Texts in Conversation
The Dead Sea Scrolls and 2 Corinthians describe God’s light making people shine, based on Moses and Aaron after meeting God. In the scrolls, the leader receives this light and shares it. Paul applies it to believers reflecting God’s glory through Jesus.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1QHa 12:28
The Thanksgiving Hymns
Dead Sea Scrolls, Prayers, Hymns, and Liturgy
26 in the council of the holy ones. And you bring their judgment out to victory, and truth to uprightness. And you do not let them be led astray by the hand of the wretched, 27 as they plotted against them. And you put the fear of them on your people, and they are a hammer to all the peoples of the lands, to cut off in judgment all 28 who transgress your word. And through me you have made the face of many shine, and you have shown yourself mighty beyond counting, for you have made known to me 29 your wonderful mysteries, and in your wonderful council you have shown yourself mighty with me, doing wonders before many for the sake of your glory, and to make known 30 to all the living your mighty deeds. What is flesh compared with this? And what is a thing shaped of clay, to do such great wonders? It is in iniquity
Date: 150–100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
2 Corinthians 3:18
New Testament
14 But their minds were closed. For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Date: 55–57 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Notes and References
"... The specific image that Paul uses, that of the face of Christ as the reflecting mirror, is not found in these Qumran passages, but there are several features in them that share a similarity and provide a Palestinian background for the image that he is using. First, there is the action of God causing light to shine on the face either of the Teacher of Righteousness in the Thanksgiving Psalms (if that is the person who speaks in the first person) or of the priests who are blessed. The same function is further attributed to the Teacher or the priests who light up the faces of the Many (i.e., the members of the community). Second, the last passage speaks of the illumination of the heart rather than the face, because much of the phraseology used there occurs in other passages; but it also reveals that its literary origin is the blessing of the sons of Aaron in Numbers 6:24-26 ... The face of God shining on his people is also found in Psalm 31:17; 67:2. These are the Old Testament sources of the Qumran expressions (compare also 1 Enoch 38:4) ..."
Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “Glory Reflected on the Face of Christ (2 Cor 3:7–4:6) and a Palestinian Jewish Motif,” TS 42.4 (1981): 630–644.
* 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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