The Volunteers in the Rule of the Community: A Biblical Notion in Sectarian Garb

The article examines the meaning of the term mitnadevim (“volunteers”) as a technical appellation for the members of the Qumran community, chiefly in the Rule of the Community. It is shown that the term is based on the biblical cultic terminology of a free-will offering (Lev 22:21), and a free-will contributions made to the temple (Ezra 1:6, 2:68-69; Nehemiah11:2; 1 Chronicles 29). Transformed into figurative expressions these terms refer to the free-will offering made by the sectarians of their own life within the community. The transition from the concrete cultic language into the figurative sectarian nomenclature is particularly clear on comparison between Lev 22:21 and 1QS IX, 5.