| Damascus Document |
Article Index for Damascus |
Website Links For Damascus |
Information AboutDamascus Document |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT DAMASCUS DOCUMENT | |
| dead sea scrolls | |
| essene texts | |
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The title of the document comes from approximately seven references within it to ''Damascus'', though the manner in which this ''Damascus'' is treated in the document makes it possible that it was some sort of code either for Babylon , or for Qumran itself, and not necessarily a literal reference to Damascus in Syria . There is a high degree of shared terminology and legal rulings between the Damascus Document and the Community Rule , another document found amongst the dead sea scrolls, including terms like ''sons of light'', and their Penal Code . The document contains a cryptic reference to a Teacher Of Righteousness , which some manuscripts treat as a figure from their past, and others treat as a figure in their present, and others still as a figure of the future. This ''teacher of righteousness'' features prominently in the Damascus Document, but not at all in the Community Rule, suggesting a difference in the situation during the writing of each. The Damascus Document describes the group amongst which the Document was created as having been leaderless for 20 years before the ''teacher of righteousness'' established their rule over the group. Usually historians date the Teacher to circa 150 BCE, since the document states that he arrived 390 years after the babylonian exile. The textual relationship between the Damascus Document and Community Rule is somewhat of an open question, though there is a general agreement that they have some evolutionary connection. Some suspect that the Community Rule is the original text that was later altered to become the Damascus Document, others that the Damascus Document was Redacted to become the Community Rule, and a third group that argues that the Community Rule was created as a Utopia n ideal rather than a practical replacement for the Damascus Document. |
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