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187 CHAPTER SEVEN QUMRAN’S SOME WORKS OF TORAH (4Q394–399 [4QMMT]) AND PAUL’S GALATIANS James D. G. Dunn and James H. Charlesworth1 INTRODUCTION—CHARLESWORTH Some Works of Torah (4QMMT, or Halakic Letter = 4Q394–399)2 is another example of the paradigmatic importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for understanding Christian Origins. The title of this text, if it ever had one, has not been preserved. Its present title derives from a phrase found in the final lines. Since the words m(s 8y htwrh (hrwth y#(m) appear in only one extant fragment and it is not near the beginning of the document, we should not assume we know the title of this document. Whether it is a letter or a treatise is not clear. Leaders at Qumran most likely sent it to the ruling priest and his group in the Jerusalem Temple. It dates from about the middle of the second century B.C.E.; conceivably, the Righteous Teacher composed it. The importance of this document at Qumran is clear, since six fragmentary copies were found in Cave 4.3 This document states why the Qumranites left Jerusalem and separated from other priests in the Temple cult. The text explains that its 1. Robert Hayward and Loren T. Stuckenbruck provided assistance for the first draft of this paper. This essay is a revised and expanded version of an article by James D. G. Dunn that appeared in NTS 43 (1977): 147–53. The Cambridge University Press and the editor of NTS are due appreciation for the permission to revise and republish the work that appeared in 1977. James H. Charlesworth expanded and updated the work, making its insights more accessible to a wider audience, and supplying information obtained by the Princeton team that worked on MMT. 2. In the mid-1990s, the Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project (PTSDSSP) renamed MMT Some Works of Torah, to reflect consistency in translating key terms. Throughout this chapter, 4QMMT will be used interchangeably with 4Q394–399. 3. See the contributions to John Kampen and Moshe J. Bernstein, eds., Reading 4QMMT: New Perspectives on Qumran Law and History (SBLSymS 2; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996). 188 SOME WORKS OF TORAH AND PAUL’S GALATIANS authors disagree with the ruling priests in at least twenty laws pertaining, inter alia, to sacrifices and especially purity.4 It will become evident in this essay that the editors translated a common Hebrew noun in MMT as “precepts.” When we observe the more common meaning of this noun—“works”—we discover a striking link between this document and Paul’s thought in Galatians. Let us now turn to this phrase. SOME WORKS OF TORAH AND GALATIANS—DUNN The occurrence of the phrase miqs[at ma(as 8ê ha4tôrâ (hrwth y#(m tcqm) in Some Works of Torah (4QMMT) had already been exciting comment for some years prior to the official publication of the scroll fragments.5 In one of the first reflections on the official publication,6 Martin G. Abegg Jr. suggested that Paul’s use of the same phrase, ergo¯n nomou (e1rgwn no/mou) in Galatians and Romans (Gal 2:16; 3.2, 5, 10; Rom 3:20, 28) indicates that Paul was “rebutting the theology of documents such as MMT.” Abegg continued, suggesting “that Paul was reacting to the kind of theology espoused by MMT, perhaps even by some Christian converts who were committed to the kind of thinking reflected in MMT.”7 As we shall see below, Abegg presented some further reasons for seeing a parallel or even a connection between the thought of 4QMMT and Paul’s argumentation in Galatians in particular. But even he does not seem to have appreciated all the points of possible connection between this Qumran composition and Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In assessing the significance of 4QMMT for New Testament study (“nothing short of 4. For a succinct introduction, see Lawrence H. Schiffman, “Miqs[at Ma(asei ha-T orah,” in EDSS (ed. L. H. Schiffman and J. C. VanderKam; 2 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 1:558–60. Esther Eshel shows that the rules regarding some sacrifices unite not only 11QTemple (11Q19–20) and MMT but also preserve views attributed to one or more rabbis (viz., R. Ishmael). See Esther Eshel, “4QLEVd: A Possible Source for the Temple Scroll and Miqs[at Ma(as 8e ha-T orah,” DSD 2, no. 1 (1995): 1–13. 5. See James D. G...

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