Qumran Community

Background

Qumran is an archaeological site near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea; its Arabic name is Khirbet Qumran ("the ruins of Qumran"). In the second century BC the Maccabean Revolt broke out, after which the Hasmonean family came to hold both political rule over Judea and the office of high priest. During this period, Judaism split into several groups over the priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple and the interpretation of the Law. The first-century AD Jewish writers Josephus and Philo described the Essenes alongside the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder recorded that Essenes lived on the western side of the Dead Sea. The broader circumstances of this period are treated in detail in the article on the Intertestamental Period.

History

• Settlement: Archaeologists generally date the settlement at Qumran to between the late second century and the early first century BC.
• Way of life: According to documents produced by the community, such as the Community Rule and the Damascus Document, members held property in common. Full membership required a fixed period of probation, and members observed ritual immersion for purification and shared communal meals. They followed a 364-day solar calendar and understood the world as a struggle between the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness." The documents mention a "Teacher of Righteousness" who led the community and a "Wicked Priest" who persecuted him; many scholars identify the Wicked Priest with a Hasmonean high priest. The community is believed to have awaited two messiahs, one priestly and one royal.
• Destruction: The site is thought to have been destroyed by the Roman army around AD 68, during the First Jewish–Roman War.
• Rediscovery: In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd made the first discovery of scrolls in a cave. By 1956 a total of eleven manuscript-bearing caves had been identified. The site itself was excavated in the 1950s by the French Dominican scholar Roland de Vaux.

Significance and Influence

The Dead Sea Scrolls recovered from the Qumran caves are reported to comprise roughly 900 documents, including copies or fragments of nearly every book of the Old Testament except Esther. Among them, the Isaiah scroll predates the oldest previously known manuscripts of the Masoretic Text by about a thousand years. The substantial agreement between the two texts is regarded as a major finding in Old Testament textual studies. Because the Qumran documents shed light on Jewish thought in the New Testament era, they are also used in research on the background of the New Testament. The Qumran community and John the Baptist share a life in the wilderness, rites of washing with water, and an appeal to Isaiah 40:3: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD." For this reason, many studies compare the two. In Korean churches the Qumran discoveries are frequently cited in sermons and Bible studies as evidence that the biblical text has been accurately transmitted. The Qumran site is also a regular stop on Holy Land pilgrimages to Israel.

Assessment

For many years the majority view identified the Qumran community with the Essenes or with a branch of them. This view has been challenged, however. Some scholars hold that the scrolls were brought from Jerusalem or elsewhere and hidden in the caves. Others interpret the site as a fortress, a farm, or a pottery production center. Claims that John the Baptist or Jesus came from Qumran are generally judged to lack sufficient evidence. Scholars have also noted that Qumran's strict separatism contrasts with the conduct of Jesus, who ate with sinners. Conservative evangelicals emphasize the Dead Sea Scrolls as evidence supporting the reliability of the Old Testament text. Other scholars, pointing out that manuscripts close to the Septuagint were also found, draw attention to the textual diversity of the period.