Drew Longacre | Duke University (original) (raw)
Articles by Drew Longacre
Dead Sea Discoveries Advance Articles, 2022
This brief note proposes a new identification for a fragment of one of the Psalm manuscripts from... more This brief note proposes a new identification for a fragment of one of the Psalm manuscripts from Qumran. On the basis of material conditions—but above all else, the distinctive paleography of the script—4Q98c (4QP st) should be considered as part of the same manuscript known as 4Q85 (4QP sc). If this identification is correct, the latter now contains material known from the second half of the (proto-)MT Psalter, increasing the plausibility that it once contained the entire book of Psalms.
Revue de Qumrân 34, no. 1 (2022): 137–150, 2022
This article proposes new identifications of scroll fragments from 4QpaleoGen-Exodl, some of whic... more This article proposes new identifications of scroll fragments from 4QpaleoGen-Exodl, some of which have been included in the official edition and others that have not been associated with the scroll so far. The fragments are transcribed, identified, and in some cases joined with further scroll fragments. The study is accompanied by a discussion on the implications of the new identifications.New Identifications of 4QpaleoGen-Exodl (4Q11) Fragments
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 134, no. 1 (2022): 85–111, 2022
This article demonstrates how pragmatic factors impacted the formation of the 11Q5 (11QPsa) psalt... more This article demonstrates how pragmatic factors impacted the formation of the 11Q5 (11QPsa) psalter, confirming the essential interdependency between textual development, editorial processes, and physical manuscript production. I enumerate several default modes that guided the compiler and the types of editorial interventions by which he created the 11Q5 psalter. These suggest that the 11Q5 psalter was produced as a revised version of the traditional psalter, expanded and rearranged from an MT-like base text to enhance thematic, lexical, and sometimes formal connections between psalms.
Vetus Testamentum (2021): 1–26, 2021
In this article I apply stylistic paleographic analysis to the Dead Sea Psalm scrolls, proposing ... more In this article I apply stylistic paleographic analysis to the Dead Sea Psalm scrolls, proposing conventional usage registers for different types and levels of scripts. I argue that more formal scripts were normally used for large presentation copies of known versions of the Davidic psalter, while less formal scripts were frequently used for smaller, textually distinctive manuscripts. This observation aids in the interpretation of the forms and functions of the majority of Dead Sea Psalm scrolls that follow this pattern
and highlights exceptional cases worthy of further investigation.
Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 7, no. 1 (2021): 7–50, 2021
Writing is an expression of culture and is subject to intercultural influences. In this comparati... more Writing is an expression of culture and is subject to intercultural influences. In this comparative study, I argue that Egyptian and Judean Hebrew/Aramaic scripts from 400 bce to 400 ce were heavily influenced by Greek and later Latin writing cultures, which explains many previously inexplicable phenomena. Jewish writers in the third century bce adopted the Greek split-nibbed reed pen, which dramatically changed the appearance of Hebrew/Aramaic scripts. At the same time, the normal size for Hebrew/Aramaic scripts shrank considerably, the pen strokes became mostly monotone and unshaded, and the scripts became more rectilinear, angular, bilinear, and square. Each of these features appears to be due to direct imitation of contemporary Greek formal writing. Beginning in the first century bce, Hebrew/Aramaic writers began to decorate their formal scripts with separate ornamental strokes like those of contemporary Greek and Latin calligraphic scripts. And from the second or third century ce, Hebrew/Aramaic calligraphic scripts seem to be increasingly characterized by horizontal shading, parallel to the contemporary rise of Greek and Latin shaded scripts. Furthermore, in the late Roman period, the traditional Hieratic-derived Aramaic numeral system was replaced by an alphabetic numeral system under the influence of the Greek Milesian alphabetic numerals.
Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 5, no. 2, pp. 101–128, 2020
The concept of formality in palaeographic analysis is often ill-defined and understood in conflic... more The concept of formality in palaeographic analysis is often ill-defined and understood in conflicting ways by the scholars who utilize it. In this article, I attempt to clarify the meaning and significance of formality by suggesting that it is best understood as a multifaceted concept dependent upon the interaction between morphology, execution, and function. From this perspective, formality is an overall impression of the level of handwriting based on the type of model script chosen to reproduce, the skill and care with which it was written, and the purpose(s) for which the embody- ing manuscript was created. Each aspect can be conceptualized and to some extent analyzed independently in concrete terms other than formality. The resulting, more explicitly-defined nature of formality proposed here then provides a better foundation for hypothesizing about the functions of manuscripts. I apply this schema to the Jewish Hebrew/Aramaic scripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls to show its potential for increased clarity and resolution in stylistic analysis.
Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2018
In Biblical Studies there is a growing appreciation for the variety of ways ancient scribes, scho... more In Biblical Studies there is a growing appreciation for the variety of ways ancient scribes, scholars, and readers selectively used excerpts of Judeo-Christian scriptures in antiquity. In this paper, I will examine materially and textually two fragments with excerpts in Greek from the book of Exodus that contribute to this ongoing discussion. P. Rendel Harris Inv. 54 c = Rahlfs 896 is inscribed only on the front side in an unskilled hand with high dots separating small word groups, which I suggest fits well with an educational context. P. Berlin 13994 = Rahlfs 960 comes from a small codex whose preserved contents suggest a topical collection focusing on Sabbath regulations. These two fragments are particularly interesting objects of comparative study, because they overlap in the passages with which they interact in such a way that we can observe different approaches to selectively appropriating the same sacred scriptures for different purposes. They also provide interesting glimpses into the history of the text of the book of Exodus, once complicating factors relating to their selectivity are taken into account.
Textus, 2018
Yardeni dated the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll (EGLev) to the second half of the first or ear... more Yardeni dated the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll (EGLev) to the second half of the first or early second century CE. Paleographic evidence is often ambiguous, and can provide only an imprecise basis for dating EGLev. Nevertheless, a series of important typological developments evident in the hand of EGLev suggests a date somewhat later than the Dead Sea Scrolls of the first-second centuries, but clearly earlier than comparanda from the sixth–eighth centuries. The cumulative supporting evidence from the archeological context, bibliographic/voluminological details (wooden roller and metallic ink), format and layout (tall, narrow columns)—each individually indeterminative—also suggests dating EGLev to the period from the third–sixth centuries CE. I argue that EGLev should be dated to the third–fourth centuries CE, with only a small possibility that it could have been written in the second or fifth centuries, which is possibly supported by radiocarbon dating.
Dead Sea Discoveries 20, no. 1 (2013): 17-50
The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa) does not generally reflect a text form earlier than ... more The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa) does not generally reflect a text form earlier than the Masoretic text. Instead, the convergence in 1QIsaa of patterns of spacing irregularities, literary and textual problems, and secondary supplementations, as well as a consistent pattern of distribution, are best explained on the basis of the hypothesis of an exemplar for chapters 34-66 with a damaged bottom edge. Upon reaching the defective edge in each column of his exemplar, the scribe dealt with any lacunose or illegible text in one of two ways before continuing with the unaffected text at the top of the subsequent exemplar column. Sometimes he left blank spaces in his new copy to be filled in with the correct text from other manuscripts at a later time. At other times he attempted full or partial reconstructions of the text based on whatever text remained legible in the damaged exemplar, memory, and contextual clues.
Contributions to Books by Drew Longacre
Written for Our Instruction: Essays in Honor of William Varner. Edited by Abner Chou and Christian Locatell. Dallas: Ad Fontes Press, 2021, 2021
In this essay I deconstruct several popular misconceptions that drive a sharp wedge between textu... more In this essay I deconstruct several popular misconceptions that drive a sharp wedge between textual scholarship of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the New Testament.
From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How Ancient Texts Could and Could Not Be Changed (DSI 12; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), pp. 181–198 , 2020
By differentiating the genetic relationships between sources and recipients from the literary sig... more By differentiating the genetic relationships between sources and recipients from the literary significance of textual changes (i.e., whether or not a new work is created), I argue that we can justifiably expand the scope of textual history beyond the confines of individual literary works to include vast multilinear genealogical networks.
The Hebrew Bible Manuscripts: A Millenium. Edited by Élodie Attia and Antony Perrot. Textual History of the Bible Supplements 6., 2022
This essay systematically lays out the mathematical model for reconstructing fragmentary scrolls ... more This essay systematically lays out the mathematical model for reconstructing fragmentary scrolls based on material evidence that I developed as the ECA Junior Research Fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. In contrast to the extreme precision expected by many scholars, this essay is the first to systematically factor measurement error and material inconsistency into mathematical reconstructions.
