The Dead Sea Scrolls & Preterism
Kurt Simmons
In this article, we look at the Dead Sea Scrolls and find that they are essentially preterist, in that their authors held many of the same end-time beliefs, involving the same actors and events, and looked for their fulfillment in the same time-frame, as Preterists today.
What
are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The term “Dead Sea
Scrolls” describes a collection of texts found in eleven caves
near Qumran in the northwest area of the Dead Sea. This group of
texts represents approximately 800 original documents, dating
from about 200 B.C. to A.D. 70. A small portion of the texts may
possibly date back to the third century. However, the bulk of
the texts date to the first century B.C.,
i.e., the late
Hasmonean or early Herodian era.[1]
“Dead Sea Scrolls” is
also sometimes used to describe a larger body of texts, which
are of a separate provenance than the Qumran caves, including
texts found at Masada and in ten caves used by refugees of the
Bar Kokhba Revolt (A.D. 132-135). Texts from the Bar Kokhba
refuge caves, which were excavated in 1960-61, include letters
to and from Simon Bar Kokhba, the leader of the revolt, and
various military, legal, administrative, and personal and
financial records, as well as religious and Biblical texts,
including a scroll of the Twelve Minor Prophets. Excavations at
Masada (1963-65) produced fragments of seven Biblical texts,
including Genesis, two copies of Leviticus, Deuteronomy,
Ezekiel, and two copies of the Psalms. Biblical texts from
Masada and the Bar Kokhba refuge caves match the traditional
Masoretic text, which serves as the basis of modern Hebrew
Bibles. Prior to their discovery, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts
in our possession were the Aleppo Codex (circa A.D. 920) and the
Leningrad Codex (circa
A.D. 1008), both traditional, Masoretic texts. The discoveries
at Masada and the Bar Kokhba caves therefore authenticate the
text of modern Hebrew Bibles, pushing back the date of
manuscript witness one thousand years to New Testament times.
This is by far the most important contribution the Scrolls have
made. But there are other things we can learn from the Scrolls
as well.
The Qumran Scrolls
& Community
The scrolls at Qumran
were discovered in 1947 by a young Bedouin shepherd. By 1949
officials of the Jordanian government had identified the cave
where the scrolls were found. Hundreds of fragments and seven
more scrolls were recovered. Between 1951 and 1956, ten more
caves were discovered, which yielded thousands and thousands of
fragments and several additional scrolls. The texts recovered
represented three types of material: 1) books from the Old
Testament canon; 2) various Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical
works; and 3) sectarian texts reflecting the traditions and
dogma of the sectaries of Qumran. Ruins of the settlement known
as Khirbet Qumran in the vicinity of the caves were also
excavated, and the view quickly came to prevail that the caves
and site at Qumran were interconnected.
Preliminary studies
concluded that the scrolls were produced or belonged to the
ascetic sect known as the Essenes, mentioned by Josephus, Philo,
and Pliny the Elder. In the years following, this thesis was
developed at length, and now represents the generally accepted
view of scholars and archaeologists. Three points of contact
support this conclusion: 1) the scroll known as the “Community
Rule,” which regulated the religious life of the community in
conjunction with the Old Testament, describes a monastic
community where men lived in celibacy and all property was held
in common. This accords with descriptions of the Essenes left by
Josephus, Philo, and Pliny. 2) The location of Qumran conforms
with Pliny’s description of the Essene community, which he
placed between Jericho and Engaddi:[2]
“Lying on the west of Asphaltites [viz., the
Dead Sea], and sufficiently distant to escape its noxious
exhalations, are the Esseni, a people that live apart from the
world, and marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole
earth, for they have no women among them; to sexual desire they
are strangers; money they have none; the palm-trees are their
only companions. Day after day, however, their numbers are fully
recruited by multitudes of strangers that resort to them, driven
thither to adopt their usages by the tempests of fortune, and
wearied with the miseries of life. Thus it is, that through
thousands of ages, incredible to relate, this people eternally
prolongs its existence, without a single birth taking place
there; so fruitful a source of population to it is that
weariness of life which is felt by others. Below this people was
formerly the town of Engadda, second only to Hierosolyma
[Jerusalem] in the fertility of its soil and its groves of
palm-trees; now, like it, it is another heap of ashes. Next to
it we come to Masada, a fortress on a rock, not far from Lake
Asphaltites. Thus much concerning Judæa.” Natural History Book
5, chapter 17
3) Finally,
chronological events alluded to in the Qumran writings
correspond with Jewish history and the first mention of the
Essenes by Josephus.
Probable Origin of the Essenes: Judas Maccabeus and the Hassidim
The Essenes are first
mentioned by Josephus during the inter-testamental period, in
the time of the kingdom of the Greeks. Alexander the Great
conquered Palestine in 332 B.C. Following Alexander’s death in
323 B.C., his kingdom was divided among his generals, and Judea
came under the dominion of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, seated in
Egypt. Although required to pay taxes, the Jews enjoyed
considerable autonomy and continued to be ruled by the High
Priest and Sanhedrin. A large population of Jews also lived in
Alexandria, Egypt, where they enjoyed equal rights as citizens
and were allowed to observe their religion without fear or
molestation. It was during Ptolemaic control of Palestine that
the Greek translation of the Bible known as the Septuagint was
completed under Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.). Even so,
Greek domination of Palestine brought significant demographic
changes; the Greek cities of Gaza, Askelon, Joppa, Sycothopolis,
Ptolemais, were founded or grew up; Samaria was given the
Hellenized name Sabaste; and the Transjordan city of
Rabath-Ammon was re-founded as Philadelphia. Judea was therefore
surrounded by Greek culture and civilization.
