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

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.

From the earth of Africa: Q research in South Africa

“…In 2014(b), Howes published an article on the saying not to judge in Q 6:37-38 and the widespread ancient belief of psychostasia, which is the idea that one's soul will be weighed after death to determine one's fate in the afterlife. During the same year, Howes (2014cHowes ( , 2014d published two articles on the verb 'judge' [κρίνω] in Q 22:28, 30. Taking into consideration the verb's lexical possibilities, literary context in Q and intertextual relationship with the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls and the pseudepigraphical Psalms of Solomon, Howes argues that it should be understood to mean 'condemn' and not 'liberate', 'redeem' or 'rule', as some other scholars have suggested.…”