Scribd
Upload
33 views1 page

Deuteronomy in The Matthean and Lucan Temptation in Light of Early Jewish Antidemonic Tradition On JSTOR 2

This passage from the Damascus Document describes how adhering to the laws of Moses causes the angel Mastema, the leader of evil spirits equivalent to Satan, to turn away. Specifically, it states that on the day someone commits to following Mosaic law again, Mastema will stop pursuing them if they keep their commitment. Scholars interpret this as meaning that true obedience to the law only occurs within the elect community, and those within the community will be protected from demonic forces like Mastema.

Uploaded by

Paul Byarugaba
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
33 views1 page

Deuteronomy in The Matthean and Lucan Temptation in Light of Early Jewish Antidemonic Tradition On JSTOR 2

This passage from the Damascus Document describes how adhering to the laws of Moses causes the angel Mastema, the leader of evil spirits equivalent to Satan, to turn away. Specifically, it states that on the day someone commits to following Mosaic law again, Mastema will stop pursuing them if they keep their commitment. Scholars interpret this as meaning that true obedience to the law only occurs within the elect community, and those within the community will be protected from demonic forces like Mastema.

Uploaded by

Paul Byarugaba
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

6 / 12

Exit reading mode ( esc )

THE MATTHEAN AND LUC AN TEMPTATION 295

Lines 4-5 of CD- A 16 are reconstructed and translated as follows:

nw"? iwM ^ tipxn [n^] mp-» ira orai 4


mm nx ny dk mnx» natj^n iíòô mo'' nra rmn 5
4 . . . And on the day on which one has imposed upon himself to return
5 to the law of Moses, the angel Mastema will turn aside from following him,
should he keep his words. 19

In the Book of Jubilees , "Mastema" (HÖ WÖ) is depicted as the leader of the evil
spirits (e.g., Jub. 10:8; 11:5). Philip S. Alexander notes that, in early Judaism,
Mastema "seems identical to Belial, to Satan, to Melchiresha, and possibly also to
Beelzebub and Abaddon."20 Thus, according to this passage in the Damascus
Document , sustained adherence to the torah results in repelling Mastema, the chief
of evil beings equivalent to "Satan" in the temptation account.21
Menahem Kister interprets the Qumran passage within the framework of
community, and he observes that returning to the law entails joining the yahad
("community").22 That is, true torah observance takes place within the elect com-
munity, and once an individual is within the community Mastema will be turned
away. The concept that adhering to the torah effectively fends off demonic evil is
associated with the "genre of 'apotropaic prayers.'"23 Furthermore, Kister's inter-
pretation suggests that every individual outside the community is possessed and

19 Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Study
Edition (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1997-98) 1:565. Joseph M. Baumgarten and Daniel R. Schwartz
translate the lines as follows: "4 . . . And on the day when a man takes upon himself (an oath) to
return 5 to the Torah of Moses, the angel Mastema shall turn aside from after him, if he fulfills his
words" ("Damascus Document [CD]," in The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts
with English Translations, vol. 2, Damascus Document, War Scroll, and Related Documents [ed.
James H. Charlesworth; Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project; Tübingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 1995] 4-57, here 39). Cf. 4Q271 4 ii 6-7.
20 Philip S. Alexander, "The Demonology of the Dead Sea Scrolls," in The Dead Sea Scrolls
after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (ed. Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, with
Andrea E. Alvarez; 2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 1999) 2:331-53, here 341. Loren T. Stuckenbruck notes
that "mastema" may not always be a proper name in the Dead Sea Scrolls. He further observes that
in the Damascus Document the term, which can mean "animosity," could possibly serve simply as
a negative description of a hostile being ("The Demonic World of the Dead Sea Scrolls," in Evil and
the Devil [ed. Ida Fröhlich and Erkki Koskenniemi; LNTS 481; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark,
2013] 5 1-70, esp. 65).
21 On "Satan" in the Matthean and Lucan narratives, see Davies and Allison, Matthew , 1 :355;
and Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke (I- IX): Introduction, Translation, and Notes
(AB 28; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981) 514.
22 Menahem Kister, "Demons, Theology and Abraham's Covenant (CD 16:4-6 and Related
Texts)," in The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty: Proceedings of the 1997 Society of Biblical Literature
Qumran Section Meetings (ed. Robert A. Kugler and Eileen M. Schuller; SBLEJL 15; Atlanta:
Scholars Press, 1999) 167-84.
23 Ibid., 170.

You might also like