SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

30 Chapter 3: Writing and Writing Materials
a. Papyrus
Although literary works from the Judean Desert were mainly written on leather, many papyrus
copies of these compositions are also known, albeit probably without any distinctive features at
the content level (below, § e). Papyrus probably was considered less durable than leather, and the
papyri from the Judean Desert made a less professional impression (lines were less straight and
no neat column structure can be observed). On the other hand, it was easier for scribes to remove
letters from an inscribed papyrus than from leather. Papyrus may therefore have been preferred
by certain scribes, but it was probably the availability of the writing material that determined the
choice of either papyrus or leather; in the case of the biblical texts, additional factors must have
played a role (see below). It is not impossible that papyrus was the preferred medium for private
copies of literary compositions (thus Wise, Thunder in Gemini, 125 ff.), at Qumran involving
mainly nonbiblical compositions, especially sectarian. 58 On the other hand, Alexander,
“Literacy,” 7 surmised that during the early stages of their residence at Qumran, the members of
the Qumran community may have found it easier to obtain papyrus scrolls from external sources
than to produce leather scrolls themselves.
For a complete list of the papyrus texts from the Judean Desert, see APPENDIX 2. See further: J. Maier, Die
Qumran-Essener: Die Texte vom Toten Meer (Munich/Basel 1996) III.8; Tov–Pfann, Companion Volume, 20–72;
Wise, Thunder in Gemini, 131 ff.; S. Talmon, Masada VI, 26–9. For circumstantial evidence for the existence of
papyri (impressions of the papyrus fibers on clay bullae) in Jerusalem and Lakhish, see Y. Shiloh, “A Hoard of
Hebrew Bullae from the City of David,” ErIsr 18 (Heb.; Jerusalem 1985) 73–87 (especially 78); H. Torczyner et al.,
Lachish I, The Lachish Letters (Oxford 1938) 106–9. For an example of a closed documentary papyrus tied with a
string, see Jer papSale of Date Crop (Jer 7) in DJD XXXVIII, pl. XII.
The writing of Scripture on papyrus was forbidden by rabbinic literature, see m. Meg. 2.2 (at
the same time, early Christian writings were written on that material):
wydbw rpsh l[ tyrwça hbwtk ahtç d[ ,axy al artpdh l[w rynh l[ µwtnqnqbw swmwqbw arqsbw µsb hbwtk
htyyh
If it was written with caustic, red dye, gum, or copperas, or on paper , or diftera, he has
not fulfilled his obligation; but only if it was written in Assyrian writing, in a scroll and with
ink.
cf. y. Meg. 1.71d
twrw[b ˆybtwk whyç ynysm hçml hklh
It is an oral prescription delivered to Moses at Sinai that one would write on skins.
It therefore stands to reason that the few Qumran biblical texts written on papyrus did not derive
from a milieu that was influenced by the aforementioned rabbinic instructions. The rabbinic
instructions were formulated at a later period than the writing of the Qumran papyrus scrolls, but
it may be assumed that the Talmudic traditions reflected earlier customs that would have been
already followed during the time of Qumran occupancy. In view of this situation, an examination
of the textual character of the biblical papyrus fragments is in order. While several of the
fragments are too small to determine their character, the larger fragments 6QpapKgs, and possibly
also 6QpapDan, are non-Masoretic and are more specifically classified as being independent,
assumption Haran mentions the Egyptian influence on Canaan in this period which would have included the use of
papyrus, the low price of papyrus in contrast to leather, and the biblical use of the root h“jm, a verb signifying erasure of
a written text with water. According to Haran, at the beginning of the Second Temple period scribes started to use
leather when the need was felt for the use of materials capable of containing longer texts. However, in Egypt, this need
was not felt, as papyrus was used for very long texts, too; see ch. 4c. See further the discussion by A. Lemaire, “Writing
and Writing Materials,” 999–1008.
58 A similar suggestion was made for early papyrus copies of the Qur’an, described as ‘popular’ texts intended for private
study by G. Khan, “Standardisation and Variation in the Orthography of Hebrew Bible and Arabic Qur’an
Manuscripts,” Manuscripts of the Middle East 5 (1990–91) 53–8, especially 57.