THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

by
Alex R. G. Deasley

INTRODUCTION: THE POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION OF QUMRAN TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

    In turning to the Qumran Scrolls in the study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit one must first seek to define their potential contribution in general terms. Qumran studies, soon to enter their fifth decade, are assuming a degree of maturity that could scarcely have been looked for hitherto.1 Assumptions once accepted without demur are being subjected to severe testing, where they are not abandoned altogether; and questions are being pressed which go to the heart of the description of the thought of the community. For example, of all of the documents in their varying degrees of completeness found in the Qumran caves, which may be taken as representative of the mind of the sect? Even if one works with the assumption — and it is no more than an assumption — that they preserved chiefly books which they valued, did they value them all equally? This is hardly probable, since some of these texts — notably some of the Pseudepigrapha such as the Book of Jubilees, and some of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs — were used elsewhere than at Qumran; while on the other hand some texts have been found only at Qumran and were evidently produced there. From this perspective it would seem that the most one could expect would be a central heart of light fading into a surrounding penumbra of shade the further one moves from the center.

Or to pose another question: to what extent have we the right to expect homogeneity of thought in the Dead Sea documents? To the Western mind discontinuities of thought are largely unacceptable as being illogical, and illogicality is self condemned But we need to remind ourselves that the Judaism of the New Testament period comprehended at least two groups which held widely disparate views about matters such as spirit beings, resurrection, the life to come without finding it necessary to anathematize each other.

To ask yet one more question bearing on our interest: in investigating Qumran teaching about the Holy Spirit are we investigating the mind of a group that occupied a central place on the stage of Jewish thought or merely that of an extremist and somewhat fanatical splinter sect? Accepting that there was some kind of connection between the Qumran community and the Essenes — they have too much in common for that to be credibly denied — they nonetheless cannot be equated without remainder. Thus the legislation of the Damascus Rule seems clearly to presuppose family life in camps but in a setting where association with non-members for business purposes is a possibility (cf. CD X 14-XI 6; XII 6b-11, 19); whereas the legislation of the Rule of the Community seems clearly to be directed to a group that was both self-contained and isolated (cf. IQS I 11-13, V 1-24, VI 2-23, etc.).2 However this problem be resolved: either by the expedient of difference in dating, the Qumran sect being regarded as a later form of the Damascus Community; or by the suggestion of difference in function, the Qumran settlement being seen as the training center or seminary for leaders in the Essene sect;3 the fact remains that the sectarians inhabited the fringes of Jewish society, the claims of Josephus to the contrary notwithstanding.4

These questions are raised here not to be answered directly, but rather to provide a framework within which to approach the subject, and in particular to evaluate the evidence that may be gleaned from the Qumran Scrolls. Before turning to that, however, a prior task claims our attention. Wherever and whenever the precise origins of the Qumran sect are to be located, they did not appear from nowhere. Whatever we may or may not know about them, they stood within the tradition of Judaism at the close of the Old Testament period. Our first question must therefore be to ask: whatever they made of the materials with which they began, what were those materials with which they had to work as they began their own thinking about the Holy Spirit?
 
 

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
 

This leads us directly to the holy spirit in the Old Testament. Without doubt this was where the Qumran covenanters began. "There shall never lack a man among them who shall study the Law continually, day and night," says the Community Rule (VI 6b);5 and the presence in at least fragmentary form in the caves of every book of the Old Testament with the exception of Esther bears witness to their seriousness, as the Pesharim bear witness to their diligence. What then would they be likely to have learned of the holy spirit from their study? To summarize the Old Testament evidence is not easy, but at the risk of oversimplification one may set it down in the following statements.6

First, the word ruach, with which we may begin, denotes fundamentally "movement of air," and comes in consequence to carry derivative denotations such as "wind" or "breath." Inevitably it was associated with Yahweh, as the expression of His power at the Red Sea (Exod. 14:21) for example. Thereby it came to represent God's power in contrast to human feebleness: "The Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not ruach" (Isa. 31:3).7

Second, it is but an extension of this idea into the personal realm for ruach to be associated with persons. For man also has breath or spirit. So it is that the term ruach comes to be used for "person" or "self" as in Ps. 31:5: "Into thy hand I commend my ruach;" or Ps. 32:2: "Blessed is the man in whose ruach there is no deceit." This is indeed an aspect of Old Testament psychology more commonly denoted by the term nephesh.8 but it seems as though the place of that term, which denotes the life man shares with all things living including animals, is progressively taken over by ruach as attention is focused increasingly on the ruach of man as the center of his personal self.9 Yet a third application. of the term is found in reference to aspects of personality such as emotions and moods, the intellect and the will. Unhappiness is described as "trouble of spirit" (I Sam. 1:15); depression or despair as "faintness of spirit" (Isa. 61:3); anger is "disturbance of spirit" (Prov. 1:23); understanding is the "spirit of wisdom" (Deut. 34:9); the intent or will to harm is the "spirit of a destroyer" (Jer. 51:1). The term ruach is thus used to describe personal quality.

A fourth use is that of "spirit" to refer to quasi personal beings. Such uses are not common in the Old Testament but they are there. Micaiah ben Imlah, explains how Ahab is lured to his doom thus: "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, 'I will entice him.' And the Lord said to him, 'By what means?' And he said, 'I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets' " (I Kings 22:21f). Akin to this are passages in which the spirit of Yahweh comes upon Saul (I Sam. 10:6, ·10) or Samson (Judg. 14:6, 19) or the Seventy Elders (Num. 11:24ffl, inducing ecstasy or prophetic utterance. It is, indeed, difficult to distinguish clearly between this fourth use and the third; at the very least it is a more vivid way of describing the spirit, and borders on attributing to it independent status, albeit under the control of Yahweh.l0

Now underlying these four usages is a common assumption: that man, being himself spirit, is thereby open to the power of Yahweh who is the Lord of spirit. Indeed, the mark of Yahweh's Servant par excellence is that Yahweh has put his ruach upon him (Isa. 42:1); and the goal of Old Testament expectation is that Yahweh will pour out his ruach upon all flesh (Joel 2:28, 3:1, Heb.). Nowhere is this possible interaction expressed more vividly than in Ps. 51:10-12:
 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit."

C. F. D. Moule comments: "What is specially significant here . . . is that the psalmist sees ruach, spirit, as within him and as part of him — almost as an attitude or character; and yet, the same word stands for something that belongs to God and may even be taken away by God. This suggestions that even what may be called a man's spirit is not necessarily his own, or inherently his: it may be God's spirit in him."11

If one reviews this evidence of Old Testament usage with a forward looking eye toward Qumran one may make three further observations. First, and deriving from the immediately preceding point: a feature that is in conspicuously short supply in the Old Testament is mention of the holy spirit. Apart from the example in Ps. 51:11 just cited, there is but one other. Isa. 63:10-12 reads: "But they rebelled and grieved his holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy.... Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is he who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses?" Second, in the Old Testament a particular sphere of the spirit's activity is prophecy. As we have already seen, the coming of the spirit upon the Seventy Elders makes prophets of them (Num. 11:24ffl as of others (I Sam. 10:6, 10-13; 19:20-23), an outcome which Moses wishes would be true of all of the people of Yahweh (Num. 11:29). A related point is that the giving of the prophetic spirit, whether in the form of charismatic seizure characteristic of the early period (e.g. Saul), or in the more restrained and permanent form typical of the later prophets (Ezek. 2:2; 3:24; Neh. 9:30; Zech. 7:12), appears to occur at critical moments in the history of God's saving dealings with His people. That is to say, the operation of the spirit, particularly the prophetic spirit, was seen as being connected particularly with the saving activity of God. This leads directly to a third observation. The spirit is intimately connected with Israel's future hope, in whatever form that hope may be cast. Whether the light of expectation is focused on the Davidic king, the point of emphasis is that he will be endowed with the spirit (Isa. 11:2). Or if the searchlight falls on the people of God as a whole, they are seen to be a people of the spirit (Isa. 44:3); a people moreover, in whom the spirit becomes the instrument of renewal of heart and obedience to Yahweh (Ezek. 36:26ff). In the words of Eichrodt: "now it was only as a fruit of the spirit, that is to say, as a product of a new and deeper communion with God, that they dared to hope for the right performance of God's will in religious humility and moral obedience. . . . To a growing extent, therefore, the activity of the spirit was shifted to the communication of religious and moral power.... In this way there is an advance from a picture of power working externally to one involving the innermost foundations of the personal life; man's relationship with God is no longer left to his own efforts, but is given him by the spirit. Because, however, all this is seen as the central miracle of the new age, the spirit as the living power of the new creation finds its proper place in eschatology."12

Such are the leading concepts the sectaries of Qumran are likely to have gleaned about the holy spirit from their study of Scripture. We may turn now to inquire as to what they did with them, looking next in a general way at the Qumran data and their basic significance.  

THE QUMRAN DATA AND THEIR BASIC SIGNIFICANCE  

The data themselves may be set down swiftly. According to Kuhn's Konkordanz13 the vast majority of examples of the term ruach are concentrated in four texts: the Rule of the Community (IQS): thirty-eight; the Rule of the War (IQM): thirteen; the Hodayot or Thanksgiving Hymns (IQH): sixty; and the Damascus Rule (CD): nine; with a few scattered in some smaller documents.

The Qumran Data and the Old Testament

When these data are analyzed they yield a picture that is broadly consonant with that found in the Old Testament. One may summarize it thus.

First, on occasion ruach is used in its literal sense of "wind" or "breath," as for instance in IQH VII 23: "My enemies are like chaff before the wind." Such literal uses are comparatively rare in comparison with their frequency in the Old Testament, though the explanation of this may be no more sinister than difference of subject matter, as A. A. Anderson has suggested.14 It probably implies however, that the Qumran idea has the same point of departure as the Old Testament.

