Praise and Music in the Qumran Community

Abstract

The Essene group which had withdrawn from the remainder of the Jewish nation to the shores of the Dead Sea looked upon themselves as "God's elect, not only as members of the chosen people but also individuallyas sons of light, the men of God's lot." They believed that the Jewish leaders who were successors of the "wicked priest" in the control of the temple at Jerusalem were apostates from the true faith. However, the isolated community did not set up a rival center of sacrifice in the wilderness, even though, unlike the synagogues throughout the Roman world, they were cuf off religiously, psychologically and politically from Jerusalem.