The Prophet Like Moses (Deut. 18:15–18) and the Woman at the Well (John 4:7–30) in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls

I. Introduction

The pericope of John 4:7–30 contains a somewhat enigmatic exchange between Jesus and the Samaritan woman of Sychar. Of special interest in this literary unit is the woman’s identification of Jesus as ‘a prophet’ (προφήτης) in verse 19. Some exegetes perceive it as having messianic significance although the Greek text lacks the definite article (cf. John 1:21, 25; 6:24). ¹ The specific epithet ‘a prophet’ expressed by the Samaritan woman recalls the ‘prophet like Moses’ in Deut. 18:15–18, since the Samaritans considered the Pentateuch as the only canonical book and Moses as the only legitimate prophet of God. ² This line of reasoning finds further support in the frequent portrayal in John’s Gospel of Jesus as the prophet like Moses (Deut. 18:15–18), who acts and speaks according to God’s commands (John 5:30; 7:16–17; 12:49–50; cf. 1:21; 1:25; 1:45; 5:46; 6:14). ³ Nonetheless, the Samaritan woman’s reaction to Jesus in John 4:25 appears to resist a messianic interpretation of her recognition of him as ‘a prophet’ (John 4:19):

The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah, who is called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will declare to us all things.’ ⁴ (John 4:25)

It can be argued that the woman did not identify Jesus as the messianic prophet in verse 19 because she states in verse 25 that she expects the coming Messiah. This, however, does not mean that the narrative section of John 4:7–30 does not allude to the prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:15–18. ⁵ To be sure, the woman characterizes the coming Messiah as the revealer of everything, which is akin to the role of a prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:18:

A prophet like you I will raise up for them from the midst of their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them everything that I command him. (Deut 18:18)

The prophet like Moses will proclaim the total divine will emanating from the mouth of God, and the Samaritan woman’s confession attributes a similar identity to the Messiah. The dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4:7–30 describes the Messiah as the eschatological prophet in Deut. 18:15–18. This thematic connection opens a fruitful area of inquiry that can elucidate the eschatological leitmotif underlying the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

Over the years, many commentators have observed the marked conceptual similarities between John’s Gospel and the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as the notions of dualism and determinism. ⁶ A more specific example is the raison d’être for the formation of the Qumran community: the ‘path maker’ in the wilderness in reference to Isa. 40:3 (1QS 8.13–14; 9.19–21), which corresponds with the self-identification of John the Baptist (John 1:20–23). Insofar as this paper is concerned, the focus is on the thematic parallel in the Gospel and the Scrolls of the expectation of an eschatological prophet which aligns with the prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:15–18. An examination of the Scrolls regarding the community’s expectation of the eschatological prophet (Deut 18:15–18) and its understanding of the Teacher of Righteousness (cf. Joel 2:23; Hos. 10:12) yields some important insights to comprehend the literary unity of John 4:7–30. Similarly, the thematic connection between the water imagery and the Mosaic Messiah in the narrative of John 4:7–30 roughly corresponds to the overlap of the eschatological figures behind Deut. 18:15–18, Joel 2:23, and Hos. 10:12 in the Scrolls. ⁷ I will first survey representative the Qumran documents that demonstrate an awareness of the prophet like Moses of Deut. 18:15–18 before I synthesize the observations drawn from the Gospel and the Scrolls.

II. The Mosaic Prophet of Deut. 18 and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The first Qumran text considered is 4QTestimonia (4Q175), which contains a citation of Deut. 18:18–19:

«I would raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers, like you, and place my words in his mouth, and he would tell them all that I command him. And it will happen that /the/ man who does not listen to my words which the prophet will speak in my name, I shall require a reckoning from him.» (4Q175, lines 5–8). ⁸