Second, the term is also used to denote man' s inner nature or self. According to J. Pryke's analysis more than twenty-five percent of the examples carry this sense.15 Translation frequently obscures this. For example Vermes renders CD III 2f: "Abraham . . . was accounted friend of God because he kept the commandments of God and did not choose his own will;"16 the Hebrew text reads "did not choose his own ruach." Likewise in CD III 8 referring to the Israelites in the wilderness: "They chose their own will (ruach) and did not heed the voice of their maker."17 Or again, in the first of the Hodayot which celebrates God's action in creation, the author writes: "[And] to the spirit of man which thou hast formed in the world, [thou hast given dominion over the works of Thy hands] for everlasting days and unending generations" (IQH I 15. Cf. IQS VII 18, 22f). Here "spirit" is a virtual synonym for "man." But notable in this connection is the insistence — also implied in the last quotation — that man's spirit is the gift of God. "The way of man is not established except by the spirit which God created for him to make perfect a way for the children of men" (IQH IV 31).

A third emphasis conveyed by the Qumran use of ruach — again consonant with the Old Testament usage — is the employment of the term to denote the kind of self, quality of self. Thus, IQS XI 1 speaks of the "erring spirit," and the "haughty spirit;" IQS VIII 3 of a "spirit of meekness;" and so on. Of particular interest are some examples in the Rule of the War. Referring to the warriors who will participate in the battle, the Rule says: "They shall all be freely enlisted for war, perfect in spirit and body and prepared for the Day of Vengeance" (IQM VII 5). The context of lines 1-7 makes it clear that perfection in flesh refers to conformity to the ritual regulations for the holy war; this makes it probable that perfection of spirit refers to spiritual qualifications: a conclusion supported by the further description of the warriors as "freely enlisted for war . . . prepared for the Day of Vengeance." In short, perfection of spirit is whole-souled commitment to the final battle for the extirpation of evil.18 Of equal interest is IQM XIV 7 which reads: "By the poor in spirit . . . and by the perfect of way all the nations of wickedness have come to an end." There are textual problems at this point which cannot be discussed here,19 but the use of the phrase as an effective parallel to "perfect in spirit" just discussed, and to "perfect in way" which follows, suggests that it denotes the weak who have been raised up by God's power.20

A fourth type of example found in the texts used the word ruach to refer to supernatural beings. In IQS III 24 the phrase "the God of Israel and his Angel of Truth" is explicated by the words: "For it is he who created the spirits of Light and Darkness." CD XII 2 speaks of "the domain of the spirits of Satan." IQM XIII 1-2 describes how the High Priest and his brethren "shall bless the God of Israel and all his works of truth, and shall execrate Satan there, and all the spirits of his company." Remarkably, the text proceeds to speak of God and Satan in parallel ways, attributing to both the quality of purpose and speaking of both as objects of service. "Blessed be the God of Israel for all His holy purpose and for His works of truth! Blessed be all those who [serve] Him in righteousness and who know Him by faith! Cursed by Satan for his sinful purpose and may he be execrated for his wicked rule! Cursed be all the spirits of his company for their ungodly purpose and may they be execrated for all their service of uncleanness!" (2-5).21 Similar examples are found in the Thanksgiving Hymns (e.g. IQH I, 10,11; X 8; XI 13).

It will be seen readily that this evidence from Qumran exhibits usages that, at least in a phenomenological sense, parallel broadly the usages found earlier in the examination of the evidence from the Old Testament. It would be misleading to stop at this point, however, for even from the viewpoint of phenomenology, the Qumran usages represent advances beyond those of the Old Testament which prove to be significant in the fashioning of Qumran pneumatoloy as a whole

Differentiate of Qumran Usage in Relation to the Old Testament

What then are these usages which advance beyond the Old Testament? Four may be mentioned. First, note was taken in discussing the Old Testament evidence of the rarity of the expression "holy spirit" — twice, to be precise, and both of them referring to God. In the texts under review there are seven examples of the phrase "God's holy spirit," or words conveying that sense.22 In these the holy spirit is variously represented as the source of revelation to the prophets (IQS VIII 16, CD II 12); as the source of the psalmist's joy: "Thou has delighted me with Thy Holy Spirit" (IQH IX 32); as the source of the psalmist's strength: "Thou hast shed Thy Holy Spirit upon me that I may not stumble" (IQH VII 6b-7a);23 as the means of the psalmist's purification: "I implore Thee . . . to purify me by Thy Holy Spirit" (IQH XVI 11-12); as the source of the psalmist's guidance: "I, the Master know Thee, O my God by the spirit which Thou hast given to me, and by Thy Holy Spirit I have faithfully hearkened to Thy marvelous counsel" (IQH XII 11-12). It is surely noteworthy that more than three times as many examples of this usage are found in four of the Qumran Scrolls than in the much greater bulk of the Old Testament; and it is not without significance that five of the seven examples are found in the Thanksgiving Hymns specifically in description of religious experience.

Second, not only is the phrase "holy spirit" applied to God; it is applied to man also: directly, in three instances, and implicitly in three others. That is the probable reference in IQS III 7b where it is said of the true member of the community: "He shall be cleansed from all his sins by the spirit of holiness uniting him to His truth," since the parallel phrase reads: "and his iniquity shall be expiated by the spirit of uprightness and humility" (IQS III 8). In CD V 11 and VII 4 members are enjoined against breaking the laws of the community because this would "defile their holy spirit." The three remaining instances are in the Thanksgiving Hymns. In each of them the spirit of man is spoken of in association with God's holy spirit in such a way as to imply that the purity of the latter is transferred to the former. Thus IQH IV 31: "The way of man is not established except by the spirit which God created for him to make perfect a way for the children of men." Even more directly IQH XII 11: "I, the Master, know thee O my God, by the spirit which Thou hast given to me, and by Thy Holy Spirit I have faithfully hearkened to thy marvelous counsel." And most clearly of all IQH XVI 11-12: "And I know that man is not righteous except through Thee, and therefore I implore Thee by the spirit which Thou hast given [me] to perfect Thy [favors] to Thy servant [forever], purifying me by Thy Holy Spirit, and drawing me near to Thee by Thy grace according to the abundance of Thy mercies." What this amounts to is that the notion of the openness of the human spirit to the divine spirit, already present in the Old Testament, is found at Qumran on a greatly increased scale, and with far-reaching implications for religious experience. Indeed, it is implied that the human spirit is so open to interpenetration by the divine, holy spirit that a kind of perfection — "perfection of way" — is open and available to the children of men (IQH IV 31).

Third, the use of ruach terminology to refer to supernatural spirit beings is cultivated to a greater degree than in the Old Testament . There is no need to repeat the evidence cited earlier from both the Old Testament and Qumran. Suffice it to observe that there is a distinct advance from ambivalent references to "an evil spirit from YHWH" to "the Angel of Truth" and "Belial and the Spirits of his lot." That is to say there is a marked advance towards hypostatization

Fourth, at the same time there is also in some cases a certain ambivalence, so that it is difficult to tell whether the spirit man has received from God is man's or God's; there is difficulty in knowing whether "spirit" is being used in a psychological or cosmological sense.

Even now we are still at the stage of collecting relevant data. Before we can turn to the task of integration and interpretation it remains to consider the most celebrated spirit passage in Qumran literature, deliberately avoided thus far because it deserves extended, independent treatment: the Discourse on the Two Spirits (IQS III 13 - IV 26).

The Locus Classicus: The Discourse on the Two Spirits

It is a fair inference that the Qumran Community saw in this section the exposition of one of its leading interests: the mechanics of the spiritual life. The section is introduced thus: "The Master shall instruct all the sons of light and shall teach them the nature (toledoth) of all the children of men according to the kind of spirit which they possess" (III 13-14). Likewise, it concludes with a summarizing statement: "For God has established two spirits in equal measure until the determined end, and until the Renewal, and he knows the reward of their deeds from all eternity. He has allotted them to the children of men that they may know good [and evil, and] that the destiny of all the living may be according to the spirit within [them at the time] of the visitation IV 25-l6).24 Brownlee therefore writes aptly when he entitles the section: "The Instruction of the Community Concerning the Moral Nature of Man.''25

The matter with which we are chiefly concerned is the meaning of the term ruach. The precise difficulty is that it is used in two apparently distinct senses. While it is used in IV 2-10, 23b-26 in a psychological sense to denote the inner moods and attitudes of men, in III 18-26 it equally plainly carries a metaphysical significance: the "two spirits" are the Prince of Light and the Angel of Darkness (20-2l).26 How these meanings are to be related or reconciled has been widely debated. Osten-Sacken holds that the psychological anthropological elements represent a chronologically later development, after the metaphysical dualistic view, which he links with IQM I and the earliest thought of the sect, had been de-eschatologized.27 In other words, he solves the problem by Traditionsgeschichte. It is questionable, however, whether the underlying assumption of this view, namely, that the metaphysical and psychological interpretations are irreconcilable, is valid; at least, it is questionable whether they could not be contained within the same mind.  A. A. Anderson, who concedes the presence of both, observes that it is not divulged how the influences of the spirits are exercised and adds that "it is possible that the author of IQS III-IV may have thought of something approximating to the rabbinic doctrine of good and evil inclinations.28 Apparently the final redactor of IQS found no incongruity between the two views; and the material point is that, on any view — including Osten Sacken's, the overriding emphasis of the section is anthropological rather than cosmological.29 Accordingly, one may seek to interpret the passage as a whole, while remaining sensitive to shifts and variations of thought and expression.

