Texts in Conversation
Samaritan tradition in Memar Marqah explains Moses' shining face as the glory God created Adam with, lost in Eden and given back to Moses. The Dead Sea Scroll 4Q504 also describes a similar tradition where Adam was created with a shining divine light.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q504 8 recto 4
Words of the Luminaries
Dead Sea Scrolls, Prayers, Hymns, and Liturgy
1 [… Remember,] O Lord, that from … […] 2 […] … us, and you live [forever …] 3 […] … wonders of old and fearsome deeds [from years long past …] 4 [… Adam] our [father] you fashioned in the likeness of [your] glory […] 5 [… the breath of life] you breathed into his nostrils, and with understanding and knowledge [you filled him …] 6 [… in the] garden of Eden, which you planted, you made [him] ruler […] 7 […] … and to walk about in a land of glory … […] 8 […] … he kept. And you laid on him a charge not to turn [aside …] 9 […] he is flesh, and to dust … […] 10 […] … And you know … […] 11 […] for eternal generations […] 12 […] a living God, and your hand […] 13 […] humankind in the ways of […] 14 [… to fill the] earth with violence and to shed [innocent blood …]
Date: 160–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Memar Marqah 5.4
The Book of Wonders
Samaritan
7 Moses lived a hundred and twenty years: twenty in Egypt, sixty in Midian and forty in the wilderness. He completed them in glorious, surpassing exaltation, with prophecy and prayer. “His eyes were not dim, and his vigor had not left him.” His eyes were not dim, as with the patriarchs, the pious of the world. His eyes were not dim, for he was able to write down the Law, and he looked out over the four quarters of the world. His vigor had not left him, for he had received the garment that was taken from Adam in the Garden of Eden, and his face shone until the day of his death.
Date: 301–400 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Notes and References
"... Jarl Fossum and April De Conick successfully demonstrated the importance of the Samaritan materials for understanding the connection between the glories of Adam and Moses. The Samaritan texts insist that when Moses ascended to Mount Sinai, he received the image of God which Adam cast off in the Garden of Eden. According to Memar Marqa, Moses was endowed with the identical glorious body as Adam ..."
Andrei A. Orlov, “Vested with Adam’s Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies,” Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002): 498–513.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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