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

JOHN J. COLLINS 91
well developed in later Jewish tradition, 56 and is mentioned explicitly in
a very fragmentary text from Qumran (4Q558). 57 In the Gospels, the
disciples ask Jesus “why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
but Jesus replies that Elijah has already come, apparently with reference
to John the Baptist. 58 There is some evidence that Jesus was initially
thought to be Elijah or a prophet (Mark 8:27: “who do people say that
I am? And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist,’ and others, ‘Elijah,’
and still others ‘one of the prophets’”; cf. Mark 6:15). But the Gospels
insist that Jesus is greater than these.
CONCLUSION
Johann Maier has performed a useful service in calling attention to the
functional, institutional focus of Jewish eschatology, but his claim that
the scholarly reconstructions of messianism in the Scrolls are unduly
influenced by Christian interests is unfounded. The Dead Sea sect
expected that the kingship and priesthood would be restored in the end
of days, and made a qualitative distinction between the “messiahs” who
would fulfill the prophecies of old and the historical anointed rulers of
the past. While the Hebrew texts use the same word xy#m with reference
to the historical past and the eschatological future, the difference is
clear from contextual usage. The scholarly convention by which the
word “messiah” refers to figures of the end-time is helpful in clarifying
this distinction.
The expectations of the Dead Sea sect with regard to ruler figures
were not greatly different from those of other Jews of the period. The
hope for a warrior messiah from the line of David, who would drive out
the Gentiles, was widespread among various groups. The Dead Sea sect
gave distinctive prominence to the high priest of the end-time, the messiah
of Aaron, and emphasized his teaching role, but all of this was based
on scriptural precedent. It would scarcely be possible to imagine a
restoration of Israel without an eschatological high priest; only his prominence
here is distinctive. The eschatological prophet has only a minor
role in the Scrolls, and this, again, is in accordance with what we know
of Second Temple Judaism in general.
56. See Collins, The Scepter and the Star, 116.
57. Émile Puech, La Croyance des les Esséniens en la Vie Future (Paris: Gabalda, 1993),
676–77.
58. Mark 9:11; Matt 17:10.