4QTestimonia is a brief sectarian manuscript (30 lines) that features a series of four citations from the Pentateuch (Deut. 5:28–29; 18:18–19; Num. 24:15–17; Deut. 33:8–11) without intervening comments, followed by an excerpt from Aprocryphon of Joshua (4QAprocryphon of Joshua^b = 4Q379 Frag 22 2.1–15). ⁹ Although the sectarian text does not offer a specific commentary on any of the Pentateuchal passages, we can infer that these biblical passages appearing in proximity assume three eschatological figures: the prophetic (Deut. 5:28–29; 18:18–19), the royal (Num. 24:15–17) and the priestly (Deut. 38:8–11). ¹⁰ This observation is corroborated by the prominent sectarian text the Community Rule (1QS), which is considered ‘the locus classicus for Qumran messianism’ ¹¹ :

They should not depart from any counsel of the law in order to walk in complete stubbornness of their heart, but instead shall be ruled by the first directives which the men of the Community began to be taught until the prophet comes, and the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel. ¹² (1QS 9.9–11)

It is reasonably apparent that the ‘prophet’ in the Community Rule (1QS 9.11) alludes to the Mosaic prophet described in Deut. 18:15–18, especially given the particular reference to the eschatological prophet along with the royal and priestly messianic figures in 4QTestimonia (4Q175 line 5).

In this regard, the Habakkuk Pesher (1QpHab), the sectarian commentary on the book of Habakkuk, deserves further attention because it refers to a Mosaic figure: the Teacher of Righteousness. The Pesher portrays the Teacher of Righteousness (1QpHab 2.2) as the distinguished leader of the sectarian community at Qumran who assumes the role of the paramount interpreter of Mosaic law.

Its interpretation concerns the Teacher of Righteousness, to whom God has made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants, the prophets. ¹³ (1QpHab 7.4–5)

The Habakkuk Pesher (7.4–5; cf. Hab 2:2–3) explains that the Teacher of Righteousness is a divinely ordained figure who stands at the end of the prophetic line and promulgates ‘all the mysteries of the words of his servants’ (כול רזי דברי עבדיו). The Pesher elevates the Teacher of Righteousness as the exclusive recipient of divine sanction to unravel the full meaning of the words of the prophets, including Mosaic law. This description in the Pesher indicates that the Teacher of Righteousness was revered within the Qumran community as the interpreter ‘par excellence’ ¹⁴ who closely resembles the prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:15–18. Moreover, the Habakkuk Pesher 2.2–3 states that the words of the Teacher of Righteousness are from the mouth of God (מפי אל, 1QpHab 2.2–3; cf., 1QpHab 2.7–8), which is reminiscent of Deut. 18:18: ‘I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them everything that I command him.’

Admittedly, there is no concrete ground to claim that the Qumran covenanters equated the Teacher of Righteousness with the prophet like Moses of Deut. 18. ¹⁵ The Teacher of Righteousness was a priest, not a prophet (1QpHab 2.8). The evidence from the Pesher, however, suggests that the community’s notion of the Teacher of Righteousness encompassed a certain trait ascribed to the eschatological Mosaic prophet of Deut. 18: the ultimate authority to mediate and explicate God’s words. As will be seen, a comparison of the Teacher of Righteousness in the Scrolls and the Messiah of the Samaritan woman in John’s Gospel generates intriguing parallels that illuminate the narrative unit of John 4:7–30. Before proceeding to the main argument, it is necessary to examine other Old Testament texts that might be associated with the Teacher of Righteousness at Qumran.

