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

JÖRG FREY 423
did his followers view him as a messianic figure. 57 In fact, most of the passages
mentioning the Teacher make a clear distinction between the historical
figure that coined the community and the eschatological prophet (cf.
Deut 18:15–18) expected for the future (cf. 1QS 9.11). 58 There is also evidence
that the Righteous Teacher was persecuted by his enemies (1QpHab
11.2–8), but none of the documents attests to a violent death of the
Righteous Teacher, let alone crucifixion.
This is also correct in view of the recently published fragment (5) of
4Q285, for which such claims were made afresh. 59 This small fragment,
however, does not mention the Righteous Teacher but a messianic figure,
the Prince of the Congregation or “Bud of David” (cf. Isa 11:1), who is
said to kill his enemies (4Q285 frag. 5 line 4; cf. 4Q161 frags. 8–10
3.21–22; 1QSb [1Q28b] 5.24–29), as predicted in Isa 11:4b. 60
Thus, even though there are some analogies between Jesus and the
Righteous Teacher, 61 the idea that the fate of Jesus was prefigured in the
Ein Beitrag zum Gespräch mit Roland Bergmeier,” in Qumran kontrovers: Beiträge zu den
Textfunden vom Toten Meer (ed. J. Frey and H. Stegemann; Einblicke 6; Paderborn:
Bonifatius, 2003), 23–56.
57. Thus Jeremias, Der Lehrer der Gerechtigkeit, 285: “Nichts wird davon gesagt, daß
der historische Lehrer auch der eschatologische Lehrer sein wird.…Nichts identifiziert
ihn mit dem Messias.” Cf., more recently, Zimmermann, Messianische Texte aus
Qumran, 455–58.
58. Cf. the early statement of Raymond E. Brown, “The Messianism of Qumrân,”
CBQ 19 (1957): 53–82, esp. 73–74. The identification was advocated by van der
Woude, Die messianischen Vorstellungen, 84. Cf. also Zimmermann, ibid., 456.
59. The New York Times, Nov. 8, 1991; The Times (London), Nov. 8, 1991. The claim
was attributed to Michael O. Wise and Robert H. Eisenman, Jesus und die Urchristen:
Die Qumran-Rollen entschlüsselt (Munich: Bertelsmann, 1993), 36, suggesting the translation
“und sie werden den Führer der Gemeinde töten, den Zwei[g Davids]”; cf. the
English original, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (Dorset: Element Books, 1992).
60. Even if the translation mentioned in n59 (above) is grammatically possible, it is
strongly preferable to translate the phrase hd(h )y#n wtymhw in line 4 differently:
“And the Prince of the Congregation, the Bran[ch of David] will kill him.” The reason
for this interpretation is the scriptural reference to Isa 10:34–11:1 in lines 1–2 of
the same fragment, which makes an interpretation of line 5 in terms of Isa 11:4c–d
most probable. Cf. Zimmermann, ibid., 83, 86–87; and, earlier, Markus Bockmuehl,
“A Slain Messiah in 4QSerekh Milh9amah (4Q285)?” TynBul 43, no. 1 (1992): 155–69,
esp. 159; Otto Betz and Rainer Riesner, Jesus, Qumran und der Vatikan (3d ed.; Giessen:
Brunnen, 1993), 103–20; ET: Jesus, Qumran and the Vatican: Clarifications (trans. J.
Bowden; London: SCM, 1994); and John J. Collins, “Jesus, Messianism and the
Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Qumran-Messianism: Studies on the Messianic Expectations in the Dead
Sea Scrolls (ed. J. H. Charlesworth, H. Lichtenberger, and G. S. Oegema; Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 1998), 100–119, esp. 105–6.
61. Cf. already Jeremias, Der Lehrer der Gerechtigkeit, 319–53; more recently Hartmut
Stegemann, “‘The Teacher of Righteousness’ and Jesus: Two Types of Religious
Leadership in Judaism at the Turn of the Era,” in Jewish Civilization in the Hellenistic-
Roman Period (ed. S. Talmon; Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1991), 196–213.