The Yakhad

This is a paper I wrote for my Religious Studies: Introduction to Judaism class. I presented it at this year's Religious Studies Undergraduate Conference at MSU.

In 1947, a goat led the way to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain firsthand accounts of an early Jewish community previously known before only through translated accounts.
The origins of the Qumran texts have been heavily debated. Generally, though, they are taken to be the records of an early Jewish community that established itself in the region during the late Second Temple period. This group of Essenes, called the Yakhad, may have originally been members of the Zadokite priesthood. When these priests lost their jobs (likely over political/ideological conflicts), they moved to the Dead Sea with others who sided with them. A closed community was formed with the Torah at its center. The Yakhad (like every other Jewish community at the time) saw themselves as in possession of the “true” Torah. The community interpreted Jewish history and the Hebrew Bible in new, creative ways that validated their claims. It is important to remember, though, that all sects and off-shoots of religion interpret holy texts “creatively;” that is, in a way differing from the traditional. At the same time that the Yakhad community existed, Rabbinic Judaism was in its beginnings. It, too, interpreted Torah in a different way than earlier Judaism had, reading and interpreting texts creatively to back up their claims. We tend to see the dominant or most well-known sect as “natural” and the offshoots as “creative,” but, to the earliest Jews, all of these communities may well have seemed heretical!
The Qumranic Essenes saw themselves as truly priestly. The priests who had remained in the Temple had given in to political and worldly temptations. The Yakhad were a remnant of the faithful community of believers, the remainder of the priests who had remained true to priestly convictions. Exile and return were prevalent themes throughout history. The Essenes saw themselves as a continuation of this tradition, and their move to the Qumran region as another exile and test of their convictions.
The “Exhortation” of the Damascus Rule contains canonical stories of historical Judaism, interpreted in a way that backed up the assertions of the Yakhad community. It begins by stating that Israel forsook God, causing God to hide God’s face from the people. But God, remembering the Covenant of the forefathers (made with Abraham, discussed in more detail below), left a “remnant” of Israel. It is this remnant that comprises the Dead Sea Essenes. There was, at this time, a “congregation of traitors” in Israel, and “Like a stubborn heifer thus was Israel stubborn (Hos. iv. 16).” Throughout religious treatises, scholars referenced Biblical texts to help make their case. This passage from Hosea comes from a chapter listing the offenses of the people (lying, adultery, and idol worship, to name a few) and stating that “the priests stumble with you” (Hos. iv. 5). Hosea goes on to discuss the unrepentance of Israel and God’s punishment for those who, “like Adam,” “have broken the covenant” (Hos. vi. 7). This passage from Hosea may have spoken very strongly to the Essenes, who believed that the other priests had, indeed, stumbled, and that Israel had broken the covenant without repenting.
This discussion of Israel’s having broken the covenant is continued a bit later in the Damascus Document with a reference to Abraham and the generations that followed him. Those who strayed “did their own will and did not keep the commandment.” Here, we see the tension between doing your own will (doing what you want to do) and doing God’s will (doing what God wants). True priests of God did what God wanted them to do, following God’s commandments. This was what keeping the covenant meant to them. “Through [walking in their own way], the children of Noah went astray…and were cut off. Abraham did not walk in [his own way], and he was accounted a friend of God because he kept the commandments of God.” The Essenes, refusing to walk in their own way and instead keeping God’s commandments, returned to the glorious rewards of the covenant. They saw themselves as “Children of Light” and the worldly priests still in Jerusalem and their followers as “Children of Darkness.” Someday, the Children of Light would battle the Children of Darkness; this battle would end in God’s taking over the world.
This reading of the covenant story asserts that the party to the covenant is not based on direct ancestry, but instead on those who keep to the covenant and obey God. God reveals to the “remnant which held fast to the commandments of God” (the Essenes, those true to the covenant) the “hidden things in which all Israel had gone astray.” The remnant is advised of the true way to live: “His holy Sabbaths and His glorious feasts, the testimonies of His Righteousness and the ways of His truth, and the desires of His will which a man must do in order to live.” The author of the Damascus Document does not quote from the Hebrew Bible here, but these actions are prescribed in the Torah and it is the priests of Aaron who traditionally led the community in following these commandments. This asserts that it is the remnant (and not the priests at the Temple) who have the proper knowledge to fulfill God’s commandments. And then there comes an interesting statement from the author: “they wallowed in the sin of man and in ways of uncleanness, and they said, ‘This is our (way).’ But God, in His wonderful mysteries, forgave them their sin and pardoned their wickedness; and He built them a sure house in Israel whose like has never existed from former times till now.” If I didn’t know this was the Damascus Document, I would assume the “they” is simply referring to the Jews and the “sure house” to the Temple in Jerusalem. A common theme of the time was the belief that trials such as the slavery in Egypt and the Babylonian exile happened to the Israelites because they strayed from the Covenant, but that God would forgive them and restore them to the glory days after a few generations had passed. Here, the “they” seems to refer specifically to the remnant and not all of Israel. Prior to this, the remnant had been claiming that they alone kept to God’s will, avoiding the temptations of human will. One possible reading, here, is that God forgave the remnant who truly repented and built specifically for them the Temple in Jerusalem. “Those who hold fast to it are destined to live forever and all the glory of Adam shall be theirs.” The Essenes, though physically removed from the Temple by the ungodly ways of the “Children of Dark,” will receive a reward for holding fast to the covenant. Another interpretation of this document, however, (and that’s perhaps one of the most enjoyable things for a student of religious studies – not only interpreting religious texts, but trying to interpret interpretations of religious texts!) is that the “sure house in Israel” is not referring to the Temple, but to the Qumran community. Such a community hadn’t existed before in Israel, at least not one that the Essenes would see as “like them.” Their community is the “sure house,” not because they have the grandest of buildings, but because they are following the true ways. This may be a reconciliation for them: They were likely mourning the loss of their Temple. If they are the “sure house,” though, no Temple is needed – they are the Temple.
