(3) a perception that they were fulfilling biblical prophecy, with (a) the Teacher of Righteousness as the prophet Moses predicted in Deut 18:18, (b) the entire sect as “a voice of one calling … in the wilderness” (Isa 40:3) and as inaugurating God's new covenant with his people (Jer 31:31-34), and (c) the events of their day as the fulfillment of numerous “end-time prophecies.”77