III. The Teacher of Righteousness and the Water Imagery of Joel 2:23 and Hos. 10:12

The epithet the Teacher of Righteousness (מורה הצדק⁄ה) was most likely adopted from biblical sources, such as ‘the early rain for righteousness (הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה)’ in Joel 2:23 and ‘and he will rain righteousness for you (וְיֹרֶה צֶדֶק לָכֶם)’ in Hos. 10:12. ¹⁶ The scriptural derivation is explained by the ambiguity inherent in the term מוֹרֶה: the hiphil form of the root ירה can be rendered either ‘to rain’ or ‘to teach.’ Not surprisingly, throughout history the double nuance of the phrase הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה in Joel 2:23 has occasioned variant readings, such as ‘your teachers in righteousness’ (מַלְפֵיכוֹן בִזכֻו) in the Targum, ‘the one who teaches [righteousness]’ (τὸν ὑποδεικνύοντα) by Symmacus, and ‘a teacher of justice’ (doctorem iustitiae) in the Vulgate (cf. the ‘teacher for justification’ by Rashi). As the diverging translations attest, the immediate context of Joel 2, as well as other related biblical texts (e.g., Hos. 10:12; cf. Isa. 30:20; 2 Kgs. 17:28; 2 Chr. 15:3; Job 36:22; Isa. 9:14), contribute to the lingering ambiguity in the expression . ¹⁷ For example, the literary section of Joel 2:21–27 ends with a triumphant declaration that Israel will obtain knowledge of God (v. 27), initiated by YHWH’s sending of הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (v. 23). This literary arrangement highlights the notion that in addition to agricultural prosperity (vv. 24–25) and physical satiation (v. 26), there is a more fundamental sign of the removal of Israel’s shame (vv. 26, 27): Israel will finally know that YHWH is their God (v. 27).

Likewise, Hos. 10:12 sustains the ambiguity of the word מוֹרֶה in Joel 2:23.

Sow for yourselves righteousness, harvest according to steadfast love, and till your fallow ground; for it is time to seek YHWH, until he comes and he rains righteousness upon you (וְיֹרֶה צֶדֶק לָכֶם). (Hos. 10:12; MT)

In Hos. 10:12, YHWH is seen as the divine bestower of the rain of ‘righteousness.’ This portrait accords with, for example, the Vulgate’s translation of Joel 2:23, in which YHWH sends the ‘teacher of righteousness’ to the children of Zion as a sign of the restoration of the devastated land. The motif of overflowing abundance is intensified with the image of agricultural plenitude (Joel 2:24, 26) and climaxes in the promise of an eschatological outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh (Joel 2:28–29). The theme of divine outpouring is emphasized by the repetition of the verb ‘to pour out’ (שׁפך) which encloses the literary unit of Joel 2:28–29. The outpouring of the Spirit ushers in cataclysmic signs in the heavens and on earth before the eschatological Day of YHWH (vv. 30–31), while salvation is assured to everyone who calls on the name of YHWH (v. 32). If the Hebrew phrase הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה in Joel 2:23 is translated as the ‘Teacher of Righteousness,’ then he emerges within the literary framework of Joel 2 as the divinely authorized precursor of the eschatological renewal of Israel. More remarkably, dynamic wordplay associates water imagery with the figure of the Teacher of Righteousness through the visual metaphors of overflowing and outpouring in Joel 2:23 and Hos. 10:12. If we accept that the figure of the Teacher of Righteousness embodies the Mosaic qualities of Deut. 18:15–18 and that this epithet can be explained by Joel 2:23 and Hos. 10:12, intertextual linkage between some ideas presented in these biblical texts at Qumran is not surprising. I submit that the use of the water imagery in association with the figure of the Teacher of Righteousness in the Scrolls is a manifestation of the intertextual association of the related themes in Deut. 18:15–18, Joel 2:23, and Hos. 10:12. In fact, the Damascus Document, the foundational literature at Qumran, evinces such a thematic correlation, in which the double nuance of the term מוֹרֶה (cf. Isa 30:20) becomes more pronounced when referring to the Teacher of Righteousness.

According to the Damascus Document, the Teacher of Righteousness arose as the preeminent leader of the Qumran community about twenty years after its foundation (CD-A 1.5–11). Although the Teacher of Righteousness in the Damascus Document does not assume a distinctively eschatological character, he nonetheless plays a decisive role in the Qumran community, whose members believed that they lived in the penultimate era. What is notable in the Damascus Document is the metaphorical description of the genesis of the community and the Teacher of Righteousness. The community was the beneficiaries of God’s renewed favor after the Babylonian exile (CD-A 1.6) and was ‘a shoot of the planting’ (CD-A 1.7) from Israel and Aaron. God’s restorative plan encompasses not only repossession of the land but also the enjoyment of its abundance, that is, ‘to become fat with the good things of his soil’ (CD-A 1.8). Nevertheless, the members of the community were still ‘groping’ for ‘a path’ until the rise of the Teacher of Righteousness who led them ‘in the path of his heart’ (CD-A 1.11) and opposed the ‘congregation of traitors’ (CD-A 1.12–21), that is, the dissenters who provoked the wrath of God (CD-A 1.21). Here, the opposition of the Teacher of Righteousness (CD-A 1.11) and his archrival the ‘Scoffer’ (CD-A 1.14) is notable:

