Calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls

The year 1997 was the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This text explores the evidence about calendars in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Hebrew Bible and other ancient Jewish texts. James C. VanderKam examines the pertinent texts, their sources and the different uses to which people put calendrical information in the Christian world. It provides an addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls series and contributes to the elucidation of the scroll texts themselves and their relation to other Biblical texts.

James C. VanderKam is professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Eerdmans 1994).

Table of Contents. Part I:Introduction to Biblical and Post-biblical Calendars. Chapter 1: The Hebrew Bible. A. Some important passages. B. The moon and the sun. C. Three systems for designating months. D. The festivals. E. The Gezer Calendar. F. Some debated issues. Chapter 2: Sources later than the Hebrew Bible. A. Elephantine papyri. B. The Samaria papryi. C. 1Enoch 72-82. D. Sirach E.The Book of Jubilees. Part II. Chapter 1: The first calendrical hints. A. Introduction. B. Calendrical information in the first scrolls and the Damascus Document. Chapter 2: A history of scholarship on the Qumran calendars. A. S. Talman. B. D.Barthelemy. C. A.Jaubert D. J.T.Milik. E. S.Talmon. F. J.Sanders. G. Y.Yadin. Chapter 3: The Calendrical texts. A. Introduction. B. The texts. C. A Sundial Chapter 4: Measuring and symbolizing longer units of time. A. Evidence from the Hebrew Bible. B. The scrolls. Chapter 4: Conclusion. A. Summary statements. B. A hypothetical sketch of the role of the calendar in Qumran origins. Bibliography.