The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (52 page)

(
4Q186
,
4Q534
,
4Q561
)

Three documents from Cave 4, one in Hebrew and two in Aramaic, all dating probably to the end of the first century BCE, contain fragments of ‘horoscopes' or, more precisely, astrological physiognomies claiming a correspondence between the features and destiny of a person and the configuration of the stars at the time of his birth.

The Hebrew text, published by J. M. Allegro (4Q186), is written in a childish cipher. The text runs from left to right instead of the normal right to left and uses, in addition to the current ‘square' Hebrew alphabet, letters borrowed from the archaic Hebrew (or Phoenician) and Greek scripts. The spiritual qualities of three individuals described in the work are reflected in their share of Light and Darkness. The first man is very wicked: eight parts of Darkness to a single part of Light. The second man is largely good: six parts of Light against three parts of Darkness. The last is almost perfect: eight portions of Light and only one of Darkness.

As far as physical characteristics are concerned, shortness, fatness and irregularity of features are associated with wickedness, their opposites reflect virtue.

In the astrological terminology of the document, the ‘second Column' doubtless means the ‘second House'; and a birthday 'in the foot of the Bull' should probably be interpreted as the presence, at that moment, of the sun in the lower part of the constellation Taurus.

The first Aramaic ‘horoscope' (4Q534) is, according to J. Starcky, that of the final Prince of the Congregation, or Royal Messiah. It is just as likely, however, that the text alludes to the miraculous birth of Noah and it has therefore been placed together with the other remains of Noah literature (cf. pp. 554-5below). 4Q561, also in Aramaic, is too short to allow an identification but it is unlikely to refer to Noah as the qualities seem to be in some middle position between good and evil.

Whether the sectaries forecast the future by means of astrology, or merely used horoscope-like compositions as literary devices, is impossible to decide at present, though I am inclined towards the latter alternative. That such texts are found among the Scrolls should not, however, surprise anyone. For if many Jews frowned on astrology, others, such as the Hellenistic Jewish writer Eupolemus, credited its invention to Abraham! (Cf. G. Vermes,
Scripture and Tradition in Judaism,
Leiden, 1973, 80-82.)

For the texts see J. M. Allegro and A. A. Anderson,
DJD
, V, 88-91; J. Strugnell,
RQ
7 (1970), 274-6; P. S. Alexander, in E. Schürer, G. Vermes, F. Millar and M. Goodman,
The History of the JewishPeople in the Age of Jesus Christ,
III, Edinburgh, 1986, 364-6.

II ... and his thighs are long and lean, and his toes are thin and long. He is of the second Column. His spirit consists of six (parts) in the House of Light and three in the Pit of Darkness. And this is his birthday on which he (is to be/was?) born: in the foot of the Bull. He will be meek. And his animal is the bull.

III
... and his head ... [and his cheeks are] fat. His teeth are of uneven length (?). His fingers are thick, and his thighs are thick and very hairy, each one. His toes are thick and short. His spirit consists of eight (parts) in the House of Darkness and one from the House of Light...

I
... order. His eyes are black and glowing. His beard is ... and it is ... His voice is gentle. His teeth are fine and well aligned. He is neither tall, nor short. And he ... And his fingers are thin and long. And his thighs are smooth. And the soles of his feet... [And his toes] are well aligned. His spirit consists of eight (parts) [in the House of Light, of] the second Column, and one [in the House of Darkness. And this is] his birthday on which he (is to be/was) born: ... And his animal is...

... mixed but not too much. His eyes will be between white and black. His nose will be long and beautiful. His teeth will be even. His beard will be thin but not too much so. His limbs will be smoot[h and] be[tween re]duced and thick ...

(
4Q317
)

Seventy-six fragments of an astronomical text written in a cryptic alphabet record the phases of the moon, divided into 1/14ths of the full size of the moon, over the consecutive days of a 364-day solar calendar. J. T. Milik has reconstructed a fourteen-line section, based on fr. 1 ii, 2—14 and supplemented with other smaller fragments.

For the text, see J. T. Milik,
The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4
(Oxford, 1976), 68-9.

