The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

206 THE SCROLLS’ IMPACT ON SCHOLARSHIP ON HEBREWS
realm where Christ’s sacrifice is truly consummated (9:23–27), the sphere
where hearts are submitted in obedience to God (10:8–10). Christ’s
sacrifice not only makes possible a relationship with God (10:19); it also
provides the ultimate 16 model for living in fidelity to the divine call
(12:1–3), accepting suffering, boldly proclaiming what God has done,
and relying on a firm hope that the divine promises will be fulfilled. 17
HEBREWS AND THE HISTORY OF SCROLLS RESEARCH
Such, in brief, is this “word of exhortation” (13:22) 18 written in an elegant
Greek style, which celebrates the work of the Messiah in order to
inspire the faithful to remain resolute members of a covenant community.
While the homily’s rhetorical style seems to belong to a world far different
from that of the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are intriguing parallels. 19 The
prominence given in Hebrews to the notion of the new covenant as
prophesied by Jeremiah recalls the self-designation of the community of
the Damascus Document. Both Hebrews and the scrolls make much
of priesthood and temple, and both express interest in such figures as
angels and Mechizedek. Stimulated by such parallels, some scholars, such
as Yigael Yadin, in the early days of scrolls research posited a substantial
connection between the scrolls and Hebrews. 20 Some even suggested a
16. The list of the exemplars of faith in ch. 11 provides a complex portrait of the
subject, but the chief example is clearly Christ. On the rhetoric of this list, see Pamela
M. Eisenbaum, The Jewish Heroes of Christian History: Hebrews 11 in Its Literary Context
(SBLDS 156; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997). For a contemporary theological interpretation
of the language of faith in Hebrews, see Dan O. Via, “Revelation,
Atonement, and the Scope of Faith: A Deconstructive and Reader-Response
Interpretation,” BibInt 11 (2003): 515–30.
17. For the motif of the divinely promised eschatological salvation, cf. 1:14; 4:1;
6:13–20; 11:17–22. In one of the text’s complex thematic conceits, these promises are
part of the “inheritance” of believers (1:14; 9:15), embedded in the “testament”
(diaqh&kh) that is the “covenant” (diaqh&kh) inaugurated by Christ’s death (9:15). His
death validates the testament (9:16–17), and his position at God’s right hand makes
him a reliable guarantor (7:22) of its promised contents.
18. The term may be a technical designation of a synagogue homily. Cf. Acts 13:15,
where the elders of the synagogue at Perga invite Paul to deliver such an address after
the reading of the Torah in the Sabbath service. Cf. Harold W. Attridge, “New
Covenant Christology in an Early Christian Homily,” QR 8 (1988): 89–108; and idem,
“Paraenesis in a Homily (lo&goj th=j paraklh&sewj),” Semeia 50 (1990): 211–26.
19. For the history of the discussion, see Hurst, Epistle to the Hebrews, 43–66.
20. Yigael Yadin, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” ScrHier 4
(1958): 36—55; Celas Spicq, “L’Épître aux Hébreux: Apollos, Jean-Baptiste, les
Hellénistes et Qumran,” RevQ 1 (1958–59): 36–55.