Communion With The Angels: Qumran and The Origins of Jewish Mysticism

Peter Schäfer
Communion with the Angels: Qumran and the

Origins of Jewish Mysticism
The question of the origins of Jewish mysticism has become a major focus of at-
tention in recent research. Most scholars agree that what is called Merkava mysti-
cism, the movement revolving around God's divine throne (first described in Eze-
kiel, ch. 1) as the target of the mystic's heavenly journey, forms the first manifes-
tation of what can be aptly called "Jewish mysticism". Gershom Scholem, the
towering father figure of modern research on Jewish mysticism, has devoted much
effort to this movement but was less concerned about its origins. This gap has in-
creasingly come under scrutiny by a new generation of scholars, and it is hardly
exaggerated to maintain that the Vorgeschichte of Merkava mysticism, if there was
such a thing, is one of the most fashionable topics now of historians of ancient
Judaism in the post-Scholem era.
Not surprisingly, the front runner among the possible candidates for the origins
of Jewish mysticism is the Qumran community (itself one of the most heavily re-
searched phenomena in the history of religions). Among the many texts found in
the Qumran caves are the so-called "Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice", and it is these
hymns that, immediately after their first publication, were singled out as the seeds
of what was soon to become "Jewish mysticism" (although it is not certain that
they originated in the Qumran community). More precisely, some scholars now
argue that it was not the proponents of Merkava mysticism (whoever they were)
who formed the first manifestation of Jewish mysticism but rather the Qumran
community itself which preserved the hymns and related texts. The temporary cli-
max of this trend in scholarship is Rachel Elior's book The Three Temples: On the
Emergence of Jewish Mysticismsoon to be followed by a new book by Philip
Alexander, pro grammatically titled The Mystical Texts: Songs of the Sabbath Sac-
rifice and Related Manuscripts2. In this essay, I will analyse the relevant Qumranic
texts, mainly from the Thanksgiving Hymns, the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,
1 Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (Oxford, Portland/Oregon 2004), Hebrew original
(Jerusalem 2002). See Martha Himmelfarb's paper in this volume.

2 Continuum (London, N e w York 2006).
38 Peter Schäfer
and the so-called Self-Glorification Hymn 3 , and will draw some conclusions with
regard to the question of these texts' relationship to Merkava mysticism 4 .
Liturgical Communion with the Angels
The liturgical or cultic communion of the Qumran sectaries with the angels comes
to full expression in the hymns of the community and in the rule governing its
daily life. The so-called Hodayot or Thanksgiving Hymns ( 1 Q H ) are a collection
of hymns in which the members of the sect praise God for their destiny: that they
have been saved from the lot of the wicked and that they have been gifted with
special knowledge of the divine mysteries. Some of the hymns seem to refer not to
all the members of the community but to an individual, probably the Teacher of
Righteousness himself, the founder of the sect. The various hymns hardly belong
to the same time but originated at different times and under different circum-
stances. The entire collection may have reached its final stage during the last cen-
tury B C E .
The hymns express the firm conviction that the members of the community are
free from sin and pure and that it is this extraordinary purity which unites them
with the angels. Hence, when the Qumran sectaries perform their privileged task
of praising God, they can be certain that they join in with the praise of the angels
in heaven ( l Q H a X I 1 9 - 2 3 ) 5 :
"(19) I thank you, Lord,
for you have saved my soul from the Pit (sbabat),
and from the Netherworld of Abaddon (she'ol avaddon)
(20) have lifted me up to an eternal height,
so that I can walk on limitless plain.
And I know there is hope for someone
(21) you formed from dust
for an eternal community (sod 'olam).
The depraved spirit you have purified from great offence
so that he can stand with (22) the host of the holy ones (seva' qedoshim),
and can enter in communion (la-vo' be-yabad)
with the congregation of the sons of heaven ('adat bene shamayim).
You have cast for man an eternal destiny (goral 'olam)
with the spirits (23) of knowledge (rubot da'at),
so that he might praise your name in a common rejoicing (be-yabad rinnab),
and tell your marvels before all your works."
3 Some other important texts, particularly in the War Scroll (1QM), will be dealt with in my
more comprehensive treatment of the subject.
4 This paper is part of a larger book project, tentatively called "The Origins of Jewish Mys-
ticism".
5 Cf. the parallel 1QH» X I X 10-14. - The text division and the translation of 1QH, 1QS, and
lQSb follow (with some changes): F. Garcia Martinez and E. J. C. Tigcbelaar (eds.), The
Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition, vol. 1 (Leiden, New York, Koln 1997) 69 ff.
Qumran and the Origins of Jewish Mysticism 39
Here the sectaries speak in full awareness of the fact that they, as members of the
community, are already saved from the Pit and the Netherworld of Abaddon. In
other words, they experience salvation during their lifetime, by virtue of their
membership in the sect; they know that they are saved and will not descend to the
Netherworld. This is a clear example of immediate/realized eschatology, an escha-
tological concept that experiences salvation in the present, here and now 6 . To be
sure, the sectaries continue to expect the full realization of salvation in the future
(in the very near future, indeed), but they know already that, whatever will
happen, they will be part of this salvation. There is a certain tension between the
immediate eschatology (the firm conviction that one is already saved) and the
traditional eschatology expected in the future, and it goes without saying that this
tension can be the more easily tolerated, the closer the current situation is to the
expected ultimate decision (and becomes the more unbearable, the larger the gap
between the imperfect presence and the full realization of salvation in the future).
Whereas the War Scroll puts the emphasis on the future salvation (although ex-
pected very soon), the Thanksgiving Scroll is imbued with the certainty that sal-
vation has already taken place or, to be more precise, that the decisive prerequisite
for salvation - to be chosen by God - has been fulfilled: the members of the com-
munity are redeemed from the Netherworld and raised up to "eternal height" be-
cause they belong to the "eternal community" of the Qumran sectaries. They are
free of sin and therefore able to stand with the "holy ones". The full Hebrew ex-
pression for "stand" is le-hityassev be-ma'amad 'im ..., literally "to take a stand/
to station oneself in a position/the (same) standing place with ...": the one who
prays is physically standing at the very same place with the angels. Since the orig-
inal place of the angels is in heaven, we may conclude that the members of the
community envisage themselves standing with the angels in heaven when uttering
the hymn (although the possibility cannot be ruled out that the opposite move-
ment has taken place: that the angels have come down to earth to join the humans
in their worship). This is enforced by the continuation which states that they enter
into a yahad (literally "union/communion") with the "sons of heaven" and that
this presence of humans among the "spirits of knowledge" (again the angels) is an
"eternal destiny", i.e., will be experienced by the chosen sectaries forever. The use
of the word yahad together with the preposition 'im ("with") is typical of the
Qumran concept of the communion of angels and humans7. The same is true for
6 On this concept see D. Aurte, The Culting Setting of Realized Eschatology (Leiden 1972);
J. J. Collins, Apocalypticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls (London, New York 1997) 115-129;
H. Lichtenberger, Auferstehung in den Qumranfunden, in: Auferstehung - Resurrection.
The Fourth Durham-Tübingen Research Symposion: Resurrection, Transfiguration and
Exaltation in Old Testament, Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. F. Avemarie and
H. Lichtenberger (Tübingen 2001) 79-91.
7 See H.-W. Kuhn, Enderwartung und gegenwärtiges Heil (Göttingen 1966) 66ff.; P. von der
Osten-Sacken, Gott und Belial. Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Dualismus in

den Texten aus Qumran (Göttingen 1969) 223 ff.; P. Schäfer, Rivalität zwischen Engeln und
Menschen. Untersuchungen zur rabbinischen Engelvorstellung (Berlin, New York 1975) 38
with n. 24-26.
40 Peter Schäfer
the word goral, which appears frequently in texts mentioning this communion 8 ;
moreover, it is not unlikely that the idea of an everlasting destiny for humans
together with the angels has priestly connotations 9 .
The hymn climaxes in the last two lines which specify the purpose of the com-
munion of humans and angels in heaven: they praise God's name be-yahad rinnah,
literally "in a joint/united rejoicing". This phrase alludes to Job 38:7: "When the
morning stars (kokhve boqer) rejoice together (be-ron-yabad) 10 , then all the sons
of God (bene elohim) shout for joy." In the biblical context both the celestial
bodies of the "morning stars" and the "sons of God" are, of course, angels, and the
verse describes the heavenly praise of the angelic hosts. In the Thanksgiving
Scroll, in contrast to the Bible, those who are united in rejoicing are angels and hu-
mans, and the only parallel which applies Job 38:7 not just to angels but to both
angels and humans is a large midrash complex in the rabbinic literature 11 . There,
the "morning stars" are identified with Israel 12 , and only the "sons of God" re-
main angels. This specification is not particularly exciting (it is typical of rabbinic
literature); what is provocative, however, is the conclusion drawn from it, namely
that the angels ("sons of God") must wait with their praise until Israel (the "morn-
ing stars") have finished theirs! This interpretation reads a temporal sequence into
the Job verse: the "sons of God" may shout for joy only after the "morning stars"
have rejoiced together. The angels must wait with their praise of God because it is
inferior to the praise of Israel. Hence, whereas the Thanksgiving Scroll uses Job
38:7 to underline the liturgical communion of angels and humans in heaven, elev-
ating humans to one and the same level with the angels, rabbinic Judaism uses the
same verse to raise the humans (Israel) even above the angels - in an area which is
commonly regarded as the prerogative of the angels: the divine praise.
The liturgical communion with the angels entails not only participation in the
heavenly praise; it also means that the members of the Qumran community share
with the angels their singular knowledge of God. The angels are the "spirits of
knowledge" (1QH» X I 22 f.), the "mediators of knowledge" ( l Q H a X X I I I 6) or
just "those who know" ( l Q H a X I X 14); the privileged elect one, who belongs to
their community, does not need a mediator any more because he shares their
knowledge ( l Q H a X I V 12 f.):
"(12) All the peoples may know your truth
and all the nations your glory.
For you have brought [your truth and] your [glo]ry
(13) to all the men of your council,
and in a common lot (goral yahad)
8 Schäfer, Rivalität 38, n. 27.

9 See Kuhn, Enderwartung 72, with reference to Ps. 16:5 f.; 73:26; 142:6.
1 0 Literally: "at the joint/united rejoicing of the morning stars".
11 See, e.g.: Bereshit Rabba 65:21; Sifre Deuteronomy §306, 343 (ed. Finkelstein), and paral-
lels; cf. Schäfer, Rivalität 170 ff.

