towards qumran soteriology john camberlain

Toward a Qumran SoteriologyAuthor(s): John V. ChamberlainSource: Novum Testamentum, Vol. 3, Fasc. 4 (Dec., 1959), pp. 305-313Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559947 .

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TOWARD A QUMRAN SOTERIOLOGY

BY

JOHN V. CHAMBERLAIN Towson 4 (Maryland) - U.S.A.

Term after term, as I attempt to lead students to an integrated understanding of diverse Biblical thought, no problem vexes me more than the proper place in this thought for the concept of the Servant of the Lord. The identity and function of this mysterious figure, as intended by the still more mysterious author of the Servant Songs, remain elusive, despite the fact that, as my mentor, Dr W. F. STINESPRING of Duke University says, "much ink has

been spilt" on the subject. Was the Servant an historical figure or a speculative one? Past, present or future, from the point in time of the author? Was he an individual or corporate figure? Israel, or remnant of Israel, or refined Israel, or ideal Israel? Messiah? To what extent did the concept aid in the formation of Jesus' understanding of his own mission? To what extent (if at all 1)) did it underlay the evangelists' interpretations of the fact of Jesus? And, perhaps most intriguing, to what extent does it underlay a valid Christian concept of the Church?

Now, one of the prime values of the Qumran Scrolls to modern

scholarship is the fact that they provide us with an ancient inter-

pretation of the Old Testament. How the Qumran writers understood the Servant Songs may not determine for us what the author of the Songs intended, but it does provide us with a perspective view as to how the Songs were understood by some believers in

antiquity much closer to the writing of the Songs, both in time and

spirit, than we. This is the more important to Christians because of the fact that the Essene Community, like primitive Christianity, was an apocalyptically oriented sectarian daughter of Judiasm, departing from the mother-religion about two or three centuries before Christianity's maiden flight. There is a community of

1) Cf. C. K. BARRETT, "The Background of Mark x 45", New Testament Essays, Studies in Memory'of T. W. Manson, ed. by A. J. B. Higgins, Manchester 1959, I-I8. Novum Testamentum III 21



JOHN V. CHAMBERLAIN

religious thought between the Essene and Christian writers in which the Essene thinking is chronologically prior. The bond of community between the two is apocalypticism. Hence the Essene writings are of great importance to the interpretation of primitive Christian

thought. As we seek to answer the questions in the first paragraph, then,

the Essene interpretation of the Servant of the Lord is relevant and potentially enlightening, though not determinative. The study of the scrolls has not yet reached the stage when an exhaustive examination of so broad a topic can be undertaken. Our purpose is to indicate a valid approach and to use this approach on a limited amount of material. The thesis of this paper, then, is that the eighth column of the Manual of Discipline from Qumran (IQS) bears evidence that the Essenes considered their own organization ("church") to be the eschatological and corporate Servant of the Lord, with certain soteriological functions, but that before this

eschatology could be realized, certain other soteriological functions had to be performed by a divinely designated body of men within the larger organization. The thesis is not conclusive, because at several critical points there is no supporting evidence from the rest of the Qumran material. I think, however, that it is not contradicted elsewhere, and is worthy of consideration in the larger effort to reconstruct Essene thought concerning the Servant of the Lord.

By way of making an approach to this "larger effort", some things must be said. Unfortunately, we do not (yet) possess one of the sect's characteristic "commentaries" on the texts of the Songs. The

publishing of such a commentary in the future may destroy the entire thesis here-in presented, but such are the vagaries of scholar-

ship. Lacking such a commentary, there are nevertheless several

avenues to the problem open to us. One is the variants in the texts of the Servant Songs as preserved by the Essenes. I have maintained elsewhere that the condition of the text of IQIsa has been influenced

significantly by theological beliefs of the sect 1). Thus, a comparison of the texts of the Songs as preserved in the Qumran literature to the Massoretic texts (regardless of which reading, in any particular case, may be superior) may be fruitful in determining the sect's

interpretation of the Servant. Thus the scroll reading of lnnt?Z

1) "The Functions of God as Messianic Titles in the Complete Qumran Isaiah Scroll", Vetus Testamentum, V (1955), 366-372.

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TOWARD A QUMRAM SOTERIOLOGY

("I anointed") for the MT reading of nnwv ("marred") in Is. lii I4 indicates that the Servant was connected with Messianic speculation by the scribe of that scroll, at least 1). There are other textual variants in the Servant Songs of IQIsa which are of exegetical significance, but this is not the import of the present paper, and I shall call attention to only a few in passing.

A second avenue of approach to our problem may be seen in the

practice of interpreting one piece of scripture by allusions to other

pieces of scripture. With regard to this practice in the so-called

"Formulary of Blessings" (IQSb), Theodor H. GASTER says, The interpretations rest on the device, familiar from rabbinic

literature, of reading further meaning into a Scriptural text by mentally correlating it with other passages in which the same words are used in different contexts.

