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title of any pericope numbered in red to access the original language text.
86. |
Essene Initiation |
137 |
There is no immediate
initiation
for those who are eager (to join the Essene) party. Rather,
they give one a small axe, the loincloth mentioned above
above, and white garments, putting him under a discipline
for one year while he remains outside. |
138 |
And if during this
examination period he gives evidence of his self-control,
they lead him nearer to their discipline, letting him
participate in cleaner waters for purification.
But he is not yet received into their common life.
For after proving his endurance, his character is tested for
two more years. And then, if he appears worthy, he is admitted
to the community. |
139 |
But before he
touches the common meal, he professes awesome vows:
--First (1) he is to be pious towards God.
--Next (2) he is to keep justice towards men;
--(3) he is to wrong no one either deliberately or on being
forced;
--(4) he is always to hate the unjust and to
take the side of the just; |
140 |
--(5)
he is always to extend trust to all,
especially those in power.
For no one's rule can prevail
against God; and
--(6) if he should rule, he is never to vaunt his
authority,
nor by dress or any outward ornament
outshine those in lower ranks; |
141 |
--(7) he is always to
love
Truth and challenge liars;
--(8) he is to keep his hands from stealing and his hands
clean from unlawful gain;
--(9) he is neither to hide anything from party members nor to
disclose anything of theirs to others, even if tortured to
death. |
142 |
Besides these, he vows:
--(10) to transmit their teachings in no way other than that
in which he received them;
--(11) to keep apart from banditry; and
--(12) to protect the party's books, and
likewise the names of the angels.
Such are the vows by which initiates are bound. |
|
--- Josephus,
Jewish
War 2.137-142 |
87. |
The Qumran
Covenant |
1 |
The...order for the Community:
---to seek God.... |
2 |
---to do what is good and right
before him as |
3 |
he commanded by the hand of
Moses
and all his servants, the prophets; and
---to love all |
4 |
that he has chosen and
---to hate all that he has rejected;
---to stay far from all evil |
5 |
and
---to stick close to all good deeds; and
---to do what is true and right and just |
6 |
on earth; and
---to walk in stubbornness no more,
with a guilty heart and lustful eyes |
7 |
doing all evil ; and
---to gather all who are willing to do what God prescribes |
8 |
in a covenant of grace
(berith hesed), joining with the counsel of God
and walking before him in exact accord |
9 |
with all revelations of the
times appointed for the testimonies; and
---to love all the sons of light, each |
10 |
according to his lot in the
counsel of God; and
---to hate all the sons of darkness, each
according to his guilt |
11 |
in the vengeance of God. |
|
--- Dead
Sea Scrolls, Community
Rule (1QS) 1.1-11 |
88. |
Purification of Initiates at
Qumran |
6 |
...For it is by the Spirit
of the Counsel of Truth concerning man's ways that
all |
7 |
his iniquities shall be covered,
so he may look on the light of life.
And by a holy Spirit for union with his Truth shall he
be cleansed from all |
8 |
his injustices.
And by an
upright and humble Spirit will his sins be covered;
and by
humbling his soul toward all that God prescribes |
9 |
his flesh shall be cleansed for
sprinkling with purifying waters,
and for
sanctifying with cleansing waters.
And he shall direct his
steps to walk perfectly |
10 |
in all the ways of God,
according to his command regarding the times appointed for his
testimonies.
And he shall deviate neither to the right nor to
the left; and he shall not |
11 |
go beyond one of all his words.
Then he shall be accepted by an atonement
pleasing before God.
And for him this will be for a covenant |
12 |
of Unity
everlasting. |
|
-- Dead
Sea Scrolls, Community
Rule (1QS) 3.6-12 |
89. |
Ultimate Agent of
the Holy Spirit |
18 |
...But in the secrets of his
understanding and glorious wisdom,
God has set an end for
the existence of Error.
And at the time
|
19 |
appointed for his visitation, he
will destroy it forever.
Then everlasting Truth
shall come forth on the earth!
For during the dominion
of Error, it wallowed in the ways of wickedness until |
20 |
the time appointed
for the decisive judgment.
Then by his Truth God will purge
all the deeds of a man (geber),
and he will refine for
himself (one) from the sons of Man (benei
Ish)
removing every spirit of injustice from |
21 |
his flesh and purifying him from
all deeds of wickedness by a holy Spirit.
And
he will sprinkle the Spirit of Truth on him like
waters,
purifying him from all the abominations of
the Lie and of contamination |
22 |
by an unclean spirit,
to instruct the righteous in the knowledge of the Highest
and
to teach the perfect of way the wisdom of the sons of Heaven.
