The importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the study of the explicit quotations in Ad Hebraeos (original) (raw)

Doctrines of the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Doctrine of the Bible

Over 200 Dead Sea Scrolls and fragments have been identified as biblical scrolls out of the total of 900 scrolls and fragments. Genesis was a popular book in the Qumran community as 20 Genesis manuscripts have been discovered. The complete Isaiah scroll (1QIsa) is the best known of the DSS discovered in 1947. The Yahad thought that they were fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy by separating from the Jews in Jerusalem and going out to the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord through the study of Torah. The four gospels on the other hand present the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in the person of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Messiah Jesus. The Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20) found in cave one is an example of rewritten scriptures. It adds apocryphal stories such as the story of Lamech who questions his wife about her pregnancy. The Genesis Apocryphon adds a dream of Abram and also an extra-biblical description of the beauty of Sarai, Abram's wife. The Dead Sea Scrolls also contained biblical commentaries (pesharim) which reveal how the Essenes interepreted the Old Testament and related it to their particular time. The Habakkuk Pesher shows that the Essenes (Yahad) followed the Teacher of Righteousness and interpreted Habakkuk's prophecy about the coming Chaldeans (Babylonians) to be a reference to the invasion of the Kittiim (the Romans). The Wicked Priest was a non-Zadokite high priest who was rejected by the Qumran community. The exegesis of Habakkuk 2:15-17 done by the Jews at Qumran is compared to a literal historical interpretation of the same text to show the differences.

The text-critical and exegetical value of the Dead Sea Scrolls : original research

Hts Teologiese Studies-theological Studies, 2016

The discovery at wadi Qumran in 1947 by a shepherd was arguably the most significant as far as biblical texts are concerned. 1 After all, texts such as 1QIsa a are more than a millennium older than the Textus Receptus. There are conspicuous correspondences between Massoretic Text (MT) and some Dead Scrolls. At first glance, 1QIsa a seems identical to MT Isaiah; both have 66 chapters in the published volumes. However, when scrutinised, prominent differences in addition to correspondences become apparent. This contribution will take a closer look at a number of Dead Sea manuscripts and/or fragments in order to determine their linguistic and exegetical value. The article will, firstly, address textual material that is largely in agreement with the MT-1QIsa a. Secondly, fragments that are on the face of it less relevant will be discussed. The 'insignificant' fragments from the Biblical books Proverbs and Job are cases in point. Finally, highly significant textual differences, such as a fragment from Genesis 1 and one from the books of Jeremiah, will be evaluated. Methodological issues This contribution will depart from the reality of textual plurality in the pre-common era (Tov 1985). According to this point of departure, the MT is one of the textual witnesses available (Septuagint [LXX], Tgg, Pesh, etc.) but not the most important one. Even so, MT is used as a basis of comparison. The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) edition is used for the Hebrew text (MT), DJD 32 for 1QIsa a and the Rahlfs pocket edition for LXX. 1.By this statement, I do not intend to belittle the Nag Hammadi discoveries. The recent announcement in the press of a new discovery in the Judaean desert is too early to evaluate. 2.It must be remembered that the original publications did not contain chapter and verse indications. 3.The scribal/copyist activity at Qumran is not comparable to the Masoretes' meticulous work. 4.Ulrich and Flint (2010:61) find evidence of two Herodian period scribes' additions. This article will analyse a number of Dead Sea manuscripts and/or fragments in order to determine their linguistic and exegetical value. The article will, firstly, address textual material that is largely in agreement with the Massoretic Text-1QIsa a is a case in point. Secondly, fragments that are seemingly less relevant will be discussed. The less helpful fragments from the Biblical books Proverbs and Job are taken as examples. Finally, highly significant textual differences, such as a fragment from Genesis 1 and one from the complicated books of Jeremiah, will be evaluated.

The Letter to the Hebrews: Critical Readings (T&T Clark Critical Readings in Biblical Studies; London: Bloomsbury, 2018)

The Letter to the Hebrews is one of the most extraordinary texts in the New Testament. This anonymous sermon offers what is perhaps the highest Christology, the most comprehensive soteriology and realized eschatology, the clearest view of the costs and benefits of the Christian life, the deepest immersion in the Old Testament, as well as the most passionate exhortation and refined literary-rhetorical skills in the NT canon. After suffering years of neglect, Hebrews has recently attracted an abundance of critical attention, and keeping abreast of this growing corpus is becoming increasingly difficult. Though representing a welcome development, this rapid growth is leading to the neglect of older critical works, despite their foundational role. Contributing to this neglect is the fact that many of these works are in out-of-print books, discontinued journals, and other hard to find sources. This collection attempts to remedy both situations, rapid growth and regrettable neglect, by selectively gathering into one handy volume some of the very best English language essays on Hebrews from the last sixty years. In this volume of critical readings, edited by Scott D. Mackie, the essays are organized thematically, addressing such topics as theology, Christology, pneumatology, eschatology, authorship, audience, structure, Greco-Roman rhetoric, the OT, Hebrews’ relationship with contemporaneous Judaism, and soteriology. Each section is prefaced by an introduction and summary of the particular theme in Hebrews. At the end of each section is an annotated bibliography to point researchers towards further readings in these key themes.

