“Fleshly Spirit” and “Vessel of Flesh” in 4QInstruction and the Thanksgiving Hymns

The Dead Sea Scrolls preserve some of the earliest literature that bears witness to the demonizing of sin and the reification of evil. In two compositions, 4QInstruction (1Q26; 4Q415–18, 423) and the Thanksgiving Hymns, evil yeṣarim are found alongside and interwoven with “flesh” language. Early on in the study of 4QInstruction Elgvin noted a number of distinctive terms shared between these document, including “fleshly spirit” (בשר רוח). In the hymns the expression “vessel of flesh” (יצר בשר) occurs twice (1QHa xviii 25; xxiv 6), and the two terms occur in close proximity in the opening column of 4QInstruction (4Q416 1 16; par).