Protection

A story:

A wealthy rancher was at home one day, when a local brigand showed up at his door with a gang of bandits.

“What do you want?” the rancher asked.

“My men need provisions,” came the reply.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything to spare.”

“Might I point out, sir,” the brigand said slowly, “that my men have been very respectful of your land and your cattle; they haven’t harmed any of your sheep or damaged any of your property. Surely it would be unfortunate if anything –– unfortunate were to happen.”

“Just who do you think you are?” demanded the rancher. “Get off my land!”

“Very well,” replied the brigand. “It seems you’ve made your decision.” At that, he turned, nodded to his men, and walked away.

The rancher’s wife, who had been listening from inside the house, was alarmed by her husband’s response, and she knew she needed to act immediately. She grabbed several large bills from the household money reserves, slipped out the side door, and met up with the brigand, out of earshot of her husband.

“Sir, you’ll have to excuse my husband,” she said quickly. “Sometimes he makes choices without taking all considerations into account.” Handing him the money, she looked at him with a glimmer in her eye and continued: “Please accept my apology on his behalf, and know that I wish you the best of success in your further ventures. And keep me in mind –– I suspect we’ll see one another again.”

“Clearly, you’re smarter than your husband,” he said. “Thank you for preventing me from doing anything –– rash. You have no need to fear any harm from me.”

The woman returned home, and shortly thereafter, the rancher died of unexplained causes. Hearing about the death, the brigand showed up at the house. “I understand your husband experienced a bit of poor fortune,” he said. “My sincerest condolences.”

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s a pity, but fools tend to get what’s coming to them.” She stood and held out her hand, which he took, and the two of them walked from the house together.

OK, now read 1 Samuel 25 and tell me what you think.

(This reading follows John J. Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible, 228–29.)

One Page: the Dead Sea Scrolls

NOTE: From time to time, I hope to do one-page introductions to topics related to the Bible and Christianity that people may not know about. (Since I'm long-winded, for each one I’m limiting myself to one double-spaced page in Word.) You can see my previous one-page take on biblical theology here.

Beginning in 1947, fragments of hundreds of scrolls were found in 11 caves near the Dead Sea in Israel, apparently hidden there by a group that lived nearby at Qumran. Some of the scrolls are Old Testament manuscripts, but others are sectarian texts revealing a group of “Covenanters,” a pre-Christian Jewish reform movement who obeyed Torah as interpreted by their “Teacher of Righteousness,” and who believed (much like early Christians) that their community fulfilled OT prophecy.

Above all, the Qumran Covenanters were Jews, and their concerns were those of second temple Judaism. The Temple was all-important, but God’s presence there (Deut 12:5-7) depended on the Temple’s holiness –– requiring ritual purity, a correct sacrificial calendar, and a proper priesthood. The Covenanters saw the Jerusalem priesthood as (ritually) corrupt, so they moved to the Dead Sea, where their Community functioned as if it were the Temple. Righteousness (i.e., strict obedience to Torah) replaced animal sacrifices to make atonement for the land. Much like Paul, the Covenanters believed that humans were incapable of righteousness on their own, but that God, in his righteousness, forgave them and led them to righteous conduct.

The covenanters were harshly apocalyptic. God had predestined humanity into two groups: Sons of Light (themselves) and Sons of Darkness (everyone else). At the end of days (which they expected imminently), the Sons of Light would march forth and conquer the world, destroying everyone from the “dominion of Belial.”

The scrolls have a twofold significance for Christians: (1) the OT manuscripts are a thousand years older than what we had before; and (2) many of the ideas are startlingly similar to later Christian teachings. Against the common tendency to contrast Christianity with Judaism, the scrolls show just how Jewish the New Testament really is.

Feel free to ask me any questions, factual or otherwise.