the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

LOREN T. STUCKENBRUCK 123
11Q13 (= 11QMelchizedek 2.18). In the case of 11Q13, the text is fragmentary,
and there is a lacuna where there may originally have been a citation. It
identifies the “messenger” of Isa 52:7 as “[the] one [ano]inted of the spirit”
(hm]s ]yh[) spoken of by “Dan[iel…].” 11Q13 thus probably uses Daniel 9 (in
either v. 25 or v. 26) “messianically,” that is, it correlates the eschatological
messenger (probably Melchizedek) with an “anointed one” in Daniel. 71
4Q174 preserves more of a text cited from Daniel; lines 3–4 from column
2 read as follows:
3 …wha]t is written in the book of Daniel the prophet: “[The wicked
ones…] will act wickedly 4 and the righteous ones […shall be made wh]ite
and shall be refined, and the people who know God will be strong.…”
The citation is a combination of Dan 12:10 (“the wicked will act
wickedly”; “shall be purified, made white, and refined”; cf. 11:35: “shall
be refined, purified, and made white”) and 11:32 (“the people who are loyal
to their God shall be strong”). The appeal to Daniel reinforces the belief
of the author of 4Q174 that during the eschatological period the wicked
ones will be exposed while the righteous ones who practice “the whole
Torah” (line 2) will be refined. It is not clear whether the words corresponding
to 11:32 represent a variant or a free adaptation of the text of
Daniel. In any case, the mixed citation no doubt reflects a deliberate
attempt at interpreting Daniel not only in relation to the context of the
Florilegium but also by coordinating different passages within the book of
Daniel itself. Of particular significance is, of course, the reference to
Daniel as “the prophet” in the introduction to the citation. We may infer
from this that the author of the text considered the book of Daniel to belong
to Scripture in some way, and perhaps would have assigned it to “the
prophets,” one of the three divisions being distinguished among the Jewish
Scriptures (cf. the Greek Prologue to Sirach; 2 Macc 2:13). 72
E. THE INFLUENCE OF DANIEL ON MOTIFS AND IDEAS
OF THE QUMRAN LITERATURE
From the preceding discussion it is clear enough that Daniel served as a
tradition inspiring the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. At the same time,
71. See the discussion of the text by Émile Puech, “Notes sur le manuscrit de
11QMelkîsédeq,” RevQ 12 (1987): 483–513.
72. If this inference on the basis of 4Q174 is correct, then it is difficult to agree with
Mertens’s conclusion that at Qumran Daniel was not regarded as one of the
prophetic writings of the Jewish scriptures (Das Buch Daniel, 97).