הכרונולוגיה של הקמת הכת בברית דמשק והשתקפותה במאורעות המלחמה הסורית החמישית

In this paper I would like to examine the historical value of the date about the emergence of the Qumran Community in the first discourse in CD I, l-II, 1. The publication of MMT has strengthened the reliability of the description in the first discourse about the halakhic polemics with the authorities of Jerusalem as the background for the emergence of the Qumran Community. However it left the date of this halakhic polemics ('And in the period of wrath - three hundred and ninety years from delivering them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon he visited them5) in dispute and unacceptable as historical evidence. Therefore I examine the reliability of this date through a discussion of the historical background behind the description of the community's emergence. This possible background is examined by a comparison of the first discourse and the pesharim CD VIII, 16-18; XIX, 29-31 which contain similar details about the community's polemics at the time of its inception. In these pesharim I find some historical clues which point toward the period that is reflected in the chronology of the first discourse.