Exile in the Damascus Document

Abstract

Jerome Murphy-OConnor draws attention to indications of Babylonian influence on the Essenes, and indications that the legislation of the Damascus Document was intended for a group living in a gentile environment. Clearly the hypothesis raises a number of important issues, and the arguments on which it is based are discussed in this chapter. At all events it seems appropriate to look at the three passages in the Damascus Document which refer to the origins of the community that lies behind it to see whether they support the view that it came into existence in the Babylonian exile. Be that as it may, the point the author makes in the chapter is that in the present form of the text the disaster of the exile is now followed immediately by a reference to the origins of the community which lies behind the Damascus Document.Keywords: Babylonian exile; Damascus Document; Essenes; Jerome Murphy-OConnor