The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

Preface

1. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.xvi.

1. The Discovery of the Scrolls

1. The true story of the discovery will probably never be known. All the various accounts differ in certain details. Arguments over the correct sequence of events continued into the 1960s. For the different accounts, see: Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls, pp.l7ff; Brownlee, ‘Muhammad Ed-Deeb’s own Story of his Scroll Discovery’, pp. 236ff; ‘Edh-Dheeb’s Story of his Scroll Discovery’, pp.483ff; ‘Some New Facts Concerning the Discovery of the Scrolls of 1Q’, pp.417ff; Harding, The Times, 9 August 1949, p. 5; Samuel, ‘The Purchase of the Jerusalem Scrolls’, pp.26ff; Treasure of Qumran, pp.l42ff; Trever, ‘When was Qumran Cave 1 Discovered?’, pp.l35ff; The Untold Story of Qumran, pp.25ff; Wilson, The Dead Sea Scrolls 1947-1969, pp.3ff.

2. See, for example, Brownlee, op. cit., p.486, and n.6; Allegro, op. cit., p.20.

3. Wilson, op. cit,, p.4.

4. Van der Ploeg, The Excavations at Qumran, pp. 9-13.

5. Interviews, Miles Copeland, 10 April and 1 May 1990. A search of CIA archives requested under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act has failed to locate the photographs.

6. Interview, 21 May 1990.

7. Yadin, The Message of the Scrolls, pp. 15-24, quoting Sukenik’s private journal.

8. Ibid., p. 14.

9. Trever, The Untold Story of Qumran, p.85.

10. Time Magazine, 15 April 1957, p.39.

11. Allegro, op. cit., pp.38-9.

12. Ibid., p.41.

13. Pliny, Natural History, V, xv.

14. De Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 134-5.

15. Reports of this survey can be found in the following: de Vaux, ‘Exploration de la region de Qumran’, pp. 540ff.; Reed, ‘The Qumran Caves Expedition of March 1952’, pp.8ff.

16. Ibid.

17. Allegro, The Treasure of the Copper Scroll, p.35.

18. Time Magazine, op. cit., p.38.

19. Yadin, op. cit., p.40.

20. Ibid., pp.41-52.

21. Sharon to Eisenman, 16 January 1990.

2. The International Team

1. Pryce-Jones, ‘A New Chapter in the History of Christ?’, p.12ff.

2. Ibid., p. 14.

3. Ibid.

4. Pryce-Jones to authors, 11 January 1990.

5. Interview, Magen Broshi, 12 November 1989.

6. Interview, Frank Cross, 18 May 1990.

7. Private communication.

8. Interview, Abraham Biran, 4 December 1989.

9. Interview, James Robinson, 3 November 1989.

10. North, ‘Qumran and its Archaeology’, p. 429.

11. Interview, Norman Golb, 1 November 1989.

12. Interview, Shemaryahu Talmon, 8 November 1989.

13. Time Magazine, 14 August 1989, p.44.

14. BAR, May/June 1989, p. 57; September/October 1989, p. 20.

15. Interview, James Robinson, 3 November 1989.

16. See Robinson, ‘The Jung Codex: the Rise and Fall of a Monopoly’; see also Robinson, ‘Getting the Nag Hammadi Library into English’.

17. A total of three volumes of Discoveries in the Judaean Desert dealing with the Cave 4 fragments have been published to date. There remain, so far as the projected publication schedule is concerned, fifteen further volumes dealing with Cave 4 texts and one more of Cave 11.

18. New York Times, 26 June 1989, p. 84.

19. BAR, September/October 1985, p. 6.

20. Ibid., p.66. The magazine adds: ‘Obviously, the existence of this factor is controversial and disputed.’

21. Ibid., p.66.

22. New York Times, op. cit., pp.Bl, B4.

23. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 July 1989, p.A7.

24. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, p.30.

25. Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls, p.50.

26. This letter and many following are to be found in the private correspondence file of John Allegro’s papers.

3. The Scandal of the Scrolls

1. Wilson, The Dead Sea Scrolls 1947-1969, p. 77.

2. Ibid., pp.97-8.

3. Ibid., p.97.

4. Interview, Philip Davies, 10 October 1989.

5. There was, however, one ‘rash’ statement made by Wilson which, for the record, should be dismissed. De Vaux told Wilson a story of events during the Six Day War, when, according to Wilson’s report, the Israeli troops, upon entering the grounds of the Ecole Biblique on 6 June 1967, sat priests, two at a time, as hostages in the open courtyard. The threat was that they should be shot if any sniper fire should come from the buildings of the Ecole or the associated Monastery of St Stephen. See Wilson, op. cit., p.259. Interviews in Israel have indicated that this event did not take place but was a tale foisted upon Wilson by de Vaux. Wilson did not apparently check this statement with any Israeli sources.

