SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

46 Chapter 3: Writing and Writing Materials
Barkhi Nafshi Cave 4: 5
Ordinances Cave 4: 3
Temple Cave 4: 1 or 2; Cave 11: 3
Reworked Pentateuch Cave 4: 5
Enoch ar Cave 4: 7
Enastr ar Cave 4: 4
Levi ar Cave 4: 6; Cave 1: 1? (4Q21)
psDaniel ar Cave 4: 3
New Jerusalem ar Cave 4: 2; Caves 1, 2, 5, 11: 1 each
Visions of Amram ar Cave 4: 7
prEsth ar Cave 4: 6
• The list of nonbiblical Hebrew and Aramaic papyri which are paralleled by several copies of
the same composition on leather (TABLE 5) leads to some further thoughts regarding the nature of
the complete corpus of Qumran papyri. The majority of the papyri are sectarian or of interest to
the Qumran community (Jubilees and Giants). These sectarian texts include several literary genres
of the community’s writing: Rules, halakhot, liturgical works, poetical compositions, pesharim,
and sapiential works. Only a small number of papyri are non-sectarian (Aramaic texts, Hebrew
and Greek biblical texts). For the Hebrew papyri from Qumran, these data suggest a close
connection between the writing on papyrus and the Qumran community:
a. Sectarian compositions (twenty-two texts together with papyri [below, b] written in the
Cryptic A script) are indicated by a number in bold face in APPENDIX 2. The sectarian nature of
these compositions, including the liturgical texts 4QpapPrQuot (4Q503), 4QpapDibHam b,c
(4Q505–4Q506), and 4QpapPrFêtes c (4Q509), is accepted by most scholars. Our analysis of
their sectarian character usually follows Dimant, “Qumran Manuscripts.”
b. Texts written in the Cryptic A script (see also ch. 7g) were probably written by the
Qumran community. This group is rather sizeable (according to S. J. Pfann, thirty-six papyri
from cave 4, two of which are opisthographs containing different texts), but may represent a far
smaller number of texts. According to S. J. Pfann, the writing in the Cryptic A (‘esoteric’) script
reflects authorship by the Qumran community, 96 but a strong case cannot be made for all
compositions regarding their sectarian background. This script is described by S. J. Pfann,
“4Q298” as a development from the Late Phoenician scripts. It is used for several texts of a
Qumran sectarian nature as well as for other texts which must have had a special meaning for the
Qumran community (see also his article, “The Writings in Esoteric Script from Qumran,” in
Schiffman, Jerusalem Congress, 177–90). According to Milik and Pfann, this script was used
especially by the Maskil; see especially 4QcryptA Words of the Maskil to All Sons of Dawn
(4Q298). If this composition indeed contains the instructions of the Maskil to the Qumran
novices, it is understandable that it was written in a special script, and this case can be made also
96 The main compositions are:
4Qpap cryptA Midrash Sefer Moshe (4Q249)
4QcryptA Words of the Maskil (4Q298)
4QcryptA Lunisolar Calendar (4Q317)
Several more fragmentary groups of inscribed remains are only tentatively identified:
4Qpap cryptA Serekh ha->Edah a–i (4Q249a–i)
4Q249j–z: sundry small papyrus fragments
4Qpap cryptA Text Concerning Cultic Service A, B? (4Q250, 4Q250a)
4Q250b–j: sundry small papyrus fragments
4QcryptA Miqs≥at Ma>as;e Ha-Torah g ? (4Q313)
4QcryptA Unidentified Texts P, Q (4Q313a, b)
4QcryptA Cal Doc B (4Q313c)
11QcryptA Unidentified Text (11Q23)