The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

JÖRG FREY 427
the cave in 1955 could only find what its first visitors had left or lost on
the floor. 69 Hence, there are no large portions of texts in Cave 7 but only
small fragments of twenty manuscripts. Some of them were identified,
one (7Q1) as part of a manuscript of the Septuagint of Exodus; another
(7Q2) is a copy of the Letter of Jeremiah. The other fragments remained
unidentified in the DJD edition; 70 the few legible letters did not allow
identification with any other previously known text.
In 1972, the Spanish papyrologist José O’Callaghan proposed an identification
of some of the fragments with New Testament texts, chiefly of 7Q5
with Mark 6:52–53 and 7Q4 with 1 Tim 3:16–4:3. 71 These assumptions
proved to be quite explosive: if they were right, this would challenge the
usual dates for New Testament texts and require a date before 68 C.E., not
only for the Gospel of Mark but also for 1 Timothy, which is commonly
viewed as a pseudepigraphic letter from the beginning of the second century
C.E. The possible impact on issues of New Testament introduction
(authorship, authenticity, and date of New Testament texts) might be the
reason why the 7Q documents have caused such a fierce debate. For those
who advocate the identification of 7Q5 with a part of Mark, this creates a
possibility to date the earliest Gospel about twenty years earlier than usual
and to claim a greater historical value for the Gospel tradition. It must be
recognized, however, that an earlier date for Mark does not necessarily
imply an improved historical reliability. Therefore, the historical or theological
consequences of such an earlier date would remain quite uncertain.
Another open question would be why and how the text of the Gospel was
brought to Qumran, and in what interest somebody might have worked
with that text. But there is no need to speculate on this when the identification
of the texts cannot be maintained.
69. Stegemann, Die Essener, Qumran, Johannes, 111–12, notes that Origen, when he
composed his famous Hexapla, used an additional version of the Greek Psalter,
which during the time of Antonius, son of Severus (211–217 C.E.), had been found
near Jericho, in a jar with other Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. From the ninth century,
another report on the discovery of Hebrew books near Jericho is preserved in a
letter of the Nestorian patriarch Timothy I (cf. idem). On the information from
Origen, cf. Giovanni Mercati, Note di letteratura biblica e cristiana antica (Studi e testi 5;
Rome: Tip. vaticana, 1901), 28–60; Henry B. Swete, Introduction to the Old Testament in
Greek (2d ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902), 53–55; on 1 Timothy
and his letter, see Oskar Braun, “Der Brief des Katholikos Timotheos I über biblische
Studien des 9. Jahrhunderts,” OrChr 1 (1901): 299–313; idem, “Der Katholikos
Timotheos I und seine Briefe,” OrChr 1 (1901): 138–52.
70. Maurice Baillet, “Grotte 7,” in Les “Petites Grottes” de Qumrân: Exploration de la
falaise, les grottes 2Q, 3Q, 5Q, 6Q, 7Q à 10Q, le rouleau de cuivre (ed. M. Baillet, J. T. Milik,
and R. de Vaux; DJD 3; Oxford: Clarendon, 1962), 142-46, pl. 30.
71. José O’Callaghan, “¿Papiros neotestamentarios en la cueva 7 de Qumrân?” Bib
53 (1972): 91–100; cf. more fully in idem, Los papiros griegos de la cueva 7 de Qumrân