The main thrust of the passage in terms of our interest is that the human condition is accounted for in spirit terms. The chief constituents appear to be as follows. First, from his creation man is appointed by God to live his life under the influence of one of two spirits: the spirits of truth and falsehood (III 17b-19a). The thought has predestinarian overtones. "All that is and ever was comes from a God of knowledge. Before things came into existence He determined the plan of them; and when they fill their appointed roles it is in accordance with His glorious design that they discharge their functions. Nothing can be changed. In His hand lies the government of all things. God it is that sustains them in their needs" (III 15-17a).30 It is in this context that God is said to have appointed two spirits in which man is to walk. Since it is said that the sons of light are shown how to identify "the nature of all the children of men according to the kind of spirit which they possess" (III 13-14), the assumption appears to be that each man is controlled by one of the two spirits.

Second, under one aspect the two spirits are conceived metaphysically so that humanity is viewed as divided between them. "All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and walk in the ways of light but all the children of falsehood are ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness" (III 20-21a). Logically, this would lead one to conclude that mankind was divided into two water-tight categories, each controlled by one spirit. However, such an inference is at once ruled out by the statement that "the Angel of Darkness leads all the children of righteousness astray" (III 21-22), all their sins being attributed to "his dominion in accordance with the mysteries of God." Conversely, the God of Israel and His Angel of Truth succour all the sons of light.

Third, the metaphysical or cosmological depiction of the two spirits is supplemented by a further aspect under which they are perceived psychologically or anthropologically. It is not accidental that this shift takes place at precisely the point at which the discourse moves to considering how the two spirits exert their influence on humankind. The language makes a significant change from speaking of the spirits as powers to speaking of their ways in the heart of man (IV 2). Here the Spirits of Light and Darkness who respectively succour the sons of light or lead them astray are interiorized in the human heart as the spirit of humility, discernment, charity (see IV 2-8), or greed, pride, deceit and ill temper (see IV 9-11). Equally significant is the insistence that both spirits battle within the hearts of all men. The word used in III 13 (toledoth) to denote the nature of man is resumed in IV 15: "The nature of all the children of men is ruled by these (two spirits), and during their life all the hosts of men have a portion in their divisions and walk in (both) their ways.... For God has established the spirits in equal measure . . . And their struggle is fierce for they do not walk together" (IV 15, 16, 18a).

Fourth, it is affirmed that in the final age the spirit of falsehood will be destroyed (IV 18b). The fullest description of this occurs in contexts where the psychological or anthropological use of "spirit" is prominent. "[God] will refine for Himself the human frame by rooting out all spirit of falsehood from the bounds of his flesh. He will cleanse him of all wicked deeds with the spirit of holiness; like purifying waters He will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to cleanse him) of all abomination and falsehood. And he shall be plunged into the spirit of purification.... For God has chosen them for an everlasting Covenant and all the glory of Adam shall be theirs" (IV 20-21, 22b).

If we seek to harvest the yield of IQS III 13 - IV 26 for the understanding of the Qumran doctrine of the spirit several things stand out. To begin with the two spirits are certainly personified and virtually hypostatized. The spirits of Light and Darkness, otherwise referred to as the Prince of Light and the Angel of Darkness, are created by God (III 25). They "rule" men (III 20,21), "lead" men (III 21b), "succour" men (III 24b). In Hengel's words: "The two spirits appear as mediators between God and man, though they are only executive powers of the divine plans."31 At the same time the writer of the discourse is not satisfied with an account which suggests that the two spirits are merely external to man; on the contrary, they are within him, controlling his behavior not simply from the outside in, but from the inside out. The cosmic aspect of the struggle is but the backdrop of the psychological aspect which clearly predominates as the opening lines of the discourse (III 13-14) show.32 The relationship between the two spirits viewed cosmically and metaphysically and the two spirits viewed anthropologically and psychologically is not clearly worked out. A. R. C. Leaney has drawn attention to the implication of the consecutive statements in IQS III 17, 19 that God "set in man two spirits" (17) and that from a "dwelling" of light and a "well" of darkness arise the generations of truth and deceit respectively (19).33 He writes: "If we attend carefully to the last two sentences of this remarkable passage we see the language change into metaphor. It is not easy to show the logical connection between the spirits "set in" man and the sources ("dwelling" and "well") from which the two "generations" of men respectively arise. Perhaps there is here an example of thinking which at the logical level is confused; and the reason for this confusion is that the writer is not clear whether he wishes to teach that man as such is a combination of a good and a bad spirit or that mankind is divisible into the good (arising from light) and the bad (arising from darkness). The main doctrine at Qumran appears to have been that every individual man is a mixture of the two spirits . . . but the thought certainly oscillates between two sets of terms, truth/perversity, light/darkness."34 The problem appears never to have been fully resolved at Qumran, receiving its clearest elucidation in Judaism in the Rabbinic doctrine of the Two Inclinations or yetzers.35

A final point to be gleaned from the Discourse on the Two Spirits is that the eschaton is there viewed as a turning point in spirit activity and experience. The data have been outlined above in the discussion of IQS IV 18-22, attention being drawn particularly to the psychological use of "spirit" in that context. Two matters are of particular moment. The first is that this is the only passage in the entire Qumran literature in which "spirit" carries eschatological significance.36 It is "at the time of the visitation" (IV 18) that "all spirit of falsehood" will be rooted out of man's flesh (IV 20), "for God has established the two spirits in equal measure until the determined end, and until the Renewal" (IV 25). Second, the function which is attributed to the holy spirit is that of cleansing: "like purifying waters He will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to cleanse) of all abomination and falsehood. And he shall be plunged into the spirit of purification" (IV 21-22). It is this eschatological act which results in the recovery of the lost glory of Adam (IV 23).

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SPIRIT AT QUMRAN
 

A representative selection of the Qumran data regarding the spirit is now before us. We may seek next to interpret and integrate it so as to achieve an understanding of the overall scale and significance of the spirit in Qumran thought. The evidence surveyed thus far has at the most demonstrated that the spirit occupied an important place in the thought of the Qumran sectaries; it has also shown something of how the spirit was understood to work in human life, even if ambiguities remain. What has not been shown is the content of the spirit's work in Qumran understanding. That is to say, our investigation thus far has dealt chiefly with the components of the Qumran view of the spirit; what now remains is to fit the components into their framework.

References to the spirit in the Qumran scrolls may be said to congregate around three main themes. Although these themes are distinguishable, they nevertheless have mutual connections, hence there is a degree of overlap among them, and therefore, in the treatment of them here.
   

Revelation
 

First, the holy spirit is connected with the idea of revelation. There are two aspects to this. To begin with there is the (unsurprising) acknowledgment that the holy spirit was at work in the writing of the Law and the Prophets. IQS VIII 15-16, in reference to the "highway for our God" mentioned in Isa. 40:3, reads: "This (path) is the study of the Law which He commanded by the hand of Moses that they may do according to all that has been revealed from age to age, and as the Prophets have revealed by His Holy Spirit." To the same effect are CD II 12 and VI 1 where the prophets are described as "those anointed with the holy spirit."37 That is, the holy spirit is the agent of divine revelation through the Law and the Prophets.

However, there is another dimension to this. A distinction appears to be made between the transmission of revelation to the prophets, and its reception by their readers. The correlative of revelation is understanding, and it is the insistence of the Qumran community that the same spirit who inspired prophetic writers was at work in themselves as the true interpreters of the Law and the Prophets. This is hinted at in IQS VIII 15-16 (just quoted): a passage which may well describe the founding of the community,38 and which defines its task as the study of the Law. It is significant that the description of the prophets in CD II 12 as "those who were anointed with the holy spirit of his true community" 39 is similar to the language used to describe the Qumran community elsewhere (e.g. IQS III 7). It is not surprising then that the long rehearsal of Israel's faithlessness addressed to those entering the Covenant (CD II 2) should culminate in the contrasting account or the faithful remnant, which is none other than the sect itself: "But with the remnant which held fast to the commandments of God, He made His Covenant with Israel forever, revealing to them the hidden things in which all Israel had gone astray. He unfolded before them His holy sabbaths and His glorious feasts, the testimonies of His righteousness and the ways of His faith, and the desires of His will which a man must do in order to live" (CD III 12b-16a). The import of this appears to be that the sectaries were inspired by the same spirit as the prophetic writers, but not as sources so much as interpreters of revelation.40

But there was one figure in whom this role was exemplified supremely: the Teacher of Righteousness. Although mentioned specifically only in the Damascus Rule and the Biblical Commentaries or Pesharim, there can be no doubt of his central role. As CD I 9-10 vividly expresses it: "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." A still more exact definition of the Teacher's function appears in the Habakkuk Commentary in the comments on Hab. 2:1-2: "and God told Habakkuk to write down that which would happen to the final generation, but He did not make known to him when time would come to an end. And as for that which He said, that he who runs may read it speedily, interpreted this concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of His servants the Prophets" (IQpHab. VII 1-5a).

The passage just quoted is instructive in at least two ways. First, it demonstrates that in the sect's understanding, the prophets did not themselves know everything regarding the fulfilment of their predictions. In particular, while they might know the content of their predictions, they did not know the timing of their fulfilment. Second, what was hidden from the prophets in this regard had been revealed to the Teacher of Righteousness "to whom God made known all the mysteries of the words of His servants the Prophets" (IQpHab. VII 4-5a). The passage employs two key terms in this regard: the term "mystery" (raz) and the term "interpretation" (pesher). These constituted the two elements in the message of God, each being conveyed by God to a different person; and only when both halves were brought together was the message known.41 In the Qumran view the "mysteries" were conveyed to the prophets, the "interpretations" to the Teacher of Righteousness.42 This highlights the crucial role of the Teacher of Righteousness in Qumran history, fully justifying the passage quoted earlier from the Damascus Rule. Until his advent, they were like blind men groping in the dark; after his arrival they had the key to unlock the prophetic literature.

