars with New Testament interests have tended
to concentrate on the royal and Davidic categories in their exami-
nation of mediatorial speculation in the Jewish "background" to early
39
Christianity. There is a general consensus that priesdy messianism,
whether or not of a "divine" form, is of no real historical signifi-
cance in the late Second Temple period. The failure to attend prop-
erly to Israel's priestly and cultic traditions is, thankfully, now being
40
addressed from a number of quarters. This is not the place for a
thoroughgoing assessment of the role of the priesthood and temple

3 8
See most recently Horbury 1998, 64-108.
39
This, and the failure to attend to the communal perspective of the underly-
ing theological anthropology, is a weakness of Horbury's, otherwise welcome, mono-
graph dealing with the evidence for an angelic messiah (Horbury 1998).
4 0
Notable contributions include Himmelfarb 1993; Collins 1995b. For the more
general temple-centred picture of Judaism in our period see especially Sanders 1992.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 13

in the wider formation of Jewish messianic expectation and the rise

of early Christianity. However, in trying to understand the theolog-
ical context and socio-religious life setting of the theological anthro-
pology which we are exploring the overwhelming significance of the
Temple, its priesthood and liturgical drama cannot be underesti-
mated. This has, largely, been ignored in previous discussion and in
the rest of this chapter the role of the cult in the formation and
expression of a divine and angelomorphic humanity will be explored.

Priesthood
Although, there are some important biblical texts in which the king
or royal messiah has angelic characteristics, these are outweighed in
significance and number in the later post-biblical period by those in
which it is the priesthood that is angelomorphic and/or divine.
One of the most important biblical texts which gave canonical
authority to the belief in an angelomorphic priesthood is Malachi
2:5-7 which says of Levi:
5
My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, which I gave
him; this called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe
6
of my name. True instruction was in his mouth (‫ בפיהו‬ΓΤΡΠ ‫)תורת אמת‬,
and no wrong was found on his lips (‫)כשפתיו‬. He walked with me in
integrity and uprightness (‫)בשלו• ובמישור הלך אתי‬, and he turned many
7
(‫ )רב־ם‬from iniquity. For the lips of a priest (‫ )כי שפתי כהן‬should
guard knowledge (‫)ישמרו דעת‬, and people should seek instruction from
his mouth (‫)ותורה יבקשו מפיהו‬, for he is the angel of the LORD of hosts
(‫)מלאך ידווה צבאות הוא‬.

Although English translations usually give to the last expression of

verse 7 a purely functional translation (the messenger of the LORD)
the Hebrew can be taken to mean that the priest is an angel of the
41
LORD of hosts. This reading is consistent with the emphasis in the
preceding verses on the true priest's own character, personal integrity
and physical proximity to God which implies more than simply his
functional role as God's messenger. This text was widely interpreted
in priestly circles to mean that the priest has an ontological identity
42
akin to that of a (suprahuman) angel. The designation of the priest
as ‫ ה מ ל א ך‬is attested in the near contemporary Ecclesiastes 5:5 ( L X X

41
That Levi walked with God picks up the language of Genesis 5:22, 24; 6:9
where Enoch and Noah do the same.
42
Besides Jubilees 31 and the Qumran texts discussed below see Lev. Rab. 21:12.
 14 CHAPTER ONE

5:6), where the different versions attest the fluidity of interpretation

such language allows: the L X X translates ‫ לפני ה מ ל א ך‬as προ προσώπου
του θεοΰ whereas Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion all have
43
άγγελος.
The importance of Malachi 2 for the development of a belief in
44
an angelomorphic priesthood can be clearly seen in Jubilees 3 1 :
13
And he Psaac] turned to Levi first and began to bless him first,
and he said to him: "May the Lord of all, i.e. the Lord of all ages,
bless you and your sons in all ages.
14
May the Lord give you and your seed very great g/Glory. May he
45
make you and your seed near to him from all flesh to serve in his
sanctuary as the angels of the presence and the holy ones. May your
sons' seed be like them with respect to g/Glory and greatness and
46
sanctification. May he make them great in every age.
15
And tltey will become judges and rulers and leaders of all of the
seed of the sons of Jacob.
The word of the Lord they will speak righteously,
and all his judgments they will execute righteously.
And they will tell my ways to Jacob,
and my paths to Israel.
The blessing of the Lord shall be in their mouth,
so that they might bless all of the seed of the beloved.
16
(As for) you, your mother has named you "Levi",
and truly she has named you.
You will be joined to the Lord
and be the companion of all the sons of Jacob.
his table will belong to you,

The Jewish priesthood's angelic identity is already present i n the late fourth cen-
tury B.C. Greek author Hecataeus of Abdera's account o f the Jewish constitution.
He says that the Jews believe the high priest acts as an άγγελος to them of God's
commandments (Diodorus Siculus Bibliolheca Historica X L , 3.5). The fact that, as
such, the high priest is also the recipient of the people's prostration ( X L , 3.6) sug-
gests that Hecataeus understood more than simply a functional representation of
Israel's god. (For a fuller discussion of this text see Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 120—22).
4 3
See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 119 for secondary literature.
44
Translation follows O.S. Wintermute i n OTP 2. For Wintermute's "honor" I
have used "glory" because this better retains the ambivalence of the underlying
‫ כ כ ו ר‬, cf. Charles 1902, 186. For a less literal but fully annotated translation with
texts see VanderKam 1989.
‫נ י‬
VanderKam's "all humanity" misses the ontological significance of the literal text.
As his proposed Hebrew original rightly shows the text will have had " ‫" מ כ ו ל ב ש ר‬
(VanderKam 1999b, 501).
46
VanderKam's suggested Hebrew original ( V a n d e r K a m 1999b, 501) reads:
" ‫ל ש ר ת ב מ ק ד ש ו כ מ ל א כ י ה פ נ י ם ו ב ק ד ו ש י ם כ מ ו ה ם יהיה ז ר ע כניסה ל כ ב ו ד ו ל ג ד ו ל ה ו ל ק ד ו ש ה‬
‫ " ו א ח כ ה ו א ת ז ר ע כ ה י ק ר י ב אליו מ כ ו ל בשר‬.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 15

and you and your sons will eat (from) i t ,

and i n a l l generations your table w i l l be full,
and your food will not be lacking in any age.
17
And all who hate you will fall before you,
and all your enemies will be uprooted and perish,
and whoever blesses you w i l l be blessed,
and any nation which curses you will be cursed.

This is the first half of a two part blessing upon Levi and Judah
(31:11-17 and 18-20) in which the former is obviously superior to
47
the latter. Isaac's blessing of his two grandsons is deliberately mod-
elled on the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 48 as
48
James VanderKam has shown. Just as Ephraim was made pre-emi-
nent over Manasseh so here, m Jubilees 31, Levi is superior to Judah.
The patriarchal blessing is also one of four episodes collected in
chapters 30-32 of Jubilees which explain and justify how Levi was
49
appointed to the priesthood. This particular passage is therefore
reflective of the author's attempt to give greater authority to the
Levitical priesthood than scripture, which focuses on Aaron, allows.
Biblically, the closest parallel to this elevation of Levi is Malachi 2,
which claims a "covenant" with Levi. I t is not, therefore, surprising
that Malachi 2:5-7 should have exerted some influence on the Jubi-
lees text.
VanderKam has detailed several points of correspondence between
50
Jubilees 31 and Malachi 2. Besides the obvious correspondence be-
tween the two passages in the description of the priest as angel there
is the way Jubilees 31:15 focuses on the priest's mouth as the source
of blessing picking up the ‫ מפיהו‬of Malachi 2:7 and the emphasis
51
on the priest as the source of instruction (Mai 2:6 and Jub. 31:15).

47
For a detailed commentary see Davenport 1971, 57-62 and VanderKam 1999b.
48
VanderKam 1996 3 7 0 - 1 ; VanderKam 1999b, 499-501, 503.
49
The others being his zealous slaying of the Shechemites (30:1-20), a dream
vision (32:1) and his being the tithe of Jacob's sons at the feast of Tabernacles
(32:2-15).
5 0
VanderKam 1988, 362, cf. VanderKam 1989, vol. 2, 205.
51
For another noteworthy instance of the influence of M a i 2:7 see Pseudo-Philo's
Biblical Antiquities 28:3 where Kenaz and the prophets say "Speak, Phinehas. Should
anyone speak before the priest who guards the commandments of the LORD our
God, especially since the truth goes ford! from his mouth and a shining light from his
hear(?" I n the Hoes of the Prophets (16:1-2) the prophet Malachi is himself regarded
as angelomorphic: "he led a beautiful life. A n d since the whole people honoured
him as holy and gentle, it called him Malachi, which means "angel"; for he was
indeed beautiful to behold".
 16 CHAPTER ONE

To be sure, Jubilees 31:13— 17 is a patchwork of biblical allusions and

52
echoes. The priest's instruction looks also to Deuteronomy 33:8-11,
53
a text which has inspired much of Jubilees 31:15—17. The "bless-
54
ing of the LORD" will have in mind, in particular, Numbers 6:22—27.
There are those who have been unwilling to see here anything
more than a parallelism of action between the human priesthood and
55
the angels. I n the previous chapter, one of the angels of the près-
ence says "the seed of Levi was chosen for the priesthood and Levit-
56
ical (orders) to minister before the Lord just as we do" (31:18). So
clearly the priests' action in their ministry is central to their com-
parison with the angels. However, other considerations suggest the
author of Jubilees was not really aware of any distinction between
57
being and action. Levi and his seed arc separated "from all flesh"
to serve God in his sanctuary. This should probably not be taken
58
as purely iäiomatic. Judging by the use of this phrase in Sirach
45:4 and several other Dead Sea Scrolls (see below) it means a real
ontological transfer from one realm of being to another. The new
realm of being is characterized, in particular, by "glory" ("and great-
ness and sanctification") as it was for Moses (Sirach 45:2a, 3bd). The
nature of this glory, whether narrowly anthropological (honour, fame)
or overtly theological (Glory), is not stated. Near contemporary texts,
such as Sirach 50, which we shall discuss later, suggest that since
God is the giver of this glory it is his own and that this is one exam-
pie of the belief that the priesthood somehow embodies God's own
Glory.
Within the Jewish temple graded space marks out qualitatively
different spheres of reality. The inner sanctuary utterly transcends
the reality of the outer courts. That Levi is brought near to God

32
See esp. VanderKam 1999b.
5
‫י‬ See VanderKam 1988, 363-4.
5 1
VanderKam 1999b, 509. Levi as one "joined to the L O R D " shares the ety-
mology of his name i n Gen 29:34 (cf. Joseph and Asenelh 22:13).
55
Charles 1902, 186; Davenport 1971, 60.
36
Gf. Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 37: "The angel Michael descended and took Levi and
carried him up to God. . . . A n d he extended his right hand and blessed him, that
the sons of Levi might serve him, on earth as the ministering angeb in heaven'.
57
Richard Bauckham has righdy seen that any clear separation of being and
action is alien to the Jewish worldview at this time (Bauckham 1998, viii).
58
I n the Greek version of the Aramaic Levi document the parallel to Jub. 21:16
regarding the proper washing before and after entering the sanctuary has the injunc-
tion, which is not in Jubilees, "wash your hands and feet thoroughly from all flesh
{o.nb πάσης σαρκός)" (*54).
 ANGELOMORPHISM IN LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 17

thus means a spatial relocation which, in turn, implies an ontologi-

59
cal one.
The extent of the influence of such ideas upon the theology of
priesthood was widespread. Philo and the rabbis share a tradition
in which Leviticus 16:17 ("no man shall be (‫ )וכל א ד ם ל א יהיה‬in the
tent of meeting from the time he (the high priest) enters. . .") is
60
taken to mean that the high priest is not a man, but is angelic.
Margaret Barker has provocatively argued that much of Philo's pecu-
liar logos speculation is derived from the Jerusalem temple and its
61
priestly theology. Although, as we shall see, the belief in an angelic
priesthood is particularly dear to mystical and apocalyptic circles
exemplified by the Qumran community, the theology was shared far
beyond such communities. So, for example, it is clearly presumed
in the iMler of Aristeas, a propagandist work which shows little inter-
est in matters apocalyptic, but for whom the high priest is a thor-
oughly otherworldly figure. In the letter's account of the Jewish temple
and its service the sight of the high priest "makes one awestruck and
dumbfounded" and gives the impression that "one had come into
62
the presence of a man who belonged to a different world (99)."
Besides texts such as these, where it is explicitly the priest who is
angelomorphic a detailed study of other angelomorphic individuals
shows how much, time and again, ordinary humanity has been tran-
scended by virtue of a priestly privilege.

The Primeval State of the Angelomorphic Humanity

In some manuscripts of the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (the mis-
named Apocalypse of Moses) Adam is said to have lost "great glory"
with which he was clothed before he fell. Cain, the child of the first
couple, is borne lustrous in the partially parallel Latin Vitae Adae et
Evae 21:3 and his name, Adiaphotos ("one devoid of light"), in the
Greek (1:3) seems to reflect this luminescent birth, though in this

5 5
For being brought near see Deut 10:8; 18:5; 2 Chr 29:11; T. Levi 2:10, 20
and the language used to describe the heavenly priesthood i n the Sabbalh Songs.
60
Lev. Rab. 21:12; Philo: Rar. Diu. Her. 84; Somn. 2:188-189; 2:231. See Schäfer
1975, 201-3.
61
Barker 1991b.
6 2
The Greek (έμποιεί φόβον καΐ ταραχήν ίόστε νομίζειν εις έτερον έληλυθέναι έκτος
του κόσμου) is ambivalent and could also be translated "a man would think he had
come out of this world into another one", but this amounts to much the same
sense.
18 CHAPTER ONE

63
case the point is made that he has lost his light. According to the
Latin text Adam and Eve ate angelic food before their ejection from
paradise (4:1-2) and Adam was worshipped by the angels at his ere-
ation as the bearer of God's image (chs. 12-16). Corrine Patton has
suggested that this worship of Adam is modelled on the worship of
a cult statue in a temple; a suggestion which is consistent with the
O T image of God theology which sets up humanity as the only
64
appropriate equivalent to a pagan idol.
We can be sure that, at least from the Greek recension of this
text, a Hebrew layer of its development regarded the transcendent
identity of the primeval humanity as specifically priestly. In the first
chapter of the Greek text Abel is given the name Amilabes (1:3).
S T . Lachs has suggested that this is a corruption of the Hebrew
‫מעיל לבש‬, "he who dons the garment", or ‫מעילי לבש‬, "he who dons
65
my garment". This would then reflect both the tradition that Adam
wore not garments of skin (‫עור‬: Gen 3:21), but garments of light
(‫ )אור‬and the technical terminology for the priestly robe (‫ )מעיל‬in
Exodus 28:4, 31. In a way which anticipates the anthropological
dualism of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Abel is then set over against Cain,
just as light is set over darkness.
The existence of a garment which is both priestly and Adamic is
already attested in the book of Ezekiel. I n Ezekiel 28:12—19 there is
painted a picture of the king of Tyre as the Urmensch in the garden
of Eden. Unfortunately, the Hebrew of this text is notoriously diffi-
cult and the versions disagree at various critical points. However, it
is clear that the text represents a significant stage in the develop-
ment of the theology of priesthood and kingship. The king is "full
of wisdom and perfect in beauty (‫( ")מלא ח כ מ ה וכליל יפי‬v. 12). Not
only is he set in Eden, as was Adam, he wears the same precious
stones (v. 13) as those worn by the high priest according to the
Priestly tradition in Exodus 28. He is blameless and set on God's
holy mountain, walking among the stones of fire, until he is cast
from his paradisal abode for his iniquity.

63
For άδιάφωτος rather than the variant διάφωτος as the original reading of the
Greek text here see T r o m p 2000, 279. (Though Tromp's argument that άδιάφω-
τος is a corruption is hard to follow.)
64
Paiton 1994, 296-300. For humanity as God's "idol" see Fletcher-Louis 1999.
65
Lachs 1982, 173-4. Strangely, T r o m p (2000, 280) does not appear to know
Lachs' contribution which perhaps explains his inability to explain the Greek άμι-
λαβές.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 19

In v. 14a the Massoretic and Septuagint traditions diverge. The

Hebrew of the M T says of this king that "You are a [or, the] cherub
‫ את־כרוכ‬. . .", whilst the L X X evidently misunderstood the obscure
feminine pronoun att for the preposition et and has the king placed
by God with the cherub (μετά του χερουβ εθηκά). I n the Hebrew,
which is taken over by the Vulgate (tu cherub), the Urmensch is angelic,
whilst in the L X X he only experiences community with the angelic
world, an Engelgemeinschaft. A similar divergence in sense recurs in
verse 16 where the M T appears to have the king addressed as a
cherub: "and I will (or, I have) destroy(ed) you, Ο covering cherub
(‫")ואברך כרוב הסכך‬, and the L X X has, instead, "the (guardian) cherub
drove you out (ηγαγέν σε το χερουβ) from among the stones of fire".
Although the L X X does not have the king directly addressed as a
cherub it has been suggested that this still gives the king an angelic
identity because it sets him as one of a pair of cherubim, for this is
normally how they appear (e.g. Exod 25:18-22; 37:7-9; Num 7:89;
66
1 Kgs 6:23-28). In any case if, as James Barr has recently demon-
67
strated, the M T retains the original reading in verses 14 and 16, then
this is how the Qumran community will have read this passage.
This picture of a high priesdy leader in the garden of Eden is
tantalizingly obscure in many i f its details, but full of themes that
we will find re-emerge in the Dead Sea Scroll texts. Indeed, we will
later find evidence which may confirm that the community found in
this picture of the cherubic Urmensch a reflection of their own self-
image. The close association of temple and paradise is widespread
in post-biblical texts including those cherished at Qumran (e.g. Jub.
a 68
3:8-14, 27; 8:19; l Q H 16:4-37; 4Q500 frag. 1; 4Q265 7 i i 11-17).
It is already enshrined in the narrative of Genesis 2~3 which draws
heavily on the symbolism and traditions of the Temple, including
something like Ezekiel 28:12-19. As we shall see the idealized image
of the wisdom-filled sacral king and primal man in Ezekiel 28 will
be taken up and developed in a more narrowly priesdy direction in
the Dead Sea Scrolls.

66
Miller 1993, 498-99.
67
Barr 1992, 214-222. Cf. Greenberg 1997, 579, 583.
68
See generally Brooke 1999, and also Baumgarten 1994 and Martinez 1999a
for halakhah based on the legal equivalence of Eden and Temple i n Jubilees 3:8-14
and 4Q265.
20 CHAPTER ONE

Enoch, the Heavenly High Priest

One character who figures prominently in all discussions of Jewish
mediatorial speculation is Enoch, the seventh from Adam. There is
extant a wealth of pseudepigraphic material ascribed to this primeval
figure about whom the bible itself has very little to say. He is evi-
dendy a Jewish equivalent to the Mesopotamian flood hero who has
particularly intimate relations with the gods, is taken to live in the
divine community and is regarded as the founder of a guild of man-
69
tic wisdom. The Enochic corpus consists primarily of the long works
I, 2 and 3 Enoch and he is more briefly mentioned in Jubilees 4:16-26;
0
Sirach 44:16; 49:14, the targums and rabbis.'
A consistent feature of Enoch's characterization is his divine or
angelic identity. I n 2 Enoch 22:8-10 he gains access to God's près-
ence after an ascent through the seven heavens. There Michael is
told (22:8-10):
" G o , a n d extract E n o c h f r o m his earthly c l o t h i n g . A n d a n o i n t h i m
1
w i t h m y delightful o i l , a n d p u t h i m i n t o the clothes o f [ m y ] ' G l o r y " .
A n d so M i c h a e l d i d , j u s t as the LORD h a d said to h i m . . . . A n d the
appearance o f that o i l is greater t h a n the greatest light, a n d its oint-
m e n t is like sweet dew, a n d its fragrance like m y r r h ; a n d it is like the
rays o f the g l i t t e r i n g sun. A n d I looked at myself, a n d I had become
72
like one o f his glorious ones, and there was no observable difference.

The "glorious ones" are the angels of heaven who do obeisance to

the LORD (22:7) and so Enoch now has an angelomorphic appear-
ance. In what follows Enoch no longer needs food or sleep (56:2;
23:3, 6), his face is incandescent (37:2) and he becomes omniscient
(40:1-2, 4-13). Because for 2 Enoch, Adam also had an angelomor-
3
ρ hie identity (30:11 [J]), Enoch recovers the pre-lapsarian state.'
Although the Similitudes (1 Enoch 37—71) are much more difficult
to interpret than 2 Enoch they also seem to preserve a tradition in
which Enoch is identified as the singularly righteous human being

69
See generally VanderKam 1984. Note that in the Sumerian stoiy the hero,
Ziusudra, is both king and high priest.
'° For a thorough survey see, e.g. G.W.E. Nickelsburg "Enoch, first book of" in
A B D 2:508-16 and see the monographs of VanderKam 1984; Kvanvig 1988.
‫ יי‬The A recension lacks this divine personal pronoun.
72
This is the J recension. The A recension has only minor variations in lan-
guage.
73
For a fuller discussion see Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 153-55.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 21

who has "a countenance full of grace like that of one among the
holy angels" (46:1) and who is revealed seated on the throne of
74
God's Glory (62:2, 5; 61:9; 69:29). In the Hekhalot literature, also,
Enoch's divine and angelic identity figures prominenüy. In the Hebrew
3 Enoch Enoch undergoes heavenly ascent transformation, gigantic
enlargement (ch. 9), fiery transformation and investiture (ch. 12); he
is renamed Metatron the prince of the divine presence and the lesser
Yahweh (eh. 10; 12:5) and identified with the Angel of the LORD
wdio bears God's Name in Exodus 23:20-21).
The antiquity of this angelomorphic Enoch tradition is uncertain.
In the Book of Watchers, the oldest of the Enoch texts (3rd‫־‬4th cen-
tury B.C.), Enoch has jjeculiar rights of access to the divine presence
(chs. 14-15), however he is not explicitly said to be divine or angelic.
Yet there are good reasons to think that this was the accepted view
already in the third century B.C. I n the first place, the Mesopotamian
figure, upon whom the Israelite Enoch is modelled is given a divine
75
life. Secondly, in Sirach 49:14-15 Enoch's pre-existence and avoid-
ance of ordinary birth seems to be in view when the Hebrew says

Few have been formed on earth like Enoch.

And also he was bodily taken away.
If, like Joseph, he had been born a man,
76
then his corpse also would have been cared for.

The Hebrew Sirach, writing at the beginning of the second century

B.c. seems to take for granted the belief that Enoch, unlike a man
such as Joseph, was not born but simply created. That he neither
was born nor dies makes him more angel than ordinary mortal.
This long tradition of speculation on Enoch's divine and angelic
identity is not now contested. Though details of interpretation remain
disputed, its general shape is widely known. However, its life setting
has been more difficult to ascertain. Most commentators have tended
to assume that, like all apocalyptic, the Enoch tradition must be sec-
tarian in nature. However, the sectarian nature of apocalyptic has

74
See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 149-153 for a justification of the view that the iden-
tification of Enoch with the Son of M a n figure is no mere unexpected twist in
chapter 71 but central to the whole thrust of the Similitudes.
75
See Atrahasis col. vi 11. 254-56, 259-60 (Lambert and Millard 1969, p. 145)
for king Ziusudra given "life, like a god" and his elevation "to eternal life, like a
god", and the Epic of Gilgamesh (Tab. X I , 11. 193-95: ANET p. 38) where Utnapish-
dm is "like unto the gods".
76
Translation follows Lee 1986, 232. See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 147-9.
22 CHAPTER ONE

been considerably overstated and is now challenged from a number

offrants." There is a considerable body of evidence to support the
thesis that the angelomorphic Enoch tradition grew out of, and was
nurtured by, the Jerusalemite priesthood. It is only because the com-
munity at Qumran were a break-away group from the Jerusalemite
priesthood that they took with them and cherished their version of
/ Enoch. But the earliest Enoch material and the basic shape of its
theology grows out of Israel's cultic and priestly theology.
The first, obvious, piece of the picture to support this view is the
fact that it is the Priestly Enoch material in Genesis (Gen 5:18-24)
which is the source or inspiration of the later Enoch material. The
claim that Enoch "walked with God/the gods" is evidently the inspi-
ration for diverse traditions in which Enoch is set in heaven in the
company of God and the angels. And a good case could be made
for the fact'that the later Enoch tradition is not simply imaginatively
embellishing the brief portrayal in scripture but is faithfully recording
the kind of traditions assumed by the biblical author. The careful
structuring of the Priestly genealogy, its close parallels in Mesopo-
tamian materials, Enoch's association with the solar calendar, all
suggest that the author of Genesis 5 knows much more than he is
willing to let on. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the kind
of Enoch material that emerges after the third century B.C. repre-
sents the kind of traditions that the author of Genesis 5 knew of—
even i f those traditions have been reformed and reapplied to a later
situation. I t is then also a reasonable hypothesis that continuity of
tradition means continuity of Sitz im Men: the author of the earli-
est extra-canonical Enoch material is a direct descendent of the
Priestly author responsible for the laconic Genesis 5:18-24.
Since the work of David Suter and George Nickelsburg the Fall
of the Watchers cycle has been widely interpreted as a typological ref-
erence to the exogamy of priests who, like watchers in heaven, have
left their domain of cultic and racial purity by marrying non-Israelite
78
women of the land. On that basis, and drawing attention to the
close parallels between Enoch's actions and those of Ezra, Helge
Kvanvig has concluded that Enoch is the archetypal scribe and

" See the important challenges to the consensus i n the work of Cook 1995; H i m -
melfarb 1993; Bryan 1995.
78
Nickelsburg 1981; Suter 1979.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 23

79
priest. This view has been developed most fully by Martha H i m -
melfarb. She points to numerous temple and priesdy details of /
Enoch 14: taking up the implications of the Suter/Nickelsburg inter-
pretation, the watchers are priests; the tripartite heaven which Enoch
enters is modelled on the tripartite division of the second Temple
sanctuary; the language of Enoch's approach ("to draw near") is cul-
tic; the Great Glory is himself dressed in priestly attire; the back-
ground to scribal and teaching activity is predominantly priestly, and
Enoch's role as intercessor and his right of access to God's presence
is otherwise reserved for the high priest.
As Himmelfarb and others have noted, in later literature Enoch's
80
priestly credentials were well-known and are developed. Enoch's
transformation in 2 Enoch is greatly indebted to priestly practice and
its understanding of investiture. The myrrh fragrance of the oil of
Enoch's anointing recalls the sacred oil of anointing prescribed by
Moses for the tabernacle in Exodus 30:22 -23. The comparison of
the oil with sweet dew is perhaps a reflection of Psalm 133:2—3 where
there is a parallelism between the oil running down the head of
81
Aaron and the dew of Mount Hermon. The reference to the glit-
tering rays of the sun is yet one more witness to the theme of priestly
82
luminescence. The specific comparison of the oil of anointing with
the sun's rays is ultimately dependent on the priestly tradition within
the Pentateuch since there the oil of anointing is placed in God's
fourth speech to Moses in Exodus 25—31 as a parallel within the
Tabernacle instructions to the creation of the sun, moon and stars
83
on the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:14~19). I n general terms
Enoch's investiture is indebted to the scene in Zechariah 3 where
the high priest's old clothes are removed and replaced with new
ones. I n that scene too the priest is attended by angels, just as

9
' Kvanvig 1988, 99-103. Kvanvig's view that the Enoch tradition was devel-
oped by Lévites who returned from Babylon i n the fourth century (pp. 135-43,
157-8, 330-333) is possible but difficult to prove. I f this means a group which is
otherwise disconnected from the Jerusalemite "orthodoxy" responsible for the Hebrew
Bible it is an unlikely explanation of the data.
8 0
For what follows compare Himmelfarb 1993, 25-46.
81
Cf. also 2 Sam 1:21 for the connection between the oil of anointing and dew.
82
Pace Anderson (OTP 1:139) the motif is no indication that this is derived from
Moses' shining face.
8 3
For this intratextuality see Weinfeld 1981, 507, cf. Kearney 1977. For Sirach
as a witness to this priestly theology of oil and heavenly bodies see Fletcher-Louis
2000b, 62-63 and Fletcher-Louis 2001b.
24 CHAPTER ONE

Michael acts as Enoch's attendant in 2 Enoch (cf. T. Levi 8). In 2

Enoch 22:6 Enoch is granted permanent access to God's throne room,
just as Joshua is given rights of access to the heavenly realm in
Zechariah 3:7. The concluding chapters of 2 Enoch (chs. 69-73) are
devoted to the priestly succession after Enoch's ascension.
In Jubilees Enoch's scribal skills and wisdom are put in the service
of the observation of the heavens and their order "so that the sons
of man might know the (appointed) times of the years according to
their order, with respect to each of their months" (4:17). This is
knowledge of a thoroughly priestly and cultic nature. Just what form
it took is illustrated by the calendrical details of the Astronomical
Book (/ Enoch 72—82). Jubilees also has Enoch act as priest in offer-
ing the evening incense offering (4:25), as would Aaron according
to Exodus 30:8. Later on Abraham instructs his son Isaac in the
proper matters* of the sacrificial cult (21:1-20) and claims that the
regulations he gives he has "found written in the books of my fore-
fathers and in the words of Enoch. . ." (21:10). One of these régula-
tions, regarding the proper form of wood to be used for the fire of
the altar (21:12) apparently lies behind the revelation to Enoch of
the fourteen evergreen trees in / Enoch 3.
In 3 Enoch the priestly tradition is somewhat more muted than
these earlier texts, which is unsurprising given that its "rabbinic" life
setting is far removed from the strongly priestly world which nurtured
the Enoch tradition towards the close of the Second Temple period.
84
However, Enoch's priestly credentials are not forgotten. In 3 Enoch
7 Enoch is stationed before Shekinah "to serve (as would the high
priest) the throne of glory day by day". He is given a crown which
perhaps bears God's Name as did that of the high priest (12:4-5)
85
and a ‫ מע־ל‬like that of the high priest (Exod 38:4, 31, 34 etc).
Most commentators have judged / Enoch 12—16 a repudiation of
the allegedly corrupt Jerusalemite priesthood, which naturally implies
86
a sectarian setting for this very early apocalyptic work. However,
whilst the exogamy typology is a convincing explanation of the myth,
the conclusion that its authorship is estranged from the Jerusalemite

84
See Himmelfarb 1993, 4 4 - 4 5 .
8 5
Cf. / Enoch 48 and see Himmelfarb 1993, 45. The priestly credentials of the
Enoch-Metatron character are further reflected i n .Num. Rah. 12:12 where he acts
as a priest i n the heavenly sanctuarv.
8 6
E.g. Nickelsburg 1981, 586; Sutcr 1979, 131, 134-5.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 25

priesthood is unnecessary. Although in the Damascus Document (2:16-19)

and the Testament of Levi (chs. 14—16) it would be fair to conclude
that the fall of the watchers is used for a sectarian argument, the
socio-religious make-up of Israelite society was very different after
the Antiochene crisis (whence these two texts) by comparison with
the pre-Maccabean period, whence the Book of Watchers. There is no
direct and indisputable evidence for an anti-Jerusalemite sectarian
group in the pre-Maccabean period.
Unless, that is, one include in the definition of sectarian the Samar-
itans, who we know did set themselves over against the Jerusalem
hierocracy. Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar has now made the attractive sug-
gestion that / Enoch 12-16 is originally directed at Samaritans, on the
basis of a passage in Josephus' Antiquities (11:306-12), which describes
how Manasseh, the brother of the high priest Jaddua, married Nikaso,
37
the daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria. The marriage led
to Manasseh's expulsion from the Jerusalem hierocracy and the found-
ing of a temple on Mount Gerizim, which was supplied with priests
and laity amongst Manasseh's supporters. Tigchelaar finds support
for his proposal, not only in the closing chapters of Ezra, but also
the combination of anti-Samaritan and anti-exogamy material in Tes-
tament of L?»2 chs. 2-7 and Jubilees 30. I f he is right this means that
in its present form the watchers cycle was composed from the per-
speclive of the Jerusalem Temple Jewish community as a satire and
moralistic aetiology of the behaviour of "heterodox" Samaritan Jews.
In all probability it was written by a priest in the Ezra tradition
whose hero, Enoch, is created in his own scribal image.
Tigchelaar's hypothesis can be supported by two other texts. The
first of these is the reference to Enoch in Sirach 49:14-15. Those
verses, which we have seen testify to early Enoch speculation, have
a penultimate position in a long hymn which sings the praises of
Israel's righteous heroes (44:1-50:21). They are in a penultimate posi-
tion because they are placed immediately prior to the climactic
moment in that hymn, the praise of the high priest Simon in 50:1-21.
Yet the reference to Enoch and Joseph is somewhat out of place
given that the hymn has worked chronologically from Israel's oldest
patriarchs through its youngest in the rest of chapters 44-49. Hav-
ing reached Nehemiah in 49:13 the chronology uncoils itself back

8 7
Tigchellaar 1996, 198-203.
26 CHAPTER ONE

to Enoch who has already been mentioned in his proper sequence

in 44:16. Why is Enoch introduced at this point? Close examina-
tion of the literary context suggests the compiler of this wisdom mate-
rial is engaging in subtle priestly propaganda.
Chapter 49, verse 16, the final verse before the introduction of
Simon the high priest, takes up the reference to Enoch and takes
the glory of the fathers back to Shem, Seth, Enosh and Adam, whose
beauty (‫ )תפארת‬is above every living thing. The next verse appears
to identify the pre-lapsarian Adam with Simon who is the "greatest
88
of his brothers and the beauty (‫ )תפארת‬of his people" (50: l ) . Since,
as we have seen in contemporary texts (Book of Watchers, Jubilees)
Enoch is a priest, it is reasonable to suppose that the reference to
Enoch is also meant as a mythological claim for Simon's high priest:
Simon recapitulates both the true Adamic identity and also that of
the seventh from Adam, Enoch. The references to Shem, Seth, and
Enosh are then a recognition of the continuity in a (priestly) sue-
89
cession from Adam to Enoch (cf. Jub. 19:24-25, 27; 1 Chr l : l - 4 ) .
But then what of the reference to Joseph? Reference to Joseph is,
intriguingly, not made where it would be expected in the preceding
90
praise of the fathers. For a text from the beginning of the second
century B.C., a subtle, but nevertheless deliberate one-up-manship
between Enoch and Joseph brings to mind the conflict between
Jerusalem based Jews and Samaritans who claimed descent from
Joseph (e.g. Josephus Ant. 9.291; 11:341) and looked to the burial of
Joseph at Shechem to legitimate their sanctuary at M t . Gerizim (cf.
91
Josh 24:32). In fact, this Enoch-versus-Joseph interlude is best read
as an inclusio with the curse on the Samaritans, the "foolish people
that live in Shechem" immediately after the hymn in praise of Simon
in 50:26. Sirach has framed his picture of the ideal high priest with
two sharp attacks on those who adhere to a rival high priest and
temple cult. Enoch thus functions for Sirach in precisely the same

88
For this Adamic theology of high priesthood i n Sirach 49:15—50:1 see Hay-
ward 1996, 45-46. The Greek translator of the Hebrew (which is the base, for
example, for the NRSV) lost the force of this catchword bonding.
8 9
For a genealogy of priestly succession i n Jubilees and rabbinic literature see
Kugel 1993, 17-18,· Ginzberg 1909-38, 1:332; 5:199 n. 79, 283 n. 89.
9 0
Chronologically it should come between Jacob (44:23) and Moses (44:23—45:5).
91
O n Joseph and the Samaritans, and polemic between the latter and Jerusalem
based Jews see Purvis 1975 and Schuller 1990 (esp. pp. 371-376) for the appear-
ance of these themes in the (probably) pre-Essene text 4Q371-372.
 ANGELOMORPHISM IN LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 27

way as he has done in die Book of Watchers—as the truly righteous

representative of the priesthood over against Samaritan "heretics".
The second piece of corroboratory evidence for this understand-
ing of the early Enoch literature is provided by the Testament of JVaph-
tali. David Bryan has now demonstrated that in a pre-Maccabean
"Original Testament of Naphtalf underlying both the Testament of JVaph-
tali, and the Hebrew Testament of JVaphtali visionary material is used as
a Jerusalem based polemic against Samaritans who are represented
92
by Joseph. In that case it is highly significant that in the Testament
of Naphtali this polemic (chs. ‫־־‬56) immediately follows a reference to
the admonition "in the writing of the holy Enoch" (4:1) and the les-
son to be learnt from "the watchers [who] departed from nature's
order" (3:5). It would appear that this juxtaposition of Enoch's polemic
against the fallen watchers with a polemic against Samaritans again
bears witness to the fact that Enoch is called upon as a witness
against, what from the Jerusalem perspective, is regarded as a het-
erodox religious practice by the Shechem based priesthood.

Israel/Jacob

One text which is now well known and frequently cited in the dis-
cussion of the Jewish belief in an angelic humanity is the Prayer of
Joseph. It contains a statement of the patriarch Jacob's angelic iden-
tity which is unequivocal:

I , Jacob, who is speaking to you, am also Israel, an angel of God and

a ruling spirit. Abraham and Isaac were created before any work. But,
I , Jacob, whmo men call Jacob but whose name is Israel am he whom
God called Israel which means, a man seeing God, because I am the
firstborn of every living thing to whom God gives life.
And when I was coming up from Syrian Mesopotamia, Uriel, the
angel of God came forth and said that " I [Jacob-Israel] had descended
to earth and I had tabernacled among men and that I had been called
by the name of Jacob." He envied me and fought with me and wres-
tied with me saying that his name and the name that is before every
angel was to be above mine. I told him his name and what rank he
held among the sons of God. "Are you not Uriel, the eighth after me?
And I , Israel, the archangel of the power of the Lord and the chief
captain among the sons of God? Am I not Israel, the first minister
before the face of God? And I called upon my God by the inextin-
guishable Name.

9 2
Bryan 1995, 188-212.
28 CHAPTER ONE

This text is preserved by the church father Origen, in his Commen-

tary on John's Gospel (2:31) and is therefore not certainly datable to
95
the earlier period of the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has
been discussed in detail byJ.Z. Smith who has argued that the text's
formative life setting is the Jewish mysticism of the second, possibly
91
first, centuries A . D .
Although of a relatively late text it is included in our survey here
because one of the text's many interesting features, which has not
received sufficient attention in the secondary literature, is the use of
priestly and temple imagery. The angel Jacob-Israel is said to have
descended to earth and "tabernacled (κατεσκήνωσα)" among men.
The language recalls the tabernacling of the logos in John 1:14. But
ultimately it derives from the mythology of Israel's sanctuaries-• ••both
the wilderness Tabernacle and the Temple—in which Wisdom was
believed to have taken up residence (Sirach 24:7-11). I n that much
older tradition Wisdom's residence in the sanctuary is by way of her
avatar, the high priest, in whom Wisdom ministered before God (Sir
24:10: έν σκηνή αγία ενώπιον αΰτοΰ έλειτούργησα). Similarly, in Ori-
gen's pseudepigraphon the angel Jacob-Israel says that he is "the
first minister before the face of God (ό έν προσώπω θεοΰ λειτουργός
πρώτος)". That he means to claim a status equivalent to Israel's high
priest is then confirmed by the fact that he is privileged to be able
to pronounced "the inextinguishable Name (έν ονόματι άσβέστφ)".
Whilst the parallels between this text and emerging Jewish mysti-
cal and mediatorial speculation in the late Second Temple period
have been well demonstrated by Smith the text and its theological
anthropology should not, thereby, be assigned an esoteric (let alone
sectarian) setting. I would suggest that, in accord with the texts exam-
ined in the rest of this study, its principal formative context is the
Jewish Temple and its understanding of priests and divine or angelic
persons. As we shall see in later chapters the language used, par-
ticularly the tide "first minister before the face of God" is equiva-
lent to much older traditions of priestly mediation, well-known to
the Qumran community.

OTP 2:699-714 and see esp. Smith 1968.

1968 and 0 7 7 2:699-714 passim.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 29

Joseph and Asenclh

Another example of the way in which the priesthood and temple

provide the life setting for the angelomorphic life is provided by the
pseudepigraphical Romance Joseph and Aseneth. The angelomorphic
life of the righteous in this text is vividly jiortrayed and has long
been recognized. I n the first part of the book (chs. 1-22) there is a
community of identity between Joseph, the archangel of the LORD
and Joseph's newly converted and transformed wife to be, Aseneth.
Their shared angelic identity is expressed through the glorious appear-
ance of their face and clothing, Aseneth's eating of the paradisal
honeycomb—the angelic haute cuisine shared by the righteous Israelite—
and Joseph's description as a solar son of God. In the second part
of the work (chs. 22-29) Jacob, Joseph's father, appears as a man
of extraordinary beauty, with hair "white as snow, . . . eyes flashing
and darting (flashes of) lightning", and his "sinews and his shoul-
ders and his arms as (those) of an angel and his feet as (those) of a
giant (22:7)." Even before meeting him Aseneth had exclaimed that
Joseph's father was "as a father and (a) god to me (ώς πατήρ μοί έστι
και θεός)".
95
The angelomorphism of the righteous in this text is plain to see.
What has been less plain to discern is the text's precise genre and,
more importantly, its Sitz im Leben. It has been generally reckoned
to emerge from Egyptian Judaism because of the setting and con-
cerns of the narrative but dates as widely separated as the second
century B.C. to the fourth century A.D. have been advocated. Older
scholarship regarded its idiosyncratic features the product of a syn-
crctistic Judaism that had strayed a long way from the Jerusalem
91
temple at the heart of Israel's faith. ' A n apparent lack of clear his-
torical reference has left most scholars grappling in the dark for a
specific occasion and date of composition.
However, these questions have been greatly illuminated by the
97
recent work of Gideon Bohak. Bohak has argued that the text can
be very precisely located towards the end of the second century B.C.
as the product of the Oniad priestly community that had been exiled
from Jerusalem earlier in the century and had taken up residence

9 5
For a discussion with relevant secondarv literature see Fletcher-Louis 1997b,
161-2, 165-168.
9 6
E.g. Philonenko 1968
97
Bohak 1993; Bohak 1996.
30 CHAPTER ONE

at Leontopolis under the guardianship of the Ptolemies for whom

they served as a mercenary army. Bohak argues that the imagery of
the narrative in chapters 1—21 is a thinly veiled allegory for the life
of this community and legitimation of their use of the previously
pagan temple structure at Leontopolis which became an alternative
sanctuary to that used in Jerusalem.
The bees which make a strange angelic honeycomb for Aseneth's
heavenly sustenance are portrayed in priestly garb (16:18) because
they represent the Oniad priesthood which had previously officiated
in Jerusalem. Aseneth's house is portrayed as a sanctuary because it
stands for the Leontopolis temple, with sacred spring, stream, the
trees and abundant fruit befitting the Rdenic conditions of the source
of all life (cf. Sirach 24:13 29; 50:8 12), containing a veil rcminis-
cent of that guarding the inner sanctuary in the Jerusalem temple,
98
and the purity and sanctity appropriate for a temple (see ch. 2).
Aseneth's cleansing of her house of all its idols on her conversion
(10:8-13) represents the cleansing of the temple at Leontopolis in
preparation for its new purpose as a sanctuary for Israel's God and
the Oniad community.
Although Levi himself is not portrayed in angelic terms this is
probably because the main focus of attention is directed to Joseph
(and Aseneth) as exemplars of the angelic life. Joseph wears a crown
bedecked with twelve precious stones and golden rays (5:4) which
some have seen as evidence of the influence of high priestly sym-
99
bolism. In some ways the author of Joseph and Aseneüi is even more
admiring of Levi than he is of the main protagonists and Bohak
quite righdy sees in the characterization of Levi as "a prophet and
a visionary, well aware of God's unspeakable mysteries and secret
100
plants" an oblique reference to the author's own self perception.
Thus, on this reading, Joseph and Aseneth bears witness not only to
the prevalence of an angelomorphic anthropology in our period but
also to the very specific priestly and cultic context of that anthro-
polpgy. It is the temple's heavenly food, symbolized by the paradisal
honeycomb, which gives the righteous their angelic identity. It is the
theology and experience of the cult which has inspired the familiar

9 8
Bohak 1996, 67-74.
9 9
Aptowitzer 1924, 297-8; Betz 1958, 76-7.
m
Bohak 1996, 48-52 and see Joseph and Aseneth chapters 22-29, esp. 22:11-13.
 ANGELOMORPHISM I N LATE SECOND TEMPLE JUDAISM 31

themes of physiognomic beauty and splendid clothing as an exprès-

sion of a highly exalted theological anthropology. What is more, if,
following Bohak, we locate Joseph and Aseneth in the Oniad commu-
nity at Leontopolis, then we have a remarkably close life setting to
that of the Dead Sea Scrolls which are also the product of a strongly
priestly, pardy Zadokite, movement disenchanted with the current
Jerusalem establishment. There is no reason to identify the Essenes
with the Jews at Leontopolis but they were two closely related branches
101
of the same priestly family tree.

Testament of Moses
The 'testament of Moses (alias Assumption, of Aloses) is yet another text
which exhibits an interest in an angelomorphic humanity and has a
strongly priesdy orientation. I n this text Moses is pre-existent (1:14)
02
and is described as the "Great Angel (Lat. nuntius)"',' who incar-
nates God's Spirit for the people bringing them protection against
their enemies (11:16-17). The author looks forward to the coming
of God's kingdom when the devil will have an end (10:1-10), "the
hands of the nuntius (angel/messenger) will be filled, who is in the
highest place appointed" (10:2), and Israel as a nation will be raised
to the heights, fixed firmly in the heaven of the stars (10:8-9). The
identity of this eschatological angel figure is unclear though it is obvi-
ous that he is priestly since the filling of the hands is technical ter-
minology for the ordination of priests. The place of his appointment
would therefore be the heavenly sanctuary of some sort.
Is this heavenly priest a human priest who is heavenly, or a
suprahuman angel who is priestly? Several considerations favour the
former. First, nowhere else in contemporary texts do we hear of
(suprahuman) angels experiencing an ordination to a new office.
Unlike angels who are created to be angels, the language of ordi-
nation suits human beings for whom transferral of authority and

101
The bee symbolism might tempt an identification of the authors 01'Joseph and
Aseneth with the Essenes, given that ό έσσήν can mean "king (queen) bee" (see Jones
1985). (The same word is also used for the priest o f Artemis). But 4Q266 frag. 5
ii unequivocally disqualifies priests who had emigrated among the Gentiles, which
sounds like a ban meant to embrace the likes of these priests i n Leontopolis, con-
firming the general impression that the Qumran community is not directly related
to the Leontopolis cult.
!02 ‫ ^ ך ך‬Latin f has (l
e x t nun m where the underlying Greek would have had άγγελος.
See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 180-182.
32 CHAPTER ONE

status is necessary. Secondly, given the use the word nuntius in the
Latin text for Moses there can be no doubt that, at least for the
Latin translator, the language of 10:2 is best used of an exalted mor-
tal. Thirdly, it is possible that the nuntius of 10:2 should be identi-
bed with the mysterious character Taxo of the previous chapter, "a
man from the tribe of Levi" (9:1) who prepares for a martyrdom
that will be avenged by the LORD. In any case, the expectation of
an eschatological angelomorphic priest is consistent with the priestly
and cultic orientation of the rest of the Testament of Aloses (see 1:7,
9; 4:5-8).

done hu ion

There are^many texts from the Second Temple period which dc-
scribe the righteous in angelic or divine terms. Three figures stand
out in the heroes gallery of angelic fame: the king, Moses and, above
all, the priest. The characterization of humans in such angelic terms
has its roots in the biblical text, but it is clearly being developed in
material from the 3rd—2nd centuries B.C. Many of the texts we have
examined (e.g. Sirach, / Enoch) were read i f not cherished at Qum-
ran and these exhibit a particular interest in both Moses and the
priesthood, which is entirely in accord with what is known of Essene
interests.
 T H E D I V I N E A N D PRIESTLY N O A H

By way of a detailed case study, this chapter is devoted to pre- or

proto-Essene traditions about the flood hero Noah. Like his great
grandfather Enoch, the Noah that was known to the Dead Sea Scroll
community was a priest who atoned for the cosmically disastrous
sins of his generation and who passed on the halakhic lore of his
righteous forbears.
In the Animal Apocalypse Noah is "born a bovid but becomes a
person" when he builds the ark [Eth. Enoch 89:1). Given the zoo-
morphic symbolism of this Enochic text this means he becomes
angelomorphic.' Noah's angelomorphic identity is far more impres-
sively expressed in a text which is best preserved in the Epislle
of Enoch (1 Enoch 106). The Greek text of this passage reads as
2
follows:
2
. . . and his body was whiter than snow and redder than a rose; the
hair as white wool and curly and glorious; and when he opened his
eyes the whole house glowed like the sun—so that the whole house
3
was exceptionally bright. And he arose from the hands of the mid-
4
wife, he opened his mouth and he blessed the Lord. And Lantech
was afraid of him and fled and came to Methuselah his father and
said to him, ‫" י‬a strange child has been born to me, not like unto
men but (like) unto the children of the angels of heaven, and (his)
image (is) different, not like ours. His eyes are as the rays of the sun,
6
and his face glorious. And I think that this is not from me but from
an angel, and I fear him lest there will be. something during his days
1
on earth.' ‫ ׳‬And I beseech you father and beg (of you), go to Enoch
our father and hear from him the truth, for his dwelling place is among
the angels".

1
See Fletcher-Louis 1997bl‫־־‬5759.
2
M y translation of the Greek text (for which see Denis 1970, 43-44). The
Ethiopie is slightly longer at points (sec Black 1985, 319-323). For recent discus-
sions of this material see Nickelsburg 1998, 137—158.
3
Ethiopie: "fear that a wonder may take place upon the earth in his days".
34 CHAPTER TWO

Methuselah, Lamech's father then travels to the ends of the earth

to talk to his father Enoch, to whom he tells Lamech's story. Enoch
4
himself then takes up the story:
13
T h e n I answered h i m saying, " T h e L o r d w i l l make new the order
on the earth a n d this same m a n n e r o f c h i l d I have seen a n d I have
a n n o u n c e d to y o u . F o r i n the generation o f J a r e d m y father they trans-
1 4
gressed the w o r d o f the L o r d , the covenant o f heaven and behold
5
they sinned and transgressed the c o m m a n d m e n t , a n d h a d intercourse
w i t h w o m e n and sinned w i t h t h e m a n d m a r r i e d some o f t h e m a n d
bore [those w h o are giants,] (children) not o f spiritual r a n k b u t o f the
flesh (ούκ ο μ ο ί ο υ ς π ν ε ύ μ α σ ι ν άλλα σ ά ρ κ ι ν ο υ ς ) .
1 3
T h e r e shall be great
w r a t h o n the earth a n d a deluge, a n d there w i l l be a great destruc-
1 6
t i o n for one year, and then this c h i l d that is b o r n shall be left, and
his three c h i l d r e n w i l l be saved whilst those on die earth are d y i n g
17
a n d he w i l l soothe the earth f r o m the c o r r u p t i o n that is i n her.
18
A n d ; n o w tell L a m e c h that he is his son i n t r u t h a n d holiness a n d
call h i m N o a h . . .

The Genesis Apoayphon at Qumran evidently knew this story and pre-
served a longer version of it. O f the poorly preserved early parts of
6
the text columns 2 and 5 clearly tell a fuller version of the story,
whilst columns 6 17 are devoted to the rest of Noah's life and extra-
biblical stories about him. At least part of column 1 and all of
columns 3—4 of the Genesis Apoayphon will probably also, therefore,
have comprised a quite lengthy form of this birth narrative. Unfor-
tunately, this Qumran cave 1 material does not provide further detail
regarding the original version of Noah's birth itself, though it sub-
stantially confirms the basic form of the story as abridged in 1 Enoch
106.' Another Qumran text (1Q19) also knows the story," but again

4
A highly fragmentary text of the Aramaic version of / Enoch 106:13-107:2 is
c
preserved among the DSS (4Q204 (4QEn ar) 5 ii).
5
Ethiopie. Greek reads "custom (εθος)".
6
Column 2 is a fuller version of / Enoch 106:4-8c whilst col. 5 provides a speech
of Enoch different from that in 1 Enoch 106:13—19, but which is perhaps a fuller
form of 1 Enoch 106:13.
' Clearly from IQapGen 2 the story's plot is driven by the fear that Noah's
heavenly appearance is due to illegitimate intercourse with heavenly beings. I n
IQapGen 5:11 Enoch claims already to have seen the wondrous form of the child
(cf. ) Enoch 106:13): his face has been lifted up to Enoch and "his eyes shine like
I the] s[un" (line 12, cf. / Enoch 106:5) and something about him is "a flame" (line
13).
8
Fragment 3 speaks of the birth of a first born (line 3) and Lamech, his father,
seeing the child (line 4) followed by the important statement "the chambers of the
house like the beams of the sun (‫ הסמפ‬ΤΠΓΟ ‫ " ) ח ד ר י ה כ י ח‬in line 5, (see DJD 1:85).
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 35

the text is highly fragmentary and adds precious little to our under-
standing. Clearly, though, this birth story was important to the Qum-
9
ran community.
Chapters 106—7 of 1 Enoch clearly stand out from their surrounding
context as a distinct literary unit. Since the work of François Mar-
tin (1906) chapters 106-7 of / Enoch have been assigned to an other-
wise lost "Apocalypse de Noé" or a "Book of Noah" (Charles) to
which reference is apparently made in Jubilees (10:13 "and Noah
wrote everything in a book . . ."; 21:10 " I have found written in the
0
books of my forefathers... in the words of Noah").' Extensive sec-
tions of the first collection of Enoch material (7 Enoch) are generally
reckoned to derive from this no longer extant source." Chapter 106
is also thought to represent the opening birth narrative of that Noahic
work. Florentino Garcia Martinez has most recendy presented a thor-
ough reconstruction of this lost work. Whilst some have argued that
Jubilees is dependent for its references to the Book of Noah and
Noahic material on the Genesis Apoayphon Garcia Martinez has argued
that both Jubilees and the Genesis Apocryphon are independently depen-
12
dent on the lost work.
However, since the work of Garcia Martinez, the precise rela-
tionship between the Genesis Apocryphon, J Enoch (and Jubilees) has been
a subject of renewed discussion, which has pardy been fuelled by
the deciphering of the words "‫( כתב מלי נוח‬the Book of the Words
of Noah)" through multi-spectural imaging techniques on a black-
ened fragment at the end of column 5 (line 29) of the Genesis Apoc-
ryphonP Two objections to the view that the birth of Noah was part
of a lost "Book of Noah" have been raised. The expression "the
book of the words of Noah" in lQapGen 5:29 is best taken as a
reference to the material which follows, not that which precedes,
14
since the birth of Noah is about Noah, but not in his own "words".

' Jubilees probably knew the birth of Noah story since it gives the name of his
mother (Bitenosh, i.e. one who is a "daughter of man") which appears also i n the
lQ_apGen version of the story (2:3, 8, 12) and betrays the story's relation to Gen-
esis 6:1-4 where the sons of God descend to have intercourse with the "daughters
of men".
10
Martin 1906, lxxxviii, cf. Charles 1912, xlvi-xlvii; Black 1985, 8 9, 23.
" Martinez 1992b, 27 provides a table of those passages regularly reckoned to
derive from the Book of Noah.
12
Martinez 1992b, esp. 4 0 - 4 1 .
I:i
See VanderKam 1994, 83.
14
See Steiner 1995, who is followed by Bernstein 1998, 228.
36 CHAPTER TWO

Secondly, it has been argued that the alleged material belonging to

the Book of Noah is too varied in subject matter to warrant the
15
hypothesis of a single Book of Noah at all.
Although outright skepticism is unwarranted, there is probably
some truth to the criticism that has been levelled against the Book
16
of Noah hypothesis. At least it must be conceded that the Noah
material present in 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the Genesis Apoayphon may
1
not have come from one utterly unified work. ' However, this is not
to say that there was not a collection, or "Book", of smaller units
of Noahic tradition some of which might have been regarded as
"books" in their own right. There may have been something anal-
ogous to, though considerably smaller than, the extant Enochic Pen-
tateuch which we know as / Enoch. If such a collection were bound
together by various forms of revelation and instruction then it would
be entirely fitting that it began with an account of Noah's wondrous
birth, including his precocious loquacity, after which there followed
a distinct literary unit known as the "Book of the Words of Noah".
What is the relevance of this debate for our discussion? Obviously,
it has some bearing on the tradition's antiquity. I f both / Enoch
106-7 and the IQapGen 1-5 drew on another earlier work with a
well-defined literary content then that would imply the relative antiq-
uity of the story of Noah's birth by comparison with a view that
the story originated with the (idiosyncratic?) author of 1 QapGcn
whence it was later adopted by the Epistle of Enoch. But, more impor-
tantly, the debate sharpens the issue of semantic coherence within
the extant Noah material. It is obvious that in its extant form the
birth of Noah is related closely to the fall of the watchers and this
ties up well with Noah material in parts of 1 Enoch (ch. 10:1-3;
54:7-55:2) and Jubilees (7:21-24), however it has not been clear how
Noah's wondrous birth has anything to do with the interest in sac-
rificial and halakhic matters which figure so prominently elsewhere
in material associated with him (Jub. 6 : 2 2 1 : 1 0;7:23-37;1
18
IQapGen 10-15; T. Levi Athos 57). This is a question which is

15
See C. Werman in Chazon and Stone 1998.
16
The very fragmentary state of the Genesis Apocnplum means certainty regarding
the absence of the birth narrative from the "Book of the Words of Noah" is impos-
sible. Nickelsburg 1998, 158 remains convinced that IQapGen 2-5 contains mate-
rial from a Book of Noah.
17
Compare Bernstein 1998, 229-30.
18
The Noahic reading of 4QMess ar (4Q534) is too uncertain to include the
work in the present discussion, for which, in any case, it has little relevance.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 37

substantially resolved when we examine closely the meaning of the

birth of Noah story.

Is Noah an Angel?

How are we to interpret the story as we have it in I Enoch 106?

Noah's beauty, his luminescent eyes and generally glorious appear-
ance is typical of Jewish texts which describe the angelomorphic
19
identity of the righteous. However, the consequences of his appear-
ance troubles his father Lamech who fears the working of a more
malevolent power and the possibility that the child is the product of
intercourse his wife has had witli a heavenly being, a watcher. This
would explain (lie baby's suprahuman appearance, but might also
mean that the child represents a terrible rupture in the order of the
cosmos (cf. I Enoch 7:2™5; 9:9). In the story that follows this expia-
nation of Noah's appearance is dismissed and Noah's righteousness
is affirmed.
But, somewhat frustratingly, the story does not then spell out just
how Lamech and the implied reader is to understand Noah's glori-
ous appearance. In the first instance the affirmation of Noah's purity
and his pivotal role in corning salvation-history should probably be
taken to imply that his angelic appearance is what it is and that this
is how it should be. In 106:17 Enoch says that the watchers who
arc to come upon the earth will sire giants who are "not of the
spirit, but of the flesh". This would seem to imply that, by contrast,
20
Noah is of the spirit, and not of the flesh. The statement is unavoid-
ably paradoxical in its narrative context because the legitimacy of
Noah's identity depends on Lamech being his true parent—in the
flesh. Precisely how Noah is "of the flesh", yet ultimately "of the
spirit" is not clear though it echoes the sense that the angelomor-
phic righteous arc transferred beyond the confines of the realm of
flesh in Sirach 45 and Jubilees 31. The idea is perhaps that Noah is
one of a "spiritual lineage", a concept that we will find echoed in
the DSS where the righteous are an angelic "people of spirit".
One feature of the birth story helps clarify in what way Noah is
heavenly but not angelic by virtue of any inappropriate angelic mis-
cegenation. / Enoch 106:2 focuses attention on his glorious white

19
Compare, e.g., the near contemporary Joseph and Aseneth 22:7-10.
‫׳‬° Betz 1958, 75; Fitzmyer 1971b, 79.
38 CHAPTER TWO

head of hair. This is not so much an angelic characteristic but one

which brings Noah into the likeness of God himself. Both the Ethiopie
and the Greek compare Noah's hair with white wool and we think
immediately of Daniel 7:9 where it is the Ancient of Days whose
"clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure
wool". Coupled with the fact that Noah's body (he could not, of
course, be wearing clothes at this point) is also said to be white as
snow there seems here to be a deliberate attempt to identify Noah
more with God himself than his angelic attendants. I would suggest
that here the visual iconography follows a firmly established gram-
mar and that our text wants to say that Noah is the fully human
21
bearer of God's image. In the second century B.C. text Joseph and
Aseneth of the divine and angelic Jacob it is also said that "his head
was white as snow, and the hairs of his head were all exceedingly
22
close like those of an Ethiopian" (22:7). In two late first century
A.D. texts, the Apocalypse of Abraham and the Christian book of
Revelation this same language is used of God's visible angelic man-
ifestation (laoel: Apoc. Abr. 11:3) and the risen and divine Jesus
(Rev 1:14).
John C. Reeves has argued that the Birth of Noah sets up the
possibility that Noah is a giant in order to refute that understand-
23
ing of his identity. Reeves thinks the birth of Noah story is a
polemic against traditions according to which the flood hero was a
giant, for which he finds evidence in Pseudo-Eupolemus' view that
Abraham traced his lineage to the giants. He also finds evidence for
his view from the presence of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Noah, in
the Book of Giants where the Jewish author identifies the flood "hero"
with one of the bastard giants. For Reeves Noah is in no way a
giant, and neither is he "divine".

21
Philo also expostulates at length on the way in which Noah is identified with
the first man, the bearer of God's image [Quaestiones in Genesis 2:56). In 4Q534 i
1-2 the' protagonist has red hair. I am not at all sure that this person is Noah as
some think (e.g. Martinez 1992b, 1—44) and, even i f he is, this would mean the
understanding of Noah in that text is slightly different from that of 1 Enoch 106.
In Jub. 23:25 the heads of children are white with grey hairs as a sign of the decline
of humanity and the loss of longevity i n the sinful generation. Pace A. Caquot 1974
this negative use of the image of white hair on children is not related to that in
1 Enoch 106.
22
For this early dating of Joseph and Aseneth I follow Bohak 1996.
2 3
Reeves 1993(
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 39

There can be no doubt that the Birth of Noah story rejects the
identification of Noah with the giants who are responsible for impure
miscegenation and cosmic chaos. But the conclusion that, therefore,
Noah's own identity is not mythological, transcendent, divine or even,
24
perhaps, gigantic, is unwarranted. There is too much here to deny
that Noah is thought of as divine and angelomorphic. Neither should
we quickly dismiss the possibility that Jews of this period were evi-
dently happy to give the righteous a "gigantic" identity so long as
the means to that end had not involved the symbols of chaos that
they associated with pagan impurity. Again, of Jacob in Joseph and
Aseneth it is said that "his thighs and his calves and his feet were like
(those) of a giant" (22:7). I n other texts Adam (e.g. Apoc. Abr. 23:5,
10, 14; 2 Enoch 30:13; Vila Adae el Evac 27:1, 3; b.'Sanh. 38b; /;. Hag.
12a); Moses (Jewish Orphica 32-34?); Enoch (3 Enoch 9) and Jesus
(e.g. Gospel of Peter 40) are given a gigantic or macrocosmic size. This
aspect of an idealised Jewish anthropology is perhaps related to the
tradition according to which the high priest's garments represent the
whole cosmos which is attested in the Wisdom of Solomon, Philo,
2
Josephus and in Sirach 50. •‫ י‬No explicit mention is made of Noah's
size one way or the other, that is not the point of the birth story
which is simply to reject any notion of Noah's inappropriate con-
ception and affirm, therefore, his utter (racial) purity which is, in
turn, coterminous with his "divinity". However, the fact that in
1 Enoch 106:17 the evil giants are described as being "not. of spirit,
but of flesh" might imply Noah and his children, like Adam, Abra-
ham according to Pscudo-Eupolemus, Moses, Jesus and others, is a
giant "not of the flesh but of the spirit" and therefore the genuine
26
article over against the counterfeit demons.

Noah as Angelomorphic Priest: Tlie Life Setting of His Wondrous Birth

Whilst it is now generally agreed that Noah's birth is that of an

angelomorphic hero who plays a prominent role in Qumran self-

24
Reeves' view that the birth o f Noah is a polemic against the identification o f
the flood hero with one o f the giants is questioned by Huggins 1995.
3 5
Wis 18:24; Philo Mos. 2:117-126, 133-135, 143; Josephus Ant. 3:180, 183-7.
In Sirach 50:6-11 tire high priest Simon represents die heavenly bodies and the fecun-
dity o f nature; the heaven above and the earth below. See Fletcher-Louis 2000b.
'‫ ״‬Cf. Betz 1958, 75.
40 CHAPTER TWO

definition, more precision regarding the story's life setting needs to

27
be sought. When and where did the story of Noah's wondrous
birth arise and in what ways, therefore, is it related to contempo-
rary Second Temple Jewish theology and practice? Is Noah simply
an idealised hero from a bygone age, or does his angelomorphic
identity somehow reflect, in however an accentuated form, the self-
perception of the Jews who read and used the stoiy of his birth?
The narrative is quite clearly proto-Essene, i f not pre-Essenc, as
its presence in the Genesis Apoayphon and an Ethiopie Enoch tradi-
tion known outside Qumran suggests. If, as is generally thought, this
birth story belongs to the Noahic literary collection, which (a) is cited
in Jubilees (10:13; 21:10), (b) is cited in an early version of the 7"«‫־‬
lament of Levi tradition (Greek Mount Athos manuscript"' 57), (c) is
used extensively in both 1 Enoch and (d) the early columns of the
Genesis Apoayphon, then this speaks for a dating some quite consid-
erable time before the beginning of the Qumran community. The
authority with which it is used suggests a version of the Noah col-
lection was already in existence in the third century B.C. This is a
point which must be pressed i f only because it impinges on both the
issues of life setting and, therefore, the meaning of the text.
In its extant form the stoiy of Noah's theophanic birth is inex-
tricably bound to the anxiety provoked by the fall of the watchers
mythology and this, as we have seen, has a life setting in third and
fourth century struggles for priestly identity and self-definition. In
the Book of Watchers the answer to the cosmic and social breakdown
caused by the descent of the watchers is Enoch's intercession as one
who is able to ascend to heaven to receive God's judgement. Enoch's
intercession and transmission of the judgement against Asael is thor-
oughly priesdy and related closely to that of the high priest on the
Day of Atonement whose ministry involves the sending of a scape-
211
goat into the wilderness to Azazcl (Lev 16).

27
••Further corroboratory evidence that the Qumran community thought Noah
was Born angelomorphic is provided by the fact that their copy of the Aramaic
version of Eth. Enoch 89:36 omits the tradition extant in the Ethiopie according to
which Noah is transformed from sheep to man, i.e. from the human to the angelic.
This omission is best explained on the assumption that once a story according to
which Noah is born angelic (/ Enoch 106) gains authority, then the view that he
became angelic during his life must be discarded.
28
See Grabbe 1987 who overlooks the fact that the connection is made as early
as Jubilees (5:18) where the Day of Atonement is related to God's dealing with the
fall of the Watchers through Noah and his ark (sec VanderKam 1999a, 163-9).
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 41

It should not surprise us, therefore, to find that in the Noahic

material Noah is also a priestly character and that it is as such that
his angelic or divine characterisation is to be interpreted. In the older
Mesopotamian context from which the Israelite Noah character was
to emerge the flood hero was related to idealised traditions of king-
ship. However, already in the Priestly material in Genesis, which
bears an unmistakable likeness to the Sumerian Kinglist, the speci-
fically royal character of the genealogy has disappeared. Recent dis-
cussion has highlighted the way in which the ark was designed as a
29
temple. In the biblical material, as Joseph Blenkinsopp has shown,
Noah's ark has become a key element in the priestly compiler's
creation-tabernacle theological structure: the ark stands in a similar
position as a bulwark against the forces of chaos to that designed for
1
(he Tabernacle (and Temple). " The Birth of Noah clearly follows
the priesüy tradition in its Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah geneal-
31
ogy (cf. Gen 5:21~32).
The priestly nature of the Noah traditions in Jubilees and the Dead
Sea Scrolls has tended to be overlooked by commentators. However,
Michael Stone has recently brought our attention to the way in
which the Qumran texts are keen to trace a line of priesdy patri-
32
archy back from Aaron, through Levi and Qahat to Noah. Stone
has highlighted the way in which the Noah material at Qumran is
concerned to portray the flood hero in this priesdy context: the teach-
ing ascribed to the Book of Noah "relates above all to the sacrifi-
cial cult, the special prerogative of the priests and is rooted in Noah
33
as the initiator of the cult." Indeed, it is not just the teaching of
the Book of the Words of Noah that is priestly and Stone's com-
ments can be taken further. There are a number of considerations,
some internal to the birth story, others derived from what is known
of the "Book of Noah" material, which point to the fundamentally priestly
form of .Noah's glorious and angelomorphic identity.

2 9
See the discussion between Holloway 1991 and Hendel 1996 and Holloway
1998.
3 0
Blenkinsopp 1976.
31
For the flood hero (Deucalion = Sisythus, i.e. Xisuthrus) the founder of a tem-
pie see also Lucian of Samosata De etea Syria ‫־‬12T3. For Noah identified with Deu-
calion—son of Prometheus (Appollodorus Library 1.46) see Philo De Proemis et Poenis
23).
32
Stone 1999.
5 3
Stone 1999, 141.
42 CHAPTER TWO

The priestly nature of the Noahic material is evident from a quick

perusal of the extant material. The clearest reference to a textual
tradition devoted to Noah and his teaching is provided by Jubilees
21:10 in which Abraham appeals to the "Words of Noah" (along-
side the "Words of Enoch") in the context of a long list of cultic
and priestly instructions given to his son Isaac (21:1-20). At the lit-
erary level of the text of Jubilees this is a reference back to chapter
7 where Noah bears witness to his sons regarding the tradition passed
down through his fathers from Enoch (7:34-39). However, the ref-
erence to the Words of Noah seems to imply a written text con-
taining extra-biblical priestly instruction dealing with such things as
the type of wood to be used for the altar, washing before cultic
administration, the use of all salt in sacrifices, the eating of the meat
before sundown a day after sacrifice, instructions concerning conta-
mination of holy things with blood (21:17-20, cf. Gen 9:4-6) and
so on (21:10-20). The Genesis Apoayphon (10:17) also has Noah include
salt in his offering of the soothing odour (Genesis 9:20-21) suggest-
;il
ing common Noahic tradition. A close parallel to the list of cultic
regulations in Jubikes 21 is extant in the Greek version of the Ara-
maw Levi Document. There, also, a reference to the words of Noah is
the authoritative source of the extra-biblical instruction regarding the
slaughter of animals and the handling of blood (Athos Manuscript
35
e, 57).
In Jubilees 7:38 the testament of Noah (7:20-39) concludes by
describing how a priestly tradition regarding the offerings of the first
fruits and the seventh year rest was handed down from Enoch,
through Methuselah to Lamech and then Noah, long before it was
revealed to Moses at Sinai. Although this stress on the patriarchal
conformity to Mosaic regulations is a characteristic of Jubilees, it is
not unreasonable to suppose that it was derived from the Book of
Noah (or Noah collection) and is consistent with the priestly por-
trayal of the flood hero throughout a diverse spread of texts. The

34
We know that the availability of salt for the temple sacrifices was a sensitive
issue at the end of the third century B.C. since Antiochus I I I allows a remission
of the salt tax i n Josephus Ant. 12:142. See also 11QTS 20:13a-14b. Compare gen-
erally Lev 2:13; L X X Lev 24:7; N u m 18:19; Ezek 43:24.
35
I n both Jubikes and the Greek Levi text the extent to which specific instruc-
tions were believed to come from Noah is not clear. For the Greek manuscript of
the Aramaic Levi Document seejonge 1978, 46-48 and see Hollander andjongc 1985,
457-69 for a translation.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 43

similarity of halakhic concerns of chapter 7 to the material in chap-

ter 21, which is explicitly related to the Words of Noah, suggests a
common literary source.
The Genesis Apoayphon (12:13-17) confirms the importance attached
to Noah's keeping of the law of the first fruits. Like Jubilees 7:1 6
it adds to the biblical account (Genesis 9:20) the belief that Noah
did not pick the fruit of the vine until the fourth year of its growth
when it would be prepared for a festival to the LORD on the first
day of the fifth year in accordance with Leviticus 19:23-25. Com-
mon dependence of both the Genesis Apoayphon and Jubilees upon an
earlier Noahic text with a strongly priestly orientation seems the best
explanation of this literary relationship. I n the Genesis Apoayphon
10:13 17 Noah atones for the whole earth on his exit from the ark.
The scroll somewhat expands upon the reference to Noah's sacri-
ficial offering in Genesis 8:20-21, where nothing is said of atone-
ment for all the earth. Specific mention is also now made of the
inclusion of salt in the sacrifice which coincides with the concern in
the Temple Scroll (20:13-14) that salt be included in every sacrifice
and the commandment in Jubilees 21:11 (immediately after the refer-
ence to "the words of Noah") that "you shall put salt in all of your
36
offerings".
Earlier in Jubilees the author expands on the biblical flood narra-
tive. Not surprisingly the fall of the watchers is introduced (cf. Gen
6:1-4) where Noah alone finds favour in God's sight as one worthy
of rescue. After the flood there is given to Noah's sons, the children
of Israel, the provision of yearly release from sins at the Day of
Atonement, lest they too incur the judgement of Noah's generation
(5:17-18). Although it is not explicidy stated that Noah offers the
Yom Kippur sacrifice the association of the punishment of the watch-
ers and the Day of Atonement ritual, on the one hand, and Noah's
rescue and the future salvation of Israel, on the other, is suggestive
of Noah's own sacral responsibility. Indeed, this is picked up and
developed in what follows where Noah's sacrifice on leaving the ark
(Genesis 8:20-21) is developed in line with the tradition in the tenth
column of the Genesis Apocryphon. Where, in Genesis 8:20-21 Noah
makes burnt offerings of every clean animal and every clean bird,

3 6
Reeves 1986, 418-19 has further related the order of sacrifices in IQapGen
10:13-17 with peculiar and proto-sectarian sacrificial issues.
44 CHAPTER TWO

in Jubilees 6:1-3 (and the Genesis Apoayphon 10:13-15) he atones for

the land through the kid of a goat "because everything which is
upon it had been blotted out" (Lev 18:26-28), he offers up burnt
offerings of a calf, a goat, a lamb, a turdedove and a young dove,
in addition to the grain offering and frankincense (cf. Lev 2:2-5).
The burnt offerings are salted in accordance with the priesdy halakhah
prescribed in Jubilees 21:11.
In IQapGen 6:4 there is a laconic reference to Noah girding his
loins "in the vision of truth and wisdom. In a robe (‫[)מעיל‬. . .". In
the context Noah is describing his childhood and life story. It is not
unlikely that at this point he makes reference to his donning the
priestly robe of Exodus 28:4, 31. That this is the case and that at
this point there is another outcrop from the so-called "Book of Noah"
might be confirmed by a fragmentary Hebrew text front Qumran.
As its editor,• J.T. Milik, recognised, 1Q19 is a text which has some-
thing to do with the Noah tradition since in one fragment the few
words that remain evidently speak of the glorious birth of Lamech's
37
son. In another fragment of this text, where perhaps Noah is the
subject, we read how "he will] be lifted up in the splendour of glory
and of beauty (‫( ״[ )י[נשא ב ה ד ר כ ב ו ד ותפארת‬frag. 13, line 2). (The
previous and following lines speak repeatedly of "glory", "for the
Glory of God" and how the subject will "]be glorified in the midst
of (‫"[)יכבד בתוך‬. The text is only very partially preserved, but inter-
estingly there are only two instances in the Hebrew Bible where
‫ כ ב ו ד ותפארת‬appear so close together. These are the two summary
descriptions of the high priest's vestments and ordination at the begin-
ning and end of Exodus 28 (w. 2, 40) where we are told that Aaron's
garments and those for his sons are made "for Glory and beauty"
3 8
( .(‫ולתפארת‬ ‫לכבוד‬ The expression becomes stereotypical for
garments and is picked up in Sirach's description of how God "clothed
Aaron with perfect beauty (‫ )תפארת‬and beautified him with Glory
39
(‫ )כבוד‬and strength" (Sirach 45:8 (ms B). So, although we cannot

37
1Q19 3:2-5 (DJD 1:85) see M i l i k 1979, 9 4 - 5 : M i l i k 1976, 55, cf. Martinez
1992b, 42.
38
For the threefold combination of ‫ ת פ א ר ת‬, ‫ כ ב ו ד‬and ‫ ה ד ר‬see Ps 96:6-7 where
we read "Honour and majesty (‫ )הדר‬are before him; strength and beauty (‫)תפארת‬
are in his snnctuaiy. . . . ascribe to the LORD glory (‫ )כבוד‬and strength".
59
The "beauty" and "Glory" of Exodus 28:2, 40 then runs throughout the length-
1er account of the life and ministry of the high priest Simon in the Hebrew of Sir-
ach 50 ( ‫ ת פ א ר ת‬, w . 1, 6, cf. 20 and ‫ כ ב ו ד‬vv. 7 and 11).
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 45

be certain, iQapGen 6:4 and 1Q19 13 2 may both preserve traces

of the language of the priesdy clothing which Noah wore as a child.
Clearly there is plenty of evidence in Jubilees and the Genesis Apoc-
typhon that the Noah tradition was particularly concerned with priesdy
halakhah and the authentic priestly lineage, with Noah acting as a
source and model for the correct cultic behaviour. I t should not be
thought that this is merely a reflection of the Qumran community's
own priesdy orientation, as though that has contaminated the char-
acterisation of a previously non-priestly hero. It should be recalled
that Noah figures prominently in the underlying strata of the Book
of Watchers precisely where the association of the fall of the watchers
myth with the Day of Atonement is at its clearest (/ Enoch 10:1-5).
The cultic orientation of the Noah material in 1 Enoch is also evi-
dent in the third of the Similitudes (Eth. Enoch 58-69). / Enoch 60 is
a mixture of older Noahic material redacted to suit its present con-
text in the visionary life of Enoch. I n 60:8 the original form of the
text that has been incorporated is preserved and has Noah, not
Enoch, as the speaker. The dating of his section to the five hun-
dredth year in 60:1 is also reckoned to be derived from the life of
Noah (see Gen 5:32) and does not suit Enoch who only lived 365
years on earth. A confident assignment of the whole chapter to a
putative "Book of Noah" is impossible, though some relation to an
40
earlier Noahic collection cannot be doubted. It is therefore signifi-
cant that the chapter is also closely related to the feast of Taberna-
cles. The vision is not only dated to the 500th year but to the 14th
day of the seventh month, which is, obviously, the eve of Taber-
nacles. This is not a coincidental dating but is integral to the con-
tent of the vision to follow. / Enoch 60:11-25 is a lengthy revelation
of the cosmological water systems which climaxes with a description
of the mechanism for the production of rain (w. 21-22). The feast of
Tabernacles was, amongst other things, a festival which sought
God's guarantee for the supply of rain for the coming year and the
list of cosmological secrets described here is close to those in other
41
texts devoted to Tabernacles. Although in the pre-exilic period the
king played a prominent role in the celebration of Succoth, in the
post-exilic period it is the high priest who acts as the master of

‫ '"־‬Charles 1912, xlvi-xlvii.

" Sec esp. Pscudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquités 13:7 which closes with a reference to
the flood and "the year of the lifetime of Noah" (v. 8).
46 CHAPTER TWO

42
ceremonies. This portion of 1 Enoch would therefore seem to rely
on an older text in which Noah is privy to cosmological secrets per-
taining to the New Year festival of Tabernacles and as such he is
41
portrayed in strongly priestly terms.
Stone's judgement that the Qumran material is strongly priestly
is dependent on the material in Jubilees and the Genesis Apoayphon.
Stone sees two other interests in the "Book of Noah" collection—
Noah's birth, and medicine and demonology (Jub. 10)—and he has
not extended his discussion to show how either of these is also to
be regarded as priestly in orientation. Neither has he appreciated
the priestly orientation of Noah material in 1 Enoch 10 and 60. When
we turn to a closer examination of the Birth of Noah itself we find
that here also temple and priesthood concerns are to the fore.
In the first place the staging for the birth and the behaviour of
the child have strongly priestly resonances. Noah's luminescent form
must be compared with numerous DSS and non-DSS texts where
the (angelomorphic) priesthood emanates a transcendent and divine
d
light (cf. lQSb 4:27; 4QTLevi frag. 9; Sirach 50:5-7; Ansleas 97;
14
Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 28:3, cf. 26:13-15 and so on). The
solar imagery might ultimately derive from die Mesopotamia!! primeval
history where the antediluvian flood hero is closely identified with
the sun (cf. the 365 days of Genesis 5:23). However, in the Second
Temple period such solar imagery has taken on a very specifically
priestly association. There are many texts in which the priesthood
45
is somehow identified with the sun.
Because of its conceptual and literary proximity to our Qumran
material Sirach 50 is worth recalling at this point. In its description
of the ideal high priest Sirach 50:5, 7b, l i d exclaims

h o w glorious ( ‫ נ ה ד ר‬, έ δ ο ξ ά σ θ η ) he was, s u r r o u n d e d b y the people,

as he came out o f the house o f the c u r t a i n . . .
like the sun shining o n the temple o f the M o s t H i g h
( ‫ ו כ ט מ ס ס ש ר ק ח א ל " י כ ל ה מ ל ך‬, ή λ ι ο ς έ κ λ ά μ π ω ν έπΐ ν α ό ν ύχίστου), . . .
he made the court o f the sanctuary glorious ( ‫ ו י ה ד ר‬, έ δ ό ξ α σ ε ν ) .

4 2
For full surveys of the relevant material see Rubenstein 1995; Ulfgard 1998.
4 3
Martinez 1992b, 31 ‫־‬32 fails to see the significance of the Tabernacles mate-
rial for the evaluation of the material's relationship to Noah.
4 4
There are texts where this luminescence is not obviously associated with priest-
hood, but they are in the minority (see, e.g., Joseph and Aseneth 22:7, cf. 6:6).
4 5 d
E.g. Gk T. Lan 14:1-3; T. Naph. 5; 4 φ Τ ε ν ϊ 8 ‫ ־‬i i i 4 - 6 ; 4QTLevi frag. 9; Jose-
phus Ant 3.185; cf. 2 Enoch 22:9; 69:10—cf. the reflections o f Weinfeld 1981, 507.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 47

This description of Simon the high priest comes at the climax of a

lengthy hymn in praise of Israel's heroes which had begun some six
chapters earlier with (Enoch and) Noah (44:16—17), characters whose
identity and purpose in salvation-history the high priest gathers up
in his cultic office. Obviously, at the literal level Noah's birth in
1 Enoch 106:2 takes place in the private house of his parents. However,
I suggest the reader is meant to hear a deeper symbolic reference
in that house to the house (cf. Sirach 50:1), the Temple, which Simon
the high priest illuminates and glorifies. Just as Simon appears from
behind the veil which marks the transition from heaven to earth and
brings a numinous radiance to the realm of creation at worship, so
Noah breaks forth from his mother's waters to illuminate the house
of his birth."'
In Sirach 50 the liturgical procession through Simon's various min-
istrations climaxes with the Aaron's blessing of the people (50:20, cf.
Numbers 6) and a call for all the readers of Sirach's work "to bless
the God of all who everywhere works greater wonders, who fosters
our growth from birth and deals with us according to his mercy
(50:22)". So, too, in 1 Enoch 106:3 the infant Noah rises from the
hands of the midwife and, already able to speak as an adult, "he
4
opened his mouth and blessed the Lord". ' This posture puts him
in a position of temple worshipper, i f not a priest.
These literary features conspire to give the impression that Noah's
birth is meant to portent his future life. His posture of praise antic-
ipates his priestly duties after the flood (cf. Gen 8:20-21). His glo-
rious birth prefigures also the way his life will bring glory to creation
just as the high priest glorifies the sanctuary. This is an expected
aspect of wondrous birth stories in antiquity: the distinctive features
of the new born or attendant wonders are signs and portents of their
achievements in later life.
Nowhere in the extant texts of the period is Noah said to offici-
ate within an enclosed cultic space that could be called God's house,
however there is an important homology between the sanctuary and

K
I n / Enoch 106:2 the rose image recalls Sirach 50:8 where Simon looks like
"roses in the days of first fruits".
" This is the Greek text (άνέφςεν το στόμα και εύλόγησεν τφ κυρίφ). The Ethiopie
has either "spoke to the Lord with righteousness" or "spoke to the Lord of right-
eousness". The Latin fragment of / Enoch 106 has adoravit, laudavit and oravit in
the parallel in verse 11. But all the versions agree in the report in 106:11 that
Noah blessed God (see Charles 1912, 264, 266; Black 1985, 320).
48 CHAPTER TWO

creation which binds together our two texts, Noah's birth and Simon's
glorification of God's house. In Sirach 50 the high priestly service
has overtly cosmic ramifications. Simon's officiation achieves cosmic
48
harmony and fecundity (see below). It is probable that the birth of
the divine child Noah is also meant to portent the restoration of
cosmic harmony which would be fractured by the descent of the
watchers. As we have seen, in the Noah material in Jubilees and the
Genesis Apoayphon Noah not only rescues humanity from the flood,
he also cleanses the earth of the pollution suffered at the hands of
the watchers.
Indeed, within the Birth of Noah story there was perhaps an
explicit interpretation of the birth in precisely these terms. In / Enoch
106:6 Lamech expresses his fear for Noah's generation and in
1 Enoch 106:13-18 Enoch describes how Noah will rescue humanity
from the cö'smic catastrophe caused by the watchers. Enoch begins
by speaking of the renewal of creation (106:13) and goes on to
describe the coming cosmic catastrophe as a punishment for those
who have broken God's commandment. In verse 17 the Greek text
says that Noah "shall soothe (πραϋεΐ) the earth from the corruption
in her", where in Genesis 8:21 Noah's sacrifice is a pleasing odour
to God. The Aramaic probably had the earth shall "be cleansed
49
from great corruption". This is undoubtedly a reference to Noah's
priesdy offering of a soothing odor (‫ )ריח הניחח‬in Genesis 8:20-21,
which is now interpreted in terms of a salvific atonement for cos-
mic rapture as we have found m Jubilees 6:2 and IQapGen 10:13.
I f this is so, several important conclusions follow. First, i f Noah's
soothing of the earth refers to his restoration of cosmic harmony
through the sacrifice of Genesis 8:20—21, then Enoch gives an inter-
pretation of the birth's wondrous appearance which is a key to the
heart of the story's cultic framework: Noah is the one who will be
God's agent and means of restoration after the coming judgement
and this will entail his sacrificial cleansing of the earth from its sin,
and this is prefigured in the priestly aspects of his birth. Secondly,
it is probable that given Noah's vocation as one who restores the

48
See Hay-ward 1996, 51—52 for intimations of the Noahic covenant in Sirach
50.
49 c
4Q204 (En ar) 5 i i 22—"be clejansed [from] [grjeat corruption (‫]ותתד[כא‬
‫( " ) א ר ע א ] סן[ ח ב ל א ]ר[ בא‬Milik 1976, 209). The Ethiopie, "the earth shall be washed
clean" perhaps interprets the cleansing in terms of the flood itself, whereas the Greek
probably preserves the correct interpretation in terms of Noah's sacrifice.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 49

order of the cosmos, his priesdy and angelic, or divine, vocation are
inextricable. Where Genesis 8:21 has Noah, the representative of
righteous humanity, offer a soothing odour to God, the Birth of Noah
story looks forward to Noah acting not so much as creature before
the creator, but as (re-)creator acting upon the creation. This subde,
but significant, modification of the biblical text is then consistent
with Noah's portrayal as bearer of the divine image in the same
context.
Thirdly, the Birth of Noah story in 1 Enoch presumes, and antic-
ipates narratologically, material which otherwise is reasonably assigned
to the Book of Noah. Against the view that the putative "Book of
Noah" attested by 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and the Genesis Apoayphon actu-
ally lacks literary integrity, and that this Book is a construct of the
scholarly imagination, it is now clear that Noah's priestly identity,
his vocation and teaching, binds together his birth and his "words"
within the Noah collection.

The Birth of the Priestly Noah in Its Wider History-of-•Religions Context

This interpretation of the Birth of Noah is further corroborated when

parallel wondrous birth stories are compared; both those which are
also priesdy and those which, by way of contrast, are not. We have
already noted how in Sirach Enoch's lack of an ordinary birth is
combined with his role as head of the lineage of Israel's true, Zadokite
priesthood. The claim that Enoch was created not born is brief and
elliptical, lacking the vivid description of the newborn that we find
in the Birth of Noah. However, like the latter tradition, Sirach
49:14~15 probably reflects a concern to explore priestly purity, sep-
aration from the normal means of human reproduction and the fallen
state of humanity that underlies the wondrous birth of Noah. These
themes come to the fore with the wondrous birth of Melchizedek in
2 Enoch.
We have already seen how Enoch is given the rights and privi-
leges of a priest at the climax of his ascent to heaven (ch. 22). When
he returns to earth one of the subjects upon which he instructs his
community is cultic ethics (chs. 45-46) and the correct procedure
50
for the binding of the sacrificial victim (ch. 59). Chapters 69-73

All four legs of the victim must be bound. S. Pines argued that this is a
50 CHAPTER TWO

are concerned with the continuous and properly maintained succès-

sion of patriarchal priests. After the removal of Enoch the people
ask Methusalam to take up the responsibility for the priesthood which
Enoch's son duly does once he has experienced a dream, received
whilst sleeping by the altar, in which God tells him to take up the
office with the promise that " I shall glorify you in front of the face
of all the people, and you will be glorified all the days of your life"
31
(69:5). O n waking from his sleep Methusalam is invested with the
priestly garments and "a blazing crown" is set upon his head (69:8).
Standing at the altar to make sacrifice Methusalam's face "was radi-
ant, like the sun at midday rising up (J— recension)/like the morn-
ing star when it rises (A—recension)" (69:10). The language echoes
that in Sirach 50:5-11 and 1 Enoch 106:2.
From Methusalam the priesthood passes to Nir, the second son
52
of Lameclr{70:4-22). Towards the end of his life Nir's generation
turned from the LORD and chaos began to afflict humanity (70:23-26).
In chapter 71 we read of the wondrous birth of Melchizedek the
53
next bearer of the priesthood. Nir had no child to be his succès-
sor and his wife, Sopanim, was sterile in her time of old age. She
conceives a child without intercourse with her husband, who has
lived a celibate life since the day he had been appointed as priest.
Not surprisingly, like Lamech, the father of Noah is greatly distressed
when he sees his wife's pregnancy. In the heat of the argument con-
cerning the child's legitimacy Sopanim falls down at Nir's feet and
dies. But after a short time the child emerges from Sopanim's dead
body:

practice regarded as heretical by the rabbis (see m. Tamid 4:1 & the Babylonian
baraita: Pines 1970, 74—5). However, Martha Himmelfarb has questioned the per-
suasiveness o f Pines' argument (Himmelfarb 1993, 42).
51
This statement and the references to God "raising up" a priest for himself
(69:2, 4) is intriguingly reminiscent of 1 Q I 9 13 lines 2-3.
52
The name N i r will be a reflection of the Hebrew "1" "lamp" (Vaillant 1976
[1952], xii; Milik 1976, 115, see BDB 632-3 and see esp. Exod 25:33; 27:20; 30:7-8
etc..),'which i n turn represents another example o f the association of the priesthood
with the giving o f light. I n 2 Enoch 70:17 (J) N i r adorns Methusalam's sepulcher
with lamps. For a similar interest in lamps see 45:2.
Why Noah, Nir's brother, does not inherit the priesthood in 2 Enoch is puzzling
given the genealogy in Genesis 5 and the priestly behaviour o f Noah in Genesis
8:20—21 and probably has something to do with the text's peculiarly heterodox life
setting. By avoiding Noah the genealogy o f the true priesthood bypasses Shem and
Ham and Japheth, thus distancing itself from the Semites altogether.
53
See the discussion in Delcor 1971, 127-130.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 51

A r i d he sat o n the bed at her side. A n d N o e a n d N i r came i n to b u r y

S o p a n i m , a n d they saw the c h i l d sitting beside the dead S o p a n i m , a n d
w i p i n g his c l o t h i n g . A n d N o e a n d N i r were very terrified w i t h a great
fear, because the c h i l d was fully developed physically, like a three-
year-old. And he spoke with his lips and he blessed the LORD (71:17-18).

As we might expect from the Birth of Noah story the child's bless-
ing signifies his priesdy status which is spelt out in the next verse:

the badge of priesthood was

A n d N o e a n d N i r looked at h i m , a n d b e h o l d ,
on his chest, and it was glorious in appearance. A n d N o e a n d N i r said
" B e h o l d , G o d is renewing the priesthood f r o m b l o o d related to us, j u s t as
54
he pleases" ( 7 1 : 1 9 - 2 0 ) .

The similarities to the birth of Noah arc obvious both in the cir-
cumslances of a seemingly illegitimate birth and the child's won-
55
drous character. Just what relationship this story has to the older
Birth of Noah is hard to say because the life setting of 2 Enoch is
56
so obscure. Andrei Orlov has now made a convincing case that
the similarities between the two birth accounts are due to a sys-
tematic polemic against the priesdy Noah tradition as attested in the
57
traditions already examined. Certainly the material in this text
attests to the thoroughly priestly shape of the wondrous birth form
in Jewish antiquity.
Another wondrous birth tradition which is instructive for our dis-
cussion is that of Cain in the Life of Adam and Eve. I n the Latin Vitae
Adae et Evae 21:3 we read of Eve that:
she bore a son, a n d he was lustrous (lucidus). A n d at once the infant
rose, r a n , a n d b r o u g h t i n his hands a reed ( H e b : ‫ )קנה‬a n d gave it to
his m o t h e r . A n d his name was called C a i n ( H e b : ]‫)קי‬.

The birth of the wondrous child, is once again, the opportunity to

signal his identity or purpose in life: the child's bringing his mother
a reed was evidendy an aetiology for the child's name in the orig-
inal, but no longer extant, Hebrew. Conspicuously absent from Cain's

54
J—recension. The A recension differs little.
" Vaillant 1976 [1952], x i - x i i ; Orlov 2000, 268-270.
55
Dependence upon the virgin birth of Jesus and the characterization of Melchizedek
in Hebrews 7 has been alleged by, e.g. Vaillant 1976 [1952], x i , but is rightly
rejected by Delcor 1971, 129-30. In rabbinic tradition Melchizedek is normally
identified with Shem, the son of Noah (e.g. b. JVed. 32b; Gen. Rah. 26:4; Tg. Ps.-J.
and Tg. Neof ad Gen 14:18. See further Ginzberg 1909-38, V , 225-226 n. 102).
57
Ôrlov 2000.
52 CHAPTER TWO

birth are all the features which in the birth of Noah signal the child's
priestly identity—solar imagery, birth in a "house" and child's bless-
ing of God. This would suggest that for this text Cain did not legit-
imately bear the priesthood, which is not, of course surprising given
his murder of his brother. Indeed, it is noteworthy that, as we saw
in the last chapter, in the Hebrew original of the related Greek ver-
sion of this Adam pseudepigraphon, the Apocalypse of Moses, it is Abel
and not Cain who is the wearer of the priestly robe and bearer of
58
that office.
Also relevant for our discussion are traditions relating the won-
drous birth of Moses. In the Septuagint of Exodus 2:2 Moses par-
ent's take note of the fact that their baby is "beautiful (αστείος)".
This is picked up by a number of late second Temple authors (Pom-
peius Tragus (in Pseudo-Justin's Histonae Philippicae 36:2:11); Philo De
59
Vita Mosis'1:9, 15, 18; Acts 7:20; Heb 1 1:23). From this beauty
Josephus has Pharaoh's daughter draw the conclusion that the baby
Moses has "a divine form (μορφή θεΐον)" (Ant. 2:232, cf. 224, 231).
There is no evidence that Moses' natal beauty was ever developed
into anything like that of Noah in Second Temple tradition. How-
ever, such a development does take place in rabbinic tradition. There,
Moses is born circumcised, is already able to speak, and the house
60
of his birth becomes flooded with light. There is an obvious over-
lap here with the birth of Noah, however, again, with the differences
the specifically priestly form of that older tradition can be clearly
seen. Whilst Moses is able to speak as soon as he is born he does
not bless God as do Noah and Melchizedek. He is thus the pre-
eminent teacher of the word (cf. T. Mos. 11:17 where Moses is "mas-
ter of the word, . . . the divine prophet for the whole earth, the
perfect teacher in the world"), whereas Noah is the model worship-
per. Whilst the whole house becomes flooded with light the Mosaic
birth texts do not specifically say that Moses himself is the source
of light. The illumination of the house through Noah's eyes and the
comparison of the light to that of the sun are specifically priestly

‫ ־‬8
There are no grounds for concluding that there is attached an "unfavourable
significance" to the luminous birth of Noah from this text (pace Reeves 1993, 112
n. 5).
5 9
For the Pompeius Trogus text see Stern 1974, 335, 337.
60
B. Sot. 12a; Exod. Rab.*~ 1:20; Deal. Rab. 11:10. In Pirke de Rabbi Ehezer 48 this
Moses is specifically compared to the angels at this point. See Ginzberg 1909-38,
2:264; 5:41.
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 53

61
features of Noah's birth. By the same token the fact that in the
Mosaic stories the child is circumcised at birth indicates his role as
an idealised representative of every Israelite: where Noah bears the
marks of the priesthood, Moses carries the principle identity marker
of every member of Israel, irrespective of any distinction between
62
laity and priesthood.
There is, then, an overwhelming body of evidence that the angelo-
or theomorphic birth of Noah in / Enoch 106 and 1 QapGen 2—5 is
to be interpreted very specifically as the birth of a priesdy child. We
have reached this conclusion by way of an examination of the lan-
guage of the story itself, an analysis of related Noahic materials and
a comparison with other wondrous birth stories, some of which show
63
a similar priestly orientation. Precision regarding the original life-
setting of the Birth of Noah is difficult to ascertain, though our dis-
cussion further endorses Michael Stone's sense that the Noahic material
in Jubilees, the Genesu Apocryphon and 1 Enoch derives from priesdy
tradition in the form of a more or less coherent Noahic collection,
64
which may still be cautiously labelled the "Book of Noah".
This tradition was evidently widely known, though the fact that
it was cherished at Qumran is not surprising given the Dead Sea
community's priestly identity. How was the glorious form of Noah
treated in relation to the community's self-perception and expecta-
tions? I t has sometimes been claimed Noah is presented as a purely
eschatological, remnant, figure in 1 Enoch 106, which might imply that
his divinity is reflective of expectations for the future rather than

'‫ יי‬Also lacking is the comparison between the child and the appearance of the
Ancient oi Days. Given that the one like a son of man in Daniel 7:13 is a priestly
figure who bears God's image ( O G and Rev 1:13-16) then this also is a priestly
aspect of the Noahic birth which is missing from the Moses birth form.
62
Noah's own circumcised state at birth is a feature which appears i n some rab-
binic texts ('Abel Rab. .Nat. A ch. 2; Tanhuma, Noah §6), presumably reflecting the
muted concern for priestly matters i n the later rabbinic context.
6 3
Other references to the birth of the wondrous child—Josephus Ant. 2:232;
Orphica 31; Acts 7:20—are too brief for useful comparison with the Birth of Noah.
Though it is noteworthy that at the birth of Jesus, of course, there is signaled the
child's priesdy identity in the gift of gold, frankincense and myrrh (cf. Exod 30:23;
28:5, 6, 8 etc.) from the magi (Matt 2:11).
6 4
The priesthood of Noah was evidently well known during the rabbinic period.
It is appears in connection with the identification of Melchizedek with Shem, Noah's
son. I n this regard Jerome says that "the Hebrews. . . say that all the first-born
sons of Noah were priests before Aaron performed the priestly office" (Questions on
Genesis ad 14:18-19 (see Hayward 1995b, 47)). For a discussion of this tradition and
the possibility that it was known in the first century see McNamara 2000, 10-17.
54 CHAPTER TWO

65
present realities. But, on the other hand, whilst its present setting
in the Epistle of Enoch (1 Enoch 97-107) means Noah's birth undoubt-
edly has eschatological implications (cf. esp. / Enoch 104:1-2), the story
can be included in a context with no such orientation, as the Gen-
esis Apoayphon shows, and we have seen that its basic plot relates the
birth of the true theomorphic priest whose ministiy rescues society
from an intra-historical, rather than a purely eschatological, catastro-
phe. The close literary and ideological similarity to the description
of Simon the high priest in Sirach 50 suggests that for a commu-
nity such as Qumran Noah's wondrous, theophanic form would have
as much to say for the theology of contemporary priesthood as for
any eschatological hope. Indeed, in IQapGen 11:15-16 we read how
God talks with Noah after his exit from the ark and says to him:

Do not^be afraid, Noah, I am with you and with your sons, who will
16
be like you, forever . . . of the earth, and rule over all of them, over
its . . . and its deserts and its mountains, and over all that is in them.

The statement in line 15 that Noah's children will be like him could
be interpreted in various ways and, indeed, it is probably polyva-
lent. As a reference to the true priestly lineage, which, as we have
seen, pre-occupies the related material in Jubilees (and 2 Enoch), this
would be a promise that his descendants, particularly the Israelite
priesthood, would function as bearers of God's presence just as Noah
has done from his birth.
But there is also perhaps an eye to the righteous as a whole, not
just the priesthood. Line 16 develops the literary echoes of Genesis
66
1:26-30 that were already present in Genesis 9 : l - 3 : Noah is set
up as a second Adam who is to have the rule and authority over
creation originally intended for Adam. This might imply that for the
Genesis Apoayphon the similarity to Noah of his children means the
67
righteous as a whole are to truly embody God's image in creation.
At Qumran the exemplary character of Noah and the way he re-
covers the rule over creation intended for Adam was related to his

6 5
See, e.g., Nickelsburg 1998, 142-3.
6 6
A version of Genesis 9:2-4 follows i n IQapGen 11:17.
6
' The Qumran community's following of Noah's example will partly be reflected
in their frequent self-designation as the "perfect of way" (e.g. 1QS 2:2; 3:9-10;
4:22; 8:10, 18, 21; Q M 14:7; C D 2:15-16). This expression is indebted, amongst
other passages, to Gen 6:9 where Noah is one who walks with God and is ‫ת מ י ם‬
( L X X τέλειος).
 THE DIVINE AND PRIESTLY NOAH 55

transmission of guidance for the handling of demons (Jub. 10:10—14).

P.S. Alexander has drawn attention to the way in which in the Songs
of the Sage (4Q510—511) the Maskil, who recites songs in the war
against the forces of darkness, "is seen in a Noahic role, interced-
68
ing for his Community and defending them against spiritual evil".
In Sirach 45 and Testament of Moses 11 the righteous Moses who
wards off the enemies of God's people is a divine Moses. We will
not be surprised, therefore, to find when we come to examine The
Songs of the Sage in detail, that there too the righteous, like the divine
Noah born to survive the flood, are an angelic and divine remnant
in the midst of the generation of wickedness.

6 3
Alexander 1997, 322.
 CHAPTER THREE

T H E A N G E L O M O R P H I C PRIESTHOOD
I N C O N C E P T U A L PERSPECTIVE

Clearly, then, the priesthood is a primary conceptual category for

the formation of an angelomorphic identity, even where priestly ere-
dentials are not spelt out explicitly. This phenomenon may partly
be a reflection of the way in which in the Second Temple period
prophecy became absorbed within the offices of the temple. Already,
in the earlier period of Israelite period, prophets were often priests
(Ezekiel: 1:3; Jeremiah: 1:1; Zechariah: 1:1 and Ezra 5:1; 6:14). In
the later period the priest's prophetic ability becomes an institutional
dimension of his office. So, for example, in Joseph and Aseneth Levi's
role in the drama is characterized by his prophetic abilities (22:13;
23:8; 26:6). For Josephus, John Hyrcanus represents the pinnacle of
Hasmonean priestly (and royal) power in as much as Hyrcanus is
both king, priest and prophet? As Josephus makes clear this prophetic
charism is a function of the fact that the high priest has a peculiar
right of access to God's presence, a fact which, of course, in the
Second Temple period, separates the priesthood from the kingship
2
and the laity. As we shall see, the high priest's prophetic abilities
are particularly associated with his wearing of the breastplate of
judgement—what Josephus calls "the oracle" and his use of the Urim
3
and Thummim. This strongly priesdy orientation to prophecy should
probably be judged the background to Josephus' description of the
Essenes as prophets {Ant. 15:373-379).
This absorption of prophecy within priesthood is important for
our purposes because of another trend in the late Second Temple
period: increasingly the prophetic experience, at least as it is ideal-

1
See B.J. 1:68-9; Am. 13:282-83, 299-300, 322 where a number of examples
of Hyrcanus' prophetic abilities are recorded.
2
See in particular Ant. 13:300 "for the Deity was with h i m . . ." (= B.J. 1:69);
Ant. 13:282 Hyrcanus "was alone in the temple, burning incense as high priest,
[and] heard a voice . . .".
3
See esp. Ant. 3:216-7.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 57

ized in the literary sources, becomes locked into an experience of

heavenly ascent. I n its apocalyptic mode, access to heavenly secrets
is achieved through vertical ascent to the heavenly realm which then
becomes a sphere in which transformation to a new heavenly, angelic,
4
identity is regarded appropriate, i f not essential. Older scholarship
discussing, for example, the prototypical heavenly ascent in I Enoch
14 tended to emphasize the formal similarity to the call visions of
5
older prophecy (esp. Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6). However, the distinc-
tive aspects of this and other ascent texts are probably due to the
model of sacred space prescribed by the new Jerusalem temple with
its division into three or seven (m. Kelim 1:8; Josephus B.J. 1:26)
6
zones of increasing holiness.
Not only does the priesthood embrace prophecy it also takes on
a dominant socio-political role in the Second Temple period which
explains the relative insignificance of kingship in angelomorphic tra-
7
ditions. Throughout this period it is the priesthood rather than king-
ship which held the position of social, political, as well as religious
primacy within Israel's polity. This is not to deny the role of the
governor during the Persian period, the influence of the theology of
kingship on the Hasmoneans or, even, the Herodians. There cer-
tainly remained alive an expectation for the restoration of the king-
8
ship in an eschatological and messianic form. However, the institution
which remains the most stable and constant throughout the vicissi-
tudes of the Second Temple period is the priesthood. Reflection on
the ideal king is confined to the scriptural text and is otherwise ham-
pered by the negative experience of attempts to restore kingship by
the likes of Herod the Great. By contrast, the priesthood has a liv-
ing practicing liturgy and institution as a context for self-reflection
and the nurturing of scriptural interpretation. The priesthood has
large numbers of relatively highly skilled and literate practitioners

4
See the discussion i n Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 129-137.
3
See the review i n Himmelfarb 1993, 9-20.
6
For the three zones (hekhal, devir, and 'ulam) see Himmelfarb 1993, 14. A tra-
ditional separation of the temple into seven spheres of holiness is a more likely
explanation of the dominance of the seven heaven model i n late Second Temple
apocalypses than the possibility (noted by Himmelfarb 1993, 32-33) of any direct
connection with the significance of the number seven i n Sumerian and Babylonian
magic.
1
For a recognition of the hieroeratic shape of the Second Temple theocracy see
e.g. Sanders 1992; Grabbe 1992, 537-541, 607-616.
8
See esp. Horbury 1998.
58 CHAPTER THREE

who, by law, are to be creamed off from the labour of the land
(Numbers 18), where, by contrast, kingship has no such socio-eco-
nomic constitution. The Dead Sea Scrolls are, themselves, testimony
to the existence of a caste which is at once thoroughly priestly, lit-
erate and equipped with the scribal skills necessary for the copying
and further production of religious texts. Also, the golden age of
the Second Temple was one in which Israel was ruled by priests,
the Hasmoneans. Although the Hasmoneans were to co-opt both
prophecy and kingship they were, essentially, royal and prophetic
priests, not sacral kings, as had been the nation's leaders in the pre-
exilic period.
To be sure, the Pharisees represent a movement which has a
stronger base amongst the laity, but pharisaism only becomes a
prominent force in the first century B.C. and thereafter. I n the sec-
ond and third centuries B.C. the picture is more narrowly priestly.
Also, it is during this period that the political strength of the nation—
marred only by the Antiochene crisis—is reflected in the anthropo-
logical optimism of such works as Sirach, Daniel, the Book of Watchers,
Artapanus, Jubilees, Aristobolus, Ezekiel the Tragedian and Joseph and
9
Aseneth. By contrast those texts with an overtly negative anthropol-
ogy reflect a much later date when Israel's political situation had
worsened considerably (e.g. 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch) and when the priests
10
no longer held the prominent position of their forebears.
Reflecting more broadly upon the angelomorphic texts at our dis-
posai one can readily see just how formative a power the priesthood
will have exerted upon the creation of this distinctive theological
anthropology. The priesthood binds in one office virtually all of the
facets of angelomorphic identity and transformation that we other-
wise find with little or no obvious reference to the priesthood. As
we have seen, the priesthood claims a prerogative over prophecy,
civil and therefore earthly rule and dominion, and is the "canoni-
cal" model of mediation between God and his people. With the book
of :Sirach we find that the Temple has now become the true locus
of W'isdom, who is a figure of almost hypostatic and certainly cos-
mic proportions (esp. Sirach 24 and 50 and cf. Wisdom of Solomon's

9
O f these Sirach, the Book of Watchers, Daniel 7-12, Jubilees, Aristobolus and
Joseph and Aseneth are all of either priestly authorship or orientation.
10
Neither 4 Ezra or 2 Bamch is priestly in orientation.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 59

cultic orientation). In many texts the angelomorphic figure is so by

virtue of their possession of wisdom and universal knowledge."
The priesthood also inspires the iconography of the divine anthro-
pology. The priesthood wears special clothing; plain pure white robes
for ordinary priests (or the high priest on Yom Kippur (Lev 16:4))
and a luxurious, golden, jewel studded garment for the high priest-
hood. There is an obvious similarity between the simple attire of the
priests and that which is attributed to the angels throughout Jewish
and Christian texts. We have seen how significant investiture is for
the outward expression of a transformed identity (2 Enoch 22:8-10)
and the otherworldly impression that the high priest's garments can
12
provoke (Aristeas 99). Again in other texts where glorious appear-
ance figures prominently we have found grounds for thinking that
13
priesdy attire stands in the background (e.g. 1 Enoch 106).
Pausing to reflect on this dimension of the Jerusalem cult it is
hard to escape the fact that for Second Temple Jews the temple
offered the nearest equivalent to the modern fashion industry. At
the risk of being judged irreverent, we should compare the inner
precincts of the temple to the catwalks of Paris and Milan. The awe
and otherworldly regard in which our own "supermodels" are held
has a socio-religious parallel in ancient Judaism. The high priest's
14
garments were reserved for use within the temple precincts, and
the laity, women and gentiles are carefully cordoned off from the
priesthood, the "fashion elite", in much the same way that our fash-
ion industry separates its stars physically and economically from the
15
rest of us. O f course, the ideological superstructure of the two

" For example, the (angelomorphic) K i n g o f Tyre i n Ezek 28:12 is "full of wis-
dom" and in 2 Enoch 30:11 Adam is a "second angel" who has God's wisdom.
Compare the portrayal of the righteous i n Wis 5:5.
12
Compare, generally, Himmelfarb 1993, 2 9 - 4 7 .
13
I n early Christology, passages which show any interest i n Jesus' glorious attire
also reflect a priesdy background. See Fletcher-Louis 2001a on Mark 9:1—12 and
Rev 1:13-16.
14
I n b. Torna 69a this is regarded as a strict ruling, though the account of the
high priest's encounter with Alexander the Great (cf. Josephus Ant. 11:329-339)
suggests this was not always rigorously applied.
15
I n Acts 12 and Josephus Ant. 19:343-52 Herod's reception o f divinity is depen-
dent on his appearance i n glorious garments. The fact that he suffers divine con-
demnation for his reception of the people's acclamation is normally explained as
the consequence o f the simple fact that being a mortal he claims divinity. I t may,
however, have had as much to do with the fact that his divine garments challenged
the divinely constituted sacred space within which such garments were legitimate.
60 CHAPTER THREE

worlds—the ancient Jewish priesthood and the modern fashion indus-

try—is different, but there are unmistakable commonalities between
their respective social structures. And, what is more, the modern ide-
alization of beauty has a direct correlate in both the Israelite priest-
hood and the Jewish angelomorphic tradition. Physical deformity
disqualified a member of the priestly caste from service and angelo-
morphic texts frequently regard physical beauty and strength as a
16
physiognomic indication of a transcendent divine identity.
Protestant puritanism and a strand of modernity which is unable
to cope with such symbolism have undoubtedly contributed to the
twentieth century failure to grapple with the rich and polysemeous
power of Israel's cultic drama. Whatever value judgement we may
wish to place on this aspect of Israelite religiosity it is an undeni-
able historical fact of the nation's life which (with the possible excep-
tion of early Christian attitudes to temple purity codes) is nowhere
challenged in the surviving texts.
Not only does the temple occupy a controlling position in defin-
ing transcendent fashion and beauty, it also held something of a
monopoly over the nation's music industry. That is to say that instru-
mental and vocal worship is largely confined to the temple. The syn-
agogue increasingly plays an important role in Israel's spirituality
towards the end of the Second Temple period. However, the syna-
gogue is principally a place of Torah study, prayer and community
organization: communal worship throughout the week and at major
festivals is reserved for the Jerusalem Temple. There are, of course,
theological reasons for this pattern of piety: God lives in the Temple
and therefore needs to worshipped there. (Our assumption that "God"
is universally present and therefore can be worshipped anywhere is
a Christian, and indeed, particularly a post-Reformation, view.) Sec-
ondly, because, for Israel worship is inescapably a matter of sacri-
fice and liturgical drama, for which only the Jerusalem temple has
been sanctioned, it is difficult to conceive of a "worship" in the fully
biblical sense outside of that sacred space. This centralization of wor-
ship in the Jerusalem temple will no doubt have been reinforced by

Had he been the high priest wearing the right glorious garments within the tern-
pie precinct the people's acclamation might have been more acceptable. The près-
ence of such concerns may be signalled in Josephus' version by the presence of an
unclean owl i n Herod's proximity (Lev 11:16—17; 14:16-17) heralding his demise.
16
See e.g. Joseph and Aseneth 22:7-8.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 61

economic constraints: worship is lead by priests and Lévites whose

socio-economic power base is deliberately tied to the temple by
Torah.
All this is has numerous ramifications for our exploration of
Judaism's theological anthropology. For example, one frequendy finds
that transformation takes place in the context of the worship of
17
heaven and the joining of an angelic liturgy. This is of the utmost
importance to the Qumran community for whom the belief that sec-
tarian members have been removed from the mundane realm to the
heavenly world wherein they receive a new "divine" identity is incx-
tricable from their practicing of a temple liturgy. Even though their
worship is physically removed from the Jerusalem temple it is clearly
defined by, and over against, its hcrmcncutical framework.
In all this it should go without saying that the purity boundaries
of the Jerusalem temple are also definitive for Jewish angelomor-
phism. The temple prescribes concentric spheres of increasing holi-
ness at the apex and centre of which is the very presence of God
himself in the Holy of Holies. The language of holiness, purity and
impurity plays a similar game, albeit with different grammatical rules,
to the language of divine, angelic and human. The (impure) pagan
18
lives at the level of the (unclean) beasts. The true Israelite can be
taken up from the level of humanity to the angelic and the divine
and, as we have seen, this movement is frequently expressed in terms
of a vertical movement through a cosmology modelled on the tern-
pie. It is, therefore, not at all surprising that angelomorphic humans
can be called "holy ones" and that, by contrast, we frequendy find
(especially in the New Testament) demons called "unclean spirits"
(Mark 1:23, 26; 30:30; 5:8 etc. . . .). Again, the language used to
express a very specific theological anthropology is provided by Israel's
temple centred Torah.

The Angelomorphic Priesthood in the Cosmic Temple

Behind all these aspects of temple life and their relevance for the
belief in a divine humanity there lies the fundamental presupposition

17
E.g. Hist. Rech. 13:5; Apoc. <«/;/;. 8:1-4; T.Job 47; 52; 1 Cor 13:1.
18
See especially Bryan 1995 for this in Second Temple apocalyptic literature
and Stern 1994, 39-42, 247-259 on the rabbinic material.
62 CHAPTER THREE

that the Temple is the "epitome of the world, a concentrated form

9
of its essence, a miniature of the cosmos.'" The Temple was far
more than the point at which heaven and earth met. Rather it was
thought to correspond to, represent, or, in some sense, to be, "heaven
and earth" in its totality. Because, as we shall see, this wider tern-
pie mythology was so prevalent and evidently informed the divine
anthropology of temple theology, it requires a summary overview at
this point in our setting of the scene for an examination of the Dead
Sea Scroll texts.
The belief that the temple is a microcosm of the universe is read-
ily grasped i f its three-fold structure, the sanctuary (supremely the
Holy of Holies), the inner and outer courts, are allowed to corre-
spond to heaven, earth and sea respectively. In the words of the late
rabbinic midrash Numbers Rabbah 13:19;
T h e C o u r t surrounds the T e m p l e j u s t as the sea surrounds the w o r l d

For Josephus the original pre-Temple tabernacle was similarly divided

into three parts two of which were "approachable and open to all".
Moses thereby

signifies the earth a n d the sea, since these t w o are accessible to all;
b u t the t h i r d p o r t i o n he reserved for G o d alone, because heaven is
inaccessible to m e n [Ant. 3 . 1 8 1 , cf. 3.123).

Josephus' Antiquities and the Midrash Rabbah to Numbers are post-

Second Temple texts and where any notice has been taken of their
temple cosmology it has sometimes been assumed to be a post-bib-
20
lical development, and therefore of minor importance. Though this
symbolism might not be out of place in the wider Greco-Roman
world, there is no reason to think that here Josephus or, over half
a millennium later, the rabbis are accommodating to a pagan ide-
21
ology. That the cosmic temple mythology should have made an
impact on Israelite religion is to be expected since this was always
22
part of the mythological lingua franca of the ancient Near East.

19
Levenson 1985. 138, cf. Levenson 1988, 73-99; Patai 1947, 105-138; Ego
1989, 20-23; Meyer 1992, 231.
2 0
See e.g. Koester 1989, 6 1 .
21
This is rightly perceived by Holladay 1977, 86-9; Levenson 1988, 96. I n Acts
7:48-50 it is the Hellenist Stephen who attacks this cosmic temple mythology and in
b. Sukk. 51b and b. B. Bat. 4a the cosmopolitan Herod lias to be dissuaded from
destroying its architectural representation in his temple rebuilding project.
22
For examples of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the temple‫־‬as-microcosm
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 63

With respect to the post-exilic Priestly material (P) Joseph Blenkin-

sopp argued in a 1 9 7 6 article that Ρ has structured his material
in order to set up a set of literary and linguistic correspondences
23
between creation (Genesis 1 ) and the tabernacle (Exod 2 5 - 4 0 ) . In
a similar vein P.J. Kearney, Moshe Weinfeld and others have seen
_ that the seven days of creation in Genesis 1 are paired with God's
2 4
seven speeches to Moses in Exodus 2 5 - 3 1 . Each speech begins
"The LORD spoke to Moses" (Exod 2 5 : 1 ; 3 0 : 1 1 , 16, 2 2 , 3 4 ; 3 1 : 1 1 ,
12) and introduces material which corresponds to the relevant day
of creation. Most transparently, in the third speech 3 0 : 1 6 - 2 1 there
is commanded the construction of the bronze laver. I n the Solomonic
temple this is called simply the "sea" and in Ρ it matches the ere-
ation of the sea on the third day of creation in Genesis 1:9—11. Sim-
ilarly, the seventh speech (Exod 31:12—17) stresses the importance
of the Sabbath for Israel, just as Genesis 2:2—3 tells us how God
rested on the seventh day. In the first speech to Moses Aaron's gar-
ments and his ordination are described and stress is placed upon his
duty to tend the menorah at the evening and morning sacrifice
(Tamid) ( 2 7 : 2 0 - 2 1 ; 3 0 : 7 - 8 ) . As we shall see, the golden and jewel-
studded garments which Aaron wears are, generically, best under-
stood as the Israelite version of the golden garments worn by the
gods of the ancient Near East and their statues. This means that
Aaron is dressed to play the part within the temple-as-microcosm
theatre that God plays within creation. Indeed, the fact that in this
first speech Aaron is twice told to tend the temple lampstand and
offer the Tamid sacrifice means that he is to police the first bound-
ary—between day and night, light and darkness—which God creates
on the first day of creation (Gen 1:3-5). Obviously, these correspond-
ences mean that creation has its home in the liturgy of the cult and
23
the Tabernacle is a mini cosmos.
Jon D . Levenson, who further supplies clear proof for the roots
of this mythology in the architecture of the Solomonic temple, has

motif see Hurowitz 1992, 335-7. For an overview of ancient Near Eastern Tern-
pie mythology see Lundquist 1983.
23
Blenkinsopp 1976, esp. 275-283.
24
Kearney 1977; Weinfeld 1981.
23
For the reception of Kearney's argument, which can be developed much fur-
ther, see, e.g., Levenson 1988, 82-3. Tigchellaar 1996, 18-19, 38, 45 has suggested
that like Exodus 25-31 the visions of Zech 1—8 are structured to conform to the
sequence in Genesis 1. For the presence of such a cosmology i n EzekiePs temple
vision see Niditch 1986.
64 CHAPTER THREE

gathered up much of the wider biblical material in a thoroughgo-

26
ing demonstration of its importance for biblical theology. From our
fragmentary knowledge of Israel's various calendars it is clear that
the two principal New Year festivals, in Tishri and Nisan, were asso-
dated with the dedication of the sanctuary (1 Kgs 8:2, cf. 2 Chron
7:9; 1 Kgs 12:32-33; Ezra 3:1—6) and the erection of the Taberna-
27
cle (Exod 40:2, 17), respectively. I n its earliest history this temple
mythology has to be understood in the context of ancient Near East-
ern mythology related to kingship, the divine conflict with the forces
of chaos and the foundation of city and temple. Perhaps its simplest
biblical example is Ps 78:69:

He built his sanctuary like the high heavens (‫)כמו רמים‬,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

Despite scholarly neglect we do find that this mythology is every-

28
where present in the post-biblical literature. The close literary and
conceptual correspondence between Genesis 1 and Exodus 25-31
was known and reused by the priestly Wisdom author, Ben Sira,
who has employed its structure to explore the complex relationship
29
between creation, Temple, priest and Wisdom in Sirach 24 and 50.
C.T.R. Hayward has persuasively argued that, from the same period,
the establishment of a Temple at Leontopolis in the first half of the
30
second century B.C. was bound-up with the renewal of the cosmos.
Ben Zion Wacholder has suggested that the peculiarly cubic archi-
tecture of the Temple Scroll found at Qumran, which he correlates
closely with the cosmology of the early Enoch literature, reflects a
similar conceptual world. The "future sanctuary prescribed in the
scroll seems to have been designed to correspond to the renewal of
31
the heaven and the earth at the end of days." Certainly at one

26
Levenson 1985, 111-176: Levenson 1988, 78-99. I n both volumes Levenson
explores the wider ideological and theological issues at stake in the history of the
modern suppression of this O T mythology.
2
' For Tabernacles/Day of Atonement and New Creation see Jub. 5:10-19, esp.
5:18 referring to Lev 16:34 and 11QTS 29:9 at the end of a description of the
sacrifices for Tabernacles.
2a
Cf. Grabbe 1992, 539-40.
29
Fletcher-Louis 2000b: Fletcher-Louis 2001b. cf. Hayward 1996, 38-84, esp.
79-80.
50
Hayward 1982, 436-7.
31
Wacholder 1983, 40, cf. 33-40. Cf. Barker 1989.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 65

point in the Temple scroll there is an unequivocal identification of

32
the creation of the sanctuary as the day of creation.
Both Josephus and Philo explore at some length the cosmic sym-
holism of the Tabernacle/Temple and its paraphernalia (Philo Mos.
35
2:71-145; Josephus Ant. 3:123, 179-187). Both agree that the woven
work of the tabernacle and the temple veil are made from four mate-
rials symbolizing the four elements—earth, water,, air and fire (War
5:212-3; Ant. 3:138-4; Quaesliones in Exodum 2:85, cf. Mos. 2:88). Both
regard the seven lamps as symbolic of the planets (Mos. 2:103; B.J.
5:146, 217). Both consider the High Priest's garments to be yet
another extended cosmic metaphor (Mos. 2:117-126, 133-135, 143;
Ant. 3:180, 183-7). In addition to the points of agreement, each has
their own peculiar points of symbolic interpretation. So, for exam-
pie, for Philo the pomegranates and flowers on the bottom of the
High Priest's garments symbolize earth and water; the bells the har-
monious alliance of the two (Mos. 2:119-121). For Josephus the pome-
granates and bells represent lightning and thunder (B.J. 5:231; Ant.
3:184). It is clear that in the main Philo's cosmological interpréta-
tion of the sanctuary is that of mainstream Judaism since at various
points he adds his own more allegorical and rarefied geometric and
3
numerical interpretations (Mos. 2:80, 84, 98f., 101—5, 127f.).‫' ־‬
Besides the passage in Numbers Rabbah this understanding of the
Temple is recurrent in rabbinic literature even though so much
energy after A.D. 135 had been directed towards creating a world-
view—a cosmology—which could give Judaism meaning in the absence
35
of the Temple. According to talmudic tradition the inner walls of

3 2
11QT 29:9: " ‫ ע ד יום ד ב ר י ה א ט ר א ב ר א אני א ת מ ק ד ש י‬. . . " , ‫ ״‬. . . until the day of
creation, when I will create my Temple". I n his edilio princeps Y . Yadin first adopted
the reading ‫ יום ה ב ר כ ה‬though he later conceded the possibility of reading ‫ד ב ר י ה‬
which is now universally accepted. See Yadin 1983, 2. 129, 354—5.
3 3
A t B.J. 4:324 Josephus refers to the priests who lead "the cosmic worship"
(της κοσμικής θρησκείας). For the later suppression of this cosmic Temple mythol-
ogy, as evinced by the magical text Sefer Tesira, see Hayman 1986.
3 4
For the place of these texts in the wider context of Philo's thought see Hay-
ward, 1996, 108-141.
3 5
See Smith 1978a; Schäfer 1978. See esp. Pesiq. R. 5:3 (on N u m 7:1); Pesiq.
Rab Kah. 1:4-5, 21:5; Tanhuma Peqûd'e 2 (Levenson, 1988, 170 n. 77). Cf. Pirqe R.
El. 3 (end: Friedlander pp. 17-18) as the climax of narrative of creation. A t Pesiqta
Rabbati 7:4 (cf. Gen. Rob. 3:9; Tanhuma Buber naso 24) the first day of the Tem-
pie's service (Num 7:12) is regarded as the first day of creation. For the tradition
assigned to the tanna Rabbi Pinhas ben Ya'ir see Patai 1947, 108 and see texts
cited by Ego 1989, 21 n. 15. Note also b. Ber. 55a ("Rav said: "Bezalel knew the
66 CHAPTER THREE

the Herodian Temple had been constructed so as to look like the

36
waves of the sea (b. Sukk. 51b, b. B. Bat. 4a).
A good illustration of the importance of the temple-as-microcosm
theology for a divine anthropology is provided by the fifth book of
the Sibylline Oracles. I n lines 249-51 the oracle proclaims that

the divine and heavenly race of the blessed Jews

(Ιουδαίων μακάρων θείον γένος ούράνιόν τε),
who live around the city of God in the middle of the earth,
are raised up even to the dark clouds.

Here we clearly see the influence of the omphalos mythology accord-

ing to which Zion is the navel (ομφαλός) and centre of the universe
(cf. Ezekiel 5:5; 38:12; Jul). 8:19; / Enoch 26:1). That the people are
raised to the dark clouds would seem to explain the heavenly iden-
tity of Israel. How is this achieved? Further on in Book 5 the ora-
cle says

420 And the city which God desired, this he made

more brilliant than the stars and the sun and moon,
he provided cosmos (κόσμον) and made a holy house,
exceedingly beautiful in its fair shrine and he fashioned
a great and immense tower over many stadia
425 touching even the clouds and visible to all,
so that all the faithful and righteous could see the Glory of
the eternal God, a form desired (πεποθημένον είδος),
East and West sang out the Glory of God.
This is clearly a further elaboration of the Zion mythology and tern-
37
pie cosmology. The temple, in particular, has cosmological pro-
portions stretching, in part, into the realm of heaven. The Greek in
line 422 implies that the construction of the entire cosmos and the
38
temple are somehow synonymous. The construction of the temple

letters by which heaven and earth were created"); b. Shabb. 87b; Sifra sclwmini 43
(Schafer'1978, 131-2); Midrash Tadshe ch. 2 (in Jetlinek 1967, part 2, pp. 164-7).
36
The ocean symbolism of the Temple walls appears to have influenced the
famous early mystical tradition concerning four who entered paedes (b. Hag. 14b).
Cf. David Halperin 1988, 194-210, who supplies parallel Hekhalot texts.
37
5:281-2 speaks of a "honey-sweet stream from rock and spring, and heavenly
milk" which feeds Israel. This perhaps has in mind the living waters 0( Zion tra-
dition (Zech 14; Joel 3:18; Ezek 47 etc. . . .), but it also recalls the angelic ambrosia
of Joseph and Aseneth.
38
The use of cosmos language i n this way for Greek speaking Jews was tradi-
tional. As C.T.R. Hayward has shown (Hayward 1996, 79-80, cf. Fletcher-Louis
2001 b, ad 10c) the Greek translator of Sirach had made the same connection between
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 67

has repercussions for the whole of creation which sings out the Glory
of God (line 428). Through the building of the temple God's près-
39
ence somehow becomes manifest to the whole of creation (425-427).
Given the temple-as-microcosm theology this might perhaps be because
the whole of creation is brought into God's presence through the
temple's liturgy and physical structure.
At any rate the text's view that Israel is a "divine and heavenly
race" is obviously grounded in the belief that their life is centred on
a temple which gives them rights of access to the whole of the cos-
mos, including the heaven above, the sphere of the clouds. This may
also explain the author's otherwise opaque claim that in the temple
the Glory of God, his much desired form, is visible. This sounds,
on the one hand like a response to the pagan slur on the atheism
of the Jewish faith for not having a statue or idol in its temple. On
the other hand it suggests the Glory of God is itself present, at least
in part, in God's chosen people whose divinity reflects his own. In
particular, the "form desired" may have in mind the high priest in
his garments of Glory, since in Sirach 45:12 we are also told that
Aaron's divine garments were "the desires of eyes (έπιθυμήματα
οφθαλμών)".
Another important aspect of Israel's temple mythology—the iden-
tification of the temple with the garden of Eden and its paradisal
conditions is also important for our study. I f the pre-lapsarian iden-
tity is divine or angelic and it is the temple that provides the recov-
ery of the pre-lapsarian existence then it is not the least surprising
that we find the presence of temple paradise motifs in transforma-
tional contexts.
A good example of this phenomenon is provided by Joseph and
Aseneth, a text which we have already seen derives its divine anthro-
pology from its temple and priesthood ideologies. At the centre of
this text's angelomorphic portrayal of the righteous is the scene in
which the converted and transformed Aseneth is given to eat from
a heavenly honeycomb (ch. 16). That honey is the ambrosial food
of the gods is a widespread view of antiquity. In this Jewish text this
food-of-the-gods tradition is anchored in a heavenly protology:

the completion of the temple liturgy and the completion of the cosmos (έως συν-
τελεσθί! κόσμος κυρίου) in Sirach 50:19.
3 9
Given the cosmological context, a purely anthropological interpretation of the
language in lines 425-6 ("all righteous people" etc. . . .) is injudicious.
 68 CHAPTER THREE

For this c o m b is (full o f the) spirit o f life. A n d the bees o f the par-
adise o f delight (cf. L X X G e n 3:23) have made this f r o m the dew o f
the roses o f life t h a t are i n the paradise o f G o d . A n d all the angels
o f G o d eat o f i t a n d a l l the chosen o f G o d a n d all the sons o f the
M o s t H i g h , because this is a c o m b o f life, a n d everyone w h o eats o f
1 6
it w i l l n o t die for ever (and) ever. . . . Behold, f r o m today y o u r flesh
(will) flourish like flowers o f life f r o m the g r o u n d o f the M o s t H i g h ,
and y o u r bones w i l l g r o w strong like the cedars o f the paradise o f
delight o f G o d , a n d u n t i r i n g powers w i l l embrace y o u , a n d y o u r y o u t h
w i l l n o t see o l d age, a n d y o u r beauty w i l l n o t fail ever.

As Sirach 24:13-29 and 50:8-12 show, the paradisal imagery here

40
(roses, honey, cedars) is traditional. The honeycomb in Joseph and
Aseneth has traditionally been identified with the pure, kosher food
41
consumed in the Jewish diaspora. However, in ihe light of Bohak's
Leontopolis temple interpretation of Joseph and Aseneth and his specific
elucidation"of the bees of paradise as priests the honeycomb prob-
ably stands more narrowly for the sustenance provided by the Leon-
topolis temple, which is therefore, also, regarded as a recapitulation
of Eden.

The Chief Priesthood as the Embodiment of God's Glory

Thus far we have been fairly loose in our use of terms such as
"divine", "angelomorphic" and "theological anthropology". Ultimately
a clear definition of our terms is only possible i f we are able to dis-
tinguish between degrees or kinds of "divinity" and "angelomor-
phism" which are reflected in a given text. It is one thing to be like
an angel and in that sense "divine", it is quite another to somehow
fully or uniquely embody the divine presence, in a way which would
be closer to the function of the "angel of the LORD" in O T texts.
A key criterion in distinguishing between degrees of human divinity
is whether or not the reception of worship is regarded as legitimate.
Worship of an angel is frequently judged inappropriate in Jewish
42
texts. This clearly distinguishes between the angelic order of divine
being and that of the one true God who is to be worshipped.

4
‫״‬ The overlap i n language with these passages from Sirach belies a specifically
priestly and Zadokite tradition.
41
Burchard 1965, 128-9; Collins 1983, 213-4; Chcsnutt• 1995, 128-135.
42
See Bauckham 1983 and the full survey of texts i n Stuckenbruck 1995.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 69

And yet there are texts where some kind of veneration is offered
to a transformed, angelic humanity with, it seems, the endorsement
of an apparently "orthodox" Jewish authorship. So, for example, in
Jubilees 40:7 Genesis 41:42-43 is retold so that Joseph rides Pharaoh's
chariot and the people acclaim him el, el wa abirer (Ethiopie) which
is a corruption of an original Hebrew ‫ א ל א ל ואביר א ל‬, "god, god,
43
Mighty One of God". In a similar fashion in Joseph and Aseneth,
Joseph, the Mighty One of God (3:4; 4:7; 18:lf.; 21:21), is intro-
duced to the drama riding his glorious chariot receiving the people's
prostration (5:1-7, cf. Gen 41:43). Further on, in the longer recen-
sion of Joseph and Aseneth Joseph's brothers prostrate themselves before
Joseph and his new wife (22:5), who promptly prostrates herself before
Jacob who she now regards as "a god" (22:3, 8). Finally, in both
the long and the short recension, it is Levi who receives such ven-
eration when "Pharaoh rose from his throne and prostrated himself
before Levi on the ground and blessed him" (29:6). I n part, such
prostration must reflect the recognition that as representatives of the
divine and heavenly race Jacob, Joseph and Levi, and now Aseneth,
44
are all bearers of the divine presence and must be treated as such.
In these texts the transformed humanity is angelomorphic and the
fact that veneration or worship of some kind is offered raises the
possibility that the true humanity somehow participates in the unique
45
transcendence of the one Jewish God. How can this be for good
Jewish monotheistic authors? Again, in order to get a conceptual
grasp on such material we should turn to other texts where such a
move has been made. Several of these we have discussed elsewhere,
but they are important and will be touched upon here because they
illustrate the centrality of the priesthood and are a necessary history-
46
of-religions background to several of the texts discussed below.
In a widely known haggadah best represented by chapters 1 2 1 6 ‫־‬
of the Latin Life of Adam and Eve Adam is worshipped by the angels

4 3
The Latin text has EM et Habirel.
,
' ‫ יי‬Compare also Hist. Reck. 6:3 where Zosimus falls to the ground and worships
the Blessed Ones, who are "earthly angels".
4 5
Obviously it is appropriate to speak of the divinity of Joseph and Levi i n these
texts given the language at Jub. 40:7 and the fact that in Joseph and Aseneth Jacob's
allelomorphism means, like the archangel in 17:9, he is as a god (θεός) to Aseneth
(22:3).
46
For the texts that follow see Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 120-125, 141-43, 149-153,
173-80 and Fletcher-Louis 1999.
70 CHAPTER THREE

when he is first created by God. In this text Adam is not only angelo-
morphic (cf. e.g. 4:1-2) he is, therefore, above the angels, the unique
47
bearer of God's image and the very form of God's body (27:3).
Similarly, in Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge the divine Moses receives
angelic prostration whilst seated on God's throne (68-89). In several
important texts it is the high priest who receives such worship. In
Hecataeus of Abdera's late fourth century B.C. account of the Jewish
constitution the high priest is an άγγελος of God's commands to his
48
people during the liturgy and as such the people worship him.
Similarly, in the rabbinic and Josephus version of a story, which is
otherwise attested in the Jewish recension of Pseudo-Callisthene's
Alexander Romance, Alexander the Great prostrates himself in worship
before the high priest Jaddua who heads a delegation to meet the
49
conquering Macedonian outside of Jerusalem.
Prostration in these texts is different in degree and kind to that
offered, for example, to Jacob, Joseph and Levi in Jubilees and Joseph
and Asenelh. The individuals concerned receive worship from the angels
over whom they are set, the context is frequently overtly cultic and
there is a clear impression that a unique and particular représenta-
tion or embodiment of the one Jewish God is present.
The recurrence of worship offered to the high priest is particu-
larly noteworthy. It should probably be explained, in part, by the
fact that the high priest was thought to wear God's garments. In
the ancient Near East there is an important belief that the gods wear
glorious garments and this is reflected in the cultic practice of adorn-
ing the cult statue, idol or cultic representative in gold and jewel
50
studded clothing. There are good reasons for thinking that Aaron's
garments in Exodus 28 arc intended to evoke, and subvert, this tra-
dition: in the priesdy tabernacle it is Aaron who bears God's image.
This is further reflected in the fact that within the tabernaclc-as-
microcosm schema it is Aaron who plays God's part in the drama

4 7
Tor this textual variant at Vita 2/:3 see OTP 2:268 ad 10c.
4 8
See Diodurs Siculus Bibliolheca Hulorka XL.3.5—6: "he acts as an άγγελος to
them of God's commandments. . . and the Jews are so docile i n such matters that
straightway falling to the ground they worship the high priest when he expounds
the commandments to them (πίπτοντας έπ! τήν γην προσκ‫־‬υνεΐν τούτοις έμμηνεύσοντα
άρχιερε^.)".
4 9
Josephus Ant. 11:331-335; Schulion to Megillalh Ta'anith 21 Tislev; b. Torna 69a,
Lev. Rab. 13:5; Pesiq. Rab. 14:15 and Pseudo-Callisthenes 2:24 (γ—recension).
5 0
See Oppenheim 1949.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 71

of creation. As PJ. Kearney has seen, it is Aaron who tends the

temple menorah in the evening and morning (Exod 27:20-21; 30:7-8)
just as God creates light to mark the evening and morning as the
51
first act of creation in Genesis 1:3-5. Even the rabbis remembered
the tradition that the high priest's garments are those of God him-
self {Exod. Rab. 38:8).
I f the high priest somehow embodies or represents the creator
God within the cosmological drama of the cult, how does that explain
the worship he receives? Is this not an infringement of monotheism?
A thorough answer to this question would take us far beyond the
confines of the present study. However, the most likely explanation
for such a phenomenon is to be found in the Israelite criticism of
idolatry and the biblical image-of-God-in-man theology. A number
of scholars have recently suggested that the logic at the heart of the
Israelite criticism of idolatry is the belief that only (true) humanity
bears God's physical image within creation: other aspects of creation,
52
or objects which humanity itself makes, do not. When, in Genesis
1:26 man is made in God's image and likeness, terminology other-
wise reserved for statues and idols is provocatively used in a highly
liturgical context which has otherwise been overtly anti-polytheistic.
The priestly author of Genesis seems to be saying that only human-
ity is truly God's idol. Just how significant a theology this was for
biblical monotheism, its place in Israel's liturgical life and its influ-
ence on the post-biblical period remains to be seen, though early
indications suggest that such a strong image of God theology was
53
widespread.
There are a couple of passages which are particularly significant
examples of the worship of a divine humanity which deserve our
close attention, because they set the scene for our examination of
the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice which climaxes with the praise of the
divine priesthood embodying God's Glory.

51
Kearney 1977, 375. This instruction is part of the first of God's seven speeches
to Moses (Exod 25:1-30:10) corresponding to the first of the seven days of creation.
5 2
Zenger 1983, 87-88; Smith 1988; Niehr 1997, 93-94; Watson 1997a, 289;
Kutsko 2000.
5 3
John Kutsko (Kutsko 2000) has shown the centrality of this ideology within
the priestly tradition as represented both by Ρ and Ezekiel. For a preliminary explo-
ration of its significance for post-biblical material and the worship of Jesus see
Fletcher-Louis 1999.
72 CHAPTER THREE

Sirach 50 and die Praise of die High Priest as the One Jewish God

Perhaps the most remarkable and sophisticated statement of a devel-

oped theological anthropology is provided by the hymn to Simon
the high priest in Sirach 50. Until very recently Sirach scholarship
tended to focus its attention on the great hymn to Wisdom in chap-
ter 24. However, more recently, the strongly priestly character of
the collection and the climactic position of chapter 50 has come into
54
focus.

(a) The High Priest as the Embodiment of God's Glory

The hymn in praise of Simon is the climax of a hymn, begun in
44:1, praising Israel's patriarchs for their glory. The portrayal of
Moses as a glorious, angelomorphic figure in 45:1—5, which we have
already discussed, is part of that hymn. Throughout, the glory theme
figures prominently and there is little doubt that Israel's righteous
embody something of God's own Glory (44:1-2, 19; 45:2; 45:7; 45:23;
55
46:2; 47:6; 48:4). This theme comes to a climax with the praise of
Simon, the high priest who, of course, sums up the identity of his
people: he wears the garment(s) of glory (στολήν δόξης, ‫בגדי כ ב ו ד‬
50:11). The glory is specifically that which would become a "hypo-
static" anthropomorphic manifestation of God himself in the apoc-
alyptic and mystical tradition (for example, already 1 Enoch 14:20
where God is "the Great Glory"): in v. 7b the author of this hymn
boldly identifies Simon with the Glory of Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel
56
l:26-28. Simon is

like the rainbow which appears in the cloud (50:7b)

(Geniza mss B) ‫כ ק ש ח נ ר א ח ה ב ע ן‬

(cf. L X X ώς τόζον φωτίζον έν νεφέλαις δόζης).

54
For Sirach's priestly orientation see Perdue 1977, 188-211; Stadclmann 1980.
For the centrality of chapter 50, its cosmology and divine anthropology see Hav-
ward 1991; Hayward 1992; Hayward 1996, 38-84.
5 5
Marböck 1971, 148 and Mack 1985, 5. Lee's attempt to deny the thcologi-
cal nature of the Glory theme in the whole of 42:15-50:24 (Lee 1986, 5) is uncoil-
vincing. See further Aitken 1999, 12-20 for a careful analysis of the anthropological
and the theological poles of the "glory" dialectic in Sirach.
56
Smend 1906, 482 who notes also the similar language at the end of the later
Musaph prayer for the Day of Atonement liturgy•; Charles APOT 508 n. ad toe.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 73

This is an explicit reference to the "likeness of the Glory of the

LORD" in Ezekiel 1:28, who is also

Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day

M T ‫כמראה הקשת אשר יהיה כענן ביום הנשם‬
LXX ώς δ ρ α σ ι ς τόξου'όταν‫ ן ן‬έν τη ν ε φ έ λ η έν ή μ ε ρ α ϋετοΰ 37

So, in his official capacity, and as high priest during the liturgy,
Simon embodies the Glory of God. Throughout our discussion thus
far we have seen the rhetoric of divine Glory attached to the (high)
priestly office. In the investiture scene in 2 Enoch 22 Enoch not only
becomes angelomorphic, "like one of his glorious ones", he is also
511
given to wear "the clothes of my [God's] Glory" (22:8). The lan-
guage is identical to that of Sirach 50:11 and in the context betrays
narrowly priesdy interests, as we have seen.
Ultimately, the language goes back to Exodus 28:2 where Aaron's
59
garments are designed for "glory and for beauty". The Hebrew
author of Ben Sira 50 reveals a conscious interpretation of that
60
verse. 50:1-1 1 can be subdivided into two stanzas: the first (w.
1-4) details Simon's civil responsibilities—restoration of the temple
structures, provision for the city's water supplies and fortification,
whilst verses 5-11 portray him as the glory and fecundity of nature
at his service in the temple liturgy. The first stanza is headed by
the statement that Simon is the "beauty (or "pride") of his people
(‫( ")תפארת עמו‬v. 1), which to an extent is explicated in terms of his
action on their behalf in w . 2—4. The second stanza, on the other
hand, begins and ends with the theme of glory (w. 5, 11) and this
time it is God in the power of the heavenly bodies and the luxuri-
ant splendour of the natural world which Simon represents.

(b) Tlu High Priest as Wisdom Incarnate: Sirach 24 and 50

The way in which the high priest embodies God's Glory is related
to two other features of Sirach 50: the high priest's embodiment of
divine Wisdom and his recapitulation of creation as it is described

7
‫ י‬This intertextuality is anticipated in the previous chapter by specific reference
(o Ezekicl's vision of the Glory (ορασιν δόξης) in 49:8.
511
This is the reading of the J recension. The Λ recension lacks "my".
m
Cf. Aitkcn 1999, 6.
1,0
See also Sirach 45:8 in the Hebrew "He clothed him [Aaron] with the per-
feet beauty ( ‫ ) כ ל י ל ת פ א ר ת‬and beautified him (‫ )ויפארהו‬with Glory (‫ )בכבוד‬and
strength . . .".
74 CHAPTER THREE

in Genesis 1 and Sirach 50. C.T.R. Hayward has carefully demon-

strated the way in which the comparison of Simon with the beauty
of the natural world in fertility and full bloom in 50:8—12 is com-
posed with a deliberate parallelism to the description of Wisdom in
61
chapter 24:
Sirach 24: Wisdom Sirach 50: Simon

Tabernacle image v. 8 - 1 1
v. 10 " I n the holy tent I m i n i s t e r e d S i m o n comes o u t o f the sanctuary
before h i m " v. 5
v. 12 " I took r o o t i n an h o n o u r e d v. 8c "as a green shoot"
people"
v. 13a " I grew tall as a cedar in v. 12c "as a y o u n g cedar on L:ba!10!1"
Lebanon"
v. 13b "as a cypress on the heights v. 10b "as a cypress"
of H e r m o n " .
v. 14 "as rosebushes i n J e r i c h o " v. 8a "as roses is the days o f first
fruits
v. 14 "as a fair olive tree i n the f i e l d " v. 10a "as an olive tree laden w i t h
fruit"
v. 14 "as a plane tree beside water" v. 8b "as lilies beside a spring of water"
v. 15 "as g a l b a n u m , o n y c h a , a n d v. 9 "as fire a n d incense i n the
stacte, a n d as the o d o u r o f incense censer"
i n the tent"

The high priest at service actualises the presence of Wisdom and so

62
the praise he receives is that bestowed upon her.

(c) Sirach 24 and 50 and the Priestly Tlteology of Creation and Temple
W'hilst the identification of Simon with Wisdom reinforces our ap-
prédation of his identification with God's Glory, both these aspects of
Sirach 50 are more fundamentally grounded in the templc-as-microcosm theo
and the belief that within the liturgy of the cult lite high priest plays the role
of creator within the universe.
Again, Hayward has pointed to the way in which chapter 50 seems
to recapitulate and bring creation to completion. This is implicit in
the Edenic imagery of chapter 24: i f Wisdom is a fountain of Edenic
life in Jerusalem and her sanctuary (24:13 ‫־‬31) then, by the same
token, the human actors within the Israelite cult, who possess and

61
Hay-ward 1991, 23-24, cf. idem, Hayward 1992, 127.
62
For the identification between Wisdom and high priestly garb see also 6:29-31
and the discussion i n Stadelmann 1980, 5 0 - 5 1 .
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 75

63
live according to wisdom, are recreating Eden's fecundity. The
priesthood's role as cosmogonie agent is most openly expressed in
the grandson's Greek translation of Sirach's original work. I n 50:19
the sacrificial offering is brought to its close with the people pray-
ing for mercy

Until the order of the LORD was completed (εως συντέλεση κόσμος
κυρίου), and they had perfectly completed His service.

In the Greek, the word used for the liturgical order of the sacrifice
(κόσμος) is that which also refers to the universe as whole. This
implies that the offering is related to "the stability and order of the
universe, the sacrifice in the Temple serving to establish to perfec-
6
lion God's order for the world."‫ י‬As Hayward points out, the Greek
translator and his early readers would have heard here a clear allu-
sion to the Greek version of the Priestly creation account which ends
in Genesis 2:2 with the words:
And the heavens and the earth were completed (συνετελέσθησαν), and
63
all their order/cosmos (κόσμος).
Given that the high priest embodies Wisdom who is Herself deter-
minative of the ordering of the works of God's creation (24:3-6, cf.
42:21 "The great works of His Wisdom he set in order (έκόσμησε)",
cf. 16:27), Hayward concludes that

It is highly likely therefore that the high priest's completion of the

order, kosinos, of the daily sacrifice, referred to in 50:19, belongs to the
same sort of continuum as God's ordering of the works of creation.

That is to say, that here the high priest not only embodies Wisdom,
he also acts as co-creator in as much as the temple service is itself
symmetrical with God's (original) creative action. Closer examina-
tion of Sirach 24 and 50 reveals that what Hayward has begun to
see is in fact a complex literary intratextuality between Sirach 24
and 50, on the one hand and Genesis 1 and Exodus 25-31, on the
other, which expresses a sustained reflection on creation and cult in

63
Edenic themes are reflected in the following features of Sirach 24:13-31: (1)
fecundity of nature suggestive of the trees of life ( w . 13—17), (2) freedom from
shame and the curse upon labour (v. 22), (3) the rivers of Eden ( w . 25-27), (4)
comparison to the "first man" (v. 28) who (5) was supposed to be Eden's gardener
(w. 3 0 - 3 1 , cf. Gen 2:15).
64
Hayward 1996, 79.
65
Hayward 1996, 79.
 76 CHAPTER THREE

66
which the high priest incarnates Wisdom and her cosmogonie action.
A pre-requisite for a full appreciation of the complex literary and
theological intention of these chapters is a knowledge of the Priestly
author's intratextuality in his account of creation in Genesis 1 and
God's instructions to Moses for the building of the tabernacle in
Exodus 25-31, 35-40 which we have already touched upon. The
correspondences between the seven days of creation and the seven
speeches to Moses concerning the building of the Tabernacle which
Sirach would have know can be laid out, in brief, as follows:

Création (Genesis 1:1-2:2) Tabernacle (Exodus 25—31)

Day 1 Speech 1 ( E x o d 25:1-30:10)
heavens and the earth tabernacle structure ( = heavens and
creation o f light: evening a n d earth) tending o f m c n o r a h , l a m i d
morning sacrifice a n d incense offering (evening
and morning) (27:20-21; 30:1-9)

Day 2 Speech 2 ( E x o d 30:11-16)

separation o f upper a n d lower (census and h a l f shekel)
waters
Day 3 Speech 3 ( E x o d 30:17-21)
separation o f d r y l a n d a n d sea bronze laver (the "sea")
(1:9-10)
vegetation (1:11-12)
Speech 4 ( E x o d 30:22-33)
Day 4
sun, m o o n and stars sacred a n o i n t i n g o i l : m y r r h , calamus,
c i n n a m o n , cassia a n o i n t i n g o f cultic
appurtenances a n d priests

Day 5 Speech 5 ( E x o d 3 0 : 3 4 - 3 8 )
l i v i n g creatures i n the upper a n d sacred incense: stacte, onycha,
lower realms g a l b a n u m , frankincense.

Day 6 Speech 6 ( E x o d 31:1-11)

l a n d creatures and h u m a n k i n d Bezalcl filled w i t h God's spirit.
(God's Image)
Day 7 Speech 7 ( E x o d 31:12-17)
Sabbath Sabbath.

Hartmut Gese has briefly suggested that Sirach 24:3-6 follows the
order of the first three days of creation as described in Genesis 1:
the pre-creation chaos over which hovers God's primeval spirit (Gen-
esis 1:2, cf. Sirach 24:3); the creation of the "intellectual light" (Gen-

What follows is a summary of the fuller discussion in Fletcher-Louis 2001b.

