Serge Ruzer
The "New Covenant" of Jeremiah 31
and the Collective Messianship
of Second Temple Judaism
I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this volume honoring Prof. Wolf Moskovich, whose wisdom and friendship I have been privileged to enjoy during our numerous encounters within and beyond the Hebrew University. Given Wolf's keen interest in the complexities and internal tensions of religious phenomena, I would like to offer some preliminary observations on one such complexity observed in Second Temple Judaism.
Research of the last decades has highlighted the varied nature of Second Temple Jewish messianic notions. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was especially instrumental in clarifying that anticipation of the Davidic Messiah was only one of a number of existing patterns of messianic belief, which sometimes competed and sometimes was harmonized with traditions emphasizing other charismatic figures of the era of salvation, either human - e.g. the priestly Messiah of Aaronic descent - or angelic in nature. [1] This variety may be seen as building upon alternative notions of sacral anointment attested in biblical tradition - such as kingly, priestly and prophetic, [2] with the oil of anointment being replaced in the latter with the spirit of prophecy (the Holy Spirit), to be "poured out" on the initiate recipient.
It was also suggested that nascent Christianity inherited a variety of Jewish messianic beliefs, so that various patterns of that belief (not all of them pro-Davidic!) may be discerned in the different strata of early Christian sources. [3] There seems, however, to have been yet another pattern of messianic belief that has not received due research attention - namely, that of a "collective messianship" seemingly devoid of the need for a personal Messiah. I touched on this issue in an earlier study [4] and would like now to elaborate on it further.
The notion of collective messianship is attested in Qumran, where it is clearly linked to the prophetic type of anointment - that is the anointment with the Spirit. Thus, for example, in fragments of the Damascus Document found at Qumran such as 4Q266 2, II 12 (= CD-A VI) and 4Q 270 2, II 14, "the anointed/messiahs by his/the Holy Spirit" or "the messiahs of his/Holy Spirit" serve as the community's collective self-definition. In other passages (e.g., 4Q266 3, II 9; 4Q267 2, 6; 4Q269 4, I 2), a shorter title "the anointed of the holiness" denotes the whole community of the covenanters. [5] Given that the forms "his Messiah" and "his messiahs" are not always distinguishable in the Dead Sea scrolls, there may in fact be additional instances of this collective usage. [6]
This "democratic widening" of the scope of anointment seems to have been rooted in biblical precedents reflecting both the prophetic polemic with the institutionalized patterns of anointment, especially the priestly one, [7] and the prophetic hope for end-of-days redemption. An instructive example may be provided by Joel 3:1-2, where in an explicitly eschatological context God promises:
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. (RSV)
It is worth noting that the passage from Joel was employed in the Book of Acts as a proof text for the prophetic outpouring of the Spirit within the Jesus movement. [8] The author of Acts seems to have perceived the phenomenon as foundational, one that both marked the borders of the "community of the saved" and backed the claim that the era of end-of-days messianic salvation had truly begun. Paul's epistles also bear witness to this outlook, which in all probability was not introduced by the apostle but inherited by him from the preceding phase in the development of the Jesus movement, which in its turn might have been influenced by Qumran-like ideas. [9]
I suggest that there was another scriptural point of reference for this idea of collective messianship - namely, Jer 31:31-34, the only biblical passage introducing the notion of an eschatological new covenant/testament:
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my Torah within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, `Know the LORD, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (RSV[10])
