The Enigmatic Prophet Jeremiah and His Manifestations in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract

This chapter uncovers the solution for Jeremiah's enigmatic appearance in the Admonition that plausibly reflects the presence, number, and distribution of scriptural and apocryphal traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Jeremianic traditions include any that are explicitly or implicitly rooted in the text of scriptural Jeremiah, or perhaps more importantly, those which reflect or echo characteristics or themes that may be directly connected to the Jeremiah persona that emerged in Second Temple Jewish literature. The presence of Jeremiah scriptures and other Jeremianic traditions in so-called non-sectarian texts attest to some level of regard for these traditions, at least among some from within the Qumran group. The Apocryphon C is founded almost exclusively upon the figure Jeremiah, and it seems to subsist apart from the actual text of the book of Jeremiah. It draws authority from the reputation of Jeremiah, and from widely disseminated ideas of who he was.Keywords: Apocryphon c; Dead Sea Scrolls; enigmatic prophet Jeremiah; Jeremianic traditions; second temple Jewish literature