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Messianic Motifs of Qumran and the New Testament

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

William H. Brownlee
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Extract

An important aspect of messianism among the Covenanters is the presence of messianically charged variants in the complete Qumran Isaiah Scroll (IQIsa). This was first pointed out by D. Barthélemy,1 but the most complete study of the subject has been by John V. Chamberlain.2 The most outstanding passage is probably not the reading ‘anointed’ (for ‘marred’) in Isa. lii. 14 (because of possible equivocation),3 but rather Isa. li. 4–5:4

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New Testament Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , May 1957 , pp. 195 - 210
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1957

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References

page 195 note 1 R.B. LVII (1950), pp. 546–9.Google Scholar

page 195 note 2 An Ancient Sectarian Interpretation of the Old Testament Prophets: A Study on the Qumran Scrolls and the Damascus Fragments, unpublished Ph.D. Thesis of Duke University, 1955; ‘The Functions of God as Messianic Titles in the Complete Qumran Isaiah Scroll’, Vetus Testamentum, v, no. 4 (October 1955), pp. 365–72.

page 195 note 3 Cf. Joseph Reider in B.A.S.O.R. no. 134 (April, 1954), pp. 27f. and Arie Rubinstein, ‘Isaiah LII 14——and the DSIa Variant’, Biblica, xxxv (1954), pp. 475–9. The possibility of interpreting of Isa. xlix. 7 (IQIs2) as a singular participle with an archaic yodh ending occurred to me while the exchange with Reider was still in the press; but this does not provide certain proof, since the yodh may have crept in through a careless reading of the parallel term as a plural construct. One must also allow for inconsistency of number. Cf. Isa. 1. to 10 (IQIs2) and Hab.(IQpHab). Still one may concede that perhaps was read as the parficiple ‘marred’; but he should note that this reading probably arose to facilitate the Messianic interpretation through a midrashic double sense, ‘I anointed’. Cf. here the corrections of the Soferim as described by Jacob Lauterbach, Rabbinic Essays (Cincinnati, 1951), pp. 191f.

page 195 note 4 In a personal letter dated 16 September 1955, Arie Rubinstein confesses to ‘find your argument on Isa. li. 5 absolutely incontrovertible’.

page 195 note 5 There is no uncertainty in this regard. In the preparation of the first edition of The Dead Sea Scrolls of St Mark's Monastery, I insisted upon the clear distinction between Waw and Yodh. This has been followed in the transcriptions of the second printing. Cf. D. Beegle, ‘Proper Names in the New Isaiah Scroll’, B.A.S.O.R. (October 1951), pp. 26–30; M. Burrows, ‘Waw and Yodh in the Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll (DSIa)’, B.A.S.O.R. December 1951, pp. 18–20; D. Barthélemy, op. cit. pp. 538f. Cf. the alteration of μου to σου in the citation of Mal. iii. I in Mark i. 2.

page 196 note 1 Cf. the King James Version of Isa. xlix. 6, ‘that thou mayest be my salvation’—a translation supported by the parallelism and by the LXX rendering. C. H. Dodd, According to the Scriptures (London, 1952), p. 91, has noted the affinity between Isa. li. 4–5 and Isa. xlix. 6.

page 196 note 2 CDC vii. 18–20 (ix. 8–9).

page 196 note 3 This is in harmony with CDC loc. cit. Cf. my article ‘The Christ as the “New Law” in the Light of Ancient Scrolls’, U.P. cxii, no. 48 (13 December, 1954), pp. 10f. Here is an important new category for the understanding of John's interpretation of Christ. Jesus stands in antithesis to the Law precisely because he is the New Torah. Cf. C. H. Dodd, The Fourth Gospel, pp. 82–6. It is a perversion of this point to suggest that John claims Jesus is not a Jew! Cf. E. C. Colwell, John Defends the Gospel (Chicago, 1936), pp. 45ff.

page 196 note 4 Cf. IQH vii. 18f.: ‘I wait for Salvation to bloom and for a Shoot to grow up to give shelter with might.’

page 196 note 5 5 Luke ii. 25–32.

page 197 note 1 Cf. below on the Messiah of Aaron as a luminary.