 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 77

esis 1:3-5, cf. Sirach 24:4); the "delimiting of the cosmos by the
firmament and the abyss" (Genesis 1:6-8, cf. Sirach 24:5) and the
67
ordering of land and sea (Genesis 1:9-10, cf. Sirach 24:6). Though
his comments have largely gone ignored they can be developed con-
siderably and, indeed, Sirach 24:3—22 as a whole emerges as a com-
plex reflection upon Genesis 1 and Exodus 25-31.
Commentators universally recognize that in Sirach 24:3 there is
an allusion to the creation by the word of God in Gen 1:3 (cf. 1:6,
11, 14, etc.) and the spirit moving over the primeval waters in Gen
68
1:2. In 24:4b Wisdom dwells in a pillar of cloud, which means she
is identified with the cloud of fire which lights up the people's way
in the wilderness (Exod 13:21-22, etc.). Not only does this cloud
provide light, its changing appearance demarcates the boundary
between clay and night (Exod 13:21-22; 40:38; Num 14:14; Dcut
1:33; Neh 9:12, 16, 19; Isa 4:5) in a way parallel to the appearance
of light on the first day of creation according to Genesis. As Gese
noted, in the next verse Wisdom is located in the "vault of heaven"
and the "depths of the abyss", the two upper and lower extremities
r
created on day 2 according to Genesis 1:6-8. In Sirach 24:6a W is-
dorn rules "over the waves of the sea, over all the earth". I n the bib-
lical mindset such ruling connotes demarcation of spheres of existence,
which is precisely God's puipose in gathering together the waters to
create the sea and dry land on the fourth day of creation (Gen
69
1:9‫־‬10).
The second act of creation on the third day—the creation of "veg-
etation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind
bearing fruit with seed in it"—is the inspiration for the vegetative
symbolism in Sirach 24:12-17. However, before the author of the
hymn comes to that fourth act of creation he signals that he is read-
ing Genesis with an eye to Israel's cult, that is, to Exodus 25-40.
In 24:7 11 Wisdom searches for a place of rest. She searches for
what God achieved on the seventh day of creation and she finds it

67
Gcse 1981a, 196. Cf. Gese 1981b, 23-57 (32-3).
ffl
Sec, in particular, Sheppard 1980, 22-27.
ω
The creation of earth and sea is glossed with Wisdom's rule over "every peo-
pie and nation". This is entirely appropriate given that the Chaoskampf, which lies
behind Genesis 1:9-10 (cf. Psalm 104:7-9; Jcr 5:22;Job 38:8 and Day 1985, 49-61),
is regularly bound up with God's rule not just over creation but history and human
communities (see, e.g., Isa 17:12-14; 30:7; 51:9-11; Hab 3:8-10, 15; Jer 51:34; Ps
87:4; Ezek 29:3-5; 32:2-8; Dan 7:2-14 and Day 1985, 88-139, 151-178).
78 CHAPTER THREE

in Israel and the nation's two sanctuaries—one in the wilderness and

one in Zion. Half way through the sequence of creation the author
flags up that he is about to switch to the Israelite cult as the sphere
of God's creation which will ultimately give it completion and Wis-
dorn her rest.
And so, in what follows, we are not told directly of the creation
of sun, moon, stars and the living creatures of the fourth through
sixth days. Instead, because our author knows very well the intra-
textuality between Genesis 1 and Exodus 25-31, he gives us in verse
15 those elements in the tabernacle order which correspond to the
fourth and fifth days of creation: first he compares Wisdom's growth
to the cinnamon, choice myrrh and fragrance of Israel's sacred incense
(Sirach 24:15a—b par. Exod 30:23: the fourth speech to Moses), and
then to galbanum, onycha, stactc and frankincense of the sacred oil
(Sirach 24:15c‫־‬d par. Exod 30:34: the fifth speech to Moses). Finally,
the hymn climaxes with an invitation to Wisdom's banquet (24:19-22),
which is reminiscent of God's abundant provision of food for human-
ity in Genesis 1:28-30. The final verse looks forward to the Edenic
existence of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2-3 (which is developed in
the rest of chapter 24). I n 24:22 Wisdom proclaims:

Whoever obeys me will not be put to shame,

and those who work in me will not sin.

In a chapter so redolent with themes from Genesis 1-3 this must

be an allusion to the curse on Adam and Eve's labour on their exit
from the garden (Gen 3:19) and the first couple's freedom from
shame before their temptation and fall (Gen 2:25).'° The hymn clearly
has at its zenith the pre-lapsarian Adam and Eve, though it is not
until Sirach 50 that the image of God of Genesis 1 is given full
expression.
Clearly, then, Sirach has a detailed knowledge of the priestly
account of creation and Tabernacle building and their cosmological
interpénétration. On that basis Wisdom is co-creator with God: her
Curriculum Vitae is that of the creator God Himself as prescribed by
Genesis 1 and the recapitulation of creation in Exodus 25-31. I n
Sirach 50 Wisdom has entered human history in high priestly guise
and her creative activity in accordance with Genesis 1 and Exodus

70
So righdy Barker 1992, 58.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 79

25-31 is recapitulated in the euergetism and cultic ministration of

Simon son of Onias. I n 50:1 Simon is responsible for repairing and
fortifying God's house: a general statement which signals his care
for the cosmos as a whole as it is ritually actualised in the temple-
as-microcosm. In verse 2 (Gk) he lays "foundations for the high dou-
ble walls, the high retaining walls for the temple enclosure". The
attention to foundations and high walls readily corresponds to the
"vault of heaven and . . . depths of the abyss" of 24:3 on the one
hand and, on the other, the dome which separates the upper from
the lower waters in Genesis 1:6-8. Next we are told that Simon digs
"a water cistern . . . a reservoir like the sea in circumference" (50:3),
which obviously recalls the three passages Sirach 24:6a, Genesis
1:9-10 and Exodus 30:17-21. (Sirach could not have Simon mak-
ing the bronze laver because there was already one of those. But,
in any case, it is the symbolism of Simon's actions that concerns our
author.)
Next Simon "considered how to save his people from ruin, and
fortified the city against siege" (50:4). The verse is an historical ref-
erence to Simon's astute political manoeuvres during the Seleucid-
Ptolemaic conflict at the turn of the second century and the
architectural improvements to the Temple complex after the triumph
71
of Antiochus I I I , who Simon had supported against the Ptolemies.
But it also corresponds to 24:6a where Wisdom "held sway over
every people and nation".
These four verses all deal not with Simon the minister within the
cult, but Simon the leader on the political and religious stage. Verse
5 signals a change in perspective and what follows concerns his
priestly activity within the sanctuary. I n his exit from the "house of
the curtain" in verses 6—7 Sirach's hero advances creation to its
fourth day: he is "like the morning star . . . the full moon . . . (and)
the sun". In his discussion of the intratextuality between creation
and Tabernacle Moshe Weinfeld has noted how important this verse
is for seeing the priesthood, who are the focus of the fourth speech
to Moses in Exodus 30:30, as symbols of the heavenly bodies within
72
the temple-as-microcosm mindset. In verses 8-12, as we have seen,
Simon actualises the fecundity of Wisdom already described i n
24:11-17. There is no specific mention of the anointing oil, which

71
See Josephus Antiquities 12:129-144.
72
"Sabbath", p. 507.
80 CHAPTER THREE

corresponded in chapter 24 to the fourth day of creation, since we

have now had explicit reference to the sun, moon and stars. How-
ever, the reference to the sacred incense of the fifth speech to Moses
(Exod 30:34-38) is retained (50:9), thereby demonstrating that Simon's
recapitulation of creation includes the fifth day.
In 50:11-13 Simon dons the garments of Glory: he is now the
image of God that God had created on the sixth day. According to
the Hebrew these are the garments of beauty (‫ )תפארת‬befitting one
who recapitulates the original beauty of Adam (49:16 Heb). On the
sixth day of creation God gives to Adam dominion over every liv-
ing thing, which in Genesis 9:1-5 will include his right to eat of
clean animals. In Sirach 50:12-13 Simon stands with the power of
life and death over the animal kingdom at the LORD'S own table,
the altar, his fellow priests symbolizing the crown befitting the divine
kingship ofthe true Adam (v. 12bc).
In Sirach 50:14-21 the picture of Simon at service continues with
the claim that here there is the completion of creation and the rest
of the seventh day of Genesis 2:1—3. Sirach 50:14 and 19 contain
two parallel statements (v. 14 "Until he finished (‫ת‬1‫עד כל‬1) minis-
tering at the altar . . . to adorn (κοσμήσαι) the offering of the Most
High", v. 19 "until he finished (‫ )עד כלוחו‬ministering at the altar
(Heb)/until the cosmos of the LORD was completed (εως συντελεσθη
κόσμος κυρίου, Gk), which picks up precisely the language of Gene-
sis 2:1-2 where God's completion of the cosmos (ό κόσμος) is finished
(‫כלה‬, συντελέω). In Genesis 2:3 God blesses the seventh day and so
3
too in Sirach 50:20 Simon utters the "blessing of the L O R D " . ' All
this is the banquet to which Wisdom had invited her readers in
chapter 24, "the memorial that is sweeter than honey (τό . . . μνημόσυνόν
μου υπέρ τό μέλι γλυκύ, 24:20), which is celebrated by singers praising
"in a sweetened melody (έγλυκάνθη μέλος)" (50:18b). Here there is
a true sabbatical rest because those who work in Wisdom do so with-
out the toil and hardship of those outside the garden: the work of
the divine service is like that of God himself; "a working with absolute
ease,' without toil and without suffering" (Philo On the Cherubim 87).
Throughout this description of Simon's officiation he has acted as
74
God's image. He is identified with God's Kavod (v. 7b) and his

‫ יי‬A l l this presupposes the well-known parallels between Genesis 2:1-3 and Exo-
dus 39:32, 43; 40:33.
; ί
See Hayward 1996, 44-46; Aitken 1999, 7-10 for Simon as the new Adam.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 81

activity on both the wider political and more narrowly cultic stage
is an actualisation of both that of God himself in creation and Wis-
dorn, God's co-creator. The identification of the High Priest with
Wisdom and the visible image of God makes sense within the text's
understanding of the liturgical drama: the High Priest plays the lead
role in the re-enactment of creation which is the cult's defining dra-
matic performance.

(d) 77z« High Priest eis Divine Warrior Emerging from the Heavenly Sanctuary
Now that the significance of the temple-as-microcosm theology for
the theological anthropology of Sirach 50 has been established we
are in a position to move to consider one last defining feature of
Sirach's theology of priesthood. In trying to understand how it is
that Sirach can pen a hymn in praise of Simon, Margaret Barker
has recently pointed out that the glorious appearance of Simon on
his exit from the sanctuary in 50:5-7 would have been understood
on analogy with the appearance of the divine warrior from his heav-
?s
enly habitation. Thus, Sirach 50:5-7 should be read in the light
of texts such as Isaiah 26:21: "the LORD is coming forth out of his
place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity . . ."
and Micah 1:3 "the LORD is coming forth from his place and will
come down and tread upon the high places . . .". She notes the same
conceptual framework guides the eschatological scenario of Testament
of Moses 10. There the parousia that brings the final revelation of
God's kingdom to Israel begins when, on the one hand the angelic
priest who will meet out God's vengeance is ordained in the heav-
enly sanctuary (10:2), and on the other "the Heavenly One will arise
from his kingly throne" and "will go forth from his holy habitation
with indignation and wrath on behalf of his sons".
It might be objected that there is no explicit indication in Sirach
50 that the high priest's glory entails his acting as a punitive divine
warrior. However, Barker's suggestion is supported by the descrip-
tion of Aaron earlier in the hymn in praise of the fathers. The
76
Hebrew of Sirach 45:6-8 reads as follows:

75
Barker 1999, 101-102.
'‫ יי‬The Greek of verses 7-8 differs considerably. For a discussion of textual mat-
ters see Wright 1989, 171-3 and Hayward 1996, 65-6.
82 CHAPTER THREE

45:6
He exalted (DTI) Aaron,
a holy man like Moses who was his brother, of the tribe of Levi.
‫ ׳‬He set him for an everlasting; statute and he gave to him majesty
(‫)הוד‬
and he (Aaron) ministered to him in his (God's) Glory (‫)וישרתהו בכבודו‬
and He girded him with the horns of a wild ox (‫)ויאזרהו בתועפות ראם‬
and clothed him with bells (‫)וילבישהו פעמונים‬
8
He clothed him with the perfect beauty (‫)כליל תפארה‬
and beautified him (‫ )ויפארהו‬with Glory and strength (‫)וכבוד ועוז‬, the
breeches, tunic and mantle,

Here the glory theme, which dominates chapters 42-50, is applied

7
to Aaron who serves God in his Glory ( .(‫ 'בכבודו‬Once, again, Sirach
is indebted to Exodus 28:2, 40 where the sacred garments are to
be made for Aaron "for glory and beauty (‫")לכבוד ולתפארת‬.
In the next phrase Sirach says that God girded Aaron with the
horns of a wild ox (‫)ויאזרהו בחועפות ראם‬. The expression ‫תועפות ר א ם‬
occurs in Numbers 23:22 and 24:8 where it describes the god who
brought Israel out of Egypt:
2
"' The L O R D their God is with him (Jacob),
acclaimed as a king among him.
22
God (or "a god", ‫)אל‬, who brings them out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox (‫ )כתועפת ראם‬for him.
24:5
how fair are your tents, Ο Jacob, your encampments, Ο Israel!
6
Like palm-groves that stretch far away,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes that the L O R D has planted,
like cedar trees beside the waters.
7
Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall have abundant
water,
his king shall be exalted (‫ )וירם‬higher than Agag, and his kingdom
shall be exalted.
8
God (or "a god", ‫ )אל‬who brings him out of Egypt,
is like the horns of a wild ox (‫ )כתועפח ראם‬for him;
he shall devour the nations that are his foes and break their bones.
He shall strike with his arrows.
Whatever the Hebrew author of this expression in Sirach understood
by the language, the obvious allusion to these verses in Numbers is

11
Given the anthropology of divine Glory which follows in chapter 50, Saul M .
Olyan's decision to translate ‫ ב כ ב ו ד ו‬as "at (the place of) his glory" (Olyan 1987,
269) is unwarranted.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 83

remarkable because it gives to Aaron the role of the divine warrior

78
leading his people in the wilderness.
Much discussion of this phrase has focused on its textual uncer-
tainty. The margin of ms Β reads ‫ תואר‬for ‫ ר א ם‬and because the
Greek omits any reference to this wild ox image many have assumed
that the reference to Numbers is a later addition to the original
79
text. However, Benjamin G. Wright and C.T.R. Hayward have
80
now made a case for its authenticity. Wright argues that it should
be allowed to stand since it is the lectio difficilior, it is supported by
the Syriac and both the margin of Β and the Greek can be explained
as attempts to make sense of a difficult and striking expression. To
this Hayward adds the argument that the description of Aaron as a
wild ox is indebted to Psalm 92:10 "But you have exalted my horn
like that of the wild ox (‫ ;)ותרם כראים קרני‬you have poured over me
1
fresh oil"." The verses of this psalm which follow (w. 12-13) have
probably influenced the use of vegetative symbolism for the priest-
hood in Sirach 50:8-10, 12, and according to the mishnah (m. Tamid
7:4) the psalm was sung by the Lévites during the Sabbath Tamid.
It is possible, therefore, that the language of anointing and the exal-
talion of the horns of a wild ox have encouraged the application of the
same language for the founding father of the priesthood, Aaron.
Since, as 50:8-10, 12 shows, the priesdy Sirach is himself interested
in Psalm 92 and he may have known of its liturgical use in his own
day the language of the horns of the wild ox in 45:7 is more likely
to be his own that that of a later scribe.
At any rate, if original, the Hebrew of Sirach 45:7 supports Barker's
assumption that a Jewish reader of Sirach 50:5-7 would imagine not
just the high priest in the temple, but also God himself emerging
from heaven as the divine warrior to serve his people. The way in
which the high priest embodies the divine warrior here should not
surprise us. I n the pre-exilic period the king probably played this
role within the cultic drama (see esp. Psalm 89:10, 26 [Eng. w . 9,
25]), and the transfer of this theology to the high priest is attested
82
across a wide spread of later Second Temple texts.

7 8
For God girded (‫ )אזר‬with might see Ps 65:7 and with strength (‫ )עז‬see Ps 93:1.
7 9
See the review in Wright 1989, 172.
8 0
Wright 1989, 172-3; Hayward 1996, 65-6.
81
1996, 66-67.
8 2
See further Fletcher-Louis 2001b for Simon as divine warrior in Sirach 50:2b
84 CHAPTER THREE

(e) Sirach's Tlieological Anthropology and the Dead Sea Scrolh

In many respects Sirach is vital for a proper understanding of the
theological anthropology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the first instance,
it is significant because it has both the weaker angelomorphic human-
ity of Moses (45:1-5) and a much stronger, more developed belief
that the community's sacral figurehead is an incarnation of God's
Glory, his Wisdom, and that within his cultic office, he plays the
role of the creator God.
As we shall see the theological anthropology of Sirach 50 is of
considerable importance in appreciating the puipose and meaning
of liturgical texts from Qumran. In the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
we will also find an unmistakable identification of the community's
priesthood with God's Glory. The way ‫ו‬11 which the high priest
plays the role of the divine warrior will also be crucial for a proper
understanding of passages in the Hodayot which we will examine in
chapter 7 and for the War Scroll to which we will turn in our final
chapter.
A continuity of theological, anthropological and liturgical outlook
between Sirach and the Dead Sea Scrolls should not surprise us.
The texts from the caves above Khirbet Qumran obviously belonged
to a very priesdy community with Zadokitc affinities. To date, the
most plausible explanation for the existence of the Qumran com-
munity is the breakaway from the Jerusalemite priesthood of a group
of ultra-orthodox, solar calendar focused priests who took with them
a significant section of the laity. These priests also took with them
the (Zadokite) traditions and theology of the pre-Maccabean temple,
as represented by Sirach.

Conclusion

Whilst the linguistic and theological freedom in the exploration of

divine anthropology has created a plethora of terms, images and
motifs, it is worth noting some notable features of the language which
tend to be used. Though, no doubt, it will disturb some readers, the

[Heb.] and Fletcher-Louis 1997a for an argument that the Baal-like one like a son
of man in Daniel 7:13 is the high priest with supporting evidence there for the
high priest as divine warrior. Note also the way the high priest bears the image of
the divine warrior in Josephus Ant. 11:331-336.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 85

regularity with which human beings are given angelic features or are
even identified as "angels" or (angelic) "holy ones" is not as star-
ding as it might be. The biblical development of a distinctively
Israelite angelology is, at its heart, a way of affirming the transcen-
dent, spiritual dimensions to creation without giving them indepen-
dent existence as gods to rival the one God, Yahweh. Whereas pagan
polytheism believed in many gods jostiing for position in a hierar-
chy of being, for Israel the absolute transcendence of the one God
left the many gods of older Canaanite religion to be re-employed as
angels. So, also, by the same token, to say a human being is an
angel or angelic, would not for a Jew in anyway threaten their dearly
held belief in monotheism. Nor need it abrogate any putative bound-
ary between creatine and creator since the angels also are created
beings, however much (hey are bearers of the divine presence.
More startling arc those statements to the effect that the trans-
formed humanity are "gods". This is a more persistent and wide-
spread feature of the texts than would permit us to conclude such
language is merely an accommodation to Hellenism in which some
Jews on the periphery of "orthodoxy" indulged. Already in the bib-
lical texts Moses is "as God (‫אלהים‬, θεός) to Pharaoh" (Exod 7:1)
and the king is hailed as (a) god in Psalm 45:6 (cf. Zech 12:8). Exo-
dus is probably behind Sirach's ascription of the ‫ אלהים‬status to
Moses in Sirach 45:2. I n Jubilees Joseph is acclaimed "god, god,
mighty one of God" and in Joseph and Aseneth Jacob is "a god (θεός)"
to Aseneth.
The existence of god language for humanity within Jewish texts
is more remarkable than angel language because of the way in which
in the Second Temple period angelology replaced the polytheism of
the pre-exilic period. However, just as many biblical and post bib-
lical texts continued to speak of many "gods" (elim, elohim, theoi) with
the understanding that these were "angelic" beings on a distinctly
lower level of reality than God himself, so it seems there remained
the freedom to speak of human as "divine" in similar terms and in
certain circumstances. In texts such as those gathered around Moses
and Exodus 7:1 there is stressed the fact that Moses' "divinity" is
not independent of that of God himself but is stricdy bestowed by
83
the creator of all. This may offend traditional Jewish and Christian

m
The accusation levelled against Jesus is that he claims to make himself G / g o d
86 CHAPTER THREE

views of divinity as a stricdy independent, uncreated reality, but it

should be remembered that in the ancient world the begetting and
creating of gods (theogony) was a much more acceptable notion then
titan it is now.
The presence of "god" language for humanity in texts as far apart
as Sirach, Jubilees, Philo and the rabbis testifies to the degree to
which such language was widely spread and accepted in late Sec-
ond Temple Judaism. Yet it is noteworthy that several of the clear-
est examples of this phenomenon come from strongly priestly oriented
texts of the second century B.C. Jubilees is, of course, thoroughly
priestly in its orientation, even i f idiosyncratic in its allegiance to a
solar calendar. Sirach is now reckoned to be a priesdy work. Although,
it is not clear that its author was himself a priest, its climactic move-
ment through the second half of the book towards the spectacular
5
vision of the Zadokite priest Simon serving in the sanctuary and
numerous other details testify to the author's distinctive fusion of
Wisdom and Cult. Again, Joseph and Aseneth should probably now be
situated in a specifically priestly life setting; that of the heterodox,
Zadokite temple community in Leontopolis. All three of these texts
are, to varying degrees, close to the Qumran community. Sirach and
Jubilees were known i f not cherished at Qumran and the Oniad Joseph
and Aseneth is the work of close relatives to those Jews who withdraw,
84
not to Nile delta, but to the shores of the Dead Sea.
Whilst there is this freedom to speak of humanity in angelic and
divine terms, it is also noteworthy that references to humanity as
"spirits" or beings who are utterly removed from corporeal reality are
8 1
distinctly absent from the extant texts. •' The one well-known excep-
tion that proves the rule that humans are not, or do not become,
"spirits" during their earthly life is the Prayer of Joseph where Jacob-

(John 10:33). Presumably, in principle, the same Jews who accused Jesus' follow-
ers of arrogating to Jesus divinity, would have been happy to acknowledge that one
such as Moses had actually been created, or had been given, by God a glorious
and divine identity. (See Acts 6:11 where Stephen is brought to trial under the
charge of "blasphemy against Moses and God").
8 4
For later examples of god language used of the righteous see, e.g., the use of
Psalm 82:6-7 of the generation at Sinai by the rabbis (Leo. Rab. 4:1; Exod. Rab.
32:1 etc. . . . see Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 170, and cf. John 10:34) and T. Adam 3:2, 4.
8
‫י‬ The evidence adduced by Horbury (Horbury 1998) for a "spirit-messianism",
similar to an angelic messianic expectation, is much later than the formative period
of the Qumran community (he relies on the Prayer of Joseph and other second cen-
tury A . D . Church Fathers) and I do not think the significance of this data should
be exaggerated.
 THE ANGELOMORPHIC PRIESTHOOD 87

86
Israel is, amongst much else, a "ruling spirit". But this text is tem-
porally some distance from the Qumran community. The absence
of other texts which speak in similar terms has several good reasons.
First, there is no precedent in scripture for such terminology used
8
of ordinär)' mortals. ' And secondly, unlike the words "angel" and
"god", the word "spirit" necessarily connotes a reality distinct from
88
the created, physical and empirical world of human existence. As
we shall discover, the priesdy tradition as represented by the Dead
Sea Scrolls kept a clear distinction between humans as angels or
gods, on the one hand, and "spirits" proper, on the other, although
they were keen to express their belief that true humanity was "spir-
itual" rather than "fleshly".
With this, rather lengthy, discussion of Jewish divine and angelo-
morphic theology in the wider formative context of Essenism we are
now in a position to turn to the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. As we
do so we find the literary and conceptual themes extant outside of
Qumran are amply attested amongst the community's own writings.

8 6
I n 'f. Mos, 1 1 : 1 6 the divine Moses incarnates the Holy Spirit, but he is not
himself "a spirit" or "the Spirit".
8 7
The righteous, such as Bezalel, can be filled with God's spirit (Exod 31:3), but
this is not quite the same thing as saying Bezalel is a spirit.
8 8
The distinction is very well brought into view i n the Luke 24:12—42. Jesus
appears as the Angel of the LORD who visited Abraham and Sarah i n Genesis 18,
but he is no mere spirit for he is able to eat.
 CHAPTER FOUR

A D I V I N E A N D ANGELIC H U M A N I T Y I N T H E DSS

There is every reason to suppose that the Dead Sea Scrolls will yield
further insights into the divine humanity tradition which we have
thus far plotted. A number of the post-biblical texts which we have
already discussed turn up at Qumran. Jubilees, fragments of which
have been found in the Qumran caves, evidently represents the the-
ology of a strongly cultic and priestly oriented group that gave birth
to the Es&ene movement which shared its belief in a solar calendar,
the superiority of priest to king and a keen interest in angelology.
We should not be surprised that for the highly priesdy oriented
Essenes Jubilees' vision of an angelomorphic priesthood was a vital
part of community life.' The presence of a fuller version of Noah's
wondrous birth in the Genesis Apoayphon—an early or proto-Essene
text—testifies to the significance that that story will have played in
the generation of a particular cultic theology according to which the
priest bears the divine image.
Fragments of Ben Sira attest the use of that Wisdom book at
Qumran, just as the more extensive remains of the work at Masada
suggest its use by a group closely related (by shared use of the Songs
2
of the Sabbath Sacrifice) to that on the shores of the Dead Sea. Ben
Sira has two foci for its strongly theological anthropology; Moses
and the high priest. The work's climactic vision of the high priest
as the embodiment of God's Glory springs from its thoroughly priesdy
orientation. The Qumran community's interest in Ben Sira is unsur-
prising since although this Wisdom work eschews a solar calendar
(43:2^8) the Essenes emerged from the same priestly (and probably
3
Zädokite) milieu of the pre-Maccabean hierocratic establishment. A

1
For Jubilees an authoritative text at Qumran see C D ‫־‬16:34 and compare
4Q228.
2 a
2 0 1 8 . cf. 11Q5 ( l l Q P s ) xxi-xxii which preserves Ben Sira 51 as an inde-
pendent psalm. Mas I , I t , I I I , I V , V , V I , V I I (Yadin 1965).
3
For a discussion of the close linguistic and conceptual connections between Ben
Sira and the DSS see Lehmann 1961; Carmignac 1961 and Muraoka and Elwoldc
1997.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 89

close examination of the divine anthropology at Qumran shows a

shared interest in the two figures—Moses and the High Priest—that
can only be explained as the result of a genetic relationship between
the two literary traditions.
A Prion we are justified in thinking that Qumran might offer fur-
ther evidence for a divine anthropology because it is a thoroughly
priesdy community and it is the priesthood along with the experi-
ence and theology of the sanctuary which provided the formative
life setting for the development of a distinctively Jewish theological
anthropology. Their own experience of estrangement from the Jem-
salem Temple evidendy led to an intensified anthropological concern.
The Essenes at Qumran saw themselves as the replacement for
the Jerusalem temple in their human, flesh and blood community
offering an alternative to the traditional physical structures of Israel's
sacred space: they had become a miqdash Adam, a temple of men
4
or of Adam. Place and physical structure are here replaced by persons
within a particular rhythm and social structure as the present locus
of divine presence, at least until the true Temple in Jerusalem is re-
built. They also held to a distinctively realised, or inaugurated, escha-
a
tology in which they had rediscovered the life of Eden (see l Q H
8:16 [6:16]; 16:4-27 [8:4-27]), thereby regaining the pre-lapsarian
state. Both for practical and ideological reasons the Qumran com-
munity had good reason, therefore, to be anthropologically occupied
and the (priestly) traditions they inherited gave them ample oppor-
tunity to further develop the belief in a divine humanity.
Despite these broader considerations and the wealth of evidence
for a wider interest in a strong theological anthropology across Sec-
ond Temple Judaisms, there has not yet been any concerted attempt
to search the scrolls for such interests; indeed, texts which at first
sight present such a view tend to be dismissed or pushed to the side-
5
lines of Qumran scholarship. It has long been recognized that the
community believed it shared its life with the angels, particularly in
the liturgical context, and the relevant texts (e.g. lQSa 2:8-9; 1QM

4
See recent discussions by Brooke 1999 and Schiffman 1999.
‫נ‬
Dimant is a relatively lone voice when, in order to explain the community's
communitarianism, strict hierarchy, exclusivity and celibacy, she suggests that "the
community, or, in fact, its core of full, members, functioned analogically to a com-
munity of priestly angels, officiating in the innermost sanctuary of the heavenly tern-
pic" (Dimant 1996, 98). But even here it is not clear that the word "analogically"
adequately expresses Esscne self-perception.
90 CHAPTER FOUR

a
7:6; 4QJ74 1:4; l Q H 11:19-23 [3:19-23]; Songs of the Sabbath Sac-
6
rif.ce) have now been extensively discussed. The "unity" of life and
worship between mortals and angels is perhaps pardy responsible for
the non-biblical self-designation of the community as a yahad (cf. esp.
a
1QS 11:8; l Q H 11:22 [3:22]). Clearly this was a central feature of
the community's worldview.
In other Jewish texts from antiquity, community with the angels
necessarily entails transformation: access to the heavenly world requires
not just a visa, but also citizenship and, therefore, a heavenly rather
7
than a mortal identity. When communion with the angels in the
DSS means sharing their "lot" or "inheritance" it is hard to know
what this means for the sectarians' "ontology". However, as we shall
see, there are also texts which seem to speak of an experience of
transformation, resurrection or elevation of identity to the heavenly
realm.
But scholars have been reticent to recognize evidence that the
Essenes at Qumran believed they were themselves divine or angelic.
The classic illustration of scholarship's predilection for a dualistic
worldview which would prohibit such an anthropology has been the
history of interpretation of 4Q491 frag. 11, col. i . This is a text
which, when first published in 1982, was judged by its editor, M .
Baillet, to be a Song of Michael and to be part of the War Scroll whose
8
worldview is widely thought to be thoroughly dualistic. Eight years
later Morton Smith famously demonstrated this interpretation to be
9
impossible. The hymn describes in aretalogical form the self-praise
of the speaker as one who now resides in heaven, shares the lot and
privileges of the angels: rather than the song of an archangel—an
interpretation which suits modern assumptions about ancient Jewish
anthropology—the text must be read as a description of a "deified"
mortal who has ascended to heaven. This is now universally acknowl-
edged following the work of Smith and others, but the history of
interpretation is a cautionary tale for those of us who pay insuffi-

6
See K u h n 1966, 47-78; Weinfeld 1983; Mach 1992, 209-19; Nitzan 1994a;
Frennesson 1999.
' The theme is explored in, for example, Apoc. %eph. 8:1—5; 2 Enoch 22—56; Joseph
and Asei'jh passim; History of Rechabiles passim and is also reflected in Pauline soteri-
ology (e.g. Phil 3:20-21; Col 3:1-4; Eph 2:1-6).
8
DJD 7:26-29.
9
1990, and for a later, corrected, version of Smith's article see Smith 1992.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 91

cient attention to the ideological assumptions we bring to the pri-

mary sources.
In the rest of this study we turn to texts peculiar to the Qumran
community which evince their belief in the angelic or divine nature
of the true humanity. We start, in this chapter, with an examina-
tion of all the evidence for a belief that humanity in general, Adam,
Israel or the righteous as the true Adam, are either divine or angelic.
Taking our cue from the different forms of the angelomorphic tra-
dition in the pre- and proto-Qumran material the three subsequent
chapters are devoted to a discussion of the figure of Moses and the
high priest.

Humanity as the Glory of God in Qumran texts

In the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira the high priest not only embodies
the Glory of God, he is also the true human being. He manifests
the unique and surpassing beauty (‫ )תפארת‬of Adam (49:16—50:1 Heb).
This is not just because he is set in a restored paradise—the Tern-
pie—wearing the garments which Adam wore, but because he reca-
pitulatcs the Glory of God's people, Israel (44:1-49:15). For Ben
Sira the exalted position of both Israel and its priesthood within the
cosmos is rooted in a particular understanding of the nature of human
beings as they are created by God.
Throughout the late Second Temple period, in fact, we encounter
the view that (before the fall) Adam (and Eve) possessed a divine or
angelic Glory. The point is made in various ways: the primal cou-
pie ate the food of angels (Vita Adae et Evae 4:1-2); Adam possessed
a gigantic form (Apoc. Abr. 23:5), his name an anagram for the car-
dinal points of the compasss (2 Enoch 30:13; Sib. Or. 3:27; Vita Adae
et Evae 27:1); his form was a physiognomic instance of divine beauty
(Sib. Or. 1:20); his position on earth was that of an angelic king (2
Enoch 30:11), whom the angels worshipped in heaven (Vita Adae et
10
Evae 12-16 etc . . .). Just as the high priest Simon in Sirach 50
embodies both God's Glory and the beauty of Adam so in, for exam-
pie, the Greek version of 3 Baruch Adam was clothed in the Glory
of God before he fell (4:16)."

10
See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 140-145 for a fuller survey.
11
I take it that the statement that Adam was "stopped of the Glory of God (της
 92 CHAPTER FOUR

Though not all of these themes are attested in the DSS the basic
shape of the distinctively divine theological anthropology which they
express is clear.

(a) Adam Created in the Likeness of God's Glory

The Words of the Heavenly Lights (4QDibHam (4Q504, 506) is a liturgy

of prayers for each of the seven days of the week which is widely
12
regarded as a very early, or more likely pre-, Qumran text. The
existence of two texts—one from the middle of the second century
B.C. and another from the first century A.D.—testifies to its endur-
ing liturgical significance for the Qumran community, even i f it was
inherited from "prc-Esscnc" Judaism.
This liturgy contains one of the clearest statements of a divine
anthropology in the Dead Sea Scroll corpus. 4Q504 fragment 8
(recto) which probably preserves parts of the prayer for the first day
13
of the week, reads as follows:
2
‫ י‬. . . R e m e m b j e r , Ο L o [ r ] d that . . . . . .] a n d y o u (are) eternfally]
3
l i v i n g [ . . . . . .] marvels ( ‫ ) נ פ ל א ו ת‬f r o m o f o l d a n d prodigies (‫)ונוראות‬
4
[. . . . . . A d a m o u r fajther, i n the likeness o f [ Y o u r ] G l o r y [ ( ‫א ד ם‬
5
(‫א[ בינו י צ ר ח ה ב ד מ ו ת כבוד]כה‬ Y o u b] readied
6
c e r n m e n t a n d knowledge ( . ..](‫ו ב י נ הודעת‬ i n the g a
7
w h i c h y o u planted, y o u m a d e [ h i m ] to rul[e ( . . .(‫המטלת]ה‬. . .] a n
to w a l k i n the l a n d o f glory ( ‫[ )באר^י כ ב ו ד‬. . .

This is, self-evidently, an embellished retelling of the creation of

Adam and his life in the Garden of Eden. There are additions to
the biblical text which are traditionally associated with Adam in Jew-
ish literature. For example, the reference to Adam's possessing "under-
standing and knowledge" is parallel to Sirach 17:7's "He [God] filled
14
them up with knowledge of understanding".

δόξης θεοΰ έγυμνώθη)" probably implies he had previously worn the Glory, For recent
discussion o f this text see Harlow 1996, 60-2. This kind of Adam theology lies
beliind Romans 1:23; 3:23. A n identification of the Glory of God with Adam's
form is probably also intended by the echo of Isaiah 6:1-3 in Genesis 1:26-28.
12
Palaeographically its earliest copy is dated by the editor c. 150 B.C. {DJD
7:137). See further Chazon 1992b; Falk 2000, 109. For the work's dependence upon
Daniel 12:1 at frags. 1-2 vi 12-14, see Puech 1993, 565-568.
13
Baillct (DJD 7:163) pointed to the fact that on the back of this fragment there
is the work's tide as grounds for thinking it contains the opening prayer of the
work.
14
L X X Έπιστήμην συνέσεως. M . Baillet in DJD 7:162-3 therefore restores ‫ובינה‬
‫ ו ד ע ת ] מ ל א ח ה אוחו‬i n line 4.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 93

Line 4 is obviously a brief snippet of the creation of Adam fol-

lowing Genesis 1:26a "Let us make man in our image, in our like-
ness (‫")בצלמנו כדמותנו‬, with the dominion over creation which is
described in the rest of Genesis 1:26 picked up in line 6. The use
of the verb ‫ יצר‬for Adam's creation will then have come from Gen-
esis 2:7. A reference to the "image" may have appeared in that por-
tion of the text which is now lost. What is intriguing about the
Qumran text is the way "our likeness" has become "the likeness of
[Your] Glory (‫")כדמות כבוד]כה‬. M . Baillet, the editor, rightly notes
that besides Genesis 1:26 this expression recalls Ezekiel 1:28 (‫מראה‬
‫)דמות כ כ ו ר יהוה‬. Indeed, it would be fair to say that in 4Q504 frag.
8 Adam is identified in some way with the Glory occupying God's
throne in Ezekiel 1.
The identification is not absolute since Adam is only made in (‫)ב‬
the likeness of God's Glory and the text is too fragmentary to gauge
how the relationship was worked out. However, the text should prob-
ably be set in a similar life setting to the sapiential anthropological
doxography that we have met in Sirach. Where, in Sirach 50, the
high priest is the embodiment of both God's Glory and divine Wis-
dorn, so, also in this text Adam is given "discernment and knowl-
edge". And the overlap in language with Sirach 17:6-7 suggests he
was filled with these in a way similar to the high priestly Unnensch
in Ezekiel 28:12 who is "full of wisdom". The image of Adam "walk-
ing in the land of glory (line 7)" might also have been formed under
the influence of Ezekiel 28:14: "you were on the holy mountain of
15
God; you walked among the stones of fire".
The importance of this theological anthropology for the Words of
the Heavenly Lights is further reflected in 4Q504 frags. 1-2, col. iii
2-4 which reads:
. . . B e h o l d all the nations arc [as not] t h i n g before y o u ; [as] tohu a n d
emptiness they are r e c k o n e d before y o u (Isaiah 40:17). O n l y y o u r
N a m e have we i n v o k e d a n d y o u have created us for y o u r G l o r y
( ‫ ) ו ל כ ב ו ד כ ה ב ר ח נ ו‬a n d made us c h i l d r e n i n the sight o f all the nations.
For y o u have n a m e d Israel " M y Son, m y first-born".

15
I n the fragmentary lines that follow there is the statement "]he is flesh, and
to dust (‫"[ ) ב ס ר הואד; ולעפר‬. No doubt, this picks up Gen 3:19. I f so the addition
of the statement of Adam's fleshly nature is perhaps a further witness to the Essene
contrast between the pre-lapsarian divine/angelic state and the post-lapsarian sar-
kic nature.
94 CHAPTER FOUR

In the light of the above text, two points are clearly in view here.
First, when it says that Israel is created for God's Glory it perhaps
means not that the act itself is one which brings Glory to God, but
16
that Israel is to be the Glory of God. Secondly, given the use of
the verb "to create (‫ ")ברא‬and language from Isaiah (40:17) that
echoes the tohuwabohu of Genesis 1:2, the liturgy proclaims that human-
ity as it was originally intended is only present in Israel and that all
other peoples are consigned to a state of pre-creation nothingness.
Hitherto, discussion of the theology of 4QDibHam has focused
on the Deuteronomic pattern of sin, exile and restoration which
17
seems to govern the majority of its conceptual structure. Esther
Chazon, in particular, has highlighted the way this narrative binds
together the whole liturgy. In this text this pattern serves the pur-
pose of Israel's confession of sin, repentance and prayer for restora-
tion and Daniel Falk groups this liturgy with the " 'post-exilic communal
confessions'—prayers based on the Deuteronomic theology of salva-
18
tion-history and the model of confession found in Lev 26". But,
given that the liturgy starts with Adam in the land of Glory, as one
made in the likeness of God's Glory, there seems also here to be a
priestly theology which grounded the prayer for God's restoration
not simply in the Mosaic covenant but also a pre-fall relationship of
ontological affinity between God and his own humanity, now summed
up in Israel. The liturgy calls for the remembrance of Adam's orig-
inal state as the basis for future restoration of the true Adam-in-
19
Israel. Regrettably too little of the first prayer remains, but it is
possible that there is already a statement of humanity's sin and exile
from the garden which foreshadows Israel's own story in what
follows.
The name of this text also deserves consideration. On the back
of frag. 8 of 4Q504 there is the title ‫דברי המארות‬. This has been
variously translated and its interpretation is uncertain. Does it mean

16
The language draws on Isa 43:7 where God says that every Israelite in Exile
is one "whom I created for my glory (‫ " ) ל כ ב ו ד י בראתיו‬. The translation "for Your
honor we were created" i n Nitzan 1994b, 96, does not do justice to the theological
perspective.
" See Chazon 1992a and i n general Falk 1998, 5 9 - 9 2 .
18
Falk 1998, 72.
19
Cf. the way 4QInstruction (4Q423 1-2) addresses the student of wisdom as
one called, as was Adam, to rule over, serve and guard Eden (see T . Elgvin DJD
34:509-10, 512).
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 95

that the text provides the words for a liturgy which follows the cycle
20
of the heavenly lights? This is possible; it would mean the prayers
are designed to be recited at the interchange of the dominion of the
a
luminaries, at dusk or dawn (cf. 1QS 10:1-3; l Q H 20:4-11
21
[12:4-11]). However, this interpretation is not without its prob-
lems, since as the tide stands we should expect the liturgy to con-
tain the words spoken by the luminaries (or, perhaps their angelic
counterparts). The text itself shows no sign diat it is intended for
any one other than human worshippers.
A solution might lie in the fact that Israel's priesthood is respon-
sible for the giving of light and in many texts is closely related to
22
the heavenly bodies. Liturgically speaking it may be that the priest-
hood are here regarded as the ritual embodiment of the heavenly
bodies. I n the blessing of the high priest of the Blessings Scroll (lQSb
4:24-28) it is possible that the high priest is set apart to be a lumi-
nary (lQSb 4:27 "may he make you holy among his people and a
luminary(?) (‫ ] [ )למאור‬for the world in knowledge"). That the priest-
hood at worship could be both the Glory of God, as fragment 8
recto might imply, and also the luminaries, as fragment 8 verso implies,
is again consistent with the vision of the high priesthood in Sirach
50. In Sirach 50 the identification of the high priest with God's
Glory is set in the midst of verses where he is also compared to the
sun, moon and the stars (50:6—7). The Greek translator of those
verses sets Simon in the cosmic procession (έν περιστροφή) of the
23
heavenly bodies.
Whilst there is no other indication in the text that the priesthood
have appropriated the identity of the heavenly luminaries, this expia-
nation of the text's title would mean that this ideology was so
axiomatic at Qumran that at times it did not need to be made
explicit.

(b) "All the Glory of Adam"

In 1QS 4:22-3 the perfect of way (‫ )תמימי דרך‬have been chosen for
an eternal covenant and for them there is (or, will be) all the glory

2 0
D . T . Olson in Charlesworth, et al. 1998-9, 108.
21
Cf. Chazon 1997, 24; Falk 1998, 59, 86.
22
Cf. Baillet DJD 7:139; D . T . Olson i n Charlesworth, et al. 1998-9, 108.
‫ג‬2
For περιστροφή used primarily o f the procession of the heavenly bodies, the
stars, the sun or the cosmos itself see LSJ 1389.
96 CHAPTER FOUR

1
of Adam (‫ )להם כ ו ל כ ב ו ד אדם‬and there is no deceit". In 1 Q H
4:14-15 [17:14-15] God has "raised an [eternal] name, [forgiving]
offence, casting away all (the community's) iniquities, giving them as
a legacy all the glory of Adam (‫[ )להנחילם בכול כ ב ו ד אדם‬and] abun-
dance of days." In the sectarian rewriting of Israel's history in the
Damascus Document the community, or Essene movement, becomes the
true Israel for whom there is built "a sure house ( 3 : 1 9 )"(‫אמן‬
These are they who hold fast to the covenant "for eternal life and
all the Glory of Adam ( 3 : 2 0 )"(‫אדם‬
Israel are also referred to as the "penitents (‫ )טבי‬of Israel", or "the
returnees of Israel". Similar language for the righteous remnant is
a
used again in 4QpPs (4Q171) 3:1-2 where those who have returned
from the wilderness (‫ )שבי המדבר‬will live for a thousand generations
in salvation and they "and their descendants for ever" possess "all
the inheritance of Adam (‫")כול נחלת אדם‬.
Translators and commentators on these passages do not agree
what "all the ‫ כ ב ו ד‬of ‫ " א ד ם‬means, though there is now general agree-
ment that this is Adam, not just "man" that is in view. Is this merely
24
human "honour", rather than a "theological" or "divine" Glory?
And is this a future inheritance or is it a reality which is already
experienced by the community? The phrase, self-evidently, summa-
rizes a reality the content of which can only be understood when
other relevant texts are considered—which is the purpose of the rest
of this study. But, I think, several interpretative considerations can
be established already at this stage of our discussion.
On the question of temporal perspective, there is an oscillation in
the four passages between "all the glory of Adam" as a future and
a present experience, but nowhere is the perspective unequivocally
a
future. The context of 1QH" 4:15—that is l Q H 4:9-15—although
badly broken, is throughout an affirmation of what God has already
done for the righteous. And the fact that "all the glory of Adam is
parallel to "abundance of days" suggests that because the latter is a
present blessing, so also is the former. The conjunction of Adamic
a
blessing and long life recurs in 4QpPs 3:1-2 where, again, because
longevity of life is ascribed to the community members themselves
25
the impression is that the inheritance of Adam is also already theirs.

24
So, for example, Joseph M . Baumgarten and Daniel R. Schwartz in Charleswordi
1995, 17 translate C D 3:20 "all (human) glory (is) theirs".
25
So, rightly, Brooke 1999, 290.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 97

The eschatological context is clearest in 1QS 4:23 (cf. generally

4:6—26), but even here, in the immediate context (4:22d "for those
God has chosen for an eternal covenant") the possession of all the
glory of Adam could very well be a present reality. And, otherwise,
the eschatological conditions of the righteous to which 1 QS 4 looks
forward are in almost every respect already anticipated by the com-
munity. Indeed, the idea that the community already has Adam's
glory is consistent with the fact that the community have also returned
to the pre-lapsarian world of Eden (see below).
It goes without saying that in none of these passages does the
glory of Adam belong to a transcendent history, after some escha-
tological collapse of space and time (a scenario which is otherwise
absent from the DSS). Rather than a vision for a future transccn-
dent cosmology, the notion of Adam's glory is best understood as
an affirmation of a particular theological anthropology, rooted, not
in the Endzeit, but the Urzeit: because the true Israel are the true
Adam and the Qumran community are the true Israel they possess
all that Adam possessed before his departure from paradise.
Furthermore, the life-setting for this expression is Israel's Temple
26
theology as it is expressed so profoundly in Sirach 49:16-50:21. In
that passage it is Jerusalem, the Temple, its worship and, above all,
the priesthood, which possesses all the glory of Adam, since in this
space and time the original order of creation and the harmony of
Eden is recovered. The cultic context is patent in the wider context
of CD 3:20 (cf. CD 3:12-4:4) and is probably assumed by the use
of the expression in 1QFI4:15'‫׳‬.
Not only should "all the glory of Adam" be related to the cultic
theology of Ben Sira, it should also now be read through the lens
provided by 4Q504 frag. 8 where, again in a liturgical context, Adam
possesses a glory which is then transferred to the true Israel. Here,
and in Sirach, it is not simply a human "honour" or "dignity" that
27
is in view, but a Glory which is God's own. The Qumran com-
munity believed then, that it was their vocation to fulfil the respon-
sibility originally given to Adam to embody God's own Glory.

26
Cf. Wernberg-M011er 1957, 87.
2
‫י‬ As Lichtenberger 1980, 225 points out, apart from another reference to the
hymnist's ‫ כ ב ו ד‬in 1QH" 7:19-20 [15:16-17] (discussed below) throughout the Hodayol
‫ כ ב ו ד‬is always God's.
98 CHAPTER FOUR

(c) 4Q381 (4QNon-Canonkal Psalms B) and the Worship of Adam

Another liturgical text which perhaps attests the Qumran commu-
nity's belief in a divine humanity is 4Q381 (4QNon-Canonical Psalms
B). Fragment 1 of this pseudepigraphical psalms collection is a ere-
ation psalm which may bear witness to a widespread belief that when
Adam was originally created the angels were made to serve and even
28
worship Adam.
3
marvels. He, by an oath, made heaven and earth, and by the word
4
of his mouth [. . . and watercourses. He shut up its rivers, pools and
5
every eddy, and he [. . . night and st[ar]s and constellations, and he
6
made (them) shine [. . . trees and every fru[it of the vi] ne and all
7
the produce of the field. And according to his words [. . . with [his]
w[ifc]. And by his breath he made them stand (‫)וכרוחו העםידם‬, to rule
8
over over all (‫ )למשל בכל‬these on earth and over all [. . . [mon]th
by [1ft]onth (‫ )]לח[ דש ב ]ה[ דש‬sacred festival by sacred festival (‫למועד‬
‫)במועד‬, day by day, to eat its fruit (that) the land makes flourish [. . .
9
. . .] and birds and all which is theirs, to eat the choicest of all, and
10
also[. . . . . .]msh in them, and all his hosts (‫ )וכל צבאיו‬and [his]
1 1
angepis ( ...(‫וםלא]כיו‬. . .] to serve man/Adam and to minister to
him (‫ )לעבד לאדם ולשרתו‬and [...

The text describes in summary fashion God's creation of the heav-

ens and the earth. The extant text echoes the first and second days
of creation according to Genesis 1 (line 3), the earth's water courses
29
of the third day (line 4), the luminaries of the fourth day (line 5)
30
and the vegetation of the third day (line 6). It moves quickly to
the supremacy of humanity whom God makes to stand by his breath
(cf. Gen 2:7 and Ezekiel 37) and "to rule (‫ )לםטל‬over all these on
earth and over all [. . .", in line 7. What follows is less clear, though
the provision for humanity of food from the creatures of the fifth
day seems to be in view in line 9. Finally, the text introduces the
31
angelic realm glossing "their hosts" in Genesis 2:1 with "[bis] angeßs].

Dated paleographically by the editor, E. Schuller, c. 75 B.C. (DJD 11:88). For

our texts see DJD 11:92-96. See also Charlesworth, et al. 1998-9, '10-39.
2 9
For the earth's irrigation arranged on the third day see Jubilees 2:7.
30
The editor, E . M . Schuller underplays the degree of conformity to the pattern
of creation in Genesis 1 (DJD 11:91-2). We are more confident than she that line
7 speaks of the creation of humanity and she seems to miss the way in which the
language of line 4 echoes Genesis 1:9-10 and its wider intratextual space. O f the
texts cited by Schuller Jer 5:22; Ps 104:9; Prov 8:29; Job 38:8 and Prayer of Man-
asseh 3-4 (p. 95) are all part of the interpretative web through which Gen 1:9-10
would be read.
31
A restoration of "angels" here is to be preferred over other alternatives given
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 99

In the next line (line 11) the text says that something or other is
created "to serve Adam(/humankind)14 and to minister to him ‫ל ע ב ד‬
(‫")לאדם ולשרתו‬.
The editor, Eileen Schuller is somewhat puzzled by this statement
because although, in context, the angels and host of the previous
line are the most logical subject of this action, "it is difficult to see
32
how the angels can be said ."‫ל ע ב דלאדם‬ On the contrary this would
be an entirely unsurprising restoration of the text since there is a
widespread haggadah according to which Adam is to receive wor-
33
ship from the angels when he is first created. This is a version of
the creation story which is preserved in its clearest and most accès-
sible form in the Latin text Vita Adae et Evae (chs. 12-16) though it
is widespread throughout Jewish pseudepigrapha, the rabbinic cor-
34
pus, early Christian literature and is even attested in the Koran.
The first century Christian Letter to the Hebrews (1:6) evidently
knew this story and so it was probably both pre-Christian and widely
35
known before the fall of the Second Temple.
O f course, the Hebrew could just reflect the tradition that the
world was created for humanity or Israel, a view which is well attested
in pseudepigrapha from the late first century B.C. onwards and which
36
now appears in a Qumran Cave 4 text (4Q392 1 4 - 6 ) . But it
should be remembered that both the verbs ‫ שרת‬and ‫ ע ב ד‬which are
used in 4Q381 have a strongly cultic orientation for the community

the way ‫" צבא״ו‬his hosts" is found i n parallelism with angels i n Ps 103:20-21; 148:2
(qere). See E . M . Schuller DJD 11:94, 96.
32
DJD 11:96, cf. Schüller 1986, 84.
3 3
The phrase ‫ ל ע ב ד ל א ד ם‬is perhaps a deliberate play on the phrase ‫ל ע ב ד א ת‬
‫ ה א ד מ ה‬in Genesis 2:15; 3:23 (cf. 2:15) which then states a suggestive interdepen-
dence between the various parts of creation with Adam serving the ground and the
angels serving Adam. I n both its original context (see Wenham 1987, 67) and more
recent interpretation (e.g. Sirach 24:31) the picture of Adam serving (or, tilling) the
ground has overtiy cultic connotations.
34
Judaism: Life of Adam and Eve (Latin, par. Armenian, Georgian); Gen. Rab. 8:10;
Ecel. Rab. 6:9:1; Bereshilh Rabbati 24f.; Pirk de R. Eliezer 11-12; Apocalypse of Sedrach
5:1-2; Armenian Penitence of Adam 11-17; 2 Enoch (Stone 1993); Slavonic 3 Baruch
(Gaylord 1982:304—5). Christianity: Hebrews 1:6; Slavonic Book of Adam 47; Conflict
of Adam and Eve 7; Gospel of Bartholomew 4:52~60; Sibylline Oracks 8:442-445; Apoca-
lypse of Sedrach 5:1-2. Islam: Koran 7:12-14; 15:30-36.
3 5
There is also an intriguing similarity between this Qumran text and Mark 1:13
where Jesus was " i n the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with
the wild beasts; and the angels ministered (διηκόνουν) to h i m " .
3 6
Cf. T. Mos. 1:12; 4 Ezra 6:46; 8:1, 44; 9:13; 2 Bar. 14:19; 15:7; 21:24; Greek
Apoc. of Ezra 5:19.
100 CHAPTER FOUR

3
that used the text. ' Any overtone of cultic veneration from the angels
towards humanity would not be completely out of place in our text
since line 8 apparently connects the order and bounteous provision
of creation with Israel's cult which is conducted "[mon]th by [m]onth,
appointed time by appointed time (‫)למועד במועד‬, day by day". To
a degree this is already a way in which the created order serves
humanity and line 11 may simply be developing the point further.
This Qpmran text may therefore preserve the earliest datable wit-
ness to the belief that before his fall Adam was to be the recipient
of worship (from the angels and/or the rest of creation). Although
4Q381 is a first century B.c. manuscript the use of Late Biblical
Hebrew, the lack of later theological ideas, the absence of any clearly
sectarian terminology and other considerations suggest (o its editor
38
that it originated in the Persian or Early Hellenistic period. This
would pu?h back the dating of the worship of Adam haggadah much
further still.
On the other hand, some readers might feel that the worship of
Adam haggadah represents an inherently heterodox theology, and
that, although it might be possible to date its genesis to the forma-
tive period of earliest Christianity, it really could not belong in an
"orthodox" Judaism of the Persian or early Hellenistic period: given
the reasonable confidence of E. Schuller's dating of the text to that
time on other grounds, we would be wiser not to fill in the lacunae
of 4Q381 1 11 in this way.
This only begs the question what post-exilic "orthodox" theology
and biblical monotheism actually are. This is a question which is
too often given a hasty answer which rules out of court the worship
of a human being by other human beings or angels, as i f that human
being were God himself. As we have already seen in our last chap-
ter, from at least the earliest decades of the Hellenistic era we have
many texts in which "orthodox" Jewish practice and belief did, it
seems, believe it appropriate under certain circumstances to worship

37
For ‫ ע ב ד‬see, e.g., l Q p H * 12:13; 13:2-3; C D 5:4 (for the worship of idols);
lQSa 1:13 and for ‫ ט ר ח‬see, e.g., 1 Q M 2:1-3; 13:3; l Q S b 4:25; 4Q511 35 4. I n
4Q392 frag. 1 the context of the view that God created the world for humanity is
also cultic (see the discussion of this text below). Even though 4Q381 is probably
not composed by a Qumran sectarian (having a pre-Qumran provenance) the point
here is that we know from Q L literature how its language would be heard and
understood i n that socio-religious context.
3 8
Schuller 1986, 5-60.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 101

a human being. We have already discussed in some detail one such

39
passage—the hymn in praise of the high priest in Ben Sira 50.
Because of the importance of this issue, which reappears later in our
discussion of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice it is worth reiterating our
40
understanding of the worship of the divine humanity tradition.
Jews believed it was not only possible, but right and proper to
give worship to a human being, just as the angels were commanded
to worship Adam, because they believed that the true humanity was create
by God to be his selem; that is humanity is to the one true God what an idol
is to its pagan god. The second part of this proposition has now been
proposed by a number of O T scholars who have wrestled with the
biblical restriction against man's own making of images of Yahwch."
In particular, John Kut/.ko has shown that.Ibr the priestly tradition
represented by Ρ and the book of Ezekiel, the making of images by
man is prohibited in biblical religion because only man himself genuinely
n
gives physical form to God. This is the reason why Ρ uses the word
selem—a word which is otherwise used specifically of "pagan" statutes
or idols (e.g. Num 33:52; 1 Sam 6:5, 11; 2 Kgs 11:18 = 2 Chr
23:17; Ezek 7:20; 16:17; 23:24; Amos 5:26; Dan 2:31, 32, 34)—for
the creation of humanity (Gen 1:26-27). That humanity could, under
the right conditions, function as God's idol does not transgress any
43
biblical legislation.
The first part of my proposition, has not, as far as I am aware
been otherwise voiced. It follows logically from the view that human-
ity is created to be God's idol (analogically speaking) that this opens
up the possibility that just as non-Israelite religion entailed the wor-
ship of the gods through the worship (care for, feeding, clothing, etc . . .)
of the gods' statues so also should Israelites themselves worship true
humanity where it functions as would the image of a pagan god.
This understanding of things at once explains the penning of a hymn

Cf. the worship of the high priest according to the early fourth century B.C.
author Hecatacus of Abdcra (in Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historien XL,3.3-8); the
worship of the high priest by Alexander the Great (Josephus Ant. 1 1:331—335; Scho-
lion to Megilalh Ta'anilh 21st Tislev and b. Torna 69a); worship of the priest in T.
Reub. 6:12; worship of Enoch the Son of M a n (Eth. Enoch 48:5; 62:6-9, cf. 46:5;
52:4); worship of the king (1 Chr 29:20) and of Moses in Ezekiel the Tragedian's
Exagoge line 8 1 .
'"' See the discussion of chapter 3 and Fletcher-Louis 1999.
41
See Smith 1988, 424-27; Watson 1997b, 289; Niehr 1997.
" Kutsko 2000.
" So, rightly, Schmidt 1995.
102 CHAPTER FOUR

in praise of the high priest in Sirach 50: Simon is praised because he

is the true Adam, the image and physical embodiment of Israel's one God. As
we shall see later in this study this theology was also put into prac-
tice at Qumran in the regular praise offered to its own high priest-
hood. At this juncture, bearing in mind our primary interest in the
community's view of Adam, a clear illustration of the way the bib-
lical image-of-God-in-man theology worked in the Second Temple
period can be seen through a comparison of the worship of Adam
in the Vitae Adae et Evae 1 2 1 6 ‫־‬ story and the account of Nebucha
nezzar's idolatry in Daniel 3.
In that canonical passage Nebuchadnezzar sets up an idol (‫צלם‬,
7,3,2,3:1etc . . .), which has been made by human hands. He issues a
decree that at its dedication all should worship the statue. A l l the
"satraps, prefects, governors, counsellors, treasurers, judges, magis-
trates and^all the officials of the provinces" came to the dedication
(w. ‫־‬23). A herald proclaims the decree, to which is attached the
warning that "whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown
into the furnace of fire" (v. 7, cf. v. 11). The Jews Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego refuse to worship and are dealt with accordingly.
The worship of Adam in Vitae Adae et Evae 12-16 is a deliberate
subversion of that story in which roles are reversed in a way which
parallels perfecdy the polemic against idolatry in Genesis and Ezekiel:
in each text there is the presentation of an image that is to be wor-
shipped; the true image (Latin: imago) worthy of worship is made by
God, not by man; "all the angels" like the "satraps, prefects, gover-
nours" and other officials of Daniel 3 are called to the presentation
of the image (14:1); Michael plays the role of the herald commanding
that the image of God (13:3; 14:1-2; 15:2) be worshipped; this time it
is Satan who refuses to worship the image and he is appropriately
punished. Adam is worshipped because he is to the one true living God what
u
a statue is to a pagan god.'
One immediate upshot of this rabbit trail away from Qumran is
that the theology of the worship of Adam story must now be rooted
firmly in the beginnings of the Second Temple period. Once the
priesdy tradition represented by Ρ and Ezekiel makes the theologi-
cal move to prohibit idolatry on the grounds that humanity is God's
image, or idol, then the kind of story that one finds in Vita Adae et

This reading develops the observations already made by Patton 1994.

 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 103

Evae is only a small conceptual step away. The close literary simi-
larity between the worship of Adam in that text and in Daniel 3
suggests the former owes its genius to the early Hellenistic period
45
when Daniel 3 was written. Indeed, it is likely that Daniel itself
testifies to the legitimacy of the worship of the true human being
on these theological grounds. Immediately prior to his construction
of his illegitimate idol, Nebuchadnezzar had fallen on his face, wor-
shipped Daniel and ordered that a grain offering and incense be
offered to him. Although commentators normally assume that these
are actions which the implied reader knows are a foolish act of idol-
atry, nothing in the text supports such a reading. Daniel does not
reject Nebuchadnezzar's worship, rather he joyfully accepts it along
with the reversal in his socio-political fortunes that it accompanies.
The end of Daniel 2 and the beginning of Daniel 3 naturally read
as a satire in which a fickle convert to the Jewish faith sees some-
thing of the true nature of the one God present in his servant and
the bearer of his image—Daniel—but all too quickly this potential
proselyte returns to the pagan rejection of the image-of-God-in-man
in his attempt to usurp God's own position as image maker.
Returning now to 4Q381, the possibility that this text attests what
would be a widespread story about the worship of Adam by the
angels is entirely consistent with the (late Persian-early Hellenistic)
dating and (pre-Essene) provenance that it has been given by its edi-
tor, Eileen Schuller. From the Qumran perspective, although 4Q381
does not preserve distinctively sectarian ideas or language, there is
every reason to assume that it was read and used by the commu-
nity. As far as the worship of Adam is concerned this will be another
witness to the community's interest in humanity's divinity as, for
Jews in the second Temple period, worship was reserved exclusively
for the one Jewish God and, in some instances, the unique physical
46
representative and human embodiment of that God.

4 5
I take it that Daniel 3 is part of an earlier (3rd century) version o f Daniel
(composed principally of Dan 2-6) which was updated i n the early second century
B.C. to its extant form.
4 6
Regrettably nothing of the liturgical function o f 4Q381 frag. 1 can be gleaned.
104 CHAPTER FOUR

Transformation in the Hodayot

The very negative view of human nature in the Hodayot is well known:
the psalmist meditates ad nauseam on his identity as one created
from the dust and from clay, who is utterly unworthy of God's près-
ence, born into iniquity and unable, of his own accord, to under-
stand God's ways or meet his righteous demands. The theme is
47
obvious to the casual reader and has been much discussed.
The temptation is to latch on to this, certainly dominant, theme
48
and assume that the Hodayot have a fixed, inflexible anthropology.
However, there are some equally significant passages in which, as a
member of the community of the righteous who have already expe-
ricnccd God's salvation the psalmist speaks of his inclusion in the
heavenly angelic realm (11:21-23 [3:21-23]; 14:13 [6:13]; 19:10b 14
[11:10b 14]; 23:10 (frag. 2 i 10); 26:6-7). These, too, have been
much discussed and it is likely that they entail transformation to an
19
identity befitting life in the heavenly world. Because of the allusive,
poetic, nature of the Hodayot these texts are tantalizingly difficult to
interpret and it is not our purpose here to discuss them in any great
detail, but rather simply to recall their content and make some gen-
eral observations about their meaning. We shall return in later chap-
ters to discuss specific passages in the Hodayot in more detail.
One of the fullest statements of this theme is 1QH" 11:19-23
[3:19-23]:

I t h a n k y o u , L o r d , because y o u saved m y life from the p i t , a n d from

2 0
the Sheol o f A b a d d o n have lifted me up to an everlasting height
( ‫ ) ל ר ו ם ע ו ל ם‬, so that I can w a l k i n uprightness w i t h o u t l i m i t ( ‫א ת ה ל כ ה‬
‫ ) ב מ י ש ו ר ל א י ן ח ק ר‬. A n d I k n o w that there is a miqveh ( ‫ ) ם ק ו ה‬for some-
2 1
one y o u f o r m e d f r o m dust ( ‫ ) " צ ר ת ה מ ע פ ר‬for an everlasting c o m m u -
n i t y ( ‫ ) ל ס ו ד ע ו ל ם‬. T h e depraved spirit ) ‫ ׳‬o u have purified ( ‫ ) ט ה ר ת ה‬from
m u c h transgression so that he can stand i n position ( ‫) ל ה ת י צ ב ב מ ע מ ד‬
2 2
with the host o f the h o l y ones ( ‫ ) צ ב א ק ו ד ש י ם‬a n d can enter i n c o m -

4 ;
See, e.g., Holm-Nielsen 1960, 274-282; Lichtenberger 1980, 73-93.
4 8
There is also the danger—now a legacy of an older period of Qumran schol-
arship when fewer texts where published—of thinking that the anthropology of the
Hodayot is definitive for Qumran thought in general. But apart from 1QS 11:9—15
and a brief passage i n the Sabbath Songs (4Q400 2 5b-7) the very negative view of
humanity here is not otherwise attested in Q L .
4 5
K u h n 1966, 66-73; Brandenburger 1968, 103-4; Nickelsburg 1972, 152-54;
Lichtenberger 1980, 224-227.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 105

m u n i t y ( ‫ ) ב י ח ד‬w i t h the congregation o f the sons o f heaven. Y o u cast

2 3
for m a n an eternal lot w i t h the spirits o f knowledge to praise y o u r
n a m e i n the c o m m u n i t y o f j u b i l a t i o n (‫ ) ב י ח ד דגה‬a n d to recount y o u r
wonders before all y o u r creatures.

Docs this text describe a transformation to a new angelic identity?

It is not clear. Because the psalmist has been raised from the realm
of death (line 19) it would be natural to suppose that he now expe-
riences in this life, by virtue of his entry into the heavenly realm
(lines 21-23), the angelomorphic existence for which all Jews waited
after death and the general resurrection (cf., e.g., Dan 12:3; Mark
12:25 etc . . .). Indeed, this reading is consistent with other statements
in the Hodayot.
In 7:19-20 [15:16 17] it is said of the just man who experiences
"eternal salvation and endless peace" that God has "exalted his glory
above flesh (‫")ותרם מבשר כבודו‬. Even i f this is only a human "hon-
our" and "dignity" the language evokes the tradition in which divine
humanity transcends the realm of flesh which we have traced through
Sirach 45 and Jubilees 31. I n 15:23b—25 [7:23b‫־‬25] the psalmist
exclaims: "You, my Go]d, have saved my life, and lifted my horn
up high (‫)תרם קרני למעלה‬. I am radiant with sevefold li[ght] (‫הופעתי‬
50
‫ )בא]וד[ שבעתים‬in the li[ght which] you prepared for your Glory.
‫ג‬

(vacat) For you are my [ever] lasting luminary, and have established
my foot on the lev[el ground] ([‫)בם]ישור‬." What this means, exactly,
is not clear, though the psalmist is probably identified with the heav-
31
enly bodies, and therefore, by implication, the angels. I f our recon-
struction of the lacunae is right, then here the psalmist enters into
the light of God's own Glory.
In 18:27-28 [10:27-28] it is said of members of the community,
to whom God has given understanding, that "to the extent of their
knowledge they are glorified (‫)יכבדו‬, the one more than the other".
This reminds us of the organizational hierarchy within the commu-
nity (1QS 2:23; lQSa 1:18). Although this may be thought of as
merely a relative ranking of human "honour", we shall see later that
it corresponds very well to the liturgical hierarchy of divine Glory
in which the community are arranged during the worship of the
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

5 0
For this reconstruction, identifying the sevenfold light as the light which the
God creates for his own Glory see Holm-Nielsen 1960, 135-36.
‫ יי‬For the "sevenfold light" see Isa 30:26.
106 CHAPTER FOUR

The angelic identity of the righteous as a whole is perhaps in view

in 14:14 where they are described as princes (‫)שרים‬. And in 8:11
[16:3] the use of Isaiah 6:3c "the fullness of all the earth is your
Glory"—the Qedushah of the seraphim—might suggest a conscious
reflection on the privileged position of the human worshipper who
is able to sing the praises of the angels. But, on the whole, the new
identity of the righteous is more Geological than arçg«/ological. In
5:23-24 [13:17-18] those whose sins are forgiven are then

beautified with God's splendour and caused to rule ove[r an abun] dance
of pleasures with eternal peace (‫בהדרך חפארנו וחמט־לה]ו בר[וב עדנים‬
‫ )עם שלום עולם‬and length of days.

Here use of the verb ‫ פ א ר‬in association with God's splendour recalls
the priesdy tradition which traces God's beauty from Adam, through
Noah to the high priest (Exod 28; Sirach 45:7-8; 49:16-50:21; 1Q.19).
Indeed, there can be no doubt that this text is a fuller form of the
statement that to the righteous belongs "all the glory of Adam". The
verb ‫ מ ט ל‬appears in a number of other Qumran texts as an equiv-
aient for the ‫ ר ד ה‬of Adam's divine rule in Genesis 1:26, 28 (per-
52
haps under the influence of the ‫ תמשילהו‬of Ps 8:7). I n this context
the ‫עדנים‬, of course, alludes to Eden and the juxtaposition of all this
with the promise of longevity recalls the coupling of the inheritance
of Adam's glory and a long life in both I Q t T 4:14-15 [17:14-15]
53
and 4QpPs‫ ״‬3:1‫־‬2.
The theology of the Hodayot is radically theocentric. But this is
not an exclusive theocentricity which removes righteous humanity
from any participation in the divine life. On the contrary, it means
that i f God is to act in a peculiar way through some of his créa-
tures (the righteous), they must be taken up into his world, reality
and nature. The God of the Hodayot is so jealous for his own self
that his true humanity becomes the extension of both his being and
a
his action. l Q H 19:10-11 [11:10-11] we read "for the sake of your
Glory (‫)למען כבודכה‬, you have purified man from offence, so that he

5 2
4Q381 1 7; 4Q422 1:9; 4Q423 2 2; 4Q504 frag. 8 recto i 6, cf. 1QS 3:17,
1QH* 9:17 [1:17] and 4Q418 81 3. The language and interpretative connections
between these texts are discussed by Glickler-Chazon 1997. See also T . Elgvin in
DJD 34-509.
‫ ל‬3
The Adamic theme is continued in the next column where the psalmist has
tire knowledge of good and evil (6:11•121•‫־‬and the difference, therefore, between the
righteous and the wicked (6:8-22), (cf. 4Q303 8, 4Q422 1:10; Sirach 17:7).
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 107

can sanctify himself for you". Several times we hear of how God has
magnified himself in the psalmist ( 2 : 2 4 - 2 5 ]
5:15] 13:15;[4:8]1 2 : 8 ] ) . But, in thes
benefits is not one-way. In 10:24-25 [2:24-25] it is when God mag-
nifies himself in the speaker that the speaker is then able to stand
firm (‫ )עמד‬against the onslaught of chaos hurled at him by his ene-
mies (lines 25, 29-30).
All this is possible because the righteous now praise God "in the
tents of Glory and salvation (‫")באהלי כ ב ו ד וישועה‬, "in the hoPy] res-
5 4
idence ( , ( 2 0 : 2 - 3 )"(‫במעוןקו]דט‬ and
walks in God's presence "along the paths of Glory (‫")שבילי כבוד‬
( 7 : 1 5 ] 1 5 : 1 5 ] ) . Put in other words, the psalmist has
"Eden of Glory ( 8 : 4 - 2 6 ]16:4-26)"(‫ןכבוד‬ ‫ד‬
In evaluating the theme of human transcendence in the Hodayot
we should appreciate the significance of two parallel movements, one
vertical and one horizontal. The righteous have been raised up to the
heavenly realm and they have been taken into paradise. These two
movements belong together because they are each bound together
by a third movement into the cultic community.
We have just seen how the possession of the glory of Adam means
the possession of the position in creadon that God originally gave
Adam before his fall (5:23-24). Here the righteous are clothed with
God's splendour, ruling as Adam was to rule. In 16:21-26 [8:21-26]
the psalmist fulfils Adam's vocation to till and keep the garden, dig
55
its ditches and manage its irrigation system. This is powerful rhetoric
which will have a wide referential range: the psalmist lives in Eden
with the restored Adamic identity because he is free from sin and
the effects of the curse on Adam's sin, he has Adam's position over
the rest of creation, his relationship with the plants of paradise is a
metaphor for his relationship with his students, and so on. But per-
haps more than all these, we can be sure that the return to Eden
theme is possible because the community have access to the true
sanctuary which is, in turn, Eden.
Much of the Hodayot is a sustained and extended meditation on
the anthropology of Genesis 2:7 where Adam is formed from the
dust of the ground. It is this Adam who is a mere mortal, unable

5 4
See the parallel Cave 4 text (4Q427 3 2—3). Compare the similar expression
("tents of salvation") 4Q427 7 i 14.
5 5
Cf. Sirach 24:30-31 and Davila 1996, 462-63, 465.
108 CHAPTER FOUR

to stand in God's presence. How, then, can the same children of

Adam inherit all Adam's glory, ruling over creation if, before their
"fall", or departure from Eden, they are merely dust and clay? For
the Qumran community this is not a problem because the Adam
who is created in Genesis 2:7 has not yet entered the garden of Eden. This,
according to Essene thought happened forty days after Adam's orig-
inal creation (Jub. 3:8-14, cf. 4Q265 7 i i 11-17). And, furthermore,
the movement of Adam (and Eve) into Eden becomes a paradigm
for entry and full inclusion of the Israelite in the Temple and in the
6
holiness that it gives God's people.' This is, of course, because the
sanctuary (particularly the holy of holies) is equated with Eden (esp.
Jub. 8:19). So, the movement within the Hodayol from the status of
a creature of dust and clay to the exalted position of the prc-lap-
sarian Adam in the Eden of Glory is a movement from outside to inside
the cult arid the community it circumscribes.
This way of thinking is probably presumed in the passage cited
a
earlier ( l Q H 11:19-23) where the one "formed from the dust" (Gen
2:7) is taken into the "congregation of the sons of heaven". Through-
out the scrolls the experience of a communion with the angels is
cultic in conception: just as priests in general, and the high priest-
hood in particular, have a peculiar access to God and his presence
in the temple, so also it is this world which provides access to the
57
angels, God's heavenly entourage. Certainly, in this passage the
same basic movement into the sanctuary and the cosmology it pre-
scribes underlies the vertical movement into the heights above.
a 58
l Q H 11:19-23 is replete with cultic terminology. In the first
place, obviously, the purpose of God's salvation is so that the right-
eous might "enter in communion with the congregation of the sons
of heaven" where he praises God's Name "in the community of jubi-
59
lation" and tells of God's wonders before all God's works. This is
the heart of the cult, plain and simple. From other DSS texts we
know that membership of the "congregation of the sons of heaven"
required a cultic purity commensurate with communion with the

56
See Baumgarten 1994.
57
See in particular Mach 1992, 209-16.
5 8
Here I develop the observations of Maier 1964, 133 and Mach 1992, 212-213.
59
Praise before all God's works assumes, in part, the cult as microcosm: the cul-
tic community is the place where all creation meets and is bound by the people
that voices it praise.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 109

angelic realm (1QM 7:4-7; lQSa 2:3-9). So, as we would expect,

although they have been missed or, even, rejected by the commen-
tators, there are other aspects of this Hodayot passage which have the
cult and its purity in view.
In line 20 the psalmist thanks God because ‫אחהלכה כמישור לאין ח ק ר‬.
The precise nuance of the language is hard to gauge. Does ‫מישור‬
refer to the ethical purity of the psalmist (cf. line 21) or the level
ground whereon he walks? Whichever of these is in mind—and delib-
erate ambiguity is likely—the language probably picks up the only
biblical text where ‫ מישור‬and ‫ ה ל ך‬come together; Malachi 2:6 where
it is the angelic priest who walks in integrity (‫ )במישור הלך‬with God.
An allusion to that text is fitting because here in the Hodayot there
is die suggestion that the speaker has precisely the kind of angelic
identity which Qumran readers found in Malachi 2, as Jubilees 31
60
testifies. As we shall see this is one of several significant citadons
or allusions to Malachi 2 where the transformed, angelic priesthood
of the Qumran community is in view.
In line 21 God has purified (‫ )םהרחה‬the depraved spirit from great
offence. In the Qumran context, as in the Hebrew Bible (Lev 11:32;
13:34, 58; 14:8-9 etc. . .), the language of purification (‫יי‬/‫ )טהר‬car-
ries with it the full sense of ritual and cultic purification. There is no
justification for thinking that its "root" meaning has "passed over
into a more common usage of the cleansing God gives by declar-
ing the sinner pure, without the undertaking by man of any ritual
61
cleansing process". Purification from sin at Qumran (as indeed
throughout late Second Temple Judaism) required specific ritual and
sacrificial acts of cleansing, particularly through the sprinkling of
water or immersion therein. There is no license for thinking that
62
here the case is otherwise.
To expect the Hodayot to spell out those ritual acts is to ignore
the limitations of its genre—psalmody. As it is, our passage gives
away more of a ritual perspective than it need. In line 20 the psalmist

6 0
The Qumran reader of M a i 2:6 could have found in ‫ במישור ה ל ך‬a reference
not just to the integrity of Levi, but also to his access to the cult and its heavenly
character. Whether an allusion to M a i 2:6 means the speaker i n 1QH* 11:19-23
is a priest is hard to tell. Other considerations (see below) suggest a priestly image
has been extended to apply to the life of all community members.
61
As Holm-Nielsen 1960, 68 claims.
62
The point should not really need making. The sceptical reader need only con-
suit the concordances for the root ‫ ט ה ר‬.
110 CHAPTER FOUR

knows that "there is a miqveh ( ! ‫ " ) מ ק ו ד‬for the one whom God creates
from dust. Here the word ! ‫ מ ק ו ד‬is universally translated "hope".
Whilst this fits the context—the fate of those in the pit and the sheol
of Abaddon would be hopeless—the word's other meaning—a pool
hl
of gathered water (Gen 1:10 (+ Gen 1:9 according to 4QGen and
k 63
4QGen ); Exod 7:19; Lev 11:36; Sir 50:3)—must also be present.
In rabbinic literature a miqveh is a deep pool used for ritual immer-
sion. We know that these pools were already in use in the Has-
64
monean period and were a key part of religious life at Qumran.
There is probably enough in the scrolls to suggest that the word
already has something of the technical sense that it would receive
by the rabbinic period.
65
There are such stepped pools for immersion at Khirbct Qumran.
Both the Community Rule and the Damascus Document assume their use
as a necessary part of the movement's life (1QS 3:4-6; CD 10:11-13)
as does Josephus in his description of the Essenes (B.J. 2:129—32;
66
138; 149-50; 160-61). Late Second Temple Judaism found the
need for pools of water which would allow full immersion for a vari-
ety of rites of purification, not all of which are explicit in scripture.
In this the Qumran community, with its own peculiar understand-
67
ing of particular uses for immersion, was no exception. I n the
absence of a full sacrificial system it is understandable that the Qum-
ran community would intensify the use of immersion for purifica-
tion, atonement and rites of passage.
In the context of a passage where God's forgiveness is celebrated
and the language of purification (‫ )טהר‬is used it is hard to believe that
earlier translators and commentators have not seen a reference to a
a 68
ritual immersion pool in the miqveh of l Q H 11:20 [3:20]. With

63
The possibility is considered but rejected by Holm-Nielsen I960, 67. For a
play on the two meanings of the word mpD see Jer 17:13 and m. Torna 8:9.
64
For the literary and archaeological evidence for miqva'St see Sanders 1990,
214 227; Sanders 1992, 222-229.
r
65
For the immersion pools at the Qumran site see Wood 1984; Pfann 1999,
349-50. Older generations of Qumran scholarship resisted the miqveh interpretation
of these pools.
66
See the thorough discussion in Webb 1991, 113-116, 133-162.
67
For peculiar sectarian bathing halakhah see Baumgarten 1999b on 4Q414 and
4Q512, and DJD 35:135-154.
68
Cf. 4Q511 52+ 2 "sp]ring of purity (‫־‬1m0n), miqveh (‫ )סקר‬of glory". For ‫מ ק ד‬
‫נהרות‬, "reservoirs of the rivers" see 1 Q M 10:13. Here the association with rivers,
recalls the fact that miqva'St were to be filled with living, running water. I n every
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 111

purification and forgiveness there is a transition in our text from the

realm of death (the pit, the Sheol of Abaddon) to new life and con-
current transition from non-membership to membership of the con-
gregation of the sons of heaven. In both respects these movements
evoke an act of ritual immersion.
The psalmist has been in the realm of death where he would have
contracted corpse impurity. I n accordance with Numbers 19 (esp. v.
19) and Leviticus 22:4-6, and the Qumran view that immersion
should take place on the first, third and seventh day of the period
of cleansing (11QT 49:17-20, 4Q414 + 4Q512, cf. Tob 2:5), removal
69
from the Sheol of Abaddon would require immersion. Only a miqveh
of water has the life force to overcome the contagion of death (Lev
11:36).
Access to sacred space, in particular for the priesthood, was marked
by ablutions, including bathing (T. Levi 9:11; T. Levi 2:3 Β 1-2, cf.
Jub. 21:16a; m. Tom. 3:3; Philo Spec. Leg. 1:269; P. Oxy. 840 2). Accord-
ing to Josephus the Essenes required bathing in preparation for the
daily communal meal (War 2:129—32). For the Qumran community
the man who converts to the life of the true Israel has to purify his
flesh, be sprinkled (‫" )להזות‬with waters of purification" (‫ )כמי נדה‬and
sanctified with waters of purity (1QS 3:8-9). This statement in the
Community Rule is significant because it uses language from Numbers
19:21 ("with waters of purification") which is only used in the Hebrew
Bible for the removal of corpse impurity. This seems to imply that
"conversion" to the life of the Qumran movement requires cleans-
ing from the impurity of death incurred for all those outside of the
a
community. When l Q H 11:19-23 and 1QS 3:8-9 are read together

other instance of the word ‫ י‬/ ‫ ם ק ו ה‬in the DSS the sense of something gathered (1QH*
20:25, 29 {12:25, 29); 4Q.185 1-2 i 12 (contrast the scattering i n line 11) 4Q381
28 3) or something appropriate for the process of forgiveness and purification is
present. The miqveh kavod of 20:29 appears i n a similar context to the miqveh of
11:20 and the two passages are mutually interpretative. I n 1 Q I T 14:6; 17:14 [6:6;
9:14]; 4QJ85 1-2 i 7, although the translators find only "hope", reference to for-
giveness from sin or God's wrath on the unworthy suggests that a ritual bathing
pool is also, i f not primarily, in view. The author of the Hodayot uses another word,
mpn, (12:27; 14:32; 17:12 [3:27; 6:32; 9:12], cf. 1 Q M 11:9) when he wants to speak
of hope, and hope alone.
6 9
For 4Q512 and 4Q414 see Eshel 1997 and Baumgarten 1999b. Cf. T o b 2:5,
9; Josephus C. Ap. 2:198; Philo Spec. Leg. 3:205-207, cf. 1.261. I n 1QH" 11:24 the
psalmist says that he is "surrounded with water (‫")םנבל כמים‬. Does this language
and the theme of a watery conflagration threatening the psalmist throughout col-
umn 11 evoke, or liturgically presume, the actual position of the speaker i n a mikveh?
112 CHAPTER FOUR

they both, in their own genre-specific ways, claim that entry into
the Qumran community entails purification from death and its effects:
70
conversion entails resurrection.
Clearly, then, there are at least three simultaneous movements in
the Hodayot. The righteous have been taken upwards from the tran-
sient world of dust and clay below to the eternal heights. This is
related to the archetypal transfer of the first formed Adam to the
glorious Eden. Both these movements have a concrete liturgical life-
setting in the cult which gives life where there had been death, eter-
nity where there had been mortality, understanding where there had
been ignorance, and so on. To the extent that the Hodayot assume,
or articulate, an immortal, glorious and "divine" humanity they do
so in the context of a particular reading of primeval history which
is nourished by a particular liturgical context."
Precisely what relationship the theology and anthropology of the
Hodayot has with the cultic life of the community could bear further
fruitful critical reflection. The possibility must be considered, for
example, that the tension between the exalted and a transformed
identity on the one hand and the earthly, fleshly creature of clay on
the other, is not so much, or even primarily, a matter of an escha-
2
tological tension between a now and a not yet,' as between differ-
ent modes, times and places within the liturgical and cultic world.
We shall return to consider other aspects of the Hodayot and its litur-
gical life setting in later chapters. For now we turn to the commu-
nity's Wisdom literature for further evidence of its belief in a divine
humanity.

'° Whether or not the waters of the Red Heifer were actually used for the cir-
cumstances envisaged i n 1QS 3:8-9 the point, which is missed by Webb 1991,
144—45, is that conversion is regarded as a transition from death to life.
‫ יי‬Precisely what relationship the hymnic material we have examined has to the
various liturgical contexts that constituted the community's life is hard to tell. I do
not wish to press the relationship between transformation and conversion into a
reconstructed covenant renewal ceremony, or the relationship between transforma-
tion and removal of corpse impurity and a specific use of immersion pools in the
removal of corpse impurity. Our point is simply that liturgy and cult are conccptu-
ally inseparable from theological anthropology in this particular Qumran hymnic
material.
1 2
So, e.g., Nickelsburg 1972, 154.
 Λ DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 113

1Qf 4QInslructwn

1 Q/4QInstruction, prior to the edilio princeps known as 4QSapiential

Work A, provides another witness to the Essene movement's angelo-
3
morphic humanity tradition.' This text is the longest Wisdom text
from Qumran extant in at least seven copies, one of these coming
7 4
from cave l . It was evidendy of some importance to the Qumran
community and its language overlaps to some degree with the lan-
guage of certainly "sectarian" scrolls (e.g. the Community Rule, the
Damascus Document, the Hodayot). The text's precise relationship (includ-
ing its relative date) to the Qumran community and Essenism is hard
to judge given that much of it is evidently written for a laity living
normal, non-monastic, married lives. Some would date the work well
before the formation of the Qumran community and have distanced
5
its concerns from those of the priestly Essenism.' However, it is
equally likely to be a text written in the early stages of the move-
merit's formation primarily for a lay order of Essenes living in the
towns and villages of Israel away from Qumran; the order of mar-
ried Essenes to whom Josephus refers (B.J. 2:160-1). As we shall
see, in the next chapter, there is at least one portion of the work
(4Q418 81) where there is present a theology of priesthood closely
akin to that otherwise known to figure prominently in the earliest
texts of the Qumran community. At any rate its presence in the
QL, in so many copies, certainly attests its authoritative status in
matters which concern us here.

,
Humanity s Creation According to the Pattern of the Angeb

Within this sapiential work a passage attested in two manuscripts

(4Q417 1 [formerly frag. 2] i 14-18 and 4Q418 43 10-14) provides
a tantalizingly discussion of God's revelation to a "people of spirit":
14
understanding one ( ‫ ב ץ‬0 ) , i n h e r i t y o u r r e w a r d i n the remembrance
o f the t i [ m e f o ] r it comes. E n g r a v e d i s / t h e / { y o u r } ordinance, a n d
1 5
o r d a i n e d is all the visitation for engraved is that w h i c h is o r d a i n e d

;:)
For the text see Harrington 1994, 139-52, esp. 144-45; Harrington 1996,
40-59; Kampen 1998, 227-229; J. Strugnell and D J . Harrington in DJD 34 (1999).
4
' 1Q26, 4Q415, 4Q416, 4Q417, 4Q418, 4Q418a, 4Q423. A l l the manuscripts
of l Q / 4 Q I n s t r u c t i o n are written in the Herodian formal hand o f the late first cen-
-
tun B.C. or early first century A . D .
‫ 'י‬Lange 1995, 47 49, cf. Harrington 1994, 137-52; DJD 34.
114 chapter four

(‫)הרות מחוקק‬ by God against all the in\iquity\ of the sons of Seth, and
16
a book of remembrance is written i n his presence for those who
keep his word. And this is the vision of Hagi ( ‫ )חזון ה ה ד‬on a book of
memorial. He gave it as an inheritance to Enosh/man (‫ )לאנוש‬together
17
with a people of spirit (‫)עם ע ם רוח‬, for according to the pattern of
the holy ones (‫ ) כ ת כ נ י ת קדושים‬is his fashioning, but no more has Med-
itation (Hagu) been given to the spirit of flesh ( ‫ ) ל ר ו ח ב ש ר‬for it knew
18
not the difference between good and evil according to the judge-
ment of his [Sp]irit. (vacai) And you, understanding son (‫ ) ו א ת ה ב ן מבין‬,
consider the mystery of existence (‫ נהיה‬Γ Ο ) and know.

This passage presents numerous interpretative difficulties and the var-

6
ious translations that have been offered differ widely.' What are the
"vision of Hagi" (cf. the "Book of Hagi" in CD 10:6; 13:2; 14:7-8)
and the "book of memorial" (cf. Mal 3:16 and CD 20:19)? Are they;
identical with each other, references to the To rah (or a part thereof),
an esoteric tradition such as the Enoch corpus or, perhaps even,
Sapiential Work A itself? Is the Hebrew ‫ אנוש‬a reference to the indi-
vidua! Enosh, the son of Seth, who is named in the previous line?
Or is Seth a wholly negative character in this text (Num 24:17 "He
shall destroy all the children of Seth", cf. CD 7:20; 4QTest 13; 1QM
11:6) and is, therefore, the word ‫ אנוש‬simply intended as a generic
reference to humanity, as it is elsewhere (e.g. 1QS 3:17; 1QH" 9:25,
32, 34 [1:25, 32, 34])? How should we translate and interpret the
difficult, but pivotal expression ‫ כתבנית קדושים יצרו‬in line 17, which
we have rendered in as ambiguous a way as possible: "according to
the pattern of the holy ones is his fashioning"? Are the "holy ones"
human beings or angels? These questions have already received exten-
77
sive discussion in the secondary literature.
It may not be possible to resolve with certainty these problems:
it is in the very nature of the text that the reader is assumed to
understand the mysteries and the esoteric revelation which is described
and, therefore, the original author might be quite content for the
meaning of his words to remain obscure to scholars in the twenti-
eth ,century who are not members of his community!
However, some interpretative observations are not in doubt and
the balance of probabilities favours a reference at the beginning of
line 17 to the creation of the true humanity according to the pat-

76
See Collins 1997b, 608-9.
77
See Lange 1995, 45-92; Harrington 1996, 54-56; Elgvin 1998, 139-147;
Collins 1997b, 117-127; Collins 1999; Strugnell and Harrington in DJD 34 ad toe.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 115

tern of the angels, the holy ones. On this reading a revelation, the
vision of Hagi, which is perhaps synonymous with the book of memo-
rial, has been given either to Enosh and his successors ("a people
of spirit"), or to the true humanity (Adam (= enosh) and "a people of
spirit") because God has fashioned them according to the pattern of
78
the angelic holy ones. John J. Collins in particular has provided
79
exegetical and history-of-religions support for this interpretation.
Collins argues that enosh should be taken as a reference to Adam,
the original human being, on analogy with the way this word is used
in the Instruction on the Two Spirits in the Community Rule (1QS 3:17).
The creation of Adam "in the image of the holy ones" is then an
example of a more widely attested phenomenon according to which
humanity was created angelomorphic. The passage is perhaps even
an early example of the interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27 accord-
ing to which the creation of humanity "in our image and likeness . . .
in the image of elohim" is taken to mean "in the image of the angels,
the gods". The distinction between a "people of spirit" and the "spirit
80
of flesh" suggests a contrast between two kinds of humanity. For
this Collins makes a suggestive comparison with Philo's reading of
Genesis 1-3 as an account of a creation of two types of men; the
81
one a heavenly man (Genesis 1) and the other earthly (Genesis 2-3).
Not all the details of Collins' argument are entirely convincing,
but then they do not need to be for the essential thrust of his inter-
82
pretation to be right. Even i f enosh refers to the individual Enosh

7 8
The alternative view that it is the Book of Hagi which is either "created as a
sacred blueprint" (Wacholder and Abcgg 1991-6, vol. 2, p. xiii) or fashioned "as
a model for the hoiy ones" (Elgvin 1998, 140) does insufficient justice to the Hebrew
and offers no obvious interpretation. Harrington's translation (Harrington 1996, 53,
cf. DJD 34:155) which we have followed, and which does not seem to depend on
the angelomorphic humanity interpretation, is the most natural.
7 9
Collins 1999, cf. Woude 1998, 36-7 who sees i n 1 Q/4QInstruction two types
of humanity: "a spiritual people i n the likeness of the holy ones and men of a 'spirit
of flesh'."
8 0
A r m i n Lange's view that the "people of spirit" refers to angels (Lange 1995,
88) is righdy rejected by others (Elgvin 1998, 141, n. 72; Collins 1999, 616). Nowhere
else in Jewish literature of the period is ‫ ע ם‬used of angels and it is not at all clear
why angels should need the kind of revelation described here.
81
Ibid. pp. 615-17.
8 2
Collins' argument that 4QInstruction has derived the fashioning of man accord-
ing to the pattern of the holy ones from a reading of Genesis 1:26-7 i n which
‫ ח ב נ י ת‬is regarded as equivalent to ‫ ד מ ו ת‬is not entirely convincing. That elohim has
been treated as a genuine plural signifying the angels is certainly possible, but
Collins' evidence for the synonymity in Q L of ‫ ת כ נ י ת‬and ‫ ד מ ו ת‬is hardly compelling.
 116 CHAPTER FOUR

as the recipient of revelation our text might want to legitimise a par-

ticular community as the recipients of revelation on the grounds that
they belong to an angelomorphic genealogy stretching back to the
83
patriarchs including Enosh and, perhaps, Seth. Even if our author
is not reading Genesis 1—3 in a way that is similar to that adopted
by Philo, this might still mean that he thought true humanity was
created according to the pattern of the angelic holy ones. Indeed,
there are numerous considerations, besides those offered by Collins,
which support his proposal.
(1) In the first place there can be no doubt that our passage is
oriented to creation as it is originally intended. In the wider con-
text of this portion of lQ/4QInstruction (4Q417 1 i 1-13 = 4Q418
1- 10) the sage is exhorted to meditation on the raz niliye.h (‫ נהיה‬η ,
4Q417 1 i 6), so that he might know the difference between good
and evil '(line 8, restored with 4Q418 43-45 i 6), that he might
"walk [perfectly (‫[ )התהלכו] ח[מים‬in all] his [djceds" (4Q417 1 i
M
\2), so that he "will know of die glory (‫ )תדע ככבוד‬of [His] m[ighl
wi]th his wonderful mysteries and his mighty deeds" (line 13). In a
similar vein the exhortation continues in the rest of the column
(4Q417 1 i 18b-27 = 4Q418 43 14b-17). What is meant by the
raz nikyeh is little clearer than the identity of the "Book of Hagi",
but within the larger context of our text it certainly includes refer-
85
ence to the original order of creation. The desire to know the dif-
ference between good and evil attests to the tradition, otherwise known
from Sirach 17:7, that in the original creation God did purpose for
Adam and Eve to know what the tree of knowledge promised to
give them. That this ability to discern between good and evil is the
express purpose of Wisdom in its role as a restorer o f the primeval
b
order is attested elsewhere in the scrolls (4Qmysteries (4Q300) 3
a 86
2- 3, cf. 1 Q H 6:11-12 [14:11-12]).

The brief and highly elliptical line 4Q403 1 ii 3 to which he appeals for this (fol-
lowing, presumably Newsom in DJD 11:284) is only faintly reminiscent of Ezekiel
1:28 and is hardly a warrant for Collins' claim that ‫" ח מ י ה‬is used for (he likeness
of God's glory, where Ezekiel 1:28 used 613 ,1999) "‫)רמות‬.
8 3
Compare the Shem, Seth, Enosh chain in Sirach 49:16 which bears the respon-
sibility for divine Glory from Adam through to Israel and her high priest Simon.
81
For this walking perfectly see also 4Q417 I ii 5.
8 5
Compare esp. 4-Q416 I which is probably the introductory column of the work
(Harrington 1996, 4 1 ; DJD 34:8). For raz nihyeh as the mysteries of creation sec
Schiffman 1994, 206-7; Kampen 1998, 229; DJD 34:35.
8
‫יי‬ In another fragmentary portion of our work the garden of Eden comes sped-
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY I N THE DSS 117

As we saw in the previous chapter the belief that humanity was

originally created angelomorphic is widely attested in contemporary
87
Jewish texts. The belief in an originally angelomorphic humanity
in the context of a Wisdom text's attempt to rediscover the pre-lap-
sarian order of creation is an entirely unsurprising expression of an
Essene realized cschalology as a the reflex of proiology. As for the view
that humanity's ability to discern between good and evil is a reflec-
lion of an angelomorphic identity, this is already stated i n the
Hebrew Bible, for in 2 Samuel 14:17 the woman of Tckoa addresses
David "my lord the king is like the angel of God, discerning good
and evil."
(2) Secondly, as Collins appreciates, the distinction between a "peo-
pic of spirit" and a "spirit of flesh" is certainly consistent with the
view that humanity is created according to the pattern of the angels.
(I hesitate to translate "spiritual people" because in English parlance
this expression is weaker than is demanded by the sharp contrast
with the "spirit of flesh"). As we have already seen in pre-Essene
and in other Qumran texts we find similar language to describe the
divine humanity which has somehow been removed from the realm
88
of flesh (Sirach 45:4; Jubilees 31:14; 1 Q I T 7:19-20 [15:16-17]).
Although the language in our text is without exact parallel it is
indicative of a general concern within the angelomorphic tradition
to articulate human identity in terms o f the transcendence of the
"flesh". Just what this means for our text is hard to say and it should
be noted that there is no evidence that the author of Sapiential Work
A holds to a dualism between flesh and spirit which entails an entirely
negative view of flesh per se.
Positively, the "spirit" to which the people belong is associated in
context with God's own Spirit, whose judgement they appear to
know (line 17). In another portion of the work (4Q416 2 iii 20-iv
4 = 4Q418 10 ‫־‬39) there is instruction for the married man where
flesh and spirit language is used with no relative value judgement
made for one over the other. When the couple arc joined together
the man is to "walk together with the helpmeet of your flesh" and,

fically into view and it appears the righteous have been "given authority over it,
to (ill it and care for i t " (4Q423 2 2)(
!
" Collins 1999, 615 only cites late rabbinic tradition: Gen. Rab. 14:3; 21:5 and
Exod. Rab. 30:16.
8,1
For a discussion of the flesh—spirit antithesis in 1 C)/4Qinstruction see Frey
2000.
 118 CHAPTER FOUR

as Genesis 2:24· stipulates, they are to "become one flesh". The hus-
band is told that his wife "is the flesh of [your] nakfedness]", that
his spirit has been given authority to revoke vows she makes (cf.
Numbers 30) and that "over her spirit] he has been given domin-
ion". There may be here an implicit hierarchy between flesh and
spirit, but it is not developed and there is a thoroughly positive
appreciation of both aspects of reality.
But there are also other passages in which the disparaging posi-
tion given to flesh is present. I n 4Q416 1, which probably repre-
sents the opening column of the work, "every spirit of flesh" appears
to be a part of a picture of those who are to incur God's coming
judgement (line 12) and there is possibly a reference in the same
context to "the [incli|na(ion of flesh".
(3) Then, thirdly, there arc other several passages in l Q / 4 Q I n -
struction Which seem also to speak of a heavenly humanity which
89
has overcome the normal limits of earthly existence.

4Q418 69: 'Tlie Immortal and Tlieir Freedom from Toil

4Q418 69 might refer in line 7 to a group of humans, the right-
eous, who are "all those who will endure forever (‫)נהיה עולם‬, those
who investigate the truth (!‫")דורשי אמר‬. The editors, Strugncll and
Harrington think that "those who investigate truth" are (suprahu-
man) angels. But there is no warrant for this language used of any-
one other than the righteous either in the rest of 1 Q/4QInstruction
90
or elsewhere in the language of the Q L . I f this is the right trans-
lation of the difficult Hebrew expression ‫ נהיה עולם‬and suprahuman
angels are not in view, then clearly the righteous possess an immor-
91
tality of some sort.

8 9
So, rightly, Harrington 1996, 57-8; Strugncll and Harrington DJD 34:14, 33.
90
I n 4Q417 1 i i 13 a similar expression (‫ )לאמת תדרוש‬is evidently used of the
maoen. Similar language (for example, ‫ ד ע ת‬ΒΓΠΚ i n 4 Q 4 I 6 2 i i i 13 and ‫דרוש משפטיו‬
in 4Q418 81 7) is always used of humanity i n lQ/4QInstruction. And, in general,
the phrase evokes similar expressions (‫ ד ו ר ש התורה‬and ‫ )רורשי ה ח ל ק ו ת‬of humanity
elsewhere in recognisably sectarian texts. Strugnell and Harrington provide no par-
allel for the use of such terminology for angels.
91
For the problems here see DJD 34:286-7. Strugnell and Harrington wonder
whether the statement that these "investigators o f truth" will "rouse themselves to
judge you" in what follows "does not. . . seem less appropriate for a human group?"
(DJD 34:286). O n the contrary the notion that the righteous shall judge the "chil-
dren of iniquity" (line 8) is everywhere present i n the Judaism of the period.
 Λ DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 119

At any rate an angelomorphic life for the righteous is not in doubt

in the lines of 4Q418 69 that follow. Lines 10-15 arc addressed to
the "elect of truth (DON ‫ ")בחירי‬and are an exhortation to the weary
to continue to their pursuit of knowledge and understanding, by
appeal to God's untiring labours (lines 11-12) and those o f "the
s[ons] of heaven":
13
And the s[ons of] heaven, whose inheritance is eternal life, do they
really say: "We are weary of doing the works of truth, and [we] have
tired[ of them ] " in all times"? Do [t]he[y] not wal[k] in eternal
light? [. . . Gljory and abundant splendour (‫( )כ[ בור ורוב הדר‬are) with
15 92
them in the firmaments.

Harrington and Strugnell consider the possibility that it is the bcati-

lied who arc here described, but they [)refer a reading according to
which the life of the angels is a model and inspiration for the right-
eous: "The heavenly angels, who are usually considered in Judaism . . .
as 'ever-watchful', έγρήγοροι, are thus. . . indefatigable, like God;
53
should not the human elect be also?" "The 'Sons of Heaven' (angels)
appear as models for unwearing involvement in God's truth and for
eternal participation in God's glory. The assumption seems to be
that the righteous can even now participate in some degree i n the
eternal contemplation and happiness of the angels who dwell in the
94
heavenly court."
We can probably go further than this and determine the argu-
ment's Sitz im lieben more narrowly. The view that in these lines it
is the angels who are directly in view and the righteous only indi-
rectly must be doubted. Where else in Q L or contemporary Jewish
traditions do angels have an "inheritance"? This is the privilege of
95
the human elect, not angels. Again, where do angels "walk in eter-
96
nal light"? This is the lot of the righteous (Ps 56:4: "that I may
walk before God in the light of fife", cf. Isa 9:1; 42:16; Ps 89:16; Job
97
29:3; Neh 9:12, 19; 1QS 3:20; John 8:12 e t c . . . ) . The argument

2
" Judging by P A M 41.097 the end of line 14 is complete, although the editors
suggest a lacuna after "with them".
53
DJD 34:284.
91
DJD 34:14.
95
DJD 34:290 the editors see the problem but assert that "‫י‬/‫ נחל‬with a mention
of angels, however, is not unattested". The assertion is unsubstantiated.
'‫ *־‬Again the editors claim that such a "statement is frequently made about angels"
(DJD 34:291), though they give no examples.
‫ יי׳‬The light of G o d in the fiery pillar by which the Israelites walk i n their
 120 CHAPTER FOUR

of lines 13—15 is better taken, therefore, as an appeal to the cate-

gory of being—"heavenly sonship"—to which the righteous belong
(and which will include both humans and angels in the heavenly
mode): "you elect of truth arc weary, but you are sons of heaven
and they do not tire because they walk in eternal light, in the glory
98
and abundance of the firmament". This understanding of "sons of
heaven" as a broad category including both the transformed right-
cous and angels proper is in accord with the use of the expression
elsewhere (e.g. 1 Enoch 101:1; 1QIT 11:22; 2 Mace 7:34).
That the righteous, the truly elect, inhabit the firmament with
"glory (‫ )כבוד‬and a multitude of splendour (‫( ")הדר‬cf. Ps 8:6 "You
have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with
glory and honour (‫ )")ככור והדר‬is entirely in accord with the tradi-
tion o f cultic anthropology we have been tracing. Indeed, within the
Wisdom tradition it is specifically the cult that offers a heavenly
world and toil-free labour. In the cult and the world that it opens
up the righteous, like God and his angels, are free from toil and no
longer weary because Eden is restored, the curse on labour conse-
quent on the fall is undone and even the prohibition against work-
ing on the Sabbath is transcended as the worshippers participate in
God's own effortless activity. As we have seen the clearest statement
of this kind of thinking is provided by Ben Sira, a work close in
time and provenance to 1 Q/4QInstruction.
This may seem like reading too much between the lines of a text
which is otherwise free of matters cultic. But, i n the broader sweep
of the liturgical anthropology which we are surveying, it makes, I
think, the best sense of the rhetoric of 4Q418 69, particularly the
movement from a second person address in lines 10 11 to a third
person in line 13—14 where the addressees are directed to the ontol-
ogy of worship. Wc shall come in the next chapter to see how much

wilderness wanderings (Exod 13:21; 14:19; Neh 9:12, 19 e t c . . . ) is particularly

important because of the identification with the perpetual light of God's supernal
presence and the light of the menorah tended at the T a m i d offering (cf. Fletcher-
Louis 2001b, ad Sirach 24:4). It is, of course, true that angels can walk (Gen 18-19;
Tobit passim) and they are regularly associated with light, but "walking in the light"
is a specific phrase otherwise reserved for humanity.
9 8
I fail to see the logic of the claim that the view that the sons of heaven include
righteous humanity is "ruled out by the fact that the text has moved from being
an address in the 2nd plural to being a question in the 3rd plural" (DJD 34:290).
It is as i f my father were to exhort me "Crispin you are a Fletcher, and do they
behave that way?"
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 121

in fact the liturgy and the theology of a heavenly priesthood has

informed parts of lQ/4QInstruction. But even in this passage there
are significant indications that a cultic world is in mind. The "glory"
and "splendour" recalls the vision of worship in Sirach 50 and antic-
ipates that of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice to which we shall come
later. The end of line 12 seems to refer to knowledge serving God."
For this the closest parallel is the statement in Sirach 24:10 that in
the wilderness Tabernacle Wisdom "ministered" before God; a state-
ment that is fully explained in Sirach 50 where the priesthood incar-
nates Wisdom and the order of the world she inhabits.

4Q416 2 Hi (— 4QJ18 9): Hie Ethical Implications of a Divine Anthropology

In 4Q418 69 appeal to the heavenly identity of the righteous is made
as the grounds for a particular lifestyle: effortless pursuit of wisdom.
Another portion of 1 Q/4QInstruction makes a similar ethical use of
the work's positive theological anthropology.
10
. . . And in righteousness you shall walk, for God will cause his
[countenanjee to shine in all your ways. For the one who glorifies you
manifest splendour (‫)למכבדיבה חן הדר‬.

Here we encounter the theme which is now familiar from the Hoclayot:
the vocation of the divine humanity is to manifest the god who has
given humanity its exalted privilege. On the grounds that the right-
cous person is the bearer of God's own presence the passage then
has a section on the importance of respect for one's parents. In
4Q416 2 iii 15-17 = 4Q418 9 17-18) we read:
16
Glorify your father (‫ )כבוד אביכה‬in your poverty, and your mother
in your low estate. For as God is to a man, so is his father (‫כי כאל‬
17
,(‫לאיש כןאכיהו‬ and as •the Lord is to a man, so is
they arc "the womb that was pregnant with you"; and just as he has
set them in authority over you and fashioned according to the Spirit, so
111
serve them. And as they have uncovered your ear to the mystery
of being, glorify them (‫ )כבדם‬for the sake of your own glory (‫)כבודכה‬.
19
And with [reverence] venerate their persons, for the sake of your life and
of the length of you days (vacat).

The theological anthropology of the previous lines is related in two

significant ways to the relationship between parent and child. (1)

3 3
The editors read and reconstruct the lacuna: "ΌΓΤ10Π[ ‫( " ו ד ע ה ] ל נ צ ח‬and does
not "knowledge [forever] serve Him?") (DJD 34:282-83).
122 CHAPTER FOUR

First, the claim that the righteous man bears God's presence sub-
stantiates the view that the authority of a father over his son is anal-
ogous to that between God and man. The observation is psychologically
unremarkable, but should not be belittled for that. What is said here
is close to what Aseneth says of Jacob, Joseph's father m Joseph and
Aseneth 22:3:

And Aseneth said to Joseph: " I will go and see your father, because
your father Israel is as a father to me and (a) god (ώς πατέρ μοί έστι
και θεός)."

Jacob is obviously viewed as Aseneth's adoptive parent and her liken-

ing him to a god is explained in what follows by his appearance as
a gigantic angelomorphic divine man will! a glorious, epiphanic
appearance, who has wrestled with God and before whom Aseneth
prostrates' herself in veneration (22:7-8). There is evciy reason to
imagine a similar view of patriarchy is present in 1 Q/4QInstructicjn.
(2) Secondly, the similarity of relationship between God and a
man, and a father and a son extends to the way in which the per-
sonality of the superior in each relationship inhabits the life of the
inferior. God makes his countenance shine in the life of the right-
eous. The son's well-being is bound up with that of his father as
Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16 have stated. For our Wisdom
text this is undoubtedly because the Father lives on in and through
his seed, his children (cf. Sirach 30:4-5; 44:10-15). "The glory of
100
one's father is one's own glory" (Sirach 3:1 la). Time is a perichorelic
relationship between father and son which minors that between God and tire
righteous.

So, in conclusion, there is much else besides the arguments offered

by Collins to support the view that as a whole lQ/4QInstruction
believed the true humanity to be angclomoiphic and created "accord-
ing to the pattern of the (angelic) holy ones". This, of course, is
entirely consistent with wider Esscne interests although the work may
be. pre-Essene in origin.

100
Comparison between 4Q41G 2 i i i 16-19 and Sirach 3:1-16 has rightly been
drawn (Elgvin 1995, 560 n. 5) and Sirach 3:16a is particularly important: "who-
ever forsakes a father is like a blasphemer". Equally, important is the interpréta-
tion of the Sluma' in Sirach 7:27—31 where love of God is understood in terms of
honouring of one's father (and mother and the priesthood).
 Λ DIVINE AND ANGELIG HUMANITY IN THE DSS 123

Josephus on Essene Theological Anthropology

There has been considerable discussion of die relationship between

Josephus' account(s) of the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls them-
selves. This has obviously been driven, in part, by the desire to estab-
lish whether or not the Essenes of classical sources were the owners
of the Dead Sea Scroll library in the caves behind Khirbet Qum-
ran. Whilst the details of Josephus' description of the Essenes has
been scrutinized in considerable detail, there is one portion of Jose-
phus' work which has received surprisingly little attention.

r
Herod's View of the Suprahuman Essenes (Josephus Ant. L ):‫׳״‬3712)

In his Jewish Antiquities 15:371-2 Josephus mentions the exemption

of the Essenes from Herod's obligatory oath of allegiance. He promises
to say more of this group later, but at this juncture he states that,

It is, however, proper to explain what reason Herod had for holding
the Essenes in honour and for having a higher opinion of them than
was consistent with their merely human nature (μείζον τι φρονων έπ'
αύτοίς ‫ ןז‬κατά την θνητήν φύσιν). For such an explanation is not out of
place in a work of history, since it will at the same time show what
the (general) opinion of these men was (τηνυπέρ τούτων ΰπόληχιν).

This is a remarkable statement which at first glance appears to be

a round about way of saying that by Herod and others in general
the Essenes were regarded as divine, immortal, superhuman, or some
such. What exactly does Josephus mean to say and how should we
assess the reliability of his statement?
The first point that may be safely established is that at this junc-
ture Josephus is expressing himself freely and is in no way reliant
upon a source. This is clear, in the first place from the context and
opening address to the reader. There immediately follows the story
of the Essene Mcnahem's prophecy to the infant Flerod (15:373-379)
that he would become lang of the Jews, which is probably derived
from a written source, perhaps Nicolas of Damascus, Flerod's courtier.
That story of one Essene's prophetic ability is told to explain Herod's
high estimation of the Essenes. The report concludes with the state-
ment (Ant. 15:379):

now we have seen fit to report these things, even if they seem incred-
ible, to our readers and to reveal what has taken placed among us,
124 CHAPTER FOUR

because m a n y of these m e n by their nobleness a n d goodness have even

been r e g a r d e d w o r t h y o f the d i v i n e skills (της τ ω ν θ ε ί ω ν ε μ π ε ι ρ ί α ς
άξιουνται).""

This closing statement obviously acts as an inclusio with that in Antiq-

uiiies 15:372 and explains further that the, high estimation of the
Essenes is due to their being "regarded worthy of divine skills (or
2
experiences)"."'
So, for Josephus, and, so he claims, for other Jews at the time,
the Essenes were regarded as more than ordinary mortals because
of their access to "supernatural" revelation. Furthermore, the specific
terms that Josephus uses means that he thinks of some kind of divine
nature as an Esscnc possession. The language of Ant. 15:372 is par-
allel to that in two other passages which help clarify its force for
the historian. In Antiquities 19:344—345 Josephus relates Agrippa Fs
reception of divine honours at the theatre in Caesarea:

O n the second day o f the spectacles, clad i n a g a r m e n t woven com-

p l c t c l y o f silver so that its texture was i n d e e d w o n d r o u s , he entered
the theatre at daybreak. T h e r e the silver i l l u m i n e d by the touch o f
the first rays o f the sun, was w o n d r o u s l y r a d i a n t a n d by its glitter
inspired fear a n d awe i n those w h o gazed intently u p o n i t . Straight-
way his flatterers raised their voices f r o m various d i r e c t i o n s — t h o u g h
h a r d l y for his good—addressing h i m as a g o d . " M a y you be p r o p i -
tious to us," they added, "and i f we have h i t h e r t o feared y o u as a
m a n (ώς α ν θ ρ ω π ο ν ) , yet henceforth we agree that y o u are more than
m o r t a l i n y o u r being (άλλα τούντεΰθεν κρείττονα σε θνητής φύσεως ομολ-
ογοΰμεν)".

The existence of the parallel to this in Acts 12 where the people

acclaim Agrippa with the words "the voice of a god, and not of
man!" (12:22) suggests a well known popular story for which Jose-
phus would not have needed a written record. He may have con-
suited his Herodian friends in Rome in order to check details of the
event, but there is little reason to doubt he uses his own language
at this point. Indeed, this passage and Antiquities 15:372 are the only

101
The translations of Marcus in L C L "have indeed been vouchsafed a knowl-
edge of divine things . . . " and Whiston "have . . . been thought worthy of this knowl-
edge of divine revelations" do not do justice to the language and miss the inclusio
with 15:372.
102
The two sections, 15:372 and 379, are closely connected by shared vocabu-
lary: 372: ειπείν άξιον, φανεΐται, παραδηλών; 379: δ η λ ώ σ α ι . . . ήξιώσαμεν, έμφηναι,
revealing clearly Josephus' own redactional frame around the Menahem story.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 125

two instances in Josephus' work where the two words θνητός and
m
φύσις occur together. Clearly, then, this passage means that for
Josephus Herod Agrippa and the Essenes were treated similarly: for
Josephus, however, the estimation of the Essenes was appropriate
whilst that of the Herod, was inappropriate. There is no doubt that
Herod is regarded as divine, and no reason to think that this is not
what Josephus had in mind for the Essenes in the earlier passage.
Neither is it likely that the estimation of Herod is simply a refiec-
tion of an assimilation to Greco-Roman mores and an essentially
104
non-Jewish anthropology. There are good grounds for thinking
that, as Josephus very well knew, Herod's behaviour and that of the
people made sense within a Jewish conceptual framework. In the
first place elsewhere, both in Josephus and the rabbis (m. Sol. 7:8),
Herod Agrippa I , unlike Herod the Great, is described as a Torah
105
observant and faithful Jew. Already, a passage in Philo implies that
Agrippa had been acclaimed as Marin, "our Lord", by Alexandrian
106
Jews. The way in which Herod is dressed in silver garments and
his reflecting the sun recalls many contemporary angelomorphic texts
where a mortal's divine status is related both to the heavenly bod-
ies and expressed through glorious clothing. Furthermore, from the
two accounts of this episode, in Josephus and the Acts of the Apos-
ties, it is possible to discern the influence of Psalm 110 on Agrippa's
behaviour.
Psalm 110 describes the ideal king as one who is sent out from
Zion, with God's own authority to rule in the midst of his enemies
(vv. 1—2). His people offer themselves willingly to his service (v. 3a)
and the Scptuagint of verse 3 continues "with you (is) the beginning (or,
the dominion, "ή άρχή") in the day of your power in the brilliance
(έν τ ο υ ς λαμπρότησιν) of the holy ones, from the womb of the morn-
ing (star) I begat you". The scene here described could veiy well be
thought to be fulfilled in Agrippa's appearance at Caesarea. Accord-
ing to Josephus, Agrippa entered the theatre "at the beginning of

103
Compare also Josephus' Jotapata cave speech on the subject of suicide: "all
of us, it is true, have mortal {θνητά) bodies, composed of perishable matter, but
the soul lives for ever, immortal; it is a portion of the Deity housed in our bod-
ies" (B.J. 2:372) and Eleazar's suicide speech at Masada (B.J. 7:344-45).
,0
'‫ י‬Though Horbury (1988, 135) has rightly pointed to the parallels in the gen-
tile ruler cult.
105
This is also reflected in Acts 12:1-4.
106
Place. 39.
 126 CHAPTER FOUR

the day (αρχομένης ημέρας)" when the sun rising, so to speak, from
the womb of the morning, makes brilliant his garments, indeed, in
reply to the people's divine acclamation Josephus has Herod say, " I
have lived in no ordinary fashion, but in the blessed life of brilliance
(λαμπρότητος) (Ant. 19:347), echoing closely the language of Psalm
110. The context of the psalm as a whole is similar to that of Herod's
visit to Caesarea: just as the king of Psalm 110 goes out from Zion
to rule among the other nations, so Herod is acclaimed by the lead-
ers of Israel's neighbours, a fact which is accentuated in the Acts
version which explicitly states that Agrippa rules over Tyre and Sidon
107
(Acts 12:20). If, as seems possible, the claim that Agrippa fulfilled
Psalm 1 10 lies behind the story of his glorious appearance then obvi-
ously the acclamation as a god reflects a Jewish, not simply a Hel-
Icnistic, theological anthropology.
With these two passages in Josephus (Antiquities 15:372, 379 and
19:344-347) we should also compare another in which Josephus
expresses similar sentiments of his own regarding Moses. Most of
Josephus' third Book of the Antiquities is devoted to the giving of the
Torah and the details of the sanctuary. In Antiquities 3:318, 20 the
third Book is brought to a close with a panegyric to Moses of whom
Josephus says:

Many other proofs of that superhuman power of his (της υπέρ άνθρωπος . ..
δυνάμεως αύτοΰ) might be adduced . . . So surely has that legislation
(the Torah), being believed to come from God, caused this man (Moses)
to be ranked higher than his own (human) nature (τον άνδρα πεποίηκε
της αύτοΰ φύσεως κρείττονα νομίεσθαι).

Again we can be confident that Josephus' language is his own: this

passage must be read in conjunction with Antiquities 3:180, earlier in
the same book, where Josephus says that, by virtue of his giving of
the laws for the construction of the Tabernacle and its appurtenances,
1011
Moses should be regarded as a "divine man (θείος άνήρ)". Clearly,
then, Moses being "ranked higher than his own (human) nature"
means for Josephus that he should be regarded as divine. Josephus
evidently knew and accepted the divine Moses tradition that we have

"" Josephus is quite likely to have softened tins aspect of the story for the sake
of his Roman readership.
'"" Thackeray's translation in the Loeb edition (1930) "a man of God" is infe-
licitotis.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIG HUMANITY IN THE DSS 127

already discussed and he could speak in die same anthropological

terms of the Essenes as of the lawgiver himself.
So, although, the statement of Essene transcendence is made in
passing, it is of some significance within Josephus' wider anthropo-
logical perspective. It is certainly reflective of his own sympathies,
but does this mean it is an unreliable record of Essene self-percep-
(ions with no real justification in historical reality? Scholarship's
silence regarding Antiquities 15:372 has perhaps condemned the wit-
ncss without a trial on the assumption that Josephus could not pos-
sibly be representing an authentically Jewish anthropology. But there
is no obvious sign that here Josephus is perverting matters for the
sake of his Greco-Roman audience. The most logical explanation of
Josephus' statement, is that it was widely known amongst non-Esscne
Jews that the Essenes themselves believed that they had a divine
ontology. This should then be added to the list of correspondences
between Josephus on the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls which
have been taken to support the identification of the latter as texts
109
belonging to the former.

Vie Immortal Essenes and the Isles of the Blessed

This brings us to another passage of Josephus' description of the
Essenes. Towards the end of his lengthiest account of Essene prac-
tices and beliefs (B.J. 2:119-161) Josephus claims they firmly believed
in the immortality of the soul (2:154-8):

For it is a fixed belief of theirs that the body is conuptible and its con-
slituenl matter impermanent, but that the soul is immortal and imperishab
τουςάε'ι διαμένε,ιν). Emanating from the finest ether, these souls become enta
as it were, in the prison-house of the body, to which they are dragged do
155
a sort of natural (φυσική) spell; but when once they are released from
bonds of the flesh (των κατά σάρκα δεσμών), then, as though liberated from
long servitude, they rejoice and are borne alofl. Sharing the belief of the
of Greece, they maintain that for virtuous souls there is reserved an
abode beyond the ocean, a place which is not oppressed by rain or
snow or heat, but is refreshed by the ever gentle breath of the west
wind coming in from the ocean; while they relegate base souls to a
murky and tempestuous dungeon, big with never-ending punishments.
156
The Greeks, I imagine, had the same conceptions when they set
apart the Isles of the Blessed (τάς μακάρων νήσους) for their brave men,
whom they call heroes and demi-gods (ημιθέους), and the religion of

For an otherwise thorough survey of these correspondences see Beall 1988.

128 CHAPTER FOUR

the impious for the souls of the wicked down in Hades, where, as their
mythologists tell, persons such as Sisyphus, Tantalus, Ixion and Tityus
are undergoing punishment. Their aim was first to establish the doc-
trine of the immortality of the soul, and secondly to promote virtue
157
and to deter from vice; for the good are made better in their life-
time by the hope of a reward after death, and the passions of the
wicked arc restrained by the fear that, even though they escape tlctec-
tion while alive, they will undergo never-ending punishment alter their
158
decease. Such are the theological views of the Essenes (Έσσηνοί)
concerning the soul, whereby they irresistibly attract all who have once
tasted their philosophy.

Obviously, Josephus' claim that the Essenes believed in the immor-

tality of the soul is couched in terms that his Greco-Roman read-
ership would understand and, indeed, Josephus twice makes plain
his apologetic appeal to the beliefs of the Greeks as comparable to
those of lite Essenes. But does that mean he has entirely misrepre-
sented the Essenes? It is sometimes assumed that because of a Jew-
ish insistence upon a holistic anthropology the strongly dualistic
distinction between the soul and its prison house, the body, is sim-
0
ply a gross misrepresentation of Essene beliefs." In a passage in
Hippolytus' Refutation of All Heresies, which is parallel to this Josephan
account of the Essenes, it is stated that "the doctrine of the resur-
rection has also derived support among them, for they acknowledge
both that the flesh will rise again, and that it will be immortal, in
the same manner as the soul is already imperishable (9.27)." Some
have concluded that Josephus has altered his source and that Hip-
1
polytus preserves the more accurate record. "
However, in the majority view Josephus' description of Essene
beliefs are reckoned to preserve an accurate reflection of the fact
that they did not share the Pharisaic belief in the future rcsurrcc-
lion but that they held beliefs which could easily be expressed in
the language of the immortality of the soul. Pierre Grelot has shown
numerous points of correspondence between Josephus' passage and
112
the material in / Enoch and Jubilees. I n various passages in 1 Enoch
the souls or spirits of the dead remain alive after death (/ Enoch 9:3;
22:3; 103:4) and in one of these the blessed fate of the righteous
souls is contrasted with the future fate of the underworld for the

"‫ ״‬E.g. lîeall 1988, 106.

‫ "י‬E.g. Puech 1993, 703-69.
112
Grelot 1958-9.
 Λ DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 129

]Vi
wicked (1 Enoch 103). In Jubilees 23:31 there is no hope of a bod-
ily resurrection since the bones of the righteous "will rest in the
earth, and their spirits will increase joy". Furthermore, Grelot has shown
that the description of the blessed and paradisal fate of the right-
cous and the punishment in the underworld of the wicked repre-
scnts ideas attested in the Enochic literature. In 1 Enoch 106 Enoch
lives at the extremities of the earth with the angels and in jubilees
4:23 he is placed in the garden of Eden by the angels. In the Book
of Watchers chapters 17-18 and 23—27 Enoch's tour of the cosmos
includes a vision of Zion the cosmic mountain, whence there flow
the waters of life, and the Edenic tree of life and a "blessed land"
114
(27:1). Also, Josephus' reference to the fate of the impious souls
of (be wicked in Hades is parallel to the l'aie of the watchers in the
Book of Watchers and the wicked elsewhere in the Enoch tradition (1
15
Enoch 90:24-26).'
Grelot's analysis has been subsequently strengthened by material
6
from the Dead Sea Scroll library itself." For example, 1QS 4:6-8
can be taken to refer to an expectation of immortality when it speaks
of a "plentiful peace in a long life, fruitful offspring with all ever-
lasting blessings, eternal enjoyment with endless life, and a crown of
glory with majestic raiment in eternal life" (cf. CD 3:20; 7:6). With
the exception of a couple of texts which might not reflect the com-
munity's own views (4Q521 frag. 7 and 4Q385 frag. 2), the scrolls
7
show precious little interest in the physical resurrection." So, it is
now generally agreed that Josephus' account reflects genuine Essene
beliefs although they have been clothed in Greek dress. Some aspects
of the future hope have been omitted, such as the role of the Mes-
siah and an endtime judgement, which obviously would not suit his
non-Jewish readership.

113
Cf. Wis 2:23-3:4; 9:15; 4 Mace 18:23.
"‫ יי‬Grelot compares passages from the Similitudes (1958-9, 126: Elk. Enoch 39:3;
52:1; 60:8, 23; 61:12; 65:2; 70:1 4), but these can no longer be judged a certain
reflection of Essene thought.
" ‫ י‬Cf. 54:1-5; 56:3. Given the existence of the Book of Giants in the DSS library,
which reflects an interest in a more sophisticated and cosmopolitan version of the
watchers mythology it is perhaps not insignificant that one of the Greek figures
Josephus provides as an example for those undergoing punishment (Tityus) was
regarded as a giant in Greek mythology.
'"' Sec, in particular, the discussion in Bcall 1988, 105-108.
‫ " י‬See Collins 1997a, 124-128.
130 CHAPTER FOUR

It is also likely that whereas Josephus' account of Essene immor-

tality is oriented to the point of death—the context of this passage
is Josephus' description of Essene resilience under Roman torture
(B.J. ‫־־‬2:1523)—the Essenes themselves were more interested in attain-
ing to an eternal life during the present life which would then continue
beyond physical death. Comparison with the passages we have touched
upon in the Hodayot shows that the community believed a heavenly
existence could be attained as a consequence of an experience of
resurrection from the realm of mortality and death, already in this
life.™ This will mean that Josephus' description of the soul as a pre-
existent reality which emanates "from the finest ether" is certainly
one point where he has misrepresented the Essene position. How-
ever, contrary, to the traditional judgement of scholars, when Jose-
phus speaks of the immortal soul being "released from the bonds of
the flesh *(των κατά σάρκα δεσμών)" and "the prison house of the
body", he may, once again, be fairly representing a dualistic ten-
dency within Essene anthropology. The language is reminiscent of
that used in Sirach 45:4 ("έκ πάσης σαρκός"), Jubüees 31:14 and a
string of DSS text where angelomorphic transformation is described
as a removal from the realm of flesh. For Josephus σαρξ is a rela-
9
lively infrequent word used certainly only ten times." Its use here
may reflect his borrowing of a written source in which the word was
120
already present. I t might also reflect the technical terminology of
transformational mysticism within the priestly tradition attested at
Qumran. Although, no doubt, Greco-Roman views of the body as
a prison house will have differed in their practical and ideological
implications, the Essene proclivity to ascetic removal from the world
and its material luxuries is certainly consistent with a belief that, as
transformed and angelomorphic beings, their sphere o f existence
properly transcends the realm of the flesh.
Josephus' statement that liberation of the soul from the prison
house of the body means "they rejoice and are borne aloft" can now
bç seen to accurately reflect the Essene belief in a heavenly ascent,
although in the Scrolls this is a this-life experience rather than one

1,8
Compare Collins 19973, 119-123.
119
Compare, in particular, its use in B.J. 6:42 and Ant. 19:325 in a technical
sense as a reality distinct from the soul.
120
I t is possible that the whole of B.J. 2:119-161 is based on an independent
written source which was also available to the later church Father (c. A . D . 170-236),
Hippolytus (Refutation of alt Heresies 9:18-28).
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 131

121
reserved for die point of death and the afterlife. Josephus' claim
that the Essenes believed in the Isles of the Blessed of non Jewish
mythology is usually regarded as one point where Josephus' descrip-
tion is self-evidently a molding of Essene beliefs to Greek ideas which
122
are well attested already in Homer and Hesiod. However, follow-
ing Grelot, not only should this be taken to reflect the mythology
of Enoch and his paradisal abode, it should perhaps also be read in
the light of the Essene belief that the community already partici-
pates in a new Eden with all the paradisal conditions that could be
regarded the Jewish equivalent of the non-Jewish Isles of the Blessed.
As we shall discover in our examination of the Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice, it is quite possible that the community itself was conscious
of the Isles of the Blessed myth and their liturgy consciously appealed
to its ideology as support for their own identity.
At any rate it is clear that there are here two passages in Jose-
phus' works which reveal a popular recognition of the Essenes' belief
in a transcendent, divine and immortal, identity.

Qumran Angelomorphism and Sectarian Asceticism

All our talk thus far of a divine humanity, true Israelites living like
the angels embodying the Glory of God could appear to be a short-
sighted history of ideas, without due consideration of the social and
political context of those ideas. We have tried throughout to situate
the ideology in a particular socio-religious life-setting—the cult and
its qualitatively other space and time. This too might seem overly
ethereal. If so this is because the ideology's socio-political implica-
tions are, in part, necessarily world denying. This is reflected, most
obviously, in the fact that the core of the community have with-
drawn from mainstream society to live in isolation by the Dead Sea:
ontological transcendence is made concrete in an anchoretic social
posture.
More concretely still the community's angelic life should proba-
bly be discerned in their celibate abstention from ordinary sexual
activity and marriage. According to Pliny and Philo the Essenes were

121
Grelot 1958-9, 124 suggested a background i n the belief in the ascension of
Enoch and Elijah.
122
See, e.g., Beau 1988, 106. Cf. Hesiod's Work and Days 170-2; Homer's Odyssey
4:561-8 and the survey of texts in Charlesworth 1986.
132 CHAPTER FOUR

123
celibate. Josephus, similarly, states that there are two orders of
Essenes, one who are celibate and the other who marry for the sake
of procreation. Since the earliest days of Qumran studies, this clas-
sical testimony has been correlated with the preponderance of male
skeletons in the graves at Khirbct Qumran. Although there has been
uncertainty about the absence of female and child skeletons from
the. graveyards of the community living at Qumran, the issue has
now been finally put to rest by the physical anthropologist Joseph
Zias who has shown that the few graves containing women and chil-
dren do not belong to the period o f the Qumran community, but
arc the resting place of Islamic Bedouin of the latter half of the sec-
ond millennium. Of the estimated 1,100 burials in the main ceme-
124

tcry at Qumran 34 skeletons have been excavated, all of which are

male. Although the presence of women (and children) at other Essene
sites (e.g.*Ain el-Ghuweir) might support Josephus' view that there
were some Essenes who were married, the conclusion that at Quin-
ran there lived "a monastic community of adult males, preferring
125
the company of palm trees to women" is inevitable.
Within the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves any explicit statement to
the effect that the community in general, or its inner (priestly?) group,
lead a celibate life has been hard to find, although there arc texts
12
where it may be implicit. '' Conceptually, a. celibate lifestyle would
make good sense, at least for some of the community. In the first
place (1), the community's priestly leadership thinks of itself as an
Ersatz Temple (1QS 8-9, 4QF10r 1:6 etc . . .).Jewish cultic practice

123
Philo Hypothetic(! 1 !.14-17; Pliny Mtiiml History 5.17, 4 (73).
m
Zias 2000. The one certain exception to the complete absence of any female
skeletons from the Qumran period (grave T9) is an isolated burial away from the
main cemetery in the north (Zias 2000, 250). Zias also gives solid grounds for reject-
ing the view that any of those skeletons excavated from the main (genuinely) Essene
cemetery were in fact women. Graves in a separate cluster to the south-west of the
main cemctry arc now dated by Zias to a more recent Islamic period. The (bedouin)
women in these graves wear stone beaded bracelets, something which the Qumran
community over a millennium earlier would have regarded a sign of the teaching
of the fallen watchers (/ Enoch 7, cf. 4Q1B4), rather than the proper attire for a
righteous Israelite lady. The protestations o f Zangenberg 2000 against Zias' work
are unconvincing.
125
Zias 2000( 253.
126
For the likelihood that CD 6:11-7:8 describes two types of Essene, one who
arc married living i n the "camps" and one celibate living in the "camp", Jerusalem,
see Qimron 1992. See S.J. Pfann on 4QSerekh ha 'Edah" (4Q249e line'8a) as cvi-
dence for celibacy for both married and unmarried members of the community
(DJD 36:558).
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 133

takes for granted the priests' abstention from sexuality activity dur-
ing and immediately prior to service (1 Sam 21:4-5, HQTemple
45:11-12, cf. Exod 19:15). According to Essene legislation the purity
of the temple in this regard should be extended to the holy city also
(CD 12:1-2; l l Q T c m p l c 45:11-12). I f the Essene priesthood believe
they are called to live in a continual state of priestly service down
by the Dead Sea then it stands to reason that they should also live
in the permanent (celibate) state of sexual abstention proper to cul-
tic service and the purity of God's city state.
In the second place (2), a celibate lifestyle accords logically with
the belief that the community have already attained an angelic immor-
tality. Jesus of Nazareth summed up succinctly the prevalent view
of (non-Sadduccan) Judaism when he said that there is no marriage
in heaven (after death) because after the resurrection the righteous
live "as angels in the heavens" (Mark 12:25). I f it is believed that
one already, before literal death and resurrection, lives the angelic life
in the heavenly realm then by the same token marriage and sexual
127
intercourse are neither necessary nor desirable. They are no longer
necessary because the principal purpose of marriage in Israelite thought
is the raising up of seed to bear the father's name a kind of immor-
12
tality through progeny. " If an individual has already attained, by
other means, his own immortality then he no longer needs children
to do it form him. Marriage for the angelomorphic priesthood is not
desirable since as the story of the fallen watchers describes so elo-
quently, angels are to maintain a permanent spiritual intercession in
2
heaven, not defiling themselves through intercourse with women.'‫יי‬
For the Qumran community membership of the heavenly realm,
communion with the angels, was jeopardized by sexual activity sim-
ply because such activity does not befit the angelic life.

'‫ "־‬This appears 10 be the view Jesus takes according to Luke 20:34-36. (See
Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 78-88, 189 195 for a discussion of this passage and ils rcla-
tionship 10 the theological anthropology of the Dead Sea Scroll community.)
m
For this see, e.g., Sirach 30:4—5; 44:10-15. This is the view of the Sadducees
who question Jesus: citing Gen 38:8 the brother should take his widowed sister-in-
law as his wife "to raise up (έξαναστήσ!‫ )|־‬seed for his brother" (Mark 12:19). I n
other words, procreation amounts to a form of resurrection.
'''‫ יי‬The relevance of the Fall of the Watchers myth for the formation of a the-
ology of priestly angelomorphic celibacy is particularly likely given that it was read
as an allegory condemning priests who engaged in inappropriate (exogamous) con-
jugal commitments.
 134‫־‬ CHAPTER FOUR

In this case one expression that has appeared time and again in
our survey of the angelomorphic humanity tradition is surely an indi-
cator that Essene celibacy was, in part, a reflex of the belief that
the community bad attained an angelomorphic life. Angelic humans
have been removed "from flesh" (Sirach 45:4; Jub. 31:14; 1QIT 7:20
[15:17]), their desire (ΓΠΝΠ, cf. Gen 3:6) is no longer according to
flesh (4Q491c 1 7) and they are a people of spirit not of flesh
(lQ/4QInstruction). In each case what has been transcended is cer-
130
tainly not limited to, but probably includes, a fully sexual life. This
is likely because there are biblical texts where already ‫ בשר‬is a
131
euphemism for the genitals (e.g. Lev 6:3; 12:3, 15:2, 19; 16:4).
Despite our protestations at the beginning of this study that first
century Judaisms were far less dualistic than is often assumed, with
the Qumran community one form of duality enters the picture which,
however ihchoate, pushes spirituality in a dualistic direction. The
Qumran community (as will become still more clear in what follows)
did not sharply differentiate between divine and human, creator and
creature, in so far as they believed that a goal of the religious life
is humanity's attainment of the divine life. But the transcendence of
the separation between God and humanity is achieved at the expense
of a positive assessment of "ordinary" somatic (sexual) existence in
such a way that a duality, nay dualism, between the divine and the
132
material, the spiritual and the fleshly, is encouraged.
Given that the degree of encratism within the Essene movement
evidently varied between an "inner core" living a celibate life in iso-
lation and others living an ordinary(?) married live throughout Israel,
a simplistic analysis of the relationship between ideas about human
transcendence and the socio-political stance of the movement is un-
wise. But at the very least we must recognize that their particular
expressions of the aspiration for inclusion in the divine ontology, the
community's withdrawal from society and the desire of the flesh,
necessarily call into question the basic biblical affirmation of the
goodness of creation and the non-dualistic worldview that this entails.
Herein there is, of course, a tension which runs throughout the long
tradition of Jewish-Christian spirituality.

130
Compare the celibacy o f Moses on his ascent up Mount Sinai (and transfor-
mation) in Philo Mos. 2:68-70; Aboi R. Nathan B 2.
131
See Milgrom 1991, 385, 748, 907, 934, 1017, cf. Ezek 16:26; 23:20.
yl
• In this the spirituality of second century gnosticism i f not present is certainly
anticipated by the liturgical theology of some strands of Second Temple Judaism.
 A DIVINE AND ANGELIC HUMANITY IN THE DSS 135

Conclusion

Clearly, the Qumran community accepted as a fundamental axiom

of their theology the belief that as originally created and as restored
in the community of the righteous, the true Israel, humanity belongs
firmly within the divine world. At times this means the righteous
have the rights, privileges and status of the angels—they are angelo-
morphic. But at other limes and for particular persons the righteous
are more properly included within the grammar of God's own life,
embodying his Glory and receiving the honour (and worship) other-
133
wise reserved for him. In chapter 6 we find that this peculiarly
exalted position for some among the righteous is the particular voca-
lion of the (high-)pricsthood at Qumran.

133
H . Stegemann has noted the way in which the word ‫ י ש ר א ל‬is written with
the last two letters written in an unusually broad and tali manner in lQSa 1:1, 6,
20 and 2:2, 14, 20. He thinks this is "some kind o f reverential writing of the name
‫ י ש ר א ל‬which became also later on in Christian codices one of the so-called nomina
sacra" (Stegemann 1996, 486).
 CHAPTER FIVE

T H E D I V I N E A N D A N G E L I C MOSES A T Q U M R A N

The Qumran sectarians knew and evidently whole-heartedly approved

of the tradition that Moses was a divine man and that, in particu-
lar, upon his ascent up Mount Sinai, he was transfigured to an
angelic and glorious form. Not only did they have one of the ear-
liest "post-biblical" testimonies to this tradition in Sirach 45 they
also had in their library two fragmentary texts which describe the
divine and angelic Moses in ways exemplary of the wider divine
Moses tradition.

4Q374 Frag. 2 col. ii: Tlie Deification of Moses at Sinai

The first of these is a partially preserved text which probably wit-

nesses to the combination of the statement in Exodus 7:1 that God
"made Moses as God to Pharaoh" with the description of Moses'
glorious appearance on his descent from Mount Sinai in Exodus 34.'
The broken text and translation of the relevant lines is as follows:
6
[ A n d ] he made h i m as G o d ( ‫ )ו[ יחננו ל א ל ו ה י ם‬to the m i g h t y ones and
7
a cause of reeli.\ng] to Pharaoh ( . ..](‫[לפרעה‬they] melted and their
hearts trembled ( ‫ ) י ן ח מ ו ג נ ו ו י ת ו ע ג ו ל כ ם‬a n d tl![ei]r i n w a r d parts dissolved.
[ B u t ] he h a d compassion upon [. . . " A n d w h e n he caused his face to
shine upon them for healing ( ‫ ) ו כ ה א י ר ו פ נ ו א ל י ה ם ] [ ל ס ר פ א‬, they strength-
3
ened [their] hearts again ( ‫ ) ו י ג ב י ר ו ל כ ] ם [ ע ו ר‬, a n d knowledge[. . . A n d
t h o u g h no one had k n o w n y o u , they m e l t e d and t r c [ m ] b l e d (‫רחמוגנו‬
‫ ) ו י ח נ ] ו [ ע ע ו‬. T h e y staggered at t h e s [ o u n d o f [. . .

A niidrashic expansion of Exodus 7:1—one of the principal scrip-

turàl texts of the divine Moses tradition—in line 6 is certain. A ref-
erence to Sinai in the previous column (4Q374 2 i 7) and the language

1
For a fuller discussion see Fletcher-Louis 1996 and Davila 1999a, 472—73. The
centrality of the deification of Moses theme for this text was missed by the editor
Carol Newsom (1992 and DJD 19:99-110). The text has an early Hcrodian semi-
formal script (Newsom 1992, 41; DJD 19:99).
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIC MOSES AT QUMRAN 137

of smaller scraps of text point to the giving of the Torah as the

2
larger setting.
In its extant form the text poses a number of problems: who is
the subject and object of the actions in lines 7? One naturally thinks
of God as the subject of the theophanic. action in lines 7-8, but
how, then, can it be said of God "and no one had known you" in
line 9? Taking the use of Exodus 7:1 in line 6 seriously Moses is the
subject of the action in that line. Does he then disappear from the
scene in what follows?
The simplest way to interpret the text and retain referential con-
sistency is to recognise that throughout lines 6—10 the actor who
stands centre stage is the divine Moses, though God himself is ulti-
rnately responsible for the plot as he directs the drama from the
wings. Lines 6-7 are bound together by theophanic language drawn
from Psalm 107:26—7 where it is said of the victims of the divine
warrior's stirring of the seas that "their courage melted away (ΜΊΏΠΠ)
in their calamity; they reeled and staggered (‫ )יחוגו וינועו‬like drunk-
3
ards" (cf. line 9). I f Moses is the cause of reeling in line 6 then it
is natural that he also be the cause of melting and trembling hearts
in line 7.'‫יי‬
The assimilation of Moses to the role of the divine warrior is par-
allel to the way the priesthood is described in various texts. I t is
possible that such a portrayal of Moses himself has a parallel in the
Jewish Orphica. In this text either Abraham or, more likely Moses,
is ])laced on God's throne and the mountains tremble at his theo-
5
phanic presence (27-28, 33 38):

. . . a certain person, a unique ligure, by descent an offshoot of the

Chaldean race . . .

He indeed is firmly established hereafter over the vast heaven

2
See esp. frag. 7 lines ‫־‬23 ". . . a mediator (‫ )מליץ‬for your ])copie . . . c l o u d s
and above . . .".
1
For (he difficult [‫ ומחינ)ה‬compare also Isaiah 19:17: "and the land of Judah
will become a terror (‫ )לחנא‬for the Egyptians".
‫ '׳‬Λ similar use of the divine warrior motif in Psalm 107 is present in the gospels
(Mark 4:35-41; 6:45-52 & parrallcls). I n these Jesus plays the same role as Moses
in 4Q374• in as much as he restores courage to his disciples just as Moses restores
the hearts of the Israelites.
5
I have given the translation of Recension G in Holladay 1996, 195. This text
is thoroughly Jewish and our passage is probably of a second century B.C. prove-
nance (for the dating question see Holladay ibid., 59-65).
138 CHAPTER FIVE

On a golden throne, and earth stands under his feet.

And he stretches out his right hand upon the extremities
Of the ocean; and the mountain base trembles from within with rage
And it is not possible to endure his mighty force . . .

It is uncertain whether the subject of lines 33-38 is in fact the man

of the Chaldean race. It could be God, but a strong case for the
6
enthronement and deification of Moses (or Abraham) has been made.
In which case the enthroned Moses has an effect on creation akin
to that of the divine warrior in biblical texts (cf. esp. L X X Ps 17:8)
7
and Moses in 4Q374.
That Moses should have a theophanic effect on other humans in
4Q374 is consistent with his role as a theophanic agent, the effect
of his presence being comparable to that of an angel (e.g. Dan
8:15-18; 10:4-11; Apoc. Abr. 10:1-5), for which there is a specific
parallel in'*the third century B.C. text Artapanus. There the divine
Moses causes Pharaoh to fall down speechless when he utters the
divine Name (Eusebius Praeparatio Evangelica 9:27:25). There is per-
haps a related reflex of this theme in Sirach 45:2, where the Greek
and the marginal reading of the Geniza text have Moses made great
and a terror to his enemies.
In Artapanus, as in similar angclophanies, Pharaoh is revived with
the aid of the divine Moses. So, also, in 4Q374 frag. 2 Moses restores
those who have suffered his theophanic appearance through the shin-
ing of his face for healing and the strengthening of their hearts. This
must be a reference to the shining of Moses face on his descent
from Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:29-35.* In lines 7-8 those who have
experienced Moses wondrous, divine appearance, first in judgement
then restoration will, therefore, be the Israelites at Mount Sinai, who
arc perhaps the "mighty ones" of line 6. Their fear and trembling
in our text develops the brief statement in Exodus 34:30 that "when

6
!,alargue 1978, cf. his edition in OTP 2:795-801. This view is not ruled out
by riolladay 1996, 187, 211.
7
The stretching out of Moses hand to the extremities of the ocean might be
based on the role played by Moses outstretched hand at the parting of the Sea in
Exod 14:26-27, cf. 6:1; 9:22; 10:21-22; 17:11; 20:11. This post-biblical Jewish
pseudepigraphon would then be faithful to the cosmological implications inherent
within the crossing of the sea story in its original ancient Near Eastern context.
8
For the use o f this passage in the divine Moses tradition see, e.g., Pesiq. Rab
Kali. Pisqa 32 on Deut 33:1 and compare Mark 9:15 and parallels (see Fletcher-
Louis 1996, 248-9).
 ‫ דד‬iE DIVINE AND ANGELIC M O S E S A T Q U M R A N 139

Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shin-
ing, and they were afraid to come near him".
But how can it be said of Moses "and though no one had known you,
they melted and tre(m]blcd" in line 9? This lack of recognition, it
turns out, is also an element of the theophanic. constellation which
has elsewhere been transferred to the Jewish divine man tradition.
It is a recurrent feature of the angeiophany form that the angel is
9
not, at first, recognised by the mortal to whom (hey appear. This
non-recognition topos can then be transferred to the angelomorphic
human. So, for example, in Pseuclo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 61:8-9
David's appearance is transformed by the angel who gives him the
power to slay Goliath and on returning to his people "no one recog-
nised him". Earlier in the same pseudepigraphon Moses' glorious
descent from Mount Sinai is related as follows (12:1):'°

A n d Moses came d o w n . A n d w h e n he h a d been bathed w i t h invisi-

ble light, he went d o w n to the place where the light o f the sun and
the m o o n are; and the light o f his face surpassed the splendour o f the
sun and the m o o n , and he d i d not even k n o w this. A n d w h e n he
came d o w n to the sons o f Israel, they saw him but did not recognize him.
But w h e n he spoke, then they recognized h i m . . . A n d afterwards
Moses realized that his face had become glorious, he made a veil for
himself w i t h w h i c h to cover his face.

Clearly this text provides a close parallel to 4Q374 frag. 9 and sup-
ports our reading of that text as a midrashic combination of Exo-
dus 7:1 and 34:29-35 throughout.
As with any Dead Sea Scroll text the question of provenance must
be asked: is 4Q374 sectarian and does it really reflect the beliefs of
the community? Carol Ncwsorn, who has been responsible for the
preliminary and official publications of the text, comments: "there
are no indications of Qumran authorship in the text, i.e., none of
the distinctive theological vocabulary or motifs one associates with
writings which express a sectarian consciousness. Moreover, the use
of the Tetragrammaton, avoided in Qumran sectarian texts, would
argue against Qumran authorship."" With specific regard to the

9
See, for example, Judg 6:11-12; 13:15-19; T o b 5:4-12:22; Heb 13:2; Jose-
phus Ant. 1:196-199; T. Ahr. A 3-6.
"' I am grateful to James Davila for directing me to this text (cf. Davila 1999a,
73).
" 1992, 4 0 - 4 1 . For the Tetragrammaton see frag. 9 line 3. The orthography is
also conservative (ibid.).
140 CHAPTER FIVE

divine Moses portion of 4Q374 Newsom must be right: there is no

reason to think that its combination of Exoclus 7:1 and the Sinai
ascent is uniquely Essene, since it is clearly attested in Philo, the
rabbis and is probably already in view in Sirach 45.
However, the fact that the text is present in the community's
library is consistent with their own high regard for Moses and their
wider interest in the divine humanity tradition. Confidence regard-
ing provenance with such a small volume of extant text is hardly
possible. However, there is a noteworthy aspect of the scriptural
intertextuality which might suggest a Qumran provenance for this
particular version of a wider tradition. When line 8 says "and when
he caused his face to shine upon them for healing" there is perhaps
here a deliberate allusion to the Aaronic blessing: "the L O R D make
his face to shine upon you (‫)יאר י ה ו ה פניו אליך‬, and be gracious to
you (Num 6:25)." This would mean that in this text Moses' shining
face is an embodiment of God's own shining face for the blessing
of Israel: God's face is now mirrored in Moses' face. It is possible
that in Ecclcsiastes 5:5, as we saw in the first chapter, there is already
a similar view of the priest as God's facial presence in the cultic set-
ting. The Qumran community were keenly interested in the Aaronic
blessing and its influence is everywhere present in the extant litur-
gical texts. So, for example, in the blessings of the second through
fourth columns of the Blessings Scroll (lQSb) and the priestly bless-
ings of the annual covenant renewal ceremony in the Community Rule
(1QS 2:1-4) Numbers 6:2227 ‫־‬ provides a fundamental intertextua
12
substructure for the liturgy.
A particular concern at Qumran for the tradition that Moses is
elohim might also explain the statements in Josephus that the Essenes
regard the slandering of Moses as tantamount to a blasphemy against
God himself. In his account of the Essenes in Book 2 of the Jewish
War Josephus says that "after God they hold most in awe the name
of the lawgiver, any blasphemer of whom is punished with death."
(BJ. 2:145, cf. 2:152 where Essenes are tortured by the Romans " i n
orderto induce them to blaspheme their lawgiver"). Why should this
be regarded as blasphemy? In the Damascus Document swearing
"by Aleph and Lamed" or "by Aleph and Daleth" is forbidden. The
second prohibition has in view use of the cjere for the Tetragram-

12
Sec Nitzan 1994b, 145-171 and Stcgcmann 1996, 497.
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIC MOSES AT QUMRAN 141

maton, 'adonai (‫)אדני‬, so the second will refer to the use of cither el
or elo/dm (‫אלוהים‬/‫ )אל‬in oaths. I f Moses is also regarded as elohim then
he, presumably, should be given the same kind of respect as the
13
name of God itself.

4Q377 Frag. 1 redo col. ü

The second Dead Sea Scroll text to envisage a divine Moses is

4Q377 frag. 1. This is a poorly preserved manuscript written in
1 1
Hcroclian script. ' Sufficient text of the second column of the recto
can be made out for an angelomorphic Moses to be clearly read:
2 3
they understand the precepts of Moses And 11c answered you (. . .
and] said: "HefarJ congregation of YHWH, and pay attention, all the
4
assembly [. . .] to a[11 his] wor[ds] and [his] rulin[g]s. (vacal) Cursed
is the man who does not persevere and keep and carry [out] ‫ י‬all the
la[ws of Y]HWH by the mouth of Moses his anointed one (‫)משיחו‬, to
6
follow YHWH, the God of our fathers, who commanded] us from
the mountains of Sinaji], (vacal) And he has spoken ( ‫ ) ו י ד ב ר‬with the
7
assembly of Israel face to face, like a man speaks to his neighbour,
and li|k]e a man sees li[gh]t, he has caused us to see in a burning
lire, from above from heaven, " and on earth he stood ( ‫ ) ו ע ל האר*) ע מ ד‬,
on the mountain to teach us that there is no God apart from him
9
and no Rock like him [And all] the assembly [. . .] answered, and
trembling seized them before the Glory of God ( ‫ו ר ע ד ו ד י ה א ח ז ת ם מ ל פ נ י‬
10
‫ ) כ ב ו ד א ל ו ה י ם‬and the wonderful thunders and stayed at a distance.
(vacal) But Moses, the man of God was with God in the cloud (‫ומושה‬
11
‫)איש ה א ל ה י ם ע ם א ל ו ה י ם ב ע נ ן‬, and there covered him the cloud ( ‫ו י כ ם‬
‫ )עליו ה ע נ ן‬for [. . .] when he was sanctified ( ‫ ) ב ה ק ה ש ו‬, and he spoke as
an angel from his mouth ( ‫ ) ו כ מ ל א כ י ד ב ר מ פ י ה ו‬, for who was a mes-
scn[gcr] like him (or "who from ilefsh] was like him") ( ‫)מי מ ב ש ] ר [ כ מ ו ה ו‬,
12
a man of the pious ones (‫ ?)איש חסרים‬And he sho[wed ] which he
never created before or afterwards

At first sight, once the transcription and translation is established,

despite the lacunae the text appears straightforward. Like the dcift-
cation of Moses in 4Q374 the scene is again Mt. Sinai. In a patch-
work of biblical language and allusions drawing on material in both

‫ יי‬For die interpretative possibilities presented by C D 15:1-5 sec Schilfman 1983,

136-141.
11
Sec Maier 1995-6, vol. 3, p. 326. See also Wacholder and Ahegg 1991-6,
vol. 3, 164-166 and Ρ Λ Μ 43.372; 41.892; 41.942.
142 CHAPTER FIVE

Exodus and Deuteronomy the text describes the giving of the Torah
15
through Moses' mediation. Particularly noteworthy is the way Moses
is not only likened to an angel but is called God's Messiah, "the
man of God" (cf. Deut 33:1; Josh 14:6) and "a man of the pious
ones (hasidim)". Moses' angelomorphism should not be limited to a
functional similarity in speaking God's words. It is related specifi-
cally to his being covered by the theophanic cloud (Exod 24:18;
33:7-11) which is therefore indicative of Moses' peculiar identity. The
cloud reminds us of the angelomorphic "one like a son of man" in
Daniel 7:13, the Glorious and theophanic high priest Simon in the
clouds in Ben Sira 50:6 and, in particular, the transfigured Jesus
who is in so many ways a new Moses (Mark 9:2-13)."' Again the
sanctification of Moses by God (TOIpr•, line 11) speaks of his pccu-
liar identity and although this is not explicitly stated it probably has
‫;־‬
in view his becoming a "holy one ( t u l i p ) " (cf. Ben Sira 45:2).
It is also possible that Moses is viewed as a transformed human
who is no longer confined to the realm of flesh. The penultimate
word of line 11 could either mean "from flesh" or "a messenger".
The latter would suit the context where Moses functions as God's
mediator. However, the interrogative expression "who from flesh . . .?"
would tie up well with Ben Sira 45:4; Jubilees 31:14 and other Dead
Sea Scroll texts where angelomorphism is expressed in terms of a
transcendence of that realm. This reading might also function bet-
ter as an explanation of the preceding statement that Moses spoke
as an angel which is how the ‫ כיא‬implies these two parts of line 11
are to be linked.
Pressing beyond these cursory observations, however, we encounter
some striking tensions in the text. (1) First, we are bound to ask
whether or not the text has any literary coherence. Is the angelic
description of Moses in any way integrated into its literary context?
Is the text as a whole no more than a pastiche of biblical language,
or does the choice and structure of biblical language serve any clear
conceptual purpose?

