Sectarian versus Rabbinic Theology
Both second Temple texts and rabbinic literature were heir to the complex and often contradictory theological views of the various biblical books. However, it goes without saying that such basic theological ideas of Judaism as God as the creator, revelation of the Torah, or hope in a coming redemption are shared by both corpora. The more important question is whether ideas that are unique to second Temple period texts that represents substantive development from or differences with common biblical notions that are found in the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha and Dead Sea Scrolls are continued in rabbinic Judaism or not. Does tannaitic Judaism in its theology inherit the second Temple literature or does it trace its continuity with the last days of the Hebrew Bible through some other pathway?
An interesting example of this issue is that of the extreme predestination and dualism taught in the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls. This set of beliefs assumes that God has preplanned the entire course of the cosmos and certainly of humans who are divided into two lots, as are the heavenly beings, who struggle eternally against one another. A person’s actions, for good or evil, seem in this system… Continue reading
Heritage of Biblical Exegesis
Book of Judith
Despite the absence of direct literary influence, and all the fundamental historical changes between second Temple and rabbinic Judaism, certainly prominent and basic to this continuity in all the aspects of Judaism to be discussed below–legal, theological, eschatological–is the area of biblical exegesis. After all, biblical interpretation stands as the basis for Judaism throughout its history and all its manifestations. But even here, as we will see, the issues are complex.
One area of almost complete continuity is that of translation of the Bible. Here we deal with two issues, the Greek translation (LXX) and the Aramaic Targumim.
Regarding the Greek, one might gather from the tannaitic parallel to the account of the 72 elders in the letter of Aristeas that the rabbis, on the one hand, saw the translation as a tragic step in the Hellenization of the Jews, but at the same time approved of the actual translation, at least of the modifications supposedly made by the elders for polemical reasons. On the other hand, scholarly investigation (cf. Tov) of these variants shows that the account reflects no actual familiarity with the Septuagint which, like the other Greek Jewish literature, was apparently… Continue reading
Phylacteries, Mezuzot and Bibles
Qumran Phylactery
A distinct area of halakhah is that of scribal practice. Here it seems clear that much of the scribal art transcended sectarian religious affiliation. This would explain why scribal law in rabbinic texts and indeed in later Jewish tradition is so close to that found when we investigate the actual artifacts–the Dead Sea Scrolls and other biblical texts from the Judean desert. Without going into details here, rabbinic Judaism received a scribal tradition from the earlier Jewish community and, for the most part, simply passed it down, following virtually the same mechanics for the production of hides, their preparation, writing, and the storage of scrolls.
Further, if we investigate the mezuzot and phylacteries, we can see the intersection of the common scribal arts with the varying interpretations regarding the contents. Apparently, the sectarians were willing to include passages from before and after those required by the Pharisaic-rabbinic tradition, which limited itself and did not allow any additional material.
But the commonality in the preparation and construction of phylacteries, for example, and in the practice of mezuzah, shows clearly that these were elements inherited from the common Judaism of second Temple times. … Continue reading