 

II
... [On the f]ifth (day) of it (the month), [tw]elve (fourteenths of the moon's surface) are covered and thus it [enters the day. On the sixth (day) of it] thir]teen (fourteenths of its surface) are covered and thus it enters the day. On the seventh (day) of it [fourteen (fourteenths of its surface)] are covered and thus] it enters the day.
vacat
On the eighth (day) of it... the firmament above ... its light is to be covered ... on the first of the Sabbath (Sunday).
vacat
[On the ninth (day) of it one (fourteenth) portion (of its surface)] is revealed [and thus it enters the night]. On the tenth (day) of it [two (fourteenths of its surface)] are [revealed and it enters] the night.
vacat
On the ele[venth (day) of it three (fourteenths of its surface) are revealed] and thus it enters the night.
vacat

A fascinating, but unfortunately fragmentary, calendar indicates the passage of the moon through the various Zodiacal signs during the successive months of the year from Nisan to Adar. The fragment begins with the month of Tevet, continues with Tishri and ends with Adar. The last four lines of col. VIII have preserved a
brontologion,
i.e. prediction of prodigies or ill-omens by means of an interpretation of the sound of thunder on certain specified days of the month. The actual prediction of woe survives only at the end of the text in lines 8-9. It takes the form of a famine and the invasion of the country by a conquering foreign army.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. C. Greenfield and M. Sokoloff,
DJD
, XXXVI, 259-74.

 

VII
... ... and on 13 and [1]4 [Pisces; on 15 and 16 Aries; on 17 and 18 Taurus; on 1]9 and 20 and 2[1 Gemini; on 22 and 23 Cancer; on 24 and 25 Leo; on 26 and] 27 and 28 [Virgo; on 29 and 30 Libra]
vacat [Tishri.
On 1 and 2 Scorpio; on 3 and 4 Sagittarius; on 5 and 6 and 7] Capricorn; on 8 and on 13 and 14 Cancer; on 15 and 16 Leo; on 17 and 18 Virgo; on 19 and 20 and 21 Libra; on 22 [and 23] Scorpio; on 24 and 25 Sagit[tarius]; on 26 and 27 and 28 [Capricorn]; on 29 and 30 Aquari[us].
vacat Shevat.
On 1 and 2 [Pisce]s; on 3 and 4 [Aries; on] 5 and [6 and] 7 Taurus; on 8 [and 9 Gemini]; on 10 [and 11] Cancer; on 12 [and] 13 and 14 Leo; [on 15 and 16 Virgo]; on 17 and 18 Libra; on 19 [and 20 and 21 S]corpio; on 22 [and] 23 [Sagit]tarius; on 24 and 25 Capricorn; on [26 and] 27 and 28 Aquarius; on 29 and 30 Pisces
vacat

VIII
Adar.
On 1 and 2 Aries; on 3 and 4 Taurus; on 5 [and 6 and 7 Gemini]; on 8 and 9 [Cancer; on 10 and 11 L]eo; on 12 and 13 [and 14] Virg[o]; on 15 and [16 Libra; on] 17 and on 18 [Scorpio]; [on] 19 and 20 (and 21) Sag[ittarius]; on 22 and 23 [Cap]ricorn; [on 24 and 25] Aquarius; on 26 and 27 [and 28] Pi[sces; on 29 and 30] Aries.
vacat
[If in Taurus] it thunders ... [and] hard labour for the country and sword [in the cour]t of the king and in the country of ... to the Arabs (?) [ ... ] starvation and they will pillage one anoth[er ... ].
vacat
If in Gemini it thunders, terror and affliction (will be brought) by strangers and by ...

Cave 4 has yielded seven fragments of a liturgical work made up of six columns, listing the number of songs and words of praise to be sung during the night and during the day on consecutive days of the month. Only frs. 2-4 can be built up into a coherent text. The script is dated to the end of the first century BCE.

For the editio
princeps
, see U. Glessmer,
DJD
, XXI, 167-94.

Surviving in three fragmentary manuscripts from Cave 4 (4Q504-6), ‘The Words of the Heavenly Lights' are collective prayers for the days of the week which are full of biblical reminiscences. In the best-preserved of them (4Q504), the Sabbath and the fourth day are expressly mentioned in the surviving text. The editor of the document, M. Baillet (
DJD
, VII (1982), 137-75), attributes to it an exaggeratedly early date, the mid-second century BCE.