15
For a thorough discussion see Zimmermann 1998, 332-342. A n d see P A M
41.942, 43.154, 43.372.
16
See also the priestly figure in 4Q369 1 i i 8 and (the priestly) Enoch in 1 Enoch
14:8. Behind the cloud borne "one like a son of man" in Daniel 7:13 there stands
the idealised image o f the high priest surrounded by clouds o f incense (cf. Ben Sira
50:6 and see Fletcher-Louis 1997a).
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIC MOSES AT Q U M R A N 143

(2) Secondly, and as a specific instance of this literary question, it

is not clear who the subject of the standing in line 8 is meant to
17
be. The immediately preceding subject of lines 5-7 is "the God o f
our fathers, who commanded us from the mountains of Sinai", who
"has spoken with the assembly of Israel face to face" and who has
appeared to Israel in a burning fire (lines 5b—6a). There is no gram-
matical indication of a change of subject at the beginning of line 8
("And upon the earth he stood (‫)ועל הארץ עמד‬, on the mountain . . ."),
but rather the last of a string of paratactic clauses sharing the same
divine subject. The image of God standing on the mountain is unusual,
though not entirely without precedent since in Exodus 17:6 God says
to Moses:

I will be standing (‫ )עמר‬there in front of you on the rock (‫ )צור‬at

Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the peo-
pie may drink.

The reference to Horeb could be read as an account not simply of

Moses striking the rock at Massah and Meribah (Exod 17:7), but a
forward glance to the thcophany at Sinai, and it is noteworthy that
rock language appears for God a couple of lines later in the Qum-
ran text (line 8).
However, there are good grounds for thinking that it is Moses,
not God, who is described standing in line 8. From line 5 it is Moses
who could be the subject not only of the phrase "who commanded
us from the mountains of the Sinai" (5b-6a), but also the statement
that "he stood on the mountain to teach . . .". Because this teacher
teaches that there "is no God apart from him and no rock like him"
this might imply that he is, in fact, someone other than God. That
it is in fact Moses who is the one described as standing is further sug-
gested by the fact that in lines 6-8 the text has in mind Deuteron-
omy 5:4-6:

The LORD spoke with you face to face ( ‫ )פנים כ פ נ י ם ר כ ר‬at the mou 11-
tain, out of the fire (‫ ) מ ת ו ך האש‬. •‫( י‬At that time I [i.e. Moses] was stand-
ing between the LORD and you to declare to you the words of the
LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the
6 7
mountain). And he said: 1 am the LORD your God, . . . you shall
have no other gods before me.

' As Zimmermann 1998, 338, has noted.

 144 CHAPTER FIVE

We can be fairly sure that lines 6-9 of 4Q377 1 recto col. i i are
based directly upon Deuteronomy 5:4-7:

A He has spoken (‫ )ידבר‬with the assembly face to face (‫)פנים עם אל פנים‬

(Dcut 5:4a), as a m a n speaks ίο his neighbour, (cf. E x o d 33:11).
Β A n d as a m a n sees light he has caused us to see in a burningfire(‫כאש‬
‫( )כעורה‬Deut 5:4b, c f D e u t 4:11, 5:23),
C from above, from heaven, a n d o n the earth he stood on the mountain
(Deut 5:5c)
D to teach us that there is no God apart from him. (cf. D e u t 5:7: " y o u s
have no other gods before m e " etc.) and no rock like h i m .
Ε A n d all the assembly . . . answered, and trembling seized them ( D e u t
5:5d: " f o r you w e r e afraid") before the Glory o f G o d (i.e. the fire
o f D c u t 5:5d?) a n d the w o n d e r f u l thunders
F and you stayed at a distance ( D e u t ΓκΓχΙ "and d i d not go up the
m o u n t a i n " , cf. E x o d 20:18).

Although the text does not cite Deuteronomy as though it were a

pesher or some kind of midrash, that biblical text has provided the
structure upon which all its parts are hung. The language of the
Exodus version of the Sinai theophany has been introduced at a
number of points. There are several biblical passages where God
speaks face to face with Moses (Exod 33:1 1; Num 12:8; Dcut 34:10),
and the expression speaking face to face as to a neighbour (lines ‫־־‬67)
comes specifically from Exodus 33:1 1. Lines 9b-10a have come from
Exodus 20:18: "When all the people witnessed the thunder (‫)הקולח‬
and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smok-
ing, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance (‫ויעמדו‬
8
'."(‫ מרחק‬But otherwise the Exodus account of the Sinai theophany
docs not have the precise structure of these lines of the Qumran
text. So if Deuteronomy 5:4•—6 has provided the literary and con-
ceptual structure of the text then that would suggest that it is Moses'
standing, not God's, that is in view since in Deuteronomy 5:5 it
specifically Moses who is said to stand.
Furthermore, were our text interested in the standing of a human
beipg rather than God this would cohere with two other instances
of the use of the verb ‫ ע מ ד‬in the immediate context. As we have
just seen line 10a refers to the assembly of the people standing at
Sinai and already line 4• would appear to look forward to this scene
when it says "cursed is the man who does not stand (‫ )יעמוד‬and keep

"' The "burning lire" will have been introduced from Dcut 4:11 and 5:23.
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIC MOSES AT QUMRAN 145

and do . . .". Although the people trembled, they did not fall but
remained standing. Whilst these two instances of the verb to stand
do not necessitate a reference to Moses standing in line 8, they at
least suggest that the standing theme is important for the text as a
whole, which further accentuates the need for the interpreter to make
sense of the ambiguity between God and Moses in the main body
of the text.
(2) Thirdly, another oddity arises from this latter problem. There
is no doubt that line 6b cites the statement in Deuteronomy 5:4 to
the effect that God spoke intimately with the whole people of Israel
at Sinai. And the introduction of the expression "as a man speaks
to his neighbour" from Exodus 33:11 suggests that our author is
reading Deuteronomy with one eye to Exodus. But it is precisely at
this point that there is generally reckoned to be a tension between
the two biblical Sinai accounts. Whilst Deuteronomy has direct con-
tact between God and the people (cf. Deut 4:12, 15, 32-33, 36;
5:19; 10:4), Exodus is quite clear that intimate communication between
God and the people is reserved for Moses, whilst the people are
kept at bay, unable to ascend the mountain, let alone have com-
munion with God "face to face", as do friends. Does the citation of
Exodus 20:18 (cf. Exod 19:16) in lines 9b- 10a mean our author is
oblivious to the différences between the two accounts? I f not, how
can he have the people both standing at a distance and interacting
19
with God "face to face, as a friend to a neighbour"?
In wrestling with these problems I suggest that each supplies the
answer to the other and the author is deliberately, though somewhat
allusively, combining different parts of the biblical text in order to
resolve possible tensions inherent within it and in order to make, a
specific theological point. The distinction between God's standing
and that of Moses is deliberately blurred because 4Q377 wants to
say that in Moses' standing there is God's standing. This then facil-
itates a resolution of any perceived tension between Deuteronomy
5:4 and Exodus 19 because it also means that in Moses' speaking
to the people, there is a mediation of God's speaking to the people

19
There are many ways in which the natural meaning of "face to face" in Deut
5:4 can be avoided so as to pass over any tension with Exodus 19, as rabbinic tra-
dilion testifies (see, e.g., Pesiq. Rab. 21:6). But with the addition of "as a friend
speaks (0 his neighbour" 4Q377 leaves no doubt that the communication between
God and Israel is to be regarded as analogous to that between Moses and God.
146 CHAPTER FIVE

face to face. As is perhaps the case in 4Q374, where Moses fulfils

Numbers 6:25, God's face is seen in Moses' face. What God has
20
been to Moses, Moses is now to the people. On this reading the
statement in line 11 that Moses "spoke as an angel through his
mouth" sums up the "argument" of the preceding section: because
Moses is God's angel, his words are those of his master. Because
Moses is shrouded by the cloud, his presence is really God's pros-
ence. The people did not come to ascend the mountain but although
they remained at a distance it is true to say that they had a face to
face encounter with God because in Moses' face they encountered
God's face. As in 4Q374 frag. 2, the author perhaps here has in
mind the, shining of Moses' face in Exodus 34:30.
The description of Moses as an angel in the cloud may also be
intended to align the lawgiver with the Angel of the LORD tradition
according tb which Yahweh has an angelic persona which is a man-
ifestation of his own being. A s j a r l Fossum has shown there is ample
evidence within Samaritan tradition that Moses (or the Mosaic prophet)
21
could be so identified with the Angel of the LORD. Already in the
biblical text (Zcch 12:8) the Davidic king is aligned with the tradi-
tion of the Name bearing angel attested in Exodus 23:20-21. In this
case the people will be like Gideon who saw "the angel of the LORD
face to face" (Judg 6:22).
The suggestion that the ambivalence between God's standing and
that of Moses is deliberate might receive specific support from the
use of Deuteronomy 5:5 in Philo, Samaritanism and proto-gnostic
thought surrounding Simon Magus. Philo regards Moses' Deutero-
22
nomic standing as an indication of his immortality. Fossum has
pointed to the parallel phenomenon in Samaritan texts where Moses
is known as "the (immutable) Standing One" (Memar Marqah 4:12),
as was Simon Magus in Simonian gnosis (Pseudo-Clementine Horn-
23
Hies I I 22-3-4; 24:6 ,(27-‫ ׳‬In Samaritan tradition and the rabbis a

20
Indeed, this way of resolving the perspectives of Deuteronomy and Exodus is
perhaps anticipated by Deul 5:5 itself which qualifies the direct contact between
God and the people in the previous verse with reference to the mediation of Moses
(cf. Wcinfeld 1991, 240).
21
Fossum 1985.
22
Sac 8-10; Somn. 1:157-8; 2:222-3, 227-34; Pos. 27-29, cf. the immutability of
God as one who "stands" in Conf. 96; Soinn. 1:241, 245, 2 : 2 2 2 - 3 ; Mut. 54, 87, and
discussion in, for example, Segal 1977, 170-71.
23
Fossum, 1985, 56-8 120-1.
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIC MOSES AT QUMRAN 147

24
standing posture is generally indicative of the angelic life. A n inter-
est in standing as a posture symbolising immutability is already
attested in the second century B.C. author Aristobulus (frag. 2 (Euse-
bius Praep. Evang. 8.9.38-8.10.17) 9-12), so we can be sure it was
25
an idea to which the author of 4Q377 was potentially exposed.
One of Philo's treatments of this theme, in fact, deserves to be
cited in full since it offers a number of intriguing parallels to the
Qumran text. In the second volume of his work On Dreams, 221-230,
Philo writes:

"Here I stand there before you (come), on the rock in Choreb" (Exod
17:6), which means, "this I , the manifest, Who am here, am there
also, am everywhere, for I have filled all things. 1 stand ever the same
immutable, bcibrc you or anything that exists came into being, cslab-
lished on the topmost and most ancient source of power, whence show-
222
ers forth the birth of all that is . . . . . . And Moses too gives his
testimony to the unchangeablencss of the deity when he says "they
26
saw the place where the God of Israel stood (είστήκει)" (Exodus 24:10),
223
for by the standing or establishment he indicates his immutability.
But indeed so vast in its excess is the stability of the Deity that He im-
parts to chosen natures a share of His steadfastness to be their richest
possession. For instance, He says of His covenant (διαθήκη) filled with
His bounties, the highest law (νόμος) and principle, that is, which rules
existent things, that this god-like image shall be firmly planted with
27 225
the righteous soul as its pedestal . . . And it is the earnest desire
of all the God-beloved to fly from the stormy waters of engrossing
business with its perpetual turmoil of surge and billow, and anchor in
226
the calm safe shelter of virtue's roadsteads. See what is said of wise
Abraham, how he was "standing before God" (Gen 18:22), for when
should we expect a mind to stand and no longer sway as on the bal-
227
ance save when it is opposite God, seeing and being seen? . . . To
Moses, loo, this divine command was given: "Stand here with me"
(Deut 5:31), and this brings out both the points suggested above, namely
the unswerving quality of the man of worth, and the absolute stabil-
228
ity of Him that IS. For that which draws near to God enters into
affinity with what is, and through that immutability becomes self

21
See Fossum, 1985, 121 and, e.g., Aboi de R. Nathan A 12:2; 37:2; Gen. Rab.
8:11; 14:3; b. Hag. 16a; Pirqe R. El. 46.
2 5
For standing imagery and angclomorphism/immortalily see now Gonick 1996,
91 on Gosp. Thorn. 18.
2(1
Here Philo is reliant on his Sepluagint, since the Flehrew lacks any reference
to God's "standing".
2 1
This difficult image is then supported and developed through a citation o f
Genesis 9:11.
148 CHAPTER FIVE

m
standing. . . T h u s he (i.e. Moses) says: " A n d I stood between the L o r d
a n d y o u " ( D e u t 5:5), w h e r e he does not mean that he stood f i r m u p o n
his feet, b u t wishes to indicate that the m i n d o f the Sage, released
from storms a n d wars, w i t h calm still weather and p r o f o u n d peace
x m
a r o u n d i t , is superior to m e n , b u t less than G o d . . . . T h e good
m a n indeed is o n the b o r d e r - l i n e , so that we may say, q u i t e p r o p e r l y ,
that he is neither G o d n o r m a n , b u t bounded at either end by the
two, by m o r t a l i t y because o f his m a n h o o d , by i n c o r r u p t i o n because o f
his virtue.

There are enough parallels between Philo's discussion here and our
Qumran text for us to wonder whether the former is reliant on
something like the latter. Like Philo, 4Q377 is working with Deuteron-
omy 5:5, the giving of the Torah, and perhaps Exodus 17:6. Both
texts think standing is a posture indicative of a transcendent iden-
tity in which the righteous can participate and of which Moses is
the pre-eminent example. With the stability of standing is contrasted
the corruptibility of motion, turmoil and storms, which is perhaps
reflected in the tension between Israel's "standing" (lines 4 and 10)
and her "trembling" (line 9) before the Glory of God in the Qum-
ran text. Whether this and other similar passages in Philo (cf. esp.
Sac. 8 10; Pos. 27—29) are genetically related to 4Q377 is not cer-
tain, but remains an attractive possibility.
There is nothing specifically Essene or sectarian in this text. Indeed
the freedom with which the divine Name is used points away from
a narrowly sectarian Silz im Leben. However, it is perfectly consistent
with the Essene veneration of Moses and belief in his suprahuman
identity. It is quite possibly both pre-Qumranic and the original pos-
session of a wider movement, perhaps the hasidini of 1 Maccabees
2:42; 7:14 and 2 Maccabees 14:6, from which Essenism may have
28
emerged. I f the reading of 4Q377 suggested here is on the mark
then this Qumran text would confirm Fossum's contention that here,
as elsewhere, Philo, Samaritan theology and early gnostic thought
derives from an older "orthodox" Jewish milieu in which Moses is
29
regarded as an angelic or divine being.

28
Cr. Zimmermann 1998, 341-2.
29
I t is worth noting the way in which the ability to stand before God is related
to worthiness and immortality in the Uodayol !'see l Q I L 12:21-22 [4:20-21]; 18:11
[10:9]; 20:30 [12:27]).
 THE DIVINE AND ANGELIG MOSES AT QUMRAN 149

Moses and die Priestiiood

It is worth noting that there is, in fact, no extant evidence that the
Qumran community believed that Moses had a particularly won-
drous birth. There is no parallel to the birth of Noah for Moses
among the Dead Sea Scrolls and indeed there probably was none
that the community regarded as authoritative. In the scrolls Moses'
divinity or angelomorphic identity is associated with his ascent up
Sinai and his giving of the Torah. The Qumran community's Enoch
collection described the angelomorphic transformation of Moses from
a sheep to man at Sinai (/ Enoch 89:36). Sirach 45 seems to claim
that Moses becomes divine and glorious at this point during his lead-
ersliip of Israel and 4Q374 frag. 2 and 4Q377 specifically locate
events at Sinai, although it is true that they do not exclude some
earlier angelomorphic identity for Moses and, of course, 4Q374 uses
the statement that Moses became God to Pharaoh in Egypt (Exod
7:1). I n all this a divine or prc-existent Moses is conspicuously absent.
Is there a pattern here, or do we simply lack the complete picture
of the community's beliefs about Moses?
Some significance to the consistent emphasis on Moses becoming
divine, or angelomorphic, is reinforced by the contrast with Noah.
In the Qumran version of the Animal Apocalypse there was no refer-
enec to Noah's becoming angelomorphic when he built the ark, unlike
the Ethiopie text which symbolises his transformation through the
change from bull to human at that point in his career (Eth. Enoch
30
89:1). It may be then that the relative differences between points
at which Moses and Noah are given an angelomorphic identity in
the scrolls reflects an important, though slight, ideological difference
in their estimation. In the Priestly tradition of the Pentateuch, as
31
also in Sirach, Moses is not a priest. Although Moses is obviously
very highly estimated by the Qumran community, both literarily and
in their religious practice, the significance attached to Noah's iden-
tity from birth probably reflects his superior priestly credentials. As we
discover in our next chapter there is a wealth of material in the Q L
which demonstrates the community's belief that it is the high priest,
even more than Moses, who embodies the divine humanity and the
Glory of God.

c c
This is missing from 4 Q E n 4 i 13-14, cf. 4 Q E n 4 10.
See Olyan 1987.
 C H A P T E R SIX

PRIESTLY A N G E L O M O R P H I S M I N T H E DSS

The leadership of the Qumran community was priestly; both Lévites

and laity subordinated to the authority of the Priesthood. For the
eschatological scenario the royal messiah was expected to come under
the same priestly authority. Given the Priesthood's exalted position
within the movement's power structure it is not surprising that the
Priesthood is often regarded in angelic and divine terms. Whilst, it
is true to say that the priesthood plays a more prominent role than
kingship in late Second Temple angelomorphic speculation, this is
especially the case at Qumran. With the gradual release of Cave 4
texts the number of texts which evince this theology has increased
significantly.

Vie Blessing of the High Priest (lQSb 4:24-28)

The best known example of Qumran angelomorphism is the bless-

ing of the priest in lQSb 4:25 which is part of a passage with many
points of interpretative interest:
n
and to raise up at the head of the holy ones, and your people to
24
blefss ]your [. . .]in your hand the men of God's council and not by
the hand of a prince (‫[ )ולוא כיד שר‬. . .] by each man for his fellow.
25
And (may) you (‫( )ואחה‬be) as an Angel of the Presence (‫)כמלאך פנים‬
in the abode of holiness (‫ )כמעון קודש‬for the Glory of the God of
Llosfts (‫ )לכבוד אלהי צכא]וח‬you] will be round about, serving in the
26
palace (‫ )משרח בהיכל‬of the kingdom and may you cast lot (‫)ומפיל נורל‬
with the Angels of the Presence and a common council [. . . for] eter-
27
nal time and for all the glorious endtimcs. Because [true (are) all] his
[judgements (‫)מ[שפטיו‬. May he make you ho[ly] among his people,
"'and to give light (‫[)ולמאור‬. . .] for the world in knowledge (‫)לחבל בדעת‬,
a
and to illuminate the face of the Many (‫[ ' )להאיר פני רבים‬. . .] a dia-
1
dem for the holy of holies (‫)נזר לקודש קוהשים‬, because [ you are made]

1
‫ נזר‬is a distinct and separate word. I t is not possible to restore ‫]נזר‬Π because
the upper left hand corner of the space where we would expect to see evidence of
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 151

holy for Him, and shall make Glorious His Name and His holiness
(‫ לו וחככד שמו וקודשיו‬m[pn). You have separated (‫ )הכרלחה‬from[.. .
5:1 2

This text confronts us with two interpretation questions: (a) what

precisely is the identity of the person here described? and (b) are
they a future figure or did the Qumran community already have in
its service such an angelomorphic priest?

(a) The Identity of the Priest

For the comparison of the priest to an angel of the presence there

are principally two issues which concern us. First, what kind, or
order, of priest is in view here? According to the editor of lQSb,
J.T. Milik, this blessing belongs to that for the Zadokite priests as a
whole, the blessing of the High Priest being present in the earlier
3
columns (‫״‬13) of this scroll. Flowever, subsequently, the majority of
commentators have reckoned that our passage is a part of the bless-
ing of a (Zadokite) high priest (4:22-28) and that along with the
blessing of the royal messianic prince in column 5:20-29 acts as the
1
climax of the whole work.' Although this view still has its detrac-
5
tors, we will show that it must be correct since our text focuses
closely on the high priest's apparel.

the lam is visible yet shows no signs of ink (see DJD 1:126, pl. X X V I I I and P A M
40:456).
2
I follow Stegcmann (correcting Milik) in taking 5:1 as the first line of the fifth
column and therefore die direct continuation of the blessing of the high priest (Stege-
mann 1996, 498). Though I do not sec the need to translate p ‫ וקודשיו הכדליחה‬as
"and you have separated His holy ones from" since this introduces a past tense
action for the high priest's service vis-à-vis the community where 4:22 28 only looks
forward in time to such activity.
•‫ י‬DJD 1:120 ‫״‬126.
‫ יי‬Licht 1965, 274-5; Schitfman 1989, 72-70; Charlcsworth in Charlcsworth 1994,
119 121.
5
In particular Milik is still followed by Stcgemann 1996, 495-500, Stegemann's
objection to the identification o f our priest with the high priest is based on his
claim that " I f the blessings would ascend from the lowest to the highest rank, the
High Priest should come afler the Royal Messiah." (Stcgemann 1996, 496). One
obvious response to this objection is that Jubilees 31:11-20, which has acted as a
conceptual model for our text and is also a blessings composition, places the pre-
eminent recipient of blessing (Levi) first, before the subordinate recipient (Judah).
The order blessing of (high) priest—blessing of royal figure therefore follows a tra-
ditional pattern. Secondly, that the prince is blessed last and afier the climactic bless-
ing of the high priest is consistent with a reading of our scroll according to which
all but the blessing of the prince was currently used by the congregation: the bless-
ing of the prince is placed last almost by way of an appendix for future reference.
152 CHAPTER SIX

Secondly, we want to know what exactly the text means when it

6
says that the priest is to be "as (‫ )כ‬an angel of the presence". What
is the force of the kaph? Does it entail merely similarity or identity?
Like the Greek ώς which appears frequently in angelomorphic state-
ments in Jewish and early Christian literature (e.g. Mark 12:25; Joseph
and Aseneth 22:7; Prayer of Jacob 19, cf. also Sirach 50:7) the ‫ כ‬has a
range of possible meanings and we need to gauge its precise import
from the surrounding context.
A comparison with the angels of the presence in which there is
functional symmetry between the angels in heaven and the priesthood
on earth must be ruled out from the outset because the priest is him-
self placed in the heavenly world "in the abode of holiness . . . round
about seiving in the palace of the kingdom . . . (in) a common conn-
cil . . .". ']here is no "on earth (below) as it is in heaven (above)" lan
here? O i f the contrary, close examination of the language in the
extant text that follows demands a real angelic identity for the high
priest, even i f for our text the high priest's identity is not reduced to
that of an angel.
The spatial setting that is described in lines 25-26 is consistent
with other texts which describe the vertical movement of a mortal
from earth to the heavenly realm where they experience iransfor-
mation to a new identity appropriate to their new sphere of reality.
The expression "and to raise up at the head (‫ )לטאח ברוש‬of the holy
ones" in line 23 may have spoken of the high priest being moved
vertically up into the heavenly realm which follows in lines 25-26."
The reference to the palace of the king ultimately anticipates the
Hekhalot literature of the Amoraic period in which the mystic jour-
neys through God's heavenly palaces.
What does it mean that the priest should "cast lot with the angels
9
of the presence and (share) a common council"? Such a decreeing
of fate is what we would expect of God. Earlier on in the 1QS
lQSa— lQSb scroll it is probably God himself who casts the lots of
humanity according to the two spirits which rule the cosmos (1QS

6
For the angels of (he presence see 1Q1L 14:13 [6:13]; Jub 1:27, 29; 2:1, 2, 18;
15:27; 31:14; 7: Ixvi 3:5, 7; 4:2; 18:5; T. Jud. 25:2.
7
Pace e.g. Hannah 1999, 61.
8
C f the prince of the congregation who in 5:23 is raised "to an everlasting
height ( ‫")לרום ע י ל ם‬.
‫ יי‬The translation of the Hebrew as "share the lot" by (Gastet 1976, 90; Martinez
1992a, 433) will not do, as Frenncsson 1999, 87 points out.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 153

10
4:26, cf. 4QJ81 1 ii 5; 1QM 13:9-10). It is possible that in the
directions for the Covenant Renewal Ceremony (1:18-2:26) that pre-
cedes the Two Spirits discourse (3:13-4:26), the Priests' and Lévites'
blessing and cursing is understood as a ritualised enactment of God's
cosmic casting of the lots for humanity because in 2:17 the cursing
of the wicked man is concluded with the words "may he put his lot
(‫ )יחן גורלו‬among those cursed forever" and in 2:23 it is said of the
hierarchical organization of the movement at this ceremony that "no
one shall. . . rise from the place of his lot". Perhaps we are meant
to interpret lQSb 4:26 through this material in the Community Rule
and see in the high priest's office the job of giving to the people of
God their cosmologically oriented order. In this, then, the high priest
would be God's own agent within creation and history."
There is, no doubt, the influence of Jubilees 31 throughout this
passage. Like the angelomorphic Lévites of Jubilees the priest in lQSb
is to serve in God's sanctuary (esp. lines 25, 28) as "an angel of the
face (or, 'presence')". Both passages emphasize the themes of glory
and holiness. In Jubilees 31:15 Levi is to bless all the seed of the
beloved, presumably with the Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:22-27.
1 QSb 4:23 may also refer to the high priest's role as blesser of his
12
people, though the context is broken. Numbers 6:22-26 plays a
pivotal role in the rest of the Blessings Scroll as it does in other DSS
13
texts. Several commentators have also seen the influence of Num-
bcrs 6:25—"The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be
gracious to you"—on line 27 where the priest himself is "to give
light [. . .] for the world in knowledge and to illuminate the face of
14
the Many". This would be an important corroboration of the sug-
gestion that in 4Q374 frag. 9 Moses embodies the shining face of

10
Dupont-Sommcr 1961, 112 n. 1.
" CP. Frcnncsson 1999, 87 who wonders whether there is here "something anal-
ogous to that of the blessings and curses o f 1Q_S I I where "ordering of destinies"
is apparently coupled with a capacity also to influence the present course of events
on earth". This determining of destinies has an ancient religious background in
Mesopotamia!! religion.
12
For N u m 6:22-27 here see Stcgemann 1996, 497 who regards our 4:23 as
4:21 because he has estimated the number of lines per column differently (cf. ibid.
p. 484).
, ‫ג‬
See Milik DJD 1:121-129 notes ad 10c; N i t / a n 1994b, 155-67; Stcgemann
1996, 497. For Num 6:22-27 in DSS see also 1QS 2:2-4; 4Q5421 i 1; 11Q14 1
ii 7 = 4Q285 frag. 1, lines 3-4.
'‫ יי‬Zimmermann 1998, 282; Stegemann 1996, 497. For "the Many" see Dan 12:3,
but also M a i 2:6.
154 CHAPTER SIX

the LORD of Numbers 6:25 when he restores the Israelites from their
trembling, though, as we shall see, Numbers 6 is not the only text
responsible for the language in lQSb 4:27.
Both statements of the priesthood's angelomorphism are also made
in blessings upon the priesthood: i n Jubilees 31 Isaac blesses Levi,
whilst in 1 QSb the maskil blesses the high priest (see ‫ למשכיל‬in 1:1 ;
3:22; 5:20). In line 28 the priest is to glorify God's Name". There
are only a few biblical texts where humans are so to do and, perhaps
significantly, Malachi 2:2 is the only instance where a priest has such
5
a responsibility ( ' . ( ‫ל ש מ י‬ ‫ל ח ת כבוד‬ As we saw, Ma
the biblical basis for the angelomorphic priesthood in Jubilees 31:14
and its presence may still linger beneath the surface of I QSb 4.
There is here, then, another text which belongs to a trajectory of
biblical and post-biblical interpretation. Our arguments for a real,
ontologicàl angelomorphic identity m Jubilees 31 are equally relevant
for 1 QSb given the continuity of theological perspective and the high
authority with which Jubilees was treated at Qumran. Certainly, the
high priest's shedding of light is indicative not merely of his role as
functional representative but his embodiment of God's real presence.
This embodiment comes more prominently to the fore in line 28
where the high priest is to glorify God's Name and his holiness.
What does this mean exactly? This language is easily given an entirely
transitive sense: the high priest glorifies God by praising him ver-
bally or otherwise directing the people's attention to him. However,
numerous considerations must mean that in this text the verb to glo-
rify carries a certain reflexive sense: the high priest is to glorify God's
Name by virtue of the fact that he embodies it and gives it substantial real près-
ence within the community. The context makes no mention of the high
priest verbally praising God and so it is unlikely to be the case that
his giving Glory to God's Name is meant in that sense. We have
already seen how in Sirach 50 the high priest embodies the Glory
of God and how in Jubilees 31 this rhetoric, of Glory is again echoed.
Vyhen i n Sirach 50:11 it says that Simon "glorified (‫יהדר‬, έδόξασεν)
the court of the sanctuary" it means that, by his presence (and his
action) he filled the sanctuary with God's own Glory. The force is
probably similar in our text.

15
Cf. the psalmist in Ps 86:12, the nations in Ps 86:9 and God giving glory to
his own name in Ps 115:1. The glorious nature of God's name is common (e.g. Ps
66:2; 72:19, 96:18; Neh 9:5).
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 155

At the beginning of the broken 28th line of column 4 we have

read ‫ [ נזר לקודש קודשים‬and translated "] a diadem for the holy of
holies". The ‫ נזר‬must refer to the holy diadem (‫ )מר הקדש‬worn by
the high priest according to Exodus 29:6; 39:30 and Leviticus 8:9.
A reference to this diadem is highly fitting in the context given that
the high priest is to glorify God's Name and it is upon this diadem
16
that the Name is inscribed. When our text refers to "a diadem for
the holy of holies" it must then be talking about the high priest who
alone can enter the holy of holies (Lev 16, cf. m. Torna 5:1-4; 7:4)."
Whilst some translators have recognised the reference in line 28
to this diadem they nevertheless take the meaning metaphorically
10
and restore "may he make you] a diadem of holy of holies". I see
no reason for this non-literal reading. Indeed, I would suggest that
lines 26 28 as a whole are concerned first and foremost with the
high priest's garments and their theological and cosmological func-
tions. Whilst line 28 is devoted to the diadem bearing the divine
Name, lines 26—27 are interested in the breastpiece of judgement
and the Urim and Thummim. This is most clearly seen in the priest's
role as the giver of light in line 27, since the Urim and T h u m m i m
(UT) carried or worn by the high priest are almost universally inter-
prctcd in the late and post-biblical period as a light-giving oracle,
by virtue of the (perceived) etymology of the word Urim (‫ )אורים‬from
the root ‫אור‬, "light". It is not clear exactly how this light giving ora-
01 c was believed to work, but certainly at Qumran, for Josephus and
for other Jews, the Urim and Thummim were somehow identified
19
with the stones of the high priest's breastpiece (see Exodus 28:9—30).
That breastpiece is specifically referred to as "a breastpiece of judge-
ment (‫( ")משפט‬Exod 28:15, 28-29) and so the reference in line 27 to

"‫ יי‬For this interest in the high priest's diadem sec 4Ql'Lcvi' (4Q541) 24 i i 5 - 6
1

which could be translated "and a diadem (‫ )וצצא‬of God bring near to h i m , and
you will establish for your Father a Name of joy and for all your brothers a proven
foundation you will make rise. You will see and rejoice in eternal light" (cf. Brooke
1993, 90-92). The best preserved fragment of this text (frag. 9) describes the escha-
tological heavenly high priest. For the priest speaking to God as to a father see
T. Levi 17:2.
" So rightly Zimmermann 1998, 282.
18
DSSSE, 1997-98, 107, cf. "[und er mache dich] zu einem Diadem" Maier
1995-6, 247.
19 cl
See 4QT0ngues of Fire; 4QpIsa and Josephus Ant 3:216-17 and the texts dis-
cussed below. See now the thorough discussion of the primary sources and history
of interpretation in van D a m 1993.
156 CHAPTER SIX

"his [judgements (‫ ")מ[שפמיו‬also fits this context since it is through

20
this oracular devise that the high priest declares God's judgements.
The reference to the high priest casting lot in line 26 may also
anticipate the U T language in line 27. In 1 Samuel 14:40-42 Saul
inquires of the LORD by means of lots to discover the source of sin
21
within the Israelite camp. The Septuagint, which perhaps preserves
the original and fuller form of the text, understands this lot taking
22
as an inquiring of Urim and Thummim. Indeed, O T scholarship
has frequently ventured a psephomantic interpretation of the mys-
terious U T . Whether a light-giving understanding of the U T and
the lot drawing interpretation can be combined is not clear, though
in 1 Samuel 14:42 the hiph'il of the verb ‫ נפל‬is used for the casting
of lots in a way which was understood to refer to the Urim and
Thummim (so L X X ) and even if this was taken metaphorically at
Qumran the high priest's casting of lots in lQSb 4:26 is consistent
with the wider linguistic field of the U T .
All this is important because it strengthens our conviction that
in line 28 the glorification of God's Name is by virtue of the high
priest acting as the real presence for the Glory of the Name: this real
presence is expressed in terms of sacred clothing and its various
theophanic functions. The high priest brings Glory to God's Name
by virtue of his capacity as bearer of that Name and its visible
manifestation.
It is worth contrasting this with what is said about the prince in
column 5. In 5:28 God "will strengthen you (i.e. the prince) with
his Holy Name (‫")בשם קודשו ינכרכה‬. Whereas the high priest arts for
the Name of God as the one who gives it Glory, the prince is pas-
sine in as much as he is a recipient of the Name's power. Presumably,
also, this difference reflects the liturgical and theocratic relationship
between the two, with the high priest acting as the divine mediator
and guide for the king: to say that God will strengthen the royal
leader with his Holy Name, is to make him a subordinate to the

20
I f we follow Stuckenbruck in Charlesworth 1994, 128—9 and restore "true (are)
all ]his judgements . . ." at the beginning of line 27 then this might offer another
reference to the U r i m and T h u m m i m given that the T h u m m i m was widely under-
stood bv association with the root ‫ ה ם‬in terms of "completion, perfection, or indh"
( L X X Éxod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Deut 33:8; Philo Spec. Leg. 1:88-89).
21
See the discussion of this passage in van D a m 1993, 194-214.
22
For a recent discussion see van Dam 1993, 34-37, 197-203, who is overly
critical of the lot interpretation of the U T .
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N THE DSS 157

high priest's power as one who manifests that Name liturgically and,
in particular, through the judicial or salvific power of the Urim and
23
Thummim.
Further confirmation for this reading of lQSb 4:24—28 is pro-
vided by the details of an angelomorphic priesthood text from out-
side of Qumran. We have already seen how in the letter of Ansteas
99 the high priest is an otherworldly being. O n close inspection the
details of Ansteas 97-99 match closely those in our Qumran text:

On his breast he wears what is called the "oracle," to which are

attached "twelve stones" of different kinds, set in gold, giving the names
of the patriarchs in what was the original order, each stone flashing
its own natural distinctive colour—quite indescribable. Upon his head
he has what is called the "tiara," and upon this the inimitable "mitre,"
21
the hallowed diadem (to καθηγιασμένον βασίλειον) having in relief, in
the middle o f the forehead, in holy letters on a golden leaf the Name
o f God (όνομα τοΰθεοΰ), the fulfilment of Glory (δοξής (some mss: δόξη)
πεπληρωμένον) . . . Their appearance makes one awestruck and dum-
founded: a man would think he (either the high priest or the viewer)
had come out o f this world into another one.

The terminology is not identical, which is not surprising given the

difference in genre and audience [Ansteas is written for a Hellenised
readership), but the basic theology is the same. As in lQSb 4 it is
the oracular, refulgent breastpiece, and the Name bearing diadem
which is distinctive of the high priest. With the statement, in diffi-
cult Greek, that the high priest's garments, in particular the diadem
bearing the Name, are the "fulfilment of Glory" we should compare
the equally pregnant language of lQSb 4:28 where the high priest is
to "make Glorious (God's) Name". Wdiere Ansteas speaks of the wearer
of these garments in terms of the otherworldly, there can be little
doubt that he has translated the angelomorphism of the Qumran
text into terms suitable for his Hellenistic readership.
Although the blessing of the high priest in lQSb belongs within
in a particular literary trajectory of priesdy theology which is antic-
ipated in one proto-Essene text (Jubilees 31), its view of the angelo-
morphic priesthood in lQSb is reflective of a wider late Second

2 3
Compare, i n particular, the relationship between king and priest in 4Q285 =
11Q.14.
24
For "diadem" here see the L X X of 2 Sam 1:10 where the Hebrew has ‫מ ר‬
and Meecham 1935, 232 ad toe.
158 CHAPTER SIX

Temple practice and belief. It seems to have been a widely held

belief that, by virtue of his glorious garments and the light-giving
stones, Israel's chief priest was an otherworldly being.
All this, of course, also confirms the majority view that lQSb
4:22 28 is a blessing of a high priest, not a lesser priest than those
blessed in the previous columns as Milik thought. Nowhere else in
the scroll do we find language that is so densely packed with the
25
terminology and symbolism of Exodus 28.

(b) Realized or Future Eschatology?

The second issue with which the interpreter of lQSb ‫־־‬4:2228 has
to wrestle is whether or not the angelomorphic high priest is a future
figure or if, in fact, there were historical priests who during the com-
munity'sjife span actually received this blessing and served as angels
of the presence in the abode of holiness. On this question opinion
has been di\ided.
Instinctively, some may feel that the transcendent identity of the
high priest must mean he is purely a figure of future hope. The jux-
taposition of the blessing of the high priest to the blessing of the
Prince of the Congregation, who everyone agrees was a figure of
future hope at Qumran, and the combination of the Rule of Bless-
ings with the Rule of the Messianic Congregation (lQSa) in the one com-
positc scroll ( l Q S - l Q S a - l Q S b ) leads some to the conclusion that
2
these blessings are designed for the future eschatological era. '' It is
assumed that the community would not make use of a liturgy part
of which was inapplicable to the present era. Secondly, it is noted
that where the annual Covenant Renewal Ceremony has both bless-
ings and curses on God's enemies, the lack of the latter in IQSb sug-
gests its use for the eschaton when such enemies have been vanquished.
Thirdly, as Bilhah Nitzan points out "because the blessings for var-
ious groups among the community of Israel and its leaders, as given
in the Blessings, are arranged in ascending order, from the simple
God fearers who will form the rank and file of the future congrega-
tion up to the Prince of the Congregation, we may assume that the

2 5
At the beginning of the fourth column there is reference to a ‫ ע ט ר ת‬for some-
one's head (4:3) and this is probably priestly (cf. Zech 6:11-14) and 4:2 may refer
to a crown (‫)כל"]ל‬, but these are not derived from Exodus 28.
26
Alexander 1996, 442: the whole of l Q S b "is not the current liturgy of the
sect, but part of a special order of service to be enacted at the inauguration of the
eschaton", cf. Eshel 1999, 634.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N THE DSS 159

solemn occasion described therein is similar to that described in the

21
Rule of the Congregation.'"
The issues that this question raises are many and complex. What
was the community's understanding of its position vis-à-vis the escha-
ton? And whilst they separated themselves from the Jerusalem tern-
pie cult, did they have their own Ersatz high priesthood? Some
commentators whilst recognising the future, eschatological orienta-
tion of our text nevertheless reckon that the Rule of Blessings reflects
28
existing Qumran practice even i f this text was written for the future.
In other quarters the notion that IQSa-lQSb as a whole is written
for the future has been challenged. Annette Steudel has argued that
the phrase "in the latter days (‫ ")באחרית הימים‬which prescribes the
setting for lQSa (1:1) embraces the present life of the community
29
who believe they are already living in the eschatological time period,
and Hartmut Stegemann has argued that the blessings of the high
priest (which he takes to be lQSb 1:19-3:19) was originally written
for the Teacher of Righteousness whom the Essenes regarded as the
true high priest of Israel, (though after his death these blessings fell
3
out of use). "
One thing is certain: even i f the blessing of the angelomorphic
high priest in lQSb was reserved for the future, there is no evi-
dence that its use would entail a thoroughly otheiworldly eschatology.
Throughout 1QS—lQSa-lQSb there is an absence of the transcen-
dentalising eschatology that one finds in other late Second Temple
Jewish texts and the focus is entirely on the culmination of salvation
31
history as it has been known hitherto.
In fact, a number of considerations also tend to support the view
that the blessing of the angelomorphic high priest was already in
use at Qumran during the community's lifetime. In the first place
the belief in an angelomorphic human high priesthood need in no
way demand a future expectation: the literary trajectory of which
lQSb 4:22—28 is a part believed that Israel's serving high priest was

2 7
1994b, 141.
2 8
Nitzan 1994b, 141, cf. Charlcsworth 1994, 2 n. 9: l Q S b "though prepared
for the Endtime may have been recited proleptically in the community, which cer-
tainly lived out the belief that they were living in the eschatological age".
2 9
1993.
30
1996, esp. 500-501.
31
Note that l Q S a envisages the fighting of wars and the presence of the phys-
ically infirm within Israel.
160 CHAPTER SIX

an angelomorphic embodiment of God's Glory (Sirach 50, Jubilees

31, 1 Enoch 106, Ansteas 97-99 etc. . . .). Secondly, even though the
angelomorphic high priest is placed in the heavenly realm, this was
already the sphere of life for the Qumran community members.
(Of course it is possible that with 1 QSb priestly angelomorphism
has been thrown into the future, but it is clear nevertheless that, i f
so, a present reality has been sublimated to a future hope. The priority of
the Jubilees passage does not allow the view that at Qumran the ide-
alised anthropology of an over enthusiastic eschatology has begun to
press in upon the present).
Thirdly, the point about the absence of curses in lQSb is some-
what mute given that (a) the blessing of the prince certainly attests
the judgement of God's enemies and (b) another Qumran text, the
War Scroll, which is undoubtedly written for the "eschaton", docs not
lack curses along side blessings, but specifically includes them (1QM
13:4-6).
Fourthly, the priestly blessings of the first four columns of lQSb
2
"have no elements of eschatology or any connotation of the future".'
Formally, all these blessings are governed by the ‫ למשכיל‬heading
(1:1; 3:22; 5:20) and they use Numbers 6:22 27 as a conceptual and
literary frame, whereas the Aaronic blessing is missing from the bless-
ing of the Prince of the Congregation. This suggests the latter could
quite conceivably have had a separate liturgical usage from what
precedes. The assumption that columns 4 and 5 relate the blessings
on the king and priest as two figures of equal significance who could
not function one without the other needs to be questioned. As a sec-
tarian, breakaway, temple movement the Qumran community were
able to exercise power over their own private religious world, but,
obviously, not over the larger civil society. O f this they must have
been fully conscious and it is perfectly possible that they used the
priestly blessing, but held back the blessing for the prince as a future
hope. The blessing of the high priest sets him "in the palace of the
kingdom (‫( ")בהיכל מלכות‬lines 25-26). This language gives to the
high priest overtly royal rights and, whilst, the high priest's adoption
of royal features has a long history in the post-exilic period, this may
have served to compensate in the community's present for the absence
of a fully independent royal figure.

Stegemann 1996, 500.

 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N THE DSS 161

The existence within the one scroll of parts that are meant for
the future and parts that are already used in practice is, in any case,
a fact that cannot be denied. lQSb is not really an entirely sepa-
rate scroll, but is part of the larger work containing 1QS, lQSa and
lQSb and the degree to which these three can be identified as rigidly
distinct works is unclear. That they were joined in one large scroll
speaks for their practical and thematic unity which is consistent with
the fact that they are all designated "for the niaskil". Within this one
composite work there is a piece which is probably set aside for the
future (lQSa) and one that was certainly in frequent use already
within the movement (1QS). So we should not be surprised also to
find that within lQSb parts, indeed the majority, were already in
use and one part (the blessing of the prince) was included with a
view to a future state of alfairs.
From his study of this passage, Johannes Zimmerman has con-
eluded that a present usage is probable and he notes that this is
supported by the analogy between the setting in the heavenly world
and that of the liturgy of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice which every-
33
one agrees describes the community's current worship experience.
Indeed, the closest parallel in Qumran literature for the setting of
the high priest's service "in the palace of the kingdom (‫")כהיכל מלכות‬
is the reference to the "palaces of the king (‫ ")בהיכלי מלך‬in the first
31
of the Sabbath Songs (4Q400 1 i 13).
In conclusion, then, the blessing of the high priest in 1 QSb 4:22-28
is an important witness to the Qumran community's priestly theol-
ogy. In this text a holder of the highest priestly office is given an
angelomorphic identity and function, bringing visible and concrete
manifestation (glorifying) God's Name. This is possible because of
the priest's peculiar attire which gives him judicial prerogatives, the
power of illumination and the responsibility of bearing God's Name.
In all probability this blessing reflects the community's existing litur-
gical practice and is not simply a future hope. As we should expect
from a sectarian community which has broken away from the Jerusalem
temple, there is here evidence of liturgical activity which was designed
to replace that in Jerusalem: the community had their own (Zadokite)
high priest whom they regarded as an angelomorphic bearer of God's
Name and his Glory.

1998, 284.
:!l
Noted by Frenncsson 1999, 87 n. 14.
 162 CHAPTER SIX

Tlie Founding of an Angelic Priesthood among the Holy (4Q511 35)

The second explicit statement of priestly angelomorphism in the

Dead Sea Scrolls is provided by a fragment of the Songs of the Sage
3
(4Q510-511) another text, which like lQSb is written for the maskil. ''
These Songs are theurgic and prophylactic in nature empowering the
singer in a spiritual battle against "all the spirits of the ravaging
angels and the bastard spirits, demons, Lilith, owls (4Q510 1 5)" and
other sources of wickedness. The Songs are themselves instruments
of war against the demonic. They are written with a self-conscious
recognition that the righteous live in the "time of the dominion of
wickedness" (4Q510 1 6-7 = 4Q511 10 3). In one fragment there
is the kind of lamentation over human frailty that is now familiar
from the liodayot (4Q511 28 +29 2-4). However, in another frag-
ment the*singer is completely without sin and only purity proceeds
from his lips, he hates all deeds of impurity because God has made
"the knowledge of understanding shine in his heart (‫האיר אלוהים‬
4) ‫ ״ ) ד ע ח בינה ב ל ב ב י‬Q 5 1 1 18 ii 6'7-8).
Fragment 35 of one of the two texts that preserves these Songs is
particularly important since it describes the establishment of an inner
community of angelic priests within the Qumran Essene movement.
Fragment 35 of 4Q511 reads as follows:
3 1 5
[‫]רינ ל א ל [ ב כ ו ל כ ש ר ומשפט נקמות לכלות ר ש ע ה ולזע]ף‬ 1.
[‫א פ י א ל ו ה י ם ב מ ז ו ק ק י ש ב ע ת י ם ובקהושים יקרי]ש‬ .2
‫א ל ו ה י ם ל ו ל מ ק ד ש ע ו ל מ י ם ו ט ה ר ה בנבהים והיו‬ .3
‫כוהנים ע ם צ ד ק ו צבאו ומשרתים מ ל א כ י כ כ ו ח‬ .4
(vacat) ‫י ה ל ל ו ה ו כ ה פ ל א נ ו ה א ו ת‬ .5
[ ‫ואני מ י ר א ] [ א ל ב ק צ י ד ו ר ו ת י ל ר ו מ ם ש ם ד ב ר ]חי ל פ ח ד‬ .6
[‫בנבורתו כו]ל [רוחי ממזרים להכניעם מירא‬ .7

1. [A indictment for God] against all flesh, and an avenging judgment to

destroy wickedness, for the rag[ing|
37
2. anger of God. Among those seven limes refined and among the
holy ones God will sanctify

35
See 4Q510 1 4 " A n d I , a maskil"; "TD 4) "‫למשכיל‬Q511 2 i 1). For the edi-
tio pnnceps see M . Baillet in DJD 7:215-62. Sec the discussions of 4Q_511 frag. 35
in Davidson 1992, 282-5; Nitzan 1994b, 236-272.
3 6
Following Nitzan 1994, 242. Baillet had ‫א]לו[ הים‬.
37
For "those seven times refined" see. 1QFF 13:15-16 [5:15-16] (= 4QHodayot'
:
(4Q429) 1 ii 1-3) and 4QJ77 ii (frags. 11 + ~10 + 26 + 9 + 20 + 7) (= 4QCatena ')
lines 1-2 where the seven fold refining is related to the stone with seven eyes in
,
Zechariah 3:9. See also Ps 12:7 and Î Q H • 6:3-4 [14:3-4] "those refined ( ‫)מזוקק‬
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N THE DSS 163

3. for H i m s e l f for an eternal sanctuary, (and for) purity amongst the

cleansed. A n d they will be
4. priests, His righteous people, H i s host and servants, the angels o f
His G l o r y .
5. T h e y shall praise H i m w i t h marvellous prodigies (vacal)
3 8
6. A n d I , a god, causing fear[ ] i n the ages o f m y generation, to exult
0
the N a m e is m y w o [ r d to t e r r i f y ]
7. by H i s might a l [ l ] the spirits o f the bastards, subduing them, caus-
40
ing f e a r [

Lines 1-5 describe an angelic priesthood and the first line of the
following paragraph, line 6, may also witness to the maskil's belief
that he himself is divine. Because the translation of the main body
of this fragment has been disputed we shall deal with that first.
As I have translated the Hebrew here there is a straightforward
description of God's choosing from the larger body of the true Israel
(the holy ones) an inner priestly group who function as "an eternal
sanctuary (and) purity amongst the cleansed", these are not only to
be his priests, his servants and his righteous people but• also "the
angels of His Glory". However, though this is the most straightforward
41
translation of our text, it is not without its detractors.
In the first place this translation and interpretation means that
"some of the holy ones" in line 2 are human beings. James Davila
thinks the ‫ קדושים‬are angels and this allows the creation of a mixed
community of angels (holy ones) and men (those seven times refined).
In this case the expression "angels of Llis Glory" two lines later need
42
only apply to the suprahuman holy ones. This reading is unsatis-
factory principally because the idea of God sanctifying angels in order

in poverty". Against Baillct DJD 7:237, Vermes 1997, 422 and DSSSE, 511 there
is no reason to have here the raging anger of God directed against those seven times
refined.
:m
The small lacuna here is not included in the transcription of the editor,
M . liaillel (DJD 7:237), but is clear on the photographic plate (pl. L X I I ) as is
pointed out by E. Chazon [DJD 29:374 n. 12).
''‫ יי‬Restoration on the basis'of 4Q5! 1 8 4 (‫)ל&חר מיראיו‬.
10
At this point I differ from the translation of the editio princeps which restores
[ ‫ מירא]תו ולוא ל כ ו ל‬and translates "par [Sa] crainfte. Non pour toutes]. The restora-
tion of the lacuna seems overconfident and the word ‫ מ י ר א‬is best taken on anal-
ogy with all the other instances of the Pi'el form in the Sonqs of the Saçe, 8Q5 and
4-Q444.
" See e.g. Nitzan 1994b, 242; Vermes 1997, 422; DSSSE, 1033; Frennesson 1999,
74, who all agree, with minor variations, on a translation which entails one human
and angelic subject.
12
1999a, 479.
 164 CHAPTER SIX

that they might serve as "an eternal sanctuary", albeit alongside

exalted humans, is odd and otherwise unattested in contemporary
literature. On the other hand the idea that humanity shall serve as
God's sanctuary is elsewhere well attested at Qumran (esp. the ‫מ ק ד ש‬
‫ אדם‬of 4QJ74 1:6). And in 4Q377 it is precisely when God sancli-
fies Moses that he functions as an angel.
In another portion of the Songs of the Sage the expression "for the
holy ones of his people (‫ ")לקדושי עמו‬is certainly used of humanity
(4Q511 2 i 6) and so there is no grounds for thinking "holy ones"
+s
must refer to (suprahuman) angels. As we shall see the distinction
between the larger community of holy ones and those who are set
aside as the holiest of the holy ones is typical of a number of DSS
texts which describe the formation of the Essene movement.
Secondly, there arc those who have tried to avoid the natural
reading of line 4 which calls the human priesthood both the "His
righteous people" and "the angels of His Glory". André Gaquot is
not happy with the designation of the righteous as angels because he
thinks that in Q L "there remains a distance between the heavenly
beings who serve God in Iiis palaces and the creatures of flesh and
14
blood that God has chosen for the service on earth." He therefore
follows M . Baillet's translation of the Hebrew ‫ ומשרתים מלאכי כבודו‬as
a reference to ministers who serve the angels of God's Glory (Baillet:
4
"ministres des anges de Sa giorie"; •' Caquot "ceux qui servent Ses
11
anges glorieux"). ' This he tries to explain on analogy with the rcla-
tionship between priests and Lévites in the O T (Num 3:6; 8:26).
But this solution to the "problem" is beset with difficulties of its
own. First, it strains the sense of the Hebrew: •‫ משרתי‬is clearly in
the absolute, not the construct, state. Read as an absolute the line
makes for an appropriate pleonastic list of appositional epithets. In
the context of the Songs of the Sage, 4Q511 2 i 10 provides a neat
parallel for the human community acting in the service of God
(‫ )לשרתו‬and indeed this is the way the verb and its cognates is used
throughout the scrolls.

1 3
The twelve camps of Israel may be described as "|His) holy ones" in 4Q51 l
2 i 7 (sec Nitzan 1994b, 261), (hough, unsurprisingly, Baillet (DJD 7:221) avoids
this reading. For human "holy ones" or "saints" see Ps 34:10; Wis 18:9; 1 Mace
1:46; / Enoch 99:16; 100:5; T. Urn 18:11, 14.
" 1988, 424.
« DJD 7:237.
16
1988, 425.
 P R I E S T L Y A N G E L O M O R P H I S M I N T H E DSS 165

Secondly, if die text refers to the human priests as "servants of

the angels of His Glon,'" there is a real danger that this would mean
a veneration of angels. Whilst Caquot's suggestion that the human priests
serve the angels as the Lévites serve the priests is, of course, possi-
ble, the text nevertheless runs the risk of being read as a descrip-
tion of the worship by humans of angels. This is nowhere else attested
in Q L and is, in fact, a thing which is otherwise carefully avoided
47
in contemporary Jewish texts.
Thirdly, even i f the expression "angels of His Glory" is not taken
to refer to the human priests of the previous lines, that does not
altogether remove the angelomorphic language. That the righteous
as a whole are called "holy ones" and that the priesthood are set
aside as "His host" already implies that the text has in mind an
angelomorphic humanity, since these two terms have a primary ori-
enlation towards the heavenly in post-biblical literature. Caquot's
translation has not, therefore, removed altogether the sense that the
earthly cult has become heavenly.
Ultimately this French translation is really a witness to the impro-
pricty of imposing upon the DSS a cosmology which is so little in
evidence in the texts themselves: there is relatively little indication
(hat the Qumran community thought of heaven and earth as two
separate but synchronized spheres in which the righteous on earth
mirrored, but were subordinate to the angels in heaven. Rather the
overwhelming evidence is for their belief in heaven as a shared com-
munity between angels and men in which status and identity has
become fluid between the two types of being.
Yet another attempt to avoid the natural reading of fragment 35
411
is offered by Maxwell Davidson. Davidson perceives the implausi-
bility of Caquot's solution and, instead, translates line 4—5 with a
break at ΕΓΓΠΦΟΊ, thus: "his righteous people, his host. And minis-
49
lers, angels of his glory shall praise him". One of our criticisms of
Caquot's interpretation applies also here: the human priesthood
already has angelomorphic associations by virtue of its designation

" See Bauckham 1983; Sluckenbruck 1995. 4Q381 frag. 1 perhaps records the
quite different view that the angels worship true humanity (see above).
w
1992, 284.
13
Davila 1999a, 479 also adopts this translation, though strictly speaking his
interpretation need only depend on the identification of the holy ones in line 2 as
angels.
166 C H A P T E R SIX

as "holy ones" and "His host". In the train of thought from line 2
we really expect a reference to the human priesthood, not some
entirely other group as those who praise God. Elsewhere in the Songs
of the Sage it is the human priesthood, not the angels above who act
as God's ministers (4Q511 2 i 10). Davidson's interpretation is founded
on the surprising claim that "nowhere else in the corpus is there
found an expectation that the sectarians will live in heaven, let alone
50
become angels".
Whilst there are these difficulties to any translation which would
seek to avoid a description of a community of human priests as
God's angels, there are many other reasons why that straightforward
reading should be retained. In general terms this text reflects the
angelomorphic priesthood tradition which is well established in other
texts. Once more the language is i/arological: the human priesthood
are "angels of His Gloiy" because they bear, or embody, his Glory.
To call the human priesthood God's "host", that body of heavenly
beings that accompanies the divine warrior, is to generalize from the
characterisation of Aaron as the divine warrior (Sirach 45:7-8) to the
priesthood as a whole. The use of the all-important word "servants"
of the angelomorphic priesthood is what we would expect from Jubilees
31:14 where Levi is "to serve in his sanctuary as the angels of the
presence". Whereas in Jubilees Levi is to serve "in his sanctuary",
now in 4Q511 35 the priesthood are themselves 10 be that sanctu-
ary; a difference which reflects the fact that Jubilees is proto-Essene,
lacking the sense—which appears in the community's own later lit-
erature—that the righteous themselves can act as Ersatz Temple.
Again, the designation of the priesthood as super-sanctified holy ones
reflects an intensification of the older tradition according to which
31
the angelomorphic Lévites serve as "holy ones" (Jubilees 31:14).

Israel Are the Holy Ones and Aaron Are the Holiest of the Holy Ones

This text describes the formation of an inner community (the ctcr-

nal sanctuary) within the sectarian movement (those seven times

w
1992, 284.
‫ יי'׳‬It is possible that in 4Q511 frag. 8 the maskil believes that he dwells in the
shelter of the Most High (see DJD 4:224 and Nitzan 1994b, 242 for a rcconstruc-
tion, cf. Eshel 1999, 630). In view of the imagery in Eth. Enoch 39:7-8 of the trans-
formed and glorious righteous dwelling "underneath I h e wings of the Lord of Spirits"
this text may have had in view the mnskita own heavenly identity.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 167

refined and the holy ones). This enables us to locate the text within
a wider literary and conceptual topos in the DSS corpus. We at
once think of the well known statement in 4QF10rilegium (4Q174)
1:6 that there shall be a ‫ מ ק ד ש א ד ם‬replacing the Jerusalem Temple,
which will act as a spiritual temple offering "works of thanksgiving"
as sacrifices (1:7).52

In 4Q511 35 2 the text says that God "will sanctify (‫ ")יקדיש‬some

from among "the holy ones (‫")קדושים‬. This should now be compared
with the recurrent statement in Q L that the community is composed
of the laity of Israel who are "holy" and the priesthood (Aaron) who
are "holy of holies". In the eighth column of the Gave 1 version of
the Community Rule there is described the establishment of "a holy
house for Israel (‫ )כיח קודש לישראל‬and the foundation of the holy
of holies for Aaron ( 1 )"(‫ד קודש קודשיםלאהרון‬
Äs we would expect from a spiritual sanctuary of men these are to
atone for the land and to offer up a sweet sacrificial odour, fulfilling
the function of the cult. Again in 1QS 9:5—6 the men of the sacri-
ficial community "shall separate themselves (into) a house of holi-
ness for Aaron, for the Community, a holy of holies and a house
of the community for Israel (‫כיח קורש לאהרון להיחד קודש קודשים‬
5
‫")וכיח יחד לישראל‬. ‫'׳‬
In 4 Q M M T Β 75-82 the community's Halakhic Ixtkr disputes with
outsiders on the inappropriate mixing of separate kinds. Endogamous
marriages between priests and people is forbidden on the grounds
that "Israel is holy ( 7 6 )"(‫ ) ק ו ד שישראל‬and composed of
(‫")קדושים‬, whilst the "sons of Aaron are the h[01iest of the holy
5 S
( . ( 7 9 ) ‫״ ) ק ] ד ו ש י קדושים‬
Both 1QS 8-9 and 4 Q M M T testify to a fundamental distinction
between the priesthood and laity which is a hallmark of Qumran
5<>
law. Both these texts also represent an early and foundational stage

52
4Q174-1 i 21 2 line 7: "works of thanksgiving (‫")חורה‬. George J. Brooke has
rightly pointed out (Brooke 1999, 288) that there is probably here a deliberate pun on
"works of Torah (‫")חורה‬, in line with the double entendre of the phrase miqdash Adam
in which the community's worship is conceived of as a metaphorical sanctuary.
51
Compare the Gave 4 manuscripts o f the Community Rule which show no sub-
stantial variant at this point (4Q258 col. vi (frags. 3a-d), see DJD 26:105-109) and
4Q259 (4QS'j cols, i i - i i i (frags. ~2a i , 2b-d), see DJD 26:139-148).
54
Cf. 4Q,258 vii 6-7 (DJD 26:109-114). This passage is missing from 4QS".
55
Compare generally Exod 19:6; Lev 1 1:44; 1 Chr 23:13 and see DJD 10:172-4.
•‫ 'יי‬So Harrington 1998, 1 7 5 6 ‫ ־‬. Harrington compares also 4Q381 76:7 which
168 CHAPTER SIX

in the development of the Community's self-consciousness: the eighth

column of the 1QS is generally reckoned to be the oldest stratum
of the Community Rule and 4 Q M M T gives us a glimpse of the halakhic
and political disputes that lead to the breaking away of the Qum-
ran Community from the larger body politic in the second century
B.C. 4Q511 frag. 35 would also seem to presuppose this distinction.
In neither the Community Rule, or the Halakhic Letter is there any sense
that the cultic community is ultimately subordinate in its praise to
that of the angels in heaven above: the emphasis is entirely upon
the human community's effecting of atonement. As we shall see this
"holy" and "holy of holies" distinction also appears in the Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice where, as we find in the Songs of the Sage, the
human community is itself a heavenly, angelic one.
As with lQSb, 4Q511 frag. 35 does not have a straightforward
reference fib the present life of the sectarian community. Through-
out lines 2-5 the verbs are in the future tense. However, the con-
ceptual overlap with material in the Community Rule and other Qumran
texts means that what is described here as a future event was in fact
already realised in the life of the Essene movement.

The maskil as "a God Causing fear"

After the vacal at the end of line 5 our fragment picks up a new
section with the maskil speaking in the first person. The first three
words of line 7 are difficult." There are, broadly speaking, two ways
of translating this phrase. Most translate with some reference to "the
fear of God" (cf. ΓΠΓΓ ‫ ירא‬Isa 50:10; Pss 25:12; 128:1, Prov 14:2 and
‫ י ר א א ל ה י ם‬Gen 22:12; j o b 1:1, 8; 2:3; Eccles 7:18)™ In this case the
preposition -0 has been added to give the sense "And as for me,
because of the fear of God". In this case it is the speaker's own fear
of God which qualifies him as one who is able to subdue "all the
spirits of bastards". The second alternative is to see in ‫ מירא‬a pi'el
causative participle; "to make afraid, terrify" (Neh 6:9, 14, cf. 2 Chr

refers, in a highly broken context, to the "congregation of (he Holy of (he Holy
Ones, lot of the King of Kings (‫ קדוש קדושים מ ד ל מלך םלכים‬Π [‫")עד‬. See Ε. Schuller
in DJD 11:155-158. T h e text seems to speak further on of Israel's ruling of the
whole world (line 15).
57
See the discussions of Nitzan 1994b, 242 n. 65 and E. Chazon DJD 29:374.
5
‫״‬ Baillet DJD 7:238 " E l moi, qui répands la crainte de Dieu . . ."; DSSSE, 1031:
"And as for mc, I spread the fear o f God in the ages of. . ,". Nitzan 1994b, 242
has "And 1, who terrify in the name 01' God".
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPIIISM IN THE DSS 169

32:18). The expression ‫ מירא אל‬could dien mean "a terrifier of God",
though it would be more natural to take ‫ אל‬as the subject, as I have
done, and translate " I , a god causing fear, . . .". Obviously this would
then be a quite remarkable statement of the maskil's own divinity.
Presumably because this is assumed to give such an unprecedented
sense it has not before been given serious consideration. Although
certainty is not possible, linguistic, contextual and tradition-historical
considerations all suggest that this translation is the right one.
In making sense of this phrase in 4Q511 frag. 35 it is necessary
to compare language elsewhere in the Songs of the Sage and in texts
of a similar genre. To my knowledge there is no comparable Hebrew
expression meaning "fear of God" in related Qumran literature. But,
on the other hand, the pi'el participle appears in a similar form else-
where in the Songs of the Sage (4Q511 8 4: "second [sjong to frighten
5 9
those who terrify ( , " ( ‫מ י ר א י‬ ‫ש[יר שני ל פ ח ד‬
121 3). In 8Q5 frag. 1, line 1, one of two fragments of a related
hymnic and prophylactic text contains the words " ] I n your Name,
6 0
[O Mjighty One, I cause fear a n d . . . [ ( ] . " ( ‫ו מ ע‬
The language here is parallel to 4Q511 35 6-7 where the maskil
fights the demonic "by His might (‫ ")בנבורתו‬and "exults the Name
(‫")לרומם שם‬.'‫ יי‬In the other fragment of 8Q5 there appears the Tetra-
2
grammaton itself, though unfortunately the context is not extant.''
The language is also very close to that of 4Q-144 (4QIncantation),
a text with a close literary relationship with the Songs of the Sage (par-
63
ticulaiiy with 4Q51 1 35 6 8 and 4Q511 18 9 + 51 1-8). The
reconstructed first four lines of the first column of this text read:

·‫ "'׳‬llaillct DJD 7:222.‫" )׳‬crux qui inspirent la crainte"; DSSSE, 1031; Vermes 1097,
421. Or, perhaps, on analogy with 4Q444 1 4 + 5 1, "second [s]ong for terror,
(a song) causing fear[". The reading is complicated by the possibility 01' an addi-
tional ‫ ו‬sullix on ‫( מ י ר א י‬see DJD 7:224, where the reading is possible, but not ecr-
tain, and pl. L1X).
m
DJD 3:161-162 (pl. X X X V ) .
1,1
In Cave 8 there were found a few fragments of Genesis 17 and 18 and Psalms
17 and 18 and a collection of Phylacteries and Mezuzoth (see DJD .3:149 -161, pis.
X X X I I X X X I V ) . The combination of diese ritual objects and small fragments of
a text obviously used for llieurgic conflict with the demonic is perhaps not a coin-
cidence.
''‫ יי‬T h e writing o f the Tetragammaton in a text which has otherwise clearly sec-
tarian language (viz. frag. 1, line 1) undermines the standard scholarly opinion that
the writing of the Name was strictly avoided by genuinely sectarian texts. That it
appears here suggests, rather, that at least in written form it could be used in the
appropriate ritual context, perhaps by some (priests?) rattier than others (the laity?).
‫נ‬
" f o r the similarities sec Glicklcr-Ghazon 1994 and DJD 29:370 71. I n the light
 170 CHAPTER SIX

1
And I (am?), a god causing fear (?) (‫ )יאני מיראי אל‬in the knowledge
of his truth (‫ ;)כדעת אמתו‬he opened my mouth (‫ )פי‬and from his holy
2
spirit ( . ..](‫ומרוחקודשו‬ truth to a[Tjl[ thejse. They bec
3
controversy in my (bodily) structure; law[s of God . . . . . . in ]blood
vessels of flesh. And a spirit of knowledge and understanding (‫רוח דעת‬
‫)וכינה‬, truth and righteousness, the Name of God in [my] he [art (‫שמ אל‬
4 )
. . .'" (‫כל]ככי‬.. .] and strengthen yourself by the laws of God (‫ק‬
,
‫ אל‬pTO), in order to fight against the spirits of wickedness, and not
[. . .

This is a liturgical, or "magical", text used to fight demonic oppres-

65 ,
sion. Again we encounter the peculiar phrase ‫ ואני מירא) ( א ל‬and
66
the same translation possibilities are available.
Clearly the language in these three texts (4Q511 35, BQ5 and
4Q444) represents the technical terminology of thcurgic spiritual war-
fare. Between them, they also present the kind of anthropology which
might lead to the claim that the sage who uses the liturgy is, in
doing so, a "god". The speaker possesses and makes powerful use
67
of God's Name. In Jewish transformational mysticism, it is pre-emi-
nently God's Name which can give its user a divine identity. The
sage in 4Q511 35 acts in God's power (‫ )בגבורתו‬a theme which we
shall find appearing frequently in Qumran texts where the righteous
participate in the divine life. In 4Q444 1—4 + 5 line 1 God opens the
speaker's mouth and it is from God's holy spirit that his authority,

of the considerable overlap in language, ideas and purpose, and the fragmentary
state o f 4Q444, Chazon's conclusion that the latter is not actually part of the Songs
of the Sage is overly dogmatic. Given the liturgical, "magical", purpose of these texts
the precise location of their literary deposit is, in any case, a mute Issue. For a dis-
cussion of the small size of this text, implying its use as a phylactery, see Τ ο ν 1998,
409-410.
61
The editor translates "God put in [my] he [art". Although, certainly, possible
a reference to the Name of God fits the interest in the thcurgic power of God's
Name in IQ!) 11 35 6 and 8Q5 1 1 and 2 3. A translation ". . . truth and right-
eousncss, the name "god" in my he [art" is another possibility which would lit my
interpretation of 4Q511 35 fi and 4Q444 1-4 + 5 line. 1.
65
,,There are multiple echoes in this passage of Isaiah 11:1-5 which suggest a
messianic consciousness has been adopted by the Jewish exorcist.
1,6 ‫י‬
There is an extra yod on ‫ ר א‬0 in this text. This may also have been present
in 4Q511 35 6 since there is a lacuna immediately after ‫ מ י ר א‬in that text. The
presence of the additional yod makes no difference to the translation possibilities
since it can function as a final sere (cf. Chazon in DJD 29:374).
6 7
The use of the divine Name in the fight against the demonic is well attested
both in the DSS (e.g. 11Q.11 5:4) and more generally the magical texts which evince
Jewish influence. (See e.g. Prayer of Jacob 8. See the recent survey in McDonough
'1999, 93-98.)
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 171

power and speech dien flows. This is the language of divine pos-
session. I n line 4 of the 4Q444 text the spiritual warrior is to
strengthen himself "by the laws of God". These laws are certainly
those of Torah and the notion is entirely consistent with the theme
of a cosmologically attuned order that runs throughout the trans-
formational tradition at Qumran. It also anticipates the theme of
later mystical theology in the rabbinic period when conformity to
Torah is the framework within which a mystical union with God is
most clearly articulated.
Whilst contextual considerations favour the "god causing fear"
interpretation there is not the same support for the "fear of God"
reading. And, of course, the divine identity of the speaker is entirely
consistent with 4Q511 35 1 5 where the Essene priesthood is described
as a community of angels. There is little difference between a ‫מ ל א ך‬
and an ‫ א ל‬at Qumran and so, however foreign to "orthodox" Jew-
ish or Christian theology this may seem, the maskil's claim to be "a
god" should not suiprise us.
The wider divine humanity tradition, both in and outside the
Qumran library, also supports the view that here the maskil is a
divine terror monger. In Sirach 45:2a Moses is made like the divine
beings (angels/gods) and in 45:2b the Greek, and perhaps the orig-
inal form of the Hebrew, has him made great "to the terror (έν
68
φόβοις, cf. Β margin ‫ )במוראים‬of his enemies". Again, i n 4Q374
the transfigured Moses is both "as God to Pharaoh" and a cause of
69
reeling, fear and trembling to other mortals. In the Septuagint ver-
sion of Esther, Esther comes to the king, her husband, who is "seated
on his royal throne, clothed in the full array of his epiphany (της
επιφανείας αύτοΰ), all covered with gold and precious stones (χρυσοί)
και λίθων πολυτελών). He was most terrifying (φοβερός σφόδρα)" (15:6).
Esther collapses before him and when she recovers she tells him " I
saw you, my lord, as an angel of God (ώς αγγελον θεοΰ), and my
heart was shaken with fear at your glory (άπό φόβου της δόξης σου).
For you are wonderful (θαυμαστός), my lord, and your countenance
is full of grace" (15:13—14). In the Testament of Moses 11:16-17 Moses
is described as the Great Angel, the divine prophet for the whole

,
‫ "י‬For the view that the marginal text of the Geniza text of Sirach usually con-
tains the more original reading, the lectio difficilior, which has been replaced in the
main text by a reading more suited to the sensibilities and language o f medieval
synagogue culture, see Martone 1997, 91.
69
‫ י‬Cf. Jewish Orphica 37.
172 C H A P T E R SIX

world, the perfect teacher, and so on. His presence as a mediator

in Israel's midst has kept the nation's enemies at bay. Before his
final departure Joshua is, therefore, anxious that when Moses is gone
the kings of the Amorites will no longer fear the presence of the
"sacred spirit" in Israel's midst and they will go up against her.
Moses is here a divine human who causes fear to the nations around
Israel.
In these texts, obviously, the divine human is a cause of fear to
other mortals. As we shall see this is a theme taken up more cxten-
sively in the War Scroll. But the theme can be attenuated to a more
narrowly individualistic and spiritual conflict. So, for example, in the
Testament of Job 47:10 the magical cords that Job gives to his daugh-
tcrs which give them an angelic, heavenly identity, are for their phys-
ical and spiritual protection against "the enemy". These are the cords
which God* had himself given to Job (cf. Job 38:3; 40:2: "arise, gird
your loins like a man") that he might be freed from Satanic alflic-
lion (T. Job 47:5-9). I n the magical Prayer of Jacob, use of the divine
Name in its form Ιαω (8) is appropriate for one who has become "as
7 0
an earthly angel" (19) and who seeks "power over the chasm" ( l l ) .
Here the prerogative of the priesthood as the bearer of God's image—
the possession of the divine Name and the power of the divine war-
71
rior over the forces of chaos—is seized for personal magical use.
These texts are, I would suggest, the appropriate history-of-rcligions
background for the interpretation of the language of 4 Q 5 1 1 35 6
and 4Q444 i l .
The characterisation of the Jewish charismatic as a divine and
fearsome master of the magical arts was perhaps well known in antiq-
uity. The following passage from the Latin author Pompcius Tro-
gus, at the turn of the eras, perhaps reflects the material in our
Dead Sea Scroll texts:

The youngest of the brothers was Joseph, whom the others, fearing Ins
extraordinary abilities, secretly made prisoner and sold to some foreign
‫״‬. merchants. Being carried by them into Egypt, and having there, by
41is shrewd nature, made himself master of the arts of magic, he found in

™ Goodenough 1953-68, vol. 2 pp. 203-204; OTP 2:715-723.

" For the influence of priestly and temple theology on Jewish magic note the
activity of the seven sons of the Jewish high priest named Sceva in Acts 19:13-16.
For the place of apotheosis i n Jewish magic see the material cited by Goodenough
1953-68, vol. 2, p. 172 and for the magician causing fear see vol. 2, p. 176.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 173

a short time great favour w i t h the k i n g ; for he was eminently skilled

i n prodigies, and was the first to establish the science o f i n t e r p r e t i n g
dreams; and n o t h i n g indeed o f divine or human law seemed to have been
u n k n o w n to h i m . . . such being the proofs o f his knowledge t h a t his
admonitions seemed to proceed, not from a mortal, but a god (non ab
n
homine, sed a deo).

This portrayal of Joseph as a divine magician probably reflects also

the native Jewish tradition ascribing to Joseph an angelomorphic or
divine identity (Joseph and Aseneth, Jubilees 40:7) and the indications
73
in the biblical text itself of Joseph's magical abilities (Gen 44:15).
A common denominator between 4Q511 frag. 35 and 4Q444 is
the pairing of unclean spirits with "bastards" (4Q444 i 8 + 4Q511
35 7, cf. 4Q511 48+49+51 ii 2 3; 4Q511 2 ii 3). These will be the
offspring of the fallen watchers of the Enoch Tradition. Philip Alexan-
der has drawn attention to the way in which, in this respect, the
maskil in the Songs is "seen in a Noahic role, interceding for his Com-
74
munity and defending them against spiritual evil." In material from
the Book of Noah which is preserved in Jubilees 10 the binding of
the spirits is the responsibility of the angels of the presence (10:7,
11) and they tell Noah how to restrain them and heal their diseases.
Noah records these angelic arts in a book which he passes on to
Shem, his oldest son (10:13-14). I f the incantations in the Songs of
the Sage and 4Q444 are indebted to this tradition then it is surely
not insignificant that Noah himself is both archetypal priest and
angelomorphic bearer of God's image.
The language of 4Q511 35 6 is formulaic: this is the technical
terminology of a particular liturgical form. This technicality ham-
,
pets our ability to understand exactly what the phrase ‫מירא) ( אל‬
means since it will be defined by a specific ritual Silz im Leben whose
cultural and linguistic grammar is now lost to us. Absolute certainty
of interpretation is therefore unattainable. Obviously, however, the
implications for Qumran theology and the interpretative possibilities
of other texts mentioning ‫ אלים‬are significant i f here the maskil him-
self speaks—in the liturgical or "magical" moment—as "a god". Whereas

n
Justin Histonae Philippwae 36:1:6-10, see Stern 1974, 335, 337.
" For Joseph's relationship with the Babylonian Asipu ("exorcist") see McLaurin
1975. Jewish magic and the idealisation of Joseph perhaps also stand behind the
historical figure of Simon Magus, who is also regarded as divine, in Acts 8:9-24.
'•' 1997/322.
174 CHAPTER SIX

heroes of old like Moses or Jacob, or an eschatological figure of the

stature of Melchizedek, are similarly so-called in contemporary texts,
here the idealization of the righteous hero leads to an unashamedly
divine self-consciousness for the leader of the Qumran community.

A Concern in the Songs of the Sage for God's Ordering of His People

The conceptual parameters of 4Q511 35 emerge with greater clar-

ity from another fragmentary portion of the text. 4Q5112 1 describes
God's choosing of the people of Israel as a whole, his placing them
in twelve camps and his instituting the feasts of the year for the ser-
vice of worship with language that is generally similar to fragment 35:

' F o r the maskil a song ( 2

. ..](‫ל מ ש כ י לשיר‬ His holi
3
all those w h o know [. . . and the chief o f dominiofns H e has re]moved
w i t h o u t [. . . * etjernal and everlasting life to make the light shine (‫וחיי‬
5
. ..](‫ נ צ ח ל א י ראור‬H i s [l]ot is Jacob's best ( ‫ק ו ב‬
6
itance (‫ )ונחלת‬o f G [ o ] d [. . .] I s r a c j l . . . those w h o [keep] the way o f
G o d a n d H i s [11]01y p a t [ h for the h o l y ones o f H i s people ( ‫) ל ק ד ו ש י ע מ ו‬
7
i n the k n o w l e d g e o f . . . G o ] d the understanding(?) H e has placed
8
[ I ] s r a e l i n [fjwelve camps o f [His] h o l y ones ( ] (‫קדוש‬.. .] the l o t of
G o d w i t h the ange [Is of] H i s glorious luminaries (‫ )מאורות כבודו‬i n his
9
N a m e the pr[ai]sc o f their ['. . .] for the feasts o f the year and the
c o m m u n a l [ d o j m i n i o n ( ‫ ) ל מ ו ע ד י ש נ ה ] ו מ [ מ ש ל ת י ח ד‬to walk i n the lot o f
10
[ G o d ] according to [ H i s ] G l o r y , [ a n d ] to serve H i m i n the lot o f
the people o f His throne (!‫ ) ! [ ל ש ר ת ו נ ב ו ר ל ע ם כסא‬. For, the G o d o f [. . .

Deuteronomy 32:9—"the LORD'S own portion was his people, Jacob

his allotted share"—provides the language in line 5. Lines 7-10 seem
to describe Israel as a cosmologically attuned people. Lines 8-9 obvi-
ously draw on Genesis 1:14 where the heavenly bodies are created
7 5
" . " ‫ו ש נ י ם‬ . . . ‫ולמועדים‬ In the context of the
naries in line 8 the language of dominion in line 9 probably draws
on Genesis 1:16. The interesting point here is that Israel is set in a
76
cosmic order. The communal dominion clearly envisages the sun and
the moon (and stars) along with the people of God sharing their
i••

75
So Baillet DJD 7:222.
76
Given the other ways in which this passage relies on Genesis 1 the opening
words of line 5 ‫ ]נ[ ו ד ל י רשיח ב י ע ק ו ב‬are suggestive of the first word of the Hebrew
Bible (‫)בראשית‬. A n d given that speculation on the potential meanings of this first
word for the role of a divine mediator in creation were well established in the
first century A.D. (see Colossians 1:15-20 and discussion in Wright 1991, 99-118),
the possibility that here Jacob(/Israel) is given a cosmogonie responsibility is intrigu-
ing. Because the text is broken there is nothing more here than a tantalizing
possibility.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 175

dominion over the order of creation (particularly the regions o f day

and night—Genesis 1:16). The specific reference to Israel being placed
in twelve camps must, in this context, have in mind the twelve months
of the year to which the very structure of God's elect people is
attuned. It is as a cosmic people that the elect walk in God's lot
"according to His Glory" and that they are "the people of His
7
throne".'
Now it might be thought that this text provides good grounds for
reading in fragment 35 not an angelomorphic priesthood but the
more clearly defined roles of human and angel in separate but syn-
chronized worship, the angels in heaven and the elect on earth below.
However, we do not have here the straightforward two-story uni-
verse that modern commentators so often have in their minds. We
should not be mislead by the reference to "the angels of his glori-
ous luminaries". Throughout the text the focus is upon creation and
Israel's special lot within it. The "angels of the luminaries" is best
understood as a hypostatisation of the spiritual personality within the
sun, the moon and the stars and it is with these that Israel shares
its worship.

The Time of the. Creation of the Angelic Priesthood

Before leaving 4Q511 35 there is one last interpretative issue which

must be tackled. When does the text envisage the creation of the
everlasting sanctuary of angelic human priests? Throughout lines 2-5
the verbs are in the future tense. A cumulative case can be made,
however, for the view that what the text looks forward to as a future
event is now a present reality for the implied readership.
Bilhali Nitzan has noted the conceptual framework for the Songs
is the means by which the demonic is kept at bay in the period
7 1
before the final banishment of all wickedness. ' This is the period
in which the Qumran community believed they had been placed
as a bridgehead before God's kingdom finally arrived. As we have
seen the division within the text between the holy and the super
holy corresponds to the already established division with the Essene
movement between the laity and priesthood. And our discussions of
lines 6-7 and 4Q511 2 i both indicate that the anthropology of this

77
Pace Baillet DJD 7:222 the " ‫ " ע ם כ ס א ו‬are not "Les anges qui entourent le
trône de Dieu".
7
1994 ‫ ״‬b , 237, 251-2.
176 chapter six

text corresponds to the contemporary liturgical realities of the life of

the community.
The one factor which might, nevertheless, point to a future situ-
ation for 4Q511 lines 1—5 is the description in the first two lines of
God's "avenging judgement" and "raging anger" "to destroy wicked-
ncss". This looks forward to the eschatological scenario envisaged in
the War Scroll and it may be that the main body of our fragment
looks forward to the (thoroughly historical) conditions of that period.
As we shall see in chapter 11 the description of the community and
its sanctuary here corresponds very well to the organization of God's
people for the Holy War of 1QM. But in our discussion of the first
of the Songs of Ike Sabbalh Sacrifice in chapter 9 we shall also discover
that (he angelomorphic priesthood who are set apart in 4Q5 I I 35
are the very same liturgical community who sang the Sabbalh Songs
at Qumraft and at Masada. What is described in the future tense
in 4Q51 1 is certainly a present reality in the Sabbalk Songs. What-
ever the precise intention of 4Q511 35's temporal perspective in
these three texts (Songs of Ike Sage, 1QM and the Songs of the Sabbalh
Sacrifice) there is assumed an essential continuity between current litur-
gical arrangements and those of (he cschaton.

4Q418 (4QInstruct10n) Frag. 81

We have already seen how the long and much used sapiential text
lQ/4QInstruction (4Q415IT. + 1Q26) thinks of the righteous as a whole
in angelic terms. One passage from this text best preserved in 4Q418
81 (overlapping with 4Q423 8) shows a similar bifurcation within
the people of God to that we have now studied in 4Q511 35:

' Your lips arc the o p e n i n g of a spring to bless the holy ones (‫לכרך‬
‫)קודשים‬. And you (‫)ואחה‬, as an eternal spring praise |. . .] he has sep-
2
arated you from every spirit of flesh (‫)הבהילכה מכול רוח בשר‬. As for
you (‫)ואחה‬, separate (‫ )הבדל‬from all that he hates, and abstain (‫)הנזר‬
3
s• from all the abominations of the soul[. Fo]r he has made all, and
Caused each man to inherit his inheritance. And He is your portion
and your inheritance a m o n g the sons of Adam (‫והוא חלקכה ונחלחכה‬
‫)כתוך בני אהם‬, [and over] his (Adams? Gods?) inheritance he has made
79 4
you ruler (‫)ובנ]חלחו הםשילםה‬. And you ( (‫ואחה‬glorify him in this

79
T h e corrected text (‫מה‬-) has "them", which is certainly possible, but "you"
(‫כה‬-) makes better sense (sec DJD 34:302, 305).
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 177

( ‫ ) ב ז ה כ ב ד ה ו‬, i n sanctifying yourself for h i m (‫ ) ב ה ח ק ד ש כ ה לו‬i n accor-

dance w i t h his placing you for the H o l y o f Holies ( ‫) ש מ כ ה ל ק ד ו ש ק ו ד ש י ם‬
80
[for a l l ] the earth ( ‫ ) ] ל כ ו ל ] ח ב ל‬. A n d a m o n g the [g]o[ds] ( ] ‫ו ב כ ו ל‬
5
[ ( [ ‫ א [ ל ] י ם‬he has cast your lot ( ‫ ) ה פ י ל נ ו ר ל כ ה‬and m u l t i p l i e d y o u r G l o r y
exceedingly ( ‫ ) ו כ ב ו ה כ ה ח ר ב ה מ ו א ר ה‬a n d he has placed you for H i m s e l f
6
as a first b o r n ( ‫ ) ו י ש י מ כ ה ל ו ב כ ו ר‬a m o n g [ . . . (saying:) ". . . a n d m y
goodness I w i l l give to y o u " . A n d as for y o u (‫)ואתה‬, docs not his good-
7
ness belong to you? A n d i n faithfulness to H i m walk continuously [. . .
y o u r works. A n d y o u (‫)ואחה‬, seek H i s j u d g m e n t s f r o m all y o u r adver-
8
sarics, i n all love h i m ; and w i t h {eternal} kindness and mercy towards
9
all w h o keep His w o r d and show zeal for H i m [ . . . A n d as for you
(‫)ואתה‬, [ H e has opjened insight for y o u , a n d H e has given y o u author-
10
ity over his treasure (‫)באוצהו‬, and an ephali o f truth H e has appointed[. . .
they are w i t h you. A n d it is i n y o u r h a n d 10 t u r n away anger from
11
the men o f pleasure [‫ [ ל ה ש י ב א ף מ א נ ש י רצון‬and to visit u p o n [ . . .
y o u r p e o p l e / w i t h you ( ‫ ) ע מ כ ה‬before y o u receive your inheritance from
12
His hand. Glorify His holy ones and be [fore . . . begin [with a sojng
(for?) all the holy ones ( ‫ ) ש [ י ר כ ו ל ק ד ו ש י ם‬a n d all called by H i s name
1 3
(will he) holy [. . . d u r i n g all the times o f his splendour ( ‫ ) ה ד ת‬, his
beauty ( ‫ ) פ א ר ח ו‬for the etcrfnal] p l a n t a t i o n [ . . . ' ' ' . . . ] w o r l d i n it: will
w a l k all w h o inherit the earth, for i n [. . .

Clearly the one who is addressed here has a transcendent ontology:

like the true humanity, the people of spirit, created after the pat-
tern of the holy ones in another part of the same work (4Q417 1 i
16—17/4Q418 43 13) the addressee has been separated from the
"spirit of flesh" (line 2, cf. 4Q417 1 i 17/4Q418 43 13). God is his
portion, he is regarded as God's "first born" and his glory has been
multiplied.
In examining more closely what is said of this exalted individual
we have to bear in mind several interpretative issues posed by ear-
lier commentators. First, who are the holy ones of lines 1, 11 and
12? Thus far it has been assumed that they are (suprahuman) angels,
which, of course, means that the addressee is to bless the angels,
1
glorify them and, perhaps, sing a song to them." Does this text then
supply concrete evidence for a veneration or worship of angels,
something many have felt must have been a widespread aspect of
Jewish spirituality but for which unequivocal and extensive support

m
The text here is reasonably certain given the overlap with 4Q423 8 3 (see
DJD 34:301, 305).
t | ‫״‬
Harrington 1994, 143; Elgvin 1998, 120.
 178 CHAPTER SIX

82
in the primary texts has been hard to find? Secondly, who, pre-
cisely, is the addressee? Line 3 applies Numbers 18:20—"Then the
LORD said to Aaron: 'You shall have no allotment in their land, nor
shall you have any share among them; I am your portion and your
inheritance among the Israelites ( ‫ — " ' ) ח ל ק ך ת ח ל ח ך בחון־ ב נ י י ש ר א ל‬t o
the addressee. Torleif Elgvin has argued that here a privilege of the
83
priesthood is "reinterpreted as a promise to the elect individual",
an interpretation consonant with the notable lack of any interest in
the priesthood and cult in the rest of lQ/4QInstruction.
In what follows we hope to demonstrate that the individual here
described is a priest who is set apart from the laity, who are the "holy on
whom he is called to bless and glorify. This interpretation is forced upon
us by the details of the immediate text, consideration of the rest of I Q /
4-QInstruction and broader reflections upon its place in the Qum-
ran corpus?

Tlie Vocation of the Priest in 4QJ18 81

As Armin Lange has seen, it is not just the patent use of Numbers
84
18:20 which reveals the person's priesthood. Lange points out that
line 1 evokes the Temple well from which the waters of life flow in
5
Jewish Temple mythology." The use of the verb ‫ מ ר‬in line 2 has
strongly priestly connotations in post-exilic literature, and interpre-
tation of Torah in line 7 is a priestly function in the Qumran con-
text. But this is only to scratch the surface of the priestly portrait.
The way in which he is separated from a spirit of flesh of course
attests a, by now, familiar topos within the divine anthropology tra-
dition. The demarcation of the people of spirit from the spirit of
flesh is ascribed to the righteous in general in another passage in 1 Q / 4 Q
Instruction. But here the separation from (a spirit of) flesh, accom-

82
The question has been much discussed in the last century, though primarily
amongst New Testament scholars anxious to explain the worship offered by early
Christians to Jesus. O f the most recent treatments sec, for example, Bauckham
1983, Hurtaclo 1988, Stuckcnbruck 1995, Horbury 1998, 1 2 1 - 2 2 .
83
Elgvin 1998, 121. Elgvin's position has influenced the olficial editors, J. Strugncll
and D.J. Harrington (DJD 34:20-21, 305), though they are more cautious con-
ceding the possibility that a real priest is in view.
IM
For the Hipll'il of ‫ט!ל‬0 in the second half of line 3 ("he has made you ruler")
compare the Hebrew of Sirach 4-5:17 where Aaron is similarly made to rule (‫)ימשילהו‬
in statute and judgement.
85
Lange 2000, 40. He compares Ezck 47; Ps 36:10; 46:5; 65:10 and Sir 24:25-31.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 179

panied by sanctification, recalls very specifically the blessing of Levi in

Jubilees 31:14.
In the context of a text preserved in the Qumran Library the fact
that an individual is placed "for the holy of holies" (line 4) must
evoke the way in which the priesthood within the Qumran com-
munity arc set up as the holy of holies over against the laity who
86
are the holy ones. Not only does line 3 cite the privileges of the
Aaronic priesthood the whole of lines 3-4a seem to have in mind a
distinction between the position ("inheritance") of the righteous in
general and the position of this particular individual: "each man has
his inheritance, and God is yours". In general the theology is that
shared by 1QS 8-9; 4 Q M M T and 4Q511 35, with at least one lin-
gtiistie overlap with the former (4Q511 35 ‫ ״‬3 "‫יקרי]ש[ אלוהים לו‬2"
+ 4Q418 81 4: "‫)"בהחקדשכה לו‬. In this case the addressee is a priest
who, like the high priest in lQSb 4:28, is set apart "for the holy of
holies" and given the divine privilege assigned to Aaron by the bib-
lical text. The repeated reference to the "holy ones" in 4Q418 81
is best taken, in this context, as a reference to the laity of Israel
87
who are "holy" whilst Aaron is "holy of holies".
In the midst of the densely packed first few lines of this passage
the priest is told that in fulfilling his duties (sclf-sanctification, sepa-
rating himself from everything that God hates etc . . .) he glorifies God
(‫ מ ה ככההו‬, line 4). This is now intelligible as yet another statement
of the high priest's role as bearer of divine Glory. The verbal form
‫ כבההו‬is unlikely to be purely transitive, but will also carry a cer-
tain reflexivity, not just because of the rhetoric of divine Glory in
the priestly theology of other texts (Sirach 50, lQSb 4; Aristeas 99),
but because here too a reciprocal relationship between divine and
human actors is clearly in view: whilst the priest glorifies God so
also God has "exceedingly magnified his [i.e. the priest's] glory". In-
deed, that this glory is the divine Glory, which the priestly tradition,

m
Compare Lange 2000, 41 η. 7.
‫ "י‬Here I disagree with Elgvin's view that there is "a lack o f connections between
4 ()Instruction on the one hand, and M M T and priestly sectarian traditions on the
other" (1998, 150). Elgvin's view in this regard is related to his judgement that the
Qumran community was the product of the merging of two groups, one composed
of laity who cherished apocalyptic literature (/ Enoch and 1 Q/4QInstruction), and
another Zadokite lead priestly group who sought to give the movement a hierar-
chy. Here Weberian social theory is driving historiography.
180 CHAPTER SIX

so fully represented by Sirach, gives to the high priesthood is con-

firmed by the language of line 13 where the priest's vocation and
privileges are set "during all the times of his splendour (‫)הדרו‬, his
beauty (‫")פארחו‬. Here, then, there are all the technical terms (‫כבוד‬,
‫ ה ד ר‬, Vn^S) which define the space, time and ontology of priesthood
in the tradition we have been tracing throughout this study (cf. esp.
Sirach 45:7-8; 50:1, 5, 11). As in other DSS texts "all the times
(‫ ")קצים‬are probably liturgical, rather than eschatological or histori-
a
cal, in character (cf. l Q H 20:4 [12:4]; 1QS 10:1, 5).
With the citation of Numbers 20:18 a deliberate change to the
biblical text is made. Where Numbers has " I am your portion and
your inheritance among the Israelites," 4 Q 4 18 81 has, instead, "your
share your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Adam".
Now this might be thought to support Elgvin's view that a prerog-
ative of the priesthood has been "democratised" or given a univer-
salist perspective. However, here and in the expression "for the holy
of holies for all the earth", there is the cultic cosmology that we would
expect from priestly tradition. The priest is set apart for the holy of
holies which functions as sacred centre of the whole cosmos instan-
dated in the cult where he and the rest of the people of God embody
the true Adam. As Elgvin himself has seen, the view that the right-
eous recapitulate the true Adamic identity, ruling (^‫ )משל‬over ere-
ation is clearly present in another passage in l Q / 4 Q I n s t r u c t i 0 1 1
(4Q423 1-2). The scene envisaged in 4Q418 81 3 - 4 is, once more,
like that in Sirach 50 where the high priest embodying God's Glory
is surrounded by the cultic community who fulfill the vision for the
true Adam in a restored Eden.
In line 10 it is in the priest's "hand to turn away anger from the
men of pleasure [‫"]להשיב אף מאנשי רצון‬. This is certainly "odd as a
description for the activity, especially the teaching activity, of a sage".""
It is also true that various biblical characters perform this function:
Moses (Psalm 106:23), Phinehas (Num 25:11, cf. Ps 106:29-30), Jere-
89
miah (Jer 18:20). But all these are priests (Ps 99:6, Num 25:7, Jer
1:1), a fact which would not go unnoticed to later readers, given
that during the period when 1QJ4QInstruction was written it is pre-
eminently the priest Phinehas (son of Elcazar, son of Aaron) who

08
DJD 34:307.
89
Cited by Slrugnell and Harrington in DJD 34:307. Cf. Daniel in Dan 9:16.
 P R I E S T L Y A N G E L O M O R P H I S M I N T H E DSS 181

90
turns back God's wrath from the righteous. In particular, the Has-
moneans in their bid to be the true holders of Israel's priesthood
claim their acts of zeal are a worthy emulation of Phinehas (see 1
Mace 2:26, 54; 3:8, cf. 2 Mace 8:5).'" Two passages are worth quot-
ing at this juncture. Two verses of the encomium to Judas Mac-
cabeus in 1 Maccabees 3:3-9 read:
3
H e extended the glory ( έ π λ ά τ υ ν ε ν δόξαν) of his people. As a g i a n t
(ώς γίγας) he p u t on his breastplate; he b o u n d on his a r m o u r of w a r
and waged battles, p r o t e c t i n g the c a m p by his sword (σκεπάζων π α ρ ε μ -
βολήν έν ρομφαία)

. . . " H e went t h r o u g h the cities of J u d a h ; he destroyed the u n g o d l y

out of the land; thus he turned away wrath from Israel, (άπέσχρεψεν όργ
άπα Ισραήλ).

In 1 Maccabees 3:8 Judas' turning away of wrath from Israel picks

up the model of Phinehas with whom his father has been compared
in the previous chapter (2:25, cf. 2:54). That this is regarded as an
essentially priestly service is suggested by the striking parallel between
what is here said of Judas and the account of Aaron's intercession
in Wisdom of Solomon 18.
In Wisdom of Solomon 18:15-16 the destroying angel appears as
an angel filling heaven and earth to kill the first born among the
Egyptians. He then threatens the righteous, but "wrath did not long
continue" because Aaron stands in the breach; with prayer and pro-
pitiation by incense he withstands God's anger:
2 3
. . . he intervened a n d drove back the wrath (ανέκοψε την όργήν) . . .
2 4
b o r on his l o n g robe the w h o l e w o r l d was depicted,
and the glories of the ancestors were engraved on the four rows o f
stones and your majesty was on the d i a d e m u p o n his head.

This story is modelled, of course, on the episode after the judge-

ment of Korah in Numbers 16 where, by offering incense Aaron
atones for rebellious Israel and averts the wrath that is upon them

5 0
I n 2 Chr 29 it is Hczekiah, but more specifically the priests and Lévites, who
turn away God's wrath (v. 10, cf. 30:8) through sacrifices and an extended period
of worship in the Temple.
91
See Goldstein 1976, 6-8 on 1 Maccabees. Cf. Jul! 31:18 for echoes of Num-
hers 25 in the account of Levi's qualification for the priesthood through his zeal-
ous slaying of the Shechemitcs. There is an intriguing reference to zeal (‫ )קנאחו‬at
the end of 4Q418 81 8, which reinforces the likely significance of Phinehas for
4Q418 81 10, though it is not at all clear what role it plays in the train of thought.
 182 C H A P T E R SIX

(vv. 41-50). In Wisdom of Solomon Aaron, as the antidote to the

angelic death is, himself, of cosmic, gigantic, proportion, bearing
something of God's own majesty (and the glory of God's people).
The priest Judas is also a giant protecting the righteous (implicitly)
by divine power. Both Aaron and Judas are true giants like the
angelomorphic Jacob in Joseph and Aseneth 22 and the divine Noah
in the Book of Noah. There are also here a web of intertextual
92
threads joining these apocryphal passages to our Qumran passage.
As far as I know, and despite the Mosaic model in scripture, all
the evidence from contemporary Jewish tradition points to the turning back o
93
God's wrath as a specifically priestly vocation. So 4Q418 81 line 10 must
be regarded as another indication that we have here to do with a
priest, whose assuaging of God's wrath is closely related (as in 1
Maccabees and Wisdom of Solomon) to a distinctly angelic or divine
<:
identity. >
With these narrowly priestly features there are others which are
more broadly consonant with instruction to a priest. Praise and wor-
ship (lines 1, 12?) in Israel arc lead by priests and Lévites. It is thus
not insignificant that nowhere else in IQ/4QInstruction does wor-
ship appear as the responsibility for a recipient of instruction. I n line
9 there is the statement that the priest has been given authority over
its, or God's, treasure. Grammatically, it is possible that here the
priest is simply given authority over the treasure of "insight" men-
tioned in the previous phrase. However, in the flow of thought of
the preceding lines where God is the priest's portion, and where the
priest is placed spatially and authoritatively in the cosmic centre,
with all God's good things given to him, it makes best sense to find
in line 9 another statement of the specifically divine privileges given
to our priest. What, then, does it mean to be set in authority over

92
4Q481 81 docs not say how the priest is to turn back God's wrath. The lack
of any reference to violence places the Qumran text closer to the Wisdom of
Solomon where propitiation is simply achieved by prayer, incense and the power
of the accoutrements of priestly office. Indeed, the absence of violence and blood-
shed, defining features of 1 Mace 3:3—9, suggests a very different life setting for
l Q / 4 Q I n s t r u c t i o n than that of Hasmonean propaganda literature. A n y priestly
"pacifism" in the theology of priesthood in lQ/4QInstruction would cohere with
the lack of direct involvement of the priesthood in the end-time conflict envisaged
in 1 Q M .
95
Beside these texts see the role of the high priest in 3 Mace 1-2 and note the
possible significance of the portrayal of the priestly man clothed in linen i n Ezek
9 (cited in C D 19:11-12).
 P R I E S T L Y A N G E L O M O R P H I S M IN T H E DSS 183

God's treasures? Since these are God's treasures, they are probably
broad in scope, including, therefore, his wisdom and understanding,
elemental forces (winds, waters, and so on; e.g. Deut 28:12; Job
38:22; Ps 135; Sir 43:14) and precious stones and metals (Josh 6:19,
24; 1 Kgs 7:51, 14:26). Nowhere, in the Wisdom tradition is a sage
given such authority. But authority over God's treasuries is appro-
priately given to a priest. The temple is a microcosm of the uni-
verse, its rituals and drama effect the power of the creator within
the cosmos. It stands to reason, therefore, that those who govern its
workings, the priesthood, are those who have authority over God's
treasuries, in all the senses of that expression. In the pre-exilic period
the king was responsible for collecting gold, silver and precious ves-
sels in the treasuries of the house of the LORD. But in the post-exilic
period it is specifically the priesthood that is given such rcsponsibil-
ity (Neb 10:38; 13:13; 1 Chr 9:26; 26:20; 26:22). The responsibili-
ties of the priesthood for caring for God's treasuries in the Temple
arc memorably portrayed in 2 Maccabees 3 where by prayer and
petition the high priest leads the people in an attempt to protect the
people from the Scleucid attempt to plunder the temple. All this is
the most likely background to 4Q418 81 9.
It is conceivable that, i f the text is written for a community
estranged from the Jerusalem Temple, a literal supervision and con-
trol of the treasuries of the house of the LORD are given a metaphor-
iced interpretation in 4Q418 81. But nothing in 4Q418 81 1-14
suggests a metaphorical extension, or reappropriation, of the rights and
responsibilities of the priesthood to the elect without caste distinc-
lion. The Judaism of the third to first centuries B.C. is everywhere
91
scrupulous in its regard for the proper lineage of the priestly office.
For the reading of the text advocated by Elgvin there is no obvious
parallel in contemporary literature. Priests are priests (whether Lévites,
Aaronids, Zadokites, or whoever) and non-priests are non-priests, and
without clear scriptural warrant the latter have no right to the specific
95
responsibilities or privileges of the former.

1,1
Disagreements about which priests are entitled to hold high office (Zadokites
(Oniads), non-Zadokites (Hasmoneans)) are only testimony to the shared assump-
tion that priesthood is an office reserved for those of the right lineage.
r
" ' The disproportionate interest in Psalm HO—a text which legitimates the fusion
of royal and priestly offices after the order of Melchizcdek—in New Testament
Christology is testimony to the otherwise insurmountable barrier between the rights
of priesthood and laity. Christians believed Jesus was both messianic king (partly
 184 CHAPTER SIX

Other details of 1 Q/4QInstruction confirm the impression that

4Q418 81 1-14 must be written for a real, not a metaphorical,
priest. Throughout 1 Q/4QInstruction teaching is addressed to a
maven, a student, or in one case a "son of a maven" (4Q417 1 i 18,
cf. 4Q418 69 15), and this person certainly lacks obviously priestly
credentials. In its familiar vocative form—‫;—ואתה מבין־‬just this address
is found in 4Q418 81 line 15 immediately after the passage we have
96
been discussing. But any such address in 4Q418 81 1-14 is con-
spicuous by its absence. Six times (lines 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9) the simpler
expression . . . ‫"( ואתה‬and as for you . . .") appears where the fuller
address to a maven might do equally well. Although this briefer exprès-
97
sion is found elsewhere in 1 Q/4QInstn1ction, nowhere else is its
use as dense as here in 4Q4I8 81 I 14 nor is its vocative function
quite so clear. The conclusion is obvious: 4Q418 81 1 1 3 is for-
mally distinct from other parts of 4QInstruclion because it is not
addressed to a maven, a member of the laity, but to a priest. The
address "as for you, maven . . ." at the beginning of line 15 of 4Q418
81 opens a new section for the wise artisan, those who are given
authority "‫"בחכמת ידים‬.
Elgvin's view that priestly language is extended to the laity in
4Q418 81 1-13 is at odds with the one other portion of l Q / 4 Q I n ‫־‬
struction which mentions the priesthood. The first four lines of 4Q423
5 read:
1
'‫ יי‬. . .]and take care lest you give back to Levi the pricjst] . . .] the
2
judgement of Korah. And as he opened yotir ear [to the mystery of
existence . . .] your [. . . every he]ad of [your] fathers [. .]and leader
3
of your people [ H|e divided the [pjortion of all rulers (‫]נ|הלח כל‬
‫ )מושלים‬and fashioned every [clecjd by His hand, and the wages

Although the text is fragmentary the "judgement of Korah" of Num-

bers 16 is clearly cited as the paradigmatic divine judgement against

his by royal lineage) and priest (his by fulfilment of Psalm 110 and his atoning
work). Elgvin appeals to the spiritualization o f the prerogative of the Lévites in the
post-biblical Psalms 16 (v. 5) and 73 (v. 26) (DJD 34:517 n. 25), but the details of
the priestly office are nothing like as clear i n these psalms as they arc in 4Q418
81 1-14.
9 6
Cf. 4Q416 4 3; 4Q417 1 i 1; 4Q4I7 1 i 13-14; 4Q418 81 15; 4Q418 123
ii 5; 4Q418 126 i i 12(?); 4Q418 168 4; 4Q176 3. Note also the singular variant
incipit in 4Q418 69 10 ‫ ו א ת ה בחירי א מ ת‬.
9
2 40416 ‫י‬ ii 4; 4 0 4 1 6 2 ii 14; 4 Q 4 I 6 2 ii 19; 4Q
4Q417 Ίί! i 17; 4Q417~2 ii +23 6; 4Q418 206 5.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N THE DSS 185

those who would rebel against the God-ordained distinction between

those who are to hold high priestly office and those who are not.
The Korah episode is a "reminder to the Israelites that no outsider,
who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer
incense before the LORD" (Num 16:4-0), a point well taken in post-
biblical tradition (Sir 45:18: "outsiders conspired against him (Aaron)",
cf. Josephus Ant 4:14—66). There can be no doubt that this is why
the episode is cited here. Lines 2-3 evidently have in mind the dif-
ferent portions that God has given to various groups within Israel's
leadership (including the fathers, heads of the fathers and leaders of
98
line 2), language which directly evokes that in 4Q418 8 1 . Line la
is also naturally taken as a reference to the need to honour the
19
Lévites' divinely sanctioned position within Israel's Constitution.' Is
it really likely that a text which is so attentive to the biblical warn-
ing against blurring the boundaries between priests and non-priests
would intend 4Q418 81 1-14 to be read in any other way than an
100
address to a "real" priest and none other?

77K Blessing of the Holy Ones, the Laity in 4Q418 81

Whilst there is clearly an overwhelming case for treating 4Q418 81
1-14 as another witness to the theology of divine priesthood akin to
that attested in Jubilees 31:14, 1 QSb and 4Q511, and to the rhetoric
of priesthood-laity relations in these and other texts (4QMMT, 1QS
8 9), can this reading make sense of the blessing and the glorifica-
lion of the holy ones in lines 1, 11-12? Yes it can.

Elgvin tries to avoid the obvious here (DJD 34:519-20). He suggests the "judge-
ment of Korah" is simply cited as "a warning for ungodly leaders" and he claims
there is warrant for ils use "as a paradigm for the eschatological judgement of the
enemies of Israel" (DJD 34:519). But most of the texts he cites do not mention
Korah (4Q458 2 ii 4; / Enoch 90:18; 99:2) and may only use the image of the
earth's swallowing the wicked with reference to the end time judgement. I n any
case it is clear from lines ‫־־‬23 that the issue, as in Numbers 16, is the disregard
for God-given distinctions between family vocations.
Line la is written by two later hands than that of the rest of the text and
the text is not reconstructed with absolute certainty. I f the reading is correct, but
not "original" to the "intention" of the text it is nevertheless obviously i n accord
with what follows.
100
Strugncll and Harrington {DJD 34:305) ponder the possibility that 4Q418 81
4—5 "could refer to the special lot of the Aaronids", and ask "but is this likely in
a sapiential text?" Given the priestly orientation of Sirach (and Wisdom of Solomon
18) it is strange that this question should occur to anyone. It is true that i n the
Hebrew Bible Wisdom literature is less clearly related to cultic matters. But does
 186 CHAPTER SIX

The notion that the righteous should bless and glorify angels is
hard to find in the Judaisms of our period, and there are weighty
theological considerations which would have dissuaded Jews from
such a potentially polytheistic activity. But these "big-picture" con-
siderations should not rule out of court any possible meaning of indi-
vidual texts. One Qumran text, HQBer (11Q14 - 4Q285 1) 1 ii
5-6 does clearly have a priest declare "blessed be all his holy angels
1 0 1
( . " ( ‫ק ו ד ש ו‬ ‫כרוכים כ ו ל מלאכי‬ But
historical context (viz. the conceptual and linguistic proximity to the
texts just mentioned) firmly favours another interpretation to that
102
which would find here the praise of angels.
In Jubilees 31:15 the angelomorphic priesthood separated from all
flesh is to "bless all the seed of the beloved". Presumably the Aaronic
blessing of Numbers 6 is in view, as it is at the ordination of the
high pridSt in lQSb 4. In its context this is the most sensible under-
standing of the blessing of the holy ones in 4Q418 81 1.
In 4Q418 81 line 11 the priest is to "glorify (God's) holy ones".
For a worshipper glorifying angels there is no parallel in extant Sec-
oncl Temple Jewish literature. For a priest glorifying his people there
is plenty of corroborative evidence. We have just seen how in 1
Maccabees 3:3 Judas Maccabee "enlarged the glory" of his people.
In the immediate context of that passage the military and political
power of Israel is in view. But the notion that it is proper for Israel's
priest to bring glory to his people has behind it the sacerdotal the-
ology extant in Sirach where Simon is the head and sum of the
people whose glorious lineage he makes manifest in Israel's regular
liturgy. This, rather than any putative praise of the angels, is the
immediate background to 4Q418 81 11. The encomiastic "praise of

the editor's question not perhaps arise because of the modern separation o f (empir-
ical) wisdom (i.e. science) and cult (religion)—a separation utterly foreign to the late
first Second Temple period?
101
See discussion of Stuckenbruck 1995, 161-63. The blessing o f the angels here
has a parallel in the blessing o f the "holy angels" in Tobit 11:14 (sec Stuckenbruck
19Ö5, 165-67).
102
Whilst there is a blessing o f angels in 11 QBer this is not necessarily the same
as a "praise" or full "worship" of the angels. T o bless is to wish the good of, some-
thing different from a fuller (sacrificial?) worship in which the worshipper recog-
ni/.es the supreme existential power and worth of that which is worshipped. When
the priest blesses Israel (MQjBcr 1 i i 3) he is not (necessarily) "worshipping" her.
If there is any justification for a carefully nuanced differentiation of "worship" and
"veneration' it might lie here. Certainly Stuckenbruck goes too far i n saying here
"God's angels are praiseworthy" (1995, 163).
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 187

the fathers"—in particular for their (God-given) glory (44:1-2, 19;

45:2; 45:7; 45:23; 46:2; 47:6; 48:4)—in Sirach 44-50 and the cele-
bration of Judas in 1 Maccabees 3 might also offer the kind of mate-
rial which a Wisdom text such as ours would have in mind when
it speaks of a "song for all the holy ones" (line 11), if by that is
meant a song in celebration of, or to, the righteous.
I n conclusion, then, 4Q481 81 1-14 preserves another important
witness to the belief at Qumran that the peculiar vocation of the
priesthood entailed an embodying, or making manifest, of divine
Glory. I n this, like the laity, the priesthood have transcended the
reality ("the spirit") of the flesh.

rl
4QJ%ions of Amramf"' ar: Aaron as God and the Angel of God

Two copies of the Aramaic text 4QVisions of Amram ar attest to

the tradition that Aaron, the founder of the priesthood, was regarded
as an "angel of God" and even, simply, "a god". That this text has
Aaron called "‫ " מ ל א ך אל‬was announced as long ago as 1972 byJ.T.
Milik, though unfortunately further details of the text have been slow
103
to emerge. The relevant lines of the text reconstructed from 4Q545
104
frag. 1 Ï and 4Q543 1 + 2 + 3 reads as follows:
16
and he will give wisdom to you (‫[ )ונתן לך חכמה‬. . .]it will be added
17
[to you] . . . you will be God and an angel of God (‫אל חהוה‬
‫[ "י )ושל[ אך אל‬you will be called (ΓηρΠΠ]) . . . you will do in] this Land
[and a judge . . . and when] your name

This language of 4Q545 1 i 17-18 (4Q543 frag. 3 1) speaks for

itself. The fact that Aaron can be regarded as both "God/a god"
and "an angel of God" is of inestimable significance for our analy-
sis of other Dead Sea Scrolls. Whilst this might seem startlingly
exalted language for Aaron, it is not at all unusual, for as we have

'"' M i l i k 1972, 94. Milik regarded the text a fragment o f 4QAmram", though he
probably had in mind what is now labelled 4Q543 frag. 3 line 1, which is paral-
lei to 4Q545 frag. 1 i 17-18. For 4Q545 see Ρ A M 43.566; R O C 192 and for
4Q543 sec P A M 43.577; 43:578. R O C 343, 347. Milik dated at least one of the
lj
manuscripts of the text (4QAmram ) to the second century B.C., possibly even its
first half, on palaeographical grounds. Official publication is assigned to E. Puech
in DJD 31.
+ c
'° The line numbers are those of 4Q545 frag. 1 (4QVisions of A m r a m ar). For
the text and translation see Beyer 1994, 85-87 and DSSSE, 1084-5, 1088-1091
and see Mach 1992, 238.
 188 CHAPTER SIX

seen such terms are frequently used in Jewish texts of the divine
humanity.
In what precedes the text is called a "copy of the writing of the
words of the visions of Amram, son of Qahat, son of Levi" (4Q545
1 1 = 4Q543 1 1): the text is probably an example of the genre
15
Testament, given by Amran to his children on his death-bed." We
are here in the world of correct priestly succession, an issue of con-
06
siderable interest to the keepers of the Dead Sea Scroll library.' In
our text Aaron is called to his lather Amram and his naming seems
to be received in the context of a last blessing from the patriarch
as part of "all that he revealed to his sons and what he advised
them on the clay of his death" (4Q543 1 1-2 = 4Q545 1 i 1-2).
The presence of such strongly theological language for Aaron in (he
context of a Testament is reminiscent of the Prayer of Joseph where
Jacob's revelation that he is an angel and ruling spirit, the archangel
of the power of the Lord and the chief captain among the sons of
God, is probably also set in an extended retelling of Jacob's bless-
107
ing of his sons in Genesis 48.
Lines 6-7 of our text also describe how Amram throws a seven-
clay feast before he calls Aaron. Since what follows is some kind of
installation of Aaron to a divine office the feast was probably sacri-
ficial in nature and, given the focus on priestly succession, this instal-
lation may perhaps have involved a priestly ordination. Indeed, an
ordination theme seems to be present in another copy of 4QVisions
of Amram (4Q547 frags. 1-4 where someone has a vision—pre-
sumably Amram himself—in which there arc all the paraphernalia
of a sacrificial scene and the promise that "the priest will be exalted
among all my sons for ever" (4Q547 4 6, cf. 4Q545 3 6). With this
dream-vision and Amram's calling and naming of Levi there is, then,
a general similarity to the traditions of priestly ordination in the Ara-
maic Lxvi Docume.nl, the Testament of Levi (esp. ch. 3) and Jubilees 30-32.

5
" 4 ‫ י‬Q 5 4 3 1 1-4 = 4Q545 1 i 1-4 = 4Q546 I 1-3.
;fi
" This fact tells against the possibility that the crucial lines of this text are con-
cerned not with Aaron but with Moses, Amram's other son. Although it is true
that there is scriptural warrant for Moses as "god" in the Hebrew Bible which
might allow us to "explain away" the language of this text, Moses is never men-
tioned in the extant form of the text and, although certainty is impossible given
the fragmentary nature of the text, it seems safest to include this as a witness to
the Qumran movements' belief in the divinity of the priesthood.
107
See J.Z. Smith in OTP 2:699.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 189

As f o r A a r o n ' s r e c e p t i o n o f n e w n a m e s , this is r e m i n i s c e n t o f t h e
n e w angelic n a m e I s r a e l g i v e n t o J a c o b i n t h e Prayer of Joseph a n d
the r e v e l a t i o n t o E n o c h t h a t he is the S o n o f M a n i n Ethiopie Enoch
7 1 . W e s h o u l d also, p e r h a p s , compare the d e c l a r a t i o n t o t h e disci-
pies, Peter, J a m e s a n d J o h n , t h a t t h e t r a n s f o r m e d Jesus is G o d ' s son
in the g o s p e l T r a n s f i g u r a t i o n s t o r y ( M a r k ‫״‬9:29).

4QAaron A Frag. 9: A Heavenly and Cosmogonie High Priest

A n o t h e r s t r i k i n g p i c t u r e o f t h e p r i e s t as a h e a v e n l y figure is p r o -
v i d e d b y 4 Q A a r o n A ( 4 Q 5 4 1 , o t h e r w i s e k n o w n as 4 Q T e s t a m e n t of
1 1
Levi' (?) o r I Q A p o c r y p h o n o f L e v i ' ? ar)."" T h i s A r a m a i c a p o c r y p h o n
was first p u b l i s h e d b y E m i l e P u e c h a n d the first c o l u m n o f f r a g m e n t
l ‫״‬
9 reads as f o l l o w s ( 4 Q 5 4 1 9 i): "

2
. . .]his | w i ] s d o m (‫)ח[כמתה‬. A n d he w i l l make expiation ( ‫ ) ו י כ פ ר‬for all
3
the sons o f his generation; a n d he w i l l be sent to all the sons o f his
[peop]lc(?). H i s w o r d is like a w o r d o f the heavens (‫ ) כ מ א מ ר שמין‬, a n d
his teaching conforms to the w i l l o f G o d . H i s eternal sun w i l l shine;
‫ יי‬and its lire w i l l b u r n i n all the corners o f the earth. A n d o n the
darkness it will shine; t h e n the darkness will disappear •‫[ י‬fr'jom the
earth and the c l o u d f r o m the d r y land. T h e y w i l l speak m a n y w o r d s
against h i m , and a n u m b e r o f ' [fiction] s(?). A n d they w i l l i n v e n t fables
against h i m , and they w i l l speak all manner o f infamies against h i m .
7
His generation evil w i l l destroy, [. . .] w i l l be. A n d because falsehood
and violence w i l l be its setting, [and] the people w i l l stray i n his days;
and they w i l l be c o n f o u n d e d .

D i s c u s s i o n o f this t e x t has f o c u s e d o n t w o issues: (1) t h e likelihood

t h a t i t r e p r e s e n t s t h e o r i g i n a l J e w i s h t e x t t h a t lies b e h i n d t h e C h r i s -
dan reworked Testament of I^evi chapter 18 w h e r e there is also a
p r o p h e c y o f a n e s c h a t o l o g i c a l p r i e s t w h o s e a r r i v a l has c o s m i c i m p l i -
c a t i o n s : t h e r e also t h e f u t u r e p r i e s t " w i l l shine f o r t h like t h e s u n i n
the e a r t h ; he s h a l l t a k e a w a y a l l d a r k n e s s f r o m under heaven" (T.
Ixvi 18:4). (2) S e c o n d l y , i t is w i d e l y r e c k o n e d t h a t lines 5—7 o f t h i s
text a n d other fragments o f 4 Q 5 4 1 s h o w the i n f l u e n c e o f t h e fifty-
t h i r d chapter o f Isaiah, the famous "suffering servant" song. Does,
t h e r e f o r e , this t e x t o f f e r a p r e c u r s o r t o t h e use o f I s a i a h 5 3 i n e a r l y

Dated palaeographically c. 100 B.C. by Puech (1992, 452).

Our translation follows Brooke 1993. Sec Puech 1992, 466-470.
 190 CHAPTER SIX

Christology to interpret Jesus' death?"" These are, indeed, impor-

tant questions, though they do not directly concern us in this pre-
sent study.
For our purposes this text offers another picture of a priest with
a heavenly and cosmic identity. That he is a priest is certain because
he makes expiation in line 2."' There is no doubt that this is a
human priest because the phrase "for all the sons of his generation"
and the language of suffering is hardly appropriate for a priestly
angel. I t is not said that he is angelic, so much as a figure of cos-
mic and specifically solar significance. This association between the
priesthood and the sun is common in contemporary texts. The fact
that he speaks heavenly words reflects his transcendent, otherworldly
identity and should be compared with other texts where the mes-
2
siah or whole communities speak a heavenly and angelic tongue."
The language in 9 i 2 " ‫ "ויכפר ע ל כול בני ד ר ה‬is almost identical to
that in 11 QMelchizedek 2:8 "[‫ " ל כ פ ר ע ל כול בני ]אל‬and there is
every reason to suppose that a sectarian reader of the two texts
3
would believe the characters to be one and the same."
This priestly figure's "divinity" comes most clearly to the fore in
the language of creation used for the priest's coming in lines 3—5.
Obviously, the comparison of the priest to the sun picks up the prin-
4
ciple act of creation of the fourth day in Genesis l . " As we have
already seen in Sirach 50:7 the comparison of the priest to the sun
serves the theology of priestly cosmogony in which the high priest
recapitulates the various stages of creation as they are prescribed in
Genesis 1. The coming of light and the disappearance of darkness

110
See the discussion in Puech 1992, 467-70; Brooke 1993; Knibb !995, 181-4;
Collins 1995a; Collins 1995b, 123-126 and Zimmermann 1998, 247-277. See esp.
Isaiah 50:6 ‫־‬8 and 53:2-10 and for the light theme see Isaiah 42:6-7. See also per-
haps 4Q541 frag. 24 i i .
" ' For other priestly aspects to the text see Puech 1992, 493—94; Zimmermann
1998, 269. I t is also possible that another fragment (24 col. ii) describes him wear-
ing the high priest's rosette (‫ציצ‬, line 5, cf. Exod 28:36 and Beyer 1994, 80: "das
Stirndiadem (des Hohenpriesters)") and that like the high priest: in l Q S b 4:28 he
is responsible for the bearing of God's Name (line 5).
112
Sib. Or. 5:259; Ps. Sol. 17:43; 1 Cor 13:2.
113
Pace, e.g., Zimmermann 1998, 274 who thinks that 4Q541 describes an escha-
tological Levi whose activity on earth corresponds to Melchizedek's activity in heaven.
Also relevant here is the fragmentary text C D 19:18 (4Q266 10 i 12-13) in which
a priestly messiah may be responsible for an eschatological act of expiation. See
recent discussion by Baumgarten 1999a.
114
Cf. Zimmermann 1998, 260-261.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 191

from the earth evokes the first day of creation. The disappearance
of the cloud (‫ )ערפלא‬from the dry land (‫ )יבישתא‬recalls not only the
dry land (‫ )היבשה‬which is created on the third day in Genesis 1:9,
but also the Umebel which in contemporary creation theology was
believed to exist at the dawn of creation. This primeval fog or gloomy
cloud is attested in Sirach 24:3 where, in a sapiential retelling of
Genesis 1, Wisdom is identified with a mist (ομίχλη) covering the
115
earth. There is no Hebrew extant for this portion of Sirach. The
Syriac has ‫ ע ר פ ל א‬which normally means "dark cloud", "darkness"
or "gloom". G.T. Sheppard has persuasively argued that the origi-
nal Hebrew read ‫ ערפל‬and that both Genesis 1:1—3 and the cloud
1
(‫ )אד‬of Genesis 2:6 are in view. "' In this context the focus in 4Q541
on the priest's word as a word of the heavens should also recall
1 1 7
God's creation by word alone in Genesis l .
There is no systematic presentation of the priest as a co-creator
with God, but that (in part) he recapitulates God's creative work is
unsurprising given that, as we have seen in Sirach 50, the high
priest's ministry was thoroughly cosmogonie. Contact with the kind
of priestly theology that is represented by Sirach is further suggested
by the way in which the priest is associated with wisdom. This sapi-
ential interest appears at the beginning of line 2 of our fragment
8
and is a recurrent theme in other portions of the text."
Commentators have assumed that this text must describe a future
eschatological figure. However, nothing in the text itself demands
this reading. It could equally well represent an ex eventu(?) prophecy
of the coming of a figure who, from the Qumran community's per-
spective, has already come. John J. Collins has highlighted the sim-
ilarity in the description of the priest's suffering to that of the Teacher
of Righteousness and the very fact that the priest's ministry is marked

1 , 5
For this primeval cloud in the cosmogonies of the Levant sec Damascius De,
Prim. 125c: "The Sidonians propose . . . before all things Ghronos, Desire (Πόθος)
and Mist (Όμίχλη), and after the union of Desire and Mist, as the two principles,
there becomes A i r and Wind . . .".
r>
" 1980, 22-27.
' " Cf. Zimmermann 1998, 261. 4Q541 frag. 7 line 3 says "and he will make
the great sea be silent". I f this is a reference to the work of the priest, rather than
God, then it also fits within the larger constellation of creation themes: the priest
is depicted as the divine warrior whose power brings creative order from the chaos
personified in the sea, a theme reflected also in Sirach 50:3 (Heb) and Daniel 7:13
(see Fletcher-Louis 2001b and 1997a respectively).
1 , 8
4Q541 2 i 6-9; 2 i i 6: frag. 7 line 4. See Puech 1992, 492-3; Zimmermann
1998, 268-9.
 192 CHAPTER SIX

by the failure of his generation could very well mean we have here
not the future, eschatological messianic figure, but one who was sent
9
from God but rejected." The cosmic and cosmogonie scope of his
ministry need mean no more than that the author claims for him
120
what Sirach claimed for Simon son of Onias. It is noteworthy that
our text does not explicitly state that the suffering precedes glory, as
we would expect from a truly eschatological figure. In fact, if we
are to take the narrative How as a deliberate reflection of an his-
torical sequence then our priest first has a glorious and wise ministry
which is then shattered by a misunderstanding and rebellious gener-
ation. This could very well be taken as a description of the Teacher
of Righteousness' own ministry, not some future figure who would
121
be like the Teacher.
Commentators have perhaps jumped to the eschatological read-
ing because of the points of contact with 7. Levi 18. But the tela-
tionship between the two texts as a whole is far from clear and in
any case the testamentary pseudepigraphical perspective of the Testa-
ment of Levi very well suits a prophecy for the coming of one who is
now viewed as past by the Qumran community. In a similar way, of
course, Christian readers of T. Levi thought their messiah (Jesus of
Nazareth) had fulfilled the vision of the eschatological priest-king i n
chapter 18.
Certainty is not possible, it must be conceded. But: the possibility
of an entirely intra-historical and past-history perspective for this text
must be pressed, i f only because of the improper temptation to assume
that such a glorious figure must belong to a future time when the
conditions of ordinary history have been overtaken by a transcen-
dent eschatology. Texts such as Sirach 50, Aristeas 99 and Jubilees
31:14 all testily to the widespread opinion that Israel's serving priest—
not sonic eschatological future redeemer -is glorious, heavenly and
the bearer of God's creative power and presence within history.
There are sound reasons for thinking that this is the way this text
was read at Qumran.

1 , 9
1995b, 125; 1995a, 586-7.
1 2 0
Collins is therefore too quick to conclude that although the priest's suffering
is indebted to the experience of the Teacher of Righteousness, nevertheless, this is
the "future priest . . . imagined by analogy with the historical career of the Teacher. . .
(and) he has a more glorious finale" (1995a, 587).
151
Zimmerman's objections to Collins' observation of the similarity between the
priest of 4Q541 and the Teacher of Righteousness are not entirely persuasive (1998,
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 193

4Q468b: 'flie Solar High Priest and the Light of His Garments

In the interests of completeness, at this point our survey should briefly

note a small, but tantalizing fragment of a text which seems to envis-
age a similar solar epiphany for the high priest. 4Q468b is a small
122
fragment and has only very recently been published:
1 2
. . .] 1 [have a p p r ] o a c h c d his radiance ( . ..](‫לנונהו‬. . . i n the l i g h t ]
3
o f ‫ משכצתו‬w i l l w a l k all [. . . . . .] H e ruled over me a n d the l i g h t o f
1
his radiance ( . ..](‫ננהו‬. . . Su] η coming forth f r o m the divine abode
( (‫)שמ[ש ב צ א ת ה מזכול‬ sons ] o f wickedness a n d sons o f j u s t [ i c e . . .
6
. . . h o j l y o f h o [lies . . .

Given the broken nature of this text, which has no other pieces with
it, interpretation is precarious. Its editor, Magen Broshi, rightly notes
that it could "be interpreted in two ways: it deals either with a lieav-
enly figure or with the splendour of the earthly high priest". These
two are not necessarily alternatives but, in any case, Broshi rightly
favours the fact that a human high priest is in view. He rightly com-
pares the appearance of Simon from the sanctuary in Sirach ‫־־‬50:57
and the high priest of 4Q541. A human, and heavenly, high priest
is suggested by the first person singular voice (‫ )אני‬in line l since it
is more likely a human than an angel who would claim to have
approached God's radiance.
The passage is significant in that, where in 4Q541 the priest is
set in a strictly cosmological setting here cosmology and Temple
combine. Line 2 refers to the settings of filigree of the high priest's
vestments (‫משבצות‬, Exod 28:11, 13-14, 25) in which the precious
stones of the breastpicce arc set. If, as Broshi suggests, we arc right
to compare line 4 with Sirach 50:5-7 then the heavenly abode (‫ל‬1‫)זב‬
from which he comes forth will be, in accordance with normal O T
usage, the sanctuary of the Temple (1 Kgs 8:13, 2 Chr 6:2). The
same place is perhaps called the "holy of holies (‫ ")קו[רש קוד]שים‬in

272). I l is true that our text docs not contain the highly technical terminology of
the sectarian texts, but its theology of priesthood, is at the very least consistent with
if, not reflective of, Qumran's peculiar concerns. There is no need to choose between
the literary influence o f Isaiah 53 and that of the historical experience o f the Teacher
of Righteousness and, o f course, it is possible that if originally composed outside of
the community it was adopted by Essenes because they believed it was fulfilled in
the life of their own leader.
m
4Q468a-‫־־‬f arc not included in DSSSE but arc now available in DJD 36:401-405.
194 CHAPTER SIX

line 6. Although the expression "holy of holies" might also refer to

the status of the priest as in 1QS 8-9, 4 Q M M T , 4Q511 35, 4Q418
81 and lQSb 4.
There are glimpses here of themes which we will explore in detail
in our discussion of the Urim and Thummim and the breastpiece
in the next chapter and of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, in chap-
ter 11. In the latter the high priesthood in their jewel-bedecked gar-
merits embody the Glory of God of Ezekicl's throne vision (Ezek
1:26-28). That theophany has splendour (‫ )נגה‬all around (Ezek 1:27-28,
cf. 1:4, 13) and Broshi is probably right to perceive the influence of
123
the chariot vision here in the splendour of 4Q468b.

4Q513 (4Q()rdinances''): Angelic Food Jar the Priesthood?

Another possible witness to the allelomorphism of the priesthood is

present in a text relating halakhic disputes and polemic against non-
community members. In fragments 1-2 column 2 of 4Q513 we read
124
as follows:
2
t o let t h e m t o u c h the p u r e [ho]ly food, for [they are] unclean [. . .]
w o m e n o f sons o f foreigners (‫ ) ב ע ל ו ח לבני הנכר‬a n d all f o r n i c a t i o n w h i c h
3
[. . .] h e chofse] for himself, to feed t h e m f r o m all the elevation offer-
i n g o f (‫[ ) מ כ ו ל הרומח‬. . .] ‫ יי‬and for [anjgelic foo[d](?) a n d to atone { i n
t h e m } / w i t h t h e m / for acceptance o n I [ s r a e l ] ' s b e h a l f ( ‫ו ל ב נ ] מ [ ל א כ י‬
‫כ י ם‬
‫לרצון ע ל י]רשר«ל‬ {‫) ו ל כ פ ר }במה‬

The text is both in a poor state of preservation and beset by uncer-

tain restorations. The context is evidently a polemic against improper
priesdy practices issuing from illegal exogamy, which we know was
a matter of considerable contention at this time and for the Qum-
2
ran community.'‫ י‬The language at the beginning of line 2 echoes
that of Malachi 2:11 where Judah is chastised for marrying the
2
daughter of a foreign god (‫ אל נכר‬PD '.(‫ ''כעל‬Lines 3 and 4 describe

123
DJD 36:404. He compares 4Q405 20 ii—-21—22 which preserves the begin-
ning of the twelfth of the Sabbath Songs which is greatly indebted to Ezekiel 1:26-28
(see below).
124
See Baillet DJD 7:287-290 who dates the text palaeographically to c. 50 B.C.
See also Charlesworth 1994, 145-175.
125
For a discussion of the text's polemical context see Baumgarten 1993.
1 2 6
Baumgarten 1993, 393, cf. Lev 22:12.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 195

the originally intended role of the priesthood as those who atone for
the rest of Israel and who have privileged access to the terumah (Exod
29:28; Lev 22:12; Num 15:19). The language is similar to that in
the eighth and ninth columns of 1QS which, as we have seen describes
the theology of the cultic community which lies behind the descrip-
127
lion of the angelomorphic priesthood in 4Q511 35.
Here, also, the words of line 4 offer the intriguing possibility that
this text knows the priestly office of propitiation to be an angelic
one. The text is broken, though ‫ ם[לאכי‬is a fairly certain reading
for the second word. The first word is not entirely visible with the
fourth letter uncertain. The editor, M . Baillet, has suggested reading
a gimel and that we restore the uncommon word ‫ בג‬meaning "food"
l‫״‬2
(cf. Dan 1:5, 8, 13, 15 16; 11:26; Ezek 25:7). This gives the sense
"for the angelic food" (cf. Ps 78:25) and raises the possibility that
129
the terumah is viewed as the food of angels. The angelomorphism
130
of the priesthood is possibly in view, though we cannot be sure.
Several circumstantial considerations support this interpretation.
First, a reference to the priesthood as ‫ מלאכים‬might perhaps be
derived, once again, from Malachi 2:7, given the use of language
from Malachi 2:11 in the preceding lines. Secondly, if an angclo-
morphic priesthood is intended the text would perhaps be arguing,
on the grounds that that priesthood has an angelic existence that,
unlike the watchers in / Enoch 6—15, they should remain set apart
from foreign intercourse in order to intercede on behalf of the peo-
pie (cf. esp. 1 Enoch 15:2-7). Thirdly, significance, is perhaps being
attached to the root of the word terumah in the verb ‫רום‬, "to be
exalted, rise": the sense being that terumah is food for one who has
been raised above the ordinary, mortal realm of humanity. This
would obviously fit the sense throughout the sources that the priest-
hood, in being set apart to God's service, have been raised up from
ordinary (fleshly) humanity.

127
For ‫ ל כ פ ר ב ה ם לרזון‬cf. 1QS 8:10; 9:4 (Baillet DJD 7:289).
™ DJD 7:288-289.
123
Baillet DJD 7:289: "au sens d' 'angélique' est connu en syriaque".
For an angelomorphic humanity eating angelic food see, e.g., Adam and Eve
before the fall in Vila Adae et Evae 4:1-2 and Aseneth and all Jews in Joseph and
Aseneth 16:15-16.
 196 C H A P T E R SIX

4Q369 1 η (Prayer of Enosh(?))

An other Qumran text which deserves discussion as a possible wit-

ness to the community's interest in the high priest as a heavenly
131
figure is 4Q369 1 i i . The second column of this fragmentary text
describes God's first born son as one set in close proximity to the
glory of the clouds and the heavens:
1
Y o u r N a m e ( ‫ ) ש מ כ ה‬, y o u have d i s t r i b u t e d his inheritance so that he
2
m a y establish y o u r N a m e there ( . ..](‫ש כ ן ש מ כ השמה‬
is the beauty o f y o u r i n h a b i t e d earth ( ‫ ) ה י א ה צ ב י ח ב ל א ר צ כ ה‬and u p o n
3
her [. . . y o u r eye o n her a n d y o u r G l o r y ( ‫ ) ו כ ב ו ר כ ה‬w i l l appear there
for|. . . ‫ יי‬for his seed for t h e i r generations an eternal possession a n d
5
al[l. . . and y o u r g o o d j u d g e m e n t s you purified h i m for |. . . ‫ יי‬i n
eternal light and you made h i m a iirst-bo(rn ( T l Q W n ‫ב א ו ר ע ו ל מ י ם‬
7
‫ ככו]ר‬ρ ...(‫לכה‬like h i m for a prince and ruler i n all y o u r i n h a b -
8
ited earth ( .,.]((‫ו מ ו ש ל כ כ ו ל ח ב לארצכה‬
32
heavens a n d the glory o f the clouds y o u have s u p p o r t e d ' ( ‫ע ט ר ] ח [ ט מ י ם‬
‫ [ ) ו כ ב ו ד ׳שחקים ס מ כ ת‬. . . ‫ יי‬. . .] a n d the angel o f your peace i n his con-
gregation and [ . . . ' " . . .] h i m righteous laws, as a father does a so[n . . .
12
" . . . ' ] his love y o u r soul cleaves t o [ . . . . . .] for by t h e m (you estab-
lisheel your] G l o r y [ . . .

Interpretations of this text have differed widely. The editors are relue-
tant to be specific regarding the lead figure's identity. They note the
possibility of a "biblical figure such as Abraham or David, or, more
likely, an eschatological messianic figure" and compare the language
133
in line 8 with Daniel 7:13. On the basis of the figure's sonship
13 1
Craig Evans has seen here witness to a Davidic messianic figure. '
James Kugel has vehemently rejected any individual messianic or
eschatological focus and has instead argued that the figure is a cor-
porate Jacob/Israel since "there is not a single statement about the
recurrent, unidentified " h i m " in column 2 which does not relate to
35
something about Israel in the Bible.'" On the other hand Johannes
Zimmerman has accepted the Davidic characterisation and, in an
attempt to take seriously the presence of Enoch in the previous

131
DJD 13:353-362 pl. X X X V I I . The text is written in Herodian formal script.
m
As Kugel (1998, 138) has pointed out the verb ‫ ס מ ך‬cannot have the sense of
setting the crown upon the head as the editors presume ("you have set [on him]").
œ
DJD 13:358-9.
134
1995, cf. Zimmermann 1998, 216-222.
135
1998, 142. Zimmermann 1998, 216-7 also entertains a people of God reading.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN T H E DSS 197

column has suggested the merging of royal and Enochic categories

in the one figure on analogy with the messianism of the Similitudes
m
of Enoch.
The Israel reading has the support of lines 1—3 where the lan-
137
guage echoes that in the O T for the land of Israel and Jerusalem,
and there are both biblical and Qumran texts where Israel is called
138
God's firstborn. However, whilst Kugel marshals a wealth of potcn-
tially relevant "background" information for our text none of it is
persuasive enough to dislodge the individualistic interpretation as the
best candidate for the figure in column 2. Kugel does insufficient
justice to the individually focused language of the second half of the
139
text, especially line 7. In view of the likelihood that the end of
(lie previous column provided a genealogy akin to lirai in Genesis
5:3-32 (cf. Jubilees 19:24—25), focus on an individual in column 1
seems entirely consistent with the language used and a temporal leap
from Mahalalel and Enoch to Jacob from columns 1 to 2 seems
140
without obvious textual support.
The Davidic interpretation cannot be excluded by any of the extant
details of the text. The first-born language along with the phrase "as
a father to his son" is strongly reminiscent of biblical royal termi-
nology (cf. Psalm 89:27-28; 2 Sam 7:14) and the language of world
dominion in line 7 is consistent with this background. However, Zim-
merman is right to insist that we give due attention to the Enochic
genealogy in the first column and I would suggest that there are as
equally important priestly contours to our text as there are Davidic
ones.
Enoch is, of course, not just the inspiration for a transcendent
messianism in some late biblical quarters (viz. the Similitudes of Enoch)
he is also, first and foremost, a priest and the genealogy of which
the names Mahalalel and Enoch are preserved in 4Q369 1 column
I lines 9—10 is a priestly genealogy (cf. (Jen 5:3-32) and in Jubilees

m
1998, 219-20, 222.
1:17
For "the beauty of your inhabited earth" cf. Ezek 20:6, 15; 25:9; 26:20. For
God's eyes on Jerusalem/Temple see 1 Kgs 8:29; 2 Ghr 6:20. For "your Glory will
appear there." cf. Isaiah 60:2.
138
Exod 4:22; Jub 2:20; 4Q504 1-2 i i i 6.
139
Cf. Zimmermann 1998, 220.
110
The 9th and 10th lines of the previous column (which would have been fol-
lowed by at least two other lines now lost) reads "his [son] and Mahalalel was the
fifth generation [. . .] his son Enoch, the seven[ih| generation".
198 CHAPTER SIX

19:24-25 that genealogy has a specifically cosmological orientation:

it lists the patriarchs (Shem, Noah, Enoch and Mahalalel, Enosh,
Seth and Adam) who "serve to establish heaven and to strengthen
the earth and to renew all the lights which are above the firma-
ment". This heaven and earth perspective is not far from 4Q369 1
ii 7-9. That it is the priest Enoch and his lineage that is in view in
our text is confirmed by the orientation of the opening lines of the
first column towards "all their festivals in their periods (Dil [‫כול מו]עד־י‬
4 1
‫בלןציהם‬, line 4)", "all the eternal fixed times ( ' , ‫ע ד‬
7)" and the acknowledgement of guilt ("‫ " א ש ר יאשמו‬, line 2, cf. Hos
142
5:15).
In this light, the opening lines of the second column do not just
echo biblical language for the people of Clod, but they direct alien-
tion to the centre of that people's life, the temple, where God's
Name is rtfanifest, God's Glory appears and upon whom Israel's God
has his eye (cf. 1 Kgs 8:29; 2 Chr 6:20).
In Qumran literature it is not just Israel that is known as God's
first-born. In 4Q418 81 5 it is a priestly figure whom God has made
a firstborn for himself (‫וישימכה לו ככור כן‬, see above). There is one
detail of 4Q369 which might also suggest a priestly figure is in view.
I n line 8 of our fragment the editors conjectured the word ‫עטרח‬,
"crown" at the beginning of the line. Only the upper portion of the
first letter and the uppermost tip of another letter, possibly, the taw
1 13
is in view and so this is very far from a certain. ' I f this is the right
restoration then this crown could be another piece of royal imagery
(cf. 2 Sam 12:30; 1 Chr 20:2; Esth 8:15). However, it could also be
a high priestly crown (cf. Zech 6:11, 14) and that it is specifically
the "crown of the heavens" brings to mind what Josephus has to
say about the high priest's headgear. In Antiquities 3:186-87 he says
this is meant "to symbolize heaven, being blue; else it would not

''" This is a better translation than "all the eternal commands" offered by Strugnell
and-. Attridgc (DJD 13:355) given the use of ‫ ת ע ו ד ו ת‬in an overtly liturgical sense
elsevHierc in Q L (e.g. IQS 1:9; 3:10, 16; 1 Q M 2:8; 3:4; 14:13 etc. . . .), cf. Qim-
r o n 1986a, 115.
!« p
o r |
t apparently close connection between man's rule over creation and
l e

the keeping of the festival calendar see 4Q381 1 7-8; 1 Q M 10 (below, chapter 12).
' " See Ρ Λ Μ 41.518 and pl. X X X V I I in DJD 13. For greater confidence and
the reading of the taw see Tigchelaar 1997 whose judgement is reflected in DSSSE,
730. Kugel's objection to the restoration of the word "crown" on the grounds that
the verb ‫ ס מ ך‬, at the end of the line, cannot be used for the donning of a crown,
is beside the point, since that verb need only govern the second half of the line.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 199

have borne upon it the Name of God, blazoned upon the crown—
a crown, moreover, of gold by reason of that sheen in which the
Deity most delights".
The relationship between the glory of the clouds and the first-
born is unclear though the comparison with Daniel 7:13 has rightly
144
been made, and that text, along with 1 Enoch 14:8 draws on priestly
145
imagery for the association of the true man with clouds. A heav-
enly priestly prince reminds us of the prince of light(s). As we shall
see in our final chapter the characterisation of the prince of light in
the War Scroll is also priestly.

A Throne in the Heavens for (he Divine Human Medialer

Besides these texts where the heavenly individual concerned can be

clearly identified as a priest there are a couple of other Qumran
texts where identification is less straightforward, though again priestly
categories are to the fore. The last two case studies in this chapter
are 11 QMelchizedek and the Glorification Hymn tradition.
There are at least two versions of a Glorification Hymn (A and B)
a + b
(4QSelf-Giorification ) in which the hymnist declares himself exalted
1 6
and enthroned in the heavenly realm with an incomparable Glory. '
There are now four manuscripts which attest this hymnic form
a
(4Q491c, 4Q427 (frag. 7), l Q H (25:35-26:10) and 4Q471b + 4Q431 i).
Their relationship is complicated and will not be the focus of our
147
discussion. For the sake of simplicity we will concentrate on the
two best preserved witnesses.
The relevant portions of 4Q491 11 i (now renumbered 4Q491 c),
148
containing Glorification Hymn B, read as follows:

114
DJD 13:359.
115
For the "one like a son of man" i n Daniel 7:13 a high priest see Fletcher-
Louis 1997 a.
1,6
I have avoided the label Self-Glorification Hymn because this risks a prejudicial
negative value judgement. I have also avoided speaking of Recension A and Recen-
sion Β (so DJD 29:422) since I am not sure that the differences in the various w i t -
ness to this hymnic form are best explained in purely literary terms. Similar, b u t
also slightly different liturgical functions may equally well account for what appear
to us to be different "recensions".
117
For the most recent discussion, though, it seems, written before the DJD 29
publication, sec Wise 2000.
118
I n have followed Michael O . Wise's reconstruction of the Hebrew text (2000,
180-38), which differs notably from that of Baillet in lines 6-8.
200 CHAPTER SIX

5
[etjernal; a m i g h t y t h r o n e i n the congregation o f the gods (‫כ ס א עוז‬
‫ ) כ ע ד ח אלים‬u p o n w h i c h n o n e o f the kings o f the East shall sit, a n d
6
their nobles [shall] not [. . . there are nojnc comparable to me i n
149
]my glory a n d besides m c no-one is exalted, nor comes to m e , for
7
I sit i n [ . . . heajven a n d there is no . . .] I am counted a m o n g the
gods ( ‫ )אני ע ם א ל י ם א ת ח ש ב‬a n d m y dwelling is i n the h o l y congrcga-
1 5 0
lion; [ m y ] des [ire] is n o t a c c o r d i n g to flesh, [rather] m y [por] l i o n
8
lies i n the G l o r y o f . . .] the holy [dweljling. [ W ] h o has been c o n -
sidered despicable o n m y account? A n d w h o is c o m p a r a b l e to m c i n
9
glory (ΠΟΤ ‫ ? ) • י א ב כ ב ו ד י‬W h o , , . like] me? W h o bea[rs a l l ] sorrows
like me? A n d w h o [suffejrs evil like me? There is no-one. I have been
10
instructed, a n d there is no teaching comparable . . .] A n d w h o w i l l
attack me w h e n [ I ] o p f e n m y m o u t h ] ? A n d w h o can c o n t a i n the flow
of m y lips (‫ ? ) ם ז ל שפתי‬A n d who will summon me and (who is) like m e i n
j u d g e m e n t " becjause I a m rccko|ncd] with the gods ( ‫א נ י א ע ם א ל י ם‬
‫[ ) א ח ש ] ב‬. . .] m y g l o r y is w i l l ! the sons o f the k i n g ( ‫ ) ב נ י ה מ ל ך‬. N o t pure
gold a n d for me gold of Ophir ( ‫ ) כ ח ם א ו פ י ר י ם‬.

4Q427 7 i — i i w h i c h contains Glorification Hymn A overlaps themati-

151
cally and linguistically ( m a r k e d b y text i n italics):

i
7 8
[it w i l l be like m e . . . w i l l be like] m y [teajching [and who will
9
compare to me a n d w h o (is) like mc | a m o n g the gods ( (‫באלים‬.. .] Who
1 0 1 5 2
will summon me, w i t h the tongue? jbeloved (‫ )ידיר‬o f the k i j n g , a
friend to the h o l y ones, a n d i t w i l l not come " [and to) m y [ g l o j r y
,
it w i l l not c o m p a r e , befcajuse [ m y ] station ( [ ] ‫) כ ] י [ א אני ע ם א ל י ם מ ע מ ד‬
12
is with the gods . . .] not b y pure gold will 1 [. . .| for myself and gold of
13
Ophir not [. . . . . .] w i l l n o t be reckoned w i t h mc. Sing praise (‫)זמרו‬,
Ο beloved ones, sing (‫ )שירו‬to the k i n g o f [. . . '‫ [ יי‬i n the c o n g r c j g a t i o n
of G o d , r i n g out j o y (‫ )הרנינו‬i n the tents of salvation, give praise i n
15
the h a b i t a t i o n [ . . . [ e x j h a l t together (‫ )יחד‬a m o n g the eternal host,
give (‫ )הבו‬greatness to o u r G o d and G l o r y to our k i n g "' [sanctjify his
N a m e w i t h strong lips a n d a n e n d u r i n g tongue, raise up together y o u r
17
voice [ i n a]Π times, s o u n d a l o u d (‫ )השמיעו‬j o y f u l music, rejoice ( ‫) ה ב י ע ו‬
1 8
in eternal j o y a n d there is no r]est (‫)שבת‬, worship (‫ )השתוו‬i n the

m
I here follow the reading ( ‫ )ל[וא ח מ י ]לי ב ] כ ב ו ח‬and reconstruction of Ahegg
1997, 63 who points out that the reading ‫ רומי‬for ‫ רומה‬is best explained by the
tendency for a phonetic spelling in Qumran orthography (sec Q i m r o n 1986a, 20).
This is preferable to Baillet's translation of ‫ ד ו ם ׳‬as "silence" which makes no obvi-
ous sense i n the context and M . Smith's running together of the ‫ א‬on the prcvi-
ous word and the ‫ רומי‬to produce "Edomite" (1990, 183-84) which doesn't explain
the scribe's gap between the two words.
150
Here I follow the suggested restoration of Wise (2000, 182-83, 87-88).
151 <: 1
Reconstruction based on overlaps with 1QH" ‫־‬26, 4OH 1 2 and 4 Q H ' fol-
lowing E. Schuller (DJD 29:96-100).
152
Reconstructed with 4QEP 1 6.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 201

common assembly. Bless (‫ )ברכו‬the one who wonderfully docs majes-

19
tic deeds, and makes known his strong hand, [sejaling mysteries and
revealing hidden things, raising up those who stumble and those among
20
them who fall [by restoring the step of those who wait for knowl-
edge, but casting down the lofty assemblies of the eternally proud (three
more broken lines follow)

;‫ ון‬.‫גי‬
‫ יי‬deceit [end]s, and there arc no witless perversities; light appears, and
5
j[oy shines forth]. . . grief, and groaning flees; peace appears, terror
6
ceases; a fountain is opened for [eternal |blcs[sing] and (for) healing
for all times of eternity; iniquity ends, affliction ceases so that there is
7
no more sickfness; injustice is removed,] [and guilt] is no m[ore.
Prjoclaim and say: Great is God who ac[ts wonderfully,] " for he casts
down the haughty spirit so that there is no remnant and lifts up the
poor from the dust to [the eternal height,j ‫ יי‬and to the clouds he
magnifies him in stature, and (he is) with the gods in the assembly of
the community and [. . . '" wrath for eternal destruction. And those
who stumble on earth he lifts up with out charge, and [everlasting]
mi[ght is with] " their step, and eternal joy in their habitations, ever-
1 2
lasting glory and there is no rest ( .(‫איןהשבח‬ Let them say: "Bles
is God who |wor]ks mighty |m]arvcls, acting mightily to make his
13
power shine forth (‫)להופיע גבורה‬, [ and doing righteously] in knowl-
edge to all his creatures and goodness upon their faces as they know
the abundance of his loving [kindness, and the multitude] " of his
mercies to all the children of his truth. We have known you, Ο God
15
of righteousness, and we have understood[ your truth, Ο King of
Glory; for we have seen your zeal with your powerful strength, and
16
we have recognized [your] jufdgcments in the abundance] of {your}
mercies and marvellous forgiveness. What is flesh in relation to these
things (‫ ?)מה בשר לאלה‬How is [dust and clay] to be reckofned] " that
it should recount these things continually and take a stand in the place
1,1
(‫ [)להחיצב במעמד‬before you, in community with(?) the sons of heaven?
There is no intermediary to ans[wer at your command (six more badly
broken lines follow)

4Q427 7 i 6 1 3 ‫ ־‬a and 7 ii 7b 12 arc thematically similar to 4Q491

11 i 1 2 Ί 8 , with a particularly striking similarity of first person speech
in 4Q427 7 i 6 1 3 ‫ ־‬a . For anyone familiar with biblical and post-bib
lical literature these passages speak for themselves, !'hough there are
an irritating number of lacunae and some obscure phrases, the auto-
biography of one who is both human and yet divine is clear.

