Leader Resposibility

March 11, 2009, 10:02 am by dc-agape.

I have two post left in the Damascus Document.  This one will be about the rules of leadership, rank within the Wadi camp, and tithes.  The last post will be about punishment for members that do not follow the covenant to return to the Law of Moses.  The punishments are quite severe.  I plan on covering two tractates from the Nag Hammadi Library after that.  One post will be an introduction to the Library; the second post will be “The Prayer of the Apostle Paul”.  Since that one is extremely short, I will also cover “The Apocryphon of James”.  I am not sure how many that will take but it is 16 columns long.  Since I have taken so long on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi, the OT, and the NT, I feel that I have taken too little time with the Holy Qur’an.  I will return to that Holy Book and use the advice that I have received from my Thailand Muslim commenter.  I will start at the end of the Qur’an (Al-Nās: The Men) and plan to work my way back to Al-Naba’: The Announcement.  If I understand the concept properly that is last 36 Surahs of the Text.

Now back to the Damascus Document.  One of the first rules of the camps is that of camp population.  For every 10 members in a camp it was required that a priest be present.  This priest would preferable be from the ranks of the sons of Zadok.  But if not enough “sons” were available it could be any qualified Levite.  Qualification required Knowledge of the Book of Meditation.  Unfortunately, no trace of this Book has yet been found (Google Books – The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Untold Story by Kenneth Hanson).  One of the reasons for the requirement of so many priests is described immediately in following row.  Only a priest could isolate and evaluate the condition of skin diseases.  One man ruled the camp, no matter how large, this was the Overseer.  His responsibilities were to teach, care for the members, and remove anything that might oppress or crush his congregation.  He was also required to test any new members.

The Overseer was also the only person who could give permission to the congregants to bring people to the camp, give permission to buy or sell outside the camp, and give permission to allow for marriage or divorce.  But the Overseer was not allowed bear a grudge against any member for transgressions.

Rank with the camp was very caste-like.  The priests were first this included where they sat and first dibs on speaking.  Second were the Levites, followed by the “children of Israel”, and finally the proselytes (the new converts).  This was obviously a religious sect, which only allowed “the children of Israel” grudgingly into their camp. 

More qualification for the priests and Overseer were related on the 14^th column.  Age limits were in place.  The priest had to be between the ages of 30 and 60, while the Overseer could only be between the ages of 30 and 50.  The authors again repeat that the priest had to be learned in the Book of Meditation, but now included all the regulations of the Law, and the capacity to “speak them in the proper way”.  The Overseer also had to be “master of every secret of men and of every deceptive utterance”.  Wow, I wish we had some of these Overseers in out US government: wouldn’t be great if someone could know all the secrets of men?  Wouldn’t be great if someone was the master of every deceptive utterance?  Assuming that this knowledge was used to expose the deception!  The Overseer was also responsible for organizing (ensuring) the proper order of entering buildings, sitting, and talking.

This group also required a tithe: at least two days pay was to be provided to the group.  This tells you that these members actually had jobs!  They were not an isolated group.  They interacted with Israelite society enough to receive a salary (very similar to the way the Amish do here in the US.  At least this tithe went for good things: the wounded, the poor, the needy, the elderly, the sick, the captive, the virgin girl with no support, the boy with no support, and for common business.

As a gay atheist, this is how the Christian Church should also be formatted.  But of course, that is just wishful thinking.  Communal living has such a bad name to day due to the Traditions of Men.  Yet this is also how the disciples lived in the Book of Acts:

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Maybe this is why YHWH is so angry with the world today!  The “christians” aren’t living together and leaving the government alone!  You christians know that you are supposed to submit to the governing authorities.

Romans 3:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

Notice that it says “everyone must submit”!  Let’s see the definition of everyone, the definition of must, and the definition of submit (all from dictionary.com).  Now that those words are clearly defined…Christians are not allowed to interfere with government.  Now get out of the government!

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