In 200 B.C., the
Seleucid Dynasty, seated in Syria, was able to wrest control of
the Holy Land from the Ptolemeys. As part of a program to
solidify control of his kingdom, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (171-164
B.C.) undertook a formal Hellenizing program; local peoples were
required to abandon their ancestral gods and to worship Olympian
Zeus.[3] Antiochus’
Hellenization campaign was met with enthusiasm by the Jew’s
ruling elite, including the High Priest Jason, and two of his
successors, who abandoned the law, and adopted various facets of
Greeks culture; some going even so far as to surgically reverse
the circumcision of their genitals so they could exercise naked
in the gymnasium in the manner of the Greeks. To eradicate all
vestiges of Judaism, Antiochus caused the temple in Jerusalem to
be polluted with swine’s blood and a statue of Olympian Zeus
erected. Keeping the law of Moses was made a capital offense;
women who circumcised their sons were crucified with their
children hung about their necks. At length, armed resistance
broke out; a revolt was instigated by a priest named Matthias,
whose son, Judas Maccabeus, against all expectation, defeated
Antiochus, gained autonomy for Judea, and purified and
rededicated the temple. Judas was helped in his revolt by a
group known as the Assideans or Hassidim:
“Then came there unto him a company of
Assideans, who were mighty men of Israel,
even all such as were voluntarily devoted to the law” (I
Macc. 2:42).
It is believed that the
Hassidim were the immediate forerunners of the Essenes.
Essenes Resistance to Usurpation of the Zadokite Priesthood
Writings from Qumran
indicate the sect was eventually forced to sojourn in Damascus
and withdraw into the desert due to a conflict with the
politico-religious leadership of mainstream Judaism. Scholars
interpret this, at least in part, to opposition by Essenes and
traditionalist Jews to the usurpation of the High Priesthood by
non-Zadokite priests.
The High Priesthood had
been held exclusively by descendants of Zadok from the time of
Solomon, who thrust Abiathar from the priesthood (I Kng. 2:26,
27; cf. 1:1-40) in fulfillment of a prophecy by God against the
house of Eli (I Sam. 2:31-35). The High Priesthood passed from
the sons of Zadok during the Hellenizing campaign of Antiochus
IV Epiphanes. However, after Judas Maccabaeus had defeated
Antiochus and restored the temple, the priesthood was not
returned to the sons of Zadok. Rather, following the death of
Judas Maccabaeus, the High Priesthood was assumed by his
brother, Jonathan Maccabaeus. Jonathan received the High
Priesthood from Alexander Balas, a usurper of the Seleucid
throne, who offered it to Jonathan to secure his support and
alliance.[4]
It is during the time of Jonathan Maccabaeus that Josephus first
mentions the existence of the Essenes by name.[5]
The Essenes saw the priesthood and temple services as corrupted,
and therefore did not sacrifice there, but looked for the
restoration of the priesthood to the sons of Zadok by the coming
of the Messiah:
“The Master shall bless the sons of Zadok the
Priests, whom God has chosen to confirm his Covenant for ever,
and to inquire into all His precepts in the midst of His people,
and to instruct them as He commanded; who have established His
Covenant on truth and watched over all His laws with
righteousness and walked according to the way of His choice. May
the Lord bless you from His holy Abode; may He set you as a
splendid jewel in the midst of the congregation of the saints!
May he renew for you the Covenant of the everlasting priesthood;
may He sanctify you for the House of Holiness!”[6]
Other theories regarding
the identity of the community at Qumran have been floated, but
have not gained serious attention. Before looking at the beliefs
and eschatology of the Essenes, we’ll take a few moments to
survey the scrolls and manuscripts found at Qumran, beginning
with the Hebrew canon.
Qumran
and the Old Testament Canon
Josephus states
concerning the Hebrew canon:
“For we have not an innumerable multitude of
books among us, disagreeing from and contradicting one another
[as the Greek texts have,] but only twenty-two books, which
contain the records of all the past times; which are justly
believed to be divine; and of them, five belong to Moses, which
contain his laws, and the traditions of the origin of mankind
till his death. This interval of time was little short of three
thousand years; but as to the time from the death of Moses till
the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, who reigned after
Xerxes, the prophets, who were after Moses, wrote down what was
done in their times in thirteen books. The remaining four books
contain hymns to God, and precepts for the conduct of human
life.”[7]
The twenty-two books of
the Hebrew canon mentioned by Josephus are the same as our
thirty-nine; however, the Jews arranged and divided the books
differently to match the number of letters in the Hebrew
alphabet. The typical arrangement of the Hebrew canon was a
three-fold division of the “law,” the “prophets,” and the
“writings.” However, the exact arrangement and division was not
settled. Some lists join Ruth to Judges and Lamentations to
Jeremiah; some separate these books, but combine I and II Samuel
and I and II Kings as a single book of “the kingdoms;” some
include Job and Esther among the “writings,” etc. Given this
fluidity, the arrangement and division as conceived by Josephus
cannot be known for certain, but the following seems reasonably
likely:
Twenty-two Books of Hebrew Canon
Books of Moses
(five books) |
Former & Latter
Prophets (thirteen books) |
Hymns & Wisdom
(four books) |
1. Genesis 2. Exodus 3. Leviticus 4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy |
6. Joshua 7. Judges 8. Ruth 9. I & II Samuel
/ I & II Kings
10. I & II
Chronicles 11. Ezra 12. Nehemiah 13. Esther 14. Isaiah 15.
Jeremiah/Lamentations 16. Ezekiel
17. Daniel
18. The Twelve a.
Hosea
b.
Joel
c.
Amos
d.
Obadiah
e.
Jonah
f.
Micah
g.
Nahum
h.
Habakkuk
i.
Zephaniah
j.
Haggai
k.
Zechariah
l.
Malachi |
19. Job 20. Psalms 21.
Proverbs/Ecclesiastes 22. Song of
Songs |
Fragments of all
canonical books were found at Qumran, except the book of Esther.