The question immediately presents itself: what status is the Teacher viewed as holding? Various answers have been given. Dupont-Sommer identifies him as a prophet: "This interpreter versed in all the Mysteries of Knowledge was the great Doctor of Essene Gnosis, the Hierophant par excellence. But he was also the Prophet, in the Biblical sense of the word. The Spirit of God was in him."43 However, nowhere is the Teacher of Righteousness called a prophet, and — still more interestingly — nowhere is he stated specifically to be endowed with the spirit unless the Thanksgiving Hymns are held to be from his hand: an opinion which is less confidently held now than it once was.44 Even Gert Jeremias, who both argues for the Teacher's authorship of some of the Hymns,45 and explicitly calls him "a prophet of God," nevertheless is compelled to add: "But there is a difference between the Teacher and the old Prophets. The task of the Teacher is to explain the words of the Prophets."46

Still less cogent is the suggestion that the Teacher of Righteousness is a "new Moses" or "the Prophet like Moses" (Deut. 18:18).47 For all the similarities that he can find between the Teacher and Moses: that with both a new period of revelation begins, both are leaders, and so on, Otto Betz is still forced to conclude that only with strong reservations can the Teacher be described as a second Moses. He brings no new Law. God does not speak with him mouth to mouth. His message is from the Law of Moses.48 The conclusion the data appear to point to is that the Teacher of Righteousness was viewed as a divinely and uniquely inspired interpreter of the Law and the Prophets. It has been contended above that the community as a whole was endowed in this way. The uniqueness of the Teacher lay in the fact that he was the first to lay down the lines of interpretation which came to characterize the community. His primacy is constituted by both time and insight. To him — in the community's belief — had been vouchsafed understanding to interpret the Law and the Prophets.49 In the words of Vermes: "Knowledge of the authentic teaching of the Prophets was the supreme talent of the Teacher of Righteousness . . . the Scrolls directly impute to the Teacher a particular God-given insight into the hidden significance of prophecy."50 If it be asked how he came by this insight there is only one answer: by the inspiration of the holy spirit. It is true, as has been acknowledged above, that this is nowhere stated in so many words. But inasmuch as the community is viewed as being corporately gifted with the spirit for the task of prophetic interpretation, as has been shown already; and inasmuch as the speaker in the Thanksgiving Hymns claims repeatedly to have received knowledge by the spirit God has given him (IQH XIII 18-19; XIV 25); it is impossible to explain the secret of the Teacher's work in any other way.

But the answer to one question is but the formulation of another. If the Teacher has been uniquely endowed with the spirit in the sense and for the purpose defined, what does this say regarding the sect's eschatology?
 

Eschatology
 

"Eschatology" is a slippery term, and not least in reference to Qumran thought. In Christian theology it has customarily been used to refer to the events contingent upon the end of the world and the future life ("final" or "futurist" eschatology). Twentieth century Biblical studies has contributed its own nuances to the concept in the form of "consistent eschatology," "realized eschatology," "inaugurated eschatology" and so on. It is fatally easy to transfer such concepts into the Qumran context without considering whether the Qumran data will support them. Still more potent is the temptation to arrange the features of Qumran eschatology such as the War, the Coming of the Messiahs and so on, in some kind of schema or sequence without inquiring whether such a "historicizing" fell within the Qumran conceptual mentality. Such issues are too large to be pursued here.51 What may be pursued here is the narrower but not less germane point: how do the Qumran texts view the relation of the spirit and eschatology?

It is sometimes argued that the Qumran texts see no connection. Referring to IQS IV 18-23 which affirms the purification of man by the spirit of holiness at the time of the final visitation Gerhard Krodel writes: "It is important to note that this seems to be the only text in the Community Rules and in the Hymns which assigns an eschatological function to the Spirit. Furthermore, nowhere is it stated that the presence of the Spirit in the Community is the eschatological fulfillment of prophetic promises. This is all the more surprising because Qumran does understand itself to be the eschatological community of the sons of light. The reason for the lack of emphasis on the Spirit's eschatological function lies in the fact that the Spirit is understood primarily as the mediator and enabler of esoteric truths in the present. Since in other apocalyptic texts the Spirit played no role, we can conclude that the Qumran community did not understand the Spirit's presence as anticipation and sign of the eschaton."52 Does the evidence bear this out?

There can be no doubt that the scrolls show unambiguously that the sectaries believed that the spirit was at work among them in the present. As has been argued above, for all that the ministry of the Teacher of Righteousness is not explained directly or explicitly in terms of the spirit, it is difficult to see in what other terms it is to be accounted for. Does this mean then that the Teacher was viewed as an eschatological figure? Attempts to show that he was seen as a particular eschatological figure cannot be said to have been successful. Reference was made earlier to the suggestion that he was the Moses like prophet, but the evidence will not sustain this. No more persuasive is the contention that he was regarded as a messianic figure. Even if he is the "Interpreter of the Law" mentioned in association with the "star of Jacob" predicted in CD VII 15-20 and the "Branch of David" of 4Q Florilegium I 11-12 this can mean no more than that the historical Teacher of CD I 10 occupied and foreshadowed a role which would be filled by his successors, and supremely by his successor in the messianic age.53 It does not abolish the distinction between the pre-messianic and messianic eras which is plainly made in CD XIX 35 - XXI distinguishing "the day of the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community" and "the coming of the Messiah out of Aaron and Israel."54 Even to say that the Teacher was a forerunner of the messianic age risks saying too much, with its overtones of Elijah-like figures.55 What seems to be justifiable is to say that, since the giving of the interpretation of the prophets to the Teacher indicated the time of the coming of the end (IQpHab. VII 1-5), his appearance was a sign that the last days were approaching.56 That his insight is most readily explained as a gift of the spirit seems true, though it cannot be claimed that this is stressed or stated explicitly.57

If however, the Teacher's work is not accounted for explicitly in terms of the spirit, the same cannot be said of the work and existence of the community. To cite but one illustration of this: of the seven occurrences of the phrase "God's holy spirit" in the texts, six refer to the spirit as having been given in some sense by God to the sectaries. "He made known his holy spirit to them by the hand of his anointed ones" (CD II 12). "Thou has shed thy holy spirit upon me" (IQH VII 7, XVII 26). "Thou hast delighted me with thy holy spirit" (IQH IX 32). "By thy holy spirit I have hearkened to thy counsel" (IQH XII 12). The sixth example includes the unqualified term "the spirit" but the parallelism shows the meaning is the same: "I implore Thee by the spirit which thou hast given [me] to perfect Thy [favors] to thy servant [forever], purifying me by Thy Holy Spirit" (IQH XVI 11-12). Other passages refer to man's spirit as sanctified by God's grace,58 thus expressing the same idea from a slightly different perspective. That almost all of these instances occur in the Thanksgiving Hymns does not mean that the experience of the spirit was an — essentially pietistic or privatistic matter. On the contrary the whole organization and ethos of the community is predicated on the assumption that the community is a community of the spirit. In the annual Covenant Renewal ceremony, members are ranked "according to the perfection of their spirit" (IQS II 20, cf. V 24). Admission to the community means participation in the spirit with all its consequences. "For it is through the spirit of true counsel concerning the ways of man that all his sins shall be expiated that he may contemplate the light of life. He shall be cleansed from all his sins by the spirit of holiness uniting him to His truth, and his iniquity shall be expiated by the spirit of uprightness and humility" (IQS III 6b - 8). Indeed, in what may well be the oldest part of the Community Rule,59 it is said in reference to the foundation members: "When these became members of the Community in Israel according to all these rules, they shall establish the spirit of holiness according to everlasting truth" IIQS IX 3).

Alongside of this indubitable evidence that the Qumran Community saw itself as a community of the spirit may be placed the equally indubitable fact that it regarded itself as having eschatological significance. If it has been argued above correctly that the work of the Teacher of Righteousness signified that the last days were approaching, if follows a fortiori that the same must be true of his followers who perpetuated his work. Indeed, in the Habakkuk Commentary, the interpretation of Hab.2:3b: "If it tarries, wait for it, for it shall surely come and shall not be late" is referred to the members of the community: "Interpreted, this concerns the men of truth who keep the Law, whose hands shall not slacken in the service of truth when the final age is prolonged" (IQ p Hab. VII 10b-12). Not only so, but the organization and liturgical practices of the sect appear to indicate that it regarded itself as anticipating the community of the end time. Thus, the Rule of the Congregation (IQSa): "the Rule for all the congregation of Israel in the last days" (IQSa I 1), after describing the protocol for the common meal when the Priest Messiah comes (IQSa II 11-21b), concludes: "It is according to this statute that they shall proceed at every [meal at which] at least ten men are gathered together" (IQSa II 21c-22). But this is precisely the number specified in IQS VI 3-5 for regular partaking of the common meal. As F. M. Cross concludes: "The common meal of the Essenes is hereby set forth as a liturgical anticipation of the Messianic banquet."60 But most of all, in the essay on the Two Spirits (IQS III 13 - IV 25) the God of Israel and His Angel of Truth, otherwise the Spirit of Truth, are said to "succour all the sons of light" (IQS III 24b) in their present struggles, although at the end of that same section the coming of the spirit at the end of the age is looked for as the only possible hope for recreating the glory of the original creation (IQS IV 18b-23a). K. G. Kuhn therefore concludes: "Thus the Now and the Then, the life of the pious here in this world and the apocalyptic end, are not at all separated from each other, in terms of the weight of the divine interference. The Now develops into the Then continuously. In this sense the sect knows itself to be an eschatological company of warriors, the People of God of the last days.6l

