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Hearing 4Q225: A Case Study in Reconstructing the Religious Imagination of the Qumran

CommunityAuthor(s): Robert A. KuglerSource: Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 10, No. 1, Authorizing Texts, Interpretations, and Laws atQumran (2003), pp. 81-103Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4193265.

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HEARING4Q225:

A

CASE

STUDY

IN

RECONSTRUCTING

HE

RELIGIOUS MAGINATION

OF THE

QUMRAN COMMUNITY

ROBERTA. KUGLER

Lewis &

Clark College

To determine the Qumrancovenanters' religious views, scholars

have

usually relied

on

sectarian

texts, compositions thought

to

have

been

authoredby

and

for

communitymembers.'

The

premise

is that

nonsectarianworks are

diluted

by

the ideas

of

other

Jews,

and

are thus

an

unreliable

measure

of the

covenanters'beliefs.2

Thus

the

approach

to

reconstructing

he

faith of

Qumran

has

been to determinewhich

texts

were

authored

n

the

community,3 nalyzethem for the

ideas

their

authors ntended o

communicate,and

assume

those ideas

express the

religious

attitudes

of

the

communityas

a

whole.

If we are afterthe religionof the community,he problemwith this

approach

s

apparent.

The

ideas

of the

authors

of

sectarian exts

can

hardly be counted alone as evidence of the larger

community'sreli-

gious imagination.

To

achieve

our

goal using

sectarian exts

we

need

some

evidence

for how

the communityresponded

o

receiving

them.

Absent that we require

some idea of the community's

understanding

before

receiving them;then

we

could at least

consider

how

the reli-

gious notions and literarythemes and genres the

community

already

held dear

were

taken

up

and

repeated

and

challenged by sectarian

texts and from that we might gauge the community's response to

'

This approach is true

of

H. Ringgren, The Faith

of Qumran: The

Theology of

Qumran (expanded edition; New York:

Crossroad,

1995); but see

now

some of the

essays in Religion in

the Dead Sea

Scrolls

(eds J.J. Collins

and

R.A.

Kugler;

Grand

Rapids, MI:

Eerdmans, 2000).

2

See,

for

example,

J.

Charlesworth,

"Introduction

to

the

Expanded Edition: The

Theologies of the

Dead Sea Scrolls," in Ringgren, The

Faith of Qumran, xv-xxi, who

warns against using anything but

"Scrolls Composed at Qumran" to

reconstruct the

religion of

Qumran.

I

The classic essay on the question is C. Newsom, "'Sectually Explicit' Literature

from

Qumran,"

The Hebrew Bible

and Its Interpreters (eds W. Propp et

al.; Winona

Lake, IN:

Eisenbrauns, 1990) 167-87.

?

Koninklijke

Brill NV, Leiden, 2003

Dead Sea Discoveries 10, 1

Also available

online

-

www.brill.nl

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82

ROBERT A.

KUGLER

them.Yet preciselythe characteristichatmakestexts sectarian-their

uniqueness o

the

community-often

precludesa glimpse

intothe

prior

expectationsof

those who

received

them.

Dependentas

we areon

tex-

tual

evidence,

thereis no

antecedent

omposition

hat

we can

assume

the

group to have

known

and

recognizedas

having

been adapted

by

a work

like

the

CommunityRule. Thus

if our

search for the

commu-

nity's

religious views

is

trulydependent

on sectarian

exts

alone, it

is

at a

dead end for

lack of

the sort of

comparative vidence

necessary

to

measure

he

community'sresponse

to

such

compositions.

Fortunatelywe need not dependsolely on sectarian exts. Parabib-

lical

scrolls do

permit

us to

measure the

community's

response

to

them

because they

were built from

literature he

group knew

better

than

any

other

and

to

which

we

have

clear and

abundant

ccess, the

Jewish

Scriptures.Thus

we

have a means of

constructing

he

Qumran

audience's

expectations

hat

were

shapedby

receiving

the

Parabiblical

scrolls.

Additionally, he

Parabiblical exts

(along with

other

scrolls)

betray

the

mainly oral-aural

dynamics

of

text

reception

at

Qumran,

permitting

an

even more

precise

reconstruction

f the

reception

expe-

rience here.Consequently,yreading heParabiblicalextsfromQumran

with

the help

of reception

heory,which

appreciates he

value of ante-

cedent exts and

oral-auralmodes

of

reception,

we

are able

to shed new

light on

the

community's

religious

magination.Before

proving his

by

analysis

of

a Parabiblical

croll from

Qumran, explain

the

reception

theory of

H.R. Jauss and

offer evidence

that

texts at

Qumran

were

received

as

oral

performances.

I.

The

Reception Theory

of

H.R.

Jauss

and

the

Importance

of

the

Oral-Literate

Context at

Qumran

Jauss's

curiosity

about

what makes

texts

into classics led

him

to

devise

his

historically-oriented

eception

heory.4

auss

determined

hat

classics

achieve their status

because

they

effectively

build

on

and

4 H.R. Jauss,Toward an

Aesthetic of Reception

(Theoryand

History

of

Literature

2;

Minneapolis,MN:

University

of

Minnesota

Press,1982);

see

also

Jauss' brief expo-

sition of his argument n "LiteraryHistory as a Challengeto LiteraryTheory,"New

Directions n

LiteraryHistory

ed.

R.

Cohen;Baltimore:

The JohnsHopkins

University

Press,

1974) 11-41. It is

important o note

that Jausswas not only

interested n estab-

lishing the

characteristics f classics. In

fact,

he

arrived at that inquiryby

way of

responding o what he saw as

the failed

essentialismand determinism

f the then-dom-

inant Formalistand

Marxistschools of

thought

n

literary heory.


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HEARING

4Q225

83

transform he genres,texts, and traditions hat alreadyexercise power

over their

recipients'

imaginations. Classics are embraced

because

they changetheir

audience's

expectations,

creating

n

them new liter-

ary,

social,

or

religious

views. From these

observations auss theorized

that we can know a

past audience's

response

to a

given

text

if

we can

first

construct rom the text and other

evidence the audience's

iterary,

religious,

social,

cultural,

and

political

"horizonof

expectations"

prior

to

receiving

he text.

Thenwe

may

ask how the new

composition

djusted,

challenged,

or subverted

hose

expectations,

and from

that we derive

a sense of how the audience was transformedby experiencingthe

composition.

The

Parabiblical crolls are well

suited to

this sort of

analysis.They

build from

Scripture, he

very

text

by

which

the covenanters

under-

stood themselves to have

been

shaped.

Thus in

Scripture

we

have

the

basic evidence we

need to construct he

group's

literary

and

religious

horizonof

expectations rior

o

receiving he

Parabiblical

exts.5Moreover,

the

rest of the

scrolls (and

occasionallythe

archaeologyof

Qumran

and the

classical

sources)

permit

further nsightinto

the

literary,reli-

gious, and social expectationsof the group.

Magnifying the

significance

of the

Parabiblical exts'

reliance on

Scripture

s

the likelihood

that the

people of

Qumran,

hough prob-

ably

highly

iterate y

comparison ith

otherJews of the

era,6

tillreceived

most of their texts

as oral

presentations.7

Historiansof

religion and

I

On the

complicating factor of

"multiple

literary

editions" of

biblical books at

Qumran,

ee n. 24

below;

for the

concept

of

variant

iterary

editions

of

biblical

books

at

Qumran,

ee E.

Ulrich,

The

Dead

Sea Scrolls and the

Origins

of

the Bible

(Grand

Rapids, MI:Eerdmans,1999), esp. pp. 3-162.

6

M.

Bar-Ilan,

"Illiteracy

n the

Land of Israel in the First

Centuries

C.E.,"

Essays

in the

Social Scientific

Study

of Judaism and

Jewish

Society (eds

S.

Fishbaneand S.

Schoenfeld

with A.

Goldschlager;

Hoboken,

NJ:

KTAV,

1992)

2.46-61, estimates

Jewish

literacyin Judea in

the

first centuriesCE at no

more than three

percent.

