Temple Scroll (11QTᵃ)

The longest Dead Sea Scroll and a unique example of Second Temple biblical rewriting, revealing how one Jewish group understood the ideal relationship between Temple, law, and divine speech.

The Temple Scroll, designated 11QTᵃ or 11Q19, is the longest of all the Dead Sea Scrolls, measuring approximately 8.15 meters (nearly 27 feet) in length. It was found in Cave 11 at Qumran in 1956 by Bedouin, who kept it hidden for over a decade. In June 1967, during the Six-Day War, Yigael Yadin — Israeli archaeologist, military hero, and son of E. L. Sukenik — arranged for the scroll to be seized from a Bethlehem antiquities dealer and brought to Israel. Yadin subsequently devoted years to its study, publishing the editio princeps in 1977 (in Hebrew) and 1983 (in English).

The scroll is written on extremely thin parchment, the thinnest of any Qumran scroll, with the text inscribed on one side only. It contains 67 columns, though the first few are badly damaged. The script is a careful Herodian bookhand, and the copy dates to approximately the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE. The composition itself may be considerably older; Yadin and others have argued for a composition date in the mid-2nd century BCE or even earlier, possibly during the reign of the Hasmonean rulers.

The most striking feature of the Temple Scroll is its narrative voice. Unlike the other Qumran scrolls, which are written as human compositions (hymns, rules, commentaries), the Temple Scroll presents itself as the direct speech of God. Where the biblical source texts use the third person — "The LORD said to Moses" — the Temple Scroll converts the text to first person: "I say to you." This technique effectively transforms biblical law into a new divine revelation, presented as God's own words addressed directly to Israel (or, perhaps, to Moses on Sinai). Some scholars have argued that the scroll's author considered this text to be a "second Torah" or an authoritative supplement to the Pentateuch.

The scroll divides roughly into four sections. The first section (columns II–XIII) describes the Temple itself, laying out an idealized architectural plan for a sanctuary far more elaborate than either the First Temple of Solomon or the Second Temple as it existed in the Hellenistic period. The plan envisions three concentric courts — an inner court for priests, a middle court for ritually pure Israelite men over twenty, and an outer court for women, children, and proselytes. The dimensions are enormous, far exceeding the historical Temple Mount, and include detailed specifications for chambers, gates, storerooms, and a staircase system.

The second section (columns XIII–XXIX) deals with the festival calendar and sacrificial regulations. The scroll prescribes a 364-day solar calendar rather than the lunisolar calendar used in the Jerusalem Temple, a point of major disagreement between the Qumran community and the Temple establishment. This calendar ensures that festivals always fall on the same day of the week. The scroll adds festivals not found in the Torah, including a Festival of New Wine and a Festival of New Oil, expanding the agricultural festival cycle beyond what Leviticus 23 prescribes.

The third section (columns XXIX–XLVII) addresses purity laws, including regulations about unclean animals, bodily discharges, skin diseases, and corpse contamination. These laws are drawn from Leviticus and Numbers but are significantly expanded and systematized. The regulations are stricter than those found in rabbinic literature, reflecting the Qumran community's emphasis on extreme ritual purity.

The fourth section (columns XLVIII–LXVI) contains the "Law of the King" and various legal statutes. The Law of the King, based on Deuteronomy 17:14–20, prescribes how the king of Israel should conduct himself, including limitations on his army, his wealth, and his marriages. The king is forbidden from marrying a foreign woman and is required to have a council of thirty-six advisors (twelve princes, twelve priests, and twelve Levites). This section also includes laws about witnesses, capital punishment, idolatry, and the administration of justice.

Yadin argued that the Temple Scroll reflected genuine opposition to the Hasmonean kings, who combined the offices of king and high priest in violation of biblical separation of powers. The scroll's insistence on distinct roles for the king and the priestly hierarchy may represent a critique of Hasmonean rule, particularly the policies of John Hyrcanus and Alexander Jannaeus.

The scroll's relationship to the biblical text is complex. It does not simply copy biblical passages; it harmonizes, expands, and rewrites them. When parallel laws in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy conflict or overlap, the Temple Scroll weaves them into a single coherent statement. This method anticipates rabbinic harmonization techniques but differs in its bold claim to divine authorship.

A second, fragmentary copy of the Temple Scroll (11QTᵇ or 11Q20) was found in the same cave, confirming that the text was an established work copied multiple times. Fragments from Cave 4 may also belong to related compositions. The scroll's influence on other Qumran texts is debated; some scholars see it as a foundational document for the community, while others view it as one of several texts the community preserved without necessarily endorsing its every detail.

• Longest Dead Sea Scroll at over 8 meters, containing 67 columns of text
• Written in first person as direct divine speech, transforming biblical law into new revelation
• Describes an idealized Temple with three concentric courts far larger than any historical structure
• Prescribes a 364-day solar calendar differing from the Jerusalem Temple's lunisolar calendar
• Adds festivals not in the Torah: Festival of New Wine and Festival of New Oil
• The Law of the King section may critique Hasmonean rulers who combined royal and priestly offices
• Acquired by Yigael Yadin during the 1967 Six-Day War from a Bethlehem dealer
• Written on the thinnest parchment of any Qumran scroll

The Temple Scroll engages directly with some of the most important legal and architectural passages in the Torah. Its Temple plan builds upon Exodus 25–31, where God instructs Moses on building the Tabernacle, and Ezekiel 40–48, where the prophet receives a vision of an ideal future Temple. The scroll's three-court layout recalls Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6) but vastly expands it, suggesting the author envisioned a sanctuary that would surpass anything yet built. The festival calendar draws from Leviticus 23, which prescribes the appointed feasts of the Lord, but the scroll's solar calendar departs from the lunisolar reckoning that governed Temple practice in Jerusalem. This disagreement over the calendar was a fundamental point of contention; if the festivals were being observed on the wrong days, then the Temple worship itself was invalid in the community's eyes. The Law of the King expands Deuteronomy 17:14–20, where Moses prescribes that the king "shall not multiply horses to himself" and "shall not multiply wives to himself." The scroll's detailed expansion of these provisions into a comprehensive royal constitution reflects concern that Israel's kings had repeatedly violated these commandments — Solomon being the most prominent example (1 Kings 11:1–8).