Review of Klaas Spronk and Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman, eds., Hebrew Texts in Jewish, Christian and Muslim Surroundings. Studia Semitica Neerlandica 69. Leiden: Brill

Journal for the Study of Judaism 51, 2019

On the occasion of her (partial) retirement from the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam, colleagues and friends honored Professor Alberdina Houtman with a Festschrift on the reception of Hebrew texts in the context of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religio-literary traditions. The eight essays in the first part share an interest in the afterlife of Hebrew texts (or scriptural motifs) in different Jewish surroundings across time and place, either in Hebrew or Aramaic, or in German or Dutch linguistic contexts. With his essay on the transformation of demons Johannes C. de Moor asks an interesting question in the context of the broader history of emotions: Is it possible for demons to repent? What is their reward in that case? On the basis of the examination of correspondences between the Ugaritic names of gods and the names of angels in works of Second Temple literature, De Moor suggests that the phenomenon of de-demonization of these gods is a process that started in the thirteenth century BCE. Klaas Spronk examines the problematic narrative of Jephthah, the judge who sacrifices his daughter in Judg 10-12, as a narrative which, depending on the interpretive tradition, makes sense intertextually as related either to Gen 22, to the other narratives in the book of Judges, or even as prefiguration of the narrative of Saul in 1 Samuel. Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman identifies three questions that the Song of Hannah (1 Sam 2:1-10) poses its reader. These concern the identity of the two women mentioned in verse 5b, the image of God, and the implied reader the song suggests. In order to answer these questions with a view to the song's reception history, she looks for answers not only in the psalm itself, but also in the context of the Hebrew Bible, in the Septuagint, and in Targum Jonathan. Lieve Teugels examines the career of a rabbinic mashal from an early setting in tannaitic midrash to an amoraic use in homiletical documents, to challenge the traditional dichotomy pertaining to the mashal's function as proposed in classical approaches to this small form, i.e., rhetorical vs. hermeneutical. She demonstrates that the two functions go hand in hand in rabbinic meshalim. Two Old Testament characters are focused on in the next two contributions. Tamar Kadari explores the recurrent motif of Sarah's beauty in rabbinic literature and the Qumran document Genesis Apocryphon. In her analysis she distinguishes the tendencies to describe Sarah as beautiful in absolute terms, as well as to depict her beauty more realistically as subject to change. She describes recurrent imagery to depict beauty and articulates important questions

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary Culture: Proceedings of the International Conference Held at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (July 6-8, 2008). Edited by Adolfo D. Roitman, Lawrence H. Schiffman, and Shani Tzoref

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2013

TheDeadSea Scrolls and Contemporary Culture is a superb collection of essays that makes original contributions to the understanding of the scrolls on the 60th anniversary of their discovery. The volume focuses on progress made in research over the last decade and highlights promising areas for fiiture research. The book is highly recommended to all those interested in the DSS, the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and rabbinic Judaism. It would be especially useful for graduate students in the fields listed above since it provides broad insights into recent research as well as timely advice on which questions might be most promising to pursue in the future. The book is a model for the type of rich, interdisciplinary interactions that many colleges and universities yearn to foster in the humanistic disciplines. Emanuel Tov opens the volume with a review of some aspects of the history and current status of the DfD publication project. The first section addresses "Identity and History of the Community." Florentino Garcia Martinez revisits the Groningen hypothesis and suggests that it can still help us explain the textual data from Qumran. Charlotte Hempel examines lQS 6:2c-4a and suggests that when it is read in light of CD i3:2b-3a, one must conclude that S' s use of the preposition in (indicating the existence of a larger or parent group) is a later development or interpolation in the text. Eyal Regev compares features of the Yahad with modem religious sects such as the Quakers, Shakers, Hutterites, Mennonites, and Amish in order to suggest several likely (and unlikely) characteristics of the Yahad. James VanderKam reassesses the early or prehistory of the people associated with the scrolls. He reaches the sober conclusion that we can know very little about the community described in CD 1 and finds no evidence that the Qumran group began or existed as a splinter group that broke away from the group described in CD 1 (à la the Groningen Hypothesis). Section 2a examines scriptural texts. Jonathan Ben-Dov compares scribal practices for writing the divine name in the Elohistic Psalter (Psalms 42-89) and in the DSS and suggests a common explanation for the phenomenon. Peter Flint provides a carefiil summary of non-masoretic variant readings in lQIsa'' and finds that while the majority of the 622 variants are minor and of little consequence, around ten percent (66) are significant and involve clear changes in the meaning of the text. His results overturn preliminary descriptions of lQIsa"» as an exemplar of the Proto-Masoretic text. Eugene Ulrich summarizes some contributions of the study of the DSS for understanding the Bible. If the reviewer might be so bold, I suggest that Ulrich's essay should be required reading for anyone who presumes to study the