The Damascus Document describes a that is marked by righteousness and obedience to the will of God. Participants in this community of the new covenant take care to understand God's will, so as to perform it appropriately. They avoid all temptations toward improper action and inappropriate thought. At times, the covenanters appear as the righteous priesthood of Israel. At other times, they are a microcosm of Israel in all its diversity, or an exilic remnant of the nation.2 And in nearly all cases, they are assumed to be men. For historians of ancient Judaism, the Damascus Document's descriptions are important. They provide evidence for the makeup of a associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they lay the ground for a historical understanding of that community. But the evidence of the Damascus Document cannot be taken as a straightforward or transparent reflection of historical reality. Rather, the text reflects an ideological stance-a selective reading of scripture, a specific understanding of communal identity, and a programmatic view of history-and the righteous of the text must be