The name first given to a large but badly damaged scroll among what is commonly called Dead Sea Scrolls. The scroll was purported found in Cave 4 at Qumran but was purchased by Israeli archaeologist E. L. Sukenik in 1947, and its contents published in 1954. The manuscipt is a collection of some thirty or so hymnic compositions modelled to some extent on the biblical psalms and "expressing the views and feelings of one of the members of the sect" at Qumran. Later it was realized that this manuscript was only one of a larger collection of such literture produced and used by the community. Eight copies of the work is now recognized.
The term Hodayot, however, has also come to represent the particular theological view that was supposedly held by the community that produced and used them. Central to this view is the conflict between the spirits of good and evil in the soul of all men. Due entirely to God's predestination and action, however, the members of the community, and especially its leaders, have been endowed with the "spirit of holiness," so that their souls are in possession of a share of almost entirely good with little, if any, of the evil. This gift of righteousness leads the author naturally to praise and thanksgiving, the core content of the Hodayot. It is not difficult to see that this view of salvation sits somewhere in the middle between Pharisaic-Rabbinic theology of salvation and the New Testament's. A better understanding of Hodayot theology will give us a better understanding of the background to the New Testament. Much, however, remains uncertain but new developments in this area of research is something to look forward to.
(Note: Hodayot is also the name of a religious community near the Sea of Galilee. It has no relevance to this article.)
References:
Eileen Schuller, "The Cave 4 Hodayot Manuscripts: A Preliminary Description," The Jewish Quarterly Review ns 85.1/2 (1994):137-150.
Robert W. Kvalvaag, "The Spirit in Human Beings in Some Qumran Non-Biblical Texts," in Qumran Between the Old and New Testaments, ed. by F. H. Cryer and T. L. Thompson (JSOTSS 290; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998).
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