I
... Amen! Amen! ...
II
... We pray Thee, O Lord, do in accordance with Thyself, in accordance with the greatness of Thy might, Thou who didst pardon our fathers when they rebelled against Thy saying. Thou wert angry with them so as to wish to destroy them, but because of Thy love for them and for the sake of Thy Covenant - for Moses had atoned for their sin - and in order that Thy great might and the abundance of Thy mercy might be known to everlasting generations, Thou didst take pity on them. So let Thine anger and wrath against all [their] sin turn away from Thy people Israel. Remember Thy marvels which Thou didst for the poor of the nations. For we were called by Thy Name... to [cause] us [to repent] with all (our) heart and soul and to plant Thy Law in our heart [that we might never depart from it, straying neither] to right nor to left. For Thou wilt heal us of foolishness and of blindness and confusion [of heart... Behold] we were sold because of our iniquities but despite our offences Thou didst call us ... Thou wilt save us from sinning against Thee ... and to make us understand the testimonies ...

III
... Behold, all the nations are as nothing beside Thee, they are counted as void and naught before Thee. We have called on Thy Name alone. Thou hast created us for Thy glory and made us Thy children in the sight of all the nations. For Thou hast named Israel ‘My son, my first-born', and hast chastised us as a man chastises his son. Thou hast brought us up throughout the years of our generations [by means of] evil diseases, famine, thirst, pestilence, and the sword ... of Thy Covenant. Because Thou hast chosen us [from all] the earth [to be Thy people,] therefore hast Thou poured out Thine anger [and jealousy] upon us in all the fury of Thy wrath. Thou hast caused [the scourge] of Thy [plagues] to cleave to us of which Moses wrote, and Thy servants the Prophets, that Thou wouldst send evil against us in the last days...

IV ... Thy dwelling-place ... a resting-place in Jerus[alem, the city which] Thou hast [chosen] from all the earth that Thy [Name] might remain there for ever. For Thou hast loved Israel above all the peoples. Thou hast chosen the tribe of Judah and hast established Thy Covenant with David that he might be as a princely shepherd over Thy people and sit before Thee on the throne of Israel for ever. All the nations have seen Thy glory, Thou who hast sanctified Thyself in the midst of Thy people Israel. They brought their offering to Thy great Name, silver and gold and precious stones together with all the treasures of their lands, that they might glorify Thy people, and Zion Thy holy city, and the House of Thy majesty. And there was neither adversary nor misfortune, but peace and blessing... and they ate and were satisfied and grew fat ...

V ... [they forsook] the fount of living waters... and served a strange god in their land. Also, their land was ravaged by their enemies; for Thy fury and the heat of Thy wrath overflowed, in the fire of Thy jealousy, making of it a desert where no man could go and return. Yet notwithstanding all this, Thou didst not reject the seed of Jacob, neither didst Thou cast away Israel to destruction, breaking Thy Covenant with them. For Thou alone art a living God and there is none beside Thee. Thou didst remember Thy Covenant, Thou who didst rescue us in the presence of all the nations, and didst not forsake us amid the nations. Thou wert gracious towards Thy people Israel in all the lands to which Thou didst banish them, that they might remember to return to Thee and to hearken to Thy voice [according to] all Thou hadst commanded by the hand of Moses Thy servant.

For Thou hast shed Thy Holy Spirit upon us, bringing upon us Thy blessings, that we might seek Thee in our distress [and whis]per (prayers) in the ordeal of Thy chastisement. We have entered into distress, have been [stri]cken and tried by the fury of the oppressor. For we also have tired God with our iniquity, we have wearied the Rock with [our] sins. [But] in order that we may profit, Thou hast not wearied us who leadest [us] in the way in [which we must walk. But] we have not heeded ...

VI
... [Thou hast taken away] all our transgressions and hast purified us of our sin for Thine own sake. Thine, Thine is righteousness, O Lord, for it is Thou who hast done all this! Now, on the day when our heart is humbled, we expiate our iniquity and the iniquity of our fathers, together with our unfaithfulness and rebellion. We have not rejected Thy trials and scourges; our soul has not despised them to the point of breaking Thy Covenant despite all the distress of our soul. For Thou, who hast sent our enemies against us, strengthenest our heart that we may recount Thy mighty deeds to everlasting generations. We pray Thee, O Lord, since Thou workest marvels from everlasting to everlasting, to let Thine anger and wrath retreat from us. Look on [our affliction] and trouble and distress, and deliver Thy people Israel [from all] the lands, near and far, [to which Thou hast banished them], every man who is inscribed in the Book of Life... serve Thee and give thanks to [Thy holy Name] ... from those who vex them ... VII ... who deliverest us from all distress. Amen! [Amen!]