1. Written at the request of Professor Gunter Sternberger and published in German in the Jahrbuch für Biblische Theologie 8 (1993).

2. From the basic work by A. S. van der Woude, Die messianische Vorstellungen der Gemeinde von Qumran (Studia Semitica Neerlandica 3) Assen 1957. A bibliography of the most important works from these twenty-five years is to be found in J. A. Fitzmyer, The Dead Sea Scrolls. Major Publications and Tools for Study (Society of Biblical Literature [SBL] Resources for Biblical Study 4) Missoula 1975, 114–118.

3. It is significant that in the 1991 edition of his The Dead Sea Scrolls. Major Publications and Tools for Study (SBL Resources for Biblical Study 20) Atlanta 1991, 164–167 adds only six titles to the list published in 1975.

6. For example, L. H. Schiffman in "Messianic Figures and Ideas in the Qumran Scrolls" (cited in note 4).

8. In which the Blessing of Jacob comprises one of the key texts for the expression of messianic hope. See the detailed study by M. Pérez Fernández, Tradiciones mesiánicas en el Targum Palestinense, Jerusalem-Valencia 1981, 112–144, especially pp. 123–135 on Genesis 49:10.

9. The messianic passage was published by J. M. Allegro, "Further Messianic References in Qumran Literature," Journal of Biblical Literature (JBL) 75 (1956) 74–184; the first two preserved columns of the manuscript have been published recently by T. H. Lim, "The Chronology of the Flood Story in a Qumran Text (4Q252)," JJS 43 (1992) 288–298. The photographs of all the fragments preserved is to be found in PAM 43.253 and 43.381, reproduced in plates 1289 and 1375 of R. H. Eisenman-J. M. Robinson (eds.), A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (FE), Biblical Archaeological Society, Washington 1991.

11. Column IV 3–7 contains remains of the blessing of Reuben, V 1–7, part of the blessing of Judah and the remains of column VI correspond to the blessing of Naphtali.

12. The actual quotation has not been preserved and it is impossible to know whether a literal quotation from Genesis 49:10 preceded the commentary of this column V. The evidence of the preceding columns is ambiguous in this regard; the blessing of Reuben begins with the literal quotation followed by its pesher, but the interpretation, for example, of the story of the flood is incorporated into the additions, changes and omissions of the actual account.

13. As van der Woude had already proved (op. cit. in note 2) 171–172.

16. Text in J. M. Allegro, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan (DJD) V, Oxford 1968, 11–15, plates 4–5, with the corrections by J. Strugnell, "Notes en marge du volume V des ‘Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan,’ " RQ 7 (1969–71) 183–186.

17. A title which, in itself, seems to identify its bearer as the davidic "Messiah" in so far as it obviously derives from the "Prince" of Ezekiel 40–48, the chief of the future community, of which Ezekiel 34:24 and 37:25 says precisely "and my servant David will be his prince for ever."

18. Published by J. T. Milik in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) I, Oxford 1955, 118–130, pls. 25–29.

20. Besides fragment 5,4 there are references to the "Prince of the congregation" in fragments 4.2 and 6,2; unfortunately, though, they are references which are too fragmentary to provide us with any useful elements.

21. G. Vermes, "The Oxford Forum for Qumran Research: Seminar or the Rule of War from Cave 4(4Q285)" (cited in note 5).

22. J. D. Tabor, "A Pierced or Piercing Messiah?—The Verdict is Still Out," Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) 18/6 (1992) 58–59

23. Besides the texts quoted, the "Prince of the congregation" occurs in IQM V 1, where only tells us the inscription he will bear on his sceptre, and in CD 7,20 and 4Q376, two texts we will study below.

24. E. Puech, "Une apocalypse messianique" (cited in note 5).

25. J. Starcky, in "Le travail d’édition des manuscrits de Qumrân," RB 63 (1956) 66.

26. In fragment 9,3 the word "Messiah" is incomplete, so that it cannot be used.

27. A unique expression and difficult to explain, given that in the other writings it is always a matter of God’s "precepts" and in most cases God is explicitly mentioned. In the Qumran texts, as in the Hebrew Bible, "Holy Ones" could evidently denote the angels. Accordingly, the phrase could mean the union of the "Messiah" with the "Holy Ones" and indicate that in the messianic age all creation will keep the angelic precepts. However, "the holy ones" is also used (especially in texts of eschatological content, such as 1QM and 1QSb) to denote the members of the community, so that the expression could be understood as alluding to the divine precepts exactly as they are interpreted by the members of the community. Or is it merely an objective adjective for these precepts as holy precepts?

28. In fact, the reference to "all Israel" in III 5 could imply a different context since the author appears to restrict his horizon to the faithful members of the community in the description of the messianic age of column II. In the allusion to the sceptre a reference to the "Messiah of Israel," and in the allusions to the priesthood of fragments 8–9, Puech accepts a possible reference to the "priestly Messiah," but prudently concludes that the condition of the manuscript does not permit any definitive conclusion.