Both Qumran and early Christian authors made use of the notion of a new covenant (testament), which allowed them to redefine the community of the electi as different in scope from the historical Israel. The similarity in tactics between the two communities at this point, as well as the possible influence of Qumranic thought on early Christianity, have been thoroughly discussed in the research. [11] It is worth noting that the emphasis on exclusivity seems to have been intrinsically connected, both in Qumran and in nascent Christianity, with the idea of remission of sins to those belonging to the new covenant - an idea that features prominently in Jer 31:34. [12]
The prominence of the notion of a new testament in both communities might have stemmed not only from a collation of eschatological and "sectarian" interests but also from the fact that each of them consciously propagated a dramatically innovative (re-)interpretation of the Torah. Thus in the passage from the Damascus Document mentioned above (CD-A VI), the new covenant is conditioned upon the "unearthing" of the previously hidden meanings of the Torah - first and foremost that in these last days the covenanters are required (in a deviation from the priestly ordinances of the Torah) to cut their ties with the Jerusalem sacrificial cult and the rest of Israel ("sons of the pit/perdition"). One may add that in 2 Cor 3:1-6, clearly referring to Jeremiah 31, [13] Paul also conditions the new covenant on a thorough reinterpretation of the Torah (in deviation from existing exegetic patterns) as speaking of Jesus the Messiah. [14]
In this brief investigation, however, I am concerned mainly with the collective aspect of Jeremiah's new covenant notion. The prophet's emphasis seems to be on what may be called interiorization of the covenant - as opposed to the old one, which was of an external nature and hence prone to failure. It is worth noting that this ultimate "change of heart" is reintroduced, also in the context of Israel' redemption, in Ez 36:24-29, where it is described in terms of receiving the Spirit:
24 For I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28 You shall dwell in the land, which I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses; and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. (RSV)
In both Jeremiah and Ezekiel the metamorphosis is not mediated - that is, it is performed vis-a-vis people's hearts by God himself. Jeremiah expresses the idea in a most explicit manner: having outlined in utopian terms the uniqueness of the new arrangement ("I will put my Torah within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people"), the prophet stresses that the true covenanters - those who will undergo that "existential transformation" - will have no need of charismatic leaders to teach them and interpret for them the terms of the covenant. How, in such eschatologically minded late Second Temple groups as Qumran and the Jesus movement, did that kind of utopian interiorization of both knowledge and piety interact with notions of a personal Messiah perceived as an end-of-days teacher and interpreter of the Torah?
Here it seems useful to quote at length the passage from the Damascus Document (CD-A V 21 - VI):
21 And the land became desolate, for they spoke of rebellion against God's precepts
through the hand of Moses and also vi 1 of the holy anointed ones. They prophesied deceit in order to divert Israel from following 2 God. But God remembered the covenant of the very first, and from Aaron raised men of knowledge and from Israel 3 wise men, and forced them to listen. And they dug the well: (Num 21:18) "A well which the princes dug, which 4 the nobles of the people delved with the staff". The well is the Torah. And those who dug it are 5 the repenting ones of Israel, who left the land of Judah and lived in the land of Damascus, 6 all of whom God called princes, for they sought him, and their renown has not been repudiated 7 in anyone's mouth. Blank And the staff is the interpreter of the Torah, of whom 8 Isaiah said: (Isa 54:16) "He produces a tool for his labor". Blank And the nobles of the people are 9 those who have arrived to dig the well with the staves that the scepter decreed, 10 to walk in them throughout the whole age of wickedness, and without which they will not obtain it, until there arises 11 he who teaches justice at the end of days. Blank But all those who have been brought into the covenant 12 shall not enter the temple to kindle his altar in vain.