Thus, the phrase, 'The Lord bless thee' is tacitly associated with such a passage as Psalm lxviii 26, where the word 'bless' occurs beside the expression, 'fountain of Israel'. This at once suggests the thought that the blessing is to consist in draughts from the Divine Fountain 2).

The first of the Servant Songs begins with the following verse

(xlii I), translated from the MT.

Behold my Servant, I uphold him; my Chosen, my soul delights (in him);

I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth judgment to the gentiles.

The only significant textual variant in this verse in IQIsa leads his judgment for judgment, thus heightening the authority of the Servant. This verse was understood in a very harsh sense by the author of the Habakkuk Commentary. While he is commenting

1) I accept W. H. BROWNLEE'S interpretation of the passage (BASOR, I32, 1953, p. IO) to the effect that it is messianic, over the objections that have been raised (Joseph REIDER, BASOR, I34, I954, 5-6, and Arie RUBIN- STEIN, Biblica, 35, 1954, 475-479), on the grounds that, I) The scribe's use of final yodh in variance with the MT is consistently deliberate, hence this example is not likely to be accidental, and, 2) The alternative interpretations of the form that have been suggested have not been paralleled elsewhere in the scroll. RUBINSTEIN'S example of VnVln in il 7 is, I think, simply a plural construct where the MT has a singular construct-indicating what I shall maintain below, viz. that the sect held a corporate view of the Servant.

2) The Dead Sea Scriptures, Doubleday Anchor Books, Garden city, New York, 1956, p. 36. BROWNLEE noted this practice in the Habakkuk Commen- tary as long ago as 1951, and included it in his pioneering study of the "hermeneutical principles" of that scroll (Biblical Archaeologist, xiv, I951, 54-76).

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JOHN V. CHAMBERLAIN

on a passage in Habakkuk, he leaves a very clear impression of his understanding of this Isaianic verse, in IQpHab v, 3 ff.

... God will not destroy his people by the hand of the gentiles, but into the hand of his Chosen God will give the judgment of the gentiles ... Whereas in the text of Is. xlii I wtnr may be understood either in the gracious, universalistic sense of "justice", which we are accustomed to associate with the mission of the Servant, or in the harsh, narrow sense of "punishment", the interpretation of the verse implied in IQpHab v, 3 will allow only the latter. Furthermore, the Habakkuk commentator extends the meaning and application of the Isaiah verse.

... and when they (the gentiles) are chastised, there shall be punished all the wicked from among his people who kept his commandments in their distress.

According to this Essene writer, a mission of the Servant of Isaiah xlii I is to wreak the judgment of God upon the gentiles, and also to wreak this judgment upon the faithless in Israel, that is, the followers of the apostate Jerusalem priesthood and/or backsliding members of the sect.

This Isaianic verse finds interpretation also in the Manual of Discipline. An important new aspect of the Servant concept arises here, as the Servant is pictured not as an individual but as a corporate group. We read in IQS viii, 4 ff.

When these things have come to pass in Israel, the Council of the Community will have been established in truth as ... the Chosen of (God's) delight, to atone for the land 1), and to render to the wicked their desert. The words Chosen and delight, and the treatment afforded the wicked make the "mental correlation" of this passage with Isaiah xlii I and IQpHab v, 3 ff. sure, and the mission to atone for the land connects all three with the Servant Song in the fifty-second and fifty-third chapters of Isaiah. It recalls such phrases in that song as, "the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all"; "he was stricken for the transgression of my people (IQIsa: his people)", and "when you make his soul an offering for sin." I have previously argued 2) that in the scroll reading of Is. xlvi Io,

1) Or "earth". But the exclusivism of the IQpHab passage speaks for the narrower interpretation here.

2) Op. cit., p. 367.

3o8




My Council shall stand, and he (or it, MT: I) shall accomplish all my purpose.

we have evidence that the Council of the Community 1) was considered to be a corporate agent of God, accomplishing his purpose. IQS viii, 6 f. makes clear what this purpose is: "to atone for the land and to render to the wicked their desert," which is to say, functions assigned by the sect to the Servant of the Lord.

The Servant-allusions in this passage have been noted by Brown- lee, together with the fact that the concept of the Servant here is a corporate one 2). What I am interested in calling attention to here are two implications, i). As is apparent from BROWNLEE'S treatment, the Servant is identified with the Council of the Com- munity, and suffers vicariously, 2) when certain preconditions have taken place ("When these things have come to pass").

To treat these implications in reverse order, the "preconditions" are the functions of the "twelve men and three priests", outlined in lines I-4.