6. Interview, Shemaryahu Talmon, 8 November 1989.

7. Given to the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres on 26 May 1950. Reported in Le Monde, 28-9 May 1950, p.4.

8. Brownlee, ‘The Servant of the Lord in the Qumran Scrolls I’, p.9.

9. Allegro to Strugnell, in a letter undated but written between 14 and 31 December 1955.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. New York Times, 5 February 1956, p.2.

13. Ibid.

14. The Times, 8 February 1956, p.8.

15. Allegro to de Vaux, 9 February 1956.

16. Allegro to de Vaux, 20 February 1956.

17. Ibid.

18. Allegro to de Vaux, 7 March 1956.

19. Ibid.

20. Allegro to Cross, 6 March 1956.

21. The Times, 16 March 1956, p. 11.

22. The Times, 20 March 1956, p. 13.

23. Ibid.

24. Allegro to Strugnell, 8 March 1957.

25. Smyth, ‘The Truth about the Dead Sea Scrolls’, p.33.

26. Ibid., p.34.

27. Allegro to Claus-Hunno Hunzinger, 23 April 1956.

28. Harding to Allegro, 28 May 1956.

29. The Times, 1 June 1956, p. 12.

30. Allegro to Harding, 5 June 1956.

31. Ibid.

32. Ibid.

33. Allegro to Cross, 5 August 1956.

34. Allegro to de Vaux, 16 September 1956.

35. Allegro to team member (name withheld), 14 September 1959.

36. Team member (name withheld) to Allegro, 21 October 1959.

37. Allegro to de Vaux, 16 September 1956.

38. Ibid.

39. Allegro to Cross, 31 October 1957.

40. Ibid.

41. Allegro to James Muilenburg, 31 October 1957.

42. Allegro to Muilenburg, 24 December 1957.

43. Ibid.

44. Allegro to Dajani, 10 January 1959.

45. Ibid.

46. The Times, 23 May 1970, p.22.

47. The Times, 19 May 1970, p.2.

48. The Times, 26 May 1970, p.9.

49. The Daily Telegraph, 18 May 1987, p.ll.

50. The Times, 5 October 1970, p.4.

51. Wilson, op. cit., p. 125.

52. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective, pp. 23-4.

53. Times Literary Supplement, 3 May 1985, p.502.

54. Ibid.

55. Eisenman has pointed to mention of ‘the Poor’ in the War Scroll; see Eisenman, op. cit., p.43, n.23; p.62, n.105. This text states that the Messiah will lead ‘the Poor’ to victory against the armies of Belial (The War Scroll, XI,14 (Vermes, p.116 — Vermes for his own reasons translates ‘Belial’ as ‘Satan’) ). For a more detailed discussion, see Eisenman, ‘Eschatological “Rain” Imagery in the War Scroll from Qumran and in the Letter ofjames’, p. 182.

56. Interview, Emile Puech, 7 November 1989.

57. BAR, March/April 1990, p. 24. This fragment is coded 4Q246 and was first found and privately translated by the scholars in 1958.

58. Ibid.

4. Opposing the Consensus

1. The Times, 23 August 1949, p.5.

2. Ibid.

3. Jean Carmignac, review of Roth, The Historical Background of the Dead Sea Scrolls. See Revue de Qumran, no.3, 1959 (vol.i, 1958-9), p.447.

4. De Vaux made this assertion in ‘Fouilles au Khirbet Qumran’, Revue biblique, vol.lxi (1954), p.233. He repeated it in his ‘Fouilles de Khirbet Qumran’, Revue biblique, vol.lxiii (1956), p.567, and in ‘Les manuscrits de Qumran et l’archeologie’, Revue biblique, vol.lxvi (1959), p. 100.

5. Roth, ‘Did Vespasian Capture Qumran?’, Palestine Exploration Quarterly, July-December 1959, pp.l22ff.

6. Driver, The Judaean Scrolls, p.3.

7. De Vaux, review of Driver, The Judaean Scrolls. See New Testament Studies, vol.xiii (1966-7), p. 97.

8. Ibid., p. 104.

9. Albright, in M. Black, ed. The Scrolls and Christianity, p. 15.

10. Eisenman to authors, 13 June 1990.

11. Eisenman to authors, 27 September 1989.

12. BAR, September/October 1985, p.66.

13. Ibid., p.6.

14. Ibid., p.66.

15. Ibid., p.70. BAR first called for the publication of the unpublished scrolls in May 1985.

16. Ibid.

17. Benoit to Cross, Milik, Starcky and Puech, Strugnell, E. Ulrich, Avi (sic) Eitan, 15 September 1985.

18. Eitan to Benoit, 26 December 1985.

19. Interview, Yuval Ne’eman, 16 January 1990.

20. Ibid.

21. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.xvi.

