Summary: A recent flurry of interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls creates opportunity for fresh evaluations.
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. – Isaiah 40:3 (ESV)
Revisiting the Essenes: A Brief Update on Qumran
Just one mile from the Dead Sea – the lowest place on earth by elevation, a lonely, isolated, and abandoned settlement sits in the dust. The landscape is famously rugged, and the harsh climate makes survival difficult. Yet, it is precisely because of this remote solitude that a group of ascetic Jews established a monastic community here in antiquity.
The name of the place is Qumran, and within view of the settlement there are caves long-forgotten until 1947 when they began yielding one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. The Qumran Caves Scrolls, also known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, were discovered by accident when teenage Bedouin shepherds entered one of the caves reportedly after hearing the sound of breaking pottery from a thrown rock.
The scrolls and their fragments were preserved because they had been contained in earthenware storage jars, some of which were still intact. They were made up of various religious writings including extensive sections of books from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) that were the oldest known copies by about 1,000 years. Although the Qumran settlement had previously been explored in the 19th century, the caves and their treasures had remained unknown.
‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. – Jeremiah 32:14 (ESV)
The inhabitants of the community at Qumran have long been connected to the Jewish religious sect known as the Essenes. This view has dominated since Qumran Cave excavating pioneer Roland de Vaux published his findings in Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls in the middle of the 20th century. Recently, however, new questions have surfaced about the source of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
These include: “Why were they placed in the caves, and who put them there?” “What was the real identity and purpose of the Qumran settlement? Was it really even religious in nature, or could it have been a fortress or even a commercial site?” “Is there even an undisputed connection between the settlement and the scrolls in the caves?” “Why are we addressing these issues now?” These are some of the questions that we will consider in this 2-part Thinker series.
A Flurry of New Interest in Qumran & The Scrolls
In the Spring of 2020, Biblical Archaeological Review published a new article by Professor Sidnie Crawford White on the presence of women at Qumran. Since then, they have publicized a new collection of past articles written on the subject over the decades. With recent revelations and publicity connected to high profile Dead Sea Scroll forgeries, it seems that interest in the subject is as vibrant as ever. To give our readers a bit of insight, below are some quick highlights for the renewed discussion. [1]
A Brief Perspective
Since the discovery of the first scroll, numerous excavations have occurred at the Qumran site. Though questions still linger about the identity of the mysterious group, the consensus has not changed that much. In fact, the best scholarship seems to be confirming the basic idea of what has traditionally been held. That is, the Essenes were the inhabitants of Qumran and were the ones responsible for the placement of the scrolls in the caves.
An example of an early perspective that has remained compelling is in the form of an often-repeated quote by famed Harvard Professor, Frank Moore Cross. He has famously said,
“The Essenes of Qumran were a community formed and guided by a party of Zadokite priests. In the latter half of the second century B.C., having lost hope of regaining their ancient authority in the theocracy of Jerusalem and under active persecution by a new house of reigning priests, they fled to the desert and, finding new hope in apocalyptic dreams, readied themselves for the imminent judgment when their enemies would be vanquished and they, God’s elect, would be given final victory in accordance with the predictions of the prophets. “[2]
Though the kernel of Cross’ assertion remains strong, many have made attempts to update this thinking. Here are a few of the most important.
Differing Opinions
One of the components of Cross’ view that is most credibly challenged is connected to the idea that the Essenes were from the Zadokite priests. Some have strongly asserted that the community was comprised of one of the other two major groups of the time – the Sadducees, or perhaps the Pharisees. In the spirit of renewed investigation, innovation, or just outright speculation, the very purpose of the Qumran site has been the subject of reinterpretation sometimes bordering on the wild.
