| Conclusion
Qumran illustrates the presence of prophecy in one Jewish group, which believed that it lived the last days—a time within which the gift of prophecy had been renewed. The community as a whole was convinced that the Spirit of God, an eschatological gift, was present and active in their midst in providing "cleansing, truth, holiness, and divinely mediated knowledge and insight."10 According to Josephus, among the Essenes "there are some . . . who profess to foretell the future, being versed from their early years in holy books, various forms of purification and apothegms of prophets; and seldom, if ever, do they err in their predictions."11 The writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls believe in the inspired interpretation of scripture and prophecy. The Commentary on Habakkuk faults those who do not believe the words of the Teacher of Righteousness, who says that he received "from the mouth of God."12 Book of Mormon prophets taught that the scriptures were "plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy" (2 Nephi 25:4; see also verse 7), and that the spirit of prophecy and revelation was in their midst (see Alma 17:3). Of course, there are differences between the Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls: the desert was the final destination of the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, not the transit point as for Lehi and his family. The writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls loved the temple but did not build their own, while the Nephites did. Although both peoples observed the law of Moses, only the Nephites in the Book of Mormon looked forward to its fulfillment in Christ. Still, the areas of overlap between these people and the contours of correspondence between them—their warm belief in prophecy, their vivid sense of living in the end time, their belief in being a covenant people, the true remnant of Israel—help us to understand the good tidings that have come since Cumorah about those things that were held sacred in antiquity.
Notes 1. See Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity (New York: Doubleday, 1995), 83–95; compare Hartmut Stegemann, Die Entstehung der Qumrangemeinde (Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit Št, 1971).2. See Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, 70–3, 80. 3. See ibid., 317–27. 4. See ibid., 397–9. 5. Translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls are from Florentino García Martínez, trans., The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated, translated into English by Wilfred G. E. Watson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994). 6. See also 1QS III 11–2; IV 22; V 1–5, 8–12, 18–22; VI 14–5, 18–20; VIII 8–10, 16–9; X 10–1) 7. Frank M. Cross Jr., "Dead Sea Scrolls: Overview," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1991), 1:362. 8. On the use of Christ in place of Messiah in the Book of Mormon, see Stephen D. Ricks, "Book of Mormon Prophets Knew before the Lord’s Birth That His Name Would Be Jesus Christ. Did Old Testament Prophets Also Know?" Ensign (September 1984): 24-5. 9. See the outstanding study of the temple in the Book of Mormon by John W. Welch, "The Temple in the Book of Mormon," in Temples of the Ancient World, ed. Donald W. Parry (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1994), 297–387. 10. See David E. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983), 342. 11. Josephus, Jewish War, trans. H. Thackeray and R. Marcus, Loeb Classical Library (1927), 2.159. 12. 1QpHabakkuk II 2–3.
Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Conclusion and Notes |
