The Dead Sea Scrolls in Context

Supplementsto

Vetus TestamentumEdited by the Board of the Quarterly

h.m. barstad – r.p. gordon – a. hurvitz – j. joosteng.n. knoppers – a. van der kooij – a. lemaire – c.a. newsomh. spieckermann – j. trebolle barrera – h.g.m. williamson

VOLUME 140/1

The Dead Sea Scrollsin Context

Integrating the Dead Sea Scrollsin the Study of Ancient Texts, Languages,

and Cultures

Volume One

Edited by

Armin Lange, Emanuel Tov, and Matthias Weigold

In association with Bennie H. Reynolds III

LEIDEN • BOSTON2011

CURSES AND BLESSINGS: SOCIAL CONTROLAND SELF DEFINITION IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

Jeff S. AndersonWayland Baptist University

Nearly fifty years ago, J.L. Austin’s How To Do Things with Words devel-oped the notion of performative utterances that do not merely describeor report events, but are simultaneously a verbal utterance and a deedperformed.1 With these illocutions, to say something is literally to dosomething. For Austin, performatives become effective to the extent thatthey are uttered in appropriate ways and in appropriate social circum-stances.2 As it pertains to ritual speech acts of blessings and curses,Austin’s work has tended to shift the discussion away from a Frazeriandichotomy between magic and religion, as well as away from the magi-cal power of words or notions of power of the soul. Social anthropolo-gists have widely applied Austin’s theory of performative utterances andillocutionary speech actsto functional models of societal social controland self definition.3 Performative language thus enables one to approach

1 J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,). Austin’s distinction between words that describe things and words that do some-thing proved insufficient and the theory was modified by John Searle, Speech Acts: AnEssay on the Philosophy of Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ).

2 Austin posits four conditions for effective performatives: There must be an acceptedconventional procedure having a certain conventional effect. Second, the particularpersonas and circumstances in a given case must be appropriate for the invocation ofthe particular procedure. Third, the procedure must be executed by all participants, bothcorrectly and completely. Finally, if a procedure is designed for use by persons havingcertain thoughts and feelings, then the person participating in so invoking the proceduremust in fact have those thoughts and feelings (Austin, How to Do Things with Words,–).

3 See R. Finnegan, “How to Do Things with Words: Performative Utterances amongthe Limba of Sierra Leone,”Man (): –; B. Ray, “Performative Utterances inAfrican Rituals,” HR (): –; S.G.A. Onibere, “Potent Utterance: An Essay onthe Bini View of a Curse,” East Asia Journal of Theology (): –; S.J. Tambiah,“Form and Meaning of Magical Acts: A Point of View,” in Modes of Thought: Essays onThinking in Western and non-Western Societies (ed. R. Horton and R. Finnegan; London:Faber & Faber, ), –; C.A. Kratz, “Genres of Power: A Comparative Analysisof Okiek Blessings, Curses, and Oaths,”Man (): –.

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ritual words from the fundamental linguistic level to see how wordsactually can accomplish certain ends, apart from magical or symbolicnotions alone.4

Biblical scholars have applied the notion of speech acts to blessings andcurses, viewing them as illocutionary utterances whose power lies in thenature of human language uttered under appropriate circumstances byappropriate individuals.5 The words of blessing and curse are not magi-cally self-fulfilling yet are nevertheless incredibly potent in proper socialcontexts. These performatives can at once both maintain and challengesocial structures, serving as social propagandists and iconoclasts alike.When associated with legal collections, these illocutions can coerce thecommunity to conform to a rigid set of social norms at the same timeas they maintain the distinct social solidarity and identity of that com-munity. Blessings and curses often employ stereotypical language com-bined with vividly enacted intramural rituals that evoke the powers ofthe blessing or curse.6 While no destructive ritual acts typically accom-panied these biblical utterances, they were nonetheless powerful. Whenpaired together, the typically lopsided sanctions of the curses evoke effec-tive social functions of these rituals.

