Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

Exodus

An extensively preserved manuscript of Exodus written in the Paleo-

Hebrew script and dated to approximately the middle of the first century

b.c.e.surprised scholars shortly after the discovery of Cave 4. 4Qpaleo-

Exodmroutinely displayed the expanded text edition that was well known

from the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP). In every instance where it is pre-

served, it displays the major expansions beyond the MT and the LXX that

are exhibited by the SP. Where it is not extant there is also no reason to sus-

pect that it did not agree with other SP expansions, except for one instance.

It apparently did not have space to contain the lengthy extra command-

ment added in the SP at Exod. 20:17b after the traditional commandments.

That specifically Samaritan commandment (though taken from Deuteron-

omy 11 and 27, common to MT, SP, and LXX) to build an altar at Mt.

Gerizim evidently was not in 4QpaleoExodm, just as it is lacking in the MT

and the LXX. It seems clear, then, that there were at least two variant edi-

tions of the text of Exodus in circulation within Jewish circles during the

first centuryb.c.e.Evidently both were used and enjoyed equal status.

4QpaleoExodmwas damaged at one point, and someone carefully sewed a

patch over the large hole and reinscribed the lost words. This repair would

not have happened if the manuscript were not needed for use. The Samari-

tans made use of that secondary, expanded edition and apparently made

only one theological change in two forms: they added the commandment

that Israel’s central altar was to be built on Mt. Gerizim, and in the recur-

ring formula they stressed that God had chosen Mt. Gerizim, not Jerusalem,

as that central shrine where his name should dwell. Thus, the “Samaritan”

Exodus was mainly a general Jewish text of Exodus. And that secondary, ex-

panded edition that lacked the two specifically Samaritan changes contin-

ued to be used by Jews and was still being copied around the middle of the

first centuryb.c.e.There does not appear to be any evidence that the Jews

and Samaritans were aware of or concerned about the specific text-type.

Numbers

Scholars were generally slow in digesting and accepting that new evidence

from 4QpaleoExodm, but the most extensively preserved scroll of the book

of Numbers provided confirmatory evidence with a profile similar to that

of the Exodus scroll. 4QNumb, written in the Jewish script and dating

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The Jewish Scriptures: Texts, Versions, Canons

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:57 PM