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Compare 1QM 9:15 and Ladder of Jacob 3:1

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

Summary

The War Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls names Sariel as one of the four chief angels whose names are written on battle shields. The Ladder of Jacob follows this angelic tradition, also giving him the role of explaining Jacob's dream.

Passages

1QM 9:15

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocalyptic and Eschatological Texts · The War Scroll

11 and an arc with towers, and as a slow advance with columns going out and wings [going out] from both sides of the line, to melt 12 the enemy. And the shields of the towers shall be three cubits long, and their spears eight cubits long. And the towers 13 go out from the line, a hundred shields, and a hundred to the face of the tower. All of them shall surround the tower on the three front sides, 14 three hundred shields. And there are two gates to a tower, one on the [right and] one on the left. And on all the shields of the towers 15 they shall write: on the first, Michael; [on the second, Gabriel; on the third,] Sariel; on the fourth, Raphael. 16 Michael and Gabriel on the [right, and Sariel and Raphael on the left.]

160–60 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1QM

Ladder of Jacob 3:1

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

1 And while I was still speaking my prayer, there appeared a voice before my face, saying: Sarekl, prince of those who rejoice, you who are over visions, go and make Jacob understand the interpretation of the dream which he saw, and show him everything he saw; but first bless him. 2 And the archangel Sarekl came to me, and I saw: it was a face […] terrifying; but I was not afraid of his look, for the face which I had seen in my dream […] was more than this, and I did not fear the face of an angel. 3 And the angel said to me, What is your name? And I said, Jacob. 4 But he said to me, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but your name shall be like my name, Israel.

1–100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Ladder of Jacob

References

“... Angels, of course, play a prominent role in the Ladder. They ascend and descend, which is a characteristic of traditions related to Jacob (cf. Gen 28:12b; Jn 1:51); elsewhere the emphasis is upon angels descending and then ascending. The archangel Sariel, who is also mentioned in the Qumran Scrolls, Aramaic Enoch, and the Neofiti Targum, is said to be the one who is in charge of dreams (3:2); hence, he is the one who is dispatched to Jacob in order to explain to him the meaning of his dream. ...”

H. G. Lunt, “Ladder of Jacob: A New Translation and Introduction,” in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Volume 2: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1985), 405.

“... In addition to Kugel’s argument for a possible pre-Maccabean date for the Ladder of Jacob (Kugel, Ladder of Jacob, 24–32 [esp. 31]), there is also the presence of the angel Sariel in this tradition (Targ. Neof. Gen 32:25; Lad. Jac. 3). As one of the four archangels, Sariel can only be found in the earliest surviving lists (4Q202 1 iii 7; 1QM ix 14–16). In later Judeo-Christian traditions, he has been replaced (usually with Uriel). ...”

Daniel C. Olson, A New Reading of the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch: “All Nations Shall Be Blessed”, SVTP 24 (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 51.

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

Ladder of Jacob8 chapters

Compare 1QM 9:15 and Ladder of Jacob 3:1

Summary

Passages

1QM 9:15

Ladder of Jacob 3:1

References

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