That

literacy

at

Qumranwas

higher than that seems

certain.

Speaking

n favor of

high

lit-

eracy

at

Qumran re

(1)

the

proportion f

likely

occupantsat the site

(fifty

to

two hun-

dred)

to

the numberof texts

found in the

caves

(eight

hundred); 2) the

production f

scrolls at

the site; and

(3)

the

likelihoodthat

many

of

the inhabitantswere

somehow

associated

with the

Temple

(on the

high

literacy of

temple

personnel,

see W.

Harris,

Ancient

Literacy

[Cambridge,

MA: Harvard

University

Press,

1989]).

7

Predominantly ural

receptioneven in

high-literacy

contexts

was

not unusual n

early Judaism; ee J. Crenshaw,"ThePrimacyof Listening n Ben Sira's Pedagogy,"

Wisdom,YouAre

My Sister:

Studies n

Honorof

RolandE.

Murphy,

. Carm.,

On the

Occasion

of His

Eightieth

Birthday

(ed. M.

Barrd;CBQMS

29;

Washington,DC:

Catholic

Biblical Associationof

America,

1997) 172-87, who notes

that even "within

canonical

wisdom...

instruction ook the

form

of

oral

delivery" 183).

On the

domi-

nance

of

vocal over

silent

reading in

antiquity,see P.

Achtemeier,"Omne

verbum


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84

ROBERT A. KUGLER

oral formulaic analysts have pointed out that in such oral-literate

contexts people

have more than

a vague acquaintance

with their

Scriptures;hey

usually have them

memorized, nternalized

s it were.8

Even

when echoes of Scripture

re barelywhispered,

he

full scope of

a story's testimony

is evoked as well

in the recipient's magination.9

Thus the

covenanters' experience

of Scripture

reconfigured

n the

Parabiblical

exts

would have been that much

more effective in

shap-

ing theirreligious

imagination,or

we can reasonably

xpect that liv-

ing in an oral milieu

such

as that

of Palestine around he turn

of the

era they would have been deeplyattunedand responsive o the echoes

of Scripture

n

extrabiblical

exts.

The

evidence for this oral-literate

milieu

at Qumran s consider-

able.'0

First,

if it was not merely an expedient

o save the scrolls

from

Romanmischief,"

heirconcentration

n a handful f cavesspeaksagainst

the scrolls' use

for private

reading

and in favor

of

the

strict

oversight

of manuscripts ypical

of groups

that share their texts

in

public,

com-

munal

settings.'2

The lack

of

space

in

the

community

ite for

solitary

reading and the prominence

of a room

most

agree

to have been a

refectorywhere publicrecitationof texts occurredas often as twice a

day

also indicate

that

texts were shared

publicly

at

Qumran."'

sonat:

The New

Testament

and the Oral Environment

of Late Western

Antiquity,"

JBL

109 (1990)

3-27;

but see also M. Slusser,

"Reading

Silently

in

Antiquity,"

JBL

Ill

(1993)

499; and

F.D. Gilliard,

"More Silent Reading

in

Antiquity:

Non

Omne

Verhum

Sonahat,"

JBL 112

(1993)

689-94.

8

W.A.

Graham,

Beyond the Written

Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture

in the

History

of

Religions (New

Haven,

CT: Yale

University

Press, 1989);

and

J.M. Foley,

Immanent

Art: From

Structure

to

Meaning in the

Traditional

Oral Epic

(Bloomington,

IN:

Indiana University Press, 1991).

9

Foley, Immanent

Art,

calls this

"metonymy,"

and

R. Hays, Echoes

of Scripture

in

the Letters of

Paul

(New

Haven,

CT: Yale University Press,

1989),

refers to

the same

phenomenon

as "echo."

Hays relies,

in turn,

on J. Hollander,

The

Figur-e

of

Echo:

A

Mode of Allusion

in Milton and

After

(Berkeley,

CA: University

of California Press,

1981).

'('

Pace the startling

claim

of L.I. Levine,

The Ancient

Synagogue:

The First

Thousand Years

(New

Haven,

CT: Yale University

Press, 2000)

61,

that "despite the

centrality

of

liturgical

settings

as

reflected

in

the

scrolls,

nothing

whatsoever

is

said

about

the

public

reading

of Scriptures"

at Qumran.

''

The Seleucid desecration

of

the Temple's

holy

books (I Macc.

1:56)

shows there

was reason to

fear

imperial attacks

on sacred

texts, and

Josephus'

report

that Titus

treated

the

Scriptures

of the Jews

as a prize

to be coveted

(War

7:150) proves

such

anxieties were well founded.

12

Eighty-five

percent of

the scrolls

were discovered

in Caves 1, 4,

and

11. 2

Macc.

2:13-15 confirms

the Jewish practice

of

maintaining

collections of texts

that served

the

larger

community.

On

holding

libraries in low-literacy contexts,

see

Bar-Ilan,

"Scribes

and Books," 32-37.

'3

See IQS 6:8-9;

IQSa

2:11-22;

CD

14:3-6. That

synagogue

spaces

doubled

as


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HEARING

4Q225

85

Second, the scrolls testify in their own words that texts were

received

aurallyby the

community's

membership.

1QS

6:7

requires

that

-lnri

R mon

nl*'t b:

n'"'w

nM

-rr:

riunp'

m-n

rnn": :i

on,

"the

Many shall

be on

watch

togethera

third of

every night

of

the

year

to read in

the Book and to

interpret

he law

and

bless

together."

That

the verb

sRij1

efers to

oral

presentation

s

clear

from

IQSa 1:4 and

1QM 15:4.

lQSa

1:4

urges

that at the com-

munity

meal

the priests

nM-:n

'pirt

5J[:]

nM[

tM2n,'7

s

p(,)

"readinto [their

ea]rs

all

the statutes

of

the

covenant,"

and 1QM 15:4

indicatesthat when the battle betweenthe sons of light and sons of

darkness

gets

underway he

high

priest

should

milmrl]R::TC)

"read

into [their

ea]rs"

the

psalm for the time

of war. Cave 4

manuscripts

of the

DamascusDocument

4Q266

5 ii

1-3;

4Q267

5 iii

1-5;

4Q273

2

1)

also

prove that the

Torah

was read

aloud for the

assembly: t for-

bids

sacerdotalistswhose

speech is

impeded to read

(R-1p)

rom

the

Book of the

Torah

to the

assembly, lest

they

rnlm'z

': ro",

"cause

error in

a

capital

matter."Still

more

proof of the

oral

characterof

tcp,

"reading"

omes

from

4Q264a 1

5-8 (//

4Q421

13

+ 2

+ 8

2-4),

a passage on prohibited and permissible kinds of speech on the

Sabbath.'4

t

includes

among

forbidden

orms of

speech

enunciatinga

text to

proofread it

(znn::

rl-pt

m70

MT'=

mIr

t).

lecture

halls and

diningrooms is clear

from

an

inscription n the

Caesarea

synagogue

that

reads,

"Beryllos

the

head of the

synagogue

and the

administrator,

he son

of

Iu[s]tus,

made

the mosaic work

of the

triclinium rom his

own means"

(M.J.

Segal

Chiat,

Handbook

of

Synagogue

Architecture

[BJS

29;

Chico,

CA:

Scholars

Press, 1982]

157). And the practiceof publicreadingof Scripturen the synagogue s evident from

Jesus

and Paul

proclaiming he Torah

and the

Prophetsaloud in

the

synagogues of

Nazareth

and

Antioch

(Luke

4:17-19; Acts

13:15), and a

first-century E

inscription

found in

Jerusalemwhich

shows that a

certain

Theodotus

endowed

the

construction f

a

synagogue "for

the

reading

of the

Torah and the

studying

of

the

commandments"

(Chiat,

Handbook,

202). Philo observes

that Jews

gathered n the

synagogue to

hear

the

Scriptures ead and

expounded

Legat.

115, 156; Mos. 2

215-16),

and

describes

the

corresponding

racticeof the

Essenes in detail

(Prob.

81-82).

