Saturday, February 14, 2009

Jubilee of the Captives

Both Qumran scrolls and early Christian writings latch onto Isaiah's idea of the Jublee proclamation. However, the two seem to imagine different beneficiaries of the Jubilee and different measures of the coming of God's Reign.
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” - Matthew 11.4-6

At Qumran - like the later Christians - Melchizedek was a model for the coming redeemer.
...it applies to the Last Days and concerns the captives, just as Isaiah said: "To proclaim the Jubilee to the captives" ... [Melchizedek] will return them to what is rightfully theirs. He will proclaim to them the Jubilee, thereby releasing them from the debt of all their sins. Then the "Day of Atonement" shall follow after the tenth jubilee period, when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light, and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek. - 11Q13

Who is 'released' and from what in each passage?

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