“Four Kingdoms” in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-233
Author(s):  
Nadav Sharon
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
World History ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of Daniel

Abstract The “Four Empires” scheme appears in literature from around the ancient Near East, as well as in the biblical book of Daniel. Daniel’s scheme was adopted in subsequent Jewish literature as a basic division of world history. In addition, the book of Daniel appears to have had a prominent place in the Qumran library. Scholars have identified, or suggested, the existence of the “Four Empires” scheme in two texts found among the Qumran scrolls, the “New Jerusalem” text (4Q554), and, especially, in the so-called “Four Kingdoms”(!) text (4Q552–553). This paper will examine these texts, will argue that the “four empires” scheme is not attested in the Qumran scrolls (apart from Daniel), and will suggest alternative understandings of those two texts.

scholarly journals Jubilee in the Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-6
Author(s):  
James A. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Near East ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

The concept of the Jubilee, or the collective forgiveness of all debts and debtor/slaves, had its origins in the Ancient Near East where it was a secular practice of kings. It came into the Bible originally also as a secular practice of kings but then became the province of priests and a calendar observance to be celebrated every 50 years. It was finally understood in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament to rest in the hands of God alone, an eschatological concept of the forgiveness of all debts/sins and the redemption of all human sins, or debts to God, that became the very basis of the theological history of Luke/Acts.

Rabbinic and Post-Rabbinic Jewish

2019 ◽  
pp. 431-448
Author(s):  
Martha Himmelfarb
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Single Mode ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Other ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Mode Of Transmission ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Book Of Daniel

Of all the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period, only one work, the book of Daniel, reaches us because Jews chose to transmit it. The other Second Temple texts we know were transmitted to us by Christians or were not transmitted at all but found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet later Jewish literature provides evidence that medieval Jews had access to a variety of texts and traditions from the Second Temple period beyond Daniel. No single mode of transmission can account for all of the examples of later knowledge of Second Temple texts. In some instances, there is a compelling case for ongoing Jewish transmission, whereas in others borrowing back from Christians is the best explanation.

prayer, Jewish

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan C. Reif
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Fixed Times ◽  
The Temple

Although some of the inspiration for later Jewish prayers undoubtedly came from the ancient Near East and the early books of the Hebrew Bible, there was at that early period of development little connection between the formal liturgy, as represented by the Temple cult, and the spontaneous entreaties of the individual. During the Second Temple period, the two methods of expression began to coalesce, and the literature included among the Dead Sea Scrolls testifies to the recitation of regular prayers at fixed times. The Talmudic rabbis laid down instructions for some statutory prayers, such as the shema‘ and the ‘amidah, and these gradually formed the basis of what became the synagogal liturgy.

scholarly journals Creation, Angels, and Gender in Paul, Philo, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Open Theology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 248-255
Author(s):  
Janelle Peters
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
The Dead ◽  
And Gender

Abstract This article reads the veiling instructions in 1 Corinthians 11:1–16 through Paul’s appeal to creation. The letter positions both genders in God, and it follows contemporary Jewish literature in assigning angels to creation and gender interdependence. Ascetic, unmarried, and married persons found inclusion in this vision of the body of Christ.

The Rise and Impending Demise of Wisdom Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kynes
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Near East ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Experience Of God ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Biblical Texts

After summarizing the growing doubts about the Wisdom category, this chapter traces the development of Wisdom scholarship in the twentieth century, focusing on the question of the category’s limits. Despite efforts to limit its spread, in recent scholarship Wisdom has extended both across the Hebrew Bible and to the “heart of the Israelite experience of God.” As in the similar expansion of Wisdom in the Psalter, Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient Near East (analogous to the spread of Deuteronomistic texts), attempts to define Wisdom resort eventually to the scholarly consensus concerning which biblical texts make up the category’s core. This factor carries all the weight in the current debates about Wisdom, and yet little research has been put into how this consensus developed or how it affects interpretation.

Judaism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wheeler-Reed
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Sexual Ideology ◽  
The Dead

This chapter establishes that most of the sexual ethics of Second Temple Judaism are similar to the ideological sexual codes of the Roman Empire. It examines works as diverse as Tobit, the writings of Philo and Josephus, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contends that the dominant sexual ideology among Second Temple Jews is “Procreationism,” which maintains that sex is for reproduction and not for pleasure. Furthermore, it suggests that most of the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period upholds the same hegemonic ideology of the Augustan marriage legislation, except for the writings of the Essenes.

The Johannine Literature and Contemporary Jewish Literature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Jewish Literature ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Dead

This chapter provides an overview of research on the Johannine texts in their relationship with the Jewish literature of Second Temple times. While it cannot be said that the Gospel and Letters draw directly on any specific text, careful analysis demonstrates that they are aware of a wide range of Jewish traditions from very different backgrounds; links with Wisdom and Apocalyptic traditions have long been recognized, while more recently there has been much discussion of their relationship with the Dead Sea Scrolls, and even with later Palestinian Jewish literature, including exegetical traditions. Thus a comparison with a range of Jewish literature helps highlight the specifically Johannine perspective on concerns common in the Jewish traditions of their time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document