The covenant community at Qumran employed ritual blessings andcurses widely in ways consistent with the witness of the Hebrew Bible,acting out biblical traditions, but also modifying them significantly ac-cording to the Ya .had’s own halakhah. Consistent with their use of othertraditions of the Bible, the community acted out biblical rituals, conflated

4 Austin discusses three categories of fallacies which render speech acts impotent:misinvocations, misapplications, and misexecutions (How to DoThings with Words, –).

5 A. Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in Biblical Writings,” JTS ():–; C.W. Mitchell.TheMeaning of BRK “to Bless” in the Old Testament (SBLDS ;Atlanta: Scholars Press, ); J.S. Anderson, “The Social Function of Curses in theHebrew Bible,” ZAW (): –. Thiselton has applied speech act theory to thestudy of hermeneutics in New Horizons in Hermeneutics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,), –.

6 M. Weinfeld mentions a number of dramatic acts that typically accompany cursesin ancient treaties including burning wax figurines, breaking bows and arrows, scatteringsalt, cutting up animals, and covenantal sacrifices, “The Loyalty Oath in the Ancient NearEast,”UF (): –. See also C.A. Faraone, “Molten Wax, Spilt Wine, and MutilatedAnimals: Sympathetic Magic in Near Eastern and Early Greek Oath Ceremonies,” JHS (): –.

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texts from multiple contexts, reused and rewrote familiar biblical textsand literary forms at will.7

Robert Kugler has recently argued that the study of ritual density andchange at Qumran has received sparing attention, in spite of overwhelm-ing textual and artifactual evidence of ritual practice there.8 Followingdesignations of Catherine Bell,9 Kugler presents a preliminary inventoryof six types of Qumran ritual: rites of passage, calendrical rites, rites ofexchange and consequence, rites of affliction, feasting and fasting rites,and political rites. In Kugler’s inventory, blessings and curses are presentin nearly every category.10

Ritually enacted blessings and curses are present at Qumran in twobroad public contexts with highly stylized rituals: rites of initiation andexpulsion ( QS II:–; QCurses [Q]; CD :–; QDa [Q])and battle liturgies (QM [Q] XIII:–, QShira–b [Q–]).Additionally, like the biblical blessings and curses in Leviticus and Deu-teronomy that follow immediately after legal collections, QMMT, theDamascus Document and the Temple Scroll contain examples of blessingsand curses immediately following legislation that were likely to have beenperformed in public contexts (QDa [Q] also follows halakhic mate-rial). Associating blessings and curses with these three social contexts isnot unusual when compared to other cultures in the Ancient Near Eastand Israel’s own culture in the biblical tradition, yet the community’s ownadaptation and modification of blessings and curses is consistent with thecommunity of the renewed covenant.

7 This methodology of interpretation birthed a community that had affinities to bothEssenes and Sadducees. In terms of the community’s self perception, however, they werenothing less than biblical Israel, and consequently a socio-religious phenomenon suigeneris among the Judaisms of the Second Temple period. S. Talmon, “The Communityof the Renewed Covenant: Between Judaism and Christianity,” inThe Community of theRenewed Covenant: The Notre Dame Symposium on the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed. E. Ulrichand J. VanderKam; Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity ; Notre Dame: University ofNotre Dame Press, ), –.

8 R. Kugler, “Making all Experience Religious: The Hegemony of Ritual at Qumran,”JSJ (): –.

9 C. Bell, Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ).10 I follow Mary Douglas’ definition of ritual as “symbolic action concerning the

sacred.” M. Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollution and Taboo(London: Routledge, ), .

