James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II (87 page)

Not only does it clearly disprove the notion held by most ‘Consensus Scholars’ that one or another of the Maccabees could be viewed as ‘
the Wicked Priest
’ and confirm my own position that the Scrolls must be seen as
pro
- not
anti
-Maccabean since they exhibit the same ethos as the Maccabeans – most notably, ‘
zeal for the Law
’ and/or ‘
Covenant
’
68
, but it also belies the widely-held parallel misconception that ‘
the Essenes
’
were
‘
peaceful
’.

Maybe so-called ‘
Essenes
’ were
peaceful
or
other-worldly
in Philo’s Egypt, but in Josephus’ Palestine they clearly partic
i
pated, as he has testified and this definitively, in the War against the Romans.
69
Nor can this War, as referred to in numerous Qumran documents, be considered simply a spiritual or symbolic war, as was likewise portrayed by numerous early Qumran scholars
70
(and is still portrayed)
– at least as pictured by the Qumran documents themselves, a portrait for some reason they often incongruously ignore. This too is confirmed by a host of other extremely aggressive and war-like texts in the corpus at Qumran, some more recently released – some of long-standing.
71
Also the expression ‘
Day of Vengeance
’ found at this jun
c
ture in the War Scroll is encountered – again probably definitively – in a climactic section in the Community Rule. Not only does this conclusion contain the all-important John the Baptist-style ‘
this is the time of the preparation of the Way in the wi
l
derness
’, but this expression ‘
the Day of Vengeance
’, itself a synonym for ‘
the Last Judgement
’ and hardly very pacifistic, is linked in that section both to ‘
zeal for the Law
’ and spiritualized ‘
atonement
’ imagery.
72

The implication of finding all these telltale usages linked together not only bears on the aggressiveness of the corpus, but also that the documents in which they occur must all be viewed as more or less contemporary or written at roughly the same time – regardless either of palaeographic or AMS carbon-testing indicators to the contrary
– since they
are all using the same esotericisms, vocabulary, and allude on the whole to the same
dramatis personae
. There cannot be decades or even generations between their respective dates-of-origin as is the implication of most reigning ‘Establishment’ theorizing.

In the Community Rule, the use of this expression, ‘
the Day of Vengeance
’, rises out of the elucidation of a twice-repeated citation of the biblical proof-text (Isaiah 40:3) applied in the Synoptic Gospels to John the Baptist’s ‘
mission
’ in the wilde
r
ness.
73
After alluding to ‘
atoning for the land
’ and ‘
suffering affliction
’ and ‘
being confirmed in Perfection of the Way
’ and ‘
separated as Holy
’ – meaning, in a much underestimated ideology, that this is a ‘
Community of Consecrated Holy Ones
’ or ‘
Nazirites
’ – the text puts this in the following manner: ‘
according to these Rules
,
they shall
separate
from the midst of the hab
i
tation of the Men of Ungodliness and go out into the wilderness to prepare the Way of the Lord
,
as it is written
, “
Prepare in the wilderness the Way of the Lord
.
Make straight in the desert a Pathway for our God
”’ (Isaiah 40:3).
74
The only difference between this ideology and other similar, more familiar ones is that ‘
the Way in the wilderness
’ here is clearly defined as ‘
the study of the
Torah
’ which these ‘
Perfect
’/‘
Separated
’/‘
Consecrated
’/or ‘
Holy Ones
’ are ‘
commanded
to do
’
exactly as it has
‘
been revealed from Age to Age
’ and ‘
as the Prophets have revealed through His Holy Spirit
’.
75

This ‘
Jamesian
’ emphasis on ‘
doing
’, which will be stressed even more forcefully in the Damascus Document and the Habakkuk
Pesher
,
76
is emphasized even further when this ‘
Way in the wilderness
’ ideology is then reiterated in the Community Rule, but it is so important that, even though we have already reproduced parts of this, it is worth repeating the whole: ‘
He shall
do
the will of God in accord with everything that has been revealed from Age to Age
…
to
separate
…
to walk Perfectly
each with his neighbor
…
for this is the time of making a Way in the wilderness
and they shall be instructed in all that has been revealed that they should
do
in this time
,
to
separate
from any man who has not turned his Way from Ungodliness
…
E
v
erlasting hatred for the Men of the
Pit
in a spirit of
secrecy
…. Rather he shall be like a man
zealous for the Law
,
whose time is for the Day of Vengeance
,
to
do
His will in all the
work
of his hands and in all His Kingdom as He Commanded
.’
77
That anyone could even conceive that allusions such as these relate to any century other than the First, even in the face of ‘
external data
’ to the contrary which are all subject to human error – shows a distinct lack of historical prescience or insight.

