Mapping ideal ways of living: Virtue and vice lists in 1QS and 4Q286

Abstract

This article analyses virtue and vice lists in ancient Hebrew literature, specifically focusing on those found in 1QS and 4Q286. It is argued that these texts from Qumran offer distinctive evidence for extended lists of virtues and vices. Apart from illustrating ideals of the yaḥad movement, the sources invite us to consider what counted as ethical to ancient Jews and whether the texts indicate any attempt to organize ethical concerns. The authors lacked a meta-category denoting “virtue” (cf. ἀρετή in Greek or virtus in Latin), but they discussed a myriad of specific virtues and vices by way of listing and grouping (un)desirable qualities that can be characterized as moral, intellectual, and ritual. It is also likely that the authors regarded the qualities of wisdom and truth as elevated “master virtues” of some kind. The article ends with reflections on the types of ethics attested in 1QS and 4Q286. Drawing on anthropological research, the texts are argued to primarily promote what could be called “ethics of divinity.”