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

BRENT A. STRAWN 155
• First, the existence of at least three excerpted texts (4QPsg,h ; 5QPs) that probably
contained only Psalm 119 demonstrates that this genre is known and
attested among the Psalms scrolls. This raises the possibility, if not likelihood,
that other psalms scrolls could also be excerpted. 191
• Second, the nature of the excerpted material is of critical importance. Most of the
manuscripts that are most certainly excerpted are selected from books of the
Torah and, in the case of the psalms scrolls, Psalm 119—the preeminent
Torah psalm (see Table 1).
• Third, the primary functional categories for excerpted texts are liturgical or
pedagogical, whether these are corporately or privately construed. The
majority of most certainly excerpted texts fit these categories nicely:
excerpted Torah texts were obviously used liturgically, and, given their
subject matter, are also instructional texts. Psalm scrolls, by their very
nature, are ideal for liturgical use. 192 That they are also useful in instruction,
perhaps primarily in private contexts in this capacity, is underscored
by the excerption of Psalm 119, but is probably latent in many of the
psalms themselves. 193
In my judgment, considerations such as these suggest a mediating position
between the two schools of thought on the psalms (especially
11QPs a ). Favoring the position of Tov, Talmon, et al., are the excerpted
manuscripts’ existence, their typical content, and their liturgical and pedagogical
functions. All of these are potentially applicable and suitable to
the psalms scrolls and, given the existence of excerptions of Psalm 119, it
is likely that at least a few of the other psalms scrolls are also excerpted. 194
and perhaps, 4QPsb (4Q84); (2) 4QPsa (4Q83; < Ps 32; note sequence 38 > 71); (3)
4QPsd (4Q86; note sequence: 147 > 104); (4) 4QPsf (4Q88); (5) 4QPsk (4Q92); (6)
4QPsn (4Q95); (7) 4QPsq (4Q98; < Ps 32); and (8) 11QapPsa (11Q11). For more on
the order and sequencing of the various Psalms manuscripts, see Flint, The Dead Sea
Psalms Scrolls, 254–64.
191. To his great credit, Flint is well aware of the excerpted texts and their possible
bearing on the psalms manuscripts, though he does not end up arguing for the
excerpted status of the psalms scrolls (apart, perhaps, from the Psalm 119 scrolls).
See, e.g., The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls, 167, 217–18; idem, “Psalms and Psalters.”
192. Cf. Schuller, “Prayer, Hymnic, and Liturgical Texts,” 165: “all psalters are, to
some extent, liturgical collections.” For the liturgical use of the psalms, note m. Tamid
7:4; Sop 18.4; and b. Ros Has . ] 31a; and see Peter L. Trudinger, The Psalms of the Tamid
Service: A Liturgical Text from the Second Temple (VTSup 98; Leiden: Brill, 2004).
193. Note, e.g., the importance of Psalm 1 as an introduction to the Psalter, though
this psalm is unfortunately not attested in any psalms scrolls from Qumran (though
it is cited in 4QFlor [4Q174]). For reflections on the Psalms as Torah, see J. Clinton
McCann, Jr., A Theological Introduction to the Book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1993).
194. Note also that the Psalms evidence from outside Qumran, namely from
Masada, supports MT (cf. note 152 above). This is esp. true for MasPsb , against