War Scroll (1QM) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

War Scroll (1QM) - Research Paper Example From the current discussion it can be comprehended that the War Scrolls were discovered with the other Qumran Scrolls. It is a manual that lays out military strategy and organization for a serious war that seems to be the final showdown of years of divergence amongst two different groups of people. These groups are indicated in the scrolls as the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness. From the point of view of researcher, the War Scrolls demonstrate the theoretical framework and conception of a group of people who belonged to the sect that hid the Qumran Scrolls in the cave. The author of the discussion infers this logically because at the time that the scrolls are dated (that is 50 BCE), Ancient Israel was under Roman Rule. Roman Rule was seen by many Jews of Ancient Israel as a rule perpetrated by people of an evil background. This is because many sources including the Christian New Testament indicate that the Jewish people of Ancient Israel had little regards for non-Jews. Th ey also saw the rule of Rome as some form of evil oppression that prevented Jews from carrying out the commandments in the Laws of Moses. So it appears that the scrolls meant the final wars and battles that would be fought between Israel and the Roman nation that would ultimately liberate Israel from its enemies. However, there are numerous interpretations that have various logical backings. Content Image 1.1 The War Scrolls 1QM: Courtesy of Hebrew University of Jerusalem The War Scrolls , 1QM is made up of 19 columns (Sukenik 1955, 1). It contains descriptions of the final showdown between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. Since the display is not very clear and easily understandable to the modern man (ie it is not in chapters and verses as we have it in the Bible of today), it is divided into columns for the purpose of analysis amongst modern day theologists and social scientists. Philip Davies (1977) identifies that the 1QM or War Scrolls is divided into four main Parts . Part 1 which includes Columns 2 to 9 of the scrolls. It is about the basic elements of the war and it gives a description of the organization of the armies of the wars and the composition of the various units of the war and its spiritual implications which is paralleled with the 12 Tribes of Israel and the protection of the Covenant between Israel and God. Part 2 of the 1QM gives a background to the conflict and explains it into more details and includes some liturgical elements that makes the war more of a religious one than a secular one. It covers columns 14 to 19. Part 3 covers columns 10 – 14 whilst Part 4 is about column 1 which predicts the eventual victory of the Sons of Light over the Sons of Darkness. The extract from Image 1.1 above echoes elements from Numbers 10:9 (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2011 paragraph 1). This indicates that the war is to be fought with the various elements of a fair war which are outlined in the Torah in Numbers 10 and repeated by Mo ses in Deuteronomy 20. This includes amongst other things, the fact that a religious war should be sanctioned with a special priest from the descendants of Aaron who are known amongst Jews today as the Kohanim. The 1QM scrolls indicate that a special Kohen has to declare certain things to the soldiers before a religious war is sanctioned. This implies that the Sons of Light are really involved in some elements of Jewish religious life. The Sons of Light in the Qumran Scrolls are referred to as Yahad (Qumran.org). Yahad has a strong