page 197 note 2 Naph. viii. 2; Gad viii. I; Dan v. 10; Jos. xix. ii. Of the last passage there are two recensions, the longer text reading σωτήρ where the shorter reads σωτηρια. These are but different translations of the same Heb. (or Aramaic) word. Cf. Isa. xxv. 9 S1 έπι τῷ σωτ⋯ρı for the usual έπι τῇ σωτηριᾳ. Elsewhere both and are often rendered σωτήρ in the LXX and rightly so when ‘Salvation’ refers to God. Cf. Deut. xxxii. 15; Ps. xxiii. 5 [xxiv.5]; Isa. xii. 2; Micah vii. 7.

page 197 note 3 Still in Judah xxiv a passage originally portraying the priestly Messiah (vv. 1–3) stands next to a passage portraying the royal Messiah (vv. 4–6), but through editorial work this distinction has been blurred. R. H. Charles (Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, II (Oxford, 1913), p. 323) noticed this, treating these separate portrayals as ‘Two Messianic fragments’. Here the work of salvation is assigned only to the Messiah of Judah (v. 6).

page 197 note 4 Jub. xxxi. 19. One hardly need be reminded of the great importance of this work for the Covenanters.

page 197 note 5 The term ‘Salvation’ for the Messiah is also Pharisaic. ‘Expect Salvation’ and ‘expect the Messiah’ are used interchangeably in Berakhoth 57a. So likewise ‘Righteousness’ as a messianic title was current in Rabbinic circles under the form ‘The Messiah our righteousness’. For references cf. Gerhard Kittel, Bible Key Words (trans. by J. R. Coates), ‘IV. Righteousness’, p. 18 n. 10. For the significance of this term in the teaching of Paul, cf. ‘Christ as ’our Righteousness’ in the Light of Ancient Scrolls’, U.P. CXII, no. 49 (20 December 1954), p. 12; no. 50 (27 December 1954), pp. 10, 13.

page 198 note 1 On this method of citation, cf. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 8th ed. (revised, 1896), ii, pp. 370f. The association of the term ‘salvation’ with Zechariah ix. 9 is also Rabbinic, Berakhoth 57 a and Yalkut, ii, p. 53 c. The former is quoted in Joseph Klausner, The Messianic Idea in Israel, trans by W. F. Stinespring (New York, 1955), p. 439; the latter, in Edersheim, op. cit. II, p. 708.

page 198 note 2 The Dead Sea Manual of Discipline, B.A.S.O.R. SS. nos. 10–12 (1951), Appendix D, p. 50.

page 198 note 3 J. T. Milik, R.B. LX (1953), pp. 290–2.

page 199 note 1 Yet note that in the citation above, the relevance of Ps. cx. 4 as proof that King-Messiah is superior to the Righteous Priest depends upon identifying the former, and not the latter, with the Melchizedek priesthood. Thus the Pharisaic Messiah, just like the ancient Hebrew Kings, was expected to have at least occasional priestly functions. Contrast Klausner, op. cit. p. 515 n. 74.

page 199 note 2 Here it is noteworthy that the Damascene Covenant was found at Cairo among Karaite works; but the Karaites believed in two Messiahs and would hardly have altered CDC. Cf. N. Wieder, ‘The Doctrine of the Two Messiahs among the Karaites’, Jour. Jewish Stud. VI, no. 1 (1955), pp. 14–25.

page 199 note 3 Cf. CDC v. 21-vi. I (viii. 2): ‘The commandment of God through Moses and the holy anointed ones'= Moses and the Prophets. Thus correctly Isaac Rabinowitz, J.B.L. LXXIII (1954), p. 20 n. 41; Chaim Rabin, op. cit. pp. 20f.; Brownlee, Interpretation (January 1955), p. 82. This view is now confirmed by IQM xvii. 7f.: ‘And by the hand of Thy holy anointed ones, the seers of testimonies, Thou didst announce to us the t[imes of] the wars of Thy hand.’

page 199 note 4 For ‘the spirit of grace’, cf. Heb. x. 29 and Test. of Judah xxiv. 3. For ‘spirit of holiness’, cf. Rom. i. 4.