29. M. O. Wise-J. D. Tabor, "The Messiah at Qumran," BAR 18/6 (1992) 60–65.

30. Although they accept that it is a purely speculative reconstruction.

31. As specified in fragment 7+5 II 5–6: "like these, the accursed; and they shall be for death [when] (6) [he makes] the dead of his people [ri]se."

34. "And after vengeance on them will have come from the Lord, the priesthood will fail. Then the Lord will raise up a new priest, to whom all the words of the Lord will be revealed; and he will execute a judgment of truth upon the earth in course of time. And his star will arise in heaven, as a king, lighting up the light of knowledge as by the sun of the day; and he will be magnified in the world until his assumption. He will shine as the sun on the earth and will remove all darkness from under heaven, and there will be peace on all the earth," TestLev 18:1–4, as translated by H. W. Hollander-M. de Jonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Pariarchs (Studia inVeteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 8) Leiden 1985, 177.

35. See recently J. C. VanderKam, "Righteous One, Messiah, Chosen One, and Son of Man in I Enoch 3–71" in J. H. Charlesworth (ed.), The Messiah (cited in note 4) 169–191, with references to previous studies.

36. M. Stone, "The Question of the Messiah in 4 Ezra," in M. Stone, Selected Studies in Pseudepigrapha & Apocrypha (Studia Varsaviensia theologica papers 9) 317–322(=J. Neusner-W. S. Green-E. Frerich [eds.], Judaism and Their Messiahs at the Turn of the Christian Era, Cambridge 1987, 209–224) and "Excursus on the Redeemer Figure," in M. Stone, Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia), Minneapolis 1990, 207–213.

37. In an excellent article in which he stresses how both figures represent a particular "messianic" interpretation of Daniel 7, "The Son of Man in First-Century Judaism," New Testament Studies (NTS) 38 (1992) 448–466. Collins suggests (p. 466 note 78) that 4Q246 could contain a similar messianic interpretation of the Daniel figure, an intuition which seems absolutely correct and matches my own understanding of the text.

38. The text was presented by J. T. Milik in a lecture given at Harvard University in 1972 and was made known by J. A. Fitzmyer in his study "The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the Study of the New Testament," NTS 20 (1972–74) 382–407 and reprinted with an important supplement in J. A. Fitzmyer, A Wandering Aramean. Collected Aramaic Essays (SBL Monograph Series 25), Chico 1979, 85–107.

39. See D. Flusser, "The Hubris of the Antichrist in a Fragment from Qumran," Immanuel 10 (1980) 31–37, and F. García Martínez, "The eschatological figure of 4Q246" in F. García Martínez, Qumran and Apocalyptic (STDJ 9) Leiden 1992, 162–179. G. Kuhn, "Röm 1,3 f und der davidische Messias als Gottessohn in den Qumrantexten," in Ch. Burchard-G. Thiessen (eds.), Lese-Zeichen für Annelies Findreiß zum 65. Geburtstag am 15. März 1984, Heidelberg 1984, 103–113.

41. F. García Martínez, "The eschatological figure of 4Q246" (note 39).

42. E. Puech, 124–125 and 102, note 14.

43. On the interpretation of the "Son of Man" of Daniel 7 as an individual with an angelic nature see J. J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Vision of the Book of Daniel (Harvard Semitic Monographs 16) Ann Arbor 1977, 144–147.

44. See E. Puech, 116–117.

45. Ibid. 129.

46. Edition and plates in The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark’s Monastery, Vol. II, New Haven 1951. Colour photographs by J. C. Trever in Scrolls from Qumran Cave 1, Jerusalem 1972. I have also been able to use a new critical edition prepared by E. Qimron which includes the parallels from the copies from other caves, to be published shortly.

47. For a general view of the messianism of this work see A. S. van der Woude, Die messianische Vorstellungen (cited in note 2) 190–216.

48. A detail made known by J. T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea, London 1959, 123–124 and in RB 67 (1960) 413 and exploited by J. Starcky in his famous article "Les quatres étapes du messianisme à Qumrân" (cited in note 33).

49. 4Q259 col. III 6; see PAM 43.263, FE 1299.

50. I use the critical edition prepared by E. Qimron and included in M. Broshi (ed.), The Damascus Document Reconsidered, Jerusalem 1992, which is accompanied by photographs of excellent quality and contains parallels to the copies found in Qumran.

51. The phrase occurs in the oldest copy of CD from Cave 4, 4Q266 (4QDo.11a) frag. 18 III 12, which proves that it is an original reading and not a correction by a medieval copyist; see PAM 43.276, FE 1312.

52. The manuscript reads meshuach, an obvious mistake as all scholars accept.

54. See most recently the article by G. Brooke cited in note 4.

55. F. M. Cross, "Some Notes on a Generation of Qumran Studies," in The Madrid Qumran Congress, (STDJ XI/1) Leiden 1992, 14 frames this trenchant conclusion: "The putative single messiah is a phantom of bad philology."

