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RE: orion-list Bedouin or Essene Beads?



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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis
> [mailto:C.H.T.Fletcher-Louis@durham.ac.uk]
> Sent: Monday, December 18, 2000 2:05 AM
> To: orion@mscc.huji.ac.il
> Subject: orion-list Bedouin or Essene Beads?
> 
> 
> On the question of the beads in the graves at Kh. Qumran, maybe I have
> missed something in the discussion so far, but should we not consider
> the likelihood of Essene women wearing beaded bracelets? Assuming that
> the site is Essene (as I do) is it not rather unlikely that any female
> members of the Essene movement would wear the beads found in the
> contested graves, given that the Book of Watchers, a text of some
> importance to the movement, ascribes the revelation of the making of
> "bracelets, decorations... precious STONES" and female ornamentation
> generally to the fallen watchers? A similarly negative view of female
> ornamentation is reflected in 4Q184 (though admittedly that text need
> not be read as a condemnation of all jewelry per se).

Crispin,

The problem here are the assumptions upon which your argument rests.  The
assumption that the site is Essene begs the question, since I believe that
is the issue that led to the present discussion of the cemetery; however, I
(and undoubtedly others) are not prepared to cede that Enoch is Essene.  For
me, the key texts antedate the emergence of sectarian movements, although
they may in some way anticipate the emergence of sectarianism.

David Suter
Saint Martin's College
For private reply, e-mail to "Suter, David" <dsuter@stmartin.edu>
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