diff options
Diffstat (limited to '31960.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 31960.txt | 2579 |
1 files changed, 2579 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/31960.txt b/31960.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..814785b --- /dev/null +++ b/31960.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2579 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Covenanters of Damascus; A Hitherto +Unknown Jewish Sect by George Foot Moore + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: The Covenanters of Damascus; A Hitherto Unknown Jewish Sect + +Author: George Foot Moore + +Release Date: April 12, 2010 [Ebook #31960] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COVENANTERS OF DAMASCUS; A HITHERTO UNKNOWN JEWISH SECT*** + + + + + + The Covenanters of Damascus; + + A Hitherto Unknown Jewish Sect + + George Foot Moore + + Harvard University + + Harvard Theological Review + + Vol. 4, No. 3 + + July, 1911 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +The Covenanters Of Damascus; A Hitherto Unknown Jewish Sect +Footnotes + + + + + + +THE COVENANTERS OF DAMASCUS; A HITHERTO UNKNOWN JEWISH SECT + + +Among the Hebrew manuscripts recovered in 1896 from the Genizah of an old +synagogue at Fostat, near Cairo, and now in the Cambridge University +Library, England, were found eight leaves of a Hebrew manuscript which +proved to be fragments of a book containing the teaching of a peculiar +Jewish sect; a single leaf of a second manuscript, in part parallel to the +first, in part supplementing it, was also discovered. These texts +Professor Schechter has now published, with a translation and commentary, +in the first volume of his _Documents of Jewish Sectaries_.(1) The longer +and older of the manuscripts (A) is, in the opinion of the editor, +probably of the tenth century; the other (B), of the eleventh or twelfth. + +What remains of the book may be divided into two parts. Pages 1-8 of A, +and the single leaf of B, contain exhortations and warnings addressed to +members of the sect, for which a ground and motive are often sought in the +history of the Jewish people or of the sect itself, together with severe +strictures upon such as have lapsed from the sound teaching, and polemics +against the doctrine and practice of other bodies of Jews. The second +part, pages 9-16, sets forth the constitution and government of the +community, and its distinctive interpretation and application of the +law,--what may be called sectarian _halakah_. + +Neither part is complete; the manuscript is mutilated and defective at the +end, there is apparently a gap between the first and second parts, and it +may be questioned whether the original beginning of the work is preserved. +The lack of methodical arrangement in the contents leads Dr. Schechter to +surmise that what we have in our hands is only a compilation of extracts +from a larger work, put together with little regard for completeness or +order. An orderly disposition, according to our notions of order, is not, +however, so constant a characteristic of Jewish literature as to make this +inference very convincing. + +Manuscript A was evidently written by a negligent scribe, perhaps after a +poor or badly preserved copy; B, which represents a somewhat different +recension of the work, exhibits, so far as it goes, a superior text. When +it is added that both manuscripts are in many places defaced or torn, it +may be imagined that the decipherment and interpretation present serious +difficulties, and that, after all the pains which Dr. Schechter has spent +upon the task, many uncertainties remain. Facsimiles of a page of each +manuscript are given; but in view of the condition of the text a +photographic reproduction of the whole is indispensable. + +The legal part of the book, so far as the text is fairly well preserved, +is not exceptionally difficult; the rules are in general clearly defined, +and if in the peculiar institutions of the sect there are many things we +do not fully understand, this is due more to the brevity with which its +organization is described and to the mutilation of the text than to lack +of clearness in the description itself. The attempt to make out something +of the history and relations of the sect from the first part of the book +is, on the other hand, beset by many difficulties. What history is found +there is not told for the sake of history, but used to point admonitions +or emphasize warnings; and, after the manner of the apocalyptic +literature, historical persons and events are referred to in roundabout +phrases which envelop them in an affected mystery. Even when such +references are to chapters of the national history with which we are +moderately well acquainted, as in the Assumption of Moses, c. 5, ff., for +example, they may be to us baffling enigmas; much more when they have to +do, as is in large part the case in our texts, with the wholly unknown +internal or external history of a sect. The obscurity is increased by the +fact that the allusions are often a tissue of fragmentary quotations or +reminiscences out of the Old Testament, chosen and combined, it seems, by +purely verbal association, or taken in an occult allegorical sense.(2) The +allegories of which an interpretation is given, as when Amos 5 26 f. is +applied to the emigration to Damascus and the institutions and laws of the +sect, and Ezekiel 44 15 to the classes of the community, do not encourage +us to think that we should be able to divine the meaning by our unaided +intelligence. It is a fortunate circumstance that the writer comes back +more than once to the salient events in the sect's history, for these +repetitions of the same thing in different forms afford considerable help +to the interpreter, so that the main facts may be made out with at least a +considerable degree of probability. + +The principal seat of the sect was in the region of Damascus, where its +adherents formed numerous communities. It was composed of Israelites who +had migrated thither from Judaea; thither also had come "the interpreter +of the law," the founder of the sect; there it had been organized by a +covenant repeatedly referred to as "the new covenant in the land of +Damascus." Many who entered into this new covenant at the beginning did +not long remain true to it; the writer inveighs vehemently against those +who fell away, accusing them not only of grave error, but of gross +violations of the law; but this crisis had been passed, and when the book +was written the community was apparently flourishing. + +The most coherent account of the origin of the sect is found on pages +5-6:(3) + + + At the end of the devastation of the land arose men who removed + the boundary and led Israel astray; and the land was laid waste + because they spoke rebelliously against the commandments of God by + Moses and also against his holy Anointed,(4) and prophesied + falsehood to turn Israel back from following God. But God + remembered the covenant with the forefathers, and he raised up + from Aaron discerning men and from Israel wise men, and he heard + them, and they dug the well. "The well, princes dug it, nobles of + the people delved it, with the legislator" (Numbers 21 18). The + well is the law, and they who dug it are the captivity of + Israel(5) who went forth from the land of Judah and sojourned in + the land of Damascus, all of whom God called princes because they + sought him.(6)... The legislator is the interpreter of the law, as + Isaiah said, "Bringing forth a tool for his work" (Isa. 54 16), + and the nobles of the people are those who came to delve the well + with the statutes which the legislator decreed that men should + walk in them in the complete end of wickedness; and besides these + they shall not obtain any (statutes) until the teacher of + righteousness shall arise in the last times. + + +The migration is referred to in several other places: "The captivity of +Israel, who migrated from the land of Judah" (4 2 f.);(7) "those who held +firm made their escape to the northern land," by which the region of +Damascus is meant (7 13 f.; cf. 7 15, 18 f.). The time of the migration is +plainly indicated in the passage quoted above (5 20 ff.). The men who, +after the end of the devastation of the land, "removed the boundary," and +led Israel astray, speaking rebelliously against the commandments of God +by Moses and against his holy Anointed, prophesying falsely to turn Israel +away from following God, in consequence of which the land was laid waste, +are most naturally taken for the hellenizing leaders of the Seleucid time. +In this period, it seems that a number of Jews, including priests and +levites, withdrew to the region of Damascus,(8) and there they +subsequently bound themselves by covenant to live strictly in accordance +with the law as defined by their legislator. + +With this the other allusions agree. Thus in A, p. 8 (= B, p. 19), at the +end of a violent invective against the sinners, of whom it is said, "The +princes of Judah are like those who remove the boundary," we read that +"they separated not from the people [and their sins, B], but +presumptuously broke through all restraints, walking in the way of the +wicked (heathen), of whom God said, 'The venom of dragons is their wine, +and the head of asps is cruel'(9) (Deut. 32 33). The dragons are the kings +of the nations, and their wine means their ways, and the head of asps is +the head of the Greek kings who came to inflict vengeance upon them." This +again is most naturally understood of Antiochus Epiphanes; the calamities +he brought on the Jews were a direct consequence of the course of the +hellenizing party.(10) + +A definite date for these occurrences is given in 1 5 ff.: "When God's +wrath was over, three hundred and ninety years after he gave them into the +power of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, he visited them, and caused to +spring up from Israel and Aaron a root of his planting to inherit his land +and to thrive on the good things of his earth. And they recognized their +wickedness and knew that they were guilty men, and they were like blind +men and like men groping their way for twenty years. And God took note of +their deeds, that with perfect heart they sought him, and he raised up for +them a teacher of righteousness to guide them in the way of his heart." + +The "root" which God, mindful of his covenant, caused to spring up from +Aaron and Israel is the men with whom the religious revival, or +reformation, began, the forefathers of the sect (see 6 2 f., and below, p. +375);(11) the "teacher of righteousness" is the "interpreter of the law +who came to Damascus" (6 7 f., 7 18 f.). The dates refer therefore to the +origin of the sect. Three hundred and ninety years from the taking of +Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (597 or 586 B.C.) would bring us, by our +chronology, to 207 or 196 B.C. The Jewish chronology of the Persian period +is, however, always too long by from forty to seventy years,(12) and +assuming, as it is fair to do, that our author made the same error, the +three hundred ninety years would run out in the middle of the third +century. Dr. Schechter suspects, with much probability, that the original +reading was "_four_ hundred and ninety years," the common apocalyptic +cycle (Dan. 9 2, 24; Enoch 89-90; 93, etc.). Making the same allowance for +error, we should be brought again to a time not far removed from the +punishment inflicted on the people by Antiochus Epiphanes (see above, p. +333 f.).(13) + +There is nothing in the texts which demands a later date for the origin of +the sect. The last event in the national history to which reference is +made is the vengeance inflicted on the heathenizing rulers of the people +by "the head of the Greek kings." To the misfortunes of the people in the +following centuries, such as the taking of Jerusalem by Pompey or its +destruction by Titus, there is no allusion. It may perhaps be inferred not +only that the schism antedated these calamities, but that the book was +written before them. In the author's frame of mind toward the religious +leaders of Palestinian Jewry, he would have been likely to record such +conspicuous judgments upon them. A comparison with the Assumption of Moses +is instructive on this point. There the sweeping denunciation of the +priesthood and the scribes, "their teachers in those times," and of the +godless Asmonaean priest-kings, is followed by the well-deserved judgment +inflicted on them by Herod, and after him comes Varus, burning part of the +temple, crucifying, and carrying off into slavery. The second of the +Psalms of Solomon may also be compared. + +The schismatic character of the sect would also be explained if it arose +in an age when the character of the political and religious heads of the +Jewish people was such as to move God-fearing and law-abiding men to +repudiate them with all their ways and works. For it is not merely with a +sect, differing from the mass of their fellows in certain opinions and +practices, that we have to do, but with a schism. The Covenanters of +Damascus are radical come-outers, seceders not only from the land of +Judaea, but from established Judaism, on which they look much as the +Puritan Separatists in the seventeenth century looked on the English +Church; they might have taken to themselves the prophetic word so often in +the mouth of the Puritan, "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, +touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, ye +that bear the vessels of the Lord" (Isa. 52 11), as they do apply to the +religious teachers of the Jewish church the most violent invectives of the +same prophet (50 11, 59 4 ff.; see below, p. 344 f.). They will not even +call themselves Jews, they are Israelites who went forth from the land of +Judaea; their Messiah is to spring from Aaron and Israel, not from Judah; +when the final judgment comes in its appointed time, it will no longer be +permitted to make compact with the house of Judah, but every man must +stand in his own stronghold;(14) when the glory of God shines out on +Israel, all the wicked of Judah shall be cut off, in the day of its trial +by fire. They reject the temple in Jerusalem, and will not offer on its +altar. If we consider that the Essenes, notwithstanding their wider +divergence from the common type of Judaism, seem to have regarded +themselves as within the pale of the church, and to have been so regarded +by others--enjoying, indeed, with the people the reputation of peculiar +sanctity--the schismatic character of our sect appears in a still stronger +light. + +The language of the book is not inconsistent with the age to which the +contents would seem to assign it. The vocabulary is in the main Biblical, +but there are a number of words which otherwise occur only in the writings +of the Mishnic age or later. Some of these belong to the technical +terminology of the law schools, some of them appear to be peculiar to the +sect. A few of the Biblical words also are used in later senses and +applications. It is proper to bear in mind, however, that the Hebrew +originals of the works with which it would be most natural to compare our +text, such as Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Testaments of the Twelve +Patriarchs, the Gospel, are not preserved; in fact, between the last books +of the Old Testament and the rabbinical literature of the second Christian +century there is a hiatus in the history of the Hebrew language, so that +words which appear for the first time in the Mishna and kindred works may +have been, and in many cases probably were, in use much earlier. It is +unnecessary therefore to suppose that such words were introduced into our +texts by later scribes, though the possibility of such changes must of +course be admitted. The particular instances in which Dr. Schechter thinks +that late and foreign influences are most clearly to be recognized--the +title of the "censor" and the peculiar name for a house of worship--are +discussed elsewhere.(15) More remarkable than the vocabulary of the book +is its syntax. The consecutive constructions of the perfect and the +imperfect are regularly employed, not only in imitation of Biblical models +in narrative and prophetic passages, but in the legal part of the book; +and in spite of some irregularities, which may in part at least be laid to +the charge of scribes, the use of these tenses is generally correct. In +this respect the Hebrew of the book differs entirely from that of the +Mishna and the contemporary and later Midrashim, in which the +characteristic features of classical tense-syntax have entirely +disappeared, under the influence, it is generally supposed, of the Aramaic +vernacular. In comparison with these writings the vocabulary also is +notably free from foreign admixture. There are no words borrowed from +Greek and Latin, and only one or two instances where an Aramaic term seems +to have been adopted. The orthography also, in its more sparing use of the +semivowels to indicate the vowels _u_ and _i_, resembles that of the +Bible. + + ------------------------------------- + +The founder of the sect is called the "teacher of righteousness" (1 +11),(16) "the only, or beloved, teacher" (20 14);(17) "the only one" (20 +32); he is "the legislator," that is, "the interpreter of the law" (6 7); +and this interpreter of the law, who came to Damascus, is the star who, +according to Balaam's prophecy, was to issue from Jacob (7 18 f.).