The remarkable fact is that these two features: the present working of the spirit in the community, and the eschatological significance of the community, do not appear to be brought into direct connection, although the reverse is the case with the prophetic revelatory work of the Teacher and the community. It is true that some scholars have affirmed otherwise. Herbert Braun contends that the new thing in Qumran teaching is the full presence of the spirit, on account of which it is the community of the end-time.62 Gert Jeremias, referring to IQH VII 7, where the psalmist gives thanks that God has shed the holy spirit upon him, comments: "The presence of the spirit is an eschatological gift.... This gift the psalmist has according to this psalm here and now."63 But these claims outrun the evidence. Undoubtedly, in Old Testament expectation the spirit is seen as the gift of the age to come. In the Qumran texts this is the case explicitly only once: at the conclusion of the discourse on the Two Spirits (IQS IV 18-26), and the eschatology is emphatically futuristic. If anything, the judgment of W. D. Davies that "the scrolls do not emphasize the spirit as a sign of the End"64 is too cautious. The fact is that, for all its preoccupation with prophetic scripture in regard to other aspects of its activity — notably its claim to a special role in the impending time of the end — the sect makes no appeal to Old Testament passages which foretell a spirit-endowment as a sign of the end, despite the fact that it lays repeated claim to the activity of the spirit among its members, even regarding this as a sine qua non of membership. As to why the scrolls are reticent in this regard, Krodel has already been quoted for the opinion that it is because the sectaries saw the spirit more as the communicator of esoteric truth.66 In view of the large number of passages already cited in which the spirit is credited with moral and spiritual functions, this seems less than persuasive. The prima facie evidence would suggest that the solution is more probably to be sought in the sectarian soteriology, and the question will be taken up again under that heading.

In the meantime we may go on to observe that, if the sect did not construe the present work of the spirit in eschatological terms, there can be no doubt that it made the connection regarding the expected work of the spirit at the final end. The conflict depicted in the Rule of the War is not merely between the sectaries and the Kittim; it is between the Prince of Light and the spirits of truth who come to the support of the sectaries, and Belial and all the spirits of his lot (IQM XIII 10-11). Indeed, it is the intervention of the Prince of Light which gives victory to the sectaries in the final battle (IQM XVIII 1 3).66 It is hardly surprising that it is in contexts such as these that the spirits are spoken of most plainly as distinct personae. As such the phenomenon belongs to (in Eichrodt's phrase) that "momentous refashioning" of prophetic teaching about the spirit in which "the spirit of God is made markedly independent, so that it can now be portrayed as a so-called hypostasis, that is to say, a separate entity which acts of its own motion, and is of itself concerned with human affairs."67 Again, however, it is to be noted that this work of the spirit at the final end is cosmic and apocalyptic rather than individual or national and prophetic. Indeed, it is as noteworthy regarding the future work of the spirit as its present work that no appeal is make by the Qumran writers to the forecasts by the great prophets of a singular coming of the spirit in the end time. This is equally the case in the one passage already adverted to (IQS IV 18-26) in which the coming of the spirit is spoken of in avowedly futuristic terms for the eradication of the spirit of falsehood from the human heart (IQS IV 20). But with this one reaches the boundary between eschatology and soteriology, and to this latter subject as understood at Qumran we must now turn.

Soteriology
 

The sect believed that in the impending eschatological convulsion Israel would be saved because the Qumran community would be saved. But the community was composed of members admitted individually, and permitted to remain as members only so long as their individual performance was satisfactory. How was admission to the community of salvation achieved? And — to turn to the specific focus of this essay — did the holy spirit play any part in it? In seeking answers to these questions it will be useful to divide our treatment into two parts, looking first at the saving work of the spirit in the present; and second, at the work of the spirit yet to come.

It is widely conceded that the Qumran community stands out as an exception in an era which confessed that in general, the spirit was no longer at work.68 Enough evidence has been surveyed already to demonstrate that the community believed the spirit to be actively at work in its midst. Its functioning rested on that assumption. But more than that. The sect believed itself to be a community of the spirit in the further sense that in and through it, and through it alone, the spirit could be received. Extra communitatem nulla salus. The community was the community of the spirit in the sense that to it the spirit had been given. In a crucially important section of the Community Rule which describes the meaning of membership (IQS III 6-9), the holy spirit is referred to as "the holy spirit of the community" (3:7).69 The same idea is expressed in CD II 12; while in the Thanksgiving Hymns the reception of the spirit is interpreted in terms of belonging to the covenant (IQH XI 9-14; XIV 13 (probably); XVI 7) or other terms such as knowledge of the divine mysteries (IQH XI 9-14; XII 11-13) or loathing the ways of perversity (XIV 25-26) which amount to the same thing. In short, the spirit is received through joining the community.

Is it possible to define this with more precision? It is well known that admission to the community involved several probationary stages, extending over at least two years. This process, with its constituent stages, is defined in IQS VI 13-23. Less important than the mechanics of the process70 are the object and principles which underlie it. Regarding itself as a replacement Temple71 since the Jerusalem Temple was defiled, the sect sought to reproduce the purity required for the Jerusalem Temple. This purity was an amalgam of correct ritual observance and moral conduct, defectiveness in either producing impurity.72 This meant that the sect must — and did — take strong measures to maintain purity within its ranks. Nowhere was this more seriously threatened than when new members were admitted, and the probationary period was designed to construct safeguards at this very point. As Newton summarizes the process: "We shall see the new member pass from being an impure outsider through an intermediate stage during which he has limited contact with the sect and its property to a time when he is considered pure in all things and can enjoy full participation in the atoning activity of the sect."73

The question is: at what point in the process did the candidate receive the spirit? The progress of the initiant from first examination to full admission is traced in IQS VI 14-23. First, he is examined by the Overseer (paqid) who was concerned to establish four things: that he was a born Israelite; that he was applying voluntarily; that his intelligence and deeds were of an acceptable character; and fourth, that he was suited to the discipline of the life of the community (IQS 13-14). If he satisfied the Overseer on these counts, the Overseer brought (bo) him into the covenant.74 However, the admission was no more than preliminary and tentative, as the text makes clear: "he shall admit him into the Covenant that he may be converted to the truth and depart from all falsehood: and he shall instruct him in all the rules of the Community" (IQS VI 14-15). At least two more stages followed. At the end of one full year, during which his participation in community affairs — especially those involving purity75 — was restricted, he was examined by the Council of the Community "concerning his spirit and his deeds" (IQS VI 17), a phrase which parallels partially but also goes beyond the phrase "his understanding and his deeds" (IQS VI 14, 18); the latter refers to his comprehension of the law of the sect, the former to his acceptance of it. At the end of a second year, during which his participation in sectarian affairs involving purity was still restricted, though less so than in the first,76 he was again examined, and if approved, was admitted to full membership, involving full participation in all the rites and responsibilities of the community (IQS VI 21-231.

In the description of the stages of admission in IQS VI 14-23 the spirit is not mentioned. This is hardly surprising in a section of legal regulations. Further, since the successive stages mark progress in purity and the spirit is repeatedly associated with cleansing, it would be surprising if no role were found for it during the period of initiation. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that, in the liturgy of admission to full membership (IQS I 16 - II 25), the chief disaster to befall those who turn back at the critical moment is that they will not receive the spirit (IQS II 25- III 12). Exclusion from the Community is exclusion from the spirit, and exclusion from the spirit is exclusion from cleansing.

It would seem therefore that the sectarian soteriology distinguished sharply not only between those outside the sect and the sect itself, but also between provisional members and full members. The basis of this latter divide was the spirit. Admission to provisional membership depended on understanding of sectarian teaching and amenability to discipline, and progress toward full membership depended on progress in the same. When the Council of the Community was satisfied with the progress at the end of the second year, the initiant was admitted to full membership which was another way of saying he received the spirit. Whether B. E. Thiering is correct in positing a separate initiation rite for each stage, her conclusion appears to be sound that "at the final stage the Spirit of holiness was given, as the decisive purification of the soul and the privilege of membership of the community in which the Spirit of holiness dwelt."77

The Qumran sect therefore appears to have believed that sin kept the spirit away, and only by increasing purification through obedience to the law was it possible to become fit to receive the spirit, that is, to enter the community. But the spirit that is received on entry into the community is itself a cleansing agent, and the language of IQS III 6-9 with its explicit emphasis on uprightness, humility and submission of soul suggests that the spirit is the agent for the cleansing of inward sin. That is to say, the sect distinguished between inward and outward sin78 and affirmed that water alone could not remove the former, but only the spirit. But the inward spirit was given only to those who had separated themselves from outward defilement: that is, had passed through the preliminary stages of membership. The implication of this for Qumran soteriology is that there is a fundamental ambivalence at its core as to how salvation is achieved. For all classes of members it involves obedience to the covenant law; but whereas full members have received the inward spirit and observe the law with the aid of the spirit, probationer members must observe the law without that aid and assistance.79

However, Qumran soteriology had a horizon beyond the present to which they looked also for the saving work of the spirit; they looked also for a decisive saving work of the spirit at the Visitation at the end of the days. "God has ordained an end for falsehood, and at the time of the visitation He will destroy it forever.... God will then purify every deed of Man with His truth; He will refine for Himself the human frame by rooting out all spirit of falsehood from the bounds of his flesh. He will cleanse him of all wicked deeds with the spirit of holiness; like purifying waters He will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to cleanse him) of all abomination and falsehood" (IQS IV 18b-19a, 20b-21). Reference has been made above to the way in which the sect distinguished inward from outward sin, even though they saw the two as connected, inasmuch as inward sin incurred outward defilement. It would appear however, that they also made a distinction between sin in the form of specific acts and sin as the source of sins; that is, they appear to have entertained a concept of innate sin which was resistant to any purification available in the present. This comes to expression particularly in the Hymns in which the psalmist repeatedly bewails not merely the sins which he has committed, but even more the sinful state which has given rise to them. "What is a creature of clay for such great marvels to be done, whereas he is in iniquity from the womb and in guilty unfaithfulness until his old age?" (IQH lV 29f). Or, in the psalm at the conclusion of the Community Rule: "As for me, I belong to wicked mankind, to the company of ungodly flesh. My iniquities, rebellions and sins, together with the perversity of my heart, belong to the company of worms and to those who walk in darkness (IQS IX 9b-10).80

