Abstract
The text from Cave 11 of Qumran known as the ‘Melchizedek Scroll’ and the canonical Gospel of Mark have some noteworthy features in common. This article surveys the two documents from the soteriological aspect, noting areas of comparison and also of difference. The most noteworthy aspect of comparison consists in the fact that both see divinely appointed agents of liberation – Melchizedek and Jesus, respectively – as addressing a pre-existing human situation of captivity to the demonic, a captivity brought about through sin. Both documents likewise portray the redemptive figures as effecting liberation from this condition through an act of expiation that amounts to a culminating and final instance of the high priest’s action on the yearly Day of Atonement.
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