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Rites of Initiation and Expulsion ( QS II:–; QCurses[Q]; QBera–d [Q–]; QDa [Q])

About the same time as the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, biblicalscholars were beginning to examine the influence of suzerainty and par-ity treaties on the biblical covenant tradition in the Decalogue, Deuteron-omy, and the covenant renewal ceremony of Josh .11 As texts were pub-lished from Qumran, insights from these studies on covenant treatiesinformed work on the scrolls themselves.12 The blessings and cursesin the covenant renewal ceremony of QS II, QCurses (Q), andQBera–d (Q–) reflect rich intertextuality with various traditionsof the Hebrew Bible, including the priestly blessing in Numbers, theblessings and curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and the covenantrenewal ceremony in Josh . These blessings and curses are utteredwithin a theatrical ritual with clearly defined elements of a processional,stylized recitation of the blessing and curse by proper leaders of the rit-ual, and an affirmation of acceptance by the participants by means of aself-curse, or oath.13 This intramural event was repeated every year, prob-ably the day of or before Shavu#ot, “all the days of Belial’s dominion,” for

11 G. Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East (Pittsburgh:The Biblical Colloquium, ); D.J. Wiseman, “The Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon,”Iraq (): –; S. Gevirtz, “West Semitic Curses and the Problem of the Originsof Hebrew Law,” VT (): –; F.C. Fensham, “Malediction and Benediction inAncient Near Eastern Vassal-Treaties and the Old Testament,” ZAW (): –;J.A. Fitzmyer,TheAramaic Inscriptions of Sefire (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, );D. Hillers, Treaty Curses and Old Testament Prophets (Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute,).

12 K. Baltzer, e.g., argued that of all the elements of these ancient treaties, the blessingsand curses underwent the most far-reaching transformation in Israel. He maintainedthat the blessings or curses were originally presented as two equal possibilities whichwere historicized over time. Early on in the history of Israel, the blessing constitutedpresent experience and the curse threatened the future. After the destruction by Babylon,the blessing represented the promise of the future and the curse constituted the presentexperience of Israel. Baltzer also contended that the texts of covenant renewal at Qumranportrayed curses and blessings eschatalogically. K. Baltzer, The Covenant Formulary inOld Testament, Jewish, and Early. Christian Writings (trans. D.E. Green; Philadelphia:Fortress, ), –, –.

13 Contrast M. Weinfeld who argues that the ceremony of the Qumran community isfreed altogether of ritual action and left only with the fealty oath sworn by the participantsof the covenant, “The Covenant in Qumran,” in The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: TheSecond Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins, vol. : The Dead SeaScrolls and the Qumran Community (ed. J.H. Charlesworth; Waco: Baylor UniversityPress, ), –, .

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veterans and new initiates alike.14 While the ceremony is patterned afterthe one at Gerizim and Ebal, the community adapted both content andform of blessings and curses to its own needs.15 Like the blessings andcurses of Deut , there is no mention of blood or sacrifice, a commonelement in many ancient treaties. The context is clearly one of covenantrenewal, as language in QS I: – employs a stock phrase to establisha covenant (���� ������) from Deut : and :.

The initial blessing (QS II:–a) is uttered by the priests upon allthe men of God’s lot who walk unblemished in all his paths. Sincethere is no mention of blessing in Deut this blessing adapts theonly priestly blessing that the Ya .had had to draw from, the Aaronicblessing of Num . The Community Rule follows the Aaronic blessingnarrowly. The themes of protection, illumination, and peace highlightthe blessing, but with an eschatological connotation: the peace that isto be obtained is an eternal peace (�� �� �� � ). The single blessing isfollowed by a double curse (QS II:b–, –), first uttered by theLevites alone against the men of the lot of Belial followed by a curseuttered by both priests and Levites against those who might seek to enterthe covenant but hide an unregenerate heart. The threefold theme ofno mercy, no forgiveness, no peace, also present in QCurses (Q)below, is reminiscent of the prologue and epistles of Enoch and is directedagainst outsiders.16

Bilhah Nitzan argues that Q also belongs to the annual covenantrenewal ceremony and notes parallels with QS II:–, – that dealwith members of the Ya .had who did not keep the covenant.17 The orderof QS is interrupted with the Melki-resha curse, the same pattern ofcursing Melki-resha that theWar Scroll andBerakhot (Q–) adopttoward Belial. Because the liturgical form of Q is less developed thanQS, Nitzan suggests that this curse probably represents an earlier stageof the ceremony.

