44 Cornelis Bennema 6 possibly refers to judgment or a sifting of the wicked and the wise ones through the messiah’s word, and 4Q541 f9 col 1,2-3 depicts a priestly messiah who will perform acts of cleansing by means of divine teaching (27). These texts, then, depict a priestly teacher-messiah who will sift the righteous and the wicked through his teaching in that it brings moral guidance and purification for the righteous and judgment for the wicked. In sum, although the Qumran literature portrays various messianic figures, they appear to have some common traits. Judgment is an important function of both the teacher-messiah and the royal messiah, and occurs when the revelatory words of the teacher-messiah’s mouth are rejected (4Q175; cf. 4Q541) and when the royal messiah will strike the wicked with the Spirit-imbued word of his mouth (1Q28b, 4Q161, 4Q534). The common denominator, then, appears to be what comes out of the mouth of the eschatological figure, whether a revelatory divine word or a powerful Spirit-infused word. Moreover, this revelatory teaching would interpret the law to the righteous and cleanse and guide them, and the Spirit’s providing the royal messiah with wisdom also has a “salvific” dimension in that it establishes justice for the righteous. This revelatory teaching or Spirit-imbued word of the messiah’s mouth, then, sifts the righteous (including the Qumran community) and the wicked (the Romans and the Hasmoneans [or Herodians if one dates some writings later]). Thus, Qumran’s diarchic view of the messiah — the traditional Davidic Spirit-empowered messiah of Isaiah 11 and a teacher-messiah — envisages a similar means by which the messiah liberates and sifts “Israel”, namely by the divine or Spirit-imbued word of his mouth. 3. Similitudes of Enoch Since the Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71) does not seem to refer to any specific historical crisis it is difficult to date. Collins argues for a date somewhere between 40 B.C.E. and 66 C.E.: (i) 56,5- 7 may allude to the invasion of Palestine by the Parthians in 40 B.C.E.; (ii) 67,5-13 may reflect Herod’s attempt to cure himself in the hot springs of Callirhoe; (iii) there is no reference to the first Jewish revolt (28). In this case, combined with references in 46,4-6; 48,8; 53,5; (27) We use the text as reconstructed by PUECH, Qumrân, 239-244. (28) COLLINS, Imagination, 178; cf. ELLIOTT, Survivors, 492; G.W.E. NICKELSBURG, 1 Enoch. A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, Chapters 1-36;