Texts in Conversation
The Aramaic Apocalypse from the Dead Sea Scrolls describes a person called the Son of God and the Son of the Most High, whose kingdom will last forever. Luke’s account of the angel’s message to Mary uses the same language and interpretive tradition.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q246 2:1
An Aramaic Apocalypse
Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts
1 He will be called the son of God, and they will call him the son of the Most High. Like the shooting stars 2 of the vision, so will their kingdom be. For years they will reign over 3 the earth and trample everything. People will trample people, and province will trample province, 4 until the people of God arises and all have rest from the sword. 5 His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all his paths are in truth. He will judge 6 the earth in truth, and all will make peace. The sword will cease from the earth, 7 and all the provinces will bow down to him. The great God is his strength; 8 he himself will wage war for him. He will give peoples into his hand, and all of them 9 he will cast down before him. His dominion is an eternal dominion, and all the depths of […]
Date: 50–20 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Luke 1:31
New Testament
28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. 30 So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! 31 Behold100: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... The concept of the "Son of God," a designation that is strongly associated with Jesus as Messiah in Christian theology, is referred to in a Dead Sea Scroll text called 4Q246 (or the Aramaic Apocalypse), written in Aramaic and dating to about the turn of the era ... This text contains a remarkable parallel to the Annunciation scene in Luke, in which the angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary to announce the conception of Jesus ... Both texts maintain that he "will be great," he will be called the "Son of the Most High," he will be called "the Son of God," and his kingdom will be everlasting ..."
Hershel Shanks, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Random House, 1998), 69.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,