Texts in conversation

Compare 4Q213b 1 3 and Luke 2:19

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings · New Testament

Summary

In the Dead Sea Scrolls Aramaic Levi Document, Levi receives a vision where he is chosen as a priest and keeps it hidden “in his heart.” In Luke, Mary is described as hearing the shepherds’ message about Jesus, also keeping the words “in her heart.”

Passages

4Q213b 1 3

Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings · Aramaic Levi c

2 [… And those seven departed from me,] and I awoke from my sleep. Then 3 [I said, “This is a vision, and so I am amazed that I should have any vision at all.”] And I hid this too in my heart, and to no one 4 [did I reveal it. And we went to my father Isaac, and he too blessed me in this way. Then,] when Jacob my father was tithing 5 [everything that he had, according to his vow, I was first at the head of] the priesthood, and to me, of all his sons, he gave 6 [an offering to God. He clothed me in the garment of the priesthood and consecrated me, and I became a priest of] the eternal God […]

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q213b

Luke 2:19

New Testament

16 So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. 17 When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, 18 and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. 19 But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. 20 So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told. 21 At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

References

"... Not unlike Genesis Apocryphon’s redrawing of the patriarchs as dreamers, the Aramaic Levi Document develops Levi into an active otherworldly sojourner. The formal feature that closes Levi’s first dream vision of priestly elevation is remarkably reminiscent of those studied above in Genesis Apocryphon. Levi ascends to the heavens, encounters an angel approving his priesthood ... In near isomorphic parallel to the above example in 1Q20 6:12, Levi responds with awe and internalization: the revelation of his angelic priestly investiture is tucked away in his heart ... Mary is presented with knowledge of Jesus’ otherworldly ancestry or claims to his remarkable future on two occasions in the Lukan materials. How do these texts sound differently in the context of Aramaic Wunderkind traditions and revelatory reactions? The first response comes in Luke 2:19. The shepherds receive an angelic visitation regarding the salvific potential and messianic identity of Jesus, a child whom they will simply recognize when they encounter him. When these matters are relayed manger-side to Mary, we hear: “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” ..."

Andrew B. Perrin, “Greek Gospels and Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls: Compositional, Conceptual, and Cultural Intersections,” 6.1 (2020): 440–456.

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

Fragment 1

Compare 4Q213b 1 3 and Luke 2:19

Summary

Passages

4Q213b 1 3

Luke 2:19

References

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