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

156 A NEW EDITION OF THE HEBREW BIBLE
this passage, in which the Most High (apparently a title of Yahweh)
divides the nations and then chooses Israel to be his own portion, seems
linked with the old notion that each nation has its own tutelary god (in
later tradition, guardian angel). The statement in this passage—“He
divided the sons of Man / He established the boundaries of the peoples /
according to the number of the sons of God” (i.e., the divine beings) 15 —
makes sense in this context, while the alternative reading, “sons of Israel,”
makes no sense in context. The latter reading is easily understood as a
theological revision made at a time when the idea of the existence of gods
of other nations was unacceptable. A simple change from “God” to
“Israel” solved this problem for a pious scribe. A contributing factor may
have been the tradition that the “number of the sons of Israel” who went
down to Egypt was seventy (see Exod 1:1, 5), since this corresponds to
the number of nations in some ancient traditions. It is difficult to see how
“Israel” could have been the original reading in Deut 32:8, however, and
it is more difficult to conceive of a motive for a later scribe to change
“Israel” to “God,” thereby creating the theological problem. As scholars
have concluded with near unanimity, the reading of 4QDeut j [= 4Q37]
and LXX is to be preferred in this passage. 16
An important support for this position is found in Deut 4:19–20. This
passage refers to the “host of heaven” which Yahweh “distributed” (ha4laq)
among the “peoples” ((ammîm), whereas Yahweh chose Israel to be his
own “portion” (nah[a6 lâ). The resemblance of these words and ideas to
Deut 32:8–9 is striking. Because of these and other similarities, scholars
have argued that Deut 4:19–20 (and ch. 4 generally) is dependent on the
older poem of Deuteronomy 32. In light of this probable relationship, it
appears that Deut 4:19–20 is dependent on a version of Deut 32:8 that
read “sons of God” (with 4QDeut j and LXX). 17 This inner-biblical evidence
supports the text-critical judgment that “sons of God” is the original
reading in Deut 32:8.
edition by Julie Ann Duncan, “4QDeut j ,” in Qumran Cave 4.IX: Deuteronomy, Joshua,
Judges, Kings (ed. E. Ulrich et al.; DJD 14; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995), 75–92.
15. See Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 29:1; 89:7; Gen 6:1–4; and Hendel, “Sons of God.”
16. See references in Lana, “Angelologia.” Most modern translations have also
incorporated this reading.
17. See Patrick W. Skehan, “The Structure of the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy
(32:1–43),” CBQ 13 (1951): 157–59; Jon D. Levenson, “Who Inserted the Book of the
Torah?” HTR 68 (1975): 215, 221n38; and recently, Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy
(JPS Torah Commentary; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996), 514–15.