In the Community Rule, both curse and blessing are combined with anoath in which adherents affirm maledictions against themselves with a

14 The association with Shavu#ot may be a play on ����.15 B. Nitzan,Quman Prayer and Religious Poetry (trans. J. Chapman; STDJ ; Leiden:

Brill, ), –.16 J.S. Anderson, “Two-Way Instruction and Covenantal Theology in the Epistle of

Enoch,” Hen (): –.17 B. Nitzan, “Blessings and Curses,” Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ed. L.H.

Schiffman and J.C. VanderKam; vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, ), :–.

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double amen (QS II:, ). In essence the ritual introduces a modifiedsingle blessing, a double curse, double invokers of the curse, and adouble amen. Like the blessing of eternal peace, the curse is also viewedeschatologically, �� �� ���� (QS II:).18

What social function do these curses and blessings of the Commu-nity Rule and Q convey? The first and perhaps most obvious is thedelineation of socio-religious boundaries. This is nothing new. Pedersenargued a century ago that the qal passive participle of ��� denoted sep-aration of the one who utters the curse from its object as well as a sepa-ration of the object from the community.19 Scharbert depicted the curseformula as the “most severe means of separating the community fromthe evildoer.”20 One can point to a host of texts in and outside the HebrewBible where the purpose of curses and blessings was to define social andethnic boundaries by the exclusion or humiliation of the individual orgroup under the curse.21 In the first curse, the expression ��� ���� isuttered against the lot of Belial.22 Additionally, the language employed inthis ceremony, “to cross over,” is clearly boundary language. Unlike theceremony in Deut where the nation of Israel is given the possibility ofboth blessing and curse, here the notion is noticeably intramural. Theoutgroup-ingroup, ingroup-innergroup boundaries are clearly definedby curses and blessings. Whether the sons of Belial represent individualsoutside the community or backslidden members of the community, theresult is the same. The curses not only made explicit a known divisionbetween competing communities but actually enacted that relationship

18 For the eternal curse, see also En. :–; :.19 J. Pedersen expresses the curse as “Ausstoßung aus der Gesellschaft, Beraubung des

Glückes und der Ehre, Bann und Besessenheit.” J. Pedersen, Der Eid bei den Semitenin seinem Verhältnis zu verwandten Erscheinungen sowie die Stellung des Eides im Islam(Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen Orients ; Strassbourg: Trübner,), .

20 J. Scharbert, “Fluchen und Segnen im Alten Testament,” Bib (): –; idem,Solidarität in Segen und Fluch im Alten Testament und in seiner Umwelt, vol. : Väterfluchund Vätersegen (BBB ; Bonn: Hanstein, ).

21 Curses against, Cain, Canaan, Esau, Simeon, Levi in the ancestral narratives; Moab,Edom, and several other groups in the Balaam narrative, and the curses against theGibeonites, and Shechemites in the Deuteronomistic History are some examples.

22 Similar language is used in QCurses (Q) against Melki-resha, “[ . . . Accur]sedare you, Melki-resha, in all the pla[ns of your blameworthy inclination. May] God not bemerciful . . . May there be no peace for you by the mouth of those who intercede” (Q –, according to F. García Martínez and E.J.C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls StudyEdition [ vols.; Leiden: Brill, –], :).

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each time the ritual was performed.23 In QCurses (Q), this ritu-alized curse separated the object (Melki-resha) from the Sons of Light.Such projection of threat onto an Outgroup served as a back-handedblessing to the Ingroup which uttered the curse and as a force to denyothers participation in that community.

Second, in cultures of the ancient Near East, blessings and curses wereoften a private law of the vulnerable when the enforcing arm of thelaw was limited. Boundary inscriptions were a common Ancient NearEastern example of this use of curses, a metaphor alluded to often inthe scrolls, not only here, but also in the War Scroll and the DamascusDocument. As such, curses were a last resort of the weak based on atranscendental principle of justice which covered the limited arm of thelegal system. As Weber retorts, “the curse of the poor is the weaponof democracy.”24 Such denouncement rhetoric promoted egalitarianismand had a leveling effect to broader society. It may be that the Ya .hadviewed itself as oppressed with limited resources for justice.

