4Q521
4Q521, or the Messianic Apocalypse, is a fragmentary Hebrew text that consists of two fragments, each with multiple columns.[1] It was found in Cave 4 at Qumran and is included among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Text
[edit]This translation was done by Gaye Strathearn in 2011.[2]
Column II, Fragment II
[edit][for the heav]ens and the earth will obey his Messiah,
[and all] that is in them will not turn away from the commandments of the holy ones.
Be encouraged, you who are seeking the Lord in his service!
Will you not, perhaps, encounter the Lord in it, all those who hope in their heart?
For the Lord will observe the devout, and call the just by name,
and upon the poor he will place his spirit, and the faithful he will renew with his strength.
For he will honor the devout upon the throne of an eternal royalty,
freeing prisoners, giving sight to the blind, straightening out the twisted.
Ever shall I cling to those who hope. In his mercy he will jud[ge,]
and from no one shall the fruit [of] good [deeds] be delayed,
and the Lord will perform marvelous acts such as have not existed, just as he sa[id]
for he will heal the badly wounded and he will make the dead live, he will proclaim good news to the poor
give lavishly [to the need]y, lead the exiled and enrich the hungry.
[. . .] and all [. . .]
Column III, Fragment II
[edit]and the law of your favor. And I will free them with [. . .]
[. . .] the fathers toward the sons [. . .]
who blesses the Lord in his approval [. . .]
May the earth rejoice in all the places [. . .]
for all Israel in the rejoicing of [. . .]
and his scepter [. . .]
Analysis of the Second Fragment
[edit]Topic and content
[edit]This fragment is primarily eschatological[3] and concerns the ministry of an Anointed.[4] It is similar to other apocalyptic texts such as 4QSecond Ezekiel and 4QApocryphon of Daniel,[5][6] though its references to all things obeying the Messiah are not paralleled in any other text in the context of Second Temple Judaism;[citation needed] such references have led to speculation[among whom?] concerning some kind of heavenly status of the Messiah in this text.[citation needed] Some[who?] see them as an allusion to Isaiah 1:2,[citation needed] which reads: "Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth, for the Lᴏʀᴅ has spoken..." However, the heavens and the earth are also commanded to listen to Moses in the Song of Moses, which may preclude any conclusions about a heavenly status of the Messiah.[7][8] In the Deuterocanon, Elijah commanding the heavens by the power of Yahweh can be identified as a partial parallel: "By the word of the Lord he shut up the heavens and also three times brought down fire" (Sirach 48:3).
There is also some dispute among scholars as to whether "anointed ones" as a defective plural should be rendered as opposed to translating "anointed one." This would form a parallelism with "holy ones" in Line 1 and would imply that the entire line is referring to angelic figures broadly rather than a Messiah specifically.[9][10] Otherwise, if the singular reading is accepted, this figure is understood[by whom?] to be prophetic rather than a Davidic messiah-king.[citation needed] In the Dead Sea Scrolls, prophets such as Elijah are regularly referred to as "anointed ones";[citation needed] proclamation (Line 12) is also more characteristic of a messenger or prophet.
Similarity with Luke
[edit]This manuscript has been studied in relation to Song of Mary and Song of Zechariah in the Gospel of Luke. There is a striking similarity between Luke 7:22 and Line 12 of this fragment, particularly concerning the good news being brought to the poor and the resurrection of the dead.[11]
... Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight; the lame walk; those with a skin disease are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the poor have good news brought to them.
— Luke 7:22.[12]
... he will heal the badly wounded and he will make the dead live, he will proclaim good news to the poor
— 4Q521, Fragment 2, Column 2, Line 12.[13]
Reference to Malachi
[edit]The third column seems to reference Malachi 4:6 when it says "the fathers toward the sons", though it may be too fragmentary to know with any certainty[citation needed] and scholars are divided on its interpretation.[2]
References
[edit]- ↑ Albert L. A. Hogeterp, Expectations of the end: A Comparative Traditio-Historical Study of Eschatological, Apocalyptic and Messianic Ideas in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, Leiden: Brill, 2009, p. 277, 4Q521 (4QMessianic Apocalypse). The composition 4Q521, generally designated as 'Messianic Apocalypse', comprises two larger fragments (frgs. 2 ii + 4 and frgs. 71–8 + 5 ii7–16) 113 with evidence relevant for the discussion of resurrection.
- 1 2 Strathearn, Gaye (2011). "4Q521 and What It Might Mean for Q 3–7". BYU ScholarsArchive. Brigham Young University.
- ↑ Rodrigo J. Morales, The Spirit and the Restoration of Israel: New Exodus and New Creation Motifs in Galatians, Ph.D. thesis, Duke University 2007, p. 55 "4Q521: The Messiah, the Spirit, and the Eternal Kingdom – Though also fragmentary in nature, the so-called Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) presents a fascinating conjunction of eschatological themes and serves as a fitting transition to the ...
- ↑ Eric Eve, The Jewish context of Jesus' miracles, New York: Sheffield Academic Press, 2002, p. 189, "The Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) Several fragments of the text of the Messianic Apocalypse survive, but the one that has ... 7 1 -73, for a more recent attempt to make a close connexion between 4Q521 and Jesus' healing ministry. 47.
- ↑ Andrew Chester, Messiah and exaltation: Jewish messianic and visionary traditions and New Testament Christology, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007, p. 151, "4QSecond Ezekiel (= 4Q385-388) and 4Q521. Both are fragmentary, and their meaning is correspondingly fragile and uncertain; equally, neither may have been produced by the Qumran sect, although that point is certainly debatable."
- ↑ Årstein Justnes, The Time of Salvation: An Analysis of 4QApocryphon of Daniel ar (4Q246), 4QMessianic Apocalypse (4Q521 2), and 4QTime of Righteousness (4Q215a), Bern: Peter Lang, 2009, p. 188, "On the basis of this detailed treatment of the three texts, the images they present of the time of salvation are compared in a synthetic presentation."
- ↑ Novakovic, Lidija, "4Q521: The Works of the Messiah or the Signs of Messianic Times?" in Davis, Michael Thomas, and Brent A. Strawn, eds. Qumran studies: new approaches, new questions. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007, pg. 221 esp. fn. 10.
- ↑ Grabbe, Lester L., Gabriele Boccaccini, and Jason M. Zurawski, eds. The Seleucid and Hasmonean Periods and the Apocalyptic Worldview. Vol. 88. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, 180.
- ↑ Cook, Edward M. Solving the Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Light on the Bible. Harper Collins, 1994, 166.
- ↑ Novakovic, Lidija. Messiah, the Healer of the Sick: A Study of Jesus as the Son of David in the Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 170. Mohr Siebeck, 2003, pg. 171 n. 194.
- ↑ Florentino García Martínez (ed.), Echoes from the Caves: Qumran and the New Testament, Leiden: Brill, 2009, p. 119, Stephen Hultgren "4Q521 and Luke's Magnificat and Benedictus", The purpose of this paper is to compare the fascinating text in 4Q521 2 II 1–15 with Luke's Magnificat and Benedictus in order to ....
- ↑ "Luke.7.22".
- ↑ Gaye Strathearn (2011). "4Q521 and What It Might Mean for Q 3–7". BYU ScholarsArchive. Brigham Young University.
External links
[edit]- Florentino García Martínez. "Qumran scroll 4Q521, text and translation". Archived from the original on 2022-10-19.
Comparison between 4Q521 and early Gospel tradition by James Tabor
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