(18) He +showed them how to walk in the way of God's heart (1 11); as interpreter +of the law he ordained them statutes to walk in till the end of +wickedness--statutes which shall not be superseded by any others "until +there arise the teacher of righteousness in the last days" (6 11 f.). To +him, therefore, are attributed the distinctive principles and observances +of the sect as they are set forth in this book. "His anointed," through +whom God made known to men his holy spirit, and who is true (2 12 f.), is +in all probability the same person with the teacher, the star, just as the +anointed from Aaron and Israel who is to arise in the future (20 1) is the +same as the teacher of righteousness to whose voice they will then listen +(20 32; see below, p. 343). + +Those of the emigrants who accepted the guidance of the teacher of +righteousness, the interpreter of the law, entered into the "new covenant +in the land of Damascus" (6 19, 8 21, 19 33 f., 20 12). The idea of the +"new covenant" was doubtless suggested by Jer. 31 31 ff. (cf. 32 36 ff.; +Ezek. 37 26, etc.), where the establishment of the new covenant, in the +stead of the old covenant which their fathers broke, marks the restoration +of God's favor, the beginning of a new and better time. The same use of +the passage in Jeremiah is made at length by the author of the Epistle to +the Hebrews (8 6 ff.), The substance of the covenant may be gathered from +6 11-7 5: + + + All who were brought into the covenant are not to enter into the + sanctuary to light its altar, but became closers of the door, as + God said, "Who among you will close its door?" and "Thou shalt not + light my altar in vain" (Mal. 1 10);(19) but shall observe to do + according to the interpretation of the law for the end of + wickedness, and to separate from the children of perdition, and to + keep aloof from unrighteous gain, which is unclean by vow and + ban,(20) and from the property of the sanctuary, and from robbing + the poor of the people and making widows their spoil and murdering + orphans; and to separate between the unclean and the clean, and to + show the difference between the holy and the common; and to + observe the Sabbath day as it is defined, and the season feasts, + and the fast-day, in accordance with the commandments of those who + entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus; to set + apart the sacred dues as they are defined; and that a man should + love his neighbor as himself, and sustain the poor and needy and + the proselyte, and to seek each the welfare of the other; and that + no man transgress the prohibited degrees, but guard against + fornication according to the rule; and that a man should reprove + his brother according to the commandment, and not bear a grudge + from day to day; and to separate from all forms of uncleanness + according to their several prescriptions; and that a man should + not defile his holy spirit, even as God separated for them (sc. + unclean from clean). All who walk in these precepts in perfection + of holiness, according to all the foundations of the covenant of + God,(21) have the assurance that they shall live a thousand + generations. + + +Early in the history of the sect a serious defection occurred. Men who +entered among the first into the covenant incurred guilt, like their +forefathers, by following their sinful inclinations; they forsook the +covenant of God and preferred their own will, and went about after the +stubbornness of their heart, every man doing as he pleased (3 10 ff.); the +men who entered into the new covenant in the land of Damascus went back +and proved false, and turned aside from the well of living waters (19 33 +f.). Their names were struck out of the registers of the sect, as were +those of such as fell away in later times. + +We can readily imagine that many found the rule of the sect too strict and +the discipline by which it was enforced too severe. Our texts, however, +speak not of such occasional and individual lapses, but of the repudiation +of the covenant by numbers at one time. It seems that another leader had +arisen, of very different temper from the founder, who drew away many +after him. In the eyes of those who remained steadfast in the faith, the +new teacher was naturally a false prophet, a kind of antichrist. He is +called the liar ("the man of lies," 20 15), the scoffer (1 14); his +adherents are scoffers,(22) who uttered error about the righteous +statutes, and spurned the covenant and plighted faith which they +established in the land of Damascus, that is to say, the new covenant. +They and their families shall have no portion in the house of the law (20 +10 ff.). For their unfaithfulness they were delivered to the sword (3 10 +ff.), until of all the men of war who went with the liar none was left (20 +14 ff.).(23) This came to pass about forty years after the death of the +unique teacher (_l.c._). If the emigration to Damascus occurred under +Antiochus Epiphanes,(24) the end of the episode of the false prophet would +fall about the beginning of the first century B.C., and we should have at +least an upper limit for the writing of the book. The passion which every +mention of this defection arouses suggests that it was fresh in memory, +and would incline us to date the writing not very long after the time +indicated. It should be observed, however, that the sentence which counts +forty years from the death of the unrivalled teacher to the end of the +liar's army sits loose in the context, and may be a gloss, in which case +the book might be some decades older. + +With the remnant who remained faithful through the great defection "God +confirmed his covenant with Israel forever, revealing to them the secret +of things in which all Israel was in error, his holy Sabbaths and his +glorious festivals and his righteous testimonies and his true ways and the +pleasure of his will, things which if a man do he shall live by them. He +opened a way before them, and they dug a well for copious waters." "In the +abundance of his wonderful grace he atoned for their guilt and forgave +their transgression, and built for them a sure house in Israel, the like +of which did not arise in times past nor until now" (3 12-20). The +prediction of the sure house (1 Sam. 2 35) seems to be fulfilled in the +stability of the sect itself, or perhaps, with closer adherence to the +prophecy, in that of its faithful priesthood. + +So much may be gathered from the book about the origin and history of the +sect. We turn now to its expectation. As a teacher of righteousness, an +anointed one (priest), was the founder of the sect, so in the last times a +teacher of righteousness, an anointed one, shall appear (6 10 f.). Those +who proved faithless to the covenant are cut off from the community, "from +the time when the unique teacher was taken away until the anointed one +from Aaron and Israel shall arise" (19 35-20 1), that is, during the whole +of the present dispensation. Dr. Schechter regards the anointed one who is +to appear in the future as the founder of the sect _redivivus:_ the +present dispensation "seems to be the period intervening between the +_first_ appearance of the Teacher of Righteousness (p. 1, l. 11) (the +founder of the Sect), who was gathered in or died,(25) and the second +appearance of the Teacher of Righteousness who is to rise in 'the end of +the days' (p. 6, l. 11). Moreover, the Only Teacher, or Teacher of +Righteousness, is identical with the Messiah, or the Anointed one from +Aaron and Israel, whose advent is expected by the Sect."(26) The texts, +however, say nothing of the disappearance, or a second appearance, or +reappearance, or return of the founder; nor do the words "until the +teacher of righteousness shall arise in the last days," "until the +anointed shall arise from Aaron and Israel," mean that he shall rise from +the dead, as Dr. Schechter interprets them.(27) The Messiah whose advent +the sect expects at the end of the present period of history is, as in the +older parts of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a priest; and the +function of the priest-messiah is not, as in the Epistle to the Hebrews, +to mediate between man and God, but to instruct men in righteousness, to +guide them in the way of God's heart. That the founder of the sect also +was both priest and teacher is by no means sufficient to establish the +identity of the two figures. It was the office of the priest to teach +Israel the law, "all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them +through Moses" (Lev. 10 11; cf. Deut. 33 10); "the priest's lips should +keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth, for he is the +messenger of the Lord of Hosts" (Mal. 2 7). Ezra is the type of a priest +who had not only prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do +it, but to teach in Israel statutes and judgments (Ezra 7 10); he was, +according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the restorer of Judaism. It +was a departure from the ideal of the law itself that, when the priesthood +showed itself unworthy of its calling, the teaching function was assumed +by lay scribes, and even in later times there were many priestly teachers +among the Scribes and among the Doctors. That our sect looks back to one +such as its founder, and forward to another as the great teacher of the +Messianic age, is in no way surprising. If the author had meant what Dr. +Schechter thinks, it is fair to assume that he would have said it +unmistakably; for the identity of the expected Messiah with the dead +founder, if it was part of the belief of the sect, would of necessity be a +singular and significant part of it.(28) + +The coming judgment of God is represented rather as a judgment on the +faithless members of the sect, including those who have seceded from it or +been expelled, than in its more general aspects. The long eschatological +passage in B (20 15 to the end) is illegible in spots near the beginning, +but the general tenor is clear: + + + In that consummation the anger of God will be inflamed against + Israel, as he said, "There is no king and no prince, and no judge + and none that reproves in righteousness" (cf. Hos. 3 4). Those who + turn from the transgression [of Jacob](29) and keep the covenant + of God will then confer with one another; their footsteps will be + firm in the way of God (and the prophecy will be fulfilled which + says), "And God hearkened to their words and heard, and a book of + remembrance was written before him for those that fear God and + think on his name" (Mal. 3 16), until deliverance and + righteousness emerge for those that fear God, "and ye shall return + and see the difference between righteous and wicked, and between a + servant of God and one who serves him not" (Mal. 3 18). And he + shows favor to those that love him and keep his commandments, for + a thousand generations....(30) + + Each man according to his spirit, shall they be judged by his holy + counsel, and all who have broken through the bounds of the law, of + those who entered into the covenant, when the glory of God shines + out on Israel, shall be cut off from the midst of the camp, and + with them all the evil-doers of Judah, in the days when it is + tried in the fire. But all who held firmly by these precepts, + going out and coming in in conformity with the law, and listened + to the voice of the teacher, will confess(31) before God.... "We + have done evil, we, and our fathers also, when they went contrary + to the statutes of the covenant, and faithful are thy judgments + upon us." And they will not act presumptuously against his holy + statutes and his righteous judgment and his faithful testimonies. + They will be instructed in the ancient judgments by which the + followers of the unique one were judged, and will hearken to the + words of the teacher of righteousness. And they will not + controvert the righteous statutes when they hear them; they will + rejoice and be glad, and their heart will be strong, and they will + show themselves mighty against all the people of the world.(32) + And God will atone for them, and they will see his salvation with + joy, because they trusted in his holy name. + + +Here the fragment ends. The destruction of those who fall away from the +sect is threatened in other places; it will suffice to quote the most +important (19 5 ff.): + + + Upon all those who reject the commandments and the statutes, the + deserts of the wicked shall be requited when God visits the earth, + when the word comes to pass which was written by Zechariah the + prophet, "Sword, awake against my shepherd and against the man + that is my fellow, saith God; smite the shepherd, and let the + sheep be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little + ones" (Zech. 13 7). But those who observe it (sc. the obligations + of the covenant) are "the poor of the flock" (Zech. 11 7). These + shall escape at the end of the visitation, but the former (sc. + those who reject the commandments) shall be given over to the + sword when the Anointed of Aaron and Israel comes, as it was at + the end of the first visitation, of which God said by Ezekiel that + a mark should be made on the foreheads of them that sigh and cry, + and the rest were delivered to the sword that executes the + judgment of the covenant. And so shall the judgment be of all who + enter into his covenant and do not hold firmly by these statutes, + they shall be visited even with extermination by the hand of + Belial. This is the day in which God will visit, as he spoke, "The + princes of Judah are become like men who remove the boundary; on + them will I pour out my fury like water" (Hos. 5 10). For they + entered into the covenant of repentance, but did not turn aside + from the way of faithless men, and wallowed in ways of fornication + and in unrighteous gain, and avenging themselves and bearing a + grudge against one another. + + +It is possible, of course, that the judgment of the heathen world, which +looms so large in most of the apocalypses, may have had a place in parts +of the book now lost, but if it had been a very important feature in the +expectation of the sect we should hardly fail to find at least allusions +to it in the pages in our hands. The author is almost exclusively +interested in the sect itself, in the division which had rent it, and in +polemics against laxer interpretations of the law. This limitation of the +horizon is characteristically sectarian, and may suggest, moreover, as has +been said above, that the writer is not far removed in time from the split +in the new organization. + +The polemic is especially pointed against certain opponents who are +described as "those who build a wall and plaster it with stucco" (4 19; 8 +12).(33) They follow a commandment (_sau_); probably connoting, as in +Hosea 5 11, from which the phrase is taken, an arbitrary rule of their +own, a commandment of men.(34) God hates them, his anger is kindled +against them (8 18). These "builders" are false teachers; Biblical +denunciations of the false prophets are applied to them. (See especially 8 +12 f.) Points in which their teaching is particularly assailed are that +they allow polygamy and the remarriage of divorced persons during the life +of the other party, and hold it lawful for a man to marry his niece; that +they defile the sanctuary by the laxity of some of their rules and +practice about sexual uncleanness; they presume blasphemously to impugn +the "statutes of the covenant of God" (the legislation of the sect), +declaring that they are not right, and saying abominable things about them +(4 20-5 14). The positions so hotly denounced, especially in the matter of +marriage and divorce, are those of the Palestinian rabbis as we know them +in the Mishna and kindred works, and in so far as the Pharisees had a +dominating influence in the schools of the law they may be regarded as in +a peculiar sense the object of this invective, which is, however, sweeping +enough to include all rabbinical Judaism. Such verses as Isaiah 50 11 and +59 4 ff. are hurled at them; they are compared to Johanneh and his +brother, whom Belial raised up against Moses (5 17 ff.).(35) + +The sect prohibited polygamy, which they stigmatized as fornication, +arguing from the creation--"a male and a female created he them" (cf. Matt. +19 4), and from the story of the flood--"by pairs they went into the ark," +and from the law which forbade the prince to multiply wives unto himself +(Deut. 17 17), that is, as they understood it, to take more than one wife. +To forestall an objection, it is added: "But David had not read in the +sealed book of the law which was in the ark, for it was not opened in +Israel from the time of the death of Eleazar and Joshua and the elders who +worshipped the Astartes, but was hidden and not brought to light until +Zadok arose" (5 2-5; see below, p. 359). + +Marriage with another woman while a man had a divorced wife living was +apparently put in the same category with having two wives at the same time +(4 20 f.; cf. Matt. 5 31 f.). Marriage with a niece (brother's or sister's +daughter) they treated as incest, reasoning that marriage between a woman +and her uncle stood on all fours with marriage between a man and his aunt, +which was expressly forbidden as within the prohibited degrees of +kinship.