Chapter Four. Man And Woman: Halakhah Based Upon Eden In The Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract

This chapter examines two halakhic texts CD IV 20–21 and 4Q265 (4QSerek Damascus) 7 11–17, which shows two different approaches to the biblical text, although in both the biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden is used in order to base a halakhic rule. Both approaches are grounded in the centrality of Scripture for the Community of Qumran. In CD, the text of Genesis 1:27 is adduced to ground and bolster a halakhic rule peculiar to the group and to prove that the halakhah followed by the opponents of the group is clearly wrong; the biblical narrative is used to justify a sectarian interpretation. 4Q256, on the contrary, uses a rewritten version of the Eden narrative in order to justify a halakhic rule undisputed but unexplained in the biblical text. Keywords: 4Q265; biblical text; CD IV 20–21; Dead Sea Scrolls; Garden of Eden; Genesis; halakhic texts; Qumran