12 Because of Dan. 12:3, where it is said that "those who lead the many to righteousness
[Israel] will be like the stars forever and ever".

with the angels of the face ('im mal'akhe panim),

without a mediator (melis benayim) for [your] H[oly Ones] [...]"
Here we have the same combination of goral and yahad that we observed before
and that is so characteristic of the Qumranic idea of the shared destiny of humans
and angels. The angels are specified as the "angels of the face", a phrase which has
a distinctive history. The singular "angel of his face/countenance" (mal'akh
panaw) appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, namely in Isa. 63:9, a verse which
caused difficulties for the early interpreters already 13 . It figures most prominently,
however, in Jubilees, a book which was composed around 100 B C E and was
found in a number of fragments in the Qumran library 14 . There, the revelation to
Moses on Mount Sinai is delegated to the "angel of countenance", and the bound-
aries between God and his angel are blurred. Our 1 Q H text, however, which uses
the plural "angels of the face", apparently follows the more traditional concept of
God surrounded by (mostly) four prominent angels ("archangels"). It goes back
to the Book of the Watchers (1 En. 9:1) and to the Similitudes (1 En. 40:9; 71:8ff.),
where the angels are called "four presences" (panim =prosopa), w h o stand " o n the
four sides of the Lord of spirits" and "uttered praises before the Lord of glory"
(1 En. 40:2 f.). In reassuring the members of the Qumran community that they
share a "common lot" with the four "angels of face/countenance" the Thanksgiv-
ing Scroll elevates them not just among the angels but among the four highest
angels who surround God. By implication this means that the sectaries come as
close to God as possible.
Moreover, the four angels and the human sectaries communicate directly with
each other; they do not need a mediator between them. In other words, angels and
humans are not only physically together on the same (geographical) plane; they
are (ontologically) identical because they understand each other immediately,
without a mediator. This is an extremely bold step if we consider the biblical con-
cept of the prophets - and Moses in particular - mediating between Israel and
13 The Hebrew can be read in two ways. First, it can be translated as "(63:8) So he was their
Deliverer. (9) In all their [Israel's] troubles he [God: following the Qere reading lo instead of
the Ketiv reading lo1 was troubled, and the angel of his face (mal'akh panaw) delivered them.
In his love and pity he redeemed them." Taken literally, this translation creates a tension be-
tween v. 8 (where the subject is God) and v. 9, which presupposes that not God himself but
his angel redeemed Israel because God shared their troubles to such an extent that he was
caught, so to speak, together with Israel in their troubles. (The JPS translation again
smoothes this interpretation by adding "himself" after "he": "In His love and pity he Him-
self redeemed them." But the "he" relates as well - or even better - to the "angel of his face".)
In order to avoid this problematic interpretation, the Septuagint reads: "(63:8) So he was their
Deliverer (9) in all their troubles. N o (using the Ketiv reading lo' instead of the Qere reading
lo) messenger (reading sir instead of sar) or angel, his own face (separating between mal'akh
and panaw) delivered them . . . " Here we don't have any problem - God alone is Israel's
redeemer - but the polemical tone ("no messenger or angel") and the awkward Hebrew ("his
face delivered them") make it apparent that this translation is a secondary interpretation
directed against the more literal first one.
it 1Q17-18; 2Q19-20; 3Q5; 4Q176a+b; 4Q216-224; 4Q482; 11Q12.
42 Peter Schäfer
God, or the ascent apocalypses with the prae-mortem ascent to heaven of an elect
hero. The members of the Qumran community do not need a Moses any longer,
who mediates between them and God and communicates the divine revelation;
they are like the angels - not only very close to God but enjoying direct access to
the angelic knowledge of God. N o r do they need to undergo the complicated pro-
cedure of physical transformation into an angel. As a priestly community on earth
they are angels, privileged to share the angels' liturgy and knowledge.
The same idea of the Qumran sect as the community of the (few) elect who
share the knowledge reserved for angels is expressed in the Community Rule
(1QS), which was probably composed around 100 B C E and is regarded as one of
the oldest documents of the sect. It deals with the statutes of the community - the
initiation into the sect, its internal hierarchical structure, its discipline - and seems
to have served as a kind of manual for its leaders; in addition, it includes liturgical
ceremonies, a model sermon, reflections on moral issues, and, at the end, a liturgi-
cal hymn-like piece in which a person (the community's master?) praises God and
reflects about his destiny and his duties. To this hymnic piece belongs the follow-
ing quotation (1QS X I 5-8):
"(11:5) F r o m the fount of his righteousness ( m e q o r sidqato)

is m y justification,
and from his marvelous mysteries (razepela'aw)
is the light in my heart.
M y eyes have gazed (hibitu)
on what always is,
(6) on wisdom that has been hidden from mankind (tusbyyah asher nisterah me-'enosh),
on knowledge (de'ah) and prudent understanding (mezimat 'ormah)
(hidden) from the sons of men;
on a fount of righteousness ( m e q o r sedaqab)
and a well of strength (miqweh gevurah),
on a spring (7) of glory (ma'ay an kavod)
(hidden) from the assembly of flesh (sod basar).
To those whom God has chosen (la-'asher bahar)
he has given them as an everlasting possession,
and he has given them an inheritance
in the lot (8) of the holy ones (¡oral qedoshim).
H e has joined (bibber) their assembly (sod)
to the sons of heaven ('im bene shamayim)
in order (to form) a Council of the Community ('asat yahad),
and a foundation of the building of holiness (sod mavnit qodesh)
to be an everlasting plantation (le-matta'at'olam) throughout all (9) future ages."
The first part of this hymn contains a number of key terms that are characteristic
of the knowledge granted the Qumran community in general and its Master in
particular: God's sedaqah ("righteousness" or "justice") is the source of every-
thing - of their "judgment" or "justification" and of their knowledge ("light in my
heart"). The goal and the contents of their peculiar knowledge are described in
terms - "marvelous mysteries" (raze pela'aw), "wisdom" (tushyyah), "knowl-
edge" (de'ah), and "prudent understanding" (mezimat 'ormah) - which are strik-
ingly similar to those used in the Hekhalot literature. There, they refer to the full
knowledge of the Torah obtained by the Merkavah mystic 15 , and it is highly likely
that the same association is evoked here, too: the Qumran sectaries have access to
the direct and full knowledge of God which is revealed in the Torah. This is con-
firmed by the phrase "my eyes have gazed (hibitu)", which apparently does not
refer to some kind of vision (in the sense of the ascent apocalypses) but more con-
cretely to the mysteries of the Torah as already described in the Bible (Ps. 119:18):
"Open my eyes that I may gaze (abitah) on the wonders/mysteries of your Torah
(:nifla'ot mi-toratekha)."
The consequences of God's knowledge obtained by the sectaries are "right-
eousness/justice" (sedaqah), "power/strength" (gevurah), and "glory" ( k a v o d ) .
These are theologically loaded terms: to be sure, none of them is reserved for God
alone, but it is striking that gevurah and kavod in particular become terms - al-
ready in the Hebrew Bible and increasingly in later, post-biblical texts - that are
synonymous with God. Hence it seems that the members of the community,
when portrayed as drinking from the fount of divine righteousness, strength, and
glory, are imagined as coming very close to and even participating in the divine es-
sence.
However, the text makes it very clear, that this wonderful destiny is not granted
ordinary humans ("sons of men", "assembly of flesh"); it is reserved for the
"chosen ones", who belong to the community of the elect. It is granted them
forever and consists in the communion ("[common] lot") with the angels, who are
called again "holy ones" and "sons of heaven". Angels and humans together form
a joint community, which is specified as a "foundation of the building of holiness"
{sod mavnit qodesh) and an "everlasting plantation" {matta'at 'olam). Both
phrases are reminiscent of 1QS V I I I 5 , a passage which also speaks of an "everlast-
ing plantation" and calls the Council of the Community a "house of holiness (bet
qodesh) for Israel" and a "foundation of the holy of holies (sod qodesh qodashim)
for Aaron" 16 . The latter clearly refers to the community as the true Temple, allo-
cating the front part of the Temple (the Sanctuary) to the ordinary members and
the back part (the Holy of Holies) to the priests. The word used here in 1QS
{mavnit) is derived from mivneh, a hapax legomenon in Ezek. 40:2, which refers
to Ezekiel's eschatological Jerusalem with the Temple at its center. Hence, the
everlasting communion of angels and humans, which guarantees a perpetual flow
of divine knowledge, is again envisaged in priestly terms.
The priestly connotation is even more obvious in the last text to be discussed
here, a passage which belongs to the Rule of Blessings (lQSb). The fragments of
this Rule that have survived apparently belonged to a collection which was at-
tached to the Community Rule (1QS) and the War Scroll (1QM). The Rule is no
doubt eschatologically oriented and contains the blessings over (1) the members
15 See, e.g., P. Schäfer et al., Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur (Tübingen 1981) § 14 (3 Enoch)
or §623 (Adjuration of the Prince of the Countenance).
16 On the Qumranic use of "plantation" and "building" see J. Maier, Die Texte vom Toten
Meer, vol. 2 (München, Basel 1960) 89-91 and 93 f.
44 Peter Schäfer
of the community, (2) the High Priest (obviously the priestly Messiah of Aaron),
(3) the priests, and (4) the Prince of the Congregation (the Davidic Messiah of Is-
rael). The blessings are intended for the messianic age and it is not clear whether
they served any practical purpose; on the other hand, it is hard to imagine that
they were composed and preserved just for some future use (even though this
future was expected to happen soon), and it may well be that they were actually
recited in the community "during the course of some liturgy anticipating and
symbolizing the coming of the Messianic era" 1 7 . In the part containing the bless-
ing over the priests we read the following ( l Q S b IV 22-28):
"(22) [For] he has chosen you (bahar bekhah) [...] (23) to raise above the heads of the holy
ones (la-set be-rosh qedoshim), and with you to [...] of your hand (24) the men of the council
of God ('asat el), and not by the hand of the prince (sar) of [...] one to his fellow. May you be
(25) like an angel of the face (ke-mal'akh panim) in the holy abode (ma'on qodesh) for the
glory of the God of the H o s [ t s . 1 8 . . . You shall] be around, serving in the Temple of the (26)
kingdom (hekhal malkhut), casting the lot (mapil gorat) with the angels of the face (mal'akbe
panim) and common council ('asat yahad) [...] for eternal time and for all the perpetual pe-
riods. For (27) [all] his [ju]dgments [are truth.] And may he make you hol[y] among his
people, like a luminary [...] for the world in knowledge (da'at), and to enlighten the face of
the Many! (28) [... And may he make you] a diadem of the holy of holies (qodesh qodashim),
because [you shall be made ho]ly for him and you shall glorify his name and his holy things
(qodashaw)."
The priests (addressed in the singular) are the chosen of the chosen ones, the van-
guard of the community of the elect (the "holy ones" in v. 22, above whose heads
they raise, seem to be the members of the community and not the angels). They
are "like the angel of the face", which is reminiscent of l Q H a X I V 13 where all the
members of the community are said to share a "common lot with the angels of the
face". Here they "cast the lot with the angels of the face", which probably indi-
cates that they collaborate with the angels on passing the sentence at the final
judgment. The priests and the angels enter into a close bond; they are identical.
They serve together in the heavenly Temple, called "holy abode" (ma'on qodesh)19
and "Temple of the kingdom" (hekhal malkhut)20, or rather, the priests of the
Qumran community represent the Holy of Holies of the earthly Temple (v. 28)
and as such intermingle with the angels in heaven. Earthly and heavenly Temple
overlap or become even the same - because priests and angels overlap or become
the same 21 . To be sure, the priests are only the leaders of the community, and what
is here said of the priests refers elsewhere to all of the full members of the commu-
nity; the privileged position of the priests only reinforces the priestly character of
17 G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Sheffield 3 1987) 235.