Like Masada and the Bar Kokhba caves, Masoretic-type texts were
found at Qumran. However, unlike Masada and the Bar Kokhba caves
where only Masoretic-type texts were found, the caves at Qumran also
produced other text types. Manuscript types or families are
defined by the variant readings that occur over time by the
error or omission of copyists. An error made by a scribe is
copied and perpetuated by those coming after him, giving birth
to a manuscript family. Text-types found at Qumran include the
Hebrew underlying the Septuagint (an Egyptian text-type), and
the Samaritan Pentateuch, and combinations of these and others.
For an account of the variant readings discovered at Qumran and
possible emendations vis-à-vis the Masoretic-text, see F.F.
Bruce,
Qumran and the Old
Testament,
Faith and Thought 91.1 (Summer 1959), pp. 9-27.
Qumran
and the Apocrypha
Two Apocraphya were
found at Qumran: Tobit and Ecclesiasticus (The Wisdom of Ben
Sira), though some add the Epistle of Jeremiah.[8]
The Apocrypha refer to a collection of books, which are part of
the Septuagint. The books of the Apocrypha are: I Esdras, Tobit,
Judith, additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus,
Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah, additions to Daniel (Song of the
Three Children, Susanna (Daniel 13), Bel and the Dragon (Daniel
14)), I-IV Maccabees, and the Prayer of Manasseh.
The Septuagint is a
Greek translation of the Old Testament scriptures commissioned
or completed by Ptolemy Philadelphus about 250 B.C. The books of
the Apocrypha are considered non-canonical by the Jews;
prophetic utterance terminated under the dominion of the
Persians, and did not resume until the time of the Romans. The
books of the Apocrypha were written in the time of the Greeks.
Philo Judeaus, an Alexandrian Jew who lived in the first century
A.D., never cites them, nor does any New Testament writer.
Josephus consulted I Esdras and I Maccabees in composing his
histories, but did not consider them canonical. Concerning the
Apocrypha, Josephus states:
“It is true, our history hath been written
since Artaxerxes, very particularly, but hath not been esteemed
of the like authority with the former by our forefathers,
because there hath not been an exact succession of prophets
since that time.”[9]
Artaxerxes Longimus
reigned 465-424 B.C. The book of Malachi was written circa
444-430 B.C. Following Malachi, there were approximately 430
years of prophetic silence, broken only by the birth of Christ
and John the Baptist, whose coming Malachi said would precede
the nation’s destruction in the “great and dreadful day of the
Lord” (Mal. 3:1-3; 4:1-5). The day of the Lord would be both a
time of salvation and a time of wrath and judgment. The Lord
would save his people from their oppressors and persecutors, and
destroy his adversaries, including especially the Jews, who
would be made a stool for his feet (Ps. 2:8, 9; 110:1):
“For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up,
saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leaven them neither root
nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go
forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread
down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your
feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Mal. 4:1-3
Other scripture and
prophets specifically mentioning the destruction of Jerusalem,
which corresponded with the coming of the Messiah, include Moses
(Deut. 31, 32), Isaiah (Isa. 66:1-6, 15; cf. Acts 7:49), Joel
(Joel 2:1-10; cf. Acts 2:17-21, 40; Rev. 9), and Zechariah
(Zech. 14:1-3).The 430 years of prophetic silence following
Malachi was not unfelt by the Jews, and many spurious
compositions of feigned visions and revelations were produced
and have come down to us in the form of Pseudepigrapha.
Qumran
and Pseudepigrapha
The term pseudepigrapha
means “falsely ascribed;” it is used to describe the body of
writings produced during the inter-testamental period, between
Malachi and the gospels, which are falsely attributed to a
prophet or other Biblical figure. With the exception of
historical books like Maccabees, the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha are essentially identical, distinguished only by
the former’s inclusion in the Septuagint. Pseudepigrapha imitate
the tone and imagery of the prophets, particularly Daniel and
Ezekiel, and often contain revelations of the future salvation
of Israel and the judgment of the wicked by the Messiah. Titles
of the Pseudepigrapha include the Book of Enoch, Jubilees, the
Assumption of Moses, the Ascension and Vision of Isaiah, the
Story of Asenath (Joseph’s wife), the Testament of the Twelve
Patriarchs, and many others. A large percentage of the material
discovered at Qumran may be characterized as apocryphal and
pseudepigraphic. These include:
·
Apocalypse
Chronology
·
Conquest of
Egypt and Jerusalem or Acts of a Greek King
·
The Triumph of
the Righteous or Mysteries
·
A Messianic
Apocalypse
·
Jubilees
·
The Prayer of
Enosh or Enoch
·
The Book of
Enoch
·
An Admonition
Associated with the Flood
·
The Ages of
Creation
·
The Book of
Noah
·
Words of the
Archangel Michael
·
The Testament
of Levi
·
Testaments of
the Patriarchs
·
The Testament
of Qahat
·
The Testament
of Amram
·
The Words of
Moses
·
Sermon on the
Exodus and Conquest of Canan
·
A Moses
Apocrypon
·
Pseudo-Moses
·
A Moses (or
David) Apocryphon
·
Divine Plan
for the Conquest of the Holy Land
·
A Joshua
Apocryphon
·
The Samuel
Apocryphon
·
A Paraphrase
on Kings
·
An Elisha
Apocryphon
·
A Zedekiah
Apocryphon
·
A
Historico-theological Narrative based on Genesis and Exodus
·
Tobit
·
A Jeremiah
Apocryphon
·
The New
Jerusalem
·
Second Ezekiel
·
The Prayer of
Nabonidus
·
Para-Daniel
Writings
·
The Four
Kingdoms
·
An Aramaic
Apocalypse
·
Proto-Esther
·
Apocryphal
Psalms
In addition to these are
works not strictly of an apocryphal or pseudepigraphic nature,
but which nevertheless purport be immediate divine revelations.
