James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls II by Robert Eisenman

the ninth hour of the day ’) to another of these ubiquitous ‘ certain ones ’ Acts is always referring to (this time the Roman Centurion Cornelius – 10:1–4 and 30–33) – is reminiscent of the opening appeals of the Damascus Document, which we shall further elucidate as we proceed. As Acts puts this, ‘ Now therefore … hear all the things which God has co m manded you , and … opening his mouth , etc .’ – here again, the telltale plays on ‘ uncircumcising ’ one’s ears, eyes, and ultimately one’s heart, we have already encountered in the speech attributed to Stephen above.
    In the Damascus Document the parallel position runs as follows: ‘Hear now all you who know Righteousness and consi d er the works of God… . Hear now , all you who enter the Covenant and I will unstop your ears …’ etc . 88
    And later: ‘ And God shall heed their words and will hear and a Book of Remembrance shall be written out before Him for God-Fearers and those considering His Name , until God shall reveal Salvation ( Yesha ‘ ) and Righteousness to those fearing His Name .’ 89 In the last line, as we shall have cause to repeatedly point out as we progress too, the reference will actually be to ‘ seeing Jesus ’ ( Yeshu‘a ) or ‘ seeing His Salvation ’: ‘ And their hearts will be strengthened and they shall be victorious … and they shall see His Salvation ( Yeshu‘ato ), because they took refuge in His Holy Name ’. 90
    The Attack by Paul on James on the Temple Steps
    Perhaps the most astonishing notice in all extra-Biblical literature is the one found in the Pseudoclementine Recognitions d e scribing an actual physical assault by Paul on James on the Temple steps in Jerusalem . Nor should one fail to remark the a b sence of this attack from the parallel account known as the Pseudoclementine Homilies , which appears to refashion its narrative of early Christian history to expressly avoid mentioning it. 9 1 The same is true, of course, of Acts where the assault on the a r chetypical Gentile Christian believer ‘ Stephen’ , which introduces Paul and which Paul ‘ entirely approved of ’ (8:1), replaces it.
    As Acts 8:3 describes these things, Saul (or ‘ Paul ’) then proceeds to ‘ ravage the Assembly in Jerusalem, entering their hou s es one by one, dragging out men and women to be delivered up into prison’ . This mayhem continues into the next chapter with the picture of Paul ‘ breathing threats and murder (even in Acts, Paul is extremely violent) against the Disciples of the Lord ’, obtaining letters from the High Priest ‘ to Damascus, to the synagogues ’, advising that, ‘ if he found any who were of the Way , whether man or woman, he should bring them bound to Jerusalem ’ (Acts 9:1–2).
    For its part the Recognitions starts off with the parallel picture of debates on the Temple steps , the most important speakers in which are Peter and James. In Acts’ picture, of course, James is totally missing or deleted from such activities while in the Recognitions it is John who plays almost no role. In the midst of these debates, a man identified only as the ‘ Enemy ’ (in margin notes, he is identified as Paul) bursts upon the scene and leads a riot of killing and mayhem on the Temple Mount, paralleling that in Acts above, in the course of which he actually takes a club from the pile of faggots next to the altar and assaults James, ‘ casting him headlong ’ down the Temple steps where he leaves him for dead. No wonder this assault is nowhere to be found in more orthodox accounts; nor, for that matter, in the Homilies .
    The ‘ headlong ’ phraseology in Recognitions is important as it links up with testimony in Jerome about James’ death and what seems to be yet another variant – Acts 1:18’s obscure picture of the ‘ headlong ’ fall Judas Iscariot takes ‘ as a Reward for U n righteousness ’ in a Field ‘ of Blood ’. Since the ‘ Enemy ’ then obtains letters