Texts in Conversation
In 4Q544 from the Dead Sea Scrolls, two angels dispute who should rule Amram while he is alive. Jude describes Michael and the devil disputing over Moses’ body, drawing on the same tradition of angels contesting authority over a person.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q544 1:9-14
Visions of Amram
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings
9 all, that I would return to Egypt in peace and see the face of my wife [… and I was looking at the angels whom I saw] 10 in my vision, the vision of the dream. And behold, two were arguing over me and saying [… of his] 11 and they were holding a great dispute over me. And I asked them, “Who are you, that you thus [have power over me?” … And they said to me, “We] 12 [thus] are rulers, and rule over all the sons of Adam.” And they said to me, “Which of us do you [seek to be ruled by?” And behold, I lifted my eyes and saw,] 13 [and one] of them, his appearance was dreadful like a serpent, [and all] his clothing was many-colored, and he was dark with darkness. [His face …] 14 [And the other, I looked,] and behold … […] in his appearance, and his face was smiling, and [he was covered with clothing …]
Jude 1:8-10
New Testament
8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.
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Notes and References
“... The
similarity is not accidental, but we need not conclude, as
Milik does,39 that Jude's source was inspired by qQAmram.
The similarity can be adequately explained by the broader
tradition of contests between the devil and the chief of the
angels, in which the courtroom context of legal dispute,
accusation and defence, gives rise to this kind of language. [...] But it is better to see Jude 9 as a specific instance
of the general tradition of contests between the devil and the
angel, 4QAmram as another specific instance of this general
tradition, and Berger's tradition of texts about the fate of the
soul at death as a particular form which that tradition took,
perhaps at a date later than the time of writing of Jude's
source and certainly without any direct relation to Jude's
source. ...”
Bauckham, Richard
Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church
(pp. 248-249) T&T Clark International, 2004
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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