Finally, the ceremony functioned as a tool of social control and a wayto convey social values. According to some social control models, peopleare more willing to conform to social norms of a community because ofa latent fear of retaliation. Due to the theological nature of this renewaltext, fear of divine retribution is a strong deterrent to antisocial behavior.Note the divine force behind a three fold blessing and seven fold curse:May he bless you with everything, may he illuminate your heart, may helift upon you his countenance—followed by—may God hand you overto terror, may he bring upon you destruction, may God not be merciful,may he not forgive, may he lift up the countenance of his anger, may God’sanger and wrath consume him, may God separate him for evil.25

The community’s double affirmation (��� ���) is telling. Speech acttheorists have argued that virtually all illocutionary speech acts are con-ditional. They must be uttered in appropriate contexts by appropriate

23 Mowinckel organizes his discussion by examining curses directed against thoseoutside the community versus curses directed against those inside the community (S. Mo-winckel, Psalmenstudien, vol. V: Segen und Fluch in Israels Kult und Psalmdichtung [;repr. Amsterdam: Schippers, ], ).

24 M. Weber,Ancient Judaism (trans. D. Martindale; New York: Free Press, ), –.

25 R. Werline argues that God’s refusal to listen to the prayers of the condemned inthe moment of punishment constitute the curses’ vitality, “The Curses of the CovenantRenewal Ceremony in QS .–.,” in For a Later Generation: The Transformationof Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism and Early Christianity (ed. R. Argall, B. Bow, andR. Werline; Harrisburg: Trinity, ), –.

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individuals or they will ultimately be unsuccessful. James Harris calledthis the “cornerstone of speech act analysis.”26 The procedure must beexecuted by all participants correctly and completely. While curses canat times be uttered in secret without the knowledge of their object, thecurse within the contexts of an oath must be acknowledged in some wayby the individual who agrees to the oath. With a reenactment every year,the double curse invoked by double personas, and a double affirmationstrengthen the viability of that oath.

War Prayers (QM XIII:–, QShira–b [Q–])

In Sam Goliath cursed David by his gods prior to their infamousbattle at Socoh and in Num – Balak summoned Balaam to curseIsrael in a verbal buildup to an actual war. Many ancient texts supplyexamples of gathering omens before battle to ascertain the will of thegods, employing professional sorcerers to curse the enemy, and gatheringan entire army in public contexts to swear an oath of military allegiance.27

TheWar Scroll (QM) offers detailed ritual instructions for the final battlebetweens the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. The Sons of Lightwere to prepare as if they were taking part in a holy ritual. Yet the outcomeof the war had already been predetermined and that victorious outcomewas specifically foreshadowed in the text. In the heart of the War Scroll(cols. X–XIV) are a series of varied liturgical pieces in the context ofwarfare. The prayers of this section are not necessarily homogenous butreflect parallels with other ritualized texts, most notably the covenantrenewal ceremony.28

The context of reciting this text occurs at the time of the eschatologicalwar between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, but Nitzanobserves that it is unclear at what stage of the war the recitation wasto be uttered.29 For example, in col. XIV the blessings and curses arerecited near the corpses of slain enemies, presumably after the actual

26 J. Harris, “Speech Acts and God Talk,” International Journal for the Philosophy ofReligion (): –, .

27 C.A. Faraone, “Curses and Blessings in Ancient Greek Oaths,” Journal of AncientNear Eastern Religion (): –.

28 P.R. Davies, “War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness,” Encyclopediaof the Dead Sea Scrolls :–, .

29 Nitzan, Qumran Prayer, .

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battle is over.30 Assuming that the War Scroll entails preparation for aphysical battle, if the blessings and curses are uttered prior to the battlethey are employed similarly to other war curses. If they are employed afterthe battle, these performatives still draw important lines of demarcationbetween God, Belial, and their respective lots.

