Why Two Messiahs at Qumran?
The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the caves of Qumran, allude to the expectation of two messiahs: a priestly Messiah of Aaron and a royal Messiah of Israel. While the notion of a messiah in the royal line of David was widely held in the Second Temple period and beyond, the idea of a messianic priest may seem to deviate from the standard Davidic hope. Yet, as with the kingly messiah, allusions to a priestly figure also appears in Scripture.
A text discovered at Qumran known as the Community Rule (1QS 9:11) refers to “the coming of the prophet and the messiahs of Aaron and Israel (ומשיחי אהרן וישראל; u’mashichei aharon ve’yisrael). The “messiah of Israel” likely reflects the common messianic hope for a coming Davidic king. While a second, priestly messiah is less attested in Second Temple Judaism, there is biblical data to support such an expectation.
For instance, Leviticus 4 mentions rituals to be led by “the anointed priest” (הַכֹּהֵן הַמָּשִׁיחַ; ha’kohen ha’mashiach; Lev 4:3, 5, 16) from the line of Aaron. While the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (mashiach) means “anointed [one]” in this context, the same word is used in post-biblical Hebrew to identify the coming messiah. Similarly, with reference to the eventual ascendency of Samuel, God declares, “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest (כֹּהֵן; kohen)… and he will walk before my anointed one (or “my messiah”; מְשִׁיחִי)” (1 Samuel 2:35). Though this text does not identify the future priest as a “messiah,” it does describe a priestly figure working alongside God’s anointed one.
Thus, the Qumran texts stand on biblical ground when they envision the emergence of a messiah-priest. The New Testament writers would also draw on priestly imagery and apply it to Jesus’s atoning work on the cross (see, e.g., Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 7-10). Indeed, the early followers of Yeshua would have agreed that the messianic role would include priestly activity. The major difference was that while Qumran envisions two messiahs—priest and king—the Jesus movement argued that they were one and the same person: at the same time that Jesus was the son of king David, he also accomplished a priestly work in his salvific death.
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