These include:
·
The War Scroll
·
The Rule of
War
·
The Temple
Scroll
Visions of the End: Essenes Probable Authors of Pseudepigrapha
Most of the texts above
are fragmentary, but the shear amount of
prophetical-apocryphal-pseudepigraphical material convinces us
that the Essenes took these documents very seriously, and
probably received them as canonical or divinely authoritative.[10]
For example, the Damascus Document, which gives the history of
the sect and sets forth many of its basic beliefs, makes
explicit reference to the book of Jubilees, indicating that it
was held in high estimation.[11]
Indeed, it seems likely that the Qumran sectaries were
responsible for generating many, if not most, of the
Pseudepigrapha themselves.
Almost all apocryphal
and pseudepigraphic texts date to the time the Essenes began
about 200 B.C.[12]
Apocryphal and pseudepigraphic works hold themselves out as
prophetic visions and revelations. It was expressly foretold
that the prophetic silence, which followed Malachi, would
terminate in preparation of the Messiah. God would send “Elijah
the prophet” before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Joel
prophesied that the nation’s “sons and daughters shall prophesy,
and your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see
visions” (Joel 2:28). Messiah himself would be a Prophet, a
second Moses (Deut. 18:15-18). Belief that they were living in
the end times therefore required that the Essenes possess the
prophetic spirit among their members. It is a matter of record
that the Essenes were interested in prophecy and claimed the
power to prophesy. Three of the four Essenes mentioned by name
by Josephus were associated with prophecy.[13]
Regarding Essenes
and prophecy, Josephus states:
“There are those also among them who
undertake to foretell things to come, by reading the holy books,
and using several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually
conversant in the discourses of the prophets; and it is but
seldom that they miss in their predictions.”[14]
The situation was
therefore roughly analogous to the era of the Crusades, Joachim
of Fiore, and the Franciscans, when men’s eschatological
expectations whipped them into ecstatic states, producing a
variety of new visions and revelations about the end. Finally,
Some of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts espouse
doctrines indicative of the Essenes: Mainstream Judaism used a
lunar calendar of 354 days to the year; the Essenes used a solar
calendar of 364 days. The Book of Enoch, Jubilees, an Apocryphal
Psalm, the Temple Scroll, and various other works recovered at
Qumran, including the Genesis Commentaries, assume a solar
calendar.
The
New Covenant and the Essenes
God’s relationship with
his people has always been defined by covenant. God had
covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Through Moses, God instituted the Old Covenant at Sinai;
God pledged to bless and to protect the children of Israel, and
to give them the land in Canaan, if they would obey his law.
This covenant was renewed by circumcision under Joshua after
entering the land (Jos. 5:2-9), then again by oath shortly
before Joshua’s death (Jos. 24:25). However, after the death of
Joshua, Israel’s history was one of continuous unfaithfulness
and apostasy. God answered the Jews faithlessness by delivering
the Israelites into the hands of their enemies, redeeming and
receiving them again when they turned to him in repentance.
Under the kings, the situation differed little, and the nation
continued to rebel against God and his law. God thus carried the
northern kingdom into captivity by the Assyrians and the
southern kingdom into Chaldea by the Babylonians. However, for
the sake of his remnant and his promise to redeem the world, God
revived the nation and restored the captivity to Palestine so
Christ could come into the world and die upon Roman cross. Then,
the nation would be destroyed entirely forever.
The weakness of the Old
Testament lay in its nationalism: men were inducted into the
covenant community by birth and circumcision at eight days of
age, not by the mature choice and conversion of individuals
indicative of the New Testament. Thus, on the eve of carrying
away the Jewish nation into captivity in Babylon, God foretold
the time when he would institute a New Covenant, based upon
inward conversion of the individual members. The Essenes saw the
realization of this New Covenant in themselves:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah…this shall be the covenant I will make with
the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will
put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts;
and will be their God, and they shall be my people…for I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jer. 31:31-34
Jeremiah’s promised New
Testament was eschatological: “After those days” equals “the
latter days” (cf. Jer. 48:47; 49:6, 39; Joel 2:28). According to
the book of Daniel, the “end of days” appears to have begun with
the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Daniel said the
persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes would be at the “time of
the end” (Dan. 8:17), “in the last end of the indignation” (Dan.
8:19), “in the latter time” of the Jew’s kingdom “when the
transgressors are come to the full” (Dan. 8:23). From the
persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes until the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus was about 240 years. Thus, when Daniel refers
to the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes as the “time of the
end,” it is clear that this merely marks the beginning of the
end, when the shadows of the Jewish nation began to lengthen in
anticipation of its sun set and perpetual night. The latter days
would not fully arrive until the appearance of John the Baptist.
However, we have the benefit of hindsight, which the Essenes did
not. The sect of the Essenes began during the revolt of Judas
Maccabeus against Antiochus Epiphanes, and it is under Jonathan
Maccabeus, who succeeded Judas, that they are first reported by
name. It would therefore have been natural for the Essenes to
see themselves as living in the “last days” and therefore
putative heirs of the New Covenant.
Strictures of the Essene New Covenant
Unlike the New Testament
and gospel of Jesus Christ where there is a complete break with
the rituals of the Mosaic law and an end of the temple,
priesthood, feasts and sacrifices, which were types and shadows
pointing to the cross of Christ (Col. 2:16, 17; Heb. 10:1), the
Essenes conceived of the New Testament as a continuation of the
Law of Moses, purified of error and supplemented with various
additions and improvements. In a word, the Essenes shared many
of the same misconceptions of their fellow Jews about the law,
failing to see the provisional nature of national Israel and its
institutions. Some of the more prominent identifying features of
the New Testament according to the Essenes include:
·
A
Solar Calendar – Under the Mosaic
law, the Jews used a lunar calendar where the beginning of the
month corresponded with the new moon (Cf. Num. 10:10; Ps. 81:3).
However the Essenes used a solar calendar, with the result their
feasts would not have corresponded with those of mainstream
Judaism, since they were regulated by different monthly cycles.
