The Origin of Fixed Communal Prayer: Evidence from Qumran

All of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their location in the volumes of the official publication, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) are listed in Emanuel Tov, The Texts from the Judaean Desert: Indices and an Introduction to the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Series, DJD 39 (Clarendon Press, 2002). A list of the forty DJD volumes and many other resources are on the website of Hebrew University’s Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature. The texts of all the Hebrew and Aramaic nonbiblical scrolls with an English translation are available in Donald W. Parry and Emanuel Tov, eds., The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader. Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, 2 vols. (Brill, 2013).

Chief self-designations are: עדת היחד / עצת היחד “Congregation of the Yahad,” אנשי אמת “People of Truth,” תמימי דרך “Perfect of the Way,” בני האור “Sons of Light,” גורל אל “Lot of God,” and מורה הצדק “Teacher of Righteousness” for their leader; epithets for their opponents include אנשי העול “People of Deceit,” דורשי חלקות “Seekers of Smooth Things,” בני חושך “Sons of Darkness,” גורל בליעל “Lot of Belial” (head of evil spirits), and כוהן הרשע “Wicked Priest” for a Hasmonean political leader/high priest.

This tally counts each individual piece in a collection and legal or narrative work as a separate item, but counts each copy of the same prayer, hymn, or psalm only once.

Translation from DJD 40:145, 155.

For a description and illustration of these magic and apotropaic (meaning, “ward off,” “drive away”) prayers, see Esther Eshel, “Apotropaic Prayers in the Second Temple Period,” in Liturgical Perspectives: Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 19-23 January, 2000, ed. Esther G. Chazon; STDJ 48 (Brill, 2003), 69–88.

This refers to scrolls written with large margins and with a large format. For a brief discussion, see Emanuel Tov, “The Torah Scroll: How the Copying Process Became Sacred,” TheTorah (2023).

The refrain, “Blessed is God and blessed is His name forever” is written after each verse of Psalm 145 in the Cave 11 Psalms Scroll and is evidently a liturgical addition to the biblical Psalter; the chain of select verses from Psalm 118 is plausibly another one of the signs of this scroll’s liturgical arrangement. The complete text and translation of this scroll are published in DJD 4.

Pseudepigrapha designates the large body of Jewish and early Christian writings attributed pseudepigraphically to ancient authors, which, unlike the Apocrypha (lit. “outside writings”), were not preserved in any of the Jewish or Christian biblical canons. Prayers against evil spirits are in category three above; the proclamation of divine justice and blessing formulae are noted below.

Text from Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave 1 (1Q20): A Commentary, 3^rd ed. (Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2004), 100. See also the important edition and commentary by Daniel A. Machiela, The Dead Sea Genesis Apocryphon: A New Text and Translation with Introduction and Special Treatment of Columns 13-17, STDJ 79 (Brill, 2009), 75.

Nine copies of the Sabbath Songs are from Qumran (4Q400-407, 11Q17). The system used to identify each scroll first gives its location, then the scroll’s number and/or an abbreviation of the document’s name. For example, 4Q400 is scroll number 400 from Qumran cave 4; 4QShirShabb^a is the same scroll where ShirShabb is shorthand for the scroll’s full name in Hebrew, שירות עולת השבת, and the superscript letter “a” indicates that it is the first of the nine copies found in Qumran cave 4. In addition, one copy was found in Masada (Mas 1k).

For this calendar and its use by the Yahad and other groups as well as other calendars attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls and related literature, see Jonathan Ben-Dov, Head of All Years: Astronomy and Calendars at Qumran in their Ancient Context, STDJ 78 (Brill, 2008).

A different calendar and a date before the beginning of the sectarian settlement at Qumran in ca. 100 B.C.E. are two of several criteria for establishing a scroll’s non-sectarian origin. For these criteria and a list of early psalms and prayers in the Qumran library, see Eileen M. Schuller, “Prayers and Psalms from the Pre-Maccabean Period,” Dead Sea Discoveries 13 (2006): 306–318. For the Words of the Luminaries’ non-sectarian origin, its dissonance with Yahad writings, and its reception by the Yahad, see Esther G. Chazon, “Prayer and Identity in Varying Contexts: The Case of the Words of the Luminaries, Journal for the Study of Judaism 46 (2015): 484–511.

