The Melchizedek Text (11QMelch)

by Beverly L. Park-Watkins

Contents of this article

I. Introductory Remark
II. The Text
III. What the Scholars are saying
IV. Importance of the document

Introductory Remark:

The Melchizedek Text is a document that was found with and included in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) documents. The actual title is "The Heavenly Prince Melchizedek." The emphasis is on the belief that Melchizedek is identical to Michael and he is referred to as "elohim" and "el" and that he will deliver them from their ad- versary in the endtime.

The Text:

The Melchizedek Text is one of the scrolls that was discovered in cave 11 of the multiple caves surrounding the Dead Sea area. There were thirteen (13) frag- ments of the text, however the text that we have is only one and one half (1 ½) pages. The caves were numbered in the sequence in which they were discovered, hence cave 11. The community that encompassed the Dead Sea area was called the Qumran community. The emphasis in this text is upon a heavenly being in the form of an earthly being.

In order to understand the contents of the text, a person needs to understand some of the concepts of the community. The purpose of the community itself was to be stay away from evil and be set apart from wicked men under the authority of the sons of Zadok. The scrolls seem to me to be a collection of rules, history, prophesies, and songs of praise. The Melchizedek Text seems to be a prophetic text about an angelic being. One thing in particular that stands out in my mind is the idea that there was to be a future war on earth. The "hosts of the sons of Light, commanded by the ‘Prince of the Congregation’, were to be supported by the angelic armies led by the ‘Prince of Light’, also known in the Scrolls as the archangel Michael or Melchizedek.

This community of people seemed to be surrounded by a world that was seething with a lot of expectations of the endtime as foretold by the prophets. They believed that by Melchizedek, the captives would be set free at the end of days, based on a text in Isaiah.¹ Melchizedek would have the power to forgive them of their sins. This endtime was sup- posed to be the first week of the tenth Jubilee.² The Jubilee year was actually the fiftieth year. The first week of the tenth Jubilee would be the first week after the four hundred- nintieth (490) year. At that time the land would rest, they would go back to their own property and their own families, and all of their debts would be removed as long as the debt was not owed by a stranger,³ as mentioned in Deut.15:2. This was the Day of Atonement, when the Sons of Light and the men of the lot of Melchizedek would be atoned for.

Melchizedek was given the same power that Jesus has in the sense that he would have the power to forgive sin, and to make atonement for the people. He had the power to judge people; for it is written in this text, that by his strength, he would judge the holy ones of God and execute judgement. They based their belief on what they understood the Psalms to say.⁴ According to the text, "God [Elohim] has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgement." However, according to DSS text this is construed to be referring to Melchizedek. It is in this instance that the they trans- late elohim and el as Melchizedek, which would be according to Jewish tradition e.g. "Let the assembly of the peoples return to the height above them; El (god) will judge the peoples."⁵ This would indicate, also that they expected Melchizedek to preside as judge over the final judgement. They interpret some of the text to apply to Satan and his followers, e.g. "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah."⁶

It seems that this document was written to encourage the faithful of the community to stay faithful because their deliverer would soon appear and avenge them of their enemies. But more than that, the text seems to portray the endless battle between good and evil in the persons of Melchizedek and satan.

It is significant that when the prophet said: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who proclaims peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion: Your Elohim reigns,"⁷ the scrolls interpret mountains as the prophets; the messenger as the Anointed One of the spirit. However, some today would interpret it as the messenger being the preacher who proclaims the gospel of Christ, without explanation regarding the rest of the verse.

What the Scholars are Saying

"There are those who believe that the scrolls found at the site belonged to a sect called the Essenes."⁸ They believe that "the sect’s place of habitation (Khirbet Qumran) agrees with that of the Essenes according to Pliny; and the laws and customs of the sect, as set out especially in the Discipline Scroll, closely resemble in important points what Philo and Josephus tell us about the Essenes."⁹ "The purpose of the community is set forth clearly in col 5: ‘to be converted form all evil . . . to separate themselves from the congregation of perverse men . . . under the authority of the sons of Zadok, the priests who keep the covenant, and under the authority of the majority of the members of the community.’ ¹⁰

In reference to the ‘War’ that would take place between the ‘godly and ungodly’; Stegemann believes that this is the last judgement. He says that "in the Melchizedek Midrash from Qumran, the Last Judgment lasts seven years. The War Rule presents the coming settlement of accounts between light and darkness as an event that will last forty years in all, in the course of which all of the evil in the world will gradually be annihilat- ed and good will correspondingly gain ground."¹¹