18 See also lQSb III 25f., where the priests are blessed from God's "holy abode" (ma'on
qodsho) and called a "glorious ornament (mikhlol badar) in the midst of the holy ones".
1 9 The term ma'on qodshekha is biblical (see e.g. Deut. 26:15) and refers preferably to God's
abode in heaven.
2 0 The term hekhal malkhut is not biblical; only hekhal melekh, which however refers to the
palace of an earthly king, not to God's Temple (see 2 Kings 20:18; Ps. 45:16; Dan. 1:4).
2 1 See also lQSb III 5f., a very fragmentary text, where the messianic High Priest is ad-
dressed and mentioned together "with the holy angels" (mal'akhe qodesh).
the Qumran community as a whole. Finally, the aspect of divine knowledge is

again emphasized for the priests enlighten with their knowledge "the Many", pre-
sumably the members of the community.
The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
The so-called "Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice" ( s h i r o t 'olat ba-shabbat) are a cycle
of thirteen Songs altogether, discovered in a number of manuscripts in caves 4 and
11 at Qumran and at Masada; they were first made public in a lecture by John
Strugnell 22 , and the editio princeps was provided by Carol Newsom 2 3 . Whether
they originated within the Qumran community and are sectarian documents in
the strict sense of the word or whether they were produced outside the commu-
nity and are to be regarded as extra- or even pre-sectarian, is a matter of debate 24 .
There can be no doubt, however, that they played a vital role within the literary
and historical context of the Qumran community; this can be inferred from the
sheer quantity of fragments found in Qumran and the many parallels between the
Songs and other Qumranic texts 25 (the discovery of a fragment at Masada should
not be taken as decisive proof of non-sectarian authorship) 26 .
The thirteen Songs were apparently composed for performance during the first
thirteen Sabbaths of the year according to the solar calendar of the Qumran com-
22 /. Strugnell, The Angelic Liturgy at Qumran - 4Q Serek STrot 'Olat Hassabbat, in: Con-
gress Volume: Oxford 1959 (Leiden 1960) 318-345.
23 C. Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice: A Critical Edition (Atlanta/Georgia 1985).
24 In her editio princeps Newsom concluded her deliberations about the provenance of the
Songs with the cautious working hypothesis "that the scroll of the Sabbath Shirot is a prod-
uct of the Qumran community" (4). Since then, however, she has changed her mind and re-
gards as the "most plausible explanation" that the Songs originated "outside of and probably
p r i o r to the emergence of the Qumran community" b u t nevertheless "became an i m p o r t a n t
text in the community": C. Newsom, 'Sectually Explicit' Literature from Qumran, in: The
Hebrew Bible and its Interpreters, ed. W. Propp, B. Halpern, and D. Freedman (Winona Lake
1990) 167-187(184).
25 See the useful list of thematic and formal features which the Songs share with sectarian
material in R, S. Boustan {Abusch), Angels in the Architecture: Temple Art and the Poetics of
Praise in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, in: Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities in Late
Antique Religions, ed. R. S. Boustan (Abusch) and A. Yoshiko Reed (Cambridge 2004) 195-
212 (198, n. 11).
26 Vermes, Dead Sea Scrolls 221, suggests that either "some Essenes joined the revolution-
aries and took with them some of their manuscripts, or that the rebels occupied the Qumran
area after its evacuation by the Community and subsequently transferred Essene manu-
scripts to their final place of resistance"; Christopher Morray-Jones observes that "if dis-
covery outside Qumran were held to be proof of non-sectarian authorship the unambigu-
ously sectarian Damascus Rule would likewise be excluded": Ch. Morray-Jones, The Temple
Within: The Embodied Divine Image and its Worship in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other
Early Jewish and Christian Sources, in: Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 37
(1998) 400—431 (410).
46 Peter Schäfer
munity 27 . The surviving openings of the Songs connect them with a holocaust of-
fering made on these Sabbaths (as described in Num. 28:9f. and Ezek. 46:4f.), but
there is no evidence whatsoever that the sectaries ever offered sacrifices; it has
been suggested, therefore, that the Songs were part of a liturgical performance
intended to serve as a replacement for the cultic Sabbath sacrifices offered in the
polluted Jerusalem Temple 28 . On closer inspection, however, it is not easy to
determine the precise liturgical function of the Songs within the framework of the
community. For even a cursory reading of the Songs immediately reveals that we
are not dealing with liturgical texts in the conventional sense of the word: the
Songs describe the angelic worship for each of the thirteen Sabbaths, but they re-
main conspicuously silent with regard to the actual words of praise sung by the
angels; instead, they invite the angels to praise God and describe the order and
manner of the liturgical activities performed by the angels in heaven. As such,
scholars assign the Songs to the genre of "liturgical invitation" rather than to the
category of texts that record the contents of actual praises 29 .
The first Song calls upon the angels to praise God (hallelu) and sets the tone of
the whole cycle with its distinct terminology. The angels are called, from the very
outset and quite strikingly, elohim or elim, literally "gods", more precisely and in
a remarkable intensification: "the gods of all the holiest of the holy ones" (elohe
kol qedoshe qedoshim)ia; the latter phrase, of course, alludes to the "holy of
holies" (qodesh ha-qodashim) of the Temple, and therefore the text states ex-
plicitly: "[He established them [for] Himself as the ho[liest of the holy ones, serv-
ing in the ho]ly of holies" (1.10). As such, they are also called the "ministers of the
face (mesharete panim) in the inner sanctuary of his glory" (devir kevodo)31 -
devir being the equivalent of "holy of holies" (qodesh ha-qodashim) according to
the structure of Solomon's Temple as described in 1 Kings 6:5 - or, in a terminol-
27 Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice 19.

28 Cf. ¿4.5. van der Woude, Fragmente einer Rolle der Lieder für das Sabbatopfer aus Höhle
XI von Qumran (llQSirSabb), in: Von Kanaan bis Kerala. Festschrift J.P.M. van der Ploeg,
ed. W.C. Delsman et al. (Neukirchen-Vluyn 1982) 311-337 (332);/. Maier, Zu Kult und Lit-
urgie der Qumrangemeinde, in: R Q 14 (1989/90) 543-586 (572); id., Shire 'Olat hash-Shab-
bat. Some Observations on their Calendric Implications and on their Style, in: The Madrid
Qumran Congress, ed./. Trebolle and L. Vegas Montaner, vol. 2 (Leiden etc. 1992) 543-560
(552 f.).
29 B. Nitzan, Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry (Leiden 1994) 183-189, 195-200; R.
Abusch, Sevenfold Hymns in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Hekhalot Literature:
Formalism, Hierarchy and the Limits of Human Participation, in: The Dead Sea Scrolls as
Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from an International
Conference at St. Andrews in 2001, ed./. Davila (Leiden, Boston 2003) 220-247 (225).
3 0 4Q400 1 i, 1. 2:1 follow the edition and translation (with modifications) by Carol Newsom
in: E. Eshel, H. Eshel, C. Newsom, B. Nitzan, E. Schüller and A. Yardeni (eds.), Qumran
Cave 4, VI: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 1 (Oxford 1998) 173-401; see also E Garcia
Martinez and E.J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition, vol. 2 (Leiden,
Boston, Köln 1998) 807 ff.
31 Ibid. 1.4.
ogy unique to Qumran, the "priests of the inner sanctum" (kohane qorev)i2. It is
only the angels in their capacity as priests of the heavenly Temple that are ad-
dressed here (and throughout most of the cycle). Human beings play an inferior
role only (if they play a role at all): we learn just in passing that the angels "appease
his will for all who repent of sin" (1. 16).
The only Song that explicitly raises the question of the status of human beings
in relation to the angels is Song II. After having stated that the angels are "glorified
in all the camps of the gods (mahane elohim) and are fearsome (nora'im) to the
human councils (le-mosade anashim)"3}, the author asks: "But [...] how shall we
be considered [among] them? And how shall our priesthood (be considered) in
their dwellings? And [our] ho[liness ...] their holiness? [What] is the offering of
our tongue of dust (compared) with the knowledge of the g[ods.. .]?" 34 Not only
are human beings inferior to the angels, human priesthood (and accordingly
human knowledge), too, is nothing in comparison with the angelic priesthood in
heaven! Since this critique is obviously directed at the members of the Qumran
community and not at the despised Jerusalem priesthood, it seems as if the firm
conviction of a close communion of angels and human beings is somewhat muted
in the Songs. If the Songs reflect such a communion, the human side of this com-
munion acts much more modestly than in some of the texts discussed above; our
author is keenly aware of the fact that the human sectaries are not really angels and
that they owe everything that they embody and achieve to the angels.
Songs III-V are almost completely destroyed, but most of Songs VI-VIII is
preserved; in fact, these three Songs take a pivotal position within the whole cycle.
Carol Newsom has argued that Song VII constitutes the climax of the cycle 35 ,
whereas Christopher Morray-Jones opts for Song VII as the "preliminary cres-
cendo" and Song XII as the "true climax of the liturgical cycle as a whole" 36 .
Whatever the structure and function of the cycle may be, there can be no doubt
that Songs VII and XII are crucial within the composition of the cycle. "Sand-
wiched in a climactic position" 37 between Songs VI (which describes the praises of
the seven chief angelic princes) and VIII (which describes the praises of the corre-
sponding seven secondary princes), Song VII not only calls upon the angels to
perform their praise, but introduces for the first time into the cycle the active par-
ticipation of the animate architecture of the heavenly Temple. This phenomenon,
which Ra'anan Boustan [Abusch] called the "increasing angelification of temple
architecture", is new and most prominent within the Songs of the Sabbath Sacri-
fice 38 .
32 Ibid. 1. 17 and 19.

33 4Q400 2 and 4Q401 14 i 7-8,1. 2.
3 4 Ibid. 1. 5-7.
35 Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice 13-15.
36 Morray-Jones, The Temple Within 417. Abusch, Sevenfold Hymns 226f., modifies this by
arguing that the middle Songs VI-VIII function as a "microcosm of the larger whole".
37 ]. R. Davila, Liturgical Works (Grand Rapids/Mich., Cambridge 2000) 84.
38 Abusch, Sevenfold Hymns 227.

