Texts in Conversation
The Gospel of John and the Dead Sea Scrolls both use the image of flowing water to express a divine source of life. In the Scrolls, a “fountain of living waters” represents wisdom given by God, while John describes the life-giving spirit that flows from faith. Both reflect a Jewish tradition that linked water with divine truth.
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1QH
The Thanksgiving Hymns
Dead Sea Scrolls
Thou didst hedge in its fruit, [O God], with the mystery of mighty Heroes and of spirits of holiness and of the whirling flame of fire. No [man shall approach] the well-spring of life or drink the waters of holiness with the everlasting trees, or bear fruit with [the Plant] of heaven, who seeing has not discerned, and considering has not believed in the fountain of life, who has turned [his hand against] the everlasting [bud]. And I was despised by tumultuous rivers for they cast up their slime upon me. But Thou, O my God, hast put into my mouth as it were rain for all [those who thirst] and a fount of living waters which shall not fail. When they are opened they shall not run dry; they shall be a torrent [overflowing its banks] and like the [bottom]less seas. They shall suddenly gush forth which were hidden in secret, [and shall be like the waters of the Flood
Date: 150 B.C.E. - 100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
John 7:38
New Testament
37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.) 40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!” 41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” But still others said, “No, for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
Date: 90-110 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Fourth Gospel assume a modified ethical and cosmological dualism that is also found in some of the Jewish Scriptures (e.g., Job 1:6-12; Psalm 89:10-11; Proverbs 4:10-19). It is modified dualism because in both, God is supreme (e.g., 1QS III, 15-17; John 1:1-3). The Fourth Gospel and the Dead Sea Scrolls both criticize the temple, but only the Dead Sea Scrolls sect detaches from it. There are five kinds of scriptural interpretation at Qumran: legal, exhortation, narrative, poetic, and prophetic. We also can find these different scriptural interpretations in the Fourth Gospel ..."
Puskas, Charles & Robbins, Michael
Conceptual Worlds of the Fourth Gospel: Intertextuality and Early Reception
(p. 73) Cascade Books, 2021
* 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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