CD Manuscript B and the Rule of the Community— Reflections on a Literary Relationship

This article begins by drawing attention to the fact that of all the texts to come out of Qumran, D and S display the largest number of inter-textual encounters. A close point of literary contact between D and S that is the focus of this chapter is the distinctive use of the self-designation ‘the people of perfect holiness’ (אנשׁי תמים הקדשׁ; with some variation concerning the definite article) as a communal self-designation frequently in CD 20 and also in 1QS 8:20. Interestingly, the particular terminological frame of reference shared between 1QS 8:20 and CD 20:1b-8a is not found elsewhere in the Serekh. Moreover, alongside this common terminology 1QS 8-9 also employs self-designations that predominate elsewhere in S such as rabbim and yaḥad (see esp. 1QS 5-7). On the basis of 4Q259 (4QSe), which lacks the equivalent of 1QS 8:15b-9:11 altogether, and the curious variations in the level of correctional activity in different parts of 1QS 8 we have strong evidence pointing towards a complex literary history behind 1QS 8-9. The close comparison offered here illustrates that CD 20:1b-8a is closely related to one of the strands in the textual mosaic that is 1QS 8-9.