48 Peter Schäfer
The Song begins with the typical invitations to the angels to praise God; the an-
gels are again called "gods" (elohim, elim), with phrases blurring the borderline
between them and God: the "exalted ones among all the gods of knowledge (e/e
da'at)"i9, the "holy ones of the gods (qedushe elohim)" "gods of the gods of
exaltation (elohim me-'ele rum)"41, "wondrous gods (elohepele)"42, etc. God, ac-
cordingly, is " [ G o d (el) of gods (elim)] to all the chiefs of the heights (rashe mero-
mim) and king of king[s] to all the eternal councils" 4 3 . But then the Song suddenly
switches f r o m the angels to architectural elements of the heavenly Temple. "With
these [namely with the angels]", the text continues, "let all the f o u n d a t i o n s of the
hol]y of holies (yesode qodesh qodashim) praise, the uplifting pillars ('amude
masa) of the most exalted abode (zevul rum rumim), and all the corners of its
structure (pinot mavnito)."44 N o w the foundations of the H o l y of Holies of the
heavenly Temple, together with its pillars and the corners of its structure, join in
with the praise of God; the architectural structures of the Temple are animated and
become living and praising creatures like the angels! But then the Song switches to
the angels again:
"Sin[g praise] to Go[d w h o is aw]esome in power, [all you spirits of knowledge and light
(ruhe da'at we-'or)] in order to [exa]lt together the most pure firmament (raqia' tohar teho-
rim) of [his] holy sanctuary (miqdash qodsho). [And praise Hi]m, O spirits of Go[d] (ruhe
elohim), in order to prfaise for ever and e]ver the firmament of the upper[m]ost heaven
(raqia' rosh meromim), all [its] b[eams] (qorotaw) and its walls (qirotaw), a[l]l its [for]m
(mavnito), the work of [its] structure (tavnito)." 45
N o w the angels return as the subject of the praise, but the object is not G o d alone
any longer but also the firmament of the heavenly Temple with its beams and
walls. Hence, the animate architecture of the heavenly Temple not only joins in
with the angelic praise, it also becomes its object; the text wavers between the an-
gels praising God, the architectural elements of the Temple participating in this
praise, and the structure of the heavenly Temple as the object of praise. The "most
pure firmament" alludes, of course, to the "very heavens in purity" ('esem ha-sha-
mayim la-tohar) in Ex. 24:10 and to the firmament of "dreadful ice" in Ezek. 1:22
that carries God's throne 4 6 . Here, the firmament carries the heavenly Temple,
« 4Q403 1 i, 1. 30 f.
4
° Ibid. 1.31.
4
> Ibid. 1.33.
« Ibid. 1. 36.
« Ibid. 1.34.
44
Ibid. 1. 41. Davila, Liturgical Works 123, fails to recognize the syntax of the Hebrew and
translates: "With these let all the foundations of] the most [hol]y (place) psalm the load-
bearing pillars of the most exalted abode and all the corners of its construction." According
to this interpretation it is not the foundations, the pillars, and the corners (of the heavenly
Temple) which praise God, but the foundations praise the pillars and corners!
« Ibid. 1.41-^4.
46
Moreover, the text probably plays with raqia' and meqareh ("set the beams") as in the
later rabbinic interpretation of Ps. 104:3 ("He w h o sets the beams [meqareh] of his lofts
['aliyyotaw] in the waters"); see Bereshit Rabba 1:3 and parallels (Schäfer, Rivalität 52f.).
which, no doubt, accommodates the divine throne. This becomes clear from the
beginning of the second column of 4Q403 where God's "footstool" ( h a d o m rag-
law) is explicitly mentioned 47 . It is the Glory of God sitting on his throne in the
heavenly Holy of Holies or devir which is the climax of the seventh song.
The language of this second part of the Song is deeply imbued with Ezekiel's
imagery. Not only is God's Glory (kavod) addressed (4Q403 1 ii, 1. 4; cf. Ezek.
1:28), but the activity of the angels comes very close to the function of the crea-
tures (hayyot) as described in Ezekiel. Compare the Song's "from between them
gods (elohim) run (yarusu) like the appearance of coals of [fire ...] (mar'e gahale
esh) moving round about (mithalekh saviv)"48 with Ezek. 1:13: "the shape of the
creatures {hayyot), their appearance (mar'ehem), was like coals of fire (gahale
esh)", a fire-like appearance that "was moving to and fro (mithalekhet) among the
creatures" 49 . Also, whereas in Ezekiel the seer hears (eshma*) the sound of the
creatures' wings, in Song VII "the sound of blessing is glorious in the hearing
(;mishma") of the gods (elohim)" 5 0 . Unlike Ezekiel, however, the "decorations of
the inner shrine" (mahashave 5 1 devir) participate in the praise of the angels "with
wondrous psalms" 52 , and finally the "chariots" (merkavot: in the plural!), to-
gether with the Cherubim and Ofannim, join in 53 .
The participation of the animate Temple architecture in the angelic praise ap-
pears for the first time in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, but it is not unique to
them. The closest parallel is, not by accident, the Hekhalot literature. There,
God's throne (called kisse ha-kavod - "throne of Glory") is often personified and
called upon, like the angels and the architectural elements in the Songs, to praise
God 5 4 . The following highly poetical invitation, addressed to the throne by the
angels who carry the divine throne (obviously the hayyot), is repeated several
times in Hekhalot Rabbati and other texts of the Hekhalot literature 55 :
47 4 Q 4 0 3 1 ii, 1. 2.
4 « Ibid. 1. 6.
4 9 The yarusu in 4 Q 4 0 3 is mirrored in Ezek. 1:14: "and the creatures darted to and fro (raso
wa-shov)."
5 0 Ibid. 1. 12. Interestingly enough, the copyist originally wrote nishma' which he deleted
and corrected to "is glorious" (nikhbad).
5 1 The word is derived from " t o imagine designs" (lahshov mahashavot) in E x . 31:4.
5 2 4 Q 4 0 3 1 ii, 1. 13.
5 3 Ibid. 1. 15. The mention of the Ofannim is another indication of Ezekiel's influence (the
juxtaposition of Cherubim and Ofannim clearly goes back to the identification of the hayyot
and their "wheels" with the Cherubim in Ezek. 10). The "chariot" (merkavah) in the techni-
cal sense of the word does not appear yet in Ezekiel, who instead uses " t h r o n e " (kisse) - cf.
Ezek. 1:26 - but the two words are soon to be identified (first in 1 Chron. 28:18; cf. also
Sirach 49:8).
5 4 The throne in the Hekhalot literature, however, is not the object of the angelic praise (at
most indirectly).
55 P. Schdfer et al., Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur §§ 94, 154, 634, 687; cf. also § 6 8 6 . The
translation follows P. Schdfer, The Hidden and Manifest God: Some Major Themes in Early
Jewish Mysticism (Albany 1992) 13f. - This parallel has been noticed by Newsom, Qumran
Cave 4, vol. 6,277, but strangely enough has been missed by Davila, Liturgical Works, whose
50 Peter Schäfer
"Rejoice, rejoice, supernal dwelling!

Shout, shout for joy, precious vessel!
Made marvelously and a marvel!
Gladden, gladden the king w h o sits upon you!"
The throne speaks directly to God and invites him to sit down upon him 56 , and
even its hymn is disclosed in Hekhalot Rabbati 57 :
"Like the voice of the seas,
like the roaring of the rivers,
like the waves of Tarshish,
which the south wind drives forward,
like the voice of the hymn of the throne of glory,
which calls to mind and extols
the magnificent king
[with] loud voice and extremely great roaring.
Voices rush away from him,
from the throne of glory,
to help him,
to strengthen him,
when he calls to mind and praises
the mighty of Jacob,
as is written: 'Holy, holy, holy' (Isa. 6:3)."
The following Songs (IX-XI) are again badly preserved. What remains of Song IX
refers to the "vestibules of their entryways" (ulame mevo'ehem) or the "vestibules
where the King enters" (ulame mevo'e melekh)is, clearly alluding to the "vesti-
bule" (ulam) of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6:3; 1 Chron. 28:11; Ezek. 40:48),
which led into the sanctuary (hekhat) which in turn led to the Holy of Holies or
inner sanctuary (qodesh ba-qodasbim or devir). These vestibules, as well as the
"glorious shrines" (devirim) 59 , are engraved with figures of "living gods" (elohim
hayyim), i.e., with images of angels 60 . This idea of the Temple as decorated with
images is inspired apparently by Ezek. 41, where the walls of the "vestibule"
(ulam) and the "sanctuary" (hekhat) as well as the doors leading to the sanctuary
and to the Holy of Holies (qodesh [ha-qodashim]) were carved with engravings of
Cherubs and palm trees (41:18, 25)61. Hence, the angels (paradoxically called
elohim hayyim) turn into decorations of the heavenly Temple and, in order to be-
come part of the praise of the Temple's architecture, are "reanimated" again!
commentary on the Songs abounds with (often unwarranted) parallels from the Hekhalot
literature.
56 Ibid. § 99.
57
Ibid. §162; cf. also §251.
58
4Q405 14-15 i, 1. 4f.
59
The multiplication of the structures of the heavenly Temple is typical of the Songs.
60
4Q405 14-15 i, 1. 5-7.
61
This concept in turn goes back to the description of Solomon's Temple in 1 Kings 6:29-35
(here are calyxes added to the Cherubim and palms).
This description is continued in what remains of Songs X and X I . Song X men-

tions "rivers of fire" ( n a h a r e 'ur)62 and the "curtain of the inner shrine of the
K i n g " (parokhet devir ha-melekh), obviously referring to the curtain in front of
the H o l y of Holies with Cherubim worked into it ( E x . 2 6 : 3 1 - 3 3 ; E x . 36:35; Lev.
16:2: the Tabernacle; 2 C h r o n . 3:14: Solomon's Temple) 6 3 . Song X I returns to the
animate celestial architecture with "figures of g o d s " (elohim) 6 4 , the "floor of the
wondrous inner shrines" (midras devirepele)bi, "images of living gods" (surot elo-
him hayyim)k(>, "[fi]gures of the shapes of gods, engraved round about their
[gljorious b r i c k w o r k " (surot elohim mehuqqaqe saviv lelivne kevodam)67 etc. -
all taking part in the heavenly praise of God, a praise however, which culminates
in a " s o u n d of quiet stillness" (qol demamat sheqet)b%. T h e latter is clearly inspired
again by Ezekiel (see below), as is the movement of God's chariots (plural!), de-
scribed at the very end of the song: "as they move ( b e - l e k h t e m a ) [they do not turn
aside (lo yissabu) t o any . . . they go straight (yisru) t o . . . ] " 6 9 .
Then follows Song X I I , the presumably ultimate climax of the cycle. The first
part of it describes the service of the Cherubs in the celestial Temple, closely m o d -
elled along the lines of E z e k . 1 (and also 10) 7 0 :
(7) In the tabern[acle (mishkan) of the God of] knowledge the [Cheru]bim fall down before
him, and they bl[es]s. When they rise, a sound of divine stillness (qol demamat elohim)
(8) [is heard]; and there is a tumult of jubilation (hamon rinnah) at the lifting up of their
wings, a sound of divine [stillnes]s. The image of the chariot throne (tavnit kisse merkavah)
do they bless (which is) above the expanse (raqia') of the Cherubim.
(9) [And the splend]or of the expanse of light (hod raqia' ha-'or) do they sing (which is) be-
neath the seat of his glory (moshav kevodo). And when the wheels move (he-lekhet ha-ofan-
nim), the holy angels return. They go out from between
(10) its glorious [h]ubs ([ga]lgale kevodo). Like the appearance of fire (ke-mar'e esh) (are) the
spirits of the holy of holies (ruhot qodesh qodashim) round about (saviv), the appearance of
streams of fire (mar'e shevule esh) like hashmal (bi-demut hashmal). And there is a [ra]diant
substance (ma'ase \ri\ogah),
(11) gloriously multi-coloured (be-ruqmat kavod), wondrously hued, brightly blended
(memulah toha[r])71, the spirits of living gods which move (mithalekhim) continuously with
the glory of [the] wondrous chariots.
62 4Q405 15 ii-16,1. 2 (obviously alluding to the nehar di-nur in Dan. 7:10).

63 Ibid. 1. 3 and 5.
6 4 4Q405 19,1.2.
« Ibid. 1. 2f.
Ibid. 1.4
Ibid. 1. 5f.
68 Ibid. 1. 7.
6 9 4Q405 20 ii-21-22,1. 5. Cf. Ezek. 1:9, 12, 17 (for the movement of the hayyot) and Ezek.
1:7, 23 (for their straight legs).

