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Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls
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| As the turn of
the century approaches, the question of apocalypticism grows stronger
and stronger, as humans anticipate the end of the world as we know it.
Religious overtures of famine and plague haunt the minds of the
repentant who feel salvation is too far from reach. Yet the grave tone
of apocalyptic speech not only pervades the human element today, but
was also prevalent during the time of the writings of the Dead Sea
Scrolls. The writers seemed to look forward to a coming apocalyptic
crisis which would usher in a new messianic age. |
They made numerous references within the scrolls to the end times, such as
in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, or even scroll 4Q521, the messianic
apocalypse, along with many other sections.
The word apocalypse can be defined as “a revelation pertaining to the
heavenly world and the eschatological judgment.” “The term apocalyptic
usually conjures up the book of Daniel, a late, full-blown exemplar of the
apocalyptic literature. The Bible also contains a much earlier apocalypse
in the book of Isaiah (chapters 24-27), the date of which has been debated
by several generations of biblical scholars.” From Qumran, we now have an
immense apocalyptic literature and works colored by apocalyptic
eschatology.
We see in the Qumran literature that these apocalyptists saw world history
in terms of warring forces, God and Belial, the spirit of truth versus the
spirit of error, light and darkness. “The struggle of God with man and the
struggle of man with sin, evil, and death were objectified into a cosmic
struggle.” The apocalyptic idea was such that the world was captive to
evil powers and principalities that had been “given authority in the era
of divine wrath” and could only be rectified by Divine might. “The old age
had come to the end of its allotted time, and the age of consummation was
at hand, the age when the world would be redeemed and the elect
vindicated.” There were many signals of the approaching end times that the
apocalyptist believed he saw. “The Satanic forces, brought to bay, had
already lashed out in a final defiant convulsion, manifested in the
persecutions, temptations, and tribulations of the faithful.” Armageddon
was soon to begin, and for the Apocalyptist, the only way of avoidance,
was to repent.
In the last two centuries of the common era, apocalypticism constituted a
distinctive world view within Judaism, “as can be seen by contrasting the
Book of Enoch with Ben Sira, or Daniel with 1 Maccabees.” It is impossible
to say how widely this world view was shared. Key elements of it were
rejected by some Jews (e.g. the Sadducees rejected the judgment of the
dead). In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, “apocalypticism
figured little or not at all in scholars’ descriptions of the history of
Israelite religion. Apocalypticism was treated as an idiosyncratic product
of a few Jewish seers, a fringe phenomenon.” Older Jewish scholars shared
the prevailing distaste for apocalyptic literature, viewing it as
sectarian, even though a bit of it had slipped into the Hebrew cannon.”
Throughout the Dead Sea Scrolls we see continuous references to an
apocalypse feared to come, and the outline of a community in that dreaded
it. These people were so in fear that they chose to live under a strict
community rule, which laid out every thing that was, and was not, to be
permitted of them. The characteristics of the Essenes point towards “an
initiation process for membership, the role of fate, predeterminism,
asceticism, an apocalyptic outlook” that pervaded their life. The
apocalyptist lived in a world in which “the sovereignty of God was the
sole hope of salvation; in the earnestness of his faith and the vividness
of his hope.”
The mention of the apocalypse is continuous throughout the Dead Sea
Scrolls. “The so-called War Scroll from Qumran seems to make the most
references to apocalyptic tales. The sections in this chapter seem to be
grouped together “in a series of texts devoted completely to describing or
exploring this event, which the texts denote as the ‘final days’ or ‘the
end of time,’ an event which the Qumran community felt as imminent “and to
some extent, as already present” and for which their expectation
determined their whole way of life.” The pesharim is not included within
this specific chapter even though it has continual overtures of the ‘final
days’ also.
Within the War Scrolls, an apocalyptic battle between the Sons of Light
and the Sons of Darkness is described. Along with it, the manual of
Discipline admonishes: “Love all the Sons of Light…Hate all the Sons of
Darkness…Love all that He has chosen and hate all that He has rejected.”
