The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Volume 1, Scripture and the Scrolls

12: THE IMPORTANCE OF ISAIAH AT QUMRAN

272 PSALMS AND PSALTERS IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Psalm Manuscript Location/Number Apostrophe to Zion 1–18 11QPsa col. 22 11Q5 Apostrophe to Zion 4–5 11QPsb 11Q6 David’s Compositions 11QPsa col. 27 11Q5 Eschatological Hymn 4QPsf 4Q88 Hymn to the Creator 1–9 11QPsa col. 26 11Q5 Plea for Deliverance 1–18 11QPsa col. 19 11Q5 Plea for Deliverance 1–15 11QPsb 11Q6 273 CHAPTER TWELVE THE IMPORTANCE OF ISAIAH AT QUMRAN J. J. M. Roberts My assigned topic is the importance of Isaiah at Qumran.1 Here I explore three indications of that importance: (1) the number and nature of the manuscripts of Isaiah found at Qumran, (2) the number and nature of the allusions and citations from Isaiah found in other Qumran literature, and (3) the exegetical approach to Isaiah reflected in the commentaries on Isaiah produced at Qumran. In discussing these indications, I take a hint from the original oracles of Isaiah of Jerusalem, for which double entendre is a significant feature.2 Following the lead of the prophet’s intentional ambiguity, I will address the issue of the importance of Isaiah at Qumran from two different perspectives: (1) the importance of Isaiah for the Qumran community and (2) the importance of the Qumran community’s use of Isaiah for the contemporary community of biblical scholars. MANUSCRIPTS OF ISAIAH AT QUMRAN One quite clear indication of the importance of the book at Isaiah at Qumran is the sheer number of manuscripts of Isaiah found at Qumran. With the recent publication of the numerous fragmentary scrolls of Isaiah from Cave 4, 3 it now appears that there were at least twenty separate scrolls of Isaiah in use in the Qumran community. Two of those scrolls come from cave 1: The large, basically complete scroll of Isaiah, 1QIsaa, was among the first scrolls discovered and helped to create the original 1. I presented this paper as one of the plenary addresses at The Second Princeton Symposium on Judaism and Christian Origins: “Biblical Theology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Jubilee Celebration,” Nov. 9–12, 1997. I shared an earlier version of some of these same ideas in Austin, Texas, Feb. 25, 1994, at the “Symposium on Isaiah and the Qumran Materials,” hosted by the University of Texas and the Institute for Christian Studies. 2. J. J. M. Roberts, “Double Entendre in First Isaiah,” CBQ 54 (1992): 39–48. 3. Eugene C. Ulrich et al., eds., Qumran Cave 4.X: The Prophets (DJD 15; Oxford: Clarendon, 1997). 274 THE IMPORTANCE OF ISAIAH AT QUMRAN excitement about Qumran.4 And 1QIsab (1Q8), the scroll acquired and published by Sukenik,5 as supplemented by additional fragments published later,6 consists of fragments of chapters 7–66 that are extensive only for the last part of the book. From Cave 5 comes the remains of another scroll, 5QIsa (5Q3), a rather small fragment containing only a few words of Isa 40:16, 18–19.7 From one of the caves at the related site at Murabba(at comes another scroll fragment containing portions of Isa 1:4–14.8 And, finally, from Cave 4 at Qumran comes a number of fragments , some rather extensive, from about eighteen additional scrolls of Isaiah, 4QIsaa–r (4Q55–69b), one of which, pap4QIsap (4Q69), was written on papyrus.9 These numbers alone place Isaiah alongside the Pentateuchal books Genesis, Exodus, and especially Deuteronomy, and the book of Psalms as one of the most popular biblical books at Qumran. The date of the Isaiah manuscripts from Cave 4, all of which fall between the first half of the first century B.C.E. and the first third of the first century C.E., also suggests that many of these manuscripts could have been copied at Qumran.10 Yet despite these impressive numbers, the importance of these manuscripts for contemporary biblical scholars is somewhat disappointing. It is true that the numerous marginal notations and corrections in the first Isaiah scroll discounted exaggerated notions based on much later rabbinic sources about the absolutely meticulous care with which biblical scrolls were copied. It is also true that the numerous Isaiah scrolls from Qumran reflect a wide variety of orthographic practice in the fullness with which they represent vowel letters. The scrolls are certainly helpful in tracing the development of the Hebrew language, orthography, and paleography. But compared to the Qumran contribution to the textual criticism of...