22. Eisenman to authors, 5 July 1990.

23. It is called ‘MMT’ from the first letters of three Hebrew words occurring in the opening line: Miqsat Ma’aseh ha-Torah, ‘Some rulings upon the Law’. The text essentially gives the position of the Qumran community on a selection of rules from the Torah.

24. Catalogue of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 07/04/81.

25. Eisenman to authors, 15 September 1990.

26. A copy of this timetable was published in BAR, July/August 1989, p.20. Mrs Ayala Sussman of the Israeli Department of Antiquities confirmed for us that this was the timetable. Interview with Ayala Sussman, 7 November 1989.

27. Letter, Eisenman and Davies to Strugnell, 16 March 1989.

28. Letter, Eisenman and Davies to Drori, 2 May 1989.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Letter, Strugnell to Eisenman, 15 May 1989.

32. BAR, September/October 1989, p.20.

33. Letter, Strugnell to Eisenman, 15 May 1989.

34. Davies, ‘How not to do Archaeology: The Story of Qumran’, pp.203-4.

5. Academic Politics and Bureaucratic Inertia

1. Florentino Garcia-Martinez to Eisenman, 4 October 1989.

2. New York Times, 9 July 1989, p.E26.

3. BAR, May/June 1990, p.67.

4. BAR, July/August 1990, p.44.

5. BAR, July/August 1989, p. 18.

6. BAR, November/December 1989, p.74.

7. BAR, July/August 1989, p. 18.

8. Ibid., p. 19.

9. Los Angeles Times, 1 July 1989, Part II, pp.20-21.

10. International Herald Tribune, 16 November 1989, p.2.

11. BAR, July/August 1990, p.47.

12. Time Magazine, 14 August 1989, p.44.

13. BAR, March/April 1990, cover.

14. BAR, July/August 1990, p.6.

15. Interview, Ayala Sussman, 7 November 1989.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Interview, Shemaryahu Talmon, 8 November 1989.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Interview, Shemaryahu Talmon, 9 November 1989.

22. Interview, Jonas Greenfield, 9 November 1989.

23. Conversation with Ayala Sussman, 10 November 1989.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Interview, Hilary Feldman, 4 December 1989.

27. Ibid.

6. The Onslaught of Science

1. Letter, Allegro to Muilenburg, 24 December 1957.

2. Letter, Strugnell to Allegro, 3 January 1956.

3. Wilson, The Dead Sea Scrolls 1947-i969, p. 138.

4. Allegro’s suspicions about the international team were raised during his summer at the ‘Scrollery’ in 1957. They crystallised during the debacle of his television programme, the filming of which took place in Jerusalem, Qumran and Amman in October 1957. He planned to try to break up the international team and open the scrolls to all qualified scholars. Then, in a letter to Awni Dajani (curator of the Palestine Archaeological Museum) dated 10 January 1959, Allegro wrote: ‘I think it would be a ripe opportunity to take over the whole Museum, scrolls and all…’ Allegro returned to this theme in September 1966. On 13 September of that year he wrote to Awni Dajani saying that he was very concerned about the situation and that the Jordanian government should act. It is clear, though, from a letter of 16 September 1966 (to Joseph Saad), that Allegro had been told that the Jordanian government was planning to nationalise the museum at the end of the year. Allegro then began a series of letters regarding the preservation of the scrolls and ideas for raising funds for research and publication. Then, as adviser on the scrolls to the Jordanian government, he produced a report on the present state and the future of scroll research which he sent to King Hussein on 21 September 1966. The same day he also sent a copy of the report to the Jordanian Prime Minister. The Jordanian government nationalised the museum in November 1966.

5. BAR, July/August 1990, p.6.

6. Interview, Philip Davies, 10 October 1989.

7. Interview, Norman Golb, 1 November 1989.

8. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, 1887, p. 16.

9. De Rosa, Vicars of Christ, p. 179.

10. For a detailed account of the personal and political machinations which lay behind the promulgation of this dogma, see Hasler, How the Pope became Infallible.

