s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

the Hebrews), the methodical grouping of the Statutes prefigures
that of the Mishnah, the oldest Jewish code extant.
The Statutes as they appear in the Qumran fragments include the
form of the ritual for the Feast of the Renewal of the Covenant,
so it may be assumed that the entire Damascus Rule was originally
connected with that festival.
The Exhortation
I Hear now, all you who know righteousness, and consider the works
of God; for He has a dispute with all flesh and will condemn all
those who despise Him.
For when they were unfaithful and forsook Him, He hid His face
from Israel and His Sanctuary and delivered them up to the sword.
But remembering the Covenant of the forefathers, He left a remnant
to Israel and did not deliver it up to be destroyed. And in the
age of wrath, three hundred and ninety years after He had given
them into the hand of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, He visited
them, and He caused a root of planting to spring from Israel and
Aaron to inherit His Land and to prosper on the good things of His
earth. And they perceived their iniquity and recognized that they
were guilty men, yet for twenty years they were like blind men
groping for the way.
And God observed their deeds, that they sought Him with a whole
heart, and He raised for them a Teacher of Righteousness to guide
them in the way of His heart. And he made known to the latter
generations that which God had done to the latter generation, the
congregation of traitors, to those who departed from the way. This
was the time of which it is written, Like a stubborn heifer thus
was Israel stubborn (Hos. iv, 16), when the Scoffer arose who shed
over Israel the waters of lies. He led them astray in a wilderness
without way by bringing low the everlasting hills, and by causing
them to depart from the paths of righteousness, and by removing
the bound with which the forefathers had marked out their
inheritance, that he might call down on them the curses of His
Covenant and deliver them up to the avenging sword of the
Covenant. For they sought smooth things and preferred illusions
(Isa. xxx, 10) and they watched for breaks (Isa. xxx, 13) and
chose the fair neck; and they justified the wicked and condemned
the just, and they transgressed the Covenant and violated the
Precept. They banded together against the life of the righteous
(Ps. xciv, 21) and loathed all who walked in perfection; they
pursued them with the sword and exulted in the strife of the
people. And the anger of God was kindled against their
congregation so that He ravaged all their multitude; and their
deeds were defilement before Him.
Hear now, all you who enter the Covenant, and I will unstop your
ears concerning the ways of the wicked.
God loves knowledge. Wisdom and understanding He has set before
Him, and prudence and knowledge serve Him. Patience and much
forgiveness are with Him towards those who turn from
transgression; but power, might, and great naming wrath by the
hand of all the Angels of Destruction towards those who depart
from the way and abhor the Precept. They shall have no remnant or
survivor. For from the beginning God chose them not; He knew their
deeds before ever they were created and He hated their
generations, and He hid His face from the Land until they were
consumed. For He knew the years of their coming and the length and
exact duration of their times for all ages to come and throughout
eternity. He knew the happenings of their times throughout all the
everlasting years. And in all of them He raised for Himself men
called by name, that a remnant might be left to the Land, and that
the face of the earth might be filled with their seed. And He made
known His Holy Spirit to them by the hand of His anointed ones,
and He proclaimed the truth (to them). But those whom He hated He
led astray.
Hear now, my sons, and I will uncover your eyes that you may see
and understand the works of God, that you choose that which
pleases Him and reject that which He hates, that you may walk
perfectly in all His ways and not follow after thoughts of the
guilty inclination and after eyes of lust. For through them, great
men have gone astray and mighty heroes have stumbled from former
times till now. Because they walked in the stubbornness of their
heart the Heavenly Watchers fell; they were caught because they
did not keep the commandments of God. And their sons also fell who
were tall as cedar trees and whose bodies were like mountains. All
flesh on dry land perished; they were as though they had never
been because they did their own will and did not keep the
commandment of their Maker so that His wrath was kindled against
them. Ill Through it, the children of Noah went astray, together
with their kin, and were cut off. Abraham did not walk in it, and
he was accounted friend of God because he kept the commandments of
God and did not choose his own will. And he handed them down to
Isaac and Jacob, who kept them, and were recorded as friends of
God and party to the Covenant for ever.
The children of Jacob strayed through them and were punished in
accordance with their error. And their sons in Egypt walked in the
stubbornness of their hearts, conspiring against the commandments
of God and each of them doing that which seemed right in his own
eyes. They ate blood, and He cut off their males in the
wilderness. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]