Josephus

records hat

Moses

instituted

he practice

which

continued o

Josephus'

own

day

of

setting

aside

time each week

for

Jews to

desist from all

labors o "hear

the law

and

learn t

exactly"

(Ag. Ap.

2:175,

178). On the

centralityof the

public

readingof

Scripture

n

the

syn-

agogue, see A.

Shinan,

"Synagogues in

the Land of

Israel: The

Literature

of

the

AncientSynagogue and SynagogueArchaeology,"SacredRealm:The Emergenceof

the

Synagogue in the

Ancient World

(ed. S.

Fine; New

York:

Oxford

University

Press,

1996)

130-52;

Levine, Ancient

Synagogue,

135-43.

1'

For

heconnection

etween

4Q264a

and4Q42

1, see E.

Tigchelaar, Sabbath

Halakha

and

Worship in

4QWays

of

Righteousness:

4Q421

11

and

13+2+8

//

4Q264a

1-2,"

RevQ 18

(1998)

359-72.


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86

ROBERT A. KUGLER

Formalscribal characteristics f the scrolls also indicatetheir com-

position for

oral presentation.The preference n many

manuscriptsor

full

spellings

is

perhaps most easily explained as a scribal

aid to

properoral presentation f texts. For

example, in 4Q225 (the

text we

examine below to test this approach o

reconstructinghe

Qumran eli-

gious imagination) there is a strong

preference for plene spellings.'5

Anothermorphologicaleature f 4Q225

thatmay ndicate t wasintended

for

aural

reception

is

a

variantspelling

of

Isaac's name.'6

While it

usually occurs with

a "in,jpnl ,

in

2 i

9, after the

word

Inv,

"his

name,"the scribe employeda samekh nstead,

pFro,

perhaps o avoid

graphicconfusionand

mispronunciation

n

light of the previous

word's

use of a shin.

H.

Gregory Snyder recently demonstratedhat the vacats of some

pesharim

also

indicate

that

they

were inscribedwith oral

presentation

in

mind.'7By

this measure, he vacats

of

4Q225 prove

to be

additional

evidence

that

it was

intended

or oral declaration.

For

instance,

n

2

i

4 an

open vacat follows the word

'n"m. Without

the

break

after it,

the

compound

word could

easily

be

taken

as

the

beginning

of

a new

sentence, not the apocopated ast clause of the previousone. A sec-

ond

clear

vacat

appears

n 2

ii 13. It

is

peculiar

because

it

interrupts

a

clause,

intervening

between

MlrOcDOs1

and

-1:s.

In this

case the

vacat

may

have been

intended

o

prompt

a dramatic

pause

in

recita-

tion,'8

for

as

we

shall

see,

the overall effect of

4Q225

was

likely

to

have

prompted onfidence

that the

evil

powers opposing

the

commu-

nity

were in

the

final

analysis impotent. Thus

the

break

may

be a

scribe's

attempt

to

encourage

that

effect

by instructing

he lector to

pausedramatically

before

-1ns.

A

third vacat

in

4Q225

1 6

comes at

a logical point in the narrativef

Fr:]w. -=

noirm Ff

wl

introduces

'5 See the text reproduced below.

For the editio princeps, see

J.T.

Milik and J.C.

VanderKam, "225. 4QPseudo-Jubileesa,"

in Qumran Cave

4.VIII:

Parabiblical

Texts,

Part

I

(DJD 13; Oxford:

Clarendon Press, 1994) 141-55,

and

especially p.

142 for the

evidence

of the manuscript's plene orthography. Note

also that

the scribe employed

another strategy to insure proper pronunciation

of the text by using an 'aleph in place

of he'

in lamed-he' verbs (1:3 K:'M;

2 i

5

Re ).

16

I thank Louis

Feldman for this

suggestion, offered in a session of the Scripture

in Early Judaism and Christianity Section

held at the Society

of

Biblical Literature

Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, 19 November 2000.

17

H.

Gregory

Snyder, "Naughts

and

Crosses: Pesher Manuscripts

and Their

Significance

for Reading

Practices

at

Qumran,"DSD

7

(2000)

26-48.

"I

For a similar

notion regarding peculiar vacats

like

this

one, see Snyder, "Naughts

and Crosses," 38,

where

he

suggests that

some

of the

more

puzzling vacats

were meant

to signal changes in the pace

of a text's recitation.


7/24/2019 4193265.pdf

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HEARING 4Q225 87

a sectionwhere, in the midst of the Exodusstory,an angelic narrator

tells

Moses to commandobservanceof the

Passover.'9

The

literary

contentof

many

scrolls also marks heir

preparation

or

oral presentation. .M.

Foley,

an oral formulaic

analyst,

has confirmed

the observationsof his

predecessors,

A. Lord and M.

Parry,

that

rep-

etitions, formulae,

and

patterned

content are

typical

traits of

orally-

composed

texts.20

Again,

I

restrict

my

examples

to ones taken from

4Q225. One

verbal

repetition hatfacilitates aural

reception

of

4Q225

is

particularlynoteworthy.The verb

RtMt

ppearstwice,

once where

it is anticipatedand a second time quite unexpectedly. Its second

occurrence n

4Q225

is

fully anticipatedbecause the

passage

is a

near-

quotation

of Gen.

22:4

where we hear that

rn2' nf Dlrm-

tkr(l),

"Abraham

ifted his eyes" (2 i 14; ii 1). The

first

occurrence,however,

is

a surprise.

RetellingGen. 15:5, where God tells

Abraham,

A:

mmn

C:=Di: ID1

Mrn'7nn,Look to the

heavens and count the

stars,"

4Q225

2

i 5 has 0'Z1,ZF

nf

RM;

No,

"Lift up, count the stars"

(2 i

5),

thus

repeating

the verbal root tk:.2I Formulae

also

appear.

The

phrase

Jmrn[DMpri]

'n

[w]:n

n:n,

"that

person

will

be cut

off

from the midst of his people" (2 i 1-2), appears regularly in the

Hebrew Bible and has a

well-agreedupon meaning.22 nd

although t

is not quite

a formula,4Q225's use of

the verb

Dto recalls and sub-

verts its

two uses in Job, a book off

of which this

narrativeplays.

4Q225

2 i

9-10 says,

nf O'Con 0-nm[bR

tX]

t1f0[u]Dr -lo

m(1)

prim

Mn-mnR

The Prince of the

MastemahapproachedGod and

per-

secutedAbraham n accountof Isaac."

By contrast,

n

Job

16:9; 30:21,

Job uses the same verb to

accuse

God of

persecutinghim. Finally,

4Q225

has made

the Aqedahand the Exodus

and

Passoverstoriesinto

19

A less certain

example appears n 2 ii

9-10,

where the

reconstructedext reads

MM4

T'r

Kt

/

[

':

TWT

MID]

1?Mflt.

Even

though

there was

sufficient space

for

the

whole

sentence on line 9,

it

breaksbetween

:

and kk to

begin line 10

with

tO. The

break

may

have

been

used to insurethat this curious

varianton the biblical

narrative

be read as a

whole, and not

mistakenly

as

continuingon line 10 to

includean explicit

object

of

Abraham's ove. For

additional

discussionof the

passage, see n. 42 below.

20

For a convenient

summary of these textual

traits, and a brief introduction

o

Foley's

general

approach, ee J.M.

Foley,

"Word

Power, Performance,

nd

Tradition,"

Journal

of

American

Folklore

105

(1992)

275-301.

21

This may also be counted as an example of what R. Person, "The Ancient

Israelite

Scribe as

Performer," BL

117

(1998)

601-9, describes

as the

scribe "per-

forming he text"by

adjusting

base text-in this

case the Genesis

narrative-to facil-

itate and

reflect its oral

presentation.

22

Gen.

17:14;

Exod.

30:33, 38;

31:14;

Lev.

17:4,8, 9,

14; 18:29;

19:8; 20:17, 18;

23:29; Num.

9:13;

15:30.


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88

ROBERT A. KUGLER

similarly patterned accounts. Both are trial stories in which Prince

Mastemah tests God's promise

to the ancestors and God is called

upon to deliver the people.

