Ezekiel in Some Qumran and New Testament Texts
GEORGEJ.BROOKE
University of Manchester
The purpose of this study is to list and comment briefly upon the principal Ezekiel materials from Qumran so far published and to put alongside those Qumran texts some passages of the New Testament which seem to use Ezekiel in a similar way. It is not possible to be exhaustive in a short study of this kind. Furthermore, there are at least two assumptions behind this paper. To begin with, it may be that within the Qumran corpus as a whole Ezekiel is used in a more or less consistent manner; nevertheless differences between texts must be allowed to stand and not be interpreted away. In addition, I assume that it is still unwise to look for any direct literary dependence of the New Testament writers on Dead Sea Scroll texts. Rather, it is appropriate to read these sets of texts comparatively, noticing how each uses the Book of Ezekiel; such observation may lead to the better understanding of both sets of texts, providing once again that similarities are not over-emphasised and differences interpreted away.
I. EZEKIEL IN THE QUMRAN SCROLLS
For the Qumran scrolls there are four kinds of texts to be considered. Firstly, there are the actual manuscripts of what we now know as canonical Ezekiel; though some of these are so small that they may simply preserve a quotation of Ezekiel in an excerpted or in a non-biblical text, until an exemplar of such a text is forthcoming, it is fair to assume that these manuscripts are copies of the biblical book in whole or in part. Secondly, there is the collection of manuscripts, so far only partially published, of what is known as Second Ezekiel ( or Pseudo-Ezekiel), re written forms of parts of Ezekiel which in the rewriting contain intriguing items of editorial or even authorial concern. Thirdly, there are texts which explicitly cite and interpret Ezekiel in particular ways. Fourthly, there are 318 George J. Brooke non-biblical manuscripts in which certain sections of Ezekiel seem to play a significant part.
a) Biblical texts. We now seem to be only one manuscript short of the complete publication of the Qumran biblical manuscripts of Ezekiel. In order of cave number, the first of these is 1Q9 which consists of two fragments, one, with letters from three lines, which remains unidentified, and one, also preserving legible elements of three lines, which corresponds with Ezek 4:16-5:1. 1 This text's orthography corresponds exactly with the MT; it also preserves a space at the end of 4: 17 which corresponds with the Masoretic petuhah. From cave 3 we have 3QJ, in so-called Herodian script, in which are traces of three lines including the biblical hapax o'?p',, making the identification with Ezek 16:31-33 almost certain; once again the letters that remain correspond exactly with the orthography of the MT. 2 Chapter 16 is the first major section of Ezekiel which describes the harlotry of Jerusalem; the end of the chapter concludes hopefully that the Lord will forgive Jerusalem the harlot and remember his covenant, establishing with her an everlasting covenant (Ezek 16:60).3 Also it is worth noting that Ezek 16:47 seems to be combined with Isa 26:20 in 4Q385 frg. 4, line 3; 4 the use of Ezekiel 16 in 4Q385 may imply that 3QJ is an excerpted text. From cave 4 there are three manuscripts, 4Q73-75.5 4QEzekc has yet to be described, but judging from the fact that all three cave 4 Ezekiel manuscripts have only been assigned two plates in DJD 12, it is not an extensive text. 4QEzek• and 4QEzekb were published in a preliminary form by J. Lust in 1986.6 4QEzek• frg. 2 has recently been reassessed by
1 Published by D. Barthelemy in Qumran Cave I (ed. D. Barthelemy and J. T. Milik; DJD 1; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955) 68-69. 2 Published by M. Baillet in Les «Peties Grottes» de Qumran (ed. M. Baillet, J. T. Milik, and R. de Vaux; DJD 3; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962) 94. F. Garcia Martinez may be correct to think that both !Q/9 and 3QJ are «exemplaires tres douteux» («L'interpretation de la Torah d'Ezechiel dans !es MSS. de Qumran,» RevQ 13 [1988] 441). 3 «Remember his convenant» is an intriguing phrase that belongs distinctively also to Lev 26:42, 45 and Ps 106:45; see G. J. Brooke, «Psalms 105 and 106 at Qumran,» RevQ 14 (1989- 90) 279. Note also the use of Lev 26:42-44 in 4Q463 frg. 1, lines 1-3; in A. Steudel,Der Midrasch zur Eschatologie aus der Qumrangemeinde (4QMidrEschat 0 ·h) (lnauguraldissertation, Giittingen, 1990) 14-15. Ezek 16:60 is a key verse, as recognized also by E. Cothenet, «Influence d'Ezekiel sur la spiritualite de Qumran,» RevQ 13 (1988) 436. Cf. lQS 3: 11-12, 4:22, 5:5-6; lQSb 2:25; CD 3:4, 13, 15:5. 4 D. Dimant and J. Strugnell, «The Merkabah Vision in Second Ezekiel (4Q385 4),» RevQ 14 (1989-90) 334, 337. 5 According to numbers listed by E.C. Ulrich, «The Biblical Scrolls from Qumran Cave 4: An Overview and a Progress Report on their Publication,» RevQ 14 (1989-90) 266; to be published in DJD 12 edited by J.E. Sanderson. 6 J. Lust, «Ezekiel Manuscripts in Qumran: Preliminary Edition of 4QEz• and b,» Ezekiel