Texts in Conversation
Leviticus starts the Jubilee with a proclamation of release on the Day of Atonement. In 11Q13 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, this recurring calendar becomes a final Jubilee when Melchizedek’s people are freed from their sins.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 25:8-13
Hebrew Bible
8 “‘You must count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to 49 years. 9 You must sound loud horn blasts—in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement—you must sound the horn in your entire land. 10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, and you must proclaim a release in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your Jubilee; each one of you must return to his property, and each one of you must return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. 12 Because that year is a Jubilee, it will be holy to you—you may eat its produce from the field. 13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee you must each return to your property.
11Q13 2:2-9
The Heavenly Prince Melchizedek
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation
2 […] and as for what it says, “In [this] year of jubilee [each of you shall return to his property,” and about it he said, “And] this 3 [is the manner of the release:] every creditor shall release what he has lent [to his neighbor. He shall not press his neighbor or his brother, for there has been proclaimed] a release 4 for God.” [Its interpretation] for the end of days concerns the captives, who […] and whose 5 teachers have been hidden and kept secret, and from the inheritance of Melchizedek, for […] … and they are the inheritance of Melchizedek, who 6 will bring them back to them. He will proclaim liberty to them, to release them from [the burden of] all their iniquities. And [thus] this thing will happen 7 in the first week of the jubilee that follows the nine jubilees. The Day of Atonement is the end of the tenth jubilee, 8 to atone on it for all the sons of [light] and the men of the lot of Melchizedek. […] … upon them … according to all their deeds, for 9 this is the time of the year of favor for Melchizedek and for his armies, the people of the holy ones of God, for a reign of judgment, as it is written
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Notes and References
“... Second, all of the identical words are clustered together in both Lev 25:9-10 and
11Q13 2:6-7. The close proximity reduces the probability that 11Q13 2:6-7 and Lev
25:9-10 use these words coincidentally. It is unlikely that Lev 25:9-10 and 11Q13 2:6-7
would independently use these words so close together by coincidence.
Third, the clusters of identical words in Lev 25:9-10 and 11Q13 2:6-7 describe
analogous situations. Leviticus 25:9-10 and 11Q13 2:6-7 both involve the Day of
Atonement and proclaiming liberty. All of these data indicate 11Q13 2:2 quotes Lev
25:13 to evoke the themes of the Day of Atonement and the proclamation of liberty. [...] 11Q13 uses thematic association to imply that the “Day of Atonement” in Lev 25:9
anticipates the “Day of Atonement” in 11Q13 2:7. 11Q13 additionally implies that the
proclamation of liberty in Lev 25:10 anticipates the proclamation of liberty in 11Q13 2:6. ...”
Winchester, Christopher
Thematic Association in the Gospel of Matthew: Situating Exegesis in the Gospel of Matthew in its Second Temple Context
(pp. 152-153) University of Edinburgh, 2017
* 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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