At this point in the “Exhortation,” we see perhaps one of the most “creative” readings of a passage from the Hebrew Bible. From Ezekiel xliv., 15, “The Priests, the Levites, and the sons of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel strayed from me, they shall offer me fat and blood.” As interpreted in the Damascus Document, the children of Israel who strayed from God are the “Children of Darkness” and are actually the Priests and Levites in the Temple at Jerusalem. The “Priests” Ezekiel refers to are the “true” priests who traveled to Qumran in order to stay true to God’s commandments. The “Levites” are those who left Jerusalem with the Priests (that is, the laymen who sided with the Essene priests) rather than the actual (ethnic) Levites of the time. The Damascus Document lays out these interpreted categories of people rather clearly.
Immediately after this interpreted quotation from Ezekiel, the Damascus Document asserts once again that the remnant has been forgiven: “(They were the first men) of holiness whom God forgave, and who justified the righteous and condemned the wicked.” Again, it seems to be only the Essenes God forgives, while the priests still at the Temple, “the wicked,” are “condemned.” There is also an “age” during which those “who enter after them” (presumably the community at Essene, entrance into the remnant) “shall do according to that interpretation of the Law in which the first (men) were instructed.” Several generations after those at Qumran now, the “proper” interpretation of Torah and God’s covenant that the Essenes hold fast to will be followed by those who wish to enter the community. God will forgive them, as stated in the Covenant with the forefathers. After an ordained number of years, however, “there shall be no more joining the house of Judah, but each man shall stand on his watch-tower.” Presumably “the house of Judah” here refers to the Essenes, those who departed from the land of Judah but are the true converts. The author then quotes from Micah “The wall is built, the boundary far removed.” This comes from a passage describing the rise of Israel in which God brings someone who has sinned but has been forgiven by God into righteousness, but their enemy is trampled and downfallen. “The wall” seems to be interpreted as the boundary the true community will place around itself after the age (during which descendants are forgiven according to the Covenant). After a certain number of years, a boundary will be placed around the community and it will be too late for their enemy (the “Children of Darkness,” perhaps?) to enter or be forgiven.
The “Exhortation” goes on to describe certain actions the “Children of Light” will take. Passages from the Hebrew Bible are continually quoted and interpreted in a way favorable to the Qumran community. These references are varied, and I do not have the space (or the proper knowledge of the Hebrew Bible) to discuss them all here. There are a few overarching themes, however. Most notably, the Torah is seen by the Essenes in a different way than it has been by the Judeans for years. Anytime the Hebrew Bible refers to “Israel,” “the Priests,” etc. in a positive light, it is not to these specific communities that the Torah is taken by the Essenes to be referring, but instead to the “true Israel,” the “Children of Light,” the “remnant” who have been true to God’s commandments. A single assumption by the Essenes – that they are the true community of believers and that God favors them – allows them to reinterpret the entire Hebrew Bible in a way previously unknown by Judeans.
One more example we did not address in class:
When the two houses of lsrael were divided, Ephraim departed from Judah. And all the apostates were given up to the sword, but those who held fast escaped to the land of the north; as God said, I will exile the tabernacle of your king and the bases of your statues from my tent to Damascus (Amos v, 26-7).
The Books of the Law are the tabernacle of the king; as God said, I will raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen (Amos ix, 1 I). The king is the congregation; and the bases of the statues are the Books of the Prophets whose sayings Israel despised.
This is, in method of interpretation, similar to the passage from Ezekiel we looked at previously. Quotations from the Hebrew Bible are read and cross-referenced. Objects and categories of people are not assumed to be the literal reading contained in the Torah. The tabernacle is not the divine dwelling place of God, but the Books of the Law (which, of course, only the Essenes knew how to properly fulfill); the king is not one ruler but instead the congregations (presumably the community at Qumran); the bases of the statues are not actual statue bases but the Books of the Prophets. This reading makes the exile of the Yakhad from the Temple to Qumran ordained in the Torah. This journey is now understood to be part of God’s plan. The Essenes may well have drawn great comfort from that. This part of the Damascus Document goes on to discuss a “star” the Essene community is waiting for that will properly interpret the Law for the Qumran community and a sceptre, read here to be a Prince of the congregation who will “smite all the
children of Seth (Num. xxiv, 17).” Presumably, the Essenes believed that these “children of Seth” (Seth being the brother of Cain and Abel in Genesis) are the “Children of Darkness” and this passage is discussing the earth-ending battle the “Children of Light” lived in wait for. This battle, then, is not an idea entirely “off-center” that the Essenes pulled out of their heads. They had Biblical bases for it.
Whether or not we believe these Biblical bases to be valid is not our concern. As mentioned in the beginning of this discussion, we have a tendency to look at religious communities on the “outskirts” of the main community as radicals or individuals reading texts in an incredibly specific way for their own benefit, and that no one who read the text rationally could possibly make those conclusions. But many other people would say the same about the mainstream interpretation. The Hebrew Bible was, to the Essenes, Scripture. And part of Scripture and religious tradition is not merely the words contained in the texts, but what people take them to mean and how they carry their interpretations out in their lives. Placing a value or worth on different interpretations of Scriptures is not a task the “common man” is really capable of performing without bias, and it certainly isn’t the job of the religious studies scholar.