Freedom
in the Context of Predestination
The freedom of choice described
in CD II.14–III.12a follows a passage that emphasizes predestination. The
preceding section is structurally divided from CD II.14–III.12 with a vacat,
and opens with an expression that corresponds to the opening of CD II.14–III.12
(“And now listen to me…”). The structural sections CD II.2–13 and
II.14–III.12 appear to be parallel to each other; according to their
introductions the first reveals the “ways of the wicked” (II.2) and the second
the “actions of God” (II.14–15).
However, the passages differ
greatly in their emphasis. As shown in the analysis above, CD II.14–III.12a
emphasizes freedom of choice regarding the decision to sin, despite a
pessimistic view of the human inclination. The passage at CD II.2–13, while assuring
the reader of the possibility of repentance (II.4–5), emphasizes divine
foreknowledge and predestination. God has withheld the possibility of
choice from the wicked from the beginning; he knew their actions even before
they were created (II.7). In contrast, God has already designated individuals
(“those who are called by name,” qry’y šm) who will form the “remnant”
and will fill the earth with their descendants (II.11–12). The names of these
chosen individuals will be made known through God’s anointed one and the
“seers” of truth (II.12–13). The passage concludes with a cryptic non-sequitur:
“and that which he hated, he led astray (ht‘h)” (II.13).
The meaning of this concluding
statement and its connection to the enlightenment promised in II.12–13 is
clarified through an examination of the root t‘h and its meaning in this
section of the Damascus Document. In the passage that follows the
historical survey explored above, III.12b–18, the audience is assured that
those who continued to hold fast to the divine commandments were rewarded by
God, who revealed to them “hidden things in which all Israel had strayed (t‘w),”
including Sabbaths, appointed times, and the “ways of his truth and the desires
of his will ‘which a person shall do and shall live through them’ (Lev 18: 5;
Neh 9: 29)” (III.14–16).
In this passage, t‘h (to
“stray”) refers to transgressing the “hidden” commandments that are only known
to the community. This specific meaning for the root t‘h is also found
in the historical survey in II.14–III.12, as shown by Gary Anderson’s analysis
of this text. As Anderson notes, while the Israelites in Egypt transgressed a known
commandment and walked in the stubbornness of their hearts, Jacob’s sons
“strayed” (t‘w) and were punished for their inadvertent errors (mšgwtm).32
Similarly, in 4Q266 (4QDa) 11 10–11 the nations are deliberately
“led astray” by God (wtt‘m), in contrast to the Israelites, who have received
God’s commandments.
It follows that this is the
manner in which God causes those he hates to “stray” in CD II.13: he does not
reveal the hidden commandments to them. The chosen, in contrast, have been and
will be enlightened with knowledge of these commandments. Thus the
enlightenment of individuals described in II.11–13 is immediately contrasted
with the non-enlightenment of the wicked, which will lead them astray.
However, as described in CD
II.2-III.16, even those who have been enlightened with the revealed and hidden
commandments may make the mistake of choosing their own will. The history of
humanity in CD II.14-III.12 illuminates the possibility of such a mistake as
well as its consequences.
Like the author of the Hodayot,
the composer of CD II.14-III.12 integrates the paradigm of an innate
inclination to sin with a belief in predestination. The paradigm itself,
however, differs significantly from that found in the Hodayot. While the
Hodayot presents human sinfulness that is inevitable without God’s
intervention, this section of the Damascus Document presents a human desire to
sin that is completely under human control. It is the responsibility of
community members to fight their desire to sin, just as it was the responsibility
of past Israelites who eventually suffered the consequences of their sins. The
“logical” precondition for the ability to reject one’s inclination and to
choose God’s commandments is access to knowledge of what God really wants.
Without this knowledge, the unchosen are doomed to “stray.” (Miryam T. Brand, Evil
Within and Without: The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second
Temple Literature [Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 9; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 2013], 82-84)
