To Increase Learning for the Understanding Ones

Abstract

This study aims at furthering our understanding of the early Jewish sapiential composition 4QInstruction which was found in fragmentary manuscripts at Qumran. The first part focuses on the reading and joining of the fragments, and gives an approximate reconstruction of the manuscripts and the composition. The second part discusses some disputed sections and themes in more detail, especially the beginning of the composition (4Q416 1), its relation to the Community Rule and the Hodayot, alleged sacerdotal fragments (4Q415 1 ii-2 I and 4Q418 81), as well as fragments describing fate after death (4Q418 55 and 69 ii). The first part is intended as a supplement to the official DJD edition, whereas the second part is of a more general interest. For more information see brill.com

A new reconstruction of the “Wisdom of the Hands” unit in 4QInstructiond (4Q418)

“…101, 102, and 103 all belong to the same part of the scroll and most likely originated in subsequent rolls and thus exhibit an identical deterioration pattern. 32 Tigchelaar suggests that Frgs. 103 and 81 come from the same sheet.…”

New Existence and Righteous Living

“…The Christ-Event, the New Existence, and Paraenesis 1 Peter, containing the general outline of NT Christology, 95 is "one of the most christocentric writings in the NT." 96 The Christology serves as the ground for the paraenetic commands, and as in Colossians, christianizes traditional material.…”

“…94 Schutter demonstrates through many examples such as 11QMelchizedek and 4QFlorilegium, and highlighted by 1QpHab VII 1-5, the "hermeneutical affinities" of Qumran with 1 Peter 1:10-12. 95 In 1:10-12, the author explains that the prophets, led by the Spirit of Christ, prophesied about the sufferings of Christ, but they themselves did not understand the deeper significance of what they were saying. 96 But now, 1 Peter explains, these prophesies have been fulfilled.…”

“…"Insight," then, resolves the speaker's anxiety that although he desires to praise God and do good, his human existence, wrought as it were with evil inclinations, renders him incapable of doing so (IV 35). 95 Without election, the speaker faces the crisis of a looming and inescapable judgment (IX 23). Through revelation, the speaker knows that God designed the resolution to the elect's lowliness before creation.…”

“…31. That α ναγεννα ' ω ("born again") combined with ε »λεος points to God's generative act, an altogether new origin, see Achtemeier,1 Peter,[94][95] Regarding "new birth" (1:3), Neugebauer, "Deutung," 70 points to the Gospels' portrayal of the Apostle Peter's denying Jesus after his arrest. In this light, 1 Peter's "hope" springs from a new beginning due to Christ's resurrection, especially after utter failure and unworthiness.…”