(36) The three snares of Belial by which he ensnared Israel are +fornication (that is, plural or incestuous unions), wealth (that is, +unrighteous gain), and the pollution of the sanctuary (4 15 f.; cf. 5 6 +f.).(37) + +The same rigorous tendency which appears in the attitude of the sect in +regard to marriage pervades the whole legal part of the work before us. +The rules for the observance of the Sabbath (10 14-11 21) will make this +clear. + + + Concerning the Sabbath, to keep it as it is prescribed. + + 1. On the sixth day no man shall do any work from the time when + the disk of the sun is distant from the western portal(38) by its + diameter (?); for this is what he said: Observe the Sabbath day to + hallow it. + + 2. On the Sabbath a man shall not engage in any foolish + conversation; and he shall not exact repayment from his neighbor; + nor shall he give judgment in matters of property; he shall not + talk about matters of work and labor to be done on the next day. + + 3. A man shall not walk in the country to do the work of his + business on the Sabbath. He shall not walk outside of his town + above one thousand(39) cubits. + + 4. No man shall eat on the Sabbath anything except what was + previously prepared or what is spoiling in the field. He shall not + eat or drink anything but what was in the camp. If he be on the + way and descend to bathe, he may drink as he stands, but must not + draw water in any vessel.(40) + + 5. He must not send a foreigner to do his business on the Sabbath + day. + + 6. A man must not put on soiled garments or such as are brought by + a gentile, without washing them in water or rubbing them with + frankincense.(41) + + 7. A man shall not exchange pledges(42) of his own accord on the + Sabbath. + + 8. A man shall not follow his cattle, to pasture them outside his + town, except within 2000 cubits. He shall not lift his arm to + strike them with his fist; if the animal is breachy, let him not + take her out of the house. + + 9. A man shall not take anything out of a house into the street, + nor bring anything from the street into the house; and if he be in + the entry, he shall not pass anything out of it or bring anything + into it. + + 10. He shall not open on the Sabbath a vessel the cover of which + has been luted on. + + 11. A man shall not carry on his person spices, going out or + coming in on the Sabbath. + + 12. Within a house he shall not lift stone nor earth on the + Sabbath day. + + 13. The nurse shall not carry an infant in arms, going out or + coming in with it on the Sabbath. + + 14. A man shall not deal harshly with his slave or his maid or his + hired servant on the Sabbath. + + 15. A man shall not deliver cattle of their young on the Sabbath + day. + + 16. If a beast fall into a cistern or trap, a man shall not lift + it out on the Sabbath. + + 17. A man shall not pass the Sabbath in a place near the gentiles. + + 18. A man shall not profane the Sabbath for the sake of gain. + + 19. If a human being fall into a tank of water or into a place of + ... no man shall fetch him up by means of a ladder or a rope or + any implement. + + 20. No man shall bring upon the altar on the Sabbath anything + except the Sabbath burnt-offerings, for so it is written, "aside + from your Sabbaths." + + +The dietary laws afford other examples of the strict rules of the +sect.(43) Fish may be eaten only if, while still alive, they have been +split open and drained of their blood; grasshoppers and locusts must be +put alive into the water or the fire (in which they are to be cooked); +honey in the comb is apparently prohibited. So, again, in a house in which +a death has occurred, fixtures, such as nails and pegs in the walls, are +unclean; and wood, stone, and dust are capable of contracting and +communicating various kinds of uncleanness (12 15-18). The sect sees in +these stricter distinctions between clean and unclean the superiority of +its ordinances over those of other Jews, whom they regard as sinfully lax. +The Pharisees are to them gross latitudinarians! + +Oaths are to be taken only by the covenant and the curses of the covenant, +that is, the vows by which the members of the sect bind themselves, on +their admission to it, to live in conformity with its rule and submit to +the authority of those set over them, and the curses invoked on such as +violate these obligations.(44) Oaths by God, whether under the name _Aleph +Lamed_ (_El_ or _Elohim_) or _Aleph Daleth (Adonai)_ are prohibited;(45) +nor is it permissible to mention in the oath the law of Moses; the formula +of the oath is strictly sectarian (15 1 ff.).(46) But, though the name of +God is not used, "if a man swear and transgress the oath, he profanes the +name" (15 3). Obligations voluntarily assumed under oath (vows) are to be +fulfilled to the letter; neither redemption nor annulment seems to be +allowed, unless to carry out the vow would be a transgression of the +covenant. + +Another point in which the sect is at variance with the great body of the +Jews is the calendar. They represent the faithful remnant to whom God +revealed the mysteries about which all Israel went astray, his holy +sabbaths and his glorious festivals, and his righteous testimonies, and +his true ways (3 12 ff.). The point of this appears when it is compared +with Jubilees 1 14: "They will forget my law and all my commandments and +all my judgments, and will go astray as to new moons and sabbaths and +festivals and jubilees and ordinances" (cf. 6 34 ff., 23 19). The texts +before us do not explain what the peculiarities of the sectarian calendar +were, but inasmuch as the Book of Jubilees, under the title "The Book of +the Division of the Times by their Jubilees and their Sabbatical Years," +is cited as an authority for the exact determination of "their ends" (the +coming crisis of history), it may be inferred with much probability that +our sect had a calendar constructed on principles similar to that of the +Jubilees,(47) in which the seasons and festivals were not determined by +lunar observations or astronomical tables, as among the Jews generally, +but had a fixed place in a solar year. Such upsetting of the calendar is +branded as heresy in Midrash Tehillim on Ps. 28 5: "They do not regard the +work of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands.... 'The operation of his +hands' means the new moons; as it is said, 'God made the two great +lights,' and it is written, 'He made the moon for festival seasons.'(48) +These are the heretics who do not calculate (by the moon) the festival +seasons and the equinoxes. 'He will tear them down and not build them up.' +He will tear them down, in this world, and not build them up, in the world +to come." Perhaps the Boethusians, who hired false witnesses to deceive +the authorities about the appearance of the new moon, were not merely +animated by a desire to harass the rabbis, but were partisans of some such +calendar reform. + +The organization of the sect furnished it an effective means of enforcing +its rules by discipline. This organization is so peculiar that it must be +described in some detail. Like the normal Jewish community, it consists of +three classes, priests, levites, and Israelites, to whom as a fourth class +may be added proselytes. In this order they are mustered and inscribed in +the rolls of the camp. In some sense all the members of the sect are +priests. Ezekiel 44 15 is quoted and explained: " 'The priests and the +levites and the sons of Zadok who kept the charge of his sanctuary' +[_sic_]. The priests are the exiles of Israel who migrated from the land +of Judah and [the levites are](49) those who attached themselves to them; +and the sons of Zadok are the chosen ones of Israel, men designated by +name, who arose in the last days." Allegory apart, it appears that the +priests were of the Zadokite line, but this legitimacy is assumed, not +emphasized. Priests and levites formed part of every court of ten judges +(see below, p. 351); and in every company of ten Israelites (the quorum of +a religious assembly), a priest, well versed in the Book of +Institutes,(50) must be present, to whose words all must conform. If the +priest does not possess the requisite qualifications, and a competent +levite is at hand, it shall be ordained that all who enter the camp shall +go out and come in at his orders. In a case of leprosy the priest shall +come and stand in the midst of the camp and the Supervisor shall instruct +him in the interpretation of the law; even if the priest be an ignoramus, +it is he who must shut up the leper, for the decision belongs to them (13 +1 ff.). To a priest is assigned also the duty of taking the census of the +commonalty; he who fills this office must be between thirty and sixty +years old, versed in the Book of [Institutes and] in all the prescriptions +of the law, to pronounce them according to their prescriptions (14 3 ff.). + +A much more important place in the organization is filled by an officer +whose title (_mebakker_) signifies "examiner," "inspector," and may +perhaps best be rendered "Supervisor."(51) Every "camp," or settlement, of +the sect had a Supervisor, and over these stood a "Supervisor of all the +camps," who must be a man in the prime of life, between thirty and fifty +years of age. To the Supervisor of the individual camp it belonged to +instruct the community "in the works of God, and make them familiar with +his wonderful deeds of might, and recount before them the things that +happened long ago...; and he shall have compassion on them as a father +toward his children (13 7 ff.)."(52) We have seen that he has even to +instruct the priest in the rules for the diagnosis of leprosy.(53) The +admission of new members to the sect is also in his hands; no one is +permitted to introduce a man into the congregation without his consent. He +examines the candidates in regard to their character and intelligence, +their physical strength and courage, and their possessions, and enrolls +each in his proper place in the lot(54) of the camp (13 11 ff.). From the +following badly defaced lines so much at least can be made out, that the +Supervisor had extensive powers of control over the dealings of members of +the sect with outsiders in the way of trade. He evidently had also a +leading part in the administration of justice and the enforcement of the +discipline of the sect, but the state of the text here denies us insight +into the particulars. + +Courts were constituted of ten members,(55) chosen _ad hoc_ from the +congregation, four of the tribe of Levi and Aaron and six Israelites, all +well versed in the Book of Institutes and in the Foundations of the +Covenant, between twenty-five and sixty years of age. No man of more than +sixty shall be a judge, "for on account of the unfaithfulness of mankind +his days were shortened, and through the wrath of God on the inhabitants +of the earth he bade to remove their understanding before they completed +their days (10 4 ff.)." The rules relating to the competence of witnesses +are strict. No one may testify against the accused in a capital case who +is not a god-fearing man old enough to be included in the census (that is, +at least twenty years of age, Exod. 30 14); nor shall a man's testimony be +credited against his neighbor who is himself a wilful transgressor of any +of the commandments, until he has come to repentance (9 23-10 3). A +peculiar provision is made for the case that a single witness (on whose +testimony therefore conviction could not be had) sees a capital offence +committed. He is to make known the facts to the Supervisor, who records +the testimony in writing. If subsequently the offence is committed again +in the presence of another witness, the same process is repeated; on a +second repetition, the testimony of the three single witnesses combined +suffices for conviction (9 16 ff.).(56) + +Besides the penalties of the Mosaic law, the sect has a formidable means +of discipline in expulsion, or as it is called "separation from the +Purity," which may in some cases be inflicted even on the testimony of one +witness (9 21 ff.). Josephus vividly depicts the desperate straits into +which those came who, for grave offences, were expelled from the Essene +order; being unable to eat food not prepared by members of the order, they +were exposed to starvation. This particular consequence would not follow +separation from our sect; but the lot of the excommunicated man was +evidently hard enough. "When his deeds come to light he is to be expelled +from the congregation, as though his lot had never fallen in the midst of +the disciples of God; according to his misdeeds men shall bear him in +remembrance ... until the day when he returns to take his place in the +station of the men of perfect holiness. No man shall have any dealings +with him in matters of property or work, for all the saints of the Most +High have cursed him" (20 3 ff.); such have no part in the "house of the +law"; their names are erased from the rolls of the congregation (20 10 +f.). They are not only cut off from the communion of saints in this world, +but are doomed to extermination by the hand of Belial (8 1 f., 19 14 f.). +One who leads men astray and profanes the Sabbath and the festivals shall +not be put to death, but shall be committed to the custody of men;(57) if +he is cured of his error, they shall keep him for seven years, and +afterwards he may come into the assembly (12 3 ff.). A member of the sect +who seduces others to apostasy is more severely dealt with: "A man over +whom the spirits of Belial have rule,(58) and who advocates defection +(Deut. 13 6), shall be judged according to the law of the necromancer and +the wizard" (12 2 f.; cf. Deut. 18 9).(59) + +The sect possessed the Jewish Scriptures. The books of the law are "the +hut of the King" (i.e. the congregation)--the fallen hut which God had +promised to raise up; "the pillar of your images" are the books of the +prophets, whose words Israel despised. The founder of the sect, the star +out of Jacob, is the interpreter of the law who came to Damascus (7 14 +ff.). The authority of the Pentateuch is appealed to in support of the +position of the sect in the matter of marriage and divorce; their peculiar +statutes and ordinances are the true interpretation and application of the +law of God. The prophets are frequently cited, and allusions to passages +in the prophets or reminiscences of their phraseology are much more +numerous. There are similar reminiscences of the Psalms and of the +Proverbs, and perhaps of other books among the Hagiographa. As regards the +Old Testament scriptures, therefore, the sect stood on common ground with +Palestinian orthodoxy.(60) The formula of citation is peculiar; a +quotation is usually introduced by the words "as he said," rarely "as God +said"; or with the name of the sacred author, "as Moses said." Besides the +Biblical books, we have a quotation from Levi--probably the Testament of +that Patriarch--introduced by the same phrase as quotations from the Bible; +and the reader is referred to the Book of Jubilees by name for an exact +computation of the last times. There is nothing to indicate that the +authority attributed to these writings was inferior to that of the +Hagiographa. The canon of the "Scriptures" was not defined, even in the +rabbinical schools, until the second century of our era, and in the sects +many books enjoyed high esteem which the orthodox repudiated.