Qumran Cave 4 XVI: Calendrical Texts

Abstract

Qumran Cave 4 XVI: Calendrical Texts, by Shemaryahu Talmon, Jonathan Ben-Dov, and Uwe Glessmer. DJD 21. Oxford: Clarendon, 2001. Pp. xii + 263 + 13 plates. $90.00 (hardcover). ISBN 019827016X. Scholars have long recognized that the Qumran sect employed a solar calendar that differed markedly from the lunar-based calendar used by Pharisaic/rabbinic circles in Judaism during the Second Temple period. Indeed, differences in reckoning the times of the festivals play a major role in discussion of the conflict between the Righteous Teacher and the Wicked Priest in Jerusalem. Likewise, the solar calendar is clearly represented in the Temple Scroll and other texts. Scholars will therefore welcome this volume, which presents the diplomatic publication of the 4QCalendrical Documents and Mishmarot texts (4Q320-330, 337, 394.1-2) by Shemaryahu Talmon with the assistance of Jonathan Ben Dov; the 4QOrdo text (4Q334) by Uwe Glessmer; and the 4QOtOt text (4Q319) by Ben Dov. In addition to introduction, transcription, reconstruction, translation, and textual commentary for each text, the volume includes a complete concordance for all texts published herein and plates for study of the original manuscript fragments. Talmon begins his discussion with a substantive introduction to the calendrical texts published in this volume. He observes the use of a 364-day solar calendar at Qumran that corresponds to the calendar systems represented in the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries (1 En. 72-82) and the book of Jubilees (chs. 6 and 2). By contrast, the Jerusalem temple employed a 354-day lunar calendar during this period to reckon time and the observance of festivals. Such a difference in calendrical reckoning precludes participation in the temple ritual by the Qumran group; indeed, a shift in use of calendrical systems plays a major role in explaining the origins of the Qumran group. The solar calendar presents a relatively symmetrical system that included 364 days divided into fifty-two weeks for each year. This allowed for a division of the year into four equal quarters of thirteen weeks each, which in turn correspond to the four major agricultural seasons (mo'adim; i.e., qsyr, qys, zr', and ds'), which coincide with the astronomical seasons, including the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice. The first two months of each quarter include thirty days each, whereas the last month of each quarter includes thirty-one days. The symmetry of this system entails a calendar in which all festivals always fall on the same day of the week each year. Therefore, the first and fifteenth day of the first month of each quarter always fall on the fourth day of the week (Wednesday), the day that God created the sun and the moon that determine time, according to Gen 1:14-19. Talmon notes rabbinic tradition, which denies special status to the fourth day, so that the first day of the Mazzoth festival never falls on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday; Rosh Hashanah never falls on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday; and Yom Kippur never falls on a Friday (which is always the case in the Qumran solar calendar). …