Why Biblical Scholars Should Study Aramaic Bowl Spells

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter T. Lanfer
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Social Location ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Formal Features

This study analyses the unique contributions of Jewish incantation texts and categorically examines the bowl spells according to three types of biblical citation: words of power, contextual citations and thematic citations. The bowl spells represent some of the earliest attestations of biblical passages not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and display formal features useful for reconstructing linguistic and manuscript developments in pre-Islamic Judaism. Furthermore, the biblical citations in these texts shed light on the social location of biblical knowledge and attendant beliefs in the power of the Hebrew text to bring about practical ends.

scholarly journals Sosiale kruisigingsteks(te) van 11Q Tempel 64.6-13: 'n Ondersoek na intertekstualiteit

1998 ◽  
Vol 54 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Geyser ◽  
Andries Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Dead

Social crucifixion text(s) of 11 Q Temple 64.6-13: An investigation into intertextuality. This article asks certain questions about the assumption that Israelites did not use crucifixion as a penalty. It more specifically looks at the post-exilic era to 100 CE and focuses on two crucifixion texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls (11Q 64.6-13 and 4 QpNahum) IJy means of the method of intertextuality. In other words, it compares the Qumran texts with the crucifying habits and traditions of neighbouring cultures. These habits and traditions are called the social text(s). This article assumes that a text is not only a written but also a happened text. In other words, context is also taken to be a text.

The Damascus Document

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Fraade
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Ancient Text ◽  
Cairo Geniza ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

The Damascus Document is an ancient Hebrew text that is one of the longest, oldest, and most important of the ancient scrolls found near Khirbet (ruins of) Qumran, usually referred to collectively as the Dead Sea Scrolls for the proximity of the Qumran settlement and eleven nearby caves to the Dead Sea. Its oldest parts originate in the mid- to late second century BCE. While the earliest discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls occurred in 1947, the Qumran Damascus Document fragments were discovered in 1952 (but not published in full until 1996), mainly in what is designated as Qumran Cave Four (some ten manuscripts altogether). However, it is unique in that two manuscripts (MS A and MS B) containing parts and variations of the same text were discovered much earlier, in 1896 (and published in 1910), among the discarded texts of the Cairo Geniza, the latter being written in the tenth-eleventh centuries CE. Together, the manuscripts of the Damascus Document, both ancient and medieval, are an invaluable source for understanding many aspects of ancient Jewish (and before that Israelite) history, theology, sectarian ideology, eschatology, liturgy, law, communal leadership, canon formation, and practice. Central to the structure of the overall text, is the intersection of law, both what we would call “biblical” (or biblically derived) and “communal,” and narrative/historical admonitions, perhaps modeled after a similar division the biblical book of Deuteronomy. A suitable characterization of the Damascus Document, to which we will repeatedly return, could be “bringing the Messiah through law.” Because of the longevity of its discovery, translation, publication, and debated interpretation, there is a long history of modern scholarship devoted to this ancient text.

5. The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Shed Light

The Dead Sea Scrolls have shed light on the canonization of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period. They provide us with exemplars of their biblical texts and how they used them in an authoritative manner. ‘The canon, authoritative scriptures, and the scrolls’ explains that the sectarian concept of authoritative scriptures seemed to reflect a dual pattern of authority by which the traditional biblical texts served as the source of the sectarian interpretation that in turn was defined by it. The authority was graded, beginning with the biblical books and extending to other books that were not eventually included in the canon.

A Contested Field: Half a Century of Study of Second Temple Judaism

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 437-459
Author(s):  
John J. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Second Temple Judaism ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThere has been an explosion of interest in Second Temple Judaism over the last fifty years. In the first half of the period under review, the Pseudepigrapha were at the cutting edge. This period culminated in the publication of the new enlarged edition of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth. Beginning in the 1980s, interest shifted to the Dead Sea Scrolls, culminating in the rapid publication of the corpus under the editorship of Emanuel Tov. At the same time, new discoveries shed light on the encounter of Judaism with Hellenism, both in Judea in the Maccabean period and in the Egyptian diaspora. Few scholars would now defend an idea of “normative Judaism” in this period, but that idea still casts a shadow on the ongoing debates.