(61) + +To a different class belong, apparently, the Book of Institutes, and the +Foundations of the Covenant, in which the judges must be well versed. To +every religious gathering of ten men or more belongs a priest well versed +in the Book of Institutes. The title Foundations of the Covenant suggests +a writing (or a fixed tradition) dealing with the obligations and duties +of members of the sect. The name here rendered Book of Institutes, on the +other hand, is obscure,(62) but the fact that a knowledge of it is +demanded of the priest and of the judges makes it likely that it contained +the "statutes and ordinances" of the sect, its peculiar definitions and +interpretations of the law, often referred to as _perush_; in technical +phrase, a collection of sectarian _halakoth_, such as is preserved in the +second part of the texts before us, which seems to be derived from such a +legal manual. The objection to committing _halakah_ to writing which was +long maintained in the rabbinical schools was not shared by the sects, and +would be least likely to exist where the ordinances were not in theory a +traditional law handed down from remote antiquity, but were attributed to +an individual interpreter, the founder of the sect. + +The sect had houses of worship, which a man in a state of uncleanness is +forbidden to enter (11 22),(63) but nothing more is said about them, +except that when the trumpets of the congregation are blown, the blowing +shall follow or precede the service, and not interrupt it. It is a natural +surmise that they answered to the synagogues both as places of worship and +of religious instruction, such, for example, as the Supervisor is required +to give. The name, _Beth hishtahawoth_, literally, "house of bowing down" +(in worship), is peculiar, and may have been chosen to distinguish these +sectarian conventicles from the synagogues of regular Judaism, as the +English nonconformists of various stripes would not call their +meeting-houses churches. It is possible that the prayers of the sect may +have been accompanied by genuflections and prostrations such as, though +unknown in the synagogue, have formed in all ages and religions a common +feature of Oriental worship; but it is also possible that "bowing down" +simply stands by metonymy for worship, as is often the case with the +corresponding Syriac verb, _segad_.(64) + +Sacrificial worship was also maintained.(65) The City of the Sanctuary was +eminently holy; sexual intercourse within its limits is forbidden, +"defiling the City of the Sanctuary with their impurity" +(_beniddatham_).(66) To this city, probably, the sacrifices were brought +to which there is frequent reference. "No one shall send to the altar +burnt offerings or oblation, frankincense or wood, by a man who is unclean +with any of the forms of uncleanness; for it is written, the sacrifice of +the wicked is an abomination, but the prayer of the righteous is an +acceptable oblation" (11 18 ff.). On the Sabbath nothing is to be brought +upon the altar except the Sabbath burnt offerings--that is, we may suppose, +the stated daily burnt offerings with the supplementary Sabbath victims +(13 17 f.; see Num. 28 1-10). Votive sacrifices are also mentioned; it is +forbidden to vow to the altar anything that has been procured by +compulsion; the priest shall refuse to receive such offerings (16 13 f.). +There is nothing to indicate where this sanctuary was situated, further +than the natural presumption that it was in the region of Damascus, where +the sect had established itself. The priests have the precedence of all +others in the community; in its registers their names are enrolled in the +first rank. Their place in the courts and in the local religious +community, and their duties in the examination of lepers, have already +been mentioned. Those who officiated at the sanctuary had doubtless their +legal toll from private sacrifices of every kind. Lost property for which +no owner appears falls to the priests; a man who has appropriated such +property shall confess to the priest, and all that he pays in restitution +belongs to the priest, besides the ram of the trespass offering (9 13 +ff.). + +A charitable fund is provided by monthly payment of certain dues by +members of the community to the Supervisor. From this fund relief is given +by the judges to the poor and needy, to the aged, to the wanderer (?), to +such as have fallen into captivity to foreigners, and others (14 12 ff.). + +The religious conceptions and beliefs of the sect present little that is +peculiar. For God the name _El_ is consistently used, without any +epithets. _Adonai_ is mentioned only to forbid its use in oaths. The only +other name which occurs is the Most High (once, in the phrase "the saints +of the Most High," that is, the members of the sect). There is repeated +reference to the holy spirit: God, through his Anointed, made men know his +holy spirit (2 12); the opponents of the sect, by blasphemous speech +against the statutes of God's covenant, defiled their holy spirit (5 +11);(67) its members are warned not to defile his holy spirit by failing +to observe the distinctions of clean and unclean which God has ordained (7 +3 f.). + +The "Prince of Lights (_Urim_)," through whom Moses and Aaron arise, is +perhaps, as the contrast to Belial suggests, one of the highest +angels.(68) The destroying angels execute God's inescapable judgment on +those who turned out of the way and despised the statute (2 6). The fall +of the Watchers, which is a favorite subject in the apocalyptic +literature, is referred to in 2 18. The chief of the evil spirits is +Belial: he is "let loose" during the whole of the present dispensation; he +lays snares for men and entraps them, especially in the three sins of +fornication, unrighteous gain, and the defilement of the sanctuary (4 15 +ff.); his spirits rule over men and lead them to apostasy (12 2 f.); he +also exterminates the faithless in the day of God's visitation (8 1 f.). +Another name for the devil is Mastema (the commoner name in Jubilees), +equivalent to Satan, "the adversary." The angel of Mastema ceases to +follow a man who resolves to return to the law of Moses (16 4 f.). +According to Jubilees 10 8 f., 11 5, Mastema had permission from God to +employ some of his evil spirits to corrupt men and lead them astray. + +Concerning the future life we read only that those who hold firmly to the +law are "for eternal life,"(69) or, as it is elsewhere expressed, "have +the assurance that they shall live a thousand generations." To a +punishment of the wicked after death(70) or to a resurrection of the dead +there is no allusion whatever. + +The moral teachings of the sect have been frequently touched upon above in +speaking of their rules of life. Man is led into sin not only by the +snares of Belial, but by his own sinful inclination and adulterous eyes (2 +16; seemingly the _yeser hara'_ of the rabbis). It was through these that +the Watchers fell; by them the generation of the flood sinned, and the +sons of Jacob, and their descendants in Egypt and in Canaan, and brought +judgment upon themselves (2 14 ff.). We have seen that the sect insisted +upon monogamy, and perhaps rejected divorce altogether. Particular +emphasis is laid in several places on the commandments, "thou shalt not +take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people," +"thou shalt reprove thy neighbor and not bear sin because of him" (Lev. 19 +17, 18).(71) Thus, at the beginning of the legal part of the book, the +delivery of a fellow Israelite to the gentiles so that he is condemned by +their law is said to fall under this prohibition, and further, "any man of +those who enter into the covenant who brings up against his neighbor a +matter not in the nature of a reproof before witnesses, but which he +brings up in anger, or tells it to his elders to bring the man into +disrepute, he is one that takes vengeance and bears a grudge." It is +forbidden also to exact of another an oath except in the presence of the +judges; he who does so transgresses the law which forbids a man to take +justice into his own hands. Every one who enters into the covenant pledges +himself not only not to rob the poor and make widows his spoil, but to +love his neighbor as himself, to seek the welfare of his fellow, and to +sustain the poor and needy. As regards the relations of the members of the +sect to gentiles, it is forbidden to shed the blood of a gentile or to +take aught of their property, "in order to give them no occasion to +blaspheme" (12 6 f.), that is, to prevent the profaning of God's name (15 +3), a motive frequently urged in similar connection in the rabbinical +writings. On the other hand, no man may sell to gentiles clean animals or +birds, lest they offer them in sacrifice, nor grain, nor wine--naught of +his possessions; nor shall he sell to them his slave or maid servant who +have come with him into the covenant of Abraham (12 9 ff.), He may not +pass the Sabbath in the neighborhood of gentiles. They are unclean, and +garments they may have handled require purification. + + ------------------------------------- + +No record of a schismatic body such as reveals itself in our texts is +preserved in the early catalogues of Jewish heresies, nor have references +to it been discovered in rabbinical sources. Like many sects, it exhibits +the separatist inclination to outdo the orthodox in zeal for the letter +and in strenuousness of practice, and it is not surprising that its +interpretations of the law frequently agree with those of other +strict-constructionists, such as Samaritans, Sadducees, Karaites; but +these coincidences illustrate a common tendency rather than prove +historical connection. The relation to the Book of Jubilees is, however, +such as to show that there was some affinity between our sect and the +circles in which that work originated. Jubilees is cited as authority on +the last times; its calendar probably contains the secrets of God's holy +sabbaths and glorious festivals about which all Israel was in error; the +rules for the observance of the Sabbath in our book accord in many +particulars with the injunctions in Jubilees 50 6 ff. (see also 2 26 ff.); +and various other resemblances might be pointed out, such as the +preference for the unornamented word God (in Jubilees, God, or the Lord), +in contrast with the many mouth-filling periphrases in Enoch; the holy +spirit in men; the name Mastema for the adversary instead of Satan; Belial +who ensnares men, and the spirits of Belial which rule over sinners, +besides others to which Dr. Schechter directs attention in his notes. The +relation to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is less clear. The +saying attributed to Levi (4 15) is not found in the Testament, and the +other resemblances Dr. Schechter has noted are vague or belong to the +commonplaces. The place of honor given to Judah in the Testaments, as we +have them, is strikingly at variance with the attitude of our sect toward +that tribe and its princes. The Levite Messiah of the Testaments is not +precisely the same as the "Anointed from Aaron and Israel" in our book. In +Jubilees also there are salient features, such as the more developed +angelology and the form of the Messianic expectation, which hardly permit +us to suppose that the book was a product of our sect, however highly it +may have been esteemed by it. + +The sect gives especial honor to the sons of Zadok, the ancient priesthood +of the temple in Jerusalem (Ezek. 44 15, 2 Chron. 31 10, Sirach 51 12 +Heb.); they are the chosen ones of Israel, men designated by name, who +arose in the latter times (4 3); it was Zadok who brought to light the +Book of the Law which no one had seen since the death of Eleazar and +Joshua (5 5). The context of the latter passage would suggest that Zadok +the contemporary of David is meant, who after the deposition of Abiathar +became Solomon's chief priest.(72) The precedence given to the sons of +Zadok may possibly have a side reference to the illegitimate high priests +of Seleucid creation, such as Menelaus, though, if this were the +intention, we should expect it to be emphasized. + +The passages quoted are the only places in the book in which the name +Zadok or the sons of Zadok appear, and they are certainly a very slender +reason for describing the body which produced the book as a "Zadokite" +sect, whatever meaning may be attached to the term. On the contrary, one +of the outstanding things in the constitution of the sect is the +predominance of the lay element. The Supervisor is a layman; laymen form +the majority in every court; the Messiah is the "Anointed from Aaron _and +Israel_." Whether the external testimony upon which Dr. Schechter relies +for justification of the name is more adequate will be considered below. + +Zadok and the sons of Zadok suggest the Sadducees,(73) whose name, +according to the most probable explanation, designates them as descendants +(or followers and partisans) of Zadok. Here again it is a question whether +Zadok of David's time is meant, so that the Sadducees were the Zadokite +aristocracy of the priesthood, as most modern scholars think, or whether +the name of the Sadducee sect is derived from a heresiarch of much later +times, as the Jewish legend represents which makes Zadok, from whom the +sect descends, a recalcitrant disciple of Antigonus of Socho, about the +middle of the second century B.C., contemporary, if we rightly interpret +our texts, with the origin of the sect we are studying. + +With the Sadducees, as we know them from the New Testament, Josephus, and +rabbinical sources, our sect cannot well be identified. There is, however, +a sect sometimes associated with the Sadducees, namely, the Dositheans, in +whose teachings and customs Dr. Schechter finds such resemblances as lead +him to surmise that the Dositheans were an offshoot of our sect. The +accounts of the Dositheans in writers of different ages and religious +connections, from Origen and Epiphanius down to the Samaritan Chronicler +Abul-Fath and the Moslem heresiographer Shahrastani, are notoriously +confused and contradictory,(74) so that many scholars have felt +constrained to conclude that there was more than one sect of the name. The +Fathers generally agree in describing the Dositheans as a Samaritan +heresy, though Epiphanius and Philaster have it that the author of the +heresy was by extraction a Jew. They frequently bring him into connection +with Simon Magus, in the time of the Apostles. According to Origen, he +gave himself out for the Messiah foretold by Moses; his followers had +books of his, and legends pretending that he had not died, but was still +alive somewhere. Other Fathers give no date for the rise of the heresy, +but by coupling it with the Sadducees seem to imply that it was older than +Christianity; thus (Pseudo)Tertullian (probably after Hippolytus)(75) says +that Dositheus the Samaritan was the first to reject the prophets as not +inspired; the Sadducees, springing from this root of error, ventured to +deny the resurrection also. From this Philaster probably drew the +inference that Zadok, the founder of the Sadducees, was a disciple of +Dositheus. The Samaritan and Moslem authors agree with the Fathers in +treating the Dositheans as a Samaritan sect. Abul-Fath, a Samaritan writer +of the fourteenth century, puts the beginnings of the sect in the first +century B.C., at the time when the yoke of the Jews had been broken by the +kings of the gentiles, and the Samaritans were able to return and restore +their sanctuary, which had been destroyed by Simon and John Hyrcanus.(76) +The Moslem writer Shahrastani, in his learned work on Religious Sects and +Philosophical Schools (first half of the twelfth century), gives +substantially the same date: the founder of the Dositheans, who professed +to be the prophet foretold by Moses, the star spoken of in the law, +appeared about a century before Christ. + +In this state of the evidence it is obvious that no argument can be based +on the coincidence in time between the origin of the Dositheans and that +of our sect. When the Fathers bring the names of Dositheus and Zadok into +conjunction, it means no more than that they attributed certain errors to +both Dositheans and Sadducees; just as the Talmudic legend which makes +Zadok and Boethus apostate disciples of Antigonus of Socho is but a +mythological way of saying that Sadducees and Boethusians were addicted to +the same heresies concerning retribution, or as the coupling of Dositheus +and Simon Magus means that both passed for Samaritan arch-heretics. + +The first point of agreement between the Dositheans and our sect which Dr. +Schechter notes is in the calendar. Abul-Fath says that the Dositheans did +away with the computation of the almanac (tables of lunar conjunctions), +making all their months exactly thirty days long, and (thus) annulled the +correct festivals and the ordinance of the fasts and the affliction (Day +of Atonement).(77) The circle of thirty disciples, who, with a woman +called Helena (Moon), formed the train of Dositheus, according to the +Clementine Recognitions (ii, 8) symbolized the days of the month. If our +sect employed the calendar of the Book of Jubilees, as seems highly +probable, they also had thirty-day months; but it would not follow that +the system was original with them, nor that the Dositheans must have +adopted it from them. There were, in fact, from very remote times, two +years in use within the area of the ancient civilizations, a lunar-solar +year, consisting of twelve lunar months of twenty-nine or thirty days +each, with a thirteenth month added every two or three years to maintain +approximate agreement with the solar year and make the months fall in the +same seasons, and a solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, +divided into twelve months of thirty days each without regard to the +lunations, and five extra days (_epagomenae_). The former was the system +of the Babylonians and the Greeks, as well as the Jews; the latter was in +use in Egypt from immemorial times until the Roman reforms. From the +Egyptians it was borrowed by the Abyssinians; it was employed also for +some centuries before and after the Christian era in the calendars of Gaza +and Ashkelon. The Persians had the same system; the Yashts contain a +liturgy for the thirty regents of the days of the month, the five extra +days being assigned to the divine Gathas. Probably under Persian +influences, this calendar was established in Armenia, Cappadocia, and +other parts of Asia Minor.