They will be the ones who close 13 the door, as God said: (Mal 1:10) "Whoever amongst you will close its door so that you do not kindle my altar 14 in vain!". Unless they are careful to act in accordance with the exact interpretation of the Torah for the age of wickedness: to separate themselves 15 from the sons of the pit; to abstain from wicked wealth which defiles, either by promise or by vow, 16 and from the wealth of the temple….17….to separate unclean from clean and differentiate between 18 the holy and the common; to keep the sabbath day according to the exact interpretation, and the festivals 19 and the day of fasting, according to what they had discovered, those who entered the new covenant in the land of Damascus; 20 to set apart holy portions according to their exact interpretation; for each to love his brother 21 like himself; to strengthen the hand of the poor, the needy and the foreigner; Blank for each to seek the peace. [15]
The members of the community as a whole are described here, on the one hand, as the anointed (the messiahs) of God's holy spirit (VI 1) and, on the other, as those who "entered the new covenant" (VI 19). Elsewhere in the Scrolls the spirit is presented as transforming the "inner man" of the covenanters and thus allowing them to escape the bondage of sin. [16] Accordingly, in the Damascus Document the unearthing of the last-days meaning of the Torah, which then governed the life of the covenanters, is ascribed to the collective of the "nobles of the people" (VI 8). However, in the same passage two charismatic figures - who may in fact be one - are also mentioned: the interpreter of the Torah (VI 7) and "he who teaches justice at the end of days" (VI 11); the former (and hence maybe also the latter) is usually identified in research with the priestly Messiah of the eschaton. [17] We thus find here both patterns of messianic belief - personal and collective - side by side, with tension among them seemingly unresolved. However, as other Qumranic texts indicate, [18] the new covenant period might have been perceived as representing an intermediary stage preceding the appearance of the Aaronic Messiah. Thus the collective anointment of the Spirit did not necessarily overlap or create tension with the authority derived from personal messianship.
Only two explicit references to the new covenant occur in authentic Pauline epistles: 1 Cor 11:25 and 2 Cor 3:6. [19] The former merely reiterates Jesus' words over the cup during the Last Supper, whereas the latter elaborates on the meaning of that notion and is thus of primary importance for our investigation. The relevant passage runs as follows (2 Cor 3:1-6):
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; 3 and you show that you are a letter from Messiah delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Messiah toward God. 5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life. (RSV[20])
The passage leaves little doubt that the author is referring to Jer 31:31-34: not only the appearance of the term "new covenant" itself but also the key themes of interiorization (written on the hearts) and hence the lack of a need for instruction from outside testify to that. A complementing motif of Spirit, derived
inter alia from Ezekiel 36 and discussed above, is present here too. Further on Paul specifies what kind of insightful knowledge underlies the new covenant: according to the apostle it is the true, previously hidden (and hidden even now from the non-committed) meaning of the old covenant - the Torah of Moses (2 Cor 3:12-18):
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor. 14 But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Messiah is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds; 16 but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (RSV).
The motif of the superfluity of any human instruction from outside has already been noted. However, there is more than that to it: While Jesus the Messiah is obviously the core message of the new covenant understanding of the Torah, Paul, unlike the Gospel writers, [21] does not claim here that it was Jesus himself who taught his followers this kind of biblical interpretation. Apart from a very few instances - most notably, the blessing formulas pronounced over bread and wine (1 Cor 11:23-26) and his controversial mission to the gentiles (Gal 1:15-16) - Paul does not use Jesus traditions as foundational. [22] As the catchphrase goes: with Paul the teaching of Jesus was replaced by the teaching about Jesus - and the latter is presented in the passage from 2 Corinthians 3 as communicated in an immediate revelatory act of Spirit. [23]
The dialectics of the foundational belief in a personal Messiah versus the collective messianship idea may be observed also in other New Testament texts. Suffice it to quote here one passage, where again an allusion to Jer 31:34 is easily discerned (1 John 2:20-27):
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know….22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Messiah….25 And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. 26 I write this to you about those who would deceive you; 27 but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything…. (RSV)
Conclusion
In this brief review I selected to discuss, from the multifaceted range of late Second Temple messianic beliefs, a peculiar pattern - the notion of a collective anointment by Spirit. I have suggested that this notion, like notions of a personal Messiah, should be seen as rooted in earlier Jewish redemption-centered tradition, more precisely a tradition that finds expression in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36. I placed special emphasis on Jer 31:31-34 and its concept of the new covenant, which was extremely egalitarian and "democratic" in nature. It is instructive to note the relation, or, if you wish, a dynamic tension, between the collective and personal messianship patterns in the Qumran scrolls and early Christian writings - both groups of texts representing communities that, on the one hand, propagated the belief in a personal Messiah (or Messiahs) and, on the other, adopted the concept of a new covenant. I have limited myself here to a few preliminary observations; a more detailed discussion will have to await another occasion.
Notes:
© S. Ruzer
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