70 Ibid. 1. 7-14.
71 Literally "purely salted"; the phrase seems to be derived from Ex. 30:35, where the incense
for the Sanctuary is described as "salted (probably meaning refined), pure, and holy". Lev.
2:13 mentions the "salt of the covenant of your God" (melah berit elohekha), and Num.
18:19 calls the covenant between God and his priests an "everlasting covenant of salt" (berit
melah 'olam).
52 Peter Schäfer
(12) And (there is) a still sound of blessing (qol demamat berekb) in the tumult of their move-
ment (be-hamon lekhtam) and holy praise 72 as they return on their paths. When they rise,
they rise wondrously; and when they settle,
(13) they [stand] still. The sound of glad rejoicing falls silent (qol gilot rinnah hishqit), and
there is a stillnefss] of divine blessing (demama[t] berekb elohim) in all the camps of the gods;
[and] the sound of praisfes ...]
(14) [...] from between all their divisions on [their] side[s ... and] all their mustered troops
rejoice, each o[n]e in [his] stat[ion.
This whole passage reads like an interpretation of Ezekiel, taking up many of his
key-terms. The "expanse/firmament iraqia') of the Cherubs" (1. 8) apparently is
the "expanse" stretched over the heads of the creatures (hayyot) in Ezek. 1:22 ff
who are identified with the Cherubs in Ezek. 10; and the "image of the chariot
throne above the expanse" (ibid.) no doubt recalls the "shape (demut) of a throne"
above the expanse above the heads of the hayyot (Ezek. 1:26). Likewise, the con-
stantly moving wheels (ofannim) originate from Ezekiel's wheels which move
alongside each of the four creatures (Ezek. 1:15); the shift from ofannim (1. 9) to
galgalim (1.10) goes back to the identification of both in Ezek. 10:2 and 6. That the
angels go out from between the wheels (1. 9f.) seems to refer to Ezek. 1:20, where
it is said that the "spirit (ruah) of the creature(s) was in the wheels" (note that the
angels are explicitly called "spirits" in 1. 10). So the angels not only prostrate be-
fore God and praise him (1. 7), together with the "expanse/firmament of light"
(1. 9); they also move constantly in and out of the wheels of God's throne. What is
most striking, however, and quite unlike Ezekiel's vision: these angelic spirits are
described in a way which in Ezek. 1:27 is reserved for the human-like figure seated
on the throne, i.e., for God himself. Whereas Ezekiel sees the "appearance of a
human being" (God) that from his loins upward is looking like hashmal sur-
rounded with fire, and from his loins downward like fire surrounded by radiance
(nogah), our Song assigns precisely these terms - the appearance of fire like hash-
mal and a radiant substance (ma'ase nogah) - to the angelic spirits 73 . It is now the
angels, who appear like a miraculous fiery substance - and the description of this
substance is further developed in terms of iridescent colors (1. 11) - not God any
longer! In other words, what Ezekiel encounters as a vision of God has been
transferred in Song XII to the angels. The angels move to the center of the stage;
God's physical appearance recedes into the background and is hardly mentioned
at all. What remains important is only his praise, not the vision of his shape.
Also the praise of God as described in the Song bears the distinct traits of Eze-
kiel's language. In Ezek. 1:24 f. the seer hears the sound of the creatures' wings as
they move (obviously a very noisy sound because it is specified as the "sound of
the deep sea", a sound "like the voice of the Almighty", and "a sound of tumult
like the sound of an army"); but when they stand still and let their wings drop the
72
Following Newsom's emendation hallel qodesb instead of ballelu qodesb ("they praise
[with] holiness" or "they praise the holy one"?).
73
Only the "streams of fire" are not mentioned in Ezekiel, but they are merely an embellish-
ment of the "fire" which is prominent enough in Ezekiel.
sound produced by their wings obviously ceases. The reason for this is clear: only
when their noisy sound (= praise) stops, can another, still faint "sound from above
the expanse" be heard - the sound which announces the voice of God speaking to
the seer (Ezek. 1:25, 28). Likewise in Song XII, the Cherubs generate a sound of
praise when they lift up their wings and move (1. 7f., 12 f.). However, the sound
they produce is paradoxically termed a "sound of divine stillness" (qol demamat
elohim)74 or a "still sound of blessing" {qol demamat berekh)75. This phrase,
which seems to be dependent on 1 Kings 19:12 (the voice of God which Elijah
hears is a qol demamah daqah - "a still faint sound"), contrasts with the noisy
sound in Ezek. 1:24 and 3:12f., where the blessing of the creatures at their depar-
ture is explicitly described as "a great roaring noise", brought about by their
wings and their wheels. Hence, although the lifting up of the creatures' wings pro-
duces a "tumult of jubilation", it is nevertheless a "sound of divine stillness" (1. 8);
accordingly, the "still sound of blessing" emerges "in the tumult of their move-
ment" (1. 12). What can this paradox of the creatures' noisy-still sound mean,
which contradicts Ezekiel so palpably? It seems that the author of Song X I I pro-
poses another new interpretation of Ezek. 1: not only is there no vision of God in
his description of the service in the celestial Temple, there is also no divine voice
heard in response to the angelic praise (let alone that there is no seer addressed).
Whereas in Ezekiel the creatures fall silent to allow God's voice to be heard (and
begin their noisy praise again after God has finished speaking to the prophet), in
Song X I I it is their own sound of blessing that is "still" 7 6 . The creatures and all the
other angels praise God continuously, even with a "still sound of blessing", but
their God is neither seen nor heard.
The second part of Song X I I introduces another task of the angels. In a badly
preserved passage, which is difficult to understand, it first addresses the angels as
the "gods of his whole offering" (elohe kelilo)77, a phrase that foreshadows the
topic of the last song, the angelic High Priests in charge of the celestial sacrifice.
But before this subject is developed in more detail, the Song turns to the divine
mission of the angels 78 :
74 4Q405 20 ii-21-22,1. 7f.

75 Ibid. 1. 12; cf. also 1. 13: "a stillness of divine blessing" (demamat berekh elohim).
7 6 Only 1. 13 seems to imply that the creatures' "stillness of divine blessing" is not a para-
doxical but a real stillness (because the "sound of glad rejoicing falls silent"), but 1. 14 con-
tinues with some praise of the "mustered troops", apparently another group of angels.
Hence, as Newsom, Qumran Cave 4, vol. 6, 354, has observed, "the silence of the creatures of
the chariot allows the praises of the angelic camps to be heard". The silence of one group of
angels makes room for the praise of another group, but not for the voice of God.
7 7 4Q405 23 i, 1. 5. The meaning of kalil is doubtful: the obvious rendering with "crown"
does not make much sense here; Newsom, Qumran Cave 4, vol. 6, 358, suggests to "construe
kalil as the nominalised adjective, 'whole, entire', which is used as a synonym for 'olah",
hence for "holocaust offering". But instead of referring to the "whole-offering", kalil may be
used elliptically for kelil tekhelet as in Ex. 28:31 and 39:22 and allude to the "robe of the
Ephod all of blue (= of pure blue)". The elohe kelilo would then be the gods/angels who wear
the "all blue" Ephod.
7 8 Ibid. 1. 1-14.
54 Peter Schäfer
"(8) Whenever the gods of knowledge {ele da'at) enter by the portals of glory, and whenever
the holy angels (mal'akhe qodesh) go out to their dominion,
(9) the portals of entrance and the gates of exit make known the glory of the King, blessing
and praising all the spirits of
(10) God (ruhot elohim) at (their) going out and at (their) coming in by the ga[t]es of holiness.
There is none among them who omits as law (hoq)\ and never against the commands
(11) of the King (imre melekh) do they set themselves. They do not run from the way or tarry
away from his territory. They are not too exalted for his missions (mishluhotaw);
(12) nor are [they] too lowly."
The purpose of the angels' mission is not directly communicated; the Song again
focuses on their behavior: they go in and out of the heavenly sanctuary and, in
doing so, they are always faithful to the mission entrusted to them by God. But
from what follows it becomes clear that the angels are sent down to God's crea-
tures on earth, their human counterparts, to carry out his judgement: " H e will
n[o]t show compassion in the dominion of the fury of his annihilating wra]th;
(but) He will not judge those who are made repentant by his glorious anger." 79
This refers back to Song I where it is said of the angels that they "appease his will
for all who repent of sin" (1. 16) - the only other passage in the Songs that ad-
dresses the question of repentance (and hence of human beings). The angels are
portrayed in their traditional role as God's messengers and as mediators between
him and human beings on earth 80 .
From what remains from the badly damaged Song XIII it can be inferred that
this last Song of the cycle deals with the celestial sacrifices and the angelic priests.
It mentions the "sacrifices of the holy ones" (zivhe qedoshim), the "odor of their
offerings" (reah minhotam), and the "odor of their libations" (reah niskhehem)81
- terms that are taken from the animal sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible: zevah is the
technical term for animal sacrifices, reah minhotam alludes to the reah nihoah
("soothing odor", e.g., of Gen. 8:21), and nesekh ("libation") usually accompanied
the whole burnt-offering (holocaust offering). Unfortunately, the precise circum-
stances of these sacrifices are not preserved, but there can be no doubt that they
are offered by the angels. In another part of the Song (preserved in another frag-
ment) 82 the angelic priests with their priestly/High Priestly garments are de-
scribed: they wear "ephods" 8 3 and are clothed with garments of "mingled colors
(ruqmah), like woven work (ma'as'e oreg), engraved with figures of splendor" 84 .
The Ephod belongs to the robes of Aaron and his sons (Ex. 28:4ff.), and the
"woven work" refers in the Hebrew Bible to the "robe for the Ephod" (Ex. 28:32;
79 Ibid. 1. 12.
80
The supposition entertained by Davila, Liturgical Works 157, that the text is dealing with
angelic repentance, is mistaken and ignores the context (1.10f.).
81
11Q17 ix, 1. 4f. (edition and translation in: Garcia Martinez and E.J.C. Tigchelaar (eds.),
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Study Edition, vol. 2,1219; see also the translation in Davila, Liturgical
Works 158).
82
4Q405 23 ii (Newsom 361 ff.).
S3 Ibid. 1. 5.
84
Ibid. 1. 7.
39:22) and the "tunics of fine linen" (Ex. 39:27), also worn by Aaron and his
sons 85 . No doubt, therefore, that the angels who offer the celestials sacrifices are
modelled upon the priests (or more precisely the High Priests) in the earthly Sanc-
tuary.
Moreover, and most strikingly, the "woven work" of the angelic garments is
repeated in 1. 10 and is paired there with the phrase memulah tohar: "And all their
designs are brightly blended (memulah tohar), an artistry like woven work
(ma'ase oreg)." The phrase memulah tohar (which literally means "purely salted"
and is another technical term related to the incense in the Sanctuary and the
priestly covenant with God), together with the term ruqmah ("mingled colors"),
was used, as we recall, in the description of the angels who move in and out of the
wheels of the divine chariot 86 . Hence, it seems highly likely that the very same an-
gels who serve the divine chariot (and are sent out as God's messengers) also hold
office as the priests/High Priests who offer the sacrifices in the celestial Temple.
This, of course, goes far beyond Ezekiel and any other possible biblical Vorlage.
But the Greek Testament of Levi mentions "propitiatory sacrifices" offered by the
archangels in the "uppermost heaven" in which the "Great Glory" dwells (3:4-6);
and the Babylonian Talmud, which provides us with the classical list of the seven
heavens, describes the fourth heaven (zevut) as the one "in which [the heavenly]
Jerusalem and the Temple and the altar are built, and Michael, the great Prince,
stands and offers up thereon an offering, for it is said: 'I have now built for you a
house of habitation (beit zevul), a place where you may dwell forever' (1 Kings
8:13)" 8 7 . The biblical proof-text makes clear that the heavenly Sanctuary corre-
sponds to the earthly Temple, but the very fact that the "great Prince" Michael
(who is also Israel's guardian angel)88 officiates as the celestial High Priest may be
taken as indicating a critical attitude towards the earthly worship (or at least as an
attempt to transfer the sacrifice in the earthly Temple that does not exist any
longer to the celestial Sanctuary). The critique is obvious in the parallel Seder
Rabba di-Bereshit, where Michael, the "great Prince" holds office as High Priest,
"clothed with high-priestly garments", and offers a "pure offering of fire" (fol-
lowed by the same biblical proof-text, 1 Kings 8:13) 89 .
We do not know the purpose of the celestial sacrifices offered by the angelic
priests/High Priests, but within the context of the Qumran community, which
85 In the Bible they are blue, whereas the angelic garments are multi-colored.
86 4 Q 4 0 5 22, 1. lOf. This has been noted by Newsom, Qumran Cave 4, vol. 6, 364, but she
confuses the description of the angels with the description of the Glory of God: it is not the
Glory of G o d that is described in 4 Q 4 0 5 22, but the appearance of the angels (as she remarks
correctly on p. 353). The point is that the text describes the angels very much along the lines
of God's Glory itself in Ezekiel, i.e., that the angels almost serve as God's substitute (see
above).
8 7 b Hagiga 12b.
8 8 Cf. Dan. 1 0 : 1 3 , 2 1 ; 12:1.
8 9 Seder Rabba di-Bereshit, in: Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur § 7 7 2 ; for an analysis of the
text and the parallels see P. Schafer, In Heaven as it is in Hell: The Cosmology of Seder Rabba
di-Bereshit, in: Heavenly Realms and Earthly Realities, ed. Boustan and Reed, 2 3 3 - 2 7 4 .
56 Peter Schäfer
preserves and recites the Songs, these sacrifices make sense only as substitutes for
the sacrifices in the polluted earthly Temple. Although the Jerusalem Temple still
exists, the sacrifices offered there are tainted with a blemish; the sole and true sac-
rifices are carried out now by the angelic priests in the celestial Temple. Like the
sacrifices offered by Michael in b Hagiga and in Seder Rabba di-Bereshit, the an-
gelic sacrifices in the Songs are offered, therefore, in Israel's behalf, for the benefit
of the people of Israel or rather, of those who understand themselves as the true
remnant of the people of Israel - the members of the Qumran community. Hence,
it is a somewhat rash conclusion to argue that Songs VII 90 or XII function as the
dramatic peak or the crescendo of the cycle, while Song XIII serves as some kind
of a dénouement 91 . Whereas both Song VII and Song XII no doubt form a climax
of the cycle (for whatever reason), we should not neglect Song XIII - which after
all concludes the cycle - with its emphasis on the angelic priests/High Priests as
offering the celestial sacrifice for the benefit of the community on earth 92 .
The question of the cycle's structure and inner dynamic is closely connected
with its purpose for and function within the Qumran community. In her first
comprehensive edition of the Songs, Carol Newsom set the tone of what has since
become a remarkable and influential trend in Qumran scholarship and in the
modern attempt to establish a historical context for the early mystical system
dubbed Merkavah mysticism. The purpose of the cycle, she argues,
"is better described as the praxis of something like a communal mysticism. During the course
of this thirteen w e e k cycle, the c o m m u n i t y which recites the compositions is led through a
lengthy preparation. The mysteries of the angelic priesthood are recounted, a hypnotic cele-
bration of the sabbatical number seven produces an anticipatory climax at the center of the
w o r k , 9 3 and the c o m m u n i t y is then gradually led through the spiritually animate heavenly
temple until the worshippers experience the holiness of the merkabah and of the Sabbath
sacrifice as it is conducted by the high priests of the angels." 94
Here we have the key-terms that present the liturgy of the Songs as the source and
hence the origins of Merkavah mysticism and that would determine much of the
subsequent discussion: we are dealing with mysticism, more concretely with the
mysticism of a community (not just of an individual), which puts itself in a hyp-
notic state and, being led through the celestial Temple, experiences the divine
90 This has been argued b y Newsom, Songs 1 3 - 1 7 .