(78) + +Jews and Samaritans not only lived in many of the lands of their +dispersion among peoples who used the thirty-day month, but encountered +this calendar in commercial centres on the very borders of Palestine with +which they had close relations. The advantages of a system in which the +festivals came on fixed dates, instead of shifting within wide limits, as +they must in the lunar-solar year with its irregular intercalation, are +obvious,(79) and an attempt to reform the Jewish calendar accordingly may +have been made more than once and in more than one region. The peculiarity +of the system of the Book of Jubilees is not the uniform length of the +months, but the admission of only _four_ extra days, thus making an even +fifty-two weeks (364 days), which was of more concern to the author than +the increased error of a whole day in the solar year.(80) We do not know +whether the Dositheans of Abul-Fath and the Sadducees of Kirkisani (of +whom later) agreed in this point with Jubilees, or counted _five_ extra +days like the rest of the world. The former may be thought probable, but +it cannot be assumed as certain. The year of 365 days is also found in the +Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, c. 6. + +Dr. Schechter quotes Epiphanius(81) on the Dositheans as saying, "some of +them abstain from a second marriage, but others never marry"; and, +although "the text is not quite certain on this point,"(82) is inclined to +perceive in the statement "at least an echo of the law of our sect +prohibiting a second marriage as long as the first wife is alive." The +passage in Epiphanius is more than obscure, and the text is for that +reason suspected. The passage runs: {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PERISPOMENI~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}. +Whatever this may mean, it certainly is not, "some of them abstain from +marriage after the death of their first wives," nor does anything in the +context justify the large changes in the text which would be required to +force this sense upon it. Casaubon's conjecture {~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} has nothing to +commend it. The simplest solution of the difficulty would be to write +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~},(83) "some of them refrain from marital relations after having +lived together, others preserve their virginity." Whether this emendation +is right or not, it is clear that Epiphanius describes his Dositheans as a +kind of Encratite ascetics, while the prohibition of polygamy--whether +contemporaneous or consecutive--by our sect has a totally different ground; +of asceticism there is, indeed, no symptom in its ordinances. + +Dr. Schechter thinks that the statement of Epiphanius quoted above that +the Dositheans "abstain from eating living creatures" "may have some +connection with the law in our text on p. 12, l. 11, which may perhaps be +understood to imply that the sect forbade honey, regarding it as _'eber +min hahai_ (a limb cut off from a living animal), which would agree with +the testimony of Abul-Fath that they forbade the eating of eggs, except +those which were found in a slaughtered fowl." {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} does not +mean "abstain from eating living creatures," but "abstain from animal +food,"(84) while our sect certainly did not include vegetarianism among +its eccentricities, any more than the depreciation of marriage. + +Several authors describe the Dositheans as extravagant sabbatarians. +Origen reports that their rule was, that in whatever place and in whatever +posture the Sabbath found a man, there and thus he was to remain till its +end. Abul-Fath gives a longer account of their Sabbath laws, which are +much stricter than those of our texts. It was forbidden, for example, to +feed domestic animals or give them drink on the Sabbath, they were to be +provided on Friday with enough provender and water to last them through +the Sabbath. Extreme sabbatarianism is, however, a sectarian propensity +which does not have to be borrowed. + +Dr. Schechter quotes Epiphanius further as saying that the Dositheans +"have no intercourse with all people because they detest all mankind," in +which he thinks "we may readily recognize here the law of our Sect +requiring the washing of the clothes when they were brought by a Gentile +(because of the contamination), and the prohibition of staying over the +Sabbath in the vicinity of Gentiles" (Introduction, pp. xxiii f.). What +Epiphanius says is that the Dositheans agree with the rest of the +Samaritans in the observance of circumcision and the Sabbath, and in +avoiding contact with any one because they feel that all men (that is, all +gentiles) are unclean. He had already described the customs of all the +Samaritans: They wash themselves and their clothes in water when they come +in contact with a foreigner; for they regard it as a defilement to come in +contact with any one or even to touch a man of another religion.(85) It +is, therefore, not a Dosithean peculiarity, but the general Samaritan +usage which Epiphanius describes, and it is useless to search for remoter +affinities. + +The marked hostility to the patriarch Judah with which Eulogius, the +Patriarch of Alexandria (died 607 A.D.), charges Dositheus(86) is natural +enough in a Samaritan heresiarch; in the same sentence Eulogius accuses +him of scorning the prophets of God, which, again, is not peculiar to the +Dositheans, but is the general Samaritan position. It has been remarked +above (p. 353) that our sect gives especial honor to the books of the +prophets "whose words Israel has despised"; and, however unfriendly the +attitude of these seceders to the degenerate Judah of their time, there is +no indication of animosity to the patriarch, as there is none in the +Jubilees. + +From a much later time Dr. Schechter has gleaned some notices of a sect of +"Zadokites" in whose tenets also he recognizes resemblances to those of +our sect. Kirkisani, a Karaite author of the tenth century,(87) says: +"Zadok was the first who exposed the Rabbanites and contradicted them +publicly. He revealed a part of the truth, and composed books [a book] in +which he frequently denounced the Rabbanites and criticised them. But he +adduced no proof for anything he said, merely saying it by way of +statement, except in one thing, namely, in his prohibition against +marrying the daughter of the brother and the daughter of the sister. For +he adduced as proof their being analogous to the paternal and maternal +aunt."(88) + +This is a matter about which our sectaries are especially fierce in their +denunciations of the laxity of the orthodox. The argument they employ is +the same which Kirkisani attributes to Zadok. It is, however, the obvious +argument, if the principle of analogy be admitted in the interpretation of +the law; it is common in the Karaite books, and is ascribed to the +Samaritans also.(89) Kirkisani also says that the Zadokites absolutely +forbade divorce, which the Scripture permitted, agreeing in this with the +Christians and with the Isawites, whose founders, Jesus and Obadiah of +Ispahan,(90) had likewise forbidden it. We are not told expressly that our +sect prohibited divorce, but their prohibition of remarriage during the +life of the divorced wife would have the same effect. Finally, Kirkisani +says that the Zadokites fixed all the months at thirty days each,(91) and +that they did not count the Sabbath among the seven days of the +celebration of the Passover and the Tabernacles, making the feast consist +of seven days exclusive of the Sabbath. Substantially the same statements +are made about the Zadokites by another Karaite author, Hadassi, who +flourished in the middle of the twelfth century, and perhaps derived his +information from Kirkisani. + +What the "Zadokite" writings really were to which these authors refer is +not known. It is certain, however, that both the Karaites and their +opponents took them to be Sadducean works. In the passage about Zadok, +part of which Dr. Schechter quotes (see above), Kirkisani says: "After the +appearance of the Rabbanites (the first of whom was Simeon the Just), the +Sadducees appeared; their leaders were Zadok and Boethus.... Zadok was the +first who exposed the Rabbanites," etc.(92) Zadok's disclosure of a part +of truth was followed by the full discovery of the truth about the laws by +Anan, the founder of the Karaites. Not only do the opponents of the +Karaites stigmatize Anan and his followers as the remnants of the +disciples of Zadok and Boethus, but the older Karaites expressly claim +this origin. Thus Joseph al-Basir (first half of the eleventh century) +says that, in the times of the second temple, the Rabbanites, who were +then called Pharisees, had the upper hand, while the Karaites, then known +as Sadducees, were less influential.(93) The Karaite author of an +anonymous commentary on Exodus preserved in manuscript in St. +Petersburg(94) polemizes against a disciple of Saadia, the great _Malleus +Karaeorum_, about the proper way of determining the beginning of the +months (and consequently the dates of the feasts), which the Rabbanites +fixed by calculation of the conjunctions, while the Karaites depended on +observation of the visible new moon. The ancients, he says, required +evidence of the appearance of the new moon.(95) Saadia, who mistakenly +assumed that the beginning of the month had been determined astronomically +from remote antiquity--the calendar was, in fact, of Sinaitic +origin(96)--asserted that the taking of testimony about the appearance of +the moon was an innovation occasioned by the contention of Zadok and +Boethus that the law required the beginning of the month to be determined +by actual observation; witnesses were heard only to prove that observation +confirmed the calculation. To this the author replies: "The book of the +Zadokites (Sadducees) is well known, and there is no such thing in it as +that man (Saadia) avers. In the book of Zadok are various things in which +he dissents from the Rabbanites of the second temple with regard to +sacrifices and other matters, but there is not a syllable of what the +Fayyumite (Saadia) says."(97) Saadia himself appears not to have +questioned the authenticity of the writings that went under the name of +Zadok, with which he seems to have been acquainted, directly or +indirectly, for in a passage quoted by Yefet ben 'Ali he says that Zadok +had proved from the one hundred and fifty days in the story of the flood +just the opposite of what the Karaites try to prove from them.(98) + +Zadokite books thus meant, for all those from whom our information comes, +Sadducean books; and so, in the sense that, whatever their age and origin, +they contained substantially Sadducean teachings, most modern scholars, +also, have understood the name. + +The possibility that Sadducean writings from the beginning of the +Christian era had survived to the Middle Ages cannot well be denied, +especially in view of the preservation of the book of the unknown sect +that forms the subject of our present study in copies as late as the tenth +or eleventh century; and even if the book which the Karaites took for +Sadducean was erroneously attributed to that sect, there is no sufficient +ground for identifying it with the texts in our hands or for ascribing it +to our sect. A thirty-day month, and the prohibition of divorce and of +marriage with a niece, are much too slender a foundation to support so +large an inference, and it is hardly legitimate to argue that if we had +the entire book, of which only a part--or, according to Dr. Schechter, +excerpts--is preserved, we might find other and more significant +agreements. + +Dr. Schechter has also remarked certain coincidences between the tenets of +our sect and those of the Falashas, or Abyssinian Jews, whom, with Beer, +he is disposed to connect in some way with the Dositheans. Their Sabbath +laws resemble those in the Jubilees and in the texts before us; they also +prohibit marriage with a niece; they have a tradition that the Pentateuch +was brought to Abyssinia by Azariah, the son of Zadok (1 Kings 4 2); +certain features of their calendar may possibly be related to that of the +Zadokites as described by Kirkisani. Here, again, the correspondences are +not numerous or distinctive enough to establish an historical connection. + +Putting together these scattered indicia, Dr. Schechter arrives at a +theory of the history and relations of the sect which must be given in his +own words:-- + + + We may, then, formulate our hypothesis that our text is + constituted of fragments forming extracts from a Zadok book, known + to us chiefly from the writings of Kirkisani. The Sect which it + represented, did not however pass for any length of time under the + name of Zadokites, but was soon in some way amalgamated with and + perhaps also absorbed by the Dosithean Sect, and made more + proselytes among the Samaritans than among the Jews, with which + former sect it had many points of similarity. In the course of + time, however, the Dosithean Sect also disappeared, and we have + only some traces left of them in the lingering sect of the + Falashas, with whom they probably came into close contact at an + early period of their (the Falashas') existence, and to whom they + handed down a good many of their practices. The only real + difficulty in the way of this hypothesis is, that according to our + Text the Sect had its original seat in Damascus, north of + Palestine, and it is difficult to see how they reached the + Dositheans, and subsequently the Falashas, who had their main + seats in the south of Palestine, or Egypt. But this could be + explained by assuming special missionary efforts on the part of + the Zadokites by sending their emissaries to Egypt, a country + which was especially favourable to such an enterprise because of + the existence of the Onias Temple there. The severance of the + Egyptian Jews from the Palestinian influence (though they did not + entirely give up their loyalty to the Jerusalem Sanctuary), + prepared the ground for the doctrines of such a Sect as the + Zadokites in which all allegiance to Judah and Jerusalem was + rejected, and in which the descendants of the House of Zadok (of + whom indeed Onias himself was one) represented both the Priest and + the Messiah. + + +The evidence adduced in support of this ingenious hypothesis has already +been examined in detail, and the results need only be summarized here: +There is nothing in the book before us to warrant classing the men who +made the new covenant in the land of Damascus as a Zadokite sect;(99) +neither the external nor the internal evidence suffices to identify the +work quoted by Kirkisani as Zadokite (by which he and all the rest +understood Sadducean) with the book before us; the connection of the sect +with the Dositheans rests in great part on misunderstanding of the +testimonies about the Dositheans--misunderstandings, it is fair to say, +which are not all original with Dr. Schechter,--in part upon points of +resemblance which are not distinctive enough to prove anything. Of the +peculiar organization of our sect, which would be conclusive, there is no +trace anywhere. + + ------------------------------------- + +A much more sensational hypothesis was broached by Mr. G. Margoliouth in +the _Athenaeum_ for November 26, 1910, under the title, "The Sadducean +Christians of Damascus." He takes "the root" which God caused to spring +from Israel and Aaron (1 7) for the same person who is subsequently called +the Anointed one (Messiah), and distinguishes this figure from the Teacher +of Righteousness, also called the Anointed one, who appeared twenty years +later. "Both these Messiahs were dead when the document was composed, but +they were both expected to reappear in the latter days." + +The first of them, the Messiah descended from Aaron and Israel, in +consequence of whose work "they meditated over their sin, and knew that +they were guilty men," is John the Baptist. John's father was a priest, +and though his mother also is said to have been of priestly descent, "this +need not stand in the way of believing that there was a strain of +non-priestly Israelite blood in the family." The Sadducees would naturally +prefer a priestly Messiah to a Davidic one, and, when John won the +recognition of the people as a prophet sent by God, it would not be +strange if a priestly party acclaimed him as in some sense a Messiah, or +anointed leader of the nation. + +The other Messiah, the Teacher of Righteousness, must then be Jesus. That +he appeared twenty years after John, so far from being an argument against +this identification, would relieve the difficulty of trying to crowd +John's whole history into little more than a year. "It is surely not +necessary to defend the Lucan tradition on this point at all hazards, and +it seems quite likely that the newly discovered document has at last given +us the right perspective of events." + +If these identifications are correct, the "man of scoffing," or +Belial,(100) who is sent to pervert the nation and turn it from the law, +can be no other than the Apostle Paul, and it is noted for confirmation +that "the period here assigned to his activity and that of his immediate +following is about forty years, a space of time not far removed from the +result of recent critical computation." + +The New Covenant so often referred to in the texts is clearly to be +connected with the identical conception and expression in the New +Testament, nor does it seem to be accidental that the Teacher of +Righteousness is several times spoken of as the "only" or "unique" one. + +Mr. Margoliouth presents his complete hypothesis as follows:-- + + + The natural and apparently inevitable conclusion of the whole + matter, therefore, is that we have here to deal with a primitive + Judaeo-Christian body of people which consisted of priests and + Levites belonging to the Boethusian section of the Sadducean + party,(101) fortified--as the document shows--by a considerable + Israelitish lay element, besides a real or contemplated admixture + of proselytes. They acknowledged, as we have seen, John the + Baptist, as a Messiah of the family of Aaron, and they also + believed in Jesus as a kind of second (or, perhaps, as + pre-eminent) Messiah whose special function it was to be a + "Teacher of Righteousness." Paul they abhorred; and they strove + with all their might to combine the full observance of the Mosaic + Law, as they understood it, with the principles of the "new + covenant," again as they understood it. On the destruction of the + Temple by Titus, finding that it would not serve any good purpose + to linger in Judaea, they determined to migrate to Damascus,(102) + intending to establish their central organization in that city, + and to found communities of the sect in different parts of the + neighboring country. It was at this juncture that the manifesto, + bearing as it does unmistakable marks of personal touch, was + composed by a leader of the movement. + + +No scholar who has made an independent study of the texts published by Dr. +Schechter can have failed to consider the question whether these +schismatics, with their "unique teacher,"(103) their "new covenant," their +"Supervisor," whose name and functions might be compared with those of a +bishop {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, their loyalty to their dead leader, God's Anointed one +(Messiah), who made them know his holy spirit, and their expectation of an +Anointed one in the last times, their hostility to the Pharisees, can have +been a Jewish Christian sect. + +The more closely the documents are examined, however, the less tenable +this conjecture appears. One feature of the sectarian eschatology which, +if established, would afford the most striking coincidence with early +Christian belief, namely, that the Messiah who died in the early days of +the sect is to "reappear" (Margoliouth), or "rise again" (Schechter), has +no support whatever in the text.(104) The "new covenant" in the land of +Damascus is plainly the obligation by which the members of the sect bind +themselves to the organization, with its peculiar interpretations of the +law and its distinctive observances. Neither in the terms of the covenant +nor in the law itself is there anything that suggests Christian origin or +influence. That "a man should love his neighbor as himself" is not +peculiarly or even preeminently a Christian precept. The Testaments of the +Twelve Patriarchs reiterate it; by the most orthodox rabbis it was +recognized as the most comprehensive commandment in the law. + +The things which the sect esteems of vital importance lie wholly in the +sphere of the law; polemic zeal for a code which is at every point more +rigorous than that of the Pharisees is the salient characteristic of both +parts of the book. The moral precepts are the commonplaces of Judaism +narrowed to a sectarian horizon.(105) The judgment of God is similarly +circumscribed. It is not a judgment of the world or of the Jewish people, +but of those who reject and controvert the legal interpretation of the +sect, and of those who have fallen away from it. + +The code of law which is the constituent principle of the sect and the +reason for its existence was given it by its founder, the Teacher of +Righteousness. This unique teacher was not a prophetic reformer, but "the +interpreter of the law who came to Damascus," "the legislator." The +statutes he decreed are final; the sect "shall receive no others until the +teacher of righteousness shall arise in the last times." + +Mr. Margoliouth thinks that the "teacher of righteousness" to whom the +sect attributed its institutions and laws was Jesus. The statement of this +conjecture is its refutation. The role of a legislator is the last which +the character and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels would suggest even to a +sect in search of a founder. That he, whose disregard for the Pharisaic +rules of Sabbath observance repeatedly got him into trouble, should, +within a generation after his death, have been metamorphosed into the +author of the sabbatical code in our texts, which out-pharisees the +Pharisees at every point, surpasses ordinary powers of imagination. The +Christian Jews of the first century in Palestine, so far as we know +anything about them, conformed in the matter of observance to the +authority of the scribes and Pharisees, and alleged the express command of +Jesus for this practice (Matt. 23 2). Early Christian heresies sometimes +exhibit ascetic features reminding us of the Essenes; but none of +ultra-legalistic tendency is known. + +As our sect is very zealous for things which have no connection with +Christianity, so on the other hand the texts disclose no trace of specific +Christian beliefs or conceptions. For the Christian Jews of the first +century, the belief that Jesus, who had been crucified under Pontius +Pilate, was the Messiah of prophecy, that he had risen from the dead and +ascended to heaven, whence he was presently to come in might and majesty, +according to the vision of Daniel, to usher in the new era, was the pith +and substance of their faith, the "heresy" by which they were separated +from their countrymen, the focus of their polemic and apologetic in +controversies with those who rejected their Messiah. It is impossible to +imagine a writing as long as this, and imbued as strongly as this with a +controversial spirit, proceeding from any Christian sect, in which there +should not be so much as an allusion to any of these things; or that a +sect which put John the Baptist in so high a place should not make +something of baptism in the admission of members. + +Apart from these general considerations, Mr. Margoliouth's identifications +rest upon a palpable misinterpretation. On page 1 we read: "But because +God remembered the covenant with the forefathers, he left Israel a +remnant, and did not suffer them to be exterminated. And at the end of +wrath ... he visited them and caused to spring up from Israel and Aaron a +root of his planting _to inherit his land and to prosper on the good +things of his earth_." The italicized clauses prove beyond question that +the "root" is not an individual, but is a collective designation for the +first generation of the sect.(106) The parallel passage on p. 5 says +explicitly: "God remembered the covenant with the forefathers, and he +raised up from Aaron men of insight and from Israel wise men, and he heard +them, and they dug the well." "The well is the law, and they who dug it +are the exiles of Israel who migrated to Judah and sojourned in the land +of Damascus." In the face of this perfectly plain meaning of the passage +Mr. Margoliouth takes "the root" for the person designated in other places +as "the Anointed from Aaron and Israel," who led the people "to recognize +their wickedness and know that they were guilty men."(107) In this first +Messiah he recognizes John the Baptist, and, consequently, in the Teacher +of Righteousness who came after him, Jesus. The point of correspondence is +the relation between the forerunner and his successor. The text, however, +as I have just showed, says nothing of a precursor of the teacher of +righteousness; on the contrary, it was this teacher who first brought +light to the generation which in the consciousness of its sin was groping +like the blind, and guided them in the way of God's heart.(108) + +That by the "man of scoffing" the Apostle Paul is meant is for Mr. +Margoliouth a corollary of the preceding identifications, and falls with +them. The enemies of Paul were doubtless capable of calling him all sorts +of hard names, but there is nothing in the epithets "scorner" and "liar," +or in the doings attributed to this figure, which fits Paul better than +any other false teacher and sower of discord, while the reference to the +fate of the men of war who followed the "man of lies" seems quite +inapplicable to Paul.(109) + +That we should be unable to identify the Covenanters of Damascus with any +sect previously known is not surprising. The three or four centuries in +the middle of which the Christian era falls were prolific in sects and +heresies of many complexions, as were the centuries following the rise of +Islam. Through Philo, Josephus, the church Fathers, and the Talmud, we are +acquainted with some of them; but it is probable that there were many +others of which no reports have reached us. If we cannot, out of the +collection at our disposal, put a label on our Covenanters, we may console +ourselves with the reflection that here we know one Jewish sect from its +own monuments, and that the texts in our hands, mutilated as they are, +suffice to give us a much clearer notion of its peculiarities than we get +of most of the other sects from the descriptions which have come down to +us. + +Its affinities with various antipharisaic or antirabbinical parties, such +as the Samaritans, the Sadducees, and, in later times, the Karaites, is +obvious. It shared with all these a zeal for the letter and the literal +interpretation, and a disposition to extend the law by analogy of +principle, as a result of which their rules were in general much stricter +than those of the Rabbis, who possessed in the theory of tradition and in +their methods of exegesis the means of adapting the law to changed +conditions, and who were also more disposed to give the precedence to the +great principles of humanity in the law over its particular prescriptions +when the two seemed to conflict. The organization of the sect, on the +other hand, has no parallel within our knowledge. In view of the use of +the name "camps" for the local communities, and the references to the +"mustering" of the members, the "trumpets of the congregation," and the +like, it may be surmised that the organization of Israel in the wilderness +suggested the plan, and that the Supervisors were meant to correspond to +the chiefs of the tribes (for instance, Num. 1 10), each having authority +over a separate camp. + +The sect seems to have perpetuated itself for a considerable time, +otherwise this book would hardly have been preserved. It may perhaps be +conjectured that it survived long enough to be gathered, along with +numerous younger sects, into the capacious bosom of Karaism, of which it +was in various points a precursor. Such an hypothesis would explain how it +came about that copies of the book were made in the tenth century and +later, we should then suppose by Karaite scribes.(110) + +Dr. Schechter has laid all students of Judaism under new obligations by +the discovery and publication of these texts. They will join with their +congratulations the hope that he may find yet other treasures among the +accumulations of the Genizah. + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Documents of Jewish Sectaries. Volume I. Fragments of a Zadokite + Work. Edited, with Translation, Introduction, and Notes, by S. + Schechter. Cambridge University Press. 1910. + + 2 It may be added that the quotations are singularly inexact. + + 3 In my translation I have sometimes thought it possible to adhere to + the text where Dr. Schechter has preferred a conjectural emendation. + + 4 That is, probably, against the legitimate high priest of the time + (perhaps Onias).--The rendering "_by_ his Anointed" is grammatically + admissible, but would be unintelligible in this context. + + 5 It would be possible to render "the penitents of Israel." + + 6 The four or five words which follow are unintelligible. + + 7 The references are to page and line of the Hebrew text. + + 8 Others sought refuge in Egypt; the temple of Onias at Leontopolis + had its origin in the same circumstances. + + 9 So they understood the words translated in the English version "the + cruel venom of asps." + + 10 See 2 Macc. 4 16: "By reason of which (sc. their predilection for + Greek ways) a dire calamity befel them, and those for whose customs + they displayed such zeal and whom they wanted to imitate in + everything became their enemies and avengers." Assumption of Moses, + 5 1: "When the times of retribution shall draw near, and vengeance + arises through kings who share their guilt and punish them," etc., + describes the same situation. + + 11 Cf. "the whole race of the elect root," Enoch 93 8. + + 12 See Schuerer, Geschichte des juedischen Volkes (3 ed.), vol. iii. p. + 189. + + 13 A comparison with the Apocalypse of the Ten Weeks in Enoch (93 + 91 + 12-17) is in point here. The sixth "week" (period of 490 years) ends + with the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar; in the seventh + a rebellious generation arises, all whose works are apostasy (the + hellenizers of the Seleucid time); at its end the "chosen righteous + men of the eternal plantation of righteousness" are chosen to + receive the sevenfold instruction about God's whole creation + (apparently the cosmological revelations of Enoch); the historical + retrospect closes before the robbery and desecration of the temple + by Antiochus Epiphanes (170, 168 B.C.), of which the seer knows + nothing. The chronological error here amounts to sixty or seventy + years. + + In the Introduction, p. xii, by a typographical error which is + repeated on p. xxii, Dr. Schechter says that the 390 years of the + text would bring us "to within a generation of Simon the Just, who + flourished about 290 B.C.," and twenty years more would bring us + into the midst of the hellenistic persecutions preceding the + Maccabaean revolt (about 170 B.C.). Margoliouth, whose hypothesis + 490 does not suit any better than 390, takes courage from + Schechter's doubts to disregard the numbers altogether. Gressmann + (Internationale Wochenschrift, March 4, 1911) is led by metrical + considerations to treat all the chronological notices as + interpolations, and gives them no further consideration. But even if + the figures were introduced by a later hand, they may still + represent the tradition of the sect. + + 14 Perhaps we should emend _ma'mado_, "station," i.e. sect. + + 15 See below, p. 350, 354 f. + + 16 Cf. Isa. 30 20 f. + + 17 The Septuagint renders _yahid_ most frequently by {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, less + often by {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + + 18 The same prophecy which was applied by Akiba to Bar Cocheba and by + the Dositheans to their founder (see below, p. 362). + + 19 The sect rejects the temple in Jerusalem and its worship. Cf. 20 21 + f., in the last crisis, "they will lean upon God ... and will + declare the sanctuary unclean and will return to God." + + 20 Perhaps better, keep aloof, by vow and ban, from unrighteous, + unclean gain. + + 21 See below, p. 353. + + 22 The name comes from Isa. 28 14, where the scorners are the rulers in + Jerusalem, who boast of their covenant with death and their compact + with hell, who have made lies their refuge and hidden themselves in + falsehood. See also Isa. 29 20. + + 23 It might be surmised that the false prophet had headed an + insurrection--perhaps a Messianic rising--which ended in disaster. + + 24 See above, p. 333. + + 25 Or, as Schechter elsewhere expresses it, "disappeared." Among the + synonyms for death, Aaron ben Eliahu names "gather in" (Isa. 58 8). + + 26 Introduction, p. xiii. + + 27 P. xiii. "We gather from another passage that the Only Teacher found + his death in Damascus, but is expected to rise again (p. 19, l. 35; + p. 20, l. 1; cf. also p. 6, l. 11)." The verb _'amad_ means, as + frequently in the later books of the Old Testament, "appear upon the + scene." In this sense it occurs repeatedly in the book before us, + and there is nothing in the context here to suggest a different + interpretation. + + 28 Cf. Acts 1 11. + + 29 See Isa. 59 20. + + 30 The quotation is to be thus restored; see Exod. 20 6 and Deut. 7 9. + The next two or three lines are very obscure: "From the house of + Peleg, who went out (or, will go out) from the city of the + sanctuary, and they will rely on God (cf. Isa. 10 20) when the + transgression of Israel is at an end, and will declare the sanctuary + unclean, and will return to God. The prince (?) of the people with + few words (??)