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

268 RESURRECTION: THE BIBLE AND QUMRAN
The eschatology of this wisdom text is totally in line with that of Dan
12:2–4, the word wrw(y is the equivalent of wcyqy to evoke waking up
from the slumber of death and entering eternal life in glory (cf. 1 En.
91:10 and 92:3). Gaining glory does not occur at the death of an individual,
as some sort of “particular judgment” but at the Last Judgment,
at the moment of cosmic disturbance and of renewal. It is not a question
of the immortality of the soul, but an elevation-exaltation of the righteous
person according to the elements of a Semitic anthropology, the clothing
of a glorious body, as if returning to the condition of paradise before
humankind’s sin, living in the presence of God and in the company of
angels, just as the exaltation of Elijah or of Enoch but beyond death and
judgment. 28
These Hebrew compositions, whose attribution to Essenes is discussed
by certain scholars, must have, in one manner or another, if they
are not Essene compositions, influenced, just as 1 Enoch did, the conceptions
of the future life of the Essenes such as they appeared in Qumranic
compositions.
4Q Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521)
The fragments of a single copy recovered of this Hebrew composition,
known also as On Resurrection, addressed to the pious to encourage perseverance
in their religious commitment, supplies us with very important
evidence concerning Essene eschatology and their conception of the
future life. As we have shown elsewhere, much evidence supports a
dating of the composition after the book of Daniel and for an Essene
attribution. 29 The exhortation is based upon the enumeration of the
Messianic blessings which God himself will do for the pious (Mydysx),
the faithful (Mynwm)), the just (Myqydc), and the poor (Mywn(). He will
renew them through his power and will honor them upon a royal throne,
freeing prisoners, giving sight to the blind, and healing the deformed so
that no one might be excluded from the divine service. He will reward
the fruits of good work, and will perform glorious acts which have never
been performed before: he will heal the wounded, revive the dead,
preach the good news to the poor, gratify the suffering, repatriate the
28. For a more detailed presentation of the eschatology found in this composition,
cf. Émile Puech, “Les identités en présence dans les scènes du jugement dernier de
4QInstruction (4Q416 1 et 4Q418 69 ii),” in Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting of IOQS,
Groningen 27–28 July, 2004 (Leiden: Brill, [forthcoming]).
29. See Puech, La croyance des Esséniens, 426–40.