James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II (152 page)

For Mark 14:58, this
Temple
which Jesus will destroy
is ‘
made with hands
’; while he will go on, using the Habakkuk
Pesher
’s and Paul’s
building
-imagery again
–
‘
in three days to
build another not made with hands
’, language absolutely reflected in Ephesians 2:11’s condescending characterization above of ‘
those called Circumcision in the flesh made by hand
’ as opposed to ‘
the Pe
o
ples in the flesh who are called’ –
by these same ‘
Circumcision
’ – ‘
Uncircumcision’
. Again we have extremely well-crafted and consistent metaphor here. Moreover, the allegorizing polemic, whether embedded in Gospel or Letter, is
devastating
. For Ephesians 2:20
–
22 too, as just noted, ‘
Jesus Christ himself is the Cornerstone
,
in whom the whole building
,
joined together
,
grows into a Holy Temple in the Lord’
. Here again in this
building
,
joined
,
growing
, and
Holy Temple
imagery we have all the alleg
o
rizing metaphor of not only Community Rule but a whole range of other Qumran documents as well.

We have seen how Paul refers to himself as B
uilder
or
‘
Chief Architect
’ in 1 Corinthians 3:9–11. Here Paul, using the me
t
aphor of the Community as ‘
God
’
s building and the Temple of God
’ and himself as the Builder ‘
laying the Foundations well’
, also employs the language of ‘
being saved from the Fire’
, evoked here in 1QpHab X.5 and X.13 as well, cautioning ‘
each should be careful how he builds
’ and concluding, ‘
for no one can lay any other Foundation
,
except
...
Jesus Christ
’ (1 Corinth
i
ans 3:11–15). In Romans 15:20, operating within the same metaphor, he expresses his concern ‘
to preach the Gospel where Christ had not been Named
’ – meaning, it would seem, mainland Greece, Rome, and Spain – so as ‘
not to
build on someone else
’
s Foundations
’
.
51

Not only should the implications of this last symbolism relating to the Community led by the Archbishop James be obv
i
ous, the whole, in fact, relates to the
Stone
,
Cornerstone
’ and
Foundations
imagery widespread at Qumran. This is particularly true of the Hymns, where amid allusion to the James-like ‘
Bulwark of Strength
’ and ‘
a Strong and Tested Wall
’, as well as ‘
the Gates of Protection through which no foreigner can pass
’, we are told about erecting ‘
My building upon Rock
’ (in the previous column this was ‘
setting the Foundation on Rock and tested Stones for a Building of Strength
’), ‘
the Foundations of which are Eternal Principles that will not shake
’
52
– obviously meaning here ‘
the
Torah
’ again. This is immediately followed in the Hymns by two allusions to the
Tongue
, ‘
Lying lips’
, ‘
condemning in Judgement’
, and finally, the protagonist applying both the la
n
guage of ‘
separation
’ (just applied in Ephesians above to ‘
Gentiles in the flesh
,’ but here in Hymns, obviously, in the sense of
Naziritism
) and the language of ‘
the Righteous vs
.
the Wicked
’ to himself,
i.e.
, ‘
separating between
Zaddik
and
Rasha
‘
through me’
.
53

This spiritualized
Temple
imagery is also to be found in the Community Rule, VIII.5–10 and IX.6. There, amid the imag
e
ry of spiritualized ‘
sacrifice
’ and ‘
atonement’
, it is applied to the Community Council as a spiritualized ‘
Plantation
’ and ‘
House for Israel
’, and a spiritualized ‘
Foundation of the Holy of Holies for Aaron’
.
It will be ‘a Tested Rampart
,
a Precious Corne
r
stone
,
whose Foundations shall not rock or sway in their place
,
a Dwelling Place of the Holy of Holies for Aaron with Eve
r
lasting Knowledge of the Covenant of Judgement
, ...
a House of Perfection and Truth in Israel
,
erected as a Covenant of Eternal Laws’
.
This is the imagery of the ‘
Perfect Tabernacle
’ in Hebrews 9:11, followed immediately in Hebrews 9:12 by ev
o
cation of
the Holy of Holies
and
Eternal Redemption
, presaging the laborious discussion of
the New Covenant
,
the First Co
v
enant
, and
the Blood of Christ
that follows. One cannot get a much closer convergence of language than this.

Not only do the Hymns, when speaking of ‘
establishing My Building on Rock’
, also allude to ‘
the Council of Holiness
’ of the Community, but this language of ‘
erecting
’ or ‘
raising
’ in the Habakkuk
Pesher
, also
present in these allusions in the Hymns, is clearly applied in the Community Rule to ‘
the Covenant of Eternal Laws’
. This, in turn, can be nothing other than the D
a
mascus Document’s ‘
House of the
Torah
’ or ‘
the Covenant and the Faith they erected in the Land of Damascus
,
the New Covenant
’
–
reflected, too, in the Habakkuk
Pesher
, labored over so profusely in these passages from Hebrews, and varied so disingenuously in Paul and the Gospels.