153
Reconstruction assisted by overlaps with 4Q1T 2 1—9.
204 C H A P T E R SIX

Whilst it is now generally accepted that Glorification Hymns A and

Β describe an apotheosis of some kind, questions remain. Who, more
precisely, is the speaker? Smith seized upon this Qumran text because
he found here "the influence of speculation on deification by ascent
towards or into the heavens, speculation which may have gone along with
some practices that produced extraordinary experiences understood as encou
m
with gods or angels". So, does the Glorification Hymn attest a devel-
oped speculation and practice, what Smith would prefer to call
161
"magic"? And, i f so, is the speaker a Jewish mystic who really did
believe that he had ascended to heaven like Paul the Apostle (2 Cor
12:1 -12) or, perhaps, Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Mark 9:2-9) and that
1112
in doing so he had become one of the gods?
This latter aspect of Smith's thesis has not been received so well.
In particular, whilst accepting the apotheosis reading of the text,
John J. Collins has argued that rather than a record of visionary
ascent the text describes the exalted position of a future, eschato-
logical high priest, with some inspiration from the figure of the com-
161
munity's own Teacher of Righteousness. This iipproach to the text
has been taken up by Esther Eshel, the editor of 4Q471b and, as
1
far as I am aware has not been challenged."' There are here three
issues which need to be addressed. Whilst Collins is right that the
speaker is a priest I see no reason to think the psalm is eschato-
logical and, therefore, not already in use by certain members of the
Qumran community for whom it represents something of their own
"visionary" experience.

The Speaker as High Priest

The reasons to think the hymnisl is a priest are straightforward, if

not absolutely conclusive. Other possibilities can be quickly elimi-
nated. In particular nothing (by comparison with, for example, lQSb
5
5) suggests a royal or Davidic figure."' Comparison is rightly made

samel modernist prejudice? Would they also think that the theology of priesthood
represented by Ben Sira is an unpleasant form of egomania?
100
1990, 187-88 (italics added).
161
See his earlier work Smith 1978b.
m
For the use of Smith's reading to this effect see Segal 1992; Barker 2000, 88, 141.
16:1
Collins and Dimant 1994; Collins 1995c; Collins 1995b, 136-153.
161
Eshel 1999 and DJD 29:423-427. This Teacher of Righteousness reading is
also adopted, in a modified form, by Wise 2000.
105
I . Knohl has now argued that, on the contrary, the speaker is the royal
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPIIISM IN THE DSS 205

with other DSS texts where the high priest is a glorious figure who
is set in the heavenly realm (lQSb 4:24—28 and 4Q541 frag. 9). In
both Glorification Hymn A (4Q427 7 i 7, 9; 4Q471b l a - d 3-4) and
Glorification Hymn B (4Q491 11 i 16-17) the exalted figure is a teacher,
a fact which accords with the pre-eminent position of the priesthood
within the Qumran authority structure and the vision for the heav-
enly priest in both lQSb 4:24-28 and 4Q541 frag. 9. The identity
of the speaker is bound up with a judgement about the same ques-
tion for the whole of the Hodayol. If, as many have thought, the first
person speech of the Hodayot belongs to the Teacher of Righteous-
ness, the community's founding priest, then perhaps his memory has
also influenced (he description of the suffering and glorified inclivid-
ual here.

Eschatological High Priest?

Collins' view that the high priest is an eschatologicalfigure,rather than

a visionary whose ascent to heaven and transformation has already
happened, is reached by the accumulation of pieces of circumstan-
M
tial evidence.' '

messiah because in the Biblical text it is Solomon who is called Yedidya ("God's
friend") (2 Sam 12:25, cf. ‫ ידיר ה מ ל ך‬in 4Q431 1 6 (= 4Q427 7 i 10) and 4Q471b
l a - d 7) and sitting on a throne is a posture we would expect for a king not a high
priest (2000, 83-84). But neither of these points carries the weight Knohl assumes.
I n the first place the title ‫ יריד ה מ ל ך‬in the Glorification Hymn is unlikely to be a
peculiarly royal one because the congregation as a whole are also called the ‫ירידים‬
(4-Q427 7 i 13). And, secondly, in Essene tradition it is Levi who is the peculiar
"beloved of God" (‫ •אל‬T T , CTLevi ar e 9 = 4Q213 1 i 5). A parallel for the idea
of the (high) priest sitting in heaven is also not hard to find. In the Similitudes of
Enoch and 3 Enoch it is the archetypal priest Enoch(-Mctatron) who does this. In
earliest (Jcwish-)Ghristianity it is as much the priestly' as the royal Jesus Messiah
who sits i n heaven (sec esp. Hebrews and the widespread use of Psalm 110:1 of
Jesus).
"'‫ יי‬Wise (2000) takes a related but different view: the hymn is sung by the whole
community, lead by a maskil, at least in its Hodayol form. Here the community iden-
tify themselves with both the Teacher of Righteous and their post-mortem fate.
Wise' insistence on the present liturgical use of the hymn must be right. However,
in other respects his interpretation is cither suggestive but not entirely persuasive
or simply confused. He adduces some good evidence that the hymn was to be sung
by every member of the liturgical community, though this is all either circumstan-
tial or dependent on uncertain readings and restorations. His claim, on the basis
of 4Q427 7 i i 8-9, where God "exalts the poor from the dust to [the eternal height]
and to the clouds he magnifies him in stature", that the righteous who sing this
song have arrived in heaven "after death" (p. 217) is i n now way implied by the
text. His interpretation (or rather explanation, see esp. pp. 218-219) of the remark-
able belief of the worshippers that they are angels is indebted to the conceptual
206 CHAPTER SIX

Collins' discussion of die Hymn takes its departure from 4Q541

167
frag. 9 which, as we have seen, he thinks refers to a future figure.
Eshel also takes the view that 1 QSb 4:24-28 refers to an eschato-
108
logical figure. Historically, the discussion of the Glorification Hymn
has been conditioned by Baillet's edition and his editorial opinion
that 4Q491 11 i belonged in the War Scroll. At least before Abegg's
work had been published, although Collins had accepted that the
hymn was not necessarily composed for the War Scroll, he remained
convinced by its suitability for the context in which Baillet placed
it. I f it is part of the War Scroll, obviously it is intended for a time
169
and conditions which have not yet dawned on the community.
Collins and Eshel both think the theme of enthronement points
to the eschaton. Collins argues that, with the exception of Ezekiel
the Tragedian's Exagoge. 68-89, all contemporary texts describing the
enthronenïent of a mortal in heaven are eschatological in orienta-
tion. He discusses the use of Psalm 110 in the New Testament,
t
Daniel 7 in rabbinic tradition, the Similitudes of Enoch, 4Q 321, / Enoch
108:12, Revelation 3:21 and the Ascension of Isaiah ‫־‬9:2426 all of
which do, it is true, look to the eschaton for the enthronement of
a messianic figure in particular or the righteous in general.
Then Collins notes that though similar in many ways to the Hodayot,
4Q491 11 i is more confident anthropologically: "while the author
of this hymn boasts of his ability to bear troubles, he does not com-
plain about persecution, as does the author of the Hodayot. Neither
does this hymn show the sense o f human sinfulness typical of 1QH,
the sense of being snatched from the pit and of being a creature of
clay. The tone of his hymn is more confident, and the exaltation of
0
the speaker surpasses anything found in the Hodayot.""
Collins' arguments apply only to Glorification Hymn B. The full pub-
lication of our witnesses to Glorification Hymn A shows up their weak-
nesses and they arc ultimately unpersuasive. The eschatological, future,
interpretation of lQSb 4:24-28 and 4Q541 frag. 9 is, as we have
seen in both cases, far from certain, i f not improbable. In the wake

parameters of modern theories of "group dynamics" and the views of Max Weber,
and is thus another good example of scholarship's failure to situate the conceptu-
ality of such material in its proper, ancient Jewish, historical context.
167
1995b, 136, 148.
168
1999, 632-635; DJD 29:424-425.
169
Collins 1995b, 137, 148-9.
170
1995b, 148.
 PRIESTLY A N G E L O M O R P H I S M I N T H E DSS 207

of Abegg's analysis of 4Q491 11 i any association of the text with

the eschatological context of the War Scroll must be abandoned. And
Collins' attempt to contrast the anthropology of 4Q491 11 i with that
of the Hodayot fails to reckon adequately with the dialectical anthro-
pology of the later.
An expectation in some Jewish circles that in the eschaton the right-
eous and their messianic leader would be enthroned cannot be denied.
But Collins' treatment of the Jewish and New Testament evidence
is unbalanced. In the New Testament the believers' enthronement
is not just a future hope but one already attained: in Ephesians 2:6
the Christian community are already "seated in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus". Similarly, in Colossians 3:1-4 the believers are hid-
:
den with Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Eather.
Collins notes, but dismisses, the possibility that there was a tradi-
171
tion of heavenly enthronement for Israel's king. David is enthroned
in biblical texts and his throne is that of Yahweh himself (1 Chr
29:23, cf. 28:5, cf. Pss 45:7; 110:1). Whilst this enthronement takes
places in Zion and her Temple this necessarily entails heavenly
enthronement because /Jon itself is a cosmic Mountain with the holiest parts
of the sanctuary aclualising the heavenly world. When,, therefore, David's
throne is "as the sun before me, as the moon established forever,
an enduring witness in the sky" (Psalm 89:37-38) it is not just the
172
endurance of the throne that is in mind, but its cosmic position.
Several other pseudepigraphical texts attest the belief that the truly
r
righteous already in this life have a heavenly throne. W e saw in
chapter 4 how in the Jewish Orphica there is the possibility that either
Moses or Abraham is enthroned "over the vast heaven on a golden
throne" (Recension C, lines 33-34). In the Testament of Job Job boasts,
in language strongly reminiscent of QjL, (33:2-9, cf. 41:4):

I will show you my throne with the splendour of its majesty, which
is among the holy ones:
My throne is in the upper world, and its splendour and majesty
come from the right hand of the Father (cf. Ps 110:1). . . my throne
is in the holy land, and its splendour is in the world of the change-
less one . . . my kingdom is forever and ever, and its splendour
and majesty are in the chariots of the Father.

1,1
1995b, 142.
172
Here I concur w i t h Mosca 1986, 33-36 who has given clue significance to
the role of Temple cosmology i n the royal enthronement tradition.
208 CHAPTER SIX

It is possible that here Job speaks proleptically of a throne which he

does not yet occupy. But, given the way he bequeaths to his daugh-
ters various fashion accessories which enable them to live a heav-
enly, cherubic life (chs. 46-50), it is just as likely that he speaks of a
throne i n heaven and the chariots (i.e. the merkabol) of the father
because be is a mystic who experiences now what will be revealed
to all in the eschatological future.
There is then a long and well-established tradition in which a real,
non~eschatological, experience of ascent and heavenly enthronement
would make sense. And, in any case, even if most Jews believed
enthronement would happen in the future the strongly realized escha-
tology of the Qumran community might naturally lead them to the
view that they, or their leaders, had attained that for which other
Jews waited.
Collins' 'argument that the exceptional confidence of Glorification
Hymn A indicates a future transcendence of mundane conditions must
be questioned on a number of counts. In the first place 4Q491 1 i
is so relatively brief a portion of text a confident assessment of total
anthropological perspective is precarious. Secondly, Collins' judge-
ment appears to assume that a radically negative assessment of human
nature is fundamentally incompatible with an equal and opposite
optimism that a human can, under the conditions of this age, be
seated with the gods in the heavens above: only a disjuncture between
this age and that to come could resolve such a tension. Though we
may find this a tension too hard to bear we should countenance the
17
possibility that the authors of the scrolls did not. ' Indeed, 4Q427
7 is evidently quite happy to have one with incomparable Glory—
one whose station (‫ )מעמר‬is with the gods-lead his people in the
familiar cry of the Hodayol: "What is flesh in relation to these things?
How is [dust and clay] to be rccko|ned] that it should recount these
things continually and take a stand in the place (‫[ )מעמד‬before you . . .]
with the sons of heaven?" (4Q427 7 ii 16-18). Human depravity in
independence from the creator is nevertheless open to divine power
and'has the capacity to enter the divine life. And, also, clearly here

It is perhaps an essential feature of the mystical tradition that the rationally

incompatible are held together as a glorious paradox. In the Hekhalot tradition
human beings arc, in their naked independence from God utterly unworthy of the
heavenly world and yet, the goal of the mystic is ultimately a form o f mystic union
with the Godhead which sets them over the angelic realm.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N T H E DSS 209

the anthropological perspective is more existential than eschatological:

the dialectic is between two present modes of existence, not two periods of
history.
Besides these counter arguments to those put forward for the escha-
tological reading, there are others which tell decisively against the
174
view of Collins and Eshel. There is nothing in Glorification Hymn
Β which itself suggests an eschatological perspective. There is no
mention of the defeat of God's enemies, as per the War Scroll. The
kings of the East (or "of old") arc a foil for the incomparability of
the speaker; it is notable that they do not appear as end-time ene-
mies of the elect. There is no salvation-historical substructure which
would accord with an eschatological perspective. The narrative axis
is vertical (onlological) not horizontal (temporal). The context (4Q491
11 i 1-4) refers to God's establishing of Israel from of old and his
choosing of the "council of the poor for an eternal congregation".
This might suit an eschatological declaration of war against the pagan
nations, but it is more likely simply a rehearsal of Israel's election and
God's founding of the Qumran community.
The " I " form of Glorification Hymn Β must be closely related to the
" I " form of the Hodayot as Glorification Hymn A now shows. No one
seriously thinks the first person singular voice of the hodayot is reserved
for the eschatological future. What role the Hodayot played in the
liturgical and pedagogical life of the community is not certain, but
that it was used to articulate the present realities of the community
175
is certain. Indeed, the " I " form of the Glorification Hymn itself tells
against any eschatological reading. Where else in Jewish texts from
antiquity does this generic marker appear in eschatological texts? Collins
and Eshel supply no parallel and I know of none. A future escha-
tological figure of Glory is always otherwise described in the third
person (cf. e.g. 11 QMclchizedek; Similitudes of Enoch 48-71; Sib. Or.
5:414-27; 4 Ezra 13:2-13 etc. . . .).

1,1
A t the end of lier 1999 article (p. 634) Eshel concludes: "Therefore one may
assume that it was a scribe who had difficulties coping with the death of the Teacher
of Righteousness who composed the Self-Glorification H y m n , thinking of the Teacher
of Righteousness while describing the Eschatological H i g h Priest". What are we to
make of this? Does Eshel wish to explain the exaltation of the eschatological High
Priest as the product of unresolved grief or some other kind of dissonance theory?
Is this an explanation of the text the interpretation o f which she has reached on
other grounds? O r is this psychologising actually one of the reasons why she thinks
the text must refer to a future figure?
175
For a recent, balanced, assessment of the role of the Hodayot for both teaching
210 CHAPTER SIX

The issue of the Hymns' temporal perspective is now complicated

by the full publication of witnesses to Glorification Hymn A. It might
be thought that 4Q427 7 provides further arguments in support of
an eschatological interpretation of the Glorification Hymn tradition.
4Q427 7 contains a number of clearly delineated sections which are
formally distinct. The Glorification Hymn appears in column i , lines
513 ‫ ־‬a . This is followed by a long liturgical piece which is domi
nated by a repeated summons to worship ("sing praise" . . . "ring
out j o y " . . . "give praise" . . . "give greatness" . . . "sanctify his
Name" . . . etc. . . .). The second column then develops the theme of
God's salvific power with which the first column evidently ended (7
i 18bff.). Column i i , lines 2—7a is a section which E. Schuller has
called an "eschatological description" because it is marked by "a
tightly structured series of contrasts describing the disappearance of
176
everything%vil and the appearance of everything good". Through-
out her commentary on this section she notes conceptual and lin-
guistic parallels to other eschatological descriptions both inside the
1
scrolls (1QH 19:22-27 [11:22-27]) and throughout late Second Tern-
177
pie Jewish literature.
The place of Glorification Hymn A in 4Q427 7 might now provide
the eschatological context which was lacking in 4Q491 11 i but
which Collins has intuited is assumed for Glorification Hymn B. How-
ever, I remain convinced of an existential and liturgical, rather than
narrowly eschatological interpretation of both Glorification Hymns A
and B.
Whilst it is true that 4Q427 7 ii ‫־‬27a has features which else-
where characterize the eschatological age, equally important are the
parallels to other parts of the Hodayol where the blessing of which
it speaks is already attained. Schuller compares the shining forth of
light in 4Q427 7 ii 4 with the motif of the eschatological appear-
ance of light and joy in Zechariah 14:7; / Enoch 8:8; 38:2, 4; 45:4;
m
58:3-6; 96:3; 2 Enoch 65:9; 2 Bar 73:1-3; Jub 23:30, et al. These
are all illuminating cross references but more important is the use
of the very similar language of present or past (liturgical) realities in

and regular, but varied, liturgical purposes see Falk 1998, 100-103. A liturgical use
for at least some of the Hodayol is guaranteed by 1QFI" 20:4-11 [12:4-11] and
5:12-14 [frags. 15 1-3 + 3].
1 , 0
1993, 624, cf. DJD 29:101.
1993, 618, 624-5, esp. n. 36 and DJD 29:105-106.
1711
1993, 618, DJD 29:105.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPIIISM IN THE DSS 211

a
l Q H 12:23 [4:23]; 20:4-5, 15 [12:4-5, 15]; 21:14 [18:28] and 1QS
10:2-3. The theme is one which we shall discuss in the next chap-
ter in relation to the theophanic light-giving appearance of the high
priest. On 7 i i 5 Schuller comments that "‫©לום‬, often combined with
179
‫ כ רכה‬as here, is standard in eschatological promises". This is true,
but the language is hardly confined to the eschatological context. It
appears frequently, for example in the Aaronic blessing, in the litur-
gical context. In the wider context there are several references to
"everlasting j o y ( ( 4 )"(‫ ש מ ה ) ו ( חעולמ)ים‬Q 4 2 7 7 i 17; 7
from 1QS 4:7 one might think this is a purely future prospect for
a
the sectarians. But,.again in l Q H 26:30 (frag. 7 ii 5) and 1 Q H 2 3 : 1 5
10
[18:15] this is be a present reality."
The liturgical context for the whole of 4Q427 7 is patent and is
m
clearer than anywhere else in the Hodayot. And it is the reality of
the community's worship life, rather than some future eschatologi-
cal fantasy which, I would suggest, best explains the idealized world
182
in 7 i 2-7 a. I f the language is at all "eschatological" it is because
the reality of the end times is already realized in the worship of the
community. A t the beginning of the summons to praise in 7 i 14
the glorified community leader calls upon the congregation to "ring
out joy in the tents of salvation (‫")כאהלי ישועה‬. This surely anticipates
the experience of salvation which is then described in 7 i 19b—ii 7b.
The language is used elsewhere in the Hodayol without any conno-
a
tation of a (futurist) eschatology (e.g. l Q H 20:3 [12:3]: " ‫באהלי כ ב ו ד‬
183
"‫)וישועה‬.
As for 4Q427 7 ii 4-11 itself, I would suggest that the procla-
mation of the forgiveness of sins ( 7,‫עוון‬,‫אשמה‬ ii 6—7, cf. 7 ii 1

175
1993, 618, DJD 29:105. She compares 1QS 4:7; 1 Q M 1:9; 17:7; 1 Q H 1 9 : 3 0
[11:27]; Jub 1:29; 23:29; 1 Enoch 5:6; 10:16-177
1110
Comparison is made with other passages in the Hodayol where, it is assumed,
a future, eschatological scenario is envisaged (e.g. 1QH" 19:22-27 [11:22-27] (so
Schuller !993, 624; DJD 29:101). But here, too, the plain sense of the text is that
anguish, sighing and injustice arc already removed from the experience of the wor-
shipper. It is true that interpreters have assumed that the present tense must refer,
in fact, to the future (e.g. Holm-Nielsen 1960, 193, n. 21) but this is hardly a nec-
essaty reading of the text.
181
Schuller 1993, 625; Schuller 1994, 149.
182
Wise's discussion (2000) of the diverse textual witness to the Glorification Hymn
provides important evidence for the current liturgical use of the hymn. Unfortu-
nately, in interpreting the texts' anthropology Wise then takes leave o f the liturgi-
cal setting and resorts to modem social theory.
183
The context is highly liturgical (20:1-11 [12:1-11]).
212 C H A P T E R SIX

best explained as a liturgical response to a concrete situation of

repentant petition and atonement which is not confined to the future,
eschatological period, but which has a regular use in the worship-
ping life of the community (hence its presence in the Hodayot). It
would be churlish to attempt to pinpoint the liturgical context, though
some observations should be made. The declaration of the forgive-
ncss of sins at the end of the Hodayot collection is a fitting response
to the pleading for forgiveness and mercy earlier in the collection
a 1 4
( l Q H 20:4· [12:4] " ). Amongst other available possibilities, the notion
of God's merciful absolute forgiveness of sins and the healing that
results would suit very well the Day of Atonement when all Israel's
185
sins are forgiven and cosmic order is restored.
In sum, the plain sense of the text for Glorification Hymn A, at least
in its form in 4-Qfl" should be allowed to stand. The Hymn is used
as part Of the regular liturgical life of the community and is not
reserved for some future eschatological reality. In particular, the claim
[m
by the leader of the liturgy (the maskil?, a high priest?) that he is
now stationed among the gods with an incomparable Glory befits a
liturgical context in which God has forgiven the people their sins
and atonement-—at-one-ment with God—has been achieved. Though
not so obvious, a liturgical context for Glorification Hymn Β is also
highly likely, just as the Glorification Hymn in 4Q427 is followed by
a summons for the congregation to praise God (7 i 13b- 18), so also
4Q491 11 i 5-18 is followed by the so-called "song of the just"
where the righteous are called to worship in language which over-
187
laps that in 4Q427.

Liturgical and Visionary Ascent

I f the context for Glonficalion Hymns A and Β is liturgical then docs

that mean the mystical and visionary context which Morton Smith
proposed is vindicated? Some might think not. But although Smith
did not envisage a liturgical or cultic context for the apotheosis this

184
Compare the reconstruction of 1QH" 5:12 proposed by Puech 1988 for which
see Falk 1998, 102.
185 j r ‫ ] ן‬repeated reference to "mercy" in 4Q427 7 i 22; i i 14, 16 compare
o r ‫ ך‬0

the centrality of (he revelation of God's mercy at Y o m K i p p u r (Jul) 5:18; 4Q508

2 2; Pscudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 13:6).
180 p j jfiasfàl as the leader of the congregation in singing this hymn see the
o r t l c

reconstruction of 1QFI« 25:35-26:10 offered'by" Wise (2000, 204).

107
In the four broken lines of 4Q491 11 i 13-16 there is a similar density of
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 213

could, in theory, be entirely compatible with his insistence that a

real mystical or visionary experience is recorded in this Qumran
text. He, like many, appears to assume that the mystical, visionary
or magical is the product of the non-institutional and the hetero-
doxy of popular piety. But it is equally likely, given the cosmologi-
cal significance attached to the cult, that the regular, even roulinized,
worship of a Jewish community which considers itself not heterodox
but orthodox, would foster the belief in personal experiences of mys-
deal transcendence and apotheosis.
A clear social and liturgically defined structure appears in the con-
text of Glorification Hymn A. In 4Q427 the glorified speaker is a litur-
gical leader. He proclaims his own "divinity" and then leads those
present, perhaps the laity, in ])raise, His exalted position is then
related to theirs: in 4Q427 7 ii 7-11 the exalted position of the
leader has a reflex for all "those who stumble on the earth" who
arc exalted to the place of everlasting Glory.
But this is not to say that the apotheosis and experience of the
heavenly world is no less a visionary or ecstatic one. The heavenly
ascent does not merely take place in the interior world of the mys-
tic's psyche, but nonetheless there are some important signs of the
effect of corporate worship on a genuinely altered state of conscious.
The very fact that the hymnist believes that a human being, who
in himself is merely "flesh", has now become ontoiogically divine
represents a form of altered consciousness, however difficult that
188
might be to measure or define. I n 4Q491 11 i the speaker cele-
brates the fact that his desire (‫ )חאוחי‬is not according to flesh. Although
this exemplifies a wider transcendence-of-flesh theme in the divine
humanity tradition, the negation of desire suggests a deliberate asceti-
cism commensurate with a mystical experience. Has he denied him-
self the sexual desire of the flesh (cf. ‫ה‬1‫ חא‬in Gen 3:6)? Or is this

imperatival verbs (STnCrt, ‫ )השמיעו‬and the expression ‫( ה[שמיעו בהניא ת ה‬line 14) is
reckoned to lie parallel to the expression4)‫ ה [ ט מ י ע ו הניהנה‬Ç M 2 7 7 i 17) (Schüller
1993, 615, DJD 29:104, who restores ‫)השמיעו הני ר נ ה‬. ‫י‬
1118
I n the semiotic cacophony of our multi-media post-modern world it is hard
to appreciate how much movement into a cultic context from outside, from the
normal every day world, would entail a mind transforming experience for those in
a pre-industrial age. There can be little doubt that an English peasant entering
Durham Cathedral with its utterly overwhelming and transcendent size, sounds,
visual impact and construction of space and time in the middle ages would have
experienced a kind of "altered stated o f consciousness". Israel's Jerusalem cult, and
those attempts to replace it, probably had a similar effect.
214 CHAPTER SIX

simply the desire for food from one who has fasted (cf. Num 11:4)?
We are not told. But, again such familiar "techniques of ecstasy"
are entirely compatible with a formal, liturgically and communally
defined context for the experience of transformation. We should recall
that priests in the Temple are to abstain from sexual activity, that
such "sanctification" in preparation for ascent was taken for granted
(Exodus 19:10-11) and that on the Day of Atonement not only were
the whole people to fast but the high priest was also deprived of
sleep (at least according to rabbinic tradition; b. Torna 19b).
In Glorification Hymn A it is said of the poor person that God "mag-
nifies him to the clouds in stature (‫עיגבירהו כקומה‬/‫")ועד שחקים ינביה‬.
J
There is a slight divergence between 4Q427 (1QH' ) 7 ii 9 and I (.)IΓ
27:28 (frag. 7 ii 2) at this point since the former uses the root ‫נ ב ר‬
whilst the latter has ‫ נ כ ה‬. There is little difference in meaning since
189
"strengthened" or "heightened" both amount to our "magnified".
This is an important line: it may be an early witness to the belief
in later Jewish mysticism that those transformed to an angelic or
divine identity are physically enlarged in the process. The most infa-
mous example of this is the transformed Enoch who, according to
3 Enoch 9:2 tells R. Ishmael that when he became Metatron "The
Holy One, blessed be he, put his hand on me and blessed me with
5360 blessings. And I was raised and enlarged (‫ )רוממחי והנבהחי‬to
190
the size of the length and width of the world". This late trans-
formational text has its roots in Second Temple tradition according
to which the true humanity has an enormous, cosmic body. Accord-
ing to (Pseudo-)Eupolemus (9:17:2-3; 9:18:2) Abraham was of the
line of giants. The Birth of Noah perhaps assumes this tradition,
although it makes nothing of it. In Joseph and Aseneth 22:7 the angelic
Jacob has thighs, calves and feet like those of a giant, !'he gigantic
body of the exalted and enthroned mortal (either Moses or Abra-
191
ham) is perhaps in view in the Jewish Orphica 32-34. A widely
attested tradition, rooted in the Second Temple period gives to Adam
a gigantic form (Sib. Or. 3:26; Philo Op. 146; Vita Adae et Evae 27:1;

189
Schuller DJD 29:207 suggests that "the text in 4QH" would reflect the laryn-
geal pronunciation οι res" (cf. DJD 29:106).
190
Greenfield and Odcberg 1973, 25.
191
This text relies on Isaiah 66:1: "Heaven is my throne and the earth is my
footstool" to describe the cosmic proportions of the divine man. This biblical text
figures prominently in later Shi'ur Qprnah speculation.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 215

2 Enoch 30:13; Apoc. Ahr. 23:5, 10, 14; h. Sank 38b; b. Hag 12a; Gen
192
Rab 8:1; 21:3; 24:2).
Our Qumran text looks like a clear, though more restrained, exam-
pic of the mystical phenomenon described in 3 Enoch 9. We can be
reasonably confident that Glorification Hymn A has in mind the phys-
ical enlargement of the righteous, not simply their relocation to the
clouds. Had that been in view then we would have expected the
more usual root • ‫ ר ו‬, which is widely used for the exaltation, and in
that sense relocation, of the righteous to the heavenly realm. Instead
the passage seems to picture (metaphorically, spiritually, or in what-
ever way) a gigantic human form who stands on earth but stretches
to the clouds (cf. 1 Chr 21:16; Wis 18:15-26, 24). This is partial-
larly clear with the use of the verb ‫גבה‬. With ‫ בקומה‬the verb ‫נכה‬
appears only twice in the Hebrew Bible—in Ezekiel 31:10 and 14.
There it describes the cosmic cedar of Lebanon whose roots are in
the deep below and whose uppermost branches (in the L X X ) are in
the clouds (31:3-10). The tree symbolizes Assyria but the phrase "to
be high in stature" as it applies to the cosmic tree is nonetheless a
literal one. Similarly, when the Hebrew of Psalm 151:5 says that
David's brothers were "tall of stature ( 1 1 )"(‫ב ה י םבקומתם‬
it refers to their real physical height. Accordingly, when Glorification
Hymn A says of the poor man that God has "magnified him in stature
to the clouds" it probably refers to a physical, i f metaphorical, trans-
formation commensurate with the new angelomorphic life,
There are then, here, a number of indications that Smith was
right that the Glorification Hymn does record a genuine mystical expe-
rience, although the context for that experience is the community's
worship. Although, again, there arc signs that a sharp division between
the formally liturgical and genuinely experiential should not be
imposed on the text: here liturgy and transformational mysticism are
inseparable.
A decision regarding the identity of the speaker eludes absolute
certainty. Yet the most plausible identity for the speaker of both Glo-
rification Hymn A and Glorification Hymn Β is a priest who describes his
experience of apotheosis during the liturgy of the community's wor-
ship. There may be some connection with the Teacher of Right-

The tradition is reflected in late first and early second century traditions sur-
rounding Jesus (Gospel of Peter 40, 4 Ezra 2:43).
216 CHAPTER SIX

cousncss, but this is a less straightforward inference than that the

hymn is simply used on a regular basis by those priests who do actu-
ally enter the realm of heaven in the cultic setting.
Devorah Dimant has drawn attention to the way in which sev-
eral phrases (‫ כני המלך‬and ‫ )כחם אופיר‬in both Glorification Hymn A
193
and Β are used elsewhere only in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.
The observation is significant and we shall see in chapters 8-10 how
much the liturgical anthropology of this Hodayot material has in com-
mon with that of the Angelic Liturgy.

Melchizedek in 11' QA'Ielchizedek

Having examined texts where Moses and others arc described as

"gods" pr "like gods" we come to a more well known text,
lw
lIQMelchizedck ( H Q j 3 ) . In column 2 of 11QJ3 Melchizedek is
described as a heavenly redeemer who will restore God's people on
the Day of Atonement, carrying out God's vengeance on the cne-
mies of God's people (2:13). In a citation of Isaiah 61:2 (line 9)—
"the year of the LORD's favour"—Melchizedek replaces the Tetra-
grammaton as the agent of the eschatological deliverance. In line 10
Psalm 82:1 's opening sentence—"elohim shall stand in the assembly
of God, in the midst of the gods he. shall judge"— is apparently
applied to Melchizedek who is, therefore, spoken of as ‫אלוהים‬. Almost
universally this has been taken to mean that Melchizedek is an en-
tirely suprahuman figure, far removed from the otherwise apparently
human figure of Genesis 14 and perhaps even a divine hypostasis
or God himself in his theophanic mode. This interpretative approach
1
has been reinforced by the claim that in 4Q544 (Visions of Amram '
9
ar) Melchizedek is identified with the archangel Michael.' '
There is no doubt that, in this cave 1 1 text Melchizedek is divine,
but the opinion that, necessarily therefore, he is entirely suprahu-
196
man is misguided. This is a view which very well represents the

193
Collins and Dimant 1994, 154.
131
This has now received definitive publication in the DJD series under the edi-
torial oversight of Florentino Garcia Martinez, Elbert J.C. Tigchelaar and Adam
S. van der Woudc (DJD 23:221-233). See earlier van der VVoudc 1965; 1964-6;
Kobelski 1981, 3-23, 49-74; Puech 1987.
195
See M i l i k 1972, esp. pp. 85-6.
196
The only opposition to the consensus has come from Carmignac 1969-71,
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 217

dualistic worldview of modern interpreters and their assumption that

to speak of a human being with the word ‫ אלוהים‬would not be pos-
sible for an "orthodox" Jewish text. Several considerations suggest,
however, that at the heart of our text there is precisely this claim;
that the eschatological redeemer, whilst "human" is also divine.
In the first place the choice of the name Melchizedek is odd, to
say the least, unless the author wants an identification with the his-
torical figure of Genesis 14 and Psalm 110:4. Whilst it is possible
that in the latter passage Melchizedek is a somewhat mythological
figure, the founder of an order of priest-kings, it is hard to see how
a Jew in the first century B.C. (when l l Q M e l c h was copied) could
read the scriptures and find a Melchizedek who is an entirely other-
197
worldly figure, non other than the archangel Michael.
Neither is there any evidence within Jewish (and early Christian)
tradition for the belief in a Melchizedek figure who is a suprahuman
angel. Wc have seen how, in 2 Enoch 71 Melchizedek is a divine
child without human father and, it seems, only a weak maternal
parentage. But this Melchizedek is, nevertheless, human and the one
who rightfully occupies the priestly office. The Melchizedek o f 2
Enoch is merely one clear example of a wider angelomorphic-human-
ity pattern: he is not "an angel" (in the modern sense of the word)
but a divine man. Like the Melchizedek of Genesis 14, Psalm 110
(and 11 QMelchizcdck) he is a priest, a fact which reflects the impor-
tance of the priesthood for Israel's divine man tradition in our period.
Similarly, in the letter to the Hebrews the mysterious appearance of
Melchizedek in chapter 7 in no way permits the conclusion that
there was an angel-Melchizedek tradition in the first century A.D.
Although Melchizedek is "without lather, mother or genealogy" 2
Enoch takes a similar line and, as wc have seen, in Sirach Enoch is
created not born. This is simply the theology of priestly transccn-
m
deuce. For Hebrews Melchizedek is eternal but he is made like

who thinks Melchizedek is "un personnage terrestre . . . qui reproduira la figure du

Melkisédeq biblique" (369). Carmignac, however, wrongly rejects the application of
Ps 82:1 and Ps 7:8 to Melchizedek in lines 10-11 and simply represents another
manifestation of a modern dualism which cannot cope with a first century fusion
of divine and human horizons.
197
Fletcher-Louis 1997, 155, 196-7, cf. Plorbury 1998, 84.
19» Within the rhetorical structure of Hebrews 7 Melchizedek's lack of parental
lineage helps to legitimise the new, non-Levitical, priesthood of the very human (see
2:5-18) Jesus.
218 CHAPTER SIX

Ihe Son of God and since die author of this Christian text is at
pains to deny the Son of God is an angel (1:5-2:18), this must mean
Melchizedek is a person of a fuller—more human and perhaps more
divine—ontology than an angel (as narrowly understood).
Thirdly, the priestly contours of the Melchizedek figure in
11 QMelchizedek speak for a divine human as opposed to an angel.
It is true to say that in the broken text of the first ten lines of the
column Melchizedek is nowhere explicitly stated to be the subject
199
of a priestly action. However, the phrase "it is the time for the
year of the favour (‫ )רצון‬of Melchizedek" has strongly cultic over-
200
tones within the context of the DSS corpus. The very choice of
Melchizedek—one who everywhere else is a priestly figure—as leader
at the eschatological dénouement which is centred on the I.‫ל‬ay of
Atonement really must mean that this Melchizedek is to perform the
201
priestly rites of atonement. When, therefore, line 6 speaks of those
living in exile being free "from [the debt of] all their iniquities" and
the Day of atonement as the tenth Jubilee "in which atonement shall
be made for all the sons of [light." the text must have regarded
Melchizedek as the priest whose arrival would somehow bring for-
2 2
giveness. " The fact that a priestly Melchizedek also acts as divine
warrior is not surprising since, like the king before him, the high
priest was widely believed to perform this function, as we saw in
203
chapter 3.
There is no reason to think that the eschatological Day of Atone-
ment forgiveness is achieved by a purely heavenly sacrifice. For such
a belief there is precious little evidence from our period (see chs. 8
and 9, below). There is a considerable body of evidence, however,
that Israel's human, Jerusalem based cult was regarded itself as heav-
enly, as we have seen. The history of religions data means it is much

1,9
De Jonge and van der Woude 1965, 306. Carmignac 1969-71, 368 thinks
the figure is more royal than priestly. Certainly, the two offices are combined if,
in, lines 24-25 the text interpreted Isa 52:7's "your God is king" with reference to
Mdchizcdek, as seems likely.
200
Pace dc Jonge and van der Woude 1965, 305. Kobelski 1981, righdy com-
pares 1QS 8:6; 10; 9:4; 1 Q M 2:5. Sec also 4Q400 1 i 16; 4Q513 2 i i 4 - - t w o texts
where angelic humans perform propitiation.
2111
Kobelski 1981, 5 7 - 9 , 6 4 - 7 1 ; Puech 1987, 512, ef. Woude 1965, 370-372.
*"* Kobelski (1981, 58-9) is also right to stress the priestly connotations of the
phrase "inheritance of Melchizedek" (line 5, cf. Josh 18:7; Deut 10:9; 18:2).
205
Pace Jonge and Woude 1965, 306 who say "He is so much 'God's warrior'
that his priestly activities remain in the shadow".
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM IN THE DSS 219

more likely that Melchizedek is a divine priest than that he is a

204
priestly angel.
I f 11 QMelchizedek envisages a purely heavenly, supra-terrestrial
sacrifice led by Melchizedek, then this would entail a downward salvific
movement, from heaven to earth. This is nowhere stated or implied
in the text. O n the contrary, the citation of Psalm ‫״‬7:89 prescribes
a movement in the other direction. Psalm 7:8b-9a "and above it,
to the heights, return: God shall judge the nations" is cited in lines
10-11 and seems to describe Melchizedek's movement from earth
to heaven. This is precisely what we should expect from a human
high priest who on the Day of Atonement enters the Holy of Holies
and thereby moves from earth to heaven. Nowhere in contcmpo-
rary Jewish texts does an angel undergo an upward movement with
the kind of salvific effect ascribed to Melchizedek in our text. Yet,
this is the language of human transformation, enthronement and
205
apotheosis.
The citation of Psalm 7:8a-9b is particularly important for a cor-
rect interpretation of the whole and has been somewhat overlooked
by commentators. It seems to function as a unifying canonical cita-
lion which binds together the heaven and earthly aspects of Mel-
chizedek's identity. It has two functions.
In the first place the way the Psalm is introduced applies the
movement to the heights to Melchizedek. The ‫ ועליו‬at the end of
line 10 is most naturally taken as an equivalent to the ‫ עליו‬at the
beginning of the line and both prepositional compounds should be
206
translated "concerning him" and taken as a reference to Melchizedek.
Melchizedek's upward movement is not only consistent with that of

204
The appeal to a suprahuman priestly angel tradition (van der Woude 1965,
370-72) is unsatisfactory. This relies on late tradition (b. Hag. 12b) and an identi-
fication of Melchizedek with Michael which is nowhere made in the DSS.
21,5
A return to the heights might imply that Melchizedek has already come from
heaven which would be consistent with traditions o f his wondrous birth or, per-
haps, the typology according to which a transformed hero ascends to heaven, returns
to earth for a period and specific mission, before, once more, returning to the
upperworld (cf. e.g. 2 Enoch and the synoptic gospels: ascension & transfiguration
(Mk 9:1-13) followed by further ministry, death, resurrection (and ascension)). But
there is no further indication in the extant text to suggest that Melchizedek's return
to earth entailed prc-existence or a previous transformation.
21
"' Pace Kobclski 1981, 17 who collapses the language of return into the return
from exile of the human captives, thus failing to appreciate the citation's delibcr-
atcly ambivalent reference. I f the author had wanted to speak now about the cap-
tives' return he would have written "and concerning them".
220 C H A P T E R SIX

the high priest at Yom Kippur it is also reminiscent of the enthrone-

ment in Psalm 110:1. The return to the heights picks up the immc-
cliately preceding statement derived from Psalm 82:1 that "elolnm (i.e.
Melchizedek) shall stand in the assembly of God, in the midst of the
gods he shall judge" (11Q13 ii 10). Obviously, the divine council
wherein Melchizedek's judgement takes place is set in the upper
realm, the heights and so the citation of Psalm 7:8 9 describes how
Melchizedek gets to his position of eschatological authority.
But, on the other hand, to speak of Melchizedek's return to the
heights picks up also the theme of Jubilee return for the human cap-
tives in exile which lies at the heart of our Peshcr. Leviticus 25
repeatedly refers to 1.11c Jubilee as a time of return and Leviticus
25:13—"in this year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his prop-
erty" is cited in line 2 (cf. Lev 25:10, 41) of our text and in line 6
201
Melchizedek makes the people return. This has led Kobelski to con-
elude that in lines 10 — 11 it is not the return of Melchizedek but the
208
captives that is view. However, it would be wrong to play off
against one another the two possibilities. Rather, Psalm 7:8-9 has,
it seems, been carefully chosen to describe Melchizedek's heaven-
ward movement as representative of and determinative for the return
of the people as a whole. This again tells against Melchizedek being
"an angel", but is consistent with Melchizedek's divine (and rcpre-
sentative) humanity.
The central, key, lines of 11 QMclch col. ii attest themes which
are well represented in other angelomorphic Dead Sea Scroll texts.
For example the belief that the eschatological redemption is achieved
by a priest with cosmic and divine credentials should now be com-
1
pared with 4-QTLevi' 9 and more generally with the portrayal of
the priest in texts such as lQSb 4:24-28, Sirach 50 and Jubilees 31.
This text may even envisage a heavenly ascent akin to that which
is presumed in 4Q491 11 i , and which lies behind other priestly
angelomorphic texts (e.g. 2 Enoch 22:8-10; T. Mos. 10:2).
,,. As for the identification of Melchizedek with Michael, which has
been so widely popularised, it should be recalled that this is nowhere

207
The failure to appreciate the central importance of the Psalm 7:8-9 citation
is illustrated by Fitzmyer 1971a, 262: ". . . it makes little sense in the context, and
possibly we should rather read sybh and understand it as a form of y.sb, 'sit'. This
certainly yields a far better sense".
2 0 8
1981, 1 7.
 PRIESTLY ANGELOMORPHISM I N T H E DSS 221

m
actually stated in the extant material from the Visions of Amram.'
Any one-to-one identification of Melchizedek with an entirely suprahu-
man Michael is more a reflection of the modern dualistic interpre-
tative paradigm than the data of the scrolls themselves.

™ Cf. Carmigiiac 1969-71, 365-66.

 C H A P T E R SEVEN

T H E H I G H PRIEST, T H E BREASTITECE A N D T H E U R I M
AND T H U M M I M AT QUMRAN

Besides lQSb 4:24-28 there arc a significant number of other texts

in the Dead Sea Scroll library which reveal a particular interest in
the Urim and Thummim (UT). Several have already received much
discussion (1Q29 + 4Q376, 4QI75), two have only recently been
published (4Q392 frag. 1 and 4Q408) and as a whole their signifi-
cance for 'Qumran theology has been underestimated. Because the
UT, and the breastpiece of judgement to which they are related in
Exodus 28, will figure prominently in our study of the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice in chapter 1 1 they are examined at this juncture in
their own right.
The three best known references to the U T are all, for one rea-
d
son or another, allusive. 4Q:5Isa and Tongues of Fire (4Q376 +
1Q29) are fragmentary and therefore difficult to interpret. I n 4Q175
the biblical reference to the U T in Deuteronomy 33:8 is cited with-
out obvious comment in a Testimonia of biblical texts. Interpretation
of these texts is compounded by the fact that there is still much
scholarly uncertainty about the precise nature of the U T . In par-
ticular, it has been hard to determine what relationship they have
to the breastpiece and the precious stones prescribed for Aaron in
Exodus 28:15-30 and the precious stones placed on the high priest's
shoulders in Exodus 28:6-14. Are the stones the U T and i f so how
were they consulted for God's judgements (Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6,
14:41)?' Or, did the breastpiece of judgement simply contain the U T
2
as, one would carry pebbles in a bag for divination by psephomancy?
Whatever the biblical understanding(s) of the U T one aspect of
this mysterious channel of divine revelation which appears consist-

1
Post-exilic Israel was itself evidently uncertain how to use the U T (Ezra 2:63;
Neh 7:65).
2
The possibilities have been thoroughly reviewed by Dam 1993, whose own con-
elusions should be balanced by the studies of Horowitz and Horowitz 1992 and
Kitz 1997.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 223

ently in the later, extra-biblical material is the giving of light. What-

ever the etymology, later interpreters derived the word ‫ אורים‬from
the root ‫" אור‬light" (and the ‫ תמים‬was similarly related to the root
‫" חם‬be complete, finished, whole or perfect"). Thus, for example,
the Septuagint of Ezra 2:63 translates the Urim and Thummim of
the Hebrew with the expression τοις φωτίζουσιν και τοις τελείοις ("lights
and perfections"). Elsewhere the E X X uses the phrase την δήλ(0σιν
και την άλήθειαν ("manifestation and truth": Exod 28:20; Lev 8:8;
Deut 33:8, cf. Num 27:21; 1 Sam 14:41; 28:6). That the U T were
somehow a means of revelation through light is then related to the
equally mysterious tradition according to which the stones of the
breastpiece and/or shoulders of the high priest's garb gave out light
at certain limes and places.

Hie Light-Giving Stones and the Tongues of Fire (1Q29 + 4Q376)

We saw in our discussion of lQSb 4 how in Ansteas 97 there is

described the breastpiece, "called the Oracle,' to which are attached
'twelve stones' of different kinds, set in gold, giving the names of
the patriarchs in what was the original order, each stoneflashingits
3
own natural distinctive colour." A fuller explanation of the operation of
this "oracle" is given by Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities 3:215-17:

Well, of those stones which . . . the high priest wore upon his shoul-
ders—they were sardonyxes, and I deem it superfluous to indicate the
nature of jewels familiar to all—it came about, whenever God assisted
at the sacred ceremonies, that the one that was buckled on the right
shoulder began to shine, a light glancing from it, visible 10 the most
distant, of which the stone, had before betrayed no trance. That alone
should marvel enough for such as have not cultivated a superior wis-
dorn to disparage all religious things; but I have yet a greater marvel
to record. By means of the twelve stones, which the high priest wore
upon his breast stitched into the essên (έσσήν), God foreshowed victory
to those on the eve of battle. For so brilliant a light flashed out from
them before the army was yet in motion, that it was evident to the
whole host that God had come to their aid. Hence it is that those

3
This tradition is also attested in Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities where each of
the stones is engraved with eyes out through which light can stream (26:9, cf. 26:13,
15). Compare, perhaps, Zccli 3:9 where the high priest is given a stone with four-
teen eyes. For an identification of this stone with the breastpiece sec VanderKam
1991.
224 CHAPTER SEVEN

Greeks who revere our practices, because they can in no way gainsay
them, call the essên λόγιον ("oracle").‫יי‬

Although he does not speak explicitly of the U T , Josephus appears

to have it in mind when he speaks of the oracle. His account of the
stones' shining to confirm Gocl's presence in battle may be based
on Numbers 27:21:

But he [Joshua] shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire
for him by the decision of the Urim before the L O R D ; at his word
they shall go out, and at his word (‫ )על פיו‬they shall come in, both
he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.

Whereas the biblical text has the oracle through the U T and the !1er‫״‬
bal decision of the priest, in Josephus' account the high priest, does
nothing more than bear the light Hashing stones of the breastpiece.
//'this is a conscious interpretation of the biblical text then Josephus
identifies the U T with the stones of the breastpiece as a light-giving
oracle. In any case, for Josephus, the operation of the high priest's
stones now signifies divine presence, not just: revelation (as i f the later
5
were possible without the former).
A text preserved in tantalizingly fragmentary form in both Gave 1
and Gave, 4 manuscripts appears to correspond to Josephus' descrip-
tion of the high priest's oracle. 4Q376 1 column 1 is highly broken
but speaks of an "anointed priest (‫( ")כוהן המשיח‬line Γ) and has the
word "for Urim (‫ ")לאורים‬in line 3. 4Q376 1 column 2 overlaps with
1Q29 and the relevant lines read as follows:
1
They will provide you with light (‫ )יאירוכה‬and it/he (i.e. "the priest"
or "the cloud") will go out. with it with tongues of fire (‫)בלשנות אש‬.
2
The left hand stone which is on his left hand side will shine forth
to the eyes of all the assembly until the priest finishes speaking. And
after it [the cloud?[ has been removed

Here, as in the beginning o f the Josephus passage cited above, we

have to do with the shining for the purposes of revelation of one of
‫י‬.
1
Josephus proceeds (o say (hat the "oracle" ceased to work 200 years before the
lime of his writing, because of God's displeasure with the people's transgression of
his laws. This has nothing to do with the founding of the Qumran sect (pace Vcr-
mes 1975b, 12; J. Strugncll in DJD 14:127-31). The date is best explained as an
approximate figure dating the cessation o f the proper use of the U T to the death
of Josephus' hero, John Hyrcanus (f 104 B.C.).
5
Another possible instance of the oracular function the high priest's breastpiece
is Pro(. Jas. 5:1.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 225

the stones (here the left hand stone, in Josephus the right hand stone)
on the high priest's shoulders. Although the context is difficult to
judge, because the third column of 4Q376 refers to the "Prince of
the Congregation" and a situation where he and the nation "march
to a city to besiege i t " (4Q376 frag 1 iii (lines 2—3) some kind of
parallel to Josephus' account of the oracle's role in re militari seems
6
to have been in view.
There is no certain reference to the U T here, but the oracular,
light-giving properties of the high priest's precious stones and garb
7
is clearly in view. The place of this text in relation to the com-
munity's theolog)' is also difficult to judge. Given the overlap with
the material in Josephus and the lack of any clearly sectarian ter-
minology (IK: editor of 4Q37b, John Sirugnell, concluded that text
was not the product of the community." But the presence of several
copies of the work (1Q29, 4Q376 and probably 4Q375), including
one in Cave 1, speaks for the esteem in which it was held by the
community. With the official publication of another fragmentary Cave
4 manuscript, 4Q408, there is now, in all probability, extant yet:
9
another copy of the text, (to which our discussion will return below).

lxm's Possession of the Urim and Tlmmmim (Deut 33:8-10 and 4Q175)

That the community understood the U T as a channel of illumina-

tion is clearly in view in our second DSS text, 4QJ75. 4QJ.75 is a
collection of biblical texts (Deut 5:28-29; 18:18-19; Num 24:15-17
and Dcut 33:8-1 1) along with a citation of another authoritative
extra-biblical text, the Psalms of Joshua (4Q379). The collection of

11
For a fuller discussion of the relationship between 1Q29, 4Q376 and also 4Q375
and IQ22, and the Josephus passage sec Sirugnell in DJD 14:12b 136 and cf.
Sirugnell 1990. The shining 01 the stones on the shoulder is perhaps related p r i -
manly to the process of discerning between a true and false prophet ( 1 0 2 9 1 ii

7
In the citation ol 4Q376 1 ii line 1 I have followed the edilio jmnceps (DJD
14:124-125) in reading ‫ י א י ר ו כ ה‬as the first word ("they shall give light to you").
However, the reading ‫ ואור״כה‬is equally possible as the editor notes (DJD 14:125) —
and judging by the plate (pl. X V ) it looks preferable. This would then perhaps be
the "your Urim (‫ ")אוו־יכה‬of Dcut 33:8.
8
DJD 14:130-31.
‫ יי‬DJD 36:298 315. For the editor, A. Steudel and Strugnell's view that this is
another witness to 1Q29, 4Q376 see esp. p. 298. Fragment 11 probably corre-
spends to the portion of the text describing the (lashing of the stones, though the
fragment is loo small be certain.
226 CHAPTER SEVEN

texts without interpretative comment suggests an aide memoire for pas-

sages of significance to members of the community; perhaps for use
in proselytising or apologetic circumstances.
Deuteronomy 33:8-11 is cited, accordingly (lines 14-20):
A n d o f L e v i lie said: Give to Levi y o u r T h u m m i m , and y o u r U r i m
to y o u r loyal one, w h o m 1 tested at Massah, w i t h w h o m 1 contended
9
at the waters o f M e r i b a h ; who said o f his father and m o t h e r , " I have
n o t k n o w n t h e m " ; he ignored his brothers, a n d d i d not k n o w his chil-
1,1
d r e n . F o r he observed y o u r w o r d , and kept y o u r covenant. They have
made shine (‫ )ויאירו‬your judgements ( ‫ ) מ ש פ ט י ך‬for J a c o b , and Israel y o u r law;
t h e y place incense before y o u , and whole b u r n t offerings o n y o u r altar.
" Bless, ****, bis substance, and accept the w o r k o f his hands; crush
the loins o f his adversaries, o f those (hat hale h i m , so thai (hey do
not rise again.

Discussion of this collection of "Testimonia" has been preoccupied

with its possible messianic significance. There is no doubt that the
citation of Numbers 24:17 which precedes will have been included
because of its messianic import (cf. CD 7:19-21; 1QM 11:6-7, lQSb
5:24, 27) and Deuteronomy 18:18-19 justifies the expectation of a
coming messiah like Moses. It is then assumed that Deuteronomy
33:8—10 is also cited to give a scriptural basis for a priestly mes-
10
sianic expectation. Just what significance these texts had for their
compiler will always be hard to judge: given the nature of the genre
the interpretation of this Testimonia is in the hands of its implied user,
not the twenty-first century scholar. However, upon reflection, there
arc reasons to doubt the inclusion of Deuteronomy 33:8—10 for strictly
messianic reasons.
In the first place, given that we know from CD 7:19-21 that
Numbers 24:17 was interpreted by members of the Qumran move-
ment as a reference to both a priestly and a royal messiah the pecu-
liarly dual messianism of the community can be satisfactorily addressed
by the citation of that text alone in 4Q175. There is no need to
assume, as some do, that Numbers 24:17 is cited as a prediction of
a Scorning royal messiah and that Deuteronomy 33:8—11 follows as a
basis for a priestly messianic expectation." The latter text might move
on to entirely different matters. In fact, secondly, it is not entirely
clear that Deuteronomy 33:8-11 is particularly messianic in focus.

1(1
E.g. Allegro, !956, 187; Fitzmycr 1974, 82-84; Vermes 1997, 495.
For those who take this view and its difficulties see Fitzmyer 1974, 84.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 227

It contains much that need have nothing directly to do with mes-

sianism; Levi's social withdrawal, his sacrificial duties and his keep-
ing of the covenant. The text could equally well be included here
because it justifies the cenobitic lifestyle of the Essene priesthood,
who have left the normal ties of kith and kin for the life of the
12
wilderness. Since Deuteronomy 33:8-11 is a charter for Levitical
(and therefore priestly) power and authority it could be included sim-
ply because it supports the Essene movement's opposition to the
emerging power of Pharisaism which was happy to promote the teach-
13
ing authority of appropriately trained laity. And, given the other
texts in the Qumran Library which evince a particular interest in
(he high priest's oracle it is worth pondering the possible significance
of the U T in the first verse of the citation.
There arc some minor variations on the M T , but these mostly
have to do with a shift from God as second to first person and third
person singulars where the M T has the plural. The really significant
difference between the Qumran version and the M T is the verb at
the beginning of line 10: where the M T and the Samaritan Penta-
teuch both read "they leach (‫ ")יורו‬this Qumran text has the Hiph'il
14
of ‫אור‬, "to cause to shine". The origin of this textual divergence
15
is uncertain. The Qumran reading will not be sectarian since it is
anticipated by Sirach 45:17 which alludes to Deuteronomy 33:10
when it says God gave Aaron "authority and statutes and judgments,
to teach (διδάξαι) Jacob the testimonies, and to enlighten (φωτίσαι)
Israel in his law". The 4Q175 version will also be reflected in the
L X X ("δηλώσουσιν") and in Aquila ("φωτίσουσιν").

'‫ יי‬Deuteronomy 33:9 is used to justify the radical, encratitc, sociality o f the Jesus
movement in Luke 14:25-35 (see Fletcher-Louis 2000a). Docs Deuteronomy 33:9
lie behind Josephus' statement (B.J, 2:120) that the Essenes "adopt other men's chil-
dren"? For such children, presumably, Deuteronomy 33:9 would be a useful justi-
(ication for the abnegation of family responsibilities and privileges. Sec also 1QH"
17:35 [9:35] "my father did not know mc and my mother abandoned me to you".
" I f wc follow the persuasive argument o f H . Eshel (Eshel 1991-92) then 4Q.175
is directed against the claims of John Flyrcanus I to perfectly embody priesthood,
kingship and prophecy in the one person. I n this case Deuteronomy 33:8-11 is per-
haps included as a benchmark by which Flyrcanus' fulfilment of the priestly office
is measured: did Flyrcanus properly administer U T as the biblical text prescribes?
' 4 ‫ י י‬Q D c « t ' ' (hags. 11 15 line 3) agrees with the M T and Sam. Pent, in using
the verb ‫ י ר ה‬.
'•‫ י‬I t is, I think, the light-giving authority of the Lévites and the significance of
the U T in Deuteronomy 33:8-11 which interests the compiler of 4QJ75, not the
teaching authority of the priesthood, (pace Collins 1995b, 114, who fails to see that
the Qumran version differs from that of the M T which he cites).
228 CHAPTER SEVEN

The Qumran version and the L X X are concerned to relate verse

16
10 to the Urim (‫ )אורים‬and Thummim of verse 8. This is clear
from the fact that it is God's judgements (‫ )משפטי‬which Levi causes
to shine, just as the U T are placed in the breastpiece οΐ judgement
(‫משפט חשן‬, Exod 28:15, 29-30). The verbal form in verse 10 picks
up the nominal form of ‫ אור‬in verse 8. The connection is reflected
in the Septuagint which says in Deuteronomy 33:10 that the Le-
vi tes "make clear (δηλώσουσιν)" God's judgements, using language
which picks u p the giving to Levi of δήλους αύτοΰ ("his Urim") in
verse 8."
Clearly, then, the Qumran community found warrant for their
belief that the U T was a light giving oracle of God's judgements in
their version of Deuteronomy 33:8 10."' It is therefore reasonable
to suppose that, given the difference between their text and others',
this passage is included in this Testimonia because of the impor-
tance they attached to their particular understanding of the U T .

Twelve Chief Priests' Illuminating Judgement of the UT (4QpIsd')

T h i s l i g h t g i v i n g u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e U T is p r o b a b l y attested in a
f i
t h i r d Q u m r a n t e x t . 4 Q 1 6 4 ( 4 Q p I s a ) is a f r a g m e n t a r y Pcsher o n Isa-
i a h 5 4 : 1 1 - 1 2 , the extant p o r t i o n s o f w h i c h read:

1
. . . all Israel like a n t i m o n y a r o u n d the eye. And I will lay your foun-
dations with sapphi]res. 2
(Isa 54:1 le) Its Interpretation:! they will f o u n d
the council o f the c o m m u n i t y ( ‫ ) ע צ ח ה י ח ד‬, (the] priests a n d the peo[pIc
3
. . .] the assembly o f his elect, like a sapphire stone i n the m i d s t
o f stones. [7 will make] ‫ יי‬all your pinnacles ( ‫ ) כ ו ל ש מ ש ו ח י ך‬of rubies (Isa
54:12a). Its interpretation concerns the. twelve [chief priests/stones(?)
w h o ] •‫ יי‬i l l u m i n a t e i n the j u d g e m e n t o f the U r i m a n d T h u m m i m
6
(‫ ) מ א י ר י ם ב מ ש פ ט ה א ו ר י ם והחומים‬. . . [without] any from t h e m missing,
as the sun (‫ )כשמש‬i n all its light and o\ll your gales of jewels] (Isa 54:12b)
7
Its interpretation concerns the chiefs o f the tribes o f Israel [

16
So, rightly, Caster 1958, 217.
" The language is typical of the L X X translation of instances of the Hebrew
U T : Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; N u m 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6, cf. I Sam 14:41; Hos 3:4;
1 Esdr 5:40; Sir 33:3; 45:10. Eor the Qumran version of Deut 33:10 close to that
of the L X X see Duncan 1995.
18
This explanation of the Qumran form of Deut 33:10 is eminently preferable
to the view that the Qumran form reflects a wider light symbolism of the law, re-
fleeted in the Targums (so Vermes 1958).
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 229

À satisfactory interpretation of this text is hindered by the lacuna at

the end of line 4. What twelve things are responsible for the illu-
rnination of line 5? Some have been inclined to supply a reference
19
to twelve stones here. Though at first sight an attractive restora-
20
tion this view suffers serious problems. The rest of the Pesher, both
before and after the interpretation of Isaiah 54:12a, is concerned to
identify parts of Isaiah's prophecy for Jerusalem with eschatological
persons; the true Israel (line 1) and various parts of the community's
leadership (lines 2-3, 7). In the midst of this train of thought an
interpretation o f the biblical lemma which focuses on an object— the
priest's breastpiece—would be a little out of place. More seriously,
if we restore ‫אבני א ק ד ח‬, or some such, then wc would expect a fern-
mine numeral and verb. In (he light of these considerations and a
comparison of other Qumran texts describing the structure of the
leadership of the movement Joseph M . Baumgartcn has persuasively
argued for a reference to "twelve chief priests who (‫)]ראשי הכוהנים אשר‬
21
give light by the judgement of Urim and Thummim".
Although this means the text does not provide an explicit identi-
fication of the U T with the high priest's stones that is probably
assumed. And, in any case, the oracular authority o f the U T as a
22
source of (either literal or metaphorical) illumination is clearly in view.
In several other respects this text is noteworthy. I n the case of
the other two texts wc have discussed (1Q29 + 4Q376 and 4Q175)
it is clear that, whilst the community has a certain invested interest
in the UT, they shared with Jews a particular interpretation of the
oracle, its operation and significance. In the case o f the Qumran
Pesher on Isaiah 54:11-12, C.T.R. Hayward has rightly drawn alten-
tion to the way in which the application of Isaiah 54:11-12 to the
UT is anticipated by Sirach 45:11 (cf. 50:9) which uses the phrase

r
'" Lehmann 1961 ‫־‬2, cf. Allegro 19 >8, 221 n. 68.
211
For what follows see Baumgartcn 1976, 61.
21
Baumgartcn 1976, 61-62.
'"• As the editor, J . M . Allegro (1958, 221 u. 68), and Baumgartcn (1976, 62)
rightly perceive. For the reference to the light of the sun in line 6 comparison
should not just be made to passages where the priesthood are likened to the sun
(e.g. 7. I mi 4:3 (Baumgartcn 1976, 61)) but, more specifically to the tradition which
gives the stones of the breastpiece this property. In Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiqui-
lies 26:15 it is said o f these stones that "it was as i f the light of the sun was poured
over them and the earth glowed with their light" and that (26:13) "the just will
not lack the brilliance of the sun or the moon, for the light of those most precious
stones will be their light". Josephus says that sun and moon are symbolised by the
two sardonyxes on the shoulder (Ant, 3:185).
230 CHAPTER SEVEN

"precious stones (‫ ")אבני הפץ‬from Isaiah 54:1 2 to describe the stones

23
of Aaron's garb.
But in other respects the Qumran Isaiah Pesher provides evidence
of the community's own reflection on the light giving UT. Although
fragmentary, the genre of this text (a Pesher), its language ("council
of the community") and ideas (the organizational structure and the
metaphorical reading of a literal restored Jerusalem in terms of a
spiritual people) all indicate the product of the community's own
exegetical activity.
And in this text there is also a notably idiosyncratic view of the
U T . Reading Josephus, earlier sources (Sirach 45:7-22; 50:1-21; Aris-
teas ‫־־־‬9699), the rabbis or, for that matter, the biblical text, one
assumes that the U T is only used by one chief priest, since only one
chief priest (in Exodus 28; Aaron) is fully attired in the requisite gar-
, 21
ments to "'Which the U T belong. If our reconstruction is correct
then here there arc twelve chief priests responsible for the operation
of the U T . This also suggests that the text envisages twelve chief
priests wearing the full garb of Exodus 28.
Yet this should not altogether surprise us. I n other Qumran scrolls
there are a plurality of chief priests. So, for example, in 1QM 2,
although there is clearly one chief priest (and his deputy) at the head
of cultic proceedings there arc a further thirty eight chief priests
(‫ ")ראשי הכוהנים‬under him (12:1-2, cf. Nch 12:7). In the War Scroll
we are not actually told that there would be more, than one priest
wearing the full regalia of Exodus 28, including cphod, breastplate
and U T . But in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice we hear of a multi-
tudc of ephodim and breastplates (‫ )חשני‬which, it will be argued (below),
are worn by a group of chief priests.
It is not hard to see how a group of late Second Temple Jews
zealous for the correct interpretation of scripture might come to the
conclusion that more than just one chief priest should have access
to the garments given to Aaron in Exodus 28. In one biblical pas-
sage, 1 Samuel 22:18, there arc eighty-five priests wearing an cphod.
All taf these, but one, are killed by Doeg the Edomite. The one sur-
vivor of this massacre, Abiathar, flees to David who then uses the
priest's ephod to seek the LORD for oracular guidance. Did Abiathar

n
Hayward 1995a, 50.
This is clearly Josephus' view (Ant. 3:159-178, 184-87, 214-218). For the rab-
bis see e.g. b. Sank 16a; b. Torna 7 i b .
 T H E H I G H PRIESTS' B R E A S T P I E C E A N D T H E U R I M A N D THUMMIM 231

have with him a breastpiece and U l ? And i f so, did the other group
of 84 priests also have a breastpiece and U T with their ephodim? A
Jew reading the biblical text in the second century B.C. or thereafter
might conclude that, since 1 Samuel follows Exodus in the account
of Israel's history and constitution the ephodim of 1 Samuel 22:18
must be those of Exodus 28 and, therefore, there were at that time
at least eighty live full sets of priestly garments, each including breast-
piece and U T .
Exodus 28:4 (cf. v. 1) says the sacred vestments are to be made
for "Aaron and his sons". In Exodus 29:29 "The sacred vestments of
Aaron shall be passed on to his sons after him; they shall be anointed
in them and ordained in them". Statements such as these are nor-
mally taken to mean that a line of successive Aaronic priests, one after
(be other, will wear all the items of clothing which are his. How-
ever, the Qumran community might have found in such texts a
description of a group of priests, the sons of Aaron, all of whom wore
25
his garments serving simultaneously as chief priests. The citation
of Deuteronomy 33:8-11 in 4QJ75 might also intend a claim that
a plurality of priests should have access to the U T , since the text
describes the prerogatives and responsibilities of Levi as a family and
it is "They (who) have made shine (God's) judgements for Jacob",
just as it "they (who) place incense" before God. (Though, of course,
the third person plurals of Deuteronomy 33:11 could also be taken
to refer to a successive line of Lcvitical priests which at Sinai was
confined to the Aaronid line and then under David to the Zadokite
line.)
Wc can be sure that others felt free to find in the biblical canon
a plurality of ephodim because in his Antiquities 8:93 Josephus writes:

Of the priestly vestments for the high priests (τοις άρχιερευοι), inclucl-
ing long robes, upper garments, oracle and precious stones, he |Solomon]
made a thousand; but the crown on which Moses had inscribed God's
name was unique and has remained to this day; of the (simple) priest's
vestments he made ten thousand of linen and ptu‫־‬ple girdles for each.

In his lengthy account of the Tabernacle and priestly attire Josephus

is clear that only one chief priest wore in his own day what Aaron
was given to wear in his. For Josephus the plurality of vestments,

2 5
For the possibility of this interpretation o f Deut 33:8-40 see Dam 1993, 173,
esp. n. 28.
232 CHAPTER SEVEN

2
oracles and precious stones, was a thing of the past. '‫ י‬For the Qttm-
ran community it was still, perhaps, a thing of the present.

Tie UT and the Perfect Light of God's Presence

Another indication of the way the U T was cherished at Qumran is

the case of the strange word ‫(ם‬1)‫רח‬1‫ )א‬which appears twice, possibly
three times, in the Hodayot, three times in the Songs of the Sabbath Sac-
rificc and once in one other Gave 4 text (4Q392). Since the earliest
commentators this DSS neologism has been judged a collocation of
‫ אור‬and ‫ חום‬and therefore understood as a wordplay on the ‫אורים‬
27
and ‫ חמים‬of the high priest's oracle. Although not all are convinced,
there is, now, every reason to lake this word seriously as a conscious
28
reflection .911 the U T .
In all three occurrences in the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice the word
is closely associated with both the supernal light, of the heavenly
sanctuary and the holy of holies of the heavenly sanctuary (4Q403
1 i 45 = 4Q404 5 4; 4Q403 1 ii 1), though whether it is actually
29
placed in the innermost sanctuary is not clear. The instance of this
word in the recently published 4Q392 frag. 1 also attests its associ-
ation with the heavenly sanctuary and adds another cosmological
3
dimension to the notion of "perfect light": "
3 1
' ' . . . ] a man to be u n i t e d w i t h G o d ( , ( ‫ל א ל ה י ם‬ ‫ה ח י ד איש‬
:i
aside from a [ l l . . .] b u t their soul shall cling to his covenant, t o |
Λ
stu|dy the words o f h [ i s ] m o u t h [. . .| G o ( d in] the heavens above
a n d to search out the ways o f the sons o f man ( ‫)כני ה א ד ם‬. T h e r e is
no place to hide from before h i m . H e created darknessj and lijght for

26
Joscphus's statement is perhaps made under the influence οί' I Chr 29:2 8. Λ
plurality of ephodim might be in view in 2 Hanich 6:7 where, although there is rrf-
crence to only one cphod it is said that in the Holy of Holies there arc "lbrty-
eight precious stones with which the priests (plu.) were clothed".
'"·: Dupont-Sommcr 1952, 74; Licht 1957, 91 and sec the discussions o f Holm-
Nielsen 1960, 80 and Newsom 1985, 231-32 (= DJD 11:283).
2,1
Those unsure include Newsom 1985, 231-32; DJD 11:283 and Falk DJD 29:31.
29
Newsom rightly notes (DJD 11:283) that the form • ‫ א ו ר ח‬in 4Q403 1 i 45 is
an orthographic variant and that the parallel • ‫ א ו ר ו ת‬in 4Q404 5 4 is best explained
as a result of metathesis.
:m
DJD 29:25-44. The editor, D . Falk, provides reasons 10 suppose the work is
composed by the Qumran community and notes the similarity in themes and Ian-
guage to the Hodayot (DJD 29:27, 29)'.
" For this restoration of the poorly preserved first word see DJD 29:28.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND T H E URIM AND THUMMIM 233

5
himself ( ( ‫ו‬ ‫ל‬ ‫ב ר א ח ש ך ] וא[ וו־‬ and i n his dw
feet light ( 3 2
. ( ‫א ו ר ח ם‬ ‫כמעונחו א ו ר‬ And all darkness
6
him; and there (was) no one w i t h h i m to divide between light and
3 3

darkness because for the sons of[ ma] η he separated them- -the
7
sun for lifghl] by day and by night the moon and the stars. And
with him there is an unsearchable light and no one can know
( ‫'( ) ע מ ו א ו ר ל א י ן ח ק ר ו א י ן ל ה ע ח‬...] for all the works of God arc won-
der[fu]l ( ‫ ) פ ל א ] י [ ם‬. We " are ilesh (‫)כשר‬. Do we not understand? How
are wc. to cl[o wonjders ( ‫ נ פ [ ל א ו ח‬. . .) and p[o]rtcnts without number
( 9
(‫ל א י ןמספר‬ [. . .] high [. . . wi]nds (‫ )רוחות‬and lightning [. . . the
serjvants of the most holy [place ( [ ‫ ])מ]שרחי ר ב י ] ר‬going out before h i m
(‫ ) מ ל פ נ ו יצאים‬the lu [minimes]

Here the ‫ אורחם‬is the first light of creation which exists above and
beyond the light of the sun, the moon and stars. The text is a eon-
scions interpretation of Genesis 1, especially Genesis 1:3 5. In line
7 it is probably the light of the perfect light which is further described
as "unsearchable and unknowable". This is one of the unsearchable,
innumerable, marvellous things that God has made according to Job
5:9 and 9:10. The text perhaps has in mind also the supernal light
within which God is wrapped as though in a garment in Psalm
104:2, since 9 probably echoes Psalm 104:4: "you make the winds
3
(‫ )רוחות‬your messengers, (ire and flame your ministers ( .(‫'משרתיו‬
Docs the ‫ אור אורחם‬here have anything to do with the priesthood
and its oracle of judgement? And, furthermore, docs it have any-
thing to do with the theme of liturgical anthropological transccn-
deuce? Given that the "light of the perfect light" is the transcendent
light of God's own dwelling one might assume that it has nothing
to do with the garments of the very human high priesthood. Line
8 -"we are flesh . . ."—slates the familiar Qumran theme of frailty
and the comparative ignorance of the sarkic humanity. However,

'·' IViS.SH Iranslales " i n his dwelling [he perfect light shine." taking ‫ א ו ר‬as a verb.
This is, of course, possible. M y translation, following Falk (DJD 29:29), accords with
the sense of the phrase in l Q I f 21:14 [18:29| " i n the eternal residence, for the
light of perfect light (‫ )כמכון ע ו ל ם ל א ו ר אורחום‬for ever" and the language of 4Q403
Π 45 = 4Q404" 5 4: "in the light of the perfect light of knowledge (‫כ א ו ר אודותם‬
‫")דעח‬. A verbal form o f ‫ א ו ר‬in these instances is highly unlikely, especially for the
Hodayol passage (though cf. Job 33:30).
33
DSSSE translates "he docs not need to . . .". It seems preferable to take this
as a familiar biblical statement that God had no helper (cf. esp. Deut 32:12, 39).
'‫ יי‬Falk, following Sirugnell, uses Psalm 104:4 to reconstruct the lacunae in this
passage (DJD 29:31-32). In addition to Falk's discussion o f Psalm 104's influence
on 1QIT 9:9-14 and Jub. 2, note the inspiration of Psalm 104:19 on 1QS 10:3
(Wernberg-Maller 1957, 141).
234· CHAPTER SEVEN

upon reflection and closer examination there are a number of impor-

tant indications that an allusion to the U T is very much in mind
in line 5 and that ultimately the text looks to the high priesthood's
own possession of the primal perfect light.
In the first place, when we bear in mind the biblical theology of
creation and Tabernacle, a juxtaposition of the creation of light and
darkness and the U T is what we would expect. Separation of light
and darkness is the work of the first day of creation in Genesis 1:3—5.
T o this first act of creation there corresponds the first speech to
Moses regarding the instructions for the building of the Tabernacle
in Exodus 25:25-30:1. At the climax of those instructions there is
the description of the garments for Aaron, his breastpiece, precious
stones and the U T . Anyone, like I he author of Sirach, who was
aware of the intratcxtuality between the two passages in Genesis 1
and Exodus 25-31 would naturally make the connection between
God's creation of light on the first day and the "‫ אורים‬and Thum-
mim" of the first block of Tabernacle instructions (Exod 28:30).
That die U T and the stones with which they arc associated in
Exodus 28 should be somehow identified with the primal light of
the very dawn of creation is also consistent with other indications
in contemporary Jewish texts of the period. In the rest of Exodus
25-31 Moses is told to make this or that cultic object or aspect of
Aaron's attire. He is not told to make the U T , but simply to place
the U T in (or on, " ‫ " ע ל‬, L X X , Sam) the breastpiece. The report in
Exodus 39:1—31 that the instructions for the making of the high
priestly vestments were carried out in all their particulars explicitly
omits any reference to the making of the U T . Perhaps the U T do
not need to be made because they already exist. Where do they
come from? I n the Hebrew Ben Sira each of the precious stones of
the high priest's oracle contains "engraved writing (‫ הרוח‬DTD)". C.T.R.
Hayward has rightly pointed out that this is an early witness to a
tradition according to which the stones are of a divine origin,*' The
wojpd ‫ חרוח‬appears only once in the Hebrew Bible; in Exodus 32:16

3 5
Hayward 1995a, 50; Hayward 1996, 69. Hayward compares the rabbinic tra-
dition according to which the precious stones were written by the miraculous créa-
turc, the Shamir, who is created by God on the eve of the first Sabbath (b. Git. 68a;
/). Pesah. 54b; Si/re Deut 355; Mek. H. hhmael Vayassa' 6:43-60 etc. . . .) and Philo's
continent (Per. Diu. Her. 176) that the patriarchal liantes on the two emeralds of
the high priest's robe were "inscribed as divine letters, memorials of divine natures".
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' B R E A S T P I E C E AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 235

where it used of the engraved writing—the "work of God"—on the

tablets of the Ten Commandments. And, as Hayward has shown,
Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities explores this theme at some length.
For Pseudo-Philo the stones of the ephod arc the imperishable kind
which come from the place "where eye has not seen nor has ear
heard (Isa 64:4)" (26:13), which Adam had before he fell (26:6),
which must be delivered to God's people by an angel (26:8), which
are supernaturally engraved and which rightfully belong in the
Solomonic Temple before God upon the two cherubim of his throne
room (26:12)."'Josephus perhaps hints at these assumptions about
the U T when he says that "on the essen also there are stones, twelve
in number, of extraordinary size and beauty—an ornament not pracur-
able by man by reason of ils surpassing value" [Ant. 3:166). And certainly
the sense in Antiquities 3:215-218 that the oracle of the essen is as
much a matter of divine presence as a medium of divine revelation is
consistent with the way in which in these other Jewish sources the
U T and/or the breastpiece of judgement has about it the character
of God, his original creation and heavenly world.
Returning to 4Q_392, in line 2 of this text the editor reconstructs
the words ‫ ל ה ח י ד איש לאלהים‬which might be translated "a man to
be united with God". Both context and reconstruction are uncertain,
but the original may here have introduced the theme of man's par-
ticipation in the heavenly realm and God's own life; the unio mys-
Pica. Then there is an intriguing parallelism between the statement
in 4 that God created light and darkness "for himself (‫ ")לו‬and the
statement in line 6 that it was "for the sons of man (‫ ")לבני אדם‬that
he separated them. Essentially the same creative act (described in
Genesis 1:3-5, with the addition of the creation of sun, moon and
stars of Genesis 1:14-19 in line 6) is in view in both statements.
What does this parallelism mean? Does it suggest that by his pur-
poses for humanity God fulfils bis purposes for himself because his

"' Hayward 1995a makes much of the fact that in chapters 26-27 the light-giving
stones are nowhere identified with the U T . This, he suggests, is because Pseudo-
Philo wishes to polemicisc against the view of the U T and the high priest's breast-
piece represented by Sirach 45:11. However, Hayward, I think, overstates Pseudo-Philo's
silence about the Aaronic breastpiece stones and he fails to note that in 28:3 a
light-giving interpretation of the U T is clearly assumed, suggesting that throughout
chapters 26—27 the account of the light giving stones assumes some kind of iden-
lily with the U T . But certainly the inner logic of much of Pseudo-Philo Bib. Ant.
26 is hard to fathom.
236 CHAPTER SEVEN

people are an extension of his own personality in some way?'' Since,

as we have seen in chapter 4 humanity is created to embody God's
38
own Glory and presence, this is a possibility.
The architectural imagery in line 5 ("in his dwelling") and line 9
("servants of the most holy place going out before him") is, first and
foremost, cosmological metaphor: the servants going out from before
God in his holy place will be the meteorological phenomena of the
immediate context and, perhaps, the sun, moon and stars of a con-
pie of lines earlier. But the language also evokes the Templc-as-
microcosm. God's light filled dwelling would, in normal Temple
mythology, be his inner sanctuary. Indeed, the place whence the
ministers set out from before God is called his ‫ דביר‬a word which
in biblical Hebrew is reserved lor the innermosl room of the Solomonic
,
Temple (1 Kings 6:5, 16, 19 32, 31; 2 Chr 4:20 etc ). ‫ יי‬Equally,
though'''there is precedent for meteorological ministers (Psalm 104:4,
cf. 103:21), the language is normally used of the priesthood and we
have seen how in the Tongues of Fire liturgy it is when the high priest
goes out ( 4 ,‫יצא‬Q376 1 ii 1) from the sanctuary that he bears the
(lashing lights of the judgement of UT. The language of 4Q392 is
at least suggestive: just: as the sun, moon and stars bear something
of God's perfect light, does not also the chief priesthood going out
ln
from before him bearing his perfect light in the UT?'
The choice of the word debir is perhaps significant. We know that
in the late Second Temple period this word was related to the root
‫דבר‬, "to speak". Aquila and Symmachus both translate the word
χρηματιστήριον, "place of judgement, divine response" (cf. Vulg oracu-
lutii) on the understanding that the inner chamber of the sanctuary
is the place from which God speaks. There is some evidence that
this sense of the word ‫ ד ב י ר‬was assumed at Qumran since in the
Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice there is the notion that one debir to another
( " 4"‫ ד ב י רלהדביר‬Q 4 0 3 1 ii 14) offers antiphonal praise. With

37
,‫׳‬Compare the creation of the world for Israel in J. Mos. 1:13, for (he right-
eons in 2 Baruch 14:19; 15:7; 21:24; 4 Ezra 9:13 or for all mankind in 4 Ezra 8:1,
44. This text must also have something to do with the interpretation of Genesis 1
which underlies the treatise on the T w o Spirits in 1QS.
3 8
Given these indications of humanity's exalted status I am more inclined than
Falk (DJD 29:3!) to consider the possibility that humanity, not God, is the subject
of the (hypothetical) making o f signs and wonders in line 8.
M
It is possible that word ‫ ד ב ר ו‬is to be restored rather than ‫ ר כ י ר‬. For a defence
of the latter see Falk DJD 29:28.
40
Compare also Sirach 50:5-7 and 4Q468b.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 237

semiotic world in mind the image of ministers who are closely asso-
ciated with the primal light, the sun, moon, stars and lightning going
out from the oracle chamber of God's sanctuary would surely evoke
the role of the high priesthood and its U T .
A firm identification of the word ‫ אורחם‬with the light of the U T
in this text is by no means absolutely certain. For a firmer connec-
(ion between the two we turn to the use of the word in the Hodayol.

The Perfect Light of the UT in the Hodayot

There are two passages in the Hodayot where the word ‫ אורחם‬appears.
The second instance (1Q1T 21:14 118:29] = 4Q427 10 4) comes at
(he climax of a hymn in which the theme of man's worthless frailty
before God, which was touched upon in 4Q392, is developed: the
psalmist has been gathered from dust (20:24), is a creature of clay
(20:26, cf. 21:10-11) who must return to the dust whence he came
(20:26). Before God and his judgement he is nothing (20:27-31;
21:10b 11) and yet unless God works in and through him he
will never be the man he should be (20:32-21:7); he will never "in
(God's) plan, strengthen and establish everything for (God's) Gloiy
(‫( ")להנכיר ולהכין כ ו ל לכבודכה‬21:7).‫ "׳‬But this is now possible because
God has brought him into a covenant and has transformed his car
and heart of dust, and "has inscribed the reality of eternity (‫נהיוח עולם‬
‫ ")חקוחה‬in his heart (21:12) so that he can stand in God's pre-
12
sence (21:13-14), "in the judgements (‫ )בם[שפטי‬of the witnesses
in the fixed place of eternity for the light of perfect light for ever
(‫")כמכון עולם לאור אורחום עה נצח‬.
Through the poetic discourse there shines the experience of mys-
tical transcendence, what some might call a realized eschatology.
43
Earlier, in what is probably the same psalm the speaker, who is
identified as a "maskil" (20:11), proclaims "you have [opjened with

" This divine. Glory should be allowed to include the ways in which the true
humanity, represented by the priesthood is the embodiment of God's Glory. In the
War Scroll it is specifically the job of the priesthood to strengthen the elect (see
chapter 12 below).
n
T h e expression ‫ במ[שפטי ע ר י ם‬is restored from the parallel in 4Q427 10 4.
13
Columns 20 and 21 (formerly 12 and 18:16-33) have traditionally been assigned
to two separate hymns (formerly hymns 19 and 25). But in their newly reconstructed
order there is thematic continuity between the end of one and the beginning of
the other which suggests one long hymn stretches across the two columns.
238 CHAPTER SEVEN

me knowledge of the mystery of your wisdom, and the source of

44
[your] power" (20:13). Given the location of the "perfect light" in
4Q392 and the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice in God's abode, his most
holy place, the "fixed place of eternity" to which the psalmist has
now come to stand is best interpreted as both, simultaneously, heaven
above and the community's sanctuary. Λ concrete liturgical setting
is given at the very beginning of the psalm where, in language which
is closely parallel to 4Q392 1 6-7, the psalmist celebrates his keep-
ing of a liturgy in time with "the course of the day", at the evening
and morning, with the arrival and departure of light and darkness
45
(20:4-8). These are the times of the Tamid offering, when, each
day, the high priesthood enters the sanctuary wearing its breastpiece
and UT.'"' From a passage in the Community Rule which describes the
liturgical life of the community (1QS 10) we know that these times
were of fundamental importance for the daily liturgy:

. . . H e shall bless h i m ' w i t h the times he has decreed: at the begin-

n i n g o f the d o m i n i o n o f light (‫ ) מ מ ש ל ח אור‬, w i t h (‫ )עם‬its t u r n i n g p o i n t
w h e n i t w i t h d r a w s itself to its assigned d w e l l i n g , at the beginning o f
2
the watches o f darkness w h e n he ( G o d ) opens its treasure and spreads
it over (the earth), and at is t u r n i n g p o i n t w i t h (‫ )עם‬its w i t h d r a w i n g
3
itself before the light, w h e n l u m i n a r i e s shine forth f r o m the abode
o f holiness ( ‫ ) כ א ו פ י ע מ א ו ר ו ת מ ז כ ו ל ק ו ד ש‬, w i t h their w i t h d r a w i n g them-
selves to the dwelling o f Glory.

This is not only the time when the Tamid offering would normally
be made it is also the time for the reciting of the Shema at one's ris-
ing and retiring (1QS 10:10 —14b).
Whether or not in 1QIT 20-21 the hymnist, the maskil, is a priest
is not certain, though highly likely. I t is the priesthood, of course,
who has the closest access to God's inner sanctuary wherein the
"perfect light" resides and therefore it is they who are most quali-
lied to claim to be able to stand in its presence. As we might expect

14
*There follows a reference to the majesty o f God's Glory for eternal light (20:15)
which anticipates the language of the U T in 21:14.
45
This list of the cosmologically attuned times of praising is summarized in
20:9-10 with a reference to "the witness of what is and this will be (‫הווה והיאה‬
‫ )ההיה‬and nothing more". Presumably it is this phrase, and the eternal order of the
cosmos described in 20:4—8, to which the "reality of eternity (‫ ")נהיות עולם‬in 21:12
harks back.
46
The "eternal light" of 20:15 will have i n view, in part, the permanently lit
sanctuary menorah which is tended at T a m i d .
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 239

from a reference to the U T of the breastpiece of judgement the speaker

47
stands "in the judgements (‫ )משפטי‬of witnesses". Also consistent with
the role of the U T of Exodus 28:29-30 is the theme of the speaker's
heart in the preceding lines. The speaker has a heart of stone (‫לב‬
21:11,‫האבן‬,cf. line 12-13). Yet God has transformed him, made
him worthy to stand in his presence and has "inscribed the reality
48
of eternity (‫ )נהיות עולם חקוחה‬in the heart [of stone]". The language
is patently paradoxical. It may also function as a poetic reflection
upon Exodus 28:29-30 where Aaron bears upon his heart the breast-
piece of judgement through which God reveals his (eternal) purposes
and upon which there are the twelve stones on which are inscribed
19
the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. A reference to the perfect
light of the U T here confirms such an allusive intcrtextuality.
When in 21:14 there is used the preposition ‫ ל‬before ‫אור אורחום‬
50
this might mean the priest stands in the perfect light. However, the
broken text is best taken as a statement that the speaker has access
to God's presence so that he can be, or that he can manifest, the
51
light of the perfect light. This is what we would expect if there is
some reference in ‫ אורחום‬to the U T : the speaker is a priest whose
job it is to manifest or communicate (ethically? pedagogically? mys-
tically? or in some other way) God's perfect light, the light of the
UT, with which he is contaminated through his access to God's
52
presence.

17
The word ‫ ערים‬here is puzzling (see, DJD 29:117-118). But compare Sirach
45:17 where Aaron, on the basis of Dcut 33:10, is to "teach Jacob the witnesses
(τα μαρτύρια), and to enlighten (φωτίσαι) Israel in his law".
"' For (he root ‫ ח ק ה‬and ‫ ע ו ל ם‬in connection with (he priest's garb see Exodus
28:43.
'"' For the importance of the heart over which the U T are set sec Pscudo-Philo
Bib. Ant. 28:3 where it is said o f the priest (in this case Phinehas) that no one should
speak before "the priest who guards the commandments (‫ )?משפטים‬of the LORD
our God, especially since truth goes forth from his mouth and a shining light from
his heart". Here there is combined the language of Malachi 2:7 and Exodus 28:29-30
with the U T understood as a reference to "light" and "truth".
'·" So Holm-Nielsen 1960, 253; DSSSE 1:195. Cf., for example, Pseudo-Philo Bib.
Ant. 12:1 where Moses, atop M t . Sinai, is "bathed with invisible light" which he
then takes with him in a transformed face to the Israelites below.
s l
Dcleor 1962, 290: "dans le lieu éternel, pour une lumière d'aurore perpétuelle".
''‫ יי‬Further reflection on this material needs to wrestle with a puzzling fact of the
liturgy: according to biblical prescriptions the priesthood never carries the U T into
the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies (cf. Lev 16:4). I f the U T is related to the
perfect light of God's abode this might mean that the abode wherein the perfect
light is situated (in 4Q392 and Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice) is not the innermost sane-
tuary, but its vestibule, where shewbread, mcnorah and incense altar are situated.
240 CHAPTER SEVEN

This is how the perfect light functions in the second Hodayot pas-
sage where the • ‫ א ו ר ח ו‬appears: column 12 [formerly col. 4]. This
column is taken up with a highly polemical contrast between the
righteous life of the community and its leadership over against the
idolatrous life of its persecutors (lines 7-2la). The speaker speaks as
a leader of the community as follows (1QH" 12:5-6b, 21b-25b,
27-33a):

I give you thanks, Ο Lord, because you have illuminated my face for
6
your covenant (!‫ )האירוחה פני לבריחכד‬and [. . .] I seek you. And as
sure as the dawn for perfect light you shine forth for me (‫לאור]חו[ם‬
‫ )לי הופעחה‬. . .
. . . Those (who live) according to your soul (‫ )כנפשכה‬will stand before
you for ever and those who walk in the way of your heart (‫)לדרך לככה‬
22
will be established for evermore. And I , when I cling to you, I
remain* resolute and rise against those who scorn me, and my hand
23
(is) turned against those who deride mc for they do not esteem me
[. . .] you manifest your power in mc (‫ )הנכירכה כי‬and shine forth for
me in your strength for a perfect light (•‫)וחופע לי ככוחכה לאורחו‬. You
24
have not covered in disgrace the face of all those sought by me,
those who unite together for your covenant and those who walk on
the path of your heart have listened to mc, they have arrayed them-
23
selves for you in the council of the holy ones. You will cause their
judgement (‫ )משפטם‬to endure forever and truth (‫ )אמת‬to go forward
unhindered . . .
27
. . . And through me you have illuminated the face of the Many
(‫)בי האירוחה פני רכים‬, and have shown strength times without number,
for you have given me knowledge in/through your wondrous myster-
28
ies. And in your wondrous counsel you have strengthened my post-
tion (‫ )הנכרחה עמדי‬and worked wonders before the Many for the sake
29
of your Glory (‫)כבודכה‬, and to show to all the living your powerful
acts. What is flesh compared to this? What is a creature of clay to
m
magnify wonders? He is in inicjuity ' from the womb and in the guilt
of faithlessness until old age. But I know that justice docs not belong
to man and a perfect path (‫ )חום דרך‬docs not belong to a son of man.
31
To God Most High belong all the works of righteousness and the
way of man is not established except by the spirit which God creates
32
'!for him to perfect the way (‫ )להחם דרך‬for the sons of men so that
they may understand all his deeds by his mighty power and the mul-
titude of his mercies over all the sons of his good will.

This, in fact, fits the fact that in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice the word ‫א ו ר ת ו ם‬
occurs, not in the climax o f the liturgy, when the throne room has been en-
tered, but in the earlier song which are set in the outer spheres of the heavenly
sanctuary.
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 241

In its own right this passage is an important witness to the theme

we are tracing throughout this study: the transcendence of an ordi-
nary human identity for the righteous. The anthropology is thor-
oughly eccentric and this creates something of a duality (I hesitate
to use the word "dualism") between God, his power, and humanity
and its powerlcssness in independence of God. But this is not an
absolute duality (a "dualism" in that sense), since God places in the
righteous his spirit (line 31) by which they might know and live in
his power. When this happens the righteous transcends his mortal-
ity, he is no more simply a "creature of clay" or confined to the
realm of "flesh" (29), but he now lives "according to God's soul"
and walks in the way of God's heart (line 21). Those who have this
new life have an inviolability and stability of existence which approaches
eternal life (lines 22—23). Lines 27-29 should perhaps be taken to
mean that the psalmist claims that in his new spirit-filled life he now
mediates God's wondrous powerful works. I f there is a dualism
between creator and creature here it is a weak one, which is to be
overcome as the righteous creature is taken up into the life of the
creator.
There arc, further, several features of this text which merit com-
mcnt. In the first place, we should note that the language in line
27—"through me you have illuminated the face of the M a n y
(‫—")כי האירוחה פני רכים‬means the speaker is, in all probability, a
priest. The language here (cf. 11:3 and 4:5 [3:3; 12:5]) is almost iden-
deal to that used of the high priest in lQSb 4:7: he also was "to illumi-
nate the face of the Many (‫")לחאיר פני רבים‬. There we have seen both
the influence of the Aaronic blessing (Num 6:25) and the role of the
light-giving U T . The significance of the U T is in any case evident
throughout this Hodoyal passage. Sukcnik reconstructed a reference
to the perfect light (‫[ם‬1‫ )אור]ח‬of the U T at the beginning of the
53
psalm, where illumination of the psalmist's own face is also in view.
His reconstruction has been universally accepted. The word also
appears in line 23, shortly before the statement of the psalmist's role
in illuminating the face of the Many. In the rest of the hymn the
celebration of pslamist's exalted position evokes language and ideas
related to the U T : in line 25 there is mention of judgement (‫)משפם‬
and truth (‫ )אמח‬and in lines 30-31 there arc two instances of the

5:1
Sukcnik 1955, pl. X X X V I I I .
242 CHAPTER SEVEN

root ‫חום‬. I n line 24-25 the psalmist speaks of his teaching respon-
sibility, as we might expect given the significance given to those who
bear the U T as teachers within Israel.
Clearly, then, the psalmist here is a priest whose office is thor-
oughly bound up with the U T . His transcendence of ordinary mor-
tality is also related, as we might expect from lQSb 4, to his contact
with the U T . I n 12:5 the psalmist's own face is illuminated by the
perfect light of the dawn of God's appearance. But in 12:27 the
pslamist has become so suffused with this perfect light that he now
illuminates the face of the Many. His mediatorial responsibility is
much the same as Moses' in 4Q374 and 4Q377: his shining face is
God's shining face and his use of the U T displays God's own per-
feet light.
The language of lines 22b-23b is also suggestive of another way
in which ihe priest embodies God's presence. In 23b the psalmist
uses the verb ‫ יפע‬of God's appearance. This is usually given a
metaphorical sense (Vermes "Thou hast revealed Thyself"; DSSSE
"you . . . reveal yourself"), however the mention of "perfect light" in
what follows suggests we should take seriously its literal sense "to
34
shine forth". We should also pay careful attention to the use of
this word in the Hebrew Bible. Apart from several peculiar instances
in Job (3:4; 10:3, 22, cf. 37:15) the verb is consistently used for the
shining forth of the divine warrior from his mountain dwelling, from
his enthroned position in his sanctuary. In Deuteronomy 33:2 God
"shone forth (‫ )הופיע‬from Mount Paran, with his myriads of holy
ones", in the psalms God is praised as the one who "shines forth
(‫)הופיע‬, out of Zion" (50:2) whence he is entreated to shine forth
(‫ )הופיע‬as the "the God of vengeance" (94:1) who is "enthroned
upon the cherubim" (80:1). In 1QS 10:1-3, similarly, it is for the
dominion of light (‫ )ממשלה אור‬that the luminaries shine forth (‫באופיע‬
‫ )מאורות‬from the holy habitation (‫)מזבול קודש‬. We can be confident that
it is this very precise sense of divine manifestation which is in view
in ,lQFP 12:23. First, the psalmist says "you shine forth in your
strength"; that is the strength of the divine warrior. Secondly, as we
have seen, elsewhere in the scrolls God's perfect light, for which here
God shines forth, is the supernal pre-creation light of God which is

5 4
Cf. Holm-Nielsen 1960, 8 0 - 8 1 . The context in 17:26 [9:26]; 1 Q S 10:2; 4 Q 4 2 7
7 i i 4 also suggests a literal meaning of the shining forth of light, though some
instances could be more metaphorical (e.g. 1QH" 19:26).
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 243

manifest in the heavenly sanctuary, in close proximity to the Holy

of Holies of God's inner dwelling. The use of the expression perfect
light with reference to God's shining forth thus confirms that the
author of the psalm knows full well that this is no ordinary revela-
tion of divine power, but, quite specifically, the glorious revelation
of God from his sanctuary.
All this is relevant to our discussion because of the possibility that
God's shining forth as the enthroned warrior reflects the action of
the psalmist himself. We saw in chapters 1, 3 and 6 that the appear-
ance of the high priest from the sanctuary could be viewed as a cul-
tic instantiation of the appearance of the divine warrior from heaven.
This is, for example, reflected in Sirach 50:5-7 where the high priest
Simon "gazes forth" from the house of the curtain with all the glory
of the sun, moon, stars and rainbow; an epiphany which could very
a
well be described as one of complete, or perfect light. In 1 Q H 12 the
shining forth of the divine warrior is first and foremost that of God
himself: God shines forth for (‫ )ל‬the psalmist. But the benefit of God's
own theophany is then effective in the life of the psalmist. The
psalmist "rises against" those who scorn him, his hand is against
those who deride him (line 22), God's power is manifest in him (line
23) and with God's perfect light he now illuminates the Many. The
poetic language is allusive and unsystematic but the conceptual world
55 a
we sketched in chapter 3 is clearly assumed. And, indeed, i f l Q H
21:14 is to be read with 1QH* 12:23 then the former follows logi-
cally from the latter: God shines forth for the priest in perfect strength
(12:23) "for perfect light", so that the priest himself can embody the
power and light of God himself and his dominion—the "dominion
of light".

The Iheophanic Presence of the Light Going Headdress (4Q408)

At this point the recently published fragmentary Cave 4 text 4Q408—

which has been judged a further copy of the text containing the
liturgy of the Tongues of Fire (1Q29 + 4Q376) accompanying the high

5 3
Some precedent for the use o f the root ‫ יפע‬for the high priest himself might
be found in the use of the cognate noun ‫ יפעה‬used of the brightness of the prince
of Tyre in Ezek 28:7, 17. Is it a coincidence that it is as the wearer of the high
priest's stones that this mortal is ascribed such brightness?
244 CHAPTER SEVEN

priest's operation of the UT—has a bearing on our discussion. The

largest fragment of this text (frag. 3 + 3a) reads as follows:

3. ] Israel H e created for the c o m m u n i t y (‫)?()ליחד‬

4. ] h to a l l Israel, w h e n they see[
5. w h e n ] the turbans o f his G l o r y shine f o r t h f r o m the h o l [ y ] abode
( ‫ [ ) ב [ ה פ י ע פ א ר י כ ב ד ו מ ז ב ו ל ק ד ] ש‬w i l l ] answer all
6. Bles[sed are y o u , Ο LORD, w h o are righteous i n all Y o u r ways,
[stjrong w i t h force ( ‫ ) ה ] נ [ ב ר ] כ ח‬, k [ m d i n ] Y o u r j u d g e m e n t s ( ‫ ) ב מ ש [ פ ם ־ ך‬,
trustworthy
7. i n a pi ] wise w i t h a p i in] sight, the y o u t h i n all strength ( ‫ה נ ע ר ]ב[ כ ל‬
6
'•,(‫גבורה‬ w h o guides to cause to b r i n g out the [
8. that is Y o u have created the m o r n i n g as a sign causing the d o m i n -
i o n o f l i g h t to shine f o r t h (‫ ) א ת ה ב ק ר א ו ת ל ה ו פ י ע מ מ ש ל ח אור‬for the
b o u n d a r y ( ‫ ) ל נ ב ו ל‬o f the dav br\
9. for their w o r k / s e r v i c e ( ‫ ) ל ע כ ד ת ם‬i n order to bless Y o u r h o l y n a m e
w h e n they see that the l i g h t is g o o d a n d w h e n wb[ ] because i n a l l [
10. ] as y o u crcaftcd] the evening as a sign o f the causing the d o m i n -
ion( ‫ ״‬f darkness(?)] to shine forth (‫) א ת ה ע ר ב א ו ת ל ה ו פ י ע מ ם ש ל ח ן ' חושך‬
I L ] f r o m w o r k to bless ]your holy name w h e n ] they see [

The text is badly preserved and so some of the readings are uncer-
tain. But, for our purposes, the sense of the relevant lines is clear.
Lines 8-11 refer to the changes between day and night, which are
marked by the evening and morning. As we have seen in the Com-
munily Rule these boundaries have a quite specific liturgical signifi-
5/
cance (1QS 10:1—3). The daytime is given cosmological significance
as the "dominion of light" and line 10 may have spoken of the night
58
as the "dominion of darkness". The worship of the community at
these times is, obviously, that of Tamid, although whether the text
envisages simply the prayers that accompany Tamid in the land, the

: r
' ' This is the editor's reading of the Hebrew of a badly damaged line, which
she translates "who (are) shaking off with all(?) strength". I have translated her ‫ה נ ע ר‬
as "youth" as an alternative possibility. I f it is not just God but also the high priest
who is in view here and God is manifest i n the high priest as a "youth" then this
might anticipate the identification of the Urpricst Enoch-Mctatron as "the youth"
in merkabah mysticism (e.g. 3 Enoch 3:2). There is perhaps also the influence here of
Psalm 19:6 i n the expression ‫ ה נ ע ר ב כ ל נ מ ר ה‬.
5 7
Daniel Κ. Falk (2000, 119-120) has suggested that 4Q408 contains Blessings
which are liturgically related to those used for the reciting of the Shema. He finds
evidence in 1QS 10:10—14b for the use of Benedictions along with the Shema (pp.
115-123).
3 8
Although it is not obvious how the "dominion of darkness" could be said to
"shine forth".
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 245

liturgy in the Temple accompanying genuine sacrifices or a metaphor-

ical reinterpretation of the second of these two, is not clear.
For us it is line 5 which is all important. Annette Steudel, the
text's editor, has translated this line "when the adornments of His
59
glory shine out from the hol[y] abode". Following a note by Joseph
60
M . Baumgarten, she reckons that 1QS 10:2-3, which describes the
sectarian's commitment to worship in synch with the daily move-
ments of the heavenly bodies, through day and night, evening and
61
morning, "is the key parallel to this line". Certainly, given the lines
that follow in 4Q408 frag. 3, this is the text's liturgical context and
there is an important parallel between the "shining forth" of the
"dominion of light" in line 8 and the "shining forth of the ‫פארי‬
‫ " כ ב ד ו‬in line 5. Accordingly, she concludes that " ‫ פארי כ ב ת‬equals
62
‫ מ א ו ת ת‬of 1QS X 3, i.e. they are the luminaries".
But this interpretation suffers one serious flaw. Steudel thinks that
3
"the meaning of P'RY (KBDW) is difficult.'"' Not being able to make
sense of the phrase on the biblical meaning of the word ‫ פ א ר‬, "head-
dress, turban" (e.g. (Isa 3:20; 61:10; Ezek 24:17, 23), she appeals to
64
a later, rabbinic meaning: "ornament, magnificence, adornment".
But, a proper consideration of the biblical use of the language here
should have caused no trouble. I n biblical texts the word ‫ פ א ר‬means
"headdress" and in Exodus 39:28 it appears in the plural construct
form as an important part of the high priest's headgear: "the tur-
ban (‫ )המצנפת‬of fine linen, and the turbaned headdresses of fine linen
(‫( ")פארי המגבעת שט‬cf. Ezek 44:18). It is only as a part of this priestly
attire that the word appears elsewhere in Q L . I n 1 Q M 7:11 the
priestly "garments for battle" include "turbaned headdresses (‫פרי‬
‫")מגבעות‬. Given that here, in 4Q408, they are ‫ פארי כ כ ת‬we can be
sure that both the Exodus 39:28 text and the attire of the high
priesthood is in mind. Elsewhere in the description of the high priest's
vestments in Exodus, the ‫ מגבעות‬are to be made for Glory (‫ )לכבוד‬and

59
DJD 36:306. Cf. Steudel 1994, 321: "to] cause to appear His magnificent glory
from . . ." DSSSE "when] the adornments of his glory appear from . . .".
6 0
Baumgarten 1997, 143.
61
DJD 36:307.
62
DJD 36:307. Steudel 1994, 323 n. 40 wonders whether ‫ פ א ר י‬is not a scribal
error for ‫ מ א ר י‬which would then be parallel to the ‫ מ א ו ר ו ת‬of 1QS 10:3.
63
Steudel 1994, 323.
'‫ יי‬Steudel 1994, 323. For the meaning "ornaments" in rabbinic Hebrew see Jas-
trow 1903, 1131.
246 CHAPTER SEVEN

for beauty (‫( )לתפארת‬Exod 28:40). Etymologically, the word ‫" פ א ר‬tur-
65
ban" is an Egyptian loan word, though for the Qpmran commu-
nity it will have been associated with the root ‫ פ א ר‬, "to beautify,
glorify" and the word ‫תפארת‬, which, as we have seen, was such an
important part of the rhetoric of priestly transcendence. That the
turbaned headresses of the high priest should be so associated with
God's Glory is entirely consistent with the stream of priestly theol-
66
ogy which we have already charted.
For Steudel's translation and interpretation there is little warrant.
Instead, line 5 of 4Q408 3 is best taken as a brief description of the
exit of the high priest from the sanctuary. His shining forth is both
like that of the biblical divine warrior and the light of the morning
sun which brings with it the "dominion of light". In 4Q408 the high
priest's own iridescent shining forth fits with the Tongues of Fire pas-
sage of the same text (see frag. 11 and DJD 36:312-313) where the
focus is on his shining stones. That this liturgical collection should
also be interested in the iridescence of the high priest's headgear is
consistent with another passage in Josephus' Antiquities. I n his expia-
nation of the symbolic power of the various parts of the priestly
clothing he says (Ant. 3:186-187):
And the headdress seems to me to demonstrate heaven, being made
blue (otherwise it would not have borne upon it the Name of God),
with a shining (ήγλαϊσμένον) crown—a crown, moreover, of Gold,
because of the splendour (την αύγην), in which the Deity most rejoices.

This interpretation also fits the fact that the turbans of God's Glory
shine forth from God's holy abode, his ‫זבול ק ד ש‬. I n the parallel to
this text in the Community Rule (10:3), where "the luminaries shine
forth from the holy habitation (‫")מזבול קודש‬, the meaning is obvi-
ously strictly cosmological. But Israel's Temple is also God's ‫זבול‬
(1 Kings 8:13, 2 Chr 6:2), and it is safe to assume that the specifi-
cally biblical picture is in view since it is from there that there comes
a picture of the priesthood emerging from God's habitation sur-
rounded by the clouds of Glory:

And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of
the LORD, . . . Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would

65
H A L 3:908.
66 j r (-j^g multilayered nature of, and therefore plurality within, the high priest's
o r

turban see Josephus Ant. 3:172—78.

 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 247

dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house (‫)זבל בית‬,
a place for you to dwell in forever (1 Kings 8:10, 12-13, cf. 2 Chr
5:11; 6:1-2).

Already in the biblical text the identification of Israel's sanctuary as

God's ‫ זבל‬is a cosmological statement grounded in the Temple-as-
microcosm theology. In 4Q408 frag. 3 the overtly cosmological con-
text of lines 8—10 is entirely compatible with a Temple reading of
line 5: (unless a change of subject is intended in the damaged lines
6-7) the appearance of the priesthood from the sanctuary at the
Tamid, morning (and evening) sacrifice, is here set in liturgical par-
allelism with the appearance (and disappearance?) of the sun—God's
"dominion of light"—on the horizon. Within the drama of the cult,
the logic is patent: the high priest represents, or embodies, the sun
and so his appearance from the sanctuary (heaven) is perfectly timed
67
to coincide with the appearance of the sun at the break of day.
The liturgical realities of the scene arc not hard to envisage and
these various texts demand our sympathetic imagination: the high
priest enters the sanctuary for the offering of the Tamid sacrifice
dressed in his full regalia. His sacrifice, and the tending of the tern-
pie lampstand which is associated with it, somehow guarantees the
stability of the primal boundary between day and night, light and
darkness. Having performed his duties, the high priest appears from
the sanctuary wearing brightiy coloured stones on his breastpiece
and shoulders, with engraved eyes whence light is meant to pour
forth. On his head there is, according to Josephus, a blue turban
which symbolises heaven itself, and there is also a golden crown.
The sanctuary, of course, faces east and so as the high priest emerges
the sunlight catches the golden crown and the jewels (which reflect
all the colours of the rainbow). The high priest is at once the glory of the
heavenly bodies and the Glory of the divine warrior himself. The symbolic
logic is patent to anyone remotely acquainted with Israel's temple
cosmology.
In a text such as 1QIT 12 the imagery is unsystematic and, as
befits its poetic form, allusive. But there can be no doubt that the
a
theophanic shining forth of God in strength for perfect light in 1 Q H
12:23 is language which deliberate evokes the movement of the priest

6 7
Cf. esp. Sirach 50:5—7 and the discussion o f the Greek text of 50:5, where
Simon's appearance from the sanctuary is part of a cosmological procession (περί-
στροφή), i n Fletcher-Louis 2001b.
248 CHAPTER SEVEN

himself as one who has been drawn up into the liturgical grammar
of the language of creation.

The UT, the High Priest' Breastpiece and the .Name "Essenes"

Our discussion of the U T in this chapter has partly been by way

of an excursus. We have seen how in a couple of passages the lan-
guage and ideas surrounding the U T may be associated with an
exalted liturgical theological anthropology. However, our main aim
has been to demonstrate just how far the community are interested
in the U T and its breastpiece, per se. This is because we will come
to consider in the next few chapters another liturgical text, the Songs
of the Sabbalh Sacrifice, where an appreciation of the significance of
these priestly accoutrements will be essential for a right interpréta-
tion of a text which celebrates, in no uncertain terms, the cmbodi-
ment of God's Glory in the community's high priesthood.
The number of texts dedicated to the U T in the Qumran library,
both of the community's own composition and by way of traditions
shared with other Jews of the period, attests the significance of the
priesdy oracle for the community. The peculiar Qumran word ‫אורתום‬
is particularly significant because it shows a mystical, second order,
reflection on the oracle which is both allusive in its extant literary
form and without direct parallel in Jewish texts from outside of the
Qumran community. Although some have commented briefly on the
way in which the U T are retained as a valid form of "divination"
68
within Essene practice and belief, it is surprising that, hitherto no
thoroughgoing investigation of the community's interest in the U T
has been offered.
This is surprising because of the likelihood that the community's
interest in the priestly oracle offers the key to their name, Essenes,
in the classical sources. In the classical sources (Philo, Josephus, Pliny
et al) the community at the Dead Sea to which the Qumran scrolls
witness are called both Έσσηνοί (Josephus B.J. 2:119, 160; 5:145,
Ant. 13:171-2, 298, 311 (some mss); 15:372-3, 378; 18:11; 18:18;
69
Vita 10, cf. Pliny Mat. Hist. 5.17.4 (73) "Esseni") and Έσσαίοι (Jose-

68
Lange 1997; Martinez 1999b, 307-309.
65
See also D i o of Prusa in Synesius of Cyrcnc, Dio 3, 2 and Hippolytus of Rome
Refutation of all Heresies 9.18 and Epiphanius Panarion Hacr. 10:1-5 (Έσσηνοί) 19:5
 T H E H I G H PRIESTS' B R E A S T P I E C E AND T H E URIM AND THUMMIM 249

phus B.J. 1:78; 2:567; 3:11; Ant 13:311 (some mss); 15:371; 17; 346;
70
Philo Quod omnis probus 8.12.75, 91; Hypolhetka 8.6.1). Over the years
numerous explanations of the name(s) of the community in the clas-
sical sources have been offered, though none has won universal
71
assent.
Josephus' preference for the word Έσσηνοί (over the word Έσσαίοι
preferred by Philo) presents an attractive possibility: Josephus also
uses the word Έσσήν as a transliteration of the Hebrew ]©Π, the
breastpiece of Exodus 28:22-30, which carries the U T (Ant. 3:171,
185, 216-7). Josephus nowhere explicidy says the Essenes were so
called because they had a particular interest in the but this is
perhaps implicit in his use of the same word for both. This con-
ncclion between (lie Essenes and the breastpiece has long been noted,
72
but several objections to its relevance have been lodged.
How would this explain the name Έσσαίοι which is known by
both Josephus and Philo? Geza Vermes has objected to this ety-
mology on the grounds that Josephus "expressly states that the essen
ceased to shine two hundred years before his book was composed
'because of God's displeasure at the transgression of the laws'" and
that Josephus nowhere explicitly makes the connection between the
3
two words.' We might also wonder how the vowels of Josephus'
Έσσηνοί/ arc derived from the vocalization (lösen of the Hebrew ‫חטן‬,
if the pointing of the Massoretes is to be trusted.
Ideally, an explanation of the title of the movement in the clas-
sical sources should certainly explain all its forms. However, the over-
whelming evidence for Essene interest in the high priest's oracle
demands that we take seriously the linguistic connection implicit in
Josephus, even if the distinct form Έσσαίοι has to be explained scp-
aratcly. Although it is true that the connection is only implicit in
Josephus it is noteworthy that in his writings their members are
renown lor their prophetic powers (Ant. 13:311; 15:373-379; 17:346-48)
and are said to have made investigations of "the properties of stones"

('Οσσηνοί). For accessible collections of the classical sources see Adam and Bur-
chard 1972 and Vermes and Goodman 1989.
70
Cf. Hegesippus Hypomnemula in Eusebius Eat. Hist. 4.22.7 and the form 'Οσσαίοι
in Epiphanius Puliation Ilaer. 19 and 20.
‫ '׳‬For reviews of the question see Vermes 1975b; J.J. Collins in ABD 2:620; Beall
1988, 36-37; Grabbe 1992, 496-7.
2
' For what follows see esp. Vermes 1975b.
75
Vermes 1975b, 12.
250 CHAPTER SEVEN

74
(B.J. 2:136). The relevance of the fact that Josephus says that the
essen had ceased to shine two hundred years earlier is far from obvi-
ous. O n the one hand the point may be no more than an histori-
cist irrelevance: Josephus is talking, presumably, about mainstream,
Second (Jerusalem) Temple (based) Judaism, not the beliefs and prac-
tices of a marginal group of Jews based by the Dead Sea. Josephus'
dating of the loss of the U T two hundred years prior to his writing
is best explained as an example of his view that it was with John
Hyrcanus' death (104 B.C.) that the end of the Hasmonean golden
age began. In fact, indirectly, his statement would corroborate the
view that the Essenes separated from mainstream Judaism (c. 250-200
years before Josephus' Antiquities) because they believed the Jerusalem
Temple to be defiled, and the defining element of divine presence
therein, the U T , to be missing.
Although the full publication of 1Q29 + 4Q376 has latterly rcawak-
ened an interest in the connection between the name Essenes and
75
the breastpiece, it is strange that no one, to my knowledge, has
made anything of the fact (hat the word ‫ השן‬appears in a promi-
nent liturgical position in the climactic X l l l t h Song of the Songs of
the Sabbath Sacrifice. In llQShirShabb (11Q17) ix, 6, which belongs
to the thirteenth and final song, there is a reference, in a broken
context, to "the structure of the breastpieces (‫ )תשני‬of. . .". We shall
return to this passage in chapter 11 and show the central position
of the breastpiece in this liturgy.
For now, two observations add further weight to the connection
between the occurrence of ‫ השן‬here and Josephus' Έσσηνοί. The first
point is that as it occurs in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice the word
is a plural. It is just possible that this is a plural of majesty, but much
more likely (as we shall see) that this mystical liturgy really envis-
ages more than one breastpiece worn by more than one high priest.
This is the peculiar Qumran practice which we would expect from
4QpIsa'' (and 4Q175). Secondly, we should note that, whilst there
is a predilection for the plene spelling within Qumran orthography,
including both Cave 4 and Cave 11 copies of the Songs of the Sab-

4
' See Zeitlin 1962, vol. I , 188-89; Baumgarten 1976, 62 n. 13.
75
See e.g. Collins in ABD 2:620 who comments in the light of 1Q29 and 4Q376:
"An association of the name Essene with the priestly essen is an intriguing possibil-
ity, but no more".
 THE HIGH PRIESTS' BREASTPIECE AND THE URIM AND THUMMIM 251

bath Sacrifice, we would have expected ‫חושני‬, not ‫ חשני‬were the word
vocalized /lösen at Qumran. The Qumran community, like Josephus,
evidently spoke of the hisen as their eponymous Greek name would
76
suggest.
Whether the community's interest in the breastpiece can explain
the alternative form of their name in the classical sources—Έσσαίοι
will have to wait for our discussion of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacri-
fice. For now it is enough to be sure that the name Έσσηνοί was
given to the movement based at Khirbet Qumran because of their
peculiar fascination with the priestly oracle of judgement, its role in
liturgy, communal decision making, the teaching and judicial author-
ity of the priesthood and mystical reflection upon the intimate bond
between priesthood and God's own presence. All this was well known
10 non-Qumran Jews who, at least when speaking Greek, justly
77
dubbed the movement's members "Essenes". All this would have
been lost on Josephus' Greek speaking readership for whom the con-
nection between the priestly breastpiece and Essenes was never
explained.

7 6
Gf. Newsom 1985, 347; DJD 1 1:374 and the editors comments in DJD 23:266.
‫ יי‬I t is also possible that the use of the word in Έσσήν for a priest of Artemis
added a certain polemical note to the name given the movement by non-members.
For this connection see Jones 1985 and Kampen 1986.
 CHAPTER EIGHT

T H E SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE

Introduction

The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, or Angelic Liturgy, is one of the

most significant previously unknown Jewish works to be discovered
among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is a liturgy written "for the maskiF
to be used on thirteen consecutive Sabbaths of one quarter of the
solar year and is devoted, as far as wc can tell, entirely to the wor-
ship of an angelic priestly community in a cultic setting whose ani-
mate architecture and furniture is described in intimate detail. The
X l t h and X l l t h Songs are devoted to chariots {merkabol) of the heav-
enly realm in reliance on biblical accounts of the vision of God's
chariot throne (esp. Ezekiel 1). It is obviously, in some sense of the
word, a "mystical" liturgy and since the first announcement of its
discovery by J. Strugnell in 1957 it has been seized upon by stu-
dents of the history of Jewish mysticism as a potentially early wit-
ness to the kind of religious experience later attested in the Hekhalot
1
Literature.
Whatever its precise place in the history of Jewish mysticism,
angelology and liturgy the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice was a text of
considerable importance to the Qumran community whose solar
calendar it presumes. Eight copies have emerged from Cave 4
(4Q400-407) and one from Cave 11 (11Q17) providing sufficient
material for a reconstruction of extensive sections of the liturgy.
These manuscripts range in date from the late Hasmonean period
(4Q400: 75-40 B.C.) to the Herodian script of the turn of the eras
(11Q17), though it is quite conceivable that the liturgy was com-
posed earlier in the second century B.C. An assessment of the liturgy's

' For its role in the discussion of Jewish mysticism see especially the 2nd edition
of G. Scholem's Jewish Gnosticism (1965, 128); Grucnwald 1980, 41; Rowland 1982,
86, 221; SchiiTman 1982; Newsom 1985, 16, 19, 5 0 - 5 1 , 56; Baumgarten 1988;
Hamacher 1996 and note the several recent discussions (MorrayJones 1998; Fletcher-
Louis 1998; Davila 1999b; Lieber 2000) of the Sabbath Songs'm the Early Jewish
and Christian Mysticism Group at American meetings of the Society of Biblical Likralute.
 THE saves OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 253

socio-religious life setting is complicated by the fact that a copy,

dated on palaeographical grounds c. 50 A . D . , has turned up in the
ruins of Masada (Mas 1 k). This must mean that the use of the Sabbath
Songs was not confined to Qumran. Either the liturgy is of pre-
Qumran provenance or, alternatively, the Qumran community and
its movement represented a significant proportion of those révolu-
tionaries who lost their lives at Masada in A.D. 73. Either way the
Sabbath Songs is a liturgy of considerable importance in understand-
ing both the priestly theology of the late Second Temple period and
the Qumran community.
A discussion of the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice belongs in this study
if for no other reason than that it can serve as a control in the test-
ing of the hypothesis which the rest of this study aims to confirm:
if at Qumran there was a theological anthropology which gave to the righteo
an angelic or divine identity, and if that anthropology was anchored in the th
ologv and experience of the cult then the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice is
the one place we should to expect such an anlhropology 10 manifest itself.

Newsom's Interpretative Paradigm and its Problems

The Qumran Cave 4 Sabbath Songs material was originally allotted

to John Strugnell, and he made a very preliminary publication with
comments in 1960. Full publication (with translations, commentary
and interpretation) has been the responsibility of Strugnell's student
Carol Newsom. Whilst the Cave 11 material has been handled by
Adam S. van der Woude (1982) along with his student Eibert C.
Tigchelaar (DJD 23 (1998)), Newsom also collaborated with Y. Yadin
for the publication of the Masada copy of the Songs (1984). Newsom's
doctoral work was published in 1985 as the first full critical edition
of all the extant texts, and this seived as the basis for her edilio prin-
2
ceps in the DJD scries.
Although since the eventual publication of Newsom's 1985 criti-
3
cal editions, numerous studies of the Sabbath Songs have been made,
by and large Newsom's thorough editorial work and commentary
along with her extensive introduction and interpretation have been

2
She is also responsible for the edition published in the series edited by James
H . Charlesworth (1991).
3
See the bibliographies in Hamacher 1996, 152-53; Davila 2000, 93-94.
254 CHAPTER EIGHT

unchallenged. She has bequeathed to all those who have tried to

make sense or use of this rather difficult text generally accepted con-
ceptual parameters and interpretative conclusions. Newsom herself
has changed her mind about the text's sectarian provenance since
4
her 1985 edition, and many have added valuable details to her com-
mentary, but the conceptual parameters of her interpretation of the
text have, broadly speaking, remained unchanged.
In the next three chapters I intend to challenge the exegetical
basis for her conceptual parameters at several key points and to offer
a rather different reading of the Songs based on some detailed exe-
gesis of key passages. The first step towards that task is an overview
of some of the key interpretative decisions Newsom has made, their
problems and the opportunities opened up by their re-evalualion.

(a) A Dualistic Cosmology

The Sabbath Songs describe in intimate and fascinating detail the wor-
ship of heavenly priests in a temple whose structures are themselves
animate participants in the adoration of their divine creator. Sometimes
the heavenly beings are explicitly called to worship (esp. the Vlth—
VHIth Songs) and at other times there is simply a description of a
particular part of the heavenly temple and its activity. What is the
modern reader to make of all this? Who are the heavenly priests?
Where are the structures of the heavenly temple? Are they simply
in the imaginations of the human worshippers? Or arc they mani-
fest in concrete physical structures, buildings or tents erected by the
Qumran community and those who took their last stand at Masada?
Apart from the obvious presence of the maskil who recites each
song the only universally accepted reference to the human commu-
nity as participants in the liturgy is a brief passage which probably
belongs to the Und Song where, in familiar Qumran fashion, the
human worshippers lament their unworthiness before the divine
beings: "how shall we be considered [among] them? And how shall
dur priesthood (be considered) in their dwellings? . . . [What] is the
offering of our tongues of dust (compared) with the knowledge of
the g[ods?" (4Q400 2 5-7). Otherwise, Newsom—and all have fol-
lowed her in this—thinks that every other worshipper and active
participant in the liturgy referred to by the maskil is an otherworldly

4
See Newsom 1990.
 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 255

being. At no other point are the human community mentioned.

Besides the angels, elim, elohim, cherubim, ophannim, spirits and living elo
him, all the chiefs, priests, princes, ministers, holy ones and digni-
taries are suprahuman beings. Although the belief that the Qumran
community is itself an Ersatz Temple offering prayers, praise and
obedience as a substitute for the sacrifices of the Temple is well
attested, Newsom thinks that the structures, the physical space which
the heavenly community occupies is above and beyond that of the
human community. There is no genuinely egalitarian Engelgemeinschaft
here, despite the popularity of that theme in Qumran spirituality:
the human community members are an "audience", mystical voyeurs,
5
of a cult which only corresponds to the earthly institutions.
So Newsom's interpretative framework is essentially dualistic. She
assumes that the heavenly cult inhabited by heavenly beings is qual-
itatively and spatially above (in a quasi-platonic sense) the real world
of the Qumran community and its worshippers. " I t is virtually cer-
tain that the seven chief princes [of the V l t h song] are to be identified
6
with the seven archangels". Newsom's confidence in this respect is
not deterred by the fact that the seven archangels of later Jewish
7
angelology are not a feature of Qumran theology. And, despite the
lavish piling up of angelic epithets throughout the songs the names
of the archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Sariel, Raphael et al.) never
8
appear. The expression of mortal frailty and inadequacy in 4Q400
2 sums up the anthropology assumed for the whole liturgy: human
beings have "tongues of dust" which are not worthy of actual par-
ticipation in the praise of the heavenly realm. She does not con-
sider, even to reject, the possibility that some of the heavenly beings

5
See esp. 1985, 64. A t times, it is true, that Newsom speaks of the Songs effecting
a sense of community with the angels, but it is not the fully participatory fellow-
ship described in lQSb and, most importantly, the language of the songs refers to
suprahuman angels, not to human beings.
1;
1985, 34.
' The War Scroll knows only four archangels ( 1 Q M 9:14-16). Outside o f the more
clearly sectarian corpus of texts there are seven archangels in 1 Enoch 20 (Ethiopie),
though without an extant Aramaic version at this point we can't be sure these seven
were known to the Qumran community.
8
Newsom's restoration of the name Melchizedek at 4Q401 11 3 and 22 3 (1985,
37; DJD 205, 213) is possible, but by no means certain. Given our discussion of
11 QMelchizedek in chapter 6, the presence of the personal name Melchizedek
(rather than a Michael, Gabriel, Uriel or Raphael) would be entirely consistent with
the presence of transformed, angelic human participants in the liturgy one or more
of whom might fill the office he established according to Psalm 110.
256 CHAPTER EIGHT

to whom the maskil refers are actually the laity or the priesthood of
the Qumran community in their transformed, heaveidy, ?node.
Not only is this dualism out of keeping with the Qumran com-
munity's integration of human and divine spheres in the liturgical
context which we have examined in previous chapters, it also ere-
ates a number of interpretative difficulties for the Songs.
(1) First, there are words and expressions for which an angelic ref-
erent is unprecedented. The songs attest unsurprising references to
angels as ‫מלאכים‬, cherubim, ophannim. References to heavenly beings
as ‫ אלים‬and ‫ אלוהים‬are not entirely without precedent but are strik-
9
ing nonetheless. Besides these angelic tides the songs contain a bewil-
dering array of terms which are either rarely or nowhere else in
ancient Jewish angelological texts used of angels. They are terms
drawn from Biblical cultic, political or military terminology and are
1
otherwise ^always used of human beings. "
So, for example, the songs are preoccupied with heavenly priests
(‫)כוהנים‬. Although Jewish angelology sometimes describes angels in
priestly and cultic terms "the term ‫כוהן‬, or its equivalents in Greek,
Ethiopie, etc., is not explicitly used of angels in other Qumran texts
in apocryphal compositions, or in rabbinic literature" as Newsom
admits." We encounter numerous references to heavenly begins as
"‫"נשיאים‬, for which Newsom has been unable to find a parallel use
n
for angels before the late magical text Sefer Ha-Razim. The word is
widely used in biblical texts and later rabbinic parlance as a politi-
cal title. In the plural it is used of the leaders of the twelve tribes
of the cultic community (Numbers 2, 7, 34); which has then inspired
its use in the War Scroll (e.g. 1QM 3:3, 15, 16; 4:1; 5:1). Then, again,
we encounter references to •‫ ראשי‬of which Newsom comments "[this]
is a common term for human rank—political, military, and priestly—
both in the O T and in QL, especially in 1QM. I do not know,
1
however, of its being applied elsewhere to angels". ' Several times

,
'« Cf. the expression • ‫ א ל ה ׳ ה א ל ה‬in, for example, Deut 10:17; Josh 22:22; Ps
84:7 and for angelic ‫ א ל י ם‬at Qumran see e.g. 1 Q M 1:10-11; 14:16; 17:7; 1QH"
18:8 [10:8]; 4Q511 10 11. Reference to divine humans in some of these passages
cannot now be ruled out.
10
See the survey in Newsom 1985, 23-38.
" 1985, 26. Philo Spec. Leg. 1:66 is a possible parallel.
15
1985, 27. As Davila (2000, 102) notes the. title is never used of angels in the
Hekhalot Literature.
" 1985, 27. She considers a possible parallel at T. Mos. 10:2, but this is a Latin
 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 257

‫י‬
participants in the angelic liturgy are called "elect ones" ( ‫ )קרוא‬a
term once more drawn from the portrayal of Israel in the wilder-
ness (Num 1:16; 16:2; 26:9).
In addition to these instances of language nowhere else used of
angels, there is terminology which is ambivalent in the canonical
and Qumran literary contexts. Holy ones, ministers (of "angels" in
Psalm 104:4), princes (‫שרים‬, of angels in Josh 5:14-15; Dan 8:11)
could either be humans or angels. Equally, there is language used
for the organization of the heavenly community that is strictly speak-
ing capable of either a human or an angelic referent. A "camp"
14
(‫ )מחנה‬or "council" (‫ )סוד‬could be either human or angelic, although
15
in Q L these are, somewhat distinctively, used of human institutions.
In other cases the language chosen to described the corporate
structures of the heavenly community is, again, nowhere else used
of angels in the literature of the period. Although a degal "division,
battalion" is somehow a reference to the signs or divisions of the
a
seasons in the Aramaic Enoch material (4QEn 1 i i 2, 3, 6), degalim
16
is not used of angels until the angelology of the Amoraic period.
In Qumran literature degalim are otherwise always units of human
organization either in a liturgical (11QTS 21:5) or a military con-
17
text (11QT 57:3; 1 Q M 1:14; 3:6; 4:10 e t c . . . ) . Here, again, the
Qumran community model the heavenly community on the organi-
zation of Israel in the wilderness (see esp. Num 2 and 10). Similarly,
a reference to the heavenly beings as "gathered troops" or "appointed
ones (‫ ")פקודיהם‬is derived from the biblical portrayal of Israel's polit-
ical organization (Num 2:4; 31:14, 48; 2 Kgs 11:15; 2 Chr 23:14).
It is not until the Hekhalot literature that angels are clearly described
18
in these terms. The one reference to "divisions" (‫ )מפלגות‬is also

text and the Hebrew underlying the "nuntius" ("messenger") would probably have
been ‫ מ ל א ך‬. For the leaders of the Qumran movement referred to as ‫השים ו ט ר י ם‬
see 4Q171 (4QpPs 37) i i i 5.
" For an angelic ‫ מחנה‬see Gen 32:3; T O sec Psalm 89:8 (cf. Jcr 23:18, 22).
15
None of the references to ‫ ס ו ד‬in K u h n 1960 refer to a purely angelic heav-
cnlv council, although there are some notable instances where human beings are
placed in a transcendent1)‫ ס ו ד‬Q S 2:25; 1QH" 11:21 [3:21]; 12:25 [4:25]; 19:12
[11:12]). For the ‫ מ ח נ ה‬in Q L see 1 Q M passim and C D 12-14.
16
.Num. Rab. 2:2; 3 Enoch 19:6. O n this innovative use of ‫ ה נ ל‬for angels see Olyan
1993, 55-58.
17
See Swanson 1995, 78-80, 170. There is of course considerable overlap between
the militaiy and liturgical contexts given the sacramental understanding of die Holy War.
'* Davila (2000, 153) compares the "mustered armies of princes" in AfasseUict
Hekhalot §15.4.
258 CHAPTER EIGHT

without parallel in angelological texts and is normally used of human

a
persons (1QS 4:15-16; l Q H 20:23 [12:23]; 2 Chr 35:12) or öfter-
ritorial divisions (1QM 10:12).
Despite these linguistic difficulties Newsom is confident that all
these terms refer to angels not humans. In the V l t h Song there is a
series of blessings by chief princes on others who are variously
described as "those who have knowledge of eternal things", "all who
exalt the king", "all who walk in uprightness", "those who are eter-
nally pure", "all who arc eager for His good favour", "those who
confess His majesty", "those with powerful insight", "all whose way
is perfect", "all who wait for H i m " , "all the holy ones who estab-
lish knowledge", "all who exalt His statutes" and "those appointed
for righteousness" (4Q403 1 i 16 ‫־‬27). Newsom considers the possi-
19
bility that here those blessed include human worshippers. But "in
view of the overwhelming angelological focus of the Sabbath Shirot"
20
she prefers to see here one group of angels blessing another.
I n isolation the descriptions of those blessed in the Vlth Song,
especially in view of their moral qualities, are most naturally taken
to refer to humans not angels. Only with great difficulty can the
epithet "all those whose way is perfect" be taken as a description of
angels. The language is biblical and it is true that, on occasion,
God's way can be blameless (2 Sam 22:31 = Ps 18:31). But nor-
mally it is the righteous whose way is blameless, both in broadly
sapiential (Prov 11:20) and also in narrowly covenantal (Psalm 119:1)
senses. At Qumran "the perfect of way ( 4 )"(‫ ת מ י מ ידרך‬Q 4 0
is technical terminology for the members of the community (1QS
2:2; 3:9-10; 4:22; 8:10, 18; 9:5, 9; 1QM 14:7; 1Q1T 9:36 [1:36];
C D 2:15—16) which relates their piety to that of David (11Q5
(HQPsalms*) 27:2-3, cf. Noah in Gen 6:9), the true Israel (4Q5Î0
1 9 = 4Q511 10 8; 4Q51 1 63-64 iii 3) and, implicitly, to the pre-
21
lapsarian humanity (Ezek 28:15). Given their keen interest in the
U r i m and Thummim (‫ )חמים‬their "perfection" will have been closely
bound to their beliefs about their priesthood and the transformative
power of the cult. The use of this language for the Urmensch in Ezekiel

19
1985, 28, 196; DJD 11:262.
2 0
1985, 196; DJD 1 1:262.
21
Cf. 4Q525 5 1 1; 4Q528 line 4; Sirach 39:24.
 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 259

28:15 suggests that it would fittingly describe humanity in its heav-

22
cnly mode. But there is no warrant for its use of angels.
The difficulty which all these linguistic terms pose for a purely
angelological reading of the Songs has recently been recognized by
23
James R. Davila. And, in the light of an earlier version of this and
2,1
the next three chapters, Davila concedes "the human community
is sometimes alluded to in the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice, perhaps
25
more often than has been recognized in the past." Yet, Davila has
remained cautious about this possibility for several reasons. On the
problem of language otherwise not commonly used for angels he
remains sympathetic to the Newsom paradigm because he attaches
some significance to the fact that although not attested in Q L or
texts from the late Second Temple period much of this peculiar Ian-
guage is used unambiguously of angels in the Hekhalot Literature.
Although the two are widely separated in time and provenance Davila
thinks that there is an essential continuity of literary tradition and
mystical experience.
However, whilst we should expect there to be literary and con-
ceptual connections between the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice and the
Hekhalot Literature, assumed similarities cannot be allowed to pre-
judice our exegesis of the Qumran text which should, rather, be
26
interpreted in its immediate linguistic and historical context. In that
context it is hard to see how all the terms wc have just discussed
can possibly refer to (suprahuman) angels. This is the first weakness
of Newsom's dualistic paradigm.
(2) The second weakness of Newsom's paradigm is the fact that
it creates a generic oddity that is hard to place in the life setting
that she imagines. Patently the Songs are both liturgical and mysti-
cal. Alas we know far too little about the nature of both these aspects
of Jewish spirituality in the late Second Temple period. And the
relationship between their literary deposit—whether in the biblical
Psalms or the ascent texts of the apocalypses—and their putative
cultic and experiential Sitze im IAien is notoriously difficult to judge.

Note the use of the language in poorly preserved contexts in 4QInstruction

(4Q415 1 i i + 2 i 3; 4Q417 2 ii 5; 4Q418 172 4).
2:1
2001, 102.
'•" Fletcher-Louis 1998.
''‫ יי‬2001, 102.
'"' For Davila's attempts to make strong connections between Qumran texts and
later Jewish mysticism see Davila 1996; Davila 1999a; Davila 2000, 92.
260 CHAPTER EIGHT

Whilst Newsom is, therefore, suitably cautious in her reconstruction

of the Songs' life setting several points are a necessary corollary of
her dualistic paradigm.
l i r e Songs describe the praise of the heavenly beings, but their
words are never cited. I f it is the human community who arc in
fact the heavenly beings called upon to praise, they could then recite
from memory relevant psalms or use other written texts which would
supply what is now missing. But if Newsom is right that the praise
is actually offered by (suprahuman) angels then this presents a prob-
27
lern. As Dale G. Allison has commented "[i]n other ancient Jewish
and Christian documents the angelic songs of praise are at the cen-
ter of depictions of heaven and its activities . . . The well-attested
tendency, continued in the Jewish llekalol hymns, of recording angelic
songs or words of praise, makes the lack of such in 4QShirot 'Οίαί
28
Ha-Shabbm a real puzzle".
Newsom's interpretation requires that the actual praise of the angels
be simply imagined?'' The use of such "imagination" in experiencing
the praise of the angels is not, of course, without precedent; this is
a fundamental feature of the mystical experiences described by the
seers of the apocalyptic tradition and one that is claimed for the
yorede merkabah in the Hekhalot texts. Such an experience is as old
as Isaiah's vision of the praise of the Seraphim (Isaiah 6) and we
are reminded of the apostle Paul's claim to have heard "unspeak-
able words" when raptured to paradise (I Cor 12:4). But Newsom's
Sabbaih Songs are unique in that they envisage (a) the corporate

27
The cjtiite plausible suggestion I hat the angelte song is unrecorded lest it lall
into the hands of outsiders'(Maier 1989/!)(), 573 ‫־‬4, cf.* Kalk 1998, 140-14) does
not solve the deeper problem: how would such angelic praise- that is not uttered
by the Qumran community--•work in liturgical practice?
2,1
1988, 189-90. Allison cites Isa 6:1-4; Rev 4:8, 11; Apoc. Abr. 17:8-21; / Enoch
17:8-21; 39:9-14; 2 Enoch 21 J; 3 Enoch 228:7; 39:2; 40:1-4 and T. Adam 1:4; 4:8.
Allison's suggestion that the belief that angelic prayer is a barbarous language which
need not then be recorded is suggestive (ibid. 190), but docs not fully resolve the
puzzle. The Hekhalot texts show that a barbarous angelic tongue can be recorded.
And a barbarous praise does not entirely accord with (he highly formulaic and
ordered nature of the angelic praise described in the V l l h - V I I I l h Songs.
2 9
One wonders whether Newsom's interpretation would ever have been consid-
ered plausible were it not for the lingering Freudian suspicion, which dominates
twentieth century discussion, that mysticism is essentially a matter of fantasy with-
out a self-consciously concrete setting. Cf. Maier 1992, 433: Newsom's "proposal
that the songs served for something like 'mystical' meditation and a kind o f collcc-
tive 'religious experience' seems to correspond rather to later, medieval or modern
concepts".
 THE SO.NCS OF TlIK SABBATH SACRIFICE 261

imagination of a whole community of worshippers-—not just an inch-

vidual—who are (b) passively standing by, without their own active
30
participation in the experience, and (c) in some cases the worship
of the angels is not merely described but enjoined by the human leader
of the liturgy. Whereas an Isaiah or a Paul describes the angels'
worship, the maskil who conducts the Sabbalh Songs commands the
imagined heavenly beings to worship. Where is there a parallel in
the history of Jewish mysticism or liturgy for this?
It is true that in the Psalms "all the earth", God's "angels . . .
mighty ones", "all his works", "the sun and moon (and) shining
stars", "the highest heavens" and "everything that breathes" are
called upon—or "commanded"—to praise the LORD (PS 66:1-3;
96:1 2, 7-9; 103:19 22; 148; 150:6). This form reaches its zenith
in the Scptuagint's addition to Daniel, the Prayer of Azariah, where
over thirty verses (w. 35-68) are devoted to a call for the whole of
creation in all its parts to bless the Lord. But there are a number
of important différences between these psalms and the Sabbath Songs
and to assert that they provide a precedent for a liturgy in which
heavenly beings are imagined responding to a summons to praise
with actual songs simply begs the interpretative question.
In the Sabbath Songs the maskil describes the blessing and praise of
the heavenly beings quite specifically: they are to praise "with seven
wondrous exaltations", "seven wondrous thanksgivings", "seven psalms
of exaltation" etc . . . (Songs V I and VIII). This is quite different
from the rhetoric of the biblical form, where nothing suggests that
real psalms and blessings (of the human variety) arc imagined com-
ing from the sun, moon, stars, angels and the other parts of ere-
ation. Just what the biblical Psalms and those who used them thought
their call for creation's praise entailed is not clear. In every instance
of the biblical form the call for the cosmos and its parts to praise
is coupled with, and sei in the larger context of, the explicit praise of the
31
psalmist or the human community. This contrasts sharply with

:,
° Contrast the active participation i n , and inducement of, the experience of
heaven in Hekhalot Mysticism. Whereas there is a modern (and Protestant) ten-
deney to assume gentdndv revelatory experiences are passively received, Jewish mys-
licism in antiquity assumes that active techniques of ecstasy are necessary. The
passivity of the human worshippers of Newsom's Songs is anomalous in this respect.
•" Note the way in which i n the midst of the call for the cosmos to bless in the
Prayer of Azariah "human beings" (v. 60), "Israel" (v. 61), the "Priests" and
"Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael" are also invited to praise.
262 CHAPTER EIGHT

Newsom's view that the direct praise of human worshippers in the

Sabbalh Songs is absent. Given the cosmological role of the Israelite
Temple it is probable that, at least in part, the praise of creation
and its heavenly personnel, was represented and voiced by the struc-
tures, the drama of the liturgy and the human cultic community.
That this is how such psalms would have been understood at Qumran
is further suggested by the way in which, as we have seen in ear-
lier chapters, in the priestly tradition the movement of the priest-
hood is in synch with, and represents that of the heavenly bodies
(esp. Sirach 50, 4Q392; Q408, 4Q468b, 4Q541, cf. 2 Sam 23:4).
Although we might envisage a development from this biblical material
to the Sabbath Songs as construed by Newsom, the former cannot be
used to explain the puzzling form of the latter without further ado.
The question of the Songs'" genre and Sitz im Leben is also prob-
lematic when one considers the text's own generic indicators. These
are, principally, three in number. First, the Songs are assigned "‫"למשכיל‬
which could mean they are "by the maskil" or "for the maskil". Whilst
a number of biblical Psalms are entitled a maskil (Pss 32; 42; 44, 45,
52-55 etc . . .), the phrase ‫ למשכיל‬refers the Psalm to a particular
individual (cf. Dan 1:4; 11:33, 35; 12:3, 10). Following the use of
the word of Levitical singers in 2 Chronicles 30:22, the Qumran
community envisages a specific office and designates a number of its
texts "for the maskil" for use in a public setting. The whole and
parts of the lQS-lQSa-lQSb scroll are "for the maskil" (1QS 3:13;
b d
9:12; lQSb I •A; 3:22; 5:20; 4Q256 (4QS ) 4 1 = 4Q258 (4QS ) 1
1 1) as are parts of the Damascus Document (CD 12:21; 13:22;
4Q266 9 iii 5), the Songs of the Sage (4Q510 1 4; 4Q511 2 i 1), the
32
Hodayot (1QFP 20:11 [12:11]), a text in which a community mem-
ber instructs the novitiate (Sons of Dawn 4Q298 1-2 i) and, probably,
the War Scroll (1QM 1:1). In several of these texts the maskil clearly
has a teaching role vis-à-vis the rest of the community (lQS-lQSa-
lQSb, CD, 4Q298, 1QM). In others he has a liturgical responsi-
bility: in the Songs of the Sage either he himself proclaims (4Q510 1
4, cf. 1QIT 20:11) or he summons the community to praise (4Q511
2 i 1). In none of these texts does the maskil teach or lead the angels,
though in several the community who are his audience are now a
transcendent, divine, humanity (lQSb, the Hodayot, Songs of the Sage,

Though the reading is uncertain (see Holm-Nielsen 1960, 204).

 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 263

War Scroll (see below)). The generic expectations of this aspect of the
title of the Sabbath Songs do not, therefore, point in the dualistic direc-
don assumed by Newsom and, if anything, they point in a rather
different direction.
Secondly, the allocation of each individual song "for the Sabbath
Sacrifice" of successive weeks of a quarter of the year would most
naturally suggest that the liturgy is to be used by the human com-
munity itself. According to 2 Chronicles 29:27-28 songs were sung
for the duration of the offering of the Sabbath sacrifice in the
a
Jerusalem Temple. According to l l Q P s 27:5-9 David composed
fifty-two songs for the Sabbath offerings and we know that at least
two biblical Psalms were at one time specifically set apart for the
Sabbath (Psalm 92 and L X X Psalm 37). A fragmentary portion o f
the Words of the Heavenly Lights is entitled a Song for the Sabbath
33
Day (4Q504 1-2 col. vii recto 4-vcrso). So J. Maier quite reason-
ably suggests that the unrecorded praise is that of the traditional
3
Sabbath liturgy. '' Certainly, the title of the Songs inclines the reader
to expect to hear the contents of, or instruction for, the songs to be
sung by the human community during the offering of the Sabbath
sacrifice (or during the time when that would otherwise take place).
Thirdly, Qumran texts which describe the angelic world from a
human perspective usually envisage and overtly describe a shared
angelic-human community. Newsom thinks that in the Sabbath Songs
the community's aspirations for communion with the angelic world
are fulfilled by merely being allowed to descriptively approach the
splendours of the angelic realm. The human community do appear
at one point in the Songs where their mortality and earthly identity
is contrasted with that of the heavenly beings. This too is a regular
feature of texts describing the heavenly world at Qumran (as we
have seen in previous chapters). Some might assume that such an
Elendsbelrachlung explains why there is no real Engelgernenischaft in the
Shirot. However, wherever else this form appears there is always a
concomitant affirmation of the fact that, by the grace and power of
God, the human community have been given access to the heavenly
world and the same status, if not identity, as that of the angels.
So, on several counts, generic conventions arouse the expectation

33
It speaks of "all the angels of the holy firmament (recto 6)".
3 4
1992, 553.
264 CHAPTER EIGHT

that the human community should appear alongside the angels in

the Sabbath Songs and that, where sufficient portions of the text are
preserved, we might hope to discern a clear delineation between the
angelic human and the suprahuman angelic members of the heavenly
world. I f Newsom is right that there is just one reference to the
human community, i n the second Sabbath Song, then this creates an
imbalance in the larger thematic structure of the liturgy and hardly
satisfies the expectation that the human community would appear
elsewhere in communion with the angelic one. Newsom does actu-
ally see the songs as a vehicle for the experience of communion with
35
the angels. I f it is such a "vehicle" it is all the more strange that
after one brief passage which denies such a possibility there is never
any explicit indication in ihc Songs that that is what is happening.
Clearly, then, there are a number of interpretative decisions which
are part and parcel of Newsom's dualistic reading of the liturgy
which create oddities and interpretative difficulties. None o f these in
isolation presents an insuperable barrier to accepting Newsom's par-
adigm. But cumulatively, and before actually examining the texts,
they raise doubts.

(b) A Liturgical Chiasm and Heavenly Tour, Mot a Heavenly Ascent.

The second feature o f Newsom's interpretation of the Songs cycle

which causes trouble is her assessment of their liturgical structure
and thematic development. Newsom thinks that the thirteen songs
form a chiastic structure with the central focus on the V l l t h Song,
with correspondences between the V l t h and V l l l t h pointing to the
centrality of the V l l t h , which appropriately enough expresses the
31
mystical significance of the perfect number. ' She has also noticed
the sense of movement to a climax from beginning to the end of
the songs, with a more numinous, transcendent mood and content
37
marking the later songs over against the first two. Yet whilst she
has acknowledged in the last four songs a movement from the outer
features of the heavenly temple to the holy of holies and the nier-
m
kabdh( she does not think that the Songs offer a genuine experience
of heavenly ascent as do some of the apocalypses. There are a

5 5
1985, 17 18.
5 6
1985, 13-17.
3 7
1985, 14-15.
38
DJD 11:340.
 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 265

number of reasons why she rejects this interpretation which students

of ancient Jewish mysticism might, cjuite reasonably, expect of such
an angelic liturgy.
First, for Newsom the ccntrality of the seventh song is clear and
paramount. Secondly, what progression there is in the I X t h through
Xl.IIth songs is not as clear by comparison with the emphasis on
V l l t h . Thirdly, the heavenly ascent form as it is described in the.
texts of Merkabah Mysticism would normally climax with a vision of
the, chariot and, in some cases, its occupant; God himself. In the
Sabbalh Songs the vision of God's chariot which is based, as we would
expect, on Ezekiel 1 comes not in the X l l l t h Song, where the focus
is on the angelic high priesthood, their garments and sacrifices, but
in the X l l t l i . This, Newsom thinks is at odds with (lie ascent form,
detracting from any genuine progression into the sanctuary and/or
upwards towards the highest heaven. Fourthly, of course, although
she doesn't say as much, since Newsom holds apart heavenly and
earthly realms and because she allows the human community only
an attenuated participation in the angelic world and its liturgy, a
genuine experience of ascent hardly suits her larger interpretative
framework. Ascent to heaven entails the kind of penetration of heaven
by earth and a community of angels and men which Newsom denies
the songs. And seers who ascend to the highest heaven invariably
experience transformation to an angelic or divine identity; a possi-
bility which Newsom does not consider and which her interpréta-
live grid would not allow.
Instead of a heavenly ascent Newsom thinks that the IXth to
X l l l t h songs are instead modelled on the temple tour of Ezekiel
39
40-48: whilst the latter section of the Songs' cycle is preoccupied
with the details of the true, heavenly, temple there is no progressive
ascent experience and so the less systematic model of Ezckiel's tern-
pie tour better explains the Songs' inspiration. In particular she points
to the influence of Ezekiel 43: b 5, the description of the entry of
the king into the future sanctuary for the weekly Sabbath offering,
on the phrase the "vcstibule(s) where the King enters" in the I X t h
Song. Here she also discerns the influence of the descriptions of the
10
vestibules and gates in Ezeldel 40 ‫־‬41.
To be sure, although there are some intriguing connections between

39
1985, 16, 52-57.
111
Sec generally 1985, 53-55.
266 CHAPTER EIGHT

the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Hekhalot corpus, unlike some
of the latter, the former are not obviously written as a vehicle for
the incubation of visions or of mystical ascent by individuals. The
mysticism of the Songs is best described—to use Newsom's phrase—
as a "communal mysticism" in which all the community share the
experience. Although the repetitious language and the wonder with
which the heavenly world is described assume a numinous power of
the liturgy and would, in all likelihood, have created some kind of
"altered state of consciousness", the liturgical structure of a thirteen
week period hardly makes possible the kind of out of body heavenly
rapture that a good Jewish mystic such as Paul the Apostle could
claim for himself (2 Cor 12:2—‫״‬4). But then Newsom's reluctance to
see any form of ascent, even over a prolonged period of (he many
weeks of the liturgy must be questioned.
The tour of the heavenly temple was well-known at Qumran as
the New Jerusalem text attests (1Q32, 4Q232, 4Q554, 4Q555 etc. . .).
But how suitable are Ezckiel's chs. 40-48 as a model for a liturgy?
In their own context they are a revelation to the prophet of a future,
eschatological, temple and this is the way the genre is taken up in
the New Jerusalem and other apocalyptic texts (e.g. 2 Baruch 59:4;
Rev 21:1-2, 10-22:5). Are not form and content of the liturgy of the
regular Sabbath offerings and an eschatological vision of the future tem-
pie rather different? Newsom offers no explanation why the former
might have adopted the genre of the latter. As for her insistence
that the V l l t h Song stands at the apex of the liturgy her confidence
must be tempered by the fact that so much of the liturgy is lost."
Barely anything of the second through fifth songs is known and so
a chiastic structure in which the first six songs match those of the
last six, with the attention directed to the seventh, cannot be securely
established.
And, in any case, Newsom has been criticised by some for fail-
ing to give due weight to the genuine progression towards a climax
12
in the IXth to X I I I t h Songs.' In chapters 10 and 11 we shall discover

41
Hamacher 1996, 121.
42
See esp. Baumgarten 1988, 206-7, and compare Morray-Jones 1998. Baumgarten
argues that in the X l t h Song the focus is on the brick pedestal of Exod 24:10, not
as Newsom thought, the paneling of 1 Kgs 6; 2 Chr 3 and Ezek 40. Getting this
detail right, he notes, allows a clear logic in the progression from the outer to the
inner sanctuary and the chariot (p. 207).
 THE SONGS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 267

that, in fact, the latter half of the cycle does present a clear move-
ment into the inner reaches of the heavenly sanctuary in a way which
presumes a heavenly ascent not entirely dissimilar to that found in
the apocalypses and Merkabah Mysticism.

