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

GEORGE J. BROOKE 309
fourth day of the week the tops of the mountains appeared (Gen 8:5b). And it was
at the end of forty days (Gen 8:6a) when the tops of the mountain[s] were visible
[that] Noah [op]ened the window of the ark (Gen 8:6b), on the first day of
the week, that is, the tenth day in the ele[venth] month. (4Q252 1.1–14) 62
In this quotation from the Commentary on Genesis A, we need to notice how
the narrative interpretation works. It closely follows the sequence of the
narrative. This is as much as anyone would expect, since to dislocate the
narrative would require justification. Second, it quite considerably abbreviates
the text of Genesis, retelling the narrative with a point in mind.
The purpose is clearly motivated by an interest in defining all the events
in the flood story according to a particular calendar. Third, making that
calendrical interest explicit are short explanatory statements either intricately
woven into the narrative itself or indicated explicitly with pronouns.
The calendrical interest in this text is distinctive: not only does it
sort out the events in relation to the 364-day ideal solar calendar, which
requires a particular addition of two days at one point, 63 but also it
describes the events in the dual system of days of the week as well as days
of the month. Narrative interpretation in the sectarian compositions from
Qumran, as in other rewritten Bible texts in early Jewish literature, is primarily
concerned with the explanatory glossing of biblical stories to
make them consistent, coherent, and credible; it primarily addresses the
problems in the plain meaning of the text. 64 Within such glosses the particular
polemical bias of the exegete is usually clear.
4. Poetic Interpretation
Within poetic compositions the use of Scripture is almost always entirely
implicit. Scriptural base texts act as sources for the phraseology of the
new composition, which in its final form can often read as if it is a kind
of allusive anthology of memorable scriptural phrases. With regard to
poetic interpretation, one important matter needs explicit mention, and
that concerns the extent to which it is possible to be sure that the poet
62. Trans. George J. Brooke, “4QCommentary on Genesis A,” in Qumran Cave
4.XVII: Parabiblical Texts, Part 3 (ed. G. J. Brooke et al.; DJD 22; Oxford: Clarendon,
1996), 196.
63. After Gen 8:3b two days are added. Even before 4Q252 was known, the need
for these extra days was recognized: see, e.g., Joseph M. Baumgarten, “The
Calendars of the Book of Jubilees and the Temple Scroll,” VT 37 (1987): 76.
64. See especially George J. Brooke, “Reading the Plain Meaning of Scripture in the
Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Jewish Ways of Reading the Bible (ed. G. J. Brooke; JSSSup 11;
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 67–90 and 84–86 are particularly concerned
with 4Q252.