For example, for mainstream Judaism, Passover occurred at the
full moon on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first
month (Ex. 12:1, 3, 6). But with the Essenes, Passover would
have occurred the fourteenth day of the calendar month
irrespective of the phase of the moon. Moreover, sacrifices and
feasts associated with the first day of the month and the new
moon, which occurred simultaneously under the law of Moses (I
Sam. 20:5, 6, 29; II Kng. 4:23; Amos 8:5), occurred separately
with the Essenes, and therefore required an additional burnt
offering: “On the first
day of each month you shall offer a holocaust to YHWH…additional
to the burnt offering for the new moon.”
…
“On the seventh month, on the first day of
the month, you shall have a sacred rest, announced by trumpet
blast, a holy gathering. You shall offer a holocaust…in addition
to the perpetual holocaust and the holocaust of the new moon.”[15]
·
Pentecontad Calendar – The
liturgical calendar of the Essenes, as witnessed by the Temple
Scroll, divided the year into seven fifty-day periods, marked by
agricultural feasts. The Mosaic law enjoined the Jews to keep
the feast of Pentecost on the fiftieth day numbered from the
offering of the wave sheaf of the barley harvest on “morrow
after the Sabbath” following Passover (Lev. 23:921). The “sheaf
of the firstfruits” represented the resurrection of Christ on
the first day of the week following Passover. Fifty days later,
the Holy Ghost fell upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost
(Acts 2:1-5), marking the beginning of the harvest of souls into
the kingdom of God by obedience to the gospel of Christ. In
addition to the feast of the Wave Sheaf (barley harvest) and
Pentecost (wheat harvest), the Essenes had a festival of New
Wine (grape harvest), and New Oil (olive harvest).
·
Zadokite Priesthood and Rededicated Temple –
During the period remaining until the new age associated with
the Messiah, the Essenes rejected the validity of the Jerusalem
temple and sacrifices, and considered it desecrated by the
non-Zadokite priesthood and various profanations: For example,
we read:
Thus, until the new
age, the Essenes saw their covenant community as the true temple
and the member’s lives and prayers took the places of usual
sacrifices. For example, there were two ritual times of prayer,
which were intended to take the place of the morning and evening
sacrifice.[17]
In the new age, all the errors of mainstream Judaism would be
set right and acceptable service in the temple would resume.
·
Baptism and Communal Meal –
Josephus reports that the Essenes practiced ritual ablutions
(immersions) twice daily before the sect’s common meals. Baptism
(immersion) was also practiced as part of the initiation rite
into the community. The fact Josephus mentions baptism as a rite
of initiation indicates it was peculiar to the sect and not
practiced by mainstream Judaism vis-à-vis proselytes as is
sometimes alleged.[18]
The
Essenes as the Last Remnant
The Essenes believed
that the history of God’s people and covenant was marked by
stubbornness, rebellion, and apostasy. The “Heavenly Watchers”
sinned by marrying women; their sons, the giants, sinned,
bringing on the flood. The children of Noah sinned, as did the
children of Jacob in Egypt. The first generation of those that
came out of Egypt sinned in refusing to enter the land and so
perished in the wilderness. After the children of Israel entered
the land, from the death of Eleazar and Joshua, until Zadok,
knowledge of the law was sealed. Because they did not know the
law, even David committed fornication by taking more than one
wife:
“Concerning the prince it is written, He
shall not multiply wives to himself (Deut. 17:17); but David had
not read the sealed book of the Law which was in the ark (of the
Covenant), for it was not opened in Israel from the death of
Eleazar and Joshua, and the elders who worshipped Ashtoreth. It
was hidden and was not revealed until the coming of Zadok.”[19]
Because of Israel’s
wilfulness and rebellion, the nation went into captivity in
Babylon; however God preserved a remnant:
“For when they were unfaithful and forsook
Him, He hid His face from Israel and His Sanctuary and delivered
them up to the sword. But remembering the Covenant of the
forefathers, He left a remnant to Israel and did not deliver it
up to be destroyed. And in the age of wrath, three hundred and
ninety years [circa 196 B.C.] after He had given them into the
hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, He visited them, and He
caused a plant root to spring from Israel and Aaron to inherit
His Land and to proper on the good things of His earth.”[20]
For the first twenty
years of its existence, the remnant groped about, then God
raised up a leader, the Teacher of Righteousness, to direct
them:
“And they perceived their iniquity and
recognized that they were guilty men, yet for twenty years they
were like blind men groping for the way. And God observed their
deeds, that they sought Him with a whole heart, and He raised
for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide them in the way of
His heart”[21]
God made a New Covenant
with this remnant. The Essenes believed their rules of community
life and interpretation of the law, which was revealed through
the Teacher of Righteousness when the sect went into exile in
Damascus, constituted Jeremiah’s “new covenant”:
“None of those brought into the Covenant
shall enter the Temple to light His altar in vain...They shall
take care to act according to the exact interpretation of the
Law during the age of wickedness. They shall separate from the
sons of the Pit, and shall keep away from the unclean riches of
wickedness acquired by vow or anathema or from the Temple
treasure; they shall not rob the poor of His people, to make of
widows their prey and of the fatherless their victim. They shall
distinguish between clean and unclean, and shall proclaim the
difference between holy and profane. They shall keep the Sabbath
day according to its exact interpretation, and the feasts and
day of Fasting according to the finding of the members of the
New Covenant in the land of Damascus.[22]
The “age of wickedness”
refers to the time remaining until the great eschatological
crisis, when God would defeat the “sons of the Pit,”
viz., mainstream Jews who rejected the New Covenant according to
Essenism. The Essenes, like Jesus, Stephen, and the apostles,
thus saw that the “end” entailed the destruction of God’s
enemies among the Jews. It was for this reason, and because of
the corruption of the priesthood and temple service, that they
were charged not to sacrifice in the temple and to separate
themselves from the “sons of the Pit.”