11. Ibid., p.246.

12. Fogazzaro, The Saint, p.242.

13. Schroeder, Pere Lagrange and Biblical Inspiration, p. 13, n.7.

14. Ibid., p. 15.

15. Letter, Allegro to Cross, 5 August 1956.

16. Murphy, Lagrange and Biblical Renewal, p.60.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid., p.62.

19. Ibid., p.64.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid., 61-2.

22. De Vaux to Golb, 26 March 1970.

23. Interview, Norman Golb, 1 November 1989.

24. BAR, July/August 1990, p.45.

25. BAR, January/February 1990, p. 10.

26. Jerusalem Post Magazine, 29 September 1989, p. 11.

7. The Inquisition Today

1. New Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol.xi, p.551.

2. Ibid.

3. Annuario pontificio, 1989, p. 1187.

4. Annuario pontificio, 1956, p.978.

5. Annuario pontificio, 1973, p. 1036.

6. Annuario pontificio, 1988, p. 1139.

7. New Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol.xi, p.551.

8. Benjamin Wambacq, ‘The Historical Truth of the Gospels’, The Tablet, 30 May 1964, p.619.

9. Ibid.

10. Hebblethwaite, Synod Extraordinary, p. 54. According to Pope John Paul II, ‘the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has no other purpose than to preserve from all danger… the authenticity and integrity of… faith’; see Hebblethwaite, In the Vatican, p.90.

11. Annuario pontificio, 1969, pp.967, 1080.

12. Schillebeeckx argues that the ‘apostolic right’ — the rights of the local leaders of Church communities — ‘has priority over the Church order which has in fact grown up’. See Ministry: A Case for Change, p.37.

13. Kung, Infallible? An Enquiry, p. 196.

14. Ibid., p. 102.

15. Ibid., p.18.

16. Kung, ‘The Fallibility of Pope John Paul II’, Observer, 23 December 1979, p. 11.

17. Ibid.

18. Sunday Times, 2 December 1984, p. 13.

19. Ibid.

20. Observer, 27 May 1990, p.l.

21. Independent, 27 June 1990, p. 10.

22. The Times, 27 June 1990, p. 9.

8. The Dilemma for Christian Orthodoxy

1. The Community Rule, III, 7ff. (Vermes, p.64). (As Vermes’s translations of the Dead Sea Scroll texts are the easiest to obtain for the English speaking reader, page references to his work will be added.)

2. Acts, 2:44-6.

3. The Community Rule, I, llff. (Vermes, p.62).

4.Ibid., VI, 2-3 (Vermes, p.69).

5. Ibid., VI, 22-3 (Vermes, p.70).

6. Eisenman, in James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.32, n.16, draws important parallels between the ruling council of Qumran and that of the ‘early Church’ in Jerusalem, under James.

7. The Commentary on Psalm 37, HI, 11 (Vermes, p.291). See also Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p. 108 (Ebion/ Ebionim), and pp.xiv, xvi, and 62-3.

8. The War Scroll, XIV, 7 (Vermes, p. 120).

9. The Community Rule, VIII, 21 (Vermes, p.73). See also Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.42, n.21; pp. 89-90; p. 109 for Tamimei-Derech.

10. The Community Rule, X, 21-2 (Vermes, p. 77).

11. The Community Rule, VIII, 7 (Vermes, p.72). See also Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.80.

12. The Community Rule, I, 1 (Vermes, p.61-2).

13. The Habakkuk Commentary, VIII, 2-3 (Vermes, p.287). See also Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, pp.37–40.

14. The Community Rule, I, 2-3 (Vermes, pp.61-2).

15. The Community Rule, VIII, 22ff. (Vermes, p.73). See also Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.xii.

16. The Community Rule, II, 19 (Vermes, p.63).

17. Driver, The Judaean Scrolls, pp.316-30; Talmon, The World of Qumranfrom Within, pp.147-85.

18. The Community Rule, VI, 4-6 (Vermes, p.69).

19. The Messianic Rule, II, 20-21 (Vermes, p. 102).

20. Danielou, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Primitive Christianity, p.27.

9. The Scrolls

1. Newsweek, 27 February 1989, p. 55.

2. The Community Rule, VII, 3 (Vermes, p.71; Vermes gives the words: ‘whoever has deliberately lied’; these words do not exist in the Hebrew original, which reads ‘if he has spoken unwittingly’).

3. Ibid, I, 16ff. (Vermes, p. 62).

4. Ibid., Ill, 6ff. (Vermes, pp.64).

5. Ibid., V, 9 (Vermes, p.67).

6. Ibid., IX, 23 (Vermes, p.75; translated by Vermes as ‘zealous for the Precept’, which tends to obscure this important phrase).