In the Cave 1 copy of the War Scroll the beginning lays out the story:
“the first attack by the sons of light will be launched against the lot of
the sons of darkness, against the army of Belial, against the company of
Edom and of Moad and of the sons of Ammon and the company of the
Philistia.” In 4Q496, it is explained: “The sons of light and the lot of
darkness shall battle together for Gods’ might, between the roar of a huge
multitude and the shout of gods and of men, on the day of the calamity. It
will be a time of suffering for all the people redeemed by God. Of all
their sufferings, none will be like this, from its haste until eternal
redemption is fulfilled. And on this day of their war against the Kittim,
they shall go out to destruction.” Also, within the War Scroll another
apocalyptic warning is cast: “And God’s hand will strike…for eternal
destruction…and they shall atone for you… all the princes…shall not go
towards the enemy lines…” (4QM 4-6) The scrolls tell of the Sons of Light:
“In the war, the sons of light will be the strongest during three lots, in
order to strike down wickedness; and in three others, the army of Belial
will gird themselves in order to force the lot of…to retreat.” It
continues on: “There will be infantry battalions to melt the heart, but
God’s might will strengthen the heart of the sons of light.” Also, under
1QM, a prediction is cast: “There will follow a time of salvation for the
people of God and a period of rule for all the men of his lot, and of
everlasting destruction for all the lot of Belial. There will be great
panic among the sons of Japhet, Ashur shall fall and there will be no help
for him; the rule of Kittim will come to an end, wickedness having been
defeated, with no remnant remaining and there will be no escape for the
sons of darkness.” We see through these writings that the writers of the
scrolls believed that, even though persecution was inevitable, the Sons of
Light would win in the end and God would reign over his people. Belial’s
grasp on men’s souls would be loosened. It goes on to explain this aspect,
of life after the apocalypse, stating: “God, his exalted greatness, will
shine for all the eternal times, for peace and blessing, glory and joy,
and long days for all the sons of light.”
The War Scroll continues on with numerous references to the apocalypse and
God’s inevitable destruction of Belial and the evil forces that surround
him. It tells us, in yet another example, that “in his time, he will go
out with great rage to wage war against the kings of the North, and his
anger will exterminate and cut off the horn of Israel. There will follow a
time of salvation for the people of God and a period of rule for all the
men of his lot, and of everlasting destruction of all the lot of Belial.”
It continues to make references to the panic of Japhet and Ashur. In
section 4Q285, it states: “There will be great panic among the sons of
Japhet, Ashur will fall, and there will be no help for him; the rule of
Kittim will come to an end, wickedness having been defeated, with no
remnant remaining.”
In the Dead Sea Scroll text 4Q2l6, the Aramaic Apocalypse, there is yet
another cryptic message of an apocalypse to come: “Great oppression will
come upon the earth…and great slaughter in the city…king of Assyria and
Egypt…and he will be great over the earth…they will do, and all will
serve… great will he be called and he will be designated by his name.”
Column two of the Aramaic Apocalypse test continues the same theme: “Like
the sparks of a vision, so will their kingdom be; they will rule several
years over the earth and crush everything; a people will crush another
people, and a city another city…until the people of God arises and makes
everyone rest from the sword.” This scroll, written in Aramaic and dating
to the turn of the era, gives a more graphic and disturbing scene of the
anticipated apocalypse with words like “slaughter” and “crush” as if to
remind people that repentance is their only hope of salvation.
There is a continual theme in the apocryphal writings of purification
processes and the cleansing of the souls of those who repent and deny
Belial and his evil ways. The mentionings of the Apocalypse in the Dead
Sea Scrolls tell a story of those who choose to turn away from evil and
those who fall to it’s calling and the judgment that lies in the future of
both. In the Aramaic Levi, the Apocalypse itself, the actual fighting and
defeat of Belial, is not mentioned in as great of detail as in the War
Scroll, yet the evil that makes up the problem is mentioned. In 4Q213, it
is said: “Lord, only you know the paths of truth, remove evil,
fornication, turn aside…wisdom in intelligence and strength…to find favour
before you…what is beautiful and good before you…may no foe rule over me.”