page 200 note 1 The reward is not merely the begetting of children, but those upon whom the divine favour can rest. There is no need to depart from the literal sense here. It belongs to a common eschatological expectation. Cf. I Enoch x. 17ff.

page 200 note 2 Thus Millar Burrows translates Rabbim, following A. M. Habermann ‘Edah we–‘Eduth, Jerusalem, 1952) and G. Vermés (op. cit.) in restricting the term to those in full membership. It probably means both ‘great ones’ and ‘many’, precisely as in the Servant passages of II Isaiah and of Daniel. Cf. B.A.S.O.R. no. 132 (December 1953), pp. 13ff. M. Delcor (Contribution à l'Etude de la Législation des Sectaires de Damas et de Qumrán’, an extract of Revue Biblique (1954–5), pp. 16f.) argues that the use of the term śarim (Princes) as a designation of the membership in CDC vi. 6 (viii. 6) rests upon the Aramaic meaning of rabh as prince. Cf. here Matt. xx. 25, where ‘rulers’ and ‘great ones’ are used in synonymous relationship. It is not without significance that the true rabh must assume the role of a servant (v. 26), and there may even be a play upon the double meaning of ‘great ones’ and ‘many’(v. 27)!

page 201 note 1 Cf. B.A.S.O.R. SS. nos. 10–12 (1951), Appendix E, pp. 50f. For other interpretations, cf. Roger Goossens, ‘L'énigme du signe nun dans le Manuel de Discipline’, La Nouvelle Clio, vi, nos. 1–2 (January-February 1954), pp. 5–39; J. Coppens, ‘Où en est le problème des Manuscrits de Qumrân?’ La Nouvelle Clio, nos. 5–6 (June-September 1954), pp. 250 ff.

page 201 note 2 Cf. IQS viii. 6; ix. 6.

page 202 note 1 J. H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire, revised ed. with commentary (London, 1942), part i, pp. 114f.

page 202 note 2 Cf. Jewish Encyclopedia (1905), XI, p. 266b, ‘The benedictions preceding and following the Shema‘…are of Essene origin.’ Probably one should trace these back not to the Essenes but to the Hasidim from whom both the Pharisees and the Essenes are derived.

page 202 note 3 R.B. lix (1952), p. 200.

page 202 note 4 Cf. my ‘Postscript’ in Jewish Quart. Rev. xlv, no. 3 (January 1955), pp. 217f.

page 202 note 5 IQH xii. 5. For the similarities between IQH xii. 4–11 and IQS x. Iff., see the far-fetched study of H. E. del Medico, ‘La traduction d'un texte démarqué dans le Manuel de discipline (DSD x. 1–9) Vetus Testamentum, vi, no. i (January 1956), pp. 34–9. The relationship is only that of somewhat parallel themes with some of the same vocabulary, but with the acrostic interest being absent from IQH.

page 202 note 6 Cf. his role of illuminating others in IQH iv. 5f. His future glorification in light is mentioned in IQH vii. 24f. This would suggest, but does not prove, that he may be expected to become the Messiah of Aaron.

page 202 note 7 Upon the crown of the high-priest were inscribed the words (Exod. xxxix. 30). Qodesh in IQS means not only ‘sanctity’, but may sometimes have the overtone of ‘spiritual sanctuary’. Can it be that the sect interpreted similarly here? Cf. John ii. 21; Rev. xxi. 22.

page 203 note 1 This explains why the Mem and Nun are mentioned together, whereas the Aleph is removed from it by a considerable distance.

page 203 note 2 Bulletin de l'Académie royale de Belgique (7 April 1952), p. 184.

page 203 note 3 Cf. J. M. Baumgarten, ‘Sacrifice and Worship among the Jewish Sectarians of the Dead Sea (Qumran) Scrolls’, Harvard Theol.Rev. xlvi, no. 3 (July 1953), pp. 141–59; M. Delcor, ‘Le sacerdoce, les lieux de culte, les rites et les fêtes dans les documents de Khirbet Qumrân’, Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, cxliv, no. 1 (July-September, 1953), pp. 5–41.