While not expressed in covenantal language, many of the same stylizedceremonial elements in the Community Rule are presented here in theWar Scroll as a liturgical ceremony. There is a processional, or at theleast, a clearly defined order of priests, levites and elders. The invokersare the priests, levites, and elders who bless the God of Israel and damn(���) Belial and all the spirits of his lot. God is blessed for his holyplan, Belial cursed for his hostile plan and the spirits of his lot arecursed for their wicked plan. The use of ��� is similar here to thereconstructed text of QCurses (Q), where Melki-resha is cursedfor the plans of his blameworthy inclination. In QM the ���� formulais employed against these foes. The word “lot” ( ��!), is referential tothe boundary of allotment, evoking curses associated with the violationof boundaries, like the covenant renewal texts. But unlike the covenantrenewal ceremony, words of curse written first, the ritual ends with ablessing.

Sometimes blessings and curses served as a substitute for politicalaction. When there were no available channels through which an indi-vidual or group could seek justice, curses often were a means of seek-ing revenge. In the context of warfare, rather than a literal confronta-tion in which one was sure to be defeated, the curse often substituted foran actual battle.31 This not only provided a socially sanctioned outlet for

30 J. Duhaime outlines the War Prayers this way: Prayers at the camp (cols. IX–XII),prayers on the battlefield (col. XII–XIV:), prayers after the victory (col. XIV:–end).J. Duhaime, “War Scroll,” inThe Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew Aramaic, and Greek Texts withEnglish Translations, vol. :Damascus Document, War Scroll, and Related Documents (ed.J.H. Charlesworth et al.; The Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project;Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, ), –, . See also Y. Yadin,The Scroll of theWar of theSons of Light against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford: Oxford University Press, ), .

31 Ya"ari and Friedman argue that in Arab societies warfare has actually been avertedwhen antagonists vent their frustrations by cursing the enemy: “While the curse-and-bless prelude was originally designed to gear enemies up for an armed clash, it has alsohad the effect of substituting for physical combat.” E. Ya"ari and I. Friedman, “Curses inVerses,”The Atlantic (Feb. ): . Additionally, note the revealing quote: “They curseus because they cannot kill us.” K. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies inPopular Belief in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England (New York: Scribner, ),.

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aggressive impulses, but was also a powerful means of effecting revenge.32

Regardless, these blessings and curses strengthened the resolve of thosewho participated in the ritual.

The language of blessing and curse is also employed in QShira–b

(Q–). In framework similar to the War Scroll, the text portraysthe struggle between the forces of light and darkness. These songs indi-cate that the one reciting the text is declaring the glories of God tofrighten the spirits of the ravaging angels and demons.33 Although themanuscripts are severely damaged, the associated text in Q demon-strates the tension of blessing and curse. The text is highly fragmented,but essentially reflects a ritual that opens the same way that QM does,praising God who is the source of both blessings and curses. This textexpresses the dualistic and deterministic position that God is the irre-sistible source of both blessing and curse. Nitzan states, “the blessing andcorresponding curse serve as a kind of magical weapon intended to pro-tect the children of light from the spirits of Belial in warring activities. . . ”34 For Nitzan, while the blessing and curse of covenantal ceremonywas a means if identifying and separating from the lot of Belial, the usein this context resembles the practice of using recitations which carrymagical powers.35 Rather than magical recitations, perhaps instead boththe covenant renewal ceremonies and the battle curses combine speechand ritual act as performative utterances. In both contexts the effect ofblessings and curses is the same. They fortify the self identity of the com-munity, coerce behavior, and define actions that are sanctioned by thecommunity.

Hortatory Exhortations FollowingLegal Materials (QMMT, Q, QT)

QMMT, the Damascus Document, and the Temple Scroll all containcurses and blessings which follow legal or halakhic instruction, thus rein-

32 Duhaime, “War Scroll,” .33 See A. Lange, “The Essene Position on Magic and Divination,” in Legal Texts and

Legal Issues: Proceedings of the Second Meeting of the International Organization forQumran Studies, Cambridge (ed. M. Bernstein, F. García Martínez, and J. Kampen;STDJ ; Leiden: Brill, ), –.