That this pattern of test, endurance, and

deliverance is well known

from other texts of the era

which also

appear in the Qumran library-e.g., Tobit-confirms that it would

have been familiar

apart

from 4Q225 as well.

The evidence, then, does strongly suggest the oral presentation

of

texts at

Qumran,

and of 4Q225 in particular. As noted above this has

significant implications for

reconstructing he reception experience among

the people of the scrolls. Living in an oral milieu where constitutive

texts like Scripture are memorized, they would have had

an extraor-

dinary appreciation of even the faintest biblical echoes

in

Parabiblical

texts.

As will become

clear,

this element of their

reception

experience

undoubtedly played

an

important

part

in

4Q225's capacity to shape

their

religious imagination.

With that in mind

I

turn now to

a

reception-

theory analysis

of

hearing

4Q225

at

Qumran.

II.

4Q225

and the Religion of

the

Qumran Community

To test this

reception-theory

approach to understanding

the

Qumran

religion,

I

investigate

the

likely

effect

of

4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubileesa)

on the

community's

horizon of

expectations.234Q225

lends itself well

to this

experiment: enough

of it survives to

permit

reliable

recon-

struction of a

significant portion

of its

contents;

we have

already

seen

23

Among the studies addressing 4Q225, see M. Kister, "Observations on Aspects

of Exegesis,

Tradition, and

Theology in Midrash,

Pseudepigrapha,

and

Other Jewish

Writings," Tracing

the

Threads: Studies

in the Vitality

of Jewish Pseudepigrapha

(ed.

J. Reeves; SBLEJL

6;

Atlanta: Scholars Press,

1994) 7-15, 20;

E.

Tov,

"Biblical

Texts

as Reworked

in Some

Qumran

Manuscripts

with Special

Attention

to

4QRP

and

4QParaGen-Exod,"

The Communityof

the Renewed Covenant:

The

Notre Dame Symposium

on the Dead

Sea Scrolls (eds

E. Ulrich and

J.

VanderKam;

Christianity and Judaism

in Antiquity 10;

Notre Dame, IN; University

of Notre

Dame

Press, 1994)

117-18;

G.

Vermes,

"New

Light

on the Sacrifice of

Isaac from 4Q225," JJS

47 (1996) 140-46;

J. VanderKam,

"The Aqedah, Jubilees,

and PseudoJubilees,"

The Quest for

Context

and Meaning:

Studies in Biblical

Intertextuality

in

Honor

of

James

A. Sanders (eds

C.

Evans and S.

Talmon;

Biblical Interpretation

Series

28;

Leiden:

Brill, 1997)

241-61; and M. Bernstein, "Contours of Genesis Interpretation at Qumran: Contents,

Context, and

Nomenclature,"

Studies in Ancient Midrash

(ed.

J.

Kugel;

Cambridge,

MA: Harvard

University

Press, 2001) 57-85,

esp.

63-67.

I share the reservations expressed

by

Vanderkam, "Aqedah,"

242-43,

261; and Bernstein,

"Contours

of

Genesis,"

63-64,

regarding

the title "PseudoJubilees,"

and restrict myself

to its

Qumran

numerical desig-

nation,

4Q225.


7/24/2019 4193265.pdf

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HEARING 4Q225

89

that it gives substantial vidence that it was inscribed or publicrecita-

tion;

and it is

a unique interpretation

f motifs and

passages

known

from Genesis, Exodus, and Jubilees,

books of Scripturedear

to the

Qumran community. Moreover,

its

paleography permits

a sense of

when it was inscribed, which allows in turn a reasonable estimate

of the community's horizon of expectations when they would

have

received it.

There are several steps in reconstructinghe receptionof 4Q225

at

Qumran.

The

first

task is to define

the

contents

of

4Q225

with the

help of the corresponding ections of Genesis, Exodus, and Jubilees.

Second,

I establish the

recipients'

literaryhorizon of expectationsby

determining

the elements of 4Q225 which were already

known to

them

through

heir

priorexperience

of

Genesis, Exodus,

and

Jubilees;

this also reveals

the

text's

novel, horizon-bending

elements.

Third,

relying

on the

general

history of the era and evidence from other

scrolls,

I establish the community's social and religious horizon of

expectations

at the time of

4Q225's inscription.Finally

I

ask

how the

text's

horizon-bending

elements might have impacted

the

group's

existing literary,social, and religioushorizon of expectations.

A. The

Contents of 4Q225

in

Light of Genesis, Exodus,

and Jubilees

4Q225,

inscribed n the late firstcenturyBCE, survives in only three

fragments

with evidence of five columns of text. While too little of

frag.

3 remains to

identify

its contents, frags

1

and

2

are substantial

enough

to

permit

an idea of what

they contained,especially by

com-

paring

them with

Genesis, Exodus,

and Jubilees.

Together

they

offer

a sustained narrative hat covers with

varying degrees

of detail

and

interpretationGod's promiseto Abram in Gen. 15:1-6 (Jub. 14:1-6),

the

birth of Isaac in

Gen. 21:1-7

(Jub. 16:13),

his near-sacrifice n

Gen. 22:1-19

(Jub. 17:15-18:19),

and the first Passover and the

escape

from

Egypt

in Exodus 12-14

(Jub. 48:1-49:23).24

24

The

differences between 4Q225 and the correspondingbiblical narrativesdis-

cussed here do not result from the author'suse of variantbiblical texts of Genesis or

Exodus available at Qumran;or proofof this, see the "TextualNotes" on 4Q225 in

DJD 13.141-55. In

general

the

differences between

Parabiblicalscrolls and

corre-

sponding

biblical

texts are more substantial than

the

variants among the biblical

scrolls, but it is

possible that where Parabiblical

crolls take up books of which there

are multiple

iterary

editions at

Qumran e.g., Exodus,

1

and 2

Samuel, Jeremiah,

or

Daniel) this may

be the case.

The

existence of such

textual variety at Qumran aises


7/24/2019 4193265.pdf

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90

ROBERT A. KUGLER

First it is necessary to explain the order of the fragmentsas they

are

presentedbelow. A

recent article

proved frag.

1

to follow

frag. 2

rather han

precede t.25Frag.

2 rehearsesGenesis

15; 21; and

22, and

by its conclusion seems

to

have shifted attention o the

story

of the

Exodus from

Egypt.

It

has

long been recognized

that,

for the

most

part,frag.

1

preserves

materialresembling he account of the

Exodus

in Jubilees

48-49.26

The content of

1

4,

however, impeded

a

final

decision for that

understanding

of

frag.

I

as a whole because

it

seemed to mentiona

covenant

made

with Abraham hat involved cir-

cumcision,a referencethat more readilyrecalls Genesis 17 than the

Book of

Exodus.But thanks

to a digital

image

of the

fragment, he

reference o

circumcision,0r31,has been eliminatedand

replacedwith

*:Kn,

"andthey

ate."27As a

consequence,

ine 4

reads, "[acovenant]

was

made with

Abraham. And they ate..

.,"

a

sentence that

is, as we

shall

see, closely

relatedto texts in Jubilees

48-49. Thus

frag.

1

falls

into

place after frag. 2.

1.

Transcription and Translation

of frags 2, i,

ii and

128

Frag.2 i

K'nU [

r9]i

n:n

n[

4:

1]

a

ni[lUJ

[]w

nf:

:[

Jm^n[

Cpr]

2

vacat

':m= R7fl

[rn:

I:]

4

MR-11M"n=7

flK

ME:K

t

':[41 -10K]

5

CK

'5

r:^ ,

nsl

:

1m1

risi

cm

-1n

1

]

6

=177]m

-:

l

:

1:K

[9]Rl

iltk:

1[n:

171']

7

)[

'D]fl

*

:Vtf i fi]nt [:7 fl)iM

8

ID1[R N'l

jDns"M

Oil::KK

Mt

O t0771:7)~lLK

jK

lo

n:Jr'mn nrnM

p

;i:::m

;np

;l[m t

'7t 11

~'[;m1r:]D`nil

nn

r7K ,sVMt7

4

IntMsl

Mn[:=n07r7J 12

interesting questions

related to the

reception theory approach adopted here, but they

must receive attention another time.