During this war the "hosts of the sons of Light, commanded by the ‘Prince of the Congregation’, were to be supported by the angelic armies led by the ‘Prince of Light’, also known in the Scrolls as the archangel Michael or Melchizedek. Similarly, the ‘ungodly of the Covenant’ and their Gentile Associates were to be aided by the demonic forces of Satan, or Belial, or Melkiresha."¹² All three names refer to the same demonic entity, just as the righteous entity is given more than one name, e.g., text also shows that "God (elohim) can be used for angels, about which there is no debate. When, therefore, he finds the word in a place such as Ps 82:1, he is able to explain the passage as referring not to God himself but to the angel Melchizedek."¹³

The fact that Melchizedek is given the name Michael, would give this reader the im- pression that the Qumran community believed that Melchizedek was an angelic being, and that Melchizedek and Michael the archangel were one in the same. Scholars tend to agree with this assumption; though, there seems to be debate as to whether Melchizedek is or is not portrayed as the "son of God." However, on this note Stegemann says that

"Melchizedek, in this text, is a celestial redeemer with divine traits. As priest he for- gives sins; as royal judge he presides at the Last Judgment. The role of the messenger at side ‘who brings glad tidings’ (Isa. 52:7) remains questionable: for one thing, this messenger is dubbed "Spirit-Anointed," and for another the herald of salvation for the sorrowing. Whether it is a matter of two distinct figures here, or of one only, is rendered by the extensively deteriorated state of the contextual parts of the manu- script as difficult to decide as their relationship with Melchizedek. Perhaps as ‘Spirit- Anointed" the messenger fulfills these heraldic roles as well, just as he had been the messenger in Isaiah 61:1."¹⁴

It doesn’t appear that the other scholars have any comment on this. However, if the messenger and he were the same, why would the writer of the text find it necessary to call him the "messenger at his side" and not just say that Melchizedek was the one who would "bring glad tidings." Indeed, after reading the text, this readed thought that Melchizedek was to bring peace and salvation to the faithful and sorrow to the ‘wicked.’ "Milik advanced a historical theory, associating the title with the Seleucid ruler, Alaxander Balas. Fitzmyer, in turn, considered him to be a Jewish, possibly Hasmonaean, king, but allowed for a ‘messianic undertone’ in the us of ‘son of God’, etc. On the other hand, David Flusser opted for a strictly apocalyptic meaning, and claimed that the idioms referred to the Antichrist. Still apocalyptically, but in a positive sense, F. Garcia Martinez argued in favour of an angelic identity, the ‘son of God’ being either the heavenly Melchizedek, or Michael, the Prince of Light. E. Puech in a recent essay has decided to sit on the fence and recognize in the holder of the titles in question as either the future Davidic Messiah or a historical Seleucid pretender."¹⁵ However, from this readers point of view none of them are sure about who Melchizedek is or whether it refers to the one mentioned in Old and New Testament Scripture.

"Accordingly, L. Schiffman believes that the manuscript is from the early Herodian period and is a pesher-like interpretation of several biblical texts. He says that the author of the Melchizedek Text understood time as divided into periods of time called ten jubi- lees. The endtime prophesy or dawning of the End of Days would occur during the last jubilee."¹⁶ However, according to Michael Wise, in his rendition of The Coming of Melchizedek, he says that the captives that are to be set free are the "Hebrew slaves"¹⁷ He concludes that the jubliee year was the fiftieth year, the year following the succession of seven sabbatical years. Whereas a sabbatical year was one in which the land must lie fallow and rest (analogous to the Sabbath at the end of the week)."¹⁸ "And this thing will [occur] in the first week of the Jubilee that follows the nine Jubilees. And the Day of Atonement is the e[nd of the] tenth [Ju]bilee, when all the Sons of [Light] and the men of the lot of Mel[chi]zedek will be atoned for."¹⁹ "This ‘Day of Atonement’ is also called ‘Year of Release’ and ‘Year of favor from the Lord.’²⁰

The scholars seem to agree on the point, and that "this saviour in the person of Mel- chizedek, destroys the forces of evil and liberates expiates the Sons of Light (the mem- bers of the sect)."²¹ VanderKamp and Schiffman agree that "the Melchizedek Text cites Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Malachi, and Psalms as authority."²²

