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4Q175

Testimonia

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1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,⁠ “You have heard the sound of the words of 2 this people, which they spoke to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 3 If only this heart of theirs would remain, to fear me and to keep all⁠ 4 my commandments always, so that it may go well with them and with their children forever. 5 I will raise up for them a prophet like you⁠ from among their brothers, and I will put my words 6 in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. And the man 7 who does not listen to my words, which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself 8 will call him to account.” 9 And he took up his oracle and said, “The utterance of Balaam son of Beor, the utterance of the man 10 whose eye is perfect, the utterance of one who hears the words of God and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who 11 sees the vision of the Almighty, fallen down with eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now; 12 I behold him, but not near. A star shall march out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,⁠ and it shall crush 13 the temples of Moab and tear down all the sons of Seth.” 14 And of Levi he said, “Give to Levi your Thummim, and your Urim to your faithful one, whom 15 you tested at Massah and with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah, who said of his father, ‘I have not 16 … him,’ and to his mother, ‘I do not know you.’ His brothers he did not acknowledge, and his son he did not 17 know. For he kept your word and guarded your covenant. They shall make your judgments shine for Jacob,⁠ 18 your Torah for Israel. They shall set incense before you and a whole offering on your altar. 19 Bless, O LORD, his strength, and accept the work of his hands. Crush the loins of his adversaries, and those who hate him, 20 so that they do not rise.” 21 At the time when Joshua finished praising and giving thanks with his praises, 22 he said, “Cursed be the man who rebuilds this city.⁠ With his firstborn 23 he shall lay its foundation, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.” And behold, a cursed man, one of Belial, 24 is rising to be a fowler’s snare to his people and a ruin to all his neighbors. And there will arise 25 […] … so that the two of them may be instruments of violence. And they will rebuild 26 [this city] and set up for it a wall and towers, to make it a stronghold of wickedness 27 [and a great evil] in Israel, and a horror in Ephraim and in Judah. 28 […] and they will commit profanation in the land, and great blasphemy among the sons of 29 [Jacob. They will shed] blood like water on the rampart of the daughter of Zion and within the boundary of 30 […] Jerusalem.

Texts in conversation

Compare 4Q175 5 and Acts 3:22

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · New Testament

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Summary

In 4Q175 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the promise of a prophet like Moses appears beside a prophecy about a coming ruler. Acts identifies Jesus as the promised prophet and urges its audience to obey him.

Passages

4Q175 5

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Interpretation · Testimonia
5 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words 6 in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him. And the man 7 who does not listen to my words, which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself 8 will call him to account.” 9 And he took up his oracle and said, “The utterance of Balaam son of Beor, the utterance of the man 10 whose eye is perfect, the utterance of one who hears the words of God and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who 11 sees the vision of the Almighty, fallen down with eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now; 12 I behold him, but not near. A star shall march out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and it shall crush 13 the temples of Moab and tear down all the sons of Seth.”
160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q175

Acts 3:22

New Testament
20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. 21 This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. 23 Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

References

“... Peter presented Jesus not only as the Messiah but also as the prophet like Moses. This idea is developed more fully in 7:37 (see fullest comment there). Moses was not only a prophet but a divinely appointed leader of the nation (once even “king,” Deut 33:5).718 Prophetic endowment was the ideal for any ruler of Israel (cf. 1 Sam 10:6, 11; 16:13; Acts 2:30) but modeled only by a few (Acts 2:30; Judg 4:4; 1 Sam 7:15–17). A prophet “like Moses” was thus a prophet of great rank (Deut 18:19; cf. 33:4–5) with special intimacy with God as well as wonders and signs (34:10–12; Acts 7:36; cf. 2:22). The most important connection offered in Acts, however, is that he was a prophet rejected by his people (Acts 7:35–37); Deuteronomy itself promised a prophet from among the people (Deut 18:15, 18) and warned against disobeying him (18:19). [...] The Qumran scrolls do reveal expectation of an eschatological prophet (1QS IX, 10–11; 11QMelch II, 15–21),743 though they may also apply it (and Deut 18:15–18) to the Teacher of Righteousness, who may have originally filled this role for them. That a Qumran scroll links the Mosaic prophet (4Q175 I, 5–8) with the star from Jacob (Num 24:15–17; 4Q175 I, 9–13) indicates that some Jewish people associated this mission with the future anointed ruler. [...] 745. This does not suggest “literary dependence so much as that Qumran and NT authors breathed the same air of eschatological expectation” and used the same Bible (Brooke, “4Q175,” 1207). Although the text is “messianic” (see, e.g., Villalón, “Deux messies,” 62–63), its messianic figure might not be the Messiah in the usual early Jewish sense; the testimonia probably address the multiple messianic figures held by the sect (cf. Vermes, Scrolls, 247–48). ...”
Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014), 1113, 1115.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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4Q175 5 and Acts 3:22

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