The Desert as the Place of (re)birth of the Qumran Community

The term mdbr recurs 42 times in the Dead Sea Scrolls, functioning both as a metaphor and as a reference to a real place. In several of these occurrences, it designates a central element in the history and development of the yaḥad: a place of refuge for the community’s leader and, consequently, a place of the community’s rebirth. In particular, 1QS addresses the theological self-understanding of the yaḥad. The desert emerges as the concrete background of the community’s theological vocation through the reference to Isa 40:3, where the “way in the wilderness” is interpreted as the study of the law. This article examines these occurrences in light of their historical background, highlighting the significance of the desert in the community’s reinterpretation of itself as a place of existence. According to the majority of scholars, the Qumran community withdrew from Jerusalem in order to settle in the Judean desert, and this study emphasizes the importance of the desert as the locus of the community’s life and identity.