Melchizedek, the Son of Man, and Eschatological Jubilee: The Sin-Forgiving Messiahs in 11QMelchizedek and Mark

Abstract

This article asks why Jesus in Mk 2.10 interprets the authority (ἐξουσία/שלטן) of the Son of Man in Dan. 7.14 as the authority to forgive sins. I approach this question by looking at 11QMelchizedek (11Q13). Drawing on a constellation of texts pertaining to jubilee (Lev. 25, Isa. 61.1, Dan. 9.24–27), 11QMelchizedek portrays Melchizedek as forgiving Israel’s sins by his jubilean declaration of ‘liberty (דרור‎)’ (II 6). In light of similar intertextual moves being made in Mark, I suggest that Mk 2.10—‘the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on the land (ἀϕιέναι ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς)’—invokes the language of the jubilee legislation in Lev. 25.10: ‘you will declare forgiveness on the land (διαβοήσετε ἄϕεσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς).’ I conclude that this interpretation of ‘authority’ in Dan. 7.14 stems from an assumed conflation between the Son of Man of Dan. 7.13–14 with the herald messiah of Isa. 61.1, as well as an interpretation of Isa. 61.1 in which the messiah enacts the eschatological forgiveness of Israel’s sins by his jubilean declaration of liberty.