7. Ibid, VI, 16ff. (Vermes, p.71).

8. Ibid., VIII, 3ff. (Vermes, p.72). See also Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.42, n.21; for a detailed discussion, see James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p. 8.

9. The Community Rule, IX, 11 (Vermes, p.74).

10. The War Scroll, VI, 7 (Vermes, p.III; Vermes calls this document ‘The War Rule’).

11. Ibid., XI, 7 (Vermes, p. 116; Vermes translates ‘Messiah’ as ‘Thine anointed’ which obscures the import of this passage). See also Eisenman, ‘Eschatological “Rain” Imagery in the War Scroll from Qumran and in the Letter of James’, pp. 180-82.

12. The Temple Scroll, LXVI, 10ff. (Vermes, p. 158). See also Eisenman’s appendix to James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, entitled ‘The “Three Nets of Belial” in the Zadokite Document and “balla/BELA” in the Temple Scroll’, pp. 87-94.

13. Eisenman, ibid., p.89.

14. Ibid., demonstrating the niece-marriage connection to Herodians.

15. Parts of eight copies of the ‘Damascus Document’ were found in Cave 4, parts of another in Cave 5 and one more in Cave 6.

16. Eisenman, appendix to James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, ‘The “Three Nets of Belial” in the Zadokite Document and “balla/bela” in the Temple Scroll’, pp.87-94.

17. The Damascus Document, VIII, 21-21b (Vermes, p.90). (All line numbers for this document are from the edition of C. Rabin.)

18. Ibid., XX, 15 (Vermes, p.90).

19. Ibid., MS ‘A’, VII, 18-20 (Vermes, p.89).

20. Ibid., VII, 21a (Vermes, p.88); XX, 1 (Vermes, p.90); XII, 23 (Vermes, p.97); XIII, 20 (Vermes, p.98); XIV, 19 (Vermes, p.99).

21. See Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p. 68, n.120; p.69, n.122.

22. Ibid., p.42, n.19. In addition to the documents we have mentioned, reference to the ‘Liar’ or to those who reject the Law can be found in the Psalm 37 Commentary and other Qumran texts.

23. Ibid., p.xv.

24. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, VI, vi. See aso Driver, The Judaean Scrolls, pp. 211-14; Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.27.

10. Science in the Service of Faith

1. See, for example, Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, pp.29, 31; de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp.116-17.

2. Driver, The Judaean Scrolls, p.211.

3. De Vaux, in New Testament Studies, vol.xiii (1966-7), p.91.

4. Ibid., p.93.

5. Ibid.

6. Eisenman, in Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, exposes de Vaux’s treatment of Driver; see p.47, n.47; p.56, n.92; p.57, n.93; p.72, n.129; p.83 (n.155).

7. North, ‘Qumran and its Archaeology’, p.434.

8. A British architect with previous experience of repairing earthquake-damaged buildings was in charge of the reconstruction of the Qumran ruins for the Jordanian government prior to the war of 1967. He stated that there was no evidence that the Qumran buildings were damaged by earthquake and gave, as his opinion, that the crack in the cistern was caused by the weight of water coupled with faulty construction or repair. See Steckoll, ‘Marginal Notes on the Qumran Excavations’, p.34.

9. Callaway, The History of the Qumran Community, p.45.

10. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea, p. 52.

11. De Vaux, ‘Fouilles au Khirbet Qumran’, p.233. This article appeared in 1954.

12. De Vaux, in New Testament Studies, vol.xiii (1966-7), p. 104.

13. De Vaux, ‘Les Manuscrits de Qumran et l’archeologie’, p. 100.

14. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, p.47.

15. Roth, ‘Did Vespasian capture Qumran?’, p. 124.

16. De Vaux, L’archeologie et les manuscrits de la mer morte, p.32, n.1; Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, p.40, n.1. In addition, it is worth noting that in the absence of any complete publication of de Vaux’s excavation results certain doubts linger about all his coin discoveries. The Israeli coin expert Ya’acov Meshorer told Eisenman that neither he nor anyone else he knew had ever seen de Vaux’s coins. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.93, n.173. See also p.94, n.175 for the so-called ‘10th Legion’ coin.

17. De Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, p.67.

18. Ibid., pp.19, 22, 34, 37, 44-5. It is difficult to be precise about the exact numbers of coins found and their identification until the long-delayed publication of de Vaux’s final report on the excavation. The archaeological reports published in Revue biblique have, by de Vaux’s own admission, been incorrect with regard to the coin identification. See ibid, p. 19, n.3.