(There shall be 3) within the Council of the Community twelve men and three priests who are perfect in all which is disclosed of all the Torah 4) in order, I) to enact 5) truth and righteousness

1) The general meaning of the phrase "Council of the Community" was early recognized by BROWNLEE and others to indicate the entire body of full-fledged members of the sect, rather than some more restricted body within the sect. This recognition is now unchallenged, I think, although translators essay different renderings in order to avoid the ambiguity inherent in the literal translation. Cf. GASTER'S "formal congregation of the community", and E. F. SUTCLIFFE'S "body of the Community" ("The First Fifteen Members of the Qumran Community", Journal of Semitic Studies, IV (I959, I34-I38).

2) "The Servant of the Lord in the Qumran Scrolls",BASOR, 135, 1954, P. 35. 3) There is no verb in the extant text. A nominal sentence is possible, and

grammatically satisfactory, but since there is no evidence of paragraphing at this point, although an important new topic is undertaken, it is probable that a verb is to be hypothesized in the missing text at the bottom of the previous column. Most translators suggest "There shall be". P. WERNBERG- MOLLER (The Manual of Discipline, E. J. Brill, Leiden I957, P. 33) renders, "There must be". SUTCLIFFE (op. cit.) argues for "When there are". Whatever modal inferences are made, line 4 makes a future tense here highly probable.

4) That is to say, the perfection lies in Essene orthodoxy. Cf. IQpHab vii, I ff. "And God said to Habakkuk to write the things that were to come upon the last generation; but the final phase of the end He did not make known to him ... God has made known (to the Teacher of Righteousness) all the mysteries of the words of His servants the prophets." (BROWNLEE'S translation). That which is "disclosed of all the Torah" was disclosed by the Teacher of Righteous or other authoritative teacher.

5) WERNBERG-MOLLER (op. cit.) translates "so that they can enact", and

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JOHN V. CHAMBERLAIN

and justice and lovingkindness and humble companionship among men, and 2) to preserve faithfulness in the land through steadfast mind and broken spirit, and 3) to expiate iniquity by enacting judgment and the ordeal of a refining-furnace 1) and 4) to walk with all in the measurement of truth and in the proportionment of time 2).

The functions of the Fifteen are divided by the four infinitives, and may be described as the enactment within the Sect of I) perfect ethical conduct, 2) perfect religious witness, 3) perfect expiation of guilt, and 4) perfect orthodoxy. They all stem from what the Sectarian writer considered to be perfect knowledge and perform- ance of the requirements of Torah. It is the expiation which prim- arily interests us here: Within the Council of the Community there shall be a group of twelve laymen and three priests who shall be perfect in Torah, and who shall thus qualify to expiate the sins of the Community by judging and punishing sinners. When this has taken place, the Council itself will be established as the Servant of the Lord, to make atonement for its own sins and to punish the gentiles and apostate Jews.

regards "the Community" of line i as the antecedent of the pronoun "they". Thus the "enacting" becomes the activity of the Community as a whole, not the Fifteen. He does this on two grounds. I) "Council of the Community" means the entire Community, not an inner group. So it does, but in this passage "Council of the Community" is qualified by the preposition 1 ("within", in WERNBERG-MOLLER'S correct interpretation: see his note I, p. I22), SO that even in his syntactical analysis the subject of the infinitive is the group within the Community, not the Community as a whole. 2) "Line 2 is made up of phrases which are in other passages of iQS applied to all members of the community". This fact is noted also by SUTCLIFFE. But the phrases and the enacting of the phrases may be two different things. In any case, scripture is not wanting in examples of men who uniquely achieved what is morally demanded (but not achieved) of all believers.

As to syntactical analysis, the infinitive nrws7 simply expresses purpose (GKC par. 114 f, h). Its subject is the Fifteen, and its objects are truth, righteousness etc.

1) WERNBERG-MOLLER translates "by doing justice and suffering affliction"

regarding these as exemplary actions. In this interpretation, the terms are judical. The Fifteen expiate sin by sentencing and punishing sinners. This maintains a consistent interpretation of the verb tOS7 (see preceding note). B. OTZEN translates "by those who will pass judgment and bring about the affliction or trial", according to WERNBERG-MOLLER'S review of E. NIELSEN and B. OTZEN, D0dehavsteksterne, in Revue de Qumran. The present writer has not seen the NIELSEN-OTZEN volume. This understanding of W:17 was suggested in a footnote by BROWNLEE in his I951 translation published as a BA SOR supplement.

2) I.e., to achieve orthodoxy in matters of doctrine and calender. Note the growing body of secondary literature on the question of the Qumran calender.

