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  • From: "Hyam Maccoby" <h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: 4Q521
  • Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2002 11:53:50 +0100



Dear Robert,

Thank you for your comments. 4Q521 is in a very fragmentary state, and
because of this it is doubtful at times whether certain phrases apply to God
or to the Messiah. This is a very frail basis on which to construct a
theory that the Messiah was sometimes thought of as a supernatural being
rather than as a human liberator. Every intertestamental document in which
the text is reasonably certain makes it crystal clear that the Messiah was
thought of as a human liberator. Of course, there is one complication that
should be borne in mind; this is that the High Priest also bore the title
'Messiah' ('anointed one'), because he too was anointed at the time of his
installation. In the Dead Sea Scrolls sect, the priestly Messiah of the
future had higher rank than the kingly Messiah (since the sect was
priest-based). But the role of the High Priest was not salvation but
atonement, a very different thing. Salvation, including the resurrection of
the dead (which according to some views would take place at the time of the
coming of the Messiah), was the prerogative of God alone.
In Judaism there were two separate forms of eschatology: 1. the 'days
of the Messiah' (YEMOT HA-MASHIACH); 2. 'the world to come' ('OLAM HA-B'A).
The Talmud says, 'All the prophecies of Scripture refer to the 'days of the
Messiah', but as for 'the world to come', "the ear has not heard it nor the
eye seen it" (Isaiah 64:4)'. The 'days of the Messiah' will take place on
earth, and will represent the fulfilment of the potentialities of this world
and of the human race. Its leader will therefore be a human being, the
Messiah son of David.

All the best,

Hyam



____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________


Dr.Hyam Maccoby
Research Professor
Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds.LS2
Direct lines: tel. +44 (0)113 268 1972
fax +44 (0)113 268 0041
e-mail: h.z.maccoby AT leeds.ac.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: <RSBrenchley AT aol.com>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 4:46 PM
Subject: [corpus-paul] Re: Paul's persecution of the Church


>
> Two questions:
>
> How clearly were these distinguished in the Judaism of the time?
>
> The Pauline saviour/Messiah looks, at least to me, like a fulfilment
of
> the type of prophecy found in 4Q521, which of course mentions the Messiah,
> and seems to refer to something more than political liberation. Is it
> possible that some Jewish group (I dislike 'sect'; they're not sects in
the
> ecclesiological sense) had combined a Messianic expectation of liberation
> with eschatological expectations, and thus provided a precursor for
Pauline
> Christianity?
>
> Regards,
>
> Robert Brenchley
> RSBrenchley AT aol.com
> Birmingham UK
>
> ---





  • Re: 4Q521, Hyam Maccoby, 06/11/2002

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