19. Ibid., p. 109.

20. Eisenman, op. cit., p.34.

21. Ibid., p.92 (n.168).

22. De Vaux, op. cit., p.43.

23. Driver, op. cit., p.396.

24. Ibid., p.394.

25. De Vaux, in New Testament Studies, vol.xiii (1966-7), p.99, n.l.

26. Danielou, The Dead Sea Scrolls and Primitive Christianity, pp.121—2.

27. De Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, p. 28. See also Eisenman, op. cit., p.94, n.174.

28. Cross, op. cit., p.51.

29. Driver, op. cit., p.397.

30. Golb, ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’, p. 182. In Science Times, 21 November 1989, p.C8, Golb said of Qumran, ‘There’s nothing to show it was anything but a fortress.’

31. Golb, ‘The Problem of Origin and Identification of the Dead Sea Scrolls’, p.5.

32. Cross, op. cit., pp.86-7.

33. Cross, ‘The Development of the Jewish Scripts’, in Wright, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, p. 135. See also Eisenman, op. cit., pp.28-31; p.82, n.155; p.84, n.156 and n.157; p.86, n.158 and n.159; p.87, n.l61;p.88, n.163.

34. Cross, ibid., p. 191, n.20.

35. Birnbaum, The Hebrew Scripts, p. 130. This was first pointed out by Eisenman, op. cit., p.85 (n.157).

36. Eisenman, op. cit., p.85 (n.157).

37. Davies, ‘How Not to do Archaeology: the Story of Qumran’, p. 206.

38. Eisenman, op. cit., p.29.

39. Ibid., p.30.

40. Eisenman to authors, 7 July 1990.

41. Roth, ‘The Zealots and Qumran: The Basic Issue’, p.84.

11. The Essenes

1. The main classical references to the Essenes are found in: Josephus, Life; The Jewish Wars, II, viii; Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man is Free, XII-XIII; Hypothetica, 11 Pliny, Natural History, V, xv.

2. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, viii.

3. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XV, x.

4. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, viii.

5. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XV, x.

6. Ibid. This close relationship between the Essenes of Josephus’ description and King Herod the Great was explored in detail in Eisenman, ‘Confusions of Pharisees and Essenes in Josephus’, a paper delivered to the Society of Biblical Literature Conference in New York, 1981.

7. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, viii.

8. Quoted by Dupont-Sommer, The Essene Writings from Qumran, p. 13.

9. Ibid.

10. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, pp.37-8.

11. The standard elaboration of the consensus hypothesis is in de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp.3-45.

12. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, viii.

13. Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man is Free, XII.

14. De Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 12-14.

15. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XV, x. See also on this, Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p. 79.

16. Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man is Free, XII.

17. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, p.51.

18. Philo Judaeus, Every Good Man is Free, XII.

19. Vermes, ‘The Etymology of “Essenes” ‘, p.439. See also Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran in Perspective, p. 126.

20. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p. 6.

21. Ibid., p. 108 (Derech, ‘the Way’; ma’aseh, ‘works’/’acts’); p. 109 (Tamimei-Derech, ‘the Perfect of the Way’; Tom-Derech, ‘Perfection of the Way’). See also the discussion on p.41, n.17.

22. Ibid., p. 109.

23. Epiphanius of Constantia, Adversus octoginta haereses, I, i, Haeres xx (Migne, 41, col.273).

24. Eisenman, op. cit., p. 44, n.30.

25. Black, ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins’, in Black, The Scrolls and Christianity, p. 99.

26. Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.99 (Nozrei ha-Brit).

27. Ibid., pp.vii-x.

28. The Habakkuk Commentary, XII, 7ff. (Vermes, p. 289).

12. The Acts of the Apostles

1. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, pp. xiii, 4—6.

2. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i. See also ibid., p.59, n.99.

3. Eisenman, op. cit., pp. 10-11, 22-3. For arguments regarding the ‘Stephen’ episode being a reworking of an attack upon James as recorded in the Recognitions of Clement (I, 70), see p.76, n.144, and also James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.4, n.ll; p.39.

4. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadotites, Christians and Qumran, p. 41, n.17.

5. Ibid., p.68, n.120; p.69, n.122. Eisenman sees both ‘Damascus’ references as generically parallel.

6. The Community Rule, VI, 14-23 (Vermes, p.70). The sense is not entirely clear: this novitiate period was at least two years with the third year being the first of full membership; or, the novitiate itself took three years with the fourth year being the first of full membership. See Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, p. 7.

7. Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, pp. 30-32.

8. Eisenman points to the psychological attitude demonstrated in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians where he, among other precepts, explains the necessity of ‘winning’:

So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. I made myself a Jew to the Jews, to win the Jews… To those who have no Law, I was free of the Law myself… to win those who have no Law… All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. (1 Corinthians 9:19-27).

9. Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, pp. 30-32.

10. Ibid.; see also p.57, n.39 (where Eisenman reviews Paul’s ‘defamation of the Jerusalem leadership’ in his letters).

11. The Damascus Document, XV, 12-14 (Vermes, p.92).

12. Acts 23:23 states unequivocally that there were 200 soldiers, 200 auxiliaries and 70 cavalry as the escort.

13. Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p. 3.

13. James ‘The Righteous’

1 While Acts never explicitly states that James is the ‘leader’ of the Jerusalem community, in Acts 15:13-21 and 21:18 he has a prominent role. The latter tellingly states that ‘Paul went… to visit James, and all the elders were present’. This puts the elders in a subordinate position to James. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians (2:9), states: ‘James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these pillars’. Later, this same letter (2:11-12) clearly shows that Cephas is subordinate to James (Cephas = Peter). John is barely mentioned in Acts after the introduction of Paul. Later Church writers specifically call James the leader of the early ‘Christians’.

2. For example, James 2:10: ‘if a man keeps the whole of the Law, except for one small point at which he fails, he is still guilty of breaking it all’. See Eisenman, James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.2, n.6; p.21, n.l; p.25; p.58 (n.39).

3. In the Greek text it reads as here. Curiously, The Jerusalem Bible translated primarily by de Vaux and the members of the Ecole Biblique obscures the sense with the reading: ‘It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them…’

4. Recognitions of Clement, I, 70.

5. Ibid.

6. Eisenman, when discussing this incident, notes that six weeks later, when in Caesarea, Peter mentions that James was still limping as a result of his injury. As Eisenman says, ‘Details of this kind are startling in their intimacy and one should hesitate before simply dismissing them as artistic invention.’ See Eisenman, op. cit, p.4, n.ll.

7. Recognitions of Clement, I, 71.

8. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XX, ix.

9. Eusebius, The History of the Church, 2, 1; 2, 23.

10. Ibid., 2, 1.

11. A number of the older monasteries in Spain have, since their foundation, systematically collected all available texts both orthodox and heretical. As these monasteries have never been plundered, their holdings remain intact. Unfortunately, access to their libraries is severely restricted.

12. Eusebius, op. cit., 2, 23.

13. Eisenman, op. cit., p.3.

14. Ibid.

15. Eusebius, op. cit., 2, 23.

16. Eisenman, op. cit., p. 10.

17. Eusebius, op. cit., 2, 23.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid. See also Eisenman, op. cit., p.28, n.12; p.60, n.40 (referring to Origen, Contra celsum, 1.47; 2.13).

20. Herod Agrippa II.

21. Eisenman, op. cit., pp.63-5.

22. The Habakkuk Commentary, II, 2 (Vermes, p.284).

23. Ibid., II, 3-4 (Vermes, p.284).

24. Ibid., V, 11-12 (Vermes, p.285).

25. Ibid., X, 9-10 (Vermes, p.288).

26. Ibid., X, 11-12 (Vermes, p.288).

27. For a comprehensive review of Paul’s sensitivity to the charge of lying, see Eisenman, op. cit., p.39, n.24.

28. Eisenman, op. cit., p.viii, points out the important difference between the ‘Liar’ and the ‘Wicked Priest’. This distinction must be made before any historical sense can be made of the texts. The consensus position is that the ‘Liar’ and the ‘Wicked Priest” are the same person. See Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, p.30.

29. The Habakkuk Commentary, IX, 2 (Vermes, p. 287). See Eisenman, op. cit., pp.50-51, where he explains that the passage would read more accurately as: ‘they took vengeance upon the flesh of his corpse’. This relates the passage very closely to the known facts of Ananas’ death. See also Eisenman, ‘Interpreting “Arbeit Galuto” in the Habakkuk Pesher’, which connects this phrase to the Sanhedrin trial of James.

30. The Habakkuk Commentary, XII, 7ff. (Vermes, p. 289).

31. Eisenman to authors, 22 August 1990.

32. The Habakkuk Commentary, VIII, Iff. (Vermes, p.287). See also Eisenman, op. cit., pp.37-9, for a discussion of this reference to ‘faith’.

33. Eisenman, ibid.

14. Zeal for the Law

1. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p. 44, n.30.