Exodus and the New Testament
This is a forthcoming introduction to the manuscripts, texts, and interpretations of the book of ... more This is a forthcoming introduction to the manuscripts, texts, and interpretations of the book of Exodus in the Second Temple period, setting the background for a volume on New Testament usage of the book. I include extensive discussions of the Septuagint of Exodus.
Textual History of the Bible, Vol. 3, 2017
Handbook article evaluating the current state of ancient Hebrew paleography.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Study of the Humanities. Method, Theory, Meaning: Proceedings of the Eighth Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies (Munich, 4–7 August, 2013), eds. Pieter B. Hartog, Alison Schofield, and Samuel I. Thomas. STDJ 125. Leiden: Brill., 2018
Survey and typology of the various ways in which ancient scribes treated damaged exemplars. Attes... more Survey and typology of the various ways in which ancient scribes treated damaged exemplars. Attested methods include omissions, paratextual comments (colophons and annotations), leaving blank spaces, and attempting restorations.
Pages 231- 296 in Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood: Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative, eds. Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2014.
Any sophisticated analysis of the Genesis Flood chronology requires close investigation of the te... more Any sophisticated analysis of the Genesis Flood chronology requires close investigation of the text to be studied. The ancient witnesses vary widely in their chronological details, making adjudication between these variants a necessary prerequisite for properly understanding the chronology. This chapter lists and evaluates all the textual problems related to the Genesis Flood chronology as the foundation for this volume’s treatment of the chronological issues.
Pages 705-738 in Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood: Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative, eds. Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2014.
Because the Hebrew verb ויַהְִי way∂hî occurs at a number of key points in the Genesis Flood narr... more Because the Hebrew verb ויַהְִי way∂hî occurs at a number of key points in the Genesis Flood narrative, any detailed investigation into the information structure of the text must necessarily take account of its role in structuring and advancing the narrative. The following chapter lays down some methodological guidelines and an overview of some of the most important questions about the significance of ויַהְִי by examining key issues concerning lexical-level semantics, sentence-level syntax, paragraph-level syntax, narrative-level structure, and discourse-pragmatic functions.
Books by Drew Longacre
Anneli Aejmelaeus, Drew Longacre, and Natia Mirotadze, eds. From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How ... more Anneli Aejmelaeus, Drew Longacre, and Natia Mirotadze, eds. From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How Ancient Texts Could and Could Not Be Changed. De Septuaginta Investigationes 12. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2020.
This volume contains a collection of essays on Hebrew, Greek, Georgian, and other texts of the Old Testament.
For the table of contents and introduction, see: https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/downloads/productPreviewFiles/LP_978-3-525-52209-7.pdf
Theses by Drew Longacre
This thesis suggests a new approach to studying the Hebrew-language Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) contai... more This thesis suggests a new approach to studying the Hebrew-language Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) containing Exodus. After surveying the history of research, Longacre suggests applying a contextualized approach to the study of these scrolls, which seeks to understand them first as individual material artifacts and then in comparison to other manuscripts which are most closely contextually connected to them. Each manuscript is only subsequently compared with increasingly contextually distant manuscripts according to a hierarchy of contextual proximity.
A network of close contextual connections between the Hebrew DSS containing Exodus warrant the isolation of this corpus as a test case for application of a contextualized approach. Based on new transcriptions and reconstructions of each of the included manuscripts (1Q2 2Q2 2Q3 2Q4 4Q1 4Q11 4Q13 4Q14 4Q17 4Q18 4Q19 4Q20 4Q21 4Q22 4Q158 4Q364 4Q365 4Q366 Mur1), Longacre then analyzes patterns that emerge from a comparison of the characteristics of each of these manuscripts. Finally, from a close examination of textual overlaps from a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative perspectives, Longacre suggests several specific groups and clusters of texts and synthesizes them to provide clearer insight into the documented Hebrew-language textual history of the book of Exodus.
The exegesis of a text can of necessity only be as good as the text that underlies it. This thesi... more The exegesis of a text can of necessity only be as good as the text that underlies it. This thesis seeks to evaluate the feasibility of the application of an eclectic text-critical methodology to create eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew Old Testament with a view to reconstructing a more pristine text.
It begins by surveying the various publishing methodologies that have been proposed in the history of OT critical editions and the critical editions which implement them. Possible methodologies examined and critiqued are the publication of diplomatic editions, purely eclectic editions, copy-text eclectic editions, multicolumn editions, and textual commentaries. The survey of the history of critical editions includes extensive critique of the three main critical editions of the Hebrew Bible currently in process: Biblia Hebraica Quinta, the Hebrew University Bible, and the Oxford Hebrew Bible.
