SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

160 Chapter 5: Writing Practices
writing was reserved for liturgical use. Indeed, Psalms 119 and 104, either when presented
separately (4QPsg , 4QPsh , 4QPsl [Psalm 104], 5QPs) or together with other Psalms (1QPsa ,
4QPsd , 11QPsa , 11QPsb ) are always written stichographi-cally. The same argument may be used
with regard to the two poems in the Torah (Exodus 15; Deuteronomy 32) as well as
Lamentations, but not to Proverbs, Job, and Sirach which are also presented stichographically.
In the wake of the above analysis, it is difficult to discern under which circumstances
stichographic systems were used. In order to enable further analysis of this issue, the relevant
scrolls are indicated in APPENDIX 8 as either representing a stichographic system (‘[s]’) or not
(‘[n]’).
It is difficult to know to what extent the choice of the presentation system was determined
by the personal preference of scribes. Since these texts derived from different circles, possibly the
various ways of presenting poetical units do not reflect differences between individual scribes,
but rather between the scribal traditions within which scribes operated. In any event, at least for
Psalm 119 a special layout was used consistently. That acrostic Psalm was written as poetry
with two hemistichs per line separated by spaces (1QPsa , 5QPs, 11QPsb ) or without such
spaces (4QPsg , 4QPsh , 11QPsa ; illustr. 17a), 17 and all the lines of a stanza started with the same
letter. This pertains also to the acrostics in 3QLam (ch. 3) and 5QLam b (ch. 4). At the same time,
the acrostic Psalm 25 in 5/6XH≥evPs XII had two letters of the alphabet per line. 214
Deuteronomy 32 was written once in prose (4QDeut j ) as well as in four or five different
stichographic systems: one hemistich per line (most of 4QDeut q and probably also 4QDeut c ),
two hemistichs per line without spaces in the middle (4QDeut b ), two stichs per line separated by
spaces between the stichs and hemistichs (1QDeut b ), and two hemistichs per line separated by
spaces (4QpaleoDeut r ). The latter system was prescribed by rabbinic literature (see below) and
was followed both in Masoretic and Samaritan manuscripts. 4QDeut q actually presents a fifth
system combining lines of single and two hemistichs (see below). As a result, if the first verse of
this song is taken as an example, the main part of 4QDeut q and probably 4QDeut c were written
in short lines such as
hrbdaw µymçh wnyzah
yp yrma ≈rah [mçtw
while 4QDeut b was written as
yp yrma ≈rah [mçtw hrbdaw µymçh wnyzah
4QpaleoDeut r as
yp yrma ≈rah [mçtw hrbdaw µymçh wnyzah
and 1QDeut b as
ytrma lfk lzt yjql rfmk πr[y yp yrma ≈rah [mçtw hrbdaw µymçh wnyzah
In the texts which are arranged in a special layout, three main systems are recog-nizable.
(1) One or two hemistichs (without spaces between them) are written per line, especially in
Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 119. The spaces at the ends of the lines indicate the ends of the
poetical units.
(1a) One hemistich per line (illustr. 19) 19
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hrbdaw µymçh wnyzah
214 Likewise, the acrostic which was reconstructed by Eshel and Strugnell in 4QPs f IX–X did not start each line with a
new letter of the alphabet: E. Eshel and J. Strugnell, “Alphabetical Acrostics in Pre-Tannaitic Times,” CBQ 62 (2000)
441–58. For bibliography on acrostics and parallels in other literatures, see K. Seybold, “Akrostichie im Psalter,” ThZ
57 (2001) 172–83.