(c) The Songs' Temple Cosmology

The Songs are full of the language and imagery derived from the
biblical descriptions of Israel's Tabernacle and Temple(s) (Exodus,
1 Kings and 1-2 Chronicles): the angelic liturgy takes place in a
sanctuary—or sanctuaries—whose structures are suffused with the
13
glory and numinous power of the heavenly world.'
Newsom calls this a "heavenly temple" by which she means a
temple that is in heaven above; a temple that corresponds to the cult
44
on earth below, but is clearly separate from it. This analogical rela-
tionship between temple in heaven above and the cultic life o f the
worshipping community below is a clear instance of the dualistic
paradigm which informs her reading of the Songs.^ It allows her to
maintain both a spatial and an ontological distinction between humans
and angels. But on numerous counts this cannot be the way that
the relationship between sacred space and cosmology is envisaged in
the Songs.

(i) The Absence of an "As in Heaven So on Earth" Liturgical Cosmology at

Qumran
Newsom recognizes that in the pre-Hcllcnistic period there is little
or no evidence for the belief that there is a temple above with wor-
ship which corresponds to that below. Although this is the way in
which some (e.g. Heb 8:5) may have taken the "pattern, structure
(‫ ")חכנית‬of the Tabernacle revealed to Moses at Sinai (Exodus 25:9,
40, cf. 1 Chr 28:19), the biblical text at that point merely envisages
16
the architects plans for the actual Tabernacle to be erected by Moses.'

43
This cultic terminology is surveyed in Newsom 1985, 39-58.
44
Sec esp. 1985, 59-72.
45
Again, in this she is followed by others. See e.g. Davila 2000, 83.
46
The misleading claim that Exodus 25:9, 40 itself envisages a heavenly sane-
tuary above that on earth is sometimes made (e.g. Charles 1908a, 33 n. 5; Jonge
1953, 48; Collins 1996, 33; Davila 2000, 82). I f there is any cosmological significance
in the language of Exod 25:9, 40 it will be the belief that the "pattern" revealed
to Moses as the structure of the Tabernacle is that of the whole cosmos itself.
268 CHAPTER EIGHT

But Newsom thinks that in the Hellenistic period there emerges

a widespread belief in a temple and liturgy above corresponding to
that below and that it is this belief that provides the conceptual con-
text of the Sabbath Songs." She appeals specifically to 1 Enoch 14,
Jubilees, the Apoayphon of ls.vi and Testament of Ιχυι, Psalm 150:1 and
1
the Song of the Three Young Men in the Greek Additions to Daniel."
Whilst several of these texts were certainly known to the Qumran
community, none, in fact, clearly witness to the kind of heavenly
temple which Newsom thinks is present in the Sabbalh Songs.
I Enoch 14 does depict God's dwelling as a sanctuary and the angels
of the Book of Watchers probably reflect the author's view of some
priests in the 4th or 3rd centuries B.C. But the setting and role of
the angels is quite different from that Newsom imagines for the
Sabbalh Songs. 111 the first ])lace Punch's entry into God's throne room
happens long before there is any earthly cult established in Jerusalem.

47
In assuming that then: is such a belief in !he lale Second Temple period
Newsom is in good company (see, e.g., Attridge I !)(J!), 222 ‫־‬224 (with older lilera-
Γ
turc) and cf. Mach 1992, 217; Harlow 1996, 7Ι-7. >). The unquestioning eiitluisi-
asm for this idea is exemplified by Darrcll Hannah's claim that "in the Second
Temple period there was a great deal of speculation about a heavenly temple and
cult which served as a pattern for the temple and cult in Jerusalem" (Hannah 1999,
32). Hannah then supports this assertion with the citation of only two texts, 2 Bar.
4:1-6 and Jnb. 31:14, neither of which, on close inspection, say what Hannah claims
they say.
48
1985, 60-71. She further claims (1985, 61) "(ijn literature from the Roman
period the notion is attested in very diverse sources, both Jewish and Christian,
e.g., in Philo and Josephus, in 3 Baruch and the Apocalypse of Paul, in Hebrews
and Revelation, etc." As we have seen in chapter 3 both Philo and Josephus are
primarily interested i n a rather different cultic cosmology. Whilst there arc places
where Philo views the cosmos as a whole as a temple (Spec. / / ; 6 7 1:66 .‫;״‬
1:215), 1 know of no texts in which he or Josephus reflect the kind of cosmology
Newsom has in mind. Neither is it at all clear that in Hebrews or Revelation there
is a cull in heaven which corresponds to the one on earth in the way Newsom
imagines. In both these texts the primary idea is that the hue Temple anil priest-
hood is now manifest in (he historical Jesus and, in particular, his sacrilicial death,
the reality of which is lived out in the life of the church, his followers. I f there
waSjiin the past a heavenly temple which was a model for the earthly one of the
old covenant the relationship between the two is primarily salvation-historical and
the true temple in heaven which was reserved for the end of history has now been
made manifest in history. I n 3 Baruch there is no temple in heaven or a "heavenly
temple" as such. Chapters 1 1-15 appear to view the whole of the seven-tiered cos-
mos as a temple with Michael playing the role of the priest not in one of these limn-
ens, but in his communication up and down the heavenly hierarchy as though he
were a priest mediating between God in his inner shrine and the people outside.
The Apocalypse of Paul is a Christian 4111 or 5th century A.D. work and hardly counts
as direct evidence for the 2nd century B.C. whence (he Sabbalh Songs.
 THE SOWS OF Till•: SMIMTll SACH/FICE 269

Whilst in the primeval time Enoch encounters God enthroned in his

sanctuary above, 1 Enoch 25-26 looks forward to a time when God
will be enthroned in Jerusalem and the true cultic community will
be established. The author of the Book of Watchers might well have
believed that there is a worship above simultaneous to that below
(in Jerusalem, at Mount Hermon, or wherever) but this is never
described nor assumed in his book. And, in any case, for the time
scale which the Book of Watchers envisages there is rather an eschato-
logical correspondence between the location of God's throne in
Jerusalem and the primeval sanctuary Enoch enters. Secondly, the
sanctuary which Enoch enters does not belong to a heavenly world
which is without a concrete, earthly reference-point as later Christian
and rabbinic ouranologics imagine for (be sanctuary above. Enoch
is taken up into God's sanctuary at Mount Hermon, perhaps the most
3
important cosmic mountain of that part of the Ixvanlf Enoch is the arche-
typal high priest whose journey from the foot of the mountain, where
he is praying beside the waters which emerge from the abyss below,
to God's sanctuary on the top of the mountain is not the movement of
a heavenly priest from one part of a heavenly sanctuary to another mirroring
the movement of the human priest from the outer to the inner
regions of the earthly sanctuary. Enoch's movement from nadir to
zenith at the cosmic mountain is cosmologically parallel to the move-
ment of Aaron and his sons from the outer to the inner reaches of
the Tabernacle and Temple which are each, in turn, a model of
0
the cosmic mountain and of sea, earth and heaven/'
In this context the thrcc-ticrcd house which Enoch enters is quite
specifically equivalent to the shrine with its ulam, outer house (the
heklml) and its inner room (the debit). And, of course, this shrine cor-
responds to only a part of lite whole temple which is in Jerusalem. The
Jerusalem Temple has several other zones and partitions which cor-
respond in turn to the lower reaches of the cosmic mountain from
which Enoch comes. In all this, although the watchers who fall are
meant to remind us of the priests who leave their privileged posi-

''‫ יי‬See the discussion 0Γ this feature of the Book of Watchers i n Fletcher-Louis 2001a.
''" Besides the material laid out in chapter 3 note in particular the identification of
Jerusalem and its Temple with Lebanon in Sirach 50:8-12 and the echoes in Sirach
50:3 of Mcsopotamian cultic theology according to which the urban cult is a model
of the cosmic mountain (sec Fletcher-Louis 2001b ad toe). Sec more generally cspe-
daily Stager 1999.
270 CHAPTER EIGHT

tion in the Jerusalem cult, there is no suggestion that their worship

was ever a pattern above for that below; on the contrary the worship
of the angels above is a model for human priests when they also are
above.
The distinction which we must make in reading 1 Enoch 14 between
the three-tiered sanctuary and the more complex structure of a Temple,
which as a whole, maps the entire cosmos (or cosmic mountain) is
of immediate relevance also for the passage from the Song of Three
Young Men to which Newsom appeals. This reads as follows:

Blessed are y o u i n the sanctuary (έν τ ω ν α φ ) o f y o u r holy G l o r y ,

a n d to be extolled a n d highly glorified for ever.
Blessed are y o u w h o look into the depths from y o u r throne on the
cherubim.
A n d to be praised a n d highly exalted forever,
Blessed^are you on the throne o f y o u r k i n g d o m ,
a n d to be extolled and highly exalted forever.

Here God is praised as he sits in his sanctuary. Since the song pur-
ports to voice the praise of a Jewish community in exile when the
Jerusalem Temple is destroyed (esp. 3:5, 15) this praise directed to
God in his sanctuary might appear to be warrant for the view that
there is a heavenly temple above which can be accessed when the
earthly temple is destroyed. But again we should pay careful atten-
tion to the language. God is set in his sanctuary (ναός); not his Temple
51
(ιερόν) but only the equivalent of its inner part. And in any case,
there is hardly here warrant for the claim that there is an angelic
worship (let alone "liturgy") in God's sanctuary that is a mirror image
or pattern for that on earth. The rest of the Song is telling: seven-
teen verses are devoted to the blessings to be offered by creation in
all its parts (w. 35-51) and this is followed by seven verses in which
righteous humanity is called upon to bless the Lord (w. 52-66). I f

" The need to distinguish clearly between a ναός, the inner shrine of the god,
and !the ιερός, the temple enclosure has been noted by May 1950-51. The former
is normally the house of the god's image whilst outside that there is an area, some-
times built up, sometimes a rudimentary enclosure, which comprises the Temple as
a whole. The distinction is assumed throughout the Greek of antiquity. Josephus
says, for example, that outside the shrine (ναός) Solomon built a temple (ιερόν) (Ant
8:95-96). The view of O. Michel in TD.NT 4:882-890 that the distinction between
ναός and ιερός is eroded in the N T period is unconvincing. The cases where he
thinks ναός refers to the precincts of the Temple (Josephus C.Ap. 2:119; B.J. 6:293;
Matt 27:5) are very well, i f not better, explained as a reference to the inner shrine
itself.
 THE i-CWWW OF HIF SABBATH SACRIFICE 271

there is any symmetry here it is between humanity and creation, not

between a cultic community on earth below and a cultic commu-
nity in heaven above.
Those familiar with Jubilees might assume that here matters are
more straightforward since the notion that the human priesthood are
to serve in God's sanctuary as angels of the presence is so clear in
Jubilees 31:14. But, again, what Newsom needs to support her read-
1
ing of the Sabbalh Songs is nowhere explicitly stated in Jubilees?' • Whilst
the priesthood are called to an angelomorphic service in chapter 31,
it is not said that the sanctuary in which they serve corresponds to
53
another one in heaven. There is a correspondence between the
lifestyle of the angels in heaven and the righteous on earth but this
correspondence is manifest the life of the righteous outside of the Temple.
The angels in heaven are circumcised as are the children of Abraham
on earth (16:25 27) and both keep the Sabbath (2:17-19, 21). Neither
of these require or involve the Temple and in fact it is in the Temple
54
that the Israelites do not rest from work on the Sabbath (50:ll). I n
the absence of a Temple above as model for Temple below, Jubilees
is more likely to have in mind the idea that wc discover in lQSb
where the human priesthood arc taken up into the heavenly realm
by virtue of their participation in the true (cosmic) cult.
It is true that in 6:18 it is said that the Feast of Weeks was eel-
ebratcd "in heaven from the day of creation until the days of Noah".
Since the Feast of Weeks requires various sacrifices (Lev 23:15-22)
something similar must have taken place "in heaven". But Jubilees is
frustralingly silent about what precisely this means. This is perhaps
the closest we ever come in the sources from the Second Temple
period to the notion of a heavenly cult. But then it might be no
more than a pious affirmation borne of the author's conviction that
the Torah and its festivals are woven into the very fabric of the cos-
mos. It is not clear whether the author himself had a clear vision
as to what that entails or whether it requires a "temple in heaven".
Following Newsom's discussion, the next item of evidence is the

M
Despite her discussion 1985, 67—69.
5 3
Neither is that idea present in 30:18: "And the seed of Levi was chosen for
the priesthood and Levitical (orders) to minister before the LORD always just as
wc do."
5 4
The point is admitted by Newsom 1985, 69 when she comments on the fea-
hires wc have noted: "they do not tell one whether such conceptions were also
embodied in liturgy or in special devotional practices".
272 CHAPTER EIGHT

Aramaic and Testamentary Levi material.'''' In fact only the Greek

Testament of Ijevi is relevant here because whilst the Aramaic Levi Document
attests earlier, pre-Christian material behind the Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs the verses in question are not extant i n the former. In
Testament of Ljxi 2:5-5:3 Levi is taken up in a dream to the third
heaven where he is promised the priesthood. He describes his vision
of the highest heaven as follows:
4
I n the u p p e r m o s t heaven o f all dwells the Great G l o r y i n the H o l y
o f H o l i e s superior to all holiness. ‫ יי‬T h e r e w i t h h i m arc the archangels,
w h o serve [ a n d offer p r o p i t i a t o r y sacrifices to the L o r d o n b e h a l f
o f a l l sins o f i g n o r a n c e o f the righteous ones (οί λ ε ι τ ο υ ρ γ ο ύ ν τ ε ς κ α ι
έ ξ ι λ α σ κ ό μ ε ν ο ι π ρ ο ς Ktiptov επί π ά σ α ι ς ά γ ν ο ί α ι ς των δ ι κ α ί ω ν ) . ‫ יי‬T h e y pre-
sent to the L o r d a ])leasing odour, a rational a n d bloodless oblation
( π ρ ο σ φ έ ρ ο υ σ ι δ έ κ υ ρ ί φ όσμην εύίοδιας λογικην και ά ν α ι μ α κ τ ο ν π ρ ο σ φ ο ρ ά ν ) . |

This would* be a perfect parallel to support Newsom's view that the

Sabbath Songs describe the liturgy of the angels in a heavenly temple
above the earth, particularly given that in the X H I t h Sabbath Song
real sacrifices appear to be offered, were it not for the fact that it
is highly likely that the text is Christian not Jewish at this point.
There is no direct parallel to this account of the service of the angels
in the extant portions of the Aramaic version of the Testament of
Levi.™ De Jonge has pointed out that because the expression "blood-
less oblation" is a Christian terminus technicus at least verse 6, i f not
also the whole of verse 5-6, is a Christian composition." This source
critical judgement is confirmed by the fact that all of verses 5-6 arc
51
missing from the shorter recension of the Greek text. '
Whilst this part of the Testament of Ixvi, like so much else in the
Greek text, is Christian in origin, Levi's ascent to heaven in the con-
text of his ordination to the priesthood (cf. ch. 8) was probably part
59
of the Jewish Levi material taken over by the Christian redactor.

" 1985, 6 9 - 7 1 .
**The Aramaic, Jewish, version of the 'leslame.nl of Ixvi shows no signs of an
interest i n a spiritual or metaphorical sacrifice, but plenty of enthusiasm for the
eartldy priesthood's responsibility for sacrificial matters (CTLcvi ar Bodleian cols, a,
b, c, d; 4 Q 2 l 3 h ; 4 Q 2 I 4 2; 4Q214b 2-6 i).
49—48,1953‫י‬ ‫י‬ . He compares the use of similar language in Athenagoras Suppliea
13:1; Acta s. Apollonii §8; Origcn Contra Cebion 8:21 besides a collection of later
Patristic sources where the language refers specifically to the Eucharist.
‫ "''׳‬See Charles 1908b, 34.
5 5
Cf. the attestation of a similar tradition m Jubilees 32:1 and CTLevi ar Bodleian
col. a lines 9—10.
 THE SOMtS OF ΠΙ!•: SAIIISATII SACRIFICE 273

And the fact that in the context of his priestly vocation, like Enoch
in / Enoch 14, Levi is given access to the heavenly world is of far
more relevance to the Sabbath Songs: the priest's entry into the heavenly
world as a result of his freedom of movement in the cult-as-micro-
60
cosm is what we would expect: for all these, texts (cf. Zechariah 3).
Lastly, we should briefly tackle Psalm 150:1:

Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary (‫;)קודשו‬

praise him in his mighty firmament (‫!)רקיע עזו‬

Newsom thinks that the parallelism between God's sanctuary and

his mighty firmament means that this psalm envisages a supernal
1
heavenly sanctuary besides the one on earth in Jerusalem.'' As we
have seen for this there is no other evidence contemporary with
Psalm 150. But there is evidence, for example in Sirach 50, that the
courts of praise in the Jerusalem Temple were viewed as the firmament;
62
as one part of the temple-as-microcosm.
In conclusion then, the texts to which Newsom appeals do not
actually corroborate her understanding of the cosmology of the Sabbath
Songs. Even if one were able to find evidence for the Temple-above
and Temple-below idea in prc-Qumran tradition (such as Jubilees or
the Aramaic Levi tradition), or from the other streams of late Second
Temple Judaism, the presence of such an idea at Qumran is con-
spicuous by its absence. Newsom cites no specifically sectarian texts
63
which represent this notion and I know of none. The overriding
concern in the DSS is to put humanity in the same space as the
angels, to give the community members the "freedom of the cos-
mos" which they have, in particular, by virtue of their worship.
There is no discernable interest in a purely analogical, or functional,
relationship between angels and men. The one context in which
there is a heaven-earth polarity akin to that in later Christian and
Jewish liturgical practice is the Elendsbetrachlung form where humanity's

''" Newsom's assertion (1985, 70) that "((]here is no suggestion that Levi's près-
once in the heavens is repeated or rc-cxpericnced through his cultic service or that
o f his descendents" is a clear example of her failure to set the Sabbath Songs in the
context o f its proper—biblical - cultic cosmology.
a
1985, 6 1 .
Sec Fletcher-Louis 2001b on Sirach 50:1-2.
6:1
Davila 2000, 102 thinks that in 4Q511 35 3 there is a "celestial temple". But
clearly, in context, this is an instance of the migdash Adam, the human cultic com-
munity invested with heavenly significance.
274· CHAPTER EIGHT

inadequacy is set over against the identities of the heavenly community:

whilst humanity is confined to the world below it remains in a state
of decay, impurity and unforgiveness (esp. the Hodayot). For there to
be a positive (functional) equivalence between the angelic, and the
human realms, the latter must be transformed and transferred from
the world below to the world above where they share the same litur-
gical space as the angels. Everything suggests that the liturgical cos-
mology which Newsom envisages for the Sabbath Songs would be
utterly at odds with the way in which the community at Qumran
understood temple worship, the relationship between heaven and
earth and the anthropology associated with these.
It is of course possible that the Sabbalh Songs are sui genais and that
as such they articulate a cosmology not clearly represented elsewhere
in Q L and in contemporary Jewish tradition. It may be that that
conclusion "'will be forced upon us by a close examination of the
texts. But at this stage there is the suspicion that Newsom's notion
of a heavenly temple has forced the liturgy to lie across a dualistic
procrustean bed.

(ii) The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and Temple Cosmology

If there is so little evidence for the availability of Newsom's dualis-
tic cosmology to what kind of cosmology should we expect the heav-
enly temple of the Songs to belong? I f the sanctuaries (the debirim,
the hekhalot, the gates, portals and vestibules el al), populated as they
are by angels, spirits, and heavenly priests, are not in some heavenly
region above and beyond the earthly community, where arc they?
There are straightforward and ready to hand answers to these
questions: the cosmology which can describe the cultic space in terms
of the heavenly world is one which believes that the true temple is
a microcosm of the universe. And the place where all this liturgy
and a communion between angels and men takes place will then be
the human community's own, concrete, earthly cultic space.
We have already in earlier chapters laid out some of the volu-
minous evidence from the biblical period through to the rabbis that
Israel believed its temple was a microcosm of the universe. And at
various points in our discussion of the texts adduced by Newsom for
a dualistic cosmology (1 Enoch 14, Psalm 150:1) we have seen that
that evidence is more likely to reflect the view that Israel's temple
is a map of the cosmos (and/or the cosmic mountain, itself a cosmos
in miniature). Newsom never considers the possibility that the temple-
 THE SONGS OF TUF SABBATH SACRIFICE 275

M
as-microcosm might explain the Songs. She assumes that it is the
heavenly world's portrayal in cultic terms which must be explained. She
does not consider the possibility that it is the cultic world viewed in heav-
65
enly terms which is the heart of the Songs' cosmology.
It is true that we do not find in the scrolls from the Qumran
caves anything like as explicit a statement of the temple-as-micro-
cosm ideal as that provided by the likes of Sirach, Josephus, Philo
and some of the rabbis. But clearly the Qumran community were
well acquainted with Sirach which probably also meant a familiar-
ity with the cosmology of P. Where there is ever any sense of a syn-
chronization between the cult and the cosmos in Q L the cultic
microcosm appears to be assumed. So, for example, we saw in our
discussion of the Songs of the Sage in chapter 6 how the angclomor-
phic priesthood belongs to an Israel whose tribal configuration and
liturgical cycle mirrors that of the heavenly bodies (4Q511 2 i). In
the Temple Scroll the building of the new Temple marks the day
of creation (11QTS 29:9). In chapter 7 wc have seen how various
texts connect the movement of the priesthood around the sanctuary
with the movement: of the heavenly bodies in the cosmos. Without
evidence to the contrary it is reasonable to assume that the Qumran
community read the Bible's cultic material carefully, knew very well
the priestly tradition and simply took the matter for granted.
The synchronization of cult and cosmos is particularly relevant to
the interpretation of the Sabbath Songs because it is supremely on the
Sabbath that the coming together of heaven and earth entails
the inclusion of the cultic community in the divine life. In ancient

'‫ 'י‬She does say (1985, 61) " I n a thorough investigation of the context of the
Sabbath Shirot one would also need to consider (he tradition of the idealized descrip-
tion of the temple and cult" noting in this regard the cultic material in the
Dcutcronomist, Ρ and the Chronicler. She even entertains the possibility that "there
is perhaps a relationship between the religiosity which produces Ben Sira's exalted
description of Simon the Just and that which produces the account of the heav-
enly high priests in the thirteenth Sabbath Song." I n what follows this "thorough
investigation" for which Newsom foresaw the need, will demonstrate that the tra-
dition present in Sirach 50 is more than a "possible" influence on the Sabbalh Songs;
it is its certain source.
6 5
She discusses J. Maier's thesis (1964, 133) that the Sabbalh Shirot are indebted
to the older view that the temple is the meeting place of heaven and earth and
therefore the natural setting for a communion between angels and men (1985,
65-71). But Maier's own work docs not itself work with the cultic microcosm idea
in a thoroughgoing form.
276 CHAPTER EIGHT

Mesopotamia tiic gods create humanity to be their slaves so that

they themselves might have rest. According to Ρ (Genesis 1 and
Exodus 25-40) God calls Israel, his true humanity, which as his image
shares in his own sabbatical rest. The later priestly tradition, fully
cognizant of the theological anthropology which the Sabbath law
entails, reflects on its significance in various ways. Whilst in P's
Mesopotamia!! context Israel's Sabbath rest means she shares the
life of the gods, this is transposed in Jubilees to Israel's sharing the
life of the angels on the Sabbath (2:17-19, 21); at least, that is, for
lay Israelites and non-serving priests outside the Temple. Matters in
the Temple are different: in the Temple the priests do work on the
Sabbath, for without this the sacrificial service would cease (Jub.
50:10-11; Matt 12:5). In Sirach 24:19-22 and 50:14-21 work in
the sanctuary is deemed legitimate because it is the labour of those
who arc, free from the curse on Adam and Eve (Gen 3:17-19), of
those who work in Wisdom, those who have received her oiler of
immortality and, supremely, those who are caught up into the life
of the creator God himself. God's work on the Sabbath is "a work-
ing with absolute case, without toil and without suffering" (Philo On
the Cherubim 87) and so is that of his priests.
Whether the authors of Jubilees and Sirach would entirely have
agreed with each other in the details of these matters is unclear.
What is clear is that there is a general agreement in biblical and
post-biblical tradition that (as biblical law itself implies) on the Sabbath
Israel and her priesthood are taken up into the divine life. This
understanding of creation and liturgy leads us to expect, not that
heaven and earth be kept apart in a liturgy for the Sabbath sacrifices,
but that they meet—God, his angels and humanity joined; the lat-
6
tcr taken up into flic life of the former.''
In her discussion of the conceptual and history-of-religions con-
text of the Sabbalh Songs Newsom noted the theory of J. Maicr that
there was a well established tradition according to which the Temple
was viewed as the point of intersection of heaven and earth leading
to the possibility of a mythic communion with the angels in the etil-
67
tic context. Maier goes so far as to suggest that the Sabbalh Songs
arc a sectarian reworking of an earlier "orthodox" Jerusalem Sabbath

Cf. Chilton and Netisncr 1995, 140; Hayward 1996, 10-11.

1985, 65-66 referring lo Maier 1964.
 THE .S<m!S OF TUE 8ΑΒΒΛΊΊΙ SACRIFICE 277

68
liturgy. But Newsom rejects Maicr's hypothetical reconstruction of
69
a tradition of priestly mysticism in post-exilic Judaism. This is not
the place for a detailed response to Newsom and her discussion of
the primary sources on this point. In part, the whole of this study
thus far serves as a response to her view. The Qumran community
belongs to an ancient strand of Jewish piety that in Newsom's terms
is thoroughly mystical. I f there arc not many biblical sources which
envisage a communion of angels with men in the cult this is partly
because angelology is a relatively late transposition of older henothe-
istic or polytheistic categories into a distinctively Jewish monotheis-
tic idiom. Even so, texts such as Isaiah 6, Zechariah 3 and the
characterization of Enoch in Genesis 5:22, 24 should all be taken
as witnesses to the assumption that the worshipper, especially the
true priest, is brought into a heavenly world populated by the angels.
Why else is the chariot throne of the Tabernacle and Solomonic
Temple, to which the priests (and king) have peculiar access, a construction
of angelic or divine beings? That the human community should
encounter the heavenly world and its population in the Temple is
a logical corollary of the fact that the Temple is a microcosm of the
universe which makes available in an accessible space and time real-
ities otherwise out of human reach.

Qumran Theological Anthropology and the Sabbath Songs

With the problems posed by Newsom's interpretation in mind and

fresh from a survey of everything else that can be learnt about litur-
gical anthropology at Qumran, we are bound to consider the pos-
sibility that in fact much of the language which Newsom thinks refers
to angels actually refers to exalted humans. Obviously, this text shares
other features with texts in the Qumran library where the true
humanity and its priesthood are angelomorphic: the liturgy is pre-
occupied with the experience of the heavenly world and its occu-
pants, and as a liturgy it sets the experience of the heavenly world
in the cultic context. I f a Qumran priest is ordained to serve as an
angel of the presence in the abode of holiness (lQSb) then a liturgy

ia
1964, 133—and cf. Maier 1987; Maier 1992, 559.
' 7 1-66,1985‫ י י‬. She relics on die brief discussion by Klinzing
278 CHAPTER EIGHT

which prescribes the order of priestly service will quite likely take
for granted that understanding of priesthood.
Obviously, references to the celebrants as "priests", "ministers",
"chiefs", "princes", "holy ones", "gathered troops" and so forth could
easily be taken in the Qumran context as exalted language for the
community at worship. And in the light of the texts we have exam-
ined thus far, there is plenty reason to suppose that "a god" (whether
elohim or el), an angel (a malak), or even a cherub (viz. Ezek 28:14,
16) could, especially in the cultic context, be a reference to an exalted
human.
The Sabbath Songs were not only used at Qumran; they have also
turned up at Masada, a fact which poses tricky questions for the
identity of the "sicarii" who died there in the their last stand against
70
the Romans. For our immediate purposes it is of some significance
that besicje some biblical material the other identifiable "post-bibli-
cal" text found at Masada is a portion of the Wisdom of Ben Sira.
Presumably those under Roman siege were using both texts on their
mountain top refuge. According to the Hebrew text of Sirach 45:2
7
Moses' divinity is located "in the heights ( ."(‫ 'במרומים‬This is the
language that is used again and again of the heavenly realm in the
Shirot. I f Moses can be ‫ כ א ל ה י ם‬in the heights we should not be sur-
prised i f human worshippers are in mind—especially those atop
Masada—when the Sabbalh Songs refer to ‫ אלהים‬worshipping i n the
heights. Secondly, the identification of the high priest Simon with
God's Glory in Sirach 50:7 has a remarkable parallel, as we shall
see, in the close association between the high priesthood of the Sabbalh
Songs with the anthropomorphic Glory of Ezekiel's throne vision.
Newsom saw that the literary style of the Vlth through V l l l t h
songs, characterized as it is by a highly structured repetition of themes
organized around the number seven, is probably designed to produce
72
an ecstatic experience. Given the way in which ecstasy in Jewish

70
The presence of the Sabbath Songs at Masada caused Newsom to change Iter
earlier view that the Songs arc sectarian in nature (Newsom 1990). As will be clear
in what follows I think her original judgement (reached on the basis of certain obvi-
ous sectarian features such as the use of the solar calendar and the ‫ ל מ ש כ י ל‬form)
is the right one and that in this liturgy we come to the spiritual heart of Essenism,
a movement which was evidently actively involved in resistance to Rome in the
66-74 war.
" According to the Geniza text (ms B). This portion of the text is not preserved
in the Masada copy.
72
1985, 15.
 THE SONUS OF THE SABBATH SACRIFICE 279

antiquity might entail transformation (e.g. Eth. Enoch 71:11-16; 3 Enoch

1-16; T. Job 48-49) there is every reason to suppose that here the
ecstasy (albeit a communal and ritualised one) which the Sabbath Songs
effects was part and parcel of an experience of transformation.
Now, of course, if some of the characters to whom the maskil refers
in each of the songs are in fact the sectarians, whom we know from
other Q L arranged themselves in the military and cultic formations
of the OT, then many of the problems we have laid out disappear.
The peculiar absence from this liturgy of the actual words spoken
by the angels is readily explicable i f those words were well known
to the Qumran sectarians. We know from a passage in Josephus
(Ant. 20:216-18) that Lcvitical temple singers could recite by heart
the Psalms for the daily liturgy and would rather do so than hand
73
hold heavy scrolls. We should not exclude the possibility that the
74
songs were either all, or in part, in an angelic tongue. But the
main point here is thai the difficulty of imagining how the maskil
can call the angels to praise and direct the order of their liturgy is
now overcome. The Songs arc a conductor's score. The score is no
more the actual reality of the liturgy than the script of a play is that
play. On this, alternative interpretative paradigm, we now have the
hope of discovering features hitherto obscure, which we would expect
from this genre. We can hope to find clear lines of social demar-
cation which will allow us to hear with clarity the different voices—
human and suprahuman—of the angelic liturgy.
A convincing demonstration of an interpretation of the Songs along
these lines requires a detailed examination of the texts themselves
and it is to that task that the next three chapters arc devoted.

" See Sanders 1992, 8 1 .

" As suggested by Allison 1988, cf. 1 Cor 13:2; 2 Cor 13:4; T.Job 48:2-50:2;
Apoc. Zfph. 8:1-5.
 CHAPTER N I N E

T H E FIRST SONG (4Q400 1 I): T H E F O U N D I N G OF A

DIVINE C O M M U N I T Y

For the first song there is extant one large fragment (4Q400 1), the
first column of which provides a relatively complete text of the first
twenty lines of the first song:
1
(For the Maskil, a song of the] first [Sabba]th sacrifice on the fourth
2
(day) of the first month, give praise . . .] Ο elohim of all the holiest
3
of the holy ones (‫ ;)קרשי קדושים‬and in {His} divinity ({ (‫ובאלוהור!}ו‬. . .]
amotig the eternally holy (‫)כקרושיעד‬, the holiest of the holy ones (‫קדושי‬
4
‫)קדושים‬, and they have become for Him priests ( (‫ו י ה י ו לולכוהני‬
ministers of the Presence (‫ )םשרחי פנים‬in His debir of Glory, in the
5
assembly of all the dim of . , .] of the elohim. He engraved His statutes
6
(‫ )חרת חוקיו‬for all spiritual works (‫ )מעשי רוח‬and the judgement . . .]
knowledge, the people of His Glorious discernment, elohim! (vacat) For
those who draw near to knowledge (‫ לקרובי‬vocal ‫עם נינוח כבודו אלוהים‬
7
(‫דעת‬. . .] of eternity and from the holy fountain (‫ )וממקור הקודש‬for
(/to/of) the [ww.s‫־‬/?| holy sanctuaries " . . .]pries[is‫ ]׳‬of the inner sane-
tum (‫)כוה]ני[ קורב‬, ministers of the Presence of the King (‫)משרתי פני מלך‬,
9
holy . . .] His gloty and they shall grow in strength decree by decree
1 0
for seven ( (‫ ו ח ו ק בחוק ינבחולשבעה‬. . . He
Himself as the holfiest of the holy ones in the hob]y of holies " . . .] among
12
them according to the council[. . .] from knowledge . . .] holiest holi-
15
ness, prpests. Th]ey are princes of . . .] in the temples of the King
1 4
[. . .] in their territory and in their inheritance . . .] They do not toi-
crate (‫ )לוא יכלכלו‬any [. . .] the way, and there is n[0| unclean thing
15
in their holy places [And statutes of holjiness He engraved (‫ )חרת‬for
them. By these all the eternally holy ones sanctify themselves (‫יתקדשו‬
1 6
‫)כול קדושי עד‬. And He purifies the pure ones ( (‫ ו י ט ה רטהורי‬. .
who pervert the way. And they propitiate His good will (‫)ויכפרו רצונו‬
17
for all who repent of sin (‫( )כול שבי פשע‬vacat) . . .] knowledge among
the priests of the inner sanctum (‫)ככוהני קורב‬. And from their mouths
‫ י‬teachings (ΠΓ1Π ‫ )ומפיהם‬of all matters of holiness with judgements
18
. . . ] H i s [/ojving kindness for an eternal compassionate forgiveness;
19
but in the vengeance of His jealousy . . .) He established for Him-
self priests of the inner sanctum (‫)יסד לו כוהני קורב‬, the holiest of the
2 0
holy ones ( (‫קדושיקדושים‬ . . .Go]d [of] gods, priests of the lofty h
(‫ )כוהני מרומי רום‬who [draw] near
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 281

Filling in some lacunae from other songs this text introduces the
angelic community whose members have been set apart as "Priests. . .
ministers of the Presence in His debir of Glory" (lines 3-4). The first
portion of the address (lines 3-8) is a retrospective of God's previ-
ous action in establishing this angelic temple community, which is
then picked up again towards the end of the column (line 19). The
bulk of the second section (lines 9—20) describes the character and
purpose of this community in the present; their purity and their
vocation to atone for sins. The community that is summoned to
praise (line 1: ‫)הללו‬, is clearly described âs "the holiest of the holy
ones" (lines 3, 19, cf. line 10) and perhaps also "the elohim, those
who draw near to knowledge" (line 6); language which could cer-
1
tainly refer to angels. However, the rest of this programmatic introit
to the first song is with great difficulty read as a description of a
suprahuman angelic community.

Problems of the Angel Reading

Nowhere else in Jewish literature do we have such an extensive aeti-

ology for an angelic community. The normal assumption within
Jewish angelology is that the angels are created either in the first
week of creation (e.g. Jub. 2:2; 4 Ezra 6:41; 2 Enoch 29:3) or as God
has need of them. I do not know of any text that describes the
appointment of angels to a specific office as we find in the first
Sabbalh Song, as though previously they had none or another office.
Within the sweep of the Biblical narrative the language here is that
of (covcnantal) election; without the references to elohim and dim we
would immediately assume that the author was referring to the elec-
tion of Israel or a (specifically priestly) group within Israel. And,
indeed, there are at least seven specific points where the language
of the first song is only with great difficulty construed as a reference
to suprahuman angels. In several of these, rather, the language sets
the Sabbath Songs within the context of the broader tradition of an
angelomorphic humanity that we have traced thus far.

' l i n e 19 picks up the language o f line 3 creating an inclusio around the whole.
The first song is set for the fourth day of the first month. The fourth day of the
first week of creation was the day on which God created the lights and set them
in the sky. This might have some influence on the first Sabbath Song, though in its
extant portions there is no explicit reference to the contents of Genesis 1:14-19.
282 CHAPTER NINE

(a) "A People of Discernment"

In line 6 the community are described as "a people of discernment"

(!‫)עמ כינור‬. In two respects it is highly unlikely that this refers to an
angelic community as opposed to a human one. In the first place
Newsom rightly recognizes that this expression bears comparison with
the use of Isaiah 27:11—"for this is a people without discernment
2
(‫—")לא עם בינוח הוא‬in CD 5:16 and ÎQH" 10:19 [2:19]. In those
two texts "the people of no discernment" are Jews outside the Qumran
community who have perverted the truth. An allusion to Isaiah 27:11
in the first of the Sabbath Songs is fitting because in that biblical text
the people of no discernment are those whose cultic places God has
destroyed (Isa 27 verse 9), whilst the righteous—those who do have
discernment—are promised a restored centre of worship (v. 13). The
Sabbath Songs themselves are a liturgy that sets the Qumran com-
munity apart from the rest of (Jerusalem based) Judaism whose cult
is deemed to stand under divine judgement: the Isaianic allusion and
its intertextual echoes fit the Sabbath Songs perfectly.
Throughout the sectarian scrolls the righteous, the community
3
members, are said to possess "discernment" or "understanding".
Indeed in 4QInstruction the passage which says the true humanity
is made "according to the pattern of the holy ones" (4Q417 2 i 17 =
4Q418 43-45 13) is specifically addressed to the "understanding one
( 4 )"(‫מכין‬Q4172 i 14 = 4Q418 43-45 10), the maven who is the
1
recipient of most of the teaching in that sapiential work.• In 4Q504
5 where Adam is created i n the very likeness of God's Kavod he is
also filled with "discernment (‫ )בינה‬and knowledge"(4Q504 8 5). In
4Q444 the sage who has God's Name in his heart, who fights against
the spirits of wickedness, and who is probably "a god causing fear",
is filled with "a spirit of knowledge and understanding (‫( ")ובינה‬frag.
1, line 3). We will see later in our discussion of the War Scroll that
there too the eschatological Israel is a people of "discernment" who
uniquely embody within creation the identity of the one creator God

2
So Newsom 1985, 99; DJD 11:180.
3
Some notable instances: in other fragments of 4Q511 (Songs of Ike Sage), 4Q511
48-49-51 ii 1 "because he has placed the wisdom of his understanding (‫ )כינהו‬in
my heart"; 4Q511 18 i i 8 "God made the knowledge of understanding (‫ )כינה‬shine
in my heart"; the maskil calls the "sons of dawn" in 4Q298 (col. iii, lines 4-5) as
"men o f understanding" (‫)אנשי בינה‬.
4
Cf. 4Q417 2 i 1, 18 and for other references see our discussion in chapter 6.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 283

( I Q M 10:10, 16). So when the first Sabbath Song speaks of a "people

of discernment/understanding" it most naturally means the Qumran
community (and the wider Essene movement).
Secondly, it is extremely unlikely that a group of angels would
ever be called a people, "‫"עם‬. This question has been discussed at
great length with respect to Daniel 7:27 where there is the impor-
5
tant expression ] . ‫ע ל י ת י‬ ‫ עם קרישי‬There is no agreed tra
interpretation of this phrase, though there is a general consensus that
the " ‫ " ע ם‬must refer to an earthly people, however much they may
6
be identified with "holy ones" or even "haughty holy ones". There
is only one possible precedent for an angelic " ‫ ; " ע ם‬at I Q M 12:8,
7
to which Newsom appeals. However, there ‫ ע ם קדושים‬could either
be "with the holy ones" or refer to the sectarians as "the people of
8
the holy ones". I n combination with an allusion to Isaiah 27:11 it
is stretching linguistic credulity to imagine that the language of 4Q400
1 i 6 does not refer to the human community.

(b) Angelic Teachers (line 17)?

In line 17 we are told that this divine community has a teaching

9
function. As Maxwell Davidson has pointed out in his study of
Qumran angelology, this is problematic: " I n apocalypses such as
those in the Enochic books, the role of the angels as communica-
tors to the seers is quite explicit. Yet this kind of idea is not found
in the Qumran literature, with the possible exception of the Description
of the New Jerusalem [5Q15]. . . . In the Qumran literature in general,
10
the revealed truths of God come through the sect's teachings."
Within the Qumran community it is specifically the inner group of
priest's who teach the community as a whole (1QS 6:3-8; CD 13:2-8;
I Q M 10-12, cf. 4Q175 14-20). The view of priests as the teachers

5
The problem also arises in Sirach 24:1-2 where Wisdom's "people" are set in
a heavenly context. Sirach has little interest in angels and commentators agree that
it is the Israelites who are in view here (e.g. Marböck 1971, 58). I n the context of
Sirach 24 + 50 Israel are a cosmological and heavenly people.
6
See Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 208-9.
7
1985, 99; DJD 11:180.
‫ ״‬See Brekelmans 1965, 322-23; Collins 1993, 315 for this text and our dis-
cussion in chapter 12 (below).
9
Cf. 4Q403 1 i i 35 where, in a broken context, we meet "those who cause
knowledge to shine among the dim of light".
10
1992, 205, cf. 241-42.
284 CHAPTER NINE

within true Israel is a deeply Biblical one, with ample post-Biblical

attestation exemplified by Josephus' hierocratic portrayal 01 Judaism."
Though Davidson righdy notes a possible background in wider angelo-
logical functions it is doubtful whether it is ever appropriate to speak
of angels "teaching" rather than "revealing". In the apocalypses it
is usual for an angel to reveal various heavenly mysteries, which some-
times include a deeper appreciation of halakhah and its role in pre-
Mosaic salvation history (e.g. Jubilees). At other times an angel may
convey God's judgements) (e.g. Daniel 4). However, there is no other
example of a pedagogic community of angels in the highly structured
setting which is implied by the context at 4Q400 1 i 17.
12
The problem is more acute when we appreciate, as has Newsom,
a likely intertcxtuality to Malachi 2:6-7 at this point. There the bib-
lical text is programmatic for the belief that:

. . . the lips o f the priest should g u a r d knowledge ( ‫)שפתי כ ה ן י ש מ ר ו ד ע ת‬,

a n d from his m o u t h (‫ )מפיהו‬they should seek instruction (‫ )תוהה‬because
he is the ‫ מ ל א ך‬o f the LORD o f Hosts.

In the incomplete 4Q400 1 i 17—18 there are linguistic points of

contact with this text from Malachi in the three words, "‫"העת‬,
" ‫ " ב כ ו ה נ י‬, and "‫םפיה‬0", which all presume the singular priest of the
13
O T has become a plurality of "pricstj". A n allusion to Malachi 2:7
is reasonably certain. (Though we might have expected the Songs to
refer to ΓΤΠΙΠ rather than ΠΓΠΠ. Perhaps the latter was chosen to
emphasise the role of the priest, not only in teaching "Torah", but
also its interpretation; hence the wider "instructions".)
Regarding the interpretation of this line and its allusion to Malachi
2:7 Newsom suggests that "the ambiguous ‫ מ ל א ך‬may have provided
grounds for speculation about the angelic priesthood", by which she
means speculation about angels who are priests." For this there is
no other evidence. However, there is, as wc have seen, considerable
evidence that Malachi 2:6-7 represented and provided support: for
a post-exilic exploration of the angelomorphic identity of the earthly
priesthood.

11
Sec Lev 10:10-11; Deut 33:8-1 l ; J e r 18:18; M a i 2:6-7 e t c . . .
" 1985, 105. This and many exegetical details of 4Q400 1 i are not included
in D.ivila's commentât)' (2000).
13
For the interaction with Malachi in the first column of first song note also the
"similarity of vocabulary between lines 13-15 and M a i 3:1-3" Newsom DJD 11:182.
14
Ibid.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 285

The classic instance of an angelomorphic priesthood under the

influence of Malachi 2 is Jubilees 31. We have already seen how
Jubilees 31 has influenced the blessing of the high priest in lQSb 4.
And on close inspection we find that the first of the Sabbath Songs is
s
also reading Malachi 2 through the lens prowled by Jubilees 31:14-16.'
In that proto-Essene text the Lévites are to be "angels of the près-
ence", they are given "great glory", they are "drawn near to God"
where "they serve in His sanctuary" as "holy ones"; they are given
a variety of authoritative titles "judges", "rulers" and "leaders" and
execute God's "judgements", "blessing all the seed of the beloved
[i.e. Israel]." At every point in this description we hear the language
of the Sabbath Songs. There (he angelic community is .everywhere
associated with God's Glory, they are drawn near (4Q400 1 i G, cf.
the use of ‫ קורב‬for the inner sanctum in, e.g., 4Q400 1 1 8, 17, 19)
and are called "holy ones", the "holiest of the holy ones" and
"ministers of the prcscnce(/facc) (of the king)" (4Q400 1 i 4 and 8:
(‫)משרחי פני )מלך‬. They too serve in "His sanctuary" (e.g. 4Q400 1
i 7) and are variously called "princes" and "chiefs" executing God's
judgements (e.g. 4Q400 1 i 17). In the Vlth Song wc have a liturgy
for their blessing of other members of the heavenly realm, who as
we shall see are other members of the sectarian community, in all
likelihood the non-priestly Israelites.
These close parallels with Jubilees 31 not only help fill out the allu-
sion to Malachi 2:7 in 4Q400 1 i 17 through a wider tradition of
interpretation of that O T verse, they arc also of the utmost impor-
lance in interpreting the place of the Songs within a wider history-
of-rcligions context. Like the author of Jubilees the community which
recited the Songs was prepared to see the human priesthood as angelo-
rnorphic, and both did so within the context of an ongoing tradi-
tion of biblical interpretation.
To seal our claim that the (caching function in 4Q400 1 i 17 is
only intelligible as a responsibility of the human yet angelomorphic priest-
hood we should recall that the same constellation of ideas seems to
be present in three other Qumran texts. In lQSb 4 the priest who
is to be •‫ כ מ ל א ך פני‬is to have both a judicial rule in company with
the angels of the presence and is "to give light [ ] for the world

'‫ יי‬The points of contact between 4ÇM0O 1 i and Jub. 31 are noted by VanderKam
1999b, 505-•G.
286 CHAPTER NINE

in knowledge, and to illuminate the face of the Many", a clear par-

allel to the teaching vocation of the priesthood in 4Q400 1 i . Similarly
in 4Q491 11 i (4Q491c), Morton Smith's famous Glorification Hymn
(B), the transformed hero is described as both teaching and judg-
16
ing (lines 8-10 [formerly 16-18]). As we have seen that character
d
is also a highly exalted priest. Thirdly, in 4QTestLevi 9 i the
cosmogonie high priest is described in overtly heavenly terms (cf.
T. Levi 18), and it is said that "His word is like a word of the heav-
ens, and his teaching conforms to the will of God (line 3)". Clearly,
whilst the Qumran sectarians were little concerned with the teaching role of the
angels, they were very much interested in the teaching of an exalted and ang
morphic priesl(hood).

(c) Angels who need to he strengthened (line 9)?

In what is left of line 9 we have a reference to some kind of strength-

cning "‫"והרק בהוק ינברו לשבעה‬. Translation and interpretation are
hampered by the broken context. The verb could be either a Qal
("grow strong") or a Pi'el ("strengthen"). Although the statutes could
be the subject of the verb this is more likely to be the role of the
angelic priesthood: "and statute by statute (or 'with eveiy statute')
they will grow in strength (or 'they will strengthen') (for) seven . . .".
For reasons which arc not made clear Newsom docs not think it
likely that the priesthood themselves arc the ones who grow in
strength. She prefers a translation in which either the angelic com-
munity strengthen seven eternal councils, the latter being supplied,
17
or in which they confirm "every statute". But for her "confirm" we
would expect a Hiph'il (cf. Dan 9:27; Ps 12:5).
Perhaps she is consciously or unconsciously aware of the difliculty
of having angels grow in strength. I am not aware of any example
of such an angelic growth. Within Jewish angelology it is taken for
granted that the angels arc what they arc, (apart from those who
fall); they do not change their status or order of being, let alone
"grow in strength". On the other hand it is normally angels that
strengthen weak mortals, only they do not do so with "statutes" but
merely by their presence or a reassuring touch (e.g. Dan 10:18; 4
Ezra 10:30; T. Dan 6:5; Luke 22:43-44; Apoc. Ahr. 10:3).

16
Note in particular the similarity of, otherwise peculiar, language (4Q_4-91c 1 9
" ‫"( " ה ו ד י ה‬teaching") and 4Q400 1 1 1 7 " ‫"( " ה ו ר ו ה‬teachings").
17
1985, 101; DJD 11.-18Γ.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 287

On the other hand, mortals who undergo a transformation to the

angelomorphic or divine sphere of existence are frequently strength-
ened or physically enlarged in the process. The best known exam-
pic of this is the extraordinary transformation of Enoch to the gigantic
Metatron in the Amorale 3 Enoch 9 (Enoch "was raised and enlarged
(‫ )דוממתי והנבהחי‬to the size of the length and width of the world").
The roots of this mystical idea are much older and, as we have seen
in chapter 6, the earliest example may be provided by Glorification
Hymn A, in which there is described the lot of the righteous with
h
the heavenly community. The language in the 4Q427 ( l Q H ) 7 ii
version of Glorification Hymn A—"God strengthens (‫ )ינביר״ו‬him to the
clouds in stature" (line 9) echoes clearly the language of 4Q400 1
i 9 confirming, again, the possibility that here the first of the Sabbath
Songs describes the transformative cllcct on the Qumran community
1
of the formation of an angelomorphic cultic community."
Another significant parallel to 4Q400 1 i 9 is provided by 4Q444
(4Qlncantation) (above). There the transformed spiritual warrior
is probably exhorted; "strengthen yourself in the statutes of God
19
(‫( ")תחחצק בהוקי אל‬line 4). 77;« and the language of Glorification Hymn
A suggests that it is most natural to take 4Q400 1 i 9 as a reference to the
transformative strengthening or enlargement of the righteous by virtue of, or
preparation for, the angelic liturgy.

(d) Angels with 'Territory and an Inheritance (line 13)?

In line 13 the angelic priesthood has a "territory" and an "inheri-

tance". Newsom comments; "both the idea and the language itself
recall Ezekiel's temple vision in which the temple district (chap. 4.5)
and the land itself (chaps. 47•-48) are divided among the priests and
20
the people." She does not cite any parallels for this language being
used of angels, as opposed to humans. We have already noted the

"' 'the parallel might suggest that we should supply a reference to the "(seventh)
heaven" at the beginning of the next line. Although there is no other explicit refer-
ence to a seven-tiered cosmology in the Sabbath Songs, as we shall see one is prob-
ably assumed in the second half of (he cycle (Songs V l - X I I I ) .
'‫ יי‬See DJD 29:376 for discussion and other translation possibilities. The editor,
E. Chazon, compares the idea of internalized laws of God in 4Q444 with the "con-
ccpt of the laws of thanksgiving engraved upon the heart" in 4Q511 6 3 - 4 i i 3;
1QS 10:6, 8, texts which are otherwise closely related to 4Q4Û0 1 i {DJD 29:376).
a
1985, 103. See esp. Ezek 44:28; 45:1; 46:18.
288 CHAPTER NINE

problem this language presents for the angelic interpretation of 4Q418

69 (above, chapter 4) where it is said of certain sons of heaven that
they have eternal life as their inheritance. It is true, of course, that
the location of specific divine beings in particular areas of the cos-
mos or their attachment to specific peoples and their territories is
an old and, indeed, axiomatic view in antiquity. And this, indeed,
is reflected in Israel's scriptures (e.g. Deut 32:8-9). But an unequiv-
ocal statement that angels have territories and an inheritance is with-
out parallel in contemporary Jewish texts. In the context of the opening
section of the first of the Sabbalh Songs tins is perhaps belter taken as a state
ment of the privilèges that are given to the righteous when God sets up his true
cult and temple slate.

(e) God Engraving Statutes for the Angels (line 15)?

In the Hebrew Bible the root ΓΓΠ is used only once; of the tablets
on which God engraves the Torah at Sinai in Exodus 32:16. In Q L
the verb is common and outside of the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice it
is always used of the act of engraving for humanity's benefit, never
1
for the angels (cf. 1QS 10:6, 8, 11; 1QH 9:24 [1:24]; 4Q180 1 3;
4Q284 3 4). In the first Sabbalh Song it is used twice: in line 5 to
refer to God's engraving "of statutes for all his spiritual works" and
in line 15 again (probably) to refer to "{statutes of holjiness" which
God has engraved for the angelic priesthood. Elsewhere in the Sabbalh
Songs the verb appears twice in broken passages, one of which may
refer to the inscribing of God's Name on the crown worn by the
high priesthood (4Q405 23 ii 3, see below).
I n Qumran theology the angels have kept God's statutes since the
beginning of creation (Jubilees 2:17-18; 15:27); they do not need, as
did Israel at Sinai, God's engraving of his commandments. And so
it is not surprising that the idea that God concretely engraves, or
even writes, commandments for his angels is not elsewhere attested
in the literature of the period. On the other hand the language of
engraving docs appear in another Qumran text which deals specifically
with the life of the spiritual humanity. In that portion of 4QInslruction
which describes the "people of spirit" and the formation of the true
humanity "according to the pattern of the holy ones" (4Q417 1 i
14—18 and 4Q418 43 10-14, see above) an ordinance or statute
for the righteous and a statute for the punitive visitation of God
against the wicked are said to be "engraved (‫")הרוח‬. For the Qumran
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 289

community, then, God's engraved decrees, including in all likelihood

the Sinaitic covenant, ultimately directed God's people to their orig-
21
inally intended heavenly identity.
Whilst the language of engraving in 4ÇM00 1 ill accords with the view tha
here there is described the founding of a (suprahuman) angelic community,
suits well a description of the /bunding of the human community truly obedie
to God's revealed law. Those who fulfill God's engraved statues have
taken upon themselves "spiritual works" (line 5) because, like the
righteous of 4QJnstruction, they are a "spiritual people".

(f) Angels Sanctifying Tliemsehies (line 15)?

Again, line 15 spciiks of the heavenly community nicinbets sailed-

lying themselves and being purified by God. 1 do not know of any
instance of angels being sanctified, much less of angels sanctifying
1
themsleves?' The idea assumes a degree of volition and independent
action which is inappropriate, for angels, though fitting for the mem-
2
hers of the Qumran community.' '
Furthermore, here 4Q400 echoes several other Qumran texts where
the context specifically relates sanctification and purification to human
transformation. In Jubilees 31:14 the sanctification of Levi is a neccs-
sary fact of his becoming an angelomorphic minister. It is God's
sanctifying of a pure leaven amongst the righteous lump in 4Q511 35
that produces an angelic priesthood (above), and this is just one of
several important parallels between 4Q400 1 i and 4Q511 35 to
which we shall turn shortly. Equally, important are the parallels
between 4Q400 1 i and the description of the true priest in 4Q418
frag. 81 (above, chapter 6). There also the glorious priest has both
a peculiarly privileged inheritance (line 3, 11) and is specifically called
upon to sanctify himself (line 4) as God has separated him from a
spirit of flesh and magnified his glory. Then, again, we should recall
4Q377 where (in frag. 1 recto col. ii) it is when Moses is covered

21
T h e theme is a familiar one in the first century A . D . and thereafter, (sec
Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 98 105, 169-71 for the belief that obedience to Torah pro-
duces an angelic humanity in Acts 7:53 and latter rabbinic tradition).
2 2
Although it is possible that (he Hilhpa'el of ‫ ק ד ש‬might function as a passive
(Qimron 1986a, §310.16; D. Falk in DJD 29:57) there is no reason to see a depar-
turc from the normally reflexive sense of its biblical usage here.
2 3
For humans/priests sanctifying themselves see 1QS 3:4, 9; IQ.H" 19:10 [11:10];
4Q284 1 7 .
290 CHAPTER NINE

by the theophanic clouci and sanctified that he also speaks "as an

angel from his mouth" (line 10).
Lastly, 4Q393—a recently published Communal Confession—
clearly combines sanctification, purification, and the exaltation of the
righteous. In this prayer God is addressed:

O n w h o m w i l l you m a k e y o u r face shine (cf. N u m 6:25) w i t h o u t their

being purified and sanctified a n d exalted above everything ( ‫ו ל א י ט ה ר ו‬
2
‫'׳ ?)ויחקהשו ויחהוממו ל מ ע ל ה ל כ ו ל‬

Being exalted above everything is the position Jerusalem is to have

in the Apostrophe to Qon in 11QIV 22:12 (‫)מעלה לכל רוכל‬. Used of
human beings it obviously speaks in unequal terms of an exaltation
to a position of power and privilege which accurately describes (he
position of the righteous in many of (he other texts we have exam-
ined in tjiis study. The language is also generally similar to that of
25
the Sabbath Songs (esp. Van and .(‫מעלה‬
So, once again language which can only with great difficulty be applied to
angels is with very good reason taken to refer to the (self)sanctification of a
righteous humanity which has already been transformed, or is in the
process of transformation, to a new heavenly identity.

(g) Angels Providing Atonement for 'All Wlw Repent of Sin" (line 16)?
In line 16 the heavenly priesthood arc set apart because "they pro-
pitiate His good will for all who repent of sin (‫")כול שבי פשע‬.
Elsewhere, the expression "‫ "שבי פשע‬is virtually a title of the Qumran
community (cf. 1QS 10:20; C D 2:5; 12:17; 1QH" 10:9; 14:6 [2:9;
6:6]). Does this mean that "there are priestly angels in heaven who
26
make atonement for the repentant" mortals on earth?
Here we are forced to reckon with the question discussed in the
last chapter: was there a current Jewish view that there was a cull
in heaven with angels effecting atonement on the model of (or as a
model for) priests in the earthly temple? We have seen that there is

n
4Q393 frag. 3 lines 5-6 following D . Faik's translation in DJD 29:55. Although,
as i n 4Q400 1 i 15, the verbs are i n Hithpa'el, Falk is probably right to take these
as passive forms (DJD 29:57) in 4Q393.
25
‫י‬/‫ רום‬and ‫ מ ע ל ה‬appear 67 and 3 times respectively in the Sabbalh Songs. The
language is similar, though the sense different, in 4Q403 1 i 28 (end of the Vlth)
where God is "above all blessing ( ‫ " ) מ ע ל ה ל כ ו ל ב ר כ ה‬.
r>
' So Newsom 1985, 105.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 291

little evidence for this and that it is unlikely that as a Qumran liturgy
the Sabbath Songs invented such a notion. At this point Newsom sim-
ply compares Testament of Imi 3:5 as though the matter need no fur-
titer debate. To this text James R. Davila adds a cross reference to
27
Joseph and Asenth 15:7-8. But neither of these passages warrants the
interpretation Newsom gives to 4Q400 1 i 16. As we have seen,
Testament of Lmi 3:5 is likely to be Christian and so cannot be con-
fielen tly used to explain a Jewish text which is at least two hundred
years older. In Joseph and Aseneth 15:7-8 it is said that "Repentance
is in the heavens, an exceedingly beautiful and good daughter of the
Most High. And she herself entreats (εκλιπαρεί) the Most High God
for you at all times and for all who repent in the name of the Most
High God". Whilst (here tire superficial similarities between our text
and Joseph and Aseneth, "entreating" and "atoning" are really quite
différent. For the angelic mediation of prayers of the righteous the
evidence is as old as the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch 9; 15:2, cf. 3 Baruch
11-15), but neither Joseph and Aseneth nor any other Jewish text from
the period provides depicts angels atoning for the righteous.
The absence of angels atoning for the righteous in a spiritual upper
world is unsurprising given the thoroughly material nature of sacrifice.
The language of verse 16—the noun ‫ רצון‬and the root ‫—כפר‬is every-
28
where else used of human cultic activity. And the description of
one class of person atoning for (the sins of) another normally implies
not a division between angels and men, but between priests and
laity, or priests and the whole people ( I Q M 2:5, cf. 1QS 8:10; 9:4).
It is, of course, possible that in other contexts angelomorphic human
priests arc specifically held responsible for atonement (cf. the lan-
29
guagc of 4Q513 1-2 ii 4 (above), HQMelch 2:8).

(h) Conclusions: Towards a New Interpretation of the hirst Sabbath Song

None of these seven exegetical problems in isolation necessarily war-

rants the rejection of Newsom's interpretation of the first Sabbath

2 7
Davila 2000, 103.
211
The idea that God's "good w i l l " has to be atoned is odd, since we would
expect rather God's favour to result from atonement. I having nothing to add to
Newsom's thoughts (ad lor) on this oddity.
25
Whilst Newsom (1985, 105; DJD 11:104) compares (his phrase with the angclo-
logical language o f C D 2:5-6, more apposite would be 1QH* 10:9 [2:9] where the
psalmist proclaims " I have been a snare to those who rebel, but healing to those
of them who repent of sin (‫")מרפא ל כ ו ל ע ב י פשע‬.
292 CHAPTER NINE

Song. But cumulatively the evidence is overwhelming: the first col-

umn of the first Song is dense with phraseology and ideas which can
only with great difficulty be taken to refer to a purely angelic rather
than a human community. What does this conclusion mean for the
whole of 4 Q 4 0 0 1 i and the rest of the Songs?
Might it: not be possible to have 4 Q 4 0 0 1 i refer to a human
community and the rest of the Songs refer to an angelic one? To
answer this question we will have to examine the other Songs in
detail, but it is already worth noting that it is precisely the continu-
ity of language for the (heavenly) priesthood throughout the Songs
which has lead commentators since Newsom to assume that through-
out the Songs the same worshipping community is described.
Might it be possible to have some of 4 Q 4 0 0 I i ‫ ־‬those, parts just
discussed -refer to the human community but overtly angclological
language fefer to suprahuman worshippers? It is only in the open-
ing lines that we hear of "the assembly of the elim" (line 4) and the
maskil calls his hearers elohim (line 2). Might this not allow us to see
two different groups described in this text; one angelic and one
human? Initial considerations suggest this is unlikely. Although there
arc large lacunae in our text there is a thematic unity throughout;
the whole first column appears to be devoted to God's founding of
his cultic community and phraseology in the opening lines of the
column is picked up at the end, creating an interpretative inclusio
30
around the whole. At several points language that is best taken to
refer to human beings is also suggestive of a transformed humanity.
Since it is the "eternally holy ones" who "sanctify" themselves in line
15 this must describe humans \vho now possess a certain immortality
there and in line 3 where the "eternally holy" arc also called the
"holiest of the holy ones". This latter expression itself is suggestive
of an exalted angelic humanity, given the fluidity between human
and angelic "holy ones" in contemporary Jewish literature. According
to line 2 0 the priests just described belong to the "lofty heights"
which again implies that though human our cultic community have
been raised to a new level of reality.
These considerations suggest that throughout the first column of the
first Song there is in view not a cultic angelology but a transformed,

3 0
Note the repetition of "the holiest of the holy ones" in lines 2, 3 and 19;
"eternally holy" in lines 3 and 15; "ministers of the Presence" in lines 4 and 8;
"priests of the inner sanctum" in lines 8 and 19.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 293

31
heavenly human cult. Further confirmation of this reading and a
sharper focus on the social and historical Sitz im lieben of the account
of community formation in the first Song is provided by a compar-
ison of this portion of the Songs with two other Qumran texts. The
language and ideas of the first song bear a striking resemblance both
to Songs of the Sage (4Q511) fragment 35 and some important sec-
tions of the Community Rule (1QS).

4Q400 1 i and the Founding of an Angelic Priesthood in 4Q511 35

4Q511 fragment 35 from the Songs of the Sage contains an explicit

statement of God's formation of an angelomorphic priesthood within
the true Israel. Though passed over in her earlier work, in a later
article Newsom noted some important correspondences between the
Songs of the Sage and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, two texts that
52
arc designated '.‫ למשכיל‬She noted, for example, that in the Songs
of the. Sage "one fragment . . . uses terms for heavens and the chcru-
him that arc almost identical to those of the Sabbath songs" and
that both texts have a peculiar preference for the divine epithet
‫ א ל ו ה י ם‬. " O n e of the most interesting points of comparison occurs
in 4Q511 35, where the speaker describes God's act of setting apart
priests for himself. . . . the passage is quite similar to the description
of the consecration of the angelic priesthood in the first Sabbath
Song (4Q400 1 i), a topic of utmost importance in the Sabbath
1
Songs.'" The parallel is indeed remarkable and merits closer attention.
There are clear points of correspondence between the two texts,
both in detail and overall content. Both describe the foundation of
a priesthood who are to live as a Temple community, thereby tak-
ing on an angelic life. Both describe that community in terms of
purity: besides the repeated language of holiness, in 4Q511 35 the
angelomorphic priesthood are to be "purity amongst the, cleansed"
(‫ )טהרה כנכרים‬and in 4Q400 1 i 14-15 "there is no unclean thing

31
It is of course possible that the "assembly of the earn" in line 4 includes non-
human "gods".
5 2
1990, 183. For the connections see also Falk 1998, 127-28.
33
1990, 183. She names the fragment as 4Q511 44, but she must mean 4Q511
41 for which Baillet (DJD 7:239) reads the expressions "‫( " ב מ ר ו מ י ר ו • מעון‬line I)
and ‫( " ל כ ר ו ב י ק ו ר ט ] ״‬line 2).
31
Newsom 1990, 183.
294 CHAPTER NINE

in their holy places" (‫ )וא]י[ן טמא בקודשיהם‬and God is said to "purify

the pure ones" (‫)יטהר טהורי‬. The priests in both are called "minis-
ters"4)‫ מ ש ר ת י ם‬Q 5 1 1 35 4; 4Q400 1 i 4, 8). The expression "His
righteous people" (4Q511 35 4) echoes the ‫ עם בינות‬of 4Q400 1 i
6. In 4Q511 35 the sage describes how God

will sanctify for himself (‫( )לו‬a group from) among the holy ones ( ‫) ב ק ד ש י ם‬
and they shall be priests ( ‫)והיו כ ו ה נ י ם‬.

With this we should compare the opening and closing lines of the
first column of the first Song.

a m o n g the e t e r n a l l y h o l y , the holiest o f h o l y ones a n d they have

become for h i m priests ( ‫ ( ) ב ק ד ו ט י ע ד ק ד ו ש י ק ד ו ש י ם ו י ה י ו ל ו ל כ ו ה נ י‬l i m : 3)

he established l o r himself priests (‫ ) ל ו כוהני‬of the i n n e r sanctum (line 19)

The linguistic overlap is transparent. Though fragment 35 of 4Q511

35

nowhere describes a group of the "holiest of the holy ones" wc have

seen how that language, and the social division within the sectarian
movement between the monastic core and the laity is presumed in
4Q511 35.
In 4Q51 1 35 4 the human priests are called "angels of His Glory"
or "His glorious angels" (‫)מלאכי כבודו‬. Although this expression is
not extant in the first of the Sabbalh Songs it is attested in the bro-
ken context of a fragment which probably belongs to the 10th Song
(4Q405 17 5). There, interestingly, it occurs in parallelism with the
phrase ‫מלאכי חפארח‬. Once again, the collocation of language pecu-
liar to the theology of divine priesthood (‫ תפארח‬and ‫ )כבוד‬is com-
bincd. We have seen that it is likely that the transcendent humanity
of 4Q511 35, typified by the maskil himself, arc now "gods" (‫)אלים‬
and given the cumulative case for a revisionist reading of the Sabbath
Songs it is possible that also in 4Q400 1 i 4 the cultic "assembly of
dim" includes the angelomorphic priesthood of the community, ]finally,
it said in fragment 35 line 5 that the heavenly priesthood shall praise
Hin! in marvellous prodigies (‫יהללוהו ב ה פ ל א נוראות‬, line 5). The word
‫ נורא‬is not particularly common in the scrolls though it is well rep-
3b
resented in the Sabbath Songs. The word ‫ פ ל א‬appears abundantly in

3 5
Similar language appears in 4 Q 4 0 I 17 (a fragment which it has not been pos-
siblc to assign to a particular song) line 3 "He established them for Himself to draw
nea[r".
3 6
See 4Q403 1 i 42; 4Q405 23 i 13; 4Q405 58 i 2, cf. 1 Q M 12:7; 4Q38S 50
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 295

the Songs and this liturgy claims over 80% of its occurrences in the
37
scrolls.
Given the brevity of the 4Q511 fragment all these thematic and
linguistic similarities are certainly significant. It should also be noted
that fragment 35 sets the establishment of this angelic priesthood in
the context of God's eschatological action; his "avenging judgment
(‫ )משפט נקמות‬to destroy wickedness" (line 1). Λ similar divine threat
is present in 4Q400 1 i 18 ("in the vengeance of His jealousy (‫בנקמת‬
‫ )")קנאתו‬and later on in the liturgy the faithfulness of the divine
beings is said to preserve them from the coming wrath (4Q405 23
i 10-12).
Socially, fragment 35 distinguishes between two groups; "the holy
ones" (line 2) from amongst whom God sanctifies an inner group
who act as priests; who possess a (particular) "purity" amongst (all
those) who arc "cleansed". As wc have seen this division is proba-
bly parallel to that in the community rule, 4 Q M M T and 4QSapiential
Work A (4Q418 frag. 81 line 4); between Israel who are "holy" and
Aaron, who arc "holy of holies". On close inspection the same divi-
sion is present in the first of the Sabbath Songs. In lines 3 & 10 the
reconstructed text should probably read "He established ]among the
eternally holy the holiest of the holy ones and they have become
for him priests . . .", "He established them [for] Himself as the
ho[liest of the holy ones in the ho]ly of holies" (cf. line 19). This
division between priesthood and laity is also, obviously, present in
lines 16-17 where the holiest of the holy ones, the priesthood, are
set: apart to atone for the whole community ("those who repent of
sin") and to teach the laity.
The parallels between 4Q511 35 and 4Q400 1 i are mutually
interpretative: on the one hand they confirm our preliminary con-
elusion that the cultic community that is established in 4Q400 ί is
a human, and yet heavenly one like that in the Songs of the Sage. On
the other hand, the fact that the angelomorphic cult in the Sabbalh
Songs is one which has already been established in the past and now
operates in the community's liturgical present means that any nag-
ging doubts about the temporal orientation of the cultic community

i 3; HQtgJob 36:4. For the "marvelous prodigies" here note especially the ‫ה פ ל ה‬
‫ נוראות‬of the first line of Glorification Hymn B (4Q491 11 1).
37
Nowhere i n the extant Songs is the word ‫ צ ב א‬used, which is surprising on any
reading.
296 CHAPTER NINE

in 4Q511 35 are removed. The angelomorphic liturgical community

of 4Q511 35 is described in the future tense and in our earlier dis-
cussion we were uncertain as to whether it described existing cultic
realities. There is no doubt that the heavenly cult of 4Q400 was up
and running at Qumran (and at Masada). And the reference to God's
wrath in 4Q400 1 i 18 is set over against God's "compassionate for-
giveness" which suggests God's anger is as much a liturgical as an
eschatological reality (God's wrath being that which the liturgy serves
to propitiate). So too we can now be confident that some Qumran
community members already belong to the angelomorphic priesthood
described in 4Q511 35 and the reference to God's "raging anger"
in 4Q511 35 1-2 need not mean the text is solely concerned with
the conditions of a future age. If the language in cither text is c.seha-
1
tological a "realized eschatology" is in view;"
The clarity of conceptual overlap between this Songs of the Sage
passage and the opening of the first Sabbath Song comes into still
sharper focus when we turn to the second text in Q L which evinces
close parallels with the latter.

4Q400 1 i and the Formation of the Cultic Community in the IQS

In her 1985 commentary on the largest fragment of the first song,

Newsom noted linguistic parallels to the Community Rule, in partieu-
lar to IQS 10. Unfortunately she never picks up these parallels and
explores their possible implications. .They are further evidence that
this song is a description of the foundation of the human cultic com-
munity at Qumran.
She notes, for example that the expression ‫" חוק חרות‬engraved
statute" is used three times in column 10 of IQS (lines 6, 8, 11)
and is thus very close to the engraving of statutes in 4Q400 1 i 5
5 9
(" .("‫חוקיו‬ ‫חרת‬ To the expression "holy fountain" in line
first song she compares the description of God as a "fountain of
knowledge" and "spring of holiness" (‫ )מקור ד ע ת ומעין קודש‬in 1QS
10:12 (cf. IQS 11:13). The combination of these two parallels leads

3 8
Davila (2000, 101) thinks that 4Q511 35 refers to "deified humans in the
eschatological temple", but he neglects to mention the important parallels between
4 0 5 1 1 35 and 4Q400 1 i in his commentary.
5
1985, 98; DJD 11:180.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 297

her to comment on lines 5-7 that "[t]here are . . . similarities of

vocabulary with IQS χ 10—13 where the author recites God's statutes
(‫ )חוקיו‬and judgments (‫)ומשפטו‬, while his sin is present like an engraved
0
rule ( ' " ' . ( ‫כ ח ו ק‬ ‫הרוח‬ She also includes IQS 10:20 in a list
references for the expression ‫ שבי פ ש ע‬in line 16. However, the points
of correspondence are more extensive and the overlap in conceptual
context more significant than she appreciates.
The literary formation of the Community Rule is the subject of some
uncertainty, now made more problematic by some wide divergences
between the Gave 1 and Gave 4 texts. However, there is general
agreement that the material in columns 8-10 of IQS belongs to the
earliest stages of the rule's literary development. Column 10, where
Newsom notes the closest parallels to (he Songs, describes in sum-
mary form (he pattern of worship which is prescribed for commu-
nity members and in particular for the maskil (see the " ‫" ל מ ש כ י ל‬
formula in IQS 9:13, 9:26if., cf. 3:13). This section of the Rule there-
fore belongs to that distinctive genre which we have seen is shared
by 1 QSb, 77(« Songs of the Sage and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.
In the Community Rule, as we would expect for the Sabbath Songs, the
references to "engraved statutes" intend the community's own, very
particular, cultic festivals and liturgical calendar (IQS 10:6, 8, 11).
It is to these that the community members adhere and in doing so
1
they clearly mark themselves out from other Israelites.' '
Column 10 of IQS follows columns 8-9 which describe the foun-
dation of the community. IQS 8:l‫־‬10a, 9:3ff, in particular, are
thought to represent a very early stage in the formation of the com-
12
munity at Qumran, (c. 150-100 B.C.)/ Here there is described the
establishment of a temple community which will serve as a means
of atonement for the rest of the community, substituting the sacrifice
of suffering obedience (IQS 8:3-4) and praise for that of "burnt-
offerings and . . . the fat of sacrifices" (IQS 9:4). The language here
is close to that of 4Q400 1 i 16: "And they propitiate his good will
f o r . . . " (‫)ויכפרו רצונו כעד‬: at IQS 8:6 and 9:4 we have almost

40
1985, 100 and DJD 11:181.
" f o r the importance of I Q S 10 for understanding the Songs as a seasonal liturgy
to be repeated four times a year see Maier 1992, 549-50.
12
E.g. Knibb 1987, 127, 129; Alexander 1996, 441.
298 CHAPTER NINE

identical expressions (1QS 8:6 " 1;"‫ ר צ ו ן ל כ פ רכעד‬Q

. . . ‫ ולרצון ל‬. . ."). And of course 1QS 8 and 9 offer one of the clear-
est statements of a division between "a house of holiness for Israel
(i.e. the laity)" and a foundation of the holiest of the holies for Aaron
(i.e. the priesthood) (1QS 8:5-6, cf. 9:5-6 and 8:8). As we have seen
it is this division that is in mind throughout 4Q400 1 i .
From this brief overview it is clear that there arc some close points
of contact between this early section of the Community Rule and the
first of the Sabbalh Songs. These confirm our argument thus far that
the latter describes not the establishment of a community of "angels",
in any dualistic sense of the word, but the Qumran community and,
in particular, its inner core of priests. Taken together with 4Q51 1
35 (besides also 1QJT & I QSb) these similarities suggest also (hat
here we have a group of texts, all associated with the ‫משכיל‬, which
derive frofh an early period in the sect's formation, and which include
a rehearsal o f the founding myth of the community. 1QS alone
would give us no impression that the sectarians were anything other
than entirely human. Flowever, in the other examples of this ‫למשכיל‬
form we discover an inner self-understanding in which mortality has
been thoroughly transcended.

Hie Sectarian elohim, the Qerubim and Ihe Angelic, Cherubim (line. 6)

There is now overwhelming evidence that on the basic point of ref-

erential identity Newsom was wrong in her interpretation of the first
Sabbath Song. I t describes a transformed, angelic community of human
priests, who like the psalmist in the Glorification Hymn are now reck-
oncd as full members of the "assembly of the elim", because they
like Aaron before them (4QVisions of Amram) can themselves be
called "gods". The portion of the extant text of 4Q400 1 i which
was meant to drive the point home was perhaps line 6:

‫י‬ ‫ לקרובי רעת‬vacat ‫עס בינות כבודו אלוהים‬

This line has two points of interpretative significance:

(a) "The people of His Glorious discernment, elohim".

In her original transcription and translation Newsom read ‫עמ בינות‬

‫ כבוהו אלוהים‬before the vacat of line 6, translating the whole line "the
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 299

people (who possess) His glorious insight, the godlike beings who
43
draw near to knowledge". But, as she notes, the grammatical "con-
44
struction of the whole line remains problematic". What is the rela-
tionship between the ‫ אלוהים‬and what precedes and what follows,
and how is the ‫ קרובי‬+ ‫ ל‬to be construed in relation to the rest?
In his review article of Newsom's critical edition, Elisha Qimron sug-
,
gested reading the third word of the Hebrew as ‫ כ ב ו ר‬, a Qal pas-
15
sive participle of ‫ כ ב ר‬, rather than ':‫ כבודו‬This allows the reading
"people of discernment, honoured of God (vacat) For those who draw
near to knowledge", which Newsom has now taken up in her more
41
recent official critical edition. '
But this is not without its difficulties either. Λ Qal passive par-
liciple of ‫ כ ב ד‬is otherwise unattested in Biblical or Qumran Hebrew
and everywhere else the niph'al of ‫ כ ב ר‬is used (e.g. 4Q400 2 2; 4Q401
14 i 5, 8). Secondly, the down stroke o f the last letter of the word
just doesn't look like a yodf While the difference between the yod
and the warn is minimal, Newsom's original judgement that here
there is the former is the sounder on purely palaeographic grounds.
There is also the difficulty of explaining the vacat. It does not appear
18
that this can be explained by damage to the leather. But i f it is a
deliberate gap what role does it play?
I suggest the following translation of Newsom's original transcrip-
tion: "the people of his glorious discernment, "gods", (vacat) (for) those
49
drawn near with knowledge". This accords with the parallels between
the surrounding lines and the language of 4Q511 35 where a sim-
ilar appositional style is used. This also provides an obvious expia-
nation for the vacal: the statement that the Qumran sectarians,
particularly its priesthood, arc "a people of discernment (and also)
gods" is a climactic one, which deserves an emphatic pause in reading.

« 1985, 89, 93.

4 4
1985, 100.
4 5
O i m r o n 1986b, 358-59.
46
DJD 11:178 80.
" There is an overlap at this point with 4 Q 4 0 I 15 1. Although this fragment is
badly damaged the bottom of a waw seems clear where Newsom now wants a yod
(DJD 11, pl. X V I I I ) .
4
' " See DJD 11, pl. X V I .
4 9
Cf. Vermes: "the people (endowed with) his glorious understanding, the 'gods'
who are close to knowledge."
300 CHAPTER NINE

(b) Hie Qerubim of knowledge

After the vacat, the last phrase of line 6 refers to the participants in
the heavenly liturgy as "‫"קרובי דעת‬. Newsom reads here the com-
mon adjective "karob" "near". I t is unusual for an adjective to stand
50
as the nomen regens, but not without precedent.
An alternative possibility is to read here a passive participle ‫;קרובי‬
"the knowledgeable ones drawn near" or "those drawn near with
knowledge". There are good interpretative reasons to consider this
possibility. This is the only instance of this form of the root ‫ ק ר ב‬.
which is otherwise common in the Shirot (esp. the frequent ‫כוהני‬
5
.(‫ 'קורב‬A passive form would suit the theme of the first column of
the first song; a retrospective of God's action in establishing the
Qumran heavenly cult. It is also possible that a deliberate play on
the word fjierub is intended signalling the movement towards God's
chariot throne as the liturgy progresses: the Qumran community (or
priesthood) are Qerubim, those drawn near to the God's throne which
2
is itself supported by Cherubim.•''
There are good grounds for thinking that the transformed heav-
enly humanity at Qumran would want to compare itself to the clieru-
him. As we saw in our first chapter the Qumran community will
have had in their Bibles the vignette of the ideal Urmensch and sacral
king in Ezekiel 28 who lives in the mountain-top Eden and is called
a cherub (Ezek 28:14, 16 M T ) . Since they now inhabit the same
Utopian world, their priesthood are clothed with the same jewel stud-
ded garments as those worn by the sacral king of Tyre (28:13) and
he like them was "perfect in his ways (28:15: ‫")תמים אתה בררכיך‬, it
is natural that they would see in the cherub "full of wisdom and
53
perfect in beauty" their own mirror image. Given their keen inter-
est in the ephod and its stones it is highly likely that they had med-
itateel long and hard on Ezekiel 28.
In rabbinic literature there is a well-known tradition which identifies
5 1
the four components of God's throne with the patriarchs. ' This tra-

50
See G KG §§132c; 133g.
51
Though a similar phrase should perhaps be restored in 4Q403 I i 18.
52
For the angelomorphic priesthood as those who draw near to God sec Jubilees
31:14.
53
I f this is the case then 4Q400 1 i 6 may also be an early witness to the M T
over against the L X X at Ezekiel 28:14, 16.
54
Sec Gen. Rab. 47:6; 68:12; 69:3; 82:6; Hekh. Rab. 9:4 ( . § 1 6 4 § »,;/0«‫)׳‬.
 THE F I R S T S A B B A T H SONG 301

dition goes back to the third century rabbi Simeon b. Laqish, but
the fact that Ircnaeus in the second century identifies the four beasts
with the four gospel authors suggests that a form of the tradition
55
was older than both the rabbi and the church father. A not dis-
similar identification of the mystic with the cherubim is assumed in
the first century A.D. or B.C. Testament of Job where angelomorphic
transformation, for Job's daughters includes their ability to speak "in
the dialect of the cherubim (έν rfj διαλέκτψ των Χερουβιμ)" (50:2). 56

This is all no more than a possibility. But i f such a double entendre

is intended in the Songs then it has most rhetorical force if the point
is being made that it is human worshippers who arc in fact, both by
name and new identity, cherubic.

Conclusion and Prospects for a New Reading of the Songs

Having undertaken a detailed exegesis of the largest fragment of the

first song we are now in a radically new interpretative paradigm for
the Songs as a whole. From the outset the Songs presume the corporate
transformation of the human participants in the liturgy such that
language which has hitherto been thought to describe suprahuman
angels must now be taken to refer to angelized and deified sectarians.
Read in this way the problem of the text's lack of explicit litur-
gical content partly disappears. The written instructions of the maskil
arc what he recites, or takes as a cue for more elaborate liturgical
direction. He does not describe what can be seen solely with the
minds eye. Rather he calls his fellow sectarians to take up the bur-
den of praise, because they are heavenly persons.
However, questions remain. For example, does our reading of the
opening of the first song mean that all subsequent references to divine
or angelic beings should be taken to refer to the sectarians? It is
possible that when the songs go on to describe the chariot, cherubim,

‫ יי'׳‬Adv. liner. 3:1:1; 3:1 1:8.

•'"' The context is instructive: one of Job's daughters, Amaltheias-keras, "girded
herself and lier mouth chanted verses in the dialect of those on high (έν i^/ει), since
her heart also was changed by withdrawing from worldly things (των κοσμικών).
And she spoke in the dialect of the cherubim, glorifying the master o f virtues by
exhibiting their splendour. A n d the one who further wishes to grasp the poetic
rhythm of "the paternal splendour" will find it recorded in the "Prayers o f Amaltheias-
keras" (50:1-3, cf. chs. 48-49). Here glorifying God entails exhibiting the splendour
of his virtue.
302 CHAPTER NINE

ophannim and their movements that there too there are community
members who somehow acted the part of these angelic beings. In
IQS 11:8 the Qumran community themselves form "the foundation
of the building of holiness (‫ ")סוד מכנית קודש‬so it is possible that
here too in the Sabbath Songs references to physical structures actu-
ally intend, metaphorically, the community members.
Given the many gaps in the text and the absence of further exter-
nal evidence for the liturgy's life setting it may never be possible to
sort out which parts of the liturgy refer to whom and i n what capac-
ity. I n the next two chapters we will examine the rest of the liturgy
and attempt to delineate the boundary between human and suprahu-
man actors where possible. Before diving once again into the details
of the texts we can make some general observations which will guide
our interpretation.

(a) Suprahuman "Spints" and Suprahuman "Living elohim"

Generally speaking, whilst the angelomorphic humanity tradition uses

the language of "gods", "angels", "holy ones" for humans who have
transcended their mortality, such people are not referred to as "spir-
57
its". Within Qumran literature we find the sectarians described as
"angels (of His Glory/of the presence)", "His (God's) host", elohim,
58
"princes", and even elim. But nowhere are they described as "spir-
its". So, there are no grounds for taking the references in the Songs
to spirits i n such a way. Elsewhere in the scrolls ‫ ר ו ח‬is used in a
variety of ways. I n some texts ‫ רוחות‬are the conscious, animate,
aspects of creation (e.g. 4Q287 2 4 (‫ ) ת ח י ענן‬, cf. I Q M 10:12).
Famously, in the discourse on the two spirits (IQS 3:13-4:26) the
language is used to refer to the psychological make up of human
nature (cf. 4Q186). I n the Qumran literature as a whole, then, the
language of "spirit(s)" is used, not for independent angelic beings (e.g.
Michael, Gabriel et al) but as a way of articulating a spiritual aspect
of an empirical reality within creation.
We find basically the same usage in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.

5 7
There are several notable exceptions: (1) in Lam 4:20 the king is spoken of
as "the breath (‫ )רוח‬o f our nostrils" (Heb)—"the spirit of countenance" ( L X X ) ; (2)
in T. Mos. 11:15 Moses is the "sacred spirit"; (3) in the Prayer of Joseph Jacob/Israel
is called a "ruling spirit" (cf. Horbury 1998, 91-92). Otherwise humans arc nor-
mally "filled with" God's Spirit (e.g. Exod 31:3) or it comes upon them (e.g. N u m
24:2).
5 8
C D 6:6; 4QpPs» 3:5, cf. 1QH» 14:14 [6:14).
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 303

For example, in the expression "spirit of the holy of holies (‫רוח קודש‬
4) "(‫קודשים‬Q403 1 i 44; 1 ii 1; 4Q405 5 1; 4Q405 14-15 i 2; 23
ii 8) there is evidently in mind a fundamental spiritual substance,
quality or essence which belongs to the innermost part of the sane-
tuary, or in the case of 4Q405 23 ii 8 to the Chief Priests as the
embodiment of the Glory, dressed as they are in their glorious gar-
59
ments. In as much as the holy of holies is God's residence this
"spirit" is the veiy spirit of God. The singularity of this spirit (else-
where in the songs it is normally spirits) is appropriate for the sin-
60
gularity of God.
In other instances the spirits are those entities that belong to the
61
various parts of the cult and its appurtenances. In the ninth song
there are spirits associated with the vestibules and their engravings.
The spirits here are said to be engraved upon the vestibule walls
(4Q405 14-15 i). In the eleventh song the spirits belong to the floor
and brickwork beneath die merkabot, in the thirteenth song, as we
shall see, they are the spiritual presence within the various parts of
the high priestly clothing.
We never find this kind of an identification between parts of the
temple structure or clothing and the elohim. However, in the context
of passages describing the architecture of the cosmic temple we fre-
quently find the identification of the "spirits" with "living elohim" (‫חיים‬
‫)אלוהים‬, an expression which is, again, quite deliberately confined to
62
passages dealing with temple structures. Nowhere are elohim, who
on other grounds could be judged human worshippers, identified
with "living elohim". The addition of the word "living" in these
instances is fitting: it makes a distinction between human beings who
arc obviously, and needless to say, "alive" and temple structures

''‫ יי‬In tins case Newsom is forced (0 admit the meaning can only be "spiritual sub-
stance" (DJD 1 1:364). Compare 4Q403 1 i 39-40 where the phrase "‫זמרו לאלוהי‬
‫ " ע ז כ מ נ ה ר ו ח ר ו ט‬must mean "Sing praises to the mighty God with the choicest
spiritual portion", with ‫ רוח‬having the sense of spiritual, rather than a material,
sacrifice, (Newsom, 1985, 220; DJD 11:275).
m
Those instances where we encounter "sptriti of the Holy of Holies" (4Q403 1
ii 7; 4Q405 6 5; 4Q405 19 2; 4Q405 20 it—21—22 10) arc best taken, then to refer
to the animate structures of the innermost sanctuary. I n 4Q405 19 2 they are asso-
dated with the "floor" and in 4Q4-05 20 i i - 2 1 - 2 2 10 with the haûrnal coming from
the Glory upon the throne.
1,1
Noteworthy also is the expression "with a spirit of quietness" (‫ )כרוח דממה‬in
4Q405 18 3.
δ
See 4Q403 1 i 44; 4Q405 20 ii-21-22 11; 4Q405 14-15 i 5-6.
304 C H A P T E R NINE

which are, apparently inanimate and "dead": for the sectarians the
architecture o f the earthly temple, b e c a u s e i t is a c t u a l l y heavenly, is
composed o f "spirits, living g o d s " . T h i s , o f c o u r s e , is a r e f l e c t i o n u p o n
and development of O T temple theology and the tradition w h i c h
placed angelic figures u p o n the w a l l s o f the sanctuary ( E x o d 2 6 : 1 ,
M
31; 1 Kgs 6:29,'32, 35).
W e never find "spirits" i n a p p o s i t i o n to "elohim", "elim", or any o f
t h e o t h e r e x p r e s s i o n s f o r t h e h u m a n w o r s h i p p e r s . T h e r e are i n s t a n c e s
w h e r e a casual r e a d i n g a n d N e w s o m ' s translation m i g h t lead one to
b l u r this i m p o r t a n t d i s t i n c t i o n . F o r e x a m p l e , i n 4Q405 19 3 w e h e a r
of "‫"רוחי אלי עולמים‬. This means, however, " s p i r i t s of e t e r n a l g o d s "
1
not "spirits, eternal gods".''' In s e v e r a l i n s t a n c e s N e w s o m translates
the expression ‫רוחות אלוהים‬ as c i t h e r "god-like spirits" (4Q403 1 i
46 — 4Q404 5 5)—"god-like beings" being her normal translation
of ‫' אלוהים‬Where i t docs n o t o b v i o u s l y refer to G o d h i m s e l f - o r as
"divine spirits" ( 4 Q 4 0 3 1 i i 8, 9).'‫ יי‬T h o u g h n o t so t e n d e n t i o u s an
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n as t h e t r a n s l a t i o n " s p i r i t s , (i.e.) elohim", this translation
allows a m e r g i n g o f the t w o , v e r y different categories o f b e i n g and
should p r o b a b l y , therefore, be resisted.
O f utmost importance i n d i s e n t a n g l i n g t h e Songs' a c t u a l liturgical
the "spirits" and the features of the heavenly world
f u n c t i o n is the fact t h a t
with which they are associated are nowhere called upon to prcdse God. D e s c r
o f the temple structures are always i n the indicative n o t the imper-
alive m o o d . T h e r e is o n e passage ( 4 Q 4 0 3 1 i 4 1 - 4 6 ) , i n the sev-
e n t h s o n g , w h e r e N e w s o m t h i n k s t h e s p i r i t s o f G o d are c a l l e d upon
t o p r a i s e , h o w e v e r , as w e s h a l l see b e l o w , t h i s is a n i m p r o b a b l e r e a d -
i n g o f the text.
W h i l s t the " s p i r i t s " are always d e f i n e d b y t h a t p a r t o f the heav-
enly w o r l d w h i c h they animate the elohim and elim have a relatively
i n d e p e n d e n t existence a n d are d e f i n e d p u r e l y b y the fact t h a t they
belong to G o d a n d possess his c h a r a c t e r ( " H i s G l o r y " , a n d so on).
I t is also n o t e w o r t h y t h a t o v e r t l y a n t h r o p o m o r p h i c l a n g u a g e t h a t is

63
For the conscious, animate, identity of the walls of the Jerusalem sanctuary
see, e.g., Prolo. Jac. 24:3.
M
The "spirits of eternal gods" of line 3 of this fragment need not be identical
to the "spirits of knowledge of truth and righteousness in the holy of holies, the
images of living god-like beings, images of luminous spirits" in lines 4—5. I n her
introduction to this fragment Newsom notes that the "construction of the sentences
and the interpretation of them [which she offers] is quite tentative" (DJD 11:340).
65
DJD 11:272, 298, 282.
 THE FIRST SABBATH SONG 305

used of the "priests", "ministers", "elohim", "angels of Glory" and

their like ("camps", "service", "lips of praise", etc . . .) is never used
of the "spirits". In 4Q403 1 i 34 we are told that "at the utterance
of His [i.e. God's] lips all the eternal spirits (come into being)". This
is an unremarkable statement of the way in which spiritual beings
are created by God. But it is noteworthy that nowhere else is such
a creation described for the elohim., the elim, the priests and those
who, on other grounds, appear as much human as heavenly.
We shall see in our discussion in the next few chapters just how
clear the differentiation of spirits from other actors is in specific
songs. O f course, in theory this difference of character and roles
could be explained on the assumption that different classes of angels
are assumed; "spirits" and "living elohim" versus "elim", "elohim",
"angels of Glory" et al. But it is equally likely that the differentiation
reflects the boundary line between human and suprahuman beings.

(b) Suprahuman "Holy Angels (ΌΊψ ‫")מלאכי‬

The second category of heavenly being which we can, at the out-

set, identify as angelic in the entirely suprahuman sense are the "holy
angels (‫")מלאכי קודש‬. This Hebrew expression, and its Greek equiv-
aient (0Ί άγγελοι oi άγιοι), is always used to refer angels who are
clearly not human.'* And so we can be reasonably confident that
that is the way it will be used in the Shirot. Indeed, this is exactly
what we find when we closely examine the text.

6 6
See, for example, C D 15:17; I C H " 9:11 [1:11]; 1 Q M 7:7; 10:11; 11QJ4 1 i i
6, 15 = 4Q285 1 ii 3, 9; Tobit 1I:T4; Greek Life, of Adam and Eve 35:2; / Enoch
100:5.
 CHAPTER T E N

T H E SECOND T O T H E T W E L F T H O F T H E
SABBATH SONGS

We are now in a position to re-examine the main body of the Angelic

Liturgy. This chapter is devoted to the second through twelfth Songs.
Because of its climactic position and the complex set of issues it
raises the X l l l t h Song is left to the following chapter.

Tie Second Song

Besides several highly broken fragments the only sizeable portion of

text which can be assigned to the second Sabbath Song within any
probability is 4Q400 2 (which has a partial overlap with 4Q401 14).'
This, it is normally thought, is the only portion of the Songs where
the human worshippers are directly in view:
1
To praise Your Glory wondrously among the dim of knowledge (‫כאלי‬
!‫ )לער‬and the praiseworlhiness of Your kingship among the holiest of
2 ‫י‬
the \\[oly ones . . .] ( [ (‫בקדושיק]דוש ם‬ they are glorious ones
oured") amongst: all the camps of elohim and feared by the foundations
2 3
of men, a wo[nder . . . from/above the elohim and men. And they
declare His royal splendour according to their knowledge and exalt
4
( . ..\(‫ורוממו‬the heavens of His realm and in all the highest heights
5
wondrous psalms according to all [. . . the glory of the King of do-
him they declare in the dwellings of their station, {vacat) [. . . ‫ יי‬How
shall wc be reckoned (among] them? And how shall our priesthood
7
(be reckoned) in their dwellings? And [our] ho[line.ss . . . their holiness?
What is the raised offering of our tongue of dust (‫)חתמת לשון עפרנו‬
9
(compared) with the knowledge of the el[im? . . . . . . ] our [jubilation,
let us exalt (‫ )נתממה‬the God of knowledge [. . .

1
For the sake o f simplicity the overlap is not indicated here, though it provides
a confident restoration of the end of lines 1—2 of 4Q400. The other fragments
which probably belong to the second Son! are 4Q400 3 i i 8-10; 4Q400 4; 4Q400 5.
2
Given the sense of ‫ מוסר‬elsewhere in Q L (e.g. 4Q.I84 1 4; 4Q370 I 4; 4Q511
10 12; 16 3) and i n the Shirot (11Q17 col. V I I I line 5) I do not think Newsom's
"human councils" is warranted. The sense is also more likely to be one of fear (not
reverence) before the divine judge.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 307

This fragment is of considerable importance for the interpretation

of the whole of the Sabbath Songs. For several reasons it is generally
thought that this passage provides clear evidence for the strong dual-
istic understanding of the divine—human relationship which is assumed
throughout the liturgy: (a) the declaration of unworthiness by the
human worshippers in lines 6-7 is an unequivocal statement of an
anthropology which contrasts human and divine (and therefore also
angelic) ontologies. This must, therefore be, it is alleged, the anthro-
pology assumed throughout the liturgy, (b) The "earn of knowledge",
the "holiest of the holy ones", the "camps of the elohim" and the
heavenly worshippers "in the dwellings of their stations" in lines 1-5
must be a (suprahuman) angelic priesthood "in the highest heights"
with whom the human worshippers down below, with their "tongues
3
of dust", are contrasted.
However, on both counts this is to misinterpret the text: nothing
in this text suggests an absolute spatial dualism between the human
and the angelic worshipping communities, and the human worship-
pers' "prayer of humble access" is precisely that; a prayer for those
who are seeking access to a realm and privileges which are not auto-
matically theirs by right.
We have already seen in our discussion of the Qumran Hodayot
in general, and Glorification Hymn A in particular, how at Qumran a
radically pessimistic anthropology can coexist with a remarkably
confident—and, to our minds, perhaps arrogant—belief in righteous
humanity's privileged position as a sharer in the divine nature.* These
two perspectives co-exist, not because the perspective of the latter is
eschatological and the former historical, but because what a man is
by nature is one thing and what he may become by the gracious
power of God is quite another. I n the liturgical context an affirmation
of both is necessary: of the former as a matter of humility, of the
latter in the context of praise and thanksgiving.
In 4Q400 2 itself there are already indications that though unwor-
thy the human community are nevertheless embraced in the wor-
ship of heaven. Between the two paragraphs, lines l~5a and 5b-8

3
Davila (2000, 102) appeals to this text in his rejection of any thoroughgoing
form of the thesis offered here.
4
I n the Songs of the Sage the angelomorphic anthropology of 4Q511 35 coexists
with a self-deprecating perspective i n 4Q511 30 4 - 6 . See also this dialectic in
4Q392 frag.
308 CHAPTER TEN

(whicli are separated by a vacat in line 5), there is an antiphonal

response of the human to the angelic ])raise. In line 3 the angelic
beings "exalt (‫")ירוממו‬. In line 8 the maskil invites the human com-
munity; "Let us exalt (‫")נרומםה‬. Although the context is broken the
first: line of the fragment may be a similar invitation for the human
community "to praise [God's] Glory among the elim of knowledge . . .
among the holiest of the hjoly ones]''. So, there is no worship in heaven
above as a model for that on earth below here.
Rather, the existence of a genuine Engelgemeinschqft here is confirmed
by a couple of other circumstantial details. The worship of the human
5
choir is an "exaltation offering (‫( ")הרומח‬line 7). In the first place,
this expression is significant because it clearly shows that the Sabbath
Songs reflect the wider concern in Q L to make a metaphorical use
of human praise as though it were a physical sacrifice (IQS 9:4;
10:6, 14). Secondly, i f we take seriously the upward movement of
the root ‫ רום‬then we have a human praise that entails exaltation,
perhaps not. just of God but, also, for the human worshippers them-
selves. The question could then be paraphrased: "how will our tongues
of dust make an offering worthy of exaltation to the "highest heights"
(cf. line 4)? The question is a rhetorical one because the lead cho-
rister and his hearers know that by his power God has "raised up
a
(‫ )חרם‬from (the realm of) flesh)" ( l Q H 7:19-20 [15:16-17]) the
6
glory of the righteous.
We should also note the significance of the likely source of the
phrase "camps of elohim" in line 2. This is probably derived from
Genesis 32:2-3 where Jacob is met by the "angels of God" at a
7
place he calls "the camp of elohim". Because both his own camp
and that of the angels converge at this spot Jacob further names the
place "Mahanaim", "Camps". These biblical verses provide a brief
glimpse of an Engelgemeinschqft; a theme which is then developed later
in the chapter when Jacob wrestles with an angel during the night.
In post-biblical tradition this wrestling is both a matter of his wor-
thiness in the angelic hierarchy (Prayer of Joseph) and also the occa-
sîon for the realization of his own angelomorphic identity (Joseph and
Aseneth 22:7; Prayer of Joseph).

5
Newsom's simpler translation "offering of our tongues" does not do justice to
the relevance of the root ‫ ר ו ם‬.
6
It is possible that the trope "exaltation offering of our tongue o f dust" turns
on the fact that dust hardly satisfies the O T requirements for a legitimate lerumali.
1
Newsom DJD 11:189.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SOWS 309

Wc should also reflect on the place of 4 Q 4 0 0 2 in the Songs' litur-

gical cycle. I f Newsom's assignment of this fragment to the second
Song is right then this is surely significant. We have a great deal of
the later half of the liturgy and never again do we encounter a sim-
ilar Elendsbelrachlung. Since the liturgy progresses ever more closely
towards God's throne (in the X l l t h Song) the absence of any other
expression of human fear and trembling before the reality of the
heavenly world is surely surprising. Unless, that is, the expression of
the worshipper's inadequacy in the Unci Song is entirely fitting for
the beginning of the cycle. The absence of the human worshippers in this
mood may simply then reflect the fact that they are henceforth absorbed
into the ontology of the heavenly cult: they have not disappeared
from any active role in (he liturgy, but they no longer express the
sense of inadequacy that their initial encounters with the angelic
realm provoke.
So, in conclusion, appeal to 4Q_400 2 cannot be made to support
the view that there is no real Engelgemeinschaft in the Sabbath Songs or
that the liturgy presumes the impossibility of a divine/angelic iden-
tity for the human worshippers. It is true that lines 1-5 describe
suprahuman angels, but nothing is particularly surprising about the
8
way they do so. But wc should notice that the worship of these
angels is only described, it is not commanded. None of the language
most naturally intends human worshippers and it is the praise of the
human community that is described in sacrificial terms (a terumah),
not that of the angels.

Tlie Sixth Song

The extant contents of the I l l r d , IVth and Vth Songs is either non-
existent (for the Illrd), meagre or uncertain and need not, therefore,
9
concern us. For the Vlth Song, however, there is a considerable
amount of text preserved.

11
For angels as "glorious ones" sec (probably) 1QH" 18:8; 2 Enoch 22:10.
5
For recent discussion of the one well preserved portion of the• fifth Song (4Q402
4 + Mas l k i 1-7) see Lange 1995, 171-86 and Davila 2000, 113-115.
310 CHAPTER TEN

'Plie Introduction to the Villi Song

For the beginning of the V l t h Song the Masacla manuscript (Maslk

i ‫־‬8 13) preserves the following:
8
For the Maskd\ a song of the sixth Sabbath Sacrifice on the ninth of
10
the [second] month ‫ יי‬Praise, praise the G\o\d of gods, Ο dwellers of
1 0
the highest heights ( (‫יושבי מרומיתמים‬ . . . mjost holy
1 2
Glory (‫ " )ותמםו כבודו‬. . . kno]wlcdgc of the eternal gods . . . ]the
1 3
elect ones of the height of heights ( (‫קרואי ת םתמים‬
holiness

The main body of the V l t h Song is taken up with a highly formu-

laic collection of psalms and blessings by seven chief princes. For
this there arc four textual witnesses (Maslk ii 1-26; 4Q403 1 i 1-29;
4Q404 1-2; 4Q405 3 ii) and, given the consistency of structure along
with the similarity to the liturgy of the V l l l t h Song, a great deal of
11
the two parts of this song can be reconstructed:

!Tie Sixth Song, Part I: Psalms

Psalm of exaltation (‫ )רומם‬by the tongue] (1) of the THIRD of the chief
princes (‫;)השלישי לנשיאי רוט‬
an exaltation (‫< )רומם‬of His faithfulness to the King of angels
with its seven wondrous exaltations (‫;)רומי‬
2
he will exalt>' the God of the exalted (‫ )רום‬angels seven times
with seven words of wondrous loftiness (‫)רומי פלא‬.

(2) Psalm of praise (‫ )שכח‬by the tongue of the FOU[RTII]

to the Warrior (‫ )נמר‬who is above all [elohim]
with its seven wondrous powers (‫;)נבותח‬
and he will praise (‫ )שכח‬the God of (3) power (‫ )נמתח‬seven times
‫י‬
with sevc[n] words of [wondrous] prais[e] ([‫)חשב ח]וח ]פלא‬.

[Psa]lm of [tl1\anhgmng (!‫ )]ה[ודור‬by the tongue of the FIF[TH]

to the [k]in[g] of Glory (‫)הכבוד‬
(4) with its seven wondrous thanks[gi]vings (!‫;)הו]ה[ור‬

10
Reconstruction based on the standard introductions to each Sabbath Song (cf.
4Q400 I i i ; 4Q403 1 i 30; DJD 11:243).
11
Line numbers in what followers are those o f the most complete text, 4Q403
1 i 1-29.
12
" < . . . > " this is Newsom's schematic reconstruction of the third psalm, given
that at this point 4Q403 1 i 1 is haplographic (see DJD 11:251).
 THE SECOND TO T H E TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 311

he w i l l give thanks ( ‫ ) י ו ר ה‬to the Glorified ‫כ‬

G o d ( ‫ ) ל א ל ה נ ב ר‬s [even
times
w i t h se|vcn w o j r d s o f w o n d r o u s thanksgivings (‫)הדוח פלא‬.

[Psalm o f [rejoicing ( 5 )(‫)רנן‬b y the tongue o f the SIXTH

to [the] God of goodness (‫)טוב‬
w i t h [its] seven [ w o n d r o u s ] songs oi joy (‫;)רנות‬
[and] he will cry joyously (‫ )רנן‬to [the] K i [ n g of] goodness (‫ )טוב‬seven
times

w i t h se[ven words o f ] w o n d r o u s rejoicing ( ‫)רנות פ ל א‬.

(6) Psalm o f [praiscsong (‫ )זמר‬b y the to]nguc o f the SEVENTH o f the [ c h i e f |

p r i n f e c s j (‫) ה ש ב י ע י ר ו ש [ לנש]יאי‬
a m i g h t y praisesong ( ‫ ) ז מ ר‬to [the G o ] d o f holiness) ( | Β Γ φ ρ )
with i|ts| se|vcn| (7) w [ o n | c l r o u s \ praisesongs (‫)זמרי‬.
A n d ] he w i l l sing praise ]10) the K i n [ g o f holï\ness ( ‫) ק [ ד ו ש‬
seven times w i t h [seven w o j r d s o f [wondrous] praise[songs\ 0~1]Df).

[Sev]en psa[lms o f H i s blessings;

Seven (8) psalm]s o f the magnification ( ‫ [ ) נ ד ל‬o f H i s righteousness;
Seven psalms o f the] exaltation (‫ )רום‬o f [ H i s ] k i n g d o m ;
[Seven] psalms o f the praise ( ‫ ) ת ש ב ח ו ת‬o f [ H i s G l o r y ;
Sc]ven psfalms o f thanksgiving (‫ )הורות‬for (9) His w o n d e r s ] ;
Seven psalms o f re]joi[cing] (‫ )ר[נ]ו[ח‬i n H i s strength;
Seven[ psalms o f ] praise (‫ )זמירו[ת‬for H i s holiness.
T h e generations ( ‫[ ) ח ו ל ד ו ח‬

The Sixth Song, Part II: Blessings

(10) T h e F I R S T ] o f the c h i f e f ] princes

13

[will bless] i n the N a m e o f the G[10]ry o f G o d [all the . . .

w i t h seven] (11) [ w o n d r o u s words;
he will bless all t h e i r councils] i n [ H i s holy] sanctuary
[with sev]cn w o n [ d r o u s ] w [ o r [ d s ;
a n d he w i l l bless those w h o have k n o w l e d g e o f eternal things.

) T h e SECOND (12) o f the c h i e f princes

w i l l bless i n the N a m e o f H i s faithfulness all [their] s t a t i o n s
with] sefven w o n d r o u s w o r [ d s ;
and he w i l l bless
with] seven [ w o n d r o u s ] w o r d s ;
(13) [and he w i l l bless all w h o exalt] the K i n g

13
This word is restored by Newsom DJD 11:258 on the assumption that it has
been omitted from 4Q403 by haplography.
312 CHAPTER TEN

w i t h seven wo[rcls o f H i s majrvcllous g [ l ] o [ r y , all those w h o are

eternally p u r e .

T h e TH[IRD (14) a m o n g the chief princes

w i l l bless i n the N a m e o f ] His regal loftiness [all the l o f | t y ones o f
[ k n o w ] ledge
w i t h s c | v c n w o j r d s o f 101]ti]ncss;
a n d all [the earn o f (?)] (15) Vacat (16) [ H i s faithful k n ] w o | l e d g e ] he
w i l l bless
w i t h sev[e]n w o n d r o u s words;
and he w i l l bless all those [appointed f j o r righteousness
[ w i t h seven] w o n d r o u s [ w o r d s ] .

[The FOURTH] (17) a m o n g the [chic] f prifnc.es]

will bless i n the N a j m c ] o f the maje|s(y o f the K i j n g a | l l ] w h o w a | l k
in up] Tightness w i t h
[scv]cn w o r d s o f majesty;[
a n d he w i l l bless those w h o establish [majesty)
w i t h sevfen (18) w o n d r o u s ] w o r d [ s ;
and he will bless all the e[lim w h o draw near to His fa]ithful knowledge
[ w i t h scvejn w o r d s o f righteousness, to be for [His gl]or[ious]
compassion.

T h e F i r m (19) a m o n g the [chief] prifnees]

w i l l bless i n the N a m e o f H i s marvellous |majesty] a [ l ] ] w h o k n o w
the mysteries o f the p u r e [. . .]
w i t h seven w f o r d s ] o f [ H i s | lofty (20) faithfulness;
[and he w i l l bless] a l l w h o arc eager for H i s g o o d favour
w i t h seven ] w o n d r o u s words;
and he w i l l bjlejss] all w h o confess H i s majesty
w i t h seven [wojrds o f majesty, (21) [to be for wondrous thanksgiving.

T h e SIXTH a m o n g the [chief] p r i | n c c s |

w i l l bless i n the N a m e o f [ m i g h t y acts o f ] the dim all those w i t h
powerful discernment ( ‫) נ מ ר י ש כ ל‬
w i t h seven (22) [ w o j r d s o f H i s marvellous powers ( ‫פ ל א ו‬ ‫;)גם־תח‬
a n d he w i l l bless all those whose way is perfect ( ‫) כ ו ל ת מ י מ י ר ר ך‬
w i t h |se]ven w o n d r o u s words, to be for a ] c o n t i n u a i sacrifice for
1 1
all (23) [ages] to come; '
and he w i l l bless all w h o w a i t for H i m (‫) כ ו ל ח ו כ י לו‬
with seven wondrous wordfs], for a [re] t u r n o f His gracious
com [passion.

1-1
Alternatively, this could be translated "to be present continually with all who
exist eternally" (DJD 11:265).
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 313

T h e SEVJENTH a m o n g the chief princes (24)

w i l l bless i n the N a m e o f H i s holiness a l l the h o l y ones w h o establish
k n o w [ledge]
w i t h sev[en words o f | H i s | w o n d r o u s holiness;
[and he w i l l bless ]all w h o exalt (25) H i s statutes
w i t h sev[en wondrous |worjds, to be as s t r o n g shields;
and he w i l l bless all w h o are a p p o i n t e d for ]righteous[ness, w h o
prjaise H i s glorious kingship [ ]forever, (26)
w i t h seven [wondrous] wo[rds, for] eternal peace.

A n d all the [chief] princes [will bless t o g c t h e ] r the G | o d ] o f gods

in [ H i s holy N a m e w i t h ] all (27) [their] sevenfold a | p p o i n t m c n t s .
A n d ] they w i l l bless those appointed for righteousness and all His
blesfscd blcs]scd for c f v e j i j ] (28) to t h e m .
blessed be the L o r d , the K i | n g o f | a l l , above all blessing and
ρ r [ a i sc.

A n d H e will bless all the holy] ones w h o bless [ H i m and declare

H i m rightjeous (29) in the N a m e o f H i s G l o r y .
[ A n d H e w i l l bl]css all the everlasting blessed ones, (vacat)

What are we to make of all this? Who are the seven chief princes?
15
And who do they bless in the second half of the V l t h Song?

771c Psalms and Blessings of Seven Archangels and Their Minions?

There is no doubt in Newsom's mind that the seven chief princes

are angels and she suggests the tradition of seven named archangels
(Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, et al) is directly in view at this
16
point.
Newsom is less confident of an angelic identification of those blessed
in the second half of the liturgy, though she prefers to think that
these too arc angels and not humans:

O n e m i g h t ask whether the blessings o f the seven chief princes arc

addressed to angelic or h u m a n recipients. . . . M o s t o f the phrases are
a m b i g u o u s , b u t i n view o f the o v e r w h e l m i n g l y angelological focus o f
the Shabbath Shirot, I am inclined to sec t h e m as referring to the
angels w h o worship i n the heavenly temple. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , the one
explicit reference to angels (. . . ‫ ) ל כ ו ל א י ] ל י‬is a damaged reading. . . .
T h e phrases w h i c h allude to the m o r a l qualities o f those blessed (e.g.,

15
The formulaic pattern of the seven-fold praise and blessings has been carefully
studied by Newsom (1985, 197-208; DJD 11:261-263) and Nitzan (1994, 297-307).
16
1985, 34; DJD 11:251, cf. Davila 2000, 120.
314 CHAPTER TEN

‫לכול המימי דרך‬, ‫ )לכול הולכי יושר‬certainly need not be taken as refer-
ring to human worshippers. The Sabbath Shirot refers to statutes pro-
mulgated for the angels through which they attain to purity and holiness
(4Q400 1 i 5, 15) and describes the angels as obedient (4Q405 23 i
10-11). It is possible, however, that just as the human community
joins with the angels in the praise of God (4Q400 2 6-8) they are
also considered to be recipients of the blessings of the chief princes
17
along with the angelic worshippers.

O f course the two questions are related: it is easier to imagine one

group of angels blessing another group of angels (just as it: is to have
one group of humans (priests?) blessing another group of humans
(people?)) than it is to imagine such a stylised litany of blessings
uttered by angels for the well-being of mortals. (Though, in fact, it
is hard to find ])recèdent for the former (angels blessing angels) any-
where in the Jewish literature of the period). Newsom's view that
here only angels are in view is fully in accord with her view that the
Sabbath Songs throughout assume a dualism which separates angels
and mortals. But is her judgement in respect of either the chief
princes or those blessed warranted?

The Psalms and Blessings of the Human Worshippers

There are, by now, good reasons to doubt Newsom's interpretation

because of its conceptual assumptions. A n d a detailed examination
of the V l t h Song leads to the conclusion that both the chief princes
and those blessed are human beings.

(a) Human Not Angelic Language

Our first indication that human beings are actively involved in the
V l t h Song is provided by the introit. There it is "elect ones (‫")קרואי‬
who are set in the heavenly heights (Maslk i 12). There is no par-
allel for the use of this epithet of angels. The word is used in a
quite specific sense in the book of Numbers for leaders chosen by
their people as their representatives (Num 1:16; 16:2; 26:9). The
fact that these "elect ones" are told to exalt (‫רוממו‬, cf. Ps 99:5, 9)
God's Glory fits best the maskil's summons to his fellow community
18
members to praise. We have seen how already in 4Q400 2 8 the

17
Newsom 1985, 196; DJD 11:262.
I s
Because the text is fragmentary it is conceivable that it is not the "elect ones"
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SOWS 315

maskil has exhorted his brothers to "exalt" the God of knowledge

(‫)נרוממה לאלוהי דעת‬. And in that earlier passage the human com-
munity join with the angels "in the highest heights" (4Q400 2 4): this
is the same location for the worship of the Vlth according to line 9
of Maslk i (cf. line 12).
Throughout the second part of the Vlth song the language that
is used is, as Newsom recognised (in the above quotation), most nat-
urally taken to refer to human beings. This is clear not just from
the emphasis on the moral qualities of those blessed: at several points
the language is with difficulty read as descriptive of angels.
In the blessing of the sixth of the chief princes (4Q403 1 i 21—23)
the language is overwhelmingly human in orientation. The chief
prince is to bless "all those with powerful discernment. . . all those
whose way is perfect (‫")כול תמימי דרך‬. Wc have already seen in chap-
tcr 8 that a reference to those whose way is perfect must refer to
19
the Qumran community members. The second column of I Q S
provides a particularly helpful comparison to the blessing by the sixth
chief prince:

. . . and the priests will bless all the men of God's lot, all those who
walk perfect in all his ways (‫ )ההולכים תמים בכול דרכיו‬and they shall
say: "May he bless you with everything good and may he protect you
from everything bad. May he illuminate your heart with, discernment
of life (‫ )בשכל חיים‬and grace you in the knowledge of eternity (‫בהעח‬
20
1) "... (‫עולמים‬QS 2:1-3)'

The sixth chief prince is also to bless "all who wait for H i m (‫כול‬
‫י‬
‫ )חוכי לו‬. . . for a [rejturn of his gracious comp[assion ([ ‫( ")ר]חמ‬line
23). This is at least an allusion to, i f not a citation of, Isaiah 30:18:

Therefore the L O R D waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise

up to show compassion to you (‫)לרחמכם‬. For the L O R D is a God of jus-
tice; blessed (‫ )אשרי‬are all those who wait for him (‫)כל חוכי לו‬.

More generally, those who "wait (for God)" in the scriptures are
those who wait for his salvation and eschatological appearance (Isa

(humans) but others (angels—the "dwellers of the highest height") who are called
to worship, but the imperatival mood best suits those who whose title is a human one.
19
The point is conceded by Davila 2000, 121-22 though he dots not carry
through the implications of this concession for the interpretation of the rest of the
passage.
2 0
Those blessed in the Angelic Liturgy are also those who have "knowledge o f
eternal things (‫( ")ירועי עולםים‬line 11).
316 CHAPTER TEN

8:17; 64:3; Zcph 3:8; Ps 33:20; Dan 12:12, cf, Hab 2:3). It is hard
to see how such a specific allusion to Isaiah 30:8 and these other
texts can possibly have in view angels. Do the angels, who inhabit
the eternal reality of the heavenly realm, need to wait for God's
eschatological manifestation?
Similarly, those blessed in 4Q4-03 1 i 20 are "all who are eager
for His good favour". For this there is no exact parallel but we can
a
fruitfully compare l Q H 13:21-2 [5:212 ‫ ] ־‬where "those eager for
righteousness" is clearly used of the righteous community members.
In lines 17 and 24 of 4Q403 1 i we hear of "those who establish
majesty (‫ ")יוסדי הוד‬and "those who establish knowledge (‫")ממיםדי רעת‬.
Where is such language ever used of the angels? It is most clearly
reminiscent of the vocation of the Qumran community member who
is "to establish a foundation of truth (‫ )ליסר מוסד אמת‬for Israel" (IQS
5:5, cf.''9:3).
All these considerations confirm the impression that those blessed
are ‫ ׳‬the Qumran community members themselves. What about the
chief princes who do the blessing? Nothing in any part of the Vlth
Song demands that these be angels, rather than highly exalted mor-
tals. In general the chief princes' blessing of the community fits with
the considerable interest at Qumran in the priesthood's rcsponsibil-
ity for the utterance of the Aaronic Blessing and its interpretation.
Indeed, T. Gaster has suggested that the three part structure of each
21
of the blessings is modelled on the three parts of Numbers 6:24-27.
The fact that Numbers 6:27 says that by this blessing God puts his
Name upon the children of Israel may then have inspired the for-
mula "the X t l i among the chief princes will bless in the Maine. . .".
A deliberate reflection upon the Aaronic blessing throughout the
blessings cycle is then finally signalled in the closing words of the
seventh prince ("for eternal peace (‫ ")לשלום עולמים‬which echoes
the last words of Numbers 6:26 ("and give you peace (‫)")וישם ל ך שאם‬.
22
Newsom is sceptical of this suggestion. But to our mind it is
highly likely. The use of the Aaronic Blessing in the context of a
liturgy for a transformed Qumran community is entirely in accord
with the Blessing's use elsewhere in Qumran literature (see e.g. 4Q374

21
1976, 285-6. For the Aaronic blessing reckoned to contain three blessing see
m. Tamid 7:2.
22
DJD 11:263.
 T H E SECOND T O T H E T W E L F T H SABBATH SONGS 317

above). The phrase with which the blessings of the seven chief princes
ends—"for eternal peace"—is the same phrase with which the
expanded Aaronic Blessing of IQS 2:1-4 also ends. Now, if the sec-
ond part of the, Vlth Song is inspired by the Aaronic Blessing, which
was in any case a part of the transformed humanity tradition, then
this suits best an identification of the seven chief princes with com-
munity leaders, not (suprahuman) angels. In Sirach 50:20 it is Aaron
as liturgical co-creatrix, Wisdom's avatar and incarnate Glory who
pronounces a blessing over the cultic. congregation. He does so, as
had Moses in Exodus 39:43, in his capacity as God's representative
in the cultic microcosm. Jubilees too is interested in the priesthood's
responsibility for blessing precisely at the point where the caste's
angelomorphic identity is clearest (31:15: "the blessing of the LORD
shall be in their mouth"). Although there is little in the way of
explicit statement of the cult-as-microcosm idea in the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice (though sec chapter 10, below), there is every reason
to assume that its cycle of blessings are indebted to the older priestly
tradition (exemplified by Ρ and Ben Sira) where a self-consciously
sacramental liturgical anthropology was assumed.
I n 4Q403 1 i 21-22 the sixth chief prince is to bless "with seven
words of Elis marvellous powers (‫")נבורוח פלאו‬. Whilst the formula-
tion is not found in the Hebrew Bible it was evidently well known
at Qumran. According to CD 13:8 the maskil is to instruct the Many
in God's "marvellous powers (‫ ")כנבורוח פלאו‬and similar language is
used elsewhere in Q L of God's action in and through the redeemed
a
( I Q M 11:9; l Q H 17:27 [9:27]). Where are the angels ever blessed
with, or where do they ever act in the power of, such "marvellous
a
powers"? The use of such language in I Q M 11:9 and l Q H 17:27
turns on the fact that God paradoxically works in and through weak
human beings: this is "marvellous".
The reconstruction of the end of 4Q403 1 i line 9 and the begin-
ning of line 10 is difficult. Newsom reads the (aw of the word ‫חולדות‬
and plausibly makes this the subject of a final statement of blessing
"the generations of the exalted chiefs will bless" (DJD 11:26). Davila
has objected to this reading because "the word is out of place in
the context Newsom proposes since angels are immortal and are
23
not begotten in successive generations". The reading is certainly

2000, 120.
318 CHAPTER TEN

problematic for Newsom's reconstruction and interpretation. But the

word ‫ חולדות‬cannot be so easily removed since it is clear in the over-
lapping portion of Maslk 1 ii (line 22). Rather than reject her reading
we do better if we rethink Newsom's strictly angelological interpre-
tation and, instead, add the very anthropomorphic "generations" to
the list of items which indicates the chiefs are human beings.
Finally, we should reflect on the fact that there are seven chief
princes. Although Newsom thinks this reflects a contemporary belief
in seven archangels, such an angelology does not entirely accord
with Qumran theology. Nowhere else in peculiarly sectarian litera-
ture is there a group of seven archangels. In 1QM. 9:14-16 there
are only four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Sariel and Raphael, cf.
1 Enoch 9-10). It is true that the Qumran community's copy of the
Book of Watchers may well have recorded a list of seven principal
angels ψ Enoch 20, Eth. and Gk.),' and the Qumran community
2+

might have found warrant for this already in Ezekiel 9:1-2, but given
the considerable interest in angels at Qumran their writings are con-
25
spicuously silent about seven archangels.
In conclusion, then, the language of the V l t h Song points to human
worship leaders praising God and blessing their fellow community
members. But, of course, both leaders and their congregation arc
far more than mere mortal worshippers. Those blessed are "eternally
pure" (4Q403 1 i 13). The leaders are highly exalted "chief princes",
whose utterances—"seven words of wondrous loftiness" (4Q403 1 i
1, 14), "seven words of marvellous glory (4Q403 1 i 13)—bellt their
possession of a heavenly ontology.
There is only one point in the V l t h Song were overtly angelic
language is used of the participants. In 4Q403 1 i 18 it is possible
that the fourth chief prince is to bless "all the e[lim who draw near
to His fajithful knowledge". But the restoration of the ‫( אל]ים‬or ‫)אי]לי‬
26
is not certain. This, of course, throws open the possibility that both

‫יי‬24
No Aramaic fragments of this chapter have survived.
2 5
Even where, in the early Enoch tradition, seven archangels were accepted four
were still given a distinct position i n the hierarchy: in / Enoch 87:2 we read: "and
behold, there came from heaven beings who were like white men; and four came
from that place, and three (others) with them."
2 6
In line 26 all the chief princes are. perhaps said to together bless those who
are described as dim. This reading is, however, less likely than that they are to
bless "the God of gods". Newsom's restoration of "all [the dim of] the knowledge"
in lines 14-16 (line 15 vacat) is conjectural.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SO.NGS 319

27
angels and men are blessed by the chief princes. But we have also
seen there are ample grounds for thinking the sectarians themselves
could be addressed as dim. A confident judgement on the meaning
of this damaged portion of the text is impossible.

(b) The Genre of the Vlth Song

Whilst linguistic details favour a liturgy for human worshippers a

similar conclusion is reached when we reflect on the form of the V l t h
Song. I know of no parallel for either an extended and highly for-
mulaic blessing of angels by angels, or of humans by angels. (A bless-
ing of angels by humans is briefly mentioned in Tobit 11":4, but this
is not relevant for our text.) For a litany of macarisms uttered by
humans on humans there is already a precedent in Deuteronomy
27:12; 28:1-14; 31:9-13. The form is picked up in the beatitudes
of the gospels (Matt 5:1-12; Luke 6:20-23) and, as the second col-
umn of 1QS attests, it played an important part in the ceremonies
for the renewal of the covenant at Qumran (cf. 1QM 13:2-3).
What about the invitation to the seven chief princes to praise in
the first part of the V l t h Song? For this, J.D. Davila has now found
a parallel in Glorification Hymn A where "[t]hc speaker . . . (4Q427
7i:13b-23) exhorts the angels to praise God using terminology sim-
2
ilar to that of the angels in Songs V I and V I I I . " " The overlap in
language is, indeed, striking, but any appeal to the Glorification Hymn
for a precedent to an extended summonsing of the angels to praise
at Qumran is unwarranted. Those Davila thinks are angels called
to praise in 4Q427 are called the ‫"( ירידים‬the beloved ones") in
4Q427 7 i 13. But nothing requires that these be angels in the nar-
row sense. Given that the psalmist himself has earlier (4Q427 7 i
10 = 4Q431 1 6) been called a "beloved of the king (‫")ידיד המלך‬
and that in the O T and in Q L this term is always used of human
beings (2 Sam 12:25; Deut 33:12; Jer 11:15; Pss 60:7; 108:7; 127:2;
4Q379 1 2 and Aramaic Levi 83 (of Levi); 4Q451 1 2; 4Q522 9 ii
8 (of one who dwells in the Temple)) the confidence with which
29
Davila asserts an angelic reading of 4Q427 7 i 13—23 is puzzling.

27
For the blessing by men of the angels see 'Fob 11:14.
28
2001, 1 1 7.
w
Although the editor, K. Schüller, considers the angelic, interpretation she pre-
fers the view that in the Glorification Hymn "all the members of the ya/iad. . . are
320 CHAPTER TEN

The parallels with Glorification Hymn A are best taken as further evi-
clence that we have in the Sabbath Songs praise offeree! by a trans-
formed humanity.
Reflection on the experiential function of the V l t h Song further
supports this view. As a liturgy of human praise and blessing the
V l t h Song can be understood as a theurgic adjuration of divine pies-
ence: it contributes towards and sustains a transformation of human
identity. O f course the blessings are intended to direct those blessed
towards "eternal peace" (4Q403 1 i 26). But this peace is simply
one manifestation of a reality which those worshipping inhabit. H i e
Psalm of the fourth chief prince has "seven wondrous powers (‫")נמרוח‬
and as such is itself effective because it reflects the power of the one
God, the warrior (‫)נמר‬, whom the psalmist serves."' The psalms arc
said to be "psalms of magnification (‫ )נדל‬of His righteousness" (4Q403
1 i 8) jj&rhaps not just because they transitively magnify God's right-
cousness, but because they do so in and through the worshippers'
own (self-)magnifieation. The sixth among the chief princes will bless
"all who have powerful insight with seven \wo\rds of His wondrous power".
The similarity of the language used here to phraseology in other
Qumran texts already noted ( I Q M 11:9 and 1 Q H ' 17:27) suggests
that the blessing intends the recipients of the blessing to receive the
wondrous power of which it speaks. These blessings are truly per-
formative speech-acts. And, of course, if the Aaronic Blessing is a
subtext then the fact that by these blessings the community have put
upon them God's own Name (and character) may be assumed.
In all this the seven-ΐοΐά form of the praise and blessings is vital.
Hereby there is not just: symbolised the completeness which is the
Jewish understanding of "peace", there is also a manifestation of
God's own character and wholeness. We should perhaps also recall
the statement in the opening Sabbath Song to the effect that the litur-
gical community will "grow in strength decree by decree for seven|"
(4Q400 1 i 9). The decrees in mind in that text are probably the
regulations for a cosmologically faithful liturgy (IQS 10:6, 8); they
tire the laws of praise of God's Glory engraved on the heart (4Q511

summoned to praise" (DJD 29:103). She rightly compares the frequent use of
αγαπητός in the New Testament (Mark 1:11; 9:7; 12:6 of Jesus and frequently of
his followers: Rom 1:7; 11:28; 12:19 e t c . ) .
'"' I take it that ‫ ח ה ל ח‬is the antecedent of the fern. sing, suffix on ‫ פ ל א ה‬. It is
possible that it is the "tongue (‫ ")לטון‬which has the seven wondrous powers. This
would only reinforce my point.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SOMJS 321

63-4 ii 3). In which case they perhaps look forward, in part at least,
to the Vlth Song (and the Songs that follow) where carefully regu-
lated praise and blessing strengthens the cultic community in its new
51
heavenly identity.
I f there is any truth to this theurgic interpretation of the V l t h
Song then its experiential rationale obviously suits the transformed
human rather than the angelic paradigm. H i e V l t h is not so con-
cerned to effect transformation for the first time and so the theurgic
theme is by no means dominant. But this is because the human wor-
shippers are already "eternally pure"; that identity and its episte-
mological ramifications simply needs to be sustained by an angelic
liturgy.

(c) Tlie Sixth Song and the Essenes Living the Life of the Isles
of the Blessed

We saw in our fourth chapter that Josephus compares the Essene

beliefs about the life of the righteous to the Greek myth of the Isles
of the Blessed. And we argued that he does so in the context of an
account of Essene anthropology which is, to all intents and purposes,
an accurate record of the Essenes' weak dualism between the realm
of the flesh and the realm of the angels which the righteous inhabit.
The V l t h of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice suggests that the corn-
parison with the Isles of the Blessed myth was not merely the view
of a Hellenized outsider.
The concluding benediction of the blessings of the V l t h Song
read:

. . . they [i.e. the seven chief princes] w i l l bless all those appointed
2,1 52
for righteousness and all His blessed (TOTO ... (‫וכול‬. . A n d H e
[i.e. G o d ] w i l l bless all the holy ones w h o bless H i m a n d declare H i m
2 9
righteous i n the N a m e o f his G l o r y . A n d H e w i l l bless all the ever-
lasting blessed ones ( ‫( ) ל כ ו ל ב ר ו כ י ע ר‬vacat). (4Q403 1 i 27-29)

These are the very last words of the V l t h Song. They describe those
blessed as "everlasting blessed ones". The opening lines of the Vlth
Song placed these blessed ones in the heavenly heights and the larger
liturgical context of the Angelic Liturgy puts them in an angelic

31
Compare also the angelomorphic priesthood of •1Q511 35 who are "seven
times refined".
32
The wow of ‫ כ ת ב י ו‬is uncertain, sec DJD 11:260. Newsom (DJD 11:257) also
reconstructs ‫"( ב ח | כ י עו]ל(מ]ים‬bles]sed for c|ve]r") as the last two words of line 27.
322 CHAPTER T E N

cultic world devoid of impurity populated by beings otherwise asso-

ciated with Eden (cherubim). The second half of the V l t h Song now
sounds very much like a benediction which bestows upon the human
community the Isles of the Blessed mythology.
There is no real biblical precedent for an identification of the
righteous, the true Israel, with the blessed of the Isles of the Blessed
topos. But a deliberate adoption of that myth by the Qumran com-
munity in their angelic liturgy would not be unique in the post-
Biblical period. It is well known that the His lory of the Rechabites in
which the Rechabites of Jeremiah 35 are made the Blessed Ones of
the Isles of the Blessed contains a (probably) Jewish core." I n that
text not only do the Rechabites inhabit the paradisal island of Greco-
Roman mythology far removed from civilisation, they are also "earthly
angels" (7:10-11: άγγελοι επίγειοι) whose encratitc existence bears out
3 1
their transformed state. ' Post-biblical use of this topos by Jews was
probably, in fact, widespread. Already in / Enoch 26:1 and 27:1 there
are perhaps echoes of the myth in the description of Jerusalem at
the Edenic centre of the earth as a "blessed, well-watered placed . . .
completely full of trees". Then, again, it is probably called to mind
in Book 3 of the Sibylline Oracles, from the second century B.C., where
in lines 770-771 the eschatological kingdom of the Jews will be pos-
sible because God will open "the gates of the blessed and all the
joys and immortal intellect and eternal cheer." Whether here the
righteous are themselves Blessed Ones is not clear. That is clear in
Book 1 of the Sibylline Oracles (late Gist B.c.-early G2nd A . D . ) where
m

the children of Noah are called a "race of blessed ones (μακάρων

γένος), happy men, to whom Sabaoth gave a noble mind" living a
life free from toil and disease in a world bounteous with natural pro-
vision (296-306). The point is reiterated in the late first century Fifth
Book of the Sibylline Oracles, in a passage which we have already dis-
cussed in chapter 3, where Israel is a "divine and heavenly race of
blessed Jews (Ιουδαίων μακάρων θείον γένος où ράν ιόν), who live around
the city of God in the middle of the earth" and who are "raised up
3,i
even to the dark clouds" (249-25l).

33
See OTP 2:443 461 and Charlesworth 1986.
34
Sec Fletcher-Louis 19971), 199-204.
35
S e c J J . Collins OTP 1:331-332.
36
Compare Sib. Or. 5:414 where Israel's eschatological redeemer is a "blessed
man" from heaven. See also T. Mos. 10:8—9 "Then you will be blessed (tunc, felix
 THE SECOND TO THE T W E L F T H SABItATll SONGS 323

These texts suggest that in the Hellenized world of late Second

Temple Judaism Josephus' recourse to the Isles of the Blessed myth
in explaining the beliefs of the Essenes was no new rhetorical devise.
Philo makes a similar, though briefer, comparison in his description
of the Thcrapeutae: "such is their longing for the deathless and blessed
life (της αθανάτου και μακάριας ζωής) that thinking their mortal life
already ended they abandon their property . . ." (De Vita Contemplativa
13). We should no longer assume that Josephus and Philo make this
comparison without direct warrant in the language which the Essenes
(and the Therapeutae) themselves adopted. The Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice evince a liturgy of which the V l t h Song is a self-conscious
appropriation of the Isles of the Blessed mythology. In his account
of the Thcrapeutae Philo is more historically accurate than Josephus
when he says that the blessed life is sought and already attained by
57
these Jews during their earthly life.

(d) 'Die Isles of the Blessed and the Use of the Sabbath Songs at Adasada

If Josephus' comparison of Essene anthropology with the Isles of the

Blessed myth now appears with clearer historical focus so docs his
record of the famous speech delivered by Eleazar to those who took
their last stand at Masada. Having once tried, to no avail, to con-
vincc his people to commit suicide Eleazar (the leader of the Sicarii),
Josephus says, launched upon a second speech; "a higher flight of
oratory on the immortality of the soul (περί ψυχής αθανασίας B.J. 7:340)",
In substance Eleazar's speech opens with an anthropology identical
to that he had earlier ascribed to the Essenes (B.J. 7:344-346):

(344) Vor it is death which gives liberty to the soul and permits it to
depart to its o w n p u r e abode, there to be free from all calamity; but

cris), Ο Israel. . . . and God will raise you to the heights, Yea, he will fix you firmly
in the heaven of the stars, in the place of their habitations." Does Celsus' tirade
against Judaism in Origen's Contra Cclsum 5:2:41 (Stern 1980, 286) presume Jewish
claims to fulfil the Isles of the Blessed myth: "Nor is at all likely that they are in favour
with God and are loved any more than other folk, and that angels arc sent to them
alone, as though indeed they had been assigned some land of the blessed (μακάρων
χώραν). For we see of what fate both they and their land were thought worthy"?
" The question o f the relationship of the Essenes to the Therapeutae is, of course,
a vexed one. I assume some close relationship and the likelihood that the lilurgi-
cal anthropology reflected in the Songs of the ,Sabbath Sacrifice was shared among the
Thcrapeutae, even i f that text was not itself used (or known). As will be clear from
the next chapter I assume that the Qumran community is Essene, and supremely
so in its use of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice.
324 CHAPTER TEN

so l o n g as i t is i m p r i s o n e d i n a m o r t a l b o d y a n d tainted w i t h all its

miseries, i t is, i n sober t r u t h , dead, for association with what is mortal ill
befits that which is divine. (345) T r u e , a soul (ψυχή), possesses great capac-
ity, even w h i l e incarcerated i n a body; for it makes the latter its organ
o f p e r c e p t i o n , invisibly swaying it and d i r e c t i n g i t o n w a r d i n its actions
b e y o n d the range o f m o r t a l nature (θνητής φύσεως). (346) But it is not
u n t i l , freed f r o m the weight that drags i t clown to earth and clings
about i t , the soul is restored to its p r o p e r sphere, that i t enjoys a blessed
strength ( μ α κ ά ρ ι α ς ισχύος) and a p o w e r u n h i n d e r e d on every side,
r e m a i n i n g , like G o d Himself, invisible let h u m a n eyes . . .

Despite the fact that Josephus claims a reliable witness in seven lone
survivors (B.J. 7:399), the speech, or at least its argument, has often
311
been judged a literary invention. There is no doubt that this part
of the speech is formulated in philosophical ternis familiar to a (beck
readership. But whatever we make of the speech's accuracy, either
in whole'Or in its parts, the essential substance of the anthropology
Josephus puts on Eleazar's lips may accurately reflect the views of
the historical Elcazar.
It would appear that those who committed suicide at Masada had
been using the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. The copy of the Songs
found in one of the rooms of the casemate wall (Maslk) is one of
several items discovered by archaeologists which points to the oceti-
pation of Masada by people associated closely with the Qumran
39
community. I f this liturgy articulates the life of the righteous removed
from the world of the flesh in heavenly communion with the angels
then it is only a short step to the rationale for suicide that Elcazar
takes. And there arc now good grounds for thinking that it is pre-
cisely (he kind of liturgical anthropology enshrined in the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice which motivated suicide as the only last resort for
those faced with torture, slavery and death at the hands of the
Romans: if you are an angel only loosely attached to the realm of
flesh then why hang around to stiller at the hands of your enemies?"'

i
3 s
Sec Collen 1982 tor reasons to doubt the veracity of Josephus' account. F o r
a basic acceptance of the historical likelihood of the suicide sec Cotton and Geiger
1989, 7.
3 9
Sec now Newsom 1999 for possible pieces of a Genesis Apocryphon (Maslm
1045-1350 7 1375), a Q j i m r a n - l i k c Joshua Apocryphon (Mas 11 1039-211) and a
tiny fragment on which the phrase nODBXyt "W, otherwise distinctive of the book
of Jubilees, is found (Maslj 1276-1786).
T h e anthropology here is, of course, well on the way to that of second cen-
tury gnosticism.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SOWS 825

The Sixth Song: Conclusion

We can now, with considerable confidence, revise the established

paradigm for the interpretation of the V l t h Song. This song con-
tains elaborate and highly formulaic praise offered by seven human
priests followed by the blessing of the congregation by the same
priests. These priests are called "chief princes" because they are
highly exalted intermediaries whose representation of human praise
to God and divine blessing to their fellow man takes place in the
heavenly heights. The extant text simply records the maskilh direc-
lions as the choreographer of the liturgy.
The change in the chief princes' posture between the two halves
of the Song is not insignificant for the development of the liturgical
cycle as a whole. We should probably imagine a gathering of laity
(or, at least, their representatives -the "elect ones (‫ )")קרואי‬and priest-
hood with the one separated from the other. Having praised God
the priesthood turn to bless the congregation. In the latter series of
the Sabbalh Songs' weekly liturgy the focus moves gradually through the
inner reaches of the sanctuary climaxing with a vision of God's
throne and the high priesthood embodying the divine presence (see
below). During this ritualised assent the attention is focused upon
the community's priesthood and the structures of the sanctuary con-
ceived of as the heavenly realm. It is in the V l t h Song, mid-
way through the cycle that wc find the wider membership of the
community, the laity, given any prominence. They are, however, at
this point only passive recipients of the active blessing spoken by
others. But that that blessing is directed to them means they arc, so
to speak, centre stage. This song is one dedicated to the affirmation
of the life of the whole community, "all the everlasting blessed ones".
With the V l l t h Song the attention turns away from the laity and
the gaze is fixed more firmly upon the inner world of the heavenly
temple.

Hie Seventh Song

In the Vlth Song a clear social demarcation between priests and

people is presumed. In the V l l t h Song there is another clear demar-
cation and this time it is most likely a demarcation between human and
suprahuman occupants of the heavenly realm; between the Qumran
326 CHAPTER TEN

community and the divine beings associated with the animate struc-
tures of the temple building (4Q403 1 i 30-46).

(30) For the maskil. Song of the seventh Sabbath Sacrifice on the six-
tcenth of the month.
(‫י‬/‫הלל‬/ (i) Praise (‫)הללו‬, Ο elohim of the exalted heights (‫אלוהי‬
‫י‬/‫)חם‬ ‫)מתמים‬, Ο exalted ones (‫ )הרמים‬among all the (31)
elim of knowledge.
(‫י‬/‫)קדט‬ (ii) Let the holiest of the elohim (‫ ;קדושי אלוהים‬or "the
holy ones o f God") magnify (or "sanctify") the K i n g
of Glory (‫( קדושי אלוהים ל מ ל ך הכבוה‬or ‫) י ק ד י ל ו ) י ק ד י ש ו‬
who sanctifies by His holiness all His holy ones
(‫)המקדיש כ ק ו ד ע ו ל כ ו ל קדושו‬.
(^‫)שבח‬ (ni) Ο chiefs o f the praises (‫ )חושכחוח‬of (32) all the eh-
him praise (‫ )שכחו‬the majestically | pijiiiseworlhy God
(‫)לאלוה ן י ח[שכחוח‬
‫ ־‬ϊ For (‫ )כי‬in the splendour of praises (‫) ב ה ד ר חשבחוח‬
is the Glory of His Kingship. In it is the praise
(‫ )חשכחוח‬of all (33) the elohim together with the
splendour of all [His] kingjdom]
(‫י‬/‫)תם‬ (iv) And] exalt (‫ )ו[רוממו‬His exaltedncss to exalted heaven
(‫)רוממו למרום‬, Ο elohim of the exalted elim (‫אלוהים מאלי‬
‫ )רום‬and (exalt) His glorious divinity above (34) all
the exalted heights (‫)מעל ל כ ו ל מרומי רום‬.
For (‫ )כיא‬H[e is God of gods ]of all the chiefs of
the exalted heights (‫ )ראשי מרומים‬and King of king [s]
of all the eternal councils. { I n the favour of (35)
His knowledge.} At the words of His mouth come
into being a[II ] ; at the utterance of His
lips all eternal spirits, [in the fajvour o f His
knowledge all His works ( 3 6 )(‫)מעשיו‬in their under-
takings.
(‫יי‬/‫)רנן‬ (ν) Sing with joy (‫)רננו‬, you who rejoice [with] rejoicing
(‫ )מרנני ]ב[ רונן‬among the wondrous elohim. And chant
(‫ )והנו‬His Glory with the tongue of all who chant
(‫ )הוני‬with knowledge; and (chant) His wonderful songs
(‫ )הנוח‬of joy (37) with the mouth of all who chant
(‫[ )הוני‬of Him.
For (‫ )כיא‬He is) God of all who rejoice (‫{ )מתני‬with
‫יי‬. knowledge} forever and Judge in His power of all
the spirits of understanding.
(^‫הור‬/‫( )יהה‬vi) (38) Make majestic (‫)תהו‬, all majestic elim ( ‫)אלי ת ה‬,
the K [ i n ] g of majesty ( ‫)למ]ל[ך ה ת ה‬.
For (‫ )כיא‬His Glory do all the gods of knowledge
confess (‫)יודו‬, and all the spirits of righteousness
confess (‫ )יודו‬in His truth, (39) and they make their
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 327

knowledge acceptable by the j u d g e m e n t s o f H i s

m o u t h and their confessions ( ‫( ) ה ו ר ו ת ם‬do they make,
acceptable) at the r e t u r n o f H i s p o w e r f u l h a n d for
judgements o f recompense.
(‫י‬/‫)זמר‬ (vii) Sing praise (‫ )זמרו‬to the m i g h t y G o d (40) w i t h choic-
est spiritual portion ( ‫ ) ב מ נ ת ת ח ת ש‬,
that there may be [a son]g ( ‫( ) ל ] מ ז ם ו [ ר‬sung) w i t h
divine, j o y , and a celebration a m o n g all the h o l y
ones, that there m a y be w o n d r o u s songs ( ‫) ל ז מ ת ת‬
(sung) i n etcr[nal] j o y .

(41) W i t h these ( ‫ ) ב א ל ה‬all the foundations (?) of the

h o l ] y o f holies praise ( ‫ ) י ה ל ל ו‬, the u p l i f t i n g pillars o f
the supremely exalted abode, and all the corners
‫ו‬ ‫ר‬ ‫מ‬ ‫ז‬
of ils structure. S i n [ g praise| ( [ 4 2 ) 1 ) ‫י‬
of (I‫׳‬1|c.i\dl\11 p o w e i j , 10 the. (Jod w/'knowledge and l i g h t
]in order to |cxa]lt together the f i r m a m e n t o f supreme
p u r i t y for j His] holy sanctuary. (43) T h e spirits o f
Go|d praise H i ] m (![‫)ושכחוה‬, for c o n f e s s i o n s " for
ever and cjver o f the chief c x a | l | t c d firmament, all
[its] hfcains ] a n d its walls, a [ l ] l (44) its [ f o r j i n , the
works o f jits] slrucjture. T h e spirjits o f holic[st] h o l i -
ncss, l i v i n g elohim ( ‫ [ ) א ל ו ה י מ ח י י ם‬, spirjits o f [ c t e r j n a l
holi[ness] above (45) all the h o l [ y ones wonder,
marvellous i n majesty. A n d the G o d o f G l j o r y [is
w o n d r o u s ] w i t h the most perfect l i g h t ( ‫ ) א ו ר ח ם‬o f
k n o w l e d g e ] (46) [ i n all the w o n d r o u s sanctuaries;
the spirits o f G o d (arc) r o u n d about the abode o f the
K i n g o f t r u t h and righteousness. A ] l | its walls

There arc probably three or four lines missing from the bottom of
the first column of 4Q403 1, but there is a clear thematic continu-
ity when the top of column ii picks up the V l l t h Song and takes it
to its end (4Q403 1 ii 1-16):

1. perfect l i g h t ( ‫ ) א ו ר ת ו ם‬, the mingled colours o f a spirit o f holiest holt-

ness|s] . . . 2. h i g h places o f knowledge. A n d at H i s footstool g\. . . 3.
the appearance o f the glorious structure for the chiefs o f the d o m i n -
ions o f spirit|s . . . 4. His G l o r y . A n d i n all their turnings the gates o f
[. . . 5. the m o v i n g o f [sp|rinklcrs o f | g l o ] w [ i n g coals o f fire] to the
chief o f the elohim o f [. . . 6. from between t h e m r u n e/lo/him like the
appearance o f coals o f ](ire . . . 7. w a l k i n g a r o u n d , spirits o f holiest

11
Newsom translates "in order to pijaisc for ever and e]ver the firmament. . ."
(DJD 11:272). I follow Davila (2000, 123-24) in preferring a translation which avoids
the worship of something other than God here.
328 CHAPTER TEN

holiness [ . . . 8 . of holiest h[ol]incss, spirits of God, an etjernal] vision

[. . . 9. and spirits of God, shapes of flaming fire around [. , . 10. won-
droits spirits and the chief exalted tabernacle, the glory of His king-
dorn, the inner shrine [. . . 11. and He sanctifies the seven exalted
holy (places) and the voice of blessing is from the chiefs of His inner
shrine [. . . 12. And the voice of blessing {is heard} is glorious in the
hearing of the elohim (or "of God") and the councils of [. . . 13. bless-
ing. And all the decorations of the inner shrine make haste with won-
drous• psalms in the inner sjhrinc . . . 14. of wonder, shrine to shrine
(‫ )דביר לדביר‬with (he sound of holy multitudes. And all their decora-
tions (. . . 15. And the chariots of His inner shrine give praise, together
(‫)והללו יחד‬, and their cherubim and thci[r ophannim bless wondrously [. . .
16. the chiefs of the divine structure. And they praise Him in the holy
inner shrine. Vacat.

The V l l t h Song begins (4Q403 1 i 30 40) with a seven-fold sum-

mons to praise, the structure of which wc have tried to lav out in
our translation. Although each of the seven parts 01 the maskil's sum-
monsing arc not as formulaic and carefully structured as the call to
praise and blessing of the Vlth Song, a clear linguistic pattern is
obvious, with each of the seven parts built around a verbal root (‫טבח‬
‫רום‬, ‫רנן‬, etc . . .) and, in most cases, a subordinate clause (introduced
‫י‬
by (‫ )כ )א‬stating the grounds on which God is worthy of worship.
Those called to praise in this section are evidently divine and heav-
enly beings: elohim, exalted ones, elim. All commentators hitherto have
assumed they are suprahuman heavenly beings. Is this consensus
secure?
In the wake of our analysis of the Sabbalh Songs thus far the assump-
tion that those called to praise here are not human beings is hardly
secure. Although dogmatism on either side is unwarranted, there arc,
on balance, good reasons for thinking that here too it is the traits-
formed, deified community members who are called to worship:
1. The verbal mood is significant. Throughout this first section of
the V l l t h Song the verbs are in the imperative. Although, unlike the
first part of the V l t h Song there is no specific reference to a for-
mula of praise to be uttered by those summonsed, the imperatival
voice might suggest that human beings, who can actually respond
to the call, are in view: a point which will be supported by no. 3
(below).
2. It is noteworthy that those called upon to praise arc never said
to be cither "spirits", "living elohim''', "cherubim", "ophannim", or even
"holy angels" (an expression wc know was at Qumran used of "angels"
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 329

in the usual sense of the word). Reference is made in this section

to the creation of "eternal spirits" (line 35) and "spirits of righteous-
ncss" (line 38) and although the later arc said, in the indicative, to
confess God's truth, this order of being is not itself called upon to
])raise.
3. The full significance of both this latter and the first point is
apparent when attention is paid to the movement from the first to
the second part of the V l l t h Song. After the seventh stanza of the
seven-fold call to worship, line 41 clearly begins a new section; "With
these . . .". In what follows a new class of heavenly being comes into
view. Now it is the spirits and the living elohim, which are associated
with the structures of the heavenly sanctuary and ])arts of the sane:-
luary itself ("the foundations", the "uplifting pillars"), which praise.
Indeed, it is the structures of the sanctuary which are in view until
the very end of the song by which time God's "footstool", the "gates",
"coals of fire", "inner shrines" with their "decorations", the cherubim
and the ophannim have all been painted into the picture of the wor-
ship offered by the animate structures of the sanctuary. And through-
out this latter part of the V l l t h Song (4-Q403 1 i 41—2 ii 16) it is
the spirits and the living elohim who dominate. Attention has shifted
away from the "exalted ones", the "chiefs of praise" (line 31), the
"elohim" (as opposed to the "living elohim") and "elim" of the opening
section of the song.
That two different classes of heavenly being are in view in (he
different parts of the song is clearly stated, then, by the words with
which the second class arc introduced: "with these..." (line 41).
The worship of heaven is here (lie responsibility of two clearly
different groups who do join together (‫יחד‬, line 42) in praise, but who
12
do not loose their separate identities in doing so.'
That the two groups arc quite different will then also explain the
fact that in the first part the imperative dominates whilst in the sec-
ond it is the indicative: the worship of the spirits, the living elohim,
and the rest, is only described, it is not commanded. This distinction
between two moods appropriate to two different orders of heavenly

12
'the first call to praise in 4Q403 1 i ‫־־‬3031 perhaps already anticipates the
Engelgemeinschafl which is to follow: "Praise . . . Ο exalted ones among all the dim of
knowledge", the latter category embracing both classes of worshipper (transformed
human and angelic spirits).
330 CHAPTER TEN

43
membership has not been clearly seen before. Indeed, Newsom's
reconstruction of the damaged text and translation blurs the bound-
ary betweens the different participants in the liturgy at the crucial
part of the text. Newsom reconstructs and translates 4Q403 1 i 41-43
14
as follows:

‫ כאלה יהללו כול יןיםודי קוד[ ש קודשים עמודי משא לזבול רום רומים‬.41
[‫וכול פנות מכניתו זמ]רו‬
‫ אלו ]הים נ[ורא כוח] כול רוחי העח ואוה [ל]מש[ א יהה הקיע }זו{ טוהר‬.42
[‫מהוהים למקהש קוהש]ו‬
‫ ]ושכחוה[ ו רוחי אלוה]ים [להוד]וח עולמי ע[ ולמים רקיע רוש מרו]מ[ ים‬.43
‫כול ק ]ורוחו [וקיהוחו כ ]ו[ ל‬

41. With these let. till the (]oundalion.s of the holjy of holies pnii.se,
the uplifting• pillars of the supremely exalted abode, and all the cor-
ners of its structure. Sin[g praise[
42. tcf*G0[d who is dr]eadful in power[, all you spirits of knowledge
and light ]in order to |exa]lt together the splendidly shining firmament
of [His] holy sanctuary.
43. [Give praise to Hijm, Ο god-[like) spirits, in order to pr[aisc for
ever and e|ver the firmament of the 11ppcr[m]ost heaven, all [its]
b[cams ]and its walls, a[l]l

Newsom here makes several interpretative decisions: first she decides

that the ‫ יהללו‬of line 41 is a jussive. This is, of course, entirely pos-
sible given the way the jussive has been used in the first part of the
Vlth Song. Secondly, on the basis of this jussive reading in line 41
and the clearly imperative form at the end of line 41 ("[‫)"זמ]רו‬,
Newsom reconstructs in the lacuna at the beginning of line 43 another
imperative ("‫ )]ושכחוה[ו‬where, all things being ecjual, a straightfor-
ward indicative is just as likely. Thirdly, Newsom fills the large lacuna
in line 42 with the words ‫ כול רוחי‬which means it is "spirits of knowl-
edge" who are commanded to praise.
On several grounds this reconstruction, translation and the attcn-
15
dant interpretative judgements are unlikely.' In the first ])lace this
would be the only place in the whole of the Songs of the Sabbalh
Saàjfice where spirits are the recipients of a command to worship.

