And yet it seems difficult to avoid using the adjective "messianic" to characterise the hero of this text, since the functions attributed to him really are "messianic" functions. Other Jewish writings, not from Qumran, describing a superhuman agent of eschatological salvation, use the technical term "Messiah" as one of the names for the saving figure which they describe. This proves that the widening of the semantic field of "Messiah" had already taken place in the Judaism of the period and forces us not to exclude these texts a priori, under pain of ignoring one of the possible developments of "messianic" hope reflected in the manuscripts preserved. The texts I am referring to are, of course, The Parables of Enoch and IV Esdras. The first occasionally uses the term "Messiah" (in 48:10 and 52:4) together with the more common titles of "Chosen One" and above all "Son of Man"35 to denote an existing, transcendental figure of celestial origin. In the vision included in chapter 13 by the author of IV Esdras, a person "like a man," called "Messiah" in 7:28 and 12:32 and more often "son/ servant of God," is clearly presented also as an existing, transcendental person of celestial origin.36 Both figures are called "Messiah" in these texts, in spite of their superhuman nature and in spite of being described with images traditionally associated with the divinity. Accordingly, as Collins correctly observes,37 "the understanding of ‘messiah’ is thereby qualified." These parallels in two compositions, of which the Jewish origin does not seem to be doubted, justifies our inclusion of the following text in our study.

A few lines of this text have been known for quite some time38 and have been extensively studied.39 However, the recent complete publication of the fragment40 which informs us of the last five lines of column II allows a fuller analysis. It is the only fragment preserved of an Aramaic composition dated palaeographically to the first half of the 1st century. This fragment comes from the end of a leather leaf and preserves traces of sewing to the following sheet; in it is preserved a complete column of nine lines and approximately half of the preceding column. The text can be translated as follows:

1 [. . .] settled upon him and he fell before the throne 2 [. . .] eternal king. You are angry and your years 3 [. . .] they will see you, and all shall come for ever. 4 [. . .] great, oppression will come upon the earth 5 [. . .] and great slaughter in the city 6 [. . .] king of Assyria and of Egypt 7 [. . .] and he will be great over the earth 8 [. . .] they will do, and all will serve 9 [. . .] great will he be called and he will be designated by his name (DSST, 138).

1 He will be called son of God, and they will call him son of the Most High. Like the sparks 2 of a vision, so will their kingdom be; they will rule several years over 3 the earth and crush everything; a people will crush another people, and a city another city. 4 Blank Until the people of God arises and makes everyone rest from the sword. 5 His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all his paths in truth and uprigh[tness]. 6 The earth (will be) in truth and all will make peace. The sword will cease in the earth, 7 and all the cities will pay him homage. He is a great God among the gods (?). 8 He will make war with him; he will place the peoples in his hand and cast away everyone before him. 9 His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom, and all the abysses (DSST, 138).

The text tells us that someone (a seer?) falls down in front of a king’s throne and addresses him. He describes to him the evils to come, among which reference to Assyria and Egypt play an important role. Even more important will be the apparition of a mysterious person to whom will be given the titles of "son of God" and "son of the Most High," a person who "will be great upon the earth" and whom "all will serve." His appearance will be followed by tribulations, but these will be as fleeting as a spark and will only last "until the people of God arises." The outcome will be the end of war, an eternal kingdom in which all will make peace, cities will be conquered, because the great God will be with him (with his people?) and he will make all his enemies subject to him.41

