Qumran Messianic Text

Qumran Messianic Text

This is one of the very important Hebrew texts that was discovered in Cave 1 in 1947 (1QSa/1Q28a).  It is related to the longer "Rule of the Community Text."  The two preserved columns describe the community in "the Last Days" and include information about a communal meal and a startling (and controversial) passage on how G-d will "father" the Messiah (descendant of David), thus "if the traditional reading is correct, then this Qumran text is describing a messianic figure who is in a special way a 'son of God'" (Wise, p. 144)!

For a translation and commentary on this text please see Michael Wise, pp. 143–147 in Wise, Michael O., Martin Abegg, Jr., and Edward Cook. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1996.

This text is/was on display in the Jordan Archaeological Museum located on the Citadel in Amman.