The Dead Sea Scrolls

As they present few immediate references to resurrection, scholars have questioned the extent to which this was important to the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This chapter provides a reading of scrolls that do feature resurrection, especially the Messianic Apocalypse and Pseudo-Ezekiel. Other scrolls, like the Thanksgiving Hymns, suggest that the discourse of resurrection was known among the authors of the scrolls, yet frequently utilized in more metaphorical ways. Taken together, the evidence suggests the profile of a religious movement that was still in the dynamic process of receiving the resurrection hope, as it increased its exposure during the late second to early first centuries BCE. The scrolls challenge assessments that resurrection was central to early Judaism or that its appeal was universal. Resurrection remained an emerging and appealing belief—yet one that still remained somewhat peripheral among the religious concerns of this particular community’s literary collection.