All of the foregoing should be clear proof that Paul knew and was using the ‘
building
’ imagery
–
alluded to in this final d
e
scription of ‘
the Spouter of Lying
’ with which the Habakkuk
Pesher
draws to a close
–
and applying it to himself. One cannot imagine marshalling anything stronger. In conclusion, one can only assume that those writing these
Pesharim
at Qumran unde
r
stood this too, just as they seem to have understood ‘
the Lying Spouter
’’s more cosmopolitan analysis of
Salvation
–
as in Paul, probably also based on this passage from Habakkuk 2:4.

‘
Erecting an Assembly on Lying
’ and ‘
Tiring out Many with a Worthless Service
’

We now come to the last part of this all-important
Pesher
. It reads that the person ‘
building
’ this ‘
Worthless City upon Blood and raising a Church
’ or ‘
Assembly on Lying
’ caused ‘
Many
’ to perform ‘
a Worthless Service for the sake of his vaingl
o
ry
’ or ‘
self-glorification’
. The term ‘
Service
’ here in Hebrew is the other kind of ‘
Service
’ or ‘
work
’ – the kind presumably that
Martha
and others indulged in or what Paul several times refers to as
toil
or
labor
and what we have also been translating as ‘
Mission’
. That it differs from ‘
works
’ based in Hebrew on the verb ‘
doing
’ – meaning, therefore, ‘
doing the
Torah
’ – should by now also be clear.

The term ‘
Worthless’
, deliberately applied in the
Pesher
to the
Service
with which the Spouter of Lying ‘
tires out Many
’ or, for that matter, ‘
leads Many astray’
, of course, recapitulates the ‘
Worthless
’ applied to the value of the Spouter’s ‘
building a City upon Blood
’, as well as the ‘
erecting an Assembly
/
Church upon Lying
’ coupled with it. Here it should be clear that the
Worthless Service
is synonymous with the
Worthless City
, so our arguments with regard to this last are sustained. That this is a characterization of the Pauline
Gentile Mission
, the accoutrements of which like
speaking in Tongues
we have described above, we feel is more than clear, especially when it is grouped with all the other usages in the context in which it is presented here.

To recapitulate: Paul uses this word ‘
Worthless
’ or ‘
void
’ twice in 1 Corinthians 15:14 after speaking not only about ‘
hol
d
ing fast’
, ‘
Standing’
, and ‘
being saved
’ in 15:2, but also in 15:5–8 about Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances ‘
to Cephas’
, ‘
to James
’, and ‘
last of all to
(
him
)’ – ‘
the least of the Apostles
’ – expressing the hope that his communities did not ‘
believe in vain
’ (also in 15:2). He even contends in 1 Corinthians 15:10 that he ‘
labored more abundantly than them all’
, twice concluding that ‘
if Christ was not raised from the dead’
,
then
both his ‘
preaching
’ and their ‘
Faith
’ were ‘
worthless’
. In 1 Corinthians 15:58, again using the language of ‘
being strong
’ and ‘
not wavering
’ of the Community Rule, Damascus Document, and Hymns, he summarizes this position, encouraging his followers to ‘
be firm and immovable’
.
Here he repeats the words the Habakkuk
Pesher
is employing in this passage about the Spouter of Lying ‘
leading Many astray
’ almost verbatim: ‘
knowing that your labor is not Worthless in the Lord’
.

In 2 Corinthians 6:1, he speaks of ‘
not receiving the Grace of God in vain
’ and in 9:3, his hope that his ‘
boasting
(about his communities and his labors)
should not have been in vain’
. Significantly, he is referring at this point to ‘
the funds
’ he is collecting from his communities. In Galatians 2:2 he speaks of ‘
running in vain’
, this
a propos
of the Gospel as he teaches it ‘
among the Peoples
’ (
Ethnesin
) – even possibly recapitulating the language Habakkuk 2:2 applies to the Prophet ‘
running
’ with his vision which the Habakkuk
Pesher
interprets in terms of ‘
God making known to the Righteous Teacher all the Mysteries of the words of His Servants the Prophets
’ (
n
.
b
. the use of the word ‘
Servants’
)
54
– and in Galatians 4:11, of ‘
having labored in vain
’ regarding his communities (this, it will be recalled, concerning ‘
keeping
’ feasts, fast
days
, and other ‘
beggarly
’ calendrical reckonings).