Original Research

Judging the twelve tribes of Israel: Q 22:28, 30 in light of the Psalms of Solomon and the Community Rule

Llewellyn Howes
Verbum et Ecclesia | Vol 35, No 1 | a1320 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v35i1.1320 | © 2014 Llewellyn Howes | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 12 December 2013 | Published: 30 September 2014

About the author(s)

Llewellyn Howes, Department of Religion Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Attribution License. The current article considers two intertexts of Q 22:28, 30, namely the Psalms of Solomon and the Community Rule found in the first Qumran cave. Each of these documents is examined to understand its view of the restoration of Israel, the messianic age, the apocalyptic end and the final judgement. Additional attention is paid to the way in which these documents draw boundaries around their respective in-groups. By illustrating that these texts foresaw a process of judgement at the apocalyptic end that would entail both the liberation and the condemnation of greater Israel, the current article argues against the popular claim that a wholesale liberation of everyone in Israel was expected during the Second-Temple period. The broader context of this investigation is the attempted refutation of Horsley’s influential claim that, in Q 22:28–30, the verb κρίνω actually means ‘liberate’ and not ‘judge’.

Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: By illustrating that these texts foresaw a process of judgement at the apocalyptic end that would entail both the liberation and the condemnation of greater Israel, the current article argues against the popular claim that a wholesale liberation of everyone in Israel was expected during the Second-Temple period.


Keywords

Sayings Gospel; Q Document; Final Judgment; Richard Horsley; Liberation; Israel; Messianic; Eschatology; Apocalyptic

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