As already noted, such ‘
sectarian
’ documents, themselves showing every indication of being from the last stages of Qu
m
ran ideology and not the first, must, because of internal consistencies of
sitz im leben
(life setting), vocabulary,
dramatis personae
, and fundamental conceptualities, all have been written at around the same time – other, more external, indications notwit
h
standing. There are, in fact, internal indicators in documents other than the War Scroll and Community Rule, as we have been suggesting, which also show a distinct First-Century provenance – as, for instance, in the Habakkuk, Isaiah, Nahum, and Psalm 37
Pesher
s, the Messianic
Florilegium
, the
Testimonia
, and the like.

The correspondence here between the War Scroll and the Community Rule on the subject of ‘
the Day of Vengeance
’ is the kind of thing one is talking about that implies chronological contemporaneity. It is precise. The same is true of the Hymns, where similar allusions abound and ‘
the Day of Vengeance
’ is rather referred to as ‘
the Day of Massacre
’,
78
but the effect is the same. As the War Scroll ends up putting these things: ‘
No one who is impure in the manner of sexual emissions
(
is to join their camps
),
for the Holy Angels are with their Hosts
.’
79
This allusion to ‘
the Heavenly Host
’ actually being
with
‘
the Walkers in the Way of Perfect Holiness
’ and in their ‘
Desert
’ or ‘
Wilderness Camps
’ is again a pervasive one at Qumran, running through many of the documents, including portions of the Damascus Document as it was found in Cave 4 at Qumran and not necessarily at Cairo.
80

Not only does it have everything to do with the vision of
the Heavenly Host
‘
coming on the clouds of Heaven
’ domina
t
ing the proclamation James is pictured as making in early Church literature, but it absolutely explains
the regime of extreme purity
followed in these ‘
camps
’ where, unlike Paul’s world-view as expressed in his Letters of ‘
all things being lawful to me
’, ‘
Holy
’ was absolutely to be ‘
separated from profane
’ and ‘
the Holy Things
’ were absolutely to be ‘
set up according to their pr
e
cise specifications
,
to love each man his brother as himself
,
to strengthen the hand of the Meek
,
the Poor
,
and the Convert
...
and not to uncover the nakedness of near kin
,
to
keep away
from fornication
...
to
separate
from all pollutions
... (
and
)
walk in these things in Perfect Holiness on the basis of the Covenant of God
in which they were instructed
,
faithfully promising them
they would live for a thousand generations’
.
81
We shall see more about this ‘
thousand generations
’ later but, once again, not only is this the exact opposite of the vision allegedly vouchsafed to Peter in Acts’ ‘
descent of the Heavenly tablecloth
’ episode (more amusing
divertissemen
t?), but in fact, the whole regime of ‘
extreme purity
’ in these ‘
Camps
’ is the very
opposite
of that d
e
lineated in the Gospels as being followed and recommended by their ‘Jesus’, portrayed as accepting of and finally even ‘
kee
p
ing table fellowship with
’ a wide assortment of persons who would otherwise be considered absolutely ‘
unclean
’ at Qumran.

‘
Joining the Heavenly Holy Ones
’ in Hymns, the Community Rule, and the War Scroll

The idea of striving for bodily and spiritual ‘
Perfect Holiness
’ so as
not to pollute the purity of the Host of Heavenly Holy Ones
is a fixture of Dead Sea Scrolls like the War Scroll and Hymns. It is also present in the Community Rule and Damascus Document – again demonstrating the basic homogeneity of all these documents and their contemporaneity – that is, if we have demonstrated chronological ambiance (in our view, the First Century) for one such document employing usages of this kind, then we have basically demonstrated it for most or all such documents employing usages of this kind.

