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

PAOLO SACCHI 387
composition. A more precise dating is important for our understanding
of the origins of Christianity.
BP’s anonymous protagonist belongs to that category of superhuman
figures with saving functions with which Middle Judaism is so rich. After
Elijah and Enoch, who were born but did not die, we must also remember
the heavenly Melchizedek of 11Q13 (= 11QMelch), who is no longer a
man but an archangel, 33 and the un-named protagonist of BP who, for the
sake of brevity, we will refer to from now on with his most characteristic
title, Son of Man. This figure is said to have been created 34 before the
beginning of time (1 En. 48:3), and it is said that he knows all the
secrets of righteousness (49:2). Furthermore, it is his task to carry out
the last judgment.
It is clear that there is a tendency to attribute these super-human figures
with ever-higher nature and with more and more vast functions.
From Elijah who will return to the earth to bring peace between fathers
and sons, to the angel Melchizedek who will cause the Jews to repent and
pave the way for their return to their homeland, the ascending line is
clear. The Son of Man is certainly the last of this super-human series in
chronological terms, but he cannot be placed later than the first century
C.E., because the figure is then appropriated by the Gnostics, and there
is not a trace of gnosis in BP. The activity of the super-human figures as
intermediaries between God and the humans reaches its apex and then
disappears during the first century C.E. 35
Remaining, then, within the proposed limits for the work’s date (terminus
a quo 40 B.C.E., terminus ad quem 70 C.E.), it seems worthy of note
33. On the figure of Melchizedek at Qumran, cf. Émile Puech, “Notes sur le manuscrit
11QMelkîsédeq,” RevQ 12 (1987): 483–513 (fragment dated to mid-first century
B.C.E.). On the figure of Melchizedek commonly interpreted as an archangel, or
something similar, cf. Claudio Gianotto, Melchisedek e la sua tipologia (Brescia: Paideia,
1984), 70–74; Angelo Vivian, “I movimenti che si oppongono al Tempio: il problema
del sacerdozio di Melchisedeq,” Henoch 14 (1992): 97–112. The interpretation of the
Qumranic Melchizedek as an angel figure has been contested by Franco Manzi,
Melchisedek e l’angelologia nell’ Epistola agli Ebrei e a Qumran (Rome: Pontificio Ist. Biblico,
1997), who would treat Melchizedek simply be an appellative of God.
34. The word “created” does not exist in the text. The stars and the world were created;
as far as the Son of Man is concerned, in Isaac’s English translation the text
reads: “That Son of Man was given a name…before the Lord of the Spirits” (1 En.
48: 2–3). It is a literal translation of lipnê from the Hebrew: lipnê in Qumran Hebrew
could mean “by.” This leads us to believe that he is a creature, even though created
in a different way than the rest of the world. On the meaning of lipnê as “by” after a
passive verb in the Hebrew of the time, cf. Jean Carmignac, “Le complément d’agent
après un verbe passif dans l’hébreux et l’araméen de Qumran,” RevQ 9 (1978):
409–28. Cf. also Collins, “The Son of Man”, 454–55.
35. See the excursus on the Son of Man in Chialà, Parabole di Enoc, 303–40.