Some have argued that Qumran was a fortress; others that it was a site for commercial pottery production. In the latter two scenarios, it is postulated that the caves were used to protect scrolls transferred from the library at Jerusalem for safe-keeping prior to or during The First Jewish-Roman War (AD 66-73), or because of the Roman siege of the Temple (AD 70). Some have gone so far as to speculate that Christians were somehow involved. Many of these explanations are just not compelling and are supported with very little or no evidence. However, there are some things that we know for sure. (Invisible letters have been discovered on Dead Sea Scrolls fragments)
A Quick Timeline
Although the exact time of the community’s origin is unknown, its beginning can be traced to somewhere in the late second century BC. This was during the era of the independent Kingdom of Judea, established by the Maccabees and their successors, the Hasmoneans. The move was made possible by the Maccabean revolt, which began in 167 BC, when the Jewish priest Judas Maccabeus rejected the attempt of the Seleucid (Greek) King Antiochus IV Epiphanes to compel the Jews to adopt Greek worship. Judas refused the order in a dramatic showdown and started a rebellion that ultimately allowed for the development of a free or independent Judean Kingdom that lasted for around a century. (Discovery of underwater fortress is evidence of the Maccabean revolt)
It appears from ancient sources that at some point in the chaos, late in the second century, a small number of Jewish sectarians known as the Essenes made their elopement to the desert. Here they founded a community that evidence shows remained until AD 68. The historian Pliny wrote,
To the west the Essenes have put the necessary distance between themselves and the insalubrious [unfavorable] shore. They are a people unique of its kind and admirable beyond all others in the whole world, without women and renouncing love entirely, without money, and having for company only the palm trees. Owing to the throng of newcomers, this people is daily reborn in equal number; indeed, those whom, wearied by the fluctuations of fortune, life leads to adopt their customs, stream in in great numbers. — Pliny (Natural History 5.17, 4)
The other relevant ancient historians, Josephus and Philo, affirm the general idea offered by Pliny. Later investigation and archaeological evidence seem to confirm this ancient view. For example, since the discovery of the scrolls, excavations of the Qumran facilities have established that the total population could not have accommodated many more than about 200 residents. (See the story on one of the last Dead Sea Scrolls deciphered)
The cemetery contains an estimated 1200 burials, 93 of which have been exhumed. Of these, none were children and all but nine were male. This finding clearly suggests a male only, or nearly so, community. Additionally, the structures at Qumran are all of a communal nature, meaning that typical family units were absent, though there was obviously at least some association with women.
In fact, this is probably the greatest obstacle cited by critics of the Essene hypothesis. Though Essene teaching was stringent, it did not characteristically call for celibacy. This community appears to have been set up for a male only occupancy, though the cemetery excavations seem to reveal that this was not exclusively the case. Perhaps the ambiguity on the issue of celibacy forms part of the explanation for a mostly, though not exclusively, male presence.
In the first case, as argued by Jodi Magness, clay scroll jars found in the settlement’s dumps match the chemical composition, shape (morphology), and style of those found in the caves. She explains,
“the same pottery types typical of the first century BCE and first century CE are found in the settlement and in the scroll caves. These include bowl-shaped lids, ovoid jars, and cylindrical jars, the last represented by dozens of specimens at the site and in the surrounding caves but virtually unattested elsewhere” [3]
In other words, the jars housing the scrolls discovered in the caves were sourced in the Qumran community, and are virtually absent outside the Qumran community. This singularity held in common between the jars in the caves and those in the settlement make other options untenable. The conclusion: the Qumran community was definitively responsible for the placement of the scrolls in the caves. However, this is only part of the evidence on this point. There is much more to consider, but that will have to wait until Part 2. Until then, KEEP THINKING!
References
1. Crawford, Sidnie White. “Were There Women at Qumran?” Biblical Archaeology Review 46, no. 2 (2020): 48–53.
2. P. 334. Frank Moore Cross. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973.
3. P. 186. Jodi Magness. “The Connection Between the Site of Qumran and the Scroll Caves in Light of the Ceramic Evidence,” in Marcello Fidanzio, ed., The Caves of Qumran: Proceedings of the International Conference, Lugano 2014, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 118 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. 184-193.
TOP PHOTO: View of a Qumran cave from the settlement. (credit: Brian Rickett)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
