Qumran Spiritual Liturgies

11Q5 gives a list of liturgical compositions attributed to David, to be recited on the regular days, shabbats, festivals, and the four additional days of an „ideal”calendar of 364 days. Some of the items can be related to various Qumran texts: the four compositions of 11Q11 (the four songs written „for the stricken”), the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, and the composition called Dibrē ha-Meorot „Words of the Luminaries” - prayers written for the consecutive days of the week.

The compositions of 11Q11 are apotropaic rituals against demonic harms, uttered on the four liminal days (equinoxes and solstices) of the year. The mystical antiphonal liturgies of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice arranged in a quarterly order might have been intended to secure a regular connection between the heavenly sanctuary and an earthly community on the days of Shabbat. The prayers included in Dibrē ha-Meorot „Words of the Luminaries” (4Q504-506) are communal prayers, supplications motivated by historical recollections requesting knowledge of the Law, and deliverance from sinning in the future.

The ritual agenda shaped in 11Q5 give the sect’s own prayer ritual, which might have served as a substitute of participation in the Temple cult. The liturgical texts represent different approaches in human-divine relations. Apotropaic texts written for the liminal days are intended to avert plagues and evil spirits. Texts written for the shabbats enable humans to participate in a heavenly liturgy, while petitional prayers uttered on weekdays are for shaping identity, and asking for knowledge and divine blessing.