Pre-sectarian Literature

Among those texts gathered into their library by the Qumran sectarians were four out of the five parts of 1 Enoch and the book of Jubilees. Although these books are not entirely preserved in the scrolls, it is certain that the members of the sect would have had  available full copies of these texts (except that the Similitudes [Parables] of Enoch were not part of the collection).  Accordingly, we will consider these texts, even where the Qumran manuscripts do not preserve the specific passages.  We will see that these passages routinely assume that the state of exile continued through the Persian period, uninterrupted, into the Hellenistic period.

Within the Enochic corpus, among the earliest materials is the Apocalypse of Weeks, dating to immediately pre-Maccabean times.[1]  This text divides biblical history into “weeks” and places the exile in the sixth week. Here the text states:

And after this in the sixth week all those who live in it (will be) blinded, and the hearts of all, lacking wisdom, will sink into impiety.  … and at its end the house of sovereignty will be burnt with fire, and in it the whole race of the chosen root will be scattered.

This text refers to a spiritual process of going astray, which in turn leads to the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people. What is important to emphasize is that this text never actually deals with the return. Rather, the text proceeds to describe a generation of apostasy, probably the author’s own, and the eventual election of the righteous ones to receive a sevenfold teaching about God’s creation. Finally, in the eighth week, there was a series of judgments. Without question, for this author the exile has not yet ended.

A further Enochic passage comes from the Animal Apocalypse. This text was probably composed toward the end of the Maccabean revolt.[2]  The text traces the history of Israel, using complex symbolism in which Israel is described as a flock of sheep, God the Lord of the sheep, and the nations as ravenous creatures. Following the building of the Temple, the text pictures a period of apostasy (89:54).  The Lord of the sheep then abandoned their house (the state) and the tower (Temple) and left them to be attacked by the other animals (89:56). Here the Babylonians are described as lions. Now the Lord appoints 70 shepherds, expected to inflict limited destruction on Israel (89:68). Then the text alludes to the destruction, followed by the Persian, Ptolemaic and finally Seleucid eras.  Apparently, the text understands Israel to have been exiled to certain specific places, not simply dispersed. The text does go on to relate the return of the exiles and the building of the Second Temple (1 Enoch 89:72-73):

and behold, three of those sheep returned and came and began to build up all that had fallen down from that house; but the wild-boars hindered them so that they could not. And they began again to build, as before, and they raised up that tower, and it was called the high towers; and they began again to place a table before the tower, but all the bread on it (was) unclean and was not pure.

This text clearly regards the sacrifices of the Second Temple period to be impure and improper. Further, following this passage there is a description of the continuation of the slaughter of large numbers of sheep, indicating that the return was only limited and it did not ensure the future safety of the people of Israel (vv. 74-77).  This negative prognosis seems to continue for a long period (90:1). The text also describes some events that seem to refer to the Maccabean revolt, but only after judgment of the shepherds by God (90:18, 22-23, 25) does there come a glorious new age.

This text certainly did not see the return of the Persian period as an important event, reversing the previous exile. Rather, it saw the Babylonian Exile as the beginning of a long process running through the Second Temple period. The authors sees exile as an ongoing condition that would only come to an end with the final judgment. Essentially, for him, this author period of desolation would continue until the end of days.

Also significant for our purposes is Jub. 1:7-18.[3] This text was no doubt written either during the Maccabean revolt or soon before. Like 1 Enoch, it served as one of the source texts that the Qumran sect inherited from predecessor groups that influenced its way of thinking and halakhic rulings. Here the text is presenting an ex eventu survey of Jewish history.  We are told of how the people will go astray and how God will send prophets whom it will ignore. Then the text turns to the exile (1:13-14):

that I will hide my face from them. I will deliver them into the control of the nations for captivity, for booty, and for being devoured. I will remove them from the land and disperse them among the nations. They will forget all my law, all my commandments, and all my verdicts. They will err regarding the beginning of the month, the sabbath, the festival, the jubilee and the decree.

This account gives no indication of whether we are referring to the exile of northern Israel or Judea. We will encounter this motif below, the hiding of the face, as an indication that because of their transgressions God will allow his people to be subjected to terrible punishments by others.

The text also suggests that after going astray, the people will repent while living among the nations (1:15b-18):

Then I will gather them from among all the nations, and they will search for me so that I may be found by them when they have searched for me with all the minds and with all their souls. I will rightly disclose to them abundant peace. I will transform them into a righteous plant with all my mind and with all my soul. They will become a blessing, not a curse; they will become the head, not the tail. I will build my Temple among them and will live with them; I will become their God and they will become my true and righteous people. I will neither abandon them nor become alienated from them, for I am the Lord their God.

This passage is heavily dependent on motifs in the book of Deuteronomy. Basically, the text has asserted that the prophecy of the book of Deuteronomy that the Jews will return to their land will indeed come true. Of course, this prophecy does not make clear what exile it is discussing and, despite later rabbinic exegesis, deals with only one exile. It does appear from the mention of the Temple that the text assumes a return to the land of Israel.  We will encounter the use of these Deuteronomic passages below in the early Dead Sea sectarian texts, specifically in the Temple Scroll and MMT. But we should also note that the image of the restored Israel as a plant is common in the Rule of the Community and appears elsewhere in the scrolls.

Here again, we do not find any explicit mention of the return and the Second Temple. The notion of return is postponed effectively for the end of days.  The exile will only end at the eschaton.