25 R.

Kugler

and J.

VanderKam,

"A Note on

4Q225 (4QPseudo-Jubileesa)," RevQ

20 (2001) 133-39.

26

VanderKam, "Aqedah," 254, says

of

frag.

I

"there

is

no convincing reason

for

locating it there rather than after frag. 2, where it seems more logically to

belong."

27

See the comments below in nn. 29-33 on this reading and others in

frag. 1,

which

appear in Kugler and VanderKam, "A Note on 4Q225," and differ from those that

appear

in the DJD edition.

2X

Apart

from the

changes

made to

frag.

1

stemming

from

the

new

readings

dis-

cussed

above,

the

following transcription

and translation follow that of the DJD edi-

tion in almost

every detail.

For

comments on all

other

readings, see

the

DJD

edition.


7/24/2019 4193265.pdf

12/24

HEARING

4Q225

91

fmrrllJ:tA

RVll

14

1 [ ] [

It

that per[son]will be cut off

2 [from among] his

[peolple.

[ he

sta]yed

in Haran

wenty [ye]ars.

3 [And

Ablraham

said]

to God:

"My

LORD,

go

on

being

childless

and

Eli[ezerl

4 is [the son of my household,]and he will be

my

heir." vacat

5

[The Lo]RD [said]to A[b]raham:

Lift

up (your eyes)

and

observe the

stars,

and see

6 [and

count]

the sand which is on the seashoreand the dust of the

earth,

for

if

7 these

[can

be

num]bered,

nd

al[so]

if

not, your

seed

will

be like this."And

[Abraham] e[lieved]

8 [in] G[o]d,andrighteousnesswas accounted

o

him.

A son was born

af[ter]

this

9 [to Abraha]m, nd he namedhim Isaac. Then the Princeof the

Ma[s]temah

came

10 [to

G]od,

and he accused Abraham

egarding

saac. And

[G]od

said

11 [to

Abralham:

"Take

your son, Isaac, [your] on[ly

one

whom]

12

you [love]

and

offer

him

to

me

as a

whole burnt-offering

n

one

of

the

[high]

mountains

13

[which I will

designate]

or

you."

And he

got [up

and

w]en[t]

from

the

wells

up

to

M[t.

Moriah]

14

[

]l[

]

And Ab[raham]ifted

Frag.

2 ii

[in7'

1:b

12:

nI=

IM

0

ni

C

]

Ib ll

VA

[mmD71

i"D[']

I

[.70,7 i1l"'KO' ;X11

0fl

1

R]

Mi

T-

'

pnX m

2

[ns;1 s UK:*

E'15

1:: pn

ME5e :n':A C}N

'

17MU"31

~ itBm zms1]2Z 1'ArrU

K c

w

4

C

3

rltip

'ID

'4

nN

[ ':'in'nru ]t' '5n1 u ^anin- ~n-s 6

[R:pl

MCM

UMM

-1

DMCT

M

1=K1

KIM'

IV) C`

IDW

C7100

7

[ : nDmnw

-11]

Inn] noK'NUCOKI

tri )

0KNR 9

[nMt

r~n

rlI'

'n'

'

p#]`t

rs

mm

l'

rn"

n-M

m

K

'

lo

[h7I: rnm

vacat 'V'5v -])9 -*' -T'bn17DtlpPI

'

1q22'

ii

[incs

]'17'

:1p1

pfl'1

1F1Z 12'

12

[

1007

_101K

U

D"^5

D00"I

MOM[0167-

CC0

14

1

[his

ey]es [and

therewas

a] fire, and he se[t the wood on his son Isaac, and

they

went

together.]

2 Isaac said to Abraham

[his father, "Here are the fire and the wood, but

where is the

lamb]

3 [for the whole burnt-offering?" braham aid to [his son, Isaac, "God will

provide

the

lamb]

4 for

himself."Isaac said to his father

"T[ie

me well."

5 The

angels

of holiness were

standingweeping above [the altar

6 his sons from the earth.The

angels

of

Ma[stemah


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92

ROBERT A. KUGLER

7 being happy and saying, "Now he will perish."And [in all this the Prince

of the Mastemahwas testing whether]

8 he would be found

weak, and whether

A[brahaml

should not be found

faithful

[to

God. He called,]

9 "Abraham braham "He said "Here am."He

said,

"N[ow

I

know hat 1

10 he

will

not be loving."God the LORDblessed

Is[aac

all the days of his life.

He became the father

ofl

II

Jacob, and Jacob became the father of Levi,

[a third]

genera[tion

vacait

All]

12 the

days

of

Abraham, saac, Jacob,

and

Lev[i

were

years.]

13 The Prince

of

the Mastemah vacatwas boundon [accountof them. 1

14 the Prince of the

Ma[s]temah.

Belial listened to what Ithe

Prince of the

Mastemah

Frag. I

]fi-nur ????l[ ; I[ ]

o nnn: t[

5-

cnns

2

n1:]rD 'm:1Z

MVM

MlMAacat

r

i

MV7n1l

nsn:n1:7

nM' 7t

zn[t

7

;1):]:

MP

I

70

13)n[UU

8

]t[ :]. nz7t

rr:lf

14

Ip'5?[

]II

SO

4L I

12

1.

1l

from the

guilt

of

immorality

which'2[

2. ]m he

..... all

the30[

3.

Egylpt.

And

Belial

struck hem with

a

spirit

of" '[

4.

According

to his

covenalnt

which

he

made

with Abraham. And

they

ate'2

a

[

29

]-Thn

replaces

I

of the

DJD edition. There

is a

slight

diagonal tick on the right

side of the mem in

111UM

hat

at first appears to be

the bottom of a lamed.

It does not

continue

to the edge of the skin,

however,

and so appears only

to be part of a poorly

formed mem.

30

r5 MAreplaces

]cn5k of the DJD

edition.

Because the horizontal and

vertical

ink strokes of the

final mem at the beginning

of the

line do not actually

join in the

bottom left hand corner, they

could also be read as the

word

':.

The

following

five

unidentified letters

might have

been

flbM'Z1

in

which case the preceding

would be M47'F1,

not

flR17l;

waw and yod are indistinguishable

in this manuscript).

The lamed

of

55 at

the end of the line is particularly tenuous.

3- m

replaces

I......:

of

the

DJD

edition. VanderKam and

Milik,

DJD

13.144,

already

noted that a lamed may be the letter

that follows

the

bet.

In

addition,

the traces

of the last letter on this

line

might

indicate a resh; thus one could

read

the

line as i

T7k721

mrm:

A:'l.

32

wlt:'1

replaces

lo

'

of the DJD

edition.

Indeed, combining Milik's

reading


7/24/2019 4193265.pdf

14/24

HEARING 4Q225

93

5.

]?t

Egypt.And God deliveredthem4[

6. 1 vacat And

you,

Moses,

when

I

speak

with

[you

7. ]the creationuntil the

day

of the

[new]

creation[

8.

Mastema]h

was

standing,

and he took

vengeance

by

the hand

ofi

Moses33

9.

]And on

the day

which

n[

]???[

10.

-in

the shore of

the[

sea

]Sl[

11.

Ph,q[ [

12.

13.

P

4

2.

Reconstructing

the Contents

of 4Q225

2

i, ii,

1

Leaving

aside 2 i 1-2

for the momentbecause it is so

fragmentary,

the

sequence

of events in

4Q225

2 i

3-8a

begins

with a

recollection

of God's

promise

to

Abram,

Abram's

expression

of

doubt,

and

God's

reassurance

n

Gen.

15:2-3,

5. But in

relating

Gen.

15:1-6,

this

pas-

sage

would also have worked as a

powerful

collocation of

other

promise

passages

in

Genesis

by

allowing

the audience to hear

the

words

and

phrases

n

,n

:

tm, and

::'7,

which echo Gen.

