dssdead-sea-scrolls
E — Wisdom Literature
Part 8
A fragmentary Qumran wisdom text, drawing on the covenant structure of Deuteronomy 11, sets two ways before the reader — the good and the evil — framing them explicitly as paths of blessing or curse. The structure is covenantal rather than philosophical: Jehovah does not merely observe the choice but acts upon it, blessing obedience and destroying disobedience through the instruments of nature — mildew, snow, ice, hail. The text belongs to the same two-spirits tradition as the Community Rule, anchoring moral decision within a binding covenant framework rather than in abstract ethics.
1
Inspired by Deuteronomy xi, 26-28, this fragmentary text, palaeographically dated to the end of the first century BCE, is akin to the Instruction on the Two Spirits in the Community Rule. For the editio princeps, see T. Elgvin, DJD, XXII, 289-99.
2
.. and He has placed before you two ways one which is good and one which is evil. If you choose the good way, He will bless you. But if you walk in the evil way, He will curse you.. and in your tents, and He will destroy you with.. and mildew, snow, ice and hail.. with all.