A critique of the method of publishing a diplomatic text then shows both the theoretical weaknesses and the practical inadequacies of the potential manuscripts for a diplomatic text. After detailed analysis of the Leningrad and Aleppo Codices, a listing of other significant manuscripts, illustrations of corruption in the Masoretic tradition, and discussing the danger of imposing doubtful vocalizations upon the text, it becomes clear that no existing manuscript or tradition can adequately serve as the base text for a reliable edition of the text of the OT.
A substantial chapter is then devoted to listing and explaining all of the special problems of implementing an eclectic methodology in OT textual criticism, such as the problems of the nature of the evidence, conjectural emendation, comparative philology, publication of accidentals, the nature of the original text, dogmatic considerations, divided evidence, and the scope of the edition.
And finally, it is argued that, despite the difficulties inherent in the endeavor, it is preferable and feasible to publish eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew OT in both multi-volume major editions and in single-volume manual editions. Given the increased maturity of the discipline of textual criticism of the OT, the time has come for a new era where the results of decades of text-critical studies are incorporated into eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew Bible to present for general usage. A perfect text is forever an unattainable ideal, but a text which reflects the best possible understanding of the evidence available presents an important step in the right direction. Current efforts to produce eclectic critical editions of the text of the Hebrew OT should be embraced and further studies encouraged for the furtherance of the discipline and purity of the text.
Dead Sea Discoveries Advance Articles, 2022
This brief note proposes a new identification for a fragment of one of the Psalm manuscripts from... more This brief note proposes a new identification for a fragment of one of the Psalm manuscripts from Qumran. On the basis of material conditions—but above all else, the distinctive paleography of the script—4Q98c (4QP st) should be considered as part of the same manuscript known as 4Q85 (4QP sc). If this identification is correct, the latter now contains material known from the second half of the (proto-)MT Psalter, increasing the plausibility that it once contained the entire book of Psalms.
Revue de Qumrân 34, no. 1 (2022): 137–150, 2022
This article proposes new identifications of scroll fragments from 4QpaleoGen-Exodl, some of whic... more This article proposes new identifications of scroll fragments from 4QpaleoGen-Exodl, some of which have been included in the official edition and others that have not been associated with the scroll so far. The fragments are transcribed, identified, and in some cases joined with further scroll fragments. The study is accompanied by a discussion on the implications of the new identifications.New Identifications of 4QpaleoGen-Exodl (4Q11) Fragments
Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 134, no. 1 (2022): 85–111, 2022
This article demonstrates how pragmatic factors impacted the formation of the 11Q5 (11QPsa) psalt... more This article demonstrates how pragmatic factors impacted the formation of the 11Q5 (11QPsa) psalter, confirming the essential interdependency between textual development, editorial processes, and physical manuscript production. I enumerate several default modes that guided the compiler and the types of editorial interventions by which he created the 11Q5 psalter. These suggest that the 11Q5 psalter was produced as a revised version of the traditional psalter, expanded and rearranged from an MT-like base text to enhance thematic, lexical, and sometimes formal connections between psalms.
Vetus Testamentum (2021): 1–26, 2021
In this article I apply stylistic paleographic analysis to the Dead Sea Psalm scrolls, proposing ... more In this article I apply stylistic paleographic analysis to the Dead Sea Psalm scrolls, proposing conventional usage registers for different types and levels of scripts. I argue that more formal scripts were normally used for large presentation copies of known versions of the Davidic psalter, while less formal scripts were frequently used for smaller, textually distinctive manuscripts. This observation aids in the interpretation of the forms and functions of the majority of Dead Sea Psalm scrolls that follow this pattern
and highlights exceptional cases worthy of further investigation.
Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 7, no. 1 (2021): 7–50, 2021
Writing is an expression of culture and is subject to intercultural influences. In this comparati... more Writing is an expression of culture and is subject to intercultural influences. In this comparative study, I argue that Egyptian and Judean Hebrew/Aramaic scripts from 400 bce to 400 ce were heavily influenced by Greek and later Latin writing cultures, which explains many previously inexplicable phenomena. Jewish writers in the third century bce adopted the Greek split-nibbed reed pen, which dramatically changed the appearance of Hebrew/Aramaic scripts. At the same time, the normal size for Hebrew/Aramaic scripts shrank considerably, the pen strokes became mostly monotone and unshaded, and the scripts became more rectilinear, angular, bilinear, and square. Each of these features appears to be due to direct imitation of contemporary Greek formal writing. Beginning in the first century bce, Hebrew/Aramaic writers began to decorate their formal scripts with separate ornamental strokes like those of contemporary Greek and Latin calligraphic scripts. And from the second or third century ce, Hebrew/Aramaic calligraphic scripts seem to be increasingly characterized by horizontal shading, parallel to the contemporary rise of Greek and Latin shaded scripts. Furthermore, in the late Roman period, the traditional Hieratic-derived Aramaic numeral system was replaced by an alphabetic numeral system under the influence of the Greek Milesian alphabetic numerals.
Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 5, no. 2, pp. 101–128, 2020
The concept of formality in palaeographic analysis is often ill-defined and understood in conflic... more The concept of formality in palaeographic analysis is often ill-defined and understood in conflicting ways by the scholars who utilize it. In this article, I attempt to clarify the meaning and significance of formality by suggesting that it is best understood as a multifaceted concept dependent upon the interaction between morphology, execution, and function. From this perspective, formality is an overall impression of the level of handwriting based on the type of model script chosen to reproduce, the skill and care with which it was written, and the purpose(s) for which the embody- ing manuscript was created. Each aspect can be conceptualized and to some extent analyzed independently in concrete terms other than formality. The resulting, more explicitly-defined nature of formality proposed here then provides a better foundation for hypothesizing about the functions of manuscripts. I apply this schema to the Jewish Hebrew/Aramaic scripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls to show its potential for increased clarity and resolution in stylistic analysis.
Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies, 2018
In Biblical Studies there is a growing appreciation for the variety of ways ancient scribes, scho... more In Biblical Studies there is a growing appreciation for the variety of ways ancient scribes, scholars, and readers selectively used excerpts of Judeo-Christian scriptures in antiquity. In this paper, I will examine materially and textually two fragments with excerpts in Greek from the book of Exodus that contribute to this ongoing discussion. P. Rendel Harris Inv. 54 c = Rahlfs 896 is inscribed only on the front side in an unskilled hand with high dots separating small word groups, which I suggest fits well with an educational context. P. Berlin 13994 = Rahlfs 960 comes from a small codex whose preserved contents suggest a topical collection focusing on Sabbath regulations. These two fragments are particularly interesting objects of comparative study, because they overlap in the passages with which they interact in such a way that we can observe different approaches to selectively appropriating the same sacred scriptures for different purposes. They also provide interesting glimpses into the history of the text of the book of Exodus, once complicating factors relating to their selectivity are taken into account.
Textus, 2018
Yardeni dated the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll (EGLev) to the second half of the first or ear... more Yardeni dated the charred En-Gedi Leviticus scroll (EGLev) to the second half of the first or early second century CE. Paleographic evidence is often ambiguous, and can provide only an imprecise basis for dating EGLev. Nevertheless, a series of important typological developments evident in the hand of EGLev suggests a date somewhat later than the Dead Sea Scrolls of the first-second centuries, but clearly earlier than comparanda from the sixth–eighth centuries. The cumulative supporting evidence from the archeological context, bibliographic/voluminological details (wooden roller and metallic ink), format and layout (tall, narrow columns)—each individually indeterminative—also suggests dating EGLev to the period from the third–sixth centuries CE. I argue that EGLev should be dated to the third–fourth centuries CE, with only a small possibility that it could have been written in the second or fifth centuries, which is possibly supported by radiocarbon dating.
Dead Sea Discoveries 20, no. 1 (2013): 17-50
The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa) does not generally reflect a text form earlier than ... more The Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa) does not generally reflect a text form earlier than the Masoretic text. Instead, the convergence in 1QIsaa of patterns of spacing irregularities, literary and textual problems, and secondary supplementations, as well as a consistent pattern of distribution, are best explained on the basis of the hypothesis of an exemplar for chapters 34-66 with a damaged bottom edge. Upon reaching the defective edge in each column of his exemplar, the scribe dealt with any lacunose or illegible text in one of two ways before continuing with the unaffected text at the top of the subsequent exemplar column. Sometimes he left blank spaces in his new copy to be filled in with the correct text from other manuscripts at a later time. At other times he attempted full or partial reconstructions of the text based on whatever text remained legible in the damaged exemplar, memory, and contextual clues.
