The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (77 page)

And he led me [into] the block of houses, and he showed me the houses there. From one door to the oth[er, there are fifteen: eigh]t on one side as far as the corner, and seven from the corner to the other door. The length of the house[s is three reed]s = 2[1 cubits, and their width], two [reed]s = 14 cubits. Likewise, for all the chambers; [and their height is t]wo [reeds] = 1[4] cu[bit]s, [and their doors are in the middle.] (Their) width is t[w]o reeds = 1[4] cubits. [And he measured the width (of the rooms) in the middle] of the house, and inside the upper floor: four [cubits]. Length and height: one reed = 7 cubits.

[And he showed] me the dimensions of the dining-[halls]. Each has [a length] of ninete[en] cubits [and a width] of twelve [cubits]. Each contains twenty-two couche[s and ele]ven windows of lattice-work (?) above [the couches]. And next to the hall is an outer conduit. [And he measured] the ... of the window: its height, two cubits; [its width: ... cubits;] and its depth is that of the width of the wall. [The height of the inner (aspect of the window) is ... cubits, and that of the outer (aspect), ... cubits.]

[And he measured the l]im[it]s of the ... [Their length] is nineteen [cubits] and [their] width, [twelve cubits] ...

[On ever]y seventh day a memor[ial offering of] bread. And they shall take the bread outside the Temple to the right of its west side and it shall be divided. And I looked until it was divided among the eighty-four priests from all the seven divisions of the tables ... the oldest among them and fourteen pri[ests] ... priest. Two (loaves) of bread with incense [on] them. I looked until one of the two (loaves of) bread was given to the High Priest ... with him. And the other was given to his deputy who stood near (?) ...

An apocryphal work, modelled on the Book of Ezekiel, has survived in five Cave 4 manuscripts. It consists of exchanges between God and the prophet, who is several times named. The eschatological material of 4Q
385
includes, among others, Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones and the Chariot passage. On the basis of its script, 4Q
385
is dated to the late Hasmonaean or early Herodian era, i.e. roughly to mid-first century BCE. There is nothing obviously sectarian in the document. 4Q
386
also deals with the vision of the dry bones (Ezek. xxxvii) and the future of the land of Israel. 4Q
385b
is built on Ezekiel's prophecy against Egypt (Ezek. xxx, 1-3) and 4Q388 alludes once more to the dry bones and the final battle. 4Q
385c
consists of seven unidentified scraps.

For the
editio princeps,
see D. Dimant,
DJD,
XXX, 7-88. For 4Q391, unsuitable for translation, see M. Smith,
DJD,
XIX, 152-93.

[‘And they will know that I am the Lord] who redeems My people, giving them the Covenant.'
vacat
[And I said, ‘Lord,] I have seen many from Israel who have loved Thy name and walked [in] the ways [of righteousness (?), and] when will [these] things come to pass? And how will their piety be rewarded?' And the Lord said to me, ‘I will make the sons of Israel see and they will know that I am the Lord.'
vacat
[And He said,] ‘Son of man, Prophesy concerning the bones, and say, [“Come together, a bone to its bone, and a bit [to its bit.” ' And] s[o it came to pas]s. And He said a second time, ‘Prophesy, and let sinews come on them, and let skin spread over them above.' [And] s[o it came to pas]s. And He said again, ‘Prophesy concerning the four winds of heaven and let the win[ds of heaven] blow [on them and they shall live].' And a great crowd of men revived and blessed the Lord of hosts wh[o made them live.] And I said, ‘Lord, when will these things come to pass?' And the Lord said to me, ‘... a tree will bend and stand up ...'

... Lord. And all the people stood up ... [prais]ing the Lord of hosts. I also s[pok]e with them ...
vacat
And the Lord spoke to me: ‘Son of [man, Sa]y to them ... [in] their [graves] they shall lie until ... [from] their [tom]bs and from the land ...

... instead of my grief rejoice my soul. And the days will hasten quickly until men will say, ‘Are not the days quickening so that the sons of Israel may inherit?' And the Lord said to me, ‘I will not tur[n aw]ay your face, Ezekiel. Be[hold,] I will shorten the days and the year[s] ... a little, as you have said to [Me] ... [For] the mouth of the Lord has spoken these (words).' ...