." The house of Peleg may be an etymological allegory + for the seceders; the city of the sanctuary is probably Jerusalem + (cf. 6 11 ff., above, p. 338); but neither the connection with the + preceding nor the meaning of the sequel is clear. + + 31 Text, "and confessed," which leaves the sentence without a + predicate. + + 32 See also 7 20: "The sceptre" (Num. 24 17) "is the prince of all the + congregation; and when he arises he will destroy all the children of + Seth." + + 33 It is not improbable that the author thought also of the other + meaning of the word _taphel_, here rendered "stucco," viz. something + insipid, stupid; cf. Lam. 2 14, in a passage which, like Ezek. 13 + 10, refers to the false prophets. I see nothing to indicate that + "the wall" is the fence or hedge which the Pharisaean rabbis drew + around the law to protect it from infraction, as Dr. Schechter + thinks. + + 34 The text explains, "this is the prater of whom it says, they prate + unceasingly" (4 19 f.; cf. Mic. 2 11). Dr. Schechter regards this + explanation as "a disturbing parenthesis." + + 35 The Jannes and Jambres of 2 Tim. 3 8. + + 36 Such marriages, especially with a sister's daughter, are not only + permitted, but especially commended in the Talmud (Yebamoth 62b-63a; + see Maimonides, Issure Biah 2 14), and are still common in countries + where the Jews are free to follow the rabbinical law. On the Karaite + prohibition of marriage with a niece, see below, p. 366. + + 37 On the pollution of the sanctuary, cf. Assumption of Moses 5 3; + Testament of Levi 14 5 ff.; Psalms of Solomon 2 3. + + 38 On the portals of the sun, see Enoch 72, etc. + + 39 Perhaps an error of the text for 2000; see below, § 8. + + 40 Cf. Jubilees 50 8. + + 41 This holds on week-days as well as on the Sabbath. + + 42 Perhaps we should read, "make an '_erub_' " (a legal fiction by + which dwellings or limits were treated as one). The Sadducees and + Samaritans rejected this evasion of the law. + + 43 See 12 12 ff. + + 44 Similarly the Essenes, at their reception into the order, bound + themselves by the "tremendous oaths" which Josephus describes, B. J. + ii, 8 7. + + 45 The oath by the Tetragrammaton included _a fortiori_. + + 46 The Essenes excluded oaths altogether, except in the initiation of + members. See also Slavonic Enoch 49 1; Philo, De spec. legibus ii, + 1, and elsewhere (Charles, Secrets of Enoch, p. 65). Our sect + recognizes judicial oaths (9 8 ff.) and imprecations (9 12), as well + as vows under oath (16 6 ff.). + + 47 On the relation of the Jubilees to the sect, see further below, p. + 359. + + 48 Cf. Jubilees 2 9, God appointed the sun ... for sabbaths, and + months, and feasts; and Jubilees 6 37, the observation of the moon + disturbs the calendar. + + 49 It seems necessary to supply these words. + + 50 "The book of _hagu_." The rendering "Institutes" is not offered as a + translation of the name, but as indicating the probable character of + the work. See below, p. 353 f. + + 51 Dr. Schechter renders "Censor," and remarks, "Such an office, + entirely unknown to Judaism, could only have been borrowed from the + Romans." But the functions of the Inspector or Supervisor bear no + resemblance to those of the Roman censors; and for the identity of + the title the translator is solely accountable, not the constitution + of the sect. Mr. Margoliouth talks loosely about dependence on Roman + administrative models; it would be interesting to learn in what + particulars. With the very large authority vested in the Supervisor + may be compared that of the managers, or administrators + ({~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH OXIA~}), among the Essenes, "without whose directions they do + nothing"; though the functions of the managers in the Essene + coenobite establishments were of course quite different from those + of the Supervisors of our sect. + + 52 In the partly illegible lines that follow, his dealing with the + congregation is compared with that of a shepherd with his flock.--Dr. + W. H. Ward suggests that the title _mebakker_ may be connected with + Ezek. 34 11 f., where the verb is used of a shepherd's looking out + for his flock. + + 53 As in Mishna _Yoma_ the High Priest has to be instructed by experts + in the ritual of the Day of Atonement, and made to swear not to + depart from his instructions. + + 54 Probably the lands belonging to the sect. + + 55 That a court must consist of ten judges, the Karaites deduce from + Ruth 4 2. So Anan quoted by Poznanski, Revue des etudes juives, vol. + xlv, p. 67, and p. 69, n. 1. + + 56 This seems to be the meaning of the somewhat obscure passage. + + 57 It is not clear whether imprisonment or surveillance is meant. + + 58 On the spirit of Belial (ruling over Israel) see Jubilees 1 20. + + 59 "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft," 1 Sam. 15 23. + + 60 In contrast to the Samaritans. + + 61 In 8 18 ff., after saying, "Such will be the judgment of every one + who despises the commandments of God, and he forsook them and they + turned away in the stubbornness of their heart," A adds: "This is + the word which Jeremiah spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah and Elisha + to his servant Gehazi," referring probably to otherwise unknown + apocryphal books. Johanneh and his brother, whom Belial raised up + against Moses, are familiar figures of Jewish legend. + + 62 The simplest explanation of the form would be to take it as an + abstract noun of the type _fa'l_, like _sahu_; "swimming" or _fi'l, + fu'l,_ like _seku_ (n. pr.), _tohu_, _bohu_, etc., from the verb + _hagah_ (root _hagw_), "reflect, give thought to something," also + "read" (aloud), so that the noun might literally mean "study," + equivalent to _midrash_, or perhaps "reading."--If the opinion which + connects the sect with the Dositheans were tenable (see below, p. + 360 ff.), another explanation of the name might be suggested by a + passage in Abul-Fath's account of the origin of the Dositheans. He + narrates that a son of the Samaritan high priest, named Zar'ah, a + man preeminent for learning in his time, having been expelled from + the community for immorality, betook himself to Dositheus, who made + him the chief of his sect. This man "wrote a book in which he + vituperated all the Samaritan religious heads and set forth + heresies." The words are, _haja fihi kul al' a'immetin wa'abda'a + fihi_. Inasmuch as the Arabic _hajwun_ formally corresponds to the + Hebrew _hagu_, the Book of _Hagu_ in our texts might be identified + with this controversial writing of Zar'ah, the disciple of + Dositheus. The Hebrew verb _hagah_ is thought by Kohut (Aruch + Completum, III, 177) to occur in Echa Rabbathi on Lam. 1 4 and 3 33 + in the sense "contemn, deride," equivalent to the Arabic _haja_, + "lampoon, vituperate." It might then be conjectured that Abul-Fath + had heard of a Dosithean book of _hagu_ (in Hebrew) and, taking the + word in its Arabic meaning, evolved his description of the character + of the work from this etymology. + + 63 Some Karaite authorities, also, transferring to the synagogue the + holiness of the temple, forbade a man in a state of uncleanness to + enter the inner room of the synagogue (Nissi; see Winter und + Wuensche, Die juedische Litteratur, vol. ii, p. 74). + + 64 The coincidence of the name with the Arabic _masjid_, "place of + bowing down," mosque, is hardly a sufficient reason for suspecting + Moslem influence, as Dr. Schechter does, who thinks it possible that + the word was introduced by a later (Falasha?) scribe as a substitute + for the original term.--Elia Bashiatzi (Adereth Eliahu, p. 58), a + Karaite writer of the 15th century, gives _Beth hishtahawiya,_ + together with _Beth hakeneseth_ and _Beth hamidrash_, as the three + names of the place of worship. Moslem influence can here hardly be + questioned; in a later chapter Elia describes the postures of prayer + quite after the Moslem pattern, alleging Biblical authority for all + of them. + + 65 The opinion that after Josiah's reform, or after the restoration of + the temple by Zerubbabel and Joshua, Jerusalem was the only place + where Jewish sacrifices were offered is refuted by an accumulating + volume of evidence from various regions. See D. S. Margoliouth, + Expositor, 1911, pp. 40 ff. + + 66 Cf. the accusation against the orthodox Jews (5 6): "They defile the + Sanctuary in that they do not separate according to the law," + etc.--It is possible that the prohibition quoted above applied, not + to the inhabitants of the city, but to persons who visited it for + the purpose of worship, as is the rule for pilgrims to Mecca. + + 67 The holy spirit in them. Dr. Schechter adduces parallels in Jewish + writings. Cf. Jubilees 1 21, 23, "Create in them a clean heart and a + holy spirit." + + 68 Dr. Schechter conjectures that the author wrote _Sar ha-Panim_, the + Prince of the Presence, but the passages from Jubilees which he + quotes in support of this opinion are hardly convincing. + + 69 See Slavonic Enoch 42 5; cf. 9. + + 70 So far as may be argued from silence, this is an important + difference from Jubilees. + + 71 See 7 2; cf. Slavonic Enoch 50 4: "When you might have vengeance, do + not repay either your neighbor or your enemy. For God will repay as + your avenger in the day of the great judgment. Let it not be for you + to take vengeance." (ed. Charles, p. 67); cf. Ecclus. 28 1. + + 72 That Zadok was the name of the "interpreter of the law," the founder + of the sect, is a much less probable opinion; the name stands in no + connection with the origin of the sect or its legislation, but with + the bringing to light again of the Pentateuch. The author cannot + have supposed that the _written_ law remained unknown till the + second century B.C.; the reforms of Josiah, based on another + recovery of the book by Hilkiah, would preclude such a notion. + + 73 The coincidence of names does not count for very much. Abul-Fath + names two Samaritan "Zadokite" subsects among the later Dositheans + alone. + + 74 See Hilgenfeld, Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristenthums, 1884, pp. + 155 ff.; Montgomery, The Samaritans, 1907, pp. 252 ff. + + 75 See also Epiphanius; the Sadducees were an offshoot from Dositheus. + + 76 Not in the time of Alexander the Great, as Dr. Schechter has from + Montgomery. Abul-Fath, indeed (and Adler's Chronicle after him), + introduces this whole story before Alexander, and makes Simon a + protege of Darius; but the testimony that Dositheus appeared after + the time of Hyrcanus, which, as a matter of Samaritan history, may + be conceived to rest on tradition, is not to be set aside because, + in fitting his Samaritan traditions into the framework of universal + history, Abul-Fath is in error by two or three centuries about the + date of Hyrcanus. This used to be understood; see, e.g., De Sacy, + Chrestomathie arabe, vol. ii (1806), p. 209. + + 77 Epiphanius avers, on the contrary, that the Dositheans kept their + festivals at the same time with the Jews. + + 78 See Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und technischen Chronologie, + vol. i, pp. 437 ff., 517; Ginzel, Handbuch der mathematischen und + technischen Chronologie, vol. i, pp. 170 f., 287. On the calendar of + Gaza, Schuerer, Geschichte des juedischen Volkes (3 ed.), vol. ii, pp. + 88 f. + + 79 We have experience of the inconvenience of this system in the + wandering of Easter and the Christian festivals dependent on it; a + reform by which Easter should come on a fixed date in the solar year + has repeatedly been proposed, and a movement is now on foot in + Europe to bring this about by agreement of governments and churches. + + 80 The year of 364-days is found also in Enoch 72-82, and (by the side + of the true solar year of 365-1/4 and the lunar year of 354 days) in + the Slavonic Enoch. The intercalary days are introduced one at the + beginning of each quarter of the year (Enoch 75 1); this is also the + method in Jubilees; see 6 23. In effect this is equivalent to a year + in which eight months have thirty days and four--those in which the + equinoxes and solstices fall--have thirty-one (Enoch 72 13, 19). It + is not impossible that this system is implied in the chronology of + the flood in Genesis; see B. W. Bacon, Hebraica, vol. viii + (1891-1892), pp. 79-88, 124-139; Charles, Jubilees, p. 56. + + 81 This is not the place to discuss the value of Epiphanius's + testimony. His description of the Scribes and Pharisees at least + admonishes to caution. + + 82 The text is certain enough, in the sense that all the manuscripts + hitherto collated have the same reading. + + 83 Nicetas, in reproducing Epiphanius's account of the Dositheans, has + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}, "after having begotten children," which also agrees very + well with the context. + + 84 The familiar title of Porphyry's book on vegetarianism, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VARIA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} + {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PSI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}, will occur to every one. Epiphanius himself explains the + word in Haer. 18, 1, "they (Nasaraei) thought it unlawful to eat + meat." + + 85 Haer. 9, 3; cf. 30, 2: "The Ebionites, like the Samaritans, avoid + touching an outsider." A still more extreme fastidiousness on this + point is attributed by Josephus to the Essenes; cf. B. J. ii, 8, 10. + + 86 Photius, Bibliotheca Codicum, cod. 280 (ed. Bekker, p. 285). + + 87 The Kitab al-Anwar was published in 937, not 637, as by a misprint + on p. xviii. + + 88 Schechter's translation, Introduction, p. xviii. + + 89 Schechter, p. xxxvii, n. 21. + + 90 Founder of a Jewish sect which arose in Persia about the end of the + seventh century. + + 91 On this point see above, p. 362. + + 92 Quoted in the original by Poznanski, Revue des etudes juives, vol. + xliv (1902). p. 162, n. 2. + + 93 Quoted by Poznanski, l. c., p. 170. + + 94 Harkavy attributed it conjecturally to Sahl ben Masliah; Poznanski, + whom Dr. Schechter follows, thinks it more likely that the author + was Hasan ben Mashiah. + + 95 As the Karaites do. See e.g. Mishna, Rosh ha-Shana, 1 7 ff., 2 1 f. + + 96 See Poznanski, Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. x (1898), pp. 159, 248, + 273. + + 97 Quoted in the original by Poznanski, Revue des etudes juives, vol. + xliv, p. 176.--The point is that the "Zadokite" writings known to the + author said nothing about fixing the beginning of the month by + observation. Saadia doubtless based his assertion, not on anything + he found in "Zadokite" books, but on Rosh ha-Shanah 22 a-b. + + 98 Poznanski, l. c., p. 177; cf. also Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. x, + pp. 246 ff.--Saadia probably means that "Zadok" argued from the fact + that the 150 days of Gen. 7 24, 8 3, make an even five months (7 11, + 8 4), that each month had thirty days (cf. Jubilees 5 27), while for + the Karaites thirty days was only the extreme length of a lunar + month. See Poznanski, Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. x, p. 241. + + 99 See above, p. 359 f. + + 100 In "Belial is let loose," Mr. Margoliouth finds a witless pun on + Paul's apostolic claims. + + 101 Mr. Margoliouth is led to the opinion that they were Boethusians by + the obscure passage in 2 13, which he interprets, "in the + explanation of his name (sc. the Messiah's) are also their + names,"--the name of the sect points mysteriously to the name of the + Messiah. "Now the Boethusians derived their name from a priest named + Boethus, and the meaning of {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} is the same as that of the Hebrew + name represented by Jesus. The inference would be that the section + of the Zadokite or Sadducees who adopted an attitude of belief + toward John the Baptist and Jesus were none other than the + Boethusians (perhaps identical with the great company of believing + priests of Acts 6 7), who not unnaturally liked to dwell on the + identity of meaning between their names and that of the + Teacher."