As this ‘
Communion
’
with the Sons of Heaven
is described in Hymns (how much closer to Paul’s more Hellenized co
n
cept of ‘
Communion with the body
’ and ‘
blood of the Christ
’ can one get without actually enunciating it?), which abounds with the imagery of ‘
the soul of the Righteous
’ or ‘
Poor One
’, pre-existent and Divine sonship, and the idea, finally, of ‘
stan
d
ing
’ before God in a state of ‘
Perfect Light for all Eternity
’: ‘
You have shaped him from the dust for an Eternal Foundation and cleansed a straying Spirit of great sin that it may stand on a plain with the Host of the Holy Ones
and
join with the Co
m
munity of the Sons of Heaven
.’
1
Here, too, the imagery of ‘
joining
’ is now being used in a new fashion suggesting ‘
joining with Heavenly Beings
’. This is not unsimilar to Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:16–17 as well, where this imagery is rather applied to ‘
joining with harlots
’ under the general rubric of the favorite Qumran subject ‘
fornication
’ or, later in 12:12–28, where the ‘
joining
’ is now with ‘
the body of Christ
’ – echoed, for example, in Ephesians 2:19–22. In fact,
the latter basically becomes ‘
the Hous
e
hold
’ or ‘
Building of God
’, ‘
a Holy Temple in the Lord
’, and ‘
a Dwelling-place of God in the Spirit
’, all, of course, very alleg
o
rized or spiritualized and very much like what we see developing here in these allusions at Qumran from Hymns.
2

‘
Standing
’ imagery is of course always important, particularly as it implies
Resurrection
and where the Ebionite/Pseudoclementine ideology of the ‘
incarnated Messiah
’ or ‘
Primal Adam
’ as ‘
the Standing One
’ is concerned.
3
Ther
e
fore, too, as we have already suggested as well, throughout much of the imagery one gets in documents such as the Gospels, the subject of ‘
his feet
’ or ‘
footwear
’ becomes of such interest – presumably the only part of ‘
the Standing One’
’
s
body visible to a mere mortal – as, for instance, John 1:26–27, also evoking ‘
standing
’ imagery, on even John the Baptist being ‘
unworthy to untie His
(Jesus’)
shoe lace
’ (itself probably having something to do with ‘
the Shiloh
’ imagery).
4

In the next column of Hymns, following evocation of this ‘
War
’
of the Heavenly Holy Ones that will scourge the earth until the appointed Destruction
, its author again describes God as
manifesting Himself in his Power
(the Ebionite/Elchasaite ‘
Great Power
’ imagery again) ‘
as Perfect Light
’.
5
This comes right before yet another passage about ‘
the Way of Man
(‘
Enosh
’ – the name applied to John the Baptist in Mandaean literature)
and the Perfection of the Way of the Son of Man
’ (‘
Adam
’ – J
e
sus’ designation in Scripture) and reference, once again, to ‘
standing
’
before God and being
‘
established victoriously
’
forever
.
6

This idea of ‘
Victory
’ is encountered throughout the Hymns and we have already called attention to how Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 15:54–57 in discussing ‘
the First Man
’
and
‘
the Last Adam
’ – a discussion in which he, once again, reverses the ‘
swallowing
’ imagery so widespread and intrinsic to the Qumran mindset.
Aside from a clear play by Paul on the sort of la
n
guage being used in the Habakkuk
Pesher
to describe ‘
the Righteous Teacher
’ and his followers among ‘
the Poor
’ being ‘
swa
l
lowed
’ by ‘
the Wicked Priest
’ (the sense there, as with the ‘
eaten
’ that follows, clearly being ‘
destroyed
’) and ‘
the Wicked Priest’,
in turn,
being
‘
swallowed
’
by
‘
the Cup of the Right Hand of God
’, a synonym for ‘
the Cup of the Wrath of God
’
7
– for Paul now, it is ‘
death being
swallowed up in Victory
’. Paul means of course by this, ‘
the Victory
’ which the Lord Jesus Christ
gives to his followers over death
and
not the victory of the Heavenly Host over God
’
s enemies
as in the War Scroll and other such proclamations. Here Paul is at his polemical, allegorical, and triumphant best.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51, using the ‘
secrecy
’ imagery of his opponents – just alluded to in Hymns above and in the Comm
u
nity Rule earlier –
‘
the Heavenly Secret
’ or ‘
Mystery
’ being referred to is, again, the ‘
Victory
’ over death and the transformation of the body into the more supernatural substance of Heavenly Being. Paul uses the same language in 2 Corinthians 2:14–15 to express the ‘
Triumph
’ or ‘
Victory in the Christ
’ (
thus
!
) exemplified by those who
‘are a
sweet perfume
of Christ to God
’, ‘
making the
odour
of the Knowledge
(‘
Gnosis
’)
of him manifest in every place
’ (more Hellenizing word-play?).