... the vision that Ezek[iel] saw ... the brightness of the chariot. And four living creatures ... [and when advancing they do not turn] back. Every living creature walks on two (legs) and [its] two legs ... there was breath and their faces are parallel (?). [And the likeness] of the fa[ces: one is a lion, on]e an eagle, one a calf and one a man. There was [a hand (?)] of a man attached to the back of the living creatures and stuck to ... and the wh[ee]l[s]. A wheel was attached to another when they advanced and from both sides of the wh[eels there were coals of fire] and there were in the midst of the coals living creatures like coals of fire ... and the wheels and the living creatures and the wheels...

II
... [the ear]th and they will know that I am the Lord. vacat And He said to me: Consider, son of man, the land of Israel. And I said: I have seen it, Lord, and behold it is dry. When wilt Thou gather them? The Lord said: A son of Belial is planning to oppress my people but I will not permit him. His residue will not persist, and from the impure no seed shall remain. From the caper no wine will come nor will a wasp (?) make any honey. And I will slay the wicked in Memphis and I will bring my sons out of Memphis and turn favourably towards their remnant. As they say: There is peace and (quiet?); they also say: The earth is as it was in the days of ... [in the days] of old. Then I will stir up hea[t] against them from [the fo]ur directions of heaven ... devouring fire ...

III
He will have no mercy on the poor and will bring them to Babylon. Babylon is like a cup in the hand of the Lord, in time He will cast it away....

[And these are the wor]ds of Ezekiel. And the word of the Lord came to me, sa[ying: ‘Son of man, Prophe]sy and say, Behold the day of perdition of the nations is coming ... [Egy]pt and anguish will be in Put and the sword in E[gypt] ... will shake itself and Ethiopia and [Pu]t and the powerful of Arabia ... of Arabia will fall at the gate[s] of Egypt ...

While the Book of Daniel (iv) writes of the miraculous recovery of Nebuchadnezzar after an illness which lasted seven years, this interesting Aramaic composition tells a similar story about the last king of Babylon, Nabonidus. The principal difference between the two is that Nebuchadnezzar was cured by God Himself when he recognized His sovereignty, whereas a Jewish exorcist healed Nabonidus by teaching him the truth and forgiving his sins. J. T. Milik considers the work to be older than Daniel, but a late second or early first-century BCE dating seems to be less adventurous (cf. ‘Prière de Nabonide et autres écrits d'un cycle de Daniel',
RB
63 (1956), 407-11). Cf. also G. Vermes,
Jesus the Jew,
London, 1973, 67-8.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. Collins,
DJD,
XXII, 83-93.

 

The words of the prayer uttered by Nabunai king of the l[and of Ba]bylon, [the great] king, [when he was afflicted] with an evil ulcer in Teiman by decree of the [Most High God].

I was afflicted [with an evil ulcer] for seven years ... and an exorcist pardoned my sins. He was a Jew from [among the children of the exile of Judah, and he said], ‘Recount this in writing to [glorify and exalt] the name of the [Most High God'. And I wrote this]:

‘I was afflicted with an [evil] ulcer in Teiman [by decree of the Most High God]. For seven years [I] prayed to the gods of silver and gold, [bronze and iron], wood and stone and clay, because [I believed] that they were gods ... '

In addition to the Prayer of Nabonidus, Cave 4 has revealed further Aramaic remains of a composition akin to the biblical Book of Daniel, with three explicit mentions of the name Daniel, who appears to be the narrator of the story. Another personality, Balakros, figures in 4Q
243
. J. T. Milik tentatively identified him with the Seleucid ruler Alexander Balas, the patron of Jonathan Maccabaeus. One of the fragments of 4Q
245
represents a list of priests, including possibly the Maccabee brothers, Jonathan and Simon, and kings. The remaining pieces are too small for translation.

For the
editio princeps,
see J. Collins and P. Flint,
DJD,
XXII, 95-164.

... The children of Israel chose themselves rather than [God and they sacri]ficed their sons to the demons of idolatry. God was enraged against them and determined to surrender them to Nebu[chadnezzar, king of Ba]bel and to devastate their land ...

