Texts in Conversation
Genesis says God created humankind male and female. The Damascus Document from the Dead Sea Scrolls quotes this line as the principle of creation to forbid taking a second wife while the first is alive.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 1:27
Hebrew Bible
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
4Q266
Damascus Document
Dead Sea Scrolls
The ‘builders of the wall’ who have followed after ‘Precept’ - ‘Precept’ was a spouter of whom it is written, They shall surely spout - shall be caught in fornication twice by taking a second wife while the first is alive, whereas the principle of creation is, Male and female created He them’ V Also, those who entered the Ark went in two by two. And concerning the prince it is written, He shall not multiply wives to himself; but David had not read the sealed book of the Law which was in the ark (of the Covenant), for it was not opened in Israel from the death of Eleazar and Joshua, and the elders who worshipped Ashtoreth. It was hidden and (was not) revealed until the coming of Zadok. And the deeds of David rose up, except for the murder of Uriah, and God left them to him.
Date: 100 B.C.E. - 80 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
“... The writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls even took the significant step of presenting the reform of marriage in terms of a return to the single-hearted solidarity of the first couple, Adam and Eve. Those who took another wife while the other was alive (possibly by practicing polygamy) sinned against ‘the principle of Creation . . . Male and female created He them.’ ...”
Brown, Peter
The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity
(p. 40) Columbia University Press, 1988
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.