13:16;

22:17;

28:14; 32:13.34

The next section, 2 i 8b-9a, moves immediately to a single-

sentence recollectionof the

birth of Isaac in Gen.

21:1-7.

The critical

phrase

ID

-Irr,

"after

this," links Isaac's birth

directly with the

promise

in

Genesis 15-and all the other

promises

echoed in 2

i

3-8a-and

makes it the

undisputed

direct

result of God's

pledge

to

Abraham. hus

4Q225

not

only ignores

hebiblical

story

betweenGenesis

15 and 21-it links the two

episodes as

promise

and

fulfillment.

of the end of the word

and

VanderKam's of its

beginning, both noted in

DJD

13.144,

already yields 'ZWI.

Only the barest traces of the

tops

of

two letters can be seen at

the end of

the line.

If

they reflect the direct

object marker,

MR,

he end of the

line may

have read MTenT

Ikt

*:lt'1; cf. Jub.

49:6,

22-23.

The waw in *flflZZ at

the

beginning

of the

line is visible on

the edge of the

skin.

The left foot of the taw

may be visible

below it, but

the darkness is more

likely

only the

jagged edge of

the fragment.

33

nVID

]f': replaces i

t11t]i

of the

DJD

edition.

While the right

shoulder of the

dalet

is now

evident,

the bet and

yod

of

nt remain

very

uncertain;

but in

light

of

the

ref-

erences in Jub. 48:6-9 to

God

working

through

Moses

to

oppose

the

Egyptians

(and

Mastemah who stands

against the

people

in Jub.

48:9), they

seem a reliable

guess,

as

is the

name of Moses

in the

following

lacuna.

I

See the list in DID 13.148. That some of the other promise passages echoed in

2 i 3-8a come after Genesis

17,

when Abram's

name is

changed

to

Abraham, may

explain why

this

account uses

"Abraham"

rather than

"Abram"; it reinforces

the

echoes of other

promise

passages.

In

fact,

one

might

classify

this as

another

example

of Person's

"scribal

performance" of the text

and

of

morphology

in service

of effec-

tive oral

presentation.


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94 ROBERT

A. KUGLER

The lengthiest sustainedepisode is the account of the bindingof

Isaac, the Aqedah (2

i 9b-14, ii

1-1Oa).

Explaining he event along

the lines laid out

in Jub. 17:15-18, 4Q225 indicates that Prince

Mastemah nstigated

God's test of Abrahamby "accusingAbraham

n

account of Isaac" (2

i

9b-lOa).35

God

responds by commanding

Abraham o travel

to a distant land to

sacrifice Isaac

(2

i lOb-13a;

Gen. 22:1-2) and Abraham

obeys,

traveling

"from the wells to

Mt

Moriah"on which he saw a burning ire (2

i 13b-14, ii la; cf. Gen.

22:3b-4).36

As

Abraham

and Isaac approach he mountain saac ques-

tions his father about the sacrificeand Abraham epliesthat God will

provide

what is necessary(2 ii lb-4a; Gen.

22:6-8).37

In

a motif that

does not appear n Jubilees,Isaac then urges

his fatherto tie him well

(2 ii 4b).38Also departing rom

Jubilees and the biblicalaccount,the

next few lines seem

to

depict angels

of holiness weeping at the

prospectthat Abraham's

ine would come to an end (2

ii

5-6a)

and

angels

of Mastemahrejoicing

at the

possibility,saying,

"Now he

will

perish" (2

ii

6b-7).39

What follows is

another

explanation

of the

Aqedah, that Prince

Mastemah

engineered

this event "to test...

whetherhe [Isaac?Abraham?]'would be weak and whetherAbraham

should

not be found faithful to God" (2

ii

8a).4'

Then God calls to

11

See the

later versions of

this motif in b. San.

89b;

Gen. Rab. 56:4.

36

4Q225

2 i lOb-13 probably

reflectsa typical

interpretation

f Gen.

22:1-2: it

interprets Beer Sheba,

Abraham's dwelling place

when God

commandedhim

to

sacrificehis son

(Gen.21:31,

33), as a

place of wells, and

it mergesthe biblical

text's

"land of Moriah"with

"one of

the mountains"

o name the place

Mt Moriah.As

for

seeing

fire

on the

mountain,

ee PirqeR. El. 105,

and

the discussion

of this motif and

its congeners

n

other

rabbinic exts by

M. Bregman,

"TheAqedah

at Qumran:Fire

on

the Mountain," lecture presentedat the Orion Center, 21 May 1998 (abstracted t

http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/programs/Bregman.shtml).

3

Here

the text follows Genesis fairly

closely;

for a discussionof the

differences,

see DJD 13.151.

38 For later

occurrences

f this

motif,

see

Tg.

Ps-J.

Gen.

22:10;

Gen. Rab. 56:7.

9

While Tg.

Ps-J.

Gen. 22:10

says that Isaac

saw angels on

high and Gen.

Rab.

56:5,

7 describes ministering

angels weeping

at

the

binding

of

Isaac,

only 4Q225

brings

the angels of

Mastemah

nto the picture,

and

only

here are

the two kinds

of

angels

juxtaposed

as cheering

and

jeering spectators

at a battle between God and

Prince Mastemah.See

DJD 13.152,

for possiblerelationships

etween

the

angel

motif

and

Isa. 6:2-3;

33:7-8;

see also Vermes,

"New

Light,"

142

n.

14,

for

speculation

on

the relationship

etween"his sons from the earth"

n line 6 and later

targumic

nd

rab-

binic traditions.

40

VanderKam

nd

Milik favor Abraham

s the objectof the

test for weakness

DJD

13.153),

and Vermes,

"New

Light,"

142 nn. 16-17, suggests

Isaac because

Abraham's

name

appears

ater

in the line to associate

him with the

question

of faithfulness.

41 This explanation

or the

episode appears

widely

in second

temple

Jewish

litera-

ture;

see

Jub. 17:15-18;

Neh.

9:8;

Sir.

44:20;

1

Macc.

2:52.


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HEARING 4Q225 95

Abraham 2 ii 8b-9a) and declaims Abraham's ear of God and his

willingness

to

sacrifice his son,

saying,

"Now I know that he

[Abra-

ham]

will

not be

loving"

(2

ii

9b-10a).42

4Q225

closes

the episodeby

summarizing nd

transferringo Isaac God's

blessing

for

Abraham n

Gen.

22:15-18

with

the

words,

"God the LORD blessed

Isaac all the

days

of his

life."43

The

next section, 2

ii lOb-12, makes the

transition rom the bind-

ing of

Isaac to an

account of the people's

escape from

Egypt with a

patrilineal

genealogy

from Isaac to Levi and

an

accounting of the

numberof years of their lives. By culminatingwith Levi the geneal-

ogy indicates

the importance f the

Aqedah's

positive

outcome for the

origin

of

the priestly line.

Though very

fragmentary, ii

13-14;

1 1-11

provides

enough evi-

dence to show

that

it is a Jubilees-like

account of the first

Passover

and heExodus.'

First, ike Jub.

48:15-16,

18,

4Q225

2 ii

13-14

describes

Prince

Mastemah

as being bound for

a

time during the

separationof

the

people

from their

Egyptian

overlords.45 ut

2

ii

14 adds

Belial as

an

adjunct

o Prince

Mastemah,and seems to

indicatethat he

remains

free to take direction romPrinceMastemahduring he Prince'speriod

42

DJD

13.151,

153. The

DJD editors and Vermes

disagree

on how to

reconstruct

and

interpret

his

sentence,

but it seems

likely that the editors have the

better

argu-

ment.

Vermes,

"New Light," 142 n.

19, insists that the

readingoffered

by

the

editors

to fill

the

lacuna eft at the end of

line

9 is too

short;

nstead

he

offers,

"Now I

[God]

know

thatyou

[Prince

Mastemahl

have lied that

he

[Abraham]s not a

lover."

Vermes

suggests

that the object of

Abraham's ove is

God.

