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

HAROLD W. ATTRIDGE 217
in the passage already cited from 1QS 9.11. 61 The combination of priest
and prophet might be relevant to the comparison in Hebrews between
Jesus and Moses (Heb 3:1–6), but the possibility needs further exploration.
The expectations in the scrolls relative to an eschatological prophet or
teacher are obscure, and as George Brooke and John Collins 62 argue, it
is likely that the scrolls expect the prophetic functions to be fulfilled by a
priestly interpreter of the Law, who will “teach justice at the end of days”
(CD 6.11). 63 The figure is apparently understood to be the referent of the
“star” of Balaam’s oracle in Num 24:15–17, a text cited in the Damascus
Document (CD 7.18–20) and in Testimonia (4QTest = 4Q175).
There are formal parallels with Hebrews, where Christ models fidelity
(12:2–3), and where the covenant that he inaugurates is “written on the
heart” (8:10; 10:16). Yet a direct connection seems unlikely. Hebrews
does not explicitly accord prophetic status to Christ. Like other elements
of the Scriptures, prophets can be invoked in order to illustrate some
aspect that Christ embodies in a fuller or more complete way. Thus, they
delivered God’s word of old (1:1), in a way inferior to the Son. Moses as
seer (11:26) 64 has prophetic characteristics that are not prominent in
Hebrews. Like other prophets and judges (11:32), he is an example of the
Messiah’s fidelity (12:1–4). If elements of a “prophetic” Christology are
weak, neither is Christ explicitly said to be a teacher, and certainly not of
the Law, to which Hebrews is hostile. 65 It is also interesting that Balaam’s
oracle, featured in the scrolls, is nowhere in evidence in Hebrews.
The expectation of an eschatological prophet is a secondary element
in the eschatology of the scrolls. The expectation of some priestly figure
or figures plays a larger role, although the focus on that expectation may
have shifted during the life of the community. The complex and inventive
portrait of an eschatological or heavenly priest in Hebrews uses some
of the building blocks of Jewish tradition found in the scrolls but does not
construct the same edifice.
although it lacks the key verse Deut 33:10: “They [the descendants of Levi] teach
Jacob your ordinances and Israel your law.”
61. So Yadin, “Dead Sea Scrolls,” 54. The connection between the citation in 4Q175
and 1QS 9.11 is questioned by Hurst, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 50.
62. George J. Brooke, Exegesis at Qumran: 4QFlorilegium in Its Jewish Context (JSOTSup
29; Sheffield: JSOT 1985); Collins, ibid., 103–35.
63. See the citation of 4Q174 above in n. 25.
64. On the figure of Moses, especially in Heb 11:23–31, and of the midrashic traditions
that may be involved here, see Mary Rose D’Angelo, Moses in the Letter to the
Hebrews (SBLDS 42; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979).
65. See the disparaging remarks of Heb 7:11–12; 8:7, 13; 10:1–4.