A — The Rules

Part 25

When a bird's nest happens to lie before you by the roadside, on any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs, and the hen is sitting on the fledglings or the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young. You shall surely let the hen escape and take only the young so that it may be well with you and your days shall be prolonged. When you build a new house, you shall construct a parapet on the roof so that you do not bring blood-guilt on your house if anyone should fall from it. When a man takes a wife, has sexual intercourse with her and takes a dislike to her, and brings a baseless charge against her, ruining her reputation, and says, 'I have taken this woman, approached her, and did not find the proof of virginity in her', the father or the mother of the girl shall take the girl's proof of virginity and bring it to the elders at the gate. The girl's father shall say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to be this man's wife; he has taken a dislike to her and has brought a baseless charge against her saying, "I have not found the proof of virginity in your daughter." Here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' They shall spread out the garment before the elders of that city. The elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him. They shall fine him one hundred pieces of silver which they shall give to the father of the girl, because he has tried to ruin the reputation of an Israelite virgin. He shall not LXVI.. When a virgin betrothed to a man is found by another man in the city and he lies with her, they shall bring both of them to the gate of that city and stone them with stones and they shall be put to death: the girl because she has not shouted in the city, and the man because he has dishonoured his neighbour's wife. You shall rid yourselves of evil. If the man has found the woman in the fields in a distant place hidden from the city, and raped her, only he who has lain with her shall be put to death. To the girl they shall do nothing since she has committed no crime worthy of death. For this affair is like that of a man who attacks his neighbour and murders him. For it was in the fields that he found her and the betrothed girl shouted, but none came to her rescue. When a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, but is suitable to him according to the rule, and lies with her, and he is found out, he who has lain with her shall give the girl's father fifty pieces of silver and she

shall be his wife. Because he has dishonoured her, he may not divorce her all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife and shall not lift his father's skirt. A man shall not take the wife of his brother and shall not lift the skirt of his brother, the son of his father or the son of his mother, for this is unclean. A man shall not take his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, for this is abominable. A man shall not take his father's sister or his mother's sister, for this is immoral. A man shall not take the daughter of his brother or the daughter of his sister for this is abominable. shall not take LXVII..

MMT - Some Observances of the Law Mutilated fragments of six Cave manuscripts have acquired international notoriety on account of a lawsuit filed before the Jerusalem district court which found that one of the official editors of this text, Elisha Qimron, owned the copyright of the MMT text as reconstructed by him. Hershel Shanks, of the Biblical Archaeology Society of Washington, was held responsible for breaching this copyright and ordered to pay $43,000 damages. However, an appeal having been lodged with the Israeli Supreme Court, the matter is still subjudice. When the contents of the six copies are assembled into a single account, they amount to lines mostly of a fragmentary nature. The document begins with a sectarian calendar, which may or may not pertain to the original MMT; it continues with a series of special rules, and ends with an exhortation. MMT has been called an epistle, but since it lacks the introductory and concluding formulae of a letter, it is more likely to be a kind of legal tractate. It is addressed to a single leading personality who is compared to King David. The dramatis personae consist of a 'we' party, a 'you' party, and a 'they' party. The group responsible for MMT, who refer to themselves as 'we', seek to detach the leader of the 'you' party from the erroneous views propounded by the 'they' party. The editors claim that MMT was written by the Teacher of Righteousness and sent to the Wicked Priest; that the views of the 'we' party are akin to those of the Sadducees; and that the 'they' party are the Pharisees. However, these are no more than hypotheses. In particular, the identification of the author with the Teacher of Righteousness is less likely than that of the leader of the 'you' group with the man who was to

become the Wicked Priest, probably Jonathan Maccabaeus. It has also been advanced that the original nucleus of the Qumran Community, responsible for MMT, consisted of early or proto- Sadducees. However, one should bear in mind that the priests in this writing are never called sons of Zadok or Sadducees, but are referred to as sons of Aaron and 4QSd above, p. 118). The alleged Sadducee connection relies on three legal rules, out of a list of more than twenty, in MMT which represent opinions identical with the halakhah attributed in rabbinic literature to the Sadducees, and contrasted with the stance taken by the Pharisees. The chief topics of controversy are the calendar; ritual purity; marriage and intermarriage rules, and decrees regulating entry into the congregation. MMT is particularly important as a source of ancient legal debate. It is unique among the Dead Sea Scrolls and foreshadows the halakhic process developed and practised by later rabbis. Instead of presenting a composite text, the translation will reflect actual manuscripts and follow their line numbering. If there are overlapping fragments, gaps in the main manuscript will be filled from the parallel text and the borrowing will appear between. However, to assist the reader who desires to consult the Qimron-Strugnell edition, the line numbers of their composite text are given in brackets. Unlike the editors, I have been economical with purely conjectural restorations of the many gaps. Obscurities in the translation therefore faithfully reflect the real status of the Hebrew original. For the editio princeps, see E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Qumran Cave 4,