91 A s Boustan [Abusch], Angels in the Architecture 200, summarizes the view presented b y
Morray-Jones, The Temple Within 417—420. M o r r a y - J o n e s does argue there (417) f o r Song
VII as the "preliminary crescendo" and Song XII as the "true climax of the liturgical circle as
a whole", but I cannot find his assessment of Song XIII as the dénouement. He simply ne-
glects Song XIII.
9 2 In fact, Devorah Dimant has suggested that the cycle reaches its climax in Song XIII; cf.
her The A p o c a l y p t i c Interpretation of Ezekiel at Q u m r a n , in: Messiah and Christos: Studies
in the Jewish Origins of Christianity Presented to David Flusser on the Occasion of his
Seventy-Fifth Birthday, ed. I. Gmenwald, S. Shaked, and G. Stroumsa (Tübingen 1992) 3 1 -
51 (41, n. 40).
" I.e., Song VII.
94 Newsom, Songs 19 (my emphasis); on p. 59 she speaks of a "quasi-mystical liturgy".
throne 9 5 . The experience of the "holiness" of the merkavah and of the Sabbath
sacrifice is the purpose of this "communal mysticism". The most elaborate further
development of this approach has been offered b y Christopher M o r r a y - J o n e s in
his article "The Temple Within". He quotes N e w s o m - precisely the passage
quoted above - and then spins her thread in the f o l l o w i n g manner (ignoring, h o w -
ever, her inclusion of the Sabbath sacrifice, conducted b y the angelic High Priests,
in the "experience" of the mystic), which is w o r t h citing in detail:
"The songs, then, enabled the community to gain access to the heavenly temple and to join
with the angelic hierarchy in its worship before the throne. By performing the liturgical cy-
cle, the worshippers undertake a 'ritual journey', which involves an 'ascent' through the se-
ven debirim (songs 1-7), followed by a detailed tour of the celestial temple, moving inwards
towards the center, where the Glory manifests upon the throne. It may also be admissible to
think of this as a process of 'ritual construction'. The performance of this liturgical cycle, pre-
sumably combined with intensive visualisation of the images described, will have had the ef-
fect of 'building' the celestial temple in the personal and collective imagination of the partici-
pants. The imperative formulae of the early hymns indicates (sic) that they are calling on the
angels to participate with them in this ritual 'temple-building' project. The process of con-
struction culminates in song 11, performed at or immediately before the renewal of the com-
munity's covenant at the feast of Shabu'ot. On the two sabbaths following this act of rededi-
cation, in songs 12 and 13, the divine Glory is called upon to indwell the temple that has been
constructed by the now reconsecrated community, and to receive the sacrifices offered there.
As observed above, it is the descent of the Divine Glory in the Holy of Holies, described in
song 12, that forms the true climax of the cycle. The sacred structure within which this ma-
nifestation occurs has been constructed by means of this extended ritual performance. The
worship of the holy community and its celestial, angelic counterpart is, so to speak, the sub-
stance of which the temple is composed." 96
This is a remarkable interpretation of the cycle, modelled along the lines of a cer-
tain understanding of Merkavah mysticism that is taken f o r granted - and this
with a distinct Christian-Protestant overtone. Like the yored merkavah, the M e r -
kavah mystic w h o "descends" through the seven heavens o r palaces (hekhalot) to
the divine throne (merkavah), the Q u m r a n sectaries on earth ascend through the
seven H o l y of Holies (devirim) to God's G l o r y seated on his throne. This
heavenly j o u r n e y is an inward j o u r n e y only, happening in the imagination of the
worshippers. Moreover, in undertaking their imagined ascent the sectaries con-
struct the celestial temple as a "spiritual temple" within their o w n inner self. The
ascent culminates in a kind of "adjuration" (a term typical of the Hekhalot litera-
ture but not used here b y M o r r a y - J o n e s ! ) of the divine Glory, which descends to
its imagined throne in the imagined celestial H o l y of Holies.
This retelling of the cycle in the light of later Merkavah mysticism is highly
problematic 9 7 . First, it is conspicuous w h a t minor a role the angels play in it. In-
95 Cf. the useful summary of research by E. Hamacher, Die Sabbatopferlieder im Streit um

Ursprung und Anfänge der jüdischen Mystik, in: JSJ 27 (1996) 119-154 (123-125); see also
Abusch, Sevenfold Hymns 221; id., Angels in the Architecture 195 f.
96 Morray-Jones, The Temple Within 420.
9 7 Johann Maier and others have warned against establishing an immediate connection be-
tween the Songs and the Hekhalot corpus; cf./. Maier, Zu Kult und Liturgie der Qumrange-
58 Peter Schäfer
stead, the sectaries act as the central figures; they take the initiative and ask the an-
gels to participate in their "temple-building project". True, it is the community on
earth, which calls upon the angels in the Songs - but to praise God and not to
build a spiritual Temple! And this request, together with the likely supposition
that the members of the community recite the Songs in their service, is the only
link that connects the earthly community with the angels in heaven. That the sec-
taries call upon the angels to participate "with them" in their ritual (whatever this
may be), as Morrey-Jones maintains, is simply not covered by the text. The angels
perform a ritual, not the humans, and the humans participate in this celestial ritual
by reading it during their worship. Morray-Jones improperly confuses the textual
level (the heavenly ritual) and the performative level (the enacting of the text in the
worship of the sectaries). As we have seen, humans - let alone the sectaries - are
almost non-existent in the Songs; there are no traces of the idea of a liturgical com-
munion of angels and humans which is so dominant in the unquestionably Q u m -
ranic texts discussed above. In assigning a major role to the humans in this dra-
matic performance, Morray-Jones turns the intention of the Songs upside down.
Secondly, there is nothing in the Songs to suggest that they are meant to evoke
the idea of a heavenly journey or an ascent of the community through the seven
devirim to the throne of God. The first seven Songs neither depict seven success-
ive hekhalot, nor do Songs VIII-XI describe a "detailed tour of the celestial
temple", which reaches its climax in the vision of the merkavab in Song XII. As
we have seen, Song XII is not at all concerned with the vision of the merkavah,
but with the angels attending the merkavah. Nor is Song XII concerned with the
vision of God: the Glory of God and its manifestation plays only a minor role in
the Songs (if it plays a role at all); in this regard the Songs fall far behind Ezekiel's
and Enoch's visions. The angels - their praise, their appearance, and their task -
are now the heroes of our author's imagination. God recedes into the background,
or, to put it differently, is overshadowed by his angels.
Moreover, an interpretation that is obsessed with the Qumran community's
heavenly journey and focussed on the vision of the merkavah as the climax of the
cycle completely ignores the function of the celestial sacrifice within the Songs -
which is no accident because the sacrifice performed by the angels in heaven does
not play any role in the Hekhalot literature (except for the few passages in Seder
Rabba di-Bereshit mentioned above, which can hardly claim to belong to the core
of merkavah mysticism). This is further proof that the Hekhalot literature is an
unsuitable tool to trim anything and everything in the Songs according to its ideal.
Rather than to downplay or completely ignore the status of the celestial sacrifice
because of its insignificance in the Hekhalot literature, we need to acknowledge
that it forms the climax of the cycle and hence to conclude that the Hekhalot lit-
erature cannot serve as the appropriate standard for our interpretation of the
meinde 572; C.A. Newsom, Merkabah Exegesis in the Q u m r a n Sabbath Shirot, in: J J S 38
(1987) 11-30 (29); Hamacher, Die Sabbatopferlieder 132ff.
Songs 98 . The celestial worship as described in the Songs begins with the abundant
praise of the angels and culminates in the sacrifice performed by the angelic High
Priests. This is what the community on earth urgently calls upon the angels to do:
to praise God and to offer the celestial sacrifice. Whereas the members of the com-
munity can participate (to some degree) in the angelic praise - by reciting the
Songs in their worship - they cannot any longer offer the expiatory sacrifice. The
sacrifice on earth has become corrupt, and it is only the angels in heaven who are
still able to perform this ritual, which is so crucial for the existence and the well
being of the earthly community (until it will be fully united with the angels). In
this sense the sacrifice in heaven has replaced the sacrifice on earth since there is no
hope for the restitution of the proper sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple. O r to put
it differently: as far as the sacrifice is concerned, the angels in heaven have replaced
the humans on earth; there is not much left in the Songs of the communion of an-
gels and humans. Hence the urgency and the gravity with which the sectaries call
upon the angels to perform their duty.
The Self-Glorification Hymn
The last Qumranic text to be discussed is a hymn labelled the "Self-Glorification