Noting the connection

between

4Q225 and

Jubilees,

however,

it is

worth

observing

that in

Jub. 17:16-18

Prince

Mastemah

ccuses Abraham f

loving

Isaac more than

anything

lse,

while God

knows

thatAbraham s faithful to God in all his afflictions.Moreover,Jubilees'accountof

the

second

heavenly address o

Abrahamafter the near

sacrifice

(Jub.

18:14-16;

Gen.

22:15-18)

addsto God's

description f Isaac as the one

Abrahamwas

willing to give

up the

words of Gen.

22:2, "the

son whom

you

love."

Thus Jubilees s

intenton say-

ing

that

when it came to a choice

between

loving

Isaac

or

fearing

and

being

faithful

to

God,

Abraham hose the

latter.

The

reconstruction f

4Q225

2 ii

9-10

by Vander-

Kam

and Milik

says

the

same

thing, but in

4Q225's

characteristically

ondensed orm.

As

for the

lacuna this

would

leave at the end of

line 9, see n.

19 above.

43

Vermes,"New

Light," 143

n.

20, notes that

this is

typical of

"the

stress in early

post-biblical xegesis of

the

story on the

positive

part played

by

Isaac

in

the event."

4

See DJD 13.144

45,

154;

and

VanderKam,

Aqedah," 54-55.

45

See,

however, Kister,

"Aspects,"

20,

who

suggests

that this

portion

of the manu-

scriptrelatesto the bindingof Isaac, and that it parallelsGen.Rab.56:5 whereweep-

ing angels

attend the

event while the

Princes

of the

Nations

(with

whom Kister

identifiesthe "bad

angels")

are bound. Given

the

intervening

material

n 2 ii

lOb-12

Kister's positionseems

unlikely,but that

the two

motifs

combine

forces in a

laternar-

rativeof the

binding

of

Isaac is

testimony

o the

"mix-and-match"

pproach

o

exeget-

ical motifs

used

in

antiquity.


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96

ROBERT A. KUGLER

of restraint.4Q225 1 1 then offers what is perhapsan aside remini-

scent of Jub. 50:54

to describe

what lies

in the future

when Prince

Mastemah-here

only momentarily

bound-will

be defeated

forever.

Line 2 is too

fragmentary

o reconstruct, ut

the

remainsof line

3 sug-

gest that the

passageparallels

heeffort of

Jub. 49:2

to shiftthe

blame

for the slaughter

of Egypt's

firstborn

rom God

to the "powers

of

Mastemah,"

n this

case Belial.

4Q225 1 3 employs

the same

verb

used

in Exod. 12:12,29 to denote

God's action

against

the Egyptians

(,-:z

[hiph.]) to describe

instead an attack by Belial.47

Next 1

4-5

echoes additionalelements of Jubilees' account of the Exodus and

Passover where

it

is said that God acts against

Egypt (Jub.

48:7, 8,

11,

13, 14;

49:2, 5)48

to confirm the

covenant with Abraham

Jub.

48:5)

and that

the people

consumed he

Passover east before and after

theirescape through

the sea

(Jub.

49:1, 2, 6, 9,

12,

13,

16,

17, 20,

22-23). After this

1 6

may provide

traces

of Jubilees'

heavenly

com-

mand to Moses

that

he instructthe

people

regarding

Passover

(Jub.

49:22), and

1

7

likely

declares that

its

observance

(and

rubrics?)

s

(are?)

recorded

n

the

"the table of

the divisionsof the

years.

. .

from

the time of the creationuntil the timeof the new creation"Jub.1:29).

Finally,

like Jubilees, 4Q225

1

8-10 completes

the

story

after

the

interlude on

Passover observance

by

describing

God's

vengeance

against

PrinceMastemah

hrough

Moses

and

recalling

he

timely

com-

pletion

of the Passover

on the shore of

the sea

(Jub.

48:6-9;

49:7-10,

14, 17, 23).

I

"The

jubilees

will pass

by until

Israel

is pure

of every

sexual evil

['abhasa

zem-

mutJ, impurity

Irek's], contamination

[gemmanel,

sin

[hati'ajl,

and

error

[gegavi.

Then

they

will live

confidently

in the

entire

land. They

will

no longer have any

satan or

any

evil person.

The land

will be pure

from that

time until eternity" (VanderKam

transla-

tion).

See also

the possibility

that line

I recalls

Jub. 20:3-6,

suggested

in DJD 13.144.

It is true that

Jub.

20:3-6

and 50:5

do share many

terms

in common

(e.g.,

sexual,

evil,

and

contamination),

but

20:3 also

mentions

circumcision,

a reference

in

4Q225

1

4

that

has dropped

out thanks

to the

new

reading

provided

by

Kugler and

VanderKam,

"A

Note

on 4Q225."

"

It is also

possible

that

Belial

strikes

the

people

of

Israel,

but this seems

less

likely

and is not as well supported by comparative evidence. To be rejected is the sugges-

tion

by Bernstein,

"Contours

of

Genesis,"

65

n.

20,

that

the

smiting

is done by

Abraham against

the four

kings

of Genesis

14.

4X

The verb

-:1Z

n

line 5 is most

likely

to be

read as

"to deliver

into

the power

of,"

as in Judg.

2:14; 3:8;

4:2,

and is

perhaps

used to

repeat

the claim in Jub.

48:14

that

God delivered

the Egyptian

army

into the depths

of

the

sea.


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HEARING

4Q225

97

B. SomethingOld, SomethingNew: Genesis,Exodus,Jubilees,

and

4Q225

What elements of

4Q225 were

already within the

Qumran commu-

nity's

horizon of

literary

expectations?

It

clearly

relies above all

on

Genesis

and Exodus.

We can

be sure its

audience

at

Qumran knew

Gen.

15:2-3, 5;

21:1-7;

22:1-18;

and Exodus

12-14.

Their

familiar-

ity

with

Scripture

would have

assured

that

they

also

heard the echoes

of

other

Genesis

promise

passages

in

the

retelling

of

Gen.

15:2-3,

5.

4Q225

also

takes

up

exegetical motifs

that were

known to the

Qumran

community

from

Jubilees,

a work

well

represented

in

their

library.49

The

abbreviated

form of the

Joban

set-up

for

the

binding

of

Isaac

in 2 i

9b-10a

certifies

that the

audience

was

expected to

know

it.

Because

Jubilees

links

the

binding of

Isaac with the

Passover

by

placing

the

former event on the

legally-mandated

day

for

the Passover

meal

(Jub.

17:15;

18:18)50

and

has Prince

Mastemah

appear

in

both

incidents (Jub.

17:15-18; 18:9,

11;

48:9,

12, 15),

recipients of

4Q225

would

have

been

prepared for the

juxtaposition of

the

two

episodes

and the

appearance of Prince

Mastemah in

each of them

(2

i

9-10;

2

ii

7,

13-14).

Their

experience with

Jubilees

would

have

prepared the

Qumran

audience for the

notion that

Prince Mastemah

was

restrained

for

part

of

the Exodus

episode

(Jub.

48:15; 4Q225

2 ii

13-14),

as well

as

for

the idea

that an

agent

of

Prince

Mastemah,

not

God, was

responsible for the death

of

Egypt's firstborn

(Jub.

49:2;

4Q225

1

3).5'

They would

also have been

familiar with

the notion

that

once the

"divisions

of the

times" had

passed, God would

free

the

world com-

pletely from evil

foes like

Prince Mastemah

(Jub.

50:5;

4Q225

1

1).

The

recollection of

God's

covenant with Abraham in

the

midst of the

Exodus

account

(4Q225

1

4)

was known from

Jub.

48:8, as was

the

notion that

the

people

consumed the

Passover

meal

around

the

escape

from

Egypt (Jub.

49:1,

2,

6, 9, 12,

13, 16,

17, 20,

22-23;

4Q225 1

4).

If

4Q225

1 6 is a

passing

allusion

in

the

midst of the

Exodus

story

to

instructions for

Moses

regarding

Passover

observance, this too

was

known from

Jubilees (cf.

