dssdead-sea-scrolls
G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works
Part 29
Nabonidus, last king of Babylon, recounts in prayer his seven-year affliction with an evil ulcer decreed by the Most High God — El Elyon — while he prayed uselessly to idols of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, stone, and clay. A Jewish exile from Judah, acting as exorcist, pardons his sins and instructs him to write and publish what happened, explicitly to glorify and exalt the name of the Most High. The text parallels Daniel 4 but locates healing power not in Nebuchadnezzar's self-recognition alone, but in the mediation of a covenant servant bearing authority to forgive — a type of the Holy Order's intercessory function among the nations.
1
While the Book of Daniel 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, 407-11). Cf. also G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, London, 1973, 67-8. For the editio princeps, see J. Collins, DJD, XXII, 83-93.
2
The words of the prayer uttered by Nabunai king of the land of Babylon, 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.. '
