The Book of Zechariah at Qumran

Abstract

ABSTRACT Messianic expectations and ideas in the Qumran texts have been a much debated issue. Many scholars hold the view that there was in the Qumran community a normative belief in two messianic figures, a royal and a priestly Messiah, to be expected at the end of days. This Messianic diarchy (which seems also to be attested in Jewish sources outside the Qumran li-brary) has been explained as ultimately derived from the imagery and world of thought found in Old Testament texts, in particular the Book of Zechariah. This assumption has been challenged by scholars who point to the relatively sparse attestation of the Book of Zechariah among the biblical manuscripts found at Qumran, and to the lack of explicit evidence for a Qumran interpre-tation of Zechariah lying behind the dual messianism found in some Qumran texts. This article carries out a closer examination of the actual reception and use of the Book of Zechariah in Qumran texts with regard to messianic con-cepts. Key texts mentioning two messianic figures are analyzed with focus on possible demonstrable connections (with respect to language, expressions, imagery or conceptual world) to the Book of Zechariah. The extant docu-ments witnessing to reading and interpretation of Zechariah at Qumran is in-vestigated and scrutinized for evidence supporting the thesis that these texts could have played a decisive role in the formation of messianic ideas and im-agery in Qumran texts.