2. Ibid., p.6.

3. Ibid., p.8; p.45, n.36 (quoting Wernberg-Meller).

4. Ibid., p. 12; p.49, n.58; see also p.26.

5. Ibid., p. 12.

6. Ibid., p. 13; p.49, n.58. See Numbers 25:7ff. Mattathias invokes this covenant in his dying speech (1 Mace. 2:54): ‘Phinehas our father, because he was deeply zealous, received the covenant of everlasting priesthood.’ (Revised Standard Version)

7. Eisenman to authors, 29 August 1990.

8. Ibid., pp. 13-16; p.45, n.36.

9. Ibid., p.44, n.30.

10. Ibid., p. 10.

11. Ibid., p.90, n.164. This terminology of ‘purist’ and ‘Herodian’ Sadducees derives from Eisenman. The ‘purist’ Sadducees, or the ‘Zealots’, were, after 4 bc, ‘Messianic’ in their ideology. Hence Eisenman refines his terminology on occasion to speak of the post-4 bc groups rather as ‘Messianic Sadducees’ and ‘Boethusian Sadducees’ — the latter after Simon ben Boethus, whom Herod established as high priest. In our text, we have retained the simpler division into ‘purist’ and ‘Herodian’ groups. This approach provides the key to understanding the ‘MMT’ document.

12. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, i. See Eisenman, op. cit., pp.25-6.

13. Josephus, op. cit., II, iv.

14. Ibid., II, viii.

15. Eisenman, op. cit., p.53, n.79; p.75, n.140.

16. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i.

17. Ibid., XVII, x.

18. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, II, xvii.

19. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVIII, i.

20. This material received an early public airing in a paper given by Eisenman to the Society of Biblical Literature at its meeting in New York in 1981, ‘Confusions of Pharisees and Essenes in Josephus’.

21. The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Acts 21:20.

22. Eisenman, op. cit., pp.5-9.

23. Ibid., p.58, n.95.

24. Ibid., pp.36-7; p.90, n.164; p.96 (n.179).

25. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, VII, x; the translation of G.A. Williamson is used here (The Jewish War, pp.392-3).

26. Eisenman, op. cit., p.96, n.180.

27. Ibid., pp.25-6.

28. Ibid., p.73, n.132; listing The Damascus Document, VII, 18-21; The War Scroll, XI, 5ff; A Messianic Testimonia (4Q Test), 9-13.

29. The Damascus Document, VII, 18-21.

30. Tacitus, The Histories, V, xiii; the translation of K. Wellesley is used here (p.279). See also Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Vespasian, 4; translation by R. Graves (p.281).

31. Eisenman, op. cit., p.25.

32. Gichon, ‘The Bar Kochba War’, p. 88.

33. Ibid., p.92.

34. Ibid., pp.89-90.

35. Gichon to authors, 12 January 1990.

15. Zealot Suicide

1. The last sentence of this quote from Matthew is a pure Qumran-style statement opposing the methods of ‘the Liar’.

2. Josephus, The Jewish Wars, VII, ix.

3. Ibid., VII, viii; the translation used is that of G.A. Williamson, The Jewish War, p. 387.

4. Ibid. (Williamson, p.390).

5. Ibid., Ill, viii.

6. Yadin, Masada, pp. 187-8. Yadin makes nothing of this fact. See Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p. 22; p. 67 n.117.

7. Ibid., p.62 n.105.

8. The War Scroll, I, 6-8 (Vermes, p. 105).

16. Paul – Roman Agent or Informer?

1. Especially 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. See above, Chapter 11, n.8.

2. Eisenman to authors, 24 August 1990.

3. Eisenman, James thejust in the Habakkuk Pesher, p.16, n.39; p.59, n.39.

4. Eisenman, Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran, p.62, n.105, makes the point that ‘Paul’s “Gentile mission”, overriding the demands of the Law and addressed equally “to Jews and Gentiles alike”… is perfectly in line with the exigencies of Herodian family policy.’ Eisenman has made a detailed examination of all the evidence surrounding Paul’s links with the ruling families in a paper ‘Paul as Herodian’ delivered to the Society of Biblical Literature, 1983.

Postscript

1. Bar-Adon, ‘Another Settlement of the Judean Desert Sect’.

2. Eusebius, The History of the Church, VI, 16 (p.256).

3. Ibid.

4. Braun, ‘Ein Brief des Katholikos Timotheos I’, p.305.

5. The full story of Shapira is told in Allegro, The Shapim Affair.

6. Ibid., pp. 114-19.