… when «the scoffer» arose, who poured out over Israel waters of lies and made them stray into a wilderness without path, causing the everlasting heights to sink down, diverging from tracks of justice and removing the boundary with which the forefathers had marked their inheritance, so that… ¹⁸ (CD-A 1.14–16)

The Scoffer ‘poured out (הטיף) over Israel waters of lies’ and caused Israel to ‘stray into a wilderness without path’ (CD-A 1.15). The Aramaic word הטיף comes from the root נטף, which means a ‘drop’ or a ‘drip’ of water. Hence, the notion of ‘pouring out’ (הטיף) echoes the false prophet literally ‘pouring out’ (אַטִּף) or ‘dripping’ (ἐστάλαξέν, LXX) wine and drink in Micah 2:6–11 (וָשֶׁקֶר כִּזֵּב אַטִּף לְךָ לַיַּיִן וְלַשֵּׁכָר, v. 11). ¹⁹ The water imagery found in the description of the apostate leader increases the contrast between the Teacher of Righteousness, who leads Israel on the right path to possess a land filled with ‘the good things of his soil’, and the Scoffer, who causes Israel to stumble into a pathless wilderness through his ‘waters of lies.’ The image of agricultural abundance associated with the Teacher of Righteousness evokes the eschatological harbinger of Joel 2.

Yet more water imagery can be detected in another sobriquets for the archrival of the Teacher of Righteousness: the ‘Preacher of the Lie’ (מטיף הכזב), which is used in the Scrolls (1QpHab 2.2; CD-A 4.19–20; 8.13; 19.25–26). ²⁰ The opposing pair of the Teacher of Righteousness and the Preacher of the Lie produces a conceptual antithesis between ‘an outpouring of righteousness’ and ‘a droplet of deception.’ The double entendre in ירה (‘to teach’ in the positive sense and ‘to rain’) and נטף (‘to preach’ in the negative sense and ‘to drip’) is accentuated in the diametrically conflicting figures of the righteous (צדק) and the liar . ²¹ The Qumran covenanters also perceived their congregation under the leadership of the Teacher of Righteousness, or the ‘unique teacher’ (מורה היחיד), as the ‘well of living waters’ (מבאר מים החיים) (CD-B 19.33–35, 20.1). ²² The foregoing examination of representative Qumran texts demonstrates that the Qumran community employed the water imagery to distinguish the Teacher of Righteousness from his nemesis and the covenanters from the dissenters. The community considered itself to be the true heir of the divine promises to Israel under the leadership of the Teacher of Righteousness, who was considered the infallible decipherer of Mosaic law and prophetic revelation. The ‘well of living waters’ then refers metaphorically to the instructions of the Teacher of Righteousness which legitimized the Qumran community and distinguished the community from its opponents (cf. CD-A 6.4).

If we assume that the Teacher of Righteousness was a typological predecessor of the future eschatological prophet (1QS 9.11) in the Scrolls, ²³ it is also worth noting that the Damascus Document speaks of an eschatological figure who will ‘teach justice at the end of days’ (CD-A 6.11). ²⁴ The ‘nobles of the people,’ or the Qumran convenanters (CD-A 6.5), will survive by ‘digging the well’ with ‘staves’ until the arrival of the eschatological figure (יורה הצדק) who has a distinctive, pedagogical role in the eschaton. The portrayal of the eschatological teacher as the ultimate provider of living of water for Israel generally overlaps with the figure of the Teacher of Righteousness, whose teachings are viewed as the ‘living water’ of truth as opposed to the ‘water of lies’ (CD-A 1.15).

