Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

ther development. This shift, which froze each book in a single textual

form, happened quite abruptly in the late first or early second centuryc.e.;

it is often referred to as “stabilization,” but “freezing” or “termination of

development” is more accurate, since it was not a textual process but sim-

ply a cessation.

Sixth, the format of the books of the Scriptures shifted from individ-

ual scrolls to codex. Whereas a scroll usually contained one or at most two

books, a codex could contain a large number of books. Thus, decisions

whether a book was recognized as sacred Scripture were more pressing

when considering its inclusion in, or exclusion from, a single collection be-

tween front and back covers.

At the end of the lengthy process of composition and development of

the Scriptures from their beginnings and through the late shifts just de-

scribed, came the Romans. After two failed revolts by the Jews, the

Qumran covenanters were no more; the Samaritans remained apart; the

Jewish followers of Jesus inherited a large, not yet delimited collection of

Scriptures emphasizing the prophetic writings. The rabbis eventually re-

stricted the collection to twenty-four books, rejecting1 Enoch,Ben Sira,

and others; de-emphasizing certain apocalyptic and messianic aspects; and

focusing on the sapiential rather than prophetic character of the Psalms

and Daniel.

bibliography

Abegg, Martin, Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich. 1999.The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible:

The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English.San Fran-

cisco: HarperSanFrancisco.

Auwers, J.-M., and H. J. De Jonge, eds. 2002.The Biblical Canons.Leuven: Leuven

University Press and Peeters.

Cross, Frank Moore, and Shemaryahu Talmon, eds. 1975.Qumran and the History

of the Biblical Text.Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Dávid, Nóra, Armin Lange, Kristin De Troyer, and Shani Tzoref, eds. 2012.The He-

brew Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &

Ruprecht.

Fernández Marcos, N. 2000.The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek

Versions of the Bible.Trans. W. G. E. Watson. Leiden: Brill.

Flint, Peter W., and James C. VanderKam, eds. 1998.The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty

Years: A Comprehensive Assessment.2 vols. Leiden: Brill.

Harl, Marguerite, Gilles Dorrival, and Olivier Munnich. 1988.La Bible grecque des

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eugene ulrich

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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