Edinburgh, 12 May 2021

• The fourth and final article on the Dead Sea Scrolls—the discovery of which was the archaeological find of the (20th) century. Next week I'll provide a link to all notes and a single audio message bringing everything together.
• An interview on "Progressive Christianity" — a movement influencing millions of believers in directions both healthy and unhealthy.

What I'm Learning from the Dead Sea Scrolls (part 4)

• All are readily available in English / Hebrew. These DSS are nicely published (2019) in two volumes (about 1350 pages). Here's Vol. 1. 
• For parts 1-3 of the series, please see the previous bulletins. 

• A political, military Messiah
  • Num 24:17 applied to coming royal messiah (CD 7:18-8:1 = 4Q266 fr.3, 3.20-30; 4Q269 fr.5 ll.3-4).
  • “The sceptre shall [no]t depart from the tribe of Judah. While Israel has the dominion, there [will not] be cut off someone who sits on the throne of David. For the staff is the covenant of royalty, [and the thou]sands of Israel are the standards. Until the messiah of righteousness comes, the branch of David. For to him and his descendants has been given the covenant of kingship for his people for everlasting generations…” (4Q 252 v.1-4 on Gen 49:10; 4Q266, 20-21).
  • The Essenes anticipated an apocalyptic end-times battle, in which they would participate. Their military Messiah would lead them to victory. In contrast, although a sword comes out of the mouth of the Messiah in Rev 19:15, 21, the so-called "battle of Armageddon" features no actual warfare. Moreover, Christ's people do not kill their enemies (Matt 5:28-48).
  • According to the Qumran interpretation of Isaiah 61, his enemies are to be destroyed. This explains the response to Jesus at Nazareth in Luke 4 (11Q13). Yet oddly enough, Psalm 110 (the most cited OT passage in the NT) LXX was not interpreted as applying to the Messiah, but to Melchizedek. (LXX refers to the Greek OT, not the Hebrew.)
• The community may have anticipated two Messiahs, one priestly and one royal (Davidic).
  • See 1QS 9:10-11; CD 7:18-20; 12.23; 1QSa 211-12; 4Q161, 3:22–29; 4Q174, 3:7–13; 4Q252 5:1–7; 4Q266 f2i:11; f10; i:12; 4Q285, f7:1–6; 4Q479, f1:4; 11Q14 f1i:5–15; CD 12:23–13:1; 14:19; 19:10–11; 20:1.
  • It seems the second Messiah may have been the Qumran community leader himself. Jesus, however, did not lead his followers into the desert, awaiting the end-times battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness (1QM; 4Q491-497). Rather, he equipped them to go out into the world, teaching and leavening and discipling all nations—not killing them (Matt 5:13; 28:19-20).
• Physical appearance (4Q561, frag 1-2, 6)
  • The Messiah's eyes are between pale and dark, his nose long and handsome, his teeth well aligned, his hair abundant, his beard thin but not too scraggly, his limbs smooth and with sufficient fat.
  • The text on his "nails… height….feet… " is incomplete.
  • In contrast, the N.T. displays no interest in the physical appearance of Christ, who in all likelihood looked like the average Jewish male of his day. See the extensive notes under References in the Jesus character study.
• In some manuscripts, the Messiah is referred to as Son of God and Son of the Most High (4Q246). Such terms were not "invented" by Christ's followers; they were already in circulation in the time of Jesus.
• 1QIsa^a, the most complete and best preserved of 20-odd Isaiah manuscripts, is the crown jewel of the collection, containing all the important Messianic passages, like Isa 52:13-53:12. (Note: my series is based nearly completely on extrabiblical texts, not the biblical ones, yet still I feel some comment on the biblical texts is in order.)
  • In fact, this manuscript is the centrepiece of the DSS collection in the climate-conditioned, subterranean Jerusalem museum, the Shrine of the Book.
  • The museum is shaped like the top of a scroll jar, with the complete Isaiah manuscript wrapped around the scroll axis (photo above). Visit Israel and see for yourself!
• When Messiah comes, heaven & earth obey him; the dead are raised; the sick are healed; the oppressed are rescued (4Q521). 

• The ancient Jews were serious about careful copying of scripture. We can have confidence about accuracy of the Old Testament.
• Since 1947, the oldest extant OT manuscripts date from the centuries before the time of Christ, up to 68 AD, when the Essenes abandoned their settlement as the Roman legions closed in, secreting their scrolls in difficult-to-access caves. Instead of having to rely only on medieval scrolls, scholars have manuscripts 1000 older! 
• The minor differences between the biblical DSS and the medieval OT manuscripts (c.1000 AD) do not undermine doctrine or otherwise obscure the message. The biblical message is robust; it shines through and is intelligible to whose willing to receive it.
• Sometimes the DSS clarify difficult passages in the Hebrew, esp. as many of them seem to be based on Hebrew manuscripts older than those translated for the standard OT (Masoretic) text. When this happens, modern Bibles usually offer a footnote. The DSS serve to enhance our knowledge of the Old Testament.
• The non-biblical DSS illustrate the kind of Messiah expected—in the time of Christ. Several of Jesus's attributes are found explicitly in the DSS. That means that the early Christians didn't need to concoct the notion of a miraculous, divine Messiah. Such a notion of the Messiah was already present.

"Progressive" Christianity—Interview

• Defining “Progressive Christianity”
• “Chronological Snobbery” — is Progressivism really a new thing? 
• Why we tend to like a spiritual salad bar 
• “Intertextuality"
• Is there a Christian political party? 
• The key to navigating the currents of culture

This week