Photo LL The podium in the outer hall.
Photo MM The "pantry".
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The abbey was a separate building
east of the monastery. It corresponded to the outer hall at Qumran, loc 77, to which
Jesus went after the Last Supper.
The Qumran hall was 36 cubits long when the 2
cubit aqueduct at its east end was counted. All structures at Qumran were determined by the
numbers 12 and 10 and their multiples, numbers valued by Pythagoreans.
East-west it was divided into 3 panels, each of 12 cubits. The west panel was
the one to which pilgrims came when they visited, and it was extended to the
south by loc 86, called the "pantry" by archeologists because when found by
them it had a large number of eating bowls stacked at its end. They assumed
that the hall was the refectory of the monastery, but its use as an enclosed
monastery made it unlikely that they would eat outside the walls. Their
refectory can be identified on the ground floor of loc 30, and the outer hall
better understood as the place where visiting pilgrims had their meals during
the month that they stayed there. The Therapeuts who were of the married class
developed their own schools as abbeys, where men usually lived celibate but
were free to marry. The outer hall at Qumran became their first abbey, being reproduced in the world
cities, attached to a monastery.
On the west panel of the abbey the
imagery of the Heavenly Man was still used, identifying the rows. Flat stones
still embedded there were used as a podium for the priest receiving Gentiles as
"God" and for his deputy, who was an "Adam". The north stone in the group of
stones lay on row 9, and the south one on row 10. It was here that on the night
following the Last Supper Jesus as the Son of Man knelt on row 10 before
Jonathan Annas, who was both "God" and the abbot, calling him Abba.
The middle panel was used for the
imagery of the chariot, derived from the chariot vision in
Ezekiel 1. At the
time it was written it was intended to say that God could travel outside Jerusalem to Babylon, and in the 1st
century BC it had supplied imagery for the ascetics as traveling missionaries
to the Diaspora. Their project came from the abbey schools developed by the
Therapeuts.
The chariot lay within the time
circle which was also the world circle, giving their goals. They went to the
destinations at the world circle, which they treated as a map. A table lay
across it, on rows 7 to 9, now transferred from the cathedral table. 12 men sat
at it for midnight meals at vigils, at which wine manufactured in the abbeys was drunk.
Visualized above them was a 4x4 cubit board representing the chariot on which
God rode on his celestial journeys. The Heavenly Man, or his upper half,
supplied the forehead at the center of the X in the circle.
The driver of the chariot, "God"
stood on row 7, and a traveling altar was represented on row 6. The two
positions on rows 6 and 7 corresponded to the positions for the act of
atonement in the Holy of Holies of the wilderness tabernacle, the altar of
incense on row 6 and the high priest on row 7. The missionaries were bringing
atonement to the whole world, gained by initiation. They were heading north,
the preferred direction for them, and the chariot was drawn by a "horse", the
traveling priest with his seasonal colors, controlled by a "bridle". These were
the missionaries themselves and their deputies,
As seen in Figure 13 below:
Figure 13 The world circle.
the X of the
time circle could be developed by lines drawn to the 4-4 and 8-8 points, so as
to form rays or spokes, the spokes of a wheel. In Ezekiel's vision, the chariot
was drawn by 4 wheels, which turned in the direction of all 4 compass points.
The directions were indicated by the 4 Living Creatures, the Man for the east, 6
am and green for spring; the Eagle for the west, 6 pm and red for autumn; the
Calf for the north, (not "ox") for midnight and black for winter; and the Lion
for the south, noon and white for summer.
The spokes for the wheels ended on
the perimeter of the time circle, at NE, SE, SW and NE. In Revelation 22:11 names for 4 places are
given, "holy, righteous, unrighteous, filthy". Words meaning south-east and
south-west appear in Acts for world places or directions
(Acts 27:12 (the
Greek), 14 ). It may be seen that the ends of the spokes represented the
chariot wheels, able to go in different directions, for example the NE one to
both north, Antioch. and to east, Babylon. At the directions of the wheels were mission centers
practicing the different kinds of ascetic discipline. The one at the NE was
"holy" for permanent celibacy: at the NW "righteous", for the Nazirite retreat
discipline of married men; at the SW "unrighteous" for men living within
marriage; and at the SW "filthy", for various kinds of sinners. In CD they are
specified as "the three nets of Belial" : fornication, riches and defilement of
the temple. Such sins, it was believed, were especially practiced in the south,
Alexandria, and
the west, Rome.
This verse, 21:3 quotes the command
for John III to go to the central panel, to the table used at the midnight vigil, sitting in his
usual place at the outer west on row 7. By the use of meta with
genitive, showing equal status, it is conveyed that a proselyte who had become
Christian stood in the place of the guard on the lower curve on row 10. He
was the Man (anthropoi plu. rep,) an "Adam" who had replaced Agrippa I. It
can be seen that he was the proselyte, the "Adam" who had become fully
Christian in Revelation 20:12.
Jesus III in a lay capacity as the "husband" sat with his
betrothed in the double central seat on row 7 at the table.They were under
"God" on the overshadowing chariot, who would ensure that they kept the rules.
In the second half of v. 3 it is
shown that the Pope Alexander I was sitting behind the betrothed pair, on
row 6 He (autos) was dressed in lay garments, not the robes of a
priest. Another sat east of center, called autoi laoi, a plu rep for a laos in ordinary dress.
He was a deputy to Jesus III who would be the best man, the "friend of the
bridegroom".
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