page 203 note 4 Cf. the use of Mal. i. 10 to establish this point in CDC vi. II–14 (viii. 11).

page 203 note 5 IQM ii.

page 204 note 1 It has seemed possible to me that there is a doctrine of an incarnate angel in IQM xvii. 6f.: ‘He will send an eternal Help to His portion destined for [redemption], in the might of an angel of the Glorious One, to serve as Michael's minister; in eternal light, to illumine with joy the [children of] Israel.’ Syntactically (note italics) this seems a better rendering than the amorphous syntax of M. Burrows’ translation (op. cit. p. 399). It interprets concretely for the source of help (as regularly in IQM), rather than abstractly for the assistance rendered. The ‘eternal Help’ would either contrast with the ‘Little Help’ (Judas Maccabaeus?) in Dan. xi. 34, or be identified with it through translating: ‘When they fall, they shall receive a Help shortly’, with allusion to Dan. xii. I. For the endowment of the Messiah with the might of an angel, cf. Isa. ix. 5 LXX: ‘His name shall be called “angel of great counsel”.’ El is interpreted here as angelos as in Job xx. 15. Note that Elim in IQM is used frequently in the sense of ‘angels’. Possibly angelos is intended to do service for śar also. Cf. Dan. x.21; xii. I LXX. According to Shahrastani, Arius borrowed his doctrine of a Messiah Angel from the ancient sect of Maqarîbe (= Magharia)—plausibly identified with the Essenes. Cf. R. de Vaux, R.B. lvii (1950), p. 422. Against the above interpretation, one may cite Ps. xx. 3 (xx. 2); Testament of Dan v. 4. Cf. Mark i. 13 and Luke xxii. 43; but note Jesus's work ‘in the power of the Spirit’ (Luke iv. 14). It does not seem impossible that =, ‘by means of’; but can this be paralleled? If this be the Messiah, how is he to be related to the ‘prince of the congregation’? Can the two be identified—‘help’ being a synonym of ‘salvation’? Cf. Jub. xxxi. 19. I am much less confident than in the U.P. (31 January 1955), pp. 12f., 15; but I feel that there is probably some connexion between IQM xvii and early Christian heresies with their doctrines of Christ as an angel. Cf. e.g. the Elkasites.

page 204 note 2 IQSb iv. 24f. In part this seems to mean that just as angels minister to God in the heavenly abode, so the priest ministers to him in the earthly sanctuary. Cf. Heb. viii. 4f. This is not merely Platonism (either here or in Hebrews); but it rests upon an ancient Hebrew tradition. Thus Ps. xlviii. 2 relates Mount Zion to the famed mountain of Paradise in the North (Ezek. xxviii. 12–16), which in Isa. xiv.13 seems to be in process of elevation into heaven. Portrayals of palm-trees and pomegranates in the temple were perhaps intended to represent the trees of Paradise. In Enoch xxiv. 4 it is declared that the fruit of the Tree of Life ‘resembles the dates of the palm’. I Enoch xxv foretells the transplanting of the actual trees from Paradise to the holy place of the temple. Cf. André Parrot on the theological significance of the tower of Babel, The Tower of Babel, Studies in Biblical Archaeology, no. 2, trans. Edwin Hudson (Philosophical Library, N.Y., 1954) pp. 57–69.

page 204 note 3 Cf. G. R. Beasley-Murray, ‘The Two Messiahs in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs’, J.T.S. xlviii (1947), pp. 1–12; M. de Jonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a Study of their Text, Composition and Origin (Assen, 1953).

page 205 note 1 The variant of IQIsa may have been influenced by the Targum (or vice versa) with its paraphrastic version, ‘as a bridegroom who is happy in his bride-chamber, and as the high priest that is adorned with his garments’. Cf. J. F. Stenning, The Targum of Isaiah (Oxford, 1949), pp. 204f.

