SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 249
It cannot be coincidental that the great majority of the sectarian texts were copied, admittedly
somewhat inconsistently, in a common orthographic and morphological style and with common
scribal features; rather, the only plausible explanation seems to be that the sectarian scribes
followed special scribal conventions. This group may represent one third or half of the Qumran
corpus if some of the 85 fragmentary sectarian texts included in APPENDIX 1c are also taken into
consideration.
Before the full data is presented in favor of our view, the following should be emphasized:
• The content of idiosyncratic Qumran tefillin written in the orthography and morphology of
the Qumran scribal practice (ch. 7c and APPENDIX 9) is distinct from the content of the Rabbinictype
tefillin written in the MT system. This fact provides an external control supporting our
hypothesis.
• Within the Qumran corpus, the writing of the divine names in paleo-Hebrew characters or
with four/five dots (Tetrapuncta) is documented mainly in texts written in the Qumran
orthography and morphology (ch. 6b). Since this practice is based on a certain conception of the
sanctity of the divine names, and since the approach of the Qumran community to this issue is
known also from other indicators (ch. 6b2), this practice provides an independent control
supporting our hypothesis.
• The majority (84) of the 131 Hebrew Qumran texts containing scribal markings of some kind
as listed in APPENDIX 1 (e.g. the paragraphos sign), also reflect the orthographic and
morphological features of the Qumran scribal practice. In some groups this percentage is very
high, e.g. for cancellation dots (ch. 5c1).
In the following analysis, the various features of the Qumran scribal practice are reviewed
through constant reference to the full discussion in the earlier chapters in this monograph. The
logic followed in this description is:
1. A certain group of texts which are characterized with a specific type of orthography and
morphology is set apart (§§ o, p below as well as APPENDIX 9 and 1).
2. Independently of the determination of this group, certain scribal phenomena are recognized
which occur especially frequently in this group (all other paragraphs below as well as
APPENDIX 1).
3. Through a combination of these criteria—some more convincing than others—the texts which
were presumably copied in the Qumran scribal practice are determined (APPENDIX 1 and 9).
4. The dates assigned to the texts presumably written in the Qumran scribal practice are listed in
the last column in APPENDIX 1, culled from the summary list by Webster, “Chronological
Index.” These dates are analyzed in § u (‘concluding remarks’).
a. Paragraphos signs
b. Cancellation dots
g. Crossing out of letters and words with a line
d. Parenthesis signs
e. Writing of the divine names with paleo-Hebrew characters
h. Single letters in the Cryptic A script written mainly in the margin
z. Single paleo-Hebrew letters
q. Tetrapuncta designating the Tetragrammaton
i. The X-sign
k. Separation dots between words
l. Nonfinal letters used in final position and final letters used in nonfinal position
m. Guide dots/strokes
n. Scribal cooperation?
o. Orthographic features
p. Morphological features
r. Tefillin