THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE SON OF GOD
The phrase, “Son of God” is quite popular in non-Biblical and Biblical literature. For example, Julius Caesar (48-44 B.C.) was regarded as the “manifest god from Mars and Aphrodite, and universal savior of human life.” Caesar Augustus (30 B.C. – 14 A.D.) was called “God” and “son of God”. Tiberius Caesar (14-68 A.D.) was called “son of God’ and “Son of Zeus the Liberator”. Emperor Nero (54-68 A.D.) called himself “the son of the greatest of the gods and Lord of the whole world.” Emperor Vespasian (69-79 A.D.) used similar language. And in Egypt the Pharaohs often were thought to be manifestations of the gods. For example, the famous King Tut or Tutankhamen means literally “the image of the god Amen”.
In the Israelite tradition the kings often were referred to as “son of God”, that is, they had the role of being God’s vice regent on earth. The king was a “son of God’ not so much in a divine biological sense as in an adopted or assigned role. Other ancient peoples often assigned a divine, biological birth from a god and a virgin to great men. For example, it was claimed Alexander the Great (356 – 323 B.C.) was born of a god and a virgin. Greatness was explained by a supernatural divine biology, whereas in ancient Israel greatness was often defined by an “anointing” by God’s Spirit to represent God on earth.
Thus in the Dead Sea Scrolls Aramaic Apocalypse we are told of a king who will conquer the nations and rule with justice. It says in part, “But your son shall be great upon the earth…, he shall be called Son of the great God. He shall be hailed Son of God…, his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom…..”
Now note the similarity with Luke 1: 32-35 where the Angel Gabriel makes his announcement to Mary, “He shall be great and he shall be called Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the name of David his father…and his kingdom will have no end…the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore that which has been conceived will be called holy, Son of God.” Thus this son of God has a divine biological origin celebrated in the Christian doctrine of the Virgin Birth.
But note the contrast in the account of Jesus’ baptism as recorded in Mark 1: 9-11, Matthew 3: 13-17, and Luke 3: 21-22, when Jesus is baptized the Divine Spirit descends upon him and a voice comes from heaven saying, “thou art by beloved son.” This is more in keeping with the anointing by the Divine Spirit for a special role in history as God’s son or vice regent on earth like King David. Thus in the Gospels we have both the adoptionist theory (God adopts Jesus of Nazareth as his son) and the divine biological theory (Jesus, like other great men, is born of a virgin and a deity). And some of the Dead Sea Scrolls prefigured these ideas.
