The Scepter and the Star: Messianism in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls

by John J. Collins

John J. Collins here offers an up-to-date review of Jewish messianic expectations around the time of Jesus, in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

He breaks these expectations down into Davidic, priestly, and prophetic. Based on a small number of prophetic oracles and reflected in the various titles and names assigned to the messiah, the Davidic model holds a clear expectation that the messiah figure would play a militant role. In sectarian circles, the priestly model was far more prominent. Jesus of Nazareth, however, showed more resemblance to the prophetic messiah during his historical career, identified as the Davidic “Son of Man” primarily after his death.

In this second edition of The Scepter and the Star Collins has revised the discussion of Jesus and early Christianity, completely rewritten a chapter on a figure who claims to have a throne in heaven, and has added a brief discussion of the recently published and controversial Vision of Gabriel.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Religion, History, Christianity, Nonfiction, Judaism

314 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

John J. Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament at Yale Divinity School. A native of Ireland, he has a doctorate from Harvard University, and earlier taught at the University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame. He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls and served as president of both the Catholic Biblical Association and the Society of Biblical Literature.

Reviews

[Kendall Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes gets bogged down in the details, but a helpful overview of Second Temple messianism with a particular emphasis on the Dead Sea Scroll material.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though Collins focuses heavily upon the Dead Sea Scrolls for evidence of first century messianic expectations, he also draws from the whole corpus of early Jewish literature. Though it leans a bit more toward the scholarly reader, the material is still readily accessible for anyone who is interested in the subject.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collins in this collection of essays explores the meaning of the concepts which underlie typical understandings of Messiahship via the Hebrew Bible, various apocryphal works and particularly the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He ends with a brief look at Jesus after exploring other figures who drew attention during that era. Concepts explored include the meaning of Messiah, literally 'anointed' which often has relatively mundane connotations of simply being anointed for a special task though could also be associated with a more special role. Another is the term Son of God, which often referred to someone or a group with a special relation with God (hence Israel is called the 'son of God' in the Bible), or angels. He also explores at length the term Son of Man, which could mean simply 'mortal' but in Daniel, 1 Enoch and 4 Ezra connotated a special figure, pre-existent, who would play a role at the eschaton.

The end analysis then is that there were several Messiah motifs by the time of Jesus including a prophetic, heavenly, Davidic and priestly messiah (the latter playing a special role in the Qumran sect particularly). Expectations for a Davidic messiah dwindled between the 5th-2nd C BCE in particular. Jesus generally fits the role of a prophetic messiah figure, with some reference to the Davidic model likely added by followers after his death. Also another prominent theme likely added to make sense of his death is the Son of Man motif to understand his ignominious death. Jesus cannot easily be fit into any of the categories since typically messiahs were understood to involve some kind of military conquest (a role which Jesus plays in Revelation, actually).

[Mark Sequeira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for anyone wondering what the Jewish expectation was at the time of Jesus...about about his return.

Conclusion?
There wasn't just one universal expectation but many differing ideas about what would occur when the messiah came, not including suffering and dying for our sins although it was there in the Scriptures. There was such a heightened expectation that there were constant claims to the throne, to follow wandering prophets claiming to know where the messiah was, revolutions in hopes that God would send the messiah when they were faithful enough to trust Him and no longer submit to pagan kings and kingdoms as well as those who were in power who were a little worried that a messiah would bring their power to an end (the Temple rulers, herodians, the wealthy 'fixers' and businesspeople of jesus' day.

A must read.

[David Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good look at Messianism through the Dead Sea Scrolls. John Collins examines the texts, and various titles for the Messiah. He waits to fully talk about Jesus until the very conclusion (last 5-6 pages) of the book.