Biblica - Vol 89 (2008) Timmer, Daniel C., Sectarianism and Soteriology. The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6,24-26) in the Qumranite Community Rule (1QS) (2008)

In an attempt to go beyond conventional sociological and anthropological analyses of the religious aspect of the Qumranite sectarian corpus, this article considers the reuse of the Priestly Blessing (PB) of Numbers 6 in the Community Rule (1QS). Comparison of how curses were applied elsewhere in Second Temple Judaism informs reflections on what this imaginative redeployment of the PB tells us of the ideology and self-identity of the Qumran group, highlighting their reconfiguration and exclusive appropriation of the covenants with Israel.