4 5
Though Newsom does see that the latter part (4Q4-03 1 ii 1-16) has a clearly
indicative rather than an imperatival mood (DJD 1 1:270) the distinction is blurred
for her reconstruction of the end of the first column of 4Q403 1.
14
DJD 11:269, 272.
45
Newsom's editorial judgements arc followed by Nitzan 1994·, 312; Vermes;
DSSSE 2:818-819 and Davila 2000, 123-24.
 THE SEGOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SOMIS 331

Throughout the rest of the V l l t h Song the worship of the spirits is

simply described not commanded. Nothing requires a restoration of
spirits of knowledge in line 42 and the verb in line 43 could be an
indicative. I n the context of the later part of the V l l t h Song the
‫ יהללו‬is best taken as a straightforward indicative since that is how
the verb is used in the closing lines of the Song (4Q403 1 ii line
15: ‫והללו‬, line 16: ‫)והללוהו‬. These closing lines hereby echo the open-
ing command to praise in 4Q403 1 i 30. But as indicatives they form
an inclusio with the opening description o f the praise offered by the
structures of the heavenly sanctuary in line 41.
The one point in these lines where an imperative is likely should
be carefully noted. At the end of line 42 Newsom, with good reason,
restores | V I | D t . I f we have here a genuine imperative then it is
significant that those commanded to praise, are not, in what can be
reconstructed of the text's contents, the spirits or the physical struc-
lures. All that wc know for certain (using 4Q403 1 i 42 with 4Q405
6 3 as the underlined overlap) is that the text reads:

‫טוהר טהורים‬ {‫ י ה ד ־ ר ק י ע }זו‬. < ! [ ‫ד ע ח _ ו א ו ^ ל ] מ ט‬ ] ‫זמ] [ א ל ו ן [ ו ה א כ ו ח‬

[‫ל מ ק ד ש קורש]ו‬

If before ‫ ר ע ח‬the lacuna did contain the designation of those called

to praise then more likely than a reference to "spirits of knowledge"
would be the ‫ אלי ד ע ת‬of line 31. At any rate, the presence of an
imperative at this point is fitting because, having moved in line 41
to the physical structures as the source of praise and before moving
on in what follows to a detailed description of that praise, line 42
puts the worship of lines 30-40 in unison with that of the heavenly
structures: the imperative is used in line 42, where lines 41 and 43
have an indicative, because the praise just commanded is not entirely
left behind as the focus turns to the buildings and their spirits.
Whilst the reconstruction of the lacuna after the first three words
of line 42 will remain conjectural, the lacuna might not anyway have
contained a reference to those who arc commanded to praise. Although
Newsom lakes ‫ אלו]הים נ[ורא כוח‬to be the direct object of the praise,
46
for this we might have expected a lamed object maker ( .(‫ לאלוהים‬It

1 6
Cf., e.g., Maslk ii 17: "‫ " ז מ ר עוז לאלוהי קודש‬and 4Q403 1 i 39 (in our pre-
seul context) where wc have ‫( זמרו לאלוהי עז‬cf. also 4Q4Ö3 1 i 32). The only pos-
siblc expression of the direct object of praise without ‫ ל‬is 4Q400 1 i 30, but that,
too, can be read otherwise (sec Newsom DJD 11:179, 272).
332 CHAPTER T E N

is just as likely that the elohim are the subject of the verb: "O elohim
of dreadful power, sing praise . . In this case the lacuna may
actually have contained a reference, not to those summonsed to
praise, but the direct object of that praise: "Sin[g praise], Ο elo[him
of drjeadful power[, to the God of knowledge and light. .
In summary, a reading of what remains of the V l l t h Song which
is attentive both to the specificity of the language and its place in
the linguistic patterns of the whole of the Sabbath Songs reveals a clear
distinction between two orders of heavenly worshipper. One order
is called to worship whilst the worship of the other is simply described.
It might be that the V l l t h Song has in view two different orders of
angel (in the usual sense of the word); one order associated with (lie
animate structures of the heavenly temple and one who are not. But
if this is the case then why is the worship of one described and the
other comfhanded? Though certainty is impossible, a marginally more
plausible view would be that the "exalted ones", the "elim" and the
"elohim" of lines 30-40 arc cleified/angelomorphic humans for whom
a carefully structured call to ])raise appropriately expects an active
response, whilst the "spirits", the "living elohim" of the rest of the
song are the spiritual aspect of the heavenly temple, for whom a
19
call to praise is inappropriate.
4. Lastly, we should note that the sacrificial language of line 40
confirms the impression that human worship is in view. There the
audience are exhorted to sing "with choicest spiritual portion (‫במנח‬
‫")רוח רוט‬. We will return to the issue of angelic sacrifices in the next
chapter's discussion of the XIHth Song. For now it should be noted
that there arc grave difficulties in imagining angels in heaven offering
sacrificial portions. The language is essentially concrete and earthly
and, as we saw in chapter 8, there is no real historical precedent
for a heavenly sacrificial cult which is above and beyond that of the
Temple on earth. We do know that the Qumran community were
happy to speak metaphorically o f their verbal praise in sacrificial
terms (e.g. IQS 10:8: "on my longue as a fruit of praise, the portion

'" For the Qumran sectarian as a fearful god cf. 4Q511 35 6 and parallels.
For the expression "God of knowledge" sec 4-Q400 2 8; 4-Q402 4 12 and com-
pare in particular 4Q40S 23 ii 12 " ‫ ל א ל ו ד ד ע ת‬0 ‫ ־‬5 p " . Sec also 4-Q510 1 2; IQS
3:15; i O H 2 0;‫״‬9:26:T0[1:26; 12:10].
13
Nothing in lines 30-4-0 suggests the worshippers arc priests, if they arc humans
then they are probably the laity (or the laity with the priesthood) who, having been
blessed in the previous song, are now themselves released to praise.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 333

(‫ )םנח‬of my lips", cf. CD 11:20-21; 1QS 9:3-5) and we have already

seen how this is applied to the human worshippers in the Und Song.
There is no warrant for the use of such language by suprahuman
angels.
Whilst this reading of the V l l t h Song is by no means necessary
for the veracity of some of our other more confident interpretative
judgements the possibility that it is correct leads to two other exegct-
ical observations which may be of relevance to other parts of our
study.

Human Praise as a Theurgic Adjuration of Divine Presence

The grounds given for worship in the third of the seven summons
of the first part of the song (4Q403 1 i 321) 33a) has ])roved difficult.
It reads:
‫כ י ב ה ד ר תשבחות כבוה מלכותו כ ה חשכחוח כ ו ל אלוהים ע ם ה ר ח כ ו ל מלכ]וחו‬

Which wc have translated:

For in the splendour of praises is the Glory of His Kingship. In it is
the praise of all the elohim together with the splendour of all [His]
kingfilom]
Of this motivating ‫ כי‬clause Newsom writes:

In the Psalms such clauses generally recite the mighty acts of God in
creation and/or in the salvation of Israel. Here, however, the language
has become abstract almost to the point of incomprehensibility. To
motivate the hearer to praise the author relies on the texture of the
5
repeated words and sounds themselves. "

It is true that the sense of the Hebrew is not altogether clear and
the text may contain uncorrected scribal errors. However, rather
than empty, but numinous, rhetoric I suggest that an important con-
ceptual point is being made here. The theology is perhaps this: when
the community worships the substantial presence, the Glory of God
(viz. his "kingship") is made manifest. The first clause—"in the
splendour of praises is the Glory of His Kingship"—is a claim that
the worship life of the community makes manifest God's reality, since
the "splendour of praises" is of the same character as the "splendour

511
DJD 1 1:273. She then compares the "strangely vacuous sublimity and august
rcpetitiousness" of the Hekhalot hymns.
334 CHAPTER TEN

of all His Kingship". The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice is a divine liturgy
not just because God is its mystical object or the recipient of its praises,
but because when the worshipping community praise they themselves
51
share in the nature of that which they praise.
I f this is what is meant then we have here a conceptual key to
the whole of the Sabbath Songs: it is in worship that the boundary
between heaven and earth is dissolved, the righteous are taken up
into God's presence and God is brought down into the presence of
the righteous. The fact that this means the righteous are now them-
selves heavenly beings who participate in his being is inevitable. This
theurgic understanding of the Sabbath Songs would also, of course,
then pick up what had been an implicit, but unspoken purpose of
the V l t h Song.
The second part of this ‫ כי‬clause—"in it is the praise of all the
elohim together with the splendour of all [His] king[dom]"—can now
be understood as another anticipation of the theme of the whole of
the V l l t h Song, which is the joining together of human persons and
spiritual beings in the heavenly worship. I f the antecedent of ‫ בה‬is
God's "Kingship", then this second sentence says that in God's king-
dorn there is the praise of all the elohim, which is exemplified by the
praise which is invited in 4 Q 4 0 3 1 i 3 0 - 4 0 , along with (DP) the splen-
dour of God's kingdom, which is present in the spiritual vitality and
praise of the animate structures of the heavenly temple ( 4 Q 4 0 3 1 i
41-4Q403 1 ii 16).

Tlie Vllth Song and the Qedushah

By way of an extended footnote to our discussion of the V l l t h Song

we should note an important feature of its opening lines which will
be relevant for our discussion of the War Scroll i n chapter 1 1 .
Anna Maria Schwemer has pointed out that in 4 Q 4 0 3 1 1 3 1 the
second of the seven summons to praise contains a thinly veiled allu-
52
sion to the song of the angels in Isaiah 6 . There Isaiah sees the

31
This is the inverse o f the psalmist's observation that those who worship idols
become like them (Pss 115:8; 135:18). Newsom perhaps rightly compares the lan-
guage of 1 Chr 29:25 (DJD 1 1:273). There, in a scene full of dramatic claims for
Israel's king, God gives to Solomon the ‫ ה ו ד מ ל כ ו ת‬. A closer linguistic and theo-
logical background is, o f course, the priestly theology of cult exemplified by the
work of Sirach.
52
1991, 97-98.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 335

LORD enthroned surrounded by seraphim singing "Holy, holy, holy

(‫קדוש‬, ‫קדוש‬, ‫ )קרוש‬is the L O R D of hosts; the whole earth is full of
his Glory." Their words would become a central part of the later
synagogue service and the Christian eucharist. The second call to
praise in the Vllth Song is based on the root ‫ ק ד ש‬, and it contains
the word ‫ קדוש‬three times. It appears that, cither out of reverence
for the sanctity of the canonical form of angelic praise or to keep
a reference to the Qcdushah secret, the text has deliberately obscured
the use of Isaiah 6:3 by writing not ‫" יקדישו‬let them sanctify" but
‫ יקדילו‬and instead of ‫" כקודש‬who sanctifies" the meaningless ‫בקודעו‬.
What exactly such an allusion to the Qedushah means for the inter-
prctation of the text is not obvious: it does not effect either way the
question of the identity of those called upon to praise, since the pro-
claiming of the angelic, song by the human community is well attested.
But that there is a thinly veiled allusion her to Isaiah 6:3 is highly
53
likely.

7he Eighth Song

Besides several scraps which probably attest the V l l l t h Song there

are two sizeable portions of extant text (4Q403 1 i i 18-48 & 4Q405
54
13). The second of these need not concern us: it is a doublet of
the blessings of the angelic princes in the V l t h Song (4Q_403 1 i
17- 23 = 4Q405 3 ii), the only significant difference between the two
blessings being that the V l l l t h Song is written for the deputy princes
rather than the chief princes. Our arguments for a transformed
human reading of the. Vlth Song obviously apply equally to the par-
allel portions of the V l l l t h Song.
Besides this overlapping text the following portion of 4Q403 (1 ii
18- 37) shows how the V l l l t h Song, whilst similar in form, contained
markedly independent content to that bequeathed by the Vlth Song's
55
praise of the chief princes:

‫יי‬5
Of. Falk 1998, 138-146 for a fuller examination and acceptance of Schwcmcr's
suggestion.
55
Other likely remains are 4Q405 10; 12; 64 + 67; I1Q17 col. i i i (frags. 4a-c,
5 [previously frags, h, i , k, r]).
5 5
The reconstruction of 4Q403 1 ii 18-37 is aided by significant overlaps with
4Q405 8-9, 11; 4Q404 6 and 1 lQShirShabb i i (frag. 3 [formerly frag. 0]). Words
in italics, in lines 27-29, are reconstructed on the basis of the formulaic pattern of
the liturgy.
336 CHAPTER TEN

"' For the maskil, Song o f the Sacrifice o f the eighth Sabbath on the
t w [ e n t y - ] t h i r d [ o f the second m o n t h . Praise ( ‫ ) ה ל ל ו‬the G o d o f a l l . . . a l l
19
you] eternally [holy ones] ( ‫ ) כ ו ל ק ד ו ש י ע ו ל מ י ם‬, second a m o n g the
priests o f the inner sanctum ( ‫ ) ב כ ו ה נ י ק ו ר ב‬, the second council i n the
wonderful dwelling ( ‫ ) ס ו ה שני ב מ ע ו ן פ ל א‬a m o n g the seven I . . . a m o n g a l l
who have knowledge of] '° eternal things. A n d exalt H i m ( ‫ ) ו ר ו מ מ ו ה ו‬,
Ο chiefs o f princes (‫ ) ר א ש י נשיאים‬w i t h His wondrous p o r t i o n ( ‫ב מ נ ה‬
! ‫ ) פ ל א י‬. Praise [the G o d o f elohim, Ο seven priesthoods o f his inner sane-
2 1
tum ( ...(‫כ ה ו נ תקורבו‬ exalted, seven wondrous borders
according to the statutes ( ‫ ) כ ח ו ק ו ת‬o f H i s sanctuaries {the chiefs o f the
56 2 2
princes o f the [wondrous] p r i e s [ t h o o d s } for the kingdom(?) . . . seven
priest [hoods] i n the w o n d r o u s sanctuary for the seven holy councils
2 3
[. . . the prince, the angels o f the. K i n g i n the wonderful dwellings
( ‫ ) מ ל א כ י מ ל ך ב מ ע ו נ י פ ל א‬. A n d the knowledge o f their understanding o f
2 1
seven|. . . chief from (he prie.sl o f the inner .sanctum ( ‫ר ו ש מ כ ו ה ן‬
‫ ) ק ו ר ב‬. A n d the chiefs o f the congregation o f the K i n g in the assent-
2
bly ( ‫( ) ו ר א ש י ע ד ת ה מ ל ך ב ק ך ל‬. . . ‫ י־‬a n d praises o f exaltation for the
2i
K i n g o f G l o r y and m a g n i f i c a t i o n o f the [ G ] o [ d o f . . . ' to the G o d
o f gods, K i n g o f p u r i t y . A n d the raised offering o f t h e i r tongues
2 7
( . ..|(‫ו ת ר ו מ תלשוביהם‬ seven mysteries o f knowledge
mystery o f the seven [most | h o l [ y | precincts [ and the longue of the fast
will grow strong sevenfold by means of the longue of the one who is second 10
him. A n d the tongue o f the one w h o is second with respect to h i m
2 !
will grow strong] ' sevenfold from the one w h o is third w i t h respect
to [ h i m . A n d the tonjguc o f the t h i [ r d will] grow strong s e v e n f o l d
from the one who is fourth with respect to him. And the longue of the fourth
w i l l g r o w strong sevenfold b y means o f the tongue o f the one w h o is
fifth w i t h respect to h i m . A n d the tongue o f the fifth will grow s t r o n g
29
sevenfold by means of the longue of] the one who is sixth w i t h respect to
h i m . A n d the tongu|e o f the sixth w i l l g r o w strong sevenfold by means
o f the] to[ngue o f the one w h o is seventh w i t h respect to hint. A n d
w i t h the tongue o f the seventh it w i l l grow s t r o n g . . . h o l y . . . sane-
3 0 3 1
tuary . . . and according to the sevenfold w [ o r d s . . . in wondrous
3 2
psalms w i t h [won[drotts w o r [ d s . . . w o n d e r vacal. [Psalm o f ] bless-
3 3
ing by [ the tongue o f the first . . . wonder, and praise to the L o r d
3 1
o f all the god[s . . . c h i e f o f his wonders for great praise [. . . '‫יי‬
for those w h o cause knowledge to shine a m o n g all the gods o f light
3 6
( . . .| (‫אור‬ ‫למאירי דעת ככול אלי‬
3 7
, the f o u r t [ h . . . wonder. Ps[ahn o f thanksgiving by the] to|nguc o f
, 3 8
t h e fifth . . . thanksgivings

Are those addressed by the maskil in the V l l l t h Song angels or highly

exalted humans? Unlike the last song, I think that here the answer

M
Although a reference to Melchizedek may have been present at the end of this
line, 1 think it unlikely, especially i f by such a reference there is assumed a specific
manifestation of a dualistic understanding o f the heavenly cult.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBA'DI SONOS 337

is more straightforward: they are high exalted sectarians, in particular

their priestly leadership. The reasons to be confident of this judge-
ment are several:
1. Several expressions pick up the language used to describe par-
ticipants in the liturgy in the 1st and the Vlth Songs. Those addressed
are "chiefs of princes (‫( ")ראשי נשיאים‬line 20): though not identical,
the title recalls that of the ‫ נשיאי לוש‬of the V l t h Song. A couple of
times we arc told that the worshippers are "priests of the inner sane-
turn (‫( ")כוהני קורב‬lines 19, 24) which picks up the terminology of
the Ist Song (4Q400 1 i 8, 17, 19). Now since we have already
decided in our discussion of those earlier songs that such language
refers to exalted mortals we aie inclined to do so here also. Indeed,
our judgement in respect, of those earlier passages is confirmed by
the ])resent context. In general the language of 4Q403 1 ii 18-37
7
suits best a human community of worshippers.''
2. Where the last song had closed in the indicative mood with a
lengthy description of the praise offered by the spirits and the liv-
ing elohim of the heavenly sanctuary, now the mood is, once more,
imperatival. The direct summons (esp. lines 18, 20) to worship would
suggest human worshippers are addressed. What lines 27-29 envis-
age is not entirely clear. We are obviously back in the highly for-
mulaic sphere of the liturgy of the Vlth Song and the opening section
of the V l l t h Song. Lines 27-29 appear to envisage "a sequential
5
joining of voices, each voice increasing the sound sevenfold". " This
could be the harmonic chorus of the angels, but it is easier to imag-
inc, I think, that: here wc encounter the technical terminology of a
human worship.
3. In lines 20 and 26 we once again encounter sacrificial lan-
guage: the chiefs of princes arc to exalt God with "His wondrous
portion (‫( ")כמנה פלאיו‬cf. 4Q403 1 i 39-40) and give him "a raised
offering (‫ )חרומח‬of their tongues" (cf. 4Q400 2 7). This is best taken
as a metaphorical interpretation of human praise, rather than as an
utterly noumenal worship of the angels above.
4. In line 35 the praise is "for those who cause knowledge to shine
(‫ )מאירי העת‬among all the elim. of light". In the light of our analysis
of divine priesthood texts and the significance of the U T at Qumran

5 7
W i l h the "chiefs of the congregation of the King in the assembly" (line 24)
compare the "chiefs of the fathers of the congregation" in 1QJV1 2:7; 3:4; l Q S a
1:16, 23, 25.
5 8
Newsom DJD 11:289.
338 CHAPTER TEN

in our sixth and seven chapters this is surely another witness to a

ubiquitous theme: the divine priesthood are called to illuminate, lit-
erally and/or metaphorically, creation and/or the rest of society.
The angelomorphic priest of the Blessings Scroll is "to give light
(‫ ] [ )למאור‬for the world in knowledge (‫ )כרעת‬and to illuminate
(‫ )לחאיר‬the face of the many". He serves as an Angel of the Presence
"in the abode of holiness (‫ ")כמעון קודש‬and it is, similarly, "in the
,
wonderful abode(s) (‫( ")כמעון) ( פלא‬lines 19, 23) that the worship of
the V l l l t h Song takes place.
5. Whilst there is, then, much which points to the human identity
of the worshippers of the V l l l t h Song there is nothing which seriously
challenges such a reading. The most overtly transcendent language
used of the worshippers is relatively reserved and, by now, docs not
seriously challenge anthropological acceptabilities. In lines 1819 the
maskil speaks to "all you eternally holy ones" (cf. lines 19-20 "all
who have knowledge of eternal things"). As a reference to the human
priesthood's immortality there is nothing extraordinary here. The
reference to the "angels of the King" in line 23 need not mean the
chief priests who are in view in the rest of the text. This could sim-
ply be a descriptive reference to those who accompany the human com-
munity of princes in their worship. But even if the priestly princes are
themselves called "angels of the King" that would be entirely fitting
given the purpose of the liturgy and its tradition-historical context.
So we can be fairly confident that in all that remains of the V l l l t h
Song it is the human worshippers, their praise and blessing that is
described. The way in which this song introduces a second order of
leadership and priesthood—"the second among the priests of the inner
sanctum, the second council" (line 19)—is very well explained with
cross reference to the division between twelve chief priests and twelve
chief Lévites in the opening columns of the War Scroll ( I Q M 2:1-3).

The Ninth Song

Relatively little remains of Song I X . Joining together two fragments

of 4Q405 (14-15 i) with two fragments from the fourth column of
llQShirShabb produces the following probable portion of the ninth
59
Song:

59
T h e reconstruction of llQShirShabb iv is now different to that offered for
l l Q S h i r S h a b b f-c-k in Newsom 1985, 378-379.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH S0M1S 339

(1 1Q.17 iv (frags. 6-8))

3
. . . G]od of gods[. . . ]construction of bri[cks . . . ]vestibules of the
5
entrances . . . [to] their glorious [br]ickwork [. . .] brickwork of [. . .
firma]ment. . . ‫ יי‬a wonderful (appear)ance as [. . .] of pur[ity . . . missions
7
. . . with the splendour of prai[scs . . . | in the likcne[ess of. . . prat]ses
" of the elohim [. . . ]praises

(4Q405 14-15 i (+ 11 Q,l 7 iv))

2
. . . ]wondrous likeness, mos|t] holy spirit [. . . to]nguc of blessing and
3
from the likeness of . . . a so] und of blessing for the King of those
who exalt and their wondrous praise is for the God of gods [. . ,] their
4
many-coloured (Dn1Dp1~l) [. . .] and they sing joyfully ( (‫ותנו‬.. .] the
vestibules of their entrances, spirits of the most holy inner sanctum
5
[. . .] eternal [And the likctijess of living elohim. (‫ )אלוהים חיים‬engraved
in the vestibules (‫ )באלמי‬of the entrances of the King, figures of a spirit
of lights (‫[)אותם‬. . . K]ing, figures of glorious li[ght], spirits of ‫ יי‬. , . in]
the midst of spirits of splendour (‫ )ההר‬is a wondrous many-coloured
work (‫)מעשי רוקמות פלא‬, figures ( i f living elohim (‫ [ )אלוהים חיים‬in the]
7
glorious shrines, the structure of mojst holy [. . .'] in the shrines of
the King, figufrcs of the e[l.]ohim, and from] the likeness of [. . .] of
holiest holiness " . . . livjing \elohim

Here we are back in (he realm of the animate structures of the cul-
tic buildings which dominated the latter portion of the V l l t h Song.
And here, not surprisingly, the same rules we discerned in Song V I I
apply. The principal characters are "spirits" and "living elohim" whose
praise and activity is not summonsed, but simply described. Nowhere
here is there specific mention of "priests" and we should note care-
fully the dilferencc between the expression "spirits of the inner sane-
turn (‫ ")רוחי קורב‬in this text (line 4) and the frequent expression
"priests of the inner sanctum (‫ ")כוהני קורב‬in the very different con-
texts of Songs I and V I I I . Nowhere here is there any mention of
the offering of sacrifices and neither is the activity of the spirits and
the living elohim described with the formulaic structure which char-
acterises the praise of the heavenly priesthood in Songs V I , V I I and
V I I I . So this portion of the I X t h Song supports the view that the
earlier Songs have throughout distinguished carefully between heav-
enly persons—human worshippers (priests and laity)—and heavenly
beings—especially the spiritual divine aspects of the cultic structures.
Wc cannot rule out the possibility that other parts of the IXth
Song did place the human worshippers in the foreground. 4Q405 17
60
is a small fragment which may belong to the end of Song I X :

60
Sec here Davila 2000, 139 who notes that DJD 11:337 is misleading at this
point since it suggests that 4Q405 17 belongs to the tenth song.
340 CHAPTER TEN

2 1
. . . ] wonders [. . . . . . ] t h e i r |. . .Jspirits o f knowledge a n d under-
1
standing, t r u t h . . . ] p u r i t y , angels o f glory ( ‫ ) מ ל א כ י כ ב ו ר‬i n the p o w e r
5 6
o f . . . w o n | d c r s , angels o f beauty ( ‫ ) מ ל א כ י ת פ א ר ת‬and spirits o f . . .
] i n the holy shrines, seats o f

The text is too fragmentary to make any confident assessment of its

meaning and liturgical function. We should simply note the possi-
bility that here the "angels of Glory" and the "angels of beauty" are
the human priesthood, given the possible derivation of such language
from the tradition of angelomorphic, priesthood which wc have already
traced through the Birth of Noah (1Q19 13 2), Sirach (45:8; 50);
4Q418 (frag. 81) back to Exodus 28:2, 40 where the garments of
Aaron are made "for Glory and for beauty". I f human priests are
here described then, o f course, these would be those who in the
Songs of the Sage are called "angels of His Glory" (4Q511 35 4).
It remains for us to comment on the IXth Song's location within
the hierarchy of sacred space which is assumed by the Songs of the
Sabbath Sacrifice. The ninth song is focused on the "vestibule where
the king enters". Newsom thinks that this is inspired by Ezekiel 44:3;
46:8 where there is a gate with a vestibule through which the prince,
Israel's royal head, comes and goes from the sanctuary forecourts.'‫יי‬
However, for several reasons it is more likely that this is the vestibule
of the inner sanctuary that is in mind. There is no mention in the
extant portions of the I X t h Song of any gales and the Sabbath Songs
appear not to have any place for a peculiarly royal figure (whether
a human king or an angel) who, as in Ezekiel's vision is set apart
liturgically from the priesthood. The king in view in 4Q405 14-15
i is undoubtedly God himself, the King. That we have to do here
with the Ulam of the inner sanctuary proper (1 Kgs 6:3; 7:6, 21;
Ezck 8:16; 40:48; 41:25-26; 1 Chr 28:11; 2 Chr 3:4;8:12; Joel 2:17)
is supported by the fact that it is specifically this vestibule in bibli-
cal texts which is engraved with animate figures (Ezek 41:25-26),
not any other. It is also possible that the "wondrous many-coloured
work (‫( ")מעשי רוקמות פלא‬line 7 of 4Q405 14-15 ί) is a phonetic
adaptation of the Biblical ‫ מעשה ר ק ם‬which is used to describe the
weaving of the curtains of the door of the tent of meeting (Exod
26:36; 36:37). This may anticipate the description of the paroket veil
62
which is the subject of the next song.

DJD 11:332-333.
See Newsom DJD 1 1:334.
 •IHK SECOND T O T H E T W E L F T H SABBATH SONGS 341

As we shall see, i f the I X t h Song focuses on the sanctuary's inner

vestibule then this has important: implications for the movement of
the liturgy through the latter half of its cycle.

The Tenth Song

Again, for the X t h Song very little survives. There is some overlap
between 4Q405 15 iï—16 and 11 CM 7 ν (frags. 9-12 [formerly b, k,
63
m, j]), though the join is not clear:

( 4 Q 4 0 5 15 ii—16 (+ 11Q.17 ν 2 6)
1 2 3 ,
fringed edge). . . and rivers of fire (or "light") ( , ..](‫ראור‬
,
appearance of flames of lire (‫()להב אש‬. . . h|eau(y upon the veil (!‫)בפרום־‬
of the shrine of the King |. . . ‫ יי‬in the shrine of His presence, the
many-colours (‫ [)רוקמות‬I everything which is engraved (‫ )מחקת‬upon
3
the [. . .j figures of [limiig?] elo\him... gloty from both of their sides[. . .]
6
the veils of the. wondrous shrines. And they bless [. . . their sides;
64
they declare [. . .[ of wonder, inside the scorching heat, the shrine[. . .
7
. . . ] wonder[. . .] to the King of glorfy] with a ringing cry (‫כקול‬
‫[)רנה‬. . .] gods [. . .) and figures [. . .

llQShirShabb ν 7 - 4 0
7 9
the ap]pca[rance of. . .] they will hear ". . .] eternal thrones [. . .
10
. . .] their [fjigurcs arc cherubim of . . .) foundations [. . .

For our purposes, only two points of significance can be gleaned

from what remains of this song. First, it provides further confirmation
for our interpretation of the formal differences between different parts
of the Sabbath Songs. Here nominal expressions are accompanied by
indicative verbs (lines 6, 7 and 7) and it is the engraved figures of
the inner sanctuary structure which arc in view not the heavenly
priesthood of earlier songs.
Secondly, the location of the maskil's attention is noteworthy. This
song is taken up with the parokel, the veil (or, one of the veils) which
hangs before the inner sanctuary of Israel's Temple. Anyone enter-
ing the sanctuary comes to the veil after the vestibule which has

' ' 4 '‫׳‬Q405 17, which we have treated under our discussion of the ninth song
might belong here in the tenth.
,
'‫ יי‬I follow~Davila (2000, 139-40) here and read ‫ לי ק ה ה‬not ‫ ל ״ ק ה ה‬as does Newsom
(DJD 11:335). O f more immediate, relevance than the references to ‫ אש י ו ק ה ה‬in the
Hekhalot Literature given by Davila (3 Enoch 15:1; 22:4; 26:12; 42:1, 6; 47:4) is
Daniel 7:11.
342 CHAPTER TEN

been the subject of the previous song. That the focus here is very
specifically upon the entrance to the inner sanctuary of the Temple
is confirmed by the use of the Pu'al participle of ‫ ח ק ה‬for the engrav-
ings in line 4. The clearest biblical precedent for the Hebrew here
is 1 Kings 6:35 which describes the cherubim, palm trees and flowers
65
carved on the door of the Temple.

The Eleventh Song

For the X l t h Song we have one sizeable portion from its middle
(4Q405 19 (a, b, c, d) + llQShirShabb vi (frags. 12—15 [formerly
frags, j , d, g, p]) and, in a damaged state, the last five lines of the
4Q405 copy (4Q405 20 ii-21-22 lines 1-5) assisted by some over-
66
lap from llQShirShabb vii (frags. 16-18 [formerly frags. 3, 4, a]).
These two sections can be laid out as follows:

(4Q405 19 (+ 11Q,17 vi))

2
And the figures of the elohim praise. Him, the m[ost holy] spirits [. . .
3
figures of] glory, the floor ( (‫מדרס‬of the wondrous shrines; spirits of
eternal elim, all[. . . of the de]bir of the King. The workmanship of the
spi[irls] of the wondrous firmament ‫ יי‬purely salted (‫)ממולח טוהר‬, [spirits
of the knowledge of truth[ and] righteousness in the holy of [hojlics,
5
[the imjages of living elohim (‫)אלוהים חיים‬, images of spirits of lumi-
naries (‫)רוחות מאירים‬. A[I]1 their [workmanship] (is of) h[01y] wondrous
mosaic, [spirits] of many colours (‫)רוחי רוקמה‬, [fijgures of the shapes
6
of elohim, engraved round about their [gljorious brickwork, glorious
images of the b[ric]kwork of splendour and majesfty. )Living elohim
7
(‫( )אלוהים חיים‬are) all their construction and the images of their figures
(are) holy angels (‫)מלאכי קודש‬. From underneath the wondrous sfhrines]
8
a sound of quiet stillness (‫)קול דממת שקט‬, elohim blessing . . .] the King
[praising continually (‫ )מהללים חמיד‬all] (11Q17 vi 9-10 (+ 4Q405 19
9 10
9)) vacat {elohim . . .] him in the second [. . . . . .] wonders of splen-
dour and mafjesty

11Q,17 vii
2
. . .] Llis presence I. . .] above the height of the throne[. . .

(4Q405 20 ϋ—21—22 (+ 11Q17 vii))

1
[They do not delay when they stand . . .] of all the priests of the
2
inner sanctum ( . ..](‫כוהניקורב‬ By staftute they] are s

DJD 11:336.
4Q405 18 perhaps also belongs in die eleventh song.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 343

‫)ית(כלכלו‬ in the serfvicc of. . .] a seat like His royal throne in [His
5
glorious shrines. They do not sit. . .] the merkabol of his Glory [. . .J
holy cherubim, ophanmm of light in the shfrine .. spirits of elohim purity
4
of holiness, the construction [its] corner[s . . .] dominions of seats of
5
glory of merkabo[t wings of knowledge wondrous powers] truth and
ctcrn[al] righteousness [. . .] the merkabot of His Glory when they go
6
to [they do not turn to any they go straight] vacat (the beginning of
the Xllth Song starts here)

In all but a couple of lines the focus here remains directed towards
the spiritual aspect of the cultic structures: it is the "spirits", the "liv-
ing elohim", the cherubim and ophannim associated with God's chariot-
thrones who stand centre stage. The liturgical drama has now, it
seems moved, inside the veil and the numinous power of the brick-
work of the ‫־‬11001 (cf. Exod 24:10), the "treading place (‫ ")מדרס‬of
God's feet in the holy of holies (line 4 of 4Q405 19) absorbs the
67
worshippers' attention. I f one takes the ‫ מאורים‬of ‫ רוחות מאורים‬as
reference to heavenly bodies ("spirits of the luminaries")—the sun,
moon and stars—then there is perhaps here the idea, which was a
well-established feature of the architectural language of ancient tern-
pies, that the ceiling of the heavenly temple is decorated with the
heavenly bodies. In 1 Enoch 14:11 and 17 the ceiling of the heav-
enly temple is "like the path of the stars and the lightnings".
In the first portion of the X l t h Song there are no priests and
nothing suggests the presence of transformed humans. In line 7 there
is the expression "holy angels (‫ ")מלאכי קודש‬which everywhere else
in Q L is reserved for specifically suprahuman angels. In line 2 we
hear of elohim who are not specifically "living elohim". But, clearly,
these cannot be identified with human elohim since in the appositi-
val phrase which follows they are identified as "most holy spirits"
and the fact that they arc, "figures (‫ ")בדני‬associates them with the
physical temple ornamentation. Although, grammatically, the verb
of line 2 could be either imperative or indicative, nothing supports
the former and everything points to the latter. The paradoxical bless-
ing of a "sound of quiet stillness" (line 7, cf. 1 Kgs 19:12) would
suit very well the "imagined" reality of the animated throne room,
68
rather than the real presence of human worshippers.

67
For the role of the ice paved floor of the heavenly palace in the mystical tra-
dition and its likely relevance for this part of the Sabbath Songs see Davila 2000,
144.
6 8
Comparison with Arisleas 92, 95 (Davila 2000, 145) is not strictly relevant, since
344 CHAPTER TEN

In the closing lines of this song those whom wc have otherwise

identified as human priests, the "priests of the inner sanctum" (4Q405
20 ii-21-22 lines 1—2), do appear and the language in the immedi-
ate context otherwise echoes that of the 1st Song, where the char-
69
ter for the human priesthood was laid out. But nothing suggests
the distinction between these priests, their service and that of the
spirits and living elohim is blurred at this point. The latter have, as
we would expect, a perpetual service (11 CM 7 vi 8 = 4Q405 19 8),
whilst it is perhaps the former who enter the eternal sphere of that
perpetual worship "when they take their stand" (4Q405 20 ii—21-22
7 0
line l ) . The end of the song probably envisages the same com-
munity of heavenly persons and spiritual beings which guided the
V l l t h Song.
The language of seats and sitting in 4Q405 20 ii—21—22 line 2
may have in mind a clear distinction between human and non-
human heavenly worshippers. Unfortunately, the context is broken,
but first line 2 appears to speak positively of "a seat like His royal
throne" but it then denies certain actors the right to sit—"they do
not sit". Do we have here simply an empty throne? Davila has noted
that there are conflicting views in the Jewish mystical tradition regard-
ing the right to sit in heaven, and has suggested that here the motif
is used to give higher rank to angels who sit over those who do
71
not. I f such an idea is present it is likely that the ranking of wor-
shippers reflects the distinction between humans and non-humans,
since in general it is the former who are ever allowed to sit in heaven
(e.g. Ezekiel the Tragedian's Exagoge 68-89; Elh. Enoch 55:4; 61:8;
62:5; 69:29; / Enoch 108:12; Mark 14:62; Eph 2:6; Col 3:1-4; Rev
3:21; Asc. Isa. 9:24 26) and the latter who arc not. (Gen. Rah. 65:21).
As we have seen, there arc other texts in the Qumran Library where
the righteous who ascend to the heavenly heights arc privileged to
sit in heaven.

although there the temple service in Jerusalem is conducted in silence, we are not
told that the priests blessed with a sound of silence.
m
For the phrase ‫ י ח [ כ ל כ ל ו‬p i ] r a compare the several references to ‫ ח ו ק י ם‬in
4Q400 1 i 5, 9 and the use of the verb ‫ כ ל כ ל‬in 4Q400 1 i 14.
70
Though it is possible that it is the spirits, the suprahuman angels, who are
referred to in 4Q405 20 ii—21—22 line l a as "standing" (cf. Ezek 1:21).
71
2000, 145-146.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 345

'lite Twelfth Song

For the twelfth song the ravages of time have left us two size-
able pieces of the 4Q405 manuscript: the opening nine lines are in
good condition (4Q405 20 ii-21-22 lines 6-14, with minor overlaps
with llQShirShabb vii 9-14) and there arc fourteen lines of less
well preserved text which probably came near the end of the song
(4Q405 23 i). Ten partially preserved lines of the eighth column of
llQShirShabb probably belong before 4Q405 23 i , though no over-
lap is present. Because the opening passage and the latter two pose
separate interpretation questions we shall examine them separately.
The opening nine lines of the Xlfth Song in 4Q405 20 ii-21-22
read:
11
(vacat) For the ma\skil. Song of the Sacrifice ofj the twelfth [Sajbbath,
7
[on the twenty-first of the third month. Praise (‫ )הללו‬the God of
wo)ndrous [years] and exalt (‫ )ורוממוהו‬Him according (‫ )?כפי‬to the
Glory (‫)הכבוד‬. In the tabern[acle of the God ofj knowledge the
[cheru\bim(?) fall before Him; and they bl[esjs (‫ )וכ]ר[כו‬as they lift them-
8
selves up. A sound of divine stillness ( . ..](‫מתאלוהים‬
there is a tumult of jubilation (‫ )המון רנה‬at the rising of their wings, a
sound of divine stillness (‫ ;)קול הממח אלוהים‬blessing the structure of
7 2
the throne of the merkabah ( , ' ( ‫מ ב ר כ י ם‬ ‫רכבה‬
firmament of the chentbhn •' and the splcndojur of the luminous firmament,
they sing beneath the seat of His Glory (‫ )מושב כבודו‬and when the
ophatmim move, the holy angels (‫ )מלאכי קודש‬return. They go out from
10
between its glorious [lijubs. Like the appearance of lire the spirits
of the holy of holies round about, the appearance of streams of fire
like h/uhmal, and there is a workmanship of " [rajdiancc in multi-
coloured glory, wonclrously dyed, purely salted. Spirits of living \e\lohim
12
go about continually with the glory of the. mcrkabol of wonder and
a still sound of blessing in the tumult of their movement, and they
praise (with) holiness as they return on their paths. When they rise,
‫ג‬
they rise wondrously; and when they settle (]‫ ' )ובשוב‬they [stand] still.
The sound of glad rejoicing falls silent, and there is a stillncjss] of
divine blessing in all the camps of the elohim (‫ )מחני אלוהים‬and the
14
sound of praisfes . . .] from between all [thjeir divisions ([•]‫)דגליה‬

12
Newsom's translation of line 8: ". . . the image of the chariot throne", should
not he allowed to mislead: the expression ‫ ח כ נ י ח כ ס א מ ר כ ב ה‬is more safely trans-
lated "the pattern/construction of the chariot throne" since to speak 0Γ the "image
of the. throne" in the context of a reworking of Ezekiel 1 might suggest its occu-
pant, the Kiivoet, which is certainly not what is intended by this phrase. The ‫ח כ נ י ח‬
here is best understood with reference to Exod 25:40 and 1 Chr 28:18.
346 CHAPTER TEN

on [their] side[s and) all t h e i r mustered troops rejoice ( ‫) פ ק ו ד י ה ם‬

each o [ n | e i n [his] sta[tion

After the opening call to praise with which all the Sabbath Songs begin
(lines 6b-7a), these opening lines are. taken up in a description of
the activity and praise of the merkabah. Nothing suggests that this
description refers directly, or even indirectly, to human beings: this
is the chariot throne of God, whether physically represented or con-
jured up in the worshippers' imaginations. Once again it is the "spir-
its", "living elohim" and the "holy angels" whose activity is described.
It is possible that the last couple of lines (13-14) introduce human
worshippers ("camps of elohim", "their divisions", "all their mustered
troops"), but, given the fragmentary nature of the text, we simply
have no way of knowing whether these are angels or divine humans.
The Hebrew is difficult with the syntax of many phrases hard to
construe. The attentive reader is at once alerted to the central theme
by the striking use of the expression "the Glory (‫ ")הכבוד‬in line 7
(cf. "seat of His Glory (‫ )מושב כבות‬in line 9). The absolute use of
Glory here reminds us of God's title in Enoch's ascent dream in the
Book of Watchers ("Great Glory" / Enoch 14:20, cf. 102:3; T. Levi 3:4).
And on close inspection the passage emerges as a careful rewriting
of Ezckicl's throne vision in Ezekiel 1.

Tlie Twelfth Song's Vision of the Chariot and Kavod

From a quick perusal of Newsom's commentaries it is obvious that

the opening section of the X l l t h Song is heavily indebted to Ezekiel
3
1, particularly its latter verses.' The repeated expression "a sound
of divine stillness (‫( " ) ק ו ל דממח אלוהים‬lines 7, 8, 13 cf. 12) has been
introduced from the theophany of 1 Kings 19:12 and the interest in
the movement of the chariot, the wings of the cherubim and oplian-
nim is, no doubt, derived from a close reading of Ezekiel 1:1-28 with
cross reference to Ezekiel 3:12-13; 10 and 43. Not all the cxegeti-
cal intricacies of our passage need detain us. But the way in which
Uie X I I t h Song has interpreted Ezekiel 1:26-28 is of the utmost
importance in understanding the Songs' theological anthropology.

" See commentary ad 4Q405 20 ii—21 —22 lines 6-14, the useful table of bibli-
cal parallels in Newsom's 1985, 55-6 and her discussion of the cxegetical use of
Ezekiel in Newsom 1987, 19-29.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 347

Lines 8-9

the structure of the throne (‫ )כסא‬of the merkabali blessing from above
the firmament (‫ )ממעל לרקיע‬of the cherubim [and the splendo ] ur of the
luminous firmament (‫ )רקיע‬. . .

are a reworking of Ezekiel 1:26a:

and above the firmament (‫ )םסעל לרקיע‬over their heads what looked
like a throne (‫ )כסא‬of lapis lazuli.

There are slight modifications in language: the "expanse over their

heads" has become the "expanse of the cherubim" with the author of
the Shirot identifying the living creatures of Ezekiel 1 with the class
of divine being who elsewhere form God's throne and the blue lapis
lazuli has been replaced by a more general "splendour of the lumi-
nous expanse . . .".
Lines 10-11 read

. . . Like the appearance of fire (‫ )כמראי אט‬the spirits of the holy of

holies round about (‫)סביב‬, the appearance of streams of fire like hashmal
(‫)כדמות חשמל‬, and there is a workmanship of [rajdiance (‫ וגה‬p] ‫)מעשי‬
in multi-coloured glory, wondrously dyed, purely salted, the spirits of
living [ejlohim , . .

Here the "cluster of phrases ‫בדמות חשמל‬, ‫סביב‬, ‫ כמראי אש‬suggests

that these lines are an application of Ezekiel 1:27, the first part of
71
the description of the visible Glory":

Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw something like hash-
mat (‫)כעין חשמל‬, something that looked like fire (‫ )כמחאה אש‬enclosed
all around (‫ )סביב‬. . .

Several important interpretative moves are made through the use of

the biblical intertextuality. The reference to "streams of lire" has
been introduced from a tradition to which Daniel 7:10, 1 Enoch 14:19
and the previous week's song (4Q405 15 ii-16 2-3) all bear wit-
ness. More importantly, the X l l t h Song has identified the hashmal
and fire with "spirits (of the holy of holies)" (or, perhaps "most holy
spirits"). For Newsom this means that to some extent "the appear-
ance of the Glory of God is not directly described but is experienced
as a multitude of angelic spirits who appear to surround and move

Newsom DJD 1 1:352.

348 CHAPTER TEN

75
with the chariot throne." On the other hand, Newsom compares
what she thinks is a similar process at Ethiopie Enoch 39:12 where
the Sanclus of Isaiah 6:3

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his
Glory.

has been interpreted so that the Glory is equated with "spirits":

7
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Spirits: He fills the earth with spirits. ''

This comparison and its interpretive implications require further

reflection. However, before we come to that we should briefly com-
ment on what lines 10b-11 of 4Q405 20 ii-21-22 have done with
the vision of the chariot and the Glory 111 Ezekiel I . In Ezekiel
1:27b—28a we read:
‫*׳י‬
and downward from what looked like the loins I saw something that
28
looked like tire, and there was a radiance (‫ )ונגה‬all around. Like the
bow in the cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the
radiance (‫ )דגנה‬all around.
Lines 10b—11 of our DSS text are a description of the ‫ ננה‬which is
the principle focus of the later part of Ezekiel 1:27b and 28a. As
Christopher Rowland has pointed out the reference to the rainbow
in the biblical text has been replaced and filled out with the words
"glorious mingled colours, wondrously dyed", a quite natural mysti-
cal development of the more concrete "rainbow in the cloud on a
77
rainy day". And again this rainbow image, which is used of the
Glory in Ezekiel, is apparently further identified with "the spirits of
living elohim" i n the continuation of line 1 1 .
Broadly speaking I think Newsom's exegesis of this part of the
twelfth song is right: the vision of the Glory is not, at least at this
point, directly described. However, more must be said about the
text's interaction with Ezekiel 1 and Newsom's comparison with
Ethiopie Enoch 39:12 requires further reflection for us to define pre-
cisely the song's intention.
With the exception of Rowland commentators have not appreci-
ated the conspicuous absence of any reuse of the anthropomorphic

75
DJD 1 1:352, italics added.
76
Ibid.
77
1979. 143 n. 14, taken up by Newsom, 1985, 316-7 and DJD 1 1:352.
 THE SECOND TO T H E T W E L F T H SABBATH SONGS 349

78
language in Ezekiel 1:26-8. This song has deliberately excised any refer-
ence to the human image on the chariot: whilst working through the cli-
mactic verses of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1:26b, which specifically refers to
"something that seemed like a human form seated above the like-
ness of the throne", is neither included nor, apparently, reinterpreted.
Again the reference to the "loins" or "waist" of the figure on the
throne in Ezekiel 1:27 arc deliberately passed over. Significant also,
in this case, is the fact that the summary of Ezekiel 1:28b—"this
was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the L O R D " — i s
also not included at this point in the X l l t h Song despite the fact
that the reference to "the Glory" in line 7 generates the expecta-
tion that what follows will include specifically that aspect of Ezekiel's
vision.
In 4Q4-05 20 ii—21—22 the fire and the amber have both been
recontcxtualised angelologically and, in. so doing, have been given a
more or less independent existence. Why is this? Newsom assumes
that the exegesis of Ezekiel 1:26-8 is confined to this passage, the
Glory is nowhere else in the Shirot given such direct attention, and
so, we must conclude, this is the closest the visionary comes to God
himself; at the last minute a reverential veil has been drawn across
the anthropomorphism of the biblical text.
However, even before we move on to see how the thirteenth song
puts another, more radical, spin on the matter, a couple of words
of caution to Newsom's interpretation must be voiced. Her com-
parison with Ethiopie Enoch 39:12 is important, though it actually
points in another direction. In Ethiopie Enoch 39:12 the Glory is cer-
tainly given an angelological interpretation, but not for the reason
that Newsom's comparison suggests. In EÜiiopic Enoch 46:1 the Similitudes
record an unashamedly anthropomorphic image of God: " I saw One
to whom belongs the time before time. And his head was white like
wool" (cf. Daniel 7:9). The Similitudes arc not afraid to use anthro-
pomorphic language. Drawing on the description of God as the
Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 they paint a vivid picture of God along-
side his principal plenipotentiary, the Son of Man figure.
The identification of the Glory of Isaiah 6:3 with spirits in Ethiopie
Enoch 39:12 is motivated far more by a via positiva than a via nega-
tiva. I n the larger context of the cosmological passages within the

Rowland 1979, 143-44.

350 CHAPTER TEN

Similitudes, where the elements of nature are given animate, conscious

personality and obedience to God's laws and "festivals" (41:6, cf.
generally chs. 41, 43, 59-60), the reworking of the Qedushah in chap-
ter 39 is best described as a kind of panentheistic affirmation of God's
universal presence: the Glory of God is present throughout creation
in his "spirits". The Glory is identified with the spirits to extend its
presence, not to veil any enthroned and anthropomorphic Godhead.
(A similar interpretation of Isaiah 6:3 is present in I Q M 12, as we
shall see later). So Newsom's comparison with Ethiopie Enoch 39:12
cannot support the supposition that a desire to avoid an anthropo-
morphic theology or visionary experience lies behind the angelolog-
ical diffusion of the Glory in the XTIth Song.
Indeed, comparison with the Similitudes actually points in another
very different direction. Whilst Ethiopie Enoch 39:12 deals with Isaiah
6:3, for *a parallel to the Sabbath Songs' interpretation of Ezekiel 1:26-8
we are better informed by Ethiopie Enoch 46:1 where, after the descrip-
tion of the Ancient of Days, the text reads "and there was with him
another individual, whose face was like the appearance of a human be1ns?\
As the commentators note, the Ethiopie recalls Ezekiel 1:26 and
seems to identify this figure (who is elsewhere in the parables described
as Son of Man, Messiah and Elect One) with the anthropomorphic
79
Glory of Ezekiel's vision.
In the Similitudes the Son of Man is identified with the (high) priest
Enoch (esp. 71:14), which is entirely natural given the priestly con-
8(1
tours to the "one like a son of man" in Daniel 7. There is no such
priestly figure in the twelfth of the Sabbath Songs. Yet, when we turn
to the thirteenth song in the next chapter we will discover a simi-
lar bifurcation in the "Godhead" to that in the Similitudes (human
figure—the Son of Man—embodying the Glory) is adopted by the
Shirot.

Material from the End of die Twelfth Song

The other extant portions of the X l l t h Song arc rather different.

The first, (llQShirShabb viii (frags. 19-20 [formerly frags. 5, 6]) is
only very partially preseived and need not concern us. The second,
4Q405 23 i , reads:

79
E.g. Quispel 1980, 2; Black 1985, 206. This is consistent with his being given
a throne of Glory in 51:3; 62:2, 5; 69:29.
‫ "״‬See Lacocque 1979, 124-25; Fletcher-Louis 1997a and Flctchcr-Loui.s 2001a.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 351

1 2 3
. . .] thfeir] tasks [. . . . . .] when they stand ( . ..](‫בעומו־ם‬. . .] royal
4
throne of Glory and all the assembly of the ministers ( (‫משרתי‬. . .]
5
wondrous. The elohim will not be shaken forever. . . . in order that]
they be steadfast (‫ )לכ[לכלם‬in the tasks of all things; for the elohim of
0
His crown ( (‫כלילו‬. . .] His crown (‫)כלילו‬. The elohim praise Him
(‫[ )הללוהו‬. . .] their station, and all the s fpirits] of the iirmame[nt]s of
7
purity rejoice in His Glory (‫ ;)יגילו בכבודו‬and there is a sound of
blessing from all its divisions (!‫ )מפלגי‬which tells of his glorious firmaments;
and its gates praise (!‫ " )שערי‬with the sound of rejoicing. Whenever
the elim of knowledge enter by the portals of glory, and whenever the
9
holy angels (‫ )מלאכי קודש‬go out to their dominion ( (‫ל משלתם‬the por-
tals of entrance and the gates of exit make known the Glory of the
10
King, all the spirits of God blessing and praising at (their) going out
and at (llieir) coming in by the gates of holiness. There is none, among
11
them who omits a law (pTI); and never against the words of the
King do they set themselves. They do not run from the way or tarry
away from His border (‫)מגבולו‬. They do not exalt themselves above
12
their (allotted) missions nor are [they] too lowly because he docs
n[o]t show mercy (‫ )ל]ו[ א ירחם‬in the dominion (‫ )ממשלת‬of the fury of
His annihilating wrajth; He does not judge those made repentant
13
(‫ )מושכי‬by His glorious anger The fcarfulncss of the King (‫)מורא מלך‬
of elohim is fearsome (‫ )נורא‬on all the elohim [. . .] to all His missions
in his t[ru]e measure and they go

At a glance this too appears to describe the activity of suprahuman

angels—the "spirits" and "holy angels" of previous songs. And, of
course, this is the way the text has been universally taken. However,
on close inspection there are good grounds for considering the pos-
sibility that here again the human community are brought alongside
the suprahuman.
1. In the first instance, the language recalls that of the first song.
The reference to "ministers (‫ ")משרתי‬in line 3 of the 4Q405 text
picks up the language of 4Q400 1 i 4, 8 and 4Q511 frag. 35 4 and
8
the verb ‫ כ ל כ ל‬two lines later recalls 4Q400 1 i 14 ( . ( ‫כ ו ל‬
Elsewhere in the Songs these ministers have always been human priests.
2. In line 12 there is a description of God's anger and his judge-
ment. God is merciful to "those turned back by his glorious anger
(‫")מושבי אפ כבודו‬. As Newsom has seen, the language here recalls
that of other DSS where the Qal participle of ‫ שוב‬is used to describe
82
the penitent community members (e.g. IQS 10:20-21). Here also

81
For the verb ‫ כ ל כ ל‬see also 4Q402 4 6; 4Q405 18 2 and 20 i i 1.
82
See esp. IQS 10:20-21 where there are several close linguistic and conceptual
points of overlap with our passage (‫ ל ו א ארחם‬, IQS 10:20, cf. 4 ‫ א ירחם‬1 ‫ ל‬Q 4 0 5
352 CHAPTER TEN

in the Sabbalh Songs these penitent must be the human righteous, not
83
angels.
Now these two references 10 "ministers" and the "penitent" may
mean that there is only a fleeting mention of the human partici-
pants in "all the assembly of those who serve" (line 3) whilst •the rest
of our passage is concerned with non-human divine beings. But on
the other hand, there are good reasons to suspect that the elohim of
4Q405 23 i 4-6, 13 arc also community members.
3. Line 4 says that the "elohim will not be shaken forever (‫בל‬
‫")ימוטו לעולמים‬. The language of not being shaken (‫ מוט‬+ ‫ )בל‬is reg-
ularly used in the Hebrew Bible of the righteous, over against the
unrighteous (see e.g. Pss 15:5; 16:8; 21:8; 30:7; Prov 10:30; 12:3, cf.
Pss 62:3, 7; 1 12:6) and, indeed, this is the way the phrase is used
1
elsewhere in Q L (1QIT 15:7 [7:7]). Newsom is not able to provide
any example of the use of the expression, or one like it, to refer to
suprahuman angels. It is just possible that it is here used of angels
as an interpretation of those biblical passages where it describes the
stability of creation (Ps 93:1; 96:10; 104:5; 1 Chr 16:30). However,
this is unlikely since it is really an ill-suited expression for angels
who, it is assumed, are not susceptible to any mortality or instability.
However, it does suit very well a description of humans who have
now become "divine" and therefore are guaranteed immutability.
Furthermore, this may then be another good example of the
immutability-of-the-rightcous-who-stand motif which we have sug-
gested is present in the angelomorphic Moses text, 4Q377. The
expression (in a broken context) "when they stand (•‫ ")בעומד‬is used
a couple of lines earlier (line 2) than the statement of unshakeabil-
ity in 4Q405 23 i 4 and, line 6, refers to the "standing position" or
"station" of the elohim.
Newsom comments on lines 4—5 that the combination of ‫בל ימוטו‬
‫ עולמים‬and the use of the verb ‫ כ ל כ ל‬in line 5 points to an intrigu-
ing intcrlextuality with to Ps 1 12:5b-6a:'"

i 12; 1QS 10:21 ‫וררי ד ר ך‬0, cf. 4 ‫ י ר ו צ ו מ ד ר ך‬Q 4 0 5 23 i 11 and God's ‫א פ‬

proximity to the reference to repentance in 1Q_S 10:20, cf. 4Q405 23 i 12). These
parallels arc particularly important given the possible similarity between IQS 10:1-4
and 1Q405 23 i 7-10.
83
Pace Davila 2000, 157.
M
1985, 326; DJD 1 1:357.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 353

. . . he who conducts his affairs (‫ )יכלכל דבריו‬in justice,

for he will never be shaken (‫ )לעולם לא ימוט‬. . .

The verbal overlap is indeed close and would further support a delib-
erate reference to the human righteous given that the biblical psalm
is a description of the life of the wise and righteous man. Verse 4·
of this biblical Psalm further supports the suspicion that it is indeed
specifically in mind in this passage from the Sabbath Songs.
Psalm 112:4a reads "‫ "זרח בחשך אויר לישרים‬which means either
that "he (the righteous man) rises in the darkness, a light for the
upright" or that "light rises in the darkness for the upright". Not
only does this light-darkness dualism suit very well the language of
the Qumran community, it may also lit very specifically into the
immediate context of the X l l t h Sabbath Song. What follows (lines
7 1 1) describes the coming and the going out of the gates of the
heavenly sanctuary of "the gods of knowledge" and the "holy angels",
and their keeping of God's commandments, staying within his bound-
ary as they run their courses. Wc are, therefore, in the world of
temple cosmology which we discussed in chapter 7. The coining and
going from the gates of the heavenly sanctuary should probably be
related to the movement of the sun, moon, stars and other meteo-
rological phenomena which is celebrated and sympathetically enacted
by the Qumran community in the evening and the morning. The
ambiguity of Ps 112:4a could very well have been taken by the com-
munity as a deliberate ambivalence; between the movement of the
human priesthood in and out of the sanctuary and the synchronised
movement of the heavenly bodies through their courses (cf. esp.
Sirach 50:7).
4. In several of the passages which wc examined in our discus-
sion of the cosmological setting of the U T (chapter 7) we saw a par-
licular significance attached to the high priesthood's headgear. In
4Q408 the turbans ‫ פארי‬of God's Glory shine forth from God's sane-
tuary as the high priest comes out of the sanctuary at the morning
(and evening) sacrifices which mark the boundary between the domin-
ion of light and the dominion of darkness. This we compared to the
view of Josephus (Ant. 3:186-7) that the high priest's headdress man-
ifests "heaven" being made of blue, with its golden shining crown
reflecting the splendour of God's own (solar) Glory. These themes
are perhaps also present in 4Q405 23 i .
In lines 6 and 7 the expression ‫ כלילו‬appears twice. This could
 354 CHAPTER TEN

be a reference to whole burnt offerings (Lev 6:15, 16; 1 Sam 7:9;

8r>
Ps 51:21), which would also suggest that we have here the activ-
ity of human priests not angels. However, it is more likely that there
is a reference to a "crown", since this is the way the word is used
in a several other Qumran texts. In 1QS 4:7 the eschatological
reward for the sons of light is "a crown of glory (‫ )כליל כבור‬with a
garment of majesty i n eternal light" and in 1QH" 17:25 the psalmist
prays that God will turn "the scoffing of my rival in to a crown of
glory (‫ )לכליל כבוד‬for me and my weakness into everlasting strength".
The sons of Zadok who are blessed by the maskil in lQSb are to
have (or "to be") such a crown (‫־־‬4:23). Lastly, i n the New Jerusalem
text ( 11 Q l 8 14 ii) there is described a ceremony for the crowning
of a high priest with seven crowns (‫)כלילא‬. Although the cultic leg-
islation in the Pentateuch docs not use ‫ כ ל י ל‬of a priestly crown this
was probably a well established linguistic convention by the second
century B.c. I n Sirach 45:8 Aaron is clothed with ‫ כ ל י ל תפארת‬which
may mean "a crown of beauty" rather than "perfection of beauty".
Certainly, the Septuagint of Ezekcil 28:12 has understood the state-
ment that the primal priest-king was ‫ כ ל י ל יפי‬to mean he was a
"στέφανος κάλλους".
I f the ministers and/or the elohim here wear a crown what impli-
86
cations would that have for their identity? Newsom says that "crowns
become a common part of angelic dress in apocalyptic and merkabah
87
literature". But she does not cite any specific texts. Davila adduces
several instances of angelic crowns (Rev 4:4; Apoc. ^eph A; 7. Abr.
13:13 short r e c e n s i o n ; ' ^ . NLIC V I I I , 1 ‫׳‬58:13-24 and Hekhalot
88
texts (e.g. 3 Enoch 12:3; 18:3). But on close examination this list
should only really be reduced to the one clear example in Apocalypse
of ^ephaniah A. The others are either all much later in date (in the
Nag Hammadi Codex and the Hekhalot corpus) or not clear par-
allels for the idea of angels wearing crowns. In Revelation 4:4 crowns
are worn by the elders and it is far from clear that these elders arc
'suprahuman angels rather than humans in their heavenly (post-
mortem?) mode. In the Testament of Abraham passage it is death who

8 5
So Newsom DJD 356, 358; Davila 2000, 154, 156.
8 6
The expression "elohim of His crown" in line 6 might mean that crowns arc
not actually worn by the heavenly beings themselves.
8 7
1985, 326; DJD 1 1:358.
8 8
2000, 156.
 THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH SABBATH SONGS 355

takes from sinners and makes a crown of their sin. There is, to my
knowledge, only one other Jewish text that is relevant here. That is
83
the vision of the becrowned heavenly man in Joseph and Aseneth 14:9.
Otherwise, in the immediate environment of the Sabbath Songs there
is little evidence for a common view that angels wore crowns and
Michael Mach has argued that the later development of the depic-
tion of angels with crowns came about under Hellenistic, non-Jewish
90
influence.
Whilst there is, then, very little support at the time when the
Sabbath Songs were composed for the idea that angels would wear a
crown there is much to suggest that this is the proper attire of the
righteous, especially when they are in their heavenly mode. Besides
the texts discussed in chapter 7 and the other uses of ‫ כ ל י ל‬in the
DSS which we have just discussed, we should note the tradition in
Jubilees 16:30 (cf. Tacitus Histories V.5) according to which Israelites
wear crowns at the feast of Tabernacles. In Ezekiel the Tragedian's
Exagoge Moses is given God's crown during his heavenly enthrone-
ment (line 75). Then there is also the dramatic portrayal of the
crowned Joseph m Joseph and Aseneth 5:5. Behind these examples there
stands the figure of the turbaned high priest and the wider ancient
Near Eastern sartorial' conventions of kingship. On balance, then, a
reference to crowns in 4Q405 23 i accords best the presence of heav-
enly humans not angels.
So, in conclusion, it is possible that 4Q405 23 i describes not just
the activity of suprahuman angels coming and going from God's
sanctuary, but also the human worshippers who are placed in this
context. We have sketched in earlier chapters a temple cosmology
in which a functional synchronicity and a spatial overlap between
priests and heavenly temple personnel was worked out. Unfortunately
our passage is too broken to be confident of its meaning but it must
remain an open question whether and in what way human "minis-
ters" were involved in this part of the X l l t h Song.

8 9
The principal angel laocl wears a kidaris in Apocalypse of Abraham 11:3. The
text is to be dated some time later (c. 100 A.D?) than the formative context of the
Sabbath Songs and, in any case, this is a peculiar angel whose attire should proba-
bly not be taken as indicative of that regularly worn by angels. He is both the prin-
cipal angelic manifestation of God himself and his kidaris is probably that of the
Jewish high priest (cf. L X X Exod 28:4; Zech 3:5 etc . . .).
9 0
1992, 121 and sec generally pp. 191-208.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

SONG 13

The X l l l t h Song is extant in one sizeable fragment from cave four

(4Q405 23 ii) and two pieces of combined fragments from cave 11
(11 QShirShabb ix (frags. 21a-b, 22 [formerly 8, unpublished frag-
ment and 7]) and 11 QShirShabb χ (frags. 23-25 [formerly 1-29]).
The first two fragments share a similar subject matter and probably
belong close together (11Q17 ix):
3 4
. . .] acceptable [#n«g]s (‫[ )מנחו[ח רצון‬. . .] all th[eir] works . . .] for
the sacrifices (‫ )לזבחי‬of the holy ones [. . .] the aroma of their offerings
(‫[)ריח מנחותם‬. ..->...] their [. . .] and the aroma of their libations (‫ור]י[ח‬
15
‫ )נםכיהם‬for ['. . .] of purity (‫ )הטוהר‬in a spirit of holifness] . . .] cter-
nity. with [splendour and] majesty (‫ )]בהוד ו[הדר‬for [. . .] wonderful,
7
and the structure of the breastpieccs of ( (‫ ותבניתהשני‬. . .] beau
[th]reads (‫[ )פ[תילי תפארת‬. . .] multi-coloured like [woven] wo[rk (‫הוקמה‬
‫ )כמ[עטי אורל‬. . .] purely blended (‫)ממולח טוהר‬, the colours of" splcnjdour
9
[and ] majesty (‫ )ו[הדר‬Τ)[‫ [ )ה‬. . .] shapes [. . .] cphod ( (‫אפוה‬.. .]
angels [. . .] his |110li|ness

'The subject matter here is two-fold: the sacrifices of the heavenly

priesthood, variously described in lines 3—5, and the clothing of the
high priesthood in lines 6-8. For the latter the language is drawn
from Exodus 28 which describes the design of Aaron's breastpiece
(‫חשן‬, Exod 28:15-30) and the use of blue cor d, ‫( פתיל הכלח‬Exod
2
28:28), for tying the breastpiece to the cphod. By now, wc arc not
surprised to lind all these arc viewed as a manifestation of "splcn-
tlour" and "majesty".
There is no explicit overlap between this fragment and those which
belong to the X l l l t h Song in 4Q405. However, it is highly likely
thjit this material from 11Q17 col. ix came near the beginning of
1
the X l l l t h Song and immediately preceded the material preserved

1
This lacuna is reconstructed with a high degree of probability given the par-
allcl expressions in 4Q405 23 ii 7, 10.
2
The ‫ פ | ח י ל י‬in line 7 (and the ‫ ה [ ו ה ]ל[ ה ד ר‬in line 8) of a previously unpublished
fragment (ΡΛΜ 44.006) were only located at this point with the DJD critical cdi-
tion (sec Tigchelaar 1998, 177-78).
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG

in 4Q405 23 i i which also focuses on the clothing of the high

priesthood:
1 2
. .] the beauty for the incisions o f ( . ..](‫ת פ א ר תלפחוחי‬
3
when they minister ( ‫ ) ב ש ר ת ם‬be [fore . . . K i n g and H e inscribed H i s
G l o r y ( ‫[ ) ו ח ר ת כ ב ו ת‬. . . ‫ יי‬holy, the sanctuary o f all [. . . their ephodim 5

6
( ‫[ ; ) א פ ו ד י ה ם‬they] w i l l spread out ( ! ] . ..](‫יפרוש‬holy ones, g o o d favour
(‫[ ) ק ד ו ש י ם רצון‬. . .] spirits o f the ho[ly ones... T h e i r holy places, (vacat)
7

I n their w o n d e r f u l station ( ‫ ) כ מ ע מ ד פ ל א י ו ז ם‬are spirits, m a n y - c o l o u r e d

as work o f a weaver (‫)רוחות ר ו ק מ ה כ מ ע ש י אורג‬, incisions o f shapes(/stones)
8
o f splendour ( (‫פ ת ו ח י צ ו ר ו תהדר‬ i n the midst o f G l o r y ( ‫ו ד‬
appearance o f scarlet, colours o f the light o f the spirit o f the H o l y o f
Holies ( ‫ ) צ ב ע י א ו ר ר ו ח ק ו ד ש ק ד ש י ם‬, those establishing t h e i r h o l y posi-
9
tion ( ‫ ) מ ח ז ק ו ת מ ע מ ד ק ו ד ש ם‬before [the K ] i n g . T h e spirits o f the colours
of [ p u r i t y ] i n the midst o f the appearance o f majesty ( ‫) ב ת ו ך מ ר א י ה ו ד‬
and the likeness o f the Spirit o f G l o r y ( ‫ ) ו ר מ ו ת ר ו ח כ מ ר‬as a w o r k o f
10
precious gold shedding [ l i g ] h t (‫ ) כ מ ע ש י א ו פ י ר י ם מ א י ר י ] או[ר‬. A n d all
their crafted things arc p u r e l y salted ( ‫ ; ) מ מ ו ל ח ט ו ה ר‬the w o v e n b a n d as
woven work. These are the Chiefs o f those wonderfully dressed to m i n -
1 1
ister ( ...](‫ה ר א ש י ל כ ו ש י פ ל אלשרת‬
k i n g d o m , holy ones ( ‫ ) ק ד ו ש י ם‬for the K i n g o f holiness i n a l l the heights
of (‫ )מרומי‬the sanctuaries o f His k i n g d o m o f G l o r y ( ‫( ) כ ב ו ד ו‬vacat) I n
12

the chiefs o f raised offerings ( ‫( ) ב ר א ש י ת ר ו מ ו ת‬are) tongues o f k n o w l e d g e

( ‫ [ )לשוני ר ע ת‬and] they bless the G o d o f knowledge in all the works
1 3
of His G l o r y ( (‫ל מ ע ש יכבודו‬
sions in all the h o l y [ . . .] His understanding knowledge and H i s [gfojrious
wisdom [. . .

Again, here there is an obvious interest in the priestly attire. We

hear of "their ephodim" in line 5. In line 3 the words "he inscribed
his Glory" is perhaps as reference to the inscribing on the gold plate
of the turban the words "Holy to the L O R D " ( ‫( ) ק ד ש ל י ה ו ה‬Exod
28:36).'‫( יי‬In this case, interestingly, the divine Name is probably not
itself used but identified, nevertheless with "His Glory''). Alternatively,
the inscribing of Glory looks forward to the theme of lines 7—10
where the attention continues to rest on the garments of Exodus 28.
The expression ‫ כ מ ע ש י א ו ר ג‬in line 7, which the editors also restored
in 11Q17 ix 7, is drawn from Exodus 28:32 ( ‫ מ ע ש ה א ר ג‬, cf. Exod
39:22, 27) following a phonetic and plene orthography typical of the
scrolls. Line 10 refers specifically to the hëseb of Exodus 28:8, 27-28;
(cf. Exod 29:5; 39:5, 20 21; Lev 8:7)—the woven girdle or band of
the cphod to which the breastpiece is to be attached. There can be

3
Newsom, 1985 335; DJD 11:335.
358 CHAPTER ELEVEN

no doubt therefore that the repeated reference to colour, to scarlet

and to spirits being "many-coloured" has in mind the design of the
ephod and its accoutrements. Fittingly, then, line 10b says that what
precedes is a description of "the chiefs of those wonderfully dressed
to minister". There appears throughout this section to be more than
one priest wearing Aaron's garments. This should not surprise us
since, as we in chapter 7, there is other evidence that the Qumran
community believed the garments of Exodus 28 should be worn
simultaneously by more than one priest.
After this lengthy treatment of high priestly clothing the end of
4Q405 23 ii returns to the theme at the beginning of 11Q17 ix; the
sacrifices offered by the heavenly priesthood. Whilst (his much is
clear, much else in this portion of (he X l l l t h remains obscure, the
full extent of its theological construction has not been appreciated
and in a flumber of respects this climax of the whole cycle has prob-
ably been misinterpreted. First, a couple of misinterpretations:

Angelic Humans Wonderfully Dressed for Sewice

The first, and by now obvious, thing to say is that unless the text
demands a different interpretation, given our reinterpretation of the earlier
songs, we are predisposed to find here a description of the human
priesthood dressed in the garb of Exodus 28. In this song they are
called the "chiefs of those wonderfully dressed to minister . . . chiefs
of the highest kingdom" (lines 10-11) and "chiefs of raised offerings"
in whom there are "tongues of knowledge" (line 12). The language
is the same as that used in earlier songs for the angelomorphic priest-
hood (4Q403 1 i 31, 34 (Song VII) and 4Q403 1 ii 20, 21, 24 (Song
vm».
Once again there are details which militate against the view, hith-
erto maintained without question, that the priesthood described here
are a wholly other, angelic, priesthood, separate from the human
worshippers. Neither the description of (a) the priestly sacrifice in
this song, nor (b) the chief priests dressed in ephodim and breastpieces
accommodate a purely angelic identification of the principal actors.
And, thirdly (c), the language of incense which is used of the gar-
mcnts of the high priest sets the X l l l t h Song in the tradition of cub
tic theological anthropology mapped out in Sirach 24 + 50, not a
putative pseudo-platonic angelic temple.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 359

(a) The Sacrifices of Angels?

We have already, in earlier songs, encountered sacrificial language

for the worship of the heavenly sanctuary and have noted the
difficulties this presents for a dualistic paradigm of interpretation. In
chapter 8 we saw that there is no historical justification for imagin-
ing a temple above in which angels who are priests provide a pla-
tonic ideal for the activities of the priests in the temple below.
Evidence that is regularly adduced for the sacrificial, atoning, activ-
ity of angels as a background to the material in the XHIth Song is,
on closer examination, meagre.
In fact in her discussion of the X H I t h Song Newsom says that
"|e|xplicit references 10 a heavenly sacrificial cult are less common
than one might think".' She nevertheless appeals to Testament of lmi
3:5—6, the reference to the heavenly celebration of the Feast of Weeks
in Jubilees 6:18, the reference to the heavenly altar of incense in
Revelation 8:3-5, what, she assumes is, an "altar of burnt offering"
in Revelation 6:9 and the later reference to Michael offering sacrifice
5
in heaven as the Great Prince ((‫ )השר הבחיל‬in b. Hagigah 12b. More
recently B. Nitzan and Björn Frennesson have added to these texts
6
a passage from the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (33:4—5).
We have already found appeal to Testament of Levi 3:5-6 in this
regard to be injudicious. In the Greek Life of Adam and Eve 33:4-5
incense is offered by angels on earth (next to Adam's body) in the
context of the offerings of a funery procession of the deceased Adam.
No regular incense offering in a heavenly temple is in view. And,
in any case neither in Song X I I I , nor anywhere else in the Shirol,
is incense one of the sacrificial offerings. As for the priestly service
of Michael in the fourth heaven, Zebul, in /;. Hagigah this relatively
late rabbinic text can hardly be brought forward as evidence of the
meaning of an early Qumran text without clear evidence that it
reflects an earlier view. The assumption of the existence of such evi-
7
dencc simply begs the question.

1
1985, 372.
5
1985, 31, 372.
6
Nitzan 1994b, 289; Frennesson 1999, 97 n. 27.
7
A later rabbinic tradition explains the heavenly priesthood of Michael as only
an interim dispensation which Michael adopted after the fall of Jerusalem until the
restoration of Israel and her sanctuary (see Bietenhard 1951, 125).
360 CHAPTER ELEVEN

In general one must interpret references to cultic matters in Revela-

tion, as in any early Christian text, within the framework of the
complete relativisation of the earthly Jerusalem cult by the Chrislological
and eccelcsiological reorientation of sacred space which stands at the
core of early Christian practice and belief. For N T texts including
Revelation the physical temple building and furniture has been
replaced by Jesus the Messiah and his followers. Jesus is himself both
high priest (1:13) and sacrificial victim (the Lamb of chapter 5). In
Revelation 6:9 there is an altar. But, the placing of the souls o f the
righteous beneath the altar is a subversion of the established sacrificial
system in which it is not the lifeblood of animals which runs beneath
the altar but the life force - the souls—of the righteous whose bod-
ies have been martyred sacrificially upon the true, heavenly altar. If
the Christian cult is a heavenly one it is, simultaneously, a thor-
oughly eaPthly, intra-historical one. !'he high priestly Jesus is not an
angel, he is the historical Jesus of Nazareth "who was dead and is
alive" (1:18). The Christian cult, built out of the lives of his follow-
crs here on earth is, paradoxically, a new Jerusalem coming clown
from heaven (eh. 21, cf. 3:12): there is no Christian cult on earth
which is parallel to one in heaven since the life of the church, pre-
eminently its patient suffering and martyrdom, is the true worship
8
of heaven.
The celebration of the Feast of Weeks in heaven is not described
in any detail m Jubilees 6:18. This is the one text which might envis-
age angels offering sacrifices, but any explicit reference to such activ-
ity is conspicuously absent in Jubilees, despite the fact that this work
offers a long and full account of its understanding of the cult and
cosmology.
So there is veiy little evidence to support the view that the sacrificial
language in Song X I I I could refer to the angels' worship. In 4Q400
2 line 7 the human worshippers had proclaimed their inadequacy,
lamenting the "raised offering of our tongue of dust (‫חרומת לשון‬
‫")עפרנו‬. So, when again, i n the X l l l t h Song we hear how there are
chiefs of "raised offerings (‫ ")כראשי תרומות‬with "tongues of knowl-
edge (‫ ")לשוני דעת‬we have a clear unequivocal precedent in (he Sabbalh

8
Even i f in Rev 8:3-5 (here is an altar of incense which is entirely "imaginary",
without empirical manifestation in space and time, its relevance for the Sabbalh Songs
is nuclear since (his is not one o f the sacrificial items mentioned in the extant por-
tion of Song X I I I .
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 361

Songs for the use of sacrificial imagery for the worship of the human
community. Why bother to explain the obscure (the. sacrificial lan-
guage in Song X I I I ) with the obscure (a tradition of angels offering
sacrifices in heaven) when it can be explained by the well-known?
In fact the situation in the X l l l t h Song is complicated because,
as 13a.niel Falk has pointed out the language in 11 Q l 7 ix 3-5 is
9
nowhere else used metaphorically of praise and prayer. Elsewhere
in the scrolls ‫זבח‬, ‫ נסך‬and ‫ מנחה‬always refer to concrete animal
10
sacrifices, real drink and meal offerings. This means either that the
degree to which sacrificial language has been given a metaphorical
interpretation in the Sabbath Songs is unprecedented, or that X l l l t h
Song is written for the actual, physical, sacrifices of the Sabbath scr-
vice." This second alternative is the more likely but it raises the
thorny question as to whether or not real sacrifices were conducted
at Qumran (and Masada). The difficulties this question raises are
well known and cannot be. entered here in any detail. Suffice it to
say that I think that, given (a) Josephus' statement that the Essenes
sacrificed separately from the Jerusalem Temple (Ant. 18:19), and (b)
12
the burial of animal bones with meticulous care at Khirbet Qumran,
the view of F . M . Cross that the community at Qumran did have
their own version of the sacrificial service in Jerusalem is probably
13
correct.
In conclusion, then, although the interpretation of the sacrificial language
in Song XIII is far from certain, on balance it is better explained with
reference to the (real and/or metaphorical) cultic activity of human
worshippers. It is with great difficulty taken as a description of some
sacrificial cult conducted by the angels in a supernal heaven.

‫ י‬Falk 1998, 135-36, cf. Davila 2000, 158. The modern habit of speaking o f
the "spiritualization" of sacrificial language, or of the Temple, should be aban-
doned, unless there is intended a non-material cult in the strict sense. A t Qumran
(as in the early church) cultic language is H e a t e d "metaphorically" (or simply extended)
for the. very material (and in that sense not merely "spiritual") activity of ])rayer,
praise and, in the ease of Christianity, of eating, drinking and martyrdom.
1(1
Sec Falk 1998, 136 η. 48 for details.
" Faik's view that the Sabbath Sacrifices to which the Shirot arc attached is in
fact "the heavenly altar service" does not follow his insistence upon the, real, non-
metaphorical, nature of the. language in 11QJ7 ix.
12
See Vaux 1973, 12-14 for details.
13
Cross 1995 [1958], 85-86, cf. Humbert 1994.
362 CHAPTER E L E V E N

(b) Angels Wearing Aaronic Clothing?

As Martha Himmelfarb has recently shown there is a very old tra-

dition of portraying angels as priests. ' It is also true that angels are
1 1

frequently described wearing celestial garments (Ezek 9:2; Dan 9:5;

1 Enoch 62:15 e t c . . . ) . Yet in the X l l l t h Song the focus is, very
specifically, upon the high priestly garments which the Pentateuch
prescribes for Aaron i n Exodus 28. Nowhere, t o my knowledge, i n
contemporary Jewish angelology are angels—rather than divine
15
humans—dressed in the garments of Exodus 28.
There is some evidence that a n ephod was once a garment worn
b y a god. I n Judges 8 and 17-18 a n cphod was once a garment
designed to cover an idol, the statue o f a god. In the Ugaritic Baal
cycle there is one passage which is probably best taken as referring
to an ephod ('ipd) worn by the principle god Ba'al."' There is n o
evidence, however, that in this respect, or for that matter any other,
that which belonged to the god Ba'al was transferred in Jewish tra-
dition to a principal angel. From at least the sixth century B.C.
onwards the evidence is unequivocal: the ephod, and associated attire,
is be worn by Israel's human high priest. I n biblical theology the idea
here appears to be that only the true humanity can wear this kind of
a garment (and, of course, only in Israel and her cultic life is the
true humanity truly present), because O n l y the true humanity is the
genuine image of God; for the one true creator God only the Unnensch
can function as a selem, clothed in a gold, jewel-studded garment fit
for a god (Genesis 1 + Exodus 25-40).
That the ephod and its associated accoutrements, the breastpiece
and headgear, are fitting for the true Israel's human priest and exprès-
sive of their divinity is everywhere assumed in the sources many of
which we have already discussed in earlier chapters. In our open-
ing chapters we discovered that the language of Exodus 28, partie-
ularly the belief that Aaron's garments are made "for Glory and for

M ,
' H i m m e l f a r b 1993.
15
The one exception is the angel laoel in Apocalypse of Abraham. 11:3 who wears
a high priestly kidaris. The text comes from a later time (c. 100 A.D.) and socio-
religious setting (after the fall of the Jerusalem) and, in any case, in other respects
Iaoel's appearance is not particularly priestly: "body like sapphire . . . face like chryso-
lite . . . hair like snow . . . clothing of his garments purple and a golden staff in his
right hand".
"' CTA 5.1.1—5, and see briefly on the older history-of-religions background
Fletcher-Louis 1997a, 188-189.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 363

beauty" (Exod 28:2), was taken to mean that the true priesthood,
from Noah (1Q19) to Simon son of Onias (Sirach 50) were those of
God's very own image. We have seen how cosmological and anthro-
pological transcendence is expressed through the high priest's gar-
ments in Aristeas 97-99 and its parallels in lQSb 4. On several
occasions we have noted the influence of the portrayal of the sacral
king and primal man in Ezekiel 28. In chapter 7 we have exam-
ined several texts from Qumran where there is both an intense inter-
est in Aaron's clothing and, also, an assumption that it has a theophanic
significance. In Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 25:10-26:15 the jew-
els of the ephod are the kind which decorate pagan idols, but which
rightfully belonged to the pre-lapsarian Adam. They are recovered
by Israel and find (11e.i‫׳‬1 rightful ])lace in her cult. In Josephus' account
of Alexander the Great's meeting with the Jewish leadership it is the
high priest's golden-jewel studded garments which make Alexander
17
think he is meeting a god who should be worshipped. The rabbis
record the tradition that Aaron's garments are those of God him-
18
self (Gez. Rab. 38:8, cf. y. Torna 7:3, 44b; Lev. Rab. 21:11). In later
Jewish mysticism it is the transformed human being Enoch, the mys-
terious Metatron, alias "the youth", who is both the "lesser Y H W H "
and the figure whose clothing is most like that of Israel's high priest
19
(3 Enoch 12).
.Newsom and others who have commented on the Xlllth Song have not tak
sufficient notice of the wider history-of-religions material relating to the cloth
of Exodus 28. Vial "background" provides no justification for thinking that
Song XIII dresses angels in Aaron's garb. It points, rather, to the fact that Son
XIII dresses the human priesthood in divine clothing.

(c) Tlie Language of Incense Used for the Angelic Clothing?

As we shall see in our discussion of the language of Glory in the

X l l l t h Song there is clear evidence that the theology of priesthood
in this Song is indebted to a well defined priestly tradition which
can be traced back through Sirach perhaps as far as Ρ itself. At this
point it is worth noting a minor interpretative detail which suggests

" O n this text see Fletcher-Louis 1997b, 124-125 and Fletcher-Louis 2001c.
18
For the view that the garments worn by king and high priest reflect God's
own garments and glory see Riesenfcld 1947, 117, 120.
13
Synapse §§384-99 and parallels (discussed by Davila 2000, 149).
364 CHAPTER ELEVEN

the X l l l t h Song was familiar with the literary world and cosmology
represented by Sirach 24 + 50.
In 4Q405 23 i i line 10 it is said that "all their crafted things are
purely salted (‫")ממולח טוהר‬. The equivalent expression ‫ ממולח טהור‬is
a biblical hapax legomenon, occurring only at Exodus 30:35 where it
is used to describe the special incense to be manufactured for the
Tabernacle. The expression has been used once already in the Songs
to describe the workmanship of the holy of holies in Song X I (4Q405
19 4). The association of the inner shrine of the sanctuary with this
incense has no explicit biblical warrant, but is natural: a building
which is constantly filled with clouds of incense does become, over
time, infused with its odour. The same goes for garments whose use
2
is reserved for ceremonies where the wearer is surrounded by incense. "
In fact, the association of the high priest's garments with the sacred
incense wä*s probably a well-established clement of Israel's cultic tra-
dition. Sirach 50:9 says that Simon appeared from the sanctuary:

And as fire of incense (‫לכתה‬, λίβανος) upon the offering (Gk "on the
censer"),
as a golden vessel, wholly mixed/beaten (όλοσφύρητον),
which is overlaid on delightful stones.
Here Sirach has in mind not just the garments of the high priest in
general, but the golden breastpiece bearing the stones in particular.
This comparison between Simon and the incense is the fifth element
in the heptadic structure of Sirach 50 corresponding to the instruc-
dons for the making of the sacred incense in Exodus 30:34—36 which
have already been used in the praise of Wisdom in Sirach 24:15.
The guiding power o f the incense image here is also present in the
peculiar Greek word όλοσφύρητον to describe Simon as a golden
21
vessel. This word refers to a metallurgical process of beating rather
than casting. It probably, therefore, echoes the way in which in
Exodus 30:35 the incense is to be beaten into a power (v. 36). The
Septuagint (μεμιγμένον) and Targum Onqelos (‫ )מערב‬both bring the
notion of "mixing" to their translation of ‫ממלח‬. This sense is also
22
inherent in the verbal stem φυράω of the noun όλοσφύρητον. The

20
Newsom's translation, "purely blended" (DJD 1 1:341, 342) and "brightly blended"
(DJD 11:347, 362) does not do justice to these cultic realities of incense.
21
The Hebrew is illegible at this point.
22
See further Fletcher-Louis 2001b, ad 10c.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 365

i d e a is m u c h t h e s a m e as the l a n g u a g e o f 4 Q 4 0 5 23 i i 10: the h i g h -

priestly garments are incense-like not j u s t because they carry its
o d o u r , b u t b e c a u s e t h e y share w i t h incense a s i m i l a r m a n u f a c t u r i n g
process.
T h e persistence o f a traditional identification o f the high priest
w i t h t h e i n c e n s e is f u r t h e r r e f l e c t e d i n t h e o p e n i n g v i s i o n o f t h e b o o k
o f R e v e l a t i o n . T h e r e t h e seer sees t h e r i s e n J e s u s d r e s s e d i n t h e g a r -
m e n t s o f t h e h i g h p r i e s t (v. 13) a n d his feet a r c " l i k e χαλκολιβάνφ
2 3
r e f i n e d as i n a f u r n a c e " . T h e w o r d χ α λ κ ο λ ί β α ν ο ς is a n o t h e r hapax
2 1
w h i c h literally means "incense-bronze". ' T h e i m a g e is n o t i d e n t i c a l
to t h a t i n S i r a c h 5 0 : 9 o r 4 Q 4 0 5 23 i i 10, b u t i t c l e a r l y attests the
e n d u r i n g association o f the high p r i e s t h o o d w i t h the incense n o t just
by v i r t u e o f t r a n s m i t t e d o d o u r but in c o n s t i t u t i v e substance.
A l l t h i s r e i n f o r c e s t h e i m p r e s s i o n t h a t o u r t e x t is c o n c e r n e d not
w i t h p r i e s t l y a n g e l s , b u t a h e a v e n l y h u m a n p r i e s t h o o d . N o w h e r e else,
to m y k n o w l e d g e , is a n a n g e l g i v e n the q u a l i t i e s o f t h e s a c r e d incense.
B y v i r t u e o f t h e i r a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h the s a c r e d i n c e n s e Israel's priests
a r c t a k e n u p i n t o the G l o r y o f G o d ( E x o d u s 4 0 ) . S i m i l a r l y , i n t h e
Sabbath Songs i t is n o t j u s t t h e g a r m e n t s o f the h i g h p r i e s t ( S o n g XIII)
or the structure o f the H o l y o f H o l i e s ( S o n g XÎ) t h a t is " p u r e l y
s a l t e d " as t h e i n c e n s e , i t is also the v e r y p r e s e n c e o f G o d himself
(4Q405 2 2 1 1 , S o n g X I I ) .

The Identification of the "Spirits" in 4Q405 23 ii

T h e s e c o n d i n t e r p r e t a t i v e issue to c o m e t o o u r a t t e n t i o n — t h e i c l c n -
l i f y o f t h e " s p i r i t s " i n 4 Q 4 0 5 23 i i 7, 9 — b e a r s d i r e c t l y o n the first
(the h u m a n or a n g e l i c i d e n t i t y o f the p r i e s t s dressed for service).
O b v i o u s l y , g i v e n o u r analysis o f the p r e v i o u s songs, i f i t is s p i r i t s
who are d r e s s e d as priests t h e n these m u s t b e s u p r a h u m a n angels.
But t h e i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f 4 Q 4 0 5 23 i i has b e e n c l o u d e d b y a n o v e r -
hasty i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f the " s p i r i t s " o f lines 7 a n d 9, a n d t h e s p i r i t
(sing.) o f l i n e s 8 9.
N e w s o m i d e n t i f i e s b o t h w i t h the chiefs o f l i n e s 1 0 b - 1 2 a n d assumes

23
For ihe high priestly garments in v. 13 see Holtz 1962, 118-121; Barker 2000,
84-85.
2
‫יי‬ Given the cultic context (lampsland and garments o f the high priest in v, 13)
a reference to " fabanon-brome" is out of place.
366 CHAPTER ELEVEN

that it is the spirits themselves who are clothed in priestly garb. So,
for example, Newsom translates line 7: " I n their wondrous stations
are spirits (clothed with garments of) mingled colours, like woven
25
work, engraved . . .".
There are probably several reasons why she has taken this course.
The spirits (on her reading) are said to be "in their wonderful sta-
tions" which might suggest that we should think here of angels act-
ing as priests. Secondly, it seems Newsom has taken the resumption
in line 10b—"These (‫ )אלה‬are the chiefs of those wonderfully dressed
for service . . ."—as a reference to the spirits who are described in
line 7. Thirdly, of course, in her examination of the previous twelve
songs Newsom has not distinguished, as we have, between priests
who are "chiefs", "princes", "ministers" (etc . . .) and spirits who arc
never said to be priests or to oiler sacrifices.
Newsoirfs identification of the spirits with the chiefs and her view
that the spirits wear the high priestly garb is not a necessary read-
ing of the text. Although the Hebrew is certainly difficult and no
construal can be held with absolute certainty, her reading is unwar-
ranted on several counts. First, nowhere else in the Shirot are "spir-
its" identified with "chiefs" or their like. Spirits are invariably identified
with the elemental components of the structures of the heavenly
sanctuary; they are the conscious, spiritual, reality within what us
moderns would perceive as mere materiality. As such they are not
likely to be identified with the "chiefs" dressed as priests in line 10.
On the other hand we might suppose that they are identified with
different aspects of the high priestly garb. Indeed, this is the plain
sense of the text. I f we do not supply, as Newsom does, the phrase
"clothed with garments" then line 7 says there are "spirits, many-
coloured as work of a weaver, incisions of shapes(/stones) of splen-
dour". Clearly, the spirits are identified, by the phrases which follow,
with features of the high priestly vestments. This is not a full expia-
nation of the identity of the spirits, but it is a necessary observation
with which to start: throughout the Songs the spirits have been the
elemental substance within the structures and furniture of the cult.
Now that the garments of the high priesthood are in view, by anal-

25
DJD 11:362, cf. 1985, 333. Newsom's interpretative translation has influenced
others (e.g. Martinez 1992a, 430) though Davila (2000, 159-60) appears to acknowl-
edge its difficulties.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 367

ogy, we might suppose that the spirits are the spiritual substance of,
or power within, different aspects of that clothing.
We know from, for example, Josephus (An(. 3:180, 183-87), Philo
(Mos. 2:117-126, 133-135, 143), and the Wisdom of Solomon (18:24)
that the various parts of the high priestly garments were identified
with different aspects of the cosmos; the thunder, lightning, sun,
moon, stars, earth, sea, fire and air, etc . . . O f this list only the lumi-
naries could possibly be in mind in 4Q405 23 ii: nothing here explic-
itly suggests the sea, fire, air, thunder, lightning or the earth, but
the light of the sun (moon and stars) might have some bearing on
the shedding of light in lines 9-10 and the general emphasis on
numinous colours. 'Phis might also suggest that it is primarily the
effulgent stones of the breastpiece which are in view in 4Q405 23
ii 7 10. This is an hypothesis which wc. shall examine shortly. For
now we should make some general observations necessary for an
adequate understanding of the identity of the spirits in our passage:
1. There is a conspicuous difference between the sing, and plu.
forms of ‫ רוח‬in lines 7-9? Newsom thinks the difference is "prob-
26
lematic". She considers the possibility that the sing, form is a scribal
error for the plu., but recognizes the likelihood that the sing, has in
mind a specific "spiritual substance". As we shall see good sense can,
in fact, be made of the difference between the sing, and plu. forms.
2. Secondly, we should not assume that the "these" of line 10b
refers back simply and solely to the previous lines, let alone to the
"spirits" in those lines. In the Hebrew of the Shirot, as in other
Qumran texts, an ‫ א ל ה‬can have a retrospective view far back in the
preceding material. So, for example in 4Q403 1 i 41 "‫ "באלה‬looks
back to the whole of the section 4Q403 1 i 30-40." Because the
lines before line 7 are badly broken we cannot be sure that the
"these" of line 10b does not have in mind a longer account of "chiefs
wonderfully dressed for service". In fact the sartorial theme is clear
in the broken lines 1-4 of 4Q405 23 ii. So it is quite likely that a
longer section, stretching back perhaps as far as 11Q17 ix 6, gave
a comprehensive account of the chief priests' clothing and that the
"spirits" of lines 7 to 9 are simply one very small component part
of that description. Traditionally the high priest wore eight garments

26
DJD 11:364.
2 7
Compare, for example, 1 Q H 1 : 2 1 ] 9:21 ‫״‬ ] where ‫ל ה‬
and 1 Q M 10:16 where ‫ א ל ה‬refers back to the section begun in line 8.
368 CHAPTER ELEVEN

and, given the intensity of interest in these at Qumran, the brief

lines 7-10a are hardly likely to be sufficient to warrant the subscript
28
"these are the chiefs wonderfully dressed for service".
3. We need not assume that the 3rd pers. plu. suffix of ‫ב מ ע מ ר‬
• ‫ פ ל א י ה‬in line 7 refers to the spirits. The antecedent could be in
29

the damaged lines that preceded. Indeed, given our analysis below
it is perhaps best to take "their wonderful stations" as a reference
to the priests described in what precedes; the same "priests" who
are wonderfully dressed according to line 10b. On the, other hand
the "stations" which the "spirits" take could be their "positions" in
the intricate design of the, breastpiece (and ephocl).

The Lighlgwing Stones of the Breastpiece

Sense can be made of lines 7-10 when it is realized that they are
a unified section dealing with the high priests' breastpicc.es and their
associated design. In order to get to grips with the specific focus
upon the high priest's torso and stone-slucldcd breastpiece wc need
to examine the language in detail. .

(a) The Colourful Spirits of the Breastpiece Pouring Fourth Light

Solid grounds for thinking this section of the XITIth Song describes
the breastplate as a focal point of the vision of the high priestly vest-
mcnts is the language at the end of line 9 and beginning of line 10.
There the meist plausible reconstruction of the slightly damaged text
3
speaks of something "shedding light". " Newsom quite rightly says of
this expression that, "[ijmagery of light and luminaries figures promi-
ncntly in the description of both high-priestly and angelic garments,

'"' It should also be noted that a close examination of the manuscript suggests
that the ‫ אורנ‬which precedes the ‫ א ל ה‬in line 10 is the last word of a longer sec-
tion••.of some importance. O n the photograph (])1. X X V I , Ρ Λ Μ 42.967) there is
what looks like cither a damaged lamed after the gimel of ‫( אורנ‬top and bottom of
the letter visible) or a small supralincr downslrokc (with the left leg of (he gimel
below). Newsom makes no comment on this, but one wonders whether a scribal
note signaling the conclusion o f a section is intended.
29
T h e same point applies to • ‫ מ ח ש ב י ה‬in line 10.
311
For the reconstruction sec Newsom, 1985, 333; DJD 11:362. The other pos-
sibilily, that the text reads "‫"מאוהו]ת| ]הו[ר‬, of course would present another inter-
esting possibility; that the stones of the breastplate are being identified with the
heavenly bodies.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 369

from Ben Sira's description of Simon the Great (Sir 50:5-7) to the
31
account of Metatron's robe in 3 Enoch 12". However, such a sweep-
ing comparison does not do justice to the detail of that imagery and
nor does it stop to inquire into its specific context within the Qumran
corpus.
Newsom is also puzzled by the plural ‫ מאירי‬at the end of line 9.
She takes the subject of this verb to be the "fine gold work" which
immediately precedes. But there the ‫ כמעשי‬is a phonetic spelling of
32
a singular .‫ מעשה‬Because Newsom breaks up line 10 into two parts:
"spirits [brightly] dyed in the midst of the appearance of whiteness.
And the likeness of this glorious spirit is like fine gold work, shed-
ding . . .", the only alternative subject is the "likeness of this glori-
ous spirit" which is also singular. The problem is solved if the "spirits"
at the beginning of line 9 are the subject of one long nominal sen-
lence: "The spirits of the colours of [purity] in the midst of the
appearance of majesty, and the likeness of the Spirit of Glory as a
work of precious gold, shedding light. . .". This would then suggest
that the "spirits" shedding light arc the spirits who earlier (line 7)
were identified with the engraved figures of the breastplate.
In the context of the Dead Sea Scrolls—both the texts peculiar
to the Qumran community and those traditions it had inherited—
there is only one aspect of the high priest's clothing which could be
thought to have "spirits . . . shedding light" in the. context of a multi-
coloured vision of God's Glory: the stones of the breastpiece. The
language in lines 9-10, especially the ‫מאירי] או[ ר‬, recalls that ofthose
texts we examined in chapter 7 and lQSb where light shines from
the breastpiece, its stones and the U T (4QJ75 (Deut 33:10) ‫ויאירו‬,
d
4QpIsa ‫מאירים‬, lQSb 4:27 ‫ למאור‬. . . ‫)לחאיר‬. More generally we arc
bound to think of the parallels to these in Greek texts (Josephus,
A1isteas) and the peculiar interest at Qumran in the "perfect light"
of God's presence and the mysterious Urim and Thummim. And
since we have already found good grounds for thinking that the
name Έσσηνοί is related to the ‫חשן‬, "the breastpiece", of Exodus 28
what would be a more fitting climax to a peculiarly Essene liturgy than
the appearance of the community's high priests dressed in their ‫השני‬.
This would be the first time in any of these other texts that "spir-
its" are thought responsible for the shining light of the breastpiece.

31
DJD 11:364.
12
1985, 337-8; DJD 11:364.
370 CHAPTER ELEVEN

But the introduction of "spirits" in this context is perfectly intelligi-

ble. On the one hand it accords with the Songs' penchant for spec-
illation on the spiritual reality within the physical realities of the cult.
On the other hand a passage in Philo suggests it was in fact com-
mon to think that animate spiritual powers indwelt the high priest's
clothing. In De Migratione Abrahami Philo 102 says that if one exam-
ines the "High Priest the Logos" you will discover

his holy vesture to have a variegated (πεποικιλμένην) beauty derived

f r o m powers belonging some to the r e a l m o f pure intellect, some to
that o f sense perception (νοητδν καΐ α ι σ θ η τ ώ ν δυνάμεων).

For Philo the high priest's garments are not merely symbolic of the
cosmos, in some non-essentialist sense, as a microcosm of the macro-
cosm they arc cmbued with the very substance or energy the "pow-
ers"—of the "realm of pure intellect". Even though we should strip
away from this text language and ideas that are his own idiosyn-
cratic philosophical hermencutic, there remains a tradition which is
not Philo's but his Jewish temple tradition: what Philo (like Paul in
Eph 6:12 and Col 1:16) calls "powers" the Sabbath Songs have called
"spirits".

(b) "The Incisions of Shapes of Splendour"

The line climaxes with a reference to " ‫"פתוחי צורות ה ד ר‬. The phrase
"engravings of shapes" (cf. line 1 "the beauty for the engravings of"
(‫ ))תפארת לפתותי‬is derived from Exodus 28. The verb ‫ פתה‬in the Pi'el
to mean "engrave" and the noun ‫" פתוח‬engraving" arc used vari-
ously for the art work of the Temple and Tabernacle. The root is
used, for example, of the engraved basins in 1 Kings 7:36 or the
cherubim carved in the temple walls (1 Kgs 6:29; 2 Chr 3:7, cf. 2
Chr 2:6, 13). Yet over half the instances of the nominal form in the
Hebrew Bible are used specifically of the "engravings, like signets"
on the twelve stones of the breastpiece (Exod 28:11, 21; 39:6, 14)
33
and upon (he gold plate worn upon the turban (Exod 28:36; 39:30).
In the context of 4Q405 23 ii 7 the ‫ פתותי‬must be those on the
stones of the breastpiece.

3 3
The use of the noun at Zcch 3:9 is inseparable from the instances in Exodus
28 since there also it has to do with the engraved stonc(s) worn by the high priest.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 371

In the Songs various words are used for the act of engraving, but
in only one other instance does the root ‫ פתח‬occur (4Q405 14-15
i 5) and in other cases other roots are used (‫תרת‬, ‫ ח ק ה‬, ‫ ) ר ק ק‬. I f one
allows some sense of "to open" for this verb then perhaps a specific
kind of engraving—an "incision" is intended. And i f this is the case
then perhaps we arc supposed to have in mind the fact that upon
the stones of the breastpiece there arc engraved eyes; apertures
through which light is emitted (cf. Pseudo-Philo Biblical Antiquities
26:9, cf. 26:13, 15 and the high priest's stone with fourteen eyes in
:M
Zech 3:9).
The use of the word ‫ צורה‬which is normally translated in this pas-
sage "(engraved with) figures. . ." lias no precedent in those biblical
‫״‬
passages which deal with the Temple/Tabernacle. However, there
are probably several reasons why the word ‫ צורות‬is used here, first
by "shapes, figures" it will have in mind the names of the Israelite
tribes and, perhaps, the eyes engraved upon the stones of each of
the different coloured stones. Second, it is possible that there is a
deliberate double entendre on the noun ‫ צור‬meaning "rock, stone". This
masc. noun is far more common than the fern, "form, figure". Job
28, a passage which is concerned primarily with precious stones and
metals, provides a precedent for the fem. plu. form ‫ צורות‬meaning
"stones, rocks" (v. 10). With this double entendre the X l l l t h Song would
then highlight its primary focus of interest: the breastpiece and its
stones.

(c) Tlie "Multi-Coloured" Work

The word ‫ רוקמה‬is evidently the Qumran form of the Biblical Hebrew
‫ ר ק מ ה‬, riqmâ "multi-coloured, embroidered". (The Qumran vocalisa-
tion would appear, then, to have been rôqmâ). In P's description of
the Tabernacle and its vestments the noun ‫ ר ק מ ה‬is not used. But
the verbal root ‫ ר ק ם‬is used of the weaving technique in the curtains
of the door of the tent of meeting (Exod 26:36; 36:37), the curtain

:M
For the identification o f this stone with that the high priest's breastplate see
VanderKam 1991. The stone of Zechariah 3:9 is also said to have an "engraving"
or an "incision" (‫)פתחה‬. The tradition that the stones of the breastpiece of Exodus
,
28 have eyes in Pseudo-Philo may be a conscious interpretation of the ‫ פ ת ו ח‬o f
Exod 28:11, 21, reinforced with cross reference to Zech 3:9.
35
The X l l l t h Song at least in its extant portions chooses not to use the lan-
guage of the "seal".
372 CHAPTER E L E V E N

of the gate of the tabernacle court (Exod 27:16; 38:18) and the sashes
311
worn by the priests (Exod 28:39; 39:29). Very similar language to
that in lines 7-8 of our fragment is found in 4Q405 14-15 i 3-6,
however there the context is a description of tabernacle structures,
not the priests or their garments.
Although the root ‫ ר ק ם‬is not used in the description of the breast-
piece and its stones in Exodus 28-29, its introduction into that con-
text in the Shirot makes good sense where the noun ‫ רוקמה‬is a
favourite. In 4Q405 19 5 it is used of the glorious brickwork and
in the X l l t h Song it. is part of a circumlocution for the rainbow of
the Glory of Ezekiel 1:28. Similarly, in other DSS texts it is used
for various cultic paraphernalia without direct warrant in the bibli-
1
eal text (1QM 5:6; 4QpIsa ' 7 40 iii 24). Gere.zji s/iava would ene.our-
age its introduction into descriptions of the breastpiece. Where the
root ‫ והקם‬is used "of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine
twisted linen" (Exod 26:36 and 36:37; 27:16 and 38:18; 39:29) it is
justifiably used of the breastpiece of judgement which is also to be
made " o f gold, of blue and purple and crimson yarns, and of fine
37
twisted linen" (28:15 and 39:8). So, it is not surprising that already
in 1 Chronicles 29:2 the noun is used of the variety of precious
stones used in the Temple.
In the context of our fragment of the X l l l t h Song the language
of a variegated colour cannot refer to any of the temple structures
or the chariot since the focus is on the priestly garments. Neither is
it likely that the ephod as a whole is in view at this point because
of the close association with "incisions of shapes of splendour'* which
38
most probably refers to the engraved gemstoncs.
So, in conclusion, we can be confident that 4Q405 23 ii ‫־־‬710a
is a mystically minded vignette of the high priesthood's multi-coloured,
light-giving breastplates. The stones, the ‫ חשן‬and the U T are not
directly mentioned at this point because the genre does not require

•"' I n Greek lexis die root is variously translated by forms o f ποικίλ- "many
coloured" and ποικιλτ- "embroiderer" ( L X X Exod 26:36; 27:16; 28:39; 36:36; 37:16;
Sirach 45:10; Josephus B.J. 5:232; Anstois 96). Note lite use of the former for the
stars and the heavens in LSJ 1429-30.
37
Similar phraseology is found, without specific use o f ‫ ר ק ם‬at Exod 26:1, 31 —
of the tabernacle curtains, in 28:6 and 39:2-3 of the ephod, in 28:8 and 39:5 of
the "decorated band".
3,1
I n 4Q403 1 ii 1 the word is probably used in connection with the breastpiece
and its stones since it follows the peculiar word • ‫ א ו ר ח ו‬o f the U T .
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 373

such details to be spelt out. For a community that is fixated on these

parts of the cult compact numinous summary speaks for itself. And
in any case these lines are probably written to make their own more
substantial theological point, to which we now turn.

The Chief Priests' Embodying the Gloty of God

There, are four ways in which the description of the chief priests in
their heavenly garb means they arc deliberately identified, not with
the any particular class of angel—however high up the angelic hier-
archy-—but with the Glory of God himself. This identification means,
as we shall see, that the Qumran Chief Priests embody the very
Presence of die Glory and in so doing bring the cycle of the Sabbath
Songs to its ultimate climax.

(a) Tie Intratexlualily between the Xllth and Xlllth Songs

In her official (DJD) edition Newsom has drawn attention to the way
in which the collocation of terms ‫רוקמה‬, ‫ צ ב ע‬, and ‫ ממולח טוחר‬is used
in the X l l t h Song of the divine presence on the throne (4Q405 20
ii-21-22 lines 10-11) and, again, in the X l l l t h Song of the angelic
high priests' garments (llQShirShabb I X 7 and 4Q405 23 i i 7
(‫)רוקמה‬, 8, 9 (‫ )צבע‬10 (‫)ממולח טוחר‬. The use of such terms as ‫צ ב ע‬
and ‫ ר ק מ ה‬for colour in connection with the high priestly garments
(in the X l l l t h Song) is, as we have seen, natural as is their intro-
duction (in the X l l t h song) into an elaboration of Ezekiel 1:26-28
where they reflect the image of the rainbow in verse 28. However,
neither ‫ צ ב ע‬and ‫רקמה‬, nor these two with ‫ממולח טוהר‬, occur in com-
binalion anywhere else in the Sbirol, Even though much of the songs
are no longer extant, the juxtaposition of these three terms seems
to be confined to the description of that which occupies the char-
iot-throne in the X l l t h Song and the high priestly vestments in the
X l l l t h Song. This liturgical intratexluality surely implies some kind
of identification between the two.
Newsom realises that the overlap between X l l t h and X l l l t h Songs
means there is a similarity between the veiled description of the
Glory on the throne and the garments of the angelic high priests.
"Implicitly, the analogy would extend also to the garments of Israel's
high priest, who thus reflects in a more distant fashion the Glory of
374 CHAPTER ELEVEN

38
the God". Because we do not think the X l l l t h Song describes
.«i/;rahuman angels dressed as high priests, but the sectarians' own
high priests Newsom's "in a more distant fashion" is unnecessary:
for. those who used this liturgy the colour and purity of the high
priest's garments are those o f the Kavod, which the community's
priesthood now embodies.

(b) Tlie Priests Identified with the Holy of Holies

Entirely consistent with this close visual identification between the

non-anthropomorphic. Glory and the Chief Priests is the fact that
the clothing of the latter is said to possess the "spirit of the holy of
holies" (4Q405 23 ii 8). Some, kind of connection between the holy
of holies and (he high priest's garments arises out of the Priestly
author's Recount of the Tabernacle itself, since the materials used
for the one arc shared by the other."' The association is assumed in
those texts which say that the high priest's garments were stored in
the holy of holies."
On its own, and given the ubiquity of the phrase "holy of holies"
in the Songs, not too much significance should he attached to this
phrase. The fact that it is a singular "spirit" and not the frequent,
"spirits of the holy of holies" probably expresses the close associa-
tion between these garments and the substance of the presence of
God himself. The language here will also be related to the wider
tradition wc have plotted through 1QS 8-9, 4 Q M M T Β 75-82,
4Q511 35, 4Q418 81 according to which Aaron, the community's
priesthood, are themselves the holiest of the holies.

(c) Embodying die Glory of Ezekiel 1:26-28

The most impressive detail of the exploration of the symbolism of

the priestly clothing is the identification with the Glory of Ezekiel
1:25-28 in line 9 of 4Q405 23 i i . Newsom in both her common-
taries notes, but docs not explore further, the fact that the words
" ‫ " ו ד מ ו ת ר ו ח כ פ ו ר‬should be compared with the ‫ ד מ ו ת כ ב ו ד‬of Ezekiel

39
DJD 11:353.
40
Gf. Haran 1978, 210-212.
11
2 Apoc. Bar. 6:7; Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 26:12-13.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 375

42
1:28. Given her discussion of die importance of Ezekiel 1:25-28
for the X l l t h Song this is surprising. In fact, since she translates
these words as "and the likeness of this glorious spirit" she seems to
deny any relevance to the comparison with that O T passage, which,
if in mind here would call for the translation "and the likeness of
the Spirit of (the) Glory". Yet, Ezekiel's vision was so important for
the sectarian's sabbatical liturgy—as it was for all emerging apoca-
lyptic and mystical speculation—that this translation cannot do jus-
tice to the text. Perhaps because, as we have seen, Newsom splits
line 9 into two separate sentences she fails to see here the full extent
of a deliberate intertextuality.
Reading line 9 from ". . . ‫ " כ ח ו ך מראי‬we find that at three points
an overt reference (o the summary statement at the end of Ezekiel's
vision of the occupant: of God's throne has been made:
1:23
Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy clay, such was the appearance
of the splendour all around. This was the appearance of the likeness
of the Glory of the L O R O .
(‫כ יהוה‬1‫ ) ה ו א מראה_דמות_ככ‬.
4Q405 23 ii 9 . . . in the midst of the appearance, of majesty and the
likeness of the Spirit of (the) Glory . . .
!‫כבו‬ ‫בתוך מראי ח ו ה והמוח ח ח‬

If there is here a deliberate reuse of Ezekiel 1:28 it will obviously

be of enormous importance for our understanding of the Song's the-
ology. Since in the XIIlit Song the Glory is described in such a way as to
eliminate the anthropomorphic elements within Ezekiel 1:25-28, a consciou
description of the human Chief Priest(s) in terms of the anthropomorphic Glor
of that canonical text means that it is here, in the Xlllth, that the liturgy truly
reaches its climax with a vision of the community's priesthood taking the place
of the occupant of the throne-chariot.
The intertextual reference back to Ezekiel 1:28 comes into sharper
focus when we consider the context of line 9 and the points at which
the O T phrase has been modified. The focus on the Kavod is already
anticipated in the previous line's "in the midst of Gloty an appear-
ance (‫ )מראי‬of scarlet . . .". Indeed, already in the broken third line
of 4Q405 23 ii we find the words "‫ " מ ל ך וחרת כבודו‬, "King and Lie

« 1985, 337; DJD 11:364, cf. Davila 2000, 161.

376 CHAPTER ELEVEN

inscribed His Glory". This is perhaps an earlier anticipation of the

13
theme which is to follow.'
There arc three points at which changes have been made by the
sectarian liturgy: (1) Most obviously, the Tetragrammaton has fallen
out. This is an unsurprising omission given (he well attested desire
to avoid writing (or speaking) the Name. I n any case the Glory is
44
itself inextricable from the Name. (2) Secondly, rather than "an
appearance of the likeness of the Spirit of the Glory" the Qumran
text has "an appearance of splendour and the likeness . . .". In a mys-
tical text such as ours where the rhythm of numinous praise easily
clouds any desire for logical consistency we should not expect the
details of biblical intcrtextuality to be rigid. And the reference to the
"appearance of splendour" is a fitting summary statement of all else
that Ezekiel 1:26-28 and cognate throne visions describe in much
greatcr-sdctail.
(3) The third modification to the phrase ‫ מראה דמוח כבור יהוה‬of
Ezekiel 1:26 in the intertextual reference of 4Q405 23 ii 9 is the
addition of ‫"—רוח‬the likeness of the Spirit of (the) Glory . . .". l i t e
addition of " ‫ " ר ו ח‬is parallel to the phrase in line 8 "colours of
the light of the spirit of the holy of holies . . .". It is the substance,
the nature, the spirit of the holy of holies which the ephod and breast-
piece possess: the ephod and breastpiece are not to be equated with
the holy of holies without remainder. Similarly, the ephod and breast-
15
piece have the substance, the nature, the Spirit of the Glory.' There
is here, then, a careful distinction between the plural "spirits'" of line
7 and the singular "spirit" of lines 8-9.
It is difficult to evaluate the significance of die addition of ‫רוח‬.
There can be no doubt that the X l l l h Song omitted the anthropo-
morphic elements from its reworking of Ezekiel 1:25-28, in part at
least, because, to the extent that God's Glory has any anthropo-
morphic visibility it is seen in the community's high priesthood in
the climactic X l l l t h Song. Yet because the X l l l t h Song describes
not "the likeness of the Glory . . .", but. the "likeness of the Spirit of

4 3
Compare also the references to "His kingdom o f Glory" (lines 11 — 12) and "all
the works of His Glory" line 12.
‫״‬ r
• See already Ps 72:19; Neh 9:.) and see Ail ken 1999, 15-16 for the Name and
the Glory and see the expression "shall make Glorious His Name and His Holiness"
in l Q S b 4:28.
1 5
I t is also perhaps significant that ‫ כ ב ו ד‬has no definite article in 4Q405 23 ii
9, though neither is there one at Ezekiel 1:28.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 377

the Glory, its authors have probably retained an apophatic rejection

of any reading of Ezekiel 1 which would permit the conclusion that
God is essentially, and fundamentally, before all else, a human being.
The priesthood gives physical and substantial tangibility to a reality
which is fundamentally invisible and beyond human knowing.
We should also consider the possibility that the "spirit" language
at this point is related to the wider duality in Q L between the spirit
and the flesh. A vision of the community's high priesthood clothed
in its majestic garments which possess the "spirit of (God's own)
Glory" must, for the members of the Qumran community, have
been related to the belief that they as a whole are the "people of
spirit" who stand at the anthropological heart of lQ/4Qlnstruction.

(d) 77/.« Chief Priests "Bless the God of Knowledge in All the Works of
His Glory" '

Line 12 of 4Q405, after the description of the high priest's cloth-

ing, says the chief priests "bless the God of knowledge ‫ככול מעשי‬
‫"כבודו‬. The belh here is puzzling since when God is the direct object
of (he verb to bless this preposition is only ever used in a temporal
(Pss 63:5; 145:2) or a locative sense (Pss 26:12; 68:27).‫ ״'׳‬Newsom
and Davila translate the bet/1 as a reference to participation in a
group: "they bless the God of knowledge together with all His glori-
ous works" (Newsom), "they, among all the works of His glory, bless
the God of knowledge" (Davila). But there is no precedent for this
translation.
With our interpretation of the preceding lines the language here
makes perfect sense. One, or both, of two possible meanings are
intended. Either the chief priests are blessing God whilst clothed in
the works, i.e. the garments, of God's Glory. Or, they arc blessing
God in their doing all the works of his Glory. The first of these has
47
been clearly stated in what precedes. Though the second has not
been explicit in the extant text the larger tradition-historical context
(esp. Sirach 50) and, perhaps, lost portions of the text explain what
in means to bless in the doing of the works of God's Glory. So, for
example, in Sirach 50 it is as Simon comes out from the sanctuary

'"' As Davila 2000, 160 points out. Newsom strangely fails to comment on this
phrase, despite its difficulty.
17
Note the three instances of ‫ מ ע ט י‬in lines 7, 9 and 10: the garments are "works".
378 CHAPTER ELEVEN

that his liturgical movements manifest God's Glory: the high priest's
cultic responsibilities could themselves be understood as the works
of God's Glory.
In fact for this phrase in 4Q405 23 ii 12 there is an explicit lin-
guistic precedent in Sirach 45:7. There it is said that Aaron "min-
istercd to H i m in His Glory (‫")וישרתהו בכבודו‬. This, too, has puzzled
8
commentators/ In should now be joined to our Qumran text as a
witness to the technical terminology of the liturgical anthropology of
Israel's mainstream priestly tradition. As such the phrase in 4Q405
23 ii confirms our argument thus far:• the conceptual parameters—
cosmology and theological anthropology—of the Sabbalh Songs is (hat
49
of Israel's existing cultic mythology.
Of course, it goes without saying that since this is a song of the
Sabbalh sacrifice that work done here had belter be done in God's
power since otherwise it risks being prohibited work. Here we prob-
ably have the same theology of labour which Sirach had explored
so carefully: working in the sanctuary is possible for the priests on
the Sabbath because they work in (divine) Wisdom (24:22b) who has
taken up residence in Israel's cult where the fall's curse on labour
is undone. This cultic theology of the Sabbath is perhaps already
signalled in the Ist Song. I n 4Q400 1 i 5 it is said that "He engraved
His statutes for all spiritual works". Perhaps "spiritual works" are works
done in the power of God's spirit which, because they are carried
50
out in the true temple, are legitimate works of the Sabbath.
What then of the ‫ כ ו ל‬in "in all the works of His Glory", which
does not appear in the parallel expression in Sirach 45:7? This is
best explained as an explicit reference to the cosmological setting of
the praise of the priesthood. The high priest's garments represent
the whole cosmos, the cult is a microcosm and the drama of Israel's
liturgy enacts the drama of creation. Self-evidently then it can be
said the chief priests bless God "in all the works of His Glory".

% Embodiment of the Glory in Wider Jewish Perspective

I f this theology of priesthood seems shocking it should not. The

X l l l t h of the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice is merely one among many

4 6
See, for example, Aitken 1999, 19.
4 3
I n other words, Newsom was wrong to reject J. Maier's thesis.
5 0
Cf. the frequent use o f ‫ ע ש ה‬and cognates in the Songs.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 379

texts where Israel's priesthood is identified with God's Kavod (Sirach

50; Eth. Enoch 46:1, cf. 2 Enoch 22:8; lQSb 4:28; 4Q511 35 4; the
51
‫ כהן מראה‬of the musaph prayer for Yom Kippiuj. Behind this the-
ology of priesthood there stands the belief that Adam himself, the
original humanity, was created as God's Glory. This, we have seen,
was an important part of the Qumran liturgy (4Q504 8). Anthropology
and the theology of priesthood are inextricable because Israel and
her priesthood are the true Adam.
There is no reason to suppose that in their Angelic Liturgy the
Qumran community had transposed an eschatological hope into
the present as a reflex of their strongly realized eschatology. Where
the Similitudes of Enoch identifies the heavenly man with God's Glory
and places his revelation in an eschatological future it probably does
so because, for its author, the Glory of Adam in Israel's high priest
2
is not currently present as it should be/' This means that when com-
paring the Similitudes with our text, or Sirach 50, the present, intra-
historical, reality of the Kavod's presence in the high priesthood is
logically, and historically, prior to the hope for such a future près-
ence. Neither should the identification of the high priesthood with
the Glory be simply regarded as the product of a strategy to legitimise
a heterodox cult over against the one in Jerusalem. It is quite pos-
sible that the Sabbath Songs in their present form legitimate a sectarian
cult without a fully working temple, but there is every reason to
believe that the theology of 4Q405 23 ii has simply been lifted from its
original context in Israel's Temple life and placed in this new one.
It is easy to understand how a reading of Ezekiel as a whole might
come to the conclusion that Israel's high priest is to be identified
with the anthropomorphic Glory of Ezekiel 1:26—28. First, there are
similarities between the vision of the Glory in Ezekiel 1 and the
characterization of the priestly Urmensch in Ezekiel 28. I n the former
there is described a human figure, the "likeness of the Glory of the
L O R D " , seated on a heavenly throne, enclosed all around by some-
thing that looked like fire and the colours of the rainbow. The

51
In addition to these references we should note M . Himmelfarb's suggestion
that the garments of the Great Glory in I Enoch 14 correspond to those of Israel's
high priest (1993, 18-19).
3 2
This difference between future hope and realised eschatology may, of course,
]tartly explain the absence of the Similitudes from the Enochic corpus at Qumran.
The Essenes had no need of such a future Son of Man because their high priest-
hood already fulfilled that expectation.
380 CHAPTER ELEVEN

rainbow is perhaps the sign of the divine warrior's victory (cf. Gen
9:13-16), as is the language of tumult and the thunder of the Almighty
in verse 24. The blue lapis lazuli over which God sits probably
signifies his enthronement over the waters of chaos (v. 26, cf. Ps
29:3, 10). Similarly, the priestly Adam figure in Ezekiel 28 is also
53
enthroned over the. waters of chaos (v. 2). He is associated with a
cherub, the kind of "living creature" that makes up God's own throne
(ch. 10). He walks among the "stones of fire" (28:14) which is rem-
inisccnt of both the lire in 1:27 and the "coals of lire" of 1:13. As
for the rainbow of Ezekiel 1:28, one could very well imagine a gar-
ment encrusted with the twelve multi-coloured precious stones of
Ezekiel 28:13 might, especially for the visionary mind, evoke the full
spectrum of the rainbow.
Secondly, there is reason to believe that a later reader of Ezekiel
might §fcc in the behaviour of the prophet himself the identification
of the priesthood with the Glory. Ezekiel, of course, is a ]Driest (Ezck
1:3) and in the absence of any reference in the work to a high priest,
a later reader might conclude that, given his intimate acquaintance
with God, the prophet himself is the best qualified to fulfil that office.
After his opening vision the. account of Ezckiel's experience could
be taken to mean that he is taken over by—possessed by—the real-
ity of God's Glory. In chapter 3 he is given a scroll that tastes of
honey to eat. He eats, therefore, the food of the gods. Thereafter
God controls his speaking; he only speaks when God moves him to
do so, so closely is he now identified with the living God. In 3:12-13
he is lifted up by the spirit and he hears behind him the sound of
the movement of the creatures of the throne. One could be forgiven
for thinking that Ezekiel is now transported by God's own throne on
which he now sits. Indeed, Chris Morray-Jones has argued that this is
1
exactly how these chapters were read i n at least one Hekhalot text.'
Having said that, the X l l l t h Song of the Sabbalh Songs, at least in
its extant portion, probably does not actually describe the high priest
seated on God's throne-chariot. The context (4Q405 23 i i ) 0 1 2
and 11 CM 7 ix 3-5) seems to place the clergy in their sacrificial pos-
ture as they "approach the King" (4Q405 23 i i 11). Though it is

1
'•‫ יי‬For the phrase " 1 sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas" (Ezck
28:2) compare the Mesopotamia!) image of the Bcl-Marduk seated over, or in lire
middle of, Tiamat (sec Livingstone 1986, 150).
51
Morray-Jones 2001.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 381

possible, in view of the interest in the theophanic appearance of the

priesthood from the sanctuary elsewhere in the scrolls, that the litur-
gical cycle has reached the innermost reaches of heaven in Song X I I
and now in Song X I I I the congregation are brought face to face
with their priests as they return from the sanctuary.
Whether, in the lost portions of the X l l l t h Song the priesthood
were actually seated on a throne in heaven—either the chariot of
Song X I I or another—we shall never know. Given the prominence
of heavenly enthronement in the Glorification Hymn it may also have
been a part of the Sabbath Songs.

The Chief Priesthood as the Recipients of Worship

'The X l l l t h Song is a praise directed to God through a celebration

of the, human priesthood as the embodiment of God's Glory. In a
sense the chief priests are themselves recipients of a worship that is
offered by the maskil. This is so because what the maskil utters is not
simply a set of mechanical stage directions. In itself—through its
rhythmic, and numinous style—it is a song of praise, just as God,
however invisibly present, was the ultimate recipient of worship in
the X l l t h Song, so here the same adoration is given to the beauty
and splendour of the high priests in their office.
As an act of worship directed to the human priesthood this text
should be added to a longer list of texts from Jewish antiquity where
a pre-eminently righteous man is legitimately worshipped. In par-
ticular, it should be compared with the hymn in praise of Simon as
the embodiment of God's Glory in Sirach 50. But the ecntrality of
priesthood in this scenario gives Song X I I I a close relationship to a
5
siring of other texts.' The devotional posture will also, no doubt,
be related to the self-praise in the Qumran Glorification Hymn.
Finally, we should consider the theoretical correspondence between
the worship offered here by the maskil and the, worship of Adam in

5 5
Pscudo-Hccataeus' account of (he Jewish state (late fourth century B.C., recorded
in Diodorus Statins' Bibliothcca Historien X L . 3 . 4 6); Alexander the. Great's meeting
with the Jewish High Pricsl (Josephus' Antiquities ll:33l-‫־‬335; b. Torna 69a; Megillalh
la'anilh for the 21st of Tislcv, cf. Pseudo-Gallistheiies' Alexander Romance (γ—recen-
sion) 2:24; 7. Reith. 6:12; the ]‫ מ ר א ה כה‬of the inusapli prayer for Yom Kippur; the
linoch priestly Sou of Man in the Similitudes 0/ Enoch (I Enoch 48; 62); the ascend-
ing priestly Christ in Luke 24:50-53.
382 CHAPTER ELEVEN

the haggadah best preserved in the Latin Life of Adam and Eve (chs.
12-16), for which there is probably a reflex in the Qumran text
4Q381 frag. 1. For the identification of the high priesthood with the
Glory of God there is, at Qumran, an analogous identification of
the pre-lapsarian Adam with the Glory of God of Ezekiel 1. A con-
nection between the two scenes is likely to be made because of the
belief that the high priest recapitulates the Adamic identity and the
notion that the cult is a restored Eden or pre-lapsarian world. In
the Shirot, as wc have seen, the human community are taken up into
the heavenly world, where they offer an "angelic" worship. We could
very well imagine a Qumran member familiar with the worship of
Adam story believing that in the Songs of die SabbaÜi Sacrifice the wor-
ship which Michael had commanded the angels bring, is now brought
by community members to the true Adam, the community's priests,
who hàVe "the spirit of the Glory": High Priesthood and commu-
nity members act out the drama of the Life of Adam and Eve 12-16.
This, of course, is speculative. But it is also the kind of sympathetic
and imaginative exercise that is the necessary stuff o f an historiog-
raphy which takes seriously the very foreign world of ancient Jewish
cultic drama.

Cosmology and Ihe Climax of the Cycle's Ritualized Ascent

Our detailed examination of the contents of the 1st through X l l l t h

Songs is now almost complete. It only remains for us to reflect on
the structure of the material. As we saw in chapter 9 Newsom denied
the existence of any heavenly ascent in the Songs. J'his is because
she saw Song V I I as the liturgical centre and because the vision of
the throne chariot comes in the penultimate chapter she assumed it
10
unlikely to be the climax of an ascent experience. We are now in
a position to reassess this question. In doing so we find that in fact
there is a very clear progression in the Vlth through X l l l t h songs
which is phenomenologically akin to the ascent of a seer through a
seven-tiered cosmos with a vision of the chariot and God's Glory as
its climax.

56
1985, 16. Though she does not have a general discussion o f such matters in
the DJD volume, her latest commentary to the text suggests Newsom has conceded
to Baumgarten's ascent form (DJD 11:340).
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 383

The second part of the Vlth Song describes the blessing upon the
sectarian laity by the community's priesthood. Unless the commu-
nity boldly discarded the traditional and biblically sanctioned spatial
division within the temple between areas confined to clergy and those
available to all, then that blessing must have taken place in the outer
courts of the sectarian cultic space. These blessings will have been
pronounced in a space equivalent to the court of ordinary male Israelites
within which the court of the priests was separated off only by a
low-lying parapet.
From the extant portions of the V l l t h Song we also find the litur-
gical action takes place outside the inner sanctuary, though now atten-
tion has turned away from its outward stance towards the laity,
inwards towards the sanctuary proper, which will be the direction
of movement throughout the liturgy of the coming weeks. In 4Q403
1 141 (= 4Q405 6 2) the worship of the priesthood in Song V I I is
set in unison with

all the foundations (?) of the ho]ly of holies, the uplifting pillars of the
supremely exalted abode, and all the corners of its structure . . .

In what follows the staging for the liturgy is

4 Q 4 0 3 1 i 4 3 - 4 4 . . . the chief exa[l]ted firmament, all [its] b[eams

]and its walls, a[l]l its [for]m, the works of [its] struc]ture.

There is also reference to

4Q403 1 ii 2 . . . His footstool... . . . the gates of. . . and He

1 11

sanctifies the seven exalted holy (places) . . . the voice of blessing from
1 3
the chiefs of His inner shrine . . . . . . all the decorations of the inner
shrine

The precise topographical details of all this language are uncertain,

but in general it is clear that they arc concerned with the whole of
the sacred space demarcated by the heavenly temple: they have a
57
global perspective. The worship of the V l l t h Song is set in the
context of all the beams, walls and works of the chief exalted
firmament. Reference to the "corners" of the "supremely exalted
abode" must obviously have in mind the outer extremities of the
structure; whether a space equivalent to the whole Jerusalem Temple

" Given the likely use of Isaiah 6:3's "holy, holy, holy, . . ." in the opening lines
of the V l l t h Song the second half of the Qcdushah, "heaven and earth are full of
your Glory", perhaps governs the latter part of the song.
386 CHAPTER ELEVEN

The X l l t h Song is heavily indebted to the climax of Ezekiel's

throne chariot vision in Ezekiel 1:24-28 and, as we saw, is the first
of a two part "exegesis" of that O T vision of the Glory. The pro-
gressive movement into the holy regions of the sanctuary does seem
deliberate, though its details arc obscured by the lack of a complete
text and the frequent oscillation between temple structures and angelo-
morphic human attendants.
Chris Morray-Jones has argued that the X l l t h Song provides the
climax of the cycle with a description of the manifestation of the
62
Glory upon the merkabah. He and James Davila think that the use
of Ezekiel 1 in the X l l t h Song (and the Xlth) is liturgically appro-
priate for a calendar which read Ezekiel 1 (in combination with
Psalm 68:17-20) at the. festival of Weeks in the week before the
recitation of the X l l t h Song (in the first thirteen week quarter of
the yea¥). Whilst the X l l t h Song's association with Weeks and the
Qumran community's covenant renewal ceremony would make for
its climactic position in the cycle, the thirteenth song is more "a
3
coda or denouement".''
A climactic vision of the throne chariot is certainly what we would
expect from the heavenly ascent form, as it is defined by biblical
texts (Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1) and the subsequent apocalyptic, and mys-
tical tradition which has as its goal not just the vision of God's char-
iot, but the vision of God himself (e.g. / Enoch 14:20; 2 Enoch 22).
tlowever, the association of the cycle with Weeks is not certain since
it depends in part on the conviction that the Sabbbalh Songs was only
to be recited in the first quarter of the year and not to be repeated
in subsequent quarters. Even if an association with Weeks was made,
the two part exegesis of Ezekiel 1:26-28 is only completed in the
X l l l t h Song. And it should now be obvious thai (he Xllllh Song is as
much, if no( more so, the climax of (he liturgy. It is in the Xlllth Song that
the human form sealed on God's throne in Ezekiel 1 first comes inlo view. 'lite
human high priesthood here make manifest the anthropomorphic appearance
6
the likeness of the Glory of the Lotto. * Obviously, the liturgy is now of

progression within the ascent pattern. We should perhaps imagine a collection of

lesser chariots surrounding the Chariot and even consider the possibility thai the
high priesthood themselves actually sit on these lesser chariots (cf. Rev 4—5).
w
'' Morray-Jones 1998.
63
Davila 2000, 90.
64
There is a loose analogy to this literary structure in 2 Enoch (esp. Λ recension)
where ascent through the heavens reaches a preliminary climax with the vision of
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 387

inestimable significance for the understanding of the earliest history

of Jewish mysticism. There is not here the ascent of an individual
through the heavens, but a corporate, ritualised, ascent whose expe-
riential structure must have some genetic relationship to the heav-
enly ascents of the apocalypses and early Merkabah Mysticism. And at
Qumran the mystical tradition might best be described not so much
as merkabah mysticism, although there is a clear interest in God's
throne chariot, but as breastpiece mysticism.
Confirmation that the X l l l t h Song has a climactic position is pro-
vided by the third preserved portion of the song (11Q17 χ frags.
23~25 [formerly 2 1 - 9 ‫ ) ] ־ ־‬. Lines 6-8 o f this column arc perh
significant:

‫ יי‬ΟΓ glory towards all the works of [his] truth [. . .] for the angels of
7
knowledge, in all [. .] holy upliftings for the thrones of His Glory
and for the footstool of [His] ffeet clijariots of His majesty, and
8
for [His] ho[ly] debirim [. . .] His [. . .] and for the entry portals [. . .]
with all its exits of [com]ers of its structure, and for all dfwellings of
and] for the hekhalot of His Glory, and for the firmaments of

Although the text is frustratingly incomplete Newsom is probably

right to notice the significance of the sequence of the terms:
The items which can be identified form a sequence which begins with
what is nearest to God and then moves outward. . . . It begins first
with the throne and footstool; then the chariots; the, deberim, their
passages for entering and exiting; the (outer?) structures of the sane-
tuaries; the temples as a whole; and finally, the firmaments that con-
tain the heavenly temples. . . . Thus, the conclusion of the thirteenth
Sabbath song appears to contain a final invocation to praise God fol-
lowed by a systematically organized list of all the manifestations of
God's holiness in the objects and structures of the heavenly temple
1 1
which have been described in ])receding songs. ''

It is not possible, to tally each of the items in the sequence with one
of the preceding songs. But if Newsom's interpretation of this por-
tion of the later part of the X l l l t h Song is correct it is consistent
with the view that it is the final song which is the climax of the
whole liturgical cycle. This portion then is a summarizing retrospective

God from afar at the edge of the seventh heaven (chs. 3-20). The real climax
comes when Enoch is brought to stand before the face of the LORD where he does
obeisance and is himself then clothed in the garments o f the Glory (chs. 21-22).
6 5
1985, 376-77.
388 CHAPTER ELEVEN

of the preceding songs not unlike the summarizing section at the

end of the series of praises of the chief princes in the Vlth Song
(4Q403 1 i 6-9).

Tlie Vision of the Brcaslpieces, the Essenes and the Qumran Community

We came at the end of chapter 7 to the conclusion that the wide-

spread interest in the high priests' breastpiece in DSS texts must
have something to do with their being called "Essenes" in the clas-
sical sources. Now at the. end of our discussion of the Sabbath Songs
we can be more confident still that the scrolls both belonged to a
group of Essenes at Khirhct Qumran and that the form of their
name Έσσηνοί betrays their keen interest in the high priest's Έσσήν.
O f course,, the connection also has implications for our understand-
ing of the Sabbalh Songs. Newsom's later view that the Shirot are not
sectarian (because of their presence at Masada) must now be conn-
terbalanced by the fact that a defining feature of their mystical cxpe-
rience is their climactic focus on the Essenes' eponymous breastpieces.
But does the Qumran community's interest in the hesen explain
the other forms of the name for the movement (Έσσαίοι and Ώσσαΐοι)?
Is only half of the puzzle solved? 1 suggest: that whilst the dériva-
tion of Έσσηνοί from hêsen explains half the puzzle directly, it relates
indirectly also to the other half.
To date one of the most popular explanations lor the name Essene
(,(
is a derivation from the Aramaic root "ΟΠ, "to be pious". ' This has
the advantage that it can explain both the forms of the Greek, since
Έσσηνοί can translate the absolute ‫" חסין‬holy one" and Εσσαίοι the
emphatic plural ‫" חםיא‬holy ones". It is surported by the fact that
67
Philo connects the name of the community with όσιότης, and the
community members are frequently called "holy ones" (‫)קדושים‬.''"
Until recently a weakness of this view had been the fact that whilst
the verb is attested in Syriac there were no instances in West Semitic
Aramaic. However, with the publication of 4Q213a (4QTLevi'' ar
frags. 3 4 line 6) we now know the noun was used in the Dead Sea
Scroll's linguistic environment.

Schürer, a at. 1973-87, vol. 2, p. 559.

Quod omnis piobus 75, cf. 91; Hypolhetica 8:1 1.
Cross, 1995, 54 n. 1, 183.
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 389

Given the inherent strengths of this linguistic explanation I tenta-

lively suggest that, in slightly modified form, it does belong with a
derivation from the hesen as the other half of the puzzle. Traditionally,
the Aramaic ‫ חסי‬has been seen as équivalent to the Hebrew ‫חסיד‬.
But the view that the Essene community emerged from among the
Hasidim of the early years of the Maccabean crisis is now much less
likely than once thought and in any case the linguistic root from
69
hasidim to Εσσαΐοι is far from straightforward.
I suggest that whilst the Aramaic ‫ חסי‬does lie behind the Greek
forms of the name Essene it is related to the Hebrew word ΠΟΠ
70
"seek refuge, seek shelter, trust". This verbal root is used sparingly
in the scrolls, but its use is significant nonetheless. First, it should
be noted that the word almost never appears outside biblical cita-
lions. The root is cited in 4QJ63 21 12 (in a pesher on Isaiah 30:2)
and in 4QJ71 iv 20 in a pesher on Psalm 37:39 "The L O R D helps
them and rescues them; he rescues them from the wicked, and saves
them, because they take refuge in him (Ό ΊΟΠ)". For a strongly litur-
gical community the reluctance to use the word in their own writ-
ings is curious given the frequency of the biblical psalmist's declaration
of trust in Israel's god as the place of refuge (Pss 2:12; 5:11; 7:2;
11:1; 16:1; 17:7; 18:3, 31; 25:20; 31:2, 20;' 34:9, 23; 36:8; 37:40;
57:2; 61:5, 11; 71:1; 94:4; 118:8-9; 141:8). As far as I can tell there
are only a couple of other clear uses of (he verbal root outside of
biblical quotations. One is the very last verse of (he Damascus Doc-
uincnt (20:34) which says:

these shall exult and rejoice and their heart will he strong and they
will prevail over all the sons of the world. And God will atone for
them, and they shall see his salvation, for they have taken refuge in
his holy Name. (‫)חסו בשם קרשו‬.

The language here is an adaptation of Zephaniah 3:12 "For I will

leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall
seek refuge in the name of the L O R D (ΠΤΡ ‫")חסו בשם‬. The same
phrase is cited in a badly damaged portion of 4QBarkhi Nafshi"
(4Q438) 6 2 and in 1QIT 17:28 [9:28] the psalmist proclaims "[For
you, Ο God, are] my refuge (‫)מנוסי‬, my protection, the rock of my
strength, my fortress . . .".

]
' " See the. criticisms of Vermes 1975b, 14-15; Grabbc 1992, 496-7.
™ Cf. for the proximity o f the Hebrew and Aramaic see TDOT 5:65. For the
derivation of Έσσαϊοι and Ώ σ σ α ί ο ι from Π0Π see Kosmala 1959, 319-325.
 390 CHAPTER ELEVEN

The reserve with which the word is used i n the scrolls might,
paradoxically, point to its significance for the community for whom
it had, perhaps, a "canonical" status. And consideration of the bib-
lical usage is instructive. It is almost always used with a strongly the-
ological orientation for the seeking of refuge in God. In many instances
God provides shelter as the winged Shekinah of his chariot-throne (see
Pss 5:12; 36:8; 57:2; 91:4; Ruth 2:12). The righteous are "those who
find their shelter ((‫סי)ם‬1‫ )ח‬in him". I f the word automatically carries
with it associations with the winged Shekinah of God's chariot then
the Qumran community whose liturgy brings them as near as is pos-
sible to that throne might very well have seen themselves as true
71
"refugees" under God's presence. And, of course, in their "refugee"
status as (hose who have been driven out ()!'Jerusalem they would
be comforted by the belief that they truly fulfilled the biblical vision
72
for the righteous sheltering in God's presence.
The one instance of the Aramaic root in 4Q213a also merits close
examination. There frags. 3-4 lines 5-6 read:

who profaned her name and the name of her ancestors and shamed
6
(‫ )אכהתת‬all her brothers [. . .J her father; and the name of the right-
eous/holy (ΤΟΠ ‫ )שם‬will not be wiped out (‫ )לא •חםחא‬from all her
people for ever (‫)לעלם‬

Whilst the basic meaning of ΓΓΟΠ is "holy one", the context supports
some overlap with the Hebrew ‫ ח ס ה‬since the righteous man who is
not wiped out has obviously found divine protection. And an echo of
such biblical passages as Psalm 31:2: "in you, Ο L O R D , I seek refuge
( ‫ ; ) ח ם י ח י‬do not let me ever ( ‫ ) ל ע ו ל ם‬be put to shame ( ‫ ) א ל א מ ש ה‬. . . ‫״‬
and Psalm 71:1 " I n you, Ο L O R D , I take refuge ( ‫ ; ) ח ם י ח י‬let mc never
be put to shame ( ‫ " ) א ל א כ ו ש ה ל ע ו ל ם‬suggests that for Qumran Aramaic
the verb ‫ ח ס י‬carried the connotations of the Hebrew ‫ ח ס ה‬.
For this there is perhaps also support in the pscudepigraphon
Joseph and Aseneth, whose authorship perhaps shared the same family
tree as the Zadokitc leadership at Qumran. In Joseph and Asenetii 15:7
Joseph's wife-to-be is told that her name is no longer to be Aseneth,
but is to be changed to "city of refuge" since "under your wings

" Note the expression "the lot of (he people of his throne" in 4Q511 2 i 10.
72
Cf. 4Q504 6 where the prayer for the first day of the week celebrates the fact
that G o d has cared for his people like the eagle watching over its nest (cf. Deut
32:11).
 THE THIRTEENTH SABBATH SONG 391

many peoples trusting in the Lord God will be sheltered, and behind
your walls will be guarded those who attach themselves to the Most
Lligh God . . .". Clearly Aseneth here takes over the role of the
winged Shekinah (cf. esp. L X X Zech 2:15) and Gideon Bohak has
plausibly explained this as a part of the text's allegorical reference
73
to the new Jewish temple at Leontopolis. But for an Aramaic speak-
ing authorship justification for the identification of Aseneth with the
city of "refuge" might have already been found in the similarity of
her name, Άσενέθ, to the absolute hasên.
I f there is any truth to any of this then the different Greek forms
of the name for the Essenes can all be explained as a faithful rep-
rescntation of the polyvalence of an original S e m i t i c field of mean-
ing. The movement based at Qumran bad a. number of different
similar names which were related to each other both linguistically
and conceptually. They are people of the hësen which their priest-
hood so proudly wears. As such they are themselves holy ones and
their priesthood the holiest of the holy ones (in Hebrew ‫קדושים‬, in
Aramaic ‫ )חסאי‬who take shelter in the Name of God (CD 20:34)
and whose liturgical life is lived under the shadow of God's out-
74
stretched wings.

Conclusion 10 the Sabbath Songs

Our examination of the Sabbalh Songs in the last three chapters has
been full and detailed. A brief summary of its main conclusions is
all that is needed here:
1. Carol Newsom's dualistic conceptual paradigm for the inter-
prctation of the Songs must be replaced by a new one. Both inter-
nal and external considerations point to an understanding of the cult
as a microcosm of the universe within which the demarcation of
sacred space "on earth" creates an arena within which the human
worshippers can participate in the life of heaven.
2. Within this cultic cosmology the Songs of Ihe Sabbalh Sacrifice arc

" Bohak !996, 76-80.

H
There is an intriguing use of the verb ‫ פ ר ט‬in 4Q405 23 ii 5 (!]‫ )יפרוט‬which
should perhaps be related to the biblical description of the outstretched cherubim in
Exod 25:20; 37:9 (cf. 1 Kgs 6:27; 8:7; 1 Chr 28:8; 2 Chr 3:13; 5:8) and the eagles'
outstretched wings in Dcut 32:11. The latter biblical verse has clearly influenced
the use of ‫ י פ ר ו ט‬in 4Q504 6 8.
392 CHAPTER ELEVEN

the fullest, most sustained expression of an anthropology which takes

the righteous up into the divine life arid that of the angels. Where
previous interpreters of the Songs have seen a blurred vision of a
myriad angels our conceptual lens has allowed discrete lines between
dilTercnt characters in the liturgy to come into focus. With some
confidence we can say that a transformed humanity, laity and priests,
stand centre stage in the 1st, Vlth, V l l l t h , X l l l t h and, probably, the
V l l t h Songs. In general we have been able to distinguish these Heav-
enly humans from the angels and spiritual beings who arc particu-
larly associated with the physical features of the cultic structures. Λ
confident claim to know just how much "divine" language is given
to the human worshippers is not possible. But it does seem likely
that in the 1st and the V l l t h Songs (bey arc called not just "exalted
ones", but also elohim and elim. In the X l l l t h Song it is certain that
the commfinity's own chief priesthood is identified with the Glory
of God of EzckicPs throne vision (Ezekiel 1:26-28).
3. '!here is some clear relationship between the Sabbalh Songs and
the practices of later Merkabah Mysticism and the idealised portrayals
of Israel's heroes ascending to heaven in the apocalypses. There are
both similarities and dissimilarities. Like the apocalypses and the
Hekhalot texts the Sabbalh Songs do envisage the possibility of a human
ascent from earth to heaven, and it is within this context that a
human transformation and a sharing of the life of the angels and of
that of God himself takes place. However, unlike the stories of ascent
in the apocalypses and techniques of ecstasy in the Hekhalot litera-
turc, in the Sabbalh Songs ascent is a ritualised and communal expc-
rience, not one for lone patriarchs or the shamanic altered states of
consciousness of the adept.
4. Much remains unclear and so a full comparison with apoca-
lyptic literature or Merkabah Mysticism is not possible. In particular,
it is not clear how the sacred space which is so clearly demarcated
in the words of (he Songs was actually worked out in practical litur-
gical reality. Are the cherubim, ophannim, merkabol, the vestibules, pil-
lars and other physical features of the liturgy entirely in the minds
of the human worshippers? Is it the job of the maskil and bis songs
simply to provoke the listeners' minds, to open their spiritual eyes
to see beyond their empirical reality to the true temple around them
(cf. 2 Kings 6:17)? Possibly, how could wc know? On the other hand
just as they had real priests, so they probably also really did dress
those priests in their appropriate Torah-prescribcd attire. And if they
 THE THIRTEENTH S A B B A T H SONG 393

did that they could very well have set up a form of tabernacle or
temple with real vestibules, doors, gates, pillars and their works. I f
they set up an imitation wilderness tabernacle on the marl terrace
outside Khirbet Qumran, given its sanctity we should not be surprised
that they were careful not to leave any trace to twentieth century
posterity.
One further possibility does spring to mind when we consider how
long and drawn out the process of ascent to God's presence is in
this liturgy. As a genuine mystical experience we would expect a
heavenly ascent to be a relatively brief affair: however much time
(in prayer, fasting, or meditation) might be needed in preparation it
is not the kind of experience which can be sustained over a thir-
teen week period. I wonder whether having a liturgy of this kind
set for thirteen successive Sabbaths is not designed to avoid the need
for a fixed temple building or tabernacle set up with all the neccs-
sary boundaries of sacred space. I f each song is set for a different
sector of the cosmos or heavenly world then the theatre can remain
the same and each week the Staging can be rearranged. One week
the staging is set for a liturgy of the vestibule, the next week for the
parokel, and so on. This would mean that a structuring of liturgical
time is a dramatic device which replaces the structure of sacred space
of Israel's Tabernacle and Temple. This would allow the liturgy to
be celebrated in a meeting room of the Qumran complex which
now shows no obvious signs of being a temple space (with all the
Songs' sanctuaries, pillars, gates and other temple features).
Other texts which are assigned to the maskil give the impression
that the maskil'5 office entailed instruction to members of the Essene
movement away from Qumran in the members' home towns and
7s
villages. The Sabbath Songs could be used in a similar way, as the
existence of a copy at Masada might confirm. In this case the liturgy
is a kind of touring mystery play which the maskil, and other (lay
and priestly?) leaders (?), lake around the communities of Essenes.
They stay in each community for only one quarter of the year and
"perform" (with the participation of local members?) the liturgy in
a building (a place of gathering or "synagogue") which can accom-
modale a change of liturgical staging and props each Sabbath.

75
Sec esp. 4Q298 "Sons o f Dawn" which is small enough ίο be carried in a
traveler's pocket.
394 CHAPTER ELEVEN

Again, this is speculation.

5. Are the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice sectarian? Yes. This is now
clear not just from the use of a solar calendar and the presence of
the maskil. The Songs, particularly the 1st Song, are full of the lan-
guage and ideas peculiar to the Qumran community. There are, in
particular, numerous points of theological and linguistic contacts with
the later columns of the cave 1 version of the Community Rule (1QS
8—10) which suggests the liturgy belongs to the foundational stages
of the life of the community. The liturgy is also distinctively Essene
in that it reaches its climactic moment with a vision of the com-
munity 's high priests each wearing their hësen, the multi-coloured,
jewel-encrusted brcastpicc.es of their divine Glory.
 CHAPTER T W E L V E

T H E WAR SCROIJ,

Another text which provides us with some important evidence in

our search for the community's theological anthropology is the War
1
Scroll. It has generally been thought that the War Scroll is strongly
dualistic in its angelology; distinguishing clearly both between good
angels and the demonic Belial, and between the suprahuman angels
2
and the human combatants in the eschatological war. There arc,
certainly, portions of the text which speak of a distinction between
the human and the angelic. But there arc other aspects which, as
we shall see, point to the synchronisation of heavenly and earthly
worlds in such a way that the righteous are both the effective agents
of God's action and his presence, thereby becoming thcomorphic or
angelic.

Humanity and the Angels in Battle Together

The normal scholarly view is that the distinctive theological contri-

bution of the War Scroll to Israel's Holy War tradition is the way in
which the human lighters are accompanied by angels who fight beside
them or on their behalf. There are several passages which demon-
strate that the Qumran community's general experience of a shared
life with the angels had a reflex in its vision for the eschatological
battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.
In the first column we arc told that

. . . on this (day) they shall clash i n a great carnage; the congregation

o f divine beings (‫ )אלים‬and the assembly o f m e n , the Sons o f Light

1
Though it is possible that the scroll, or parts thereof, had a prc-Qumranite
and extra-Essene history, there is no doubt that in its present form it represents
the ideology of the movement centred at Qumran. For a summary of the overlap
with other Qumran texts in distinctive language and theology see Wacholder 1983,
78-83.
2
For the War Scroll the "apogee" o f apocalyptic spatial dualism see Gammie
1974, 371—cf. Duhaime 1987, 34. See Collins 1997a, 99-106 who looks to Persian
ideas for an explanation of the scroll's dualism.
396 CHAPTER TWELVE

and the lot o f darkness, shall fight each other for (the disclosure o f )
the m i g h t o f G o d , w i t h the u p r o a r o f a large m u l t i t u d e a n d the w a r
cry o f d i v i n e beings ( ‫ ) א ל י ם‬a n d m e n , on the day o f c a l a m i t y . . . .
(1:10 11).

