Testimonia

Summary

The document known as 4QTestimonia, presented here as a final example of Qumran exegetical literature, consists of a single piece of leather containing one column of text; the work has been preserved almost in its entirety, with only the loss of the beginning of lines 25–9 (the one word in line 30 was written at the end of the line). The contents of this work are divided clearly into four paragraphs. The first three consist of quotations from the Pentateuch which were obviously intended as prophecies of the coming of a prophet, of a royal messiah, and (implicitly) of a priestly messiah. The fourth paragraph is a quotation from a sectarian work known as the Psalms of Joshua. This passage takes the form of an explanation of Josh. 6:26 in terms of contemporary events and refers, amongst other things, to two men, apparently brothers, who rebuilt Jerusalem, committed profanity and blasphemy, and shed much blood. The manuscript dates from the first quarter of the first century bc. The Psalms of Joshua, since they are quoted in the manuscript, must be older than this (i.e. from fairly early in the history of the community), and 4QTestimonia itself could be older.

The title given to this document, Testimonia, reflects the fact that a large part of it consists of a collection of ‘testimonies’ or messianic proof-texts. The same is true of another title given to it, ‘A Messianic Anthology’.