The Damascus document’s "Three Nets of Belial": A reference to the aramaic Levi document?

Abstract

Two exceptions to the rarity of allusions to, or quotations from, apocryphal and pseudepigraphical works in the Dead Sea Scrolls are found in the Damascus Document . CD 16:3-4 makes reference to the book of Jubilees , and CD 4:15 quotes the words of Levi, the son of Jacob, attributed by most scholars to a pseudepigraphical Levi composition. This chapter attempts to identify the source for, and to explain how CD's author interpreted the aphorism attributed to Levi. It suggests that the Levi citation in CD was understood as reflecting the reasons for the Qumranites' split from Jerusalem. The chapter proposes that CD's author understood the three concepts of sin mentioned in Aramaic Levi as alluding to the reasons that prompted his group to leave Jerusalem. Menahem Kister suggests a connection between MMT and CD's "three nets of Belial". Keywords: Aramaic Levi; Damascus document ; Dead Sea Scrolls; Jacob; Jerusalem; Jubilees ; Menahem Kister; Qumran