... Daniel ... the book given ...... [Lev]i, Qahat ... Bukki, Uzzi ... [Zado]k, Abiathar ... Hi[l]kiah ... Onias, [Jona]than, Simon ... and David, Solomon ... Ahazia[h, Joa]sh

Partly overlapping remains of two manuscripts of an Aramaic work further testify to the existence of a rich para-Danielic literature. These poorly preserved documents allude to the story of the four empires (Dan. vii-viii) in the form of a metaphor of four trees.

For the
editio princeps,
see E. Puech,
DJD,
XXXVII (forthcoming).

... [I saw an angel]
II
standing on whom light (shone) and four trees [stood by] him. And the trees rose and moved away from him. And he said to [me: Do you see] this shape? And I said: Yes. I see it and consider it. And I saw the tree ... placed.

And I asked it: What is your name? And it said to me: Babel. And I said to it: Are you the one who rules over Persia? And I saw another tree ... and I asked it: What is your name? [And it said to me: ... And I said to it: Are you the one w[ho rules over a]ll the powers of the sea and over the ports [and over] ... ? [And I saw] the third tree [and] I said to [it: What is your name and why] is your appearance ...

Surnamed the ‘Son of God fragment', 4Q
246
, with its intriguing phrases ‘son of God' and ‘son of the Most High‘, recalling Luke i, 32, 35, has been in the centre of learned and popular speculation. On palaeographical grounds the script is dated to the final decades of the first century BCE. Four competing interpretations of the ‘son of God' figure have been proposed: the title is to be associated with the Seleucid ruler, Alexander Balas (J. T. Milik); it designates a Jewish, possibly Hasmonaean, king, with a possible ‘messianic undertone' in the use of ‘son of God' (J. A. Fitzmyer); the Antichrist (D. Flusser); still apocalyptically, but in a positive sense, F. García Martínez argued in favour of an angelic identity, the ‘son of God' is either the heavenly Melchizedek or Michael, the Prince of Light. The editor has decided to sit on the fence and applies the title to either the future Davidic Messiah or a historical Seleucid pretender.

The overall message of the fragment recalls the apocalyptic section of the Book of Daniel. A Daniel-like person, referred to in column 1, is to explain to a king seated on a throne a vision or dream alluding to wars involving Assyria and Egypt, and the arrival of a final ruler, served by all, and called by them, or designating himself, ‘son of God'. But the triumph of peace is not attributed to him - his reign is rather characterized by internecine struggle between nations and provinces - but to the Great God, helping ‘the people of God' (cf. Dan. vii, 22, 29), whose dominion over mankind is declared eternal (cf. Dan. vii, 14) and free from the sword.

Relying mainly on the evidence of the existing text, rather than on hypothetical reconstructions of missing passages, I see in the ‘son of God' of 4Q246 neither Flusser's Antichrist, nor the straight historical individual of the Milik-Puech variety, but the last historico-apocalyptic sovereign of the ultimate world empire who, like his model, Antiochus Epiphanes in Dan. xi, 36-7, is expected to proclaim himself and be worshipped as a god
(see JJS
43, 1992, 301-3).

For the
editioprinceps,
see E. Puech,
DJD,
XXII, 165-84.

I ... [the spirit of God] dwelt on him, he fell down before the throne ... O [K]ing, you are angry for ever and your years ... your vision and all. For ever you ... [the gre]at ones. An oppression will come to the earth ... a great massacre in the provinces ... the king of Assyria [and E]gypt ... he will be great on earth ... will make and all will serve ... he will be called (or: call himself) [gran]d ... and by his name he will be designated (or: designate himself).
II
The son of God he will be proclaimed (or: proclaim himself) and the son of the Most High they will call him. Like the sparks of the vision, so will be their kingdom. They will reign for years on the earth and they will trample all. People will trample people (cf. Dan. vii, 23) and one province another province
vacat
until the people of God will arise and all will rest from the sword. Their (the people of God's) kingdom will be an eternal kingdom (cf. Dan. vii, 27) and all their path will be in truth. They will jud[ge] the earth in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth, and all the provinces will pay homage to them. The Great God (cf. Dan. ii, 45) is their helper. He will wage war for them. He will give peoples into their hands and all of them (the peoples) He will cast before them (the people of God). Their dominion will be an eternal dominion (Dan. vii, 14) and all the boundaries of...