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231 CHAPTER NINE THE DREAM OF A NEW JERUSALEM AT QUMRAN Adela Yarbro Collins This essay is based on the conclusion of many scholars that there was a Jewish sectarian community, whose members were probably Essenes, that emerged in the mid-second century B.C.E. and established communal buildings at the site known today as Khirbet Qumran. Not all the documents found in caves near the site were composed by members of this community. The sectarian documents date from various periods and may reflect different points of view held at different times. Nevertheless, this essay attempts to synthesize ideas about Jerusalem expressed in the nonbiblical manuscripts and consider to what extent these various ideas are compatible with one another. But first I sketch a brief history of the main religious ideas relating to Jerusalem. JERUSALEM IN THE HEBREW BIBLE AND IN HISTORY According to Genesis 14, Abraham, after defeating four foreign kings, was honored by local rulers, including Melchizedek, the king of Salem. The city of Salem is identified with Jerusalem in Ps 76:3 MT (76:2 ET). A historical reading of the source incorporated into Genesis 14 leads to the conclusion that Melchizedek was a priest of the Canaanite deity ElElyo ̄n. Later religious Hebrew literature identified El-Elyōn with the God of Israel.1 In the description of the territory assigned to the tribe of Judah in Joshua 15, the writer takes extreme care to show that the stronghold of Jebus (Jerusalem) lies outside Judah’s border.2 When David became king of Israel, he ruled at first for seven and a half years in Hebron before conquering Jerusalem, the city of the Jebusites, and making it his capital (2 Sam 5:1–10). After uniting Israel and Judah under his rule, David eliminated the old Jebusite enclave from the midst of his newly 1. Ephraim A. Speiser, Genesis (AB 1; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964), 105–9. 2. Joshua 15:8–9, 63; for discussion, see Robert G. Boling, Joshua (AB 6: Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982), 370, 392–93. 232 THE DREAM OF A NEW JERUSALEM AT QUMRAN united kingdom and chose a capital that was centrally located and thus acceptable to both the northern and southern tribes.3 After capturing Jerusalem, David took up residence there, fortified the city, and began a building program, extending the city of David northward toward the present temple mount (2 Sam 5:9).4 The dominant biblical tradition is that David’s son and successor, Solomon, built the first temple and the adjoining palace complex immediately south of the temple.5 During his reign, the city became an internationally known capital of the Israelite empire.6 Jerusalem declined in importance during the divided kingdom and was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. by the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:8–12).7 Since there is no record of the destruction of the altar and Jerusalem continued to be occupied during the exile of the people’s leaders in Babylon, it is likely that sacrifices continued to be offered from 586 to 538 B.C.E.8 After conquering Babylonia in 539 B.C.E., Cyrus II allowed the leaders of the Jews to return to their homeland and authorized the rebuilding of the temple (Isa 44:28; 2 Chron 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–4).9 The second temple was dedicated in 515 B.C.E. in the reign of Darius (Ezra 6:15–18).10 With the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of the Israelite monarchy and the building of the temple, traditions flourished that gave the city a religious, symbolic, and even mythic significance. According to Psalm 2, a royal psalm, God declares (v. 6), “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 48 shows that Mount Zion and the city of Jerusalem were interchangeable in religious symbolism. It also reflects the identification of the temple mount with Mount Zaphon, the cosmic mountain, the meeting place of heaven and earth, located at the center of the world (Ps 48:1–2; Ezek 5:5; 38:12).11 The “J” account of creation and the oracle 3. P. Kyle McCarter Jr., II Samuel, (AB 9; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), 141–42. 4. For discussion, see Philip J. King, “Jerusalem,” ABD 3:754. 5. On traditions implying that David did build a temple, see Jon D. Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (Minneapolis: Winston...

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