"and renew for thee the covenant of eternal priesthood and give thee thy place in His Holy Dwelling-place." BLACK p. 140 HYMNS Col. III. 26-27. BLACK in his study of the RELIGIOUS AND THEOLOGICAL aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls considers that the thesis of the emergence of the Primitive Church from this side of Judaism will stand or fall depending on what evidence there is. He then summarizes a series of main connections, which we will extract in part: l. Qumran practiced baptismal rites, the Jewish sects did too, but at Qumran the rites were practiced in relation to a movement of repentance, of entry into a New Covenant, and a New Covenanted Israel, in preparation for an impending divine Judgement. The Qumran New Covenant was largely a renewal of the Old Covenant; and the life of the new covenant was subjected to an even more rigorous and burdensome legalism than that of the strictest Pharisee. He became a member of an exclusive sect, of a saved Remnant. The proclamation was: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand, and by their prophetic and Messianic ministries." p. 168. "The sacred meal of Qumran consisted solely of bread and or/wine.It may be that such a meal was eaten in anticipation of the coming of the Prince of David's line (or Nasi), and his participation in the sacred meal of Ezekiel." p, 169. 2. "Qumran appears also to have developed a doctrine of redemption by vicarious suffering and to have viewed this as among its chief arcana or mysteries. The famous Suffering Servant Prophecies of Isaiah are applied to this group of "saints and potential martyrs." 170. The sect at Qumran had Messianic expectations, still being debated; one is a highly-priestly Messiah. The sect also cherished the expectation of the coming of the Moses-like Prophet of Deut. Xviii.18, which elsewhere has been treated as a forerunner of the true Messiah. This forerunner will be of Ephraim, be killed by lawless men, his blood will cry for vengeance from the ground, and his name will be Joseph. This is particularly developed in 3rd ENOCH-THE HEBREW BOOOK OF ENOCH.
GASTER, p. 438, as part of his translation of a fragment called THE NEW COVENANT, quotes: "Howbeit, in the time of Thy good pleasure, thou wilt (again) choose unto Thyself a people, for Thou has remembered Thy covenant; and Thou wilt make them to be set apart unto Thee as an holy thing distinct from all the peoples; and Thou wilt renew Thy Covenant unto them with a show of glory (perhaps the vision to Joseph in the grove?) and with words of Thy holy (spirit) with works of Thy hand and with a script of Thy right hand, revealing unto them both the basic roots of glory and the heights of eternity; and Thou wilt appoint for them a faithful shepherd, (a new Moses) one who will ..the lowly the." The fragment breaks off there. Historically when did this happen? And who were the new people, and who was the faithful shepherd?