SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

232 Chapter 6: Scripts
4QpaleoExod m
4QpaleoDeut r
4QpaleoDeut s
4QpaleoJob c
6QpaleoGen
6QpaleoLev
11QpaleoLev a
4Qpaleo paraJosh (4Q123)
4QpaleoUnidentified Text 1 (4Q124)
11QpaleoUnidentified Text (11Q22)
Mas 1o (Mas pap paleoText of Sam. Origin [recto] and Mas pap paleoUnidentified Text [verso])
Note the following palimpsest in the ancient Hebrew script:
Mur papLetter (Mur 17A)
Mur papList of Personal Names (Mur 17B)
Note further the following text:
4QcryptC Unclassified Religious Text (4Q363a)
This text is written mainly in paleo-Hebrew letters, intermingled with some cryptic signs.
These texts, rather than predating the use of the square script (with the exception of Mur
17A–B), were written at a relatively late period, possibly but not necessarily as a natural
continuation of the earlier tradition of writing in the ‘early’ Hebrew script. They were concurrent
with the use of the square script, as can be proved by a paleographical examination of the paleo-
Hebrew script. 302 Most scholars tacitly assume that with the revival of the paleo-Hebrew script
in the Hasmonean period, texts were transformed from the square to the paleo-Hebrew script
(thus Mathews, “The Background”), and this is probably correct, although it is not impossible
that the practice of writing in the paleo-Hebrew script had never ceased in some circles.
The preserved biblical fragments written in the paleo-Hebrew script contain only texts of the
Torah and Job, 303 both of which are traditionally ascribed to Moses (cf. manuscripts and editions
of S in which Job follows the Torah). 304 The longest preserved texts written in the paleo-Hebrew
script are 4QpaleoExod m and 11QpaleoLev a .
All texts written in the paleo-Hebrew script reflect a similar scribal approach, but the scribes
of these texts often displayed their individuality in specific features (ch. 7b).
The only external data regarding the background of the writing in the paleo-Hebrew script is
of a negative nature. Various statements in rabbinic literature, e.g. m. Yad. 4.5, forbid use of this
script for biblical texts:
tyrwça wnbtkyç d[ amfm wnya µlw[l .µydyh ta amfm wnya yrb[ btkw µwgrt wbtkç tyrb[w tyrb[ wbtkç µwgrt
wydbw rw[h l[
If an Aramaic was written in Hebrew, or if Hebrew was
written in an version, or in Hebrew script [yrb[ btkw], it does not render the hands
unclean. render the hands unclean only when they are written in Assyrian
characters [tyrwça], on leather, and with ink (cf. b. Shabb. 115b; Sof. 1.7).
A more strongly worded statement is found in b. Sanh. 21b:
arz[ ymyb µhl hntynw hrzj .çdwqh ˆwçlw yrb[ btkb larçyl hrwt hntyn hljtb abqw[ rm amytyaw arfwz rm rma
ymra ˆwçlw tyrb[ btk twfwydhl wjynhw çdwqh ˆwçlw tyrwça btk larçyl ˆhl wrryb .ymra ˆwçlw tyrwça btkb
302 See M. D. McLean, Use and Development; R. S. Hanson apud, Freedman–Mathews, Leviticus, 20–23; idem, “Paleo-
Hebrew Scripts in the Hasmonean Age,” BASOR 175 (1964) 26–42. For an earlier discussion, see L. Blau, “Wie lange
stand die althebräische Schrift bei den Juden im Gebrauch?” in Gedenkbuch zur Erinnerung an David Kaufmann (ed.
M. Brann und F. Rosenthal; Breslau 1900) 44–57.
303 One explanation for the writing of a text of Job in paleo-Hebrew would be to assume that Job was ascribed to patriarchal
times. But it is probably more sound to assume that Mosaic authorship was ascribed to that text, cf. b. B. Bat. 14b–15a.
304 Note, however, also 4Qpaleo paraJosh (4Q123). Although this text contains elements from Joshua 21, it is probably not
a biblical text in the later sense.