While individual sins may be cleansed, the only cure for the sinful state which underlies them is purgation by the spirit at the Visitation. This point is clear from IQS IV 18-23 (partially quoted above), and is confirmed by some of the Hymns which show every sign of being eschatological in reference (e.g. IQH III 19-36; XI 15-34; XVII 9-15).81 Indeed, the last of these is linked by language as well as thought, with IQS IV 22: "For the bases of the mountains shall melt, and fire shall consume the deep places of Hell, but thou wilt deliver all those that are corrected by Thy judgments.... Thou wilt cast away all their sins. Thou wilt cause them to inherit all the glory of Adam and abundance of days" (IQH XVII 13, 15). The Qumran expectation for the end time was of the abolition of innate sin and the recovery of the creation glory of Adam. This also was the redemptive work of the spirit. In the words of Michael Newton: "This eschatological cleansing would involve the whole man both body and soul. There could be no purification of the body unless the soul was directed towards fulfilling God's will."82

Conclusion

In conclusion, we may attempt to estimate the place of pneumatology in Qumran thought as a whole. Reference has already been made to Krodel's judgment that the spirit has virtually no eschatological significance for the community, being regarded rather as the conveyor of esoteric truths in the present; and that accordingly "the Qumran community did not understand the Spirit's presence as anticipation and sign of the eschaton."83 Alongside of this one may place the conclusion of W. D. Davies that "the Scrolls do not emphasize the spirit as a sign to the End;"84 and also his verdict on the eschatological function attributed to the spirit in IQS IV 20f: "the reference to the Spirit here somehow lacks that connotation of empowering energy which we associate with the eschatological gift of the Spirit in both the Old Testament and the New."85 The striking omission of any reference to prophetic promises of the eschatological spirit appears to bear this out. This would suggest that the spirit has little eschatological impress in Qumran thought.

On the other hand, it has been seen that the spirit plays a decisive role in Qumran soteriology, so that without the holy spirit there would be no community. Moreover, the function of the community thus established in the spirit of holiness (IQS IX 3) is to offer atonement for the land "until there shall come the Prophet and the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel" (IQS IX 11). In other words, the soteriological function of the sect, which is made possible only by the spirit, is set squarely in an eschatological framework.

Nor is the case greatly different with the role of the spirit in the revelation of truth for as has been seen, the truths revealed concern directly the coming of the end: both the fact of, and the preparation for it. Indeed, Otto Betz goes so far as to say that the reason why the sect concerned itself so much with God's dealings with His people in the past was that in them was contained the clue as to what was about to happen in the future. "There is a consistency in the history of salvation. That is why the understanding of the past and the knowledge of the future belong together: the latter is built on the former, it depends on a correct evaluation of God's mighty deeds of the past."86 If this is so, and the unveiling of the meaning of the past for the future is the work of the spirit, then in yet another sphere the spirit's role is eschatological.

It would seem fair to conclude, therefore, that while eschatology was the overarching and encompassing preoccupation of the sect, yet their perception of their role as the indispensable nexus between the present and the eschaton led them to focus primarily on their soteriological function. This did not prevent them from speculating about the events of the end as the War Rule testifies. But it does mean that their chief concern was to preserve themselves as a holy community which could serve as the vehicle of God's purpose at the end of the days. Since the holy spirit alone could make and keep them fit for this purpose, the aspect of his activity which chiefly engaged their attention was the soteriological.  

 
Notes

 1For a recent, superb review of the present state of Qumran studies see M. Delcor, E. M. Laperrousaz, P. W. Skehan: art. "Qumran et Decouvertes au Desert de Juda," in H. Cazelles et Andre Feuillet (edd). Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplement, Tome Neuvieme (Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1979), cols. 737-1014.

2The system of designating the Qumran texts employed here is that proposed by J. T. Milik in D. Barthelemy and J. T. Milik: Discoveries in the Judaean Desert: I, Qumran Cave I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), 46-8; further explained and elaborated in J. A. Fitzmyer: The Dead Sea Scrolls, Major Publications and Tools for Study (Sources for Biblical Study, 8, Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1975), 3-8. The expanded form of the symbols for the documents chiefly referred to in this essay are: The Community Rule (IQS); the Damascus Rule (CD); the War Rule (IQM); the Hymns (or Hodayot) (IQH).

3For an examination of the difference between the communities presupposed in the Community Rule on the one hand and the Damascus Rule on the other see Geza Vermes: The Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran in Perspective (Cleveland, Ohio: Collins - World, 1978) (henceforth Vermes: DSSP), Ch. 4, "Life and Institutions of the Sect;" as well as the concluding section of Ch. 5 on the Essenes (pp. 125-30). Allowing that some of the discrepancies may be explained as representing different stages of development (p.128), Vermes favors the view that the Qumran sect was Essene (p.130), and that "Qumran . . . was the seat of the sect's hierarchy and also the center to which all those turned who professed allegiance to the sons of Zadok the Priests, the Keepers of the Covenant" (p. 109).

4That Josephus' representation of the Essenes in Antiquities xiii 171 as one of the three parties of Judaism involves a degree of stylization following the Greek pattern is highly probable. See Vermes: DSSP, 129.

5AIl quotations from the Qumran texts are in the translation of G. Vermes: The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, Second edition 1975) (henceforth Vermes: DSSE) unless indicated otherwise. The passage cited is from DSSE, 81. A convenient edition of the Hebrew of the Qumran texts is that of Eduard Lohse: Die Texte aus Qumran (Munchen: Kosel-Verlag, 1964). References to the lines are based on this edition.

6For summary and interpretation of the Old Testament evidence see F. Baumgartel: art. pneuma in G. Friedrich: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (henceforth TDNT), Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, volume VI, 1977, 359-67; Norman H. Snaith: The Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament (New York, Schocken Books, 1973), Ch. 7; David Hill: Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings (Cambridge, 1967),205-17; and most recently Alasdair I. C. Heron: The Holy Spirit (Philadelphia: the Westminster Press, 1983), Ch. I. For an impressive account of the development of the concept in the Old Testament see W. Eichrodt: Theology of the Old Testament (Philadelphia: the Westminster Press, 1967), Vol. II, Ch. XIII.

7AIl Biblical quotations are from the Revised Standard Version unless indicated otherwise.

8Cf. E. Jacob: "Nephesh is the usual term for a man's total nature, for what he is and not just what he has. This gives the term priority in the anthropological vocabulary, for the same cannot be said of either spirit, heart or flesh." Art. psuche, TDNT IX, 620.

9While noting that nephesh, ruach and leb were "so close that they could be viewed as interchangeable," Jacob (TDNT IX, 617 F) nonetheless concedes that ruach took over the functions of nephesh (ibid., 629). The reason appears to be that ruach lies behind nephesh. Cf. Jacob: "One might say that ruach is the condition of nephesh and that it regulates its force. Without nephesh an individual dies, but without ruach nephesh is no longer an authentic nephesh" (loc. cit). See also Heron: The Holy Spirit. 6f.

l0Cf. Baumgartel, TDNT VI, 364, 366f; Eichrodt: Theology of the Old Testament, Vo1. II, 52. David Hill demurs (rightly) at the suggestion that the ruach Adonai is "an agent with its own existence and actions," insisting that language appearing to imply this is figurative (Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings, 212 together with note 1). However, with regard to "evil spirits" he appears to allow (with A. R. Johnson) that Yahweh could act "not only through the instrumentality of his own ruach, but also through the agency of some subordinate ruach who, as a member of his immediate entourage, may be thought of as an individualisation within the corporate ruach of Yahweh's extended personality" (Appended Note, 217).

11C. F. D. Moule: The Holy Spirit (London: Mowbrays, 1978), 8.

12Eichrodt: Theology of the Old Testament, Vo1. II, 58-9.

13K. G. Kuhn (ed): Konhordanz zu den Qumrantexten (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1960), art. ruach, 200-2.

14A. A. Anderson: "The Use of 'Ruah' in IQS, IQH and IQM," Journal of Semitic Studies (henceforth JSS) 7, 1962, 303.

15J. Pryke: " 'Spirit' and 'Flesh' in the Qumran Documents and Some New Testament Texts," Revue de Qumran (henceforth RQ) 5, 1965, 345, together with n.l.

16Vermes: DSSE, 99.

17Ibid.

18The phrase rendered "perfect in spirit and body" by Vermes (DSSE, 133) is literally "perfect in spirit and flesh (basar)." For detailed examination of this striking expression see A. R. G. Deasley: The Idea of Perfection in the Qumran Texts (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Manchester, 1972), (henceforth Deasley; Perfection 293-9.

l9For proposed restoration of the text see Y. Yadin: The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford University Press, 1962), 327.

20For a full consideration of the text and its interpretation see Deasley, Perfection, 299-303.

21W. S. Lasor comments: "In the easy transition from God to Belial throughout this passage, and in the attribution of will to Belial and his angels, there are evidences that the people of Qumran looked upon Belial and his

angels as true beings." The Dead &a Scrolls and the Christian Faith (Chicago: Moody Press,1974),100f. A full-scale treatment of Qumran angelology in the Rule of the War, where it reaches a high degree of elaboration may be found in Y. Yadin: The Scroll o f the War o f the Sons o f Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford University Press, 1962), 229-242. If the suggestion of P. R. Davies is sound: that IQM XIII 1-13 is a hymn used in a covenant ceremony, this would reinforce the suggestion that God and Satan are described in parallel terms. IQM, The War Scroll From Qumran, Its Structure and History. (Biblica et Orientalia, 32, Rome: The Biblical Institute, 1977), 104-110, esp. 109f.

