Texts in conversation

Compare 4Q504 8 recto 4 and Genesis Rabbah 20:12

Dead Sea Scrolls, Prayers, Hymns, and Liturgy · Rabbinic

Summary

The Dead Sea Scroll 4Q504 and Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah describe Adam created with a radiant glory resembling melammu, the shining aura of kings and divine beings based on ancient Near Eastern tradition.

Passages

4Q504 8 recto 4

Dead Sea Scrolls, Prayers, Hymns, and Liturgy · Words of the Luminaries

1 [… Remember,] O Lord, that from … […] 2 […] … us, and you live [forever …] 3 […] … wonders of old and fearsome deeds [from years long past …] 4 [… Adam] our [father] you fashioned in the likeness of [your] glory […] 5 [… the breath of life] you breathed into his nostrils, and with understanding and knowledge [you filled him …] 6 [… in the] garden of Eden, which you planted, you made [him] ruler […] 7 […] … and to walk about in a land of glory … […] 8 […] … he kept. And you laid on him a charge not to turn [aside …] 9 […] he is flesh, and to dust … […] 10 […] … And you know … […] 11 […] for eternal generations […] 12 […] a living God, and your hand […] 13 […] humankind in the ways of […] 14 [… to fill the] earth with violence and to shed [innocent blood …]

160–100 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4Q504

Genesis Rabbah 20:12

Rabbinic · Aggadah

“The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of hide [or], and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). In Rabbi Meir’s Torah, they found that “garments of or” was written. These are the garments of Adam the first man, that were similar to the common rue, broad at the bottom and narrow at the top. Rabbi Yitzḥak Ravya says: They were as smooth as a fingernail and as pretty as jewels. Rabbi Yitzḥak said: It was like the thin linen garments that come from Beit She’an. [And they were called] garments of hide because they adhered to the skin. Rabbi Elazar said: Goat hides. Rabbi Aivu said: Garments that cover the skin. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Hare hides. Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: Hides with their wool. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Radiant hides. And the firstborn sons would use them. Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: They were camel wool and hare wool. [And they were called] “garments of hide” because they were garments that come from hide. Rabbi Levi said: The Torah teaches you proper conduct: Eat according to your means, wear clothing that is less than your means, and dwell in a place that is more than your means. Eat according to your means – “From every tree of the garden you may eat” (Genesis 2:16). Wear clothing that is less than your means –“The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife [garments of hide].” And dwell in a place that is more than your means – as two people resided in the entire world.

500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis Rabbah

References

"... In the group of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments known under the title Words of the Luminaries (4Q504), the following passage about the glory of Adam in the Garden can be found ... Later in 4Q504, this tradition about Adam's former glory follow with a reference to the luminosity bestowed upon another human body - the glorious face of Moses at his encounter with the Lord at Sinai ... it is also remarkable that later Rabbinic materials often speak of the luminosity of Adam's face, the feature that might point to the influence of the Adam-Moses connection. Thus, as an example, In Leviticus Rabbah 20.2, the following passage can be found ..."

Andrei A. Orlov, “Vested with Adam’s Glory: Moses as the Luminous Counterpart of Adam in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the Macarian Homilies,” Xristianskij Vostok 4.10 (2002): 498–513.

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

Fragment 8 recto

4Q50457 chapters

Compare 4Q504 8 recto 4 and Genesis Rabbah 20:12

Summary

Passages

4Q504 8 recto 4

Genesis Rabbah 20:12

References

Tags

Your feedback

Leave a comment

Glossary

Search the Library