SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND APPROACHE S ... - Emanuel Tov

Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts from the Judean Desert 71
(Minor Prophets) follows the tradition also known from b. B. Bat. 13b for combining these books as
one unit. In 4QXII b 3 5, one line is left between Zephaniah/Haggai and in 4QXII g
70–75, one-and-a-half lines were left between Amos/Obadiah. In 8H≥evXIIgr
(Greek) at least six lines were left between Jonah/Micah.
The large column size in several of these scrolls confirms the assumption that they contained two
or more books since a large number of lines often implies that the scroll was long: 4QGen-Exoda (36 lines; evidence unclear), 4QpaleoGen-Exodl (55–60 lines), 4QExodb (= 4Q[Gen-]Exodb ; c. 50
lines), and possibly also 4QExod-Levf (c. 60 lines), 4QLev-Numa (43), and Mur 1 (c. 60). On the
basis of the large parameters of these scrolls, it may be presumed that other Torah scrolls
likewise contained two or more books: 4QGene (c. 50 lines), 4QExode (c. 43), MasDeut (42),
SdeirGen (c. 40), 4QGenb (40; illustr. 18). 18
It is likely that several scrolls found at Qumran contained more than one book of the Torah,
and possibly all of the Torah, in which case they would have measured 25–30 meters. According
to Sof. 3.4, two books of the Torah should not be combined if there was no intention to add the
other three books to them. If this rule was followed in the case of the scrolls found at Qumran, all
the instances of two attached books of the Torah mentioned in TABLE 10 would have belonged to
longer Torah scrolls. However, it is unknown whether this rule was followed in the scrolls from
the Judean Desert. M. Haran, while not referring to the Qumran evidence, and basing himself on
rabbinic and other references, believes that no scrolls combining all five books of the Torah were
in existence in this early period. 127
The only solid evidence for long scrolls pertains to 1QIsaa and 11QTa (11Q19). TABLE 11
records the data known or reconstructed for the scrolls from the Judean Desert in descending
order of size.
TABLE 11: Reconstructed Length of Some Scrolls from the Judean Desert (Meters)
4QRP a–e 22.5–27.5 (E. Tov, DJD XIII, 192)
4QJer c 16.30–17.60 (E. Tov, DJD XV, 180)
1QapGen ar More than 11.83 (the missing part at the beginning is reconstructed as 9m by M.
Morgenstern, “A New Clue to the Original Length of the Genesis Apocryphon,” JJS 47
(1996) 345–7, while the part published by Avigad–Yadin, Genesis Apocryphon is 2.83m.
8H≥evXIIgr 9.64–10.07 (91–95 cols.; E. Tov, DJD VIII, 9) Greek
2QJer 9.50 (68 cols.; M. Baillet, DJD III, 62)
4QH b (4Q428) 9.50 (68 cols.; E. Schuller, DJD XXIX, 127–8)
11QT a (11Q19) 8.75 (67 cols.; slightly reconstructed; Yadin, Temple Scroll [Hebrew] 8; preserved: 8.148
[62 cols.])
4QpaleoExod m 7.82–9.66 (average: 8.74) + handle sheet? (57 cols.; reconstructed on the basis of the data
provided by Skehan–Ulrich–Sanderson, DJD IX, 56–7)
4QJer a 7.90–8.50 (54–58 cols.; E. Tov, DJD XV, 148)
1QIsa a 7.34 (54 cols.) + handle sheet before col. I (Burrows, The Dead Sea Scrolls, I.xiv)
11QtgJob 7.00 (68 cols.) + handle sheets (García Martínez–Tigchelaar–van der Woude, DJD XXIII,
86)
4QNum b 6.80 (12 sheets; N. Jastram, DJD XII, 207)
4QKgs 6.25 (50 cols.; J. Trebolle Barrera, DJD XIV, 179). If this scroll had contained Joshua–
Samuel and Kings, it would have been 20 meters long; see ibid., p. 182.
4QLev-Num a 6.00 (c. 51 cols.; E. Ulrich, DJD XII, 154, 175)
MasEzek 5.74–6.15 (c. 60 cols.; Talmon, Masada VI, 61)
MasLev b 5.40–5.60 (48–50 cols.; Talmon, Masada VI, 50)
11QEzek 5.00–5.50 (44 cols.; E. D. Herbert, DJD XXIII, 19–20)
127 M. Haran, “Torah and Bible Scrolls in the First Centuries of the Christian Era,” Shnaton 10 (1986–89) 93–106 (Heb.
with Eng. summ.).