First I set out the interpretations of Milik (who identified the mysterious person as Alexander Balas), Fitzmyer (who applied the titles to a royal but nonmessianic person, heir to David’s throne) and Flusser (who saw a reference to Antichrist in this mysterious person) and the reasons why they seemed insufficient. I then proposed understanding the person to which the text refers as an "Eschatological liberator" of angelic, that is to say, non-human nature, a figure similar in functions to those which 11QMelch ascribes to Melchizedek or 1QM to the "Prince of Light" or to the archangel Michael. E. Puech, the editor of the whole text, thinks that the preserved text does not allow definitive resolution between an "historicizing" interpretation like Milik’s and a "messianic" interpretation, towards which his preferences seem inclined. Puech seems to exclude my interpretation for two reasons. It is not certain that 4Q246 is a composition of Qumran origin and because, in his opinion, "the ‘heavenly’ figures who are the mediators of salvation in ancient Judaism, Enoch, Elijah, Melkizedek or the Son of God have not, strictly speaking, received the title of ‘messiah.’ "42 However, as we have indicated, this statement is not completely correct. Also, the parallels I noted with ideas contained in other Qumran writings, may not be determinative in assigning a sectarian origin to the composition, but do at least make it completely compatible with the thought of the Qumran group.

I remain convinced, then, that my interpretation of the first fragmentary column and of the first four lines of column II continues to be the best to explain the elements preserved. My description of the person in question as "angelic" was based on the parallel with other non-human figures of the Qumran texts. Perhaps it would be more correct to denote this superhuman figure simply as "heavenly." And the new lines now available confirm and emphasise this conclusion, since they describe this figure with the features of Daniel’s "Son of Man."43 The quotations from Daniel 7 are especially striking. "His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom" of column II 5 comes from Daniel 7:27 where it is applied to the "people of the holy ones of the Most High." "His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom" of column II 9 comes from Daniel 7:14, where it is applied to the "Son of Man." In the biblical text, the parallelism of both expressions in the vision and in its explanation could favour the interpretation of the "Son of Man" as a collective figure. The author of our composition, however, seems to attribute both expressions to the mysterious protagonist of the narrative, whom he considers without any doubt whatever as an individual, so anticipating the clear interpretation as an individual we find in the Book of Parables.

Puech notes that "may he raise" ["qu’il relève"] can be read in column II 4 instead of "may (the people of God) rise" ["que se (re)lève le peuple de Dieu"], and "may he make all rest" ["qu’il fasse tout reposer"] instead of "all will rest" ["tout reposera"]. This enables line 4 to be understood as the climax of the period of crisis described beforehand, enables the lofty titles given to the protagonist to be understood, since the task he has to fulfil is to bring in the situation of eschatological peace, and it enables the particle used to be given its value of a limit.44 This interpretation is strengthened by the use of "he will judge" in column II 5, and by the statement of the cosmic dimension of his kingdom in column II 9.

This reading of the text is strengthened by the way in which the sentence in question is set out in the manuscript. The Blank which comes before mention of the "people of God" seems intended to emphasise that this situation of  eschatological peace is precisely the conclusion of the situation described previously and is due to the activity of the protagonist, to whom the lofty titles "son of God" and "son of the Most High" are given. The Blank which follows this expression on the same line removes the need to make a whole series of suffixes in the following lines refer to the nearest antecedent ("the people of God," the object of the preceding phrase). They can refer to the subject of the phrase, the "son of God" and "son of the Most High."

This messianic interpretation of the "eschatological liberator" of 4Q246 which I proposed in 1983 agrees completely with the "messianic" interpretation proposed by Puech as an alternative to Milik’s "historicising" interpretation (which he accepts as equally valid). Although Puech insists on the royal character and on the Davidic lineage of this person he ends by considering this "Messiah" as a special divinised "Messiah," similar to the Melchizedek of 11QMelch and the heavenly Son of Man.45 And this is precisely the element which has to be emphasised here. In Qumran together with a "Messiah-king" and a "Messiah-priest" the coming of an agent of eschatological salvation was expected (who is not explicitly referred to as "Messiah" in the text) as exalted as the pre-existent "Son of Man" of the Parables of Enoch or like the "Messiah" of IV Esdras.

This same type of saviour figure of superhuman nature is found in another text (11QMelch), where the title "Messiah of the Spirit" has been partially preserved. However, this title seems to refer to the "messianic" figure of the eschatological prophet, mentioned together with the eschatological deliverer of heavenly nature who is Melchizedek. Therefore, this text must be considered among those which tell us of several messianic figures. We will discuss it briefly in what follows.

Introduction | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 | Section 6 | Section 7 | Section 8 | Chapter Notes