Untitled - St.Francis Magazine

St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 2 | April 2012 In the Second Temple period the usage of the term son(s) of God aligns with the way the term is used in the Old Testament. From among the scrolls that were found at Qumran, in Scroll 11 Q Melchizedek (11Q13) the term “sons of God” is used in reference to the people of Israel (Vermes 1997, 501). In the deuterocanonical book, Wisdom of Solomon, which was likely written in the second or first century BCE, there is a section in the second chapter about “the righteous man.” In this section the righteous man refers to God as his father and calls himself a child of the Lord (2:12-­‐20). These familial terms denoted enjoying a special relationship with God but it did not signify divinity. In the pseudepigraphical work Psalm of Solomon 17 which pulsates with a strong messianic theme, the term “sons of God” is used for the people of God: 28 And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness, And he shall judge the tribes of the people that have been sanctified by the Lord his God. 29 And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst, Nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness, 30 For he shall know them, that they are all sons of their God. And he shall divide them according to their tribes upon the land, 31 And neither sojourner nor alien shall sojourn with them any more. He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah. 43 In the Aramaic Apocalypse (4Q246) the terms “son of God” and “son of the Most High” appear for the coming king in a usage 43 Taken from: http://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-­‐essays-­‐books/noncanonical-­literature/the-­‐psalms-­‐of-­‐solomon/, accessed August 7, 2011. 193