"A nation of priests" : the world-view of the Temple scroll and its application to the way of life prescribed in the sectarian scrolls from Qumran

Too often in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls the relationship between the Temple Scroll and the sectarian scrolls is dismissed as minimal, or non-existent due to one of two general lines of reasoning. The first line of reasoning begins with the premise that whereas the Temple Scroll is concerned for the most part with laws pertaining to the construction and maintenance of the ideal Temple the sectarian scrolls are concerned with the laws pertaining to a particular community or communities. It is assumed that, just as the Temple Scroll shows no concern with the creation or maintenance of a community without a Temple, so too the sectarian scrolls betray little or no interest with the running of the Temple. The second line of reasoning assumes that a relationship may exist, but in this case the Temple Scroll is seen as prescribing an eschatological ideal, whether this is the Temple or the Law for the Land. My thesis contends that the relationship between the Temple Scroll and the sectarian scrolls is both immediate and intimate. It argues that the specific world-view introduced by the Temple Scroll is evident in the sectarian scrolls and that this very world-view is essential for creating the framework upon which the way of life prescribed in the sectarian scrolls is modeled