Hymn" and composed by an unknown author. It was originally thought to be
part of the War Scroll", has since been identified as belonging to the Hodayot (be-
cause one fragment of the Hodayot collection was recognized as evidence of the
hymn) 1 0 0 , and is now treated as an independent composition of which two recen-
sions have survived 101 . So far, the fragments 4Q471*5 (fragments 1-2) 1 0 2 , 4Q491 C
(fragments 1-2) 1 0 3 , 4Q427 (fragment 7, col. I and fragment 12) 104 , and l Q H a , col.
X X V I , have been classified as part of the Self-Glorification Hymn and dated to
the late Hasmonean and (early) Herodian periods 105 . The text of the hymn can be
divided in two parts, one, in which the author boasts about his rising among the
98 Davila's commentary in his Liturgical Works is a good example of this misguided tendency
in recent scholarship: it explains the Songs out of the treasure trove of Hekhalot literature, as
if the latter was a document contemporary with the Songs. There can be no doubt that the
Hekhalot literature continues certain ideas that have their origin in the Songs (and that later
manifestations of an idea can sometimes help us to understand its earlier form), but to project
the Hekhalot literature back into the Songs means to turn the evidence upside down.
99 M. Baillet, Qumran Grotte 4.3 (4Q482-4Q520) (DJD 7, Oxford 1982) 26-30.
100 M.G. Abegg, 4Q471: A Case of Mistaken Identity?, in: J.C. Reeves and J. Kampen (eds.),
Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of B.Z. Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth
Birthday (Sheffield 1994) 136-147 (137f.).
101 E. Eshel, 4Q471B: A Self-Glorification Hymn, in: Revue de Qumran 17/65-68 (1996)
175-203 (189ff.).
1 0 2 Also designated 4QM8.
1 0 3 Also known as 4Q491, fragment 11, col. I, and as 4QM a .
1 0 4 Also known as 4QH a .
1 0 5 See Eshel, 4Q471B 177.

60 Peter Schäfer
angels, and a second one, in which he calls upon the angels (and humans?) to
praise God. As to the first part, I follow Eshel's publication of 4Q491 C (fragment
1), but include the parallel fragments where they add important aspects 106 :
"(3) He established his truth of old, and the secrets of his devising (raze 'ormato) throughout
all [generations
(4) [ ] and the council of the humble ('asat evyonim) for an everlasting congregation.
(5) [for]ever a mighty throne (kisse 'oz) in the congregation of the gods (elim). None of the
ancient kings shall sit in it, and their nobles shall not [
(6) [ ] shall not be like my glory (kevodi), and none shall be exalted save me, nor shall come
against me. For I have taken my seat in a/the 107 [throne] in the heavens (ki ani yashavti be[~\
beshamayyim) and none
(7) [ ] I shall be reckoned with the gods (ani 'im elim ethashev), and my dwelling place is in
the holy congregation (u-mekhoni be- 'adat qodesh). I do not desire as would a man of flesh [ ]
everything precious to me is in the glory of
(8) [the gods in the] holy [dwelling place (bi-me'on ha-qodesh). Who has been despised on
my account? And who can be compared with me in my glory (u-mi bi-khvodiyiddameh li)?
Who [
(9) [ ] who befars all] griefs as I do? And who [suff]ers evil like me? [ ] and (any) teaching
(horayah) will not be equal to [my teaching]
(10) [ ] Who will stop me from speaking and who shall measure the flow of my speech, and
who shall be my equal, and be like (me) in my judgment?
(11) [ ] For I shall be reckoned with the gods (elim), and my glory (kevodi) with [that of] the
King's sons (bene ha-melekh)."
The author of this hymn extols himself as someone who has taken his seat - a
"mighty throne" (1. 5) - among the angels. The angels are again called elim
("gods") as in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice; the location of the angels as well
as of this particular throne is no doubt in heaven (1. 6, 8). The elevated status of the
speaker is further emphasized by the fact that he boasts of being superior to the
"ancient kings" and "their nobles": none of them shall be worthy of sitting in this
throne among the angels of heaven. B y the "ancient kings" he certainly alludes to
the kings of Israel and Judah, more precisely to the dynasty of the house of David.
Since by the time this hymn was composed the Davidic dynasty had acquired
messianic qualities 108 , the author not only criticizes the traditional image of the
kings from the house of David as the natural leaders of the Jewish people; he also,
at least implicitly, disregards the expectation of the restoration of the Davidic dyn-
asty with its messianic implications. Our author's glory (kavod) and exaltation is
unique, most notably in comparison with the ancient kings, and it is not unlikely
that he claims for himself - precisely for this reason - messianic qualities.
Two of the parallel fragments of our hymn carry the superior angelic status of
the author even further. There the speaker asks explicitly " W h o is like me among
106 Eshel, 4Q471B 184f.

107 I don't see a basis for Eshel's "his" in the Hebrew text.
1 0 8 Cf. P. Schäfer, Diversity and Interaction: Messiahs in Early Judaism, in: Toward the Mil-
lennium: Messianic Expectations from the Bible to Waco, ed. P. Schäfer and M.R. Cohen
(Leiden 1998) 15-35.
the angels?" (mi kamoni ba-'elim)109, a rhetorical question by which he appar-

ently means: who else is like me among the angels; is there anybody else who is
elevated like me among the angels (and the answer, of course, is "no"). But the
question is ambiguous because it obviously imitates the biblical phrase (Ex. 15:11)
"Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods/angels?" (mi kamokha ba-'elim
YHWH)110, and this question definitely means: is there anybody among the gods/
angels who is like you, God, who can be compared with you (again with the
answer "no"). One could, therefore, go a step further and argue that our author
plays with this double meaning: not only is there no one else who is elevated, like
him, among the angels; he, in his elevated status, is even superior to the angels and
(almost) becomes God's equal! All that can be said, however, is that he plays with
this double meaning (and hence with theological fire). Soon after his bold question
he steps back and positions himself modestly among the angels: "I am the friend of
the King (yedid ha-melekh), a companion of the ho[ly ones] (red' la-qedos-
bim)."ln That he is "reckoned with the gods/angels" and with the "sons of the
King" - just one of them and not necessarily superior to them - is the recurrent
Leitmotiv of the hymn112.
There are several other attributes by which the speaker characterizes himself: he
is an unequalled teacher113, whose speech cannot be interrupted114, and he is a
judge115. These are common attributes, which fit his elevated status. But what
about him bearing "all grieves" (kol sa'arim) and suffering "evil" (ra), and what
about the strange phrase mi la-vuz nehshav bi, which Eshel translates as "Who
has been attributed to me, to be despised?"116 or "Who has been despised on my
account?" 117 Unfortunately, she does not explain in her commentary how she
understands the phrase in the present context. Obviously someone is considered
to be despised because of our speaker, i.e., because he belongs to him. Does this
entail that the speaker is despised himself? Probably. That the speaker bears all
grieves, suffers evil, and is despised does not fit in with the angelic status of which
he boasts himself or rather, it does not fit in with the common image of such a
status. But the attributes that are evoked here are reminiscent of the Suffering Ser-
vant in Isaiah, particularly Isa. 53:3 f., where the Suffering Servant is described as
"despised" (nivzeh), a "man of suffering" and "bearing our sickness". Hence, it
seems that the author has modelled himself along the lines of Isa. 53: he is the des-
109 4Q47ib ( fragments 1-2,1. 5; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 8.

110 As has been correctly observed by E s h e l , 4Q471B 180.
111 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2,1. 6f.; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 10.
112 4Q491S fragment 1, 1. 7, 11; 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2, 1. 8; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7,
col. 1,1. l l f .
1 1 3 4Q491 C , fragment 1,1. 9; 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2,1. 3f.
114 4Q491S fragment 1,1.10; 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2,1.5f.; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. I,
1. 9.
115 4Q491 C , fragment 1,1. 10; 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2,1. 6; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. I,
1.10.
116 4Q471 b , fragments 1-2,1. 7; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. lOf.
117 4Q491 C , fragment 1,1. 8.
62 Peter Schäfer
pised Suffering Servant who bears all (our) grieves and suffers evil - but is never-
theless (or because of this?) elevated among the angels and seated on a throne
which even the Israelite kings cannot claim for themselves. Although he is at-
tacked by others (some envious opponents?), he has his followers and has taken
his seat in heaven among the sons of the divine King.
In its second part the hymn moves, with no apparent caesura 1 1 8 , to the invi-
tation to praise God: "Sing, O beloved ones (yedidim), sing of the King of
[glory]." 1 1 9 The epithet "beloved ones" (yedidim) seems to indicate that the ad-
dressee is the angels (note that the author called himself a yedid of the King in the
companionship of the holy ones), and the location at which the praise takes place
seems to be in heaven ("in the assembly of G o d " 1 2 0 and "in the holy dwelling") 1 2 1 .
This is certainly correct but only half of the truth. O n closer inspection it becomes
clear that not only the angels are addressed but also human beings, most likely the
members of the Qumran community. Phrases like "extol together (romemu
yahad) among the eternal hosts" 1 2 2 and "in the united assembly" (be-yahad
qahal)12i leave no doubt that the author now includes his fellow sectaries in his
hymn and that he takes up again the technical language of the communion of an-
gels and humans in their joint praise of God. The speaker, who is elevated among
the angels, now calls upon his followers on earth to join in with the praise started
by him and his fellow angels. In other words, what has been left out (or receded
into the background) in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice - the communion of an-
gels and humans - returns forcefully in the Self-Glorification H y m n 1 2 4 .
Who, then, is this speaker? To begin with, he is certainly a human being and not
an angel 1 2 5 . This is indicated by the phrase " I do not desire as would a man of
flesh" 1 2 6 , which does not make much sense in the mouth of an angel - as it is
highly improbable that an angel boasts of being elevated among the angels. Much
more feasible is another suggestion which takes into account the resemblance be-
tween the Hodayot and our text (and the possibility that our hymn was appended,
at a certain stage in its transmission, to the Hodayot) 1 2 7 . Already Morton Smith,
in his attempt to refute Baillet's identification of the speaker with the archangel
Michael, considered the Teacher of Righteousness a better candidate 1 2 8 but in the
118 Only 4Q491 C , fragment 1, leaves one line (1. 12) empty before starting the praise.
119 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 13; lQH a , col. XXVI, 1. 9.
1 2 0 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 14; lQH a , col. XXVI, 1. 10.
121 Ibid.
1 2 4 This is a phenomenological description only and not meant to impose a chronological
sequence on the texts.