49:1-22,

23), as

was

the

notion

that

significant

laws like

those could be

found on

tablets that

record

IQ17-18;

2Q19-20;

3Q5;

4Ql76a

19-21;

4Q216-224;

llQ12.

50

See VanderKam,

"Aqedah,"

245-47.

1'

Note,

however, that in

Jub. 49:2 the

"powers of Mastemah"

work woe on

Egypt,

while in

4Q225 1

3

Belial

appears to

act

for Prince

Mastemah; this is

hardly

surpris-

ing, given

the

reference in 2 ii 14

to

Belial

heeding

Prince Mastemah's

instructions.


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19/24

98 ROBERT A. KUGLER

history and statutesfrom "creation o the new creation" Jub. 1:29;

4Q225

1

7). And lastly, the idea of

God's vengeance againstPrince

Mastemah nd hetimelycompletion f

the Passovermealonthe seashore

(4Q225 1 8-10)

were familiar fromJub. 48:8, 9; 49:7,

8, 9, 10,

14,

17, 23.

The economyof several references

not known to us from

Jubilees

or any other contemporary

work also indicatesthat the

audiencewas

expected to know

still other exegetical motifs associated

with the

Aqedah. The references

o Abraham ighting fire on the

mountain 2

i 14-ii la) and Isaac's admonition o his father to tie him well (2 ii

4) certainly it in this category.

For

all

of its reliance on Genesis, Exodus, Jubilees,

and other

exegetical

motifs, 4Q225

also

introduces

its own

unique,

horizon-

bending elements.Its recipientswould

have heard not only the bibli-

cal stories it

repeats

and Jubilees' exegetical

motifs

it

borrows; hey

would have encountered

n

4Q225's

peculiaruse of them a provoca-

tively new work.

First, 4Q225 is peculiar among

known

late second temple

period

texts for uxtaposing ndadjustingGenesis15;21; 22; andExodus12-14.

Especially by retelling Gen. 15:2-3,

5

so as

to

recall a

collection

of

other Genesis promisepassages, 4Q225

creates

a

narrative

hat

moves

explicitly

from

God's promise

to

its

fulfillment

and on

to its

twofold

endangerment y

Prince Mastemahand protectionby God.

Likewise,

the novel arrangement

f the exegetical

motifs

and topoi shared

with

Jubilees

sets

4Q225

apart.

In

a second innovation

4Q225

2

ii

11-12

links the

two

tests of

God's

promise

with

a

priestly genealogy, suggesting

that the fulfill-

ment of God's pledgeleads notjust to progeny or Abraham,butulti-

mately to the

foundingof

the

pure priesthood.

A third

unique

characteristic

f

4Q225

is the

immediacy

hat

it cre-

ates

between God

and

the

human

actors

and

Prince

Mastemah.

While

Jubilees

mostly

keeps

God

at

a distance

and

assigns

the

interpreting

angel

the task

of

dealing directly

with

Prince

Mastemah

Jub. 18:9,

11; 48:12-13, 15),

in

4Q225

God

deals directly

with the

Prince's

mis-

chief (2

i

9b-10;

2 ii

5-8a;

2 ii

13-14;

1

3, 5, 8). Apart

from

the ini-

tial call

to

Abraham,

n both

Genesis

and

Jubilees

God

communicates

throughan angel in the Aqedahepisode (Gen. 22:10-11; Jub. 18:10),

while

in

4Q225

God appears

o

speak

directly

to

Abraham

o

forestall

Isaac's deathand reassure

Abraham

of

the

promise(2

ii

8-10).

A

fourth innovation

s

the

way 4Q225 configures

he

relationships

among God,

Prince

Mastemah,

and

other

angelic figures

to

amplify


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HEARING 4Q225

99

the threat of evil and the sense that the battle against it is waged

directly

by God.

4Q225

augments

the

evil

arrayed

against

God

and

the

people

by

making

Belial Prince

Mastemah's

apparent econd-in-

command.

Rendering

he

good

and evil

angels

as mere

spectatorsat

the

Aqedah also

heightens

the sense that the

conflict is

really

between

God

and

Prince

Mastemah,

not

the Prince and an

angelic

intermedi-

ary,

as in

Jubilees.

If

our

readingof

4Q225

1 1

as an

echo of the motif in

Jub. 50:5

is

correct,the fifth

innovation s

very

important. n

the midst of nar-

ratingmightythreats o God's covenant,4Q225 takesthe opportunity

to

say

that one

day God's

promises

will

be fulfilled

without

reserve,

and

that

evil-restrained within the

narrative or

only a

moment-will

be

forever defeated. As

a

result of this

look to the

future the

entire

account

becomes a

prolepsis,

a

foreshadowingof the final

defeat of

the

powers

opposed

to

the fulfillmentof

God's

promises.

Altogether,

then, the

novel

elements

of

4Q225

reveal a

focus

on

God's

promises:how

they were made

long

ago;

how

God

began

to

fulfill them in

the birth of

Isaac,

a birth

that led to the

beginning

of

the priestly line in Levi; and how they were threatenedby Prince

Mastemah,but were

nonetheless

protected

by God.

C. The

Qumran

Community's

Social and

Religious

Horizon

of

Expectations at the

Turn

of the Era

Life in

Palestine

during

the last

half-century

before the turn of

the

era was

tumultuous.

With the

decline of the

Hasmoneansand

the

arrival of

Rome on the

scene there

might

have been

some

hope for

stability

in

63

BCE,

even

if it was

thanksto the

oppressive

power of a

new imperialruler.Instead,years of uncertain ule followed owing to

Hasmonean

attempts

to

regain

power,

the

incompetenceof

Roman

legates,the

political

intrigue

urrounding

Antipater'sand

Herod'srela-

tions with

contending

regional

and

imperial

powers,

the

constant

Parthian

hreat,

and

Herod's own

eventual

contested control

over the

region.: These

unstable

dynamics-reinforced by

the

routine

natural

disruptions

ccompanying

ife in

the

land,

most

notably an

earthquake

in

31

BCE-certainly

formed a part of

the

covenanters'

horizon of

expectations.

We

can also be

sure from

the

general

tenor of

their

52

For a

convenient

summary of the

major

events in

the last

century

BCE,

see

J.H.

Hayes and

S.R.

Mandell, The

Jewish

People in

Classical

Antiquity:

From

Alexander

to Bar Kochba

(Louisville, KY:

Westminster/John

Knox,

1998) 103-46.


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100

ROBERT A. KUGLER

libraryas a whole that they interpretedhese events froma dualistic,

apocalyptic,

and priestlyworldview.i3

They had

spent decades think-

ing

of themselvesas

the purechildren

of light, and

they

clearly antic-

ipated

that as such

they would be

the heirs

of God's promises,

that

Jerusalem

and the

Temple

would be their

own, and that

a proper

priesthood

romthe

line of

Levi would be

restored o the sanctuary.:4

And

they imagined

that the

fulfillmentof

those promises

would

come

aboutby God's

cataclysmic

ntervention.

Yet the events leading

to

the

turn

of

the

erahardlyconfirmed

hose

expectations.

Rather

hey placed

them in serious doubt, and surely created among the faithful of

Qumran

a

weary apocalyptic

magination

s

they

received4Q225

near

the end of

the firstcentury

BCE.

D.

The Impact of

4Q225 on the Qumran

Community's

Horizon of

Expectations

at the

Turn of the Era

How

did

hearing4Q225

affect

this horizon

of

expectations?

Simply

put,

it

likely

reassured

he

community'swaning

hopes.

It

did

so,

first,

by using

the two

of the

best-known

stories

of

God's

promise

at

risk

in new ways to intensifythe sense thatcommunityhopeswere indeed

threatened,

and

by

the

master

of

evil

himself,

Prince

Mastemah.

4Q225

transformed

he familiar

stories

of the

Aqedah

and the

people's

escape

from

Egypt

into the

Prince's

two tests

of

God

aimed

at

nulli-

fying

God's promises.

The

addition

of

weeping

and

jeering

angels

at

the Aqedah

and of

Belial

at

the

Exodus

underscores

his transforma-

tion

of

both

stories

into battles

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