4Q521

A Messianic Apocalypse
Dead Sea Scrolls

... [the hea]vens and the earth will listen to His Messiah, and none therein will stray from the commandments of the holy ones. Seekers of the Lord, strengthen yourselves in His service! All you hopeful in (your) heart, will you not find the Lord in this? For the Lord will consider the pious (hasidim) and call the righteous by name. Over the poor His spirit will hover and will renew the faithful with His power. And He will glorify the pious on the throne of the eternal Kingdom. He who liberates the captives, restores sight to the blind, straightens the b[ent] (Ps. cxlvi, 7-8). And f[or] ever I will clea[ve to the h]opeful and in His mercy ... And the fr[uit ... ] will not be delayed for anyone And the Lord will accomplish glorious things which have never been as [He ... ] For He will heal the wounded, and revive the dead and bring good news to the poor (Isa. lxi, 1). ... He will lead the uprooted and make the hungry rich ... ... [the ear]th and all that is on it; and the sea [and all that is in it] and all the ponds of water and rivers who are doing good before the Lor[d] ... ... like those who curse and are (destined) for death [when] the Life- giver will raise the dead of His people. And we will thank and proclaim to you the righteousness of the Lord, who ...

Luke 7:22

New Testament

20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” 21 At that very time Jesus cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits, and granted sight to many who were blind. 22 So he answered them, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them. 23 Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

Search: 4Q521, Luke, 4Q521, Luke 7:22
 Notes and References

"... The concept of the messiah is a more sensitive matter in the Dead Sea Scrolls than the presence of beatitudes. At first, it was thought that the Dead Sea Scroll community believed in two messiahs, the Messiah of Aaron (a priestly messiah) and the Messiah of Israel (a royal or Davidic messiah) and that the double messiahs referred to in these scrolls were distinct from the Christian messiah. This distinction no longer holds. A recently released Dead Sea Scroll text known as 4Q521, or the messianic apocalypse, reveals a single eschatological messiah with attributes of the single Christian messiah ... Both Matthew and Luke echo the same passages in Isaiah and Psalms that appear in 4Q521 ..."

Shanks, Hershel The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (pp. 65-66) Random House, 1998


"... Isaiah 35 and 61 are not the only passages evoked by Jesus’ description of the miraculous deeds he is performing. For other possible echoes, see Isaiah 26:19, 29:18, 42:18; and Psalm 146:7-9; compare also 4Q521. For a full listing of the allusive parallels. The multiplicity of echoes suggests that Luke 7:22 is not an allusion to a single text, but rather a richly suggestive evocation of a cloud of texts that characterized Israel’s expectation of restoration and healing ..."

Hays, Richard B. Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (pp. 149-150) Baylor University Press, 2017


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