Among the variety of
writings preserved in part or in full among the so-called “Dead Sea Scrolls”,
which date from the time when the Nasareans were active, there is an intriguing
confirmation of the Nasarean perspective.
Scroll 1Q20 represents an Aramaic translation and interpretation apparently
intended to be read alongside and to interpret the Torah Book of B’reishit
(Genesis). Much of the preserved text
deals with Genesis 6 – 15. In the
section (Column 11, Lines 16-17) that presents Genesis 9:3-4, which is the
cornerstone in the “canonical” text of Genesis for permitting the consumption
of animal flesh, which had not been included in what human beings could eat in
Genesis 1:29, 1Q20 reads in translation:
“Behold, I give to you and
to your children everything for food among the greenery and the herbs of the
land. But all blood you shall not eat.”
There is no permission to
eat animal flesh here; instead, only a reaffirmation of the original vegetarian diet.
Perhaps, 1Q20 reflects a
tradition or even a text at variance with that of the received text of Genesis
9:3-4 and in line with that of the Nasareans. The fact that earlier in 1Q20
(Column 10, Lines 13-17) there is mention of Noach’s sacrifice of animals, as
in Genesis 8:20 but in more detail, makes it untenable that 1Q20 itself is a
Nasarean text, given their rejection of and hostility to animal sacrifice. This fact thereby increases the likelihood
that variant texts or traditions regarding Genesis 9:3-4 were not merely
confined to a single sectarian entity during the late Second Temple period nor
simply the product of such a sect.
For more on 1Q20, please
see:
Daniel K. Falk, 2009,
Anatomy of a Scene: Noah’s Covenant in Genesis Apocryphon XI. In Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Proceedings of the Nordic Qumran Network 2003-2006, edited by
Aandres Klostergaard Petersen, et al., Brill Academic Publishers.
And
http://etd.nd.edu/ETD-db/theses/available/etd-07022007-205251/unrestricted/MachielaD072007.pdf