During this time, men
would be converted from “Israel” (the apostate mainstream Jews,
allegorically equated with the northern kingdom) to the “house
of Judah” (the Essenes, the faithful southern kingdom), and
their sins forgiven them (Jer. 31:34). But when the age was
completed, there would be no more joining the “house of Judah.”
The eschatological crisis would ensue, overtaking the wicked:
“Until the age is completed, according to the
number of those years, all who enter after them shall do
according to that interpretation of the Law in which the first
men were instructed. According to the Covenant which God made
with the forefathers, forgiving their sins, so shall he forgive
their sins also. But when the age is completed, according to the
number of those years, there shall be no more joining the house
of Judah.”
The
Eschatology of the Essenes
The Essenes have been
called an “apocalyptic sect.” The very essence of Essenism
entailed an imminent expectation of the end. Their writings
reveal a people who understood they were living in the last
times, and earnestly sought to piece together a picture of
things to come based upon the writings of Moses, the prophets,
and the Psalms. For us on this side of the eschaton, who possess
the complete New Testament, the picture is infinitely clearer,
like a “face to face” reflection in a glass. But to those living
between the second century B.C. and the Jewish war with Rome in
A.D. 66-70, the image provided by the Old Testament was veiled
and reflected the purpose of God but darkly (I Cor. 13:9-13; II
Cor. 3:13-16). Thus, while the Essenes were wrong in many of
their expectations, we must recall that most Jews, including
even the disciples, were mistaken in their conceptions of what
the kingdom of the God would be and how it would come about.
·
Kingly
& Priestly Messiah – Some texts of
the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate belief in a single Messiah, though
other documents indicate an expectation of two, a priestly
Messiah and a kingly, Davidic Messiah.
“He is the Branch of David
who shall arise with the Interpreter of the Law to rule in Zion
at the end of time.”[23]
The source of this error seems to be Zech. 4:1-14, where the
prophet depicts two olive trees/anointed ones (“sons of oil” v.
14), which refer to Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest, and
to Zech. 3:8 and 6:11-13, in which Joshua the High Priest is
described as “THE BRANCH.” “The Branch” is a Messianic term
elsewhere used to describe the Davidic Messiah (Jer. 33:15; Isa.
11:1). Additionally, Psalm 110:1-4 refers to the Messiah as
priest after the order of Melchizedek. Hence, the mistaken
notion of kingly and priestly Messiahs is not without
attestation in scripture. However, two Messiahs were not
predicted, but these two offices would merge in Christ, who
would be both king and priest. The prophecies may also indicate
that Christ would possess both Davidic and Aaronic blood.
Elizabeth, Mary’s kinsman, was of the daughters of Aaron (Lk.
1:5), indicating an affinity between the Davidic and Aaronic
lines and that these two families had somewhere touched, making
possible that Jesus had both kingly and priestly blood by his
mother.
·
Messiah would appear in the “end of days” –
The idea of a second coming is noticeably
absent in the Old Testament. The events associated with Christ’s
first and second comings are so closely connected in history,
that the prophets treat them as a single historical event.
Indeed, several of the prophets and prophetical texts (e.g.,
Psalm 110, Joel, Haggai, Malachi) omit reference to Christ’s
earthly ministry altogether, and focus instead upon his
triumphal coming in wrath against his enemies, including
especially the Jewish nation. Messiah would appear in the latter
days, set up his kingdom, redeem his people from their enemies,
and inaugurate a new age marked by his reign. Inherent in this
program was a time of final judgement of the wicked and the
resurrection of the dead. The eschatology of the Essenes
conforms almost completely with this pattern. For the Essenes,
the period remaining until the Messiah was the “age of
wickedness.” Messiah would appear at the “end of days.” “This is the Rule for the assembly of the camps during all the age of
wickedness, and whoever does not hold fast to these statues
shall not be fit to dwell in the land when the Messiah of Aaron
and Israel shall come at the end of days.”[24]
·
Forty-year Eschatological War -
The Essenes looked for a final, eschatological crisis in which
the “sons of light” under the command of the “Prince of the
Congregation” would defeat the “company of darkness,” consisting
of the “ungodly of the covenant” (apostate mainstream Jews)
allied with Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, and the Kittim.
The Prince of the Congregation is identified elsewhere with the
“Branch,” or Messiah:
“The
Prince of the Congregation, the Branch of David, will kill him
[the king of the Kittim] by strokes and by wounds.”[25]
According to the War Scroll, the “exiled sons of light” would
return from the “desert of the peoples” and encamp in the desert
of Jerusalem. After battling the army of Belial embodied in the
“ungodly of the Covenant” and their foreign allies, including
the Kittim occupying Judea, the “Sons of Light” would move to
Jerusalem and rededicate the temple. These events would occupy
the space of seven years, with the restoration of the temple
service occurring in the seventh sabbatical year. Of the
remaining thirty-three years, four would be sabbatical years,
leaving the war to be waged for twenty-nine years: Nine years
against the sons of Shem; ten years against the sons of Ham; ten
years against the sons of Japheth.[26]
The conflict would climax with the complete defeat of the “King
of the Kittim” by the assistance of heaven and the angels of
God, led by the Prince of Light, who elsewhere is equated with
Michael.[27]
“On the day when the
Kittim fall, there shall be battle and terrible carnage before
the God of Israel, for that shall be the day appointed from
ancient times for the battle of destruction of the sons of
darkness.”[28]
Scripture teaches, and the Jews understood, that the Messiah
would continue forever (Ps. 89:4; Isa. 9:7; Jn. 12:34). The
forty-year war seems thus to be the period during which Messiah
would defeat his enemies, inaugurating his reign, and may be
derived from the probable time Joshua spent conquering the land
of Canaan, and the reign of David, who ruled in Hebron seven
years, and thirty-three in Jerusalem (I Kng. 2:11).
