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

JAMES C. VANDERKAM 479
longer text. For example, col. 28.5–6 are missing in the Greek, and the
order of cola in vv. 4 and 5 differs, with the Hebrew also being considerably
longer. Sanders writes that the LXX version of Ps 151:1–5, “makes
little or no sense at all” and that the Hebrew form allows one to explain
all of the problems in the LXX. 43
Psalm 151 B in the Cave 11 version is only partially preserved at the
bottom of col. 28 (lines 13–14):
At the beginning of David’s power after the prophet of God had anointed
him.
1. Then I [saw] a Philistine
uttering defiances from the r[anks of the Philistines].
2..…I………….…the….…
LXX Ps 151:6–7 also deal with the Goliath episode although certainly
not with the wording of the Psalms scroll. But it does appear that the
Greek version was a condensed form of what were two separate poems
in the Hebrew original.
A few words in Psalm 151 have given rise to the idea of orphic influence
on the poem. As Sanders states the matter with regard to the material
that the Hebrew has and the Greek lacks in Ps 151:2b–3: “Trees and
animals cherish David’s music but they cannot themselves praise God.
They can appreciate but they cannot express appreciation. A picture of
mute animals and trees being charmed by music from the lyre comes to
mind and with such a picture the myth of Orpheus.” 44 Frank M. Cross,
however, has rejected this interpretation by arguing that the word )wl is
to be taken as equivalent to wl. In other words, rather than recognizing
that they were mute, they are being urged to praise. Nothing in the poem
expresses an idea not found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. 45
4. The Letter of Jeremiah
M. Baillet published the small piece of papyrus designated 7Q2 in DJD 3
and, on the basis of the identification made by P. Benoit and M.-E.
43. Sanders, Psalms Scroll, 59–60.
44. Ibid., 61. He discusses the issue in detail on 61–63 and concludes that the
imagery is there (though note “the supposed Orphic imagery in Ps 151” [63]), but the
Qumranites would not knowingly have allowed distinctively Hellenistic ideas to influence
their ways of thinking.
45. Frank M. Cross, “David, Orpheus, and Psalm 151:3–4,” BASOR 231 (1978):
69–71. Cross also gives a good bibliography of studies on this psalm.