Written for Our Instruction: Essays in Honor of William Varner. Edited by Abner Chou and Christian Locatell. Dallas: Ad Fontes Press, 2021, 2021
In this essay I deconstruct several popular misconceptions that drive a sharp wedge between textu... more In this essay I deconstruct several popular misconceptions that drive a sharp wedge between textual scholarship of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the New Testament.
From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How Ancient Texts Could and Could Not Be Changed (DSI 12; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), pp. 181–198 , 2020
By differentiating the genetic relationships between sources and recipients from the literary sig... more By differentiating the genetic relationships between sources and recipients from the literary significance of textual changes (i.e., whether or not a new work is created), I argue that we can justifiably expand the scope of textual history beyond the confines of individual literary works to include vast multilinear genealogical networks.
The Hebrew Bible Manuscripts: A Millenium. Edited by Élodie Attia and Antony Perrot. Textual History of the Bible Supplements 6., 2022
This essay systematically lays out the mathematical model for reconstructing fragmentary scrolls ... more This essay systematically lays out the mathematical model for reconstructing fragmentary scrolls based on material evidence that I developed as the ECA Junior Research Fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. In contrast to the extreme precision expected by many scholars, this essay is the first to systematically factor measurement error and material inconsistency into mathematical reconstructions.
Exodus and the New Testament
This is a forthcoming introduction to the manuscripts, texts, and interpretations of the book of ... more This is a forthcoming introduction to the manuscripts, texts, and interpretations of the book of Exodus in the Second Temple period, setting the background for a volume on New Testament usage of the book. I include extensive discussions of the Septuagint of Exodus.
Textual History of the Bible, Vol. 3, 2017
Handbook article evaluating the current state of ancient Hebrew paleography.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Study of the Humanities. Method, Theory, Meaning: Proceedings of the Eighth Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies (Munich, 4–7 August, 2013), eds. Pieter B. Hartog, Alison Schofield, and Samuel I. Thomas. STDJ 125. Leiden: Brill., 2018
Survey and typology of the various ways in which ancient scribes treated damaged exemplars. Attes... more Survey and typology of the various ways in which ancient scribes treated damaged exemplars. Attested methods include omissions, paratextual comments (colophons and annotations), leaving blank spaces, and attempting restorations.
Pages 231- 296 in Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood: Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative, eds. Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2014.
Any sophisticated analysis of the Genesis Flood chronology requires close investigation of the te... more Any sophisticated analysis of the Genesis Flood chronology requires close investigation of the text to be studied. The ancient witnesses vary widely in their chronological details, making adjudication between these variants a necessary prerequisite for properly understanding the chronology. This chapter lists and evaluates all the textual problems related to the Genesis Flood chronology as the foundation for this volume’s treatment of the chronological issues.
Pages 705-738 in Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood: Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative, eds. Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2014.
Because the Hebrew verb ויַהְִי way∂hî occurs at a number of key points in the Genesis Flood narr... more Because the Hebrew verb ויַהְִי way∂hî occurs at a number of key points in the Genesis Flood narrative, any detailed investigation into the information structure of the text must necessarily take account of its role in structuring and advancing the narrative. The following chapter lays down some methodological guidelines and an overview of some of the most important questions about the significance of ויַהְִי by examining key issues concerning lexical-level semantics, sentence-level syntax, paragraph-level syntax, narrative-level structure, and discourse-pragmatic functions.
Anneli Aejmelaeus, Drew Longacre, and Natia Mirotadze, eds. From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How ... more Anneli Aejmelaeus, Drew Longacre, and Natia Mirotadze, eds. From Scribal Error to Rewriting: How Ancient Texts Could and Could Not Be Changed. De Septuaginta Investigationes 12. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2020.
This volume contains a collection of essays on Hebrew, Greek, Georgian, and other texts of the Old Testament.
For the table of contents and introduction, see: https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/downloads/productPreviewFiles/LP_978-3-525-52209-7.pdf
This thesis suggests a new approach to studying the Hebrew-language Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) contai... more This thesis suggests a new approach to studying the Hebrew-language Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) containing Exodus. After surveying the history of research, Longacre suggests applying a contextualized approach to the study of these scrolls, which seeks to understand them first as individual material artifacts and then in comparison to other manuscripts which are most closely contextually connected to them. Each manuscript is only subsequently compared with increasingly contextually distant manuscripts according to a hierarchy of contextual proximity.
