dssdead-sea-scrolls
D — Historical and Apocalyptic Works
Part 6
A fragmentary Qumran poem — dated to the early first century BCE and drawing on Psalm 146 and Isaiah 61 — centers on a singular Messiah whose advent triggers the renewal of creation: blind eyes opened, captives freed, the poor given good news, the dead raised. The poem names God as 'He who will raise the dead of His people,' linking healing and resurrection explicitly to the Kingdom. The Isaianic quotation here is the same passage Jehovah-as-Christ cites in the Nazareth synagogue, confirming the Messianic-servant reading was already embedded in pre-Christian covenant expectation. The pious and righteous are called by name — a covenant-lineage category, not merely a moral one.
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Commonly referred to as the 'Resurrection fragment', this writing consists of sixteen fragments. The script is dated to the beginning of the first century BCE. Whether the designation 'apocalypse' is fully justified is a moot point: the writing comes across as a composition in verse akin to the poetry of the late biblical period. The surviving fragments do not appear to include anything patently sectarian. The term 'Messiah', probably in the singular, is used without the addition of Aaron or Israel, and the noun 'hasidim', absent from the big scrolls and little attested elsewhere, figures in lines and 7. The divine name 'Lord' represents, not the Tetragram, but Adonai. The poem incorporates Ps. cxlvi, 6-7 and Isa. lxi, 1, the latter cited also in the New Testament. As in the Gospels, healing and resurrection are linked to the idea of the Kingdom of God. Line furnishes the most explicit evidence concerning the raising of the dead. Fragment 7, line 6, repeats the same idea, referring to God as 'He who will raise the dead of His people'. For the editio princeps, see E. Puech, DJD, XXV, 1—38; cf. G. Vermes, 'Qumran Forum Miscellanea I',JJS, 303-4. Fr.. the heavens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and none therein will stray from the commandments of the holy ones. Seekers of the Lord, strengthen yourselves in His service! All you hopeful in heart, will you not find the Lord in this? For the Lord will consider the pious and call the righteous
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by name. Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power. And He will glorify the pious on the throne of the eternal Kingdom. He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the bent. And for ever I will cleave to the hopeful and in His mercy.. And the fruit.. will not be delayed for anyone And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been as He.. For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news to the poor.. He will lead the uprooted and make the hungry rich.. Fr.. the earth and all that is on it; and the sea and all that is in it and all the ponds of water and rivers who are doing good before the Lord... like those who curse and are for death when the Life- giver will raise the dead of His people. And we will thank and proclaim to you the righteousness of the Lord, who..
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E. Wisdom Literature 'The Seductress', Israel Antiquities Authority