Sectarian Marital Practice: Rethinking the Role of Sexuality in the Dead Sea Scrolls

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-361
Author(s):  
Maxine L. Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Social Norm ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Community Rule ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractDead Sea Scrolls scholarship has historically emphasized a binary between the celibate yaḥad of the Community Rule and the marrying edah of the Damascus Document and Rule of the Congregation. An early focus on celibacy has given way in recent years to arguments for the near ubiquity of marriage in the scrolls movement. In place of dichotomies of marriage and celibacy, the complexities of sexuality in the scrolls are best understood in terms of a sexually-limiting sectarian marital practice. This marital practice is grounded in a theology of perfection and is best understood in light of sociological approaches to the evidence in the scrolls. In addition to better explaining the evidence for sexuality in the scrolls, a reading from this perspective may, potentially, shed light on the perennial question of whether the movement began with marriage or celibacy as its prevailing social norm.

9. The communities of the Dead Sea Scrolls

2017 ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Urban Community ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Qumran Community

‘The communities of the Dead Sea Scrolls’ assesses what we know about the social structure and daily lives of the Qumran community. Early estimates of the community’s size suggested thousands of members, but it was more likely dozens. Vermes describes a monastic brotherhood living in the desert with a strict penal code and stratified hierarchy. A parallel urban community lived nearer to Jerusalem. This group shared many beliefs with the brotherhood but attended Temple and raised families. Debates rage about the communities’ origin. The Damascus Document suggests they predate the Maccabaean period, but this does not tally with our knowledge of their adversaries. The Groningen Hypothesis is a viable alternative.

Ben Sira

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Wright III
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Wisdom Traditions ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Cairo Genizah ◽  
Important Evidence

The book of Ben Sira is a wisdom text dating from the early 2nd century bce. It provides important evidence for Jewish wisdom traditions and teachers as well as Jewish scribes in this period. It was translated in Greek by the author’s grandson, and that version became the primary one, later becoming part of the Christian scriptural tradition. Fragmentary manuscripts of the Hebrew text were found in the Cairo Genizah and among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

NTERPRETATION OF THE METAPHOR "VESSEL" IN THE LIGHT OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS: NEW OBSERVATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-27
Author(s):  
Stanislav Stepanchenko
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Male Genitalia ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Shed Light

The texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are great importance for the reconstruction of the theological and ideological factors of the authors of the New Testament and can shed light on the understanding of some difficult passages of the New Testament. It is well known that the text of 1 Thessalonians 4:4 became Crux Interpretum for its researchers. Since the period of the Church Fathers, the text has had three conflicting interpretations. Modern research has continued this trend. The discovery in the 40s of the XX century Dead Sea Scrolls, gave a new look at some problematic texts of the New Testament. Thus, the two texts 4QSamb and 4Q416 2 ii 21 shed light on the discussion of 1 Thessalonians 4:4. But a closer examination revealed that their interpretation was also ambiguous, which in turn gave rise to a new wave of discussion. So, three options for understanding the texts were proposed. Consensus has not yet been reached. The text of 4QSamb was studied by F. Cross, D. Freedman, P. Andersen. Text 4Q416 2 ii 21 has been the subject of many publications, among the most important are the following: J. Stragnell, D. Harrington, T. Elgwin, J. Smith, M. Kister, B. Wald, F. Martinez. The purpose of the study is to critically analyze the interpretations of two texts from the corpus of Dead Sea Scrolls, 4QSamb and 4Q416 2 ii 21. The article examines two important texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, 4QSamb and 4Q416 2 ii 21, which shed light on a possible interpretation of a passage from Paul's corpus, 1 Thessalonians 4: 4. The 4QSamb study by scientists led to two interpretations of this passage. The article shows that understanding 4QSamb has a sexual context, and can locally indicate the male genitalia. The study of the text 4Q416 2 ii 21 led to the emergence of three radically different interpretations. Although each approach is well-argued and has its advantages, the paper has shown that the interpretation proposed by Elgwin Thorleif is more true in view of paleographic research, lexical analysis, and the immediate context of the passage. The article showed that the word כלי in the texts is used as a euphemism in the meaning of the male genitalia. This conclusion provides an important context for understanding 1 Thessalonians 4:4, that the interpretation of the word σκεῦός in this text must take into account the possibility of its interpretation in the sense of male "genitals".

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