Analysis of the Semantic Levels of the Prescriptive Fragment 4Q184 of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Wisdom and wickedness in the symbol of “woman” has always been the subject of inquiry in Jewish tradition, especially when it comes to portraying women in prescriptive literature. This article which focuses on one of the texts of Qumran, namely 4Q184, expounds some of the functions of the modes of wisdom in Qumrani thought. The existence of the fragment 4Q184 in the Qumran manuscripts denotes the importance of this symbolic text in Qumran’s community and reflects the situation which this sect encounters. The Fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls which has evidence derived from the Bible is analyzed in three semantic levels: the first is the level of moral teachings that had flourished in the long-standing Jewish tradition; the second is the level of the nature of wisdom, which, considering the goddesses of the wisdom of Mesopotamia and historical background of the Old Testament, has a theological literary motivation. By analyzing the historical context, it is found that the poetry in the third level is a metaphor for Jerusalem's divination which is, just like a wicked woman, involved in the act of seducing the pious. According to the belief of the false divination of the temple and false wisdom of Jerusalem, Qumranians left Jerusalem.