Cf. Deut 4:29–31, 30:1–10.

Also in 4Q271 5 i 14-15. CD (=Covenant of Damascus) is the medieval copy of the Damascus Document from the Cairo Genizah; 4Q271 is one of ten copies of this work discovered at Qumran. Prayer as sacrifice language is also used in the Songs of the Sage (ותרומת מזל שפתי צדק, “offering of an utterance, righteous lips,” 4Q511 14:4 [63-64 ii 4]) and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (notably, תרומת לשון עפרנו, “the offering of our tongue of dust,” 4Q400 2 7); for both collections, see the categories of the Qumran prayer corpus listed above. For the biblical precedents for this metaphor, see especially Hosea 14:3 and Psalm 141:2.

The LXX reads the same as MT, not the Damascus Document. The context for this quote in the Damascus Document is its law prohibiting sending any sacrifice by an impure person, thereby defiling the altar.

Also 4QS^d 7:5-6.

1QS 9:26-10:8//4Q256 19:1-6//4Q258 8:10-9:7//4Q260 2:1-5; for the text, see DSSR 1, 36-37, 44-47, 56-59, 68-69. This has its parallel in the Hodayot (1QH^a 20:7-14//4QH^a 8 ii 10-16; for the text, see DJD 40:250, 259):

[למשכי]ל [ה]ודות ותפלה להתנפל והתחנן תמיד מקצ לקצ עם מבוא אור לממש[לתו] בתקופות יום לתכונו לחוקות מאור גדול בפנות ערב ומוצא אור ברשית ממשלת חושך למועד לילה בתקופתו לפנות בוקר ובקצ האספו אל מעונתו מפני אור למוצא לילה ומבוא יומם.

^{1QHa 20:7-10//4QHa 8 ii 11-12} [For the Instruc]tor, [th]anksgiving and prayer for prostrating oneself and supplicating continually, at all times. At the coming of the light for [its] domi[nion,] with the turn of the day with respect to its plan in accordance with the laws of the great light; with the turn to evening and the departure of the light at the beginning of the dominion of darkness; at the time appointed for night, and its turn to morning, at the time it is gathered to its dwelling before light, at the departure of night and the coming of day.

The Community Rule also enumerates monthly, seasonal, annual, sabbatical, and jubilee prayer times (the hymn is not in a different recension of the Community Rule). The parallel in the Hodayot is shorter and gives fewer details about the annual prayer times.

For these two models in Second Temple period and rabbinic literature in particular, the dialectic between the Rabbis’ explanations for the hours of the obligatory Eighteen Benedictions as coordinated with the twice daily tamid sacrifice (t. Ber. 3:1) or with the transitions between light and darkness (y. Ber. 4:1, 7b), see Esther G. Chazon, “When Did They Pray? Times for Prayer in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature,” in Randal A. Argall, Beverly A. Bow, and Rodney A. Werline, For a Later Generation: The Transformation of Tradition in Israel, Early Judaism and Early Christianity (Trinity Press International, 2000), 42-51. More of the shared Jewish heritage is illustrated below.

See also:

^{דניאל ט:כא} וְעוֹד אֲנִי מְדַבֵּר בַּתְּפִלָּה וְהָאִישׁ גַּבְרִיאֵל אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתִי בֶחָזוֹן בַּתְּחִלָּה מֻעָף בִּיעָף נֹגֵעַ אֵלַי כְּעֵת מִנְחַת עָרֶב.

^{Daniel 9:21} While I was uttering my prayer, the figure whom I had previously seen in the vision, Gabriel, was sent forth in flight, and reached me about the time of the evening offering.

^{עזרא ט:ה} וּבְמִנְחַת הָעֶרֶב קַמְתִּי מִתַּעֲנִיתִי וּבְקׇרְעִי בִגְדִי וּמְעִילִי וָאֶכְרְעָה עַל בִּרְכַּי וָאֶפְרְשָׂה כַפַּי אֶל יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהָי.

^{Ezra 9:5} At the time of the evening offering I ended my self-affliction; still in my torn garment and robe, I got down on my knees and spread out my hands to YHWH my God.

See also the long description of Simeon the High Priest ending his sacrificial services leading to the people’s prayer in Ben Sira (50:13–19).