In 12:9 the host 0Γ Gael's spirits (‫ )צבא תחיו‬is with Israel's foot sol-
diers (cf. 19:1-2). In 7:3 ‫־‬7 a principal criterion for membership of
the camp arranged for battle is a purity compatible with the près-
ence of "holy angels" in the people's midst. The presence of specifically
named angels amongst Israel's ranks is proclaimed through inscrip-
tions on shields of the towers used in combat. According to 9:15
"On all the shields o f the towers they shall write: on the first
5
'Mich|ac]l,' [. . . on the third] 'Sariel', on the fourth 'Raphael'."
And in 10:10 I I Israel are specifically described as those who can
sec the angels: they are "seers of angels".
In 13:10 we read o f the "prince of light (‫ ")שר מאור‬whom long
ago God entrusted to Israel's help and under whose dominion arc
all the. spirits of truth. The identity of this character is never defined
precisely. He appears elsewhere in Q L as the "prince of lights (‫שר‬
•‫( ")אורי‬IQS 3:20-25). Since Yadin's commentary he has tradition-
ally been identified with Michael. ' There are both internal and cxtcr-
nal arguments adduced in favour of this identification. I n a later
passage, in the War •Scroll (17:G—8) an angel who is sent to Israel's
help and who is, it is claimed, identified with Michael, is described
in terms similar to those of the "prince of light" in 13:10. Outside
of the War Scroll Michael is identified as the prince of Israel (Daniel
10:21; 12:1; / Enoch 20:5; /;. Torna 77a etc . . .) and he is given high
ranking authority over the cosmos and humanity (e.g. / Enoch 20:5;
b. Hag. 12b).
The theme of angelic assistance in the War Scroll is not entirely
unique. I t has its historical background in the biblical (and ancient
Near Eastern) tradition of the divine warrior accompanied by bis
heavenly hosts.‫ '׳‬As for the specific role of angels on the battlefield
this too is already present in the O T (see Exod 23:20; 33:2; 2 Kgs
19:35; 2 Chr 32:21 cf. 1 Kgs 22:19; 2 Kgs 6:17; Ps 31:6). The theme
is well attested in Hasmoncan propaganda literature (1 Mace 7:14;

‫ '׳‬From (he broken lex( which follows (9:16) it seems (he second name was Gabriel.
This team of four is, of course, traditional (cf. e.g. / Enoch 9:1; 10:1 — 1 1 etc . . .).
1
Sec Yadin 1962, 235-36, cf., e.g., Davidson Ί 992, 225-227.
5
Sec the discussion of Miller 1973, 143-4 in the context of pp. 8-144 generally.
 T H E WAR SCROLL 397

6
2 Mace 10:29-30; 11:6; 15:23, cf. 2 Mace 3), and has analogues
7
in later Jewish (and Christian) literature.
Whilst both scholarly introductions and detailed discussions of the
War Scroll have focused on its application of the Engelgeineinschcift motif
to the Holy War, there has been a one-sided preoccupation with
this dimension of the text. The assumption is frequently made that
the participation of the angels in the conflict is a reflection of the
text's dualistic theological framework. The text certainly adopts a
limited dualism between God and his lot, the Sons of Light on the
one hand and Belial, and his lot, the Sons of Darkness, on the other.
There is also, clearly, some kind of distinction between the action
in heaven and (hat on (he battlefield on earth. However, in our view
(here is much less evidence for a strongly spatial dualism, between
heaven above and earth below, as a defining feature of the text's
worldview."
Caution is necessary on a number of counts. For example, nowhere
is there described any actual conflict between Israel's angels and the
demons (as we find, for example, in Daniel 10:13, 20-21; Rev 12:7-9).
The text concentrates almost entirely on the details of the human
9
conflict. The War Scroll envisages no eschatological collapse of his-
tory and the space-time universe, but rather sees the victory of the
elect as the affirmation of creation (sec, esp., 10:11-15 and 12:7-16
discussed below), the perfection of history' and the extension of Israel's
own social, political and religious institutions throughout the world
(1:8, 2:1-14). There is no obvious expectation of physical post-mortem
resurrection, but rather the older belief in a long life for the righteous,

‫ יי‬I n 1QH" 11:35-6 [3:35-6] there is a passing reference to "war o f the heavenly
warriors (‫ ")נכורי שנדם‬which "will scourge the earth". In the light o f our discussion
of the War Scroll it might be wisest to take this as a reference to the sectarians in
their heavenly mode.
' Cf. / Enoch 56:5; Is. I lag. 14b; Rev 12.
" The nature of the text's dualism is related to the possibility o f its adoption or
genetic relationship to (he Persian dualism of contemporacy Zoroastrianism. J.J.
Collins, in particular, has argued for the influence o f this history-of-rcligions back-
ground to the War Scroll's mythology, and a concomitant movement away from the
Cananaanite mythology which is determinative for earlier apocalyptic represented
by Daniel 7 1 2 ‫־‬ (Collins 1975). However, the Persian influence is rejected by ot
crs, e.g. Davidson 1992, 232-34, cf. Ostcn-Sackcn 1969, who sees a derivation
entirely from the O T .
0
The point is noted by Davidson, 1992, 232, though his claim that the "war
between the angels is presupposed" at various points is unwarranted -at least for
the dualistic understanding of angelology which he assumes.
398 CHAPTER TWELVE

the Sons of Light ( I Q M 1:9). This is all consistent with an under-

standing of apocalyptic language as that which gives theological depth
and meaning to the ordinary empirical realities of history.'" It is not
obviously indicative of the worldview, which most modern com-
mcntators assume, according to which there are two separate, albeit
interdependent, but nevertheless quite distinct worlds, the heavenly
and the earthly.
There are numerous passages in the scroll where it is unclear
whether, on close inspection, the text refers to angels, to men or to
both (e.g. I Q M 1:1-11; 12:1-8; 15:14; 17:6-8; 18:2). Although the
majority of commentators currently take all instances of "‫"אלים‬,
‫ " מ ל א כ י ם ״‬, ‫ " ק ד ו ש י ם ״‬, and so forth, as references to suprahuman angels,
caution is now necessary in (he light of our examination of oilier
Dead Sea Scroll texts and the wider phenomenon of angelomorphic
anthropology in the Judaism of this period. The danger of assum-
ing, without further ado, that such language can only refer to supra-
human angels has now been well illustrated by M . Smith's critique
of Baillet's interpretation of 4Q491 frag. 11.
Another duality which has emerged from our discussion thus far
presents itself as an alternative explanation of the angelological por-
tions of the War Scroll: it is possible that descriptions of two distinct
communities of human and angelic individuals is in some cases a
reflection of the distinction between the battlefield proper and the
cultic centre from which Israel's fighters set forth. Although the war
is highly ritualised in character, with the priesthood playing a promi-
nent role both liturgically and strategically, the priests are to be kept
apart from the actual fighting itself (9:7-9; 16:8-9). There may, there-
fore, be a distinction between the angelic priesthood and the human
laity akin to that which we have found in 4Q511 35 and the first
of the Sabbath Songs.
There are instances where, for example, references to "holy ones
(‫ ")קדושים‬must refer to humans (6:6 and 16:1: "the holy ones of his
people (‫)")קדושי עמו‬, others where it is ambiguous: 18:2 the "shout
of the holy ones (‫ ")חרועח קדושים‬as they pursue Asshur; the "multi-
tude of holy ones (‫ ")רוב קדושים‬in 12:1; the ‫ ״ ע ם קדושים״‬in 12:8
which could intend a "people of holy ones"," just as " ‫ " ק ח ש י כ ה‬in

10
Compare Wright, 1992, 280-299.
" For this translation of 12:4 see, e.g., Yadin 1962, 316. Others translate "together
 THE WAR SCROLL 399

12:4 could refer to God's elect. The opening lines of the twelfth col-
umn provide a tantalizingly difficult text in which there are certainly
human characters ("the elect ones of the holy people" 12:1, "the
elect ones of heaven" 12:5) alongside others who are described in
strongly angelic terminology ( " 1 2 : 1"‫ ) צ ב א ו תמלאכים‬. T
commentators assume that although there is here certainly a com-
munity of angels and men, the former are not described in terms
of the later. Garmignac is a notable exception to this consensus,
however. He thinks that the "multitude of holy ones" who are now
in the heavens are the souls of the deceased righteous who fight
12
alongside those still alive in a kind of "communion of saints". Such
a view is without parallel in the Qumran texts and lacks any con-
ceplual support in the War Scroll. However, it reminds us that the
text is not as straightforward as a first reading might suggest.
The common assumption that conceptually angels and humanity are
separate ontologically (though interdependent functionally) within the
War Scroll must be questioned in the light of two portions of the
early columns of the scroll. (1) The first is one of the clearest state-
ments of an Engelgenieinschafl, which merits some careful considéra-
tion. In the seventh column there are instructions for the exclusion
of various categories of persons from the military force. There are
to be no young boys or women (lines 3-4). Neither shall there be
any lame, blind, crippled, any in whose flesh there is a permanent
blemish or one who suffers from some unclcanness (lines 4—5), This
exclusion is not due to the common sense practicalities of war, nor
out of compassion for those who would be unable to defend them-
selves, but because

They shall all be volunteers for war, perfect ones of spirit and flesh
6
(‫)חמימי רוח ובשר‬, and ready for the Day of Vengeance, Any man
who is not purified from a bodily discharge on the clay of battle shall
not go down with them, for the holy angels (‫ )מלאכי קודש‬arc together
with their hosts (‫)עם צבאוחם יחד‬.

There is no suggestion in this passage that the "holy angels" are any
other than suprahuman transcendent beings who are in community
with the mortal troops. This ruling is an angelological modification

with the holy ones", which stills allows a reference to humans though it lends itself
rather better to an expression of an Engelgemeinschqfl of two distinct orders of being,
men and angels. Cf. the "‫ " ע ם קודש‬in 12:1.
12
Garmignac 1958, 171, cf. Yadin 1962, 242.
400 CHAPTER TWELVE

of Deuteronomy 23:14 where, "because the LORD your God travels

along with your camp, . . . your camp must be holy, so that he may
13
not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you".
Clearly, for the sectarians the L O R D ' S presence is now manifest in
the "holy angels".
However, whilst there are angels here who arc clearly distinct
from mortals, it is noteworthy how far the language and ideology
puts humanity in an angelomorphic mode. The boundary markers
of the community are ])!•escribed by the angelic identity: those who
are perfect physically and spiritually meet the entrance requirements,
whilst those who are physically damaged or spiritually impure arc
excluded. Here we find a clear example of (he widespread corrc-
sponclence between physical perfection and the divine or angelic
identity. This angelomorphic physiognomy is recurrent in the Jewish
texts fronrthe period and corresponds to a similar ideology in Greco-
4
Roman divine man traditions.' As we have seen, language of "per-
feclion" is prominent in Q L and the angelomorphic community in
the Sabbath Songs are designated the "perfect of way", whilst the poetic
praise of their priesthood highlights their possession of the beauty of
the heavenly realm. lit the War Scroll it is "through the perfect of
way ( ‫ " ) ב ת מ י מ י ל ר ך‬that God will destroy all the wicked nations accord-
ing to I Q M 14:7.
(2) The second passage which suggests the War Scroll has in mind
an angelic, heavenly, identity for the true Israel as it lights the escha-
tologieal war is the first column. This is a collage of biblical allu-
sions which sets the scene for the military instructions to follow.
Particularly prominent, though by no means systematically worked
out, are a number of allusions to the last chapters of Daniel.'•''
Accordingly, the war envisaged in what follows is the eschatological
war that will mean the decisive destruction of God's enemies and

" The rest of I Q M 7:6 and 7:7 picks up the instrutlioii of Deut 23:12 ‫־‬13 that
(here be a designated spot to meet nature's needs at a distance from the camp.
1
*,,See Biclcr 1935-36, 49-56; Betz 1958; Horbury 1998, 97-98, 102. O f the
notable Jewish examples of divine physiognomy we have already discussed the Birth
of Noah and the "beauty" o f the high priest in Sirach 45:7-8 and 50:1-21. Sec
also the Prince of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:12-16, the prominence of this theme m Joseph
and Aseneth, 2 Baruch 51:10-12 and Artapanus in Eusebius' Praep. Evan. 9.27.37 where
we are told that "Moses was tall, ruddy, gray with long hair, most venerable", (for
the angelomorphic Moses in Artapanus see Fletchcr-Eouis, 1997, 176-78).
15
For the use of language from Daniel 11:11, 32, 40-45; 12:1-3 in I Q M col. 1
see. recent survey in Wenthe 1998 and cf. Osten-Sacken 1969, 31—34.
 THE WAR SCROLL 401

the vindication and exaltation of Israel. I n this context 1QM 1:8

says "But [the Sons of Rig]hteousncss shall shine unto all the utter-
most ends of the world, going on to shine until the completion of
all the appointed times of darkness". Though the language is not
exactly parallel this is obviously equivalent to the vision of the time
in Daniel 12:3 when "those who are wise shall shine like the bright-
ness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the
stars forever and ever". For the War Scroll, then, the period of Israel's
eschatological conflict is Ike period when Israel has already been transformed
into ils heavenly, light-giving mode. The Sons of Righteousness as a whole
now bring light to the farthest reaches of the cosmos as had the
d
heavenly high priest: of 4QTLcvi .
These considerations give grounds for another examination of the
War Scroll's angelology and a questioning of the consensus that angelic
language never refers to the human actors in any way. The rush to
identify the prince of lights with Michael is symptomatic of modern
scholarships predilection for dualism: an angelic figure of such sin-
gular importance, it is assumed, must be identified in a one-to-one
relationship with a distinct personal angelic, being who is an entirely
suprahuman divine agent. But matters arc not so simple and we will
work our way in the rest of this study to a more sophisticated under-
standing of the prince of lights; one which we hope more adequately
satisfies all the relevant data. Matters are not so simple because (a)
the fact that the scrolls never actually identify the prince of light(s)
with Michael is striking and requires explanation in itself; (b) the
supposed three-way "identification" of the angel of help with Michael
on the one hand and the prince of light on the other in 1QM 17:6—8
is by no means as straightforward as has been assumed, and (c.) the
name Michael itself has not, we think, been properly understood, at
least as it functions in the War Scroll.

Divine and Human Agency

Whilst it has been widely assumed that at the heart of the War Scroll
there is the view that the eschatological battle is fought with the
indispensable assistance and power of the angelic realm, this dimen-
si on o f the text should not be overstated. It is muted by compati-
son with the greater emphasis on the Israelites themselves as agents
of God's power.
402 CHAPTER T W E L V E

P.R. Davies has pointed to the error of previous scholars in read-

ing into one passage the idea of an angelic battle when it is not pre-
sent. In 7:6-7, as we have seen the "holy angels" are with the forces
in the camp, just as God is with the Israelites in their camp accord-
ing to Deut 23:14. However, there is no mention here of the angels
actually acting as the combatants. The angels are present here because
of the issue of Israel's purity: The influence of Leviticus 21:17—21
in determining the criteria for exclusion of the physically disabled
points to the priesthood and cult as the context for the Engelgemeinschafi,
not the holy war.
Similarly, in column 10 Israel's access to the angelic realm is part
of her privileged status as a recipient of cosmological insight, again,
by [)articular virtue of her cult. No specific, relevance for Israel's holy
war is drawn from her ability to see and understand the angelic
realm, beybnd the fact that she is chosen by God and is, presum-
ably, to take courage from the fact that she is the object of his care,
special attention and revelation: her knowledge of the whole cosmos
is coterminous with her right to a privileged position therein despite
threats from her enemies.
Maxwell Davidson has noted that "while the enemies of the sect
are in the lot of an angel (Belial), God's people are associated with
16
God himself". This distinction is rooted in Deuteronomy 32:8
according to which God assigns every nation to an angel ( L X X and
4QDeut'), but to Israel the L O R D himself. Davidson's observation
means the author of this material is unlikely to have seen angels as
the principal administrators of God's purposes. The point is very
well made by 1QM 14:7, where it is not through (suprahuman)
angels, but rather

through the perfect of way [that] all the wicked nations be destroyed

These "perfect of way" arc those who in the Songs of Ike Sabbath
Sacrifice have a transformed life, worshipping God as heavenly beings
in the heights above.

16
1992, 225. The righteous arc members of God's lot in 1 Q M 1:5; 13:5; 15:1;
17:7 and (he human (and demonic) lot of Belial appear in \QM 1:1, 5, 11; 4:2;
13:2, 4, 5, 11-12.
 THE WAR SCROLL 403

Columns 10-19: The Ideological Heart of the Holy War

Columns 2-9 provide detailed instructions for the practicalities of

the battlefield. There is much theology in the midst of the logistics
though it is, by and large, implicit. Columns 10-14 form the heart
of the scroll's theological vision. Whereas columns 2-9 have, pri-
marily, to do with the theatre of war, columns 10—14 are focused
on the liturgy of the cult and the theology which motivates the
fighters. This section of the scroll has, as a whole, been inadequately
discussed, even though it holds the interpretative key to so much
else. In the rest of this chapter we offer a detailed discussion of
columns 10-14 and 17 in the belief that; they show that a strong
theological anthropology plays a central role in the ideology of the
War Scroll and that its life-setting is Israel's cult which has given the
17
vision for the Holy War only a limited dualistic character.

Column 10: Israel, the One like God in All Creation

The end of column 9 is broken and so column 10 begins in the

middle of a section of instruction. Lines 2~5a cite the command of
Deuteronomy 20:2-4 that the priest take his stand and address the
people before battle, encouraging them not to fear their enemies but
to trust God who is in their midst. Lines 5-6 pick up and expand
the address of the officials in Deuteronomy 20:5-8, signalling a theme
of much of what follows: the officials are "to strengthen the willing
hearted in the might of God, to restore all the melted hearts, to
strengthen together all the mighty men of worth". Justifiable grounds
for war is extracted from Numbers 10:9 which says that "when a
war occurs in your land against the foe oppressing you, you shall
blow on the trumpets and you shall be remembered before your
God and saved from your enemies."
What follows deserves detailed discussion. In 10:8-16 Israel is set
in a privileged position within the cosmos as uniquely like God and
privy to the secrets and order of creation.

17
M y approach to the War Scroll is somewhat anticipated by Robert M u r r a y
who has claimed (Murray 1992, 91) that it "has aspects which make i t clearly a
descendant of old war ritual texts, not only against human enemies but against evil
in the cosmic and angelic sphere. Though it contains material of military charac-
ter, it is much easier to interpret the text as a whole in terms of ritual with prophetic
and magical aspects".
404 CHAPTER TWELVE

" a n d saved f r o m y o u r enemies" ( N u m 10:9). W h o is like y o u , Ο G o d

o f Israel, i n the h c a | v c ] n s or on earth, to do a c c o r d i n g to y o u r great
w o r k s ( ‫ יי ) י ע ש ה כ מ ע ש י כ ה ה ג ד ו ל י ם‬and y o u r m i g h t y strength ( ‫כ ג כ ו ר ת כ ה‬
‫ ?)החזקה‬Who is like your people Israel w h o m y o u have chosen
10
for y o u r s e l f a m o n g all the peoples o f the lands? the h o l y people o f
the covenant, learned i n the statute, taught i n discern [ m e n t | ( ‫מ ש כ י ל י‬
‫ ) כ י נ ] ה‬, hearers o f the glorious voice, seers o f " the h o l y angels (‫הואי‬
‫ ) מ ל א כ י ק ו ד ש‬, open o f ear, hearers o f deep things [. . .] the. expanse o f
1 2
the skies, the hosts o f the luminaries ( ,(‫צ ב אםאותח‬ the task o
spirits ( ‫ ) מ ש א ר ו ח ו ת‬, the d o m i n i o n o f the holy ones ( ‫ ) מ מ ש ל ח ק ד ו ש י ם‬, trea-
surics o f [. . .] clouds ( ‫ ; ) ע ב י ם‬the one w h o creates the earth and the
13
b o u n d a r i e s o f its d i v i s i o n s for the wilderness a n d d r y l a n d , all it p r o -
duces w i t h [their] frufits] the circle o f the seas, the reservoirs o f the
rivers and the cleaving o f the depths " the deeds o f beasts and birds,
the f o r m o f A d a m / h u m a n i t y ( ‫ ) ח ב נ י ח א ר ם‬and [. . .] the confusion o f
tongue and the separation o f peoples, (he settling o f clans '‫ יי‬and the
d i s t r i b u t i o n o f lands |. . .]the appointed times o f holiness, the circuits
o f years a n d the tintes o f "'eternity |. . .] '1'hcsc ( ‫ ) א ל ה‬wc have k n o w n
f r o m y o u r discernment ( ‫ ) מ כ י נ ח כ ה‬, w h i c h [. . .

Clearly, here (line 11), again, the "holy angels" are suprahuman.
The context of the revelation of cosmoiogical secrets, which contin-
tics through to line 15, suggests that these holy angels arc closely
bound up with the physical universe—they arc its spiritual aspect,
(hose beings responsible for its order and proper functioning. At the
beginning of line 12 the ‫ משא רוחות‬could just as well be "the rising
of the winds" as "the task of the spirits". In the context the "clomin-
ion of the holy ones" (line 12) is most likely a purely angelological
dominion, though a thoroughly ecological one at that. I f so this is a
18
noteworthy use of ‫ קדושים‬in this sense.
The opening lines of the officials' speech arc striking. They bring
together two questions which usually appear separately in the Hebrew
Bible. Both the questions "Who is like you, God of Israel?" and
"Who is like you, Israel?" arc asked rhetorically, expecting the answer
"no one" in the scriptures (Exod 15:11; Deut 3:24; Pss 35:10; 71:19;
113:5 and Deut 33:29; 2 Sam 7:23; 1 Chr 17:21, respectively). In
one instance, 2 Sam 7:22-23 (= 1 Chr 17:20-21), a rhetorical seek-
ing after any who arc like Israel is linked to a statement of the
!!!comparability of Israel's God:

18
For ‫ ק ד ו ש‬as an angel sec Job 5:1; 15:15; Ps 89:6, 8 (Eng. 89:5, 7); Dan 8:13;
Zcch 14:5.
 T H E WAR SCROLL 405

Therefore you are great, Ο L O R D God; for there is no one like you,
and there is no God besides you (‫)כי אין כמוך ואין אלהים זולהך‬, accord-
2i
ing to all that wc have heard with our ears. ' Who is like your peo-
pic, like Israel? (‫ ?)מי כעמך כשהאל‬Is there another nation on earth
whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for
himself, doing great and awesome things for them, by driving out
before his people nations and their gods?

Here, as in 1QM 10:8-9, the incomparability of God is set along-

side the incomparability of Israel. But in this biblical text this is sim-
ply an affirmation of the special privilege of Israel's salvation and
election; there is no fuller, ontological, sense that Israel's singularity
somehow participates in, or reflects, God's peculiar majesty.
In die War Scroll a statement far more radical than the biblical
language originally intended is created by a careful and deliberate
juxtaposition of two questions••-"Who is like you, Ο God of Israel?"
and "who is like your people, Israel?"—which do not themselves
appear together in the biblical text. The result is a parallelism with
both a pleasing assonance—between the ‫" כ מ ו כ ה‬like you" of line 8
and the ‫" כ ע מ כ ה‬like your people" of line 9—and a profound theo-
logical statement.
The exclamation of the incomparability of God is formed, in par-
ticular, under the influence of Deuteronomy 3:24 ("what god is there
in heaven or on earth who does deeds and mighty acts like yours (‫אשר יעשה‬
‫ "?)כמעשיך וכגכורחך‬This Deuteronomic verse gives the grounds for
God's uniqueness in his unsurpassed power in creation and history
(Y). For the War Scroll the grounds for the incomparability of Israel
is her election (Y'), her possession and education in the Torah and
her privileged access to the secrets of creation (10:9-16). In the O T
antecedents Israel's incomparability is always grounded in salvation-
history, never, as here, in the Torah and creation.
This later peculiarity and the combination of the two forms —the
incomparability of God and of Israel—in the one context reflects a
new and dramatic theological statement. Where in the Old Testament
this form of question is purely rhetorical, here the author expects
his readers or hearers to supply new answers to the biblical questions.
The question

(X) Who is like you, God of Israel, in the heavens or on earth,

(Y) to do according to your great works and your mighty strength?
406 CHAPTER TWELVE

implies the answer "Israel", because what follows states her incom-
parability. The juxtaposition of the two questions in lines 8-9 is sug-
gestive of the homology between Israel and God. To the question

(X') Who is like your people Israel

(Y') whom you have chosen for yourself among the peoples of
the lands, the holy people of the covenant, learned in statute
(etc . . . lines 10-16)?

the answer has just been supplied, with a statement of the incom-
parability of her God. These two lines (8-9) play on the fact that
their statements can be either rhetorical and therefore, in effect sim-
ply declaratory of what is the case, or genuinely interrogative expect-
ing the answer supplied by the other question.
Besides the suggestive juxtaposition of the two (rhetorical) state-
merits there are a couple of other indications that we have here a
theological anthropology of a quite remarkable kind. (1) First, this
homology between Israel and her God makes sense in the text's flow
of thought as an explication of the citation from Numbers 10:9 in
lines 6b-8a, which prescribes the blowing of trumpets so thai Israel
may be remembered before, her God. Lines 8b onwards then supply the
content of that remembrance: Israel is like God and therefore the
ground of her hope and the lighters' strength of heart is the knowl-
edge that he will act on behalf of his own—she who is uniquely like
unto him (Israel).
(2) Secondly, if the two declarations are intertwined in this way,
then we should expect there to be some correspondence between
the second half (Y) of the first question and the second half (Y') of
the second question. How, then, is Israel like God 10 do according to
his great works and his mighty strength (Y)? There arc. two parts to this
statement and both lit perfectly Israel's vocation in the immediate
context.
According to 10:5-6 the priest shall "address all those who arc
ready for battle, to strengthen (‫ )להחזיק‬the willing hearted in the might
of God (‫)בגבורת אל‬, to restore all the melted hearts, to strengthen together
all the mighty men of worth (‫")להזיק יחד כ ו ל נ מ ר י חיל‬. Clearly, it is
Israel at war who are to "do according to God's mighty strength
(‫ ")כנבורתכה החזקה‬as line 8-9 describes. So part of the first question
looks back to the immediate context of military conflict and binds
Israel closely to God's action and presence within eschatological his-
tory. Indeed, that Israel is to act according to God's strength is a
leitmotif which recurs throughout the columns that follow. In col-
 THE WAR SCROLL 407

umri 11 David slays Goliad! because he trusts in God's Name, not

his own strength. The battle belongs to God "and the strength is from
[him]"—it is not Israel's strength (lines 4-5). As we shall see, this is
a principal element in the argument of column 11 as a whole. I n
column 14 God "miraculously" opens the mouth of the mute "to
9
sing for joy in the might [of. . .] (‫ ")לרנן בנםר]ת‬Gocl.' Fie gives to
the staggering knees strength (pitn) to stand and steadiness of loins
to the smitten back (lines 6-7). Throughout the rest of the War Scroll
there is the presupposition that the true Israel in her Floly War acts
according to God's mighty strength and so 10:8-9 quite naturally
expects the answer that only Israel is like her God.
10:10-16 (Y') looks backwards temporally to creation and inter-
preis further what it means to "do according to God's great acts . . ."
(Y). Israel knows and properly understands creation and its order.
It is also true to say that she acts in accordance with God's great
works of creation because she knows "the appointed times of holi-
ness, the circuits of the years and the times of eternity (line 15, cf.
IQS 10:1-10 e t c . . . ) " . That is, she has a festival calendar which
orders her life in accordance with the drama of creation—God's
2
great works. " Every part of her cultic life is ingrained with the
rhythm of creation and, if she knows and follows the theology of
Sirach 24 and 50, her own priesthood plays the role of the creator
God within the cult-as-microcosm.
Again diis is a theme which recurs in the columns that follow. Israel's
cosmologically synchronized worship is the burden of 14:12c—14a:

we, your holy people, in your truthful works shall praise (‫כמעשי אמתכה‬
‫ )נהללה‬your Name and in your mighty deeds shall exalt (‫וכנכורוחיכה‬
‫| )נרוממה‬. . .] the times and holy days of the fixed times of eternity
(‫)ומועדי תעודות עולמים‬, with the arfrijval of the day and night, and the
departure of the evening and the morning.

The translators have failed to perceive the propriety of the natural

2
force of the ‫ ב‬prefix on ‫ מעשי‬and .‫ 'גבותתיכה‬This has a similar

" On analogy with the ‫ ב‬+ ‫ ת ן‬of Pss 20:6 and 33:1 there is no reason not to
translate "to sing for joy in . . .".
2 0
For the sect's calendar here see e.g. Dupont-Sommcr 1955, 158; Plocg 1959,
139; Yadin 1962, 308. For the ΓΤΕίρΠ ("circuits", or "turning points") cf., e.g., I Q S
10:1, 2, 3, 6; 1 Q I T 9:24; 20:5, 6, 8 [1:24; 12:5, 6, 8].
21
The second belli is even omitted from Yadin's transcription and translation
(1962, 328-9).
408 CHAPTER TWELVE

meaning to the belli in Sirach 45:7 where Aaron ministers to God

"in his Glory" and 4Q405 23 ii 10 where the chief priests bless the
God of knowledge "in all the works of His Glory". There is no need
to see the beth in 1QM 14:12-14 as a causative "because of" or
"through", since, in context, the thought is quite deliberately one in
which Israel's worship, in temple and upon the battlefield, is in accor-
22
dance with, in synch with and in the rhythm of God's truthful worh. The
belief that Israel's worship in the sanctuary is symmetrical with God's
work on the seven days of creation of Genesis 1, which is well estab-
fished in the Priestly material of the Pentateuch, is assumed here:
Israel imitates, acts out and participates in God's truthful works and
23
mighty deeds as an expression of worship to her creator God. The
War Scroll, refers here specifically to the Tamid offering the morn-
ing and evening sacrifice and so the conceptual background will
include the liturgical imitation of God's separation of light and dark-
ness in the priestly tending of the menorah at the boundary between
day and night. Our author assumes the older Priestly theology accord-
ing to which God's humanity worships him through a dramatic imi-
talio Dei creatoris.
The reference to God's works (‫ )מעשי‬and mighty acts (‫)בגמו־וחיכה‬
in column 14 picks up the language of 10:8-9, where again the con-
2 1
text brings together creation and cult. ' Clearly, then, Israel is like
God because she acts according to God's actions in creation and
she fights God's enemies according to his mighty strength.
10:14b-15a are probably a further significant part of the logic of
the tenth column, binding together creation and eschatological vie-
tory. They speak of the "confusion of language and the separation
of peoples, the settling of clans and the distribution of lands". There
25
are multiple intcrtextual allusions here. In particular, there is ref-

2 2
Psalm 150:2 need not provide a precedent for a praising of God for his mighty
deeds. This psalm is set in the sanctuary which is i n symmetry with the cosmos
(v, 1 ‫ קרשו‬is parallel to ‫)רקיע עזו‬, and so the praise of God "in his mighty deeds
(‫ " ) ה ל ל ו ה ו כנכורחיו‬is, as in 1QJVI 14:12, a praise offered through a worship that is
patterned after the order of creation.
2:3
In the broken text that remains at the end of column 10 there is a reference
to "his house ( T P U , line 18)". D i d this refer to God's temple—the meeting point of
humanity, God and creation—as the place from which the eschatological conflict
is waged?
2 4
Cf. also 13:7-9.
2 5
For the relevant biblical texts and the points o f linguistic overlap see Yadin
1962, 308; Jongeling 1962, 255.
 THE WAR SCROLL 409

erencc to the tower of Babel, the settling of the promised land under
Joshua and the description of God's allotting the portions to the
nations in Deuteromony 32:8-9. These references are double edged.
The Dcuteronomic picture of Israel as the L O R D ' S own portion sup-
ports the theme at the heart of column 10; Israel has a peculiarly
intimate relationship with the one creator God. This intimacy is also
reflected in the sense that she has been given by God her own sacred
territory, the promised land. However, possession of that territory
was achieved at the cost of a prolonged military conquest; a mili-
tary contest in past salvation-history which provides the model for
the future war against the sons of darkness "when the exiles, the
Sons of Light, return from the wilderness of the peoples to encamp
in the wilderness of Jerusalem" ( I Q M 1:3).
On the other hand, the confusion of tongues at Babel in Genesis
11 speaks of the dysfunctional relationship between humanity and
creation. It is precisely this dysfunction which is the cause of the
eschatological battle between Israel and her enemies. Implicitly, and
perhaps this was spelt out in the lacunae, the war to which Israel
is summoned is the means by which God restores the order of ere-
atiou as originally intended: in the War of the Sons of Light and
the Sons of Darkness the Endzeil will restore the Urzeit as it was
before Genesis 11 (a view which will be developed in chapter 12).
This column, therefore, seeks to bind together creation and com-
ing salvation-history. At the centre of the web of creation and his-
tory there stands a quite remarkable homology between God and
Israel, the people that lives in accordance with God's action in his-
lory and creation. Both literarily and conceptually the movement of
2
the passage turns on the similitude between God and Israel. ''

2
‫יי‬ It is also possible that behind this God-Israel relationship there stands a God-
Adam and Israel-Adam relationship. According to the priestly tradition as repre-
settled by Sirach's recounting of creation in Sirach 16:24-17:21 the similarity between
the creator and humanity, of which Genesis 1:26-27 speaks, is constituted precisely
by the fact that "He endowed them with strength (ίσχύν) like his own (καθ' εαυτόν)
(following the emendation from εαυτούς proposed by Ziegler, Smend 1906, 155
and others) and tnadc them in his own image (κατ' εικόνα αύτοΰ)" (17:3). That
Adam's similitude to God is, at least in part, in mind here is indicated by the
account of creation that follows. Israel knows the answer to the question of line 8
because to her has been revealed the "form of Adam (line 14)".
410 CHAPTER TWELVE

IQM 10:9: Who is Like God? Michael and Israel's Secret. Name

That this reading is the right one is further confirmed by an intrigu-

ing detail in the scribe's writing of his text. In line 9 the scribe left
a gap between the words "who" and "like your people Israel". There
is no damage to the leather which otherwise causes scribes to leave
such gaps and the presence of a horizontal line indicates a deliber-
2
ate scribal marker. ' The scribal layout of I Q M , as throughout the
scrolls, is attentive to the use of gaps in order to mark structural
divisions and clear paragraphs in the text. Why is there this gap
here? It is, obviously, not a gap to mark a paragraph or section
division in the text and yet it has a peculiar line which indicates a
matter of significance. Suggested explanations tend to involve the
assumption that something is missing and the gap is the scribe's
28
recognition that the lacuna has to be filled.' There is little warrant,
however, for the view that the gap is unintentional on the grounds
29
that, for example, the scribe's model was illegible at this point.
I would suggest that the gap has several purposes. First and fore-
most it flags up the presence of a conceptual high point of the text:
the similarity between Israel and God, and the call to the former to
act in imitation and in the power of God, are central and funda-
mental to the rest of the scroll. Secondly, therefore, the scribe inch-
cates the weight to be attached to these sentences in any public
presentation of the text.
Thirdly, and a little more tentatively, I would suggest that there
is a lacuna which the reader and/or hearer is meant to fill and that
this has something to do with the name Michael. Etymologically the
name Michael means "who is like God?" (‫ )מי כאל‬and it is this qucs-
tion which brings us to (he heart of column 10. Although line 8
does not speak explicitly of the name ‫מיכאל‬, both line 8 and line
contain its constituent parts:

line 8: (‫מי)א( כ)םוכה( אל )ישראל‬

line 9: ‫כ)עמכה( )יטר(אל‬ ‫)מי)א‬

2 7
For gaps in the text o f I Q M due to a fault in the leather see 14:5 (Yadin
162, 326-7); 14:12 and 13 (Yadin 1962, 328-9) and compare 1:10; 11:7. O n such
scribal markers in DSS texts sec Τον 1996.
2 8
See Jongeling 1962, 248 for suggestions.
2 9
Ploeg 1959, 137 thinks the gap has been left because the scribe had to refill
his pen and was distracted as a result. This hardly explains the omission of such
a large gap, let alone the deliberate line.
 THE WAR SCROLL

For any Jew attentive to the hidden structures of a text this paral-
lelism, and the provocatively left gap in the second line might well
evoke the name of Israel's principal guardian angel. This would set
up a three way correspondence between Israel, God and Michael,
suggesting that Michael is not. simply Israel's principal guardian angel, but
is her secret name, carrying in himself her vocation and privileged God-like-ne
The presence of a coded reference to Michael here is also likely
given that at the end of the previous column the archangel has
appeared twice (9:15, 16), albeit in the company of three other
archangels (Gabriel, Sariel and Raphael). We will return to this pos-
sibility in our discussion of 17:6-8.

Vie 'Theology of IQM 10: Comparative Traditions

From outside of the War Scroll and Qumran literature there are two
other considerations which confirm this reading of I Q M column 10.
The meaning of the name Israel was widely reflected upon in Jewish
antiquity, partly because Genesis 32 provides biblical warrant for the
importance of the Patriarch's receipt of this name when struggling
with a divine being (God? an angel?). In Genesis 32:29 the divine
being tells Jacob, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,
because ‫ שריח‬with God and with men, and have prevailed". The
30
meaning of the word ‫ שריח‬was variously assessed in antiquity. The
Septuagint translates using the verb "to be strong, strengthen or gain
strength" (ένισκύειν): "because ένίσχυσας with God and with men".
The precise sense is not entirely clear though some notion that Israel's
identity is, at its patriarchal beginning and at its core, one of strength
gained through intimate contact with God seems to be shared with
I Q M 10.
The second item of comparative evidence is a Tannaitic midrash
to Deuteronomy 33:26, to which Michael Fishbane has drawn atten-
31
tion. Sifre Deuteronomy Pisqa 355 is a comment on the opening words
of Deuteronomy 33:26 which reads as follows:

'There is none like God, 0 Jes/mrun (‫( )אין כאל ישורון‬Deut 33:26a):
Israel says, there is none like God, and the Holy Spirit responds, (except
32
the) god Jeshurun ( ! ( ‫י ש ו ר ו ן‬ ‫אל‬ Israel says, Who is like you, 0 lurd

30
See the discussion in Vermes 1975a, 164—5.
31
Fishbane 1992, 54-56. The midrash is perhaps assumed in the discussion of
Gen 32:24 in Gen. Rab. 77:1.
32
Fishbane seems to think that the midrash takes ‫ א ל ישורון‬as ‫"( א ל א ישורון‬except
412 CHAFFER TWELVE

the mighly (Exod 15:11) and the Holy Spirit responds, Happy are you, 0
Israel, who is like you? (Deut 33:29). Israel says, Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord
our God, the hrrd is one (‫( )אחר‬Dent 6:4), and the Holy Spirit responds,
And who is tike Thy people Israel, a nation one (‫ )אחד‬in the earth (1 Chron
17:21). Israel says, As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood, (so is my
Beloved) (Songs 2:3), and the Holy Spirit responds, As a lily among thorns,
(so is my love) (Songs 2:2). Israel says, This is my God, and I will praise
Him (Exod 15:2), and the Holy Spirit responds, The people which I formed
for Myself (shall recount My praise) (Isa 4-3:21). Israel says, For you are, the
glory of their strength (Ps 89:18), and the Holy Spirit responds, Israel, in
whom I will be glorified (Isa 49:3).

This speaks for itself and needs no further comment. Eishbane thinks
that since there is no obvious scriptural justification for such close
affinity between Israel and her God the midrash must have had an
older history for it to be included without further ado in the Sifre.
Even though the Qumran and rabbinic texts do not share exactly
the same scriptural texts we can now trace the tradition history of
this portion of Sifre at least as far back as the War Scroll.

Returning to the Qumran text we now turn to the columns that fol-
low this opening declaration of theological purpose in column 10.
On close examination we find that (here is a coherent conceptual
development through the whole of columns 10-14 and that the text
only makes sense in the light of the theological anthropology which
is established in column 10. In what follows the author develops his
belief that in Israel's military victory God is the source and primum
mobile, whilst the people of God are agents of his purposes and that
this entails an anthropology in which Israel is itself taken up into
the divine life centred in her cult.

Column 11: God's Mighty Strength through His People and Their King

Column 11 contains two sections. Lines 1-12 are an argument for

Israel's military might in the power of her God based on a series
of scriptural texts and traditions, Lines 13 to the end are largely
broken, though they appear to continue on a similar theme in prepa-
ration for a fuller picture of the cult, which has been touched upon
already at the end of column 10, at the beginning of column 12.

Jeshrun" 1992, 55 11. 8). I am not sure that he has not seen the full force of the
Holy Spirit's retort ‫ אל ישורון‬and so 1 suggest it should be read as translated here.
 THE WAR SCROLL 413

1
For the battle is yours indeed (‫ !)כיא אם לכה המלחמה‬With the power
of your hand their corpses have been clashed into pieces with no one
2
to bury (them). Goliath of Gath, a mighty man of worth, you did
deliver into the hand of your servant David, ibr he trusted in your
great Name (‫ )כשמכה הנחל‬and not in a sword or a spear. For the bat-
3
tic is yours (‫ !)כיא לכה המלחמה‬The Philistines, he 11umil[i|ated many
times by your holy Name (‫)בשם קוהשכה‬. You also have saved us many
times by the hand of our kings ' on account of your compassion and
not according to our works in which wc have done evil, and our sin-
ful deeds. The battle is yours (‫)לכה המלחמה‬, and the strength is from
5
you, (it is) not ours! Neither our power nor the force of our hands
have done, worthily except by your power and in (he vigour of your
15
great worth (‫)בכוהכה ובעוז הילכה הנהול‬. So you have told us long
ago, saying, "A star shall rise front Jacob, ;1 scepter (shall arise) from
Israel. 1( shall smite the forehead of Moab, and destroy all the sons
7
of Seth. It shall go down from Jacob and destroy the. survivor of the
city. The enemy shall become a possession and Israel shall do worthily."
n
Through your anointed ones, seers of fixed times, you have told to
us the tim[cs of] the wars of your hands, to cover yourself with glory
11
against our enemies, to bring down the troops of Belial, the seven
nations of vanity, by the hand of the poor ones whom you have
redeemed [. . .| and in peace for ;1 wonderful might, and the melted
heart, (turned) to a doorway of hope. You shall act against them as
against (he Pharaoh '" and the officers of his chariots in the Re,[d]
Sea. The stricken you will kindle like a flaming torch in a sheaf,
devouring wickedness (‫)כלפיד אש בעמיר אוכלח רשעה‬. It does not turn
away until " the extermination of guiltiness. A long time ago f. . .]
your mighty hand against the Kittim, saying, "Asshur shall fall down
by a sword of no man, a sword of no human being shall devour him"
(oacal)

This section cites the slaying of David by Goliath (1 Kgs 17), gen-
era! military victories over the Philistines, the prophecy of a future
deliverer in Numbers 24:17, God's vanquishing Pharaoh and his
army at the Red Sea, the prophecy of a future power for the peo-
pie of God in Zcchariah 12:6 and the prediction of the destruction
of Asshur in Isaiah 31:8 9.
Hitherto, scholarly discussion of this passage has focused on the
Numbers 24:17 reference and its implications for Qumran messian-
ism. Here there are two related questions: does the War Scroll envis-
age a royal messianic warrior and is the victory here a purely
supernatural one which entails no human agency? The reference to
God's destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea might mean the
role of humanity is to be eclipsed, with the consequence that no real
human royal messiah is envisaged. So, for example, E.P. Sanders has
414 CHAPTER TWELVE

cited this passage as part of his argument that earthly royal mes-
sianic expectation was much less widespread in Jewish practice and
belief than is normally assumed:

Whal is most striking about the sect's 'messianic expectation' is that

there is no Davidic mcssiah in the War Rule, where one would expect
him to take the leading role. In the w a r against the forces of dark-
ncss, the chosen priest docs his part by urging the troops on, b u t the
Branch of David does not put in an appearance. Angels, especially the
archangel Michael, the 'Prince of Light', play a major role, but God
himself steps in to bring the final victory o f 'the Sons of Light'. 'Truly
the battle is "Thine!"', proclaims the author (IQM 11.1). G o d will
raise up 'the kingdom of Michael' (17.7), not of David, and G o d will
strike, the last: ! ) l o w . "

These comments exemplify the dualistic framework through which

the Wan Scroll is regularly read. But these interpretative conclusions
can only be reached when the text is stretched across a dualistic
procrustean bed utterly foreign to its own worldview.
In the first place Sanders' claim thai the royal messiah docs not
appear in the War Scroll is misleading since the Prince of the Con-
gregation appears on the shield of 5:1 and this must mean that a
royal mcssiah is included somehow in the eschatological conflict.
Secondly, whilst it is true that column 11 stresses divine rather than
human responsibility for the defeat of the enemy it does so in a way
which gives to human action a theological interpretation. 'Phis, we
have seen, is the burden of column 10. The statement "the battle
is yours indeed" is interpreted by what follows with reference to
David's physical slaying of Goliath: David did this, but not by his
31
own power or that of his weapons, but by God's power. The same
point is made in the recollection of other military victories in what
follows. The citation of Numbers 24:17 is entirely i n accord with
33
this non-dualislic understanding of divine and human action. The

33
Sanders 1992, 296-97.
34
> Though "the victory is the LORD'S" motif could mean that Israel itself docs
not actually slay any one, as in the dramatic instance of the H o l y War in 2 Chr
20, there is no indication that this is the understanding of divine agency that is
assumed in the War Scroll. Unlike 2 Chr 20:15 where the prophet tells the people
"for the battle is not yours but God's (‫ " ) ל א ל כ ם ה ם ל ח ם ה כי לאלהים‬, in I Q M 11:1,
2, 4 ("(For) the battle is yours") there is no negation of human violence, only an
affirmation that all is ultimately God's. The rest of the War Scroll clearly assumes
that Israel's warriors will shed the blood of her enemies.
35
The human action which is disparaged in line 4 is sinful human action. So
there is no negative view of human activity per se.
 THE WAR SCROLL 415

astral language implies power from above and yet the Qumran com-
munity understood sceptre language to apply specifically to the royal
3S
Prince of the Congregation (lQSb 5:24, 27).

Die Royal Messianism of the War Scroll in Conceptual Perspective

In interpreting I Q M 11 we need to get our bearings from a con-

sideration of the conceptual parameters within which the text would
be read. As William Horbury has recently demonstrated, the syner-
gistic relationship between divine and human power in I Q M 11
exemplifies the wider late Second Temple interest in the overlap
37
between divine or angelic and human messianism. This has gen-
orally been overlooked by commentators whose discussion of the War
Scroll tends to be dualistically fixated upon the Engelgemeinschqft motif.
In the O T the king can be the embodiment of the divine warrior
in his military conquests (e.g. Psalm 89:10, 26 [Eng. vv. 9, 25])). In
later texts this can be expressed in an overtly angelological fashion:
the king and his warriors "incarnate" the angels and their war against
God's enemies.
This is expressed in a most vivid fashion in the retelling of David's
slaying of Saul in Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities chapter 61. In the
Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 17:40-51 David slays Goliath, the cham-
pion of the Philistines, with the mere throw of a stone. The narra-
tive notes David's lack of a sword, but only to accentuate the skill
of the humble warrior who relies entirely on the name of the L O R D .
On returning from the battlefield Saul, strangely, does not recognize
David. This brief biblical scene is transformed by Pseudo-Philo into
a fascinating reflection on the angelological agency of the holy warrior:

‫ יי‬And David set out, and he look seven stones and wrote on them the
names of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Aaron,
and his own name and that of the L O R D . God sent Zcrvihel, the angel
in charge power. . . .
7
And David put a stone in the. sling and struck the Philistine on his fore
head. And he ran toward him and unsheathed his sword (1 Sam 17:49, 51)
Goliath, while he still had life in him, said to him, "Hurry and kill
8
me, and rejoice". David said to him, "Before you die, open your

6
‫ י‬Note that in the context of lQSb 5:27 the language of power in the strength
of God's Name parallels that of the I Q M 11: "and he shall strengthen you with
his holy Name" (5:28).
37
Horbury 1998, 66, 83, 85.
416 CHAPTER TWELVE

eyes and see your slayer who has killed you." The Philistine looked
and saw the angel and said, "Not you alone killed mc, but. also he
who was present with you, whose appearance is not like the appear-
ance of a man." Then David cut of his head (1 Sam 17:51).
9
The angel of the L O R D raised (or "changed") David's appearance,
and no one recognised him. When Saul saw David he asked him who
:ili
he was, and there was no one who recognised him (1 Sam 17:55).

Here the angelomorphic transformation of David is a clear state-

ment of divine and human synergy in the Holy War. In part the
transformation of David and Saul's failure to recognise him is an
attempt by Pseudo-Philo to deal with the oddity of Saul not recog-
nising him at 1 Samuel 17:55. However, that difficulty in the bib-
lical text has also been exploited as an opportunity to creatively
express the author's conviction that human and divine agency work
together; in the victory of God's anointed such that the human indi-
vidual is himself transformed and no longer appears as a mere man.
It is not immediately obvious how to define precisely David's rcla-
tionship to the angel. I n some respects David and the angel are
clearly distinct from one another. However, the angel-human divide
has also been crossed to some degree. Rather than an aerial angelic
conflict which parallels that of the earthly combatants, the angel is
somehow present in the action of the human. And the shared identity
is not merely functional, but also means a personal visual transfor-
mation of the mortal: David's appearance is changed such that he
is no longer recognisable. 'The same motif is used by Pscuclo-Philo
of Moses. In Biblical Antiquities 12:1 Moses ascends Mount Sinai where
he is "bathed with light that could not be gazed upon", surpassing
in splendour the light of the sun, moon and stars. Because of his
glory the Israelites could not. recognise him on his descent. The fail-
ure of others to recognise the transformed mortal also appears in
some Latin texts for the parallel episode in Biblical Antiquities 27:10
39
where Kenaz is assisted by an angel. The visual transformation of
the mortal and, sometimes, their consequent unrecognisability, is a

58
For the Latin text with translation and commentary see Jacobson 1996, vol.
1:83, 189; vol. 2:1183-86.
39
Rather than the angel holding up the arms o f Kenaz "so they should not sink
down (ne considèrent)" some texts have "lest they should perceive him (ne considerarenl
cum)" (see Jacobson 1996, vol. 2:792). Given the parallels at 12:1 and 61:9 and
others outside of Pseudo-Philo, there is evciy reason to take seriously this reading.
 THE WAR ,SCROLL 417

frequent motif in angelomorphic transformation texts with a close

parallel in the deification of Moses in 4Q374.
Just what kind of an anthropology Pseudo-Philo envisages is difficult
to say. One small point which bears on the matter is the original
reading and interpretation of the text in 61:9. Gutzberg and subse-
qucnt commentators have assumed that where the Latin manuscripts
all have "erexit facicm", which literally means "raised the face", that
this reflects a misreading of ‫שנא‬, "change", for ‫נשא‬, "lift, lift up"."'
This is possible, but there are reasons to regard the sense of verti-
cal elevation as original. In the first place the use of the verb ‫נשא‬
would create a fitting allusion to David's role as a prince, ‫( נ&יא‬lit-
erally "one who is raised up"), which is a royal title in the Hebrew
Bible (esp. Fzek 34:24; 37:25; 44:3; 45:7, 16 17 etc . . .) and subse-
qucnt Jewish literature. Secondly, another motif within transforma-
lional texts is the vertical transfer of the righteous from the below
to the above. We have seen this in those Qumran texts where the
righteous are raised up to the heavenly heights. The History of the
Rechabites has an interesting parallel to the transformation of David
in our text. In this text the seer meets a group of "earthly angels",
the Rechabites of Jeremiah 35 who, though human, live the par-
adisal life of the blessed. On his first encounter with one of these
people the seer, Zosimus is startled by their nudity (5:2-4):
2 1
"Have you come here from the world of vanity?" And I said to
him, "Why are you naked?" And he said, "How did you know that
I am naked?" For you are wearing the skins of the sheep of the earth,
and these perish with your body; but look up to the height of heaven
and you will see what my garment is (like). ' And looking to heaven,
I saw his lace (was) like the face of an angel (ώσεί πρόσωπον αγγέλου),
and his garment (was) like lightning that proceeds from East to West.
And 1 became afraid because he was a son of God . . .‫"׳‬

Here the seer finds himself in a similar position to David before

Goliath and the perception of the angci-bchind-thc-mortal means a
recognition of the. upper, heavenly rather than the purely earthly
12
level of existence.'

10
Ginzbcrg 1909-38, 6:252, cf. e.g. D J . Harrington in OTP 2:374; Jacobson
1996, 1186. "
'" The translation of the Greek text is that of Charlcsworth 1982, 33.
42
Jacobson 1996, 2:1186 cites as a parallel to Bib. Ant. 61:8-9 Homer's Iliad
16.844-50 where the dying Patroculus tells his conqueror, Hector, that he has won
418 CHAPTER TWELVE

Also important for an understanding of the anthropology in view

in Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 61 is the significance given to
God's Name. I n the Hebrew Bible David trusts in no military weapon
but only the "name of the L O R D of hosts" (1 Sam 17:45). The motif
is a familiar one in biblical theology. For Pseuclo-Philo there is a
movement towards a more developed speculation surrounding God's
Name. Whereas David picks up live stones from which to choose in
1 Samuel 17:40, in Pseuclo-Philo he picks up seven on which there
are engraved five names of his patriarchs, his own name and that
of the L O R D . Rather than a more general notion of reliance upon
4 3

Yahweh that we find in the biblical text, in this later rewriting of

scripture God's Name has taken on theurgic power in its own right.
Again, we should compare the widespread association between God's
Name and the transformation of the mortal to a divine status and
1 1
identity in texts from the period. ' David's ability to use the Name
of God in this way is further consistent with his own transformation
and possession by God's angel.
Pseudo-Philo's retelling of David's slaying of Goliath is not merely
one other example of how Jews might understand the role of angels
in their Holy War. There are several considerations which point to
the specific relevance of this text for the Qumran War Scroll. In for-
mal terms the Biblical Antiquities is an example o f the genre rewrit-
ten bible which has parallels among the Qumran texts (e.g. the
Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20); the Temple Scroll (11Q19) and Jubilees).
Though there is considerable overlap with ideas and traditions found
in rabbinic texts, the Biblical Antiquities is not obviously rabbinic in
form, being quite distinct from the midrash. A precise date, and Silz
im Ixben for the text has been difficult to determine. However, Doran
Mendels lias seen how far the work is written to tackle competing
visions of (lie future eschatological redemption amongst the broad
spread of zelotic, messianic or revolutionary options open to Judaism

his victory with the help of the gods. However, i f there is any parallel here it is
striking how the Homeric scene lacks any reference to Hector's own transforma-
tion. Indeed the point of Patroculus' claim is the mortality of his conqueror.
4 3
For later parallels to this engraving of names on the stones sec Jacobson 1996,
vol. 2, p. 1183.
4 4
See, for example, (he use of the Name by the high priest (Sirach 50:20), Moses
in Artapanus 3:27:24-26; Enoch-Mctatron (3 Enoch 12:5). David's writing of the
Name on a stone is also reminiscent of the way it is used in magical texts and
amulets (see the recent survey in McDonough 1999, 93-98).
 THE WAR SCROLL 419

in the first century A.D.'‫ י‬In 10:3-5 Pseudo-Philo embellishes the

5

crossing of the Red Sea story to emphasize the fact that God fights
on Israel's behalf and so other solutions to their plight are not always
necessary. But the slaying of Goliath account would inspire any Jew
who was both revolutionary minded and of a mystical inclination:
the text effectively says "believe in angels, look for their assistance
on the battlefield because they can transform your ordinary mortal
16
self and give you invincible might against the enemy". And, of
course, there is the simple fact that both the War Scroll and the
Biblical Antiquities look to the David and Goliath episode for inspiration.

IQM 11:5-7: Numbers 24:17 and the Astral Messiah

Thai the War Scroll thinks of an angelic messiah in terms similar to

those explored by Pseudo-Philo is indicated by the collocation of the
Goliath story with the prophecy of Numbers 24:17.
There has been considerable scholarly discussion of the use of
Numbers 24:17 in this passage because of its significance for Qumran
messianism. Two questions bother interpreters: is Numbers 24:17
used here to predict a Davidic messiah? And, is Numbers 24:17 also
taken to refer to two mcssiahs, one Davidic and one Priestly, as is
the case at CD 7? Unfortunately, unlike the pesharim and the cita-
tion of Numbers 24:17 in the Damascus Document there is no explicit
interpretation of the biblical text at this point. This has lead some
to conclude that either no Davidic redeemer is envisaged or that
47
only a single figure is in view.
Some of the mist of confusion has been blown from this text with
the release, of 4Q285 a text with a close literary and conceptual
affinity with the War Scroll in which there is described a royal mes-
siah who figures prominently in the eschatological battle with the
1
Kiltim." 4Q285 has swung the argument in favour •of those who
would see an active role of a messianic, figure in column 11 of the
War Scroll. However, in general commentators have failed to grasp

15
Mendels 1992, cf. Olyan 1991.
16
l'scudo-l'hilo's Biblical Antiquities 61 (along with the killing by Kenaz of 45,000
men i n 27:10) is strangely passed over by Mendels who overstates the pacifist inch-
nations of the work.
" For no Davidic messiah in the War Scroll see Sanders 1992, 296; Davies 1992,
875; Steudel 1996, 523-4. For the single figure see Jongeling 1962, 261.
m
See esp. the discussion in Collins 1995b, 58-60, 65.
420 CHAPTER T W E L V E

the function of the Numbers text in this passage because (a) they
have not properly examined the thrust of the passage, as a succès-
sor to column 10, as a whole and (b) they have assumed an incom-
patibility between the human mcssiah and the divine, angelic figure
described in Numbers 24:17. So, for example, in the light of the
emphasis on the opening lines of this column on God as the source
of military victory P.R. Davies concludes that the citation of Numbers
19
"must be taken as applying to God, and not to any human warrior".'
Like E.P. Sanders, Davies is falling into the trap of misreading the
author's intentions through a dualistic lens. History-of-rcligions con-
siderations demand that our author has an angelic-human mcssiah
in mind here. We shall return to the first point (a) and a proper
study of the flow of thought in columns 1 1 in clue course. At this
juncture we must note the good reasons for thinking that Numbers
24 is introduced after the Goliath episode because the author has a
thoroughly angelomorphic messianic expectation.
1. First, the description of the "star" and the "sceptre" in Numbers
50
24:17 is unavoidably angelomorphic in implication. To speak of a
star arising from Jacob is to speak of a heavenly figure, and so also
the sceptre will have those associations in this context. We have
already reviewed in our first chapter the wide spread of evidence
that Numbers 24:17 not only played a prominent role in Jewish mes-
sianic expectations but that it was also consistently taken as grounds
for an astral or heavenly messiah.
It is perhaps not a coincidence that Numbers 24:17 is here joined
to an allusion to Zcchariah 12:6 ("On that day I will make the clans
of Judah like a blazing pot on a pile of wood, like a flaming torch
among sheaves (‫ ;)כלפיד א© כעמיר‬and they shall devour (‫ )ואכלו‬to
the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples") in line 10.
This pair of texts may also have been used in the second century
A . D . to give the military leader Bar Kochba a heavenly, divine iden-
tity. We have already noted (in chapter 1) the inspiration of Numbers
24;: 17 for Bar Kochba's astral aspirations. And we saw how, in a
tradition going back to Jerome (Contra Rujinum 3:31), "the great Bar
Kochba, instigator of an uprising of Jews, held a straw in his mouth
and fanned the flames with his breath so that people believed that

19
1997, 97. Compare Fitzmyer 1974, 43.
''" So rightly Horbury 1998, 92 who notes the overlap with the astral signs in
the contemporary ruler cults.
 THE WAR SCROLL 421

he spat out flames". No explanation for this flaming straw trick is

given. Before being garbled through transmission and Christian pro-
paganda did the story originally rely on a claim that Bar Kohba
fulfilled the vision of the "flaming torch among sheaves" described
in Zcchariah 12:6?
2. Secondly, the citation of Zcchariah 12:6 in I Q M 11:10 needs
to be considered in its own right. There are probably three reasons
why our author has chosen to cite this passage. The citation is from
a thoroughly Davidic oracle of restoration (Zcchariah 12:1-40) and
so fits a discussion of the role of the Davidic redeemer past and
future. Secondly, Zcchariah 12:5, the verse previous to that cited
predicts that "then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, 'The
inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the LORD of hosts, their
God.' This is the theme of the whole column: the readers exclaim
that "the battle is yours and the strength is from you" (line 4) and that
like David before them they can achieve nothing without his active
power at work through them. Thirdly, the prophetic oracle goes on
to describe the outworking of that divine strength in thoroughly
angelomorphic terms:

and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD,
at their head (‫)כיח דויד כאלהים כמלאך יהוה לפניהם‬

The language assimilates David to the angel of the Exodus narra-

five who goes before the people in the wilderness (Exodus 23:20) and,
like Numbers 24:17, gives the future redeemer both human and
divine qualities.

God's Victory by the Hand of His Anointed: Vie Virusl of 1QA4 11

The third reason for thinking that Numbers 24:17 is used in col-
limn 11 as a prophecy of a future human but heavenly messiah is
that this fits the conceptual thrust of the whole column. The rest of
the column claims that Israel's military conquests are God's own
because he is working in and through them. 1 4 1 c battle is theirs, but
1
sacramentally his.'
This can be seen in the "hand (‫ ")יד‬leitmotif which runs through
the whole passage. There are, in all, six references to the "hand"
by which the enemy is destroyed in I Q M 11. In lines 1 and 11 it

Cf. Horbury 1998, 82.

422 CHAPTER TWELVE

is God's hand drat brings vengeance, but in line 3 God saves Israel
by the hand of her kings, and in lines 9 and 13 be redeems by the hand
of the poor ones. The point is obvious: Israel's hands are God's hands.
When the War Scroll elsewhere says that "the great hand of God
shall subdue" his enemies (1:14, cf. 18:3) an understanding of divine
52
agency by which God's hand works through Israel's hand, is meant.
Nowhere, it should be noted, does this passage necessarily refer
to an Engelgemeinschaft by which the responsibility for the victory is
handed over to angelic mediators of God's power. Rather, another
mediatorial perspective is at work in our text, one in which the right-
eous are themselves divine mediators of God's action in the world.
In column 11 of I Q M the priest calls to the mind of the troops the
fact that as in times of old they have a military leader, like David
of old, who acts in the power of God. Whether this royal mcssiah
be of little? or great human might is no matter, because the battle
belongs to their God and he will energise and direct their actions
just as the puny David was directed to slay the mighty Goliath.
In tackling this subject the War Scroll develops the larger theo-
logical framework for the Holy War laid out in column 10. The
angelomorphic agency of the royal mcssiah is one particular instance
of the fact that "no one is like God but Israel, and no one is like
Israel but God". Where the troops as a whole were strengthened
"in the might of God", which is theirs by virtue of their participa-
tion in God's "great works and mighty strength" in general, in col-
umn 11 the priests set up David as an example of precisely this
theological anthropology.
Column 11 not only develops what precedes, it also prepares for
53
what follows. When the commentators puzzle over the use of
Numbers 24:17 without specific reference in the immediate context
to the dual messianism of other DSS texts they are acting as good
implied readers: on the basis of other Qumran texts (esp. CD 7:19)
we would expect the sceptre of Numbers 24:1 7 to be the royal ligure
and the star to be identified as the eschatological priest. But, where
is there any mention of matters priestly in column 11 ? Modern com-

52
Pace Yadin 1962, 262; Dtihaimc in Charlesworth 1995, 97.
'‫ יי‬T h e common view thai this section of the War Scroll, "contains various litur-
gical pieces juxtaposed without any explicit rationale" and that, "the various items
are originally quite independent and indeed quite varied in theme and ideology"
(Davies 1992, 875) is unwarranted.
 THE WAR SCROLL 423

mentators have atomized the text and judged the War Scroll to be
a peculiar departure from the normal shape of Qumran's dual mes-
sianism. But the original reader (or listener) waited attentively for
the next column.

Column 12: the Angelomorphic Priesthood in the Sanctuary and the People o
the Battlefield

Column 12 contains two clearly separated paragraphs of text. The

first five lines continue from the previous column and are separated
from a paragraph of nine and half lines (lines 7-16) by an empty
54
line. Though, as we shall see, the two paragraphs belong together,
they arc best first tackled as separate !)locks.

IQM 12:1-5: The Heavenly Human Priesthood and the Mustering

of the Army
Column 12:1-5 is a particularly important passage for our pursuit
of a proper understanding of Qumran anthropology. The majority
view finds here only a community of angels and humanity, with no
sense that the Israelites themselves have experienced any transfer-
mation. However, the commentators have not set the passage in its
literary context and we come to it fresh from a new reading of the
previous columns. In column 10 the Israelites are made in God's
image, doing in history and their worship what God does in ere-
ation and history. In the eleventh column there has been a fuller
exploration of the second of these two aspects of Israel's God-like-
ness; how she has acted in the past and will act in the future as a
means by which the divine warrior's conquests in history arc achieved.
In column 12, especially lines 1-5, and also column 13, there is
explored the second sphere in which Israel acts in cooperation with
her creator; in the heavenly worship of her priesthood.
1
Because the [sc) (‫ )]א[לה‬are a multitude of holy ones (‫ )רוב קדושים‬in
heaven and hosts of angels (‫ )־צבאות מלאכים‬in your holy habitation
(‫ )מבול קודשכה‬to pr[aise] your \name)f' and the elect ones of your holy

5 4
A few words of a third paragraph ( I Q M 12:17-18) remain but the sense is
not apparent.
5 5
Following Yadin's restoration on the basis o f Ps 135:1; Joel 2:26. Duhaime (in
Charlesworth 1994, 120-121) restores ‫יח אםת[כה‬1‫ לה]ו‬which amounts to the same
sense. Yadin's reading is preferable as the language then reflects the conceptual
proximity to the Sabbath Songs.
424 CHAPTER TWELVE

2
people ( (‫ ו ב ח י ר י עםקודש‬y o u have set for yourself in [. . . th
of the names (‫ )ס[פר שמוח‬of all their hosts with you in your holy
dwelling (‫ )במעון קודשכה‬and f...‫ ן‬in your glorious habitation (‫מבול‬
3
(‫כבורכה‬and the mercies of [your] blcssingfs] and the covenant of
your peace (‫ )וברית שלוםכה‬you have engraved for them (‫ )חרתה למו‬with
56
a stylus of life (‫)בחרט חיים‬, to reign ( (‫ לסלוד‬f. . .‫ ן‬in all the appointed
4
times of eternity ( ,(‫בכול מועדיעולמים‬ and to muster (‫לפקוד‬
‫י‬
thine el\ec.l ones] ([‫ )כח]יר כה‬according to their thousands and their myr-
tads, together with your holy ones (‫ )יחד עם קרושיכה‬f. . .] your angels,
5
for strength of hand ( (‫ לרשותיד‬in the battle [. . .] the rebels o
earth in the strife of your judgements, and the people of the elect ones
6
of the heavens (‫ )ועם בחירי שמים‬shall be victorious ] (vacat)

Wc have already noted the possibility that this material describes an

angelomorphic righteous as the holy ones who dwell in heaven. We
are now in a position to consider this possibility in some detail.
There are* several reasons why a few have been tempted to adopt
this kind of a reading, and other reasons why the majority have felt
it necessary to reject i t . "
Elsewhere in the War Scroll the expression "holy ones" refers to a
righteous humanity ( I Q M 6:6; 16:1). The reference to the "‫"בחירים‬
at the end of line 1 and in line 5 picks up that used elsewhere in
the scrolls for the human elect (IQpIdab 5:4; 9:12; 10:13; 4QpPs
37 ii 5; iii 5; iv 14; 4Q174 i 19; C D 4:3; 4Q418 69 ii 10). Throughout
the DSS, as wc have seen, there is the sense that the community of
the righteous with the angels entails some degree of transformation
and angelic-like identity.
The principal objection against such an interpretation here is the
parallelism in the first line between "a multitude of holy ones . . . in
the heavens" and "hosts of angels in your holy habitation". Because
the "heavens" and God's "holy habitation" are, presumably, syn-
onymous, it may be presumed that so too are the "holy ones" syn-
onymous with the "angels" and, since commentators assume that
"‫ "צבאות מלאכים‬could not refer to human beings, so neither should
58
the holy ones be taken in this way.

5 6
Yadin translates "so as to be king", presuming God to be the subject, (cf. also
Jongeling 1962, 278; Vermes). But it is also possible that it is those who have
received the covenant of peace that arc to reign (cf. 19:8 "and Israel for eternal
sovereignty").
57
For what follows compare the discussions of Jongeling 1962, 274 ‫׳‬5; Davies
1977, 100-101.
5 8
See, e.g., Jongeling 1962, 274; Davies 1977, 100-101.
 THE WAR SCROLL 425

The case must, now, be reopened because, as we have seen, it is

quite conceivable that in a Qumran text a "host o f angels" might
refer to the Israelites in their angelomorphic mode. In any case the
opening line of this column might envisage two groups who share
the same space; the multitude of (human, but now heavenly) holy
ones, on the hand, and the suprahuman angelic hosts on the other.
The linguistic parallelism could just as well be taken in this way.
Indeed, there arc numerous considerations which force the con-
elusion that the bulk of these live lines are principally concerned
with humanity in the heavenly sanctuary. Previous commentators
have, failed to recognise how much of the language of these lines is
specific to the human priesthood. In general this must be because
assessing the significance of a description of activities in "heaven"
and "God's holy habitation" they have failed to consider the possi-
bility that these refer both to the supernal world and Israel's cult at
one and the same lime.
Linguistic, details demand such a homology between cult and
heaven. At the end of line 3 we bear of "all the appointed times of
eternity (‫")בכול מועדי עולמים‬. Given the use of such language in
10:15; 13:8 and 14:13 in obviously cultic contexts here it also should
be taken at face value as a reference to Israel's liturgical calendar.
Wc should think, in general, of 1QS 10's summary of the Qumran
community's liturgical calendar (for the ‫ מועדים‬sec 1QS 10:3, 5). In
the midst of a summary of the community's cultic life 1QS 10:8 also
uses the language of "engraving" ("as long as I live an engraved
statute (‫( )חוק הרוח‬shall be.) on my tongue as a fruit o f praise") which
also appears in I Q M 12:3 with reference to God's making of the
liturgically fulfilled covenant of peace.
Line 3 specifically refers to a "covenant of peace. . . engraved with
a stylus of life". Yadin compares Isaiah 54:10, Ezekiel 34:25 and
37:26/'" But the language is far closer to the priestly covenant given
to Levi in Malachi 2:5: " M y covenant with him was a covenant of
life and peace (‫)החיים והשלום‬, which I gave him" since only in that O T
text arc there present all three of the terms "‫"בריח‬, "‫ "שלום‬and
i0
"‫ "חיים‬which appear in I Q M 12:3.' I Q M 12 is yet another witness

'•‫ יי‬1962, 315.

''" Cf. also N u m 25:11 and the covenant with the priesthood which is the focus
of I Q M 17:3.
426 CHAPTER TWELVE

to Malachi 2's Wirkungsgeschichle as a text describing the ordination

of an angelic human priesthood. Once again there is a striking over-
lap with the opening section of the first of the Sabbath Songs where
we encounter both the language of engraving (4Q400 1 i 5) and the
vision for the priesthood in Malachi's second chapter.
In the War Scroll the worship of the cult is not only synchronized
with creation, we also find, in three separate instances, a phrase
which is best taken to mean that the liturgy is that of eternity. Here,
in 12:3 we hear of "all the appointed times of eternity (‫ככול מועדי‬
‫")עולמים‬. In 13:8 the covenant is established "for the appointed times
of eternity (‫ ")למוע]ד[י עולמים‬and in 14:13 the people worship at the
6 1
"appointed times of the cycles of eternity ( . " ( ‫ע ו ל מ י ם‬
These phrases witness to the belief that Israel's cultic. life transcends
the linearity of historical existence and is an entry into the realm of
62
the eternal
I f this, indeed, is how these expressions are to be taken then they
might further help us understand why it is that in 12:1—5, to some
degree, humanity itself has become angelic and heavenly. I f Israel's
liturgy takes place in an eternal space and time then to enter that
liturgy is to enter a heavenly ontology. This will be the force of the
claim iii the next column that Israel is "an eternal people (‫")עם עולמים‬
!,:t
(13:9), although this need not carry the sense of individual post-
mortem survival.
So, in dealing with the covenant for the priesthood (cf. esp. 10:10)
and the festival calendar, the opening lines of column 12 arc prob-
ably intended to pick up the closing sentences of column 10. There
we also had a summary statement of the sanctuary's worship. Just
how that worship was to be related to divine and human action in
the eschatological conilict was not treated at that [joint, but the role

61
Though frequent in lire DSS ( I Q S 1:9; 3:10, 16; I Q S a 1:25, 26; I Q M 2:8;
3:4; 4:5; 11:8; 13:8; 14:4, 13; 15:1 etc. . .) the meaning of ‫ ת ע ו ר ו ח‬is difficult to pin
tlowli (see Yadin 1962, 269 and the full discussion of Dombrowsky 1971 who takes
the woi'd from the root ‫ י ע ד‬with a range of meanings: "determine", "appoint",
"designate", "meet"). A t I Q M 2:8, which refers to the military service of conscripts
"from year to year", a cyclical sense seems to be. in view. This might indicate con-
scions derivation from the root ‫ ע ו ד‬, "to return, go about, repeat, do again", which
w o u l d give a fitting sense of sacramental repetition in I Q M 14:13. See HAL
4:1767'68.
1,2
V a n der Plocg's interpretation of the expression in 14:13 as liturgical times
"fixed by the God of eternity" (1959, 160), misses the force of the language.
63
Restored by Yadin also in 13:7, cf. Isa 44:7 and 2 Sam 7:24.
 THE WAR SCROLL 427

of the sanctuary in the conflict is now, in column 12, brought to

the foreground.
Whilst discussion of this passage has wrestled with the boundary
line between the two kinds of person—angels and humans—it in
fact contains another class distinction—between the priesthood and
the laity—which we have already seen in other Qumran angelo-
morphic texts. Line 3 picks up the language of the covenant with
the priesthood and echoes similar terminology in the first of the
Sabbath Songs where there is described a division between the priest-
hood and the laity in the heavenly worship. And whilst line 3 describes
the priesthood, line 4 intimates that one of their functions is to orga-
nizc, spiritually and logislically, the rest of the people: they are "to
muster (‫[ )לפקור‬the hosts] of your el [eel (?)] (i.e. Israel as a whole)
according to their thousands, and their myriads... so that they have
a mighty hand in battle".
The use of the verb ‫ פ ק ד‬here is noteworthy. In the scrolls it is
b
only either God (e.g. 1QS 3:18; 4:18; CD 1:7; 7:9; 19:6; iQpIsa
2:2) or the priesthood (1QS 6:13; lQSb 3:24; CD 14:6-7; 4Q266
11:8) who is cither the subject of this verb or of its cognate noun
form ("visitation"). As far as I can gather in no text do (entirely
1 1
suprahuman) angels "muster" or "visit" human troops. '' It is possi-
ble that God is the subject of the verb and that he, therefore, is the
one mustering his army (whether human or angelic, cf. Isa 13:4).
However, other Qumran texts suggest that here the priesthood, which
has the covenant of peace, has been delegated the responsibility for
mustering.
Both 1QS and the Damascus Document speak of a distinct, priesdy,
office for a Paqid, who is given disciplinary power to expel errant
members of the community (4Q266 (4QDamascus Document") 11:8
= 4Q269 16 6 7), who examines prospective members of the Council
of the Community (1QS 6:13) and who is responsible for enlisting
by names ("they shall be enlisted by name": 14:3,‫קדו‬
and interviewing all members of the camps (according to the "Rule
of the assembly of the camps" (CD 14:3)), according to their rank,
whether priests, Lévites, laity or proselytes (CD 14:6-7, cf. CD
14:3-8b = 4Q267 9 ν 6b 13a = 4Q269 10 ii 9-12)5' In this later

4
'‫ י‬I n 4Q405 20 it—21 —22 line 14 it is probably an angelic group who are them-
selves "mustered", but they do not do the mustering.
1,5
For a brief discussion of the Paqid sec Martinez 1999b, 310.
428 CHAPTER TWELVE

text, in particular, there is a. similar situation to that envisaged in

I Q M 12:1-5: the Israelites are mustered at the central, cultic, asscm-
bly (cf. I Q M 2:4) with their names recorded (12:2) and they arc
organized into "thousands and myriads".
According to the War ,Scroll the priesthood itself docs not fully enter
the battle but equips the rest of the people to do so (cf. 15:8 9;
17:14-15). This, again, is another indication that 12:1-5 is describ-
ing the human priesthood as a heavenly community in the temple:
in the immediate context of the War Scroll (10:2-6) it is the human
priesthood who are themselves addressing the earthly troops. This
is, to a large degree, what the War Scroll is; a text describing how
the priesthood should muster the troops- how they should be orga-
nized (columns 2 7 ) and how they should be motivated spiritually
66
(columns lOff.). So whilst there is considerable evidence to think that it
loould be Iranian priests who would be responsible for the mustering of I QA1
12:4 nowhere in the wider litercny context are suprahuman angels called up
to muster Israel.
Davies thinks that the phrase ‫ בחירי עם קורט‬at the end of line 1
67
is "unnecessarily cumbersome". This, he thinks, points to a later
gloss on the. simpler expression ‫עם קודש‬. Within the broader sweep
of the War Scroll's military procedures and in conformity with the
division we have discovered in other scrolls between the super-holy
priesthood and the laity, a better explanation of the phrase is that
it quite appropriately describes, once again, a subset (the ‫ )בחירים‬of
all Israel (‫)עם קודש‬. This would accord well with the tact that elsewhere
it is the laity and the whole people that is designated an ‫עם קודש‬.
Thus after returning from the battlefield it is all those who have sur-
vived who proclaim "We, your holy people, shall praise your Name . . .
68
(14:12)". Similarly, in column 10, to which 12:1-5 harks back,
Israel's election means she is "the holy people, of the covenant"
(10:10). I f the "holy people" is Israel as a whole, then, presumably,
"the elect ones of the holy people" would be the priesthood. This
~
6
‫יי‬ Many of the basic themes and ideas arc parallel in the more general inslruc-
tions for the priesdy organizing of the "host of the congregation" in IQSa 1-2:
regulations for age of rank, hierarchies of office and categories of excluded persons
are all discussed in both IQSa and I Q M 2-7. The additional material in I Q M
2-7 can therefore be seen as specific details of the rule when applied to the case
of the "convocation of war" envisaged in IQSa 1:21, 26.
67
1977, 101.
''" The language is, o f course, biblical: Dcut 14:2; 28:9; Isa 62:12; 63:18; Dan
12:7.
 T H E WAR SCROLL 429

interpretation of the phrase would be consistent with a literal read-

ing of the Damascus Document 4:3-4 where "the 'sons of Zadok' (of
Ezek 44:15) are the elect of Israel (‫ ")בחירי ישראל‬set over against the
w
whole of the true Israel, "the penitents of Israel" (lines 2-3).
This means that the slightly different, but related expression in
the second half of line 5 is also carefully chosen. There it is not the
"elect ones of the holy people" who are the subject as in line. 1, but
the people of the elect ones of heaven (‫)עם בחירי שמים‬. In context, this is
an appropriate designation of the laity who enter the fray and who
are to defeat the "rebels of the earth". This "people" belongs to—
is supported and equipped by—the priesthood who, properly speak-
ing arc the "elect ones of heaven".
If the details of these points of interpretation are anywhere near
the mark, then these lines of column 12 arc primarily to do not so
much with suprahuman angels in heaven, but the priesthood in the
heavenly sanctuary who are to praise God and prepare the people
for battle. The text is now explaining further the briefer statement
in column 10 of Israel's culticaliy anchored proximity to God.
We are now in a better position to consider the meaning of line
1 and the reference to the "multitude of holy ones . . . in the heav-
ens". The exact force of this expression is difficult to judge because
of the uncertain restoration of the fourth word of the sentence. Most
now favour the reading ‫" ]א[ ל ה‬these".™ The word ‫ א ל ה‬is used fre-
quently in the War Scroll as a resumptive pronoun which looks back
and summarizes the subject of previous discussion. So I Q M 12:1
begins "because these are a multitude of holy ones in heaven . . .".
Unfortunately, the last few lines of the previous column arc badly
broken and so the immediate antecedent is not clear. However, in
the broader sweep of column 10 and 11, "these" most likely looks

,,
‫ יי‬The expression ‫ בחירי י ש ר א ל‬in CID 4:3 4 would thus be closer and more
specifically relevant for an understanding of I Q M 12:1 than the less specific refer-
ence in other Qumran texts to "the elect". One other instance of the expression
4) ‫ ב ח י ר י ישראל‬Q I 7 4 1 19) is relevant. There, too, the "elect o f Israel" might he
identified with the Sons of Zadok (4Q174 1 17), although the text is damaged and
in this text both "Sons of Zadok" and "chosen ones o f Israel" could refer to the
community as a whole (so Brooke 1985, 158).
?
" See jongeling 1962, 74; Duhaime in Gliarlesworth 1995, 121. Early (ransla-
tors read ‫ ל כ ה‬, but since Jongeling (1962, 74) this has rightly been rejected since
there is no space available between the he and the honed. Carmignac's suggested
‫" ]ע״ןלה‬has gone up" (Garmignac 1958, 169) is not impossible, though the belli which
follows counts against it and, in any case, (his reading reflects Carmignac's unlikely
interpretation of the line as a description of the post-mortem souls of the righteous.
 430 CHAPTER TWELVE

back to the righteous who are like God (col. 10) and who will carry
out God's eschatological victory over the forces of evil. Wc have
already seen how in column 1 1 the righteous and its messianic lead-
ership is described in angelomorphic terms. It would be fitting i f col-
nmn 12 went on to locate the likes of the star and the scepter of
71
Numbers 24 in Israel's (heavenly) sanctuary. This reading of 10:1,
would of course be further consistent with 4Q511 frag. 35 and the
first of the Sabbath Songs in describing the whole of the people of
God as holy ones with a heavenly vocation and citizenship.
We can be more confident that the "multitude of holy ones" in
line 1 are the righteous, because it is now reasonable to suppose
that the "hosts of angels", with whom they are set in literary par-
allclism, also includes the righteous. This is because the use of ‫מ ל א ך‬
of Israel's priesthood is natural given the citation of Malachi 2:5 in
line 3. Tlib intertextuality of that text means that the author will
have had mind also the statement i n Malachi 2:7 that the [priest "is
the ‫ מ ל א ך‬of the LORD of hosts ( ‫ ) צ ב א ו ת‬. " As we have seen Malachi
2:7 is a text of considerable importance in the tradition of an angelo-
morphic priesthood present also in Jubilees 31:14—15, a text dear to
the Qumran community, and the first of the Songs of the Sabbath
Sacrifice. The Malachi intertextuality may also be seen in the exprès-
sion "a multitude (‫ )רוב‬of holy ones". In Malachi 2:6 the priesthood
is praised for the fact thai it "turned many ( ‫ ) ר ב י ם‬away from iniq-
72
uity". I n this case there is no redundancy in the expression "a mul-
titucle of holy ones. . . and hosts of angels", but a specific reference
to the whole righteous community and their subset, the priesthood,
73
respectively.
This need not mean that there is no reference at all to suprahu-
man angels in any of this column. There is no doubt that the "hosts
of his spirits" in 12:9 should be so construed. I l is also probable that
the plural hosts in the phrase "hosts of angels" of line 1 has in mind
74
both the human priesthood and the suprahuman angelic host. But

71
The star resembling a sword stands over the city of Jerusalem in Josephus B.J.
6:289 and the heavenly, sceptre-bearing man of Sib. Or. 5:414-433 is specifically
related to a glorified, heavenly, Jerusalem.
72
M a i 2:6 will then be one of a number of texts which has supplied the tech-
uical term • ‫ ה ר ב י‬in the scrolls (1Q_S 6:1, 8, 11, 12 etc. . .) and cf. Isaiah 53:11.
n
The same division may be in view i n the laconic ‫ ל א כ י כ ה‬0 [. · •] Γ Ο Ό Π ρ in
line 4, with the unity (‫ )יחד‬one of priesthood and laity in liturgical harmony.
7 4
For the earthly sanctuary the angelic abode see, e.g, Isaiah 6; Zechariah 3;
Josephus B.J. 6:293-4; Daniel 7 (Fletciier-Louis 1997a). '
 THE WAR SCROLL 431

it should at least now be clear that the opening paragraph of col-

um η 12 has moved from the royal messianism of column 11 to the
priestly community, their setting in a heavenly sanctuary and their
vocation in relation to the rest of Israel. The author has moved from
the battlefield where the likes of David slay Israel's enemies, to the
sanctuary and Israel's worship.
Lastly, one small detail adds another hue to the cultic picture.
Though not certain, sensible reconstructions of the first lacuna i n
line 2 would give the expressions "book of the names ( 0 ] ‫ש מ ו ח‬ ~1
75
of all their hosts" or "enumeration of the names (‫מם[ פ ר שמוח‬. . .) of all
76
their hosts". Although the commentators note possible biblical and
extra-biblical parallels for the idea that God numbers and names the
(suprahuman) heavenly bodies (Ps 147:4; Isa 40:26), or that God has
a book in heaven in which the names of the righteous are recorded
(e.g. Dan 12:1; / Enoch 47:3; Rev 3:5), biblically, the closest linguistic
precedent for either of these two reconstructions is the enrolling o f
the names of the Israelites before their conquest of the land i n
77
Numbers 3:40.
If I Q M 12:1—5 is focused on the "earthly" Israelite sanctuary—
viewed as a heavenly world—then this makes perfect sense in the
context of the rest of the War Scroll. The first long section of the
scroll (columns 1-9) set outs in detail the order in which Israel's
troops are to be arranged when they prepare to attack their enemy.
The focus is essentially cultic throughout. Socially, the train of thought
moves downwards from the priesthood (e.g. 2:1-8; 3:13-4:5), whilst
spatially, the movement progresses out from the cultic centre. Details
of battle equipment start with the trumpets (3:1-11), which arc blown
by the priests (7:12-15) and then move on to the banners (3:13-5:2),
the shield, spear and javelin of the ordinary infantry (5:3-6:6) before,
last of all, describing the cavalry (6:8-17). 'Phis is a Holy War.
Although it is a war organized and lead by priests their own hands
are not defiled with the shedding of blood. Rather they remain in
a state of holiness that otherwise defines the angelic life (7:4-7).
Nothing in the War Scroll that precedes column 12:1-5 demands a
dualistic jump from the (cultic) world of human affairs to a wholly
other heavenly realm of angels. O n the other hand, everything that

Martinez and Tigchelaar 1997-98, 133; Freimessen! 1999, 91 η. 19.

Yadin 1962, 314-5.
Frcnncsson 1999, 91 n. 19.
432 CHAPTER TWELVE

has preceded suggests that, with practical matters dealt with (cols.
2-9) and a return to matters more narrowly concerned with wor-
ship and theology (cols. 1 Off.), that the focus will be on the cultic
community in ils heavenly mode.

1QA4 12:7-16: The Victoy of the LORD'S Holy Ones

We now turn to the second portion of text in column 12; lines 7-16.
Here the angelological language of lines 1-5 continues but with a
decisive shift of focus:
7
Y o u , Ο G o d , (. . .] i n the G l o r y ( ‫ ) כ כ ב ו ד‬o f your kingship a n d the
c o n g r e g a t i o n o f y o u r holy ones ( ‫ ) ו ע ד ת ק ר ו ש י כ ה‬, arc in o u r midst for
an c v e r l a s l i [ n g | help (| ‫[ ) ל ע ז ר ע ו ל מ י | ם‬. . .| contempt for kings, mock-
11
ing a n d d e r i s i o n for the m i g h t y ones. Because h o l y is the b o r d
( ‫ ) ק ד ו ש א ד ו נ י‬, a n d the K i n g o f G l o r y ( ‫( ) ו מ ל ך ה כ ב ו ד‬is) w i t h us (‫)אתנו‬, a
8
peopie'-wf h o l y ones ( ' , ( ‫ק ד ו ש י ם‬ ‫עם‬ migh[i): ones and] the host o f a
9
( ‫( ) צ ב א מ ל א כ י ם‬are) a m o n g arc mustered troops ( (‫בפקודינו‬a n d the
m i g h t y one o f w a f r ] ( | ' ‫( )ונברר ה מ ל ח ] ם ה‬is) iri o u r congregation a n d the
host o f his spirits ( ‫( ) ו צ ב א ר ו ח י ו‬is) w i t h o u r foot-soldiers a n d o u r horse-
m e n , [as] r a i n clouds (‫ עננים‬p ) a n d as mist clouds c o v e r i n g the earth
1 0
( ,(‫ו כ ע כ י ט ל ל כ ס ו תארץ‬ as a rainstorm w a t e r i n
its products.

Arise ( ‫ ) ק ו מ ה‬, m i g h t y one! lead away y o u r captives ( ‫ ) ש כ ה ש כ י כ ה‬, m a n

o f Glory ( ‫ ! ) א י ש כ ב ו ד‬Seize " y o u r plunder, (you) w h o do w o r t h i l y ! Put
y o u r h a n d u p o n the neck o f y o u r enemies a n d y o u r foot u p o n the
piles o f the slain! Smite the nations, y o u r foes, a n d let y o u r sword
12
d e v o u r the g u i l t y flesh. Y o u r earth is full o f G l o r y ( ‫מ ל א א ר צ כ ה‬
‫ ) כ ב ו ד‬a n d y o u r inheritance w i t h blessing; a m u l t i t u d e o f cattle in
1 3
y o u r fields, silver, g o l d , a n d precious stones i n y o u r palac[c[s.
Z i o n , rejoice greatly! Shine forth in j u b i l a t i o n , Jerusalem! 15c glad
all y o u cities of J u d a h ! O p e n " [your] gale[s] continually, that through
t h e m m a y be b r o u g h t the wealth o f the nations! T h e i r kings shall
serve y o u ( ‫ ; ) י ש ר ת ו ך‬all y o u r oppressors shall b o w d o w n before y o u
( ‫ ) ה ש ת ח ו ו ל ך‬and '‫[ יי‬lick] the dust ‫ ן‬from y o u r feet. D a u g h t e r s o f m y
people, shout w i t h a voice o f jubilation! Deck yourselves w i t h orna-
merits o f G l o r y ( ‫ ! ) ע ד י נ ה ע ר י כ ב ו ד‬A n d have d o m i n i o n over [the
7 9
ki|n[gd01ns . . .'[ ( ( ‫כ מ ל כ ו ת‬ ‫ורדינה‬ " ' [ , . . IJsracl shall rule
\ ( ‫ ) י [ ש ר א ל ל מ ל ו ך ע ו ל מ י ם‬. vacat)

The vacat at line 6 marks a definite division between this section and
the one that precedes. However, there remains a logical progression

Following Yadin's translation of ‫ ע ם‬, against, e.g. Charlesworth 1995, 121

"together with the holy ones" (so also Vermes).
9
' T h e lacunae are reliably restored ou the basis of I Q M 19:7.
 THE WAR SCROLL 433

of thought. Whereas lines 1-5 deal with the priesthood, sanctuary

worship and the mustering of the whole army by the priesthood,
lines 7—15 deal with the people themselves. This shift in perspective
is marked by the change from the third person to the second per-
son plural, but is in any case obvious from the content of lines 7-16
which describe the divine presence within Israel's battle formations,
and the consequences of their victories over the nations. Lines 1-5
speak repeatedly of "the heavens", "your holy habitation", "your
holy dwelling". The shift in the perspective of the hymn of 12:6-16
is signalled with a reference to the earth, the locus of the strife of
God's judgements in line 5. The earth is mentioned three times in
the, hymn that follows, along with the dust which is licked from Israel's
feet (line 15) and it is abundantly clear that the mundane perspec-
live predominates. Between the two sections there is, then, a move-
ment downwards from heaven to earth, and outwards from the
sanctuary to the land which is the theatre of conflict.
With that clown and outward movement the warriors proclaim
that they are joined by the divine presence. That is, just as they are
sent out by the priests, ("the elect ones of heaven"?), so the près-
ence of God is guaranteed to accompany them on their way by the
ministry of the priests in the heavenly sanctuary.

IQM 12 and the Pattern ())'Israel's Sacramentally Guided Holy War

Both the spatial movement between the two stanzas in column 12
and the relationship between the cult and the theatre of conflict are
elucidated by comparison with earlier, Biblical, instances of the Holy
War scenario. There is a long, well-established tradition of Holy War
in Israel. 4110 closest parallel to I Q M 12, both in date and con-
ccptual structure, is provided by 2 Chronicles 20.
In 2 Chronicles 20 the nation, under King Jchoshophat, prepares
to go to war in the house of the LORD. After impassioned prayer
and petition the spirit of the LORD comes upon a Levite, Jahaziel
of the sons of Asaph who gives a prophetic word. The LORD promises
victory on the morrow, when the people go down to battle against
the great multitude that has come against them. The people respond
in worship. The next clay the people set off for the wilderness and
prepare for battle: jehoshaphat addresses the troops with words of
encouragement (2 Chr 20:20), just as the priests and the officers do
in I Q M 10:2, 5. Lie then appoints singers "to praise the LORD in
holy splendour" at the head of the army. It is exactly at the moment
434 CHAPTER TWELVE

that, they begin to sing and praise that the LORD sets an ambush for
the nation's enemies who promptly attack one another and are
defeated without the Israelites ever having to enter the fray. The
Israelites gather up the booty and return to Jerusalem, to the house
of the LORD with harps, lyres and trumpets.
There are only two significant differences between 2 Chronicles
20 and I Q M 12. In the former Israel is on the defensive, whilst in
the later they are on the offensive and in the War Scroll the combatants
are not spared actual engagement with the enemy. Otherwise, the
cultic perspective and the movement from the sanctuary, as the place
where Israel is empowered in its encounter with God, to the battlefield
and the return to the house of the LORD is identical in both texts.
111 the Chronicles passage, as in I Q M 12, lite lilc of (he cull is no(
simply a locus of revelation: the praise of those appointed 10 lead the people
is sacramenMly efficacious for the power of God to defeat the, enemy.'"'
If 2 Chronicles 20 is a reliable guide then, since I Q M 12:1-5 will
correspond to the cultic assembly in 2 Chronicles 20:4-19, the war
]3arty who arc in view in 12:7-16 will include also the représenta-
fives of the cult described in the first stanza. This is, in fact, the sec-
nario envisaged in the. rest of the War Scroll: all begins with everyone
present at the sanctuary where a perpetual atoning sacrifice is offered
at the table of Glory (2:17, cf. 12:3). From there the armies ven-
turc forth, with priests in their midst who shall strengthen the hands
of the laity for battle (7:12), blowing on their trumpets both in the
midst of the lines of soldiers (e.g. 7:12-17; 16:12) and from the wings
of the theatre of actual combat (e.g. 8:1-9:9; 16:4-9). Wc would
expect, therefore, those on the battlefield in 12:7-16 to include two,
clearly distinct, groups: priests and laity.

IQM 12:7-16: Vie Actors in the Vieatre of Combat

What does the language of 12:7 16 itself say about those present on
the battlefield? The key lines are 7-9, but their precise meaning is
contested. Before a detailed engagement with the text only prelimi-
nary observations, justifying our translation, are possible.

8 0
Sec, in particular, the comments of Johnstone 1997 vol. 2, pp. 1 0 1 , 103: this
"is pure sacramenlalism: Israel's role is totally participatory—it goes fully armed
into the battle . . . Israel, as the LORD'S host under the LORD'S anointed, is caught
up unreservedly . . . into the action of God against the invading hordes of the
nations. . . . Verse 22 proclaims the realized sacramcntaiism: precisely at the moment
of acclamation of the LORD'S arrival on the field of battle, the LORD himself inter-
vencs."
 THE WAR SCROLL 435

There is no doubt that in line 7 God himself is with the troops

and that in line 9 "the host of his spirits" is with the infantry and
cavalry. The meaning of "the congregation of your holy ones" in
line 7 and the identification of the parties in line 8 is more prob-
lematic. In accord with our interpretation of 12:1-5 we are inclined
to see here the people as the holy ones and, indeed, that is how we
have translated "‫ " ע ם קדושים‬i n line 8, although others translate "with
the holy ones" which would militate against an identification o f the
holy ones with the righteous themselves. It is also possible, though
81

not absolutely certain, that the "host o f angels (‫")צבא מלאכים‬, who
are with those mustered for battle are the priesthood who stand i n
amongst the infantry, strengthening their hands and blowing the
trumpets.
Whilst there is here, then, a clear witness to the Engelgemeinschqft
o f the battlefield there is little in the way o f a rigid dualism. It 82

must be emphasized that 12:8-10 does not describe angles in heaven

above moving in synch with the human troops on the ground below.
The angels—the spirits—are among the troops in the earthly conflict
and both are therefore set apart spatially from the heavenly setting
of 12:1-5. This section is more interested i n Israel's intimate rela-
tion to the created order as a whole, than a wooden parallelism
between a conflict in heaven and a conflict o n earth.
The whole o f this section is shot through with the biblical imagery
from the Holy War tradition. However, there are, i n particular, two
texts which inspire the language and ideology o f I Q M 12:7-12: (1)
Genesis 1-2 and (2) Isaiah 6:1 3. Once i t is appreciated how these
two texts are woven into the fabric, o f the passage the interpénétra-
tion of heavenly and earthly spheres Can be understood.

(1) I Q M 12:7-16: The Divine Warrior's Restoration o f

Creation's Paradise

The, divine, warrior is called upon t o fill God's earth (‫ )ארצכה‬with

" a multitude of cattle", and his palaces with "silver, gold and precious
stones" (line ‫״‬1213). The picture o f the host o f spirits and the troops
as rain clouds and mist clouds covering the earth, like a rainstorm

'" For our translation sec Yadin 1962, 316; Carmignac and Guilbert 1961, vol. 1,
112, cf, Dupont-Sommcr 1961, 187: "congregation of Thy saints", "accompanied
by the saints" and cf. Dan 7:27; 8:24. For the alternative see Vermes, Davies 1977,
102 who has to supply a missing warn before the ‫ ע ם‬.
2
‫ ״‬Cf. Davies 1997, 103.
436 CHAPTER TWELVE

watering the vegetation (lines 9 10), is creation imagery. In the first

place it: recalls the language 01'creation in 10:12. Secondly, in asso-
dation with the "multitude of cattle" which follows it suggests a
restoration of fertility to land deprived of its irrigation whilst under
enemy control. It is possible, in fact, that there is here, a specific
allusion to the "spirit of God" which swept over the primeval waters
in Genesis 1:2. We know from Sirach 24:3b that the mach elohim of
Genesis 1:2 could be interpreted in terms of a mist (ομίχλη) cover-
ing the earth, i n close association with God's theophanic cloud. Sirach
is here testimony to an old cxegctical tradition which combined
Genesis 1:2 with the description in Genesis 2:6 of a source of water
11
watering the whole earth. ' The creation imagery is probably sus-
taincd until the very climax of the hymn where Israel and her cities
arc summonsed to "have dominion (‫ )דדינה‬over the kingdoms" and
for Israel there is an eternal reign (lines 1 5 1 6 ‫ ) ־‬. The use of the
imperative of the verb ‫ ר ד ה‬in 12:15 (par. 19:7) echoes Genesis 1:28
where humanity is commanded to fill the earth (‫)מלאו אח הארץ‬, sub-
1
due it and have dominion (‫ )רדו‬over the whole of creation. " Israel
are therefore placed i n the position of the true Adam i n consequence
of the divine warrior's eschatological victory and recapitulation of
creation.
This is the well-known biblical and ancient Near Eastern pattern
of the divine warrior defeating his enemies, returning creation to an
ordered paradise. Indeed, it seems likely that an allusion to "Eden"
is intended in line 15. !'he penultimate Hebrew phrase of this line
says " ‫"עדינה ערי כ כ ו ר‬. The root verb is normally judged to be ‫עהה‬,
"to ornament, deck oneself"- - thus: "deck yourself in ornaments of
Glory"—but, however its form here was vocalized, a play on the
"garden of Eden (]‫ ")עד‬is unmistakable.'''"'
This orientation to creation should not surprise us, since wc have
already seen how much whal precedes is a development of Column
10's interests. There Israel was set in intimate communion with ere-

‫ג י‬
\' See discussion of 4Q54 1 9 (above).
8 1
For human dominion over the whole created realm see also Ps 8:6-8; Sir
] 7 : 2 - 4 ; l O S 3:17; 4Q381 1 7; 4Q422 1 i 9; 4;22 ‫ ־‬1 0 4 2 3 Q 4
Jub. 2:14. ~
8 5
Judging by the ])holograph (Sukenik 1955, plates X X V I I , X X X I V ) ‫ערי כ מ ר‬
could equally well be ‫" ע ר י כ כ ו ר‬skins of Glory" which would then allude both to
the garments of skin given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:21 and to the tradition
that these garments were glorious (light-giving) garments (Ginzberg ‫־־‬1909-38, 5:1034,
276-7).
 THE WAR SCROLL 437

ation through her cosmologically attuned liturgy. Here, in column

12, the movement towards the battlefield has begun in the sanctu-
ary where the priesthood keeps time with the rhythms of eternity.
Now it has moved outwards to the land and Israel has, accompa-
nying her forces, both the creator God and the spiritual forces of
creation. So she can confidently ask of him to renew creation and
slay his enemies.

(2) I Q M 12:7-16: The Fulfillment of the Qedushah "Holy, Holy,

Holy . . . "

We saw in our discussion of the V l l t h Song of the Songs of the Sabbalh

Sacrifice how a Dead Sea Scroll text can contain a thinly veiled alln-
siou to the Qedushah of Isaiah (i. The whole of the hymn in I Q M
12:7 16 is also modelled in part 011 Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is
the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his Glory:

Isa 6:1 . . . I saw the L o r d sit-

t i n g on a t h r o n e , h i g h a n d
lofty; a n d the h e m o f his robe
filled the palace (‫)מלאים אח ההיכל‬
IQM 12:7-1 Oa ... 3 A n d one called to an-
Y o u , Ο God . . . I n the Glory o f your king- other a n d said:
ship and the congregation o f y o u r (i) Holy (i) 'Lloly,
Ones, are i n our midst for an everlasting
help . . . contempt for kings, . . .
Because (iii) Holy is the LORD and the (ii) Holy,
King of Gloiy is w i t h us,
a people o f (ii) Holy Ones, m i g h t y (iii) Holy is the LORD of hosts
ones and
the hosl (x) of angels a m o n g o u r mus-
t c r c d ones.
T h e m i g h t y one o f war is i n our c o n -
g r c g a l i o n and
the host (y) of his spirits is w i t h our foot
soldiers a n d our horsemen,
. . . as r a i n clouds . . .

10b-15 A r i s e , m i g h t y one! T a k e y o u r the w h o l e earth is full of his

captives, m a n o f Glorf. Seize y o u r p l u n - Glory"
der, y o u w h o do worthily! Put your h a n d
u p o n the neck o f y o u r enemies a n d y o u r
foot u p o n the piles o f the slain! Smite
438 CHAPTER TWELVE

the nations, yourfoes,and let your sword

devour guilty flesh. Your earth ύ full of Glory
and your inheritance with blessing; a
multitude of cattle in your fields, silver,
gold, and precious stones in your palaces
(‫)היכלוחיכה‬.

, . . Daughters of my people, shout with Isa 6:5 . . . yet my eyes have

a voice of jubilation! Deck yourselves with seen the King, the LORD of hostsl"
1
ornaments of Glory . Have dominion over
the kingdoms . . .

The hymn opens with a reference to the "Glory" of God's kingship.

In lines 7-9 the scroll reads "holy is the Lord (‫ ״"")קדוש אדוני‬and a
"king of Glory (‫ ) מ ל ך הכבוד‬is with us". He is then characterized as
a Lord of hosts; a "host of angels" and a "host of spirits" who accom-
pany the human troops. Indeed, the root ‫ קדוש‬appears three times
in two lines (line 7: ‫ ק ד ו ט י כ ה‬: line 8: ‫קדוש אדוני‬, and ‫ )קדושים‬echo-
ing the trisagion of Isaiah 6:3. Again in line 10 the second part of
the hymn is addressed to a man of Glory (‫)איש כבוד‬. Isaiah 6:3 is
then cited in the body o f the second stanza of the hymn: "Your
7 ! !
earth is full of Glory ( " . ( ‫כ ב ו ד‬ ‫מ ל א או־צכה‬ Si
with the daughters of God's people decked in "ornaments of glory
(‫ ")עדי כבוד‬it seems that the whole of lines 12-15 is meant to be a
picture of God's Glory filling the earth, both the natural and the
8
social order held in one inexorable whole. "
I would suggest that the whole of the hymn in lines 7-16 is based
on the two parts of the praise in Isaiah 6:3." The first strophe

m
This, and the parallel at 19:1, is the only occurrence of such a statement of
God's holiness i n the War Scroll. (Indeed, it is the only occurrence of the simple
form ‫)קרוט‬. Given the controlling inlluence of Isaiah 6 on these lines I think it
unlikely that we should translate ‫" ק ד ו ש ארוני‬holy one of the L O R D " and take this
as a reference to the priestly mcssiah (cf. Ps 106:16) alongside the royal mcssiah-—
"the king of Glory".
So,'rightly, Garmignac 1958, 182; Garmignac 1961, 112, 11. 72. Strangely,
most of the commentators have not seen the language of Isa 6:3 here. Yadin com-
pares only Num 14:21; Ps 72:9. Λ translation of ‫ א ר צ כ ה‬as "land" rather than "earth"
(so, e.g. Yadin 1962, 318; Duhaimc 1995, 121) misses the all-important reference
to Isa 6:3 and the heaven-to-earth movement through the whole of this column.
8 8
For the "ornaments of Glory" compare Isa 49:18; Ezek 16:7 and 11; Bar
5:1-2; Pss. of Sol. 11:8.
8 9
Is the splitting up of Isaiah 6:3 into two strophes an interpretation of the first
part of that verse "And one called to another and said" in terms of an antiphonal
response of one strophe from one group to another?
 THE WAR SCROLL 439

(7—10a) is a reworking of "Holy, holy, holy is the L O R D of hosts".

All the essential elements of that praise are present and given specific
90
interpretation. The hosts are defined as angels and spirits. The Lord
is also a "king of Glory". The basic, statement o f the Lord's own
holiness is retained. But then there are two additional comments on
that which is holy: the Lord's own holiness is reflected in his "con-
gregation of holy ones" and, it seems, "a people of holy ones". The
second strophe ( 1 Ob-16) is then an interpretation of what it means
that "the whole earth is full of his Glory". This is interpreted in
terms of a defeat of God's enemies, the bounties of creation, the
prostration of God's enemies before Israel and the beauteous pros-
pcrity of Israel's cities and their inhabitants.
In Isaiah (i itself there is a deliberate parallelism between God's
robe ( L X X has "Glory") filling Ilm palace (‫ההיכל‬, i.e. the sanctuary)
in 6:1 and his Glory filling the earth in 6:3. The parallelism is pre-
sent also in I Q M 12 in several ways. First of all, obviously, the
whole of column 12 can be seen to correspond to the spatial struc-
lure of Isaiah 6:1-3 in its movement from (heavenly) sanctuary to
the earth. The end of the second stanza (12:7-16) finishes with a
movement back to the sanctuary with the words: "your earth is full
of Glory . . . silver, gold and precious stones in your palaces (‫בהיכלוחיכה‬,
lines 12-13)". Again the parallelism between God's Glory filling both
the earth and the sanctuary is hereby reiterated.
This biblical intertexluality is unmistakable and its implications no
91
less significant. First of all, an important corollary of the Isaiah 6
intcrtextuality undergirding the whole of this column is that the
"palaces" of line 13 are hereby implicitly identified with the "heavens"
and "holy habitation" of line 1. And, since no one doubts that the
palaces of line 13 are the civil and sacred buildings of the restored
and glorified Israel, our contention (above) that lines 12:1-5 describe
the cultic community viewed from a heavenly perspective now finds
92
yet more support.

!l
" l'Or (lie identification 0( God's Glory filling the earth in Isa 6:3 with his "spir-
its" sec Elh. Enoch 39:12.
91
The importance of the Qedushah and the theological weight it gives to this
hymn may partly explain the reduplication of the hymn at the end o f the scroll
(col. 19), thereby diminishing the sense that I Q M lacks literal")' integrity.
92
Isa 6:3b, ‫ מ ל א כ ל ה א ר ץ כ כ ו ח‬, can be read "the fullness of the earth is his
Glory". This is perhaps the way I Q M 12:12 understands ‫ ס ל א א ר צ כ ה כ ב ו ד‬, given
that the cattle, silver, gold and precious stones of lines 12-18 could very well be
440 CHAPTER TWELVE

Secondly, not only does the use of Isaiah 6 give another impor-
tant intertcxtual subtext for the whole of the twelfth column, it also
reinforces the way in which at this juncture the Israelites themselves
function as God's angelic host. In Isaiah 6 it is the seraphim who pro-
claim the Qedushah. Here the (priestly) leader of the eschatological
war proclaims the Qedushah, albeit as a new and particular instan-
tiation of the praise of heaven. In doing so he calls Zion, Jerusalem,
to rejoice. Now it is the human community not the suprahuman
93
serapliim who actualise the worship of the angels about God's throne.
Thirdly, the way Isaiah 6:3 has been reworked further supports
our conviction that the holy ones and the angels of lines 7-8 refer,
primarily, to the Israelite army and priesthood. The expression "Ixmo
of hosts" has been taken as an indication dial (here arc. (at leasl) I w o
hosts in God's army (cf. line 1: "hosts' of angels"), lines 8 and 9
say then? are two ‫צבאות‬. There is a "host of angels among our mus-
tered troops . . ." and a "host of spirits with our foot-soldiers and our
horsemen . . .". This is now best taken as a careful demarcation of
two clearly distinct armies; the human, but heavenly, holy army of
Israel among whom there arc angelic priests and the suprahuman
army of spirits which fights with Israel.
But the human community have not just been raised to the realm
of the. worshipping seraphim: they are also themselves taken up into
the life of the Glory of God himself. In line. 15 the daughters of
Israel are to deck themselves in "ornaments of Glory". This is the
same divine Glory which "fills the earth". Perhaps, like the high
priesthood of 4Q405 23 i i , they are to be decked with ornaments
made of the "gold, silver and precious stones" with which God's
land is filled in lines 12-13.'" Certainly, given the way other Qumran
texts variously identified Adam. Israel and her high priest with God's
Glory it is not at all surprising that such an Israelology should be
present here. In fact M . Baillct has already noted the way the set-
ting of the Glorious Adam of 4Q504 frag. 8 line 7 in the "land of
Glory (‫ ")ארץ כבוד‬is parallel to the prayer of I Q M 12:12 (par. 19:4)

understood as that glorious fullness of the earth which is harvested into (he LORD'S
palaces by Israel's divine warriors.
9 5
Compare the allusion (o Isa 6:3 in Sirach 42:16b which is determinative for
the Glory theme which predominates throughout 42:15-50:21. f o r the early litur-
gical use of the Qedushah see Hayward 1997.
iM
Cf. esp. Ezek 16:7, 11.
 THE WAR SCROLL 441

95
that God would fill up his land with Glory. (This, of course, has
considerable implications for the identity of the "man of Glory" to
which we shall turn shortly.) Baillet's comparison is entirely justified
because of the Edenic imagery throughout the second stanza of col-
iimn 12.
In our discussion of 4Q504 we saw how Genesis 1:26 and Ezekiel
1:26-28 were combined to create an anthropology of divine Glory
in the Urzeit. In I Q M 12 Genesis 1 is combined with another key
throne theophany text to which the apocalyptic-mystical tradition
frequently turned for inspiration—Isaiah 6:1—3•—to create an equiv-
aient anthropology of the divine Glory in the Endzeil. And the sub-
tic splicing of the two texts -Genesis 1 and Ezekiel 1—in 4Q504 is
repeated will! an equally deft interpretative hand in I Q M 12. In
I Q M Genesis is now combined with Isaiah 6 and at the climax of
the passage the two biblical passages overlap to make an explicit
identification of the Endzeit with the Urzeit. Lines 12-15 describe the
earth and Israel's palaces full of God's Glory. The Glory is literally
worn by the Israelites themselves (line 15). But the glorious Israelites
filling creation not only satisfies Isaiah 6:3 it also satisfies God's com-
mandment to humanity to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth
and subdue it . . ." (Gen 1:28). The last two phrases of line 15 neatly
combine allusions to Isaiah 6:3 ("deck yourselves in ornaments of
Glory ( ‫ ) כ ב ו ד‬. . . " and Genesis 1:28 ("Have dominion over (‫)ורדינה‬
the kingdoms").
At its heart this is a restatement of ideas that we have already
encountered in the War Scroll (esp. col. 10) and elsewhere in the
DSS. just as the high priest embodying God's Glory receives the
praise of the maskil in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, so here, not
surprisingly, Israel are also the recipients of the service, veneration,
or worship, of those who had ]previously been their oppressors (lines
14-15). The nations bringing all their wealth to Jerusalem in ser-
vice, prostrating themselves before God's ])copie (lines 14-15), is a
%
widespread motif in biblical and post-biblical Jewish literature.
Nevertheless, its significance should not be diminished for that rca-
son. That the nations shall "serve" Israel and "bow down" before

‫ "׳•׳׳‬DJD 7:163.
'"' Compare Isa 60:5, 7, 10, 14; Rzra 7:15-20; Pss. Sot. 17:31, 34; 4 Ezra 13:12;
4Q_504 1-2 iv 9b-12a. This has a reflex in early Christian literature where the
nations come in worship to the mcssiah, Jesus Christ (e.g. Phil 2:9-11; Rev 3:9),
442 CHAPTER TWELVE

her means they do to Israel what Israel is forbidden to do to an

97
idol. But, then, the nation's veneration of Israel is fitting in the
larger literary context because Israel is uniquely like God within the
order of creation (10:8-9 etc . . .) and the bearer of the true Image
of God, the form of Adam.

Wlw is the "Man of Glory" of 12:10-13?

It is not absolutely clear to whom the hymn in lines 10—16 is
90
addressed. The majority of commentators opt for God, to the exclu-
99
sion of other alternatives. Garmignac suggested a personification of
100
the people of God. Milik at first suggested the view that the hymn
101
is addressed to the nasi of the congregation, the messiah of Israel,
102
(hough he later changed his mind. He was not alone in his orig-
103
inal view. The principal objection to one of these alternatives is
the fact'that in line 12 the language of the earth being filled with
Glory, echoes such passages as Isaiah 6:3 and Numbers 14:21, and
104
must, therefore, describe Glory that belongs to God.
In the light of our discussion of the War Scroll and other DSS tra-
ditions thus far, however, this objection has no force. That the hymn
is addressed directly to God is, in fact, an option which can be safely
excluded, given the considerable evidence for one or other of two
alternatives, between which a choice is more difficult.
In the first place there are details which support Milik's original
view that the "mighty one", the "man of glory" is a (royal) messiah
105
figure. The hymn is a tapestry of biblical allusions and some of
the O T texts upon which it draws were originally for Israel's human
(royal) leader."* The language of Judges 5:12 ("Arise (‫)קום‬, Barak,

97
In context "the cities of Judah", "Zion" and "Jerusalem" arc métonymie for
their inhabitants.
9 8
For I Q M 12:8-16 see the near identical parallel in 19:1-8.
" Yadin 1962, 317: "There can be no reasonable doubt that the whole hymn
is addressed to God, not to the messiah".
100
Garmignac 1958, 181.
*>">' ,See DJD 1:121-122.
102
Milik'1955, 599.
103
See Black 1961, 155-56 for some sympathy for the messianic reading. I t is
represented more recently be Newman 1992, 116.
,0
'‫ י‬Ploeg 1959, 147.
105
Nothing in the hymn suggests a priestly messiah, despite the tradition (chs. 1,
3 and 7), according to which the priest acts as the divine warrior.
""' The phrase "seize your plunder ( ‫ ט ו ל ש ל ל כ ה‬lines 10-11)" recalls biblical pas-
sages where a human army is always in view (Ezck 29:19; 38:12-13; Isa 10:6).
 THE WAR SCROLL 443

lead away your capdves ("[‫)שבה שבי‬, Ο son of Abinoam") is picked

up in I Q M 10:10 ('Arise (‫)קומה‬, mighty one, lead away your cap-
tives (‫ ))שבה ©ביכה‬and the prophecy for Judah in Genesis 49:8 ('Judah,
your brothers shall praise you, your hand shall be upon the neck of
your enemies (‫ ")ידך ב ע ר ף איביך‬is echoed in I Q M 10:11 ("put your
1 0 7
hand upon the neck of your enemies ( . ( " ( ‫א ו י ב י כ ה‬
the DSS corpus comparison should be made with 4Q504 1-2 col.
iv where a Davidic king sits in governance over Israel, the nations
of the world see God's Glory, and bring in all their wealth to Israel,
108
to Jerusalem and the Temple (lines 6-12).
109
The title ‫" איש כבור‬man of glory" is strikingly anthropomorphic,
and comparison has rightly been made with such heavenly mcssiah
traditions as that found in Sibylline Oracles 5:414-433."° Although a
much later text (end of first century A.D.) the fifth book of Sibylline
Oracles is, as we saw in our first chapter, representative of an older
tradition of heavenly messianism in general, based, in particular, on
Numbers 24:17. I n this later text, as in I Q M ' 12, the heavenly
redeemer destroys Israel's enemies (5:416-9) and then restores to glo-
rious splendour Israel's sacred city and temple (5:420—428).
As we have seen, throughout, our hymn evokes the Qedushah of
Isaiah 6:3 and the "man of Glory" will probably have in mind,
therefore, the Glory of the LORD of that passage. Isaiah's vision
begins with a report that he "saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high
and lofty; and the hem of his robe ( L X X "his Glory") filled the tem-
pie" (v. 1). The language, is not as directly anthropomorphic as that

107
This argument in favour of a human referent is noted by Ploeg 1959, 147.
Note that, just as Gen 49:8 predicts that Judah's brothers will praise him so, on
the messianic reading of I Q M 12:10-17, this praise of the royal figure by his fel-
low Israelites is fulfilled in the passage itself.
108
Compare also 4QpIsa* 8—10 iii 18-22 where the royal mcssiah of Isa 11:1-5
is associated with (or given?) "a throne of Glory, a holy diadem and multi-coloured
garments". For the royal messialt and Glory see also P.a. Sol. 17:30—32.
The title ‫ איש כ כ ו ר‬has been explained with reference to Exod 15:3 where at
the Red Sea Yahweh is called a "man of war" (‫( )איש מלהמה‬Dupont-Sommer 1961,
187 η. 2). But, even i f this is deliberately evoked it does not allow us to exclude
any human reference in the title. I n the midst of the treatment of the divine royal
mcssiah in column 11, lines 9-10 have already cited God's destruction of the
Egyptians at the Red Sea. There the context suggests a strongly anthropomorphic,
possibly even messianic, reading of Exod 15:3 was adopted by the author of the
War Scroll. I n this regard the significance of Exod 15:3 for later T w o Powers debates
(Segal 1977, 33-44; 52-55 etc . . .) cannot be underestimated.
1)0
Black 1961, 156.
 444 CHAPTER TWELVE

of other throne visions (e.g. Ezekiel 1:26-28; 2 Enoch 22:1-3; 39),

1
but clearly Isaiah describes God seated in human form. " i n the late
Second Temple period the anthropomorphic occupant of God's
throne is called simply the "Great Glory" (/ Enoch 14:20) or more
simply the Glory, ha-Kavod. With Isaiah 6 clearly in view through-
out our passage, the "man of Glory" perhaps consciously evokes the
human form on God's throne. Does this fundamentally undermine
a messianic reading of 1QM 12:10-17? By no means.
We know that this human form o f God's Glory could be given a
messianic interpretation by late Second Temple Jews. So, for exam-
pie, in John 12:41 the gospel identifies Jesus Christ with the an thro-
1,2
momorphic Glory of Isaiah 6, and a hermeneutic of this kind
seems to be assumed in much of the Pauline Christological mater-
:i
ial." We have already seen how the Essene high priests were identified
with the Glory of Ezekiel's throne vision. There are, then, solid
grounds for thinking that the War Scroll offers a parallel anthropol-
ogy, though this time it is the royal mcssiah of the final battle who
embodies God's Glory on the battlefield.
This fits perfectly our reading of the second stanza of column 12
thus far. The "man of Glory" is also called "mighty one" at the
opening of the hymn in line 10. As such the messiah figure has
already been introduced in line 9. There he accompanies those in
the human-angelic host—"the host of angels among those mustered
with us and the mighty one of war in our congregation"—who are
set over against the "host of his spirits".
The royal messiah is, I think, the primary referent of the titles
"mighty one" and "man of Glory". This obviously fits the literary
context of the War Scroll: after a royal messianic expectation has
been laid out in column 11, followed by a vignette of the life of the
cult and priesthood (12:1-5) and a brief sketch of all the participants
on the field of combat (12:7— 10a), the scroll praises the royal mes-
siah, the Prince of the Congregation of 5:1, who leads the forces
>into battle.
Whilst this messianic reading is the most likely, Carmignac's cor-

' " The anthropomorphic nature of the vision is assumed in v. 5 "my eyes have
seen the King, the LORD of hosts".
112
For parallels to this strategy in pseudepigraphical, patristic and Jewish tradi-
lions of the Tannaitic period sec the recent discussion by Hannah 1999.
113
See Newman 1992.
 THE WAR SCROLL 445

poratc interpretation needs to be given its due. The messiah is often

a corporate, representative, figure. I f the author of the War Scroll
puts any store by the theology of 4Q504 then the vision of the man
of Glory restoring the earth to its Edenic abundance will have in
mind the original creation, with Adam as the embodiment of God's
Glory taking up the mantle of the divine king. The messiah is the
second Adam and therefore, also, the representative of the true Israel.
This is not to say that the "man of Glory" £‫ ז‬Israel, as Garmignac
would have it. I Q M 12:13-15 makes a decisive shift from the indi-
victual warrior, to the corporate Zion, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
Judah and the daughters of the people. Given the corporate, Adamic,
overtones of the messianism that precedes, the shift is natural, but
it is a shift nonetheless.

The Symmetry between Heaven and Earth, Sanctuary and Tlieatre of War
Wc have already commented on the movement between 12:1-5 and
7—16 as a movement from heaven to earth and from sanctuary to
theatre of eschatological conllicl. This, and the relationship between
these two spaces, is of the utmost importance in understanding the
War Scroll. Column 12 presumes a dynamic interplay between the
two spheres, one which is never stated in so many words, but which
underlies its structure, content and much else in these later sections
of the scroll. The presence of a "multitude of holy ones" and Israel's
priesthood in a space which is both liturgically faithful to the covenant
and an actualisation of the heavenly realm means that God's près-
encc is guaranteed on the battlefield.
This is the picture that Numbers paints: Israel's sacred space, the
Tabernacle, stands at the centre of the nation as it enters the promised
land. On the one hand, those who minister in the Tabernacle officiate
at the festivals, offering atoning sacrifices, and on the other, they
orchestrate, with trumpets, the engagement with the enemy (Num
10:1-10). The author of the War Scroll is faithfully reading the his-
torical account of Israel's cultic war camp (Numbers) in conjunction
with the cosmology established in Exodus 25—40, according to which
the sanctuary is a miniature world, including, therefore, heaven on
earth.
This relationship between sanctuary and battlefield, heaven and
earth, comes to the fore at a number of points in the language of
column 12. The beginning of the second stanza addresses God: "You,
Ο God, . . . in the Glory of your kingship and (in) the congregation
446 CHAPTER TWELVE

of your holy ones, arc in our midst for an everlasti [ng] help (‫לעזר‬
[•]‫ )עולמי‬. . .". I f the "congregation of the holy ones" is the cultic
community just described (12:1-5) then this line encapsulates the pic-
ture in Exodus and Numbers: God dwells with Israel, in his theo-
phanic cloud (cf. I Q M 12:9: "host of his spirits. . . as rain clouds
and mist clouds"), in the portable Tabernacle at the centre of the
community that returns to the land (Exod 25:8; 29:45-46; 40:35;
Num 5:3 etc . . .).
God is present in and through this cultic war party "for an eoerlast-
ing help". That is, these—God and cult—are present in order to
empower the larger community on the battlefield. The point is not
simply that the cult is the place where God dwells, but that the place
and its human population actualise the realm of heaven and the
action of God, since the cultic community acts " i n " and "according
to" GoS's works as column 10 has stated. The language of eternity
(‫ )עולמים‬picks up that used of Israel's liturgy in line 3: the realm of
eternity ("everlasting help") is present through the keeping of all its
"appointed times" in Israel's worship and so its reality is available
to the people. The point is spelt out in 13:8 which specifically says
that Israel's sanctuary and worship has been "in our midst for the
help (‫ )לעזר‬of the remnant". That is, the correct performance of cult
lead by the priesthood at the centre of Israel's life ("in our midst")
provides help for the rest of Israel (here, "the remnant") in their
conflict with their enemies. Particularly important i n the expression
of this divine help is the prince of light who is entrusted by God
for Israel's rescue (13:10) and the majestic angel who is sent "for
1 1
eternal help" ( 17:6), '‫ י‬As we shall see these are also probably priestly
angelic characters.
The same relationship between cult and field of conflict, between
the community at worship and community at war, is in view in line
4 and at the beginning of line 5. Unfortunately, the lacunae in the
text mean it is hard to be sure of the logic in these lines. But it is
clear that there are two purposive phrases in "to muster" and "for
strength of hand in battle" and that somehow the establishment of
the priesthood and the heavenly community in lines 1-3 exists for
these reasons. The heavenly priesthood's purpose, therefore, is to
establish and spiritually strengthen the combatants in the field of bat-

Other uses o f ‫ ע ז ר‬are not relevant here (1:2, 6; 4:13).

 THE WAR SCROLL 447

tie, a point already made at 7:12. This, of course, is, in part, sim-
ply commentary on what has been happening since the clergy began
to address the troops in column 10.
The symmetry between cult (heaven) and battlefield (earth) is pre-
sent in one other small, but significant, aspect of the two parts of
column 12. The hymnic piece in lines 10-16 ends with the phrase
‫י‬
"Israel to reign forever (‫") [שראל למלוך עולמים‬, a statement which is
a fitting climax to the account of the defeat of her enemies, taking
of spoil and attaining of complete dominion of the kingdoms in the
preceding lines. Already the expression ‫ ל מ ל ו ך‬has appeared in line
3 of the first stanza of the column. 12:3 describes how God has
given the priesthood a "covenant of peace . . . 10 reign (‫[ )למלוך‬. . .]
in all the appointed times of eternity." Unfortunately the text is dam-
aged and the subject of the verb, its relationship to both the priest-
hood and the liturgical catch-phrase "all the appointed times of
eternity" is unclear. The majority of commentators think that God
5
is the subject," but this assumption betrays the theological para-
meters that modern commentators themselves bring to the text.
Ultimately, of course, any rule that is that of God's humanity, is
God's own rule. But there are good reasons to think the text speaks
1
principally of the rule of the priesthood." ' The subject of "to reign"
will also, probably, be the subject of "to muster" at the beginning
of the next line. The mustering of the troops according to their thou-
sands and myriads is, again, ultimately God's responsibility, but has
been delegated to the priesthood throughout columns 2-9. The reign-
ing of the priesthood, the people's representatives, would also seem
to be consistent with the clear impression that in 12:15—16 it is Israel
7
who shall reign forever." The Hebrew (‫ )למלוך‬is the same in both
lines."" We have seen how, by the end of the column, Israel as a
people have received the position within creation otherwise intended
for Adam and that it is in such a capacity that site is to rule. This

115
Yadin 1962 "so as to be King over them"; Vermes "that Thou mayest reign
[over them]"; Jongeling 1962, 278, cf. Ploeg 1959, 144.
116
For God's reign through the priesthood see T. Reub. 6:11—12. Dupont-Sommer's
filling of the lacuna and translation "that [the sons o f light(?)] may reign" 1961,
187) is right to appreciate the human focus, but wrong to miss the priestly context.
117
Sec the discussion of Steudel 1996, 523-4, who nevertheless fails to see that
this is entirely compatible with the role of the Messiah in what precedes.
118
It is noteworthy that the parallel in 19:8 has a slightly different form: "‫וישראל‬
‫ " ל ם ל כ ו ח עולמים‬.
448 CHAPTER TWELVE

Adamic cosmocratic power is perfectly consistent with the position

of the priests within the temple, since they too were believed to rep-
119
resent the true Adam within creation. They reign within the cul-
120
tic microcosm just as Israel will reign in the whole world. (These
themes were already present and waiting to be unpacked in column
10 where Israel is given privileged access to (a) the order of creation
(b) the "form of Adam" and (c) the correct liturgical pattern and
construction of sacred space). Here, too, then there is a symmetry
between that which is achieved in the. liturgy of the sanctuary and
the reality of the world at large: the former have a direct (sacra-
mental) impact on the later.
Finally, one other detail of the War Scroll's vision for the correct
conduct of the troops confirms the importance of the connection
between combatants and priests, between cult and battlefield. In col-
umn 5 the shield, the sword and the spear of the ordinary soldiers
are described. In each case the manufacture is described in terms
borrowed from the Priestly description of Aaron's garments in Exodus
28. The border of the shield is "skilful work (‫)מעשה חושב‬, in gold
and silver . . . and precious stones (‫)אבני חפץ‬, many coloured orna-
ments, the work of an engraver, skilfully wrought (‫")מעשה חרש מהשבח‬
(lines 5—6). The same language is then used again of the spear (5:8-9)
and the sword (5:11, 14). In the systematic, highly reflective and
symbolic world of the War Scroll these aspects of the design and man-
ufacture of the weapons of combat state the intimate connection
21
between the grammar of worship and the defeat of God's enemies.'
The phrase ‫אבני חפץ‬, though not used in the Priestly material in
Exodus 25-40, has already been used of the high priest's garb in
Sirach 50:9. It derives, originally, from the prophetic vision of the
restored and glorious Jerusalem i n Isaiah 54:12 and in the phrase
"silver, gold, and precious stones" it reappears in I Q M 12:12-13.
And so the point could not be clearer: the soldiers' weapons have

See especially Sirach 49:15 50:1 (Heb) and the discussion in Hayward 1996,
44-47. See already the high priestly garments of the Urinensch in the garden in
Ezekiel 28 and the priestly characterisation of Adam in Genesis 2 3 (Wenham
1986).
120 j , ‫ ׳‬j
o r priesthood inheriting the position o f divine king in creation given to
1 e

Adam in Genesis 1:26, 28 see Fletcher-Louis 2001b on Sirach 50:11-13. For "domin-
ion (‫ ")ממשלח‬achieved through Israel's festivals and cult compare 4Q511 2 i 9.
121
See also Yadin 1962, 281 for the correspondence between the. size of the
shields and the dimensions of cultic paraphernalia.
 THE WAR SCR01J, 449

the design and appearance of the garments of the priests in the sane-
tuary. They therefore carry the power, the order and beauty, of that
world and from the outside world (the earth) they will restore the
order and beauty ("the fullness of God's Glory") with which God's
palaces will at last, as Isaiah had prophesied, be adorned, l i r e ordered
relationships within cosmos and cult are restored by both priest and
warrior through the eschatological Holy War.

Column 13: Israel's Life in Eternit))

The thirteenth column continues the cultic focus of the preceding
columns with the high priest, "his brothers the priests, the Lévites,
and all the ciders of the rule with him" 13:1). The commentators
agree that the end of 12:18 will have had a reference to the chief
])liest as the logical first member of the sequence in 13:1. Thus we
are back in the scene described in 12:1-5, though in column 13
there is not now the emphasis on the worshipping community as a
heavenly one. Rather the picture of the true Israel at worship is
developed through a summary of the ritual of blessing and cursing
which, from the Community Rule, we know was a defining feature of
the Essene movement's spirituality. This is laid out in 13:1-6: the
priesthood, Lévites and elders bless God and all his truthful works
122
and they curse Belial and all the spirits of his lot.
The blessing of God is then spelt out in greater detail (lines 7-16).
He is blessed for his choice of Israel, with whom he has made a
covenant "for the appointed times of eternity and all the fixed times
of (God's) Glory" (line 8). In these lines wc see clearly once more
the way in which the sanctuary and its liturgy are inextricably related
to the true Israel's eschatological struggle. Quite explicitly in line 8
the cult is in Israel's midst for "the help of the remnant", a memo-
rial and for a preservation of the covenant. In the cult there arc
recounted God's judgements which obviously have a direct bearing
on the coming punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the
righteous. It is not as if those judgements arc simply recorded and
recited in the sanctuary so that they arc a source of intellectual
encouragement to Israel in her struggle. Through a ritual of blessing
and curse their reality is actualisée! in the action of the community

m
For the parallels between I Q M 13:1 6 and 1QS 1:1-20 see Yadin 1962,
224-25.
450 CHAPTER TWELVE

at worship. The curse on Belial and his lot is an effective power by

which God's judgement is brought to an eschatological climax. Thus
the reader now learns how it is precisely that the cultic community,
that is "the congregation of the holy ones", is i n the midst of the
troops "for an everlasting help [. . .] contempt for kings, mocking
and derision for the mighty ones", as 12:7 described. In part at least
this "mocking and derision" is now spelt out in terms of the ritu-
alised denunciation in 13:1-2, 4—5.
There is nothing particularly problematic up to this point. 13:10b-14,
however, provides some difficulties. Lines lOb-c reads:

and a prince of light (‫)ושר מאור‬, long ago, you appointed for our help
(‫[ )פקדחה לעחתו‬. . .] and all the spirits of truth arc in his dominion.

Who is this prince of light? He will appear later in column 17 in

close association with the archangel Michael, with whom he is usu-
ally identified. He is also known from the Community Rule (IQS 3:20),
123
where he appears as the prince of lights (plu.). Does the appear-
ance of this }principal angel figure undermine the emphasis through-
out the previous columns on the very human Israel as the locus of
divine presence and action? Most commentators think that with this
character we have the heart and soul of the War Scroll: Israel's escha-
tological conflict is all in the hands of its principal angel, beneath
whom the human army stand relatively passively.
The need to be sure of the identity of this prince of light is the
more pressing given that a few lines later the War Scroll itself eschews
the role of an angel or prince in the eschatological battle:
1:1
As for us, in your truthful lot, let us rejoice in your mighty hand
(‫)נשמחה כיד גכורחכה‬, exult in your deliverance (‫)בישועתכה‬, and be glad
in [your] helfp and in] your peace (‫)בעזר]חכה וב[שלומכה‬. Who is "like
you i n power, Ο God o f Israel (‫ ?)מיא כמוכה ככוח אל ישראל‬With
l+
the poor ones is your mighty hand (‫)ע• אביונים יד נמרחכה‬. Who, an
angel or a commander, as the help of (‫[ )ומיא מלאך ושר כעזרת‬, . .]?
long ago you appointed for yourself a day o f battle j . . .

M y translation of the crucial phrase in 14b is deliberately literal.

Most commentators regard the second question beginning "who . . .?",
in line 14· as rhetoric which expects the answer "no-one". This means

123
There is evidently some literary connection between I Q S 1:18-4:1 and I Q M
13 given the similar sequence: blessing and cursing ceremony followed by descrip-
tion of the cosmic dualism between Belial and the prince of light(s).
 THE WAR SCROLL 451

that for P.R. Davies lines 13-14 are a "flat contradiction" of the
124
statement of angelological help in line 10. Certainly, because lines
13—14 appear to play clown the value of the help from an "angel
or a prince" it is hard to see. how the text docs not undermine the
significance of the God appointed help in line 10.
The commentators, of course, note the similarity between the lan-
guage in lines 13-14 and that already encountered at 10:8-9, though
they have not explored it further. Carmignac thinks the second ques-
tion is a rhetorical glorification of Michael: what angel or prince,
125
other than Michael, can come to the aid of God's people. We
have already suggested that the "who . . ,?" questions of this type
have something to do with Michael and it would certainly be pos-
sible to find in the question ‫ מיא כ מ ו כ ה כ כ ו ח א ל ישראל‬a hidden ref-
erence to the angel ‫מיכאל‬. However, Carmignac's interpretation relies
on the assumption that Michael is the prince of light spoken of in
13:10, which in turn relies on the view that in 17:6-7 the prince of
light is so identified. As we shall see such a one-to-one identification
of the prince of light with Michael is fiir from straightforward and
probably not, in fact, intended anywhere in the War Scroll.
Rather than interpreting this difficult material in the light of what
follows we are better off approaching the text equipped with the
insights we have already gleaned from earlier columns. Both inter-
nal and external considerations suggest that lines 13-14 point the
reader to humanity, Israel and her cultic representative as the uniquely
privileged bearer of God-likeness. This we have already seen is the
force of the "who . . .?" questions in column 10 and, indeed, is the
golden thread running through the text from that point forward.
In lines 12d 13c, the text which precedes the first question "who
is like you in power, Ο God of Israel?", there is the theme which
wc have already seen was key to a right interpretation of the rhetoric
of divine incomparability in column 10: those in the lot of truth
"rejoice in God's mighty hand, exult in his deliverance . . . in his help
and in his peace". They thus dwell in the divine life and action and
they do so in the specifically liturgical context prescribed by the

121
Davies 1977, HO, cf. Collins 1997a, 104. Duhaime (1977 and 1987, 46) argues
that, the ambivalence is due to a secondary interpolation in lines 9b—12. Note the
linguistic overlap between lines 10 and 13 which brings the statements more strongly
into relation with one another.
125
1961, 115, cf. van der Ploeg 1959, 153.
452 CHAPTER TWELVE

covenant which has been recalled in the preceding lines (lines 7-9).
After the question "Who is like you according to power, God of Israel?"
the answer quite naturally is "(the true) Israel, and in particular her
cultic representative, the priesthood," who inhabits your lot, shares
your identity and action. Indeed the text answers the question in
precisely this way: "with the poor ones (is) your mighty hand". In other
words it is the poor ones of the true Israel who are like their God
in power.
When the passage is read in this way a new possibility for the
interpretation of the second rhetorical question presents itself. The
question perhaps presumes that only one from among Israel can
qualify as an angel or prince to offer the help spoken of. Unfortunately,
the text is broken and, no doubt, the fuller text of lines 14 15 was
essential for a precise understanding of the question and its expected
answer. But several considerations suggest that the question did think
that an angel or prince could offer help of the kind offered by God
himself and that this angel or prince is a priestly character.
The question is concerned with supernatural help. It therefore picks
up the help given to the remnant by the cult in 13:8, which is in
turn a briefer summary of a good deal of column 12 (see esp. 12:7).
In column 12 Israel's own priesthood serve as "a host of angels
(‫ ")מלאכים‬whose performance of the liturgy provides help (esp. 12:7)
for the rest of Israel at war. So the question in 13:14 must assume
some reference to these "angels" even i f it has one particular ‫מ ל א ך‬
in mind. By the same token the "prince" (‫ )שר‬who provides help
must have some positive reference back to the "prince of light" in
26
13:10.'

Column 14: Returnees from the Battlefield Raised to the Heavenly Heights

Thus far this second half of the War Scroll has moved back and forth
between the cult and the battlefield, always exploring new ways in
which the two are related. Column 10 opened with a summary state-
ment of Israel's Godlikeness, her intimate knowledge of creation and
the symmetry• of her cultic action with that of the creator. Column
1 1 explored the significance of this ontological intimacy for God's

126
There is perhaps some relationship between the material in I Q M 13 and
l Q S b 4:24—25 where there is a both the statement "not by the hand of a prince"
and the statement that the high priest is "as an Angel o f tire Presence".
 THE WAR SCROLL 453

defeat of Israel's enemies, past and future, through the hand of her
royal redeemer. Here the focus is a political one, and therefore some-
what removed from the cult. But in column 12 the attention returns
to the sanctuary as the nation's powerhouse—the space and time
which guarantees God's presence with the troops. I f we are right
that the royal messiah himself is the divine warrior who defeats the
wicked and floods creation with God's Glory, then he is, quite delib-
erately, given a role subordinate to the sanctuary and priesthood
127
which provides the spiritual muscle behind the war machine. After
the outward movement in 12:7—16 column 13 returns to the sane-
tuary as the place where blessing and curses are pronounced and
eschatological fates are decided. In part, it is this ritual of blessing
and cursing which provides the spiritual "help" for those on the
battlefield.
Now, in column 14, we move outward once again to the battlefield.
Though this time we do so only to meet the victorious troops return-
ing from the front line. Column 14 acts as something of a mirror
image to 12:7-16. In 12:7-16 there had been an outward move-
ment from the community at worship (12:1-5) to the battlefield. But
this movement had been anticipatory and was described from a
stance of worshipful petition. The hymn in 12:7-16 both praised
God that he was with the troops and prayed that the divine war-
rior would arise to defeat his enemies and fill his creation with his
presence. The hymn looked forward, in particular, to the restora-
tion and glorification of Zion. Within the text's life-setting that focus
on the return to Zion is a future reality for which the readers of
the scroll looked forward from their position in the wilderness, return-
ing to the land. By contrast column 14 is a hymn of return which
describes the victory over Israel's enemies as a past event.
Just as the description of the troops in 12:7-16 was thoroughly
liturgical in form so too the account of the returnees is an extension
of the blessing that had begun in 13:1 (13:1: "they shall bless"; 13:2:
"blessed b e . . . " ; 13:7: "we bless"; 14:3: "they shall bless"; 14:4:
"blessed be . . .": 14:8: "blessed be . . ."). Where the cultic commu-
nity blesses God before the battle in column 13, in column 14 they
bless God after the victory. There is no need for a curse on return
from the field because the curse already recited has now been effective

127
Cf. l Q S b 4:28, 5:28 where the priest is to make Glorious God's Name and
the royal prince of the congregation is "made strong by His holy Name".
454 CHAPTER TWELVE

and God's enemies have been defeated. The ideology which we have
seen throughout the preceding chapters recurs. God is the one who
acts through Israel to raise them up in their fallen state and through
them to destroy all the wicked nations: "through the humble spirit
(‫)כעניי רוח‬, [ ] the stubborn heart, and through the perfect of way
(‫ )בחמימי ררך‬shall all the wicked nations be destroyed" (14:7, = 4QM1
8-10 i 5).
The passage which dominates the fourteenth column has in its
last four lines yet another reflection on the significance of the cult
for the nation's success on the battlefield:
. . . we your holy people, in your truthful works, shall praise your
13
name, and in your mighty deeds, shall exalt [. . .] the times and holy
days of the fixed times of eternity, with the arrival of the day and
14
night, and the departure of the evening and morning. For great is
your ^glorioujs ρ [lan] and the mysteries of your wonderful acts
(are) in [your] heights (‫ )כםרוםי]כה‬to r[aise] up to you those from the
1 5
dust ( (‫לה]רי[ם לכהמעפר‬ and to bring low from
(‫)ולהשפיל מאלים‬. (vacat) m

We have already noted the importance of lines 12b— 14a as a wit-

ness to the liturgical context for the similitude between God and
Israel which is set out in column 10. This passage is also yet one
more witness to the way in which the cult is effective for the progress
of salvation-history.
What are the "mysteries of your wonderful acts in your heights"?
In the literary context these are clearly the secrets of creation (and
history) which have been accessible to the righteous by virtue of their
heavenly liturgy. They are "the times and holy days of the fixed
times of eternity". In particular, the celebration of the Tamid sacrifice
at evening and morning is a daily affirmation of the duality in ere-
alion between light and darkness which is now reflected in the his-
torical victory of the sons of light over the sons of darkness: as the
Urzeit becomes the Endzeit so the liturgical order of creation is real-
ized in history. The word "heights" has in its background the ide-
ology of the temple and Mount Zion as a place with a heavenly
dimension. We should compare, in particular, Psalm 78:69 where
1 2 9
God has "built his sanctuary as the high heavens ( ."(‫רמים‬

128
The lacunae are partly filled by the parallel i n 4Q_M1 frags. 8-10 i 12.
129
For a discussion of this verse i n its history-of-religions context and the wider
parallels in Israelite literature see Levenson 1988, 87—88 and passim. I n Sirach 50:6—7
 THE WAR SCROLL 455

According to one textual tradition of Sirach 45:2 Moses' ascent up

Mount Sinai where he was given the model for the Tabernacle was
130
an entry into "the heights" ( .(‫ במרומים‬And we have seen how in
the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice the Qumran community's worship
takes places in these heavenly heights. Once again the author of
I Q M directs his attention to the worship of the community in a
heavenly space and time.
So, when the Hebrew of I Q M 14:14 says the "mysteries of your
wonderful acts are in your heights in order to raise up (‫ )להרים‬to you
those from the dust. . .", those who utter these words—those return-
ing from the batdefield—are commenting on their own experience:
their victorious return from the battlefield to the cultic community
is a raising up to God from the dust. Here there is yet another
expression of the belief that Israel's liturgy is efficacious for God's
action in the Holy War, since it is the wonderful mysteries of the
liturgy in the heights which is celebrated "in order to raise up" the
troops from the dust. Just how this causal relationship works is now
easy to see. I n column 13 the cultic community celebrates the fact
that they are destined to the light of eternity whilst the lot of Belial
are a lot of darkness (13:5-6). By celebrating and dramatically re-
enacting the separation of darkness and night in creation at the
Tamid offering, the community energizes history with the power of
the creator who overcomes the darkness with light (Gen 1:3).
This also means that we should take seriously the ontological impli-
cations of the upward movement described in line 14. Some com-
mentators think that the raising up from the.dust is no more than
a poetic description of God's vindication of the elect and his saving
131
them from physical death. This is certainly a part of their being
raised upward, since the context of the hymn of return has described
in detail the fighter's proximity to death, their weak and vulnerable
state and the way they have been sustained and rescued. They have
faced death, the point at which they would return to the dust whence
they came (Gen 3:19), and have been spared. But there is more than
simply physical support.

Simon is compared to the sun, moon, stars and rainbow as he comes out of the
sanctuary. His action and the symbolism of his attire associates him with those
heavenly bodies which otherwise fill the heavenly heights (26.16; 43:1, 9).
Compare Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities 12:1.
131
E.g. see Ploeg 1959, 161. See Ps 113:6-7 and 1 Sam 2:8.
456 CHAPTER TWELVE

I f tiie expression "to raise up to you those from the dust" is an

interpretation of the experience of the returnees from the battlefield
and their ultimate destination is the cultic community whence they
set out, then clearly they are moving not just from the battlefield to
the sanctuary, but from earth ("dust") to heaven ("the heights"),
wherein the mysteries of eternity are celebrated. Yadin thinks that
"the reference is apparently to the demotion of the 'prince of the
132
dominion of wickedness' and the raising of Michael". There is no
suggestion in this context that it is the angel Michael who is raised
to the heavenly heights, just as there is no indication that he has
been in the dust. But Yadin's interpretation at least recognizes that
the upward movement extends to the heavenly realm and that it is
from that heavenly realm that the forces of darkness have been
thrown down (line 15, cf. Isa 14; Ezek 28; Life of Adam and Eve 16;
Rev 12 ett . . .). This must refer, then, to the exaltation of the vie-
torious righteous to the heavenly heights. This should not, of course,
surprise us given all that has been said of Israel thus far. Neither,
in the context of the DSS corpus is such a statement unusual. We
could compare, for example, 4Q427 i i 8-9 which says "and he raises
the poor from the dust to [ ] and up to the clouds he extols him
in stature and together with the gods in the congregation of the
community." And, again, we are remind of the ontological significance
of the "tongue of dust" of mortal worshippers in 4Q400 2 7 before
they are raised to join the angels with tongues of glorious strength.
There is no mention of a transformation at this point because the
righteous victors simply return to the place and state from which
they had set out for the battlefield. Their need for a return from
the dust to the heights is borne of the fact that they have become
immersed in the world of death to which they do not ultimately
belong. They have become impure through corpse impurity and
therefore "in the morning they shall clean their garments and wash
themselves of the blood of the guilty corpses" (14:2—3). Their phys-
ical transfer from the dust to the heights is an apocalyptic analogue
to this language of impurity and cleansing.

132
1962, 329.
 THE WAR SCROLL 457

Columns 15—19
With columns 1 5 1 9 ‫״־‬ we come to a thematically distinct block o
text. These columns are more focused on specific strategic instruc-
tion for the procedures of conflict. They pick up the charge given
by the chief priest to the troops prescribed by Deuteronomy 20 which
we have already encountered in column 10. There are details of the
chief priest's speech of encouragement (15:6-14) before batde; his
encouragement to the frontline when some of the righteous begin to
fall (16:11-17:9); the role of the. priesthood as trumpet blowers sup-
porting the combatants from the wings of the stage of conflict (16:3-9;
17:10-16) and their rallying of the troops at the pursuit of the fleeing
enemy (18:119:8(?)). In all this the priesthood are given instructions
for their role in the battle, there is relatively little detail in the pre-
scribed conduct for the laity who actually engage the enemy. The
attention is towards the role of the priesthood in the different phases
of the war and, by comparison with the preceding columns (10-14),
there is relatively little by way of theological content in the instruc-
tion given to the priests.
It is widely held that these columns have a separate tradition his-
tory from those that precede and that they are inadequately joined
133
to columns 10-14. However, the case for literary confusion has
131
been much overstated. Column 15 is not simply a doublet of the
speech to the troops in column 10, but rather introduces a new sec-
135
tion of the scroll with a distinct thematic development. Column
19 reproduces a version of the hymn in 12:7-16. This should not
surprise us given the theological and liturgical significance of that
hymn in its reworking of the Qedushah. The hymn of 12:7-16 is
aptly placed at the end of the scroll because it encapsulates the the-
ological vision for the war's end-game—the reigning of Israel in ere-
ation and history. It also very well articulates the author's aspiration
to move from a mobile, wilderness wandering military formation to

133
Sec esp. Davies 1977.
131
This is probably clue to the view, since Yadin, that the work must make sense
more as a practical manual for the conduct of war, than a highly liturgical text
specifically written for the priesthood.
135
It is not at all clear that the same priest delivers the speeches in cols. 10 and
!5 and we are not actually told the content of the speech in column 10. What fol-
lows the citation of Deuteronomy 20 i n 10:2-5 is not said to be the tontcnl of the
priest's speech, though that may be implicit. I t is far from clear what role the text
of the rest of cols. 10-14 is to have in the procedures for war.
458 CHAPTER TWELVE

an established city-state with its own cultic and military city full of
the booty of war.
As we shall see column 17, also provides the contents of a ser-
mon of encouragement which is a structural and thematic doublet
to a combination of columns 12 and 13.

Column 17: The "Service of Michael" and the Dominion of Israel

I Q M 16:11-17:9 is a distinct unit in which the chief priest (‫כוהן‬
‫ )הרואש‬addresses the troops from the front line to encourage them
when some of their skirmishers have begun to fall in the heat of the
battle (16:11-14). The priest's homily begins and ends on the sub-
ject of God's testing of his people in a crucible, 16:15 17:1 and
17:8c-9. Its main body deals first with the story in Leviticus 10:1-5
of the punjshment of Nadab and Abihu for the unholy incense they
offer. Their fate is contrasted with that of the true priesthood who
receive an eternal covenant (line 3). There then follows a distinct
block of teaching on the cosmic scope of the conflict and God's
sending of an emissary to assist his people. This subsection is demar-
cated by a vacat at the end of lines 3 and 9, and reads:
4
As for you, strengthen yourselves. Do not be terrified by them! [. . .]
Their own desire (‫ )תשוקתם‬is for nothingness and voidness (‫)לחהו ולבהו‬
5
and their support (is) not in [. . .] and not [. . . Israel all that is and
will be (‫[ )הדה ונהיה‬. . .] in all everlasting happenings (‫)נהיי עולמים‬. This
is the day that he has set to humiliate and to bring low the prince of
6
the dominion of wickedness and he has sent an everlasting help (‫עזה‬
‫ )עולמים‬for the lot whom he has [re] deemed in the might of a majestic
angel for the service of {vacat) Michael ((vacat) ‫בגבורת מלאך האדיר למשרת‬
7
‫ )מיכאל‬in eternal light ( ( ‫ע ו ל מ י ם‬ ‫ כאור‬to illuminate in joy (‫בשמחה‬
36
the covenant' of Israel. Peace and blessing for the lot of God, to
exalt among the elim the service of Michael (‫)להרים כאלים משרת מיכאל‬
and the dominion of ‫ ״‬Israel in all flesh (‫)וממשלח ישראל בכול כשר‬.
Righteousness shall rejoice in the heights and all his Sons of Truth
shall be glad in everlasting knowledge. As for you, sons of the covenant,
9
strengthen yourselves (‫ )התחזקו‬in the midst of God's crucible until he
1
,waves his hand and fills up his crucibles (according to) his mysteries
so that you may stand, (vacat)

x
' Restoration of the text using frag. 4 on p l . X L V I I of Sukenik 1955. See
Dupont-Sommer 1955, 175 n. 5.
 THE WAR SCROLL 459

This passage has been significant for two reasons: (1) the possible
identification of the prince of light(s) with Michael and (2) the cos-
mic perspective of the eschatological war.
(1) Though the exact phrase "prince of light(s)" is not used here,
this passage is usually grouped with those DSS texts which speak of
this figure because it describes a principal angel, who is responsible
for the shining of light (line 7) and who provides "help" for Israel in
a way parallel to what is said of the prince of light in 13:10. The
majority of commentators have accepted Yadin's argument that the
prince of light(s) is identified with Michael in the War Scroll and, for
137
this, I Q M 17:6-7 is frequently cited without further ado.
(2) This text is also seen as a locus classicus for what Jean Duhaime
38
calls "analogical spatial dualism".' By this he means there is here
a close parallelism between two otherwise sharply separated realms:
in heaven Michael is exalted, whilst on earth Israel, for whom Michael
139
acts as guardian and protector, is raised over all flesh.
However, on these two points matters are not so simple and I
find it unlikely that there is either a straightforward identification
between Michael and the prince of light or that there is precisely
the kind of Michael-Israel parallelism usually envisaged. Yadin's trans-
lation, which is more or less accepted by the majority of commen-
tators read:

‫ י‬. . . Today is the appointed time to subdue and to humble the prince
6
of the dominion of wickedness. He will send eternal assistance to the
lot to be redeemed by Him through the might of an angel: He hath
7
magnified the authority of Michael through eternal light to light up
in joy [the house of fjsrael, peace and blessing for the lot of God, so
as to raise amongst the angels the authority of Michael and the domin-
8
ion of Israel amongst all flesh.

