SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Copyists, scribes, and soferim
2
SCRIBES
a. Identity, nature and status 12
When studying the scribal practices reflected in the texts from the Judean Desert, attention must
be given first to the scribes and their background, even though their identities remain anonymous
and little is known about them. 13 This interest leads us to examine various issues relating to these
scribes, namely, their identity, adherence to tradition, place in society, systems of copying, etc.
According to our modern concepts and terminology, this investigation relates to copyists of texts,
but when using the term ‘copyist,’ we probably think more of the writing conditions in the
Middle Ages than in antiquity. Although the three terms ‘copyist,’ ‘scribe,’ and its Hebrew
equivalent, sofer, are more or less equivalent, they denote persons who were involved in similar,
yet different and sometimes very different activities. All three types of persons were involved in
scribal activity, but the nature of that activity differed in each instance.
The term ‘copyist’ stresses the technical nature of the scribe’s work and is based on the
assumption that the essence of scribal activity is to transmit as precisely as possible the content
of the copyist’s text. The assumption underlying the description is based on the realia of the
scribes of the Middle Ages who often worked in so-called scriptoria. It is uncertain whether
scribes of this type existed in antiquity; if so, in the area covered by this study, they would have
been employed mainly within the group of the tradents of MT (ch. 8a3).
In antiquity, the majority of persons involved in the transmission of the biblical and other
texts took more liberties than copyists of later periods. As described in § g in greater detail, many
scribes actually took an active role in the shaping of the final form of the text, and therefore the
general term ‘scribe’ is more appropriate for them than ‘copyist,’ since it covers additional
aspects of scribal activity and could easily include creative elements. At the same time, viewed
12 For the general background, see H. H. Schaeder, Esra der Schreiber (BHT 5; Tübingen 1930) especially 39–59
(“Schreiber und Schriftgelehrter”); A. F. Rainey, “The Scribe at Ugarit: His Position and Influence,” Proceedings of the
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities III (Jerusalem 1969) 126–47; E. Lipinski, “Scribes d’Ugarit et de
Jérusalem,” in Festschrift J. H. Hospers: Scripta Signa Vocis. Studies about Scripts, Scriptures, Scribes and
Languages in the Near East (ed. H. L. J. Vanstiphout; Groningen 1986) 143–54; H. te Velde, “Scribes and Literacy in
Ancient Egypt,” ibid., 253–64; A. J. Saldarini, Pharisees Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society (Delaware
1988) 241–76 ( “The Social Roles of Scribes in Jewish Society”); idem, “Scribes,” ABD 5 (New York 1992) 1011–16;
D. E. Orton, The Understanding Scribe: Matthew and the Apocalyptic Ideal (JSNTSup 25; Sheffield 1989); M. Bar-Ilan,
“Writing in Ancient Israel and Early Judaism, Part Two: Scribes and Books in the Late Second Commonwealth and
Rabbinic Period,” in Mulder, Mikra, 21–38; idem, "idem, Swprym wsprym bymy byt sny wbtqwpt hmsnh whtlmwd (4th
ed.; Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 1994); D. W. Jamieson-Drake, Scribes and Schools in Monarchic Judah: A Socio-
Archeological Approach (Sheffield 1991); Wenke, “Ancient Egypt”; L. E. Pearce, “Statements of Purpose. Why the
Scribes Wrote,” in Festschrift W. W. Hallo—The Tablet and the Scroll (ed. M. E. Cohen; Bethesda, Md. 1993) 185–93;
A. Millard, “The Knowledge of Writing in Iron Age Palestine,” Tyndale Bulletin 46 (1995) 207–17; P. R. Davies,
Scribes and Schools, The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures (Louisville 1998); R. F. Person, Jr., “The Ancient
Israelite Scribe as Performer,” JBL 117 (1998) 601–9; I. M. Young, “Israelite Literacy: Interpreting the Evidence,” VT
48 (1998) 239–53, 408–22; Schams, Jewish Scribes; J. Schaper, “Hebrew and Its Study in the Persian Period,” in
Horbury, Hebrew Study, 13–26; Millard, Reading and Writing, 154–84; Writings and Speech in Israelite and Ancient
Near Eastern Prophecy (ed. E. Ben Zvi and M. H. Floyd; SBL Symposium Series 10; Atlanta, Ga. 2000); Pulikottil,
Transmission, 32–8; C. Heszer, Jewish Literacy in Roman Palestine (Tübingen 2001); Alexander, “Literacy.”
13 By way of exception, the names of two of the scribes of the archive of Babatha are known: Theënas, son of Simeon, who
wrote four documents, and Germanos, son of Judah, who wrote eight documents. By the same token, the following two
scribes of letters in the archive of Salome Komaïse daughter of Levi are known: Onainos son of Saadallos and Reisha,
each of whom wrote one document. See Schams, Jewish Scribes, 209–13.