Many fragments found in Caves 4, 5 & 6
at Qumran [4Q266-271, 5QD,
6QD] were identified as belonging to a text that was first discovered in
the genizah of the old Cairo synagogue in 1896 & published by Solomon
Schechter [Cambridge] as Fragments
of a Zadokite work. The name
Damascus Covenant (CD) became the title preferred by scrolls
scholars. Although no complete ms. of the work has been found at Qumran,
Schechter's 2 large fragments (a & b) of medieval [10th & 12th
c. CE] copies of CD from Cairo have been generally included in
publications on the Dead Sea scrolls. CD addresses a separatist sect
that understood itself in the light of Amos 5:26 as the faithful remnant
of Israel "exiled...to Damascus" & provides a code of
discipline in anticipation of an imminent end time.
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