56. Edition and plates in DJD I, Oxford 1955, 108–118, pls. 23–24. The only monograph devoted entirely to this manuscript is L. H. Schiffman, The Eschatological Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series 38) Atlanta 1989.

57. DJD I, 117. See also P. Skehan, "Two Books on Qumran Studies," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 21 (1959) 74. For other readings and interpretations see K. G. Kuhn, "The Two Messiahs of Aaron and Israel," in K. Stendahl, The Scrolls and the New Testament, London 1958, 56 or L. H. Schiffman, op. cit. (previous note) 54, who follows the readings and reconstructions of J. Licht.

58. See, for example, A. S. van der Woude (op. cit. note 2) 101–104 and L. H. Schiffman (op. cit. note 56) 55–56. This conclusion forces this same messianic figure to be acknowledged in the "Chief Priest" or "High Priest" of 1QM II 1; XV 4 and XVI 13, as van der Woude already has, against what L. Schiffman explicitly states on p. 123 of the article cited in note 4. Even more than in 4Q285, which apparently comes from the end of the same composition, the "Prince of the congregation" plays an important role and as we have seen above, this name is one of the titles of the "davidic Messiah." Discussion of these texts, however, must be reserved for another occasion.

59. J. Strugnell, "Moses-Pseudepigrapha at Qumran: 4Q375, 4Q376, and Similar Works," in L. H. Schiffman (ed.), Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls, The New York Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin (Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 8) Sheffield 1990, 221–256.

60. The two most characteristic allusions in terms of vocabulary to indicate a Qumran origin of the composition, "hidden things" and "fathers of the congregation," are partly reconstructions by the editor.

62. As, for example, A. Caquot, "Le messianisme qumrânien" in M. Delcor (ed.), Qumrân: Sa piété, sa théologie et son milieu (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 46) Louvain 1978, 241–242.

63. For example, G. Brooke, "The Amos-Numbers Midrash (CD 7,13b–8) and Messianic Expectation," ZAW 92 (1980) 397–404. See most recently the detailed study of the passage by M. Knibb in RQ 15/57–58 (1991) 248–251 (cited in note 4).

66. See most recently P. Pilhofer, "Wer salbt den Messias? Zum Streit um die Chronologie im ersten Jahrhundert des jüdisch-christlichen Dialogs," in D.-A. Koch-H. Lichtenberger (eds.), Begegnungen zwischen Christentum und Judentum in Antike und Mittelalter (Festschrift für H. Schrekenberg), Göttingen 1993, 335–345.

67. N. Wieder, "The Doctrine of the two Messiahs among the Karaites," JJS 6 (1953) 14–23.

68. Text and plates in DJD V, Oxford 1968, 53–57, pls. 19–20.

69. The manuscript was published by A. S. van der Woude, "Melchisedek als himmlische Erlösergestalt in den neugefundenen eschatologischen Midraschim aus Qumran Höhle XI," Oudtestamentische Studien 14 (1963) 354–373, 2. pls., and has been extensively studied. My translation incorporates most of the readings and reconstructions proposed by E. Puech, "Notes sur le manuscrit de 11QMelkisédeq," RQ 12/48 (1987) 483–513.

70. As the editor explained in a joint article with M. de Jonge, "11QMelchizedek and the New Testament," NTS 12 (1966) 307.

71. The correction of the text from "his anointed one" to "anointed ones" is generally accepted.

72. 4Q377 2 II 5 FE 497, a central fragment with remains of two columns. Unfortunately, this photograph, the only one available to me, is of such bad quality that the fragment remains virtually unreadable. The manuscript is labelled Sl 12 in the Preliminary Concordance to the Hebrew and Aramaic Fragments from Qumrân Caves II-X, where the phrase in question is transcribed.

73. Text and plates in DJD V, Oxford 1968, 57–60, pl. 21.

74. See the arguments adduced by van der Woude in the works cited in note 67. This figure occurs frequently in 1QpHab and in CD, where he is called "Teacher of Righteousness," "Unique Teacher," "he who teaches justice" or "the unique teacher" interchangeably.

75. A fact which van der Woude accepts but resolves by supposing that the text of 1QS IX 11, which witnesses the hope in the "Prophet" is earlier than the appearance of the Teacher of Righteousness his acceptance? as prophet and his death; see Die messianische Vorstellungen, 84–85 and 187.

76. Text and plates in DJD I, 132–133, pl. 30.

77. PAM 43,400; FE 1394.

79. (See DSST, 228ff.). The phrase is cited by Strugnell (article cited in note 59) as parallel to the expression "oil of anointing" in 4Q375 I 8, and to "oil of his priestly anointing" in 1QM IX 8, and as coming from 4Q453 2 II 6. The work has now been given the siglum 4Q458.

80. PAM 43.544; FE 1493.

81. In his article "Les quatre étapes du messianisme à Qumrân" (cited in note 33).

82. In the studies cited in note 4.

Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 | Section 6 | Section 7 | Section 8 | Chapter Notes