Overview

This volume contains a collection of previously unknown compositions from Cave 4 at Qumran. These compositions, written during the Second Temple period, use specialized terminology that allows them to be classified as sapiential (or instructional) literature. As such, they are part of the larger genre of wisdom literature, common in the ancient Near East, which includes other collections of sayings and instruction such as the Book of Proverbs, Ben Sira, and the Epistle of James. The documents published here include Mysteries (a manuscript of which was also found in Cave 1), several Meditations on Creation, an Admonitory Parable, Work Concerning Divine Providence, Ways of Righteousness, a number of small sapiential texts, and one text written in the script known as Cryptic A Words of a Sage to All Sons of Dawn. These compositions enhance our understanding of the keen interest in theological and ethical issues (such as God's omnipotence, justice, creative power and design, and man's moral and ethical responsibility to his Creator and fellow men), both of the Qumran community specifically and of Second Temple period Judaism in general.

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We are grateful to the editors who have prepared these small and often frustrating fragments. The material presented here, especially when it is combined with what is still to appear in DJD 34, offers new resources for the study of wisdom in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Eileen M. Schuller, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly it is good to have these important texts in one volume. The thorough treatment given to the texts in this series makes it an invaluable addition to any library ... The book is beautifully presented with plates of each scroll and a helpful concordance. Katherine J Dell, Journal of Theological Studies 50:2 October 1999 This volume will delight all those participating in the ongoing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. International Review of Biblical Studies.

`We are grateful to the editors who have prepared these small and often frustrating fragments. The material presented here, especially when it is combined with what is still to appear in DJD 34, offers new resources for the study of wisdom in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity.' Eileen M. Schuller, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly `it is good to have these important texts in one volume. The thorough treatment given to the texts in this series makes it an invaluable addition to any library ... The book is beautifully presented with plates of each scroll and a helpful concordance.' Katherine J Dell, Journal of Theological Studies 50:2 October 1999 `This volume will delight all those participating in the ongoing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.' International Review of Biblical Studies.

This volume will delight all those participating in the ongoing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. * International Review of Biblical Studies. * it is good to have these important texts in one volume. The thorough treatment given to the texts in this series makes it an invaluable addition to any library ... The book is beautifully presented with plates of each scroll and a helpful concordance. * Katherine J Dell, Journal of Theological Studies 50:2 October 1999 * We are grateful to the editors who have prepared these small and often frustrating fragments. The material presented here, especially when it is combined with what is still to appear in DJD 34, offers new resources for the study of wisdom in Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. * Eileen M. Schuller, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly *

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