34 Nitzan, Qumran Prayer, .35 Ibid., .

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forcing legal sanctions.36 While there is probably no literary relationshipbetween these three documents, their content is remarkably similar.37

The reconstructed text of QMMT as it is presented in the composite textand translation by Strugnell and Qimron contains three sections: a calen-dar at the beginning (A), a list of laws (B), and a hortatory conclusion (C).It is the conclusion that alludes to the blessings and curses. The blessingsand curses of the text above are replete with biblical allusions from Deut:; :–; :; and possibly Deuteronomic language in Hos :–.38

Deuteronomy :– states that after the time of blessings and curseshas run its course, Israel will return to God with all their heart and soul.An allusion to Deut : or : anchors the time of this return to theend of days. The expressions (��� �����), (��� �����), and (�������) are significant. The phrase is probably not used eschatologicallyas QMMT C expressly states, “this is the last days.” The Torah usesthe expression, “the last days” in only two occasions; both are in the con-text of blessings and curses. In Gen :, Jacob asks his sons to “gatheraround, so I can tell you what will happen at the end of days.” The con-text here is a blessing on most of his sons and the curses on Simeon andLevi. In Num :, just prior to Balaam’s fourth and unsolicited oracle,Balaam says to Balak, “let me warn you what this people will do to yourpeople at the end of days.” In context, the fourth oracle turns out to benothing less that a curse on Moab. Both of these texts in the Torah are noteschatological. Collins notes that one of the supplements to QS, QSa(Qa), states, “the rule for all the congregation of Israel at the end ofdays.”39 Unlike the blessings and curses of QS and theWar Scroll, thereis probably no eschatological connotation in QMMT.

But to what extent is the language of QMMT part of a ritual? Fraadesuggests that there is an unmistakable link to the covenantal ceremo-ny enacted after crossing the Jordan.40 Wise, Abegg, and Cook nicely

36 J.P. Meier argues that the noun halakhah is used only in a general sense at Qumran(QS III:). J.P. Meier, “Is thereHalaka (the Noun) at Qumran?” JBL (): –.

37 L.H. Schiffman, “Miq.sat Ma#ase Ha-Torah and the Temple Scroll,” RevQ (–): –.

38 M. Bernstein states that the language becomes more biblical in the hortatory sectionof QMMT. M. Bernstein, “The Employment and Interpretation of Scripture in QMMT:Preliminary Observations,” in Reading QMMT: New Perspectives on Qumran Law andHistory (ed. J. Kampen and M. Bernstein; SBLSymS ; Atlanta: Scholars Press, ), –, .

39 J.J. Collins, “Eschatology,” Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls :–, .40 S.D. Fraade, “Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Miq.sat Ma#ase Ha-Torah (QMMT):

The Case of the Blessings and Curses,” DSD (): –, .

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organize the material into two units that each contain a warning, exhor-tation, and illustration. Such a construction could, but does not necessar-ily have to lend itself to a ritualized setting.41 Multiple copies of QMMTsuggest that the treatise functioned intramurally and was likely used toinstruct new members and to reaffirm the unique halakhic perspectivesto veterans of the community. The message seems clear: obey this set oflaws and blessing will return.42

The rite of expulsion in QDa (Q) –, a fragmentary copyof the Damascus Document without parallel in the Cairo Genizah, alsocontains blessings and curses which follow halakhic instruction.43 Withthe eight MSS from Cave taken into account, over two-thirds of theDamascus Document contains halakhic instruction.44 The rite of expul-sion apparently follows CD :–. The timing of this expulsion cer-emony is significant as it also coincides with Shavu#ot and is probablypart of a covenant renewal ceremony. The expulsion applies to everyonewho despises the regulations in accordance with all the statutes that arefound in the Law of Moses. The ritual includes a community assembly, aprayer uttered by a priest who is appointed over the Many, and a writtenverdict. Even those associated with the expelled man were to leave withhim. Again, as seen above, the language of border violations is reminis-cent of the curse. The author uses covenantal language of “crossing over,”yet with a twist. The expelled has crossed over the boundaries set by God.

