SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

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258 Chapter 8: Scribal Traditions halakha, and prayer: 4QWiles of the Wicked Woman (4Q184), 4QTob e (4Q200), 4QTNaph (4Q215), 4QTime of Righteousness (4Q215a), 4QHalakha A (4Q251), 4QToh A (4Q274), 4QToh B (4Q277), 4QRP b (4Q364), 4QRP c (4Q365), 4QPrayer of Enosh (4Q369), 4QapocrMos a (4Q375), 4QApocryphal Pentateuch B (4Q377), 4Qpap paraKings et al. (4Q382), 4Qpap apocrJer B? (4Q384), 4QRitPur A (4Q414), 4Qpara-Gen-Exod (4Q422), 4QPersonal Prayer (4Q443), 4QNarrative Work and Prayer (4Q460), 4QNarrative C (4Q462), 4QProphecy of Joshua (4Q522), 11QapocrPs (11Q11). It is noteworthy that the great majority of the identifiable texts from cave 11 reflects the Qumran scribal practice (11QPs a–d , 11Q11–14, 16, 19, 20, 27; probably also 11QLev b and 11Q30) or are sectarian (the nonbiblical texts included in the previous category as well as 11Q15, 11Q17, 11Q21, 11Q29). 336 The appreciable number of ten Torah scrolls included among the biblical scrolls, proportionally more than from the other biblical books (for the details, see APPENDIX 1), implies that the popularizing approach to the writing of biblical scrolls was applied also to the Torah. The dates provided in the last column in APPENDIX 1 reveal that the texts belonging to this group were written in all periods, starting from the middle of the second century BCE. The oldest biblical text is 4QQoh a (175–150 BCE); the most recent such texts are 4QDeut j (c. 50 CE), 4QIsa c (30–68 CE), and 11QPs d (30–68 CE). Among the oldest nonbiblical texts are 4QDibHam a (4Q504; 150 BCE) and 4QT b (4Q524; 150–125 BCE). The text which has been assigned the latest date is 11QapocrPs (11Q11) (50–70 CE). Most texts, however, were dated to the period between 50 BCE and 25 CE. The second largest group is texts that were dated to the period between 100–25 BCE. Only a small group is dated to the middle of the first century CE. Since the texts written in this scribal practice also could have been written elsewhere in Palestine, texts predating the settlement at Qumran could still have been written by sectarian scribes. (3) A possible scribal school reflected in the proto-Masoretic manuscripts Scholars have often remarked on the close relation among the various manuscripts of the proto- Masoretic family. 337 This closeness definitely reflects a tight link among the members of this textual family at the content level of the scrolls, but it is unclear whether the scribal methods can be characterized by any criteria other than precision (usually), minimal scribal intervention (usually), and the appearance of a de luxe format, recognized especially in scrolls found at sites other than Qumran (ch. 4j). b. Continuation of scribal traditions in documents inscribed in the square script It is natural that the documents found in the Judean Desert would continue scribal practices of earlier periods used for literary and documentary texts on papyrus and leather as well as for inscriptions on various types of material. Several details which the scribal traditions of the documents from the Judean Desert have in common with Aramaic documents of the fifth century BCE lead us to believe that the documents from the Judean Desert continue earlier writing traditions in the square script. Since the documents from the Judean Desert are several centuries more recent than these Aramaic documents, the recognition of common features is the more 336 The collection of texts found in this cave is more homogeneous regarding its contents than that of the other caves. This group was probably subject to better storage conditions than the contents of the other caves, as is suggested by the evidence regarding the final handle sheets (ch. 4g). Alternatively, the scrolls found in cave 4 reflect a different manufacturing procedure from that of the other scrolls. 337 For my own analysis, see “The Text of the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek Bible” (n. 168 above).
Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 259 remarkable. While most of the common features are inherent in the writing itself, the more specific features include: • Division into units (spacing in the line, at the end of the line, indentation), see ch. 5a. • Stichographic arrangement of poetical passages, see ch. 5b. • Writing of superscriptions similar to those of the Psalms, see ch. 5b. • Use of the paragraphos, see ch. 5c1. • Use of a specific sign in open and closed sections denoting a sense division, see ch. 5c1. c. Possible influence from Greek scribal practices Contemporary Greek papyri, especially from Egypt, share several scribal features with the Hebrew and Aramaic texts found at Qumran (see below and SUBJECT INDEX, ‘Greek texts’). Crossinfluence is therefore possible in some details, although such influence is less likely if the same procedure is also evidenced in texts written in the square script that precede the earliest documents from the Judean Desert (see § b above). • The marginal symbol X, explained in ch. 5c5 as drawing attention to a certain feature in the text. • Several correction procedures in the scrolls from the Judean Desert resemble systems used in Greek sources: crossing out of letters or words with a horizontal line, antisigma and sigma (parenthesis signs), cancellation dots/strokes (see ch. 5c2 and cf. Turner, Greek Manuscripts, 16). The latter two systems are not known from earlier Semitic sources, and may have been transferred from Greek scribal practices. • The box-like form of the parenthesis sign found in some Qumran texts (ch. 5c2iii) is paralleled by the LXX manuscripts P.Berlin 17212 of Jeremiah 2–3 (3 CE) and P.Bodmer XXIV of Psalms 17–53, 55–118, hands A and B (3 CE). On the other hand, the majority of the Alexandrian critical signs used in the editions of earlier literary texts have not been used in the Judean Desert texts: asteriskos, obelos, diple (with the possible exception of the ‘fish hook shape paragraphos’), diple obelismene (with the exception of a doubtful instance in 4QCant b at the left edge of the last line of frg. 3 [fig. 12 . 6]), 6 keraunion, ancora (with the possible exception of MasSir col. V top right margin above the beginning of the column [fig. 15]). 15 See the analysis in Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft (ed. G. Wissowa and W. Krohl; Stuttgart 1922) 22.1916–27 (‘Kritische Zeichen’). d. Scribal practices mentioned in rabbinic sources Comparative study of the scribal practices reflected in the Judean Desert texts and of descriptions and prescriptions of such practices in rabbinic literature is helpful as long as it is recognized that the latter refer to the writing of religious texts at a later period, and in circles which only partially overlapped with those which produced the texts found in the Judean Desert. Thus, probably only the proto-Masoretic biblical texts and some tefillin and mezuzot (ch. 7c) from the Judean Desert derived from the same or similar circles as those issuing the rabbinic prescriptions. The instructions pertaining to the writing of religious texts are scattered in rabbinic literature, while some are combined in small compilations dealing with topics of various nature, such as b. Menah≥. 29b–32b; b. Meg. passim; b. Shabb. 103a–105a; b. B. Bat. 13b–14b. See below and further SUBJECT INDEX, ‘rabbinic literature’ and INDEX I.4. The internally best-organized group of such instructions is found in y. Meg. 1.71b–72a and in the later compilation Massekhet Soferim (see ch. 2a). The rabbinic instructions are greatly concerned also with various aspects of the sanctity and authority of the religious documents, issues which are not treated here. The prescriptions in y. Meg. 1.71b–72a, which provide a good example of the topics treated in rabbinic literature, are presented in TABLE 1 in the sequence in which they appear in the text. The arrangement in y. Meg. follows principles of free association and memorizing of the dicta
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SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S R
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DEDICATED TO THE SCRIBES WHO WROTE
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Contents vii CONTENTS Text Editions
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Contents ix Chapter 8: Scribal Trad
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xii Text Editions Sam. Pent (SP) A.
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xiv Periodicals, Reference Works, a
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REFERENCES AND SUNDRY ABBREVIATIONS
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xviii List of Tables 21. Scrolls wi
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xx Preface This book contains thous
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1 INTRODUCTION a. Purpose and natur
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Scribal Practices and Approaches Re
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Copyists, scribes, and soferim 2 SC
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3 WRITING AND WRITING MATERIALS The
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4 TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF SCROLL WRITI
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(4) No indication Scribal Practices
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5 WRITING PRACTICES The writing pra
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Page 315 and 316: P.Rylands 1 of Deut 23 (4 CE) P.Oxy
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SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

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