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

JOSEPH L. TRAFTON 435
MESSIANIC EXPECTATION
The Pss. Sol. reflect the struggle of attempting to reconcile a debacle at the
hands of a foreign conqueror with the belief that Israel is God’s chosen
people. The psalmist resolves the struggle by arguing that the evils that
have befallen the nation have been caused by the sin of the people (1:7–8;
2:11–13; 8:9–14, 22; 17:5–8, 19–20). Thus, he confidently asserts that
God has not abandoned Israel; he has simply chastised his people, upon
whom he will have mercy forever (7:3–10; 9:9–11). Such confidence
finds a special focus in the hope for the Messiah, which is set forth in Pss.
Sol. 17 and 18.
The psalmist looks forward to the day when God will raise up the
Messiah, the son of David (17:21), who will reign as king over Israel
(17:21, 32, 42; 18:5). He will drive their enemies out of Jerusalem
(17:22–25), gather together the scattered children of Israel (17:26, 31),
apportion them in the land according to their tribes (17:28), and lead and
judge them in holiness and righteousness (17:26–27, 29, 32, 35–37, 40–41,
43; 18:7–8). He will restore Jerusalem to her proper glory (17:30–31); the
nations will serve him under his yoke (17:30), and he will judge them in
righteousness and in compassion (17:29, 34), condemning sinners by their
own thoughts (17:25). His trust will not be in military might (17:33) but
in God, who will be his hope and his strength (17:34, 37–39).
For a long time the Pss. Sol. were viewed by many as the most important
witness to pre-Christian Jewish messianism. The discovery of the
Dead Sea Scrolls, has, of course, added a considerable amount of messianic
texts that are roughly contemporaneous with the Pss. Sol. While
this is not the place for a complete analysis of the messianic expectation(s)
reflected in the Scrolls, 25 we shall focus on two issues: the expectation of
a Davidic Messiah and the messianic interpretation of Isa 11:1–5.
The Pss. Sol., the Scrolls, and the NT all affirm the notion of a
Messiah from the line of David. The concept of a future king from the
David’s descendants goes back to 2 Sam 7:12–16, where God speaks to
David as follows:
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will
raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body,
25. The most recent, comprehensive treatment of messianism in the Scrolls and in
the wider Jewish literature of this period is Gerbern S. Oegema, The Anointed and His
People: Messianic Expectations from the Maccabees to Bar Kochba (JSPSup 27; Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1998). See also, e.g., John J. Collins, The Scepter and the Star:
The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature (ABRL; New York:
Doubleday, 1995).