"If allegations are to be believed, the title of the work should be ‘Exposition on the Periods of History that God Has Made.’ The reason for these allegations is that it is believed that the work originally comprised more than ten columns of text. The manu- script seemed to be parallel with the 4Q180 and 181 texts. However, this author says that "it appears that one text is from the beginning of a work, the other is from the end of a work and the Melchizedek text stands alone."²³ Stegeman reasons that "11Q13 (Melch)

and 4Q180 come to us from around the middle of the first century B.C., while manuscript 4Q181 was composed some one-half century later."²⁴

Likewise, according to Brooke, "others say that 11Qmelch is for the most part a single column of text of at least 25 lines; in its right-hand margin frag. 1 contains an insertion which belongs to the preceding column; frags. 2 and 7 provide the start of several lines of a third column. While Kobelski²⁵ accepts Milik’s²⁶ placing of frag. 13, he argues that frag. 4, 5, 11, and 14 are not part of the main extant column; Puech²⁷ locates frags. 4, 5, 11, and 13 in col 3. Milik argues that while the manuscript itself is suitably dated at the turn of the era, because the ‘anointed one’ (11Qmelch 18-20) is probably the Teacher of Righteousness himself, the text was composed about 120 b.c.e."²⁸

Brooke continues with his narrative by saying that "he believes 11QMelch is akin to *4QFlorilegium and 4QCatena because the fragments include extracts from various biblical texts."²⁹

Although the scholars cannot seem to agree on some parts, they do agree that the an- gelology is matched with that in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice. I believe that the phraseology of the text, in reference to Melchizedek being the head of the ‘sons of Heaven’ or ‘gods of justice’ is the same as that of Songs of the Holocaust of the Sabbath; which no one seems to address. Brooke continues on to say that "the whole text is eschatological concerning the ‘latter days’ (aharit hayyamim)."³⁰

Importance of the Document

I believe that the Melchizedek Text is a very important document, in that it gives witness to Old Testament scripture. Even though there are difficult passages for us to understand, there remains a good deal of historical information that is valuable to Biblical scholars and would-be Biblical scholars. It is valuable in the search for information re- garding the community and the surroundings of the people of New Testament times. I found it to valuable in the search for truth and wisdom as far as the belief structure of the people of New Testament times. It would appear to me that the Scripture text, as we know it, would be the most reliable source, even though it has been copied and recopied by hand through the years or centuries. Although I’ve stated it before, I don’t believe that I can emphasize enough that, the Melchizedek text and the Scripture can be used as a witness to each other in that the text of both seem to correspond with each other.

I would not recommend the text to a novice in the Word because there are portions of this text that would truly confuse a novice, if he/she took it at face value. However, for the person who is curious about mysteries and riddles and esoteric theories and those who are serious about the studies of Bible times, the Melchizedek text is the ideal document to peak their interest. I would recommend the reading of it to the person who is ready for a challenge. It challenges the belief system and reasoning powers of anyone who is willing to be challenged.

Also, I believe that the text would be an excellent source of strength for the faith of a believer. I know that what I have said sounds contradictory, in light of the fact that I have said that a novice probably shouldn’t read this text. However, I do not believe it to be contradictory because, when one reads about the faith that this community had in God and His ability to deliver, as well as the faith that the early Christians had, this would tend to reenforce the promises that we read about in the Scriptures. It reminds us that some of the terms that we have come to know from the New Testament are not new terms, e.g. day of atonement, (year of) Grace, liberty for the captives, peace, salvation, etc. Even though, we may not be familiar with the "year of Grace," we are familiar with the term "Grace." I find that it is also a valuable text because it is thought provoking and it causes one to ask questions and desire answers. Some of which we may never have an answer to. In all, I find this to be a fascinating and challenging text that should be read by as many as are ready to receive it. Only the reader can judge, whether they are ready to receive this text or not.

