SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 149
12:14 Limitation of the centralization formula none closed
12:19 Limitation of the centralization formula closed closed
12:28 Introduction to the laws of chapter 13 closed closed
12:31 Introduction to the laws of chapters 13–26 none open
13:1 Unlawful prophet inciting to idolatry open open
13:6 Other persons inciting to idolatry closed closed
13:12 A city inciting to idolatry closed closed
13:19 One is forbidden to disfigure oneself in grief closed closed (should be open)
14:2 Clean and unclean animals (quadrupeds) closed closed
14:8 Clean and unclean animals (aquatic creatures) closed closed
14:10 Clean and unclean animals (birds and
none closed
flying insects)
14:20 Prohibition to eat dead animals none closed
14:21a Prohibition to boil a kid in its mother’s milk none closed
14:21b Tithing open open
Since the division of the text is very subjective, almost no ‘correct’ system exists, but that in
BHS is often closer to our own understanding. BHS records the section units of codex L as p and
s, while indicating its own sense divisions by spacing without Masoretic letters (see the table
above):
The introduction to the laws of Deuteronomy in 11:29-32 is preceded by a closed section in MT (after 11:28),
but due to the major distinction between this introduction and the introductory speeches of Moses, an open section
would have been in order.
At the point at which ch. 12 starts (‘These are the laws ...’), there is no division in MT, while at least a closed
section, if not an open section (thus BHS), would have been called for.
It is very hard to subdivide ch. 12 because of its multi-layer structure. MT has section divisions only after vv
19 and 28, but a better understanding is obtained by the divisions in BHS after vv 3, 7, 14, 19, 28, and 31 (the last
verse of the chapter).
The first verse of ch. 13, more specifically introducing the laws that are to follow in chapters 13–26, belongs to
the subject matter of that and the following chapters. Yet, the section division of MT links it with the preceding
section, 12:29-31.
The different laws in ch. 13 referring to persons inciting unlawful worship are separated by a closed section in
both sources (vv 2-6, 7-12, 13-19), and they rightly start after a section division of a higher hierarchy, an open
section appearing after v 1.
After the laws dealing with unlawful worship in ch. 13, ch. 14:1-2 turns to a completely different issue, that of
forbidding the Israelites to disfigure themselves in passionate grief. In MT and BHS, this topic starts with a closed
section before v 1, and ends with a closed section after v 2. However, due to the commencement of a completely
different area of legislation, this section ought to have started after an open section. It ends with a closed section after
14:2, but could have ended with an open section. The following section, which deals with clean and unclean
animals (14:3-20), could have been brought under the same heading as the previous section (cf. the explanation of
the law in 14:3 with that of 14:20). If it were conceived of as relating to the same material, the present closed section
would be in order, and if it were not, an open section would be in order.
The two different, though related, topics in 14:21a and 21b should probably be separated from the preceding
verses by a closed section, as in BHS, but in MT they continue as a running text.
After 14:21b, the topic of clean and unclean animals is rightly sealed off with an open section in both sources,
since a new topic starts in 14:22 (tithing).
(i) Section divisions in the ancient translations and the Samaritan Pentateuch
The division of the text into section units, together with the verse division in the manuscripts of
some early translations (pp. 138–9), reflects the first visible component of context exegesis of the
written text, probably initiated by the earliest editors and scribes. This early exegesis must have
been extant in the Hebrew manuscripts used by the ancient translators, from where it was
transferred to these translations, and is still visible in some early translational witnesses.