4QMMT
Encyclopedia
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
that were discovered at Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
in the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. The manuscript is mainly concerned with the issue of the purity of liquid streams, a matter of great debate between the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
and the Sadducees
Sadducees
The Sadducees were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society...
in later rabbinic texts.
Originally provisionally designated as 4QMishn (Mishnah), it was later renamed as 4QMMT (Miqsat Ma’ase ha-Torah or Some Precepts of the Law) by Elisha Qimron
Elisha Qimron
Dr Elisha Qimron is a leading academic in the study of ancient Hebrew, in which he took his PhD in 1976 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writing his dissertation on The Hebrew of the Scrolls. Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Hebrew Language at Ben-Gurion University of the...
who, with John Strugnell
John Strugnell
John Strugnell, was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, UK. At the age of 23 he became the youngest member of the team of scholars led by Roland de Vaux, formed in 1954 to edit the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem...
, were the manuscript's editors. Strugnell and Qimron have dated the script (or writing) on the fragments as late Hasmonean
Hasmonean
The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...
to Middle Herodian
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
, which places them between the early 1st century BCE and the early 1st century CE. The editors believe that at that time the fragments now comprising 4QMMT were copied from six individual manuscripts into one.
4QMMT was found in Cave 4 at Qumran on six fragmented manuscripts (4Q394, 4Q395, 4Q396, 4Q397, 4Q398, 4Q399). These manuscripts were found between the years 1953-1959 and today they are held at the Rockefeller Museum
Rockefeller Museum
The Rockefeller Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum, is an archaeological museum located in East Jerusalem that houses a large collection of artifacts unearthed in the excavations conducted in Ottoman Palestine beginning in the late 19th century.The museum is under the management...
in Jerusalem. From 1959, 4QMMT was worked on alone by John Strugnell. In 1979 he co-opted Hebrew scholar Elisha Qimron
Elisha Qimron
Dr Elisha Qimron is a leading academic in the study of ancient Hebrew, in which he took his PhD in 1976 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writing his dissertation on The Hebrew of the Scrolls. Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Hebrew Language at Ben-Gurion University of the...
on to the team to assist him in completing it.
Content
In 1984 at the Biblical archaeologyBiblical archaeology
For the movement associated with William F. Albright and also known as biblical archaeology, see Biblical archaeology school. For the interpretation of biblical archaeology in relation to biblical historicity, see The Bible and history....
Conference in Jerusalem, Qimron stated that 4QMMT represented copies of a letter written by Qumran's 'Teacher of Righteousness
Teacher of Righteousness
The Teacher of Righteousness is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, probably Essenes, 390 years after the Babylonian exile and after 20 years of 'groping' blindly for the way...
' and his colleagues to his rival, the 'Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest is a sobriquet used in the Dead Sea scrolls pesharim, four times in the Habakkuk Commentary and once in the Commentary on Psalm 37 , to refer to an opponent of the "Teacher of Righteousness." The phrase is generally regarded as a pun on "High Priest" and identified with a Hasmonean...
' and his supporters. The purpose of the letter was to spell out the differences between the two parties and to summon their opponents to an amendment of life.
4QMMT commences with a detailed, year-long calendar, a 364 day solar calendar. In the sequel the author presents twenty-two points of law on which the two groups differ. These points oppose rabbinic or Pharisaic
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
views and coincide with Essene, and in some cases, Sadducean positions. This led some scholars to the conclusion that the community at Qumran had withdrawn from Jerusalem in around 150 BC following major disagreements between themselves and the Jewish authorities concerning Biblical interpretation and religious practices.
Interpretation
While part of 4QMMT seems to be addressed to priests at the Temple in Jerusalem, the third section is addressed to a respected individual, whose honesty and integrity are acknowledged by the author, and who encourages him to study carefully 'the book of MosesMoses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
and the books of the Prophets
Prophets
Prophets may refer to:* High Prophets , The Covenant leaders in Halo 2* Prophets , one of the five Ascension Gift Ministries* LDS Prophets, modern day Prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
and David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
.' He also refers to the blessings and curses on the Israelite
Israelite
According to the Bible the Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited the Land of Canaan during the monarchic period .The word "Israelite" derives from the Biblical Hebrew ישראל...
kings and asks the recipient to remember their actions, giving the impression that the recipient may himself be a Judaean
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
monarch. Almost certainly a Hasmonean
Hasmonean
The Hasmonean dynasty , was the ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. Between c. 140 and c. 116 BCE, the dynasty ruled semi-autonomously from the Seleucids in the region of Judea...
ruler is being addressed. There is no formal breach between the two, only disagreement, giving rise to the supposition that 4QMMT was written at a time of dispute between the Scrolls community and the Judaean political and religious establishment in Jerusalem, possibly concerning laws covering purity. Some scholars believe that this section is a letter from the Teacher of Righteousness
Teacher of Righteousness
The Teacher of Righteousness is a figure found in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, most prominently in the Damascus Document. This document speaks briefly of the origins of the sect, probably Essenes, 390 years after the Babylonian exile and after 20 years of 'groping' blindly for the way...
to the Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest
Wicked Priest is a sobriquet used in the Dead Sea scrolls pesharim, four times in the Habakkuk Commentary and once in the Commentary on Psalm 37 , to refer to an opponent of the "Teacher of Righteousness." The phrase is generally regarded as a pun on "High Priest" and identified with a Hasmonean...
, believed by many to be Jonathan Maccabaeus
Jonathan Maccabaeus
Jonathan Apphus was leader of the Hasmonean Dynasty of Judea from 161 to 143 BCE. The name Apphus could mean = "the dissembler", "the Wary", or "the diplomat", in allusion to a trait prominent in him -Leader of the Jews:...
or his brother Simon
Simon Maccabaeus
Simon Thassi was the second son of Mattathias and thus a member of the Hasmonean family. The name "Thassi" has an uncertain meaning...
.
Other scholars have seen in 4QMMT evidence of having been written solely by the Sadduccees, one of the major religious factions in Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
at that time.
Since its publication in 1994, there has been much debate as to whether 4QMMT really is a letter, and if so written by who to whom; whether it is actually a Sadducean manuscript, or even if the document has been properly reconstructed, a charge laid by Strugnell against Qimron.
The text was also at the centre of a legal dispute in the early 1990s when Qimron successfully sued Hershel Shanks
Hershel Shanks
Hershel Shanks is the founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society and the editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review and has written and edited numerous works on Biblical archaeology including the Dead Sea Scrolls....
of the Biblical Archaeology Society and others for publishing his researches into 4QMMT without his permission.
According to Hanne von Weissenberg’s book, 4QMMT: Reevaluating the text, the function, and the meaning of the epilogue, it maintains that Qimron and Strugnell define the genre of 4QMMT as a letter, yet they want to clarify that this is perhaps more than just a letter, but perhaps a public letter or treaty with another community. According to Strugnell, the Halakhic Letter is neither a letter nor a treatise (11). He argues that the introduction to the letter does not resemble a letter at all, but suggests the introduction is a possible collection of laws, sent to a particular person.
According to John Kampen and Moshe Bernstein, they support the idea of 4QMMT being a letter in their analysis of the document in their introduction of Reading 4QMMT. They maintain that Strugnell’s argument that the document is a collection of laws is false, due to the argumentative tone it gives off. Instead they believe 4QMMT to be a text which deals with legal disputes among two parties. Furthermore, they advocate the idea that the document’s epilogue and final sections blur the interpretations of the classification of 4QMMT’s genre.