·
Kittim
equated with the Romans –
The
Kittim are identified in scripture as the end-time enemy of
God’s people. This identification is implicit in their rise to
dominion as the fourth world empire following the decline of the
dominion of the Greeks. The Kittim are named by Balaam, who said
a Star and Sceptre would come out of Jacob who would visit wrath
upon his enemies, and destroy “Heber” by the hands of the
Chittim (Kittim).
“There
shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the
children of Seth…And ships shall come from the coasts of
Chittim, and shall afflict
Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish
for ever.” Num. 24:15-25
Asshur refers to the
land of the Assyrians bordering the Euphrates, which was the
eastern-most border of the Roman Empire in the time of Christ.
Eber is the root word of Hebrew; Eber was the ancestor of
Abraham, the Hebrew (Gen. 11:17, 26; 14:13). Thus, Balaam’s
oracle is the first explicit, end-time prophecy of the
destruction of the Jewish nation by Rome. The Kittim occur in
yet another telling passage:
“For
the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall
be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy
covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have
intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant” (Dan.
11:30).
It is almost
universally agreed that this refers to Antiochus IV Epiphanes
and his war against Ptolemy Physcon. When Antiochus had advanced
to attack Ptolemy in order to possess Pelusium, he was met by
the Roman legate Gaius Popilius Laenus. Popilius handed
Antiochus tablets containing the decree of the Senate, ordering
him to cease his war with Ptolemy.
Upon reading these, Antiochus expressed a desire to
confer with his friends. Popilius drew a circle about Antiochus
in the sand and bade him give his answer before he stepped from
the circle. After a moment of awkward silence, Antiochus replied
that he would do whatever the Romans demanded. Accordingly, a
stated number of days were allowed him, within which he withdrew
his army into Syria, where he attacked Jerusalem, slew
forty-thousand, sold an equal number of slaves, and robbed the
temple of eighteen hundred talents of gold. Since it is the
Kittim (Romans) who succeeded to world dominion following the
Greeks, it is they who are depicted as the fourth beast of
Daniel chapter seven, whose king (the “little horn”) persecutes
the saints for three and a half years, but is destroyed by the
coming of the “Ancient of Days” (Christ) (Dan. 7:24-27). Such is
the process by which the Essenes almost certainly would have
identified the Romans as the eschatological enemy who would be
destroyed by the “Prince of the Covenant.” Several passages from
the scrolls serve to confirm this identification. For example,
the Commentary on Nahum, which takes the prophet’s words against
Nineveh as a type of God’s eschatological judgment against
Jerusalem, states at verse 2:11:
“Interpreted, this concerns Demetrius king of Greece who sought,
on the counsel of those who seek smooth things, to enter
Jerusalem. But God did not permit the city to be delivered into
the hands of the kings of Greece, from the time of Antiochus
until the coming of the rulers of the Kittim. But then she shall
be trampled under their feet.”[29]
After Antiochus IV
Epiphanes none of the kings of Greece entered Jerusalem until
the city was captured by Pompey the Great in 63 B.C. It
continued under the power of the Romans after its capture by
Pompey until it was destroyed in A.D. 70 by Titus. The
prediction that the city would be “trampled under the feet” of
the Kittim finds surprizing correlation in the New Testament:
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse and Revelation use identical language to
the same purpose (Lk. 21:24; Rev. 11:2).
Among the Dead Sea
Scrolls, the Commentary on Habakkuk is especially insightful.
The commentary repeatedly states that it concerns the “final
generation” and “end of days,” and treats the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans as a prophetic type of God’s end-time
judgment against Jerusalem by the Kittim. That the Essenes were
correct in interpreting Habakkuk this way is confirmed by Hab.
2:3, which states that the vision is for the time of “the end.”
It is also confirmed by the epistle to the Hebrews, which quotes
Habakkuk to encourage Jewish believers to remain faithful in the
face of persecution, because Christ would shortly come to save
them from their trials, and visit unquenchable wrath upon the
Jews (Heb. 10:37, 38; cf. 9:28). Essene comments upon Habakkuk 2:7-8 state:
“Interpreted this concerns the last Priests of Jerusalem, who
shall amass money and wealth by plundering the peoples. But in
the last days, their riches and booty shall be delivered into
the hands of the army of the Kittim.”
At verses 1:14-16, the
identity of the Kittim is made unmistakable when it states that
they
“sacrifice to their
standards and worship their weapons of war.”[30]
This can only refer to the Romans, whom Josephus describes as
sacrificing to their standards when they captured Jerusalem:
“And
now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city,
and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the
buildings lying round about it, brought their ensigns to the
temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there
did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus
imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy.”[31]
Identification of the
Kittim with the Romans, together with their belief that the
Romans would trample Jerusalem in the “end of days” and “final
generation” preceding the dawn of the Messianic age, fixes the
time of the Essenes’ eschatological expectation, and shows that
it Preterist in nature and essence.
·
National Kingdom/Earthly Throne –
The Essenes equated the Kittim with Gog and Magog, the pagan
hoard Ezekiel foretold would descend upon restored Israel at the
end of days (Ezek. 38, 39). There are various interpretations of
this prophecy. Not a few commentators see it in reference to
Antiochus IV Epiphanes. However, the mention of “David their
Prince” (the Messiah) (Ezek. 37:24, 25) makes the persecution of
Antiochus too early. The better view, therefore, is that Gog and
Magog symbolizes the end-time persecution of the church by Nero
Caesar and the Jews, which figures prominently in Daniel chapter
seven and Revelation. The Essenes, however, understood Gog and
Magog in terms of the Roman occupation of Judea. Thus, where
Christians may be inclined to interpret the battle of Gog and
Magog as a symbol of a spiritual struggle in the form of an
inquisition or persecution, the Essenes viewed the battle in
terms of an armed conflict typical of a nationalist kingdom and
an earthly monarch, followed by the world dominion of Jerusalem
over nations:
“O
Zion, rejoice greatly!