There is a desire by those of good heart to follow the teachings of God
and to deny the evils of Belial, and continually throughout the scrolls
there is an outcry to God for the strength to endure the tribulations
placed before man. The apocalypse is referred to as “a true judgment for
all the centuries.” The Apocryphal Psalms section 4Q88, which is the Hymn
to Zion, cry out to God: “Great is your hope, O Zion, peace will come and
the prospect of your salvation.” It continues on: “Man is examined
according to his path, each one is rewarded according to his deeds, All
round you, O Zion, your enemies are quelled and all those who hate you are
scattered.” In the Eschatological hymn, it is said: “May they praise the
name of YHWH. Because he comes to judge all things, to obliterate
evil-doers from the earth; the sons of wickedness will find no rest.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls, with all of its teachings, seems consistent in its
references to the apocalypse and the end of the world as the Qumran
community saw it. It is one of the continual themes that reoccurs
throughout the entire writing itself. The apocryphal ideas of the Essenes
help us to understand their history and the peculiar “institutions” of
their community. “The Essenes belong in the center of the movement which
goes under the designation apocalypticism. The late visionaries of the Old
Testament, notably the author of Daniel, as well as the later Baptist and
Christian communities, discovered themselves to be living in the last days
of the Old Age, or rather in the days when the Old Age was passing away
and the Kingdom of God was dawning.” This supposed increase in evil powers
in history reflected the last defiant outbreak of “cosmic” Satanic powers.
It seemed to the Essenes, and other writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, that
the only way for finalization of such atrocity was a final war “in which
the Spirit of Truth and his heavenly armies would put an end to the rule
of the powers of darkness.” Heavenly justice would have to be served for
God’s people to reign, and suffering was an inevitable part of such a
cleansing.
Whether or not their fears were justified remains up to the reader of the
Scrolls. It is dependant on the beliefs of each individual whose eyes
graze the writings of a group so pious, so fearful, that the only answer
in their eyes was total elimination of evil on Earth. Although none of
them lived to see the end times come to fruition, the Dead Sea Scrolls may
at least serve as a warning to those in the present, who live a life of
wrongdoing, and total defiance of God’s word. The Qumran community’s
colorful writings of destruction and atonement place an element of fear in
even the most atheistic of individuals. In the least, it forces each man
to reconsider his life as he has lived it, and to consider the
consequences of each daily decision made. It seems so easy, in this day
and age, to make the right decision when compared with the strict and
unforgiving lifestyle of the habitants of Qumran. The Dead Sea Scrolls’
teachings, and warnings, of the Apocalypse present a vision of a world so
filled with the evils of Belial that it makes it easier for present day
man to understand the reasoning behind such a lifestyle lived by the
Qumran Community. The Apocalypse, when it does eventually come, or rather
if it does come, will be a test of every human soul that it seems only the
Essenes truly recognized as such a grave situation.
John. J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (London: New
York: Routledge, 1997) 1.
Collins 4.
Collins 17.
Collins 20.
Collins 28.
Collins 100.
Collins 107.
Collins 140.
Collins 141.
Hershel Shanks, Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Vintage
Books, 1993) 164.
Shanks 163.
Florentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran
Texts in English (Leiden: New York: Brill, 1994) 94.
Shanks 185.
Shanks 186.
Martinez 122.
Martinez 95.
Martinez 95.
Martinez 95.
Martinez 95.
Martinez 121.
Martinez 121.
Martinez 138.
Martinez 138.
Martinez 266.
Martinez 267.
Martinez 303.
Martinez 303.
Martinez 303.
Shanks 26.
Shanks 26..
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