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

118 FORMATION AND RE-FORMATION OF DANIEL
on Daniel 7. In the context of the discussion here, it is necessary to enumerate
the correspondences of the text with Daniel in order to establish
whether or not this is in fact a case of literary dependence and, if so, to
consider the implications of such for the significance of Daniel.
Column 2 of 4Q246 preserves a number of elements that are also contained
in Daniel. The column, together with the corresponding words in
italics followed by the relevant passage in Daniel, is given in the following
translation:
1He will be designated “Son of God,” and they will call him “Son of the
Most High” [Dan 7:18, 22, 25, 27]. Like comets 2of a vision, so their kingdom
will be. They will rule years upon 3the earth, and they will trample
[Dan 7:23, also dws ; ] 7:7, 19, rps] (on) everything. People will trample (on)
people, and province (will trample on) province 4vacat until a people of God
arises, and everyone rests from the sword. 47 5Its kingdom will be an eternal
kingdom [= Dan 7:2748 ], and all its paths (will be) in truth. He will
judge 6the earth in truth, and all will make peace. The sword will cease
from the earth, 7and every province will do it homage [cf. Dan 7:27]. The
great God is in its strength; 8he will make war for it [Dan 7:21]; he will
deliver peoples into its hand [Dan 7:25; cf. v. 22], and all of them 9he will
cast before it. Its dominion will be an eternal dominion [= Dan 7:14].
The difficulties of translating the ambiguous passage notwithstanding, 49
we can make some fairly certain observations. Regarding context, a seer
in the setting of a royal court tells this description of events leading up to
the eschatological period (1.1–2; cf. Dan 2:26–45; 4:19–27; 5:17–31). 50
With respect to the cited passage, wording in lines 5 and 9 corresponds
exactly with Dan 7:27 and 7:14 respectively. As for the remaining parallels,
the text overlaps with elements found in the second half of Daniel 7
(vv. 15–27). Here the correspondences pertain mostly to conflict language.
Taken together, this evidence might provide a reasonable case for
regarding Daniel 7 as a source of inspiration for 4Q246. To test the viability
of this possibility, it is first necessary to consider some of the differences
between the texts.
If one isolates the correspondences, a closer comparison shows some
notable differences: (a) In line 3, it is the people ((m) who trample, whereas
Daniel 7 ascribes this activity to the fourth beast. It is possible that the
47. Cf. 1 En. 90:19, 34 (Animal Apocalypse) and 91:12 (Apocalypse of Weeks).
48. The phrase also occurs in Dan 4:3; cf. 4:34.
49. See the convenient summary of these in Dunn, “‘Son of God’ as ‘Son of Man’?”
204–5.
50. On this aspect of 4Q246, see the discussion of Lawrence M. Wills, The Jew in
the Court of the Foreign King (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990), 87–113.