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

LOREN L. JOHNS 265
The idea of a new or renewed Jerusalem is already present in the
Hebrew Bible. 33 While the phrase “new Jerusalem” does not itself appear
there, the concept does. Ezekiel envisions restoration in terms of a rebuilt
temple in a rebuilt Jerusalem (Ezekiel 40–48). This restoration is to be so
complete as to warrant a new name for the new city: “The name of the
city from that time on shall be, ‘The Lord is There’” (Ezek 48:35
NRSV). Also, in Isa 52:1 and 54:11–17 we see a vision of a restored and
rebuilt Jerusalem. 34
In Isaiah 60–62 the prophet expands on this vision of a renewed,
restored, and rebuilt Jerusalem. There, the renewed city serves as a
metaphor for the renewal of all creation under the lordship of the Lord,
the Creator God. An understanding of God as Creator and sustainer is
essential to the Isaiah tradition. 35 Isaiah says:
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress. (Isa 65:17–19 NRSV)
This vision of new heavens and a new earth became a stock element
in at least some of the eschatological visions of late Second Temple
Judaism. For instance, Tobit concludes with an ex eventu review of history
Temple of the Manuscripts from Qumran,” in Qumran and Apocalyptic: Studies on the
Aramaic Texts from Qumran (ed. F. García Martínez; STDJ 9; Leiden: Brill, 1999),
180–213, who declares that these manuscripts are independent of each other, while
mutually dependent upon Ezekiel 40–48; cf. also Florentino García Martínez, “New
Jerusalem,” in EDSS (ed. L. H. Schiffman and J. C. VanderKam; 2 vols.; New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000), 2:609–10.
33. How astonishing that some commentators have claimed that the conceptual
background for the symbol of the new Jerusalem is “essentially Greek!” See, e.g.,
William Barclay, The Revelation of John (vol. 2; 3d ed.; Daily Study Bible Series; 1959;
repr., Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 199.
34. Interestingly, when interpreting these passages directly, the Qumran community
understood these texts as referring to the establishment of the Qumran community
itself, not a literal, restored Jerusalem (see Isaiah Pesher 1 [4Q164] on Isa 54:11).
35. See, e.g., Ben C. Ollenburger, Zion, the City of the Great King: A Theological Symbol
of the Jerusalem Cult (JSOTSup 41; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987).