A network of close contextual connections between the Hebrew DSS containing Exodus warrant the isolation of this corpus as a test case for application of a contextualized approach. Based on new transcriptions and reconstructions of each of the included manuscripts (1Q2 2Q2 2Q3 2Q4 4Q1 4Q11 4Q13 4Q14 4Q17 4Q18 4Q19 4Q20 4Q21 4Q22 4Q158 4Q364 4Q365 4Q366 Mur1), Longacre then analyzes patterns that emerge from a comparison of the characteristics of each of these manuscripts. Finally, from a close examination of textual overlaps from a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative perspectives, Longacre suggests several specific groups and clusters of texts and synthesizes them to provide clearer insight into the documented Hebrew-language textual history of the book of Exodus.
The exegesis of a text can of necessity only be as good as the text that underlies it. This thesi... more The exegesis of a text can of necessity only be as good as the text that underlies it. This thesis seeks to evaluate the feasibility of the application of an eclectic text-critical methodology to create eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew Old Testament with a view to reconstructing a more pristine text.
It begins by surveying the various publishing methodologies that have been proposed in the history of OT critical editions and the critical editions which implement them. Possible methodologies examined and critiqued are the publication of diplomatic editions, purely eclectic editions, copy-text eclectic editions, multicolumn editions, and textual commentaries. The survey of the history of critical editions includes extensive critique of the three main critical editions of the Hebrew Bible currently in process: Biblia Hebraica Quinta, the Hebrew University Bible, and the Oxford Hebrew Bible.
A critique of the method of publishing a diplomatic text then shows both the theoretical weaknesses and the practical inadequacies of the potential manuscripts for a diplomatic text. After detailed analysis of the Leningrad and Aleppo Codices, a listing of other significant manuscripts, illustrations of corruption in the Masoretic tradition, and discussing the danger of imposing doubtful vocalizations upon the text, it becomes clear that no existing manuscript or tradition can adequately serve as the base text for a reliable edition of the text of the OT.
A substantial chapter is then devoted to listing and explaining all of the special problems of implementing an eclectic methodology in OT textual criticism, such as the problems of the nature of the evidence, conjectural emendation, comparative philology, publication of accidentals, the nature of the original text, dogmatic considerations, divided evidence, and the scope of the edition.
And finally, it is argued that, despite the difficulties inherent in the endeavor, it is preferable and feasible to publish eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew OT in both multi-volume major editions and in single-volume manual editions. Given the increased maturity of the discipline of textual criticism of the OT, the time has come for a new era where the results of decades of text-critical studies are incorporated into eclectic critical editions of the Hebrew Bible to present for general usage. A perfect text is forever an unattainable ideal, but a text which reflects the best possible understanding of the evidence available presents an important step in the right direction. Current efforts to produce eclectic critical editions of the text of the Hebrew OT should be embraced and further studies encouraged for the furtherance of the discipline and purity of the text.
In Against Apion 1.38, 42, Josephus makes two assertions about the nature of the Hebrew scriptur... more In Against Apion 1.38, 42, Josephus makes two assertions about the nature of the Hebrew scriptures: 1) they are internally harmonious, and 2) they are inviolable. In Josephus’ apologetic, the scriptures of the Jewish people are superior to those of their Gentile neighbors, because they do not contradict each other and have been faithfully transmitted without intentional changes. Similar idealistic assertions pervade both ancient and modern discussions of sacred literature, such that for many they are seemingly inseparable from the very concept of sacred scripture.
But the notions of the harmony and inviolability of scripture are not the same thing. In fact, they often operate independently of each other, sometimes even in tension with each other. When faced with real or perceived disharmony in scriptural texts, ancient traditors were sometimes forced to decide between the harmony and the inviolability of the texts they transmitted. Many scribes undoubtedly transmitted these difficult texts as they had received them, but some scribes demonstrably opted instead to alter their received texts to enhance their harmony within themselves and with other scriptural works.
In this paper, we will explore the tension between the harmony and inviolability of sacred scriptures with reference to known texts of the book of Exodus. We will examine several passages sensed by ancient readers to be disharmonious and survey documented scribal responses to such potentially problematic passages, with particular reference to speech acts and their narrative reflections, repeated lists, chronological consistency, and narrative precision.
