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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: 4Q521
  • Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 04:22:34 -0700 (PDT)


Hyam Maccoby wrote:

> 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.

Hyam,

One can hardly disagree with you that a Davidic
warrior-king was the most prevalent type of messiah
awaited in the pre-70 period. But John Collins has
made a rather convincing case for three other types of
messiahs -- prophetic, priestly, and heavenly
arch-angel ("son of man"). (See his "Sceptre and the
Star"). Then too, we don't know how many of the
rebellious royal pretenders (like Simon bar Giora and
Athronges of Judea) or wilderness prophets (like
Theudas and the Egyptian prophet) were hailed as
messiahs, since Josephus (who hated them all) would
have censored the title in any case.

With regards to the heavenly arch-angel type (the one
you seem most dubious about), it seems that by the
first century there were at least some messianic
applications to the "one like a son of man" from
Daniel, as in I Enoch 46:1,47:3. The dating of the
Similitudes is difficult, but we can see some of its
influence in Mt 19:28 (cf Lk 22:28-30, minus the son
of man term) and Mt 25:31 (where the Son of Man sits
on his throne of glory). A pre-70 date is most likely
(since Similitudes makes no reference to the fall of
Jerusalem), but how early...? While the title
"messiah" itself plays a minor role in Similitudes,
it's more than reasonable to tie it to the "son of
man", who, after all, casts down kings and sits in
judgment on his throne (I Enoch 62:5, 69:29). Later,
IV Ezra would tie the two more explicitly.

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com

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  • Re: 4Q521, Hyam Maccoby, 06/11/2002
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: 4Q521, Loren Rosson, 06/12/2002
    • Re: 4Q521, Hyam Maccoby, 06/12/2002
    • Re: 4Q521, David C. Hindley, 06/12/2002
    • Re: 4Q521, RSBrenchley, 06/14/2002

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