The War Texts: 1 QM and Related Manuscripts

by Jean Duhaime

The War Texts is the name given to a small group of Dead Sea Scrolls that depict the preparation for and the various phases of the eschatological battle between the 'Sons of Light' and the 'Sons of Darkness'. Jean Duhaime briefly surveys the history of these texts from their initial discovery to their official publication. He describes the different scrolls and gives details of their contents and their relationships to one another. Duhaime summarizes the various reasons supporting a dating of this composition to the Hellenistic or Roman period and provides an example of the use of the Bible in the War Texts. The contributors to the Companion to the Qumran Scrolls series take account of all relevant and recently published texts and provide extensive bibliographies. The books in the series are authoritatively written in accessible language and are ideal for students and non-specialist scholars. Companion to the Qumran Scrolls, 6

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Станислав]

Среди кумранских текстов, которые были отнесены к творчеству миролюбивой секты ессев, был найден ряд документов явно военного свойства. "Свиток войны" из первой пещеры (1 QM), изображал праведную войну Сынов Света против Сынов Тьмы во главе с киттим https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%... и другими врагами Израиля. В войне Сынам Света помогают ангелы и другие небесные силы, много место отведено религиозным аспектам чистоты войска, роли жрецов, возращение победивших Сынов Света в очищенный Иерусалим. В самом изображении войны нет ничего удивительного: Танах наполнен подобными изображениями. Интерес представляет собой явное знакомство автора текста с военным делом. Загадку представляет собой отнесение текста к различным эпохам, тексты могли создаваться от эпохи https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%... Маккавейской войны , до https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%... Иудейской.
Книга представляет собой краткое текстологического исследование главного "Свитка войны" и связанных (менее сохранных) манускриптов.

[Sanjuro]

The War Texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are the stuff fascinations are made of. Duhaime here introduces the War Texts at the most introductory level, examining the manuscripts, the genre, the date, and other introductory matters. He also has sections examining the unity of the text, the redaction history, and the use of the Hebrew Bible in the text. Duhaime does a fine job of balancing academic rigor with readability, assessing the most crucial scholarly views on the text and describing the possible historical and social backgrounds.

I do wonder how Duhaime might assess the views of Shultz, which were not available at the time. Duhaime here notes that scholars widely consider there to be tension between columns 1 and 2, and view them as separate contributions from different redactional stages or material. Shultz more recently argued for a unity between the two columns and attempted to clear the tension.

On the whole, although the book could already stand for a bit of an update, it's an excellent introduction to the Qumran War Texts.