22IQS VIII 16, CD II 12, IQH VII 7, IX 32, XII 12, XVI 12, XVII 26.

23The text of IQH XVII 26 is fragmentary, but the language is akin to that of IQH VII 6b-7a and may have the same reference: "[I thank Thee, O Lord, for] Thou didst shed [Thy] Holy Spirit upon Thy Servant."

24Wernberg-Moller's observation that there are overtones of Gen. lff in the section is worth noting: "the origin and history of mankind, told on a metaphysical basis, is exactly the gist of the following essay. The echo of Biblical phraseology is not confined to the word twldwt (Lambert), but the use of words like myn (1:14), br' (1:17), and Idt twb lwr I (IV 26) suggests that the whole essay is based on Gen. lff. In these chapters, which deal with the Creation and Fall, our author found a basis for his metaphysical speculations." P. Wernberg-Moller: The Manual of Discipline, Translated and Annotated with an Introduction (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1957). 67 n 42.

25W. H. Brownlee: The Dead Sea Manual of Discipline, Translation and Notes. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Supplementary Studies, 10-12, (New Haven, Conn. 1951), 12. Cf. J. Licht for the statement that toledoth = phusis: "An Analysis of the Treatise on the Two Spirits in DSD," Scripta Hierosolymitana, IV (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1958),89

26So H. G. May: "Cosmological References in the Qumran Doctrine of the Two Spirits and in Old Testament Imagery," Journal of Biblical Literature (henceforth JBL), 82, 1963, 1-14.

27Peter von der Osten-Sacken: Gott und Belial, Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Dualismus in den Texten aus Qumram (Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments, 6, Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1969), 116-120. It should be pointed out that Osten-Sacken does not find pure metaphysical elements in IQS III, adding that these have been interpreted anthropologically, even in III 20-25, with the assistance of the creation tradition derived mainly from IQH (op. cit. 131-139). He believes that III 13 - IV 14 stand at the middle rather than the beginning of the dualistic development (119f).

28A. A. Anderson:.TSS 7. l9fi2 299

29So Wernberg-Moller: The Manual of Discipline 67, n 43. Cf. M. Hengel who though speaking of the Two Spirits as "mediators between God and Man," concludes: "an exclusively psychological and anthropological interpretation of the two spirits is unjustified, though it is unmistakable that the struggle of the two 'powers' finds its climax and its decision over and in man: the apocalyptic drama concentrates on anthropology, without the cosmic aspect being lost." (Judaism and Hellenism, Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period, E. T. Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1974, Volume I, 220). Again: "Essene teaching was concentrated on two apparently divergent focal points, which are, however, in reality closely associated and indeed condition each other: 1. an apocalyptic dualistic interpretation of history which has now-immediately-before the end-entered upon its decisive crisis, and 2. an anthropology and ecclesiology directed at the redemption of the individual, according to which God gives man knowledge of his true situation and introduces him into the vita communis of the Essene 'community,' where alone the Torah is fulfilled: extra ecclesiam nulla salus" (224).

30Translation of Theodor H. Gaster: The Dead Sea Scriptures (New York: Anchor Books, Third Edition Revised and Enlarged, 1976), 48.

31Judaism and Hellenism, I, 220.

32Cf. Hengel: Judaism and Hellenism, I, 220.

33The translation here is Leaney's: The Rule of Qumran and Its Meaning, Introduction, translation and commentary (The New Testament Library, London: SCM Press, 1966), 144.

34The Rule of Qumran, 37.

35Cf. J. Pryke: "The doctrine of the two yetzers of the Rabbinic schools has affinities with the Two Spirits of Qumran. The Rule of Community suggests a stage in the development of the good and evil 'desires' when the doctrine has not been logically worked out" (RQ 5, 1965, 350). It is interesting that IQS V 5, which echoes Deut. 10:16, substitutes yetzer for lebab in the latter. O. J. F. Seitz comments: "It would appear that the compilers of the Manual were already well on the way to a kind of exegesis which discovered in Deut. 10:16 'uncircumcised' as one of the seven Biblical names for the yeser ha-ra.' " "Two Spirits in Man: an Essay in Biblical Exegesis," New Testament Studies (henceforth NTS) 6, 1959-60, 94.

36Cf. W. D. Davies: "it must be doubly emphasized that it is only here that the spirit is ascribed a strictly eschatological function at all in the Scrolls." In Krister Stendahl (ed): The Scrolls and the New Testament (New York: Harper,1957),173. The same point is made by David Hill: Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings, 238.

37For discussion of the problems of translation in these passages see Chaim Rabin: The Zadokite Documents (Second revised edition, Oxford: the Clarendon Press,1958),8,21; A. Dupont-Sommer: The Essene Writings from Qumran, trans. G. Vermes (Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1973), 124, 131. For an ingenious reconstruction of the text of CD II 12, V 21 - VI 1 which takes "those anointed with the holy spirit" to refer to the members of the Qumran community see Wernberg-Moller: The Manual of Discipline, 61-64.

38See J. Murphy O'Connor: "La genese litteraire de la Regle de la Communaute,' " Revue Biblique (henceforth RB) 76, 1969, 528-549, especially 529-532; Jean Pouilly: La Regle de la Communaute ' de Qumran, Son Evolution Litteraire (Cahiers de la Revue Biblique, Paris: J. Gabalda,1976),17-25.

39Accepting the proposed emendation of Wernberg-Moller referred to in n 37. The context forbids Wernberg-Moller's suggestion that the immediate reference in CD II 12 and VI 1 is to the Qumran sectaries. The real point of importance is that the same language is used (in different parts of the texts) to describe both the prophets and the sectaries.

40The distinction is a fine one (as will become even more evident when the role of the Teacher of Righteousness is considered), yet it is fundamental to the whole basis of the thought of the Sect, which may be summarized thus. (a) The Law is the foundation of the community, but the Law requires correct interpretation, and it is the correct interpretation which is the final rule. (b) The spirit who inspired the writing of the Scriptures also inspires their interpretation, and this spirit has been given to the Qumran community alone, in consequence of which their interpretation alone is correct.(c) Since the interpretation of Scripture brings to light things previously hidden, interpretation is a form of revelation. (d) This revelation takes place by the interpretation or study of Scripture, which implies in turn, that to the sect their ongoing practice of exegesis was inspired. On the whole subject see Otto Betz: Offenbarung und Schriftforschung in der Qumransekte (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1960); G. Vermes: "The Qumran Interpretation of Scripture in its Historical Setting" in Vermes: Post-Biblical Jewish Studies (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975), 37-49, especially 39-41; and H. Gabrion: "L'in- terpretation de l'Ecriture dans la litterature de Qumran in W. Haase (ed): Aufstieg und Niedergang derRomischen Welt, II Principat, 19, 1 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1979), 779-848, especially 818-21.

41The two terms are used with precisely this force in Daniel Ch. 2 where Nebuchadnezzar receives the "mystery" (raz) in the form of a dream (verses lff), and seeks its "interpretation" (pesher) (verses 4, 5, etc.) from his astrologers. In the outcome, the meaning of the "mystery" (i.e. its pesher) is revealed to Daniel (verses 18, 19, 25-28, 30. I.e. A "pesher" is a decoded raz). See F. F. Bruce: "The Book of Daniel and the Qumran Community," in E. Earle Ellis and Max Wilcox (edd): Neotestamentica et Semitica (Edinburl2h: T. and T. Clark. 1969). 225-7

42This is not contradicted by the statement in IQpHab VII 5a that God had made known the "mysteries" of the Prophets to the Teacher of Righteousness. This is but another instance of the usage observed in Daniel Ch. 2 (see note 41) that an "interpretation" i9 a "mystery" made known. The "mysteries" were communicated to the Prophets, but not made known i.e. explained to them. They were revealed to the Teacher of Righteousness, thereby becoming "interpretations." For an account of the theory see F. F. Bruce: Biblical Exegesis in the Qumran Texts (London: Tyndale Press,1960), 7-11.

43A. Dupont-Sommer: The Essene Writings, 361.

44Cf. Bonnie P. Kittel: "Because of the eschatological and apocalyptic viewpoint of the scrolls, no identification of the Teacher as the author of the Hodayot is possible. He may have been the author of some or all of the psalms, but it is just as possible that another, or several others of the sect, could have composed them." The Hymns of Qumran, Translation and Commentary (Society of Biblical Literature, Dissertation Series, Chico: Scholars Press, 1981), 10. Contrast F. F. Bruce's early opinion that the personal note found in the Hodayot suggests "that they were first composed to express the experience and devotion of one man, and that one man could hardly have been anybody other than the Teacher of Righteousness" (The Teacher of Righteousness in the Qumran Texts, London: Tyndale Press,1956, 15); with his later and more cautious view that the authorship is a "moot question," and that "it may be safest at this stage to think of the speaker in the Hymns as a representative or spokesman of the community, without being more specific (Biblical Exegesis, 14).

45Gert Jeremias: Der Lehrer der Gerechtzgkeit (Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments, Band 2, Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1963), 168-180.

46G. Jeremias: Der Lehrer, 141 (my translation).

47So Dupont-Sommer: The Essene Writings, 363 (this may well be his meaning in the passage referred to in note 43 as well). Cf. H. Gabrion, concluding an examination of passages from the Thanksgiving Hymns: "Parces transpositions hardies, le Maitre de Justice fait beaucoup plus que se comparer a Moise :il se considere comme un noveau Moise, en tout point identique au premier." Aufstieg und Niedergang 19, 1, 801.

48O. Betz: Offenbarung, 61-8, especially 67-8 for his conclusion.