Again, this language of being ‘
a sweet perfume
’ or ‘
odour
’ is the same as the Community Rule applies to the ‘
building
’ and ‘
atonement
’ activities of its Community Council (composed of ‘
Twelve Israelites
’ and ‘
Three Priests
’ – the ‘
Three Priests
’ b
e
ing a spiritualized ‘
Holy of Holies
’ or ‘
Inner Sanctum for Aaron
’), namely, their being ‘
a sweet smell of Righteousness and Pe
r
fection of the Way
’.
8
Again, the analogue with Paul should be patent. In exploiting the imagery – as Paul exploits it in 1 Cori
n
thians and Ephesians – of this ‘
Council
’ as both ‘
House of Holiness
’/‘
Temple for Israel
’ and ‘
Holy of Holies for Aaron
’, the Community Rule then describes this
Council
– like
the Righteous Teacher
in the Habakkuk
Pesher
and
the Sons of Zadok
in the Damascus Document – as ‘
paying the Wicked their reward
’
9
– that is, just like these last, they participate in ‘
the Last Judgement
’.

The Community Rule also applies a whole series of descriptions to this ‘
Council
’ which precede and, as it were, serve to introduce its twofold quotation of ‘
the Way in the wilderness
’ citation from Isaiah 40:3 and its exposition – ending, not insi
g
nificantly, in evocation of ‘
being
Zealots for the Law
and the
Day of Vengeance
’. These include: ‘
an Eternal Plantation
’ (a metaphor also used at the beginning of the Damascus Document to describe
the
‘
Visitation
’
by God that caused the Messianic
‘
Root of Planting to grow out of Israel and Aaron
’
10
); ‘
a House of Perfection and Truth for Israel
’ (again the ‘
House
’ or ‘
building
’ i
m
agery found as well in Paul
11
); ‘
a tried Bulwark
’ (the metaphor applied to James, both along with and paralleling the ‘
Oblias
’ designation in early Church descriptions of his role in the Jerusalem of his day); ‘
a Precious Cornerstone which would not shake or sway on its Foundations
’ (imagery from Isaiah 28:16 also applied to Jesus in the Gospels and in Ephesians 2:20
12
); and ‘
an acceptable free will offering
’ – totally spiritualized ‘
sacrifice
’ and ‘
atonement
’ and the same imagery we have already seen Paul apply to Epaphroditus in Philippians 4:18, but exactly parallel to what he and all others seem to have been applying to Jesus in early Christianity and ever after as well.

In these climactic metaphors in the Community Rule, the member
of this ‘
Council
’ would ‘
keep Faith in the Land with steadfastness and a humble spirit and atone for sin by doing Judgement
and
suffering affliction
’.
13
This Council was also to ‘
make atonement for the Land and render Judgement on Evil
’ (this is the same ‘
Judgement on Evil
’ we shall encounter in the Habakkuk and Psalm
37
Pesher
s below
14
) – the imagery once again of both ‘
atonement
’ and participation in ‘
the Last Judg
e
ment
’. It was also, in further ‘
sacrifice
’ and ‘
spiritualized atonement
’ imagery, to ‘
offer up a
sweet perfume
with Everlasting Knowledge of the Covenant and Judgement’
(this is replaced by the offering up of the ‘
sweet perfume of Christ
’ in
2
Corinthians
2:14-15
).
Where the first part of this last metaphor is concerned, one should – as just signaled – also have regard to Paul’s d
e
scription of Epaphroditus (his ‘
brother
,
fellow-worker
,
and soldier
’ in Philippians 2:25) as ‘
a sweet smell
,
an odour of an a
c
ceptable free will offering
,
well-pleasing to God’
(4:18).
15
The parallel of course is precise.