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

BRENT A. STRAWN 127
though it must be admitted that this could simply be the accidental
results of preservation. 96 The most important (necessary) element—that
of excerpted form—is present, but one cannot be sure of its meaning or
even its actual attestation given the state of preservation, the lack of corroborative
elements, and, in fact, the absence of at least one of the default
or optional elements (smaller size).
Similarly, to return to the Megilloth, one cannot be certain if their
smaller size always and invariably indicates an excerpted manuscript of
some sort, even if the scrolls can be shown to contain only one particular
book. 97 Even so, the fragmentary nature of our evidence, given poor preservation,
counsels caution in the other direction as well. Small sized manuscripts (see
Table 3; cf. Table 4), especially from multiple-copy documents (see Table
5) are a natural place to expect possible excerption. One cannot and
must not simply assume that such manuscripts are excerpted, but one
must guard equally against assuming too confidently that they certainly
included the whole composition that they reflect. 98 Without further evidence,
one simply cannot be sure: perhaps such manuscripts are simply
poorly preserved scrolls that once contained a version of the entire composition;
alternatively, and perhaps equally as likely, such manuscripts were
excerpted from a base text of the composition. These comments are leading
to the theoretical, text-critical question outlined above, especially with
regard to the usefulness of the excerpted manuscripts in the text-critical
enterprise. Before addressing that vexed issue, however, one final caveat
is in order with reference to the discussion of genre.
h. A Continuum of Text Types? Or: Genre, Once Again
Cognitive theories of genre underscore that genre is something of a moving
target and that genre is created, discovered, and found in interpretation
as much as it is recognized from what is already manifest in the text
96. So, e.g., Judith E. Sanderson, “73. 4QEzek a ,” in Qumran Cave 4.X: The Prophets
(ed. E. Ulrich et al.; DJD 15; Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), 210, who intimates that the
scroll originally contained the whole book of Ezekiel in a manuscript of 47 columns
of ca. 42 lines each. Notably, Sanderson’s conclusions rest solely on reconstruction.
97. The scrolls containing Psalm 119 are different from those of the Megilloth,
partly because this psalm is always written stichometrically at Qumran (see Tov,
“Excerpted and Abbreviated,” 590) and thus there is additional scribal evidence for
the importance of this composition. The psalms as a genre/form also commend a
liturgical Sitz im Leben of some sort. Cf. note 93 above.
98. The latter point is contra the remarks of Brooke, “Ezekiel in Some Qumran and
New Testament Texts,” 317.