Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76 53
so widely and consistently applied by the Chr., to be found, although ‏,מחלקת
the institution is identical and even the names of the units are the same.95
If we turn now to study the meaning of משמר and משמרת in Chr. and in
Ezr.-Neh., we find that both have a wide range of meanings, and mainly: guards,
office, function, משמרת duty,96 being more frequent in Chr., while משמר is
more prevalent in Ezr.-Neh. The question is whether their use as technical
terms, as “divisions of service”, is already in evidence here. Both lexicons of
Biblical Hebrew answer affirmatively, but the verses they quote to prove it are
different. BDB finds it in Neh. xii 9 and KBL in Neh. xiii 34.
It seems that in both instances the interpretation is not certain, and the difference
between the lexicons could serve as proof. In any case, even if we do
accept it, what is suggested is the beginning of the use of משמר as a technical
term in Ezr.-Neh. and not in Chr.—a fact which might carry the contrast
between the terms even further.
To sum up: The division of the cult-personnel into small units is explicitly
stated in Chr. and very often referred to, while in Ezr.-Neh., although it
is presumably known, it is much less emphasized and is different in details.
The single unit is designated in Chr. by a fixed term: מחלקת which is found in
Ezr.-Neh. only once, in the Aramaic text.
If we do agree that the later term משמר has already assumed its technical
connotation in Ezr.-Neh., then the opposition between Ezr.-Neh. is that
of two different terms. However, it seems more likely that the terminology in
Ezr.-Neh., as well as the institution itself, is not yet stabilized.
The division of the people into units is mentioned only in Chr.
95) The word מחלקת continues to exist in the language with different meanings. In the Rabbinic
literature its meaning is “separation, strife”, etc. M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, etc. II,
1903, p. 762. In the DSS מחלקת does preserve its meaning as a technical term but its exact interpretation
is still disputed. Most famous is the phrase מלחמת המחלקות in the Scroll of the War, of
the Sons of Light II 10, which is translated by Yadin as “the war of the separate divisions” and is
strongly connected by him with 1 Chr. xxvii (op. cit., pp. 79ff.). J. van der Ploeg translates it as
“guerre de divisions” and lately A. M. Gazov-Ginzberg as “the war in parts” (The Structure of the
מחלקות Army of the Sons of Light”, Revue de Qumran 18, 1965, p. 164). Another point of dispute is
to signify the units מחלקת in the Covenant of Damascus. In any case, the use of the term העתים
of priests and Levites is absent here too. It is found in this meaning in the Targum. In Targum
‏.וכהניא בפלוגתהון לקרבא קורבנין ומניא לואי במחלקתהון לזמרא Jonathan to Gen. 11 which reads
The verse as a whole seems to be influenced by Ezr. vi 18.
96) Cf. BDB, p. 1038, KBL, p. 578.