In sum, preserved textual witnesses document two responses to perceived disharmony: 1) scribes transmitted their texts as received, relegating reconciliation of the perceived disharmony to the external exegetical tradition; 2) scribes altered their received texts to explicate or enhance their harmony with other passages of scripture. These patterns suggest that both the internal harmony and inviolability of sacred scripture were important, operative concepts in the transmission of texts in late Second Temple Judaism, but that scribes differed among themselves on how best to respond to their received texts when these two principles were in competition.
Thus, any emic construction of the concept of sacred texts in the late Second Temple period must take into account the prominent ideals of the internal harmony and inviolability of the text, which—at least in part—conditioned the development of our received textual traditions. Preserved textual differences are one of the clearest avenues of insight into this complex question, and we cannot afford to ignore their testimony and implications.
The tasks of ancient copyists and modern editors are normally worlds apart, but when handling phy... more The tasks of ancient copyists and modern editors are normally worlds apart, but when handling physically defective exemplars, these two worlds converge to a large degree. Modern scholars are accustomed to dealing with manuscripts ravaged by time, but it is easy to forget that manuscripts were also often damaged in antiquity. When ancient copyists encountered lacunose or illegible texts in their exemplars, they were forced to take on an essentially editorial role. By looking at selected examples from “biblical” and “non-biblical” Qumran scrolls (with particular reference to 1QIsaa and 4Q252), I intend to illustrate three approaches scribes utilized in these situations. First, they could insert blank space in their new copies corresponding to the defective text and leave the resulting text as is (1QIsaa XXXIII 14-16, 19; 4Q252 II 4). Second, they could insert blank space in their new copies corresponding to the defective text and then attempt a full or partial reconstruction of the missing text based on whatever text remained legible in the exemplar, memory, and/or contextual clues (1QIsaa XLII 19-22; LII 22-24). And third, they could attempt a full or partial reconstruction of the defective text without inserting corresponding blank space before proceeding (1QIsaa XXIX 15-18; XXXI 10-13). Acknowledgement of these scribal practices has the potential to shine light on numerous difficult textual problems in Dead Sea Scrolls studies.
Several major textual minuses in the first hand of 1QIsaa relative to the Masoretic text (MT) hav... more Several major textual minuses in the first hand of 1QIsaa relative to the Masoretic text (MT) have perplexed scholars for decades, and many have weighed in with preferred explanations. There are three main possibilities: 1) the shorter texts of the first hand of 1QIsaa may be earlier than the longer texts preserved in the MT; 2) the longer texts preserved in the MT may have been accidentally omitted by the primary copyist of 1QIsaa or one of his predecessors; or 3) the primary copyist of 1QIsaa may have been copying from a physically defective exemplar. By observing repeated physical features in 1QIsaa I intend to show that the third option is the most probable explanation for the majority of these shorter texts. The convergence in 1QIsaa of patterns of spacing irregularities, literary and textual problems, and secondary supplementations, as well as a consistent pattern of distribution, are best explained on the basis of the hypothesis of an exemplar for chapters 34-66 with a damaged bottom edge. Upon reaching the defective edge in each column of his exemplar, the scribe dealt with the text in one of two ways before continuing with the legible text at the top of the subsequent exemplar column. Sometimes he left blank spaces in his new copy to be filled in with the correct text from other manuscripts at a later time. At other times he attempted full or partial reconstructions of the text based on whatever text remained legible in the damaged exemplar, memory, and contextual clues. I will trace the evidence for this theory through columns XXVIII to XXXIV to demonstrate a consistent pattern of exemplar damage that explains most of the shorter texts of the first hand of 1QIsaa.
I summarized the varying chronologies of the Genesis Flood narrative in the surviving witnesses, ... more I summarized the varying chronologies of the Genesis Flood narrative in the surviving witnesses, critiqued various modern treatments of the chronology, and offered my own prefered reconstruction of the dates in the Flood narrative, concluding that the dates preserved in the MT and SP best account for the origin of all of the alternatives through an economical combination of accidental errors and intentional alterations.
In v. 35, ליום נקם אשלם should be preferred with the Septuagint, because of its intrinsic likelih... more In v. 35, ליום נקם אשלם should be preferred with the Septuagint, because of its intrinsic likelihood in the parallel structure of the verse. Elsewhere the Masoretic text should be retained.