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A Contextualized Approach to the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls Containing Exodus

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A Contextualized Approach to the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls Containing Exodus A CONTEXTUALIZED APPROACH TO THE HEBREW DEAD SEA SCROLLS CONTAINING EXODUS by DREW LONGACRE A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham December 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis suggests a new approach to studying the Hebrew-language Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) containing Exodus. After surveying the history of research, Longacre suggests applying a contextualized approach to the study of these scrolls, which seeks to understand them first as individual material artifacts and then in comparison to other manuscripts which are most closely contextually connected to them. Each manuscript is only subsequently compared with increasingly contextually distant manuscripts according to a hierarchy of contextual proximity. A network of close contextual connections between the Hebrew DSS containing Exodus warrant the isolation of this corpus as a test case for application of a contextualized approach. Based on new transcriptions and reconstructions of each of the included manuscripts (1Q2 2Q2 2Q3 2Q4 4Q1 4Q11 4Q13 4Q14 4Q17 4Q18 4Q19 4Q20 4Q21 4Q22 4Q158 4Q364 4Q365 4Q366 Mur1), Longacre then analyzes patterns that emerge from a comparison of the characteristics of each of these manuscripts. Finally, from a close examination of textual overlaps from a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative perspectives, Longacre suggests several specific groups and clusters of texts and synthesizes them to provide clearer insight into the documented Hebrew-language textual history of the book of Exodus. To my dear wife, Michelle Longacre, without whose patience, love, and support this research would not have been possible. תנו לה מפרי ידיה ויהללוה בשערים מעשיה -Proverbs 31:31 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Despite the relief of completing the work, this doctoral thesis is not a finished line, but rather a milestone on a long journey on which I am already indebted to a great many. To all those whose investments in me prepared me for this work, I am sincerely grateful for your efforts. In particular, I would like to thank Steven Boyd for introducing me to the Hebrew language, William Varner for introducing me to the world of textual criticism, and William Barrick for showing me the need for the application of textual criticism to the Old Testament. I am also grateful for many who have directly or indirectly contributed to this research. Stefan Schorch, Nathan Jastram, and Kyungrae Kim all kindly sent me unpublished work for reference purposes. Hugh Houghton was kind enough to offer his advice during the course of my program and read a draft of chapter 4. The seminars of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing and the “Manuscripts and Their Texts” postgraduate seminars at the University of Birmingham repeatedly challenged me to think methodologically about my own research. Personal conversations with Eibert Tigchelaar and Sidnie White Crawford were particularly helpful for the study of the included manuscripts. Anneli Aejmelaeus, Hanne von Weissenberg, and the other members of team 2 of the University of Helsinki’s Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions also kindly interacted with the contents of this thesis in a workshop which provided much useful feedback. Furthermore, this research would not have been possible without the generosity of the University of Birmingham, who fully funded my program with a Doctoral Researcher Elite Scholarship. Similarly, the University of Helsinki permitted me to finalize this thesis during my first months of postdoctoral research at the Centre of Excellence in Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions. But perhaps most importantly, I would like to thank my supervisor Charlotte Hempel for her support throughout this process. As all of her students are well aware, Charlotte consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty as a supervisor. She invests herself fully in both the personal welfare and development of her students and their research. Her insightful critiques have kept me from numerous errors and refined this research far beyond what it would have been without her. Of course, any remaining errors or weaknesses are my own. On a more personal note, my wife Michelle and daughters Victoria and Gloria have been my constant companions in a seemingly unending series of studies that has taken a decidedly international turn. They have all sacrificed much for the sake of my research, and their support has been essential for its completion. And finally, thanks be to God, who has richly blessed us and faithfully led us through many life stages over the past few years. We have always had enough to meet our needs, and his love continues to carry us through. May the contents of this thesis be profitable for his kingdom. יהיו לרצון אמרי פי והגיון לבי לפניך יהוה צורי וגאלי -Psalm 19:15 [Eng. v. 14] CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOLS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………..1 CHAPTER 1 – HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON THE SCRIPTURAL MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE JUDEAN DESERT AND THE TEXT OF EXODUS …………………………..2 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Pre-Qumran Theories on the Textual History of the Pentateuch .................................. 2 1.3 Post-Qumran General Discussions on the Textual History of the Pentateuch .............. 3 1.3.1 Local Texts .......................................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 Multiple Mixed Groups ....................................................................................... 7 1.3.3 Variant Literary Editions ................................................................................... 12 1.3.4 Descriptive Categorization ................................................................................. 15 1.3.5 The Challenge of the 4Q(Reworked) Pentateuch Manuscripts ............................ 17 1.3.6 The Question of the Original Text(s).................................................................. 20 1.4 Post-Qumran Detailed Studies of the Text of Exodus ............................................... 24 1.4.1 Judith E. Sanderson ........................................................................................... 24 1.4.2 Nathan Jastram .................................................................................................. 33 1.4.3 Bénédicte Lemmelijn ......................................................................................... 37 1.4.4 James R. Davila ................................................................................................. 40 1.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 2 – A CONTEXTUALIZED APPROACH TO THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS FOR TEXTUAL HISTORY………………………………….44 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 44 2.2 Individual Textual Artifacts ...................................................................................... 46 2.2.1 Preliminaries to the Study of Fragmentary Manuscripts ..................................... 49 2.2.1.1 Collection, Identification, and Transcription of Fragments from the Manuscript ................................................................................................................................ 49 2.2.1.2 Material Reconstruction .............................................................................. 50 2.2.1.3 Textual Reconstruction ............................................................................... 52 2.2.2 Bibliographical Analysis .................................................................................... 58 2.2.2.1 Provenance ................................................................................................. 58 2.2.2.2 Manuscript Format ...................................................................................... 59 2.2.2.3 Manuscript Contents ................................................................................... 60 2.2.2.4 Layout and Segmentation ............................................................................ 60 2.2.2.5 Paleography ................................................................................................ 61 2.2.2.6 Paratextual Information ............................................................................... 63 2.2.3 Textual Analysis ................................................................................................ 64 2.2.3.1 Language .................................................................................................... 64 2.2.3.2 Orthography ...............................................................................................
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