page 205 note 2 The prophetic role of Isa. lxi. I is alluded to in IQH xviii. 14: ‘According to thy word a herald of glad tidings…thy goodness, to herald glad tidings to the poor according to thy abundant compassions.’ Perhaps this refers to the Teacher of Righteousness, himself a priest, possibly expected to return as the Messiah of Aaron. In any case since both offices were priestly, the same passage could have been applied to both, just as the Suffering Servant motif elsewhere receives more than one application. Cf. Matthew Black, ‘The Messiah in the Testament of Levi xviii’, Expository Times, lx, p. 321.

page 206 note 1 Luke iv. 16–21. In the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97b, Rab Judah, the brother of R. Salla the Pious, is said to have been informed by Elijah that the world would exist not less than eighty-five jubilees and that the Messiah would come in the last one; but he was uncertain as to whether he would come at its beginning or its end.

page 206 note 2 On Christ as priest in the Fourth Gospel, cf. F. M. Braun, op. cit. pp. 37f.

page 206 note 3 Cf. Lucetta Mowry, ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Background of the Gospel of John’, B.A. xvii, no. 4 (December 1954), pp. 86–9.

page 206 note 4 Cf. p. 204 n. I above.

page 206 note 5 Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (London, 1892), pp. 80ff.

page 206 note 6 On worship of angels as next in order after God, cf. Tobit xi. 14f. Note also the explanation of idolatry in the Hebrew Test. of Naph. viii–ix.

page 207 note 1 ‘Christ as the Άρχή of Creation’, J.T.S. xxvii (1925–6), pp. 160–77. Cf. also W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (London, 1948), pp. 151f.

page 207 note 2 According to the Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 11 b, it could not be discussed in the presence of two.

page 207 note 3 The sun may have been regarded also as a symbol of God himself. Cf. Ps. lxxxiv. 12 (lxxxiv. II): ‘The Lord God is a sun.’ See also Ps. xxvii. 1; cxviii. 27; Isa. lx. 20; Micah vii. 8. Thus in the Johannine literature both God (I John i. 5) and the Christ (John i. 9ff.; viii. 12) are light; and in the New Jerusalem ‘the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb’ (Rev. xxi. 23). Cf. André Dupont-Sommer, ‘Le problème des influences étrangères sur la secte juive de Qoumrân’, Congrès d'Archléologie et d'Orientalisme Bibliques, Presses Universitaires de France (Paris, 1955), PP. 75–94.

page 207 note 4 On the Contemplative Life, 27. Yet there may have been also an existential interpretation in the direction of Philo's understanding.

page 207 note 5 Cf. on Gal. iv. 3, 8–11; J.Q.R. xlv, no. 3 (January 1955), pp. 198f.

page 207 note 6 Cf. Franz Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystik und Magie, ΣTOIXEIA, Studien zur Geschichte des antiken Weltbildes and der griechischen Wissenschaft, Heft vii, 2nd ed. pp. 122–5.

page 208 note 1 My student Jesse Brown reminds me of II Pet. i. 18.

page 208 note 2 Cf. A. Dupont-Sommer, ‘La sainteté du signe “noun” dans le Manuel de Discipline’, Bulletin de l'Académie royale de Belgique, Classe des Lettres (7 April 1952), pp. 184–93; ‘Contribution à l'exégèse du Manuel de discipline x. 1–8’, Vetus Testamentum, II (1952), pp. 229–43. He cites Philo's interpretation of fifty as the άρχή τ⋯ς τ⋯ν όλων γενέσεως. If this added significance be allowed, it accords well with Christ as the Amen, for it is precisely in this connexion that the Book of Revelation declares Christ to be ή άρχή τ⋯ς κτισεως. Cf. also Col. i. 15f. and C. F. Burney, op. cit. Quite apart from the letter Nun, this idea could derive from the vocalization’ amon, Prov. viii. 30.

page 208 note 3 The association of the Hebrew word edh with the Suffering Servant perhaps prepared the way for the early use of martus in the sense of martyr. Cf. Acts xxii. 20; Rev. ii. 13; xvii. 6.

page 208 note 4 Cf. F. M. Braun, op. cit. p. 15, where he points out that in John the Christ may be said to be carrying out the role of the Prince of light (alias the Spirit of Truth).

page 208 note 5 Vetus Testamentum, III, no. 3, pp. 256f.