The Community as the New Axis Mundi: The Stone Imagery of Isaiah 28:16 and its Reception in 1QS and 1QHa.

• Isaiah’s prophecy of stones, in which God has laid in Zion “a stone, a tested stone, a valuable cornerstone for a foundation, a foundation for the one who trusts that will not shake” (28:16) is an important intertext in the sectarian compositions from Qumran. It is alluded to in the Hodayot (1QHa) and the Serekh ha-Yahad (1QS), in all instances it is directly associated with the (council of the) community. As a general trend in Qumran scholarship, these allusions—especially in 1QS VIII, 7–8—are understood metaphorically, as speaking of the community in terms of a temple. In this essay, the stone imagery in 1QS and 1QHa will instead be treated as symbol namely, the symbol of axis mundi / omphalos. In Paul Ricœur’s definition, metaphor is superstructure, working on the level of the sentence whereas symbol is infrastructure, working on the level of the narrative. The symbol connects the narrative in the text with a narrative that is larger than life. A symbolic reading of Isa 28:16 in the Scrolls displays the community as involved in the larger narrative of God’s salvific activities. When the community claim that they are the foundation stone, a massive stone/wall, the corner stone, it is to say that God has now chosen them as a locus for his activities and presence. They are a religiopolitical centre (axis mundi) aiming for societal change, with a council capable of advising both kings and priests. In reversed light of the reception of Isa 28:16 in the Scrolls and rabbinic literature, it is argued that the figure of speech in the source text in Isaiah 28:16 is an early witness of the representation of Jerusalem and Zion as the axis mundi.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionshistoria (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- History of Religions (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Filosofi, etik och religion -- Religionsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion -- Religious Studies (hsv//eng)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kap (ämneskategori)