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4Q448—THE LOST BEGINNING of MMT? Annette Steudel Akademie Der Wissenschaften Zu Göttingen the Aim of This Contribution Is

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4Q448—THE LOST BEGINNING of MMT? Annette Steudel Akademie Der Wissenschaften Zu Göttingen the Aim of This Contribution Is 4Q448—THE LOST BEGINNING OF MMT? Annette Steudel Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen The aim of this contribution is a comparison of two texts found at Qumran, 4QMMT and 4Q448. Both important documents have been studied quite intensively in modern scholarship.1 The question of a relationship between 4Q448 and 4QMMT has so far never been raised. A definite decision on the character of both texts and on the hypothesis, that they might come from the same composition, is impossible, because their state is too fragmentary and no textual overlap exists. Nevertheless, this article collects arguments, which might—in their combination—speak for the fact, that 4Q448 rep- resents the beginning of MMT. In the following, first some aspects of 4QMMT and 4Q448 will be introduced briefly (1), then similarities of both will be discussed (2), some historical implications will be dealt with (3), and finally conclusions will be drawn (4). I dedicate this article to Émile Puech, teacher and friend, with deepest respect for his incomparable scholarly work.2 Emile Puech has profoundly contributed to the research on 4Q448 in his article “Jonathan le prêtre impie et les débuts de la commu- nauté de Qumrân. 4QJonathan (4Q523) et 4QPsAp (4Q448).”3 The 1 On 4Q448 see the bibliography of É. Puech, “Jonathan le prêtre impie et les débuts de la communauté de Qumrân. 4QJonathan (4Q523) et 4QPsAp (4Q448),” RevQ 17/65–68 (1996): 241–70, esp. 249–63, and the bibliography of E. & H. Eshel and A. Yardeni, in DJD XI. For a bibliography on MMT, based on informations of F. García Martínez, see J. Kampen and M. Bernstein (eds.), Reading 4QMMT: New Perspectives on Qumran Law and History (SBLSymS 2; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996), 145–56. 2 Émile Puech and Hartmut Stegemann were dear friends for many years. Hartmut Stegemann was therefore so happy to dedicate his reconstruction of MMT to Émile Puech in this Festschrift. Hartmut Stegemann died in August 2005 without having been able to conclude his contribution. Reinhard G. Kratz, who had worked with Hartmut Stegemann on MMT in March 2005, took up Stegemann’s ideas on the sequence of MMT C and presents his own textual interpretation in this volume. 3 See above note 1. 248 annette steudel following study is based on his transcription of 4Q448 as well as on the text given in the editio major by E. Eshel, H. Eshel and A. Yardeni.4 Although both editions differ in some places, this does not affect the results of this article in general.5 The edition of E. Qimron and J. Strugnell in DJD X is used for MMT.6 It does not seem to make a difference for the analysis below whether the sequence of fragments suggested for MMT C by E. Qimron is used or the sequence pre- ferred by J. Strugnell and H. Stegemann.7 The comparison of MMT and 4Q448 is made without a certain historical pre-assumption. 1. Introduction to some aspects of 4QMMT and 4Q448 1.1. 4QMMT Six copies of 4QMMT were edited by E. Qimron and J. Strugnell in DJD X in 1994. Palaeographically the manuscripts are dated there from (no later than) the early-Herodian to the mid-Herodian period. Three different parts of the former composition can be distinguished: 4QMMT A deals with the calendar,8 while MMT B consists of a collection of 22 halakhot, many of which concern the Temple cult at Jerusalem. MMT C is a kind of “hortatory epilogue.” The middle- part and the end of the work are fairly well known through a com- bination of the text of the single MMT-copies, which differ from one another only in a few minor details. But the beginning section of MMT is no longer preserved among the 4QMMT manuscripts.9 4 In DJD XI, 403–25, plate XXXII. In counting the columns of 4Q448 as A–C, I follow É. Puech, this equals the counting of the columns as I–III in DJD XI. 5 Whenever necessary for the analysis, differences will be mentioned. 6 E. Qimron and J. Strugnell, Qumran Cave 4, V: Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah (DJD X; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). 7 See DJD X, Appendix 2, 201–202. This sequence is the textual basis in R.G. Kratz, “Mose und die Propheten: Zur Interpretation von 4QMMT C” (in this volume). 8 It is doubtful whether the calendar fragments (4Q394 1–2) indeed belong to 4QMMTa (4Q394). Nevertheless, 4QMMT A 19–21 show that the calendar was dealt with in 4QMMT, at least in 4QMMTa. 9 According to an unpublished calculation of H. Stegemann, about one third of the composition is missing in the beginning. Confer the reference in H. Stegemann, The Library of Qumran: On the Essenes, Qumran, John the Baptist, and Jesus (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 105..
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