O
Jerusalem, show thyself amidst jubilation!
Rejoice, all you cities of Judah;
Keep
your gates ever open that the nations may be brought in!
Their
kings shall serve you and
All
your oppressors shall bow down before you;
They
shall lick the dust of your feet.
Shout
for joy, O daughters of my people!
Deck
yourselves with glorious jewels
And
rule over the kingdoms of the nations!
Sovereignty shall be to the Lord
And
everlasting dominion to Israel.”[32]
It appears from
history that the Essenes joined the revolt of A.D. 66-70,
probably thinking that events would so unfold as to realize
their eschatological expectations. The disastrous beginning of
the war in which Cestius’ army was almost completely destroyed,
probably served as a signal to the Essenes and many other Jews
that the moment of deliverance had arrived. Josephus mentions
“John the Essene,” who was made a general in the war[33]
but who perished in the battle of Ascalon.[34]
Josephus also relates that many of the Essenes were cruelly
tortured by the Romans during the war, so that we must conclude
many from the sect joined the revolt, notwithstanding their
normal separation from mainstream Judaism. Unfortunately for the
Essenes, their nationalistic expectations regarding the end of
days and the triumph of the sons of light betrayed the sect: The
site at Qumran shows signs of military destruction. The sect
disappeared from history after the war, but not before
bequeathing to posterity the legacy of their scrolls, hidden
carefully in the caves adjacent to Qumran.
Validity of the Time-factors Notwithstanding Mistaken
Interpretation
Although the Essenes
were mistaken about many things relative to the time of the end,
there can be small dispute that they understood the time aright.
The various time-lines provided by the prophecies of the book of
Daniel made unmistakable that they were living in the last days
and time of the end. The succession of world empires, Daniel’s
490 prophetic years until the end, the identity of the Kittim
with Rome, the apostate nature of mainstream Judaism and the
priesthood all signaled that God’s purpose was reaching its
appointed end. The Essenes clearly foresaw that the end would
entail wrath upon Jerusalem and the Jews by the hands of Rome.
However, the saints victory over Rome, which Daniel (Dan.
7:24-27) and Ezekiel (Ezek. 38, 39) also foretold, did not
entail military victory in the revolt of A.D. 66-70 as the
Esssenes wrongly supposed. But rather came about in the
“year-of-four-emperors” following the death of Nero, which left
Rome and Italy in ruins, and brought an end to the first
imperial persecution of the church. The Essenes disappeared from
history; the Jewish nation was destroyed and their religion
detested and vilified by all mankind; but the church went on to
conquer Rome and the world.
Conclusion
Preterist interpretation
of end-time events finds strong corroboration in the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and helps confirm that the eschaton was wrapped up in
the events which witnessed the year-of-four-emperors and the
destruction of the Jewish nation in A.D. 70.
[1]
Geza Vermes, The
Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (1962, Penguin
Press), pp. 12-14
[2]Engaddi
was pillaged and burned by the
Sicarii in
excursions from Masada during the war with Rome.
Josephus, Wars,
4.7.2
[3]
I Macc. 1:41, 42
[4]
Josephus,
Antiquities,
13.2.1-3
[5]
Ibid,
13.5.9
[6]
Blessings (IQSb=IQ28b), Vermes, p. 375
[7]
Against Apion,
1.8; Whiston ed.
[8]
Cf. Vermes,
17; Craig Evans, Peter W. Flint,
Eschatology,
Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Eerdmans,
1997), 5
[9]
Against Apion,
1.8; Whiston ed.
[10]
Vermes believes that the Essenes’ notion of the Hebrew
canon was hazy and open-ended.
Vermes, p. 16
[11]
Damascus Document
X.10, XVI.5; Vermes, pp. 137, 139
[12]
Vermes, p.
13
[13]
Josephus,
Antiquities,
13.11.2; 15.10.5; 17.13.3
[14]
Wars, 2.8.12
[15]
Temple Scroll (11 QT=11Q19, 20, 4Q36a), Vermes, pp. 193, 198
[16]
Damascus
Document (CD 4Q265-73, 5Q12, 6Q15), IV.10-20; V.1-5;
Vermes, p. 130, 131
[17]
Ibid,
[18]
Josephus,
Wars, 2.8.7
[19]
Damascus Document
(CD 4Q265-73, 5Q12, 6Q15), V.5; Vermes, p. 130
[20]
Ibid, I.5;
Vermes, p. 127
[21]
Ibid, I.10,
Vermes, p. 127
[22]
Ibid,
Damascus Document
(CD 4Q265-73, 5Q12, 6Q15) VI. 10-20, Vermes, p. 132
[23]
Florilegium or
Midrash on the Last Days (4Q174) I.10, Vermes, p.
494.
[24]
Damascus Document
(CD 4Q265-73, 5Q12, 6Q15)
XIII.20; Vermes, p. 142
[25]
Rule of War
(4Q285, 11Q14), fr. 5,
Vermes, p. 189
[26]
War Scroll (1QM1,
1Q33, 4Q491-7, 4Q471)
I-II.10, Vermes
pp. 163-165
[27]
Michael was the name used of the divinity when acting as
the captain of the Lord’s host to save God’s people (cf.
Josh. 5:14; Dan. 10:13, 20, 21; 12:1). Michael is almost
certainly Christ. The incarnation thus escaped the
Essenes, who saw the Prince of the Congregation and
Michael as two several actors.
[28]
War Scroll (1QM1,
1Q33, 4Q491-7, 4Q471)
I.10, Vermes pp.
164
[29]
Commentary on
Nahum (4Q169) in loc,
Vermes, p. 474
[30]
Commentary on
Habakkuk (1QpHab) in loc,
Vermes, p. 481
[31]
Josephus,
Wars, 6.6.1;
Whiston edition
[32]
War Scroll XII.10-15; Vermes, p. 176
[33]
War, 2.20.4
[34]
War, 3.2.1,
2
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