1 2 5 As has been suggested by M. Baillet, who published the first fragment and identified the
speaker with the archangel Michael: Qumran Grotte 4.3 (4Q482^-Q520) 29-35.
126 4Q49IS fragment 1,1. 7.
127 Eshel, 4Q471B 191-194.
128 M. Smith, Ascent to the Heavens and Deification in 4QM a , in: Archaeology and History
in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The New York University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin,
end left the question open and concluded: "Nevertheless, it is probably better to
suppose that the Dead Sea group or groups produced more than one preposterous
poet with an exaggerated notion of his own sanctity." 1 2 9 The emphasis put in the
Self-Glorification H y m n on the speaker's teaching is indeed striking 1 3 0 , and it is
most likely, therefore, that the author was a leading figure of the community.
There are, however, problems with such a straightforward identification of our
speaker with the Teacher of Righteousness 1 3 1 : the bold tone of the H y m n and its
speaker's claim to be the only one who has been seated on the throne in heaven
among the angels goes far beyond what the author of the Hodayot asserts for him-
self. Moreover, the H y m n displays some messianic characteristics which are com-
pletely lacking in the Hodayot: in its second part, the actual praise, it alludes to
"tents of salvation" ( o h o l e yeshu'ah)ii2 and, in one fragment, even mentions the
establishment of the "horn of his Mess[iah]" ( q e r e n mesh[ibo])]ii.
Taking the messianic implications seriously, it makes sense to argue that the
speaker of the Self-Glorification H y m n is an eschatological figure134, or more pre-
cisely, some kind of Teacher of Righteousness redivivus: the founder of the sect
who was imagined by his later followers as elevated into heaven and expected to
return at the end of days as the priestly Messiah in order to lead the members of
the community in the final battle. In his "angelified" status he would have antici-
pated what the community on earth imagined in its fantasy of the communion
with the angels - the physical transformation into divine beings, the elim, w h o
surround God and praise him forever. This is not a "deification", as some scholars
have seen it 135 , and one does not need to resort to Jesus 1 3 6 or Paul 1 3 7 to assert the
ed. L.H. Schiffman (Sheffield 1990) 181-188 (187); id., Two Ascended to Heaven - Jesus and
the Author of 4Q491, in: Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed.J.H. Charlesworth (New York
1992) 290-301 (297).
129 Smith, Two Ascended to Heaven 298. Similarly,/. /. Collins, A Throne in the Heavens:
Apotheosis in pre-Christian Judaism, in: Death, Ecstasy, and other Worldly Journeys, ed././.
Collins and M. Fishbane (Albany 1995) 43-58 (55), proposes that "the author of this hymn
may have been, not the Teacher, but a teacher in the late first century B.C.E.".
130 4Q49ic> fragment 1, 1. 9f.; 4Q47]b, fragments 1-2, 1. 3f.; 4Q427 (4QH 1 ), fragment 7,
col. 1,1. 9.
131 Emphasized also by Smith, Two Ascended to Heaven 298; Collins, A Throne in the
Heavens 55 (Collins' argument, following Smith, about the alleged Edomite = Herod is
based on a misreading of the text; see Eshel, 4Q471B 195, n. 68).
132 4Q427 (4QHa), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 14.
133 4Q491 C , fragment 1,1. 15.
134 This has been suggested already by Eshel, 4Q471B 202, following/. / Collins, The
Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Ancient Literature
(New York etc. 1995) 136-153 (148). Rejecting any messianic connection Martin G. Abegg
nevertheless entertains the possibility that not the historical Teacher of Righteousness made
the claim to have ascended to heaven and taken his place among the angels, but rather that
such a claim was made "on behalf of the Teacher of Righteousness" by the author(s) of the
hymn: M.G. Abegg, Who Ascended to Heaven? 4Q491, 4Q427, and the Teacher of Right-
eousness, in: Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. C.A. Evans and P. W.
Flint (Grand Rapids/Mich. 1997) 61-73 (72).
135 Smith, Two Ascended to Heaven 298; Collins, A Throne in the Heavens 55.
64 Peter Schäfer
importance of such a concept. Suffice it to note that it is very much along the lines
of ascent apocalypses such as the Aramaic Levi document / Testament of Levi or 2
Enoch with the physical transformation of their heroes into angels. Although the
speaker of the Self-Glorification Hymn comes very close to God, closer probably
than in any of the texts we have discussed, the distance between him and God is
kept. Moreover, there is nothing in the Hymn that seems to be interested in a vi-
sion of God, let alone in a description of his appearance.
Summary and Conclusion
The Qumran community conceives itself as a community of priests, which repre-

sents the true and spiritual Temple since the physical Temple in Jerusalem is con-
sidered to be polluted and not functioning properly. In their capacity as priests
who live in absolute cultic purity the members of the community regard them-
selves as being united with the angels. This concept of the communion of humans
and angels is a major theme in the writings of the community, which, however,
should not be lumped together but takes on different forms in the various writings
associated with the sect:
In the Hodayot and related texts, emphasis is put on the liturgical communion
with the angels, a major strand in the Qumran literature. There, the Qumran sec-
taries, when performing their privileged task of praising God, join in with the
praise of the angels in heaven. Although the possibility cannot be excluded that
they envisage the angels as being present among them during their worship, it is
more likely that they regard themselves as standing together with the angels and
intermingling with them in heaven. As such, they are like the angels or even be-
come angels. Unlike the ascent apocalypses, however, the Qumran literature is not
concerned about the procedure of the physical transformation from human beings
into angels.
The unknown author of the Self-Glorification Hymn, probably the Teacher of
Righteousness redivivus, imagines himself to be elevated among the angels in
heaven. He boasts of being seated on a celestial throne and being superior to the
Israelite kings, not to mention ordinary mortals. The actual praise, however,
which is communicated in the Hymn, includes the human sectaries on earth in the
angelic praise and uses again the technical language of the communion of angels
and humans. In certain respects, the speaker of the Hymn represents the members
of the earthly community in heaven and shares with them his elevated status dur-
ing their joint worship.
136 Smith, ibid. 299; Collins, ibid. Israel Knohl wants to identify the speaker of the H y m n
not just with a Qumranic Messiah but more precisely with the direct forerunner of Jesus,
who influenced Jesus and Christian Messianism; see I. Knohl, The Messiah before Jesus: The
Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Berkeley, Los Angeles, L o n d o n 2000) 45 f.
137 Abegg, W h o Ascended to Heaven? 73.
In contrast to both the Hodayot and the Self-Glorification Hymn, in the Songs
of the Sabbath Sacrifice humans, including the human members of the Qumran
sect, recede into the background. It is only the angels, who are addressed in the
Songs; humans play an inferior role and are not put on the same level with the an-
gels. The angels are the priests/High Priests in the celestial Temple and offer the
sacrifice in heaven because the sacrifice on earth has become polluted. The only
connection between angels and humans in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice is the
(not unlikely) supposition that the Qumran sectaries, through the performative
act of reading the Songs during their worship, unite with the angels in heaven. Yet
we should not forget that the Songs do not record the contents of the angels' ac-
tual praises but invite them to perform their liturgical and sacrificial activities. It
may well be that this intense and almost desperate request directed at the angels to
do what is required of them, constitutes the gist of the Songs.
In all Qumranic texts there is no emphasis whatsoever on the vision of God and
a description of his appearance. In the Hodayot, the liturgical communion of an-
gels and humans means that the humans share the angels' knowledge of God; the
visual aspect is completely left aside. Similarly, in the Self-Glorification Hymn,
the speaker is obsessed with his communion with the angels and does not make
any attempt to approach God. This lack of any interest in a vision of God is most
striking in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. There, the angels are the center of at-
traction and seem to have replaced God. What Ezekiel saw of God's shape, albeit
vaguely and veiled, is now transferred to the angels; and the divine voice he heard
is replaced by the angels' silence.
Any attempt to discover in the Songs of the Sabbath sacrifice the earliest version
of the heavenly journey as described in the Hekhalot literature and therefore the
hidden source of what is later called Merkavah mysticism is misguided. Neither
can the Songs be read as an account of an ascent through the seven heavens, nor do
they culminate in a vision of God on his Throne of Glory. The Songs' focus on the
sacrifice offered by the angels in the celestial Temple (as a substitute for the sacri-
fice in the Jerusalem Temple) is very different from the message conveyed by the
Hekhalot texts. Whereas the possibility cannot be ruled out that some of the ideas
and motifs expressed in the Songs are resumed in the Hekhalot literature, it is
pointless to try to establish a literary and historical connection between the Songs
and Hekhalot literature and to define "mysticism" as the common denominator
between the "movements" behind both groups of texts. Such a broad category of
"mysticism" is almost meaningless in its sweeping attempt to cover a wide range
of related and unrelated phenomena. In particular, it is highly problematic to es-
tablish the priests as the link between the allegedly Qumranic and the Merkavah
mystical strands of Jewish mysticism. The texts from Qumran are indeed deeply
imbued with priestly ideology, starkly contrasting with the claims of the reigning
priests in the Jerusalem Temple, but it would be more than bold to make a similar
case for Merkavah mysticism and to argue that the authors of Hekhalot literature
are the direct heirs of the Qumran priestly community.
There is definitely no hint in the Qumranic texts that allows the reader to im-
66 Peter Schäfer
pose on them the notion of uriio mystica, of a mystical union with God, a category
so cherished by historians of religion (especially those with a Christian back-
ground). Some of the texts suggest the idea of a ttnio angelica, an "angelification"
of humans similar to what we encounter in the ascent apocalypses. Others, and
probably the majority, advocate a unio liturgica, a liturgical union with the angels
in heaven similar to what happens in the Hekhalot literature. However, quite in
contrast to Merkavah mysticism, this is largely a communal and not an individual
experience.

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Peter Schäfer

Communion with the Angels: Qumran and the

1 Littman Library of Jewish Civilization (Oxford, Portland/Oregon 2004), Hebrew original

(Jerusalem 2002). See Martha Himmelfarb's paper in this volume.

Liturgical Communion with the Angels

Osten-Sacken, Gott und Belial. Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Dualismus in

8 Schäfer, Rivalität 38, n. 27.

lels; cf. Schäfer, Rivalität 170 ff.

[Israel] will be like the stars forever and ever".

with the angels of the face ('im mal'akhe panim),

"(11:5) F r o m the fount of his righteousness ( m e q o r sidqato)

17 G. Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Sheffield 3 1987) 235.

the Qumran community as a whole. Finally, the aspect of divine knowledge is

The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

27 Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice 19.

32 Ibid. 1. 17 and 19.

35 Newsom, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice 13-15.

38 Abusch, Sevenfold Hymns 227.

"Rejoice, rejoice, supernal dwelling!

This description is continued in what remains of Songs X and X I . Song X men-

62 4Q405 15 ii-16,1. 2 (obviously alluding to the nehar di-nur in Dan. 7:10).

1:7, 23 (for their straight legs).

74 4Q405 20 ii-21-22,1. 7f.

8 8 Cf. Dan. 1 0 : 1 3 , 2 1 ; 12:1.

90 This has been argued b y Newsom, Songs 1 3 - 1 7 .

95 Cf. the useful summary of research by E. Hamacher, Die Sabbatopferlieder im Streit um

The Self-Glorification Hymn

The last Qumranic text to be discussed is a hymn labelled the "Self-Glorification

1 0 3 Also known as 4Q491, fragment 11, col. I, and as 4QM a .

1 0 4 Also known as 4QH a .

1 0 5 See Eshel, 4Q471B 177.

106 Eshel, 4Q471B 184f.

the angels?" (mi kamoni ba-'elim)109, a rhetorical question by which he appar-

109 4Q47ib ( fragments 1-2,1. 5; 4Q427 (4QH a ), fragment 7, col. 1,1. 8.

1 2 4 This is a phenomenological description only and not meant to impose a chronological

sequence on the texts.

Summary and Conclusion

The Qumran community conceives itself as a community of priests, which repre-

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