Last, another parallel to QMMT is the Law of the King in the TempleScroll (QTa LIX:–). Like QMMT, it concludes a section of halakhicmaterials by invoking a relatively long list of curses against those whomight not keep the covenant, presumably due to the disobedience of theking. The Temple Scroll alludes to the covenant blessings and curses ofDeut ; ; ; and Lev by describing the scattering and disgraceof the people, destruction of cities, and the humiliation of exile. LikeQMMT, once the curses have run their course, a return follows, “after-wards they shall come back to me with all their heart and with all theirsoul, in agreement with all the words of this law.” Thus the period of curse

41 M. Wise, M. Abegg, and E. Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (SanFrancisco: HarperSanFrancisco, ), –.

42 G.W.E. Nickelsburg, Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins: Diversity, Continuity,and Transformation (Minneapolis: Fortress, ), .

43 J.C. VanderKam, “Covenant,” Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls :–, .44 J.M. Baumgarten and M.T. Davis, “Cave IV, V, VI Fragments Related to the Dam-

ascus Document (Q– = QDa–h, Q = QD, Q = QD),” in The Dead SeaScrolls (ed. Charlesworth et al.), :–, .

curses and blessings

is followed by a time of blessing. The implication is remarkably similar toQMMT C –, which implies that obedience to a certain interpreta-tion of the Torah will spare the ruler from the misfortunes of the curse.45

Conclusion

The counterposing of blessings and curses played a central role in the rit-ual life of the Qumran community in ceremonies and literary composi-tions. Such ritual density was intramural, public, and consensual. Exam-ples from three arenas—covenant renewals and expulsions, war prayers,and paranetic exhortations—demonstrate that blessings and curses ut-tered in ritual contexts at Qumran were potent and effective performa-tives. The community employed these utterances in multiple contextsby rich intertextuality with the blessings and curses from the HebrewBible. The threat of curse and promise of blessing enhanced social soli-darity, marginalized outsiders, and coerced obedience to social sanctions.These performatives were uttered in intramural contexts consistent withthe Hebrew Bible, but went beyond biblical utterances as their rhetoricaffirmed the dualistic and deterministic ideology of the Ya .had concern-ing the identity and struggle between light and darkness, between thelots of God and Belial.46 This community adapted a “new covenant” forthemselves that did not apply to all nations, or even to all Israel for thatmatter, but only those who remained faithful to the community itselfand adhered to its strictest codes. All others were cursed. Such rituals,“entangled community members inextricably with God’s will for the cos-mos and drew them away from the profane world of their Jewish andnon-Jewish neighbors.”47 These blessings and curses were potent, but notbecause of the magical power of words or the soul, but as performativesuttered in proper ritual contexts.48

The approach in this essay is indebted to Shemaryahu Talmon’s socio-logical models for understanding the distinctive self understanding and

45 L.H. Schiffman, “The Place of QMMT in the Corpus of Qumran Manuscripts,” inReading QMMT, –, .

46 Nitzan, “Blessings and Curses,” .47 Kugler, “Making All Experience Religious,” .48 Thiselton, “The Supposed Power of Words in Biblical Writings,” , states, “illocu-

tionary speech acts no more depend on primitive notions of word-magic than a modernjudge and jury do when their words actually consign a man to prison or to freedom.”

jeff s. anderson

world view of the community at Qumran.49 For Talmon, historical criti-cal methodology alone is insufficient to a full understanding of Qumranand these sociological models bear directly on the life and faith of theYa .had. As such, sociological method represents a promising approachfor analyzing the Dead Sea Scrolls.

49 S. Talmon, “The Transmission History of the Text of the Hebrew Bible in the Lightof Biblical Manuscripts from Qumran and Other Sites in the Judean Desert,” inTheDeadSea Scrolls Fifty Years AfterTheir Discovery: Proceedings of the JerusalemCongress, July –, (ed. L.H. Schiffman et al.; Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, ), –;idem, “The Community of the Renewed Covenant.”