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

ÉMILE PUECH 253
life along with those, belonging to the previous generations, returning to
life, that is, “all those who are inscribed in the Book,” and on the other
hand, in contrast, those who lost their life in the final combat along with
those, belonging to former generations, remaining in death, that is, “the
sinners” among the people who are not written in the Book?
This latter interpretation, which alone gives an adequate account of
the text, has been proposed by Alfrink. 8 It rejects the sense of Mybr =
“multitude” = “the whole” and accepts for Nm the partitive sense “many
of those who…” Likewise, it does not envisage the resurrection of the
impious, whoever they might be. This interpretation places Daniel 12 in
line with Isaiah 26, but attached to an individual eschatology by the
refinement, “those who are inscribed in the Book,” where the prophet distinguishes
between two groups brought into association by the use of similar
terminology: “Those who dwell in the dust” (rp( ynk#), “those
who sleep in the dust” (rp( tmd) yn#y), and “those who will be awakened”
(wcyqh/y [see 1QIsa a —HT]— wcyqy). In Daniel the situation only
applies to the just of the people of God, of ancient generations (v. 2a) and
of the generation of the time of tribulation (v. 1), distinguished by the fate
which falls to them, life or death (v. 2b), according to actions good or evil,
of those who will have acted upon the call to reform as announced by the
return of Elijah in Sir 48:11. The double “those” (hl)) does not refer
back to a single group previously designated “many of those who sleep
in the land of dust will awaken” (wcyqy rp( tmd) yn#ym Mybr) but,
as elsewhere, to two groups, even implicitly named in “whoever is written
in the book” (rpsb bwtk )cmnh lk) and in “many of those who
sleep in the land of dust” (rp( tmd) yn#ym Mybr). Consequently, v.
2b constitutes an independent proposition.
This way of understanding vv. 1–2b is confirmed by the eschatological
passage in Isa 66:24, by which Dan 12:2b was clearly influenced, it
being the only other place the word Nw)rd (“horror”) is used in the
Hebrew Bible. In Isa 66:22–24 the final generation is also divided into
two groups: They will consist of those who have come to worship upon
Zion and who will see the “victims of Yahweh”(vv. 15–16) whose “worm
never dies and fire never ceases…their corpses…will be a horror for all
those who live” (v. 24). Common to both Isaiah 66 and Daniel 12 is a
conception that runs counter to a life set aside for a group of sinners.
Therefore, we understand Dan 12:1b–2 as follows: 9
8. See Bernardus J. Alfrink, “L’idée de résurrection d’après Dan XII, 1–2, ” Biblica
40 (1959): 355–71.
9. See Puech, La croyance des Esséniens, 79–82.