12 11 12 Different Sects of Judaism Dead Sea Scrolls 100 BCE End of Hellenistic reign Book of Jubilees pluralism in Temple II o Rejection of Hellenism BUT o Produces secular solar calendar SECTS no original documents from P or S until 1947 when Bedouin boy discovers caves containing 2 000 year old manuscripts which are now known as the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls Library by E Pharisees o Political party o Religious and ritual practice biggest source of contention between rabbis and P Ascribed to received Oral Tradition adhere to ancestral tradition o Philosophical school Particular views of afterlife believe in resurrection Josephus concern is to make Jewish society comprehensible to non readers like in Greco Roman world so presented as rival schools of thought o Hasmoneans over time lean toward Pharisees o Rabbis identified more with Pharisees saw them as kindred spirits agreed on many issues with them o New Testament present P as political leaders blames P for Jesus crucifixion Sadducees distinguished in politics religion philosophy o Connected to priestly aristocracy and sympathetic to priests Name comes from Sadok name of ancestor of high priest o Political party Part of council that confers with high priests confers policies o Religious and ritual practices biggest source of contention between rabbis and S o Philosophical school Particular views of afterlife do not believe in resurrection Josephus concern is to make Jewish society comprehensible to non readers like in Greco Roman world so presented as rival schools of thought o Hasmoneans initially follow Sadducees o Rabbis disagreed on many issues with them Essenes purity laws o Live on periphery of society outside main cities of Israel Primary location Dead Sea o Josephus E are third sect of Judaism live in secluded but shared communes strict about Hills above Dead Sea Library Valley below Dead Sea place called Qumran known as place of ancient settlement with evidence of archaeology assumed now to be place where Essenes lived o Dead Sea Scrolls represent the Essenes Important bc first evidence written by the group itself as opposed to P and S o Josephus ideology of the group strictness of and obsession with ritual purity abundance of mikva ot confirmed by 1 writings in DSS 2 archaeology of Qumran fellowship meals substitute for Temple ritual o Emerge 100 BCE o Reaction response to Hasmonean rule see H as corrupt rulers in Judea religious movement protest which is why they move out to middle of desert to establish pure commune and express apocalyptic wish that Jewish authorities H will be overthrown one day o Call themselves Sons Children of Light call everyone else Sons Children of Darkness o Narrate their own history as that of persecution blaming Hasmoneans for persecuting true Jews which as result Essenes had to flee o Refer to as prophet introducing new insightful interpretations of religious texts proud of themselves for following the teachings of the Teacher of Righteousness Antagonist of TOR Man of Lies persecutes and slanders TOR MOL comes out to desert Commune and demand E to violate their Yom Kippur E clearly have their own deviant calendar o Membership is difficult to achieve very selective only open to male adults Most members agriculture craft no commerce weaponry Simple life clothing food celibacy ARCHAEOLOGY of QUMRAN Mikvah obsession with purity Fellowship meal Scriptorium Pantry no set places for living Bathroom extremely private Pottery workshops same unique clay jars found at Qumran and in caves made own pottery to be in control of purity factor DEAD SEA SCROLLS 1 Biblical Manuscripts 2 Other Books Largest group a b Copy of every book of Bible except for Esther c Functions as Bible except their BM do not necessarily agree with each other bc multiple copies of same books a Book of Jubilees b Books of Septuagint in Hebrew 3 Sectarian Books a Books specifically about Qumran s history b Damascus Document i Form of letter addressed to community living in Damascus not city in Syria but reference to far away place metaphor for community of Qumran living on outskirts of Jerusalem ii Part I exhortation charge command by leader instructing his flock urge to separate from wicked short version of group s history and identity warns about 3 great sins of wicked fornication wealth desecration of Temple all those unfaithful to the New Covenant will be punished iii Part II series of regulations how community is supposed to live ritual purity priesthood activities laws about crops Temple Sabbath community management how members join and leave pro celibacy anti polygamy and divorce c War Scroll i Apocalypse description of approaching war between Children of Light vs Dark ii Overthrowing of corrupt regime in Jerusalem revenge fantasy of disempowered iii 7 jubilees 50 years length d Halachik Letter AKA 4QMMT 4th Qumran cave M ktzat Ma aseh Torah i Form of letter written by members of community addressed to Jerusalem establishment ii Set of legal issues over which Qumran leaders disagree with Jerusalem s practices Issues priestly behavior money hungry purity matters forbidden marriages iii Temple defilement by people who are not allowed in sacrificial services use of wrong calendar Jerusalem follows lunar iv Confirms idea that sect s opposition was a matter of ritual law Josephus presents it as big philosophical problem but what matters to Jews at this time is ritual law groups don t split over big philosophical disagreements but over specific laws e Pesher Texts explanations i Practice of interpreting and commenting on Biblical texts ii Indication of how sacred Biblical text was at this point the fact that they could read into it iii Read Biblical books through own emphatically subjective lens understood books as referring to their own history 1 EG Pesher on Habakkuk H is prophet who lives 7th century BCE talks about evil people not during his time but during this time period talks about righteous person saving people during this time period o Teacher of Righteousness only new members of community participate in CONNECTION BETWEEN QUMRAN CHRISTIANITY Most frequently cited books in Qumran and Christianity o Psalms o Deuteronomy o Isaiah Prophetic Texts o Habakkuk about Qumran o Isaiah about Jesus New Covenant Condemnation of Current Jewish Administration o Jesus overturns money table in Temple Structure of Community and Fellowship o Participation of ritual meals View on Domestic Life o Anti divorce o Anti polygamy o Gospel