For God has chosen them for
an everlasting covenant; |
23 |
and all the glory of Man (Adam)
is theirs!
And there shall be no more Error;
all loose
behavior will be put to shame.
Until then the Spirits
of Truth and of Error battle in the
heart of man (gaber). |
|
--- Dead
Sea Scrolls, Community
Rule (1QS) 4.18-23 |
90. |
Two Spirits |
15 |
...From the God of
Knowledge is all that is and shall be;
before they
were, he made all their designs. |
16 |
And when they come to be they
testify to his glory as planned,
fulfilling their deeds and
changing nothing. In his hand |
17 |
are all judgments, and he will
support them in all their needs.
And he created Man (enosh)
for dominion |
18 |
over the earth;
and he appointed
two spirits for him to walk in until the time
of his visitation.
These are the Spirits |
19 |
of Truth and of Error.
Those
born of Truth are in a spring of Light;
and those born of Error are from a well of darkness. |
20 |
In the hand of the Prince
of Light is dominion over all the sons of
Righteousness
who walk in all the ways of Light.
But
in the hand of the Angel |
21 |
of Darkness is
dominion over all the sons of Error,
who walk
in the ways of darkness. |
|
--- Dead
Sea Scrolls, Community
Rule (1QS) 3.15-21 |
91. |
Rabbinic
Proselyte Baptism |
1 |
He who wants to be a proselyte
is not received right away.
They say to him:
--"Why do you want to be a proselyte?
Have you not seen that this people is poorer
and more
oppressed and humiliated than all peoples?
Troubles and trials
come upon them, and they bury their sons and their sons' sons.
They are killed on account of circumcision
and immersion
and all the rest of the
commandments.
And they do not behave in public like all the
rest of the nations." |
2 |
If he says, "I am not up to
this!," they dismiss him and he goes his own way. |
3 |
If he takes this on himself, they lead him down to the place
of immersion (beth tebilah).
They cover him with water around
the place of his nakedness,
and they tell him some of the
details of the commandments... |
5 |
And they say good and comforting
words to him:
--"Happy are you! Who have you joined? Him who spoke and
the world was!
The world was created only for the sake of Israel.
Only Israel is called "sons of God"
(cf. Deut 14:1),
and there is none beloved before God except
Israel.
All the words that we spoke to you we told you only to
increase your reward!" |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud (appendix), Gerim
1.1-5 |
92. |
Proselytes
likened to Israel |
3 |
Proselytes (gerim) are
beloved,
for in every place the texts compare them with
Israel...
(1) "Love" is mentioned in connection with Israel,
as it is said:
--"I have loved you, says the Lord" (Mal 1:2)
and "love" is mentioned in connection with
proselytes, as it is said:
--"And he who loves the stranger (ger),
giving
him food and clothes" (Deut 10:18).
(2) Israel is called "servants," as it is said:
--"For the children of Israel are servants to me"
(Lev 25:55)
and proselytes are too, as it is said
--"(And the strangers who join themselves to the Lord),
to be his servants" (Isa 56:6)...
(3) Our father Abraham called himself a "stranger,"
as it is said:
--"(I am) a stranger and sojourner (with you)" (Gen
23:4)
(4) Likewise, David, the king of Israel, called himself a
"stranger," as it is said:
--"I am a stranger with you" (Ps 39:13).
(5) And similar to this, it says (of Israel):
--"For we are strangers before you" (1 Chron 29:15) |
|
--- Babylonian
Talmud (appendix), Gerim
4.3 |
93. |
Christian Baptism |
26 |
For in Christ Jesus you are all
sons
of God, through faith. |
27 |
For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. |
28 |
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free,
there is neither male nor
female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. |
|
--- Paul, Galatians
3.26-28 |
94. |
Christian Unity |
4 |
There is one body and
one
Spirit just as you were called
to the one hope of
your calling; |
5 |
one Lord, one faith,
one
baptism; |
6 |
one God and Father of us all,
who is above all and through all and in all. |
7 |
But grace was given to each of
us
according to the measure of the gift of Christ... |
13 |
until we all reach the unity of
faith
and knowledge of the son of God,
in the perfect Man,
in maturity's measure of the
fullness of Christ. |
|
--- "Paul," Ephesians
4.4-7, 13* |
* |
Though the author of
this letter calls himself "Paul," most modern NT
scholars regard this as a pseudonym. Despite stylistic
and logistical reasons for questioning Pauline authorship,
however, this text invokes concepts that are close enough to
the patterns of thought in genuine writings of Paul (like Galatians
above) to be classed as "deutero-Pauline"---i.e.,
echoes of Paul. |
|