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In Daniel, the beast’s horn wages war against the holy ones and defeats them until God intervenes. In 4Q246 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, God wages war on behalf of his people, reversing who fights for whom in the vision.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Daniel 7:21
Hebrew Bible
19 “Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others. It was very dreadful, with two rows of iron teeth and bronze claws, and it devoured, crushed, and trampled anything that was left with its feet. 20 I also wanted to know the meaning of the 10 horns on its head, and of that other horn that came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. 21 While I was watching, that horn began to wage war against the holy ones and was defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and judgment was rendered in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to take possession of the kingdom.
4Q246 ii 8
An Aramaic Apocalypse
Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts
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 […]
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Notes and References
“... (b) The expression “making
war” is attributed to the “great God” (lines 7–8), who does this on behalf
of his people;51 this is quite different from Dan 7:21, where it is the horn
from the fourth beast that wages war against the saints. This suggests that
if 4Q246 is dependent on Daniel 7 at all, it is certainly not a straightfor-
ward interpretation. ...”
Stuckenbruck, Loren T.
"The Formation and Re-Formation of Daniel in the Dead Sea Scrolls" in Charlesworth, James H. (ed.) The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Volume One: Scripture and the Scrolls
(p. 119) Baylor University Press, 2006
* 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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