Thursday, October 29, 2020

1QHa XVIII and the meaning of "none besides me"

In the Thanksgiving Hymn (1QHa XVIII) from Qumran, we see that the language of “none besides me” (cf. Isa 44:6, 8) does not deny the ontological existence of other beings in the same category (Gods/gods, etc) but instead, a statement of incomparability:

 

See, you are the prince of gods and the king of the glorious ones, lord of every spirit, ruler of every creature. Apart from you nothing happens, and nothing is known without your will. There is no-one besides you, no-one matches your strength, nothing equals your glory, there is no price on your might. And who among all your wonderful great creatures will have the strength to stand before your glory? And what, then, is someone who returns to his dust, to retain [stren]gth? Only for your glory have you done all this. (1QHa XVIII 8-12 as found in The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, eds. Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar [Leiden: Brill, 1997], 1:187; my thanks to my friend Christopher Davis for pointing this out to me).

 

 Further Reading


Refuting Jeff Durbin on "Mormonism" (exegetes Isa 43:10; 44:6, 8 and other relevant texts such as Gen 20:13 where Abraham states his belief in the ontological existence of plural gods--cf. the Book of Abraham)

C.J. Labuschagne on the language of "incomparability" in the Old Testament and Literature of Surrounding Cultures