4Q510–511, also given the title ''Songs of the Sage'' or ''Songs of the

Maskil The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

'' (שירי משכיל "instructor"), is a fragmentary Hebrew-language manuscript of a Jewish magical text of incantation and exorcism in the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

, specifically for protection against a list of demons. It is notable for containing the first clear usage of the Hebrew (or Aramaic) term ''

lilith Lilith (; ), also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden ...

'' in relation to a supernatural creature. It is comparable to Aramaic incantation 4Q560 and also 11Q11.

Physical state of the scrolls

There are two versions of Songs of the Sage, traditionally titled Songs of the Sage^a (4Q510) and Songs of the Sage^b (4Q511). The text is highly fragmentary, with portions of only eleven out of twenty-one columns extant. There are seven extant fragments of Songs of the Sage^a and 215 of Songs of the Sage^b. There is some disagreement about how these fragments should be ordered.

Date and provenance

Based on paleographical considerations the scroll is usually dated to the late first century BCE. Its terminology indicates that it is a sectarian composition.

Cosmology

The text assumes that the world is populated with evil angels under the dominion of Beliel, a figure (like Satan) of ultimate personified evil. The Instructor of the community is charged with reciting the words of this liturgy to keep these forces at bay: "And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendor so as to frighten and to te ifyall the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and esert dweller...and those which fall upon men without warning to lead them astray from a spirit of understanding.4Q510 1 4–6, translated in Michael O. Wise, Martin G. Abegg Jr., and Edward M. Cook, ''The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation'' (Harper One, 2005), p. 527."

Connection to other liturgical texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls

The text contains several phrases that appear also in other Qumran liturgies, such as Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice an
Berakhot
(4Q286 and 4Q287). Some themes – especially those of the Instructor positioning himself as a lowly and sinful person – appear also in the

Thanksgiving Hymns The Thanksgiving Scroll was one of the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 by the Bedouin. The scroll gets its name from the recurring use of the phrase "I thank you" in many of the poems. The Hebrew word ''Hodayot'' refers to "thanks" ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:4Q510-511 Dead Sea Scrolls