3Io




"To expiate" and "to atone" reflect a careful distinction in the Hebrew text. The former represents an action done on behalf of the Community by the Fifteen; the latter represents an activity of the Community itself. "To expiate" translates the qal of ;nrn, and "to atone" translates the pi'el of 13i. nis1 basically means "to take pleasure in". When its object is a person, it can mean "to love", or "to be on good terms with". When the object is a

thing, it can mean "to be pleased with", or "to accept", as a sacrifice. In any case, it implies an emotional reaction of pleasure to an object. Pleasure is seldom a reasoned thing, nor a reflex conditioned by legality. n;1r is cognate with the Hebrew noun 17S, which legitimately bears the connotations of the classical Christian term "grace". When ;s1i has as its object "sin", as in the passage in IQS with which we are dealing, its meaning is "to make acceptable" or "to pay off" 1). This not in a quid pro quo sense, however. The purpose is simply to please God. For example, we read in Ex. xxvi 40-42 (cf. vss. 34 and 43),

But if they confess their iniquity .. .; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and if they rns their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant ...

"Making iniquity acceptable" is here classified as an act similar to confessing sin and humbling one's heart, as prerequisites to

forgiveness. Speaking generally, it means "to do what is necessary to please God with regard to sins which have been committed".

Speaking specifically of IQS viii, 3, it means "to cause justice to be practised and to refine offenders out of their evil". Thus the Fifteen who qualify by reason of their perfection in the will of God (Torah) expiate the iniquity of the land by taking just such measures.

We then read (viii, 4 ff.) that "When these things (i.e., the

perfection of the Fifteen and the expiation of the sin of the land) are accomplished . . . the Council of the Community will be established in truth as ... the Chosen of Grace to atone for the land". As we have mentioned, "atone" translates the Hebrew word 5nn. '13 basically means "to cover", hence "to hide" or even "to obliterate". Its most frequent usage in the OT is as a pi'el meaning "to obtain pardon (i.e. covering) for" sin. In Ex. xxxii 30-32, Moses says to the people,

1 WERNBERG-MOLLER SO translates.

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JOHN V. CHAMBERLAIN

"You have sinned a great sin . .. perhaps I can -n5 your sin". So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin .. . But now if thou wilt forgive their sin-and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written".

Moses' attempt at atonement consists of a seeking of pardon for the purpose of reconciliation of God and Israel, even by the offered sacrifice of himself. By analogy, when the Council of the Community atones for the land (Israel, cf. 1. 4) it is seeking a reconciliation between God and the sect (the true Israel). To nsn iniquity, then, is to make God pleased with regard to sin, and to int is to effect, through pardon, a reconciliation with God. Both terms are soterio-

logical, though the central figure of an individual Savior is not involved. The expiation is prior to the atonement, and must be

accomplished by an agency other than the Community at large. The atonement is accomplished by the Community itself, in its

corporate, or Council or "Church" aspect. Since the Community in its corporate aspect is in this passage identified with the Servant of the Lord, the implications for the Essene interpretation of the Servant Songs are as follows: The Servant was, for the Essenes, an eschatological, corporate figure; ideal Israel, with soteriological functions benefiting the Essenes alone. The question of whether the Essenes considered this eschatology to have been realized

(i.e., the expiation had already taken place and the atonement is a continuous process) is open, though I should be inclined to answer no. The verbs are certainly future. SUTCLIFFE (op. cit), who does not interpret the passage eschatologically, regards it as describing the conditions under which the actual community at Qumran might be founded 1), and therefore dates it from before the founding. Thus the future verbs would imply actions already completed when the document circulated at Qumran, as it certainly did.

Obviously the Manual of Discipline cannot answer for us the

questions we asked at the beginning regarding the Servant of the Lord in the New Testament. Yet there are parallels. The identifi- cations of the Servant with the entire saving and saved community recalls T. W. MANSON'S controversial interpretation of the Son

1) So also P. GUILBERT, "Le plan de la Regle de la Communaut6", Revue de Qumran, I (Feb. 1959), p. 335: "'Quand cela sera r6alis6 en Israel' les members ... doivent partir pour s'6tablir au d6sert."

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TOWARD A QUMRAM SOTERIOLOGY 313

of Man figure in the Gospels 1), and, in my opinion, gives Manson some deserved support, since (again in Manson's interpretation) the figures of the Son of Man and the Servant of the Lord are

uniquely brought together in the teaching of Jesus as recorded in the Synoptics. The high doctrine of the "Church" implied in the

assigning of soteriological functions to a group within the Council of the Community and to the Council of the Community itself is

significant to the study of primitive Christian ecclesiology, particu- larly in view of the oft-noted parallels between the polities of the Essene and primitive Christian movements. Perhaps the "IEeys of the Kingdom" and other such passages ought to be taken much more seriously, as addressed to the corporate church, than Protes- tants have been accustomed to take them.

1) The Teaching of Jesus, second edition, Cambridge I935, P. 235. See also A. J. B. HIGGINS, "Son of Man", in New Testament Essays, Studies in Memory of T. W. Manson, Manchester 1959.



towards qumran soteriology john camberlain

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