Given the literary parallels between John’s Gospel and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the following section evaluates the possible thematic convergence between the two textual traditions to facilitate understanding of John 4:7–30. The common denominator considered is the water imagery associated with the didactic figure like Moses.

IV. The Living Water, the Teacher, and the Messiah

In the pericope of John 4:7–30, Jesus reveals himself to be the giver of eternal water of life (vv. 10, 14) and then the Messiah (v. 26). Jesus’ self-revelation as the provider of living water early in the narrative unit is not incidental but essential to the discourse and heightens the Gospel’s witness to Jesus as the prophet like Moses of Deut. 18.

At first, Jesus’ response to the Samaritan woman’s earnest plea, ‘Sir, give me this water…!’ (John 4:15), strikes a jarring note because her request finds no affirmative counter response. Instead, Jesus tells the woman to bring her husband. His abrupt demand leads the woman to utter two noteworthy titles: ‘a prophet’ (v. 19) and ‘Messiah who is called Christ’ (v. 25). Between these two titles is found Jesus’ declaration of the setting and the mode of true worship for Israel—an answer to a critical dispute which had instigated a political and religious schism between Judah and Israel since the early monarchic days (John 4:19–24). In particular, Jesus anticipates the arrival of a time—which he believes has come ‘now’ (John 4:23, καὶ νῦν ἐστιν)—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth as the Father God is spirit (John 4:21–24). Here, the gospel writer simultaneously presents Jesus as the supreme interpreter of Mosaic law and as the eschatological herald of a new era in which earlier worship conventions will be eclipsed. In this period, people will worship God the Father in spirit and truth outside from the sacred precincts in Jerusalem and Shechem: the people virtually become an abode for God’s presence. The Gospel’s dual presentation of Jesus recalls the roles of the prophet like Moses in Deut. 18:15–18 and the eschatological harbinger of Joel 2:23. The latter connection is striking because the description of Jesus as the giver of living water and the announcer of a new epoch in John 4 evokes the eschatological forerunner (or the ‘early rain’) in Joel 2:23, who precedes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh (Joel 2:28–29).

Jesus’ solution to the persistent debate is followed by the woman’s expression of her messianic expectation:

I know that Messiah, who is called Christ, is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. (John 4:25)

It is important to note that the Samaritan woman displays expectation not for a Davidic messiah but for a Mosaic messiah. From a literary perspective, the woman’s recognition of Jesus as the Mosaic Messiah (John 4:29) is linked thematically in the pericope to her unfulfilled request, ‘Sir, give me this water…!’ (4:15). The narrative indicates that, instead of filling her jar with water, the Samaritan woman leaves behind her empty jar to witness about the Messiah to the Samaritan community (John 4:28). This literary arrangement of John 4:7–30 emphasizes that the Mosaic Messiah whom the Samaritan woman has encountered is the source of the living water. In this way, the Messiah of the Samaritan woman coincides with the Teacher of Righteousness at Qumran in key aspects, although the Qumran community did not perceive the Teacher of Righteousness to have a messianic capacity. Notably, in John’s account, Jesus emerges as the ultimate expounder of Mosaic law and the giver of the eternal living water. The thematic parallels in the concept of the prophet like Moses in the Gospel and the Scrolls, thus, suggest that the intertextual correlation between the Mosaic Messiah of Deut. 18 and the Teacher of Righteousness in Joel 2:23 (cf. Hos. 10:12) is crucial to grasp the conceptual unity of the account in John 4:7–30.