The standard translation and interpretation suffers the following

difficulties:
1. In the first place it relies on several dubious translation deci-
sions. (a) In the first place the word ‫ משרת‬in lines 6 and 7 has to
be translated "authority" or "kingdom" which is not the natural
meaning for this word. This may be the meaning of ‫ משרה‬in Isaiah

157
Yadin 1962, 235-236.
3 8
1987, 48.
3 9
See, e.g., Rohland 1977, 15-16; Collins 1997a, 104-5.
460 CHAPTER TWELVE

40
9:5-6, but that word appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.'
We would expect the word ‫ מ ט ר ת‬to be a substantive participle from
the verbal root ‫" ישרת‬to minister", which is used frequently in the
141
scrolls. Thus it should mean either "servant" or "sendee". The
verbal root is used in this way three times in I Q M 2-3, in I Q M
1,2
12:14 and 19:6.
Besides the two instances in I Q M 17:6-7 the only other instances
of the form ‫ משרת‬in the War Scroll is found at 13:4, in which a curse
denounces Belial "‫"במטרת אשמתו‬. Since Yadin this phrase has also
been translated "for his guilty authority". But, again, this is hardly
a natural meaning of the word in the context of column 13 as
Caquot has pointed out."' The phrase in 13:4 is parallel with that
used in 13:5 where all the spirits of Belial's lot arc denounced "for
all their service (‫ )עבודת‬of impure uncleanness (‫")נדת טמאתם‬. The Ian-
guage is that of pcntateuchal purity laws regarding a woman's men-
slrual impurity (cf. Lev 15:25-26; 18:19),'" and the word ‫ ע מ ד ת‬must
143
refer to religious service and worship. The parallelism between
lines 3 and 4, therefore, supports the expected meaning of ‫ מ ט ר ת‬in
line 3. Similarly, line 2 of column 13 ends a blessing on all those
1 1
who "serve him (?‫ )מטרת‬righteously and know him in truth". ' ' To
these arguments, Caquot has noted how in near contemporary
Phoenician inscriptions the word M S R T means "service" and is
7
equivalent to the Greek word λειτουργία."

‫״‬
" A noun from the root same root (‫ )עדר‬as that of ‫" ש ד‬prince" is also unattested.
141
See Kuhn 1960, 229 and see the discussion in Caquot 1988, 421 3. A trans-
lation from this root is adopted by Dupont-Somrncr 1961, 188, 194; Caquot 1988.
1 , 2
For ‫ מ ש ר ת‬meaning "servant, minister" sec 4Q378 22 i 2; 4Q511 35 4 and
frequently in the Sabballi Songs (e.g. 4Q400 1 i 4, 8).
143
Caquot 1988, 426.
''" The author perhaps has in mind Ezra 9:1 I where the prophets hate said that
the returnees are entering "a land unclean with the pollutions (‫ )נרה בנדה‬of the
peoples of the lands, with their abominations. They have filled it from end to end
with their uncleanness (•‫)טמאת‬." I n Ezek 36:17, similarly, Israel is told her conduct
befoVe God is "like the uncleanness of a woman i n her menstrual period (‫כטמאת‬
‫")הנדה‬.
145
For the language in line 4 compare especially I Q p H a b 8:12 13 where the
wicked priest is guilty of "heaping sinful iniquity (‫ )עון אטמה‬upon himself" and living . -
"in the ways of abominations amidst every unclean defilement (‫")נדת טמאה‬. For
menstrual impurity and pollution of the sanctuary see C D 5:7.
146
The reading of the first three letters of ‫ משרתיו‬is uncertain. For a paral-
lei curse against Belial and "his guiltv service (‫ " ) ב מ ש ר ת אטמתי‬see 4Q286 7 i i 3
(= 4Q287 6 3).
147
1988, 426.
 THE WAR SCROLL 461

There is, therefore, little warrant for a translation of ‫ משרה‬in

48
columns 13 and 17 as anything other than "service" or "servant".'
The author of the War Scroll could perfectly well have spoken of the
"dominion (‫ ")ממשלח‬of Belial in 13:4 (cf. I Q M 14:9; 1QS 1:18) or
149
the "dominion (‫ ")ממשלת‬of Michael in 17:6-7 i f he had so wanted.
In neither of these two passages (13:3-4 and 17:6-7) is there any
obvious use of Isaiah 9 which would indicate the use of the word
with the meaning of ‫ מ ט ר ה‬as it is in that passage. So we would do
well to explore what function the normal meaning of the word would
have in this context.
(b) Secondly, the translators do not do adequate justice to the
prepositional prefix lamed on ‫ משרת‬in line 6. The language hardly
warrants tfic translation "He will send eternal succour . . . by the
might of the princely Angel of the kingdom of Michael (so Vermes)".
Neither does the Hebrew justify a new sentence beginning with
‫למשרת‬: ". . . through the might of a majestic angel. (He will set) the
authority of Michael. . ." (Duhaimc). Such a new sentence requires
supplying an otherwise absent verb, a strategy to be avoided i f at
all possible.''" In line 6 the word ‫ האדיר‬could be treated as a hiph'il
of the verb ‫ ה ה ר‬and read with ‫ למשרת מיכאל‬as its object (so, e.g.,
151
Yadin: "He hath magnified the authority of Michael"). However,
with most commentators, it is better take ‫ האדיר‬as the noun "majes-
tic one".
2. Besides these translation difficulties the common view that the
angel of line 6 is Michael himself is problematic. As Ringgren has
seen the angel "gives the impression of being more a figure in his
152
own right". Despite Yadin's reading, and others like it, it is far
from clear that the Hebrew intends the straightforward, one-to-one
identification between the one whom God sends and Michael. The
lamed on the phrase ‫ למשרת מ י כ א ל‬is a problem for this reading and
once we insist on the. semantic range service-servant for ‫ משרת‬then

143
For the cultic "service of Belial" compare the idolatrous cult in Jerusalem
under Manasseh which is called the "service of Satan" i n Ascension of Isaiah 2:7.
145
For the frequent use of ‫ מ מ ש ל ה‬in I Q M see e.g. 1:6, 15; 10:12; 13:10; 14:9-10;
17:5, 7 and 18:1.
1,0
Ploeg 1959, 178 avoids the problem by seeing ‫ ל מ ש ר ה‬as a later addition to
the primitive text.
151
For this reading compare Ploeg 1955, 391 "als herrlich erweist er den Diener
Michael". See the discussion in Caquot 1988, 427-8.
152
Ringgren 1963, 82-3. Rohland 1977, 16, is also insistent that Michael and
the mighty angel are "scarcely identical with one another" (cf. p. 19).
462 CHAPTER TWELVE

identification disappears altogether. The plain sense of the text has

an eternal help sent for the service, or servant of Michael. This does
not allow a straightforward identification of that help with Michael.
But what would the sending of an "eternal help in the might of
a majestic angel" for the service or servant of Michael mean? This is
the difficulty which, for most commentators, has justified the nor-
mal translation and interpretation. In slightly different ways Dupont-
Sommer and André Caquot take Michael to be the object of the
service which is rendered. Dupont-Sommer thinks "eternal succour"
is sent both "to the lot whom he has redeemed (. . . ‫ ")לנורל‬and "to
the servant of Michael". This "servant of Michael" he identifies with
153
Israel. Whilst faithful to the semantic possibilities of the Hebrew,
the idea that Israel is Michael's servant has no support from the rest
of the War Scroll, from other Qumran writings or wider angelologi-
cal and Michael traditions. Caquot thinks also that the text speaks
of one who is Michael's servant, but he identifies this with an other-
154
wise unidentified angel. Again this solution has neither immediate
parallel nor history-of-religions support.

Towards an Adequate Interpretation of IQM 17:6-7

In the light of the difficulties in I Q M 17:6-7 and the inadequacies
of previous interpretations I tentatively offer a new one. There are
three issues of interpretation which a satisfactory reading of this text
must address: (1) What is the2)?‫ ) מ ט ר תמיכאל‬Who exactly does
God send and how is he related to Israel and the 3) ?‫) מ ש ר ה מיכאל‬
How are we to interpret the exaltation "of the service of Michael
among the gods and the dominion of Israel in all flesh" in lines
7-8? '

(1) The Meaning of ‫למשרת מ י כ א ל‬

It is hard to see how the ‫ משרת מיכאל‬could possibly mean either
the service rendered to Michael or a servant who serves Michael.
Those who have adopted this translation and interpretation are unable
to supply any history-of-religions warrant or justification in its sup-
port from within the War Scroll. It is extremely unlikely that the per-
sonal angelic being "Michael" would be the recipient of such religious

Dupont-Sommer 1961, 194.

1988, 429.
 THE WAR SCROLL 463

155
service because of the Jewish scruple against the veneration of angels.
We should, therefore, explore the other possibility, that Michael's
"service" is not the service directed towards Michael but the service
which is somehow prescribed by him, proper to him or in his pos-
session. This opens up a number of new avenues of interpretation.
In 1 Enoch 10 Michael plays a leading role in the binding of the
watchers lead by Azazel. This, it is now widely recognised, was
regarded by some Jews as an aetiological allegory for the scapegoat
ritual in which the people's sins are sent of to the wilderness in
Leviticus 16. 1 Enoch 10 acted as the myth to accompany the ritual
of the Day of Atonement. So it might be possible to speak of "the
service, the ministry, of Michael" as something undertaken by the
%
priesthood at Yom K i p p u r . '

I Q M Columns 10 and 17
There is no immediate support for this interpretation in the War
Scroll itself. However, our close reading of the text thus far does pre-
sent us within another possibility. I n many respects column 17's ref-
erence to the "service of Michaer is evocative of the conceptual heart
of the scroll in column 10. In the first instance, when we allow the
etymology of the name Michael to evoke the question "who is like
God?" then we are thrown back to 10:8—9 where that question pro-
vided the pivot on which the text's incarnational holy war ideology
has turned. There, there is also the claim that Israel is like God and
that she is so because in her liturgical senke she follows the pattern
of God's action within creation and history. Therefore to speak of "the
senke of Michael (who-is-like-God?)" is to speak of Israel, particularly her
priesthood, in its cultic space and liturgical mode.
That the final compiler of the War Scroll intended that 17:6—7 be
read in the light of column 10 is perhaps confirmed by the fact that

‫נ נ‬
' Once we recognise that "Michael" is an apocalyptic code for Israel then
another possibility does present itself. I t is possible, i n view of 12:14 where "their
kings shall serve you (*]1ΓΓΕΓ)", that the ‫ מ ס ר ת מ י כ א ל‬is the service rendered to
Michael, who-is-like-God, i.e. to Israel. However, this possibility is to be discounted
because of the close parallelism between cols. 13 and 17 which makes clear that
the issue at stake with the sending of God's angel is the establishment of the cor-
rect cultic sendee offered to God within Israel versus the idolatrous cult (see below).
156
This does not necessarily involve a heaven-earth parallelism. Michael's bind-
ing of the watchers is set in primeval history and is evidently a one-off event. I t is
not an ongoing heavenly ministry, so much as the mythological prototype for the
recapitulation of the myth's structure in the Jerusalem Temple.
464 CHAPTER TWELVE

the scribe of I Q M has signalled a connection between the two pas-

sages. I n 10:9 he left an inexplicable space between the !‫ כעמכד‬and
‫י‬ 15
the ‫ מ א‬of "who is like Israel". ' Here, in 17:7 he has also left a
gap between the two words ‫ מיכאל‬and ‫משרת‬. We have suggested
that in the first instance the gap serves to signal the deeper mean-
ing of the text that needs to be supplied and the possibility that the
name "Michael" is to be extracted from the text. The gap in 17:7
could also function as a signal for further interpretative reflection.
Both gaps might also serve as pointers to the interpretative inter-
connection between the two passages.
It is also likely that the creation focus of Israel's divine sendee and
action in column 10 is in view in our text in a way which provides
a key to the interpretation of the whole of lines 6-8. Lines 4 5a
begins a new paragraph, with the end of the previous line marked
by a vacat? Line 4 sets up a contrast between Israel and her ene-
mics. O f the later the chief priest exclaims "their own desire (‫)תשוקתם‬
(is) ‫לתהו ולבהו‬." The later phrase is obviously derived from Genesis
158
1:2. The word ‫ תשוקה‬is used at Genesis 3:16; 4:7 and in only one
159
other instance in the Hebrew Bible, so it carries with it the very
specific sense of primeval craving towards sin. It cannot be a coin-
cidcncc that for the righteous in their struggle with those who seek
the pre-creation chaos, God sends help in order to "illuminate the
160
covenant of Israel in joy". Light is God's first act of creation and
the sequence tohu wabohu to illumination in I Q M 17:4, 7 surely makes
the eschatological victory a recapitulation of the first creation.
In the first place, the use of this creation imagery at this point
ties the passage yet more closely to I Q M 10:8-16. The connection
is not simply literary, it is also conceptual. In the tenth column
Israel's godlikeness is constituted in her action in accordance with
the ways of the creator in creation. So, too, here God's help is for
a godlike (‫ )כאל‬service (‫)למשרה מ״כאל‬, which re-enacts God's origi-
nal creation of light where there was only chaos. Not only does

1
-‫ 'י‬The gap would ht about 8—9 letters in col. 10 and 4—5 i n col. 17. Judging
by Sukenik's plate (1955, p l . X X X I I ) there is no fault in the leather that would
warrant the omission in 17:7.
‫? י ן‬
Tor the expression in the DSS sec 4Q303 5.
‫ נ‬9
' Song of Songs 7:1 1.
160
For the joy at the dawn of creation sec Ps 89:15-16; Job 38:7.
 THE WAR SCROLL 465

17:6-8 hereby recall column 10 it also picks up the creation imagery

in 12:7-16. There the eschatological warriors are accompanied by
the divine warrior whose action and presence evokes that of the ere-
ator in Genesis 1. In particular, we had reason to see specific use
of the spirit of God imagery in Genesis 1:2 in 12:9—10. Just as the
new creation in 17:6-7 means "joy", "peace and blessing" so in
12:12-13 the divine warrior filling the earth anew with the glory of
his creation calls for "Zion (to) rejoice greatly! (and) Jerusalem (to)
shine forth (‫ )הופיעי‬in jubilation" as Israel is blessed by international
peace and the wealth of the nations (12:14—15).

(2) The Identity of God's Mighty Angel

The creation of light as the purpose of God's sending of the ctcr-
nal help is further significant in that it helps us pin down the iden-
tity of the person sent. By now we should be hearing strong echoes
of other Qumran texts where it is the chief priesthood's job to cause
the shedding of light. We have seen this is a central and widely
d
attested feature of Essene ideology (4Q175; lQSb 4:27; 4QTLevi 9
i; 4Q405 23 ii etc . . .) which is closely associated with the move-
ment's interest in the high priest's garments. In several other texts
the priesthood's role as the means of illumination within the world
d
also entails an angelomorphic identity. 4QTLevi 9 i is particularly
important because, like I Q M 17:6-7, the heavenly high priest's illu-
mination of the four corners of the earth recalls the original ere-
ation of Genesis 1.
These parallels open up a new possibility for the identification of
the one sent in I Q M 17:6-7. The Hebrew does not actually say
that the one sent is "the prince of light(s)". Although the mighty
angel's role as bringer of light, reminds us of the prince of light(s),
his characterisation here is also close to that of the idealised high
priest of other Qumran texts. That there is some reference here to
the anointed priest of the end of days has much to speak in its
favour. I f our understanding of the phrase "for the (cultic) service
of 'Michael' " as an apocalyptic code for Israel's own secret identity
is anywhere near the mark, then a less rigidly suprahuman identity
for the "mighty angel" would be in keeping with the context and
the essentially human centred thrust of the War Scroll as a whole.
The "mighty angel" is a human, jet heavenly high priest sent to fulfil
the ritual requirements of Israel's cosmological cult, which is at the
466 CHAPTER TWELVE

same time a fulfilment of Israel's own identity as the people "who

161
are like God".
Secondly, it is said in an emphatic and elliptical manner that the
coming of the mighty angel will mean "peace and blessing for the
lot of God". This should remind us of the Aaronic blessing of
Numbers 6:22-27 in which the priesthood puts God's blessing and
peace upon the people. As we have seen the blessing was of con-
siderable importance to the life of Qumran community and its lan-
guage could be applied to the transformed human mediator for God's
people. So the deified Moses himself embodies God's shining face
for the healing of the people at Sinai according to 4Q374 2 ii 8.
In the Pentateuch the blessing is prescribed for the whole of Israel.
Similarly, in the V l t h Song of the Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice it is
the heavenly high priesthood which gives to the Qumran commu-
nity the peace and blessing of Numbers 6. At Qumran Israel has
been redefined in sectarian terms as "the lot of God" and it is this
group that receives the Aaronic blessing in 1QS 2:2 as also, here,
in I Q M 17:7. This allusive summary of the Aaronic blessing is an
important indicator that we have here another description, like that
in 4Q374, of an angelomorphic mediator and a specifically priesdy
one at that.

I Q M 13 and 17
There is an important structural parallelism between columns 13 and
2 ‫״‬
17 which helps us identify the mysterious angel of 1 7:6-7. ' In col-
umn 13 there is a cursing of Belial and his spirits for their impure
and idolatrous worship practice, what the War Scroll calls Belial's
"guilty service (‫ ")מטרת‬and "service (‫ )עבודת‬of impure uncleanness"
(13:4-5). With this idolatrous worship is contrasted the pure wor-
ship life of the true Israel, the "lot of light" (13:8-9; 12d—13c), who
are faithful to the covenant between God and the fathers (13:7, 8). At
the heart of this community's life of truth there stands the prince of
light whom God has sent for their aid (13:10). The presence of this
prince assures the community that they shall not be overcome by

161
We can fruitfully compare T. Mos. 10 (cf. Dupont-Sommer 1955, 175 η. 7)
where the ordination and theophanic appearance of the angelic high priest in the
heavenly sanctuary leads to the exaltation of Israel over her enemies.
162
For the literarv parallelisms between columns 13 and 17 see Becker 1964, 48;
Duhaime 1977, 211'.
 THE WAR SCROLL 467

Belial whose counsel is for wickedness (‫ )להרשיע‬and for whom the only
163
desire (‫־קתמה‬1[‫ )תט‬of his spirits is darkness (13:11—12). The priests,
Lévites and elders then exclaim "who is like you according to power,
Ο God of Israel!" and "who, be he an angel or a prince, is like the
help of [. . ." (13:13-14), language that we have suggested is meant
to be associated with the name Michael.
In close parallel to this material and its structure, column 17 begins
in line 2 with a reference to the guilty service practiced by Nadab
and Abihu. And with that inappropriate worship there is contrasted
the covenant given to the faithful priesthood of Ithamar (17:3, cf. line
8 "sons of his covenant"). For the lot of God there is the peace and
blessing of a majestic angel and who is destined for the true "ser-
vice" of Michael, "who-is-likc-God(?)". Just as the prince of light's près-
ence in chapter 13 portends the end of darkness so in chapter 17
the majestic angel has come "for the service of Michael in everlasting
light". With this angelic figure and the righteous there is contrasted
the prince of the dominion of wickedness (‫ )רשעה‬and those in his lot
whose desire (‫ )תשוקתם‬is for nothingness (17:4, 6). The basic struc-
ture—the true cult contrasted with the false, demonic, cult—is the
same in both passages:

IQM 13 IQM 17
" G u i l t y , i m p u r e , unclean service ( G u i l t y service) " o f N a d a b a n d
( ‫ מ ש ר ת‬/ ‫ ) ע ב ו ד ת‬. . . of Belial" A b i h u " (17:1-2)
( 1 3 : 1 - 2 , 5)

W o r s h i p o f the lot o f light i n Priesdy covenant w i t h I t h a m a r

God's covenant (13:1-9) (17:3-4)
" A p p o i n t e d times o f eternity . . . for . . . i n a l l everlasting happenings . . .
help o f the r e m n a n t " (13:8) an everlasting help . . . (17:5—6)

"Prince o f l i g h t . . . for help" " A majestic a n g e l . . . for everlasting

(13:10-11) Up" (17:6)

"Belial, a hostile a n g e l . . . (whose) " T h e p r i n c e o f the d o m i n i o n o f

counsel is for wickedness ( ‫" ) ל ה ר ש י ע‬ wichdness ( 1 7 : 5 - 6 ) "(‫)רשעה‬
(13:11)

Belial's l o t is one o f desire Israel's enemies' "desire ( ‫ ) ת ש ו ק ת ם‬is

( ‫ ) ת ש ו ק ת ם ה‬towards darkness (13:12, towards tohuwabohu" (17:4, cf.
cf. G e n 1:2) G e n 1:2)

163
The word ‫ ת ט ו ק ת מ ה‬is to be noted for its peculiarity here and in 17:4. Cf.
perhaps 15:10.
468 CHAPTER TWELVE

This linguistic and conceptual parallelism is significant for several

reasons. Our argument above that the word ‫ מ ט ר ת‬must have some-
thing to do with cultic service in both 13:4 and 17:6-7 is confirmed.
It is highly unlikely that the meaning would be different from one
passage to the next and in both the cultic context is definitive for
the word's meaning. In the first text it is used of the idolatrous cult
and in the second of the true cult. When the text is read in that
way it hangs together in a way hitherto not appreciated.
But what does the parallelism between the majestic angel and the
prince of light(s) mean for the identity of the former? Is the "majes-
tic angel" to be identified with the "prince of light"? Some might
think so. Given the way he appears in other DSS texts (1QS 3:21;
CD 5:17^18) it is highly unlikely that the "prince of light" in col-
umn 13 is at all human. This would mean that in both columns 13
and 17 this principal angel (prince of light/majestic angel) is thor-
oughly suprahuman and not, therefore, an angclomorphic high priest.
But there are several reasons to think that there is a more nuanced
relationship between the "prince of light" in column 13 and the
"majestic angel" in column 17 according to which both are angelic,
but the latter is also human and only the former is suprahuman.
In the first place it must be noted that one of the reasons why
commentators have assumed a one-to-one "purely" angelological
identification between the two characters is the fact that the "majes-
tic" angel of column 17 has also been identified tout court with the
angel Michael. This later identification, we have seen, can no longer
be accepted and so the former identification is also open to question.
Secondly, whilst the ethical parallels between columns 13 and 17
are symmetrical the ontological ones are not: to the guilty service of
the urchdcmon Belial in column 13 there corresponds the guilty ser-
vice of the human priests Nadab and Abihu in column 17. The thir-
teenth column speaks repeatedly of spirits; both the spirits of Belial
(lines 2, 4, 11) and the spirits of truth in the dominion of the prince
of light (line 10). By contrast column 17 makes no reference to spir-
its, though it is prepared to speak of Israel's dominion over "all flesh".
The 13th column begins by describing a ritual of blessing and curs-
ing, whilst the passage in the 17th column is framed by an account
of the very real crucible of God's wrath on the battlefield (16:15-17:1;
17:9). So, clearly, column 17 is oriented more towards concrete, flesh
and blood participants in the eschatological conflict, whereas column
13 is oriented towards the spiritual realities behind that conflict. It
 THE WAR SCROLL 469

would be in keeping with this asymmetry i f the prince of light in

column 13 were a spiritual counterpart, of some kind, to the majcs-
tic (high priestly human) angel of column 13.
The relationship between the prince of light(s) and human agents
of divine action in CD 5:17-18 is illuminating at this point. There
it says that "formerly, Moses and Aaron stood by the hand of the
prince of lights (‫ )ביר ט ר האורים‬and Belial raised up Jannes and his
brother in his cunning, when Israel was first saved . . .". Since Aaron
himself can be called an "angel" the relationship between the prince
of light and the majestic angel of I Q M 13 and 17 may be similar
to that between the prince of lights and Aaron in CD: the angelic
human high priest in column 1 7 acts by the hand of the prince of
light of column 13.
Once again, we cannot be sure of these matters. It may be that
the prince of light and the majestic angel are one and the same.
But in the broader sweep of our analysis of the War Scroll and related
r
texts in the Qumran Library tw o points must be pressed. First, the
identity of the majestic angel (as also of the prince of light) is a thor-
oughly cultic one. Secondly, in the absence of the kind of dualism
so often read into the War Scroll the relationship between human
and angelic realities in column 17 is much less clear-cut than is nor-
mally supposed. The cultic service of Michael does not refer, in a
wooden way, to activities associated with the isolated personal angel
Michael, but in a more profound, i f allusive, way to Israel herself
in her cultic mode. It is entirely possible, in this context, that the
"majestic angel" who effects the defeat of chaos and the revelation
of the light of (a new) creation is a thoroughly human, i f also, divine
agent. Thus far, the War Scroll has set Israel—God's true human-
ity—centre stage in the conflict with the forces of spiritual darkness.
A dualistic surrendering of the responsibility for the defeat of Israel's
enemies into the hands of one or more suprahuman angels would
164
be a conceptual volte-face.

Michael and the Essenes' Angelic Secrets

A n interpretation of 17:6—7, in conjunction with a new interpréta-
tion of 10:8-9, along these lines means that the name Michael is

161
Explaining putative differences between 17:4-8b and the rest of the War Scroll
with the conclusion that there is here an interpolation (e.g. Becker 1964, 47-48) is
a possibility, but not an attractive one.
470 CHAPTER TWELVE

being treated as an apocalyptic codeword for the secret identity of

the people of God in general and their righteous priesdy represen-
tative in particular. Such an interest in the secrets within the writ-
ten text is, of course, recognisably Jewish. As Saul Olyan has shown
in a recent study of Jewish angelological speculation in the post-bib-
lical period, we know that Jews could be extremely creative in their
play upon angelic names in their search for the divine presence in
163
a holy text.
I f Michael's name functions as a cryptogram pointing to the iden-
tity of Israel and her priesthood, then this would help explain an
othenvise puzzling problem in Josephus' description of the Essenes.
Josephus claims that each Essene is bound by another: "He swears. . .
to transmit their rules exactly as he himself received them; to abstain
from brigandage (ληστείας); and in like manner carefully to preserve
the books^of the sect and the names of the angels" (B.J. 2:142). The
secrecy in this passage is generally consistent with the known sec-
tarian nature of Essenism. The record that the names of the angels
are to be kept secret is, however, strange, because the angel names
that appear in those scrolls that are obviously peculiar to the com-
munity were surely well known to other Jews. So, for example, the
angelic names Sariel, Raphael, Gabriel, Michael and others would
hardly have needed to be kept secret from other Jews given their
presence in the book of Daniel, 1 Enoch and throughout those pseude-
pigraphal books which were widely known and used by Jews of the
period.
The problem is solved i f the secrecy here described actually refers
more to secret meanings to angel names than the names themselves.
Though this is not explicitly stated in Josephus' text it is consistent
with the context of his comment. He has just reported that the mem-
bers of the movement are "to conceal nothing from the members
of the sect (yet) to report none of their secrets to others, even though
tortured to death" (B.J. 2:141). The first half of this statement prob-
ably refers to exegetical revelations derived from the study of scrip-
ture which the sectarian is to share with his fellows (cf. IQS 8:11-12).
These could very well have been of the type we have suggested is
at work in the use of scripture in the War Scroll. Coupled with the
statement that the members are "carefully to preserve the books of

1 6 5
Olyan 1993.
 THE WAR SCROLL 471

the sect" this puts the comment about angel names firmly in the
context of secret doctrne and hermeneutical ideology. One of these
doctrines could very well have been the belief that the angel name
Michael is a code word for Israel, her priest, their unique similar-
ity to the one God and the implications of these facts for the escha-
166
tological war against pagans and all reprobate Jews.

Dual Messianism in the War Scroll?

The testimony the War Scroll might have to offer in the search for
a full appreciation of Qumran messianism has been discussed many
times before. We have seen that there are good reasons for think-
ing that the scroll does, in fact, expect a royal redeemer, though he
is a heavenly king as much as an earthly one (col. 1 1). I f our read-
ing of columns 13 and 17 is anywhere near the mark, then, the War
Scroll exhibits a kind of dual messianism otherwise amply attested
among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Alongside the heavenly royal figure
there is to be a heavenly high priest in the eschatological battle.
This would not only bring the text into line with other DSS it would
be an added argument in favour of our interpretation of the angel
passages in 13:10 and 17:6-7.

(3) Michael Among the Gods and Israel in A l l Flesh

Now that we have established a strong case for (a) the identification
of the angel God sends with an (angelomorphic) human priest and
(b) a less dualistic relationship between Michael, the people of God
and their cult, we are in a position to consider afresh how best to
interpret the exaltation of Michael and Israel in lines 7c-8a.
Now it might be thought that the parallelism between the gods
and "all flesh" on the one hand, and "Michael" and "Israel" on the
other counts against the kind of fusion of horizons for which we
have argued. The sending of the majestic angel means that the ser-
vice of Michael is exalted among the gods and that this somehow
means also the exaltation of the dominion of Israel amongst all flesh.

to exalt the service of Michael among the gods

and (to exalt) the dominion of Israel in all flesh

166
The reference to the abstention from "brigandage" is odd i n the context of
Josephus' discussion. Is it perhaps a clue that it was precisely in the context of
Essene beliefs about the final violent revolution that their angelic secrets were most
treasured?
472 CHAPTER TWELVE

Is this not an unavoidably straightforward example of the parallelism

between heaven and earth that is otherwise typical of Jewish apoc-
alyptic? And does this two-story-universe parallelism not mean that
the "service" of Michael puts this principal angel in the position of
heavenly high priest whose vindication in the heavenly realm means
Israel's vindication i n the earthly realm? O n this showing Israel has
a heavenly, angelic counterpart, but she herself is not directly angelic
or heavenly.
This model envisages two spheres of existence heaven and earth
each of which is qualitatively homogenous within itself. That is to
say there is not point on earth which is any different from another
point on earth and because the same can be said of heaven, every
point on earth is equidistant from heaven. It is as if heaven and
earth are two flat disks:

There are several reasons why this cannot be the worldview that is
envisaged in our text. I n the first place like any good Jew the authors
and readers would know that the earth below is not qualitatively
homogeneous: it is not the case for a Jew that any and every point
on the earth below is of equal qualitative value to any other. This
geographical consciousness is symptomatic of the modern desacrali-
sation of space (and time), but it is foreign to first century Judaism
which believed that there are concentric spheres of holiness around
the cosmic centre—Jerusalem and its Temple. And in that cosmic
centre the heavenly and earthly parallelism is much more compli-
cated than is normally assumed.
s Secondly, this cosmological map does not do justice to the way
in which Israel herself, along with her military and sacral leader-
ship, are functionally and ontologically bound-up with heaven and
God himself. The two-story universe, as usually conceived, gives to
Michael and the other angels an important role in the divine agency
which brings about the eschatological dénouement. However, on this
model Israel and her actions are entirely within her own sphere of
 THE WAR SCROLL 473

responsibility. This, of course, has caused commentators difficulty

because they have been unable to deal with those passages where
Israel's actions are understood as God's actions, undertaken in his
16
strength. ' The fact that Israel is the means by which God above
gets the job done in the world below also means that, as we have
seen, she is taken up into his life. She is no mere agent, an objec-
tive tool in his hand, she is an expression of his personhood, his
being and action.
Thirdly, and this illustrates our second point the relationship
between the eschatological angel, Michael and Israel that we have
teased out is incompatible with the map as traditional drawn. The
two-story, flat surface, cosmology that is normally adopted for the
world of the War Scroll depends to a great extent on the translation
of 17:6 7 which, as wc have seen, can no longer be maintained. It
is not the "authority" of Michael that is exalted in the heavenly
realm, in parallel to the dominion of Israel in the earthly realm, but
the service of Michael. Furthermore, the sendee of Michael speaks not
simply of a suprahuman angel but Israel's own "supranatural" liturgy.
The force of the language and the intratextuality between columns
10, 13 and 17 does not allow us to maintain a mere parallelism
between Michael and Israel, but means much more of an inextri-
cable identity that rends the veil between the upper and lower sto-
ries of the traditional cosmological model.
Lest we labour the objections to the traditional cosmology, let us
offer one which does greater justice to the data as we have inter-
pretcd it. The solution lies in the cultic orientation of our material
and the distinctive cosmology which Israel's sanctuary and liturgy
prescribes. I Q M 17:7c-8a is best read in a way similar to the rela-
tionship between 12:1-5 and 12:6-16. The service of "Michael" is
exalted among the gods through the officiation of the eschatological
high priest because within the sphere of the sanctuary the true high
priest's liturgical actions conform to those of the creator and he is,
therefore, raised up to have communion with the elim. From a slightly
different perspective this is described as a past event in 4Q491 11 i .

"‫ ״‬Historiographical difficulties in making sense of first century Jewish apocalyp-

tic texts is here related to theological problems which arise when a rigid creator-
creature/free will-determinism framework is coupled with a worldview in which
there is no qualitatively "other" space and time in which earth and heaven/divine
and human arc allowed to intertwine.
474 CHAPTER TWELVE

For the War Scroll the ritual in the sanctuary is efficacious for Israel's
fortunes on the battlefield. The consequence of the arrival of the
eschatological high priest, his correct performance of Israel's liturgi-
cal drama on Israel's behalf means that Israel in her liturgical mode
is herself raised up within the heavenly realm. This, in turn, means
that on the battlefield she will be vindicated in victory over her ene-
mies and given a place in a position of lordship over the whole of
creation.
On this reading there is, indeed, parallelism at work, but there is
more than just one such parallelism. In addition the plurality of par-
allelisms operate in a more sophisticated way than the two-story
model allows. There is a parallelism between Israel's actions in the
cult and God's actions in creation as a whole. And this means there
are two more specific analogies at work. One looks upwards from
the sanctuary: Israel, her priesthood, and liturgy acts in imitation of
the life of heaven and God's wonders therein. One looks outwards
and downwards from the sanctuary. Israel, her priesthood and liturgy
are somehow parallel to the events within the earthly realm and his-
tory, and, in particular, in this text, the eschatological battle with
God's enemies. The parallelism, analogy and causal interconnections
between heaven proper and earth proper are only achieved through
the mediation of the cult:
 THE WAR SCROLL 475

We see something of the relationship between the "service of Michael

among the elim" and the "dominion of Israel in all flesh" already in
column 12. There the priesthood, representing the holy people, are
officiating in the sanctuary conceived as heaven (12:1-5). God's près-
ence (presumed, not stated) in the sanctuary with the priesthood
guarantees that he is also present with the troops on the battlefield
because the cult is a spiritual map of the whole cosmos, including
the battlefield. The presence of the divine warrior with the people
is seen in his "devouring of guilty flesh", on the one hand, and his
filling the earth with his Glory and blessed flesh—a multitude of cat-
tie—on the other. This partly helps us understand what it means
that Israel's dominion is over all flesh. The two statements—"to exalt
among the elim the service of Michael" and "(to exalt) the domin-
ion of Israel in all flesh"—correspond to the first and second para-
graphs of column 12, respectively.
Clearly, then, column 17 is carefully placed where it is because
it gathers up themes and language in many of the preceding columns
(esp. cols. 10, 12 and 13).
 CONCLUSION

At the end of a long and arduous trek through the fragmented land-
scape of the Dead Sea Scrolls a retrospective summary of our jour-
ney is in order. The hypothesese which our study has sought to test
have, we think, been demonstrated for the Qumran community. This
community believed that (1) in its original, true and redeemed slate human-
ity is divine (and/or angelic). They also believed that (2) the attainment
now, for the redeemed, of this true humanity was conceptually and
expericnlially grounded in their "temple'' worship in which ordinary space an
time, and therefore human ontology, are transcended. Tliey lake for grante
cultic mylhology which means that those who enter the worship of the comma
nity experience a transfer from earth to heaven, from humanity to divinity an
from mortality to immortality.
As we saw in our earlier chapters this theological anthropology at
Qumran was inherited from older, priestly, tradition which the sec-
larians carried with them into the wilderness. There is little evidence
in the texts that this anthropology is a peculiar product of Qumran
sectarianism. Time and again we have found cause to question the
common interpretative assumption that a high anthropology is a
purely future, eschatological, expectation or that, when it is a pre-
sent experience, it represents a form of "realized" or "inaugurated"
eschatology, in which what had been purely a future hope is enthu-
siastically claimed for current, circumstances. Instead, under virtually
every stone we have turned wc have found an anthropology grounded
in a particular theological understanding of the place of humanity
in creation—a particular cosmology— nurtured by a confident con-
ceptual rationale for and experience of the community's worship life.
Before his fall Adam was ontologically coterminous with God's own
Glory. His originally divine humanity is recovered when (the true)
Israel worships her gocl in a pure cult—a restored cosmos in minia-
ture. A i d , so, by the same token she, especially her priesthood, recov-
ers the previously lost Glory of God in the same context. In worship
the boundary between heaven and earth is dissolved and the Qumran
community are taken up into the life of that which they worship.
That it is fundamentally the liturgical context which produces the
belief in a divine anthropology at Qumran is evident when one
 CONCLUSION 477

considers die genres of those texts which do not evince such thought.
None of the movement's "rules" and associated texts (IQS, CD,
11QT 4Q298; 4 Q M M T etc ) show overt interest in a divine
anthropology. The one exception here proves the rule: the War Scroll
might be classified generically along with IQS, CD and other texts
which stipulate the order of community life. But, far more so than
any of these, the War Scroll is a liturgical text. It is, from start to
finish, an account of the end time conflict in cultic and liturgical
terms. (It is not, as some have imagined, a military manual.) IQS-
lQSa-lQSb contains liturgical material but is also broader in scope
and it is in the liturgical portions of that scroll that the angelomor-
phic anthropology is articulated (lQSb 4). Texts which offer bibli-
cal interpretation or which arc biblically based apocryphal works do
1
not describe the righteous in the present as divine or angelic. And,
with the possible exception of the two texts devoted to the divine
and angelic Moses (4Q374 and 4Q377), biblically related texts only
ever describe priests or priestly heroes (lQapGen, / Enoch 106,
11 QMelch, Jubilees, 4QTAmram, 4QTLevi) in terms of an exalted
2
theological anthropology. O f those texts with a divine anthropology
which might be labelled wisdom literature the Songs of the Sage also
has a kind of liturgical form. The one clear exception to all this is
1 Q/4QInstruction which describes the righteous as immortal and
angelomorphic with little direct reference to their participation in
the cult. Though here, it: must be stressed, there is no warrant for
thinking that 1Q/4QInstruction is an essentially non-priestly wisdom
text. As our analysis of 4Q418 81 has shown the work's author was
very much at home in the world of peculiarly Essene priestly thought.
And there are indications (re 4Q418 69) that even the anthropo-
logical material directed at the laity has in view the larger cultic
context of the people of God. Otherwise it is overtly liturgical texts
which express die anthropology we have traced (die Hodayot, 4Q380-81,
the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Words of the Heavenly Lights, lQSb
the Songs of the Sage, the War Scroll, 4Q392, 4Q393, 4Q408). And,

' lQpPs" 3:1-2 is perhaps the one exception here.

2
The Moses texts at Qumran are perhaps not an exception to the priestly/litur-
gical pattern either. I t is noteworthy that it is at Sinai that both texts locate Moses'
transcendent humanity. The Qumran texts do not make haggadic use of Exodus
7:1 and its narrative context outside of the strongly corporate and implicitly cultic
context at Sinai. Here we should contrast 4Q374 and 4Q377 with, for example,
the portrayal of Moses in Artapanus.
478 CONCLUSION

significantly, there are very few liturgical texts which do not express
the kind of theological anthropology we have explored. Those which
bis
do not are mostly fragmentary (1Q34 and 34 , 4Q179, 4Q501,
3
4Q280, 286-90, 4Q448, 4Q503, 4Q507-9, 4Q512, llQapPs , cf.
a
1 lQPs ) and so it is likely that some of them, in parts now lost, also
expressed a divine anthropology. From this brief survey there can
be little doubt that a liturgical genre, a divine anthropology and a
cultic life setting all go hand in hand.
A query to our construction of matters at Qumran might be posed:
why, if, as I have argued, the Qumran community took for granted
a temple-as-microcosm mythology does this receive so little direct
expression. Why is there no statement akin to that in Josephus'
Antiquum for whom "the Tabernacle is intended to recall and rep-
resent the universe"? Why is there no systematic exploration of the
biblical îcmple-as-microcosm theology akin to that found in Ρ and
Sirach? These arc important questions which would merit further
reflection. They would best be tackled in a wider study of temple
mythology in the late Second Temple period. Though a couple of
points arc worth considering now.
First, due significance should be given to the fact that the Essene
movement arc without a temple. They take for granted the ncccs-
sity of a physical temple in Jerusalem, but they are currendy estranged
from it. They look forward to the day when a new pure temple will
be built in which they can participate. The time of the construction
of that future temple will be a time for the renewal of creation
(11QTS 29:9). But in the meantime they live without a recognisably
biblical physical temple. I would suggest that this means the fob
lowing: on the one hand, they do not invest their hcrmcneutical and
literary energies in the temple-as-microcosm. O n the other hand,
they take for granted (as biblically faithful Jews nurtured by the inner
mysteries of the priestly tradition) the anthropological implications
of the cult-as-microcosm. Time again, as we have seen, from beneath
their portrayal of the righteous in divine or angelic terms there pokes
through this conceptually fundamental cultic cosmology.
Secondly, without access to an acceptable temple in Jerusalem
they invest their liturgical creativity in a worship life which is both
faithful to the anthropology and cosmology of the inherited tradi-
tion but is also, in its own ways, peculiarly Essene. Here two exam-
pies illustrate the point. The Songs of the Sabbalh Sacrifice has, as we
have seen, a theological anthropology little different from the older
 CONCLUSION 479

priestly tradition of the Jerusalem temple establishment. However, it

is obviously sectarian in ideology and in various ways recreates the
Jerusalem Temple cosmology for a worship outside of that cultic
building. It is hard to tell what relationship the detailed and highly
numinous account of the heavenly world(s) in the Sabbath Songs has
to the real time and space of the community's cult. On the one
hand the temple-as-microcosm appears to be assumed. O n the other
it is evidently given a peculiarly Essene spin. Secondly, the pecu-
liarly Essene transmutation of Israel's temple mythology is perhaps
seen in its keen interest in the high priestly garments, especially the
hêsen. For the author of Sirach with intimate knowledge of and access
to the Jerusalem temple a profound and intratextually intricate
reflection on the priestly account of the building of the Tabernacle
as a whole makes perfect sense. For the Qumran community who arc
denied access to Temple a disproportionate attention is directed to
the garments of the priesthood, that part of the material in Exodus
25-31, 35-40 to which they still(?) had access. Again their interest
in the high priestly garb and its theophanic symbolism assumes the
temple cosmology even though that itself is not the subject of liter-
ary exploration.
In all this there can be no doubt that the kind of theological
anthropology we have examined lies at the very heart of the move-
ment's belief and practice. Liturgical practice was central to the life
of the community, defining the movement over against other Jews
with a different calendar. What the community did and believed in
this context was no light matter. It is hard to believe that the view
that Adam and then the community's high priest bears the Glory
of God is merely one theological option within a pluralistic and intel-
lectually open minded community. That documents holding such
views arc preserved must mean that such views are central to the
theological world of the Essenes. The likely correlation between
Essene asceticism, particularly celibacy, and the angelomorphic iden-
tity suggests that: in some ways a transcendent ontology was idiosyn-
cralically Essene.
This, then, sharply focuses our attention on wider questions: how
representative of the Judaism of the period is this pattern of religion
at Qumran? To what extent is Essene practice and belief rooted in
the biblical text itself? Given the strong theological anthropology at
Qumran and the openness to the worship of a particular (priestly)
individual as the manifestation of God's Glory, how, now, should
480 CONCLUSION

wc understand and describe the so-called Jewish "monotheism" of

this period? And those interested in early Christianity will no doubt
ask how the veneration of Jesus of Nazareth and his inclusion in the
one Jewish Godhead is to be understood historically and theologi-
cally in relation to Essene liturgical anthropology. These are all press-
ing questions for which adequate answers will have to await further
study.
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496 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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 I N D E X OF A U T H O R S

Abegg, M . 115, 141, 203 Charlesworth, J . H . 4, 98, 131, 151,

Aitken, J . K . 72, 73, 80, 376, 378 159, 194, 253, 323, 417, 432
Aleksandrov 11 Chazon, E.G. 92, 94, 95, 163, 168,
Alexander, P.S. 55, 158, 297 170, 287
Allegro, J. 226 Chesnutt, R . D . 68
Allegro, J . M . 229 Chester, A . 5 , 1 1
Allison, D . C . 260, 279 Chilton, B. 276
Anderson, F . l . 23 Cohen, S.J.D. 324
Aptowitzer, V . 30 Collins, A . Y . 267
Atlridge, H . W . 198, 268 Collins, J.J. 9, 12, 68, 114, 115, 117,
123, 129, 130, 190-92, 204, 206,
Baillet, 1V1. 92, 95, 162 5, 168, 169, 207, 209, 216, 227, 229, 249,
174, 175, 194, 195, 199, 200, 250, 283, 323, 395, 419, 451, 459
202, 293, 441 Conick, A. de 147
Barker, M . 2, 64, 78, 81, 204, 365 Cook, S.L. 22
Barr, J. 19 Cotton, E L M . 324
Barton, J. 2 Cross, P.M. 361, 388
Bauckham, R.J. 16, 68, 165, 178
Baumgarten, J . M . 96, 107, 110, 112, Dam, C. van 155, 156, 158, 222,
190, 194, 229, 245, 252, 266, 231, 232
382, 385 Davenport, G.L. 15, 16
Bcall, T.S. 127-29, 1.31, 136, 249 Davidson, M.J. 162, 166, 283. 396,
Becker, J. 466, 469 397
Bcentjcs, P.C. 7 Davies, P.R. 402, 419, 421, 422, 424,
Bernstein, M . 35, 36 427, 435, 451, 457
Betz, O. 30, 37, 39, 400 Davila, J.D. 107, 136, 139, 165, 252,
Beyer. K . 187, 190 253, 256, 257, 259, 266, 267,
Bielcr, L . 1, 400 273, 284, 289, 291, 296, 307,
Bictenhard, H . 359 309, 313, 315, 319, 323, 327,
Black, M . 33, 35, 47, 350, 442 330, 338, 341, 343, 344, 352,
Blackburn, B. 1 354, 361, 363, 366, 375, 377,
Blcnkinsopp, J. 4 1 , 63 386, 388
Bohak, G. 29, 30, 38, 391 Day, J. 77
Brandenburger, Ε. 104 Dclcor, M . 5 0 - 5 1 , 239
Brekelmans,' C . H . W . 283 Denis, A . 33
Brooke, G.J. 19, 89, 96, 155, 167, DiLella, A. 8
168, 189, 190, 428 Dimant, D . 89, 204, 216
Broshi, M . 194 Dombrowsky, B . M . 426
Biyan, D . 2, 22, 27, 61, 62 Duhaime, J. 395,421-23,428,438,
Burchard, C. 68 451, 459, 466
Duncan, J. 228
Caquot, A. 38, 460-62 Dupont-Sommer, A. 153, 232, 407,
Carmignac, J. 88, 216-218, 221, 399, 435, 443, 447, 458, 460, 462, 466
428, 435, 438, 442, 444
Carrell, P.R. 4 Ego, B. 62, 65
Charles, R . H . 14, 16, 35, 45, 47, 72, Elgvin, T . 94. 106, 114, 123, 128,
267, 272 177-79, 184, 185
500 INDEX OF AUTHORS

Elwolde, J.F. 88 Holladay, C.R. 62, 137

Eshel, E. 112, 158, 166, 203 4 , 206, Hollander, H . W . 42
209 Holloway, S. 41
Eshel, H . 227 Holm-Nielsen, S. 104, 105, 109, 110.
21 1, 232, 239, 242, 262
Falk, D . K . 92, 94, 95, 212, 232, 233, Holtz, T . 365
236, 238, 244, 260, 289, 290, Horbury, W. 4, 5, 9, 12, 57, 86,
293, 335, 361 125, 178, 217, 302, 400, 415,
Fishbane, M . 411 420, 421
Fitzmyer, J.A. 37, 220, 226, 420 Horowtiz, W . 222
Fletcher-Louis, C . H . T . 4, 6, 9, 14, Huggins, R . V . 39
18, 20, 2 1 , 23, 29, 3 1 , 33, 39, Humbert, J.-B. 361
57, 59, 62, 64, 66, 69, 71, 76, Hurowitz, V . A . 63, 222
83, 84, 86, 91, 101, 120. 133,
138, 142, 191, 199, 217, 227, Huttado, L . W . 2, 178
247, 252, 259, 269, 273, 283,
323, 350, 362 64, 400, 430, 448 Idel, M . 3
Fossum, J . 4, 10, 146, 147
Frennesson, B. 90, 152, 153, 161, Jacobson, I I . 416 18
163, 359, 431 Johnstone, W . 434
Frey, J. 2, 117 Jones, A . H . 3 1 . 251
Jonge, M . dc 42, 218, 267, 272
Gammic, J.G. 395 Jongeling, B. 408, 410, 419. 424,
Gastcr, M . 152, 228 ‫ י‬428, 447
Gaylord, H . 99 Kampcn, J. 113, 116, 251
Geiger, J. 324 Kearnev, PJ. 23, 63, 71
Gese, H . 77 Kitz, A . M . 222
Gieschen 4 Klinzing, G. 277
Gutzberg, L . 26, 5 1 , 52, 417, 436 Kuibb, Μ . Λ . 190, 297
Glicker-Ghazon, E. 106, 169 Knight J. 4
Goldstein, J.A. 180 Knohl, I . 204. 205
Goodenough, E.R. 172 Kobelski, P.J. 216, 218-20
Goodman, M . 249 Koestcr, C.R. 62
Grabbe, L . L . 40, 57, 64, 249, 389 Kosmala, H . 389
Greenfield, J.C. 19, 214 Kugel, J. 26, 196, 198
Grelot, P. 128, 131 K u h n , H . - W . 90, 104, 257, 460
Gruenwald, I . 2, 252 Kutzko, J. 71, 101
Guilbert, P. 435 Kvanvig 20, 23

Halperin, D . 66 Lachs, S.T. 18

Hamacher, Ε. 252, 253, 266 Lacocquc, A. 350
Hannah, D . D . 152, 268, 444 Lafarguc, M . 138
Ftaran, M . 374 Lambert 21
Harlow, D . C . 92, 268 Lange, A. 113-15, 178, 179, 248,
Harrington, D.J. 113, 114, 116, 118, 309
‫ ־‬167, 177/178, 180, 185, 417 Lee, T . R . 21, 72
Flayman, P. 65 Lehmann, M . R . 88, 229
Hayward, C.T.R. 26, 48, 53, 64-66, Levenson, J.D. 62-64, 454
72, 74-75, 8 0 - 8 1 , 83, 230, 234, Licht, J. L51, 232
235, 276, 440, 448 Liehtcnbcrgcr. H . 97, 104
Flendcl, R.S. 41 Lieber, A. " 252
Hengel M . 11 Livingstone, A . 380
Himmelfarb, M . 2-3, 12. 22, 24, 50, Lundquist, J . M . 63
57, 59. 362, 379
 INDEX OF AUTHORS 501

Mach, M . 90, 108, 187, 268, Odeberg, H . 214

355 Olson, D . T . 95
Mack, Β. 72 Olyan, S.M. 82, 149, 257, 419,
Maier, J. 108, 141, 155, 260, 470
275-77, 297, 378 Oppenheim, A . L . 70
Marböck, J. 72, 283 Orlov, A . A . 51
Marcus, R. 124 Osten-Sacken, P. van der 397,
Martin, F. 35 400
Martinez, F. Garcia 19, 35, 38,
44, 46, 152, 216, 248, 366, 427, Patai, R. 62, 65
431 Patton, C.L. 18, 102
, Martone, C. 171 Perdue, L . 72
May. G.L. 270 Pfann, S.J. 110, 132
McDonough, S.M. 170, 418 Philonenko, M . 29
McLaurin, E.C.B. 173 Pines, S. 49, 50, 72
McNamara, M . 53 Ploeg, J. van der 407, 410, 411, 426,
Meccham, H . G . 157 442, 443, 447, 451, 455, 461
Mecks, W.A. 8 Puech, E. 92, 128, 187, 189-91, 212,
Mendels, D . 419 218
Mettinger, T . D . N . 9 Purvis, J. 26
Meyer, B.F. 62
Meyers, C.L. 10 Qimron, E. 198, 200, 289, 299,
Meyers, E . M . 10 307
Michael, O. 270 Quispel, G. 350
Mildenberg 10, 11
Milgrom, J. 134 Reeves, J.C. 38, 39, 43, 52
Milik, J.T. 44, 50, 151, 153, 187, Riesenfeld, Η . 363
442 Ringgren, Η . 461
Millard 21 Rohland, J.P. 459, 461
Miller, J.E. 19 Rowland, C.C. 2, 252, 349
Miller, P.D. 396 Rubenstein, J.L. 46
Morray-Jones, C.R.A. 3, 252, 266,
380, 386 Strugnell, J. 178
Mosca, P. 207 Sanders. E.P. 12, 57, 110, 279, 413,
Muraoka, T . 88 414, 419
Murray, R. 403 Schäfer, P. 65, 66
Schiffman, L . H . 89, 116, 141, 151,
Neusner, J. 276 252
Newman, C.C. 442, 444 Schmidt, B.B. 101
Newsom, C.A. 1 16, 136, 251-77, Scholem, G. 3, 252
282-284, 286, 287, 291, 293, Schuller, E . M . 26, 98-100, 168, 200,
296, 297, 299, 303, 304, 308, 209-11, 213, 319
310, 311, 313, 314, 316-18, 322, Schürer, Ε. 388
324, 327, 330, 331, 333, 337, Schwartz, D.R. 96
340, 341, 345-48, 352, 354, 357, Schwemer, A . M . 334
359, 364, 366-369, 373-375, 377, Segal, A.F. 146, 204, 443
378, 382, 385, 387 Sheppard, G.T. 77
Nickelsburg, G.W.E. 20, 22, 24, 33, Skehan, P. 8
36, 54, 104, 112 Smcnd, R. 8, 72, 409
Niditch, S. 63 Smith, J.Z. 28, 65, 188
Niehr, H . 71, 101 Smith, M . 90, 200, 202-204, 212,
Nitzan, B. 90, 94, 140, 153, 158, 398
159, 162-164, 168, 175, 313, 330, Smith, M.S. 71, 101
359 Smith, R.L. 10
502 INDEX OF AUTHORS

Stadelmann, H . 72, 74 Vermes, G. 10, 163, 169, 226, 228,

Stager, L.E. 269 249, 299, 330, 389, 411, 424,
Stegemann, H . 135, 140. 141, 151, 435, 447
‫ ״‬153, 159, 160
Steiner, R.C. 35 Wacholder, B Z . 64, 115, 141, 395
Stern, M . 52, 6 1 , 323 Watson, F. 71, 101
Stern, S. 62 Webb, R . L . 110, 112
Steudel, A . 159, 225, 245, 419, Weinfeld, M . 23, 46, 63, 79, 90, 146
447 Wenham, G.J. 99, 448
Stone, Μ . Ε . 2, 4 1 , 99 Wenthe, D . O . 400
Strugnell, J. 113, 114, 118, 180, Wernberg-Moller, P. 97, 233
185. 198, 203, 225, 226, 233, Werman, C. 36
253 Wintermute, O.S. 14
Stuckenbruck, L . T . 68, 156, 165, Wise, M . Ο . 199, 200, 202, 204, 205,
178, 186 211, 212
Stikenik, E.L. 241, 436, 458, Wood, B.G. 110
464 Woude, A.S. van tier 115, 216, 218,
Sutcr 22, 24 253
Swanson, D . D . 257 Wright, B.G. 8 1 , 83
Wright, N . T . 174, 398
Thackeray, H.St.J. 126 Wyatt 6, 9
Tiede, D.E. 1
Tigchelaar, E.J.C. 1, 25, 63, 198, Yadin, Y. 65, 253, 396, 398, 399,
216, 253, 356 407, 408, 410, 421, 423-26, 431,
Τ ο ν , Ε. 170, 410 432, 435, 438, 442, 447-49, 457,
T r o m p , J. 18 459

Ulfgard, Η . 46 Zeitlin, S. 250

Zenger, D . 71
Vaillant, Α. 50, 51 Zias, J. 132
VanderKam, J.C. 14-16,20,35,40, Ziegler, J. 409
223, 285, 371 Zimmermann, J. 142, 143, 148, 153,
Vaux, R. de 361 155, 161, 190-92, 196, 197
 I N D E X OF SOURCES

Bible

Genesis 4:7 22, 45-46, 50

1 63, 64, 74-78, 98, 190, 5:3-2 45
233, 236, 276, 362, 408, 5:3-32 197
465 5:18-24 22
1-3 191 5:21-32 41
1-2:2 76 5:22 13, 277
2 77, 94, 435, 436, 464, 5:23 46
465, 467 5:24 13, 277
3 77, 455, i 15, 1 16 6:1 4 35, 43
3-5 63, 71, 77, 233-35 6:9 13, 54, 258
6-8 77, 79 8:20-21 43, 47
6 77 8:20 48
9-11 63 8:21 48, 49
9-10 77, 79, 98 9:1-5 80
9 110, 191 9:1-3 54
10 110 9:2-4 54
11 77 9:4-6 42
14-19 23, 235, 281 9:11 147
14 77, 174 9:13-16 380
16 175 9:20-21 42
21 436 14 216, 217
26 71, 93, 106, 441, 448 14:18 17, 5 1 , 169
26-30 54 18 87, 169
26-28 92 18:19 120
26-27 101, 115, 409 18:22 147
28-30 78 22:12 168
28 106, 436, 441, 448 29:3-4 16
1-3 80 32:2-3 308
1 98 32:3 257
2:2-3 63 32:24 411
9 75 32:29 411
2 19, 78, 448 38:8 133
2:6 191, 436 41:42-43 69
7 93, 98, 107, 108 41:43 69
15 99 44:15 173
24 118 48 15
25 78 49:8 443
6 134, 213
Exodus
16 464
2:2 L X X 52
17-19 276
2:5-10 7
19 78, 93, 455
2:16-22 7
21 18
4:22 197
22 1
6:1 138
23 99
7:1 6, 8, 85, 136,
23 L X X 68
140, 149
504 INDEX OF SOURCES

7:19 no 28:3-6 190, 357, 370

9:22 138 28:3-2 357
10:21-22 138 28:3-1 18, 44
11:3 7 28:3 L X X 156, 228
13:21-22 77 28:3 234
13:21 120 28:4 18, 44, 231
14:19 120 28:4 L X X 355
14:26-27 138 28:40 44, 82, 246, 340
15:2 412 28:5 53
15:3 443 28:6-14 222
15:11 202, 404, 412 28:6 53, 372
17:6 143, 147, 148 28:8 53, 357, 372
17:7 143 28:9-30 155
17:11 138 28:11 193, 370, 371
19 145 28:13-14 193
19:6 167 28:15-30 222, 356
19:10 11 214 28:15 155, 228, 372
19:15 133 28:2 340
19:16 145 28:20 L X X 223
20:11 138 28:21 370, 371
20:12 122 28:22-30 249
20:18 144, 145 28:25 193
23:20-21 10, 21, 146 28:27-28 357
23:20 396, 421 28:28-29 155
24:10 147, 266, 343 28:29 372
24:18 142 28:29-30 228, 239
25:40 . 63, 77, 276, 362, 445, 29:5 357
448 29:6 155
25:31 23, 63, 64, 75-79, 479 29:28 195
25:1-30:10 71 29:29 231
25:1 63 29:45-46 446
25:33 50 30:3-5 364
25:40 267, 345 30:30 79
25:8 446 30:34- 38 80
25:9 267 30:34-36 364
25:18-22 19 30:34 63, 78
25:20 391 30:7-8 50, 63, 71
25:25-30:1 234 30:8 24
26:1 304, 372 30:11 63
26:3-6 L X X 372 30:16-21 63
26:3-6 340, 371, 372 30:16 63
26:3-2 384 30:17-21 79
26:3-1 304, 372 30:22-23 23
27:10-11 384 30:22 63
27U6 372 30:23 53, 78
27:16 L X X 372 31:3 87, 302
27:20-21 63, 71 31:11 63
27:20 50 31:12-17 63
28 18, 70, 106, 158, 222, 31:12 63
230, 231, 356-58, 362, 32:16 234, 288
363, 369, 370, 448 33:2 396
28:2 44, 73, 82, 363 33:7-11 142
28:3-9 L X X 372 33:11 144, 145
28:3-9 372 33:17-23 136, 834
 INDEX OF SOURCES 505

34:3-5 6 14:8-9 109

34:30 138, 146 14:16-17 60
34:29 L X X 8 15:2 134
34:29-39 6 15:19 134
34:29-35 138, 139 15:25-26 460
35:40 76, 479 16 40, 155, 463
36:3-7 340, 371, 372 16:3-4 64
36:3-6 L X X 372 16:4 59, 134, 239
37:7-9 19 16:17 17
37:9 391 18:19 460
37:16 L X X 372 18:26-28 44
38:3-4 24 19:23-25 43
38:3-1 24 21:17-21 402
38:4 24 22:4-6 111
38:18 372 22:12 194, 195
39:1 31 234 23:15 22 271
39:2 3 372 24:7 L X X 42
39:3 ‫־‬2 80 25 220
39:3 155, 370 25:41 220
39:43 80, 317 25:10 220
39:5 357, 372 25:13 220
39:6 370 26 94
39:8 372
Numbers
39:14 370
1:16 257, 314
39:20-21 357
2 256, 257
39:22 357
2:4 257
39:27 357
3:3-7 384
39:28 245
3:40 431
39:29 372
3:6 164
40 365
5:3 446
40:2 64
6 47, 186, 466
40:3-8 77
6:22-27 16, 140, 153, 160, 466
40:3-5 446
6:24-27 316
40:3-3 80
6:25 140, 146, 153, 154,
40:17 64
241, 290
Leviticus 7 256
2:2-5 44 7:1 65
2:13 42 7:89 19
6:3 134 7:12 65
6:15 354 8:26 164
6:16 354 10 257
8:7 357 10:1-10 445
8:8 156 10:9 403, 404, 406
8:8 L X X 223, 228 11:4 214
8:9 155 12:8 144
10:1-5 458 14:14 77
10:10-11 284 14:21 438, 442
11:3-6 110, 111 15:19 195
11:3-2 109 16 181, 185
11:44 167 16:2 314
11:16-17 60 16:40 185
12:3 134 16:41-50 182
13:3-4 109 16:2 257
13:58 109 18 58
506 INDEX OF SOURCES

18:19 42 27:12 319

18:20 178 28:1-14 319
19 111 28:9 428
19:19 111 28:12 183
19:21 111 31:9-13 319
20:18 180 32:3-9 233
23:19 1 32:8 L X X 402
23:22 82 32:8-9 288, 409
24 430 32:9 174
24:2 302 32:11 390, 391
24:8 82 32:12 233
24:15-17 225 33:1 138, 142
24:17 10, 11, 1 33:2 242
414, 419- 33:8 156, 222
25 181 33:8 L X X 223
25:7 180 33:8-11 16, 225-27, 231,
25:11 180, 425 284
26:9 257, 314 33:8 10 225, 226, 228
27:21 222, 224 33:9 227
27:21 L X X 223, 228 33:10 227, 228, 239, 369
30 118 33:11 231
31:48 257 33:12 319
31:14 257 33:26 411
33:52 101 33:29 404, 412
34 256 34:10 144

Deuteronomy Joshua
1:3-3 77 5:14-15 257
3:24 404, 405 6:19 183
4:3-6 145 6:24 183
4:32-33 145 14:6 142
4:11 144 18:7 218
4:12 145 24:3-2 26
4:15 145
Judges
5:3-1 147
5:12 442
5:4-7 144
6:11-12 139
5:4-6 143, 144
6:22 146
5:4 145
8 362
5:5 146, 148
13:15-19 139
5:16 122
17:18 362
5:19 145
5:23 144 Ruth
5:28-29 225 2:12 390
6:4 412
1 Samuel
10:4 145
2:8 455
10:8 17
6:5 101
10:9 218
6:11 101
14:2 428
7:9 354
18:2 218
14:40-42 156
18:5 17
14:41 222
18:18-19 225, 226
14:41 L X X 223, 228
20 457
17:40-51 415
20:2-4 403
17:40 418
20:5-8 403
17:45 418
23:14 400, 402
 INDEX OF SOURCES 507

17:49 415 11:18 101

17:51 415, 416 19:3-5 396
17:55 416
1 Chronicles
21:4-5 133
1:1-4 26
22:18 230, 231
9:26 183
28:6 222
16:30 352
28:6 L X X 223, 228
17:20-21 404
29:9 9
17:21 412
2 Samuel 20:2 198
1:10 L X X 157 21:16 215
1:21 23 23:13 167
7:14 197 26:20 183
7:22-23 405 26:22 183
7:23 404 28:5 207
7:24 426 28:8 391
12:25 205, 319 28:11 340
12:30 198 28:18 345
14:17 117 28:19 267
14:17 209 29:2-8 232
19:17 9 29:2 372
22:3-1 258 29:20 101
23:4 262 29:23 207
29:25 334
1 Kings
6 266, 385 2 Chronicles
6:3-5 304, 342 2:6 370
6:3-2 304 2:13 370
6:3-1 236 3 266,., 385
6:3 340 3:4 340
6:5 236 3:7 370
6:16 236 3:13 391
6:19-32 236 3:15-17 384
6:23-28 19 4:20 236
6:27 391 5:8 391
6:29 304, 370 5:11 247
7:3-6 370 6:1-2 247
7:51 183 6:2 193,
7:6 340 6:20 197,
7:15-22 384 7:9 64
7:21 340 8:12 340
8:2 64 20 433,
8:7 39 20:4-19 434
8:10 247 20:15 414
8:12-13 247 20:20 433
8:13 193, 246 23:14 257
8:29 197, 198 23:17 101
12:32-33 64 29 181
14:26 183 29:11 17
17 413 29:27-28 263
19:12 343, 346 30:8 181
22:19 396 30:22 262
32:18 169
2 Kings
32:21 396
6:17 392, 396
35:12 258
11:15 257
508 INDEX OF SOURCES

Ezra 7:8 217

2:63 L X X 222, 223 8:6-8 436
3:1-6 64 8:6 120
5:1 56 8:7 106
6:14 56 11:1 389
7:15-20 441 12:5 286
9:11 460 12:7 162
15:5 352
Nehemiah
16:1 389
69 168
16:5 184
6 14 168
16:8 352
7 65 222
17 169
95 154, 376
17:7 389
9 12 77, 119, 120
17:8 L X X 138
9 16 77
18 169
9 19 77, 119, 120
18:3-1 258, 389
10:3 -8 183
18:3 389
12:7 230
19:6 244
13:13 183
20:6 407
Esther "‫י‬ 21:8 352
8 15 198 25:12 168
15:4-19 L X X 9 25:20 389
15:6 L X X 171 26:12 377
15:13-14 L X X 171 29:3 380
29:10 380
Job 30:7 352
11 168
31:2 389, 390
18 168 31:6 396
23 168
31:20 389
34 242
32 262
5 1 404 407
33:1
59 233 316
33:20
95 384
34:9 389
9 10 233 164
34:10
10:3 242
34:23 389
10:22 242 404
35:10
1 5:15 404
36:8 389, 390
26:11 384
36:10 178
28 371
37 L X X 263
29:3 119 389
37:3-9
33:30 233 389
37:40
37:15 242
42 262
38:3 172 44 262
38:7 464
45 262
38:8 77, 98
45:6 85
38:22 183 45:7 9, 207
40:2 172 178
46:5
Psalrns 50:2 242
2:12 389 51:21 354
5:11 389 52:55 262
5:12 390 56:4 119
7:2 389 57:2 389, 390
7 8-9 219, 220 60:7 319
 INDEX OF SOURCES 509

61:5 389 99:9 314

61:11 389 103:19-22 261
62:3 352 103:20-21 99
62:7 352 103:21 236
63:5 377 104:2 233
65:7 83 104:4 233, 236. 257
65:10 178 104:5 352
66:1-3 261 104:7-9 77
66:2 154 104:9 98
68:17-20 386 104:19 233
68:27 377 106:16 438
71:1 389, 390 106:23 180
71:19 404 106:29-30 180
72:9 438 107 137
72:19 154, 376 107:26-7 137
73:26 184 108:7 319
75:4 384 1 10 125, !26, 183, 184, 206,
78:69 64, 454 235
78:25 195 110:1 205, 207, 220
80:1 242 110:4 217
82:1 216, 217, 220 110:1 207
82:6-7 86 112:4a 353
86:9 154 112:5b-6a 352
86:12 154 113:5 404
87:4 77 113:6-7 455
89:5 404 115:8 334
89:6 404 115:1 154
89:7-8 202 118:8-9 389
89:7 404 119:1 258
89:8 257, 404 127:2 319
89:9 415 128:1 168
89:10 83, 415 133:2-3 23
89:15-16 464 135 183
89:16 119 135:1 423
89:18 412 135:18 334
89:25 415 141:8 389
89:26 83, 415 145:2 377
89:27-28 197 147:4 431
89:37-38 207 148 261
91:4 390 148:2 99
92 83, 263 150 273
92:10 83 150:1 268, 273, 274
92:12-13 83 150:2 408
93:1 83, 352 150:6 261
94:1 242 151:5 215
94:4 389
Proverbs
96:1-2 261 no
8:29 98
96:6-7 44
10:30 352
96:7-9 261
11:20 2581
96:10 352
12:6 352
96:18 154
12:3 352
99:5 314
14:2 168
99:6 180
510 INDEX OF SOURCES

Ecclesiastes 53:2-10 190

5:5 13 53:11 430
5:6 L X X 13 54:10 425
7:18 168 54:11-12 228, 229
54:12 230, 448
Song of Songs
54:12a 229
2:2 412
60:2 197
2:3 412
60:5 441
7:11 464
60:7 441
Isaiah 60:10 441
3:20 245 60:14 441
4:5 57, 260, 277. 334, 386, 61:10 245
430, 440, 444, 776 62:12 428
6:1-4 260 63:18 428
6:1-3 92, 435, 439, 441 64:3 316
6:1 437, 439 64:4 235
6:3 106, 335, 348-50, 383, 66:1 214
437-40, 442, 443
Jeremiah
6:5 438, 444
1:1 56, 180
8:17 316
5:22 77, 98
9 461
11:15 319
9:1 119
17:13 110
9:5 L X X 9
18:18 284
9:5-6 460
18:20 180
9:6 9
23:18 257
10:6 442
23:22 257
11:1-5 170, 443
35 322
13:4 427
51:3-4 77
14 456
17:12-14 77 Lam
19:17 137 4:20 302
26:21 81
Ezekiel
27:9 282
57, 93, 252, 265, 346,
27:11 282, 283
377, 382, 386, 441
27:13 282
:1-28 346
30:2 389
:3 56, 380
30:7 77
:4-28 386
30:8 316
:4 194
30:18 315
:13 194, 380
31:8-9 413
:21 344
40:17 93, 94
:24 380
40:26 431
:25-28 374-76
42:6-7 190
:26-28 72, 194, 349, 350, 373,
42:16 119
376, 379, 386, 392, 441,
43:7 94
444
43:2*1 412
:26 376, 380
44:7 426
:26a 347
49:3 412
:26b 349
49:18 438
:27-28 194
50:6-8 190
:27 347, 349, 380
50:10 168
:27b-28a 348
51:9-11 77
:28 73, 93, 116, 372, 375,
52:7 218
380
53 189, 193
 INDEX OF SOURCES 511

1:28b 349 40 266, 385

3:12-13 346, 380 40:48 340
5:5 66 40:49 384
7:20 101 41:25-26 340
8:16 340 42:6 384
9 182 43 346
9:1-2 318 43:1-5 265
9:2 362 43:24 42
10 346, 380 44:3 340, 417
16:7 438, 440 44:15 429
16:11 438, 440 44:18 245
16:17 101 44:28 287
16:26 134 45 287
20:6 197 45:1 287
20:15 197 45:7 417
23:20 134 45:16-‫־‬17 417
23:24 101 46:8 340
24:17 245 46:18 287
24:23 245 47:48 287
25:7 195 47 66, 178
25:9 197
Daniel
26:20 197
262
28 19, 300, 363, 379,
195
380, 448, 456
195
28:1-19 1
1:13 195
28:2 380
1:15- ‫־‬16 195
28:7 243
2:6 103
28:12-19 18, 19 103
2
28:12-16 400 101
2:3-4
28:12 59, 93, 354 101
2:3-2
28:13 300, 380 101
2:3-1
28:14 93, 278, 300, 380
3 102, 103
28:14 L X X 300
3:35-51 L X X 270
28:14a 19
3:5 L X X 270
28:15 258, 259, 300
3:52-66 L X X 270
28:16 19, 300
3:15 L X X 270
28:16 L X X 300
4 284
28:17 243
29:3-5 4:11 144
77
29:19 5:23 144
442
31:3-10 L X X 7:12 58, 397
215
31:10 7 206, 430
215
31:14 7:2-14 77
215
32:2-8 7:9 38, 349
77
34:24 7:10 347
417
34:25 7:11 341
425
36:17 7:13 53, 84, 142, 191, 196,
460
37 199
98
7:27 283, 435
37:25 417
8:11 257
37:26 425
8:13 404
38:12-13 442
38:12 8:15‫ ־‬18 138
66
40:48 8:24 435
265, 266
40:41 9:5 362
265
512 INDEX OF SOURCES

9:16 180 12:6 413, 420, 421

9:27 286 12:8 9, 85, 146
10:4-11 138 14 66
10:13 397 14:5 404
10:18 286 14:7 210
10:20-21 397
Malachi
10:21 396
2 14. 15, 109, 285, 4:
11:3-5 262
2:2 154
11:3-3 262
2:5-7 13
11:3-2 400
2:5 425. 430
11:40-45 400
2:6-7 284
11:11 400
2:6 109, 153, 430
11:26 195
2:7 195, 239, 284, 285,
12:1-3 400
430
12:1 92, 396, 431
2:11 194, 195
12:3 105, 153, 262, 401
3:1 3 284
12:7 428
3:16 114
12:10 262
12:12 316 Tobit
2:5 11
Hosea
12:9 111
3:4 L X X 228
5:4-12:22 139
5:15 198
11:4 319
Joel 11:14 186, 305, 319
2:17 340
Wisdom of Solomon
2:26 423
2:23-3:4 129
3:18 66
5:5 59
Amos 9:15 129
5:26 101 18 181, 185
18:9 164
Micah
18:15-26 215
1:3 81
18:15-16 181
Habakkuk 18:24 39, 367
2:3 316 24 215
3:8-10 77 24:22b 378
3:15 77
Ben Sira
Zephaniah 1:10 8
3:8 316 3:1-16 122
3:12 389 3:11a 122
3:16a 122
Zechariah
5:5 140
1:8 63 74
6:29-31
1:1 56 122
7:27-31
2:15 L X X 391
8:19a 8
3 \ 23, 273, 277, 430 13:15a 8
3:5 L X X 355
13:16 8
3:7 24
14:17 8
3:9 162, 223, 370, 371
16:24-17:21 409
6:11-14 158
16:27 75
6:11 198
17:2-4 436
6:14 198
17:3 409
12:1-10 421
17:4 8
12:5 421
17:6-7 931
 INDEX OF SOURCES 513

7:7 92, 106, 116 44:16-17 47

18:13 8 44:16 20, 26
24 58, 64, 72-74, 80, 283, 44:18 8
358, 364, 407 44:19 72, 187
24:1-2 283 44:23-45:5 7, 26
24:3-1 99 44:23 26
24:3-6 75, 76 45 37, 55, 105, 136, 140,
24:3-31 107 149
24:3-22 77 45:1-5 72, 84
24:3 77, 79, 191, 436 45:1 8
24:4 77, 120 45:2 8, 72, 85, 138, 142, 187,
24:4b 77 278. 455
24:5 77 45:2a 171
24:6 77 45:2a, 3bd 16
24:6a 77, 79 45:2b 171
24:7-11 28, 77 45:4 9, 16, 117, 130, 134,
24:10 28, 121 142
24:11 17 79 45:4b 8
24:12-17 77 45:6-8 81
24:13-31 74, 75 45:7-8 106, 166, 180, 400
24:13-29 30, 68 45:7-22 230
24:15 364 45:7 72, 83, 187, 378,
24:15a-b 78 408
24:15c d 78 45:8 73, 340, 354
24:19-22 78, 276 45:8 (ras B) 44
24:20 80 45:10 228, 372
24:22 78 45:11 235
24:25-31 178 45:12 67
26:16 455 45:16 9
30:4-5 122, 133 45:17 178, 227, 239
33:3 228 45:18 185
39:19 8 45:23 72, 187
39:19a 8 46:2 72
39:24 258 46:19 8
40:8 8 46:2 187
44:1-49:15 91 47:6 72, 187
41:4 8 48:4 72, 187
41:4a 8 48:12f 8
42:50 82 49:8 73
42:15-50:24 72 49:13 25
42:15-50:21 440 49:14-15 21, 25, 49
42:16b 440 49:14 20
42:21 75 49:15-50:1 26, 448
43:1 455 49:16-50:21 97, 106
43:2-8 88 49:16 26, 80, 116
43:9 455 49:16-50:1 91
43:14 183 50 16, 39, 46, 47, 48, 54,
43:23 7 58, 64, 72, 74, 78, 8 1 ,
44:50 6, 7, 187 84, 93. 95, 101, 102,
44:49 25 121, 154, 160, 179, 180,
44:1-50:21 25 191, 192, 220, 262, 273,
44:1-2 72, 187 275, 283, 340
44:1 72 50:1-21 25, 230, 400
44:10-15 122, 133 50:1-2 273
514 INDEX OF SOURCES

50:1-11 73 14:6 148

50:1 26, 44, 47, 79, 180 15:23 397
50:2 79
1 Esdras
50:2b 83
5:40 228
50:3 79, 110, 191, 269
50:4 79 4 Ezra
50:5-7 46, 8 1 , 83, 193, 236, 243, 2:43 215
247, 369 6:41 281
50:5-11 50 6:46 99
50:5 46, 79, 180 8:1 99, 236
50:6-7 95, 454 8:44 99, 236
50:6-11 39 9:13 99. 236
50:6 44, 79, 142 10:3 286
50:7 44, 79, 152, 190, 278, 13:2-13 209
353 13:4 10-11
50:7b 46, 72, 80 13:12 441
50:8-12 30, 68, 74, 79, 269 passim 58
50:8-10 83
Matthew
50:8 47
2:11 53
50:9 ^ 0 , 229, 364, 365, 448
5:1-12 319
50:11-13 80, 448
12:5 276
50:11 44, 72, 73, 154, 180
27:5 270
50:1 I d 46
50:12-13 80 Mark
50:12 83 1:11 320
50:14-21 80, 276 1:13 99
50:14 80 1:23 61
50:17a 9 1:26 61
50:19 67, 75, 80 4:35-41 137
50:20 44, 47, 80, 317, 418 5:8 61
50:22 47 6:45-52 137
50:26 26 9:1-13 219
51 88 9:1-12 59
9:2-9 189, 204
Baruch
9:2-13 142
5:1-2 438
9:7 320
1 Maccabees 9:15 138
1:46 164 12:6 320
2:42 148 12:19 133
2:54 181 12:25 105, 133, 152
2:25 181 14:62 344
2:26 181 30:3 61
3 187
Luke
3:3-9 181, 182
6:20-23 319
3:3‫י‬3 186
14:25-35 227
3:8 ‫י‬ 181
20:34-36 133
7:14 148, 396
22:43-44 286
2 Maccabees 24:50-53 381
3 183, 397 24:12-42 87
7:3-4 120
John
8:5 181
397 1:14 28
10:29-30
397 8:12 119
11:6
 INDEX OF SOURCES 515

10:3-4 86 Colossians
10:3-3 86 1:15-20 174
12:41 444 1:16 370
3:1-4 90, 207,
Acts
6:11 86 Hebrews
7:48-50 62 1:5-2:18 218
7:53 289 1:6 99
7:20 52, 53 2:5-18 217
8:9-24 173 7 51, 217
12 1, 59, 124 8:5 267
12:1-4 125 11:23 52
12:20 126 13:2 139
12:22 124
Revelation
19:13-16 172
1:13-16 53, 59
Romans 1:13 360
1:7 320 1:14 38
1:23 92 1:18 360
3:23 921 3:5 431
1:28 320 3:9 441
12:19 320 3:12 360
3:21 206, 344
1 Corinthians
4:5 386
12:4 260
4:4 354
13:1 61
4:8 260
13:2 190, 279
4:11 260, 360
6:9 359, 360
2 Corinthians
8:3-5 359, 360
12:1-12 204
12 397, 456
12:2-4 266
12:7-9 397
13:4 279
21 360
Ephesians 21:1-2 266
2:1-6 90 21:10-22:5 266
2:6 207, 344 22:16 10
6:12 370
Philippians
2:9-11 44
13:20-21 90

Pseudepigrapha

Apocalypse of Abraham Apocalypse of Ezra (Greek)

10:1-5 138 5:19' 99
10:3 286
Apocalypse of Sedrach
11:3 355, 362
5:1-2 99
11:13 38
17:8-21 260 Apocalypse of ^ephaniah
23:5 39, 9 1 , 215 8:1-5 90, 279
23:10 39, 215 8:1-4 61
23:14 39, 215 A 354
516 INDEX OF SOURCES

Ansteas 10 46, 463

92 343 10:1-5 45
95 343 10:1-3 36
96 372 10:1-11 396
96-99 230 10:16-17 211
97-99 157, 160, 363 12:16 24, 25
97 46, 223 14:15 21
99 59, 179, 192 14 23, 57, 268, 270, 273,
passim 17 274, 379
14:8 142, 199
Aristobulus 385
14:10
frag. 2 9-12 147
14:11 343
Artapanus 14:17 343, 385
3:27:24-26 418 14:19 347
3:27:22-26 6 14:20 72, 346, 386, 444
9:27:3-4 7 15:2-7 195
15:2 291
Ascension of Isaiah 17:18 129
2:7 461 17:8-21 260
9:24-26 -, 206, 344 20 255, 318
2 Baruch 20:5 396
4:1-6 268 22:3 128
6:7 232, 374 23:27 129
14:18 436 25:26 269
14:19 99, 236 26:1 66, 322
15:7 99, 236 27:1 129, 322
21:24 99, 236 37:71 20
51:10-12 400 38:4 210
59:4 266 38:2 210
73:1-3 210 39:9-14 260
passim 58 41 350
41:6 350
3 Baruch 43 350
4:16 91 45:4 210
11:15 268, 291 46:1 21
passim 99 47:3 431
Book of Adam (Slavonic) 48:71 209
47 99 48 24, 381
54:1-5 129
Coiflict of Adam and Eve 54:7-55:2 36
7 99 56:3 129
/ Enoch 56:5 397
3 24 58:3-6 210
5:6 211 59:60 350
6:15 195 60 45, 46
7 - 132 60:1 45
7:2-5 37 60:8 45
7:10-11 322 60:11-25 45
8:8 210 61:9 21
9:10 318 62 381
9 291 62:2 21
9:1 396 62:5 21
9:3 128 62:15 362
9:9 37 69:29 21
 INDEX OF SOURCES 517

71 21 71:11-16 279
71:14 350 89:1 33, 149
72:82 24 89:3-6 40
87:2 318
2 Enoch
89:3‫״‬6 149
3:20 387
90:18 185
21 260
90:24-26 129
21:22 387
96:3 210
22:56 90
97-107 54
22 49, 73, 386
99:2 185
22:1-3 444
99:16 164
22:6 24
100:5 164, 305
22:7 20
101:1 120
22:8-10 20, 59, 220
102:3 346
22:8 73, 379
103 129
22:9 46
103:4 128
22:10 309
104:1 2 54
23:3 20
106 7 35, 36
23:6 20
IOC 33, 34, 37, 38, ‫׳‬10, 53
29:3 281
59, 129, 160, 477
30:11 20, 59, 91
106:2 37, 47, 50
30:13 39, 9 1 , 215
106:3 47
37:2 20
106:4-8c 34
39 444
106:6 48
40:1-2 20
106:11 47
40:4-13 20
106:13 19 34
45:46 49
106:13 18 48
45:2 50
106:13-107:2 34
56:2 20
106:17 37, 39
59 49
108:12 206, 344
65:9 210
passim 20, 22, 32
69:73 24, 49
Elk. Enoch 69:2 50
39:12 439 69:4 50
39:3 129 69:5 50
39:7-8 166 69:8 50
39:12 348-50 69:10 46, 50
46:1 349, 350, 379 70:4-22 50
46:5 101 70:17 50
48:5 101 70:23-26 50
51:3 .350 71 50, 217
52:1 129 71:17-18 51
52:4 101 71:19 20 51
55:4 344 passim 20, 23, 24, 49, 99
58 -69 45
3 Enoch
60:8 129
1:16 279
60:23 129
3:2 244
61:8 344
7 24
61:12 129
9 21, 39, 215, 287
62:2 350
9:2 214
62:5 129, 344, 350
10 21
62:6-9 101
12 21, 363. 369
69:29 344, 350
12:3 354
70:1 - 4 129
12:4-5 24
71 189
518 INDEX OF SOURCES

12:5 2 1 , 418 22:7 29, 38, 39, 46, 152, 214,

15:1 341 308
18:3 354 22:8 69
19:6 257 22:11-13 30
22 B:7 260 22:13 16, 56
22:4 341 23:8 56
26:12 341 26:6 56
39:2 260 29:6 69
40:1-4 260 passim 66, 67, 70, 86, 90, 173,
42:1 341 400
42:6 341
Jubilees
47:4 341
passim 20, 2 1 , 24 1:27 152
1:29 152, 211
Eupolemus 2 233
9:17:2-3 214 2:1 152
9:18:2 214 2:2 152, 281
2:14 436
E7xkicl the Tragedian's Exagoçe
2:17-19 271, 276
68-89 7, 70, 206,
2:17-18 288
344
2:18 152
75 355
2:20 197
81 101
2:21 271, 276
History of the Rechabites 3:8-14 19. 108
5:2-4 417 3:27 19
6:3 69 4:16-26 20
7:10-11 322 4:17 24
13:5 61 • 4:23 129
passim 90 4:25 24
5:10-19 64
Joseph and Aseneth.
5:17-18 43
1:22 29
5:18 40, 212
1:21 30
6:1-3 44
3:4 69
6:2-4 36
4:7 69
6:2 48
5:1-7 69
6:10-14 36
5:4 30
6:18 271, 359, 360
5:5 355
7:1-6 43
6:6 46
7:3-8 42
10:8-13 30
7:3-4-39 42
14:9 355
7:7 43
15:7-8 291
7:20-39 42
15:7 390
7:21-24 36
16 67
7:21 43
16:15-16 195
7:23-37 36
16:18 30
8:19 19, 66, 108
17:9- 69
10 46. 173
18:lf 69
10:7 173
21:21 69
10:10-14 55
22:29 29, 30
10:11 173
22 182
10:13-14 173
22:3 69, 122
10:13 35, 40
22:5 69
15:27 152, 288
22:7-8 60, 122
16:3 355
22:7-10 37
16:25-27 271
 INDEX OF SOURCES 519

19:24-25 26, 197, 198 Lives of the Prophets

19:27 26 16:1-2 15
21 42
21:1-20 24, 42 3 Maccabees
21:10-20 42 1:2 182
21:10 24, 35, 36, 40, 42
4 Maccabees
21:11 43, 44
18:23 129
21:12 24
21:16 16 Orphica
21:16a 111 27-28 137
21:17-20 42 31 53
23:3-1 129 3 2 - 34 39, 214
23:3 210 33- 38 137, 138
23:25 38 33-34 207
23:29 211 37 171
30:32 15, 188
Penitence of Adam
30 25
1117 ' 99
30:1 20 15
30:18 271 Prayer of Jacob
31 13, 14, 37, 105, 109, 8 170
153, 154, 157, 160, 220,
Prayer of Joseph
285
passim ' 27, 86, 152,
31:11-20 151
31:11-17 302
15
31:13-17 16 Prayer of Mamuseli
31:14-16 285 3:4 98
31:14-15 430
31:14 117, 130. 134, 142, Pseitdo-Eupolemus
passim 39
152, 154, 166, 179,
185, 192, 268, 271, Psalms of Solomon
289, 300 11:8 438
31:15-17 16 17:3-4 441
31:15 15, 153, 186, 317 17:3-1 441
31:18-20 15 17:3-32 443
31:18 16, 181 17:43 190
32:1 15, 272
.32:2-15 15 Pseudo-Philo's Biblical Antiquities
40:7 69, 173 10:3‫ ־‬5 419
50:10-11 276 12:1 8, 139, 239, 416,
50:11 271 455
passim 70, 86, 88, 418, 477 13:6 212
13:7 45
Life of Adam and Eve (Latin) 13:8 45
4:1-2 18, 70, 9 1 , 195 25:10-26:15 363
12-16 18, 69, 91, 99, 102, 26:27 235
382 26:6 235
21:3 17, 51 26:8 235
27:1 39, 9 1 , 214 26:9 223, 371
27:3 39, 70 26:12-13 374
life of Adam and Eve (Greek) 26:12 235
L3 18 26:13-15 46
16 456 26:13 223, 229, 235,
35:2 305 371
passim 17, 52, 99 26:15 223. 229, 371
520 INDEX OF SOURCES

27:10 416, 419 Testament of Judah

28:3 15, 46, 235, 24:1-6 10
239 25:2 152
61 415, 418, 419
Testament of Levi
61:8-9 139, 417 0ξ
2:7 IJ
61:9 416, 417
2:3 Ii 1 2 1 11
Sibylline Oracles 2:5-5:3 272
1:20 91 2:10, 20 17
1:296-306 322 3 188
3:770-771 322 3:4 346
3:26 214 3:5-6 359
3:27 91 3:5 152. 291
5:414-5 11 3:7 152
5:414-433 4.30, 443 4:2 152
5:414-27 209 4:3 229
5:414 322 8 24
5:416 9 443 9:1 1 1 1 1
5:420-428 66, 443 14:16 25
5:425-6 . 67 14:1-3 46
5:425-427 *‫י‬ 67 17:2 155
5:428 67 18 189, 192, 286
5:108-10 11 18:3 10
5:155-61 11 18:4 189
5:249-51 66 18:5 152
5:249-251 322 18:11 164
5:256-7 11 18:14 164
5:259 190
Greek Testament of LJC7
5:281-2 66
M L Athos Ms e 57 36, 40, 42
8:442-445 99
M t . Athos Ms e 83 319
Testament of Abiaham
Testament of Moses
13:13 354
1:7 32
A 3-6 139
1:9 32
Testament of Adam 1:12 99
1:4 260 1:13 236
3:2 86 1:14 31
3:4 86 4:5-8 32
4:8 260 9:1 32
10 81, 466
Testament of Dan
10:1-10 31'
6:5 286
10:2 31, 32, 8 1 , 22
Testament of Job 256
33:2-9 207 10:8-9 31, 322
41:4 207 11 55
46:50 208 11:15 302
47 61 11:16-17 31, 171
47:5-9 172 11:16 87
47:10 172 11:17 52
48:2-50:2 279 33:4-5 359
48-49 301 passim 31
50.1-3 301
Testament of Naphlali
50:2 301
3:5 27
52 61
4:1 27
 INDEX OF SOURCES

5:6 27 Testament of Reuben

5 46 6:11-12 447
passim 27 6:12 101, 381

Qumran

CD 20:19 114
1:7 427 passim 389, 477
2:5-6 291 a
lQH
2:5 290
4:5 241
2:15-16 54, 258
4:9-15 96
2:16-19 25
4:14-15 96, 106
3:12-4:4 97
96 4:15 96, 97
3:19
96, 97. 129 5:1211 210
3:20
5:12 212
4:3 4• 429
5:23-24 106, 107
4:3 424
6:3-4 162
5:4 100
6:8-22 106
5:7 460
6:11-12 106, 116
5:16 282
6:16 89
5:17-18 468, 469
7:19-20 97, 105, 1 17, 308
6:6 302
7:20 !34
6:11-7:8 132
8:4-27 89
7 419
8:11 106
7:6 129
8:16 89
7:9 427
9:1-20 367
7:19-21 10, 226
9:3-6 258
7:19 422
9:3-4 114
7:20 114
9:3-2 114
10:6 114
9:9-14 233
10:11-13 110
9:11 305
11:20-21 333
12:14 257 9:17 106
9:21 367
12:1-2 133
12:17 9:24 288, 407
290
9:25 114
12:21 262
9:26 332
13:2-8 283
10:9 290, 291
13:2 114
10:19 282
13:8 317
10:24-25 107
13:22 262
11:35-6 397
14:3-8b 427
11:3 241
14:3 427
11:19-23 90, 104, 105, 108,
14:6-7 427
111
14:7-8 114
11:20 109-11
15:1-5 141
11:21-23 104
15:17 305
11:21 109, 257
16:3-4 88
11:22 90, 120
19:6 427
11:24 111
19:11-12 182
19:18 190 12 240, 243, 247
20:3-4 12:3-1 241
389. 391
12:3-31 241
522 INDEX OF SOURCES

12:5-6b 240 20:3 148

12:5 242 20:3 211
12:7-21a 240 20:4-8 238
12:8 107 20:4-5 211
12:21-22 148 20:4-11 95, 210
12:21 241 20:4 180, 212
12:21b-25b 240 20:5 407
12:22-23 241 20:6 407
12:22 243 20:8 407
12:22b-23b 242 20:9-10 238
12:23 211, 241-43, 247 20:10 332
12:24-25 242 20:11 237, 262
12:25 241, 257 20:13 238
12:27-33a 240 20:15 211, 238
12:27-29 241 20:23 258
12:27 111, 241, 242 20:24 237
12:29 241 20:25 11 1
13:15-16 162 20:26 237
13:15 107 20:27-31 237
13:21-2 ^ 316 20:29 111
14:3-2 111 21:7 237
14:6 111, 290 21:10-11 237
14:13 104, 152 21:11 239
14:14-18 107 21:12-13 239
14:14 106, 302 21:12 237, 238
15:7 352 21:13-14 237
15:15 107 21:14 21 1, 233, 237 39, 243
15:23b-25 105 23:10 104
16:4-37 19 23:15 211
16:4-26 107 25:3-5-26:10 199, 212
16:4-27 89 26 200
16:21-26 107 26:3 211
17:3-5 227 26:6-7 104
17:12 111 27:28 214
17:14 111 passim 298
17:25 354
IQM
17:26 242
317, 320 1:9 431
17:27
1:1-11 398
17:28 389
18:8 256, 309 1:1 262, 402
18:11 148 1:3 409
18:27-28 105 1:5 402
19:3 211 1:6 446, 461
19:5 202 1:8 397, 401
19;10-11 106 1:9 21 1, 398
19:10 289 1:10-11 256, 396
19:10b-14 104 1:10 410
19:12 257 1:11 402
19:22-27 210, 211 1:14 257, 422
19:26 242 1:15 461
20:21 238 2:9 403, 432, 447
20:1-11 211 2:7 428
20:2-3 107 2:3 460
20:3-2-21:7 237 2 230
2:1-8 431
 INDEX OF SOURCES 523

434 430, 436, 441, 446-48,

100, 338 452, 454, 457, 463, 465,
397 473, 475
428 10:1 430
218, 291 10:2-6 428
337 10:2-5a 403
198, 426 10:2-5 457
431 10:2 433
256 10:5-6 403, 406
198, 337, 426 10:5 433
257 10:6b‫־‬8a 406
459 10:8-9 405-408, 442, 451, 463,
451 469
431 10:8-16 403, 404, 464
431 10:8 367, 410
256 10:8b 406
256 10:9-16 405
256 10:9 410, 464
402 10:10-16 407
426 10:10 283, 426, 428, 443
453 10:11-15 397
257 10:11 305, 404, 443
446 10:12 258, 302, 404, 436, 461
448 10:13 110
256, 414, 444 10:14-15 408
431 10:15 404, 407, 425
372 10:16 283, 367
448 10:18 408
448 11 412, 413, 415, 430, 431,
448 444, 452, 471
398, 424 11:1 414, 421
431 11:2 414
396 11:3 422
399 11:4-5 407
109, 431 11:4 414, 421
399 11:5-7 419
402 11:6-7 10, 226
90, 400 11:6 114
305, 400 11:7 410
245 11:8 426
434 11:9-10 443
431 11:9 111, 317, 320, 422
447 11:10 9, 421
434 11:11 421
398 11:13 422
255, 318 12 350, 423, 427, 430, 431,
202 434, 441, 443, 452, 453,
396, 411 458
396, 411 12:1-8 398
403 12:1-5 423, 426, 428, 429,
412, 457 431-35, 439, 444-46,
283 449, 453, 473, 475
429 12:1-3 446
198, 414, 420, 422, 423, 12:1-2 230
524 INDEX OF SOURCES

12:1 398, 399, 429, 430 13:7 426, 453, 466

12:2 428 13:8-9 466
12:3 425-27, 430, 434, 446, 13:8 425, 426, 446, 449, 452
447 13:9-12 451
12:4 398, 399, 427, 428, 13:9-10 153
446 13:9 426
12:5 399, 446 13:10-14 450
12:6-16 433, 473 13:10-11 467
12:7-9 438 13:10 396, 446, 451, 452, 461,
12:7-8 440 466, 471
12:7-16 397, 432, 434, 437, 445, 13:11-12 402, 467
453, 457, 465 13:11 468
12:7-12 435 13:12-13 466
12:7-10 439, 444 13:12 467
12:7 294, 435, 450, 452 13:13-14 451, 467
12:8-16 442 13:14• 15 452
12:8 10 435 13:14 452
12:8 283, 398, 435 14 453, 461
12:9-10 436, 465 14:2-3 456
12:9 ‫ י־‬396, 430, 435, 440, 444, 14:3 453
446 14:4 426, 453
12:10 17 443, 444 14:5 410
12:10-16 439, 447 14:6-7 407
12:10-13 442 14:7 54, 258, 400, 402,
12:10-11 442 454
12:10 438, 444 14:9-10 461
12:12-15 438, 441 14:9 461
12:12-13 435, 448, 465 14:12-14 408. 454
12:12 439 14:12 408, 410, 428
12:13-15 445 14:12c-14a 407
12:13 423, 439, 440 14:13 198, 410, 425, 426
12:14-15 441, 465 14:14 455
12:14 460, 463 14:15 456
12:15-16 436, 447 14:16 256
12:15 440 15:19 457
12:17-18 423 15:1 402, 426
12:18 449 15:6-14 457
13 449, 453, 458, 461, 463, 15:8-9 428
466, 469, 473, 475 15:10 467
13:1-9 467 15:14 398
13:1-6 449 16:1 398, 424
13:1 2 450, 467 16:3 9 1-57
13:1 449, 453 16:4-9 434
13:2-3 319 16:8-9 398
13;2 402, 453, 460, 468 16:11-17:9 457, 458
13:3-4 461 16:11-14 458
13:3 100, 460 16:12 434
13:4-6 160 16:15-17:1 468
13:4-5 450, 466 16:15-17:1 458
13:4 402, 460, 461, 468 17 450, 458, 463, 466, 469,
13:5-6 455 475
13:5 402, 467 17:2 467
13:7-9 408, 452 17:3 425, 458, 467
13:7-16 449 17:4-9 458
 INDEX OF SOURCES 525

469 3:18 427

464 3:20-25 396
464, 467 3:20 119, 450
461 3:21 468
396, 398, 401, 411, 464, 4 97
465 4:6-8 129
202, 451, 459-63, 466, 4:6-26 97
468, 469, 471, 473 4:7 211, 354
446, 461, 467 4:15-16 258
462, 471, 473 4:18 427
211,256,402,414,459, 4:22-3 95
461, 464, 466 4:22 54, 258
458 4:22d 97
467 4:23 97
468 4:26 153
457 5:5 316
•I28 6:1 430
457 6:3 •8 283
461 6:8 430
398 6:11 430
422 6:12 430
439 6:13 427
442 8:10 297, 394
396 8:9 132, 167, 179, 185, 194,
438 374
440 8 298
460 8:l-10a 297
432, 436 8:3-4 297
424, 447 8:5-6 167, 298
257 8:6 218, 297, 298
8:8-9 167
8:8 298
449
8:10 54, 258, 291
198, 426
8:11-12 470
450
8:18 54, 258
153
8:21 54
461
9 298
140, 317
9:3-5 333
315
9:3 297, 316
5
l \- ,rr 9:4
r>4, 238, 466
A Q
‫״‬218, '
‫ ״‬0
291,
‫י‬ 297,
‫י‬
298,
‫י‬
308
153
9:5 6 167, 298
105, 153
9:5 258
257
9:9 258
110
9:12 262
289
9:13 297
111, 112
9:26 297
54, 258
10 218, 238, 296
289
10:1-4 352
198. 426
10:1-3 95, 242, 244
153, 302
10:1-10 407
262, 297
10:1 180, 407
332
10:2-3 211, 245
198, 426
10:2 242, 407
106, 114, 115, 436
526 INDEX SOURCES

10:3 233, 245, 407, 425 4:24-28 95, 150, 157, 205, 206,
10:5 180, 425 220, 222
10:6 287, 288, 296, 297, 308, 4:24-25 452
320, 407 4:25-26 160
10:8 287, 288, 296, 297, 320, 4:25 100
332, 425 4:26-28 155
10:10-13 297 4:26-27 156
10:10-14b 238, 244 4:26 153, 156
10:11 288, 297 4:27 11, 46, 95, 154, 369,
10:12 296 465
10:14 308 4:28 154, 155, 179, 190, 376,
10:20-21 351 379, 453
10:20 290, 297, 352 5 204
10:21 352 5:1 151
11:8 90, 302 5:20-29 151
11:9-15 104 5:20 154, 160, 262
11:13 296 5:23 152
14:3 427 5:24 226, 415
II 153 5:24, 27 10
passim ^ 236, 293, 477 5:25-26 152
5:27 226, 415
IQSa
5:28 156, 415, 453
1:2 428
passim 140, 185, 277, 298, 369,
1:1 135, 159
477
1:6 135
1:13 100 1 QapGcn
1:16 337 1:5 36
1:18 105 1 34
1:20 135 2, 5 34
1:21 428 2:5 36, 53
1:23 337 3:4 34
1:25 337, 426 5:11 34
1:26 426, 428 5:12 34
2:2 135 5:29 35
2:3 9 109 6:17 34
2:8 9 89 6:4 44, 45
2:14 135 10:15 36
2:20 135 10 43
passim 477 10:13-17 43
10:13-15 44
1QSb
10:13 48
1:1 154, 160, 262
10:17 42
1:19-3:19 159
11:15-16 54
3:22 154, 160, 262
11:17 54
3:24 427
12:13-17 43
3:27 202
s passim 54, 88, 418, 477
4 179, 186, 194, 223, 242,
285, 363, 477
IQpHab
4:2-3 354
5:4 424
4:2 158
8:12-13 460
4:3 158
9:12 424
4:7 241
10:13 424
4:22-28 151, 158, 159, 161
12:13 100
4:23 153
13:2-3 100
 INDEX OF SOURCES 527
1
IQpIsa ' 5 ii 34
2:2 427 5 i i 22 48
IQpPs" 4QEnoch (4Q206) c

3:1-2 477 4 i 13-14 149

hl
1QJ9 (IQBook of Noah) 4QGcn (4Q8a)
3:2-5 44 passim 110
13:2 340 k
4Q_Gen (4Q.10)
13:2-3 50
passim 110
13:2 44, 45
passim 34, 44, 106, 363 b
4 Q H (4Q428)
passim 200
1Q22
passim 225 4QM'(4Q491)
8-10 i 12 454
1Q26 (1 Construction)
8-10 i 5 454
passim 113, 176
4 Q T A m r ‫ ״‬m (4Q543 548)
1029 (IQTongucs of fire)
passim 477
1 i i 5-6 ' 225
passim 155, 222-225, 229, 4 Q T L e v i (4Q540-541)
243, 250 passim 47 7 ‫׳‬
1Q32 ( l Q N e w Jerusalem) AQTeslimonia (4QJ75)
passim 266 8 228
10 227, 228
1Q34 (lQjFcstival Prayers)
13 114
passim 478
14:20 226, 283
2Q.18 (2QBen Sira) passim 10, 222, 225, 229,
passim 62, 88 231, 250, 369, 465
4 Q f l o r (4(2,174) 4QTongues o f Fire (4Q376)
1:4 90 passim 155
1:6 132, 164. 167
4QpIsa» (4Q.161)
1:7 167
8-10 i i i 18-22 443
1:17 429
1:19 424, 429 4QpIsa2,163)4) ‫־‬ )
389 12 21
4 Q M M T (4Q394-399)
Β 75-82 167, 374 4QpIsa" (4Q.164)
passim 167, 179, 185, 194, 1 229
295, 477 2:3 229
h 4 229
4QDeut (4Q35)
5 229
11-15 line 3 227
7 229
4QDeut' (4Q37) 7-10 i i i 24 372
passim 402 passim 155, 228, 250, 369
4 Q D i b H a m (4Q504-506) 4QpPs 37 (4(2.171)
passim 92, 94 11 5 424
a
iii 5 257, 424
4QEnoch (4Q201)
iii 1-2 96
1 ii 2 257
iv 14 424
1 ii 3 257
iv 20 389
1 ii 6 257
c 4QpPs* (4Q,171)
4QEnoch (4Q204)
3:1-2 106
4 10 149
3:5 302
 528 INDEX OF SOURCES

4QJ76 (4QTanl1umim) 4Q259 (4QCommunityRule ) c

3 184 ii—iii 167

4Q.177 (4QCatenaA) 4Q265 (4QMisceIlaneous Rules)
ii 162 5 ii 31
7 i i 11-17 19, 108
4Q.179 (4QApocrLam A l
9 iii 5 262
passim 478
10 i 12-13 190
4Q,180 (4QAges of CreationA) passim 19
1 3 288
4Q266 (4Q_Damascus Document")
4Q,181 (4QAges o f CreationB) 11:8 427
1 ii 5 153 1
4Q_267 (4QDamascus Document ')
4Q.184 (4QWiles o f the Wicked 9 ν 6b-13a 427
Woman) 11
4Q269 (4QDamascus Document )
1 4 306
10 i i 9-12 427
passim 132
16 6-7 427
4Q.185 (4QSapiential Work)
4Q280 (4QCurscs)
1-2 i 7 111
passim 478
1-2 i 11 ^ 111
1 - 2 i 12 111 4Q284 (4QHarvesting)
1 7 289
4Q.186 (TQHoroscopc)
3 4 288
passim 302
4028Γ) (4QScfcr ha-Milhamali)
4Q213 (40Aramaic Levi')
1 186
1 Γ5 ~ 205
1 ii 3 305
40213a (4QAramaic Levi ') 1
1 ii 9 305
3-4 5-6 390 1 3-4 153
passim 388 passim 157, 419

4Q213b (4QAramaic Levi') 4Q286-90 (4QBlcssmgs)

passim 272 passim 478

4Q214 (4QAramaic Levi' )1

4Q286 (4QBlessings')
2 272 7 S3 460
‫״‬
4Q214b (4QAramaic Levi ') 1
40287 (4ÇBlessings )
302 2 - 6 i 272 ~ 4 2
460 l;
3 6
4Q222 (4QJubilccs )
1:9 106 • 4Q_298 (4QCryplA Sons o f Dawn)
1-2 i 262
4Q228 iii 4 · 5 282
passim 88 passim 393, 477
4Q232 (4QNew Jerusalem(?) 4Q300 (4QMystcrics'')
passim 266
3 2-3 116
4Q249e (4QCrypticA Texts) 4Q303 (4QMcelitation on Creation A
line 8a 132 5 464
4Q256 (4QC0mmumty Rule ') 1
8 106
4 1 262
4Q369 (4QPrayer of Enosh)
4Q258 (4QCommunitv Rule' ) 1
1 i 1-12 198
1 i 1 262 1 i 7-9 198
6 167 1 i 8 198
vii 6-7 167 1 i 9-10 197
 INDEX OF SOURCES 529

1 il 196 76 7 167
1 i i L 12 197 frag: 1 165
1 ii 8 142 passim 98-100, 103, 477
passim 198. 199
4 9 3 8 5 (49Pseudo-EzekieP)
4Q370 (4QExhortation Based on the frag: 2 129
Flood)
49392 (49Works of God)
1 4 306
1 100, 222, 232
4Q371-372 (4QapocrJoseph) 1 4-6 99
passim 26 1 2 235
frag. 2 146 1 4 235
passim 146 1 5 236
1 6 235
4Q374 (4QDeification of Moses)
1 9 233. 236
2 11, 138, 146, 149 1 6-7 238
9 8, 139
passim 232, 236-39, 262, 307,
2 i 7 136
477
2 ii 136. 137, 139
2 ii 8 466 4 9 3 9 3 (4QCommunal Confession)
9 3 139, 103 3 5-6 290
passim 136-41, 171, 242, 316. passim 290, 477
417, 466, 477
4Q400 (4QShirShabb‫)־‬
4Q375 (4QapocrMoses") 1 280, 289
passim 225 2 255, 306, 309
1 4 306
4 0 3 7 6 ('!•OapoerMoses ')
5 306
i ΓI ~ 224
1 1 20 280
I i 3 224
1 19 281
1 i i 1-2 224
1 3-8 281
1 ii 1 225, 236
1 3-4 281
1 iii 2-3 225
1 6 281, 282
passim 222, 223, 225, 229, 243,
1 9-20 281
250
1 i 284, 286, 287, 289, 292
4Q377 293, 295, 298
frag: 1 141, 143 1 i 1 310
1 ii 144, 289 1 i 10 290, 295
passim 145, 147-49, 164, 242, 1 i 11 289
352, 477 1 i 13- 15 284
1 i 13 161, 287
4Q378 (4QapocrJoshua")
1 i 14- 15 293
22~i 2 460
1 i 14 344, 351
49379 (49apocrJoshua ) b
1 i 15 288-90, 292, .314
1 2 319 1 i 16-17 295
passim 225 1 i 16 218, 290, 291, 297
1 i 17-18 284
4Q380 (4QNon-Canonical Psalms Λ) 1 i 17 283-86, 337
passim 477 1 i 18 295, 296
4Q381 (4QNon-Canonical Psalms B) 1 i 19 285, 292, 295, 337
1 98-100, 382 1 i 2 292
1 11 100 1 i 20 292
1 7-8 198 1 i 3 289, 292, 295
1 7 106, 436 1 i 30-40 332
28 3 111 1 i 30 331
50 i 3 294 1 1 4 289, 292-94, 351, 460
530 INDEX OF SOURCES

1 i 5-7 297 22 258

1 i 5 288, 289, 296, 314 24 316
344, 378, 426 26 318, 320
1 i 6 283, 285, 294, 27-29 321
298-300 28 290
1 i 7 296 30-40 328, 331, 334, 367
1 1 8 285, 292, 294, 337 30-31 329
351, 460 30 310, 331
1 i 9 286, 287, 320, 344 31 331, 334, 358
2 1-9 307 32 331
2 1-5 309 32b-33a .333
2 2 299, 308 34 305, 358
2 3 308 35 329
2 4 308, 315 38 329
2 5-7 254 39-40 303, 337
2 5 308 39 331
2 5b-7 104 41-46 304
2 6-8 314 41 43 330
2 7 308, 337, 360, 456 41-2 i i 16 329
2 8 ‫•י־‬ 308, 314, 332 41 329-31, 334, 367,
3 i i 8-10 306 383
passim 252, 296 42 294, 329-31
b
43-44 383
4Q401 (4Qsh1rShabb )
43 330, 331
113 255
44 303
14 306
45 232, 233
14 i 5 299
46 304
14 i 8 299
6-9 388
15 1 299
8 320
17 3 294
9 317
22 3 255
1-6 330
passim 252
1-16 327
4Q402 (4QShirShabb ) ‫־‬
1 232, 303, 372
309 4 14 236
4 12 332 15 331
4 6 351 16 331, 334
passim 252 18-48 335
c
18-37 335-37
4Q403 (4QShirShabb )
18-19 338
1 327, 330
19-20 338
1 i 1-29 310
19 337, 338
1 i 1 318 2 383
1 i 10 29 385
20 337. 358
1 i 10 317
21 358, 384 ‫׳‬
1 i 13 318
22 384
1 M4-16 318
23 338
1 i 14 318
24 337, 358
1 i 16-27 258
3 116
1 i 17-23 335
35 283
1 i 17 316
7 303
1 i 18 300, 318
8 304
1 i 20 316
9 304
1 i 21-23 315
im 252, 311
1 i 21-22 317
 INDEX ? SOURCES 531

d
4Q404 (4QShirShabb ) 23 i 11 352
1:2 310 23 i 12 351, 352
5 4 232, 233 23 i 13 294, 352
5 5 304 23 i 3 351
6 335 23 i 4-6 352
passim 252 23 i 4-5 352
f
23 i 4 352, 353
4Q405 (4QShirShabb )
23 i 6 352
8-9 335
23 i 7-11 353
10 335
23 i 7-10 352
11 335
23 i i 11 356-58, 365
12 335
367, 379,
13 335, 385
440, 465
14-15 i 2 303
23 ii 1-4 367
14-15 i 3-6 372
23 ii 1 370
14-15 i 5-6 303
23 ii 10-12 358, 380
14-15 1 5 371, 385
23 ii 10 356, 364,
14-15 i 303,
365, 369,
338-40,
373, 377,
385
408
15 ii—16 341
23 i i 10b 358, 366,
15 ii—16 2-3 347
368
17 339, 341
23 ii 1 Ob-12 365
17 5 '294
23 ii 11-12 376
18 342
23 ii 11 380
18 2 351
23 ii 12 332, 377,
18 3 303
378
19 342
23 ii 3 288, 375
19 2 303, 343
23 ii 5 391
19 3 304
23 ii 7-8 372
19 4-5 304 23 ii 7-10a 372
19 4 343, 364 367
23 ii 7-10
19 5 372, 385
23 ii 7 356, 365,
19 6 385
366,
19 7 343
368-70,
19 8 344
373, 376,
20 ii 1 351
377
20 i i 21 -22 lines 8 9 347
23 i i 8-9 365
20 ii-21-22 lines 6-14 345, 346
23 i i 8 303, 373,
20 ii-21-22 lines 1 0 b - l l 348
374, 376
20 ii-21-22 lines 10-11 347
23 ii 9-10 367, 368
20 ii-21-22 lines 1-5 342
23 ii 9 365, 369,
20 ii-21-22 lines 1-2 344
373-77
20 ii-21-22 line 14 427
3 ii 310, 335
20 ii-21-22 10 303
5 1 303
20 ii-21-22 349
5 8 12 294
20 ii— 21 21 194
6 2 383
20 ii-21-22 lines 10-11 373
6 3 331
22 11 365
6 5 303
23 1 3 352
6 4 335
23 i 345, 350,
6 7 335
353, 355
7 7 384
23 i 1-13 351
8 6 436
23 i 10-12 295
passim 252, 441
23 i 10-11 314
532 INDEX OF SOURCES

4Q406 (4QS11irShabb )r
9 121
passim 252 10 3-9 117
12 3 ii 5 184
4Q407 (4QShirShabb‫)־׳‬ 184
12 6 ii 12
passim 252
16 8 4 184
4Q408 (4QMorning and Evening 17 2 4 259
Praver) 20 6 5 184
3 244-46 43 10-14 113, 288
3 5 246, 247 43 13 177
3 6-7 247 43 14b-17 116
3 8-10 247 43-45 i 6 116
3a 244 43-45 13 282
passim 222, 225, 243, 262, 43-45 10 282
477 69 118-21, 288
69 10 184
4Q414 (4QRitual of Purification A) 69 15 184
passim 110, 111 69 ii 10 •121
4Q415 (4QInstructio1v') 81 113, 176 80
259 185, 186, 19
2 i 3 259 374, 477
passim 113 81 1-14 183- 85, 187
b
81 1 186
4Q416 (4QInstruction ) 81 10 181, 182
1 116, 118 81 11 186
2 ii 121 81 13 180
2 ii 14 184 81 15 184
2 ii 19 184 81 3-4 180
2 ii 20 184 81 3 106, 178
2 ii 4 184 81 4 179, 295
2 iii !3 118 81 5 198
2 i i i 16-19 122 81 7 118
2 iii 20-iv 4 117 81 8 181
4 3 184 81 9 183
2 iv 5 184 passim 113
passim 113
l
4 Q 4 l 8 a (4QJnstruction ‫)־‬
4Q417 (4QInstruction') passim I 13
1 i 1-13 116
1 i 1 184 4Q422 (4QParaphrase of Genesis and
1 i 13-14 184 Exodus)
1 1 14-18 113, 288 1:10 106
1 i 16-17 177 1 i 9 436
1 i 17 114 8
49423 ^(^Instruction )
1 i 18 184 1:2 94, 180
1 i 18b-27 116 5 184
1 if,13 118 8 176
1 ii 5 116 2 2 106, 117, 436
2 i 1, 18 282 8 3 177
2 i 14 282 passim 113
2 i 17 184, 282
2 i i + 23 6 184 4Q427 (4QH")
2 ii 5 259 7 ‫י‬ ~ 199, 208, 210, 211
passim 113 10 4 237
d
1 2 202
4Q418 (4QInstrucdon ) 3 2-3 107
1 10 ‫י‬ 116
 INDEX OF SOURCES 533

7 i 10 205, 319 4Q458

7 i 11 203 2 ii 4 185
7 i 13-23 319
7 i 13 4Q468a-f
205, 319
'7 i 13b-18 passim 1934
212
7 i 14 107, 211 Q46Sb
7 i 17 211. 213 passim 193, 194, 236,
7 i 19b—ii 7b 211 262
7 i ‫־‬27a 211
22 212 4Q471 b (4QSclf-Glorif1cation
H y m n A)
6-13a 201
7 205 l a d 3-4 205
9 la d 7 205
205
i 13b-23 319 passim 199, 203, 204
7 i-ii 200, 201 4 Q 4 9 l e (4QSclf-GIorification
7 i i 11 211 H y m n B)
7 ii 14 212 ‫ן‬ 7 1
Î ,‫ ר‬1‫־‬
7 ii I i i 18 208 1 » 10 286
7 ii 16 211, 212 1 9 286
7 ii 2-7a 2)0 passim 199, 200, 286
7 i i 4-11 211
7 ii 4 210, 242 4Q491 (4QWar Scroll)
7 ii 5 211 1 i 208
7 ii 7-11 213 11 398
7 i i 7b-12 201 11 1 295
7 ii 8-9 205, 456 11 i 202, 203, 206,
7 ii 9 203, 214, 287 207, 210, 213,
passim 203, 212, 213 220, 473
11 i 1-4 209
4Q429 ( 4 Q H ) 11 i 10 202
1 i i 1- 3 162 G i l l 203
4Q431 11 i 12-18 201
i 199 11 i 13-16 212
1 6 11 i 16-17 205
200, 205, 319
1-2 200 1115-6 202
1 13 202 11 i 5-18 212
2 1 9 11 i 7 203
201
passa// 203 11 1 9 202
11 ii 203
4Q438 (4Ç>Barki Napshi') 11:1 90
6 2 389 passim 202
4 9 4 4 4 (4QIncantation) 4Q500 (4Qbcncdiction)
I 3 282 frag 1 19
1 4 287
5 1 169, 170 4Q501 (4QApocryphal
i 1-4 169-71 Lamentations B)
i 1 172 passim 478
i 8 173 4Q503 (4Ql)aily Prayers")
passim 163, 169, passim 478
173
4Q504 (4QDimHam»)
4Q448 1-2 vii recto 4-verso 263
passim 478 1-2 iv 9b-12a 441
4Q451 1-2 iv 6-12 443

1 2 1-2 i i i 2-4 93
319
534 INDEX OF SOURCES

1-2 197 194, 195, 289,

5 282 293, 295, 296,
6 390 299, 307,
6 8 391 321. 374, 398,
92-95, 97, 430
379 35 1-5 171
8 recto i 6 106 35 1-2 296
8 4 93 35 19 294
8 5 282 35 2 167
8 6 93 35 3 273. 294
8 7 93, 440 35 4 100. 294, 340,
passim 92, 445 351. 379, 460
35 5 294
c
4Q506 (4QpapDim Ham ) 169
35 6-8
passim 92 170. 172, 173,
35 6
332
4Q507-9 (4QFestival Prayers)
35 6-7 169
passim 478
35 7 173
4Q508 (4QFestival Prayers ) b

41 293
2 2 > 212 44 293
173
4Q510 (4QS0ngs of the Sage") 48 + 49 + 51 i i 2-3
169
1 2 332 48-9
282
1 4 162, 262 48-49-51 ii 1
169
1 5 162 51 1-8
110
1 6-7 162 52 + 2
258
1 9 258 63-64 i i i 3
202
passim 55, 162 63-64 i i 4
287
63-4 i i 3 320
4Q511 (4QS0ngs of the Sage ') 1

111 6
169
1 5 176 169
121 3
2 i 174, 175, 275 passim 55, 162, 185
2 i 1 162, 262 282
2 i 10 164, 166, 390
2 i 4 164 4Q512 (4QRitual of Purification B)
2 i 6 164 passim 110, 111,
2 i 7 164 478
2 i 9 448 1
4Q513 ^ O r d i n a n c e s ' )
2 ii 3 173 1-2 i i 4 195, 291
8 166
1-2 i i 194
8 4 163, 169 2 ii 4 218
10 11 256 passim 194
10 12 306
10 3 162 4Q_521 (4Q.Messianic Apocalypse)
10 8 258 7 129
11 5 169 passim 206
16 3. 306
4Q522
18 i i 6 7-8 162
9 ii 8 319
18 i i 8 282
28 162 4Q525 (4QBeatitudes)
29 2 - 4 162 5 11 258
30 4 - 6 307
35 162, 163, 165 4Q528 (4QSapiential Work B)
166, 168-70, 4 258
173-76, 179,
 INDEX OF SOURCES 535

4Q534 Aramaic Levi Document

i 1-2 38 83 319
passim 36 passim 16
d
4Q541 (4QTLevi ) HQMelch
9 11, 205, 220, 286, 2:5 218
206, 436, 464, 465 2:6 218
2 i 6-9 191 2:8 190, 291
2 ii 6 191 2:9 216
24 i i 190 2:10-11 219
24 i i 5-6 155 2:10 216
7 3 191 2:13 216
7 4 191 2:24-25 218
9 i 189 ii 10-11 220
9 i 2 190, 191 ii 10 220
9 i 3-5 190 passim 209, 216, 218, 477
passim 189, 191-93, 262,
HQShirShabb ( 1 1 Q 1 7 )
401
11 3 335
4Q542 (4QTQahat ar) iii 4 a ‫ ־‬e 335
1 i 1 153 iii 5 335
iv 338
4Q543 (4QTAmram" ar)
iv 6-8 339
1+2 + 3 187
1 ‫ ז‬Λ ‫ ן‬oo ν frags. 9-12 341
i i t 1 oo vi frag. 12—15 342
1 1 ο ‫ ן‬oo
ί ι—I loo vi frag. 8 344
1t ι‫ו‬ 1 9SK
1 oo vii frag. 9 - 1 4 345
1 6-7 188 vii frag. 1 6 - 1 8 342
3 1 187 viii 19-20 350
4Q544 (4QVisions of Amram ' ar)1
viii 5 306
passim 216, 266 ix 358
ix 21 a—b 356
4Q545 (4Q.Visions of A m r a m ' ar) 356
ix 22
1 1 löö ix 3-5 361, 380
1 i 187 ix 6 250, 367
1 ί 1-4 188 ix 7 357, 373
1 ί 1-2 188 χ 23-25 356, 387
1 i 17-18 187 passim 252
3 6 188
1
11 QTemple
4Q546 (4QVisions of Amram' ar)
20:13a-14b 42
i 1-J 1ÖÖ
21:5 257
4Q547 (40Visions of A m r a m ' ar) 29:9 64, 65, 275, 478
1 4 188 45:11-12 133
4 6 188 49:17-20 111
57:3 257
4Q555 4QNew Jerusalem passim 418. 477
passim 266
HQBer
5(2.15 1 ii 3 186
passim 283 1 i i 5-6 186
8Q5 passim 186
1 1 169, 170 11 Qps"
2 3 170 22:12 290
passim 163, 170 27:5-9 263
passim 478
536 INDEX OF SOURCES

HQapPs" 1 ii 7 153
passim 478 passim 157, 186

HQtgJob 11Q,18
36:4 295 14 i i 354

llQll HQS
5.4 170 21-22 88
27:2-3 258
110,14 28:9 215
1 i i 15 305
1 ii 6 305

Masada

Maslk ii 17 331
i 1-7 309 ii 22 318
i 12 314, 3 1 5
Maslj 1276- 1786 324
i 8-13 -» 310
Masll 1039--211 324
i 9 315
Maslm 1045-1350 7 1375 324
ii 1-26 310

P/lib

Cher. Quaesl. in Exod.

87 80, 276 2785 65
Conf. Quaest. in Gen.
96' 146 2 56r
38
14:18-19 53
Hyp.
8.6.1 249 Rer. Div. Her.
8.11 388 84 17
11.14-17 132 176 234

Migr. Abr. Sacr. / l . C

102 370 8 10 146, 148

Mut. Soma.
54 146 1:157-8 146
87 146 1:215 268
1:241 146
Omn. Prob. Lib. 1:245 146
75 388 2:188-189 17
8.12>75, 91 249 2:221-230 147
91 388 2:222-3 146
Op. Mund. 2:227-34 146
146 214 2:231 17

Poster. C. Spec. Leg.

27-29 146, 148 1:66-67 268
1:66 256
Praem. Poen. 1:88-89 156
23 41 1:261 111
 INDEX OF SOURCES 537

1:269 111 2:71-145 65

3:205-207 HI 2:80 65
2:84 65
Vil. Cant. 2:88 65
13 323 2:981‫־‬ 65
2:101-5 65
Vit. Mos. 2:103 65
1:9 52 2:117-126 39, 65, 367
1:15 52 2:119-12! 65
1:155-8 7, 8 2:1271‫־‬ 65
1:18 52 2:133-135 39, 65, 367
2:68-70 134 2:143 39, 65, 367

Josephus

Antujuitales Judaieae 11:3 29 339 59

1:196-199 139 11:3-6-12 25
2:224 52 12:129-144 79
2:231 52 12:142 42
2:232 52. 53 1.3:3-22 56
3:3-18 126 13:3-11 248, 249
3:123 65 13:171-2 248
3:138-4 65 13:282-83 56
3:159 178 230 13:298 248
3:166 235 13:299 300 56
3:171 249 15:3- 79 126
3:179187 65 15:3-78 248
3:180 39, 65, 126, 367 15:371 249
3:183-87 367 15:371-372 123
3:183-7 39, 65 15:372 124, 126, 127
3:184-87 230 15:372-373 248
3:184 65 15:373-379 56, 123, 249
3:185 229, 249 17 249
3:186-87 198 17:346 249
3:186-7 353 17:346-48 249
3:186 187 246 18:11 248
3:20 126 18:18 248
3:123 62 18:19 361
3:172-78 246 19:3-47 126
3:181 62 19:344-347 126
3:185 46 19:344-345 124
3:214-218 230 19:343-52 1, 59
3:215-218 235 19:3-25 130
3:215 17 223 20:216-18 27
3:216-7 56, 249
3:216-17 Bellum Judaicorum
155
1:68-9 56
4:14-66 185
1:78 249
8:93 231
1:26 57
9:291 26
2 140
11:3-41 26
2:3-72 125
11:3-31-336 84
2:567 249
11:3-31-335 70, 101, 381
 538 INDEX OF SOURCES

2:119-161 127. 130 5:212-3 65

2:119 248 5:217 65
2:120 227 5:231 65
2:129-32 110, 111 5:232 372
2:136 250 6:42 130
2:138 110 6:289 10, 430
2:141 470 6:293-4 430
2:142 470 6:293 270
2:145 140 7:3-99 324
2:149-50 110 7:3-44-45 125
2:152-3 130 7:3-44-346 323, 324
2:152 140 7:3-40 323
2:154-8 127 . t

2:160-61 110 Contra Apionem

2:1 19 270
2:160-1 113
2:198 111
2:160 248
3:11 249
177«
4:3-24 65
5:145 248 10 248
5:146 ‫י־‬ 65

Targums

Frag. Targ. Targ. /‫׳‬.. /.

Paris Ms 110 10 passan 10, 51
Vatican Ms Ebr 440 10
Targ. Neof.
passim 10, 51

Rabbinic & Medieval Jewish Literature

Mtshnah b. Hag. 12b 219, 359. 396

‫ ! ׳‬, ‫״‬ ‫״‬1 b. Ha}. 14b 66, 397
hel. 1:8 5/ , ‫' ״‬ ,, ‫י‬
H a g 1 G a 1 4 7
Pes 21 6 145 *‫־‬ •
‫ י ״‬, \ll b. Meg. 21st Tislev 70, 101, 381
7am. 4.1
M / : y 1 50
2 5
• b.b.Ned.
Pes. 32b
54b 51
234
Tarn. 7:2 316
b. Sab. 87b 66
Tom. 3:3 111
b. Sank. 16a 230
Torn. 5:1-4 155
b. Sank. 38b 39, 215
Yarn. 7:4 155
*. Sol. 12a 52
Yom.^8.9 110
b. Suk. 51b 62, 66
b. Yom. 19b 214
Talmuds
*. Yom. 69a 59, 70, 101,
j. Ta'an. 68d 10 381
j. Yom. 7.3 44b 363 b. Yom. 71b 230
! η ο , Λ m er b. Yom. 77a 396
b. B. Bat. 4a 62, 66
b. Ber. 55a 65 " Aboi, de R. Nathan
b. Cit. 68a 234 A ch. 2 53
*. Hag. 12a 39, 215 A 2.2 147
 INDEX OF SOURCES 539

A 37.2 147 .Num. Rab.

B 2 134 2.2 257
12.12 24
Midrash 13.19 62
Bereshtlh Rab. Pesiq. Rab Kah.
24f. 99 1.4-5 65
21.5 65
Deut. Rab.
32 138
11.10 52
Pesiqta Rabbati
Ecel. Rab.
5.3 65
6.9.1 99
7.4 65
Exod. Rab. 14.15 70
1.20 52
Puke R. El.
30.16 117 o ft:
32.1 86 J 0 ‫כ‬
71 46 147
38.8
11-12 99
Gen. Rab. 37 16
3.9 65 48 52
8.1 215
Sifra schemini 43 66
8.10 99
8.11 147 Sifre Deut 355 234, 355, 411
14.3 117, 147
Tanhuma
21.3 215
15 (26a-b) 8
21.5 117
Noah 6 53
24.2 215
Nasa 24 65
26.4 51
Pequde. 2 65
38.8 363
47.6 300 Sefer Yesira passim 65
65.21 344 CTLevi ar Bodleian
68.12 300 col. a line 9 205
69.3 300 col. a lines 9-10 272
77.1 411 cols, a, b, c, d 272
82.6 300
Heklialot Literature
Ï£0. Rab.
4.1 86 Hekhalot Rabbati 9:4 300
13.5 70 Massekhel Hekhalot 15.4 257
21.11 363 Synapse §§ 384-99 363
21.12 13, 17
Samaritan Literature
Met
6.43-60 234 Manor Marqah 4.12 146

Early Christian and Gnostic Writings

Apocalypse of Paul Epiphanius

passim 268 Panarion
ΔΛ 10.1-5 248
Athenagoras l g 2 4 g

Supplicatio 13.1 272 fg ^ 24g

Acta s. Apollonii 8 272 2Q 249
540 INDEX OF SOURCES

Eusebius Jerome
Eccl. Hist. Contra Rufmum 3.3-1 11, 420
4.8.4 10
4.6.1-4 11 Justin
4.22.7 249 Apol. 1:3-2:12-13 10
Praep. Evang. Apol. 1.31.6 10
8.9.38-8.10.17 147 Irenaeus
9.27.25 138 Adv. Haer. 3:1:1 301
9.27.37 400 Adv. Haer. 3:11:8 301

Gospel of Bartholomew Origcn

4:52-60 99 Coulia Celsum
5:2:41 323
Gospel of Peter 8.21 272
40 9, 215
Commentary on John's Gospel
Gospel of 'lliomas 2.3 1 ‫י‬ ' 28
18 Protocuangcliuin of James
Hippolytus . 5.1 ‫״‬ ' 224
Refutation of All Heresies 24.3 304
9:18 248 Pseudo-Clementine Homilies
9.18-28 130 I I 22-3-4 146
9.27 128 I I 24.6-27 146

Greek anel Roman Literature

Apollodorus Lucian of Samosata

Library 1.46 41 De dea Syria 12-13 41
Damascius
Pliny
De. Pnnc. 125c 191
.Natural History
Diodorus Siculus 5.17.4 " 132, 248
Bibholhcea Historien
Tacitus
X L 3.3-8 101
Histories
X L 3.5 14
5.5 355
X L 3.6 14
X L 3.5-6 70 Pompeius 1'rogus
passim 5, 1 72, I
Hesiod
Works and Days 1 70-2 131 Pscudo-Callisthencs
Alexandei Romance
Homer 2:24 70, 381
Iliad 16:844-50 417
Odyssey 4.561-8 131 Svnesius of Cvrcne
Dio 3, 2 ' 248
Pseudo-Justin
Historien: Plulippicae
36.1.6-10 173
36.2.11 52
 INDEX OF SOURCES

Papyri

P. Oxy. 840 2 11

Ancien! Near Eastern Texts

Alraluisis Epic of Gitgaincsti

col. v i I I : 254-56 21 Tab. X I i i 193-
col: vi 11 25
CPA
5.1.1-5 362

Gnostic Texts

^jislnanos
N H C V I I I 1 58:13-24 354

Islamic 'Texts

Koran
7:12 14 99
15:30-36 99
 I N D E X OF SUBJECTS

Aaron 3, 15, 24, 4 1 , 44, 47, 53, 259, 264-67, 272, 344, 346, 381,
81-83, 139. 140, 153, 167, 178, 382, 385. 386, 392, 393
179, 182, 185, 187, 188, 227, asceticism 3, 130, 213, 214, 479
230, 231, 235, 269, 295, 298, Azazel 463
317, 340
Abel 18, 52 Baal 84
Abiathar 230 Babel, tower of 409
Abihu 458, 467, 468 Bar Kochba 10, 420 357
Abraham 24, 27, 39, 42. 137, 147, beauty 26, 44, 73, 80, 82, 88, 90,
196, 207, 214, 415 246, 294, 340, 354, 356, 357,
Adam 6, 12, 17, 18, 20, 26, 39, 363, 400
54, 78, 80, 89-94, 96-100, 102, Belial 395, 397, 402, 449, 450, 455,
103, 106‫ י‬107, 112, 115. 116, 460, 461, 465, 468, 469
176, 180, 198, 214, 235. 276, Bezalel 76, 87
282, 359, 381, 382, 404, 409, Bitenosh 35
440, 442, 445, 447, 448, 476, blasphemy 140
479 blessed ones 313, 321, 322, 325
as Glory of God 479 Book of Giants 38, 129
worshipped by angels 91, 98-103 breastpiece 155, 157, 193, 194,
Agrippa I , Herod 124-26 221-51, 356, 358, 364, 388, 394
Àkiha 10 bronze laver 76, 79
Alexander the Great 363, 381
Amram 188 Cain 17, 18, 21, 51, 52
Ancient of Davs 38, 53, 349, 350 celibacy 50, 89, 131, 479
Angel of die L O R D 13, 21, 146, chaos 76, 107, 172, 380, 464, 469
421 Chaoskampf 77, 191
angel of the presence 14, 150, 152, cherubim 235, 242, 255, 256, 270,
158, 173 278, 293, 298, 300, 301, 322,
Angelic worship, of humanity 18, 21 328, 329, 341-43, 345-47, 370,
angels 384, 391, 392
food of 18, 29, 30, 34, 91, 194, Christianity, early 4, 12, 13, 178,
195 205
language of 190, 260 Christology 2, 183, 190
son of God 29, 189, 417 circumcision 52, 53, 271
worship of, by humanity 165, 177, clothing 5, 18, 21, 31, 44, 73, 129,
463 354, 417. 436
Antiochus I I I 79 God's 8, 439
Antiochus I V Epiphanes 1 cosmic mountain 269, 270, 274
apocalyptic 2, 3, 17, 21, 260, 264, Covenant Renewal Ceremony 112,
266, 267, 283, 284, 354, 375, 153, 158, 319, 386
386, 387, 392, 398, 441, 456, crown 24, 30, 50, 129, 158. 198,
463, 465, 472, 478 199, 231, 247, 288, 351, 353-55
apotheosis 203, 204, 212, 213, 215,
219 David 139, 146, 196, 204, 231, 258,
ark, Noah's 33, 40, 41 413-18, 421, 422, 431
Asael 40 Day of Atonement 40, 43, 45, 72,
ascent to heaven 21, 40, 49, 130, 212, 214, 216, 218-20, 379, 381,
202, 204, 208, 212, 213, 220, 463
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 543

demons 55, 162, 468 Esseneisi 3 1 . 88, 90, 96, 123-32,

dissonance theory 209 134. 175. 248-51, 321, 323,
divine warrior 8 1 , 83, 137. 138, 166. 388-91, 393. 465, 469, 470.
172, 191, 218, 242, 243, 247, 477-80
380, 396, 415. 423, 435. 436, Ezra 22, 25
440, 453, 465. 475
dualism 2, 128, 134, 203, 217, 220, llesh 7, 9, 14, 16 3-1, 37, 39, 87, 93,
241, 253-64, 307, 314, 321, 391, 105, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117,
395, 397, 401, 414, 415. 420, 118, 127, 128, 130. 134, 142,
450, 459 162, 164, 176-78. 186, 187, 195,
200-203, 208, 458, 459, -168,
Eden 12, 18, 30, 74, 89, 92, 94, 97. 471, 474, 475
106-108, 112. 120, 129, 131, 180. forgiveness ol'sins 106. 110, 111,
300. 322, 382. 436. 441. 445 211, 212, 218, 280, 296
Elcazar (leader o f Sicarii) 125, 323,
324 Gabriel 255, 313, 318, •111, •1-70
Elcazar (son o f Aaron) 180, 224 Gains Galigula 1
Elect One 350 Gerizim, Mount 25, 26
elect ones 257, 310, 314, 325, 399, giants 34, 37-39, 129, 181, 214
423, 424, 428, 429 gigantism 21, 29, 38, 39, 9 1 , 122,
Elendsbctrachtung 273 182, 214, 215, 287
Elijah 131 Gilgamcsh 38
elim 85. 255. 256. 280. 281. 292 94. glorious ones 20, 73
298, 302. 304-308, 319. 326, Glory of God 4, 7, 16. 20, 21, 44,
328. 329, 332, 337, 342, 351, '72, 382, 92-97, 105, 119. 131,
395, 396. 398, 458, 473-75 135, 141, 144, 148-50, 154, 156.
elohim 85, 255, 256. 278, 280, 281. 157. 160. 161, 163, 164. !66.
292, 293. 298. 302 308, 326 •29, 174, 173, 179, 180. 187. 191-,
332, 334, 336. 339, 342, 343, 196-98, 200, 201. 213, 236, 237,
351, 352 244-46. 248, 278, 282, 285. 294.
living elohim 303 305, 327-29, 302, 303. 305, 333, 335, 336,
332. 337, 339. 34 i . 342. 343. 346- 50, 353, 357, 362. 365.
344 47 .372, 373. 375-82, 386, 387, .392,
eneratism 322 394, 408, 432, 436-41, 443 45,
Engelgemeinschait 255, 263, 308, 4-49, 476. 479
'" 309, 329, 397, 399, 402, 415. god's) 5, 6, 20-22. 82, 84-87, 122,
422, 423, 435 124, 163. 168-171, 173, 187,
Enoch (>. 10, 13, 22 2(), 33, 34, 39, 200 202, 204-, 208, 216, 220,
41, •1-2. 47 50, 1 14, 129, 131. 276, 278, 280, 293, 294, 299,
142, 149, 173, 189, 196, 198, 302, -105
205, 214, 21 I , 269, 273, 277, Goliath •113, -114, 417, 4-20
287, 34
Enosh 26, 114 16, 198 hair, white woollen .33, .38
enthronement, (heavenly) 202, hasidim 141, 142, 148| 389
206 208, 214, 219', 355. 380 Hekhalot literature 152. 208, 252.
cphod 230. 2,31, 235, 300, 356, 358. 257, 259 61, 266. 333, 351.
362. 372, 376 392
Epistle ol Enoch 30 Hekhalot Mysticism 3
cschatologv- 112, 117, 129. 158 60. l l c r m o n , Mount 23, 74, 269
180,' '185. 190 192, 196. 204. Herod the Great 123. 125
206. 207. 209- 12. 216. 217. 266. Hezckiah 181
269, 295, 296, 307. 316, 322, holv of holies 108, 150, 155, 167,
397, 450 168. 177. 179, 180, 193, 219,
realized 89. 208. 237, 296 232, 243, 264, 272, 280, 295,
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 543

demons 55, 162, 468 Essene(s) 31, 88, 90, 96, 123-32,
dissonance theory 209 134, 175, 248-51, 321, 323,
divine warrior 81, 83, 137, 138, 166, 388-91, 393, 465, 469, 470,
172, 191, 218, 242, 243, 247, 477-80
380, 396, 415, 423, 435, 436, Ezra 22, 25
440, 453, 465, 475
dualism 2, 128, 134, 203, 217, 220, flesh 7, 9, 14, 16 34, 37, 39, 87, 93,
241, 253-64, 307, 314, 321, 391, 105, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117,
395, 397, 401, 414, 415, 420, 118, 127, 128, 130, 134, 142,
450, 459 162, 164, 176-78, 186, 187, 195,
200-203, 208, 458, 459, 468,
Eden 12, 18, 30, 74, 89, 92, 94, 97, 471, 474, 475
106-108, 112, 120, 129, 131, 180, forgiveness of sins 106, 110, 111,
300, 322, 382, 436, 441, 445 211, 212, 218, 280, 296
Eleazar (leader of Sicarii) 125, 323,
324 Gabriel 255, 313, 318, 411, 470
Eleazar (son of Aaron) 180, 224 Gains Galigula 1
Elect One 350 Gerizim, M o u n t 25, 26
elect ones 257, 310, 314, 325, 399, giants 34, 37-39, 129, 181, 214
423, 424, 428, 429 gigantism 21, 29, 38, 39, 91, 122,
Elendsbetrachtung 273 182, 214, 215, 287
Elijah 131 Gilgamesh 38
elim 85, 255, 256, 280, 281, 292-94, glorious ones 20, 73
298, 302, 304-308, 319, 326, Glory of God 4, 7, 16, 20, 21, 44,
328, 329, 332, 337, 342, 351, 72, 382, 92-97, 105, 119, 131,
395, 396, 398, 458, 473-75 135, 141, 144, 148-50, 154, 156,
elohim 85, 255, 256, 278, 280, 281, 157, 160, 161, 163, 164, 166,
292, 293, 298, 302-308, 326-29, 174, 175, 179, 180, 187, 194,
332, 334, 336, 339, 342, 343, 196-98, 200, 201, 213, 236, 237,
351, 352 244-46, 248, 278, 282, 285, 294,
living elohim 303-305, 327-29, 302, 303, 305, 333, 335, 336,
332, 337, 339, 341, 342, 343, 346-50, 353, 357, 362, 365,
344-47 372, 373, 375-82, 386, 387, 392,
encratism 322 394, 408, 432, 436-41, 443-45,
Engelgemeinschaft 255, 263, 308, 449, 476, 479
309, 329, 397, 399, 402, 415, god(s) 5, 6, 20-22, 82, 84-87, 122,
422, 423, 435 124, 163, 168-171, 173, 187,
Enoch 6, 10, 13, 22-26, 33, 34, 39, 200-202, 204, 208, 216, 220,
41, 42, 47-50, 114, 129, 131, 276, 278, 280, 293, 294, 299,
142, 149, 173, 189, 196, 198, 302, 405
205, 214, 244, 269, 273, 277, Goliath 413, 414, 417, 420
287, 34
Enosh 26, 114-16, 198 hair, white woollen 33, 38
enthronement, (heavenly) 202, hasidim 141, 142, 148, 389
206-208, 214, 219, 355, 380 Hekhalot literature 152, 208, 252,
ephod 230, 231, 235, 300, 356, 358, 257, 2 5 9 - 6 1 , 266, 333, 354,
362, 372, 376 392
Epistle of Enoch 36 Hekhalot Mysticism 3
eschatology 112, 117, 129, 158-60, Hermon, M o u n t 23, 74, 269
180, 185, 190-192, 196, 204, Herod the Great 123, 125
206, 207, 209-12, 216, 217, 266, Hezekiah 181
269, 295, 296, 307, 316, 322, holy of holies 108, 150, 155, 167,
397, 450 168, 177, 179, 180, 193, 219,
realized 89, 208, 237, 296 232, 243, 264, 272, 280, 295,
544 INDEX OF SUBJECTS

303, 304, 327, 342, 343, 345, Judah 15

347. 357
holv one(s) 5. 8. 14, 85, 104, 114, Judas Maccabeus 181, 182, 186, 187
115, 142, 150, 151, 162-167,
174, 176, 177, 179, 185-87. 200, Kenaz 416
207, 255, 257, 278, 280-83, king 6, 18, 45, 82, 85, 88, 91, 126,
285. 288, 292, 294, 295, 146, 183, 205, 207, 218. 265,
306-308, 326, 404, 423, 424, 334, 363, 415, 443
425, 429, 430, 435, 437, 439. ‫־‬ Kingdom of God 31, 326, 333, 376,
446, 450 334. 336, 357
honey 80, 380 Korah 184
Lamech 33, 34, 37, 41, 42, 50
laoel 355 Lebanon 74, 215
Image of God 18, 38, 54, 76, 78, 80, Leontopolis. temple of 30, 31,
v
8 1 , 88, 93, 101-103, 172, 173, 391
349, 362, 442 Levi 6, 13-16, 30, 32, 41, 82, 153,
immortality 118, 128 30, 133, 179, 184, 188, 190, 205, 225 28,
146-48, 276, 292, 317, 322, 323 271-73, 319, 425
338, 477, Lilith 162
incense 24, 74, 76, 78, 80, 142, 181, Luke-Acts 4
182, 185, 226. 231, 358, 359,
363-65, 458 magic 170, 172, 173, 204, 213, 256
Isaac 14, 15, 24, 27, 42, 415 Mahalalel 197, 198
Isaiah 260, 261 Masada 125, 253, 254, 278, 296,
Isles of the blessed 127,321-24 310, 323, 324, 361, 388
Ithamar 467 maskil 55, 154, 161-63. 166, 168,
169, 171, 173, 174, 202, 205,
Jacob 26, 39 212, 237, 252, 254, 256, 262,
Jacob/Israel 6, 9, 10. 12, 14, 25, 279, 280, 292-94, 297, 298, 301,
27-29. 82, 86, 87, 90, 91, 94, 314, 317, 441
96-98, 113, 122, 135, 139, 145, as a god 168-174
149, 159, 163, 167, 174, 180-82, Melchizedek 6, 49, 51-53, 190,
186, 189, 194-97, 202, 214, 227, 216-22, 255
275, 276, 281. 283-85, 308, 322, merkabah 303, 343, 345-47, 385.
340, 359, 378, 379, 396, 398, 386, 392
400-12, 422, 425-27, 431, 440, merkabah mvsticism 3, 244, 265,
442, 443, 446, 447, 449, 452, 267, 354, 387, 392
454, 456-59, 462-65, 467, 471, messiah 10, 12, 86. 129. 141, 150,
473, 474, 476 151, 183, 190, 192, 196, 197,
Israel as true Adam 97, 436 205-207, 226, 350, 360, 413-15,
Jacob worshipped by Aseneth 122 418-22, 430, 431, 442-44, 447,
Jahaziel, Levite 433 453
Jared 34 as representative of Israel 445
Jeremiah 180 as second Adam 445
Jeshtirun 411 dual 419, 422, 471
Jesus 38, 39, 99, 133, 137, 178, 183, worship of (royal) messiah 444
189, 190, 192, 202, 204, 207, Metatron 10, 21, 24, 205, 214, 244,
215, 227, 320, 360. 365, 441. 287, 363, 369, 418
444, 480 Methuselah 33, 34, 4 1 , 42, 50
birth of 51, 53 Michael 20, 24, 102, 202, 216,
Transfiguration of 142, 189 217, 220, 255, 313, 318, 359,
John Hyrcanus I 227, 250 382, 396, 401, 410, 411, 414,
Joseph 6, 21, 25-27, 29, 30, 122, 451, 456, 458, 459, 461-64,
172, 355 467-74
 INDEX OF SUBJECTS 545

miqveh 110, 111 priest, (high)

monotheism 1, 277, 480 as (co-)creator 75-81, 84, 153, 317,
Moses 4, 6-9, 16, 21-27, 39, 42, 55, 190-92, 407, 408, 473
72, 76, 78, 79, 82, 86, 88, 89, as divine warrior 81—84, 166, 218,
126, 134, 136-49, 153, 171, 180, 246, 247
188, 202, 207, 216, 226, 231, as Glory of God 72, 73. 88, 247,
239, 242, 267, 278, 289. 317, 386, 441, 479
355, 400, 415-18, 455, 465, 469, as Wisdom 73-81, 317
477 garments of 45, 50, 52, 74, 82,
as divine warrior 137-138 90, 151, 156, 181, 194, 223,
birth of 52, 53 225, 230, 231, 234, 239, 245,
mystery of existence 114, 116, 184 246, 265, 303, 340, 353,
mysticism, Jewish 3, 28, 214, 252, 356-58, 362-378, 440, 448,
261, 265, 344, 363, 375, 386, 465, 479
387, 441 worship of, by humanity 381-382,
441, 479
Nadah 4.5!!, 467, 408 prince of light(s) 199, 396, 446, 450,
Name of God 3, 4, 10, 21, 24, 27, 451, 459, 465, 467 69
28, 93, 108, 138, 146, 148, 150, Prince o f the Congregation 158, 160,
154-57, 161, 163, 169, 170, 172, 414, 415, 444, 453
174, 190, 196. 198-200, 216, 231, prophecy 249
244, 246, 282, 288, 311, 312,
316, 320, 321, 357 Qahat 4 1 , 188
Nehcmiah 25 Qedushah 106, 334, 335, 348, 383,
Nicolas of Damascus 123 437-43, 457
Nir 50, 51
Noah 6, 13, 33-55. 88, 149, 182, rabbis 86, 125, 230, 274, 275
198, 258, 322, 363 Raphael 255, 313, 318, 396, 411,
as second Adam 54 470
birth of 34-55, 88, 149, 214, 340, Rechabites 322
400 red heifer 112
Book of 36-55, 173, 182 resurrection 105, 112, 128-30, 133,
397
oil of anointing 20, 23, 76, 78, Revelation, book of 4
79
ophamum 255, 256. .302, 328, 329, sabbath/rest 76, 77, 80, 83, 120,
34,3, 345, 346, 384, 392 252, 263, 265, 266, 271, 275,
ordination to priesthood 31, 188, 276, 378, 393
231, 272, 426, 465 Samaritans 3, 4, 25-7, 146, 148
Sariel 255, 318, 396, 411, 470
Ρ 75, 101, 102, 275, 276, 317, 371, Satan 102
408, 448, 478 Saul 415, 416
panentheism 350 Sefer Ha-Razim 256
Paqid 427 seraphim 260, 335. 440
parokcl 340, 341, 385, 393 Seth 26, 114, 116, 198, 413
Paul 204, 260, 261, 266, 370 seven heavens 20, 382
"perfect of way" 54, 95, 258, 300, Shechcm 26, 27
315, 400, 402, 454 Shekinah 24, 390
Pharisaism 227 Shcm 26, 51, 53, 173, 198
Philo 3, 17, 86, 115, 116, 146, 148, Shi'ur Qpmah 214
275, 323, 370 Simeon b. Laqish 301
Phinehas 180, 181 Simon Magus 3, 146, 173
physiognomy 31, 91, 400 solar calendar 252
pillar of cloud 77 Son of God 218
546 INDEX OF SUBJECTS

Son of M a n 21, 189, 202, 349, 350, terumah 195, 306, 308, 309, 336, 337,
379, 381 357, 358, 360
Songs of lite Sabbath Saciifice 6, 84, 88, Testament, genre 188
90, 101, 105, 121, 131, 161, 176. Theios Aner 1
194, 216, 230, 238, 248, 250, Therapeutae 323
251, 437, 441, 455, 478 throne 8 1 , 93, 137, 138, 174, 175,
Sons of Darkness 395, 397, 409. 454 200, 202, 205, 207, 208. 214,
sons of heaven 105, 108, 111, 119, 252, 269, 270, 277, 303, 309,
120, 208, 288 325, 343-47, 349, 351, 375,
Sons of Light 395, 397, 398, 409, 380-8
414, 447, 454 throne room 24, 268, 343, 385
standing, as divine human 107. throne vision 194, 278
146-48, 352 transformational mvsticism 3, 130,
Standing One 146 170, 215
stars 31, 50, 78-80, 95, 98. 174, 233,
235, 236, 243, 261, 343, 353, unio mystica 208, 235
367, 401. 416, 430, 455 Uriel " 27, 313
stones 18, 93, 157, 171, 181, 183, Urim and T h u m m i m 222 51
193, 22^-25, 228, 229, 231, 232, Urmensch 18, 93, 258, 300, 362,
234, 235, 238, 239, 246, 247, 379, 448
249, 300, 364-66, 368, 370-372, UT 155-57, !94, 258, 369
380, 415 Utnapishtim 21
suffering servant 189
sun/solar symbolism 33-34, 46, 50, vestibule (of sanctuary) 303, 384, 385,
52, 79', 80, 95, 139, 174, 189, 392, 393
190, 193, 207, 228, 229, 233. Vision of Hagi 114-16
235, 236. 243, 247, 261, 343,
353, 366, 367, 416, 455 watchers 23, 27, 37, 48, 129. 132,
synagogue 60, 335, 394 195, 269, 463
fall of 22, 36, 40, 45, 48, 133
Tabernacles, feast of 45, 46, 355 Weeks, feast of 271, 359, 360.
Tamid 76, 83, 120, 238. 244, 247, 386
408, 454, 455 Wisdom 1, 28. 72, 73, 75-79, 84,
Teacher of Righteousness 159, 93, 116, 121, 191. 317, 364,
191-93, 204, 205, 209, 215 378
temple as co-crcator 78, 81
as microcosm 79, 183, 247, worship of humanity by the angels
273-75, 277. 317, 378, 391, 407, 100, 135
474-76, 478, 479
community as Ersatz 132, 161, Yahad 90
166, 167, 255, 297, 379
heavenly 267-74 Zadok, sons of 429
house as house 47, 48, 52, 74, 79, Ziusudra 20
408 Zoroastrianism 397