John J. Collins and James Nati, The Rule of the Association and Relates Texts, The Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024)

The goal of this volume is to provide a line-by-line commentary on the Rule of the Association and other similar texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls to non-specialists, which includes an introduction to each work, the original Hebrew text with a fresh English translation of the texts in question, and a discussion of textual notes. In Rule, Collins has written the commentary on 1QS (“The Rule of the Association”), 1QSa (“The Rule of the Congregation”), and 1QSb (“The Scroll of Blessings”) with input from Nati and Nati has written the commentary on 1Q29a, 4QS^a (4Q255), 4QS^b (4Q256), 4QS^c (4Q257), 4QS^d (4Q258), 4QS^e (4Q259 & 4Q319), 4QS^f(4Q260), 4QS^g (4Q261), 4QS^h (4Q262), 4QSⁱ (4Q263), 4QS^j (4Q264), 5Q11, and 11Q29S^b with input from Collins.

For the most part, Collins and Nati structure their commentary as follows: an introduction of the text in question, a discussion of the manuscript on which the text has been written, a bibliography, and important historical and theological facets related to the work. For example, Collins’s commentary on the Rule of the Association, which is the longest in the volume, discusses: the development of the Rule of the Association; the sectarian nature of the association reflected in it; the history of the association; the identity of the group who produced the Rule of the Association, probably the Essenes; the dualism reflected in the Rule of the Association; its new covenantal context; the different degrees of holiness of the members of the association; the higher revelation on which the association based its interpretation of Scripture (the Christian Old Testament); and the nature of the Rule of the Association.  

The collaboration between a well-seasoned and experienced scholar like Collins with a more junior scholar like Nati has produced a well-written, well-researched excellent volume that achieves all its stated goals, bravo Collins, Nati, and Oxford! Moreover, in my opinion, it is a testament to the type of commentary that publishers should produce in the future, those written in collaboration between older and younger scholars, not in isolation. Like most commentaries, this is not a book that most would sit down and read cover-to-cover. Rather, it is a reference work that one, especially non-specialists in the Dead Sea Scrolls, would consult when studying the Rule texts themselves. If you can afford it, I highly recommend making this book part of your library, which you can do so by buying directly from Oxford! 

I am grateful for the gratis copy of this work, which in no way influenced my review of it.