By extension, the intertextual connection of these two figures, along with the water imagery, might challenge traditional readings of John 7:37–42. ²⁵ On the last day of the Feast of the Tabernacles, Jesus declares himself to be and invites people to believe that he is the source of living water. The gloss in John 7: 39 explains that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit, whom believers will receive after Jesus’ resurrection. The initial response of the people is to recognize Jesus as the Prophet, with the definite article. On what basis did people regard Jesus as the prophet like Moses, assuming that the eschatological prophet of Deut. 18 occupies a place of central concern in John’s Gospel? In the following verses, some question whether Jesus is the Christ, but his Davidic ancestry is immediately contested. Within the literary scheme of John’s Gospel, it is Jesus’ reference to the living water that prompts people to recognize him as the Prophet. The gospel writer comments that Jesus, who offers the living water, was referring to the Holy Spirit and thereby describes Jesus as the announcer of the eschatological outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the people’s immediate recognition of Jesus as the Mosaic Prophet can be explained by the Gospel’s portrayal of the contemporary messianic expectation, which undergirds the conceptual fusion of the eschatological Mosaic prophet of Deut. 18:15–18 and the Teacher of Righteousness in Joel 2:23 (cf. Hos. 10:12).

A close reading of John 4:7–30 further elucidates the literary function of the Samaritan woman’s recognition of Jesus as ‘a prophet’ (v. 19). From the beginning, it is apparent that her questions and responses serve to elicit profound truth claims from the listener. For example, her three naive questions have corresponding answers that are pivotal to understanding the theological message of John 4:7–30: ²⁶

A: I who speak to you am he (the Messiah). (v. 26)

As can be seen, the woman’s questions contain rhetorical cues to the answers. Within the subunit of John 4:16–26, the answer to the woman’s question, ‘Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well…?’ (v. 12), is deferred until verse 26, when Jesus openly declares ‘I who speak to you am he (the Messiah).’ Jesus’ affirmative proclamation of himself as the Messiah (v. 26) precedes the woman’s identification of Jesus as ‘a prophet’ (v. 19) and her expectation of the ‘Messiah, who is called the Christ’ (v. 25). If the entire literary structure of John 4:7–26 is taken into account, both titles—’a prophet’ and ‘Messiah’—in the woman’s mouth prefigure Jesus as the Mosaic Messiah. In other words, the woman’s apparently naive references to ‘a prophet’ (v. 19) and the ‘Messiah, who is called the Christ’ (v. 25) ironically define precisely whom Jesus claims to be—the prophet like Moses of Deut. 18. The designation ‘a prophet’ (v. 19), thus, underscores Jesus’ messianic status as the Mosaic Prophet. In this literary framework, Jesus’ messianic role pertains not only to his unraveling of all mysteries, but also to his providing of the eternal well that far surpasses Jacob’s well. At Jesus’ universal disclosure, the Samaritan woman leaves behind her empty jar and tells the world—including us—that she has met the Messiah, the source of living water.

V. Conclusion

Over the years, the conceptual similarity between John’s Gospel and the Dead Sea Scrolls has been observed in a number of points. This article seeks to examine one parallel which deserves greater attention: the reception of the ‘prophet like Moses’ of Deut. 18:15–18 in the Gospel and the Scrolls. Given the limited scope of the study, I confined the analysis to the Samaritan woman’s Messiah in John 4 and the Teacher of Righteousness in the Scrolls (4QTestmonia, the Habakkuk Pesher, and the Damascus Document).

Although he was hardly considered messianic within the Qumran community, the Teacher of Righteousness was the object of considerable veneration: he was the latest expositor of God’s words, including Mosaic law, and the eschatological forerunner of the age of renewed divine favor upon Israel before the Day of YHWH. A careful study of the data reveals that these attributes most likely underlie the figures of the prophet like Moses of Deut. 18:15–18 and that of the ‘Teacher of Righteousness’ in Joel 2:23 (cf. Hos. 10:12). Representative Scrolls preserve evidence of the intertextual understanding of these biblical texts, especially given the frequent use of water imagery in association with the Teacher of Righteousness and his nemesis. I submit that the Gospel evinces a similar view of the prophet like Moses in its identification of Jesus as the ultimate expounder of Mosaic law and the giver of the living water. This line of interpretation affirms the overall coherence of John 4:7–30: the Gospel witnesses to Jesus as the Mosaic Messiah after he reveals himself to be the giver of the eternal well of living water, the final arbiter of the dispute between Jews and Samaritans, and the herald of a new epoch when God’s spirit will dwell among his worshippers outside Jerusalem.