The Text of the Hebrew Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (original) (raw)

Introduction to The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls have revolutionized the study of the Hebrew Bible’s formative stages as well as our understanding of Jewish religion before the age of the Rabbis and of Christianity. The discovery of these texts nearly 70 years ago at Khirbet Qumran and other sites around the Dead Sea has lead to a flurry of scholarly activity along with a host of interpretations and hypotheses which we are still now struggling to evaluate. Through a careful reading of select texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls corpus, we will begin to interact with many of the unanswered questions at the heart of Qumran studies: who wrote the scrolls, who stored them away in caves, who was the iconic teacher of righteousness, and what exactly do the scrolls teach us about the creation of scripture and early usage of some texts that would eventually become the Bible and other texts that would largely fade out of existence? We will also read some of the latest research on Qumran in order to better understand the nature of the settlement at Khirbet Qumran and its interaction with the world around it.

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 Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible: The View from Qumran Samuel (2014)

Scholars of the text of the Hebrew Bible often use terms such as "fluidity" or "pluriformity" to describe the state of the biblical text in the BCE period. This article uses the textual evidence for the book of Samuel, focusing on the Qumran scrolls of Samuel, to try to give a picture of just how fluid the text of the Hebrew Bible was in the last centuries BCE. It begins by quantifying the extent of variation between the traditional Masoretic Text and the Qumran Samuel scrolls in overall terms such as the proportion of variant words. It then focuses on specific examples of variation in individual verses to clarify what sort of variants are involved. Finally, it moves to consider the implications of the fluidity of the text of Samuel for literary, historical and linguistic study and attempts to answer the question: What is a biblical book?

UBBL 420 The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Biblical World

This course investigates the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the late 1940s and the subsequent events surrounding their acquisition and scholarly evaluation. The archaeological excavation of the Qumran site, the implication of the findings for the understanding of the community that populated it, and the texts associated with it are explored as well. The importance of the scrolls for the text critical study of the Old Testament, the history of Judaism in the late Second Temple period, and various interpretations of the identity of the Qumran sectarians are evaluated.

Elec10.Understanding the Text of the Bible 65 Years after the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The focus of this study is the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, 65 years after their discovery near the Dead Sea, with the purpose of improving our understanding of the text of Hebrew Scripture. The Qumran finds (more than 200 fragmentary scrolls) reflect textual plurality, and all the biblical texts were probably considered authoritative. At the same time, the 25 Scripture scrolls from sites in the Judean Desert outside Qumran are virtually identical to the medieval MT.