1. MMT A = A SECTARIAN CALENDAR

I On the sixteenth of it: sabbath. On the twenty-third of it: sabbath. On the thirtieth of it: sabbath. On the seventh of the third month: sabbath. On the fourteenth of it: sabbath. On the fifteenth of it: Feast of Weeks. On the twenty- first of it: sabbath. On the twenty-eighth of it: sabbath. The first of the sabbath, and the second day and the third are to be added. And the season is complete: ninety-one days. The first of the fourth month: Memorial day. On the fourth of it: sabbath. On the eleventh of it: sabbath. On the eighteenth of it: sabbath. On the twenty-fifth of it: sabbath. On the second of the fifth: sabbath. On the third of it: Feast of Wine, first of sabbath. On the ninth of it: sabbath. On the sixteenth of it: sabbath. On the twenty-third of it: sabbath. On the thirtieth [of it: sabbath. On the seventh of the sixth: sabbath. On the fourteenth of it: sabbath.

On the twenty-first] of it: sabbath. On the twenty-second of it: Feast of Oil, first of sabbath. Afterwards: offering of Wood. 4Q394 3-71 i The -eighth of it: sabbath. The first of the sabbath and the second day and the third are to be added to it. And the year is complete: three-hundred and sixty-four days. vacat 2. MMT B = SPECIAL RULES These are some of our teachings which are the works which we think and all of them concern and the purity of.. And concerning the offering of the wheat of the Gentiles which they.. and they touch it.. and defile it.. One should not accept anything from the wheat of the Gentiles and none of it is to enter the Sanctuary. And concerning.. which they cook in a vessel.. the meat of their sacrifices and that they.. in the courtyard.. with the broth of their sacrifice. And concerning the sacrifice of the Gentiles.. we consider that they to an idol and that is like a woman fornicating with him.. of peace-offerings which they postpone from one day to the next. But it is written that the meal-offering with the fat and the meat on the day of their being sacrificed. For the sons of the priests so as not to burden the

people with sin. water of purification - all these at sunset so that the pure shall sprinkle the impure. For the sons.. And furthermore concerning the skins of the cattle and the sheep.. from their skins vessels.. [they are not to bring them to the Sanctuary... And furthermore concerning the skins and bones of unclean animals, they shall not make from their bones and from their ski handles of vessels and.. And furthermore concerning the skin of the carcass of a clean animal, he who carries their carcass shall not touch the sacred purity. And concerning... the sons of the priests are to be careful regarding so as not to burden the people with sin. And concerning that which is written, [If a man slaughters in the camp or slaughters outside the camp an ox or a lamb or a goat for.. And we consider the Sanctuary [as the tent of meeting and

Je]rusalem as the camp i.e. outside Jerusalem, that is the camp of their towns. Outside the camp.. they bring out the ashes of the altar and they burn.. For Jerusalem] is the place which He has chosen... they do not slaughter in the Sanctuary. And concerning pregnant animals that one should not sacrifice the mother and the unborn young on the same day. And concerning eating, we consider that the unborn young may be eaten... this is so and the saying is written concerning a pregnant animal. vacat And concerning the Ammon and the and the man whose testicles have been crushed and one whose penis has been cut off who enter the congregation,. and they take wives so as to be bone... that they should not.. and should not have intercourse with them.. and they should so as to make them [into one bone.. that some of the people... mingling..

And furthermore concerning who do not see how to beware of all minglings and do not see the minglings which entail guilt. And furthermore concerning the deaf who have not heard the decrees and judgements and purity and have not heard the judgements of Israel - for he who has not seen and has not heard does not know how to practise; yet they come to the pure food of the Sanctuary. vacat And furthermore concerning the pouring, we say that it contains no purity. And furthermore the pouring does not separate the impure for the poured liquid and that in the receptacle are alike, one liquid. And are not to be brought to the sacred camp for they may eat some of the bones from the Sanctuary to which meat is still attached. For Jerusalem is and is the place which He has chosen from all the tribes of Israel, for Jerusalem is the head of the camps of Israel. And furthermore concerning the planting of fruit trees planted in the land of Israel, they are like destined for the - of the cattle and sheep is for the priests. And furthermore concerning the lepers, we say that they shall not come with the sacred pure food for separated..

Furthermore it is written that from the time he has shaved and washed, he shall stay outside.. for seven days. And now while their impurity is with them.. they shall not come into contact with the sacred pure food of the house. And you know.. and it is concealed from him, he is to bring, they are not to eat from the holy things until the sun has set on the eighth day. And concerning the impurities bone to which flesh is or is not attached is to be treated according to the law of the dead or slain. vacat And concerning fornication practised by the people, they should be sons of holiness, as it is written, is holy. And concerning his clean animal, it is written that it shall not be mated with a different kind. And concerning his clothes, it is written that they shall not be of mixed material. And he shall not sow his field and vineyard with two kinds. For they are holy and the sons of Aaron are most holy. And you know that some of the priests and the people mingle and they unite and defile the holy seed and also their seed with whores for.. And concerning the women.. violence and betrayal.. For in these.. on account of the violence and fornication they perished.. places.