A Day At Qmran

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A Day At Qmran

• The Dead Sea Sect and its Scrolls

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Introduction

• 2000-year-old scrolls discovered in 1947
• Near Dead Sea at Qumran
• Jewish Sect lived there
• Many scholars think they were Essenes

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Jewish Society Second Temple Period 167 BCE
70 CE

• Many Judaisms
• Pharisees
• Saducees
• Essenes
• Early Christians
• Other sects

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How do we know?Sources

• Flavius Josephus Jewish Historian
• Philo of Alexandria
• Information from Scrolls themselves
• Archaeological data

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Sectarians Way of Life

• Concept of Separation they lived apart
• Disapproved of Temple Priesthood
• The body is corruptible and its constituent
  matter impermanent, but the soul is immortal and
  imperishable

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Why did they separate?

• Disapproved of Temple priesthood
• Maccabees (Jonathan) usurped priesthood from
  Zadoc priestly family
• Jewish rulers kings as well as high priests
• Protesters eliminated sometimes crucified

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New Sects in Protest

• New sects sprang up
• Thought they were the true worshipers of God
• Prayed for Messiah who would restore purity to
  temple
• Essenes were such a sect

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Concept of Time

• Believed God revealed calendar to them
• We know this from the scrolls, sundial
• Solar Calendar 364 day year
• Other Jews till today use the Lunar Calendar
• Celebrated festivals on different days from other
  Jews
• Festivals always fell on same day of week

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Solar Sundial
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Beliefs that differed

• Predestination rather than choice
• Dualism
• Sons of Light and Sons of Darkness

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Shelter

• Main building at Qmran not a dwelling
• Center of activities during day
• Inhabitants slept nearby in caves, tents, huts
• Combs, mezuzot, oil lamps, pottery found
• Network of paths
• Nails from sandals on path between caves and main
  building

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Shelter

• Lived in desert
• Desert a symbol of Purity
• Cut off from rest of world
• Believed the End of Days was near
• They would then go to Jerusalem and get the
  Temple back from the Wicked Priest

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Morning Prayer

• Rise, wash, dress in linen go to main center
• Observe together mitzvah of daily prayer
• Wore tefillin oldest were found on site
• Similar to todays though some content different
  e.g. Ten Commandments added

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Livelihood

• Weekdays all members work
• Functioned as a self-sufficient unit
• Most members young unmarried men
• Used areas natural resources to live

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Farming and Animal Husbandry

• Ran a farm near Ain Feshka - 1mile away
• Ain Feshka an abundant source of water
• Grew date palms
• Farming implements found
• Grew grain mainly barley
• Hunted gazelle possibly bred fish and kept herds

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Handicrafts

• Crafts and industries
• Probably prepared own parchment
• Made pottery workshop and kiln, pots found
• Evidence of textiles and weaving
• Some products sold in markets nearby

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First Kibbutz?

• Communal property and labor
• Hoard of silver coins found
• Money given to bursar by sects new members?
• Ostracon found a deed of gift
• Transfer of ownership of new members property
  to sect

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Purity

• Before noon stopped work for purification
• Ritual immersion necessary before communal meal
• Elaborate water system 3 cisterns, mikvaot
• Mikvaot created near refectory
• Not uncommon then but sect had different rules

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Ritual Immersion

• Only permitted to members of the sect to immerse
• Just like priests immersed before serving in
  sanctuary at Temple in Jerusalem
• Sect replaced temple rituals of sacrifice
• Sign of repentance and spiritual purity like
  John the Baptist

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Communal Meal

• Ate communal meal in large refectory
• More than 1000 utensils found most intact
• Ate on mats
• Diet bread, dates, honey, olives, pomegranites,
  dairy products, some meat

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Refectory
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Community replaced Temple

• Daily communal meals spiritual substitute for
  sacrifices
• Would explain mikvah before each meal
• Only full members of sect participated
• Women, children not allowed into Qmran

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Study

• Returned to tasks after meal
• Some studied sacred texts Torah and Prophets
• New members brought scrolls with them
• Some were copied in the scriptorium or written
  by sectarians themselves

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Scriptorium and Library

• Scriptorium perhaps on upper floor
• Inkwells found
• Mainly written on parchment a few papyrus
• Reading room (benches along walls)
• Perhaps library also upstairs

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Writing

• Scrolls parchment sheaths sewn together
• Scribe would mark columns and lines with sharp
  instrument
• Wrote with sharpened reeds or metal
• Used black ink soot, resin, oil, water
• Pottery shards to practice writing

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Scrolls

• About 900 scrolls found
• Mostly written in Hebrew
• Some in Aramaic a very few in Greek
• Some written in cryptographic script not all
  decoded yet

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Evenings

• Purification repeated in evening after chores
• Another communal meal
• Nights used for
• Rest
• Study
• Judgement of members
• Communal Prayer

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Shabat

• Devoted entirely to worship study and prayer
• Very strict
• People punished if they yawned or spat
• Thought their shabat songs were also sung by
  angels while they sang

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Pottery Jars
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Gazelle found near Ein Gedi
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Resources

• Websites on the Dead Sea Scrolls
• http//www.abc.net.au/religion/features/scrolls/mo
  re.htm
• http//www.cnn.com/WORLD/9707/26/dead.sea.scrolls/
  Good overview article with some excellent
  related sites
• http//orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/index.htmlExcellent
  site of the Orion Centre for the Study of the
  Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, at
  Hebrew University, replete with cave tour.
  Excellent links to latest research.
• http//www.judaica.org/deadsea/index.html
  Project Judaica Foundation together with the
  Israel Antiquities Authority and the Library of
  Congress - a description of the issues involved
  in exhibiting the Scrolls at the Library.
• http//www.judaica.org/deadsea/index.htmlDiscussi
  on board about the scholarly disagreements and
  alignments in Scrolls research.
• http//home.flash.net/hoselton/deadsea/profile.ht
  m Some thumbnail descriptions of principal
  figures (historical and otherwise) who come up in
  DeadSeaScroll research. Not complete.