The Messiah Son of Joseph: 'Gabriel’s Revelation' and the Birth of a New Messianic Model

A new inscription, recently published in BAR, may hold the key to unlocking a new understanding of some of the history of Christian and Jewish messianism. Written on a stone three feet tall, the new text has many of the characteristics of a fragmentary Dead Sea Scroll, including being poorly preserved. Based on the stance and form of the letters, the distinguished decipherers of the inscription (Ada Yardeni and Binyamin Elizur) date it to the late first century B.C.E. or early first century C.E. Yardeni describes the text as "a literary composition similar to Biblical prophecies" and calls the text "Gabriel's Revelation' or Hazon Gabriel in Hebrew. Here, Knohl looks at the text "Gabriel's Revelation" and the birth of a new messianic model.