1 Isaiah 61:1

2 Lev. 25:13

3 Deut. 15:2

4 Psalms 82:1

5 Psalms 7:7-8

6 Psalms 82:2

7 Isa 52.7

8 Yigael Yadin The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against The Sons of Darkness 1^st English Translation. (Oxford University Press. Printed in Great Britain by Stephen Austin & Sons, Ltd., Hertford, Herts 1962) p. 246

9 Ibid This was quoted from Yadin, however he quoted it from Hist. Nat. V. xvii; cf. Dupont-Sommer, Apercus p. 105 sq. and Grinz, Sinai 32 (5713), 13 sq; Burrows, Oudt. St 8 (1950) 156-192

10 John J. Collins. "Dead Sea Scrolls" ABD Doubleday New York, NY 1992 vol. 2 p. 87

11 Hartmut Stegemann The Library of Qumran "On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist and Jesus" (W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co New York, NY 1998) p. 240

12 Geza Vermes The Dead Sea Scrolls in English 4^th Edition III Religious Ideas of the Community, pt 4, Future Expectations in the Community of the Covenant, p. 59 Commentary to the text taken  from I QM xix, 2-8 (cf. Vermes p. 21, p. 57) (Penguin Books USA Inc. New York, NY 1995)

13 James C. VanderKamp The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI 1994) p. 53

14 Ibid Stegemann pp. 119-120

15 Ibid VanderKamp p. 331

16 Lawrence H. Schiffman Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Jewish Publication Society.  Philadelphia, PA 1994) p. 231

17 Michael O. Wise The Dead Sea Scrolls a new Translation (HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. New York, NY 1996) p. 455

18 Ibid Wise

19 Ibid VanderKamp p. 53 (in the Melchizedek Text (cf. Lev. 25:13 and Deut. 15:2)

20 Ibid Stegemann p. 119

21 Ibid Schiffman p. 231

22 Ibid VanderKamp, pp. 150-151, & Ibid Schiffman p. 231

23 Ibid Stegeman, p. 119

24 Ibid.

25 P.J. Kobelski, Melchizedek and Melchiresa. CBQMS 10. (Washington. 1981) quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

26 J. T. Milik, Milki-sedeq et Milki-resa dans les anciens ecrits juifs et chretiens. JJS 23: 95-144. (1972)quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

27 E. Peuch, Notes sur le manuscrit de XIQMelkisedeq. RevQ 12: 483-513. (1987) quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

28 David N. Freedman, ed in Chief, Anchor Bible Dictionary Doubleday New York, NY 1992) vol 4, "Melchizedek" by George J. Brooke p. 687

*4QFlorilegium is also known as 4Q174 (Midrash of the Last Days)

29 Ibid. Brooke

30 Ibid. Brooke

Bibliography

Brooke, George J. "Melchizedek" Anchor Bible Dictionary Doubleday New York, NY 1992 vol 4, p. 687

*4QFlorilegium is also known as 4Q174 (Midrash of the Last Days)

Collins, John J. "Dead Sea Scrolls" ABD Doubleday New York, NY vol. 2 p. 87

Holy Bible. King James Version 1611

Kobelski, P.J. Melchizedek and Melchiresa. CBQMS 10. (Washington. 1981) quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

Milik, J. T. Milki-sedeq et Milki-resa dans les anciens ecrits juifs et chretiens. JJS 23: 95-144. (1972) quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

Peuch, E. Notes sur le manuscrit de XIQMelkisedeq. RevQ 12: 483-513. (1987) quoted in George J. Brooke, Melchizedek in ABD vol. 4, p. 687

Schiffman, Lawrence H. Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Jewish Publication Society. Philadelphia, PA 1994) p. 231

Stegemann, Hartmut The Library of Qumran "On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist and Jesus" (W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co New York, NY 1998) p. 240

VanderKamp, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI 1994) p. 53

Vermes, Geza The Dead Sea Scrolls in English 4^th Edition III Religious Ideas of the Community, pt 4, Future Expectations in the Community of the Covenant, p. 59 Commentary to the text taken from I QM xix, 2-8 (cf. Vermes p. 21, p. 57) (Penguin Books USA Inc. New York, NY 1995) Hist. Nat. V. xvii; cf. Dupont-Sommer, Apercus p. 105 sq. and Grinz, Sinai 32 (5713), 13 sq; Burrows, Oudt. St 8 (1950) 156-192

Michael O. Wise The Dead Sea Scrolls a new Translation (HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. New York, NY 1996) p. 455

Yadin, Yigael The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against The Sons of Darkness 1^st English Translation. (Oxford University Press. Printed in Great Britain by Stephen Austin & Sons, Ltd., Hertford, Herts 1962) p. 246