--_Boethos_, it may be remarked, is probably a Greek + equivalent for the name Ezra, not for Jeshua. + + 102 Mr. Margoliouth thinks that "the end of the destruction of the + land," after which the migration to Damascus took place, "can hardly + be anything else than the completion of the Roman conquest in A.D. + 70." "At the end of the devastation of the land" means, however, not + when the destruction was complete, but when the period of desolation + was over. The phrase itself, therefore, is no more appropriate to + Titus than to Nebuchadnezzar--or to Hadrian. Mr. Margoliouth does not + say how he interprets the rest of the passage. Are the men who, at + the end of the devastation of the land, "removed the boundary and + led Israel astray," the great rabbis of the generations after the + destruction of Jerusalem, and does the sequel, "and the land was + laid waste because they spoke rebelliously against the commandments + of God by Moses and against his holy Anointed one," refer to the war + under Hadrian? + + 103 As has been noted above, _yahid_ is sometimes rendered in the Greek + Old Testament by {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. + + 104 See above, p. 341. + + 105 The commandment to love one's neighbor as himself, for example. In + the context of the covenant formula, in contrast to Jewish orthodoxy + no less than to Christianity, the neighbor is not the fellow man, + nor even the fellow Jew, but the fellow member of the schismatic + church. + + 106 See above, p. 334. + + 107 That the repentance of the people was brought about by the work of + "the root" is not suggested in any way in the text; on the contrary, + the only natural construction and interpretation of the passage + would make the penitent generation the same with that which is + called "the root." + + 108 See above, p. 334. + + 109 Gressmann is sure that this "man of lies" must be Bar Coziba (Bar + Cocheba), the Messianic leader of the rebellion under Hadrian. He + might have added that the contrast to the true star out of Jacob, + the founder of the sect, would be peculiarly pertinent. The punning + etymology, "Say not 'Star,' but 'liar' " (Echa Rabbathi on Lam. 2 + 2), is ascribed to the Patriarch Judah. + + 110 Perhaps the manuscripts may have been in the possession of some + Rabbanite controversialist in Egypt, and thus found their way, like + various Karaite writings, into the Genizah of the Synagogue. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COVENANTERS OF DAMASCUS; A HITHERTO UNKNOWN JEWISH SECT*** + + + +CREDITS + + +April 12, 2010 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Meredith Bach, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 31960.txt or 31960.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/9/6/31960/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the +General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and +distributing Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works to protect the Project +Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered +trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you +receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of +this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook +for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, +performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away +-- you may do practically _anything_ with public domain eBooks. +Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE + + +_Please read this before you distribute or use this work._ + +To protect the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or +any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), +you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. + + +General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works + + +1.A. + + +By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic work, +you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the +terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) +agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this +agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee +for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic work +and you do not agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may +obtain a refund from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set +forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + + +1.B. + + +"Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be used on or +associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be +bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can +do with most Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works even without complying +with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are +a lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works if you +follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + + +1.C. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" or +PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual +work is in the public domain in the United States and you are located in +the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from copying, +distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on +the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of +course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} mission of +promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project +Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for +keeping the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} name associated with the work. You can +easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License when you +share it without charge with others. + + +1.D. + + +The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern what you +can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a constant +state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the laws of +your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before +downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating +derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work. +The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status of +any work in any country outside the United States. + + +1.E. + + +Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + + +1.E.1. + + +The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate access +to, the full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License must appear prominently whenever +any copy of a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work (any work on which the phrase +"Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" +is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or +distributed: + + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with + almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away + or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License + included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org + + +1.E.2. + + +If an individual Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic work is derived from the +public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is posted with +permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and +distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or +charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work with the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you +must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 +or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + + +1.E.3. + + +If an individual Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic work is posted with the +permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply +with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed +by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project +Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License for all works posted with the permission of the +copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + + +1.E.4. + + +Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License +terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any +other work associated with Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~}. + + +1.E.5. + + +Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this electronic +work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently displaying +the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or immediate +access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License. + + +1.E.6. + + +You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, +marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word +processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version posted +on the official Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} web site (http://www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form. +Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License as +specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + + +1.E.7. + + +Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing, +copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} works unless you comply +with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + + +1.E.8. + + +You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to or +distributing Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works provided that + + - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} works calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to + the owner of the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} trademark, but he has agreed to + donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 + days following each date on which you prepare (or are legally + required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments + should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, + "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary + Archive Foundation." + + - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License. + You must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the + works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and + all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} works. + + - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + + - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} works. + + +1.E.9. + + +If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic +work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in this +agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from both the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Hart, the owner of the +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in +Section 3 below. + + +1.F. + + +1.F.1. + + +Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable effort to +identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread public domain +works in creating the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} collection. Despite these +efforts, Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works, and the medium on which they +may be stored, may contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, +incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright +or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk +or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot +be read by your equipment. + + +1.F.2. + + +LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES -- Except for the "Right of +Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +trademark, and any other party distributing a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to you for +damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE +NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH +OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE +FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT +WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, +PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY +OF SUCH DAMAGE. + + +1.F.3. + + +LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND -- If you discover a defect in this +electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can receive a refund +of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a written explanation to +the person you received the work from. If you received the work on a +physical medium, you must return the medium with your written explanation. +The person or entity that provided you with the defective work may elect +to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the +work electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose +to give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in +lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may demand a +refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the problem. + + +1.F.4. + + +Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in +paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS,' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + + +1.F.5. + + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or the +exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or +limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state +applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make +the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state +law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement +shall not void the remaining provisions. + + +1.F.6. + + +INDEMNITY -- You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the trademark +owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone providing copies of +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works in accordance with this agreement, and +any volunteers associated with the production, promotion and distribution +of Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs +and expenses, including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from +any of the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of +this or any Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work, and (c) any Defect +you cause. + + +Section 2. + + + Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} + + +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic +works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including +obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the +efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks +of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance +they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~}'s goals and ensuring +that the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} collection will remain freely available for +generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} and future generations. To learn more about the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations +can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation web page at +http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. + + + Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of +Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. +The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541. +Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. Contributions to the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full +extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. +S. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 North +1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact information +can be found at the Foundation's web site and official page at +http://www.pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + + + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. + + + Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive + Foundation + + +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the +number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment +including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are +particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States. +Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable +effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these +requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not +received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or +determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have +not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against +accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us +with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any +statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the +United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation methods +and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including +checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please +visit: http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. + + + General Information About Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} electronic works. + + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with +anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} +eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} eBooks are often created from several printed editions, +all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. unless a copyright +notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance +with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's eBook +number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, compressed +(zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected _editions_ of our eBooks replace the old file and take over the +old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +_Versions_ based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org + + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~}, including how +to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, +how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email +newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + + + + + +***FINIS*** +
\ No newline at end of file |