historical perspectives: from the hasmoneans to bar kokhba in light ...

20 DAVID GOODBLATT
For the first time we have concrete evidence for the existence of
a large number of books. It should be borne in mind that our sources
tell us very little about collections of books in Second Temple Judah.
As Shavit has noted, the literary sources do not mention public or
temple libraries. 2 Mace. 2:13-14 attributes the assembling of a collection
of books to both Nehemiah and Judah the Maccabee, but it
provides few details. While the passage describes the documents
assembled by Nehemiah, it does not do so for those collected by
Judah, nor does it state where these collections were kept. Perhaps
the author envisaged some kind of Temple library, but he does not
say this explicitly. The idea or reality of a temple library may lie
behind the references in Jub. 45:16 and in the Testament of Qohat to
a collection of books possessed by the patriarchs and passed on to
Levi and his descendants. As is well known, rabbinic literature assumed
authoritative copies of the Torah were held at the Temple. One
source speaks of a single copy of the Pentateuch, another of three,
but no wider collection is mentioned. 41 In 2 Macc. 2:15, after reporting
how Judah had collected books scattered during the war, the
author offers to supply his addressees with any books they might
need. This suggests the existence of some kind of library in Alexandria,
although it is unclear whether that library is private or public. Since
the addressee is "Aristobulus, tutor of King Ptolemy," the author
might even be thinking of the royal library; this passage might be
an analogue to the story of the Septuagint. In any event, given the
ongoing uncertainly about the authenticity and date of the letter, we
41 See Y. Shavit, "The 'Qumran Library' in the Light of the Attitude towards
Books and Literature in the Second Temple Period," in Methods of Investigation of the
Dead Sea Scrolls, 299 317. However, Shavit does assume the existence of both libraries
and significant numbers of readers. On the attribution of a collection of books to
Judah the Maccabee at 2 Macc. 2:13-15, see the discussion in P. R. Davies, Scribes
and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures (Louisville: Westminster John Knox
Press, 1998), 174—82. For the Testament of Qohat see E. Puech, "Le Testament de
Qohat en arameen de la grotte 4 (4QTQoh)," RevQ 15 (1991-92): 33, frg. 1 ii 9-13.
And see the comment there, 47, ad line 12, on the priestly connection. On master
scroll(s) in the Temple see m. M. Qat. 3:4 and the sources cited by C. Albeck
in the supplementary note to this passage in his Shishah Sidre Mishnah, vol. 2 (Jerusalem:
Bialik Institute and Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1958), 508. On the basis of these sources modern
scholars have assumed that rabbinic literature attests the existence of a Temple
library. See for example, S. Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, 2nd ed. (New
York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1962), 22. Further discussion of the
rabbinic sources can be found in S. Talmon, "The Three Scrolls of the Law That
Were Found in the Temple Court," Textus 2 (1962): 14-27, and S. Zeitlin, "Were
There Three Torah-Scrolls in the Azarah?," JQR 56 (1966): 269-72.