See also:

^{תהלים נז:ח} נָכוֹן לִבִּי אֱלֹהִים נָכוֹן לִבִּי אָשִׁירָה וַאֲזַמֵּרָה. ^נז:ט עוּרָה כְבוֹדִי עוּרָה הַנֵּבֶל וְכִנּוֹר אָעִירָה שָּׁחַר.

^{Ps 57:8} My heart is firm, O God; my heart is firm; I will sing, I will chant a hymn. ^57:9 Awake, O my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn.

^{תהלים פח:יד} וַאֲנִי אֵלֶיךָ יְ־הֹוָה שִׁוַּעְתִּי וּבַבֹּקֶר תְּפִלָּתִי תְקַדְּמֶךָּ.

^{Ps 88:14} As for me, I cry out to You, O YHWH; each morning my prayer greets You.

See also:

^{Sir 39:5} He will devote his heart to rise early towards the Lord who made him, and he will petition in front of the Most High, and he will open his mouth in prayer, and concerning his sins he will petition.

These conceptions arose mainly due to the nature of the material available before the Scrolls’ discovery (1947-1956) and full publication (1990-2010). The most influential proponent of this view was Ezra Fleischer. For a review of his position and a summary of Joseph Heinemann’s different view, which aligns more closely with the new data from the Scrolls, see Ruth Langer, “Revisiting Early Rabbinic Liturgy: The Recent Contributions of Ezra Fleischer,” Prooftexts 19 (1999): 179-204.

The Temple sacrifices were conducted in silence, as explained by Israel Knohl, “Between Voice and Silence: The Relationship Between Prayer and Temple Cult,” Journal of Biblical Literature 115 (1996): 17–30. For the levitical song in the Second Temple, see 1 Chr 23:30 and 2 Chr 8:13-14, 30:2.

For the synagogues and synagogue activity during the Second Temple period, see Lee I. Levine, The Ancient Synagogue: The First Thousand Years, 2^nd ed. (Yale, 2005 [repr. of 2000]).

A helpful resource for these prayer books and other pertinent liturgical sources is Ruth A. Langer, Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to Research (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).

The “anomalies” are the additional second person address in Ps 119:12 and 1 Chr 29:10, the participle form in Pss 144:1, 72:18, 135:21, and some closing blessings in the Book of Psalms (Pss 60:20, 68:36, 135:21), as well as the conclusions to each book of the Psalter (Pss 41:14, 72:18-19, 89:53, 106:36=1Chr 16:36), which seem to be later additions.

The letters in the square brackets are reconstructed. The formulaic nature of the blessings in these scrolls makes the reconstructed words certain. The diacritical dots, where included, above letters indicate that the letter on the scroll is broken.

The petition in this example is similar to the third of the petitions in the abbreviated version of the rabbinic obligatory prayer par excellence, the Eighteen Benedictions (שמונה עשרה); the text in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Ber. 29a) reads:

הביננו יי אלהינו לדעת דרכיך ומול את לבבינו.

Give us understanding to know Your ways, and circumcise the foreskin of our heart.

See b. Berakhot 11a-b as well as Jewish prayer books for both examples.

Compare, for example, the petition for the first day quoted above with the abbreviated form of the rabbinic Eighteen Benedictions, which also includes the petition “circumcise our heart” (ומול את לבבנו, b. Ber. 29a; cf. Deut 10:16, 30:6), and the blessing for Israel’s election from the nations in 4Q503 with the similarly worded rabbinic Torah blessing (both quoted below). For petitions for the in-gathering of the diaspora, see Esther G. Chazon, “‘Gather the Dispersed of Judah’: Seeking a Return to the Land as a Factor in Jewish Identity of Late Antiquity,” in Heavenly Tablets: Interpretation, Identity and Tradition in Ancient Judaism, ed. Lynn LiDonnoci and Andrea Lieber; Journal for the Study of Judaism: Sup. 119 (Brill, 2007), 159-175. I discuss several cases of continuity with change in Esther G. Chazon, “Prayers from Qumran and Their Historical Implications, Dead Sea Discoveries 1 (1994): 265-284 and “Liturgy Before and After the Temple’s Destruction: Change or Continuity?” in Was 70 CE a Watershed in Jewish History?, ed. Daniel R. Schwartz and Zeev Weiss with Ruth A. Clements (Brill: 2012), 371–392.