dssdead-sea-scrolls
C — Calendars, Liturgies and Prayers
Part 17
A badly damaged apocalyptic fragment divides world history into weeks of years, anchoring its chronology to the Temple of Jerusalem. The legible markers — the 480 years between the Exodus and Solomon's Temple, the reign of Zedekiah at the moment of Babylonian destruction, the Levitical priesthood, and the emerging threat of the Kittim — trace the covenantal arc from founding sanctuary to exile. The schema mirrors the week-of-years pattern used in Daniel and Jubilees to frame the fulness of the Gentiles and the appointed times for covenant renewal.
1
A fragment consisting of seven mutilated lines, and palaeographically dated to the last decades of the first century BCE, appears to belong to an apocalyptic account of world history, divided into weeks of years and possibly centred on the Temple of Jerusalem. Despite the lack of continuous narration, the significant details justify the inclusion of this text in the volume. For the editio princeps, see M. Broshi, DJD, XXXVI, 187-91.
2
.. determined end.. And afterwards will come the fifth week.. four-hundred and eighty years Solomon.. of Zedekiah king of Judah.. the Levites and the people of the Land... king of the Kittim..