49Vermes points out that the repeatedly expressed commitment of the sect to "the Law and the Prophets" (e.g. IQS I 2-3a) taken together with their preoccupation with the interpretation of prophecy suggests that the sect subscribed to the view that "the Prophets served as an essential link in the transmission of the Law from Moses to the rabbis" IDSSP. 167).

50Vermes: DSSP, 168.

51For valuable treatments of them see J. Carmignac: "La Notion d'Eschatologie dans La Bible et a'Qumran," RQ 7, 1969, 17-32; and John J. Collins: "Patterns of Eschatology at Qumran" in Baruch Halpern and Jon D. Levenson (edd): Traditions in Transformation, Turning Points in Biblical Faith (Winona Lake: Eisenbraun, 1981), 351-75.

52Gerhard Krodel: "The Functions of the Spirit in the Old Testament, the Synoptic Tradition, and the Book of Acts," in Paul D. Opsahl (ed): The Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978), 19.

53For a statement of the view that the historical Teacher of Righteousness and the eschatological are to be distinguished see A. S. van der Woude: "Le Maitre de Justice et Les Deux Messies de la Communaute de Qumran," in J. van der Ploeg (ed): La Secte de Qumran et Les Orzgines du Christianisme (Recherches Bibliques, IV, Bruges: Desclee de Brouwer, 1959), 121-34, esp. 130ff.

54his remains equally true of John J. Collins' view, which is by no means without cogency, that there were different dimensions of Messianism in the Qumran mentality in keeping with which the expectation of the two messiahs was actualized in the institutions of the sect, and in consequence of which the distinction between the historical present and the eschatological future was blurred. Art. "Patterns of Eschatology at Qumran" (as in note 51), 356-9.

55F. M. Cross catches the correct nuance here, recalling the analogy of John the Baptist. "He is, a forerunner, to be sure, but who? The solution is to name him 'the Voice crying in the Wilderness.' So a new title for the forerunner is sought out to fit John's circumstances. Similarly, to the question, 'Is the Essene master the prophet, the Messiah of Aaron or Israel?' I think we must answer: 'No, he is the Righteous Teacher of Scripture.' " The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Biblical Studies (Revised edition, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 225.

56F. F. Bruce compares the conveying of the mystery to Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 2:27ff. Art. "The Book of Daniel and the Qumran Community" (as in note 41), 226.

57For a review and evaluation of the application of the various eschatological titles to the Teacher of Righteousness see G. Jeremias: Der Lehrer, Kapitel 7, esp. 295-307.

58E. g. IQS III 6; CD V 11, VII 4; IQH IV 31.

59See note 38.

60The Ancient Library of Qumran, 90. The degree to which the organization of the community anticipates that of the end time may well extend much further, as has been argued by J. J. Collins: "Patterns of Eschatology at Qumran," (as in note 51), 356-9.

61Art. "New Light on Temptation, Sin and Flesh in the New Testament," in Krister Stendahl (ed): The Scrolls and the New Testament (New York: Harper, 1957), 110.

62Qumran und das Neue Testament (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, Band II, 1966), 252f.

63Der Lehrer, 185 (my translation).

64Art. "Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Flesh and Spirit" in Stendahl (ed): The Scrolls and the New Testament, 177; cf. 173f.

65See note 52.

66The angelology of the Rule of the War in the context of Jewish angelology as a whole, is analyzed in Y. Yadin: The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford, 1962), Ch. 9.

67W. Eichrodt: Theology of the Old Testament, Vol. I, 60. Some Qumran interpreters have hesitated to affirm that the spirit is hypostatized in the scrolls. Cf. H. Ringgren: "Thus the holy spirit is not as an hypostasis or a 'person in the Godhead' but simply a manifestation of God's saving activity." Again: "the evil spirits in the Dead Sea Scrolls rarely become quite concrete demon figures. The emphasis is on their activity as tempters and seducers, and hence it becomes quite difficult to distinguish them from such concepts as evil states of mind or temptations" (The Faith of Qumran, 89f, 93). This hardly does justice to the language of the Rule of the War. See the quotation from W. S. Lasor in note 21. Such a view is without prejudice to other aspects of Qumran usage which see the spirits as powers at work in men. Cf. H. Braun: Qumran und das Neue Testament, Band II, 251; O. Betz: DerParaklet (I,eiden: E. J. Brill, 1963), Part B, Fursprecher und Furbitte in Der Qumransekte.

68For balanced statements of the prevailing view in intertestamental Judaism see E. Sjoberg art. pneuma, TDNT VI 385f; J. Jeremias: New Testament Theology, Volume I (London: SCM Press, 1975), 80-2

69The textual problem is discussed by B. E. Thiering: " I r and Outer Cleansing at Qumran as a Background to New Testament Baptism," NTS 26.2.1980.267 n 5. The Doint is unaffected whichever rendering is adopted.

70E. g. Whether it involves four stages spread over three years as held by B. E. Thiering: "Qumran Initiation and New Testament B ,," NTS 27, 5, 1981, 616-23; or a two stage novitiate spread over two years, as contended by Michael Newton: The Concept of Purity at Qumran and in the Letters of Paul (Cambridge, 1985), 10-26, esp. 12f.

7lSee IQS VIII 5-10; IX 3-7. Cf. B. Gartner: The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament (Cambridge, 1965); M. Newton-The Concept of Purity at Qumran, 1-9, 14-15.

72It is impossible to discuss the concept of purity at Qumran with any thoroughness here. Suffice it to say that, in my judgment, the views at both extremes are probably overly simple. The contention of B. E. Theiring ("Inner and Other Cleansing at Qumran," NTS 26, 1980, 266-77) that pollution of the flesh was sharply distinguished from pollution of the soul, and that each was cleansed in a different way: the former by washing with water, the latter by the spirit. depends on a forced interpretation of passages such as IQS III 6-9, and ignores the fact that at Qumran moral defilement incurred ritual impurity, as the passage referred to more naturally implies. At the opposite extreme is the view, championed by J. Neusner (The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), that no distinction was made between ritual and moral impurity at Qumran. Cf. M. Newton's conclusion: "Thus, we can see that it is inappropriate to put any weight on the distinction between 'moral' and 'ritual' purity at Qumran" (The Concept of Purity at Qumran, 46). This fails to explain why the penalties for moral offences are regularly greater than those for ritual offences, according to the provisions of the penal code (IQS VI 24 - VII 25). See Deasley: Perfection, 79-87.

73M. Newton: The Concept of Purity at Qumran, 12.

74Newton, following Lieberman, points out that bo is a technical term for conversion.

75He was forbidden to touch "the purity (taharah) of the Many" and to share in the property of the Many. For a discussion of these phrases see Newton: The Concept of Purity, 20-6.

76See IQS VI 18-21.

77"Qumran Initiation and New Testament Baptism," NTS 27, 1981,620.

78See Thiering: "Qumran Initiation," NTS 27, 1981, 615f (with notes).

79To quote the Qumran sect as an illustration of "covenantal nomism" as does E. P. Sanders: Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Philadelphia, 1977), (see p.320 for a summary statement) is therefore an oversimplification. The case is more complex than that, as has been shown. It is somewhat surprising, given his emphasis on the importance of "getting in" in determining the soteriological pattern of a religion, that Sanders offers no sustained treatment of the passages of IQS concerned with that subject. The same is true of the related theme of the spirit, to which there is not a single Qumran reference under the entry 'Spirit' in his Index of Subjects. For the lines of a more adequate understanding of Qumran soteriology in explicit contrast to that of Sanders see Paul Garnet: "Qumran Light on Pauline Soteriology" in Donald A. Hagner and Murray J. Harris (edd): Pauline Studies, (Grand Rapids, 1980), 19-23. Garnet concludes: "We can say that the term 'justification by works of the Law' was meaningful in second-temple Judaism. In spite of the emphasis on the covenant community, obedience was essential if either the community or the individual were to find acceptance with God" (22).

80For an exegesis of these and kindred passages to this effect. see Deasley: Perfection, 91-3, 231-44. It is worth noting that E. P. Sanders, who is anxious to demonstrate that cleansing from transgression takes place within the covenant and who resists interpretations which assert otherwise (e.g. those of Becker and Kuhn), nevertheless concedes that "the covenanter's consciousness of present salvation did not extend to considering that they had already been saved from human frailty . . . One who is in the sect remains in human flesh and participates in the 'sinfulness' of humanity" (Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 281. The entire section on 'Sin as Transgression,' pp 272-81. should be consulted.).

81For a treatment of the eschatology of these passages see Deasley, Perfection, 244-53. Cf. The comments of E. P. Sanders: Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 279f.

82Michael Newton: The Concept of Purity at Qumran, 48.

83See note 52.

84In Stendahl (ed): The Scrolls and the NT, 177. His discussion of IQS IX 3ff on 176 should also be noted.

85Stendahl (ed): The Scrolls and the NT, 173.

86Otto Betz: "Past Events and Last Events in the Qumran Interpretation of History," Proceedings of the World Congress of Jewish Studies, 6, 1, (1977), 31. Cf. his statement that the combining of old and new explains a key principle of Qumran exegesis: that Israel's history shows how God will act with mankind in the eschatological future (33). Also: "At Qumran, the present has eschatological significance, but the new work of God was mainly the subject of hope and the near future. That is why the study of the past events and the prophetic word became so important; there was no other way leading to the future of God" (34).

Edited by Jason Gingerich and Michael Mattei for the
Wesley Center for Applied Theology
at Northwest Nazarene University

© Copyright 2000 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology
Text may be freely used for personal or scholarly purposes, provided the notice below the horizontal line is left intact. Any use of this material for commercial purposes of any kind is strictly forbidden without the express permission of the Wesley Center at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, ID 83686. Contact the webmaster for permission or to report errors.