The Community Rules from Qumran: A Commentary

Updated by: 
Oz Tamir
Research notes: 
OT/not checked/24/08/2020
Reference type: 
Book
Author(s): 
Hempel, Charlotte
year: 
2020
Full title: 

The Community Rules from Qumran: A Commentary

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism
Abbreviated Series Name: 
TSAJ
Place of Publication: 
Tübingen
Publisher: 
Mohr Siebeck
Work type: 
Text edition
Abstract: 

In this volume, Charlotte Hempel offers the first comprehensive commentary on all twelve ancient manuscripts of the Rules of the Community, works which contain the most important descriptions of the organisation and values ascribed to the movement associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The best preserved copy of this work (1QS) was one of the first scrolls to be published and has long dominated the scholarly assessment of the Rules. The approach adopted in this commentary is to capture the distinctive nature of each of the manuscripts based on a synoptic translation that presents all the manuscripts at a glance. Textual notes and Commentary deal with the picture derived from all preserved manuscripts. The publication of the Cave 4 manuscripts in 1998 can be likened to a volcanic eruption that challenged prevalent notions of the Community Rules that were founded on the quasi-archetypal status of the Cave 1 copy published in 1951. Since then the smoke has lifted and, as the pieces have begun to settle, we see green shoots emerging in the scholarly debate.. This commentary embraces the post-volcanic landscape of the Community Rules, which is carefully sifted for clues to establish a fresh reading of the material in conversation with the latest research on the Scrolls. The evidence suggests that some of the practices described as the beating heart of the movement's organization reflect the aspirations of a privileged sub-elite from the late Second Temple Period.

Primary Texts: Judean Desert Documents: 
Scroll / Document: 
1QS
Scroll / Document: 
4Q255
Scroll / Document: 
4Q256
Scroll / Document: 
4Q257
Scroll / Document: 
4Q258
Scroll / Document: 
4Q259
Scroll / Document: 
4Q260
Scroll / Document: 
4Q261
Scroll / Document: 
4Q262
Scroll / Document: 
4Q263
Scroll / Document: 
4Q264
Scroll / Document: 
5Q11
Scroll / Document: 
4Q256
Scroll / Document: 
11Q29
Scroll / Document: 
5Q13
Scroll / Document: 
4Q487
Scroll / Document: 
4Q502
Scroll / Document: 
4Q186
Label: 
05/10/2020
Record number: 
107 087